Kaia Veyris, freshly initiated magical anomaly and hoodie enthusiast, had two problems.
One: she still barely understood how her terrifying time magic worked.Two: she looked like someone who'd lost a fight with a thunderstorm, a thrift shop, and a goat.
She stood in front of the cracked mirror she'd salvaged from a trash heap, examining herself with the kind of intensity usually reserved for dramatic movie montages.
Her hoodie was oversized. Her boots were dry but smelled faintly of livestock trauma. Her pants were covered in about seven different kinds of mud. And her hair was doing a thing poofy on one side, flat on the other, and sticking up like she'd licked a lightning rune.
"Okay," she muttered. "You want to join Fairy Tail, Kaia? You need to look like someone who doesn't live under a broken windmill."
[Correction: Technically you live next to the windmill now. Progress!]
"I'm not celebrating verticality, Styme."
[Understood. Commencing Operation: Respectable Outfit.]
Kaia crossed her arms. "I don't have money. I have a hoodie and a bottle of mana juice that tastes like personal failure."
[Which is why it's time… for your first official system mission.]
A glowing quest box popped up in front of her with a triumphant ding:
MISSION UNLOCKED
Title: Clock Out the CritterObjective: Defeat a monster matching your magical output levelTarget: Grade-C Field Wyrm (Local variant – swamp type)Reward: 6,000 Jewels + Gear VoucherPenalty for Failure: Mild humiliation and potential digestionEstimated Difficulty: 1 Kaia out of 1 KaiaStatus: Active
Kaia squinted at the quest name. "Clock Out the Critter?"
[You have time magic. I'm allowed one pun per mission.]
"…That's not a pun. That's a war crime."
[Do you want new pants or not?]
"Fair point."
According to Styme's helpful floating map, the monster was hiding in the Ravelle Marsh, two miles south of Dallira. It was mostly known for mossy bogs, angry frogs, and a fungus that made your toes glow.
Kaia packed her essentials: spell scroll, regret juice, one very judgmental crow feather (she didn't know why, but it felt like a good luck charm), and sheer spite. She tossed on her hoodie, tied up her poofy hair, and headed south like someone who had no idea what they were doing and was going to do it anyway.
The Ravelle Marsh smelled like rot and sadness.
Kaia stepped carefully through the muck, her boots sinking a little with every squelch. The moss whispered beneath her feet. Strange bugs buzzed by her ears like they had opinions.
"This place sucks," she muttered. "Everything's wet. Why is everything always wet?"
[You're in a marsh.]
"I'm going to invent fireboots. I'll patent them. Make millions. Retire in a dry cave."
[You say that like you won't spend it all on snacks and shiny jackets.]
"…Fair."
She found the first sign of her target when she stepped in something that hissed.
Not at her just… in general. The ground bubbled. A rock nearby melted.
"Styme," Kaia whispered. "Tell me that wasn't the monster's spit."
[That wasn't the monster's spit.]
"Thank you."
[It was its pee.]
"WHAT?!"
[You asked.]
Kaia retched dramatically, wiping her boot against a mossy stump while crying about ruined soles and personal dignity. She muttered curses under her breath in three different tones and one made-up language.
Then, just as she was composing a mental letter of complaint to whatever god ran marshes—
The trees rustled.
Something moved in the mist.
Kaia froze.
A shape slithered forward: long, scaled, vaguely dragon-shaped, with stubby limbs and a huge finned tail. Its body shimmered in shifting greens and grays, blending into the marsh. It had three yellow eyes. And it was drooling acid again.
"Styme," Kaia said, backing up. "That's not a real dragon, right?"
[It's a Field Wyrm. Technically a 'lizard-like magical beast with unresolved self-esteem issues.']
"It's huge!"
[You're small.]
"Not helpful!"
[Its brain-to-body ratio is poor. You might confuse it.]
Kaia raised her hand and let her magic hum in her veins.
The wyrm lunged.
She yelled the first spell that came to mind:
"Temporal Fissure: Quickstep Echo!"
The world cracked—again. Kaia felt her body twist in space. She blinked out of the wyrm's path and appeared behind it with a time glitch that left behind a flickering afterimage.
"HA!" she yelled.
The wyrm turned. Slowly. Confused.
Then it swung its tail.
"NOPE!" Kaia shrieked, ducking and rolling into the mud. Her boots squelched. Her hoodie flapped. A branch hit her in the face.
[Suggestion: Use environment. Or cry. Either will buy time.]
"I'm going to die in a swamp wearing a hoodie with a meme on it!"
She scrambled to her feet, threw a stick at the wyrm's eye it bounced off harmlessly and bolted behind a fallen tree.
Her heart thundered. Her body buzzed. Her magic surged but it was still clumsy, still uncertain. If she could just focus the wyrm roared and sprayed acid in a wide arc. It hissed as it hit the water, burning through leaves and roots.
Kaia flinched then an idea sparked.
"Styme," she whispered. "I want to rewind the wyrm's last ten seconds. Can I?"
[Dangerous. Your control stat is still trash. But... theoretically? If you don't mind nosebleeds.]
"I already look like a feral swamp goblin. What's a little blood?"
She stood, raised her hand, and focused all her will on that moment.
"Flux Recall: Reverse Pattern!"
The spell lit up in a silver blaze. The wyrm stuttered twitched and began to move backward, un-spraying acid, un-roaring, un-lunging.
Kaia didn't wait.
She sprinted through time-lagged space, leapt onto the log, and launched herself at its head with all the power of a girl who'd had a very bad week.
Her boot connected with its nose.
The wyrm squealed and slumped, stunned.
Kaia stood panting, covered in mud, adrenaline, and probably some sort of cursed plant sap.
She was alive.
She'd won.
And somehow… she was laughing.
"Time magic," she wheezed, "is awesome."
[Reminder: you still look like a mop someone lit on fire.]
"Don't ruin this for me."