Shadow Slave: Under Strange Stars

As soon as Shirou's hand landed on the blade in front of him he felt an almost imperceptible tingle run up his arm. It was a fleeting sensation, and something that he couldn't quite recreate in his mind after it was gone. The transient nature of that sensation aside though, he was much more aware of the fact that as soon as he picked up the blade in front of him he suddenly seemed to feel it in a way he hadn't moments ago. 

He had seen the blade on the wall as soon as he walked in the armory, one of hundreds of others like it. The steel itself wasn't anything that impressive, looking every bit like the other slender longswords on the wall. Shirou in fact hadn't actually grabbed this one in particular for any real reason other than it being the closest one his hand brushed over. 

But now that he was holding it in his hands Shirou felt so much more from the blade. He could feel its exact length, down even to the millimeter as he brandished it. He could tell the exact center of mass of it and felt how the cutting edge aligned with his grip as he subtly adjusted it. Beyond such simple things though was even a sense of how best to hold the blade and where in its construction faults laid. He felt his body slide into a rather simple yet well practiced stance as he held the blade forward. He knew that it had an inclusion fault half way through the fuller that could make it shatter if used to block there too much.

None of the information which seemed to slide effortlessly into Shirou's mind was something mystic or impossible to learn, but it was all the kind of thing that should only have been known to someone who had used and fought with that blade rigorously for years. 

With a bit of curiosity and suspicion in mind Shirou sat the blade back down on the rack and then walked across the room to a set of entirely different weapons. The rack was filled with huge scimitars, each one weighing several kilograms and they certainly seemed like the type of weapon that was ill suited to have ever been wielded by Ozen. They would be a good chance to rule out Shirou's vessel's lingering instinct as the source of the strange knowledge.

Just like the longsword though the same faint tingle went up Shirou's arm as he grabbed the blade, along with the same effortless supply of knowledge filling him. His stance adjusted to better hold the weapon, even as he realized that the hilt of the weapon hid a flaw in its tang. These weapons seemed only passable and were likely meant to be used by the rank and file soldiers, a fact made more evident by the faint machining imprints on the blade that signaled it was mass produced rather than hand forged. 

As Shirou felt this understanding fill his mind he realized that whatever was happening to him wasn't caused by his vessel. It had to have been something related to himself and his own soul. If he had to guess it seemed closely tied to his [Scion of Steel] attribute, which he had at first believed simply improved the instinctive abilities of his vessel somewhat. Now though it seemed that it was able to grant him insight into any weapon he touched. 

Not to mention the strange tingle he first got when he touched a new weapon. It wasn't something concrete yet but Shirou had the faintest compulsion to touch as many of the blades in front of him as he could. And since there really wasn't any reason not to, he gave into that instinct and walked along the armory wall, letting his hand brush across the hilts of everything he passed. Each time he felt the same tingle up his arm, somehow not a physical sensation despite being real all the same. And each time he did his mind was filled with information, growing sharper and sharper as he progressed. 

By the time Shirou had walked the whole of the armory he had laid hands on hundreds of weapons. By the time he reached the end his mind was beginning to offer information about the very material composition of the weapons themselves, all the way down to the atomic level. It was somewhat hard to make too much use of since the weight of information was growing each time but despite what should have been a debilitating amount of data Shirou's mind seemed to absorb and assimilate it all rather easily. 

He had made his way through the full arsenal of weapons on display, ranging from swords and axes, all the way to strange high tech crossbows with draw weights that felt like they were hundreds of kilograms. Part of his interest in touching them all had been chasing after the increasingly pleasant sensation that came from picking each one up for the first time, but the other part had been a genuine interest in finding new weapons that would best suit him for whatever trials he would face next in this nightmare. 

Shirou ended up settling on some choices that seemed rather odd to him in the end. He had expected that he would stick with a single longsword and end things at that. And yet even after finding a longsword that suited his tastes and had some better than average quality, his eyes were still drawn to another set of weapons. The first had been a pair of smaller scimitars that were suitable for being held in each hand. Shirou didn't find much unusual information when he picked them up and they seemed rather simple, but despite that fact when he held them in both hands, something about it felt hauntingly familiar. Seeing that he had been given carte blanche to take weapons, and considering their light weight, he slung them and their sheathes onto his waist without much more thought.

The truly strange final discovery though was when he laid his hands on one of the very few traditional bows on the wall. It was an odd enough sight to see crossbows at all on display aboard a massive mobile land battleship to begin with but Shirou didn't question that fact too much. He wouldn't doubt their ability given the draw on the weapons and the heft of their bolts in his hand though. 

