Nathan watched the orc—Bjorn—carefully. Just because Nathan had protected Bjorn didn’t mean he would let down his guard.

“Can you explain what all that was about?” Nathan said.

“You’re from another world. You don’t know about our conflict,” Bjorn said.

“Yeah, so I’d appreciate it if you could fill me in on that.”

Bjorn sighed.

“On our home planet,” he said. “Elves and orcs have been at war since Creation. Our ways are very different, yet we live very close together. Conflict was inevitable. Over millennia, the battle has shifted back and forth, with one side having the advantage before it moves to the other. But…”

“But what?”

“Our leader. Fenrir. He took control. He is a military genius greater than we’ve ever had, and the elves were weak. They’d grown decadent. We systematically captured and executed every member of the royal family till there was only one left. A young girl who’d never been groomed for the throne. We were on the cusp of victory when this apocalypse occurred.”

Nathan frowned.

“You don’t sound very apologetic about their deaths,” he said.

“There were good men and women among them. I wish that they’d been born in a different world. And I feel sorrow for the situation of the girl. She should’ve never had such a responsibility placed upon her.”

“But you don’t feel sorry,” Nathan said.

“No,” he said. “They would’ve done the same to us. We cannot coexist, it is simply impossible.”

Nathan sighed. “Damn it, man, you’ve put me in an awkward position.”

Nathan found Bjorn to be a distasteful individual. His government had been involved in the mass execution of prisoners, but all he had to say was that it was inevitable.

“What are your goals now?” Nathan said.

“I was transported with my squad,” Bjorn said. “But when we exited to the next circle, we were separated. I need to find them.”

“Why?”

“They are my friends and companions. I have sworn my life to them, and they have sworn theirs to me. We are brothers in all but blood.”

Nathan was trying to do the same thing, wasn’t he? Find his family?

“What are your own goals?” Bjorn said.

“Escape this hellhole and find my sister.”

Bjorn crossed his arms and nodded. “A fair goal.”

Nathan scratched the back of his head, his mind spinning with conflicting thoughts. Working with someone who openly said that prisoner executions were a good thing felt wrong, but if Bjorn was telling the truth about his loyalty to his squad, maybe there was a sliver of goodness—or honor—left in him.

“What do you know about this place?” Nathan said.

“Not much more than you—though I ran across another group of humans.”

Nathan stiffened.

Other people?

“What were they like?” Nathan said.

“They seemed ordinary. Well-organized, more so than I would’ve expected. They seemed to imply that they had dozens of other people in their camp.”

They might have the mana stones.

“Can you lead us to these people?” Nathan said.

“I was heading that way myself.”

Nathan bit his lip.

I’m about to catch a lot of flack for this.

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“I propose a deal.”

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

“You want us to help him find his squad?!” Emi said.

They’d gathered around the campsite, the sun streaming from overhead. Mara had been doing some target practice while Chad worked on some class quests involving his katana. Nathan caught them up on what had happened and they were now trying to decide what to do.

“We need the mana stones for your ability,” Nathan said. “And he can lead us to them. I don’t want us to just wander around in circles.”

“Y-you can’t seriously be considering this!” Emi’s hands wrapped tightly around her staff. “He’ll turn around and betray us, mark my words. We can’t trust him.”

“Hold on, gotta record this drama—“ Chad pulled out his phone. “—yeah, I dunno about this one, chief. Emi is already kind of a flight risk, and we got her literally yesterday. I’m not sure we should be adding the big scary green orc.”

Mara shrugged, the motion tossing her red ponytail on her back. “Seems like as good an idea as anything else to me. Plus, we’ll get a plan now rather than just wandering around.”

“We can figure something else out,” Chad said. “This can’t be the best option—“

Emi grabbed her hair.

“He’ll stab us!” Emi said. “He’ll kill me, just like he killed my family!”

Her words caused the conversation to stop. Chad paused the recording with a frown and put his phone away. Mara glanced at her before making a small shrug with her shoulders. Nathan’s lips pursed, an uncomfortable feeling rolling down the back of his spine—why was he doing this, damn it? Was this really a good call?

I really hope I’m doing the right thing.

