-Jana is dead? No! She can't be! What about our promise to always be together forever. *Sniff Sniff* if this is your fault, arrogant king, I swear I kill you!-
Ghost slams the door into the messengers face out of sheer anger and goes to his room to cry.
*Knock knock!* A gentle knocking is barely noticeable over his tears and then it stops to be replaced with Liz's voice. "Are you ok Ghost? What did the king have to say?"
"Jana, she's dead!" That's all he manages to get out from his ugly snot infested face.
After telling her the devastating news she seems to have decided to leave him be which isn't always the best choice in this scenario *Ahem*.
He then proceeds to cry out all his feelings till his tear ducts dry and he can't cry anymore. After crying his eyes out he falls asleep in his still wet bed.
He opens his eyes to the rising sun and starts to get up while stretching.
-No matter what happens the sun will always rise and then set. The world is constantly changing, but what cruel dark world is a world without my sister?-
"Ghost are you awake?" He faintly hears Liz's voice behind the chirping of the morning birds and the bad sound isolation of the wooden hut.
"Yes, I just got up. Is there anything you need?" He asks while trying to be as happy and calm as possible. Probably trying to not have another mental breakdown when everyone is counting on him.
"I think we should talk, but sadly the king has summoned you instead of me having time to talk."
She pauses for a second as if waiting for something. "The king wouldn't call upon someone he called a failure unless it was his last choice."
"He is a very arrogant man and barely ever admits to his mistakes. I'm afraid whether you like it or not you're our last hope" Towards the end her tone starts to audibly shake.
"Why should I save a world that killed my sister?" He melodramatically replies back while trying to hold in his obvious anger that's coursing through his veins like wildfire.
"Why should I save a king that didn't couldn't even tell who their savior was? Because of his incompetence, I lost my sister. If only he chose me she would still be safe."
"Do you know what I'm thinking right now?"
"No, I don't know what you think I'm not capable of a convenient thing like mind reading!" He instantly retorts without thinking about the implications of her question nor trying to constructively find the answer.
"Magic can't be used to solve all your problems. Look at me I don't have a speck of mana in my body, yet I have lived this long, which might be the oldest ever."
"You say that it's the king's fault your sister died. What do you think he should die because of his mistake? Your sister died protecting him and yet you want her death to be in vain? Instead of helping the person she sacrificed her life for you want to kill him!"
Liz tries to force some sense into the ignorant kid while blatantly lying to him about not having any mana. Why would she be respected by the brat Alicia if she didn't have mana?
"I never mentioned anything about killing him! Why did you think I'd want to do that?"
-Who does she think she is! She never met Jana how would she know what MY sister wants. I know MY sister the best the nerve to tell ME what SHE thinks.-
"Right now you're probably thinking things like, I don't know her how would I know what she wants, right?"
"Maybe."
"Well you're right in one way I don't know her, you do. Now you tell me would your sister want you to lock yourself inside your room like this?"
-Would she?-
"I don't know! *Sniff drip.* I don't know what I should do anymore."
The tears start to fall again dripping into his mouth with their salty taste. "Do you really think that Sis would want me to help the people that used her as a sacrifice?"
"She never visited you after all this time, so I think, like you, she really wanted to help this world. I think she wouldn't want her killers to go unharmed. So please this is me honestly asking you to help the king and your friends."
-Wait for a second in such a game like world maybe this is part of the questline. Yeah, save the kingdom stop an army all of it is found in cheap RPGs where you start off with the king begging you to save him and kill the demon lord.-
Thanks to the sudden loss of his sister Ghost mind starts to warp and create a fake reality for him to live in. He slowly starts to convince himself that this is all just a game and his sister is alive and well.
-So if it's like this then the demon lord should have a revive crystal. This all just happened to fuel the mc's rage and wanting to save them.-
"Fine I'll talk with him, but I'm not promising you that I will repel the Unknown."
"That's fine all I'm asking you is to at least try to protect the people like Alex, Arthur, Sophia, and Alicia. You may not want to protect the king but remember he isn't the only person whose life is on the line."
He leaves the house and sees the messenger still waiting for him after having the door slammed shut in his face. "Fine take me to your king, I'll see what I can do for this country."
"Follow me then." He follows the tiny man to the same castle and then through a couple twists and turns to the grand jewel encrusted door. "Go in. He is waiting for you with a few other guests."
He enters into the throne room and sees the king in his same old throne and position as if he never moved since they first met.
"Ghost I am so sorry about your sister's death. Please forgive me it's all my fault. They were after my life, but instead, your beloved sister took the magic. Please, I was wrong. How could I have known that the weak little boy in front of me was actually a grand and talented hero?"
He actually gets up from his throne and kneels in front of Ghost to beg for forgiveness.
