Book 2 | 2 Adaptation

I raised an eyebrow.

"What could he even scrape together out of this situation? It's looking pretty bleak."

She clapped her hands together.

"Something you'll learn about Torix is that when he says he has a plan, he means it."

She turned.

"So get ready for a three-hour lecture."

My shoulders drooped.

"Ah, man. Not again."

2 Adaptation

We left the car as it howled from the wind passing through its opened doors. It was an eerie goodbye in a way, and we stepped past growing lawns and dilapidated streets on our way back to camp. By now, Kessiah bubbled with energy once more, and she chatted away as we walked. Our talk cleared her mind and my mind alike, so we both acted more like our usual selves.

At the medbay, we found Althea slumbering on one of the makeshift hospital cots. Her breathing was no longer labored, and color returned to her face. Kessiah walked over and put a hand on Althea's shoulder. Kessiah shook her with a bit more zeal than she probably needed to. Kessiah raised a brow.

"Hey, toots, wake up. You've had plenty of beauty sleep."

Althea frowned as her eyelids gradually opened.

"I don't want to study anymore, Torix. I just want to practice with my rifle."

Kessiah rolled her eyes.

"Everybody's been waiting on you, missy. We got places to go and things to see, so get the hell up."

Althea pursed her lips and furrowed her brow.

"Somebody woke up on the rude side of the bed this morning, didn't they?"

Kessiah put her hands on her hips.

"Depends on who you ask. Me? I think this is pretty much my usual."

Althea pushed herself up before putting her legs on the side of the bed. She wore a jumpsuit torn in several places. I turned away before pointing outside.

"I'll, ugh, go outside real quick."

Althea blushed before Kessiah opened a starry portal. She took out a few extra pairs of clothes.

"I've got plenty, and besides, we can't have you making me look bad walking around in that."

Kessiah laughed as Althea flustered about while I waited outside the tent. They both sauntered out minutes later, and the open sky grew overcast. It bathed the ground in gray, and the empty streets stood as a silent monument to what Springfield used to be. Now, the only sound you could hear was rustling trash or the whistling of wind.

Usually, I wouldn't notice it, but the gloomy weather brought out just how empty everything was now. I fought to keep those emotions from spilling over me until we reached Torix's house. It was more of a lair at this point. Several cords stretched out of the ground from all directions, amassing in a cord tower and an antenna on top of the home. It all looked new, like it was built since the last time I was here.

When we walked inside, there was a generator built into the center of the house connected with the cords outside. These cables draped across the homey hallways and roofs of rooms. Technology was tapered onto the wall, enabling instant communication of information. At the center of it all, Torix scribbled onto a summoned blackboard.

He would carve his finger into the expanse of black with white mana, like drawing on darkness with snow. When we walked in, he turned toward us.

"Excellent. You're all here. Come, come. Sit."

He walked up beside us and summoned an enveloping sorcery. It slightly shifted the air's color. As this subtle wave blanketed us, all sound from outside the barrier was muted. We pulled up nearby chairs, and once we were all within the magical distortion, Torix spread his hands.

"I've devised a method of safely clearing out new areas."

Althea crossed her arms.

"I talked a big game about it, so you better not let me down."

Torix pointed at the charts detailing the streets of Springfield.

"That was entirely your own choice and made outside my awareness. You'll suffer the consequences of your actions. That being said, I can't imagine my plan failing apart as easily as the first had."

He pressed his fingers together, making the blackboard hover over to him. Torix tapped it.

"The new plan carries many differences, most of all being evasion, distraction, and deception. Firstly, I resuscitated several tiny insect creatures. I've made them explore Yawm's camp to gather information. He is centered within the growing world tree at the center of Springfield, as I believed he would be."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, man...A world tree? Like Yggdrasil?"

Kessiah leaned over.

"What's that?"

I scratched the side of my head.

