“How the fuck can that be fair?” Gemma stood with mouth gaping and eyes twitching as she read over the soon-to-start game description. She was one of the deadliest diamond players, having earned the class Rogue Archer, specializing in both long-distance assassination coupled with stealth, movement, and twin daggers.

“This is not good,” Trid said, voice shaky. “We didn’t agree to this bullshit.”

Leonidas looked to Jack before he formulated his own opinion. He scanned Jack’s unwavering face, looking for a break in his stalwart expression. Instead of fear, worry, distraught, or any of the hundreds of other emotions that washed over the other players, Jack smiled. Leonidas let out a sigh.

For some reason, he trusted Jack more in this moment than ever before.

“It’s literally just a game of LoL,” Ryan exclaimed. “How can it be so similar? Even the map looks the same. Two bases. Three lanes. Turrets. A river. Jungle spawns. And each side has to both defend their world tree while assaulting the other. No permanent death. Respawn timers,” he continued, reading deeper into the extensive ruleset that was provided.

“We only have an hour to prepare. How the hell?” Gemma asked.

“What’s a mana-stone?” Jack spoke for the first time. It had been the first he’d heard of the object. The enemy, a still-unknown species named Altarian, had spent one million low-grade mana-stones in order to even be allowed to challenge the lowly planet an entire division lower than them, and then put up another ten million as their wager. Earth was not given any right to refuse the challenge. And, Earth had no say in their wager. Nobody knew who had decided the collateral; perhaps it was by request of the Altarians or deemed fair by the system. Regardless, fighting with five hundred thousand innocent human lives on the line was not exactly what any of them had expected. To this point, the players had risked their own lives, as well as some of Earth’s resources in the games.

The stakes had never been higher.

Leonidas shook his head having not heard of the item before.

The other players shook their heads in agreement.

“Interesting,” Jack’s smile grew.

“He’s crazy, isn’t he? I knew there had to be a catch,” Trid commented, following Leonidas’ gaze to Jack’s growing intrigue.

“What’s the plan?” Gemma asked, also looking to Jack for guidance. “Do we want to play a slow game? It looks like we can gather resources from the monsters in the forest. Upgrade some defenses and weapons. Prepare for a long siege. We don’t know how long this game might last.”

“I’m not so sure,” Ryan added, his mind starting to churn.  “We don’t know anything about how strong the enemy is, let alone the jungle monsters, the towers, the walls, or the final base.”

“So what?” Gemma pipped back. “We just have to wing it? With five-hundred-thousand lives on the line? That doesn’t sit so well with me.”

Jack listened while still flicking through the rules, absorbing all of the information available.

“Jack?” Leonidas asked, hesitant to interrupt his thoughts.

“There isn’t anything about immunity like in LoL. It doesn’t say we have to break through the outer towers. There are no barracks to destroy. No super minions. No order we have to go. And it also doesn’t say how long it’ll take to respawn once we die. Minutes? Hours? Days? How big is this place? I can feel a wall just like in the tutorial, over a mile that way,” Jack pointed down the middle of the three lanes that led out from their base. “I bet it won’t drop until the game begins.”

“So you want to just charge at them?” Ryan chuckled. “Y’know, I was hesitant when I first read about you, but I’m starting to like you already.”

“Seriously?” Gemma added.

“That’s insanity,” Trid said.

“There is too much unknown, I agree,” Jack pondered. “It says there is a five player limit, but,” Jack raised his hand and called to both Thunder and Lightning. The two wolves appeared before the surprised four. “If I can summon my creatures, they might be able to summon theirs. We might not last a battle of attrition. What if they have an army of thousands? Would we even stand a chance?”

The others nodded and voices continued as thoughts bounced from head to head.

“So what? If we wait and see, we’re likely to be slaughtered. If we charge headfirst, slaughtered,” Trid recapped.

“A slow early game might give us enough information,” Ryan offered a piece of useful advice. “Stay with the minions and the outer towers. Watch for the enemy? It’s not like we even know what they look like, yet.”

