Ven stepped out from the pathway after a much longer walk than he’d expected, and behind him the others followed.

The sight they were met with was less than he’d expected.

They stepped into a large clearing, the topography of the soil disharmonious so that it rose and fell chaotically. The plateau, if it could be called a plateau, was covered in grasses and flowering plants of countless colors and at its centre was a tree so massive it looked like a World Tree spoken off in different myths. It was wider than any building Ven had ever seen built and its full branches blotted out the sun so that the only light with which they saw were from the soft glowing plants around them.

Brightly lit insects buzzed and fluttered about, and Ven felt as if he’d been dropped head first into a fantasy world. The plants bloomed as if cared for and primed at the hands of a gardener, some rising as high as the average man’s waist to bloom.

There were only two things that shook the façade of the clearing’s fantastical nature. One of them lay dead and rotting to the side. Its stench was foul and Ven could see the blackened wisps of death mana oozing out of it, tainting the ambient mana here.

The second rested against the massive tree, each one licking at the bark covered in fur-like grass the glowed a soft emerald green.

One was the size of a giant spider with twelve legs as tall as a house, another looked like a jaguar if it was as tall as a small house but was jumped up on steroids. The third but not the least was a blob that glowed a putrid blue. It was the smallest of them all but it didn’t feel weaker than the others.

A part of Ven wondered if this was one of the new species Ronda had spoken. If it was the Chemo blob.

Despite the arraignment in front of them, nothing was as jarring as the man who stood on the left side of the clearing.

The man waved happily at them with a hat in his hand and a too wide smile on his face.

“Took you long enough to get here!” Big Man Desolate hollered.

Ven realized the errors of letting the odd mage speak the moment the words filled the air. Rather than dwell on the errors, he removed his gun from where it was strapped to his waist and leveled it at the monsters as each one turned their attention away from the tree.

“Combat mode!” he bellowed, firing off all the normal bullets he had.

The sound of gunshots broke the air around them and everyone scattered. His team fell into practiced formation taught at headquarters for moments when faced with multiple large enemies while the others found their own ways to deal with the current situations.

Then the monsters moved, and fear was given physical form.

……………………………………

Zed sneezed.

“You good?” Ash asked, turning a worried expression to him.

“Yea,” Zed muttered. “I think it’s just something in the air.”

“Can’t be,” Ash said. “Mages don’t sneeze or cough.”

“Or poop.”

“Yea.” Ash shook her head. “I guess you’re fine.”

“I heard that sometimes people sneeze when someone’s talking about them,” Shanine said, drawing everyone’s attention.

All eyes focused on her in pregnant silence before Zed broke it with his words.

“Nope, definitely something in the air.”

Shanine sat between Zed and Ash while Chris sat with her club rested on her laps, her fingers stroking its blood stained surface gently. As for Abed, he sat a good distance from them, glaring daggers at Zed.

“I have a question, Bloodbath,” Chris said suddenly.

Zed gave her a friendly smile, completely aware of how uncomfortable Shanine looked beside him. It was a safe bet she was hungry again. Apart from the chocolate bar he’d taken from Kid and another she claimed Ronda had given her at some point, she hadn’t eaten much of anything else.

Unfortunately, there was little he could do about it.

“Zed,” Chris frowned when he said nothing.

“I’m listening,” he assured her. “You said you have a question and I’m all ears.”

“Why did you choose me?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Chris’ fingers stopped her gentle caress over her club. “You had a choice to choose a Rukh mage that you could trust in case this putrid tub of lard couldn’t control himself,” she said, gesturing at Abed. “You and Oliver have been close since you joined us, so why’d you choose me?”

Zed winced at her choice of words for Abed even as the man’s glare moved away from him momentarily.

“Well,” Zed shrugged. “Oliver’s stronger and they need all the strength they can get.”

“Bullshit!” Chris spat. “This is a game you’re playing and I want to know your angle.”

Zed sighed in resignation. His mind went back to when they’d been fighting and he’d gotten buffs from the auras of only Jason and Oliver. Of the four of them, it confirmed only those two thought of him as an ally.

That the girls in the team were the ones who didn’t think of him as an ally was probably saying a lot. And it was a lot he was more than willing to not dwell on right now.

“You want to know the honest truth?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“I think you’re actually a friend, just one of those ones who have nothing to say. You know, like that skinny friend who’s always making fun of the fat friend. You know they’ll die for each other but they’ll never say anything nice to each other. I thought of you like that.”

Heads turned to him and he shrugged.

“Kinda,” he added.

“Really?” Chris asked, surprised. “You thought I actually liked you?”

“Not liked me, just thought of me as a friend in some way.”

Chris frowned, then she scowled.

