“So this ‘George Washingtub’ became the first president of your nation?” Sera asked as he brewed the day's coffee.

“Washington,” Joe corrected as he finished pressing the coffee, “And yeah he was our first one. A new one was elected every four years till The End happened.”

Joe then poured the pot into two separate mugs, handing one to Sera who stood just outside the cramped kitchen. She took it cautiously, smelling the brew and curling her nose.

“I can’t say I enjoy the smell.” She said, “Does it taste good?”

“It's an acquired taste,” Joe said, “I’d say most folk use milk n’ sugar to make it sweet, its normally bitter.”

“I think I’d prefer it sweet.” She told him, moving over to the recliner and easing back in the seat, “I’ll try it but I’m not expecting to enjoy the flavor.”

Joe moved out of the kitchen after her, leaning against the doorframe and casually sipping. It was the morning after she had watched The Thing, and she truly didn’t seem any more tired than she did last night. If only he could get away with sleeping for two hours a week… what a super power. Her face scrunched up when she finally took a sip of the coffee, shaking her head.

“This is liquid trash.” Sera said in a disgusted tone, “How can you drink this stuff?”

“Gets the day started.” He said with a shrug, taking another sip, “Makes tea look like baby stuff, you’ll be bouncing off the walls.”

“Do you mean that literally?” She asked, holding the cup further away from herself.

He snickered again, getting yet another indignant glare, “No, you’ll just have a lot of energy.”

“That sounds all well and good, but with this flavor it is basically undrinkable.” She said, swirling the mug, “Do you have any milk?

“Haven’t had milk in seventy years,” Joe said, “I barely remember what it tastes like. I got sugar and that’s about it.” He continued, heading back into the kitchen and beckoning her to follow.

When was the last time he'd even seen a cow? Maybe fiftyish years ago give or take. He took her mug and put in a few spoonfuls, stirring it up before handing it back. She took the mug back, taking a cautious sip at the sweetened brew. She still grimaced, but her reaction was much less exaggerated this time around.

“Still nasty, but bearable.” She said with a nod, “I appreciate you sharing this with me, sugar is a valuable commodity and I assume coffee is just as difficult to procure?”

“It's no problem.” Joe replied after another drink, “But yeah, coffee became real scarce after The End, I knew folk that would kill for a bag of it.”

“Kill for it eh? Is this substance addictive?”

Joe nodded, “Yeah, but the withdrawals ain't as bad as some other stuff.”

“I wonder if there is a Faenoran equivalent out there?” She asked, more of herself, “It could be a valuable commodity, assuming these withdrawals are as mild as you claim.”

Joe shrugged, “I just get a headache, that and I could get crabby.”

“That's it?” She asked, surprised, “Your people killed each other over that? How barbaric…”

Again Joe shrugged, “Armageddon is a barbaric time, I mean, I've killed for less.” Sera’s eyes widened a moment before he put a hand up, “They always tried to kill me first, alright.” He clarified quickly, “Like, here’s an example, one time I was scavving in a grocery store right? That’s basically a market, for your information. Anyway, I grabbed a bag of chips at this store right, and a guy tried to bash my head in cause ‘he saw it first’, that’s the kinda thing I’m talking about. That’s just one example, I’ve fought over a slice of bread, a can of tuna, half a rotted banana, you name it. An intact bag of chips was basically gold back then, and I saw em’ first.”

“That still seems like an overreaction,” Sera said after a moment, “What are chips exactly? Are they of high value?”

“They're dried up pieces of a potato with some seasoning.” Joe told her simply.

She stared at him for a few seconds before she asked “So… you and another man entered into a life or death battle over… a potato?”

Joe nodded, “I saw it first.” He repeated.

“Why didn’t you just relent and part with the tato?” Sera asked, “Was it worth killing him for?”

“When ya haven’t eaten in four days, yeah absolutely.” He replied flatly, “And don’t start with that ‘sharing’ crap, I tried to tell that guy we could split it but he wanted it all to himself. It was a family-sized bag man, he didn’t need all that to himself.”

“I still think conflict could have been avoided, surely there were other chips in this store?”