"It's a part of Nordic mythology in our world. That being said, I'm starting to wonder how much of that was actually mythological or people just stretching the truth a little bit."

Kessiah scoffed.

"It can't be what this world tree is like then. These are monsters that tend to suck up a planet's resources, mainly ambient mana. It's how Yawm and his followers got to such a high level outside the system's influence, and it's probably the core of how Yawm sustains his operation. You know, economically speaking."

Althea murmured while frowning.

"He sells the fruit, wood, bark, leaves, all of it. The world tree's good in potions, poisons, and elixirs alike. So, er, yeah. He kind of grinds planets up for sale and keeps the profits for himself. Well, that and-"

Althea shivered.

"To fuel his experiments."

Torix swung his hand.

"That's why he won't leave that world tree before finishing his infestation. That gives us time. His followers are the primary problem for now. If we kill them and eliminate the infestation, we may weaken Yawm before he escapes his prison."

Torix pointed at a miniature map of Springfield with yellow dots all over it.

"These dots represent named ones that Yawm has either brought over or summoned."

He pointed at several red dots, each of them moving slowly.

"These are the followers. They are the primary threats like Dahkma."

We all nodded as Torix continued.

"So far, they've yet to even ascertain my initial tracking mechanisms, let alone my contingencies. It's a weakness derived from their years of experimentation. They lack sharpened senses and clear minds. That is where we will strike, tactically speaking."

Torix gestured to the map.

"This will track their movements. Depending on the day, I will assign areas they are far from, allowing you all to clear out areas and named ones with relative safety. I've arranged regular meetings with the Force of Iron to allow target encirclements to further progress despite the inherent complexity of this operation."

Kessiah winced.

"Yikes. Will the Force of Iron just be fodder so that Daniel can clear the areas out?"

Torix waved his hand.

"What? Oh, but of course. Their corpses will still be quite useful for our endeavors long after their demise, regardless of whether they are alive or not."

Althea and I gawked at the necromancer. Torix rolled his fiery eyes.

"And here I assumed my humor was lacking, but it would seem none of you is aware of the concept. That is to say, it was a joke."

I scoffed.

"A bad one."

Kessiah peered down at me.

"Coming from the pun lord."

I narrowed my eyes, turning to the side. I spoke with a dramatic undertone.

"Someone has to enact Pun...Ishment on our enemies."

Althea burst into laughter while Kessiah and Torix peered at each other. Kessiah murmured.

"Do we have to let him live?"

Torix shook his head.

"Regrettably so, but we can organize the plan so that he dies at the end."

I spread my hands.

"I'm right here, guys."

Torix interlocked his hands behind himself.

"And that's the problem we're troubleshooting."

Kessiah tilted her head at the other cords.

"Come on, guys, let's get back on track."

Torix pointed at the hanging cords.

"Of course, of course. Now, these allow me to contact the Force of Iron. I'll use this to communicate with each of you as well if our statuses fail for whatever reason."

I crossed my arms.

"Aren't communication technologies banned by Schema?"

Torix's eyes flared.

"Correct. This, however, isn't a long-distance communication. Schema shall allow a simple, short-distance radio to be used. However, it's good to be skeptical. Maintain that rigor when hearing the rest of my plan."

Torix pulled out three glass spheres with thin rings of electronics lining their centers. Torix handed one to each of us.

"Do you remember what these are?"

I nodded.

"Obelisks, right? They organize system interfaces and give you a few bonus options."

Torix held one up to observe.

"These will allow each of you to visualize the data and instructions I send to you in real-time. Kessiah will explain their operation. I've also created a private network for only our use. The Force of Iron will be told little of the operation's specifics. Trusting them too deeply is simply a risk I'd rather not take."

