Jax understood, but he didn’t really care. Even Jax held onto his weapon, just in case another wolf or changeling situation popped up.

When the man was within reasonable talking distance he stopped. “Name’s Gary. You?” he spoke in a deep, gruff voice. It reminded Jax of the bushcrafter he once knew.

“I’m Jax. I’ve been looking for other people for a while now. I don’t really know how many other people are in this Battleground, but from what I can tell it must be pretty few, eh?” Jax said while relaxing his posture. He kept an eye around, feeling like an ass for making sure nothing funny was going on, but keeping on regardless.

“Jax… Ok, Jax. You seem friendly, which is throwing me off. You aren’t with your group, which makes me think you did something with ‘em, like those sick Reavers. You got an explanation for where they are?” The man questioned, fidgeting with the axe while spinning it. He kept his narrowed eyes on Jax.

Jax grimaced. “They died. Changeling was within our group. Now, where is your group?”

Gary snorted, “Surrounding you. I don’t approach strangers without insurance. Especially now that the System is here.”

Jax kept an eye around, still not seeing them. Maybe they had stealth skills? But only straight up invisibility would help, and Jax didn’t think those would be in the starting skills, or even anything anybody would have by level sixteen.

Gary held up his off-hand, “Easy. I want answers, not blood. Long as you don’t want it, there won’t be any ‘cept from them wolves you took down.”

Jax squinted at the man, still trying to find the supposed hidden people around him. “I don’t want blood either, but you can’t blame me for feeling antsy. Last time I trusted someone blindly, I lost two friends and nearly lost my life.”

Gary played his lips sideways, the beard shifting around it, “Thought you said you hadn’t found anyone else?”

Jax nodded, “I haven’t.”

Gary frowned, “You said you lost two friends. By trusting another person. That's three, excluding you, which means your group was four people. Which isn’t how it’s been for all thirty of our other groups. Of three.”

Jax mirrored the man’s confused expression, “Yes, it was me, two other men, and a woman. Well, she turned out to be some feral changeling. That monster took the heads of the other two while I was off hunting an alpaca. Nearly got me as well.”

Gary let silence reign for a minute, and Jax just focused on his surroundings, trying to focus more on his energy sense. It only took a little bit of squinting, so to speak, to see some spots of hazy snow energy. It was off, and some more focus revealed that there was some energy underneath, most of which was an amalgamation of affinities that looked identical to Jax’s own body.

Jax didn’t plan on doing anything with the knowledge, but just having it was comforting. They weren’t out of his league, power-wise.

Jax shook his head, “Listen, I’m willing to be helpful, but I’ve done you no wrong, and I would like to either see a proper group of people, so that we can all get organized and complete the event, or at least directions to another group if there is one. I’m tired of being questioned.”

Gary squinted, “All you’ve done so far is be flighty in your answers. Seems to me that you’re lying, and the last people that tried to lie to me winded up trying to kill all of us.”

Jax knew where this was going. These people were defensive already, and they seemed to think Jax was lying for some reason. He identified the group, and discovered Gary, a level 7, which explained his still-human race, was the lowest.

Jax tried to be subtle when he identified the rest, finding one special one.

[Unknown Shadow-Sobbin(lvl - 13)]

Jax cleared his throat, “Then I’ll leave. You’re not going to stop me, are you?” He started breathing, ready to bash them and run. Chances were they were slower than him, except for that last guy. With a little convincing from his shield, Jax was sure their legs would give up running for him. Should it come to that.

Gary threw a look behind Jax and nodded. Jax knew the Sobbin to be there, and now he was slowly approaching, along with all the others. “No, but we’ll make sure you leave this area for good. Don’t come back, or we’ll be forced to deal with you the same way we’ve dealt with the others.”

Jax wasn’t really sure on how they had dealt with the killer, but he had a feeling. “And how is that?” Jax got ready to fight.

“We sentenced him to death. He tried to kill us al–” Gary didn’t let himself finish as he began to run for Jax. It was a good plan, as it would make someone naturally try and defend against the seen attacker, leaving them open for the Sobbin, who Jax felt violent energy from.

Rounding, Jax swung his shield where a warp in the air was coming for his throat. With a clang, a dagger appeared from thin air and went sailing, a man appearing a moment later, shock etched on his face.

Jax turned again, tucking behind a shield from Gary’s axe then sending the man reeling with a pommel to the side of his head. Gary was down for the fight.

Jax reeled as an invisible attacker forewent blades and weapons, simply wrapping his hips in a tackle to assist another assassin in killing him. Jax shouted as he churned, twisting himself to strike the mans head with his elbow, then rolling aside as a longsword scattered snow in an attempt to behead him.

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Jax was losing his cool. For multiple reasons. These people were too good and experienced at this to be scared people just trying to stop potential threats. This had been done before, and regularly. Also, Jax was getting worried about how to get away. They were stronger than he had given them credit for.

Jax got back to his feet and regained his personal advantage, having nobody at his back and nobody within his shield’s range. He took a breath, while the Sobbin had retrieved his dagger and was rejoining the fray. Jax decided to take the initiative, charging the lowest-level assassin. On contact, Jax swung his arm outward, sending the man literally flying backwards off the ground, hitting a tree hard enough Jax was worried he’d killed the man.

No time for such questions, Jax spun, blocking a strike from the Sobbin who just kept attacking relentlessly. Jax was barely keeping up, slowly falling back as he tried to keep pace. There was one more attacker, and he was approaching from the back. Jax couldn’t do anything about it, so he tried to shift the paradigm. Shouting, Jax stepped into the Sobbin’s range, passing him the advantage, with his shorter weapon.

