With the ceremony concluded, the Torans saluted us then melted back into the ruins, no more pomp and ceremony, just a simple turn away and gone.

  It was surreal, watching them and their alien ways. They’d just declared us King and Queen over a place of the ancients, and then gone off as if that was that and everything else would just fall into place. Maybe it would, but how? And when?

  We both must have stood and stared for quite a while, because it took Sir Alain on the comms to get us moving again, his voice crackling over the speakers to reach through our mental fogs.

  “You two alright down there? Everything looks set to me. Maybe we start off and get back home? Think about all this ‘Merica stuff another time?”

  I took a deep breath, tugging at my sash to feel its reality before looking over at Elli and seeing the starry gleam in her eyes.

  “That was amazing!” she gushed. “I knew that I’d be going on an adventure when we left the city, Al. But never did I think I’d end up becoming a queen, even less to an alien species!”

  I chuckled, casting my eyes back to where the Toran Gharuk-Tala had disappeared.

  “I can’t imagine what the world of the ancients was like, that we all had to fight to the end of civilization.”

  “It’s sad now that I think about to what kind of ape-like society we lost,” CD said over the TUNI. “Real, real sad.”

  We climbed into the cockpit of the Cataphract, the mech’s hydraulics burbling to life as we prepared for the journey back to Alnda. The knight auxiliaries piloted their own Toxotais in a protective formation around us, weaving between buildings and around shattered neighborhoods as we worked our way through Chic-a-go. Occasionally the attunement formed its bond with our minds, and we would see the gathering mobs of mutes and strange creatures watching us from their homes and places of refuge.

  I thought of the Torans, and wondered if there were tribes of humans living in that mess. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were. Apparently both the humans and their ancient enemies were much more resilient than anyone had given them credit for.

  For the first hour, the journey was quiet. An eerie fog rose up from the wet ground and the waters of the city, making our occasional glimpses thick and heavy, almost opaque in the vision they offered. It had a contemplative effect on us all, no words were spoken as we all lost ourselves in thoughts of what we’d experienced and what the future might hold.

  It wasn’t until the silence was finally broken by CD, yet again, as he spoke over the TUNI.

  “BANANAS!” CD called, louder than ever before, and the two of us startled out of our reverie with a pinwheeling slip in our seats. Luckily, Sir Alain didn’t notice, lost entirely in attunement.

  “Now that I have your attention, Alaric, Elli, listen.”

  I exchanged a glance with Elli before answering in a whisper.

  “We’re here, you tyrant. There’s no need to yell.”

  “But I had to.”

  “No, you did not. Now what do you want?”

  “Well, I’ve been patient, but now that you’re safely out of that facility, it’s time to discuss your next assignment,” CD said as if he hadn’t just almost burst our eardrums. His tone made it clear that this wasn’t a request. “The battlefield salvage mission we discussed earlier—do you remember?”

  Elli nodded, more to herself than anyone else.

  “Yeah, we remember. But is now really the best time to talk about it? We’re still a few days out.”

  “Precisely why now is the perfect time,” CD shot back. “You’re heading back to the city with your heads full of ancient prophecies and primitive reptilian worshippers. It’s important to stay focused on what really matters—acquiring technology and resources that can actually benefit us.”

  I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck.

  “The base seemed full of that, but I get your meaning. Alright, CD. What’s the deal with this battlefield? Where is it, and what are we looking for?”

  “The battlefield is located in a region not far from the city,” CD explained. “Extensive scanning shows large craters and scarring, as well as a great number of metallic hulks and artifacts in the deeper layers of soil. In more advanced times I would call for a full archaeological dig, there is so much hidden below the surface. There’s a good chance that a great deal of functional old tech weapons, and other valuable materials are still buried there, preserved by the mud.”

  Elli frowned, leaning forward as she listened.

  “If it’s such a treasure trove, why hasn’t anyone else picked it clean by now?”

  “Apes are dumb and often look up when they should be looking down. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if your commanding elite know and simply light-harvest the site, keeping its existence a secret,” CD replied, his tone matter-of-fact. “Additionally, though my scans beneath the surface aren’t as thorough as I would prefer, I can tell that there is also a great deal of broken tech and junked mech and vehicle systems. It might be that the site was given up on after a great number of bad finds. However, you have something other scavengers don’t—you have me. With my guidance, you can navigate the battlefield and come away with a haul that will make this little detour to the facility look like child’s play.”

