It was raining hard.

  Soise wailed, clutching Rex’s head in her arms.

  Most of his hair had already disintegrated, following the side of his face and one of his arms. His eyes were empty, like the whites of an egg.

  …

  “Hey!” Rex called, pushing past the sea of bickering children. Fresh scars around his wrists shone in the light, exposed now that his chains were gone. He stumbled on the Bestiary’s cracked floor, nearly taking a kid down with him. “Where’re you going?!”

  I turned back with a smile. “Nowhere in particular.”

  “Can I come?”

  “Sorry, but no,” I said, kneeling down. “You need to stay here and take care of yourself. Can you do that?”

  He stared.

  “Please?” I asked.

  “Yeah.” He whispered. “Th-thank you.”

  I smiled a little brighter. “Any time.”

  He wrapped his arms around me, hugging tight to hide the tears running down his face. “Thank you.”

  …

  Ardenidi spun, jolting when she realized Jujud was only a few feet away. “Master! Soise is…she—” Ardenidi steadied herself with a deep breath. “I think Soise is with the Peacekeepers. She split us up before I found her here, and she trying to smuggle one of the infected goblins out of the forest—”

  “I’m afraid this is Grind’s fault,” Jujud stated, pushing past to Soise.

  Ardenidi’s eyes went wide. “He’s okay, right?”

  “No, but he’s secure.” Jujud muttered, suppressing a glance back to the tree. “Soise. Soise? Can you hear me?”

  Soise continued sobbing, choking out a string of utterly incoherent apologies.

  Jujud rubbed her face. “This is a mess. It’ll take months before these two get over this.”

  “I'll talk to Grind, wherever he feels up to it,” Ardenidi sighed. “He’ll listen to me.”

  …

  “Did you know that only people smile?” Rex asked, bouncing up, down, and around the street, spilling crumbs from his sandwich. “Animals just bare their teeth. I always smile, see?” Rex asked, pointing to the huge grin across his face. “I always smile, even when I’m being hurt! It drives Urgot crazy!”

  I blinked. “Really? How do you have that kind of willpower?”

  “It’s not willpower,” Rex said, rolling his eyes. He wolfed down the rest of his breakfast. “Either I scream when I get hurt or I laugh, and only one of those makes Urgot mad. Besides, life’s not that bad. There’s always something to smile about. That’s probably why people know how to smile. Because life is so good that they can’t not express it!”

  I laughed, bopping him on the shoulder. “You’re a good kid, Red. Stay safe.”

  “You just find me a dinosaur.”

  “I’ll work on it.”

  …

  Rex’s body disintegrated into ash, disappearing entirely from the face of the earth.

  Was he smiling when he died?

  I hope so.

  I could only hope so.

  Perhaps it had been quick and painless.

  Rain plastered Soise’s hair around her face, hiding how red it’d become. She sank into the mud and curled up in a ball.

  Ardenidi looked back at Soise, finally starting to get worried. “Why’s she still crying?“

  “I’d hope you’d tell me,” Jujud muttered, kneeling at her side. “She didn’t know that goblin, did she?”

  “I don’t think I’d ever seen her with it before, but…she couldn’t possibly have made friends with one of the monsters, could she? She’s not stupid.”

  “You’d be surprised how easily a player can get attached,” Jujud grunted. “A robot’s simulated emotions are only as real as you believe them to be.” She picked Soise into her arms, using a little mental energy to clean the dirt and blood from her clothes and hair. “Tetratera is a cruel place.”

  “Yeah.” Ardenidi’s gaze dulled.

  I leaned against the bark, trying not to think too hard. Without the suppression tattoo, my thoughts were running looser than I liked, like a car on an icy mountain road.

  Jujud checked on the tree where I’d been tied, some half mile away. “Please. Talk to Grind. Now.”

  “Now?”

  “Immediately?”

  “What am I supposed to say?---”

  Jujud looked Ardenidi in the eyes. “He’s too close to a meltdown. I can’t let this situation escalate any further, so just get him distracted. Anything would be fine. Xoiae might be able to help once we get back to the academy.”

  “Is he going—”

  “Now, Ardenidi.”

  She started running.

  The rain was shockingly cold, running down my hair, soaking my shirt. My feet were getting soggy.

  I think I was starting to wake up.

  All of the needles had long since dissipated, leaving only the chains.

  I didn’t even need any special powers to get out of them. The water acted as a lubricant, allowing me to slip my shoulders over the glossy metal, pulling the rest of myself out the top. I landed in the mud with a plop, staining my jeans up to the knees, though in my case, that actually went quite a ways to make them look nicer, seeing as they covered the black blood stains.

  Considering the blood still hadn’t disintegrated, I could only assume the blood was my own.

  I was in far worse shape than I realized.

  Ardenidi stumbled to a stop.

  “Hi Ardenidi,” I said, offering a quick wave.

  She tensed.

  “I must be quite a sight, shouldn’t I?” I gestured to my filthy clothes. “Think Sip is around here? He might have a few of those cleaning potions.”

  “You’re okay!” Ardenidi blurted. “You’re not angry?”

