~~~Wilson~~~

Wilson frowned at the man waiting in his office. "What are you doing here? You are supposed to report only to Emerson... or has something happened?"

The man glanced around nervously before blurting out, "I don't think Lee is a traitor!"

I think you're an idiot, Wilson thought but didn't say aloud. Instead, he calmly asked, "Why do you think that?"

"He's just... he's a good man."

Wilson sighed. "Look, it's not like we're plotting against him here. This is just a precaution. You have to admit that he is abnormal. I'm sure you've seen enough to know just how powerful he is? I'm also sure you've heard the stories from before your time here."

"He is..." the man trailed off, shivering.

"You've felt it, haven't you? That power he is hiding? Or I should say his building is hiding." Wilson sat back in his chair. "I was here when he created his building. When he used that power. And I know for a fact that he shouldn't have access to something like that."

He leaned forward. "You might not have noticed, but the invasions have gotten much more difficult since he made that building."

"But he always tries to get the monsters to attack him instead of..."

"Yes, the monsters that he keeps recruiting into his own little army. Monsters living inside our walls that answer only to him. How is that not suspicious?"

"I mean... I don't know..."

"Look at it this way," Wilson said. "If we're wrong, then we invaded his privacy a little. But if we're right, then we are saving our entire world from conquest."

"That seems..."

"Extreme? Isn't it? This is our planet. Our home. Yet every day we get more aliens moving in, and most of them do so violently. We are in a war, and we can't afford to take any chances. Not when the stakes are so high."

"I suppose, but..."

"I'm not asking you to do anything that will hurt him if I'm wrong. Hell, I don't want you to do anything else for that very reason. You're doing great so far. Stick close, listen, and report what you learn to Emerson. This is all simply a precaution."

Wilson could feel the oath pushing at the man, but he still had to be careful here. There were limits to the oaths, as he'd learned through... extensive testing, and it wouldn't do him any good if this bastard started acting all twitchy around Lee.

"I... will, but I think you're wrong about him."

"Honestly, I hope and pray every day that I am," Wilson lied. Then he waited until the idiot left before calling in Henrich. "Where's Bradley? I had a few questions about how the wall outreach project was going."

"I believe he left earlier, sir. Alejandro should know his schedule if you want to send a runner?"

Wilson waved him off. "No. It can wait."

The important part was that Bradley was confirmed to be out of the fort. Which meant his little girlfriend was almost certainly with him. It was hard to do anything with that spy slinking around. They needed to put a damn bell on her...

He looked at the timer counting down on his status. There was time to check on a few other projects. "Get Emerson; I'm going out."

~~~Alric~~~

"Alric," a voice shouted down the hall. "We have company, and they said you're expecting them. Something about a wall?"

"Finally!" Alric stood from his seat at the conference table, then hesitated. "We can continue this later. You've all done amazing work keeping things running, and everyone here knows it. Keep it up."

He left with a meaningful look at his wife, and before anyone could drag him back into the discussion. They meant well, but for living in the apocalyptic, monster-filled ruins of San Diego, there sure were an awful lot of meetings...

It felt like nearly a week had passed since those... people had stopped by. People being a rather loose definition for what had shown up. An honest-to-god centaur had trotted into his base alongside something human-shaped, wearing full armor, and which he was quite certain had not been human.

The armored... creature never removed its helmet and had given him chills every time it got close, but other than that, they'd been friendly. They'd handed over a treasure trove of information, both about the surrounding lairs and also about the system rules.

Then they offered a rather odd deal, which included sending someone around who could help with building walls... Only that had been days ago, and no one ever showed up. Until now.

They're just kids. That was his first thought upon seeing the pair waiting for him outside. A sight that was all too common these days. He also knew at a glance that they were definitely outsiders. Not only did he take pride in knowing every name and face of his own people, but these two were carrying similar equipment to the previous visitors.

Their armor was a bit more patchwork than that inhuman creature's had been, but it held those glowing symbols all the same. Never mind the weapons... Simply looking at those blades sheathed on the girl's hip told him they were deadly.

The young man was already discussing where to build the walls with Peter, but his head turned instantly the moment Alric stepped outside.

Wary brown eyes snapped to meet his own; only these eyes held a ready edge that spoke of constant wary vigilance. Worse, the expression on that face was one hardened by violence—more violence than anyone so young should ever have known.

I'm so sorry. Yet another tragedy of this war they'd all found thrust upon them, and one that never failed to break his heart every time he saw it.

