Surprisingly, the mood lightened quite a bit after that incident. Kai did a few more of his terrible pirate routines. Amy laughed and clapped at them like a crazed fan. I made fun of Runir while sitting on the prow of the ship. He said he wasn’t afraid of heights, but it was pretty hard to believe that when he refused to step anywhere near the edge.
But the most surprising development was between Zoe and Gale. At first, they avoided each other. Zoe still gave him a cold stare whenever they met and Gale flinched and ran away when he saw her walking towards him alone.

Yet, there was something different. Zoe could stand his presence now and as long as other people were around, Gale could stay in the same room with her without trembling. They weren’t exactly friends but it was a step in the right direction.

But I doubted whether it would stay that way for long. Zoe may be willing to let him go but would she be so forgiving for the other people responsible for her suffering? She wanted revenge, I could feel it. She was bottling it up for now, enduring as long as she could but she would erupt and she would go for the heads of her tormentors.

Unfortunately, most of those tormentors were Gale’s friends and family. He wouldn’t just stand by and watch them be killed.

Then again, we weren’t planning on killing anyone. Or at least I wasn’t. Couldn’t be sure about the rest.

Runir didn’t seem to care and since he came from Earth too, he probably didn’t share the weird morality of this world either. Amy was kind and caring so she probably wouldn’t do anything drastic. Kai was unpredictable but I didn’t think he would kill people. After all, he didn’t even let us kill monsters.

Even though I knew that none of them were the type who would kill people, perhaps Zoe could get through to them? But in that case, the person most likely to be affected would be me.

I could sympathize with Zoe, I could understand her anger, her desire for revenge, for justice. I’d felt it too. I had people I wanted to settle scores with too. If I saw an image of myself in her, would I be able to stop myself from helping her get her revenge? Was it fair of me to want to rip out my hometown mayor’s heart but stop Zoe from venting her anger on her tormentors?

“Lily, did you hear what I said?” asked Runir, jolting me from my thoughts.

“No, sorry. I zoned out,” I replied, apologetically.

Runir sighed. “There’s no point in having a strategy meeting if you guys aren’t listening. You don’t even contribute at all. Hell, Zoe’s been a bigger help than you in finalizing the plan! Can’t you at least stay focused?”

I shrugged. “Well what can I do, I’m a thief. I could help us sneak in but Kai’s disguises make most of my skills useless. I could help steal keys but I’m sure we can break down any doors we come across. More importantly, your Ability is only good for planning stuff so why should I take away your only chance to shine? You’re worthless otherwise.”

“How many times have you been rescued again? I’ve lost count,” Runir retorted.

“Screw you.”

“Focus please,” said Amy. “We can’t afford to mess this up.”

“Fine, let’s go over this again,” said Runir, grabbing a marker and a piece of paper. “The capital is just like any other city in the Air Kingdom, only bigger. Kai will help us get past the checkpoints like he always does but we don’t want to draw any attention to ourselves so we need to avoid all the groveling. Can you do that Kai?”

“Sure, we don’t have to impersonate royalty every time,” answered Kai.

“Wait, you made them think we were-”

“We’ll be merchants this time, don’t worry.” Kai smiled.

Runir sighed. “Whatever. Anyway, after that we have to get inside the palace. Luckily for us, a lot of the most powerful people in the kingdom are at the shrine right now. This includes most of the royal guards, since they were accompanying the king. However, the entire kingdom is currently on high alert so the palace is probably on lock-down. We can’t just walk in, we’ll need to sneak in.”

Yes! Finally something I can do!

But before I could offer my assistance, Runir gestured towards Gale, who was sitting next to Amy.

“Fortunately, we have the king with us. Gale will guide us inside through one of the palace’s secret entrances. Won’t he?” said Runir.

“He will,” said Zoe, glaring at Gale, who nodded quickly.

“Perfect! Now we just have to figure out where they keep the master key and-”

“What master key?” I asked.

“The laborers’ collars have mana signals similar to the kind used by communications prisms. These signals all lead to the same source. My Ability suggests that this source serves as a master-key that ties down all the laborers. It’s probably a way for the king to prevent anyone from amassing an army of absolutely loyal soldiers. As such, it should be kept somewhere in the palace. Gale, do you know where it is?”

“No, I’ve never even heard of something like that,” said Gale.

Runir stared at him for a while before sighing. “Like I thought, even though it was supposed to be a way for the king to retain control over the laborers, it’s probably meant to keep control in the hands of Breize Labs. They manufacture the collars, after all. Guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way. Kai, do you still have Zoe’s collar?”

“Yes,” said Kai as he took out the collar from his Storage.

He passed it to Runir and I noticed Zoe’s eyes follow the collar.

“We’ll have to search the palace on our own by following the signal to its source. Of course, something this important wouldn’t be left unprotected so we should be ready for anything.”

“Is that it? Are we done?” I asked.

“No,” answered Amy. “I don’t think we should take Zoe and Gale along.”

Zoe frowned and Gale looked surprised too.

“I know they’re weak, but I don’t think it’ll be hard for us to protect them, considering how strong we are,” said Runir.

“That’s not what she means,” said Kai. “Can we trust them to follow the plan? To keep their emotions in check?”

That was true. Zoe might just jump at someone with a dagger and Gale might run up to a guard or something.

“You don’t have to worry. I know what’s more important. We free the other laborers and then I can get my revenge,” said Zoe with a smile.

“I have already decided that the laborers must be released from their bindings. I hope that we can come to an agreeable arrangement afterwards, but I’ll follow your plan with the expectation that you won’t just blow up the palace when you’re done,” said Gale.

So he was finally acting like a king? Not that surprising, considering how he’d probably been learning how to be a king ever since he was born.

“Zoe, we’ll discuss what to do with the people involved in the laborer business later. Until then, you are not to try to take revenge on your own,” said Kai. “And Gale, don’t worry. If we wanted to blow up the palace, we would have done that ages ago.”

“That’s…” muttered Gale.

“Fine,” said Zoe.

“Good. Here’s your reward for being so understanding!” He tossed them small, brown boxes.

They looked at the boxes with confusion.

“Damn, so lucky…” muttered Runir.

“I want another one too…” murmured Amy.

I admit, I looked at them with envy too.

“Glad you liked them. Now then, we’re almost there, so let’s go admire the view.”

–

Most large cities on Erath were sprawling messes. Centuries of unchecked urban growth would inevitably lead to slums and poorer districts popping up around a richer central area that had existed since the Haze, making most of the capitals of the kingdoms incredibly fragmented.

But not Laput. The expansion of the capital of the Air Kingdom was completely planned out. Rings of newly developed districts lined older ones in an oval pattern surrounding the palace in the center.

Although there were no walls for the city itself, the palace was surrounded by large steel walls and barricades. Air guns were mounted on top of the walls and a few holes betrayed the locations of hidden guns and peep holes. Of course, there were probably far more that were better hidden.

We touched down on a hill several miles from the city and I put the airship into my Inventory, since it couldn’t fit in the others’ Storage. For some reason, it felt like this was the only time where my Hero status had actually helped us.

That was a sad thought.

We’d also made sure to distract Zoe and Gale while I did it and told them that Runir had put it in his ‘Inventory,’ since we couldn’t tell them that I was the Hero.

So now they wouldn’t appreciate the one thing that I did do.

Whatever Lily. Being a Hero is about making sacrifices. Yeah, sacrifices, I consoled myself.

Kai pulled out his magic paper like always and we were let past the checkpoint without fanfare. We spent some time shopping and touring the city.

We saw the perfectly kept gardens and the bustling cars and buses. It was a holiday because of the Exhibition, so the amusement parks were full of parents taking their kids out for fun and couples going on dates on the Ferris wheel.

There were restaurants selling all kinds of food. Stands full of snacks and trinkets. A vendor blew bubbles at a crowd of kids in a playground. An old lady sat on a bench, throwing breadcrumbs for the birds chirping and pecking on the ground.

We walked over to a fenced off building in the middle of one of the wealthier districts. There was a sign saying it was owned by Breize labs but we ignored it and stepped inside.

It was only when I saw the words ‘Breize’ written on a glowing sign that I realized that something was wrong about this city. We’d seen everything you’d expect from a city in the Air Kingdom.

Everything, that is, except for a factory.

I knew I couldn’t be the only one who’d noticed this and the grim atmosphere around our group confirmed it. Something wasn’t right. A city this size couldn’t run without factories full of bonded laborers firing off magic to charge Breize stones. There were no factories outside the city either, at least we hadn’t seen any on our way over.

But if that was the case, where were they?

We sneaked into the building through a hole in the fence, avoiding the guards standing outside the entrance. Gale led us to an open sewer-because secret entrances always went through the sewers- and we dropped down into the darkness.

Kai took out an old torch and lit it with a piece of flint. We couldn’t use Light or Fire magic in front of Gale or Zoe, after all.

Gale and Kai led us through the sewers while Amy and Zoe walked in the center and Runir and I brought up the rear.

Other than the awful stench, everything was going according to plan. Runir’s plans were always uncomfortably perfect. We’d planned everything that had happened at the shrine, and I remember feeling like it would all go wrong any second even though it never did.

But maybe I’d jinxed it this time.

Gale stopped and pointed at the ceiling. Amy climbed the ladder by the walls and bent open the barred iron grating before climbing out. The rest of us followed.

“Hey Lily,” said Kai, putting a hand on my shoulder as I stepped onto the ladder. He’d stayed back because he had the torch and Runir had just climbed out so the two of us were the last ones left.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Nothing, really. It’s just that…I think you shouldn’t worry so much. About being a Hero or doing heroic things. Your roles in this world don’t define you. They shouldn’t define you. You don’t have to be a hero. You never chose to be one.”

I was taken aback. Had it been that obvious?

“Thanks. Don’t worry, I never believed in any of this Fate crap anyways. I’ll do what I always do; whatever the fuck I want.” I smiled and climbed out of the hole.

“Right, we’re in the Western courtyard. The signal from the collar seems to go towards the center of the palace, presumably towards the King’s courtroom or the tower above it,” I heard Runir whisper.

“There’s a tower in the center of the palace?” I asked. That wasn’t exactly a normal castle design.

“Yep, the King’s quarters are at the very top. But from what I’ve heard from Gale, there’s an attic above your room that’s always locked. His ‘adviser’ from Breize Labs said that there was nothing important there and she even showed you inside once. What did you see?”

“Nothing,” answered Gale in a hushed voice. “It was empty.”

“They might have hidden it from you. My guess is that the master-key can’t be moved or else the connections will be severed, which explains why they don’t just shift it to the shrine,” said Runir.

“So we get to see your room Gale. Isn’t that sweet?” said Amy.

Gale nodded stiffly and looked away. Guess he was shy.

We carefully made our way to the central tower, avoiding the guards patrolling the hallways. It was late in the evening and the shadows were more than long enough to hide us in their dark embrace.

“This is it. The main doors are heavily guarded so we need to find another way up,” said Runir.

“Or we could just knock,” said Kai as he tapped the door before any of us could stop him.

Damn it Kai! What the hell are you doing?

“Who is it?” came a voice from inside.

“Hey pumpkin, your wife sent you dinner!” said Kai in a female voice.

“Oh right, I forgot.” The door opened. “Wait a-”

The guard fell on the ground. Kai retracted his hand and smiled.

“Sorry pumpkin.”

Zoe and Gale gave him weird looks but the rest of us followed him over the unconscious guard’s body.

Was it strange that we’d gotten so used to Kai’s weirdness already? Judging by the way Zoe was choosing to stick to Gale, maybe it was.

Even though it was a tower, it was also the only way up to the King’s throne-room so the stairs were wide and well decorated. The walls were lined with jewels and ornate carvings and the grown covered with rich carpets and tiles.

But on our way up, I noticed that while many rooms and floors were designed or decorated differently, one thing remained the same-the metallic ceiling. It was strange because it felt so out of place; a silvery metal ceiling that sucked the life out of the vibrant, colorful rooms below.

It just didn’t fit.

We didn’t meet a lot of guards on our way up. Runir was right, most of them were probably at the shrine. In fact, Runir had predicted that the palace wouldn’t be too heavily guarded because most of the army and guards would be out searching for the king.

Runir’s plan was working perfectly, just like it had at the shrine. All that was left was to go to the king’s quarters, find a way up to the attic and break the connection from the master-key to all the collars on the bonded laborers.

Simple, wasn’t it? Everything was going according to plan. There were no complications thus far.

We opened the door to the king’s throne-room and I realized, one again, that no plan was perfect. There were always complications.

And the first one was standing in the center of the king’s throne-room, glaring at us through the goggles covering her eyes.

“So you’re finally here, you ignorant children.” She frowned. “And you brought a bunch of friends along too. Perfect, now please release the king and leave my kingdom. There is no place for irrational idealists and naivete in my kingdom of science.”

Her gray hair and robes blew in the wind even though there was none. Her eyes glowed as she raised her hands and aimed at us.

“Leave!” roared the Air Goddess, her voice echoing all around the room.

“Why should we? You can’t interfere with our plans. You’re bluffing!” said Runir with a smirk.

“I can’t interfere with your plans, true, but I’m not the only one here.” The Goddess smiled.

I had a bad feeling about this.

As if to confirm my suspicions, a gust of wind blew from above, blowing out the torches and engulfing us in darkness. I reached out to Zoe, who had been standing beside me, but I hit empty air.

Where did she go? Did someone take her away?

I reached out to the other side, where Runir had been, and grabbed empty air again.

A torch flickered to life in front of me. Kai’s face was highlighted by the torchlight but his eyes were cast in shadows, as if he was about to tell a scary story. And with how grim his expression was, it might just be a terrifying one.

He held Zoe and Gale in his other hand. How he’d gotten to both of them in time was beyond me.

More importantly though, Amy and Runir were nowhere to be seen. The Goddess was gone too. Instead, the room was now being filled by guards appearing through secret entrances spread across the throne-room.

They gathered beneath the throne, wielding their spears, swords and air guns and glaring at us menacingly. Sitting atop the throne was a gray haired old woman with frown lines on her forehead.

“As the former Queen and Regent of the Air Kingdom, I, Ganili Talbert the fourth, order you to release my son and surrender so you can be tried for your crimes against the state. If you submit now, I promise that your sentences shall be lenient,” said the old lady.

And that’s when I promised to never jinx a plan again. Things always went wrong. There were always complications.

And right now, we were surrounded by them.

“They’re coming up on starboard. Hoist the main sails! Liver down the hatches! Shiver up the timbers! Ahoy!”

“Shut up Kai! That doesn’t make any sense!” I cried.
“Oi ye scurvy-eyed mutineer! I sailed the uncharted waters off the coast-a Meneria on a rotten raft with nothin but tha skin on ma back! Don’t ye be tellin me how ta sail!” he shouted in a terrible pirate accent.

“Amy, Runir, tell him to stop!” I said, covering my ears.

“Why? He’s doing a perfect Captain Selworthy impersonation,” said Amy, looking impressed.

“Captain Selworthy?”

“A legendary pirate from Erathen folklore. He purportedly discovered the Northern Continent back when the Bridge of Babel hadn’t been built and the continents were further apart than they are now. Or at least, that’s how the story goes in the Union. Here in the Alliance they claim Selworthy was based off the coast of Kalmarsh in the Water Kingdom and discovered the Southern Continent instead,” said Runir with a smile. “No one knows how he actually spoke but that’s pretty much how every kid’s story portrays him.”

He pointed at Kai who was laughing while turning the steering wheel in circles. Kai kept shouting weird lines that made me cringe but worse still, rather than staring at him blankly like Zoe, Amy just kept nodding appreciatively which made him act even crazier.

A loud crash rang through the air as the ship shook violently.

“Could you do the castrated black-beard impersonations later? We’re being followed by freaking dragon!” I shouted.

“Wyverns,” corrected Kai. “They can’t keep up with my ship for long!”

He returned to his crazy routine while I nursed a fast-growing headache. I took a moment to calm myself and sat down next to Zoe. She was staring at the little king who was still tinkering with his cube.

“Hey, what is that anyway?” I asked in a tired voice.

The boy didn’t respond, as if he hadn’t realized that I was talking to him. Zoe nudged him and he flinched before his cube fumbled out of his hands. He didn’t reach down to pick it up, choosing instead to shrink into his seat as far as possible.

Another crash and the ship shook again.

“Relax kid, we won’t hurt you,” I said, picking up the cube and holding it out to him.

He looked at the cube in my hand and then at my face. He met my gaze uncertainly, like a wild animal about to bolt away. He reached out and snatched the cube.

I frowned. Well that was rude.

“So what’s your name?” I asked.

He hesitated before speaking. “His Majesty King Galemor Talbert the fifteenth; ruler of Air and Wind, jewel of Laput, blessed by the kind and merciful Air Goddess, and-”

“Right, we’ll go with Gale,” I quickly interjected, feeling my headache worsening.

He blinked. The ship shook again and Kai’s laughter reverberated through the air again.

