Once we were all on the bus the next day, Timon displayed a surprisingly accurate depiction of the globe. On it were several dots, apparently representing the orc activity he’d discovered, plus a giant question mark in Antarctica. We’d have to hit that one eventually, but for now, it was the lowest priority. This trip was about learning to function as a team, saving lives, and assessing the planet’s governments and resources.

  “Alright, so the big red dots are the incursions that haven’t gone to ground yet. We’ve got five main ones I’m worried about. After that are the yellow, we got a couple hundred of those. An orc squad was there but has either found a way underground or left the universe. Finally, there’s the two green dots. Those are orc squads that are sure to be a problem in the future but can’t be right now,” Timon explained.

  The five big red dots were in large population centers, which I suppose made sense. Lots of compacted people in small areas made it very hard to fight back without killing others. I was sure that one of them was New York City, but my international geography wasn’t the best. At least I knew the countries; Japan, China, Brazil, and Egypt. Didn’t India and Mexico also have cities bigger than the United States? What made these five places so special?

  “So Tokyo, Shanghai, S?o Paulo, Cairo, and NYC then? Sure they are all giant cities, but Delhi is bigger than everyone except Tokyo. Is it just random?” Alex asked, speaking up. She had loved maps as a kid, guess that interest had held.

  “When Wralf was killed, the various squads would have immediately known their quest had failed. They also know the Singing Blades would make no effort to recover them. Possibly me, but not them. I assume Sanquar’s presence threw a giant wrench into any attempt there. What that means is that any of the particularly stupid squad leaders with their ideas of being a faction leader likely took charge of whoever would follow them and began an attempt to fortify whatever area they were in. The smarter ones understood that if Wralf was dead, there was someone stronger than them, and anyone still killing humans would be the first target. They found areas below ground and took their men there,” Rabyn explained.

  “Ah, so then all big cities were likely initially targeted, but those missing orcs have since fled,” Alex replied, nodding along with her words.

  “Yes. And I assume those green dots represent two groups that managed to flee off the planet, but not the universe. Those are the smartest ones,” Rabyn said, pointing to the dots.

  “Wait, so where are they going? We don’t really have other habitable planets nearby. At least, I don’t think we do,” I said. Then again, they did have magic, so who knew what was considered habitable for them?

  “Without knowing the means they used to escape the planet, I can’t fully predict where they would go or what their future plans will be. Also, I believe it’s best that during these fights, I wear a mask,” Rabyn said as he produced a dark red one from his System storage.

  “Oh yeah, that’s going to be a problem. Connie and Elody look human enough, but Glorp, Cecile, and Elicec are going to be a problem,” I said, not really sure what to do here. There was a good chance that their presence would just cause more panic, even if they were fighting against the orcs.

  “It’s fine. I already figured that would be a problem. I talked to Connie about it this morning. She believes she can keep us under a camouflage ability while we fight,” Elicec said reassuringly.

  “Yeah, normally disguising us from this many people would be a problem, but without a mana flow here, it’s gonna be pretty hard for anyone besides the orcs to see through the magic. That said, Rabyn, keep the mask,” Connie explained with a smile, looking incredibly proud of herself.

  “Well, that solves that potential problem, I guess. If there’s nothing else to discuss before we head out, I want to start here,” I said, pointing at the dot over New York City. The United Nations headquarters was there, and that was where we had the greatest chance of finding Laura.

  “Nope, so far, yer planning this out well enough. I’m going to try to keep my mouth shut and see how y’all interact best without me interfering. It’s important ta find a harmony since I won’t be there with ya in the fights,” Mel answered gruffly, wobbling slightly in the air. It didn’t look like he had fully recovered from the previous night’s activities just yet.

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  “Good, then everyone, sit the hell down. We’re off to whatever Dave just called that place,” Timon said as the dot over New York City turned into an arrow moments before the bus sprang to life and took to the air. Chip was once again sitting on Timon’s shoulder, likely supplementing the mana he needed for the trip.

