The idea of staying in Elder Ji-min’s house felt nauseating. He couldn’t place why. Just a few minutes ago, he was fine. Using up some of his precious reserves, Max teleported back closer to the community and deep into the woods. It took him a few minutes to get the sickly feeling to go away.

  Once Max recovered, he used the pink runes to recreate the map of the area. There were the same number of lights in the concentrated areas. Did Darius lie to him about an evacuation? Just as he was about to call a dryad forward again, there was the sound of the emergency transmission. It must be a spell for all ears within reach instead of an actual radio system in the buildings.

  Did they intend for him to hear?

  “This is an emergency broadcast.” It was Darius’s voice. He sounded weak, but the coughs in between words were significantly less violent. “Max has begun his hunt for Cy.” Max watched the dots carefully as they began to move. “He has clarified his instruction from the system as: Cy is still alive when the sun rises. He appears to be suspicious of the system’s intentions and is fully committed to avoiding whatever happens with the realisation of this demand.

  “In addition, he has indicated that the blue lines from his runes have healing properties when directly contacted. Abuse this. Also, Max has a magic neutralising rune. Prepare to fight in alternative ways.” Max felt a little relieved Darius passed on those bits of information. “For the time being, halt procedure E and begin procedure C.” The transmission was cut.

  Procedure C?

  Max doubted it would change anything.

  “Alright, this one,” he tapped on the trunk. “Come on out.” The tree nymph came out with such enthusiasm that almost all the bark exploded from the tree. Seeing the damage it had done, the dryad began to bow repeatedly to show its apologies as a splinter covered Max moved to a blue line. Pulling out the little pieces of wood from his skin, Max spoke slowly. “Never mind. I need you to find someone.” The tree nymph stood alert, ready to help. “I’m looking for a young man with a purple cape. The cape is stitched together and shows stars."

  The tree nymph started the whisper before beginning to hum-and-haw at the map below him. “A young man with a cape,” Max tried again. The dryad thought for a few more seconds before pointing at a singular dot on the map in the middle of the woods. Two other dots stood a mile away.

  The labours of the day were starting to eat away at Max’s energy. As a farmhand, he was used to doing hard labour and getting barely any sleep. Still, today was exhausting. Max scanned the area where he teleported to.

  “I’m not very fond of you anymore.”

  …What the fuck? Max moved before he could properly think about the situation. It didn’t take him long to spot Cy’s figure with his hood up before a sharp wind attack headed in his direction. The gust was strong enough to blow away some of the trees in its path, causing them to crash down in a terrifying thud.

  The figure before him looked like Cy, had the same height as Cy, and had his clothes… But his voice belonged to someone else.

  “What are you doing, Haiddeck?”

  The youth pulled down the cloak’s hood, causing the illusion to shatter. The significantly shorter youth became clear in an instant. The only real part of the image before was Cy’s cloak. “My lovely sister is as smart as ever.” Another wind attack. Max teleported out of the way, but Haiddeck didn’t let up for a second. “She was pleasant enough to inform me that you might see through my spell.” Another one. “You are smart after all. I never doubted you for a second.” Again.

  Why the fuck was he talking like that? Unless his speech pattern was somehow connected to his type of magic? “Holy shit, you can cast by talking?”

  No wonder the prompt hyped him up and the musically talented Elder Aris wanted him. It was a rare skill to manipulate magic with just a voice. You needed a good set of ears, precise control over vocal cords, and the patience to learn the subtle differences in sound. It was just a level below runes. Since Max’s voice would change with every body, it was fruitless to develop the skill until he began experimenting with other noises from his clothes.

  “What a potty mouth-” Haiddeck was prepared, as Max casted out a neutralising rune. Without magic, the youth didn’t hesitate to pull out a sword by his side. He took a deep breath. “You mother fucking son of a bitch! You’re the cuntiest of cunts I’ve ever goddamn seen! How could you be such a bitch? You piece of shit!”

  “That’s better.” Max relaxed his stance. The age difference alone meant the fight couldn’t continue. Haiddeck was far too young and short to do any substantial damage even if he tried. “Have you seen Cy?”

  “I ain’t tellin you shit.”

  “That’s fair,” Max merely nodded. He opened up his map in front of Haiddeck. There were two dots still near their location. “Is your sister this way? I might as well get her take on this.”

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  Haiddeck quickly moved in the direction Max was pointing towards, so he was in his way. “You ain’t going anywhere, fuck face. You’re stuck here with me.”

  Max frowned at the young boy before shrugging. “Okay, we can go together.” Haiddeck braced himself for Max to attack. “Grab the boy.”

  “Wha-” Haiddeck’s scream interrupted him. A series of dryads busted out of their trees, shocking him to his core. There were a few swings of a sword, but it wasn’t long before he was being held in place by several tree nymphs. Max took one of the chunks of an oak tree and quickly carved a rune with the dropped sword.

  “Hold this.” Max shoved the chunk of wood in Haiddeck’s pockets, rendering him immobile. “Alright, thank you all. You can go back now.” The dryads grumbled as they pretended they couldn’t understand. “Go. Home.” The change in severity of his tone caused immediate obedience. Picking the youth up and throwing him over his shoulder, Max began his gentle stride. “Is your sister far away?”

  “Fuck you.”

