“Oh, well. That’s nice to know,” my brother muttered. I stayed quiet. It was dispiriting to know that our home for the last 6 months was officially gone, but the real issue now was that to get back home to Isora, we would need a complete new ship. “Then, what’s the good news? Please be that we already found a new ship…” my brother said, his fingers crossed. 

     “No, I’m afraid the only good news I have is that we already have a temporary base of operations. A rescue camp, located some kilometers East, that way,” Rhendon responded, pointing in the direction of some mountains. “Enough knights have managed to gather that way, and found a site facing a massive chasm, meaning we won't have to watch our backs the whole time. Natural cover, if you will.”

     “And if I won’t?” Rhendon made no reply to my brother as he climbed back into his escape pod. I slapped my brother upside his helmet for the ill timed joke, and followed our commanding officer.

     “How were you able to determine its location, Rhendon? Same with us earlier, how were you able to tell how far away we were?” 

     “That’s thanks to the pod and this,” he replied, holding up a small device. It fit into the palm of his hand, and looked almost like a digital compass. There were 2 dots blinking in its center, and it was connected via cable to a panel on the escape pod. “It’s a personal radar I designed to pick up on frequencies our comlinks emit. Problem is, the range isn’t that far, but I was able to use the escape pod to boost its range. As far as cardinal directions go, well, there’s a magnetic field of some kind that we can use. Whether it’s one hundred percent accurate I’m not sure, but it’ll have to do for now. Now come on, you’re gonna keep the rescue camp waitin’.”

     “So we’re heading out immediately?” I asked, hopeful. 

     “You two will be; I’m afraid I still have work to do out here. Other knights may not have been so lucky as you, and could either be trapped, injured, or… well, there are plenty of things that can go wrong crashing on a new world.” He climbed out of the escape pod again, with a new sword attached to his belt. It was about as long as the caliburs my brother and I had fastened to our belts, but the handle was a bronze color instead of dark blue.

     “Wait, so we’re on our own?” my brother asked in disbelief. “What happens when we come across more of those mock-wolves? Or something worse, like a bear? Or platypus ripoff?!” Did he seriously just voice his phobia of platypuses? What even… 

     “There’s two of you, and you both are fully geared now. I think you’ll be fine. Plus, you said it yourself: you want to be a vanguard. Gotta start challenging yourself, otherwise you’ll stay at the bottom ranks of knights as a squire. Nothing wrong with that of course, but you’ll never reach that dream without taking some risks,” he finished, resting a hand on my shoulder. “I’m appointing you as squad lead, Blast. In the event you come across other squires or recruits, I need you to help guide them to the rescue camp. If you find any other knights of higher rank, you’ll follow them back to camp. Understood?” I nodded, giving Rhendon a salute.

     “Welp, we’re off then. Wish us luck, officer,” my brother said, already turning to leave.

     “I still think it’s BS.”

     “Yes, I know. You said that 5 minutes ago. And 10 minutes before that.”

     “Yeah well, you’re not saying anything about it!”

     “What do you want me to say, huh?” I asked, tired of my brothers complaining. I stopped walking and turned to look at him. “We can’t change what happened to the Skylark, and we’re not going against Rhendon’s direct orders. And we both know why he put me in charge, and it’s not because I’m older.”

     “Oh shove it. You would’ve just turned tail and run if I hadn’t led the charge.”

     “You mean run in like a maniac before Rhendon could say anything? Yeah, alright mister man-without-a-plan, you tell yourself that.” Zimthose had his arms crossed, but it looked as if he was cradling one of his arms. “Hey, your arm okay?”

     “I said to shove it,” he replied, pushing past me. “Let’s go, squad lead, I wanna reach camp before nightfall.”

     “That’s something I can agree with you on,” I mumbled, following after him.We continued on like this in silence, only stopping after an hour to rest our feet.

     When we began our march again, we found what seemed like a small footpath, and started following it. I couldn’t tell how much further away the camp was supposed to be, but chances were likely that I’d pick up another message on my helmet’s comm link before we got there. The sooner that happens, the sooner we can end this awkward sile-

     “Hey, check that out!” Zimthouse shouted, pointing up at some trees. They were no different from the trees that had been surrounding since we landed.

     “Um, okay? And?”

