Rayna didn’t stop running until the mansion was out of sight. Fields merged into trees as she entered a dense green forest. Unlike the previous forest, this one was well lit, and though she could feel monsters in the vicinity, the sense was faint. The monsters were either much weaker than the ones in the dark forest, or they were too far away to be a threat.

Rayna stopped and leaned against a tree. She covered her face with her hands and let out a muffled scream.

She looked up from her hands. “Seriously? You couldn’t think of one good thing to say? The man threw a metal baseball at your head and all you did was ruin his desk!”

Rayna had never been the best at conversation, but even for her, this was among her most cringe-inducing moments. She shook her head and pushed off from the tree, walking in the direction she had been heading.

Rayna’s first priority was to get back to the tutorial. She had no way of knowing how long she was unconscious and without her System Menu, she couldn’t even use her penalty title to try to gauge.

Daria had said that the penalty title wouldn’t let her drop below fifteen points in a single stat. Should Rayna test it?

Rayna picked up a rock and threw it at a notch in a nearby tree. She hit the notch with ease, embedding the rock in the wood. Her Strength and Dexterity felt normal. She didn’t have any safe ways to test her Endurance, and her other stats were all more numerical in nature.

Regardless, it didn’t seem like the penalty title had progressed very far, unless the current state of her System was suppressing the title’s effect somehow. She didn’t have enough information to be sure either way.

Her next problem was her Inventory. She had no food or water, and no weapon to use if she was attacked. There had to be some sort of failsafe that could be used if the System was down. Otherwise a person could lose everything in an instant.

Rayna tried several things. She said the word ‘Inventory’ aloud; she made silly hand gestures; she even tried some anime hand poses just to see if this world worked on the same principles.

After about ten minutes with no luck, Rayna sat down on the ground, leaning against a tree. She should have brought the fire poker with her. She hadn’t thought she would be kicked out of Lord Emery’s house so quickly.

What else could she try? Maybe Ember was less like a game, and more like a fantasy world with numbers? What would someone do in a fantasy if they were trying to use their magic?

Rayna held her hand out in front of her, closing her eyes to help her concentrate.

“Dagger,” she said.

She cracked open one eye, only to find that her palm was empty.

She sighed.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy.

Rayna absently traced a circle on her thigh, trying to come up with another idea. Maybe the Inventory was linked to thoughts? Should she try picturing one of her items?

Rayna’s finger slipped, plunging into an empty space where her thigh should have been. She yelped and pulled it back.

A small black hole had formed on Rayna’s leg, or rather, above it. If she moved her thigh, the hole didn’t follow. As Rayna watched, the small hole shrank and disappeared.

It took Rayna a moment to figure out what she had just done. She made a portal? Was that even something she should be able to do?

More importantly, was it a portal to her Inventory?

Rayna stood, focusing on the air in front of her. She held her hand up and traced a circle about the size of a basketball in the air.

A hole formed in the center, growing to the size she had drawn. Rayna examined it, trying to figure out if it was safe or not.

Only one way to find out.

Rayna held up her hand, intending to plunge it into the portal.

“Are you insane?”

Rayna jumped, losing her concentration. The portal disappeared.

Phira stood next to Rayna with her hands on her hips. “What sort of dark magic are you playing with?”

“I’m trying to get into my Inventory,” Rayna snapped.

“And why aren’t you just using your System Menu like a normal person?”

Rayna pulled up her System Menu, showing Phira the message. “It’s updating, whatever that means, so right now I am stuck in the middle of a forest with no food, no water and no weapon.”

Phira blinked, looking around them at the trees. “Why are we in a forest? Weren’t you just in the tutorial?”

Rayna shook her head. “Long story short, Eldar screwed up again. I’m trying to figure out how to get back at the moment.”

“No, you’re reaching your hand into suspicious portals,” Phira said.

“You have any better ideas?”

Phira raised an eyebrow. “Use a stick.”

Rayna blushed. “Oh… yeah…”

She grabbed a fallen branch off the ground, gripping it in one hand as she reformed the portal with the other.

Phira watched in fascination. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone use a spell without the System. Is this a form of Earth magic?”

“We don’t have magic,” Rayna said. “Or at least, most people don’t believe in it.” She stuck the branch into the portal, checking around the other side to make sure it wasn’t just passing through it.

She waited a few seconds, then pulled it out. The branch didn’t show any signs of damage, and the leaves were still green.

“Happy?” Rayna asked.

