Joe and Diana sat panting on the meadow's grass, basking in the fake afternoon sun. The loot from the treant sat between them, a reminder of the slog of a fight they had just faced. The treant wasn't a strong monster for a boss. It wasn't particularly fast, and it didn't hit that hard unless you got too close. It was tough as hell versus blunt force trauma, which had been Joe's bread and butter most of this time. Well, except for bite, and as luck would have it, everything was poisonous, venomous, or both in this rift. Not to mention they tasted like shit.

The loot was a mixed bag. Joe finally received a silver coin. It wasn't a huge surprise that it looked exactly like the other rift coins. They also didn't have much value yet, though that would probably change the second people were running rifts regularly. The other item was a single maple seed. That was confusing on so many levels. The treant looked more like a messed-up willow, first of all. Joe knew that logic didn't necessarily apply to the rifts, but he couldn't figure it out until Diana spoke up.

"That thing is filled with earth mana. There is a tiny bit of essence in it as well."

Joe frowned. "What do we do with it?"

Diana shrugged, "Hell if I know."

Joe had finished eating several berries, and the poison had been flushed from his system. Unfortunately, they didn't do much for the horrible taste still lingering in his mouth. The lashings still hurt, but they had healed to the point that they looked several days old. Being covered in yellow and purple bruises wasn't ideal, but Joe wouldn't enter any beauty pageants or bachelor auctions anytime soon. With a dad groan, he pulled himself to his feet and walked over to the pillar. He was pleasantly surprised that the boss fight had put him up to three essence levels.

The leveling rush hit him, and it felt great, just like before. If adding one bonus attribute felt like electric tingles, this was a full-body car battery rub down, in a good way. Joe assigned the free attributes to Fortitude and Reflex. It did suck to earn bonus Fortitude. That choice gave him a spread across five different attributes and kept everything close to the same level. At some point, he knew he'd have to specialize and start focusing on a couple of attributes, but for now, he wanted options. Except for magic, that would probably always be his dump stats.

That left Joe with one essence level to spend. There were still no new options in the store, and none of the skills offered jumped out at him. He mentally noted to try some new stuff and unlock more options in the future. Joe In the meantime, Tough Skin getting a level up made perfect sense. He would end up fighting in rifts and maybe giant murder hounds in the future. Joe wanted his skin to be as tough as possible. Unfortunately, the only way to test the skill was to get hit. It wasn't on the immediate to-do list.

Joe looked over at Diana, doing her best to cover a yawn now that the post-fight euphoria had worn off.

"Why don't you check out the pillar, and we'll head back. I don't think either of us are in the right condition to keep going."

Diana nodded and walked over to the pillar. She frowned and then walked away. "I leveled up mana sense. It doubled my range."

"That makes sense. Everything nasty seems to have some kind of mana. An early warning skill would be nice."

Diana's stance softened. Joe hadn't noticed until that moment, but she'd been pretty tense after touching the pillar. Perhaps she was feeling the lack of a magic attack with the magic class. Lord knows he was waiting for an active skill that didn't involve biting monsters. Joe wasn't sure and was too tired to broach the subject then. They both faced the portal and walked through it together.

The darkness of late night assaulted their eyes after the hours of bright sunlight. The night insects and frogs hummed their usual symphony, and the air was pleasantly cool. Even the smell of the grass and trees seemed to hit his nose. Joe's eyes adjusted surprisingly fast, and he looked towards the three people huddled next to a small torch planted in the ground. They looked over at his arrival, their faces pale and grim. It struck Joe like a lightning bolt. There were only three guards. Joe dashed towards the group, and they froze.

"Get over here," Joe yelled at the trio! "If the monsters are here we need to group up. Get behind me and watch the sides. Diana, in the middle."

At that moment, Joe saw the look on Carl's face. It was fleeting in the unsteady light of the torch, but a moment was all it took for Joe to freeze in place and hold his arm out to stop Diana. Joe knew that look all too well. He used to see that look every time he saw his face in a mirror after his family was taken. He saw it every time someone was hurt or run off by the council, and he did nothing so they wouldn't take his house. Shame. It was almost odd to see it on another person's face. For a long time, the emotion had felt like Joe's personal domain.

"How many people are waiting outside the fence?"

Joe's voice isn't loud, though it is rough. No one said anything, and he walked closer to the three guards. They drew together, fear apparent on their faces and their posture. Hands gripped spears tighter, the weapons shaking slightly from nerves and adrenaline. He wasn't faced with killers and thugs. Their body language spoke of fear. Joe stopped and did his best to remove the anger from his voice.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Just tell me what's happening."

