by Wolfe Locke
“Well yeah, but its for my trade.” Zander laughed. “There aren’t many Summoners around, so I have to take specialized lessons to learn the trade. They’re expensive. I’m currently on a salvage team, trying to get some more money. We go through ruins like these looking for artifacts that we can pawn or sell. When I have time, I go out on my own to salvage for myself. That way I can afford lessons, get more powerful spells, level up my abilities, acquire new summons, that kind of thing.”
He looked a bit embarrassed. “It’s not what I want to be doing forever—salvage isn’t a prestige job, or anything. But it’s important. My village isn’t rich, and we need artifacts just to survive. And the more magic abilities we have, the better we can protect ourselves from monsters, and the more of us can go off into the world and make a living.”
She smiled at him encouragingly. “I know what you mean. I didn’t grow up wealthy either. My father was a taxi driver and my mother was a part-time librarian.”
Zander didn’t fully know what any of that meant, but he felt protective of her. He didn't want to ignore it, so he nodded his head as if he understood.
“So that’s why you’re in Atlanta?” she said. “Salvaging in the ruins? Crazy thinking of Atlanta as a ruin. I mean I’d always had issues with Music Midtown but aside from that..”
“Yeah. Well, we call it Arcadia. It’s rich in inheritances and medical supplies. There are a lot of Hnlogies.” Zander responded, feeling a bit of pride in himself. He was eager to show off a bit.
“Hnologies?” Celeste raised an eyebrow in question. “I’m not familiar with that word.”
“It’s on the sign outside. There’s always good equipment in these Hnology buildings when we find them.” Zander responded.
She laughed. "You probably meant Technologies. Some of the text must have worn off." The thought seemed to trouble her. Her brow furrowed, she looked like she was about to ask more questions, but she stopped herself. “Are you here on a team, then? Today. Or by yourself?”
“I’m on my own this time. Everything I salvage today is mine to sell or mine to keep!” Zander explained. "Not even village tax is applied."
“So,” she said, voice low. “It’s just you and me, then?”
“And Rocktooth.” Zander corrected.
The golem waved from across the chamber.
Yes. And me. Trusty golem sidekick who was here first. Rocktooth. Draugr slayer.
“Right,” Celeste sighed. “And Rocktooth. How.. fantastic.”
Chapter Four: Ancient Inheritances
* * *
“Okay!” Zander said, standing up. “So, let’s forage for supplies. Rocktooth will stand guard.”
“I’ll help,” Celeste said, unexpectedly graceful in her ugly gray uniform. “What are we looking for?”
“Anything that looks ancient and useful. Medical supplies, machinery, inheritances.” Zander replied, not noticing that Celeste seemed a little irritated by the vagueness of the answer.
“You said that before,” she said, brow furrowed. “But what is an inheritance? I’m pretty sure we have very different definitions for that word.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “How to best explain it? It’s bits of paper bound together with this sort of glossy parts. Sometimes it’s not glossy at all, but more leathery. There’s writing in it, sometimes pictures. Some of them are useful, and some of them are just stories. We just try to collect them in case there’s good information in there, although there are a lot of repeats and sometimes it's hard to understand the words within them.”
“You mean a book?” she said. “That’s what we called them. Your inheritances sound exactly like books.”
“Perhaps,” Zander replied as he rooted through a pile of ancient scalpels and other surgical gear. “You’d have to point it out to me to be sure. If I find an inheritance, I’ll show you, and you can confirm with me if it’s the same thing.”
Celeste started going through the rest of the lockers and changed the subject. “What’s your village like? Are we close by? Is it like this?”
"No, it’s nice. It really is. Pretty too, but its not close by at all. It’s about four days’ walk from here, in the woods. We try to stay away from the cities where the Draugr are. They like ruins, and they congregate in the darkness. It’s rare that we see them in the forest, and it’s easy for our defenders to dispatch them when they’re out in the open. The ones who wander don’t travel in packs, so there are fewer to deal with at a time.”
