Ryzen awoke to a pair of beautiful crimson eyes staring directly into his. His head was comfortably planted in Enancia’s lap allowing him to get a full view of her smiling face.

“It’s about time you woke up,” she said with a giggle.

“Yeah, yeah,” Ryzen said with a yawn.

He slowly lifted himself from Enancia’s lap and turned to face her. He squinted his eyes as if he were making sure he was seeing her right and gave her a questioning look.

“You really are a demon, huh,” he said.

Enancia blushed as she quickly became embarrassed at Ryzen’s observation. “Well, yeah I told you, didn’t I? What, you don’t like it?”

A pair of red horns sat upon Enancia’s head along with a thin red tail. They didn’t detract from her beauty but only added to it. Ryzen couldn’t imagine anything making Enancia ugly, anyway.

“No, I didn’t say that.” Ryzen clarified.

Enancia sighed in relief. “I’m glad. I was worried you would think I’m scary or something.”

“But how exactly did you get them back? In fact, how are we even still alive? What happened?” Ryzen asked with curiosity. He appreciated his continued existence but he was confused as to how they weren’t obliterated by Venis or some other vampire.

“Woah, calm down there with the investigation detective.” Enancia giggled. “I saved the day, that’s all.”

“But… how?” Ryzen asked. He trusted Enancia was telling the truth but he just couldn’t wrap his head around how. There was no way she could have fought off a single vampire, let alone Venis.

“I just did it,” Enancia said with a grumpy face and a voice that was clearly trying to mock Ryzen.

Perhaps earlier he would have been annoyed but it was refreshing to see her so happy. How he had been so rude to her earlier made him feel guilty.

“Wait! Don’t be upset, I was just messing with you!” Enancia squeaked after seeing him frown.

“It’s not that… It’s just that I feel bad,” Ryzen muttered.

“Huh? Feel bad for what?” Enancia questioned.

“Uh… How I treated you before I guess,” he whispered in embarrassment.

Enancia took a few steps forward and wrapped her arms around Ryzen in a hug. “I forgive you.”

“Thanks,” Ryzen murmured.

Enancia jumped back with a nod and smirked, “So, are you ready to hear the story!”

“The story?”

“Yes! Of how the great and all-powerful Enancia saved the day!” she exclaimed.

“Sure,” Ryzen said with a chuckle.

Enancia nodded her head up and down with excitement. “So, it was after you fell unconscious that Venis and his army of followers all came flooding down to our position. It was truly a dark situation that we were in. Yet, I, Enancia, Desperhope, never gave up! It was then that I used my burning desire to save you to evolve one of my best skills into an even better, completely broken one! Guess what it was! Guess what rarity I got!

“Rarity?” Ryzen questioned. He knew there were tiers that people reached at different levels but not skills. Each skill he had simply said unranked when he looked at its details.

“Alex… I mean Ryzen! Don’t tell me you don’t know about rarities! Ya know like the grade of your knife?”

“Wait, like common or uncommon items? That applies to skills?” Ryzen asked.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What do you mean does that apply! Do you not look at your skill descriptions? It says the rarities next to each one. Your weird shadow one has got to be at least epic or something!”

Ryzen shook his head. “Of course, I looked at my descriptions. All they say next to each of my skills is unranked.”

“Huh.” Enancia stared at him blankly. “That’s odd. Maybe the system hasn’t classified your skills yet. It’s possible that they haven’t been used for so long that it simply forgot about it.”

“System?” Ryzen said in shock. What did she mean by system?

“Ryzen! How are you so clueless!” Enancia said in exasperation.

“Another world, remember? Anyway, we can discuss this later. For now, just finish your story.” Ryzen said.

“I know Ryzen, I’m just messing with you… Wait, you never guessed the rarity I got!”

“Uh, what are they?”

“Ugh! Common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, mythical, and godly! Now, guess!”

“Um, did you get an epic skill?”

“No!” Enancia said while shaking her head excitedly.

“A legendary?”

“Nope!” Enancia was now jumping up and down, giggling.

“A mythical?” Ryzen said with a slightly raised voice.

“Yes! Ryzen, I have a mythical skill! A mythical! Then, I used it to become super strong and crush Venis!” Enancia punched her fist into the air as if she were fighting.

“That’s it?” Ryzen asked.

“What do you mean that’s it? I kicked his ass! He didn’t even stand a chance! Afterward, I saved your silly ass and took a small rest against this tree.” Enancia pointed towards the large tree she was sitting at while Ryzen was lying down.

“Wait, so where are we?” Ryzen asked while looking around. All he could see was forest in each direction.

“We aren’t too far from Vampirneck. It’s just that it’s underground and hidden which makes it hard to find.

Ryzen nodded his head in comprehension. Somehow, Enancia had not only gotten them out of there but also took out Venis along the way. He still wasn’t one hundred percent sure how she did it but the fact that she did remained the same.

“So… what now?” Enancia asked with a blank expression.

“I need to find out how I was summoned here.” Ryzen cared for Enancia but he still missed his family. He needed to get back to them. In that sense, Enancia made his situation a bit more complicated.

Enancia squinted her eyes at Ryzen, clearly thinking about something. After a few seconds, she finally said, “I’ll help you get back but on one condition!”

“What?” Ryzen asked helplessly.

“I am going with you!” she said with a beam.

“Is that even possible?” Ryzen asked. Besides just the practicality of it, he didn’t know how well Enancia would fit in on earth.

“I don’t know but I’m sure we can find a way!” Enancia said with a cheer.

She seemed to be excited but Ryzen just wasn’t sure. Still, getting back to earth was still a long way away. First, he needed to focus on how he got there in the first place.

“We can figure that out once we get to that point. For now, we need to see if we can figure out how I got here in the first place.”

“Um, well I’m not too sure either. I think it has something to do with a spatial skill but not much more. The knowledge for that stuff was way out of my field.”

Ryzen groaned as he realized there wouldn’t be a simple solution.

“But don’t worry! I’m sure there will be someone in the vampire capital who knows more about it!” Enancia said in an attempt to cheer him up.

Ryzen smiled at her cheerfulness but it really wasn’t much to go off. Still, he didn’t seem to have a better option.

“Alright, well how far is the capital?” Ryzen asked.

“Uh… like a two-week journey!”

“Walking? That isn’t too bad.” Ryzen said. He knew it would likely be far but that was closer than he was expecting.

“Walking? No, I meant in your speedy shadow thing! Walking would take forever!” Enancia said as if this was good news.

Ryzen groaned and slumped to the ground. He was screwed.

Enancia frowned as she said, “I know there are some teleport arrays in various cities but that would mean infiltrating the city. I don’t know about you but that sounds tough. It would also be impossible since we would appear in the center of the capital with a ton of vampire guards surrounding us.”

“I get it, we’ll just go the long one there. I guess we should get a move on then.” Ryzen took off in a random direction, somehow assuming it was the right way.

“Uh, Ryzen, it’s this way.” Enancia giggled while pointing in the complete opposite direction.

Ryzen blankly turned around and started walking in the right direction. Suddenly, a large rumbling noise shook the entire forest. Ryzen grabbed Enancia and quickly hopped into his shadow. He ensured he was in the shadow of a tree so that he was hidden. He wasn’t in a dark cave anymore so it would be much harder to disguise himself.

Seconds later, a massive number of demons marched through the woods and over Ryzen and Enancia.