'You're doing well.'
'Thanks… Hero!' The boy shouted back.
I guided him through another exchange, correcting his swing angle and foot position. That was when the spectators decided to start running their mouths.
'That boy has no idea what a wuss his idol is.' The old geezer laughed.
'If it were me, he'd be slaying dragons by now,' Chad Prince said, taking another sip of his booze.
'Ha. As if you can teach anyone,' the old geezer said. 'You'd spend the whole lesson bragging about yourself.'
Chad Prince raised an eyebrow with a smirk.
'Are you any better, old man? Just look at your son.'
The old geezer wilted on the spot.
'Even I don't know why he's so talentless in magic.' He shook his head with a sigh.
I ignored the two of them and gave the boy a pat on the shoulder.
'Good job.'
'Huff… thanks.'
He beamed at small praises. I did not know whether that said more about him or the world that had made him grateful for scraps.
He pulled out a water bottle from what he kept calling his 'system inventory.'
*Chug. Chug.*
'Ahh… I feel alive again,' he lowered the bottle and looked at me. 'Why are you looking at me like that, Hero?'
'Your…'
'System,' he said for me.
'Yeah, system.' I pointed at the bottle. 'Can it really hold all that stuff?'
'Yeah, Hero.' He brightened immediately and began pulling out item after item. 'It does more than just store equipment too.'
'There's this currency you can earn, and you can use it in the system store.'
'Interesting….' I stroked my chin.
Then the priest walked over and draped an arm around my shoulder.
'What are you two idiots talking about?'
'His powers,' I said.
'What, that…'
'System,' the young boy said again.
'Right. That.' The priest patted my back. 'Still sounds made up.'
'So why are you here?' I asked.
'Let me think…' He tapped his chin. 'Ah right. The horses are ready.'
'Got it.' I nodded. 'Tell the others we'll be departing shortly.'
The priest nodded and headed off.
The young boy and I packed our things, but it was mainly him tossing everything into his system inventory.
I didn't remember much about how he'd joined us. Only that I had accepted him because he was the last survivor of a village we found and he reminded me of myself.
By the time we reached the horses, the rest of the party was already waiting.
'Is everyone ready?' I asked.
They all nodded and mounted up.
'Here, let me help you.'
I lifted the boy onto the saddle. He sat in the front while I climbed up behind him.
'Okay. Hold the reins like this.'
I demonstrated.
'Okay.'
He copied me, holding them both in his hands.
'Good.'
I guided him as we rode. He fumbled once or twice, causing our horse to run off, but he learned fast. He had a talent for riding.
The horses galloped across the grassy plains beneath a sky thick with clouds.
At least the weather was on our side. Maybe the gods were smiling upon us today.
'We're almost there, Hero.' The thief called from ahead.
A village came into view, if a place that empty could still be called one.
The grass had begun to wither, and the houses looked as though they hadn't been maintained in years. Everywhere I looked, things were sagging, peeling, or falling apart.
A forsaken village, abandoned by its own kingdom.
'This town reeks of rotten flesh,' the priest muttered, covering his nose.
We rode down the dirt road in silence.
The villagers stared at us as we passed, too worn down to hope and too empty to fear. Just dull, hollow eyes.
'Stables are up ahead,' the thief said.
We dismounted and led the horses the rest of the way. Before we reached them, a man stumbled toward us. He looked like a man who had not slept in days and no longer believed rest would save him anyway.
'Welcome, travellers. You must be the Hero party.' He tried his best to smile, but the exhaustion in his eyes crushed it before it could form.
'Yes, we are.' I stepped forward. 'We came to investigate the mysteries surrounding your village.'
The man dropped to his knees and bowed over and over.
'Thank you. Thank—'
'Please, get up. There's no need for that,' I said quickly.
He looked up, eyes wet.
'But… this is only—'
'We're just doing what we have to do.' I took his hands and helped him to his feet. 'To save this world, one step at a time.'
That was all it took.
His face crumpled, and he started crying. I stayed there, patting his back until he calmed down.
After a while, he called someone over.
'Leave your horses with him. Bryan will make sure they're properly cared for.'