If the crossbows were an odd sight though the scant half dozen bows on the back wall were even stranger. They were massive things, standing as tall as he was and built out of a veritable laundry list of advanced polymers and materials, at least based on what Shirou felt when he picked one up. 

In a rather odd twist, the long bows actually had an even higher draw weight than the crossbows did, a fact proven when Shirou put his fingers on the metallic cable of the string and had to strain himself to even pull it back. It almost seemed like the limbs of the bow wouldn't move an inch, but as he poured strength into them they yielded and began to bend. 

"You'll be needing some better gloves if you're planning to use a siege bow like that boy." The gruff voice of the quartermaster sounded from behind Shirou. He had been so engrossed in the bow and feeling its shape that her approach startled him enough to release the slightly drawn string. Even pulled back only a few inches, the released bow let off a whip crack as it snapped back into shape. The old woman cast another glance at the scrape left on his arm from the string. "Hmmm, need some better arm guards too. C'mon then Oz lets get you equipped and out of here."

The pair walked back to the entrance of the armory and to a counter at the front with a pile of materials on it. There was a bit of paperwork and a monitor to the side, seemingly some way to track inventory, but when Shirou reached for the paperwork to fill it out a firm had swatted him away. "Don't fret yourself with that kid. Ancestors know you work too hard, I can do a bit of paperwork for you lad. Now here are some gauntlets for the bow, and a duffel bag of harpoon arrows for it. Get yourself saddled up quick while I fill this out for you, don't want to miss your meeting do ya?"

Shirou's eyes widened at the mention of that and he looked up at the clock, seeing he had spent almost the full hour already just wandering and handling weapons. He grabbed the goods on the table and was quick to fasten the various assorted slings and straps over himself. It did end up making his mantle less free flowing, but that was made up for by becoming a veritable walking armory with two blades on the waist, a siege bow on his back, and a longsword across from it, all strapped over a midnight black cloak.

Despite the intimidating aura the young man beneath still looked gentle as a kitten to the woman watching him, mostly due to the way he was frantically rushing to get dressed before he bowed and thanked her. "Thank you very much for the assistance Ma'am. I'm sorry to have gotten distracted like that. I appreciate the help with the armor and the paperwork!"

His thanks trailed off as he ran out of the armory and left the old feline to finish logging everything, a wistful smile on her face at the sight of someone still so full of life despite the state of the world. 

***

Sargon was considered to be the oldest nation on Terra with a history stretching back eight thousand years. The only nation close to it in age would be the Sarkaz homeland of Kazdel, but it was not worth mentioning given that it never remained standing for much longer than a century.

Sargon though was known to the whole of Terra as the eternal nation and the birthplace of civilization itself. The very concepts of monarchical rule, agriculture, commerce, and science spread across terra from the seat of the ancient Sargonian empire. Even the very calendar used by the people of terra for the last thousand years was created by one of the most radiant and brilliant rulers that Sargon had ever seen, the legendary Lugalszargus who claimed the title of the 'Shah of Past and Future' through his grand conquests. 

The glory that Sargon once enjoyed would not last forever however, and in fact it was during his reign that Sargon fell from glory. After sitting upon his throne as an impeccable ruler Lugalszargus turned his gaze to the south and embarked on a grand campaign against one of the most chilling and dire poltergeists that had endlessly plagued his people. So horrible was the might of the southern beasts that the people of Sargon and all of terra as a whole dared not to even record their descriptions. Instead they only kept vigil against their incursions and offered the lives of brave soldiers to keep them at bay.

In the 15th year of the common calendar Lugalszargus himself had created he led the whole of Sargon's armies south, alongside forces of a great foreign conqueror. Even for a people as obsessed with history as the Sargonians, no reliable records of what transpired in that campaign existed. The only things that could be said with certainty was that Lugalszargus never returned from that campaign, and that after the battle the once lush and deadly rain forest to the south Sargon became a barren and unlivable desert.

From that point onward Sargon's story became a pathetic tale of clinging to past glories and ancient tales. An almost nauseating series of various petty Padishahs and Lord Ameers lords squabbling over an empty throne, with each who managed to worm their way into the seat being incapable of real greatness. The nation had been afflicted with an interminable need to look back at past glories and reminisce about what once was, even as the rest of Terra began to march forward into the future. 

