Leo Caldera wanted to go home.

  He wanted it more than anything in the world.

  To return. To a place of comfort. Of acceptance. To somewhere he was understood.

  He toiled. Argued. Endured.

  All for this moment.

  Day 372.

  Today Leo would finally return home.

  A wind swept through the streets of Korok Village. It slipped into open windows, snaked its way between cracks hidden in the walls, and crept up onto the skin of the sleeping residents.

  Leo Caldera felt the chill wash over him, and did nothing. He stared up at the straw ceiling of his hut. Waiting.

  [Quest (500/500): Remain in the village until midnight (Time Remaining: 00:01:00)]

  [Reward: Completion of the Tutorial. Return to Earth.]

  The system spoke impassively. It always did, though this time Leo wished that it was more reassuring. The robotic tone undermined the significance of the moment.

  Or rather, the moments. Leo had been waiting for six hours, and the only thing preventing his heart from jumping out of his chest was the anticipation and hope.

  He couldn’t sit. Leo rose from his bed and began pacing around the room. The sound of his footsteps against the floor echoed throughout his small hut, before meeting its end as it exited the window next to his door.

  And the clock ticked ever closer. Fifty nine minutes, now, and Leo could forget this world of mundane tasks and manual labor. A world with magic he did not understand, and people he did not want to know.

  There were fifty-eight minutes and thirty seconds left when the knocking began. It sounded light — almost polite — and Leo moved to open the door.

  Before he paused. Stared at the timer and remembered the late hour. He pulled his hand away, and spoke in the calmest voice he could muster.

  “Who is this?”

  No answer. The knocking grew louder, rising in intensity until the sound resonated throughout the hut, shaking the walls and deafening his eardrums.

  The wall hugged his back, and Leo tripped over a shirt that he had dropped the night before. He landed on the ground, staring at the door with wide eyes.

  The knocking continued.

  There were forty-six minutes and twelve seconds when the knocking stopped. It stopped suddenly, as if it never happened at all, and the only sound that remained was the uneven cadence of Leo’s breath.

  Quiet. Too quiet. Leo’s heart thumped as he continued staring at the door.

  Did they leave? Had they given up on Leo’s hut?

  No. Leo heard a tap on the door, on the side where it was attached to the wall.

  Then, a thud. The tip of a spear had ripped through his door.

  An ivory head stood there. It jerked up, ripping the door off its hinges and spraying wooden splinters all over the floor.

  The door collapsed with a crash, exposing the figure behind it. Leo’s eyes widened as his heart beat faster.

  For what was standing in front of him was an construct of bone, eyes glowing with a light that was devoid of life. It held its pale spear with mechanical ease, and wore a dark, metallic armor.

  They stared at each other. Leo looked around for a weapon, but the skeleton didn’t give him a chance to respond.

  His body dodged on instinct as the spear passed by his head and embedded itself into the wall behind him. He rolled to the right. He grabbed the wooden stool sitting in the corner and threw it at the monster.

  The skeleton sliced it in half. The legs of the chair rolled helplessly on the floor as death approached Leo.

  Leo had thought many thoughts since coming to this world. But only one thought remained in his head as he laughed mirthlessly at the incoming skeleton.

  Ah. I wasn’t supposed to survive after all.

  He took a deep breath and stared the skeleton in its eyes. If he was to die here, he would make it a dignifying death.

  But it seemed he wouldn’t even be granted that, as his lips trembled and tears leaked out his eyes. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

  Yet, the skeleton moved ever forwards, and its foot caught on the crumpled shirt on the floor. It pitched forward with a brittle crack of bone, landing inches away from Leo’s foot.

  He didn’t miss the chance. Leo jolted upwards and leaped over his bed, sprinting out of his door and into the open air of the village.

  Forty five minutes and forty seven minutes remained when Leo heard the screams.

  They resounded through the village, filling the air and splitting the eardrums of those who had them.

  Leo froze as a skeleton walked out of the house across from him. This one held a sword, and its ivory blade was stained red with blood.

