“Let us in!” Julian hollered over the high walls.

  Harvey admired the steel plating that had been affixed to the sides and noticed incredibly detailed inscriptions that could only be Elena’s handiwork unless there were more professional artists who died the day the trial began.

  “Hello!” Hannah shouted. “Where the hell is everyone?”

  “I don’t know, but if I have to sleep in the rain because the lookout decided to take a nap, I’m going to lose it,” Julian groaned.

  Harvey learned the gate they waited in front of wasn’t there the last time Julian and Hannah visited the hotel. Originally, there had only been a wall of logs surrounding the hotel parking lot, similar to the ones they’d constructed around Veils End. Now, a small area around the hotel had been turned into a fortress of steel and stone with reinforced guard towers every few hundred feet. He couldn’t believe they had gotten so much done in just a few weeks, but it made sense if they had thousands of Veilstriders all working together.

  “Do you idiots really think the Necrolords would only send 3 people?” Harvey heard a gruff voice ask from behind the wall.

  “We’re just being careful,” another man replied sheepishly.

  “John? Is that you?” Julian called again.

  “Julian?” the man responded.

  “Yes, now can you please let us in? We’re freezing our butts off out here!” Julian pleaded.

  “Open the gates!” John bellowed. The metal groaned as the gate finally swung open, revealing a tall, older man clad in steel armor that looked similar to Harvey’s own. Even at a glance, he could tell it didn’t fit as well as the sets Harvey had tailor-made using exact measurements of their bodies, but it was still relatively high-quality.

  Is there a forge in there? He wondered, looking up at the towering structure before them. It wasn’t a resort, looking more like one of the hotels he would stay in when Chuck dragged him to the conventions, where they spent more time sitting in bars with clients than actually listening to any of the keynote speakers. But after living in a decrepit shanty town for the past month, it looked like paradise.

  “Thank god you’re still alive,” John effused, pulling Julian into a bear hug.

  “The only thing that’s ever killed me is an exploding boat, and I don’t think the undead have any of those lying around,” Julian smiled.

  “Sounds like we’re safe, then,” John laughed. "Good to see you again, Hannah!”

  “It’s good to be seen!” she joked. “I know you wanted Buttercup to stay outside last time, but is there somewhere we can get him out of the rain?”

  “Of course, it might be a little cramped, but there’s a covered patio out by the pool he can rest under. Charlie, can you go buy a few blankets from the shop and pile them up so Buttercup isn’t lying on the concrete?” John asked, turning to the young man he’d been yelling at moments ago.

  “Sure. I need you to send me some merit, though, since I just spent all of mine on some new gear,” Charlie replied.

  Harvey couldn’t see anything, but after staring into the open air for a moment, the younger man jogged to the second ring of walls closer to the hotel and disappeared.

  “Thanks, tell me how much they cost, and I’ll pay you back,” Hannah said.

  “Don’t mention it,” John smiled. “And I don’t think we’ve met before.”

  Harvey reached out to shake the man’s hand, glad not to be awkwardly standing at the side anymore.

  “I’m Harvey.”

  “Harvey! Nice to finally put a face to the name,” John said. “I’m glad you three finally made it. Maybe now Elena will finally stop nagging me to send a team back to Veils End to help you.”

  Harvey’s ears perked up upon hearing her name. He’d already assumed she was doing ok after seeing her inscriptions, but it was nice to have it confirmed since you could never quite be sure now that the System was constantly throwing wrenches at them. For some reason, he’d been worried something went horrifically wrong with her evolution to F Grade, but it seemed like everything was alright.

  “She’s been nagging you? I’m honestly surprised she would even talk to you without Harvey around,” Hannah laughed.

  “Oh no, she’s been in my ear every day since you two left,” John sighed. “I can’t say I blame her for worrying, but I was running out of excuses to keep our Inscriptions teacher from leaving the foundry.”

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  “Teacher?” Harvey asked.

  “Yeah! She’s great at it. Most of the inscriptions you see on this wall are hers. We have the lower-level inscribers working on personal gear since we thought the walls should only be touched by the best,” John explained.

  “Well then, I hope she left some room for Harvey!” Julian laughed, clapping him on the back.

  “Oh, come on. She’s the one who taught me, remember?” Harvey said.

  “Elena actually did recommend leaving you room to inscribe the walls yourself. Said something about making them shoot lightning. Can you really do that?” John asked

  “Hell yeah, he can,” Julian began. “You’re not gonna believe what this guy can do. I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

  “I want to hear all about it, but let’s get out of the rain first. We can chat in my office for a bit before finding a room for you two. Elena insisted on saving you a spot with her, Harvey, so your arrangements are already taken care of,” John said, gesturing for everyone to follow him.

  “Ooh!” Hannah teased. “Elena saved a spot for you.”

  “Shut up,” Harvey groaned. He had to admit he was surprised. First, that she had started teaching an entire group of Veilstriders while magically becoming confident enough to nag someone like John, and second, that she wanted him to bunk with her. Hannah had always teased him about Elena’s supposed crush, but he’d always been too busy to think about that. He saw her as a sister, but was he sure she looked at him the same way?

