The storm was rapidly approaching, and Nathan didn’t have much in the way of escape or shelter.

I guess I’ll have to ride it out.

Nathan briefly considered opening his town portal before he shook his head. It would take five minutes to open, and the storm was going to get to him in around three.

A flicker of worry ran down his spine. The storm was clearly unnatural. It extended on for infinity, and the purple lightning was obviously magical in nature.

I’ve got E-rank power now, but I don’t want to take the risk of getting exposed to something.

His eyes darted around for a cave of some sort.

Nothing.

Nathan looked down at his feet.

He started digging with his hands. Thanks to his enhanced strength, he was able to make a fairly solid foxhole. As he dug, the sound of the storm grew louder and louder.

Done.

He jumped into the foxhole. A moment later, the howl of the wind grew to a persistent crescendo, and the sun was blotted out by the dust of the storm.

Lightning cracked in the air of the storm, and the air lit up with a bright purple glow. A moment later, the sound arrived and slammed into Nathan’s eardrums.

Call me crazy, but I don’t think this is natural.

Despite the chaos overhead, Nathan’s foxhole held up against the storm. Sand splashed inside, but not so much that he got covered. If it got to be too much, he’d be able to just shovel it out.

Nathan felt his heart slow down. This wasn’t too bad. He’d be able to ride this out relatively easily.

At least, that was the plan.

At first, Nathan was able to manage without much thinking. But the storm kept going… and going… and going. It’d already been an hour—maybe two hours, it was hard to tell—and the wind had yet to let up. In fact, it had gotten worse. Nathan was constantly shoveling with his hands to keep himself from getting buried alive.

It was getting harder to breathe, as well. His nose was clogged with dust, and his lungs were starting to burn. It wasn’t just the dust, though—Nathan was fairly certain he should’ve been able to handle that with his Constitution. No, there was something else in the air, sapping at his strength like a thick blanket laid over the air.

Another half hour passed, and Nathan noted that the sand had gotten up to his chest.

I’m going to get buried alive.

Was that such a bad thing, though? As long as he had his head out, he’d be able to breathe…

Breathe the same toxic, dust-filled air that was lighting up his insides like a Christmas tree.

I’ve got to make a break for it.

If Nathan was lucky, maybe he’d be able to run against the storm and make it out. Maybe he was close to the end. Or maybe he’d just have to buckle down, fold his back, and hope for the best.

Either way, he wasn’t going to stay here.

Nathan jumped out of the hole.

The first thing Nathan noticed was the feeling of daggers raking across his skin. Every single flying grain of sand felt like a sharp knife.

A piece of armor—a pauldron sailed past Nathan. He spotted a symbol. Bjorn’s symbol, the symbol of his squadron. In the distance, Nathan caught sight of long wormlike figures darting through the sand

Wait, Bjorn’s symbol? That means that his squad is here, maybe even him—!

The world glowed.

Nathan shut his eyes and ducked his head in an attempt to protect his vision. Nearby, a loud boom cracked, and the world lit up with light.

Nathan felt like he could barely breathe. It wasn’t just the dust; it was like the air itself was filled with some kind of poison. His lungs burned from the effort, and every part of his insides screamed with pain.

What the hell is up with this storm!?

Nathan needed to get out of here, fast.

He reached out his hand and tried to summon the portal. His concentration was broken by a sand grain cutting his shoulders. He tried again. The same thing occurred.

I should’ve opened up my town portal earlier.

Nathan cursed himself for his foolishness. It took five minutes of focus to open up his portal—if he’d just opened it up earlier when he saw the storm in the distance—

But then again, there was no way I could have known just how dangerous this was.

Nathan opened his eyes. He looked back at his shoulder. Red blood seeped from his skin and ran down his arm in rivulets—he didn’t even want to look at his back.

That ascension to E-rank really isn’t helping my constitution out here!

In the distance, Nathan spotted a figure. Someone was in the storm, red eyes staring at him.

Nathan felt his blood chill. Something about the creature made his instincts go haywire. It was like he’d spotted death itself.

Nathan planted his feet in the ground.

Hell no. If it comes down to a battle, I’m not going without a fight.

The figure with red eyes seemed to have gotten closer.

Nathan pushed through the pain and tried to reach into his inventory, only for another cut to scratch his arm open.

Nathan glanced over at his plant arm. Unlike his normal arm, it remained unblemished, the only damage to it being thin, pale scratches.

Nathan reached out his arm to strike at the figure—he paused.

The smell of ozone filled the air. Shivers ran down his spine.

He looked up just in time to see purple light. The color of the lightning bolt.

