The sky never cleared the entire time he walked, the red hue of smoke from the distant fires turned this waking nightmare into hell itself. At least in color palette. The road out of Brighton was more of the same, more destroyed cars, more dried blood. But before long new spots appeared. They were dark stains, almost like splatter patterns, and they had chunks of flesh strewn among them. The flesh wasn’t rotted, more desiccated and dried to crumbling dust. The ratio of blood stains to these spots though was horrifyingly in favor of blood. But slowly more and more of them appeared along the road. Finally the spots began to paint the entire roadway as a destroyed front line came into view. Tanks and fortified positions were shattered and tossed aside, and blood and black were mixed together. Craters and bullet holes in the road seemed to be filled and masked by the black dusty stains.

Seth finally picked up a chunk of this desiccated flesh and saw it for what it was. “It… is a piece of them, what is left when they can no longer hold themselves together.” Speaker had stayed silent till now, finally relaying information he had only just learned himself. ‘Then… this was the thunder from before.’ “It would seem so. Your military killed many of them before…” Seth was shaking, sullen, and wide eyed at the death he was standing in. Speaker stopped out of respect. Seth was scared of what was ahead now. But despite this fear, he had to walk on.

The line itself was little more than a haphazardly placed road block, it just had armor support stacked behind it. The tanks though were ripped open like cans, armor plates shredded and whole turrets seemingly ripped off their mountings. Seth continued past the line, seeing fewer and fewer black stains, and more and more blood. A convoy was strewn about past the line, military moving up at the worst possible time, and civilians running away far too late. The only saving grace for Seth’s nerve was the torched state most of the vehicles were in. Fires seemed to have spread here and burned away the evidence before spreading deeper into the forest. In fact a lot of the forest was down in this area. Burned trees were strewn about along the road, and defined paths were cut across what was left of the forest floor. The creatures had swarmed through this area like a river. As Seth finally passed the convoy, the road seemed to clear up, fewer and fewer vehicles were on the road, with those fewer only being military. In fact a few massive patches of black were dotted about, blood stains seemingly at their centers. Someone had put up a fight against them, but could only hold out so much.

Distance seemed to be the best medicine for Seth’s determination as he continued on into the next town. This one much less destroyed, but still in ruins. Damage from more than blunt force or claws was present. Bombs? There was almost no blood, and plenty of stains of black among the rubble. The fires hadn't spread here yet, and a lot of the town still stood, so he hunkered down here for the night, scrounging up a few dry goods from the grocery stores. This trend continued for days, with Seth camping out in the quiet nights when he wasn’t close to a town. Every place he passed was less and less destroyed, but more and more black stains were present. The smoke from those fires even started to dissipate, though only in the direction he walked.

After a few days he came upon a new sight. A torn and beaten field, not burned by the fires but trodden en mass. At the far end, a wave of helicopters lay strewn about, like they had all crashed at once. There was even a gash burned into the forest some ways away from the road that looked like a plane had gone down. Seth couldn’t understand what had happened. But he felt guilt for some reason, felt Speaker’s apprehension just looking at the scene. Something had gone very wrong.

Seth approached one close to the road, blades draped over the torn open canopy, hiding the fate of the pilots. The blood surrounding it left little to imagination. He put a hand to the crumpled chassis, it was cold both in life and in feeling. Its circuitry had been fried… but it was familiar somehow. It felt just like the radio back in Brighton. “It has been overloaded… disrupted and distorted… like our Ark.” Speaker was talking far grimmer than normal. “The... monsters, they brought them down.” Seth eyed the whole line up, some more torn and wreaked than his. ‘…But… they can’t fly! …Right?’ Speaker seemed to lighten at Seth’s naiveté, but his grim attitude held. “No… but their energies don’t need to. If they grouped up in large enough numbers they could inadvertently do this… siphon power with wanton disregard. Much like you did… but with even less control.” Seth thought back to the first night, but couldn’t understand how. “A lesson for another time. But there is a more pressing concern here.”

