Ty awakened as the first rays of sunlight slipped through the gaps in the crumbling walls, warming the room piece by piece.
Beside him, Nana was cocooned in a small robe, her form clinging to his arm in search of warmth. Across the room, Todd was already rising, methodically preparing his garments for the day’s endeavors.
"It’s about time we get a move on, don’t you think?" Todd suggested, already sounding ready to leave.
Ty nodded and nudged Nana gently. She had been using his arm as a pillow without knowing it, drooling against his skin.
"I am not anyone’s pillow," he declared with mild amusement.
As he stood and stretched, his movements roused Nana, who tumbled off his arm onto the cold ground, waking with a start.
Gathering their belongings, Ty’s hand brushed against the curious object in his pocket. It was the small artifact given to him by the Demon King, now emitting a soft glow that shifted through several colors.
Ty spoke into the silence, his voice firm yet tinged with wonder.
"There is so much that none of us understand yet. I hope to unravel these mysteries, and perhaps, in time, we’ll all find what we’re seeking."
With a sense of resolve, he tucked the crystal back into his pocket.
Nana, basking in the newfound sunlight, adjusted her attire and responded with equal firmness.
"We can only hope so. But for now, we must take things one step at a time, I suppose."
"That’s true," Todd chimed in, already thinking ahead. "But we cannot always lag behind. Sometimes, to catch up, one needs to leap over a few steps."
Clasping his hands together, Ty’s gaze was earnest as he imparted a sobering thought. "Whether it’s Erebos or the Demon King, we must be prepared for any contingency where an ally could become an adversary.
These beings operate on a level far beyond anything we’ve known in our lives."
Nana’s words held true. For the present, their only option was to concentrate on the task at hand. Exiting the dilapidated structure, they were greeted by the morning sun cresting over the mountains.
The snow, glittering with night’s frost, began to dissipate, revealing an unsettling sight--creatures composed of fragmented bones and gelatinous masses were pushing up from the earth at a slow pace.
The group shared a look of profound shock, their voices melding into one as they exclaimed, "What is going on here?"
They journeyed on, spending a couple of hours observing these slowly assembling beings. Their path led them to a decrepit town, besieged by the peculiar creatures.
Nana caught Ty’s sleeve. Every creature was turning toward the town, even those that surfaced with their backs to it. Todd watched three correct their course together. "That doesn’t look mindless," he said.
A throng of people, donned in an assortment of armors and armed with various weapons--from swords and bows to maces and knuckle braces--began to spill forth.
The sight was astonishing, prompting Todd to muse, "This might explain the ravaged landscape, though the origin of these creatures is still a mystery."
Ty raised a finger to his chin and hypothesized, "The Demon King mentioned crystals within these lands that influence their very essence. Maybe this is related to that. In the mortal realm, there were a lot of--"
Ty’s musings ended when an armored man dropped from above, his sword aimed at Todd.
With effortless grace, Todd sidestepped the assault and, placing a hand on the attacker’s back, sent him skidding across the dirt for twenty feet.
The assailant regained his footing and raised his blue-lit sword. "Step away from these civilians!" Ignoring their confusion, he charged again as water jetted from the blade.
Todd merely raised his hand, deflecting the liquid onslaught to the surprise of the attacker.
"What--how? That attack should have pierced through you, you vile beast!"
"Sorry, little human," Todd began, his words calm and collected, "I’m not sure what you’re implying, but I’m not one of--"
His explanation was cut short as the man lunged again, attempting a piercing thrust. Todd, with his vivid green feet, glided aside, the movement as fluid as the water from the man’s blade.
The attacker stumbled forward, and with a light touch, Todd forced the sword’s tip into the earth, pinning it there and leaving the man struggling to free it.
Ty looked around, noticing more people fighting the creatures that had begun to surface with skeleton parts held together by a weird gel.
Their eyes seemed lifeless and without purpose as they swung at the men and women attempting to fight them.
Ty’s thoughts flooded in, and the whole scene felt painfully familiar to something he had seen in the past.
A memory jolted within him from back when he first met the Demon Lord and Elithira.
"The Demon King takes a lot of inspiration from events on earth when creating and developing worlds."
The thought hit him like a brick wall.
"This is like a training ground for people to get stronger, but with real stakes," he said out loud, watching a man in plain armor take a sword through his chest before blood began to spill onto the ground.
The thought bothered him more the longer he watched.
Games rewarded bruises with levels and gold.
Here, the reward came with screaming, blood, and families waiting for fighters who might never return.
If the Demon King had copied anything from Earth, he had kept the part that made survival feel unfair.
"Elithira wasn’t kidding when he said the Demon King took some of the media from the Earth realm to heart. I wonder where he finds time to even watch anything with how often he is stuck judging souls."
His train of thought broke when Todd bumped into him. Three more men rushed Todd, proclaiming him too strong for one fighter.
Ty put a hand over his face. "I guess it can’t be helped."
Fire began forming around his fist.
"Let’s try to knock some sense into them, but not kill anyone we don’t have to."
Nana, that means no head popping.