The bunker is in Virginia, so we’ve got about a half a day’s worth of driving to do before we get there. At least, it should be—with the Wizards pushing and pulling the world apart like play-doh, a lot of maps are no longer accurate. Also, GPS signals are spotty at best, with most of the world’s satellites having fallen out of orbit in the ensuing chaos. Thankfully, the coordinates I received from Rath are hardwired to always point in a certain direction, so I can still navigate through the wastelands even with the chaos of the world around us.

  The terrain looks downright otherworldly as we drive along the unkempt I-90. On the right, mountainous shards of obsidian jut out of the earth, and on the left, a sea of green slime bubbles and undulates. This place must’ve been a battleground between two powerful wizards at some point; it’s a minor miracle that there’s still a mostly-intact path for us to follow.

  I glance over at Arthur, who’s silently looking out the window, watching the terrain go by. We’ve been driving for about three hours now, and he hasn’t said a word. It’s damn near impossible to figure out what this kid is thinking; he could still be salty at me for postponing his “quest,” or melancholy from the funeral, or just lost in thought. Either way, I feel like I ought to break the ice.

  “So, Arthur…where’re you from?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I said where are you from? You know…before the Wizards.”

  “Ah. I was born in the town of Fort Collins, in Colorado.”

  Jeez, so this kid really has come a long way. “Nice. I’m from Santa Barbara, in California. Let me tell ya, it took me a while to get used to the weather after moving away.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  Silence again. I can’t believe it, but I’m missing his long-winded chivalrous knight shtick from earlier. I clear my throat. “How, uh…how’d you get those powers of yours, anyways? Must’ve been really something, to learn you’re able to do all that.”

  “It wasn’t all that memorable,” Arthur says flatly, “My town was being attacked by a Wizard, and I gained the power to defeat it.”

  After a minute, I realize he’s not going to continue. “That…that’s it? No other details? I thought you might have a grand tale to tell or something.”

  “Like I said, not very memorable. What matters now is that I am dedicated to using this power for the sake of fighting Wizards.” He abruptly drops the subject and goes back to looking out the window.

  Okay, so he’s not interested in elaborating. That’s fine. Totally cool. I’m sure he’ll open up about it eventually. ‘Til then, we can just ride in silence, nothing wrong with that.

  …

  …

  Okay, this is still boring as shit, so I’m gonna editorialize a bit. I dunno if anyone is out there and “reading” this or whatever, but you’re gonna have to deal with some unfiltered Murphy thoughts for a bit while I sort all this out.

  I’m still not sure what to make of all this Narrator business. It’s hard to describe how things feel different ever since I started being the narrator—it’s like, every now and then I get a “nudge” that I’m supposed to be narrating something. Wish I could know what that thing is, ‘cause all I’ve had so far is one failed conversation and miles of wasteland.

  Another thing—does this mean that I’m a fictional character? And Arthur, and Sergeant Elwood, and my parents? Do we all exist just for the enjoyment of some bookworm who’s got nothing better to do on a Saturday night? (no offense if you’re reading this, I’m sure you’re perfectly fine.)

  I dunno. I’d like to think the things we do here actually mean something, even if they’re just a story.

  I will say, it’s kind of a bum deal that I’m apparently the “narrator” but I can’t actually write what happens in the real world. Maybe that’s a high-level narrator skill? I mean, there was that one time with the magic tome, so maybe—woah, what was that?

  Okay, ramble over. Some real shit just happened.

  The ground below us is rumbling and swaying, making it difficult to steer. The fact that a magnitude seven earthquake is happening in the Midwest means that a powerful Wizard must be up to something—if I had to guess, Torres the Wizard of Earth. Never met the guy, but he’s one of the most notorious Wizards due to him trying to merge South America and Africa into a new supercontinent. Seems like he’s starting a new project somewhere, and the aftershocks are reaching us way up here.

  It takes all my concentration to avoid veering into either the obsidian fields or the slime sea. Once I’m back on the road, there’s no time to relax before being greeted by yet another horrifying sight.

