Stray Elf: Lost in the System

The shadowy clouds in the sky returned after a day of a sunless battle. I trudged along towards the outskirts of the village by the ocean. I wielded a spear, yet I passed by swords once held by warriors that were no match for the present day buried in the ground. Heh, even after all of these years I still preferred to keep my distance from the humans. Or anyone, for that matter. Several more of them were stabbed into the rocks by the beach, so I decided to inspect them. Someone with a Skill jabbed these swords into the stone, with larger, imposing slabs of metal behind them in the shape of blades plunged into the earth to signify a fallen General. They were memorials, funeral headstones for warriors long lost before I arrived here. A thick scroll blew in the wind underneath one of the swords. I spent a little bit of time learning the human language, so I figured I could take a shot at reading whatever was on this thing. The scroll was made out of leather from the Pits. Did a Demon write this? Was there a Demon living among the humans in this village? I have heard deserters sometimes ended up accepted in human civilization. Prolonged war never had any benefits, did it not? I unfolded it. It was a poem.

Mist lets up, a flash of golden rays upon

a soon to be crimson field of grass

My comrades, sons sailed away to defend Duoya

O, I can hear the soft sob of mother

the sister babe suckling on her breast

neither can join the battle,

and I know in my heart I will not see them

again, my heart is for this battle

to fight hopefully 'til the Twin Sisters rise

Hear the stalk skirts flutter

from whistling wind, I see

Falin raised his horn— Mother, it is time to go

Eh? Humans were capable of stuff like this? Duoya, I scrolled through the orders I was given in my own head. That was the next fortress we were headed to, no? I knew this little junkyard did not have a name. The Fortress was further away over the seas, which was why we were holed up here anyways. I tossed the poem into the ocean and soon the scroll drifted away into the clear waters. Something dark stirred the waves and pulled it into the deep, making me shudder. I shook out of it. We were supposed to be marching over there by the Cold Moonfall, since the Hatred Army's war machines needed the extra magical energy. Apparently, the city had a lot of it and led to a deeper magical energy source on the island it belonged to. Therefore, the Demons would conquer it just like the rest of the islands.

We still had some time left, I guessed, so I decided to stroll inside the village. It was better than getting soaked by the sea spray. The place was muddy from the rain and quiet. Too quiet. My men were strangely sitting around in a somber state, not even bothering with the terrified humans we captured. Normally they would be excitedly breaking things and people, but we were all worn out. It was not even a difficult battle, that was up ahead for us. Heh, it’s been years of warring for me hasn’t it? I must have caused tragedy everywhere I’ve gone by now. I wondered if anyone’s ever written a poem about me. On second thought, it probably was better if I did not know. I yanked a list of captive names and proceeded uselessly by the resting soldiers. No one would yell at me if I had a clipboard in my hand at my old job, so this list of names I didn’t care about should do the trick in this world.

“Psst!” Someone pulled my attention from the dark alleyways between the wooden shacks. A survivor? A young face peered out at me, unafraid of the massive spear and list I held in my hands.

“You’re, ah,” I flipped through the list of captives. “Tyir. You’re supposed to be with the, eh, whatever. Make it quick, kid.”

“Do you ever…” The kid approached me with an unsettling look on his face. It was by all means snot-nosed and ugly like all human children faces, but there was something off in his eyes. “Taste color, miss? Smell hatred? See what the siren gulls sing? Heard the horns from seeing the shapes?”

“W-What?” I suddenly realized the danger this spooky child posed. “Listen, kid, we can pretend we never saw each other yeah?”

Tyir giggled and backed away slowly, beckoning me to follow him without breaking eye contact. This was bad. Synesthesia-like symptoms were the result of coming in contact with a source of alien magical energy… which meant somewhere in this shantytown was a curious visitor from… Exposure from those aliens was extremely dangerous, so as far as I knew it this kid was long gone already and I was speaking to a new Master inside of him.