“I’m Lily. This is Zoe. The crazy guy on the wheel is Kai and the idiot clapping for him is Amy. The one coming towards us with a creepy smile is-”

“Runir Grayscale, nice to meet you, Your Highness,” said Runir with a smirk. “Forgive me for not bowing, your majesty, I have a thing against bowing to my captives. I’m sure you understand.”

This time the boy-king frowned. Runir really was quite good at pissing people off.

“Why did we bring him along?” I asked.

Zoe leaned close to the boy and twirled his curly hair. “Are we going to chop off his head and wave it on a stick to scare them into doing what we want?

There was silence after that chilling suggestion. Even Kai stopped laughing in the background. The boy-king was frozen solid.

Zoe looked at our expressions and frowned. “No? So we’re whipping him in front of the others so they fall in line.”

The king whimpered. Runir and I exchanged a concerned look. There was another explosion and the ship rocked again.

I could see the confusion in Zoe’s eyes. She frowned.

“If we didn’t bring him here to torture him to get his people to do what we want, then why did we bother taking him alive? We should throw him off the ship right now.”

It was frightening hearing someone casually suggest that we chuck a kid off of an airship because they couldn’t think of a reason to keep them. It was terrifying when the person suggesting this was barely ten years old and when they were confused because you weren’t about to torture someone or cut off their head.

What a fucked up world.

“Zoe…we didn’t pick him up so we could kill him or torture him or something,” Runir said, flatly.

Zoe furrowed her brows. “But then…why did we bring this asshole with us?”

I frowned too. “You just met him. How can you call him that-”

“Just met him?” she cried furiously. “I’ve known bastards like this for a long time! Him and all the self entitled pricks sitting on their asses with a silver spoon in their mouths while his cronies do this!”

She lifted her shirt to show the crisscrossing scars and nauseating burn marks on her stomach. She turned to face the paling boy-king, her eyes full of disdain.

“So if we’ve got no use for him, we should kill him already. Or rather,” she smiled crazily. “How about you give him to me? I’ve always dreamed about a little revenge. I made a list of all the worst things they’ve done to me.”

She moved her face closer to the trembling boy trying to shrink even further into his seat.

“I’ll need supplies though. Needles, knives, acid, hot metal, something to shove up his ass, scissors to cut off some fingers, maybe a bottle of something to make him choke on. Oh and give me something to chop off his-”

“Stop it Zoe!” I shouted.

“No!” She glared at me. “I want my revenge! I want to make him pay! And then I’ll go to the other bastards behind it and I’m going to make them pay too!”

“Zoe, he’s the king!”

“So what? Daddy was the mayor.” Her voice was quieter but thick with emotion. “And he deserved to die. He deserved it. He deserved it…he…”

She was breathing quickly now. I reached for her shoulder but she jerked it away and turned her back to me.

“I’ll be in my room.” She walked down the stairs, slamming a door below-deck.

Another explosion and the ship shook again. None of us said anything but Gale was still trembling and his cube had fallen onto the ground unnoticed. Zoe’s reaction had left us all shaken.

We knew she was facing a lot of mental anguish. Her emotions were always all over the place. She’d be fine one moment and wallowing in anger or self pity the next. Then again, she’d lived a pretty messed up life here and if what she’d just said was anything to go by, her previous life may have been even worse.

A gust of air shot past me. I turned to see a giant gray wyvern barreling towards the ship. Just as I prepared to fire a Laser at it, the ship swerved violently to the side and I fell on my back.

I stood up and glared furiously at Kai. He laughed and spun the wheel again.

“This was fun mateys, but now it’s time fa cap’n Kaiworthy ta disappear!”

He left the wheel, took a bow facing the angry wyverns and waved his hands magnificently. Then he steered the ship in a completely different direction and started laughing again.

The wyverns shot past us and stopped. Then they shot past us again. They shook their heads from side to side and breathed loudly. I could barely hear their riders shouting something but couldn’t make out what they’d said.

Soon, we’d left them behind and were safely cruising across the sky. I sighed and Runir shook his head. Even Amy didn’t cheer for Kai this time. If he could have done this all along, why did he go through the cheap pirate show?

Kai chuckled. He left the wheel and joined us.

“Hi! Mind telling us who you’re trying to signal with this? I’ve cut off all communications anyways so it doesn’t matter but I’m still curious.”

He picked up the cube and handed it back to the wide eyed Gale.

“N-no one! It’s a prototype. It doesn’t work yet,” said Gale, stuttering.

I didn’t buy it. There was no way that the king wouldn’t have some sort of emergency gear on him but I decided to trust Kai’s Ability for now. Besides, the kid had had enough of a verbal beating.

“I originally planned to leave you somewhere safe after we left the shrine but since Lily says that the Goddess won’t help us achieve our goal, I’m afraid you’ll have to stick around for a little longer. But don’t worry, we’re loads of fun to be around!” said Runir, patting Gale’s shoulder.

Gale nodded cautiously. “But you will let me go right?”

“Of course. I don’t plan on keeping annoying brats with us for long,” I said, flashing him a smile.

“I agree. However, there is something we need to ask you.” Kai turned to face him. “How do we free the bonded laborers?”

Gale looked confused.

“Why would you want to do that? All the scientists and statisticians say that would be a disaster. The numbers indicate that free labor constitutes half of our total labor. Without them, our production would fall drastically!”

“Not this bullshit again. That damn Goddess has everyone spouting the same heartless shit,” I snarled.

“How dare you speak about the Goddess like that!” said Gale indignantly.

“How dare you speak about people like that! They’re not numbers or statistics. They’re real, living, breathing people. How can you talk about production and money or whatever when you’re treating people worse than animals?”

“We have the lowest rates of poverty in all of Erath. Free education, free hospitals, and cheap food prices. Our unemployment rates are envied by all the other countries. Everybody wants to be us but they can’t!” said Gale. “At least that’s what Ezu says…”

“Ezu? The scientist hosting the Exhibition?” asked Runir.

“Yes, she’s my chief scientific adviser. She gets her orders straight from the Goddess so I know I can trust her judgment.”

“And why do you think you can trust the Goddess’ judgment? She’s a bitch,” I said.

“Stop insulting the Goddess!” Gale stomped his foot. “What do you know anyway? Who are you to talk about her that way?”

“Trust me kid, I can say what I want about these damned Goddesses of yours. Besides, can’t you see that your Goddess is wrong here? She promotes torture and slavery! How can you respect her when she doesn’t even respect her own people? You’re a king, you should understand that logic,” I said.

“She does respect us! She loves us! She blessed us with knowledge and ingenuity and the bonded laborers are made to work hard, sure, but it’s all for the betterment of society. So what if some people’s freedom has to be sacrificed for the betterment of all? We’ve maximized happiness!” insisted Gale.

“But is it worth it? You’ve seen a bit of the hate you’ve created,” said Runir.

“What do you mean?” said Gale, turning to face him.

“Zoe. She’s a freed laborer. Didn’t you see the hate in her eyes? The revulsion on her face? She detests you and everything that you stand for and, if I may, she has every right to.”

“But, doesn’t she realize how effective our system is? How many people’s lives she improves through her hard work? The graphs all say-”

“Screw the graphs and the numbers! Go see the fucking scars!” I spat. “God! I thought you were a kid so it wouldn’t be so bad but I can’t do this. You’re going to grow up to be one of them. Just another useless piece of shit getting fatter while everyone else rots in hell.”

“Lily! You’re going too far, he is just a kid!” said Amy.

But I didn’t give a damn. I could understand Zoe’s anger because I’d felt it too. Watching your ‘leaders’ getting praised for increasing the GDP or productivity or whatever while your stomach is empty is unbearable. Knowing that you’ve been ignored, knowing that you’ve been sidelined, dismissed as a number or a casualty of the system is infuriating.

If I’d met the mayor of my city who was being adored by the media for his welfare schemes while my mother died of hunger because he’d actually been pocketing that money for himself, I would have wanted to rip his guts out too.

I could only imagine how much worse the feeling was for Zoe. For her, the gray haired kid in front of me wasn’t just a kid being led around by adults, he was complicit in her pain. In a way, he could have stopped it. He could have saved her years of pain and torture, but he didn’t.

How could Zoe think of him as just a kid after everything she had been through despite being just a kid too. Wasn’t it unfair that he gets pity and sympathy when all she got was ridicule and disdain? She’d lived two lives like this. She’d experienced two messed up childhoods.

Didn’t she deserve some justice? Some kind of revenge to give her a bit of closure?

And if the king was so pathetic that he still didn’t realize his mistakes and if he was so utterly brainwashed by that damned Goddess, was it really okay to let him go back? Wouldn’t he go back and continue this messed up system?

Then again, killing him wouldn’t change anything either.

“Scars?” said the boy-king weakly, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Hmm? Yeah, scars. You should get a look at what you’ve been a part of. What kids like you have been going through while you sat on your throne playing with your toys while your maids fed you numbers and charts. Go get a look at the real word, kid,” I said, walking below-deck.

“I think that’s enough for today. We should reach the capital in a day or so but for now, you all must be very tired, so please go rest in your rooms. We’ll need to be at our best to pull off the next part of our plan,” I heard Kai say as I slammed the door behind me.

–

I’d tried to go to sleep but I couldn’t. Zoe’s words were still echoing in my head. I couldn’t dismiss her feelings because they reminded me of my own, or at least, of the way I’d felt before the old lady picked me up.

I sighed and sat up on my bed. I slipped on a robe and walked out of my room. I walked aimlessly down the hallway, trying to think through what I was feeling. I didn’t even notice when I walked up to Zoe’s room.

All of the rooms had been labeled with our names for some reason. No doubt Kai’s work but I didn’t see the point. Then again, Kai did a lot of pointless stuff.

Should I go in to comfort her? Maybe tell her that I knew what she was going through? I might be able to help her get over her hate or at least teach her how to ignore it the way the old lady had taught me.

I stopped. I’d heard something. Whispers? Was Zoe talking to someone? Was there someone else in the room?

I pressed my ears against the door and filled them with mana, activating a small Air magic spell.

“…get out.”

“No! I must apologize for everything I’ve done. I want you to forgive me!”

“That’s not how it works. You don’t get my forgiveness just because you want it. Besides, you’re a pathetic pervert too. I’d kill you right now if the others hadn’t told me not to.”

“It was a misunderstanding! I came to ask you why you hated me. I wanted to know your story but-”

“But what? Were you too scared to come in and decided to peep instead?”

“I wasn’t peeping! I just-you were-I…”

“…just get the fuck out of here already.”

Something shuffled about and hit the floor.

“Please! Forgive me!”

“Fine, I forgive you for peeping. Now get out!”

“No, not just that. You know what I’m talking about. I saw them! I…saw them…I’m sorry.”

“You think grovelling at my feet changes anything? You think it makes up for all of this? Or for this? Or this? Or this? Of course it doesn’t. Come on, you’ve already seen them, look at them again.”

“I-”

“Don’t you dare look away now! Look at this one, it was the first one I got in this world. I don’t remember how I got it because I was still a baby. A baby. They gave this kind of scar to a baby! You gave me this! You!”

“No, I-”

“Let’s go to one I remember. This one. I got this one because the owner needed money for a wedding ring and wanted to make us work harder. Kept poking me with a red-hot iron rod. Over and over again. The manager got bored so she started doodling. Here, look at this. Artistic isn’t it?”

“I’m s-”

“They tried connecting us to a machine that drove needles into slackers. Of course, I was the test subject. Look at this, looks like a pincushion doesn’t it? Just put me on your goddamn desk why don’t you.”

“Please, I-”

“They tried out different whips too. Look at this, pretty pattern isn’t it? Or this, it has flowers and shit on it. Oh look, a butterfly, Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Stop it please!”

“Stop it? Do you know what happened to anyone who said that back at the factory? They got this!”

“…that’s…” He sounded nauseous.

“A hole, yes. Magic is amazing isn’t it. Look, I can poke a finger through it. Wanna try? Or how about getting one for yourself? You can keep a pen in here if you like.”

“No! This is wrong! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m s-sorry!”

Sobbing noises. Someone banged the floor a few times too.

“Please, I’m sorry. You-you can do whatever you want to me. I’ll do anything you say. I’ll accept any form of punishment. Torture me, kill if you like. But please…please…forgive me.”

More sobbing.

After a while, someone stood up.

“Fine, take off your shirt.”

“W-what?”

“You said you’d do what I say. Take off your shirt and turn around. Now.”

A pause. Then something rustled.

A few footsteps. Nervous disjointed breathing. A deep breath. A sharper breath.

Then someone screamed.

Someone pushed me from behind and the door opened. Gale was lying on the ground, writhing in pain. Amy had appeared by his side while Kai stood next to him.

Runir pushed past me and walked up to the boy rolling on the ground.

When did they get here? Wait, more importantly…

She stood there expressionless, her hands still outstretched. She was looking at the boy with cold eyes. Unforgiving eyes.

Kai waved his hand and the boy stopped flailing. Amy ran her hands over his body, checking for injuries until she noticed something.

“Have you forgiven him?” I didn’t even notice as the words came out of my mouth.

Zoe walked towards me. Her shoulder brushed past mine as she left the room.

“No.”

Amy turned the boy over and stared at his back. There was something written there.

‘I am not the master of my people, I am their slave.’

 

Despite all the sparkly stones and the shiny design outside, the Observatory was surprisingly simple on the inside.

Maybe a little too simple though. It was, after all, completely empty.It was just a large, circular room with nothing in it. No people, no furniture, no machines and most importantly, no stairs. But then again, Runir had told me that there would be no stairs. Just an elevator of some sort. I couldn’t see anything that looked like an elevator so I had no idea what to do.
Was Runir wrong? It wasn’t like his Ability was perfect. It hadn’t helped us much against Origin nor had it helped us find the Fire Goddess. Then again, he’d been pretty confident.

I’d always wondered how he could be so confident about everything he said. Was it because of his Ability? Did it make him feel like he was always right? I suppose there must be something satisfying about knowing things that no one else does. Almost like you could tell the future. Or maybe like you’ve done all this before.

I didn’t have a lot of time. Who knew how long the others could keep the crowd distracted?

Could I walk up the walls? I couldn’t see the ceiling and the building had seemed pretty tall from outside so that probably wasn’t a good idea.

“…how dare those villains,” said a voice from up above.

“Sacrilege! These are holy grounds! We must rid them of these hooligans at once,” said another voice.

I stiffened as a couple of gray robed men descended in the center of the room on a circular platform. They glanced at me before making their way out while cursing the ‘delinquents’ ruining their holy event.

Well that was convenient, I thought as I stepped onto the platform.

I poured in some Air mana into platform and it began to slowly rise upwards. I injected some more mana, making the platform shoot up even faster.

I still managed to catch a few strange sights on my way up.

Machines pumping out colored smoke. Robed figures punching a large gray rock. People whipping strange animals. Vats of bubbling fluid with gross shapes inside them.

What the fuck is wrong with this place?

Soon, I couldn’t see anything but dull gray walls. Pretty ironic really, since the outside was full of bright colors and lights.

I closed my eyes tight as a bright light shone from above. The platform rushed up even faster before gradually coming to a stop. I blinked my eyes open and saw a metal door standing at the end of an empty hallway.

I walked up to it and pushed but it didn’t budge. Frowning, I pushed harder but it still didn’t open. I’d risen to level 258 thanks to Kai’s training but I couldn’t open a fucking door?

Wait, what if…

I put my hand on the door and poured in some Air mana. The door glowed with a shimmering gray light before opening gently and noiselessly. Inside was a messy room full of all sorts of strange stuff.

Broken glass tubes, empty metal canisters, and torn papers littered the ground. Pipes ran all across the room, rumbling sounds coming from within as something surged inside them. They led up to a desk piled with junk.

I carefully walked up to it while making my way through the junk on the floor. As I approached the desk, I noticed that the bits of metal and paper would occasionally shift as something moved under them.

Just as I reached the desk, a large gust of wind blew out from under the junk, sending it flying through the air. I raised my hands to cover my face but some kind of strange powder still managed to get into my eye.

“Finally!” I heard someone shout as I rubbed my eyes and blinked furiously.

Damn it!

I tried to clear my eyes but I couldn’t. In my irritation, I accidentally knocked over something on the floor which made a loud sound that echoed around the room. Even though I couldn’t see anything, I felt someone’s gaze fall on me.

“Who are you, a priestess? What are you doing up here? This lab is off limits,” I heard a rough feminine voice say.

Damn it, this is getting in the way! I need to-

I blinked my eyes as my vision suddenly cleared up. I saw a gray haired woman staring at me with a frown. Although her hair was gray, she looked like she was in her twenties. Her gray robes shone with a strange luster but they were smeared with all sorts of stains. Her eyes were the same color as her hair but the goggles she wore over them made her stare even more piercing. She put down the weird machine in her hand and walked out of the mess surrounding her desk.

“Come to think of it, how did you get up here anyway?” she said, her frown deepening.

She must be the one I’m looking for. Now I just have to-

She shrugged. “Whatever, get out of here.” She waved her hand and another gust of wind sent the junk around us flying into the air.

But this time, none of it hit me. Not the wind, nor the papers nor the pieces of metal nor the annoying powder from before. I stood there in the middle of a storm of junk and straightened my back. This was the person I had come for.

