Archive of Our Own ^beta

when you hear the sound of nature and only nature for months on end, it wont leave your head until the day you die.
the constant cacophony of tree branches waving and whacking each other,
the cascade of water thumping against the lake,
the leaves that rustle in the wind no matter the weather or time of day.
all of it stays with you as you are so used to the chaos of mother natures plane, you are not sure what to hear once it leaves.

thats how airy thought of the world he stumbled upon oh so many years ago.
airy had died. airy is dead - well, at least to his original world. an unfortunate car crash where both a copper trawler lantern and a soda bottle with a blue label passed away tragically. a freak accident which hurt the loved ones of the deceased. maybe it hurt the soda bottles loved ones, probably not airys though.
his loved ones were long gone.
and he was gone.
transported to some mystical room, a soft gradient which went from pink to yellow adorned the infinite walls as sparkles that glowed green and blue raised up whenever someone moved. apparently others viewed it differently, the memories of happier times guided others to being able to let go of their lives and move on to the next level - a experience that varied between all souls whom deserved peace and more after they crossed to the other side.
but airy didnt deserve a happy afterlife for some reason, maybe he was destined to host the show. destined to host one.
there was a radio, a table and two armchairs, arranged in a linear motion which went from armchair to table with a radio on it to armchair. a peculiar setup but nevertheless some where to rest - maybe rest for eternity. the magic radio could have some heavenly broadcast on it or something close to that. perhaps it could give him the peace that the other side didnt.
and it did.

as soon as airy inputted a radio code - longer than natural - and flicked the antenna, he was transported to a new world.
it was an eyesore, colours bouncing and flashing and changing all at once as small marble-like balls flew around the area in a scattering motion. airy stood in pure shock at this discovery. another dimension which no one knew of. before long, a marble was bounding towards him. suddenly shattering his head and leaving his body stranded.
until he was brought back to the room. where he waited to catch his breath.

what was that? what just happened?
a few more moments to take in what happened..

airy once again moved towards the radio, rotating the nob in order to gain a new universe and hesitantly repeated the motion of flicking the antenna.
luckily, this place seemed a lot quieter, softer colours and was a lot more earth-like. the world seemed totally harmless than the flashy one before. just a mini-forest, a waterfall and a cave: what was the harm in this place?
he looked around, still surprised though not as much as the lantern was in the first place. slowly making his way towards the centre, airy saw the waterfall with a border of sand around it, a pile of logs and what looked to be a cave with vines draped over the entrance. the vines actually seemed quite peculiar : at closer inspection, they were cut in a diagonal line with the remains messily dropped below them.

one peak inside and-..
planets.

there were planets surrounding a computer - a perfectly normal one aswell, the average one you’d discover in the average telemarketing job. it sat silently on a almost-crudely made wooden table behind a matching stool. a microphone - similar to that of a game show hosts - perched next to it. something about it made airy slightly uncomfortable ; he felt a tingling sensation around his left side of face. the icky feeling of looking at these planets that closely resembled the past home the lantern once had started to overwhelm him as he looked away. if airy was going to play with one of these planets (which would be one of the only things he could of done), then he wasnt going to use any of those pre-existing ones.
although, it would be better to build a home before doing anything extreme.
he would be here a long time.

..
airy got carried away.
he had started building a cabin with the skills he learned from his previous life, though his mind constantly wondered back to the solar creations. so with the axe he found and the knowledge of the computer, the lantern compressed the materials he held in his hands tightly while learning on the first and only wall of the home. waiting and waiting before opening his hands.

airy had done it.
the newly-made, green planet floated in front of airy whos mouth was agape as its atmosphere surrounded it. he quickly moved towards the cave again where it grew in size once plugged into the computer. a pattern of triangles adorned the orb - its grass unnaturally geometrical, pointing up no matter the cost.
the code of the computer was complicated. extremely complicated.
random symbols, tabs, words.
though, there was at least an instruction window opened. it was hard to understand but after experimenting a bit, accidentally bringing up numerous squiggles on the screen. there was a tab with people from an area airy didnt pay attention to.
he dragged someone from the ‘SOearth.US.KY’ file to ‘the.Plane’ (a name he didnt decide but at least liked)

the dark green button appeared on the planet.

airy had already seen the potential.

the lantern was shocked awake, feeling a uncomfortable tingle on the left side- no.. all of his face.
airy had just died for the second time. pathetic really though it didnt really matter anymore. but he wasnt in (what he now called) the waiting room but instead, the plane. right by the shack crafted by the ones he stole from their lives after he took a break from hosting after cracking half of his face in a freak accident, mimicking the the very sequence of the two armchairs, table and radio he saw oh so many years ago. the few contestants whom remained in the forever-paused one with the addition of backpack liam beside them, watched him in a almost artificial-looking way.

“ airy? we need to talk ”

no they didnt.
airy knew that.
though he wasnt mad about it
the lantern remembered the tale of the other side back from his original death. where happy memories guided you to the other side - maybe even the final side.
maybe this was it.
he slowly moved towards the group, hesitant about the knowledge that after so many years, he could go on with life .
the sun became brighter while airy felt surrounded by the light as it encased him, signifying the end of the line. the end of airys story.

the sound of nature finally faded.