Despite the incident with the crows, Haylen had the patrol moving again as soon as she could. She didn’t have time for another sitting conversation with Indigo, and they were close to running late. If the patrol didn’t get back soon, they’d be stuck outside of camp until the next wave of cursed had been killed. That thought had set the soldiers back to work, and they practically ran from one street to the next.

Haylen knew that the necropolis had left Indigo scarred, but after what had just happened, she was worried about just how deep those scars went, and the girl’s explanation did little to make her feel better. When she had been yelling at the birds, Indigo had been using full understandable sentences, but now she had reverted back to her broken attempts at Common Imperial and struggled with every word that came out of her mouth.

“Long time in city. Flock only one who not try to hurt me. I kill zombies. She eat zombies. We friends. This not first time we argue. She knew, but not tell me. I still mad but...”

According to Indigo, as the only nonaggressive creatures in the necropolis, the birds had been something of a companion to her. They had given her something to talk to so she didn’t have to feel so alone. Indigo was under no illusion as to why the birds usually followed her. Like the expedition, she tended to leave a lot of dead undead lying around, and the birds would follow her for an easy meal. Normally she lived in a different part of the city, and when the crows had all started flying away, Indigo had followed out of curiosity.

Indigo claimed that they were a hive mind, that all of the birds were actually a single bird, and that killing only one of them was little more than a slap to the face for all of them as a whole. She seemed to think that the crows’ familiarity with her would offer some level of protection, and so far she hadn’t been proven wrong.

Haylen did note though, that while they didn’t return as a group, there was now always at least one crow watching the patrol at all times. She hoped that the birds had always done that and she’d simply never noticed, but she doubted it. Things didn’t change in a necropolis. They weren’t supposed to change. The strategies used by expeditions a hundred years ago were the same ones used today because they never needed adjusting. This year already had more than enough differences to make her warry, and the crows were the newest addition to the list.

Indigo had become more subdued at that point. The knowledge that she had missed a chance to escape the year before disappointed her, but she had accepted it as reality. Knowing that the birds had been aware of the expedition all along though, seemed to make her feel betrayed.

Indigo now walked besides Corlo, and kept silent after her initial explanation. The crude spear she had been carrying was still back in the alley, either forgotten or ignored, and the soldiers of the patrol were relieved that she no longer seemed interested in joining them. They took the potential threat of the birds seriously, and none of them wanted her to get close. At the center of the formation, Haylen felt almost like she was escorting a prisoner.

She saw Kearse look their way whenever he returned from another street or alley. She didn’t know him well, but she knew he was a dependable soldier. Anyone who could keep Chadvid out of trouble would have to be. Nobody joined the militia if they were lacking a sense of honor either. Most likely his feelings of responsibility for the girl he had found were warring with his instincts for self preservation. She decided to keep an eye on him. Depending on how he handled things, he might make a good sergeant for next year.

When the arena used as the expedition’s camp came into view, the soldiers let out a cheer. The front gates were open, and the only sign of the undead was a large pile of burning corpses. The patrol made its way round the far side of the building to avoid the smell.

Indigo seemed to come back to herself and began to talk again.

“Trident Stadium? That your camp? Is good choice.”

Haylen hadn’t known that the building even had a name, but it seemed fitting. After all, there was a large trident statue above the gates. It hung on the walls and covered four whole floors of the building. Time had dulled its shine and corroded it to a soft pale green, but it still stood testament to the pride of the people that had once lived here.

“Have you been here before?” Haylen asked. “Didn’t you notice all the changes we’ve made to it? It’s practically a fortress now.”

Indigo shook her head and gestured to the area around them. A wide park lawn covered the entire block, and the arena was directly in the center. While the rest of the city’s buildings fought for space, this one was relatively isolated.

“This area yes, but stadium no. Good place for many people. Not good for one. Also, it have nothing I need, so no point in go near.”

From a distance the stadium looked much as it originally had, a large roofless oval of marble, metal, and glass. It was only half as tall as most of the other buildings in the necropolis, but its sheer bulk and lack of proximity to other structures made its monolithic construction seem even more impressive.

All of the lesser entrances had been completely sealed and blocked off. Now only the largest gate was able to open, and its long tunnel had been filled with fortifications. Barricades had been placed to funnel the oncoming hordes and limit how many could enter at once. Heavily reinforced platforms lined the sides to allow the defenders to attack from above and out of reach of the cursed. When manned, it was a meat grinder to the cursed, and a steadfast bulwark to the empire.

Corlo, who had remained mostly silent so far, joked about his first time on an expedition when two baiting parties had been sent out by mistake. The ensuing wave of undead had been so large that the entire gateway had been choked with bodies. But the defenses had held, and the expedition had literally had to dig its way out before they could go about cleaning up the mess.

