The girl woke to the sound of a fire. When she opened her eyes, she saw a small log fire lighting up an otherwise dim cave. She suddenly remembered her injuries and probed her arm with her fingers, and was astonished to find no signs of damage at all.

"Ah, so you're finally awake."

She whirled around to see an old, grizzled-looking man sitting on a rock, gazing at her inquisitively.

"Where am I?"

"Ah, an interesting question. Not 'who are you', but 'where am I'. For your information, we're in one of the many caves that litter this mountain range. Don't know what it's called."

Athelin tried to recall if there were any mountains near Vold, and remembered the Sharptooth mountains. A long mountain range extending from one side of the kingdom to the other, it was named Sharptooth because of it being comprised mainly of sharp-looking, triangular mountains rather than ones topped with gently sloping bulges.

"Oh. I think that's the Sharptooth mountains."

"That's good to know. Now, tell me, girl, do you remember what happened before you fell unconscious?"

It was as though a dam broke inside her tear ducts, letting raging streams of salty liquid make their way down her face.

"Ma... And Pa... Died..."

The fox-man had the decency to wait for her sobs to subside before impatiently asking her another question.

"Yes, but more specifically, what happened just before you passed out?"

The magic 8 ball! She pursed her lips together and shook her head, not willing to reveal its existence to the stranger.

"Don't worry, I already know about it. Besides, it's in your hands right now."

"Huh?"

Astonished, Athelin looked down at her hands, and sure enough, she was holding the little plastic globe between both hands.

"I tried taking it off you to see what it was, but it was like it didn't want to let me take it. So tell me, girl, what is that artifact?"

The fox-man's face was uncomfortably close now, every scar on his face thrown into harsh relief by the light of the fire. She shrank back, not knowing what to do. Should she tell this man about how she had been reincarnated? Would he believe her even if she did? In the end, fear of the man won out over fear of disbelief, and she told him what had happened, starting from the moment the ball had rolled against her previous self's foot. The man stayed silent throughout the whole retelling, as though silently contemplating what she told him. After she was finished, she looked at him warily.

"Do you believe me?"

The man chuckled.

"I probably wouldn't, if I was younger. As it is, though, I've seen enough hero summonings to know being transferred here from another world isn't impossible, and the fact that I couldn't take that orb off your hands indicates that it has some sort of strong power, perhaps enough to be a divine artifact."

"Hero summoning? A divine artifact?"

"Oh, so you are unaware of the humans' efforts to bring people of other worlds here to fight for them?"

"What?"

"Around a thousand years ago, a powerful mage developed a ritual involving a ton of bloody sacrifices that would summon a being from another world. The summoned being was human, and he managed to destroy an entire army on his own before being stabbed in the back. Wasn't pretty. Ever since then, humans have been performing the ritual every time they get into a spat with someone, although the heroes summoned these days are rather underwhelming."

"You speak as though you saw he first summoned human yourself."

"I did. I believe he called himself Jack the Ripper. Back then I was a mere soldier in the service of Kay'leth, a country of beastmen. We were the country the humans went to war with, and we barely made it out alive."

"How- you're saying that you're over a thousand years old! No, disregard that for now, you said that was a thousand years ago? In my world, Jack the Ripper first appeared less than 150 years ago!"

"It's not that incredible. Elves live until they run out of mana to sustain their bodies, and that can take a couple hundred years. And maybe time runs differently here than on your world."

"Still, a thousand years is a lot."

"I suppose it is. Though I wouldn't mind not having lived this long."

"Why not?"

"When you get to my age, you'll have seen everything there is to see, from the founding of a great empire to its bloody downfall. It gets tiring after a while."

"Sounds like a curse."

"Because that's what it is. I'm cursed to stay alive."

"How'd that happen?"

"Can't tell you without killing you afterwards."

"... You're being serious, aren't you."

"Completely."

"Well then, back to the topic at hand. What's a divine artifact?"

"An object with a portion of a deity's power in it."

"So gods are real in the world, huh? I suppose I should have expected that, since this world is one where magic exists, after all."

"Yes. I suspect your- what did you call it?- Magic 8 ball is a divine artifact. The fact that it managed to pull you from another world without the aid of a ritual is incredible in itself, but the fact that it managed to grab me impresses me more."

"Why's that?"

"Being over a thousand years old, I've outlived some gods, and that means I'm almost as powerful as one. I put protection around myself so that I can't be teleported away at the whim of a meddling god, which means that this artifact must be from one of the first- and most powerful- gods."

