The Eternal Assassin

Before returning to his comrades waiting down below, there was one quick stop Asher wanted to make. Running up the stairs despite knowing there wasn't a giant demon chasing him any longer, Asher quickly found the grisly scene of Mr. Sonth's death. He wasn't interested in anything the alchemist may have had on him, but he was certainly interested in that.

Asher found himself standing in front of the hovering orb of fractured glass, staring into the shimmering violet ball. It was like someone had taken the inside of a kaleidoscope and transformed it into a perfectly smooth sphere. Unable to resist the temptation, Asher slowly reached out a single finger and tentatively touched the surface of the orb.

A brilliant flash of violet light blinded him for a moment, and when he opened his eyes the sphere was gone. In its place was a new floating message.

Shards: 68,792

Asher stared at the floating message, scratching his head.

Huh… I wonder if that's a lot?

Deciding there was only one way to find out, he finally descended to the ground floor of the tower, surprised to find Samantha and Brian waiting for him by the main entrance. There were two dead imps with arrows protruding from their chests lying next to them, and based on the smashed in skull of a third one and the proud look on Brian's face, giving the boy a mace had been the right call. Samantha on the other hand looked both relieved to see him and also worried about something.

"Thank god you're alright!" she exclaimed, rushing forward and throwing her arms around him. Asher stared over her shoulder at Brian in shock, and the boy just snorted, shaking his head as if she did this all the time. Holding him out at arm's length, she took in his appearance, her eyes widening.

"You're covered in blood!"

"Don't worry, I'll make more," Asher grinned. "I see you had some excitement down here. Not that I'm unhappy to see you, but why haven't you left the tower?"

"The main door has some sort of enchantment placed on it," she said, handing him an empty vial. "I tried using all the acid we had, but the liquid just slipped right off and ate a small hole in the floor. I don't think we're getting out of here without the actual key." Samantha paused, taking a deep breath and steeling herself, giving him a look filled with determination. "…We're going to have to fight the demon."

"Damn, that sounds pretty hard. While you do that, I think I'm just going to use this key I found to take Brian somewhere safer. Wouldn't want him getting caught up in the fight after all."

Samantha stared at the shining key Asher held in his hands, blinking twice before looking at him in confusion.

"You managed to steal the key from around its neck? How?"

"Trick of the trade," Asher shrugged, barely able to contain his grin as he walked over to the entrance and slid the key into the door, throwing it open and revealing a lush forest just on the other side. "Corpses are really easy to steal from."

As he and Brian walked out into the forest, he couldn't help but chuckle as he heard Samantha sputtering behind him.

Asher didn't know how long the wizard's tower had been sitting out here in the middle of nowhere, but the wizard clearly didn't have any of his bound demons acting as a gardener. Over the years the forest had grown directly up against the stone tower, and the moment he stepped outside he found himself surrounded by thick trees, their combined canopy doing an excellent job of limiting how much light reached them down at the ground.

"This is some forest," Asher said, running his hands along one of the ancient looking trees. The bark was rough and almost cold to the touch.

[Bolta Tree]

Guess Identify just doesn't have all that much to give me sometimes.

"According to my skill we're still in the Lavash Forest, just far deeper inside than I've ever gone before," Samantha said, her grip tightening on her bow as she looked around cautiously. Based on the blood on her fingers, it looked as though she'd retrieved her two arrows while Asher had been busy admiring the dense foliage. "The forest acts as a natural border between the Noala Kingdom and the Lambit Republic. It's rumored that neither have pushed too far into the forest due to the powerful beasts living within."

"You have a republic? As in, people voting for a ruler instead of being led by a king?" Asher asked, far more interested in hearing about a magical world's governing system than the forest itself. After all, how could democracy ever be viable when some people seemed to have incredible magical power?

"Well not personally, no. We live in Noala. Though I've met a few daring explorers from Lambit who have crossed through the forest, and according to them it's a rather corrupt system filled with backstabbing and illegal dealings."

Ah, sounds like this world isn't too different from mine after all.

Letting Samantha take the lead, Asher and Brian followed closely behind her, weapons at the ready in case anything decided they looked like an easy meal. Every so often Samantha would hold up a hand and have the two of them wait while she scouted ahead without them. Usually when this happened she'd return after a few minutes and adjust their course slightly, leading them in a different direction.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

After the fourth time this had happened, Asher couldn't contain his curiosity any longer.

"What are you doing when you go ahead like that? Are you using some sort of skill? What skills and elements do you have?"

Samantha nearly tripped over a root at his question, turning around to glare at him like he'd asked her how often she bathed before catching herself. Sighing, she shook her head.

"Sorry, I owe you more than I could ever hope to repay and don't mind answering your questions, I was just caught off guard." Seeing Asher's blank face, she raised an eyebrow. "You don't know? Asking someone for their elements without good reason is already pretty rude, but asking for details on their skills is something else entirely. Where are you from?"

Asher hesitated, wondering if it was wise admitting that he wasn't from this world. For all he knew his kind were hunted for sport through the kingdom and he'd have to go into hiding. Though based on the questions he was planning to ask it wouldn't exactly be hard to figure out, and Samantha definitely owed him, as she kept repeating. He couldn't see her ratting him out if being from another world was in fact something bad.

