My life was important, hell, I knew that. I cared greatly about my life. I would fight to my dying breath. My will to live had just… taken a few hits. Could be because I had started to accept that afterlives existed, could be because of my multiple near death experiences. Basically, if a random meteor was falling towards me, I’m the type of guy who would drink a nice hot chocolate and just nod, staring up at it, while others either panicked or tried their absolute hardest to somehow survive the impossible.
Still, I wouldn’t really give up. That wasn’t in my nature either. The fire mage, Riary I guess, had been about to blow my head up but I was still going to at least attack, before she had shifted targets. Not just close my eyes and do nothing.
So, overall, while I cared deeply about my life, I had to recognize that it had fallen into not being the most important thing to me.
No, that title was given to the gem that was somehow stored in my body by magic. Here’s a few facts. Hell has more people than literally a billion earths could hold. This gem summoned me, through hell, by a single man with a poorly made demon circle not even designed for the gem. Ergo facto, when we combine those two facts, we get a startingly answer.
This gem can probably do a whole lot more. Possibly sending a whole planet into hell. Possibly just opening a portal directly to there. The possibilities were unknown, but they were there. No matter what, nothing could be allowed to get their hands on it. The longer I held onto it, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized the dire situation of it. This wasn’t like holding a nuke in your pocket, or a bomb that could destroy a galaxy. No, those were dangerous because they were life ending.
Hell was worse. Hell was so much worse than death and it was forever.
I could almost not even comprehend a worse or more dangerous item to have possession of. A pocket sized Galactic nuke would be a better thing to own than this. I would die, a million deaths, before ever letting people even know of its existence.
“Never seen that Gem before in my life.” I answered.
Honestly too.
The gem I had was a Red Ruby square that looked like red fog inwardly billowed in it a bit. Like a miniature portion of hell captured.
The gem they had shown me was green.
Still a square though. It looked sickly, like poison, even from a drawing. My mind was overwhelmed by the implications. Another afterlife? Where did this one go to, a land of disease? Did every afterlife suck? Was the only way to reach one to use a gem? Did people summoned or entering that one turn into swamp people or something? My mind was in utter turmoil.
My face, however, was blank. Konahora stared at me, before nodding.
Tyler approached me, a strong look of compassion on his face.
“You… you really saved them?” He asked with a voice reeking of confusion and heart. Disbelief really. I had answered about twenty or thirty variations of this question, but now it seemed, well, genuine.
“I did.”
Riary looked like she wanted to incinerate me 100x over. It, unnerved me. She had nearly killed me, had been going to kill me, wanted to kill me, and to add insult to injury, all those statements were true for her feelings towards Selve. The glances she sent towards him were actually even more full of hatred. It honestly hurt, in some weird way. To be so utterly hated.
Tyler looked directly at me, and then said words I really hadn’t been expecting.
“I’m sorry. We… I didn’t even know there could be a good demon.” That statement was kinda extreme. It almost sent my mind off on a tangent before he followed up. “We’ve talked and…” He looked over at Riary who was actually twitching.
“Ahem. You’ve done a great deed. Truly, thank you. But… you can’t stay here. Your goal had been to leave and go to the Elven Kingdom. You need to leave and do that, now. If you don’t, you’ll be hunted down and killed.” He sounded genuinely sorry about that too.
My heart sighed with relief. I was going to live. This was honestly the best case scenario, minus almost getting turned into a pile of ash. I replied quickly.
“Absolutely. I’ll leave right now, in fact. Just need to gather some food and water from the… manor…” We all looked over to where there use to be a manor. Now? Now it was a flaming inferno of wood and, well, fire. A whole lot of fire. Wow.
Welp, not mine. It was over the top anyway. What kind of outskirt village has a manor with over two dozen rooms and three floors? That thing was insane.
“Well… anyway. I’ll go collect some basic resources and be on my way within a few minutes.” It was a bit sudden, it felt wrong that I never even got to see the village I saved but that was my own fault really. I had decided I’d rather spend my time alone with a hot elf who loved sucking my dick. I regret nothing.
