“Come on! Steve, please, activate your ability now—! Damn it!”

Synica watched the battle with a weary expression. Charles seemed to have so much potential, especially compared to everyone else. But it was clear that he was still green. Hopefully, some real experience would help him in that regard. They were currently on the road, having stopped to get some grinding and practice in. Charles practiced with the other students, brainstorming something called ‘combos’. Synica had never heard of combos before, but they seemed intelligent.

It was a shame that none of the students were capable of following through on the intelligence.

Footsteps approached Synica’s side and she had to resist the urge to throttle the person approaching her.

“Lady Synica,” Idia said.

“That is Commanding General to you, Vice Commander.”

Idia winced, then leaned away and chuckled.

“Come on,” he said. “Surely we’ve known each other long enough to dispense with some of the formalities, Lady Synica? Perhaps we could even get to know each other a bit better—“

“I told you to call me Commanding General.”

He stopped, then coughed into his hand. “Right.”

Her thoughts turned over to the most promising of them all—at least, when it came to individual ability.

“What did you think of the runaway?” Synica said.

Idia blinked for a moment. “Oh, yeah, him. The pain in the neck, yeah, I remember him.”

“Right, but what did you think of him?”

Idia scratched his neck, then shrugged. “Total idiot, honestly. Rejecting the kingdom’s generosity like that? Not only that, but he doesn’t even have any natural talent. I mean, a needle? Really? I don’t think I’ve heard of such a thing.”

Synica hummed. “I disagree.”

In the background, Charles continued yelling out commands and shouting as the students failed painfully to do what they’d practiced.

“If anything,” Synica said. “He’s probably the cleverest one of the group. He was the only one to see through the glamor and mysticism. The only Otherworlder who could do that was Alanya.”

Idia’s face twisted up and his lips drew into a thin line.

“The traitor? Bad example, Syncia,” he said.

“I have no idea how you became Vice Commander.”

“What!?” Idia turned toward her, a sharp look on his face. “How dare you!?”

Synica waved him off. “Quit your barking. I could kill you now and no one would know.”

The tone of the statement was cold and factual. No different than her normal tone. Nonetheless, Idia stopped and quieted.

“He’s dangerous,” she said. “Someone with abilities like his—both natural and spiritual—is too dangerous to live for long. Especially given his connection to…”

She paused.

“I think you should just kill him and be done with it,” Idia said.

“Of course you would. Now, kindly stop giving your insight on matters that I did not ask you to speak of.”

Idia sucked in a breath.

“Of course, Knight Commander.”

Synica watched Charles.

Who would win between Charles and Ezra?

It was an interesting question.

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

“E-Ezra!? What’s happening!?” Yuki said.

Pete dashed over, bow in hand.

“What’s going on?” he said. “Why’s Ezra on the ground?”

Yuki leaned down and looked into Ezra’s eyes. “I think he’s been poisoned. Let me hit him with an antidote.”

Ezra shook from side to side.

Yuki’s staff glowed. Ezra’s entire body lit up…

And nothing happened.

“It says that it’s too high level for my antidote,” she said. “I need to grind it or get another skill.”

Ezra pushed himself to his feet. The movement was slow, halting. He stood up straight, gripped his chest using his left hand, and raised his right hand in a stop motion.

“No. Your ability points would be better spent elsewhere,” he said.

Yuki opened her mouth. “But—“

“But nothing.” Ezra turned and glared at her. “I don’t need help. I’ll just walk it off.”

“Walk it off?” Pete said.

Yuki’s furrowed her eyebrows. “It’s a poison attack. It’s not something you just walk off.”

“Sure it is,” Ezra said. “Poison has a time limit in most games. This’ll eventually expire and I’ll be back to normal.”

Yuki’s finger reached out toward the air. “No, I’ve got something here, I think—“

Ezra marched up to her, putting his face next to hers.

“No.”

Yuki took a step back and her left eye twitched.

“Ezra, just let me give you an antidote!”

Ezra crossed his arms stubbornly and looked away.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“No.”

Yuki growled. She raised her finger to click a button.

Ezra pointed at her.

“Don’t you dare!”

“You can’t stop me, Ezra!”

Ezra leaped forward to grab her hand, but he was too late. Yuki had already clicked the button and was staring at him with a smug expression.