  I glanced at Elli, who was biting her lip in thought.

  “This won’t be a quest. We won’t have the legal allowance to leave the city,” I said slowly.

  “As if you would have had such allowance before,” CD said snidely, a hint of satisfaction in his voice. “I have been planning this during your simian vacation to your routes, and have analyzed the perfect means of egress from the city and to your destination.”

  Elli nodded. “A king and queen are going to need their treasures, Al. We’ll hop the wall, dig up some super loot, and be back in time to watch the sun rise.”

  “Then we are agreed. I will have our mission ready on your return and will provide the information . . . after a good solar recharging.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The connection went silent, leaving Elli and me alone with our thoughts once more. Another snatch of attunement showed us the city beginning to thin, and the Wilds opening up before us.

  The attunement fell apart, and I found myself looking at Elli, her eyes locked with mine. She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “This just keeps getting more complicated, doesn’t it?”

  I smiled. “Yeah, it does. Things have certainly gotten interesting. For the first time in forever, I feel like I can get out of being a serf and actually become something.”

  She frowned, reaching her hands out to grasp my own.

  “You’ve never been nothing, Al.”

  “I guess,” I reluctantly answered, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “I certainly was never a king, or some person of prophecy though.”

  She laughed.

  “Yeah. There is that. I can’t help but feel like this is the beginning of something. Something big. Torans, an ancient old tech base, even the knights and the fact that they aren’t dicks.”

  “Ha! Yeah. I didn’t like Sir Alain when I first met him. Thought he was pulling a fast one on us. I guess the biggies aren’t always so bad.”

  We sat in silence after that, Alain blissfully attuned and entirely unaware of our quiet words. After a time, Elli closed her eyes and fell back in her chair. I watched her sleep, her eyes fluttering slightly in some hopefully pleasant dream.

  If she was right, maybe I could become someone deserving of her. Become something bigger than friends with the occasional night time romp.

  I thought through everything that needed to be done. We’d take it one step at a time. First, we’d get back to Alnda, report to the Scavenger’s Guild, and then charge up CD. Spend a day making something for Scavenger Master Boyerman so he wouldn’t be spying on us from the shadows, then after delivery we could head out and check the battlefield that CD was so interested in.

  It was going to be a lot of work in a short time, but I could see it all in my mind. Piece of cake, really. And if Goddess Luck kept falling our way, I’d be that much closer to having a surname.

  Elli smiled faintly in her sleep, sliding sideways to lean her head against my shoulder.

  “We’ll do it, Elli. We’ll come out on top,” I murmured, stroking a bit of errant hair behind her ear.

  The journey across the Wilds was more expected this time, but that didn’t dampen its wonder. Between our night camps, and snatches of attunement in the various mechs, we bathed in the wonder of it all.

  On the first day, we passed through a small ruined town. The remains of homes and shops were little more than skeletons, the brick and wood long since crumbled, leaving behind only twisted metal and the occasional scratched and faded sign. The streets were cracked and broken, shards of black tar peeking out from the soil, mostly overrun by tall grass and even the occasional tree. Where there were houses, the yards of the residences were like miniature forests, groves of pine, oka, and birch that bristled with squirrel and birdlife.

  In one section of the small community, homes still stood, and the yards were more bare and better attended. But they also showed signs of wear and neglect, and I wondered how long ago this small pocket of humanity had lasted before finally giving in to the pressures of the Wilds around them.

  Had they kept up their old tech? What kind of society had they held? The base in Chic-a-go had opened my eyes to the world, and I realized that the so-called barren savage lands were almost certainly teeming with kingdoms and cultures of their own. Part of me wanted to stop and see who these people had been, and get a feel for when they had gone.

  “Strange, isn’t it?” Elli asked softly, her voice barely audible over the rolling stomp of the Cataphract. “To think that people had stayed alive here, had families and lives past the times of reckoning. And now . . . they’re just gone.”

  I nodded, pursing my lips.

  “It’s like walking through a memory. Everything’s still here, but it’s all faded. Like how a dream is so vivid and alive and real when you’re going through it, but then it fades and crumbles when you wake up. Just bits and pieces.”

  Sir Alain piped up from the command seat, surprising us after such a long silence.

  “I’ve seen many places like this in my travels. Each one has a story, a life that’s been lost to time. It makes you wonder what our cities will look like a hundred years from now. I know I’ve seen enough from our leaders to know we aren’t built to last forever.”