"Please, avenge your sister and end the terror that haunts my poor kingdom. We can't stall for time any longer. The unknown is getting farther and farther into my kingdom."
-Sigh get on with it I have to go out and get that revive crystal nothing else matters.-
"Fine! I will help your kingdom, but if I ever find out that she died because of you then you're dead."
-Let's just finish this quest and revive her it should be as simple as that.-
As the delusions get more and more intense to cope for his loss he almost seems to see the world in a pixel-like way.
"Escort this brave hero to my personal collection, so that he can pick his tools to save our world."
The king gets up from the ground and orders his guards around, but sadly Ghost seems to have become a bit too broken to realize this is a good chance to increase his pitiable defense.
"I'm fine the way I am. Just take me out of this maze of a castle."
-Come on the faster I finish this game the sooner I get to see her again.-
The crazy fever that took over him seems to have reached its peak and probably won't disappear till he realizes this isn't a game but is his reality.
"Fine, take our young hero out of the castle and then show him the way to our victory." The king tries to make a grandiose matter about sending the broken child to a war front and almost seems uncaring about the broken look in Ghost's eyes.
Sophia enters the room and immediately yells. "Don't immediately throw him in a war zone! Good king he is the only hope we have. Can you not at least teach him about war or give him some experience in fighting? Do you want us to lose our last hope?"
"That is a good idea, but what should we have him fight? Monsters and the unknown are to completely separate entities."
-Ahh, that's right I haven't gone through anything like a tutorial yet. This must be when it finally happens.-
The delusions have sadly taken full force over him and the fantasy world he created became the reality that he sees. The coping has gotten to a complete point where he isn't even fazed at the thought of killing anyone anymore.
"Do you have any prisoners?" He suddenly has the urge to question the normally unchangeable tutorial dialogue.
"Yes, why?" The king asks him curiously.
"How about we use them as battle practice. I won't feel as bad if they are bad people like the unknown and will get battle practice. Also, you will get to get rid of an unwanted prisoner." He tries to find a way to get to the 'tutorial' faster, so he can 'revive' his sister sooner.
"Sounds like a brilliant idea. Come let's go immediately there is no time to waste." The king and Sophia take him through a couple of halls and down some stairs into a cellar hidden in the middle of a hallway behind a hidden switch.
"This is where I keep the worst of the worst. Everyone here should have a public execution in my opinion, but the nobles think it would be bad for my image to publicly kill them. We decided to leave them here."
"You killing one is a blessing to this country and to the person himself. Most have gone insane down here so be careful."
He encounters his first 'monster' a lanky old man who probably 'murdered' people as he pleased.
-Since this is so game like and he feels so evil it should be simple to kill him.-
Ghost mindlessly launch a drop of blood through his opponent's chest which then pierces his heart. He falls to the ground, but no 'exp' where given probably because this isn't a game and our pour candidate has gone a bit crazy.
-Bummer that he didn't drop anything useful. I wonder why he was so easy to kill. Don't tell me that I'm already so over-leveled from all the studying that this game will be easy for me!-
Ghost starts to hear the muttering between the two familiar yet unfamiliar 'NPCs'. Sadly after our candidate went a bit psycho I the bored lurking viewer can't hide that well anymore.
I'll be here to point out the disparities between what he views and what is actually happening, which happens to suit my job as the Viewer quite well.
"See Sophia, he's fine with killing people."
"But how do we know he will be able to fight against an army."
"That is his destiny as our hero. If he can't fight an army, then what use is he to us?"
-I can't stand waiting to save my sister. I need to quickly get these events going, so I can save her even faster it would be rude to keep her waiting.-
"King show me to the battlefield. I want to quickly end this stupid war and go home."
-With my sister, of course, I wonder if this is just some high tech simulator that someone threw us into to use as lab rats. I should tell the creators that it feels so real, but the combat is meh.-
"Take this child away immediately. If he wants to go to war then let him. He can only blame himself if he dies out there, but if he does die then hopefully my kingdom will manage to survive without him."
"Yes, sir!" A royal guard with an emblem of a golden dragon on his shiny white armor replies. " I won't let him die. If any unknown get too close to him I swear I will protect him with my life."
"Thank you. I will be in your protection."
-First party member get! It's even a reliable knight perfect for the mage class. I wonder if I went down the warrior class would it be a mage?-
"Go then, there is no time to waste."
They quickly head out of the maze-like castle and arrive at a waiting carriage. After they enter the carriage the knight starts explaining the current situation.
"We are going to go to a fort city which is currently being sieged by unknown. The unknown look just like us, so be careful on who you hit with that magic of yours."
"Ok, I got a plan to make out friendly from foe. When we get there I need you to make a command to the soldiers. Can you do that?"
-Please, I'll complete this quest in record time so that everyone will be proud of me and take care of my sister and me forever and ever.-
"Of course, as the captain of the royal guards, my word is second only to the king himself in all military environments. If you need me to do something just ask."
