Whatever fortress the group was in…Kit found it eerie. There was nobody there, and everything outside a building was caked in orange sand. She hoped it was just the lands the Colony controlled but didn't have enough interest in to maintain; a ruin was slightly better to hide out in if there wasn't a high chance the Colony would find them.

“The nomads must have come through here. They show up with sand and snow, and then when they’re done they leave the sand.” Serril explained.

Kit wasn’t exactly sure who the nomads were or why they brought sand and snow, but she decided she'd rather have sand everywhere than snow everywhere.

“This place looks like nobody’s lived here for a long time.” Esther said. “Maybe we can find a temple and check the map there.”

“Why would you need a temple to find a map?” Serril asked.

"I dunno, why were you hiding in that box?" Esther shot back.

“I didn’t want to,” Serril said. “It’s a long story. Right, Sora?”

Kit realized Sora was being uncharacteristically quiet. Usually they were at least decently chatty. They had a blank expression and carried themselves as though a great weight was just put on his shoulders.

 “Sora?” Kit asked. They just kept walking.

At every building, Sora brushed some of the sand off above each front doorway. It looked like snow as the dust fell down on them, making a cloud as it passed over. There were names embedded in each frame. Sora froze at about the fifth one and stared at it.

“We made a mistake," Sora said. "We shouldn’t be here.”

The name on the doorway was “CHARMAINE MYHRE.” It seemed to really rattle Sora.

“What’s going on?” Esther asked.

"Charmaine Myhre? Who's that?" Kit asked.

"An old...acquaintance," Sora said. "And if she was here, then I know where we are."

Sora didn’t take their eyes off of the doorway, which Kit noticed had no actual door. It was too dark to see inside of the ruined building.

Something rustled inside of the house and before Kit registered it the group was running. All Kit could think was how bad her cardio was as the others passed her fairly easily. Serril was in front, running on all fours. They stopped at another gate.

"I think...we're good," Sora said. "Probably just a critter knocking something over."

That didnt reassure Kit much, but there wasn't anyone following them. To distract herself form the idea of someone watching her from the shadows (a feeling she hadn't been bale to shake) she looked over the big gates in front of her, and the pathway ahead.

A soft “oh wow” escaped her lips when Kit saw where we ended up. At the end of the pathway was old castle, more ancient than anything she'd ever seen. Even in ruins, it evoked a regal sense of power. Kit almost wanted to salute the place. A plaque on the gates read “THIS FORTRESS IS A CASTLE OF THE JECRUIBLE ALLIANCE, UNDER THE REIGN OF THE MYHRE FAMILY."

"Well, we should probably get goi-hey!" Sora said, interrupted by Esther pushing the gates open.

"What? They're not locked," Esther said.

"No, we shouldn't go that way, we should leave," Sora said.

"I think it'd be good to check this out, though," Esther said. "Maybe we can pick up some food, or find a nicer place to sleep than those shacks."

Sora tried to protest, but Esther couldn't be swayed. Kit followed Esther through the battered front gates of the castle into an open area with a tiled floor. Every footstep echoed, like memories of this place whispered to them, perhaps in sorrow over the state of their home. The path to the front doors had creepy bio-guards lining the left and right sides. Kit hoped they didn’t have any memories to whisper to me.

Different from the warriors held together with conjured magic that they fought in front of the ship, the castle's guards looked like a mad scientist’s daydream or nightmare brought to life, or at least some semblance of living. They were made up of oval shaped glass of varying sizes, with disgusting artificial organs in each body part, with tech joints connecting them. Generally, they had the shape of a human, but instead of a head they had a hollow piece of metal that was a solid dome in the back, but just a small “T” shape in front. The color of their joints and head pieces matched their classification as soldiers, with stripes breaking down their rank even further.

"Teal joints with purple lines are general infantry," Sora said. "Red joints with yellow lines, those are capture class."

“Are they…still working?” Kit asked. She kept expecting them to follow us as they walked towards the main doors.

“They’re pretty old. I doubt it.” Esther said. She got out Ihli's sword. "Just in case, though."

A rending, screeching sound jolted both of them before Kit could respond. A sinister noise that sent shivers down Kit's spine.

Kit wanted to scream when red piercing eyes started forming on the empty spaces of the bio-guards’ heads, and they began to move towards the group. They showed their age as a few collapsed immediately with joints falling apart, but too many were closing in on them. The look in the soulless eyes told Kit her adventure had come to an early end.

As the bio-guards stomped closer and closer, Esther reached out to Kit, but she could only babble back at her.

“Esther put the sword away they woke up what do we do they’re gonna get us and I don’t know Esther–"

Kit nearly cried from fear staring into the bio-guards’ nothing faces, now worse with the furious eyes. Something hard slammed into her face, one of the fists of the bio-guards. She immediately felt the warm trickle of blood start to drain out of her nose. 

“Kit!” Esther yelled as sets of cords shot out from the guards and wrapped around them. Sora and Serril hit the ground after being wrapped up.

Kit strained against the cords, trying desperately to remember if she had learned anything about bio-guards. They were creepy. They were drones used to defend bases such as castles of the kingdoms that were around before the Verdant Colony. She cursed at not remembering any weaknesses, but it was impossible to focus with her arms tied up and her nose bleeding. One thought ran through her mind, over, and over. Not her, not her, not her. Kit locked eyes with Esther. She gave Kit her determined smile. She saw they hadn’t gotten Esther all the way, leaving her right arm free.

Esther held the sword above her, which ignited it in a vibrant hue. The blasters on the bio-guards charged too, and Kit wanted to force herself not to look. Esther swung once, a swift arc that made no contact with the bio-guards or the cords wrapped around them.

“Hold on.” Esther said.

A second later an intricate emerald pattern appeared before each of the bio-guards. It was like a carving of energy right into the air. Esther swung again, and the energy flew directly into the bio-guards, the energy seemed to plug them up, looking like they had been covered in moss. Their engines chugged, and they slowly fell to the ground. The cords loosened. As soon as Kit could get out she did and clasped her sore and bloody nose. For a second they waited, until they heard a loud clunking noise, probably the last gasp of one of the bio-guards. Once Sora and Serril were freed as well, the group ran, not stopping until they reached the gates once more.

“Esther, that was amazing!” Kit said. “Like seriously I don’t even know what to do that was so scary but you just like blew them up with the sword!”

Esther looked disappointed. They sat down on a block that had fallen down from the top of the gates that served as an excellent bench. Kit took her jacket off and held one of the sleeves against her nose. It was slowing down now but it still felt gross and sore. At least the stupidly many-pocketed jackets of the Verdant Colony were pretty absorbent. They sat until her nose stopped bleeding and she caught her breath.

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