III.

---

He made it sound more dramatic than it really was. There was certainly a lot of excitement in the air after the strange man's coming, and a lot of activity as our Relayer and the town got us ready for our expedition, but it wasn't like there'd be any mass mobilization. We'd be going out on our own, and once we left, their place in "the gears of the machine" would ultimately just be... to keep us in their thoughts. Not that big a deal.

So what would we need, anyways? First off, transportation. The people our book was pointing us towards were scattered across a large area, were going to keep moving, and I was the only one who had ever done any longform on-foot travel. Sefgh had set up her little tech laboratory to run on wheels, but that cramped little thing wasn't gonna cut it for a several month long trip. We needed something we could actually live in. Back hundreds of years ago people used large, mechanical transportation devices, of which the largest could conceivably be lived in, but they'd all been out of use for so long that before we left, one would have to be dredged and repaired. Originally it was made to run on a set track, so it was refurbished with wheels (strong enough to handle most terrain), made to be powered by the sun (similar to M-Bot), and had its interior changed to make it more of a real living space. It was still pretty damn small for four people, so personal belongings would have to be kept at a minimum, but it was workable. Aside from our own personal clothes, we were also given a few sets of military oufits, including camo clothes and body armor.

This vehicle would have to have a second carriage attached for all our supplies too, which would slow us down and get cumbersome but again, it was workable. Nothing in the prophecy said we had to do all of this fast. We'd need lots of imperishable food and water (the rainwater stopped being drinkable quite a long time ago, for reasons even Almendra's forgotten) for our journey. We'd also need medical supplies, since we were probably gonna get in a lot of fights. Sef's pretty good as a doctor, and decided to bring along a bit of her standard engineering equipment as well, in the event any of us needed, say, prosthetics.

We would need weapons, of course. Those would be stored in the main cabin, with reserves in the back - we could need them at any moment, after all. I had some knives and knew how to use them, and Matt and M-Bot were good with guns, but Sefgh was totally inexperienced and we needed some more general knowledge, so while the rest of the town prepared our supplies and transportation, we'd be in combat training. Guns first and foremost, knives for close combat, and swords as a just-in-case (they're the holiest of weapons, but not necessarily the most used). Sef had gone through life as more or less a pacifist, so she was pretty squeamish about it, but quickly agreed that if this was really part of the grander cosmic plan, there wasn't much she could really do about it. Personally, I thought learning how to use guns was pretty fun. We also got a basic crash course in staying cool under pressure, combat preparation, practical things like that, helped out by some veteran townspeople. It wasn't going to be a traditional war, and the tactics would be different - instead of following a general's commands, we'd have to think on our feet. Sef's still pretty nervous, but at least she won't piss herself as soon as we see a target now. Hopefully.

Oh yeah, and we'd also bring along some camping materials, since spending all day and night in that cabin seemed absolutely miserable. It certainly wouldn't be the best spot to do our daily prayers! It'd have to be things that were easy to set up and relatively compact - sleeping bags, quickly buildable tents, and the materials to start a fire. We'll be in a different spot every night, and spending as many as we could under the stars, offering prayers every morning before resuming our holy quest. It'd be isolated, cramped, boring, simultaneously lonely and crowded, and punctuated by bouts of intense violence. And yet, there was a strange beauty thinking about it, spending all that time away from wider society, spending our nights in the quiet solitude of nature, all for a cause so much larger than us. I thought our Relayer was full of shit, but he wasn't totally wrong. Almendra had always wanted me to do something, and it seemed like finally, this was it.

---

---

I didn't have anyone to say goodbye to, but the others did.

Sefgh had to say goodbye to her parents and the other friends she'd made. One of them, Jozep, practically begged to come along. Matt had to say goodbye to some of his friends, too. M-Bot didn't have anyone to say goodbye to either, so we hung out together while the other two made their rounds.

"Pretty lonely, huh? They know a lot more people than we do. Sometimes I wish I could be like them." It spoke suddenly, after a while of sitting in silence.

"Hey, it's not that bad," I replied, "Knowing more people means you have more connections, and when something like this happens and severs them, that hurts a lot too. Sometimes it's better not to get too attached." I replied.

"You don't get it. It's hollow. Doesn't your life ever feel empty?"

"Does yours?"

Silence.

"Just a few lonely people killing a bunch of other people. Making the world a little more lonely."

"Hey, you're being pretty pessimistic about this. We're not just going to be killing random people, they're selected targets trying to end the world, remember? And by saving it, we won't just be staving off death, we'll be actively making things better, like the Relayer says!"

"Do you actually believe him?"

"Sometimes. It probably won't be some kind of utopia where only we remain, but..."

"Whatever. That's getting ahead of ourselves, anyways. In the moment, we'll just be a bunch of lonely people killing other people. It sounds kind of miserable."

"Oh, it will not be miserable. Come on, what's gotten into you?"

"I don't know. Aren't YOU sad not having anyone to say goodbye to? I mean, our group is nice, but isn't it a little sad not to know anybody else in this whole town? Most people here seem to get along really well, and they have their own little community. It makes me feel odd looking in from the outside. Nobody wants to talk to a robot. You don't have any other friends? Parents?"

I sighed.

"Let's not talk about that."

---

A couple months had passed, and it was finally time for us to head off. A large crowd gathered to watch our departure. Our vehicle was too practical to be impressive, but there was an air of importance about the whole thing still. It was shining bright out, and as we walked to the vehicle the crowd cheered for us. Good luck out there!, someone screamed. Save our souls!, cried another. We stopped in front of the doorway next to the Relayer as he gave a brief speech.

