Orion opened his eyes with a start.

He was in an underground room with a simple stairwell leading to an ornate opening above. By looking at the material composing the structure, and the glimpses of the above-ground he could see through the opening, he knew where he was—back in the temple.

He looked down to see himself wearing the starter tunic, moccasins, and breaches again. He felt somehow… lighter. On a hunch, he checked his inventory, and sure enough, the only thing remaining in his personal storage was a wooden staff.

The rest of his equipment and items were gone.

Despite his distinct lack of equipment, it surprised him how at peace he felt, as if woken up from a refreshing afternoon nap. The serenity dissolved, however, when the memories of what had just occurred rushed to the forefront of his consciousness.

Those bastards... and that poor girl.

Arika had tried to intervene on his behalf, a total stranger, and had gotten herself killed. Not a swift death like him, either—a slow, painful one if the words of her captor were the truth.

Orion thought of ways to get back to the clearing and help her, but it seemed hopeless. He was a level one adventurer with nothing to his name save the starter gear he collected on respawn. Somehow, he was even worse off now than when he’d first appeared in this world just hours ago.

A flash of light cut his wallowing short as someone appeared beside him in the temple.

Looking over, he was stunned.

It was Arika.

“Arika?” he asked, sounding obtuse to even his own ears. “What happened? I thought they were going to torture you… how are you here?”

The slight girl sat there for a moment, looking calm and unaffected. Then, her eyes swelled with tears, and she started shaking.

“That bastard... those bastards!” She stood, trembling, and turned away from him.

Not knowing what to do, he stood there for what felt like a long time. Her back was to him, and she shook with what he assumed to be tears—until she took a breath and faced him. There were tears in her eyes, but they weren’t those of self pity; her face was a vision of wrath, her tear ducts one of the few available outlets for her overflowing emotion.

“Are—are you okay?” he asked, hating how stupid he sounded.

“I’ll be fine,” she responded, sniffing and straightening her starter clothes as she tried to calm herself. “I don’t know what happened, but Felsteg was cutting me over-and-over. He told Kauri to heal me before my health reached zero. He intended to train their skills by damaging me and having Kauri heal me on repeat. He must have made a mistake, because before I could be healed, his sword arm jerked into my body. The feeling was… the pain…” She shuddered in remembrance. “I died, which I guess I should be thankful for…”

A fury rose from within Orion, and he promised himself that he wouldn’t let those monsters reach her again. He walked to Arika and put his hand on her shoulder.

She pulled back, as if his touch carried the kiss of an open flame.

“What the fuck are you doing?” she demanded, looking at him with anger and suspicion.

His face flushed as he realized she’d misinterpreted his intentions.

What am I doing? Why do I feel such a great need to protect her?

He analyzed his emotions, finding them… disconcerting. He was furious at their betrayal of him, sure, but the idea of what they did to Arika—someone who was essentially a complete stranger to him—made his blood boil.

He didn’t feel any sort of attachment to her. It was neither the righteous anger of seeing a romantic interest hurt, nor the desire for justice that came from seeing another person wronged. Pure, unadulterated wrath coursed through his veins at what they’d done to her—and it made no sense.

Is this something to do with my stolen memories—the remnant echo of some previous event I have no recollection of?

Realizing that she was still glaring at him with suspicion, he rushed to continue.

“We need to get you out of here. Now. If they intended to draw out the kill and were robbed of the opportunity to do so, those sadistic pricks will be coming back for you. Let’s go before they get here.”

Her body visibly relaxed.

“It’s fine, Orion. Before I started casting my ability, I left the party. That means if they killed me, which, as you can see, they did…” She gestured at her starter clothes. “They won’t be able to come within a kilometer of the town walls for the next twenty-four hours. You should also leave the party, by the way. If you stay in it, they’ll be able to see where you are.”

Focusing on the party frames in his field of view, he left the party with a mild use of will.

“Why did you have to leave the party first?” he asked, unable to make the connection.

“You can’t leave your party if you’re in active combat, and the System won’t punish you for killing a party member. Did you notice the white skull on their foreheads after they attacked? That means they’re locked out for an hour. After you died, their skulls turned red, meaning they can’t come near the defensive array for a full day.”

