Chapter 27 part 1

The moment Sal Grimone set foot outside of the Rogue's house, the distinct feeling arose that he had made a mistake. For no rational reason, Sal felt the tug of resistance from his gut that in the past was a good indicator that nothing pleasant was to follow. The Rogue had told him that he would be back, so Sal was going to make it a point to not return. Still, this tug of resistance was an unexpected obstacle to his firm conviction. The Rogue might be some sort of super hacker, but all of this nonsense about destiny was something Sal just could not swallow.

As Sal made his way back down the path from the Rogue's house, he made the turn and should have seen the familiar outlines of Iron Bastion silhouetting the sky. Instead, there was a vast emptiness. The feeling of resistance inside Sal grew. Where was the Bastion? Surely there was a logical explanation for its disappearance.

Sal thought he would inquire of the locals to see if he could obtain further information regarding the Bastion. As he looked around the streets, he noticed a distinct lack of social stratification. The rougher area he had walked through only hours before was completely missing. As Sal attempted to take all this in, something even more unfathomable happened. His interface alerted him to a message. Sal hoped fervently that someone had managed to circumvent the dampening. This would make sense with the reality he knew. He summoned his interface. He had full access.

Startled by this realization, Sal happened to nearly run into another man walking nearby. Though the interface made sense with the reality he understood, the Bastion was gone and so the dissonance had started him anyway. The man stared back at Sal unintelligibly and blankly. Sal tried to snap him out of it by asking him a question about how the dampening had been taken down. The man had puzzlingly replied that he did not know what Sal was talking about. When Sal asked about Iron Bastion as a follow-up, the man continued to stare at him blankly. he had never heard of such a structure. Utterly exhausted and flabbergasted, Sal bid the man a good day. The main said goodbye, which was the only normal exchange Sal was going to have with him. It was what the man added to the goodbye that caught Sal's ear. Sal had heard the additional phrase "and may solidarity save us yet." Sal had no choice but to stop the man again.

"What did YOU just say?" asked Sal more alarmed than curious.

"May solidarity save us yet?" asked the man as though Sal might be a mental patient.

"Yeah, that. Why did you just say that?"

"Surely you can't be ignorant of the Runic War?"

Sal's features became pallid. "The what?"