Rudra.

Like the aftershocks of a thunderous sky, the name stuck with me. The stream gurgled nearby, filling the silence left behind.

The skewer rattled on the floor as I tossed it aside. I got up and washed my hands in the stream while I continued to converse with her,

“So? What’s this mission about? How do we complete it?”

“There’s no point trying to complete it…” Came her weak reply.

By this point I was getting tired of the conversation. I wanted to go out into this new world and do something already. Although I didn’t want to admit it, I was getting irritated by her defeated attitude.

“You keep saying that, why? Just because your friends died, you give up?”

She looked at me horrified and hurt, and then looked away with bitter eyes. Immediately, I realized what I’d said and I muttered.

“Sorry I… I shouldn’t have said that.”

Why did I say something like that? I don’t recall ever saying something out of line like this.

“No, it's fine. Really. You’re right. I have given up. You’re not wrong in that.”

Fucking hell. The atmosphere immediately grew awkward and I couldn’t help but mull over how my irritation got the better of me. That was completely unlike me. I rarely feel irritated. And if I do, I know to hold my tongue.

I’ve heard that a lack of sleep and extreme exhaustion can make someone cranky. There was a part of me that felt relieved that it was just something simple like this and not a brain tumor. Because the latter case is likely as well.

One can’t treat sudden changes in personality lightly after all.

But I didn’t want to waste any time getting back home, and although I was getting tired of talking, I had to know one last thing before getting out.

“I’m getting us out of here.” I declared, receiving only silence as my reply.

“And to do that I need your help… So please. Tell me what you know about this mission. You didn’t give me all the details the last time.”

She nodded, gently setting aside her empty skewer in a neat pile.

“Alright. The goal of the mission is to claim the legacy of the Yadava. That’s all… It said the location was in the… the hall of the Yadava in the profaned capital… I, I don’t know what any of those words mean.”

Hall of the Yadava… I did land in a giant hall, and so did Claira and her team.

“Any ideas what this ‘legacy’ is?”

“No…”

The legacy might be the System I received. And ‘the Yadava’ must be the Architect. And apparently this hall was in the ‘profaned capital’. The adjective ‘profaned’ describes something sacred that has been defiled.

I remembered the only other thing I knew about this world, which was the Empire of Lust. It was fitting that the ‘profaned capital’ referred to the capital of the Empire then… So all those shadow monsters and things in the hall were… What were they exactly? I still didn’t know how ‘lust’ transforms someone into a giant monster with one eye.

But then again, this was another world. Anything was possible.

“What happened before your teammates disappeared?” I asked, trying to be as cautious with my words as possible.

She stared at me, and then looked away.

“If I tell you something will you promise me something? She asked, concern etched onto her face.

I wasn’t one for promises, especially with someone I didn’t know. But if it helped get information, then I didn’t mind. And if there was a good reason for the promise, then I might follow it as well.

“Only if you tell me why.”

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“Then I won’t.”

“Ok, I won’t ask. I promise to do whatever you say.”

She sighed, “We found a village… Antoine scouted and told us there was nothing there. So we headed back to the cave and… After that night is when people started disappearing. Just two nights later, I was… I was the only one left… We had 6 people at the start, and now it’s just me.”

I paced around slowly because it helped oil the gears in my mind— make it easier to think.

“I wanted to ask you this a long time ago, but I only recently remembered. You said that everyone who completes this mission dies… But how could you know that without completing it?”

“Steven used the return scroll… And after a while, we saw his HP drop to 0… They killed him.” She chuckled, “Honestly, he deserves it. That fucker…”

“Where did you see this?”

“The party interface…”

What? They have a System as well?

Oh God… My head hurt knowing that there was still so much I didn’t know. But I really didn’t want to pursue this topic. Although a part of me wanted to know what kind of System they had, a larger part of me just didn’t give a shit.

“Who are ‘they’? And how do you know ‘they’ killed him? Why would they kill him?”

“I… I don’t know.”

She confidently says that ‘they’ killed him but she doesn’t know who ‘they’ are or why they killed him? What a fucking joke, she clearly knows!

Oh my God… This was seriously starting to piss me off. From the moment I’d arrived I could tell something was off about her and that she was hiding something. I’d brushed it aside because I thought she was being cautious.

But she wasn’t being cautious. Being truly cautious was refusing to help a complete stranger in the first place. Being truly cautious meant being on constant guard against someone.

But from what I could tell, nothing about her signaled cautiousness.

So what was there to hide?

I took a deep breath in, and exhaled.

Counted to 10.

And when I thought I was calm, I asked.

“Claira.”

“Yes?”

“All I ask is that you please tell me anything that’s helpful in clearing this mission. And when I clear it. I’m coming for you. So we can go back.”

She looked away quietly.

“So if you think there’s anyone out there who will kill us for completing this mission… Please let me know. I don’t want to go through all this just to die at the end.”

I waited as patiently as I could for her response, before sighing and walking towards the waterfall and away from her.

Just as I stood underneath the hole in the ceiling, preparing to create a skill, she replied.

“I’m telling you it’s pointless.”

“And I want to know why.” I shot back.

She sighed, “You seriously don’t know? I already told you everything.”

I clicked my tongue.

“What did you tell me?”

“Didn’t I tell you? That we’re all infected?”

Infected? Ah, with ‘lust’. Honestly, I still don’t understand how that would be a bad thing, but from how she spoke of it, it seemed to be the most horrifying thing in the world.

“Yes… What of it?”

She drew something from her pocket and threw it towards me. I couldn’t catch it, so I bent down to pick it, embarrassed. It was a copper ring engraved with strange symbols. Before I could ask her what it was, she responded.

“It’s a standard issue mind-ward. We’re all given one in the training center…”

“Why would I need this?”

“To protect against the infection…” She said, caressing a similar ring on her hand. I acquiesced and slipped it onto my finger.

“You don’t believe me when I say we can’t ever complete this mission… So see for yourself.”

I could sense the end of the long conversation, and I immediately created my skill— a simple one meant to increase my jumping power.

Just before I jumped, she called out to me.

“And please… Please come back. Promise me you will.”

Her voice was so heartfelt and filled with yearning that it struck my heart. I felt her sincere plea in my heart, and nodded.

Even though she was suspicious, there was no doubt she had a heart of gold. She had saved me and even fed me. So I resolved to find a way back, and come back for her. No matter what it took.

“I’ll see you soon.”

I said as I jumped up.

The air roared past me and then grew silent as I deftly landed on the rocky entrance to the hole. A vast and sparsely wooded grassland sprawled before me— the same one I’d passed out in when I left the gigantic hall.

It was my first time truly taking in my surroundings. And I felt an odd sense of unrealness.

I was in another world. Another planet. With magic, and its own history. There was even an evil that threatened this world and Earth (I still don’t understand how). But looking around at the peaceful grassland, I couldn’t help but think that everything I’d been told so far was a lie.

How could there be any evil in a place as peaceful and serene as this? Rolling meadows and deep blue skies. Puffy white clouds and waving grass. It was like a Windows wallpaper, or a still from a Studio Ghibli movie.

I took in the surroundings for a while.

Then I yelled into the cave,

“Where’s the village?”

“Keep walking east.” Came a faint echo.

With my destination in mind, I started the long walk to this mysterious village. The village that apparently, would show me why I would die when I completed this mission. The village that had somehow caused multiple people to disappear.

The village that I was sure held the clue to completing this mission.