The very battleships that Nishka was leading were a prime example of this fact. Her own flagship, the pretentiously named Light of Lugalszargus, was at one time the pride and joy of the Sargonian Military and meant to signal a new era of prosperity and strength for the nation. In reality it and its sister ships were the fleeting passion project of a Shahanshah from a century ago who wanted to have the same weapons the other nations began to create. 

And so he did what had become the norm for Sargon in the time since their golden age. He spent a veritable ocean of ancient treasures and gold to fund the ships' construction. And just like so many rulers that came after the great Lugalszargus, he did not want to wait for the ships to be built after his time. He did not want to invest in the slow process of building up industries and talent within Sargon herself and instead wanted glory and praise to come his way as fast as possible. And so he outsourced everything he could to those abroad, robbing any chance for development within Sargon and sending yet more of her treasures abroad as payment. 

In the end the nations of Gaul, Victoria, Ursus, and Leithanien collected many king's ransoms and Sargon was left with 5 great landships. 

Each one however required fuel to operate which had to be imported. And required ammunition and Ȁ̵̱̀ŗ̸̔t̶͔̎s̴̢̊̓ Ć̵͖ȃ̶͕͍ş̸̓͑t̷͚͛è̴̙r̸̻͠s̷̨̛͈ be brought in each time they ships were to fight. And required talent to maintain them that could only be found in other nations. 

Ultimately the ships ended up being little more than decorative pieces, their cost to operate was great enough to restrict them to serving as security tools for the central government or ridiculously oversized clubs to put down local uprisings. 

In time the cost to keep them active for such silly purposes became too much even for the Sargonian royalty, and even after throwing fortunes vast enough to drown a city in gold at them the five vessels were increasingly left behind by the rest of Terra, just like Sargon herself was. 

In the end they were moved almost 2 decades ago to be parked outside the great burial city of Menat-Ha'mait as a decorative show of force after some petty court insult from before Nishka's time. The facade of beauty the ships still wore was more a consequence of sandstorms keeping rust stripped off the outer hulls, and a lack of water to corrode what was exposed. That coupled with the fact that the ships were so expensive to operate that they hadn't seen real combat since they were commissioned lead to the appearance of beauty and strength where there was none. When anyone looked at the ships more deeply they would find aged and outdated hulks that were being held together by jury rigged repairs and outdated parts.

As Nishka looked out the command deck of the Light she mused on the fact that she was actually rather lucky that the ships were in the state they were. If they were more impressive, and actually well maintained then they would have been operated by the central government instead of being parked at Menat-Ha'mait as almost decorative shows of force. 

Despite being lucky enough to get her hands on them to spearhead her people's migration, it didn't change the fact that their age was an issue. Yet another one to add on top of all the other problems mounting before her. "I understand what you're saying William, but please let it wait until the meeting starts. I know fuel and supplies are running low but we have a number of factors to consider."

As soon as the caravan had reached the relative safety of the Hasheem Valley the captains of each landship made their way to Nishka's flagship. Some naturally arrived earlier than others and one in particular also happened to be more than willing to air his grievances to his Padishah before the rest arrived. William was a gruff looking Feline with a broad and stocky build, looking every bit like the stereotypical mechanic he was. He was one of the few foreigners present in the caravan, being a victoria mechanic contracted to help get the warships moving and ready to ferry citizens and soldiers out of Menat-Ha'mait when the collapse began. 

One of the irritating side effects of that fact was that the man didn't have any cultural deference to Nishka's position, and instead spoke to her like any overworked factory worker might talk to a boss who knows they can't be fired. "Bah, fine then lass. But soon as the rest of the folk get here I'll be shouting all the same. I know you Sargonians are used to slinging gold at things that upset you but that trick doesn't work these days."

Nishka could only respond to the words with a measured breath and a sigh of relief. She honestly didn't care that much about respect sent her way, so long as her people were able to survive she frankly didn't care about how people saw her. In the long run it might have chafed her retainers to see her treated like that but for the time being despite his manner of speech Nishka actually agreed with William. Her people had gotten used to handling any problem with the stored treasures of the past, and in a world where space itself was falling to pieces around them, even the molten gold waterfalls of the capital's treasury meant little.

The fragile silence of the bridge continued as more bodies trickled in. It was just a few minutes before the scheduled time to start that the door was opened once more, this time revealing a face that left a smile on Nishka's lips. 

