I follow Garut back into the house and into the guest bedroom where we put Gael. To my surprise, he’s already awake and being cared for by the old dwarven woman.

  Well, cared for is a generous term. She’s really just sitting on the edge of the bed talking away about various things she’s done and encountered recently.

  “Ah! Look who it is! Looks like we made it out fine all things considered!” He says loudly, clearly hoping to escape the one-sided conversation with the woman.

  She looks at us in somewhat mock-anger, but it still sends a shiver down my spine.

  “Yeah looks like it.” I say while rubbing the back of my head.

  The room goes silent for a few moments, before I finally decide to speak up.

  “So, uh, what now? I mean we did what we originally set out to do, no? Where do we go now? What do we do?”

  “Well, for you, I think you should still head to the saving face corporation. As I said before, they have a lot of unique opportunities if you manage to make it in.”

  “Do they have a branch here?” I ask.

  “I believe they do, though I’m not exactly sure where it is…” He says looking at Bretta hopefully.

  She sighs out, “Fine I can take the kid over and put in a recommendation or two.”

  “You can give out recommendations?” I ask, surprised.

  “You bet, I’m technically on the local branches board of directors, though I haven’t gone to a board meeting in years. It’s mostly an honorary position if anything.” She says proudly.

  “I see…” I say sinking to thought before asking, “If you don’t mind me asking, how do you know Gael? Like what’s your relationship?”

  She looks at Gael in faux shock and anger.

  “Gael! You never told your friend about your dear wife!”

  “Your wife?” I say somewhat shocked.

  Gael sighs before replying, “Yes, technically she’s my wife. Though we haven’t seen each other in decades, if not centuries. Though for us that practically feels like a blink of the eye, considering how old we’ve gotten.”

  “Yes indeed, how quickly time flies.” She says nostalgically

  “I’m confused, why haven’t you guys seen each other in so long?” I ask curiously.

  “Well, it’s a bit of a long story, but to get to the point, we were both Kingdom agents on earth, and we had differing views of the Kingdom. I still believed that the Kingdom was good, she thought it was bad. I’m simplifying a bit but all you need to know is, she technically betrayed the Kingdom. Though maybe she was right to do so after all. I didn’t think the Kingdom would stoop to as low as it had yesterday. I mean seriously, killing a not even twenty-one-year-old kid? Ridiculous.”

  “I hate to say I told you so, but I saw the path the Kingdom was heading towards. It felt like every year there was a new line they were willing to cross. So I moved here, to the neutral territory of the Temple of Archania, where not even the most bold of superpowers dare to cause trouble, lest the meet the might of the crusaders.” Bretta says seriously.

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  “Crusaders? I haven’t seen any of them around, where are they? Actually thinking of it now, I haven’t seen any type of police force, what’s up with that?”

  “The city doesn’t need a police force to keep watch to criminal or anything, they have the watcher for that.” She says mysteriously, very obviously hoping I’ll ask who the watcher is.

  I sigh.

  “Ok who’s the watcher.”

  “A mysterious figure who sits at the top of the Temple of Archania. He watches every street, every alley, and every corner of the Temple to make sure no crimes can be committed without punishment.”

  I stare at her skeptically, not believing a word that she just told me. I look over at Gael, my face looking for what the real answer is.

  “What she said is all technically true, though a bit dramatized. The watcher does indeed sit at the top of the Temple of Archania, and is most likely a tier 19. He or she most likely have some sort of special class that allows them to create a domain around them in which they can see all of it. In this case that means there’s pretty much security cameras places on every street, alley, and public building.” Gael clarifies.

  “But, isn’t that a bit, I don’t know, invasive? Can they see into houses?”

  “Well most foreigners do think it’s a bit invasive, but if you don’t like it, everyone is free to leave. To answer your second question, no, only public building are able to be seen into. This used to not be the case, but a law was passed a few hundred years ago that stopped the surveillance of private homes. Though in a sense, none of them are really private considering the Temple owns all of them.” Bretta answers.

  “How does the Temple own all of it?”

  “Well technically this whole city is part of the Temple, that’s why you don’t hear people call it a city name or whatever, the whole things is the Temple of Archania, and therefore sacred. That also why there’s such an emphasis on security, as any crime or similar shenanigans are seen as tainting the holy land, or whatever.”

  “I see…” I say sinking into contemplation at the amount of info I just learned.

  On one hand, the city seems like a paradise for hardworking, honest citizens, but on the other hand, it’s almost dystopian, with no freedom and no right to privacy.

  ‘Guilty until proven innocent is the rule of the land here, I suppose.’

  “Alright, well, that’s enough questions for today. I made some breakfast for the lot of you. Maybe you can fill me in on what exactly happened. Gael told me the gist of it, but a good story ain’t nothing without the details!”

  As she says that, we all funnel into the kitchen, Gael using Garut as a support. Once we are all sat around the table, I begin to tell Bretta the series of events that took place this past month, including the death of Uncle Moren, which blankets the table in a solemn atmosphere.

  We quickly change the subject to other matters though, and during one of these conversations, I ask Garut a question that’s been burning in my head for a few hours.

  “So how did you even know to go here Garut?”

  He looks at me then gestures to Gael, “He told me.”

  I look at Gael to see him rubbing the back of his head somewhat abashedly.

  “Well, to be honest, I wasn’t sure who would make it. Just in case I was one of the ones that didn’t, I told Garut where he could go to help get you both set up nicely.”

  “How wouldn’t you be able to make it out? You’re the strongest out of all of us, if anyone was gonna make it out, it would be you, no?”

  Gael’s face takes on a dark tone.

  “Rowan, you must understand, the amount of luck required to do what we just did was, quite frankly, astronomical. There were about a million and one things that could, and probably should, have gone wrong. Like for example, what if the Kingdom and the Empire didn’t both have tier 9’s that showed up? No chance in hell we’re making it out then. Also what about if instead of fighting each other, the Kingdom and Empire soldiers decided to team up to take us, a mutual enemy, out. You get my point?”

  I nod.

  “Good, now, we’ve been given pretty much a second chance at life. I don’t want to see either of you two waste it. It’s not what I want, and it’s sure as hell not want Moren would have wanted either.” Gael says seriously.

  With that, our dinner ends.

  ‘Gael said applications for the Saving Face Corporation end in two days. I want to make it there by today. No point in waiting.’ I say to myself as I get ready to once again head out.