“Alone at last,” Sophia said as Nick put the tools into his bag. She raised an eyebrow as the items disappeared into his pack, despite being longer than the backpack itself.
“Dimensional storage,” he explained. “Awesome, but not as good as it sounds.” He moved to stand in front of Sophia, taking a good look at her for the first time. He had been too overwhelmed by the arena battle to pay attention to her features the first time they had met.
He ran his gaze across her as she considered him in turn. He decided that Sophia was somewhere in her late twenties, a few years younger than Nick himself.
Her eyes were the steely blue of the ocean at dusk, her expression curious and confident as she met his gaze without a hint of self-consciousness. She had a short, sharp nose and high cheekbones. Deep brown skin, accenting a frame both lithe and muscular. Her head was covered in dark, natural hair that was tightly braided at the ends but frizzy near the hairline, the new growth since the System had swept them all up.
The biggest change since Nick had seen her last was her gear.
Sophia's sky-blue robe was so fresh and clean that Nick was certain it had a self-maintenance modification or something similar. She had a pair of daggers sheathed at her hips. One was the same weapon that he had received from the owners of the arena, but the other was something else entirely. Instead of a blade, the end looked like a long black barb.
It’s the stinger she removed from the frost venom soldier, he realized. She must have found a way to turn it into a proper item.
Returning his scrutiny in kind, Sophia ran her eyes across Nick’s features boldly, nodding to herself at whatever she saw in his expression. She was about to say something when a look of surprise dawned on her face. “Wait. What the hell happened to your eyes?”
“New trait.” To her credit, Sophia didn’t ask for more information. But she did lean in to take a long, lingering look, close enough that he could feel the warmth of her breath on his cheek. He turned away, embarrassed by the scrutiny, but also curious to find out what she thought about his new appearance.
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“They’re pretty and kind of mysterious. Not a bad vibe to cultivate. Magic eyes, who knew?” She left it at that and gave him some space to recover. Mysterious, eh? I can live with that.
Eventually, Sophia seemed to come to a decision. She looked him straight in the eyes and said, “C’mon, let’s put some miles between us and the sorriest muggers I’ve ever seen, just in case they’re stupid enough to try something else.”
Her lips quirked to form a crooked smile. “Although something tells me they won’t. That dude nearly wet himself when you told him to wait. In the end, I think he was even more afraid of you than he was of Buzz. Your sword is badass by the way. With all those pieces missing it looks metal as fuck.”
Returning her lopsided grin, Nick walked beside Sophia in a companionable silence, still in the middle of processing what he had experienced. Part of him was furious that human predators were out here, preying on their own kind. Hurting their chances of saving their species and reclaiming the Earth.
Taltos must be laughing it up right now, getting his kicks out of watching our folly. A more cynical corner of Nick’s mind told him that he was foolish to have expected anything else. That he should have been on guard against this possibility from the start. In the end, not even the apocalypse, the System, and being portaled off to a distant corner of the universe could change human nature. At least not yet.
However, the overwhelming majority of his mind was simply grateful for Sophia’s intervention. She had arrived just in time to stop Nick from bloodying his blade. He was immensely relieved to have been extracted from the situation without having to hurt anyone. A few more seconds, and he would have done something that changed him forever.
Nick hadn’t needed his wand or spells to kill both of his assailants at any time, and possibly the archer as well. It had been clear from the start that Greg and Shaun were too weak to pose a real threat. At least while he was awake and on guard.
He felt indebted to Sophia for coming to his rescue and was thrilled to his teeth to no longer be alone. Nick had been fighting to survive, without anyone to talk to or share this incredible burden, ever since the tutorial had begun, except for those brief hours in the arena.
But now, everything had changed. Today, Nick had gained a companion. Someone he could trust to watch his back for as long as Sophia was willing to have him.