A spokesperson for the group addressed me.

  "I greet you, stranger; my name is Calut Bromel."

  He put a hand across his dirty vest and bowed his head slightly.

  "We thank you for what you've done for us this night. We have many questions, but would you be willing to assist us in our retribution by restraining that monster?"

  Calut looked back to where several of his peers were fighting to even roll the beast over.

  "I regret to say we are not strong enough to secure the beast while we dispense our justice upon it."

  He asked this with a stony look of grim determination and a small amount of shame for once again relying on me.

  Well, so much for avoiding involvement.

  I nodded and lashed the warlord to the side of one cage, arms akimbo and legs spread, its bulk supported by rough chains.

  As the first members began to stab and slash the monster, it awoke screaming. Its harsh squeals filled the night air and echoed out over the dark forest.

  Silently, I reached into its body and removed the crystal in its guts through a blade puncture in its side; I went to the orc I'd removed the face from and did the same.

  They were similar, but different. The orcs' crystal was noticeably smaller and shaded a lighter blue than the warlords' crystal. Both were composed mainly of silicon, quartz, and... graphene?

  I magnified my eyes several times and, sure enough, layers of graphene separated the varying plates of silicon and quartz. Carbon nanotubes were organised among the layers, acting as bridges between the plates.

  I wasn't familiar with the construction of these crystals, but from cursory examination they appeared to be some combination of computer chip and battery.

  I wasn't sure what kind of power they stored, or how they would compute something, but everything about them was screaming 'central processing unit'.

  Perhaps I'd crack this mystery if I gathered more, or found larger ones. I knew the crystals were linked to the use of 'magic' by the creatures I'd met.

  Scanning the people here, I discovered that they also had the crystals inside them, all of which were of varying sizes and shapes.

  Reviewing the footage of the children's rescue from the goblins earlier, I realized they hadn't had them, so perhaps they developed after a certain age?

  The dissection of the orc warlord continued as it screamed and roared and snarled, hurling insults and promising each of its tormentors a slow and painful death.

  The woman from the cave looked on with a particular heat in her eyes, running her hands along the blade of a reclaimed sword, waiting patiently for the other members to run through their own grievances.

  When the time finally came for her to approach the beast, it was panting heavily with lost blood and agony.

  It knew the end was upon it and, as a last attempt to etch itself in the woman's memory, it made an extremely indelicate remark about the characteristics of her genitals.

  She didn't even flinch.

  With the steely resolve of a hardened warrior she stepped up to the cage and thrust her sword directly up between the pig-things legs, viciously levering the sword back and forth, trying to separate the Warlords pelvic bone from the inside and work her way up the front.

  It died shortly after she began, and the corpse was further brutalised for another minute after, all the while the woman grew increasingly emotional and vicious.

  That kind of hatred would be carried with her for the entirety of her life. Every joyful moment of her existence would be permanently tainted by the memory of what had been done to her here.

  The other members of the group finally stepped in and removed her from the body, kicking and screaming.

  The group spent some time communicating with each other, grieving and collecting themselves, rooting through the materials of the camp looking for belongings that had been taken from them when they'd been captured.

  Most of the people here had been kidnapped from caravans travelling between Eprie and Hilst, the small village I'd returned the children to; none seemed to be from the town itself.

  After some time, the group gathered, and Calut started with their questions.

  "We thank you again, stranger, for all you've done to free us from this abominable creature. We will forever be in your debt, but who are you? Where do you hail from? None of us here has ever seen someone of your kind, nor any of the powers you seem to possess."

  He looked back among the group for confirmation, and their collective heads bobbed up and down.

  I nodded in understanding, and glanced next to me to see the woman from the cave staring holes straight through my head. She couldn't possibly have looked more interested if she had tried to.

  I gestured for the group to sit, crossing my legs and settling into the dirt of the camp.

  "My name is Vita, First of the Reforged and Ingot of the Great Iron God Mechanriel."

  I gave it a beat for that to settle, and looks of confusion coursed through the gathered crowd. No one had ever heard of that God, or me, for that matter.

