Kaleb pulled down on his grey pullover, stretching it a bit further down so that it looked more like the local garb. He was fixing his outfit in front of a broken piece of mirror they had placed on top of a broken table inside their thankfully intact tent. Mirrors could be found in the city, but they were expensive, and humans had found out the hard way that their science didn’t work properly in this world. This place skewed it somehow, making human industry a thing of memory. It’d been a year and a half since Arrival. And that was one of the few things they’d learned, out of many more they didn’t.

Things had stabilized after a while, especially once people had stopped trying to sneak into town. Everybody knew their place, somewhat. Refugees were to stay in the camp which was separated from the city by a hill, unless they had proper business in town, like a job, which was what Kaleb had, and it was hard to keep. Their camp was moved from time to time according to the local authority’s wishes, but no tension had risen since the first time it was done.

People had gotten together early to decipher the natives’ language, and Kaleb had been one of the first to learn it, and based on it he’d gotten himself a job at a metal store, which sold weapons along with tools reminiscent of his hardware store days. It didn’t pay as much as he’d hoped, but it was enough to keep them fed and barely save something on the side. However, Kaleb wanted more. He wanted a place in the city where they could be safe, where Jane could be safe, especially after learning what lurked out there. It was unfathomable, but they’d eventually found out that it wasn’t uncommon for beasts, like nothing humans had ever seen, to roam the wilds. The camp had never been attacked, and that had been sufficient solace to Kaleb, at least until he had found out where these beasts came from. Apparently they fell from the sky, however ridiculous that had sounded to him at first. After seeing magic multiple times though, Kaleb had become more open minded than ever. Nevertheless, it was difficult to believe. Until last month. It’d looked just like a meteor shower, beautiful. He’d looked at it and felt relaxed for the first time since he could remember. Everybody did.

It hadn’t taken long, however, for the city guard to lock the town down and swarm out into the wilds in scouting missions. The relaxation had soon turned to anxiety similar to what people had felt back on earth in the final days. Word had soon trickled down the ladder, it had been a skyfall, something that happened often enough around the world. Monsters had fallen from the sky again. Kaleb had wondered how they survived their crashes, but there was no one there to answer him. Luckily for them, the fall had hit the vicinity of a neighboring town, neighboring meaning several days away. Said town was now suffering from sporadic monster attacks, and its surroundings weren’t safe for unguarded travel. It did, however, attract certain kinds of treasure hunters, as the skyfall had supposedly brought with it a ‘starfall’ too. There was a lot of speculation on the matter, but from Kaleb had gathered, sometimes, something called a Starshard would fall out of the sky as well, and it was beyond priceless. It was supposed to have multiple important uses, but Kaleb only knew of one, as an energy source for the city’s barrier.

Even though the skyfall had happened quite a distance away, the refugee population had been warned not to stray too far from their camps and the city, as monsters were wont to wander, and meeting one was a death sentence. Kaleb had heeded the warning, though he rarely if ever wandered far anyway. Jane on the other hand hadn’t been so responsible. She was halfway to fourteen now, and not just rebellious, but angry too. On multiple occasions, they’d fought over the fact that she’d wanted to go look for their mother on her own, ‘wander the cities’, however laughable it had sounded. A rift had been growing between them as she grew. Perhaps she blamed him for their mother’s disappearance, Kaleb didn’t know. He did know that he was grateful to Judy, their elderly neighbor, who’d helped them when they’d first arrived, and who’d helped him talk down Jane from her madness many times. She also looked out for Jane while he was away at work, which was the only reason he could do said work without going insane.

Once Kaleb had gotten ready, he took off. Jane was at the improvised school that’d been founded in the camp and she’d be back a few hours later. She’d begun going there early to ‘hang out with friends’ a while ago, though he suspected she just wanted to avoid him.

Walking through the pathway between tents was a muddy affair. The residents had tried their best to keep the place clean and decent, but once the grass had been trodden away, the dirt had given birth to mud. The smell of ammonia was in the air, even though outhouses had been dug at appropriate spots. The camp tried to be clean, but it definitely was not.

Kaleb caught sight of Michael ahead of him and called out. “Mike!”

Judy’s eldest grandson waited for Kaleb to catch up. “Morning,” he said. “Decided to stick it to your boss by being late too?”

“What’re you talking about?” Kaleb said. “This is my normal time.”

“They’re dropping the wages again,” Mike said.

“Fuck no,” Kaleb groaned. “Shabti didn’t say anything.”

“Fuck yes, my friend. He’ll do it sooner or later, just like everyone else. There’s just too many of us, and too few of their jobs. More and more people learn the language every day.”

“It’s getting bleaker and bleaker, goddamnit,” Kaleb muttered.

“What?” Michael perked up from watching the ground as they walked.

“Nothing. Just thought we were the lucky ones.”

“But we are,” Mike said, chuckling darkly. “The ones who don’t know the language have it worse. They’re either begging right over there.” He pointed at the city’s walls, which had become visible as they crested the hill and approached the city. “Or they’re working the fields. Mr Rupchensky said they treated them only a little better than slaves there.”