Ozen was standing and moving around with no indication that he had been injured recently which brought a smile to her face. The state he had been in when Pasha found them both was a frightening thing for Nishka to witness. Pasha had not allowed her to try and reverse it since Ozen hadn't seemed to be dying but all the same the way that he had been almost sweating blood as they ran left her terrified. 

Nishka's own nervousness about his condition had been made worse when Pasha laid down her punishment. Once the medics confirmed he was stable Pasha had been adamant that Nishka wouldn't be able to see him until he woke up. It was hardly a severe reprimand given that Nishka had risked her life as she did but it was an effective enough one. Honestly she had a feeling Pasha understood her own feelings of guilt for allowing Ozen to get hurt like he did in the first place. If she hadn't broken the first amulet the two of them would have been able to return safe and sound. Even smarter though would have been asking Pasha to join them. Quite frankly that may have resolved the issue immediately, but it was all in the past now.

Seeing Ozen here, heavily rearmed and moving easily was a weight off her chest. As he made his way inside and took his place at her right, mirroring Pasha's own position on her left, Nishka felt both a weight off her chest and a degree of confidence fill her. 

Seeing the start time finally arrive Nishka cleared her throat and addressed the room. "I believe that everyone is here now, and we can begin. I want to begin by informing everyone of our current situation as it stands." With those words she gestured to a large electronic console in the center of the room, serving as both a temporary table and map.

On the map was a large landmass with a variety of topographies scattered across its surface, although the majority of them were the dusty brown of deserts or barrenlands. Across the map in various locations were makers that designated various nations of terra and their most recent locations. The accuracy of the map today was in question given that the coalition of nations had been migrating north aggressively but the most important parts of it were still accurate as far as Nishka knew. 

Namely the location of the vast expanse of Sargonian territory in the west of Terra, and the nigh impenetrable stormwall that the Sarkaz of Kazdel were keeping active. Disappointing as it was to see, the stormwall was farther east than it had been when it was first deployed. Despite being an unimaginably powerful catastrophic storm, the fact that the whole world of terra itself was being assimilated into this strange new land made holding one's ground nearly impossible. 

Even after five years of working to understand it more, the collapse phenomenon was still opaque and impossible to properly understand. The broadest strokes of it were understood now, namely that random spatial anomalies were popping up across western Terra which were wreaking havoc on the geography of the region. There was also the fact that the distribution of those anomalies seemed to resemble a steadily advancing wave. Far to the west or east of the collapse front things were stable, while the closer one got the less predictable things were as spatial anomalies appeared at random. 

It had been one such anomaly that had teleported their caravan so far to the west in the first place, forcing them to try and make their way back. Nishka and the people of Menat-Ha'mait had the unfortunate pleasure of living in one of the westernmost cities in Terra and the spatial anomalies impacted them sooner than most. In truth though, being translocated as they were was a rather miraculous outcome compared to some of the horror stories that began circulating once the collapse gained momentum. She had heard mentions of mountains being flipped over or inverted, and people that were caught on the edges of ripples being carved into pieces as space moved differently between their left and right side. There had even been stories starting to circulate about temporal breakdowns starting to appear by the time the evacuation caravan was put together.

With all that in mind, simply being dropped off a few hundred kilometers to the west was far from the worst thing in the world. But it did put them on the wrong side of the Amnannam Storm Wall, their people's best line of defence. "Our caravan is currently facing a number of related issues that we must come to a decision regarding and I'd like to start with the most pressing one. As most of you are no doubt aware by now, we are currently west of the Amnannam Storm wall." With a gesture to the map Nishka pointed to a vast line of spirals stretching across the west of Terra like a wall, to the west of it a lone red dot sat. "On our current heading we'll reach the storm wall in another four days and promptly be destroyed by it. This matter of our heading is the first order of business we must discuss. I want to propose abandoning our course through the storm wall and instead change course. Does anyone oppose?"

One of the captains in the room sat up and addressed the group. "Honorable Padishah, would it not be worthwhile to continue the course while we attempt to establish communications with the Sarkaz? If they open passage through the storms we can safely rendezvous with allied forces and resupply."

Nishka nodded at the man, "Respectfully captain Nadir, we must consider the risk such an action would pose not just to our group, but to those beyond. If any of the transcendent natives or corrupted beasts laying siege to the stormwall follow us through any passage I've little doubt they will be more than capable of laying waste to the forces on the other side. If terra loses the storm wall the hostiles the collapse has brought will flood the continent and cause countless deaths. We cannot forget that the bulk of our own Sargonian Brothers and sisters are braving the northern trek on foot, and would surely be swarmed if that happens." As she finished speaking Nishka looked back across the room, searching for signs of discontent and feeling relief when she saw none. "With the absence of any dissenting opinions let's call the first issue closed. After this meeting we will adjust our course. That does bring us to another issue though, one that Mister William was talking about with me earlier."

