Kali was watching the other ship close the distance with bated breaths. They had been caught. She didn’t want to go back. She wouldn’t go back. Never again. Her determined look wasn’t lost on Philip who sat beside her. He just hoped she wouldn’t get him killed.

But as the ship came closer and closer, she got more and more unsure. They weren’t just killing them. Did they truly want to capture them? That didn’t seem to make any sense as they had blown the rest of the ship to bits. So why take prisoners now? Strange is what it was.

The other ship was significantly bigger than their small one. Ten times the size if she had to guess. It came closer and closer to them, obstructing their view of empty space with the hull of the ship. It didn’t look like a Crystal Emporium ship at all actually. It looked like an old and used ship. Repaired too many times and flown too often.

Still it continued to come closer and closer. What were they doing? The other ship was almost touching them now. Long metal claws descending around them, like a clumsy kid trying to catch a toy, only as they finished extending, the claws started to close on the hull of their broken ship and press it together.

Everyone started to panic as the ship was getting crushed into a smaller mess of metal and plasteel, throwing off the different things holding them in place. Right now, it looked like many of them wouldn’t have the time to get out. The different straps of cloth and other things knotted to hold them working against them. Of course it would take some time to get out.

Kali herself got out almost instantly, having a real pilot belt with a clear disengage system to use. But the ship was slowly getting smaller, while most struggled to get out or still tried to help others. The bindings, no, the chains made of different materials holding them back.

[Break Chain], she tried, and it worked. It had taken a lot from her as she had twisted the skill somewhat, but she couldn’t stop now. She continued to use it again and again until everyone was free and snuck out. They had enough mana crystals on everyone’s suits to be able to fly around a little, and with the boots, they could simply stand on the flat of the claws that were crushing their ship.

Kali got out just in time, with the last person to struggle, sweating profusely in her suit as she had used her ability far more than was probably safe. She almost threw up then and there, but luckily she hadn’t eaten in a while and had nothing to throw up.

The standard issued sticky boots enchantment worked for everyone, but they all knew that if the ship accelerated, they would all be done for. As she came out, she could see most people waiting on the claws while Krovukk and Xar were already walking around to find an entrance.

They all waited while the two adventurers did their thing, looking beneath their feets as the ship slowly became smaller. A mass of metal to be recycled or simply sold. Like many things, Kali had heard about space vultures, but never seen any. She hoped they were nicer than what she had heard.

Soon enough, Krovukk and Xar motioned for people to come over, and the group moved over. A line naturally formed and it looked kind of unreal to see a line of people walking on the outside of a ship, out in the middle of deep space. Before she had been a slave, Kali had always lived on a station, where she never looked out into space. No one did.

She understood why. Space was daunting. Like an endless abyss ready to swallow you, and she had seen enough of it for her lifetime. As she slowly came to the other side of the ship, she saw that a hatch had been opened for them to go inside. Their large group slowly got in one at a time and it was soon her turn.

Like everyone before her, she walked into an opening and passed a magical shield. Kali removed her helmet after she had gone through it. It felt good to have un-recycled air on her face again. Or at least, recycled by a more complete process than what the suit used. She was still feeling weak, and being able to retract the helmet back in the suit felt great. It folded back towards the thicker part on her back.

The crew was varied on the ship, most were human but she recognized some rarer species among them like the Octo, Goblin and even an arachtaur. The half spider actually seemed to be the captain, which was exceedingly rare as their people usually were very insular and rarely dealt with ‘outsiders’ or so she had been told.

“Ah, welcome welcome! We did not expect to get any survivors on board, but it happens from time to time, so feel free to go to the main hall and rest.” The upper human half of the half-spider half-man captain told them.

She could see Krovukk and Xar close to him chatting with the captain who seemed ill at ease with the two of them. She had heard that recyclers, or more commonly called space vultures, weren’t very nice. She kind of expected them to try and sell them at the first opportunity, but as she looked closer at the private conversation, maybe that wasn’t truly a possibility with the two adventurers present.

