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[>>Now replaying: Log 1.6 - Rat/at/at.mp3]
Date: Error
Location: Zephyro’s Domain
//I’ve been writing for about 17 years, okay? I don’t edit anymore, I can do that!//
//No disrespect, but that’s how I am.//
[>>DATA CORRUPTED]
E3 %Guys… wouldn’t it be better if they find us?%
E2 %Why would we ever hope that that sparking Takers find us?%
E3 %It’s just… That machine up there told us we can’t leave, and it has so many weapons and…%
E99 %No speech detected, 4964ms%
E1 %Shhh, it will be fine, Tin. Shhh…%
We reached the Outskirts in silence, which was good because if I’d been talking when I took in the details on the houses, I wasn’t sure that I wouldn’t have sworn out loud.
I’d expected a stereotypical medieval, middle-eastern slum like they had them in lazy Hollywood movies. Instead, I found technology beyond my imagination. Every building I could see, even the most ramshackle houses leaning against each other for support were decked out in the weirdest, most anachronistic pieces of tech I had ever seen. Wooden walls met automatic sliding doors, street market stalls featured scrolling LED billboards, and someone had spun electric cables from roof to roof.
And those were just the devices I recognized. Shaded alleys, draped with cloth billowing in the afternoon air, hid abandoned children’s games drawn in fluorescent chalk, as well as mysterious metal boxes adorned with yellow warning signs. I was also pretty sure I could spot a traffic light hovering above a nearby intersection. I double-checked, and no, it still wasn’t attached to any cables, just gently bobbing up and down in the warm evening air.
On earth, when I had still been an IT manager and not some sort of semi-religious figure, I didn’t have much time to watch movies, but one of my boyfriends had dragged me to see Blade Runner when it came out. The entire scene in front of me looked like that movie if it had been filmed in the Middle East instead of some studio and in broad daylight instead of perpetual night.
When I blinked and the details still didn’t change, I couldn’t help but go through my options again. This couldn’t be Tobes, not even if 150 years had passed. There was no way the world would advance that much, and definitely not without me. Not without us.
> A cliff, overlooking the forest. A city burning in the background. The air is pregnant with impending promise. My friends are there, all 12 of them, and they’re all looking at me as if I knew what to do, but for once I do not feel afraid.
> Perhaps it’s the severity of the moment, or perhaps I’d cried so hard, I just ran out of fucks to give.
> Still, when I eventually speak, my voice is firm.
> “None of us will rest before our work is done. A world unbound by hereditary tyranny, and undivided by Magic. It’s what we owe everyone.” I hold out my hand, still gripping the Torch.
> Chris is the first one to put his hand around mine, but the others follow shortly behind. I don’t know who, it could even have been me, but someone starts lifting our collective grip. Whatever the case, I follow, and together we hold the Torch aloft.
> Thrumming with our collective power, it blazes furiously against the dark.
> Eventually, the moment breaks, but not a single word is spoken for minutes after until I can no longer handle the silence.
> “That means none of you fuckers gets to die before me, alright?”
> I almost manage not to blush as I speak.
> Quiet laughter breaks the silence, my fear of solitude, and its violent caress.
This time, I didn’t even miss a step. I was definitely getting better at handling these flashbacks, even if they left me somber and confused. Where were these memories coming from? Why were they so lifelike? Did they mean something, or were they just the result of my brain firing on all cylinders as I adapted to this dimension, synapses rewiring themselves?
The possibility of a Dream Maze kept nagging at me, but it just didn’t fit. My eyes should have slid off of industrial windowpanes, bounced away from satellite dishes, or glossed over the messages hiding themselves in murals of circuitry, leaving only half-remembered impressions of progress.
The only thing that stood out a little was that there were no people, but that could easily be explained by the fact that everything seemed kind of unfinished. Doors were missing, and the windows didn’t have glass. Still, the details were all there, in full 16K resolution and 500 frames per second, or whatever basic human perception translated to in technical terms.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
No, there was no way anyone would spend the amount of mana it would take to build a Dream this detailed, not even for me.
“Quite a sight, isn’t it?” Kasha asked from my left.
“You must pardon the crude designs, Sultana,” Zephyro said. “As you know, we were lacking a lot of materials, and so these buildings are not quite finished. We would never leave the technology as exposed as it is, otherwise.”
Kasha rolled her eyes so hard I could almost feel it. “There he goes again with his ‘We must hide technology’ shtick… I think it looks neat. It’s like an adventure, you know?”
“Yeah,” I agreed, still stuck between awestruck and confused. My eyes kept wandering over the city that had begun to swallow us. Soon, all I saw were the wooden sheds around me, and a couple of towers that poked above their roofs.
“What are those?” I asked, pointing at one of them.