  "I was reborn in his gracious heart to be his arbiter upon this world. I have been sent here in order to begin the long journey of building a great limb that would allow my God to reach into this space and shield us from all the forces who would seek to harm us."

  I extended an arm up to the sky in—what I hoped—was an appropriately dramatic proclamation.

  "To that end, I have a need for information and resources to help me gain an understanding of this world, and those who inhabit it."

  I quickly relayed my words to those who couldn't speak the same tongue as Calut, which amazed and excited the group all over again.

  "What kind of God is this... Mechanriel?"

  Calut leaned forward, eager to hear more about this strange god who reforged people.

  I nodded and resumed answering.

  "My Iron God Mechanriel is the master of all technology, knower of all outcomes, and bulwark against the tides of the illogical."

  I sincerely hoped my skills in theatrics were conveying an adequate level of gravitas for my explanation.

  "My God is not a man nor a beast; it knows not of petty jealousy, nor does it feel the twisting craving of greed; my God knows only the fairness of numbers and odds. It is a just God, bent on the preservation of life and thought."

  I closed out with a solemn dip of my head and was met with awed murmurs for my effort.

  "Mechanriel..."

  The name rippled through the group with a sense of mystique and grandiosity.

  "I am the first of his Ingots, the only of my kind; my Lord's name is not yet known to your world but will soon become a name uttered by every sentient being to exist here."

  I could see the momentary shudder run across the group gathered before me; my words seemed to carry a rather foreboding tone, which was just as well.

  This world would be claimed in the name of my God before long.

  "You said you'd be constructing a limb... Are you... building your God?"

  The hesitation in Calut's voice was apparent; fear and a lack of understanding were raising his nerves and causing the group as a whole to tense up.

  Most of these people were far from home and familiarity, so scaring them with tales of constructing gods would do me no favours.

  It was slowly dawning on me that diplomacy was nowhere near the height of my strong points, and if I were going to effectively spread the message of my God, I would need an orator to address the people in my place.

  "That's correct, Calut. My God's reach does not yet extend into this space; in order to establish a foothold here, I need to produce a limb for him to use in order to bring us under his protective wing."

  "A god's limb... But... where do your powers originate? None of us heard you pray to your God for power with a chant or incantation, and I've not seen any sigils on your body."

  Many of the people surrounding him nodded along with his question. Even the woman next to me seemed to lean in a little closer.

  "If your God has no influence here, then how can you do the things we witnessed?"

  I looked down at my hands and then started speaking.

  "My power was bestowed upon me permanently as I was being reforged in the heart of my God."

  I flexed a hand and turned it over.

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  "I was sent here without a connection to my God, so I needed to wield it independently. I am not like you, though I may look it; I am made of iron and fire."

  My hand extended, deforming into a long and deadly sickle. I fed energy into the blade of the sickle until it glowed an angry orange.

  The group scuttled back, cries of fear and amazement going up from all as they fought to gain distance from me.

  After returning my hand to its regular shape, I waited patiently for more questions, and upon realising that I had no intention of harming them, they slowly settled.

  One of the demi-humans in the back, a Rock-person by the name of Keldor, spoke up in his native tongue.

  "Are... are these powers that we could gain by worshipping your God?"

  The others surrounding him immediately began to slap and punch at him, telling him to keep his blasphemies out of his mouth.

  After apologising profusely, he still looked to me for an answer. He's a brave one, but not terribly bright, it seems.

  Just as well, I was waiting for exactly this question and wanted to use this as another opportunity to extol the virtues of my religion.

  "Thank you, Keldor. No, these are powers granted to my God's Ingots."

  I let the rejection hang a moment before continuing.

  "However... there are other gifts that my God has allowed me to give to those who wish to show their devotion to him. Things that other gods may not be capable of granting."

  I recalled the drone I had launched from my shoulder earlier and showed the people gathered before me all the things that the drones could do.

  Shining a light, carrying a heavy bag of weapons. Piercing a hole through a shield at range with the mounted laser.

  Even though the drone was the size of a butterfly, being supplied with incredible amounts of energy through the bottomless void of time and space that was the centre of my core was trivial.

  The drones would never run out of power as long as I existed.

