Unchosen Champion

Charlie and Camila spent the night in Charlie’s childhood bedroom, sharing a bed and sleeping for the first time in 10 days with a pile of stuffed animals keeping watch. When they woke, Charlie’s father had prepared them a simple breakfast. Despite the modest offerings, it was one of the best meals either of them had ever eaten. It was also the first time in those 10 days that they had any food. They had missed both sleeping and eating far more than they had realized, Camila even teared up while savoring a bowl of dry cereal.

Afterwards, they taught Charlie’s father about the various factions and systems that they had learned about during their training. They wanted his input on their immediate plans. He was supportive of their plan to find a settlement, confirm it was safe, and return with its location so that he could make his way there. Of course, he wouldn’t budge from his wife’s side, but he anticipated that they would join the settlement once she returned. She was always one for the big cities and helping people in them.

The girls parted ways with Emmanuel before they accidentally led the rest of their party to his home. The next step was to find a settlement and return with the news of its status. After that was done, they would organize their own expedition under the guise of the official mission of the Empire.

Charlie and Camila headed toward where the downtown area used to be, unsure of what they would find, but searching for signs of a settlement. Charlie felt like she was on a true adventure, like the characters from the novels she had been loaning Coop, but Camila quickly spoiled the feeling by gushing about how incredibly hot she found Emmanuel. The vulnerability he showed and the devotion to his wife, it was so moving, she exclaimed to an embarrassed Charlie. She pulled her hooded cloak tighter as they walked down the abandoned streets into the city. Camila, skipping with enthusiasm, didn’t spare a thought toward Charlie’s embarrassment.

Camila’s mood was next on the chopping block, though, her skipping ceased when the pair were stopped by a group of what Charlie could only describe as bandits. They looked, appropriately, like the remnants of a society thrown back into the past by the demands of survival. Five of them stood side by side, armed with blades and blocking the road while half a dozen sat on the roof of a nearby building, some with bows and others warming up spells.

They appeared to be using an old bank as a base of sorts, barricading the corner lot with a wall of overturned cars and adopting the drive thru canopy as a lookout tower. Charlie had to admit that she was impressed. It worked as an excellent vantage point to monitor all four directions of the intersection. The bank made an ideal location for a checkpoint, but they obviously didn’t have a civilization shard, and were merely using their numbers and location to take advantage of passersby. It wouldn’t last long.

The leader of the group of five spoke up from 25 yards away, “Stop right there! If you wanna keep goin’ ya gotta pay the toll!” he announced to the amusement of his lackeys.

Camila scoffed, “Shouldn’t you be trying that from under a bridge?” She wasn’t willing to entertain the demands of a group of level 10 and below bandits. He had made a grave error in assuming he could command anything from Camila in the first place.

“We could just go around,” Charlie offered quietly to Camila, she'd still prefer to avoid confrontation. “What would we even pay with anyway?”

“You’re too sweet, Charlie.” She whispered back, then yelled at the bandits, loud enough for all of them to hear. “If you don’t crawl back into your hole, I’m gonna break your legs.” The absolute confidence she displayed while she made such a threatening declaration caused a few of the bandits to glance at each other with doubt. The leader was unmoved.

“Oh, give it up, girl, it don’t matter what your level is when you’re outnumbered!” The leader demanded while gesturing to his ranged support. The ones with bows readied their arrows.

Camila didn’t waste any more time 'negotiating' and signaled to Charlie that she was initiating with a subtle movement. Charlie raised her hand above her head and snapped her fingers, deploying a wall of invisible wind in front of the group of ranged bandits, who twitched at the snapping sound, but were none the wiser to the barrier.