It had been a long day.

A long month really, Eric thought to himself.

They had lost too many to that fucking storm.

Meteorites.

How do you prepare for that?

He had seen little that night, the demands of his job leaving no late-night unpunished, he had gone to bed early to prepare for the next day, but anyone who had been out and about…and had survived the dust, would not shut up about how the distant mountains had exploded, the blast growing in size with each retelling. The locals, not his lot. No, those from earth were not as ‘energetic’ about what had happened. None of them were green, all with years of experience under their belt, years to adapt and grow used to the madness this world could offer up, but that shower, that shower was something else.

Thankfully, he had lost few of his people to the following storm.

Deke and his crew at the rear, the Garland twins, Diane and that sad-sack shadow-boy, and several new recruits he had not gotten round to learning the names of. Nor would he ever, he realised.

He sighed as he took another sip from the bottle he had brought with him.

Eric stared out at the temporary settlement before him, a sea of light formed from fire and magic, its aura of illumination brightening the night sky in a way that had him pining for old Earth and all its flaws and trappings.

The size of a town, the whole thing had gone up in roughly two-hours. Something he doubted that Earth could match.

He sat there on top of a small hill, staring into a once crystal-clear sky. The rains had done much to clear away the dust, but even now he could still taste it in the air.

He had walked up there to watch the sun go down as he drank from one of his reserves of ‘Good Stuff’, a strange blue liquid brought in from the adventurers in New Home. Healthy, tasty and capable of giving a person a good buzz without getting them drunk.

A reward to himself for having to put up with everybody’s shit.

Inevitably, nature called.

Eric got up and walked further out he was not a shy person, but he preferred to do his business away from the public scrutiny. Especially since every asshole and their mother wanted to have a word with him, no matter the time of day.

The hill was topped by a range of bushes, a green afro that was probably the tallest plant life that one could find in the area.

The ‘Walk of the Dead’, as the locals put it, had come right through where they were camping, sparing little of the life that could once be found in abundance, he thought as he walked on. Even after…what was it…two centuries? It had still yet to recover. Then his lot came, though technically those undead were also his lot…sorta. And now the dust.

He did not know if it was karma or something else, but this region had really pissed someone off.

Reaching to undo his belt, he was brought to a halt as the distant sound of sobbing was carried in on the wind. A gentle sound of a woman in pain. Was it physical? Emotional? He did not know.

Eric wandered towards its source, away from the glow of the camp and into the darkness of the night. The soft echo leading him on.

His anger was rising as thorns gripped at him, raising his arms to keep them from flaying his exposed skin. Ahead, through gaps in the foliage, he saw a woman, slim, delicate, and naked as the day she was born, curled-up on the ground, her form shaking as she consoled herself…over what, he had no clue.

“Hello,” He smirked. “Now what would a fine woman such as yourself be doing out here, then?”

Before he could continue, the woman whipped round, her body moving with extreme grace and precision, she then launched herself towards him, both arms stretching out, each hand tipped with sharp, inhuman claws, ready to skewer him from balls to throat…

To suddenly stop midair as she was grasped by some unseen force.

Eric stood there for a moment, a little shocked, but mostly amused. He studied the woman’s face, black eyes that reminded him of those of a raven…and that ball of stress with the caravan, a pert little nose, and a half-open mouth filled with shark-like teeth that he had no doubt, would have torn through his armour with ease.

She was alive, a mutant, he thought. If it were dead, its aura would have drained his energies within moments. It could have been a human that had stayed in the burrows too long, but again, he doubted it, more than likely, it was a half-transcended monster that had slowly shaped itself to better suit its prey.

He walked around her floating form, female, undoubtedly. Smooth alabaster skin, a head covered by long raven coloured locks…or dark brown, it was hard to tell with only the light of the distant camp and the moon above, and a figure that any man would go gaga over.

He bent over to look it in the eyes, “Stasis,” he replied to its unasked question. “A useful ability, constrains you with a force field, an energy shield that keeps you from trying to bite off my beautiful mug, he said, tapping his face, “Unfortunately, it also prevents me from attacking you, so you don’t have to shit yourself just yet.”

