I stepped into the shower and let the water run over me, standing there far longer than I needed to. My mind was caught in circles, the whole day flashing in fragments, the flood of new information refusing to settle.
Words floated up in my thoughts like scraps of paper drifting on water, surfacing one by one before fading away again.
‘statistically low’
‘12–28%’
‘family’
‘Rare Knowledge Shards’
I needed to get Rare Knowledge Shards. That much was certain. My mind brushed against the Realignment but quickly pulled back. Even my own brain seemed to know better, dwelling on that subject too long would only end in a massive headache.
I went to bed with my thoughts on the quest. It was easier to focus on that than on the darker truth—that I might never speak to my family again.
I’d already begun to let go of the hope of seeing them face to face, but I still wished I could at least talk to my mother, my father, my sister. The rest of my family… I might never hear their voices again.
Statistically, I knew I’d probably reach one or two of them, but the odds were painfully low
I woke early, nerves dragging me out of a fitful night of nightmares. In my dreams I’d been wandering a twisting labyrinth, endlessly chasing Knowledge Shards.
Everywhere I turned, the Com Crystal’s voice followed me, echoing through the corridors:
“Out of bounds. Out of bounds. Out of bounds.”
The words rang in my head even as I opened my eyes, leaving me unsettled and restless.
I ate my breakfast bar and began chewing on my dried fruit while checking out the epic water package.
“Glacier-Sourced Oxygenated Water… Pretentious.”
Water had always been water to me. It also included a Fruit-Herb Infusion, possibilities of pineapple-lavender or watermelon-basil. I hesitantly tasted it. I got watermelon-basil, and it promised an energy boost. I was not very positive that I would get any benefit out of it.
I may have been stalling, a bit.
I pulled my courage together and checked my Mini map. The nursery was not that far, and I did not see Kobolds in the area around the nursery. The ones on the way would be easy to avoid.
I ducked behind a car when I spotted a few levels 3 Kobolds walking together. I was just about to move on when I saw a different red dot on the Mini Map. That must be a Level 5 Kobold.
It walked out from behind a building. It was bigger than the others, and it was holding a spear. I knew this Kobold was dangerous, and that I would have to practice a lot if I wanted to Kill it.
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Identify gave me more information.
I made absolutely sure the Kobold was well out of sight before moving on. Keeping one eye on the Mini Map, I followed the route until the nursery came into view.
It looked just like everything else in New York these days. Sad.
The outside was mostly untouched but the inside, now that was very sad. All the plants were gone and the only thing left was empty pots.
Everywhere I looked, there was only absence. No soil, no greenery, no hope of growth. Just the hollow shells of where life used to be.
I wandered through the nursery, searching for any kind of clue. The quest gave me nothing to go on—no hints, no markers—just a destination and silence.
As I moved between the empty rows, my eyes finally caught on something different. A small bonsai tree sat on a low shelf, its branches brittle, its leaves long dead. The pot was ornate, distinctly Japanese in style, standing out against the sea of plain clay containers.
It was the only plant—living or dead—I’d seen since the world as we knew it ended. That alone made it impossible to ignore.
I stepped closer and studied the trunk. Strange symbols were etched into the bark, curling across the wood in patterns that didn’t feel natural.
Before I could even think about it, my hand lifted on its own and brushed against them. For a heartbeat I braced myself, waiting for something terrible to happen.
Luckily, nothing did. Well—nothing bad. Something happened, but not the kind of disaster I half expected. Still, the jolt of realization hit me hard. I needed to start thinking before I acted.
The air shivered.
Light—thin and fragile at first—unfurled from the pot, curling across the cracked floor in tendrils like roots. They weren’t real, but they felt real, glowing and pulsing as they spread outward. Some were pale as moonlight, others darker than shadow, weaving together in an impossible pattern.
The phantom roots crawled farther, searching, until they tangled over a faint outline I hadn’t noticed before—a trapdoor hidden beneath the dust.
For a moment they held there, pulsing with silent energy. Then, as quickly as they had come, they dissolved, vanishing into nothing.
The trapdoor groaned once and pulled itself open.
I swallowed hard.
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first Royal Road chapter of each pair. The second one won’t have pictures. If you want to see all the art together (or earlier), it’s on Patreon with the combined chapters!