The main caravan eventually reached the base, stopping in front of its opening. Lord Alderman looked up at its massive walls, taking it in. Slowly the soldiers began to disembark their wagons, the cavalry moving up to the front, getting ready to enter. Lord Alderman sniffed the air, whispered something into a commanding officer’s ear.

“Ok people! This place reeks of the demonic! Raze this place! Everyone inside is corrupted! Don’t be fooled, they’re all demon worshippers. Go!” the CO shouted to the soldiers.

They rushed inside, quickly setting buildings ablaze, cutting down any and all people they encountered no matter their age. It was a slaughter. Lord Alderman slowly rode inside, bypassing the destruction, ignoring the pleas for help. He calmly rode to the center of the base, to James’ mansion. Behind him were a small group of soldiers assigned to protect him. He stopped in front of the mansion, got off his horse and entered. He walked through the mansion with familiarity, heading straight towards James’ personal study without missing a beat. The soldiers behind him quietly wondered to themselves how he knew where to go and what he possibly was looking for. He was now in the study, looking at the books like he was scouring a library for a specific book as women and children screamed into the night. The lord appeared frustrated, throwing books to the ground.

“A-are you alright Lord Alderman?” a soldier asked.

The lord shot him a glare that told the soldier to be quiet.

It should’ve been here yet it wasn’t. No matter how hard he tried, Lord Alderman couldn’t find his journal.

****

Dawn was starting to break as Warren and Akane’s wagon rode into Redrock. It was eerily quiet, more so than usual. Dead bodies littered the streets, all sorts of buildings were destroyed. The scenery looked apocalyptic. Soon they saw soldiers stationed throughout, holding positions in some of the larger buildings. They stopped in front of the police station which looked almost completely destroyed. A wall was destroyed and debris was all around the ground. Seeing this, Akane jumped out the wagon.

“Child!” Akane yelled, running inside.

Warren quickly followed, ignoring the soldiers’ requests to stay back.

They stepped over the debris and saw Tarz sitting at a desk, covered in bandages.

“Orc!” Akane shouted, getting his attention.

He looked up, his eyes widening upon seeing Warren and Akane.

“It’s you two. So you’re alive after all.” he remarked.

“Where is child! Where’s Sarah!? ” Akane bellowed.

Tarz's face became solemn. He stood up, led them to the sheriff’s office. He opened the door, revealing Sophie sitting in a corner, her head buried into her knees. Akane ran to her, kneeled down.

“Child!” Akane said, grabbing her by the shoulders. “You’re alive!”

Sophie’s head slowly rose. Her eyes were red from all the crying.

“Who did this!? Who made you cry!?” Akane questioned, unsheathing her sword, ready to kill everyone in town.

“M-m-mommy’s...gone” Sophie whimpered.

Akane stopped in her tracks, slowly lowering her katana.

“What happened, Deputy?” Warren asked Tarz.

Tarz sighed, proceeded to tell Warren and Akane everything that happened while they were gone. The initial fight, the unexpected arrival of the preacher, the sheriff’s and Sarah’s deaths, and Sophie’s killing of Roper were all explained. The more Tarz spoke the quieter Akane and Warren became as they processed all of the information. After hearing it all, Akane slowly walked out of the sheriff’s office. Warren bolted after her.

“Akane don’t!” he warned.

“They’re….all gonna die Warren. These people let my friend die.”

“You can’t massacre these people Akane! Didn’t you want to save this town?”

They were now in the street, being followed by some soldiers, wondering what the woman with the katana out was planning to do.

Akane stopped with her back to Warren, said “I didn’t fight for them. I fought for Sarah. I fought for her daughter. I fought for the non-humans.”

“And would Sarah want you to kill them?”

“I don’t know. I’ll ask her if I did the right thing after I die.”

She began to walk again when she felt the rumbling once again. Down the street, Lord Alderman was returning with the main caravan. He rode up to them with a soldier riding alongside.

“What’s going on here?” the soldier asked.