  “I am,” I said. “But I’m tired and sad more than anything.”

  “I’m sorry but there’s no other option, Grind,” Ardenidi said, stepping forward, “you can’t just let the infection spread—”

  “I know.”

  “And even if you want to help everyone, you can’t put the lives of monster over players—”

  “I know.”

  We stood across from each other.

  Ardenidi finally relaxed. “What now?”

  “I need to talk to Soise.”

  “...Right.”

  We walked beside each other, over the muddy field. Ardenidi reached out to take my hand, but I shook my head.

  Something in her expression broke.

  While we’d been talking, Jujud had summoned an enchanted tent, where Soise had been laid, swaddled with blankets. There was a bit of summoned food, but she hadn’t so much as looked at it. And she was still crying.

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  Jujud glanced over her shoulder. “Ardenidi, I asked you to stay with—GRIND!” She whirled, summoned staff in hand.

  I frowned back, gently pushing her weapon away from my face. “I’m done fighting.”

  “You two fought?” Ardenidi hissed, shooting a glare at Jujud, then an incredulous look back at me. “And you’re still alive?”

  “Yeah.” I took a deep breath, popping open the tent flap. “Hi Soise.”

  She spun toward me, inadvertently dipping a blanket into a bowl of soup. Her eyes were red like cherries with streaks of raw skin running down her mouth and chin. “G-grind I-I-didn’t-Rex wanted-he-said I love you.“ She choked. “I-I don’t mean h-he—I-I’m trying—he gave me a hug and said that he would smile a-an you still owe him a dinosaur.”

  “Thank you, Soise,” I said, with every bit of sincerity I could. “Thank you for everything.”

  Soise cried, grabbing me in a hug.

  Ardenidi stepped away from the tent with a grimace. “Jujud, should we…do something?”

  “I don’t know,” Jujud pulled on her hair. “I think Grind’s trying to help. This is a step in the right direction.”

  Soise went limp in my arms, exhausted to the point of unconsciousness.

  I laid her down as gently as I could.

  I was in her debt, and more than I could possibly hope to repay in a single lifetime.

  Speaking of which, now that this was over, I still had those Union debts that I’d have to deal with. And then there was a matter of buying Screech groceries when we got home, since he’d spent close to a full day unsupervised. Maybe he was getting worried.

  Funny how life just keeps going no matter how many horrible things happen.

  The rain was only getting heavier, followed by the clap of lightning reverberating across the forest. A gale flattened the grass, ruffling the fabric of Soise’s tent. It tore leaves from the trees and overturned smaller rocks.

  I watched the glistening forest.

  My ankle bands were cold and hard, so heavy as to press my feet an inch into the mud. Even if I wanted to break one, I probably couldn’t.

  That left me with three million strength and Crapshoveler. Certainly better than nothing, if I had to fight.

  But this was over. My family had already died. There wasn’t very much worth fighting for.

  And yet, I was still alive.

  Jujud had clamped a hand onto my shoulder. “Grind,” she warned. “Don’t.”

  Ardenidi looked from me to Jujud. “Grind?”

  “I said I was done fighting,” I said. “I am.”

  “Good.” Jujud relaxed her grip, pleasantly surprised. “Good.”

  The storm was picking up even more, utterly drenching the three of us. Even with the size of the storm, winds moving at this speed would blow it from the forest in a matter of minutes. And after that, additional teams would comb through the forest, lighting it up in flames, killing everything that still remained.

  I brushed Jujud’s hand off. “I’m fine.”

  She nodded, grabbing her earpiece. “Toya, Sip, Catania, look I’ve got something I need to explain, but for now, Toya’s going to have to be acting captain. Grind and Soise have been going under some—” her voice cut off as she turned back toward me, finding only empty air. “GRIND!”

  I blurred, flickering between the trees. I pushed my hearing further and further. I didn’t need distance nearly as much as I needed clarity. Though the rain would mask most of the sounds in the forest, it made sounds of its own as it hit plants and trees. As long as I paid attention, I had a clear shot through the forest.

  I was done fighting, but not done running.

  Some of my closest family was dead, but that wasn’t everyone. There were supposed to be some of my kids hiding in the mountain, and if they were as fragile as Rose and Junior, then they’d certainly die in the firestorm. So what if I never knew them well? They didn’t deserve to die anymore than Rex did. Or Junior. Or Rose.

  I blinked hard.

  With each step I concentrated aura into my heel, flickering forward at the pace of someone ten times my strength, crushing the forest in a shockwave behind me. My health dropped to only a couple thousand as I zipped between trees, reaching the mountain side in a matter of seconds.

  Where the whole region was utterly destroyed.

  Webs covered houses, stringing the remnants of armor and gear from the top of a spiral white pillar, around which monsters had gathered, then died, dissolving into gear and stats.

  It was an utterly and completely empty town, crushed and dragged over the side of the entire mountain, covered in broken wood and loose straw.

  {Notice}

  [{Yokikoto} and {Erenaita} have died.]

  [Neither are eligible to respawn.]

  [Time of death : 02:02]

  That was that.