"Nice to meet you," Alric said, smiling despite his personal feelings and holding out a hand. "I'm Alric. You're here about the wall?"

"Bradley," the young man said while accepting the handshake hesitantly, as if unsure of what it meant. Still wary too. "This is Mar."

"A pleasure." Alric offered his hand to the girl as well, despite her flickering in and out of view. Disappearing people were rather low down on the list of strange things these days. Though shaking an invisible hand was a new experience.

"Sorry it took so long to get here," Bradley said. "And I hate to rush you, but I'd like to get this done and get home before our invasion protection runs out."

"Ah, of course." That was some commendable loyalty to their people. "How much time do we have?"

Bradley looked at Mar, who whispered. "I think... six hours? Five to be safe?"

"I... see." Alric knew very well that magic was a part of the world now, but he still tempered his expectations upon hearing the timeline. It had been a strange deal, after all... Information and a wall, in exchange for taking on apprentices from the larger group. He wasn't even sure how large they were, but they were definitely more established with equipment like that. Though, hadn't they mentioned trade as well?

His train of thought cut off abruptly when the ground rose beneath his feet, and he could only stare in shock as his entire base fell further away with each second until it finally stopped, what felt like hundreds of feet below them.

"I like to get a bit of a bird's-eye view before starting," Bradley was saying when Alric pulled himself together. "It helps to figure out where you want everything... though, if I'm being honest, a wall doesn't make that much difference."

"It... doesn't?"

Bradley shook his head. "Most monsters can climb the wall no matter how smooth I make it, or they just jump over. For a smaller place like this, I think you'll get more use out of a medium wall and some solid towers. Great for spotting the monsters further away, and even better if you have enough casters to throw magic down on their heads."

"I..." Alric looked down at his base, then out at the sprawling city, all the way to where he could see a sliver of ocean in the distance. "Yes, I could see the benefits of a tower. This one isn't bad at all..."

"This is too tall," Bradley said. "I'm holding it up right now, and while I could make it stable, it's just not worth the effort. There's a sweet spot between strength and stability. Even after the wall turns into part of your lair, it can still get damaged. You really don't want giant chunks of stone raining down on your heads in a fight..."

Alric didn't argue with the much younger man as he set about designing and building their new walls. It was always better to let an expert work unhindered, and it became quickly apparent that if there was one thing this young man knew, it was stone.

The walls went up far faster than expected, and most of the delay came from Bradley condensing the stone after he'd created the wall. He told Alric about another camp that had an enchanter who could make the walls stronger. "But I'll have to come back with him if you want to go that route, ‘cause he needs everything split into individual blocks. Took all day to do his fort... and you'd probably have to shell out a pile of cores to get him over here."

"Lee could probably enchant a wall this size." Mar's voice came out of nowhere as she abruptly appeared beside him, and Alric couldn't help his flinching yelp when she did so. He'd forgotten about her... which was embarrassing.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Ah... sorry. Um, how much would this Lee fellow want?" If it wasn't too much, then he would gladly shell out some extra cores to make his people safer.

"He can't help you," Bradley said. "He's stuck in... well, he just can't."

Bradley actually looked a little nervous as he talked, as if he'd said something he shouldn't have. The poor kids were probably in over their heads with whatever was going on back home. A crafter like him probably got ordered around a lot... Was the girl his protector? Maybe she could make other people invisible?

Though from the few glimpses he'd gotten of her so far, Alric was fairly certain they were a couple... The glances and occasional touch were anything but subtle, and they had that oblivious young love effect going strong.

Good for them! It was wonderful to see love blossom, especially amidst the darkness of these times.

"You know, we have some strong fighters here. If you guys ever need help... with anything, let me know. I really appreciate what you're doing for us, and I know we're getting the better end of the deal. So don't hesitate if something comes up... okay?"

"Thanks," Bradley said, smiling. "It's a bit of a run to get here, but I'll keep that..."

You have been conscripted into the Minor Dungeon: [Harvest Run]

Alric felt that same sick feeling welling up in his guts. Every time this happened, someone died. How many would they lose today? Who? Who among his friends and family wouldn't see the next sunset?

"I see them," Bradley said, and Alric followed the young man's gaze to the east, where a blue portal was barely visible. He’d seen one of those up close. Once. So he knew the dark specks appearing from inside the light were the real problem. A nightmare come to earth.

