#lorebooks

It was instinct that turned Cariapthi’s heels from direct egress to rerouted egress, determination that made her fly against the surge of the crowd, and a distinct feeling of oh, sweet Light above, what am I getting myself into that made her scoop the child up in her arms to make a mad dash for the alleyway just beyond. A stray bullet burrowed its way into the brick beside her and she sped up, curling the girl into her bomber jacket as she galloped around one corner, around another corner, up a fire escape one-handed, and up the winding stairs until they’d reached as high as said stairs would take them.

Once on the roof, the din of encroaching war a block away fell to a whisper below the snap of laundry drying on the line and the high winds that curled down from the mountains surrounding the Last City. Cariapthi slid the girl down onto her own two feet, turning quickly to glance around behind them to ensure they weren’t followed. “I think we’ll be safe up here for the moment,” she began, turning back to the girl and dropping to one knee to meet her at eye level, “Now, can you tell me—”

But then, of course, “Who are you?” erupted from the girl’s mouth at the same moment Cariapthi finished, “Where your parents are?”

For a moment, the two stared at each other, as baffled and confused and scared as the other. Then, with a single wobble of her lower lip, all of the emotions the girl had been holding in suddenly burst out with a torrent of tears.

“Whoa, hey now!” Cariapthi tried, patting the air in front of the little girl with her hands as if it would stop her in her tracks. “I’m gonna get you back to your parents, I swear, I just need to know where they are.”

“I don’t know where they are! I lost them!”

“Okay,” she tried again, “Do you know where they might go?”

“Home,” the girl answered in a sob, and Cariapthi knew that the sob was more than just sadness: it was fear. It was heartache at knowing there was no longer a home to return to, that her parents might never be there again.

“Oh,” she replied thoughtfully. She was too stunned for a moment to think of anything else and looked around at the rooftop, hoping that maybe the laundry might give her a clue.

She had no idea why she’d grabbed the girl. She wasn’t particularly fond of kids, didn’t really know how to handle them. She’d merely picked her up and run because no one else had done so and it went against everything Cariapthi thought was right to leave her behind in the middle of a Cabal invasion force alone. But how to distract a scared child long enough for them to figure out where her parents might have gotten off to…?

“Uhm,” she tried gently, “How about we look for them together?”

That got the girl’s attention. Her sobs stopped and she looked at Cariapthi with something like shock and what might have been delighted awe. “Are you a Guardian?”

“Huh? What, me? No! No, I’m just… I just work at a laboratory.”

The girl sniffled, tilting her head. “Like for scientists?”

“Yeah, exactly like for scientists,” she nodded. “It’s my job to find things out, you know. That’s what scientists do. And I think my next job is to help you stay safe and find your parents. Also to find out what your name is.”

“My name?” The girl asked, a puzzled look on her face as if she hadn’t expected the question at all - good! Operation Distract the Kid was working. “My name is Emera Liet…”

Cariapthi offered her hand to the girl - to Emera. “Well, miss Emera Liet, I’m Cariapthi-10 and I’m here to help you find your parents.”

Emera seemed wary, looking from Cariapthi’s eyes to her outstretched hand and back again. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

Emera’s hand, small and warm and lilac blue, took hers. It was a deal.

Then, five stories below, there came the sound of a Cabal tank rolling onto the street, making them both jump.

“That’s our cue, I’m afraid,” Cariapthi said, standing up to her full height again. “Do you mind if I carry you so we can go faster?”

Emera’s face took on that wary look again, her brows furrowing as she pushed her navy locks out of the way of her freckled face. “Daddy and papa say I’m getting too big to be carried everywhere.”

“Well, lucky for both of us I’m a big, strong exo, designed to carry both your daddies with ease.”

This seemed to quash Emera’s concern and, with her hands reaching upward and Cariapthi’s reaching down until they met in the middle, they were away again, Emera’s chin over Cariapthi’s shoulders and her arms wrapped around her neck.