  They must’ve died before we even arrived at the site, leaving the notification to alert me only after I came close enough. And that meant all the rest of my children may be dead as well, and I’d have no way to know.

  I clenched my fist.

  There had to be somebody. Anybody.

  When I tried running along the forest outskirts, whatever burst of concentration I'd had long since disappeared, replaced with a growing, gnawing numbness. More than once I ran face-first into a tree, scattering broken roots and earth.

  I was getting sick of this stupid forest. Given the rate I was blowing it apart, it wouldn’t last much longer, with or without the firestorm.

  I jumped.

  Webs snarled around my arm, pulling me back to the ground, where Toya and some of my other teammates had gathered, shouting toward me. I grabbed the web and tore it, using Crapshoveler to change my momentum, to the black splotches where entire towns had once stood.

  Jujud whirled over my head, clipping the back of my arm.

  I snapped my health to its max, dropping like a bomb in the field where corpses had already dissolved. The hollow shells of buildings teetered in the harsh wind. More than one fell from my impact.

  I swung my hand in an arc, scattering rubble into the sky, desperately searching for the smallest hint of life.

  Just more wood and straw.

  Next town.

  I vanished, ducking under one of Jujud’s swipes as I found the next clearing in the same condition as the first. Desolate. As was the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that.

  Catania tackled me to the ground as Toya wrapped my legs together.

  “There’s nobody left to save!” Jujud shouted, planting her heel on my back. “Stop!” She was breathing heavily.

  Ardenidi burst through the brush, pinning my arm down with a spear. Sip eventually showed up too, puffing for breath, pale white at the situation.

  Everybody was breathing heavily.

  I was breathing heavily. I was sweating.

  How tired was I? I must’ve had them running around for the better part of an hour.

  Jujud didn’t relax for an instant. “Grind? You’re done, okay? This is done.”

  And then, the largest noise in the forest dimmed away.

  The rain had stopped falling.

  Catania blinked, noticing a moment after me. “Hey, should we—”

  Jujud threw up her hands and everything went white.

  [You have been afflicted with {FireBlight III}]

  [{Fire Blight III} is ineffective.]

  Once the force of impact settled down, the light dissipated, leaving behind a wasteland of scorched earth. Fires burned around the corpses of small animals, puffing out as their fuel burned away.

  There was nothing left.

  No brush.

  No trees.

  No forest.

  No NO NO NO—

  I banged my head on the burning rock, squeezing my eyes shut as tears rolled down. “No.” I pulled my hair. “No.”

  “Sip you were supposed to check on Soise,” Ardenidi growled.

  Sip shrugged. “She seemed fine. Besides, that tent was meant to block the impact, right?”

  Jujud nodded slowly. “Fine. I’m more worried about Grind, anyway.” She reached a hand toward me, and I smacked it back, tearing my shirt which had been pinned down, breaking several needles so thin I hadn’t even registered their presence.

  Or I was getting sloppy.

  I just didn’t care.

  I just didn’t care about anything anymore.

  And then I was crying and screaming again, pushing away from everyone else.

  Ardenidi took a step toward me.

  “BACK OFF,” I snapped. “Not now.”

  What was wrong with me?

  I wiped tears from my eyes and face, but that didn’t seem to help anything. I was just…

  Just…

  I…

  I was just so, so, angry.

  Jujud grabbed me by the shoulder, prompting me to pivot, using her momentum to twist arm around her back. Jujud flipped in the air, aiming a needle at my neck. I caught it in my teeth, nailing Jujud in the side with a punch, then breaking her staff even as it started summoning.

  Jujud fell down, more in disbelief than inability.

  I spat the needle on the ground, feeling oddly lighter with each step.

  My two ankle braces clattered on the hard ground, their inner bands of metal melted to pulp.

  But I wasn’t in burning agony. I felt fine. Or perhaps I was already hurting so much that a little more simply meant nothing.

  I was bored, almost.

  The whole exchange had happened faster and smoother than anything I would’ve normally thought possible.

  Normally.

  I felt great, for all of two seconds, before my stomach churned, then twisted.

  I stopped, focusing on the red-tinged bands, hot to the point they let out a soft glow, crackling against the bare rock.

  All this time, if I’d just tried harder, just pushed myself a little further I could have always broken them.

  I screamed, chucking one of the bands through a tree.

  Why couldn’t I do anything?

  I was seeing red, bristling at the harsh wind.

  People I loved had died, not because I was incapable of saving them, but because I was too stupid to realize what was going on, not to mention too stupid to fix anything. Why couldn’t I be more like Soise? She’d thought everything out, but just needed a little more power to keep Rex safe. Was it her fault that she was weak? That shouldn’t have even been her responsibility in the first place. I should’ve just grabbed Rex and fought Jujud myself, forcing my body into a desperate situation, breaking the bands.

  Why’d I have to be useless?

  The pain was beginning to take hold, flaring into my body like a hot iron.

  So when Ardenidi moved toward me, I hadn’t registered my elbow before it connected with the back of her head, throwing her to the ground.

  {Ardenidi : (-1m) -900k Hp}

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