Sorry for the long wait. Please read the author's note at the end. I thought I would mention this in the chapter since people don't always read the author's notes. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 30: Outskirts (Part 1)

“Hey,” Ezra replied as he washed away his sour expression. “Good to see you too. What are you doing here?”

“You could ask every person in this room that question, and they would give you the same answer. We’re Sky-seekers; why else would we be in a guild hall!” The title Sky-seeker danced across her tongue with glee.

Ezra couldn’t help but smile. Since their last encounter, it seemed Camila had fully accepted her role. A role that was more daunting to Ezra every passing day.

A hooded figure in dark gray robes that flowed to the floor tapped Camila on the shoulder. “The info session's been moved to tonight,” he said with a voice that sounded like he hadn’t cleared his throat in days. “It’s because of the celebration. Morltin recruits.”

“He speaks!” Ezra said, arching his head to try and get a peek at the face covered by the hood. “He’s one of the people who was on your team for the seeker test, right?”

“Of course he does, and he has a name too.” Camila turned to try and get her teammate to introduce himself, but he had already merged into the crowd. “Sorry. He’s a bit shy also, but his name is Ronan. He’s actually the one who came up with the plan to catch the bird. We wouldn’t have passed without him.”

“I say we just move on to the next guild. There’s no use in waiting hours aroun here.” Two young men with nearly identical ginger hair parted in opposite directions, like a mirror of each other, approached Camila from behind.

“Come on, guys, we’ve been going for hours,” an exhausted girl, a head shorter than the both of them, bemoaned wearily. “It looks like drinks are on the house.”

“For guild members,” the other ginger twin corrected.

“They won’t know. We look the part, and what's the harm? She swayed to the side as if the scent of liquor was already drawing her away. She threw herself on Camila’s back like a tired child asking for a piggyback ride. “Tell em to stay. Pleeeease.”

“And this is Emily,” Camila said as she shrugged the girl's arms off her shoulders. “The two walls of muscle are Liam and Finn.”

“Who’s this guy?” Emily raised her eyebrows as she relinquished her hold of Camila.

“I’m Ezra. I took the seeker test with all of you.” He raised his hand and gave a wave to the rest of the group.

A look of familiarity that then turned to guilt washed over Emily’s face. “Is he,” she whispered to Camila. “You know the one that our bird…”

“Yeah, but we already talked about it.”

“Sky-seekers move forward. We don’t stare too long at what’s behind us.” Ezra added to Camila’s words even though he wasn’t sure he believed it himself. It was true he didn’t hate Camila, yet the past weighed on him more than he cared to admit.

“Good. So, we’re chill?” Emily said. Ezra nodded as she scanned the room behind him. “Wasn’t there another person with you, or did he…”

“Emily!” Camila rounded on her. “Don’t be so blunt about that stuff.”

“No, it’s fine.” Ezra put his hands up to calm the argument. “Milo’s still with me. He’s actually in the guild hall and should be back soon.”

Ezra felt a hand on his shoulder as Milo appeared behind him as if on command. “You should’ve told me sooner if you were meeting people here.”

“I didn’t…”

“I’m just teasing,” Milo said as he slid his hand off Ezra’s shoulder. “Nice to see you, Camila!” He opened his arms for an embrace, which Camila awkwardly accepted. “How’d the forest treat you? It practically chewed us up and spat us back out.”

“Not much better. You can ask Liam and Finn.” Camila pointed with her thumb back at the twins. “They wouldn’t let anyone else on night watch for three days in a row, and even when we got to the gate to Subterris, the Terras wouldn’t let us in until some serious convincing.”

“Call it what it is,” Emily interjected, “a bribe.”

Trying her best to ignore Emily’s statement, Camila continued. “They said something about a quarantine. Do you know what that was about?”

