System Break

We disembarked on the familiar docks of Dawnharbour. I looked longingly down the pier to where my boat was being built. 

My heart beat a little faster - this was the last place I visited before I died and the first when I came back. The sounds of kids playing and hawkers selling their wares met my ears and I stifled a smile.

They were alive at least; the Titan could have easily trashed the whole place. I looked up and down, there were no boats and fewer people, but it was still bustling.

"We got not money," Stonk said. "So no whores. Not that I'd touch one of these fish girls anyway."

He wouldn't say that if he saw Kysandre, but then she wouldn't have him in a fit. 

"We leaving with the rest? We don't want to make the crossing alone."

"I think we could make it alone. Maybe invite one other to come with us."

He peered at me. "Are you thinking to pocket some cores again? Will you ever learn? They'll expect it if we come in separate."

"We can pay enough so they don't know. You want to get ahead don't you?"

"What will we kill with two or three of us? And I really don't trust anyone else, maybe Salamander but he could be ratting us out. Someone did."

"Ask him. If its just three of us - we'll know if he rats on us," I said.

Stonk pursed his lips. "True." He peered at me.

Shit. Even if I showed a little cunning it made him curious. I walked towards the city and climbed the stairs. A haze hung over the buildings and I couldn't see much. 

"What do you think happened here?" Stonk asked.

"You haven't heard anything?" I looked back to check on Salamander and he was climbing the steps behind us.

"Nope," Stonk said. "Should I?"

I had no idea when he died and if news of the Titan would have reached Loctris. "Salamander," I called and motioned for him to join us.

He ran up the last few steps and we moved out of the thoroughfare. I ignored Stonk's question and changed the subject. "Will you join us on the trip back? We want to work on our skills and do a little hunting."

He looked at Stonk then back to me. "Just three of us? With no skills?"

I nodded and grinned. "We'll be fine. We can run from anything too big; it will only eat the slowest." It occurred to me if one of them were eaten then they might die permanently. Junior was unaware of that piece of information and so were they.

"Reset sucks ass," Salamander said. "I don't want to die again."

Stonk was looking around the city. "Something massive happened here. Look at the buildings."

I noticed the Qizhu Scholar out of the corner of my eye. He was still here. I frowned and my mind wandered. He talked me into taking on the Titan, I died, and he didn't let on how tough it was. I was fine with that. But he was hiding on the boat and asking for passage to the island. Why was he suddenly walking around out in the open now?

They noticed me peering at him.

"Get a load of the blue guy," Stonk said.

"We've seen Qizhu before," Salamander said unimpressed.

"Yeah but look how he's dressed. He's like a noble or something."

Salamander opened his sack. "We've got enough food and water for a few days at most. We should get going."

"We just need one core, and we can come back here and trade for anything we need," I said.

"We're back for five minutes and you're already scheming about breaking guild rules."

"We can still pay our share," I said.

They stared at me. "No, we have to hand in all cores."

I blundered so I had to bluster my way through. "Yeah, and it's the stupidest system. We should just pay half at most to encourage us to get more. So dumb. What are we fucking communists?"

"Slaves," Stonk said and chuckled dryly.

Salamander grinned and said, "Sex slaves."

I peered at him. "And how many times have you had sex with her?"

He held up his hands in surrender. "Get off, I'm working on it. She was all over me the last time I deposited cores. She smiled and told me how happy she was. I'm so close."

I stared at the stupid simp with my mouth open. Could these guys hear themselves? I couldn't help myself and I consoled myself with the fact that Junior was a smart ass. "You've got to me joking me. Women don't respond to that weak ass shit. You need to man up Salamander."

They both stared at me.

I glared at Stonk. "Yeah that hoe and her drugs in Wichita were great. Opened my eyes to a lot of shit." I started walking towards the outer wall, I motioned without looking back. "Let's go."

They stared me and then each other. Stonk shrugged. They ran and caught me up.

We walked in silence and the closer we got to the wall the more damage we saw. The northern half of the city was demolished. I don't know what happened to the Titan maybe it got bored and left.

"Fuck," Stonk said.

"Shit," Salamander said. They both gawked at the devastation. I expected to see worse. 

I stomped because I was angry, and I wasn't role playing. How these guys were rich and yet massive suck-ups boggled my mind. I wished I was stronger because I would run off alone. I could hunt down the Qizhu Scholar and get some answers from him. But he would have to wait.

The people themselves walked around in a daze. They were hunched over and depressed. When we reached the wall I was surprised to see it wasn't manned. There was not a guard in site. Although it was probably the right thing to do because half the wall was demolished.

"What happened do you think?" Stonk said.

Salamander shook his head in disbelief. "Ask someone."

"They don't look like they're in a talkative mood," I said. I looked up at the sky and it was still darkened with purple clouds, but there were gaps where the sun shone through.

I noticed a large core on the other side of the wall, and it approached us quickly. I pushed the two out of the way as a man in a bluecloak streaked past. He was running incredibly quickly.

I saw his grey hair and his belt was stacked with throwing knives. It was Sigwurd. "Fucking Sigwurd's alive," I said, and I looked back at my two companions.

Stonk was staring at me with his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Who're you?"

"Gunt," I said.

He shook his head. "No. One thing after another. You're not this smart, you adore the Red Queen and would lick the ground she walks on. And now this. You knew he was coming somehow and pushed us out of the way. Why would be not be alive? He's the head protector."

I peered at Salamander who moved his hand to his hilt after hearing Stonk's words.

I raised my hands. "You got me," I said, and they relaxed slightly at the sight of my surrender. Stonk was drawing his sword when my fist flew, and my qi flowed.

I wasn't going to use some lame ass qi-strike from the UI. My fist ploughed into his nose and my qi pushed it up into his skull. He was dead on his feet.

Salamander was in shock. He hadn't moved an inch. I knew where his core was, and my hand flew at it with my fingers spread. He only wore a shirt with his soft skin beneath and it wasn't enough resistance to stop a simple strike. As my qi stretched out from my fingers it opened his gut and I reached for his core pushing past his internal organs.

I had little choice. Like the Titan before me I ate their cores as they lay there dying. I would have preferred to spend them for supplies, but these bastards had to die. I felt a twinge of sadness for Stonk, but it quickly passed. He was after all a rich kid who'd done nothing to earn his wealth. 

Some of Jake's conviction had stuck and was reinforced with how the world looked. But even so - Stonk and Salamander had to die, otherwise they would expose me. And my mission was far more important than their lives. 

I was just as selfish as them but far more driven. I picked up their sacks and swords, wiped my bloody hands on their shirts, then left them where they lay.

I walked through the opening in the wall without looking back.