  He swiveled his head and saw another villager stumbling away from a skeleton with a spear. But he clutched at a wound in his side, and the skeleton slowly but surely closed the distance with him with each step. His screams died upon deaf ears.

  Run. Leo had to run. But as he looked towards the closest gate to him, he saw no sanctuary. Leo saw flashes of white in the tall wheat fields, and the gate itself was guarded by a host of armored skeletons.

  A thud rang out behind him. Leo turned around and saw his skeleton emerging from his doorway. Its teeth chattered, and its eyes fixed on Leo with an eerie malice.

  Leo began to back away. He would have to risk his way towards the gate, even though he had a miniscule chance of surviving. His arms trembled and his breathing quickened as he looked towards the western gate.

  At that moment, a crack echoed through the air. Leo whirled, and saw a bright red flare emerging from the center of the village. It arced through the air, up hundreds and hundreds of feet, before exploding into a bunch of sparks.

  So there were other survivors, after all. The skeleton approached Leo, who weighed his chances.

  Then he took off towards the center of the village.

  There were thirty nine minutes and twenty eight seconds when the arrow struck Leo in the arm.

  The path between his residential area and the center village was a wide, open expanse, and Leo ran faster than he had ever done in his life as he closed in on the flare’s origin.

  He had outpaced his skeleton minutes ago, its spear and armor weighing it down, but more skeletons emerged from other houses, and once their glowing eyes fixed on Leo, they too began chasing them.

  He had outrun them all. Yet, his legs felt like jelly, and Leo panted as he entered the central plaza. Signs of battle littered the area — the stalls he and Calux passed by earlier were now scattered, a couple of wooden poles lying on the ground.

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  But there was no blood, and silence reigned. Leo could hear his footsteps as he plodded across the plaza, head swiveling around every so often to watch for skeletons.

  There were none. Leo stopped and leaned against a wall to catch his breath.

  And that was when the arrow struck him.

  It pierced through his arm, wedging itself through muscle and into bone, causing a spurt of blood to erupt from Leo’s arm. He screamed, despite his mind telling him not to, and lurched himself behind a broken stall.

  A skeleton stood on the roof. Its teeth chattered, and its eyes shone with gleeful malice as it pulled another arrow out of its quiver and prepared to jump down.

  But before it could do that, the direction of the winds shifted. Leo felt his hairs begin moving in another direction, and the skeleton’s head jerked around as it looked for the source.

  Yet it couldn’t react to the blade piercing through its neck and bisecting it in half. A man, a bald man, landed on the roof with a resounding thud. He hacked away at the skeleton’s remains until it stopped trying to put itself back together, and then lowered himself down to the central plaza and walked towards Leo.

  Leo looked towards the man with tears in his eyes.

  “M-Mayor Trugo?”

  “It’s me, Leo.”

  Mayor Trugo nodded as he stopped in front of Leo. Instead of his usual top hat and red robe combination, Trugo wore a shiny set of armor. His left hand held a glimmering, yet worn sword while his right hand held a shield, a turquoise dragon painted on top.

  “W-what? How…?”

  Leo sputtered, trying to form a coherent sentence. But his nerves were frayed, and the young man from Earth couldn’t do anything but stare at the man in front of him.

  “I heard your screams and came to help.”

  Mayor Trugo held a dark look on his face as he stopped in front of Leo.

  “You’re the only survivor I’ve found. They attacked the residential areas first.”

  “O-Only survivor?”

  Leo looked at him, wide eyed. That couldn’t be true. What about all the screams? Some of them had to have escaped, right?

  Mayor Trugo said nothing. He glanced at the arrow embedded in Leo’s arm and found a vial of glowing pink liquid in his armor. He pursed his lips.

  “Watch out. This is going to hurt.”

  Before Leo could react, Mayor Trugo grasped the arrow in Leo’s arm and yanked it out. Leo tried to scream, but Trugo covered his mouth with an armored hand and poured a bit of the pink liquid into the wound. To Leo’s astonishment, the wound started closing immediately, and the searing pain from his arm began to subside.

