Atlas noticed something was wrong only when it was too late. Sand shuffled. The golden aura grew, piercing further into the darkness.

He lifted his head, his body going still.

A black shadow landed over his.

His jacket jerked up into his Adam's apple when something smooth and icy cold took hold of his collar. His feet left the ground before he could even coke out a scream.

He dangled before a massive, metal figure.

It had rhododendron branches for legs, and its rusting body twisted in angry directions. The faceless beast stared at him like a curious dog, its head tilted to the side.

Screw this, screw this, screw this—

Zipper; his zipper.

Wide-eyed, Atlas fumbled for his jacket zipper. Right as he grasped it with trembling fingers, the beast's arm retracted into its body. Pain burst through his lungs when he slammed into solid metal.

Metal groaned as it started lumbering forward.

His body swung like a metronome as he gasped for breath. With moisture stinging his eyes, he grabbed for the zipper once more. The fabric dug sharp into his armpits and neck until finally he lifted his arms and slipped through.

He hit the ground hard. His ankle twisted from underneath him and he skidded onto his side. Before the metal monster could react, he scrambled forward on all fours through the sand until he finally got his body under him, and he ran.

Atlas didn't look back. He didn't need to. The monster followed without hesitation, its heavy weight thudding on the sand.

What is that thing?

Atlas never seemed to get out of the beast's light aura. He squinted his eyes against the warming throb in his ankle, begging for the solo darkness to curtain him again - because that would mean he was escaping. That would mean he'd be fine.

The sand quickly morphed into firm ground. Tall grass crunched beneath his boots and his heart thudded hard enough in his chest to drown out the sound of every step behind him.

It looked all too alike one of the grandpa's statues, and it was all too fitting. He should have known that the statue designed after the Underworld's guard dog would chase him through Hell.

Had the grandpa sent it to take him back? Was that possible, here?

The pain started settling in, each step adding to the subtle throb in his ankle until he had to slow against his will.

Atlas hiccupped through each breath. Darkness creeped into his peripheral vision as he leaned forward, his breaths coming in desperate pants that never cured his need to breathe. He shook. He shook down to his bones and each moment passing only seemed to turn the fear heavier.

He was going to lose this race.

"Atlas!"

August's voice pierced through the rising panic. He couldn't help it. He jumped in his skin.

It was only then that he looked up and realized, in fact, that the monster wasn't behind him anymore. He couldn't hear the thud of his steps or the brushing of tall grass, even when he stilled completely and held his breath.

When did that happen?

He flinched when his old friend appeared out of thin air, grasping onto his shoulder.

"Are you okay? Where is it?"

Atlas stared blankly at him. What was this? It had been right behind him. He had heard it, he felt it - he knew it was real. Yet it had vanished, and now he stared at August's face. His friend had wide eyes and sweat stains on his shirt, like he had run the whole way, just like Atlas had.

He swallowed, his tongue feeling like sandpaper in his mouth.

"Atlas?"

He shook his head.

This was stupid. The panic still resided there. He felt it in every pulse of his heart and the warmth in his face.

He couldn't take this place!

Atlas ripped his arm out of August's grip. "Go away!" he shouted. He shoved August backward with all of his remaining strength. "Just go away!"

His face burned with restrained tears. His mind couldn't grasp onto anything. He was completely lost.

He wanted to go home.

"Dude, I'm trying to help you!" August shoved him back. Atlas stumbled and tripped over a sudden scrap of metal, landing hard on his tailbone. "Tell me where Cerberus is!"

"You're not helping! None of you are helping! You're all just—"

August kicked his knee. "Shut up! Tell me where Cerberus is so we can leave."

Atlas didn't even bother to get up anymore. He grasped his knee, pressing his forehead against it with ground teeth. "Don't act like you're on my side."

"I am on your side!"

The ground trembled when something heavy stomped down. Atlas' blood turned cold. It was still there. It was still a thing. It hadn't just vanished in the darkness.

August cursed. "Just– gah." He grabbed Atlas by the shoulders and helped haul him to his feet. "Let's go!"

Atlas didn't argue when the light auras around them suddenly extended out once more, revealing Cerberus' towering form. "It vanished..." Atlas struggled to get the words out. "How could it still find me in the dark?"

"You're loud and not that fast?"

"Don't say that like it's obvious."

"Well how do you think I found you?"

His knee and ankle ached with each step. He tried to ignore it as he followed his friend but it certainly didn't help his case when he quickly started falling behind, his legs feeling like led and his lungs full of water.

"Where's your photobook?" August asked suddenly.

"What?" Atlas gasped. "Why does that matter?"

"I told you you need it. That Chaos guy told you you need it. Why do you not have it? It's important!"

"Chaos?"

"I don't know what else to call him."

"That's...a dumb nickname."

"What, you'd rather me call him Steve?"

"No, no, Chaos is fine!"

"Where's your book!"

"I don't know! I threw it somewhere back in the sand garden."

"Really, Atlas?" August turned on him. They stopped just as suddenly. "That means we have to turn around!"

