Fenrir. The name echoed in Nathan's head like a gong.

  Nathan knew who he was from vague, half-whispered allusions. Bjorn's boss, and the strongest of the orcs. Nathan hadn't been expecting to run across the guy.

  The sound of air whooshing entered his ear. He looked to the right and his eyes widened when he saw Emi pointing her staff directly at Fenrir's face.

  "Emi!" he shouted.

  It was like she was in another world. The spell powered up—

  Then fizzled out on the spot.

  Nathan blinked.

  Fenrir growled, his muscles rippling underneath his white wolfskin cloak.

  "The elf princess." His eyes shone with an eerie red light. "I was surprised to see your name on the leaderboards. Thought you'd died in the tutorial circle."

  Emi's staff shook, her face pale and sweat pouring down her cheeks in rivulets.

  "I'm going to kill you." Her teeth grinded together. "I'm going to turn your bones into dust."

  Fenrir laughed. "Such a ruthless streak! Is how your dearly departed parents would want you to act?"

  She let out a scream and ran forward, her staff held overhead and another spell on her lips. She swung down and Fenrir pulled out a warhammer and blocked her staff swing.

  A loud electronic thrum buzzed as soon as their weapons met. There was a rush of air and a loud boom threw Emi and Fenrir away from each other. A blue system window appeared in midair where the explosion had happened.

  Nathan quickly ran over to her and knelt down, his shoulders tense.

  "Are you okay?" he said.

  Emi's hand twitched. "I-I'm fine! Let me at him—!"

  Nathan pointed over at the impact point. "Look."

  [Protected Zone!]

  As a central quest hub location, all attacks are prohibited on these grounds!

  Emi's eyes narrowed and then scoffed. "I'll just wait till he steps out."

  "They'll be expecting that." He stood up and held out his hand. "Calm down, we need to figure out what's happening and find out about this central quest hub stuff."

  "But Nathan!" Emi's eyes twitched. "You know what they did to me, you know what he did—"

  "I know. And I promise we'll resolve this. But right now we can't do that. Please. I need you levelheaded for this."

  She held his gaze for a few more seconds before she looked away, her shoulders slumping.

  "Fine."

  She stood to her feet without grabbing Nathan's hand. He took a step back and gave her some room. She looked at him, then stepped behind Chad and Mara. Chad whispered something to her and she nodded sharply.

  Nathan put his hands in his pocket and stepped foward.

  I'm not sure what I'll do. Worst comes to worse, maybe I can lure him out and we can fight in the hallway? But I don't want to get into another species against species war. That sucked really bad the first time…

  And besides that, last time it was Emi's elf advisor who he'd been fighting against. Nathan had him pegged from the start. For all his cunning, he was no warrior.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Fenrir, however, reminded Nathan more of Gabriel and Leviathan. Not exactly the best of vibes.

  Nathan cracked his neck and stepped forward.

  "Fenrir, right?" Nathan held out his hand. "Nathan Lee."

  Fenrir cocked an eyebrow. "Brave one."

  After a moment of hesitation, he reached out his hand and shook Nathan's with a firm graps.

  "Fenrir Ironborn greets you, brother."

  Brother?

  Fenrir must've seen the expression on Nathan's face, because he chuckled right after Nathan thought that word.

  "You don't recall? You're an orc according to the old customs. At least, that's what my lieutenant told me."

  "Lieutenant?"

  Fenrir smirked and stepped to the side. A tall orc with his hair wrapped in a bun stared at Nathan.

  Nathan would remember that face anywhere. It'd been… four circles since their last encounter, but even so—

  "Bjorn. It's good to see you."

  Nathan stood between Bjorn and Emi. Fenrir had offered to give Bjorn and Nathan a chance to catch up, and it'd seemed like such a great idea right up until, you know, they were awkwardly standing around in a circle staring at each other.

  A droplet of sweat had formed on Chad's head. "This isn't awkward at all."

  Emi glared at him, then sighed. She looked back at Bjorn and gave a stiff nod. "Good to see that you're alive."

