Something must stop them. In "Bastion-style" stories, this is often the environment itself or "Scrappers" representing the wreckage of the old world.
Elara didn't run. You can't run when there’s nowhere to go but down. She swung the heavy iron key like a hammer.
"Proper story's supposed to have a hero," she whispered, the metal meeting metal with a bone-shaking thwack . "But I’ll settle for being the one who’s still standing." lh11rar
The path ahead was long, and the sky was still grey, but for the first time since the world broke, Elara started to walk. How to Build a "Proper" Story
She stepped off the marble onto a floating cobblestone path that knit itself together just as her foot descended. To her left, a piece of a clock tower drifted by, its gears frozen at 12:04. To her right, a garden bench held a statue of a man holding a bunch of stone roses. He looked peaceful. Elara envied the stone. Something must stop them
"Keep movin', girl," a voice echoed, though there wasn't a soul in sight. It was just the wind playing tricks, or maybe the ghost of the Librarian who always told her to keep her voice down.
Elara woke up on a slab of marble that used to be a library floor. Now, it was just a raft in a sea of nothing. She didn't remember the fire, but she remembered the smell of old paper burning. That was the Calamity for her—the day the stories turned to ash. You can't run when there’s nowhere to go but down
People find things more satisfying in threes—three obstacles, three main characters, or three acts.