Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

"Hey boy,

If you're reading this then that means you haven't kicked the bucket just yet. I wanted to stay in the country a little longer but things got a little wacky and I had to take my leave. I'm really glad you made it. I'm also sorry about Alisa. I intended to take the poor soul back to her own homeland and wanted to travel with you some more. But I've grown too old. Maybe it was for the best but who knows. The gods don't exist anymore, so I don't know. But what I can tell you is that before leaving, she said a few things. This might seem weird in a letter to have someone else's thoughts but why should I care? She said, "Please tell him, that I really wanted to travel with him. It wasn't because I wanted to see the world or anything like that. It was because I wanted friends; friends that would rely on me and I could rely on them. I wanted to share our good and bad times. But all I brought were bad times. Forgive me. And goodbye."

I don't think she was a bad girl, rather she was just misunderstood. But now she's never going to be understood. Anyway, this is where we part as well. All your equipment is with the beautiful princess. She was really nice to me. And no matter what anyone says, I'd still trust her. The man from Moire is with me and he'd take a ship from Jelosce instead. He still can't trust the elves and guess what- neither can I- ha ha ha, apart from the little missy that is. As for your hand, you might want to ask the dwarves for help. They might be able to make something for you. They live opposite of where you came from if you're wondering. 

These past three months were fun. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have gotten out of that damn snake and perhaps I'd never have had my revenge. Thanks for everything brat. You really were a handful. 

Take care. Hope to meet you soon in the afterlife. But not too soon.

Yours truly,

Denkaborkarere."

"Did he really have to write all that and even include written 'ha ha's? That damn geezer!" Even his writing was sarcastic yet somehow it made me feel a little warm.

"Hey! Bro, are you crying?"

"Shut it!"

Tears streamed down. My emotions were aroused and I didn't know what to feel.

"But bro, I'm really jealous of you. You've had so much fun and all I've had are overpowered skills: all I've got are no real sense of accomplishment."

I wiped my tears. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Well you see, my role was that I get stronger and challenge the emperor. But turns out, each of us summoned are special and we have a shot of obtaining broken skills but these skills are based on luck. My skill was instant mastery. So, no matter what I touched I was a master of it be it a weapon or musical instrument. Because of that, I couldn't get to enjoy the hunts and even undead would run away from me because of this guy."

Somebody give me back my pity. I want to smack this guy!

In a single moment I lost all the respect I still had for the guy. Suddenly I felt like an idiot. 

Shou-should I have just gone to Galbatia, when they offered?

My mind gave me the answer before I could even ask. 

No! She killed Dune! I'd never-

My decision wasn't wrong. I reassured myself. 

This was the right choice. I shouldn't regret it even for a second!

"But you've had challenges and that's the way to live life!" He continued, excitedly.

I wanted to pop the guys bubble but it was best that he remained ignorant. Telling him my story and earning his empathy wasn't something I was interested in anyway. 

I kept silent and he continued. "I came to this country to challenge the head prince. Then I heard that someone defeated a monarch but also almost killed the emperor then died. I was like, 'wait, what?" He chuckled. "It was kind of odd. No matter how proficient I was with weapons, I couldn't really hope to even match a monarch- at least not yet, yet someone just pulled off two impossible jobs and then died. Like did he really have to die? I was really shocked you know. So I sneaked into the palace. But when I saw the lady I lost my cool and-"

I sighed. I didn't know whether I should have pitied him or not. "And you ended up here?"

"Yup. And since I met you it wasn't all that pointless. Two weeks have passed." He gave me a toothy grin.

I did not like this guy.

I didn't have time to humor his disappointment. "Tell me, how many were summoned?"

"Eight, but including you, 9 I guess? I actually never heard of you till now. Are you sure you're a summoned?"

I reminisced. The demon in that forest did say something about me being candidate number nine. "That's a lot of people but I've only met you in my entire journey. And yes, that joker did say I was summoned."

"That's because three of them died the same day. Two died some days later and the rest are scattered throughout the world," he said.