“So, you’re the Air goddess everyone keeps talking about,” I said, crossing my arms and meeting her gaze.

She looked startled for a moment but quickly recovered. “The Demon Lord, I presume.”

“Close enough.”

“A Hero?” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Haven’t seen one in a long time. Judging by my inability to throw you out of here, you probably came here with a plan.” She sighed. “Annoying.”

“Is that how it works?” I asked.

She stared at me blankly. “You should have at least read up on the basics. Doesn’t even know how the Goddesses work. Is Solaron giving up on her champion too?”

“Huh?” I said.

“Never mind.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Let’s get this over with. You’re here for a blessing right? Now that you’re in my chambers all you have to do is pray to me and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Pray to you?” Something prickled inside my heart.

“Yes, yes. Something along the lines of: ‘Oh kind and merciful Air Goddess Breize, ruler of the skies and Mistress of Science and Technology. Heed my prayers and take pity on my poor soul. Give me the strength I seek and the intelligence that I so sorely lack.’ That should work,” she said, chuckling.

Kind and merciful? I thought, incredulously.

This was the same woman responsible for the bonded laborers’ pain and suffering. She was behind Zoe’s misery. What sort of kindness and mercy was that? And what was up with her attitude?

I unfolded my arms and held them up as if in prayer. I closed my eyes and began speaking in an earnest voice.

“Oh fucked up Goddess of hot air, passer of wind throw her mouth and mistress of assholery. Shut up and do your job, bitch.”

I managed to catch the priceless expression on her face before a storm erupted in the room and I was blinded by the tornado swirling around me. My mouth opened of its own accord and the wind started barreling down my throat.

Pain erupted in my lungs but it was accompanied by something else-power. I could feel it surging through my body. I felt like I could jump out of this tower and land on the ground without a scratch on me. Like I could beat up anyone, even the annoying Goddesses. Maybe I could finally see Amy and the others’ statuses too!

Then the storm began to subside. The swirling winds dispersed leaving a powered up Hero next to a scowling Goddess staring daggers at her. The situation made me smirk.

“If that’s everything, get lost kid,” she snarled before turning back to her machines.

I fired a Laser at her back. It didn’t even scratch her clothes but it made her turn around in anger.

“What do you think you’re doing? I’ve given you what you wanted. Leave me alone already!” she shrieked.

“You’re not getting away that easy. We still have a lot to talk about,” I said, walking closer to her.

I hadn’t come all the way here for a power up after all.

“How do we get back to Earth?” I asked.

“Oh, that question,” she said, shaking her head. “All of them ask it eventually. Don’t know why the brats think Erath isn’t good enough for them,” she muttered.

“Shut up and answer, you’re wasting my time,” I said, annoyed.

“Fine. The answer is…” She leaned closer. “You don’t.”

I grit my teeth as she chuckled. I raised my fist to punch her but she disappeared.

“You see, we the Goddesses aren’t all that special. On Erath we may be invincible, but we don’t know about anything outside our own world,” she said, placing a hand on my shoulder as she appeared behind me.

I swatted her hand off. “That’s pathetic. I already knew you Goddesses were fakes but you don’t know anything do you?”

“I’ve tried to find the answer to your question for centuries. Not because I want to send you back of course, but because I hate not knowing,” she said, ignoring my provocations. “But I couldn’t find anything. In fact, I still don’t know how you people get here in the first place.”

“What? Aren’t you the ones you summoned us here?” I asked.

“Sure, we know how to summon you. We’ve always known how. But we don’t know what happens when we do. Do we bring your body here? Do we summon your soul? We don’t know how the mechanism works. We don’t know if there’s another you in that world right now. But most importantly, we don’t know why we have to summon you at all!” she answered in an exasperated voice.

That was surprising. It was one thing if they didn’t know how their ability to summon us worked but it was another thing entirely if they didn’t even know why they did it.

“So the fight between the Hero and the Demon Lord…”

“Unnecessary. But then again, the whole war between the Alliance and the Union is unnecessary and baseless. My sisters and I don’t even hate each other! It makes no sense. No sense at all!” she cried, her voice heavy with frustration.

“But then why-”

“Why! Yes, why! That’s the question isn’t it?” She chuckled. “You know, all of us- the Goddesses I mean- have our own way of resisting Fate. Although resisting may be too strong a word to describe our petty attempts at asserting ourselves.” She walked back to her desk.

“My form of resistance is to try to find the answers. The answers that Fate doesn’t want us to know,” she said, grandly waving a scroll in her hands. “I never found the answers to any of the really important questions but my pursuit of the truth did help me find ways to improve the Air kingdom and develop our technology beyond what Fate had originally intended.”

She opened the scroll and pointed at the faded words on it. “Look, I wrote this eight hundred years ago.”

The scroll said ‘Today a miner brought a strange gray rock to the shrine, claiming it was a gift from the Goddess-me. I dismissed it at first but after seeing what it could do, I knew this was going to change everything.’

“It was a Breize stone,” she said, closing the scroll. “Without them, we wouldn’t be able to power our machines with the paltry amount of mana most people can emit. Without this, we couldn’t have reached the heights we have today. And Fate didn’t want us to have them. When I found out how Fate was going to stop us from developing, how it was going to stop our success, our progress, I fell into despair.”

She smiled. “But I overcame it and now every car, every bus, every washing machine is a testament to my victory over Fate.”

“Great, but how does that help me get back home?” I asked dryly.

“Silly brats, can’t even appreciate…” she mumbled before straightening up. “Like I said, we don’t know how. Or rather, I don’t know how. But she might know something.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Several centuries ago, she snapped. She cut off all ties with us, threw out everyone from her shrine, and closed it off. I haven’t seen her in a long time and our last meeting didn’t go so well either. Quite frankly, if she wasn’t so ridiculously powerful, I might have been worried about her,” she continued, tapping her forehead in thought.

“Damn it, who are you talking about?” I asked.

“The black sheep of the family, Lunaris, the Dark Goddess,” she replied. “I don’t know if she’ll let you meet her or if she even knows the answer to your question but if anyone can help you get back home, it’s Lunaris.”

“Why? What’s so special about her?”

“She’s the only one who really managed to significantly resist Fate. I don’t know how she did it, but all of us recognize her ability to do what we shouldn’t be able to. She’s your best bet, that I can assure you.” She went back to her machines. “Well then, good luck on your journey. Take care-”

“Have you heard about Origin?” I interrupted.

She frowned. “Yes.”

“We think he’s Fate,” I reply.

“Yes, some of my sisters have suggested that theory. However, I’m a scientist, I refuse to accept anything without proper evidence. For now, we’re more than happy to let him destroy the Fire Kingdom. Especially now that the Demon Lord is dead. Although, I guess making you stronger has already put us at a disadvantage. Oh well, whatever happens, happens,” she sighed before wiping the seat off of her forehead. “Now if you’ll please excuse me, I have work to do.”

I didn’t budge. I still hadn’t asked the most important question yet.

“The bonded laborers. Let them go,” I said sternly.

“What?” She raised an eyebrow. “No. Why would I? They’re the backbone of our economy.”

“Are you for real? Don’t you see what you’re making them go through? They’re being abused and tortured, all so that you can ride your buses or work your machines. You’re the Goddess, aren’t you? They’re your people, you can’t just leave them to suffer like that!” I said, angrily.

She looked at me with a bemused smile. “I can do what I want kid, I’m a Goddess. Besides, my analysis suggests that this model produces the most overall utility and happiness. Sure some people suffer, but the vast majority live better lives in exchange.”

“That’s fucked up! You can’t just ignore them like that! What’s wrong with you?” I scolded.

“The numbers don’t lie. My way of running things is the best. It’s the most efficient. Look at our progress! The other kingdoms can’t hope to compare!” she exclaimed.

“But it isn’t right! We-” I was interrupted by a loud crash that shook the whole tower.

“What the-” said the Goddess as another tremor ran through the tower.

Guess that’s my cue!

“This isn’t over, you hear me? I’m going to rescue those laborers so don’t you dare stand in my way!” I said as I ran out of the room.

“…not like I could do that anyway…” I heard her mutter as the platform descended.

–

The tower shook three more times on my way down. After finally reaching the bottom, I rushed through the gate and emerged outside.

“What the…” I stared at the scene in front of me.

A large, floating ship was ramming into the Observatory as the people below ran for safety. Although the tower shook, it didn’t break at all. In fact, it looked more like the ship was the one taking damage.

Most of the people inside Kai’s flower petal prison were staring at the ship in confusion too, except for an old man who was laughing so hard his beard was shaking almost as badly as the tower.

“Oh, you’re here comrade Stripster. We were just trying to strip this tower of its gaudy exterior, but it doesn’t seem to be working,” said a voice that I recognized as Kai’s.

I squinted my eyes and saw him standing on top of the ship with his hands on the steering wheel. As he rammed into the tower again, I could have sworn he was smiling like a madman under his mask.

“Come along, we haven’t got all day!” he shouted from above.

I wasn’t even thinking as I jumped onto the ship. My mind was a mess. This situation was a little…

“Where’s Runir?” I asked, recovering my senses.

I’d noticed Kai on the steering wheel and another robed figure sitting on a chair with a smaller robed figure on their lap. I’d recognized them as Amy and Zoe. I had also noticed the trembling young boy who was tinkering with a strange machine on a chair next to them.

But Runir was nowhere to be seen. As much as I hate to admit it, Runir would’ve probably kept things from getting too out of hand.

“He rushed in after you, saying he forgot to tell you something important. I tried to tell him to just use a communications prism but he ran away- oh there he is now!” Kai pointed to the entrance of the Observatory.

Sure enough, another masked figure was rushing towards us. Kai stopped crashing the airship into the tower and waved at the crowds below.

“We’ll let you keep your clothes this time. After all, we’ve already stripped your dignity! Goodbye!” He waved at the crowds and saluted the old man who was the only one laughing at his terrible jokes, before pouring mana into the wheel and whisking us away from the Shrine.

“Now then, did you find a way to free the laborers?” Kai asked as Runir quietly moved up to us.

“No,” replied Runir.

“Neither did I,” I answered, shaking my head.

Kai sighed. “Guess it’s time for plan B then.”

We looked towards the whimpering boy tinkering with his gadget. The boy felt our stares and looked up before shivering and going back to his machine.

Zoe walked up to him and lifted his chin, pulling off her mask and staring him in the eye.

“Hello, Your Majesty. Mind leading us to your home for a play date?” she said, expressionlessly.

The boy nodded slowly. Amy walked up to him and smiled.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be an exciting experience!”

A loud shriek resounded through the air.

“Wyverns!” exclaimed Runir.

“They’re following us!” said Amy.

“Perfect! Time to show off my mad airship skills!” shouted Kai, laughing hysterically.

Zoe and I exchanged a glance.

Yeah…exciting experience all right.

< Back | TOC | Next >

The bus lurched to a halt. The doors opened and I heard the sound of people scuffling out.

The conductor yelled for the passengers to walk in an orderly manner but most of them just ignored him and shoved their way out.

The conductor turned to us with a giant smile as we left the VIP compartment. He fawned over us, offered us future deals and discounts, and asked if our journey had gone well. We assured him that everything had been fine and promised to seek his company’s services in the future.

I stole another glance at the laborers powering the bus as we got off.

Empty eyes. Sallow cheeks. Lifeless expressions.

I clenched my fists and felt my resolve strengthen.

We wordlessly walked down the road towards Farden. Like any other city in the Air Kingdom, it didn’t have walls. We passed the security checkpoints where Kai flashed his magic paper, and entered the city.

Kai and Amy took Zoe to an Inn to help treat her. Even though she looked a lot better after spending a couple of days with us, she was still just skin and bones. Years of surviving on drugs and nutrients had left her with a sunken expression and a pale, sickly face that wouldn’t disappear after a day or two of healthy eating.

While they began trying to fix Zoe herself, Runir and I were going to start executing our plan to fix the system that had brought her to that position in the first place.

We silently walked down the street, paying attention to the conversations floating around. Eavesdropping was a great way to gather intelligence.

“…Breize Labs are showing off their latest project.”

“Yeah, heard it’s their biggest project in decades.”

“My brother works in the finance ministry. He said it cost a fortune!”

“They’ve been keeping it under wraps too. No one knows anything about it.”

“I heard from a friend that the Goddess herself helped design it.”

“Really? If that’s true then it’s going to revolutionize everything! The Goddess gave us roads and cars too. And the factories…”

“Remember the Breize Trams?”

“What about the Castle Hoppers?”

“Yeah, course I remember! Who doesn’t?”

“Well, one thing’s for sure. This year’s exhibition is gonna be unforgettable!”

The crowd of pedestrians thinned as we approached our first destination. We stepped into an alley beside a gold painted building and melted into the shadows.

Runir turned to face me, his hood pulled down to cover his face and making it almost impossible to see him in the dark alley.

“Racor Labs hires contractors to guard their most important locations. The files should be on the top floor but they might have hidden something in the basement too so I’ll check there just to be sure,” he said, pulling out a manhole cover and dropping into the sewers.

I didn’t follow him though, since I had to go up.

I jumped onto the side of the building and kicked off onto the other wall. Then I kicked that wall too and landed at the top of a three story building across my target. I ran to the edge and jumped across at the last second, landing safely at the roof of the Racor headquarters.

There were a couple of guards there but none of them posed a threat. I knocked out a bald headed man and a thin woman, both of whom were wearing dark green robes with a blue tree trunk on them. Probably the contractors that Runir had mentioned.

They weren’t even level 100. Racor Labs weren’t rich enough to hire any real firepower. They were, however, rich enough to lay traps, so I made my way down carefully.

There were a few wires and sensors on the way but I avoided them or diffused them by stealing parts of their mechanisms with my Ability.

My Ability was ridiculously versatile. I could steal pretty much anything from anyone. Of course there were conditions too.

For one thing, I could only steal things that actually had an owner. So I couldn’t use my Ability to snatch up a rock besides the road. But the really troublesome part was that I had to know who the owner was too.

In this case, I just thought of the owner as ‘Racor Labs’ and pictured the mechanism of the traps and stole parts of it. I’d picked enough locks back on Earth to know how most contraptions of this kind worked so it wasn’t tough at all.

At the end of the first flight of stairs, there was a door with a black bolt of lightning drawn on it. There was a guard standing next to them but I knocked her out with a quick punch to the head and made my way inside.

There were a few more traps but I got past them easily. I walked over to the shelves in the corner of the room and pulled out a couple of files.

I actually couldn’t read all that well back on Earth. But on Erath, I’d somehow managed to learn pretty quickly which was surprising because they used regular old English here!

Amy told me it was because my INT stat had gone up so I could learn things faster, but it was pretty weird feeling myself become smarter. You usually never noticed yourself improve or become better but on Erath, I’d felt myself change way too quickly.

…Breize Labs project Starbus…hundred thousand laborers dispatched…funds released…cooperate…will of the Goddess…Observatory off limits…Goddess’s room…contacted Duke Felity for approval…affirmation received, commencing research on application of Air magic for…

I closed the file and put it away in my Inventory. This was what I’d come for.

I turned to leave the room but I felt something snap against the back of my neck. It hurt and I staggered, swinging the sword in my hand behind me.

There was a loud shout and then a gurgling sound as something fell to the ground.

A brown haired man lay unconscious on the floor, his hands held against his stomach. Although I’d hit him with the flat of my blade, the difference in levels was just too high.

I adjusted my mask and dusted off my gray robes. My back had a gray tornado sewn on it which I had made sure to show the last guard before knocking him out.

I left the room and dashed up the stairs. I jumped down from the roof into the alley and changed into my normal clothes and waited. Soon enough, Runir pulled himself out of the gutters and changed into something less grimy.

Then we walked out of the alley and disappeared into the crowd.

–

“Funny how it all came back to them in the end,” Runir mused.

I nodded. Who would have thought that all the files would point to them? Must be fate.

“I love stealing from the same people twice,” I said, staring at the billboard outside the building we were standing on. “Especially when they’re assholes.”

“The files from the Racor, Ponel, and Haku Labs say Breize’s latest project is being held here. Once we know what it is, we can proceed with the next part of the plan,” said Runir, pulling down his hood. “My Ability is telling me that the project should be in the compound next to the main building. I’ll head on over there and see what it is, you go over to the offices and see what else you can find. We’ll meet back at the Inn when we’re done.”

He jumped down and landed in the shadows, vanishing from view. I took a deep breath before covering my face with the same gray mask that I’d worn while robbing the other Labs.

I walked across the roof and sat down next to the glass panels covering the center. Runir had said that glass was only made in the Fire Kingdom so these panels had probably cost quite a fortune.

Oh well, I thought.

The glass shattered as I drove my elbow through it. I jumped into the building, ignoring the shards pricking against my skin. They couldn’t get through my Defense so I didn’t have to worry about getting hurt.

I heard noises coming from down the hallway so I ran the other way. A door came up at the end of the room and I kicked it open and went inside.