At the edge of the roof, Cariapthi peered over, hoping to surmise the Cabal’s movements - with the Last City compromised like this, the only option was to head for the Wall, but that plan wouldn't be of any use if the Cabal were headed the same direction. Unfortunately, the only thing she was able to surmise immediately was that she had made a mistake when, five stories down, a rather large psion met her eye. As she turned to sprint her way back across the roof out of sight, she did not hear the deep voice of the centurion over the loudspeaker far below: Do not resist. Line up in the street for inspection and redirection. Do not resist or you will be hunted and killed.

The girl turned over the edge of the couch to look back at her. “What’s what?”

“That,” she repeated, pointing at an unusual box sitting atop a long, flat dresser. The box was black in the middle with two white wings curving off each side, though the white appeared to have faded quite a bit over time, dirt mottling its pristine face and settling into the subtle grooves there. It looked to be some sort of electronic, wires running out of its back that then ascended up to connect to a flat black rectangle on the wall - a TV, Cariapthi thought, although quite an archaic one.

Emera shrugged. “I dunno.”

“You didn’t think to point it out to me?”

A shake of the head. “It’s just trash, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but it’s something of interest— wait, you think people would just… leave trash sitting in the middle of their living room? On display?”

Emera’s face twisted up in thought. Then, after maybe two seconds of thought, she shrugged again and made a little I dunno noise.

Cariapthi’s hands found their way to her hips as she tilted her head at the girl. “Did your daddy and papa raise you in a barn?”

The tip of Emera’s tongue appeared as she made a face.

Laughing, Cariapthi raised her hands into prime tickling posture, making Emera squeal and try to press herself backward toward the arm of the couch, giggling all the way. “C’mere, you little—”

Suddenly, they both stopped, going dead still. They looked into each other’s horror-stricken faces and knew at once that they’d heard the same noise: there was someone outside.

In an instant, Cariapthi’s arms were reaching down, Emera’s reaching up, and then they were wrapped up together, Cariapthi headed for the nearest exit—

A shadow flickered across the light streaming in through the broken glass on either side of the rear door. Was it where the noise had come from? She couldn’t remember. Time was running out. If she hesitated, it could mean the difference between escape and death. They needed another exit - and fast.

The garage.

Rounding on herself, she made a beeline for the door across the way. They had left it open when they’d originally come in to look around - thank goodness for lack of foresight. She ducked through its wide opening, dodged around a vehicle parked there, and was about to turn the corner out of the large garage door when another noise came: the cocking of a gun.

Pressing herself up against the edge of the opening, Cariapthi was able to just peer around the edge to see someone approaching the house, a rifle pointed forward as they crept along. It wasn’t just any ‘someone’ either, but a psion, the same one she’d seen back in the City. It must have tracked them all the way here.

Internally, she cursed herself and pressed her back into the wall, squeezing her eyes shut. - she should have trusted her instincts, gone out the back door. It was too late for that now, but she needed a new plan.

Think, Cariapthi, think! There has to be a way out. That psion has a gun but maybe I can run—

Wait… she had a gun too.

She adjusted her grip on Emera, her free hand twitching backwards, but no, no, it was in her backpack. She would have to put Emera down and then… then Emera would see. Worse, Emera would get caught in the crossfire. If she got hurt because Cariapthi made a mistake…

She couldn’t risk it.

Cupping the back of Emera’s head with her hand, she retreated back into the garage and squeezed them behind a shelf, rocking it slightly as their backpacks knocked against it. She gritted her teeth at the noise, hoping beyond hope it wasn’t noticed—

A shadow appeared in the doorway.

In her arms, Emera whimpered slightly, burying her face into Cariapthi’s shoulder. She pressed her face against the girl’s head and gripped her tighter, whispering to her, “Be brave with me, Emera. Shh, shh. Be brave with me.”

Through the shelves, blocked up as they were with boxes of who even knew what, she could barely see the tip of two horns as the psion slipped soundlessly into the garage, their footsteps only two thup-thups on the broken concrete floor.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” the psion said in a sing-song voice, a mockery of human intonation. “I am Kirit, a psion of the Red Legion, come to take you back to the City. It is under our control, along with your Traveler and your Light.”