I didn't agree with that sentiment, but I didn't want to throw out my gut feeling since it lacked any logic to back it up. Torix grabbed the map of Springfield on the blackboard and pulled it out. A three-dimensional hologram rose from the board. Underneath the map was a layout of tunnels. Torix pointed at them,

"The underlying sewer system underneath Springfield is a relatively unexplored area for Yawm. We will use it for mobilizing the Force of Iron and our party. This will hide our movements during the operation as well. Likely, this won't last forever, but it shall obfuscate most of our movements during the earlier portions of this mission."

I smiled.

"Ah, then you'll use your summons on the surface while we stick to the underground sections. It's like guerilla warfare essentially but with a bit of added misdirection."

Torix tilted his head at the blackboard.

"Hm. I didn't plan to put my summons only on the surface, but it's a good addition to the plan. Just as well, I'll be giving one of my more powerful summons to Kessiah in case something unexpected occurs. That is actually a topic I wish to broach with each of you."

Torix met our eyes.

"I wish to apologize for my lack of caution. I dedicated an entirely lacking amount of forethought to our situation before. My nonchalance nearly killed everyone, and I will not underestimate Yawm or his followers again."

Kessiah's left eye twitched, painful memories flashing over her eyes.

"You and me both."

Althea uncrossed her arms.

"So, I'm not trying to bring anyone down, but can you manage all of this, Torix? It sounds like a solid plan, but it's also a lot for one person to handle. Er, unless I'm misunderstanding something."

Torix smiled, his eyes flaring bright. The expression lingered eerily on his cadaverous, dry body.

"I shall handle this and more. I'll be splitting these areas so that you may take down the named ones during each mission. They will be much like the disciples of Dakhma. The location of this base will also be hidden with a few more cloaking spells and some jamming technology now, for good measure. Even then, regular rotation of the base's location shall occur to prevent them from finding us too easily."

Kessiah grinned.

"I must say, it's good to see the old Torix is back."

Torix adjusted his robe.

"I do have a penchant for rising to an occasion. Now, if all of you are rested as well, I've already drawn up a few routes you can take when you're ready."

I shrugged.

"I'm down if the others are."

Kessiah clanked her fists together.

"I'm ready. I'll teach that evil piece of shit who's boss."

Althea gave a curt nod. Torix snapped his fingers, making the magical distortion disappear. A rush of white noise filled my ears as Torix spoke over the sudden cacophony.

"Then I'll see you when you all come back. Follow the routes of your obelisks. They'll show you the way from here."

Kessiah draped her arms over my and Althea's shoulders. She grinned between us.

"Let's go give this another shot, shall we?"

She patted our backs before walking out the front door. We stared before Kessiah turned to us. Kessiah waved an arm.

"Come on now. We don't have time to waste, so get out here. I can show you guys how to use the obelisks."

We walked outside the house, Althea's steps light and mine heavy. Once we reached outside, Kessiah lifted her obelisk, shooting a bit of mana into it. A holographic extension of the sphere expanded around her. The glass sphere acted as the center of it, and it worked like a 360-degree monitor. After a few seconds, she activated a setting, and the obelisk's hologram sheened to a glowing white.

I'd never seen the energy from outside. It was like a glowing ball of snow that covered the upper portion of Kessiah's torso. The energy extension returned to the sphere, pieces of Kessiah unveiled as it shrank. Kessiah raised the obelisk up.

"So here's what you do. Put your mana into the thing. The obelisk will then use your unique signature of mana from there on out. You can customize them later if you're into that kind of thing. Personally, I've seen way too many people waste their lives on these things, so I wouldn't recommend it."

I lifted the sphere out in front of me. Charging my runes, an orange light poured into the ball before the wall of white wrapped around me. No noise pierced the orb, mirroring the effect of Torix's sorcery. All around me, a lush, green forest hummed with life abound. I stood on a small island in the middle of a creek. Cicadas buzzed in my ears, and the rustling of the stream calmed me.

A map appeared and integrated into Schema's interface. With a thought, the orb shrunk back into my palm. The two-dimensional square took up a little bit of my peripheral vision, but it didn't get in the way. I pursed my lips.

