Arthur opened his eyes to find himself annoyingly alive. Something had stopped the dragon from eating him. A knight stood with his back to him, his sword firmly planted in the dragon’s lower jaw, his other hand holding the creature’s upper jaw wide open. A small orb of light danced above his head, highlighting the blues of his armour against the darkness. The dragon snarled in annoyance and pulled its head back. The knight yanked his sword free before it could go with the monster. He spun it, planted his feet firmly, and prepared for the monster to strike him.

  Arthur gave a sigh of relief as he collapsed into the snow again. He was dead after all.

  “Take up your rifle, traveller,” the knight said. “I will duel this monster directly. You find an opening in its back and kill it.”

  “Why should I care?” Arthur asked. “We’re both gonna die anyway.”

  “Take heart, traveller. Nothing is immortal.”

  The dragon prepared its laser beam. The knight ran forward before dashing to the right, the dragon’s head following it. Arthur scrambled to his feet and grabbed the rifle. Despite his previous flurry of shots, he still had plenty of plasma rounds left in the magazine. His attention was taken away from his gun as he heard the sound of the dragon’s laser beam firing straight into the ground below them, the sudden bright light igniting the area.

  He could run. The dragon didn’t seem to care about him anymore, desperately clawing at the knight who was circling it. It would be easy to run past, get into the ruins of the house and grab his pack. He could put a lot of distance between himself and the dragon. Sure, the knight would die, but someone who dressed like that and fought dragons would inevitably die someday soon anyway. It was the only way he’d survive, and maybe see about an end to his journey.

  Or, he could do the right thing.

  “I’ll get rid of my conscience soon enough,” Arthur muttered as he pulled up the rifle, aiming at the dragon.

  Getting a clear shot was almost impossible. The knight moved with almost inhuman speed, seemingly able to read the dragon’s claws and tail attacks and dodge them with no issue. He’d never seen a dragon frustrated before. Unfortunately, the ferocity of the dragon’s attacks meant that it moved fast, and that combined with the massive wings and low light, even with the nearby fire, meant the shot never presented itself.

  “Can’t get a good shot,” Arthur shouted.

  The dragon spun around to look at him, and that was what the knight needed. He leapt forward, grabbing onto the side of the dragon’s head and stabbing his sword into the creature’s eye. It screamed, its head thrashing and throwing him into the snow. The knight sprang to his feet like nothing had happened.

  “What the hell?!” Arthur shouted.

  “Indeed,” the knight said. “It’s rare to see a beast not die after stabbing it in the eye.”

  “Not that! Why the hell did you grab on to it? You’ll have the Rot by now!”

  The dragon turned towards both of them, preparing another breath weapon. Black, oily liquid leaked out of its broken eye.

  “Just a little further,” the knight said. “Draw it’s fire.”

  The knight ran right, and as such Arthur ran left, firing a salvo from his rifle. The bullets found their purchase inside the dragon, but that didn’t stop it from preparing the laser. The knight ran in and stabbed it in its other eye. The dragon reared up in pain, and the knight used the momentum to chuck himself into the air, spinning his sword. From here, he could see something glowing from the hole in its back. The dragon opened its jaws, ready to shoot the knight out of the sky.

  Drawing from as little of his magic as he could, the knight disappeared, reappearing slightly further forward, giving him a clearer shot at the core. The monster had no time to react. The knight fell down, stabbing his sword straight into the hole he’d made before, and piercing the glowing stone that created the dragon’s breath.

  An ear piercing screech radiated from within the dragon, more like a broken speaker than anything human. It’s body contorted and twisted, head slamming into the ground, lights going out. The dragon was dead.

  Arthur raised his gun and fired straight at the knight’s head. He ducked out of the way of the blast.

  “I wish you no harm,” the knight explained.

  “I know you don’t,” Arthur said, “but I don’t have a choice. The Rot’s in you for sure now.”

  The knight cocked his head to the side, confused. “Rot?”

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  Arthur laughed mirthlessly. “By the Clocktower, where are you from? That!” He pointed up to the metal gears in the sky above. “That’s the Rot! The dragons would never have destroyed the Federation if it wasn’t for the Rot! Everywhere up to the unknown regions is consumed by it!”

  “You are correct, I am not from these parts,” the knight said. “I need a guide to these foreign lands. I was going to ask you to be my squire.”

