Hope you enjoy today's chapter!

Thanks for reading :)

-Plum

41 – The Missing Beacon

In the quiet resulting from the Gavax team’s departure, Andy stepped out the gate and walked to the edge of the mesa, looking down over the switchbacks and then out to the new sandstone wall in the distance. He wondered what Omar and Frank had spoken about. Did they have a plan for putting guards closer to the wall? He’d like to see a barracks down there—a kind of forward base for the Militia. He turned and looked at Lucy’s Tower. He supposed that name wouldn’t stick after she moved out. Would they just call it the watchtower?

Yawning, he peered toward the south, sure the Huorn Traders would arrive at any minute. They had to be taking their time, because Andy could have made the journey on foot in less time than had passed. “Maybe they have relaxed camp practices, or just don’t like to travel far each day.”

With no one there to bother him, Andy walked back to his tiny house and sat down at his table. It was time to deal with his last two Improvement Points. Leaning forward on his arms so as not to fall onto the floor, he selected his Brimstone Stalker class and initiated the class change. As always, the process felt quick to him; the world faded to black, he went limp, and then he woke with a start, blinking his eyes as he sat up. The light hadn’t changed much outside his window, so he was fairly sure it had been a normal, ten-minute transition.

As he’d done so many times with his other class, he pulled up his abilities that were bound to Brimstone Stalker:

Smokescribe – Bound: 1Balefire Lance – Bound: 4Deepsmoke Shroud – Bound: 5Flame Sight – Bound: 5Smoke Cloud – Bound: 4Cinderstorm Blast – Bound: 4Flight of the Cinder Hawk – Bound: 1Firewalk – Bound: 1

His class had been through a milestone since he’d last tried to push any of his favorite spells beyond rank five, but before he did so, he looked at his newer spells and the older, more neglected ones. He wanted to train Flight of the Cinder Hawk, and he’d recently learned the value of Firewalk. Smokescribe didn’t really call to him anymore—not since he’d lost his Pyroglyph class.

He still used the ability to apply Balefire Lance to his spear, but he doubted being able to inscribe the spell with more skill would affect it much. Naturally, there was the possibility that he’d learn something new if he trained the skill, but he wasn’t sure—at least not as sure as he was that he wanted to improve so many other spells.

Andy closed his eyes and let his mind work on the problem without trying to push things. He had an inhuman Perception now; maybe there was a clue or pattern he was seeing but that he was ignoring based on old habits. The System’s language danced through his mind—the words it used when he’d passed his second refinement. In short, it had promised him that new morphs and abilities would be impacted by the choices he’d made.

Flight of the Cinder Hawk was the first example of a spell influenced by his most recent refinement. However, Andy knew that he’d seen other spells morph when they hit rank five, but he’d never taken any higher; he’d either been stopped by advancement ceilings, or he’d just wanted to conserve the Improvement Points for other uses.

Running his eyes over the list again, it was clear that he favored the spells that provided him with stealthy advantages and those that gave him the ability to fight unseen, even surrounded by foes. The Smoke Cloud was great to use if he had allies near—or terrain he didn’t want to burn—but Cinderstorm Blast was the key to many of his victories. They were both only rank four, though Cinderstorm Blast was a morph, so if it morphed again, it would be a third-generation spell. Andy grinned at the thought.

Of course, it wasn’t the only one: Deepsmoke Shroud and Flame Sight were in similar positions, but Andy wanted to see what his primary area-attack spell would do if he “mastered” it. Without further hesitation, he put a point into the spell, raising it from rank four to five, and…nothing happened.

Frowning, Andy looked at the spell’s description:

Cinderstorm Blast – Bound: By expending a large amount of mana, you can project a cone of fiery air and caustic smoke from your lungs. This attack scorches everything in front of you—igniting flammable materials, burning flesh, and heating metal enough to injure those who touch it. Mana cost: 150.

It was the same as before, of that he was certain; he’d read that spell description too many times to have forgotten any of the details. “Well, I came this far…” he muttered, applying his last Improvement Point to the same spell.

***Congratulations! You’ve mastered the Cinderstorm Blast spell, and your class refinements have influenced its nature, providing a new, more potent morph: Hellfire Miasma.

