One day later, afternoon in the Chantry library…
Bookcases brimming with tomes and librams from across Nisha tower over paladins and healers huddled around ornate desks, their surfaces cluttered with reading materials. Arcane familiars, taking the shape of spellbound brooms and dusters, glide gracefully through long aisles and spacious rooms, ceaselessly tidying as they go.
It’s the third day of First Seed, the first of twelve Seeds – each spanning twenty-eight days – that make up a full year in this world of Nisha. Much like the months of the calendar back in my world. This life is my second chance, my do-over, and I intend to get it right this time!
When I first arrived here in the previous timeline, I only wanted to go home. Right now… I still miss my world deeply. I miss lounging on the rooftop with the boys, trading jokes, smoking, and swearing like sailors. I miss my parents, too – I miss our video calls every weekend since I left the quiet village for the city to study… even if talking through a screen isn’t the same as being home with them. Hell, I even miss those stupid Student Council meetings that often spiralled into debates about the pettiest matters.
Good grief. I could wax lyrical for days about the good old times and everything I left behind. But now, I want more. I want it all! I want to fulfil my Prophecy to vanquish the Demon Lord and keep Anna by my side, safe and sound. And after that? I’ll find a way to return home.
Oh. But that would mean saying goodbye to everyone I know and love in Nisha. And I...
No, stop that train of thought. Focus! We’ll take this one step at a time. I’m here now, still me, memories intact, and a (nearly) complete mastery of the Healer’s art (there’s always room for improvement!). Oh, and I’ve quit smoking since arriving in Nisha. So, with the hand I’ve been dealt… I’ll make it work. Just watch me do it!
Across the table, Anna’s brow furrows as she pores over a Libram from the library’s extensive collection. Its snow-white cover, adorned with golden runes, marks it as the Libram of the First Saint. Within its enchanted pages lies the knowledge to cast Sanctuary – a powerful Paladin spell that consecrates the ground to shield allies from harm.
But Anna’s struggling with it. Her fingers tremble slightly as she leans closer towards the Libram’s pages, frustration etched on her face. I’d help her if I could, but the damn thing is warded; its knowledge only for Paladins. To any non-Paladin, the words within appear as little more than incomprehensible gibberish.
That’s just how magic works in Nisha – a rigid class system, a universal law woven into the very fabric of existence. Some spells belong solely to healers, others to paladins. Take Anna, for example – as a Paladin, she can’t decipher the Libram containing Holy Fire – a signature spell in any Healer’s kit! That said, within the Order of Selene, a few foundational spells, like Heal and Candlelight, are shared between both classes, a nod to the First Saint being both Healer and Paladin. Beyond that, however… magic is tightly siloed across classes.
But enough procrastination! I’ve got work to do. My task is clear – I’m gonna retrace the steps I took in the previous timeline to fulfil the Prophecy. I’m gonna write down what I remember of what I gotta do, such as, y’know… recreating the key that unlocks Arcadia, the Land of Demons – the Runestone!
It’s time to begin.
----------------------------------------
Arisa’s notes on the Runestone…
Purple like esoteric wisdom. Red like blazing lust. Blue like lucid dreams. Green like molten envy. Orange like smouldering ambition. Yellow like forlorn hope. The colours dance and shift under the light, as if hiding secrets from me.
The Runestone – the key to Arcadia, the Land of Demons. By extension, the key to the Demon Lord – a slumbering force of corruption threatening to bring about Nisha’s end. By claiming this key, I can slay the evil Demon bastard and fulfil my Prophecy.
It ain’t that simple, though. The Runestone isn’t whole – it’s fragmented into six Lesser Shards, each dull and stained with blood. Why the blood? I dunno. They were all like that when I gathered them in the previous timeline.
The first of the six, known as the Lesser Shard of the Oracle, belongs to Lady Nhaka Mezalune, the enigmatic Oracle herself. She’s the one who summoned me to Nisha, naming me her Summoned Hero. In the previous timeline, she gave it to us as a reward after Anna and I travelled to the Palace of Lights in Sharmarli, the Holy City, and completed a task for her.
It wasn’t anything pleasant. In the wilderness surrounding the city, Anna and I had to venture into a Dungeon – the Convocation of Alyssa. There, we were supposed to rescue Anna’s idol, Eris Aintree. Y’know, that Bard whose songs Anna loves (she has them all on vinyl records in her room!). But by the time we found her… Eris was no longer herself. The Demon Cult had twisted her mind beyond repair, turning her into their herald… and their slave. She had become the Voice of the Demon Lord… the so-called Demon’s Voice. We had to kill her.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Good grief. It was a pretty fucked up affair. And Anna… she was very hurt by what she had to do. Maybe, just maybe, this time… things don’t have to end like that! Rinnah willing.