“No.” Came the voice of Konahora. My bright smile froze on my lips.
“No?”
“You think we’d let you go like that?” Riary spoke. There was a… well hate and anger were practically the only emotions I’d seen out of there, but now there was also a twist of what almost seemed like sadism in her voice. Vindictiveness maybe. “You’re a fucking demon. We should kill you right now.” Her fires grew brighter and stronger at her words. It seemed like she was talking more to herself than to me.
“Riary.” Tyler spoke.
It did nothing to stop her. I felt a horrifyingly cold fear, as I realized that Riary had been far closer to the tipping point than I had realized. I was not okay. I was not safe. The battle had not ended. Riary was about three seconds from ignoring her teammates entirely and bathing me with enough fire to truly end my life this time. I stared into her eyes, and what I didn’t see scared me.
She was not mad. There was no hint of lost control. Riary was anger and hatred, a living firecracker of rage, but it wasn’t wild. It wasn’t exactly controlled but it was directed, like an arrow. I expected to look at her and see a woman past her breaking point. I just saw the same woman as a few seconds ago, except rapidly coming to a decision more in line with her desires.
Riary was less like a bomb about to explode, and more like a storm flipping a coin. The slightest nudge and it would land on the other side, the one that demanded I die.
“Riary. We are a team.” Konahora said, sounding almost like a mantra. Riary stood, tiny blue flames still starting to flicker around her, before she snorted and stomped away, heading to the burning manor.
I breathed out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. Riary hated me like I had never seen someone hate before. Scary. Frankly, I was shocked I wasn’t terrified of her but, well, from my point of view everything had just gone numb and dark when she had attacked me.
The more I thought about it, the colder I felt. Not for myself, my connection to life was somehow getting more fleeting. I probably needed therapy. No, for my friends. She could kill me and then Selve and then whoever she damn well pleased and I could do nothing about it. All three of them could. That thought was terrifying.
Tyler took the chance to speak back up.
“As Konahora was saying, we can’t let you go. We’ll be escorting you to the elven borders. We’ll be leaving immediately.”
Konahora stared at me as Tyler said that last word. Inwardly, I let out a dark chuckle. They still didn’t trust me, at all. Especially with the villagers or village I had saved. They thought I had some kind of trick prepared or something. But it was fine by me, really.
After all, I was far more concerned that I’d have to spend multiple weeks with these people.
“Alright.” I nodded my head and then turned towards Celena and Selve. They had been behind me the whole time, literally having my back. If there was any time for goodbyes, this was it. We all looked at each other.
The relationship between Selve and Celena wasn’t as fun as mine and hers, but we didn’t just fuck. We had talked a little about the elven kingdom, tiny tiny bit about the future, and a whole lot about the village. Selve had been brought up by both of us multiple times. He was a hero, to everyone. I took a deep breath and didn’t know what I was going to say to the two of them.
“Well, looks I have to go sooner than I thought.”
Selve frowned, hard. “Are you sure that-” I raised up a hand.
“That ‘Have to’ was literal. No choice. I’ll maybe be fine. I give it good odds I reach the border alive. After that… I don’t know. The summoning really messed me up. I’d have rather stayed home you know?” I smiled at him.
Selve grimaced, a guilty expression on his face. “I’m sorry. I… I didn’t know what to do.”
“Ha, It’s all good. You’re a good friend Selve. Bit too stubborn though. I don’t know when or if I’ll see you again, but stay strong brother. The people here need you.”
Welp, that was probably the best farewell I could do. I looked over at Celena, who was smiling.
“You know, it’s weird. Our fun time together is probably only going to be the second most memorable thing about you.”
She frowned. “Is it the eyepatch? I think it’s almost healed.”
At that I glanced over to Konahora who had been watching. She walked, briefly tapped Celena, and walked away. Celena immediately tore it off and let out a long sigh of relief. I chuckled and shook my head.
“No, actually. I’ll never forget you, naked, covered in blood, sword in hand, holes pierced through our enemy's heads and crotches. It was incredible.”
