Where The Wild Stands

Before Genesis.

As Mara crouched next to Kairos, her fingertips brushed over his coarse fur, the feeling grounding her in a way she didn’t expect. She was surrounded by the crumbling remains of a civilization that had long been forgotten—weathered stone and overgrown roots twisted through every crevice, nature reclaiming what man had lost.

And yet, here she was, alive in this world of decay, with nothing but a mysterious dog and her own calculating mind to keep her company. It was a world that demanded more than just survival. It demanded understanding—of the land, of the threats lurking within it, and now, of Kairos.The dog’s glowing eyes flickered in the dim light, casting brief, almost spectral flashes on the cracked stone nearby. He wasn’t ordinary—Mara had known that from the moment they locked eyes. He carried himself with an eerie stillness, a presence that felt almost too aware for an animal. Kairos seemed to know more than he let on, his gaze holding something unspoken, an intelligence that made Mara uneasy.She wanted answers, but Mara’s approach to life was never impulsive. She preferred to observe, to study, to understand before acting. Her mind, ever the fortress of logic and structure, processed information methodically. And now, it was pulling at threads, trying to make sense of Kairos and the cryptic way he had appeared—like a specter watching over her in this haunted landscape.She rose slowly from her crouch, her eyes scanning the ruins around her as if the answers she sought might be hidden somewhere in the shadows. They weren’t. She had learned long ago that in this world, answers didn’t come easily.Kairos shifted beside her, a soft whine escaping him as his tail flicked once in the dirt. Mara glanced down, her fingers brushing absently against the blade at her waist. She wasn’t used to trusting easily—her persona didn’t allow for such luxuries. But there was something about Kairos, something that kept her from fully shutting him out.And yet, she still wasn’t sure. Was he here to protect her, or was he simply waiting, biding his time until some hidden purpose revealed itself?

They went back home undisturbed....

A year ago, this place had felt even more foreign to her.Mara had found herself wandering through the ruins with nothing but the cold wind biting at her face, her backpack weighed down with supplies and yet somehow feeling empty. She had been alone then, truly alone, and her mind had been laser-focused on survival. She remembered the loneliness as vividly as she remembered the sky—the endless gray stretching out, unbroken and unforgiving.

There had been a time before the collapse, a time when Mara was part of something larger. She had a home, a place in a world where order still existed. She had always been detached from others—her personality type ensured that. But even she couldn’t deny the small connections she had lost.

Mara’s family was the one thing she couldn’t quite categorize. Every member seemed to defy the logic she applied to the world around her. It wasn’t that they didn’t make sense—on some level, they did. But the problem lay in the sheer unpredictability of human emotion, something Mara never fully understood but had learned to navigate. Each member of her family was a puzzle, a part of her life that demanded more than just strategic thinking. In their own way, they taught her things logic alone couldn’t.

Mara’s father, Jonas, was the closest thing she had to a mirror. He was a man of quiet resolve, someone who believed that life was meant to be approached like a chessboard—strategically, carefully, with every move considered in advance. Mara admired this about him, even as a child. They shared a bond that didn’t need words, built instead on an unspoken understanding of how the world worked.Jonas worked in finance, and while Mara found the actual work he did dull, she was captivated by the way he approached it. He saw the world in terms of systems and numbers, much like she did, and there was a certain clarity to the way he moved through life. He rarely got angry, never raised his voice. Even in difficult situations, he maintained an even keel, calmly working through the problem until he found a solution. Mara aspired to that calmness, that sense of control, and often found herself emulating his behavior, especially when chaos swirled around them.Her father’s presence was a grounding force in her life. When she felt overwhelmed by the noise of the world, she would sit with him in his study, the two of them in silence as he worked on his latest project. He never pushed her to speak, never asked her to be anything other than what she was. It was in these quiet moments that Mara felt most at ease, not needing to perform or explain herself. Jonas understood her in ways her mother and siblings couldn’t. They shared the same mindset, the same need for order and structure.But as much as Mara admired him, there was a part of her that questioned his detachment. Sometimes, she would catch a glimpse of her father looking at her mother, his expression softening for just a moment before the familiar mask of composure slid back into place. It made her wonder if there was more to him than the calm exterior, if beneath the surface he felt emotions just as strongly as everyone else but simply refused to show them. Mara wasn’t sure if that was something to be admired or feared.In the end, Jonas was her role model—not just because of his intelligence or his strategic mind, but because of the way he navigated life’s complexities with precision and grace. She wanted to be like him, to control her emotions and stay focused on her goals, no matter what the world threw at her. And yet, there was always that nagging question in the back of her mind—did her father’s composure come at a cost? Was there a part of him that he kept hidden, even from himself?