It was obviously illegal to sell slaves, but it still happened all the time far away from Dust, but selling adventurers as slaves? That never happened, even this far from Dust. It only made sense, as adventurers were usually highly dangerous and more on the mad side in general. Normal folks didn’t go around risking their lives for some money.

Despite all this, the few instances where someone tried had always ended more than poorly. The adventurer’s guild would put out an outrageous bounty and you would be swarmed with greedy adventurers trying to take you out. It simply never was a good move. So maybe, just maybe they could all actually relax.

She went and sat down with the others in the main hall, she just slumped down and felt her whole body lose all the tension that had kept her up and functional. To her side she saw Matt take a seat beside her. He had a worried look on his face.

“Don’t worry kid. We’re safe now.” She told him, half to reassure him but also to convince herself.

“I hope so. I wanted to ask you something.” He looked at her, clearly unsure about what he was going to say. She patiently waited.

“How do you do it, don’t you care?” He asked, and she wasn’t sure she understood what he was talking about. Frowning, she opened her mouth and paused, unsure what to ask exactly.

“I’m sorry, I meant, don’t you care what other people think? I’m sorry I can be really clumsy with words.” He apologized.

“I…” She started, but she wasn’t sure what to say in all honesty. So she took the time to think it over. It was true, she had never cared what anyone thought about her. It only made sense to her. She had only had slaves as friends, who all knew what that meant, and masters that thought she was worthless. Why would their opinion of her matter? No, the truth was that if she had cared about their opinions, it would have destroyed her, not physically, but mentally. She would have been a slave in truth.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“I guess I value my freedom more than their opinion.” Is what she ended up telling him. It was completely true, but there were so many layers to her feelings that she was simply too tired to explain to the kid.

“That’s such a… Kali way of saying it. I like it.” The kid told her, and she smiled despite wanting to fall asleep. She could feel the backlash of overusing the skill taking its toll on her. It was funny that it was the skill she ended up using the most. Maybe it was the one that suited her the most.

Slowly closing her eyes, Kali soon fell asleep as the rest of the escapees settled around her. Some chatting, some like her, simply exhausted by the events.

*******************************

Xar looked out a window of their ship. They were finally back to civilization. It had taken them almost a week to get back to Trupen station. Of course they hadn’t flown straight back as the vultures had recycled as much debris as possible before going back.

The recyclers hadn’t dared do anything to any of them and had stayed nice after Krovukk’s threat, which was a good change of pace as they had finally been able to relax a bit. Of course they had continued to be careful, checking the food for poison and other such things, but luckily they hadn’t actually tried anything.

Seeing the station come into view felt strange after everything. Their group, now halved, felt like a shell of its former self. The future was all but uncertain now. They had already experienced it on a smaller scale before, when the group's mage had died. She had meant a lot to them and the months after had been rough, everyone had been on edge. It had taken them a long time to find some normalcy once more.

But now that they had lost both their captain and their pilot? Were they even Dust In Pieces anymore? Still he hoped that once at the adventurers guild, they would find a message from their teammates, that they had somehow made it off that ship, like them.

“What’s on your mind?” Krovukk asked from behind him. Joining him in viewing the station getting closer and closer.

“Nothing much.” He lied. Despite how he looked, he knew Krovukk had a soft heart. Now was not the time to burden him with his dark thoughts however.

“What do we even do now?” Krovukk’s voice was wavering for once. Even he seemed lost.

“We grieve. We drink, and then we’ll see.” Xar said while still looking out. What else was there to do? It’s not like they could magically bring them back. Well he had to stock up on material and spend a month in a lab or something, but not now. Not yet.

“What about the kid? And the two others for that matter.” Krovukk asked. Xar turned around to look at him.

“What do you mean? I don’t feel like we owe them anything Kro. Can we talk about that later?” They had never owed them anything. Maybe they ought to take care of the kid a bit. But the two others? They could both get thrown out of the airlocks for all he cared.

“I know, but at least the kid, right?” Krovukk asked, unsure.

