Danger. A natural part of life. Something even more innate for me. My Ability, Analyze, was integrating with me more fully every day of my life. And I truly had begun to love it. It was my warning signal, my defense and offense, my measurement of when to run, hide, or bow. I could now close my eyes and I’d be able to see the world from simply the waves of pressure it gave out from the power. I solely focused it on ‘power’ for now. I had always done that and I didn’t feel like any other use would be as ‘cost effective’ or easy to use. Switching to a different perspective was hard. I’d tried to do it while on the trip here, at least a little, but that had been blown to pieces when we’d been ambushed. Even if it was easy… it was only because I had it going on ‘Power Gauge’ mode that it had been so smooth. I’d seen the group before we got close and I’d sensed the ones coming from behind us.

So what happens if someone stronger was hiding around us?

And so, Danger. Danger was intricately tied to power. Those that are powerful, weapon, person, or thing, were inherently dangerous. But it varied. An electric socket wasn’t inherently dangerous, or at least not directed. But it would still kill you. That was different from a person or a machine targeting you. I could feel that concept finish ‘forming’ as part of my analyze as over a dozen B-Ranked people, adventurers and guards, suddenly seemed to direct their dangerous attention at me.

We’d gone to a place with monsters and now I’d garnered their worry, fear, and attention. Fuck.

I took a small but deep breath, looking down at the child with a placid look on my face. She was staring up at me with… well… child like wonder. My power gauge was telling me that, amusingly she was older than me despite still being a child. She was also clearly weaker, unranked on the power scale the world used. She was just a curious child meeting a demon for the first time who wanted to touch their horns. An innocent question, one I had to quickly juggle in my mind. For starters, I often forgot I even have tiny horns on my head. For another, my head was exploding from ‘DANGER DANGER DANGER’ over and over in my head. And for a third, I was doing my best not to grimace at a child. I couldn’t even manage a smile at the moment, with the pressure trying to crush me.

“My horns… are sharp.” I eventually said. I could see the mother looking at me in panic and fear. I get it. She turned around and her daughter was talking to a demon.

Konohora and Riary also seemed to be more on edge out of the corner of my eye. They noticed all the looks I was getting it. They had to have some sense of just how bad things could go down right now. After all, I was receiving quite a lot of looks from powerful people.

“I’ll be careful!” The child immediately responded.

I mulled that over, trying to figure out how to say no to a little girl and have her accept it. Quickly, at that.

“Well… you should ask your mom right?”

“Huh?” The child tilted her head.

“You gotta get permission from her.” I said with confidence.

Immediately, the child turned back around to her mother and began pleading. Outside of the line of sight of the girl, I immediately shook my head no to the mother. She seemed to pale further a little, smiling awkwardly at the child before-

“It should be fine right?” Fucking Riary said.

What are you doing?!

She smirked at me.

The little girl turned around, excitement coating her figure. She looked at Riary like she was her new idol.

“Indeed.” Fucking Konohora joined in. “As long as the child is very careful, she should not be harmed by your sharp horns.” She said with a gentle, peaceful smile.

Am I being ganged up on right now?! No, wait, I can see the smirks in your smiles! This isn’t that funny you know?! I’m over here worried about being murdered and you two are playing a prank on me?!

…Hilarious, actually, but not the time!

“If… if it… wouldn’t be too much trouble.” The girl’s mom replied, looking a bit pale.

I was at a loss for words, while the elven child came up to me, staring in anticipation and awe. I forced the pressure from my mind, giving a slightly awkward smile. Well… alright, the road has been paved and all I can do is walk it. I kneeled down, eye level with the child, laughing a little. Seeing the excitement… it was a sharp contrast to everyone else around me. My race had brought me nothing but trouble since it’d been changed and that wouldn’t ever stop probably. So, moments like these should be appreciated. I won’t get many.

“I’m Derek.” I said, reaching out a hand.

“Tilly!” The little girl, Tilly, shook it.

Then, cautiously, she reached towards my head and began to feel my horns. I could hardly feel a thing, stifling a laugh as Tilly seemed in awe.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

A little while later, I got up, Tilly seemed happy as can be. Soon, her mother grabbed her hand, looking considerably less pale, waving as she left. I waved back.

“Bye Derek!” She shouted with enthusiasm, before being lost in the crowd.

I got up, only to only now notice the pressure on my mind had dropped noticeably. In some cases, it was even lower than when I’d walked in. I was surprised… especially when I looked around at the crowd and felt my face going a little red. More than a few elves were giving me warm looks.