She shut her eyes.

“If you come with me now, you will arrive back in the City unharmed.”

The horns swiveled slowly back and forth, back and forth.

“I only want to take you home where you belong.”

Two trembling little hands gripped her shoulder so tight the pain echoed through her whole body.

“You’re wasting time. I know you’re here.”

Almost done, she wished she could tell Emera, wished so hard that she could communicate it to her without words. Almost. Just a little bit longer. Just a little bit more.

“How about this then: come out and I won’t kill the girl.”

The horns came closer, still turning back and forth, back and forth.

“I’ll just kill you and take her back to the City alive.”

She felt a hot wetness drip onto her shoulder - a tear.

“What do you say, hm? Is it a deal?”

The horns stopped in front of her.

“No deal,” she growled, turned, and shoved her shoulder against the racks.

As expected, the shelves wobbled, drawing Kirit’s attention and then… then they fell, crashing down directly on top of him. His gun clattered to the floor, spinning away until it caught on one the flattened tires of the derelict vehicle, and she took the opportunity to dart forward, pressing one foot down onto the edge of the rack to add insult to Kirit’s injury and launch herself forward. She vaulted away, making a beeline for the edge of the trees just next to the house. If she could reach it fast enough, the thick vegetation would hide them from his direct line of sight - and the gun’s. She was close now, so close, just a little further and they’d be hidden. A little further and—

Bang!

The shot tore through the air, through her left arm, and out the other side. She screamed as she felt neuronal membranes tear, wires disconnect, servos shut down. She stumbled, nearly losing her footing and her grip on Emera—

No, I won’t lose her! I won’t let her die here! I won’t let Emera die here!

“A little of both, please.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They ate together in silence, Cariapthi only taking a few bites to preserve what little food they had, laying back against the blanket so they could watch the clouds, birds, and insects swirl together overhead. For a long while, the only breaks to the quiet were spent pointing out a cloud that looked like an eagle or “Lord Shaxx from the Crucible TV channel’s” helmet.

Cariapthi grimaced at that last one. “Your daddies let you watch the Crucible TV channels?”

“No,” Emera said, shaking her head. “But sometimes Osian and Dai watch when they think daddy or papa aren’t looking.”

“Osian is your eldest brother, right? Then Dai, then you?”

Emera hummed in affirmation.

“And you, what? Catch both of them in the act often enough to know what Lord Shaxx’s helmet looks like?”

She shrugged. “He’s very distinctive.”

“I can’t argue with that, Miss Vocabulary.”

With their snack eaten and the blanket stowed away again, Cariapthi was helping Emera shrug her backpack on to continue the trek when suddenly the little Awoken gasped.

“Look!” She yelled, pointing frantically. “Look, over there, a camp!”

“A camp?” Cariapthi’s eyes followed the line of her finger. She saw only a copse of pine trees swaying in the wind at the edge of the meadow far, far away. “I don’t see anything yet. Let’s lower our voices and move closer, see if we can see anything, okay?”

Emera fell quiet, nodding, then took off running, her backpack flopping every which way across her back as she moved. Cariapthi, swiftly donning her own backpack in one practiced movement, followed after, needing only to walk quickly to keep up with the little girl’s pace.

Soon, they were near the edge of the clearing and Emera, huffing and puffing to catch her breath, had to stop for a drink of water. While Cariapthi absentmindedly obliged her by helping her retrieve the water bottle from the side pouch of her backpack, her eyes busyed themselves scanning what was indeed a camp a little ways off. There were at least a dozen tents, their make and material all different - some were just scraps and blankets.

So many tents, she thought, but no sign of people…

“Oh no.”

Beside her, Emera lowered the bottle from her mouth. “What is it?”

“Emera,” Cariapthi began carefully, not taking her eyes off the camp for more than a moment. “I hate to ask you this but I’m going to have to ask you to stay here and hide while I take a look at the camp.”

Emera’s water bottle dropped to the ground with a dull clang, its contents pouring onto the ground as she bolted upright, her voice high but restrained in volume even still. “No! I wanna come with you!”

