I only managed a stupefied gape before the zombies surged back, surrounding us.

  “Talk later,” Mr. Specops barked. “We need to get out of here first.”

  “No complaints about that,” I muttered, wondering who the hell this person was. Clearly another Champion, and one from modern-day Earth. Was it normal for so many to be summoned from such similar time periods?

  Our prospects quickly brightened with the three of us working together against the horde. To my surprise, the deafening cracks of his rifle didn’t actually make the whole horde chase after us.

  The opposite, actually. The echoes bounced around the tunnels, sending many of the stupid things stumbling off in completely wrong directions, searching for the source of the sound. This let us carve a path with relative ease until we actually managed to annihilate all the zombies in a given area.

  Once they were down and there were no more zombies for the others to blindly follow, we actually managed to go back to our hiding strategy.

  It was an insanely loud way of staying hidden, but thanks to their incredibly poor senses and even duller brains, it somehow worked.

  We ducked into a 7-Eleven, which was, of course, way nicer here than any in the US. I’d heard the stories, but seeing really was believing. I stared in wonder at the vast array of stuff for sale, from household items to booze to hot meals ready to go. Not to mention how incredibly dense the place was. I felt like the same store would’ve needed three times the square footage in the US. At least.

  Once inside, the soldier motioned for us to move all the way to the back, where we were pretty well hidden from the view of any zombies that might wander by.

  Pulling off his goggles, the guy turned to face us, and for the first time, I got a good look at him.

  To my surprise, he was perfectly clean-shaven, though how he was managing to keep groomed, I had no clue.

  He had black eyes, black hair braided into locks, and was incredibly well built in that military sort of way, and looked to be in his forties. If I wasn’t mistaken, he looked South Asian, though his accent was somewhat different from people I’d known from that part of the world.

  “We should be safe for now,” he said. “I’m sure you’re both wondering who I am, so I’ll spare you the trouble. My name is Yashas, and I am Cunning’s Champion.”

  My mouth opened, then closed again. Before I could form a coherent response, he dropped another bombshell.

  “And you are Aerion, are you not? Order’s Champion.”

  Despite myself, I blurted out a confused, “Huh?” like a complete idiot.

  “And you, my friend,” Yashas said, smiling at me, “you’re a rare one, to be gifted with multiple Blessings. I’ve heard of your exploits.”

  “That’s a bold assumption, wouldn’t you say?” Aerion said evenly.

  We exchanged a quick glance, silently agreeing to play dumb. This guy seemed confident, but it’d be stupid to play right into his hands if he were bluffing. I was keen to keep our identities a secret until I knew we could trust this guy, as I'd been with pretty much everyone else thus far.

  Sure, he’d saved us, but what were his reasons?

  Yashas chuckled. “You needn’t raise your guard around me, friends. We’re on the same side. I want to see these Cataclysms put to an end as much as you. As for how I know, that is quite simple. It is a part of my Blessing.”

  He gave a small, self-deprecating smile. “I’ll be honest. I am quite weak compared to you two. Compared to all the Champions, really. I’ve no special powers for combat. No ability to take blows as you can. No, my gift lies in information.”

  He paused, letting us stew over that for a moment. Or maybe he was just fond of theatrics, because he clearly enjoyed our confused looks.

  “My Blessing grants me near-total awareness of all creatures within a certain radius. Living and... less so. This awareness has grown as I have gained ranks. More range, more sensitivity. Beyond that, I have access to something you might call an information broker network. I may trade for knowledge—anything from coin to weapons to documents. It is quite a strange system, I’ll admit, but it has kept me alive in this dangerous place.”

  I was honestly taken aback. The guy had just told us his entire ability set. Sure, he might’ve been holding something back, but still—most people wouldn’t just volunteer that kind of intel, and if he was lying, it’d become pretty obvious rather quickly.

  While I didn’t trust him, he at least didn’t strike me as someone actively working against us. Which really ought to have been the norm, considering all the Champions had a vested interest in ending the Cataclysm. With characters like Eskil around, though, who the hell knew?

  “So you learned that Aerion is supposed to be Order’s Champion through this network?” I asked.

