Elion and Keyla watched from the darkness of the cave, letting their eyes adjust to the bright light. Breathing deeply, Elion savored the fresh air, a welcome relief after the dankness of the sewers. He detected a hint of rotten eggs in the air, the faintest whiff of something sulfuric.

  The cave opened up through a crack in the foundation of an ancient building. They were peering into a basement. Debris littered the ground, and greenery sprouted out of every crevasse. Small pools of water filled with green slime, and mossy lichens grew on concrete blocks.

  Snickers tried to jump from Elion’s arms, but Elion held the cat tightly.

  “I don’t see anyone out there,” Elion said. “We’re probably safe?”

  Keyla shrugged, playing with one of the shoulder straps of her overalls.

  “Get ready to run,” Elion said. He stepped through the hole, emerging into the sunlight.

  He scanned the ruins around him, looking for any sign of warlocks. This building had once been a tall, pre-Cataclysm structure. Rays of light pierced jagged holes in the structure overhead, highlighting swirling currents of dust in the air.

  The floor was covered in a thick, damp layer of decomposing organic matter, the earthy smell of it permeating the space. Large chunks of concrete lay on the ground where they had fallen, and rusted metal beams protruded at odd angles.

  The occasional sound of dripping water echoed through the silence.

  Some portions of metal beams and rebar shone in the light, shiny, cut ends hinting at the scavengers who had come through, stripping the structure of useful materials.

  In one corner where the foundation had totally crumbled, a ramp of debris led to ground level. Scavengers had improved the exit with planks of wood, providing more stable footsteps.

  Keyla stepped out into the ruin beside Elion, as he let Snickers drop to the ground.

  “No sign of them?” she said, performing her own scan.

  Elion shook his head.

  She breathed deeply. “Ah,” she said. “It’s just like I remember it.”

  Snickers sniffed at a pile of rocks, and snapped up some kind of insect.

  They picked their way over to the way out, avoiding standing pools of brackish water.

  “It’s this kind of stuff that makes the acid pools,” Keyla said, skirting one. “The water soaks through the ancient ruins, and dissolves some of the chemicals they used to use in their technology. In New Kairn Tol they used to harvest, refine, and then sell it.”

  “Why’d they stop?” Elion asked.

  “The Breaking of The Sky,” Keyla said. “Without protection from the Starholders, it became impossible to stay here and keep the refineries working. Besides, a lot of the customers were having their own problems, and weren’t making as many orders.”

  “Sounds like it used to be nice here,” Elion said. “In New Kairn Tol, I mean.”

  “My mom loved it. I never lived here, but she used to show me places when we scavenged. She always seemed so sad, remembering how things used to be.”

  Keyla paused, staring up at the sky through the ruins.

  “It’s the only thing I’ve ever known,” she said. “Mom talks about how before, the sky used to stretch out in vast spans of solid blue. I can’t even imagine it.”

  “That’s what it’s like on Earth,” Elion said. “It’s nice, I guess. Not as striking as your sky here, though.”

  “Have you ever heard of Alandar?” Keyla asked, walking over to a portion of weathered concrete with a symbol etched on it. Elion looked at the symbol; a 4 pointed star inscribed in a circle.

  “No,” Elion said. “Never.”

  “The people of New Kairn Tol wanted their city to be a beacon of peace and prosperity, attracting people to join them in living a peaceful, fulfilling life. Even before the breaking of the sky, the ruins of Kairn Tol attracted some of the most violent, brutal people and disputes over resources.”

  “I thought you said New Kairn Tol was peaceful,” Elion said.

  “It was. That was their great success. They brought people together here, building trust and working together as they grew wealthy. They used Alandar’s Beacon as the symbol for New Kairn Tol.”

  “That’s Alandar’s beacon?” Elion asked, pointing at the circle around the star.

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

  “No, it’s the symbol for New Kairn Tol. Inspired by the story of Alandar’s Beacon.”

  “Ah. Are you going to tell me the story?”

  They reached the ramp of debris and began scrambling up it, out of the pit. A few well placed planks, along with a section of footholds chiseled into a cement block allowed them to reach the top. Snickers made it up easily, without assistance.

  The distance between them and exertion from the climbing made conversation impossible for a time.

  Elion breathed heavily as he stepped between two large sections of still standing wall. The remains of another massive building sat across a narrow alley, filled with grass and small shrubs. He walked down toward what he guessed was the front of the building, facing a strip of land that may have once been a main street.

  “I’ll tell you the story sometime,” Keyla said, catching her breath. “Alandar was an Aurelian, so you should know it.”

  He climbed a pile of rubble, his breath catching as he took in the view. From where he stood, Kairn Tol stretched out before him.

  A stretch of green and black ran to his right and left, mostly grass and shrubs, growing between chunks of crumbling asphalt. A pair of tire tracks ran along the middle of it, marking a path once taken by scavenger vehicles.

  Looking outward he surveyed the once mighty metropolis, now reduced to a graveyard of skeletal ruins. It didn’t look too different from how he imagined a ruined city on earth would have looked. Open foundations and shells of buildings, laid out in a grid pattern as far as he could see. Uneven piles of rubble marked the remains of various structures.

