If Liv had to have a takeaway from her journey, it was travel took forever.

  It had already taken days of travel on the buggy before they arrived at a harbor, the docks sparsely populated with boats tied down, waiting to ferry them across the beautiful blue waves. After that, they had to get on the buggy again to drive once more, that trip almost as long as the two previous combined. The awkward tension, while still there as an undercurrent in every word uttered, every action done, had mostly disappeared as the days went on, her conversations growing more and more pleasant in turn. The boss, too, had quieted down after they boarded the boat. It was far too late to turn back at this point, and it had put two and two together. They had gone so far, and yet, it was still taking so damn long.

  Despite everything, she found herself enjoying the company of her saviors more and more by the day. By the end of their journey, her understanding of her new friends had increased. Ean wanted to join Hellfire to defeat demons, be a hero, and eventually ascend to the status of a "legend". Olivia, on the other hand, wanted to make a ton of money so she’d never have to work again, eventually retiring to some deserted island. Their dreams made Liv think of what she wanted. A clean bed, water, and company sure. But that was that enough? She hadn't really thought about it until now.

  Liv slumps further in her seat as she watches the plains pass her by, Ean dead asleep on Olivia's shoulder, Olivia leaning on his head as she– too– sleeps peacefully. The rolling hills have long since vanished, replaced by lands as flat as can be, not a hint of the emerald green she saw anywhere. In the distance, she can see a concrete wall jutting high into the air extending high into the air surrounded by a entrenching moat– presumably to defend against attacks from humans or beasts. A massive, wooden door sits in the middle of the south most wall, one that doubles as a drawbridge. On said door is a large emblem with a flame within, a blade sticking out the top big enough to be seen from miles away.

  The Buggy pulls in, the door falling open with a deafening creak, allowing them entry to the gated fort. Inside was a sprawling mass of tents and wooden cabins, people bustling from place to place, chatting with abounding weapons and armors of all shapes and sizes. Liv had known there would be quite a few people, Ean had described them as "continent spanning", but this was beyond her wildest dreams. There were hundreds of people at a minimum, perhaps thousands. It was almost too much to process.

  “Aye, you daydreaming again?” Alexis calls, cutting through the torrent of thoughts pouring through her mind.

  “Err… Nah. Just a bit overwhelmed by the ‘mount of people.” Liv says, keeping her shoulders squared as they dismount the Buggy. She wasn’t exactly lying, she was overwhelmed. The voices, the smells, the sight of it all was baffling to her, something she could only ever see in the few the books with especially large pictures.

  “Hah! This is one of the small ones! Few of the bigger ones number in the millions.” Alexis smirks, bumping her with his elbow.

  “That’s a hell of a lot o’ people.” She mutters, her voice dusted with awe.

  “Yeah.” Alexis sighs. “Used to be billions of us a few decades back. Technology, games, n’ opportunities as far as the eye could see. Wish us older folks could've saved it for you kids. All we got are the dregs now. Still, I think you would've liked it."

  Liv looks down, her hands slipping into her pockets. She thinks for a moment, trying to imagine a world like that. It all just seems so foreign. This world, this place that's supposedly normal already feels so alien. She feels frustration bubbling in her chest, an unpleasant feeling she tries to curb, one that just won't stay silent. “Guess we’ll never know.”

  Alexis frowns at her clearly frustrated expression, a response bubbling in his throat. He lets it die, his hands falling into his pocket as he shakes his head. “I guess we won't.”

  The rest of the short walk is silent, the jubilance soured by the weight of reality. Eventually, they arrive near the center, a concrete cube looking building smack dab in the middle of the compound. It's stout, just as tall as it is wide with that same emblem burned into its door, not a single other entrance aside from said door anywhere on its surface, a sore sight amongst the cabins and tents littered around the compound.

  Alexis looks to Liv, giving her a quick pat on the back, a smile Liv’s gotten used to shining on his face. “Good luck, kid. See ya on the field.”

  Liv looks back to him, her own frustrations forgotten. She feels a strange warmness well up inside her, a smile creeping across her face as she chuckles, rubbing the back of her head, her voice warm and fuzzy as she speaks while waving. “Yeah… See ya soon, Alexis!"

  Liv turns to the doors, alone for the first time in over a week. She shakes her head, her hand landing on the door, turning the knob as she opens the door. The interior is lighted artificially with bulbs, bright and fluorescent. The inside is nearly barren, the only furniture of note being a desk with a carpet and two chairs. Behind the desk was a tired, spindly looking man with thin, black hair. He has a greasy quality about him, scratching away on a paper with a pen, papers stacked high on said desk. His head spikes up as Liv closes the door, his sunken eyes growing wide as he sits up fully.

  “A-ah, hello! Who might you be?” He questions, slowly putting his pen down, placing his full attention on Liv. His eyes widen further as Liv approaches, her hand reaching out to grab his with a hard, firm grip.

  "Liv." She says simply but curtly, giving his hand a simple, quick shake. He looks on at their clasped hands, his now near bulging eyes colored with a clear confusion and fear.

