The smell hit me before I saw her.
Blood. Sweat. The acrid stink of burned monster hide. I was crouched beside a jagged dune, knuckles raw from clawing through sand and half-rotted stone for the last hour—looking for survivors or loot. Whichever came first.
Then I heard it.
Crunch.
Slow, dragging bootsteps.
Armor that didn't fit quite right. Someone injured, but not weak.
I stood.
She crested the hill like a sandstorm in the shape of a woman. Armor pieced together from scrap iron, beast bone, and sheer hatred. A round shield slung over one shoulder. Scars webbed her forearms like a battlefield had tried to write poetry on her skin. Her hair was a sun-bleached mess tied back with sinew, and her eyes those eyes were different. One gray, hard and human. The other? A prosthetic lens glowing faintly blue, turning slightly as if alive.
Her shield wasn't decorative. It was a battered, circular slab of metal streaked with soot and dried gore its edges reinforced with monster fang, crudely riveted into place. Dozens of nicks and scorch marks told stories I didn't want to ask about. In the center was a jagged, fist-sized dent that looked like it had taken a dragon's bite and told it to try harder.
That hammer Gods, I saw it up close as I choked on dirt. It wasn't elegant. It was punishment in physical form. The head was a jagged wedge of volcanic glass, cracked down the middle and leaking faint red heat. The handle looked like it had been ripped from the spine of some long-dead beast, etched with sigils I couldn't read.
She saw me.
Then she froze.
Or rather… her gaze locked just above my head.
Right where no one should be able to see anything.
[QUEST ALERT – PRIMARY HERO OBJECTIVE DETECTED]
["RESTORE BALANCE TO MIRA'SHA – LOCATE AND REVIVE THE DYING WARDEN"]
[REWARD: +400 HERO POINTS | SYSTEM SYNERGY UNLOCK]
I stared at the text only I was supposed to see—except her eyes tracked it.
Exactly.
Her prosthetic lens zoomed slightly. Refocused. Confirmed.
Then she moved.
Faster than a lunging beast, she slammed her round shield into my ribs, knocking me flat. A shadow loomed warhammer raised high, forged from obsidian scrap and monster bone.
I didn't even get a breath.
[⚠️ SYSTEM OVERRIDE – LETHAL INTENT DETECTED]
Then it happened.
A glowing field of System text shimmered into visibility above my head—bright, iridescent, impossible to ignore:
[⚠️ SYSTEM VERIFICATION – CAIN DELACROIX IS A REGISTERED HERO ⚠️]
[ALIGNMENT: PARADOX HERO – UNWILLING]
[MORAL STABILITY: 49%]
[CURRENT STATUS: ACTIVE QUEST – "SAVE THE DYING WARDEN"]
[RECOMMENDATION: OBSERVE. DO NOT EXECUTE.]
She stopped.
Warhammer trembling mid-air.
Gray eye narrowed. The prosthetic lens spun once, then dimmed slightly.
"You're a Hero?" she said. It wasn't a question. It was a verdict trying to decide if I deserved to breathe.
"I mean… depends how you define it."
Her weapon didn't lower. "You have System tags. Visible objectives. The only people who get that are marked."
"Right. You're not supposed to be able to see that, by the way."
She ignored me. Stepped back barely.
"You're conflicted," she muttered, reading more lines as they hovered midair. "Morality at forty-nine percent. That's barely a coin toss."
I coughed, still winded. "Glad you're literate."
She didn't smile.
Instead, she turned away, disappearing over the ridge without another word. I could've run. Should've, maybe. But instead, I followed. Curiosity or suicidal instinct—dragged me.
Over the ridge was a broken cart. Slumped in it was an old man—skin like paper, eyes rolled back, chest rattling with each breath.
He was dying.
She was kneeling beside him, one hand gripping his shoulder like it was the only anchor keeping him from drifting away.
"Your father?" I asked.
She didn't answer.
Then she looked at me again. The lens in her eye glowed faintly. It searched me—through and through. It read things I didn't even know were part of me.
"If you're a Hero," she said slowly, "then heal him. Or get out of my sight."
"What's in it for me?"
Her eye narrowed.
[HEROIC DIALOGUE OPTION AVAILABLE: "I'll do it anyway."]
[REWARD: +400 Hero Points, Reputation Increase, Potential Party Member]
I sighed, but before i could speak she spoke in a cold deep voice deeper than my own.
"If you don't heal him your blood will path the sand."
[+400 HERO POINTS – LIFE RESTORED (ACT OF COMPASSION)]
[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: "Touch of Reversal (Lv.1)"]
[DESCRIPTION: Briefly restores a dying target to sustainable condition. One use per day.]
I knelt beside him. My fingers touched his chest thin, brittle bones under rough cloth. The System thrummed through my arm.
Light bloomed.
Subtle. Warm. Steady.
He sucked in air like a drowning man breaching the surface. His chest lifted. His color returned in slow, ghostlike waves. He blinked once, twice and found her face.
Still, she didn't cry.
Didn't smile.
But her shoulders dropped half an inch. A breath slipped out—quiet and ragged, like something unclenched deep inside.
She stood. Eyes on me again.
"I don't believe in gods," she said flatly. "Or Systems. Or fated heroes."
"Neither do I," I replied.
That earned a flicker of something across her face. Not approval. Not warmth. Just... recognition.
"But," she continued, "I believe in results. You brought back the only person I care about. So I'll give you this my shield."
[NEW PARTY MEMBER ACQUIRED: LIZ – MONSTER HUNTER / SHIELDMAIDEN]
[PROSTHETIC EYE MODULE: "EYE OF THE VEIL" – DETECTS UNSEEN OBJECTS [CLASS SYNERGY: MID-RANGE DEFENSE / AGGRO CONTROL]
[NOTE: TRUST REMAINS LOW. ACTIONS WILL DETERMINE LOYALTY.]
"Don't mistake this for faith," she added. "I'm not here to worship. I'm here to make sure he lives."
"Fair," I muttered. "Just try not to cave my skull in next time."
"You're lucky the System saved you."
"I'm starting to think that's debatable."
She didn't smile. Not really. But I saw the tension shift in her jaw. Her hammer was holstered again. Her back, straight. Her presence, no less terrifying.
And somehow, she walked beside me now instead of through me.
[CURRENT HERO POINTS: 1,090]
[GLOBAL HERO RANK: #762]
[NEW ACHIEVEMENT: "MADE A FRIEND WITHOUT BEING NICE"]
[+25 BONUS – MORAL COMPLEXITY APPRECIATED BY VIEWERS]
[DIMENSIONAL VIEWERS: 47,920]
[SYSTEM NOTE: GOOD JOB, CAIN! KEEP ACCIDENTALLY WINNING PEOPLE OVER! :D]
I flipped off the sky.
[LANGUAGE PENALTY: -5 POINTS]
Totally worth it.