I wanted to crawl under a rock. Attention was one thing already but this… I felt like a disney mascot. Riary and Konohora were both smiling at me. Well, one was a smirk and the other one also carried a hint of amusement.

“That funny to you two?”

“Yes. Derek, dangerous demon, monster from another realm, wager of war… and childs play thing.” Riary said.

I squinted. “I’m pretty sure I’m not a single one of those things.”

Riary raised her eyebrow. “You don’t consider yourself a demon?”

“I don’t consider myself dangerous. I’m pretty sure I’m within walking distance of twenty to thirty people who could kill me like a swatting fly. Which is… a lot to take in.”

Konohora changed the subject. “You made that child very happy.”

My expression, very carefully, did not become bitter. “Yeah.”

Konohora seemed to pick up on my mood though. She was there, after all, when I learned I couldn’t have children. What she didn’t know was that I felt a galaxy sized living creature, the literal plane and energies of life, try to change that… and fail. Breaking that limit nearly caused my body to melt down. Children… I’d never have any. Because my race had been changed against my will.

It hadn’t been that long since the previous event but still, it was taking Tyler a little longer than expected. It had been around ten minutes already. So we continued to wait, more than a few eyes remaining on me sadly as were right next to the gate.

Ten minutes became twenty, then thirty. Finally, an hour had passed and we were all getting very worried. I was already kicking myself. We’d fallen into the trap of ‘ah surely, we just need to wait a little longer’. My mind was already starting to worry that Tyler had been kidnapped or killed half an hour ago. I had to resist pacing back and forth and Riary and Konohora had started to get worried too.

It got to the point I’d started to trying expand my Analyze, hoping to somehow feel Tyler from afar. That failed. Not hard, but it was like trying to see to the bottom of a murky ocean. There were some immediate distance gains but beyond that, it was impossible.

Finally though, I did feel Tyler. Which made me blink in surprise. It was one thing to feel pressure and danger and power… but even I hadn’t known I could feel specific people. But his particular ‘power’ was unmistakable. It opened up a door in my mind, realizing that all the power felt subtly different. It was like I realized the pressure waves could have color if I focused enough.

Before I could really go wild on that thought, I saw Tyler. I froze, we all did. Tyler… had a busted lip, a black eye, and I was fairly sure his arm was almost broken.

“Hey guys…” He said sheepishly.

Konohora was already moving, having not wasted a second past her initial surprise, immediately healing Tyler.

“What happened?” She asked while Riary had already rushed over and was fretting over him.

“Well…”

*****

Tyler was having a pretty good day. They’d finally made it here and soon they could start exploring the city, training, and getting stronger. Despite what Derek and Konohora had told him… he’d still put the Gem down. After everything, after all that… it was just gone. And they’d nearly died, multiple times before that. He’d even lost an eye. Months, months spent surviving danger and protecting Riary… and it almost wasn’t enough. Only to see all their hard work, to see a dangerous weapon, end up in the hands of a madman. He was going to hurt and kill people.

And it was all Tyler’s fault.

Riary, Konohora, and even Derek had tried to reassure him but he couldn’t change his feelings. He was responsible for what Happy did. He needed to get stronger so he could protect them all and stop him. He was looking forward to finally getting into the dungeon and increasing his strength.

The merchant completion mission was suppose to just be routine. Pablo walked in, confirmed his identity and that he hadn’t run off, and that was that. They’d already been paid, this was just to keep the records clean.

“Alright, Tyler Smith, this was a D-Rank mission completed by your team?”

Tyler nodded. The guild receptionist pulled checked his card, made a mark on her paper, and then filed it and that was that. He still had no idea how they transmitted information across branches but now everyone would know they had taken and completed a D-Rank mission.

That was supposed to be it. Five minutes had barely passed since he’d left his party and he was already heading back, when a hand clamped on his shoulder.

“Your name is, Tyler Smith?”

Tyler blinked and looked who had their hand on him. He had to resist attacking on instinct, but he let out a breath and looked over, to surprisingly see a human. They were more of a rarity as far as he’d seen here. He was a tall man, sharp eyes, no facial hair. Dark black hair, with hawk like eyes. He was staring at Tyler in befuddlement for some reason and… anger?

“Yes?”

“Tyler Smith… from the Mauv Kingdom? Team Leader of the Heroes from the Mauv Kingdom?”

Tyler’s sense of wariness was raising quickly. The man still hadn’t let go of his shoulder.

“...yes?”

Instantly, the hawk like man’s eyes glared at him with hatred. The next words out of his mouth contained vitriol and a desire to tear Tyler apart.

Even with that, his next words took Tyler by surprise.

“I challenge you to a Duel.”