The force holding together the bones of Gresitosis’s throne vanished along with his life, and the whole thing fell apart. Kano watched, wondering what would happen. The bone disintegrated into small fragments, revealing a hollow chamber below. As the lights of his throne room reached the hidden recess, it glittered. The floor was covered in a lumpy, uneven blanket of gold.

Thinking she may as well profit from this mess, Kano told the others to wait and dropped down. The gold sunk beneath her feet. It was soft and springy, not at all like what she expected. Kano realized that despite the metallic sheen, it must not be gold at all.

Disappointed, she inspected the shapes jutting up from the ground. They were small, ghoul-shaped figures, not unlike Thirty-Six. This must be what Gresitosis had done with the children he’d chosen. But she couldn’t understand why. This was his grand work? Encasing them in whatever this gold stuff was? It was insane, even for a necromancer.

Kano looked closer, searching for some purpose, some reason behind what he’d done. She couldn’t find any in the gold itself, which flowed across the ground, rising and falling of its own accord, or those enveloped by it.

The only other thing in the room was an orb near the center of it all. Formed of thin golden fibers, it had raised lines where each piece joined together. Kano reached out and put her hand on it. The surface was rough but warm and quivered at her touch.

It reminded her of something from the distant past, but she couldn’t remember what. However, she was sure of one thing: It was alive. She couldn’t define precisely what that meant, but there was life present within it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t right to leave it in this cold, dead place. It deserved to see the sun, at the least. The same went for Thirty-Six.

Tucking the orb under her arm, Kano returned to the others, and they left the tower. Nove was curious about what Kano had found, but when she probed it, she had no more insight into what it might be than Kano did. Retracing their steps, they reached the tunnel leading back to the jungle. It had collapsed, filling the entrance with rubble. Kano stood before it and sighed.

Why couldn’t things just be easy for once? Hadn’t she struggled enough?

“What happened?” Urick said.

Nove inspected the lumps of concrete. “It must’ve been that man we ran into in the jungle, trying to keep us stuck in here.”

While they discussed what to do, Kano’s exhaustion caught up with her. She’d walked here by leaning on Nove, who wasn’t in the best shape herself. “I’m going to sleep,” she said, sprawling out on the ground.

Urick looked down at her. “Are you serious? Can’t you sleep when we get the hell out of here?”

“I need to wait for my force field to recharge if I’m going to break through all that anyway,” Kano said, gesturing toward the rubble. “We can leave after I’ve had a good rest.”

Yawning, she closed her eyes. With a sharp crack, a supersonic bullet flew past her head, missing by mere inches. Kano jumped up, already surrounded by crackling blue energy.

The same woman who’d shot at her before stepped forward and gave a little wave. “Hey. So, you really killed Gresitosis, then?”

Kano sneered. “Of course I did. Did you expect me to come all this way only to turn back without accomplishing anything?”

“I’m not quite sure what I expected,” the woman said, “but I’d hoped that he would survive.”

“Well, he didn’t. Now what? Are you going to try to avenge him?”

Lowering her carbine, she laughed. “No, I don’t care about that. What’s done is done. Besides, if I’d wanted to kill you, that bullet would be in your skull rather than the wall.”

“Then what do you want?”

“Same thing you do: a way out. And I’m guessing you can provide one.”

Glancing at her companions, Kano said, “Why would I help you? You tried to kill me just before.”

“That was nothing personal. Why don’t we start over? I’m Miusvon.”

Kano ground her teeth, but she couldn’t think of a good reason to refuse. And she was certainly in no shape to fight. “I’m Kano.” She gestured for her companions to introduce themselves, and they did as she commanded.

Miusvon snorted in amusement. “Well-trained little crew you’ve got here. Do they do any tricks?”

“You still haven’t explained why I should help you.”

“Fair enough. How about this?” She tossed a small pouch at Kano’s feet. Inside was a small, partially transparent crystal matrix with a pale glow. Kano recognized it on sight: a high-quality synthetic soul. They were used in the creation of intelligent ghouls capable of independent thought, not like Urick and his ilk.

Kano attached the pouch to her belt. “Fine, I accept. But you’ll have to wait until I’ve slept, just like everyone else.”

“Deal.”

Watching as Miusvon sat down a short distance away from the rest of the group, Kano lay back down. The sounds around her faded, and she drifted off.