  “Sorry about that. I’ve found that it’s better to do when someone isn’t ready for it,” Mayor Trugo explained. He nodded towards the vial. “Healing potion. I had a couple saved from my times in the army. They’re expensive, so I use them on special occasions.”

  “I-I guess this could count as one of them,” Leo replied, still grimacing from the phantom pain in his arm.

  “Your wit’s back. Good.”

  Mayor Trugo glanced at the skeleton’s remains, and turned back to Leo.

  “Now tell me what happened.”

  There were thirty six minutes and twenty seconds remaining by the time Leo finished his explanation. Mayor Trugo had said nothing during the time, simply staring at Leo with an impassive expression. Yet his jaw was clenched, and he took a deep breath once it was clear that Leo was done talking.

  “I see. We need to find if there are any survivors remaining, and try to get out.”

  “Shouldn’t we try to escape immediately?” Leo replied. “I… I think we might be the only two people left in the village.”

  Leo pursed his lips, ashamed, and Mayor Trugo gave him a wry smile.

  “You might be right, Leo. But what kind of mayor would I be if I didn’t make sure?”

  He stood tall, and the moonlight glinted off of his armor. He had a kind look in his eyes, and Leo realized that despite all of the gripes, criticisms, and punishments he had given Leo, Mayor Trugo was quite a respectable man.

  He rustled around in the pockets of his armor, pulled out an item, and gave it Leo.

  “You can use this if you want. Put yourself in a bubble, and I’ll summon a gust of wind to take you out of the village.”

  Leo held a horn in his hands. It had the texture of coral. Mayor Trugo strapped his shield to his wrist.

  “I said many things about taking responsibility earlier, but this is life and death. I won’t blame anyone who takes the easy way out. But that red flare I sent earlier was to the army. The squadron stationed around here should be arriving any moment now.”

  Leo glanced down at the horn, and then back up at Mayor Trugo. The old man’s eyes gleamed, lighting up the dark night. And Leo felt that courage seep into him.

  “I have something I need to do, too. Do you think you can protect me for five minutes?”

  Mayor Trugo’s eyes widened, and he grinned.

  “No guarantees. But let’s try.”

  There were thirty one minutes and forty-five seconds left when they heard the fighting.

  It was on the eastern side of the village, and Leo and Mayor Trugo rushed towards the commotion. They were just in time to see Calux hurtle through the back of a stall, sending splinters flying everywhere. He landed on the ground next to the duo.

  The golden-haired boy’s face was caked with blood, and a large gash ran along his arm. But he still scrambled to get back up, a look of rage in his eyes that Leo had seldom seen.

  “Calux?”

  The boy whirled around, before focusing his gaze on Leo and Mayor Trugo. He blinked.

  “Leo?”

  The sound of knives scraping against each other rang throughout the area, causing Leo to wince. He saw Calux’s expression change from surprise to hatred.

  “Wow. You survived that? Though I guess that makes sense for the person the boss is infatuated with.”

  A high-pitched voice spoke, and a man emerged from the stall Calux had blown through. He wore a bright red tunic, a contrast to his long black hair, and his hands held two bronze daggers. Their tips were stained red.

  He walked casually, and his purple eyes gleamed with madness. He turned his gaze towards Mayor Trugo and Leo, raising his eyebrows in an exaggerated manner.

  “And you found more people to doom. Your village wasn’t enough, huh?”

  He giggled, and Leo shuddered. He saw Calux rise from the ground and grip his sword. His eyes were filled with loathing.

  “I will kill you.”

  The easygoing person from earlier that day was gone, replaced by a vessel full of rage. Leo extended his hand out to him, then drew it back. He watched this scene with bated breath.

  The man in the red tunic laughed.

  “Kill me? Did anyone just hear this guy?”

  He looked around to an imaginary crowd, before turning his gaze back to Calux. His eyes focused, and he stopped smiling.

  “You can’t kill me. And the boss tells me I can’t kill you. Or at least, no matter how much I try, it won’t happen. But you know what he did tell me?”

