“Ready Grunt? 3, 2, 1, GO!”

Corvayne flexed and pushed and grunted a little while Grunt used one hand to help him lift the chunk of metal onto the truck. He kept his ears open as they worked for sirens announcing that the bank job they had just did would come back to them, but they were on one of the last tasks before leaving and Corvayne would only stop short of saying aloud they were in the clear, if only because saying it would jinx him.

Grunt motioned for them to finish the job so Corvanye helped him lift and mount the third hoverbike onto the back of the truck, all three sliding into a sort of metal contraption between the showers and the kitchen. Grunt pushed the rack in then snapped the interior door shut. Mosh dusted his hands off like he had lifted a finger. Corvayne didn't point this out because he had been building this beast most of the week.

The little goblin chuckled and sighed. “You know, it's funny Boss. I could have been doing stuff like this for YEARS if I wasn't such a chicken back home! Look at this thing! I mean,” Mosh coughed “I had a GREAT base to build off of, but Boss, I love this monster! We're going to go on a big adventure in it, and I'll be behind you guys the whole time!”

Corvayne looked at it. “I would have liked if we could have kept the orange paint job, but with the layer of black it's pretty sweet.” He put a hand on Mosh's shoulder. “You should be proud of yourself Mosh. You've made a pretty cool mobile base.”

Mosh held up a finger. “It's made to be modular, so if we get the right stuff, I'm going to improve it. Make a home away from home that's a real mansion. Also, uh, give it legs because wheels are, well... we'll see if my little project pays off.” Mosh rubbed his hands, grinning.

Corvayne looked over at the huge vehicle. “I'm going to say it again, I don't know if this thing is going to be able to handle, uh, steep hills, let alone if the terrain is a forest.”

Mosh smiled. “The road outta town keeps going through the portal... We didn't buy this thing totally blind as an impulse buy! We peeked a little, Spears mentioned a pilgrim's road thingy where there's paths between worlds, and Seru did some interviewing at the bar. Chances are if there's a road into a portal, there will be more. And hey, worst case I'm sure we can... sell this thing back to Brines or whatever.”

Corvayne frowned. “I don't think that's really something we should do to him. What use would he have for it?”

Someone honked the horn right after he said that.

The little goblin held his hands up. “ALL RIGHT! All right, Dawn will take it back! Either way, we're all loaded, everyone's aboard. Corvayne, I'm going to be front, and I wanted you and Wick and Nyx and Spears since if you need to know where the wipers or shields are, well, I know what all the buttons are for.”

As always, letting someone else think about these details worked out. “Makes sense. Wick's the leader and Spears might remember something since she has possibly been this way before.”

Corvayne climbed up into the cab. It was arranged with the driver sitting up at the front of three comfortable looking seats in a space tall enough to stand, with a standard wheel for the vehicle on top of a cockpit sized array of levers and buttons. There were lots of screens with important information like Cascadian time and date, outside temperature, if the atmosphere was breathable, and which radio stations it was picking up were playing commercials. Nyxion had taken the driver's seat and was wearing clothes that Corvayne suspected were a fancier version of his own usual outfit. He also had a pilot's cap on.

“Nyx. You taking the first leg of driving then?” Corvayne asked as he moved around the front three chairs to get at the twin bunks.

Nyxion turned around. “Of course, and I have a lovely Co-Pilot to help navigate.”

Mosh rubbed his ears. “Geez Nyx. What do I say to that?”

“Not you, you half-baked booger with an engineering degree! I mean Lady Spears, of course.” He turned and smiled at Spears, who patted him on the back.

“Thanks Nyxion! You know Corvayne, I've said it before but I can't believe how friendly they are! I bet the village will love them!” Spears settled into a chair and looked back at him twice with a little smile.

Nyxion smiled back. “Well, I like the sample of villagers I've seen hah haaaa!”

Corvanye just waved once then turned away, not sure what to say to Spears. Instead he focused on getting set up for the first leg of the drive, placing his mostly empty backpack in a netted cubby and climbed up to the bunk in the cab, vanishing his boots using his ring as he laid down. Up front there was chatter then a blip as LBCs voice came on over the radio. “We're loaded up and ready here.”

Mosh grabbed the CB radio. “Got a few more checks! I don't want this thing to explode.”

Wick popped her head out of the other bunk's curtain. “It better fucking NOT... while we are inside.”

Mosh muttered something about crazy little women then went back to flicking switches on and off, tapping lights, and finally taking a take out container of noodles and opening a hatch in the floor to shove it in. “Okay. I think we're ready. Boss do you want a count down?”

Nyxion rolled his eyes. “It's a CAR not a rocket.” He then cleared his throat and pulled the radio down, and took on a slightly deeper voice than the normal snooty tone he had. “Excellent. As our Captain I just want to say that you are the finest crew I could-”

The radio crackled. “Are you wearing your yacht hat?” Lady Blood Claw asked in a flat tone.

