Gorman and Elion rode on a 4-wheeler along the dirt road, following the same path Domas had taken the day before. Elion inspected the vehicle as they rode. He wanted to be ready if it started talking.

Gorman began explaining things, yelling back to Elion over the sound of the engine. “Aterfel is one of the more successful settlements along the Ater River,” he said. “We do a lot of tech scavenging in Kairn Tol, which used to be the technology hub of Erod before The Cataclysm. Find a lot of useful, valuable technology there. Can’t reproduce a lot of it anymore, though.”

“Can I ask a question?” Elion said. “Is your 4-wheeler… alive?”

Gorman laughed. “You’re thinking of Domas! No, he’s the only person like that. Didn’t he tell you about his accident at the bridge? He loves telling that story.”

“I think he was about to, when we were attacked,” Elion said.

“Well, you’ll have to ask him sometime. The bridge ate up a lot of him, legs, torso. I didn’t have much left to work with, and I certainly didn’t have time to construct a more humaniform housing for him. We went with what we had on hand. I’ve offered to try to build him a set of arms and legs, make him into a more proper cyborg, but he always declines. I think he likes the mobility.”

Gorman lifted his chin, sitting up a little straighter on the 4-wheeler. “He’s one of the reasons people are calling me the ‘Father of Cyborgs.’”

They rounded the bend in the road where the Pemalion had attacked before. Gorman wore a large rifle slung over his back, similar to Tael’s.

“Are there more pemalion?” he asked.

“The guard did a sweep,” Gorman said. “They killed the rest that got over the bridge. Might have missed one or two though, so it pays to be safe.” He tapped the stock of the rifle.

The bridge stood before them, the path ahead winding down to it. Now the bridge was raised, cables fully retracted, opening a massive gap above the river.

“So you… put parts of his body into an ATV, to save his life? How much of him was left?”

“Not a lot. I fused parts of his nervous system to the controls, so he could drive, and piped in some sensory inputs. He still has part of a lung, and his heart, and brain.”

“Does he eat?”

Gorman chuckled. “Occasionally. It’s a bit of an ordeal. But his sons help him out with that, and he does well enough.”

Elion’s stomach churned at the thought.

Gorman pulled the 4-wheeler over and walked up to the cliff, overlooking the scene.

“Look at that bridge,” he said, pointing at the drawbridge. “There are only two ways on and off this island: that bridge or on a trader’s boat. Now look at that Shard.” He pointed at the massive jagged wedge embedded in the soil on the far banks.

The chartreuse Shard must have stood 30 feet above the ground. Slender and jagged, it glittered weakly in the noon-day sun. Darkness and shadow pooled around its base like oil. The ground around it paled in sickly shades, like the Shard had sucked color straight out of the earth.

Creatures roamed around the base of the shard, a strange mingling of predators, birds, humans, and other animals. They didn’t act like normal animals though, moving around with purpose and intention. Instead, they meandered aimlessly around, generally ignoring each other.

“That crashed down there nearly a year ago, and it’s been infecting everything in the area ever since. Plains pemalion aren’t normally so aggressive. They prefer small game, but that thing is doing something to them. Other animals too. And tech scavengers. They get ferocious, whipped into a fury by any living thing that isn’t infected.”

“What are they doing?” Elion asked, transfixed.

"It coordinates them somehow,” Gorman said. “When it senses a vulnerability. I watched a caravan pass by, and they all split into groups, rushing and surrounding it with single minded purpose. And every time a trade ship tries to sail down this river, it gets attacked. Ships have stopped trying; it’s been six months since the last one.

“Yesterday you got to see what happens when the bridge is lowered. Several months ago we lowered the bridge on purpose to similar results. So good luck convincing anyone here to lower the bridge so you can leave.”

“But I need to get out of here.” Elion said. “I need… People need me. I need to get to… a place. It might be dangerous for me to stay.”

“Nobody’s leaving,” Gorman said. “Unless you can leave the way you came. If you can, I highly recommend you do so as soon as possible. Since you haven’t, I assume you can’t, so you’d better explain yourself. We need to figure out what we’re going to do with you.”

I have to trust someone, and Gorman seems to be the one in charge.

“I’m not from Kylios,” Elion said, cautiously, searching for the right words while watching Gorman’s reaction.

“One of the outer planets then?” Gorman said. “That would explain your ignorance of Praxis, to a degree.”

“I don’t think it’s an outer planet… I’m from a place called Earth.”

“Never heard of it,” Gorman said, scratching his head.

“It’s different. A lot different from here. And I think it’s far away. Like, really far.”

“So how did you get here then?”

“A portal,” Elion said. “I didn’t know where it would take me, but I wasn’t expecting to end up here.”

“Mmm… Maybe Kasm’s glyphs did something after all. Start at the beginning. Tell me everything.”

“I don’t know the full story. But as best I understand it, my mom was Kylian. Her older brother was…” He decided to leave out the part about the throne, and his mom being some kind of princess. “He was threatening her. She took her younger brother and they fled to Earth. She met my dad, had me and my sister, and I guess planned to live happily ever after.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Elion wrung his hands. “After…” his voice caught in his throat. He took a deep breath. “My parents died,” he said. “So my sister and I lived with my uncle, and he never told us the truth. I only learned about Kylios like a week ago, when my other uncle portaled into my front yard and kidnapped Liora.”

Elion stopped, realizing he was rambling, but telling his story to someone felt good. A weight taken off his shoulders he hadn’t realized was there.

Gorman placed his hand on Elion’s shoulder, gripping it tightly.

