The street seemed eerily silent after the din of combat, my pulse still rushing in my ears as I surveyed the damage. Several hunters had been injured, and my stomach rolled as I watched the teams recollect to gather their injured comrades. Four teams had been sent into the dungeon- seventeen hunters in total, and I could see at least eight of them were injured. It would no doubt be touted as one of the worst dungeon breaks in recent history.

“Secure the perimeter!” The sharp bark of a command made me jolt out of my horrified stupor, gaze snapping to the man who had taken charge of the situation.

I knew the local hunters well, but even an average citizen uninterested in the constellations’ game would recognize Irie Reid. He was one of a handful of S-grade hunters in the world- and the only support class hunter to make it past B-grade. His healing magic was said to be able to heal even the worst wounds, nearly able to reclaim one from death. Every hunter worth their salt knew him, and respected him, so it was no wonder the guards who had scattered with the appearance of the voidborn suddenly snapped to attention.

Irie’s hazel eyes scanned over the scene, and I flinched as they passed over me, hoping he wouldn’t pay me much attention. I stiffened as his gaze focused on me, a scowl pulling at his full lips. “Who brought the goddamn civilian?!” 

“I’m not a civilian,” I grumbled, releasing my tight hold on my arm so I could get to my feet; the movement was awkward and jerky, agony flaring through my damaged limb as I grit my teeth to keep from making any obvious sound.

Irie’s gaze narrowed dangerously, jaw tight with irritation as he stepped toward me. He towered over me, his form thicker and more muscular than mine despite his talent in healing magic. As he looked down at me, strands of vivid blue hair fell over his face, the color stark and vibrant against his dark skin.

“The hell did you say? Not a civilian?” Irie looked me over, giving a derisive snort as he took in my smaller stature, the viscera spattered over my face and the unnaturally bent angle of my arm. “You’re certainly not a guard in that outfit, and no hunter worth the name would be injured so easily.”

Fury flushed my face, shame worming through my thoughts as I stared back at him, unflinching. “I’m not,” I insisted, sharp words on the tip of my tongue.

Our escalating conflict drew attention, and the chiding call of “Irie… stop it,” snapped our gazes to the hunter who had been working with Glen. As she approached us, I could see she wasn’t as delicate as she appeared from across a battlefield. Though she was small, her body slim and elegant, muscle was clear in her slim legs and the arms she crossed over her chest. “Don’t waste time- he’s injured, and there are other hunters that need attention.”

Irie blinked, a hint of guilt crossing his face before he snorted. “I don’t treat nosy civilians,” he said, his tone still harsh.

“Oh for the love of-” the woman cut her words short with a soft groan, calling over her shoulder, “Kenneth! Get over here!”

I stiffened as I saw the administrator peel away from where the medic had been attending to the wounded hunters. In a brief moment, that man’s gaze focused on me, and I saw recognition filter into his gaze. It set my teeth on edge, my shoulders slumping as I braced myself for what I was about to face.

Kenneth came to a stop next to the woman, avoiding looking at me as he asked, “What do you need, Riley? I have enough to handle with the dungeon break-”

“It won’t take long,” Riley interrupted him, one hand on her hip as she gave him a look of exasperation. She pointed to me with her other hand. “We need to know if he’s a hunter, so Irie will get his head out of his ass and heal him.”

Irie’s eyes widened slightly, his lips pressing into a thin line, but he didn’t snap back at the insult. Kenneth’s lips twitched with a faint smirk- one which quickly slipped away when he took the brunt of Irie’s glare. The administrator glanced at his tablet, his direct link to the system of the guilds, before shrugging. “I don’t need to look him up… we’ve been in this situation before.”

“So he’s a voidfiend,” Irie stated, the derisive term making my skin crawl; he assumed I was one of the adrenaline addicts, the fools who purposely tried to get close to the dungeons for a thrill… or in the desperate hopes they would be one of the rare few who would belatedly awaken their abilities.