"Huh, it's that powerful?"

"It seems so. You'll need to be careful."

"Why? It's not like anyone can steal it from me, right?"

"No, but we don't know if your death will allow someone else to take it. I don't think you'd like to test that out."

Athelin shivered unconsciously, leaning away from the fox-man.

"Don't worry. I have no intention of killing you to take that artifact of yours away from you."

"Huh?"

"I don't want more power. I already have enough that I get bored too easily. Besides, owning that artifact would mean being connected to a god, and I don't want that."

"Oh. Well, that's good. The not killing me part, I mean, not the you getting bored part."

"Thanks to you, I'm not too bored right now. You're the most interesting thing to come by in a while."

"Um, thanks, I guess."

"So!"

The fox-man clapped his hands loudly, causing her to jump.

"What are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were reborn in another world, and your parents just died. What are you going to do?"

"... Get revenge for their deaths, I suppose."

"I suppose that's a start. And how are you going to do that?"

"Cut the head off the snake."

"Exactly! Killing the Bandit King would be revenge, but what then?"

"..."

"You haven't thought about it? Well, let me give you some advice. Revenge is nice, but don't let it be the only thing you do. For you short-lived humans, life is far too precious of a resource to waste. Do you understand me?"

"... Yes."

"Good! Now, I need to tell you something."

He grinned. It was not a very nice grin. It was an intimidating grin, full of sharp, pointed teeth.

"I'm going to punish you."

"What? Why?"

"When your little ball there teleported me to you, I was in the middle of enjoying a meal."

A palpable aura of bloodlust seemed to radiate from the fox-man.

"And I never let people disturb me when I'm eating."

"W-what are you going to do to me?"

"Train you."

"Huh?"

Athelin blinked in surprise. That didn't sound so bad.

"Yes, I'm going to train you. It would be a pity if such an interesting thing like you died so early, no?"

"I thought you said you were going to punish me...?"

"Oh, I will, I will. Did you know that when I train people, most of them end up begging for me to kill them?"

An almost feral glint had made its way to the beastman's eyes, and Athelin gulped in fear.

-

"Again!"

"I- I can't!"

A jolt of lightning went through Athelin's body, causing her to scream through gritted teeth as her muscles locked up.

"Yes you can, and you will!"

The fox-man was watching her from nearby, a finger stretched out towards her, ready to blast her with more lightning if he had to.

It was the third month of training that Athelin had been subjected to, and she hated it already. It had started with the fox-man literally kicking her out of the cave and telling her to fend for herself. After a month of that, he had used some sort of illusion magic to create sparring partners for her to practice against, correcting her posture whenever she made a mistake. She remembered how she had asked the beastman for his name, and he had replied with a knowing smile.

'I'll tell you my real name if you can finish my training without giving up. For now, call me Ash.'

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'Like the tree?'

'No, like fire.'

She had paid for the lapse in concentration with a painful slice to the stomach- goddamn that fox for allowing her to feel pain from the illusion- but she felt that it was well worth it.

The sparring had continued since then, with no signs of stopping. Athelin hadn't laid down, she'd collapsed from sheer exhaustion. And then she'd been zapped. Exactly how Ash expected her to be able to just stand up and continue fighting was unknown to her, but it irritated her to no end. And then another bolt coursed through her, and she blacked out.

-

"Again!"

"Aaaaaargh-"

At this point it would be easier to list which parts of Athelin weren't injured than to list those which were. Her entire body looked as though she had been flayed with a whip, and it certainly looked painful, even if it was just an illusion. The illusory swordfighter didn't wait for her to get up, slicing at her neck with its sword. Athelin barely blocked it in time, redirecting its force into the ground next to her. The resulting impact knocked the sword out of her hands, so she simply used her fists. An uppercut sent the illusion reeling back, and it was quickly followed by several punches to the gut and the face, finished off with a perfectly executed over-the-shoulder throw that cracked the illusion's spine, if it even had one, being a featureless, roughly humanoid being seemingly made of darkness. Breathing heavily, it took Athelin a few moments to realize that Ash was clapping.

"Splendid performance! That's the first time you actually managed to beat it, right? Clever move, using hand-to-hand fighting like that. Did you actually know that I only gave the illusion enough knowledge to counter other swordsmen, or was that just a stroke of luck?"

With a snap of his fingers, Athelin's wounds disappeared, and she collapsed backwards, panting in exhaustion.

