Kael trudged through the dense forest, his footsteps heavy with exhaustion. For months, he had wandered this strange, hostile world, a place where magic flowed freely, and danger was ever-present. Every night, he'd set up camp in some hollowed-out tree or among rocks, barely sleeping, constantly on alert for the creatures that stalked the night. His clothes were torn, his body worn thin, but his resolve remained strong. He would find a way to survive in this world, magic or not.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, casting a blood-red hue across the sky, Kael finally saw something different. In the distance, nestled in the valley beyond the trees, was a cluster of buildings—if you could even call them that. From afar, it looked more like a graveyard of broken structures, their walls shattered, roofs collapsed, and smoke curling from a few scattered fires.
When Kael drew closer, he realized the full extent of the damage. The village was in complete ruin. Stone houses, once sturdy, had been reduced to rubble. Wooden huts had been smashed as though a giant had swept through them. The people who remained looked gaunt and defeated, their eyes hollow from fear and sleepless nights.
As Kael entered the village, a group of men and women, armed with crude weapons—rusted swords, wooden clubs—approached him warily. One of them, a man with gray hair and a scar across his face, stepped forward, his spear pointed in Kael's direction.
"Who are you?" the man barked, his voice laced with suspicion. "State your business, outsider."
Kael raised his hands in a gesture of peace, his rifle slung across his back. "I'm not here to fight. My name's Kael. I've been wandering for months and came across your village. It looks like you could use some help."
The man eyed him with distrust, his grip tightening on the spear. "Help? We don't need help from someone like you. We've had enough trouble already."
Kael glanced at the ruined buildings and the tired faces of the villagers. They were barely surviving. He could see the fear in their eyes—fear not just of the monsters that ravaged their homes, but of him, too.
"I'm not here to cause trouble," Kael said calmly. "I've got skills and tools you've never seen. Let me help you rebuild, strengthen your defenses. The monsters won't stop coming unless you do something about it."
The gray-haired man scowled but seemed to consider Kael's offer. "Why should we trust you? You could be another threat in disguise, waiting to stab us in the back."
Kael met his gaze steadily. "If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't have walked into your village unarmed." He paused, glancing at the destruction around them. "Look, if you don't let me help, you won't survive the next attack. But if you give me a chance, I can give you the tools to defend yourselves."
After a tense moment, the man lowered his spear. "I'm Jorvan, the village chief. You can help, but I'll be watching you closely."
Kael wasted no time. The villagers were clearly suspicious of him, keeping their distance as he moved through the ruins, examining the damage. It wasn't long before they started talking.
"There was a dragon last night," one woman whispered to another as they passed by him. "Its roar scared the monsters off."
"I heard it, too," another man said, his voice trembling. "The sound shook the ground. It must be protecting us."
Kael frowned. A dragon? Then he remembered the sound of his rifle going off in the middle of the night during his last encounter with a pack of beasts. The echo had bounced off the mountains, and the villagers must have heard it. They think that was a dragon?
He decided not to correct them. If the belief that a dragon was protecting them made them feel safer, so be it.
The next morning, Kael gathered the villagers. "If you want to survive the next attack, we need to rebuild your homes and build a wall to keep the monsters out. But not the way you've done it before—what you had was too weak."
Jorvan frowned. "What do you mean? We've always used stone and wood."
"That's part of the problem," Kael explained. "You need something stronger. I know a way to build homes that can withstand attacks. It's not magic, but it's just as good."
The villagers exchanged skeptical glances, unsure of what to make of Kael's confidence. But their desperation outweighed their doubt, and soon, a group of them agreed to help him.
Kael began by scavenging materials from the ruined buildings. He showed the villagers how to mix concrete—something they had never seen before—and used steel rods he had found to reinforce the walls. He worked tirelessly, guiding the villagers to build the foundation for the first house.
As the structure took shape, the villagers began to murmur amongst themselves, amazed at the solidness of the walls. The house wasn't like anything they'd seen before. It had sharp angles, large windows, and a slanted roof that would shed rain and snow. Inside, Kael had installed a heating system, using fires and chimney's.