Shit! None of the Lunarists or mages knew how to stabilize the alien magic coursing through anyone of ours! The giggles chanted and I didn’t even notice my feet were headed into the dark alleyway. I’ve gone through this before, but I couldn’t remember when or where. It was too late. The list splat in the mud behind me since my hands were shaking too hard. I should have known by the vacant light in the kid’s eyes.

As I was guided by the child, I noticed there were even more of them watching me from the shadows and shacks. I also realized it was dark now, but how could that be? It was grey and stormy, but the moons were not down yet. I was in big trouble, like sliding uncontrollably down a slippery swallet into a deep cave. I stopped, but not by my own will. The children followed Tyir and I into this darkness, circling me like gorestabbers. How could I see them? Where was the light coming from? The ground! Glowing cyan stones lay in an odd pattern on the floor, which the children arranged themselves accordingly.

“There is Death in your heart, lady,” Tyir spoke softly to me as he approached. A pity welled up inside his lifeless eyes. “I can smell the Hatred on you, the wailing tastes bitter.”

I’m sorry? I remained still as a statue and silent. For some odd reason, this strange space I was inside of seemed like it was much larger on the inside than the outside of wherever I was. I was surrounded by many of the aliens posing as these children and I had a sinking feeling there would be no way out.

“Be not afraid, Nameless birthed from the Goddess of Light, Ruler of Death,” The fake Tyir smiled a little too widely, but its voice was strangely soothing. Is this where they pull the rug out from underneath me and kill me? The creature shook its head. “You have suffered and caused suffering for so long, you have forgotten what it means to be yourself.”

Well, I remained silent but surrendered. I did kind of take a blow to the head awhile ago and it’s been all downhill from there.

The children began to giggle in unison; it was the worst sound I have ever heard, even over the screams of men in battle. Goosebumps pecked at my skin, like getting licked up and down by a cold and sandy tongue. Tyir joined with them and they all began to glow. I was definitely going to die alone in this disgusting, tiny Human settlement. How fitting. I squeezed my eyes shut as the chanting and laughing grew more intense. All of the hairs on my skin rose as a ripple of magic rang out through the air, scratching at my ears and eyes. I cowered.

“Yes,” every noise ceased, aside from the flapping of feathery wings. I knew what was floating ahead of me. “Thou shall be granted love, Elf. Hold onto it, O, hold onto it as far as you can get in this world.”

A jolt of energy stabbed through me and I gasped involuntarily. Notifications played furiously in my head, but I didn’t move a muscle. The static energy from this thing was already enough to break my skin up. No, I felt flesh. This thing was sticking something through my skin! I shivered and felt it inside my head, watching everything! My thoughts, my bones and flesh were being observed by it. The tendrils withdrew themselves and I collapsed.

I panted, the beating of my heart drowning out my hearing. My vision was restoring itself slowly and somehow I knew I was alone in the alleyway again. The pain was about what I expected an alien abduction would be like, but I felt gross. Ashamed. This feeling washed over me like a sickly plague. Did I just get…? I shook out of it. I hoped it found whatever it was looking for inside of me so it could leave me the hell alone. The notifications flashed in my head again, but come to think about it. Something felt off, I realized. I did not know what, but if that was “love” I definitely did not want it! I had enough bad luck as is, thank you very much!

Alert: Foreign magical energy coded “Manas” located within the System. Attempting to quarantine ontological threats.

This again…? I haven’t had a System error since I leveled up awhile ago. It wasn’t from my Mother, was it? I still have not learned how to make contact with her! The static in my vision vanished and another alert played in my mind.

Alert: Foreign entity successfully quarantined. Entity “Terminal Rose” has been added and shutdown due to being incompatible with the Death Seed.

What does any of this mean? I wondered. Did the space virus get deleted from my terrible Operating System? I have seen some soldiers get extremely sick from being exposed to those strange Assurium Glossary creatures. The thing definitely touched me, I shuddered at the thought of the experience. Getting abducted by aliens was not something I thought I would go through in this world. The others who encountered them usually didn’t make it and were bedridden until they died, but here I was standing. Well, on my knees, but I made it out alive with nothing but my System to thank.

“C-Captain?” A voice came from behind me. “W-What are you doing?”

