After visiting the convenience store for years Zane knew it like the back of his hand. Refrigerated sandwiches and junk food made up the bulk of it. Zane wasn’t willing to part with the sandwiches, or water, but he could spare some of the chocolate and chips. His other unsellable items were a row of lighters and charcoal placed against the jelly wall. Fuel for fire would always be a priority. Tobie had taught him that.

He didn’t want Kynari taking any batteries either.

“Feel free to purchase anything that isn’t on that shelf and… that one,” Zane said. “No batteries either. I’d go for the milk because without electricity its going to expire soon.”

Kynari tilted her head, strands of emerald hair cascading over her shoulder, “milk?”

She doesn’t know what milk is? Wait, no. Of course she doesn’t.

“Over there,” Zack pointed toward the back wall. “It’s the white liquid in plastic containers.”

Most of that section had been replaced by a rock wall, but two storage machines had survived with soft drinks and milk filling them.

Zane kept a wary eye on Kynari as she moved through the isles. She tapped cans curiously and jolted in alarm when the wall beeped at her, her hair rising as though guided by a non-existent wind. The source of the sound was an innocently small battery-operated box fused halfway into the wall, and a peel of laughter escaped her lips as she spotted it.

It was the store sensor that made a sound whenever a customer walked past it.

I was wondering where that went. Zane thought.

The chaos wave had moved things around and he’d assumed the sensor had been blasted out of existence.

Kynari ran her hands over the sensor, triggering the sound in a rhythm that matched her giggles.

“Hey, that’s two cents for every beep.” Zane tapped his finger against the kiosk glass to get her attention. Kynari looked over at him and stuck her tongue out playfully, shifting out of the way and turning her attention to a broken fridge filled with milk and soft drinks.

She took out an orange fizzy drink and a liter of lactose intolerant milk, moving to the front counter and throwing her haul proudly onto the desk for Zane’s viewing.

“How much for these?” Kynari asked.

Zane scratched his head as he looked down at the supplies. Money was useless in this new world. There wasn’t anyone to regulate it and the society that had given it value was gone.

“Do you have anything that can help me with this?” Zane gestured at his injured ribs. “And any non-perishable food?”

He raised his shirt and grimaced. A nasty bruise had started forming.

Kynari leaned forward, examining his side.

“You are fractured,” Kynari said.

“Well, at least its not broken,” Zane tried to focus on the silver lining.

“All fractures are breaks,” she shook her head. “I will trade you these, and they will alleviate the pain. For now. I suggest you find a healer in that time.”

Kynari reached into her robes and pulled out two small packets, each containing a bright green gel. She handed them over through the window of the kiosk screen and Zane let her take the drinks.

My first successful sale. If I don’t count selling Tobie’s corpse.

He studied the packet with a questioning gaze.

“I’m guessing I don’t drink this,” Zane said.

“You must never!” His first customer looked horrified at the thought. “Come, I will apply the healing balm.”

Biting back a growl of pain, Zane pushed himself off the chair and opened the kiosk door, staggering out. In a single step Kynari was by his side and he handed her the green gel packet. With a swift movement she tore its top off, and carefully dripped the green liquid into her palm. After a few droplets had gathered she raised her palm and jabbed it onto his side, right above his injured ribs.

Zane winced pre-emptively, expecting a jolt of pain.

Instead, he felt peace.

Pain ebbed away where the liquid touched his skin, replaced by the warmth of Kynari’s fingers. Zane let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, his body relaxing as tension drained from his muscles.

A scent of grass floated under his nostrils, and he realized it was coming from Kynari.

Some kind of nature-scented perfume? Do aliens even have perfume?

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Now that the pain wasn’t clouding his every thought Zane became keenly aware of the fact that he was covered in sweat, monster blood, and what he hoped wasn’t flecks of Tobie. A faint blush crossed his cheeks as Kynari finished the packet and she glanced at him curiously as he pulled away a little too hastily.

“I uh, I feel great,” Zane said. “Good as new.”

Zane raised his hand in the air and tensed it, sensing no pain at all in his limbs.

“I am glad,” Kynari said. “But the effect is temporary. One balm lasts a single moon cycle. No more than that.”

She rose to her feet, placing the remaining drops of gel on her lips and licking them clean, giving a content smile as she did.

“Now then, your other request. Provisions. Your wares will not be enough to cover that. Do you have any other things to trade?”

Zane glanced at the kiosk. The milk and orange soda had disappeared.

He hadn’t seen her put them away.

“Nothing else here catches your eye?” Zane asked.

“Not enough,” Kynari said.

With a flash of opal light, a branch and a stone appeared on the kiosk desk. The branch was the size of Zane’s arm, and three healthy fruits hung from its tip. Water dripped from the stone, which was as wide as a cup and tall as a pack of cards.

“The water stone will gather endless streams of water from the higher planes for a third a grand cycle,” Kynari put the stone back down and raised a branch. “The branch of plenty will birth three fruits three times every day, for around forty moons. They are of nature. Both will resist the effect of chaos.”

