The rest of New Mexico was a boring wasteland, not improved one iota from its pre-System state. Just brown rock and sand as far as you could see. Most cities were dead husks, sand already beginning to cover over the remains. People were long gone, dead or scattered to easier climates, unable to survive after the luxuries of the modern world were gone. I wondered why anyone would ever want to live in such an inhospitable place. It did give me a newfound respect for early settlers and the harsh environment they dealt with just to survive day-to-day.

One of the instruments attached to the fortress was a thermometer and it read one hundred and twenty-two degrees. This trip would have been a death sentence if I hadn’t replaced the broken climate control units in the fortress. Even then they were running constantly just to keep Ska and me from sweating to death. Thermal insulation hadn’t been a big concern when I had created the fortress.

Crossing over the border into Arizona was like crossing into an alien world. It went from sand and baked ground to short but hardy grass that quickly turned into a lush landscape of verdant purple and blue. The temperature dropped as the environment changed as well, hovering at a comparatively mild ninety degrees. The reason for this change was quickly apparent as cool mist evaporated from the grass leaving a light haze in the sky that blocked out some of the harsh rays of the sun. This new area was also home to massive herds of grazing animals. If it wasn’t for the outworlders on strange mounts I might have mistaken the herds for wild beasts.

This was the first evidence of civilization since Roswell and I watched in curious fascination as the ranchers went about their duties. Eventually, we passed over a small village, nestled on a plateau that rose above the sea of grasses. It was still well below the cooling haze though, so life wasn’t as harsh as it could have been.

I was tempted to stop and see what was up, having spotted humans among the townsfolk, but decided against it as I wanted to try and arrive in Vegas before nightfall.

The next surprise on our journey was the Grand Canyon. I had been here once when I was younger, on a family vacation, but what greeted us was not what I remembered.

Even from miles out, I could tell something was different. The area sparkled and a kaleidoscope of colors seemed to radiate in waves from the distant canyon. It wasn’t until we got closer that I could see the entire canyon was now full of colorful crystals that reflected a rainbow of colors. It looked like a giant geode had been cracked open. It was beautiful and before I knew what I was doing, I steered the fortress toward the canyon. I should have suspected something was off when no portal signals had been detected within hundreds of miles as we got near the landmark.

I believe it was only a mix of my high Intelligence and Iron Mind title that allowed me to break free of the siren pull of that light. I immediately shut the remote viewer off and ran to stop Ska. In the short time I was out of it he had managed to unbuckle himself and rush down the hallway to the door, in an effort to get a closer look at the crystal. I ended up having to fight and subdue him to prevent him from opening the outer door and leaping to his death. It had been a near thing.

I ended up tying him to the chair in the command room and blindfolding him. I only risked short activations of the orb to orient the fortress and each time I felt the pull of the magic trying to suck me in again. I was forced to keep the orb off for six hours before I felt confident we left the Grand Canyon behind. Or should I call it the Crystal Canyon now?

With relief, the deadly landscape was far behind us and we hadn’t crashed. In better news, I spotted Vegas was on the horizon, it was easy to see. The lights of Sin City sparkled brightly across the lush landscape. I had never been to Vegas. Gambling had never been an interest to me and it had never been a family vacation spot back when I was younger.

It was a bit difficult to find a spot to land the fortress. I had expected to find dry dusty hills and sand everywhere which would have made hiding the fortress easy. Even the hills were now covered in the strange vegetation. In the end, I found an abandoned salvage yard with hills of broken metal and crushed cars easily tall enough to hide the fortress. I didn’t think anyone was still around as everything was overgrown and no lights were on despite the dark of night settling in.

Ska had finally woken back up and said his head was killing him. I used some healing and Cleanse on him and that seemed to help get rid of his hangover. I wanted to wait until morning to look around so I set the exits on lockdown to prevent Ska from slipping out in case he was lying to me, then I untied him and headed up to my room to sleep.

***

Morning came without issue and Ska remained asleep in his room, I made sure he was still there. It seems the effect of the crystal had truly worn off and I had worried for nothing.

The two of us made our way through town. Which turned out to be quite difficult once we got closer to the strip. The town was packed almost as densely as Houston, with people and merchants of all kinds of races. The casinos seemed to be thriving, having figured out how to exchange credits for casino chips.

There were even a few street brawls, which were quite violent when you added magic and skills to the mix. Large enforcers broke up any fights that got too close to the casinos or damaged too much property. While most people survived the impromptu battles, it seemed the town was a free-for-all and I could see the wide grin on Ska’s face.

“No!”

“I was just looking,” he growled in protest.

“Uh-huh… and how long to go from just looking to, well he started it, or that looked like fun. We’re not here to get in brawls on the street.”

