I’m supposed to be a smart man. Or at least, my Int stat of 34 would suggest that I am. I… wasn’t.

  It took me way too long to realize why Siva was still in his flip-flops and hadn’t activated his [Air Walk] ability. First of all, I hadn’t given him any warning that we were about to take off at high speed. Second, I was moving too fast, way too fast. I wasn’t about to break the Speed Force and time travel, but I was a blur of motion, and that didn’t give Siva a chance to react in the split second between me grabbing him and us crashing through the glass barrier, falling four stories.

  I twisted mid-fall, positioning myself to land on my back with Siva wrapped in my arms, hopefully breaking his fall. The moment we hit the ground, I felt my spine and skull crack. At the same time, Siva’s full weight, the weight of a tall and lanky sixteen year old, slammed into me from above, driving all the air out of my lungs. My health bar flashed red.

  I groaned in pain and slammed a healing potion from my hotlist, which brought my health from red to yellow, and I quickly chewed down several [Good Nuts] to gradually restore my HP.

  Siva rolled off me, already equipping his boots and magical gear as I fought through the haze of pain. I barely had time to recover before I saw Faisal, the crossbow-arm guy, leveling his weapon at me at four stories up.

  I cast [Haze]. The mist appeared and expanded to cloak us, but even as it formed, I saw the bolt cutting through it. It slammed into my shoulder, sending fresh waves of pain through my arm and neck, and my health bar dropped back into the red.

  I triggered another healing potion, scrambled to my feet, and quickly equipped my gear, feeling the warmth of healing wash over me. I kept my eye on my health bar, watching it creep back toward yellow, but also staying alert to what was going on around us.

  Through the fog, I could see clearly, but they couldn’t. The Temple members were buzzing now, shouting commands from above as they geared up, grabbing crossbows, swords, and axes, and moving toward us, but none of them seemed eager to enter the mist.

  Siva had both swords drawn, but he hadn’t activated his body shield yet. Good. This wasn’t a fight we could win. There were easily hundreds of Temple members now, testing the edge of the mist, stepping in cautiously before retreating again.

  I turned to speak to Siva, ready to tell him I was going to activate the boots and speed us out of here when something flickered at the edge of my vision. A blur and moving fast.

  I pushed Siva aside and fell backward just as something hit my arm. An alert pinged on my HUD.

  [Chainshirt: Armor level: 70%]

  What the hell? Even in my confusion, I noticed something new. A new bar appeared beneath my health bar, and it was already in the yellow.

  I felt the side of my arm. My tee shirt had been torn cleanly. I was wearing my tee shirt-chainmail shirt. This had never happened before. Even a swipe from the lurchers hadn’t breached my armor.

  From the floor, I saw the blur approach again. I rolled out of the way just as something struck the ground where my head had been. Sparks flew, and pieces of tile scattered in all directions.

  "Siva, phase!" I called as the blur shifted its attention to him. Siva’s jacket had an enchantment that allowed him to phase through solid objects once a day. Without hesitation, he dropped through the floor, just as the blur ran past him and stopped in its tracks.

  It turned to face me.

  It was Marcus. He was able to see us in the [Haze]. Gone were the coat and the friendly insurance agent demeanor. He held a wicked-looking dagger, more like an elven short sword. His eyes were wild, his smile wide and manic. The metal enhancements on his calves shimmered, pulsing with blue neon light from the cracks between them.

  “You’re not the only speedster you know,” Marcus sneered. “Shall I be your Reverse Flash, or should you be mine?”

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  He lunged at me, moving so fast, I was barely able to react.

  I activated my boots and started running, tearing through the mist as I bolted out of the main entrance of West Gate. Marcus was right behind me, matching my speed.

  Siva: Dude, I’m okay. I’m in the basement and made it to the loading bay. Don’t worry about me. What the fuck was that?

  Chris: Busy! Phantom!

  I barely registered Siva’s message when Marcus struck, and I turned just in time to dodge a swipe from his blade. I had only a small dagger as a melee weapon, and I was completely under geared. Marcus was fast. Almost as fast as me, but I could only sustain my speed for short bursts, no thanks to the skill being tied to my Dex score.

  I kept activating the skill, over and over, chaining my speed boosts as I dodged in and out of parked cars, darted through alleyways, and ran over pedestrian bridges. My Mana bar was dropping fast, already creeping into the red.

  How long could I keep this up?

  I heard Marcus’s maniacal laughter behind me, his voice taunting, “Having fun yet? Let’s see how much Mana you have!”

  I activated a [Haste] potion, adding even more speed to my already-bursting momentum, and turned a sharp corner, hoping to get some distance. I had only microseconds to act. I stopped dead in my tracks, turned, pulled out my composite bow, nocked a fire arrow, and pulled back.

  Marcus turned the corner right into my shot as I released the arrow.

  It hit him square in the chest and the blowback function of my bow activated with a loud boom. I was thrown back as Marcus was blasted off his feet, flying over the nearest building in a fiery arc, screaming and laughing as he soared through the air, still on fire.

  What the hell just happened?

  I stared at the bow in my hand, dumbfounded. My bow’s blowback ability had never sent anyone flying like that before. Was it because it was a human target? Or had his speed and the momentum he was carrying, added to the impact, like a speeding train hitting a brick wall?

  I was exhausted. Almost out of Mana.

  I looked around and grinned. I was all the way in Jurong West, an entire town over. It was quiet here. The residential area felt abandoned; all the windows in the nearby housing blocks were either shut tight or broken.

  Siva: I’m at the Phantom. I lost them through the drains.

  Chris: What? Drains? You gotta come pick me up. I’ll send you my location.

  Siva: No no no no... Chris, I can’t ride...

  I gave him my location, closed the chat, and finally let myself relax. I picked myself up and walked to a nearby kids’ playground and collapsed on a bench. My breath came in ragged gasps, not just from the chase, but because something heavy had settled in my chest.

  I had killed a man.

  He was surely dead, right? I hit him with a flame arrow and blasted him through the air. I didn’t see where he landed, but he was on fire. He had to be dead.

  You burned him to death.

  I replayed the scene in my mind, hearing his screams, and even worse, his laughter. I was still holding my bow. I stared at it for a long time before quickly pulling up my HUD, checking for new XP or loot drops. I hadn’t received anything.

  I breathed a sigh of relief, but the question lingered. Would I have still earned XP for killing a human enemy?

  But he was trying to kill you. He was going after Siva.

  That didn’t change the fact that I might’ve just taken someone’s life.

  I had half a mind to go look for his body, just to be sure, but I held back. This was unfamiliar territory, and I didn’t know what dangers lurked in this area. So, I sat on the bench, head bowed, my bow gripped loosely in my hands, and replayed the scene over and over until I heard the familiar roar of Phantom’s engine.

  I stood up and walked over to where Siva was struggling to ride the big bike, lurching forward with every attempt. Seeing him cursing and fumbling to move the bike brought me out of my head.

  I might’ve killed someone. I didn’t enjoy it. I did what I had to do. He could had killed Siva. And he was laughing about it.

  No. This is not on me.

  I approached Siva, who gave me a tired smile, drenched in sweat from the effort.

  “How’d you escape, dude?” he asked, shifting backwards to the pillion seat once I had a hand on the bike.

  “I outran him.” I revved the throttle and we took off.

  I did what I had to do, I kept telling myself. It was either me or him. He was going to kill me. I justified it to myself, over and over again.

  So why did I lie to Siva?

  I had no answer as we headed to West Coast to check in on Shawn and Jess.