Phira pursed her lips. “No, but you’re going to try it anyway.”

Rayna smiled. “Yep.”

She reached into the portal, ready to snatch her hand back if she felt any pain.

The inside of the portal was cool, like a cloud of mist was enveloping her hand. She pulled it out, half expecting to see drops of water forming on her skin.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Assured that her hand was uninjured, Rayna reached into the portal again, groping around to see if she could find anything. Nothing tangible came within reach.

“Come on,” she said. “I just need something to eat.”

But nothing materialized inside the portal.

Rayna pulled her hand back out and sighed. She was too much of a chicken to stick her head in and take a look, so she just let the portal close.

“Not sure what that was, but I don’t think it was my Inventory,” she said.

Phira frowned. “You’re as crazy as ever. Now fill me in on what happened since the last time I was out of my stone. I have a feeling I missed a lot.”

* * *

It didn’t take long to set up the meeting. Enalus had given up on getting the useless monarch out of bed, and just focused on getting as many nobles into one room as he could.

He had managed to gather eight, but he only had to convince one of them.

Lord Myre watched the others argue, feigning disinterest. His youthful appearance belied centuries of wisdom and experience, and his patchwork of scars told the true tale of how many battles he had fought.

Everyone knew that the King was a figurehead, placed on a throne to handle paperwork and attend parties. Lord Myre was the true king of Helia.

“This meeting is ridiculous!” Lord Henna declared, slamming his oversized fist on the table. “We should have a few years left at least, assuming the Chosen don’t come in and make it worse. If we’re lucky, they’ll all die in the tutorial, and save us a few mouths to feed.”

Enalus didn’t agree with the man—if only because he didn’t wish to see the Essence used to bring the Chosen to Ember gone to waste—but it was a common sentiment. They had enough trouble keeping the System’s energy up without a few hundred thousand new citizens. The Chosen usually went into crafting Classes anyway.

“I’m sure he just made it up,” Lady Kesh said in her usual mocking tone. Her spider-like mandibles clicked as she spoke, giving her words a dangerous edge. “He’s afraid that he won’t make his Essence quotas and intends to use this story to scare us into making up for his failures.”

“Have any of you made your quotas?” Enalus asked calmly. “I’ll remind you that my land is on the edge of the Obsidian Forest. More and more monsters break through the System’s barriers while you all sip tea at your dinner parties.”

“You think our land is without problems?” Lady Undra hissed, her hair floating in the air as she spoke. “I lost a whole city last week. Do not speak to me of losses, Enalus.”

The room crackled with electricity, and the servants took their leave in case it came to physical blows. No one in the room was below the Third Ascension; A fight could be disastrous.

“That is precisely why we need to prepare,” Enalus insisted. “We need to strengthen our walls, prepare troops for fighting in parties instead of individually. We need a plan.”

“We’ve been following your plan for months now, Enalus.” Lord Henna said. “Yet every few weeks you raise the bar. Could it be it was never going to work in the first place?”

Lady Undra still hadn’t settled, and Lord Henna turned to her. “Oh, would you calm down, Araina? You’re going to set something on fire. Try looking on the bright side; a few lost cities will lighten the burden on the System. The sacrifice isn’t in vain.”

A bolt of lightning came down on the Lord’s head, but he blocked it easily, his face twisting in a sneer.

“As if your little sparks could do anything to me,” he spat. “Keep your magic to yourself, or I may choose to remind you which of us is in a higher category.”

“Perhaps you could demonstrate, Lord Henna,” Lady Elan said. “By filling more of the quota, or are you too busy tending your little gardens.”

Lord Henna rolled his eyes. “My farms provide half the produce on the continent. Not even you would risk losing my business, Lady Elan.”

“Your farms won’t last through a Dark Age,” Enalus tried. If he couldn’t inspire the man’s fear, maybe he could use the man’s greed.

“Nice try,” Lord Henna said. “But farms can be rebuilt. I’ll not bankrupt myself to try to save a few coins.”

“We’re facing extinction!” Enalus snapped. “How can you be so apathetic?”

“Extinction is an overstatement,” Lady Elan said. “Some always survive. What we are facing is an increase in personal danger, and everyone in this room has the raw power to make it through a Dark Age with or without the System’s help.”

The silence stretched, the other nobles watching Enalus with hard expressions. They agreed with Lady Elan. Only Lady Undra seemed torn.

