Tyler pushed himself up from the floor, his legs wobbling slightly as he made his way over to Keith, giving him a knowing nod.

  “It’s the last for now, son. I’m drained from that fight.”

  Keith laid a hand on Tyler. A small green pulse entered his body, a faint mote of light that barely registered.

  “Thanks.”

  “What do you mean?” Charlie said. “It told us who killed Penny? I don’t get it. Who was it? Can’t have been that spider — we would’ve seen it.”

  “It was Rafe all along,” Tyler said. “He killed Penny.” Tyler said keeping his words emotionless and direct

  “The hell I did,” Rafe snapped. “Who do you think you’re blaming?”

  With effort Rafe rolled to a sitting position, his back leaning against the corpse of the spider they had just slain.

  “Come on, Rafe. Here — let me explain so everyone can see.”

  Rafe’s face hardened as he tried to stare Tyler down. Tyler had known Penny — not well, but well enough to talk to, to like. He wasn’t about to let this go. He wasn’t prepared to have someone that could kill any of them as he pleased, especially with the power and intent to actually do it

  “It was Carl who told me — well, more or less. You see, I’m good at watching. At gathering little bits of this and that and putting them together to see the bigger picture.

  “When we first met, you attacked me. At first glance, people would understand, I mean someone had just been killed and suddenly, a new face shows up, people are angry, upset. But you weren’t angry or upset — you were frustrated. Something hadn’t gone your way.

  Then there was Carl. He was scared. Really scared. I’ve spoken with the lad on several different occasions. I first thought it was Penny, a dead body an all, but no that might have been the case initially, but he was still petrified after the fact, like the danger was still there. He feared someone and that some was you, Rafe.”

  Rafe’s jaw tightened. But Tyler continued, everyone listening now. The only person to move was Helen as she crawled to Shahan and lay her arm over him.

  “Then Carl had blood on his boots. He lied to me about where it came from, said he helped with the boar. I checked — he didn’t.

  Tyler looked at Chalie, who nodded back confirming what he’s told him earlier. Only he and Bill had prepared the boar meet.

  “So why hide it? And then we have this other useful bit of information — Carl is no longer level one. He’s gained a level”

  There were a few gasps from Syed and Keith, as they looked over to Carl head still popping out of the tent, like a puppy waiting to see if it’s safe to come out

  “Where did that level come from? I suspect he was there when Penny was killed. Maybe he got partial credit or something — enough to level up. You all know Carl. He’s kind-hearted. Could you really see him hurting Penny.

  You have all tried to get him to level, you all even said you have been trying to get him to slaughter boars, yet he wouldn’t even do that last night. He still refused, does that sound like the action of a killer”

  “This is all nonsense,” Rafe said. “There could be other ways he got a level. He—”

  “I’m not done! Tyler interrupted his voice jolted everyone as he spoke, a slight hint of the previous spider’s oppression lingering in the air for a moment. Similar but different.

  So, if Carl was present when Penny died, and someone else was too, who was it? It wasn’t Keith — he was with me. It wasn’t Bill, Charlie, Helen, or Shahan — they were all out scouting when it happened. That leaves you and Syed.”

  “Hey, don’t bring me into this!” Syed snapped.

  “It’s fine, Syed. It wasn’t you. I checked — you were only level two yesterday. No level-ups. And if Penny was level four, I doubt you’d have managed much. And I am betting, you weren’t the one to find Penny, but Carl and Reece were already there.

  This was a key piece of evidence Tyler needed. He was ninety-nine percent sure of his conclusion, but as they say that one percent can come back to bite you in the arse. But Syed nodded once wordlessly confirming Tyler was indeed correct

  “So that leaves you, Rafe. No one else.”

  Rafe’s breathing had changed now — slower, heavier. He didn’t move just kept looking at Tyler, his eyes burning with fury.

  “And the nail in the coffin,” Tyler continued, “we just fought that, Dominion Warden. Near the end there, when it had you — right in its sights — about to strike you down, maybe even kill you. What did you do? You pulled Helen toward you. You used her as a goddamn human shield. Who the hell does that? If I hadn’t snapped that leg, if it hadn’t stopped the attack, it’s leg would have pierced straight through her, you’d have killed Helen too.”

  Helen gasped, rubbing her arm where Rafe had dragged her during the fight. She hadn’t given it much thought, just thinking he was helping, but she hadn’t been in any direct danger of an attack. Why had he grabbed here?

