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Chapter VI: The Second Empire

"Ah, God," Victor said, recovering from the plunge. The only reason he hadn't died was that he was caught by some factor trees on the way down, which had slowed his fall. As he thought back on that, he began to realize that he hadn't seen Odin hit any trees...

"Ah-dyen?" he said, looking about himself. Before he could call his guide's name again, he saw his lifeless body lying ten yards away.

"OH MY GOD!" Victor screamed. He ran over to Odin, knelt, and tried to think of what to do. CPR wouldn't work on a number... He came up short, so he settled with seeing if Odin was actually dead. He shook him, yelled at him, desperately tried CPR, and everything else he could think of. Nothing. Odin was definitely gone.

"I... I'm screwed," Victor sobbed. "I need you... I'm gonna die... I'm so sorry..." His tearful display was soon interrupted by an improper fraction; 9/7, to be precise. It simply stared at him for a while, assessing the situation he was in. Then it disappeared, back into the forest. Victor went back to mourning.

But the valley dwellers weren't going to let him off that easy.

A few minutes after the 9/7 came and went, a band of other mixed numbers and improper fractions sprung from the trees, wielding subtraction tomahawks and division crossbows that had likely fallen from the hills above during generations of battles between Uni and the Second Empire. Now they were all pointed at Victor.

"Crap. Oh God."

A 7/4 made the first move, thrusting a tomahawk at him. The rest was a blur of chaos.

"JESU-- OH GO-- AAAAHHH!" Victor kept screaming, running into the woods, away from the attackers. I need to make it back to Uni, he thought. I need to go back. I need to go--

Wait, he thought. There's nothing there for me. What's in Uni that I don't already have? I'll have to face these stupid things sooner or later. I just need to get one of their weapons...

Victor enacted a plan, a rare occurrence in his life. He jumped into one of the factor trees, using the precise brambles to disguise himself. The fractions followed him up to where he had last been rather nicely, impressing him with their tracking abilities. He refocused, and pondered how he was going to steal their weapons. He decided to go big or go home, and try and get the division crossbow from the 107/80 below him. This was going to take a precise jump...

Victor catapulted from the tree, slamming into the fraction at full force, debilitating himself in the process. He was nearly unconscious, his head throbbing. In a stroke of extreme fortune, the other attacking numbers merely hit the body of the fraction on top of Victor, giving him time. But it was soon subtracted and divided to bits, and Victor had to get up. Fast.

A tomahawk landing six inches from his face was a good wake-up call, and he was able to remember that he needed the crossbow. He reached out for the dead number's weapon, clutched the handle, and shot a 1.62 square in the face. He got a few more bolts off the 107/80's body, which was now assorted bits and pieces like 2/17, .008, and 1/12. With these, he took care of the rest of them, using their paralysis by fear to gain time and make easy "kills," if you can call them that. Off the minuscule numbers, he took some bolts, some tomahawks, and a belt for said tomahawks. The handles slid into the loops nicely, and Victor thought he was starting to tame this place.

He had no idea how tame Uni had already been, and how much more wild this place was going to become.

He fought his way through the rest of the 1<x<2 numbers, having a couple close calls, like nearly getting divided by a 4/3 and subtracted by a 1.95. After two hours of trying to survive in this valley, he was at the base of the Second Empire's parabola.

He thought about how hard it had been to climb to Uni, and wondered if he could make it faster. What if, he thought, I used the tomahawks? He drew two from his belt, and sank them into the side of what was really a mountain by comparison. Sure enough, the axes subtracted that piece of the parabola, making a small dent in the side, allowing for ease of ascent. Victor put one foot, and tomahawk, in front of the other, and got to the top in a few minutes. He made it to the top, sheathed his weapons, and was greeted by... a band of Two soldiers, weapons drawn. When he tried to reach for his own crossbow, the entourage jabbed menacingly in his direction.

Sigh. "This sucks."

Then he heard a welcoming voice call him a name that he hadn't heard since all this started.

"VICTOR!" Amanda yelled.