Cariapthi shook her head. “Emera, I think something really bad happened here—”

Tears were welling in her eyes now, her fists clenched tight. “No, please, take me with you!”

“It’s not safe—”

“I don’t want to be alone! I don’t want to go without you!”

Cariapthi couldn’t argue with that - she didn’t want to be alone either, let alone leave Emera by herself.

She turned, eyeing the camp. Not a single thing had moved.

“Fine,” she sighed softly. “But only if I can carry you and you keep your eyes shut the whole time.”

“But you carried me all morning,” Emera whined. “I want to walk.”

Cariapthi considered this, frustration burning in her stomach, making her grind her teeth. She could pick Emera up by force but she didn’t want to do that. Not only would the girl probably squirm and make a lot of noise, Cariapthi didn’t want to go against her wishes and choices when she had stated so plainly that she didn’t want to be held. Plus, now that she thought about it, while holding her would make for an easy getaway, it would also mean Cariapthi couldn’t protect her by standing in front of her if trouble decided to show its face. So what other option was there?

“How about this,” Cariapthi suggested, pushing down the frustration until it was only a tight line hidden in her voice. “You can walk but you have to keep your eyes shut until I tell you that you can open them. I’ll lead you by holding your hand the whole way, okay?”

The girl nodded gravely. “Okay.”

“I’m serious. You have to keep your eyes shut the whole time. Promise?”

Again that grave nod. “Promise.”

“Okay.” Cariapthi offered her hand so Emera could take it. “Now eyes shut. There you go. Just follow me. I won’t lead you anywhere you’ll trip over anything but be careful when you put your feet down, okay? There you go. Just like that. Attagirl.”

Slowly, carefully, they inched their way toward the camp, Cariapthi keeping Emera shielded from view as best she could as they moved. In all that while, still no signs of living people caught her eye, and as soon as the tall grass of the meadow grew shorter, Cariapthi could see plainly why.

Everyone in the camp was dead.

Her stomach turned over inside her. She knew she had no fear of throwing up - exos had no need to vomit, after all - but the chill that ran through her was an instinct she couldn’t clamp down on, especially when there was so much blood and gore and viscera and oh, sweet Light of the Traveler, was that brain matter—

“Are you okay?” Emera whispered behind her, squeezing her hand gently.

“What?”

“You made a noise. It didn’t sound good.”

“I’m fine,” Cariapthi said, letting out a breath. “Just… keep your eyes closed.”

“They are.”

“Smart girl.”

“It… doesn’t smell good here. It smells really bad.”

“I know, kiddo. I’m sorry. Breathe in deep through your mouth and hold it as long as you can. Do it again if you need to. We’ll be out of here soon.”

Cautiously, she approached one of the bodies - a human man, given the style of dress, but beyond the tanned neck, the head was… well, it was not in a state to be identified any longer.

What could have done this? She thought. What weapon is powerful enough to do something like this to a person’s head? It’s completely unrecognizable. 

Then, she noticed it: in the distance, a cliff overlooking the camp.

A perfect sniper’s perch.

Terror clawed at her spine and she had to force the feeling down, at least long enough to get Emera to safety—

But, no. No, these bodies were long cold. They probably died the day before. The danger was past… probably.

Standing back up, she led Emera around to the tents, stooping to rifle through the meager supplies she could find there. There wasn’t much - like them, these people had left the City in a hurry. Still, she was able to find some food, some extra water bottles, a nice pillow for Emera, and…

“Holy shi— shoot.”

“What’d you find?” Emera leaned around her hip. Cariapthi’s attention swiveled to her instantly, afraid of the inevitable nightmares if Emera opened her eyes. She nearly sighed aloud with relief when she saw, however, her eyes still closed despite her curiosity.

“Nothing, just some really tasty food I think you’ll like for dinner.” The lie came too easily. Cariapthi gritted her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut to help swallow the guilt.

“Oh! That sounds nice,” Emera said, but then paused, her face screwing up. “Something… bad happened here, didn’t it? That’s why these people… why they don’t need their food anymore. That’s why we can take it and you’re not leaving glimmer behind like in the City.”

