“Terry!”
Tania’s voice sounded from the nearby tent and he burst free to find her standing there, her eyes wide. Ellie followed a moment later, her eyes bleary as if she had just been asleep.
“How many!” Tania asked, standing on her tippy toes in a vain effort to see past the tents. All around them, people rushed in a frenzy, racing or flying toward the new rifts. “How many E-grade rifts?”
Terry’s senses finally settled and he could feel the subtle differences between the new rips in space. The power of the rifts felt proportional to its rank, now that he had a reference to go off of. He turned to Tania, his stomach dropping as he realized the scope of the rift break.
“Almost a hundred…”
Tania’s mouth gaped, then she burst back into the tent.
“Tania, what are you doing?” he called, following her a moment later. He faltered at the threshold, her exposed skin shocking him.
“Changing outta my damn P.J.s,” she called, discarding the sweats for a pair of khakis.
His mouth floundered for a moment before he found the word. “Why?”
She cast him an angry look. “Whatchu mean, why? There’s maybe three, four hundred E-rankers in camp, Terry! Even if they all go in at the same time, there’s a deficit.”
He stepped forward, stopping her with a hand on her good arm. “You only have one arm, Tania!”
She ripped it free, wincing in pain at the effort. “Don’t care.”
“Tania…” He trailed off as she continued dressing, ignoring him.
When she was fully clothed, she spun on him, her face dark. “What, Terry? It’s not like you’re not risking your life, too.” That stopped him cold, his objections dying on his lips. Her face softened a moment later, the indignant anger drained away. She stepped in, her body pressed against his. “We’re not just supers, Terry…we’re soldiers.” Her finger pointed off in the direction of the rifts. “Those fuckers are trying to invade our world. I’ll be damned if I stand by and let them.”
His heart pounded in his throat, from her closeness or his worry, he wasn’t sure. But he knew telling Tania what she could and couldn’t do was a fool’s errand. Instead, he reached his arms around her, avoiding her torn shoulder. “Don’t take any stupid risks,” he breathed. “If it all goes sideways, you run. Let the A- and S-rankers handle it back on our end.”
Her eyes turned up to him, her defiance melting away beneath his gaze. “Okay, Terry,” she whispered. “And the same goes for you. If you die, I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”
He snorted, the silly threat reminding him of Juan’s grandmother. A part of him felt guilty for abandoning the boy to his fate, so he sent a message even as he nodded at Tania.
[Terry]: Hey, bro, you good? Did your abuela leave you in one piece?
[Juan Carlos]: No thanks to you, bro! I’m actually all healed up, heading for the new rifts.
That stopped Terry cold. Tania saw his sudden shift, her eyebrows rising in question.
“It’s Juan,” Terry said. “He’s already back on his feet…heading for the rifts.”
Tania bit her lip, but a moment later, nodded. “He gets it, Terry. There’s no time for us to get back to a hundred percent. We just have to fight with the injuries we have…”
As much as it pained him to admit it, she was right.
“Okay, I hear you. Let’s go see how bad it is.”
When they exited the tent, Ellie was moving away, but it was obvious she had been eavesdropping. As they approached, she realized the gig was up and shrugged in apology.
“Tania, I heard you were entering the rifts.”
Tania blinked. “Yeah…?”
“Would you mind if I healed you?” She cast that question to both of them with a glance.
Terry’s gut suddenly flipped, but he felt Tania’s excitement at his side.
“Could you?” She cast a look toward Terry, noting his frown. Leaning in, she dropped her voice. “If she can get me fight-ready, Terry…it’s worth it.”
He turned to Ellie, his eyes lighting with yellow fire. “Do you understand what will happen if you hurt her?” he asked softly.
For once, Ellie didn’t deflect with a smirk or a flippant comment. “Yes.”
He regarded her for a handful of moments, his thoughts rebelling. On one hand, he knew he couldn’t stop Tania—or Ellie. But on the other hand, the thought of Ellie hurting or sabotaging Tania in some way—just the thought—made his skin burn. The things he would do to her if that happened…
With an obvious reluctance, he nodded. Ellie immediately strode toward Tania, placing her hand on the injured shoulder. As she closed her eyes, her aura stirred.