The orc loved telling that story to new recruits. Haylen was sure that it was grossly exaggerated. Indigo though, looked at the two story entrance with awe, and simply nodded.

The inside of the arena was a dirt field, large enough to fit the tents of three hundred soldiers, the supply wagons, and everything else, while still leaving more than half of it empty.

Around the central field the stands rose ever upward with enough seats to fits tens of thousands of people at once. Below and behind them, Haylen knew, was a veritable maze of rooms. Most of them were empty. Whatever they once held had been used over the years to fortify the structure.

Haylen smiled at Indigo. The girl was practically vibrating, and her head was turning every which way, trying to take in as much of the camp as possible.

She was scarred, yes, but not without hope.

* * * * *

I had seen quite a few things in the short years of my life, but I had never seen anything like a military camp inside of a sports stadium. If I had ever bothered to come to this building before, the number of changes they had made to it would have been impossible to miss.

I tried to remember how many times I had ignored this place as I wandered past, exploring the city for anything of interest or use. An empty stadium had nothing I needed though, and so I had never bothered to come close. I had seen it, but never actually looked.

Like the patrol, most of the soldiers were humans. They had tanned skin, slightly lighter than Kearse’s, and had dark hair. The orcs made up about a third of those present. They didn’t quite tower over their human comrades, but even without the green skin and small tusks coming from their lower jaw, it was easy to tell them apart at a glance. Female soldiers were definitely in the minority here, but there was still a decent number of them, and I noticed that they were all human. Orc women, from what I had read, preferred to defend their homes rather than march onto battlefields. If there were any other elves like Haylen, their ears were hidden under the helmets, and I couldn’t tell.

Most people were dressed similarly, with dark brown pants thick orange jackets under their breastplates. Anyone dressed differently appeared to be off duty, and were mostly sitting around their tents eating.

“There are a couple other people in armor like Corlo’s. Are they paladins too?”

The patrol stopped just long enough for Haylen to dismiss them, though she called Kearse over before he could run off.

“I need to report to Gregor and Damfeld. Take Indigo to my tent, and get the two of you something to eat.” She turned to me and added, “They’ll want to talk to you, so I’ll come back and get you soon.”

I knew that I’d have to talk to someone, and I’d spent the last part of the walk here trying to figure out what to say. Or more importantly, how much to say. I didn’t want to lie to them, but there were still things that I thought were better left unmentioned. After finally managing to read the witch’s journal, I realized there were a lot of things that were better left unsaid.

“Who they?” I asked, as much out of simple curiosity as wanting to get an idea of what questions to expect.

“Knight-Paladin Damfeld leads the paladins, and Father Gregor is the church’s representative. They’re the leaders of the expedition. There’s also Archmage Verdis, but the mages don’t like to be bothered unless something involves them.”

“Oh. Um…”

We’d been in too much of a rush for anyone to ask more than the most basic questions, but I got the impression that none of them had ever heard of a homunculus before. Haylen not thinking to get the Archmage only confirmed it.

A mage would know of homunculi, and be able to explain it to the others better than I could. But… After comparing the witch’s notes with the books about magic I had found in the city, I had realized just how advanced of a homunculus I was. Calling me a highly customized top of the line high spec model would be an understatement, and I knew a mage would probably have a lot of questions that I wasn’t ready to answer.

“Get mage too. Because am homunculus. I not born. Was made by... by mage.”

I bit the bullet. Once I started explaining what I was, they’d probably call him in anyway.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Haylen, Kearse, and Corlo had already been looking at me, but now it was like they were seeing me for the first time. It made me uncomfortable. Before, they probably just thought I was some strange foreigner who yelled at birds. Now though, I felt like a five legged dog that had been put on display at a freak show, and it was hard to meet their gazes.

“Yes. I not normal. I know I weird. Where tent? I wait and eat.”

Suddenly they were aware of their staring and started looking any direction but towards me.

“At least they have the decency to feel awkward about it.”

Haylen coughed and cleared her throat.

“Um… Yes. Right. I’ll make sure to get all three of them then. Paladin Corlo, can you come with me please?”

She nodded to Kearse and I, and walked off, with Corlo shadowing her as usual.

Kearse looked down at me, and I looked up at him with a nonplussed expression on my face until he finally broke the silence.

“Do you mind if we stop by my tent?” he asked. “I’d like to get this armor off.”

I just shrugged. Today had been the best day of my life, but I just wanted to get it over with. He guided me through rows of organized tents and I ignored the stares that came our way. Experience had taught me to balance my hopes with very pessimistic expectations, and now that my initial excitement had worn off, I kept thinking of all the ways this could go wrong.