Cariapthi flinched - there was no getting around this one. “Yes, Emera, unfortunately something bad did happen here.”

“Was it… was it the Cabal?”

Cariapthi looked around at the tents, the blood, the bodies. “I can’t say for sure but… yes, I think so.”

Emera fell silent. Cariapthi hated it but knew the truth was better than another lie - the kid was too smart to not figure it out in an instant anyway. 

“Let’s get going. I think we have all we need to keep us safe for a while now.”

And, indeed, with a newly-found pistol and a grenade now tucked away safely in her backpack, she had all she needed to keep them safe…

Emera’s head raised, her eyes two winking amber lights as she tried to rouse herself only halfway successfully from sleep. “It’s still dark out.”

“Mhmm, yeah, it is.” Cariapthi nodded towards the plank of painted wood lying over the hole. “But we have to move board to get through the Wall, see? I could probably move it one-handed but I was afraid it would fall and make a big noise and scare you if I tried, so I’d rather just put you down. Don’t wanna draw any attention to us either.”

With a great big yawn, Emera nodded. “Okay. I can walk again for a little while.”

As Cariapthi set her back down on her own two feet, she asked, “Are you sure? Once we get through the Wall, I can carry you again so you can sleep some more.”

“I’ll be okay,” she insisted, though the way she was rubbing a fist into her sleep-tired eyes seemed to belie the truth of it. “Aren’t you sleepy?”

Cariapthi shook her head. “Nope. I’m an exo - we can sleep but don’t really need to. At least, we don’t need to sleep as often as humans or Awoken do.”

“Oh. That sounds nice.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “Sometimes. Anyway, wanna help me move this board? We can move it right along the Wall, just enough that we can squeeze us and our backpacks inside, then we can close it up behind us.”

With a nod of understanding, Emera went to the left side of the plank, her little hands grasping the edge before she looked back towards Cariapthi. The eight foot-tall board dwarfed her entirely. She looked so small and so comical next to it that Cariapthi had to hold back her grin as she made her way to the right side and prepared to take most of the weight.

“Ready? Alright, lift and walk it towards me in 1, 2, 3…”

With a soft kathunk, the board found its temporary resting place a few feet away, revealing the hole.

Emera, already leaning over the opening, whispered to her, “I think I see a light inside. It’s kinda far away though.”

“Really? Huh. How about you let me go inside first, yeah?”

Emera ducked away again as Cariapthi made her way over to inspect it. The edges of the hole had been cut out of the Wall straight but somewhat crude, likely with a tool imperfect for the job. Sure enough, too, there was a faint orange light shining from somewhere deep inside the width of the Wall.

“Huh. Yeah, definitely let me go first. Let’s move this board back first though, shall we?”

With the plank covering the entrance again, Cariapthi turned back around. She knew that if whoever was here heard them, they would have the drop on them. Even if they hadn’t, they might notice them coming from the glow of their eyes in the dark.

“Stay behind me but stay close,” Cariapthi whispered over her shoulder. Emera’s answer came in the form of a gentle hand holding onto the hem of her jacket.

Together, they crept forward, the sounds of their footsteps only a slight crunch-crunch, crunch-crunch on the gravel path of the walkway. Cariapthi kept her eyes peeled for any other movement, any other sound, but none came. Soon enough, they were walking out of the thin corridor into a more expansive room where, laid out all over the floor, were the makings of a haphazard camp. In one corner, a sleeping bag, devoid of an owner, rested up against a workbench lined with a series of drawers which seemed to contain innumerable trinkets of all shapes and sizes, the origin and importance of which were all entirely lost on her.

“Candy,” Emera suddenly whispered beside her, nearly making her jump.

Cariapthi looked around, not seeing what she was referring to. “Where do you see candy?”

A little blue finger pointed past her hip, over to a storage bin lined with several semi-transparent drawers, through which some individually wrapped somethings could be seen laying in a pile. “Can I have one?”

Cariapthi glanced around nervously. “I don’t know, Emera, someone clearly lives here…”

“Please?”

