The kitchen floor shifted ominously as Warren made his way over to the living room. He paused as he took in a scene of utter devastation. The front wall remained mostly intact—a picture of his father and mother hanging askew to the side—but the alien’s beam weapons had swept away an entire side of the room.

  He fought down a curse as he swung open the door of the gun cupboard and saw what little remained of his dad’s collection. One of the beam weapons must have bored through the wall and reduced the weapons to slag. Not even a single box of ammunition had escaped unscathed.

  Checking his pockets, he found some revolver ammunition—to the weapon that had disappeared with Kassandra. The process of harvesting her soul had also taken her clothing and anything else on her person. And that included the revolver she’d been given by him.

  Warren shut the door before walking back into the kitchen. With each step, the floor creaked underfoot. It sounded like the cabin wouldn’t remain standing much longer. He needed to grab everything he could and get out of here.

  He walked over to the sink and checked the taps. Thankfully, the water still turned on. He pulled his shirt over his head before placing it under the faucet and scrubbing off as much blood as he could. He then took some time to wash his arms and face. If he was going after his sister, he didn’t want to do it covered in alien blood.

  Once he’d finished, he leaned down to scoop up his bag off the floor. He checked inside and saw the water bottles and food he’d collected were undamaged. Now that he had a bit more time—and no one shooting at him—he did another pass through the kitchen. He found a few cans of beans above the fridge he’d missed earlier, along with some crackers. He also found a can of soup and a six-pack of soda.

  Warren then spent a few minutes inspecting the weapon that had jammed. He grimaced as he realized it had been a double feed. If he wanted to unjam it, he’d have to disassemble the entire rifle. But right now, he didn’t have time to do that.

  I’ll unjam it after I catch up with my sister.

  Warren swung the bag over his shoulder and made his way over to the back door. He glanced back at the spot Kassandra had fallen before he tore his gaze away. He couldn’t allow himself to become distracted.

  After he reached his sister, then they could mourn their friend together. The trail leading over the mountain was difficult at the best of times, and he needed to stay sharp in case he ran into an alien ambush.

  He strode outside through the door and headed in the direction of the fallen alien leader. Its golden armor had lost its shine and now appeared dull and worn. He stopped in front of the creature and examined its gear. Maybe it had something useful on its body.

  On one of the alien’s three fingered hands, he noticed it was wearing a silver ring with black gems inset along the length. He reached down and twisted it free. The moment it had left the aliens’ finger, a prompt appeared:

  He wasn’t sure how everything worked yet, but he had a feeling this artifact would come in handy. For now, he popped the ring into his pocket. He wasn’t about to start shoving alien artifacts on his fingers before he knew exactly how they worked.

  Remembering the alien’s weapons, he searched the forest floor for them. A beam weapon would come in handy if he encountered any of the worm-like creatures again. But he didn’t see any sign of the golden lance or the snub nose pistols among the ferns and bushes. Had they all disappeared when he’d slain the alien leader?

  After a few minutes, he finally gave up his search. He let out a sigh as he adjusted the straps of his backpack before setting off in the direction of the old bootlegging trail. At first, the path was flat and spacious, but it rapidly narrowed as it angled up towards the mountain. He nearly slipped a few times on loose stones, and he wondered how the others with his sister were faring.

  Lisa will help them, he thought to himself. She’ll get them to the village on the far side.

  He stumbled to a stop as a red hexagonal wall of energy sprang to life in front of him. At the sight of the shield, he swung his rifle around. He couldn’t fire the weapon, but the aliens didn’t know that. Not that the ones he’d encountered at the cabin had seemed overly concerned with their safety. They had thrown themselves at him, heedless of their own losses.

  A few moments passed, but when nothing appeared, he lowered his weapon. Then he took a step toward the wall to examine it.

  As he did, a prompt appeared in his vision:

  Warning: Control of the Knight’s Fee has not been established. The following factions still contest the area:

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Udruk Empire

  Arriad Republic

  Krescriles Flock

  Vuda Overmind

  Bhularian Empire

  Daskian Empire

  Should you leave the knight’s fee, your faction shall cede all claim to any and all territory, and no new squire shall be appointed.

  Warren paused at this information. He noted the Slaviigolaris Hive Faction wasn’t on the list. Had he eliminated them when he’d killed their squire? He then turned his thoughts toward his own situation. By obtaining the rank of squire, had he somehow become the de facto champion of the human race here? If he left, what would happen to all the survivors?

  He stood at the edge of the energy wall for several minutes, trying to decide on what to do. More than anything, he wanted to go after his sister. But he also didn’t want to abandon the residents of Sayers Mills to the aliens.

