Becoming A God In Another World With My Crush

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Kaelhi...

Kaelhi...

Answer our prayers...

Save us...

Please...

Help!

He's killing us...!

...wipe us out!

SAVE US!

The morning air was cold against Xander's skin as he stood outside the cottage. The forest ahead was quiet and calm.

And Xander barely noticed the cold or silence as his eyes were fixed on his wrist.

The mark was faint beneath the skin, almost silver, catching the light in a way that didn't feel natural. He rubbed it absently. Nothing changed. It never pulsed when someone else looked at it. Only when he was alone.

His jaw tensed.

The voices, he was hearing the voices again...

"Kaelhi!"

Xander jumped, "W–what?"

Eli was adjusting the reins on the horse, carefully securing the last of their satchels.

"I said we're almost ready," Eli called over, not unkindly, but firm enough to cut through the fog of the early morning. Xander blinked. His hand dropped away from his wrist.

"Huh? Yeah. Coming." 

Eli gave him a brief look, eyebrow raised. "You have been staring at your hand for the past five minutes. Try not to get lost before we even leave, young Kaelhi." 

Xander forced a small breath through his nose a half-laugh, half sigh. "No promises."

Eli didn't push further. Just nodded once and turned back to check the saddle straps again. Xander shifted on his feet, eyes dropping to the mark once more.

He wondered if Iris had experienced something similar since she had a mark of her own, situated at her chest.

He adjusted the strap on his shoulder absently, pretending to check the pack on the horse but mostly just trying to ignore the lingering chill of the morning air—and the strange weight in his chest that hadn't left since he heard the voices again.

He glanced around. "Where's Iris?"

Eli fastened the last buckle and straightened. "She went to try on the dress."

"Oh." Xander rubbed the back of his neck. "...right."

As if summoned by the word itself, the door creaked open behind them and Iris stepped out.

And for a moment, the world felt like it had stopped.

The dress shined faintly in the sunlight, hugging her frame seductively, showcasing her thin waist and wide hips and slightly plump thighs. The upper part of the dress accentuated her fairly large chest in a snugly manner. The soft fabric fluttered above her knees as she stepped down from the doorway. Her braids were pulled back with a simple tie, and the wind caught a few loose strands, letting them frame her face.

She was beyond beautiful, the most ethereal thing he'd ever seen.

Xander blinked.

Then blinked again.

Eli glanced at him, amused. "Careful. You look like you have forgotten have to breathe."

"Err..." Xander made a sound. Not even a word. Just… a sound.

'How intelligent.' he thought to himself, 'I'm hopeless.'

"Y-you look... I mean...uh. The dress. It...uh...fits. I mean, not that I was thinking about how it would fit I just— I was waiting..." 

Iris raised an eyebrow, confused.

He was still fumbling to the point he wished the ground would just open up and swallow him or the beast king appeared himself and deleted him from existence, because anything was better than his rambling. "Not that I was waiting for you—I mean not waiting like, waiting—I just meant—"

"Xander." Her tone was flat.

He froze. "Huh?"

"You're staring."

"I—I wasn't—" 

"God you're such a creep."

He turned so red he could've burst into flames on the spot. "I'm not—! I was just—!" 

Eli let out a low chuckle, clearly enjoying this more than he should have. Iris rolled her gorgeous eyes, but there was the faintest twitch at the corner of her mouth like she was trying very hard not to smile.

She walked past them with her chin lifted, feigning indifference. "Come on, Casanova. We've got a cave to find."

Xander groaned under his breath and muttered, "Unbelievable," as he followed her.

He was completely hopeless, he had zero game... couldn't even form a coherent compliment.

Not wonder he couldn't ever get a girlfriend.

They'd been walking for hours.

Xander felt like collapsing into the dirt below and never getting up, but there's no way he could do so when Iris walked right beside him not even looking tired at all as of she was used to such hard work.

Imagine getting thrust into a world with no vehicles and you always had to travel on foot unless you learned how to ride a horse without falling off or getting stomped on.

'Completely unbelievable.'

Eli walked ahead, guiding the horse by its reins quietly.

Iris' nose was buried in the ancient book again, flipping through pages with the kind of absorbed focus only a girl desperate for answers could manage. 

"And get this," she said, tapping the page. "There's a creature called a Vorsthorn. No eyes, no mouth, just this endless shriek. Apparently it feeds off echo magic. If you speak, it hears your words repeating in the air and then it comes for your ass." 

Xander made a face. "Okay, definitely not terrifying at all." 

She chuckled and flipped another page. "Oh, and there's the Ashmire Cat...uh–Catoblepas. Its blood is acid. It dies when it sees its own reflection...fucking cool." 

"Who designs these things?" Xander muttered. "Is there like… a monster suggestion box in this realm?" 

Iris ignored him, still reading. "Some of these entries are dated centuries ago. I don't even know if half of them are still alive. But it says here that the cave was once a nesting ground for something called—uh—Seraphiak wyrmlings? Apparently they hatched near Veylith energy sources—" 

Xander cut in, glancing at Eli. "Wait, is the hydra still gonna be there?"

Eli nodded without looking back. "Yes. Its purpose is to guard the crystal. It will not leave unless it is killed."

Xander winced. "Right. Cool. So if you could just hit it with your purple fire thing again... that would kill it, right?"

Eli stopped, adjusting the weight of the pack on the horse before responding.

"No," he said calmly. "That fire is not meant to kill monsters, I'm not a powerful mage, just a Scholar."

Xander frowned. "But it ran when it saw it."

"Yes," Eli admitted, glancing over his shoulder. "It is only meant to repel certain types of creatures...but I am incapable of killing a monster, I do not possess such immense magical strength. I am just an ordinary human with greater knowledge than the average person."

Iris looked up from the book, narrowing her eyes. "So what's the plan, exactly? You don't have any real powers. We're not ready for a battle. And that thing is guarding the crystal we're supposed to take." 

Eli nodded once, as if that part had already been settled in his mind. 

"I will distract the hydra," he said. "You two will enter the cave and retrieve the crystal and escape."

There was a beat of silence.

"You're kidding," Xander said flatly.

Eli said he was a Scholar, so that meant he was smart...why was his plan so...plain and reckless?

Xander sighed and rubbed his temples. "Okay, but I really hope you have something up your sleeve that's more than just 'surprise, I studied magic!'"

Eli didn't respond.

The sun had begun its slow descent behind the trees. Golden light shined through the leaves in shards, painting the forest in a mix of green, brown and orange.

Xander kept glancing at the sky, mentally tracking how many hours they'd been moving.

They came upon the cave just as the sun kissed the horizon. Eli stopped and raised a hand.

"We have arrived."

'Finally! Oh my god!'

Xander stared at the mouth of the cave as Eli muttered, "The Veylith Crystal lies within."

Then the air trembled.

A low, guttural rumble echoed from deep inside the cave—followed by a roar that shook the earth beneath their feet.

Iris jumped, hands clutching her chest. "H–here we go again."

"The hydra," Eli said simply. "It has sensed us."

Xander's stomach dropped. Iris looked sick with fright. Eli stepped forward, pulling the satchel from the horse and checking the straps on his gloves.

"It begins now, remember Kaelhi and Iris. " he said. "Stay close."