When Terry pulled up the skill list, hers were still listed as Unknown. If the rifts weren’t pressing, he would have grilled the girl right then and there. But he could feel the pull of dozens of C-grade rifts and time was not on their side.
Ellie stepped away a minute later and Terry cast Tania a questioning look. The girl shifted her shoulder slightly, then went wide-eyed, rotating her arm in a small circle. She looked toward Ellie in shock.
“How? The healer said it would take weeks to get to this point.”
Ellie let a small smile touch her lips. “Like I told Terry, I’m better than them.” She turned toward him, her smile dropping. “Which is why I should be coming—”
He cut her off with a raised hand. “You know my mom banned you from the rifts.”
She was nodding quickly, her jaw clenching and unclenching. “I know. I know…” Her eyes dropped in thought, then rose back to his. “But I can still stand at the ready if anyone comes out injured—like your friend did.”
“I don’t know,” he said hesitantly.
“Knowing the White Rose, she will be monitoring me—even now,” Ellie replied.
“Terry,” Tania said insistently. “We need to go. Who knows how long we have until the rifts start spitting out the other worlds’ soldiers?”
That was a question he hadn’t had answered yet. If no one entered the rift, did the System unlock the other side early? Deciding he didn’t want the answer, he rushed back into his tent where Marlon was shifting impatiently.
“About damned time! Move your asses!”
The four of them raced through Marlon’s portal, coming out on a field of rifts stretching as far as the eye could see. Voices rang out, corralling hundreds of milling supers into rank and type.
It was obvious to his spatial senses which were C-grade rifts and a moment later, he saw Brisa and a few familiar supers congregating in that direction.
Turning back to Tania, he took in a deep breath. “I’ll see you on the other side.”
She stood on her tippy toes, pressing her lips tight to his. He breathed in her smell, memorizing the feel of her lips against his. When they parted, he was breathless and had to take a moment to steady himself.
She cast him a devilish grin, then winked. “See you on the other side.”
Then she was off to find the E-rankers. He watched her for a moment before she disappeared into the crowd. When he turned back, Ellie was quickly turning away, clearly having been watching them.
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“Come on,” he said, brushing past her. Marlon had already portaled his way directly to the group, watching Terry approach impatiently.
As they neared, Brisa was shouting in Spanish and her assistant started translating.
“There is no time for coordinating group-by-group!” she called. “We will form lines by type and you will be placed with whoever is in the front with you! The White Rose has calculated that there are only ninety-seven registered C-rankers in camp and exactly thirty C-grade rifts!” Terry’s stomach flipped at that math and the others began to murmur amongst themselves. “Yes, the equation is not in our favor! It is too dangerous to send you undermanned, so some of you will have to complete multiple rifts if we are to successfully close them all before the adjoining side is granted access.”
She indicated positions, forming single-file lines for each type. Tanks on the far left, damage dealers—regardless of melee or ranged—in the next line, utility, and finally, healers.
The issue became apparent almost immediately. Nine healers stood in a line—not including Ellie. There were twenty-one tanks, thirty-five damage dealers, and thirty-two utility supers.
He felt Ellie’s eyes on him from the side, but he shook his head at her unasked question.
Brisa regarded the group and sighed. “Those close to the B-rank or those who have completed multiple rifts, raise your hands.” Two dozen hands shot up, including Terry’s and Marlon’s—he saw where she was going with this. “You will form healer-less teams,” she declared. There were a few quiet grumbles, but most simply nodded their heads resolutely. “Rearrange so that you are in the front of the lines.”
As Terry and Marlon bypassed most of the utility supers, he spotted Juan one line over. As they locked eyes, Juan did a double-take.
“Hey, bro,” Terry said as they went to stand near the front. Juan asked someone to shift spots with him until they were aligned.
“Bro…” Juan looked around with a grim set to his lips. “This isn’t looking so hot.”
Terry nodded, but then flashed the boy a smile. “This ain’t nothing compared to the Underworld.”
Juan laughed, casting Terry a thumbs up. “Team Underworld, baby!”