“Eh?” I got up, but my knees still felt shaky. A demon soldier was standing behind me, holding the muddy scroll I dropped. Shit. If I had any care about my own appearance left inside of me, I would feel even more embarrassed. “I’m exercising.”

He definitely did not believe me, but instead of bringing it up he cleared his throat.

“You dropped this, Captain,” he handed me the muddy list. “The Hatred Raider’s ships have arrived at Port Star. Give us the order to march.”

I grunted. He also ignored how shaky my hands were as I took the scroll, but eventually shambled away with a salute. I leaned on the side of the shack next to me and breathed heavily. I was alive, but a wave of hopelessness washed over me. What did these outside forces want from me? Would I be strong enough to face them when they come for me? Dread splotched my skin with goosebumps because I knew the answer. I was not prepared at all for things like aliens or angels. A drop of rain splashed on my skin and I sneezed. Luckily, no one was around to hear me since they might call it cute. It was time to steel myself and get back to my job.

The men were still quite somber when we moved. This was not good. Morale and burnout were mortal enemies, or something. I was no skilled General and have been winging it throughout my short time here, but we trudged along. Eventually, when the rain refused to let up we were forced to stop along the coastal grasslands and take a break. That’s when an alert popped up before my scouts did.

Alert: Heavily armed hostile approaching.

This was bad. An enemy army was approaching us. I cursed to myself. Of course enemies would be fleeing from the port when the Hatred Army’s ships arrived. Still, I was still shaken up from my encounter with those entities and remained seated as soon as the scout arrived, panting.

“C-Captain!” He bent over and rested his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. “A-An army is approaching!”

“Hells, man, you look like you’re out of shape,” I sighed. How did we falter in our training? I turned to another soldier who froze on the spot. “Get everyone ready. We have to get in position. Hurry!”

The soldier saluted and immediately horns were blown. We gathered up and prepared our formations for a fight. We looked like we were ready, but anyone experienced could tell that we could collapse at any moment. I saw the flags first rising above the hill followed by a force equal in size to my own. They looked just as worn as I do! A human captain on horseback halted her men by raising her hand and simply rode a distance away alone to face whoever was in charge here. She did not yell, but sat in the rain. I hesitated, but my men were looking at me expectantly.

I slowly marched alone and hoped that she would not attempt to cut me down, despite the Status Skill warning me that she was a Crowned entity. The horse idled, stomping its worn out hoof on the grass and neighing softly while she nodded at me. Ah, this was a parlay, I thought. I was as tall as the horse itself standing.

There were no words exchanged between us. The human captain barely had any equipment on aside from torn up arms, and her soldiers had sticks for spears and clubs for axes. They knew this fight would be their last if they tried. Her eyes pleaded with me and I nodded. They’re only prolonging their death, but it would not be delivered by my hands today. Surely the Ruler of Death can have days off, right? We stared at each other for a moment and I shrugged then turned to signal at my men to let them through.

“We— We ain’t gonna fight, Captain?” One of the demons asked me. The rows of human soldiers avoided looking at us in the eyes as we quietly passed them. It was a bit claustrophobic, like marching through a really long hallway close to strangers.

“Seems so,” I confirmed. “I could use a break from the fighting anyways.”

“We… just left break, Captain,” another piped up.

“I want another one,” I sighed. “Don’t tell me you guys want to fight them.”

“We love fighting!” One cheered.

“Then why the Hells are you guys so gloomy?”

“We love being gloomy!”

I sighed. It was true that demons loved to battle, but I must have been reading the room wrong. They all seemed like they did not want to battle anyone. The last of that human captain’s men had already passed us and escaped into the mountains. Well, that sucks to be them. The mountains have a lot of dangerous (and inconvenient) monsters haunting their forests. I once saw Yokgu beat a spider monster as large as a helicopter up with his bare fists… not like I wanted anything to do with that. It even flew like a helicopter.

