Hanzel and the group stop in the distance, watching the scene unfold. They might be big in numbers but they won’t just go blindly rushing into any situation. They take a survey of the situation and gather around with no one speaking out.

Sam looks too but can only spot a group of panthers and wolves attacking a group of people. “So what’s the plan?”

“Plan? Well,” Hanzel looks at the other people but finds them silent, “usually if it's less than 7 people we are told to not risk things.”

“What? Suddenly you’re not willing to risk things?”

“That’s different. This is a normal recovery situation. Training dictates that we should not risk the unit when recovery involves less than 7 people. They will most likely succumb to attrition soon and we will lose more people going there than staying here.”

“Well, I think I spot him wearing some blue so I think I need to talk to that person.”

Hanzel is silent, Sam looks at the other people, and they’re silent too. No one will speak out against their training, it seems.

Sam shrugs and walks away from the group. He can do something by himself if they won’t.

He passes through them without incident, no longer protected by the crowd of armoured fools. He enters the thick mud towards the tree line giving a better view of the situation going on as the battle rages on.

A group of 5 people stand in formation around a single person, they’re standing in the middle when suddenly sparks appear in the air.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Sam takes several steps back before sprawling out in the mud, his skin covered in black with bloodied cracks appearing all over it. He sits up when he feels something pour over him; he looks up and spots Hanzel pouring some medical potion over him.

“It seems they’ve summoned their monster” Hanzel reaches down to pull him up, Sam grabs hold of the cold metal hand and stands up looking at the scene before him. The first time he has viewed someone using a monster at a distance, each time he has been within its range.

An enormous field of purple and black expands outward, covering a wide area. Glowing spots appear on the ground before turning into beams of light that shoot into the sky, almost like reverse lightning.

It has replaced the sky with a thick layer of clouds, much lower in appearance but impossible to touch as energy fills the area. This is said to be the invisible layer of mana that surrounds the planet, or possibly the ether.

A giant red illusory figure appears, it’s covered in a flame as it stands behind the man in the middle.

Sam frowns at the figure, he doesn’t recognise it.

A large burst of flames radiates out from the beast, a flash of flame expands outward suddenly that catches all the beasts off guard as they retreat, but it’s too quick and they’re engulfed. The flame disappears just as quickly as it appeared. Sam looks at the damage.

The beasts are able to shrug it off; they get back up and recommence their attack on the group and launch long range attacks towards the large illusory figure which reforms behind the man, but that’s not all.

*FFFFFPFFFF*

A large blast of flame comes from its mouth. Sam is even more confused about what sort of creature it is as it looks like a horse that breathes fire.

Some beasts are burnt, some are scared off by the burning fur, yet most of them continue to attack. The various panthers, wolves and pigs attack as if that’s their only purpose.

The people aren’t lazy though as figures shimmer into existence above them, each one is different as they range from lizards to dogs to cats, there are multiple types that appear above the people which strike out individually to intercept the beasts.

*BANG BANG BANG*

Countless clashes and sparks appear in the atmosphere, the people still stand yet Sam can see red spots appear on their clothing.

Everything returns to normal as the beasts and monsters return to their spots.

Each opponent eyes the other off for a moment in silence.

The peace is broken.

*ROAAAR*

A colossal figure of a black panther appears in the air, Sam’s eyes go wide open seeing it towering above everyone else.

Its huge silver glowing claws strike down at the crowd of people, their monsters move to intercept but they’re not strong enough as two of them burst into nothing instantly. Their summoners fall over, unmoving.

The remaining people are thrown backwards as they intercept the giant claws with their weapons. It badly hurt both monster and summoner in that exchange, but they’re alive.

Sam looks at the unmoving bodies to see if they’re truly dead when a strange, throaty cry comes from above.

*ROAORARARORRAR*

“What the hell is that?” Sam blurts out upon hearing that strange sound, it sounded like someone choking as they’re trying to roar.

“I think that would be Ibetian Volcanic Single-Hump Camel,” Hanzel responds.

Sam blinks at the man next to him, “What?”

“They’re somewhat famous, very well suited to anyone that wants to undertake a long expedition. Able to breathe flame and increase the endurance of their master, a rarity in the herbivore category.”