The royal guard proudly brags to the child hero, while the only thing that's going on in our poor candidate's mind is what he'll do after getting his sister back.
"You may not think that your life is important. But you're the most important person here!" He excitedly proclaims while whispering under his breath, "right now."
Ghost seems to not be able to hear the comment as he is still in his uncaring and everything is fake state. "If you show our army your strength I'm sure they would listen to you as well."
"Come we have no time to waste let's hurry to the carriage the sooner we get there the fewer people will end up dying. Explain to me about where we are going along the way!"
Ghost tries to speed up the slow plot and be time efficient about everything he has to do to quickly get his sister back.
Maybe it's for the best that his mind went into this strange coping mode instead of being responsive to reality.
Maybe if this didn't happen he wouldn't end up being able to save some of his currently living loved ones.
The carriage finally leaves The last section of the city walls and starts to head towards the fort city much to Ghosts relief.
"The city is the last line of defense before the kingdom is at risk of destruction. I call it a city buts it's more like a giant gate that stops all unwanted visitors."
"You see the main parts of the kingdom is surrounded by mountains that are famous for having monsters that could threaten an army dwelling inside."
"I see, so this city could be considered a part of the border?" Ghost asks while being curious about why such a city is being overrun by the enemies but finally ends up going back to his this is all a game delusion and figures it's poor writing.
"More or less a border between the inner parts of the kingdom and the outer parts. It is literally the only way to get to the king without wasting a significant amount of men to the beasts."
"The Unknown probably think it's better to lose men on us then the monsters since they will have to deal with us eventually."
"Since it's the only entrance to the inner section of the kingdom they're sending everything they have at it. I'm afraid if you don't intervene it will fall and they will continue on right to the poorly protected capital."
"So you're saying that it's the last line of defense to the capital and must be held at all costs?" He asks while not really caring if his thoughts are true so that the plot can continue forward and maybe the carriage would speed up.
"It's actually much worse than that! The fort is in such an easy to defend the position that the rest of the inner kingdom is poorly defended and the capital barely can be considered to have protection against an enemy attack. " He shakes his head in disagreement.
-This game sure is tough throwing you immediately in an I can't lose this scenario. Sheesh, doesn't the game developers know that it would make the game feel rushed and short if you have such important scenarios at the start? I don't even get to play games and I know this!-
I usually don't mention their thoughts that much when I show what I view, but these thoughts are the ideal thing to actually show. Let us all hope that the person who I have chosen to view doesn't go crazy!
They continue to push on for four days via the carriage. The first thing that Ghost notices after inwardly complaining about the realistic journey are that the battle isn't going to well and if they arrived a day later the battle would probably be over.
But he is, after all, a kid who can't understand the gravity of such situations and is currently not right in the head, so his thoughts can't be completely trusted.
"Kid you sure you want me to order them to do this?" The royal guard seems to be a bit scared and worried to do what Ghost has asked of him, but the king's orders are absolute.
"Yes if you order them as I told you this battle shouldn't last too long." Ghost while naturally not understanding the consequences of what he is about to do.
"Fine. Sigh, this is Royal Guard Captain Theodore!" Theodore yells towards them in a magically enhanced voice that echoes throughout the fort and battlefield.
"Everyone get in the fort and barricade it shut! The hero will take care of everything that isn't inside of the fort!" Ghosts 'brilliant' plan is revealed in all of its glory!
They quickly scramble to get inside while Theo is giving out his next order to the insides of the fort.
"Mages gather all your mana into one big spell were aiming to wipe out as many as possible. The hero will stall while you're recharging your mana and will need the blood for his own magic!"
All the mages proceed to q gather around each other into a circle preparing a synchronized chant.
-Hmmp! Does he think I mean to stall for time? I need to end this battle as soon as possible, the sooner I end it the faster I get to see Jana again.-
Honestly, I don't know where all this arrogance and power is coming from. It's as if something has awakened inside of him to accomplish his mission.
"Charge forward! We're going to take down this fort then carry on for our Lord's conquest." An Unknown leader commands his troops. "*Cough cough* what was that—" A blood spike pierces out where his heart should be.
-Just like the prisoner, every one of these monsters are so easy to kill. Maybe the creator wanted to make it lifelike by adding fatal points. I shall abuse this system then.-
"Blood mist!" He shouts while being proud of how superhero like he sounds. The blood that was leaking from the commander's dead corpse starts to form a mist of red!
It surrounded a good hundred of the superior officers than. "Death field!" The blood mist forms into spikes and pierces all over everyone within it, even from inside their lungs!
No unprotected part of their body is left. It is all shredded meat. Some parts are still left, but you can't call what's left alive.