  “What about Cy? Where’s he at?”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Uh-huh. What’s procedure C?”

  “Fuck you.”

  The two maintained their deep conversation as Max followed the pink runes.

  “I’ve been wondering about something for a while.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Did your sister choose her name? You know, Delrid - Riddle? I know Cy had his name changed when he first came.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “I’m only asking cause your name is an anagram for-”

  “FUCK YOU.”

  “Alright, I get it! I guess it wasn’t intentional… A while ago, there was a story prompt about you.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “It’s gone now though.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “It told me to encourage you, and you were destined to welcome in a new age.”

  “… Fuck you?”

  “Luckily, it was a one-star story. Even without someone like me in your life, you’ve got a good chance at making it far on your own.”

  “… Fuck you.”

  It didn’t take Max long to find Delrid casually sitting on a fallen tree, playing chess with someone Max didn’t recognise. “You can go now,” she said in a soft voice. The other person didn’t need to be told twice and disappeared without a second thought. Still looking scruffy in a black dress and surrounded by meowing cats, Delrid appeared calm as she rearranged the chess pieces. Max dropped Haiddeck by a tree near her.

  “Hello, Max. Do you have time for a game?”

  Her words were eerie, but for some reason it clicked together a few things in Max’s mind. Could Darius’s plan be to delay him as much as possible? First by sending Elder Aris to him? Then by purposefully getting a severe penalty? Sending the other Elders after him? Putting up a fight? Letting Max treat him? Offering ideas to think about? Giving Haiddeck Cy’s cloak? Having Delrid wait nearby to tempt him into enquiring about possible answers?

  How many hours had it been since he was at the farm?

  Had Darius realised the sunrise condition the moment it was etched into Cy’s fate?

  “I’ve got time for a quick game. But only if I can pick your brain about something.” Max sat across from her.

  “Don’t you fucking dare tell him any-”

  “Shhh…” Delrid waved her hand causing Haiddeck to stop mid-sentence. Max wasn’t too sure if it was caused by magic or just their relationship. “Cy is still alive when the sun rises.” She began the game by moving her first piece.

  “That’s right.” Max began the Sicilian defence.

  “We can’t temporarily kill Cy?”

  “No guarantee we can bring him back. To be honest, the other condition is also worrying.”

  “A sunrise?”

  “How long is a sunrise?” Max pondered aloud. “The world is round, you know.”

  “I know,” Delrid almost sounded hurt by the implication.

  It didn’t seem to bother him. “Put back my rook.” She hesitatingly complied. “Being round means the sun is constantly rising around the world. All the time. Every second. But the prompt hasn’t been activated. You moved an extra space with your knight.”

  “Maybe we sacrificed Cy to make you stop.”

  “Then the prompt would be cancelled.” Max was dismissive in his words. “The sunrise must be linked to something. Either me, Cy, this land, or something else… We don’t know what. Put the rook back. You already moved your pawn.”

  Delrid obeyed without acknowledging her cheating attempts. “If it’s tethered to Cy then the prompt might return when he returns to life. He would have to hide from the sun.”

  “We could, theoretically, stop the sun from rising in this area. But it’ll have a massive impact on the affected environment, and we don’t know how wide of an area to block. Stop cheating. Put the bishop back… The area could be just Tsujuma. Or this country. Or this time zone…”

  “Maybe it’s connected to you?”

  “Then I would have to spend the rest of this life running from the sun. Put my knight back.”

  “You could.”

  “I could. Check.” Max didn’t feel the need to cheat. Delrid’s mind wasn’t in the game this time. “But if I’m wrong then a story starts.”

  “You’re not willing to take that gamble? Not even for Cy’s life?”

  “…I’m not.” Realisation dawned on Max about what he would have to do before morning. The small sliver of hope for an alternative path died with the game. There was no viable wriggle room aside from the obvious way to avoid the prompt. Cy must die before the sunrises.

  Delrid just gave a nod, as her face showed disappointment. “Then we have nothing more to talk about. Good game.”

  “Delrid, where’s Cy?”

  “What will happen if a story were to start?”

  “Almost anything,” Max admitted. “Sub-goals and penalties will come into effect. So, whatever the system decides to do, I will have to somewhat comply if I want to stay in this world.”

  “The community could be in danger?”

  “The system has shown an open disdain for Cy and Darius… It could be nothing, or something could affect them, or even more people could get wrapped up in this… The system has suggested the idea of destroying Tsujuma or hurting its inhabitants in multiple prompts.”

  Delrid exchanged a glance at a mute Haiddeck, who was suddenly frantic. She then spoke quickly. “Procedure C is a special plan based on an attack years ago. It changes the priority of us in the front line to conceal the fortune tellers of the community: Cy, Elder Darius, and Elder Ji-min. Elder Aris oversees Elder Ji-min. Elder Nova is tasked with Elder Darius…. Elder Obi used to be Cy’s mentor. She probably hid him in her orphanage.”

  Max sneered. It was such a dangerous place to hide Cy. It would take a real monster to risk the lives of so many children. He wasn’t sure if Elder Obi would endanger her kids. But his map had confirmed earlier there was a cluster of lights at the orphanage. It was possible Cy was hiding among them. “Than-”

  She held up her hand to stop him from expressing his gratitude. “Just go,” her tone was sad as she kept her eyes lowered to the ground.