Seth felt Speaker shift his focus, tighten it beyond what he’d been taught to. “See here. There are striations. Infinitesimal, but they are there. Marks on the wires, in their melt. I reads like a… fingerprint. Unique to an individual. Though to the untrained it will look indistinct. Like the one who siphoned the power from your village siphoned the power from this machine as well.” Seth thought for a second, but realized quickly. ‘They… would think I did this?’ “If given a chance, and reason. It would be best to keep your powers to yourself if we make it out of this. You have taken on enough blame as it is, you should not be yoked with a burden you are far from at fault for.” Seth understood, felt his focus wan back to normal, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit more guilt at all of this.

As days went by his situation grew dire. More and more towns were passed through, but each one more destroyed than the last. Some had seen intense combat, military holding back as best they could. Some areas were built up as full defensive lines, and some were just haphazard killboxes. One spot seemed purposely set up to funnel the monsters for someone to snipe them from afar. But the barriers had been disregarded entirely, and the sniper’s position was clear for Seth to see. A blood stained window with a smashed apart rifle wrapped round the sill. Whatever had happened, it was long over, and the town took the worst of the toll. Seth walked up to what was left of the town’s grocery store, the smell was the greatest signifier to its condition but he had to be sure. Rotten produce, torn and burned packaging, mold and ash contaminated everything that had survived being bombed to smithereens. He slumped and continued on, the grumbling of his stomach too much to ignore.

Soon towns stopped even existing, as did the forests surrounding them. Vast fire scorched swaths dominated the road ahead, towns reduced to concrete slabs and defiant skeletons. A few burns continued to persist, keeping Seth’s face buried in his scarf, but his head was kept low by hunger and fatigue anyway. Power was running thin as well, burned cars don’t hold their batteries very well, and the voices could spare little to keep Seth going. Food was running short, a few energy bars and water bottles left. The only permanent addition to his supplies was a walking stick barrowed from a surviving road side stand. It kept him up, but only just. The rationing was wearing him down, the pain in his feet had started to numb away, but his joints started to creak for respite. And to top it all off he…

Seth stopped. A low rumble over the horizon, like a distant stampede. The burned forest around him echoed with the sound, and shook as it rose higher in an instant. A thunder, like before but almost encompassing the entire horizon ahead of him. He could feel it in the ground, see the defiant trees quake and flake. Someone was fighting, holding the line. And it gave him hope. He stopped at the ruins of a gas station, little more than a wall to lay against to keep out of the ash and embers around him. The thunder never abated, if anything it increased. Though his senses were numbed by his constant hunger, he could smell a tinge on the air, like metal and garlic. He was still far away, and the say was too far gone, so he scrunched up against the wall as the thunder rocked him to sleep, and his reviving resolve eased his terrors.

Seth awoke on the… twentieth day of walking? He had lost track but still needed to keep moving. His food was out, and the thunder was drowning out almost everything else that could still make noise. He could hear the cracking of rifles, the explosions of shells, the roar and thunder of the monsters, he could even make out some shouting during lulls. He was getting close, but to what he didn’t fully know. As he closed in the fighting was peaking, with the air and ground shaking from the unending torrent that was before him. His heart beat was drowned out, but he felt it rumble in his chest with every desperate step forward. But before he could see his final destination through the decimated forest and fog of war, finally see his salvation… the gunfire abated down to nothing. Shouts on the wind signaled it wasn’t the end of whoever was fighting on, but the direction seemed… off. Finally he cleared the forest and smoke to behold the reason. For as far as he could see, curving toward and around him, there was a wall.

It was tall, something like a hundred and fifty feet, and was stained a gradient black and silver up to its rim. At the top it had turrets, not medieval structures but actual gun turrets. They were skeletal from what he could see, sporting two large rotary guns on either side of a gunner’s position and seemed to be able to lean over the side to fire down on attackers. Oddly there seemed to be platforms, spaced a far distance from each other along the wall’s length. They jutted out over the edge and had thick struts keeping up a relatively thin platform. He could make out someone on the nearest platform as there was no railing or lip covering it. In fact it seemed like it was made of glass, or something see-through. He could only barely make out people on the wall proper, seeing little more than heads move about over the lip.

The ground before the wall was pitch black, blasted, and almost unrecognizable as land. The wall was seemingly placed right on top of a town, with a sizable ruin separating Seth from it. The town was little more than rubble at this point, with every surface the wall could see being pockmarked with bullet and shrapnel holes. Though hard to see, there seemed to be dug outs and caves in the rubble, more than likely cover for the creatures.

