Path of Dragons

With mixed feelings dancing in her heart, Carmen watched her son as he trained with the practice spear she had made for him. A few years before, she’d have never condoned such a thing. Back then, even combat sports like boxing or mixed martial arts had been off the table, and she had actively forbidden him from playing football. There was too much chance of permanent injury, especially to Miguel’s all-important brain, for her to sign off on those sorts of things.

But now, the world had irrevocably changed, and she knew better than most that if they didn’t change with it, they would become fodder for those who had adapted more fully. Or for some sort of monster, of which there were plenty. The reality was that, if she wanted to prepare Miguel to thrive, she needed to ensure that he had the tools to do so. That meant training him with weapons as well as ensuring that his normal education continued apace. In addition, she’d begun to teach him the rudiments of crafting – at least as much as she had learned – and bought plenty of guides so he would know as much about the system as possible.

Still, it felt so odd, worrying about his combat ability. That was a remnant of the old world, though, and Carmen had to remind herself to push it away so that it didn’t infect her perception of reality. The moment the World Tree had touched Earth, the entire paradigm had shifted, and the world had become a place where nothing was assured.

A pang of regret sliced through her heart.

She’d learned that lesson the hard way. Alyssa had been the best person she’d ever known, and yet, she’d died anyway. Not for the first time, she wondered what had really happened in that tower. Roman’s story made sense. It was a dangerous place, and if anyone would have sacrificed herself so others would live, it was Alyssa. However, there was a degree of doubt she couldn’t quite push aside. Roman had had every reason to get rid of Alyssa. His grip on Easton was stronger now than it had ever been while Alyssa was alive.

Yet, there was one problem with that line of thinking. Roman had Alyssa had been friends for a long time even before the world had ended. And Alyssa had been convinced that Roman was a good man. She had thrown her support behind him at every turn. That kind of bond wasn’t easily discarded.

Besides, Carmen had seen Roman’s face during Alyssa’s memorial service. That kind of grief was difficult to fake, especially for a man like Roman.

Even so, she’d once warned Alyssa to remain wary of the man, and for good reason. So, she was of two minds on the subject of whether or not to trust Roman’s version of events.

Not that it mattered.

She needed to move on, both for her sake and for her son’s good. He hadn’t taken Alyssa’s death well, and if Carmen started wallowing in her own depression – which was the inevitable path that would take – it would only push Miguel to do the same. So, as much as she wanted to dwell on the death of her wife, being a responsible mother came first. With that in mind, Carmen watched Miguel sparring with one of the warriors who’d been sent to protect the mine.

The small town they’d built around the mine had grown to include three main buildings as well as a handful of houses for the workers. And with what they’d found so far, there was every reason to expect that growth to continue. Carmen suspected that, one day, it might become a full-blown city to rival Easton itself.

But that hinged on the continued exploration of the mine.

Almost as soon as that thought crossed Carmen’s mind, she heard someone approach. “What is it now?” she asked, glancing back to see Colt drawing closer. “I’m busy.”

“I know,” he said, removing his hat and wiping his forearm across his sweaty forehead. His other hand rested on the hilt of the katana at his hip. She knew from experience that he could have that blade out in the blink of an eye, and he was quite adept at using it. The man characterized himself as a samurai, even claiming to follow the bushido code – which was a bit odd, considering that he looked every inch the cowboy, with his wide-brimmed hat and leather duster. But oddities had become the norm, and all Carmen really cared about was his competence. In that arena, she couldn’t have asked for a better second-in-command.

“Just one day,” she said, sighing as she pushed herself to her feet. She’d been sitting on an old tree stump near the training grounds she’d established. There, the warriors as well as any children who’d come along could practice their martial skills. She stretched her back with a groan. “Just one day was all I wanted. Can’t even give me that, can you?”

“Sorry, ma’am. But the miners ran into some problems,” he said with his characteristic drawl.

“Big problems or little problems?”

“I don’t come to you with the little ones, ma’am.”

She sighed in annoyance. “Stop calling me ma’am. You’re making me feel like I’m some old crone. You’re older than I am, for God’s sake,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Carmen just shook her head. That was the thing about Colt. He wouldn’t change for anyone, which was probably why she appreciated him so much. It was also why he’d been sent to the Silverswift Mine. Why it had been named that, Carmen had no idea, but she’d discovered some documentation in an abandoned office near the entrance that labeled it such. Odd, considering that it had been an iron mine, but Carmen had no interest in thinking of a name herself. So, she’d kept the old name, as ill-fitting as it was.

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The budding settlement had taken a similarly silly – but much more understandable – name when someone had started referring to it as Silverado.

“I hate that our village is named after a stupid pickup truck,” she muttered to herself.

“I don’t think that’s where the name came from, ma’am.”

“I know that, Colt,” she said. “Alright. Show me this problem.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled. Then, after Carmen waved at Miguel – he was fine in the training ground, given that there were a few warriors with decent levels around – the pair set off for the mine’s entrance. It was less than a quarter mile away, so they covered the distance quickly enough, passing through the burgeoning settlement along the way. Carmen was pleased to see that everyone was busy either processing the little ore they’d managed to mine or working on the town’s infrastructure. If they’d been slacking off, she might’ve had a few choice words for her people.

