The Bookkeeper

By Raiden's count, this was the second time he'd walked straight into something without seeing it coming. The mysterious incident that led to his transmigration, and now this mess at Lunar City.

Through the darkness, though, he could feel hands pushing him, shaking him, as a voice called out. Not the voice in his head this time—this one was distant yet close enough to belong to whoever wouldn't stop trying to rouse him.

Raiden felt no sense of urgency to wake up—the annoying voice in his head was gone, and all he wanted was to keep resting. But the person trying to wake him wouldn't quit. The next thing he knew, a heavy slap landed across his face, jerking him upright so suddenly that his head smacked into his persistent rescuer.

Sunlight stabbed at his eyes, making him throw up a hand to block it. Noelle and Ash were collapsed near his legs, and to his right crouched a young man a few years older than him—a white aura flickering around him, gray eyes above thick brows, face hidden behind a white turban and black cloak that left only his stare visible.

A bone-deep growl rumbled from his left, followed by sand erupting in a massive cloud. He gulped hard, steadying himself with one hand as sweat formed on his brow.

It all moved too quickly—even his danger sense couldn't keep pace.

A massive sand worm, easily seventy feet long, had burst from the ground in an explosion of dust and sand. The terrifying creature was armored in thick, segmented scales of reddish-brown that rippled with raw power—like some nightmarish cross between an earthworm and a serpent.

Its mouth stretched impossibly wide—ten to fifteen times taller than any human—revealing row after row of sharp, inward-curving teeth. The fleshy violet interior crawled with claw-like mandibles and writhing tentacles, a living meat grinder built for gruesomely efficient consumption.

Raiden stared in stunned confusion, his mind struggling to process what the hell he was looking at and how they'd gotten into this nightmare.

"Hey… we can't protect you forever—get to your feet and fight!" Raiden watched the man race to join a dozen other defenders while far behind them, a handful of elders pressed together in panic, clinging to each other as death approached.

The looks on their faces said it all—they'd been dragged here and robbed. Raiden's hand shot to his neck, checking for the key to the Book of Ashes' chest. Relief flooded him when his fingers found it, but then he noticed something wrong. The cord felt different, like it had been retied. Someone had definitely tried to take it.

What mattered was the key's safety. The battle raging before him made no sense, though. Raiden could see the fighters landing what should have been killing blows, but each time the worm retreated into the sand and resurfaced, it seemed to have grown more powerful.

Just then, Noelle jolted awake from her slumber. When she caught sight of the massive sand worm, her expression perfectly mirrored the confusion and terror Raiden had felt upon waking.

"What's going on?" Noelle asked, rubbing her temples.

"I think we were kidnapped," Raiden said with a dark smile. "But hey, great vacation spot, right?"

Noelle lifted Ash from where she'd been lying and settled her in a safer position. "So we just have to kill this monster and we're free?"

Raiden shrugged as Noelle stood up. "Pretty obvious, if you ask me."

Her smile startled him. In all their time together, Raiden had never seen her smile—he hadn't even known she could.

"I've heard of these creatures, but I never had the opportunity to face one back in Aurelia." Her grin turned predatory. "What a gift."

She said and bolted straight for the worm. Raiden grabbed Ash, threw her over his shoulder, and stood up just in time to see Noelle charging past the other fighters. They screamed warnings at her to stay back, but she wasn't listening.

By perfect timing or sheer luck—Raiden couldn't tell which—Noelle's leap synchronized with the worm's own lunge into the air. Her strike connected dead-on with the monster's body, the impact booming across the wasteland as the creature crashed back down into the desert.

Raiden's jaw dropped as he stared. Every fighter around him wore the same expression of shock, all wondering the same thing—how had she destroyed that beast with a single strike?

But the victory was an illusion. The sand worm launched itself back up, striking at Noelle with lightning speed. She had no time to dodge. Raiden watched in terror, a chill of dread coursing through him as his face went deathly pale.

Yet a heartbeat before the beast could reach her, it stopped completely. The elders behind Raiden looked suddenly excited, as though they recognized something Raiden didn't. He stared in confusion as the sand worm simply disintegrated—no blood, no cuts, no trace it had ever existed.

Raiden gulped as he saw the source of the worm's destruction: a thirteen-year-old boy wreathed in a dark aura. White hair, brilliant blue eyes, draped in black robes—he looked like death incarnate.

Yet the men cheered, and the elders practically ran toward him with worship in their eyes, as though he were their greatest hero.

Raiden didn't move, just watched as Noelle joined the man who had woken him. The stranger attempted to check if she was hurt, but Noelle's face twisted with annoyance—not at him, but at herself.

Raiden understood Noelle's anger—her attack should have finished the worm. But that boy troubled him more. Where had he emerged from in this wasteland? How had he simply appeared and destroyed the creature without even moving? What exactly was he?

"Good, you're awake," the man next to Noelle said, smiling. "I'm Stanley. How are you holding up?" He extended his hand for a shake.

Raiden paused, searching his memory for the name he'd chosen before their journey. "I am Raven."

He managed a fake smile, nodding toward Noelle as he shook Stanley's hand. "She is Wolf."

Stanley nodded subtly with a gentle expression, while Raiden's own expression turned cold. "Where are we, and what's going on?"

Stanley sighed. "They call this place Drake's She'll."

That explained nothing to Raiden, and Stanley could see it in his face. "Everyone here was kidnapped, robbed, and teleported here."

Raiden immediately remembered everything that had happened before he'd lost consciousness. That relentless incantation that had nearly driven him insane.

"So there's no way out?"

He shook his head grimly. "This is the safe zone. Even here, the sand worms find us." His eyes locked with Raiden's.

"Say you somehow defeat all the sand worms—there's still the Abyss to deal with. It's an underground market where you have to be bought like merchandise before you can leave this place."

Raiden sneered, his jaw clenching with rage. "We're slaves?"

Stanley studied him with narrowed eyes. "You're new to this kingdom, aren't you?"

Raiden was too stunned by the reality of being a slave to respond.

"Who's the kid?" Noelle asked, settling onto the sand.

"Oh, him? That's Jojo. He arrived here a week ago and managed to reach the Abyss within days." His expression grew tender. "He's become our hero. Comes back regularly to look after the elders."

Raiden studied Jojo with growing unease. If even a prodigy like him had spent an entire week here, what was going to happen to someone like Raiden? Freya and Levi should have warned them about this nightmare, but he knew this was simply another challenge he'd have to face.

He let out a deep sigh. If a simple desert could overwhelm him like this, what hope did he have of finding the twenty-eight pages? But cowering wasn't an option.

"You look stressed. Don't worry about it—we're all going to die here anyway. At least you won't be alone." Stanley shrugged, but Raiden clearly didn't appreciate the dark humor.

"Say you get lucky, get bought, and escape the Abyss—this is still the safest region in the whole desert. It only gets worse from here."

Raiden stared in disbelief. "I was told Noorians were dying of starvation. Where the hell did you find the power to pull off something like this?"

Stanley turned to him. "Look, average Noorians like us? We starve to death. But those strong enough to survive these conditions—they get far richer."

Raiden smirked and tucked his hands into his pockets. Klein el Seer's words were holding true—he really did need to learn everything like a newborn.