“That doesn’t make sense,” she said, sounding peeved. “How did you misunderstand me so blatantly. I was never nice to you. I understand that I put up you but there’s no way you didn’t know I simply tolerated you. Hell I voted for you to be left behind at the shed.”

Zed grimaced. “I know. I was there.”

“Then I voted for you to be kicked out of town.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Then before the party I—”

“Chris!” Ash barked a warning. “That’s enough.”

“No, it’s not! He has to know. If he did, then he’d have asked Oliver to stay behind.”

“No,” Zed said, slightly annoyed, a venom in his voice. “I’d still have chosen the weakest option; gives them a better fighting chance.”

Chris smiled slowly then turned to Ash. “I think I hurt his feelings.”

Zed grit his teeth. As much as he hated to admit it, she had. He’d known she hadn’t really liked him but he hadn’t thought it was this bad.

His emotion must’ve shown on his face because Chris paused.

“I don’t mean to be rude, Bloodbath,” she explained. “I just wanted you to understand that we can’t really call each other f—”

The air dropped like a fallen mountain and the world shook. A heavy pressure came down on them and Zed fell to the ground, pinned by a weight he could not comprehend. Pain flared in his chest as the air seized in his lungs and the world crushed him.

When the pressure lifted, and the air was simply a weight on his shoulders, Zed lifted himself heavily from the floor. Beside him, Shanine was passed out. He rushed to her, placing a hand against her neck. He waited for a pulse and exhaled a breath of relief when he found a pulse.

“She’s fine,” he announced, looking around.

Abed was already on his feet, a frown on his face where there had once been a glare. He looked eerily disturbed.

Zed found Ash still struggling to get to her feet. Her legs shook beneath her and he left Shanine to help her. Holding her up, he watched as Chris stood as if under the weight of the world.

“It’s going to be hard to fight under this condition,” she groaned.

“Stop complaining,” Abed said, his face serious as he stared into the distance of trees ahead of them.

Zed stood under the weight of the air. The world pressed down on his shoulders but he carried the weight with all his strength.

“You guys better be ready,’ Abed added, digging his hand into the ground and pulling out a great cleaver. He rested it on his shoulder and faced outwards. “They’re coming.”

Chris held her club, dragging it behind her as if it had suddenly doubled in weight.

Zed watched them both as he helped Ash remain on her feet.

“How the hell are you still standing?” she asked him.

Zed offered her a strained smile. “I’m more than just wit and charming personality, you know?”

“Stop talking and protect Shanine,” Abed scolded.

Zed had specific words for Abed, words that died in his throat when he saw the look on the mage’s face. His words had been serious, a simple command given.

Wary, Zed turned to look at what Abed was looking at and froze.

Off in the distance, amidst the chaos of trees and the daunting weight of the world darkening under the pressure that weighed down on everything, eyes brightened. They were countless in the growing darkness, watching with a feral gleam.

Zed’s world froze in that moment and he turned to Abed.

“Do you have anything I could use for a weapon?” he asked. “An axe would be very nice right about now.”

Abed’s voice was flat, without inflection. “No.”

“Okay.”

Zed continued to stare. Each monster stalked out into the open, drooling and feral. Zed watched each one, spotting the Beta auras and picking them out from the Rukhs.

“Ready?” Abed asked, holding his weapon out in front of him.

“Ready,” Chris answered.

“Ready,” Ash said, drawing mana to herself.

Zed affixed his force rune in his head.

“Can we take a rain check on this?” he asked. “You know, come back and try again another time?”

“No.”

Abed inched a step forward. The monsters reciprocated and he dashed at them as they charged forward, hostile and feral.

Zed’s hand moved in a blur, conjuring a rune as Ash conjures spears of ice around her.

A deep shriek pierced the world around them and everything seized.

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

* [Willow Banshee] has used skill [Predator’s cry].

* You have been affected by skill [Predator’s cry].

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

“Shit.”

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

* [Predator’s cry] has applied effect [Terror], [Darkness] and [Mind Toxin].

* [Terror] has applied status effect [Fear].

* You have resisted status effect [Fear].

* [Fear] does not take effect.

* [Mind Toxin] has applied status effect [Paralysis].

* You have failed to resist status effect [Paralysis].

* [Paralysis] takes effect.

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

Zed’s legs gave out under him and he fell. He tried to move but his body didn’t obey. Beside him Ash was equally gone, lying in the dirt, unresponsive. Chris was barely faring any better.

I guess that’s the paralysis kicking in.

The only one not in the dirt was Abed, and he struggled to stay on his feet.

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

* [Mind Toxin] has applied status effect [Blind].

* [Blind] takes effect.

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

Pain lanced through Zed’s head and the world went dark.