Taking the clear invite William stood up. "Well as the lass said now that yer all wanting to go anywhere but a straight line we've got a problem to deal wit. Mind you that even if ye were wanting to stay the course we'd still be having issues with keeping these near fossilized hulks moving." He accented his words with a stomp on the deck. "As it stands we've got five days of O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖ ̶̻̍ left before the whole caravan dries up and the desert takes us. Sadly as you're all aware five days north, south, or west won't have us sitting pretty. Which leaves us wit some choices to be made. And I'm offering my up own opinion to be gutting the landships and putting as many folks as possible on the vehicles that are left."

His words earned a round of chatter from the assembled captains, one of which stood up and glared at William with a look of worry and panic "Mister William, I can't agree with such a choice. These vessels are valuable historical artifacts, legacies of the 18th shah and the first landships Sargon ever built. Not only that, they're the largest and best defended in the caravan. We've got almost 3000 people on each of the landships and their guns have been holding our perimeter. If we lose them we'll be cramming people together so tightly they'll be left sleeping standing up, and we'll be forced to lean on our scouts to hold back corrupted beasts. We must simply find another way that does not discard or damage our people's heritage."

William shook his head in reply and pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand. "Listen here you loon! These five ships are drinking three quarters of the caravan's O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖ supply. I know some of that's going to the guns but all the same, we can't keep this up if we run out of fuel trying to drag these hulks around. Historical value wont mean shite when we're all stumbling through the sands fighting off beasts."

Before a shouting match could well and truly spark Nishka's voice echoed out through the room. "Please everyone, we cannot turn on each other so quickly like this. We are each of us rational people and we can handle this situation with maturity." She gestured to William as she looked at the captain. "Waseef, as much as it pains us all, we cannot cling to our history needlessly in this day and age. William has much expertise around matters of mechanics and his input cannot be dismissed. We may well need to consolidate and abandon some of the vessels." Her gaze then turned to William. "But I want us to consider any other options first before we abandon all five of them. Waseef's point stands. On sheer square footage alone these vessels can carry more than any other. These craft have the space to house and sleep more than the smaller vessels could. If we must, we could even force more people on board two or three ships and sleep in shifts, something impossible on the smaller craft. Beyond that, even if we were to sacrifice all five of the warships that only buys the rest of the caravan twenty days to travel. If we are to head north even that won't be enough."

The two men in question were quick to cool down, the logic of the counter not lacking. William was the first one to sit back down and speak. "Aye that's true, we'll be fucked no matter what then. Part of me wants to try and mention that the maintenance of these hulks is its own extra nightmare but your point is solid lass." As he sat William leaned back and massaged his temples with his hands. "We may be able to split the difference a tick here in that case. If we were ta drop two of the ships here and get folks moved about, my boys and I can scavenge what we can from em. I got a few lads with Ȁ̵̱̀ŗ̸̔t̶͔̎s̴̢̊̓ that're great for melting through metal so we can even carve off the cannons and engine components. The extra weight aint ideal to be sure but it would be enough for us to keep up with maintenance on what ships we keep."

Pasha took that moment to step up from Nishka's side and addressed the room. "That's all well and good but we should get to the biggest problem first everyone. Even if we slag everything and put all the fuel in one APC we still won't have enough to make it the thousands of kilometers north we have to go. We need to figure out a plan for our fuel before anything else."

The group fell silent at the reminder of the root of their problems. The fact of the matter was unless they got the fuel needed for their vehicles they would end up stranded in the desert. Unfortunately finding O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖ in the wastes of Sargon was vanishingly unlikely, even more so after the wavefront of the collapse had passed by and scattered things like a child rampaging through a sandbox. Perhaps it they had the months needed to dig and find a vein of the stuff it would be different but in a hurry they werent exactly going to find O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖ falling out of the sky…

Nishka's eyes widened as she looked down at the map and focussed on the storm wall itself. Despite being controlled by the Sarkaz using the Amnannam, it was still basically a constant catastrophe storm. And there was one thing that all catastrophes had in common which set them apart from normal natural disasters. Be they storms, earthquakes, or meteor falls, catastrophes left massive surface deposits of O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖ in their wake. "I… I may have an idea of what we can do for fuel. I'm not well learned in the process of mining and refining O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖, but I know that it is found in the wake of catastrophes. And there is a wall of them in front of us."

