The Apocalypse is a Side Quest: Book Three, page 3
“They managed to preserve their government?”
“The orcs did. They were already ruled by the strongest and operated off a decentralized command structure, so when he came down here, he just became even stronger. The elves, on the other hand… It was rocky, apparently. But Emi was able to serve as a figurehead to unite them.”
Nathan filed the information away in the back of his mind. “But what about you? What have you been up to, Mara?”
Mara shrugged. “Just surviving day to day. I’ve got my hands on some new weapons.”
There was an eerie glint in her eyes as she said that. Nathan wasn’t quite sure he liked it.
“Anyway,” Mara continued. “I noticed you’re entirely different. For one, you’ve got two arms again! And one of them is a plant!”
“Oh, yeah.” Nathan rolled up his sleeve, revealing his left arm. “Pretty weird, right?”
Lily seemed to blink awake at Nathan’s movements—as much as a flower could blink.
“Wait, how long has it been like that?” Chad asked.
“Uh, a while. Since you met me.”
Chad stared at Nathan incredulously. “You mean the entire time we were together on the last circle, you had a weird magic plant arm, and you didn’t bother to tell me?”
Nathan raised a finger and opened his mouth to respond—then stopped. Come to think of it, he had never mentioned it to Chad.
The half-black, half-white chimera rose twitched.
Nathan hesitated. “Uh, maybe this isn’t the right time to—”
“Who are you two?” Lily said.
She didn’t recognize them? She must’ve been half-asleep or something.
Both Mara and Chad squinted at the flower.
“I think I’m starting to hear voices,” Chad said.
“I always hear voices, but this one sounds unfamiliar,” Mara responded.
Suddenly, Lily stood on end. “Danger!” she shouted.
Nathan’s blood chilled.
“No, no, no, they’re not enemies, Lily, it’s just my friends–!”
Vines erupted forward and smashed into Chad and Mara, sending them both flying off the rapidly speeding raft. Nathan winced as they hit the water.
Once they were back on the raft, Nathan stayed still, not daring to move again. He explained the situation as best he could, with Chad and Mara occasionally interjecting with questions. By the end, Chad was pinching the bridge of his nose.
“You seriously didn’t think to tell me anything?” Chad said. “Like, anything at all?”
Nathan winced. “In my defense, it wasn’t on purpose. It just never came up.”
“And what about the whole ‘brother-in-law’ thing?” Mara said.
The mood instantly dropped. Nathan averted his eyes while Chad frowned sharply.
“Though I’m not a fan of how Mara put it,” Chad said, glancing at her. “She has a point. When were you going to tell me?”
“It’s… Look, it’s a sore spot, okay?”
“I get that, but—dude. We’re friends. I just wish you trusted me a bit more.”
Nathan looked away.
The three sat in awkward silence for several minutes.
“Is this a good time to mention that my sister might not be dead?” Nathan said.
Chad blinked slowly. “Sorry, what?”
“Well, at first we thought she was dead, but new evidence came up, and now we’re unsure.”
“What?”
“Also, she might be some kind of vigilante fighting against the Harrowed Hand and following them around from circle to circle.”
“Huh?”
Mara gasped. “While I was fighting them before you showed up, they mentioned something interesting.”
“What do you mean?” Nathan asked.
“Turns out we’re not the only ones trying to fight against the Harrowed Hand.”
“I mean, now apparently Nathan is leading some kind of mini-nation against them,” Chad muttered.
Mara squinted at him. “Mini-nation?”
Nathan coughed. “Let’s stay on target. What did they say, Mara?”
“Apparently, there’s been a ghost who’s been trailing them ever since the Second Circle. A woman in a mask.”
Chad perked up. “A mask? Like, a gas mask?”
“Yeah! How’d you know?”
“On the last circle, there was a woman who helped me out of a jam.” He glanced at Nathan. “Remember when I told you about that person who saved me from getting mobbed?”
“She was wearing a mask?”
“Yep.”
Nathan’s lips thinned. The description was the same as the woman he’d seen on the last circle.
“If it turns out my sister is actually still alive—and she’s the woman in the mask—I’m going to personally punch her in the face.”
As they headed back to the island, Nathan’s water manipulation propelled the raft forward. He idly noted that it seemed to be moving faster than before, as if powered by a steam engine.
When they arrived, the dockyard was more or less finished. Swarms of people surrounded boat after boat, like worker ants building nests. Mara’s jaw dropped.
“Please tell me you’re gonna put cannons on them.”
As if on cue, the gleaming black metal tip of a cannon emerged from a portal the moment the words left her mouth.
Mara’s eyes sparkled.
“Let’s head back into town,” Nathan said. “I need to make sure everyone’s kept in the loop about what we found—”
A Molotov cocktail flew out of the portal and crashed into the ground. Fire lit up the sand like some twisted demonic summoning ritual.
Nathan stared at the flames.