“No, that was the last one. Look, bottom line is, I didn’t end folk if they didn’t give me a reason to, alright? I don’t go out of my way to kill people-” He hesitated, “I don’t go out of my way to kill people that don’t deserve it.”

Surprisingly, Sera nodded, ‘I’ll take your word for it, if you were truly savage you would have tried to kill me and Gerad on sight.” She moved back to the recliner, sitting down before crossing her legs, “And besides, I’ve had to do much the same out there on the road, not for dried potatoes of course, but I’ve killed all the same. This Shard of Faenor is rife with bandits and I don’t give them any quarter.”

“I don’t let em’ live either.” Joe said with approval, “You let folk like that go and they’ll just hurt someone that can’t defend themselves later.”

“Exactly my point!” Sera exclaimed, “Banditry is a vile ‘trade’, and most who enter it never change their ways. You know how many people I had slain after you drove away from me last month? Twenty, I’ve killed twenty bandits who would have either had their way with me or sold me in Relias, probably both.” She ranted, “Can you imagine what damage those twenty men could have done to innocents had I let them live?”

“Again, I feel that same way… hey, question for you.” Joe asked, finishing his cup and setting it on the counter, “What is Relias and where can I find it? We can go wipe it out together if you want. I-”

“We can’t destroy Relias!” She said quickly, wagging a finger, “It is the capital city of this Shard and not everyone within is evil.”

“So it ain’t a slaver camp? Gerad made it sound like it was.” Joe replied, “He thought I was gonna sell him there, and you just said that you’d get sold there too.”

“It isn’t the city,” She told him, shaking her head, “It's the criminal underworld that infests it. I haven’t been there myself, but everyone in this Shard knows about it. Thievery, drugs, human trafficking, all is present in Relias’s underground, and from what I’ve heard, the guard will do nothing about it.”

“Probably bribed n’ bought off.” Joe said, “Bigger the city, the worse its people act.” He said with a sneer, “Maybe I should go do something about it.”

Sera’s finger trailed the rim of her cup, “You can’t take out their underground by yourself, Joseph. There are people in Relias’s underbelly that make my magic look paltry in comparison, the best thing you can do is stay away.” She finished, eyes becoming distant, “I knew a man like you once… Twenty years ago, when I first came to this Shard, he was another human like you, with that same exact ambition. He told me that he’d clean up that city for good, but when he delved into its depths, he never returned.”

“You don’t know that he’s dead.” Joe told her, trying to sound sympathetic, “He could still be fighting them now, dismantling a crime empire don't happen overnight.”

“I suppose you're right, it's a pleasant thought. Still I don't have high hopes.” She said, sighing before sinking back in the chair, “He was a good lad, like the younger brother I never had.”

They both fell silent for a long while until Sera finally broke the ice, “If you're up for it, I've heard rumors of a bandit camp operating in this area… would you be interested in taking it out?”

Joseph grinned, “Absolutely. Just got a couple more questions and we can head out.”

“What do you wish to learn about?” She asked, finishing off her coffee.

“What’s a Fog-Gate, and what exactly do ya mean when ya say Shard?” Joe asked.

“Ah yes,” She said, standing up before handing him the coffee mug, “See, a Fog-Gate is what links the Shards of our world together. I’ve heard that your world is an orb, yes?” Joe nodded in reply, “Faenor is not like that at all, it is dozens of planes linked together via Fog-Gates, our world is vast, and the only way to travel its endless horizons is to pass through a Fog-Gate.”

“Wait, how big are we talking about here?” He asked, setting her mug on the counter, “Bigger than Earth?”

She nodded, “I’ve traveled dozens of Fog-Gates over the years… I would say it is almost a certainty. There is also the fact that I’ve not once passed through the Gates and found myself back in a place I’d been before.”

“What do ya mean by that?” He said, brow furrowed, “These ain’t region based?”

She shook her head, “Not in the slightest. Our world may be stitched together with these Fog-Gates, but it doesn’t matter which one you pass through; they will deposit you in a completely random Shard with every single pass through. It is technically possible to come back to a Shard you’ve been to before… I never have though, and again, I’ve passed through them dozens of times. I haven’t seen my birthplace in over eighty years worth of traveling.”

Joe put a hand on his chin, trying to digest all this new info. If he left through one of them Fog-Gates, he’d never be able to find his way back to this Shard?