They were still far away, further than Alric would have been able to see, if not for the newly constructed tower... and the walls. We have walls now, and we know which way they're coming... if we move...

"Can you watch over the base?" Bradley asked.

Don't worry, Alric thought. I'll make damn sure both of you kids get home to...

"Yeah," Mar said, flickering in a stop-motion effect as she drew twin shining blades. "Meathead is awake, too."

Meathead? That thought stuck in his mind. What were they talking...

Bradley pulled the girl to him with his free hand, while the staff in his other hand glowed brighter. He kissed her briefly... but Alric only saw the complex symbol, which shone out brighter still from inside that staff. Blindingly bright. The light it emitted made him feel like an ant... watching a mountain fall from the sky.

He wanted to tell them to get inside—to drag them to safety while rallying his own fighters—but that light...

"Be careful," Mar said, pulling away. "My mom's not here."

"I have these," Bradley said, tapping at something on his belt. "You be careful too." As he spoke, it looked like the stone floor was crawling up his body...

"You..." Alric said, finding his voice right as Bradley crouched... and then the tower-top exploded. An explosion which sent Bradley soaring into the air... directly toward the incoming monsters.

"Don't..." Alric tensed as Bradley plunged from the sky in the distance. The far distance. Right in the middle of the charging horde.

He hit the ground hard enough to send out a shockwave and an explosion of dirt. Yet when the dust settled, there was a new crater and no sign of the young man.

Alric closed his mouth and started running, only to see Bradley burst from beneath the ground amid another group of charging... monsters.

Unfortunately, they were close enough to see details now. All the terrible details.

They were bipedal monsters. Wearing armor and carrying weapons... It was the worst possible enemy. The intelligent ones. They weren't ready for this! He would lose people today. Even with the walls... He had to get...

Bradley didn’t fight the monsters. He went through them like a blender through a fruit smoothie.

Alric couldn't help himself. He stopped running along the wall and just stared in shock. First that flying leap, and now this. Wasn't he a crafter?

The crafter turned warrior moved among their enemies almost faster than Alric's eyes could follow. Zipping back and forth constantly, he left behind a trail of bloody and broken aliens in his wake.

Every now and again, that symbol on his staff would shine through the explosions of dirt and blood, and every time, Alric felt that mountain falling down toward him. He could only imagine what the aliens were feeling down there, beneath those strikes that shattered the earth with every blow.

"I think he's got them," a voice said beside him, and Alric turned to find Mar idly fiddling with the hilts of her blades. "But I don't like that squad trying to sneak around. Deal with them, Meathead."

There was that word again. Was she insulting him? Calling him a meathead? Honestly, his head felt very... thick right now. Just trying to take in the impossible sight...

"If you don't deal with them, then I will, and I'm going to use the buff," Mar said. Angrily. Except she was glaring past him, looking at...

He followed her gaze and saw over a dozen of the aliens dashing toward the walls. They were so fast!

Alric finally acted, summoning a spear of ice into each hand. With the enemy at the gates, he had to do something. Anything. He couldn't let them past the walls. He couldn't let these monsters run rampant among his...

The ground beneath the aliens rippled in a wide circular undulation that dragged them all together at its center... where a nightmare of teeth and death emerged to devour them in one massive, terrifying bite.

As quickly as it appeared, the monolithic creature sank back beneath the earth, taking every single alien with it.

The earth rippled once, smoothing out, then went still, and not even a drop of blood remained to tell of their fate.

"Oh, my god..." It was all over. Everyone would die to that giant creature. The ease with which it had devoured the invaders... There was no way to fight against...

"Good job, Meathead," Mar said beside him, and Alric noted distantly that she seemed far too calm for the circumstances. "Yes, I'll tell Lee you did good. Ugh! Just go take another nap if you're going to be like that!"

"Mar," Alric said, grateful that his voice came out steady, even as he struggled with an insane idea that nevertheless filled his heart with hope. "Is that... dinosaur your... pet?"

She looked away, seeming... embarrassed? "Yeah, he is. Sort of."

"I... I'm so glad to hear that." Alric's vision blurred as tears of relief welled up.

Mar sounded a little panicked when she turned back, but he could no longer see her face. "Woah! It's okay! There were only like a hundred of them out there! You can relax!"

Only a hundred...

"Bradley should be finished with them any minute."

All remaining invaders have surrendered.

Minor Dungeon: [Harvest Run] successfully defended.

Victory.

