Orion, Our World

"Never in my wildest imagination we'll meet in this kind of situation."

"Me neither."

Two voices. One was a female and the other, a male.

"It's been 3 years. What are you doing in this kind of place?"

"Shouldn't you know? Ms. All-knowing."

"..."

Through the dense forest, two silhouettes stood facing each other. Their eyes locked together trying to discern any subtlest movement they can perceive.

The female, a slender and tall woman. Her long black hair swayed in the wind along with the falling leaves. On the back of her waist were two swords with different length. One is black with red carvings on the scabbard and over 2 metres long. The other is a short sword, white scabbard with black tint on the end and a small emblem of a flower tied to it.

The person opposite of her was a man with blonde hair. Lifting the corner of his mouth a sweet smile formed on his face.

The woman wore a robe while the man wore a leather armour and a two-handed sword on his back. It has a gem embedded on the rain guard and a white feather chained on the handle.

"How did you find out?" The woman smiled back to the man.

"I have my own sources."

"Oh really? I wonder how they are doing right now, probably having a sweet dream in your stomach." She said with monotonous and condescending tone.

"..."

The man didn't reply. Closing his eyes and lifting his chin toward the night sky, he muttered,

"The sky's beautiful tonight, don't you think? Not a speck of cloud can be seen. The moon is especially stunning."

The woman didn't respond. She blinked plainly.

"..."

As time passed, she followed his act and stared at the night sky.

"Indeed."

"..."

Both of them stayed silent, enjoying the nature. Each time they exhaled, white breath would come out. Winter was getting nearer every single day and the temperature kept going down by the second and yet it didn't seem to bother them at all.

Shaa~!!

A clash of two metallic swords created a wind pressure that blew away all the leaves and shook the trees. Sparks flew everywhere and on the side were two people clashing against each other.

"..."

"..."

No words were uttered. It was as if they were able to reach each other's mind simply by staring into their opponent eyes.

The woman, with her thin and long sword was able to stand toe to toe against the man's thick two handed-sword.

"Impressive. That weapon is at least of [Rare]... no, [Epic] rank, isn't it?"

"Yours too. [Desert Chrome] of at least [Epic] rank."

"Bingo." Not letting go of his smile, the man exerted more force and pushed the woman away.

"Guhh…"

Her eyes widen, she deflected his sword continued with a roundhouse kick.

Crack!!

She hit his ankle and broke one or two bones.

'Did I…? No, there's no way…'

She immediately jumped to the side and felt something went bypassed her neck. The man was already behind her!

"What…?"

What did she just kicked? The 'man' with the broken ankle turned into dusts and blown away by the wind.

'A doppleganger…?'

Her expression turned rigid.

"Impossible…"

The man laughed while pointing his two-handed sword against her.

"I never knew you could make that kind of expression!" And he dashed thrusting his sword.

"Hmph."

She inserted her sword back into the scabbard and took a stance. Crouching slightly while creating a gap between her legs, she grabbed the hilt of the sword. Blue beams of light appeared and gathered on her sword.

"[Setsu]"

A flash of blue light cut through the forest in a horizontal lines. The man took out a shield from the air and covered himself, but the light still sliced him in two.

"Tch!"

She jumped to the side just in time before the man slashed her back.

"That's…"

"..."

The woman noticed something on the man's neck. A necklace glowing faintly with blue light. A blue gem embedded with runes carved on it.

"A Light gem! How did you obtain it!?"

"You know everything don't you? Guess."

"..."

A cold sweat dropped from her chin.

'This will be quite difficult.'

…

"Have some!"

Len arrived on the mysterious old man's house. In front of him was a bowl of fish soup and rice together with chopsticks. Len never used a chopstick before, much less eating rice. All he ever ate was junk food like chicken thigh and fries, coke and chips.

"Go on! Don't be shy!"

A girl around his age sat opposite of him. What stood out to Len was her blonde ponytail combined together with rolled up plaid shirt and fair complexion. She looked like a farm girl to him. The one who usually wakes up in the morning to milk the cow.

Turning his gaze back to the fish soup and rice, Len held the chopstick with trembling hands. He wasn't sure how to use it nor how to eat the rice.

"..."

Len could felt his face turned somewhat red being observed like this, 'Am I a rare breed animal?' His stomach hurts.

He moved his fingers clumsily and chopped out a lump of rice and put it inside his mouth. He munched them slowly and his face turned stiff.

