Morning settled slowly across Sanctuary.
The settlement had grown beyond what most outsiders would recognize as a simple refuge. Smoke rose from dozens of cooking fires as workers moved through the inner streets carrying lumber, stone, and crates of supplies. Wagons rolled through the open lanes while carpenters repaired sections of wall that winter frost had weakened.
From the outside it might still resemble a frontier town.
From the inside, it was something far more deliberate.
The valley had been shaped carefully when the Sanctuary first expanded. Forest had been cleared along the outer approaches, leaving long open fields that made it impossible for anything to approach unseen. The wall itself followed the natural terrain, reinforced with timber braces and earthworks that gave the stone far more strength than its appearance suggested.
Two watchtowers overlooked the main gate. Each held hardened radios, long-range optics, and rifle teams rotating through morning watch.
Beyond the wall, the land sloped gently downward into open ground stretching nearly half a mile before the tree line returned.
Defensible terrain.
Shane had designed it that way long before anyone understood how important it would become.
⸻
Inside the operations building, a group had gathered around the central table.
Olaf stood near the far side, arms folded as he studied the map Saul had projected across the surface.
Freya leaned against one of the timber posts while Mike, Penelope, Jason, and Hugo examined the growing pattern of markers scattered across the Great Lakes region.
The two redbone puppies wandered through the room curiously.
One sniffed a chair leg.
The other discovered that Jason's bootlace was apparently an enemy.
Jason looked down.
"You know," he said, "we drove these things halfway across the state and they immediately declare war on my shoes."
Penelope smirked.
"Consider it training."
Jason sighed.
"Great. I'm being hunted by dogs the size of potatoes."
⸻
Saul's voice came from the overhead speaker.
"I have updated the data set from Cory."
The projection shifted.
Lake Erie expanded across the map.
Red markers appeared in a loose arc across the eastern basin.
Freya frowned.
"That's more than yesterday."
"Yes," Saul confirmed.
"Two additional incidents overnight."
Jason leaned forward.
"What kind?"
"Fishing vessels failing to return."
Mike rubbed his jaw thoughtfully.
"That makes four now."
"Five," Saul corrected.
Silence settled briefly over the room.
Olaf spoke quietly.
"The serpent spirit in the mountains warned of imbalance."
Freya glanced at him.
"You're still thinking about Uktena."
"Yes."
Olaf's voice remained calm.
"It said something beneath the world had begun moving."
Hugo tapped the edge of the table.
"And now something's chewing on boats."
Mike nodded.
"Or nets."
Penelope gestured toward the map.
"They're following the watershed lines."
The projection zoomed slightly.
Rivers feeding into Lake Erie illuminated across the map.
"If something entered through the water system," she continued, "it could spread through every connected river."
Jason looked up.
"That's… a lot of water."
Saul confirmed.
"Yes."
⸻
Outside the operations building the Sanctuary courtyard continued its steady rhythm of work.
Former soldiers who had stayed after the Bloodless War moved through the compound alongside carpenters and farmers. Some maintained the outer watch posts while others worked in the vehicle yard along the western wall.
Rows of armored equipment sat beneath heavy canvas coverings.
Tanks.
Artillery pieces.
Armored transports.
All of it left behind when the military advance collapsed during the confrontation months earlier.
Shane had insisted the equipment remain untouched unless absolutely necessary.
Not as weapons of conquest.
But as a shield.
Several mechanics were already checking fuel lines and hardened electronics inside one of the vehicles.
The EMP shielding that protected Sanctuary had started long before the Shroud.
Back when Shane was still just a contractor running roofing crews, he had spent years quietly collecting hardened electrical components and military-grade EMP suppression kits. Most people had assumed it was paranoia. Some of the crew had joked about it openly.
But Shane had insisted.
Generators.
Radios.
Machine tools.
Agricultural equipment.
Even vehicles.
Anything important received shielding.
He had also made the crews haul back every scrap of copper and aluminum left on construction sites. Instead of selling it for drinking money, he used it to build crude Faraday cages around storage containers and electrical rooms.
At the time it looked obsessive.
Now it looked like foresight.
When the EMP cascade struck after the Shroud fell, most modern equipment across the continent simply died.
Sanctuary did not.
And because Shane had traded some shielding kits to nearby communities and tribal areas before the collapse, a handful of other places still had working vehicles and radios as well.
It had saved an entire defensive arsenal.
Sanctuary rarely talked about it openly.
But everyone understood the truth.
If the settlement were ever truly threatened—
it would not fall easily.
⸻
Back inside the operations building, the map shifted again.
Saul spoke.
"There is an additional data point."
Chemical analysis readings appeared beside several of the lake incidents.
Emma studied the display carefully.
"That's not normal lake chemistry."
"No," Saul agreed.
"These compounds are artificial."
Freya straightened slightly.
"Artificial?"
"Yes."
Shane leaned forward over the table.
"Industrial?"
"Possibly."
