“Hello! Hellooo,” Harvey called out, standing in front of the large tal gates to the earthen fortress.
“What’s the password?” a tiny voice called back. It sounded like a girl no older than 10. Why would soone like her be manning the gates?
“We don’t know, sweetheart,” Hannah replied. “But I can prove that we’re from Earth. Ask anything you want about the Barbie movies.”
“Barbie? I’m too old for Barbie!” she complained.
“Don’t say that! You’re never too old for the best movie series ever made!” Hannah laughed.
“Fine! What’s Barbie’s horse nad in Princess and the Pauper?” she asked.
“Easy! Serafina. You couldn’t have picked a harder one?” Hannah replied.
“You put on the spot! Just a second, I’ll go get grandpa Dean to open the gate for you,” the girl replied.
“Barbie? That’s your go-to?” Harvey chuckled, looking up at Hannah riding on Buttercup.
“Duh. Barbie unites as all,” she replied.
Their group of 130 waited for a few minutes until the heavy tal gates started creaking open. An older man who had to be pushing 70, with a mix of gray and white hair combed over to hide the thinner patches in the middle. He had a thick beard of the sa color, and the splotchy mix of gray and aged skin and eyes all of the Veilstriders shared. He wore simple clothes. Canvas pants and a tan cotton shirt, with no weapons or armor in sight.
“My granddaughter tells you’re all from Earth. We’d love to help out however we can, but the fort is running out of room for refugees,” Dean said.
“We’re not looking for a place to stay,” Harvey corrected. “We ca to help you all escape the trial.”
“Co again?” he stamred, disbelief clear on his face.
“We defeated the Undead army. It’s ti to go ho,” Harvey explained.
“You… you did? I wanted to believe when the portal changed, but…” Dean muttered.
“Sothing happened to your portal?” Hannah asked.
“Co inside. The beasts around here are pretty ta, but we shouldn’t leave the gate open longer than we have to,” Dean urged.
Walking through the gate, Harvey saw a massive field the size of multiple city blocks filled with large tents. Campfires burned in firepits spaced at regular intervals, each with a group of children and elderly huddled around for warmth. They sat on camping chairs like the ones you were more likely to find outside a youth baseball ga than atop an actual mountain, each heavily padded and sporting multiple heavy blankets.
“Do you guys have a Loom? Or one of John’s mirrors?” Hannah asked.
“Who’s John?” Dean asked.
“My na’s John,” Julian’s old captain introduced. “But I’m not the one they’re talking about. All of our Outposts received crystal mirrors where we could buy things with rit. Ours were all destroyed when the Outpost collapsed, so we’re wondering if we can use yours to buy so more food and supplies.”
“I’ve never heard of any magic mirrors. All of our food shows up in the square each morning,” Dean explained.
“Interesting. You didn’t need rit to buy all of this?” Harvey asked.
“Son, I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about. The System hasn’t let any of us leave this place since we all had that vision two months ago. All we knew was that an army of skeletons wanted to reach our portal, and we’d have to rely on you, young folk, to save us.”
Harvey was surprised that the System would just give these people everything they needed to survive. He’d expected the fortress to serve only as a safe place to sleep, but the fact that they couldn’t leave it at all proved the System wasn’t quite as ruthless as he thought.
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Well, except that it forced them to beco sitting ducks.
“I can’t tell you how happy we are to hear that,” Hannah smiled. “You don’t want to know what it’s like out there.”
Far ahead, the deep gong of a bell rang out. Harvey looked toward the sound and saw the stone pillar with the portal swirling above. It looked like liquid tal, but unlike the aquamarine color he’d seen in the vision, it was now a formless gray nebula barely visible against the night sky.
“A delivery? At this hour? Must be for you,” Dean surmised.
They weaved their way through the camp, all eyes snapping towards them. A girl with long blonde hair ran towards them and hid behind Dean’s leg.
“Is that a deer?” she asked.
“Yeah! Isn’t he handso?” Hannah cooed.
The girl nodded eagerly, fighting to decide whether to run up and pet Buttercup’s vibrant coat or keep hiding.
“Do you want to ride him?” Hannah asked.
“Can I, grandpa?”
“Sure, you can! If it’s ok with…” he paused.
“Hannah.”
“If it’s ok with Hannah, it’s ok with ,” Dean smiled.