  “Well, that’s a shame,” Arthur said. “Let me explain it to you simply: when you touch a dragon, or hit it with anything metal like a sword, the Rot is in you. It happens when a dragon dies too. Look!”

  Arthur gestured to the dragon’s wing. A small gear had already formed on its surface, spinning rapidly with no apparent purpose. Similar protrusions were beginning to form across the dragon’s body.

  “That’s how everything collapsed. We didn’t do bad against the dragons at first, but every victory brought more rot. The dead from space battles allowed it to grow up there. It blotted out stars, resulting in worlds like this. Refuges and off duty soldiers brought it off the battlefield and to civilization. Some of the worlds on the fringe are pure bronze and gears.” Arthur sighed. “I’m sorry, but I have to kill you before someone this naive can spread it. This world is dead, but…I want to preserve something from us. Something from humanity.”

  The knight nodded. “I…understand. I was too hasty in attacking the dragon. You’re a noble man.” He held up the sword. “I slashed the dragon with this several hours ago, yet it did not rot in the same way. I assum-”

  “Wait, what?” Arthur looked shocked. “How? It looks perfect! That thing should at least be sprouting gears by now.”

  “I wonder if I am immune to this plague,” the knight said, examining his body. There was no metal there that he hadn’t chosen to bring with him.

  “If you are, we need to get you into some kind of medical centre. You might be able to stop this.”

  The knight stepped down from the dragon. Arthur kept his gun trained on him, still not sure what was happening.

  “I don’t think I can,” the knight said. “You see, I am from a different universe.”

  “Well, that explains the getu-wait, what?”

  “I wonder if the Rot is something intrinsic to the fabric of this reality. It can’t affect matter that exists outside of it.”

  “You skipped over the different universe part real fast.”

  The knight sheathed his blade, much calmer now. “I assumed you had already worked it out, from the way I dress and the fact I use magic.”

  Arthur looked confused. “Magic? Was that how you managed to hurt it?”

  “Yes, although I cannot use this universe’s magic. Were you…aware this universe had magic?”

  “Yeah, we all kinda knew it had magic because of the Clocktower, but no one knew how it worked. Then the dragons started pouring out of it.”

  “Interesting.” The knight walked straight up to Arthur. He looked remarkably calm, although Arthur was sure the armour was hiding something from him. “I wish to travel to this Clocktower. It is the only thing in this universe I know anything about, and I must investigate it further. I wish to take a squire, and I believe you would be perfect.”

  “Sure,” Arthur replied. “I was heading that way anyway. I’ve got my own beef with the centre of the universe. Just…don’t call me Squire. My name is Arthur. Arthur Leshalll”

  “Certainly. I am…Paladin.”

  Arthur raised an eyebrow. “There’s no way that’s your real name.”

  “It’s not. It’s my title. My real name has no meaning here.”

  “Sure, whatever. Do you knight me now or something?”

  Paladin shook his head. “Only when you become a true knight.”

  Paladin turned around to look at the corpse of the dragon. The gears were beginning to overwhelm the corpse, making it hard to see what the shape was. He could see now how it blotted out stars.

  “I will trust in your judgement, Arthur Leshalll,” Paladin continued. “Pack up your things and prepare to leave immediately. We have a long journey ahead of us.”

  “Yup, will d-shit, my pack!”

  Arthur ran around the dragon’s corpse and towards the burning building, horrified. He’d never left his pack behind before. It was the one thing he still had from home, his lifeblood in these harsh wastes. If he lost it in the fire…

  He hadn’t. It rested a few feet away from the building, which was still happily burning away. Arthur grumbled as he snatched up the pack, knowing this was somehow the knight’s doing. He walked back over to Paladin, and although he couldn’t see his face, he knew that he was smirking beneath the mask.

  “C’mon,” Arthur said. “We’re heading to Colony 21. Apparently they had a scrapyard there. Might be able to find a working ship to get us off world.”

  “And from there?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ve had this path planned out for a long time. You’re not going to change it.” Arthur turned and walked out into the snow. “C’mon, before you pick a fight with another one of these things.”

  “Lead the way, Squire Leshalll,” Paladin replied.

  Arthur glared at him but didn’t say a word. The two strangers continued their journey into the wastes, away from the clockwork corpse and the burning memories it had left in its wake.