“Yeah, we had the unfortunate pleasure of finding out firsthand,” Milo answered as Ezra noticed Emma standing at his side. “You tell ’em, Ezra. You were in the center of it. Practically the hero of the camp.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Ezra tempered his mood upon remembering the fleshy mechanical monstrosities. “We were attacked the first night and had a group of Morltin seekers save us and take us back to their camp. I joined one of their strike teams to take down the beast that attacked us. We won,” Ezra faltered for a moment, but no one interrupted him, “but the beast we killed wasn’t the only one. It attracted others to the camp. Killed a lot of people.”

Emma gripped Milo’s hand, and Camila’s positive demeanor faded. The silence between them felt heavy enough to deafen the noise of celebration. “Is she from the camp?” Camila asked.

“Yeah. All on her own, though. We volunteered to look after her,” Milo said.

“That's terrible.” Camila squatted to get eye level with Emma. “I have a younger sister about her age. I can’t imagine going through that.”

Emma’s emerald eyes glanced at the ground and back at Camila’s amber pupils. Once their gaze met, Camila cracked a smile and took Emma’s hand in hers. “You're lucky to be with them. Ezra and Milo are great people. I haven’t known them for long, but they helped me through a hard time down in Deepburrow. You’ll be safe with them.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Emma nodded, and her frown faded. Camila gave Emma’s hand an affectionate squeeze and pushed against her knees to stand back up. “So what are you guys planning to do next?”

Milo’s sidelong glance at Ezra indicated that he was waiting for him to answer. Ezra picked up on the hint. “Well, right now we’re reassessing our options. We tried taking the Morltin test, and it didn’t go so well. We found out you need a minimum of four teammates to take the test, so we found two strangers in the same situation. A lot happened, and we failed.”

“At least we made it out alive,” Milo said, trying to put a positive spin on it.

Ezra shrugged as if that fact was nearly irrelevant. “Yeah, but now we’re just preparing to take it again in a few weeks.”

“Wow,” Camila blinked in surprise at the information. “You guys have been through a lot. We don’t plan to take the test for a month at least. I can’t imagine marching right up to the testing center on the first day. In fact,” a grin spread across her face. “When you do try again, spots on my team are always open.”

Milo chuckled at the invitation. “As you said back in Deepburrow, I won’t consider it until you’re a Voyager.”

“It’ll happen sooner than you think, so don’t slack off. I can’t have weaklings on my team.” Camila folded her arms nonchalantly as her eyes briefly darted to the celebration in the back. “Well, we’re going to stay here for a bit.” Emily punched the air in silent excitement, and Finn and Liam rolled their eyes. Ronan was still nowhere to be seen, but Camila didn’t seem concerned. “Where are you guys headed next?”

Milo’s face lit up, and Ezra knew another idea had popped into his friend's head. “Hey, can I ask a favor?”

“Depends on the favor,” Camila responded.

Ezra readied himself to speak if Milo so much as spoke a word about their Faulpher-tek investigation. He was sure Wilfred wouldn’t want it shouted out to the world either.

“There’s this Sky-seeker, Ezra, and I met that said he could give us some training out in the outskirts,” Milo explained. “It's a bit dangerous for us to take Emma along, so I was wondering if she could stay with you all. Are you ok with that, Emma?” Milo asked before Camila could respond.

The little girl looked at Camila’s group and then back at Milo. “You’ll be back?”

“Of course we will. We’ll be gone no more than a day. Camila’s strong; she can protect you, plus I bet she’s a lot more fun to be around than me and Mr. Grumpy over here.” Milo gestured to Ezra.

“Hey, I’m not grumpy. Just thinking.” Ezra said after comprehending what Milo was saying.

Emma gave a nod of approval, and Milo stood up to face Camila again. “So what’d you say?”

Camila sighed and then smirked at his insistent request. “You know it’s hard to say no. The moment you heard I had a little sister, you thought you could get away with this plan of yours. And,” she shook her head, “you’re right.”

“Well, we need to get going,” Ezra said in a monotone voice. “Our guy isn’t going to wait forever. How about we link pockets so we can let you know when we’re coming back?

Camila knew what he was talking about as she slipped a gray disk from her backpack. Milo raised an eyebrow in confusion as Ezra and she tapped their pockets together.

