it's a metaphor for consumerism, i think

The dull thunk of my paddle hitting the boat is the only thing that breaks the silence of the lake I'm traversing.

There's someone in front of me that I've truly never met, but I saw that one time when I was stealing the water barrel in the crude sprawl. But frankly, I don't care for her. Really, I don't. I wasn't even supposed to fall asleep. I should be awake right now, gathering the last of my power for that special spell God sent into my brain, god knows what it is. But the person in front of me talked anyway. And when she did, her name flashed into my brain with big impact font letters. ASPITY.

"Look around. Nothing's really as it seems. Nothing but dreams." She spoke slowly, with a low drawl that made it a little tiring for me to listen to her because I have tiktok dopamine brain.

"Uh yeah that's kind of how this works. This is like my dream or whatever- Aren't you like, from the kin? Why are you in my boat? You're telling me there's no other people that could have possibly been in my boat today?"

She shrugs, leaning back as she continues to speak cryptically "If you want it all, lay it on the line."

"Yeah dude, I guess. So you could.. request this boat? For what? Because the Kin don't like me?. I dunno girl, you freak me out."

She opens her mouth to speak, then frowns suddenly, as if she'd had a revelation. She slowly bends over the side of the boat, sticking her hand into the void-black water before muttering "Don't you feel the rush?"

"Yeah, welcome to my boat of doom, it kind of does that sometimes like it rushes in one direction. Anyway. Hope you enjoy dying soon because that's what people typically do. Except for Grief, and Peter today." I shrugged

"It's the only life you got." Said Aspity "So you have to live it big time."

What ? Oh god there's the fucking light again.

AND THEN I WOKE UP!! >:3

It's go time, I've never been so ready in my life. When I woke up, the first thing I did was drink the special Twyrine that I was given by the kin because I could definitely trust them. It tasted surprisingly sweeter than all the other Twyrine I've ever consumed. Deep, earthy, but interestingly sweet and kind of almond-like?

And exactly like they said would happen, I felt all my pores open or whatever, the prime skincare routine of the Gods fueled by alcohol, but more importantly, I felt the earth speak to me, and the earth said "Bestie that was cyanide." and I said "Bestie how do I cure the plague?" and the Earth replied "Go to him and I will show you."

And by the gods, I can not refuse such an easy request. This was it. It would come to me, just like every other one of my revelations does. Peter Stamatin, king shit, we're doing this.

I raced over to his house, frankly knocking down several people in the process but really it was their fault for being in my way anyway. There was one guy who was attempting to mug me, but really, who the hell tries mugging someone who looks like he's on a mission? That's your fault really. Anyway, I finally made it over to his house because we still do live near each other and then I saw him and-

"Peter-"

Peter is -

Nothing more than a statistic, nothing more than a number on an endless list of dashes listing another claimed life from another plagued district. Nothing more than history. Nothing more than Notkin. Nothing more than that damned tower reaching to the sky, the Polyhedron, his child, the one I swore to protect in his stead.