At sunrise, we got together in the lobby of the hotel. Last minute checks before we left.

  Fun fact: Dwarves and elves do not ride horses. I really didn’t need to either, so Rodof, Medirre, Sharon and Rhonda would be riding the horses. Sharon and Rhonda would ride double on my horse. The rest of us would walk. It was less than 15 miles, so it wasn’t a big deal. In truth, Rodof and Medirre didn’t need to ride either, but they didn’t want Sharon and Rhonda to feel bad.

  Trouble hit us before we even got to the gate. Ms. Morris had managed to gather together quite a mob. At least 50 people were between us and the gate. I did a quick Identification on the people around her. A couple of martial classes, but nobody above level 15. I noticed that here bodyguard was not here. At least he wasn’t stupid.

  I had my party stop. “Stay alert for an ambush from behind. I think Ms. Morris want a spectacle, but I wouldn’t put her past ambushing us.” Then I went forward by myself. Everyone else got ready to fight.

  I stopped about 10 feet in front of Ms. Morris, then just stared at her, waiting. She realized that I wasn’t going to start, so she did.

  “Hand over the elves and dwarves, and the humans go on their way.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because they are responsible for the invasion. There were no monsters until they showed up. The monsters came at the same time as them, because they brought them with them. The elves and dwarves need to answer questions and tell us all they know.” Ms. Morris wasn’t speaking to me, but to the crowd. She wanted them riled up and angry. The angrier they were, the more easily she could manipulate them.

  I spoke loudly, so everyone could hear me. “My people are not responsible for the monsters or anything else that happened to Earth. They are just as much a victim as you. In fact, maybe even more so. They been sent to another world and can’t get back. Can you imagine what that feels like? Sent unknowingly to another planet after being cocooned by a giant Spider Queen? Waking up and finding out you can’t get home? All your levels from your previous System are gone. Any spells, gone. Basically, having to start over, and now finding a bunch of RACIST want to blame you for everything. I thought the Safe Zone would be filled with good people just trying to survive. Not people trying to blame those different from themselves.”

  I did notice that some in the mob seemed moved by my words and weren’t as ready to fight after my speech, but still nobody left. Ms. Morris must have some powerful backer in the Safe Zone to make people pause like that.

  Ms. Morris smiled as she spoke “It doesn’t matter. Someone has to pay for the invasion. And I have elected them. We are here to ensure they pay. Stand aside or share their fate.”

  I spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear, “You all heard that, and you can’t say I didn’t try to get through this peacefully. But I will give you one last chance. Leave now. Let us leave, and you won’t be hurt. Try to stop us, and I won’t be held responsible for what happens to you. I will not let you hurt members of House Tierra.”

  By the time I was done, I had created a huge Fireball, hovering about 5 feet above my head, Balmung appeared in one hand and Mjolnir in the other. Everyone should realize that I was ready to go to war, but before they could start to leave, Ms. Morris interceded.

  “Kill him” she ordered her bodyguards.

  As soon as the words left her mouth, I activated Stop-Time and directed the Fireball to move to 10 feet above the middle of the mob, then exploded it driving most of the mob to the ground. Burning many of them, but hopefully not outright killing them. I still didn’t want to kill the people in the mob, but the leaders were a different story.

  While that was going on, I rushed to Ms. Morris getting to her before her new bodyguards could get between us. There was only one thing that people like Ms. Morris understood and that was power. I grabbed her by the neck, ready to crush her throat, when I heard a voice call out. “Stop.”

  The voice was coming from a man hovering above the now very distraught mod. Stop Time ended.

  I looked at the man and said “Why? I didn’t start this but I can finish it.” Identification showed:

  Name: Colonel David Wilson

  Class: Warrior

  Level 25

  The Colonel must have been doing a lot of fighting since the invasion to get to level 25. It was the only way I could see him being that high. The Colonel rank also made me think he knew his way around a fight, but at the same time, most Colonels were well past their fighting days in the US armed forces. I could also tell; he wasn’t a Marine. Hell, he was probably one of those paper Colonels, who never been in a fight but was always willing to send his people to fight.

  “Because I asked you too.” Colonel David Wilson replied. “I am the commander of the Safe Zone. And yes, you have demonstrated that you can end it with violence, but is that what you really want?”

  The bodyguards started to moved away from me and Ms. Morris, who I still held by her throat. She stopped struggling when the Colonel spoke.

  “I didn’t ask to be ambushed. I didn’t ask for a racist piece of shit to threaten my party members, Colonel. And I didn’t use my full force on that Fireball. If I did, there would be a lot more corpses. House Tierra doesn’t look for violence, but we don’t run from it either.”

  Rodof and Medirre took this moment to say shout “Oorah” and assume their fighting position. I never should have taught them that.

  “I want to be clear. My party and I are not the bad guys here, Colonel. This mob is, and if you are part of them, then in my opinion, you are too.”