“Its flame doesn’t do any damage though”

Hanzel shrugs, Sam watches the scene as the camel has erupted in a blast of flame, it spreads out in a blaze, the entire area becomes engulfed in a flame yet none of the heat escapes the area where the mana appears.

The beasts are engulfed in flames, their figures slumping over one by one, yet… only a few do.

There’s still a large amount of creatures remaining, the camel creature looks worn out as its figure reappears above the man in blue in a more solid form. It doesn’t launch another attack.

The beasts take that as a signal; they pounce upon the group, that’s not all though, as swarms of pigs are flanking behind everyone. It’s almost pointless to count the pigs at this point.

Sam clenches his fist, he weighs up whether he can make an impact with his abilities. The balance of the scales if unfortunately tipping towards no, he’s a single person and cannot do much.

Suddenly beside him, a man yells.

“AHH!”

Sam notices Hanzel rushing onto the field, that’s not all though.

Other people follow after him screaming in unison, brandishing their weapons, making as much noise as possible. None of them care about the mana field effect going on before them as their armour shines even through the mud.

The beasts stop their attacks and look at the newcomers, several of them turn around and flee, but many of them remain.

Sam watches the scene, he places his hand on the sword by his side before stopping, the beast attacks have started and they’re as vicious as they were before.

*CLANK*

“AHHH”

An armoured soldier is sliced cleanly in half by the glowing claws of the panther before him. The creature pounces onto another soldier.

*CLANK* *SLICE*

“ROOAR”

The soldier was ready for it. He used a spear to intercept the beast mid-air before using his sword cut creature’s side before deflecting it.

The panther roars angrily again, but its movements are slower, it pounces again but this time,

*THUNK*

A large harpoon stabs into the panther, making it fly off.

Sam looks at where the harpoon came from and spots someone holding another one, they’re simply throwing the large 2 metre long harpoon like a spear. A glowing effect comes over the tip of the spear as they release it.

*THUNK*

Two wolves fly through the air side-ways as they’re now stuck together before being lodged into a nearby tree.

A rumble in the distance is heard, everyone looks in that direction and spots a new problem.

A large amount of pigs are quickly approaching, they enter the mana field without care.

*BANG*

They collide with a soldier, they seem unstoppable when a loud sound comes from above,

“OORIRRROROROAORARARORRAR”

*WHOOSH*

A dark-red hot flame appears from the sky and comes down on the pigs. It lasts a moment but leaves behind a shocking scene.

There’s simply nothing but a few burnt remains of some trees, the flame went back far, far outside the mana field and into the distance lighting up the landscape as it travels on.

The remaining beasts all scamper off, the armoured people don’t give chase as they recover from the tough battle.

The mana field disappears as the large creature in the sky disappears, it was the camel again.

Sam walks towards them now that it’s safe to do so. Hundreds of beasts lay dead and scorched.

There’s a lot of dead people too, their bodies with all sorts of wounds or missing body parts.

The ground has dried out allowing an easy trip, he spots Hanzel helping people move the dead bodies and walks up to him.

“Hanzel, why aren’t you going up to that person in blue?”

Hanzel carries the body over to where they’re laying out other bodies in rows, creating a rather morbid scene, “We need to tend to the dead, the commander should do that.”

“You tied the commander up and left him somewhere.”

“Right, could you do it then?”

“Do I need to remind you of my neck? What I’m wearing? You need to be careful, monsters are able to control minds and all sorts of thing...”

“What do you suggest?”

“Just get the group of captains together and walk over there and talk to them. You don’t need to do anything elaborate but,” Sam quietens his voice, “just let him know that you’re looking for someone to reset the collar. Give me a signal if he can.”

Hanzel nods his head, “OK.”

Sam nods in return and watches Hanzel go off to talk to several people before they as a group head over to talk to the person in blue. He watches them from the distance unsure what’s going on, thinking he could possibly get a closer look.

He just waits a few moments when Hanzel comes running back over by himself, he’s running quickly almost tripping over his feet.

“Sam, Sam. Sam.”

“What? What’s the rush?”

