"Uh, yeah, hi, Cecile and Elicec are here as well," I said, spotting Cecile waving to them when I said his name. "What's going on exactly? You look like you're packing up."

"We are, or were. Was there really a horror on the highway?" one of them asked.

"Damn right there was. So keep it closed like Timon said. Now, where the hell is Glunderlin? We need ta talk ta him," Mel roared, his color shifting to a vibrant orange as he floated up next to me.

"He's at the Town Hall, but he's super busy, I don't know if he will have time…" one of the voices started to say before another cut them off.

"Shut up, they saved us from the infestation, you idiot. Glunderlin is going to be thrilled they are here," another voice said.

I sighed as the reality of some new problem hit me. "Maud, John, and Alex stay with Timon and make sure he gets the bus somewhere outside. Everyone else, come on," I said, immediately heading for the exit in case either of my children tried to argue. The reality was they were just safer on the bus with Timon, and until I knew what was going on, I preferred they'd stay that way.

As we left the gate building, it quickly became apparent things were even worse out here. There were Reltleons hustling about everywhere, rapidly loading items of all kinds on every cart it seemed they could find. I was now sure of what I thought when I first saw them. They were preparing to evacuate the city. What the hell had happened?

"Mel, any guesses why they are getting out?" I asked.

"Gotta be the Triox, but couldn't tell ya why exactly," he answered.

"This might be a bigger problem than just them. With their highways damaged, it likely means something else is going on too," Pryte added. If these people were trying to escape the planet, and there was a giant horrifying monster sitting on the other side of the gate, which we likely brought much closer, that made this our problem. But were we capable of solving it? Hell, could we even leave?

I was silent as I watched the streets around me during the rest of the walk. Everywhere, families were loading everything they had as quickly as they could. The further from the gate we walked, the more depressing it became. We had to somehow figure out a way to help.

Inside the Town Hall was a different scene. Several people were scurrying from place to place, quickly pulling out and looking through documents before returning them. All of them had a look of near panic. I was sure these people hadn't slept in days.

"Mel! Is that really you?" Glunderlin called the bottom of a staircase.

"'Course, who else? The hell is happening here?" Mel asked.

"The Triox have given us only another ten days to evacuate the town, and it's uh, well, it's not going well. Come on, follow me to my office, we can talk in private," he replied, turning back up the stairs.

His office was worse than the last room. There were piles of stacked documents everywhere, half-eaten food on his desk, and what looked like a map of a highway system on one of the walls. It had several lines crossed out. Most of the others had question marks scribbled above them.

"Hi, I'm Pryte, you don't know me, but can you explain what exactly is going on. As far as I know, Relteons have a common issue with having leave worlds. That's the purpose of your highways, right?" Pryte asked the moment the door was closed.

"Yeah, usually that happens like that, but Smithtown was supposed to be different. The librarians welcomed us with open arms to the planet. Even after what happened when Mel and Dave were last here, I didn't think they'd suddenly demand we leave. And now with the possible highway collapse. We already didn't know where we were going to go, but the waystation isn't even an option now!" he replied, his voice cracking several times.

"Damn, so you need to evacuate, but thanks to us you really don't have anywhere to go," I said.

"Why would it be your fault?" Glunderlin replied.

"We encountered a spacial horror and a cracked highway, and it likely followed us to the gate," Pryte answered before I could.

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Glunderlin laughed slightly before speaking again. "No, you didn't change anything. Sure, we haven't seen one yet, but it was only a matter of time. Right now, I'm just feeding my people hope, with no idea how to actually follow through."

"Pryte, what do you think?" I asked, knowing he already knew what had crossed my mind.

"We don't have the resources. Though just because we don't… Actually, Glunderlin, right?" The mayor nodded. "What's your food situation like here? how much do you have stockpiled?"

"Food isn't an issue, we have a ton of that, but there's just no way we can get anywhere for that to matter. We don't have enough transportation to possibly get to the waystation safely, and there's no way we can walk the distance with what's happening," he replied, balling one of his hands into a fist over and over as he spoke.