  I waited for a minute. The Colonel must have used Identification on me by now, but it would only show me as a level 9, not my previous level. He probably thought he could pick me off easily, but was stunned by my confidence. I took this opportunity to use my flight ring and rose to the same level as him.

  “Before you think of your next move, understand that levels don’t mean shit when you fight me or mine. Unless you have a dozen more level 25s like you, you don’t stand a chance against us. Move your people out of the way and let us leave.” The unspoken threat is that I would move them if he didn’t and my way would result in multiple casualties and deaths.

  I hoped the Colonel would be smart enough to let us leave. I gave him enough hints that wouldn’t win. I used the term House Tierra, which isn’t an Earth thing, and let him know that our levels were misleading. That should have been enough for him to know, we shouldn’t be messed with.

  “Move out of their way. Let them leave.” He spoke and people responded. Those that couldn’t move were helped out of the way. A clear path led to the open gates of the Safe Zone.

  I dropped Ms. Morris, who landed with a thud, but alive. Her legs might be broken, but tough luck. Her bodyguards rushed to her, picked her up and hurried her away.

  “Mr. Wilson” using Mr. rather than Colonel was a calculated insult, “You advertise this as a Safe Zone, but it isn’t. If I wasn’t in a hurry to get to my family, I would take everyone here with me away from your racist culture. As it stands, we will be leaving, but I will warn you. If you send someone after us, whether to cause harm or just to follow us. They won’t be coming back.”

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

  I signaled my party to start forward and floated down. Mr. Wilson just hung in the air. We continued to the gate with both eyes open. I expected some fanatic to try and attack us. If that happened, all best were off, but it seems the Colonel kept a tight grip on his people.

  With his personal power, and the control he showed over the crowd, I thought Ms. Morris could never have happened without his tacit approval. He went down in my book as a bad guy. I hope he was smart enough to leave us alone but figured he would send someone even with the warning I gave him.

  Brian and the other off-worlder stood by the gate when we approached. Brian called out “Trevor” and waved. I waved back, and they both came to meet me.

  “Lord Trevor, Misty and I request to join your party. I don’t think this Safe Zone will be safe for Misty of myself, especially since they already suspect we are outworlders.”

  “Don’t call me lord” I responded automatically, “You did us a solid with your warning, so welcome aboard. We will talk more as soon as we are well away from this place” I said.

  Misty and Brian joined our little group in walking out of the gate. Our heads held high; we made our way to the west.

  The roads made walking easy, even in their deteriorated condition. About an hour down the road, I asked Misty and Brian what their classes were. Both were happy to show their information:

  Name: Misty

  Class: Seamstress

  Level: 12 1

  Name: Brian

  Class: Carpenter

  Level: 12 1

  They wouldn’t be much in a fight, but they would fit in well in Tellus Nova. If they wanted to come. I would be glad to help set them up in their own business. As of now, I put them with Rhonda and Gem. At the rate I was picking up traveling companions, I was going to have to increase Party level again.

  It was lunch time. I estimated we were only two miles away from Hollis and desperately wanted to continue, but Rhonda needed to eat. Even sitting on a horse for 5 hours was exhausting at her age. I called a halt. Everyone stopped and set up for lunch. Blade and Batella went out to scout the immediate area to make sure it was safe. As Rangers they were excellent scouts. Much better that I was. Rodof and Medirre secured the horses, I set up the cooking pot.

  Ten minutes later, Blade and Batell came back, and we all sat down and started eating a hearty stew that Chef had made and I reheated. It was excellent. It’s only been a few days, but I missed Covern House and the people there. I know that Rodof and Medirre felt the same.

  It was during the lunch that I noticed man trying to hide in the trees on the side of the road. It was obvious that he was following us. His clothes were in too good of a condition to not be from the Safe Zone. I didn’t use Identification, because I didn’t want him to know I knew he was there. I used party chat to let Blade know where the man was located.

  Blade got up and said she needed to relieve her bladder and walked in the opposite direction of the man. She didn’t want the man to notice her coming for him. I assumed she would be circling around. I hoped she could capture him, but if push came to shove. I warned Wilson what would happen.

  Five minutes later, a man came out of the woods with his hands in the air and Blade behind him. He did not look happy.

  “Why are you following us?” I asked.

  “The Colonel wanted to make sure you didn’t double back. He said you were dangerous and needed to be watched.”

  “Nice cover story, but you followed us for more than 10 miles from the Safe Zone, just to ensure that we didn’t go back? The logic doesn’t follow. Try again.” I said and Blade nudged him with the pointy part of her sword as emphasis.

  “Look, I don’t want to hurt, but I will hurt you, if you don’t tell me the truth of why you were following us. Because, as far as I am concerned, you all are racist shits, so I have absolutely zero sympathy for you. I also warned your Mr. Wilson that I would kill anyone who followed us.”

  Now worried entered his eyes. This was the first time he heard that I would kill anyone following us. I am pretty sure he believed me, because he started to shake.

  “Last chance. Why are you following us?”

