New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Jack approached the teen, putting his large hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down, son. I will explain everything once we are left alone by the gentlemen that drove us here. You'll understand all at that moment."

Cory saw the ginormous man before him, whom he knew as OldGrizzly, and gulped.

'He's as big in real life as in New Eden... What a chad…' he thought.

He just nodded his empty head in response, making Jack smile.

"Good. Now, let us head inside, shall we?" he asked, looking at each of the awakened people here.

A couple of nods later, and Jack pointing toward the cabin, the ten people participating in the hunt walked inside the chalet as the drivers who brought them here all drove back out, heading to the village.

David walked over to Alex and Kary, smiling at them.

"Glad you guys managed to pull some more people in. This makes our chances better, and we might not have to bury anyone," he said, with his usual amount of cockiness.

Alex nodded silently, and Kary grimaced, appalled at his distasteful remark.

They walked in together and quickly realized that everyone present was either part of their guild or people they knew personally. The only oddball in the group was the young merc, Juan Alvares.

He was the only one who barely knew anyone there.

lightsΝοvel The only person he thought he recognized was Alexander, and he had only talked to him briefly once, making him even less than an acquaintance.

He was the only one confused, surrounded by strangers, with nary a clue about what he was doing there.

His boss, Colonel Lancaster, had been very vague about the mission he was being sent on, alone, by no fault of his own. This made him even more nervous than before on the ride there.

Seeing his nervousness rise, the other outlier, Clark, approached him.

"Hey, kid. My name's Clark. I take it you barely know anyone here as well, right?" he said, stretching his hand forward.

The merc looked at Clark with wariness for a second before shaking his hand.

Clark smiled as the kid shook his hand, noticing there was a powerful grip on him.

"Nice grip strength you got there, kid. Do you work out?"

The nonchalantness of the man took Juan aback, but it calmed his nerves a bit, and he mustered the courage to answer back.

"I do. It's part of my work. My name is Juan. Juan Alvares. A pleasure to meet you, sir."

Clark chuckled a bit, slapping the young man on the shoulder.

"Don't sir me, Juan. Just Clark is fine. I feel like we'll be working in such proximity in the next days that we might as well acquaint properly."

Juan smiled nervously, unsure he was ready to work with a team of people he had never met before. But he had already received his mission money, so he could hardly return home.

Jack watched as a few people started forming little groups, talking to each other and smiling.

'This is a good start,' he thought as his wife stood nearby.

"At least they won't be complete strangers going in," she commented, to which Jack nodded.lightsnovel

Jack waited for a moment before clapping his hands together loudly while standing in the middle of the open area chalet living room.

"Alright, folks. Gather round. The sooner we get this briefing on the road, the better."

The shuffling of feet echoed in the chalet as all eight of them scooted over closer, making a semi-circle before him and Margarett, who stood in the center.

"I know most of you are still wondering what we are doing here, and I will now tell you with as much detail as I can. Please be attentive, as I will not be repeating myself."

Seeing each of them nod, Jack nodded as well.

He started his briefing with an introduction to those who didn't know him and a round of introductions for them—just the names, to begin with. Their skills and powers could come later when they started strategizing the hunt.

Once everyone at least knew the names of the people they would be working with, the tension had already lowered by a magnitude, and Jack was satisfied with this.

He continued, naming the objective of their mission, staying vague about what they would hunt for now, only mentioning their targets required a specialized group and solution to be dealt with.

It was better to ease everyone in before dropping the M-bomb on them.

Once they all understood the assignment, Jack took a deep breath before pulling a smart stick from his pocket.

"Alexander, hit the lights for me, if you will."

Alex nodded, walked to the door since he was closest to it, and flipped the light switch off, dimming the room. The chalet windows were still covered, so barely any sunlight came in.

Once the light was turned off, Jack slid the stick into a projector installed on the living room's center table, and a hologram lit over it.

Gasps echoed around the room as the people who were still unaware of their hunting target saw the image.

On the hologram, Jack had put one wolf David had sketched out, the smaller one, and a human next to it for size comparison, which caused a few of them a shock.

"Let's not mince words anymore," Jack declared, stepping next to the hologram.

"This is our hunting target. But don't get comfortable yet, as it won't be alone. By our estimations, there should be a pack of thirty of these, which in itself will be a challenging hunt. But they are not alone."

Pressing a remote, the image downsized before another wolf appeared on display. The already worried eyes of a few of the people present turned wild.

"This is insane. Wolves don't get to this size on Earth…" Cory exclaimed, looking at the truck-sized beast on display.

"Yeah, this has to be a fake. Maybe the locals are trying to get tourists to come here?" Juan Alvares chimed in, disbelief overcoming him.

Jack sighed.

"Gentlemen, please. I assure you, this is no local prank. And the image alone barely does it justice. Let me show you more…" he said, pressing his remote again.

Alex, David, and Kary all wondered what more he could show.

And when they saw it, their faces became gloomy.

"I present you, the beast," Jack said, pointing to a new image.

Silence took hold of the room.

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