Alric wasn't sure what emotions were flowing through him, but relief was a major player. Confusion came after that, and sorrow followed behind.

They're just kids. But that look in their eyes... The casual way they both faced the invasion... Alric felt sick at the thought of what horrors they must have already lived through to see this as nothing to worry about.

An attack that almost certainly would have cost lives... and it was just another day for them.

"Why didn't you kill them?" Mar yelled, and Alric looked down to see Bradley strolling casually behind five bipedal, but very obviously alien creatures.

"They need more fighters here, right?" Bradley asked, even as the ground beneath his feet rose, carrying him and the aliens to the wall's summit without ever breaking their stride. "Want to become a lord, Alric?"

"W... what?"

"You get them to swear an oath of fealty to you," Bradley said with a gesture at the aliens. "Then they have to serve you. Lee said you even get a title from it."

"It's slavery," Mar said quietly. "I don't like it."

"They came here to kill you." Bradley shrugged. "We can kill them if you don't..."

All the aliens dropped to their hands and knees... except their knees bent the wrong way, and they had too many elbows, but it was close enough.

The strangest part was that Alric could understand what they were saying... they were swearing to serve him, and...

You have received an Oath of Fealty.

If accepted...

"I guess they really want to live." Bradley shrugged again, but he looked... uncomfortable as he turned away. "I'm going to finish the walls. If you don't want the oath... then you should probably kill them before the surrender debuff wears off."

Alric watched the young couple walk away, their hands intertwining as Mar leaned her head on Bradley's shoulder. Then he looked at the alien monsters kneeling before him. "W... what can you do for us here?"

"Anything you desire, great master of this..."

...

His wife found him later, sitting atop his new wall and staring out at nothing in particular. "Sweetheart," she asked softly. "What happened? I can't get a straight answer out of anyone, and I think I just saw an alien in the garden..."

"My dear, I..." He was saved from answering by a voice he'd not soon forget.

"All done," Bradley said, landing on the wall beside them. "It should become part of the lair this time tomorrow."

Alric stood quickly. "Bradley, my... young man. I cannot thank you enough! What you've done for us today..."

"It's fine," Bradley said, turning away. "I was actually going to ask if we might set up a sort of... fighter exchange. Maybe send some of our people here when they need a break from... our battles."

Bradley sighed with a weariness beyond his years. "I've gotten used to Lee's invasions... but this, here? It was such an easy fight."

Except he was lying.

Sure, the fighting had been shockingly easy for the stone mage, but the killing hadn't been. Alric understood something he hadn't known before, and with terrible clarity—knowledge that would haunt him forever.

This wasn't only a war against monsters.

Those aliens who now served him were not mindless beasts. They spoke to him. They begged him for their lives. They were living, breathing, and thinking creatures. They had families of their own. Hopes and dreams of their own. Truly, the only thing that separated them from humanity was which world they'd been born into...

Bradley knew that. He knew it all too well. Even when he'd gone through them like an angel of death.

All because a cosmic entity had thrust their world into a pointless and bloody conflict... and for what? Fighting over scraps of power in an endless war that would never truly end?

That didn't mean Alric wouldn't fight. He would do what had to be done to protect his friends and family. But he would also do whatever he could for the unfortunate children who'd been dragged into this war before they'd ever really lived.

"I would like very much for you to return," Alric said, stepping forward to latch onto Bradley's arm before he could leave. "But not to fight for us."

He pulled the man back around to face him. "Please come back. For a rest. Even if only for a day or a few hours. Do not let this war take away your humanity. Whatever beings are behind this nightmare... they may force us to fight, but they cannot force us to become the monsters they wish for us to be."

Bradley's expression softened, and the hardened exterior cracked to let the real man shine through.

"Can you at least stay for dinner?" His wife said, understanding the situation as only she could and with no explanation needed.

"I... can't." The softness receded from Bradley's face, once again slipping behind the armored exterior he showed to the world. "No. Our home needs..."

"We can stay a little longer." Mar appeared out of thin air, her arm sliding around and linking with Bradley's. "We should still have almost two hours."

"Oh, aren't you just the cutest couple!" his wife exclaimed, coming forward to take Mar's hand with a beaming smile. "And please tell me where you got those pants. All the stores around here are full of monsters... and those look new!"

Mar flickered, clearly flustered at the attention, but the smile grew on her face. "Well, there's this guy back home, and... you should see what he can do with a ghost-wolf pelt."