Seth was awestruck at what he had just walked into, the devastation and the relief countering each other, and the realization that he had to somehow get over that. Weighed down with this, he inched forward. Quiet as he could be, he franticly scanned each dark hole, crevice, and still standing doorway. Only a few feet into town he heard shouting from the wall, but couldn’t make it out. Had they spotted him? Could they even send help to get him? He scanned the wall, but still couldn’t make out a sign. He inched more, avoiding loose pieces of rubble and debris, avoiding every noise he could. But before long he started feeling the gravity of just what he had undertaken, only halfway to the wall but still in the dead center of the town. A haggard breath stopped him, exhaustion finally taking hold. He was out of power, the voices were rendered barely audible as they tried to keep him moving. He dropped his head, fatigue, hunger, and sorrow cutting his resolve to tatters less than a mile from salvation. He couldn't do it, he couldn't move, couldn't reach the end of this hell. But as he tried to cry for his failure, on the ground ahead of him, he could see a shadow.

He pulled his head up with a last gasp of fearful speed, but saw nothing. Scanning around for anything like it was a mad hallucination, he was only stopped as a voice broke his fear. It was a whisper, but it felt softer than he could ever expect. “No, up here.” Seth looked up, blinded somewhat by the noonish sun, but clear as day he saw her. She was older than he was, but not an adult, maybe a highschooler? But she wore a digital camouflaged and armored bodysuit sporting an embroidered round shield patch on her chest. Her dirty blond hair was tied up behind her, and her eyes were almost orange in color. And... she was flying! Or at least hovering over him. Seth was dumbstruck, it was like he was looking at an angel, though she didn’t have wings. She was a super, probably a member of the League, but- “Hey! This is NOT the time to be daydream!” She whispered harshly at him, breaking the illusion. “Take my hand quick we, need to get out of here.” She stretched out an armored glove down to him. He hesitated, too thankful to finally be free of this hell. Shakily he stretched a hand to meet hers, hope rising over fatigue and hunger. But fatigue was too great a force over him and his hand absentmindedly released the walking stick it was held tight to, letting it drop to the ground… with a reverberating *thunk*. Seth went wide eyed, the girl went wide eyed, and a pair of eyes opened in the crevice nearby. Several pairs of eyes.

Claws started grasping at the edges of openings, toothy maws edged out of shadows. The first to appear clawed out of a still intact doorframe. It was at least seven feet tall, scaly skin burnt black and cracked, and a faint red glow behind slit blue eyes. Its claws and teeth didn’t gleam, they were caked in black dust, and… and its expression was something between restraining desperation and wild rage. Before he could- *RRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHH* It burst forward, screeching more than roaring, and bounding like it was the only way it knew how to move. Its claws were stretched wide ready to close in around Seth, who may as well be frozen for how fast it was moving. But, quicker than Seth’s perception could draw out his terror, the girl was down in front of him and counter thrusting her hands, and an orange dome of pure energy was forming around the pair. The creature slammed into the orange barrier like a freight train, rebounding with a sickening snap of just about every bone it had. Then a second hit rebounded from the other side. Seth jerked about to see a group of three slamming into the barrier, instinctively falling back onto the ground and shielding himself with his hand.

Then the rest slammed the barrier, the horde that hid among the rubble swarmed and crashed against the dome like rabid animals. Those that couldn’t get close enough swiped at it, others tried to chew it with forcibly unhinged and tearing jaws. But all of them, every one of them stared at Seth. They all bore down on him alone, and all stared locked with familiar eyes. From on the ground he could escape none of their faces, fear telling him to look away and run but he knew he couldn’t. These were his friends, his neighbors, his town. One of these could be… He stopped. One of the ones chewing at the force field was crying, not audibly, but tears were running down its face. It slipped its jaw down and head butted the barrier, eyes stuck straight ahead at him… hazel eyes.

The world melted away, the beat of the swarm on the translucent barrier died away as Seth stared into eyes he knew. Tears flowed ever still as it tried to force itself through the impermeable barrier, washing the dust down its snout like reverse mascara. He inched toward it, reality drowned out and relegated to the subconscious. A hand rose to finally clarify, finally make the truth absolute, but the moment could only last so long. A whistling cut over the cacophony, the whistle of incoming ordinance.