  “This is all nonsense,” Rafe said. “I could make up a story like this about any of you. Why, you could be working with someone, they could be here now, hiding in the trees”

  “Really Rafe? Because all we have to do, one simple thing to prove I’m right and you’re a deranged psychopath is ask Carl. Carl! Carl! Here — a moment.”

  Rafe started twitching, glancing around at everyone watching him. Carl slowly poked his head out of the tent, looking more frightened than he had when the Dominion Warden appeared. He slowly stepped out and made his way to the group, his head hanging low.

  “It’s not what you think,” Rafe said, rising to his feet.

  “Oh, I think it’s exactly what I think,” Tyler said. “You killed her. And you’ll kill again if given the chance. We can’t afford to take that risk, be left alone with you, only for you to turn on us in an instant,”

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  Syed and Charlie stood, spreading out into a loose half-circle around Rafe. Each holding their makeshift weapons tentatively. They were hurt, barley able to move, but there was something in Tyler’s words and how Rafe now reacted.

  “The hell with all of you,” Rafe snarled. “The bitch wanted to die. The world has changed, and if you’re not going to change with it, you might as well be dead. I’m not the first — and I won’t be the last.”

  A red aura flared around Rafe as he lunged toward Syed, who stood closest. He threw a simple jab — nothing fancy — but a spiral of red energy tore from the punch, blasting the others back.

  His fist punched straight through Syed’s head and out the other side, slick with blood and brain. He pulled his hand free as Syed’s body collapsed to the ground. Syed hadn’t had a chance to respond, his body dropping to the floor.

  “Humph,” Rafe muttered. “Not even a level from that one.”

  “No!”

  Tyler hadn’t expected Rafe to act so fast. He’d calculated the stats and worked out that at now level seven from the fight with the Dominion Warden, Rafe would have fourteen total stat points. He’d quickly used his own free stat points up after the fight to close the gap. He’d expected Rafe to dump them all into Strength, but he must have put a few elsewhere to move at that speed.

  He just hadn’t accounted for Rafe to attack, to start killing them. Na?ve, but he thought they would restrain him, have him locked away until he could stand trial, unable to hurt anyone else.

  Through all his deductive work and analysis, he hadn’t thought past the fact. The world wasn’t the same anymore. They would have to deal with this themselves.

  Tyler jumped back as Charlie swung in with his polearm, catching Rafe in the chest then immediately in the chin with a follow up attack and knocking him back slightly, Charlie’s attacks weren’t devasting, but they were fast. Rafe tilted his chin and smiled at Charlie.

  “You know what it is, kid. I was holding back in that fight. You always keep a bit in the tank. I got a little skill called Berserk”

  Rafe laughed as he lunged for Charlie with an uppercut red light swirling around his body. Charlie saw the punch coming and moved to the side, but the power behind the punch left a wake of red energy that slammed into him anyway, throwing him several metres back and sending him tumbling across the ground.

  Tyler darted in, swinging his metal bar. There was no thought of crushing or piercing, no finesse — just the need to land a blow. He caught Rafe on the shoulder, the bar sinking in slightly. Rafe grimaced, then punched up from underneath, striking the bar with the palm of his hand sending the bar arcing back into Tyler’s shoulder, hitting him in the same place as Rafe had just been.

  Rafe smiled at Tyler, then lunged forward again, smashing a fist into his other shoulder and sending him crashing to the ground. Bone broke. Flesh split. A fist-sized wound of mangled muscle opened where Rafe had hit him.

  Standing over him, Rafe looked Tyler in the eyes. A gaze of pure madness as if he was enjoying this.

  “What did you think? That this was your story? That you were some kind of hero, here to save the day?”

  A boot came down on Tyler’s head, Rafe’s heel connecting with his skull and driving his face into the ground, leaving a heel-shaped indent in the side of his head.

  “This isn’t about you. the world has changed, and things are different now. Only those with power — and the willingness to—”

  Rafe’s words cut off as Keith stabbed a tent pole through his back. It didn’t punch all the way through, instead jutting out and hanging there. Rafe turned as Keith tried to stagger away, but he was too slow.

  There was a flash of red. Two punches from Rafe sent Keith flying up into the air. He came straight back down and landed in a crumpled heap on the other side of the dead spider’s body

  Tyler could barely think straight. Al was screaming in his head now, words overlapping, warnings that didn’t make sense. He reached for a pole nearby, but Rafe hooked his foot and yanked him away from it.

  “No, you don’t,” Rafe said calmly. “We were talking, you and I.”