"I'm actually not from this world, to be honest. The same wizard that kidnapped you snatched me from my world with some sort of summoning spell."

"Oh, you're a realm wanderer!" Samantha said, her eyes lighting up. "Or well, the opposite of one, I suppose." Seeing his clear confusion, she continued. "There are some people, often powerful slayers, that end up exploring the different realms in search of impossible monsters or extremely rare ingredients at the request of rich nobles. I've obviously never met one myself, living way out here on the edge of the kingdom, but from the stories I've heard they are quite famous."

"So traveling between realms isn't unheard of?"

"Not unheard of, but certainly not common. You need to be strong enough to survive in the other realm and have a spellcaster powerful enough to connect the two realms in the first place," she explained, scratching her head. "Though I've never heard of someone coming to our realm from a different one. I bet you'd be a big hit with most of the scholars in the capital."

Note to self, keep otherworldly origins under wraps, Asher confirmed, shuddering at the thought of being subjected to who knows what kind of magical experiments.

"That does explain some of your behavior though. Like handing out enchanted weapons and the rude questions," Samantha said, shooting him a grin. "My origin element is Forest, and the skill I've been using to scout ahead and direct us around the more dangerous monsters is Natural Camouflage. As long as I'm alone, I tend to blend in with the forest."

"I see how that would be useful," Asher admitted. He couldn't exactly complain about his own skills after how many times they had saved him, but a constant stealth skill like that sounded amazing. "I've heard you use that term a couple of times now. What's an origin element?"

As soon as the words left his mouth Samantha stopped walking, and Asher realized both her and her brother were staring at him like he'd just asked what a tree was.

"My world didn't have elements or magic or strange floating text, alright?" For some reason he felt the need to defend himself from their stares.

"No, I get it," Samantha said quickly. "It's just strange hearing someone ask that who isn't a small child. An origin element is the element you're gifted by the universe upon reaching maturity, normally around age sixteen. There's a lot of debate about the origin element, but what I was taught is that the element you're given is based on the environment you grew up in and the actions you take. It's why I try to take Brian out on jobs with me whenever possible, he wants to gain a Forest element like I did when he gets older."

Since they'd first stepped foot in the forest, Samantha had instructed Brian to remain silent so as to not attract any monsters, and the boy had done an excellent job following instructions. But hearing his sister talk about his potential origin element seemed to be too much for him.

"I want to get a Forest element like Sam, or something even cooler, like the Bow element, or Exploration!" He said, his eyes shining as he no doubt imagined himself as some sort of brave adventurer. "Then I can hunt down evil monsters and earn a billion shards and build a giant house for the two of us to live in!"

While Samantha scolded Brian for not following directions, Asher chuckled, thinking about what he'd been told. If an origin element was given based on your environment or experiences growing it, he supposed it made sense that whatever strange god was in charge of this magical system gave him the Spatial element. He'd clearly already hit the state of maturity before he'd arrived in this world, and if the god hadn't been able to see his life back on Earth, the only experiences he'd had when he arrived had been his strange trip between the two realms when the wizard summoned him.

"So you get your first element for free when you turn sixteen," he repeated, ticking off a finger. "What about the other two?"

"Well, you either have to be lucky enough to discover an element yourself, or rich enough to buy one you want," Samantha shrugged, leading them around a small pond filled with fish that seemed to leap out of the water and crash into each other in midair with hard, wet slaps. "Elements naturally form over time based on their concentration in the environment. I bet there are other factors at play, but you'd have to ask a scholar or someone who received an actual education." She turned a bit red as she said this, as though admitting she hadn't been properly schooled was embarrassing. "Elements can cost anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of shards depending on how rare or popular they are, so most people only ever get the one they're gifted."

"Speaking of shards, I grabbed the ones that alchemist dropped when he died," Asher admitted, thankful when Samantha looked pleased at his actions rather than disgusted that he'd looted the dead man. "Again, silly question, but what are shards actually worth? I have no idea how your currency works."

"Shards are valuable to everyone because they are how you unlock new skills and power magic enchantments," she explained, holding up the bow he'd given her. "Take this piercing enchantment for example. I haven't tried it yet, but I can feel it's going to cost around a hundred shards to fuel the enchantment every time I activate it."

"Is that a lot?"

"Yes and no," she shrugged, plucking at the bowstring. "After paying for Brian and my… living expenses, I tend to earn anywhere between one to two thousand shards a month depending on how successful my hunts are. So while a hundred shards sounds expensive, I would consider the cost extremely cheap if that single enhanced arrow saves my life or keeps me from getting injured. I could also try using the enchantment to hunt bigger game and earn even more shards, though I'll probably continue staying clear of actual monsters. Maybe I'd take more risks if I was all alone, but I won't risk leaving Brian on his own."

As she spoke, she stopped walking, pausing to pull Brian in for another hug. Despite his exasperated expression that said he was tired of all the hugs, Asher didn't fail to notice how the boy gripped his sister right back. The two of them had clearly been through a lot together, and Asher was happy he'd been able to get both of them out of the wizard's tower safely. He'd noticed how she'd hesitated when talking about their living expenses, but decided not to ask about it. They had enough going on as it was.

Now they just had to make it out of this forest.