I hope that I get to see the stars again, it’s nice to just be able to exist without having to kill something or have something want to kill you.

Her knowledge is pouring into me, not as much as I got during my first few summonings but it’s still far more substantial than the negligible amount I got last time.

Which means I’m probably not going to be seeing any stars this time and that my creator has once again lost a part of herself.

While the ocean swirls around me, slowly receding as reality intrudes to wrench me from its grip, I process this new information.

I focus primarily on the existence of the Barlins instead of random trivial facts about clams.

The Barlins are a fellow monarchy which resides to the North of the Arthian Empire.

The North is filled with mountainous terrain which has some very rich gem and ore deposits but the two civilizations have a strict non aggression pact so there have been no moves to take the mines, at least so far.

But my creator expects the more likely reason is due to the hefty amount of trade that the Barlins do with the Arthians, as well as their strong standing army.

They already had more metal than the Empire to start with and now the difference has only become more severe.

With that metal they have been able better equip their roops, add to that the difficulty of besieging mountain fortresses and it's no wonder why the pact has never been broken.

Or maybe it has been broken? The memories and shards of knowledge I get are mere fragments after all, plus my physical form is almost done manifesting.

It’s strange, one moment I am resting in a tranquil and wrathful ocean, and the next I’m here.

Standing in front of Malgazar and a few dozen scrappy Arthian soldiers, as well as my beloved creator of course.

I’m happy to see her obviously, but the bags under her eyes and the traces of madness that glimmers in them overshadow my joy.

Forcing myself to look away from her fragile form I scan my surroundings, naturally there’s sand everywhere so we’re still in some part of the East.

The sand looks quite chunky like the Golden Wastes sand, so perhaps we’re near some mountains or this area used to have them but they got eroded?

Or I could be just overthinking it, all I can see is just sand and no obvious natural landmarks, the only landmark is a ransacked fort but that's not a natural landmark so it doesn’t count.

It’s the only other real thing to focus on apart from the sand and people, so I turn my gaze towards it.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

The fort walls are made out of compacted sand just like the first camp I was summoned in, judging by the wooden beams and fragments of wood that jut out of the damaged sections of the wall, it’s structurally reinforced with wood.

So either it was close by to an easy source of wood, or important enough to ship all that wood over to help reinforce the wall.

Yet all that efforts gone to waste, massive cracks are visible everywhere and a few giant breaches open the fort up to invaders, I can even see the remains of two collapsed towers.

There’s no flags or symbolic decorations I can spot but I’m still going to assume this fort is ours, I mean it has the same sort of style as the camp.

Actually maybe I’m wrong, the walls are arranged all neatly like the soldiers tents but is that really a style?

“Sorry Phaeraxion, no stargazing this time, but if we’re lucky maybe we can do it next time? I could point out the constellations to you and talk about what they mean. For now though you’ve got to investigate this fort. We were halfway towards making it a castle but you can evidently see what's happened. You and Malgazar will go in there to scout the premises, a detachment of soldiers will also be joining you on this hopefully short mission. We’ve just come across this right now so I can’t give you any good advice, just be careful please.”

I wait for a little while longer than is necessary to see if there’s anything else she wants to say but once Malgazar starts to move, I have to leave her behind.

It’s clear she has said everything she wishes to say and she’s said all that she needs to.

I will do as she commands, it is my duty and it is my purpose.

Me and Malgazar aren’t able to stride forth elegantly however since we have to stay with these humans, so our approach is rather slow and careful.

Moving closer to the ruined fort really helps give me a proper understanding of scale, since there are no other landmarks to compare it to I sort of thought it was kind of tiny.

But now that I’m actually close to it I’m able to properly understand its scale, the walls have to be at least eight yards tall, probably about a yard or two thick as well but it's hard to figure that out from my current viewpoint.

Slowly and carefully we walk through a breach in the wall, Malgazar taking the lead with me right behind it, while the soldiers bring up the rear.

Just as we’re stepping over a mound of rubble and about to get inside, one of the soldiers lets out a screech of pain.

Whirling around I prepare to lash out at our attackers but I see nothing.

Where were they, how have we been attacked?

I twist backwards to look at the tops of the walls but there's nothing there, quickly I revert back to my prior stance and gaze out at the horizon trying to spot anything that might be a threat.

There’s nothing there as well, before I can continue my search however I notice the humans flapping their arms up in down, signalling me perhaps?

But to what, where were the aggressors?

Lifting up his arm one of the poorly clothed and equally poorly armed troops shows me his hand.

it’s bleeding quite profusely, scarlet droplets spraying everywhere in steady bursts, the culprit for this injury isn’t some Rover ambusher though, it's a sharp dusty piece of wood.

He must have hurt himself climbing up this mound of debris, still, there’s nothing I can do to help him I don’t think.

It feels a little awkward but since his friends are already beginning to tend to his wound and I’m on a bit of a deadline, I turn back around to continue forwards.

Malgazar’s already inside, scanning the area with vigilance, no doubt ready to slam its beak head into any foes it finds.

Slinking forward I join them and take my first proper look at the inside of this fort.