When Mikayla woke up, she was in a cage.

  Not a cell. A literal cage, of the sort that would be used to contain a wild animal. It wasn’t even affixed to the floor, so she could probably move it around a bit if needed. There was enough room to move around, but not enough to stand up. Looking around, she could see why; there was a row of dilapidated cells along the far wall, but they each had twenty or thirty people packed into them with barely enough room to move. There were more cages like hers, and she could see several others locked up, including Keldryn in the cage next to hers. Barely anyone was looking at her - in fact, most of the prisoners were just staring into space, insensate.

  She paused, squinting at the last cage in the line. Almost all of her fellow inmates were either humans or various types of beastkin, but at the end of the line was a woman with blue skin that had a crystalline sheen to it and navy-coloured hair, lying on the ground. Mikayla hoped that she was merely asleep.

  Reaching for her wrist, she found that her Core Controller and the Cores within it were missing. They’d also emptied her pockets, and taken her coat. Her phone was nowhere to be found, not that she could use it even if it were.

  An uncontrolled shiver ran down Mikayla’s spine. The rusted, damaged Core Controller hadn’t left her side since the day her stay in this savage place had begun. Knowing that she could summon up her sword and armour at any time had been like a security blanket, a promise that, no matter what, even if she were to die, she could at least make whatever killed her suffer for their trouble. And, more than that, Nocturnus himself had been a comforting presence. Like a somewhat senile old uncle who wanted the best for her, even if he had a strange (and violent) way of showing it.

  She felt naked. Defenceless. At some point in the past two weeks, the botched-together set of equipment and Techniques she’d assembled had started to make her feel strong. Dangerous, even. She’d grown accustomed to that, started to like it. Having her gear stolen away felt like she’d lost part of herself.

  “Oh, good, you’re awake,” Keldryn was lying against the corner of his cage, his ears lying flat.

  “Are you alright?” Mikayla questioned, peering at him through the bars.

  His tail lashed in irritation. “Pissed at myself for being so weak still. And we’re probably going to get sacrificed to these lunatics’ god, or whatever,”

  A harsh wheeze drew their attention. “No, no, no,” an elderly-looking man shook his head. “No sacrifices here. They want us alive, for our blood,”

  “What?” Mikayla flinched. “They want - what? Why?”

  “I don’t know, no one tells us anything,” he shrugged apologetically. “Where’d you two come from?”

  “We got ambushed by someone I trusted,” Keldryn growled.

  “You shouldn’t beat yourself up. Is it really reasonable to expect yourself to be able to take four men in a fight?” Mikayla tried to console him.

  “Yes,”

  The speed of the response stunned her, and Mikayla sat back.

  “My father could have,” Keldryn growled to himself.

  “Your Level 80 father? You’re not doing yourself any favours by expecting to match a Level 80 at Level 23. That’s not even my experience or lack thereof talking. That’s just basic maths,”

  “The girl’s right,” Both teenagers turned as best they could in the cages that were barely tall enough to sit up in to find the source of the voice.

  There was a woman chained to the wall, suspended by manacles around her wrists and ankles that had been pulled so tight she was unable to move.

  “A couple of kids like y’all ain’t got no chance against Lahlee and her goons,” the woman asserted, shaking her head. “Name’s Anza Black. Goliath Guard Ranger, from Topwater. I was on a mission, came here to check in. I noticed something smelled funny, so I asked a few questions and Lahlee decided it was too dangerous to let me leave,”

  Mikayla looked at her, then at everyone else. The cages and cells were one thing, but this woman was only a bit of stretching short of being in a medieval torture device. “What’s up with all those chains?”

  “I’m Level 51. Put me in a dog cage and I’ll punch it open. Lahlee ain’t got the kind of restraints that can hold me and she knows it, so the only way for her to keep me is by making sure I ain’t moving at all,”

  “Keldryn Thorntail, Ranger out of Cliffwatch. Possibly the last one. Chesham never would have given someone else his Armour Core,” Keldryn growled to himself.

  “Kid. This is not a time for lies,” Anza eyed him, her lips pursed.

  Keldryn cast her a confused look. “Excuse me?”

  “You can’t be a Ranger. Too young, too weak. Level 23? We don’t allow people lower than Level 35 to become full members of the Guard,”

  “I’m not lying! Look, they didn’t take my badge!” Keldryn barked, waving his lapel in the direction of her face.

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  Anza’s brow furrowed as she squinted, confirming that it was, indeed, a real Goliath Guard badge. “Where did you get that?”

  “Lahlee issued it to me. She said she was fast-tracking me to active ranger duty out of appreciation for my drive,”

  A dark look crossed Anza’s face. “That bitch,”

  Keldryn’s ears drooped. “What’s wrong?”

  “Fast-tracking someone to active ranger duty?” Anza parroted mockingly. “We don’t do that. Ever. Sending someone young and underleveled like you out into the wilds, without even the supervision of a senior ranger? Just an elaborate way of getting teenagers with more guts than brains to kill themselves,”

  “What? But . .” Keldryn’s expression shattered into disbelief, his ears drooping.

  “Look, you’re a darn good trainee if y’all managed to do a whole patrol route without dying at your level. But you shouldn’t have done that and shouldn’t have been told it was okay to do that,”

  “But what does that mean for me?”