It was a large office with gold and silver plated ornaments everywhere. A few monster skins lined the floor while a bright chandelier full of glowing stones hung from the ceiling.

An old man sat on golden chair beside an expensive looking desk. He was glaring at me and had a dagger pointed at my chest.

“Who are you?” he snarled.

I didn’t answer. Instead, my eyes wandered to the top of his desk where I saw a shiny golden plaque with something written on them.

Mr.Valence Casso, Owner of Casso Factories and Manufacturing.

I turned to him. This was the guy responsible for the suffering of thousands of laborers. He was the one responsible for Zoe’s pain, for her nightmares, and her insanity.

“Ha, got you now!” he said triumphantly.

He was pointing a large air gun at me. I hadn’t noticed him reach for it because I had been looking away. This one had a much larger barrel and would probably be a lot more dangerous than the one I had in my Inventory.

Not that I cared of course.

I slowly walked up to the old man. He blinked in surprise but recovered quickly.

“Stop! I’m warning you, this thing can blow off the head of a baby sky wyvern!” he threatened, thrusting the gun out further.

I kept walking. He kept glaring.

Then he shot me. And I shrugged it off.

He stared at me in disbelief and fired off a few more rounds. I felt something hitting my body over and over again but it wasn’t even enough to make me wince in pain.

He threw away the gun and stood up. I met his gaze just as he smirked and his eyes began glowing red.

My mind started feeling murky. My vision blurred and I stumbled a little. For a split second, I heard strange sounds from all around me and felt myself drifting into the darkness.

But then it passed.

Casso had a frozen smile on his face. His lips were quivering and he was pointing at me with a shaky finger.

What was that? Was it his Ability? No wonder he runs a factory full of slaves, I thought.

“H-how did you…just how high is your level?” he stammered.

I stepped up close to him and pressed my mask against his face. He was trembling now and had fallen back onto his seat.

“P-please let me go. You can take whatever you want. Just please don’t-”

I smashed my head into his. He slumped to the floor, unconscious.

This isn’t over, I thought as I stared at him. I’m going to make you pay for everything soon enough.

I stepped past his body and picked up the files from his desk. I read them over and realized that they were what I was looking for so I put them into my Inventory and made my way to the window.

I heard footsteps outside the door. It slammed open just as I jumped outside, my gray robe fluttering in the wind.

–

“Daddy! Daddy! We’re going to be late. Hurry up!” cried the little girl running down the street.

“Wait up kiddo! Your old man isn’t as young as he used to be,” said the middle aged man running after her.

He was out of breath and sweat trickled down his forehead but there was a huge smile on his face. He chuckled before shaking his head and running after his daughter.

“Honey, you shouldn’t have,” said a young black haired woman clinging to a young silver haired man.

The man held a bouquet of flowers in his hand and was smiling affectionately at his girlfriend as they walked down the road in the same direction as the father and daughter from before.

In fact, almost everyone was moving in that direction. People of all ages, shapes, and sizes were walking in the same direction, chatting and smiling at each other and giving out relaxed vibes.

These people were happy. They were going to an event where they could have fun with their friends and family, unwind from their stressful lives, and marvel at the latest gizmos and gadgets.

The people of this kingdom loved science and engineering. For most of them, the latest technology was more than just a cool new toy or tool that would make their lives easier.

No, for them, it was a part of who they were. Their national identity revolved around science and technology. The Air Kingdom was known for it’s technological prowess. Their scientists effectively ran the country. Even their Goddess was a scientist.

So the Exhibition wasn’t just a fun family outing or a cool show. It was a religious festival and a national holiday. It was a big part of their culture. The Exhibition was featured in books and plays. In prism casts and campfire stories. It was the talk of the town for months. People looked forward to it for the entire year.

Of course, they also loved to talk about the event itself. The new buses or washing machines. The latest in Air tech or new ways to apply Breize stones.

And the main attraction-the Goddess’s secret project. Personally designed by her alongside the finest engineers of Breize Labs, the Goddess’s secret projects always revolutionized the technology of this world so it was always a topic of great debate.

Even now, as I walked towards the bus stop leading to the shrine, I heard people wondering what this year’s project would be.

Someone suggested that it could be another home appliance. Maybe a new weapon? Perhaps an improved car or a bus?

Made me wonder how they’d react if they knew I had the answer in my Inventory. Might just crush me before we could even start the plan.

“You ready?” said Kai as I passed by him.

I nodded under my sunhat before pulling it down over my forehead and walking away. No point in letting anyone know we were together just yet.

We reached the bus station but I ended up waiting near the side. The others boarded their buses first while I went over the plan in my head. Taking a deep breath, I boarded the last bus to the Shrine and nervously watched the scenery pass by outside.

The bus lurched to a stop and I got up from my seat. I got off with the rest of the crowd but unlike them, I wasn’t laughing with my friends or cracking jokes with my family. I wasn’t here for fun.

I stole a glance at the laborers bound at the front of the bus just as the doors closed. I clenched my fists and joined the crowd ahead.

In the distance I saw a tube like the one we’d used to get to the main island from the second anchor city. People took turns getting on the platform before vanishing into the clouds above.

I saw the others board the platforms and head on up before me. I waited until the crowd thinned a bit before stepping onto the gray platform. Air gushed out beneath the platform and we shot up the tube.

The crowd of people below kept shrinking until we reached the clouds and everything became white.

“Mommy, look!” cried a little girl as we emerged from the clouds.

When I saw what she was pointing at, even I couldn’t help but take in a sharp breath.

It’s beautiful, I thought.

You’d think that after you’ve seen one floating island, you’ve kinda seen them all but this one was stunning.

Water tumbled down the sides before vanishing into the misty clouds below. There were layers of glowing rocks and metals below the surface, casting a rainbow of colors in every direction. The surface itself was built in tiers, with a forest of strange gray and silver colored trees lining the sides.

Some houses built with the same glowing rocks and shiny silver wood stood among the trees but most of them were concentrated in the center around the most amazing thing in sight…

A tower built with spiraling layers of glowing stones. It shot up even further into the sky, its top too high to see from where we stood. There were holes in the tower from where all sorts of smoke puffed out. Every few seconds, a bright light would shine down from the direction of the top of the tower, illuminating the smoke or making the shiny metals and stones sparkle.

The island became larger and larger until we finally reached the ground and got off. I followed the crowd down the road leading towards the tower. All the houses we passed were empty. Even the forests didn’t have any animals in them.

A beam of light shone down from up high, making the spectacle in front of us shimmer and sparkle in a myriad of colors.

Crowds of people bustled about stalls full of weird foods that I had never seen before. There were a bunch of small stages where people dressed in lab coats or gray robes pointed to their machines and described them for the cheering crowds.

Several important looking people sat on a raised platform. In the corner of the first row sat a bald middle aged man in a gray suit. He was talking to a white haired old lady in a yellow dress.

Beside them sat an old man with a long, flowing white beard who was facing a group of teenagers. The teenagers were all wearing the same black uniforms and were listening to the old man’s words intently. The old man waved his hand and the teenagers dispersed into the crowds below.

Next to him was a boy with a gray crown on his head. The boy was tinkering with something in his lap while smiling innocently. He looked at the young woman that was sitting beside him and pouted.

The young woman sighed before reaching over to fix the boy’s glasses and saying something to him while pointing at the cube in his hands. Her long gray robes swept over the boy’s shiny metal throne just as I caught a glimpse of the gray tornado symbol on her back.

The young woman sat down on her seat before smiling at the young man to her left. He was wearing blue robes with the words ‘LeAgua’ emblazoned on them. He laughed at something the young woman said before taking a sip of wine from the goblet in his hand.

The rest of the first row was filled with people wearing the same gray robes as the young woman. Unlike everyone else, these people weren’t chatting or laughing. Instead, most of them nervously tapped their armrests or bit their nails.

The people sitting behind the first row wore gray, black, yellow or blue robes. Most of them were quiet, not daring to disturb the people up front. I spotted a familiar old man but I chose to ignore him for now.

As the Exhibition wore on and the crowd became even louder, a group of gray robed figures appeared from inside the tower.

Suddenly, everyone went silent. The gray robed magicians pointed to the large stage in front of the raised platform where the important guests sat, and a strange glow appeared underneath the stage.

Air gushed out from below the stage as it began to rise. It kept rising and rising until it was taller than most of the buildings I’d seen in this world.

Murmurs started passing through the crowd as the people began to surround the white box in the center of the Exhibition. Anyone could guess what this was.

I saw Amy and the others take their designated positions so I made my way to my own. It was time to begin.

The gray robed young woman said something to the blue robed man and he laughed in return. She turned to the boy on her other side, bowed and jumped onto the raised stage.

“Citizens of the illustrious Air Kingdom as well as honored guests from abroad, on behalf of Breize Labs and the Air Goddess’s Shrine, I welcome you to the 500th annual Breize Science Exhibition! Thank you for choosing to spend your time with us here today, and trust me when I say that you will not regret it,” she said, holding a gray rod in her hand. The rod glowed as she poured magic into it, and propelled her voice across the exhibition grounds.

The crowd cheered and clapped but it still couldn’t drown out the young woman’s voice.

“I am the chief engineer of Breize Labs, Ezure Taiker, and I will be your host for today,” she continued.

“With us we have the esteemed Duke Felity of the Air Kingdom.” She pointed at the bald man in the corner of the front row.

“The honorable Countess Gratif from the Earth Kingdom.” She gestured towards the white haired lady.

“The headmaster of the Academy, Professor Pandorium,” she said, bowing to the bearded old man who waved in reply.

“The chief marketing officer of the LeAgua company, Mr. Lazure.” The blue robed man stood up and waved to the crowd.

“And of course, His Majesty the King, Galemor the fifteenth.” She bowed to the young boy sitting on the metal throne who acknowledged her with a wave of his hand before going back to tinkering with his cube.

The woman turned to the crowd again with a wide smile on her face.

“As you all know, this exhibition was started by our Goddess as a way to showcase the latest technological innovations and to encourage development within the scientific community not just in the Air Kingdom, but all over Erath,” she said.

The crowd started cheering again.

“And today, dear guests, is a very special day. To commemorate the 500th edition of this great event, the Goddess has created a very special gift for the people of Erath.”

The crowd cheered even louder.

“As someone who has worked with Breize Labs for her entire life, I can assure you that this project is unlike anything that you have ever seen before! It will revolutionize the world!”

The crowd went crazy.

“Dear guests, today history shall be made! Today, you will witness the dawn of a new era. Your children will learn about the events of this day. Your friends will envy you for being here today. Dear guests, after you see what lies inside this box, you will never look at the world in the same way again. Dear guests, before you right now stands the first ever-”

“Hey, someone get that kid off of there!” shouted someone from the crowd.

“You can’t go up there kid!” shouted someone else.

“Wah, it’s so high up!” exclaimed the little girl as she reached the top of the ladder and stood on the stage next to the young woman.

“C-cindy! Get down here this instant! How could you go off like that?” shouted her father as he grabbed the ladder and started climbing it.

“Daddy, daddy, look! It’s so pretty!” the little girl said with a smile.

“Hey sweetie, what are you doing here?” said the gray robed woman as she gestured to the guards to stay away.

She smiled at the little girl as she walked over to her.

“Waiting for daddy!” the little girl said, confidently.

The young woman’s smile grew. “Aren’t you just adorable!” She reached over to pat the girl’s head.

“C-cindy…get…down…here…this…instant…” said the middle aged man climbing the ladder.

“Aw, you hear that little Cindy? Your daddy will be mad if you don’t listen to him, you know?” said the young woman.

The little girl shook her head. “It’s okay, daddy will forgive me!” She tapped her head as if in thought. “Hey miss, are you the Goddess?” She stared at the young woman with bright eyes.

“No, no!” laughed the young woman. “But I work with her sometimes!” she said proudly.

“Really?” said the girl excitedly. “My big sister wanted to say something to her but she couldn’t meet her. Could you pass on the message for her?”

The young woman blinked in surprise. She looked into the little girl’s sparkling eyes and smiled.

“Sure, tell me,” she said, bringing her ear close to the girl’s mouth.

“Well she said,” the little girl whispered. “Fuck you.”

The ‘middle aged dad’ swung over the edge of the stage and rushed at the gray robed woman. He grabbed her by the neck while she still had a frozen smile on her face.

“What the-” cried the woman, but her voice was cut off by the ‘middle aged dad.’

“Shush, this is the fun part. You wouldn’t wanna miss it,” he said, smirking at her.

He reached for his clothes and pulled them off. The little girl beside him did the same.

But surprisingly, instead of being naked, the two now wore a set of white and gray robes and smiling masks.

The people on the raised platform stood up and some of them pointed at the masked figures. But before they could cast any magic, a pair of gray robed figures walked out from the last row and picked up the boy king.

Then they jumped onto the stage.

“Sire!”

“My liege!”

“How could they-?”

The boy stared at the cube in his hands before looking at the figure holding his other hand. The lady smiled before reaching for her clothes and apparently pulling them off. The boy’s eyes widened as the woman suddenly had a strange mask on her face.

The young man on his right held a bouquet in his hands. He sniffed it and smiled.

The white bearded old man, the blue robed young man, the white haired woman and nearly everyone else on the platform readied their magic and prepared to fire. The guards also slowly closed in on the stage.

The silver haired young man threw the bouquet at the platform and the flowers suddenly split. The petals scattered and surrounded the guests like a prison. The bearded old man fired a powerful bolt of darkness that dissolved inside the wall of petals.

The others tried to shoot their magic too but they couldn’t get through the petals. A gray robed woman tried to walk through them but got pushed back.

The silver haired man also tore off his clothes to reveal the same outfit with the white mask.

The man who had been pretending to be a middle aged father thrust the gray robed woman into his companion’s hand and picked up the boy king.

The boy looked like he was about to cry but he bit his lips and focused on the cube in his hand.

“You were right!” said the masked man as he faced the gray robed woman. “We are going to make history today!”

I stepped out of the crowd as the people began jeering and cursing.

“Now, now settle down everyone. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to our cute little king now would we?” he said, smirking as he pressed a dagger against the terrified kid’s throat.

The crowd went quiet.

“Now that’s better! I guess you do have a shred of humanity in you, after all,” he chuckled.

“You fiend, let His Majesty go!” snarled the gray robed woman being held by Amy.

“Fiend? Me? No, no, you are confusing me with someone else. I am not a fiend, dear missy. Because I am certainly not as nice and welcoming as a fiend. No, my good lady. We’re something far worse.” He leaned closer to her.

“We’re the monsters that terrorize monsters. The criminals envied by all the filthiest members of society. The notorious thieves who have stolen from every rich bastard in the world. Street urchins sing our praises, nobles curse our parents, and young men and women swoon over out names! We’re the challengers of evil and the purveyors of natural beauty. The connoisseurs of loot and booty, of both kinds if you know what I mean, and the lovers of all things bare! We are…” He paused for effect.

“The stripsters! Iya ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

What the fuck is up with that laugh Runir? I thought, glancing at the strange scene in front of me again.

The guards ran towards the stage, leaving the gates unguarded. The crowds gawked at the weird act on stage while the dignitaries stared at it with disbelief. .

What should have been a national day of celebration ended up getting hijacked by a bunch of perverts wearing creepy masks. Anyone would be surprised by this turn of events.

Well, whatever. Phase 1 is complete. On to phase 2.

I changed into the gray robes worn by the scientists of Breize Labs and walked straight into the tower. I looked up at the entrance and noticed the word, “Observatory,” written above it.

I heard Runir laughing again so I hurried inside as fast as I could.

He really needs to work on his evil laugh…

< Back | TOC | Next >

 

“Wow, I can see the sea from up here!” I exclaimed.

“…we’re above the clouds,” mumbled Zoe, holding the ground tightly while peering over the edge.
“It really is amazing isn’t it?” said Kai as he sat down next to Zoe and dangled his feet over the empty skies below.

“Don’t sit so close to the edge Zoe,” said Amy.

Seeing her refuse to budge, Amy walked over and picked her up before sitting on the edge and putting Zoe in her lap.

Zoe struggled for a bit but eventually relaxed as Amy stroked her hair and smiled at her. Amy was good with kids, that’s for sure.

I noticed Runir standing on the road and called out to him. “Hey Runir, do you think that’s the town we came up from?”

“Probably, sure, whatever you say,” he said, shading his eyes with his hand while looking down the road.

“Come on over and see the view Runir, it’s quite the spectacle,” said Kai, leaning further over the edge.

“No thank you. We still have a long way to go until we reach the shrine. We need to start moving or we’ll be late,” replied Runir.

“Late for what?” asked Amy, without turning around.

“Breize Labs will be holding their annual exhibition at the Air Shrine in a week. It’s open to the public so we’ll be able to get into the shrine by mingling with the crowd. We can use the opportunity to sneak into the tower, get the goddess’s blessing and ask her for a way back to Earth,” he answered, finally turning around.

I sensed something weird in the way he was looking at me while I sat on the edge of the floating island. Was he worried I might fall off? Or was he…

“Are you scared of heights, Runir?” I asked, snickering.

“What? Hell no!” he said, flustered.

