Chris

I almost couldn't recognize them. They had both changed so much from the picture I held in my head from how they were before. From the time before people were forced to fight to survive.

Both had seen better days but they were clean enough to indicate they weren't too bad off. The grime covering me was far worse than what was on them.

I had two days of grueling fights over pylons caked on that I had yet to clean up from. The ending of the tutorial had been a time crunch and I had little chance to do anything other than fight. Even sleep was put off for when we weren't put on a timer.

That was the first thing I noted was different. The countdown was how we told time and with it gone, I had no idea how long it took to get here. It felt like a few hours but I was unable to put an exact minute to it like before.

They were both wearing leathers for armor and even though I knew they would be, it still threw me off a bit. Some part of me still expected to see them wearing normal clothes even though that was unrealistic.

After giving my Mother a giant bear hug, I moved on to my Brother. I still didn't know how to react to what I was seeing but a hug was in order no matter what his story was.

Gabriel and I started out with the same hair color as children but his darkened as he grew up into a light brown instead of the sandy blonde mine stopped at. I was a touch taller than him but he always claimed he was still growing, even though he was over 21. He had always been a skinnier kid growing up and he had kept that after the System arrived, instead of the bulk I usually carried. Except now that bulk was mainly muscle instead of what it was before.

Repeating the gesture with him, albeit slightly awkwardly with the chair, our initial greeting was over.

"Tell me everything. What happened to you guys, how was your tutorial? What classes do you have? What profession do you have?" I couldn't contain my excitement. We hadn't been away that long but it felt like years had passed since I had seen them last.

I was so giddy I almost forgot to use [Identify(C)]. So many people had a way to block my generic skill I forgot to use it most of the time.

[Human – Level 38]

[Human – Level 43]

My brother was a slightly higher level but both of them had done well. Not as high as us, but that was to be expected.

"Wow, slow down Christopher. Where is your Father, I expected it would be him coming to get us?" My Mother said, deflating my good mood.

A pang of guilt sounded inside my heart as I had to deflect away from that question.

With my head cleared from my initial excitement, I couldn't help but feel a pull urging me to speed up getting back. I didn't doubt my ability to protect them but I couldn't help but feel a little paranoid. That I needed to get them within the safety of the rest of our family.

My worry was mostly unfounded but now that I had found them, I didn't want to lose them.

"Never mind, we can catch up when we get back. Abigail and the rest are waiting for you guys and are anticipating our return. She still doesn't know if you are alive." I wasn't sure if she noticed my deflection but she didn't say anything otherwise. "You have just as much to tell as we do it would seem and that can wait until we are all back together again."

The state of my brother wasn't something I was going to let go. If, for some reason, it was a person who was responsible... Well, they weren't going to have a very nice day.

"The only thing I need to know now, is if a person did that to you?" My pointed stare made it easy to know what I was talking about.

Gabriel shifted in his seat at my stare but didn't shrink away, "No. It was a monster."

An unknown sigh of relief fled my mouth at that answer. I had just gotten done with all the nastiness of the tutorial, I did not want to do what I would have had to do.

"Good, all we need to do is pack up what you guys have." I said in a lighter tone, "Speaking of, where is your stuff?"

The room we were in was mostly empty, save for the rotten furniture that was still around. What remained of a bed frame and chairs were the only recognizable decorations and even in the terrible lighting.

"We hid them," My mother said while walking to the corner of the room and beginning to dig up the dirt. The wooden floor had long rotted making the ground mostly dirt instead.

I wasn't sure why they did something like that but my mind wasn't too caught up on that fact.

Even with the unpleasantness of Gabriel's situation, I was riding the euphoria that both of them were still alive. The entire way over was filled with dark thoughts and anxiety.

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Of the possibility that they wouldn't be here.

I was more than glad to wave those thoughts away now that I had found them. That I knew that they were alright.

My mother worked to unearth their prizes and the possessions they had kept from the tutorial and I couldn't help but stand and observe both of them. A small part of me couldn't believe what it was seeing.

Some clashes and booms originated from elsewhere down the street but my mind had other things to focus on. I was overcome with joy at the fact my family was still alive.

Wait, clashes?

The part of me that had been fighting for so long recognized the sounds of combat and shook me from my reverie.

Now that my wonder had been broken, it was easy to hear the sounds of battle not that far away. My parents lived close to the city and that was where it sounded like the battle was taking place.

Calling what it was a 'city' was a stretch, only by the bare definition of the word was it true. We lived in one of the many suburbs of Cincinnati and we were around an hour away from what I would call a true city.

Still, the population was above 20,000 so it wasn't that small of an area but it always felt that way when comparing it to the Queen City.

"What is that noise? Are there monsters in the city? I didn't see that many on my way over, though," I said working through what it could be.

Gabriel answered me while my mom continued packing up, "No, that's Jack and Allen. They've been fighting for almost an hour." He said nonchalantly.

The way he said it meant this wasn't a new occurrence but that only set off more questions in my head.