"So you can change Schema's interface? Weird."

Kessiah half-smiled.

"What? Of course, you can. On the open market, you can find all kinds of adjustments for it."

I put my hands on my hips.

"Open market, huh? What's that like?"

Kessiah peered off in the distance.

"It's where Schema holds a system-approved marketplace to exchange goods. It works great for dumping eldritch loot, buying informational pamphlets, and finding rare supplies. To be fair, there's always a huge markup since everything has to be warped multiple times before it reaches some way off-world like this."

I furrowed my brow.

"Would you be better off going to the planet and getting it yourself?"

Kessiah put her hands on her hips.

"Huh. That depends on how good you are at making money. Most warps cost around 30,000 credits or so, depending on the time of year and distance. You can get that discounted by having a lot of people warp at once. It still costs a few pretty pennies. Heh. I like that phrase, by the way. It sounds nice, like jingling coins."

I smiled.

"It's a good one. Does that mean that most supplies have a 60,000 thousand uptick in the price?"

Kessiah made a finger gun in my direction.

"Bullseye. For me, it's always meant I have to desperately need a supply before I actually order one, and then I have to go to a currency exchange center to get whatever I've ordered or chosen to sell. That exchange is a big part of how Schema finances its operations. On more connected and developed planets, the prices are way lower since you can source supplies locally."

I peered up at the sky.

"Huh. Would Earth be better off if it was connected to a bunch of planets, then?"

Kessiah waved her hand back and forth.

"Eh, probably not. Everyone would come down here and take everything that wasn't bolted to the ground. Prices would be cheaper, but you'd also have far fewer opportunities to make some credits, assuming your planet didn't end up conquered by a larger empire."

I shook my head.

"Oof. Galactic empires and all that's more than a ways away, right?"

Kessiah cupped her chin.

"You know, I think it depends. Sometimes, a planet can have its entrance timer sped up or slowed down. Considering Earth is quarantined, you don't have to worry about that until after it's gone. It also stalls the timer for quite a while."

I tapped my sides out of nervousness.

"Any guesstimations for how long that's going to be for Earth?"

Kessiah shrugged.

"A decade. Maybe more."

I gulped.

"Let's hope we can catch up by then."

She smiled.

"You might, but your planet won't. Most early risers on worlds leave their home planets to rot. It's hard to keep an entire planet safe from a hostile galaxy, after all."

A surge of defiance rose in my chest.

"I'll see what I can do about that. This is my home, after all."

She laughed.

"You probably won't be able to do anything, short stuff. Besides, we have more immediate problems than trying to save your planet from indentured servitude."

I turned, and Althea surrounded herself in the white shielding of her obelisk. Kessiah shrugged.

"She's probably adjusting a few settings. You may want to do that yourself before we leave."

"Eh, alright. I'll give it a shot."

I opened my obelisk, and the creek surrounded me again. Soaking in the relaxing background, I fiddled with a few of the options. Changing the backgrounds, the opacity of my stats, and even the colors of my status screen was as simple as thinking. I didn't have to scroll through a menu screen or a trillion settings to get it done, either.

Of course, that didn't affect my baseline status at all, only the interface of my obelisk. The obelisk changed how a status looked to me, not someone else. Still, it was a dynamic display, and it was invaluable considering how much system interface I'd need during Torix's plans. In fact, the obelisks reminded me of phones from before the apocalypse.

I frowned at the thought. People dug their faces into those glass rectangles for hours on end, ignoring everything around them. I could just imagine how addicted and dependent some people may become on an obelisk, especially considering how much better it was at immersion and customization.

For me, I only organized my perks, skill trees, and my maps. In a cursory glance, I absorbed the information with sublime ease, and I would no longer scroll through screens and screens of data anymore. The obelisk visualized it into various charts, showing bar graphs tracking my exp gain per hour or levels per day. It made managing all the minutia far easier.

In the middle of my piddling, I received a message from Torix.

