Chapter 5

  Drew stood outside of Sanctuary proper while tinkering with his System menus and going through the various templates he had access to when the sound of grass being crushed underfoot caused him to turn his head. Mark and Robert were talking amongst themselves as they walked up to him. Drew quickly finished looking through the template he had pulled up and turned to greet his friends.

  “Robert, Mark, what can I help ya with?”

  “Drew, good to have you back home,” Robert said with a smile as he reached out and hugged Drew.

  Drew smiled and clapped the older man on the back with his hand, “It’s good to be back and feeling productive again.”

  “Amber said you got the army situation straightened out man, how in the world did you convince those undead to rejoin you?”

  “I asked?”

  “Not cool dude,” Mark laughed.

  “What’s not cool?”

  “You said they were slaves, you released them, and then you asked them to work for you. This is like American history in high school all over again,” Mark scolded good naturedly.

  “That’s not how it is at all, and you know it,” Drew retorted in a less jovial tone.

  Mark took a moment to raise his eyebrow, “Are you at least paying them?”

  Oh… yeah I guess I better pay them something for their time and everything.

  “Not yet, I was planning to ask Robert to help me figure something out on that front.”

  Robert nodded, “I’ll take care of it and speak with Junior about the appropriate compensation for their services. But, that’s not why we came out here.”

  “I figured; what train was derailed this time?” Drew asked.

  Whenever Robert sought Drew out specifically it was rarely for good news. It usually meant something required his immediate attention. An Incursion being found, official decisions on diplomatic ties, and of course crime and punishment within Sanctuary. As the settlement grew, crime had popped up. Compared to Earth before The System, it wasn’t nearly as widespread, but occasional crimes were beginning to occur.

  Drew had previously been forced to sit down and work out official laws and the punishments for breaking them. He’d kept it relatively simple, since The System enforced and handled a lot of the backend work like taxes. No theft, no assault, no murder. Stuff like that. Before The System crime had been far, far worse, but now classes like Judicators and Truthsayers existed, which made lying before a judge and jury nearly impossible. People could dance around certain facts, but eventually they would come to light.

  The last such case, a prolific one, had been a sexual assault. A citizen had allegedly drugged and assaulted another person. Sadly, in that case, the charges ended up being true and the victim was taken in for medical care and mental health assistance. The criminal, unable to lie before the jury, admitted to it when he found that he could not lie. The punishment was both swift and harsh, with the man having his reproductive organs and hands removed permanently.

  He was then sent to live out his days working as a mana battery for the new defensive arrays set up to protect Sanctuary. Only two Valkyries remained to defend the settlement despite its growing size, as they were needed elsewhere, Sindra was one of the winged women who left. This meant that Sanctuary now had to seek out alternatives to help alleviate the workload on the remaining two Valkyries, which is where the new defensive arrays came into play.

  The worst crimes had the harshest of punishments available, but it was ultimately the jury’s call on what those punishments would be within the specified range. One of the harshest was becoming a living mana battery for the arrays, as it was similar to solitary confinement but with mandatory public service. Death was of course another option, with the bodies raised for manual labor to help the community and its growing industries.

  “The scouts that went to Houston have returned,” Robert replied without emotion.

  “That bad, huh?” Drew asked.

  “No dude! It’s totally fine!!” Mark said with a giant smile.

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  Drew did a double take, “Come again?”

  “Houston has withstood The Descent and all that came after. While many people did die, and parts of the city lie in ruins, the rest still stands as a bastion of humanity. Strong fortified stone walls surround it, guards patrolling them. The people seem to be well-fed and there’s even a Pillar there.” Robert answered.

  “So what’s the problem then? Religious zealots, human sacrifices, an Incursion with a horde of monsters?” Drew questioned, his suspicion rising.

  Even the least damaged towns had some horror that needed to be dealt with. They hadn’t come across a single one that was in good shape overall. Not a single one. Sure, some small settlements existed where cities once were, but much of them had been like Fort Worth where everyone had cobbled together some kind of living while barely hanging on.

  “There is an Incursion,” Robert nodded.

  Called it.

  “But the invaders are being repelled and the city is in no immediate danger. The scouts reported that everything seems to be running smoothly for the survivors.”

  Drew shook his head, “Bullshit. This is the apocalypse and Houston was the dirty, humid, human cesspool of Texas before The Descent, there’s no way they survived easily when none of the halfway decent cities fell.”