If I’m understanding everything right, that’s four months of water and a little over a month of guaranteed food. Zane had to avoid salivating at the sight of the fruits. I have to have them.

Running and being terrified all day had given him an appetite that cans of soup couldn’t conquer alone. It had also given him a stench that only a bath and a lot of soap would cure.

“How much do you want for them?” Zane asked. “You can pick anything from the store.”

“Even the forbidden sections?” Kynari asked, her eyes twinkling.

“Pick what you’d like,” Zane said. “But try not to take everything.”

He hated to part with coal and batteries, but warmth and electricity weren’t much use to a dead man.

The sound of pillaging soon filled the air as Kynari rummaged through the isles. Her first destination was the sensor, the machine beeping as she knelt in front of it. She ripped it out of the wall, fused stone and all. Next, she took a packet of batteries, but she pursed her lips when she opened a packet of coal and shook her head.

In the end she walked up to the desk and placed the batteries and sensor there, but her expression told Zane everything he needed to know.

It wasn’t enough.

“I can provide you three fruits, and perhaps another healing balm,” Kynari gave him an apologetic look. “No more than that.”

Zane grimaced at her words. A day worth of nutrition and pain-free movement wasn’t going to be enough. They were bartering for more than food and water. It was his life on the line.

There’s one more thing that I can sell. Zane thought.

Three cards appeared in his vision as he focused on the souls inside him, though judging from the confusion on Kynari’s face she couldn’t see them.

Vendor of Souls (Legedary)

The Calm Wanderer (Rare).

The Enforcer (Uncommon).

Zane would never sell Tobie’s card out of principle, and he was sure he would die if he tried to transfer his own, but Layla was a stranger. He mourned her as a human, and wanted to respect her card because of that, but he was sensible enough to know that he had to put his own survival before sentimental value.

Her card also didn’t seem as useful as the others. He could use it to fight, but securing a supply of food and water was just as important to him. If not more so. If he lived, he could always find more cards.

With a gesture he pulled at the card, and an iron-grey light billowed from his chest, enveloping his body. It gathered together, forming an iron card, and its grey-iron glow was replaced by a gentle red light.

“How much would this get me?” Zane asked.

Zane’s words were met with silence, and he looked up to see Kynari frozen in place doing her best impression of a crystal statue. Her lips parted, her jaw fell, and the lightning in her wide eyes arced wildly with shock.

She didn’t hide her emotions. She couldn’t.

The card’s existence was too overwhelming.

“Soulsmith,” a soft murmur escaped Kynari’s lips.

That’s what Gor Mar called me. Zane thought. I’ll introduce myself like that first in the future.

The rest of his thoughts were interrupted as strands of emerald hair covered his vision. Kynari leaned into him, her eyes glued to the card floating above his chest.

Her head smacked against Zane’s chin as she shot up, her eyes sparkling.

“Ow,” Zane rubbed his jaw.

“Sorry, sorry!” Kynari didn’t hide her excitement. “I want it.”

“Do you even know what it is?” Zane asked, his lips curling upward.

The crystal woman’s smile was infectious, and for a moment he forgot about the destroyed world outside.

Until it came crashing back into his mind and he frowned, shaking away his newfound emotions.

“It is a soul,” Kynari answered his question. “I should be asking you if you know its value.”

Can an exact value be put on a life? Zane wondered.

“How do you know I don’t?”

“No soulsmith would allow their presence to be known so easily. Not without a contingent of guards.” Dissatisfaction tinged her voice, though he sensed it wasn’t directed at him. Instead, she withdrew, her feet gliding back as though she were floating over the floor. Kynari’s expression shifted, each word enunciated carefully. “Others would not have let you speak another word once you revealed yourself before capturing you and locking you away to toil for the rest of your life. Tell me, do you know what a soulsmith does?”

Oh heck, this just got real. Zane’s eyes widened.

He contemplated lying for a moment. Maybe even faking bravado and claiming he knew everything there was to know, and that he was protected. But she hadn’t lied to him so far, and she’d also broken a stone wall with her bare hands.

If she’d wanted to kidnap him, she could have.

“I have no idea,” Zane admitted. “But I’m always willing to learn.

“The words of a wiseman,” Kynari’s smile returned. “Soulsmiths are revered and valued across the universe, for they can gift abilities to objects that others spend their entire lives learning. It is said that those with the highest level of skill can forge a weapon out of souls alone. Though that is more legend than fact.”

She tilted her head, the symbols woven into her robes shimmering with power.

“I encountered other humans on my journey through your city,” Kynari said. “I will give you the branch of plenty and water stone. And I will tell you where the humans were. In return, forge a soul artifact for me.”

Other humans? Zane’s heartbeat quickened. No. Focus. The ball is in my court now.

"I have a counteroffer. You’ll give me that information."

Zane held the card up temptingly.

"And you’ll help me slay a monster."