Torix Worm, of Darkhill | Level 1,301 - I uploaded a variety of my personal libraries to your obelisk. Carrying around an entire archive of books is impossible any other way. Therefore, always remember this - should you invest in knowledge, knowledge shall invest in you. In that regard, progressing without the right book at the right time can be quite rigorous. You happen to have many of them now, so bottlenecks shall be few and far between.

This is one of my first gifts to you, disciple. Use it well.

Now, to access the volumes of data, simply think of accessing the data storage, and it shall present itself. I recommend Finding Your Inner Resolve by Artemus Korgah. It details a few of the more advanced tricks behind augmentation and their initial manifestations. Good luck, though if you're diligent, you won't need something so esoteric.

I smiled to myself. Even if Torix hadn't held my hand as his disciple, he had given me what I needed most. However, this...This was a gift of immense magnitude. I perused the collection's names, and they held well over ten thousand unique titles. While not all of them were useful, many held immediate import to my current needs.

I held a fist, my resolve reinvigorated by a plan and purpose. Following Torix's advice, I visualized a library. The imagery of a creek altered into bookshelves, creating rows and rows of them. They passed by me in a blur before I stood in front of an ancient library. Aged by time but maintained by love, the library held three floors, all hosting dozens of bookshelves apiece.

I willed the title of Artemus Korgah's book, and I shot through the library without having to move. Rows upon rows of books flashed through my mind before I appeared in front of a shelf full of old, leather-bound tomes. Right in front of my eyes was the needed text. Reaching out a hand, the book floated out of the bookshelf before landing in my palm.

It had no weight, but when I flipped the pages, the sound was the same as in real life. That lovely smell of old books was here, too, along with the nice, quiet hum of conversations in the background. It was perfect, and I wanted to read it right then and there. Before I fell into the pages, I put the book back before closing my obelisk.

The wind brushed against my skin once more. Or, well, my armor, I guess? In a way, the armor was my skin and bones. Gazing at my hands, it was a weird thing to dwell on. Regardless, Althea and Kessiah waited on me, Kessiah tapping her foot all the while. After jogging over, she slapped my shoulder.

"And we're off."

Within a few minutes, we left the camp. Of course, we ran. Why waste one of the system's gifts? I mean, we had to fight monsters day and night, so we might as well enjoy traveling between locations. We reached a manhole cover before hopping down the ladder and into the sewers. I expected a sickening stench and quite a few disgusting horrors.

Instead, there was a boundless beauty encapsulated in the stone corridors. Flowers sprouted along the walls, each blossom fighting for the few patches of light that sheened through cracks on the surface. Phosphorescent plants lit the hallways in shades of blue and violet light.

The sheer variety of scents amazed me, each of them like a lit candle. The alternating lights and wondrous smells were like walking through a light festival and perfume shop all at once. As we passed by it all, we lingered. We couldn't help it.

The plants would creep towards us, and I expected blood-sucking vines or parasitic pollen. They proved harmless. Even when you let them crawl up your hand, they would, at most, tickle you. A soft grass grew at the center of the sewer, replacing what had once been sewage. The vibrant emerald green acted as a stunning walkway.

We ooh-ed and ahhh-ed for a while before racing through the tunnels. It was an adventure for once instead of this awful, terrifying task we had to accomplish at all costs. It was great for Althea's morale in particular. She grinned at the flowers, her eyes dancing in the low-lit light. It was one of the few times she seemed happy since I'd seen her.

It made me wonder if all she really wanted was to live out her life as peacefully as possible. I could understand that desire. If anything, my reasons for fighting were similar, though I doubted I could ever truly settle. In the end, what I wanted most was a choice in the matter. At the moment, I didn't have the luxury of choice. None of us did, and that weight bore down on our shoulders like harsh, unspoken truths.

