Micheal’s feet thumped onto hard-packed snow, and he shivered as the cold air bit at him.

The System hadn’t given them much of a monologue before the second round. It just told him “Once upon a time, the Damsel was stripped from their friends,” before the wash of light hit.

He had a sinking suspicion about what that meant.

He quickly looked around. No Margie. No Steven. No dogs.

“Fuck.”

“Eh, it could be worse.”

“FUCK!” Micheal yelled. He spun around, nearly slipping on the snow.

An old man stood behind him. Tall, probably a hair under six foot, with iron grey hair and soft features, the man looked at Micheal with bright blue eyes that twinkled with mirth.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He chuckled and extended a hand. “I’m Markus.”

Micheal cautiously shook his hand. No reason to be rude. It put him in the man’s reach, but if Markus wanted to kill him, then Micheal couldn’t do much to stop him– unless the man was also a support Class.

“I’m Micheal.”

The man nodded. “From your reaction, I take it you were in a group?”

“Yeah. You?”

The old man shook his head. “I was by my lonesome.” He glanced around. “So the second round throws us into unfamiliar teams? Is that it?”

As if summoned by the question, the System spoke. “Once upon a time, the Damsel and the Retiree found themselves on a team. The Damsel's goal? To acquire points as before, but there was a new quest for them as well.”

In the distance, a pillar of white light suddenly burst into the sky.

“The Damsel’s new quest is to reach the pillar and stand in it with their allies for five minutes to achieve greater rewards. Allies consist of their current companion and the companions they last traveled with.”

“You have one hour.”

“Ahem. Also fifteen minutes until your quest is scried to the city.”

“Hmm,” Markus murmured. “What are you thinking, Micheal? Would you like to head to the pillar with me or go our separate ways?”

Micheal blinked. He’d been taken off guard by the teleport and being separated from his friends, but his brain was finally kicking back into gear.

The System making random groups like this could quickly devolve into bloodshed. Markus seemed on the up and up, but Micheal could have just as easily been paired with someone who killed him on sight for the potential points.

But just because Markus seemed friendly didn’t mean he was.

Maybe asking him if he wanted to go their separate ways was a test.

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If he said yes, did that mean he wasn’t confident in a fight? Or would it communicate that he just wanted to run solo?

He couldn’t gauge how the man would view his answer after only hearing two sentences from him.

Dangerous.

It hadn’t been something he’d really had to face over the last week, with Margie and Steven always around. But the truth of his situation had lurked in the back of his mind.

An ugly, terrifying truth.

Micheal was helpless on his own.

Useless.

His Class revolved around being helped by and helping others.

By himself, Micheal was a slightly stronger human in a world where people could turn dogs into living tanks and leave fire in their wake.

Micheal took so long to answer that the old man spoke up.

“I can see you're considering all the angles here. That’s smart and a very good habit to get into, but you need to be quicker about it. And sneakier to boot. If I was the kind of person to attack at the first sight of weakness, I might take your careful consideration as such.”

Markus stretched, turning his gaze towards the pillar in the distance. “Not that consideration is showing weakness, understand. But the kind of predators I’m talking about will see consideration as hesitation.”

He turned back to Micheal, and despite his words, his kind smile never slipped.

“You don’t want to hesitate in front of predators, lad.”

Micheal swallowed.

“I’d rather stick together.” He paused, then pushed ahead. He really didn’t think the man was going to attack him now, but if he was, it would be now.

“I’m far more effective in a group than solo, so if it’s all the same to you…”

Markus didn’t attack. Which, you know, was a good sign.

The old man smiled. “Alright then. Let’s head towards the big pillar in the sky. The System certainly isn’t subtle.” He glanced at Micheal before setting off. “A fifty-fifty split of points sound reasonable?”

“Very.”

They were silent for a few awkward seconds as Micheal tried to think of something to say.

Well, awkward for him, at least. Markus wasn’t having any trouble, far as he could tell.

Markus broke the silence a moment later.

“What’s your role? I don’t need your specific Class or Skills, just what I can expect from you in a fight.”

Micheal hesitated for a heartbeat before answering.

He’d already implied that he was a support, no point in getting cold feet now.

“A support.”

Markus nodded and scratched his cheek. “I’m a close-range brawler. Do you have any healing abilities?”

“No. I wish. I have a taunt, though. So be ready to jump on that.”

“Hmm. All this System business has certainly made fighting more complicated. It’s a whole new dimension to keep track of, and I’m old! It’s unreasonable for me to learn new tricks.”

Micheal arched a brow. “You fought a lot before the System?”

The old man shrugged. “I got in a few scraps in my day, but I left that behind. I’m not a fan of violence.”

“I can’t say I am either. I’d only ever gotten beat up a few times before all this crap. Now I’m fighting monsters that can shoot lightning out of their fingertips. It’s…a lot to adapt to.”

Markus turned his head towards him without slowing down.

“If you don’t mind, some advice from an old man. Try to find the middle ground. You can’t let it overwhelm you, or you’ll become a nervous wreck. But you can’t block it out either, or you’ll become something…cold.”

Micheal chewed that over for a second before slowly nodding. “Thank you. I’ll… keep it in mind.”