For the first time since I had seen her, she blushed a little.
I looked at them both. Our ties were light but strong. Friends of circumstance when we didn’t need to be. I didn’t have to actually like Selve, Selve didn’t need to like me, and Celena certainly didn’t need to go out of her way to be around me. Selve was right there, it wasn’t like I was the only sexual relief available.
And yet, here we were. It was a weird thing, almost forced. I had been brain fucked and forced from my home, Selve had his goddamn near everything destroyed, and Celena had been raped. We needed therapy but we’d definitely settle for some friends in our hard times.
I looked at them both and smiled.
“See you two around. Bye my friends.”
Selve patted me on the shoulder and Celena gave me a quick short hug.
I turned around, where three heroes awaited me. Two were smiling, one was scowling. I’d have to keep up that ratio for a few weeks or I’d probably lose my life. Great.
I took a deep breath of the warm night air and nodded. This had been my start to this world. I had spent it fighting and relaxing. Adjusting. I wasn’t as panicked now but I still felt blind and deaf to the wider world. If tonight had taught me nothing else, it was that I was hopelessly out of my element. From peace to near death in practically an instant. For the second or third time this week.
I wasn’t ready for this place, but I was more ready than I had been.
A small thought occurred to me and I chuckled. I had been upset about no one ever mentioning the actual name of the village, when Selve had simply told me it didn’t have one. It was an outskirt village, it would only get a name after enough people and enough time had passed. I had frustratingly asked if he at least knew the name of the world I was on. He had looked at me like I was crazy, and then answered.
Ero.
A simple name, but so was earth. As I left this small corner of Ero to head into a bigger part, I realized just how amazing it was. A fantasy world wasn’t better than a modern one but… it was called fantasy for a reason. How many things were out there I didn’t know about or understand? How many things would fill me with fear or awe like Riary had? Just the thought of this small journey over a few weeks filled my chest with a wonder that surprised me.
Hopefully it wouldn’t kill me. I shook my head. That was stupid, it was only a few weeks through known territory.
I mean, how bad could things really go?
My life was important, hell, I knew that. I cared greatly about my life. I would fight to my dying breath. My will to live had just… taken a few hits. Could be because I had started to accept that afterlives existed, could be because of my multiple near death experiences. Basically, if a random meteor was falling towards me, I’m the type of guy who would drink a nice hot chocolate and just nod, staring up at it, while others either panicked or tried their absolute hardest to somehow survive the impossible.
Still, I wouldn’t really give up. That wasn’t in my nature either. The fire mage, Riary I guess, had been about to blow my head up but I was still going to at least attack, before she had shifted targets. Not just close my eyes and do nothing.
So, overall, while I cared deeply about my life, I had to recognize that it had fallen into not being the most important thing to me.
No, that title was given to the gem that was somehow stored in my body by magic. Here’s a few facts. Hell has more people than literally a billion earths could hold. This gem summoned me, through hell, by a single man with a poorly made demon circle not even designed for the gem. Ergo facto, when we combine those two facts, we get a startingly answer.
This gem can probably do a whole lot more. Possibly sending a whole planet into hell. Possibly just opening a portal directly to there. The possibilities were unknown, but they were there. No matter what, nothing could be allowed to get their hands on it. The longer I held onto it, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized the dire situation of it. This wasn’t like holding a nuke in your pocket, or a bomb that could destroy a galaxy. No, those were dangerous because they were life ending.
Hell was worse. Hell was so much worse than death and it was forever.
I could almost not even comprehend a worse or more dangerous item to have possession of. A pocket sized Galactic nuke would be a better thing to own than this. I would die, a million deaths, before ever letting people even know of its existence.
“Never seen that Gem before in my life.” I answered.
Honestly too.
The gem I had was a Red Ruby square that looked like red fog inwardly billowed in it a bit. Like a miniature portion of hell captured.
The gem they had shown me was green.
Still a square though. It looked sickly, like poison, even from a drawing. My mind was overwhelmed by the implications. Another afterlife? Where did this one go to, a land of disease? Did every afterlife suck? Was the only way to reach one to use a gem? Did people summoned or entering that one turn into swamp people or something? My mind was in utter turmoil.
