When Ulsharavas had said that the Dreamlands were vast, I had a notion of what she meant. That notion had been turned on its head and kicked around by all the things we saw. We barely paid attention to any of it, especially after Yang's little side trip. After a stern talking-to, both from me and our guide, she had alternated between firmly watching the spirit's hindquarters and squeezing her eyes shut. She also said very little as we traveled, and I could tell it was hard for her.

We stopped several times, our refuge found in featureless pocket worlds that Ulsharavas led us to. We ate, slept, and didn't dream. By the third stop, we were all looking a little haggard, even with the rest. Karrin had tried to keep track of the passage of time, but gave up halfway through. The monotony of the whole thing set in.

I would say more, but honestly? I couldn't rightly recall most of it. For one thing, it took a lot of focus to stay on task, and that didn't leave a lot of room for observation or contemplation. After we lost Yang, chased her down, and got back to the actual journey, we had all been given a good reason not to do any of that.

So, there was a profound sense of relief when Ulsharavas stopped and announced that we were nearly at our destination. Fucking finally! I could see why mom hadn't made many visits out here. We were a long, long way from home, and it had been grueling. I didn't even want to think about the return trip, like, ever. I swore to never take another job like this so long as I lived, and promptly reminded myself that my luck definitely wouldn't allow that.

Our final stop brought us to a sort of warped bubble filled with light, at which point Ulsharavas faced us and sat. "We have arrived at the Remnant, mortals." That was a strange way to put it; the Remnant of what? "We must now prepare." She stood up and walked over to Yang, who viewed the creature with suspicion.

Ulsharavas bumped her snout against the bracelet on Yang's right wrist. "Open this, youngling." Yang looked over at me with a raised eyebrow, and I shrugged tiredly. Yang shook her head and did whatever it was that caused the thing to unfold. The spirit turned her gaze up to me. "Wizard, you must take hold of the weapon and not let go. Follow the path we lay out before you."

I frowned. "You're not coming with us?" I asked.

She shook her head. "We must remain to hold the way open. Once you are upon the Remnant, we will rejoin you when we are able. Set out upon our signal." She turned to face the glowing bubble and began to emit a noise. It started as a rumble that wasn't a growl. It took us a moment to realize that she – or rather, they – were singing.

The many voices seemed to come from all around us, and the orb began to shimmer and vibrate. As the pitch rose, it began to undulate, and soon we could see a bright spark form. It grew brighter as the song built to a crescendo, and then a wave of light flashed past us. We all flinched and shielded our eyes from the glare.

The glow eventually dimmed, and we found ourselves standing on a strange brick road. I say strange because we could still see through the bricks, which shone with a definite golden hue. We looked at one another, and then at Ulsharavas, whose tail stuck straight up in the air. The voices diminished, and she sat on the path they had created, and then slapped her tail on the ghostly bricks twice.

I shifted my staff to my other hand and held out the other without looking at Yang. "I guess that's the signal. Let's get going." The cool metal brushed up against my palm, and I curled my fingers around it firmly. Karrin adjusted her grip on my duster sleeve. As a group we walked around our guide, and followed the yellow brick road. I chuckled under my breath, but didn't comment. I wasn't sure I could survive the elbow Karrin would give me if the Lollipop Guild was mentioned.

I'm not sure how long we walked for, but the song never once wavered. The glowing sphere ahead rapidly expanded to encompass our entire field of view, and I glanced behind at one point. All we could see was the shimmering glow and the road behind. We hadn't stopped moving when I looked back, so I wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Karrin gasped, and I brought my head back around just in time to see a planet. In three steps it went from the size of a nickel to fill up most of the sky, which was pitch black again. I stumbled to a halt and managed to catch myself with my staff and a tug from Karrin. My grip on Yang's bracer tightened enough to cause the metal to groan. "Whoa! Easy there, Harry!" My heart hammered in my chest, and I squeezed my eyes shut. I took a shuddering breath and forced myself to relax.

"Maybe we shouldn't bother with the sights and just look down while we walk?" Karrin suggested.

I nodded and said, "Yeah, that seems like a good plan. Nearly had a heart attack just now."

