Luis led them through the camp, angling toward one of the visible rifts in the distance. As they walked, he identified their roles and powers.

  The group had a Duelist, Elementalist, and Summoner—each from Mexico. The Duelist called himself Tajo, though Terry got the impression that was a super moniker rather than a given name. He was a shorter man, barely coming to Terry’s chest. Despite his stature—or because of it—he possessed a fiery presence, summoning two curved swords with a flourish when asked about his role.

  Tajo was a speed-based Duelist and confirmed that he couldn’t tank, but would, ‘cut down anything that got in their way.’

  The other man was tall where Tajo was short, his build lean and thin. He introduced himself as José, and explained that he was a Summoner who could call on a Hippopotamus to tank for them.

  The Mexican woman was a Water Elementalist named Lupe. Though, the way she described her powers, it seemed more fitting to call her a Blood Elementalist. Apparently, she could weaponize exposed blood, creating whips or blades from hardening the element. She couldn’t affect blood inside the body—to which Terry was thankful. That sounded terrifying.

  Then, Luis questioned the girl who had bulled her way into the group. Her name was Ellie, and as described, she was a healer. As an Infuser, she could affect the internals of a body, though she didn’t go into specific details except to say she could knit bone and skin back together.

  When it came time for Terry to introduce himself and his powers, though, Ellie jumped in before he could speak.

  “Oh, you don’t know him?” she asked with an air of superiority, like association with him was some sort of badge. His eyes widened in panic as he sensed what she was about to say next. “This is the White Rose’s son.”

  The others perked up at that, even Luis’ eyebrows rising as they regarded him in a new light. Inside, he felt his heartbeat begin to thunder in his chest.

  Why had she made a point of telling them that? he complained internally. What game is she playing?

  “Is that true?” Tajo asked. “You La Rosa’s son?”

  “Did he say he was a Traveler?” Lupe asked the others as if he wasn’t standing right in front of her. Then, she seemed to realize and turned to him. “Is it true? You’re a Traveler?”

  Terry hesitated for some reason, his eyes finding Ellie’s pleased smile. With a sigh, he nodded. “Yes, it’s true.”

  “Some people have all the luck,” Tajo complained. “La Rosa’s son and a Traveler?”

  Lupe replied in rapid-fire Spanish and Terry didn’t even bother to translate. Tajo started to answer back, when Luis cut across their chatter.

  “Enough of that. We’re on a clock and there’s still a lot to cover before you’re ready to enter the rift.”

  An array of reactions filtered among the group—equal parts trepidation and nervousness from what Terry could tell—but Ellie had a noticeably different expression on her face.

  He could have sworn that what he was seeing there was confidence, and not just the simple surety of a competent individual, but the casual ease of someone walking an oft-trodden road.

  Before he could analyze that expression further, Luis was diving into rift specifics.

  “We’ve identified four rift patterns at the C-rank level so far. Tell me, have any of you entered a rift yet?”

  Terry turned expectantly to Ellie, simply based on her confident demeanor, but she kept her hand down. Tajo was the only one to raise his hand. When he saw he was alone, he raised a single brow in a smug expression.

  Luis nodded acknowledgment. “Excellent. What type did you experience?”

  Tajo lowered his hand. “Wave-type.”

  “One of the tougher variations,” Luis said, eliciting another confident smile from Tajo. He turned to the others. “A wave-type rift spawns the delvers in some sort of defensible position. Creatures attack that position in increasing numbers and variety, until the rift has ended or the delvers retreat. There’s usually a timer, though we’ve had reports of fixed-wave counts as well.”

  Lupe raised her hand and Luis nodded.

  “We’re able to retreat if the rift is too much?”

  Tajo scoffed lightly, but Lupe ignored it, gluing her eyes to Luis with a painfully obvious hope.

  “In a wave-type rift, yes,” he said. Lupe’s eyes widened. “In the other variations, you’re not restricted from using the exit portal, but it remains at the beginning of the rift. If you needed to flee, it would be a run back to the start—” His eyes found Terry. “—or in your case, a portal back.”

  Lupe looked toward Terry, seeming suddenly grateful for his presence. Tajo, in contrast, cast him a glare.

  “We’re not retreating,” he said forcefully. “In fact, I don’t know what you bring to the group, Rosacito—except to weaken the resolve of our team.” He directed that last part toward Lupe, who shrank in on herself.

  He opened his mouth to retort, when Ellie cut across him.

  “If you think all a Traveler’s good for is retreating, then you haven’t seen any good Travelers in action.”

  Terry’s eyebrows climbed his forehead in surprise and he wondered if he hadn’t misread the insistent girl. Tajo turned with a scowl, clearly ready for a verbal spar, when Luis’ flared his aura, cutting across any reply.

  “Enough bickering, or I’ll ask Brisa to bench each one of you.” His glare found not just Tajo and Ellie, but the rest of them as well. When nobody retorted, he nodded once. “As I was saying, there are three additional variations you need to be ready for.”