Celeste paused and responded, “I grew up in Atlanta. Georgia peach born and raised. I never really left the city. Guess I still haven’t. We were trying to get to Key West—thought the bridge might be easy to defend. Does it still exist?”
“No. It’s underwater now. I think it was always below sea level. It went under pretty quickly after the Harrowing. Last I heard, some kind of behemoth had settled there and made it his lair.” Zander replied thinking of the aged map he had studied of the area back at his village.
“I’d love to go and see it if we can safely. It can't be too hard to get down there." she replied absentmindedly as thoughts of the way the world used to be weighed heavily on her mind.
Zander shrugged. “We can go if salvage takes us all the way down there. The behemoth I think is seasonal, so long as it’s not in the area, it should be safe. It might be pretty picked over, though. Or, if you want, you should go there after your contract with me ends if we find a way to sever our connection without killing you. It’s a long journey on foot, but with your frost magic, you should be able to defend yourself.”
He pulled open a drawer and discovered an ancient medical kit. The red and white cross had faded but still showed. “This is still good,” he said. “Valuable. Elves aren’t so different for humans. We can use this.”
Opening the kit up, he took inventory. There was two syringes, bandages of various sizes, a pair of scissors, a pair of tweezers, gloves, antiseptic wipes, and a tourniquet.
“Do you know these?” he said, holding a wipe up to Celeste’s face. “You can clean a wound with it and it won’t get infected. They’re really useful, if you can find them. There’s a magical way, but it’s draining.”
“This building is from my period, remember?” Celeste said, finishing her fruitless search of the lockers. “It’s all pre-Harrowing technology. I’ve seen all of that.”
“Right, right—well, you haven’t seen this. I know this one’s our invention, because it’s got magic to it.” Zander responded.
He held up his right hand to reveal a thick silver ring on his middle finger. “It’s a [Spatial Ring]. It’s basically a magical storage space. It’s linked to a pocket in space-time that can hold gear. Easy to store, easy to retrieve. Watch!”
Zander twisted the ring, and it glowed a vivid gold. A beam of light shot from the ring to envelop the medical kit, and it evaporated into thin air in front of their eyes. When the light died down, the table was empty.
“Wow! Ok, that was cool.” Celeste said, clapping her hands in amusement. “Where’d it go? You can get it back right??”
“Yes, I can. Like I said, it went into a space-time pocket dimension. I don’t have to carry any of the weight, either. Although it has limited capacity. It beats actually carrying this stuff. This one can only handle about 500 pounds of stuff before it can’t hold anymore. I can get you one at some point, if we get back to my village in one piece.” Zander promised.
“Only 500 pounds? That’s wow. You know what, I’d love that. I’d love to have one, that sounds like it would make life a lot of easier out here,” she responded with a smile.
Enough flirting, Rocktooth said. Let’s get out of here. I don’t like this Hnology building. You can go back to whatever this is once you’re in the safety of the village.
“I agree,” Zander replied. “It’s creepy in here. And who knows where the rest of the Monsters of the Dark might be.”
Celeste shivered, remembering the disgusting sounds of the creatur
es’ footsteps on stone. She didn’t want to encounter them again. Even with her newfound power.
They retraced their steps through the building, as they went, they made sure to keep a sharp lookout for more Draugr. They saw none. Perhaps their fight had driven the rest of the monsters further down into the darkness. Celeste was very quiet as they passed through the ruined halls full of debris.
“I remember this building when it was new, I think I was 9 when they finished construction. My friend worked here when he got older,” she said once in a low voice, looking as though she was about to cry. Zander’s heart broke for her, but he didn’t push. He knew it must be difficult to wake up to find her home city a barren ruin, and it was only about to get worse. Somebody she cared about?
Outside of the ancient building, they blinked in the bright Arcadia sunlight. Rocktooth sighed with satisfaction as Zander touched the golem’s core and the summon grew back to his normal size. Celeste gasped up at him, looking breathless.