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The bolt rushed toward him faster than he could even blink. For one split-second, pain like he’d never known before rushed up and down his body—

Then he lost consciousness and knew no more.

----------------------------------------

The light beat against Nathan’s eyelids while the warm desert breeze brushed against his lips.

A shadow blocked the sun, cooling his body.

“And? Is he alive?”

“Why do you insist on wasting your time with this stranger, nephew? No one has ever survived direct exposure to the Dustend.”

“Uncle, please. Is he alive?”

“Yes, Uncle, listen to your king!”

“Tch. Fine. He’s alive, but he won’t be for long. I give him an hour, maybe more—“

Pain arched up and down Nathan’s back like electricity. He groaned and plugged his ears.

“Can you all please be quiet?” Nathan asked.

“He lives!”

“That’s pretty wild!“

“How curious—“

Nathan’s eyes snapped open. Three faces were leaned over his own, their expressions ranging from disdain to shock to curiosity.

The first face he noticed was the oldest one. He was an older man, his figure bent and crooked like a nasty twig. His hair was greasy like he hadn’t had a shower in weeks, while his nose was upturned in Nathan’s direction. He was dressed in black, jeweled clothes, and he had an oversized hat with a ruby set in the center.

He looked down at Nathan with narrowed eyes. “How did you survive?”

“I—“

“Oh, lay off him. He’s clearly been through a ton!”

The person who’d spoken up was a woman. She was dressed in rougher clothes than the other two, more plain and rugged. There were no jewels on her. She seemed to be a young adult from what Nathan could tell.

“Please, can both of you be silent?”

The older man and the younger woman stopped talking. The older man bowed. “Of course… my king.”

“Thank you, Uncle.”

The third person—he was the youngest of them all, barely a teenager with how youthful his face looked. Despite that, he had the most aged eyes out of all of them. On top of his head, a thin gold crown sat like a crowning gem.

“Tell me, stranger,” the boy asked. “Who are you?”

----------------------------------------

Nathan rubbed the back of his head. He stared over all three in turn.

Who are these people?

Were they Delvers, like him?

After a moment of thought, Nathan guessed no. They just didn’t have the air of power that Nathan associated with most Delvers. On top of that…

Their clothes.

Not a single Delver Nathan had met thus far had such nice clothes. There was no time to attend to things like that in the apocalypse.

In the background, Nathan saw something flicker in the distance. He scrambled backwards.

A herd of worms sailed through the air. They were smaller than the big worms that had attacked Nathan’s town in the past…

“Monster!” Nathan shouted.

The teenager turned his head toward the worms.

“What? Those are just sandworms,” he said.

Nathan felt a flicker of confusion cross his mind.

The oldest man coughed. “Answer the king’s question, please.”

Nathan pushed himself up to a sitting position. He almost collapsed from the painful shock of doing so. Before he fell, he caught himself with his arm.

“Are you well?!” the young king asked.

“Ask the Dustend survivor if he’s well. Nice going,” the young woman said.

The oldest man glanced at the woman with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“Apologies,” Nathan said. “My name is Nathan Lee.”

Nathan waited for any flickers of recognition, any sign that they’d seen his name from the top of the leaderboard.

Nothing.

They’re not Delvers. Then what does that make them?

“Nathan Lee?” the young king asked. “I’ve not heard such a name before.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “He’s an outworlder?”

“Impossible! Everyone knows that those are myths!”

Nathan held up his hand. “Um, can I ask where I am? And what that storm was, and who you people are?”

The young king smiled. “Of course, stranger. I am Zayen. The grumpy man is my uncle—Omarn. And the beautiful woman you see before you is my cousin, Rami.”

Nathan gave them a nod. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Omarn sniffed. Rami smiled and gave a little wave.

“The storm was something called the Dustend,” Zayen said. “A curse upon our land, no one has ever survived direct exposure… well, before you, anyway.”

“How did you survive anyway?” Rami said. “Does it have something to do with your weird arm?”

Omarn glared at Nathan. “I’ve been wondering about that as well. I dismissed it earlier since I was more concerned about the fact that you were still alive, but what is wrong with your arm?”

“Erm… it’s a long story.”

Zayen hummed. “You asked where you are, correct?”

“Yeah, I’d appreciate the information.”

“You are in the Kingdom of Sandara, land of the eternal sun,” Zayen said. “My homeland, and the principality over which I rule.”

Nathan blinked.

“Wait, you’re royalty?” Nathan said.

“Did the crown not give it away?” Rami asked.

Nathan scratched the back of his head.

“Sorry if I was being rude,” Nathan said. “I’ve never run across royalty.”

Zayen laughed. “It’s fine. I’m not a fan of the formalities anyway.”