Akane eyed Alderman, wondering if she could do what she wanted given that there were so many soldiers around. Warren came up beside her, wary of Alderman. Something was off about him.

“Nothing. We were just about to leave town.” Warren told them.

Akane tightened the grip on her blade.

Lord Alderman noticed this and got off his horse, standing right in front of Warren and Akane. Now that he was right in front of them, they noticed how tall he was. He stood around 6’3 and was quite lanky.

“I have a question for you. Why’re you here now Alderman? If you did your job from the beginning none of this would’ve happened!” Warren yelled.

The soldiers unsheathed their weapons, thinking Warren was about to attack. Lord Alderman looked at them, shrugged. Warren became overwhelmed with anger, punched the lord in the face, knocking him into his soldiers. The soldiers immediately got into battle position, surrounding them. Akane and Warren stood back to back, weapons drawn.

“So can I kill everyone now?” Akane asked.

“...Yeah fuck it.” Warren replied.

Both were ready to take on the military despite their injuries. The soldiers were about to step in when they heard a loud clap. They turned around, saw that Alderman had done it. He whispered something into a soldier’s ear.

“You two are lucky! Lord Alderman is in a forgiving mood. You two are free to go. Take it as thanks for your service in putting down the peasant rebellion.” the soldier announced.

The soldiers muttered amongst themselves, angry that they couldn’t fight. Akane kept blade out, still half inclined to fight everyone.

“Come on Akane, let's go.” Warren urged.

“But I still want-”

“I know but think about it. If you die fighting soldiers, how is Sophie going to feel?”

Akane paused, then slowly sheathed her blade. Together she and Warren made their way back to the police station. Upon arriving they saw Tarz had been aiming a revolver into the crowd of soldiers, ready to shoot had fighting began.

“Were you really going to shoot?” Warren asked.

“Eh, probably. You two saved this town unlike these clowns” Tarz acknowledged. “I hope you two got Mason good.”

Warren nodded, not in the mood to get into details.

Akane went back to Sophie, who was still a ball in the corner.

“What’s gonna happen to her?” Warren wondered.

“I suppose She’ll be put in a state orphanage. The nearest one is like two towns over so she’ll be in a completely different environment.” Tarz guessed.

“How will they treat her?”

“It’ll be rough. Then again, no matter where she goes she’ll have a rough time. Even the humans that are more accepting of non-humans are put off by hybrids, especially in this state.”

“No.” Akane interrupted. “She’s not going to any orphanage. She’s coming with me.”

Sophie eyed Akane, unsure if she heard correctly.

“Sarah didn’t die for her to be raised in some orphanage. She wanted her to go see what life was like outside this state. I’m taking her to Colonus” Akane added.

“What about her father?” Warren brought up.

“Father’s some elven banker. No idea where he is” Akane answered.

“You're thinking of finding him?” Tarz questioned Warren, leaning on a nearby wall.

“Maybe. Akane you may be right in wanting to take her to Colonus. It’s the capital so a banker is bound to make a trip there at some point. Who knows? He could be there right now. We’ll take her back with us.”

“You sure about this?”

“Yeah. Feels wrong not to. What about you, deputy? What’re you going to do?”

“Since I’m technically the sheriff now, I guess I'll keep doing my job. With the HDF gone, the non-human folks are going to rebuild. I don’t know how the remaining humans will react but I’ll handle them if anything happens.”

With everything planned out, all that was left was to tie up loose ends. For the rest of the day, Akane and Warren paid their respects to all who died. With the deputy, now sheriff, they buried the bodies of all the people who fell protecting Redrock. They dug graves, erected tombstones at a flat piece of land on the edge of town’s crater, in effect creating a cemetery that overlooked the town. The last body to be buried was Sarah’s, her grave placed at the far end, right at the edge of the crater the town was in. It appeared as if the tombstone stood watch over the town, much like Sarah had done at the end of her life. The next day Warren got his car back from the soldiers. He was about to enter his car along with Akane, who was holding an asleep Sophie when Tarz came up to him.