-The lifelike feeling is this games only good part it will look like I'm slaughtering enemies and this headache is also so realistic!-
Ahh, it seems yet another important part of his brain broke under the hidden guilt and all that's left is crazy that's hidden in all of us.
The army gets driven into chaos and he doesn't want to give them any breathing room. "Come" the blood from the commander and his subordinates flows towards Ghost as if he is a magnet and the blood is metal.
"Blood spears!" The blood forms into a hundred spears and then shoots into the chaos. Blood and guts continue to fly everywhere.
The spears each go through a group of ten soldiers before shattering. Ghost can't help but laugh as the insanity keeps corrupting his childlike mind more and more.
-Die all of you pointless mobs. I don't have time to mess with small fry like you hurry up and trigger the boss battle. She's waiting for me and hates it when I keep her waiting!-
"Shit I didn't take out enough there's still thousands of them. Way too many to count or care about" He lifts up his hands and the blood follows. "Just die!"
He yells annoyed by the puny little mob of creatures while the blood forms into a solid wall above thousands of monsters and then falls smashing everything that is beneath it. The blood then returns back to being a liquid revealing a pulp nothing but flesh and bones.
"Hey, kid you don't have to kill them all just stall for nine more minutes!" Theodore says while obviously being afraid by the sheer amount of power that an immature kid has.
He is probably wondering why someone created such a miniature monster who doesn't care about the lives of others, while not knowing that this is nowhere near the kid's actual character.
-Nine minutes is too long of a wait and all he is doing is standing there ordering me? Why don't you put in some work as well? This party member is useless.-
"Shut up! How about you get some archers to shoot at them, so it's not a one-man show over here!"
Most of the unknown have an expression of pure terror, but they are starting to reform their ranks and are planning on using their only advantage their sheer stupidly huge numbers.
-Seriously does the creator of this game not understand that there is more to war than sheer numbers! Why don't they have bows? Why aren't they charging at me on horses? Is there no cavalry unit? How about magic where's the person that burned my sister to crisp.-
"Everyone grab a bow and arrows even if you aren't experienced. There should be crossbows over there."
He hears his useless party member finally getting to work and lowering the number of deaths on his hands."We need to protect the kid if he dies, then not only will this fort fall but our country will fall as well."
"Yes, sir!" A volley of arrows flies out of the fort. There aren't that many arrows flying, so there must not be many soldiers left. Most of the arrows hit someone thanks to the stupidly large amount of people attacking this fort.
-At least now I have time to store up blood and form a large attack. Why is everything in this game so useless it didn't even let sis play it!-
"Blood Flood!" The blood, that is painting the battlefield red, suddenly starts to levitate off the ground and form a wave that crashes into the remaining army like a great tsunami.
-Ha! That will show them who they're messing with!-
A wall of earth suddenly spurts out of the ground acting as a barricade to stop the blood.
-Grr, you think a puny dam can stop me! I'll show you what real magic looks like.-
"Ha is that all you got mages?" He can't help but laugh at their weak attempt at stopping him with magic. "Blood dragons!" All the blood in the area forms into three different dragons.
Two have wings like a traditional western dragon, but the third doesn't have a pair of wings instead it is the biggest of the three. It is double the size of the dam that the earth mages summoned.
The two dragons take flight over the wall, while the third just breaks it down. The two dragons fly farther into the back destroying the rest of any hiding commanding officers and hopefully the mages.
The big one just crushes anything in its way. It uses its overwhelming power to crush anything that's near it and it's a long tail to sweep away anything that it misses.
The unknown try to counterattack, but before they can put a crack into the big dragons blood scales it bursts.
Blood shoots out everywhere as if it was raining it. It gets shot out at a speed that pierces the 'monsters' surrounding it.
-Half of the army that was terrorizing the fort is probably dead.- "Hu-uh Hu-uh Hu-uh Glue! P'tu kha!"
-Some of the weaker soldiers were probably designed with a puking function encase it gets too gory to make it seem more immersive.-
He looks over the battlefield and almost wants to puke as well, even though he 'knows' that this isn't real.
"We're ready sir.?" The mages finally being ready asks for permission to fire off their group spell.
"Fire!"
"Lightning storm." The sky goes dark and lightning bolts start to fly out of the sky hitting the terrified enemy soldiers and being conducted through all the blood that is on the floor.
The only smell that exists in this wretched battlefield the smell of charred flesh.
-This feels so real but it can't be real. I mean if this was real then I would have ended up killing thousands of people who had lives and families, right?-
There're barely any members of the opposing force left after the magic stopped. Maybe a thousand left. Ghost seems to not be able to hold the dragons together anymore, so all the remaining blood dragons burst outwards.
"Kid! Are you ok?" He hears his 'useless' party member ask as his head starts to feel like it will explode.
-Sister this much is nothing as long as I get to see you again.-