A great battle had taken place.

The street was choked full of those barrel-nosed vehicles, their snouts turned upward at the sable black corpse slain over the broken skyline. It laid down upon a vast swath of buildings that spanned a block in area, head tilted to the side, with an arm the length of a freighter lolled across the road, seemingly resting. Mid afternoon was usually a terrific time for a nap when the sun was riding full and high. It made for a fine warm blanket while KD lied in soft grass. Soon they would doze off. However, for the colossus lying on a bed of cinder and steel, shattered and cleaved with craters and trenches, this was a wakeless sleep. And somehow, these humans managed to kill an Entropic Entity.

For a bunch of fragile meat puppets they certainly knew how to cause a spirited havoc. Even KD was impressed. Defeating an Entropic Entity, even for Void Entities, was not a small feat. Those colossi birthed from the oldest pits of primordial ooze were practically gods in the Void Realm. All the more so in the Human Realm. Wherever they roamed, they were revered. For countless clans had fallen in an attempt to slay one. It was a miracle that KD happened to land a killing blow at all. And that was despite the well of strength that they already possessed. So for humans to do the same, to brace and push against the full might of an interdimensional deity, to fight against an impending despair they had no way of knowing they would survive, and persevered through the most hopeless odds…

Human bones littered the road like autumn leaves, bleached white and weathered from numerous years out in the open, taking their own fitless naps in the sun. After all, they deserved the rest. They had given all for a cause worth fighting for. KD remembered the clan members that they lost, the last glimpse they saw of their skull masks as their remains disappeared back into the pitch.

Eventually, Haru and Action Kid joined KD at the top of the hill of rubble.

“Whoa! What is that thing?” Action Kid pointed at the sable black colossi.

“That is an Entropic Entity, a most fearsome thing,” KD said.

“I bet Action Man could have beaten it.”

“It took all our soldiers, tanks and planes to take that down.” Haru was surveying the field of bones. “Every last one of them…”

“My brother is one of those soldiers, you know, who fights in one of those tanks.” He pointed to a barrel-nosed vehicle, crushed like a soda can.

Haru’s face hardened, clearing her throat to say something though not a word came out. It was within that moment that KD understood. The anger, the coldness, the apprehension for taking the quest despite the reward of bouillons, this was more for the sake of Action Kid than anything else. The tiny human knew little about the world outside of the Crumb Kingdom, even less about the conflict that ravaged his city long ago.

KD and Haru exchanged a quick glance with each other. If the boy were to continue down this road, grief and pain would assuredly await him at the end of this journey. And whether he was prepared for such an outcome, that was the question the two were wrestling with. From the wide-eyed, wounded pleading, Haru wanted them to turn back. Leave the dead at peace.

Action Kid was looking over the destruction in a sort of quiet contemplation, his cap clung onto his back on this gustless day. He could walk away right then and there, heart still intact, except for that hole, that deep, unresolved chasm that would also remain.

KD laid a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Take care with your step,” they cautioned, “to show respect to the fallen warriors.” That alarmed Haru as she watched Action Kid mindfully navigate down the jagged slope. “Wouldn’t you want to know as well?” they asked her.

Several emotions shifted across her face: doubt, hesitation, then finally acceptance. The truth was a slippery thing to grapple with, nor the most pleasant to handle either at times. They were glad that Haru chose the harder path despite her reluctance.

“What does your brother’s tank look like?” Haru asked while she and KD followed after Action Kid.

Action Kid started tapping his chin thoughtfully while he tip-toed over the bones. “I remember the tank being crazy big, with a crazy long cannon that can blast anything to bits. One time, like I was riding on the turret, a super ugly monster was in the way and then—BOOM! Totally vaporised. My ears were ringing for a long while after that. Does that help?”

“Do you remember anything specific about his barracks? Any details at all?” Haru asked. “Helpful ones hopefully,” she mumbled quietly to herself.

“His barracks are like super long tents. Kind of like the ones the circus uses but more green. Like really green. And jeeps and tanks were driving around everywhere. One even ran over a toy I was playing with. So me and bunch of other kids played in the fountain but then a boy started peeing in the water and we had to—”

“What does this fountain look like!” Haru shouted more than asked.

“It’s a really nice looking one. Sculpted. It had a baby-looking statue that was peeing into the fountain. That was why the kid—”

“Cool! Thanks! I know where the barracks are.”

Action Kid sharply inhaled, renewed with a terrifying vigour. “What are we waiting for then? Let’s go. Let’s go!” He was waving them on, only to accidentally step on a skull. “Oops.”

The fountain was at a place called Caliban Square, where neither the aforementioned Caliban was there nor was it in the shape of a square. It was all rather baffling. There were only rubber trees with ribbon-like leaves, which curled when KD poked it out of curiosity, and giggle grass that bristled with glee as they walked across it toward the barracks. Or at least what remained of it.

The barracks tent was a deflated canvas crushed under a mountain of bricks after a building overhead was calved by some winged metal vessel, now twisted into a wreck on the opposite end of the square. The Entropic Entity must have charted a path of destruction through this area as well. Massive, striding footsteps had torn up road and stone, exposing the earthen underlayer of the street. Heavy hands wide enough to blot out the sun must have shorn the tops off the surrounding buildings. Nothing could have survived this ruination.

A sense of forlorn hope must have struck Action Kid at the same time. He was blinking rapidly, standing still as a stalk.

“Perhaps we can clear the rubble, check underneath all the junk,” KD suggested.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, KD. With all the debris that’s fallen on top…” Haru sucked through her teeth. “But maybe we can find a clue, figure out his last whereabouts. He had to have gone somewhere. It’s not over yet until we can find a dog tag.”

“Don’t say that!” Action Kid shouted. His face was red, full of fury. The plastic effigy of Action Man creaked in his hand as he strangled it. “He’s still out there, and he promised to eventually find me.” And then the boy stormed off.

“Wait!” KD reached for him, though Haru stopped them.

“Give him some space,” she said.

KD watched as the boy stomped over to the fountain, all alone. They chased after him anyway, for grief was a burden best shared with others.

The fountain was a large rectangular pool of cat tails and purple algae. Somehow a tank had ended up sitting in the shallow waters, gathering rust and preening ducks. Action Kid was standing magnanimously, looking over the tepid waters with a slouch. KD walked up behind him.

“Go away,” Action Kid said. “I know my brother is still alive and well out there.”

KD stayed.

The boy sniffed. “My brother promised me when he put me on the army truck. He’d come back for me after the big bad guy was gone. I just assumed that, you know, as a soldier, he’s just taking care of the other bad guys out there. He always wants to make the world a safer, better place. He always has…”

“If I may ask, what is the illustrious name of your warrior brother?” KD asked.

“You talk really funny, you know that? Like you’re always in a play or something.”

“I do like to treat combat as a form of play while I drive my enemies to their knees.”

Action Kid sniffed hard, chuckled. “His name’s James Atkon. An armoured officer, actually. He’s part of direct-fire support.”

“Sounds like a prestigious rank.”

“He’s really cool, yeah.”

“I think I know that name.” A slow and low voice startled the preening ducks into taking flight.

Action Kid nearly fell into the water.

KD scanned their surroundings, fists balled and ready for a fight.

The thing that was supposedly a tank startled to life. Thick stout limbs and a tapered head poked out from the rusty vehicle. It groaned as it rose from the water slowly. KD recognized it as a turtle tank.

“Do you know him?” Action Kid asked, his voice bright and full of hope.

The turtle tank yawned and smacked its lips. “Of course I know Officer Atkon, we fought together.”