Crunch

Alex marched down the dirt road, ignoring the eyes of the people as they stood around the building. He couldn't blame them for being curious, but he didn't need to see anyone at that moment. The idea of talking to another human being made his heart beat just a little faster than he wanted it to.

He needed time alone, and the voice, real or not, was a perfect excuse.

The dirt road through the ruins led out of town and toward the distant mountains, and Alex knew that was where he needed to go. If the island was anything like the one in Death's Yard, the island core, or equivalent, would be hiding down the road at the temple.

He started walking, wishing he had his jacket to put his hands in his pockets. Having them just hanging out beside him made him want to put them to work. He needed something to do.

Clank. Clank. Crunch.

Alex turned and saw he was being followed. The guard that had been with Berken was jogging to catch up with him. Alex sighed. He had really wanted to be alone, but it didn't seem like the man was going to let him be. Alex could run, but his body was already aching from the fight, and he just didn't feel like exerting himself.

"Town's back that way." He pointed behind the guard.

The guard only turned slightly before shaking his head, his short blonde hair barely moving as he locked his gaze forward. Alex knew then that the guard was going to do his best to follow him. He was the kind that would follow an order to jump off a cliff, survive it and ask for more.

"Why is the world testing me today?" Alex grimaced, clenching his fists as he turned and started down the road again.

"Sorry, sir," the man said, adjusting his pace when he came next to Alex. "Berken asked me to stay with you. The area doesn't look like it, but there are many dangerous animals near the jungle."

Alex raised an eyebrow at him before looking him up and down.

"You don't have any weapons."

"I don't." The man smiled, rubbing the back of his head with one gloved hand. "But two people are better than one when dealing with them."

"Right," Alex said.

They walked on in silence for a little while.

"I am Matthias, sir." The man kind of shuffled next to him. "I thought you would like to know."

Alex, in fact, did not want to know, but he couldn't just leave it there. He sighed, looking up the path as it led into the dark cover of the jungle. He could run when he got there. A few uses of the Path of Step could get him away from the man. However, even Alex thought that was a little too rude, even if he was in a bad mood.

"I'm Alex." Alex ran a hand down his face. "I'm an outlaw, so stop calling me 'sir.'"

Matthias paused for a moment at that, freezing in his tracks as Alex walked ahead. Alex hoped he would stay back there, too shocked to keep company with an outlaw. He was some kind of city guard. They shouldn't be getting along that well.

Clank. Crunch.

The idiot caught back up with him fairly quickly. Alex turned to watch him, but aside from the frown and rubbing of his stubble, Matthias was unfazed. There went that plan.

"You're 'Tin Man' Ortega?"

"I am."

"You burnt down August and tore down Glory Plateau with your bare hands, according to the stories."

Alex smiled, if just a little. "That's only what shows up in the World Daily Post, right?"

"You've done more than that?" Matthias's jaw dropped open.

"A little." Alex smirked.

Matthias paused, looking back toward the vanishing ruins as they crossed into the shadows from the treetops. Alex debated his plan to run away, but thought better of it. It was hurting a little less to talk to someone. It made him feel a little less hollow.

"Then why are you working with the Military Police?"

"We both had our reasons to take down Miss Malone," Alex said, ignoring the cut to the gut at bringing her up. "I don't know if we could have won without each other."

"Prince Artur was in the fight?" Matthias gained a gleam of hope in his eyes.

"He was." Alex paused. "And he died a hero."

Alex didn't know if that was the best way to describe being gunned down by Bolton, but Matthias didn't need to know the truth. In his last moments, Artur had a smile on his face. In his own words, he died exactly as a hero should.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Alex could definitely grant him that, considering it was his failure that killed the prince.

"He saved me once," Matthias said.

"He did?"

"I was on guard duty at the docks, patrolling at night all by myself because my partner was too drunk to come in. I knew I should have gotten someone else to come with me on my rounds, but I was headstrong back then." He looked out into the jungle, shaking his head. "I know better now."

"What happened?"

"Some outlaws." He paused. "No offense. But they took me from behind, hit me with something hard on the head. It turned out they were robbing the docks and moving supplies to their ship. I just got caught up in it. They tied me up in a warehouse, and were debating on cutting my throat or leaving me alive."

"Clearly they didn't kill you." Alex managed a little laugh.

"That's because of Prince Artur." Matthias smiled. "He storms in all by himself and demands the outlaws release me. When they try to hold me hostage, well, he says who he is with one big long rhyme."

Alex could see it. Artur would run in with shield and sword ready, or without weapons. He was the sort who was willing to rush in completely unprepared. Alex would have at least had a plan if he ran into that situation, but Artur wouldn't.

"They dropped me and tried to take him hostage then. Surrounded him while I'm lying on the floor. They tried to grab him, but he called out his shield and deflected them all the way."