  I explained the same rules for maintaining the drone as I had with the children, but the adults here were much less interested in abandoning their gods for a simple gadget, regardless of how handy it might have been.

  The woman next to me couldn't tear her eyes off the drone, intensely interested and seemingly much more willing to throw her chips in with my God than the others gathered here.

  "Now that you've learned a little of who I am, and why I've come, I think it's best for you to prepare for your own trip. You all have families and friends to return to, lives that need mending, and people whose hearts you must un-break."

  I stood, the group following my example, and I watched on as they began to spread out among the camp.

  Many of them were glancing back at me while quietly speaking with their peers about the strangeness they had witnessed here and wondering what my true purpose might be.

  Obviously, the line about building my God was outside their realm of comprehension.

  I caught Calut before he could wander back into the centre of the camp.

  "Calut, there are some things I wish to ask before you set out."

  He turned back to me and nodded.

  "Whatever I can do to help you, Vita of the Reforged."

  ***

  I spent some time having Calut field my questions about their group.

  There had been more captives in the group, but they'd either been taken into the cave never to be seen again, or loaded into wagons that came to the camp every few days to collect and deliver other prisoners.

  I looked over at the still-draining corpse of the fat pig monster; the cave had led nowhere else, so prisoners not returning from it could only mean they'd been eaten.

  The goblins would conduct raids along the roads, and had been trying to get into Hilst for the past week to no success.

  This small encampment had outside support, either from a larger kidnapping network, or from a wealthy benefactor who somehow profited from the exchange of humans with the Warlord.

  I'd noticed that some crates piled along the wooden barricades that ringed the encampment had a crest burned into them, the same filigreed shield I'd seen on travellers passing through Hilst earlier that day.

  While it wasn't certain that these crates made that group complicit in the trafficking ring, none of the other crates at the camp were branded like they were.

  The shabby state of the camp gave me the impression they weren't coordinated enough to use the crates as a red herring. So the only real options were the crates were delivered purposely, or contraband from raided caravans.

  Regardless, there was a power at work here, siphoning people into an illicit trade.

  Based on the interactions of the prisoners, demi-humanoids were an accepted part of this world's populace. I had seen no signs of prejudice or animosity directed toward them from the regular humanoids, and the tensions of the camp seemed to stem almost entirely from the fact that they had all been subjected to the same torment.

  Either this group of survivors had formed some kind of bond through their shared trauma, or the wider country bore no hostility to varying races.

  Calut confirmed that slavery was illegal in this kingdom, though it was still legal elsewhere on the wider continent. The kingdom of Siltera had only recently outlawed the practice of slavery when the fourth crown prince had taken an emancipated slavegirl for his wife.

  This made sense, as the captured slaves had to be going somewhere.

  Given the relative state of the camp, it hadn't been here more than a few months, with most of the captives newer than two weeks, so the turnover of people was quite rapid.

  Eprie seemed to be the closest city of any notable size, and likely where I was going to obtain most of the information I needed in order to orient myself on this planet.

  Calut, along with the rest of the freed captives, was eager to get out of the camp and back to their lives.

  They set about organising for the trip, preparing the single wagon and single horse to cart back any valuables they'd located throughout the camp.

  They each thanked me, grasping my hands and blessing me with their gods' names.

  Some of them opted to forgo the blessings and simply shake my hand, likely to respect both me and my deity.

  Alongside Rel were Dersio, Fulmer, and Yüthrie. Dersio seemed to be the god for the Wolf people, Fulmer for the Rock People, and Yüthrie belonged to the Reptilian people.

  I returned their thanks, doing my best to respect their gods as they had mine.

  The night was still young; based on the positioning of the singular moon and its rate of travel across the night sky, I estimated 8 hours before dawn.

  I directed the people on which path would lead them to Hilst, how to get to it from the camp, and how long the journey would take.

  Based on their group size, the speed of the wagon, and the load they were transporting, I gave them an upper estimate of 12 hours if constantly moving; breaking for camp and sleep would put them closer to 20.

  I assured them that the paths would remain clear of threats to them, and then bid them a safe journey.