My good hand was balled into a fist, fury rising; Kenneth’s interjection made me grateful, unsure what I would have said if I’d been uninterrupted. “Not quite- he is a hunter,” the administrator admitted with pained reluctance. His gaze slid to me, nose wrinkled with a hint of disgust. “But he’s a non-combatant, and there are no recorded skills in his file. He hasn’t submitted to an assessment, either.”

“Might as well be a civilian then,. He doesn’t belong here,” Irie snapped, and the words stirred a resentment I had spent five years attempting to smother.

It shattered my patience, and my tone was caustic as I said, “We weren’t all as lucky as you when the constellations appeared. Guess I got the short side of the stick, but it doesn’t give you the right to treat me like this.”

Irie’s hazel eyes flashed with fury, and he disregarded Riley’s frantic attempts to hold him back. His hand fisted in my shirt, dragging me onto the tips of my toes. Tears welled in my gaze as it jostled my broken arm, but I didn’t have it in me to back down, meeting his intense glower with a snarl.

“Hey!” A sharp, panicked voice cut between us. “Let him go! He’s with me!”

Irie flinched, looking away from me to see Glenn rushing to my side. His pale blonde hair was in disarray, blood still seeping from the gash in his arm. His eyes were a soft, deep brown, focused on me with concern as he grabbed Irie’s wrist to pull him off me. The healer’s strong jaw was tight, and I could see he wanted to fight it; he let go instead, shoving me away with a muttered curse. 

Before he could turn away from me, Glenn snapped at him again. “You heard Kenneth- he’s a hunter. The rest of them just have superficial wounds, they can wait while you heal him.”

There was unbridled outrage on Irie’s face, but he couldn’t argue it with- not with Riley and Kenneth both watching, Glenn stiff and bristling as he glared at Irie like he was daring him to argue. “Give me your damn arm,” Irie growled, holding his hand out to me. 

I tried to raise my arm, a choked sound of pain sticking in my throat as my head swam with the agony of the movement. Glenn’s arm sliding around my waist was the only thing keeping me on my feet as I forced myself to do as Irie asked.

Though tears blurred my vision, I could see a hint of shame and regret behind Irie’s stern expression as I put my trembling hand in his. The leather of his gloves was soft and smooth against my skin, his long fingers strong as they wrapped around my wrist.

The touch hurt- but it was nothing compared to the blinding anguish as Irie closed his eyes, and his magic reached into my broken arm. His magic was effective… but it wasn’t kind. It felt like threads of steel winding over my shattered bones, squeezing things back into place by force; a strangled groan left me as I felt the sharp snap and grind of the bones coming back into place. 

I was panting, sweat dripping down the back of my neck, when Irie’s tight grip eased. Blinking the tears away, I looked up at him, forcing myself to grudgingly mutter, “Thank you.”

He blinked at me, his surprise lowering his guard and softening his expression for a moment; a very faint smile pulled at his lips, and it was understandable why Irie had such a large following. Then he hardened again, the momentary glimpse of vulnerability gone so quickly I could have imagined it. “You’re lucky they defended you. Next time stay at home… where you belong.”

Irie turned away, leaving without another word as he strode across the pavement to attend to another hunter. I was left seething in his absence, my hand still balled into a fist with the desire to fill his expression with shock once again.

“Sorry about that,” Riley’s chagrined sigh dragged my attention away from Irie, to see the pretty hunter rolling her eyes at her comrade’s back. Glancing at me, she gave me a sympathetic smile before she gave Glenn a harder look. “You should get out of here, take your friend home so he can rest.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks, Riley,” Glenn muttered back, quiet and sheepish- like a scolded child.

It was enough for Riley, who gave him a stern nod before she turned back to the rest of the hunters with Irie. It left me alone with Glenn, my anger still simmering at the forefront of my mind as I turned to him. 

After nearly dying at the claws of a voidborn, and suffering Irie’s disrespect, I was exhausted and furious, and Glenn’s guilty expression wasn’t doing him any favors. Whatever excuses he had ready, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear them- because he was the reason I had been waiting outside that dungeon, and for the first time, I regretted my decision to help a hunter.