     “Not the trees themselves, moron. Look closer! There’s a ton of branches and debris around here, just like how our escape pod landed,” my brother said, turning to me. “You haven’t gotten a call on your headset yet?” I shook my head.

     “No. If your hunch is right, then maybe someone did crash here, but they’re likely gone by now…” I said, thinking out loud.

     “And if they haven’t left?” he asked. I paused before answering him.

     “If there’s a chance they haven’t left, then I guess we need to make sure of it. Let’s go.” With a nod of his head, my brother bolted off into the treeline, and I followed suit. A few moments later and we found ourselves approaching a long slope, also covered in debris.

     “Hey, over there,” Zimthose said, patting my shoulder. He was pointing up at a smoke stack above the trees, billowing from a bit further away. He looked down the hill we were on and smirked. “Last one to the bottom is a-”, but I couldn’t hear the rest as he was already sliding his way down the slope. After a moment, I followed him, and we continued heading towards the smoke stack, much closer now than before.

     Eventually, the trees started showing signs of heavy disturbance, many with large branches broken off, making room for plenty more sunlight to shine through. Just beyond them was our target: a crashed escape pod. It looked to have knocked into a tree, partially uprooting it, and smoke was billowing out on the other side of the pod from where we stood. Without a word, my brother and I cautiously walked over to it, looking around for any signs of someone or something having arrived before us.

     The escape pod itself looked in bad shape. It had multiple dents in the hull, and even a branch seemed to have lodged itself under a sheet of metal. The pod seemed to be slightly tilted on its side, and as I glanced it over, I noticed there wasn’t any handle to open the door.

     “I don’t think they’ve come out yet,” I said, looking over to my brother. He walked over and put his face up to the small porthole window in the door and knocked.

     “Hmm, it’s too dark to see in. And the only way to open this without force is from the inside or with a remote…” My brother paced around, thinking out loud.

     THUMP

My brother and I both jumped at the noise, and hurried to the escape pod’s door. “Hello? Are you okay in there?” I asked loudly. Another THUMP THUMP came from inside.

     “I’m assuming that either means ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Or maybe ‘not sure’?” My brother muttered.

     “Yeah, real helpful, thanks Zim.” I tried to peer through the window, but my brother was right; it was far too dark to see from the outside in. I realized the window itself hadn’t cracked at all during the crash, and it would be too dangerous to smash it open without knowing what the occupant’s condition was.

     “Wait, I got it!” Zimthose shouted, rummaging through our bag. He pulled out a piece of light red metal: the handle from our own escape pod.

     “What, are you going to try to attach that to the door and open it from outside? This isn’t a cartoon you-”

     “HEY! CAN YOU SEE ME?” My brother started shouting right in front of the window, ignoring me completely. He knocked on the window, and held his handle up to it. “PULL ON THIS! IT WILL OPEN THE DOOR!” He paused for a moment, waiting. No reply. “HEY, I SAID-”

     Suddenly, with a loud CLACK the door shot off, taking my brother with it. Air hissed out of the pod, and a body stumbled forward, head hanging. I ran over and helped them steady their feet.

     “Oh yeah, I’m fine. No problem, thanks for asking,” my brother muttered, shoving the door off of him. I helped the new knight sit against the pod. They were holding their head in both hands, and seemed to be trembling. "Told you the handle would come in handy!"

     “Looks like you had quite the landing. You okay?” I asked calmly, as if I didn't hear my brother. The knight didn’t reply to me, but nodded their head slowly. I glanced at my brother and motioned to the now-open hatch, gesturing for my brother to gather whatever supplies might be inside. “Do you need any first aid? I know the basics, but it’ll be awhile until we find the rescue camp others have set up if you need more treatment.” The knight didn’t say anything, only resting his face in his hands.

     “Hey, Blast?” My brother called from inside the pod. I walked over and he popped his head out of the hatch. “There’s nothing here.”

     “What do you mean?”

     “You know what “nothing” means, right? Nothing here, or anywhere in the pod for that matter…” Zimthose explained, looking around the small cabin. We met each other's gaze, equally confused. I walked back to the knight, who was still just sitting against the pod.

     “Hey, what’s your name?” I asked, feeling a little unsettled about our current situation. The knight looked up and I froze. It wasn’t that there were tears in those eyes, or that they seemed to be full of pain, but the eyes themselves that shocked me. "...silver?" The knight shook his head.

     “I… I don’t remember… anything..."