Ska grumbled in dismay, twitching his tail back and forth in irritation.

I just shook my head.

We stopped at a stall to see if we could get some information. “Can you point me toward the Bazaar?”

“Sure, pal, but it won’t do ya any good,” the man stated with agitated certainty, “You must be new around here?”

“Yeah, we just got in last night.”

The man sniffed while wiping at his eyes, “well, a couple things you should know. Try not to piss anyone off, or you’re liable to end up in a fight before ya know it. Rules around here have become rather lax since the fall. As for the Bazaar, well, the only people that gain access to it are the casino owners or the champions. Everyone else is barred from entering, although people are allowed out.”

“I have seen some pretty high-level people come out of Bazaars, the city has enough people to enforce this?” I asked.

“More than enough, where do you think all the tournament champions go after they win? Casinos hire them for an insane amount of credits and treat them like royalty. Best stay out of their way if you see them coming, they are nothing but trouble.”

“Uh-huh, and how will I know one when I see one?”

He cackled, “Oh trust me, son, you will know. God damn crowds part like the Red Sea when they come strolling through town.”

“Thanks for the information, anything else I should know about?”

The man scratched his greasy hair and I swear I saw something drip into the food he was preparing. “If you’re leaving Sin City, steer clear of the east, specifically the Grand Canyon area although most people call it Dead Man’s Canyon now. Otherwise, the dream crystals will get you, then you’ll never come out.”

The man looked about shiftily before leaning forward and whispering to me, “if you’re looking for a fix though, I know a guy. Only a hundred credits, fresh from the canyon? Whadya say?”

“Um… no thanks, I’m good. How are people getting crystals from the canyon if it's so deadly?” I asked in confusion.

The man cackled again like I had said the funniest thing ever before sanity returned to his eyes. Eyes that looked slightly unfocused and glazed over. “At night stupid.”

I decided to leave the crazy vendor behind and pulled Ska along with. I saw him start to fidget when the man mentioned the crystals. As if I didn’t need another problem.

Ska seemed to settle as we made our way away from the stall and the greasy drug-addled vendor. We had to push our way through the mass of people but we were both quite a bit stronger than most people. We also looked a lot tougher and most people learned to avoid us as we just kept pushing forward.

That was until one group of people decided they weren’t having it and pushed back. It was like a match had been lit on dried grass soaked in gasoline. Ska exploded into an orgy of violence so quickly it surprised me and the group that thought to be rude.

These were not your average idiots though as they recovered quickly from Ska’s violent outburst. Ska had managed to wound three of the five men with one laying on the ground, already unconscious.

Spells, fists, and weapons began to fly and the crowd scattered away from the brutality of the fight. Ska continued his unchecked aggression as two of the men used small circle shields to block his blows. The sounds of tearing metal and a shower of sparks punctuated each of Ska’s lightning-fast strikes on the shields.

I mostly stood back and healed him, while keeping the other two busy with a few ranged spells. Nothing fancy, mostly I just used Arcane Bolt mixed with Earth Fist. I left my weapon stored in my ring, wanting to avoid displaying any secrets if at all possible.

The fight didn’t last more than a minute and Ska had managed to disable all five of the men. I made sure he didn’t kill anyone, despite the rudeness of it all.

I heard clapping coming from down the street and as the crazy vendor said, the crowd parted for a thin man that stood no more than five and a half feet tall but exuded a confidence that belied his stature. “Quite an impressive display of violence, have either of you thought about joining the tournament?”

The man’s name turned out to be Don Quixote Martinez. But everyone just called him The Don. His words, not mine. It turned out he was the first champion of the tournament. Something that Vegas held monthly.

“Three days of glorious no holds bar fighting,” The Don replied with a grin. “So what do you say?”

“Look, I appreciate the offer, but we’re not here to hurt or kill people,” I replied. I decided not to advertise the fact that I wanted to get access to the Bazaar.

“There are no worries about that, all fights are duels, It wouldn’t due to lose champions after every tournament.”

“I suppose that champion is always you?” I asked.

“If only that were the case. Alas, yours truly has only won one tournament. The real monster to watch out for is Hegar, he won the last three. But I think your friend there might be able to give him a run for his money,” Don said, gesturing toward Ska.

I didn’t have to think all that hard about his offer. We came all the way out here, it would be a waste to not at least try. It was a good thing, Don – because I wasn’t going to keep calling him The Don – approached us. It turns out you could only get into the tournament if you had an endorsement from someone. Usually, a casino, although, it wasn’t rare for other champions to endorse people they thought might be a challenge in the ring. I guess the whole idea made sense, if I was the champion, I would want to fight strong and interesting people too.