“Are you sure about this, my love?” a young woman asked as she clutched her infant son closely to her chest.
The dark-haired woman barely looked old enough to have completed her first set of certifications, much less have a child. However, her clothing was well-made, and her hands were much too soft to have ever known true labor.
Anyone perceptive would immediately recognize she came from a wealthy background. Unfortunately, her former affluence was not enough to facilitate her evacuation when the Senator and the bulk of his personnel departed.
Her family lived in another city – one of the few with towering walls built by the people from the Wastelands – no, Horizon – before they left. She still struggled to believe everything she saw in that horrible video, but her husband had assured her it was all true.
He had worked as a sous-chef in the Senator’s mansion before the man had abruptly abandoned the city. Even before he’d become a Priest of Savianette, Goddess of Home and Safety, Jarrid had been certain the information revealed in the video was accurate.
He refused to explain how he knew, but she believed him, nonetheless. His family had served Senators and Directors in one form or another for generations. It was why his parents and grandparents had been granted seats on the Senator’s shuttle when he left.
Jarrid and his young family were not nearly important enough to warrant such a concession.
The willowy young man carefully closed the lower storage compartment of the massive vehicle and smiled as comfortingly as he could manage. His amber eyes almost glowed in the early morning light, making his wife feel a momentary surge of warmth.
“Yes, Carrie. I am very certain. This is what the goddess has been directing us toward for the past two weeks.”
“I know…It just seems so dangerous,” the young mother said nervously, glancing at the bundle in her arms. “Even if the modifications let us stay above most of the monsters, some of them can fly. And the ruins are so far away. What if we don’t make it there before dark?”
Jarrid understood his wife’s concerns – they were the same concerns held by most of the people joining them on this journey. While the cities were undoubtedly dangerous, especially the ones not secured by high walls, there was at least comfort in familiarity.
The dangers of the wilds were almost completely unknown.
Aside from those with shuttles and other high-elevation vehicles, nobody who had entered the untamed areas between cities had survived. Some of the flying vehicles had even been lost when they were attacked by flying monsters.
His wife’s concern was a reasonable one. It was also why he’d paid to have the vehicle he’d borrowed from the Senator’s estate modified. Money wasn’t going to help them where they were going, but stronger antigrav lifts certainly would.
“I feel confident in the goddess’s blessings. Nevum and I should have no trouble shielding everyone. If anything does somehow notice us, Arzantaos and Hiran can use their magic to defend us,” Jarrid said, placing a comforting hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Besides, I doubt the Goddess of Home and Safety would send one of her newest Priests to die.”
The petite woman mustered what courage she could manage and nodded. “I trust you, my love. If you believe, then I’ll try to believe,” she said stoically. The baby in her arms whimpered lightly, drawing her attention. With a sad smile, she said, “It’s just hard to imagine the wilds being safer than the city.”
“A city being swarmed by monsters, even now.”
“Yes, but it’s not like they can get inside the stronger buildings. Our building is safe,” Carrie said with a touch of petulance. They’d already had this argument before, and now really wasn’t the time, especially with the rest of the group waiting for them. However, the young woman couldn’t quite help herself.
Her husband smiled gently, knowing her words were a manifestation of nerves. He understood her better than most.
“Come on, sweetheart.” Jarrid held out a hand. “It’s time to go.”
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Isa groaned as the piece of Andronite she was working with hardened just a little too much to allow it to be reheated and reshaped.
“Another piece wasted,” she grumbled as she tossed it aside. The still glowing piece of metal clanged dully against the rest of the scraps. Seeing the growing pile only served to lower the former goddess’s mood.
At least they wouldn’t go to waste. Isa could always cut up the pieces and use them as habetes. Except… she couldn’t, really. At least not at her current strength.
The former goddess groaned at her own weakness before tossing the stabilizer she was using aside. Her psionic-fueled telekinesis wasn’t quite strong enough to manage the work needed without a little help, and every additional factor became another strain to juggle.
Even at D-Grade, she wasn’t quite enough. It was a hard adjustment to make after spending so long as a powerful being. It hadn’t been a big thing when they were still in the Mortal Realm, but now that magic and power were accessible, her physical and metaphysical limitations irked her more than she liked to admit.
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She was almost grateful when her AI alerted her to an approaching vehicle. Whatever it was had come from the direction of New Wrightshire – the closest still populated city to her current home.
Isa still kept up with what was happening around her, though she relied mostly on her AI to inform her of anything relevant. Between delving the local dungeons to prevent overflows, collecting and processing materials, crafting, and dealing with the basic necessities of life, the former goddess simply didn’t have enough mental capacity to direct toward extraneous topics.
Perhaps she should have paid a bit more attention to what was happening in the closest city.
With a sigh, Isa headed in the direction of the vehicle, detouring to climb one of the taller buildings along the way.
“Is that a grav-train?” Isa asked aloud when she finally got eyes on the vehicle that had caused the alert from her AI.
Her eyes had been enhanced both by upgrades and the nanites that still reinforced her body, but the swiftly moving conveyance was still hard to make out at such a distance.