"Who said you could rest? You're going to fight the illusion again, and you're not going to stop until you manage to beat it with a sword this time."

Athelin's face contorted with rage, and a single expletive managed to find its way out of her mouth.

"FUCK!!!!!!!!!!"

She received fifty zaps for that.

-

The sound of metal hitting metal rang out through the forest- or they would have, if they didn't originate from an illusory space specifically designed to train Athelin. She was much more proficient after four months of getting beaten up repeatedly, but she still couldn't beat the illusion. She suspected Ash slightly upped the difficulty whenever she improved, which worried her, as that clearly indicated that he was waiting for her skill to reach a certain level. Getting to that level could take even more months, or even years.

If she had to endure this for years, she would punch Ash in the face the number of years she missed, regardless of the consequences.

-

How long had it been? Oh, yes, it had been one year and three months. She was now able to hold her own against the illusion, which was most certainly faster and stronger than when she first started. Whenever Ash bothered to watch her train, he had an appreciative gleam in his eyes. She was getting better, and incredibly quickly- Ash believed that it would take a normal child at least two decades to reach her level unaided, not to mention the fact that in this space her strength was suppressed by at least 60%. Of course, he had no intention of ever telling her that. No need to inflate her head too much.

Athelin dodged to the side, avoiding a vertical slash from the illusion, and cut off its arm, although it was immediately regrown. She used the split second of reprieve she had been granted to stab her sword at the illusion's heart, but the illusion was willing to sacrifice its other arm to use as a shield, and the arm slowed her sword enough that it failed to pierce the illusion's tough exterior. Athelin saw the sword in the illusion's right hand angled towards her, clearly aiming for a stab, and so she jumped- not away from the illusion, but towards it. As the illusion recoiled, she dropped into a roll and sped through its legs, spread wide in a swordsman's stance. Her small size was an advantage, and it was one she had no qualms about using every chance she got. She got up, preparing to slash at the illusion's undefended back, only to realize that it had already turned around to face her, its sword swinging downwards too quickly for her to follow. It cut through her sword arm, sending it flying, and she almost blacked out from the pain, but managed to hold on. This was bad. Ash wouldn't stop the illusion until she was in danger of death, and now she was weapon less and missing an arm.

And then she had an insane idea. The best kind of idea. She had no idea if she could pull it off, but she had to try. She ran at the illusion, dodging its swipes, and when she got close enough she aimed her arm at its face. The blood gushing from the stump splattered its face, and to her relief the illusion reacted the way a human would if their eyes were covered in blood, even though it didn't have any eyes. She used the distraction to grab her sword, then put the arm on it, like a shish kebab. The illusion had already finished wiping its face at that point, and Athelin knew this was her only chance. With a flick of her wrist, she sent her arm flying at the incoming illusion, and smacked it in its face. It did not falter, however. Even with the blood from the severed arm (now lying on the ground behind the illusion) obscuring part of its vision, it was sure it could take her down.

And that is when she struck. Without any regard for personal safety, she dove at the illusion, slashing at its legs even as her left leg was severed by its wild swing. The illusion fell backwards, both of its legs gone, and using the sword as a cane, Athelin hopped up to the flailing illusion's face and stabbed it.

She then blacked out from blood loss.

-

She woke to see a decidedly unwelcome face mere inches from her own.

"Oh, so you're a pedophile. Good to know."

She croaked, and Ash grinned.

"Congratulations. You set the record on how fast that phase of the training has been passed. The previous record was 2 years, 1 month, by the way."

"That's nice."

"Also, your birthday came and went, so I made you a little cake while you were still out. Unfortunately, I accidentally ate it all. Oops."

Athelin was no longer fazed by Ash's attempts to irritate her, thanks to the constant barrage of insults she had to endure.

"How long was I out?"

"About two months, which makes this the 517th day of your training. Congratulations."

"Fuck off, you foxy bastard."

His grin grew even wider.

"Did I tell you what's up next? It's torture resistance."

-

"Mmmmmmmmmphmmmm!"

"Sorry, can't hear you over the sound of the water! Try again later!"

The two were at an illusory waterfall. Ash was sitting next to it, cross-legged, as though meditating, while Athelin... Was tied up underneath the waterfall. As waterboarding was an incredibly popular torture method, Ash had deemed that she would have to learn the pain of being subjected to it.

Ash had made it so it was impossible for Athelin to die or black out, which meant she drowned continuously, her lungs filled to the brim with water.