Kearse’s tent was a drab greyish brown like all the others. There must have been something to help him identify it though, because he quickly disappeared inside before reemerging a minute later in more normal clothing.

He had on a simple linen shirt and dark brown pants. His helmet had made him appear taller than he was, but even without it he was still taller than most of the other men around. His hair was black, curly, and cut short enough that I could almost see his scalp underneath.

From there he took me to Haylen’s tent at the end of the line. Being an officer, hers was noticeably bigger than most, but I could see a few around the edge of the camp that were the size of small houses. Kearse ran off to find us something to eat, and I sat down just outside the flaps of the entrance.

Reaching into my storage, I pulled out a bottle of wine, popped the cork, and took a long drink.

“Ah, storage magic. Where would I keep my wine without you?”

I liked to think I had gotten pretty good at magic despite having only two years of practice. Peninsula’s bookstores always had a few shelves on the subject, and I had grabbed them whenever I could. Any time I wasn’t running, hiding, or scavenging food, I was probably reading.

The literature I found helped to keep me distracted, but the books about magic kept me focused. My natural ability to read spells simplified the process remarkably, and the knowledge I had from my previous life made sure that I never ran out of ideas for spells to try.

Storage magic was one of my favorites, and had been one of the first I had set out to learn. Before, I had to limit my food raids to whatever I could shove into a backpack. After, I could stockpile a month’s worth of food and still have room to spare. It wasn’t the infinite space that I had hoped for, but it was still more than anyone should ever need to be able to carry around at one time.

I took another swig of the wine and chuckled at my own thoughts.

“It’s hard to believe there was a time when I was happy just to light a match.”

I was no mage. Not by the standards of the books I had. But I had a decent understanding of spell construction and no longer needed to make magic circles for the more straightforward things. Most of the spells I took the time to master were focused on practical usage like summoning water so I could take a bath and heating up a metal plate to cook my food.

I had mostly skipped learning most combat spells for three reasons.

First was because of my abysmal mana regeneration. It was essentially nonexistent, and combat magic was rather mana intensive. I could siphon little bits of mana from the corpses of the zombies that I had killed, but I had to kill a lot of them if I wanted to cast any larger spells or spend any decent amount of time practicing. I suspected that all of this was somehow due to the city’s influence, but having never left the city, I couldn’t prove it. I refused to believe the witch had forgotten to give me mana regeneration.

The second reason I mostly skipped on combat magic was because it was flashy, and flashy things were a bad idea in a necropolis. Throwing a fireball could easily kill a few zombies, but it would also attract the attention of a dozen more. Fireballs and lightning bolts are about as unsneaky as you can get.

The final reason was that I didn’t really need them. My own natural abilities were dangerous enough on their by themselves, and most required very little mana to function. The crazy witch must have been smoking the strong stuff when she was coming up with the list of things she wanted me to be able to do. I had always thought of her as “the crazy witch” but after finishing her notebook, I genuinely questioned her sanity.

“Where did you get that?”

I jumped a little at Kearse’s words. It was unusual for anything to get that close without me noticing, and he hadn’t even been trying. He was standing next to the tent holding a pair of bowls, each with a spoon and large slice of bread sticking over the edge.

“Magic,” I deadpanned, and took another sip of wine. “Want some? What’s for lunch?”

He traded one of the bowls for the bottle and took a small sip.

“Pottage. Looks like they added beef to it today. They make sure to feed us well out here.”

It looked like a bowl of green and brown glop, but actually tasted good, and the mild spiciness helped to make up for the indistinct flavor. The bread was dark, grainy, and softer than I had expected. Together, it was the first fresh food I had had in years, and I had practically inhaled all of it before Kearse was even half finished with his own.

I picked up the wine bottle and drank a little more to clear my throat.

“Are you sure you should be drinking right now?”

He was right to be concerned. I was going to be talking to some important people soon, but had just downed more than half a bottle of wine. I sighed and slumped forward a bit.

“Two years in this city. Now I can leave. I am happy, and nervous, and excited, and stressed the fuck out. Two years I am here, and every time I think I know, I am wrong. Now I not know what to think.”

Kearse tilted his head in confusion, but like a true soldier, didn’t stop eating.

“What do you mean?”

“You. All of you. Spears and armor. Horses. You all different from this place. You don’t know anything about Peninsula. Chad not even know what a car was. Why. How?”

Kearse chewed his food slowly, digesting my words at the same time he digested his lunch.

“You said you’ve spent almost your entire life in the necropolis, right? Do you actually know how old it is?”

“Most of my life, yes. And don’t know.”

“Indigo, this city hasn’t been lived in for hundreds of years. Maybe even thousands.”