“Thought there were less of us around here now,” Kaleb muttered, barely audible again. People had been migrating from arrival spots to neighboring settlements in search of better chances, and humans were much more spread out than they had been a year ago, and it was a continuing trend.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Judy told me you wanted to get a place in the city. Maybe you can look for something cheaper?”

Kaleb snorted. “I wanted to get a shack in the worst, lowest place inside the walls. That was the plan. Now I doubt I’ll get anything at all.”

Silence reigned for a few moments. Their walk and talk had taken them to the city gates, where guards checked out the comers and goers. Beggars lined the walls on both sides of the wall, almost all humans, though there were some of the other races too.

Two quills stood guard at the gates. Quills were the majority residents of the city, and their name was no slur, though Kaleb had had suspicions about that when he’d first heard it. It’d turned out that most races had received names that described them, not maliciously, or at least that was what he was told. Humans were called something in the lines of ‘skinny ones’, though most humans including him chose to ignore the underlying meaning and accept it as the local word for ‘humans’.

Kaleb and Mike were quickly recognized as workers within the city and let in, even as the guards kept their sharp glares trained on the closest beggars to the gates. Kaleb knew that some of them tried to slip in sometimes, and so did the guards, obviously.

The workshop Mike worked in was in a different quarter of town than where Kaleb worked. So they each went their own way once inside the walls.

From inside, one could see the slight shimmer to the walls. Said shimmer continued into the air above the town, forming a transparent dome above. This shimmer was the barrier that protected the city from direct skyfall hits. Though Kaleb didn’t know how well it’d protect the city. It was rare enough that people didn't even know for sure.

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The barrier was apparently powered by a skyshard hidden somewhere in the walls themselves, under lock, guard, and key. That was the only way such a grand spell could be permanently enchanted into the city’s protection. Not all cities had the same luxury. It was no solace to Kaleb that this was considered one of the richer cities, as he wondered how bad the newly arrived humans fared in the poorer ones.

A short walk brought him to the crowded market quarter where his workplace was. An armed caravan was preparing to leave, probably to the sky-struck town, and the bartering and haggling was coming from so many directions that it turned to a nonsense of jumbled noises.

Kaleb turned down a couple of alleyways and reached a relatively wide street that fed into the market square that he’d just left. There stood the shop he worked in. A sign beside it depicted an artwork of a fan-shaped assortment of weapons and tools, from swords to primitive pliers. Below it, written in barely readable language was ‘Shabti and Sons’. Funny that, his boss didn’t have any sons. Kaleb had learned to read and write, courtesy of his work in the shop. Once Master Shabti had found out that he had the ability and will to learn, he’d gang-pressed him into doing some of the shop’s ledger work in exchange for teaching him the basics.

Master Shabti was in the shop as usual. If Kaleb had to give him one thing, it was that he was an early bird. “Master Shabti,” Kaleb greeted as he entered the threshold. Tools and weapons of all shapes and types adorned the walls. The counter was at the entrance of the shop, so people had to strain to see all the things hung on the walls, but Kaleb never thought it was worth bringing up. Master Shabti was bent over a box of junk goods at the other end of the place.

“Ah, Kaleb,” the clayton man said, pulling himself out of the mess. “Not a moment early, as expected.”

Kaleb grimaced. The old man wanted everyone to be like him. He patted his hands clean as he straightened up, his brown skin rippling with his movement, or rather his ‘flesh’ did. Claytons didn’t have skin, their bodies were odd things between flesh and clay, though they all swore they had nothing to do with clay or mud. Their looks said otherwise, however. Their bald, deep brown heads had unsettled him the first few times he’d seen them, especially with their red eyes enhancing the devilish serial killer look.

“I have some bad news for you, my young friend.”

‘Here it comes,’ Kaleb thought.

Master Shabti paused as if waiting for a response from him. Then he continued when he found none. “The daily wages, you see, I will have to drop them to 2 coppers.” And before Kaleb could object, he was giving his reasons. “The market is bad, Kaleb. And there are also many others who want this job of yours, believe me, they’d take much less.”

“What, they’d take no coin at all?” Kaleb folded his arms. The clayton wasn’t physically imposing but he had his own edge. Kaleb would never try to outwit him, but he saw no issue in being visibly pissed off.

“No, no,” the old man said, chuckling. “But you cannot be blind to it. Labor is plenty, work isn’t. Honest work that is.” He cringed his wet-looking face, probably remembering that shoplifting attempt from a few months ago. It had been what prompted him to move the counter into the shop’s entrance, instead of keeping it inside it.

“But, Master Shabti, I do the ledgers sometimes right? I can do things that most people can’t,” Kaleb said.

“Yes, yes, of course. That’s why I keep you and don’t hire others, right?” He grinned. Then he caught himself and managed to look more conflicted. “You see, even my own brother wants his son, my nephew to work here. I say ‘no, I have a perfectly good boy.’” He bobbed his head and looked at Kaleb suggestively as if waiting for him to agree.

