'''---13 AO (after outbreak)---

~Kailin~'''

A lone human stared out at the darkness, apprehension and fear at the front of her mind. The stars were just now appearing, their meager brightness was barely enough to cut through the weak light that sputtered in her hand.

The dancing orb of light was far from helpful, but Kailin liked to think that it was the only reason she'd survived this long alone. Monsters didn't like light much, they liked darkness so they could hide from sight.

Kailin had been alone for three days. She liked to think that was a new record or something, but she felt like most folks who knew anything about survival wouldn't be counting the days and being pleased with themselves. They would be surviving instead.

It was a total fluke that Kailin had lived through the outbreak, before that, there'd been twenty-five years with the only danger in her life being that one time a gun-wielding robber came into the store during her shift. But sparks, the outbreak had been a million times worse.

Sometimes she could still close her eyes and hear the screams even after thirteen years.

Kailin moved the light above her head with a soft command and let it float there, examining the dark forest with trepidation as she brought a hand to her only weapon, the small knife at her side.

She moved forward, knowing that if she found a place to sleep, the Anomalies and storms would find her before her consciousness did.

It really sucked to be alone out here.

She bit her lip as a terrible inhuman howl sounded from somewhere far away. She couldn't be sure, but it sounded like a Sleepless to her. One of the most dangerous Anomalies there was. Something that would tear her apart without a second thought, or even a first thought.

Kailin suddenly felt so impossibly tired. She wanted to curl up in a ball and let dreams take her far away from here. She wanted to just end it already, the constant running, the constant fear, the overwhelming terror every time she heard a noise like this one.

Yes...it had to be a sleepless. Only sleepless made you this tired. They would steal your energy, making themselves stronger and faster as you become weaker and more tired with every passing moment.

Kailin drew her knife and took deep, even breaths, she had to stay awake, it wanted her to fall asleep. If she was asleep it wouldn't even need to fight her, she would just die. Out here. Alone. Without ever having the chance to prove everyone back at New oregan wrong. To prove to them that she was more than a useless woman who didn't even know how to survive.

She gritted her teeth with determination and fear, sliding the knife across the back of her arm, counting on the pain to keep her awake. Kailin felt it go deeper than she'd intended, but a second later she was already wrapping the cut with mostly clean cloth torn from her pants.

It worked though, she felt the tiredness abate into something that she could ignore. She tried to keep her breath even, but her heartbeat only increased as the seconds ticked by and she stared out at the darkness. Wishing that the sleepless would ignore her but knowing that the scent of blood would only spur it on.

Kailin walked faster, gripping her knife like death itself and glancing up at her orb of light every few seconds, checking again and again. Was it still the right shape? Was it going to collapse in on itself again? Now would be a terrible time to lose her only means of giving an Anomaly pause.

She moved into a run, sheathing her knife but keeping a hand on the hilt. Feeling her warm breath spill out into the cool night air in time with her heartbeat.

Survive. Is this what it is to survive?

Kailin felt the tiredness pull further back as she ran. She wasn't sure if it was the Sleepless leaving her be or if she was simply feeling the effects of adrenaline. She wasn't sure how she could even know.

All Kailin knew was that she had to keep on running. To survive.

---Chicory---

Fort Syon wasn't close to either one of the coasts, she was far enough north that the winters were rough, and she was just the right distance from all the old-world towns that in the early years of the outbreak, it was difficult to pinpoint exactly where the place was on a map.

These days no one was quite sure how far away anything was, but as Chicory sat in the front of a wagon and poured over the map book, she realized that one of the slightly pulsing lights was Syon herself.

Apparently, the spirit didn't want Chicory to forget how to get home. She felt a slight warmth in her chest at that, yes, it wasn't an exile.

She glanced at the driver beside her, who looked mostly content but also rather bored, and then back at the nervously chatting men sitting behind them. Each one of those had been warriors fallen at the battle. She wondered if any of them thought of this as a new life.