“If you’re nice, he’ll let you ride on his shoulder,” Zander said. “He rarely ever does it with me, but he might for a lady.”
Rocktooth politely shook his head to indicate a sharp no. I’m a guardian from the Nether. Not a horse.
“Where are we going?” Celeste said. “Morningside? Decatur? Heading south toward LaGrange?”
Zander looked back at her blankly. “What are those? I’ve never heard of them.”
“Parts of Atlanta. Rich ones. At least they used to be. Well, not LaGrange." Celeste explained. "Anyways, you might get good artifacts there.”
His jaw dropped. “Why didn’t I think of this already! You know Arcadia. You grew up here! This is perfect! Where should we go? My people like old technological things—machines that we can take apart and reassemble. With you by my side, we can scavenge only the good stuff.”
Celeste stopped to think from a minute. “Ok, I’ve got it. Let’s go downtown, then. We can go toward some of the biotech offices inside the skyscrapers. I bet there’s something you’ll like there.
“The tall buildings in there?” Zander shivered. “You’re sure there’ll be good artifacts in there? They’re almost certainly crawling with Draugr.”
“I’m almost certain those are the buildings. But I’m not sure about them being full of Draugr. You’re the expert on that, I’ll have to take your word for it.” she countered.
Her idea isn’t terrible. We can go that way, Rocktooth said sensibly. It might be worth the effort. You’ve a summon and a minion now, Zander. We should be able to keep you safer.
Zander sighted the sun. “We’ve still got a few hours until sunset. We should make sure to find shelter before it gets dark. The Draugr like to roam at night, and they’re aggressive when they’re out of their Harrows. So long as we’re quiet once night comes, we should be ok.”
They moved through the desolate city, stepping lightly over the piles of debris that filled the streets. Celeste looked stunned. She pointed out several buildings she recognized as they passed them. Most of them were total ruins, shadows of what they must once have been.
They passed rusted cars with deformed glass shards all around. Celeste recoiled after seeing some of the bleached skeletons still trapped within. Whenever she went to say something, Zander raised a finger to his mouth and shook his head. Not now.
After a while they passed a slow moving Draugr on the street, near what appeared to be the ruins of an old industrial park. Celeste tensed. Zander put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“The ones that come out in the daytime aren’t as dangerous,” he said. “They’re sick or injured. I’m not sure why, maybe the other Draugr attack them. A normal Draugr hates the sunlight—that’s why they live in the ancient buildings and the dark and only come out on the streets at night. If we stay clear of this one, it’ll leave us alone.”
Celeste looked uncertain, but she relaxed as they moved past the undead monster. It was clearly unwell. Its rotten skin was falling off it in strips, and the Draugr had started to bash its head over and over against a brick wall. It took no notice of them at all.
“See?” Zander said, still touching Celeste’s shoulder to get him moving. “Harmless.”
Celeste shuddered as she looked at the Draugr. She turned toward him, eyes dancing. “Must be a Necromancer thing.”
“No,” Zander corrected “Everyone knows that about Draugr. Safer in the daylight.”
She laughed, and he looked at Rocktooth in confusion.
Rocktooth shrugged. Don’t ask me. I didn't invite her. This is your problem. You can always mute your connection with her like I did if it irritates you.
Toward late afternoon, they arrived at a complex of tall brick buildings. Massive rusted letters at the top spelled out “Super Market Vendors” in corrugated steel.
“Oh!” Celeste said. “I totally forgot about this place. We should stop here. It’s were a big sort of indie market was. It’s huge and full of stores. You’ll love it.”
“Do you think we’ll find artifacts?” Zander asked.
“I’m not sure. Probably not anything medical or mechanical. I’m sure it was looted pretty badly when everything went down, it was really popular. We used to go for the food hall on the first floor, which isn’t useful to us. But one of my favorite bookstores is here, in the back. Ancient inheritances!” She responded cheerfully.
