The Orc’s upper lip pulled back and flashed its yellowed teeth as it growled at me.

I glared back. “Where is your Portal?”

It didn’t respond.

Maybe it didn’t know what a Portal was. We could communicate, but that didn’t mean that it knew our terms. It was something I noticed from being around Kesstel.

“Where did you come from?” I said. “Where is the hole that you came from to come to this world?” I flicked my wrist and left a cut on the Orc’s cheek.

Its skin sizzled and blackened, dripping black blood. It flinched. But it was the kindjal, not the actual injury that hurt the Orc. Still the monster didn’t talk, just growled at me.

My eyes narrowed. A year ago — hell, even six months ago — I might have been stuck. Unwilling to force out an answer. Unfortunately for this monster, that wasn’t the case today. And honestly, its own species was a large part of that reason.

I Mirrored my kindjal and lifted a sword up. The harsh sunlight hit the blade. The crystal threading through the bright steel caught the light and seemed to glow as the metal flashed bright. It was truly a beautiful sight, completely unique from any other weapon I’d ever seen.

“You fear this,” I stated. “It burns and hurts with just a simple touch, doesn’t it?” To make my point, I lightly brushed the flat of the blade over the Orc’s forehead. It whimpered as I left a burning black mark. It was shocking that such an ugly consequence could come from such a beautiful item. Then again, in a Hunter’s world, the more beautiful a thing is, the more it wants to kill you.

I leaned closer to the Orc, forcing its red eyes to look into mine. “If a simple touch hurts that much, how would it feel if I inserted it in you and left it there?” I ghosted the tip of the kindjal along the Orc’s right wrist — its dominant hand. “I could slide it in and go all the way up,” I trailed the tip of the blade up to its elbow, “and leave it there. Just under the skin. I’m sure that would feel … good.” My nose wrinkled with disgust, but a cruel smile curled my lips.

God, I never knew I could have thoughts like this. But there was no denying I hated this monster. No, I loathed it. I wanted it dead. I wanted all of them dead. I hadn’t realized that until this second. I tried to be a good person for my sister, and because of that I put up with a lot of shit I really didn’t have to. But this monster — all of the Red Orcs — there was no line I wouldn’t cross. I wanted them to die horribly, just like I did in front of them.

It made me as much of a monster as they were. I knew that. And I accepted it.

The Orc shuddered, the black pupils of its red eyes shrank in fear.

“We can talk like civilized people,” I said soft and slow. “Or we can talk with my sword in you. It’s your pick. I honestly don’t care; I’ll get answers out of you regardless.” I dipped my kindjal, angling it to align with its wrist.

The Orc gasped and yelled something in a rough, guttural voice. A teal screen appeared in front of me as the System translated the language for me. [C-Cloud witch!]

Cloud witch? That was a new title to add to my ever-growing list. It was still freaky to see the universal translator in the System work on an Orc. It felt wrong to see a monster talk. But at least it was talking to me. I wasn’t going to let it stop now. “I’m glad you finally agreed to cooperate,” I said, shifting back a half step. “Now tell me, where do I get into your world?”

It shook its square head. [No. No more cloud witches!]

My eyes narrowed. “Are there others like me?” Kesstel and the System said that there weren’t any other Warriors of Mist. Were they wrong?

The Orc kept shaking its head. [No more! No more!] It just kept repeating that short saying over and over again.

I scowled. What the hell — it didn’t need to actually answer me. As soon as I found the Portal, I could answer that question myself. With that thought, I went back to my original question. “Where is the opening to your world?” I demanded over its rough voice. It just kept saying the same thing over and over again. I didn’t even think it heard me. Annoyed, I motioned to its wrist, ready to dig the kindjal in.

It clamped its mouth shut. It stopped talking, but it still didn’t give me the answer I wanted.

I glanced at its HP bar over its head. The Orc only had ten percent of its HP left and the red line was still dropping. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a way to make it stop. My Regen only applied to me. I wouldn’t have cast it on the Orc anyway. It was too much of a pain in the butt when it was healthy. Still, I couldn’t let it die just yet.

“Tell me,” I insisted and pressed the kindjal against the Orc’s wrist.

It growled and moaned in pain, but still shook its head.

I glanced at the HP. Would it even survive if I did what I threatened? I doubted it. I tsked and dug the tip of the blade in enough to make the Orc howl in pain. Blood dripped off its thick wrist, but it couldn’t move away. Nor did I push the kindjal in any more.

“Where is the entrance to your world?” I demanded.

I’d said the same thing in so many different ways, it had to know what I was talking about. At this point, I knew it wasn’t going to tell me. And that was a problem. Even if I found another Orc, I couldn’t guarantee it would be one that I could subdue. I already knew how strong they were.

I stepped back, removing my blade from its arm. What should I do? It wouldn’t tell me where the Portal was and it was a lot more than half dead. How would an injured monster react? The energy crystals in them drove the monsters to mindlessly attack the current intelligent species no matter how injured they were. But the Red Orcs weren’t completely taken over by the parasitic planet — they had a language and civilization. So, did that mean that they had a fight or flight reaction too?

If I released the Orc, would it attack me? Or would it run away to heal itself? Did Orcs have a Hunter-like society, complete with Healers? Or a way to heal itself in its own world?

I shifted my body to the side and away from the Orc, pulled my left glove off and tapped my clean finger on my chin as if I was thinking. My mist slowly pulled back into my body and thinned around the Red Orc, as if I was accidentally letting it happen. All the while, I was completely focused on the monster.

If it showed any attack reaction, it was best that I’d just reap the EXP from it. Given the monster’s level, it would be more than enough to get to the next level. But if it ran off — which I was hoping so I could follow it ‘home’ — then I’d just have to make sure it didn’t notice me this time.