  The town passed behind us, swallowed by the Wilds as we proceeded along our path. The next day brought past an old brick country house, still standing proudly in the middle of an overgrown field of wild corn and other vegetable luxuries. I wondered at the size of it and the field, imagining what title of noble must have held such an impressive estate.

  As we reached the edge of the massively large field, we came across a herd of the strangest cows I’d ever seen. Their forms were grotesque, their bodies overgrown with thick, knotted fur, some patches of skin showing strange, gnarled clumps of thick bonelike armoring. Their eyes glowed with a sickly yellow light, and while their movements were slow and lethargic, I couldn’t help but imagine they’d be as deadly and fast as rad wolves if they got into a fight.

  After all, if they couldn’t hold their own, they wouldn’t still be here. Like those people in the town we’d passed.

  “Armored cows,” I whispered. “Battle cows. Now that’s a strange sight.”

  “Not as strange as seeing you primitives survive everything this world has thrown at you,” CD chided, unable to hold back from throwing a jab my way.

  As we continued our trek, we crossed a long field of grass that stretched out as far as the eye could see, and movement on the horizon. At first, it was just a blur, almost like a hot summer mirage, but as we drew closer, the figures became clear—a nomadic group of riders, tearing across the ground at a gallop.

  They were a motley crew, a mixture of green-skinned mutants and humans, all mounted on horses that seemed just as wild and untamed as their riders. The humans wore tattered cloaks and rough leathers, their faces hidden beneath hoods, while the mutants were bare-chested, their green skin glistening in the sunlight. They moved as one, their horses galloping in unison, and as we passed them, all of them stuck out one hand with a middle-finger in apparent greeting.

  “Look at them,” Elli whispered, awe in her voice. “They’re like something out of an old story.”

  “Humans and mutants, together,” I replied, watching the riders with a hint of curiosity. “It makes me wonder why we’re all just humans. Was there more fighting? Were there more wars?”

  Sir Eadric laughed from the command chair.

  “There’s a reason the Church doesn’t like such questions. Just let it lie, and accept that it is. That’s what I do. Some people a long time ago found a way to live out here, in the Wilds. They’re not just surviving—they’re thriving.”

  “Like Wildmen,” Elli said, wide-eyed. “They raid and pillage, but not every day or even every year. They are actually living out here.”

  The riders passed us by without incident, veering away from us and they continued on their way, disappearing into the distance.

  The final day of our journey brought us closer to Alnda, the walls looming in the distance. The walls were old and mid tech, mostly, some of them crumbling, and I was surprised at how primitive it all looked to me now. CD was an asshole, but I understood why he called us apes, simians, and tribesmen. Alnda was not an impressive sight.

  As the sun began to dip below the horizon, casting long shadows across the land, we approached the gates of Alnda. The knights dismounted from their mechs, stretching their limbs and exchanging weary but satisfied looks. The journey had been long, but it had also been rewarding, promising all of us something better than the lives we lived.

  Sir Alain turned to us, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

  “Well, we made it back in one piece. Despite everything.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, returning his smile. “It’s been… something else. I think we’ll all need some time to process everything. And the fact that we didn’t run into any giant monsters is appreciated.”

  Elli nodded, her eyes fixed on the setting sun.

  “We’ll be back out there together soon. Some new Guild quest. We can use it to check in on ‘Merica some more.”

  “Exactly,” Sir Eadric nodded. “Remember, mums the word. We just let the guild know enough that we get sent out there again. Don’t want to go on a quest in the opposite direction after all.”

  We all stood there for a moment, the sun casting its final rays across the landscape, bathing us in a warm, golden light.

  “Until next time, then,” Sir Oswald said. “I’m looking forward to our next adventure.”

  “As am I,” Sir Alain agreed.

  We exchanged farewells, our voices mingling with the soft rustle of the wind and the distant sounds of the city. As we walked through the gates, the sun finally dipped below the horizon, leaving the Wilds in darkness behind us.

  I turned to Elli, who grinned.

  “So I guess it’s time for bed,” she said coyly, lightly biting her lip, her heavy pack of goods weighing down her body but apparently not her libido. “Early to bed, early to rise and all that. Wanna be well-rested for gear work tomorrow.

  “I bet,” I chuckled. “Yeah, let’s get some rest.”

  We quickened our pace through the city streets and were home in record time.