It was still night.
Kaia lay in bed, half asleep, wrapped in the comfort of having a clean room and fresh clothes. The world was dark, silent, and surprisingly peaceful except for the slight shift in the air. It wasn't enough to make her open her eyes. Her sleep was light, but still restful enough to ignore most things.
Then she heard it.
A faint scuffling sound, like the rustle of fabric or a mouse being too ambitious.
Her eyes shot open.
There was something off in the room.
A shadow in the corner. The creak of floorboards under an unseen weight. The room her safe little room wasn't quite as empty as she'd left it.
Kaia blinked, her heart picking up pace. She lay still for a few more seconds, listening intently. The silence was suffocating, and the sound it was getting closer. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She wasn't stupid enough to believe it was just her imagination.
She had been in enough dangerous situations to know when things were wrong.
Before she could even get out of bed, she heard it a grunt, followed by the unmistakable clink of metal scraping against wood.
"Great," she whispered, sitting up. "Bandits? Seriously?"
She couldn't see them in the darkness, but her room wasn't exactly a fortress. It was tiny, barely big enough to fit her and her various questionable magical mishaps. It wasn't hard to figure out that someone had snuck in.
She tried to focus, to listen for more clues.
Another rustle. The soft tap-tap of boots against the floor. She strained her ears, but she didn't need to hear more.
The bandits were right there.
"Styme," Kaia hissed, not taking her eyes off the shadows. "Give me something. Anything."
[Mission: Complete the "Bandit Bashing" quest. Objective: Defeat the thieves without destroying the entire town. Bonus points for property preservation.]
[Quest Details: Two low-tier bandits no magic. They're armed with knives and questionable life choices.]
Kaia squinted into the dark, her magic buzzing just beneath the surface, ready to ignite. "Oh, thank you. A quest. Now I can officially wreck these guys."
[MISSION UNLOCKED]Title: Bandit BashingObjective: Defeat the Bandits.Rewards:
Jewels: 500 (a modest payment)
Experience: 200 EXP
Item: One Enchanted Blade (Moderate Quality)Difficulty: LowCurrent Stats:
USER PROFILE: KAIA VEYRIS
Age: 15Magic: Chrono-Flux (Unstable)Stats:
Vitality: 50/100
Magic Power: 85/100
Control: 40/100
Luck: 99/100
Sanity: 100/100 (Not that bad yet)
Level: 2
EXP to Next Level: 0/500 (Level 3 progress)
Kaia could feel Styme's voice vibrating through her thoughts. The system was practically giddy about the chance to see someone get their butt kicked. Or at least mildly inconvenienced.
[Two bandits. Basic melee weapons. You can handle this. Probably.]
Kaia barely noticed the pain in her neck as she whipped her legs off the bed and stood. She wasn't about to sit there and wait for a knife to find her throat. She needed to take action—quickly, efficiently, and maybe a little drama-filled.
She took a deep breath. Magic flooded her limbs.
The first bandit moved she could just make out his silhouette in the dim light.
He had a knife. It was a dull, poor-quality thing. But it was shiny enough to gleam in the moonlight.
"Oh, this is going to be good," Kaia muttered under her breath, her hands crackling with silver energy.
The bandit took a step forward, his shadow stretching toward her.
And that was when Kaia decided it was time for the first test of her magic.
"Temporal Shift: Echo Blast!"
In an instant, Kaia disappeared, moving so fast she almost seemed to vanish entirely. A split second later, she reappeared behind the bandit, her form distorted like a fractured mirror. The force of the shift sent a shockwave through the air, knocking over a small table in the corner and sending a candle rolling onto the floor.
The bandit spun around, bewildered.
Kaia raised her hand, her eyes glowing with silver magic. "Nice try. But I'm way faster than your awkward little knife."
The bandit charged.
She wasn't sure if he was just that stupid or if his fear of her was clouding his judgment. But it didn't matter. She was faster, and she had time on her side.
She moved again, with another Temporal Shift.
The room felt like it was bending under her control. Kaia didn't need to think anymore. She simply felt the pulse of the world, her hand guiding the timeline and her body following its chaotic commands.
With a flick of her wrist, she sent the bandit's knife flying through the air, then moved in to finish it. She extended her arm, and with a final push of magic, she sent the bandit spinning backward into the nearest wall. His head made a satisfying thud against the plaster.
He crumpled like a wet rag.
[One down.]
The second bandit wasn't so quick to react.
"HEY!" he yelled, clearly not expecting things to go so badly for his partner. He lunged toward her, knife raised high.
Kaia sighed. She was really starting to get tired of the knife fights.
"Flux Reversal: Time's Judgement!"
Her magic exploded in a ripple of raw energy, swirling around her like a storm. The bandit's charge turned into a series of slow-motion steps, his body frozen mid-lunge. Kaia's eyes widened with a mix of satisfaction and surprise as she looked around the now-still room. Everything felt heavy.
The bandit remained suspended in the air, his knife still pointing toward her but all his movements were stalled. Kaia took a step forward, her hand stretched out.
"This is just sad."
With a flick of her fingers, she reversed the bandit's momentum completely. The world unbent, and the bandit still stuck in time's temporary prison was flung backward, crashing into the bed, which promptly tipped over, sending a pile of pillows and blankets flying.
She wasn't done yet.
She moved behind him, her magic still holding the space in a momentary suspension. Kaia snapped her fingers.
"Temporal Collapse."
The bandit's body snapped back into motion, only this time with nowhere to go but straight into the bed frame. It was a sloppy and effective hit—though it left a considerable dent in her already-ruined furniture.
[Two down.]
EXP EARNED
200 EXP (Bandits Defeated)Jewels Gained: 500Next Level Progress: 200/500
Kaia stood over the two defeated bandits, panting slightly from the effort but feeling an undeniable rush of satisfaction. She had absolutely destroyed her room in the process, but, you know small sacrifices.
She looked at the damage. The bed was tipped over. The furniture was wrecked. There were scorch marks on the walls where her magic had exploded. Her once-pristine room now looked like the aftermath of a natural disaster, only the natural disaster was her magical chaos.
"Well," Kaia said with a grin, "that was definitely not the quiet night I was hoping for."
[You did well. There are… consequences, though.]
"I don't care about the consequences, Styme," she muttered, wiping the sweat from her brow. "I'm just so done with bandits. And knives."
The two men groaned from the floor, clearly regaining consciousness. Kaia sighed and stepped over them.
"Well, I'll be honest if you come back to life, I'm probably not calling for help. I'll let you figure it out."
She shook her head, walking toward the now-broken door.
"I'm going to need a lot of repairs after this," she muttered. "Let's just hope Magnolia has better plumbing."