The man took it in stride, quickly stabbing Jax in the thigh. It hurt, and Jax flinched, but the Sobbin hadn’t accounted for a trade of blows. One that Jax had made in the favor of the one with more strength. Jax dropped his sword to the snow, abandoning it in favor of a fist he sent into where the Sobbin’s liver should be.

The man doubled over Jax’s fist, but Jax didn’t capitalize, instead turning and trying to block a stab from the last other attacker. He failed. Jax was stabbed in the chest, gasping from the unfamiliar sensation of a blade entering his chest. Jax didn’t consciously do it, but his skill activated.

[Adrenaline Rush]

Jax screamed, wildly backhanding the man with the side of the shield. It worked too well, splitting the man’s head open. Jax faltered, thrown from the berserker rage at the grizzly sight. He was reminded of Bradley and Mark in that moment, and he reached for the falling corpse, an addled attempt to help.

Another foreign object pierced Jax, this time from his back. Jax felt cold, and like someone had de-pressurized him. Reeling, Jax turned and slapped the man, an ugly sound resounding in the trees as the man simply toppled, head bent awkwardly.

Jax heaved, but no amount of breathing was helping him to regain his breath. It just made it worse. Jax screamed at Gary’s prone form, cursing the man for starting this. Jax fell to his knees, unable to stand, and fell unconscious as Adrenaline Rush left his body.

…

“Another evil bastard… Why? I really believed that humans would pull together in this Battleground. I guess the pessimists were right, humans are greedy and evil beings.” A man spoke while sadly looking at his friends. Friends he hadn’t kept up with recently, leading to their deaths.

Angrily, he turned his eyes on the one who seemed to be responsible, lying unconscious in the snow, battered and lots of blood covering his arms. He was tempted to kill the bastard then and there, to be done with it, but the Justiciar was strict about this kind of thing.

“Well, the System makes any ambition possible, no matter how holy or vile it may be. Also, we don’t have all the facts. Maybe he was being attacked by some other group of raiders, and they simply killed everyone else.” An even-mannered young man said while eyeing the first man warily. The young man knew too well what a moment of anger could cause.

The angry man snorted, looking contemptuously at the young man, “That’s bullshit, Dustin. The odds are hundred to one that he just murdered them all for exp and their gear. I mean, who gets strong enough to kill an entire hunting group without hunting fellow humans? He left one man alive, and even he’s down for a while. We won’t get answers from him soon.”

Dustin sighed and set a hand on the other man’s shoulder, which was quickly shrugged off, “C’mon, Mike. Why don’t you simply stop dwelling on it until the man wakes and offers an explanation for what happened.”

Mike just shook his head and walked off. Dustin sighed, looking curiously at the prone man being picked up while bound. He was still unconscious. I wonder if he’s like me… Dustin thought, privately hoping it to be true. Another uniquity in a world of endless possibilities was quite rare.

…

Jax groaned awake, noticing the bindings before he opened his eyes. Jax grimaced. He’d been captured by whoever was with the ambushers. Sitting up, which Jax was grateful for, he looked around. It was jarring. Scarce snow, fewer trees, and Jax also occupied a cage. There were what looked like nearly a hundred tents scattered about, a big one near the center. It faced a big, circular area clear of anything except the humongous bonfire that roared in it, which Jax felt the flames from his unwanted abode.

A guard was looking at him. Well, guard was the only appropriate word simply because he was watching Jax, who seemed to be a prisoner.

“Why am I here?” Jax asked the man, who uncertainly looked about, as if for another person to take the lead. “Hey, hey! Answer me. Why am I in jail?”

The man spit at his feet, “You murdered five people. Scum.” Jax reeled, remembering the uncertainty he’d felt what felt like both a moment and a year ago. Jax hadn’t been sure if anybody had died, except for the one he’d beheaded. But apparently he’d killed five of his six attackers.

“I-... Why?” Jax asked, though not to anyone. He was upset, being forced to kill another man. Well, other men. Jax had only wanted to join them and get throught the Battleground with as few deaths as possible. That had already turned to ash.

The man shook his head, “I don’t understand. What are you questioning? How we got you? How you failed to reap the experience of our hunting party? You should be ashamed. I think you should be put to death, but the chief wants you to speak in your own defense before you are sentenced.”

Jax felt something dark come over him. “Put to death?! You don’t even know what happened! I had just come from the center of the Battleground when I saw the man named Gary. I approached amicably, as I had been trying to find other people since the day I got here. They got suspicious for some reason, and when I tried to leave, that Shadow-Sobbin guy tried to kill me. I was ambushed! Yet I’m at fault?” Jax smashed a fist into the dirt, a crater forming and dirt spraying all around, “Bullshit!” Jax grimaced, just now noticing the stabbing pain from his back.

Reaching around, Jax felt an ugly, wet wound, only partially having begun to heal. He shook his head and bowed his head, regretting his feeling of wanting to find others.

The man stood there, staring at Jax. After a moment, he sighed, “Whatever. This is why we have procedures and such. The chief is on the way over. Save your story for then.”

Jax sneered, though he kept it to himself. He realized he had made a mistake. He had put himself at a disadvantage for no reason other than to socialize. To be fair, it was human nature, but it was also human nature to eradicate those different from the rest. Which Jax apparently was.

Next time– no, this time, Jax wouldn’t let himself be weakened unnecessarily. Jax began to come up with a plan to let it be known that his life was surrounded by thorns, and any trying to take it would need to risk the barbs.