Dad was different today.

He was a little taller. A little broader in the shoulders. Prushka had noticed such changes before, but she didn't dare to bother her father about nothing. He had been working particularly hard in recent weeks, and a few days ago he had left her with Uncle Gueira, warning her that he was leaving for the Abyss.

It was not the first time they had said goodbye, but each separation was hard on Prushka, turning into hours of waiting by the frozen window. Alone, she felt like a lost, cursed child again, and even the awkward attempts of her father's assistants to cheer her up could not drown out her longing and fears for her father. But he always came back, bringing something new into her world. Marvellous flowers that could never grow in the permafrost of the Fifth Layer, crystals of rare beauty, relics of people of the past whose skills and technology were lost in the depths of centuries.

Today, an unassuming grey cocoon lay in the open palm of his hand. Fragile and vulnerable in appearance - Prushka did not dare to pick it up until her father explained that only its mysterious inhabitant could destroy the rough shell of the chrysalis. Bondrewd kept secret what kind of creature was hiding inside, but promised that in a couple of weeks in the dryness and darkness something worthy of the Flower of Dawn would be born.

It would be a long time before the gift was truly revealed, but that didn't upset Prushka one bit. The main thing was that Dad was with her again, and her heart overflowed with quiet joy as the bed sagged under his weight.

- "Something wrong, Dad?" - Prushka moved closer and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. It was good to have him around.

It's so weird. Dad has to do so many things to survive the Abyss... And the Abyss is just there.

Cold, indifferent. Unchanging in its cruelty to people.

But for some reason her father returned to it every time...

Without letting him answer, Pruska threw herself at her father, nestled against his chest, ignoring the stiff armour. He hugged her back, even through the thick leather of his gloves she could feel the warmth of his hands.

Daddy's stories of the world beyond the Fifth Layer were everything to her - a window into the Abyss, full of adventure, unseen creatures and mysteries left behind by a long-vanished civilisation. And even though she sometimes didn't understand half the words if her father got too carried away, she just loved hearing his voice, guided by which she had once been able to leave her cocoon of darkness and pain. She loved his touch - ever since he had spent hours at her bedside, healing wounds left by a curse or self-inflicted. Prushka didn't know how she'd earned such care and boundless trust, but she hoped one day to return it in full.

His fingertips tickled her below the knee. Prushka shuddered in surprise, immediately ashamed of her fearfulness, in case her father thought she didn't like his new appearance. Reluctantly, she opened her arms and touched his chest again; it was warm, almost hot. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the semi-darkness, she could see the cracks and a few particularly deep scratches left by the claws or teeth of the monsters of the deep.

- "You're not hurt, I hope?" - Prushka worried, looking fearfully at the torn metal and fabric. It was the first time she had ever seen such obvious signs of her father's travels.