He asked this very question, and Sera shrugged, “It isn’t impossible, it's just very unlikely. The Shards are practically innumerable, you’d have to be very lucky to wind up back where you started.”

“Damn.” Joe said, “I guess I can’t leave till I get that book copied…”

She tilted her head in response, “I met another Faenoran that didn’t try to sacrifice me before you. His name was Prolo, just a kid but he really seemed to want to learn English from me, and I wanted to learn Faesh from him.” He then regaled her about the time he had spent with Prolo, all the way up until she learned his family name.

“Pienturshuld!?” She shouted, “You didn’t mishear him right? That was what he said?”

“Byeah.” He replied, “They a big deal?”

He kinda already assumed that was the case, but hearing it from Sera confirmed it.

“That family has a lot of influence in Relias, apparently their patriarch even has the king's ear.”

Joe’s heart sank, “The king, huh? Did I tell you that Prolo’s dad is probably that patriarch? And that I almost ran him over with Betty cause he found out what I was?”

Sera paled, “W-wait, calm down.” She said, seemingly to herself, “There’s no way that he would tell the king about you, that’s a wish he’d be throwing away. No, he’d keep that knowledge to himself.”

Joe nodded along with her words, “Makes sense to me, let's not worry about it for now. How bout’ we relax and go beat up some bandits? You wanna see Betty in action?”

Sera lit back up immediately, “Oh yes!” She exclaimed, “So I can go in the cockpit with you?”

Joe hesitated a moment before nodding. She rushed over to the door, eagerly waiting for him. He shook his head with a smile, stepping into the cockpit and sitting in the seat. He popped his knuckles, seeing that Sera had moved to sit right next to his chair, eyes on the multiple screens in front of him.

“I got cameras attached outside that show me what’s around her,” Joe explained, “It’s how I saw ya getting close to Betty before.”

“How fascinating,” She said, “That clears up a good chunk of the mystery, but I don’t know how these cameras work.”

“I’ll tell ya on the way.” He said, turning Betty’s key, “Where do I need to go exactly?”

…

…

…

Jareed finished off the last of the drink, gasping after the last of the burning liquid found its way down his throat. It had been well over a month since he had gotten beaten up by Morga and thwarted by that metal ogre. Madame hadn’t been pleased with his poor performance, and had decided to relegate him to mere banditry out here in the sticks. It hadn’t been his fault that some monster had shown up out of nowhere; the plan would have gone off without a hitch otherwise.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He could be in Relias now, a high member in the ultimate underworld. But now, he was managing a bunch of illiterate fools in the middle of nowhere, holding up trade caravans and stealing their gold. The only comfort he had found in this work were the women accompanying those trading caravans. They were a good way to let out his stress before he tossed them to the men under his command.

They’d fetch a price in Relias later, not much as they had been ‘tampered’ with beforehand, but at this point Jareed barely cared. It would be years before he could get back into her good graces, may as well enjoy himself. Unfortunately there hadn’t been any more women on the road as of late, and all the others had been carted off to be sold a long while ago. He was getting frustrated again, he wanted to bend unwilling flesh to his will, surely there would be another caravan coming soon?

He was glad to have escaped Morga’s beating- even if it was just barely. Perhaps he could head off to the fat bastard’s manor and take his daughters? He wouldn’t even sell them, just keep them for himself. Hearing them scream might make him feel better about the walloping he’d gotten… and they were good-looking girls to boot. A trip away to take them shouldn’t take so long, and the thought of humiliating Morla got him oh so excited.

As he began formulating plans to breach Morga’s estate, one of his subordinates barged into his tent, a panicked look on his face. Like many of the other fools beneath Jareed, this man was possessed of an ugly face and a low-brow, with the intellect to match their looks.

“Sir, I don’t know ow’ to say dis,” He got out, panting, “There’s a giant cube comin’ dis way.”

Jareed stared, “A giant cube.” He said flatly, rising from his cot and marching past the big man.

The camp seemed to be in an uproar, with the rapscallions all darting to and fro to prepare to face off with the ‘giant cube’. Whatever it was it shouldn’t make it past the sharpened stakes surrounding the area. Anything attempting to charge over them would be impaled, and if it tried to make its way to the open space that led into the camp, it would be riddled with crossbows.