“Oh,” Orion said, “I did. I thought I saw it turn red as I died…”

Arika nodded.

“I left because I wanted to make sure they couldn’t kill me without consequence. If I was in the party and they killed me but left you alive, I would still lose all my stuff, and they wouldn’t have to stay away from the town at all. They would have been free to come harass me to their heart’s desire.”

“So, if your ability had gone off, wouldn’t you be stuck out of town for one to twenty-four hours with anyone you didn’t kill?” Orion asked, confusion clear on his face.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“If my ability had gone off, they would have all been dead. No one would have survived.” She flashed a grim smile. “Problem solved.”

Orion stared at the slight girl in shock. “Your ability is that powerful?”

“It is. It has some limitations as a result, though.”

“So, the System doesn’t punish party killing…” Orion rubbed his chin in thought. “Is that because the creator wanted to encourage the behavior of psychopaths like your party, or is it because he wanted to encourage alternative combat strategies?”

“Alternative combat strategies?” She cocked her head at him. “Like what?”

“You know, like having a tank draw the aggro of a bunch of mobs, then having someone with an ability like yours blow them all up. The tank would die, sure, but he could just come right back.”

Curiosity turned to confusion on her face.

“Okay, I know that the people with shields and stuff are called tanks, and ‘mobs’ is short for monsters for some reason, but what is ‘aggro’?”

It was Orion’s turn to be confused. He looked at her with an odd expression. “I assumed everyone had played online games. Have you not? The Creator said—”

“That we were all gamers?” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve already had this conversation a bunch. We didn’t play those sorts of games where I’m from.”

“Oh, right. My bad.” He flushed with embarrassment before explaining, “It’s MMO vernacular. ‘Aggro’ is short for aggression. In practical terms, it means that all the monsters would focus the tank, and you could then use your explosion to blow them all up, including the tank in the middle of them.”

Arika raised an eyebrow.

“You know, I hadn’t thought of that. I just assumed that they didn’t want to punish you for killing a team mate by accident. You think it could be intentional?”

“I mean, it’s possible that it was unintentional, but despite how goofy the guy with the microphone sounded, I can’t even imagine the amount of power required to create an entire world and subject it to your rules. I doubt someone could gain that power without being intelligent enough to consider the consequences of each design element.”

Arika stared back at him for a moment, cogs almost visibly turning inside her head. She nodded as she reached a decision.

“Do you want to team up, Orion? I might have asked anyway, because of, well, the circumstances…” She gestured at her starter clothes again. “But it’s also clear that you have a good head on your shoulders. Who knows, with any luck, we might fill up a party.”

He smiled at her, feeling genuine warmth despite the chaotic events of the day.

“I would love to. There’s only one thing, though…”

“What?”

“How the hell do I start a party?”

Laughing, she explained it was the same as everything else in this world; you did it with a force of will. He asked if she wanted to start it, which she vehemently denied.

“I don’t know the first thing about all this online game stuff,” she said. “I’ll leave it to you.”

With a small force of will, something he was getting used to despite the absurdity, he formed a party and invited her.

She accepted.

“Well,” she said, “now that we have a party, should we try to find some more members?”

“Are there even other adventurers still looking for parties?”

“There is. I arrived two days after everyone else—even then, there were plenty of people milling about. I’m sure there’s still some now.”

Orion turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. “You arrived late, too?”

“I did, though not as late as you.” She gave him a small smile that took the sting from her words. “I don’t know how you stayed among those orbs for so long. Two days and I was ready to pull my hair out.”

“Honestly… I don’t know how I did it either.” He looked around the temple as they emerged into the light above. “I felt the orb I chose calling to me, and all the others just felt… wrong.”

“It was the same for me. I’m just glad the one that gave me my powers wasn’t five days away.”

“You know, Orion,” a kind voice said. “I meant it when I said I hoped I wouldn’t see you too soon.”

Miriam stood in the temple in front of them, having stepped out from behind a pillar.

“What happened, dear? Why are you back here already?”

He gave her a strained smile.

“Adventurers happened.”

He explained the events of the hour since his last departure from the temple, sparing no detail—including Arika’s admission of previous kills and her refusal to kill him.