Who were they? Why were they fighting? Why were they so nonchalant about it?

My face must have given away my thoughts because Gabriel went on to explain, "They were faction leaders in our tutorial, both with their own forces they had built up. They started butting heads over resources and dungeon rooms and it all spiraled from there. An initial skirmish led to something bigger which led to something bigger, and soon enough, they were at each other's throats every time they met."

There were a few things I didn't understand from his explanation but I attributed that to our differing tutorials. The base of the matter was easy enough to parse.

Two factions didn't like each other and were currently fighting. It was something even a child could understand.

"Alright, we should get a move on before the fighting spreads. I've had enough fighting for a while and do not wish to get in the middle of it." I said to two nods of agreement.

I began helping them pack everything up and it didn't take much longer after that. They didn't have that many things, it just took longer to get them from where they had been hidden.

"Is this everything?" I asked wrapping up the bundle of materials.

"Yes, we weren't able to get that much from the store at the end," Mom said with regret.

That didn't matter to me, though. I wasn't going to judge them for their performance. All that mattered was they were alive.

"Alright, let's head out. We've got a few hours worth of traveling to get through." I announced.

I began heading for the hole I had used to enter the house before I stopped and turned around. The wheelchair was something I had overlooked. On the way here the terrain was rough, trees and roots had ruined the street. It would be... unkind to that kind of travel.

"How are we... is it okay to... humph" It was hard to beat around the bush without being insensitive.

"I'm not stupid, you can just say it." Gabriel said before answering my unasked question, "Mom usually carries me when the chair won't work."

Glad that I wouldn't have to ask, I made to pick him up with one arm under his arms and the other supporting his hips. Carrying him while traveling would be awkward but it was doable. I had the strength to carry more than ten of him, a little extra weight wouldn't hurt.

"Not like that! I still have arms I can use!" Before I could pick him up, he brushed off my attempt, slapping my hands away.

I was confused for a second before my mom helpfully explained, "He can hang on your back which keeps your hands free."

With that explained, it only took me bending down for him to settle on my back. It was similar to a piggyback carry with the way he was hanging on.

It made no difference to me the way he wished to do it but this would put the strain on him to hold on rather than me holding him, "Are you sure? The other way was fine."

"Yes, I'm quite sure." His response was slightly snappy but I didn't push further.

As he shifted to get a better hold, I remembered my hammer that was strapped to my back. I had forgotten it was there since the weight was familiar to me by now and I had grown used to it being there.

I remembered what had happened when Austin touched it and jerked to get Gabriel off of me.

He fell back into the chair that was still behind me and let out a startle at my sudden movement, "What was that for?!"

Removing the hammer from my back and placed it down next to me, "Sorry, I forgot that was there. Did it touch you anywhere? If it touches skin it causes frostbite. Are you hurt?" I said quickly while checking him over.

I looked him over for any indication of injury or skin that had come in contact with the hammerhead. The hammer was upside down while strapped to my back which made any point of contact on his lower half where I focused my search. I had a few health potions on me that I could use but I wanted to save them in case of an emergency.

I didn't see anything as I examined him but I noticed he wasn't paying attention anymore. With the entirety of my weapon revealed, his eyes were glued to it in wonder.

I could almost see the gears turning in his head at how it worked. He was captivated by it.

Hearing that he could have been hurt from my hammer, I expected my mother to show some kind of emotion but she just stood there looking at us both.

"He'll be like that for a while unless you snap him out of it. He gets drawn to anything with magical abilities and tries to decipher how they work. You should have seen the first time he saw an enchanted blade. It was like Christmas morning." She said with a small smile.

"I should have been more careful, the Ice it's made of could have hurt him," I muttered. I said it mostly in admonishment of myself rather than her.

I wasn't used to worrying about others. Most of the time I fought alone or traveled alone. There weren't times when I had to watch my actions around other people like I did now.

"Gabriel, honey." My mom said with a bit of force which attracted his attention away from my weapon.

With that mishap behind us, we were able to finish our travel preparations.

I led the way out of the house with Gabriel on my back and my mother following behind. She was in charge of carrying the bundle of stuff they had packed up while I had Gabriel and his chair.

While fussing over the travel arrangements I hadn't noticed the sounds of battle fade and the silence that had replaced it. Nor had I felt anyone approaching nearby.

Which made what I walked out to all the more surprising.

A group of around 7 people were arrayed outside the house and all of them were facing us as we exited. All of them sported armor and weapons that looked used and had a familiarity about them that spoke of experience as a group.

When we spotted each other, they got defensive at first but began to close in after getting a better look at us.

"They are part of Jack's guild, the Adventurers," Gabriel whispered in my ear. "You can tell by the sword and shield patch on their armor."

He didn't get to say much more than that before who I presumed was the leader spoke, "Halt, we require you to show us your possessions so that we can inspect them for anything dangerous."

The group of seven spread out around us and it seemed unlikely they would take no for an answer.

"Well, shit."