"At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past."

  Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian Playwright

  Milly and Rain spent the remainder of the morning in the northern mountains, harvesting plants and growing closer as friends. Twice they crossed paths with small goblin patrols and dispatched them with ease. By the time they returned to the tower when the sun was at its zenith, Rain had reached level four and was full of fire, excited to begin experimenting with her alchemy.

  “They had better not have trashed my shop while I were gone, or there will be heck to pay,” promised Rain as she stood outside the glass doorways leading to the lobby. “It looks like they finished the town hall. The lobby is empty, except for a couple people getting instructed by their Tutorias. Are you sure you will not come in for a break?”

  Milly shook her head. “I’m headed back out there. We need food, and I’d rather not risk running into Mr. Stone. Not yet. You take care of your shop and keep an ear to the ground. I’ll stop by for a cup of tea when I get back tonight.”

  Rain chuckled softly and pulled her new friend into a tight hug.

  “Be careful out there, Mils.”

  Rain released her and headed towards the doors, but turned back before she entered the lobby. "Remember. Be flashy!” With that, Rain went inside the tower, leaving Milly standing alone underneath the shadow of the mountains.

  Milly felt the chill of the cold breeze blow across her gown. She was alone again, and the familiar silence she had once taken comfort in now seemed hollow. These past two days had given her a taste of friendship, and it shined a light on the emptiness that she had experienced in her life until now.

  “You have friends now, Milly,” she told herself. “Don’t fuck it up.”

  Milly walked along the perimeter of the Castle of Glass, watching the hustle of activity happening around it. There were dozens of people outside, though few seemed willing to go more than a hundred paces from the lobby. A somber mood permeated each one, their expressions filled with loss and grim determination.

  In the forest around her, people were collecting fallen branches of pine and willow and used rusted iron axes to cut them into manageable pieces before carrying them to the prairie. There, away from the tower, another group was using the wood to assemble a pyre. The bodies of the dead lay gently beside the pyre, three more added to the fifteen casualties from yesterday.

  Milly walked past the group with gentle steps, but several looked up and were shocked to see her walk by. By the time she turned the corner into the rainforest, she had left behind growing whispers.

  “Just ignore it, Milly,” she whispered, feeling her face growing red. “Remember what Rain said. 'Rumors and stories are powerful things.' I just wish being the subject didn't make me so uncomfortable."

  The rainforest to the south was hopping with activity. Two middle-aged women with clipboards - the Carthage twins from the 11th floor - directed eight teams that scurried around the terrain. The closest team to Milly used a makeshift pole with a dagger tied on the end to cut down several bunches of bananas. Heaps of bananas, mangoes, papaya, and a half dozen fruits that Milly did not know were piled alongside the doors to the lobby, where the twins were making detailed records of thier haul.

  A smaller team was moving the fruit into the lobby after it was catalogued. Milly peeped through the glass and saw that they had opened the storefront of Tower Two, which, remarkably, had a functioning walk-in fridge. Another team was cleaning the space, as thick dust covered the floor and shelving. A third manager with a clipboard, who she did not recognize, directed the workers at the storefront.

  Milly smiled, until an elderly man with a limp turned away by the storefront manager.

  “James, you need to work to get fed. If you want food, you need to make yourself useful,” the manager said, and the man limped away, dejected.

  “Not your fight, Milly,” she whispered, but the man’s hungry and desperate face only renewed her anxiety about Mr. Stone and the other CEOs assuming positions of authority in this new world.

  One of the Carthage twins walked up to Milly and gave a polite but firm cough to draw Milly’s attention. The woman gave her, and her outfit, a disapproving glare.

  “Excuse me, Miss. I am Ms. Edna Carthage, designated manager for Rainforest Gathering. Which work team are you assigned to?”

  Milly frowned. “I’m not on a work team.”

  “All employees must be part of a work team if they wish to have access to food and the tower’s facilities,” Edna said, bureaucratically. “Can I have your name please, so I can add you to a team?”