My face, however, was blank. Konahora stared at me, before nodding.
Tyler approached me, a strong look of compassion on his face.
“You… you really saved them?” He asked with a voice reeking of confusion and heart. Disbelief really. I had answered about twenty or thirty variations of this question, but now it seemed, well, genuine.
“I did.”
Riary looked like she wanted to incinerate me 100x over. It, unnerved me. She had nearly killed me, had been going to kill me, wanted to kill me, and to add insult to injury, all those statements were true for her feelings towards Selve. The glances she sent towards him were actually even more full of hatred. It honestly hurt, in some weird way. To be so utterly hated.
Tyler looked directly at me, and then said words I really hadn’t been expecting.
“I’m sorry. We… I didn’t even know there could be a good demon.” That statement was kinda extreme. It almost sent my mind off on a tangent before he followed up. “We’ve talked and…” He looked over at Riary who was actually twitching.
“Ahem. You’ve done a great deed. Truly, thank you. But… you can’t stay here. Your goal had been to leave and go to the Elven Kingdom. You need to leave and do that, now. If you don’t, you’ll be hunted down and killed.” He sounded genuinely sorry about that too.
My heart sighed with relief. I was going to live. This was honestly the best case scenario, minus almost getting turned into a pile of ash. I replied quickly.
“Absolutely. I’ll leave right now, in fact. Just need to gather some food and water from the… manor…” We all looked over to where there use to be a manor. Now? Now it was a flaming inferno of wood and, well, fire. A whole lot of fire. Wow.
Welp, not mine. It was over the top anyway. What kind of outskirt village has a manor with over two dozen rooms and three floors? That thing was insane.
“Well… anyway. I’ll go collect some basic resources and be on my way within a few minutes.” It was a bit sudden, it felt wrong that I never even got to see the village I saved but that was my own fault really. I had decided I’d rather spend my time alone with a hot elf who loved sucking my dick. I regret nothing.
“No.” Came the voice of Konahora. My bright smile froze on my lips.
“No?”
“You think we’d let you go like that?” Riary spoke. There was a… well hate and anger were practically the only emotions I’d seen out of there, but now there was also a twist of what almost seemed like sadism in her voice. Vindictiveness maybe. “You’re a fucking demon. We should kill you right now.” Her fires grew brighter and stronger at her words. It seemed like she was talking more to herself than to me.
“Riary.” Tyler spoke.
It did nothing to stop her. I felt a horrifyingly cold fear, as I realized that Riary had been far closer to the tipping point than I had realized. I was not okay. I was not safe. The battle had not ended. Riary was about three seconds from ignoring her teammates entirely and bathing me with enough fire to truly end my life this time. I stared into her eyes, and what I didn’t see scared me.
She was not mad. There was no hint of lost control. Riary was anger and hatred, a living firecracker of rage, but it wasn’t wild. It wasn’t exactly controlled but it was directed, like an arrow. I expected to look at her and see a woman past her breaking point. I just saw the same woman as a few seconds ago, except rapidly coming to a decision more in line with her desires.
Riary was less like a bomb about to explode, and more like a storm flipping a coin. The slightest nudge and it would land on the other side, the one that demanded I die.
“Riary. We are a team.” Konahora said, sounding almost like a mantra. Riary stood, tiny blue flames still starting to flicker around her, before she snorted and stomped away, heading to the burning manor.
I breathed out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. Riary hated me like I had never seen someone hate before. Scary. Frankly, I was shocked I wasn’t terrified of her but, well, from my point of view everything had just gone numb and dark when she had attacked me.
The more I thought about it, the colder I felt. Not for myself, my connection to life was somehow getting more fleeting. I probably needed therapy. No, for my friends. She could kill me and then Selve and then whoever she damn well pleased and I could do nothing about it. All three of them could. That thought was terrifying.
Tyler took the chance to speak back up.
“As Konahora was saying, we can’t let you go. We’ll be escorting you to the elven borders. We’ll be leaving immediately.”