The last of the mist disappeared around us, leaving nothing but the hot, dry air.

Soundlessly, the Orc shifted while it kept its eyes on me. Its gaze flickered to the side where its huge sword half was half buried under a pile of dry soil from when it had been kicked out of its hands earlier. Then it peeked toward the metal gate of the garden area that had been knocked out of its frame long ago. Then it looked towards the gate. And again.

So, it was going to run. Good. I suppressed a smile and continued to pretend I didn’t notice it moving.

Suddenly, all the muscles in my body tensed in alarm.

A flash of strong power shot past me, missing my body by inches. It was so close I felt the whiplash of the magic vibrate through my body and my arm turned purple without even actually being touched by the attack. I turned my head just in time to see a water arrow pierce into the Orc’s chest.

A large hole exploded in the Orc’s chest, clear through, and half the bricks behind it crumbled into dust. The force of the explosion pushed the Orc to the side. Its messy corpse splatted to the ground, the gruesome sound echoing through the silent steel cage, followed with the tinkling sound of the Orc’s golf ball sized energy crystal skittering across the ground.

My eyes were wide as I watched it all happen, my mouth parted in dismay. No! No! I needed that Orc! My hands tightened around my kindjal until my fingers hurt even more than my arm, as rage flared in my heart.

Slowly, I turned in the direction that the water arrow came from. That attack came from Hunter — a Hunter who was blatantly flaunting their strength, exerting much more power than necessary to kill a wounded monster. There weren’t any water Mages on my team, plus I was pretty sure I was way out of my team’s allotted area.

So who the hell stole my kill?

A large hole gaped through the roof of the steel fence that surrounded the garden area. Standing beside that hole was a Mage in a silvery blue robe. The light material caught the sunlight and shimmered softly as it fluttered around her long legs. A whimsical, silver circlet tamed the bangs of her shoulder-lengthened brown curls and dropped a gleaming blue gem between her graceful eyebrows. She looked like an elf, holding an elegant silver staff topped with a large shining magic crystal in her hand.

Miranda Johnson from the Redding Gate smiled gently. “Oh my. I came just in time. You almost died.” She didn’t sound like that was a bad thing. She jumped down from the second floor, her robe fluttering gracefully around her as she practically floated down. She walked over to me, her feet barely touching the ground, like a beacon of hope in the messy, ruined world. It wasn’t until she was closer that I noticed her graceful, pointed ear cuffs, adding all the more to her enchanting elvish appearance.

I stared at her. Calm down, I ordered myself. She didn’t know what she did. Calm down. Don’t slash her face, you’re not strong enough to handle the consequences yet.

I plastered on a smile I didn’t feel. “Yes, ah, thank you Mrs. Johnson.”

Okay, she looked around twenty, but she’d also been an S Hunter for over ten years. I didn’t know her real age — I’m not an S stalker like other people — but she had to be at least thirty. She was beautiful, powerful, and loaded. She could be married.

She froze midstep, and the soft curl on her pink lips went stagnant for a split second. Then she smiled brighter, flooding the world with her gentle light. “Miss. It’s ‘Miss.’ Please, just call me Tári.”

Tári. Hang on, I knew that word. One of my high school friends totally geeked out over an old movie with elves, halflings, and a really big eye. It meant ‘queen’ in an made-up elvish language from that movie. I’d forgotten that an S Mage had adopted that name for herself.

It was a fight to keep the frown from my face. So basically, I was supposed to call her a queen every time I spoke to her? Even though I knew her real name? Ah, it was better to just never reference her name.

The other dozen Hunters on her team jumped down, displacing the dust that had finally settled. They walked behind her, not bothering to repress their auras at all.

Miranda stopped next to me and touched her cheek in an ‘oh dear’ manner. “You must have been separated from your party, you poor thing.” She glanced at the Hunters behind her. “We should take her safely back to her team.”

I couldn’t help but glance at the Orc corpse, still burning inside. I pressed the anger down and kept my painful smile in place. “That’s okay. I’m sure you’re busy.”

She reached out and rested a slender hand on my bruised arm. The bruise that she gave me. She smiled, her face was kind, but her gray-blue eyes were commanding. “It’s no trouble. After all, we Hunters need to watch out for each other.”

I shifted a little, just enough to make her stop pressing on my painful arm. “I’m grateful, but —”

She cut me off before I could finish my sentence. “Of course, it’s no trouble.” She turned to her group and tapped her fingers together in front of her, her moves graceful. “Well, it looks like Eden lost a Hunter. As good neighbors, we should return her.” With that she floated to the open exit.

I gaped after her then rolled my eyes mentally.

The rest of the team followed behind her, with the exception of a short man in bright red armor. He walked in my direction then jerked his chin to the side. “Let’s go.”

“You know, I’m really fine,” I reasoned. “You don’t need to stop whatever you’re doing for this.” Maybe he’d at least listen to me.

He scowled. “You’re wasting my time. Get walking.” He walked purposefully after his team.

What the hell? They weren’t going to let me off? What kind of logic was this? Their attitude was normal — oppress the weaker Hunters. But what was up with insisting on “helping” someone, regardless of what that person wanted? That was totally not like a normal Hunter. Most of us couldn’t care less about helping another person.

Annoyance boiled in me as I scowled at their backs. I gripped my kindjal in my hand. Since I couldn’t do anything to them, I flicked my wrist and threw my kindjal to the side. It shot straight and stabbed right into the Red Orc’s energy crystal, gleaming in the shadows to my right. It shattered and disappeared along with the monster’s carcass and its sword.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any EXP from it.

When the short Hunter glanced back at me, I finally followed after him.

*****