Kaleb pressed his lips and forced a smile. “Fine,” he said. “It is what it is.” If that old clay goat wanted him to work for two coppers a day, then he’d give him two coppers worth of work.

“Good, good.” Master Shabti nodded. “Now prepare the tools Master Oliam listed last fortnight. His folk will come to take it after noon.”

Kaleb nodded and got to work.

Afternoon did come with a group of physical laborers arriving for the prepared goods. Kaleb made sure their foreman spit on the written list for signature. He doubted the quill man knew how to read properly, but the whole thing was procedure either way. The two masters had a long standing business relationship. The spit could somehow be magically verified by the City Lord’s magistrate, who’d severely punish any hint of fraud.

As the sun started to set, several lone customers came by in search of weapons or tools. He even got a pair of treasure hunters who were passing through the city on their way to the skyfall. They didn’t look impressed by the selection on display, but they didn’t look like they could afford any of the ridiculously priced enchanted equipment from the better shops.

As the sky darkened and Kaleb prepared to close up the place, a familiar face approached the counter. “Diego?” Kaleb paused, scrutinizing the man to confirm. “What’re you doing here? Don’t you work in the docks?”

The older man spread his arms. “Like we don’t deliver things to the square?” He was in his early 30s, and strongly built, his muscles rippled as he stretched his arms. “I tell you, people are giving me nasty looks already, for walking around with nothing specific to do. I don’t need your scrutiny too on top of that.”

Kaleb raised a hand. “Sorry, didn’t mean to.” Still, he was puzzled. Diego was the prime gossip back in the camp. Though Kaleb felt that wasn’t fair to assign to the man, he was also one of the main sources of information and news about this world and the city. He was always looking for the next thing to discover and benefit from too. He was one of the first people to learn the language as well. He chose to work the docks since his endurance actually allowed him to make more than Kaleb if he worked long enough, and he did.

“A human minding his own business is no longer enough for these people,” Diego continued. “To them, if you look jobless, then you’re probably a thief.”

“Aren’t they right?” Kaleb grumbled.

Diego was in his face instantly. “Hey! Don’t fucking say that. Don’t let them make you feel lesser. Fuck them. We built things these fuckers would never even dream of seeing. We’re just… recovering. We’ll be back on our feet sooner or later. We’re hardy vagrants.” The tanned man toned himself down and sighed. “Moving on.” He raised both hands in mock surrender. “Remember what I told you the other day?”

“Yeah, about how to get killed?”

“No,” Diego said, giving him a look. “About how we could get out of this muck.”

Kaleb shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense, if it was so easy, everybody would do it, Diego.”

“Yes, but not everybody has an opportunity like ours. The skyfall is right there, and the things have thinned out. We could find one or two of them and awaken. Listen, I even secured us a guide.”

“A guide? How?” Kaleb leaned forward. Guides were local hunters and scouts who knew the land better than anyone. They led extermination expeditions and assisted treasure hunters in the wilds, seeking monsters or well… treasure. They were of prime importance during times like these, to the point that one could never be found or hired by nobodies like them.

“It’s a young one, but he knows what’s what,” Diego said, gesturing expansively as a salesman would. “He’s not new to it either. He inherited his father’s trade. Been doing it since childhood. I’m already talking to some seven, eight other guys. If we’re well-armed and careful, we can do it.”

Kaleb shook his head. “I don’t know, man. I just don’t think it’s worth it. I hear things, disturbing things about the creatures that come from the falls. It’s like wrestling a lion barehanded for a chance to win a gun, except we’ve never even seen a damn lion before.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, buddy.” He gestured for Kaleb to lean closer than he already was, and Kaleb acquiesced. “It’s not just a gun. Human or not, the awakened get the best jobs. A buddy of mine, he says the city guard would lap you up instantly if you awaken and light up that ‘blessed’ thing.”

“The node?” Kaleb said.

“You know?”

“Yes. Had an awakened customer once.” Kaleb shrugged. “He was talkative, and I was curious. I know about it, but it doesn’t change a thing.”

“You wanna keep digging in rock here, my boy? For pittance? Be my guest. Have they dropped your wage yet? You’re right, we’re going to fight lions, but we will bring weapons, and we will bring numbers. It’s worth it, to change this squalor we’re living in. This isn’t our place, Kal. Just think about it. If it gets dangerous, we can come back right away. I promise you, no one plans on dying out there.”

Kaleb nodded. “I’ll think about it.” And he was thinking already.

“You do that, buddy. And remember, we have a guide. We can do this, and who knows, we might get lucky and pull a core out of our prey. That’d certainly solve a lot of problems.”

Diego left soon after, but not without repeating his plea with Kaleb to think about it long and well.

Kaleb did end up spending the night thinking about it. Hard. And he found out how utterly stupid he could become with some hope dangled in front of him.