"That was pretty cool," Mason said. "What do you call that power?"

"Shocking Fist." John grinned. "I went with a kind of weaponless, tanky class because I figured I couldn't rely on finding weapons. Anyway, it projects out a bit and surprises people, so the name makes me laugh. He'll live. Probably."

Mason nodded, pretty damn happy he'd found someone else who seemed made to soak or prevent damage up close. He'd have to talk some more about the man's class, and try and get him some levels quickly if he was still really low.

With the leader dealt with, Mason made the orcs sit in a circle as he gathered up the rest of the town. Most were male and looked like warriors, but there were a few laborers and females. They all stared at the ground despondently, clearing expecting to be butchered or God knew what.

"Alright," Mason said, gesturing at the gate. "Go back home. And tell your people we didn’t want a war, but we’ll sure as hell finish it. Go."

The creatures stared as if dumbfounded. The laborers looked to the warriors with open mouths, some daring to raise themselves up a little and inch away. Mason decided to ignore them.

He opened his profile and looked at the messages from the system bombarding him.

[Settlement 'Sanctuary' is now without a patron. Do you wish to claim it?]

"Hey, uh, what's this about me claiming a settlement?" said Seamus, his tone considerably subdued after the tower incident. "I'm guessin' I...shouldn't do that?"

Apparently it was just up for grabs for anyone. How interesting.

"Well, you could," Mason smiled. "But I expect the system is going to make anyone who accepts that prompt fight to the death to settle it. This is me accepting."

He clicked the option by thinking about it, and the system seemed to wait to find out if anyone else was also interested. They were not.

[Title gained: Baron. You have gained patronage over a second settlement. +3 presence.]

[Current settlement detected. What would you like to do with settlement 'Sanctuary'? Maintain, or Deconstruct?]

Uh, what the hell did ‘Deconstruct’ mean?

Mason clenched his jaw and really wished he had Haley or maybe a bunch of civilians to possibly explain with their 'extra' knowledge. He looked around the settlement, finally settling his gaze on the still mostly unconscious orc leader.

"Alex, heal him for me. I need to ask him something."

Everyone looked surprised except the Belarussian, who Mason was pretty sure just couldn't look surprised. He knelt beside the orc and put a hand on his chest, and in moments the creature sputtered and blinked his eyes open as he stared.

"You're the patron here?" Mason said. "Or you were a few minutes ago?"

The orc looked at most of his people slowly limping out from the gates. "Yes," he said in a subdued voice. "I am Chief Nekosh of the Blacktusk clan. Or I was."

"Great. How the hell does patronage work? What does 'maintaining' or 'deconstructing' a settlement mean if you're already chief of a settlement?"

‘Nekosh’ stared with an open mouth, clearly baffled by his situation. Mason snapped his fingers. "Answer my questions and you walk away free and clear. How does it work?"

"I...it's..." The orc shrugged. "You decide to rule two settlements, or to take one and..." he shrugged. "Move it. Add its value to another. I've not seen it, but the gods waste nothing. It cannot be 'destroyed'."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Mason nodded, rather pleased with the answer. He clicked 'deconstruct', and some kind of error message blared in his mind.

[Settlement must be clear of players and civilians. Please remove them and try again.]

"Right." Mason waved at the gate. "Everyone out. We're going to Nassau." He yelled towards the orcs. "Hurry it up, or I'm going to use terrible magic. Get moving."

Every orc in earshot bolted except the chief, who stood slowly and stared at Mason with a strange expression.

"Why do you let us live? Why free us?"

Mason snorted, then stepped to meet the creature's eyes. "Because I don't care if you live or die. Leave us in peace, and we won't hurt you. Oh and if for some strange reason you ever meet a human named Blake, tell him to hurry up and come home. Alright? Now get out of my settlement."

The orc blinked in utter confusion, but turned and walked towards the gate where it looked like two females were waiting. With a final lingering stare at Mason, the big orc turned and walked away.

"Alright, roboGod," Mason said as he got the players out and turned back to the walls. "Show me another magic trick."

