Eric walked into the street of Golstadt where people had begun to move away from the road and down alleys, into buildings, or even to the edge of the street as the group of soldiers moved towards the tavern. 

Eric looked around the street seeing shops, people, and sights that he hadn’t even had a chance to see, to try and find some good in the world that stole him away from his burgeoning and beautiful future. Stole him from his Rose. 

I got isekai’ed to a fantasy world and I can’t even try to enjoy it, Eric thought. 

In the center of the soldiers rode an officer atop a horse, or at least it looked like a horse to Eric, but there was something different about it.

With a start, Eric realized the horse had no hair, just darker and tougher skin, not even a mane running down its neck. It wasn’t as noticeable since the horse had armor and leather covering most of its exposed skin and body, but it was a bit jarring nonetheless for Eric. 

The officer wore armor made up of large metal plates set into leather underneath, not the full set of armor Eric had expected to see. It was impressive regardless. The metal plates that were present had intricate carvings along the edges, leaving the center of each metal piece barren and flat, other than the occasional dent and scratch. The officer’s helm had similar designs with a large feather plume that stood at least three feet above his head. In his hands, the officer held a somewhat round, clear stone that was slightly opaque as if the stone had just been plucked from the earth, unpolished and unrefined, yet strikingly smooth. Red light emanated from the stone, shifting around a bit, but focused to one side as if it was being pulled towards something.

Or someone. 

“Ho, Golstadt!” The officer bellowed. “The Oracle has felt a shifting in the air and seen a great peril enter the town. We have come to find it with this seeking stone, bearing the blood of the Oracle!”

The officer heeled his horse forward, the other soldiers, wearing more leather than metal, moving behind and around him. They saw Sophia and Clanker, then saw Eric. The officer looked down to the stone, then back to Eric. He smiled, then drew his sword and pointed it at Eric.

“Otherworlder!” the officer yelled. “The Oracle seeks you! Horace of Golstadt demands that you acquiesce. Come with us, or suffer a blade in the gut.”

Sophia moved in front of Eric, smiling. 

“Been a while since I’ve fought this many,” Sophia said. “You should probably run.” Sophia exploded forward, the ground shifting slightly as she launched. 

The first soldier grunted as a dagger slipped through his armor. The man yelled in pain, dropping his spear and shield, a fountain of dark blood coming out of the wound and his mouth. He dropped as Sophia passed and began to convulse.

The soldiers turned on her as she entered their midst, shields angled at her. She took a slice at two more soldiers before Clanker tugged on Eric’s arm.

“I do think we should take her advice,” Clanker said, pointing to an alleyway. 

Eric nodded, then followed, looking back to Sophia as she fought them. The officer broke away from the soldiers with one other following him, seeing Eric run down an alley. 

Eric and Clanker turned down a dirt walkway that opened into a small dusty courtyard in between buildings and nearly slammed into three kids playing in the dirt. Clanker hopped over them easily, but Eric tripped on one of the boys and crushed a small dirt pile that had been put together into a very rough approximation of a castle. 

The boy he tripped over rolled to huddle against the wall, covering his face. His friends jumped up and bolted down another alley, leaving the boy alone. Eric stood, noticing the boy, and turned to help him up, but the officer and soldier turned the corner too quickly and ran at him. 

Eric nearly slipped in the mud as he backed away, beginning to turn and run, but heard a sudden yelp from behind him.

The officer had kicked the boy in an attempt to move him out of the way. The boy had crawled into the middle of the walkway while Eric was scrambling away. The boy hadn’t seen the officer coming and had attempted to get up and away. 

The officer grunted and kicked the boy again, then pointed at Eric.

“Go after the otherworlder!” the officer yelled at the soldier. 

Time seemed to freeze in that moment, allowing Eric respite to think.

“Rose,” Eric said. “What is my power?”

“Light manipulation,” Rose said. “You have very little access to your abilities at the moment, requiring experience and growth to unlock other capabilities. However, your passive capacity and Light Dominion are active and accessible.”

“What’s Light Dominion?” Eric asked.

“I fear there is no time to use or explain that ability,” Rose said. “If you wish to survive while helping that boy.”

“My passive then?” Eric asked. 

“Hold out your hand,” Rose said. 

He did so, then a small glow began to emanate from his hand. In a second, it burst alight like a beacon. It flashed away as fast as it came, but the soldier stopped, trying to cover his eyes, as did the officer.

Eric looked at the boy, then nodded. The boy smiled, then got up and bolted down another alley. Eric turned to run as well.

“Clanker, we–” Eric began, but noticed that Clanker was nowhere to be seen.

Did he leave me? Eric thought. 

As he was standing around looking for Clanker, three more soldiers turned down the alley toward him.

“We saw the light, sir,” one of them said. “Figured you were here.”

The officer groaned, then said, “What of the hunter?” 

“We got her good,” one of the other soldiers said. “But she got away with a nasty wound. She took out five of us, sir.”

The officer growled, then looked at Eric.

“I think the mayor will forgive us if the otherworlder just happens to bleed out first,” the officer said, smiling.

“Rose!” Eric yelled. “I might need Light Dominion now!”

“Light Dominion allows you to shift light between its wave properties or its particle properties,” Rose said. “As a wave, it won’t affect these as much, but you can harden light into any shape you need, manifesting it physically. Visualize it and it should obey your command.”