  Milly looked at across the rainforest, then back to the hungry man that had been turned away from the storefront. She took a deep breath.

  Be brave, Milly. Find your own path. Don't let them own you.

  “No. I don’t wish to be part of a work team,” Milly said, her voice only shaking a little.

  Edna raised an eyebrow. “What? Who is your employer? I will be reporting this to your CEO, who may decide to deny you access to your workplace because of your non-compliance.”

  The woman had turned to a fresh piece of paper and was furiously jotting notes. “You’ll be sleeping outside if you do not comply.”

  Milly’s blood boiled.

  The CEOs are denying access to the only shelter people had, just because they were not following their orders? That's terrible. Rain was right. The CEOs aren't afraid to flex their power. I can't be afraid to show mine.

  Edna was writing words like ‘insubordinate’, ‘dressed like a witch’, and ‘non-compliant’ furiously on the page.

  Milly had an idea.

  Milly tapped into her magic, focusing on the paper, and snapped her fingers. It went up in flames. Edna jumped back with a yelp and dropped the clipboard to the ground. The page of notes on Milly was reduced to ash, leaving the other pages untouched.

  “I’m not employed by any of your CEOs,” she stated, trying to sound confident and calm. “And I don’t believe anyone else at the Castle of Glass are either. Not anymore. So you’ll forgive me if I do not accept their opinion on where I can sleep at night.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Milly stalked away, swaying her hips, and adjusting her witch’s hat, leaving Edna behind with her mouth hanging open in utter shock. Half the work teams stopped what they were doing and stared, and murmurs spreaded as Milly rounded the corner into the eastern ocean.

  Once she was out of sight, she leaned against a nearby palm tree and gave a massive sigh of relief. Her heart was pounding, her hands were clammy, and sweat beaded on her brow.

  It was a small act, but a big step. For the first time in a long while, Milly felt proud of herself.

  She rested against the palm tree until she calmed down, staring out at the ocean and listening to the cries of the gulls in the air. The warm breeze was such a contrast to the cold from the mountains just around the corner, and she relished the heat on her skin. This world was miraculous, and despite its nature, Milly let herself enjoy its beauty for the moment.

  “When it’s cooked, you must bring the meat to the second tower storehouse,” came a demanding voice from further down the beach, interrupting Milly’s peace. “Those are Judy’s orders.”

  Milly glanced over. The voice came from a young woman wearing a bright green skirt and black top, blond hair tied back in a simple ponytail. She carried a clipboard like the Carthage sisters but lacked their intimidating presence.

  She stood over three men who looked the worse for wear. They were digging a pit in the sand and lining it with wood and stone - a cooking pit for the dead boar beside them.

  “Hana, we don’t give a shit about Judy Brass' orders,” came a dismissive response from a skinny man with a torn dress shirt and bloodied trousers. “If the managing partner of Legal Eagles wants meat, she can come down and wait in line like everyone else. We are not going to be a part of their plan to horde food as a means of controlling us.”

  “She’s your boss,” exclaimed Hana desperately as the situation spiraled out of her control.

  The man swung his arms in a circle. “Really? Did she buy all this land? Did she buy the Castle of Glass? Last time I checked, she has got as much authority here as I do.”

  “We need order,” Hana begged. “Everyone must work for food. It will be chaos if we don't have rules.”

  “Rules? You mean control, not rules. Her control. You go tell your boss we don't have any interest in playing by her rules. Or the rules of the other CEOs. We will feed everyone we can.”

  “But… you can’t… she’s the boss!” stammered Hana.

  The man ignored her and resumed building the firepit in the sand.

  “You’ll regret this, Elmer. She won’t stand for it,” threatened Hana as she stalked back to the lobby. “You know better than anyone what she's is like when she's angry.”

  Elmer just laughed as the doors closed behind Hana.

  Milly strolled over, relieved she was not the only one fighting back.

  “Looks like a few people are trying to keep the Tower fed,” Milly said, passing Elmer the next stone from the pile stacked next to him. He took it without looking at her, distracted, and gently placed it with the others.