  Terry paid close attention as Luis talked, putting any concerns for Ellie or the others to the back of his mind. The other three rift variations seemed straightforward to him. Besides the wave-type, there was also an escort mission, a classic dungeon clearing type—though Luis assured them that dungeon didn’t necessarily mean underground—and a puzzle type.

  His first impression was that the escort mission would be best for their group—he could simply teleport them all to the final destination and call it a day. But Luis explained to him that that wouldn’t work. Whatever intelligence controlled the escort target wouldn’t take a portal—even if forced.

  Which prompted another round of questions as they tried to understand what he meant by ‘intelligence.’

  “Is it the Systems controlling the monsters and escort targets?” Lupe asked.

  “Unclear,” Luis responded.

  “Do they take instructions?” Tajo asked.

  Luis nodded. “They’ll hold position when told, even take cover in certain circumstances. What they won’t do, is stay at the start while you clear the rift. We don’t know if there’s a leash range, but if the group separates either from the target or from each other too far, the target will race to catch up. Often directly into danger.”

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  They continued asking questions about the different types, the discussion dragging on until it was obvious their own reticence was preventing them from moving forward.

  Eventually, Luis held up a hand to forestall any more questions, indicating the nearby rift with a nod.

  “It’s time. If we wait any longer, you’ll be facing competition on the other side.” The weight in his tone indicated that that was the last thing they wanted. “We don’t know how long the windows are, but we do know that as the defending world, we get first crack at the rift. That’s another reason retreat isn’t a great option. If you fail and return through the entrance portal, the other side’s rift opens up right away.”

  “We won’t retreat,” Tajo said confidently, the heat in his eyes directed toward Lupe, then Terry for some inexplicable reason.

  Luis frowned at that. “There’s no harm in living to fight another day…” His hesitation indicated that he wasn’t too pleased with the concept though. “Just, do your best,” he finally added with a nod.

  Tajo was already holding his System-provided swords, bouncing from leg to leg in anticipation. Ellie flashed him a mischievous smile, followed by a wink. Terry nodded in return awkwardly, still not sure what it was that had been nagging at him about the girl.

  José summoned his hippo—Roca—the large creature suddenly ambling through an unusual portal. Terry had the urge to study that summoning portal, but it was gone before he could even take an Aura Snapshot.

  “ánimo,” Luis said before taking a step back to give them room. “See you on the other side.”

  Tajo saluted with one of his swords, then dashed through the rift. Roca followed a moment later on José’s command. Lupe gave the rift a concerned look before she too stepped through, leaving Ellie and Terry behind.

  The girl gave him a rakish smile before jumping through herself and Terry found himself hesitating. It wasn’t fear—not exactly—but that same nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

  He suddenly wished he had copied Tania’s Danger Sense Skill before volunteering. It suddenly seemed like a massive oversight that he hadn’t.

  There was no time for regret. He braced himself and stepped forward. The rift enveloped him both like and unlike one of his portals. He felt space bend and shift in unusual ways, but it felt more like when he had been summoned to the Underworld—a sort of leap between planes, rather than across space.

  When his feet touched solid ground, he was immediately overwhelmed by both the visual shift of entering a new environment, and the System notifications scrolling across his vision.

  New Quest: [Escort the Target]

  Time to complete: 1 hour, 15 minutes

  Reward: Variable

  Target and destination highlighted on your interface.

  Group Chat joined.

  Timer started.

  The sun and pleasant warmth of that Mexico City field was replaced by an overcast sky and a biting wind.

  For the hundredth time, he scolded himself for not preparing for inclement weather.

  And this time, he didn’t dare use Master of Light to maintain his body temp—not with how closely Ellie seemed to be watching him.

  Speaking of the healer, she was watching him at that very moment, her eyes scanning him up and down before meeting his gaze. When they did, she plastered another smile across her face, though it seemed more forced now.

  The others were gathered around a person highlighted by his interface. Though person was a bit of a stretch. A more apt description would have been mannequin.

  It presented in a human body, though its skin was a slate-grey—closer to plastic than flesh—and its face was eerily blank, no hint of features marring its surface. The mannequin was obviously their target, even without the corona of light circling it like a full-body halo.

  As he turned away from the target, a distant indicator caught his eye. It was a subtle mark in the distance, like a giant arrow pointing down, only miles away.

  In between them and the arrow, two separated cliffs spread before them, with a narrow ravine snaking directly through the middle of them like a canyon. They were positioned high up on a flat plateau, looking down at the tops of either cliff and the canyon. The plateau stretched forward, giving them a path to the top of the cliffs and deeper into the canyon. In the distance, both flat tops of the cliffs were suddenly interrupted by looming mountains.

  The choice seemed obvious—take the ravine, but give up the high ground, or follow along the top of the cliffs and have to eventually ascend a mountain.

  He turned to the others to discuss which path to take, when he saw Tajo leading the target away. His eyes met José, who simply shrugged before following the man.

  “Hey,” he called after them. “Shouldn’t we discuss options?”

