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Alaric’s eyes glimmer with concern. He’s an easygoing guy for the most part, but I know he worries about me. He wants the version of me that he knew before the war. But I don’t think I’ll ever be that person again, even if I wanted.

Something fundamental in me changed over the years. The innocence of youth was replaced by cynicism.

I’ve been rotting from the inside out, and I’m the only one who knows.

I clear my throat. “What were you doing gossiping with Helena anyway?”

“We like to keep in touch,” he says vaguely.

“And what do you two talk about?” I ask.

“The world doesn’t revolve around you, Klaus,” he says, watching me from the corner of his eye. “But incidentally, you happen to be our favorite topic of discussion.”

“I knew it,” I mumble.

A girl passes by our table. She’s wearing a light green pendant, indicating she’s into voyeurism. She eyes Alaric as she walks by, but he doesn’t even look at her.

He likes to give me a hard time, but my dear friend is a hypocrite. As far as I know, he’s never been with any of the girls here either.

Many of the regulars at Elysium come here for the girls and the camaraderie. They come to wind down and relax. But Alaric and I come for the privacy.

It’s one of the only places in town where we can have private conversations without worrying about eavesdropping.

“There was a meeting earlier today,” Alaric says, his voice dropping to a whisper.

The music drowns out his words as soon as they leave his mouth. The only reason I even hear him is because I’m sitting right next to him.

“There’s a new case.” His eyes dart around our surroundings, cataloging everyone in sight. “It’s about elephants.”

I narrow my eyes at him, sure that I misheard him.

“Did you just say elephants?” I ask.

He nods, looking dead serious.

I wait for him to elaborate because that must be code for something.

“Poaching,” he explains. “There’s a new syndicate that’s poaching elephants in various countries for ivory.”

“Oh wow, it actually is about elephants,” I say.

“Yes, I just told you,” he says. “Are you not listening?”

I clear my throat. “It…sounds different from the usual cases.”

Alaric is part of the Resistance. As one of the brothers in the Resistance, he tackles global issues that even top government organizations turn a blind eye to. I’m not officially a part of their group, but I work with them as a consultant.

“The mass killing of elephants has disastrous complications on the entire ecosystem,” he says. “These actions add up over time, man.”

Alaric is a good person. He’s a much better man than I will ever be.He cares about things like wildlife conservation and climate change.

And I can tell from the look on his face that this has rattled him.

“How does this syndicate operate?” I ask.

“They’re recruiting local poachers in Africa and Asia. The syndicate itself hasn’t left a trace, but there have been a lot of hit-and-run kills over the past few weeks. They kill as many elephants as possible in a short amount of time and collect the tusks before evading the crime scene.”

“Aren’t there laws in place to protect the wildlife?” I ask.