"How many people are there? What is your exact situation regarding travel?" Surprisingly, the question hadn't come from Pryte this time. Grant had spoken up.

"We have around two thousand people here. We are getting the exact counts now. Everyone downstairs is desperately working on finding a way and a place to get as many people off this world as possible, so far beyond walking, we don't have anything," he replied.

"Relocating that many people, if they have the food supplies, won't be that big of an issue, assuming we can safely get them back with us. I assume that is what you two were planning?" Grant asked.

"It was. Okay, so food is not an issue. Right now, I assume the priority has been only personal belongings and essentials, right?" Glunderlin nodded at Pryte's question. "Okay, and knowing your populations, I'm guessing mostly low-level construction, farming, and guard classes for the most part, maybe a handful of other specialists, probably half your people have no classes at all?"

"Yes, but why?" Glunderlin answered.

"The Empire of Dave formally offers you access to their home as refugees. We can iron out the real details lat…" Pryte started to say before being cut off.

"The what? Dave, what's he talking about?" Glunderlin asked, his eyes having gone wide as he turned to stare at me.

"It's a long story, but I have a faction now. It's very new, but Grant and Pryte are right; if we can get you all home with us, we can figure this all out there, so uh, anyone have any ideas on that? Actually, can we fight that monster even?" I asked, looking around the room.

"I have a new plan, then. Likely, all of the transport vehicles the archives had are still there. There is no reason those would have been moved yet. We need them all to be here. Each one of them has its own internal storage space as well. They can hold about ten times as much as our own. I had already been considering pilfering one of them when we finished," Elody said with some of the first confidence anyone had spoken with so far in this room.

"If we are going to fight that thing, it's going to take all of us. Wish Gramps were here. he's the one who knows about these things," Connie added. The more she spoke of him, the more curious I was to meet the man.

"What are our chances against it?" I asked. I needed more information.

"I don't know if we can kill it. We don't have the right people for something like that. We are going to need to return to the subfloors of the archives. I need some of the books down there, and then I might be able to disable it. It's still going to be incredibly dangerous, though," Elody answered.

"How many of yer people can drive?" Mel asked as he turned back to the mayor.

"I don't know, not a lot," he answered.

"Damn, alright, well Timon ain't gonna like it, but there's a way ta do this anyway." Mel laughed slightly as he spoke.

"We need more fighters. Even if Elody can disable that thing, we can't be sure it's the only one. Okay, here's the full new plan. We have exactly ten days to get everyone and everything through that gate. Glunderlin, we aren't just taking essentials anymore. Everything that isn't nailed down is coming with us, and if it's valuable at all, then I want it, whether it's nailed down or not. We will pile every bit of it into the transport fleet the second we return from the archives. Grant, you aren't coming with us anymore," Pryte said loudly.

"Okay, what do you need me to do then?" Grant replied, sounding confused.

"Glunderlin here is going to use whatever he has on hand to get a core into you and find somewhere for you to gain a few levels while we are gone. We're going to need to figure out how to get a ranged class into him as well. If I understand his background right, he should be able to handle fighting from the bus itself," Pryte answered.

"That ain't gonna do much, there just ain't enough time ta get him where he'd need ta be for this, but as a distraction, we might be able ta do something there," Mel added.

"I'll do whatever you need," Grant said, the confusion gone from his voice.

"Good, now we just have ta hope Timon is wrong, and I've got some of my supplies left at the Hall, cause I've got an idea," Mel replied, with a rare grin crossing his face. I had no idea how much the Council would complain about this one during our next meeting, but I also didn't care. We were going to save these people, and if Pryte's thoughts were right, we might be all the stronger for doing so.

Lightning Sharpshooters are one of the classes not seen in the Arena very often anymore. Since the fall of the Cloud Empire, there just hasn't been the same source of those trained in the class. While one of the more powerful elemental gunner classes out there, the Cloud Empire had never been willing to allow outsiders access to it. So when they fell, so did it. It has now been over fifty years since anyone has been seen with the class.

Possibly Lost Classes by Zolinjar

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