  “I. I. I. I was supposed to mark a trail for the Colonel to follow. He was going to get his other party members and follow. He said he would be an hour or so behind.”

  I figured his party could travel faster that our leisurely pace. That meant that he could be here any minute. We needed to prepare and prepare fast.

  Rhonda, Misty, Brian, Gem needed a secure space. Blade had just the spot, she said, and led them away. Rockfist went with them, just in case.

  When the Safe Zone team showed up, I stood in the middle of the road. Mr. Wilson’s man tied up and kneeling in front of me. I never did learn his name. Rodof and Medirre were a couple feet to either side and behind. Sharon was ten feet straight behind me. The elves were stationed atop a wall with their bows out, ready to fire.

  There were five in his team. I could tell that one was a tank, three melee and one range. Mr. Wilson, who I refused to recognize as a Colonel, stopped his crew about 20 feet away and yelled “Let our man go.”

  “Why? I told you what would happen if you came after us. Why do you think I will let him, or you go?”

  That seemed to faze him. He was so used to people doing what he said that he didn’t seem to register my not doing so.

  “Because we are stronger than you and if you don’t, we will attack.”

  I laughed and then replied “Are you stupid? You are going to attack anyway. I already know that. And you aren’t even close to our strength.” I had already used Identification, and they all ranged from 15-20, with only Wilson being level 25.

  Before I had finished talking, Wilson’s archer let loose an arrow straight into their own man. It was a direct hit to his heart. That told us all we needed about them. These people have no honor. The archer’s action kicked off the fight.

  Blade and Batella launched their arrows at the archer, who was only able to dodge one. The other hit him in the side of his stomach. That would hurt, but not take him out of the fight. If he had a healing potion, he would be back up in no time. The three of them started exchanging arrows. Lightning and fire arrows were the most used.

  The tank yelled a taunt, Rodof, Medirre and I resisted, but Sharon did not. Rodof intercepted her before she could go charging at the tank. The rest of us stayed where we were. I wanted them to come to us.

  Wilson obliged. He came racing toward me ready to cut me down with his two-handed sword. He started with an overhand strike trying to cut me in two. I parried to the side, then riposted with a hit to his helmet, driving his head backward and causing the helmet to fly off. Even without his helmet, he didn’t stop. Next, he tried to stab me in my chest, but that was easy to push aside. I use the momentum to return the gesture, and stabbed him in his leg.

  Rodof and Medirre were handling their opponents as easily as I was Wilson. For how high a level our opponents were, there weren’t very skilled. They all had very limited attacks that we could see coming a mile away. Their defense was almost nonexistent. Overhand, stab, and swipes at the chest. I am starting to think they only fought low level monsters. A whole lot of them to get to this level, but nothing that required actual skill.

  Sharon was fighting the tank, who had sidestepped Rodof. The tank out leveled Sharon, but Sharon seemed to be more skilled with her spear than the tank was with his short sword. She was managing to keep him at spears length so he couldn’t attack her with his sword. He was using his shield to block her spear thrust to keep her from scoring a hit on him.

  Blade and Batella were having a battle of arrows with the Safe Zone’s archer. He seemed to be the only one with any skill. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t enough. He started the fight injured, and both Blade and Batella capitalized on it. Batella fired the killing shot, but the archer released just before Batella’s shot killed him. His shot ended up hitting Blade in the shoulder. It hurt and put her out of the fight, but wouldn’t kill her.

  Rodof was the first to finish off his opponent. He wasn’t playing around and killed him with a thrust through his heart. At least it was quick. Both the fight and the death. Rodof turned to help Sharon. She was holding her own, even though her skills weren’t that high. Rodof didn’t care about one-on-one fights, and he didn’t care to fight ‘fair’. He was an adventurer through and through, which is why his blade ended up in the tank’s back, killing him.

  Medirre was also an adventurer, which was why after a few exchanges that allowed him to gauge his opponent skill level. He tripped his him and stabbed him while still on the ground. Adventurers don’t fight for honor; they fight to live.

  After Wilson saw Rodof kill his opponent and the tank, he tried to run. First, he shot up to 20 feet about the battlefield. But he didn’t go anywhere. He just hovered there. He looked around to see Rodof finish off the tank and then Medirre do the same to his opponent. Just as it seemed he was getting ready to fly away, I flew up, grabbed him by his ankle and threw him to the ground using all my strength.

  Crack. It could be heard all over the battlefield. Something broke in Wilson. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it did not sound good for him. I flew down to his side. His head had hit first with enough force to break through his skull and flood the road with blood and brains. He was dead. As were all his teammates. This senseless battle was over.

  Blade and Sharon were the only ones hurt. Sharon had a few scrapes, but the arrow that hit Blade had been poisoned. Luckily, it was easy to cure with Cure All. I cast Diagnostic on Sharon to ensure she wasn’t also poisoned. She wasn’t, so I cast Heaven’s Heal on both. We looted the bodies and then left. I was getting anxious about seeing my family.