"So they grabbed you again?"

"They didn't have the time. Harut and his knights showed up soon after that. Fire and brimstone all around. However, in that, Prince Artur kept me safe."

"I could see that." Alex snorted. "That sounds exactly like him."

"People back there, and in Grim Aegis, could tell you a hundred stories like that. The prince—well, everyone loved him. That's why I hate too—"

He stopped, shaking his head and looking at the ground. Alex stopped with him. Maybe he could have the man along with him for a while. It felt cliché to say, but hearing a story about Artur was helping him a little.

"Things will not be the same when we get back," Matthias finally said, sucking in some snot with a big sniff. "If we get back. We've been on this island for so long."

"Maybe there's something we can do about that," Alex said, starting up the road.

Clank. Clank. Crunch.

Matthias followed him, and it didn't take long for them to reach the end of the road, higher up the mountain. The jungle gave way to a clearing filled with stone buildings. A path led further up the mountain, carved stairs cutting directly through the stone and up toward the woman's statue on the near peak.

Alex thought about that as an option, but wanted to look in the ruins first. The last time he had been in a place like the ruins, it had been in the middle of a fight with Mister Deadman. Now he at least had time to look around.

Listen.

The ruins were built in a semi-circle around a part of the mountain, just a little away from the stairs that led up to the statue. The buildings were like the ones down the mountain. Most were missing their roofs, and the stone crumbled and broke in places.

The big difference was the wagons full of tools and rocks. The people left on the island had been excavating, and they clearly didn't stay at the temple when they weren't working. However, someone or something was in the ruins. Alex felt eyes on them.

"That'd be the gremlins," Matthias said. "They're always mucking about just out of sight. They always interfered with the work in small ways. Broke tools, tripped people occasionally. I liked them better than the defenses."

"Defenses?"

"They would open up and shoot light out of them." Matthias pointed at burn marks across the ruins. "If you got hit by one, you'd be out for the day. Took a lot of hits to break them."

"Berken said you got inside the ruins, right?" Alex looked down the road towards the center of the ruins.

"We did, but a door was giving us issues. Nothing we could do could break it down."

"That's where we're going then." Alex nodded.

They walked past ruined buildings, and Alex could see some modifications the people had made to them as he got closer to the center. Cloth-covered tables and remnants of campfires marked where they would prepare food. A few of the buildings seemed to be places to treat injured workers, with beds set up both inside and out.

Alex stopped at the statue right before the open entrance into the mountain. A woman, the same woman as the statue on top of the mountain and the same figure as the one back on the island in Death's Yard, stood with her arms broken off. The stone was pitted and broken, but he could make out some of her features.

The same statue on two different islands. A massive mollusk on the other side. Alex bit his lip. It had to mean something. He wasn't an archaeologist, or much of a historian beyond what he studied for his undergrad. However, even he wasn't that dumb. Something had to go across time and space between the separate islands, even if they weren't connected physically.

Listen.

He brushed the thought aside. He had a different problem to solve first. Looking over at Matthias and tilting his head to the cave, he started through the entrance and into the massive open cave.

Glowing white stones lined the floor. Alex knew a little about them—they were fueled by ambient aether. However, they couldn't seem to have installed it on the walls. Looking around, the silver metal was probably the reason. The parts of it that shone through the broken stone walls were all completely unmarred by time or tool.

It matched up with the temple on Death's Yard.

Alex followed the cave deeper, and as the light from the entrance faded, only the stones along the floor lit the way. Matthias stood a little too close for comfort, but it was understandable. The darkness around them felt like it could hide a thousand monsters.

"It's ahead," Matthias said finally, pointing into the distance.

The wall ahead had been cleared away almost completely, and a massive metal door stood closed with a thin line marking it as the entrance to the deeper complex. Alex could see why they had taken the time to clear it all out. If he didn't know any better, he would think that it was a door that led deeper into the mountain.

He, of course, did know better.

"Come on," Alex said, walking up to the door and raising his hand. "I can get us in."

"How?" Matthias asked, his voice a whisper in the cavernous darkness.

"You just have to know the right words," Alex said. "████ ███ █████."

In truth, he didn't actually know the words, and saying them aloud didn't register in his mind. Matthias slapped his hands over his ears the second Alex spoke, but it didn't matter. With the words spoken, whatever they were, the door would open.

Bzzt.

Green light shot down the crack in the door, pushing across the wide gate and opening up a hissing field of static. Alex immediately recognized the large door as a gate, though he didn't know why it had to be so big.

Of course, there was only one way to find out. He had to go inside.

"You want to come along?" Alex asked, turning to Matthias.

"What's in there?"

"No idea," Alex said, stepping into the light. "But there's only one way to find out."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.