If this cube was as big as he said, there would be no missing it, especially out here in the grasslands. The flat terrain let one see far, so far that Jareed never would have set up a camp this size out in the open like this, but with patrolling guards being properly bribed by Madame, it was no issue.

Jareed quickly scaled the watchtower, shouting orders to organize his rabble. From this distance, it looked exactly like what was described, a big cube, slowly growing closer. How strange, it seemed like a vehicle of some sort, perhaps a caravan? Why would a caravan leave the ‘safety’ of the road to rough it through the grass? No, this was something else.

Whatever it was, there better be at least one woman coming along with it. He ordered his men to ready their crossbows, his concern growing along with the cube. The closer it got, the more massive it appeared, with sharp steel spikes adorning the front of the dark metal construction. What was worse was how eerily quiet it was, smashing the grass in front of it and leaving a trail just behind-

Jareed’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull when he saw what was being dragged behind the thing. A massive red serpent dragon was being pulled with it, two hooks driven through its eye-sockets to hold it in place. Once the strange contraption reached the sharpened stakes, it began rounding their camp, like a shark. The men began murmuring, panic entering their voices.

“Calm down!” He yelled, “Whoever these are, they’re clearly trying to scare us. That means that they can’t take us in a head on conflict, just hold your ground!”

As he said that, one of the two hooks in the dragon’s eyes came loose, the other quickly following suit. The hooks snapped back inside of the vehicle with a terrifying speed; Jareed suspected that being caught in the path of them could shatter bone into powder. The beast then roared, not the corpse, but the cube, a metallic scream that drowned out all other noise.

His men flinched, but began firing their crossbows at the thing. The bolts plinked uselessly off the hull, falling harmlessly to the grass. That was when all hell broke loose. It suddenly turned, speeding up and smashing through the stakes with ease and scattering his men like rats. Two compartments opened up toward the front of the thing, just above the spikes.

Two glowing blue silvery devices could be seen within, expanding out of their confines. Other silvery implements then stuck out from the cube, from the sides and the roof, and they all seemed to rotate to point toward his men. Then, a thin, bright blue beam of light shot out from the implements, each one putting a burning hole through flesh. Jareed screamed as one of these beams impacted with his arm, punching a hot hole through his bicep and leaving the wound completely cauterized. He fell backward out of the watchtower, hitting his head before the blackness claimed him.

…

…

…

“These are called lasers!” Joe shouted excitedly, as he drove over five men, “I found a buncha them where I got my power armor, I got em’ to run off Betty’s power supply so they can fire as much as I want!”

Sera didn’t feel bad for the bandits being killed, again it was something that needed to be done. They were waste that needed to be removed, but Joe took a strange and somewhat disturbing pleasure in it. His face had twisted up in a horrid toothy smile, eyes as wide as they could go as he went. She knew people back home who were like this, people who had been hurt or have had someone taken from them by people like these… So the question was, what did bandits take from Joseph?

“Hah!” Joe laughed as the laser shot through a man’s temple, “Take that!”

“Remember to keep an eye out for captives.” Sera told him, patting his shoulder.

Suddenly his face became stony and serious, the smile (thankfully) leaving his face, “Yer right, gotta shut off the lasers for a sec then.” He then flipped a switch, and the barrage ceased, but the damage was already done.

Only two or three bandits were left standing, the rest had been turned into what Joe had referred to earlier as ‘Swiss cheese’. What marvels had Earth managed to invent before their apocalypse took place? These laser guns looked almost exactly like the matchlock guns she’d seen from the Draga Shard, and that was fifty years ago. Had the men of Draga reached these heights yet, she wondered?

“Try to keep one alive,” She said, bouncing her leg as the coffee’s power flooded her, “We can question them for the whereabouts of other bandit camps. If you’d like, we can make expelling banditry a hobby during our stay together.”

“Sounds good to me, lemme just run down this guy right here real quick…” He said, turning Betty and speeding up to catch the straggler.

He had made it out of the camp and was running as fast as he possibly could, but he couldn’t outrun Betty. Like the others, he was impaled upon her sharp teeth before being eaten by her treads, flattening him. She kept her gaze away from the rear camera, not wanting to see the bloody result.

