Chapter 67

The world shifted.

Mana depletion hit him.

Shadow Step exhaustion whacked him at the same time.

Teleportation sickness jumped up and down on his battered, bruised, and broken body.

He did not black out, but he wished he had. It was worse than a mana storm, and that was saying anything. It was so bad he did not know whether he was lying prone somewhere, in a nightmare or being carried. He hoped it was the last.

Time dragged on. It might have been a day, an hour, a minute or just a second, but he wanted to be dead for all of it.

He felt himself being dropped. Then a second later picked up again and then dumped into ice cold water.

He pushed himself up, spluttering. Heat gathered around him automatically and he realised his mana was recharged. That shock woke him out of his stupor and his domain like a reluctant lawnmower started up.

He was in a broken water tank, water up to his chest, but if he stood, it would only be just above his knees. Jules was in it with him, and there were no monsters. Then she grabbed him and pulled him out.

“I’m ok,” he said, pushing away her hands.

“Thank god,” Jules said.

“The bath?”

“We both stunk, and I wanted to see if cold water would wake you.”

His magic warmed both their skins, banishing the chill instantly. “Stank?”

“You weren’t selective about where you vomited.”

Adrian remembered the first time she had carried him. Even half aware he had splattered her. He couldn’t imagine when passed out that he would have changed anything.

“Sorry.”

“Bah.”

“What happened?”

“It followed you. Then you teleported. I picked you up and ran. A single bear was dumb enough to think I was an easy snack.”

“The echidna did not follow you after. Thank god.”

“I was over a kilometre outside its domain when you teleported. It might not have known where I was.”

“It knew,” Adrian assured her. They were alive. Going through the echidna territory was possibly the most stupid thing he had ever done, but they had been successful.

“Are you sure?”

All he could do was nod. The way it had looked at him and how it had prepared to stop blink and shadow step. The attempt to run through territory even with all of their preparations had been stupid, but the system had wanted him to do that. That was why Kiyoko had supported him. Adrian was not arrogant enough to think that was only because of his World Saver title.

The system had wanted him in Melbourne and that month he needed to keep hold of the fungus in his bag of holding weighed heavily upon him.

It was a problem for another time. He peered up at the sky. The night was dark. Clouds drifted covering stars. It felt like nothing had changed. “Are we in Melbourne?”

“The surrounding countryside.” She waved, and he looked around. They were on a farm. There was an abandoned house nearby whose current residents were a pack of some sort of alien ferret like monster.

“We are here. WE ARE HERE!” Adrian screamed.

“Alpha event,” Jules reminded him, laughing.

“Who cares? Worse case, it attracts something for you to bash.”

“We made it,” she squealed. Jumping up and clapping her hands. “WE DID IT!” she yelled and whooping spun around in excitement. Water went everywhere and he could see steam wafting up off her as she did a little dance.

Adrian consulted the map. It was twenty kilometres to Tony’s farm. “Not yet. We still need to find her.”

“Isn’t she at your father’s in laws?”

“I don’t know. Neither Jaracol nor Kiyoko confirmed that.”

“She’ll be there.”

Adrian nodded in agreement because Jules looked so excited.

Personally, he was not so confident. She had definitely been alive, free, safe and happy when he sent the plant’s gift through. Where remained a mystery.

He assumed that would be at Tony’s farm, but it could just as easily be in town. She might have been at their house in the city proper or been at Tony’s and then forced to flee somewhere else early in the new world. So many people had been forced out of their homes and into communities. There was strength in numbers. Staying by yourself out of town was dangerous. You never knew when a monster might appear. One like that octopod that had attacked the family on the outskirts of Wagga all those months ago.

Adrian swallowed.

That had not happened to his family. Emily had been alive a month after the event and things were settling down by then.

“It is eleven PM.” Jules said, breaking Adrian’s reflection. “What now?”

“Are you?”

“I’ll do whatever you want.”

“I would like to check Tony’s farm and then decide what to do after that.”

Jules nodded a silly grin… even for her plastered to her face. “How far?”

“From here it’s only about twenty kilometres.”

“Less than an hour?”

“Providing we don’t have to detour around something nasty.”

“Sure we had to run from the echidna but there aren’t many things at that level of power out there that would cause a delay.”

“There could be. It’s not like we haven’t seen stronger.”

“You’ve seen stronger thing,” she corrected. “I didn’t see the class zero. Plus, with your locate interesting things to bash skill we can avoid anything dangerous. If you’re in that much of the hurry.” She pouted.

They took off at what was for them only a light jog, but would probably have set world records a few months ago.

Adrian stopped.

Jules pulled to a halt a couple of metres ahead of him. “What?”

“It feels farmed.” he said, looking around.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen any monster tracks. That’s good.”

“Hopefully,” he agreed.

They kept moving their feet, eating up the distance. Once more, Adrian slowed down.

Jules copied him and then poked him in the side. “You’re slowing down,”

“It’s just up ahead.” They were now walking along a two-lane road that was barely visible with the natural decay of the event having eaten through the bitumen. “I recognise that fence.” He nodded at the extravagant, imposing walls that framed a big metal gate and driveway. The gate was rusted, but the walls were as majestic as he remembered having survived the event with no noticeable damage. Driving past, they had always stood out, but walking like this they were ridiculous. The gigantic wall that Adrian pre-event would have struggled to touch the top of stretched for five meters on either side of the driveway and then became a normal farm wire fence immediately after.

It was all for show.

Jules looked at it unimpressed. “How far?”

“Four hundred metres on the right.”

“Come on, we should at least scout it tonight since we’ve jogged this far.”

She walked ahead, and he hurried to catch up. The whole time, he was mentally preparing himself to find it abandoned. The closer he had come the more ridiculous the notion that they would have stayed on the farm had become.

Everyone consolidated. He had seen it all along the five hundred kilometres they had traveled.

The farm would be deserted and he would probably find them in Whittlesea, or a different pocket of Melbourne’s outer suburbs.

They reached the front gate. The area felt lived in. No monsters. He was most likely seeing what he wanted.

He breathed deeply. The fear and expectation were real things. He had come so far. If she wasn’t here, he would cry for a couple of hours and then pick himself up and start searching.

“Can you wait here?”

Jules nodded. “Sure.” She smiled hopefully. “It’ll all work out.”

His heart was thudding. He took a step. It was ridiculous he had run toward a world destroyer with less emotion.

“Adrian.” He stopped. It was hard enough to force himself forward and if Jules wanted to stay something he was taken. Remember, it’s the middle of the night.”

“I know I’m not planning on scaring anyone to death.”

Another step forward onto Tony’s land. Not that pre-event property claims meant anything now. In two hundred meters, his journey might finish or just start anew. The fear, the anticipation, a tear ran down his cheek.

Please god. Let them be here.

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