Zander eyed the closest building. It was several stories tall, with large panel windows. Most of the glass in the windows was broken, and the metal was rusted and twisted into ominous shapes. There was light inside the complex, though. That made it a bad home for Draugr, and a good place to salvage.
“Where are the inheritances mostly likely to be location?” he asked as he looked up at the windows. I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.
“The store are around back. We don’t even have to go inside the main building at all. There’s a smaller court behind it where the gift stores are.” Celeste explained.
Zander didn’t fully understand what a “Gift Store” was, but he followed Celeste as she led the way. Rocktooth followed behind, his stone feet crunching against the broken red brick of the courtyard.
“We’ll have to search a bit I’m sure to find some good scavenge items,” he said, before reaching down to grab an inheritance to show it to Celeste. It was rectangular shaped and brittle. The words “The Great” could still be seen why the rest had faded. “The inheritances that’ve been sitting out for a while are usually unreadable. Remember, they’ve been here for centuries. Inside is good, and under something else that would have protected it is the best of all.”
The store looked like a whirlwind had passed through it. Inheritances were scattered all over the ground outside, and several of the shelves had been smashed against the walls, as if something had deliberately tried to destroy all the inheritances that had been on the shelf. Shame. Zander walked over and picked one up. Rotten.
“Alright. I got it. Yeah, Those are books.” Celeste nodded and headed into the store. Rocktooth planted itself outside.
You guys look like you’re fine and can handle all of that. I don’t feel like shrinking any more today to accommodate you small people, the golem said with a edge of complaint. I’ll stand guard out here. Try not to die in there.
Chapter Five: The Waiting Slime
* * *
Notification: Now Entering “The Ancient Ruins – Yaldren’s Book Store”
Details: Once a place of entertainment, this ruin contains within tomes of knowledge from the world before.
When he entered the store, Celeste motioned for him to come over and held up a book of fairy tales excitedly for him to inspect.
“It’s still good!” she said. “That’s amazing! Five hundred years later! Sure, some of the pages are a little warped, but it’s all readable. I think you'd like one of these, it’s about a golem named Pinocchio who wished he was real." Rocktooth would hate that, it’s perfect.
“We've got room for it.” Zande
r said, heart swelling with pride. “I mostly look out for manuals if you can help me with that, medical instruction books, that kind of thing—but stories always sell well. Especially for children. The manuals do best though."
"Manuals? I think I can point If we can find instant meal recipes or find the diet section there's all sorts of manuals for secret holistic techniques of my... people. It’s stupid, but those might be what your wanting," she said with a laugh.
They kept digging through the rubble and the broken shelves, looking for anything useful. Most of the store’s wares were long-rotted garbage, but it wasn’t a complete loss. They found enough in the debris for Zander to consider the raid a success.
Celeste found four more books in the ruins to be pawned later at the village, "Primally Keto", "Detoxify Your Life", "Crock Pot Meal Recipes", and "42 Natural Cures Instead of Surgery."
As for Zander, he found an anatomy book, a history of human society in the hundred years before the Harrowing and (best of all) an atlas of old maps that would be useful when planning future missions. He dropped them all into his [Spatial Ring].
“Time to move on,” he said, shouldering his pack. “We still need to find a place to rest for the night. I don’t think we can stay here. This area is too exposed and full of items that might draw attention. We don’t have much light left.”
Speaking of attention, Rocktooth let them know through their link from outside. We’ve got trouble. Or rather, you have trouble.
Zander walked over to the opening and peered outside. Rocktooth pointed. Over there. An Ancient Slime had appeared in the courtyard. Its massive grey blob like self was rooting around in the garbage.
“Do you think it knows we’re here?” Zander asked as Celeste approached him from behind and looked out too.
Unclear. But likely. You two have not been exactly subtle. Your search has been very noisy. I’d have warned you, but what do I know about subtilty?