Steven’s feet thumped onto wet grass as his nose filled with the scent of decaying leaves and cold air.

He blinked. That wasn’t right.

He glanced around. He was next to Little Campbell Lake, only a few feet from the shore. Said lake wasn’t frozen over. Instead, it only had a few patches of ice on its surface. And instead of several feet of snow, the ground around him was covered in orange leaves.

If he didn’t know better, he would say it was late September or early October, not the middle of winter.

Once he registered the weird weather, a thought struck him, and he quickly glanced around.

No one, well, not no one. But no dogs, no Margie, and no Micheal.

Instead, a middle-aged man stood a few feet to his right, looking equally as confused and cautious as Steven.

“So round two is a split up, huh?“ The man said. His voice was soft but strong, and Steven found it surprisingly soothing.

“I’m guessing you were in a group?“ Steven asked.

The man looked him up and down before slowly nodding. “You as well?”

“Yeah.”

The man hummed, and Steven studied him.

He had a firm jaw, tanned skin, and a short, lean build. He definitely wasn’t a stranger to the outdoors.

He ran a hand through short salt and pepper hair and turned dark brown eyes to Steven.

“Do you think-“ he cut off as the System’s voice barged into their heads.

“Welcome to round two of Wrestlemania! This isn’t actually Wrestlemania, but making a wrestling-themed Scenario would be funny. Hmm…moving on!“

In the distance, a brilliant white pillar shot into the sky.

“That is your destination. Well, it doesn’t have to be. But if you don’t want to be a boring loser, then it should be. Standing inside the pillar with your allies, which consists of the people you were last transported with and are currently transported with, for five minutes will grant you a bonus reward. I’m not gonna tell you what it is, but it will be strong!“

“Round 2 will last one hour, and live streaming will start in 15 minutes. Go wild!”

“… System out.”

Steven glanced at the man, who was already staring at him. “So, we make it to the pillar as a team, or we try to attack each other for points.“

The man nodded. “That seems to be what’s expected, yes.“

“Do you want to fight?“

The man grinned. “I’ve always found that I am more inclined towards a battle of words.“

Steven sagged in relief. “Thank God! The last two groups we ran into attacked us. It was getting depressing.”

The man chuckled. “Most of the groups we ran into also wanted to fight. And those that didn’t run. We only found a single group that just talked to us and then went on their way.“

He stuck out a hand, and Steven shook. The man’s grip was calloused and firm but not crushing.

“Clark.”

“Steven.”

Steven stepped back and motioned towards the pillar in the distance. “If you don’t mind, let’s get a move on. My friends will be headed for the pillar, and I don’t want to leave them waiting.”

Clark gave a firm nod and fell into step beside Steven.

“Being as you said friends, not just party, I take it you’re close to your group?“

Steven nodded. “You aren’t?“

The man shrugged. “I’m closer to some of my group than others. Not to say that I have a bad relationship with any of them. They are my people, and I’ll do what’s best for them.”

Steven considered that. It sounded like the man had a more… Businesslike structure with his party. And based on that last comment, he was the boss.

How had the man so quickly fallen into that situation? A group formed mid Scenario that had risen to the challenge? Or had he been seeking people out over the last week?

What kind of person was he dealing with?

The trail sloped up before them, slick grass threatening to cause a slip with every step.

He wasn’t sure why the System had decided to turn a section of the park to fall. If he looked through the trees, he was pretty sure he could see the normal snowy forest up ahead, so it hadn’t changed a massive section.

He shook his head. It was probably best to roll with the punches and not try and figure out what was going on inside the System’s head.

“What was your Scenario?” Clark asked.

Steven looked up from the trail, it was uneven as well as slick, and the last thing he needed was a rolled ankle.

“The System themed it after classic monster movies. Mad scientist with a horde of monsters and whatnot.”

Clark stroked his short beard and hummed.

“Mine was staged like a natural disaster. Earthquakes, and then crashing waves. It was total chaos, but I got everyone moving the best I could. I was barely in time before the waves started throwing mutated seals and walruses at us.“

Steven blinked. He opened his mouth but was unsure if he wanted to know exactly what the man meant by mutated walruses.

Steven decided not to ask.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your Class? I don’t need the actual specifics, but…”

“You want to know if I can carry my weight?” Clark chuckled.

“I understand, and I’m glad you brought it up. I didn’t want to look too shady by asking. I’m a backline support. I can enhance my party, but only people in my party for the most part.“

Steven's brain immediately started to run wild with questions. There were Skills- no, Classes that targeted parties in specific?

He opened his mouth again before closing it with an effort of will.

He wasn’t going to ask the man to share his secrets, considering he wasn’t willing to give his own.

He wanted to trust him. He didn’t want to view the people around him with suspicion. But they had been attacked twice. Steven wasn’t going to become a paranoid wreck—any more than he already was—but a bit of caution was just smart.

“I’m a ranged defender.”

Clark rubbed his beard. “That would be a ‘tank,’ right? In ‘gamer’ terms?”

Steven nodded and couldn’t stop a smile. He’d place Clark in his mid-forties, but that had made him sound a lot older. “You played games before all this?”

Clark shook his head. “No. But my nephew is quite the gamer. He thinks this is all fascinating. He’s bummed that he’s too young to get a Class yet.”

Steven had read that on a few forms, the System excluded people under sixteen from gaining Classes and under eighteen from fighting monsters.

As far as monsters were concerned, children were invincible.

It was one of the things that bothered Steven about the System. Why exclude children? He wasn’t going to complain about children being spared, but why did the System bother? Why did it care?

Clark pulled Steven back to the present with a laugh. “Trying to explain to a twelve-year-old that magic isn’t necessarily a good thing is a hard sell.”

“He wants to run out and adventure, huh?”

The man nodded, his brown eyes smiling.

The smile cooled a moment later as he continued. “He doesn’t get it. A lot of people don’t get it.”

Steven arched a brow. “It?”

He met Steven’s gaze, and his friendly face seemed carved from steel.

“What’s going to happen in this city in the coming weeks. The chaos, the power grabs, the death. People aren’t going to take this lying down, and they can’t do a thing to the System. So they’ll take it out on what they can reach.”

Steven felt a cold weight settle in his gut. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t already considered, but hearing his fears spoken by a stranger made them more real.

“Each other,” he said, his throat dry.

Clark nodded. “Each other. And more dangerous than the people who want chaos are those who want control.”

He looked ahead at the pillar, his expression distant. “Even if the government wasn’t frozen in their Scenarios, a shake-up like this will bring anarchy. We’re cut off, and suddenly random people have powers we thought were myths. There is going to be a power struggle.”

He glanced at Steven. “And right now, the question is who is going to end up on top.”