"Put down your weapons," a new voice shouted from the darkness. The owner stepped into the flickering light, and five other men quickly joined him, clustered close together. The guy in charge looked to be six feet tall and clean-shaven. A slight beer belly also drew Joe's eye, and it was clear that this was the local boss. The shaky guard from before was in the back and doing his best not to be noticed. So much for good karma from not beating his head in earlier. Joe never took his eyes off the group but turned his head slightly towards the three guards closer to him.

"This is probably going to get ugly. Why don't you three just head out? I won't follow you. Just go home."

"You don't give the orders here!"

Mr. Boss Man was not happy with being ignored. His posture went completely rigged like a puppet picked up from the back of its neck, and his face darkened with an angry flush. Joe would have laughed at the massive stick shoved deep in the man's colon if it wasn't a violent beat-down situation. A small part of his mind wondered if fighting monsters every day was warping him so that he didn't feel more than a small thrill of fear at being outnumbered. A smaller part wondered if the system or his class was changing him somehow. Joe didn't have time for that and shoved it into a mental box in the back.

"You're in a lot of trouble. We've worked hard to keep our community safe and we can't have strangers wandering in and doing whatever they want. A strong society has rules. Rules that everyone has to follow." The boss paused, giving a moment for his words to linger. "Now, you are going to drop your weapons and come with us. We're going to confiscate everything and then you're going to work off your debt for assualting our people."

Joe was so over this monologue. Maybe it was because he stopped speaking to people over the last year, but Joe didn't think so. This guy was so full of shit that his teeth were probably brown in the daylight, and Joe was sick to death of putting up with this crap. He'd tried to be nice. He'd bent over backward to not make waves and try for peaceful options. It hadn't worked, and his patience was hanging by a thin thread. He hooked his thumb over his shoulder at Diana before interrupting.

"What about her? She didn't attack anyone."

Joe did enjoy the rage on Mr. Monologue's face from his interruption. It was petty, but simple pleasures were all he had these days.

"Don't worry about her. Worry about yourself."

Joe's head swam for a second, but he shook it slightly, and the feeling vanished. The rift run must have taken more out of him than he thought. He reached into his pocket and ate a berry before continuing, and the action seemed to anger the opposite man even further.

"I'm not one of your stooges. I'll worry about whoever I want. So if you want me to put down this lovely bat I'm holding then tell me why she can't walk away right now."

"Frank, Diana has nothing to do with this," Carl spoke out of the guard trio. The interruption shocked Joe and Frank, who had almost forgotten about the guards. Carl seemed a little shocked at speaking out as well, so everyone got in on the feeling.

"Carl, keep your damn mouth shut unless you want to join him on the rift teams. She's going back to Dublin and that's the end of it."

Again Joe felt a little dizzy spell hit him and fade. He looked over at Diana, and she was pale. Her face was lined with fear and her eyes wide with burgeoning panic. Joe faced back towards Frank. He dropped his attempt at keeping his voice even remotely friendly, and it became rough from anger and exhaustion from the day.

"Not going to happen. She clearly doesn't want to go. Last chance. How about we call off this dick-measuring contest and go our seperate ways. It's very late and I'm getting cranky."

Frank's face couldn't possibly get darker without blowing a blood vessel. His chest expanded in preparation for a screaming session before he visibly took control of himself. His voice was still loud and angry when he spoke a moment later.

"You don't seem to understand the situation."

"Oh, I see you all," Joe cut him off again. "I assume you have some more hidden away somewhere. Scared little kids usually bully in groups."

Joe caught Frank's eyes darting past him towards the condos behind the rift. So that's where the calvary was waiting. It made sense. If Joe had made a dash for it, that was the most likely direction he would go. Only a madman would head towards the fields at night if they knew what was in them. Frank was not taking the constant interruptions well. Joe continued to enjoy that aspect of their conversation.

"Fuck you! We don't need anyone else you prick. We all leveled up. So I don't give a damn how strong you think you are. You are going to the work group one way or the other. They only choice you get is how much damage you take on the way there."

"Good. Unlike you guys, I don't like beating up weaklings."

Joe smiled, full and fierce. He knew he probably wouldn't win, but damn it, if he wouldn't hold the line. Caring about things sucked sometimes, but he wasn't going back into the grey apathy that had swallowed him for far too long. He glanced over at Diana and yelled to break through her shock.

"Don't go over the fence, there are more waiting back by your place. Wait for an opening and make a break for it. I've got this."

"That's enough Frank!"

Carl stepped forward from the guards. His voice quavered slightly from fear, and his spear shook, but he carried on loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I joined the council to help keep order when the world was going to shit. I stayed because even though it wasn't right, I thought it was the best option any of us had. But you aren't the king of Ohio. You can't just disappear everyone that doesn't agree with you. This shit has got to stop."

The other younger guard nodded his head but didn't say anything. His hands were shaking on the spear just as much as Carls, but his feet stayed planted with the other two guards. The lone woman in the group found her voice next. She started low but built with heat and passion as she went. She looked around at the two groups, though her eyes refused to land on Diana.