“Marshall, hold up.” Tarz said, holding an old bottle of wine. “I think the sheriff would’ve wanted you to have this.”

Warren took it, examined it. It was a vintage wine that must’ve cost thousands of gold. Inside the brown bottle was a golden colored liquid. It was high end stuff.

“Yeah. He said he wanted to drink after all this. He never planned to, did he?” Warren asked.

“The sheriff knew he was dying that day. But you know, he went out on his own terms. You didn’t know him as long as I did, but trust me, he wouldn’t have wanted to go out rotting in a senior home.

“I believe you. How come you don’t want it?”

“I was never much of a drinker.”

Warren nodded, said “It was nice meeting you Tarz.”

“Likewise.”

Tarz looked at Akane, who was eying him.

“Still want to kill me?”

“Another time orc. Another time” she said, getting into the car.

Warren followed. He turned the car on, and they slowly began to move forward. Outside they could see Tarz waving them goodbye. The car picked up speed, passing by the rubble. Soldiers stationed throughout town eyed them as they passed. They reached the edge of town, going up the incline out the town's crater. Out of it they passed the cemetery they had built, seeing a lone figure standing in it. It was the lord, looking at all the graves. He turned his veiled head, and waved them goodbye, sending shivers down Warren and Akane’s spines.

Soon they were once again in the middle of the desert on their long journey back to Colonus. Sophie had fallen asleep in Akane’s arms. Akane herself leaned her head back, eyes closed.

For Ali

Warren took a swig from the newly acquired wine, said “Akane you awake?”

“Yes. I’ve evolved beyond sleep. I’m resting my eyes which is different.”

Ignoring the fact that Akane clearly had slept before they invaded the HDF base, Warren continued.

“I wanna say thanks. For coming with me. I know I didn't want you to, but I’m glad you did.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

“I don’t think...yeah ok. So where are you staying with Sophie?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re taking her back to your place in Colonus right? Where are you staying?”

“We’re staying with you.”

“What?”

“It’s your responsibility Warren. I can’t have the child stay at Dragon’s Descent. There’s no room under Willow’s desk.”

“You’ve been living with Nerva?”

“Yes. It’s a nice space but too small.”

Warren conjured up an image of Akane and Nerva poking their heads out of Willow’s desk, annoying Willow to no end. It made him almost chuckle.

“What was that?” Akane asked.

“What was what?”

“Were you about to laugh? You can do that?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You were about to laugh. This is quite the revelation. I should make you laugh hard. I want to see what your smile looks like.”

“No.”

“It’s too late, I already decided. Like how I decided I’m staying at your place with the child.”

“Akane I didn’t agree-”

“Too late. Just let it happen. Accept it.”

“...Fine but only for a few days.”

“Hooray. Good job Warren, you accepted your responsibility.”

“Alright I got it. Stop saying that. Sounds weird.”

“But you are taking-”

“Stop.”

“If you insist. You know since we’re here, I have plenty of time to tell you which comics you’re going to read.”

Warren sighed, said “You’re actually going through with that?”

“Of course. I’ll lend the comics to you since we’re friends. Ok so first we’re starting with-”

Akane began a 5 hour discussion on the series Warren had to read once they got back. Despite wanting to die, he listened, feeling that he owed it to Akane for the journey she went on with him. With the town of Redrock becoming nothing but a blip in his rearview mirror, Warren drove back home indulging the woman he had to admit was his friend.

In the aftermath of the battle of Redrock, the town went through dramatic changes. First off all the humans in town moved out upon seeing that the HDF no longer restricted the movements of the non-humans in town making Redrock the only town in the empire to have a human population of 0. There was no mention of the battle against the HDF in the news, Lord Alderman having censored all reports of the incident. As far as the rest of the country knew, the lord had used the soldiers for an exercise to test the state’s response to any future Elven invasions. But the inhabitants of the town knew, they could never forget those who gave their lives for them. Not long after the town of Redrock ceased to exist. Its inhabitants renamed the town Madison, in honor of the woman who freed them.