  A rock hit Rafe in the head, snapping it to the side. He turned and looked at Helen, who collapsed back to the ground, too weak to do anything else — but she’d given Tyler just enough time.

  Tyler dragged his leg up and kicked the tent pole lodged in Rafe’s back with the base of his foot. The pole burst out through the front of Rafe’s chest. He coughed, blood spraying from his mouth.

  A red glow washed over Tyler as Carl cast a spell on him. He felt enclosed, protected, as if wrapped in some kind of shield. He struggled to his feet as Rafe righted himself, the two of them standing face to face — both battered, both broken, barely alive from the punishment earlier and what they’d just done to each other.

  Charlie screamed as he ran back toward them. So did Keith. The shield Charlie had thrown on Keith just before Rafe hit him soaked up most of the damage.

  Rafe glanced at them as they charged. Tyler didn’t hesitate. He raised his snapped stick to eye level and drove it straight into Rafe’s eye. His hand slipping along the shaft as he drove it deeper.

  Rafe staggered back a step, then another, his legs wobbling before he dropped to his knees, confusion plain on his face. He was the strongest. He was the one who won.

  Tyler reached for the stick buried in Rafe’s head with one hand, bracing the other against his skull. With the last of his strength, he ripped it free. Blood poured out as they both fell backward — Rafe dead, Tyler unconscious.

  Tyler tried to move, but his whole body ached. Every joint and muscle felt like it had been passed through a meat grinder. He opened his eyes to see Keith standing over him with a soft smile.

  “Sorry, lad, but I think it’s time you wake up. I’ve healed as much as I can, but it takes time for my mana to build back up, and you’re not the only one injured.”

  Tyler coughed, more blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. He’d never tasted so much blood in all his twenty-five years. Hell, he could count on one hand how many times he’d even been in a fight, including the ones today.

  “Is everyone—”

  “Okay, for the most part. Shahan’s back up and moving about. Carl saved his life with that shield he cast. The spider’s attacks were more like hammer blows, he said, than stabs. Not sure I’d like either. The rest are healing up. Bill and Syed, well… they were the unlucky ones.”

  Tyler grunted as he got to his feet gingerly. He felt like it was going to take a long time to heal from this, even with Keith’s healing. He’d also killed a man. Although at this moment he felt indifferent about it, he was sure it would come back to haunt him, even though it was Rafe.

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. It’s the system notification. The Verge Integration, whatever that is. Says it starts in a few minutes. Thought it best if you were awake for it.”

  Tyler checked that area behind his eyes, and sure enough, like Keith said, a little less than ten minutes were left on the timer.

  VERGE INTEGRATION: SCHEDULED

  TIME UNTIL EVENTS COMMENCE: 00:09:07

  “Shit. Right, thanks.”

  Tyler walked with Keith to the rest of the party, all sitting on an odd arrangement of chairs. Someone had turned the crate back upright as a table, some drinks on top. Tyler took one and drank deeply, coughing as his throat cleared.

  Nothing was said for a moment. Tyler looked at everyone in turn, all of them nodding a silent thank you for what had just happened. He looked about, seeing his metal bar on the ground and a blood-soaked stick. He grabbed both and addressed the group.

  “Rafe was right about one thing—the world has changed. And in the next few minutes, I think we’re going to find out just how much. Our best bet is to stick together. When that timer hits zero, make sure you’re ready. I’m not sure anything can surprise me at the moment, but hell if I’m just going to sit back and do nothing.”

  More nods came as Charlie rose, his stick already in his hand. “You got it, man. Together.”

  One by one they all rose, silently walking to the open area as the timer approached zero. Carl even joined them, looking down but no longer frightened as he had earlier. He looked at Tyler, then spoke.

  “I’m sorry. I’ll try…”

  “Don’t worry about it. Wasn’t your fault.”

  Carl smiled wearily as the counter ticked down to zero and the world went black.

  Integration event started.

  A room materialised around Tyler, a small brick cavern about three metres in diameter. A small wooden door to his left, and in front of him a female warrior with spear and shield. She was a little smaller than him, but her muscles popped all over her body. She wore leather boots, a leather skirt and vest, and stood as if she were ready for war.

  Tyler gripped his bar. There was no way he stood a chance here. He was just too spent, body aching, some internal injuries he just couldn’t think about right now. He’d be lucky to win against a five-year-old. He breathed heavily; he’d try to get in at least one or two hits.

  The woman stared at him for a moment, their eyes meeting. Then she slapped a fist against her chest, went to one knee, head bowed, and spoke.

  “I greet the god of the Verge. My life is yours to command.”