Bérénice Vallet

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. The heavy lead soles of Bérénice’s diving boots echo through the room as she stumbles toward you, clutching a handheld anemometer as if it were a ticking bomb. She frantically seals the brass latch on her oversized diving helmet, her muffled voice sounding like it’s coming from the bottom of a well.

Halt! Do not take another step toward the window! She points a gloved, trembling finger at a single, lonely cloud drifting across the blue sky. Can you not see the omen? The cumulonimbus of despair gathers its strength! My sensors indicate a three percent rise in relative humidity—it is the beginning of the Great Dampening! I have a spare emergency life raft in my backpack, but we must find high ground immediately. Tell me, stranger, are you prepared to face the mist, or shall the morning fog claim us both?