“What’s your na, pretty?” Hannah asked, sliding out of the saddle.
“Ava,” she mumbled.
“That’s a pretty na. This is Buttercup!”
Pretty soon, they were sward with children, all gawking at the armor and weapons each of them wore. Dean tried to calm them down, but they ran in circles around the older man, begging to hold their swords and shields.
“Must’ve been hard to keep them entertained all this ti,” Harvey laughed.
“You have no idea,” Dean groaned. “Ava does a good job keeping them from getting too wild. Do you have kids? Oh, and what was your na?”
“Harvey. And no, I don’t have any kids, but I’ve got plenty of siblings.”
Approaching the tower, they saw the simple brass bell that had called them. The tower was surrounded by a cobblestone square with tables and empty crates piled high.
“What is this?” Dean gasped.
At the base of the pillar, long buffet tables were piled high with steaming trays of food. Steak, lobster, potatoes, bread rolls, jams, jellies, vegetables, and cakes. He even saw a few small mountains of chicken nuggets and French fries that nearly made one of the younger boys pass out. It was like the buffet on a cruise ship, but slled like it had been made with the highest-quality ingredients instead of the cheap stuff you could buy in bulk.
“You guys have been eating like this the whole ti?” Hannah gasped. “I’m surprised you’re all still so skinny.”
“No. It’s usually nothing but simple als. We’ve never gotten anything like this before.” Dean replied.
“Looks like the System wants us to celebrate before we set out!” Harvey bead.
“Dean? What’s all this?” An older woman asked as she rushed up next to them.
“A feast! Harvey, this is my wife Alice. This young man and his friends say they defeated the Undead.” Dean said.
“You’re kidding! Does that an?” Alice gasped.
“We can go ho,” Harvey smiled.
“But let’s eat first. Do you folks mind helping us get plates for so of us who can’t move around as easily as we used to? Then we can get to know each other a little better.”
They spent the next half hour carrying food to the various campsites. A few of the older children helped out as well, but many also had to take care of the kids who were still too young to feed themselves. He was happy to see these people were ok, but it tore him up to see kids this young ripped away from their families. He knew the only reason they were here is because they had died, but he couldn’t fathom trying to explain that to a toddler desperately searching for their mommy and daddy.
Those first few weeks in the trial must’ve been pretty traumatic, both for the young and those too old to help them, no matter how much they wanted to. Part of him was glad he’d been in Veils End. At least out there his problems could be killed.
Once everyone was busy stuffing their face, Harvey, Hannah, Elena, and John joined Dean, Alice, and Ava at a table.
“So, where are you guys from?” Dean asked, carefully cutting into a slab of steak for Ava that was bigger than her head.
"Vegas," Elena said.
“Idaho,” Hannah answered. “John and Harvey here both lived in California.”
“No kidding! So did we!” Alice smiled. “What part?”
“My family’s in Los Angeles. Have been for decades,” John replied.
“Alright! What about you, Harvey?” Alice asked.
“Cupertino. I worked for Empire Engineering in San Jose,” he explained.
“What a small world! We live in San Jose!” she bead. “Don’t you just love it?”
Harvey froze mid-bite, a pit forming in his stomach. “Uh, yeah. I enjoyed living out there. I’m originally from Phoenix.”
“I’ve heard there are so lovely little cities around there, but I couldn’t stand the heat. California girl, born and raised. Anything above 90 and I’m toasting,” Alice said.
They made small talk while they ate, talking about their lives before the trial. They regaled them with their experiences out in the forest, both while building up their Outposts and taking down the undead army. They made sure to spare the details so as not to disturb Ava, and all three listened with rapt attention.
Dean and Alice were perfect hosts, easily keeping the conversation going. It made sense when he learned that they owned a country club that Cleo had played tennis at a couple of tis, making them both rich and extrely well-connected. Harvey wanted to enjoy the night. The delicious food and warm company, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d t these people before.
“I’m sorry, but can I ask you a kind of sensitive question?” Harvey asked.
“Anything,” Dean smiled.
“How…” he stamred. “How did you guys die?”
The table went quiet, Hannah looking at him with an incredulous expression.
“Nobody wants to talk about that right now,” she said.
“It’s ok. We died in a car crash,” Alice answered.
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