I nodded in agreement with Okeria’s take and watched Viri hop from roof to roof. Seeing just how different her physical abilities were from ours was a little disappointing, especially since I assumed she’d been on the all-world for a whole lot longer than Jun or I had. Okeria gestured at me to get moving, which was unnecessary but served its purpose.

Buildings zipped by to the strange silence of Rainbow Basin. There were even fewer people milling about then when I’d come back from the hazard, and the few that I did see didn’t seem to be out on their own volition. Dirty blankets and strange-looking needles littered the ground around one woman who shivered against the open air, her eyes mottled with dots of mold-like dull green. She glanced up at Viri as our newest hostage struggled against a roof, but there was no recognition behind those clouded eyes. Wherever that poor woman was, it wasn’t here.

“I didn’t know Rainbow Basin had a drug problem.”

Okeria tilted his head to the side, then followed my finger to the woman. “That ain’t drugs, blue. It’s the same thing that got me all those years ago, and those needles around her are her meds. Though I suppose it depends on what ya consider to be the drug; the substance itself or the addiction and the actions it causes.”

I frowned at Okeria and jumped the gap. “The drug is the thing someone gets addicted to. All the other stuff is because of the drug.”

“Ya sure?” Okeria asked seriously. “I’d say a drug is whatever makes your body’s pain go away for a moment, no matter what that is. That mold in her eyes both causes and takes away her problems, yet she’s still medicating to try and hold on to her life. We’ve got a drowned good hospital ‘round here, but if I was a tyrant tryin’ ta take somewhere over, that’s exactly where I’d start. Make people afraid ta get hurt, so my threats of hurtin’ em are that much more real.”

Jesus. That was a little much for what I’d intended to be a passing conversation. Okeria muttered something impolite about Scalovera and sped up slightly, taking the roofs in stride and catching up to Viri in a handful of seconds. Leaving me in the dust with my own thoughts that he’d just stirred up. Because the fact of the matter was that Okeria ran this place. He’d been responsible for that woman, and for everyone else who was cowering in their homes or cursing Scalovera for disrupting their routine.

These were people who didn’t know war. Who forgot about it forcefully, and removed all evidence of the people who’d been broken by it. Or they did know war, and couldn’t live with the broken soldiers all around them. It wasn’t like we’d helped veterans much more back on Earth–we just took more roundabout ways of telling them we didn’t know what to do with them or how to help them.

“I wonder if she fought in Nia’s war.” I mused to the thought of the woman in the blanket. It had rattled me not because it was so alien, but because it was so… familiar. So fucking human, even with a disease I couldn’t fathom. “Fucking hell. I’m not getting paid enough for this.”

{Oh, yes ya are.} Okeria cut in. {When all this is said and done, I’m gonna make sure the three of ya are compensated for everything ya went through on behalf of my city. And if I’m right, there’s gonna be a whole lot more before we’re done.}

I smiled sarcastically and sped up to join Okeria, who’d slowed down to match Viri’s pace. {I really hope you’re wrong, but I’m not an idiot.}

{I know ya ain’t. It’s why you’re still alive. And why I’m trustin’ ya so drowned much.} Okeria snipped. Seeing that woman had really riled him up. But… this was a littl more. {We’re gettin’ real close. Stay close and be as quiet as ya can as we approach.}

I nodded as Okeria gave the exact same order to Viri. She glanced down at the gaps which had grown wider and deeper and gulped, then nodded and vaulted over. She shifted her size halfway through, with her entire body shifting upward to fit where her head had been, and even then she barely made it to the other side. The next roof was a whole lot further than this one, and unless I was hallucinating, it didn’t seem to be going to Scalovera’s mansion. I could still see that big fucker in the distance.

Still, I kept my mouth shut and followed Okeria. He joined Viri and I joined him, then followed him down to a slightly sloped wall that connected the building we stood on to a dry waterway. I raised an eyebrow at him which he couldn’t see, but before I could say anything, he motioned for us to move and stepped off the roof.

I stepped up to the edge and watched him slide down to the canal, where dark dregs of what had once been an almost-river flowed. And by once, I meant just a few days ago. There had been water in this thing before we went into the hazard, and now it looked like it had been abandoned for months. Years, even.