"What kind of magic is this?" one of the villagers, a young man named Frid, asked as he watched Kael lay the final touches.
"It's not magic," Kael replied, wiping the sweat from his brow. "It's technology—tools and methods from my world. I-I mean my village."
The villagers didn't fully understand, but they couldn't deny the result. The house stood tall and sturdy, its walls insulated against the cold. Inside, it was warm and spacious, a stark contrast to the drafty hovels they had been living in.
But still, the fear lingered. Every time Kael moved, the villagers watched him closely, as if waiting for him to reveal his true, dangerous nature.
With the first house complete, Kael turned his attention to the village's defenses. "We need a wall," he told Jorvan, "a strong one, made of stone and concrete."
Jorvan's eyes narrowed. "We've built walls before. The monsters tore through them like paper."
"Not this one," Kael promised. "We'll reinforce it with metal and concrete, make it thick enough that nothing will get through. And we'll build a moat around it, filled with water."
Jorvan looked doubtful but gave Kael the go-ahead. Over the next few days, Kael led the villagers in constructing a massive stone wall. He showed them how to mix the concrete and lay the stones, reinforcing the structure with metal bars scavenged from old ruins. The wall grew higher and thicker, with towers for lookouts and a reinforced gate made of iron plates.
As they worked, Kael also had them dig a wide trench around the village, which they filled with water diverted from a nearby river. The moat was deep and cold, a perfect deterrent for the monsters.
One evening, as they stood atop the nearly completed wall, Jorvan approached Kael, his face solemn. "You've done more for us than anyone in this village could have imagined," he said, his voice low. "But there's still something... different about you. We can't help but wonder what your true intentions are."
Kael looked at him for a long moment, then sighed. "I get it. You're scared. You've been attacked, your homes destroyed, and now some stranger shows up with strange tools and knowledge." He turned to face the village below, where the new houses were starting to rise from the ashes. "I'm not here to betray you. I've lost my home, too. All I want is to help, to build something better."
Jorvan was silent for a moment, then nodded. "We'll see."
By the time the wall was finished, the villagers had grown more comfortable with Kael. They still watched him warily, but now there was a glimmer of respect in their eyes. He had given them the tools to survive, and they knew it. Something was strange the monsters hadn't come for weeks.
The Wall
The moon hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the village, its walls standing tall and ominous against the night. It was eerily quiet—too quiet. The villagers had settled down for what they believed would be another peaceful night, but fate had other plans.
"Snarl. Roar."
The guttural sounds ripped through the silence like a blade through flesh. Kael jolted awake, his heart racing. The unmistakable growl of monsters echoed in the distance, growing closer. Without a moment's hesitation, Kael threw on his coat, grabbed his rifle, and bolted outside.
"Monsters are coming!" His voice pierced the calm as he banged on door after door, urging the villagers to prepare. "Get up! Get ready! I don't know if the wall can hold them for long!"
Panic flickered in their eyes as they scrambled to arm themselves. Kael didn't wait for their response. He sprinted toward the stone wall, his boots thudding heavily against the cobblestone streets. His mind raced, calculating the odds, replaying the defensive plans he had made.
As he reached the top of the wall, his heart pounding in his chest, Kael envisioned his double-barreled shotgun. It materialized in his hands, cold steel ready for action. Without hesitation, he leveled it against his shoulder and fired into the darkness.
Bang! Thud! Bang! Thud!
Every blast sent a monster crashing to the ground, their grotesque forms crumpling like paper under the weight of his firepower. The villagers watched from below, wide-eyed, as Kael cut down beast after beast with precision. His movements were quick, methodical, and terrifying. He didn't flinch, didn't waver.
"Get up here and fight, you idiots!" Kael barked down at the villagers, his voice a growl. His shotgun vanished from his grip, replaced by twin pistols as he stretched his hands out. They shimmered into existence, gleaming beneath the moonlight. He unleashed a barrage of bullets into the horde. Bang! Bang! Bang! The monsters fell like rain, each shot tearing through their flesh with deadly accuracy.
"You really think you stand a chance?" Kael sneered, a wicked grin curling on his lips. "You should've stayed in your caves, you dumb beasts." His eyes gleamed with something feral as he unleashed a hailstorm of bullets.