Hellfire Miasma – Bound: By expending a large amount of mana, you can project a cone of superheated air and caustic gases from your lungs. This attack burns everything in front of you in an extended cone—igniting or melting most mundane materials and incinerating unprotected flesh. Moreover, while it will not affect you, the lingering miasma is caustic and poisonous, and all who breathe it, even those resistant to heat, will suffer lasting damage. Mana cost: 300.***

Andy liked the sound of the upgrade; he just hoped it was as good as it sounded and worth the doubled mana cost. “Not something I should test around here,” he muttered, and realizing he didn’t plan to fight anytime soon, and that he still had ideas about axiomancy, he leaned over his table again and changed his class.

When the brief—to him—disorientation passed, and the darkness retreated, he stood up and walked outside. The sun was a good deal higher, and he figured he ought to check on the Huorn. If the giant traders weren’t within sight, he’d go have a look at the Trade Beacon.

He’d half expected Lucy to come over to his place early, maybe even in time to say goodbye to the folks heading over to the Gavax Collective, but he was glad she hadn’t; she deserved a chance to sleep in.

He took a few steps, then chuckled, shaking his head. Rather than walk to the tower and climb to the top, potentially disturbing Lucy or the Militia members sleeping on the second floor, he pictured the top of the tower in his mind’s eye and sketched the Greater Axiom of Passage. In seconds, he’d built a sturdy passage. Three steps later, he was walking onto the stone roof of the watchtower.

Nobody was there, but the hatch was open, and he figured there’d be someone on shift soon enough. He walked to the parapet and looked down at the gate. There was a guard on duty, leaning against the gatepost, eating something small—a piece of fruit maybe—and looking out toward the warm morning sun. Andy didn’t blame him; the sun felt good against the slight morning chill.

He shifted his gaze and looked past the wall out to the southeast. From the new height, and with the full light of the sun, he could more easily make out the details of the new bulwark. There was a definite walkway along its top, and Andy could easily see the different shade and texture of the distant wooden gate. Beyond that, the rough, gravel-and-dirt road continued into the desert. For as far as Andy could see, there were no approaching Huorn.

“Still some time, then,” he muttered. As he’d taken in the view, Andy had become aware of movement behind him. The tiny creaks of the ladder, the soft inhalations of the sneaking person, even, if he really concentrated, the gentle thumps of her heartbeat. Without turning around, he said, “I’m glad you’re awake.”

“Hey!” Lucy cried. “How’d you know? I didn’t make a sound!”

Andy turned, smiling. “Magic, I guess.”

“Seriously?”

He nodded. “I improved my Perception a bit more. I think it’ll be hard to sneak up on me.”

She leaned against him, pressing her cheek to his chest briefly. “Good morning.”

“Morning.”

“How’d you get up here? Sneaking?”

Andy shook his head. “Passage.”

“You really are some kind of darn wizard now, aren’t you?”

Andy laughed, shrugging. “Did you make coffee?”

She shook her head. “No. There are three teenagers sleeping on the level above mine. I didn’t want to make noise.”

“I can see why you want to move.” Andy sniffed, turning to face the square. “Someone’s got coffee on down there. Shall we?” Lucy nodded, and she turned toward the ladder, but Andy caught her hand. “I’ll open us a passage.”

Her eyes widened and she nodded. “Cool!”

Andy flicked his left hand through the movements, creating the axiomatic glyph, and then he poured his mana into the spell, easily opening a passage from the tower’s top to the garden square. Nodding with a smile, he squeezed Lucy’s hand and then strode into the weird, hazy tunnel, pulling her along behind him. In just a few steps, they were in the quiet square, the scents of coffee and biscuits heavy in the air.

They got into the short queue, and a few minutes later, they were sitting with fresh-baked, buttered biscuits and steaming cups of hot coffee. The people in the square that early were primarily Tucker’s builders and Casey with her crew of Claywrights. Andy saw the teenaged girl from across the square and hardly recognized her; she was muscular and tan, and she laughed and joked with her crew in a way he’d never seen from her back in the early days.

It struck him, as he sipped his coffee, how much everyone had changed. In some, it was obvious. Casey, for instance, must have boosted her strength, and the magic she had, attuned to the earth as it was, seemed to be affecting her profoundly. When Lucy saw him staring and he turned to look at her, he realized she was different, too. He saw her more frequently, so it hadn’t been as jarring, but she was far more vital than when he’d first met her.