Konahora stared at me as Tyler said that last word. Inwardly, I let out a dark chuckle. They still didn’t trust me, at all. Especially with the villagers or village I had saved. They thought I had some kind of trick prepared or something. But it was fine by me, really.
After all, I was far more concerned that I’d have to spend multiple weeks with these people.
“Alright.” I nodded my head and then turned towards Celena and Selve. They had been behind me the whole time, literally having my back. If there was any time for goodbyes, this was it. We all looked at each other.
The relationship between Selve and Celena wasn’t as fun as mine and hers, but we didn’t just fuck. We had talked a little about the elven kingdom, tiny tiny bit about the future, and a whole lot about the village. Selve had been brought up by both of us multiple times. He was a hero, to everyone. I took a deep breath and didn’t know what I was going to say to the two of them.
“Well, looks I have to go sooner than I thought.”
Selve frowned, hard. “Are you sure that-” I raised up a hand.
“That ‘Have to’ was literal. No choice. I’ll maybe be fine. I give it good odds I reach the border alive. After that… I don’t know. The summoning really messed me up. I’d have rather stayed home you know?” I smiled at him.
Selve grimaced, a guilty expression on his face. “I’m sorry. I… I didn’t know what to do.”
“Ha, It’s all good. You’re a good friend Selve. Bit too stubborn though. I don’t know when or if I’ll see you again, but stay strong brother. The people here need you.”
Welp, that was probably the best farewell I could do. I looked over at Celena, who was smiling.
“You know, it’s weird. Our fun time together is probably only going to be the second most memorable thing about you.”
She frowned. “Is it the eyepatch? I think it’s almost healed.”
At that I glanced over to Konahora who had been watching. She walked, briefly tapped Celena, and walked away. Celena immediately tore it off and let out a long sigh of relief. I chuckled and shook my head.
“No, actually. I’ll never forget you, naked, covered in blood, sword in hand, holes pierced through our enemy's heads and crotches. It was incredible.”
For the first time since I had seen her, she blushed a little.
I looked at them both. Our ties were light but strong. Friends of circumstance when we didn’t need to be. I didn’t have to actually like Selve, Selve didn’t need to like me, and Celena certainly didn’t need to go out of her way to be around me. Selve was right there, it wasn’t like I was the only sexual relief available.
And yet, here we were. It was a weird thing, almost forced. I had been brain fucked and forced from my home, Selve had his goddamn near everything destroyed, and Celena had been raped. We needed therapy but we’d definitely settle for some friends in our hard times.
I looked at them both and smiled.
“See you two around. Bye my friends.”
Selve patted me on the shoulder and Celena gave me a quick short hug.
I turned around, where three heroes awaited me. Two were smiling, one was scowling. I’d have to keep up that ratio for a few weeks or I’d probably lose my life. Great.
I took a deep breath of the warm night air and nodded. This had been my start to this world. I had spent it fighting and relaxing. Adjusting. I wasn’t as panicked now but I still felt blind and deaf to the wider world. If tonight had taught me nothing else, it was that I was hopelessly out of my element. From peace to near death in practically an instant. For the second or third time this week.
I wasn’t ready for this place, but I was more ready than I had been.
A small thought occurred to me and I chuckled. I had been upset about no one ever mentioning the actual name of the village, when Selve had simply told me it didn’t have one. It was an outskirt village, it would only get a name after enough people and enough time had passed. I had frustratingly asked if he at least knew the name of the world I was on. He had looked at me like I was crazy, and then answered.
Ero.
A simple name, but so was earth. As I left this small corner of Ero to head into a bigger part, I realized just how amazing it was. A fantasy world wasn’t better than a modern one but… it was called fantasy for a reason. How many things were out there I didn’t know about or understand? How many things would fill me with fear or awe like Riary had? Just the thought of this small journey over a few weeks filled my chest with a wonder that surprised me.
Hopefully it wouldn’t kill me. I shook my head. That was stupid, it was only a few weeks through known territory.
I mean, how bad could things really go?
