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<td style="width: 95.886364%">This is a bonus chapter/teaser!</td>
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I was burning up, despite the snow crunching beneath my boots. Truth is, I am afraid. The frost mixed in with my fire magic energy heating my skin up was enough to make me concentrate on the task at hand. That goal being to travel down to the tents emblazoned with the Hatred Army. The Anheim Tree was far away, yet so close. I could see the Human city sprawl beneath its night-like starry branches high above the clouds, but if we were to succeed it would take years to clear out.
“Golden City, huh,” I muttered. There was not many of us left from the fight with that Skull Enemy. The Status urged me to kill another Skull Enemy, but with more missed calls from Mother. Every time I reviewed the Status’s windows, a message telling me to come home made its way through it.
“Yes, Captain,” Lee’s voice was quiet, but carried above the hum of my Wind Elementals guiding us down. “The Center of the World, some say.”
“Center?” I wondered if there’s other continents or something. Weeks before we traveled here, I thought the Stomach of the World was the center of this planet. I chuckled. I was wrong.
“What’s wrong, Captain?” Lee raised his hands defensively. “I-It’s just that you never chuckle unless there’s danger somewhere close by.”
“Eh? I was just wondering if there’s other continents than just this human one,” I replied. “Also, we’re going into another battle soon. That’s enough danger for this space elf.”
“Continent? Space—“ Lee evidently didn’t know what a continent was.
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“It’s like another country,” I mused aloud. “Like a greater land across the ocean that’s unexplored.”
“There’s nothing but the edge of the World, as far as the Hatred ships know,” Lee looked at me as if I lost it.
I do recall a fond memory where a pirate told me stories of a Sea Goddess living on the edge of the world. I didn’t think he meant that literally. Is this world flat? Like an open book, for gods and goddesses to scribble on? I stopped and looked at my hands. Runes covered my arms, giving my INT stat a buff. Park Yuuna, I absentmindedly wrote the hangul letters of my name in the snow by setting the strokes on fire. What or who was I before I came to this world?
“You in there, Captain?”
“No,” I sighed. The fleeting thoughts flicked away and ashes remained under his concerned face. Why do people interrupt my brooding at such pivotal moments? “We have just been through a lot, huh. And I have a bad feeling about this battle.”
“You’re… afraid?” Lee asked, as the others looked at me as if I admitted I did something crazy.
“Of course I am,” I sighed. “We just beat a dragon, our army is practically gone, and all, but yeah.”
A silence fell upon the crowd of soldiers. Did I say the wrong things? Are they going to be in a bad mood before fighting? Suddenly, my ears tilted as a wave of collective sighs fell upon the crowd. They sounded relieved.
“Oh man, I’m glad you feel something like us,” Lee laughed, but reverted back to his semi-professional demeanor. “Er, Captain.”
“Something? It’s natural to fear dying, or at least the pain before dying, I guess,” I muttered.
“We fight,” Lee shrugged. “We die. But we can overcome our fears, Captain. Together.”
“Not all of us can be reborn over and over again in the Cycles, or whatever,” I groaned. “But thanks for the vote of confidence.”
We fell quiet as the Elemental pointed towards a path where the snow was melting. That means we were finally off the damn mountain! I made a note to take a hundred year break from hiking, if I could help it. The men cheered, but I pondered if I was truly afraid of simply dying in a battle. The memories of my past life were still constant companions even if I have lived through so much here as an elf.