“Oh look, she’s waking up.” When Ruby opened her eyes, her vision was blurry. She was laying in the most comfortable bed she ever slept in while three faces looked at her. Two of them were guys, to be more precise the legendary heroes Jamie and Dorian, while the third pair of eyes gazing at her were those of a young girl. Ruby didn’t know her name, however she remembered her as a customers of the shady bar she passed out in.

“She should be okay now, please accept her healing as an apology for my companion’s behaviour.” The girl bowed down to the heroes and quickly took her leave without even waiting for a response.

“All right, now what do we do? We can’t let her stay here, can we?” It was Jamie speaking in a slightly annoyed voice.

“Why not? I feel like we owe it to her, after all she travelled such a long way and probably went through many escapades. And it’s not like we ever use the guest room, so she might as well stay for as long as she likes.”

“That’s enough kindness during one day for me, you go talk to our sleeping beauty once she wakes up.” Jamie left her and Dorian alone as Ruby slowly came to her senses.

“Hey girl, do you know your name? Tell me how many fingers I am holding up.”

“None? Your hands are in your pockets.”

“That’s good enough for me. I imagine you have some questions? Go ahead, I’ll answer them all!” Hearing those words was reassuring and somehow Ruby felt save in his presence, almost like no one would be able to hurt her.

She looked around the room to analyse her situation. It was a small room, made out of wood with only one window from which she deducted they were in the first floor. In addition to that, the view told her that she was still inside the tavern, probably in the owner’s private quarters. Despite that, the room had no decorations except for one plant about to die and a bookshelf filled with three books old enough to be considered relicts.

“You are right, this is indeed the upper floor to our tavern. And yes you heard correctly, our tavern. We build it from scratch with the help of some friends.” Ruby looked at him as if he were some supernatural being.

“No, I am not able to read your mind, you are just really easy to read. You see I have a talent for manipulating people and you are not only an open book, but an open encyclopaedia of information about you.” Ruby snickered at his comment, after all everyone in the caste had told her the opposite.

“You don’t believe me? Well let’s see, you are the daughter of a rich family, however you never really liked them and it seems like the feelings mutual. I think you are as excited as you are afraid of this ‘adventure’ you are on, because your parents sent you on it, you feel like you must prove yourself to them. You have no skills when it comes to social interaction because you have always been protected and everything you know of the outside world you have read in books. Where is your laughter? Was I spot on so far? Let’s continue, shall we! You have a deep bond with your grandfather because he was the only one who really understood your dreams of going on adventures. You say you want to help the people of this world, but in reality this is just an excuse so you can finally-”

“STOP IT. You are right. I understand so please don’t go on.” The feeling of security had left and was replaced with one of vulnerability.

“To be honest I didn’t expect to be right on every single one but then again reading you is way too easy. All your character traits, your little secrets and your deepest desires, I see them all.” Dorian maliciously smiled at her as if she was a test subject who would soon be abused by him.

“Is that your ability? Reading people?”

Dorian’s initial grin disappeared and his face went back to its usual annoyed and tired expression. “No, I wish it was but that’s not the case. This is something I learned over time, if you don’t have the advantage physically, you need to get it mentally or your life will turn into hell. Everyone needs, fears or desires something. All I need to do is figure out what that something is and use it to protect myself.”

“That can’t be true, you couldn’t possibly know about my grandfather’s and my relationship only by looking at me and without the use of any magic.”

Dorian looked at her with his amber coloured eyes. “Well I never said I did it by looking at you. You clothes and your behaviour tell me a lot, however if you want to truly get to know a person you need to know his friends. Or in your case, your bow.” He pointed to a chair in a corner of the room on which her bow and the arrows she brought with her laid. “To my granddaughter Ruby, may you have many adventures with it. You couldn’t have made it easier for me you know?”

Ruby was embarrassed of his accuracy and knowledge over her, while she knew next to nothing about him. But then she recalled his words from a few minutes ago where he told her to ask any questions she wanted. If he knew that much about her already, she would need to catch up with her next questions.

“What is your name and how old are you?”

“My name is Dorian Wright and I am eighteen years old.”

Okay, that was a good start. “Were you send here by the gods?”

“Depends on what you think of when you say gods. Personally I think the first hydrogen atom is sort of a god.”

In response to Ruby’s confused and slightly frightened look he sighed. “Yes, I guess I was send to this world by the ‘Gods’.” He put gods in air quotes but Ruby was too afraid to ask why and quickly continued her questioning.

“Are you one of the heroes destined to save the world?”

He took a deep breath before answering her. “Listen, I know that you guys have some kind of prophecy or something like that which talks about me and Jamie as heroes, however we are no heroes. I mean look at me. Do you honestly think I am destined to defeat the Demon Lord? The gods were wrong sending us here, there was a mistake. I am sorry but you are on your own.”

While Ruby had expected this kind of answer, it still felt like a punch in her guts. How should she save the world without the heroes by her side? She was an adequate archer but that wouldn’t pose more of a threat than your typical monster did. She felt worthless and tears started dwelling up in her.

“B-but you are living in this world now! If you won’t defeat the Demon Lord y-you will die as well during the apocalypse!” Ruby said sobbing. She was right with that, so maybe Dorian would realize his mistake and help her after all?