She sighed a little. “Fine, but you can only take two for each hand and you’re only allowed to have one after dinner. Okay?”

“Okay!” Emera answered cheerily, darting out past Cariapthi’s legs to open the drawer.

Cariapthi moved up beside her, pulling up her tablet to open a program.

Beside her, Emera was already shoving the candy into her backpack - two chocolates and two pineapple-flavored lollipops, whatever pineapple was - when she paused and stared at Cariapthi’s tablet. “What’re you doing?”

“Leaving them some glimmer.”

“Why?”

Cariapthi shrugged slightly, tapping a few keys on the screen as she spoke. “Well, we’re taking their stuff. It’s only right we should pay them back even if… well, even if the Cabal have the City, glimmer is still useful for buying stuff everywhere else. It could help them buy more candy or repair a tool or… you get the idea.”

“That makes sense.” Emera nodded sagely. “Did you do that back in the City too?”

“Mhmm.”

“Oh. I never noticed before.”

Cariapthi grinned lopsidedly. “I can be sneaky sometimes.”

Emera made a little noise of affirmation as she zipped up the candy inside her backpack. After a moment, she nodded toward the drawer. “Do you want any?”

“Any candy?”

“Yeah!”

Cariapthi glanced from her screen to the drawer. She hit another key, added a little more glimmer to the amount to deposit to the credit chit she was going to leave on the workbench, and then took one chocolate and one pineapple lollipop for herself. She didn’t much like chocolate, but she was sure Emera would be really happy when she had finished all of her own candy only to discover Cariapthi had saved another one for her. The thought made her smile.

“Okay,” she said, placing the credit chit down with a little click. “You ready to go? I don’t think we should stay any longer in case whoever lives here comes back.”

Emera blanched suddenly, then looked down and away, her hands coming up to clutch at the straps of her little backpack. “I… I don’t want to go.”

Cariapthi looked at her. “What do you mean?”

Emera’s face lowered even further. She was almost staring at the ground.

Cariapthi, concerned, knelt down so she could meet her at eye level. “Emera, what is it? Why don’t you want to go?”

The girl bit her lower lip, turning the skin an even paler shade of purple-blue.

“It’s okay,” Cariapthi said gently. “You can tell me.”

This made Emera look up. “Promise you won’t be mad?”

Cariapthi thought about that for a moment. “Well, I can’t promise I won’t feel anything, but I do promise that I won’t yell at you and that, whatever it is, we’ll work it out together.” She stuck her hand out toward the girl, just like she had when they first met. “I mean it, too.”

It was Emera’s turn to consider the promise. After a few second’s deliberation though, her little hand folded around Cariapthi’s. As soon as they had shaken on it, there were tears welling up in the corners of her eyes that made Cariapthi’s heart break just a little.

“I’m scared, Miss Cariapthi.” A tear rolled down her cheek as she clenched her eyes shut tight. “Daddy and papa are always telling me that I need to be brave but I miss them and I miss my brothers and I miss our house and I’ve never been outside the City and I’m really scared.”

Of their own volition, Cariapthi’s fingers rose, swiping away the tear before it fell completely. “I know you’re scared, kiddo,” she murmured. “You have every right to be scared right now.”

Emera’s brows knitted together as she sniffled a little, looking up to meet Cariapthi’s eyes. “I do?”

“Of course you do. I mean, think about it,” Cariapthi suggested, gesturing back over her shoulder with her free hand. “All you’ve ever known is the City and now we’re leaving it behind because the Cabal have it. You got separated from your daddies and your brothers and now you have this big yellow lady carrying you around and telling you what to do all the time.”

That made Emera laugh a little and Cariapthi cleared another tiny tear from her cheek as she smiled at the girl. Suddenly, unbidden, another memory she hadn’t thought about in many years came to mind.

“You wanna know something?” Emera nodded in response with another little sniffle. “When I was about your age, my own daddy, my baba, passed away very suddenly. I didn’t want to go to his funeral because I thought that meant he would be gone for good, but then my mom told me something that I never forgot: that because I loved him very much, he would never be gone from me.

