[video, backdated to april 17th]
[The video clicks on. The sky, the color of granite, fills the center of its view. Around its edges, spikes of grass encircle it. Only the sound of a breeze transmits through the microphone- until there is the faint sound of a child weeping in the far distance. Finally, the sound of footsteps comes across, and then Espedon's voice.]
...so there's where I left you.
[Static. Then comes a view of his face. He looks as though he hasn't slept in days, but is otherwise fine. Espedon then makes a triumphant grin.]
Thought I'd lost you. Let's get ba-
[Another sob. Espedon's expression shifts to one of puzzlement, and he looks over his shoulder. He drops the PDA. More static, and when it clears, the camera is seated half-behind the man's foot- and where the foot isn't blocking it, the view is perfectly clear.
Hills slope up and down, finally green and free from snow. The clouds form a perfect canopy, blanketing the scene. And filling the hills are children- hundreds. Thousands. Most of them look starved, others look beaten, some frozen... a different death for each of them. The rags they wear were once bright and beautiful, tunics bearing some long-forgotten religious symbol. Some of them hold up staffs or banners with the symbol fixed upon them. All of them are staring with hollow eyes, their presence crying for fulfillment. For justice. Espedon makes a pained noise.]
...please, stop this...
[As he takes a tentative step toward them, the view is cleared. The ghosts of thousands of lost children flood the hillside, all the way to the horizon. The man drops to his knees with a thud, apparently having forgotten himself. There is a long silence before he clenches his head in his hands and screams.]