  “If you are wanting some boar, miss, you will need to wait until tonight. It will take a while to…” Elmer looked up and trailed off, his eyes fixed on Milly’s outfit. “You're… you’re the one who took down that monster yesterday.”

  “Umm… well, it was a team effort,” she said, uncomfortable with the recognition.

  “I saw her spear that thing through the eye,” said the second man who was preparing the carcass for the spit. “It was a hell of a throw. Thank you for what you did. Anthony and Phil - the men that thing killed - they were good men. They should never had tried to be heroes.”

  His voice rang with a hollowness carved out by grief.

  “You’re welcome, I guess,” Milly said shyly, not knowing how else to respond. Her eyes drifted to the third man, laying on the ground with his shirt off and a thick bandage across his midriff. “Is he alright?”

  “I’m fine,” said the man, but he hissed in pain as he tried to sit up. He fell back down with a weak, frustrated laugh.

  “Billy got slashed by the boar before we took it down,” Elmer said as he glared at Billy. “And he will be fine if he just holds fucking still.”

  “Here, let me help,” offered Milly. She knelt beside the man and peeled back his bandage. The gash was deep and it still bleed, which made Milly concerned.

  “We did the best we could,” explained Elmer apologetically. “The first aid kits were the first things the CEOs horded. ‘To preserve them for emergencies,’ they said, as if Billy’s stomach being gashed open wasn’t an emergency. I had to trade my watch just to get that bandage.”

  Milly laid her hands above Billy’s wound, and the blue light of Healer's Touch surrounded them. The men gasped in surprise. Milly focused on the wound and it began to close, little by little, until it was red and swollen and no longer posing a danger.

  “There. It will take a while to heal the rest of the way, but that should keep it from getting infected,” Milly said as her healing glow faded.

  The men stood there, mouths open in disbelief. “How… how did you…,” Elmer stuttered.

  “Magic, I guess,” Milly answered with a shrug. She didn't elaborate, recalling Rain's advice to be mysterious.

  “I…I don’t know what to say to that,” Elmer stammered. “If you ever need anything from us, just ask. We owe you.”

  Milly tried to smile sweetly at the men and failed miserably. Based on their sudden grimaces, her smile came across more sinister than sweet.

  Roll with it. Witch of the Castle of Glass, remember?

  Elmer threw the last piece of kindling into the pit. “At the very least, we will save you the best piece of boar tonight,” he chuckled weakly. “Once we figure out how to get this fire started.”

  Milly opened her palm towards the pit of wood and stones and summoned her fire. Her hands encased in flame, and her fire shot towards the pit. The fire crashed against the stone, and moments later the fire was crackling, ready for the boar. The men leapt back, startled, eyes wider than ever.

  “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” Milly said, trying to sound nonchalant. “For starters, why don’t you tell me where you found the boar.”

  “Umm… well, honestly, umm…” Elmer started.

  “Milly.”

  “Right… Milly… to be honest, Milly, we didn’t find it. There was a woman with us when we left the tower. Long red hair and drop dead gorgeous, with an attitude to match.”

  Milly didn’t like where this was going.

  “We were searching for food up the north side of the beach and she spotted the boar's tracks in the sand. Just in front of a rocky outcropping shaped like an arrowhead. We got the one boar, but Billy was hurt and we had to come back. She… she wouldn’t listen and wanted to keep hunting. We had to head back without her.”

  There was shame in Elmer's words, and Milly could see the concern in his eyes.

  “I’ll go look for her, Elmer,” Milly said, and he gave a sigh of relief.

  “Thank you. We'll owe you twice.”

  “And I plan on collecting,” Milly promised, turning and walking towards the beach.

  She left the men wondering what she meant by that, as the crackling fire added a new rhythm to the beach.

  Milly steeled herself, looking to the north.

  A gorgeous woman with red hair and an attitude to match? There's only one person who fits that description.

  “Calista, what the hell are you doing?”

  The Non-Canonical Aftermath