“You see, when you meet someone and you love them, whether as a daddy or a brother or a friend or anything, they make a little home in your heart where they live forever. Because I had made my baba’s home in my heart, that meant we were connected forever and that we could communicate through it. That’s what memories are, see? They’re those little homes in our heart connecting us to the people we love across all of time and space, reminding us that there’s so much good in the world. And through that connection, my baba told me from wherever he went after he died that it was okay to be scared but that I would still always have my memories of him stored there.”

“So,” Cariapthi finished, poking Emera in the chest with a gentle finger. “What are your daddy and your papa and your brothers saying to you through the little homes in your heart?”

Emera thought about this for a moment then looked up and met Cariapthi’s eyes. “That it’s okay that I miss them and to be scared, but that I’m going to be okay until I see them again because I have you.”

“That’s right, you do have me,” Cariapthi said through a little crack in her voice, her heart overflowing. “Well then,” she continued, standing up to her full height and offering Emera her hand. “Will you come be brave with me, Emera? So we can find your daddies and your brothers together? ‘Cause I really don’t want to go alone.”

Emera’s hand slid into hers, warm and present. “I don’t want you to go alone either.”

“Huh.” The noise, involuntary, had escaped her before she could stifle it. She glanced down at Emera but, sure enough, the girl was still fast asleep - or was she pretending? Really, Cariapthi couldn’t tell the difference, but more importantly, it didn’t matter. She was happy to carry her as long as she needed.

I haven’t thought about baba in years, she realized. The years had come and gone and come and gone, the memories of her childhood with her parents fading from view along with them. She couldn’t even remember how old she was anymore without having to think about it for a few seconds, sometimes even a minute or two. Had it really been so long?

Shaking her slightly to clear it of the thought, she kept walking. It wasn’t the time to think about this.

Another few hours later, Emera startled awake as a loud boom sounded, echoing off the curved face of the Wall. Both of their heads swiveled instantly out toward the City, their eyes catching sight of a great ball of fire billowing out from somewhere deep in the heart of its streets.

In her arms, Emera made a small whimpering noise. Cariapthi was just opening her mouth to give her some small reassurance when something else roared above them. Their heads shot up, tracing the line of the Wall upwards to its peak. There, a watchtower sat, not quite as grand as the Tower that the Vanguard worked from, but still quite the sight to see in its militaristic splendor - or at least, it would have been on any other day. Now, the red lights lining its walls only filled her with a sense of dread, one that grew as the noise grew louder: engines.

One by one, Cabal Threshers lifted from the platforms there, lighting the Wall and the trees below with the bright, hot orange of their thrusters. So used to the dark, Cariapthi and Emera both had to shield their eyes from the intensity of the light as the ships took off, racing out towards the City.

“At least someone is putting up a good fight,” Cariapthi murmured quietly to herself. Emera, in response, merely hid her face back in her neck.

Shit, she thought. Wrong thing to say.

She gave Emera a tiny bounce, trying to get her attention to cheer her up. “Maybe it’s the Guardians, huh? I bet there’s still a bunch in the City showing those Cabal what-for.”

Emera did not respond.

Cariapthi, giving up on the matter, quietly looked away, back out over the City. The smoke from the explosion was climbing higher, billowing up around the bottom of the Traveler, curling around its—

Her heart sank.

The Traveler.

All around the sphere under which they’d built their home, through which the Guardians were given their Light to fight for humanity’s survival, Cabal ships flew like insects in a hive, swarming in and out of larger transport ships docked around the Traveler’s equator. Connected to one of these ships was a six-pointed star, its long, needle-like points curved around the perimeter of the Traveler, encasing it in a series of interlocked orange hexagons, cutting off any exit the Traveler might have sought out.

She looked away, squeezing her eyes shut. How had she not noticed sooner? No wonder the City was overrun with Cabal. No wonder she’d seen neither hide nor hair of any Guardians fighting back - the Guardians had lost. Not only had they lost the fight against this surprise attack by the Cabal, not only had they lost the Last City, they had lost the Traveler, lost the Light.

Humanity… was ending.