"..."

"Hmm? You never eat rice before?"

"Gulp, N-no… this is the first time…"

Len struggled and gulped it down. Was the taste bad? Len couldn't tell. It was plain.

"You never hold a chopstick before?"

"No."

Len felt something odd.

'Why are you guys using chopsticks and eating rice? What about breads, eggs or bacons? This doesn't make any sense, we are in the west, not east.'

"Here! You hold it like this!"

She grabbed Len's hand and corrected his posture.

'This girl…'

Len became even more flustered. He doesn't know what to do. He was just a shut-in not too long ago. He met the guards and these two, combined together a total of 4 people. That's a big number of people within one week.

"Hahaha! You look flustered kid!"

Len face turned sour.

'Way to go old man…'

"My name is Octo! The only blacksmith in this village, and this is Novy! My daughter!"

The old man introduced himself as Octo and held out his hand. Len hastily handshaked him.

"N-nice to meet you, I'm L-Len."

Then they sat down together and continued to eat while talking. Len was a bit unwilling to eat the rice and fish soup. He wanted coke and chicken, but he knew it's nothing more than wishful thinking.

"Here, a spoon."

Octo handed him a spoon made of wood. Len scooped the soup and tasted it.

'It's also plain…'

Len can't taste anything. The food didn't taste bad at all, it tasted plain. Len thought, 'They probably didn't use MSG…' Usually, Len would bail out in this kind of situation and buy a pizza.

But he still wolfed it down anyway. Hunger won over his ego.

"So, Len, where you are from?"

"Gulp! A far away land from here."

"Ah yeah, you are an apostle aren't you?"

"I honestly don't know. I don't know what is an apostle."

"I guess you wouldn't. How long you've been in this land?"

"I don't know. A week maybe?"

"What are you doing here? Every apostle always appear in Lothrigen. This is Derdun, the westernmost place on Orion you know?" Novy butted in while munching fish bones.

"I… I don't know. I was… when I realized I'm already here."

"I see, so you have no home. Do you know somebody you can rely on?"

"N-no."

Len felt a foreboding spiralled in his chest. Are there anyone he can depend on? Is there a place where he can sleep with a roof on? Len's complexion looked paler than usual.

"...I guess there's no other choice. There are few things you need to know first."

"Uh?"

"First, you need to know what is an apostle."

"Yes…"

"Like you, they are beings who are immortal but not really. They die, but they will come back again. Albeit a little bit weaker after losing some EXP."

"Eh? W-wait, did you just said EXP?"

"Yeah? What's wrong?"

"Uh nothing, please continue."

Len startled. He thought only 'apostle', people like him knew about EXP, Skills, and stats points. Apparently everybody has the RPG system. He realized he's less special than he imagined to be.

"According to the history book in capital, the apostle exists long before human can write. Just like us, you and other apostle are able to use the 'System'."

'Just as I thought…' Len nodded to himself.

"There many kind of apostle. They are not limited to human, but they are in the minority. They are scattered in the world. However, every new apostle always sent to Lothrigen. This is the first time I've seen an apostle appearing in Derdun."

"Lothrigen? Where is that?"

"The third biggest city in the kingdom of solaria. It would take months to get there by carriage.."

"Just so you know, many people hate apostles."

"Eh...?"

Octo said calmly. His tone was different than usual, and his eyes looked blank to Len. No, Octo wasn't daydreaming, he's recalling something. A memory.

Len didn't ask and waited for Octo to continue.

"They, the apostles aren't born here."

"They came from a different world, right? Just like me?"

"Yeah. They came from a different world. They have no attachment to this world. To them, this world is like a playground. They go wherever the want, hunt and kill whatever they want, and treat the people of the land like pebble on the road. To be kicked."

"..."

Novy didn't say anything. She continued eating her fish soup with an innocent look.

Len on the other hand can't breathe. His pupils shook, everything look blurred. His gaze fell on his hands, trembling and freezing.

"It's nothing odd. Long ago, back when I was still young, me and my band of fellow adventurers received an emergency [Quest] issued by the guild. Ah, you may not know what they are but that's beside the point."

"..."

"The [Quest] was issued with [Tiger] difficulty, people now simply call it as [A] rank difficulty. Anyway, it was an open quest. Everyone can participate and I'm not one to back down then. We weren't briefed what we are facing, we were just told a village north from the city was in danger. We are naive back then, should've asked for more information.