Mike frowned.
"You're saying this isn't some oversized fish."
Saul answered calmly.
"The evidence suggests human involvement."
Jason rubbed the back of his neck.
"That somehow makes it worse."
Olaf nodded slowly.
"The mountains sensed imbalance."
Shane studied the map in silence.
Artificial compounds.
Watershed spread.
Missing boats.
Something large enough to damage vessels.
Something biological.
Something spreading.
⸻
Near the doorway the two redbone puppies suddenly froze.
Both lifted their noses toward the open window.
One gave a soft, uneasy growl.
Freya glanced down.
"Dogs sense something?"
Jason looked over.
"Probably just smelling breakfast."
But the puppies didn't move.
Their attention remained fixed northward.
Toward the lakes.
Inside the room Saul spoke again.
"Cory has transmitted another update."
Shane looked up.
"Let's hear it."
Saul paused briefly before continuing.
"New shoreline reports indicate clusters of dead fish appearing near two river mouths feeding Lake Erie."
Emma frowned.
"What kind of fish?"
"Multiple species."
Mike leaned forward again.
"That's not normal predation."
"No," Saul agreed.
"It is not."
The map updated once more.
Two new markers appeared along the shoreline.
The pattern was widening.
Shane stared at the growing cluster.
If something was moving through the water systems…
…it wasn't staying in one place.
Olaf watched the map quietly.
"The mountains felt it."
Freya crossed her arms.
"And now the lakes are showing it."
Jason looked around the room.
"So what are we dealing with here?"
Shane exhaled slowly.
"That," he said, tapping the map lightly,
"is what we're about to find out."
⸻
The door opened.
Cold air rolled briefly into the room.
Johnny John stepped inside.
Several of the others from the Plains Corridor had returned with him—Daniel Red Elk and Raymond Torres among them.
They had dust on their boots and long-ride fatigue in their posture.
Freya nodded in greeting.
"Back already?"
Johnny John smiled faintly.
"The corridor is stable for now."
Shane gestured toward the map.
"You picked an interesting time to come back."
Johnny John glanced at the lake markers.
"Yes.
I heard."
He walked closer to the table.
Then his expression changed slightly.
"Something else is happening."
Shane looked up.
"What kind of something?"
Johnny John hesitated.
"A feeling."
Jason groaned.
"Oh good. Another god feeling."
Johnny John ignored him.
"It's faint," he continued. "But familiar."
Olaf studied him carefully.
"From where?"
Johnny John looked southwest.
"Somewhere in the deserts."
Silence settled briefly.
Freya spoke quietly.
"Another Norse participant?"
Johnny John nodded slowly.
"I believe so."
Shane folded his arms.
"Any idea who?"
Johnny John's gaze remained distant for a moment.
Then he said quietly:
"Sigurd."
Jason blinked.
"The dragon guy?"
Olaf nodded.
"The Volsung."
Johnny John exhaled slowly.
"I believe he has been reborn somewhere in the southwestern United States."
Shane considered that for a moment.
"California?"
"Possibly," Johnny John said.
"But the feeling is stronger inland."
Daniel Red Elk stepped forward then.
"There is something else."
Shane turned.
"What?"
Daniel rested his hands on the table.
"The tribal areas are hearing strange reports."
Freya frowned.
"What kind?"
"Cattle disappearing."
Jason shrugged.
"Coyotes?"
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
He looked around the room.
"They are being dragged into water."
That changed the atmosphere immediately.
"Dragged?" Mike asked.
Daniel nodded.
"Large animals."
"Into rivers and reservoirs."
Jason slowly straightened.
"Okay… that's not normal."
Raymond Torres added quietly,
"They found tracks afterward."
"Human tracks."
Emma blinked.
"Human?"
Daniel nodded.
"But wrong."
Shane studied the map again.
"Where?"
Daniel answered.
"Arizona."
He pointed to the map.
"Just east of Phoenix."
Silence settled again.
Johnny John spoke quietly.
"The same region where I felt the presence."
Shane looked up.
"Sigurd."
Johnny John nodded.
"Possibly."
Freya crossed her arms.
"And something dragging cattle into water."
Jason sighed.
"I officially hate where this is going."
Shane looked around the room.
Then he pointed to the southwest portion of the map.
"Oscar's group."
Freya nodded.
"Oklahoma corridor."
Shane confirmed.
"They're in Boise City right now."
Jason blinked.
"That's actually pretty close."
Shane nodded once.
"Closest stable node we have."
Johnny John looked at him.
"You want them to investigate."
Shane's voice remained calm.
"Yes."
He looked back toward the map.
"Because whatever is happening out there…"
"…we need to understand it before it spreads."
Outside the window the wind shifted again.
And far to the southwest—
beneath desert reservoirs and irrigation canals—
something hungry moved through dark water.
Waiting.
⸻
"If you enjoyed Shane's journey, please drop a Power Stone! It helps the Common Sense Party grow."