Soon enough, they reached the mine’s entrance. When they’d first arrived, it was only a few feet wide, and it had experienced a cave-in sometime in the recent past. However, through arduous labor – most of which had required Carmen’s personal participation – they had managed to clear the debris and widen the entrance by a considerable amount.

But that wasn’t what Carmen was focused on. Instead, her attention lay solely on the group of fighters and miners who were congregated at the entrance. A few of them showed clear signs of having recently engaged in combat, and one of the expedition’s two Healers sat nearby, clearly exhausted.

“What happened?” she asked as they approached.

“Some critters attacked us, ma’am,” Colt answered. “Don’t rightly know what they were, but they were small and vicious. Big, sharp teeth, too.”

“Like gremlins or goblins?”

“No. Critters,” he reiterated. “Like the movie from the eighties.”

“Never saw it,” she stated. “Well before my time.”

“Freaked me out as a kid,” Colt said. “Maybe that’s why I thought of ‘em when the miners described what they saw.”

“Probably. Unless eighties movie monsters are real, now,” she joked halfheartedly. “If we encounter Freddy Krueger in there, I’m done. We don’t need the ore that badly.”

“I think everyone would agree with that one, ma’am.”

They reached the group a few moments later, and Carmen asked what had happened. The first to answer was a rawboned woman with high cheekbones that, if she wasn’t covered in dirt and blood, would’ve made her look like a runway model. Or that would have been the case if she wasn’t so clearly used to hard labor, which was made evident by her well-defined muscles and callused hands.

She said, “We were expanding one of the new tunnels, following a thick strain of that cold iron. That’s when they hit us, hard and fast. We killed a couple, but there were way too many. We had to retreat.”

“Laney, right?” asked Carmen. If she remembered correctly, the woman was in charge of the third shift of miners, but she’d not learned much else about her. Or anyone else, really. She could put a few names to faces, but she had spent much of the trip from Easton to Silverado in the grip of depression. It wasn’t until they’d started work on the budding town that she had begun to come out of it.

“That’s right,” she said. “Miner extraordinaire. Actually, I’m a Scholar. Haven’t gotten my class yet, though, so I ended up having to volunteer for labor to stay useful. You know how it goes.”

A few others among the miners nodded along. Carmen knew just how common that story was. It didn’t make sense. Scholars were ill-suited to manual work, and yet, they formed the bulk of Easton’s labor force. Like Laney, most of them hadn’t had much of a choice. If they wanted to remain in Easton, let alone earn their keep, they needed to do whatever it was the city needed them to do. And given Roman’s prejudice against Scholars, that usually meant that those with that archetype were relegated to all the worst job.

It was a damned waste, but Carmen was in no position to do anything about that sort of ridiculous thinking. More, she didn’t think she’d be very successful in changing anyone’s mind, given that the city owed its continued prosperity to Roman and his policies.

The existence of the critters wasn’t a surprise. Ever since they’d first begun exploration of the mine, they’d known that something had expanded the system of tunnels that had existed since before the touch of the World Tree had changed the world. So, having to clear the creatures out had always been an inevitability, though one she’d hoped would wait until her people were a little better prepared.

“Alright. Here’s what we’re going to do,” she said. “I want a group of three warriors to come with me into the tunnels. We’ll hunt down as many of these critters as we can, but our real objective is to find wherever they’re nested and put them down. Sound good?”

There was a murmur of agreement from the miners, but Carmen was only really interested in Colt’s response. He said, “It needs to be done, so we’ll do it.”

“Gather two more. Best we’ve got for close quarters,” Carmen said. “I’m going to get my armor.”

She wasn’t like the people with combat classes. Certainly, she could hang with them well enough, but only if she had proper equipment. Without her armor, she really only had her Strength to set her apart. The rest of her attributes were, at best, mediocre, and none of her skills translated to combat. Still, she could hold her own, but she knew that the gap would continue to widen as humanity progressed. Eventually, she wouldn’t even be in the same realm as people with actual combat skills.

For now, though, she could handle herself well enough, so she headed back to her office-slash-home and donned her armor. Despite having been through quite a bit of fighting on the way to the mine, it didn’t show any wear and tear. Once Carmen was wearing her armor, she glanced at her massive hammer. However, she chose to leave it behind because, in the tunnels, she wouldn’t have any room to swing it. Instead, she would rely on Summon Tool and use a blacksmith’s hammer.

It wouldn’t pack quite the punch of her Simple-Grade weapon, but it would still do the trick.

Thus armed and armored, Carmen headed back to the entrance of the mine to await Colt and the two other combatants that would accompany them on their critter hunt. As it turned out, he chose a pair of Warrior archetypes. One had a Brawler class and specialized in hand-to-hand fighting, while the other was a Vigilante who favored a longsword. He also had an ability that allowed him to identify creatures, which Colt reasoned would come in handy.

“Tiffany,” Colt said, nodding toward the Brawler. Then, he indicated the Vigilante as he continued, “And Brett have been with us for more than a year. I trust them.”

“Well, then I do too,” Carmen said. “Let’s do this thing.”

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