Hanzel stops before Sam and speaks, “He says that you need to get over there and identify quickly. The timer might be almost up.”

Sam shrugs his shoulders, “Alright then let’s go see this guy.”

Hanzel turns around and jogs back while Sam keeps pace.

A hum comes from the collar around his neck as the blue clothed person comes into visual range, a bad feeling causes a shiver to come down Sam’s spine but it’s too late.

“Is this the one you were talking about? He’s seems weak and useless, why would I want to take him anywhere?”

A late 20s man with slick black hair and a shrill nasally voice, he has the familiar golden stripe around his shoulder yet this one has a solid section, so it looks like a 1 band golden-stripe. Hanzel and Sam stop before him.

Sam can spot the people wearing collars like him. They don’t make eye contact with him as they sit on the ground exhausted. They are not wearing the same uniform as him so they’re from a different camp than him.

“He’s strong, you can rely on him and he would really benefit your group,” one of the people with a clipboard says.

The slick-haired man scrunches up his nose and looks at Sam over again. He reaches for a device on his wrist and touches it a few times before muttering to himself, no one can catch what he says before he puts it away.

“The best I can do is to lead him to where a group of people from where he’s from are, the timer has been reset,” he lowers his voice, “hope I can get a reward.”

“He can join with the rest of them until we meet the other group, I do not believe he’ll be able to cause too much trouble except for his very existence in this group. Now if a large group of creatures attack I have to hold back, so captains you’ll need to escort us.”

Sam is about to speak out but Hanzel does first, “Ok. We can do that, how far away is it?”

“They’re about 5km away and moving,” the slick haired man looks at Sam, “you should go join the others.”

Sam looks at Hanzel and the others and shakes his head silently walking away slowly, the slick haired man waits until he is far enough away before speaking again.

“This is where we’re going…”

‘Stop’

The world shimmers, Sam shakes his head and laughs out loud as quietness comes over everything.

He turns around and walks back to the group, they’re frozen still as Hanzel and the armoured people stand around the blur uniformed slick-haired man hold a map out before them.

A detailed map of the terrain is in his hands, yet it’s only a small section of it. There’s several paths marked on the map and where he’s pointing at is near one of those paths. All of them lead in the same direction, towards some sort of ancient building.

Sam memories what he can of the map before walking a few steps away suddenly pausing his feet.

He turns around and walks back to the slick-haired man, “Jeez you’re greasy, I almost don’t want to do this but it’s too tempting.”

He pulls back his hand and slaps him.

Sam slaps the man multiple times until his hand starts to hurt, a smile comes to his face as he nurses his hand. He looks around for anything else to use and spots something on the ground, he runs to collect it.

“Here”, he carefully slips something into his mouth.

Sam smiles to himself and walks back to where he was, carefully finding where he was.

‘Stop Stop’

A screech comes over his mind causing a slight pain, yet he holds it back as everything comes to life.

“Here… is… pfff” *cough cough*

The slick-haired man suddenly starts coughing before throwing up. Sam’s almost unable to hold back his laughter as he stands by the other people with collars. Their bodies are battered and their clothes are tattered, yet they’re sitting on the ground without protest recovering their energy.

They each acknowledge Sam wiith a nod before returning to their recovery, which leaves the young man to watch the scene unfold. The slick-haired man has stopped throwing up and is now trying to drink stuff.

*Cough*

The man throws up again, Sam shakes his head and laughs internally. It all resolves itself after a few minutes, the armoured soldiers are all grouped up and they set out without protest, the bodies are all processed and stored, beast and human.

The group of people that Sam is paired with are forced to the front where he is forced to too, all the other collared people are working overtime clearing a pathway through the forest and killing any small creatures they come across.

Sam doesn’t get the chance to show off. They all stand out front and block him from doing anything, even going so far as to get themselves hurt to protect Sam slightly.

“If you will not use that sword, then give it to someone else!” a shrill yell comes from behind.

Sam spots the slick-haired man yelling at him, he lets out a long drawn-out sigh and steps forward, the other collared people do too yet only a single step. Sam makes another few steps and they maintain the same distance.

Sam breaks into a run, they run too when, *ROAR*