All of us except Althea. With a slight smile on her face, she was a shy, gentle person forced into life-and-death battles. Despite that, her soothing demeanor contrasted with who she was when we first met like ice and fire. If I had to guess, this new side of her was who she truly was, while the coarser individual I first met was a forced adaptation.

It was an awful process to rebuild yourself into what others wanted of you. To become someone you're not weighed on the soul. To do so to appease a tyrant was even worse. It reminded me of my father and who I had to become to live under him. Small, silent, and afraid, I lived for years under his jaded gaze.

Yawm and the research facility had done the same to Althea, turning her into a hardened mercenary. Now, she could finally be something else, and for some reason, that brought me resounding joy. She had escaped her past. Maybe, one day, so could I. In a different world and a different time, it might have been heartbreaking to see how she lived that way for so long.

In this brutal world, we had to appreciate life when it changed for the better. And we did. We laughed for a while in the beauty of that underground paradise. When we finally left the sewer and came back to the surface, the dichotomy of the sewer and the surface was made all the more clear.

The streets crumbled under the strange fauna around us as the bile-colored plants smothered the suburbs in a dense jungle. Spores lingered in the air like floating dandelion seeds. They attached to all surfaces, spreading as a yellow mold mold. Whatever these seeds touched corrupted in Yawm's image.

I couldn't see the sky outside of a few cracks of light leaking onto the forest floor. Roots crawled across the ground, mushrooms budding in the darkest, dankest places. Vines crawled up the trees now, blood red and covered in spines. A few insects buzzed, and others tapped along peeling bark. Birds flew above us, each of them odd and deformed.

Having beaks of wood and feathers like leaves, they camouflaged into the surrounding area to perfection. No matter how closely I looked, I couldn't distinguish them. Below them, massive ants crawled along the ground, their red shells sticking out of the surrounding yellow. A black stripe traced along their abdomens, and white talons jutted from the front of their eyeless faces.

They were fierce and imposing. That is until they walked beside a nearby red mushroom smothered in yellow dots. A crab's claw snapped out from under the mushroom cap, catching the ant by surprise. Before the ants could swarm it, the mushroom cap descended against the ground. The ants crawled over the cap, searching for the crab.

They found nothing aside from poisonous spores. Crunching echoed just under the mushroom. In all honesty, the clever way of avoiding the ant's wrath was captivating, and it reminded me of watching a nature documentary. Kessiah snapped me out of my trance.

"What in the hell are you doing?"

"Uh, watching this crab thing."

"We're on a mission. Focus."

I nodded my head.

"Yeah, of course. Sorry."

I walked out in front of the others. As I did, I spread out Oppression. It killed off the spores, giving the others a safe path forward. We followed the obelisk's instructions, taking a less direct route. When messaged to do so, I spread the maximum extent of my aura. The vast forest around me withered over the next few seconds, all the fauna falling to ash.

I almost regretted killing off so much life. That was until I saw several of the red mushrooms growing from the eye sockets of a decapitated head. That snapped me out of my sudden bout of empathy. Back on track, a panther with thorns jutting from its back leaped towards me from behind.

A spear sliced through the panther's chest before I surged my mana into my runes. A rush of power filled me as I bolted forward. The panther flipped midair as I grabbed its skull.

Swinging it up, I growled as it snapped branches. I crushed it into the ground beneath me, the bone popping under my armor. It splattered out, but my aura vaporized the yellow bile. Its body wasn't as dense as stone anymore. It was more like a creme brulee than a soft rock. The panther didn't even pretend to put up a fight.

It turned out to be an unnamed one of Yawm's. My perk unlocks made the sudden spike in strength apparent. I was a killing machine now. I lifted a foot and caved its torso in. A dull pop and sickening splat echoed across the branches before the forest's steady rumble swallowed the sound. A little cluster of mushroom crabs crawled towards me, squealing in pain.

Sores covered their forms, my aura antagonizing the already open wounds. When they reached me, I began stomping and crushing them underfoot. They were so small, yet their claws could clip through steel, apparently. The roots of the forest crawled towards me as well, but they withered before being able to wrap around me.