  Scrubbing a hand down his face, he swore softly under his breath. When he’d become a doctor, he’d taken an oath to do no harm. If he had a chance to save the survivors, he needed to stay and fight for them.

  Warren lingered a moment longer before he turned back toward the cabin. He felt he should be safe there until he figured out what to do. He doubted the worm-like creatures would return after having their leader slain and being soundly defeated.

  Plus, he had nowhere else to go. The hills above the town were dotted with cabins and hotels, but it would take hours to reach any of them. And with everything happening, he didn’t want to stroll onto someone else’s property and get pumped full of buckshot. Never mind the fact the other alien factions may have claimed the buildings as their own.

  His mind made up, he set off back down the trail. It was far quicker going down than up, and he soon reached his dad’s property again. He fought down a swell of anger at the sight of the destroyed cabin. The outer stone walls had been shattered, and chunks of the roof had been sheared away.

  But at least the wood shop hadn’t been damaged in the battle. The one-story building was completely unscathed and would make a good shelter for the night. His dad had often slept in there when working on a new project, so there should be a cot.

  He picked his way through the devastated lawn and past his sister’s truck. The vehicle’s windows had been shattered, and all the tires were flat. It would be awhile before it could drive again. At the very least, he’d have to patch the tires and clean up all the glass from the cabin.

  When he reached the door to the woodworking shop, he found it unlocked. He pushed it open and then flipped up the light switch. The fluorescent light flickered before illuminating the building in their harsh white glow.

  Like the cabin, this building had barely changed in the eight years since he’d been gone. A cot was pushed up against one wall, with blankets and a pillow piled up on top of it. The far wall was filled with every woodworking tool you could imagine, while the other wall held carefully sorted lengths of lumber. In the center of the room a lathe, band saw, and circular saw stood covered in a thin layer of sawdust.

  He felt another pang of regret at taking so long to return. He’d been so caught up in his studies and money troubles, he had put off coming home for far too long. His dad had always seemed as enduring as the mountains—he never even caught a cold. But then he’d died suddenly, without giving Warren a chance to say goodbye.

  Why didn’t I come home more often?

  Warren walked over to the cot and sat down on the edge. He bounced a few times, testing it out. It wasn’t the softest bed he’d ever slept in, but it beat sleeping in the on-call room at the hospital. Plus, a nurse wouldn’t be popping into the room to wake him up every fifteen minutes.

  Now that he’d taken on the mantle of protecting the town, he had to figure out a way to stop the aliens. But the truth was, he didn’t have a clue where to begin. He’d lost virtually all the weapons and ammunition he’d possessed. And he wasn’t about to retake the town with a jammed AR-15 and half a magazine of bullets.

  Apparently, he had a combat deck now, but he had no idea how to use it. Or even if it would be effective against the aliens. If he tried to fight them, would they just nuke him from orbit? He found it hard to believe an interstellar civilization used only magical decks in their wars.

  I feel like David fighting Goliath, except in this story, Goliath is a ten-story tall mecha who can squish me with his foot.

  In the silence of the room, he noted a blinking icon on the side of his vision. He must have missed it on his trek back down the trail. He concentrated for a second until a notification appeared in front of him.

  Claim rare reward box? (Yes/No?)

  He recalled being informed that he had earned a reward earlier. This must be the reward the prompts had talked about. He reached out to touch the ‘Yes’ hovering in the air in front of him. The words immediately disappeared, and he watched as a long metal box materialized on the concrete floor in front of him. He hesitantly reached forward and flipped open the lid.

  Inside, a simple card was nestled among folds of silk. The outline was a dull metallic blue, while the image was of a sword black as night. In the depths of the blade, you could barely make out the swirl of distant galaxies.

  He lifted the card free of the box to read the information listed on the bottom:

  Warren had never played a collectible card game in the past, but based on his time playing video games, this card sounded useful. Anything that kept him alive was good in his eyes. Though he wasn’t sure he wanted to bring a sword to a beam weapon fight.

  After a second, the card disappeared from his grip, and a prompt showed it had been added to his deck. When he pulled up what he was calling his character sheet, it now showed two cards underneath the combat deck listing. Still, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to compete with only two cards.

  Before he could puzzle out how to activate his combat deck, he received yet another notification. However, this one didn’t seem to be targeted to him alone.

  Inhabitants of Terra,

  Rejoice, as your savage planet, has been placed under the protection of the Holy Godaurian Empire. Thanks to the Eternal Emperor’s beneficence, the inhabitants of Terra have been granted the opportunity to serve in his Endless Crusade. Should you wish for your race to endure, then prove yourself worthy against the many factions of the galaxy.

  There is only victory or slavery for your race.

  “Well shit,” Warren muttered to himself. “That’s not good.”