The survivors surfaced.

Everyone looked around cautiously, terrified to leave the relative safety of the water.

"Is... Is it safe?"

Another notification rang in our ears.

[You survived one of the Three Horrors. You've been awarded 5000 points and a free perk during class selection. May you live long enough to use them.]

"800 points!"

"What? I only got 600."

"Goddamn show-offs are what ya are."

I let the bickering wash over me. It wasn't as important as the weight dragging me down. There was no way I could let go, so I carried the man over to the rocky shore, pulling him up with effort.

He was unconscious, bleeding from over a dozen wounds, and as pale as a ghost. A cut on his arm seemed to have been cauterized by the crystal creature, forming a unique rainbow pattern over his inked tattoos. I opened his palm to check if his hand was the same. What greeted me was a surprise.

[Item: Chaos Crystal]

My heart jumped into my throat, but I hid the item in one of my pockets. If someone saw something like this, the bickering would turn into a brawl.

[Sponsors have noticed you. They await the chance to meet you.]

[A Deruvian Sponsor would like to purchase shares from you.]

[A Beval Sponsor would like to purchase shares from you.]

I waved away the notifications. I needed to stop the bleeding!

[Sponsor C210141 sends you a gift.]

[Sponsor M-2955 sends you gifts.]

Four items gently fell in front of me. A pack of needles, some plastic tubing, a roll of beige thread, and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol. Attached to the bottle was a small scrap of paper with beautiful handwriting.

[Please save Zeke]

I knew enough not to ask questions and start cleaning his wounds. He didn't wake when I poured the contents sparingly over his open wounds. The coat of blood sticking to his skin washed away. I reached for the needle and mentally prepared myself to sew flesh back together.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

How hard could it be?

"Let me. What's his name?"

I breathed a sigh of relief at the offer.

"Zeke."

The Chinese woman smirked and kneeled down to check his pulse.

"Huh. I thought it'd be Chad."

"Mei! You're going to help him? He nearly got us all killed."

I stood hastily and confronted the marching lumberjack before he ran us over.

"He saved all our lives. We would have died a dozen times over if not for him."

You have no idea what he sacrificed already.

Those words he whispered when throwing her into the maw of the beast still resonated deep within me.

I didn't know the full story, only that Zeke needed five seconds to say goodbye. The will to sacrifice a life lost to save others was not something this airhead seemed to understand.

"He saved us, sure, but only after getting us into trouble twice already."

"I'm with Lukas. Zeke's nice to look at, but he surely has a screw loose. The way he fights reminds me of the scraps I saw between the strays in my old neighborhood."

A large Hispanic man backed Lukas up. His clothes were wet and outlined his barreled physique. I was too distracted by his perfect jawline and needed to shake my head to remind myself that now, of all times, wasn't the appropriate time to lose my head.

"You have no idea what he's done. I owe him my life."

Then a fiery ball of Canadian fury exploded.

"He may be your savior, eh? He ain't ours. First thing the bastard did when he saw us was drop a severed head in my lap. Then he blew up one of our people, took a hostage, threatened to rip her tongue out through her throat— actually fucking did it later—and then proceeded to slaughter half a dozen people using his hands and teeth. I'll never get that sight out of my eyes."

My mind stopped and took in everything she said. If all that was true, then why would they stop to talk, or even fight alongside him at all? This girl, Zoey, didn't seem to be lying.

Then I recalled the bodies.

"You're talking about the dwarves?"

"Hell yeah, I am! Their people as much as the rest of us."

"But weren't you-"

Mei interrupted our banter.

"I can close his wounds, but he's lost too much blood already. His pulse is weakening, and he will die within a minute if he doesn't receive blood."

"Good! We'll be safer without the bastard."

I found my hand grabbing Zoey's damp hoodie. I could feel my ears burn as I tried to quell the indignance rising in me.

"What? You wanna fight, bitch? Bring it."

I shoved her away. She tried to sucker punch me, but I stepped back easily enough. Julian, the too-handsome man, held her back from attacking again. Zoey was also hesitant to punch past art she admired.

A petite blond walked past the confrontation and kneeled down next to Zeke. She rolled up her right sleeve and presented her bare arm to Mei.

"Use my blood."

"Alice, don't. He's not worth it."

Lukas looked like he wanted to say more but already knew that convincing Alice otherwise was a futile effort.

"Fine! No skin off my back. But you."

He pointed at me with a thick finger. I was tempted to swat it away.

"You owe us all an explanation. Who the hell you are, why that lunatic was looking for you, and what that... thing, was."

Feeling the glares directed my way, I realized it was a reasonable request. There was a young man still looking around for someone else, even searching the water for any signs. He looked a lot like the one who got caught by the Parasite.

I at least owed him an explanation.

"Yeah. Yeah, I can do that."