I had the bottle half raised to my lips when he said that.

“Wait what? What?!”

“What?”

Kearse had put his bowl down, and the serious look on his face hinted that he understood my problem better than I did.

“The empire we’re from is more than five hundred years old, and it’s one of the oldest civilizations in the world. This city was built by our Ancestors, and it’s been dead since before the empire even started to form.”

I looked around the camp, examining everything I saw. The clothing. The tents. The horses and wagons. Inside my head, my memories were screaming, “Middle ages,” and all I could say was, “Oh.”

I turned back to Kearse, looked him square in the eyes, and took another large gulp of the wine.

“Yah. I’m sure I should be drinking.”

Kearse was polite enough to let me sit in silence for a few moments while I tried to think about how this affected things. At the very least, it meant that I had a lot more secrets to keep.

“The world of my memories, my demon bones, all the crazy features the witch built me with, all the crazy features the witch accidentally built me with, and now everything I had learned about while in this city. This is going to be a very difficult meeting.

Kearse tapped me on my shoulder, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“I don’t know if this will help, but you’re not entirely alone in your situation. Part of it at least. Do you know about the miasma? The mist?”

I didn’t know much. The mist was pretty much the only thing that I wasn’t able to find out about during my time here.

“I know it has monsters in it. And now it won’t let me leave.”

Kearse nodded at what must have been common sense to him.

“The mist gets people lost,” he began. “Sometimes very lost. Sometimes, a person from another nation will wander out and have no idea where they are. If they’re from somewhere close, the empire will try to help them get back. Sometimes though, they from places we’ve never heard of. Sometimes they’re even from the other side of the world. They don’t understand our language. They don’t understand our cultures. And they’ll never be able to go home again. But they can make the empire their new home. And I think you can make a home with us too.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that, and he smiled back, thinking that he had helped.

“Once again Kearse, you are so close, and yet so far away. I’m not from the other side of the world. I’m from another world. I’m from no world. I’m not worried about fitting in with you. I’m worried that I’ll destroy you by accident.”

“Thank you Kearse. That does make me feel a little better.”

And it wasn’t even a lie. Not entirely. It hadn’t made me feel at all better about the problems I would soon be facing, but it was comforting to know that someone cared. He had no idea what was really worrying me, but the fact that he had tried to help was reassuring.

“Kearse, what’s that?”

We both turned as Haylen announced her arrival. She was holding a bowl of food for herself, and was looking at the nearly empty bottle of wine between us.

Kearse’s blushed and held his hands up in denial.

“I only had a sip. I swear.”

Haylen eyes darted between Kearse the bottle and myself.

“You let her drink an entire bottle of wine? Now?”

“Commander, in my defense, she had already finished half the bottle by the time I got back with the food. And in her defense, I think she kind of needed it.”

“Why?”

Haylen’s tone was serious, and I doubted any answer Kearse could give would satisfy her, so I spoke up instead.

“I’ve spent almost my entire life in this city. I thought the world outside was like this, but… less dead. I just realized that I was wrong, and that my understanding of the world isn’t nearly as accurate as I thought it was.”

Haylen sighed and sat down across from us.

“Once I finish eating, we’ll be going to talk to Father Gregor and the others. Do you think you can hold yourself together?”

“I’ll manage. I was nervous at first, but Kearse helped to calm me down.”

“That’s not quite what I meant, but alright. At least they’ll have an easier time understanding you.”

She reached over and picked up the bottle. After examining it for a moment, she held it to her nose and lightly sniffed at it. Then she downed the dregs.

“And the next time either of you decides to open a bottle of looted alcohol, try to be more subtle about it. And invite me. Officers aren’t supplied nearly as well as everyone thinks.”

Kearse’s face went pale at that.

“That was looted? That was from here?”

Haylen took a bite from her bread, and covered her mouth as she spoke. She sounded amused.

“Of course. Or did you think the expedition has bottles of wine just lying around? We may be well provisioned, but wine? In a bottle?”

Then she turned to me and continued in a lecturing tone. She was much shorter than Kearse, but still taller than me, and did a good job of conveying a “big sister” attitude.

“I’m assuming you brought that in? I’d recommend not doing that where everyone can see. Looting the necropolis is illegal. The expedition tends to look the other way if it’s kept small, but if you have anything else stashed away, don’t go waving it around. It’ll only get you in trouble.”

I nodded and tried not to look like I was trying to look innocent, but she obviously wasn’t buying it. Kearse still looked a little mortified, but I couldn’t tell if it was from Haylen’s lecture, or from the fact that he had drunk centuries old wine from the necropolis.

Haylen finished her meal quickly after that and, after giving a few quick orders to Kearse, the two of us went to meet the expedition leaders.