“Emi,” he said. “I understand that what’s been done to your family is unforgivable—but he didn’t have any direct involvement in that. And besides that, we need him. We need his information, his abilities are bound to be useful in the challenges we’ll face.”

Emi bowed her head, her hair hiding her eyes. “I just… I can’t trust him.”

“Who said you have to trust him?” Mara kicked her legs back and forth. “Use him and kill him once we’ve extracted everything we need.”

Nathan’s eyes widened. “Mara, are you insane!? We’re not going to turn back around and assassinate the guy after we made a deal with him!”

Emi paused.

Her fingers twitched.

“You know what?” she said. “I’ve changed my mind, let’s have him join us. It’ll be great.”

Nathan’s jaw flapped open and shut a few times.

“This is an awful idea,” he said. “I take it all back.”

“Nope!” Emi said. “I love orcs! Orcs are great, I have no issues with them at all! Let’s have Bjorn join us!”

Nathan got the feeling that he’d just made a terrible mistake.

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

“Brute.”

“Leave me be.”

“Oversized pig.”

“Go away.”

“Murderous bastard.”

“…treehugger.”

Nathan plugged his ears. Bjorn had been introduced to everyone—there’d been a bit of awkwardness, of course. After that, he’d explained the precise directions needed to reach the camp, it would be at least a day’s travel, maybe more. There was no time to waste, and they set off at a light jog.

“They’ve been at it for hours,” Chad said. “Literal hours. Nathan, why did we do this?”

Mara’s left eye twitched. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I was wrong. We should kill them both, now. I have explosives, we can make it look like an accident.”

Nathan took a deep breath.

We had good reasons for making this choice. We need allies, we need information—

“Did your mother drop you at birth, or is your head naturally that shape?” Emi said.

Nathan was filled with violent murder for a split second.

The insults continued till they came to a stop to prepare camp. Nathan walked away after dumping a pound of fish from his inventory onto the ground, citing his need to practice his abilities.

He eventually found himself at a gentle stream, the water flowing around his calves and creating a gentle trickling sound. In the background, a bird chirped while a branch swayed in the wind. He shut his eyes.

Breath.

The world faded away. Unlike before, it took mere seconds to clear his mind. Nothing remained save for the feeling of cool wrapping around his skin, his body relaxed and his muscles unstiffened.

Last time, he’d made the water move unconsciously. Could he do it on purpose?

He reached out mentally and tugged at the water. Nothing. He could already tell it didn’t work. He didn’t have that same strain on his chest that had happened last time, the same pressure, drive, something that had made the water explode around him.

Nathan took another breath. He felt the push and pull of the water flowing around his legs and let his focus sink deeper into the current.

The water flickered—somehow, he could sense it.

Excitement flooded his veins right before the sensation slipped away again.

Nathan’s jaw clenched. Seriously?

Come on. I can do this.

Water was a live-giving substance. But it was also destructive. Perhaps even deadly. Floods. Typhoons. When focused, it became cutting. It was capable of slicing through skin and bone, wiping out civilizations, destroying worlds if needed.

It was dangerous.

Like him.

Something clicked. He opened his eyes and the water exploded out around him. He felt it spray what was left of his suit and pants, shooting out, catching the riverbank’s edge with devastating force, ripping chunks of dirt and roots into the water.

[Skill Unlocked: Riptide Grasp (Bronze)]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[Achievement unlocked: F-rank Cultivator]

[Achievement unlocked: Gifted]

[Stat Unlocked: Soul]

“Holy shit, what the hell!?” someone yelled.

Nathan’s eyes turned toward the right where a group of figures—unfamiliar—jumped out of the path of destruction.

Oh shit, did I hurt any of them!?

Nathan ran over. “Hey, are you guys okay?!”

It was a group of two. They were dressed in old t-shirts and shorts, pants and jackets. Normal clothes for normal people from planet Earth—fellow survivors!

“Holy crap, man,” one with a scar over his eye said. “What the heck was that?”

“Sorry, I was practicing a technique.” Nathan blinked. “It’s great to see another bunch of survivors.”

The man with one eye nodded.

“Definitely. This was supposed to be a routine patrol, I wasn’t expecting to find anyone out here.”

“There’s a patrol? Wait, who are you guys?”

The man crossed his arms.

“We’re with the Harrowed Hand. And who are you?”