  "L-Live?" He asks, his voice plagued by stutters as he looks up at Liv with fearful eyes. "A-A-Are you thr-r-reatening me?"

  Liv blinks, taken aback by the question. Why the hell would she be threatening him? With a quick shake of her head, she lets go of his hand, rectifying her statement. "My name."

  "Oh." The man says, looking down at his palm as he slumps in his chair, his eyes returning to their previous sunken state. "I-I see. My apologies."

  "It ain't yer fault." Liv says, taking the seat on her side of the desk. It was cushier than she would've thought, her back melting into the cushioned wood as she speaks. "Do ya know Alexis?"

  “Alexis? I believe he was away on a mission in South America,” He says slowly, his hands coming to dig through the mountains of paperwork. Eventually, he finds the promised paper, his head nodding as he scans it. “I believe he will return in a week if you have any business with him.”

  “Nah, I came ‘ere with' em.” She says, allowing herself to break eye contact, looking around as she speaks. “I don't got no place to go, so I figured I'd join y'all. I can do that, right?”

  The man’s sunken eyes, somehow, widen further than before as he looks at her. Disbelief seems to be the dominant emotion on his face, though it quickly melts into a sense of belief and shock as he observes her. “I guess I'll have to go speak to him. I'm sure he’ll be rewarded for a find such as yourself." He returns his sunken eyed stare to her, a rhythmic tapping humming through the air like a metronome as he asks. "Do you have a Synth Weapon?”

  She nods slowly, looking down at the gauntlets. Olivia and Ean had explained it to her in passing, though most of the nitty gritty went over her head. She just knew her weapon could do something, and thats all she thought she needed to know. Current her wanted to beat past her into the dirt for that.

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  The greasy man nods to himself, a whistle escaping his pursed lips as he begins to dig through the mountain of papers once more. He seems to find the treasures he seeks, tossing Liv a pen as he sorts through the large stacks. "Well, we can start the process now. Do you know how to write?”

  Liv nods. Her mother taught her some simple writing, like how to spell her name, and most of the alphabet so she could read the signs when looting stores. Of course, she taught herself some as well. She wasn't stupid, after all. She slowly slips one of her gauntlets off, the pen coming to rest between the crook her middle finger. It couldn't be that much harder than digging.

  This was far harder than digging.

  Liv groans, slamming her head on the table for what felt like the umpteenth time. She could read and write, no doubt about that. But these contracts and their contents were completely nonsensical! What the hell is a Cure Period, a Deed, or an Inter Alia?

  For two hours she slogs through long, complicated, hard-to-read documents. She felt like the words were curling into themselves, assaulting her brain with their inane complexity, their contents spilling from the papers tip to toe. She couldn't seem to answer many of them, especially the ones pertaining to her place of residence. She had informed him about that, earning a look of sympathy before placing another stack in front of her, effectively doubling her work load. She decided then and there to just answer to the best of her abilities. She didn't really have a last name, so she just made one up. She figured "Boss" wasn't a bad last name, so "Liv Boss" it would be.

  After scratching her name down on the final paper, the man takes it along with the pile, sliding them to the left, the contents of her hours of working looking almost minuscule in comparison to the mountains of paperwork before it. “That's all the paperwork done. I guess you're ready for the Survival test.”

  Liv's head perks up at the mention of finished paperwork, the man standing with a grunt of effort as he turns to the metal door. He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small key with a bizarre head. He slips it into the lock, the mechanism thunking before sliding open.

  A cold breeze washes over the room, a shiver crawling up Liv's spine as she gets a good look down the buildings backroom. It's a sort of concrete stairway, though to describe it as just that wouldn't be completely accurate. The stairs that descend down are made of the same material as the walls, spiraling down and out as far as Liv could see, just barely narrowing the further she looked. Florescent lights illuminate the room, a gentle hum escaping them as they reveal the path forward.

  Liv looks on, her eyes darting between the man beckoning her in and the narrow path forward. Eventually, she shrugs, turning sideways as she pushes into the stairwell, the door sliding shut behind her.

  The descent is far from a comfortable one. Her exposed arms scrape against the walls, a frigid chill settling into the deepest reaches of her body. Her breathing fogs as it escaped her mouth, a mist wafting out to envelop her, rolling like a listless ocean in high tide. Though there's frost, the air is unbearably dry, chaffing Liv's sinuses as she wheezes. The temperature only drops as she continues forward, her teeth chattering as the wall claims small pieces of her exposed flesh. Just as it becomes unbearable, a soft glow emanates from her gauntlets, a wave of relief flooding her body.

  “Bout damn time ya helped.” She chuckles breathlessly, giving the gauntlet a quick knock against the wall. The gauntlets flare a bit, releasing more heat, but no response comes.

  After what feels like an hour, she finally sees a bright, purplish glow from the end of the hall. She grunts, squeezing herself out of the spiraling staircase, taking in the sight before her.

