Greetings to all in Corporate Civilization 111. It has come to The Corporation’s attention that a system-created contest in relation to the Hero Board has been initiated.

Of course, we do not wish to interfere with a system’s actions, however, as required by the Treaty of Due Diligence, we must put a temporary halt to the contest.

As such, all further prizes for the contest are on hold, and any actions taken in regard to the contest during the pause will not count toward any further prizes.

We at The Corporation apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and would like to personally thank all affected for your patience while we work on resolving the matter.

“Wow,” I said. “That’s actually kind of a relief. I mean, at least if it means we won’t have people trying to kill us anyway.”

“How boring,” Koren complained.

“It did say temporary halt,” Vyrania pointed out.

Koren brightened.

“We should clean up this place,” Vyrania said, looking around my store. “Make it presentable. You’re going to have a lot of customers soon. I think you might be the only store in town. Not to mention the tower attached to it.”

“There’s the hotel, too,” I pointed out. “Finnegan’s Place. Bob said it’s where everyone is staying. I actually want to get over there and check on a few people.”

“Speaking of checking on people,” she turned to Koren, “what happened with Rilen’s team?”

He explained to her what he’d told me about getting sidetracked and discovering Rilen had been enslaved or enraptured at the very least by what Koren was pretty sure was a Gold-ranker.

“A Gold?” Vyrania asked incredulously. “Are you sure?”

“Not completely. But mostly. It’s the only explanation for the power I saw.”

“Wow. If she can get around the gateway restrictions, you think she’ll be able to get into the tower?”

“Wouldn’t do her any good without a keymaster.”

“You sure about that?”

Koren looked uncertain. “I can’t see a Gold-ranker being interested in a tower, even a Titan-class one.”

“Maybe there’s something special about it we don’t know.”

“All the more reason for us to clear it.”

“Did you recognize her?”

Koren shook his head.

“Well, I’m not actually all that disappointed,” Vyrania said. “I don’t think we could handle anything beyond the first floor anyway. If I’m being honest, I was considering not even going back in at all.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Koren said, putting a hand to his chest in affront.

“We have the dungeon now. The town, the area around it. A whole new world to explore. That other tower, the first to open, it’s surely not Titan.”

“And I’m sure it’s crawling with prospectors already.”

“It won’t be for long, once they find out this one is Titan. And given who’s inside that one, they’ll find out sooner rather than later.”

Koren nodded. “Yes, Calynora and her team are well-connected. Remember how upset it made Rilen when he lost to her?” he said wistfully, a smile playing at his lips.

“Exactly,” Vyrania agreed. “And we’re free from him. For the first time in years. We don’t need to fight anymore.”

Koren held up a finger. “Don’t need to, but just to be clear, you do want to, yes?”

“Well of course. I’m not insane.”

“I disagree,” I muttered.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Your civ is in a grace period,” Koren said. “We’re the only ones not from this civ that have access to the tower, barring maybe the Gold-ranker in the woods. Even Calynora’s team won’t be allowed in until the grace period ends. That’s not a chance to pass up.”

Vyrania nodded slowly.

“Why are you nodding?” I asked. “Weren’t you just saying you were considering not going back inside?”

“Yes, but he makes a good point. Assuming the Gold-ranker doesn’t have a way inside, we’re the most powerful ones in this civ with access to it. The only ones, come to think of it, since you got a key as well. The tower will be locked to everyone but us three.”

Koren clapped his hands cheerfully. “That’s settled then. What about you, my boy? Will you join us back in the tower?”

“Sadly,” I sighed, “yes.”

“But consider all the—” he began, then stopped, frowning at me. “Really?”

“Yes. I’ve thought about it. It’s what I want. I guess I’m insane too.”

“That didn’t take much convincing. I’m proud of you. You’re growing up.”

“I’m already grown up.”

“And yet still so young.”

I got up. “I annoyingly have seemed to have gotten a second wind, so now that the contest is on hold and I know the whole town is a safe zone, I’m going to use the time to explore it. It’s weird how empty it seems. Also want to try to find a Fragment Master. I’m eager to test out multiple decks.”

“Doubt you’ll have much luck,” Vyrania said. “It’s empty, like you said, because everyone will have tried to gain access to the gateway near the first tower.”