Leonidas again looked to Jack for a plan but was given none. Finally, Leonidas suggested, “Gemma and the wolves can scout through the woods. Watch for any sneak attacks while observing the lanes. Ryan, Trid, and I will each take a lane staying as close to the outer tower as possible. See what these minions are like. If they drop anything. If we get anything from killing them. Play it slow. If we get overwhelmed, hopefully we’ll respawn back here and be able to regroup.”

“There’s a communication system,” Jack pointed out reaching a page no one had yet to read. “Message. Leonidas. ‘Do you hear me?’”

Leonidas turned. “Woah. I heard you in my head.”

“Message. Team. ‘The base is under attack’,” Jack tried.

All four of them nodded, hearing Jack’s words as clear as day.

“What about him?” Trid asked, having noticed Jack was conveniently left out of Leonidas’ plans.

Leonidas smiled.

Ryan smiled.

Jack smiled.

“Seriously?” Trid said.

“What is it?” Gemma questioned, not catching on.

“He’s going to go at it alone,” Ryan chirped, “like the crazy bastard he is.”

Jack nodded, turning to walk down the center path to explore the map.

Sometime later, as the timer neared zero, the five Earthlings stood at the ready. And then, an announcement chimed, commencing the start of the game. From each of the world trees, three waves of gremlin-like monsters appeared with thick leather armor and a variety of weapons: three swordsmen, two archers, one mage, and a slow-moving siege cannon in each group. The creatures moved slowly, deliberately, and with a predictable path, each following their lane as they marched toward the enemy’s towers.

“The live game broadcast has begun,” the announcer followed.

“Live broadcast?” Trid’s voice echoed into all of their minds.

“Give them hell,” Leonidas said, “It looks like the world is watching.”

Jack grinned and then leapt into the air, soaring above the enemy towers, through the enemy jungle, over the enemy’s final defenses, and into their base where their three barracks, their world tree, and the five Altarians currently stood. Jack observed the beings from high above, holding his position in the air with a current of mana wafting beneath him.

They looked human-ish, bipedal with strikingly similar body features. The four males—as Jack defined them by their buff physiques, strong faces, and lustful eyes—argued before the female. She appeared less human than the others. Four cloud-like wings sprouted from her exposed back like the most beautiful of pillows. Her skin was pale but tinted blue. Her snowy hair was tied behind her, draped between her wings, and a smoky mist shielded her breasts and pelvic region, covering a mirror-polished silver armor that provided seemingly no protection at all. The more Jack observed, the more he found strange about the woman. Her eyes were the deepest of blue but looked at her teammates with disdain. Her face scrunched as they squabbled, filling with a great disgust.

The male Altarians spoke a strange tongue, but, Jack understood their words as if they were English.

“I was promised the mid-role,” one of the four demanded. “Her father swore it so.”

“Lies,” another roared. “I will wipe out these pathetic creatures and win Althea’s hand.”

“Hah, with that scrawny body and pathetic member,” another smirked, glancing down between the other’s legs.

“Brutes,” the fourth added, turning toward the woman with a sympathetic look. “Your orders, madam.”

“Go, do whatever you wish,” she said irately, turning as if to face a camera and adding, “I hope you’re pleased with yourself, Fa-ther. Such a pathetic display just to sell my hand. Disgraceful.”

“I will dedicate the first kill to our glorious marriage,” one turned and sprinted down the center lane, summoning his set of two cloudy wings.

“Bastard!” another chased after him, spawning his wings to take to the air.

“I’ll take the bottom,” the third said.

“Your orders?” the fourth asked again.

“You’re kind, Sylo. Too kind. If only you could free me from this prison.”

“I owe you all I am, my life is for you to command.”

“Go, make sure those idiots don’t cause us to lose. Not that this budding planet stands any chance.”

“Of course. Your word is my command.” Sylo turned and leapt into the air, flying close to the path, following after the two who had already begun throwing blows at each other.

Jack dropped from the sky, appearing before the woman with a curious smile on his face. “So, I just have to chop down this tree?” He asked the shocked woman, stepping past her and raising his hand as if to chop through the thick wood. Jack felt nothing special about the tree. It was no stronger than the magic trees he’d been accustomed to chopping. A single slice would probably do.

“A human?” Althea finally said, realizing that she could also understand his tongue. “Wingless creature, but not half bad,” she murmured, moving with a swiftness that Jack had not anticipated, placing herself between him and the tree while catching his extended arm in her own, gripping firmly onto his wrist.