“Are you serious?” Ezra said. “You could’ve spent those ability points on something actually useful.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Yuki pointed her staff at him. Ezra didn’t bother running. It was too late, after all. A green glow surrounded Ezra, pulsing in time to the green glow on Yuki’s staff. After a few seconds, the light suddenly stopped. Instantly, Ezra noticed a change. He no longer felt as sick as before, his stomach had stopped churning and his breath was no longer shallow. He sucked in a deep breath.

“You can say thank you, you know,” Yuki said.

Ezra slumped and glared at her. “Yeah, sure. No.”

Yuki reached out her hands toward Ezra’s neck, then dropped her hands and let out a screech. She turned around and marched off. Pete shook his head.

“Ezra, you truly are an enigma to me,” Pete said.

“Ok.”

After about twenty minutes of his allies getting their abilities and stats in order, they agreed to march onwards. They already had the location of the monster from the information crystal. It would only be a few days of travel. Well, Ezra thought it was a few days, but that was a lot of ground to cover for a bunch of teenagers who’d never done so much as an extended hike. Unless Pete had? After all, he was some kind of archer savant, so who knew?

Out of the corner of his eye, Ezra could’ve sworn he saw a shadow. When he blinked, it was gone. Nothing but an illusion.

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

They traveled for hours on end. The supplies that they’d obtained from Suppota had come in handy. Ezra had tried to question Yuki on how she was able to access small things when big things were on a timer, but she kept quiet. They’d pressed onwards. More than once, Ezra had thought he’d seen something in the distance, but it turned out to be nothing but their imaginations. On the second night, they settled in a spooky forest. The wind whistled through the trees whilst a thick fog overwhelmed them and made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of them.

Ezra moved with quiet efficiency, gathering dry twigs and leaves from the forest floor. He arranged the kindling in a neat pile before striking a spark. The fire caught, its warm glow flickering against the encroaching darkness. Ezra's face remained impassive as he stoked the flames, adding larger branches until the fire crackled steadily. Without a word, he settled back, the soft light casting long shadows around the campsite.

“So, are we supposed to tell each other ghost stories or something?” Pete said.

“No,” Ezra said.

Yuki poked at the glowing wood with a stick. “I’d rather not, Pete.”

Pete shriveled up and looked down. Ezra was quiet as he stared at the wood.

“Charles has a crush on Yuki,” he said.

Pete snorted. “Wow, news flash.”

“Please don’t remind me,” Yuki said.

Ezra looked at her. Her facial expression hadn’t changed a bit, just like when they’d dealt with the goblins. Her hair dropped against her shoulders, and her face still looked pristine. Surprising, given that they hadn’t had showers in several days now.

Ezra needed to take a shower. He looked at Yuki.

“You know, you act different compared to when we were in school,” he said. “It’s weird, in the past, that would’ve turned you into an embarrassed mess. Now, you just brush it off.”

Yuki brushed a loose strand of her dark hair behind her ear. “Going into life and death encounters regularly would affect anybody, I think.”

Ezra wasn’t so sure.

It felt too natural, sometimes. And the way she acted back when he was going around crushing goblin heads—her nonchalant attitude. It seemed too clear, too focused. No, he didn’t buy her story. Not fully, but there was time to figure that out at a later time.

Pete looked up toward the sky.

“It really is crazy. We’re in another world,” he said. “I never… had time to think about it. Not for an extended time, anyway.”

“Huh?” Yuki said. “What do you mean?”

“Well, as soon as we came in here, it was just one thing to the next. Just… fight after fight after fight. But because of all this walking, it’s finally hit me, you know?” He drummed his fingers against the ground. “We might never go home. Our family and friends—we’ll never see them again.”

Yuki frowned, her eyes staring at the fire.

“Yeah,” she said. “And they’ll never see us. I wonder what they think happened to me? I mean… an entire class just disappearing? I remember I was in a conversation with my—with someone. From her perspective, I just vanished into thin air.”

My what? Ezra narrowed his eyes at her before returning to his standard expression.

Pete laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

“Mass hallucination? A government experiment? Or maybe they think we were abducted by aliens?”

Yuki giggle-snorted, then raised her hand to her face to cover up the expression.

“Yeah, that’s us,” she said. “Abducted by aliens. They’re performing unholy experiments on us!”