He rose and began walking round the this as he carried on talking.

“One of the people you ate, I’m of course, assuming you ate them, not mated with them or something, right? Wellllll…apparently, he was the idiot brother or cousin, or lover, possibly all of the above, of one of the big wigs over yonder,” he nodded his head towards the camp. “Now those nobs, they’re all about the blood. Not just the bloodline, mind you, even misfortune happening to a distant relative gets them all in a tizzy. So, imagine how they feel when one of theirs goes missing.”

As he finished walking a full circle around her he once again lent down and looked at it in the eyes.

“Yessssss, I’m not just out here to take in the sights, I’m out here for you, Miss Monster.”

He slowly rose again and stared back over to the camp.

“Taking only one or two people, here and there was smart. Never in the same place twice, always loners and orphans, really smart. It’s amazing how the more people there are, the less likely it is to notice when one goes missing. No, it was just bad luck on your part that you were found out at all.”

He walked over to a nearby bush.

“Not that I fault you for doing it, of course, having no food and being all alone in this empty land…I’d like to blame the meteors and dust for all of it, but it was us, the people from earth. Most would blame that poor necro girl, what’s her name…Jessica…but it was all of us who came later that did it. Especially the summoners.

He looked around, his surrounding still and silent, the only sounds of life drifting in from the temporary settlement below.

“Now, I liked Diane and her lot. I like everyone, really. But summoners…,” he sighed, “…first they took the monsters…and we were fine with that. Then they took the predators…and we were still fine with it. But then, like the monsters, those too ran out. So they had little recourse but to go after the cute and cuddlies. Whole armies of oversized puppies and kittens gathered just to be tossed into the meat grinder we call life…that’s when we stepped in. Because no one cares about scary things with big teeth, but show us something with large eyes and soft, downy fur…oooh, that’s when we work ourselves up into a fervour.

He undid his belt and finally answered the call of nature, he had been avoiding till now.

“Didn’t even leave the god damned crickets,” he said as the sound of trickling liquid splashing against the ground filled the void of the once silent hill.

After a moment he continued.

“Had Piotr playing phone jockey all day, not that you’d know what that means,” he said as he looked back, “the man knows magic, real magic, mind you, not the [SYSTEM]’s stuff. Learnt it from one of the high wizards of who gives a fuck, also taught him how to use it to communicate with all the other local magic users, so I’ve had him getting in contact with the people who matter.”

His bladder far from empty, he began writing his name.

“We’ve come to an agreement, with the powers that be. Having all these people come into their territories would cripple them, even if they spread them out. So, what we’ve all agreed to is that they’re going to be stringing these people along, sending them from town to town, territory to territory. Just until they catch on they ain’t welcome. And while this is going on, we’ll be there with a kind word and a helping hand…and an offer to join us in the paradise of that is New Home.” He looked back at the she-thing, still frozen mid lunge, “Carrot and stick. A shitty system, even when compared to the [SYSTEM]; even shittier because it generally works.”

“Oh, we’ll lose at least half of them, we do every year, but with this many people, we’ll finally have enough for a proper town. Something that can grow and prosper. That’s why we do this every year, you know, not enough people in the world, not enough to go around between all the territories and us.”

“Not enough people,” he laughed. He turned to the still imprisoned creature, “You aren’t from Earth, so you wouldn’t get it, but trust me when I say that that is some funny shit.”

He stared out over the camp, the melodic tinkling background music for his thoughts.

Those people down there, the locals, their leaders and politics, Up my ass all day, every day. Not wanting to share food, not wanting to work with foreigners, not willing to compromise unless we show them absolute respect.

It would be one thing if it was just us versus them, but they’ve their own factions too, so there’s infighting and backstabbing, and gods help us if we show one group more respect than the others.”

The sound of his urination stopped. His business completed, he pulled up his pants and refit his belt. Done, he walked back over to the creature.

“And then you came along.” He said as he looked the false woman in the eyes and patted it on the cheek. Or on the part of the stasis field that was covering its cheek.

“You, my dear, are what we on earth would call an absolute godsend.”

He stood back as the stasis field fell.