She closed the map book and slid it back into her bag before climbing over her seat and into the slightly more shaded area in the back of the wagon. She sat down and watched the men for a couple of seconds as their conversations petered out.

"What?" One of them asked, looking kind of nervous. Sparks, he probably thought they'd broken a rule on accident or something.

Chicory glanced out the side of the wagon at the passing view. "I was just wondering if anyone has any questions about Fort Syon."

They were quiet for a bit, apparently scared of her, fantastic...Finally, one guy cleared his throat, "What are those powers? Most folks talk about them only in hushed tones, rumors, and such. Warriors that are so powerful that they're entire armies, nurses that heal with a touch, men that can see the future. What are they?"

Chicory smiled softly, pushing her eyes to glow brighter and letting them know that, yes, she was one of the people he was talking about. "That's the Tempest. It's hard to explain, but it is magic as far as I can tell. We are...just people. People who have made deals in exchange for what we needed."

The man frowned, "Well that's sparking pretentious."

"Oh definitely." Chicory agreed, "You can ask someone better at explaining once we get to Syon. Any other questions burning at your hearts?" She focused on the rest of the group, and the first guy reluctantly backed down.

"What's it really like there?" A quiet younger man finally voiced. Sparks, he looked younger than her. "Like...we've heard so much stuff about it, not certain of a lot of it, some of it makes no sense."

Chicory examined him for a moment, yawning as strange tiredness flowed into her mind, "What's your name?"

"Why does that matter?"

She raised an eyebrow, "It's part of my answer."

He sighed, "River. That's it."

Chicory nodded, pleased, "Nice to meet you River, I'm Chicory." He snorted contemptuously, apparently being grumpy on purpose. She rolled her eyes, "It's the most amazing place in the world. I first came there when I was almost twelve. So... roughly seven and a half years ago. I remember it felt like I died and went to heaven. For a while, I was convinced that's what happened. It'll feel like that for you too."

River gave her a flat look, decidedly annoyed looking, "Alright, but what's so great about it? I know Syon is the strongest city that anybody knows about. Every place I've gone to agrees that if Syon wanted to, you guys could rule the entire continent. Everyone else could've attacked anyone, but making Syon angry was always a death wish. That sounds pretty great to me, but what the sparks else is so great about it."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Chicory tilted her head, drifting off for a moment before answering, "I think mostly it's the little things. Regular meals, stability, that kind of stuff." She smiled, "And the people. They truly care. They aren't perfect, nobody is, but they all want everyone to be happy."

River narrowed his eyes in doubt but didn't question her further, he moved to the back of the group and Chicory effectively lost track of him, answering other questions and slowly easing the men out of their nerves.

A large part of Chicory would have greatly preferred to have stayed up front with the driver, but doing things like this was part of her deal with the Guardian. To help people, to see that Syon became as strong as she could.

She learned as many of their names as she could, there was Mason, the enthusiastic old man who asked question after question. There was Kyle, the nervous pit of anxiety who constantly glanced at his surroundings as if he was going to be attacked at any moment. There was River, who frowned at the back of the group, contemplative but also resiliently grumpy. There were many others, and Chicory felt joy swell in her as time passed and slowly the questions about Syon died down and she was able to ask them about themselves, their likes and dislikes, and their dreams.

Somehow, she found joy in the little parts.

--

Chicory got out the map book as the men finally started chatting to themselves again, this time it sounded much more excited. She was trying to figure out where to head first once she found out who her team was and procured supplies. She should probably stay at Syon for a couple of days or so before heading out.

Someone walked over to her and she glanced up to see River frowning at the book, "What's that?" He sat down next to her. Which was the last thing she'd decided to expect from the guy.

Chicory had a momentary panic that it was the obviously magical nature of the book that was making him come over, but then she remembered what the Guardian had said, only those with the Tempest could see the pulses of light. She sighed, "I'm going on a trip soon, trying to figure out where."

He gestured to the world map page that she was currently staring at hopelessly, "That's kind of broad."

