Alice laid against a tree, the beams of sunlight that penetrated the uppermost layers of the leaves resting on her flesh. The birds chirping made for a nice background to fall asleep to, and the wind flitted gently through her hair.
Like I’m going to be able to sleep. Alice mentally scoffed, opening her eyes and disposing of any thoughts about taking a nap. Mood ruined, Alice stood up, brushing the bushel-load of leaves that had fallen onto her.
Alice created a small stack of rocks and had fun kicking them down. “Stupid sisters, stupid corrupt society who steals sisters, stupid monster about to eat me—wait, what?”
Alice took a closer look, and sure enough, a tiny creature had wandered into the same forest grove Alice was in. Alice stared at the little beast and the little beast stared back. Alice stared at it some more, this time examining it in great detail.
Alice estimated its height at around 2 feet tall. Currently it was prowling on all fours, so it was a tad difficult to know for certain. Its skin was bright blue, mottled with puckered scars that oozed puss every three seconds or so. Miniature horns–nubs, really–protruded from its reptilian-like head, and it had three tails, each with a spiked tip at the end of the appendage.
Alice would have thought it adorable if it wasn’t for the way it was sidling around, sizing her up like she was a slab of meat. Alice gulped as she eyed the tiny claws digging into the dirt with every footstep it took; they were going to hurt like hell if she got scratched by them.
“Hey, little monster…” Alice cooed, hoping to alleviate some of the agitation the monster was giving off. The monster growled, arching its back and hissing. Alice immediately backed off, raising a hand in defense. “Okay. Don’t want to be called a monster, understood. Sorry, buddy, but I don’t know what kind of monste—beast you are. It’s not like they have books in the village.” Alice grumbled.
The monster flicked its tongue out, slapping its eye. Alice giggled despite the grave situation. “You’re kinda cute, buddy. So, how about it? You stay right there and I’ll just be on my way. My sister’s gonna leave the village tomorrow, so it’ll be a bit of a party pooper if I die.”
The monster’s lips curled up in what resembled a smile. Alice gave a wry smile of her own back, lifting her thumbs up. The monster responded to her friendly gestures by baring its fangs, spittle dripping from the flesh-tearing weapons. Her smile slowly faded from her face and her stomach dropped. “Hold on, are those pieces of flesh in between your teeth—you know what, I don't want to know the answer.”
The monster’s chest heaved up and down, and a hearty rumble echoed from within. It was laughing. Alice frowned. “You’re not going to let me go, are you? Okay, screw this.”
Alice was watching the monster’s hind legs throughout the entire one-sided conversation, and now she saw the muscles tense. She dodged to the side even before the monster leaped, missing her by a mile.
Alice scanned the ground frantically, her eyes landing on a thick log with gnarly knobs riddling its length. Alice lunged for it, grabbing the weapon and heaving it in front of her. The monster growled, resuming its prowling. It was probably formulating a plan.
Alice had no intention of letting that happen. Bouncing on her heels a couple of times to provide herself with more courage and adrenaline, Alice charged. The monster shrieked, and Alice could almost see the shock emanating from its eyes.
Then Alice was upon the tiny creature and swung down with all her might. The first hit was the most important; given the creature’s diminutive body and nimble stature, it made sense that it would have much more maneuverability than Alice possessed. The attack on its body stunned the creature, crushing it to the ground.
The monster gave a last-ditch attempt at attacking; Alice didn’t know why–it was already bleeding profusely. Green blood was seeping into the moss, and a pungent stench drifted from the liquid. There was no chance the monster was going to survive, but maybe it wanted to at least scrape her?
Whatever the case was, the monster flicked its tail out of nowhere. Alice recoiled too late; the tip of the tail sliced into her forearm, drawing blood. Growling, Alice smashed the log into the tail, grinding into the ground. A couple more smashes to the head and the monster was officially deceased, head barely hanging onto the rest of the body by strands of muscle.
Alice tore her gaze away from the monster’s lifeless one, dropping the log next to the corpse, and checked her forearm. The tail hadn’t gotten deep into her flesh, barely an incision, but it’d probably leave a scar.
“Stupid monster, I just wanted to wanted to be left alone, why’d something so cute have to be so vicious…” Alice mumbled to herself, turning her back to the corpse. She technically wasn’t supposed to be here, and if the guards found her here, she’d definitely get in trouble.
The world was a cruel, bigoted place, with corruption seething just under the surface. One merely had to look at their village to see the truth. The nobles were the people with magic, while the villagers were commoners who were worth less than dirt because of its absence. That was the only thing separating the two classes: the capability of using magic.
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And what did the nobles do when a miracle occurred, when a commoner was born with the capability to wield the arcane forces of the world? Did they leave them alone, let that person raise their community to greater heights?