  I can worry about feelings later, right now I need to focus on getting the feeling back in my toes.

  Stepping through the second gate, Harvey walked on pavement for the first time in ages. It was so strange, walking through the valet tunnel towards a sliding glass door while covered head to toe in plate armor. He felt like someone coming home from a Renaissance fair, but the steel he wore wasn’t just for show.

  Heat billowed out from inside when the glass soundlessly slid aside, and Harvey saw a gaggle of Veilstriders sitting around small round tables, eating from familiar cardboard boxes.

  “Can we grab something to eat real quick?” Julian asked.

  “Of course,” John replied, leading them toward a group of 4 mirrors arrayed against the wall. “There are more scattered around the hotel, but most of us come here to eat. You haven’t had access to one since the quest ended, have you?”

  “Nope, we’ve been rationing what we had in our slipsacks for the past week. I can’t wait to blow all my merit on cheeseburgers and milkshakes,” Julian celebrated.

  “Don’t spend all your money. The selection got a big upgrade when the Outpost hit F Grade, and there may be some gear you want,” John cautioned.

  “The Outpost evolved?” Harvey asked.

  “Yep, a hidden reward for kicking your butt’s in the quest,” John snickered.

  “With sheer numbers!” Julian retorted. “What level are you now?”

  “My Class is all the way up to level 37,” John beamed.

  “Come talk to me when you hit 40,” Julian scoffed.

  “What? No way,” John replied.

  “Umm, yeah, it’s called killing skeletons instead of chilling in a hot tub,” Julian laughed.

  They each stood in front of a mirror, takeout bags appearing in their hands from thin air. Liking the sound of Julian’s burger and shake idea, he scrolled through the Earth tab and bought himself two double cheeseburgers, fries, a large chocolate shake, and two energy drinks. He could feel the heat leaking through the paper bag, and his mouth was watering like his tongue could taste the steam.

  Hannah bought a large salad bowl and dumped in carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes before uncorking a health potion and drizzling it on top like it was salad dressing.

  “What the heck is that for?” Julian asked.

  “Buttercup! Ever since I fed him the lettuce drenched in health potion after saving him from the Moonshade Stalker, he loves the stuff. I don’t feed it to him much since they are so expensive, but he’s earned it after today,” Hannah explained.

  “Maybe you should use an endurance potion? He probably needs one of those more,” Julian suggested.

  “He doesn’t like how they taste. Strawberries are his favorite. Speaking of which,” she paused, running back to the mirror before a tub of strawberry ice cream appeared in her hands. “Can deer eat dairy?”

  “You tell us,” Harvey laughed.

  Once Buttercup had been buried in a sea of blankets with his bowls of salad, ice cream, and water – a fairly well-balanced diet by Harvey’s standards – the trio followed John to a small office nestled behind the reception desk. The walls and desk were covered with pictures of a family that definitely wasn’t John’s, and Harvey found himself staring at the framed Master’s Degree hanging behind the desk.

  “Never actually got my Master’s,” John laughed. “Felt good to pretend for a while.”

  “Who are these people?” Hannah asked.

  “I’m guessing the family of whoever used to work here. At first, I was going to take it all down and throw it in a closet somewhere, but I decided to leave them up as motivation that I might get to sit in my own office again,” John sighed.

  “I get wanting to see the pictures, but don’t lie to yourself. Your old office was nowhere near this nice,” Julian chuckled.

  “You kidding me? It was better than that mess you call a locker!” John laughed.

  Harvey was happy to see his friend riffing again. He’d seen flashes of Julian’s more playful personality, but back in Veils End, he’d always been forced to act like the adult in the room. Now that he was back with his old boss, his fun side was coming back in full force. John seemed to recognize that Julian needed a moment to let out all the stress that had been building over the past weeks, and was happy to play along. The room quickly went silent as they all dug into their food, empty wrappers quickly filling the trash can beside the heavy brown desk.

  “So, you guys have actually seen the undead?” John asked.

  “Seen them? Harvey blew up over 300 of them,” Julian chuckled through a mouthful of burger. “Oh my god, this tastes good.”

  “You… you’re kidding?” John asked, pausing mid-bite as a glob of ketchup leaked from the bottom of his burger.

  “Well, it was more a mix of fire, lightning, and destroyed essence crystals than an actual explosion,” Harvey clarified.

  “The three of you killed 300?” John asked again.

  “No, together we only fought around two dozen. The 300 were all Harvey,” Julian smiled.

  “Pulling it off took a lot of planning and special circumstances, and from the notifications, I’m guessing we really only managed to thin out the weakest parts of the army,” Harvey added.

  “Do you have an idea how large the army actually is? Do you think we have a chance of fighting them off?” John asked.

  “I was a little too busy looking at the bone dragon to start counting, but of course we have a chance! Not saying it’s going to be easy, but mark my words. We're gonna win,” Julian declared.