"No wonder." But then it clicked. What did he just say? "They all died? All five of them?"

"Yup. They were too weak and two of them couldn't even withstand the summoning."

He wasn't sad or even a bit angry. He was amused. This guy really was a weirdo. "Now to my question. You've met him, haven't you?" he said. His voice changed and he became serious.

"Who?"

"That big serpent! I saw him from above the ship." He grinned.

"What makes you think that?"

"Call it intuition." His grin widened.

"Yeah, so?"

"That means you already have one of these, right?"

He showed me a shield. Just seeing its glow, I knew. It was a piece of mystic equipment from the legends. 

Wait, where the hell did that shield come out of? 

He must have had some sort of magic bag or something. I sighed. How come he had to be so damn lucky?

"Yeah," I said.

"I knew it! Unlike the rest of those idiots, you actually are a decent fella!"

"Huh?"

"Don't worry but by decent I mean you have a shot. I wasn't judging your character or whatever." He tried to reassure me.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so reassured. "Whatever," I said.

"Well, that explains how you did it. But I did learn that you weren't the one who singlehandedly killed the monarch and the emperor."

"Are you dumb? Even with all my friends, it was more than life-taking-"

He grinned my way. He knew. I didn't say anything.

"Purr!" Biteria jumped on top of my lap and purred before lying down.

"That's a nice rabbit you got there. "

"Thanks for the compliment." If it was about my lovely bunny then any and all compliments were welcome.

***

Food came for us later. Biteria jumped before I could react. I managed to secure half of the food before she could devour it all.

Lianne didn't come to visit. Maybe she wasn't allowed or maybe she didn't care.

"By the way, do you ever feel like returning? I mean, the monarchs gave us a chance of whether or not we wanted to leave."

"If I wanted to, I wouldn't be here now would I?" 

"True: you'd be dead already." I guess he knew the answer to his own question. "Remember the two that died later? They both wanted to return. You can guess what happened next."

He really had an annoying personality. The demon on the other hand was rather quiet. He never spoke unless necessary. 

"So, why didn't you leave?" I was just curious. 

His grin disappeared. "If I said something like to save the people, you wouldn't believe me, would you?"

"Nope. Not at all."

"Instant rejection!" His head dropped. He recovered immediately. "I really like this world. I always had a thing for fantasy! And besides, those guys would have just killed me if I said otherwise."

I didn't know what to say. Maybe if I had a broken skill like his, I'd have agreed. I probably wouldn't have though. "How many Monarchs did you meet?"

"Most of them, and you happened to kill the one I had a crush on." He glared at me for a second and then burst out laughing. "I'm just kidding. She was out of my league. Too weird."

Suppose I'll sleep now. 

I lied down. It hurt. "Night."

He sighed. "It's more like evening, but yeah, night." I had no idea how he knew it was evening, but I didn't really care.

The pain faded and I fell asleep 

***

When I woke up my cell's doors were being opened.

I got out. It hurt to even stand, but even so, I didn't want to be in a cell.

"Bye then bro. I'll see you later in the world."

"Later, and the name's Daarc."

"Well your person's dark too. So that's a fitting name. I'm Dick, and the quiet guy's Servesta."

"Well your name kind of fits too, huh?"

"I get that a lot." He closed one of his eyes and grinned. I wouldn't have called it a wink though. "I'm guessing they'll let me out before this week ends. Of course, they wouldn't be dumb enough to cause an issue when their strongest manpower was absent or rather, dead."

I just waved.

Two guards escorted me out. I was only wearing pants but my body was too covered with bandages to worry about aesthetics.

As I climbed up the spiraling stair, I reminisced about my life. When I came to this world, I had nothing. I had no knowledge and no power. I gained everything and lost all of it at the same time. I lost friends; I lost comrades and I lost my own body and soul. But I didn't lose hope. 

But now I have my pet rabbit and I have my resolve. I know what to do and I'll do it.

Even if the world itself betrays me, I'll still keep going.