I didn’t believe him at all. He was standing way too far away from the edge. He should at least have been curious about how high we were, shouldn’t he?

Amy chuckled too, and Kai gave him a pitying look.

“You’re surprisingly pathetic, Mr.Demon Lord,” said Zoe, with a disappointed expression.

Runir frowned. “Who told you I’m the Demon Lord?”

Of course it was me. He’d said he was fine with it, so what was he complaining about?

“The annoying one,” she replied, pointing at me.

“The annoying one? What the-”

“Aptly put, kid,” said Runir, cutting me off.

I glared at him. He smirked before turning around to face the road again.

“Let’s get going already,” he said, before starting to walk away.

I kept glaring at him as I stood up. I followed him down the road but stopped immediately.

Someone screamed behind me as I turned to see Amy leaning over the edge with her hand outstretched. Kai jumped off with a serious expression on his face. He shot past Amy’s hands and disappeared behind the ground.

I rushed forward just as he floated back up again with a struggling Zoe in his hands.

“Let…me…go…” she grunted, kicking and clawing at Kai to no avail.

Kai landed on the ground and flung Zoe into my arms. I reflexively crossed them to hold her tight as she continued to struggle.

“…damn it…let…go…”

“What were you thinking?” cried Amy, reproachfully.

There were tears in her eyes. She must have felt guilty about letting Zoe jump off. It was surprising really, that someone could get out of Amy’s grip. Was she caught off guard? No one really expects someone who was talking to you normally one second to suddenly jump to her death.

Zoe continued to struggle but I didn’t dare to ease up. She was crying tonight, mumbling about something as tears fell down her cheeks.

“…let…let…go…please…” she muttered before going limp.

She’d fainted.

The rest of us exchanged grim looks. All of this had happened too suddenly. She tried to kill herself out of the blue. It made no sense at all.

But Runir nodded and looked like he’d expected it.

“So she’s still a little insane. I thought that might be the case. After all, her Ability runs along the principle of equivalent exchange and since she didn’t completely sacrifice her freedom, she probably didn’t completely earn her sanity either,” he said.

I looked at the little girl hanging in my arms and felt pity and anger. Why did she have to suffer so much? What had she done wrong? Her body was light. Her breaths short and ragged. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

I didn’t let go though.

“What do we do now?” asked Amy, looking at Zoe with concern.

“We take her to Farden. I’ll try to heal her on the way but she’ll need a long time to recover mentally. For now, Runir can order her to stay with us at all times and forbid her from trying to kill herself again,” said Kai.

“Why Runir?” I asked.

“As a citizen of the Dusk Alliance, she is bound to listen to the orders of the Demon Lord,” he replied.

“But-” I covered Zoe’s ears with my hands. “He’s not the real Demon Lord.”

“Doesn’t matter. As long as she believes he is, it should work,” said Kai.

Runir looked at Kai with a frown but then nodded and walked up to me. I removed my hands from Zoe’s ears.

“I know you’re pretending to be unconscious right now kid,” he said, poking her cheeks. “Open your eyes. It’s an order.”

Her eyes snapped open immediately. She stared at him in surprise, probably because her body had acted on its own.

“I don’t want to give you too many orders because then I’d be just like those factory owners but I am going to tell you two things that you absolutely have to follow all the time. Understood?”

She nodded unwillingly.

“Number one, you will not try to kill yourself or bring harm to yourself in any way. Number two, you will not try to run away without telling us. We’ll let you go if you ask but if you disappear all of a sudden we’ll be worried and we’ll start searching,” he said.

She slowly nodded, defeated.

“So, this isn’t an order but I’d like to know. Why do you want to kill yourself?” he asked, bringing his face close to hers.

“…sometimes the…pain comes back. It goes into my head and…and…I just…can’t…” she stammered.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” said Amy, walking over and stroking Zoe’s hair. “We’ll help you get through this so please, trust us.”

“Yeah, if the pain comes back just tell us. We’ll bear it with you if we can,” I said, hugging her closer.

“They’re right, you’re not alone anymore. You’re safe with us. We aren’t like the other people you’ve known before,” said Runir as he patted her head.

That’s not true, I thought. We bound her too, didn’t we? It may have been for her own good but she probably doesn’t think of it that way. For her, we’re just another bunch of factory owners trying to use her for our own personal gain.

And I could see it in her eyes. Her unwillingness. She wasn’t going to trust us just yet. But then why didn’t she just leave? We’d told her that we’d let her go if she asked. Did she think we were lying or that it was some sort of trick? That we would punish her for trying to leave?

Whatever the reason, we’d have to earn her trust soon. Runir’s orders wouldn’t stop her for long. But more importantly, I didn’t want her to stay with us without wanting to. It didn’t feel right and was way too similar to the way those factory owners treated her.

“Don’t worry Zoe,” said Kai. “I can’t promise that you won’t feel any pain, but what I can promise is that as long as you stay with us, you won’t have another nightmare ever again.”

She looked at him skeptically, meeting his gaze before breaking it to nod.

“Right then, now that that’s behind us, we should probably get going. It’s almost time,” said Kai, jumping onto the road.

“Time for what?” asked Runir.

“We need to get there before noon,” he said, walking down the road.

“Get where?” I asked.

Amy followed him as if she knew what he was talking about. Runir and I shared a confused glance while Zoe slid down my arms and followed Amy.

“Kai, what the hell is going on?” asked Runir.

“Hurry up or we’ll be late!” shouted Kai from up ahead.

“Late for what?” I shouted, annoyed.

“The bus of course! We’re about to miss the bus!”

–

The sun blazed overhead, making the already stifling atmosphere even harder to endure. We stood in a long line of people waiting outside a gray bus that had just arrived and they, like us, were drenched in sweat and filling the air with the disgusting stench of sweat and bodies.

The bus wouldn’t have looked out of place on Earth, which just made the whole thing feel even weirder. You just didn’t expect to roll down a highway in a bus in a world full of magic.

Then again, there were signs of magic on the bus too. A few runes here and there, the unmistakable glow of magic stones under the hood, and a couple of communications prisms hanging by the doors reminded me that this was not the world I’d grown up in.

Someone tried to push me from behind but I didn’t budge. I looked back to see a middle aged lady glaring at me while holding her arm.

How is it my fault, bitch? I thought, frowning.

Runir and the others were standing in front of me. Kai was holding onto Zoe’s hand and unlike the rest of us, they weren’t sweating at all.

Damn it Kai! Work some of your magic on us too, I thought.

Runir and I didn’t dare to use Water magic to cool ourselves off because we didn’t want to attract attention. Only people from the Water kingdom could use water magic, and we didn’t want everyone thinking we were from the Holy Alliance since that would almost definitely get us killed.

Then again, maybe we could pass as traveling merchants? That LeAgua company that Runir kept mentioning was based in the Water kingdom. We might be able to pose as their employees or something.

But those were all excuses. I just really couldn’t take the heat anymore. I needed to cool down, but how?

“Ticket please,” said a short bald headed man standing next to the bus’s door.

Kai took out something from his robes.

“S-sir! Please, the VIP section is all yours sir. Thank you for gracing us with your presence sir. It is an honor, truly an honor,” said the man with a bow.

Zoe looked at him curiously but the rest of us casually walked in unperturbed.

She’ll get used to it, I thought, watching her look at us like we’d all gone crazy. Wait till you find out how we paid for them in the first place, kid.

The first thing I saw when I entered the bus was a small compartment right in front of the doors. The driver was barely visible behind it, her long frilly hair bobbing up and down as she said something to the people inside.

We all had unpleasant expressions on our faces as we saw the ragged figures inside the compartment.

Through the murky glass and iron grating we could see a group of people wearing collars just like Zoe’s.

They were bonded laborers.

I saw Zoe tense up as she stared at the men and women inside the room. Their faces were marred by years of abuse. Their eyes were lifeless and drained. They had no hope for the future.

The other travelers shouted at us to get a move on and Kai led us to the back of the bus where there was another room with a gray insignia on it.

It was a shimmering gray tornado with the words “Breize Labs” written under it. We pushed the door open and sat down inside.

The room was decorated with shining gems and priceless antiques. The furniture was obviously expensive, probably worth swiping if I could get away with it. There were fruits in a basket on the table in the center of the room as well as rich wine in bottles lining the shelves on the walls.

But most importantly, it was cool.

“This is impressive,” stated Amy as she sat down on a chair.

Zoe sat down on the sofa without a word and began picking through the fruits.

“Yeah,” said Runir as he lay down on the bed in the corner of the room.

“…what kind of bus is this?” I asked.

“It’s the express service to Farden. Busy this time of the year because of the Exhibition, but it’s still the fastest way to get there,” said Kai.

“And what was up with those laborers…or fuck it, just call them slaves,” I said.

The atmosphere instantly became a lot more serious.

I heard the doors close. Someone started shouting for everyone to settle down and the bus began moving.

“They probably use them to power this thing,” said Runir, closing his eyes.

“The bus runs on air magic too?” I asked.

He nodded.

So even the bus was running on the pain of innocent people. Was it really worth it? We could have gotten to Farden by walking. We didn’t need to strap down a bunch of people in a tiny compartment and have them blast magic into a pipe for several days.

“We have to do something,” I said.

“Like what?” asked Runir.

I took out the ‘Trickster’ outfit from my Inventory.

“I can jump out the window, crash through the roof, and break them out.”

“No, it’ll draw too much attention to us. If we keep doing this, anyone with half a brain will realize that The Trickster appears wherever we go. Besides, what will you do after that? Where will you take them? And what about the other passengers on the bus? They probably couldn’t cross this monster infested country on their own. Even the bus can barely fight off some of these monsters despite all the weapons they have on board,” he said, sitting upright.

“But we have to do something!” I cried. “Damn it, what’s happening to those people isn’t right!”

“Lily,” said Kai. “I know that this system disturbs you but going around randomly saving these abused laborers isn’t going to solve anything. Didn’t we already decide that we’ll take down the whole system because doing anything less wouldn’t cut it?”

He was right and I knew it. But it wasn’t easy ignoring the people in the front of the bus, slaving away inside a tiny box so that we could enjoy our journey inside a beautifully decorated compartment.

I remembered their lifeless faces. I remembered Zoe voluntarily jumping to her death.

It wasn’t the way things should be. We needed to save these people…but Kai was right. I couldn’t go around saving them one at a time. I needed to bring it all crumbling down.

I looked at the shining, metallic gray tornado on the back of the door.

Breize Labs…they’re the ones responsible for this. They owned that factory in the second anchor town and they own this bus too. If I wanna set things straight…

“Hey Runir,” I said. “Use your Ability.”

“Alright, what’s my first goal?” he asked.

“Taking down Breize Labs.”

He smirked and took out some paper from his Storage. Kai and Amy leaned closer while Zoe went to sleep on Amy’s lap.

While Zoe enjoyed her nightmare-less sleep, we hashed out a plan to turn the entire Air Kingdom on its head. We needed to bring down all the centers of power in the country. All the nobles and the royalty and the labs and the guilds and everything else. We needed to destroy anything and anyone that held up the current system so that we could replace it with a new one.

By the time we were done, I almost felt sorry for them.

Almost.

“Hey, have you heard about the incident yet?”

“What?”“Someone robbed the Casso factory.”

“The Casso factory? But aren’t they-”

“Yep, they’re contractors for Breize labs.”

“Who would dare to steal from Breize labs? Are they crazy?”

“Ha ha, you haven’t heard the best part!”

“What is it?”

“They were absolutely shameless!”

“What do you mean?”

“They stripped the guards and the manager.”

“What for?”

“Don’t know, but they seemed to be really happy when they did it. Gotta be a pervert.”

“So they’re crazy and perverted? How many of them were there?”

“Just one.”

“One? Someone managed to get through a factory’s defenses all alone?”

“Yep. The guy was wearing a really weird mask too.”

“What kind of mask?”

“It had a smile on it. And he was wearing really tacky robes. Had a weird hat too.”

“Yeah, sounds like a pervert alright.”

“Old man Casso’s having a fit. He only lost a factory’s worth of slaves and equipment but offered 5000 Tel for the thief.”

“5000 Tel? Has the old man finally gone senile? The great scientist Casso, finally going off his rocker because of a pervert. That’s just sad.”

“I hear you. But can you blame him? His reputation went down the drain. Do you know what they’re calling the thief?”

“No.”

“The creep left a note calling himself The Trickster.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad?”

“Yeah well everybody calls him something else though…”

“What?”

“The Stripster!”

Laughter broke out on the table behind us. I stabbed the steak on my plate with a knife and twisted it.

“What’s the matter, trying to strip your steak?” said Runir with a smirk.

“Shut it.” I retorted through gritted teeth.

“Men, women, and chicken. At least the infamous Stripster doesn’t discriminate.” said Amy, nodding with a deadpan expression.

“Not you too Amy?” I cried.

“I wonder what that poor old man would think if he knew that his badly dressed thief stripped poultry too.” said Kai.

“And who’s the bastard who gave me that stupid costume?” I glared at him.

“I pulled off the mask perfectly back in the Fire Kingdom.” he replied. “And by the way, you can keep it. I’d rather not be mistaken as a crazy pervert.”

“Fuck you!” I flung my knife at him but he grabbed it between his fingers and started using it to cut his own steak.

I sighed and leaned back on my chair. “Whatever. Did you get the laborers to safety?”

“Yep, I called in a favor. They should be in good hands.” he said.

“And you still won’t tell us whose hands those are?” I asked, frowning.

“They like their privacy. But don’t worry, I trust them completely. Besides, it’s not like you can help the laborers much. What those people need now is food, shelter, and education. Most of them were born into a living hell, they don’t know how to live a life of freedom. In fact, it’s a miracle they followed us out of there.” he said, chewing a mouthful.

“What do you mean?” asked Runir.

“Isn’t it obvious? Those people don’t know any other kind of life so of course they would be afraid. Even if they’re being abused and tortured, people still yearn for the known over the unknown. Do you really think all of them appreciated being freed? Wouldn’t they assume you would treat them the same way the factory owners did?” He turned towards me. “Didn’t you realize that most of them didn’t follow you because of some inherent desire for freedom, but because they were scared of you?”

I stared at him blankly. It was true, I knew it. I’d never been able to trust somebody on the streets and even after I got taken in by the old lady, I couldn’t trust her for a long time. If you’ve lived a certain way all your life, you don’t expect it to change even when it already has.

“Which is why my friend will re-educate them and hopefully help them ease into a normal lifestyle. So you don’t have to worry about them. But I don’t think we can rescue every single laborer and deal with them the same way, so if you really want to do this, you’ll have to come up with a better plan. And of course, the biggest problem right now is…”

“Zoe.” I finished.

Kai sighed, Amy looked downcast, and Runir frowned.

“Her title…” I said, my words trailing.

The others looked troubled again as they recalled her title. It just wasn’t the kind of thing that you could forget, especially when the person in question was sleeping in your bed upstairs.

Title: Cursed in Two Worlds…Title given to one who is destined to be tortured to death after years of abuse before being reincarnated into a similar situation in another. The holder’s soul has been shredded into pieces and their mind deteriorated into insanity. The holder is struck by nightmares reliving the worst of their pains that end with a single moment of lucidity in which the holder is most likely to attempt to suicide in vain before falling into despair again.

It was so messed up I didn’t even know where to begin. It was like someone had specifically made it just to torture her.

Was there some sadistic god behind this? Or was she just goddamn unlucky? Whatever it was, this was probably the first break she’d ever gotten in either life.

“I know we offered to help her get back home, but does she even want to go there? Doesn’t sound like she had it any better on Earth.” I said.

“We only told her that so she’d know we’re from Earth too. But judging from the way she attacked you, she probably doesn’t want to go to the Air Goddess’s shrine so I don’t get why she stayed after finding out that we wanted to go home.” said Runir.

“She may have used her ability.” said Kai.

“What do you mean?” asked Runir.

“Do you remember it?” said Kai, gesturing to all of us.

Ability: Sacrifice…Change anything one wants by sacrificing something one possesses that is of equivalent value.

“Yeah, but what about it?” I asked.

“Her Ability says that she should have gone crazy. But in fact, she seems surprisingly sane for someone who has suffered so much.” he replied.

“So you think she sacrificed something to earn her sanity?” asked Runir.

“Yes, but I don’t know what.” said Kai, tapping his fingers on the table.

“Freedom.” said Amy.

“What do you mean?” asked Runir.

“She listened to you.” she replied.

“So? Oh! Damn, that’s messed up.” he said, shaking his head.

Kai sighed and shook his head too which made me feel annoyed at being the only one who didn’t get it.

“Stop being a dick and tell me already.” I said.

“You really are a hopeless hero aren’t you. You’re lucky you have such smart friends.” he said, nodding his head seriously.

“Shut it.” I said through gritted teeth.

“Oh? Didn’t you want me to tell you? Up to you I guess.” He smirked.

“Damn it Runir, tell me or I’ll-”

“Strip you?” He started laughing.

“That’s it! Laser-”

“Wait.” said Kai, interrupting my spell. “Don’t use a light spell here!”

