Time was immaterial here but that didn’t stop them from trying to count it. It didn’t stop them from hating when a newcomer arrived and it was not the one they waited for. It didn’t stop them from hating when they learned they had to wait again.

Ever waiting. Always waiting. All because the Question hadn’t been Asked and so the Answer had yet to be given. At least not the right one. But soon…soon it would be. Soon the Fallen would escape and find the peace they would rip from the Worlds that had forsaken them. Or so they, the Lost and Broken and Forgotten, hoped.

Time was as immaterial as it was immemorial here in this lonely prison of a place that was cold, filled with the lingering scent of Fear and death, filled to bursting with mourning songs that had no purpose anymore. Though not all of them here chittered softly, sat in silence, or sang mourning songs.

Some of them, like the latest arrival, curled up in a corner and cried. Only unlike those, this one whispered over and over to themselves just loudly enough to bring everyone’s attention but not loud enough to be understood.

All eyes turned to the newcomer as the edges of their prison rippled once, twice, before settling. Because unlike the majority of those that filled this timeless place, there was no aura of Fear worn like a cloak over shoulders curved by hardship on this one. Instead, the newcomer was draped in fearful acceptance.

They hadn’t chosen to be here. But the newcomer had.

As one they asked, Why?

Eyes the clear grey of a winter sky just before a storm rolled in lifted and scanned across them while the jewel set between them twinkled in a light that did and yet didn’t exist here. By the Many, I didn’t want to but I had no other choice. I am so very sorry.

It was an answer that brought smiles to their twisted faces.

Time was immaterial here. But very soon it wouldn’t be.