"Me and my friends went to the village at full speed riding a horse. I remember that day, there was a storm. A big one. The ground was muddy and the road was steep. A small mistake could kill us, but we are too excited to understand our surrounding. It was my first high level mission after all, it will be worth the risk I thought.

"When we arrived, us vanguards pulled our swords and spears, the rearguard readied their bows and spells. What hideous creature are we facing? A behemoth? A hellbat? A dragon perhaps? None of those appeared.

"Instead, five people appeared and behind them were sea of flames. The rain didn't do anything, the fire only kept getting bigger and bigger.

"The image burned into my brain until today. The smell of people being burnt alive, I saw some of them running and rolling on the ground but… the fire didn't disappear. They screamed and screamed until their throat burnt to crisp. And guess what the five people did?"

"..."

"They laughed. They laughed watching people burned in fire. Those five… are monsters in human clothing. No matter men, women, children. Everyone in that village died and their ashes mixed with the mud. No survivor to save and no corpse to bury. Nobody knows who is who.

Octo reached for his cup and gulped it down.

"That incident wasn't the first and it won't be the last. It happened a lot in the past and it's still happening until this very present moment. They plunder, steal, kill, and rape. Men, women, children, it makes no different to them. Now, let me ask you something, kid."

"..."

"What do you think of this world?"

Novy stood up and walked to the kitchen.

Len's brain rotated in maximum speed. He was speechless. What Octo was trying to say to him? That all apostle are bad? That he's also bad because he's an apostle? What is he trying to achieve by asking him that?

Novy came back bringing another bowl of rice and continued to eat like always.

"I…"

Len gulped down. Octo didn't move and patiently waited.

Octo's words were like daggers stabbing into Len's heart. He was angry. But not because he was being generalized.

It was because Octo made him realize something about himself.

How twisted he was.

He read so many novels and played so many video games where everything revolved around a plot. He labelled the characters as 'protagonist', 'side character', 'supporting character', 'antagonist', and etc.

There's nothing wrong with that. However, real life is different. There are no true 'protagonist' or 'antagonist'. It affected his perspective of the world. People has their own motivation to live, such labels are not qualified to determine their value.

And that's where his biggest mistake lies.

Since the moment he came into this world, he sees the world as a 'giant video game'. He expected a cheat-like ability and saving the world from a demon king. How ridiculous can he get? As if a slap were thrown at his face, it stings, painful and embarrassing. He's ashamed of himself.

'These people are real human being. They are not NPC or side character. They have their own life to live.'

The apostles Octo just talked about has the same perspective like himself. These people are just 'NPC' or 'side-character' to support him, the 'protagonist'. That is why they treated the world that way. They are apathetic and believe that the world revolves around them.

Taking a deep breath, Len answered.

"I… do not know anything about this world."

"..."

Octo didn't blink or said anything. He remained silent. Seeing this, Len gritted his teeth and continued.

"I don't know anything, so how can I know what to think about this world? I'm… just some kid thrown into another world without friends or money… I died within 10 minutes the first time I came here."

"..."

"You are asking me… what do I think about this world…?"

Len stood up and banged the table.

"How should I know!!?

"I know nothing about this world!!

"All I have is a name!!

"I'm not an apostle!!

"I'm not a hero!!

"I don't have any talent or even particularly gifted in anything!!

"I'M A NOBODY!!

He slapped away his food from the table. It broke and the food stained the floor.

"I…"

Len trembled. His eyes became hazy and his voice cracked.

"...am… useless…"

Something inside him snapped and screamed his lungs out.

He realized how stupid he was. What was he doing all this time? He's just a kid that hasn't reached 20 years old yet.

He wanted to become a hero and save the world! He wanted a power to conquer all!

Wealth!

Fame!

Women!

"..."

'How childish... I've become…'

Images from his old home came back like a flashback in his mind. He remembered his junk food, internet, games, smartphones, youtube, netflix, etc…

'It's all gone.'

He wished that he can rewind time and never come to this place. He will take a different route to go home and continue his meaningless life. At least, he can still do something he like. Even for just a little.

"I… want to go back home."

Struck by dizziness, his vision blurred and everything turned dark.

Falling into an unknown world Len was left alone, killed by a soldier and a monkey. Furthermore, people of the land disliked him because he's an apostle.

Just what kind of path lies ahead of him?