“I mean, we might as well have been,” Ezra said. “Besides, even if we make it back to planet Earth, we’ll never be able to tell anyone about this. They’ll just think we’re insane.”

Yuki’s fingers curled around the edge of her sleeve and her knuckles turned pale. Pete’s gaze darted to the ground. The wind picked up and rustled the leaves overhead, and the moon faded behind a veil of cloud,

“That’s not a pleasant thought,” Yuki said. “My parents would probably put me in a psych ward.”

Pete glanced over at her. “Your parents? I don’t think you’ve ever talked about them before.”

Yuki froze for several moments, her eyes wide. She slapped her hands against the ground and let out a sigh, and her gaze drifted to the ground.

“Well, I suppose I can give you a quick rundown,” she said. “My mom and dad are Japanese and I was born in Japan,” she said. “To cut a long story short, Dad left. Mom got remarried to an American and moved to the U.S. That’s why my name is Japanese, but I don’t speak it or even act like it.”

Pete leaned forward.

“I’d wondered about that,” he said. “I had no idea, do you ever feel out of place because of that?”

Yuki was quiet for a moment.

“People always… look at me funny,” she said. “And then when strangers find out, they always make a fuss about how sad that must be.” She clenched her fists around the fabric of her robes. “They need to stay out of my business and shut their mouths.”

Ezra rested his head on his palm and shut his eyes.

“Coming from a friend, words like that are helpful,” he said. “From the mouth of a stranger, it feels like platitudes. That’s just how it is.”

Yuki was quiet, then nodded her head. “Yeah.”

A silence descended over the three. Pete glanced between the two.

“I’m a lot less interesting,” he said. “I just grew up in a normal family.”

“Any siblings?” Yuki said.

Pete nodded.

“Five.”

Yuki paused. “Five?”

Ezra’s eyes widened. Okay, that was unexpected.

“Yeah, that’s the normal reaction,” Pete said. “My parents were very… uh, busy.”

Yuki turned red and held up her hand. “I don’t need the details.”

“Uh, yeah,” Pete said. “That’s a good idea.”

“Five siblings. Must’ve been very chaotic growing up,” Ezra said.

Pete turned his head from side to side.

“Well, kind of? I mean, you get used to the chaos. It become your new normal, you know?”

Yuki nodded, her eyes wide. “Of course, that makes sense.”

Pete glanced at Ezra while Yuki stared at him with unabashed curiosity.

“So?” Yuki said.

Ezra raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Pete looked away, staring at some random tree.

“I mean, we’ve all shared information about our families, so it’s your turn, right?”

Ezra looked at the fire.

“Oh, yeah, my parents are fine,” he said. “There’s nothing particularly interesting about that.”

Yuki looked at him. “Really? Fine? Surely you’ve got something more interesting to say then just that.”

“Come on, Ezra. We all shared details,” Pete said. “You’ve gotta have something.”

Ezra drummed his fingers against the ground. What would be the best explanation? Probably something close to the truth without revealing too much.

Explaining that he hadn’t seen his father in ten years and that he hadn’t had a real conversation with his mom in five wasn’t something he didn’t want to get into.

After a moment, he shrugged.

“I just don’t have a great relationship with them, that’s all.”

“I see, well, that’s not too surprising,” Yuki said.

Ezra raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?”

Yuki froze and Pete cringed and looked away.

Ezra smirked. “Just kidding.”

The other let out a sigh of relief and looked toward Ezra.

“Hey,” Pete said. “If we get out of this place, maybe you’d get the chance to repair your relationship with them, right? And maybe they’d be willing to try now that they realized how badly they messed up.”

“Yeah, well,” Ezra said. “Maybe. For now, how about we turn in? It’s late, and we need our rest. We’re not too far from the boss.”

Yuki nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”

As they turned in, Ezra resisted the urge to run into the woods, leaving his allies behind. Did they have to ask such questions? Could they not have simply kept quiet? Well, whatever. It was an old wound. Scarred over. He would be fine in the morning.

“What about siblings?” Pete said.

Ezra stiffened.

“None at all.”

He laid out his sleeping bag when a spike of fear ran down his back.

He shot up.

A figure was standing a scant few feet from him.

“Charles,” he said.

“Ezra,” the figure stepped into the campfire light. “I would say it’s a pleasure, but that would be a lie.”

Charles - Otherworlder - Lv. 35