***

As Shirou stood in his position and listened to the discussion evolve in front of him he was struck by how deeply he had found himself in this strange and alien culture while still finding it strangely relatable. These people were seemingly of an entirely different species from him and yet the more he listened to them and watched them the more familiar their culture and mannerisms felt. 

There were still a number of differences, the mention of O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖ being yet another word that he was seemingly prevented from hearing, along with their mentions of catastrophes and the storm wall. But despite that they all seemed so human to him that it was a bit jarring. 

Despite the quick pace that it had started with the meeting drug on as soon as Nishka had proposed her plan for gathering more fuel. It seemed that these catastrophe storms had a tendancy to leave surface deposits of O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖ in their wake which the caravan would ba able to refine into fuel thanks to a refinery rig that had been brought for use as a transport. 

The issue that seemed to persist with that plan was the fact that aerosolized O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖ particularly the activated form of it seemed to be capable of infecting people with a rather horrible disease that most of the group was rather frightened of. The fact that Catastrophes seemed to almost entirely be composed of activated and aerosolized O̸̝̕ř̵̺i̶̮̋g̸̰͒i̴̼͠ṉ̴̿i̴͚͗u̴͋͜ḿ̷̖ made the prospect of going inside to mine it extremely dangerous. 

Despite that fear though the discussion didn't end out right. There was talk of a cure that had been developed by something called Rhodes Island as well as speculation that the storms may not be as lethal since they were being guided by the reformed Sarkaz. The later point was sadly shot down by a reminder that the storm's purpose was in fact to kill anything trying to cross it. 

Eventually as the night began to settle in, a proper plan was tacitly agreed upon. The caravan would prepare to depart at once but halt final departure while the civilians and crew from two of the five land battleships moved to the remaining three. As they did, William's crew would cannibalize anything of value from the two remaining ships and everyone would then set out to the northeast until they reached the edge of the storm and made camp at a particular location.. 

Maps for anything west of the collapse front were increasingly unreliable, it was only due to scouting and luck that they had managed to find the valley they camped in now. There was evidence so far though that particularly large landmarks were being relatively conserved even after the effects of the collapse passed over them. Even as mountains were being inverted into craters or shifted around dozens of kilometers, mountain ranges as a whole seemed to be staying put. 

This was the basis of Nishka's plan. If the topography of the western Sargon desert wasn't disrupted too badly then the caravan would be on track to reach the mouth of a river canyon that ran far to the east. The caravan would be able to stop and shelter their remaining ships in there while the volunteer team drove the mining rigs and mobile refinery farther east, using the canyon to blunt the storm and get them close enough to collect fuel.

By the end of everything the captains and other leaders seemed to have regained some optimism about their path forward before they left, leaving behind Shirou, Nishka, and Pasha.

Nishka let out a breath once the last person left the bridge and relaxed, shaking off the tension of leadership. As soon as she did she spun on her heels and buried her head in Shirou's in a tight hug. "OZ! I'm so glad you're ok! I was worried sick about you after you got hurt again."

The young man in question was a bit surprised by the unexpected contact as he tried to think of what to do. He still hadn't found a proper baseline for how this Ozen would react to something like that, and did not want to stand out too much. Luckily, it seemed that being a little awkward didn't raise any suspicion and after a few seconds Nishka pulled back and wiped her eyes as she looked up at him. "I'm so sorry about everything that happened Ozen, I… if I had been more careful with the amulets or contacted Pasha to help, then you wouldn't have had to get hurt like you did."

Shirou looked at her with a touch of confusion as he tried to understand why Nishka looked so distraught at the mention of the journey. They had made it back and she didn't suffer any major injuries, unless she was afraid of dying while they were traveling? She had gotten hurt healing him after all so she must have been worried about herself. The only other explanation was that she was worried about him getting hurt but that wouldn't be possible.

As Shirou continued to try and figure out what was troubling her a lightbulb seemingly went off in his head when he realized that the body he was in belonged to someone else. This Ozen person was clearly worth something to others, which suddenly made her words make sense to him. Since it was someone of value in this position then it was clear Nishka was afraid of him dying. 

A smile formed on his face and he looked down at her. "I'm sorry Nishka, I was a bit foolish on my part as well in hindsight. If I'd used the remaining amulet a bit better I would have probably not gotten hurt so much and needed you to heal me. Let's put it behind us now that we've made it back ok? Pasha seems to have already given us both some punishment."

