Eli woke up, his quick heartbeat thumping as he glanced around the dark room. Pulling his blanket off his overheated body, he turned to sit on the side of his bed as the cool air dried away his sweat-slicked skin. Wearing only his underwear, he rubbed his face, trying to wake himself up. A glance at the clock in his HUD confirmed he still had a bit of time before dawn, but he decided not to go back to bed and instead simply sat there for a few minutes, trying to relax after his dream.

Light came in through the nearby window with tiny motes slowly drifting in the air near the clouded glass, providing just enough illumination for him to barely make out the room’s details. Dara was asleep in her bed across the room, where the sounds of her quiet snores kept him company in the darkness. He smiled, thinking of the extra blankets he’d provided again, even though the Lodge supplied bedding. Just like when they were camping out on the trail, she’d made a little nest for herself out of the bedding and blankets when they’d gotten ready for bed. Now, the blue blankets lay haphazardly on the floor from where she’d tossed them off after getting too hot for once.

Leaning across his bed, he grabbed his drink off the tiny nightstand and took a sip to try and wash away the bad taste in his mouth before laying down again. Using one arm as a pillow, he stared vacantly up at the ceiling. He sighed, thinking about his latest nightmare. It hadn’t been that bad, but why was the scene different? Dreams didn’t have to make sense, but lately, they’d been almost lifelike in their veracity – nothing like the horrible shadowy nightmares that had woken him thousands of times over the years. When he compared the recent dream to his memories, some details, like the hospital, were wrong. The massive earthquake that killed his family had also destroyed thousands of buildings in the region, let alone a hospital near the epicenter. He still remembered, in brief flashes, his time in that giant tent. There’d been the half-empty cots, the crying, and the disinfectant smell that never quite managed to cover the stench of the dead and dying.

It had been his grandma that had found him in that sad makeshift city and not his grandpa. Only later did Eli discover just how hard Nana had worked to reach him. Eli’s grandpa had been sick and in need of a specialist, and he and Nana had been across the world preparing for his surgery. Unfortunately, the devastating earthquakes in the US changed many plans, and she’d left Eli’s grandpa at a hospital half a world away. Grandpa should have been okay with his procedure scheduled for a few weeks later, but none could know that the world would nearly end in only a matter of days, and he’d never get that surgery.

Who could have predicted that a massive earthquake in the Pacific Northwest would happen? Or that it would trigger the nearby faults in California? But Mother Nature wasn’t done. While the aftershocks continued to shake throughout the western US, scientists raised the alarm around Yellowstone and the sleeping monster stirring in its depths. Less than a month after the Great Cascadia and San Andreas Quakes, the Yellowstone supervolcano explosively erupted – the Fall had begun. Most later agreed how improbable each separate disaster was, let alone all three in quick succession. It was like winning the lottery a couple of times, all in a row. Yet it happened anyway as one domino of doom followed after the others.

Not knowing what was coming, Nana had made her way to Eli’s side crossing thousands of kilometers to reach him during that brief window between the devastating earthquakes and the cataclysmic eruption. In one of the few positives to come out of his sudden fame, the government had assisted the media in making a big production out of the whole thing.

Fucking hell. Like I was a hero by somehow surviving Cascadia.

The years immediately after the Fall were mostly a blur, but there was a lot of hunger and fear. The central US was either blasted away or buried under a pile of ash. Like out of an old film reel from the previous century’s world wars, cities and towns were wiped away, and the old breadbasket region was just gone. Nearby states, then countries, faced the immediate aftermath as statewide fires, ash, and dust filled the air. Nature itself joined the fight as the climate changed and temperatures plunged as the great plumes from the smoke and ash dropped global temperatures. Crops died swiftly, and famine and its close associate disease soon stalked the Earth. The US, already struggling after the most recent pandemics, was brought to its knees from internal pressures and a desperate populace seeking survival. The rest of the world soon followed, with one government after another collapsing or teetering on the edge of failure. Even years later, they didn’t know the exact number of dead worldwide, but it was estimated to be over two billion, depending on how you measured things.

Mother Nature gut-punched humanity, but we didn’t stay down. We got back up again. Damn, we definitely got back up again.

He shook off the memories and heard a strange creak outside their door as if someone had stepped on a loose floorboard. He lay there for a moment before hearing another sound, muted like someone had jiggled the doorknob. The door barely cracked open before quickly closing again.

How could someone even open the door? I locked it myself.

He sat up as he toggled Manasight, and the room lit up. The walls, only a moment ago vague shapes in the darkness, now stood out with a slight glow that revealed the edges of the nearby furniture in relief. The wood and masonry within the walls must have had hints of mana to light up with so much detail, though the wooden furniture also lit up with a more muted glow. On the other side of the room, Dara’s light snores continued uninterrupted in her faintly glowing bed.