  “In part,” Yashas admitted. “However, that piece took a bit of deduction. I learned from my brokers that Order had indeed summoned a Champion—a piece of information I suspect not even my patron deity is aware of.

  “As I said, this Blessing is quite strange in nature, but I digress. From there, it was simply a matter of obtaining information about unusual activity. Powerful Hunters, unexplained phenomena… which led me straight to a human and an elf who’d suddenly appeared at the same time as the other Champions, clearing Trials and Dungeons that ought to have been nigh-impossible for such neophytes.”

  “Doesn’t mean we were new to the craft,” I said with a shrug. “Just means only recently happened to make a name for ourselves.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Yashas only smiled at my words.

  Aerion glanced at me, and I frowned, thinking it through. He clearly didn’t know for sure, but lying would probably make things worse. At the very least, it would spur him to investigate us further. No, this could work to our advantage. We’d already told the elves that Aerion was a Champion, and Yashas seemed to believe it too. Considering she was an elf, it made sense.

  “Well, you caught us,” I said finally. “Aerion is indeed Order’s Champion. You can imagine why we’re hesitant to announce that fact to the world.”

  Yashas’s eyes lit up. “Excellent! And yes, indeed, I can imagine several reasons for your secrecy. But your secret is safe with me. I look forward to a long and prosperous partnership.”

  He extended a hand toward Aerion, who looked at it for a moment before shaking it.

  “This is a customary greeting of your people, is it not?” he asked.

  “It is,” Aerion said, and I silently thanked every moment she’d spent listening to my random Earth trivia. Never thought all that would actually come in handy.

  Still, both Aerion and I picked up on his wording. ‘Your people’. Which meant…

  “What era are you from, exactly?” Aerion asked.

  “I understand your confusion,” Yashas said with a smile. “As I understand, you are from this wondrous era of… non-magical magic. I, however, hail from a different time entirely. You seem to be from my distant future, though I couldn’t even begin to guess how far. Perhaps you can educate me? I was a general of the great King Ashoka before arriving here.”

  Ashoka. The name rang a distant bell, but I couldn’t place it. Still, a general, huh? No wonder he was so impressive. I suspected becoming a general during his time must have been a much bloodier affair than the modern analog.

  Aerion glanced at me, but when I didn’t react, she shook her head. “I’m afraid I’m not too familiar with ancient history,” she said.

  Yashas waved a hand dismissively. “No matter. It saddens me that my Raja’s legacy isn’t more renowned, but such is the way of things, I suppose.”

  “But if you aren’t from my time,” Aerion said smoothly, playing her part to perfection, “then how do you know so much about our technology?”

  “Ah, that,” Yashas said. “I entered this dungeon nigh upon a year ago. I’ve had quite a bit of time to gather intelligence ever since—on the various factions, the dungeon core, and how it might be defeated. Quite frankly, I had started to wonder if the others would show. I take it from your expressions that not that much time has passed on the outside?”

  “No,” Aerion said. “As far as I’m aware, the dungeon landed a little over a month ago.”

  “A month…” Yashas muttered. “Little wonder, then. I suppose I should be grateful for the extra time. I’ve mastered the weapons of your future world. I still cannot believe that these strange, marvelous tools use no magic, though I must say I am deeply thankful for their existence. For one such as I, these armaments have been crucial to my survival here.”

  “This body armor,” Yashas said, tapping his chest, “and these strange goggles that let me see at night—even in complete darkness—they’re truly wondrous. To say nothing of the other, grander weapons. I shudder to imagine what even one of these fearsome instruments would have done on a battlefield in my era.”

  Aerion chuckled. “Yes, well, I imagine this whole city must seem quite strange to you.”

  “Indeed,” Yashas said with a small smile. “I admit I have learned quite a bit during my time here. So much to take back to my people.”

  So. Another one who was told he could go back. Was I really the only one who was given information to the contrary?

  “What can you tell us about these factions?” I asked. “We haven’t even seen the dungeon core, let alone gotten close to it. Do you know where it is?”