Said woman looked over at the pair with a smirk on her face. "What a surprisingly sensible thing for you to say brat. I'm used to you being a lot more stubborn, not that I'm complaining though!" She raised her palms in placation and let out a laugh at her own joke, earning a snicker from Nishka as well. "By the way I've gotta say that when I told you to rearm I didn't expect you to take three swords and a siege bow for Ancestor's sakes. Do you even know how to use that thing?" 

Shirou looked back at the massive bow strapped on his back as Pasha gestured to it. He still didn't quite know why but he had a deep sense of familiarity with the weapon. Enough so that a strange feeling of self satisfaction bubbled up in his chest at the sound of Pasha's disbelieving question. "To be honest I just grabbed anything that felt right to me. As far as the bow goes though, I suppose giving it a test would be the best way to find out if I can use it, don't you think?"

***

Pasha, Nishka and Shirou all made their way out of the bridge and onto the outer deck of the Light of Lugalszargus. The vessel was parked as one part of a loose ring around the smaller vessels of the caravan and had its main gun pointing outward at the desert sands. 

Within the ring the host of the caravan was tightly packed with people moving about between vessels and lights shining in the night. Even just minutes after the meeting had concluded it seemed that word had already spread and people were moving about. The glow of orange lights that started to shine from two of the five land battleships even proved that William's men were already working to salvage them. 

Outside the caravan's ring the darkened desert spread out looking at first glance to be still and calm, though the infrequent roars of the Battleships' cannons proved that the calm was false. In addition to the long range defense provided by the battleship cannons the whole of the caravan's armed personnel were stationed around the perimeter eyes fixed into the darkness for signs of oncoming nightmare creatures.

Staying put like this was somewhat increasing the number of foes approaching the caravan but it was so far a manageable amount. Between the cannon's keeping back anything large and the rotating patrol squads handling anything small the safety of the caravan wasn't yet an issue, but it did require vigilance.

And standing with a stiff back before the railing of the Light, looking out as a patrol group engaged a worm-like nightmare creature was one such vigilant soldier. Drudge was wearing the same apparel he had in the heat of the day as he looked down on his men, keeping his eyes on them despite the trio of people approaching him. Even when the group came up to the railing beside him and turned their own eyes down towards the fight taking place Drudge kept his eyes glued to his soldiers.

They squad in question was a half dozen in number, engaged against an armored worm the size of the jeep they were riding in. Despite the danger it clearly posed though they were managing the fight calmly and drove in circles around it firing crossbow bolts at it as they did. As they continued to circle the creature one of the group climbed up from the top of the jeep and turned back towards the worm.

He wasn't carrying a weapon and at first glance his intention was not clear, but as he cast his arms back towards the creature and a spear of ice shot forth the mystery was solved. Moreover his attack managed to sail down the beast's open maw and bypass its armor leading to a quick and easy kill. 

Up above on the warship Drudge still didn't turn away wasn't until he confirmed the beast's death and his soldiers safety. Once the creatures twitching stopped he turned and greeted the three, "Padishah Nishka, Guard Captain Pasha, Guard Ozen, apologies for not greeting you sooner. To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?"

Pasha stepped up and rapped Shirou on the back, causing the young man to stumble and planting a smile on her own face. "This fella here was getting himself re-armed and went and grabbed a Zhayedan Siege bow. I figured we should make sure he can shoot the thing straight before we let him start using it."

Drudge looked at the massive weapon on Shirou's back and raised an eyebrow. "I'm certainly in support of that, I'd never let a novice archer on the field let alone carrying one of those." With that he gestured at Shirou to hand over the bow. As soon as its weight fell into his hands Drudge clutched the mass of metal and cabling tightly, straining as he tried to pull the string back and only managed to budge it a few centimeters. "I've only heard stories about those weapons being used to be honest with you lad. They're made for something a bit bigger than the average Sargonian. Can you even draw it back?"

Shirou calmly took the bow back from the older man and assumed an archer's stance. The bow's draw was indeed intense and simply straining with all his might wouldn't make a bow usable in practice. But ever since he had felt the bow in his hands Shirou had been thinking about how he might go about actually using it and he had a suspicion. 

