Varun POV

  “You take the lead when explaining what happened to Naga,” Sid said to Rohan. He held Rohan’s gaze. “Don’t be too descriptive, but do not lie. Don’t look at me while you talk.”

  Rohan frowned. “Why?” The question came out flat.

  Sid’s jaw tightened. “We shouldn’t explain the specifics of our abilities to people who are not on our team. It might be used against us in the future.”

  “I thought we were all on the same team,” said Rohan, picking up pace to match Sid’s stride.

  “Yes, we are all on the same team, but Naga and whoever joined the camp later might not be.” Sid shifted, turning toward Rohan and Aditi.

  Finally, he was taking it seriously, thought Varun. In all the stories he’d read, it was people who were the most unpredictable variables. It was possible to understand the monsters or the power system, but not how people would behave.

  “Aren’t we all just trying to survive?” Aditi glanced between Sid and Rohan, her expression tight.

  “We are,” Sid said. He lifted a hand as if to calm the air. “But sometimes the one who runs faster gets away. The slower one becomes bait.”

  “Stop talking in riddles, Sid,” Varun said. He stepped in, then turned to Rohan. “Think of it like this: if something matters to everyone, we share it. That weird cave, the goblins showing intelligence. We can even tell them about Aditi’s healing skill. We do not share exact skill levels or stats outside the team. Fair?”

  Aditi’s fingers tightened around her strap. Varun caught it. She still hadn’t shown them her status. Did she intend to leave the team, or was it just trust issues?

  Rohan exhaled through his mouth. “Alright.” The word dragged, but he started walking again.

  The past two days had been eye-opening for Varun; he had always considered Rohan a stickler for rules. Although that did not seem changed, he now saw a compassionate side of his old boss.

  Sid, however, had shown the greatest contrast in character. Gone was the yes-man corporate drone he had seen in the past few months. Varun could see shades of his quick-witted best friend. But the most interesting change was his gritty determination.

  The Sid he knew would have given up a losing hand. He himself would’ve run from that ambush if Sid had not been there. Instead, Sid set up a plan and executed it to perfection. Well, almost perfect—Aditi got the last hit on the shaman, the kill stealer.

  Varun glanced at Aditi, walking beside Rohan, and felt a tangle of emotions. He did not trust the ease in her voice. It felt practiced. He hated that type of gloss. After a lifetime around pretenders, he had no patience for them. Yet she had healed all their injuries, and for that he was grateful.

  “Looks like Naga is building some walls,” said Sid, looking into the distance.

  Varun scanned ahead and saw nothing beyond trees and mist. He envied Sid’s skills again—not just the variety, but how they meshed together, optimized for a scout build. He ought to plan his own build and maybe get some input from Sid. The guy had an instinctive understanding of skills.

  After a few paces, Varun could see what looked like a fence in the making. The people building the fence had noticed them and stood alert, with one of them running back, probably to fetch someone more important.

  The backpack girl and the cook came to greet them, stopping with space between. Their shoulders angled out; their gazes slid past, never meeting. The distance and averted eyes told Varun there was some friction there.

  “Pallavi,” Rohan said, hand raised.

  “Rohan.” Her eyes flicked over their cuts and dried mud. “What happened? You should’ve been back two days ago.”

  “Trouble on the way.” Rohan eased past her. “We’ll explain later. Food and water first, and if the pond’s safe, we’ll wash.”

  “Of course.” Pallavi stepped in beside him. “Pantry’s this way.”

  Sid’s gaze moved across the camp, counting shelters and faces. “Looks like a lot of new people have joined.”

  “Yeah. Two groups yesterday and the day before,” Pallavi said. “We’re about thirty now.” She paused as if counting.

  They stopped at a bedsheet-covered corner. Mushrooms filled a couple of Hermès tote bags. Some very rich people must have joined the camp, thought Varun.

  “Got anything other than mushrooms?” Sid leaned toward another bag lying beside them.

  “Bunty made boar jerky yesterday,” Pallavi said, untying the flap. “Smells odd, but it’s edible. Naga tested it.”

  Sid took a strip and bit down. Naga strode in before he finished chewing, and slammed into Rohan, giving him a bear hug.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “I thought I lost you guys,” said Naga, releasing Rohan from the bear hug and meeting each of their eyes for a beat.

  “We were about to form a scouting team to go look for you guys.” Naga put his arm around Rohan’s shoulder. “In fact, I was talking to Pallavi about it earlier.”

  Judging by the expression on Pallavi’s face, Varun was not buying any of it, neither the fake intimacy nor the scouting team story.

  The Caucasian woman from Naga’s team and two other ladies approached, carrying another tote bag filled with mushrooms. They placed it down next to them and listened in on the conversation.

  “You guys must be tired; you can freshen up at the pond,” said Naga, turning to Sid. “We have four people patrolling the area to alert us in case of any monster sightings. It should be safe.”

  Rohan’s gaze swept the group. “Alright, Aditi can go first.” He scanned for someone to guide her.

  Naga pointed at Lauren, offering a brief nod. “Lauren can take her.”

  “Looks like more work for me,” said Naga, taking the bag of mushrooms brought by Lauren. “Could you guys fill me in on what happened after?”

  “Sure.” Rohan gave Naga a quick smile, then faced Varun and Sid. “I’ll check out the camp, maybe talk to a few people.”