“Gonna have to shoot the last guy manual.” He said, flipping another switch, “Gonna be tricky but can’t leave it to the A.I for this.” He said, more to himself than her, “Ah right, I got a simple artificial intelligence that can operate the turrets for me, they just fire at anything that moves, they ain’t smart enough to distinguish targets.”

“That’s why you turned it off,” She said with a nod, “Captives would have been killed for sure.”

“Exactly, I’ll tell ya more about A.I after we’re done here. This is gonna be a pain.” He said, slowing down behind the last fleeing bandit, “Gonna aim for his legs, the laser should cauterize the wound so he won’t bleed out before we get our answers. Just so ya know, I’m killin’ him after that.”

“No argument here.” She said, “Just make it seem like you’ll let him live, yes?”

“Of course!” He said in a tone that bordered on offended, “Ain’t the first time I interrogated someone.”

Sera’s drew her lips to a line, “I will not participate in torture, Joseph. Get your answers and do away with him quickly.”

He pressed a button, the first shot missing the man barely, “I don’t like torturing actually.” He said, pressing the button again. The blast didn’t hit him in the leg, but it did impact with the bandits foot, incinerating the limb and sending him falling to the floor, “The threat of torture is more effective. Just play along.”

“You want me to come out with you?” She asked.

He nodded, “Yeah, you got a better command of the language than I do. If he don’t wanna tell you what you wanna know, tell him he’ll have to deal with me. I’ll just be next to ya lookin’ scary, sound good?”

“Solid plan, let's do it.” She said, “Let's go out now-”

Joe raised a single finger, “Naw, I gotta get suited up first. Keep yer eyes on the cameras for me, I’ll try n’ hurry.”

She did, but the man didn’t manage to crawl very far before Joseph came to get her. The two then exited Betty’s confines, with Joe clad in his powered armor. They walked toward the downed man, who tried to scramble away faster at the sight of them.

“Ay now!” He shouted, “Lemme go, I ain’t done nothing to you!”

“We’ll let you go.” Sera lied, “As long as you tell me what I want to know. If you don’t-” She continued, nodding toward Joe, “He will have his way with you.”

She was trying her best not to fidget as she stood over the man… The coffee was so overpowering, she wanted to run, to jump, to climb, just something physically taxing. Doing so would no doubt make her less intimidating though.

“He looks cute boss.” Joe said in a dumb voice to mirror the bandit’s own, “I could keep em’ chained in the back yeah?”

The man’s eyes went wide with terror. Joseph must have looked absolutely horrifying at that moment, being both wider and taller than most men and clad in armor that looked like it could fit an ogre. This fellow must have been dreading becoming his toy. Of course, this was a lie meant to scare the answers out of him, but the bandit didn’t know that.

“Yeah alright,” He said with a nervous nod, “I’ll tells ya everything, just don’t touch me.”

“Are there more camps around here? Also, are there any captives in your base?” She asked him.

“Yeah, there’s about thirty of em’ along the road here, all the way to Relias. We’re capturing folk for Madame and her slave trade.” He said, “And uh… no, we don’t got no captives, we… we sold em’ already.”

She could see Joe stiffen in her periphery, becoming eerily still as he stared down at the ruffian.

“Who is Madame?” She asked him, “Be quick.”

“She runs things in Relias, they call her the True Queen. Most of the guard are in her pocket and so is most everyone else. She can pretty much do whatever she wants.”

“So this lady,” Joe said with a snarl, “She does the trafficking too, right?”

The man’s face became a grimace, “A-Aye. She’s the one what sent us out here.”

“She’s in Relias, right?” He asked, “Where can I find her?”

Sera’s eyes widened, was Joseph truly considering…?

“I know she’s there,” He said, “I don’t know where she is though-”

Joseph rushed forward, kicking the man in the face with a massive armored boot. The head practically exploded on contact, and the body fell lifelessly to the ground, brain matter coating Joe's boot. The strength of that armor was not to be underestimated, Sera realized with horror. Not horror for what Joseph did, just how powerful this armor was. Sera supposed that she had gotten all the answers she would have needed from him. Still, he needed to learn more restraint than that, these may be scum, but she’d need to remind him to calm himself when they needed more answers.