'Thanks.'
Once the horses were handed off to the stablemaster, he led us toward the cemetery.
'Our local magician said there was some kind of curse here.'
The old geezer stroked his beard.
'To think a competent magician would live out here. How far has the world fallen.'
'Then lead the way, old man,' Chad Prince said.
'Don't tell me what to do, you long-eared narcissist.' The old geezer scoffed and moved ahead.
The closer we got, the brighter the gem in his staff began to glow. Eventually, we stopped in front of a tombstone.
'Are you alright, Hero? Your eyes are a bit red?' The priest asked.
'Yeah. Just got some dust in my eyes.'
For a moment, the tombstone dragged me back to my mother's grave.
'The curse is here,' the old geezer said.
'So… do we dig it up, old man?' Chad Prince asked.
It felt wrong to dig up the dead. If someone had done that to my mother's grave, I'm not sure I would have left them breathing.
'What do you think, elf?' The thief said. 'Kid, pass me a shovel.'
'Ahh.'
The boy pulled out a shovel and handed it to him.
I clenched my fists as the others dug. Every strike of the shovel felt like an insult, and still, I let it continue.
*Tap. Tap.*
'Yes?'
The boy looked up at me uneasily.
'I have a bad feeling about this, Hero.'
I turned toward the old geezer.
'Old geezer.'
He gave a small nod and closed his eyes. For a moment, the cemetery went still.
Then his eyes snapped open.
'To think I would overlook this. I must have gone senile.'
'You went senile a long time ago, old man.'
Just as they were about to have a little showdown, I interrupted.
'Guys, let's get back to the task at hand.'
They gave each other one last glance before scoffing at each other.
'So what kind of trap?' The thief asked. 'Because traps are my specialty.'
'Quite a high-tier spell.' The old geezer smiled. 'Well hidden too. Enough that even I nearly missed it.'
The old geezer analysed the spell.
'It's a teleportation spell, but one designed to split us apart.'
I blinked.
'Isn't teleportation only mid-tier magic?'
The old geezer smacked me on the head with his staff.
'Ow!'
'And that's why you're still an amateur.' He pointed at the grave. 'The complexity isn't in the effect. It's in the structure. Whoever cast this built in an activation condition and disguised the whole thing as a curse.'
'So what do we do?' I asked.
'Simple. I undo it.'
A magic circle unfolded in the old geezer's hand. Fine red threads shot from it and sank into the grave.
*Click. Click.*
He rotated layer after layer of the spell, each one locking into place with a sharp metallic sound. Then the ground beneath us began to glow red.
The old geezer's expression changed instantly.
'Everyone, run!' He shouted. 'The trigger was someone trying to dispel it!'
We spun and bolted, but we were already too late.
*Whoosh.*
'Guys?'
I looked around, but there was no one here. Just sand in every direction, all the way to the horizon.
I slowly pushed myself upright.
'A desert?'
But then…
*Swoosh*
An arrow sliced past my cheek. A thin line of blood ran down my face.
'My accuracy is improving, isn't it, Hero?'
A man stood there in noble garments of gold. His long hair fell to his waist, and he met my gaze with a smile.
'What are you doing here, Prince?'
The man before me was the second prince of the Kingdom of Naldea.
'What a cruel question.' He placed a hand over his chest. 'Must I have a reason to see you?'
He took a step forward.
'Though if you insist… I missed you, Hero.'
I quickly drew my sword.
'Don't move any closer. Don't think I don't know what you're playing, Prince.'
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he laughed. Just a soft, delighted sound.
'Ahh… there it is.' He closed his eyes for a moment, savouring it. 'That look. That voice. You only ever show me your sharpest self when you're angry.'
My grip tightened.
'You hate me because I chose the boy over you.'
His eyes opened again. Still smiling.
*Clap. Clap.*
'Magnificent.' He applauded slowly. 'Not only strong, but perceptive too. No wonder the world insists on calling you its Hero.'
He began to circle, slow and unhurried, his footsteps barely sinking into the sand.
'So tell me… why him?'