“That’s not good.”
Chapter Four
Nathan ran into the portal without even waiting for Mara or Chad to catch up. When he came through, his jaw dropped.
To the left, scores of desert people and a handful of Delvers were shouting and screaming. To the right were the mushroom people and the werewolves. In the center, the guard uniforms of Fuge’s men stood firm. Line after line of mushroom men and werewolf soldiers kept the two sides from crashing into each other. Another Molotov cocktail flew into the air, only to be grabbed out of the air by one of the troops.
Behind him, the footsteps of his two companions echoed as Mara and Chad finally caught up.
When Chad saw the chaos, his jaw dropped. “What the fu—”
Mara stared at one of the Molotov cocktails burning a hole in the center of the pavement. “Oh, nice.”
The guard turned and looked at Nathan, his eyes widening.
“My lord! It’s so good to see you,” he said.
“Can you explain what on earth is happening?”
“Ethnic tensions, sir. It seems the humans don’t appreciate having to share space with people who howl at the moon.”
Nathan frowned. “Why was I not informed of this?”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Gius that, sir,” the guard said.
Nathan shook his head and surveyed the crowd. This was a disaster waiting to happen. The Delvers in the group had untold power. Nathan needed to deal with it immediately.
He snapped his fingers, and a lightning bolt cracked into the air above them. The effect was immediate—someone gasped in shock, and several people backed away.
Nathan didn’t even speak. He merely glared at both parties. Awkwardly, they retreated, steadily moving to separate districts.
“You can control lightning now?” Mara asked.
Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s a long story.”
“You say that a lot.”
Nathan let out a long sigh.
“I need to talk with a few people. You two go ahead and… do something. I don’t know.”
Mara shrugged and looked around. “I’m sure I’ll find something to occupy myself with.”
A chill ran down Nathan’s spine at her words, but his thoughts were already racing in too many directions.
Chad clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll go with her and make sure she doesn’t burn down the town.”
Nathan’s lips flickered into a smile. “Thanks.”
With that, the group separated.
Nathan returned to his presidential palace.
And, goodness, did that sound horrible to say in his head. Along the way, as usual, he received muttered sayings and looks of shock and awe. He ignored them all to the best of his ability.
When he opened the door, Gius and the members of his cabinet were all hotly debating.
“Look, that isn’t an option,” Gius said. “It’s clear that these tensions can’t be resolved that easily—”
Vee slammed her papers against the table, and her glasses nearly slipped off her face. “I thought we settled this already! Wasn’t the whole point of holding these elections to prevent this kind of chaos from happening again?”
“Immediately after we finished the election, the desert people were introduced.” Papim’s nun-like robes scraped against the floor as she turned to look at Vee. “They don’t have a say. On top of that, we had a massive population increase. Have you seen the camp outside town? It’s madness.”
Nathan leaned against the side of the doorway entry. Gius looked up and spotted him. He turned pale white, then smashed his walking cane against the tiled floor. The conversation stopped.
Papim looked around in confusion before she spotted Nathan. She winced.
“My lord.”
Nathan nodded stiffly. He walked over to the head of the table and sat down. “Can somebody please brief me on what’s going on, and why I wasn’t told about it?”
For a few long seconds, nobody said anything. Finally, Gius awkwardly opened his mouth.
“So… I suspect you ran into some trouble on your way here?”
“Trouble? There was a riot.”
Gius clicked his tongue. “That’s unfortunate.”
Nathan rubbed his eyes. This was already exhausting just talking about.
“I thought we settled all this already. As noted.”
Gius leaned back in his chair. All at once, he suddenly looked ten times older than Nathan had ever seen.
“We did, Nathan,” Gius said. “For a time, it truly seemed as if things had stabilized. But I’m starting to worry that stuffing people of such wildly different cultures into one location simply isn’t a feasible solution. There are some members of the various species gathered here who can easily cohabitate. But there are some for whom the differences are just too irreconcilable. It doesn’t help that we’ve simply run out of space. Our builders are good, and admittedly, most of the newcomers are only here temporarily—from what I understand, most of them are planning to ’sail into the distant blue.’ But there are plenty who’ve applied for permanent residency. They see this as a way to avoid the apocalypse.”
“Can we build new homes?” Nathan asked.
“That was an option back when we’d added 5 percent or even 10 percent to our total population,” Bricks adjusted the hammer on his toolbelt. “But this is closer to 100 percent. Maybe more. By the time the homes are completed, we might be two circles down.”
Nathan’s headache increased. He groaned into the air.
“And it’s only going to get worse as more people find out about this place, isn’t it?” Nathan said.
“And as the population increases, so does the need for security.”
Nathan’s eyes were drawn to the sword in Fuge’s sheath.
“Not just because of the rowdiness of individuals,” she said. “But also because of potential threats to your power. Subversives, revolutionaries. I’ve been attempting to expand the guard, but I can barely keep up.”