Yang, however, was completely unfazed. "I dunno," she said glibly, "can we take a minute here? I've never seen Remnant from this high up." I turned a scowl in her direction, but the look of wonder on her face was something akin to pure joy. I relented as I remembered the first time I saw a picture of Earth from space. From what I recalled, these people didn't have a space program, so this was her first look. In spite of all the delays, I suddenly didn't have the heart to spoil it for her.

It wasn't Earth, but it was a pretty blue ball with lots of land masses. As it spun, Yang pointed at the southern hemisphere. "That swathe of light brown is where Vacuo is. Patch will be up in a minute." When it came around, she pointed at the tiny speck off the western coastline. "There it is, that's home!" She paused for a moment. "Think we can take a picture?"

I rolled my eyes and gave her arm a little shake. "Kind of hard to do with one hand, Sparky."

Karrin laughed and shook her head. "Oh please, fish the thing out. We might need some sort of proof that we actually know her." I tilted my head up and shook it, but leaned my staff in her direction. She took it while I fished the scroll out of my pocket and we traded. Yang and I shuffled around and Karrin took a few steps back to snap off a few shots. Then, because she apparently couldn't resist, she took out her own cell and took a few more.

She came back over to us, and Yang flipped through the pictures with a sort of childish glee. "Man, I can't wait to show these to everybody. They'll never believe it!" Eventually she settled down and gave us both a look. "Thank you both, for everything. I know it's been a lot of trouble, and I really appreciate what you've done for me. And I'm sorry about the whole slipping off earlier-"

I fanned my fingers away from the staff briefly. "Let us never speak of that." Seriously, I don't enjoy questioning my sanity any more than I have to – and there had been far too much of that recently. "I'm just glad it's worked out up to this point, Yang. Happy to help." She grinned and poked her tongue out the corner of her mouth. "Besides, you might not wanna thank me when you get the bill."

Her jaw dropped in shock until I winked at her, and then she let out a great belly laugh. "I'm sure we can figure something out, boss." I shook my head but bit my tongue, instead pointing my staff at the planet ahead. "Right, I guess that's enough gawking."

"Quite," I said. "You two watch if you want – I will be keeping my eyes firmly aimed at the ground." The pair of them snickered and we got moving again. As we walked, they both made exclamations of shock and awe. I refused to give in to the temptation to look up.

We hit the atmosphere at some point, and Yang was describing geographical features to be on the lookout for. I noticed the bricks began to change to a more solid form, though the glow remained, as did the song, but it was beginning to fade.

"Oh my god, this is amaz-" Yang cut off in mid-sentence, and there was a slight jerk. Something thumped onto the ground next to me, and I nearly dropped the bracer. When I turned to look, she was gone, but the backpack she'd been carrying lay on its side. I whipped around almost a full turn, and saw that Yang was nowhere in sight.

Karrin yelped and spun around to look for her as well. "What happened!?" she hissed. We found ourselves in a lightly forested area, and Yang had completely disappeared. Karrin had unslung her rifle, and after a few moments of scanning the immediate area, she turned to look at me with a worried expression. "Where did she go, Harry?"

I looked at the now empty bracer with a thoughtful stare, and then held it up. "This is still here, and so is the bag of stuff she was wearing. She isn't." I thought about it some more while Karrin crouched down and dragged the spare bag around. "There's no way to know for sure, but with everything we know, I'm starting to think I was right about Yang being some sort of projection all this time." We both looked at the weapon I held, and the answer dawned on me. "This must have been the focus, the only thing of hers that was 'real', so to speak."

Karrin scowled and jabbed it with a finger. "Is there anything we can do about it?"

I turned it this way and that. "If it really is hers, I could try a tracking spell." I looked around. "That's one option, but it might be better to see where we wound up first."

She peered at our surroundings. "That's a good point. Where the fuck are we?" She glared at the trees and made a disgusted noise. "I bet that bitch dumped us miles from anywhere just for sheer spite." I wouldn't put that past Ulsharavas. She was pretty ticked off when we set out, and this still met the requirements of the bargain.

The forest was more or less exactly what you'd find on Earth, and the brick road we stood on was plain. It faded into a dirt path in one direction, and led off in another. "Hmph. I guess there's only one way to find out," I said. I faced in the direction where the road looked more well-kept and gestured.

