They shortly arrived at the Lodge, or what had been the Lodge. The complex had been almost completely obliterated, leaving behind a large plot of blasted earth and chunks of debris strewn across the entire height, up to several hundred meters away. Not much more than a few bits of tattered wall were still standing.

It was clearly an act of hostile intent that had decimated the Guild stronghold so completely, not just incidental damage.

“Who did this?” Jacob asked.

“It’s kind of a long story,” Titaness replied, shaking her head. “I’m sure the director will explain it better than I could.”

“He’s still here?”

“Mmhmm. Most of the directors left with the ships, but a few stayed behind to coordinate continued Guild efforts.”

“You mean more branches survived besides this one?”

“Yup. Four of ‘em. Started off with more, but we’ve been getting picked off. But Thatch has a plan—you’ll hear all about it.”

“Right.”

Off to the left, below the height, a section of houses had been cleared away to make room for the landing pad of the escape ship, a massive circle of concrete and metal now standing empty.

Jacob and Tarim were led through the harsh wasteland that remained of the Lodge’s above-ground structure. They were ushered into a staircase leading down below. When it bottomed out it led into a set of airlocks with sliding doors. Once inside, air rushed all around them—with a sound that could make a man deaf—and made their clothes billow like mad.

Then they were allowed to enter the true Lodge. The bit that was left. It had held up surprisingly well against the quakes. Jacob saw only minor cracks and structural damage along the walls. Aside from the occasional flickering light, power was constant and steady.

“Let’s get you to say hello to the others,” Titaness said and waved them along.

They walked down several empty halls, most rooms covered in Xs of yellow tape to signify that they were unused. He realized that Titaness was so tall she had to bow her head as she walked to fit under the ceiling. Haden wasn’t quite there yet.

Finally they reached a cafeteria. Around twenty people occupied the place, heroes eating or talking or fixing their gear, mingling with support workers in their white coats or custodial garb. The support staff outnumbered the heroes by about three to one. There were a large number of round white tables and red plastic chairs with metal legs. Most people were crowded around just five of them, illustrating just how few people were left in a hall that could have seated over a hundred.

An enticing savory smell of actual real food came from the back of the cafeteria, where the area behind the counter had been converted into a full-sized kitchen for feeding a large number of people.

It didn’t take long for Jacob to spot Director Thatch having coffee with a support worker over by a pillar. The tie he wore—yellow and patterned to look like a banana, clashing entirely against his black suit—sucked Jacob’s attention in like it had its own gravitational field. Fascinating in a baffling sort of way.

Thatch spotted them too before Titaness could call out. He excused himself from the conversation and came over with a smile, one hand holding the steaming cup and the other hand stuck in his pocket.

“There’s a familiar face,” Thatch said and lifted his cup in greeting. “Jacob Sorenson. I knew you wouldn’t be dead, of course, but I still hadn’t expected to see you.” He turned to Tarim. “And who’s this?” His tone was kind, but his frown betrayed the same concern Jacob had seen in the other heroes.

“I’m Tarim Usman,” the kid said quickly before Jacob was able to answer for him. “I’m fifteen. I’m technically an orphan, I think. I’m Jacob’s sidekick. Are you the boss of this place?”

“He’s not my sidekick,” Jacob cut in. “He just has delusions of grandeur.”

“I’m being considered.”

“He’s really not.”

Thatch laughed. “You’re a lively one! I like that. Nice to meet you, Tarim. I’m Theodore Thatch, and yes, I’m the boss here, but I like to think of myself as the fun kind of boss.” He tugged on his banana tie as though that proved his point.

“We found them outside,” Titaness explained. “I thought the boy could use getting looked at. Aside from the, um, well that, he also has a minor leg injury.”

“Of course, of course.” Thatch waved a mousey-looking support worker over. “Hey, Claire, would you mind bringing Tarim here down to the med center? Make sure Superglue has a look at that leg.”

Superglue. Must be a real genius with a name like that.

The woman nodded and motioned for Tarim to follow. He complied only reluctantly, looking back sullenly at Jacob and all the heroes before he disappeared through a doorway.

Titaness excused herself and her grandson and they shuffled off, moving their large bodies carefully to avoid bumping into anyone while they made their way over to the kitchen section. Jacob was left alone with Thatch.

“I didn’t expect anyone to be here,” Jacob admitted. “I thought you’d be evacuated or dead.”

Thatch grinned. “You had such a low opinion of us? I’m wounded, Jacob. Wounded.”

“Shut up.”

“Your wolf’s not with you. Our scans at Green Meadows didn’t find its remains, so I thought it might have pulled through, but I guess not, huh?”

Jacob got a lump in his stomach at that. My wolf, huh? Yeah, I fucked that one up.

“Didn’t make it,” was all he said, unwilling to get into it.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“That’s a pity. The marketing potential was so there.”

“Not like marketing really matters anymore, though.”

“Doesn’t it?” Thatch looked genuinely confused. “Jacob, you don’t think a little apocalypse is going to keep Earth down forever, do you?”

“Uh…”

“Don’t worry, there are plans in place. Look, I don’t know how much you’ve picked up out there, but I’m sure you have a lot of questions. I’m sure you’re hungry, too.” He poked at Jacob’s stomach. “Why don’t we talk over some food?”

“That sounds fucking perfect, actually,” Jacob said.

“And after that, maybe a shower and a change of clothes?”

“I smell that bad, do I?”

“Little bit. But given everything you’ve no doubt been through, I’d say you’re more than forgiven for a little road stink. I’ll want a full account on that, by the way.”

“Of the road stink?”

“The first part.”

