On the way to the smoke streams trailing through the skies, Gemini examined himself. His true body, as expected, was unharmed. What was more disturbing, however, was the fact that his body wasn’t responding as well as it should. His reactions and actions were slightly delayed, reminding the hero about the times when he played shooters on a bad connection.

Speaking of games…Gemini hopped onto a rock and sat down on it.

“Status.”

A translucent screen, azure in colour, appeared in his vision. Despite the fact that Gemini was averse to using the Human God’s powers, all his ideals and hopes for the future wouldn’t come to pass if something like a dragon swooped down on a defenceless Gemini. Granted, his body was currently wet from wading across a shallow river earlier, but monsters weren’t really one to care about the texture of their food.

The hero blinked as an unfamiliar message popped up on the screen, but before he could read it, someone else had already done it for him.

“Champion Support System is corrupted. Recommended procedure: factory reset,” spoke a voice in his mind. It sounded like quite familiar to Gemini, the voice, but he couldn’t quite remember where it came from.

“Factory reset?” Gemini couldn’t help but ask out loud. “Wait…oh.”

“Orders received. Factory reset in progress,” said the voice. “Do you want to reset user profile, or leave as is?”

That’s not how a factory reset works…Gemini tapped his feet on the rock underneath him, and said, “Leave as is.”

“Reverting all connections and programs to default state. User profile has been partitioned.” The voice echoing in his head began to take on a more pleasant tone, although Gemini had the feeling that his system never really spoke to begin with. It was more of an update than anything else.

A timer popped up on his status page, and Gemini’s eyebrows twitched when he saw the number. After taking a few seconds to do some deep breathing, he hopped off the rock and continued on his way to the cluster of smoke. Given that it hadn’t abated for some time, and that it was just dense enough that houses burning weren’t the cause, Gemini naturally thought of people cooking.

He’d spent quite some time looking as the men of the Second Extermination prepared their meals, after all. The smoke patterns then had enthralled him, and whenever he went over to join them, he always felt welcomed…

Most of these men were corpses that were probably still unattended to when Ark City fled the Five Lands. If he had taken more time to preside over the end of the war, maybe they would have received a more dignified end, instead of being used as some political fodder. He could still remember the conversation he had with some of the Ark City guards, as well as the first (and only) mission he’d went out on.

Drool dribbled out of the hero’s mouth as he closed in on the giant settlement, which was surrounded by stone walls. A tower, around two hundred metres tall, sat in what probably was the middle of the walled town, but it looked more like a military encampment than anything else. Even at this distance, Gemini could smell freshly grilled meat, and driven by his appetite alone, he walked towards the walls.

Soil exploded all around him as the guards on duty immediately fired a warning shot, and Gemini came to his senses.

“Halt! Raise your hands to where I can see them, or I’ll shoot!”

The hero stopped and raised his hands. The smell of food had clearly knocked out the thinking parts of his brain for a moment, as he was intending on sneaking into the town, as opposed to making such an entrance. He smiled sheepishly as the other guards jumped off the wall. One of them extended a pair of wings as he dropped to the ground, touching down gently on the ground, as opposed to his buddy.

“Why didn’t you take out your identity pass?”

“Identity pass?” Gemini looked at his attire, a flowing robe of white. “I don’t have one. I’m new here.”

The winged guard blinked. “New? Wait, you’re a human? No…how did you even get here?”

Gemini blinked. “What do you mean, how did I get here? I walked, obviously.”

“Walked from where?”

“There?” Gemini gestured impatiently behind him. “I woke up and found myself in some odd place, so I decided to head towards the nearest signs of life.”

The guards exchanged glances, the expressions on their faces growing more and more bewildered with every passing second.

“When did you wake up, buddy?” asked the winged beastfolk.

Buddy? I’m a human of unknown affiliation — why aren’t you baying for my blood yet? Gemini tilted his head, mystified, and then confirmed that there weren’t any rabbit ears, fake or otherwise, growing on them. “Just an hour or so ago, why?”

“Well…so long as you aren’t a demon…do you mind if we check you for a moment?”

“Demon?” Gemini echoed. “Well, sure, check all you like.”

“Thank you. Please extend your hand, so that we can draw some blood. It’ll hurt a bit, but it wouldn’t take too long.” The winged guard nodded at his buddy, who produced a needle and a piece of paper.

The other guard, who sported a fine pair of whiskers, took a step forward. “I haven’t used this for the past few months, so it might be a bit more painful that it should be. Allow me to apologise in advance.”

Gemini shrugged, a non-verbal ‘Go ahead’.

The needle bent as it tried to pierce through Gemini’s skin, and the hero only felt a little ticklish sensation at his fingertip. The guard looked up, perplexed, and his whiskers trembled as he turned to look at his companion. “Look!”

“Buddy, what the heck?” The winged guard looked at Gemini in disbelief. “What’s your skin made of, rock?”

Gemini rolled his eyes. Now that his face was known by a few guards, the hero didn’t really want to leave and find another way to sneak in. And besides, the best way to learn about his current situation would be to speak to those in power directly.

“Just to check,” said Gemini, “but is there a Paragon or a Lord in this city?”

The guards looked at each other again. “Yes, Paragon Ortega is indeed with us, but —”

“He’s with you? How’s that possible? Didn’t Ark City leave for the Wildlands?” Gemini replied. “Ortega’s not the kind of person to let the citizens of Ark City brave the Wildlands while he says behind.”

An awkward silence followed after the hero spoke, and for the next one minute, Gemini grew increasingly self-conscious as the two guards exchanged words with their eyes alone.

Eventually, one of them cleared their throat. “Brother, you might not believe me…but we’re in the Wildlands. You, me and this entire city is in the Wildlands.”

“I’m…in the Wildlands?” Gemini felt his head spin for a moment, and looked at the guards, who looked back with a sympathetic light in their eyes and nodded.