Above the dome, airburst shells exploded, raining high velocity streams of burning shrapnel. The smoking pieces of ever burning metal shot down and perforated the horde. Several lit on fire almost immediately, the shrapnel burning them from the inside out. The shells kept raining down. One recoiled from the dome and grabbed at the burning piece of metal, trying to dig it out of itself. It tore at its own flesh, but it recoiled again, this time grabbing at itself as if to keep something in, before exploding into an electrically charged spray of dry blood and dust. Several burst around the dome before the first ran away, back into the shadows of the rubble. A piece struck at the hazel eyed one and it screeched, scurrying away into a nearby dug out. Group by group, one by one, they scattered or burst until there was nothing left… but a stained orange dome.

The girl looked around, she couldn’t see much, but it was enough. She let the field go, showering the both of them in dust before scooping the half gone Seth up. She hucked him over her shoulder in one smooth motion and lifted off the ground. Seth could do nothing but stare back at the charred, stained, and still smoking battlefield he was just pulled from. At his dust stained hands as they hanged limp in the aerial wake. And at what he could only assume to have been his mom.

A roar erupted from the wall as the girl gained altitude, the defenders were celebrating. They whistled and cheered all the way along the wall, with one voice booming over the others. “THAT’S MY AEGIS!!!” The girl, Aegis, moved toward the voice, landing on the see-through platform and letting Seth down to hug... her father? “Aegis that was perfect, you kept your cool and reacted faster than I’ve ever seen!” The man was tall, almost way too tall, and was practically built like the wall he was defending. His hair was almost burnt orange, with a short beard to match, though it was caked in dust and dirt. He wore a similar armored bodysuit, but a symbol of ramparts was embossed upon his chest. The girl released her hug long enough to breath. “Don’t… tell mom you dropped willy-pete on me okay? She’s already going to kill me for agreeing to this.” The man hugged her in relief again, but she turned back to Seth as the cheers died down.

He was lost, unmoving, still struck with everything. The swarm, his mother, being saved by a super, the wall, and all of it wrapped in hunger and fatigue. He barely felt conscious as he took it all in, as darkness seemed to creep in at the edges of his fraying mind and blotted away his tears.

The man stepped up behind him and knelt down, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright son?” Seth turned around on simple reflex, a stare that could burn through steel and go on for a thousand miles locked on his face. The man winced, but what shocked him wasn’t the gravity of PTSD on a child, it was the slit red pupil Seth had in his left eye.

He blinked and it returned to normal, Seth snapping back to the reality around him. The darkness fading away. The moment broken, the man readjusted himself, hiding his reaction. “Here! Aegis, take him down to the psychiatric tent. And stay with him, he’s going to need some support.” The girl grimaced, but- “*sigh* Okay.” She took Seth by the hand and led him away.

Aegis gripped his hand tight as they traversed the enormity of this defense. They passed soldiers resting from the fight he followed all the way here, similar stares meeting his. Whispers about how he got here and where he came from were already spreading down the line. They queued up against the raised lip of the wall, siting and standing as they pleased, awaiting calls from interspaced spotters scanning the ruins. Behind them, against the other side of the wall was a line of replacements, they rested even harder, some sleeping or trying to. They all wielded what looked to be rifles at first with large drum mags, but the shell casings Seth shuffled along through made it clear they were automatic shotguns. The turrets he made out before were even more intricate than he realized, the rotary guns were huge, and were fed from behind the wall by long full belts of shells. There was also some kind of pulley and railway going out the back of them. As the pair came upon the stairs a new sense of enormity set in with a dose of vertigo. The pulley and rail was connected to an assembly line of more turrets that stretched out into the landscape. Replacements piled up, should the one in place be destroyed. And the stairs going up the wall were filled with replacement troops awaiting need, or casualties. Aegis led him down the triple wide and empty relief stairs, only adding to his overwhelming insignificance.

For as far as he could see past the wall, there were prefab buildings and tents. Slapdash factories churning out munitions and equipment. Barracks filling every space imaginable. The scale of this operation was almost horrifying, but what worried him more was the fact that everything was done by hand or simple machine. The pulley and rail was just that. Ropes run down along the rail ended at waiting groups of workers and supers ready to pull a new turret into place. Every landing of the stairs held boxes of some kind with gears and springs visible within, some kind of clockwork battery. And the factories were much the same. Seth couldn’t feel any electricity here, not a spark or jolt for the mile he was lead through of this military industrial landscape. They passed soldiers moving back and forth from their shifts, workers moving supplies from loading docks further out, and endless medical wards. He couldn’t make sense of it all, let along feel much of anything. The walk became a blur until they finally reached the far flung psych ward that took up the second hand tents at the back of the line, and finally found the first scraps of electricity.