  Tajo didn’t even look back as he called over his shoulder. “We’re taking the canyon. Fastest path between any two points is a straight line, Rosacito.”

  Terry looked toward the two women, but Ellie simply flashed him a shrug, while Lupe seemed as lost as a newborn deer, her eyes darting around anxiously.

  He jogged to catch up to the two men. “Don’t you think it’s a little more complicated than that?” he asked as he neared Tajo’s shoulder. “If it was as simple as follow the easiest path, this wouldn’t be much of a challenge, right?”

  Tajo cast him a dismissive look. “So what? If it gets dicey, we’ll handle it.” He indicated himself and José with that statement. “You just hang in the back and stay outta our way. Okay, Rosacito?”

  Terry stopped in place, watching the two men descend the trail into the ravine. He resisted the urge to let his anger cloud his judgment, instead casting his eyes up to either side of the cliffs.

  Lupe passed him as he thought, sending him a bashful look before hurrying to catch up with the others. But when he looked for Ellie, he found her standing uncomfortably close at his shoulder.

  He resisted the urge to flinch away, but couldn’t hide the surprise in the rise of his eyebrows.

  “What’s the plan, Terry?”

  He was surprised at the question, but more surprised that it was Ellie of all people that he’d found an ally in. Turning his thoughts back to the problem, he scanned the cliffs once more.

  “There’s gotta be a drawback to taking the canyon,” he said after a moment. “Rockslides or an ambush, maybe?” He shook his head. “I don’t know enough about the rifts to speculate, but I very much doubt it’s gonna be a simple passthrough to the destination.”

  When he turned back, he was surprised to see an appraising look on Ellie’s face, as if she hadn’t expected any forethought in the White Rose’s son. After a moment, she nodded agreement.

  “Makes sense to me. Got a plan?”

  He bit his lip, wondering if he wasn’t overthinking things. But after a moment, he nodded.

  “Yeah, I have a plan.”

  As much as he would have liked to utilize Master of Light to hide the entire group, that ship had sailed. Instead, he had to make due with his portals. Not that he was complaining, but he really did hate being restricted like this.

  He set off at a light jog—not toward the path angling down the ravine, but to the leftmost plateau above the cliffs overlooking the canyon.

  At his side, Ellie followed with a huff. “Care to explain the plan?”

  He cast a glance at the girl, chewing his lip in thought. There was something off about her, something that wouldn’t let him put his guard down, despite her choosing to follow him over Tajo. Still, he supposed he could reveal this much at least.

  “We’ll skip ahead using my portals,” he explained as they jogged. “From this vantage, we should be able to spot any ambush or traps before they stumble into them.”

  She tripped at his side, nearly falling to the ground before recovering her feet.

  “What’s the rush!” she complained as she caught her footing. “Why are we sprinting?”

  With a start, he realized that he was running at a light jog for a D-ranked Duelist, not an Infuser. She might have been able to juice herself up with her powers, but not to that extent.

  “Sorry.” He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, slowing his pace. “We can portal ahead.”

  He spotted a position a few hundred feet ahead of the others, high up on the cliffs overlooking them. With a flex of aura, space parted, forming a blue oval before them. He stepped through, his feet crunching over stone as he made way for Ellie to follow.

  The wind picked up at that moment and she swayed as she stepped through, her disorientation from the portal and the gust nearly knocking her to the ground. He reached out a hand, steadying her with a grip on her forearm.

  Their auras touched and he felt something in it, something that felt familiar. Before he could examine it further, she pulled her hand back quickly, an uncharacteristic blush to her cheeks.

  “T-thanks,” she said breathlessly, her eyes trailing to the cliff edge only five feet away. She gasped suddenly. “Did you have to make the exit so close to the edge? I could have fallen!”

  He resisted the instinct to roll his eyes. It wasn’t that he had anything against people wary of heights—far from it. But five feet was quite a distance to accidentally walk without seeing the yawning gap beneath you.

  “I would have caught you,” he replied, forcing a reassuring tone into his voice. “You’re safe.”

  The fear in her eyes settled, replaced with a peculiar fawning look. She reached out a hand toward him.

  “My hero—”

  Something caught his eye and he instinctively yanked her down. She let out a little yelp in surprise and his hand snaked forward to cover her mouth. Behind his grip, her eyes were wide in shock.

  He put a finger to his lips, then nodded over the cliff edge to the far side of the ravine.

  Together, they inched forward on their hands and knees, peering where he had indicated.

  Hidden midway up the far cliff were half a dozen pockets cut into the stone. Each was occupied by a beast-man hybrid wielding a bow and arrow.

  And they weren’t idly going about their business; they had their strings strung and their arrows ready to nock.

  Just down the ravine, José’s voice could be heard, loud and clear.

  “We should wait for them. Or at least the healer. We might need her.”

  Tajo came into view around a bend in the ravine, the target trailing behind.

  “We’re not gonna need her,” he replied confidently. “We can handle anything that gets in our way.”

  Terry pulled up the group chat with frantic urgency.

  Patreon is into the next arc.