Karrin hefted the bag and awkwardly slung it over her free shoulder. The bracer was still extended, and was too bulky to stow away easily. We fussed with it for a minute or two, and Karrin was finally able to get it to collapse down. I weighed it in my palm for a moment and marveled. Science fiction compression and it was a shotgun to boot. I slipped it into my pocket and rolled my shoulders.

Karrin sighed and looked up at the sky, then down at her watch. She shook her head and sighed again. "More exciting adventures in walking," she grumped. "I miss my bike."

We started walking and I patted her on the back. "I miss your bike, too." She grumbled good-naturedly and muttered something darkly about a certain Loa spirit, and I nodded. "Could be worse, I suppose – at least it isn't raining." I knew better than to tempt fate by saying how peaceful it was. This was a murder-death-kill planet with monsters in every nook and cranny, if Yang was to be believed. "We should probably do our best to be cheerful and happy."

Murphy snorted, but shifted her rifle a bit. We walked for maybe half an hour and the trees thinned out. The little road eventually intersected with a much larger one, and we started to see and hear signs of life. Vehicles and aircraft rumbled in the distance, and as we emerged onto the larger highway, we finally got our first look at civilization. To the north – I guess that's what it was, anyway – massive walls rose up nearly a quarter of a mile into the sky. It was hard to say for sure.

The land in front was a patchwork of multi-hued farmland, and there were tiny specks of houses here and there. The highway was some sort of concrete, and looked as if it was maintained decently. There was no traffic at the moment, and I heaved a breath. "Think that's Vale?"

Karrin stared at it. "That's a safe bet," she said absently. She looked in the opposite direction and gave me a wry look. "How much do you want to bet we'll end up walking the whole way?" She pointed at the city. "That looks like an all-day hike on foot."

I nodded in agreement. Distance was hard to figure with no nearby points of reference. "Probably so. Maybe someone will come along that we can hitch a ride from." We got moving again and I started to hum a few bars of Highway to Hell. Karrin bumped me with her shoulder, and I bumped hers back.

Highway to Hell was half wrong. The highway was hell.

By the time mid-afternoon rolled around, Karrin and I were both thoroughly sick of hoofing it to the city ahead. We had made planetfall (a phrase that I'd never expected to say) sometime in the morning, and after a few hours, we were both footsore and starving. A lunch break was declared, and we took it off to one side of the deserted highway.

After resting for about an hour or so, we resumed our trek across the countryside. The air was crisp and cool, and we passed the occasional house. Karrin and I had debated whether to see if we might beg a ride from one of the occupants, but ultimately decided against it. Most of the farm-houses were far enough back from the road that it wasn't worth the possible time lost.

The city wall steadily drew closer, but it was painfully slow, in more ways than one. On the plus side, Karrin didn't seem to be having trouble with her knee, and I suspected she was taking advantage of her Aura to keep pushing on. I pulled on the Mantle from time to time, but not for very long. Even that much had started to make me ill-tempered.

I was positively ecstatic when a horn honked at us from behind. We scuttled over as a boxy looking truck of some sort pulled up alongside and eased to a stop. "Ho, travelers! Car troubles?" A middle-aged man with a shock of thinning black hair leaned across the cab and gave us a friendly smile.

We walked up to the passenger door, and I put on a wry grin. "You could say that, sir, but only if trouble counts as not having one to begin with." He chuckled and nodded. "We've been out in the back country for quite a while, looking to visit friends in the city. Is there any chance you're headed that way, give a couple of weary hikers a lift?"

He gave us a knowing look. "You two Huntsmen? Coming back from a drop-off or sommat?"

I hooked a thumb at Karrin. "She is-"

"Unregistered," she cut in with a friendly wave of her hand. Yang had been helpful with suggestions on what to say in the event that we got separated. The man nodded his understanding – unofficial Huntsmen and Huntresses were fairly common and generally accepted as long as they didn't make trouble.

"That's right," I continued. "We don't have much money, but we could probably spare some if it's out of your way."

The man shook his head and leaned back, "Nah, it innt far to the wall. Hop in!" He waved an invitation, and I gave an inward sigh of relief. Karrin and I had each brought some of our diamonds from the Hades vault heist, but we had no idea if they were worth anything here. Yang had admitted to being a girl of simple tastes, and thus unsure of their value.

I opened up the door, and Karrin climbed into the roomy vehicle, and I got in behind her. "Thanks, Mister…?"