It had lights, but little else. Reams of medical manuals filled shelves, and judging from the traffic it was the designated medical library for this sector. Seth was sat down and examined as Aegis sat beside him, lamenting being volunteered for this, but still focused on caring for her charge. More than likely thankful she was done going over the wall. The psychiatrist hesitated at the thought of a child in this condition. “Can… can you tell me your name?” Seth turned slowly and tried to speak. Nothing came out, even if he still knew how to talk, he was still too shell shocked. The psychiatrist lamented, but turned to Aegis. “Here, take him out back and sit with him. If he’s responsive that’s a good sign, but this kind of condition will take time I can’t spare right now.” She sighed again, but acquiesced, pulling Seth up and out of the tent.

She plopped him down on some boxes stacked out back before grabbing two energy bars out of her pockets, offering one with a concerned smile. He slowly looked at it, but hunger drove his movements on as he took the bar from her, still shaking from his ordeal. The bar was peanut butter and banana, but he would have taken it even if it was grape or some other nonsense. He tore it open like a starved animal and scarfed it down. It was salty, the granola little more than dust, and the filling stuck in his teeth… but it was good, just not quite cathartic.

They sat in silence for a time, both munching on their snacks. Seth drooped his head as various service personnel flowed by in the alley between tents, subtly siphoning some electricity from the lights so at least he could get some feeling back. Aegis sat next to him with a little disquiet, thinking of what she could even do to help. The hustle and bustle of this analog fortress was drowning out the voices, so Seth was left with nothing but himself, until Aegis finally spoke. “So… do you... at least remember your name?” He was still out of it, but felt her sincerity and turned to nod in confirmation, head still down. She perked up though. “Okay, sweet we’re getting somewhere."

"My name is Dana by the way, but no one cares to even remember that so they just call me Aegis all the time. Do you-” A passing pair of wounded soldiers interupted her and gawked absentmindedly “Is that him?” “Yeah, the sole survivor of Brighton.” Aegis leered at them, while Seth retreated into his dust caked scarf. A shadow flew over with little notice, and the soldiers continued on. Aegis sighed, and tried again. “Do you… Do you at least remember how to speak, or is it just too hard?” Seth furrowed, but didn't really know how to answer. He just turned back, somewhat more energetic than before, and shrugged. “You don’t know? Uggh…”

Aegis thought for a bit, concern melting with the slightest of upticks. A shadow crept in from the alley way between tents, but went unnoticed. “Maybe… I can give you something interesting to talk about? Like a secret.” Seth perked up slightly, but looked at her more puzzled than intrigued. “Well it’s how people get me to talk, they trade secrets. Here. I’ll tell you a secret, but you have to tell me something just as good. Okay?” Seth was hesitant, but agreed with a nod. “Sweet. So you know that shield I put up?” The shadow in the alley tensed, but didn’t intervene. “It works like a… a filter. It stops things that want to hurt me, or things that could hurt me. So… stuff like breathable air and light pass right through, but stuff like rocks, or well shrapnel, just bounce off. For people it’s a little more complicated. Something about ill will or possibilities. I can’t say I know what that all means. But it always sounded like if you don’t want to or won’t ever want to hurt me, you could just pass right on through my shields like they weren’t even there.” Seth was confused, both by her description and her brashness. Why would she tell him that? Isn’t it like her one weakness or whatever? But he knew if she was telling this it was to get him in debt to her, so he had to tell her something.