  Before the cart departed, I let them know there was no need to inform the guards of this camp's location. They could tell them about what happened here if they wanted, but I was planning to wait for the next cartload of people to roll in so I could gather more information before wiping the camp off the face of the planet.

  Whatever group had been backing this business would not recoup a single thing from this, nor were they going to learn who or what was on their tail.

  As the cart rolled out, I caught the eye of the woman who'd been in the cave; she seemed hesitant to go with them, as though there was still unfinished business with me, her eyes lingered on me as the group made their way past the edge of the camp and into the treeline.

  I could see her mind warring with the decision to jump from the wagon.

  Suddenly she leapt from the cart, telling them to continue without her, and then jogged back up to me.

  "Was there something else you wanted to know?"

  I looked over her shoulder at the retreating cart with a raised eyebrow.

  "Your ride back is swiftly departing, and while I'm not opposed to offering you assistance, giving you a ride back to Hilst wasn't entirely on my itinerary."

  "I don't want to go back..."

  It was barely audible, but based on the tone and her intense stare at the dirt between her feet, throwing her lot in with me ended up being a more appealing choice than returning to whatever she'd been taken from.

  I settled my eyes back on her and attempted to get her to look back up at me.

  "What is your name?"

  She hadn't spoken more than two words after leaving the cave, not including her rage-induced howls at the Warlord. In fact, she'd barely interacted with the other captives in all the time we'd been gathered.

  I wondered if that might have been part of the reason she'd been singled out for the beast's attention. Based on everything I'd seen of her, she probably stuck out like a sore thumb among the others.

  I looked her over as I waited for a response.

  She was 157cm tall, not counting the two proud, furry ears that protruded from her skull. Soft brown fur ran up the back of them and slowly faded to white as it swept into their openings. She was well-muscled; her shoulder-length brown hair was still wild and unkempt, partly hiding a pair of deep brown eyes.

  Scars marred her hands and forearms, causing bald spots to run through her furred forelimbs where the cotton shift I'd given her couldn't cover them. Scars also ran along her feet and shins; most of them looked like slashes from a bladed weapon, but a fair number of them were jagged and oddly shaped.

  The cloth I'd given her didn't do a great job of hiding her feminine shape, but her modesty was either nonexistent or managed by a different set of values than I held.

  It was obvious at a glance that the woman was a fighter, likely a frontline brawler, and had seen quite a few scraps so far.

  I placed her between 25 and 30 years of age, but couldn't be sure as the culmination of battle and trauma might have been ageing her somewhat artificially.

  "My name is Armela, and..."

  Seeing her squirm the way she was, fists balled, eyes down, cheeks burning with shame made me uneasy.

  Someone who'd fought her way through enough battles to leave her with the number of scars she had shouldn't be struggling like this to say what they meant.

  Interestingly, she hadn't given me a family name or her lineage. Seta had done that, and some of the other non demi-humans from the cages as well. Perhaps the Wolf people—wolf-kin? Wolfkin. Perhaps the wolfkin had different customs, or perhaps it was simply that Armela had given up her lineage.

  I would need to inquire about that in the future after we'd grown closer.

  I chose to break through her hesitation.

  "Armela."

  She glanced up at me.

  "I won't ask you about your past, at least not for the time being. Where you've been matters less to me than where you are now."

  I injected as much kindness into my words as i could without sounding sickly sweet.

  "I will not judge you in the ways you think I might, so speak your mind; if there is something that I can do for you that is within my power to do, then I will make it so."

  She was taken aback at first; either she'd been unaware of how bashful she'd been acting, or she wasn't prepared for anything other than an outright rejection.

  "Ah... well, I... auughhh!"

  She clenched two fistfuls of her hair in frustration before powering forward.

  "What I mean to say is—I want to follow your God. I want his gift, I want to follow you and... I want to... get... stronger..."

  She could barely finish speaking, the lump in her throat threatening to cut her words off entirely. Her arms crossed over her chest as she fought to restrain her sobbing.

  I felt this was the right moment to close the physical gap and reached down to place a hand on the top of her head, at which point she latched herself onto me and cried in earnest.

  I simply stood and gently ran a thumb across the back of her skull, not moving, not speaking. Just letting thing run their course.