As it got closer, Isa realized her initial guess was accurate, though the anti-gravity train only contained three small compartments instead of several large ones like she was used to seeing. It was clearly something that had come from a private campus as opposed to being used for the public.
Even the airport’s grav-trains had larger cabins to accommodate the volume of passengers they regularly serviced.
They also didn’t fly nearly as high as the one heading her way. In fact, she couldn’t recall seeing any grav-trains operating at such a height.
It probably made avoiding monsters easier, she supposed. Well, minus the fliers.
But it appeared that whoever was on the train was doing well enough repelling the occasional flying monsters that attacked. Between the obvious shields and the occasional plasma bolts being shot, they seemed to be doing okay.
Since plasma weapons were extremely rare in the Empire, Isa couldn’t help but wonder exactly who was making their way toward her home.
Nothing she’d seen in the news would explain such an occurrence, though she supposed the continued decline of New Wrightshire could have something to do with it. Their Senator had left shortly after the Horizian forces withdrew, leaving those remaining behind to fend for themselves.
Had some security forces been left behind as well?
Since the easiest way to obtain answers was to simply ask, Isa connected to the surprisingly well-designed communication system installed in the grav-train.
Instead of speaking right away, Isa took a few moments to listen and observe what was happening within the conveyance. There were plenty of discretely placed cameras and microphones within the train cars, so her view of the inside was fairly comprehensive.
The former goddess’s expression shifted to something complicated as she realized how many children were present on the train. There were more than she would have expected, especially given the government’s strong encouragement to limit the number of children in each family.
The Senate didn’t put hard limits on the number of children citizens could have, but that was because such archaic practices were largely unnecessary. Social conditioning and peer pressure often worked well enough for such things.
It was obvious the kids were scared, though the emotion was not limited to the children. There was also a noticeable undercurrent of excitement mixed in, especially now that they were in sight of their destination.
And there was no question about their destination. More than one passenger mentioned the name of the abandoned city as she observed. There was no reason for them to know the name of a long-abandoned city if it wasn’t their goal.
After listening for several more minutes as the grav-train made its way closer to the ruins, Isa decided to make her presence known. It would be better for the group to expect her instead of surprising them. She’d hate for an accident to happen because she didn’t take the time to say hello first.
Ensuring her voice was only heard in the conductor’s cabin, Isa projected her voice through the train’s communication system. “Greetings to the train. I hope you come with peaceful intentions.”
Everything she’d heard implied that was the case, but she wanted to ensure it was expressly stated as well. It would also give her a chance to assure whoever was controlling the vehicle that she held no hostile intentions toward them.
As expected, the two people in the conductor’s cabin were startled by her voice. She gave them a few moments to collect themselves before speaking again.
“You are approaching the ruins of Aurora, where I have made my home. I am not opposed to having neighbors, provided you are the friendly sort. There is more than enough room for all of us.”
She watched as the tension in the two men’s shoulders visibly loosened.
“That’s good to hear,” the younger man said. “We definitely come with peaceful intentions. We’re just looking for a safe place to live. New Wrightshire has become too dangerous since the monsters started attacking.”
“Why come here?” Isa asked, curious.
The men exchanged a glance, with the older man raising a brow at the younger man. The younger man cleared his throat and awkwardly said, “It might sound strange, but I’m a Priest? My goddess, Savianette, Goddess of Home and Safety, told me to come here. She said it was the safest place in the area right now. I know that might not make sense – or maybe it does if you’re here.”
“It does. There aren’t a lot of monsters in the area since I’ve been keeping the dungeons clear. I certainly wouldn’t mind some assistance on that front. It would save me a lot of time. But I want to make something clear – it still isn’t safe, not like it was before the ascension.”
She didn’t mention the fact that she knew about a third of their passengers were children. That would have been too hard to explain.
“We understand that. We’re just looking for somewhere safe, or at least safer.” The train had slowed almost to a stop after Isa contacted them, but it was now gradually picking up speed.
“Well, you’re welcome here,” Isa said after a moment. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the sudden encroachment on her privacy, but change and new experiences were important if she wanted to regain her power.
It was too easy to let herself slip back into the mentality of repetition and routine. Those were the staples of extending one’s life within the Immortal Realm, and the short amount of time she’d spent in the Mortal – and now Mana – Realms since her rebirth was nowhere near enough to fully shift habits ingrained over eons.
“I’m going to send you a map marked with the buildings that will likely be best to accommodate your group. You’re welcome to pick something else if you prefer, but the buildings I’ve annotated are probably in the best condition. The only exception is the old governor’s mansion. I’ve taken that for myself.”
She sent the map to the train’s computer. Isa had added descriptions to the buildings she’d marked to save the group time. It hadn’t taken her any real effort since the information was already saved in her AIs memory database.
She’d done a pretty thorough sweep of the city when she initially moved there. It was necessary, given the number of animals and monsters that had taken up residence in the ruins. Some still remained, which she had also marked on the map.
Hopefully, they were smart enough to clear any creatures from the immediate area where they planned to settle.