The Hero Appears

After banishing the demon emissary, Ariana went to the well. As she drew water, Mirabelle approached.

“I take it you’re leaving, then.” 

Ariana turns to her. “I have to. My son is out there, I’m sure of it this time.”

Mirabelle leaned against the well. “If you’re so sure… guess none of us can really stop you.”

Ariana smiled. “I’ll be coming back, I live here after all. That house is for my son and I, remember?”

Mirabelle chuckled and shook her head. “How can I forget? You’ve been talking about it all these years.” She stood up and pulled Ariana into a hug. “Just… be careful, alright?”

Ariana returned the embrace. “I will.”

Once Ariana had a filled water skin, she set out to the north with purpose. 

She hadn’t felt like this in years, even in her past life. She’d gone on camping and hiking trips before, but that was before Alex was born, and she’d never gone on a cross-country trip like this. It was scary and exciting, and most of all, she couldn’t wait to see Alex again. 

She wondered how much he’d grown, what he’d been up to all this time, if he remembered her, what he was doing now, how he got here, all of these thoughts and more spun her mind around and whipped at her heels like a tailwind. 

She traveled the north road for a few miles until it forked at sunset. There was a wooden signpost. Behind her was Loomholm; to the left were places called Golstock, Durin, and Tolte. To the right were Lumie, Reddenton, Farbour, and Altus.

She didn’t know what to do with this information. 

She looked at the ground for horse tracks. 

There were many in both directions on either road. She couldn’t tell one set from another, and the sun was about to set; it would be impossible to tell the tracks apart. 

She sighed and decided it was best to set up camp for the night. Luckily, she planned for this. 

She decided on a little spot between the fork, out of the way of the road. She took one of the pumpkin seeds from her pouch and settled it into the soil. She took a stance and pressed her hands together. Her hands steadily rose over her head and fanned away from each other. 

In response, a pumpkin vine curled up from the soil and sprouted one picturesque orange gourd. She pulled her arms back in and repeated this motion. The pumpkin grew larger and larger as she cast, eventually becoming positively massive. It stood significantly taller than her and was wider than her arm span could stretch. 

Satisfied with the size, she traced her finger in the air along the side of the pumpkin, and a hole slowly unzipped along it. Once the hole was large enough for her to step through, she rolled her hands together swiftly, and all of the guts of the pumpkin twirled together into a large clump. She pulled it free and stepped in. The walls were thick and sturdy, and definitely more waterproof than the leaf tent she had conjured up all those years ago. The last thing she did was summon a few of the glowing forest flowers inside for light. 

As she summoned the last, she heard the jingle at the back of her mind again, and the odd triumphant sound. She’d heard these sounds many times since arriving, but never paid much mind to them. What she did notice was that the sounds were happening less frequently as time went on. The jingle was far more frequent; she’d heard it dozens of times, but the triumphant sound she’d only heard five or six times. She hoped that the sound being less frequent wasn’t a sign of something bad. She did notice that her magic seemed to return to her every time she heard the jingle, so she hoped that she wasn’t using it all up.

She stepped out of the pumpkin to go collect some firewood. She was planning to grow her own kindling like she did with the pumpkin, but if she was running out of magic, that may not be such a good idea. She was suddenly uncertain about her plans with the seeds. 

She was able to collect enough for a fire. She arranged them just so and sparked them up with her flint. 

As she settled in for the night, she sensed a red sharpness out of the corner of her eye. She heard someone down the left road.

“Whaaaat the…” 

She looked over past her pumpkin. She spotted a boy there with spiky red hair, a sword on his back, and a lantern in his hand. He looked to be somewhere in his teens. He was looking at the pumpkin, clearly puzzled. In hindsight, understandably so, she admitted to herself. 

She stood up, dusted her lap off, stepped to the side, and waved at him. “Hello there, do you happen to know the way to Indrock?”

The boy startled a bit, and his hand went for the pommel of his sword. 

Ariana stepped back and raised her hands. “I mean you no harm!” 

The boy stood there staring at her, still in a ready position. Ariana felt it best to try to defuse the situation. “Are you… hungry? I was about to make dinner. Would you care for something to eat? I’ve got pork.”

The boy seemed to perk up. “Pork? Like… real pork?”

Ariana smiled. “Well, technically it’s boar meat, but I think it’s pretty much the same thing.”

The boy seemed to settle down a bit. He gave a goofy grin that reminded her of Alex. “Good enough for me! A pork dinner’s just what I need for victory!” He laughed at what she assumed was a joke she didn’t understand. Regardless, his good mood was a comfort. 

She went to sit by the fire again and pulled out her cooking pot. "I'm Ariana, by the way, I'm traveling to find my son." 

The boy plopped himself down across from her. "The names Koichi, Koichi Katsumaki! I'm the chosen hero that's gonna save the world!" 