Rami cracked a smile. Omarn frowned.

“You still haven’t answered where you’re from,” Omarn said. “We know nothing about this man. He could be a spy, my king!”

“I’m doubtful of that. He doesn’t have the character of a spy. No spy would be so obvious,” Zayen said. “Besides, we haven’t given him a chance to speak.”

Nathan scratched the back of his head.

“Do you guys know what the Nine Circles are?” he asked.

Omarn snorted. “Of course we know. It’s part of that old myth that claims we’re trapped and that there’s a world beyond our own. Ridiculous.”

“How do those myths go?” Nathan said.

“They say that long ago, there was a world we used to live in,” Zayen said. “A world of plenty, free of monsters, the Dustend, and even the System, where the ground was green and the harvest was plentiful. They say that we were trapped here, and that this is not our true home.”

“But it’s all myth, of course,” Omarn said. “Nothing but nonsense.”

Rami crossed her arms. “I, for one, think that it’s quite possible.”

“Quiet, Rami. You are still a girl, unknown to the ways of the world,” Omarn said. “You still believe in fantasies. I, for one, believe in reality. And the reality is that we have a stranger before us, someone we’ve never met, and we continue to deliberate on the obvious—that he should be put in jail!”

Nathan ignored the other two and focused on Zayen.

“I know this might seem difficult to believe, Zayen, but I’m from that outside world. What’s more, all those myths, I think they’re true.”

“What are you talking about?” Zayen said.

Nathan paused. How exactly were you supposed to explain that they were living in a fake alternate dimension created by some kind of multiversal System-monster-thingy?

“Um,” Nathan began. “Basically… there’s another world outside of this one and that’s where I came from.”

Zayen quirked an eyebrow. “Interesting. And how’d you end up here?”

“There was this weird message that popped up from the System and it said that we’d been selected for the apocalypse. The next thing I knew, I was teleported to some barren wasteland out in the middle of nowhere and told that we basically had to go through these, like, Nine Circles to return home.”

“And what Circle are we on?” Zayen said.

“The second.”

“It matches the myths,” Zayen noted.

Omarn sneered. “Of course it does. This is clearly an elaborate ruse!”

Zayen shot his uncle a disapproving look but didn’t interrupt.

Nathan sighed, running his hand through his hair. “I don’t have a dog in this fight, so believe what you want, but I’m telling the truth.”

The young king strokes his chin. “Let’s say, for a moment, that I believe you. What would you have us do? Abandon our lives, our kingdom, and chase after some green paradise that may not even exist?”

“No,” Nathan said. “I don’t care what you do—I’m just saying the truth because that’s what you asked for.”

Zayen sighed. “I want to believe you. I really do. But my people are starving. Our farms are failing, the Dustend grows worse by the day, and I am already running out of options to keep this kingdom alive. I cannot chase legends when my people are dying.”

Nathan opened his mouth to protest, but before he could speak, a familiar ding echoed in front of him.

[Side Quest: The Roots of the Problem]

The farms of Sandara are failing, and the kingdom is on the brink of collapse. Restore the fields and ensure a sustainable food supply for the people.

Reward: Increased favor with the Kingdom of Sandara. XP.

Failure Penalty: Starvation and unrest in the kingdom.

Do you accept this quest?

Y/N

A chill ran down Nathan’s spine.

Side Quest. SIDE QUEST. SIIIDDEEE QUESSTT!???

Zayen peeked over Nathan’s shoulder.

“Oh? How curious,” he said.

Omarn narrowed his eyes. “You can assist with our food crisis?”

Nathan nodded.

“The System seems to think so,” Nathan said.

“I have a proposal,” Zayen said. “Why don’t we let him go with Rami and she can investigate the truth of his claims?”

Rami raised an eyebrow. “Cousin?”

“She’s a strong young woman, so there is no danger of her being hurt,” Zayen said. “And she is very intelligent. I’m sure she can discern the truth of the matter.”

Omarn’s nose twitched. “Are you set on this, my king?”

“Yes, Omarn. It won’t even be for long, just to supervise him while he attempts to repair our farm system.”

For a moment, Nathan was reminded of a similar exchange between himself and Gius.

“Very well, my king. Your will shall be done.”

Nathan was about to walk away when he paused. “By the way, have any of you seen any giant green men?”

“What?”

“This might be a long shot, but if you could keep an eye out for me…?”

The king shrugged. “Sure.”

Nathan looked out over the desert. He was pretty sure that Sticks would be able to help him out—and while he was there, he’d be able to check in on his town.

This is going to be fun.

Nathan stopped. “Oh, and I need some new clothes.”