"None of us joined for this shit. We just wanted to take care of our families. We wanted to be safe and fed. Not forcing people from their homes and we damn sure didn't sign up for taking unwilling women, just because some council leaders son has a crush on her."

Frank's face was almost purple at this point. If Joe had given half a damn, he would have worried that the man would have a heart attack. He was surprised at the guard's outburst. It might now change anything, but it was good to see that there were still nuggets of human decency alive out in the world.

"You idiots," Frank spoke. "You don't know what you're saying. Get over here so we can put an end to this."

Once again, Joe felt a little wave of dizziness, though it seemed lesser now that his bloodlust was up and running. Joe looked over, and he could see the guard's resolve wavering. The uncertainty and fear were apparent even in the poor and wavering light of the torch. Diana shouted from behind Joe and drew everyone's attention.

"He's using mana! It's some kind of skill when he speaks."

Her hand was pointing straight at Frank. It all made sense. Joe had survived poisoning and blood loss. Hell, he'd survived both at the same time. A little tiredness, even from a crazy day and rift run, should not have brought him to his knees. He was pleased that he'd raised his magical attributes even by a bare pittance. There was no guarantee they were helping, but they might be. Joe had tried to avoid it, but he knew how this would end from the minute he saw Frank's posse. He pointed at the guards and then to Diana.

"You four keep each other safe. I've about had it with this asshole."

Joe ran forward. His body ached from his exertions during the day and the rift, but he pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he dashed at the six men in front of him. His new level and the uncommon class gave him an edge, but he doubted it was enough to go six on one and win in a straight fight. His best bet would be to either break their will early or buy the group behind him enough time to escape and then bolt after them. The men in front of him formed around Frank, though Joe noticed the shaky guard was positioning himself firmly to the back. It made sense. He'd seen Joe fight.

"Get out of my way!"

It wasn't an inspired battle cry, but it perfectly summed up Joe's position. One spear wielder was startled by his cry and fumbled his weapon out of position. The other two were spot on and aimed right at Joe's chest. They were both men in their late twenties. If Joe had to guess, he'd assume they had some common fighter class. They moved slowly, and their strikes didn't seem to have excessive power. Or maybe it just seemed that way after fighting spider foxes and giant poisonous trees.

Even slow, there was no way for Joe to completely avoid both thrusts at his current distance. He angled sideways and brought his bat with a sideways swing. A loud clack filled the area as he drove one of the spears away to his side. A grunt left Joe involuntarily as the other spear took a deep cut on the outside of his hip on that side. He knew it would happen, but it still burned like fire. It didn't stop Joe, though. He'd had worse.

It was too late for the spear wielders to retract their weapons, and Joe was too close for anyone else to have a good angle. Spears were amazing at a distance. Up close and personal they needed space and training to be effective. These men had neither. Joe's bat was out of position, but he brought it back for a half-power swipe at the man who'd hit him. Joe was slightly startled when the man went down with a shriek, clutching his broken right arm. These guys clearly had not earned any points in Fortitude.

The other man was right in front of him. Joe saw the realization and fear in his face bloom in almost slow motion. The pain in Joe's hip was forgotten as he committed himself completely to the fight. In his peripheral vision, he saw guards three and four move to pincer him as Frank scrambled backward towards Mr. Scaredypants. In a moment of inspiration, Joe grabbed the guard in front of him and threw him at the man to his right. They tangled each other up and fell to the ground. Joe dove to the side, but he was too late.

A small spearpoint, barely more than a knife on a stick, was lodged in the meat of Joe's left shoulder. Joe screamed in pain. He grabbed the spear with both hands and pushed it out of his flesh. The man holding the spear's eyes widened in shock and fear as he could do nothing to stop it. Weight and angle only meant so much when they came up against greater Strength and tempered will. Joe screamed again, this time in pure rage, before turning sideways and ripping the spear out of the guard's hands.

"I really wanted one of these."

Joe's smile didn't reach his eyes, and he was all the more chilling for it. He suspected that to be the case as the recently disarmed guard now had clearly wet pants. Joe swung the spear's haft and clunked the man in the head. He went down like a puppet with its strings cut. Joe planted the spear in the ground and turned to face the four people still on their feet. He tried to disguise how much he was leaning on the impromptu walking stick. The pain and blood loss was becoming a distraction, and his strength was starting to diminish. He opened his mouth to speak but a sound closing in from the west stopped him.

A sound he knew all too well from earlier in the day was distant but drawing closer. Howls made of broken dreams and grinding bones filled the night and closing too fast for comfort. Joe turned to Diana and the trio of guards. They hadn't even moved, too entranced in Joe's fight to get away. He screamed at them while doing his best to hobble dash in their direction.

"Get in the damn rift!"