"No trouble at all, Miss," he said. "Benny Hong, but you can call me Ben. Pleased to meet ya'."

I slid in next to Karrin and closed the door behind me with a thump. "Well, Ben, I'm Harry, and this is Karrin. We really appreciate it, been on foot for longer than I care to admit." He nodded amiably and accelerated back onto the highway.

"So, have you heard the latest news?" he asked.

Karrin took the initiative. "I'm afraid not, though we did hear about the attack on Beacon."

Ben shook his head sadly. "Bad business, that, and still a mess according to the reporters. Grimm still loose in parts of the city – Beacon overrun to crawling, gangs causin' trouble, that sorta' thing." He paused to spit out the window. "The big news, though, Atlas is pulling out soon. Their highfalutin' council ordered them back." Karrin and I looked at one another. He gave a shrug and spat again. "They've been a big help, shame t'see them get yanked out." That might complicate things, or it might simplify them, depending on how bad current events were. "Not sure when they're set to leave, but it'll be soon. Too soon, y'ask me."

Karrin shook her head regretfully. "We were hoping to get in touch with their commander. Is he still around?"

Ben shrugged. "I expect so, but there's no way to know for sure. Plenty of soldiers around can probably say better. City militia can help, if nothin' else." I leaned back and watched the wall grow. If we couldn't get in touch with General Ironwood, there was always Yang's dad, or some of the Beacon staff – if we could find them.

"Is the ferry to Patch still running, Ben?" I asked.

He gave me a perplexed look. "As far as I know, it is. Air travel's still restricted, but the boats work just fine. Your friends out on that little speck?"

"That's right," I said. "Taiyang Xiao Long, a teacher at Signal Academy."

Ben shrugged again. "Can't say I've heard of him, but Signal's a good school. Should be easy enough to get in touch." We rode on, and judging how fast the edge of the city approached, we'd be there in half an hour or so. We lapsed into light conversation, and I found myself growing to like Ben. Salt-of-the-Earth would be an accurate description of the man.

When we got closer, I could see that there were a bunch of warehouses clustered against the outer side of the wall, and we started to run into traffic lights. The entrance into the city proper sprang into view, and it was astounding. The 'gate' was an opening fifty feet across, and maybe ninety feet high. The wall itself had to be at least three or four hundred more beyond that. These people built big. Then again, it was a death planet full of monsters, so there was good reason for it.

Ben drove through, and we passed a barracks of some sort, which bustled with activity. There was a nominal security checkpoint, but apart from a pair of soldiers that waved us through, I didn't see any more. The reason became evident as we entered the tunnel. Every thirty feet or so, there were guns the size of howitzers high up on the sides of the tunnel. I did my best not to goggle at them. They hung from some sort of articulated gimbals, and were currently pointed up toward the ceiling. That didn't make me feel any less nervous.

We came out the other side a half a mile later, and I was impressed with the sheer scale yet again. Part of me wondered how they managed to do it at all, and I shivered. Yang had mentioned that Vale had some favorable terrain, natural barriers that protected the city, but even still. Nuts. My respect for the people here was already high, and in my estimation it went up a few notches.

A few minutes later, Ben pulled up to a curb outside some sort of shopping center. "Well folks, here we are – can ya' make your way from here?"

Karrin and I nodded gratefully. "We certainly can," she said. "Thank you so much, Ben."

He patted her knee and gave us a wink. "Happy to lend a hand, travelers. Stay safe!" We got out and exchanged waves.

Karrin looked around, and up at the huge wall. "Jesus H Christ, these people don't screw around, do they?" She shook her head in disbelief, and I craned my neck to look up at the top. "Those cannons back there…" she trailed off soberly.

"Makes you wonder if they've ever had to use them, huh?" She shuddered. "Right then, first order of business: Find a jeweler's shop." I patted the inside pocket of my duster, where the pouch of diamonds sat. "See if we can get local currency, figure out who's in charge and what's going on, and then find Yang."

Karrin looked around at the scattering of people, who were paying us no mind at all. "Let's see that scroll of yours – maybe we can avoid asking around like a couple of bumpkins."

A/N - At long last, The Remnant! Just so you know, the next chapter for this story and the next one for Fang and Thorn are competing for my attention, so if you don't see an update next Wednesday, there should be one the week after that. Thanks for all the reviews and feedback! :)