Chapter 53: Empress City (Patreon)

Camila gently shook Coop awake after the sun had already risen. He was almost surprised Jett hadn’t taken over his pillow but he guessed her power was limited to the territory of Ghost Reef. Judging by the girl’s weary expressions, it didn’t seem like they had slept at all, but they reassured him that they were fine and ready to go.

Camila and Charlie left to find their way into the settlement from a different checkpoint. Coop wished them luck and got ready to go himself. They would be waiting for Coop to enter so they could shadow him inside. Coop lingered in the hotel for a bit, observing what he could from the upper floor windows and going through his stretching routine.

In the daylight the state of the settlement was obviously bad. The airport had a huge footprint on the edge of the city, with wide fields all the way around the terminals and massive parking structures. The fields were one place where mana hadn’t been enough to save the grass and all that remained of the visible ground was trampled dirt. The ocean was visible between buildings on the opposite side of the airport, but it was several city blocks away from the edge of the property.

The dirt fields of the airport were completely dominated by what Coop would describe as hovels. People had ended up constructing whatever shelter they could manage with tarps and scraps of materials from other buildings and cars. Makeshift streets had formed but they twisted and abruptly ended without any general planning.

Knowing the Empire’s strategy to use the residents as meat shields in the event of a raid, he had to admit that the shelters would make an effective barrier if someone couldn’t just smash straight through or go over the hastily built structures. Of course, it wouldn’t take much to do either since the shelters were barely standing as they were. A good hurricane would probably clear the entire shantytown. Coop was confident he could barrel straight through if he wanted to.

After he waited enough time for the girls to navigate their way inside, he left the hotel, skipping checkout and leaving the lobby without any subterfuge. He summoned his ethereal armor without the helmet and didn’t summon a weapon. He tried a new style for the occasion. His armor was like dark polished iron and the leather bits were brown with red highlights. He was happy with how it all came out. It looked like he was a legitimate gladiator and it wasn’t too ostentatious, like when he tried out a shiny gold color scheme. He thought they’d take him seriously dressed as he was.

He only needed to walk a single block before he would be approaching the Empire’s outer checkpoint. Halfway down the block someone yelled for him to stop from the top of a barrier they had formed with cars stacked three high. An outer wall of tipped over cars protected the stack. The guard hopped down behind the outer wall and walked out from behind an angled car. Coop guessed that would be the entrance. Coop stopped and waited, spreading his aura to observe as much as he could while keeping his own masked.

Coop was surprised to find at least 20 more auras inside the buildings on either side of him. He glanced along the vine covered walls and spotted a few guards in the shadows of the lower level windows. Coop also looked behind him where a party of five more guards lingered in the lobby of one of the corner office buildings. They might not have Ghost Reef’s fortress, but they were certainly emphasizing security through manpower.

He returned his attention to the approaching guard. He wore the dark colored armor that he associated with Camila and Charlie, made out of some special alien weave that reminded him of thin wetsuits. The guard didn’t look nearly as comfortable as either of them, thanks to the rest of his gear. He also carried a tower shield that was as tall as Coop and had a thick short sword already in his hand. Coop was a bit jealous of the impressive shield. Retribution wouldn’t let him create such a large item. He identified the guard to see what he was dealing with.

[Human (Level 30)]

[Secutor (Strength)]

[Chosen of the Endless Empire]

This guard was actually pretty impressive. Level 30 was certainly ahead of the curve and he had respectable equipment where most people made due without. He must have fought some elites to continue progressing, though he likely did it with a full party. Coop sincerely doubted that the man had grinded regular Primal Trackers while patrolling to get five full levels.

Coop was also disappointed that the guard looked even more like a gladiator than Coop did with a class to match. Coop felt like he had arrived at a party in the same dress as the host. Talk about a faux pas.

“Identify yourself!” The guard demanded from behind a dramatic metallic visor.

“I’m the ambassador of a settlement and I’ve come to negotiate with your city.” Coop declared, playing the part and projecting his voice for everyone to hear.

The guard paused, apparently not ready for Coop’s admission. He looked back at the entrance, then looked back at Coop, obviously unsure about what to do. Coop tried to encourage him a little.

“Is it alright if I come inside?” Coop ventured politely.

“No! Wait here, and don’t move.” The guard finally made a decision and jogged back to the checkpoint. Apparently, he needed to confer with someone before letting Coop in.