  Bjorn tilted his head.

  "Yes, it's… pleasing to see that you've survived, as well," he said.

  There were a few beats of silence.

  This is going horribly.

  "So!" Nathan clapped his hands together. "How've things been with you, Bjorn?"

  He shrugged. "I met back up with Fenrir on the Second Circle, actually. It was very fortunate for me, I'm not sure how long I would've lasted on my own."

  On his own…?

  Nathan grinned. "That reminds me of something."

  "What is it?"

  "Remember your squad?"

  Bjorn frowned. "What of them?"

  "How would you react if I told you that we managed to find them?"

  Bjorn stiffened. His mouth opened and shut a few times. "I had given up hope of ever seeing them again."

  "Yeah, they've been the special forces team for my group. Stealth, infiltration, assassination. They do it all. You trained them well."

  "Of course I did." He paused. "Thank you, Nathan."

  "Do you want to see them?"

  "At a later date. They've survived this long without me, we don't need to talk at the current moment. There are more pressing matters." He glanced back at Fenrir. "The challenges of the Sixth Circle need to be discussed, and soon."

  Chad pouted. "We've barely gotten the chance to catch up."

  Mara chose that moment to break into the conversation and nodded up and down. "Yeah, don't rush things. This is a safe zone, right?"

  "Ah, my apologies," Bjorn said. "I'm just… I'm just on edge, I suppose. But you're right. I'm curious to hear further details. What happened to all of you?"

  "Oh man, where to start? For one, did you know that Nathan can fly with a boat?"

  "What—?"

  Chad eagerly started talking about the events of the fourth circle, explaining in elaborate detail what had happened to the Harrowed Hand. At appropriate intervals, Bjorn would nod and ask the occasional question. Mara would add additional pieces of information. Nathan felt a sense of nostalgia for the First Circle, which is actually pretty screwed up if he thought about it for too long.

  "So, you knew him?"

  Nathan looked over at Bree. She was watching Bjorn with what seemed to be a neutral expression. But behind that gaze, Nathan could tell that she was suspicious of him.

  "On the first circle, yeah." Nathan nodded. "He's a decent guy. The kind of person I'd want on my side during a fight."

  Emi snorted. "He's also a murderer."

  Nathan's lips quirked. That seemed a bit unfair.

  "It was wartime," Nathan said. "Your people killed orcs too. Wouldn't it be better to put these things in the past rather than constantly thinking about it?"

  Her face darkened. "If only it were so simple."

  "Actually, it might have to be that simple."

  Emi looked over at Bree. "What are you talking about?"

  Bree pointed at one of the chalk circles. "A quest hub? The fact that there are three different circles? Three species? I think it's pretty clear what the system is signaling."

  Nathan glanced over at her. Based off the neutral tone in her voice, it seemed like what she was thinking of was different than what he was thinking of.

  "Cooporation," Bree said. "They want us to work together."

  "That…"

  Nathan's voice trailed off. Was it really that impossible? He supposed not. But he couldn't help but remember what Finny had told him about the sixth circle being impossible. There had to be a catch… either that, or Bree simply had it completely wrong. Frankly, he was leaning more toward the latter.

  Nathan was about to respond when the sound of footsteps to his side stopped him. He looked over to see an orc—a random one, someone who'd been accompanying Fenrir. The orc bowed.

  "Sir Fenrir wishes to speak with you."

  Emi glared so sharply at the orc that Nathan half-expected the orc would light up on fire. The orc actually took a step back and nodded at Nathan.

  "Don't take too long," he said.

  He then backed off. Nathan scratched the back of his head.

  "Probably a good idea to actually talk to the guy, this time without a bunch of staff attacks, yeah?"

  Emi stared at him, then shrugged. "Do as you will."

  Bree nodded. "It's a good idea. Get information. See if they know something we don't."

  His thoughts wandered to Lily. She was probably hiding away. He hoped that she wouldn't feel too lonely.

  Nathan nodded back at her, then stepped toward the group of orcs.