I walk back up the stairs to where Emeris was and hear him talking with the King. Pausing outside the door, I’m tempted to just leave our land and take my chances out there with a colossal army of Og Nag. Emeris opens the double doors and I walk in. The King looks at me surprised. I stutter a bit before speaking.

“Are....we dead?” I ask. The Minister looks outside a window and rubs his chin. The King stares at him, unsure of what to say or do without his guidance.

“Well…I don’t think we’re dead. And that orb seems to have different magic in it than the purple orbs. This could be a different part of the world, different time, different universe, who knows. One thing is for sure; we probably can’t go back, so we need to find out everything about where we are.” I nod and cross my arms.

“Versa has already ordered me to assign troops to just such a thing. We’re tallying up what we have first.”

We do our best to talk with as much certainty as we can, but no one can hide the overwhelming anxiety that we have no clue what’s going on. It's agreed that we'll hunker down before trying to find the missing Og Nag. They were here, that was all we knew. Our only hope was to board up every entrance point and hope they didn't come back for a long time. We didn't have the strength or numbers for round two.

Emeris joins me as we begin walking down the stairs. His hand clamps on my shoulder. I turn to face him and cock an eyebrow when I see his eyes grow wide with terror.

"Sir! The...the family! In the bakery! Before we got to the castle?!" My mouth hangs open. Instead of speaking, we take the steps two at a time. We slide into the gateroom and tear open what was left of the doors. We bolt outside and look around confused. Not a single Og Nag, not even a dead one. Even the walls of Og Nag we built were gone and the spears along with them. I bite my lip and continue moving. Retracing my steps, we bolt past the wall I had toppled over. As I mound over walls of debris, I still expect a random foe to dive out of hiding and try to get a knife in my chest. The fires were out too and only small, white pillars of smoke still rose. Just how long had we been out? A day? Two maybe?

I take several turns so fast, I have to skid to a stop as I round each one. The bakery comes into view, but it's shorter now. My head starts to shake as I sprint over to it. I start yelling at the top of my lungs, hoping the family will reply. We dart around to the window we were at before. It was completely shattered. I peer inside and see the family on the floor, almost completely covered in debris.

"No!" I scream. That simple word becomes more of a sound as I shriek it over and over. I push aside several rocks and recklessly try to climb inside. A pair of arms wraps around my legs.

"Raiden you can't! It's not stable! They're gone!" I ignore him and continue with my screaming and clawing, comparable to a ravenous animal when it first gets caught in a net. I scream over and over again, trying to get to all three bodies, just to have Emeris groan in pain and pull me back. He finally drags me out and I fall to my knees, pounding on the bakery with my fists. My ears ache from all the yelling. My throat gives out and my cries of anguish are now tiny, painful squeaks. I wail so hard my lower back sends rockets of pain all the way up to my shoulders. My armor clanks over and over as my body bobs up and down.

Emeris pats my back as he sighs sympathetically.

"We did all we could. At least they died together...which is odd. Why are their bodies still here and everyone else is gone?" Emeris helps me up and keeps one of my arms over his shoulders. We limp back to the castle. I have enough time to compose myself before returning to the dining hall. Everyone glances at me briefly before going back to their tasks. We slowly bring everything we can and stockpile it in the side rooms. I jot everything down on a piece of paper as we go, letting my work fill my mind instead of the billions of dark thoughts fighting to get into the spotlight.

Five hours later, my lieutenants report back in. Before the attack, we were in a famine. But with a population reduction from 34,000 down to a few hundred, we had plenty of supplies now. Almost no survivors were found, as anyone severely wounded had apparently died during the transportation.

My last lieutenant has a giant whopper of news to tell me as well. Apparently multiple units reported seeing unique flying animals that stopped on a regular basis to stare at our city. From their mannerisms, they were actually stopping in the air to converse with each other.

I stare at lieutenant Cy quizzically as he gives me his report.

“Sir, I swear, they look like…miniature horses and painted all sorts of magnificent colors!” I keep staring, I couldn’t think of what to say. He had five of his men give me the exact same type of report; all five soldiers from different parts of the city. No contact with us had been made, but we were going to get some type of greeting eventually. I share my thoughts with the King, who paces with the Minister in his throne room.

“Unacceptable! They can’t think we’re as weakened as we are! Take a small group to meet them the moment you see some type of envoy! I want time to...spruce up the place before they get here! Stall them if you can!" I nod and assign Sergeant Cripus, who’s sole job is to follow me around and send my messages. Versa and Emeris.continue to share our supply counts with me.

“Captain Raiden, we found someone.” A voice calls out from the far end of the dining hall. I give Emeris the papers with our current supplies on them and turn around. Captain Lucretia gently waves at me, while having her arms over the two soldiers carrying her. Emeris runs over, grabs her around the midsection, and gives her a giant hug. She pats him on the back, despite groaning in pain. She has a small cut above her eye that made her normally timid looking face seem decently stoic. Her long, blonde hair flows around her shoulders. It was temporarily dyed with random debris from out on the field. Emeris takes a small twig out from her hair and smiles.

I hear Versa’s angry, low grumble next to me. Did she have feelings for Emeris? Did she try to have Lucretia killed? Or does she just hate displays of affection? Regardless, it wasn’t my place to ask. I walk over to Lucretia, doing my best not to give her an embrace of my own. I put my hands on my hips and stand up straight.

“How did you manage to survive out there?” She chuckles painfully.

“I was fighting some Og Nag and an archer shot the one I was fighting. It fell on top of me and I was too exhausted to push it off.” Versa walks up to us, trying to act casual.

“If you don’t mind, we need to finish going over supplies.” With that, Versa effortlessly wraps her arm around Lucretia's legs, lifts her up and sets her on a cot nearby to rest. Was this general compassion or just a gimmick for something more sinister later? I motion for Lieutenant Cy to come over. As soon as he jogs up to me, I lower my voice so only Emeris and Cy can hear.

“Cy, I want you watching Lucretia at all times, especially when Versa is in the room. Make sure you’re the only one giving Lucretia water as well.” Cy nods nervously, then marches over to Lucretia and begins questioning her about her possible injuries.

Emeris looks over at the pair, then back to me.

“You don’t really think Versa…” His tone reflects the same worry I have. I shake my head.

“I don’t know, but I’d rather not learn the hard way.”

We had enough problems without our chain of command trying to choke itself.