“Rilen and his friends made it here. Saw a few others earlier as well. Plus it’s out that the tower is Titan.” I frowned. “Is using the gateways instant, or is there travel time?”

“Travel time isn’t the issue, but the lottery. Though I imagine they’ll increase the rate for it now.”

I shrugged. “Still want to check out the state of my town. Bob said some buildings were knocked down. Oh, and I have some cards to get your opinion on when I get back.”

“You got new cards?” Koren asked eagerly.

“Yeah, but it can wait. Want to check out the town before it gets dark.” I glanced outside. “Only about an hour of daylight left.”

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

The town was as empty as it had seemed earlier. All the shops and restaurants abandoned. Even the few apartments inside the safe zone seemed vacant. It was eerie.

It also made me wonder where Semermen had gotten the deeds he’d offered me from.

I stopped at the apartment of a guy I occasionally went surfing with and let myself in, but the place was barren. It looked like he’d left in a rush.

It was weird, the day it had all started had been somewhat subdued due to, I’d assumed, being New Year’s Day and people being hungover, but after those cards had fallen, it had turned into an utter ghost town.

I made my way over to Finnegan’s, as it was the only other establishment in town listed in my Corporate Network ability. I passed the beach on which the tower staff were still frolicking.

I stopped on the road above the beach, squinting. Or a lot more than frolicking in some cases.

I chuckled and continued on to Finnegan’s.

As I got closer to the hotel I heard the chatter of voices. At least some people had survived.

The hotel had a restaurant attached to it, and I entered into this rather than the lobby.

The dining room was at about half capacity. Most of the people I vaguely recognized, though some were clearly from other civs. They all seemed upbeat enough; there was even a group sat around what looked like a floating TV screen, watching something that made them occasionally break out in laughter.

I guess it had been a few days since the world as we knew it ended, so they’d had time to adjust. And apocalypse or not, you still needed to eat.

For now anyway.

A few of the diners looked my way, some not-so-subtly pointing me out to their companions.

At the time I didn’t realize why.

I didn’t see anyone I knew well enough to interrupt their meal to strike up a conversation with, and I didn’t want to just go up and ask some person from another civ if they were a Fragment Master, and there wasn’t any profession yellow pages I could look one up in.

I hung around a bit longer, hoping to see Emma or someone I knew, but it was starting to get dark and rather than more people arriving, the dining room was emptying out, diners leaving into the hotel lobby, presumably heading up to their hotel rooms for the night.

I decided to leave and stop by the beach before it got too late, see if the tower staff had any ideas. I was eager to start building out decks as soon as possible.

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

“Fragment Master?” Torath asked. “What do you want a Fragment Master for? You even have any fragments worth using?”

“I’ve got a few. As for the why…” I grinned as I pulled out a spectral representation of Deckmaster to show him.

His eyebrows shot up upon seeing it. “That’s incredible. Legend has it Nylasys used that card.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Surprised the Consortium allowed the eyes to take it and put it in this civ.” He tore his gaze from the card. “You loot it from a monster in the tower?”

I shook my head. “You hear about that competition? The Hero Board one.”

He looked even more surprised. “That came from Gambler’s Redoubt?”

“Yep.”

“That’s highly irregular.” He shook his head. “Then again this whole thing has been from the start. Pulled from a tower we’ve been at for ages to one on a NewCiv, only to have the keymaster go missing on the first day, and the tower turn out to be Titan.” He looked around the beach, eyes briefly falling on a couple who were having distinctly more fun than everyone else. “Then we get kicked out. Not that I’m complaining, I could use the vacation. But… well, as I said, it’s irregular.”

“Should I be worried?”

“Oh absolutely.” He slapped my arm. “Not sure what you can do about it other than get richer and stronger though.”

“That’s exactly what I plan on doing.”

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

Before heading back to my shop I wandered over to the southeast end of the safe zone, my Copper body allowing me to easily scale the façade of a surprisingly good vegan restaurant to get onto its roof to get a better view of the town.

I frowned at what I saw. I hadn’t noticed them from the ground as they had been invisible against the evening sky, but from this angle they stood out clearly.

They stretched between several buildings, glints of light from the setting sun making them sparkle.

A chill rippled through my body for some unknown reason.

Then, with dawning horror, my conscious mind caught up with my unconscious, and I recognized what they were.