  The bus had flown too high into the clouds for me to get a good look at the ground below. I’d been hoping to see just how bad things looked from the sky, but considering what Timon had said was needed mana-wise to keep this bus in the air, I figured he was doing the best he could for the trip and didn’t want to push it. We’d know soon enough anyway.

  I tuned out most of the nervous small talk around me as we flew, trying to relax my racing thoughts. I was about to really make myself known to the world, and there would be no going back from that. I could joke as much as I wanted about finding someone else to take over the faction, but once I was known as the person in charge, I was likely stuck until I died, and that thought continued to terrify me.

  “Someone get up here and show me where you want this thing landed, and make it quick. Pretty sure some of your military is still around, so let’s do this before I have to waste mana blocking any projectiles,” Timon called to the back of the bus, snapping me out of my own thoughts. Alex had already walked up there before I had even stood up and was quietly pointing and explaining where she thought was best to land.

  “The moment the bus is on the ground, the squad deploys. Everyone try to stay as near to Connie as possible, as it should lessen the drain on her to keep our disguises up. Glorp, your job is to loot every fallen orc. We can sort the spoils later. Dave, what’s our first target?” Elicec ordered before turning to me with the question and a determined look in his eyes.

  “This may be selfish, but my ex-wife works at the UN, so I want us to head to that building first and see what can be done there. We eliminate as many orcs as we can on the way and help anyone that needs it,” I said, nodding to Elicec to continue. But before he could, the bus made contact with the ground right in the middle of an active fight.

  “Dammit, alright, let’s save those people, and then we can make our next move!” Elicec yelled as the doors opened. I spotted five orcs, currently fighting a winning battle against a group of civilians. A few of them were armed, but the guns just weren’t powerful enough against the bodies of the orcs. While each shot did seem to push an orc back slightly, it wasn’t enough to actually hurt them. I immediately went into action and launched a fireball at the nearest one, only to see knives blossom in the throats of two more.

  Glorp was already dashing across the road almost faster than I could see. I spotted him stopping over the form of one orc briefly, but not the other two. The kid’s speed was impressive, no wonder he had finished two of the Arena floors so well. The orcs’ attempted victims were now looking at us with hope. That must have meant Connie’s magic was working, which explained the odd low bass sounds I could feel coming from her.

  Cecile’s scythe and a swing from Corey took down the remaining two orcs as I turned to address the now-growing onlookers. “Ugh, hi, I’m Dave. I want you all to go find somewhere safe, and we’ll work on getting rid of the orcs. Does anyone know if there are any concentrated defenses still standing?” I asked, focusing on my new increased presence as I did so. I wasn’t entirely sure, but I thought I felt a twinge of something coming off me toward the onlookers.

  “Supposedly, there are people holding one of the fire stations two blocks over; it’s where we were going before they found us, but it’s been a nightmare. Those creatures are just everywhere, and they’ve killed so many,” the woman burst into tears. Whatever force I had been exerting hadn’t been stronger than the abject terror of the last few days.

  “Okay, new plan then, everyone follows us, and we’ll take you somewhere safe as we proceed,” I said, looking over to Elicec, who nodded his agreement back at me.

  “Thank you,” someone screamed from within the terrified group as they all moved forward, starting after us. I sent Corey to the rear to keep watch back there.

  “Dave, what’s the plan?” Elicec whispered to me, sounding suddenly unsure.

  “No idea, but we can’t leave them. Hopefully, we can secure a building and let the local officials start putting things back together once we force the orcs out,” I answered, not entirely sure that was plausible as I scanned the streets. While a lot of buildings were still standing, more had been turned into rubble, and the remains of several burnt-out tanks were visible in the distance.

  When visiting the moons of Glornchelia IV, always remember to bring your sunscreen, as the solar radiation can be extremely harmful to those not native to the planetary system. Try to make some time to visit the beautiful rainbow falls on the second moon. And if you’ve gone at the right season, you might even be able to find the Jritotle fresh from its century-long hibernation, ready to make its new predictions.

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