“Hey Cameron!”

“Good to see you, boss!”

“Head Guard!”

Cameron navigated his way through the bustling hallways of the inner buildings, waving at the scattered guards calling to him from throughout the rooms. One of the first thing the Geomancers of Ashley had done when they’d arrived was connect all the crucial buildings in the center of the city, meaning that one could get from the infirmary to the barracks to the Shop using only a series of interconnected stone tunnels.

The tunnels had slowly faded in utility as the First Wave grew in strength, but with the increased rate of Irregulars and the flood of people arriving from the Second Wave, there were some people looking to expand the network to the outer city.

He passed through the last of said tunnels, arriving into a large, open mall with a small erected platform in the center. In the middle of that platform stood a large, black orb, which glinted a faint purple in the sun’s rays.

The Shop.

He walked over to the , and another guard greeted him. “Cameron!”

“Hey George. Holding up good?”

“Very. Your technique has helped me a lot in controlling my powers. Now Commander Cromwell has me hunting voidspawn every other day.”

“That’s good to hear! I’m just here for a quick food pickup, I’ve got a new prospective guard who needs some serious rations.”

“Of course, of course. Right here, sir.”

The guard stepped aside, letting him into one of the four separate lines leading to the manifested Ley Line.

There weren’t too many people here today — the majority of Ashley was still out hunting or scavenging, meaning he had the channel all to himself. He tapped the side of the sphere, letting the System take over and overlay itself in his vision.

Food.

“Hmm… chicken… rice… fish… I’m sure she’ll appreciate some protein bars too…”

He picked out a large array of easily transportable foods, as well as a large box to hold them in. Water came next, and he bought four gallon jugs of that just to be safe. Then, with the strength of a D ranked warrior, he casually hefted the collective contents of his shopping spree over his shoulder.

“Until next time, George! Keep up the practice!”

“Yes sir!”

He smiled. It was just like any other mall visit, except he didn’t have to walk all over the building to get what he wanted. The various shops and stands had been converted into bartering stands for Void-granted items, but nobody would bother to sell food there when it was so easy to buy from the shop.

As he made his way back through the interconnected tunnels, a new figure came before him.

“Cameron.”

He turned. “Alexandra.”

A golden-haired woman with a cloth around her eyes approached him. A white cloak fluttered behind her, and he inclined his head towards her.

Alexandra Theas - Threat Level: D-

This was the head of the entire council of Ashley, revered martial artist and bearer of the Mark of the Seer. Despite the name, it didn’t allow her to see into the future. What it did allow, however, was for her to see into the present.

“Our assumptions were correct. After we defeated the First Wave of voidspawn, the Ley Lines around us started to change. They’ve all gotten more potent, which will be incredibly beneficial, but some of them have also developed into ‘nests’, where colonies of voidspawn thrive. Think of a dungeon from one of those fantasy games, but with horrid insectoid hordes in place of goblins.”

He whistled. “Shit. So it’s been confirmed then?”

She nodded. “The Second Wave of voidspawn is a thing. And even worse, there’s some nests close to us that have begun producing Irregulars faster than the already increasing rate. Soon, these little area minimums are barely going to matter at all.”

“Do you need me to go out and eliminate some of those nests?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. As of now, I’m more concerned about the incoming Second-Wavers. How is Leandra holding up?”

The woman could have easily checked herself, but he supposed she wanted his input. “Badly. She’s starting to snap under the pressure, I think.”

Alexandra sighed. “I’ll take care of it. Take in as many guards as you can, and perhaps get some of the new recruits into scouting as well. We could very well need more of those in the future.”

“Alright. I’ll work on it.”

She nodded, and Cameron resumed his walk towards the barracks. His next stop was just across the building, in a large room he had designated for defense meetings.

“But I have friends and family still out there! How am I supposed to just sit here and do some random guarding while they could be in danger?” A young man equipped with a whole assortment of Void-produced gear was currently pleading with someone just out of sight. Richard Wright, another of his sister’s athletes.

“So does everyone. Trust me, we’re doing everything we can with our spare people to look for more people in the Second Wave. But we need everything we can get here already. The voidspawn haven’t just stopped because we conquered the Second Wave of voidspawn, and now there are more Irregulars than ever and perhaps… other things to worry about.” A stern-looking woman walked into view, arms crossed and brown hair cropped at the shoulder.

Commander Cromwell, his second-in-command. Her brother was supposedly one of the foremost warriors of humanity, but he hadn’t even met the man to verify that claim.

“But…”

She stopped him. “Richard, trust me. We need every able fighter or martial artist here to defend the city.”

“But I’m not a fighter or martial artist!”

“No, but you’re the second best thing: a capable athlete who can learn.”