Coop sighed, hoping that he didn’t end up stumbling at the starting gate. If it came down to it, and he needed to make a distraction because they wouldn’t let him in, he decided he would make a frontal assault. If he blasted through this checkpoint, then ran parallel to their outer wall, he could escape through a different checkpoint. That way they wouldn’t be ready on his flanks like they were here, with all the guards in the buildings and lobbies.

After a few minutes of waiting, Coop sat down with his legs crossed in the middle of the street. Coop wondered how long he should give them before he switched to plan b. Even the guards trying to stay hidden in the windows of the buildings looked bored. Some of them just leaned out the windows, giving up on their subterfuge after a short time. The Endless Empire certainly didn’t seem particularly disciplined, but he didn’t think it was fair to expect much more from random people with minimum training and brand new magic powers.

“Yo!” Coop got the attention of a middle-aged guy that was resting his chin on the palm of his hand in the window sill of the second floor. “Any idea how long this is gonna take?”

The man shrugged. “Never seen someone representing a different settlement try to get in before.” He responded apathetically.

Coop thought that made sense. It was a pretty strange scenario that he cooked up. There didn’t seem to be that many civilization shards, so there would probably be quite a distance between most settlements. He thought it would be enough to get his foot in the door, even if they didn’t give him special treatment afterwards.

Finally, the guard jogged back out from the checkpoint. Coop uncrossed his legs and stood back up to wait with his arms crossed.

“Uh, state your level, class, faction, and settlement.” The guard demanded with a lot less confidence than when he started. Maybe the mystery of his identity was getting their attention after all.

“No.” Coop responded with a disappointed smile. If he was actually here for negotiations he wouldn’t want to cede his position so quickly. He’d try pressing his authority instead. Focusing his aura on the guard he continued, “You are being terrible hosts. You should be giving me a tour while your Champion makes himself available. I’ll keep my treatment in mind during our negotiations.” Coop thought he might get somewhere if he played the part correctly and they had no idea what he was offering, so he would let their imaginations run with what they might cause the whole settlement to miss out on.

“Um… wait here!” The guard turned quickly and lugged his huge tower shield back to the checkpoint. Coop was feeling a little less jealous of the shield as he watched the man jog back and forth with his equipment. Coop’s ethereal gear was weightless if he wanted it to be.

It only took two minutes for the guard to return, this time with four others trailing him. Coop waited with his arms crossed resisting the urge to tap his foot and make his acting all dramatic. Maybe he could summon an ethereal watch to impatiently glance at.

“You can come inside, we will escort you to the General.” The guard announced with just a bit of pageantry.

Coop shrugged and allowed the party to lead him inside. He didn’t like that two of them positioned themselves behind him, so he inspected the four that joined the gladiator.

[Human (Level 27)]

[Honan Cavalier (Agility)]

[Chosen of the Endless Empire]

[Human (Level 28)]

[Flame Knight (Body)]

[Chosen of the Endless Empire]

[Human (Level 27)]

[Blade Tyrant (Strength)]

[Chosen of the Endless Empire]

[Human (Level 30)]

[Steel Inquisitor (Intelligence)]

[Chosen of the Endless Empire]

[Sharp]

None of them were too surprising, except that there was another level 30. Coop wasn’t overly concerned as he followed them through the checkpoint, but he remained vigilant. Getting inside was just the first step. He was happy to get that far.

He made it inside Empress City without any further complications with his escort of guards. The makeshift gate was simple enough to pass through, just a stack of cars with a gap in between. Arranging them was probably quite a job. Even with his high Strength he wouldn't have wanted to have been the one to do it. Dragging and stacking cars seemed like a miserable assignment. He wondered if they would make another car wall when their territory expanded again.

The guards were leading him straight through the shantytown and toward the airport. The flimsy structures that people were using as shelter were even less impressive up close than they had been when he viewed them from the upper floors of the hotel. He knew people didn’t need to eat or sleep anymore, but it wasn’t right to deny basic amenities. People should have their own space at least. Every surface seemed to be covered in a thin layer of kicked up dirt.

The people that he spotted weren’t in great shape either, looking like they were being kept in a prison more than being sheltered in a settlement. People were dirty and looked bored, listless. Coop thought there was a lot of untapped potential among the population, but he guessed the leaders were too paranoid to properly utilize the residents.

