The man was of a similar age to me. He was just under six foot tall, broad at the shoulder and lean at the waist, much like myself. His hair was hidden beneath a cap coloured in the same camouflage pattern as his clothing. Sporting a full brown beard, his face had the tanned look of someone who spent a lot of time outside. I could see his grey eyes watching me as the pair whirled round, scrutinising the stranger. They caught the reflection of the inferno with each turn, blazing intensely.

“What are you doing here?” Liza asked when he finally set her down.

“I got word that my sister went dark after touching down in the jungle. When we couldn’t hail your team, I called in a favour to try and get a view of the village and the situation. One of my buddies in recon. Not that it did much good.”

“Let me guess, the satellites are unresponsive?”

He held her at arm’s length and frowned. “How did you know?”

She held up the useless sat-phone.

Cody nodded in understanding. “Ahh. A lot of shit’s gone on the fritz the past few days. It’s as if the whole system is crumbling.”

“You have no idea,” she replied, urging me to come over. “Mark, this is my brother, Cody.”

“Good to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand. The grip was firm and sure.

“Likewise. I take it it’s you I have to thank for the carnage back at the camp, and my little sister not being a part of it?”

“I was in the right place at the right time,” I replied.

“In the middle of the Thimasa Jungle? Just walking around?”

“It’s a long story,” I said.

He looked beyond me at the gigantic fire which was sending flames hundreds of feet into the air. “Is that where those monsters came from?”

“Yes and no. Like I said, it’s a long story. We need to be heading back to civilisation as soon as we can. Do you have any idea how long it’ll take us on foot?”

“Just over a week,” said Cody.

“Shit!”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “You need to be somewhere faster?”

“For what’s coming? A hell of a lot faster.”

“Then it’s lucky I flew in then, isn’t it? We can talk on the way back to the landing site.”

While brother and sister headed for the trees, I shielded my face against the heat and quickly pocketed the illicit container again. There might be valuable clues in the casing itself as to the origin. And if not? It wasn’t as if it took up pack space. Before I could leave, I checked that the blaze wasn’t going to spread. The job done by the scorpions had cleared a perfect firebreak on the surrounding land. What was left on the ground was too moist to do much more than steam and singe a little. I staggered back a few paces as a deafening roar preceded the entire structure crashing down into the hollowed out tunnels below. A large portion of the inferno was extinguished, markedly reducing the heat radiating from the pyre.

It was done, and it wasn’t going anywhere.

“You coming?” called Liza.

“Right behind you!” I called back.

They vanished between the vines, but their markers were easy to follow. I maintained a sensible distance to allow them to catch up and opened my glowing achievement tab.

Achievement Unlocked – Is This A Stand Up Fight, Sir?

Description – Nope, it’s just another bug hunt. There’s no way to get out of this chickenshit outfit, you’ve got to fight to the bitter end. You faced your own queen, without the aid of a power loader.

Reward – Corrosive Stream (Spell)

Bart, I thought the rewards had been shut down?

I’m trying to push through what I can. The bosses will still yield powerful artifacts on occasion, but in general, you’re right.

Well, thanks for trying, mate. Keep up the good fight.

I am, Mark. You too.

He retreated back to the mothership and I pulled up the spell’s information.

Item – Corrosive Stream (Level 1) (rare)

Type – Spell (Channelling)

Description – You call forth the queen’s vile acid to melt your enemies. Try to avoid any splashback.

Requirements – Intelligence 12

Effect – Causes Acidic Corrosion Debuff on material or target

Misc - None

As much as I hated to admit it, the time was fast approaching where I needed to give serious thought to investing some points in areas that were ordinarily off limits to a melee class. I had some fantastic abilities gathering dust in my character tab, it just came down to the question of whether the self-nerf to my fighting ability for a while would pay off, or would I struggle with what was to come. Considering the nefarious shenanigans taking place between the alien factions, their teasing me with out of reach spells and equipment could well be part of that plan. My mind started to do its spinning top routine, so I put it aside. I would worry about it later. The boss’s loot was similar to Shinara’s for the most part, consisting of toxin laden weapon augments. Everything from the minions was similar, with short term debuffs and thick layers of chitin that could be fashioned into armour. Nothing in the crafting tab was better than my current gear, so I put it aside to level up later. Only one item was immediately useful and I checked it over.