He clicked 'Deconstruct' again, then even he cringed as a sound like thunder blasted from ahead. In about five seconds, with shaking earth and a swirl of dust, 'Sanctuary' and its giant walls and many buildings pulled into the ground and vanished, covering over with mostly dirt, and a few patches of fresh new grass.

Alex whistled from behind him.

"Jeeezus," Seamus said. "What the hell happened to it? Seriously?"

"Probably what happens to anything roboGod doesn't need anymore," Mason said without pleasure or enthusiasm. "Now I hope you guys have been doing your cardio. Nassau is two days away at a fast march. And I intend to do it in one. So follow me, and get running."

With that he whistled for Streak, and headed for home.

* * *

The boredom let him examine his settlement options, at least. Turned out the orc leader was right—he could 'place' Sanctuary again, though it seemed it couldn't be 'anywhere' and had to meet a bunch of criteria.

Alternatively, he could 'add it' to another settlement, giving him a whole shitload of patron points and some new options. This seemed an entirely better choice, as he had no idea where he'd put a new settlement, and why he'd do it anyway. The only thing that gave him pause at all was awareness of his own ignorance. But maybe the civilians would know more.

After half a day of the slowest, smoker's jog known to man, and a great deal of whining, Mason lost his patience.

"Phuong, can you lead them to Nassau while I run ahead? You can take all the time you want, but I've got a lot of things to do."

The older man grinned, and Mason practically begged him with his eyes until he nodded.

"Go on, young master. I'll make sure these two get back safely. But don't wear yourself too thin."

"Thank you," Mason felt himself sag with relief. "Keep Streak." The wolf whine-growled but Mason gave him a stern look. "Watch out for them. I'll see you at home." He pointed as he started running. "Stay with them!"

Then he was stretching his legs and finally exerting himself, letting frustrated muscles fill with blood and carry him like wind across the open ground. He touched the odd rock or long grass as he went, camouflaging himself with his Sleeves.

He tried not to think about his broken bow, or the disfigurations that still hadn't entirely disappeared. Or about Blake or his dreams or being in charge of hundreds of people in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world…

Even before everything changed, life was just easier when Mason was running.

He breathed for what felt like the first time in ages when he got to the trees. The sounds of the forest made him close his eyes and just listen, and even at full speed he found he could navigate through without his vision. Like he just knew where to go.

Sometimes it was like he'd been born here. Like he'd grown up in every patch of woods in the great forest, and knew every fallen branch and cluster of roots.

He ran all day and through half the night, until the vine-covered walls of his newly themed settlement came into view. There were still lights and voices inside so he thought maybe it wasn't too late. There was life and laughter and happy people doing more now than just surviving.

Mason stepped to the East gate, and it opened instantly. It seemed he had no time limit to decide what to do with Sanctuary, so he could speak with the civilians and maybe just hold off for awhile.

He went in still camouflaged, not wanting to be seen or bothered until he found Haley and Rebecca. He could see they were both in the hall with Wayfinder, and snuck around to the side entrance.

He crept inside, managing to avoid detection all the way to his 'wing' of the chief's hall, then slipped in and closed the door.

The girls were on the couch, cuddled under a blanket and laughing at whatever movie they were watching on the screen. For awhile Mason just looked at them and smiled.

Rebecca wore the standard white system pajamas, her hair in a plain ponytail, pure authentic joy in her voice and face as she laughed. Haley just had one of Mason's shirts, long blonde hair loose and around her shoulders, leaning on Rebecca and playing with her hair.

Then she sat up and screamed, putting a hand to her chest as her eyes rolled back and she put her head against the couch.

"Oh my God, Mason! You scared me half to death!"

Apparently his camouflage had worn off. Rebecca was off the couch in seconds, running straight at him before leaping full speed into his arms, wrapping her legs around him. He laughed as she kissed his face again and again.

"You're home," she grinned, and squeezed. “But what’s wrong with your face?”

He looked over her shoulder at a smiling Haley and squeezed back.

"I'm home," he agreed, ignoring the comment as he whispered in Rebecca's ear. "And I need a shower. So start taking off your clothes."