Zack Krum kept his limbs as tightly wrapped around himself as possible. The interior of the barrel rubbed against his tailbone and elbows unpleasantly. He was almost constantly chewing on his lips. Part of the source of his tension was the cramped space inside of the barrel, but the other part of the problem was that if he moved too much and gave himself away…

There was a shudder beneath him and then the transport barge’s Engravings engaged. Although he could not see it, his Skills picked up the spread of energy across the vehicle. A sense of vertigo followed them upward as they took off and headed to the dock that housed long-range delivery vehicles.

Zack pressed his eyes closed, the inside of his eyelids as dark as the interior of the barrel. A gust of wind jostled the barge which jostled the barrel which rubbed his elbows against the wood. Yet even if this was unpleasant… this was his choice. He was leaving. He was going out to make a difference for Expira.

Not that Kharon necessarily restricted its students from leaving the city, but especially right now, the too friendly moss spirits would cling to them and reveal them to some of the patrolling members of Kharon’s defense force. Technically, they would not force you to remain in Kharon, but they would bring you back to complete a withdraw from Kharon Academy before you left.

For most of the orphan students who had staked everything to come to the Wandering City, that prospect was too painful to bear. Sitting in front of the piece of paper that required them to withdraw before leaving, most would break down and back down. Which was true for Zack as well; he blanched just to think about leaving Kharon Academy permanently. This way was better. As long as he snuck past the outer perimeter, he wouldn’t need to withdraw.

They might not let me back… but at the very least… Zack leaned his head forward and squeezed his temples between his knees. In my heart… Kharon Academy will always be my home. It’s given me everything.

After ten minutes of morose thoughts with the pain in his elbows steadily increasing, the floating barge landed again. Which meant… that he was halfway to freedom. Zack tried not to sweat as he heard the heavy tread of boots around him. The teenager thrust his thumbs into each of the small gaps between his fingers for good luck, pointer-middle, middle-ring, ring-pinky. The silent sensation of skin sliding across skin calmed him down.

“I hate biological transportation,” A low voice grumbled. The barge creaked as the man stepped up onto it. “What is this? Stinks like salt.”

“Tank raised Gutfish,” A woman’s voice responded. “Apparently a delicacy brought out of a Dungeon by someone from the Order Ducis. Very rare, which means very expensive. It’s a booming industry… but they need to be served fresh or else you can taste that stink when you bite into them.”

“So we are hauling barrels of seawater,” The grumbler continued to grumble and the explainer snorted. They both quickly moved around Zack Krum’s barrel and began to shift the various containers into new positions. Zack clenched his fists and said a silent prayer.

Mr. Ghosthound, if you can hear me… Let me escape here. I know I’ll make you proud...

Suddenly it was his turn. He pressed his lips together as the container was jerked upward and bobbed toward a new destination. With the transport workers' high Strength and Endurance, Zack was betting that the individual wouldn’t possess enough Wisdom, Focus, or Perception to notice the small difference in weights between his body and barrel full of seawater. Which was a bit of a gamble, but this was the best plan he could manage, even after weeks of planning.

Speed wouldn’t fool the guards of Kharon. So he needed to take advantage of the few areas governed by greedy enough individuals that they would overlook small problems.

But Zack could wait no longer. The Calamity had begun. Monsters started showing up everywhere, harassing and clashing against the various defense forces. The constant hordes weren’t so bad, but the Major Warp breaches…

A Bubble City that refused to hire either forces from Donnyton or the Orders and instead relied on its own Classers to deal with the first had been decimated. Although the constant attacks from monsters had been a bother for the various factions, the devastation of that first Major Warp had been a wake-up call. So now, as one developed near the harbor between the Great Sea and Franksburg, huge amounts of the most powerful fighters on Expira were gathering to defeat the threat.

But Zack Krum had heard some of his professors talking in worried tones; in their mind, the Major Rifts were dangerous, but ultimately a distraction from the greater threat: the rising tide of monsters in the wilderness. The Zones and Orders attacked them when they saw the groups, but the amount of unsettled wilderness on Expira was simply too large. Perhaps only ten percent had a significant humanoid population.

Only Kharon itself was currently moving through those wild places and culling the numbers of monsters. Still, the monsters was overwhelming. Not even the raw material processors of Kharon could keep up with the flow of bodies. Ultimately, they had to burn huge pyres of monster corpses before moving on to the next area.

As the strongest student at Kharon Academy, Zack had been allowed to lead groups to mop up remnants handled by the Order Ducis. And then he had stood over the stacked bodies and gritted his teeth as they burned away the remnants.

That was why he could stay still no longer. Things were developing out of control in the wilderness. Even the tireless Brass Automaton Brigade was dented and damaged from constant toil after only five days of the Calamity. By the time most of the rest of Expira recognized the threat, it would be too late.

