Lazarus assessed the damage to his home gloomily.

One hundred per cent destroyed.

There was nothing left. His vast army had been reduced to fifty seven miserably units, who he immediately got Dimitri to send out Gathering Resources. Food. That was the most important right now. He had to feed his residents who were still safe in the catacombs. He would let them out only when he could get a shield up. It was too dangerous for them otherwise. There was still risk of another attack. There may be more players of like mind out there.

Fifty soldiers out Gathering, seven left stationed at the broken walls around the perimeter. It was not much of a defence. If an attack came, they would not be able to do much other than to sound the alarm. The Battle Master was more than busy scouting for piles of Resources and supervising the poor overworked fifty soldiers. They needed more manpower but that required more Resources. It was up to his Lord to prioritise their needs with whatever meagre rations they have.

Lazarus had instructed Adam (Battle Master) and Illia (Keeper) from his subordinate city to send as much as they could spare. Illia had immediately sent fully loaded carts to the main city. They would send more when the carts returned.

They were safe, their shield was still up, their production was okay. Adam had sent along one hundred soldiers, leftovers from the battle, transferring them to the Dimitri's command. They were training more soldiers too, they had more than enough resources to do so.

Lazarus had been debating with himself on what to repair first when Valentine appeared next to him.

"Hey!" the Thief greeted him. "Look what I brought you!" He jerked his thumb behind him.

"What? Oh Gods!" Lazarus stared at the clouds of dust that was rising from a long line of fully laden carts. It was headed towards his city. Resources!

Valentine grinned at Lazarus's dumbfounded expression.

"Gah, I wish I was playing 2D so that I can take a screenshot of your face right now."

"Val, I-I don't know what to say."

"How about 'Thank you'?"

Lazarus turned to the Thief and grabbed his shoulders tightly. "Thank you! You' re a lifesaver!"

"But don't you need them too? You have to rebuild your own army. Allegra won't be too happy without anyone to train."

"Don't worry. Training takes time and I've maxed it out. I've got more than enough to spare."

"You sure? You are not just saying that?"

"Of course! My city was not destroyed and productions are at maximum levels ... besides I want to help you rebuild as fast as possible so we can get on with the Crossing."

"Crossing? As in the Portal?"

Valentine grinned in enthusiasm. "Yeah, the Portal! You mean you didn't notice that I've levelled up?" He struck a dramatic pose. "I thought I look more heroic or something," he said laughing. "The battle was a bonus, it allowed me to kill gazillion NPCs and Heroes. I'm level eighty one now. I can go with you!!" he exclaimed happily.

"Seriously?"

Quickly, Lazarus checked Valentine's status.

Valentine, Thief Level 81.

If Valentine was Level 81 ... he tapped anxiously at his own stats.

Lazarus, Assassin Level 84.

"Oh, wow!! I'm level eighty four!!"

Valentine made a strangled sound and rolled his eyes. "You didn't notice? What kind of gamer are you?" the Thief teased him.

"No, I ..." he stood loss for words for a moment while Valentine laughed at him. He had been distracted by other worries.

"C'mon. We have to rebuild you city quickly. I can't wait to get over there."

Just then Nyx ported in.

"Awww you beat me to it!" she scolded Valentine, slapping him on his arm. "I wanted to surprise him! I wanted to be the first!"

"Too late! Hah!" The Thief crowed at the disgruntled Assassin.

"Ahh, I ... thanks Nyx," Lazarus said softly as another train of carts appeared over the horizon.

She turned back to him after swatting Valentine again. "There is more!"

"More? What do you mean? This is plenty."

"No, all this will probably rebuild only a fraction of your city. I remember it was quite extensive and you had levelled up all your buildings. This is only to help get you started, more are coming ... " she checked her chat, tapping at the thin air in front of her. " ... in three, two, ONE!"

Quickly she turned to look at the gatekeeper's face, she didn't want to miss seeing his expression when he saw all the Resources coming his way. She had alerted the fans on the gatekeepers blog regarding his predicament. They had responded excitedly. Those who had not been on during the battle jumped at the chance to do something for their gatekeeper. Loads were promised and sent. Every tiny bit helped. Lazarus had absolutely nothing now. The Resources would arrive staggered due to time and distance.