We continued on until I caught the glimpse of the sea again. Rows of wooden ships dotted its black waters and the island country of Duoya loomed quietly in the grey mist. The mist was quite dangerous under the Twin Suns, but there were also Sea Dragons that infested many areas of the waters. It was said humans and demons worked together to map out several safe passage ways where dragon attacks happened less, while I was terrified that such creatures existed in this world.

“There you are!” The one-eyed, hulking red skinned Hatred Demon with a large pair of horns on his head. We gathered on the beach, since the port was razed. His muscles were bulging, shining from the ocean’s dark waters dripping down their hardened curves. I approached him and gave him a nod. Oh no, I thought idly to myself. He is hot…! “The famous Nameless.”

I returned his smirk with a blank stare. He was giving me a nervousness that stirred in my heart, causing it to sway like the ships in the waters. How could this be? Was it those aliens’ fault for making me feel giddy like this?

“You’re taking us to the fortress?” I asked him.

“It is as the Ack’Sa says,” he chuckled, resting his massive palm on my shoulder. He must have seen the disdain spread across my face, because that grin of his grew wider. “There’s still time before we depart. Let’s have some fun, Nameless, how about that? Winner gets a prize of their choosing.”

“Oh?” I peeled his hand off my armor effortlessly, causing my men and his pirates to hoot and holler. “Is that so?”

The big Demon laughed heartily, shaking his hand.

“I’m givin’ you shit, mate. You Abyssal dogs are so—“

The crashing sound of my shoulder plate embedding itself into the sands interrupted him. I unhooked the other plate and let it drop as well. The men cheered as I undid all my armor down to the commoner pants I wore beneath it. I tossed the armored glove into the shallow parts of the waters.

“Okay,” I said blankly. “I think it’s fair to do it without armor, like you. Let’s have some fun, Captain.”

His laughing stopped as he realized I intended on teaching him a lesson and his eyes narrowed in on the submerged glove, which remained motionless despite the tides pushing against it. A swear came later, followed by him cracking his neck. By now, the crowds of demons circled us as I watched him stand to his full height, a few heads taller than I was. There were no Generals or Knights to tell us to not roughhouse, so I figured I might as well indulge myself for a brief moment. Another Hatred sailor handed me a large bottle of alcohol.

“He’s always half drunk and half not sober,” the demon laughed, smacking his knees. Doesn’t that mean he’s just drunk? I wondered, but took a big swig from the bottle. I hoped this drink will take whatever shame and ugly feelings I felt when I encountered those Glossaries.

Alert: Harmful substances consumed. Poisons neutralized. Host will not be affected and Soul count will remain unchanged.

I checked the bottle in frustration. I would feel the same as I always have, since alcohol no longer affected me. The Captain clapped his hands in approval, but snarled. He was the second option to forget all about that encounter.

“You know, I won’t hold back right?” He barked. “It’s a game, and Redrax don’t lose those!”

“Uh huh,” I chugged the rest of the bottle down. It burned my throat, but it was not enough to change anything. “You said I get a prize if I win, right?”

“As if,” Redrax scoffed. “Whoever falls first loses, and you’ll have to do whatever I say! You all best be ready for a show, boys!”

The men cheered, but I finally placed the bottle down and glared at him. He stopped cracking his knuckles and wiped his grin off his face. It was high time he should get serious.

“Bring it on, then,” I muttered. Take me out of my misery!

Alert: Hostile Crowned Skill User is in the area.

Alert: Skill “Power” incoming.”

I sighed. His fist was headed towards me too slowly. The men behind me scattered as I saw the Skill crash against my jaw before the pain registered. Pain? My body stood still as the turbulent winds swirled and kicked up muddy sand and stinging water all around the red Demon and I. My jaw crunched and cheeks shattered, but my heart fluttered still. The men grew silent, wondering if I died or something so silly as that. Captain Redrax evidently thought I did too, but his eyes widened as he saw me still standing and smiling to myself.

“It’s been some time,” I said, wiping my chin off of the sand. It tingled with the pulse-pounding sensation spreading up my left cheek when I touched it. “Since I felt pain.”

The crowd went wild.

“She’s batshit crazy!”

“Bloody landlubber!”

