[Addie]

Sunlight blinded me temporarily as it flooded my vision. I groaned groggily as I sat up, trying to recall why I was sleeping outside. Then I remembered. Right. I'm basically banished now.

And I might have slept weirdly, for my neck felt like it was twisted out of place.

I looked around the clearing until I found Harm. The deity was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the open area, his eyes closed as a gentle breeze blew his hair slightly. His tail waved back and forth in content.

I watched him curiously for a few minutes before he opened his eyes again. He looked over to me, noticing that I was awake.

"Good morning," Harm nodded in acknowledgement to me.

"H-hi," I said. "What are you doing?"

"Meditating," he replied, "Trying to get a hold of Yin and Yang. Though they probably already heard about us getting kicked out, so they're giving me the cold shoulder. Typical."

I probably should have guessed that. But it was early (I think. The sun was blocked by the trees on all sides of me), and my brain was still mushy from sleep.

Harm stood up, looking to the sky for a moment before saying, "Rain's coming. We should find some better shelter."

"How do you know?" I didn't see any clouds on the horizon.

"I know lots of things, Addie," Harm replied simply, "Now come on."

I stood up, brushing some dirt off my hoodie before following Harm into the woods.

"Do you know where we're going?" I asked.

"Kind of," Harm shrugged, "I know a place we can stay temporarily. Just don't wander off, and we should make it there before the rain comes in."

After about an hour of walking, we finally made it to what looked like a small homestead on a hill, with a chimney and a cross marking some kind of grave in the front yard. It was a building that I recognized, even without it being in the middle of a cold, dead forest.

"Is this Blaza's house? From Eternal Winter?" I asked Harm.

"Yup," Harm confirmed. "There's story-related buildings scattered around the Underground as well as the Overworld. I just so happened to come across this one not too long ago. Now come on."

It had gotten cloudier as we had been walking, and I felt a raindrop hit my nose. I quickly heeded Harm's words, and followed him into the house.

The house, dubbed the Trapper's Homestead in the original game that Eternal Winter is based off of, was pretty small. In the far left corner was a wood burner style stove with a small stack of cedar and fir next to it. There was a bed under a window on the right, next to a metal workbench with a broken radio on it. There was a gun rack on the wall, but the rifle was missing (which is usually the case in the Long Dark anyway). There was a green locker to my left as soon as I walked in the door, but it was locked.

"Woah," I stated simply, "It's... just like I remember it."

"Well, this place is basically fueled by your memory and imagination," Harm chuckled, lightly knocking my head with his fist, "So that's probably why."

But of course, there's no time to settle in this world.

"Hey!"

I jumped and fell over at the sudden voice's intrusion, making some weird surprised sound as I did. Harm simply turned around, unfazed.

I shook my head and looked up to see none other than Gradient standing behind where I had been standing, grinning with a black smile.

"How long have you been standing there?!" I exclaimed, still spooked.

Gradient laughed. "Since you got in here. I was already waiting. Something told me Harm would bring you here."

"And how would you know that?" Harm questioned.

Gradient shrugged. "I see more things than you think."

"Okay, Gradient, why are you here? I know you didn't just show up to jumpscare me, despite the fact that you probably would do that," I said, standing back up.

"Anatox sent me," Gradient said, "Apparently you two aren't allowed in the cabin anymore, and she thinks something's wrong with that, so she said to meet her in the meeting place."

"What's the meeting place?" I queried.

"Oh, you've been there," Harm told me, "It's where we went to meet with the not-evil characters when you first arrived."

"Oh," I said with realization, "Well, come on, let's go!"

"I'll meet you there!" Gradient said enthusiastically. He quickly disappeared.

Harm grabbed my arm and snapped his fingers with his free hand, and my vision went black.

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I know Gradient's the guy we all hate, but DANG he is fun to write 

761 words