“More-or-less,” Jack added, smirking, flirting almost.

“How did you—no—why did you rush all the way here?”

“Curiosity,” Jack said. “You’ve forced us to wager so much, I wanted to see the faces behind such a cruel act.”

Althea spat at the ground. “My father dictates our wagers. His face is the one you seek.”

Jack slowly lowered his arm and Althea stepped back still on the highest of guards.

“How could a new planet have a warrior like you?” Althea rasped, eyes looking Jack from head to toe.

Jack shrugged. “Two worlds are watching us right now,” he reminded her, not wanting to divulge his secrets.

“But you must realize that you cannot win,” Althea said next, sending a wave of her power from her body in an attempt to intimidate, or, incapacitate Jack.

Jack stood, wholly unaffected by the feather that tickled him. “I have no such thoughts,” he said. “A question for a question. What is a magic-stone?”

Althea dropped her jaw and then started to bellow the deepest of laughters. “You are telling me that you are standing here before me, after somehow avoiding the gaze of those three idiots, Sylo, and myself and you haven’t any knowledge of a mana-stones? Your planet is indeed unwinged and wet behind the ears.”

“A question for a question,” Jack reminded her.

“They’re mana-stones,” she said as if that answered his question. “Your species needs to eat food, yes? They are like food, except for your mana. Not only can they help you gather a larger pool, but they can increase the quality, the density, and even restore your mana when you are running low.”

Jack nodded along.

“Have you really never seen one?”

“Is that your question?” Jack confirmed.

“No! No. Why aren’t you trying to kill me? To kill our tree?”

“Curiosity,” Jack said. “Human curiosity is one of our greatest strengths. We are new to the games. We are struggling for our planet’s survival. Information is our best resource. If we lose this game, we lose five-hundred-thousand souls. A truly tragic, disgusting, abhorrent thought. If I genuinely have no hope of winning as you surmise. If we are really just squish-able bugs to your kind, the least I can do is gather as much information as possible. Help us prepare for the future.”

“Fascinating. Such rationality mixed with a restrained anger. I can tell you want to reach out and claw out my throat. But, you are holding back, not for your King, but for the sake of your people. Truly fascinating. And to be so honest with your world watching. To have such faith that they won’t turn on you for your words.”

“How long do I have before your men—” Jack stopped as Leonidas’ voice echoed.

“Contact in middle. The minions are fighting each other, but, the enemies are also in-fighting. They look like us. But they have fluffy wings. Like a poodle. A fluffy, cuddly poodle. And, two of them are fighting. They’re really going at it. It looks like they are trying to kill each other. A third is trying to stop them, but he isn’t succeeding.”

“Contact in bottom, one enemy. Poodle-wing-man also. He killed our entire wave in a single strike. I’m going to engage when poodle-man gets to the tower.”

‘Gemma, take Thunder and help bottom,” Leonidas ordered.

‘Jack, can you send Lightning my way,’ Ryan added, ‘I’ve got an empty lane and it’s a good as time as any to push.

“Is that your question,” Althea joked.

Jack smiled, swiping gently across the grass with his foot to call forth two of the finest wooden chairs from the ground. As he sat, he motioned to the other one.

“You are different than anyone I’ve ever met,” Althea said, taking the seat. “Do you not know fear?”

Jack gave her a look to make sure that was what she wanted to ask.

Althea nodded.

“Of course I know fear. Fear was all that drove me for the longest of times. Fear still lurks in me today. I am terrified to lose my family. I fear for my planet and my species. But, most of all,” Jack turned and smiled as if to look right into Robin’s watchful eyes. “I fear losing the one who holds my heart, my soul, my everything in her hands. I fear not being able to give her the things that she desires most. I fear seeing disappointment in her eyes. I fear the day she might not look at me with the love, the adoration, that sustains me. My life is nothing without her.”

Althea scrunched her eyes and scratched her head; she couldn’t understand a male saying such words. Not even Sylo, her most trusted ally, and half-brother, bastard son of the King, displayed such empathy to his mate, his children, nor her.

A strange warm sensation sprouted in the deepest crevices within her.