Thatch motioned to the kitchen, and Jacob had to stop himself from running over there. He forced himself to walk like a normal sane person. It was simple fare, a big pot of rice and a big pot of curry, but he didn’t mind. He ladled himself a heaping plateful. Thatch only refilled his coffee, and they sat down at one of the empty tables with the pleasant background ambience of people talking.

He’d never been so happy to be in a room full of people before.

“So, where would you like me to begin?” Thatch asked. He put his cup on the table and spun it around and around with both hands.

“What the fuck happened to the Earth, for one?” Jacob asked around a mouthful of food. “I mean, I’ve seen some of the stuff that’s out there. It’s nuts.”

The food tasted normal, and to him, at that moment, that was a glowing compliment. Some of the canned food he’d eaten wasn’t bad, even on the good side of average, but it never quite tasted like a proper meal. There was always something slightly off or stale or bland about it. This tasted like something a human had made, and he was loving every second of it.

Thatch took a sip of coffee and sucked on his teeth. “Well, the urgeks sacrificed a whole planet to do this ritual.”

“That much I’ve gathered on my own.”

“The ritual summoned an urgek demon thane right here on Earth. His name is Akor-Goram, also known as the Father of Flesh. He’s not a very friendly fellow, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

Jacob worked down three more mouthfuls of curry in quick succession. “I did, yeah.”

“When he appeared in the AF-HZ, he released a Chaos pulse that killed tens of millions. Their deaths bolstered his power, which allowed the Chaos to spread further, which caused more deaths. You get the picture.

“The feedback loop only stopped when Earth ran out of people to kill. Now Akor-Goram is fully gestated, and he’s been releasing hordes of demon cohorts to mop up whatever survivors are left.

“Luckily for us, his visit to this side of the tracks is a temporary one. If he can’t continue to feed on the energies of the dead, he will grow weaker until he isn’t able to sustain his existence anymore and slips back into whatever urgek hell he came from.

“Of course, he knows that too. He might be a big angry murder monster, but he’s not stupid. We believe his plan is to leave Earth and start hopping between inhabited worlds, sucking them dry and moving on. He wants to make the absolute most out of his stay.”

Jacob ate the last few bites and started scraping the plate with his spoon. “That doesn’t sound very good.”

“It doesn’t, does it? It’s up to us to kill him before he finds a way off this planet. Paragon fought him one-on-one when he first appeared. She lost.”

“Oh shit, really?”

“Yeah. She’s alive, barely. Receiving treatment in Jubilon. Our plan is for all the remaining heroes in range to converge there. Once Paragon has recovered, we’ll mount another attack on Akor-Goram.”

“I see. What makes you think it’ll work this time?”

“He’s already starving, so he’s growing weaker by the day. Paragon will have learned some of his tricks, too. We just need to hope it’ll be enough.”

Part of Jacob wanted to go and get another helping of food, but his stomach was already protesting. He left it alone and let out a wet burp against the back of his hand.

“Either way, we could really use another hero. Especially one like you.”

“Expendable, you mean?”

Thatch gave a good-natured laugh, but he had that evil glint in his eye. “I prefer ‘tenacious’.”

Jacob snorted. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m not here for that.”

“Oh?”

“I’m looking for someone. Rebecca Hartley, don’t suppose you’ve seen her?”

“I don’t think so, no. Is she a friend of yours?”

“Yeah. What about the Arcadian escape ship?”

“The Intrepid. What about it?”

“You got a passenger manifest?”

“Of course I do.”

“Can I have it?”

“No, but let me have a look.” He brought up his interface and went through his local files. “‘Rebecca Hartley’, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“No one by that name is listed on the Intrepid, nor any of the other ships.”

“Is there any way she could have gotten on without being listed?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Jacob sighed. “What about other methods of getting off-world?”

Thatch swept the rest of his coffee and gave a big swallow. “If she didn’t get on the Intrepid, it’s nearly impossible for her to have—”

“I don’t want to hear about odds,” Jacob growled. “Just tell me.”

“Well, she could theoretically have gotten someone to take her through the waylines. Or she could theoretically have found a smaller private ship. Those are the only two options I can think of. But Jacob, honestly, neither of them are—”

“I got it. If she went off-world, where would she go? Mars?”

Thatch nodded. “Probably. It’s the closest destination, since the Moon colony was also knocked out. Coincidentally, we think that’s where Akor-Goram is heading first too, for the very same reason.”

Jacob spent a few moments chewing on that. He probably wasn’t lying—it made sense that the demon thane would go for the closest target. Conversely, it wouldn’t make any sense for Becca to travel further than she had to away from Earth.”

So even if Becca is safe on Mars, if that demon breaks loose, it’s all over anyway.

I could find her and run, but where would we go? Not so many human-friendly worlds these days. There’s Aribel, but that place is already on its last legs. I suppose I could leave and just hope that these heroes can handle things on their own, but…

He didn’t like the thought of leaving something that big to chance.

“I get it, I get it,” Jacob said with a sigh. “I have to stick around.”

Thatch gave a smug little chuckle. “Attaboy.”

“Is there even anything I can do? I mean, isn’t Paragon pretty much going to be soloing him again? Everyone else is just a spectator at that point.”

“Actually, we need all the hands we can get on this. As I mentioned, Akor-Goram has been summoning all his merry men. Soldiers, lieutenants, that kind of thing. While Paragon is busy fighting him, every other hero will be engaging his army and keeping them busy.”

“I see.”

“So, can I count you in?”

“I have a lot more questions.”

“Soft yes?”

“Sure, whatever,” Jacob said with a reluctant nod.

Thatch smiled. “Excellent!” He clapped his hands together. “I’m going to get more coffee, then you can ask me whatever else you’d like.”

Man really likes his coffee.