Part 3: Doomsday

Kiperina reaches the end of the hallway, wearing a heavy frown, then turns back, her steps tracing the same path again and again.
Kiperina: Hmm.
Han Zhang: Come on, now, don't tell me you still haven't made up your mind?
The salamander pops its head out with restless impatience.
Han Zhang: So Miss Snakehead just wants you to test those new teleport disks, am I right? Come on, kid, sounds to me like you've got a free pass to go anywhere.
Kiperina: But where is "anywhere"? The world is just so big.
Kiperina: I'm sorry. I think my indecision has wasted your time.
Her remorseful face makes Han Zhang squirm a little. It rubs at its skin, not sure of what to say.
Han Zhang: Ah, you've got nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who decided to tag along.
Han Zhang: These teleport disks are going to be hot stuff soon, but Laplace isn't likely to be offering them up to the public just yet.
Han Zhang: Which means, if I want to keep digging into how these things actually work, and I don't want to keep begging that mean snakehead, then I'll just have to ride your coattails for the next little while.
Han Zhang: Listen, wherever you go, I go. If you take a couple extra minutes, so what? It's not the end of the world. Take your time. Think all you like.
Something in his phrasing catches Kiperina slightly off guard.
Kiperina: "The end of the world" ...
Kiperina: I used to believe in all those prophecies about the end of the world. I remember once when I was five when we performed in a town where there was this old fortune-teller lady.
Kiperina: She said that one day all that we love will be gone. The earth will split open, then the waters will rise.
Kiperina: I remember being so frightened when I heard that. I rushed into the tent and hugged Mr. Kozlov tight. I didn't even say anything. He was worried about me for a long time after that.
A thought dawns in her mind and spreads across her face.
Kiperina: I still remember it was in Murmansk.
Kiperina: It was where Mr. Kozlov found me.
Kiperina: He told me about it when we returned there for a performance. That was ten years ago.
Kiperina: The year was 1977.
Han Zhang: Oh? Sounds like you might want to pay that place a visit?
Kiperina: I ...
She hesitates, then nods, her face resolute and certain.
Kiperina: Yes.
She pulls out the first teleport disk.
Kiperina: She whispers the destination in her mind, invoking the "Teleport" ritual.
She takes a deep breath.
Kiperina: My destination is Murmansk.
Scattered memories of the city flood her mind. The ships in the port, the towering statues ... Memories flowing away in reverse to a distant past.
A warm coat shields her from the snowstorm, and a tent provides the canopy for a small world filled with laughter and joy.
The ritual takes hold. The disk shakes in her grasp, and without warning, another word surfaces in her thoughts:
Home.

Kozlov: Heads up, your dear Aunt Natalya is making her grand entrance!
In the distance, a slender figure slips into the tent.
Audience: Oh my gosh! It's like she can really fly!
The crowd holds their breath. Even the gasps grow hushed and hesitant.
She walks a wire barely a finger thick. A single slip would send her plummeting from dozens of meters above.
Yet she moves as if walking on solid ground. From afar, it looks as though she's walking on thin air.
Finally, she reaches the far end and greets the audience with a poised salute. After a moment of stunned quietude, thunderous applause bursts forth.
Audience: Amazing, Utrennyaya! Truly amazing!
With a sea of applause, the man smiles down at the little girl beside him.
Kozlov: There, you see? Nothing to worry about.
Kozlov: Aunt Natalya's not going to fall, Andreas's knives won't miss, and Bajon's not suddenly going to chomp on your sister Lena.
Kozlov: We pitched our big top good and strong, and no storm's taking it down. Even if the ground shakes or water comes rushing in, we'll still be safe inside.
Kozlov: That's why you must smile, Alia.
Kozlov: Forget what that fortuneteller said, child. The world's not ending, not anytime soon.
The cold wind howls, and the deep snow makes every step a struggle.
But none of it slows her down.
Kiperina: I'm almost ... Not much farther. It's just ahead.
Kiperina: I remember it so clearly. The circus was right over there, by that little lake.
???: Hello! Hello!
She hears a faint voice call out to her, but there's nothing behind her except the white snow.
Han Zhang: Down here!
Following the voice, she glances down. A small head emerges from the opening of her coat.
Kiperina: What is it, Mr. Lizard?
Kiperina: I'm sorry. I got distracted while using the disk. I think we ended up a little off course.
Kiperina: But I promise we're almost there.
The little salamander leaps up in a burst of outrage.
Han Zhang: Lizard? What lizard? I'm a salamander!
Kiperina: Oh? Really?
Kiperina: I'm sorry. I guess I never knew the difference.
Its little head shakes.
Han Zhang: Ah, no, that's not even what I wanted to say!
Han Zhang: What I wanted to ask is, where are we really headed? I mean, you get what I'm saying, don't you?
Shards of frozen snow whip against her skin, and the wind's roar quietens Han Zhang's voice to a whisper.
Kiperina: Hmm? Mr. Liza—uh, I mean, Mr. Salamander, what did you just say?
Kiperina: I can't hear you!
Han Zhang: What I'm saying is—no more—don't—everything's—
The storm rages. The whipping snow covering the words of the tiny salamander.
Kiperina: Please, get back in my coat for now. It's too windy out here!
The icy gusts hit her face like sharp blades. Her skin starts to flush with an odd, feverish warmth.
Kiperina: Huff ... huff ... This was careless.
Kiperina: It's so cold here. I should've brought a thicker coat.
She pauses, uncertain. Maybe it would be better to head back after all.
But with her goal so close, Kiperina pushes her stiffening legs forward. All sense of caution being taken with the wind.
It seems almost second-nature to her.
Kiperina: I'm almost there.
Kiperina: Huff ... huff ...
She has been moving blind against the onslaught of snow, wandering much longer than she planned. The stiffness and cold in her legs begin to radiate across her body.
Kiperina: There it is!
She finally sees what she's been looking for, and her snow-covered boots, heavy with cold, begin to move with miraculous speed.
Kiperina: This is it! Over this small slope! That's where the circus was!
Kiperina: Hmm?
She climbs up to the peak of the slope, and finds herself solid.
Nothing's there.
Kiperina: That's odd. Why?
She looks around as if in a daze but her view tilts and spins with every turn of her head.
Then the muffled impact of a heavy object falling into the snow.
Kiperina: Hmm?
After a moment, her brain sluggishly registers. The "heavy object" was her.
Han Zhang: I said, that's enough! You're freezing to death, kid. Keep going like this and you're done for!
Han Zhang: Where are the other teleport disks? Hand them over. I'm taking you back.
Something scrambles onto her chest, shouting words she can barely make out.
Kiperina: Go back?
Kiperina: Back to where?
Kiperina remembers the words that drifted to her through the storm. Words she tried to shut out.
Han Zhang: Just stop, kid! Where are you even going?
Han Zhang: Don't you remember? Everyone from your circus was swept away by the "Storm"!
Kiperina: Oh, I forgot.
Kiperina: What am I saying? I couldn't ever forget. Ms. Hissabeth told me everything.
Kiperina: They are ... gone.
And then her consciousness begins to slip away.
But this time there won't be anyone to shield her with a coat, to craft a tiny haven from the storm.
All that she loved has vanished. For her, the end of the world has already come.
Kiperina: ...?
But as sight and touch fade, she catches a faint sound.
It sounds like footsteps.
But how could that be?
Yet the sound grows nearer with each passing moment.
At last, a voice rings out through the howling wind, different from the one she had hoped for, yet it is unmistakably real.
Woman: Heavens! Come on, child, pick yourself up, please.
As her last shred of consciousness fades, two arms—warm and strong, just like she remembered—wrap around her.