Of course not.
The log was incriminating evidence that it was a human, not another monster, who’d killed the tiny creature. Most monsters used claws or fangs or swords as their primary method of attack. The monsters that used clubs were too large to have wielded a miniature log like the one Alice used.
Alice stumbled away from the monster’s corpses, rubbing her arms along the way. Continually hitting the ground made it impossible to avoid a backlash, and her arms were throbbing with a dull pain. I wonder if Charlotte will make me some herbs before…….she leaves.
“Going so soon?” A voice spoke.
Alice whirled around, lashing out with a kick only to be greeted with thin air. There were a couple of trees stationed at one end of the forest grove, which had high bushes blocking off any access, but she saw no one. Low snickers filled the air and Alice ground her teeth at the mocking tone. Creepy voice in the middle of the forest? Big signs for something to go horribly wrong. I’ll just leave.
Alice was about to do just that, already turning on her heels to head back when the voice spoke again. “The thing that you desire most. The capability to save the world. I can grant you that."
Alice halted, lowering her foot. Save the world? She glanced askew behind her, vaguely where the voice had originated from. If she was to guess, the speaker was located behind the forest grove, hidden in a secluded bush zone.
The nobles couldn't risk the chance of peasants banding together and possibly reaching their level, so something like a revolution fixing this awful place would never happen. The higher class wasn’t willing to give the commoners any ground. Meanwhile, they leeched supplies from the world with rampant greed. So the world died, and the gap between commoners and nobles grew ever larger.
Charlotte knew this, so why was she so desperate to leave people who cared about her to join a corrupt society where every conversation was a way to gain blackmail and the person next to you could backstab you in an instant?
Alice fiddled with her skirt, considering her options. Coincidentally, it was the same skirt Charlotte had sown for her. Alice recalled stumbling across Charlotte with a ball of yarn and needles, working tirelessly into the night with only a dim lantern to ward off the shroud of darkness. Countless times, Alice watched Charlotte do her chores with amateurishly bandaged fingers, never once losing the glowing smile on her face. When Charlotte had presented the skirt that she’d made to Alice, it had been the happiest day of Alice’s life.
Now those days were gone. Because of magic. The one thing Charlotte wanted above everything else, and the one thing Alice couldn’t provide for her.
The smart thing to do would be to leave this creature and return to the village, to Charlotte. It was most likely a monster, trying to lure her into its reach to consume her. Then again, what kind of monster can talk?
“I sense your indecision. You do not need to approach me, and fear not, I cannot reach you from here. But what’s the harm in merely listening to an old creature talk?” The voice spoke again in the same lilting and polite tone. Alice cocked her head towards the bushes; the creature was definitely behind that area.
Alice should have left. She should have discarded the creature’s attempts to get her to stay and returned to the village. Alice should have spent the last hours she had with Charlotte. But something deep within her, an instinct she didn’t know she possessed, urged her to stay. To listen to the creature in length. It resounded inside her, a voice flitting through her mind.
“You’re wrong, by the way,” Alice said. The creature went silent, and Alice carried on. “My goal isn’t to save the world. It’s to fix the world.”
“Oh?” The creature murmured, intrigue leaking into its voice. “I must say, I do not understand the difference.”
Alice clenched her fist, her emotions getting the better of her. “Not many do. But saving the world implies it’s against an outside threat, a battle of the ages to protect the people of the world. It’s being a warrior, a hero.”
“And you do not want to be a hero?” The creature asked.
“No,” Alice said resolutely. “Heroes are the stuff of fairy tales. They’re a one-time thing that helps the world in the long term, but what happens when the next threat comes? Being a hero means knowing your actions will ultimately not achieve much in the long term, knowing that you’re dooming a younger generation to have to go through the same strife. But when I say fixing the world, I’m talking about the small steps. Helping the world a person at a time, bridging the gap between classes. The world is dying, and it’s because of corruption in the system. My goal is to purge that system, to bring people together so that instead of saving them, they have the power to save themselves!”
Alice panted, the exertion from the speech getting to her. She slowly blushed as she realized she’d just told a strange creature her life dreams. Crap, crap, crap. Alice began power-walking away from the creature, hoping she’d never meet it again.
“I can help you fix the world.”
A high-pitched ding reverberated like a mallet hitting a gong. Blue words shimmered into existence in front of Alice, and a mechanical voice began reading them out loud.
Alice
Race: [Human] (Wanderer)
Class: [Destroyer] Low-Tier
Level: 1
Manergy Core Quality: C Tier
Manergy Conversion Rate: C Tier
Manergy Capacity: C Tier
Skills:
N/A
Techniques:
N/A