“But…”

Cameron walked in, and they both turned to look at him.

“Head Guard Cameron!” Nina saluted him, and he gave a casual nod back.

“Nina, I’d say that you should let him scout if he wants to. Alexandra thinks we’ll need more scouts in the future, and we’re already receiving more prospective guards than we can feasibly train in a month.”

She frowned, nodding. “Alright. Richard, you’re free to scout. I’ll assign you to a regiment in a second. Anyways, what are you here?”

“I’m here to brief you on what we’ll need to do based on Alexandra’s predictions, but first…” He turned to Rich. “I figured you’d be here by now. I found one of the people you were looking for.”

The young man immediately perked up. “What? But I thought that you said you hadn’t seen anyone?”

“I hadn’t. I think she arrived about the same time that you did.”

“Well? Who was it? Where is she?”

“Elizabeth Sayler, in apartment 5A of the southern housing block. I’ll have someone show you there.“

* * *

Liz stared at her status screen, groaning.

Status: Elizabeth Sayler Titles: Marked, Giantslayer Threat Level: E- Marks: Mark of the Healer* Credits: 447 Strength: 4(8) / 34% Dexterity: 5(18) / 102% Spiritual Strength: 14 / 85% Endurance: 7(12) / 33% Perception: 5(10) / 55% Spiritual Capacity: 13 / 73% Constitution: 4(8) / 30% Cognition: 9(16) / 83% Spiritual Regeneration: N/A

“Damn… I really almost hurt myself, didn’t I?”

Without the blue aura, she really was barely functioning better than she had been when she was in the wheelchair. The bed she was in wasn’t anything too special, but to her fatigued limbs it felt like heaven.

She sighed.

The only thing ruining her rest at the moment was the angry growls of her stomach. Didn’t Cameron say that he was going to arrive with food and water by now? What was taking him so long?

As if on cue, a knock pounded on her door, and she shifted herself over to face it. “Come in!”

The door opened, but instead of Cameron, it was Rich.

“What? Rich?”

He hadn’t changed much since she last saw him, except that he was suited up in a weird assortment of weaponry and armor that she assumed he had gotten from the Void.

The young man’s eyes lit up, and he rushed over to her, dropping a precariously balanced box and jugs of water onto the floor. “Liz! Oh my goodness, you’re here. Are you okay? I was going to go searching for you if I didn’t find you here. Damn.. I should have started searching earlier, but I was stuck in a city full of voidspawn. The guys told me there wasn’t any way to get you out of a wheelchair.”

He looked her over and did a double take. “Liz, what happened to you? How the heck did you even get here? No wonder the guy told me you needed food…”

She put out a hand, lightly pushing him back. “Hey, calm down! I’m fine. I actually did find a way to get my nerve damage healed, but I also just so happened to manage to… eat myself from the inside out by overusing those same powers.”

He stared at her.

“It’s — it’s a long story, alright?

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. “It’s the Void, isn’t it?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

He pointed at her. “The Liz I knew wouldn’t have been so reckless. You were always the most careful when it came to injury, and I’m sure that should apply double given that you’ve just gotten use of your legs back. Liz, ever since the Void spat you out, haven’t you felt more… spontaneous? Less adverse to risk, and more willing to believe in this weird hellscape of an earth?”

“I…” She paused. “I guess I have. What the fuck?”

He sighed, running a hand through his dark curly hair. “I can feel it happening to me too. I’m grateful, because if I were sane I probably wouldn’t have survived these past few days, but it really makes me question myself, you know?”

She nodded. That actually made sense, given what A had told her. The Void wouldn’t want people to be standing around incredulous all the time. But…

“Oh my gosh, Rich. I hadn’t even noticed. I just thought that it was because I had my legs back, and I had a Mark, and I was just caught up in a big ball of advancement and adrenaline until it all —”

“You know what, you can tell me later.” He pulled her into a hug. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”

She snorted, and the tension seemed to break again. “Aww, how oddly emotional of you.”

“Hey, don’t make me regret taking this food over here.”

She stared hungrily at the box he had dropped. “Well, since you already have, mind bringing that over here? Then we can eat and talk more about our minds slowly being corrupted by omnipotent entities of darkness.”

“Of course. You know, if we weren’t being hijacked by the Void we’d probably be freaking out a lot more right now.” He shifted the food over to her bed, lifting out a container of perfectly packaged mongolian chicken. “Takeout?”

She eyed it. “That from the Void too?”

“Yeah, I think.”

“Damn, the Shop really is amazing.” She took it from him, along with a pair of cheap wooden chopsticks. “Alright, before anything else, though, I’ve been wondering this ever since I woke up. How long has it been?”