“I’ll explain later,” Ezra said as soon as Milo opened his mouth. “Guess they didn’t tell you that in orientation.”

“They did,” Camila smiled with smug undertones. “It can be hard to keep track of everything.”

“I guess it is,” Milo said as he flipped his pocket out and tapped it against Camila’s as she was putting it back into her backpack. Camila suppressed a wry smile at his pettiness.

Before she could shoot back a retort, Ezra was already dragging Millo out of the guild hall. “It was nice catching up!” Milo’s voice could barely be heard above the rest of the Sky-seekers as they left the building.

Wilfred leaned against a post outside the Silver Margwen as he flipped what looked like a silver coin in his hands. He snatched the metal out of the air as soon as Milo and Ezra approached. “Let’s go,” Wilfred said abruptly. “I’d rather get out there before dark.”

They didn’t exchange any more words and followed along. The ruckus of the afternoon faded as shadows of twilight stretched across the city and orange hues settled on the city like honey melting in tea. Up here evening looked different than Deepburrow. Every ray of light, sparkle on a window, or fresh breeze was fuller than the glimpse Ezra got at the bottom. It brought peace after such a chaotic day.

The tall buildings and ornately polished wall of Subterris gave way to one-story homes and small corner shops as they left the center of the ring. Paved streets lead to dirt roads, and the blue hues of the streetlights were soon replaced by the light of oil lamps or the occasional green gleam-gems on the window sill of someone's home. Their light was a familiar sight for Ezra. They were often his only source of light during White Rock’s mining trips. The silence felt like an invitation to not utter a word. The shadows didn’t feel the same as the inner city, but nor did they feel as threatening as the ones down in the Dire District in Deepburrow. Either way, Ezra knew how capable Wilfred was. With him, he felt safe.

Milo broke the silence as evening began to give way to night. “Wilfred, you’ve lived here for a while. Right? How big is Subterris?”

“Not as big as you’d think once you get to know it. Compared to the rest of the third layer, it's just the crust on the loaf.” He peered down a dark alleyway as they passed yet saw nothing to make him stop.

Milo prodded with another question. “On our way up we saw buildings built on the walls of the abyss. Are they also a part of Subterris?”

“Yeah. Those are the Ring Dwellers. Haven’t been down there much myself, so I can’t say what would drive one to live down there. If you can’t live in the middle city, it’s either the outskirts or the ring. I’d pick the outskirts any day, but people still make a living down there.”

“And beyond the outskirts?” Ezra asked.

“Nothing but grass plains that stretch to the walls of the abyss. Except past the fourth quadrant, you’ll run into the ruins of the Obsidian Pillar.”

“So it's a real thing!” Milo raised his voice in surprise, and Ezra shushed him.

“Of course it is.” Wilfred shook his head with reserved disappointment. “Although the damn thing hasn’t worked in hundreds of years. Would make it a lot easier to get to the sixth layer.”

Ezra whispered another question. “Do you go outside the city much?”

“During the day occasionally. Nice hunting grounds out there. It helps keep my skills sharp.”

“What about the night?”

“That,” a breath of discontent slipped through his clenched jaw. “That I try not to. The grass moves in strange patterns, and the wind howls an eerie sound. Some say a spirit dwells in that land, protecting fragments of the star Elysia cast down thousands of years ago. You can only see the stars’ light during the night, so the spirit only comes to protect it when it's darkest. It’s an old wives’s tale if you ask me, but still, something out there ain’t right.”

Ezra’s curiosity spun a tale of him finding the star fragments out in the grassy plains. But he cut his imagination short knowing that the whole idea was probably just as Wilfred said. A wife’s tale and nothing more. A chill breeze sent shivers down his spine as he thought about the howling night wind.

Before his mind could get carried away, Wilfred stopped in front of a dilapidated warehouse. The metal panels hanging onto the structures were beginning to rust at the edges, and only one gleam-gem hung above the entrance.

“We’re here,” Wilfred said as he clicked the safety off on his vibro-crystal gun.