*

After the harrowing trip that had brought them here, Urick was happy to relax, but sleep wasn’t something his kind did. Instead, to pass the time, he struck up a conversation with Nove. The hulking beast seemed to have no intention of sleeping, keeping her eyes fixed on the newcomer.

Urick gestured toward Kano. “Why do you follow her, anyway? She treats you like shit, and you don’t seem like you’re forced to like I am.”

Claws twitching, Nove glanced at him. “I owe her everything. Without her I would have no life at all.”

“What? You make it sound like she created you.”

“In a way, she did. Without her, I’d still be a dumb beast in a cage, at best. She’s the one that gave me a soul. That said, she wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me.”

Urick’s brow crinkled. Something didn’t add up. “Then why does she treat you so badly? In fact, why does she keep you around at all? It doesn’t seem like she cares about you.”

Looking down, Nove sighed. “Despite what she says, I think a certain part of her still cares. Though I sometimes wonder if that isn’t just my own hope rather than anything real. I wouldn’t blame her if she discarded me. I watch over her, try to keep her safe where I can, but I can’t help her.”

Help her? It was hard for Urick to reconcile the idea of Kano being a victim with the reality of the megalomaniac sleeping nearby. The gap was too large. “She hardly seems like she needs anyone’s help.”

“Really? Does she seem stable or sane to you?”

Urick shrugged. “She seems to do just fine to me.”

“Well, if you’re going to stick around, I suggest you learn to pay more attention. She’s deeply broken, to the point that I’m not even sure what’s wrong. She… doesn’t even remember what we went through.”

“Have you tried reminding her?”

Nove shot him a glare, and he shrunk back. “Of course I have. But all it did was make her worse. Much as I wish I could help, all I can do is hope she gets better.”

*

Sirens blared as Kano was hurried to the maglev by the soldiers flanking her. The sky was full of winged horrors, but for now the line was clear. All she had to do was get there. Hordes of undead filled the streets below; most of the sanctuary was already overrun. This was no random attack, which meant a necromancer was behind it. For whatever selfish reason, they’d destroyed mankind’s last hope.

She supposed it didn’t matter much to them what happened to humanity; they’d left it far behind. Perhaps to them it seemed natural that they should destroy this relic from a bygone age. Pausing only to discharge short bursts of gunfire when a flyer got too close, the soldiers brought her to the waiting train.

As soon as the doors were closed, it shot off along the track. The maglev soon left their home, and those who’d come to destroy it, far behind. She sat among the few others who’d escaped, none of them saying a word during the trip.

Flying along the track, the train soon came to a stop at the emergency shelter. Dazed, everyone made their way out onto the platform in ones and twos. A line of armed ghouls in gray armor was waiting for them with a black-robed figure standing behind them. Opening her mouth to speak, Kano coughed and… woke up.

She had no idea how much time had passed, but she felt renewed. The fragments of the dream fell away as she remembered where she was. There was no time for whatever she’d been dreaming about; there was work to be done. Noticing that she was awake, Urick and Nove came over to her.

“What?” Kano asked.

“It’s nothing much,” Nove said. “I was just wondering if you felt ready to open the way.”

Oh, was that all? “Sure, no problem.” She looked over to where Miusvon sat. “Hey, we’re leaving.”

Empty-handed, Miusvon walked over. “I’m ready. Go ahead and open the way.”

Kano glared at her. “You’re not going to try and shoot me in the back when I’m done or anything, are you?”

Chuckling, Miusvon shook her head. “I wasn’t planning on it. But it’s not as if I’d admit it if I were.”

“How am I meant to know if you will or not, then?”

“You’ll just have to trust me.”

Kano didn’t have much trust in anyone at the best of times, and the current situation was far from that. But she also wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, so she opted to ignore Miusvon. Besides, she’d defeated her last time. She could do so again if it came to that.

Turning on her force field, she cut her way through the debris ahead. It was slow going by her standards, as she had to cut a wide enough path that it wouldn’t collapse behind her, but it was still much faster than their other options.

Once she reached the other side, she called back to the others to come through. It was a squeeze for Nove, but they got through with only a few scrapes. The jungle ahead was as she remembered, the bodies of slain beasts still strewn around the edge.