  Anza’s expression softened. “Look, you won’t be in trouble. Y’all were tricked into breaking the rules. I’d be reporting Lahlee for taking advantage of a naive teenager, but,” she made a sweeping gesture at the cages and cells with her chin, “we’re a little past that point,”

  She paused, pursing her lips. “What should have happened in your case is that someone would take y’all as their apprentice and sponsor y’all to attend a Guardsman school,”

  “Chesham was going to,” Keldryn growled. “He said he couldn’t afford to just yet, and he wanted me to help him raise the money for my tuition. But then Lahlee gave me a badge and sent me off, so I thought that wasn’t necessary anymore,” He trailed off, sudden uncertainty creeping into his features. “Was he lying?”

  “Doubt it. I knew the man, he didn’t strike me as the type. Moreover, that’s a pretty standard loophole for low-income Guardsmen trying to take on an apprentice,” Anza mused. “Unfortunately, he’s probably dead,”

  Keldryn’s body lost all its tension all at once, and he collapsed, ears drooping. “He . . I thought so, but . . are you sure??”

  “Well, he ain’t in here with us, and these goons’ve been draining my blood faster than I can replenish it,” Anza’s fingers twitched, and a blue screen popped up in Mikayla’s vision.

  [MINOR BLOOD LOSS: There is less blood in your veins than there should be. Avoid donating blood or suffering injuries until your body has recovered. Estimated to recover: 28 days]

  “I ain’t sure if they’re trying to kill me or just stupid. Either way, if they treated the other Guardsmen here same as they’ve treated me, they’re prolly all dead of malicious incompetence. That or they’re working with Lahlee,” Anza’s fists tightened, “in which case they’ll very soon wish that they’re dead,”

  “Why are they taking your blood?” Mikayla frowned. “That’s disgusting,”

  “They’re doing it to everyone! I’ve barely got any left!” The elderly man from before cackled, and Mikayla cast him a worried glance.

  “That’s Vian. Don’t mind him, he was giving all his food to the children so they got more to eat, until I realised the food was drugged. They’ve been starving me, and everyone else has so much gunk in ‘em and so little blood, they can barely move now,” Anza looked around at the vacant stares of Cliffwatch’s people. “These people all need doctors, but that ain’t happening unless someone gets out and gets a message back to Topwater,” she grimaced.

  “Which will have to be one of us, I’m guessing,” Keldryn assumed.

  “No, it’ll have to be y’all. I’ve a score to settle with Lahlee,” the older woman snarled. “I’ll cause a distraction, and get you two and her out of here. From there, you just gotta disappear into the wilderness and make your way to Topwater. Y’all’ll be alright,”

  Mikayla read between the lines. Anza was planning to sacrifice herself to buy them a chance to escape.

  “Small problem. They took our Cores. We aren’t going to be able to do a Hegemon-damned thing when they’re armed with Cores and we aren’t,” Keldryn was more focused on the practical issues with the plan.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll get ‘em back,” Anza promised. “They’re keeping all the Cores from everyone they’ve captured and killed in one place. We’ll bust out, and as long as we can get to the Core storage before any of the real tough enemies get alerted, I’m sure that I can clear us a path with just my Techniques. The goons Lahlee has masquerading as Amber Sentinels are so pathetic even you two could probably take ‘em down,”

  “How do you know that?” Mikayla checked.

  “I fought them. They folded like wet paper,” Anza looked smug.

  “No, I mean, how do we know where they’re keeping our Cores?”

  “Oh, that. Asika’s a faerie, her Scan is ridiculous,” Anza jerked her chin in the direction of the unconscious blue girl.

  “So that’s Asika? Not to be rude but, um, why is she blue?” Mikayla interjected.

  “Never seen a faerie before?”

  “She’s Stranded. I rescued her near Balmwind. She’s never seen anything before,” Keldryn answered for her.

  “Huh,” Anza’s gaze softened. “I’m sorry to hear that. This’s a hard world to live in by choice. I can’t imagine what it’s been like, being dumped in the Kaiju Coast without warning or preparation. You should be proud of yourself for surviving,”

  “Yeah, well,” Mikayla winced, hoping that Nocturnus was alright. “I was lucky,”

  Anza drew an incorrect but understandable conclusion, glancing at Keldryn. “Sounds like you’ve been making us proud,” she grinned at him.

  “Don’t give me too much credit. She saved me from a Marten, too,” the boy deflected, looking faintly embarrassed.

  A yawn interrupted them, and the three warrior’s eyes were drawn to the blue woman as she stirred.

  “Oh, good, Asika’s awake. If you two can help me and her, we might just be able to get out of this place,” Anza grinned.

  “I’m game,” Keldryn confirmed.

  “It’s worth a try. Just, don’t die, okay? Please?” Mikayla pleaded.

  Anza’s expression tightened. “I won’t,” she said, and Mikayla didn’t quite believe her.

  The faerie, apparently, tried to stretch as she woke up but bumped her head on the roof of the cage. “Uwah. Such an uncomfortable bed,” Her eyes slid open, revealing solid blue spheres like perfectly cut jewels, with no iris nor pupil to speak of. “Eh? Ooh, I spy new faces!” She shifted her weight, forcing her cage closer to Mikayla and Keldryn and waving frantically. “Hiiiiiiiiii!”

  “Good morning to you too. Not that there’s much good about our current circumstances,” Mikayla groaned. “Anza said your name is Asika, and that you’re a faerie, right?”

  “Yeppers!” She bowed her head as dramatically as she could within the confines of her cage. “Junior System Moderator Asika, at your service!”

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