Hailey shook her head, for some reason she thought she had been looking at a skeleton. There was something massive going on outside, she was not sure what. The fortress rocked as cataclysmic amounts of essence were released. Sam squeezed her hand and smiled at her. Sam was Ajax’s third in command, he could protect her. That’s what he had promised to get her to come.


    And staggered as another shockwave tore through the fortress. Hailey looked, horrified through the now open hole in the wall. This was impossible, a city floated in the sky at roughly the same altitude as the fortress. A disk of land filled with stone columned structures. People in armor lined its edges trying to assist their fake gods with their prayer.


    Hailey scrambled back. She did not want to die today. The fortress listed to the side as the Steel Saint and the god of fire collided. The god lost, the floating city lost, and the fortress all lost as the saint tore the god in half. Even at a distance of thirty miles, the fortress of metal was shunted aside like a toy boat.


    Her mind went hazy as she was thrown against the wall. Sam, where was Sam? Hailey staggered out into the main hallway. Her foot caught on something soft, causing her to trip and fall to…


    You need to go,” the man she could not recognize said.


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    The man had black skin and the royal purple eyes of a dark kern. He was wearing thick engineer’s clothing. Hailey had no idea what he was doing in elite warriors’ quarters. She had no idea what she was doing here either.


    “No, I’m staying!” Hailey said, clutching the unconscious man.


    “Sam’s dead, dying too won’t honor him!” The man yelled.


    “Sai!” A big man with a hammer yelled, “Save the willing ones, I need to help the general.”


    The engineer grimaced and staggered to a different room. Now that Hailey was sitting down the rocking did not disturb her as much. Though the spinning was an issue. The rotation was enough that she was actually sitting on the ceiling. She watched the world flash from the sky to a mountain range and back again.


    Sam’s head lolled to the side at an unnatural angle. Just unconscious Hailey told herself. They would make it out of here. They would start a family in a new world.


    The mountains flashed by, they were falling toward the peak of one of them. The top was missing like something extremely sharp had sliced the top off. At least they would have a nice flat spot to start their farm.


    The force of absorption in the metal lessened the impact on Hailey’s section. Everyone at the front of the fortress would have taken the brunt of the impact, though they were also the most durable. The general might have even survived, it was hard to kill legends.


    Now that the rotation had abruptly stopped, Hailey was hurled into the wall. She was beyond caring. They had landed, they were safe. Something dripped into her eyes, but she did not care. The hole that the Steel Saint had made was nearly ground level, Hailey was not sure if she should curse him or thank him for that.


    Throwing one of Sam’s arms over her shoulder, Hailey limped out of the fortress. There was a slight drop, but she could make it. First Hailey poked her head out and inspected the surroundings. Pieces of the fortress had been sheered off and dropped all over the place like a bunch of children’s toys.


    Unfortunately, her perfectly flat farming land had been converted into a crater. The biggest shard of the ship seemed to have punched all the way into the water table. Water was quickly filling that area. At least irrigation would be taken care of.


    A crack caught her attention. The sound was like a mountain being cracked open. When Hailey looked up, she realized that her guess might not be too far off from the truth. Above the crater, the cultist’s floating city had been cracked in half. Both pieces were falling straight down. That would definitely kill them if it hit.


    Fortunately, Hailey had an armored shell to hide in. The floating city landed, driving the fortress down like a nail into the mountain. Darkness was everywhere, the hole that was an easy exit was now gone. She wanted to cry, so Hailey did. Sitting beside Sam, she realized that she was going to die. At least it would be with people she loved, reminiscing about a life she would never get to live.


    Darkness. Nothing but black. It did not know how long it sat holding the body. Long enough that it became dust. It needed someone, though it no longer knew why.


    “Dig.”


    It was not what it was born to do. However, its instincts told it to obey. It shambled to its skeletal feet and went to the center of its world. Many others were there too, all scratching and clawing at the floor. It joined them.


    “Dig.”


    They made no progress, but still, for hundreds of years they dug. Until the world was broken open. It did not know what was going on, all those it dug with were given a new command.


    Kill.”


    Its master wanted new, better soldiers. Those who could dig needed to dig would be recruited. It was grabbed by a man of stone and broken by a man of metal, but still, it had orders.


    “Kill.”


    Tristan opened his eyes feeling the same feelings that Hailey felt, or at least her soul felt. His eyes dilated and locked onto Conni. The feeling was just as strong, the Lord needed soldiers.