“Hah, looks like my uncle’s 40th birthday party,” Trig said as he pointed to the great tree in the center that had been charred to a crisp. The entire great tree had shriveled up, having transformed from a beautiful red tree reaching high into the sky to a thin, black twig that wouldn’t support even a bird’s nest.
On the ground were thousands of pools of murky green liquid and burn marks. Deep circles were scorched into the dirt, remaining as the only testament that this place had ever been a hatchery for monstrosities.
“Looks like the darkness was the only thing keeping this place intact,” I said, running my hand across the ground. The scorch marks were dry as if the flame had come and gone in an instant, a heat so intense it almost perfectly annihilated all life in the area. “Grab some of the liquid and put it in a bottle,” I said. “Maybe the nerds back in the Breach will learn something interesting from it.”
“Ew, no, you’re the fearless leader,” Trig said. “You touch the gross green liquid. I’ll uh, watch for monsters.”
Chapter 46
The journey home was long and exhausting. The Shadewood villagers were unaccustomed to the concept of travel and they could not handle walking very far without the need for constant breaks. Fortunately, the Overseer’s new pod was more than capable of standing guard, shocking the hell out of any monster that came remotely close to us. Their bursts weren’t lethal enough to kill anything, but it caused enough of an annoyance to discourage anything else from getting nearby.
Brimley ultimately decided upon staying in his shop. The sudden influx of people had soured him greatly, for he had enjoyed the peace and quiet of living in the mountains. Turns out that when you’re alone for so long, you start to relish it far more than other people. It was a shame to leave him behind, but we rewarded him with a few monster carcasses as a way to thank him for being so hospitable. And of course, I let him know that I’d be returning soon, as I was certainly not about to leave that city to the north unexplored. Now that the passage was clear and the Shadewood was safe to move through, the journey to this great city would only be a few weeks at the most.
I wish that I could say our journey home was free of casualties. But that was simply not the case. I don’t know if I had ever believed truly that we’d get home without losing a few. Out of the ninety people in the village, we lost five. Three to sickness and two to accidents. They had been unaccustomed to the hills and while many fell down, much to the laughter of their compatriots, two who had been in sore shape were greatly injured from the falls.
These losses did not seem to bother the Shadewood people, however. 41 kept their spirits high and soldiered them on, taking on the de facto role of the village elder. She used her relationship with Trig as a means of control, often threatening his action should they fail to heed her words. How strange to see my friend become a boogeyman to whip people into line, but above the surface, discipline was necessary for survival.
Halfway home, we met up with the hunter group who had been dispatched to escort us. They had hit an unfortunate snag on the road and their numbers were decimated. In a way, our group escorted them back more than they escorted us. But it was nice to see some familiar faces and soon enough, spirits were lifted once more. We returned to Hunter’s Hope within the month and were promptly put through our decompression program. Well, everyone except for me.
While I would have loved the opportunity to become a civilian again, get out of my armor and just rest in my husband’s arms for the next hundred years or so, there was still the matter of handling the Masara to attend to. And that matter could not wait.
The Vessel and I arrived to the outer walls of Hunter’s Hope, where the other Masara had been staying, gathered up in a strange crystalline box they called a Hibernarium. This large blue box was where they would bunch themselves up at night and apparently sleep for days at a time, emerging only when they had some kind of mission.
But now that the Vessel had arrived, all of the Masara were assembled. I tried to speak to Brain a few times, but he ignored me, now fully in line with the rest of his people. The Overseer had asserted full control over them, and the pod was unified once more. Part of me felt kind of sad; I had liked Brain and his constant rambling observations. On the other hand, I was excited to hear what kind of secrets they would reveal to us.
The memory fusion process was relatively quick. The Overseer entered the Hibernarium for an hour, then returned, its body much larger than before.
This is much better, it said to me, voice so strong that it echoed in my mind. I feel whole once more. And many secrets have been revealed. This planet is dead. There is no more of a purpose for us to be here.
“Dead?” I repeated. “What do you mean?”
We were searching for safe harbor. I have collected hundreds of years of data. And sifting through that data, I find that the effort to reform this place to keep us safe and secure would be too much. We would all die through the process.
I sighed at that. “It took you hundreds of years to learn that? I could have told you that day one of meeting