  A large mass in the middle of the slime sea—what I’d initially assumed to be the tip of a small mountain—shudders and rises up. The dirt shakes off to reveal a scaly back with protruding spikes, and it stands upright on thick, long forelimbs like a gorilla. It turns around to reveal a horned head with several large tentacles dangling from its mouth.

  It’s one of Warren, the Wizards of Beast’s monstrosities—and its pitch-black eyes have just locked onto our vehicle. Maybe it’ll ignore us? Who knows what kind of diet a giant lizard-gorilla-squid would have.

  The monster growls and begins lumbering in our direction. Me and my big metatextual mouth.

  With its massive size, the monster is on us in seconds, and I’m barely able to swerve out of the way as one of its massive claws tries to pulverize us. I tell Arthur “Hold on tight,” and turn into the field of obsidian spires.

  Thankfully, the gaps between the spires are large enough to drive through, but it still slows us down quite a bit. I can only hope we’re obscured from view and/or the monster won’t go into a field of spikes to chase us.

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  “Arthur, look behind us and check if that monster is still following.”

  He nods and pokes his head out the window. Almost immediately, he comes back in and says “The monster is swallowing us, and it’s not slowing down.”

  I glance in the rearview mirror and confirm that Arthur is correct—the monster is pursuing us at full speed, crashing through obsidian spires as though they’re little more than sandcastles. I curse under my breath, rethinking my strategy.

  “We should fight the monster head-on,” Arthur says, “otherwise, it’ll just keep following us.”

  “Are you kidding? Even if we could beat that giant thing, it could hold us up for hours! We’re on a tight schedule.”

  Arthur frowns. “Are we really, though? As heroes, we are honor-bound to fight against evil—that’s more important

  Before I can retort, another earthquake rolls past us, shaking and fracturing the brittle obsidian spires around us. One of the largest spires topples over and lands directly in our path. I slam on the brakes, but it’s not enough to stop, and the car skids into the fallen chunk of obsidian, slamming into it hard.

  The impact jerks the both of us forward hard, and my head is spinning as the car comes to a rest. I groan and say “Kid…you still in one piece?” Arthur, also in a daze, nods.

  As soon as we recover, we feel a lurch as the vehicle begins rising up. One look out the window confirms it: the landscape has been replaced by a slimy green tentacle that’s wrapped around the car. If we don’t do something fast, we’re about to become monster chow.

  I unbuckle my seatbelt and motion for Arthur to do the same. “We need to find some way to get this monster to drop us! Any ideas?”

  “That should be no problem,” Arthur says, brandishing his sword, “This beast’s hide is surely not thick enough to block my righteous blade.” He gets out of his seat and moves to the back of the car, opening up the turret hatch to look outside.

  I notice something alarming out the front window. Far off in the distance, a crack is forming in the horizon and rapidly approaching our location. Damn Torres—he’s really tearing the whole continent apart! If we’re not on the other side of that chasm once it’s fully formed, there’s no way we’re making it back to base, at least not in a timely manner.

  Suddenly, I get an idea of how to kill two birds with one stone. “Arthur!” I shout, “Do you think you could use those powers of yours to make this car tougher?”

  Arthur looks back at me, puzzled. “What do you mean by that? My power comes from my righteous sword!”

  “But you—ah, never mind!” I don’t have time to argue semantics. “You think this tentacle would cushion out fall?”

  Arthur considers for a moment. “Yes…yes, I believe it could!”

  “Good enough for me! Now, cut us down from here and hold on tight!”

  Arthur nods and climbs up to the roof of the car. I get back in the driver’s seat and prepare to gun it.

  (Hey, there it is again…I can sense what’s happening outside my POV. Lucky you, readers.)

  Arthur, on the roof of the car, brandishes his sword as he looks the monster right in its grotesque face. The monster has nearly raised us into its mouth, and its toothy maw is open and ready to crush us to bits.

  Arthur’s sword glows a radiant golden color, and he swings it with all his might at the monster’s tentacle. It’s a clean cut, and the monster roars in pain as the tentacle falls to the ground with us in it.