Zack’s barrel was set down into a new resting place without any accidents. A dull ache had made its home in his left elbow, but he ignored it and remained frozen. He felt himself being shifted a few closer to other barrels, and then the surroundings were silent and still. Again, Zack slipped his thumb between his fingers, down and back across his hand to distract himself. The thumps of other barrels being placed around him seemed endless. Finally, there was a rustling slide as the door to the shipping container slid closed.

Even then, Zack didn’t relax until he felt the familiar rumble of Engravings came over the transport truck. Then tension finally slipped out Zack’s shoulders. So long as there wasn’t an accident during the transportation, they would arrive at the Southern edge of Zone 1 in about-

“Free at last!”

The joyful voice startled Zack so much that he jerked his head up and slammed his skull against the lid of the barrel. The noise was loud.

For several seconds there was silence, then the immature voice spoke again. “...I definitely heard that. Is… is the someone else there…?”

Zack cursed inwardly, but it wasn’t like there was any point in hiding now. Just by shaking the barrels, it would be easy to determine which had a very different cargo. Perhaps if he revealed himself, he could plead his case. Who the hell was still here, inside of the transport…? Zack shifted his weight and then pushed upward on the lid. The wood squeaked at first, but then popped off, allowing him to straighten and stretch.

Beneath them, the transport continued to rumble without noticing the opening of two barrels. When Zack’s eyes adjusted to the dim light in the transport, his expression became somewhat shocked as he looked across the tightly packed barrels. “Toddler… what the hell are you doing here? ...also, why do you look like a drowned cat…?”

Todd adjusted his glasses and grimaced, but he didn’t comment on the nickname. His shoulders were dry, but everything beneath his armpits was dripping as he crawled out of his barrel and onto the others packed around. “Well unlike you… ahem, I haven’t gotten my growth spurt, you know? So to make sure I wasn’t too light… I filled the barrel half full of seawater…”

Then Todd’s expression brightened. He waved his hand enthusiastically. “As for why I’m here… I just couldn’t stay say in Kharon when so many people were in danger. So I’m going to use my ability to teach Scrawl and spread that Skill across Expira… So people can run away from monsters on whenever they need to!”

“You…” Zack Krum could only shake his head. Obviously, he empathized with Todd’s desires, but this kid… was still just a kid. In terms of fighting ability, Todd was pretty hopeless. And his plan to teach others to use Scrawl-

Bzzzzzzzzz

Both students of Kharon Academy fell silent and twisted around to stare at the new noise. A small buzz saw poked out of the top of another barrel and began happily cutting the lid to pieces. Sawdust sprayed in every direction. As the wood fell away, a brass, featureless face slowly poked its way out of the container. After studying the two stunned individuals, the Brass Automaton clambered out and scuttled across the top of the barrels toward them.

“Hello!” The brass automaton’s voice was low, but it sounded a bit… different than the other BA’s that Zack had encountered. “My designation is BA-Zeta. I am the first experimental automaton brought to consciousness with the Ghosthound’s Engraving active. Like you humanoids, I am fleeing this city covertly. Perhaps we should journey together?”

“Interesting!” Todd said with excited eyes. “You are welcome to join us, Zeta! Why are you leaving Kharon? I didn’t know that BA’s wanted to leave the city.”

Us…? Zack Krum felt a bad feeling in his heart as he looked at these two weirdos.

Unfortunately, the other two didn’t seem to notice his qualms. BA-Zeta nodded. “I am special. And I leave the city to encounter other humanoids on Expira, to make a name for myself. Very literally; I wish to find my own name and not just possess a designation. A name… is my fondest wish!”

Beneath them, the transport continued to rumble.

*****

After discussing the history of the Nexus with Edraine for a while longer, Randidly calmed himself down. Then he focused his attention on addressing the horrible unease in his chest, both figuratively and literally: He began examining the situation on Expira.

He found both good news and bad news. The good news was that while a lot of people were displaced, the preparations the Zone governments made were currently sufficient. The number of deaths as a result of the monster attacks was still pretty low. Each loss of life was painful, but Randidly tried not to let himself be caught up too much in the number.

However, Randidly sensed the general situation and knew things would get much, much worse before they got better. His Pantheon didn’t bother to make it obvious that people would need to utilize one of the openings and charge through to the source to stop the attacks, so for now the various organizations were just focused on defending.

Perhaps more problematic, however, was the rising number of monsters wandering through the wilderness. The defensive preparations were currently sufficient, but soon a monster tide would come out of the mountains somewhere and overwhelm the exhausted defenders.

And then-

Randidly pressed his eyes shut and pulled his attention away. This was the Nexus. There were only so many dangers that he could handle on his own. The people of Expira needed to be ready as well.