Chicory shrugged. She had to go to all these places eventually, or at least, she hoped to try and do that. The Guardian had made it seem like something that she expected to be far beyond Chicory.

He sighed, "Look, where are we right now? Where's Syon?"

Chicory pointed at the pulsing heartbeat that represented the Guardian, figuring that was probably in the city or at least close to it. "Right there."

He took the book, glancing at a couple of numbers that the regions were labeled with, flipped to the back of the book where a bunch of other numbers were, and somehow found his way easily to a different page which was a closer view of the continent up to the coasts. "Looking at the whole world won't help much without a boat or the ability to fly. It's not like you could get there easily anyway."

Chicory nodded, feeling once again daunted at the enormity of the task, also still rather tired. "Yeah, I was thinking that too... but who knows, maybe it would be better to start as far away as possible."

He gave her an odd look, "For someone who was preaching earlier about how amazing your city is, you sure seem eager to spend years away from it."

"It's Tempest business."

"Well, against my better judgment, I noticed you were staring aimlessly at a book and figured, 'Hey, I'm a competent person, maybe she needs someone to smack her in the face with reality?' Apparently, I was right." He pointed at the new page again, "Is there anywhere on this page that piques your interest? Or does it have to be several years' worth of travel away?"

Chicory examined it forlornly, only one other pulse besides Syon was on the map, one to the west, beyond the mountains. She pointed to the spot, "Right here. I guess, yeah, that's the most logical place to start."

He frowned at it for some reason, giving her an odd look, but he schooled his features, "There you go, problem solved." He handed the book back to her and scooted away awkwardly, perhaps realizing how close he'd plopped down.

River then fell silent, sitting in a corner, watching the other men with distrust and analytical contemplation.

Chicory sighed and put a page marker in the corner, closing the book and sliding it back into her bag.

--

Chicory smiled as Syon appeared on the horizon, letting out a little cheer. The men behind her stood up or peeked out the side of the wagon to get a good look at it, a couple of them whooping and grinning at each other like idiots.

The only one who didn't make any discernible reaction except to stand up and gaze thoughtfully at it was River, which Chicory really should have expected. He moved back to his corner once he was done, glancing at the surroundings for a moment before unceremoniously plopping back down onto his seat.

Chicory would have called his expression a glare if she hadn't been around him for the last five hours. It had come to her attention that apparently, this was simply his neutral face.

She glanced behind the wagon at the rest of the procession, tired horses, excited-looking passengers, and a couple of relieved fighters who were probably more than tired of leading off curious zombies.

They approached slowly and Chicory saw the moment when the fort sent a couple of people to lead off the zombies crowded around the fence. One of those horseback riders headed toward them though, meeting them on the road and making sure everything was alright.

It was Patch, perhaps he wanted to speak with Chicory about the list of names, or maybe he needed to ask Kairah something. Or perhaps Patch was just bored, he really didn't seem to like being bored. She'd heard of some of the things he'd done in response to that.

He smiled at their Wagon and slowed his horse, them being the first in line would mean a bit of a report on their part.

Chicory stood up and saluted the more powerful Tempest, "Almost there, friends!" He said, nodding to Chicory and the driver and smiling at the once again apprehensive-looking men in the back, they could tell that this man was someone powerful, but they weren't sure who he was yet. "Chicory! Everything's gone well, right?"

"Yes, Patch!" She nodded happily, "One broken weel earlier but we just made it an early lunch and fixed it without a problem."

He nodded again and began to move down the row, "Come see me later Chicory, I heard about your promotion."

She smiled and he was gone a moment later. She sat back down and glanced back at the men, "That's Patch, he's the leader of the fort."

A couple of them balked and glanced back at him with worry, apparently thinking they hadn't given him enough respect or something. River on the other hand remained seating, Chicory wasn't even sure if he was paying attention.

"He seems nice," Mason eventually said, which was about right to Chicory, the two of them seemed like they would be kindred souls.