Gius squeezed his hand around his cane. “We’ve taken temporary measures.”
“I’ve opened several of my homes up to allow for additional renters,” Casc said.
“And I allowed it,” Burrau said, nearly snapping a pen he was holding in half. “Which, as you know, was not an easy decision.”
“But these are all temporary solutions,” Gius said. “And again, we simply don’t have the resources to keep up.”
Nathan tapped his fingers against the table. His mind wandered back to the various RTS games he had played. He remembered how, when a colony was becoming too full, the residents would migrate to another town. This would alleviate the pressure on the main town and actually increase the prosperity of the second town.
But where would they find another town…?
Nathan furrowed his eyebrows.
“Fuge, the Harrowed Hands’ towns—how occupied are they likely to be?”
“Obviously, there’s no way of knowing for sure,” Fuge said. “But based on my experience with the strategy they’re employing, they’re only going to station guardsmen to ensure the safe flow of trade and information. They’re outposts. There’s no reason for them to be splitting up their population into multiple towns if they can avoid it.”
Gius looked over at Nathan. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“Decentralization.” Nathan stopped tapping and met Gius’s eyes. “We don’t have the resources to govern effectively? Then let’s promote self-government. Conquer these towns, then let people naturally migrate to the ones where they want to go—where they think they’ll be able to live best with others like them.”
Vee frowned. “That feels a little…”
“Cheap? Like it’s avoiding the real problem?” Nathan shrugged. “I agree. But I don’t see any other solution. We can’t force people to get along. Not without putting a gun to the head of every single frustrated person. And even if that were practical—which it’s not, according to Fuge—I just don’t think that’s the right solution either.”
“This introduces new problems, too,” Gius said sharply. “The farther they are from the center of power, the more tempted they might be to declare outright independence.”
“So?” Nathan said.
“Obviously, it would be a direct attack on our power—”
Nathan frowned. “Why does that matter? Are we really in the business of power for power’s sake?”
Gius froze. His mouth opened briefly, then shut, then opened again.
“…I suppose that’s a fair point,” he said.
Nathan sighed.
“Do we have any objections to this plan?” he asked.
Nobody responded. He turned to Fuge. “Turn up the timetable for preparing the assault. And I want a report on the status of the Harrowed Hands’ towns as quickly as possible.”
Fuge nodded. “Should I also prepare our troops for battle on the seas?”
Nathan raised an eyebrow. “I don’t really see the point of grappling for territory on the circle. Besides, have you seen what’s going on right now? They’re all building ships. We don’t have to do anything—the Delvers who are aligned with us are going to fight that battle for us.”
Fuge nodded. “I’ll focus on continuing to build up our defenses and getting ready for the raids.”
Nathan stood up. “Meeting adjourned.”
At that moment, everyone around the table stood as well. They began shuffling out into the town or into other wings of the building to attend to business. As Gius was leaving, Nathan caught him by the shoulder.
“We need to talk.”
The two were in Nathan’s private office—a room he hadn’t known existed until just now. Stone pillars framed the room. Off to the side, there was a bust of Nathan’s head with a plaque that read THE FISHER KING.
Nathan sat down on a very lush, comfortable chair and crossed his arms. Gius remained standing.
“Are you trying to pull off another coup?”
“Of course not, my lord.”
“Then why did you not inform me about what’s been happening?”
Gius’s lips drew into a thin line. “It was not malicious, my lord. I would think we’ve built up enough trust for you to know that by now.”
Nathan leaned in, a tight frown on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Things only came to a boil due to the sudden influx of Delvers—”
“But they’ve been building up for a while. I picked up that much. Why was I kept out of the loop?”
Gius sighed.
“Because you’re under enough stress as it is.”
“You don’t get to decide that—”
“I’ve been working with you for several months. At this point, Nathan, I think I have a grasp of your character. Yes, I believe you to be a good man. But the reason you flee from power isn’t because of some inherent love of self-government and liberty. It’s because you don’t want the responsibility.”
Nathan’s left eye twitched. “That’s very presumptuous of you.”
“I’ve spoken to your mentor, Bree. She’s informed me of the conversations you had with her. I know about your sister, and I’ve seen the enormous amount of stress you’re under. I believed you weren’t in a fit state to make good decisions. And putting that aside, I thought it was unfair to burden you with this, considering everything else.”
“As I said, you don’t get to make those decisions—”
“No, I don’t. And for that, I apologize.”
He bowed his head. Nathan reached up and rubbed his temples. He was worn out from dealing with one crisis after another… which kind of proved Gius’s point.
“You clearly haven’t lost your judgment,” Gius said. “You proposed a graceful solution, if not the one I personally would have effected.”
“Just… keep me in the loop next time, okay?”
Gius nodded. “I will, my lord.”
Nathan was about to respond when a soft knock echoed at the door. Nathan and Gius looked at each other and nodded.
