The turquoise light spread out, racing to both Hunters, then flashed red.

Jorden’s stomach lurched, and then his feet thumped down onto pavement as cold air blasted him.

Both Hunters landed near him, a line of fire connecting them to his chest.

He checked the corner of his vision.

Retribution Tether

15

Enhanced flames in effect

He ignored the passive effect. His Skill often got random bullshit meant to combo with a Class he didn’t have.

His attention settled on the 15 as it ticked down.

14

The Hunters looked around, dazed and in pain, as they scratched at the fire burning away.

Jorden bolted, his feet slamming against the pavement as he ran for everything he was worth.

Two roars chased his heels. He would have run faster if he could.

Jorden felt when the Hunters sprang after him, and not because they shook the ground or anything like that. He could literally feel them like he had a radar in his head.

They were closing in on him from both sides. He juked left and felt them move after him.

So Retribution Tether could teleport him and enemies, burned them, and gave him a sense of their location, as well as some sort of fire buff? What the hell kind of Class had it come from?

He felt a Hunter leap for him, and Jorden activated Are Those New Shoes.

A grey meter appeared in the corner of his vision as a gust of freezing air slammed into him.

He flew forward, the ground rushing by as the wind tore at his face.

He started falling and tried to will the air to catch him. He would never have tried it a week ago, but the constant Skill changes had made him more open to desperate Hail Marys.

The wind stirred, and the frigid air wrapped around him. His new meter immediately drained by a quarter, but he kept flying forward.

He angled his body and touched down, stumbling but barely slowing.

Another leap from behind, another dodge.

His heart pounded, and his lungs burned with cold, but there was something else. A sense of pride, of purpose.

He could help the others. He didn’t need to fight; hell, he didn’t even need to be brave. He just needed to run.

For every second the Hunters chased him, they weren’t chasing the others.

A manic laugh almost tore its way past his lips. He could run like a coward and not feel guilty!

He vaulted a car, using a cushion of air to help him clear it. There was a crash and crunch of shattering glass and crumpling metal. He risked a glance back. The dog Hunter had torn through the car, leaving it looking like it had checked a wall at speed.

The other Hunter charged, its awful hand-feet scraping the asphalt.

Jorden tried to blast it with wind, but nothing happened.

Self-targeting only!

He threw himself forward with a gust of air to the back, barely dodging a swipe of black claws.

He hit the ground and rolled. Adrenaline blunted the pain as he sprang to his feet.

He glanced around as he ran. The performing arts center was only a block away, as well as the small park right next to it.

He raced forward, using bursts of air to dodge attacks as he went.

The tether faded, and he immediately lost track of the Hunters. His fear spiked. Having a constant bead on the hunters had made dodging much easier, but it had also felt safer. He’d known exactly when a monster was swinging for his spine.

No uncertainty.

No-well, less fear.

He hurled himself into a wind-assisted jump, dropping the meter below half as a claw swished past his head.

He landed and reached the Performing Arts Center, its shadow looming tall in the night. He blitzed past a staircase leading to an entrance and burst into the park.

It was a quaint thing, with paved walkways between small hills dotted with trees and a large open section in the middle that was turned into an ice rink in the winter.

A few ice sculptures stood at the edges. Elaborate, beautiful things bigger than he was.

A stunningly detailed moose, its antlers raised in challenge.

A lumber Jack, his axe raised to swing and a smile on his bearded face.

A polar bear looking over its shoulder, a question on its noble face.

Jorden took it all in as he burst into the center at a dead sprint. Unfortunately, he only remembered the part about the ice rink when his feet flew out from under him.

He slammed a burst of wind into his back before he hit, sending him flying across the ice.

The Hunters scrabbled at his heels. The bird didn’t have a problem; its disgusting hand-feet punching through the ice as it ran.

The wolf thing immediately went down, its powerful front legs scrabbling for purchase.

He checked his cooldowns. Wizard’s Gambit had 10 seconds left. His eyes flicked to his meter, a little over a quarter.

That could last him 10 seconds, right?

The bird closed in, talons flashing and voice crowing.

Jorden used a burst of wind to fling himself to the side.

7

He didn’t bother trying to get up, letting himself coast on the ice as the Hunters reoriented on him.

The bird closed again, its movements sickeningly fast, and nearly took his head off with a swipe.

5

One hit, and I’m dead.

The thought turned his guts to ice.

The wolf Hunter regained its feet and turned toward Jorden, its eyes narrow.

Jorden used another burst of wind to keep his momentum up as the bird continued to give chase.

Shadows congealed over greasy feathers, and its next swipe came in even faster.

It clipped the ice sculpture of the lumber Jack as they raced by, tearing a massive chunk out of his shoulder.

3

A burst of wind against his legs to spin him out of the path of a claw, another to curve around the edge of the small rink, and one last desperate burst as the wolf started to charge.

0

Jorden activated the Skill and raised his hand at the wolf.

His Skill, once again, completely ignored his hand. Instead the power built in his chest, and kept building.

A massive pool of freezing cold began to fill, then overflow inside of him. Just when Jorden thought he was going to burst, a massive wave of turquoise light flashed out into the ice, sinking in and spreading out before fading.

For a terrible moment, nothing happened as what little meter he had left drained away.

Jorden laughed, the sound high and desperate. His meter bottomed out, and the Skill went on cooldown.

A new 30 appeared in his vision.

As Jorden’s momentum kept him moving, he glanced at a new prompt.

Ice Army

Epic

Jorden blinked. Are Those New Shoes had never told him the rarity of the Skills it copied before, but he guessed he’d never rolled an epic before.

He slid to a stop against the edge of the rink, his back thumping into the snowy hill.

Then Hunters advanced, then every ice sculpture in the park came alive.