The humor died out as the group in front of them peeled off and immediately headed for the nearest C-grade rift. Terry looked around Juan to see a girl with an actual metal shield in the tank role and another boy behind Juan to serve as their second damage dealer.
Behind Terry, Marlon stepped forward. “I’m with this group!” he called to Brisa as she waved them up next. “By order of the White Rose!”
Brisa cast him a harried look, nodding quickly as she moved on to the group behind Terry.
As the five of them gathered together, the girl with the shield eyed Marlon skeptically.
“You’re like fifty, gringo.” She looked him up and down with a scowl. “And too fat to fight.”
He hocked a wad of spit, launching it to the side before meeting her gaze. “And I’ll still dance circles around you, little girl.”
“He’s with you?” Juan asked quietly.
Terry nodded, stepping between Marlon and the girl. “This is Marlon. I’m Terry. There’s no time to argue, okay? We need to rush through this rift if we’re gonna hit a second one.”
The girl frowned, eyeing the two of them before turning to Juan and speaking in rapid-fire Spanish. It was too fast for Terry to follow more than the gist, but it sounded like she was grilling the boy on the two of them.
Juan started replying back, but Marlon simply grunted and started for the nearest rift. It was another moment before the other three noticed the man.
“Hey, gringo!”
But Marlon was through the portal a moment later.
Terry shrugged, nodding toward the rift. “Let’s go, we can sort it out later.”
As he ran through the rift, notifications streamed into view.
New Quest: [Defend Your Position]
Waves remaining: 10
Reward: Variable
Defensive position highlighted. Leaving the designated zone will result in a failure.
Group Chat joined.
He found himself on top of a hill surrounded by a wooden palisade and four towers on each corner—much like the camp they had assaulted in his first rift.
The walls blocked his vision, except for the gate which had two heavy wooden doors propped open. Past the gate, green dominated the view. The hill itself seemed devoid of vegetation or cover, but at the bottom, a dense forest cropped up.
He opened a portal high above them, getting a bird’s-eye-view of the rift.
The hill was ringed on three sides by that forest, the canopy so thick that he couldn’t see anything past the leaves. On the fourth side, the hill angled down to a small beach jutting against a lake.
Everything up to the edge of the water and the treeline was highlighted in a dim, System light. The designated zone, he guessed.
Marlon’s voice rang out. “Okay, listen up!” Terry turned to see the man sitting on his usual wicker chair. His brow knit in confusion, but before he could question the odd sight, Marlon was relaying orders. “Class and powers—” He pointed at Juan. “—go!”
Juan started in surprise, casting a questioning look toward Terry. He gave his friend a confident nod and Juan shrugged.
“Fire Elementalist—”
The tank with the metal shield stepped forward, pulling him back with a rough hand. “Don’t tell the gringo anything.” She cast Marlon a dark look. “The Alianza doesn’t need to share their secrets with the northerners.”
Juan brushed her hand off, turning to face the surprised tank. “I was on my Midmark with Terry. He saved me—our whole group—from a long and lonely death.” He waved toward Marlon. “If Terry vouches for the man, then I trust him.”
The girl narrowed her eyes, looking between Juan, Marlon, and Terry. The fifth member of their team was ignoring them all, his aura reaching into the earth beneath them.
Terry sighed, noting the distrustful look on the girl’s face. He was so sick of the politics—Earth’s very existence was on the line.
“Listen,” Terry started. “There’s no time to argue. We need to work as a team. The faster we can clear this rift, the faster we can enter the next.” He waved to indicate Marlon and himself. “The two of us are Travelers—” The girl’s mouth twisted in a frown, but Terry pushed past that, turning to Marlon. “—Juan here is a Fire Elementalist. I’ve primarily seen him throw fireballs.” He turned back to Juan. “But if you’ve gotten anything new since we returned, let us know.”
Juan smiled, ignoring the scowl from the girl. “Bigger, better fireballs!”
Terry laughed, then turned to the fifth member who hadn’t spoken. “Judging by your aura, you’re an Earth Elementalist?”
The boy nodded absentmindedly, his aura continuing to reach out through the hill. “No inglés,” he muttered, his full attention on his magic.