Miriam’s eye twitched as he reached the part of the story involving Arika, and she turned to her.

“Is that true?”

Arika’s lip quivered. She nodded.

Miriam reached her faster than someone her age had any right to travel, wrapping her in a tight hug.

“I’m sorry, dear. That must have been hard.”

Arika hugged her back. “I… I killed a lot of people.”

Miriam pulled back, looking into Arika’s eyes.

“What did he say to make you attack them?”

“He said they were all people who had wronged or killed others. He—he seemed so trustworthy and sincere. They helped me level and gear up, so I thought I could trust them. I suspected nothing until he wanted me to kill Orion. I knew he couldn’t have done anything wrong, because he’d just arrived in the square from the temple. All those people…” Her face scrunched in revulsion. “He’d paralyze them while I cast my ability. I killed them all…”

“It’s not your fault, dear. They tricked you into doing so.”

Orion’s rage festered as Arika spoke, and he desired nothing more than getting revenge on Felsteg, Brick, and Kauri—for them, and for the other adventurers they’d made Arika kill.

They convinced her she was helping get revenge on monsters and villains, but it was Arika being molded into one by their machinations—used as a weapon against her knowledge.

He etched their names into his psyche, a lodestone for his seething emotions.

“Orion…”

He looked up to see Arika staring, and he realized his face had been twisted in a snarl.

Before he could fully smooth his face, Miriam was on him. She wrapped him in a tight hug, her small frame stronger than it appeared.

“I’m sorry, Orion. It must have been hard for you, too. This world will be challenging enough without betrayal added into the pot.”

He hugged her back, and the tempestuous waters within him calmed, if only a little.

Miriam pulled away from their embrace, giving him a firm look.

“Alright. So you’ve both had a setback. What’s the plan now?”

Orion and Arika looked at each other, then back at Miriam. Orion answered.

“We’ve started a party. We were on the way to find some more members when you saw us.”

“Good.” Miriam patted him on the shoulder. “That’s good. I’ve wasted enough of your time. I think it best if you keep moving forward.”

She looked at both of them with weighing eyes.

“With Arika’s firepower, and your utility, you’ve got an excellent base to build upon. If you lean on each other, and find reliable teammates, you can both make it far in this world.”

Thanking Miriam, they said their goodbyes and headed south.

“One more thing!” Miriam yelled at their departing backs. “I better not see you two back here any time soon!”

They walked in silence for some time, both lost in their thoughts.

“Are—are you okay?” Arika asked meekly.

“Honestly…” He shook his head. “No, I’m not. My entire being is railing at what they did. It’s almost like…”

“Like it’s something to do with your past?” She finished.

He stopped walking and turned to her.

“How did you know?”

“Because I feel the same. Something within me is screaming at what they did. I can’t begin to describe how I feel. After you died, when I was trapped there, unable to defend myself or run away, I honestly thought I might explode—ironic, given my ability.”

They started walking again.

“Felsteg said you tried to cast an explosion on him, didn’t he? Is that one of your abilities?”

“I have a single ability—Explosion. I told you it has some limitations, right? I have to stand still while I cast it for thirty seconds, and it has a cooldown of an hour.”

“That seems… excessive. How much damage does it do?”

“Right now, it does thirty damage.”

Orion stopped on the spot again, slowly turning to her.

“Thirty?”

She smiled.

“Yep.”

“I have eight health… wait, didn’t Brick only have twenty-four health? Wasn’t he a tank?”

Her smiled broadened, and she started walking south again.

“Like I said, if I got my ability off before they killed me—problem solved.”

He stepped in beside her.

“So,” she said. “What are your abilities?”

“I only have one—Portal. I can teleport myself and anyone touching me up to ten meters away, on a thirty-second cooldown.”

“Damn. Miriam wasn’t kidding about your utility.”

He grinned.

“Nope.”

“Are you a Mage?”

“Spatial Mage, yeah. You?”

“Same. I’m a Fire Mage, as you probably could have guessed.”

“Two Mages, huh?”

He looked out at the square they’d just arrived at, taking in the sights of the southern gate and the adventurers milling around it.

“Now we just need a front-line, a healer, and—”

Orion stopped mid-step. The words died in his throat as he locked eyes with an infuriatingly familiar face.