The legendary assassin stood paralyzed staring at the clouds of dust rising from all directions. A soft sigh of disbelief escaped his lips when hundreds upon hundreds of carts materialised from the gloom. Carts of all shapes, sizes and differing capacities rambled onto the plains. There were many different stamps on the long trains bearing their respective Lord's crests. Some was stamped on one cart whilst others were emblazoned on five or six, depending on their Lord's level. All were heading towards him.

"I can't believe this ..." his voice trailed off in awe.

Nyx smiled broadly, delighted at his bewilderment. He was totally floored, she congratulated herself gleefully. She had surprised him again. Even Valentine was gaping at the spectacle. Carts filled to the brim pulled by various beasts made their way slowly, snaking across the open plains.

"I didn't know ... I never expected ..." Lazarus blinked rapidly several times trying to control his emotions, his desperation replaced with an immense sense of grateful relief. The overwhelming gratitude he felt to these players, these ghost lords who only knew him in name and reputation. With all the Resources coming in he could start rebuilding immediately instead of wasting precious time gathering and trading for the much needed materials. If he did that, his Hero would be useless by the time his city had recovered enough for him to depart. What would have taken months of gameplay to recover may now only take a few weeks, maybe less ...much less if he played continuously?

"Hey man, you are creating a traffic jam," Valentine's light banter was marred by a slight hitch in his voice. He swallowed a few times and clapped Lazarus on his back.

All three stood in silence for a while before Lazarus came to his senses.

"I've got work to do." He turned to Nyx, "Thank you. You know I can't repay you for what you did or to all of them." He waved his hands at the incoming loads.

"No need. I'm just paying my tuition fees," she quipped and tilted her head cheekily at him. "I got one-on-one training from the finest assassin in the land and I got to meet all five Legendary GateKeepers, not to mention be their friend and fight with them. I've got bragging rights. No one else in Orc Wars can boast that! I'm special!!"

Lazarus stared at her for a moment, his lips quirking up in a smile.

"Yes, yes you are."

Anya pricked her ears. Only she had caught her Chosen's soft words. She glanced at the human girl and wagged her tail. The Familiar mentally promoted the assassin up a few ranks in her wolfy hierarchy.

-----------------

Lazarus left his harassed Battle Master and Keeper to deal with the onslaught of Resources. Both were giving out instructions simultaneously to different NPCs, skillfully dividing the work between them. The destroyed city had burst into life as the much needed materials made their way into the ruins. A system was formed, the carts came in the front gates, unloaded in the courtyard (with the help of the many willing residents who had emerged from the Catacombs) and went out through a large section of broken wall.

The Battle Master was directing carts, managing two lanes with military efficiency. His own soldiers had been recalled from Resource Gathering to help manage and maintain order of the influx. The long lines moved slowly. A bottleneck had formed at the entrance, the plains outside were congested with foreign wagons. The Keeper was supervising the unloading and stacking of the items into neat piles. They worked well together.

His city was in good hands.

The Ghost Lord picked a spot and climbed up to it. He wanted a clear view of the stockpile and the controlled chaos below. Then he got to work.

Lazarus started off by repairing two farms. His people needed food. He used his hoarded building 'Speed Ups' to complete them immediately. Then he repaired a Barn to store the growing stockpile of food and a Warehouse to store the materials. Next, he started on one ore mine and one logging camp. That needed a few hours to complete. He left them and repaired a Barracks. It was time to train more soldiers to boost his miserable defences. His Keep and other key buildings would have to wait.

The Ghost Lord worked quietly in his corner. The piled up Resources in the courtyard disappeared as he used them, making space for more. Around him, two burnt out farms shimmered and was restored to full production capacity. It took up a quite a bit of materials as they were high level farms. The damaged Barn and a much needed Warehouse too were repaired in an instant.