At the door, there was the distinct energy of a person standing starkly against the lit walls behind them. It was strange, as Eli’s normal vision saw nothing, but his Manasight clearly showed a pale orange light within a figure crouched low, unmoving next to the closed door. Their head was turning as if looking around the room, the muted orange glow of their energy paths twisting with the movement before they suddenly moved towards Dara.

The air thickened into a thick syrup around Eli’s body and the world slowed down even as his mind raced ahead. He focused on the light pattern inside the intruder, highlighting the otherwise invisible person moving glacially towards Dara’s sleeping figure. They really did look like a bright stick figure with a pale orange ball of light in its center and glowing channels connecting to their head, hands, and feet. Holding one arm close to their body as if armed with something in their right hand, they closed in on her bed without even glancing at Eli.

Leaping off the bed, he dove at the intruder and focused on their right hand, where he’d sensed the weapon. Thanking his old friend Aarav for the training, it was simple with how slow everything moved as Eli reached out and grabbed the intruder’s right wrist around the rough fabric, his fingers tightening. Even as his hand locked onto them like a vise, he slowly moved his legs around in the air to complete his half-flip and put one foot down before the other while pivoting over his hip. Using his momentum, he tilted forward and tossed their invisible body towards the closed door. Eli’s aim was off, and his throw blasted the intruder through the wall and into the hallway beyond as a slow reverberating crash shook the building.

The world sped up again as the boom subsided while dust and debris billowed into the air. A nearly naked Dara leaped out of her bed from the commotion, her hand already coming up with her belt dagger held ready while her eyes darted around assessing the situation.

“Dara, light the lamp! We have an attacker,” Eli barked, already moving towards the wall, but there was just a broken hole.

She hesitated for a moment as she also moved towards the door but then focused on him and nodded sharply, pivoting to the lamp on their table. Her flame had already appeared by the time her hand approached the unlit wick.

With their room lighting up behind him, he yanked open their door and glanced out into the hallway to try and find their attacker. The dust was only starting to settle, but enough light came in through the hallway’s cloudy windows to see the dead body on the floor. There was a surprising amount of blood coating the far wall, ceiling, and floor with other gross bits strewn about in piles he didn’t want to examine too closely.

The Lodge came alive with yells from below. The other guests and workers were coming awake with various shouts but with little panic as if used to nighttime assaults. Loud footsteps sounded as someone climbed the stairs, and then the Lodge’s owner Head Ute arrived. He was barely dressed himself in only a loincloth, but he had a small axe in one hand, and his eyes were sharp as he glanced around at the scene.

“What is happening here? What happened to my wall!” he roared, then spotted Eli standing there almost naked and stopped, swallowing whatever his next words were. “Gifted Tal. How may I assist?” The words came out like Ute was asking to take Eli’s breakfast order and not him standing over a bloody corpse in a ruined hallway.

Thinking quickly, unsure if there were more hidden attackers, Eli nodded to the proprietor. “Ah, Head Ute. I apologize for the rude awakening, but some dipshit decided to attack us in our room.” He gestured to the body. “I wasn’t happy, hence the hole as I tossed them out. I kinda missed the door.” He grimaced at the mess he’d made, his nose wrinkling at the growing stench of blood, death, and voided bowels. “I can pay damages,” he offered. He wasn’t exactly rich, but he and Dara had a few golds on them, and a night here had only been a silver. That might be enough to cover fixing the wall, and hopefully, she wouldn’t mind if he shared a bit to pay for the trouble they’d caused.

Ute backed up with a slight bow, “Please, think nothing of it, Gifted Tal. This attack against my guest is an attack against my Lodge, and we will handle this.” Ute clapped his hands sharply, and two men near the stairs moved towards the body.

“A moment Head Ute. We’d like to take a look at this attacker. If you don’t mind?”

Ute nodded and moved down the hallway a bit, his hands motioning his men to follow. Dara came onto the scene, now dressed, her eyes taking in the scene while Eli made a tiny gesture towards the body. He stayed back, keeping his eyes on the slowly growing crowd on the stairs but wearing a scowl to warn off curious onlookers from getting too close. Some heads popped around the stair railings to get a better look, a few retreating with one look at him staring back. Still, a good-sized group of men and women in various states of dress gathered at the end of the hall, milling about but none coming closer, while Ute’s two guys blocked the way and gestured back downstairs.

I guess there really isn’t a nudity taboo here.

Dara walked slowly over, crouching down next to the corpse. Her hands started their search, though what was left wasn’t pretty. Throw a bunch of watermelons into some clothes, then shoot them at a stone wall at high speeds. Even the clothing was shredded with torn ends barely holding in what was left of the person’s torso and arms – their legs had ripped off at some point, with one nearly making it to the stairs.

Taking particular care with the head, Dara slowly peeled back the hood. The skull wasn’t as pulverized as the rest of the body, and the intruder was clearly a man based on the thick braided red beard, but their features were a mess.

Damn, we really are just bags of red water and meat.