  Yashas finally turned towards me, looking almost surprised to see me there. Like I’d vanished from the conversation entirely. Not in a rude way, just that he’d instinctively given most of his attention to Aerion as the supposed Champion of Order.

  I couldn’t fault him for that. In fact, that was the whole point of this ruse.

  “I do,” he said, “the location is not the issue. Reaching it, however, is another matter entirely. The core floats high in the air above the city’s tallest building—a spindly spire of metal, and far too high to reach by conventional means.

  Thankfully, your people seem to have contraptions that can fly.” He turned to Aerion expectantly.

  “You mean the helicopters,” she said. “The flying metal machines that stay in the air by spinning metal blades at extremely high speeds?”

  “So they are called helicopters…” Yashas raised his brows. “How fascinating. The first time I heard one approach, I feared for my life. What truly marvelous contraptions they are. Regardless, I believe we must use one of these helicopters to approach the core.”

  Uh, yeah, good luck with that. One did not simply ‘learn’ how to fly a heli. Even with my hundreds of hours of helicopter flight sims, I didn’t dare touch the stick of the real thing. This was going to be a huge problem.

  “This, however, isn’t our biggest problem,” Yashas continued.

  He leaned forward slightly. “If you’ve yet to see the core, then you don't know that it disappears during the day.”

  “It... disappears?” I asked. Did it really? We hadn’t exactly had the chance to notice, what with desperately trying to stay alive and all…

  “As far as I can tell, this is no illusion,” Yashas continued. “It truly vanishes from existence. I’ve watched the Skeleton faction fly their helicopters straight through the spot where it should be.”

  “Wait,” I said. “You’re saying the skeletons have helicopters too?”

  “Indeed,” Yashas replied with a nod. “They appear to be a military faction. They operate out of all the military bases in and around this city.”

  “Tokyo,” Aerion offered.

  “So that is how it is pronounced. Curious,” he said thoughtfully. “An interesting name. I believe these skeletons may once have been members of this city’s army. They now command the machinery they once used in life. They—as well as the others—seem to grow stronger nearer to the core.”

  “Well, shit,” I muttered. That was bad news. I’d been hoping the skeletons outside were limited to rifles and maybe a tank or two, but if they were flying choppers, that meant they had access to the full modern arsenal.

  If that was the case, tanks and guns were the least of our troubles. After the war with China, Japan’s arsenal almost rivaled that of the US.

  Ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, cluster munitions… nukes…

  The thought of the undead detonating a nuke over Tokyo made my stomach churn. It’d normally be insane to think they’d nuke their own city, but I wasn’t about to bet my life on what undead logic might dictate.

  The crises, it seemed, only continued to mount.

  “We’ll need some time to digest this,” Aerion said calmly. “For now, we should focus on escaping this station.”

  “Indeed,” Yashas agreed. “When I first encountered these stations, I could scarcely fathom how vast they were. How any civilization could build such an enormous structure—let alone underground! Even now, it seems impossible.”

  Aerion smiled. “I imagine it must.”

  I was thankful just how good of an actor Aerion was in times like these. She played her part perfectly, and I silently marveled at how quickly she adapted. She wasn’t just a brilliant engineer—she was an elven princess. Stuff like this came naturally to her.

  I wasn’t worried about Yashas catching on… at least, not until he asked something basic about Earth that Aerion couldn’t answer.

  I made a mental note to put together a list of ‘Earth 101’ topics for her to memorize later. She was already good, but it was better safe than sorry.

  “All right then,” I said, cracking my knuckles. “Let’s fight our way out. I assume you know the way?”

  “Of course,” Yashas replied. “We’re about halfway to the surface. Follow me, and—”

  Suddenly, the lights went out. Every single one. The station plunged into total darkness, and for several long seconds, I saw afterimages of aisles full of chips and snacks.

  “How unfortunate,” Yashas said dryly, “It would seem night has fallen upon us once again.”

  Confirming his words were the shrieks of the undead that echoed through the tunnels around us.

  It was official. We were officially in a zombie horror movie, and it was pretty much the nightmare scenario everyone dreaded. Deep underground, in the dark, and nowhere to run.