Nyxion bit his lip and glared at the radio, which came alive again with LBC's bored voice. “You are. Copy that.”

Wick climbed up into the other bunk, stowed her glasses in a pouch over the bed, then was asleep almost instantly.

Nyx grumbled then tapped a screen to look backwards, then hit another button and there was a clack, and Corvayne could see the doors of the garage opening, then he turned the key, and there was a roar and a purr of a huge engine coming alive, lights in the cab briefly flaring then fading along with a low hum that for a moment he felt in his bones. The huge machine eased out of the garage then slowly turned backwards before Nyxion straightened it out. From there it was smooth sailing, with the giant wheels gliding over potholes and only one curb as they made their way over to the freeway.

It was the middle of the night and Copper Mill Road was nearly empty, which was good because the truck took up two lanes. They passed the community center and the apartments attached to them, and Corvayne felt a little sad to see everyone's lights off. Mister I had assured him that someone else responsible was watching the building, but everything he hadn't felt from walking away from the walls of The Watchers Village he felt now as the apartment vanished behind other buildings.

The route also took them past the burnt out husk of the train yard they had trapped, hunks of twisted steel laying to the side of the on ramp Nyxion carefully guided them up. Then the engine roared as they came up to highway speed over Old Town and Corvayne caught a glimpse of the warehouse, still battered and written off as a loss. He gave it a tiny salute.

The rest of the city was a blur of lights over the sound and he just watched the glowing buildings and trains as they sped along the left two lanes of the freeway, and in what felt like a flash the city was gone, fading behind them as they made their way over the same bridge he had came into the city as they sped into the mountains. Patches of fog preceeded them driving up through the clouds, bits of water condensing on the windows and streaming off. Nyx tried to put on classical music but Mosh put on a twangy song that Corvayne felt went better with going up the hills in a big truck on a dark night.

They punched through the clouds to see a brightening sky, and crested the last hill. A the top the morning sun blinded Corvayne for a moment before Mosh slapped a button and the windows tinted out. As they started down the switchbacks Corvayne felt something poke his back and reached under his shirt and pulled out another stinging black shard and tossed it in his storage, not knowing where the garbage was, yet. The scenery pulled him back to the walk to Cascadia. It felt like a long, long time had passed, but it was what, a few months? Maybe half a year from all the stretched out time in dungeons.

Corvayne snapped out of his thoughts as Nyxion slowed the truck. They were gliding down the road to nowhere, gravel crunching as they pulled to a stop. Looking out the front Corvayne could see the metal guard rail and little circle of gravel he had arrived at, merging into the cracked dirt of the desert.

“This the right spot?” Nyxion lifted his cap a little bit, clearly enjoying himself as he turned to Spears. Corvayne might have to ask Mister I to look at Nyx's head, since the man had been acting very weird. Well, maybe later. Corvayne got down out of his bunk to look out at the shimmering portal. It was clear it went somewhere, with a different sandy desert beyond. Was it his world, his desert?

An instinct made him look backwards. First at Wick's sleeping form, then at the people following them, then in his minds eye he saw the city they had just left. He looked forward to where Nyxion and Spears, as well as Mosh, were looking at him.

He fumbled a little bit before he tried to straighten his back, and in the same voice Nyxion had been using he proclaimed, “Looks right to me!”

Corvayne wasn't sure what he was feeling. It was a mix of excitement and sadness. He was looking forward to the trip: they were going on a long adventure, one where he had a whole cartload of friends along for the ride. But he was also on his way back to his past, a dark place despite the sunshine he could see through the rippling portal, and he'd miss the city Cascadia. Spears had spoken of dark times, and he thought back to countless books, where a young man looked back at his town for possibly the last time before he started off to his destiny.

Mosh looked back and he must have saw something on Corvayne's face because he grinned with sharp teeth. “Boss, don't sweat it! We'll be back here, one way or another.”

Corvayne looked at the little goblin and smiled. “All right. Let me wake Wick up.”

One poke and she snapped away. “Fuck! FUCK what?!”

“We're at the portal.”

Wick rubbed her face and looked down at it. “Are the readings going?”

Corvayne looked to Mosh, who nodded.

Wick got down from the bed. “Okay. Go.”

Corvayne and Nyx must have been on the same wavelength, because their eyes met. That wouldn't do at all.

Corvayne puffed his chest out, putting his arms behind his back. “Captain Nyxion? Full sails ahead.”

“Aye aye, wait... I'm the captain! I should be telling... whatever! I've had my fill of this dumb planet, onwards!”

Driving through the portal, there was a wave of darkness, then there was a flash and he felt himself flung forward then snapped back into place as the truck rolled onto through to the next world.