"You must retrieve all seven shards from the dukes and duchesses and take them to that spire with a clock in it."
Max looked towards the horizon.
A huge spire stretched from the ground up towards the dark sky. Even though it was very far away, Max would have recognised that structure anyday. The occasional chimes would've made the memory fresh, but this time, no sound came from it.
"You mean the clocktower?"
"If that's what you call it then yes. The shards will reunite there and release energy powerful enough to tear a hole between the realms. You can finally return to your world, and hope that your light warriors were strong enough to fend off Velda. They would definitely need the help of a Beacon"
"Light realm, light warriors…? You talk of my world in a way that even I do not know what you're saying."
"Earth is also called the Light realm, and Nitmera is also called the Night realm. You may not have noticed since it's usually top secret, but you have warriors among your people too. And they're fighting for their life by my guess."
"I can already tell you are going to say yes, and I don't want to discourage you or anything, but Nitmera is not your regular homeworld. It is filled with dark horrors and secrets unimaginable to anyone, even the people of this realm run and hide from its strange power. Tread carefully, Max. Now I need to recharge for a while. That solar flare drained me more than it drained you."
Max heard another ding at the back of his head.
A signal that he had come to know as Thea signing on or off into his subconscious. Of course, she couldn't have gone a moment too soon.
Max had so many questions. He didn't feel strong or powerful enough to face anything she was saying, but walking down this path meant saving a world he never knew about. It meant acquiring more powers and abilities with his new system. It meant defeating a dark and evil god, and avenging his mother.
While in his thoughts, he didn't notice the gang of strange people that had now surrounded him, strange weapons pointed at his chest.
"Surrender, or die."
One of them, a female with a huge build, stepped forward. She had the aura of a leader, with dark plated armour that covered every inch of her torso and legs, a huge battleaxe in one arm, and a strange swirling ball of crimson energy in the other.
She took off her helmet, and Max was shocked, because she looked human. No scratch that, she was human.
He half expected to see some towering monster with multiple eyeballs dotted across its skin, but the system had told him that this world had people too. He just didn't expect them to look exactly the same.
The other warriors took off their helmets, and everything made sense again. There were elves, orcs, strange lizard and bird people mixed in the bunch. One of them even had just one eye. A cyclops, probably?
One thing they all had in common, though, was that they looked as menacing as they came.
Max knew that Thea wouldn't be available for now. Even he was drained from that light spell. Whoever these people were, it wouldn't be wise to fight them, especially in this state.
He would just have to wait a little longer till Thea showed up again, maybe the system can reward him for kicking one of their men in the balls or something.
"I surrender.", Max said, raising both arms in a placating gesture. The woman smirked, a look of triumph crossing her rough expression, or maybe she was just amused that the young human wasn't stupid enough to put up a fight.
"Bind him!", she spoke once more, her female baritone reverberating through the gang.
"And if he does any funny magic, kill him on the spot."
Before Max knew what was happening, two burly orcs pinned his arms behind his back, and bound him with chains as black as night. He was then wrestled and shoved to their middle. The leader blew a whistle, and strange horses with horns appeared out of shadow. They mounted Max on one of them like a sack of potatoes, one of the orcs mounting on the same horse.
They set off on their journey, traversing the black sand dunes that stretched for as far as Max could see. Thea had told him that Nitmera was a darker mirror of earth, but Max knew well enough that there was no desert outside his home. If anything, his home was the only mirrored landmark he had seen since he got here.
But then, he remembered the way those creatures, the Voxper and Noxper, had tried to trick him from the moment he transmigrated. Maybe the replica of his home had been one of their tricks to lull him into a false sense of safety.
Maybe he didn't transmigrate to anywhere near his real home at all. This place just got more and more confusing for Max.
Lying on his side on the gigantic horse, Max took quick count of the gang. They were about seven in number. He noticed an elf lady staring at him.
When he looked back at her, she quickly withdrew her gaze.
"Don't worry, I don't bite.", Max whispered to the otherwise beautiful dark elf. Two pointy ears poked out of her luscious blue hair.
Max noticed her succulent lemons dangling from her chest, the nipples poking out from behind the think silk fabric.
She brought her mount closer to him, just within earshot. They both bounced every which way with each ste of her steed.
"What you did back there says otherwise."
"Oh, you mean the thing with the light?"
"Precisely. That kind of magic is far from what any of us have ever seen in Nitmera. Something tells me that you're not from around here."
Max thought of telling her his crazy story so far, but he decided against it. He barely knew who any of these people were.
"Yeah, I'm not. I was just trying to survive, like you guys."
The lady shook her head, as if agreeing solely with this particular statement.
"It's what we've all been trying to do since our island was ravaged by them."
"By who?"
"The Borna. Creatures that were believed to be of legend brought to life. They are really good at killing, and extremely powerful. The things of nightmares."
The elf shuddered as she spoke, a distant memory playing in her eyes.
"They came here in waves, killing our people. Lord Velda charged Duchess Xenia with seeing that this Noctira Isles be protected. But the kingdom court has been nothing but selfish. Our people die everyday. Only the people within the kingdom's walls are truly safe."
"Duchess Xenia?"
The ruler of this island, and one of the seven members of the shadow court. The most powerful individuals that are said to hear and work directly with Velda himself."
Max remembered what his system, Thea, told him. The first shard was closer than he had expected.
"We've been scavenging ever since. We started out more than this, but most of us have died along the way from creatures of the Borna. Dimitria trained us to be stronger and fight better. If not for her, none of us would even be alive."
Dimitria must have been the burly human leader that ordered Max's capture earlier.
"I'm Slavia, by the way. What's your name?"