The Battle Master and Keeper paused in their work to exchanged knowing looks at the disappearance of Resources and the miraculous manifestations around them, proof of a Ghost Lord's mysterious power. As one, they turned to search for their young lord. The Battle Master smiled when his eyes found the boy. He jerked his head in the lad's direction and the Keeper turned to find her young lord perched on a piece of broken wall, his wolf seemingly asleep next to him. He was wiggling his fingers in the air concentrating on something invisible in front of his face. She supposed that was how the Ghost Lords exercise their powers.

The gatekeeper ignored his surroundings as he focused on his ... whatever he was doing. The Keeper tsk-tsked to herself at his messy appearance, her motherly instincts coming to the fore. Lazarus' loose long hair was being blown all over his soot smudged face by the breeze. He had not bothered to change. The assassin still wore the same torn grey shirt over dirty dark pants and badly scuffed boots he had on when defending the city earlier. One could mistake him for a lowly serf, resting a bit from his manual chores.

She really must talk to him about his casual appearance ... or maybe not, she thought again studying him. There were more important things than clothes and appearances, like the city and the survival of the people. He knew what was important. Nope, on second thoughts she wouldn't change anything about him. It was just his way, it was just him. She turned back to her work with a slight smile leaving him to his.

Lazarus was deep in concentration, rebuilding. He did not notice that he was being scrutinised. He was in a safe zone and Anya was guarding him. She would alert him of any danger. Let's see, he had done the Farms, Barns and Warehouse. He needed to start on the production facilities. He shouldn't depend on others too much.

Small rocks and loose stones settled in an ore mine. As minutes passed, it became more stable, broken tracks mended mysteriously and the strings of lights came on. A logging camp stopped smoking, the wispy greyish black tendrils vanishing into the air. The broken cutter mended and work area cleared. One damaged Barracks was fixed, its walls and the bunkers replaced. It's training area restored. It would take a few hours before they would start producing and Lazarus could start on training soldiers.

Now all he could was wait. Once the current repairs were completed, he could start on more. Full restoration of his entire city would take time.

He looked up and stretched. Anya was dozing lightly beside him. He smiled and scratched her ears.

"Ummm, nice," she thought to him. "A little harder and to the right."

"I thought you were guarding me."

"I am. I am so good, I can do it in my sleep."

He burst out laughing and did as instructed.

"C'mon, lazybones. I need to check out something."

"Where?"

He climbed down carefully. "The glade."

Immediately, her eyes opened and her ears flattened. "I don't like that place. You died so many times there," she whined.

"I know love, but I still need to check it out."

They walked in silence to the back of the half standing Keep. The once beautiful gardens were ruined. Several trees had fallen or had been uprooted. Decorative shrubs and bushes as well as the carefully cultivated flower beds were crushed, trampled by soldiers during the clash.

Only dried twigs were left on the huge bushes at the entrance to the hidden glade. Exploding dying soldiers had burnt the poor vegetation. The sad state the glade was in was testimony of the battles fought in it. The greenery was half burnt, dried leaves and flowers littered the ground. Slashes and cuts were etched in tree barks. Broken branches lay on the ground.

Lazarus made his way to the grave. The oblong hole in the ground was misshapen, the ornate tombstone chipped and cracked. He peered in. Anya growled in distaste, hackles rising instinctively. The grave was blackened, blasted by his numerous deaths and revival. Arrows were stuck at odd angles in the hole. He grimaced; remembering the merciless slaughter, then shook his head violently to clear out the stark images from his head.

He sighed and got to work clearing the mess.

--------------------

From a safe distance, Althea watched the trains of carts and wagons which covered the plains outside Lazarus' destroyed city make their way in slowly. They were being supervised in an orderly manner. They went in the front in double lines, were unloaded by many willing hands and come out an impromptu opening in the broken side wall. If only she had the courage to send him some but she feared he might turn hers away.

She had observed the handsome gatekeeper talking to his Battle Master and Keeper. She had seen him moving around taking stock of the terrible damage. She had noticed his shoulders slumping in despair and then straightened resolutely as he lifted his head to the huge task ahead. Her heart hurt for him. She sighed and continued to watch him, wishing she could mend the ties between them and start over.