{What happened to all the water?}

Okeria shrugged. {I have absolutely no idea. It slowly drained out of here while ya were in the hazard, and now it’s as dry as can be. If I had ta guess, it’s because Scalovera’s gotta keep a good amount of people happy that might not be the kinda people who like stayin’ in one place for very long.}

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

{So he’s bribing them with water. Don’t you have that in abundance?} I asked as I ran my hand against the wall of the empty canal. The stone flaked away as if it had been covered in hardened mud, revealing a texture that reminded me of sponge. That stuff was harder than rock-hard. {How come that’s working?}

{I said he’s doin’ it, not that it’s workin’.} Okeria chuckled. {Follow me and don’t say a word ta Viri. She ain’t important in the slightest, which I didn’t exactly want ta say before, but it’s the hard truth. If it comes down ta it, leave her behind.}

I already planned on doing exactly that, but for a slightly different reason. Viri gave off a vibe I didn’t exactly like, but I couldn’t put a finger on why. It wasn’t because I thought she would betray us, or that she was dangerous in another way… it was almost like she was an idiot. That there was no reason Scalovera should’ve hired her in the first place, especially when he had Danday and those other mercenaries Dylan named. And it couldn’t be desperation, since he still had so many people left…

Which only left paranoia. Picking people with little to no references or experience for the sole fact that they were a lot less likely to sell him out. Or turn against him. Or just be against him from the start. I stared at Viri, who’d shrunken herself and now stood on Okeria’s shoulder, and couldn’t help but wonder what rock she’d crawled out from.

{Alright, we’re here.} Okeria decreed when we walked under a bridge. It wasn’t anything fancy, but there was a very obvious door carved into the stone just under where the water level would’ve been. {Oh, one more option as ta why Scalovera drained the waters–he could’ve been lookin’ for all my secret entrances and tunnels I’ve built around the city. ‘Cept for the simple fact that they’re actually teleporters, and wouldn’t do anythin’ for him if he managed ta rip the stone off the wall.}

The obvious door shuddered as Okeria drew closer, and sparks trailed off of his body and into the frame to light up a pattern that hadn’t been visible a moment ago. It looked like the entire door was undergoing a neon downpour, with flickering lightning snaking from the carved clouds down to the simple flat ‘ground’ below. More and more electricity left Okeria and filled in the door until it was completely glowing, then a harsh snap cracked through the air and a bolt of vibrant lightning struck Okeria in the chest.

He disappeared, along with Viri. I blinked in surprise and stepped a little closer to the door, which looked like it had used up about half of its charge, and leaned back when I felt my hair starting to stand on end. The electricity was so strong and so overwhelming that I could taste the ozone through my helmet, and before I could do anything else that same power coursed through me and ripped me away from where I stood.

I’d been teleported more than once, usually through the hazard gates, but this time was different. Even compared to the weird through-solid-matter-transportation Acasiana’s facility had, this was on a level of its own. It almost felt as if I’d been completely disassembled by the lightning, then reassembled in the same breath wherever I now stood.

I cleared my throat of something that had gotten stuck in it and looked around. It wasn’t much to look at; just a few black metal crates inscribed with a yellow long-stemmed flower that repeated itself three times on each face. I glanced over at Okeria and a very surprised Viri, who’d dropped her size shifting and now sat on the ground in shock. Both literally and figuratively.

“I thought you said this was safe!”

“I said nothin’ of the sort.” Okeria sighed. “Do ya remember me sayin’ teleportation would be safe, blue?”

“Last time you teleported me it wasn’t that flashy.” I pointed out. “What’s different about this?”

Okeria grabbed Viri by the wrist and yanked her up. “Older model. Works for much larger groups, takes less time ta charge up, but only works one-way and only ta one specific location. In this particular case, it’s the storehouse under the vault in what’s currently Scalovera’s mansion. Which it don’t look like he’s even seen, since all of my stuff’s still here.”

Okeria brushed off Viri’s shoulders and promptly forgot about her. He bent down and wiped a finger down the box that came off perfectly clean.

“Yep, not a single sign of Staura interaction.” Okeria put one hand on his hip and shook his head. “Guess I should’ve done the rounds of these things a whole lot sooner. We’d have a whole lot more supplies if I hadn’t thought Scalovera was some kinda tactical genius.”

“So where do we go from here?” I cut in when I sensed Okeria was about to be pulled off track. “How far away is Thorn being kept, and how do we get there?”

“Absolutely no idea. But that’s what this little lady’s here for.” Okeria clapped his free hand on Viri’s shoulder. “We’re right under the vault at this very moment, which I’m assumin’ ya know the location of. How’s the guard layout lookin’?”

Viri stared blankly at Okeria for a second, then at me in a gesture that was becoming a little too common for my tastes. “That’s the entire reason you’re here, remember?” I prodded.

“Right!” Viri straightened like someone had pulled her spine taut. “Um, right. Yeah, I kind of know where we are. I didn’t really expect us to get here so easily, though. I mean, I thought we’d have to mow through a bunch of the other guards. And, um, by ‘we’ I mean you guys. The guys whose names I still don’t know.”

It was my turn to share a blank look with Okeria. He tilted his head at Viri in a ‘do you want to take this one’ motion, and I replied with an ambivalent shrug.

“Well, girl, looks like ya ain’t the tallest tree in the forest.” Okeria laughed. “But how about we keep it that way until we’re sure ya ain’t gonna snap your leash and run back ta Scalovera.”