Lucy practically glowed with the strength inside her. He was sure she was taller, and her muscles longer and leaner, but he’d have to stand her beside her old self to be sure. Still, the overall picture was one of an adventurer—a hunter—and not a mousy college student who lived with trauma so severe that she couldn’t speak.

“What are you thinking about?”

Andy blew on his coffee, shaking his head slightly. “Just how much the apocalypse has changed everyone.”

“Could have been worse—could have been a zombie apocalypse.”

Andy snorted softly, sipping his coffee, and then his smile faded as he recalled the nightmare scene he and Omar had witnessed in downtown Tucson. “It still could be if we’re not serious about stopping the Night Kingdom.”

Lucy tilted her head. “Omar acted like it was bad. He said thousands of undead. Do you think he’s right?”

Andy nodded. “Yeah, and more joining their ranks every day.” After they sat together and quietly finished their coffee, he stood and gestured toward the path leading to the underground. “Let’s go see what’s up with the Trade Beacon.”

She nodded, grabbing his wrist to haul herself to her feet. “I was thinking about something—”

Lucy’s words were cut short as a new System message flashed in front of Andy’s eyes—and hers too, he imagined.

Tucson Desert Basin Regional War and Faction Event Status Update:Mount Lemmon Elven Refuge – FriendlyDondalli Settlement – AlliedGavax Collective – Allied SubjectMondole Clan – HostileVexid Hive – NeutralHuorn Nomads – FriendlyNight Kingdom – HostileLentiss Empire – HostileTitan Silo Society – Defeated

“Oh, shit,” Andy whispered, stopping in his tracks.

Lucy looked at him, eyes wide. “The Titan Silo Society!”

“Does that mean they were already wiped out?” He tried to remember Eduardo’s map of the portals. “There was an invasion south of the city, in that direction.”

“The green one,” Lucy said, matching his increased pace as Andy started walking, hurrying toward the underground ramp.

“So, maybe it wasn’t the Night Kingdom.” Andy held up his fingers as he counted aloud. “Not the Huorn. Not the Gavax or the Dondalli.”

“It has to be one of the bug ones,” Lucy said. “There are some east of us—past the Gavax. And I’m pretty sure Lyta said the ones with the green portal were like insects, too.”

Andy nodded. “Right. ‘Crawling things with many legs.’ She said some could fly, but not well—and they were digging.”

“I was looking at the list last night. I think they’re either the Vexid Hive or the Lentiss Empire—the others don’t sound like insects to me.”

“So,” Andy sighed, hurrying down the ramp, “that means we can count on at least one other group to be on the attack—willing to wipe out a settlement. I mean, assuming the Night Kingdom didn’t get the Titan Silo Society.”

“Did it seem like they were going south?”

Andy shook his head. “Not really. They were just spreading around downtown. The Titan folks had posted that they’d meet to trade near San Xavier, right? That’s honestly too damn close to where that green portal was.”

When they reached the alcove containing the System Node, Andy was relieved to see a second object floating beside it, spinning almost lazily. Unlike the System Node, which was a silvery-gray sphere that shone with blue-tinted light, the new Trade Beacon was a four-sided pyramid, each side a different color—yellow, red, blue, and green. It didn’t glow.

Andy put his hand on the Beacon, and a System menu was revealed to him:

1.     Local Settlement Trade

2.     Local System-world Auction House

Andy selected the first option. A window appeared in his field of view. A line of dots formed in the window spinning in a slow circle. “I think it’s loading,” he said, glancing at Lucy, who nodded.

A moment later, text populated the window:

4 local settlements with Trade Beacons detected.

·       Night Kingdom – Closed.

·       Gavax Collective – Inactive.

·       Vexid Hive – Closed.

·       Lentiss Empire – Closed.

“Well, shit,” Andy said, relaying what he saw to Lucy.

“That’s a lot less inviting than I’d hoped. It confirms the message about the Titan Silo Society, though—their trade message is gone.”

Andy stared at the beacon, ready to explore the auction house, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the Titan Silo Society—a human settlement that had seemed far more organized than Mesquite Mesa. So much so that he and the others had wanted to avoid making contact until they felt more secure. Now they were gone. “What if they’re not, though…”

“What, Andy?” Lucy leaned closer.

“What if there are survivors? Just because they lost their System Node doesn’t mean they’re all dead! They could be running for their lives or hiding…” He shook his head. “I should…”

Lucy grabbed his arm, pulling until he looked down at her, their eyes locking. “You have to go and look!”