Ariana laughed a bit as she assembled ingredients into the pot. "Aren't you a little old to be playing hero?" 

Koichi grumbled. "I'm not playing around, I was chosen! I was summoned to this world to be the hero, and I was even given the holy sword!" 

Ariana leaned forward as she poured water in. "Summoned? Does that mean you're an Outworlder, too?"

Koichi's eyes widened. "No way. You too??"

Once the ingredients were settled in, she let the pot simmer over the fire. "I can't really say I was 'summoned', I came here the hard way..."

He settled down a bit. "Oh yeah. That does happen, doesn't it... Sorry to hear that, miss."

Ariana sighed as they watched the pot boil. 

He rubbed the back of his head. "So... what level are you at?"

She looked up. "Level? Um... I'm not sure what you mean... level in... what exactly?"

Koichi scoffed. "Come on, you should know about this! Every Outworlder I've met talked about it, and how annoying the level-up jingle is!"

Ariana's head tilted. "That's what the noise was? This level thing? I've noticed that I don't hear it as often these days. Does that mean I'm running out of levels? Is that a bad thing?"

The boy started laughing as if she had told a good joke. After a minute or two, he settled down again. "Wait... are you serious? Can't you see your status screen?"

Her head tilted the other way. "Status... screen?" She thought back to the day she arrived. She remembered the overwhelming information that flooded her vision. Could it have been one of those? The sharpness was still floating around the edges of her vision, so she knew that display was still present. "Oh, I think I remember that. I got rid of all that on the first day."

Koichi sighed. "Right, well... you can pull that back up any time, just think about it and it'll come back. It's like... checking your phone, I guess. You can keep it in your pocket when you're not looking at it." 

"Ah, that makes sense." She considered this 'level' thing for a moment, and sure enough, a display appeared in her vision. "Oh!"

Koichi slaps his knee enthusiastically. "You see it now, yeah? Your level should be up in the top left."

Ariana scans the display and sees, yes, there is a large number in the top left. "It's... nine? Is that good?"

Koichi looks dumbfounded. "What?! How long have you been here, three days?" 

"I first arrived about ten years ago."

"Seriously?! You've only gotten nine levels in ten years?! What have you been doing?!"

Ariana threw her hands up. "Living! I've got a farm, a house, neighbors, and a business!"

Koichi leaned back again. "So nothing, basically... that explains the level crawl." He smirks. "I'll have you know I've been here for a month now, and my level is already at thirty-five!"

Ariana seemed skeptical. "So what do you do with levels?"

He seemed to have the wind taken out of his sails. "What... you get stronger... how do you not know this?" 

"It hasn't really been important to me."

"W-well... you can use level points to boost your power, how about that?"

"Points?" She looks at her status display and sees an area labeled points. "I have... fourteen of them, I think?"

"Oh my god," he exclaimed. "You haven't spent any... Alright, I'll try to keep it simple, miss. You spend the points on making the other numbers bigger, the ones that are in a list. You think about which ones you want to go up; they go up until you run out of points. Depending on what you do, you wanna focus on different things. I focus on making my sword's damage better."

Ariana considered the information. She inspected the display and thought about what she had struggled with since arriving. With this thought, she devoted all fourteen points to increasing her magic reserves. Her reserves were nearly doubled as a result.

She dismissed the screen and looked back at Koichi with a smile. "So, at a level like thirty-five, you must be pretty strong."

Koichi pumped his fist. "Darn right I am! Victory is in my name, I'm absolutely gonna save the world and kill the Demon Lord!"

Ariana's smile faded. It was quiet for a minute, save for the roiling pot. 

Koichi noticed the silence. "Huh? Is something wrong?"

She looked into his eyes. "That seems... a little drastic, don't you think? Not to mention, dangerous."

Koichi looked a bit confused. "Drastic? But I'm the hero. I'm supposed to kill the demon lord; that's how it works."

She frowned. "Are you sure that violence is the answer?"

He shrugged. "I mean... You can't really talk it out with demons, right? Especially not a demon lord."

Ariana stirred the pot, not taking her eyes off of Koichi. "You and I are talking it out, aren't we?"

Koichi looked her over. "Well... you aren't really a demon, you're an Outworlder, that's different."

"You didn't know that before talking to me."

"I... guess that's true."

"Besides, if that rule doesn't apply to Outworlders, then it doesn't apply to him."

"Him? You mean... the demon lord? Xander's an outworlder?"

"So I'm told... and I believe he's my son. I'm traveling to see him, to be sure."

Koichi became quiet. 

He stood up. "I think... I'll keep going for the night."

"Be careful, Koichi. You never know what you'll find in the dark, you know?"

He glares at her. "Yeah. I know." 

Koichi departed. When he did, she realized that the red sharpness had only just vanished from her sight.