“I’m alive,” Maya cheered as she carefully examined her body, “And all limbs are intact.” 

  	Before stepping outside, Maya checked the planet’s data on the drop pod’s computer system to make sure she wouldn’t instantly die due to environmental factors. Breathable air? Check. Temperature? A little chilly but still inhabitable. Seismic activity? Not enough to be concerned about. Local time? Roughly around noon. No other imminent threats popped up on the screen. [i]Looks alright. Time to get a move on.[/i] As she popped the escape hatch open, steam spiraled upward from around the drop pod. Maya cautiously peered out. Darkness encompassed her. Taken aback, Maya scrunched her forehead in confusion. [i]I thought the computer said it was daytime.[/i] Worried that there was a bug in the program, she refreshed the system and checked the data again. The clock still read the same. Taking into consideration the planet’s rotation and orientation in regards to the sun, it should have been daytime. 

	Maya reemerged again, wary of her surroundings. She did not like the darkness; she felt vulnerable. Her pupils struggled to dilate wide enough as they scavenged for traces of light. Maya stumbled around blindly, trying to get her footing on the rocky terrain. The lingering sense of dizziness from her descent in the drop pod did not aid the situation. Finally, like living shadows, silhouettes emerged and took shape as Maya’s eyes adjusted. Minute discrepancies between shadows revealed the jagged curvature of a barren landscape that stretched into the inky horizon. Overhead, a canopy of rolling black clouds churned angrily. Their billowy outlines were revealed only by the faint glow of artificial lights in the distance. [i]That must be why it is so dark. Sunlight can’t penetrate the atmosphere’s cloud cover.[/i] 

	A cold gust of wind swirled Maya’s silvery locks around her face and stung her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around herself as shivers traced her spine. Unless she wanted to inadvertently become the Archon of Ice, she needed to find shelter quickly; and even more ideally, she needed to find the elusive Archon. She peered into the distance towards the almost imperceptible flicker of stark white light. While she was not entirely sure, she thought she could make out the box-ish outline of a building.
  
	“Guess I will head that way,” she mumbled, not looking forward to the long trek.