[Terry]: Use System chat when needed. What are your capabilities?
[Julio]: I can reshape this hill. Create trenches, dead drops, and so on.
Terry nodded—that would be particularly useful given their current location.
[Terry]: Okay, start on that now. We don’t know how long we have until the first wave.
“Incoming,” Marlon said, peering through his own fist-sized viewing portal.
Terry glanced through it, spotting movement on the opposite side of the beach. He glanced toward the girl, noting her shifting her shield uncomfortably. “The better we work together, the better the rewards and the faster we can hit a second rift.” He held out his hand in a conciliatory gesture. “What’s your name?”
She eyed it with indecision, then glanced toward the far forest where the sounds of movement were growing. “Isa.” Taking his hand, she lifted her chin. “Shifter-based Duelist.”
He nodded, meeting her eyes, then turned as he felt Marlon begin to work on space.
Through his senses and the bird’s-eye-view portal, he watched as the Traveler bisected two dozen charging creatures before they’d even set foot on the hill’s incline. Isa, Juan, and Terry ran over to the main gate and looked down to see corpses littering the bottom of their position.
Isa and Juan cast Marlon wide-eyed looks; the man hadn’t even left his wicker chair in the center of camp.
“That was just the initial wave!” he called back gruffly. “Don’t get used to me doing all the dirty work!”
Terry nodded, heading for the tower facing the beach side. As he ran, he called to Juan. “Bro, grab a tower. Call out targets.” Juan flipped him a thumbs up, moving for the tower opposite Terry’s.
[Terry]: Isa, can you guard the front gate in case any of them make it past us?
She didn’t reply, but he was pleased to notice her head for the gate anyway.
[Terry]: Julio, can you funnel them toward the gate? Maybe make wide trenches on three sides so the enemies divert?
[Isabella]: Why not place trenches on all four sides?
[Marlon]: Cause we need to kill the bastards! If they can’t reach us, you and the fire kid are useless!
Terry cringed, not quite believing that the man managed to infect even System text with his caustic tone. But at least Isa didn’t take the bait, instead remaining silent as she anchored her shield at the gate.
Once he was up in his tower, he could see Julio’s magic begin to take effect. The earth on the beach side began to shift first, the ground slowly disappearing to create a trench that stretched fifty feet long. But it was slower going than Terry had hoped, not even one side finished when Marlon called out the next wave.
[Marlon]: Three and six o’clock, looking at the gate side.
Terry reoriented off that, marking the beach side as six o’clock, while his tower was somewhere in the four o’clock position—directly in between the two incoming groups.
Bipedal crocodile-looking monsters crawled from the water, scrambling to two feet as they reached the sand. From the forest, bare-chested humans covered in war paint also raced toward the hill, holding swords and axes up high.
The humans gave him pause; he hadn’t been forced to kill anything human and he had a visceral reaction to the idea. But Julio’s trenches weren’t even close to encompassing the hill, so he didn’t have the luxury of taking his time to come to terms with the deed.
Master of Space flexed at his command, creating a spatial disparity between the charging men’s upper and lower halves. Their auras were dim in comparison to his group—barely ranking in the Ds—so his magic felt only a flicker of resistance as it made contact, before they fully bisected themselves through their own momentum.
He turned away, the blood and intestines painting the ground giving him a visual shock—even from a distance. When he looked to the beach, half the crocodile-men were scorched black, while the other half had been portaled in half much like Terry’s targets.
Scanning the surroundings, he didn’t spot any more movement and took a deep breath.
He tried to purposefully keep his eyes from landing on the dead rift men, but movement drew his attention after a minute. The blood and viscera seemed to be dissolving, sinking into the very earth right before his eyes.
[Terry]: Julio, is that you making the bodies disappear?
While he appreciated the effort, he couldn’t help but think the Elementalist’s magic would be better spent finishing the trenches.
[Julio]: No, that’s not me!
Terry looked down at Marlon, but the man shook his head at the unasked question.
[Marlon]: Must be the System making room for the next wave of sacrifices.
Before Terry could puzzle at that, movement stirred on all four sides.
[Marlon]: Incoming…everywhere!
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