Part 1: Three Days Before
The air in the Blightwood tasted of rot and iron.
Kaelen moved in a low crouch behind Arin, his new sword a dead weight in his sweaty grip.
This was his first real mission with Cadre Seven.
"Stay close. Stay quiet," their unit leader, Captain Varen, had ordered.
The objective was simple to confirm if the Blightwood was cleared.
As lesser creatures scattered, a noble knight Arin charged ahead with easy grace. They feel with sickening thud.
Jax followed him, a smirk on his face. "This is too easy," he said to Arin.
"Yeah," Arin replied, his voice flat. "There was no need to call in our whole unit for this especially the The Null Accord."
A low, clicking growl echoed from the forest's deep gloom. Jax walked forward into the mist.
"Waiting around is for commoners," he said, glancing back at Kaelen.
They walked deeper in.
"Ugh, the scent of blood," Arin said, shielding his nose.
Kaelen's senses screamed. A massive form shifted in the shadows. Two red, predatory eyes ignited in the dark.
"Everyone, get down!" Kaelen roared, shoving Arin to the ground.
"Why would I listen to a commoner like—" Jax roared at Kaelen.
The Blightfiend charged. It was twice a man's height, its maw a canyon lined with razor-sharp teeth. It struck Jax before he could move, shearing through the young man's upper torso.
Jax froze, his scream dying in his throat.
The others lunged. The Blightfiend showed no mercy. Their screams echoed.
"Kyaaaaa"
Varen moved with extraordinary speed, closing the distance in a blink.
A flash of a limb, sharp as a master's blade, cut across the Captain's face before he could react. He staggered back with a shout, blood sheeting down his cheek. One eye went dark, swallowed by pain.
The Blightfiend didn't dodge. It retaliated. Another bladed limb swept out in a brutal counter-strike.
It cleaved through the Captain's raised forearm.
Varen's sword, still gripped in his severed hand, flew through the air and thudded into the earth. The Captain staggered back, a choked grunt escaping him as his stump sprayed a horrific arc of red across the ground.
But he had created an opening.
Finn didn't stop to pull his spear back. The shaft rotated in his hands, the blade tracing tight, lethal arcs. One cut skimmed the creature's flank. Another snapped upward. A third drove straight into the opening.
Each motion fed the next. No waste. No pause.
By the time the creature reacted, it was already webbed with wounds it hadn't felt yet.
The Blightfiend's limb struck the ground where Finn had been, releasing a violent green shockwave that hurled the spearman back.
---
Kaelen and Arin could only watch the scene unfold.
'This is getting messy. I'll wait for the elite group,' Arin thought.
Kaelen took a step forward, jaw tight. "We have to help them."
Arin grabbed his arm and pulled him back hard. "Stay back! There's nothing you can do at your level."
'If I stay here, he will die.' Kaelen lunged toward the Captain, snatched the fallen sword from the bloodied earth, and ran.
"What do you think you're—?!" Arin's shout was cut short. He clenched his fists, teeth grinding, but didn't move. He knew Kaelen was right—and that made it worse.
---
Varen looked up. The Blightfiend was on him. Its faceless head filled his vision.
'I'm done for,' he thought, frozen.
A clash of metal on hardened flesh echoed in front of him.
Kaelen blocked the Blightfiend's descending bite, the impact shuddering up his arms.
"Captain! It's not over yet!" With a roar of effort, he shoved and swung, forcing the monster back a step.
"Can you stand, Capt—"
The Blightfiend's tail, a whip of muscle struck Kaelen square in the chest.
The blow was sudden, devastating. It lifted him off his feet and sent him crashing through the ground to the near tree.
"URG!"
The sword spun from his grip. A deep, burning cut was torn across his chest. The force drove the air from his lungs and made blood come out from the corners of his eyes as he spat a mouthful of blood.
Kaelen's vision swam, the world fading. The last thing he saw before darkness took him was the Captain, his remaining hand gripping his sword, his aura igniting into a furious, blazing gold.
Part 2: The Last Memory
The beep of the heart monitor was the clock of his old world.
Kaelen held his sister's thin hand. Her skin was pale, almost translucent. The machine breathed for her.
His father stood in the doorway, a silhouette of exhaustion. "The doctors… they say there's no change. The cost… Kaelen, we can't…"
"They want to unplug her," Kaelen said, the words ash in his mouth.
"It's been too long, and we can't handle the bill anymore," his mother said, holding his hand.
"This is the only way she'll be free of the pain."
"You're not considering it… but she's still alive."
His parents didn't answer.
"Mom… Mom, tell him…"
"I'm sorry, honey."
Kaelen pulled his hand away and ran out.
"I'll find a way," he promised the empty hall, his voice breaking. "I'll find a way to save you. Just hold on."
He burst from the hospital into a cold rain, the weight of an impossible promise crushing him. He walked, not seeing the street, the rain soaking his coat. He passed the blossom tree he used to watch with his little sister.
His foot caught. He fell, his head striking the wet pavement. Blood flowed, mixing with the rainwater..the world around him became dark.
"Hey, are you okay? Someone call an ambulance!" Two strangers hovered over him.
---
Awareness returned like a slow tide.
Kaelen was standing. But there was no ground beneath his feet. No sky above. He stood in a formless, pearlescent mist that glowed with its own soft light. It was neither warm nor cold.
'Where… am I? Wait, am I dead?'
"Do not be afraid."
The voice was not a sound. It was melody and pure command woven together, resonating inside his own skull. It was everywhere.
The mist before him shivered. It gathered, pulling itself into the form of a woman.
She was beauty made manifest—a terrible, distant beauty. Her hair flowed like liquid moonlight. Her robes shifted like captured starlight.
Her eyes, when they settled on him, held the calm of endless oceans. She radiated an authority that made the air feel still.
'I am the Goddess Selene,' the voice spoke, though her perfect lips did not move. "Your thread in your own world has been severed."
'I'm definitely dead. There's no way a beautiful woman would talk to me.' The thought was flat. A resigned fact.
"A choice remains," Selene said. She seemed to float closer. She saw the rotting knot of regret in his chest, the last ugly words he'd spoken hanging in his memory.
"A great evil threatens my realm. The Demon King has stolen what is rightfully mine. He twists the land with corruption."
Kaelen could only stare. This was a dream. A dying hallucination.
"No thanks."
"Do you not wish to save your sister? There is still time."
'What does that have to do with me?' His mental voice was a rasp.
"Pledge your soul to the quest to recover the divine spark .Become my Hero. Earn your victory. If you succeed, I will not only return you to your world… I will grant a cure to save your sister."
A cure. A way to erase his failure, to fix what he'd let break. The offer was an ache so deep it became a physical pain. It was everything.
"You may accept my offer. Or you may say your last words."
"Yes." The word was a whisper, then solidified into certainty. "I'll do it."
Selene extended a hand and touched his forehead. A symbol glowed into existence there. Concentrated, golden light erupted from her fingertip, searing into him.
"You have my blessing. Now, wake up." Selene's voice echoed, already growing distant, as if she spoke from the far end of a long tunnel. The glorious light around her began to dim.
'Use it well, my chosen Hero. Your new life begins now. Do not fail me.'