Hveth here.

Phew, got it done. Sorry about that, guys.

So, I should let you all know what's going to happen from now on.

I've got an idea for a new big story that I'll be writing on here, as well as one that I'm starting to flesh out to be a full novel, my first one. I know that a few people are disappointed that I've dropped Technomage, so let me clear that up. Technomage, as well as everything else I've written on here so far, has been practice. Well, practice and fun.

See, I'm aiming to become a full fledged author at some point, and this new novel that I'm going to write will be my first step towards that. Everything that I've written prior to this has been me trying to get my writing skills up to an acceptable point, and if you compare Monstrous to Throne, it's pretty easy to see I've improved. Now, this new novel will not be on RRL. I will publish it as an e-book, but I won't be posting free chapters. If people are interested, I'll put the prologue and synopsis up on here when I have finished them. Otherwise, no cigar.

For the other idea, it's going to be something like The Technomage. I'm going to plan the whole thing out first, half write most of the chapters, and post the finished ones on here. At some point, I hope to put up a Patreon and donation button for anyone who might want to donate to me.

Chapters of this new story will come out every Friday, in place of the current Throne chapters. The other novel will not get in the way of my current RRL writing schedule.

Alright, that seems to be everything I wanted to address.

Anyway, happy reading, folks!

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“Alright, this is far enough.”, Simon said quietly, stopping the group. They had been walking for about an hour, and he felt it was enough to get out of the battle zone.

They had stopped beneath a manhole, and Simon decided to be the first one up. He had Thomas blast the cover off, which let bright sunlight in, blinding their eyes, and climbed up the rungs. He stuck his head out of the hole and blinked a few time to get used to the sunlight.

When his eyes adjusted, his swiveled his head around.

And found the barrel of a gun pointed at his face.

“Don’t move.”, demanded a commanding masculine voice.

Simon complied, swallowing nervously.

“State your name and affiliation.”, the man asked.

“Simon Belfonse, I was a lawyer in the city.”, he replied.

There was a faint voice from below him as Thomas called up, wondering what was taking so long.

“How many of you are down there? Are you armed?”

“Four. None of us are armed.”, Simon answered.

The gun was removed from his face, and Simon was treated to the sight of a man in urban camouflage military gear. Behind him, four men dressed similarly stood guard, watching either Simon or their surroundings.

“We’re with the U.S. Army. Please exit the sewer, and we’ll take your group to our current F.O.B.”, the soldier told him.

Simon sighed in relief. The military had finally come to rescue them.

He poked his head back down, a tired grin on his face, and told the others, “It’s the army. They’re going to take us to their base.”

Their relieved expressions melted away into surprise and relief. Thomas looked shocked, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

‘What?’, he mouthed to himself.

Simon climbed out onto the street under the watchful gaze of the soldiers, and the others followed him up. When they were all on the surface, the soldier who had addressed him, J. Hopkins as his nametag read, turned to him.

“Are any of you injured?”

Simon shook his head.

“A little hungry, but that’s it.”, he replied.

Hopkins nodded and spoke into his radio.

“This is Scout 3, we have four civilians en route to the base, no injured, over.”

*Cshhh* “Acknowledged. Carry on, Scout 3, over.”, came the reply from the radio.

“Alright, let’s get moving. The base is about a mile west of here, you’ll be taken care of there.”, he told the group.

They began moving west, the five soldiers keeping a tight watch for anything suspicious. Soon, they turned a street, and were met with a heavily fortified roadblock. Large orange barricades blocked the street, while armed soldiers kept a careful watch. A large mounted machine gun manned by a soldier looked over the street from a rooftop.

“Stop!”, a voice called out from the road block. “State your identity!”

“Lieutenant James Hopkins of Scout 3, returning from patrol with four civilians!”, Hopkins called back.

There was a short pause, and the voice called back, “Continue walking forward. Keep your weapons aimed at the ground!”

They did so, and when they were a few feet away, a group of soldiers came out of the barricade and escorted them through. After a short talk, they continued on their way down the road.

Soon they were greeted with the sight of a large village of green tents set up in a fenced soccer field. Soldiers and civilians alike wandered throughout.

They reached the gate, and man in an officer’s uniform greeted them.

“Hello, my name is Corporal Lance King. I understand you might be tired, but you’ll need to follow me to processing before we can get you settled in.”, he told them.

“That’s fine.”, Simon told him, as the others nodded.

Lance led them to a large tent directly to the left of the gate. Inside, several rooms were created by using flaps of cloth as walls. The hum of chatter made the building seem lively.

The corporal directed each of them into different rooms, stating that they needed to register separately, and after agreeing to meet up right outside the tent, they followed his directions.

An older woman with dark bags under her eyes greeted Simon as he stepped into one of the rooms.

“Name, age and profession?”, she asked him bluntly.

“Simon belfonse, twenty seven. Lawyer.”, he replied.

She scribbled onto a clipboard, then continued.

“Have you purchased anything through the ‘System’?”

“Yes.”, Simon said. He saw no reason to lie to his own country’s military. Besides, he had spotted a power called, ‘Information Gatherer’ while scrolling through the powers, and was sure the government had a few working for them by now.

“I purchased a power called Contract Creator. It was 6800 points.”

The woman looked at him in interest.

“And what does this power do?”

“I can create a contract between two parties that they must follow absolutely. The terms must be equal between the parties.”

The woman scribbled furiously on her clipboard, then put it down on her lap and looked at him intently.

“Son, I hate doing this, but we need more people like you. Have you ever considered enlisting?”

Simon smiled apologetically, then said, “I’m sorry, but no.”

The woman sighed, nodded, and said, “Alright, that’s it. You can go now. Someone will collect you at the front to bring you to your new quarters.”

“That’s it?”, Simon asked, somewhat surprised.

The woman nodded, and shooed him away.

He walked out of the tent to find his mother and Thomas waiting for him, both of whom looked dead tired.

He waited with them, and shortly after, Tiffany came out, smiling happily.

“They hired me as a chef.”, she told them. “They were pretty eager to have me on board when they heard about my ability, I guess the food here isn’t all that great”.

“Don’t you think it’s a little early to be getting a job? We haven’t even gotten settled in yet.”, Simon asked her, grinning at her joy.

“Hey, if I’ve learned anything from the years I’ve been here, it’s that you ALWAYS take a job when it’s offered!”, she said, chuckling. They all had a small laugh. The humour, even if it was a bad, was like having a weight lifted from their shoulders after all the stress they’d faced in the last 24 hours.

“Excuse me?”, a female voice called.

They turned, and found a young woman smiling at them.

“I’m here to lead you to your tents. Are you four together?”, she asked them.

“Yep.”, Simon told her. “If you could put us in the same tent, or nearby ones, that would be great.”

“Alright. We have a few of the larger family tents still open. You might have to share with a few others later, though.”, she said with a smile.

Simon nodded. “That will be fine.”

She led them through the maze of tents. On the way, they saw people doing all sorts of jobs. There was food to be cooked, things to clean, and papers to sort everywhere. Nobody went without a job.

Soon they stood before a relatively large green tent.

“This will be your new home for now, tent TF-49. Meals are held in three different cafeterias. As part of the 30-50 tent group, you will be eating in cafeteria 2, which is a little ways up that way”, she pointed to their left. “Breakfast is at 7:00, lunch at 12:00, and dinner at 6:00. If you have any questions or concerns, the help tent is located in the north-western quarter, labeled with a large question mark sign.”

They thanked her, and entered their new home.

Simon sighed. They were finally safe.