Atlas fought to regain his breath. "We can, like, detour or something."

What was so important about the stupid binder, anyway? Every time something happened, he was pretty sure it was its fault. The last thing he wanted to do was to incite more problems when all he wanted was to get out.

Where were they going, anyway?

"You do realize you can't spend your time here dilly-dallying, right?"

He glared. "I'm not."

"Well, until you collect all of those memories and fill the entire book, Chaos won't let you leave. And if you stick around too long, guess what happens? They disappear! You have to start all over!"

"Well thanks for telling me that sooner," Atlas muttered.

~

Atlas crossed his fingers when they started running back the way they came. At least with the strange physics of the world, he didn't have to worry about being surprised by the living statue. It was large enough that its own aura would give itself away before it got close enough to even touch them.

He wouldn't admit it, but having another person there, even if they were just a hallucination, helped. It helped a lot. He felt less overwhelmed knowing that August seemed to stick to what he said. Maybe his old friend was on his side. But he needed to remember not to trust it. He couldn't trust anything there.

Atlas found himself slowing down, his throat raw with each breath now. "I need to stop."

August huffed. "You can't just stop when something's chasing you."

"What's the point of running? It's nowhere near us." He leaned against some familiar scrap metal, pressing his palms and forehead against its cool surface to ignore the heat in his face and the ache in his legs.

August leaned back against it with his arms crossed. "Just because you can't see it chasing you doesn't mean it's not."

Atlas let the conversation drop there, because his friend hit the nail on the head with what his biggest fear was there – what he couldn't see.

"Why is it?"

"What?"

"Chasing us."

August shrugged. "My grandpa's a lunatic. Should be obvious."

Eventually they started moving again, this time at a walk as they scanned the sand garden step-by-step. Everything looked the same when you could only see a couple feet of it at a time. It was just sand, and the occasional scrap metal sticking straight out of the ground.

Still, Atlas warily checked behind him, even as his pace slowed when the exhaustion really started settling in.

That had him thinking down even more paths than he needed to.

Was there real water in this world? Food? Would he starve here before he solved the being's game?

He pressed a hand to his stomach. Thankfully, he hadn't felt hungry yet, but his mouth was as dry as the sand below him.

Something fuzzy stuck out slightly into the aura of light. He paused. "August."

"What?"

Atlas stepped closer, and saw the remaining shred of Ashe's coat, the one she had let him borrow. He nearly sighed in relief when he saw it. The hunt for the stupid photobook was over.

"This is where I lost it." He picked the coat off of the ground. It had been torn in half – what a story to explain to Ashe if he ever saw her again. "So the photobook should be around here."

It only took a couple minutes of searching before they found it.

Nervously, Atlas opened the front cover. Were the memories still there?

August leaned over his shoulder, looking curiously at it.

"Oh, I'm still there," he said, pointing at his graduation picture. "Remember how I was late to the ceremony trying to peel that damned gum off of those shoes I stole from Alex's brother?"

Atlas chuckled. He did remember that. Too bad it wasn't really August standing beside him to relive it.

The thought was painfully sobering, and he flipped the page. The photos of his mother at the chocolate shop were gone, along with the one of him after he flipped his bike, leaving only 2 memories filled in.

He counted the squares.

There were eight left to gather?

The photos vanished so quickly. Just in the time inside of the eye, his first two had already disappeared!

He wanted to be sick. He wanted to throw the damned thing on the floor again. Squeezing the photobook in his hands, he stared at the last two photos he had.

Would August disappear if his photo did? Did the memories change what happened to him? If he went back to the same spot, the dock on the eye, would he get them back, or would he have to find new ones to replace it?

There were too many questions in his head. Too many emotions. And there was a person beside him who no doubt knew the answers, but what was the chance he'd give it away?

He peered over at August just in time to see the light around them extend once more. The questions died in his throat when Cerberus stepped close, this time seeming even bigger than it was before.

The metal and wood of its body had morphed. Now it stood on all fours, haunches high like it was about to leap.

He shoved August away right when he saw its back legs propel it forward. They tumbled to the side. The beast crashed and slid on the sand before spinning. This time it seemed to have fangs on its faceless face.

As if every second he looked at it, Cerberus seemed to transform before his eyes.

They scrambled away, Atlas tucking the book to his chest as they bolted once more, a sudden spike of determination pushing him forward despite the unsteady gait and the weariness in his body.

But August was right. He was slow. It didn't take much for Cerberus to come tearing behind them once more. Its weight compacted the sand beneath him, perfect to propel itself from.

Atlas slammed face first to the ground when a hundred pounds of metal crashed into his legs. Cerberus' arms detached, locking onto shoulders and waist this time. There was no sliding out of his clothes. His skin pinched beneath its vice and he was hauled into the air once more as its body once again morphed back into its bipedal form.

He heard August shout and throw things against it, but there wasn't anything worth throwing, and there wasn't anything a scrappy young adult could do against a towering beast of steel.

Atlas couldn't hold on long. His vision spun and darkened and he felt a trickle of blood down from his nose. It wasn't long before he blacked out.