It felt like an eternity since last she had seen him. It couldn't have been of course, she hadn't lost her vibrant colors and her bones did not creak when she stood as would happen when she was elder, like her grand sire. Even so, the inability to keep track of time down here made everything seem achingly slow. The drip, drip, drip of moisture off the cave walls was the sound of the stars clicking in the sky as they revolved around, time spinning effortlessly out of control.

"STOP!" she screamed at the offending slab of rock, racing past it with an abrupt wildness that caused her shoulder to brush it heavily with her haste. Images of Oxy's jeering laughter and his imprisoned Ampere wriggled back into her mind, fueling her panic so that her blood was molten hot with fury and need.

Ampere needed fresh air. Like a miniature train she galloped up the pathway of the sanctuary, weaving through the masses of bodies and just hoping and praying to gods she didn't believe in that cave opening was clear of milling bodies. It usually was unless a horse was hyperventilating like she was - no one wanted to watch the world sag into despair, so they usually kept clear of the window to outside.

Thankfully it was clear now. Like a gasping fish Ampere thrust her head out, muzzle quivering as she gulped down the sour, acrid air of the consumed land that had been home not too long ago.
The longer she stood there, able to see the sky amid patches of foul smog, the more her body relaxed, but the faster her heart thumped in her chest. "Why is this happening?" she wondered aloud, a trace of anger lining her tone. Ampere had not even thought to realize that in some small way this is what she had wanted. The world was transforming was it not? She'd hated the way it had been before, where the strong bullied the weak, and now? Now they were just all weak, bullied by those, those things. This wasn't anything like what she had wanted.

With a sigh she pulled her head backside and slouched against the nearest wall. Its cool touch prickled against her hide, but it was nothing compared to the feelings budding in her chest, convoluted and chaotic. She felt so powerless and hated the darkness for that.
Meanwhile nobody new had come down for a while and she still hadn't seen Mesec. "Where are you?" Ampere whispered, hoping he had not been infected.