It had been around three months since she was put in the waterfall, which meant that she would be freed in 3... 2... 1...

Athelin burst out of the water, coughing up the water in her lungs. When she was done, she glared at Ash with bloodshot eyes.

"I'm going to fucking throttle you someday."

"Someday, little girl, someday."

There were still three torture methods left.

-

Next came lightning. Athelin had thought the bolts used during her swordsmanship training were bad, but these were much worse. These felt like her entire body was being reduced to chunks of burnt, bloody meat- which would happen if not for the fact that this was all an illusion. That did not make the pain fake, unfortunately.

Third came fire. Here Ash was more imaginative, and instead of simply putting her in a fire he subjected her to actual torture methods. He put burning spikes of wood between her fingernails and the skin beneath, he put her feet in a tub of oil and set it on fire, and he kept her mouth open with forceps while he fed her live coals. He felt no particular joy from doing this- rather, he felt pity, as all of these were things he had gone through himself at least once in his prodigiously long life- but it was necessary.

Last came poisons. This was done outside the illusion, as her real body needed to build up tolerance to various different substances, from sleeping drugs to snake venom. Ash was constantly by her side, making sure that she didn't die through occasional healing spells.

And so another year passed, entirely devoted to pain.

-

Athelin couldn't tell if she had gone insane at some point. Probably. The amount of torture she endured would have killed anyone in a different circumstance, so it was natural her psyche would have been changed somewhat. At least there were no tiny voices constantly whispering in her head. That was a definite plus in her book.

Ash, the smug bastard, had shown concern for once when she'd woken up from the last poison-induced lack of consciousness. It had been two years and five months since she first started training, and she was 11 years old. Ash owed her two punches to the face and a slap.

The next part of the training would be history and languages, according to Ash. This did not make her happy at all, for history was bound to be boring. At least languages would give her something to think about.

-

"And so Beckett of Hamlin led his army against the Tasla of Yarmunjab, but was killed by a tiny scorpion native to the Yarmunjab deserts. This led to anarchy in the kingdom of Hamlin, and it was quickly annexed by Yarmunjab. This marked the end of the Second Era. Any questions?"

"..."

"Hey, are you sleeping? This won't do!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH-"

"Now, where was I...?"

-

"Repeat after me. Granza tolbik sopri das (What time is it)."

"Granza tolbik- uh, sorpi? Das?"

"..."

"AAAAAAARRRRRRGHHH-"

-

Ash was a cruel teacher, but there was no doubting the fact that he was an effective one. Within half a year, he had drilled most of this world's- Eleth- history into her brain, along with every language in common usage. This had also almost increased his debt to three punches to the face.

She couldn't wait for the day that she would be able to take revenge on that fucker.

-

The last parts of the training were related to magic. Magic in this world worked just like magic in every fantasy world. All magic was made up of mana, and there are certain elements, which are just focal points to allow handling mana to be easier. Although, according to Ash, most mages in this world were unaware of that fact, and treated the elements as the only absolute way to use magic.

The first year of magic training was spent entirely on learning how to sense and control pure mana. Athelin had difficulty sensing mana even in large quantities, so Ash decided to play a prank on her. He undid the limiters he put on his own mana for a split second, which was enough to make Athelin pass out from sensory overload. It also caused some unintended consequences, but that wasn't relevant to Ash and Athelin.

After that, sensing mana became a piece of cake for Athelin, although after seeing Ash's own mana she was disappointed at how little mana there was in nature.

Controlling mana was a little different. Usually, mages used chants and incantations as way to focus their wills on the result they desired, but Ash said it wouldn't be necessary. Becoming dependent on chants was a big problem if your opponent had the ability to stop you from talking. Instead, Athelin learned to bend mana to her thoughts through sheer force of will.

The next four years were spent on the five cardinal elements: fire, water, earth, electricity and air.

Learning the intricacies of each element delighted her in itself, but the incredibly creative ways Ash had come up with to use them were the icing on the cake.

Through fire and water, he made a defensive barrier of steam; with earth and electricity, he made a sort of electrified metal armor, his skin protected by a thin layer of dirt; air and earth combined allowed him to create golems, huge constructs of rock that were like robots, their limbs held together by air pressure. While her lack of experience made Athelin's versions of the techniques rather underwhelming, she managed to learn them all, and could soon replicate them to a lesser degree. She wasn't particularly concerned about their differences in power- after all, how could a 17-year-old girl be as strong as a thousand-year-old man?