“Oh right.” I said, glaring at Runir.

“That reminds me, we can’t tell her you’re the Hero. She is a citizen of the Dusk Alliance, so she’ll be compelled to work against you.” said Kai.

“Then what do we do? Should we tell her that Runir is the Demon Lord or something?” I said. “He’s enough of an asshole to be one.”

“No, we can’t do that either.” said Runir, calmly. “The Demon Lord is dead and everyone knows it, so she won’t believe us. Even if she did, it brings no benefit to us at all.”

“It’ll make her listen to us.” I said.

“That won’t be a problem.” he said.

“Why?” I asked.

“She can’t disobey anyone.” said Kai.

“What? What is that supposed to mean?” I said, frowning.

“When Kai told her to stop pretending to be asleep, she did. I told her to stop being violent, and she did. She sacrificed her ability to resist in exchange for her sanity.” said Runir.

I frowned. “Wait, that doesn’t sound right. I told her to get off my hand last night but she didn’t.”

“Odd, my Ability is telling me that this is the right answer. Maybe there are some limits or conditions?” he said.

“So until we know exactly what those are, we should tell her that you’re the Demon Lord. She’ll have to do what you say then, wouldn’t she?” I said.

“Fine, fine. Do whatever you want.” said Runir dismissively.

We finished up our meal and walked upstairs with some food for Zoe.

“We need to decide what to do now.” I said.

“We’re going to the Air Goddess’s shrine. I thought we’d already decided that?” said Runir.

“No, I mean about the bonded laborers. We can’t let this go on. We’re strong enough to do something about it so we have to.” I continued.

“Just because we’re powerful, doesn’t mean we have to go fix every problem in the world.” he said.

“But if we don’t do it, who will?”

“That’s not the point. This is the king’s job, or the governments job. If they aren’t doing it properly it doesn’t mean that we have to go do it for them instead. Besides, this is the Air Kingdom and we’re the Hero’s party. These people are our enemies, why should we help them?” Runir met my gaze confidently.

“But it’s not right! You’ve seen how these people are treated. You’ve seen how Zoe was treated. Can you really ignore all of that for your own selfish reasons?” I said.

“And what do you plan to do? Break into every factory in the kingdom and walk out with the laborers? Or will you try to buy them all with your stolen money? Hell, why don’t we start a fucking revolution and topple the government?” he ranted.

“Wait, what did you say?” I asked, blinking.

“I said, what do you plan to do?” he replied.

“No, no, after that. A revolution! Topple the government! Bring those bastards down! That’s perfect!” I said, barely managing to keep my voice down.

The others stared at me blankly.

“Um, Lily. We can’t just go around toppling governments…” said Runir.

“Why not? If this is how they treat their people, they don’t deserve to be kings or nobles anymore.” I said, as I opened the door to my room.

“We can’t decide that for them.” asserted Runir as he walked into the room.

“Why no- Zoe!” I shouted, rushing forward.

She was lying on the ground, whimpering and shivering uncontrollably. She turned, revealing purple bruises all over her neck. Her skin under her clothes was covered in scars; some old, some new, but all vicious. She was soaked in sweat which made her clothes cling to her body, showing how thin and skinny she was.

“…please…no…let me go…not again…I already died…free…I was…free…it’s unfair…why…why…why…” she mumbled.

Kai walked over to her and waved his hand. She instantly stopped.

“She’s asleep now.” he said.

I picked her up and put her on the bed. The boys went out as I changed her clothes and Amy wiped her sweat off with a moist cloth.

Zoe’s body was an absolute mess. Cuts, scars, bruises, burn marks, holes, and bones sticking to her thin skin.

Amy clenched her fists as she gently ran the cloth over Zoe’s bruises and burns, trying to avoid giving her pain.

I on the other hand, couldn’t bear to look any longer as I felt my lunch rising up my throat. I’d seen a lot of shit on the streets but this…

We left the room after making sure that Zoe was sleeping.

“…I’ll give her a ring to help keep her nightmares under control but I don’t know how effective it will be…” I heard Kai say from behind the door as I opened it.

“…It’s fine, at least it’s something-oh, Lily, you’re here.” said Runir, turning to face me.

I didn’t respond. Instead, I walked up to him and stared into his eyes.

He met my gaze and sighed.

“…thousands of soldiers.” he said.

“Beat them up.”

“Hundreds of magicians.”

“Light em up.”

“The nobles.”

“Whack them.”

“The king.”

“Sacred sword up his ass.”

“You’re delaying our journey home.”

“Just a side-quest.”

“What if they find out that you’re the hero?”

“I’m the Trickster, I’ll think of something.”

“What if you have to fight the Goddess?”

I paused.

“I’ll fuck her up. She deserves it.”

Runir broke our gaze and nodded.

“Why?” asked Amy, suddenly.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“Why does she deserve it? The Goddess. How is it her fault?” she asked.

“She’s the most powerful person in this country, isn’t she? She could have done something but she didn’t. Besides, everyone listens to her. One word from her and all this shit could get cleaned up but she doesn’t do anything about it. By not fixing the problem, she’s helping the bastards behind this.” I said.

Amy nodded slowly before looking away.

What’s up with her? I thought.

“It’s not as simple as that, I’m afraid.” said Runir.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Most of the factories are contractors for different labs. In the Air Kingdom, these labs possess a lot of power and influence- enough to make them a more important political actor than the nobility. And the largest and most powerful lab is the Breize Lab, which has its headquarters at the Air Shrine.” he said.

“At the shrine? But then-”

“Yep, they’re backed by the Air Goddess. She doesn’t just passively condone the cruelty in the factories, she pays for it.” he finished.

“So we really will have to go against a Goddess after all?” I asked.

“Yes, but don’t worry. She can’t fight us directly. We’re the Hero’s party so the Goddesses can’t interfere with our plans.” he said

“But I can totally beat her up for all this, can’t I?” I said, smiling.

“Yep.” he said, smirking.

“Perfect.”

–

“Damn it, stop pushing.” I said, annoyed.

“Can’t help it. Keep getting pushed myself. Way too many people here.” said Runir, as he was jostled by the crowd.

“Kai, do it already.” said Amy, fighting off an old man trying to cut in front of her.

Kai sighed and smiled. “You’re getting too used to this.”

He walked out of the line and went straight to the front.

“Hey, no cutting in line!” shouted a frowning teenage boy.

“Oi, get back here kid.” said an angry middle aged lady.

“Hey!”

Kai turned to face the voice.

An armed guard in a gray uniform strode up to him. “What do you think you’re doing? Cutting lines can get you banned from the-”

Kai pulled something out of his robes and showed it to the guard.

“S-sir! It is an honor to meet you in such a lowly place. I deeply apologize for my earlier behavior, I did not know that someone of your esteemed status would be gracing us today. I will accept any punishment.” he said, getting down on one knee.

“It’s okay, just help my friends through too please.” said Kai.

“Of course!” exclaimed the guard.

And so we made our way to the front of the line, ignoring the curious and -more often- angry looks from the crowd.

We stepped into glass building at the end of the line and waited. Soon, the platform beneath us started to rise and the ground became more distant.

“So this is the Sky Tunnel. It’s beautiful.” said Runir.

“Yep.” I said.

“Agreed.” Amy nodded.

“What do you think Zoe?” asked Kai.

“…it’s okay.” she mumbled, but her glittering eyes betrayed her real thoughts.

“Look, there it is!” said Runir, pointing ahead of us.

A small dot appeared in the distance. It slowly became larger and larger until it began to tower over everything else.

Jagged rocks floating in the sky, waterfalls cascading over the edges, and trees and boulders leaning over the sides. A floating island unlike anything else on Erath.

“It’s amazing. I can see why it’s such a popular tourist destination. Everybody wants to come to the island floating high in the sky.” said Runir.

I looked at the floating island and saw Zoe in the corner of my eye. Even though she’d lived in this country for her entire second life, she had never seen the island yet.

Yeah, some people love feeling like they’re above everyone else. But now I’m gonna bring those assholes back down to the ground.

Hard.

< Back | TOC | Next >

The little girl lay sleeping in her bed, muttering something in her sleep. She was twisting and turning, caught in a nightmare no doubt.

I was sitting next to her bed, casting healing magic on her from time to time while Kai and the others sat around a small table in the center of the room.

“Thanks for taking off her collar, Kai. Are you sure they won’t be able to find her anymore?” I asked, casually casting another healing spell.

“Don’t worry, they’ll think she’s dead. They might come after us for stealing their merchandise, but we won’t be staying here for long anyway.” replied Kai, leaning his chair against the wall.

I was relieved. We could handle ourselves but the girl wouldn’t have been able to escape her pursuers for long. She was too skinny, too weak, and definitely couldn’t fight off a bunch of grown men and women. She probably didn’t know a lot of magic either.

Besides, after seeing her status…I knew we had to help her, no matter what.

“Should we help her find her family?” I asked.

“No, there are only two ways to get stuck in a hell like this; you either get sold into it or you’re born into it.” answered Runir.

Neither of those options were appealing, so I gave up on the idea of taking her to her family. But…

“What do you mean born into it? Are her parents slaves too? We can go rescue them if that’s the case.” I asked.

“Her parents probably were bonded laborers but since factory owners encourage procreation to help increase the number of laborers, the kids don’t even know who their parents are. They’re tossed into a collective nursery as soon as they’re born and forced to sign a contract before they can even walk.” He said.

“Fuck,” I said, slapping my fist onto the table. This world was more fucked up than I thought.

Surprisingly, Kai spoke up in anger too. “Born into slavery? Enslaving children? Disgusting. Why would anyone do that?”

“Money, of course. All the worst shit happens because of money. I don’t know what they make them do, but I bet there’s a whole lot of Tel involved,” I said. “But here’s the real question. This world’s a shitty place just like ours, I get it. But what I don’t get is why no one is doing anything about this? The King or the government-”

“Are bought out by the factory owners.” said Runir.

Some things never change. Greedy bastards and corrupt assholes exist in fantasy worlds too. I thought, gritting my teeth.

“But why here? Why weren’t there any in the Southern Continent? Is it because of the Demon Lords? Did they do this? This place is part of their turf, so I guess their evilness spreads here.” I said.

“No, bonded laborers are used all over Erath. There were many of them in the Fire and Light Kingdoms too, we just didn’t see them. The Air Kingdom has the most though, since every factory has dozens of them.” said Runir as he flipped through a book. “I still can’t find what they use them for. I have a few hunches but I can’t find anything to prove them.” He frowned, closing the book.

“They’re in the other kingdoms too? But why would they…” I said, my voice trailing off.

“You know why,” said Runir, smiling. “No one can refuse cheap labor when they know how thick their pockets are going to get.”

I’d never trusted that damn Light Goddess or the sleazy king, but to think they’d do this kind of shit too.

Guess running away was the right thing to do after all. I thought.

“And they call themselves the good guys…” I said, mockingly.

“You of all people should know that there is no such thing as good and evil, Lily.” said Kai, leaning on the table. “That applies to everyone. Even the Demon Lord.”

Wait, what?

“So the Demon Lord-”

“Is just another ordinary, albeit unfortunate, soul trapped in a role by Fate.” finished Runir, putting away the book.

That was a little surprising. I’d known that the Demon Lord was summoned from Earth too, but I’d assumed that he’d be a psychopath or something. Somehow, imagining the Demon Lord as a middle-aged salary man made him seem a lot less evil.

Then again, he was already dead so it didn’t matter anyway.

“Fate? Is this fate’s fault too?” I said, pointing at the girl with bruise marks all over her face. “Does she have to accept this just because she was born as a slave or a bonded laborer or whatever?”

“No,” said Amy, shaking her head. “This isn’t Fate’s doing. If it was, we wouldn’t have been able to save her.”

“Right, you can thank good old-fashioned human greed for this,” said Kai. “And also, you can stop pretending to be asleep now. We’re not going to hurt you.”

The girl stopped mumbling and stiffened.

“It’s okay, you’re safe here. And don’t worry, you can leave if you want to. We won’t stop you.” I said, as we all turned to face her.

She didn’t respond, but sat up and faced us. Her back was to the wall and although she was staring at us, she was also looking at the window with the corner of her eyes.

I was sure she’d run at the first sign of trouble.

I didn’t mind. It was a good thing to be cautious. And although I knew she wouldn’t trust us just yet, I also knew that giving her the option to leave was the right thing to say for now. For someone who’d lived a life of captivity, the promise of freedom would be the best thing you could offer.

“You’ve probably heard everything but I’ll say it again, just in case. We’ve taken off your collar so those bastards will think you’re dead. We can help you leave the city and settle down somewhere else or we can take you to the Air Goddess’ shrine and-”

She suddenly flinched and tried to jump out the window but her feet got caught in her blanket and she crashed into the floor.

I stared at her blankly, unable to understand what had happened. Why had she suddenly tried to run away?

I unconsciously cast a healing spell on her but she rolled around to dodge it. Then she glared at me sharply and muttered something under her breath.

A gust of wind blew into me, knocking me off my feet. She pounced onto the bed again, ready to jump out the window at a moment’s notice.

“Oi kid, we said we’d let you go if you wanted to. No need to get violent.” said Runir, looking at her expressionlessly.

The girl met his gaze for a while while casting furtive glances at the window.

“You can’t stay in this city, since someone might recognize you, but trying to get out of the city on your own will be tough. You’ll probably get attacked by monsters or bandits, not to mention the fact that you have no money on yourself and can’t buy food.” said Runir.

She hesitated for a while before easing up a little. She still stood next to the window and would probably jump out if she was scared.

I got up from the ground and dusted myself off, like I didn’t care at all about how she’d attacked me. But I did care…

I jumped at her as fast as I could. I saw her eyes widen slowly as I reached her. She tried to flee out the window but I was already on top of her. She saw me looming over her, closed her eyes, and whimpered.

And I hugged her.

She froze in shock as I held her lightly against my chest. Even though her status said that she was ten years old, she was so small for her age that I had to bend down really low to hold her. But that wasn’t surprising really, considering how she probably hadn’t had a decent meal in her life.

“Don’t worry kid, no one’s going to hurt you. No one’s gonna make you do stuff you don’t want to do. If you don’t like something, just tell us and we’ll make it go away. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. You’re free and you’re going to stay that way. I promise.” The words sounded pretty corny when they came out of my mouth, but it was all I could think of saying.

The old lady at the orphanage used to do this whenever we had a nightmare and it always seemed to work back then so I guessed that it would work here too.

“I promise too.” said Amy, patting the little girl’s head.

“No one’s going to mess with you now.” said Runir, grinning.

“Besides, sticking with us is the right thing to do. We’ll help you get back home.” I said, letting her go and looking into her eyes.

She gaped at me in shock, mulling over what I’d just implied. I met her gaze and smiled.

I also looked at her status again.

…Ability: Sacrifice…Title: Cursed in Two Worlds…level: 24…Name…

“Welcome to the party Zoe.” said Kai, with a smile.

…Zoe Hill.

–

Zoe lay curled up next to me, her back pressed into my chest and her head resting on my arm. Since we’d only booked four rooms at the hotel, Zoe had to share one with someone else. Besides, although no one was looking for her anymore, we did promise to keep her safe after all, so someone had to guard her for the night.

We let her choose and for some reason, she chose me.

And that’s why my hand was so fucking numb right now.

“Hey, I know you’re still awake so do you mind getting off my hand now?” I complained.

She cuddled closer to me, still pressing down on my arm. I thought about forcing her off but couldn’t bring myself to do it after I saw the burn marks on her neck.

“Hey, where were you from? Back on Earth.” I asked.

“…Felton City.” she replied.

“Cool…” I said, lamely.

Felton was the largest city in America and definitely the richest too. But where there’s money, there’s crime, and Felton was chock full of all the worst shit you could think of. And judging by her title, she probably hadn’t spent her time there playing in the parks in the brighter part of the city.

“…Hey. I heard you guys were wondering what they made us do at the factory.” she said.

“You don’t need to-”

“Magic. They made us do magic.” she whispered.

Magic? Not the kind of inhumane treatment I was expecting...

“Every day…every night. The same spell…over and over again. Kept feeding us drugs to make us keep going. Beat up the stragglers…killed the ones who tried to run away. No food, just drugs and nutrients. It was…hell.” she said, her voice barely audible.

…Fuck! Treating people like animals. No, worse than that. What do these bastards think people are supposed to be?

I thought back to something Kai had said.

‘Monsters kill because they have to. They are monsters by nature.’

But these guys, they were the real monsters. They weren’t doing this because they had to but because they wanted the money and didn’t care how many people they screwed over to get it. Just like that mayor back home.

“Don’t worry Zoe, we’ll make them pay. Just you wait.” I said, hugging her closer.

I can’t just sit back and let this happen. The King may not want to fix this but I will. This kid is just like me, scared and alone. Betrayed by the world and a system that claims to work for everyone except for those who really need it.

I don’t have to accept this. I won’t accept this.

After all, I’m the fucking Hero, aren’t I?

–

A tall middle aged woman cracked a whip over her head.