“And yet I have felt it twice in just a couple of days,” I continued, before I finally acknowledged the shocked captain. “Now, it’s my turn!”

I considered preparing a Power Body Skill of my own, but if I did the fun would end too quickly. So I opted to simply punch him instead. He was a few heads taller than I was, but I made sure to aim exactly where he hit me. The blow connected with a savory crunch, my fist feeling the hardness of his skin break beneath it as I swung. To punch, one must throw their all into it. Something so stiff can crack, but the Captain has obviously been through the Hells’ training so he knew how to survive a tough punch to the face by remaining loose enough to exact revenge.

He mumbled something, but his jaw was swollen too much to be coherent. Then more pain painted my cheeks again as he delivered another Skill empowered punch. The demon crowd roared with excitement and gasped with an equal amount of awe when the mist cleared and I was still standing. We spent the afternoon beating each other up, but eventually the fun ended. Redrax grinned with a shaky fighting stance, while I stood ragged. It was his turn, but finally his eyes rolled back and he toppled over. The crowd went wild, but suddenly fell dead silent as I glared at the fallen Captain’s crew and pointed at the glove I tossed in the water.

“Place that next to my other armor, losers,” I commanded them, but I was unsure if they understood my garbled speech through my swollen jaws. They got the message anyways as they rushed to retrieve it. That’s right, I tried to laugh, but the pounding in my head flooded through my whole body and my vision went black.

I awoke to the seas crashing, with a stinging sensation still trapped within my skull. Was I poisoned? I sat up slowly, but I remembered I spent hours fighting with a Demon much bigger than me. I was in a room with a lamp hanging from a chain on the ceiling that swayed leisurely with the waves. I was on a ship! A chest sat next to me containing my armor, complete with the glove I threw. I chuckled to myself, but fell into a sad state. Since I was sailing, more fighting was ahead of me. The fun was already over, like a weekend burning out like a meteor.

It was dark outside. I stood up and held onto the wall to not lurch over. Aside from a slight headache, I felt fine as if I did not spend hours getting punched earlier ago. Panic welled in me. What if I was out for days? I pushed the door opened and noticed I wasn’t in my usual commoners clothes, but nice and comfortable robes instead. These were definitely pilfered from the humans during his voyages. Heh, I guess he won after all. Not that I would admit that. I was below deck, so I peered across the tight hallway and moved towards the stairs leading outside.

I passed by sleeping sailors and noticed the docks and ruins of buildings out the gunports. That explains why they’re slacking off. The sea and night winds greeted me with howling as I opened the door and moved across the deck like a phantom. There was only one room I planned on going to: The Captain’s. He was pouring over a chart and nearly jumped out of his skin when I slammed the door open. The mages must have spent hours healing him, since even with the seven moons illuminating his red skin he still looked good.

“N-Nameless!” He stammered, but his eyes were looking at me alone now. A mixture of surprise and awe greeted me, and his face remained undaunted by my small smile. That was a first, but I could not hide it from showing anyways. Even the creaking door slamming shut from the winds outside did not take his attention away from me. “What are you doing here?”

“I have come to take my prize,” I undid the robes and let them fall to the floor as I drew closer to him. His protests fell silent as I felt his excitement grow against my leg and we sealed the night together. I felt less of that odd shame about myself now, but I was not sure that would ever go away.

The following morning, I experienced what it was like to be sore again. As I lay against his warm chest, I wondered if I ever did anything like this with anyone from my previous life. That old me, I decided, was as good as gone. This was all new to me, not that I would let Redrax know. When this voyage ended, I decided I'll visit him again for one last time.

A horn called out, citing that the fortress had something odd going on with it. When Duoya came into view for the rest of us, we discovered there was not a soul in sight. No ships, no flags hoisted, and no sign of life. The Human’s navy was taken out weeks ago, but it was expected that more should have come by now. I was ready to fight and let loose after my recent escapades. At best, I could report this as a victory for the Hells’ Armies and the Ack’Sa so we can take the rest of the island countries over. At worst, come tomorrow we'll destroy whatever is happening with it. Or whatever.