--

Chicory handed off the group to one of the guides at the gate and excused herself, promising to come find them again at dinner if she could. She always tried to keep tabs on new people, and she knew that most of the other healers agreed with her sentiment.

Fewer people to heal if you made personally certain that they didn't do anything stupid.

No one seemed to think it was strange for her to leave at this point, and so she extricated herself without issue, humming as she made her way to the central spire where the most important stuff was, including the radio tower and Patch's office. She felt a burst of sudden energy as she left the group, opening the door cheerfully.

She smiled at one of the front desk people, "Patch is in, right? He asked me to come see him."

The woman smiled back, it seemed a bit strained for some reason, but she pointed toward the office, "Yes, I believe he's waiting for you." She sounded...almost annoyed about something. Chicory wanted to ask about it, but she figured she could do that on the way out, she wasn't sure how urgent Patch's new information was.

Chicory nodded and entered with the woman frowning at her back all the way. Patch was going over some papers at a desk, looking slightly contemplative and a tad bit anxious. He looked up when she entered the room, relaxing slightly.

"Ah, Chicory! Sit, sit! How are you doing?"

"Uh, pretty good. Tired from the two weeks out at the battlefields, but mostly fine right now. You?"

Patch smiled, "Good that you're good, I'm mostly fine too. Though this new job you have is...well it feels a bit out of nowhere from the Guardian."

Chicory nodded, "Sparking right, has she explained why she needs me to do this? I don't need a reason I guess, but I feel like it would be easier if I had a more stable goal than 'go help people.' Ya know. Like, I could figure it out, but..."

"But it would be nice to know the why." Patch finished.

Chicory nodded.

"That's part of my frustration with it, she's not explaining, I think she just wants to know what her siblings are doing. It could be anything though, like maybe there's someone there that she really wants you to help. Or maybe her siblings are being tyrants and she wants you to make them stop."

Chicory sighed, "Well, now I'm overthinking it even more. Anyway, I plan on leaving in a week or two, I've decided to head to the closest one first."

Patch perked up, "Oh, I'd like to see the map if you don't mind. Since this is in the first stages I'd like to have an idea where you'll be in case something happens."

Chicory obliged and took out the book, flipping first to the world map to show him the various locations and then to the closer map so he could see where she would be heading. The Guardian was right, Patch could see the pulses perfectly fine.

After a while of examining the map and even taking out his own map to mark it on, Patch finally relaxed. He took a page from the stack of papers and handed it to her, "This is your list of names. Ceder Snow, Reya Burges, and Kade Stott. She also said that someone else might tag along but not to hang on the idea because she needs to speak with him first. She sounded kind of worried when she told me that part."

Chicory nodded and took the list, it was describing where to most likely find the people in question. She was kind of surprised that there were only three, maybe four. "I don't think I know any of them that well. Kade is the guy in charge of loading the supply bay, right?"

Patch nodded.

Chicory felt a knot of worry well up inside her. So many changes...Things were going to be so different from what she was used to. Sure, she was mostly excited about that, but sparks, her instinct was to just not.

She remembered what the Guardian had said, I know that you can do it. She sighed and then smiled, it felt a bit strained, but...yeah she could do this. She trusted Syon.

Patch examined her for a moment, "Reya...isn't very happy about the idea, just so you know. I believe she'll go, but she has a lot of people here. Then Ceder...I don't know him well, he appeared out of nowhere two years back with a fully developed Tempest, apparently the Guardian has been using him for little things for a long time."

Chicory nodded slowly, "Looks like I mostly got the colorful ones."

Patch smirked, "This is Syon, we've got more colorful ones kicking around than anyone would believe" He frowned for a moment, glancing at his watch, "Well, I'll let you go now, I told Reya, Kade, and Ceder already, you four should meet up and discuss things. Oh, and Reya's right out there, you passed her on the way in, she's my front desk right now."

Chicory blinked, that was the one who seemed kind of angry about something. Yeah alright, apparently she was going to have a chat with her after all.

Chicory smiled, "Good to know."