He seemed to hate these types more than even she did, based on that snarl. Why did he hate them so much? Had slavers taken someone from him, a friend, a wife? It might be prying but… she became curious, and it would not be sated until she got an answer. She’d need to be more tactful about it, she’d ask and if he didn’t reply or gave a vague answer, She’d drop the subject until a better time came.

“You seem to hate the slave trade,” She said, “I think that is a normal thing of course, but you seem actively ready to storm Relias and kill this ‘True Queen’ of theirs. Most folk wouldn’t be willing to take on a crime empire that size, what have they done to you?”

“We should get going.” Joe said, ignoring her question, “Gotta make sure the rest of em’ are dead, don’t want anyone telling Madame that we were here.”

Very well, he wished to leave the subject be, so Sera would let him. She certainly didn’t want to provoke his anger, not because she thought he would harm her, more because she didn’t want to ruin the good rapport they had built thus far. Joseph would perhaps open up to her more once they grew closer, right now they were just acquaintances after all. Pursuing the subject further would be inappropriate.

…

…

…

Jareed gasped as consciousness came back to him, his head felt like it was going to explode, and most of his left arm had gone numb. What had happened? He struggled to sit up from the ground, groaning slightly as he rose. He looked to his left arm, eyes widening as he saw that there was a burnt hole that went straight through it!

It all came back to him then, the strange dragon pulling vehicle, the beams of blue light, his camp being destroyed. It seemed that not much time had passed since then, the daylight was as it had been when he fell out of the watchtower… meaning that the cube was still somewhere around here. It was a struggle, but he managed to turn his head, spotting a massive metal ogre and a woman strutting into the camp. Jareed gave a small curse, ducking his head as he watched the creature approach one of Jareed’s downed minions.

He prodded the body with an armored boot, receiving a groan in return… Jareed had seen this creature before! Back in the forest, it had thwarted his raid on Morga’s wagon!

The ogre then stomped on the body's skull, caving it in like it were an eggshell. Jareed’s eyes widened, and the rat within him urged him to scurry away before he ended up like that. He needed to report back to Madame- and let her know that the camp had been taken out.

He’d get punished again, but that would be better than what would happen if he didn’t report to her. Jareed could always move through the Fog-Gate of course, out of Madame’s reach… but did he really want to leave another life behind again? No, he was settled in this Shard and wouldn’t flee, not again. He got on his hands and knees, crawling toward the stakes as the ogre and elf moved through camp, casually murdering the survivors.

He was just about to pass between some of the stakes and disappear into the grass when he heard the man speak… this time though, it was in some rough, alien tongue. His fear dissipated, his head turning back to look the stranger up and down.

“You said that in your mother tongue.” The elf told him, “Look over there, he’s running!” She said suddenly, pointing somewhere away from Jareed.

Indeed, one of his men had survived the initial slaughter and was sprinting off toward the distance. The ogre raised some long staff, aiming it at the minion before pulling the trigger on the device. The air exploded, and for some reason the fleeing man fell to the ground, screaming in agony. Jareed and the elf both clasped hands over their ears, a horrid ringing drowning out all other noise. It was just like the other weapon the monster had used back in the Everfall forest… could it be?

Ogre’s weren’t intelligent enough to wield weaponry like that, and they certainly didn’t speak anything other than Faesh… could this, in fact, be an… an Outworlder!? If it was, then that metal ogre was just a suit of armor… that made sense if so, and he had just spoken in another language. Advanced weaponry, different language, strange accent in Faesh… by the Overseer, this really was an Outworlder! There wasn’t a single doubt in his mind now. He quickly scurried into the grass as they went to finish off that bandit, the pain in his arm and skull forgotten.

He’d need to make some preparations, and then a wish would be his! Either that, or he could report this finding to Madame, no doubt putting him back in her good graces. Jareed would attempt to capture the Outworlder first, he decided. If he failed, then he could take the information to Madame instead.

He had to hold back a cackle as he crawled through the grass, favoring his good arm as he went. Jareed’s body was a rictus of agony, but his mind hardly paid it any attention, too busy formulating the plans he’d need to capture the Outworlder.