Jorvan, the village leader, finally snapped into action. "Come on! Let's help him!" he shouted, raising his rusted spear, which burst into flames as he invoked his magic. With a battle cry, he charged up the wall, thrusting his fiery spear into the monsters below. The other villagers followed suit, imbuing their crude weapons with elemental magic—fire, wind, lightning—as they fought to defend their homes.
Kael laughed, a cruel sound cutting through the chaos. "Don't fall behind, kid!" he shouted to a young boy beside him, barely taller than the wall, struggling to keep up. "I'm not jumping down there to save you."
The boy glared at him, panting but resolute. "I'm not a kid! My name's Aeris!" He stabbed his sword into a monster's hide, sparks flying as it hit bone.
Kael glanced at him, still smirking. "Aeris, huh? You sure you're not a girl with a name like that?" he teased, his voice laced with mockery.
Aeris growled, his face scrunched in frustration, but he didn't stop fighting. He swung again, slashing at the monsters with all the strength he could muster.
Two Hours Later
The final creature crumbled to the ground, its body dissolving into a sickly, black mist. The village was eerily quiet once more, save for the labored breaths of the survivors. Kael wiped sweat from his brow, his eyes scanning the battlefield below the wall. Piles of monster corpses littered the ground, each one turning to ash and vanishing into the night as golden particles swirled toward him, sinking into his skin like shimmering dust.
Jorvan approached Aeris, his voice low and filled with suspicion. "What was wrong with Kael during the fight? He wasn't just rude—he seemed... different."
Aeris frowned, wiping blood from his blade. "I don't know. He's always been a jerk, but I noticed something weird... Every time he killed a monster, its body would disappear, and these golden ashes—like dust—flew into him."
Jorvan's face hardened. "That... doesn't sound natural." His eyes drifted toward Kael, who stood at the far end of the wall, leaning against the stone, lost in thought. "Something's happening to him."
The Morning After the Fight
Kael stretched lazily as sunlight streamed through the window of his room. "Damn, that was a good night's sleep," he muttered to himself. It was the best rest he'd had since arriving in this world, far removed from the constant danger that plagued him. He pulled on his jacket and stepped outside, ready to continue his work on strengthening the village.
Jorvan was waiting for him at the edge of the courtyard, arms crossed and a stern expression on his face. "Kael, about last night... Why were you acting so strange?"
Kael looked at him, confused. "Strange? I don't know what you're talking about. We fought off the monsters, didn't we?"
"You don't remember anything?" Jorvan pressed. "Not the way you spoke to Aeris? Not the way you fought?"
Kael frowned, trying to recall the night, but his head pulsed with a sharp pain, like someone was stabbing into his skull. "I remember fighting," he muttered, rubbing his temple, "but the rest is... hazy."
Jorvan sighed, frustration and concern etched into his features. "Just... be careful, Kael. Something's happening to you."
Kael waved him off with a grin, though a part of him felt uneasy. "Don't worry about me. I've got this under control."
As Kael walked through the village, he noticed three small children playing near a well. The moment they spotted him, they ran over, their faces bright with admiration.
"Mr. Kael! Mr. Kael!" A little girl in tattered blue rags beamed up at him. "Will you play knights with us?"
Kael chuckled softly, crouching down to their level. "Knights, huh? Sure, why not? What's the game?"
A little boy jumped forward, a stick held like a sword. "We want to be like you, Mr. Kael! Fighting monsters and saving the village!"
Kael smirked, a small twinge of pride rising in his chest. "I'm sure you'll be great knights one day," he said, patting the boy's head. But as he stood up, a cold, unsettling sensation slithered through his veins—a whisper, deep in his mind.
The crystal embedded in Kael's skull pulsed, as if it were alive, waiting for something more... dangerous.
[Crystal of Creation]
+ Absolute Creation
Grants the ability to forge anything imaginable, constrained only by physical limits like size and complexity.
+ Infinite Creation
Creations remain permanent, but each one drains a portion of the crystal's strength over time.
New Abilities Locked – Awaiting Unlock