  The room before her is rectangular, only a bit larger than the office she was in a few minutes ago. Instead of a desk at the end of this room, there sits a metal platform with three ascending steps, a purple portal humming at its top. The metal seems to be dull, reflecting little light from the glowing, purple portal. Curved spires jut from each corner, ascending halfway up the portals length before tapering off into sharp points. It hums a strange frequency, her gauntlets jittering oddly on her hands. The portal undulates, pulsing rhythmically– heat returning with every step closer. It didn't take a genius to piece together what it was.

  "What's that?" Liv questions.

  "A Strata, Liv." Her boss pipes up, causing Liv to tense like a spring. Of course it chose to speak as soon as she made a single mistake. "Did you not listen at all?"

  "I mean. Kinda?" Liv responds. "I 'member when they came to be 'n stuff. And the, uh, ratin' or somethin'. It was-.'

  “Its Risk, the lowest level.” Her boss interjects, putting her fragile attempts at recollection to rest.

  “Thanks,” Liv says slowly, allowing her eyes to fall to her gauntlets once more, “but I knew-”

  “No, you certainly didn’t.” Her boss cuts her off, exasperation clear in its voice.

  “You dunno that.” She retorts.

  “I do.”

  “Tch.” Liv clicks her tongue against her teeth, crossing her arms as she looks back to the Strata. Her eyes fix on the undulating depths before she speaks again. “Why d’ya even care? I thought I wasn't in yer Por… Pro… Per…”

  “Prerogative.”

  “Yeah, whatever! Yer goal or somethin'.”

  Her boss remains silent for a tick, long enough to genuinely surprise Liv. Eventually, it does speak, sounding as pragmatic as ever.

  “While this isn’t ideal, and it certainly isn’t what I believe you should have done, it is the decision you made. While I hope you will attempt to make wiser decisions in the future, I know for a fact you wont, and you won't listen to reason. Its in my best interest, however, to keep you alive and healthy, even if reason is gone. Luckily, I believe I can cover most of your weaknesses, especially your poor memory and subpar intelligence-.”

  “OI.” Liv interjects, her face flushing.

  “...Just memory, then. I mitigate innumerable flaws and you, in kind, can cover my inability to function on my own. If we can cooperate, we can get through this long enough for me to see you reasoned with."

  Liv mutters, glaring down at the gauntlets. While angry, she has to admit that it had a point, though she felt it was the one being unreasonable. Best to ignore it, not like it would listen to her anyway. With a huff, she walks toward the Strata, her feet clanking against the metal stairs until she's right in front of it. She looks right into it, preparing to take a step forward. As she does, however, the Strata releases a pulse of power, sending her staggering back. She trips down the stairs, impacting the concrete floor as something jumps out, screeching at the top of its lungs.

  "REEE!"

  Out of the Strata comes a large, hog sized mosquito with a humanoid face, its yellow teeth reflecting light in the dim room. It's head and thorax each sport a large, bulbous sack filled with an orange, bubbling liquid. It's an off-grey color, its wings flapping rapidly to keep its bulky body afloat. It takes a once over of the room while sniffing once, twice, and thrice. Quickly, it's head locks onto her, another screech escaping its mouth. It barrels toward her, it's jaw opening to reveal more teeth in it's maw.

  "JESUS FUCKIN' CHRIST!" Liv screams, swinging her arms wildly as a surge of panic fills her. Her wild swing manages to strike true, the metal of her gauntlet burying in it's bulbous head as a the expected crunch of its neck sounds out, an unexpected bubbling sound echoing alongside it. Liv finds out the cause of the noise soon enough as the bubbling liquid from it's head splashes onto her exposed arm, burning into her skin as the creature falls to the floor, completely limp. Pain lances through her body as it slowly evaporates, leaving a small, distinct burn mark on her arm. "WHAT IN THE HELL WAS THAT?"

  "A demon." Her boss responds.

  "I KNOW THAT, I MEAN A TYPE OR SOMETHIN'!"

  "A bug?" It elaborates, though the hesitation present betrays its uncertainty.

  "THANKS, I COULDN'T'A PIECED THAT TOGETHER." She growls, shaking her arm off. The pain was beginning to fade, though the cold still stung at the open injury, a feeling like needles cascading across the effected area. God, she hated the cold.

  With a deep breath and a calmed mind, she takes a tentative look toward the demon. It's already sizzling to nothing, the bubbling liquid oozing from it's head fading to steam, billowing high into the air before shifting to nothingness. She steps over it, ascending the metal steps, stopping just before the Strata, waiting for something to come out. After a second of silence, she reaches a finger out, poking at the middle of the Strata. It's almost jelly-esque in feel, like water with its surface tension cranked up to ten. She takes a deep breath, steeling herself as she pushes forward, letting her hand push in.

  VWOMP.

  Her hand manages to pass through, ending just before her wrist. the first thing she noted was the feeling, or lack there of. In fact, she couldn't feel her hand at all. A shudder runs down her spine, the unnaturalness of it causing her stomach to twist. She tries to pull her hand back, but finds it thoroughly stuck. It sucks her in further, to her elbow, then to her shoulder. Before she can shout or make a noise of any kind, she's gone, absorbed into it's depths.

  And silence dominates once more.