Knights Apocalyptica

Chapter 45: Cowboys & Cowgirls

Worth was an expansive landmark of the old-world. Compared to the few blocks of wreckage that were the small town Erec’d wandered into during the trial, this place was damn near an entire world. It stretched miles upon miles. Wreckage and fallen buildings littered its streets, as damn near common as the rubble and twisted steel. Precarious giant structures stretched into the sky like fingers grasping up to touch the heavens; how had they remained standing? Was this what humanity did back then?

Did they defy the Earth because they could?

If this was the surface above, how far might this labyrinthine city spread below the surface? Then again, they didn’t have to cower from the surface as the Kingdom had; yet Erec heard rumors that these old cities had underground networks. Sometimes a couple.

Boldwick halted the caravans.

The priests had been kicking up a fuss since the towering landscape arrived on the horizon. They were swarming the poor Master Knight like a hive of angry bees.

After a brief discussion and official orders for the caravan to stand by and await the resumption of travel, he erected a hasty ‘privacy’ tent for their talks.

The interior of those cloth walls was likely a war zone, with Boldwick slicing those stuffy pretentious pricks with his words. Their complaints wouldn’t earn them anything.

Neither they nor the Order of the Silver Flames had any control over this expedition. At least per the division of the Order’s responsibilities as divested by the Kingdom.

In practice, the church would try to erode and take any power they could manage, as had always been their way, ever since the First King united the caverns and pulled together everyone after a brutal war. Erec stretched out his shoulders; his eyelids were heavy. The nights had gotten worse outside of the walls.

It took two days before he succumbed to the ever-demanding need of sleep. Since then he’d been playing each night as a game of chicken on whether or not he could last through it. Unfortunately, he had to give in to its unceasing demands every time.

And each time he lost the game, he’d been rewarded with nightmares of fire burning all of his friends to ashes. In them, the white stag trod over their scorched corpses and scattered their ashes to the winds.

It was maddening.

Boldwick held himself together better, though, from their interactions, it was clear the Master Knight suffered the same awful dreams.

Their pace as a caravan plodded on regardless.

It surprised all of the first years that courses were still held.

Not the official Academy ones—but every single elective instructor within the Verdant Oak quarters had gone along. They took the opportunity to pull together impromptu nomadic-like classes as they traveled. Dame Juliana was rather prolific since her practical lessons on the wasteland suited the environment. She even collaborated with her colleagues

Over the last week of travel, Erec had learned more about how the world worked than he’d ever known while trapped inside the walls.

The world was a brutal beast bent on consuming the humans who dared to tread on its land.

But it was also more than a brown stain of dirt. Outside this barren waste were jungles flush with alien life—landscapes filled with white powder that would burn the skin when touched, giant irradiated glowing pits. There were Lakes that disguised themself as tranquil spots but emitted vapors that choked the air out of your lungs.

And then there was abnormal ecology. Parts of the world not only twisted from when the Goddess’ holy fires scorched the earth but places that stable Rifts pulled through pieces of the world they belonged to.

Juliana told them a story about a forest she’d once discovered—localized to about a perfect circular mile, with trees that rose fifty feet into the air. Completely symmetrical in layout, tiny glowing beings flitted between the branches.

If a Knight stepped foot into the forest, they were never seen again. Tracking equipment ceased to function. Scrying for their location yielded no results. They vanished from the Earth as if they’d walked through a Rift.

There was a roar of anger—and Boldwick stormed out of the war-tent. His face was red, his helmet tucked in the crook of his elbow, and he yelled out—voice amplified by a quick white glyph. “We’re moving. Get the wagons moving. We’re setting up camp right outside of Worth! Ignore the posturing and bitching of the priests! If they say a damn word or get in your way, tell one of the Master Knights, and we’ll sort them properly!”

— - ☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —

The difference between the Caravan setting up in the wasteland and near Worth was night and day. With their location target in sight, Boldwick took command and commandeered three structures on the city outskirts. The Knights fortified the buildings to make an impromptu base that could fend off a small army.

Nothing went to waste. They stockpiled their supplies in the buildings. Then they used the steel wagons like actual walls, blocking off any weak points.

Two of the buildings were transformed into housing and converted a single building into an impromptu workshop.

Then small squads went into the city.

They got the lay of the land. Worth had too many buildings, and whoever it was Boldwick wanted to find could be anywhere in the interior. And they’d be quiet.

Whoever was out there would know that the city inevitably had significant threats wandering the streets. Places like this attracted the monsters. It was like they saw the old world and felt a need to destroy it.

All the initiates were kept at the base and tasked with manual labor to support the senior Knights making their way in and out.

It was surprising how many logistical and mundane tasks went into maintaining an army.

On the third day, he paused. There was an odd noise in his head. VAL… was humming? Erec dropped the plate he was cleaning, suds spilling on the floor and making a damn mess as the steel plate clattered.

[—Bzzzt—]

[What in the name of Dan Brovski?]

Erec looked around—nobody. Colin had shuffled off to haul rations out, and Garin snuck off to bug Olivia.

[Erec?]

“…VAL?” he asked, keeping his tone low and tried not to worry.

[We have to go into that city!]

“What do you mean? Are you out of your mind? Did you fry a circuit?”

[I received a sub-routine communication ping with an attached data packet. Something uploaded a help request to me with coordinates. They promised more data. What they sent… It’s already promising. We need to go.]

“VAL, does this have to do with the white stag?”

[No, far more critical. Whatever sent this has intimate and detailed knowledge of STAR-NET's inner workings. They’ve sent me schematics for a satellite.]

Erec rubbed his eyes. “So, you received a strange message out of thin air with details about a satellite? Tell me. If we were to track this down, would it fall under the same umbrella of confidential business information everything else has?”

These were old-world secrets, and he tried to downplay his interest. Mainly to try to tie off the part of himself that wanted to go running after them. It seemed like a bad idea, especially if he couldn’t use them.

Washing dishes was so damn dull. And he was starting to feel cooped up.

[I suspect they possess data from when your Goddess scorched the Earth, taken from space.]

His jaw dropped a bit at that. “But you want to keep it a secret…” There wasn’t a way he could convince anyone to let him run off chasing after old-world ghosts.

They were in a dangerous place, doing dangerous things. How could he convince anyone to go along with him?

[If that data exists, it’s STAR-NET property. Therefore, it doesn’t fall under confidential business information. Now, of course, I understand the inherent difficulty in convincing your allies to let you investigate the location, but what else are you going to do? Clean more plates? You’re an intern at Vortex Industries, not a kitchen assistant. ‘A man’s first duty, a young man’s at any rate, is to be ambitious … the noblest ambition is that of leaving behind one something of permanent value.’ If this data contains what I think it does, we’ll learn much more than you can appreciate.]

There was a promise of glory there. A lure of adventure. A way to get out into the world again.

If they retrieved a recording of the holy fire—that was a relic onto itself. It was something the church would value. It could give their Order the leverage it needed to escalate the situation with the white stag.

It was unsaid, but they’d already spent over a week out here—almost half the time allowed for this expedition.

What would happen if they came back empty-handed?

“…Goddess, damn it, VAL.” Erec let out a breath.

He picked up the plate and shoved it into the sink. He took a long look at the suds and grease on the floor. He didn’t join the Verdant Oak to sit around cleaning plates and running errands while others did all the work.

“Fine.”