'…'
I continued to stare at him, watching for whatever stunt he would pull.
'Was it because he seemed fragile? Because he needed saving? You always did have a weakness for the wounded.'
Then he glanced at me from the corner of his eye.
'Or was it me? My station? My age? My personality?' His smile sharpened. 'Did I simply love you too honestly?'
'Watch your mouth.' I pointed the sword at him, my tone sharper than it should be.
'Mm.' He looked pleased. 'There it is again.'
He turned to face me fully.
'No matter how I reached for you, you never chose me.' His voice remained gentle. 'Even after everything I offered. Even after I lowered myself, pleaded in ways no prince ever should… you still looked past me. And for whom?'
His gaze turned cold. 'A boy.'
I had rejected him because I had seen what lay beneath the charm. He did not want companions. He wanted things to obey.
'Ah. What was it he had again?' He tapped his chin. 'That little blessing you found so precious.'
He leaned forward slightly.
'Come now. Say it.'
My jaw clenched.
'Right.' His eyes glittered. 'A system.'
'How do you know?!' The words tore out of me before I could stop them.
'How?' He sounded genuinely amused. 'Hero, you wound me.'
He hugged himself as though wounded.
'All I did was ask,' he said, wiping fake tears in his eyes. 'He was lonely. Frightened. Eager to be understood. People are so desperate to be seen. If you offer them warmth, they hand you the knife themselves.'
I felt my stomach twist. The boy had said 'system' to him with that same eager trust he had used with me.
'You—'
'No, no.' He waved his finger. 'Do not look at me like that. I did not force him.'
He smiled.
'I merely gave him what you failed to.'
I exploded forward. Sand burst beneath my feet as I closed the distance in an instant, my blade flashing for his neck.
'So impatient.'
He stomped his foot. Chains burst out of the sand, moving toward me.
Shadow step!
I took three steps and vanished before reappearing behind him. My sword ignited in flames as I swung.
*BOING!*
A translucent barrier rippled into existence and deflected the strike.
I thrust out my hand.
Fireball!
The explosion hurled me backward across the sand. I landed, slid, then forced myself upright.
Something was wrong. The Prince had never been this strong, not outside his fantasies.
I began scanning the horizon. No landmarks. No exits. Just endless sand.
'What are you looking for, Hero?' He asked softly.
I looked at the sky, then at the world around us and I finally understood where I was.
'How did you… manifest your inner world?'
His expression brightened like a child being praised.
'At last. You noticed.'
His smile widened with boyish delight.
The sky darkened. The sun blinked out and in its place, a giant eyeball opened above us. It stared down from the heavens without blinking.
'In this world…' the Prince said, his voice echoing across the desert, 'I am authority.'
The sand trembled. The ground shook harder, hard enough to throw off my footing.
*Geuk. Geuk.*
Massive sandworms burst from below.
They rose like pillars of living flesh, towering so high they seemed to pierce the sky itself. Their mouths split open, revealing rings upon rings of jagged teeth spiralling inward into darkness.
But they did not attack.
They waited. Swaying. Listening.
The prince smiled up at them.
'Obey.'
Golden chains shot into the air and wrapped around one of the worms.
*Screeeech!*
It thrashed violently, but the more it struggled, the tighter the chains dug into its flesh.
'Kneel.'
The chains yanked downward. The enormous creature crashed into the sand.
The Prince walked toward it at an easy pace, almost leisurely, as though approaching a pet.
Then he leapt onto its head.
'Do you understand yet?' He asked, looking down at me with a smile. 'This is what separates you from me.'
He raised one foot.
'You inspire loyalty.'
He brought it down. A burst of light exploded outward and the worm shrieked.
'I command obedience.'
He stomped again, and again, and again.
Each strike drove the creature deeper into submission.
'Good.'
The worm slowly lifted him into the air. From atop its head, he gazed down at me like a king upon his throne.
'Come, Hero,' he called, arms spread wide. 'Show me again.'
The other sandworms turned toward me. The desert churned beneath their massive bodies as they began to move.
His smile widened, almost trembling with anticipation.
'Show me that I was right to choose you.'