Aegis pouted at his confusion. “So, what have you got?” Seth hesitated again, thinking of what to say without giving away too much, but he had to say something. Or at least show her something. He grunted, but knew what he wanted to say. He thought for a second, then pulled his hat off, showing his shaggy brown hair with spreading stark white roots. He turned his hat around, staring at the Brighton logo on it, then turned it again to give it to Aegis. He pointed at the logo, trying to get her to focus on it. “Something about Brighton… Something about your home?” The shadow inched closer, as if to catch even the slightest sound. Seth shook his head. “Not your home. Then…” He put a hand up to stop her, he pointed again then crossed out Brighton. “Brighton’s not your hometown?” He nodded. “Then what was?” He dropped his eyes and pointed passed her, toward the Wall. “The town out there?” Seth shook his head and pointed at the cap and then back to the wall but harder this time, trying to say it was beyond that. “Farther than Brighton?” Seth nodded. “But the only place farther than that is…” Aegis stopped, the shadow tensed, and Seth left her to pick up the pieces. Aegis knew something about Frigateville, but what, he didn’t know. She hesitated, but didn’t seem to treat him any different. “So… you walked all the way here from… there huh.” Seth nodded, worried but thankful she was keeping this quiet. Also realizing he felt a little better now, the events not sticking in his mind as much.

The shadow retreated, but rounded the tent to come through, as if directed to them. Before Aegis could ask another question, a woman with medium blond and blue streaked hair opened the tent next to them. She wore a similar armored bodysuit to Aegis and her father, but had some kind of stylized picture of the Earth on her chest. It focused on the upper atmosphere, with an image of ascending lines going up to and past it. Aegis turned toward her and flinched. “MOM!?” Aegis was surprised, but also scared at how she was about to react. The woman crossed her arms in a stern knowing blueish glare, but quickly released and hugged Aegis before she could react. “Oh Aegis I was so worried! The whole sector is talking about what you did and… I couldn’t be prouder! My little girl’s first save!” Aegis was left stunned as the woman rocked back and forth with glee. “So…you’re not mad?” The woman reared back in a flash, but never letting go. “OF COURSE I’M MAD!! Your father sent you into a monster infested no man’s land and dropped white phosphorus on you! WHY WOULDN’T I BE MAD!?” Aegis recoiled from the motherly concern, but brushed off her mother’s grip. “Don’t put all the blame on dad, I agreed to it!” The woman hugged her again, despite her recoiling, a more tender moment than the last. “I’m just glad you’re alright… We can talk about blame another time.” but not with out some tension. She released the hug and turned to Seth. “So, this is the boy you saved? A little worse for ware, but he seems pretty good for walking all the way here from Brighton.” Seth caught a hint of her lie, but had little ability to call it out, especially when Aegis interjected. “Yeah, I was just trying to help him get the confidence to speak again. I think he’s been through a lot.” The woman remained soft, but Seth knew she knew this wasn’t the whole story. “Well just remember he’s your charge, so take good care of him, okay? It’s the duty-” “duty of heroes to safeguard everyone, I know mom.” The woman smiled down at her. She pulled back and walked into the middle of the thoroughfare. “I’m just so proud of you… Your father on the other hand.” Without warning she- “RAMPART!!!” blasted off and streaked back toward the wall, leaving the pair alone and wiping away dust.

Seth and Aegis blinked away the wake and giggled, trying to stay for as long as they could like this. Aegis asked more easy questions and Seth offering up a grunt or a gesture in response. He could do little else, but distance from the horrors was at least helping. But all this had a limit as the psych ward staff returned and took custody of him. The day was overlong already, so Seth was too tired and hungry to focus.

The ward’s tests passed as a blur... and a needle prick. He probably wouldn’t have understood the diagnosis anyway. Before long he was drifting to sleep, passing time with every blink. The ward faded to shadowed figures and soon he was on a bus away from the military industrial sprawl. And off to the more conventional urban one, in Kadia. The ride was smooth enough that Seth accepted the sleep without a care in the world, only rousing when the handlers on the bus announced they'd arrived at his stop.

It was dark, the day long over, but the horizon still seemed to be lit up. Seth groggily walked off the bus to see his new residence. Marrow’s Home for the Lost and Abandoned, an absolutely ancient orphanage that has been surrounded by the expansion of industry. Literally, Seth could see a steel mill just a block away. Fires burning into the night to keep the supply flowing for the war effort. The whir and clanging of continuous work resounded through this entire part of the city, but… for some reason it reassured him. He turned to the beckoning hands of the orphanage staff and accepted his new life here. He felt a purpose to his being here, something he had to do. He chalked it up to his incorporeal friends, but whatever the reason was, he had placed a debt on to himself. And he will pay it back. It... just might take a while.