Kael sat alone in his dimly lit room. Faint remnants of the glow that had spilled out from the interface of his system still hung in the air. The heap of coins lay shining on the table, which now starkly revealed how his life had dramatically changed in the space of one single day. For the first time in years, a true smile flickered at the edge of his lips.
He dropped onto the couch, exhaling an enormous, soothing breath. "This is what it feels like to not be at the bottom," he whispered to himself, his fingers absent-mindedly flipping one of the Solarian coins. The warmth of the gold seeped into his skin, grounding him in a reality that felt too surreal to be true.
But as the enthusiasm of the day began to recede, the nagging doubt crept in, one that he could hardly shake off himself.
"Erythral." he whispered, his brows furrowed. "Who-or what-is he, really?"
This bothered him. The voice was powerful, authoritative, old. It was a presence not meant to be tamed or captured. Kael had heard accounts of great hunters and mythic creatures through historical texts, but nothing prepared him for when he heard Erythral talk.
And suddenly it came upon him: could Erythral actually even be from around here?
Just as he could not really think about anything else, the voice of the system cut through the silence like a knife.
Erythral is not from your world, the system declared, its tone almost smug, as though it relished the chance to reveal this truth. He is a ruler of the universe. Long ago—very long ago—he ruled everything, his power unmatched, his will absolute. He was once like you, Kael. but he ascended beyond what you can even comprehend.
Kael froze, as if those words were a weight on his shoulders. "A. ruler of the universe?" he whispered aloud.
"Yes," said the system, its tone neutralizing to admit with pride. "Erythral's dominion extended across galaxies. Stars bent to his will. Universes trembled at his name. He was a force unlike any other."
Kael's heart pounded. He'd expected Erythral to be powerful, but this? This was beyond anything he could conceive. His mind couldn't even wrap itself around the sheer scale of it. If Erythral was that powerful, why had he chosen him? Why give some nobody like Kael access to even a fragment of that power?
"He. he was like me?" Kael asked, his voice filled with incredulity.
"Once," the system said. "He started from nothing—a small ember in an immeasurable sea of nothingness. And by struggle, by will, and by a boundless hunger for power, he rose over it all. And now you stand as a descendant of that line. You, Kael Eryndor, are the first since his fall into obscurity to command his might.".
Kael swallowed hard. Reality was slowly dawning on him: Erythral wasn't just powerful. He was far beyond Kael's comprehension. Yet, that power was now his to wield.
For one brief moment, he could feel that weight of the responsibility, this vast stretch of road ahead of him. And then, another thought forced itself to the top of his head, a much more personal than anything to do with this slice of his life he'd all but forgotten within all the turmoil that had been around him.
Amara.
Then the name plunged into his chest, warmth and yearning. He hadn't thought of her all day but now, being alone in his room, haunted him. The dark auburn hair danced across his imagination. He remembered that way laughter had lightened the darkest part of his soul; she always believed in him while nobody else could.
Kael sat back into the couch and shut his eyes, thoughts of her flooding his mind. He remembered the first day they met, at the guild.
It had been a pretty average day at the guild hall, or as average as it could be for a guy like Kael. He had been sitting alone at one of the corner tables, nursing a cheap drink he could hardly afford, when she walked in. Amara's presence was impossible to ignore. She was beautiful, not just beautiful: she had an air of self-assurance that made her rise above the hunting crowd.
To his shock, she had walked right over to his table and locked eyes with him, her hazel ones shining intensely.
"Are you Kael?" she asked in a voice warm enough to settle him instantly.
He blinked, taken aback. "Y-yes. That's me."
She smiled then-a small, kind smile that skipped a beat at his heart. "I'm Amara. I heard you're good at scouting dungeons. Want a partner?
Kael nearly choked on his drink. No one had ever asked to work with him, especially not a woman like her. But there she was, her hand reaching out to him as if the most normal thing in the world.
From that day forward, they stayed together. She became his better half, his confidant, his supporter in a world that seemed against him, he fell for her along the way.
Kael's eyes snapped open. The memory left a sore in his chest, sore and bittersweet. Amara was one of the few bright spots in his life, one of the people who treated him as something more than a lowly E-Rank hunter. But everything that had transpired today. maybe she won't even look at him anymore.
She deserves to know I'm okay, he thought. He owed her that much.
He thought of her. He stood. He looked around the room. His eyes would settle on the status panel, glowing in the corner, or the pile of coins on the table. All that could wait for now; there was something more important he had to do.
"I need to see her," Kael whispered, grit set into his face. He pulled on his jacket and walked out.
In the cold night air, the system's voice echoed in his mind.
"Remember, Kael," it said, its voice stern. "Trust no one. Not even her."
Kael stopped for a second, his heart pounding in reaction to the warning that had just made his spine tingle. He dismissed the feeling, concentrating. Amara was no one ordinary. She was different.
She had to be.
With that in mind, Kael set out into the night. His footsteps softly echoed off empty streets. The world was changing for him, as well as the man he would become. At this moment, though, that was not on his mind.
He wanted to see Amara.