“Should?!” Eric said but did as commanded. In his mind, Eric pictured a beautiful sword made of light. He held out his hand and felt a weight beginning to fall into it, but it was slow and didn’t seem to function like it ought to. The soldiers started running at him and Eric had to back away to gain distance between them. 

Panicked, Eric turned to run, not letting the light finish forming. It was too slow to form what he wanted, but he tried to visualize a wall instead. The simpler construction materialized almost instantly, blocking the soldiers off. One ran face-first into it, hitting the light hard and bouncing back and onto his rear. The other soldier approached and then slammed his fist against the light wall. It dispersed immediately, not strong enough to hold back two impacts. 

Eric felt the anxiety and fear rising, threatening to freeze him in place. 

“What do I do, Rose?!” 

“Your light power is not sufficiently advanced as of yet to take advantage of this situation,” Rose said. “You may need to resort to your other power.”

Eric felt the ring in his tunic pocket, a constant weight, yet comforting at the same time. He fumbled the ring out of the pocket and held it in his hand. He moved to put it on his ring, bracing for another horror.

In the blink of an eye, Clanker was between the two soldiers, bony hands gathering blood from their arms that suddenly had open wounds. The soldiers turned in shock, backing away from the skeleton. 

“I thought you’d run off!” Eric said. 

“Oh, I’m just a coward,” Clanker said, raising his hands towards the two and the officer, palms out. “But somehow you made me forget that, Eric.” 

The blood on Clanker’s hands burst alight, a red flame dancing around his wrist and growing into a condensed ball in front of him.

The officer looked at Clanker, wide-eyed. “A lich! Run, men!” The order was, however, too late.

“Red flames of Torment,” Clanker said, characteristic playfulness gone. “Immolate.” 

The ball of deep red flames erupted forward in a near beam, igniting everything between them and the soldiers. The beam of fire landed square on the chest of the officer, boring a hole into his chest and setting him alight with a deep, hateful red flame, as well as the soldiers near him. The two closest to Clanker began to smoke, their leather catching fire. They ran off down another alley, but the officer and those close to him were not so lucky. 

Once the movement of the soldiers had stopped, Clanker raised a hand and twisted his wrist from left to right, the flames burning the alley vanishing with the movement. 

Clanker turned to Eric. “So, I guess they think I’m a lich.” The skeleton then smiled a strange, bone-stretching smile that should not have been possible. 

“I’m glad you came back, Clanker,” Eric said, smiling.

“Well I couldn’t just let you have all the fun,” Clanker said, hands going up and shaking. “And I’m remembering more and more of my past self, so that’s good. And apparently, I hated soldiers for some reason. All the more reason!”

Sophia burst into the alley, breathing heavily and bloodied. 

“Why are we just sitting around?” She asked. “Let’s get out of this town.”

***

An hour later, the party had managed to move quickly up the nearby mountain and through a small canyon in the mountain’s gut. It had a small cave that the party sequestered in, looking to lick their wounds for the day. 

“We rest up here,” Sophia said. “Then take our journey in the morning.”

“Where are we going?” Eric asked. “And aren’t you kind of, you know, bleeding? Are there healing potions or something on Auron?”

“Those are only for mortal wounds,” Sophia said. “Normal healing abilities will be fine for me right now.”

“You have healing abilities?” Eric asked. 

“Pretty much every hunter has some ability,” Sophia said. “It’s not regeneration like those insane vampires in the south or any shifter, for that matter. But if a hunter knows a thing or two about how to use blood properly, healing faster isn’t an issue. I’ll be fine by morning.”

Eric nodded. “Good to know.” 

“You have gained shared party experience,” Rose said suddenly. “Your Reflection ability has unlocked, allowing you to reflect light. Your Light Dominion ability has increased as well.”

Eric smiled. “That’s good.” 

“What?” Sophia said. “I hadn’t said anything.”

“Oh, otherworlder stuff, I guess,” Eric said. 

“You said you may have an idea where to go?” Clanker said. 

Sophia nodded slowly. “There is someone that might know more about otherworlders and all that science stuff you mentioned.”

Eric perked up. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Sophia said. “But he’s kind of far away. It will take time to get there and might be really dangerous. Even for me.”

“If there’s a chance this guy might know,” Eric said. “I want to find him.”

Sophia nodded. “Alright, then. This guy also has somewhat of a reputation.”

“That sounds a bit ominous,” Eric said. 

“He’s dabbled into even taboo topics among alchemists,” Sophia said. “Earning him quite a title among those of his kind.”

“What do you mean by title?” Eric asked. 

Sophia smiled, then lay down to sleep and heal off her wounds. 

Clanker frowned. “Well, now even I’m intrigued. What are you, some storyteller? Eric, she’s trying to take your job.”

Eric glared at Clanker.

Sophia rolled around, facing the cave wall. 

“Well?” Eric said, exasperated. “Don’t leave us hanging.”

“Isn’t that the point?” Clanker said. “If those being executed aren’t left hanging, then they wouldn’t die. Fleshy humans need respiration and that sort of thing to survive unless humans have made tremendous physiological advancements in my two-millennium time-out.” 

Eric groaned. “It’s an expression.”

In the moment before she fell asleep, she quietly yet with great emphasis spoke.

"They call him the Alchemist."