  I brace myself for impact with the ground, but thankfully the tentacle absorbs most of the force as I’d hoped. The car rolls off the tentacle and onto the ground, landing on its side. Shit. And Arthur was outside the car when we fell…

  “Arthur! Where are you? Are you okay?!”

  With a bang, the car abruptly rights itself, and on the side the car had been laying I see Arthur, cloaked in gold aura and still sticking out his leg that he used to kick the car over. He hops onto the side of the vehicle and gives a thumbs-up. I return the gesture out the window, then gun it away from the monster.

  The monster roars in pain and anger, and pursues us once it’s recovered from the blow. Good, it’s taken the bait. As Arthur climbs back into the car, I make my way back to the road and push my foot on the gas as hard as I can.

  The widening chasm is now less than a thousand feet away, and it’s dangerously close to outpacing us. We’re already going at top speed and there’s nowhere else to go—it looks like my gamble’s not paying off after all, and we’re about to end up either dead at the bottom of a ravine or devoured by a mutant monster.

  “Murphy! Ramp off that slab there to clear the chasm!”

  Arthur’s command directs my attention to an upcoming massive spire of obsidian that’s angled in such a way that we could ramp off it with the car. If I commit to this, we’ll definitely miss the chasm, and there’s no guarantee that we’ll make it across with our momentum. I shout back, “Are you sure about that?!”

  “Just trust me! I believe you can do it!”

  Somehow, Arthur’s words convince me to take the risk. I change course towards the ramp, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the monster’s claw. Just as I hit the ramp, the chasm rips open the ground in front of us, moving the ground away from us rapidly and leaving a seemingly bottomless pit below.

  No turning back. We lift off the ramp, and I cross my fingers as we soar through the air.

  Just as I’d hoped, the monster follows us, leaping across the chasm and reaching out to try and snatch us. But its clumsy, heavy body prevents it from getting any air, and it swipes at nothing but air before falling into the chasm with a howl of frustration.

  Perfect, that’s one problem taken care of. Now for the other…

  We got pretty good air from that ramp, but the chasm just keeps getting wider. Once we start descending, it’s pretty obvious we’re not gonna make it to the other side. I can’t believe I roped Arthur into this crazy idea, and now we’re both going to die—oh god, I’m so sorry…

  Arthur, poking his head out from the back, places a hand on my shoulder. “Do not worry, Murphy,” he says calmly, “We will make it across, I know it.”

  All of a sudden, the car is enveloped in a familiar golden light, and we get one final boost of speed that accelerates us towards the edge of the chasm. With only inches to spare, we land roughly on the other side of the chasm, skidding to a stop as the tremors finally cease.

  For a moment, both of us are silent. Then I laugh out loud in triumph and hug Arthur. “Holy shit, we did it! Man, I thought we were goners for sure! I knew you could do it, little buddy!”

  Arthur chuckled, and shook his head. “What are you talking about, Murphy? I didn’t do anything.”

  My elation quickly turns to confusion “What are you talking about? Back there, the car—” I gesture to the hull of the car, which has since stopped glowing.

  “That was merely the result of your bravery and conviction. I did little more than encourage you.” Arthur pats me on the shoulder encouragingly. “Well done, Murphy—you’ve proved your chivalrous spirit once more. Let us continue onward with haste.” With that, he climbed back into the front seat and buckles his seatbelt.

  Even though my head is spinning with a million more questions as to how Arthur’s powers work, I’m in too good of a mood to care right now. I simply shrug my shoulders and start up the car once again, which is miraculously still in one piece. Even with Arthur’s protection, the car is looking worse for wear, and I can only hope that it can hold out until we reach the base.

  As we drive away, I look back in the mirror at the newly-formed chasm behind us, and am once again reminded of the grim fact that there’s no going back—not to the old world, or my life before magic, or anything normal, really. I can only hope that wherever we’re going is better than where we’ve been, but there’s no guarantee in a world like this.