“Each for their own gain, the crowd marches to the cliff, eager to prove their ability to fly,” Enalus said, his voice steady despite his growing frustration. “Yet most only fall to the rocks below. You march toward your own doom, and you will drag my people down with you.”

“And yet, are those who fall not also released from their burdens, able to return to the homelands from whence their ancestors came?” Lord Myre replied. “Two Dark Ages I have sat upon this crumbling cliff. Were I less of a coward, I would jump and save myself from this wretched existence.”

He stood and left the room, marking the end of the meeting and Enalus’ failure.

* * *

Enalus ran home rather than stay the night in the capital. The other nobles wouldn’t agree to meet with him again any time soon.

Nali waited for him in their bed chambers, practicing with her sword. She stopped when he came in, lowering her sword to her side.

“Who ended the meeting this time?” Nali asked. “It was Lord Henna, wasn’t it? That man is as sour as the picklefruit he farms.”

Enalus shook his head.

Nali frowned. “Lord Grom, then? He was the most vocal against your Essence quotas in the first place.”

Enalus sat on their bed, lying down. “He didn’t even attend.”

He didn’t have the energy to remove his clothes, sweat soaked and dirty from the road, but his wife didn’t fuss about the linens. She was far too skilled at reading his moods.

“Who was it?” she asked seriously. “The situation may still be salvageable.”

“Myre.”

Nali’s eyes widened. “But he was the most supportive of your plan. He even helped you make it in the first place!”

“He has turned his back on us,” Enalus said. “I’m afraid all might be lost.”

Nali raised her sword and swung it down toward Enalus’ neck. He rolled off the bed, pulling his own sword from its sheath to meet hers.

“What was that for?” Enalus asked, too tired to deal with his wife’s antics.

“For impersonating my husband,” she snapped. “My Enalus is not so much a coward that a single setback would send him into despair. Now bring back my husband or I will split you down the middle and find him myself.”

Enalus pushed her sword away and stood. “And If I am your husband, flaws and all? Will you still run me through in search of another?”

Nali rolled her eyes, stowing her sword in her Inventory. She was making a point, and Enalus understood it perfectly as he sheathed his sword at his side.

“No one believes in your plan because you don’t even believe in your plan,” Nali said. “You’ve emptied your Inventory into our storerooms and you train the Initials to fight with swords instead of helping them gain levels. You fret constantly about the state of the System.”

“Because it is failing!” Enalus said. “This latest batch of Chosen are the most egregious example. How do you have so much trouble in the tutorial that it forces the Administrator to suspend growth for a month? And today, I met a child whose System was offline. We must prepare, Nali.”

“Yes, we must,” Nali agreed. “By preparing to lead the Chosen the way it has always been done. Not by abandoning them right as they meet the land they have been promised.”

Enalus frowned. “Not this again.”

“There are any number of reasons why the System might have trouble with the tutorial,” Nali insisted. “There is no reason to suspect that the Chosen are at fault. System only knows how many errors we have yet to notice. A hundred thousand new fighters—ones who have had all the advantages of the tutorial—should not be so easily discounted.”

“And if they are useless?” Enalus countered. “I would waste what little resources we have on a fool’s errand.”

“Like the girl?” Nali asked.

“Like the girl,” Enalus agreed, despite knowing it was a trap.

“The girl who broke a magically enhanced wardrobe with her bare hands and made a divot in your desk?”

“The wardrobe’s spells must have failed,” Enalus said dismissively. “And as for my desk… I don’t know. It may have something to do with the Essence Leech.”

“I had a Runesmith check the wardrobe. The spells are still intact. She didn’t break the spells, Enalus. She broke the wood. She’s a C-8 at least, and you let your fear of System failure drive you to banish one of the most promising Initials you have ever had in your halls.”

“What good is it if she can’t access her System?” Enalus snapped. “She won’t even be able to cast—”

Enalus froze. The girl’s defiant gaze rose in his mind as her hand knit itself back together around the artifact. Her Endurance was too low to support that kind of healing speed. Her System was down, he had seen it himself.

How had she cast Basic Heal?

“We need to find her,” Enalus said, grabbing his cloak and heading to the door.

“She’s long gone. What do you intend to do, scour the continent for her?”

“If I must,” Enalus said.

“I understand that she is strong, but you are missing my point,” Nali said, frustration coloring her voice as she grabbed her own cloak. “We need to prepare for the Chosen.”

“Nali, we need her!” Enalus said, turning to his wife. “She has found a way to use magic without the System’s guidance. If she can teach us how she did it, that girl might just save us all.”