  There were two clusters of bottles kept near the food, one empty and the other containing water. Sid kept his empty bottle with the first group and took one bottle from the other. There should be people tasked with filling the empty bottles and returning them, like what Lauren and Naga were doing for the mushrooms.

  Sid started walking away, munching on a piece of jerky.

  “Sid!” Pallavi jogged to catch up with him.

  Varun scooped a few mushrooms and put them inside his backpack before walking up to Sid and Pallavi. He could not hear what they were talking about but caught the tail end of their conversation once he was within earshot.

  “Naattil evideyaa (Where are you from originally?),” asked Sid, a gentle smile on his face.

  “Guruvayur,” said Pallavi, turning to see Varun approach them.

  “Oi, English please,” Varun said. He looked from Pallavi to Sid. “Sid, what happened?” Sid’s face had blanched. The color drained enough to be noticed even in the diffused light.

  Sid let out a slow breath and pulled another in. “Might be related to my skill,” he said. “Let’s be careful around here today.”

  Varun straightened his back, looking alert.

  “Pallavi, if you are interested in joining our team, you can discuss with Varun. I’m fine with her joining,” said Sid, giving her a nod. “Varun, I’ll also freshen up. Catch you later,” added Sid, walking away from them.

  “So, what were you guys discussing?” Varun tucked the half-eaten mushroom into his backpack and faced her fully. Pallavi stood straight in front of him, hands clasped loosely at her waist, chin lifted half an inch.

  “I want to join your team,” she said, leaning in a fraction. “I was going to ask Sid if he would talk to Rohan for me.” A pair of onlookers glanced over. Pallavi noticed and kept her face still.

  Varun brushed it aside with a tilt of his chin. “Don’t worry about it. If Sid says you’re on the team, you’re on the team.”

  “Rohan won’t object like last time?” asked Pallavi, knitting her brows.

  “No,” Varun said, with a small laugh to show confidence.

  He glanced across the clearing. Two men by the woodpile stared, then looked away too late. “People don’t seem to like you,” he said, dropping his voice. “A lot of them are glaring. Anything we should know?”

  Pallavi’s shoulders dipped. “Yesterday, a horned deer attacked us,” she said. “We fought and killed it. One person died, and another was seriously injured.” She paused, then forced the last part out. “I dealt the finishing blow and absorbed the skill crystal before I talked to the others. Now the family that lost someone is mad at me.” Her last words thinned out, almost lost under the camp noise.

  Varun pictured Aditi waiting for consent to absorb the crystal after the shaman fell. He felt that was the right way to distribute skills when fighting as a team; it prevented discontent from uneven loot distribution.

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” he said. He kept his voice even and let each word land. “You did not beat that monster alone. It was a group effort. What gives you the right to take something that should belong to the group?”

  Pallavi’s chin lifted again. Color rose to her cheeks. “What else could I do? It was my fourth fight, and people who fought less already had skills because they were close to Naga.” Her hands balled into fists.

  “Did you ask him for a skill crystal?” asked Varun, meeting her gaze. “Did you tell the others that you want the next skill? How can we take you onto our team if you behave like this?”

  “Shouldn’t skill distribution be fair?” Pallavi’s voice sharpened. “Crystals were handed out because someone’s faction took losses or because they were friendly with Naga. How is that fair?”

  Their verbal sparring had drawn a crowd, including Naga. If the Kurishingal family had been the only ones glaring at her earlier, now it was everyone present.

  “Hey, everyone,” Naga said. He raised a hand, palm open. “We all have a lot of work to do. Let them sort it out between themselves, alright?” He held the silence. No lecture. No extra words. People broke off in twos and threes, conversations restarting as they moved away. One kid gave Pallavi a last look that lingered a beat too long.

  Varun felt a twinge of regret over how the argument had landed, but it did not change his mind. He still did not want people like Pallavi on his team. He looked at her. She had gone still, eyes unfocused, hands hanging loosely at the side. She looked like someone waiting for a blow that had not landed.

  Rohan approached with a light smile that took the edge off the air. “What was that commotion?”

  “We were just discussing skill distribution.” Varun kept his eyes on the ground.

  “Lots of people were interested in your discussion.” Rohan’s lips curled up, but his eyes checked the clearing to see who was still listening. “You do not have to tell me if you do not want to.”

  A flicker of movement—Aditi crossing in front of a tent—caught Varun’s eye. “Where is Aditi going?”

  “The infirmary.” Pallavi seemed to come back to herself.

  Rohan drew quick, shallow breaths. “We should have asked if anyone needed urgent care the moment we arrived.”

  Varun exhaled slowly. “Easy. She’s with them now—it should be okay.”

  “Rohan,” Pallavi called. “I want to be part of your team, to join you when you go out to explore the surroundings.” She met his eyes when talking.

  Rohan hesitated, gaze flicking to Varun and back. “Did you check with Sid?”

  “He said he was fine with it,” Pallavi replied quickly, before Varun could interject.

  “Okay then, welcome to the team,” said Rohan, with a gentle smile on his face. He turned and walked toward the tent. “I’ll go check on Aditi.”

  “Don’t think you are in just yet,” Varun cut in, his voice low so only Pallavi could hear. “Sid makes the last call. I will speak with him.”