  In the distance, massive craters hinted at the devastation that had led to the Cataclysm.

  A dry wind stirred the occasional curl of dust into the air, whistling through shattered windows and hollowed-out buildings.

  In the distance, the twisted remains of skyscrapers leaned at impossible angles. Some lie across the ground, steel and rebar exposed to the elements like the ribs of a dead behemoth. Everywhere nature has begun reclaiming the scene. Grass and flowers grow in every nook and cranny. Vines twist and climb over concrete and metal. A few trees have managed to break through the concrete ground, branches protruding through windows and doorways.

  Elion scanned the sky, looking for signs of a skyskimmer. *I wonder if the warlocks were able to fix theirs, or if they’re traveling on foot now. I wonder how far they can teleport. Not that far, or they wouldn’t have brought the skyskimmer.*

  “That’s New Kairn Tol,” Keyla said, pointing.

  Elion looked. Down the street, perhaps a half mile away, a large wall of rubble blocked the way. He had not noticed it before. The rubble had been intentionally piled, forming a wall about fifteen feet tall with a gate in the middle constructed of steel beams and rebar.

  People patrolled along the top of the wall, tops of heads barely visible behind makeshift battlements. A tower stood along one portion of the wall.

  “There are people there,” Elion said. “Are they from Aterfel?”

  Keyla leaned against a crumbling window sill, bracing herself as she scanned the wall through her scope. “Nobody that I recognize,” she said.

  “I wonder what happened to them,” Elion said. “Surely it’s a good thing that there are people there?”

  Keyla clenched her jaw but did not respond.

  “Should we go down there and introduce ourselves then?” Elion asked. “Your mom was there at some point. Maybe someone there can put us onto her track.”

  Keyla let out a strangled yelp, and Elion spun, raising his rifle.

  Two pairs of hands had reached through a gap in the crumbling edifice, and had seized Keyla, pinning her arms and wrapping around her neck and mouth.

  In the blink of an eye, a half dozen men and women melted out of the scenery, all of them holding weapons pointed at Elion. Elion shifted his rifle around, unsure about where to aim. If he manifested his armaments now, he might be able to get away. But if they started shooting at him, they might hit Keyla, and she didn’t have the same kind of protection.

  A man advanced toward them. Keyla struggled, but couldn’t escape the strong arms pinning her to the wall. Snickers hissed from a hollow in the rubble.

  “Drop the gun,” the man said, his voice flat and emotionless.

  Elion raised his hands, letting the laserarm fall, swinging from its sling.

  “What do you want?” Elion asked.

  “Slowly take it off and set it on the ground,” the man ordered.

  Elion did as he was told. As soon as the weapon was on the ground, the others swarmed in, grabbing Elion and forcing him to the ground. Snickers yowled.

  Elion panicked, trying to manifest his armor. He was hit in the side of the head by something hard. A sharp prong was jabbed into his back, and energy crackled. His body shook as his assailants tasered him.

  Head throbbing, Elion peeled his eyes open. He lay in the dirt where he had fallen. He tried to move, and found himself bound. Iron manacles clamped around his wrists. Keyla lay on the ground nearby, a chain connecting their bonds.

  Elion tried to rub the sore place on his back where he’d been zapped, but the chains stopped him.

  “That was totally unnecessary,” he groaned. “I was complying.”

  Snickers yowled and scratched as one of their captors shoved him into a metal box. The man latched it closed. Snickers scrabbled angrily inside.

  Elion counted eight people standing around them, a few of them pointing rifles at Elion and Keyla. The others gathered Elion and Keyla’s belongings. They all had dull looks on their faces, as though they were bored and wanted to get this over with quickly.

  They all wore some kind of uniform, a grey brown fabric designed to blend in with the weathered stone of the ruins.

  A large, ruddy woman pushed to the front of the group. She grunted, poking and prodding at Elion and Keyla as though sizing up a cut of meat at the butchers. She wore a long, oiled canvas coat draped over her large frame, and had her auburn hair pinned up messily.

  She stepped beside Elion, her muddy boot inches from his nose.

  “Excellent work,” she said to the people who had captured them. She held a kind of notepad in one hand, and used one finger as she scanned what was written there. “I will now reiterate your prior orders. Listen closely.”

  She ticked the points off on her fingers as she spoke. “You will protect me with your lives. You will not speak unless I ask you a question. You will not speak to the prisoners.”

  Elion grunted. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

  The woman nudged him with her toe, a gentle kick. “I’m not talking to you,” she said. “Be quiet.”

  “Why did you attack us?” Elion asked.

  She kicked Elion again, harder this time. “Be quiet. Pretty soon you won’t be able to disobey me. Until then… well, I’ll keep kicking you.”

  She addressed the other people with her. “We’re going to bring them back to town. Normal traveling formation. Each of you who have heard and understand my instructions, raise a hand.”

  Fabric rustled as hands were raised.

  “Good,” she said, bending down to shove her face into Elion’s. He recoiled from the stench of her breath. “My name is Kendry. Nice to meet you.”