Item – Amulet of Devotion (epic)

Type – Jewellery (Neck)

Description – This necklace was provided to the holy champion Gerard Kirkland as a gift by Queen Isabella Kahler during the Bloodwar of Hoberg. The dauntless warrior cut a path of destruction through the vampiric legions, finally reaching the undead king himself. Radomir Vuron and the fearless paladin fought for hours, until both combatants simultaneously struck their killing blow. As the vampire turned to dust, and the noble Gerard breathed his last, the eternal night broke, bathing the land in sunlight for the first time in many years.

Requirements – Strength 14 Wisdom 10

Effect – Provides spell power buff to unique paladin skills

Misc – None

I gave Bart a quick thanks in my mind and donned the amulet beneath my suit.

Fighting through the jungle, I thought over the facts so far. An insanely rich, possibly psychologically broken man had managed to stick two fingers up to god and create hybrid abominations. If my hunch on the cases was right, then he had planted this nest. Whether Sheldon knew of the nearby village was a mystery, as was the motivation for their release. Was it simply a first wave attack? Would the rapid growth and breeding of the scorpions have meant they were unstoppable once they eventually reached highly populated areas? Was there more than one nest in the country? Or the wider world for that matter. What if there were ten, or twenty, or a hundred? There was no way I could put them all to the torch.

“Compartmentalise,” I whispered to myself as we backtracked down my sword-hacked route.

Liza and her knowledge were the current key to my quest. I would give her time to study the samples and maybe come up with a clue as to how to proceed. What good her discovery would do when we had triceratops and other massive creatures tearing the world apart, I didn’t know, but I had to start somewhere.

We reached the dead village, and Cody held his sister back while he scanned ahead.

“There’s nothing here,” I called. “You’re safe.”

“Yeah? Are you a master tracker too?”

“Long story,” I repeated. I was expecting a cheap, single prop helicopter like the Perspex surrounded sightseeing craft of my world. What was waiting was a military grade transverse rotor beast coloured in dull grey. A small number of the already weakened huts had been blown to dust with the downdraught, but they would never be occupied again anyway. The jungle would slowly encroach, erasing the last traces that these hardy people had ever existed. I had already clocked the small garments that were caught in the debris, and I held on to that image. The fallen children who had owned them would be used as my fuel to burn down Sheldon Lake’s plans and murder anyone involved. I snorted at the change in my demeanour. Months ago, at least in actual time rather than earth time, I’d been cowering in the tutorial safe room, wondering how I could even hurt a simulacrum of a rat. Now here I was imagining the graphic death of a complete stranger. My mind turned back to the question I’d had all that time ago; what would I be when I finally emerged from the worlds? Not the Mark of old, that was guaranteed. I could already hear the weakening cries as I buried him.

“Penny for them,” said Liza, breaking into my introspection as she returned from the lab.

“Honestly? I was wondering when this whole thing is going to blow up and what the heck I can do to stop it.”

“You’re doing well so far,” said Liza.

“You’ve already saved my sister,” added Cody. “And what do you mean by this whole thing?”

“We can talk in the chopper,” I replied. “Liza, did you need anything else from the cabin?” I noticed a small black box hanging from her left hand.

“Everything I need is on a stick drive and in this chiller. Can we just get out of here, please?” she asked, looking around at the dead village and the carcasses of my kills. “This place gives me the creeps.”

“I know what you mean,” I said, following Cody as he climbed into the cockpit.

He handed us both a pair of tight-fitting headphones with mic, and we settled into the passenger seats to the rear of his compartment. There was another seating area at the back of the craft comprising eight spaces to each side, and I assumed that was for when larger teams were required to head into danger.

I slipped on my set and the growing whine of the powering engines became heavily muffled.

“Can you hear me back there?” asked Cody’s tinny voice.

“Loud and clear,” said Liza, her own electronic tones grating to my ears.

I glanced out through the window and the rotors were tearing up the rest of the village. Huge sheets of windblown dust hammered against the madly flapping fronds of the surrounding trees. More of the damaged huts caved in, their straw roofs rolling away until they were stopped at the jungle’s edge by the dangling vines that resembled bars on a cage. Small puffs of river water were picked up and blown against the opposing bank, drenching it to a dark brown.