  As my hand made its gentle sweeps through the gap between her ears, I realized that this was the third woman I'd brought to tears in less than a day.

  Although I supposed Ava was something of an exception, since I wasn't truly aware of how much time had passed since leaving my God's heart.

  Regardless, my dealings with the people of the world would need to shift; otherwise I would end up with some shifty title like 'bringer of tears' or something equally dreadful.

  After several minutes, the crying faded; there were still sniffles, and her fists were still tightly wrapped in the back of my vest, but it seemed like she had gotten through the worst of it.

  I placed my hands on her shoulders and slowly separated myself from her.

  "If that is your desire, then I will allow you to come with me."

  Her eyes lifted to mine, and there was incredulous wonder on her face, like she couldn't quite believe the good news she's gotten.

  "But understand this, Armela, this will not be a simple journey for you."

  I tried to limit how grave my words felt, opting for a soothing tone, rather than an ominous one.

  "I am not a teacher; I do not know the workings of your world, nor do I have much interest in truly learning them. I am here to fulfil my duty to my God first and foremost."

  She ran an arm across her eyes as she nodded along.

  "As a result of that, you will witness things far beyond your comprehension, and you will be party to acts you may deem to be cruel or unusual. But I will promise you this: I will strengthen you."

  My words reintroduced apprehension into her decision. Good.

  "I've seen the story of your will written across your body as though scrolled upon a tapestry. I will make it so that you never again need to suffer what you have here. If that is acceptable to you, then I will take you."

  She took my words in and thought for a moment before posing a question to me.

  "Can... Would you mind if I took a moment.. to think?"

  It looked like there was an explanation coming, or an attempt to excuse her hesitation. She likely feared that anything other than immediate acceptance wasn't good enough, so I headed her off.

  "Take as much time as you need. I don't plan to leave this camp until the next cart comes in, so there is ample time to contemplate the course of your life."

  I looked up into the night sky, making a show of trying to gauge the time using the stars.

  "I will not leave here without you, regardless of whether you will continue by my side, so do not fear. For now, gather some sleeping materials that aren't too disgusting and try to rest."

  My reply seemed to catch her off guard as her look of apprehension deepened with confusion.

  "Why are you doing that? I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but if your God's duty is your priority, why hunt down some shitty slavers?"

  I could see that whatever image she'd had of me was shifting; this course of action wasn't fitting into what she'd thought she'd known of me.

  "Something you'll come to know about me—if you choose to stay—is that the passing of time for me is entirely distinct from what it is for you."

  I smiled faintly for her benefit.

  "My God, Mechanriel, bestowed on me a sleepless life, a hungerless body, and a goal so vast that not even your children's children's children's children would glimpse the bulk of its work."

  I sighed lighly before continuing.

  "I will be here when all the stars have shone their last. I will remain when all the gods have had their names whispered for the last time. You, Armela, will be to me, what a single breath is to the wind."

  I clapped my hands to bring that line of thought to a close.

  "So! I will do what I deem is pressing to me at any given moment. And at this moment, crushing a group of parasitic cutthroats is what I deem to be pressing."

  She had little to say in response to that beyond a muted,

  "oh."

  I didn't blame her; there wasn't much to be said in response to that. So I continued.

  "While my God has tasked me with something I cannot avoid doing, I have kept my own free will and, because of that, will conduct my own affairs as I see fit. Regardless of how things ultimately turn out, I want to enjoy my time here as much as I can, in any small way that I can."

  I spread my hands to indicated that was the end of my statement.

  "So, basically all that is to say... it's because you... feel like it?"

  Her ears flicked with curiosity, and her tail slowly swished behind her, the conversation clearly taking her mind off of the day's events.

  I chuckled lightly at her amusement.

  "Both myself and my God have an intrinsic desire to protect and preserve life in all its forms. If I find myself in a situation where I can make a positive difference, then I couldn't possibly choose to do nothing."

  This was a lie.

  My god cared little for the preservation of life unless it served to round out its calculations.

  But I couldn't say that.

  My words seemed to ease her mind significantly. She excused herself politely to inspect some tents and begin organising her sleeping arrangements.