But Eris and Lady Mezalune were only the beginning. There were five more Lesser Shards thereafter… and none were any easier to claim. They were scattered across all of Nisha, in places such as…
Castle Ferrous – a once-mighty bastion of iron and stone nestled in the Iron Mountains to the north-western fringes of the mainland. Now a crumbling ruin, its halls are overrun by the goblins of the Cursed Legion. Their chieftain, the Shaman known as the Goblin King, keeps his lesser kin in line with a Blood Elemental bound to him by the Lesser Shard of the Iron Lord. I’ve seen what those bastards do to their Human and Elf prisoners… and it still haunts me. And I remember, at the end of it all… there was a locked room, its key destroyed. I left it behind, but even now, I still wonder – what was in there?
Dagon – an ancient, nightmarish corpse-city beneath the waves of the Crystal Sea in the north. Its grotesque, cyclopean structures teem with pelagic Mer-men – eldritch monsters so loathsome they churn my stomach. The Lesser Shard of the Abyss lies somewhere in that accursed place. I remember encountering one particular Cultist – a young woman desperate to escape but shackled by guilt over her younger brother, whom she’d dragged into this nightmare. We fought, and Anna and I killed her. But perhaps, in this timeline… there’s another way.
The Celestial Arbor – a verdant expanse of ancient trees and crystalline lakes hidden amid the eastern fringes of civilisation. Monsters born of root and stem roam these evergreen woods, where life thrives in wild, untamed, overgrown abundance. Elan Vita, an Elder Nymph of immense power, holds court deep within the Arbor’s inner sanctuary. There, she jealously guards the Lesser Shard of the Everglade amid a treasure trove of curiosities gathered over centuries. Like in the previous timeline, I reckon she won’t give it up without a fight… unless I find a way to convince her that a mortal Hero can be trusted.
Nevermore, the City of Midnight – an urban hellscape of eternal night in the south-eastern lands, where the Blood Moon eclipses the sun. Rain falls in crimson droplets here like blood from the heavens, and despair and ecstasy blur into one amid labyrinthine streets filled with all kinds of hedonistic pleasures. Undead monsters (vampires, especially!) walk the streets as the living would in any other city, their dominion cemented by an ancient Promise made between the holy and the unholy to end the wars of old that once ravaged the land. Rasha Ayan, a Vampire Ancient and proprietor of the infamous Hotel Red Sun, holds the Lesser Shard of the Blood Moon. She hosts grand parties every night, waiting for a special someone to arrive. Someone I must find… if I don’t wanna fight her again.
The Arcane University – levitating above the city of Crucible in the south, a marvel of magic and intellect. Mages and conjurers from across Nisha vie for a place here – admission is really, really difficult, and even becoming an Apprentice is considered a great honour! The University’s Mage Queen, the Ancient Lich Elena de L’Enfer, uses the Lesser Shard of the Liminal Path to research the outer realms beyond Nisha, often going on extra-dimensional excursions! For that reason (as well as her disdain for healers and paladins and the Order of Selene), she won’t part with it unless I offer something of equal or greater value. And uh… she drives a hard bargain!
Good grief. That’s the road ahead of me. It won’t be easy – it never is. But it’s my path to tread.
----------------------------------------
Break time…
Hmm… yeah. That’ll do for now!
I steal a glance at Anna and can’t help but smile. She’s stepped away from the Libram of the First Saint, clearly taking a break. Just like me! She looks more relaxed now… so that’s a relief.
She’s got another book open, flipping through its pages gently, almost reverently. It’s smaller, definitely not part of the library’s catalogue, and… wait a second! Is that what I think it is!?
Yup! No doubt about it – that’s her diary! I’d recognise that embroidered leather cover anywhere. And I know she keeps it close, for it’s her private treasure. Within those pages, Anna lets people write what they wanna say about her – encouragement, praise, even criticism! It’s her reason to endure and carry on no matter what… while also being mindful of others.
And uh… damn! Seeing that diary again brings back memories! In the previous timeline, I got to write in it… and I remember exactly what I wrote! It was…
“Umm… Arisa? Is something the matter?”
Anna’s soft voice pulls me back to reality. Her cheeks are red like roses, her expression uncertain as she presses a hand on her cheek.
Oh no. She must’ve noticed me staring. Well, shit. Subtlety has never been my strong suit.
“Uh…” I utter, hesitating momentarily. “I wrote in that diary once.”
Anna blinks, her expression shifting to a mix of curiosity and apprehension.
“I wrote mine in the page after Luna and Archie’s…” I add hastily, stumbling over my words. “And uh… I was wondering…”
I trail off as the look on her face stops me cold. Dismay flickers in her eyes – she knows what I want to ask… and it’s getting awkward. Her hesitation, her uncertainty, I…
Just like that, it hits me – this is a new timeline! The bond Anna and I once shared, the trust forged through our studies with Lady Iris and our quiet moments together… it doesn’t exist here. Not yet. Sure, we’ve agreed to be friends again and stand together as Healer and Paladin once more… and I like to think we’re off to a good start! But deep down, in my heart of hearts… I have to accept the truth – right now, she doesn’t feel for me like I do for her.
Quietly, I lean back and refocus on my notes, the weight of the moment heavy on my shoulders like the weight of the world. Someday, Rinnah willing… I’ll earn the right to write my words for her in that diary again.