“Well, first of all I am an atheist so I don’t believe in the apocalypse. And second of all, if this is the apocalypse there is no point in fighting it, all you can do is let it happen and have as much fun as you can while you’re at it. And in the case of Jamie and me, having fun means opening a bar, doing as many drugs as we can without dying and getting laid with some beautiful women. Now THAT’S how you survive the apocalypse the right way.” He poured himself some more alcohol into a glass, drank it all in one go and looked at the disturbed girl sitting in the bed in front of him.

“I know that isn’t what you wanted to hear… I do not know if this helps, however you can stay here for as long as you like, look at it as sort of a consolation prize. That’s something, right?” Dorian’s attempt of cheering her up were nice, but useless due to the immense let down he was to her expectations.

“Can you at least tell me something that might help me when fighting the Demon Lord? Something the gods told you?”

“I can tell you that much, whoever this cliché Demon Lord is, he cannot be worse than your gods. Make of that what you want. I will leave you alone for now, if you have any more questions or need help, don’t hesitate to call for me.” He got up and closed the door behind him, leaving the devastated Ruby alone with her thoughts.

Not even five minutes had passed when her window opened and a strange man entered her new room. His black hair was short but messy and he wore something similar to Dorian’s lab coat. His brown eyes were giving off a feeling of insanity as he slowly closed the window behind himself. If Ruby were to take a guess, she would say the man was in his twenties and if it weren’t for the expensive pocket watch hanging around his neck, she would have taken him for your usual thief.

He began laughing in a crazy and evil way but abruptly stopped once he realized he wasn’t alone. He stared at Ruby as she stared back, still laying in the bed not having moved an inch since Dorian had left her.

“Oh, well this is awkward. Ah, I mean…” He cleared his throat and began to overact with a clearly improvised act. “Well hello there, I am a hired… I mean a professional thief hired to check the security around this place, yes exactly. Dorian and Jamie thought that someone might try to steal their stuff, so they thought what better way of checking on their security than using a well-known thief who would try to break in. Yes, that’s who I am, this is definitely the truth.” Ruby wordlessly pointed at the clock around his neck, the whole situation was clearly too much for her to process especially right after the conversation with Dorian.

“T-the clock? W-well… Ah yes, exactly. It is my timer to… see how long it would take for me to break through their security system and later on I would report to Jamie and Dorian so they would know what to improve? I mean yes, that is what will happen, no questions asked.” He had no idea what he was saying further emphasized by the sweat on his forehead. “A-anyway, I’ll leave now, after all with you noticing me I failed my task… so god job you? Well then, bye!” He quickly left the same way he entered and Ruby realized one thing: This wouldn’t get any easier any time soon.

* * * * *

“I report that the heroes send here to murder your excellence have been found. They currently reside in a small town to the south of the city Windfell. Shall we send an army there to deal with those nuisances your excellence?” A woman wearing very revealing clothes kneeled in front of a huge throne while reporting back to the Demon Lord. She had curved reddish horns on her head and short black hair as well as black eyes resembling the darkness of the night sky.

Her name was Wish and she was a high ranking demon in the army of the Demon Lord. Her latest mission was to find the heroes send to murder her master and like all of her missions she fulfilled her quest with minimal effort and in just a few days. Wish had always dreamt of being the right hand of her master and thus was determined to finish all of the Demon Lord’s requests perfectly. However this last mission was a bit too easy for her likings, after all she literally just followed a rumour and landed in a bar owned by her targets. Of course she was in disguise so no one would notice her as a demon, however it came as a shock to her when the one serving her drinks was one of the legendary heroes. It was just so unconventional that she nearly blew her cover right then and there but because of her years of training she was able to stay relaxed after the initial shock.

However this was the exact reason why she feared the heroes. Heroes who openly opened up a tavern in some random town were unpredictable and thus their danger level grew exponential the longer they stayed alive. She would need to get rid of them as soon as possible, for the master’s sake they couldn’t be left alive doing as they please.

The Demon Lord covered in shadows whispered something to a man standing next to the throne. He was the current right hand and his name was Grim. With such a name he was destined to become someone powerful, at least that was what Wish’s parents always told her. She really despised him, just why must he be her brother?

“Wish, the Demon Lord does not tolerate those heroes to live. You will bring a small following of demons to kill them, however this following will only consist of ten demons. If you manage to murder them with such a small number you will have proven your loyalty and your worth to our great nation and will be ranking up. Fame and riches will await you as well as a new, more powerful position. HOWEVER, should you fail you will be exiled, that is if you survive the wrath of the legendary heroes. You may refuse this mission, then someone else will take over for you. Think about it, we await your answer by tomorrow morning.” Her brother’s words were cold and cut deep. However there was no way Wish would refuse such an opportunity. She would bring back the heads of her enemies and then she would be a step closer to her goal.

Wish bowed down and left the throne room with grace. She would prove her worth to not only her brother and her parents, but also her master, the Demon Lord. Yes, this was her opportunity and she would take it. Fate awaited her and she would make sure that it wouldn’t get away.

“The heroes stand no chance against me…” Wish laughed to herself as she formed a plan which would inevitably lead to the downfall of Jamie Jackson and Dorian Wright.