“And here we go,” Cody said, pulling us off the ground.

My stomach gave a little lurch as we rose dramatically over the treeline. The mounted rotors pivoted slightly and we zipped away across the jungle.

“Where are we headed?” I asked.

“First stop is a refuelling station about forty clicks away. Then we head back to base outside Marnmouth City.”

“And then I can get back to my lab and start studying the samples,” added Liza.

“Are you in the military? The Air Force?”

“Not at all,” Cody replied. “I’m a ranger.”

I did a double take at his words. “A ranger? Like special forces?”

“You’re the only operator here, buddy. I’m a wildlife ranger. Anti-poaching, tracking criminal gangs who sell the pelts and horns, that kind of thing.”

I frowned at his statement. “What do you mean by me being an operator?”

“A man on foot, sent alone to check on the success of a bigger mission deep within the jungle? No disrespect to my sis, but I don’t think she could’ve done the damage that I saw out there.”

“Asshole!” Liza fired back with sibling warmth.

I burst out laughing. “You think I’m special forces?”

“Ok, ok, tough guy. I know you people have to keep all that stuff under wraps. I’m only a wildlife grunt, so cut me some slack. I’m just grateful you were there when Liza needed you, that’s all.”

“It’s not that, mate. I’m really not in the army or anything. I’m a small business owner. I run games and fruit machines.”

“Then what’s with the getup? That’s not off the rack hunting gear.”

I looked at Liza, asking her about sharing my story without directly asking.

“He’ll believe you,” she said to me, nodding enthusiastically. “Cody, everything Mark’s about to tell you is true, so keep your mouth shut and listen. I’ve seen what he can do.”

I took her cue, and started to explain. “Umm, well, I guess Liza would call me an alien, but I’m actually human. I come from another world.”

Cody’s understandable scoff came over the speakers.

“I said listen!” Liza snapped.

“Fine! Sorry.”

“I’m being sent to worlds, yours included, to help stop the complete annihilation of your entire species. The last one I had to fight in was overrun with orcs. The big green things from the books.”

Cody turned in his seat and his mirrored visor stared at me through the doorway for a few moments. “No shit?”

“No shit. I get transported to the world that’s in danger to try and help. Three days ago I was killing their goblin king, putting an end to the war. Now I’m here.”

“You’re saying we’re about to be attacked by orcs and goblins, and all the little grumpkins that lurk in the dark?”

“No, you’re about to get wiped out by dinosaurs,” I said, bluntly.

The helicopter pitched hazardously as he begun to choke-laugh. “Are you serious? Liza, have you two been eating the toadstools again?”

“Shut up and listen, you big doofus! He’s telling the truth.”

The flight levelled out and Cody calmed down slightly, but he was still chuckling to himself. “Tell me why I should believe you. I think a little thing like a damned dinosaur plodding down the city streets might make the news, don’t you?”

“Not if he’s not ready to unleash them yet, no.”

“He who?” asked Cody.

“Sheldon Lake,” I replied.

“The crazy bastard who ran over the people outside the restaurant? That Sheldon Lake?”

“The very same. I don’t know how, but he’s terraforming this world to prepare it. Where do you think those scorpions come from?”

“They were already here, the same as Liza’s lab specimens,” Cody argued. “The oxygen makes them grow bigger, she’s already shown me.”

“No. The ones you saw out there are a hundred generations beyond anything we’ve bred in the lab. They’ve either been growing for years out of sight somewhere, or they have a genetic makeup that I need to investigate. It might give me an idea of what will happen when the dinosaurs are finally released.”

“And besides,” said Liza. “Who do you think’s behind the changes to the oxygen levels? It’s not an accident.”

Cody snorted again, but it held less conviction. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Deadly,” I replied. “The problem is that I expect your leaders will just lock me up as a lunatic. By the time they let me out, it’ll be too late.”

“So what can a scientist, a ranger, and an alien do about it?”

“Fucked if I know.” I blew out a long, uncertain breath. “But I’m hoping some friends will be along soon to help me figure it out.”