With a thought aimed at the memory of his battle against the wolf Shirou called upon his S̵͔͒̕k̵͕͐̚i̸̯̒l̷͎̰̒̀l̸̗͊̒: [Reinforcement: Rank E]. He was focussing on his own strength as he did and although he didnt quite know what he was doing, he knew it worked when faint blue sparks danced across his arms, and the bow's resistance to him drawing it suddenly vanished. 

With a smooth controlled motion he pulled the string back and held the bow in its fully drawn position, giving the three onlookers a chance to both gawk at the sight of him drawing it as well as the light show he was suddenly putting on. "I think I can manage to draw it back Sir, the only thing left beyond that would be making sure I can aim it correct?"

Drudge was left staring at the young man in front of him with his mouth agape. He hadnt quite taking Pasha's words earlier that day to heart but looking at Ozen holding that bow in his hands made him a believer. "Yea lad, that'll be the last thing. Follow me up to the bridge top and lets see how well you can actually shoot that thing."

Shirou slowly released the tension in the bow and followed after the old man, Pasha and Nishka both trailing behind them. Each one was dealing with their own surprise at the display they had just seen with equal levels of confusion. Ozen showed no signs of awakening like the natives of this place, and he had never shown any aptitude for Ȁ̵̱̀ŗ̸̔t̶͔̎s̴̢̊̓. So what in the world was causing the lights they saw.

"All right then this will do. Go ahead and pick yourself a target and we'll see what you can do with that. We won't be playing around too much though lad. The spears that thing uses as arrows aren't exactly infinite so I wouldn't feel right using too many on target practice. Just give me three or five clean hits on a target of your choice and I won't have any objections to you using it around my troops, provided you never try to shoot a moving target near them that is." 

Shirou grabbed one of the meter and a half barbed lances of metal that he had been given by the quartermaster and knocked it on the bow. He didn't yet draw as he scanned his eyes across the desert but once he caught sight of movement to the west he focussed on it and started reinforcing himself again. As the sparks danced across his skin and he drew the bow back one more of the beastly worms breached through a dune of sand and began barreling down towards the caravan. 

It was the same size as the one that had attacked the patrol earlier but unlike before its mouth was held closed and covered by armored scales like the rest of its body. Despite the armor covering it Shirou didn't bother trying to find a weak spot or adjust his aim. He lined the bow up with the center of the beast's body and didn't even lead it to account for the arrow's travel speed, subtly guided by what he had felt from the bow in his hand.

A moment later he released the string with a thundering crack that left Nishka covering her ears in alarm. Five hundred meters away, the tank sized worm jerked to its side as a melon sized hole punched through its body, and ripped a meter wide gaping wound out the other side. A cloud of sand erupted from the ground where the lance arrow had landed, along with a rain of red mist as the gore that the barbed arrow tore from the worm spattered to the ground.

Robbed of a huge chunk of its body the worm's charge ended rather lamely and it slid forward in the sand, blood rapidly pooling under it as it twitched and writhed. 

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Juvenile Sand Crawler]

Shirou lowered the bow and turned back at the now thoroughly stunned Drudge as the older man looked through a set of binoculars at the worm's twitching corpse. Already the team that had been preparing to deal with the beast arrived and maneuvered around it's body, confirming the kill and even taking the time to rip the lance arrow back out from the ground. "Would you like me to find another two Sir?"

Drudge looked up from the sight of the now cooling corpse and took in the expectant yet respectful look on Ozen's face. He might have considered those words snark from anyone else but Ozen was always the blunt sort. Meaning he was being genuine about asking if he needed to kill two more beasts before he would be able to help. 

"No lad, I don't think that will be necessary." Drudge stepped up and put his hand on Ozen's shoulder. "If our esteemed Padishah Nishka and Captain Pasha are willing to lend you to me it would be my pleasure to get you slotted into a guard rotation. I know my soldiers would be happy to have another piece of artillery joining us on top of those cannons."

Shirou took the offer with a smile and turned towards the two women behind them. Before he could even speak though Pasha was quick to step up "I'm willing to bet I speak for Nishka when I say anything that keeps this idiot nearby will be welcome. Besides, it's not like a full guard is needed around the clock these days anyway, Right Nishka?"

Nishka composed herself and offered a nod in reply. "Agreed. In these trying times the purpose of a full honor guard is lost. Aiding in the defense of our people as we travel is certainly noble and an excellent use of your… newly discovered talents Ozen. I'll support you in this if it's your wish."

With permissions given Shirou had no reason left to hesitate and so he turned back to Drudge with a smile on his face. "In that case Sir I'll be in your care. When do I start?"