“Look at me,” Gorman said. “Look me in the eye.” Elion complied, a cold chill slithering down his spine. “What was your mother’s name?” Gorman searched Elion’s face for any sign of dishonesty.

“Aria,” Elion said. “Aria Walker, but I don’t know before she got married.”

“And your uncles? Would they happen to be named Dorian and Zev?”

Elion nodded, white hot fear burning in his gut, wondering how Gorman knew about his family. Gorman’s grip tightened on Elion’s shoulder. He looked around nervously, checking to see if anyone might have been listening to their conversation.

“You were wise to be cautious about sharing that information,” Gorman said. “ Never repeat what you just told me to anyone.”

“Okay,” Elion said. “I thought it might be better to keep it a secret.”

“It would be better if nobody knew you were a Knight, but they probably already assume that. Don’t show off any of your abilities. It’ll be bad if people realize that you’re new to this.”

“Why?” Elion asked.

“They’ll assume you’re stronger than you are,” Gorman said. “Knowledge is power out here, and it’s better to keep your cards close to your chest.”

That made sense to Elion. “I’ll try to keep it hidden,” he said.

“Continue your story,” Gorman prompted. “How did you get here?”

“Zev tried to fight Dorian and his warlocks,” Elion said. “He saved me from them, but Dorian already had Liora. He made a portal in our garage and went to save Liora. I don’t know if he made it. He was trying to track this pendant that used to be Liora’s.” Elion fished the pendant out of his shirt, showing it to Gorman.

Gorman inspected the star, probing it with a thick finger. “A Starholder Pendant,” he grumbled. “If I didn’t believe you before, this proves it. But that doesn’t explain how you got here?”

“A few days later, Dorian came for me. I tried fighting back, and then I jumped through his portal. I guess I thought that I’d end up in his palace and have a chance to look for Liora. They were attacking my cousins. I couldn’t fight them. I thought they would stop if they followed me through the portal. But then I ended up here and…” Elion trailed off as Gorman’s face twisted into a deep frown.

“Portals are unstable. They’re dangerous and challenging. It takes a lot of power to run them,” Gorman said. “They’re not worth the risk for most people. Sane people. If your Uncle Zev Starholder messed his up…well, who knows? It might have worked.”

“You think Zev died?” Elion asked, panic creeping into his voice. “You think he messed up the portal and died?”

“I didn’t say that,” Gorman said. “But if you really are Dorian’s nephew, he’s going to come for you. It may only take him a matter of days to figure out where you ended up. You have to leave before he does. We don’t want his attention here.”

“Why? How?” Elion protested. “You said there was no way for me to leave the island?”

“We’ll find a way,” Gorman said. “But first, let’s go down to the bridge, so that I can explain a few things to you.”

They climbed back onto the 4-wheeler and began winding their way down the road. Elion considered what Gorman had said. Everyone here must be afraid of Dorian. After all, why not? He had usurped the throne and killed his family. Not a way to endear yourself to others.

The 4-wheeler rolled up to the base of the bridge. Two men and a woman hung out at the base of the bridge, rifles in hand. Blood still stained rocks and trusses nearby, a reminder of the fates of the prior sentries.

“Any trouble today, Tilly?” Gorman asked.

“No,” the woman said. “But some of the infected have been fighting with each other.” She handed Gorman some binoculars, which he used to peer across the gorge at the Shard.

Elion took in the woman. She had large hands and a ruddy face. She wore a thick leather coat that seemed too hot for the weather, but she looked like she knew how to work.

“Looks like more people than normal,” Gorman said.

“They weren’t as fast to get across the bridge yesterday. We might have done them a big favor, killing so many pemalion.”

Gorman grunted, handing the binoculars back to Tilly. “So much for our plan to thin them out and get a ship through.”

"Have we figured out how they got the bridge down yet?” the woman asked, glaring at Elion.

“No,” Gorman replied. “But it didn’t have anything to do with Elion. And he nearly died yesterday trying to save Kasm.”

Tilly scoffed. “Where’s Keyla?”

“I’m not replacing her, don’t worry. She’s caring for the injured today. Anyways, I’m taking a turn down here as sentry, going to look over the mechanisms while I’m here. Why don’t you all head back into town and take a break.”

The woman looked like she was about to protest, but the two men with her grinned. One of them slung his rifle over his shoulder and jogged to a row of dirt bikes.

“Thanks Gorman,” the other man said, then followed the first toward the vehicles.

“Go on, Tilly,” Gorman prompted. “Kile could use some time with you right now. He needs to get used to that new leg.”

Tilly glanced over at the two men starting up their bikes and sighed. She headed over and started up her own vehicle. A moment later they zoomed away, spitting dust into the air behind them. Gorman stood and watched them go.

“Let’s have a look at our bridge,” he said.

A building on the bridge housed the winch equipment. Two long cables extended out of it, looped over pulleys high overhead, and attached to the end of the bridge. Gorman walked to the door and placed his hand on it.

A disc in the center of the door rotated, a flash of teal light hinting at Artificer magic as it unlocked. The door swung open, and Gorman stepped inside. Elion followed after him.

Massive drums held coils of cable, attached to a large engine. Large gears connected to a drive shaft through the engine transferred power to the winch drums. Nothing prevented someone from walking right up to the gears while the machine was running. Elion grimaced, remembering what Gorman had said about Domas being caught in the gears.

He didn’t notice any bloodstains, though.

“One of my oldest constructions. How I realized that people weren’t all that different from machines.” Gorman said, patting the engine fondly. “Hello, dear.”

“Is there a person in this one, too?” Elion asked.

Gorman laughed. “No!” he said. “This is just a beautiful machine.”