“Move faster. If the turbine stops moving, I swear I’ll skin you alive and feed your corpse to the Netherhawks.” she said, kicking a straggling little boy in rags.

The boy fell on his knees and misfired the spell he had been preparing. It rebounded off the ground and slammed into him, sending him flying through the air.

People in rags stood in front of a large pipe, sending gusts of wind into it. Their lifeless expressions didn’t even flicker as the boy crashed into the ground and the frowning lady walked over to him.

“What’s wrong with you? How dare you waste mana on yourself! All of your mana belongs to our clients. If you want to cool yourself down with a Breeze, go buy a fan instead.” she said, raising the whip into the air. “It’s because of your laziness that I couldn’t meet my quota for the past three months. I need to meet it this time or they’ll terminate the contract, and yet you insist on messing up my plans.”

The boy quickly shuffled upright, wincing in pain as he put his weight on his bleeding legs.

The lady scowled. “This is the fifth time you’ve made a mistake like this. I should probably get rid of you and get one of the younger ones to replace you.”

She brought the whip down.

Crack!

The candles blew out, engulfing the room in darkness.

There was a grunt. Then a scream. And then a cry of agony.

There were crashes and bangs. Chains clinked, doors creaked open and slammed shut, and something snapped.

There was a hole in the ceiling and when the clouds parted, a ray of moonlight pierced through the darkness and lit up the chaos inside the factory.

Pipes lay broken and scattered on the ground. The chains binding the slaves were gone. As were the doors locking them inside their cages. A bunch of confused eyes stared at the figure standing under the moonlight.

The lady lay on the floor, unconscious. The little boy was still on his knees, gaping at the weird figure in front of him.

Silver hair, a shiny white mask and a flowing gray robe; this person was weird. Very weird.

…and she knew it.

Damn that Kai! What kind of outfit is this? I look like a creepy serial killer! I thought, gritting my teeth.

I’d asked him for a disguise and he said he’d have one on me as soon as I broke in but he never told me how ridiculous it looked.

I’ll deal with him later. For now…

I walked over to the unconscious lady and waved my hands. I walked back to the boy who was staring at the naked woman lying on the floor.

These clothes look expensive…hu hu hu! I laughed inwardly, checking out the clothes in my storage.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” came a voice from inside.

Two burly men came out from inside a room on the other side of the factory. They saw the broken pipes, the unchained laborers, and the stripped woman and froze.

“What the-?” said one of them, just before I punched him in the gut.

The other one swung at me but I swayed back to dodge it. I hit him in the chest and felt a few ribs crack as he collapsed next to his friend.

I took all of their possessions and left two naked men groaning on the floor. I walked into the room they’d come from and emptied the safe before returning outside.

I walked up to the boy who had almost been whipped. He flinched as I reached out to him but didn’t resist as I patted him on the head.

Then I turned around and went to the corner of the room. I tapped it thrice and a tunnel appeared.

“Follow.” I said, motioning towards the freed laborers.

They hesitated for a while, looked at their captors lying naked and wounded, and stared at the trashed factory around them.

In the end, they all followed me down the dimly lit tunnel to their freedom.

< Back | TOC | Next >

“Finally!”

I splashed through the waves and fell onto the sandy beach, hugging the land as tightly as I could.

“Finally, I thought I’d never walk on the ground again. Ugh, damn sea, damn raft, damn Kai!” I rambled, sprawling on the beach and rolling in the sand.

“Hey, it wasn’t that bad, was it?” Kai chuckled, guiding the raft up the shore.

“Shut it.” I said, glaring at him.

“For once, I agree with the shady hero, shut it Kai.” said Runir, trudging out of the water.

Amy glared at him too but didn’t say anything as she got off the raft.

Kai sighed. “Hey, I taught you how to swim, didn’t I? Imagine how embarrassing it would be if people found out that the Hero couldn’t swim?” He smirked at me.

I felt heat rising up my cheeks so I turned my face away.

I heard Kai chuckle. “Right, let’s get rid of this raft.”

“Wait!” I shouted, stopping Kai from putting it into his Storage.

He looked at me quizzically, but I strode past him without meeting his gaze. I walked up to the raft, took out my Sacred Sword and cut that fucking wooden board into pieces.

I turned around, feeling satisfied, and ignored Kai’s upturned eyebrow as I walked away from the beach.

–

“No way.” I said.

“Never.” said Amy.

“Not a chance.” Runir.

“Too late, I already promised to train you and I’ve only managed to teach you how to swim so far. We still have to go over my special training course.” Kai said.

“I don’t like the sound of that.” I mumbled.

This was bad. If that week kicking water out on the sea counted as ‘learning how to swim,’ then I was sure that this ‘special training course’ would be even shittier.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think you’ll need my help getting stronger physically. No, I’m just going to help you guys toughen up mentally.” said Kai, picking his way through the forest. “But for now, we need to find- oh here it is.”

“What the hell?” said Runir, his eyes widening.

“How can this-” I said, dumbfounded.

In front of us was a road. Not a paved stone path or a gravelly mud track, but a real asphalt road like back on Earth. But why would something like this be in a fantasy world like Erath?

“Now we just have to follow this to the Second Anchor City and then we can make our way up to the- What is it? Why did you stop?” Kai said, realizing that only Amy had followed him onto the road.

“This is a fucking road!” I said.

“Really? I thought it was a bunch of dead birds. They keep dropping out of the sky when they hear something dumb.” said Kai, dryly.

“No, I mean this shouldn’t be here.” I scowled at Kai.

“Why not?” he said. Even Amy was looking at us with a confused expression now.

“The books did say that the Demon Lords and Heroes brought knowledge from their own world but it never said anything about roads. But if they have roads…” muttered Runir.

“But why didn’t we see any in the other Kingdoms?” I asked.

“Oh, is that why you’re confused. These roads are expensive so only the Air Kingdom builds them, since they’re the only ones who actually need them.” answered Kai.

“Needs them? You don’t mean-”

As if to answer my question, there was a rumbling sound as a car rushed into sight. It had four wheels and a design just like that of cars back on Earth except that it didn’t seem to have an engine. Instead, the front only had a glass windshield over a metal frame.

I stared, frozen, as the car whizzed by me and I caught a glimpse of an old man sitting in the driver’s seat and a younger kid sitting in the back. But before I could make out any details, the car was gone.

“…they have cars.” I said, lamely.

“No, that was a giant beetle. It ate those people. We better go save them.” said Kai, pretending to hurry after them.

“Shut it.” I said, following him down the road.

–

We saw several more cars as we got closer to the city, and just like in modern countries, smaller towns and buildings began popping up along the road. Soon, large factories with tall chimneys appeared.

Is this really the same world…how can there be such a large difference in technology? I thought, as we neared a factory.

“Why is there no smoke coming out of the chimneys?” I asked.

“Why would there be smoke coming out of an air chimney?” Surprisingly, it was Amy who replied to my question this time.

“Air chimney? What do they do?” I asked.

“They let out the air created by the air used inside the factories.” she answered.

“They use air?” I asked, blinking my eyes.

“What else would they use?” she said, furrowing her brows.

I didn’t know what to say so I looked up at the chimneys. Sure enough, I could tell that air was blasting out of the chimney.

“Hey, we’re almost at the checkpoint, hurry up.” shouted Kai, who’d gotten ahead of us.

“Checkpoint?” I asked. This place had really messed up my impression of this world and I found myself asking stupid questions all the time.

“The cities here don’t have walls because they ended up outgrowing them. Instead, they have checkpoints on the roads to make sure you have your ID cards.” answered Amy.

“ID cards? You have ID cards in this world?” I asked yet another stupid question.

“The other Kingdoms use different documents but the Air Kingdom issues every citizen an ID card. You can’t enter any of the cities without it. At least not legally.”

“Oh.”

The checkpoint was simple enough. Spikes protruded from a barrier that ran across the road. A couple of uniformed guards stood to the side. Since no one was here right now, they were talking to each other while drinking something from the cups in their hands.

Even when they saw us, they kept talking and drinking, which was completely different from my experiences at the other cities. Why was everything so different here?

“…kicked out by a bunch of crazy fanatics.” said the brown haired guard, smiling at her colleague.

“What did you expect from a bunch of infidels like them. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the other kingdoms in the Union didn’t start praying to a masked freak by the end of the year.” said the black haired man man, smirking.

So the Fire Kingdom really did fall. Why didn’t the Goddess do something? This was her country wasn’t it? I thought, as we reached the guards.

The brown haired woman faced us and held out her hand. Kai put a small gray card in her hand and smiled at the black haired man.

The woman blinked her eyes. “S-sir! Please, go right ahead! Ah, are these your guests? No need to bother with formalities, if we can’t trust you sir, then this country is doomed anyways!” she said, saluting Kai.

The black haired man hurriedly saluted as well, clearly surprised by his colleague’s actions.

Kai smiled and walked past the checkpoint and the rest of us followed silently.

Was it bad that we’d gotten used to Kai’s tricks so easily? Maybe…

–

The city was smaller than I expected. Judging by the technological level of the Air Kingdom, I’d assumed their cities would be larger than those of the other kingdoms but the city we were in wasn’t even have as big as Ashpoole.

Still, it was definitely better developed. Asphalt roads with street signs, congested traffic, and paths for pedestrians. A planned city with clearly defined blocks and city limits.

I thought back to something Kai had said on the way here. “Why is it called the second anchor city? Are there more of them?”

“There are ten of them. Although you can’t call them cities, to be honest. You’ll find out why it’s called an anchor city tomorrow, but for now we need to look for a hotel to stay the night.” replied Kai.

“Hotel? Not an inn?” I said, nearly giving up on trying to understand this place.

“Yes. They used to be called inns a long time ago, but when one of the Demon Lords was summoned here, they made everyone call them hotels. To be fair, they also remodeled them completely so…” answered Kai, casually.

“Summoned here? But this isn’t the Dark Kingdom.” I said, frowning.

“Oh, I guess you didn’t know,” said Runir, stepping in between us as he looked through a window into a shop for magical weapons. “The Demon Lord can be summoned in any of the Northern kingdoms and the Hero can be summoned in any of the Southern ones. It’s just a coincidence that they were summoned in the Light and Dark Kingdoms this time.”

“Hey, this looks useful.” said Kai, walking into the store.

Excited at the prospect of getting another gift, we followed him inside.

It was a small shop with a few unlit candles fixed on the walls next to rows of weird weapons and trinkets. A short middle aged woman behind the counter, smiling warmly at us as we entered.

“Welcome to Mettie’s air tech shop, how can I help you?” she asked, standing up.

“Hi, could we get four of those please?” he said, pointing at something next to the window.

“Certainly.” She walked inside another room and returned with four boxes.

“Ma! Can I go out to play?” said a voice from inside the other room.

“Sure, sweetie. Just be back by dinner time.” said the woman as she put the boxes down on the counter.

“Yay! Thanks ma!” said a little brown haired boy as he rushed out of the room. He glanced at us for a bit before running out of the store and joining his friends outside.

Kai smiled. “Your son is very energetic.”

“A little too energetic, to be honest,” she said, shaking her head. “Will this be all then?”

“Yes, how much?” Kai asked.

“300 Tel,” she said, packing the boxes in a bag.

I was about to ‘pay’ her but Kai stopped me with his hand. I frowned, this was how we usually paid, why was he having second thoughts now?

“Here you go, ma’am.” he said, dropping a pouch full of coins on the counter and collecting the boxes in his storage.

The woman stared at the pouch for a while, before checking inside. Kai walked out of the store and we followed, somewhat confused.

“Wait! Little boy, this is too much!” she exclaimed.

“The Academy’s an expensive place, old lady.” he said, smirking as he left the store.

I looked back at the shocked store owner who was tightly holding onto the bag of coins. Her lips were quivering slightly as she watched us leave, and they parted just a little as she whispered something…

“Thank you…”

–

We bought four rooms at the most expensive looking hotel we could find, and this time Kai didn’t stop me from ‘paying’ like usual. We walked into Kai’s room where he laid down the boxes on his bed.

He opened them up and we stared.

“Guns?” said Runir, confused.

“Air guns. They funnel level one breeze spells and compress them before firing them. Just pour some mana into it and it’ll do the rest. Should be useful in a pinch, especially because I tweaked them a little.” said Kai, lifting one of the gray pistols.

That had me interested. “What did you do?”

“Nothing much, really. Just don’t lend them to someone else, it might get a little dangerous,” he said, smiling. “Right, grab the one with your name on it and let’s get going.”

“Where are we going?” asked Amy, picking up an air gun.

“Well, I think we’ve all earned a break. So, let’s go to the amusement park!” he flashed a childish grin before walking out of the room.

An amusement park? I thought, following him. Why do I feel like I was summoned to another world again?

–

“No way! I am not getting on that!”

“It’s too high!”

“I-I think I’ll look after the popcorn…”

“Stop whining, it’ll be fun.” said Kai, pointing up to the roller-coaster stretching into the sky.

“No!” I wailed as I was dragged onto the front seat. Amy and Runir tried to resist too, but Kai forced them to get on too.

Soon, we were crawling up to the clouds. I felt my heart beating wildly and threatening to jump out of my throat as we reached the top.

And then we fell and I screamed. In my defense, everyone screamed. This thing was just too fucking high.

We fell and climbed, twisted and turned, ran through fog and crashed through water. I held onto my seat as tightly as I could, closing my eyes at some of the crazier moments.

After what felt like forever, we finally stopped. I wobbled out of my seat and collapsed on the ground. I saw Kai walk out with a smile on his face and felt like punching him. But for some reason, Amy and Runir didn’t seem that shaken either. In fact, Runir was looking at me with a mocking smile.

If I could’ve moved my body, I would’ve kicked him already.

“Let’s go on the Ferris wheel now!” said Kai, pointing at the other ride that went up into the clouds.

Fuck no. I am not-Wait, Runir what are you-?

He lifted me up with a grin and carried me over. It could only fit two people per carriage, so I ended up sitting with him.

Damn it Runir! I’ll get you for this! I thought, as we slowly moved up.

It wasn’t as bad as the roller-coaster. In fact, I ended up enjoying it. I saw open plains and forests, and a couple of rivers too from up high. There were some cities and a lot of factories all over the place, with tiny dots rushing on the roads.

Runir saw that I wasn’t afraid of the ride and made a disappointed face. But then he shrugged and started admiring the scenery like I was.

“Hey, what’s that?” he asked, pointing behind me.

I turned around and saw a large transparent tube running out of the city. It went in a steep incline into the sky, vanishing from view.

“Don’t know. We should ask Kai.” I replied.

He nodded.

As the wheel brought us down again, I noticed a small figure darting around the tents below. I stared at it for a while before I realized what it was.

“Hey, do you see that Runir?” I asked, pointing towards the figure.

“Hmm? Probably just an escaped slave.” he said.

“Slave? I thought slavery was illegal on Erath?” I said, my eyes still following the ragged figures below.

“Oh, they’re not called slaves of course. Just bonded laborers. They’re made to sign a contract and stuff but they’re basically slaves.” he said.

“So what happens when they run away?” I asked.

“Nothing. They have tracking mechanisms on their collars so they can’t really run away. But if they’re caught, most of their contracts allow for severe abuse and even death as a punishment.” he answered, frowning as he noticed the people following behind the slave.

“Damn it.” I cursed, jumping off the Ferris wheel and landing on the ground. I ran as fast as I could towards the running figure as they darted into a tent. Several burly figures followed inside.

I’d caught a glimpse of the slaves face. She looked young, thin, and sickly but her eyes shined with a crazy glint. She really reminded me of someone.

Me.

I ran inside the tent and saw the girl being beaten up by burly figures wearing expensive looking suits. The girl was huddled into a ball, whimpering as she received the beating.

I grit my teeth. “Stop it, you fucking assholes!”

They stopped and looked at me, their fists and legs still raised.

“Oh, little miss don’t worry, it’s just a contract breaker. No need to get involved, we’re just enforcing the contract.” said a bald man who smiled at me with his perfect teeth.

I knocked a few of those out.

And then I cleaned up the rest of the trash. They weren’t strong, after all. The kind that would chase after a little girl and beat her usually weren’t.

Did it feel satisfying punching bastards like this? Did it remind me of all the times I’d been like that little girl, cowering under the fists of people bigger than me and trying to make myself as small a target as possible? Did it remind me of all the times I’d wanted to do what I was doing right now-punch them in the face?

Yeah, maybe it did.

“Stop it Lily!” shouted Runir as he appeared behind me and caught my hand.

That shook me from my frenzy. I looked around to see the well dressed thugs lying bloody and bruised on the ground, several of them with obviously broken limbs.

I might have gone a little too far…

“Grab the kid and let’s get out of here.” he said.

“Right.” I made my way over to the slave girl who had fallen unconscious and picked her up. Then I ran out of the tent, leaving behind a pile of broken bullies.

< Back | TOC | Next >

He didn’t know who he was or how he got there. In fact, he didn’t know much of anything.

What he did know, however, was that everything was white.

No shadows, no edges, just a world of whiteness in every direction.