-

And soon, her training came to an end.

She had changed a great deal, both physically and mentally. Physically she had grown into a gorgeous young woman, though still rather lacking in the chest department. Mentally she was like an iron fortress- she could no longer be traumatized, for she had already experienced every trauma there was.

There was no ceremony or anything at the end. Just Ash, Athelin, and a cake in the cave where she had told him about herself.

"I can't believe you've made it this far, little girl."

"I can't believe you stuck around to harass me for so long, old man."

The two regarded each other for a minute.

Then the solemn atmosphere was shattered by Ash propelling the cake into Athelin's face, and she stood there, stunned, as Ash laughed at the sight of her stupefied, cake-covered face. Then a murderous grin came over her face, and she advanced on Ash, who was too busy laughing to notice.

The first punch blew him backwards into the cave wall, leaving a deep impression.

The second punch knocked him into the ground.

The third propelled him upwards, and he hit the ceiling.

The fourth, fifth and sixth were executed midair and launched him out of the cave.

The seventh, eight and ninth were used to pummel him into the soft dirt to immobilize him.

Athelin drew back her fist for one last punch. The cheeky bastard pretended to be hurt when both of them knew she couldn't even scratch him.

And then she heard a scream from afar, quickly growing louder.

"uuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUNCLE!"

Something slammed into her, knocking her aside, and Athelin rolled to her feet to glare at the new arrival.

A red-headed girl, seemingly around the same age as Athelin, stood in front of Ash, trying to pull him out of the ground. The girl was human-looking, but had large, red wings on her back, and a long, lizard-like tail emerging from beneath her shirt.

"Oi, Ash, is she a lizard-man or something?"

At that, the girl's face flushed red, and she actually growled in anger. She was about to launch herself at Athelin when suddenly Ash's voice, magnified hundredfold, boomed out.

"STAND DOWN."

"But uncle, she called me a lizard!"

"I SAID STAND DOWN."

"Ugh, fine."

"That's better."

Ash casually rose to a standing position, the dirt falling off him as though it was being repelled, which it probably was.

"Er, Ash, explain to me why your niece wanted to find you so badly."

"Well..."

Ash fidgeted in place, but Athelin's glare didn't waver.

"I might be the king of a kingdom, and I might have run away to enjoy myself?"

"So typical Ash behavior? By the way, what's your real name, anyway?"

Here the lizard girl cut in.

"How dare you speak to his majesty like that, as though you are worthy of-"

"Oh, she's worthy, don't worry."

Said Ash dismissively, causing the lizard girl's eyes to grow wide in astonishment.

"So, introductions, introductions. I'm Ashmere Cadwyn, king of Tel'nath, the beastman kingdom, and that nuisance over there is Celine Cadwyn, my niece. And no, we're not related by blood. I don't think there are any other individuals on Eleth that have lived for as long as I have."

"I see, I see. What is the nuisance, anyway?"

"Her? A dragon-man, apparently. Doesn't make sense considering her parents are cat and wolf, but I suppose freak accidents happen once in a while."

Throughout this little chat, Celine had been getting increasingly teary-eyed from the way they were ignoring her.

"What are your plans for now, Ash?"

"Hmm, I dunno. I suppose I could go back to the kingdom with my niece, but I really don't like being a king. Honestly, I'd have pushed the position onto her father if he didn't keep refusing me. I'd be worried about his intelligence if he actually accepted, though. What about you?"

"I'm going to head to the capital of- what's this country called again? Oh, right, Eastmoor. Boring name. Anyway, apparently I have a brother, so I'd like to meet up with him before launching an attack on the Bandit King."

"Don't you think you're strong enough to take him down on your own?"

"Possibly, but I'd rather not risk it."

"Well, good luck. And before you leave, how about you try shaking that little ball one more time?"

Athelin had honestly forgotten about the magic 8 ball that had landed her in this world.

"Sure, why not."

She shook it, and put it to her eyes.

"What does it say?"

"What is this, a fortune cookie? It says "

"I don't have a good feeling about that message."

"Neither do I. Look, the wind's picking up. Do you think the ball's message meant this?"

"Probably. It said scattered, so we'll all land in different places, presumably."

"Will the annoying girl be okay?"

"Huh, you actually care? Yes, she will. Her strength is on par with yours."

"Good."

And then the power of the wind suddenly increased, and Athelin was blown away.