New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live



David might be one of the current strongest humans on Earth, but he knew full well that only applied to humans. The creature stomping its way toward them by far surpassed what they should fight in terms of power.

"I think we should back off and come back," he declared, sweat pearling off his forehead.

Alex looked at him, confused. He had yet to see David ever back down from a fight.

"Since when do you back away? Weren't you the future of humanity? How can you see all these monsters and think about running away?"

His voice contained a bit of loathing. That day, a small part of the respect Alex had for David's hard-ass attitude disappeared.

"If we die here, how are we going to keep fighting for humanity, huh? Use your empty head a bit, Alex. This foe is far out of our reach. We should retreat and come back when we are stronger. Or get help from well-armed people."

David didn't fear the enemy making its way to them. What he feared was dying, and having wasted the second chance given to him.

There was no way someone brought him back, just so he could throw his life away. He couldn't and he wouldn't.

Taking a step back, ready to bolt away, Alex glared at him.

"David. If we leave, now that we poked the hornet's nest, what do you think will happen? How many people have to die, so you remain alive?"

David knew Alex was right. But the risk was just too great.

The rest of the world didn't know what he knew. He considered his life was worth more than the others.

Hell, he would throw Alex and Kary under the bus, if it guaranteed he survived. But he could already imagine the repercussions of his actions if he left there that day.

As he wrestled with his own thoughts, the enemy he didn't want to confront finally made its way into the barely lit room. Towering over the other rats, an even larger specimen stared them down, with eyes of beady black.

This gigantic rat was dark brown, with streaks of black running from the corner of its eyes, all the way to the base of its tail. Its teeth were dripping with a green liquid, which upon contact with the floor sizzled, revealing its highly caustic nature.

Alexander could feel the slight mana signatures from the dog-sized rats already, but this one. This one was in a dimension of its own, compared to them.

Alex could feel a mana signature almost as strong as his, coming from it, and he started understanding David's reticence to fight. But it also reinforced his fears of the consequences if they just bailed.

Plans on how to defeat this new threat were already rolling in his head. But somehow, he doubted any of them were viable.

He still knew nothing of the capabilities of the enemy, and that made it unpredictable.

Turning his head toward Kary, he could see her scrunched up nose and her furrowed brows, as she was also deep in thought.

David was still half-turned away, his mind and traits troubled between staying and risking himself to ensure the safety of people above or ensure his survival at the cost of strangers.

David just couldn't decide. Whatever conscience he thought he had burned away was currently smashing against his thoughts of leaving.

While he struggled with his thoughts, the humongous rat, which David knew to be a rat queen, just stared at them, her teeth rattling together, while acid dripped out of its mouth.

She stared at the intruders in her domain, waiting to see if they would keep disturbing her kin, or if they would flee. Of course, she wouldn't let either result slide peacefully.

The rat queen was already counting the number of burned and torn corpses on the ground, and her rage was slowly building. Someone would pay for these three humans' affront, this day.

Whether it be them, or their kin, mattered little.

Tension rose, as both sides of the standoff were gauging each other, Kary making plans, and the rat queen imagining how the intruders would taste. Alex was twitching nervously, his body raring to fight.

There was no doubt in his mind this would be an ugly battle. But letting this thing go would make for an uglier result top-side, where the other humans were much weaker than them.

Turning to David, Alex tried reasoning with him one last time.

"Come on, David. You can't seriously be having a hard time choosing to fight or not. We'll have to fight this thing either here or up in the streets, while hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people get slaughtered."

David looked back at him, his mind still in turmoil.

"You don't understand, Alex. If I die, humanity's chances at survival become almost nil. It won't matter if you are alive or supremely powerful. You don't know what I do. You don't know what's coming, not really."

Kary ground her teeth together. She understood where David was coming from. But she also knew Alex was right.

There was no way the enormous rat was just going to let them leave. Not after how many of them they had killed.

"Alex's right, David. Could you live with yourself if you caused the death of thousands of people here today?" Kary tried reasoning with him.

But his face stayed in a mask of uncertainty. Which decision was the right one?

Should he leave?

Should he fight?

Maybe he could get some reinforcements here through his connections with the underbelly of the city. But would they get here in time?

Alex looked at him struggle and reached his boiling point. He no longer cared about entertaining this standoff.

"Fuck it! I'm not letting this thing get top-side. You can fuck off if that's what you want, David. But if I get out of here, you better hope I don't see you again!"

Alexander no longer looked back as he bolted forward, toward the sea of brown and grey fur.