“The watchtowers, Sultana,” Zephyro said. “They are our first line of defense, should the advance outposts fall.”
“Then why aren’t they all manned?” I asked with a frown.
“What do you mean?” Kasha said.
“There are no people on that one, for example,” I said, pointing again.
Kasha squinted, then shaded her eyes and squinted harder.
“You are right. No one on the roof. That is strange.” She turned to Zephyro and grinned. “We should go investigate! It is my solemn duty as a scout to find my brothers playing cards and laying into them.”
“I don’t like it when my scouts travel alone. You know that, Kasha. We lost too many of you already.”
“Well then you just need to come with me,” she said with a shrug, as if that settled the matter.
Zephyro’s brow creased. “It is imperative the Sultana gets to the Palace as quickly as possible, Alkashafa—“
“I know…” she said, eyes bright. “But aren’t you at least a little curious? Maybe they’re sleeping on the job, and you could do one of your multi-hour speeches about duty and honor while I take the Sultana to the palace?”
“You should not think so ill of your brothers, even in jest,” Zephyro said with a sigh that told me he didn’t expect his words to change Kasha’s mind at all. “Perhaps they have found a Feral trying to sneak past our defenses.”
“More reason to investigate,” she said, less chipper than before, but insistent nonetheless.
Zephyro shot me a glance, but I shrugged. I didn’t mind the small detour, especially if my suspicions about the time dilation proved correct. Even if they didn’t, I was starting to accept there was very little I could do about whether I made it or not, and half an hour wouldn’t make much of a difference. They made me wait years for this conference, now they could wait half an hour, or I’d just sign with the Emperor directly.
“It could be dangerous, Sultana,” he said. “You are still unarmed and unarmored, and—“
“…can handle myself,” I said. The scepter wasn’t an ideal weapon, but it would do in a pinch, especially if Zephyro and Kasha were there to help. “Let’s check it out.”
“As you wish, Sultana,” Zephyro said, and we changed our direction ever so slightly. “If I may humbly beg of you one favor, however, please keep in mind that it is my sacred duty to defend you. If something were to happen to you, it would mean the end to not just me, but my entire people.”
It would have been easy to brush his concerns aside, but that would have been callous. So instead I nodded and promised him I’d be careful.
After another few minutes of walking, we finally arrived at the Guardtower. It was about 5 stories tall, dwarfing the houses around it. The placement was a little curious, squatting in the middle of a block of houses on one of the side streets. Curiously, all its windows faced to one side, away from the city. More importantly, however, the houses surrounding it were as empty as every single street had been so far.
“Where are all the people?” I asked, working my tongue to stop my mouth from going dry.
“They fled,” Kasha said as she approached the tower’s closed door. “It’s hard living out here, what with the Ferals as of late. The Outskirts in the south, facing away from the Path are more populated still, but the rest are seeking shelter inside the walls.
“Oh. That’s going to get crowded, isn’t it?”
Zephyro frowned. For the first time, it seemed as if I had seriously annoyed him. “There will be space for everyone Sultana. Should I have to sleep in front of the gates, just so that even a single beggar will rest safely inside, I will do so gladly.”
“I didn’t mean you should let them die,” I explained, holding his gaze. “But no matter how big your city is, the outskirts looked like they easily held at least 50% of your population. I was just wondering what you were going to do about food, shelter, and sanitation.”
Kasha, who’d almost reached the door, let out a soft chuckle at that, and Zephyro’s brows rose.
“Food? Sanitation?” Zephyro asked, surprised. “Sultana, it appears I must offer you another thousand apologies. I have made a grave mistake by not explaining your circumstances or the nature of my people. You see, we are—“
“Get down!” I yelled, tackling him to the side before the giant rat that had snuck up behind him could tear into his back.
At least I thought it was a rat getting carried over my back by its own momentum, but when the dust settled, and the ugly beast came to a sliding stop in front of me, I almost thought I’d been mistaken. The thing was wrong. You couldn’t even call it an animal with all the metal parts bolted onto its body, and that was just where the weirdness started. Its mouth dripped oil, and its eyes glowed like red LEDs set into dark caves of flesh. Its patchy fur shimmered with the hideous burnt-sienna tone that rusted metal shared with blood.
Immediately, my years of training with Stax and hard-won experience kicked in, and I tumbled to my feet. My hand found the hilt of my Torch and I pulled the weapon free before I remembered it was just a plain replica. To the side, Kasha had slung her massive crossbow off her back and started to crank it, but when the feral trained its beady eyes on her, I knew she would be too slow.
The rat screeched, and it sounded like razorwire on a chalkboard. Then it charged. I didn’t have the time to check on Zephyro, didn’t have the time to even think before I threw myself into a mad dash, scepter held in both hands, trajectory set right between Feral and Scout.
I just hoped I would make it in time.