He looked at himself, and noticed his arms, his legs and his body. He opened and closed his fists, and wiggled his toes. He was fascinated when his body moved as he willed it and his arms and legs did what he wanted them to. He realized that they were a part of him.

But was the whiteness a part of him too?

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t.

He couldn’t move it like he could his body, but he still felt a strange connection to the whiteness that he couldn’t quite explain.

His legs brushed the whiteness below and he felt the sensation tingle up his body. He moved his legs again, exploring this new sensation and the smooth, white ground beneath him.

He brought his legs together, realizing that he could feel himself. He lifted his hands and touched his cheeks and then he patted his head, felt his forehead and rubbed his chin. His skin felt softer than the whiteness, but less smooth. He touched his arms and felt his muscles twitch and flex as he moved them.

And then he placed a hand on his chest and felt something thumping, throbbing and pulsing inside him. The rhythmic beating felt relaxing, so he stayed like that for a while, letting his heartbeat comfort him.

But he was curious. If the whiteness beneath him felt hard and solid, what about the ‘world of whiteness’ around him?

He slowly reached out as if to touch the air, but his fingers hit something hard and smooth in front of him. He opened his palms and felt the solid whiteness in front of him. He slid his hands across the surface and, to his astonishment, found another solid wall emerging from the first.

He gingerly reached out to this new surface, and noted how similar it felt to the other wall and the ground. Soon, he was tracing the edges of the walls with his fingers and turning in circles as he explored the limits of the whiteness with both of his hands outstretched.

There were four walls around him, emerging from the edges of the surfaces above and below him. None of them were too far away, since he hadn’t needed to move from his original position at all, but he could still stand comfortably without hitting his head on the whiteness above.

Unlike his skin, the surfaces were smooth, unblemished and uniform. As far as he could tell, they were exactly the same size and shape.

They enclosed him, trapped him in a perfectly white world that he might never be able to leave.

But then again, he didn’t even know what was outside the walls. In fact, he didn’t even know if there was something outside the world of whiteness.

Were there others like him outside?

Did their skin feel like his, or did it feel smooth like the surface of the walls?

Could they move their body when they wanted to, like he could?

Did something thump inside their chests too?

Did they ask questions like he did?

Did they live in a world of whiteness, like he did? And if they did…did they want to get out…or were they scared of what was outside, like he was?

But did any of this matter? No, of course not. As far as he could tell, there was no one else in this white world and there was no way to get out.

His finger tapped lightly again the surface it was trailing against, sending a soft sound echoing around the walls.

He was startled. What was this new sensation that went into his head seemingly out of nowhere? Where had it come from?

He tapped the wall again, heard the sound reverberating around him again.

It enraptured him, this new sense, because it made the world seem even bigger than before. Now he could see, touch, and hear. He relished his senses because they were the only things that gave meaning to the world of whiteness around him.

But…what was the point of being able to see, touch, and hear, if all you could sense were empty white walls? Was this the extent of what he could feel? Was this all there was to his senses? The senses that were his only joy in this world of whiteness…was this all they could do?

Wait, he couldn’t see nor touch what was outside the walls, but maybe he could hear them? He pressed his ear against the wall and listened with all his might.

Soon, he could make out a light tapping noise in the distance.

He was excited! Not only could he sense the world outside, but if that tapping noise was being made by others like him, maybe they could help him get out.

He resolved himself and started tapping on the walls, hitting them harder and harder until he suddenly realized that the other tapping noise had vanished.

Confused, he pressed his ear to the wall, and tried to find the sound again. He tapped the walls, hoping it would hear him and maybe start tapping again.

He strained his ears and tapped the walls, focusing entirely on the sounds he could and could not hear.

And then there was a loud bang that made him jump in fright and hit his head on the wall above.

And then there was another from behind him.

And then one from his right.

And then one from his left.

Then one from above.

And one from below.

The loud bangs were coming from all around him, flooding his ears with sounds and making the white walls shake in a frenzy.

This was too much…it was too much for him to bear!

He had to stop it…stop them from banging the walls…but how? How could he make them stop?

They were hitting the walls all around him now, and one particularly powerful hit made the walls lurch forward and crash into him.

Suddenly, there was silence. No more loud bangs and thumps, just him and his empty white world.

Then, there was a tapping sound on the walls again, but this time he was ready. He wouldn’t let them start banging the walls again. No, this time, he would hit them himself!

So he smacked the walls with his hands and ferociously beat them. He kept hitting them and hitting them, daring the things outside from banging the walls again.

But they didn’t. Even when he stopped, they didn’t.

He sat down on the white ground and stared at the walls. He was all alone in his quiet, empty white world.

Sometimes there would be a tap on his walls again but he just had to start hitting it again to make it stop.

Soon enough, there weren’t any taps anymore. He was well and truly, all alone.

Was he happy that no one was bothering him again? Or sad that he never got to see the world outside.

But then again, did he really need to see the outside world? Wouldn’t it be full of things making loud noises or disturbing him in other ways?

But…maybe there were other senses that he didn’t know about. Maybe there were other things in the world that he could enjoy as much as his senses, if not more.

Maybe…those loud noises weren’t so bad?

After a long time, there was a gentle knock on the walls. Then there was another from behind him. And another from the side.

They were gentle taps that didn’t hurt his ears or pound his head with vibrations. They didn’t shake the walls, but for some reason, they were the clearest sounds he’d ever heard.

He waited in silence, the taps stopping as well, as if awaiting his decision.

He thought of the world that could be outside the whiteness, the world that he wasn’t sure even existed. The world that could be full of the loud sounds and bangs that had hurt him before.

But it was also the world where he could use his senses more and maybe even discover more of them. It was where he could, perhaps, find something even more enjoyable.

And well, at least it wouldn’t be as boring as this silent, empty, white world.

He reached out a hand and tapped the walls gently. Soon, there was another light tap in the same place but from outside.

And another. And another.

The taps echoed around the empty white world, filling it with colors and sound. The walls fell back and vanished as he stepped outside into a world he had never known.

But he wasn’t frightened anymore, because he didn’t have to hide behind his walls and scare away the loud noises. He could always just…stick with his friends.

I lay on my back, closing my eyes as I drifted on the sea. The waves lapped gently over my body, pushing me further and further away from the shore.

But I didn’t mind. In fact, it was strangely relaxing. As if, for a few moments, I could forget everything that ate away at my mind and soul and let the world take me where it wanted to.

I’d yearned for power on Earth and cursed my inability to protect my parents and my life’s work. But ironically, now that I had the power I’d yearned for so desperately, I found myself longing for the exact opposite.

Now that I could control my own destiny, I wished for uncertainty and doubt. Now that I possessed unimaginable strength, I desired vulnerability. Now that I could fix everything with a thought, I thirsted for a challenge.

And now that I knew what I had learned on the Hill, the thing that I craved for the most was ignorance.

I let the waves carry me for a little longer, but I knew I couldn’t stay there, not when the others were flailing about in the water.

The Hero, the Demon Lord and a Goddess; some of the most powerful people in this world but none of them know how to swim. Kinda sad isn’t it? I sighed.

Right, time for lifeguard duties.<re:write.self.equip=raft>

A sturdy, wooden raft appeared below me, lifting me out of the water. It had a small white sail that flew uselessly in the gentle sea breeze but I wasn’t planning on using it anyway.

I had already found them through a combination of Map and a new favorite called ‘Locate.’ I could have picked them up one by one or teleported them all straight to the raft but I didn’t want them to know the extent of my power just yet.

So I rewrote the ocean.

Waves surged and pushed them towards the raft while also keeping them afloat. I pretended to maneuver the raft towards them as they drew nearer. Soon, I pulled out a coughing Amy and a choking Runir and let them rest on the raft. I found Lily splashing around violently and had to shout for her to calm down before rescuing her.

She coughed out water and lay down on the raft like the others. For a long time, none of us said anything. But I was certain that we had different reasons for our silence.

“Do you think he’ll follow us here?” asked Lily, breaking the silence.

“I don’t think so. I doubt he knows where we are but I get the feeling that he wouldn’t care to follow us even if he did.” I replied.

I could feel the tension in the air dissolve as the realization hit them-they were safe.

I suppose it was a new experience for all of them, in a way.

The unbeatable Goddess had been beaten. The genius tactician outmaneuvered. And the tenacious thief subdued.

They’d survived by the skin of their teeth but they knew that their enemy hadn’t fought them seriously. In fact, that indifference made them feel even worse about their powerlessness, because it made them feel like they weren’t even worth the trouble of killing.

“The girl. I saw her fall off the cliff. Where is she?” asked Amy.

I sighed. “She’s pretty tough, she’ll be fine.”

“But-”

“She’ll be fine.”

She still looked unconvinced, but dropped the matter for now. She stepped back to lean on the sail which was fluttering uselessly in the gentle sea breeze.

“What is he? Some sort of God or phantom? I don’t remember him at all.” asked Runir, sitting up.

“Remember from where?” I asked.

“Books. I’ve read a lot of books since I came to Erath but none of them mention someone like that.” he said, quickly. “So what is he?”

“I don’t know. But whatever he is, we can’t hope to beat him. At least not yet.”

No one spoke for a while, silently mulling over the disheartening truth.

“How did you manage to hit him? Everything I tried went straight through him.” asked Lily.

“Secret.” I said, winking.

“Kai. This is not a joke. That guy blew up a shrine! A Goddess’ shrine. He took over Ashpoole and I’m sure Beigo can’t resist him for long either. The Fire Kingdom is…” said Amy, her words trailing off.

“Kai, this is serious. I know you don’t like talking about your Ability but we need to know how to beat him and for that, we need to know why you can hit him.” said Runir.

“Alright, but even if I tell you how to hit him, do you think you can hit him hard enough?” I said.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Do you want me to spell it out for you? You’re weak. Too weak. There’s no point in telling you how to fight him if you can’t even scratch him.”

“Hey, you didn’t do so well yourself, you know?” Runir retorted, grimacing.

“Be that as it may, you have no chance against him. None of you do.”

Lily frowned. “You can’t know that. If Amy used that spell she used in the end, but you know, managed to hit him, we might be able to-”

“No,” said Amy, her voice barely audible. “It won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“We can’t fight him. No one can. He’s Fate.” she whispered, dejectedly.

“Fate? Damn it, why does everyone in this world keep saying that? You decide your own fate, not the other way around. Your decisions, your choices, they make you who you are, not Fate or whatever.” said Runir.

“If that is the sort of world you come from, then I must admit that I envy your people. But here on Erath, our destiny is tied to what we’re born with. Fate decides who we are and what we can do,” she continued.

Runir grit his teeth and was about to reply but I stopped him.

“That’s not important right now. Regardless of whether you can resist Fate, one fact remains indisputable- you guys are far too weak.”

Runir glared at me. “Well, that’s kind of your fault, isn’t it?”

“My fault?” I asked, frowning.

“Yeah, I haven’t leveled up once since I met you and I’m sure Lily and Amy haven’t either. And now that we can’t go to the shrine to get the Fire Goddess’ blessing, Lily isn’t going to get a convenient Hero boost either.”

“And what do you want me to do about it?”

“Stop scaring away the monsters.”

I stared at him, disappointed.

He knew why I didn’t want to kill monsters. He’d seen the Ashfiend, he’d heard Vandrake’s reluctance to attack. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Even Amy and Lily looked uneasy, but since they didn’t outright reject it, it meant that they were considering it.

The thought made me sick.

“If someone is born evil, does that make them evil or unfortunate? If someone is born good, do their actions merit praise or is that just a matter of course? These monsters kill because they have to. They are monsters by nature. But if you do this, you will be monsters by choice.” I said, coldly.

We stared at each other for a while. No one spoke, letting the sound of the sea fill the silence.

“Fine,” Runir muttered, breaking his gaze.

“But then what do we do?” asked Lily.

“Well, we may not be able to go to the Fire Goddess’ shrine, but the Air Kingdom is just on the other side of the sea.” I replied.

“But the Air Kingdom is a part of the Dusk Alliance. Taking the Hero there would be dangerous.” said Amy.

“I agree, it would be very risky,” said Runir.

“Of course it will, but-”

“Let’s do it.”

I turned towards Lily.

“I admit, you will be the one in the most danger so you should get to decide but don’t make this decision lightly. Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked.

She nodded. “I can tell, you know. You punched him, Amy nuked him and Runir tried to make a plan. You guys fought him with everything you had but all I did was stare like a fucking doll. Despite all that crap about being the Hero, I’m just a burden right now. I need to get stronger.”

I smiled. “Great! Since you’re so determined, we should make the most of our journey and train along the way.”

“Training? It takes forever to level up with training. It’s not worth the effort.” said Runir, dismissively.

“True. Normal training can only take you so far, but, what I have in mind isn’t normal.” I smiled.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” muttered Lily.

“You should join in too, Runir. You could use the workout.” I said, ignoring Lily.

“Er, no thanks. I’m good.” said Runir, taking a step back.

“You sure?” I sighed and shook my head. “Oh well, your loss. Here you go Lily.” I tossed her a pouch.

Runir’s eyes followed it into Lily’s hands.

“Hey, Kai…is that a-” he began.

“Thanks Kai! It’s beautiful!” she said, flashing the ring on her finger.

“Um-”

“Glad you liked it.” I smiled at her.

“Kai…”

“Yes Runir?”

“Where’s my ring?”

“I’m only giving it to her because she’ll need it for the training.” I explained, forcing myself to wear a straight face.

“Does that mean you’ll take it back after we’re done?” asked Lily, hiding her hands behind her back.

“No, you can keep it.” I said.

Lily smiled happily while Runir stared at the ring. She noticed his stare and smirked at him.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” he sighed.

“Glad you came around,” I smiled, tossing him a ring.

He put it on and admired it with a grin.

“Now then, get in the water.”

“What?” asked Lily.

“No way.” said Runir.

“You agreed to the training, didn’t you? Now do as I say or I’ll take back those rings.” I said.

“But I don’t know how to swim.”

“Me neither.”

“It’s okay, the rings will keep you afloat. Now get in.” I said, pushing them into the water.

They screamed and flailed about for several minutes and tried to climb back onto the raft. Of course, I mercilessly pushed them back in every time. Eventually, they gave up and held onto the sides of the raft, coughing out water and gasping for breath.

“Alright, first things first, you need to learn how to swim. Hold onto the raft and start kicking with your feet.”

They hesitated for a while before giving up and kicking the water leisurely. I scolded them and made them kick harder while telling them to keep their back straight. Soon, the raft was moving along at a reasonable pace.

“Hey…Kai…” said Lily, panting.

“Yes?” I said, reclining on my beach chair.

“How…much…longer….do…we…have…to…do…this?”

“Until we reach the Northern continent.” I replied, sipping my lemonade.

“That’s….bullshit!”

“Stop complaining and kick harder. Look at Runir, he’s giving it his all. Try to learn from him.”

“Fuck…you….Kai….” Runir groaned.

I chuckled and looked out towards the sea. I’d made sure that we were traveling in the right direction and estimated that we’d reach the Northern continent in a week or so, which was more than enough time to train them to a decent level.

I looked over at Amy, who was sitting on the raft with her head between her knees. I’d offered her a chair but she didn’t respond, which made me feel concerned.

“Hey Amy.”

She didn’t respond, but I knew she’d heard me.

“Just because you couldn’t beat him this time, doesn’t mean that it’s hopeless.”

She still didn’t respond.

“You just have to get stronger.”

She stirred but didn’t say anything.

“It doesn’t matter how strong you are, you can always get stronger. That, I can promise you. So why don’t you start training too?”

“…okay.” she said, lifting her head and taking a deep breath.

“Great! Here you go,” I tossed her a ring, “start kicking.”

–

The moon was shining in the dark night sky, drawing silvery lines on the calm waters below. Lily lay curled up in a sleeping bag, muttering in her sleep, and I was sure I knew what she was saying.

Amy was sitting with her back to the sail, pretending to be asleep. Her legs kept twitching for some reason. I mean, all she’d done was kick for a few hours, shouldn’t a Goddess have more endurance than that?

Runir was sitting on the edge of the raft, his feet dangling in the water as he looked out to the sea. His eyes were unfocused, reflecting the silver moonlight dancing on the waves below. Even though he’d just spent the whole day kicking the water, he didn’t look tired at all. In fact, he looked sad and melancholic.

It wasn’t surprising really; Lily was never shy about her emotions and Amy didn’t have enough experience with them to hide them, but Runir always bottled his feelings up-never letting anyone see what was inside his heart.

I walked over and sat beside him. He flinched but didn’t say anything, and neither did I. We sat there on the edge of the raft, gazing at the moonlit sea and enjoying the cool seawater washing over our legs.

“Admiring nature is one of my hobbies.” I said, breaking the silence.

Runir grunted, and gently stirred the water with his legs.

“Hey…” I said, splashing some water on him.

He frowned in annoyance and glared at me. “What now?”

“Wanna hear a story?” I continued, meeting his gaze.

“Oh, is it my turn to cry then?” he sneered.

I heard Amy shuffle closer but Lily’s colorful sleep-talk continued undisturbed.

“Nah, this one won’t make you cry. This time, it’ll make you think.”