  “I don’t know what to tell ya, dude,” Mark shrugged, “That’s what the scouts said. I was hanging out with Robert shooting the shit when they came in. But none of that even matters!”

  “That crap city survived and the people are safe but it doesn’t matter?” Drew looked at his best friend like he’d been dropped as a child.

  Mark held up his hands in defense, “It matters, but that’s not the point! My brother is alive and in Houston!”

  Drew’s eyes widened and he broke into a smile before quickly embracing his best friend in a hug, “Congratulations man, I’m happy for you!”

  Every time the scouts set out for a new area they took with them a list of names, friends and family of Sanctuary citizens, in the hopes of finding their loved ones alive or… at least confirmation of their passing. Sanctuary had grown immensely, but the list of names remained relatively small and manageable, the world was a big place after all and Robert’s scout teams had only just begun to finish off their initial sweeps of Texas.

  Only the southern parts of Oklahoma had been touched upon thus far, but as more people leveled and new mercenary or ‘adventuring guilds’ opened up in town, an ever-increasing amount of the United States was slowly opening up to them. The Baleful Lady and Hades had once mentioned that once enough Pillars had been placed, global teleportation options would open up, but for the moment Earth had not yet reached the critical mass required for that.

  “Thanks, man. After not finding any trace of my parents…” Mark said with sadness before sighing and shaking his head, “Well, I didn’t dare to hope, ya know?”

  Drew let go of the long hug and nodded his head, “I get it. And it’s not like the gods can help us find all our loved ones, Hades said that unless someone prayed to them or got their attention somehow that it would be nearly impossible to find a single low-level human being.”

  “Yeah, he said the same thing when I asked him to look into where my parents are, or whether they’re… gone. I don’t suppose he’s said anything about it?”

  “No,” Drew answered in a tone barely above a whisper, “I asked The Lady as well, but she said no one matching your parent’s descriptions had made it to The Halls yet.”

  Mark stayed silent for several moments before nodding his head once, “Thank you for asking. I don’t know if I should be happy or even more concerned about that.”

  It’s entirely possible they managed to survive somehow and are hunkered down somewhere. Or, they could have migrated with a group of other survivors… or something like the Devils or Slosth got to their souls…

  “Still, that’s fantastic news about your brother,” Drew said as he forced himself to smile, “When you are you heading down to meet up with him?”

  Robert stepped forward slightly, “That’s actually why we came out here to meet with you. A team is being put together to—”

  “Could you uh… come with me, please?” Mark interrupted.

  Robert coughed into his hand lightly and his left eyebrow twitched slightly. Internally Drew chuckled that Mark had interrupted Robert in his excitement, but he was also confused on why his best friend asked him to join him.

  “Uhhh…”

  “If not then it’s okay and…” Mark began to backpedal.

  Drew held up his hand, “No, I’ll definitely go with you. You’re by best friend, it’s the least I could do. I was just about to start summoning a new army is all… but I guess I could do that while we’re on the road. Come to think of it, that would give the Necromancers a chance to practice with the new minions before boosting their numbers too much.”

  Best to ease them into the roles they volunteered for rather than throwing them into the fire. Plus, when we are attacked, it will give them the chance to work out any kinks with commanding the more animalistic undead.

  “Really? That’s great man!”

  “As I was saying,” Robert said while giving Mark a good-natured glare and a smile, “We need to send some diplomats with the team and it would be great if they had adequate protection for the journey, and naturally such a large city like Houston will want to know what we can offer them.”

  Robert was going to ask me to go so Houston sees that we’re not to be taken lightly despite our lower population, and to prevent any ‘less than kind’ ideas from popping into their heads. Smart. I’m glad he’s in charge of this shit instead of me, I have my hands full as it is.

  Drew smiled, “I understand. In that case, I should ask Spock and Amber to join as well.”

  “What about Freya?” Mark asked.

  “Oh, she follows Amber everywhere,” Drew chuckled, “They’re more of a package deal than Amber and I are. If Amber is going the shepherd will be right by her side.”

  “Good idea, Drew. The team will be ready to leave within a few hours, I recommend preparing for your journey and visiting one of the alchemists to stock up on potions before leaving.”

  I can never have enough potions, especially with all the shit I go through. Too bad they haven’t figured out how to make superior ones yet.