“Of course we’ll help the kid out, but can we just take care of ourselves for a moment? Let us grieve properly before we start trying to save the world or whatever? Please. I’m… tired.” Xar sighed heavily. And it was true, they were always the good guys, trying to do the right thing. And he loved them all for it, but at what cost?

Maybe being the good guy wasn’t worth it in the end. Maybe he was just tired of trying to save everyone that seemed to need saving. Maybe he wanted to be saved for once. But no. That never happened.

“I think I’ll go lie down a bit.” He said as he left Krovukk alone. He knew he wasn’t being a good friend right now, but he just couldn’t muster up the courage to change that. Not now. Maybe in a week or so. He would always be there for his big blue friend, but right now, he needed some time alone. He just hoped his friend would understand and not take it personally.

He came into the big room they had been given, and he saw Matt’s eyes shining as he saw him. He instantly got to his feet and walked towards him. Xar simply shook his head and changed direction. It was mean, but he just didn’t have the energy for it.

Matt looked dejected, but soon enough was back in his corner practicing magic once more. It appeared he had ignited the flame of passion in the kid, quite literally as he could see a flame hovering in his hand. Everyone had backed off a bit from the kid as he kept practicing all day everyday.

Good for him, Xar thought, but it also irritated him somewhat that he was happy. It didn’t feel like anyone should be happy right now. Even the slaves were happy. They were going to be free. Going to go home or whatever. Good for them, but could they just, for the love of the system, be sad while he was still around? Sad for the heroes they had left behind? Who had given their lives for them? It made him angry, but he didn’t lash out at them, and kept it in. He knew they didn’t deserve the anger either.

The truth was he was angry at himself. For failing his friends. For being too weak. He had felt like a rookie against the [Admiral]’s men. Useless. He had always hated higher level people. He didn’t like feeling on the backfoot against someone. It was part of why he had ventured out as an adventurer all those years ago. To get stronger. So he would be able to do something, at least.

He knew he was being harsh on himself, but he couldn’t help it in this moment. Xar knew he was spiraling, but couldn’t care less. He deserved it. He deserved all of it. Because he was useless, just like his clan leader had told him when he had left.

But did he really? Did he really deserve it? A small voice couldn’t help but ask. And maybe they were still alive. He had no way to know. He couldn’t let himself spiral downwards like this. Not yet. Xar sat up and looked around. Ah, Kali was in the room, and close to him. Damn her and her skill that gave hope. Couldn’t she just let him grieve and pity himself? But he couldn’t help but feel hope now.

It was nice, but he also hated it. It was strange as it didn’t feel forced, like some skills did. It only brought out his hopeful thoughts instead. Just nudged him in a positive direction. But he still felt it was too early. He couldn’t be happy now. Not yet. The loss of his comrades was too fresh.

“Kali, could you move away please?” He turned around and asked her. She turned to look at him and her brows rose in question.

“Or at least turn that skill off please.” He asked her in a borderline harsh tone. The insufferable woman instead smiled mischievously.

“Am I ruining your sad moment in the corner?” She said in a teasing voice.

“As silly as it sounds like that, yes, yes you are. Now please go away.” He shooed her away. He felt a hand come around his neck and tried to remove it but her grip was too strong. Slowly she moved him up and with her other hand rubbed her fist against his head. It was supposed to be an endearing and annoying move you did to siblings. He hated it.

“Little furball wants to be sad, boohoo. You should rejoice that we at least survived. Stupid.” She added at the end as she let him go, still smiling at him.

“Oh because you know better.” He challenged her as he fixed his fur, and the look on her face told him that he was going to lose this battle.

“I do. I know more about suffering than you, and while I understand what you are going through, you can’t let it get to you. Not yet.” Her tone had switched to serious in a snap. And he knew from her expression that what she said was true. There was a deep sadness in her eyes he had only seen on veteran adventurers.

Maybe they were still alive. Maybe they would all see each other again someday. It was too early to give up, and so unlike him too. Wasn’t he the fun one bringing the mood up? Hell, Levy was supposed to be the gloomy one. Not him.

But damn if he didn’t miss them.