Season 2. Chapter 2: Unemployment

Chapter: Riven's Overload

Back in the moss-covered outpost that the Travelers half-jokingly called the "Nest", the evening sky dimmed to twilight blues, and the soft glow of forest-grown lanterns shimmered through vine-wrapped windows. But deep inside the communications chamber—patched together with signal reflectors, rune-binders, and several suspiciously humming cables—Riven Blackstone was in the middle of a full-blown data storm.

"Uhhhh…"

His blue eyes flicked across the glowing crystal interface.

Then again.

And again.

And again.

Glyphs scrolled across the display faster than his Systematic Guide could process—every two seconds, another name, another tag, another Request for Enrollment.

"Goldie!!" he called.

From behind a tangle of wires and rune-sealed cider bottles, Goldie the information specialist cat-girl poked her head out, her ears twitching as her eyes adjusted to the wall of light.

"What now?" she groaned. "You break it again?"

"No. Worse." Riven tapped the crystal screen. "It's working too well."

Goldie padded forward, half-lazily, until she caught sight of the numbers.

231 sign-ins.

12 regions.

4 major cities.

And rising… fast.

Her tail stood straight. "Wait, how many days has the ad even been live?"

"Two," Riven muttered.

Goldie's eyes widened. "That's almost—"

"—four times what we expected by mid-month," Riven finished, pacing now, hat nearly falling off. "And these aren't just bored kids or meme followers. A lot of them… they're serious. They've been looking for something."

He brought up one user file.

Then another.

Then another.

> ID: K.Zell – 18 – dropped out – no family support – mana interference in schooling – denied by five guilds.

ID: E.Millios – 20 – refugee background – part-faun – unable to pass biometric scans.

ID: J.Leo – 17 – listed deceased by city record.

Riven stared at the screen, lips slightly parted.

"Goldie... these kids were thrown out by the system and forgotten. Some of them don't even legally exist anymore."

Goldie leaned over the terminal, tail flicking nervously. "The unemployment rates in outer sectors must be way worse than projected. You know, I thought the undernet echo loops were more active lately."

"'More active' is an understatement," Riven muttered.

He snapped his fingers and turned to the side wall where Garrick Ironhart sat, arms crossed, watching the chaos with a barely-contained grunt of worry.

"Ironhart! How much housing can we realistically build in two weeks?"

Garrick raised a brow. "Assuming I don't sleep?"

Riven stared at him.

"…Maybe twenty pods. Thirty if we slap solar bark plating and skip full insulation."

"We may need fifty by the end of the week," Goldie said, voice growing more serious.

There was a silence in the room.

Riven leaned against the table, face shadowed by the dim flicker of glowing sigils. "I didn't expect this."

Goldie looked up at him, ears lowering. "You expected to start a flame. Not a firestorm."

He exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "They're coming. The discarded. The angry. The forgotten. Not because we promised glory. But because we promised space. And no one else did."

Garrick stood up and stretched, joints cracking like distant thunder. "Then we'd better be ready to hold the line."

Goldie sat back down, tail curling around her ankles. "I'll filter for the urgent cases. Prioritize people who can actually travel soon. Get them temporary arrival instructions. Maybe Basil and Fern can grow a few quick shelters near the mist wall."

Riven didn't speak for a long moment.

Then he looked back at the screen and slowly grinned.

"Alright," he said.

He tapped a button, opening a direct-channel feed to Oliver, Fern, Aurelia, Nico, and Yotel.

> "Heads up, everyone. We've got a situation. And it's the good kind."

"The world's unemployed, rejected, and invisible just kicked down our door."

"And now we've got to build a home big enough for all of them."

The Traveler Campaign had become more than a whisper.

It was now a beacon.

And the world?

It was rushing toward the light.