---Tree Station 5---

It was already visible from far away. A giant tree in the middle of nowhere jutting out from the mountain landscape. They felt like they were hallucinating, seeing the skyline of a small city below the canopy of the supernatural tree.

They were unsure whether to approach or not. The journey was harder than expected, with every fight leaving them barely alive. They could really use a safe resting spot. Lastly, their desperation drove them to the entrance of the city.

Even though they had gotten used to it during their time in the Muir Empire, seeing a city gate just standing around, without a wall or anything, still felt weird to them. But they knew this meant there was a barrier stopping entrance anywhere else.

As they got closer they found that there was a curtain of vines hanging down from the crown of the tree, that was drooping down closer to the ground just above the gate. In front of the gate stood a troop of guards wearing shining silver armor.

"Please identify yourself and state your reason for travel," one of the guards, a young man, stepped forward and spoke in a polite but commanding tone. They had blanked out a little in front of the sight and the aura the armor gave off.

"Ah, erm, we are Ambassadors from Beta. We were sent on a diplomatic mission to Delta, by the new Governor of the Muir Empire," their buff leader explained. She had practiced this speech for days during their travel.

"Wasn't Beta destroyed?" the guard asked puzzled.

"Our great leader is in the middle of reclaiming it. That is why we were sent on this diplomatic mission...But say, what is this place?"

"Is this your first time on Urth? You are traveling to Delta and don't know about the trade route? This city is Tree Station 5, the third largest city between Delta and Mount Agra."

"A-A city in the No Man's land?" she asked slightly confused.

They had been away for too long. The idea that people had started settling outside the districts was hard to grasp for them. Mount Agra was another unfamiliar name, but Tree Station definitely fit the overall flair of this place.

"Seems like you lack a lot of information for a group of ambassadors, no?" the young guard asked jokingly.

"We have been away for a long time..." the buff leader answered a little disillusioned.

From their perspective, they had only experienced the start of the change in Urth. After the initial war between Beta and the old Muir Empire, there was a long blank for them as they were nothing more than lab rats. Their clearest and strongest memories of Urth after the Apocalypse was Adam leading them in his rebellion against the imperial forces.

Despite growing up in beta, they knew next to nothing about the current state of the world. It was written straight across her face and the guard seemed to take pity on them. If there was something he understood very well at this point, then most people had a tragic fate to look back to.

"Well, you are lucky. It's not like we are very busy here. If you have the time, I can answer some of your questions to help you get around. My name is Marco, by the way;" holding out his hand for a shake.

"Marco, what are you doing? We are here to guard the gate, not to gossip with travelers," the other guard finally scolded him.

"Come on, Paolo. These guys are obviously out of the loop. I'm sure they have a story to tell. It's not like I'm going to tell them anything secret," he shrugged and looked back at their group.

"My name is Beth. I would be glad if you could give us some info," the massive woman finally said after some deliberation and shook the young man's hand.

And thus, the young man, Marco, brought their general knowledge up to date starting with the evacuation of Beta, the rush to explore the No Man's Land for resources, the creation of the trade route, the situation in Delta, and the subsequent independence of Minas Mar as their own district.

In exchange, Beth also spoke openly about their goal to rebuild Beta as a safe haven for the people of Urth, even though it was as a province of the Muir Empire. She strongly insisted that Adam's, their leader's, goal was to rebuild and govern Beta as it was before.

"So, if you want to travel to Delta, you just have to follow the Tree Route and you will end up there. Maybe you could also find a group of adventurers to travel with or a merchant caravan to join," Paolo said, who joined the talks after a while.

Beth nodded thoughtfully, but after all, she heard, maybe Delta wasn't the best place to look for help.

"What if we wanted to ask for the help of Minas Mar? Where would we have to go?" she suddenly asked. Her question was met with a short silence during which the two guards shared a glance.

"Well... the closest place where something can decide to help you would be Little Sigma, however, the main administration is still seated at the former guild HQ, which is now the embassy in Delta.

"Little Sigma?"

"Oh, I didn't mention that. Although we could get into contact, Sigma District had also been able to deal with the apocalypse until recently. It was hit by a great calamity and the survivors evacuated with the help of Princess Leana of Chrona.

The population of Tree Station One, the biggest city and closest to Delta, is mostly made up of those survivors. Since Minas Mar opted for a system of self-governance, the city recently decided to change its name to Little Sigma. You know, as a reminder of their old home," Marco explained readily.

That was another big news to the research subjects of Beta. More than the initial three districts had persisted. Maybe Sigma was not the only one still fending for themselves, unbeknownst to the world?

…

---Storm Wall, Central Mountain Range South West of Delta---

Two figures wearing thick parkers were standing at the entrance to a huge mine and frosty winds and snow ripped at them. They looked into the hole that led deep into the rocky mountainside.

"Are you sure Minas Mar's claws won't reach all the way out here?"

"Don't worry, we haven't published our finds yet. Even if they want the , they have to buy it like everyone else. The contract doesn't allow them to interfere with us over territory."

"But they are a district now. Couldn't they come after us for something stupid like labor laws?"

"Pff, what labor laws? We caught these guys that invaded our world through the portals. I doubt anybody is going to take a stance for them. What is wrong?"

The other suddenly whipped his head around, looking at the massive meteorological catastrophe that was the perpetual storm hindering them from reaching the western desert.

"I thought I saw a shadow."

He kept his eyes glued to the almost solid wall of moving winds, snow, and ice. This was the place even those of a higher level among them were unable to cross. Not just talking about the severe drop in temperature, but the massive winds would simply sweep a person away.

They had tried to cross it for weeks without success. They also couldn't walk around it. The only positive result of their attempt was that they found a special ore when trying to cut a tunnel through the mountains below the storm.

The tunnel itself was also a failure. The terrifying wind had already cut deep into the rock, creating something like a storm canyon. Trying to tunnel under that was too ineffective. Not only was it expensive, nobody knew how deep the winds could cut into the rock. If they built it, it might just get cut off again later on. Another expedition was looking for other paths north of Delta instead.

"Inside that? There are a lot of shadows in the storm."

"But it really looked like something alive."

"I doubt there is anything that could survive the conditions inside. I wouldn't worry, it was just your eyes playing tricks on you."

"Well.. maybe you are right."