For such a densely populated place, it was eerily quiet, completely lacking the bustle that he expected from a densely populated settlement. He didn’t overhear any conversations and there were no children playing anywhere. He wondered exactly how many residents were within Empress City. Maybe he’d have a chance to ask the Champion. His best guess would only be a tenth of the original population of the city, which would still be hundreds of thousands, but it was hard to judge based on the density of the shelters.

Coop’s escort was obviously familiar with the route that they took, moving through the area every time they had a guard shift, and they quickly led him toward the airport. None of the residents acknowledged them as they walked past the front openings of their homes, despite trying to encourage a greeting out of whoever he saw.

At the inner edge of the shantytown ring there was another manned checkpoint. The shelters left a wide gap before the barrier that allowed guards to patrol the outside of the wall. Coop spotted a dirty dog underneath some discarded corrugated metal that was leaning against the last shelter in the row. He inspected the dog, expecting at least a level 50 with the way the random animals progressed, even despite its grubby appearance.

[Dog (Level 3)]

[(Body)]

[Adopted of the Pack]

[(Good Boy)]

Coop frowned, disappointed that his expectations weren’t met. He veered off course to get a closer look, surprising his escort. The dog perked up when he noticed Coop approaching and slid out of his hiding spot. He was a small white lab or cream colored golden retriever that desperately needed a bath. His coat was muddied by the settlement’s dirt.

“Hey, buddy, you doing okay?” Coop crouched to greet the dog, extending a hand for him to sniff. The dog inched closer, but hesitated as the guards also approached.

“Hey, Jim! That stray is back!” One of the guards, the Honan Cavalier, shouted toward the wall. “I thought you took care of it!”

A guard popped up from behind the inner wall, presumably Jim. “I dragged it out of the city! What else did you think I was going to do? It’s hardly my fault you outer wall guys can’t maintain the perimeter! You deal with it.”

The Cavalier spat to the side and stepped toward the dog, but Coop stood up and stepped in his way. “Relax man, it’s just a dog.”

“It’s a dog with levels.” The Cavalier pointed out. “That’s not normal.” Coop remembered the limited information that the default Identify skill presented and assumed that was what most people continued to rely on. All they could see was the first line that his aura skill detected, Dog (Level 3).

“Doesn’t bother me.” Coop stated as he stooped to let the dog sniff his hand. The dog inched backwards while simultaneously stretching his neck forward. He visibly relaxed once he sniffed Coop, so Coop scratched his head behind the ears. The dog was filthy, but Coop had recently been covered in zombie grime, so he wouldn’t be bothered by some dirt.

Coop crouched again to give the dog a good rubdown and whispered to it while he did, pointing out Camila and Charlie, who were still lingering within the shadows of the shelters, as friends. Coop wasn’t sure how much the dog, or any of the animals understood, but he still tried to comfort the dog before he left. The dog whined as Coop returned to the guards.

“You afraid of a level 3?” Coop asked the guards, but he only received a scoff and some dirty looks in return.

He let them guide him through the checkpoint. On the other side they walked along a former runway toward the terminals of the airport. There was a significant amount of unused space. They were only letting the residents of the settlement live on the outer perimeter while the Chosen kept the interior. With some planning they could still develop a decent city, but they’d need to spend a lot on constructing better shelters. Coop thought utilizing the city’s high rises would have been a better choice for such a large population, but they seemed to have given up on most of the original buildings.

After a few minutes of walking in the sun, they took him through a service entrance that led up several floors where luggage had been sorted in the past. It was dark and utilitarian with a maze of motionless conveyor belts. Eventually, they came out of a pair of security doors and entered the concourse, lit by the massive windows that allowed viewing of the passenger planes that still stood parked against gates outside. A sign helpfully indicated how to reach gates J1 through J17. Coop figured the girls wouldn’t have been able to keep following him across the tarmac, so he kept his eyes open for clues.

They continued along the wide corridors, passing Chosen that had made themselves at home inside the airport. They were definitely more comfortable inside the airport, but they were still just laying on chairs or hanging out against walls and columns like they were stuck on an extended layover. He could see groups of them coming and going in the sun outside.

The escort eventually led him up an offline escalator. They stopped in front of a private lounge that was situated at the top. Compared to the outer ring, the airport was like a palace, and Coop was standing in front of the throne room.

“Through there.” The original gladiator guard gestured for Coop to enter.