  He grinned wickedly.

  “He said that I can harm everyone around you. Make it so that everywhere you go, everything you touch, dies. I told you this last time, but you still ended up dooming this village.”

  The man shrugged, and Leo’s mind caught up to the situation. Last time?

  But before he could fully process the words, the man began dashing towards Leo and Mayor Trugo. Leo saw Calux’s eyes widen, but he only had a split second before he dove out of the way of the madman, who had targeted Mayor Trugo.

  Mayor Trugo parried one of the daggers and tried to twist out of the way of another, but the blade grazed his armor and left an indent in the hard material. He grimaced, but continued trying to slash at the man, who was moving at a speed Leo’s eyes could barely keep up with.

  Leo rushed over to Calux, who seemed to be about to rush into the fray, and put his hand on his shoulder.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to kill him.”

  “No you’re not. You look terrible.”

  Blood was still rushing down his leg, and Calux swayed on his feet as he tried to step towards the fight. Leo held him back.

  Calux tried to wrestle away from Leo.

  “I have to. He killed everyone. All of them.”

  He wasn’t speaking clearly, but Leo understood the gist of it. He shook his head.

  “He’ll kill you too.”

  “So what? I’ll take him down with me.”

  Calux was unable to be reasoned with, and even in his weakened state, Leo was losing the battle of strength. But a thought crossed his mind, and he asked Calux a question.

  “Hey. What did he mean by the ‘first time?’”

  That question stopped Calux, and he turned toward Leo.

  “He killed every single person in my village. Except me.”

  Leo shook his head. He glanced at Calux warily.

  “No… not that. He said that he warned you that he would follow you already. Does that mean you knew that we would get attacked?”

  Calux’s eyes widened. He stepped towards Leo, who took a step back.

  “I-I thought it was a nightmare. I didn’t think that it would actually happen.”

  “You did know. You killed all of us. I… I can’t go home now.”

  Leo continued backing away.

  “I didn’t mean to. I was going to leave the village tomorrow morning, I swear.”

  Calux pleaded, but Leo looked at him with distrust.

  He stared at his system. There were thirty minutes and thirty seconds left. He wasn’t going to make it. He could already hear the clamor of skeletons approaching the location of their fighting. He had no weapon and no mastery.

  In that moment, Leo Caldera made his decision.

  He held the horn to his mouth, and exhaled deeply. As soon as he did, a bubble formed around him. He began floating in the air, and he shouted at Mayor Trugo.

  “Mayor!”

  Mayor Trugo swiveled, and the man he was fighting also turned to gaze at Leo.

  “Looks like someone in this place has a brain.”

  Mayor Trugo gazed at Leo for a moment, floating in the air in a bubble of safety. Calux was calling out to him from down below, but Leo ignored him. He only saw Mayor Trugo, and he couldn’t ascertain his expression from beneath his helmet. But he imagined that it was something like disappointment.

  Mayor Trugo pointed at Leo, and a gust of wind began gathering around his bubble, propelling it towards the edge of the village. Leo saw the man with the daggers stab Mayor Trugo in the stomach, and the Mayor fell down to his knees. He threw a dagger at Leo’s bubble, and it shattered the material, but it held as he continued floating away. Observing.

  It was far away, but Leo thought he saw the Mayor mouth something as he fell to the ground. Dead.

  The system warned Leo as he was approaching the edge of the village.

  [WARNING: Turn back, or you will fail the quest.]

  [WARNING.]

  [WARNING.]

  But the bubble kept moving, and as Leo passed the edge of the village boundary, the system finally spoke to him.

  [Quest Failed (500/500): Stay in the village until the end of the day.]

  [Tutorial has ended. The player has failed to receive the reward.]

  [Reward: Return to Earth — ELIMINATED]

  [You will now be assigned a role.]

  [Role (Leo Caldera): The Main Characters’ Friend.]

  [Trait Acquired: Coward]

  [Trait Acquired: Selfish]

  [Skill Acquired (Passive): Chance Encounter]