On the other hand, the sanguine vines slammed behind us while letting out vicious cracks. A quick, thrumming clap against my side left my armor dented. I grabbed the vine before it recoiled and uprooted them from the tree they wrapped around. Without a host, they withered in seconds. I wiped my brow, glad I could take the initial hit.

Right after I considered that prospect, one of the vines wrapped around Althea. She wrenched herself out of the smothering vine, but blood covered her before another smashed straight through her arm. It caved her chest in. My stomach sank at the sudden severity, and Althea screamed in pain before Kessiah crushed the vine in a split second.

Over the next few minutes, Kessiah applied a bit of first aid and fed Althea a health potion. Some system assistance finished healing Althea before Kessiah flicked Althea's forehead.

Kessiah sighed.

"I didn't think I'd need to help you out of that. Keep your guard up, or you're not making it out of here."

Althea nodded, grimacing. She couldn't even reply. Her enhanced regeneration got her back up to her feet soon enough. Killing her was deceptively tricky, after all. Our trek into the haunting forest continued for a while, and Althea and I expunged the unnamed and the swarms of wildlife.

After three hours of forest clearing, we reached a yellow dot on our map. It was at the top of an empty parking deck, one that helped prevent an old factory-turned-office from dealing with congestion. Of course, that plan never worked, and the post-apocalyptic signs of the unsolved traffic jam littered the place.

Cars rested bumper to bumper along the entire concrete spiral, and no streaks of blood congealed onto the walls. There wasn't a reason for people to return here outside of recovering their car. That wasn't an option since every entrance was blockaded by accidents, so all the vehicles sat up here like a used car sales lot.

It made the entire area act as a nostalgic reminder of a bygone era. I walked past a Honda Civic, one of those scented trees dangling from the rear-view mirror. Rearing my elbow back, I smashed the window before leaning in. It was black ice, a popular scent. I grabbed it, peering at the car freshener.

Althea leaned over to me.

"What's that?"

I handed it to her. She smelled it before smiling.

"It smells like moonlight."

I scoffed.

"It's supposed to be citrus and cedar. I actually really liked it before my dad started hanging the stuff up everywhere."

Althea furrowed her brow.

"Why'd that make you dislike the scent?"

I leaned against the broken car window.

"Because he smelled like cigarette smoke, body odor, and sadness."

Althea put the car freshener in one of her pockets.

"Did he honestly think it covered the smell? Because even this car smells like onions and fried food."

I scoffed.

"I don't know if he did or not. My mother loved the stuff, too, and he never quit using it after she died. I think it reminded him of her."

Althea pulled it out of her pocket before handing the car freshener to me.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to take it then."

I pushed her hand away from me.

"No thanks."

She frowned.

"Er, why?"

I smiled.

"Because they remind me of him now. Honestly, I don't know why I even picked this one up."

She gave me a small smile.

"Notalgia?"

I smiled back.

"Eh, maybe, but let's go before Kessiah yells at us."

We continued walking up the concrete parking deck. When we reached the roof of the eight-story building, there was a humanoid entity perched on the ledge. It wore the armor of a knight, but instead of steel, its plates were mold and its embellishments were fungus. A sword draped on its back, and it oversaw the city below.

Something about it oozed a distant melancholy. Much of its interlocking plates were of bone, and the sword glistened as a sharpened and fused spine. Between the joints in the armor, a blue skin creased with each movement. It turned its head as we walked near it. A pair of downtrodden, blue eyes locked onto us.

Beside him, three decapitated heads of its victims stared out into the distance. The knight said in a deep voice.

"Tell me. Has the reaper come?"

I frowned.

"Why would you do this?"

Althea shrugged.

"Who cares why it did this."

Her biotic rifle hissed as she loaded another bolt of bone into it. She frowned.

"It's just a dead man talking."