"Our four chosen heroes embark today on their holy quest! Look around you, one and all; you have brought this to happen! Let us cheer for them, and for ourselves!"

An uproarious cheer from the crowd.

"They shall venture forth into our hollow world, and smite the heart of evil, the devil himself, Cardo! Lend them your spirits!"

Another cheer.

"Now go, without another moment to spare!"

We climbed in to the sound of joyous cheer, muffling it as we shut the door. The interior walls were gray, with white cushioned seats (long enough to sleep on if needed) at the sides near the front, storage units, a kitchen, and a door to the second carriage near the rear, and of course driving gear, a driver's and passenger's seat, and so on at the front, separated from the main cabin by a wall with windows and a sliding door. There was a window at the front and multiple along the sides, giving us a good view all around us. The interior was exclusively monochromatic, and while it was clean and tidy, it was only as luxurious as the designers could make it without sacrificing practicality (so not very). We could see and hear the ecstatic crowd outside, but with the sound muffled an air of uncanniness and trepidation suddenly entered the room. All four of us were silent, quietly processing the reality of what we were about to do.

"Ready to go?" Matt asked, climbing into the driver's seat.

Sefgh sighed.

"Whenever you are."

We drove off.

---

rumble rumble...

rumble rumble...

I was staring at the book of names, trying to memorize them all, watching the numbers move. Time passed in silence.

Some of them seemed to be moving very fast, and others weren't moving at all. It wasn't clear how big an area these numbers were supposed to cover, but there was an entry for us, too. It read "xxx.xxx~xxx.xxx", so it seemed we weren't in range yet, and that the numbers didn't cover the whole world. I wondered what would happen if any of these guys just plain ran out of that range, but if this was all divinely ordained, it probably wouldn't be an issue. Cardo's numbers were partially censored, so we'd have to find him manually. We'd cross that bridge when we got to it.

We'd left at noon, and by now the sun had fallen. Sef was taking her turn driving now, with Matt and I sitting on one of the long seats and M-Bot on the other. The door to the front room was open. We had been driving mostly nonstop, only pausing to relieve ourselves in the woods, and were going to go a couple more hours before leaving off for the night. It was pretty exhausting, honestly - we'd taken test rides in this thing before starting the journey of course, but it was still a new and mildly unpleasant experience, no matter how nice and practical the interior was. Getting bumped and jostled around by the vehicle's motions, breathing in the same air or being blasted with wind by the open windows, staying in that cramped space. I was definitely excited to get out of it once it was time to set up camp.

"Hey, we made it into the book's tracking range!" I said. "Only took us all day."

"Friggin' finally!" exclaimed Matt.

"How big is that range, anyways?" asked Sefgh.

"I'm not sure, there's really no frame of reference. It's probably pretty big, though. It looks like one of these guys has been travelling all day in more or less a straight line, and the numbers have been ticking over very slowly. They started at something like 303~428, now they're at 323~444."

"Who?" asked Matt.

"Wold. What, do you know them or something?"

"Oh. Nahhh. They're all just jumbles'a letters to me."

"Well, keep watching our coordinates so we can get a better sense for how big the range is, and what directions they correspond to, and all that," said Sefgh, "and we should probably choose someone to try and head towards first, too."

"It seems like the closest person is this 'Zsuius' guy. Our coordinate numbers are super low, and so are theirs." I responded.

"Yaaay, murder," M-Bot said in a deadpan voice.

"What, d'you not enjoy random acts'a violence?" Matt teased.

"Hey, I don't like violence either," Sefgh butted in, "but it's not like we're doing this for fun!"

"It might be fun!" Matt responded, tongue in cheek.

"Murder's not fun," I said.

"What, d'you have experience? Haha!"

M-Bot chimed in, "It's probably a good thing to have experience if we're going to be God's Holy Hitmen."

"Whatever, just hunting animals and stuff, and it's not fun."

"I d'nno, I'm kinda excited. What, none of you wanna do this?"

"You're not understanding," I said, "it's not fun. It's plenty of other stuff. It's necessary, for one thing. Killing animals so you can live, killing these guys so the world gets better. Both are necessary, neither are fun. And just because it's not fun doesn't mean it doesn't feel good in other ways."

"Feel... good?" Sefgh asked.

"Well, yeah. You know, it's... ugh, I shouldn't even try and explain it. You'll get it when you feel it."

"No, explain. I'm curious," M-Bot said.

"What, cuz you've never felt anything b'fore?" Matt asked, grinning.

"Beep boop. I am a robot and do not feel emotions." M-Bot robotically lifted its arms up and down like a bad impression.

"Oh, whatever. It's just..."

Matt and M-Bot both stared at me, and Sefgh glanced over.

"Satisfying. It's satisfying. It's not fun, that's like playing and running around and all that shit. Violence isn't like that, at least serious violence, not like punching someone once or something, actually killing something. That's not something you'd want to tell other people about like a fun story, or brag about, or be proud of. It's deeper than that. It goes beyond it. It's darker. Permanent. Getting something done. I don't know, it's hard to explain some things, but you'll... you'll get what I mean once you've done it. You know, if you do it."

"Wow. Sounds like a great time." Matt said, grinning still, though a little less wide.

"Yeah. Super..." Sefgh muttered.

"Whatever," I said, resting my head back with a sigh, "I told you it was hard to explain."

"I don't know," M-Bot chimed in, "that actually sounds kind of nice."

---

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