A landscape that seemingly spread out for eternity. The floors were all polished marble, emitting a white heavenly haze.

The sky above was still the same light blue, with clouds slowly moving across. This looked like another plane of existence, or the home of a deity.

Regardless of which it was, Amaya was stuck here.

‘What the heck is the place?’ She thought to herself.

As far as her eyes could see, there was no horizon,or anything else. No hills, no mountains, no nothing.

A person could run for a million years, and still never reach the end of this place.

Suddenly, the atmosphere grew warm, a wonderful feeling filled the inside of Amaya’s body. She felt warm, secure. Whatever this place was, she was welcomed, arms open.

A soft, calming voice of a woman spoke.

“You’ve been holding out better than I expected.”

Her body was completely covered by a golden glow, so bright that none of her features were visible. The only thing that was clear were her eyes, as blue as the ocean.

As Amaya stayed quiet, the woman continued.

“I am the Goddess of Knowledge and Creation. You, Amaya, are a phenomenon.”

A phenomenon? Amaya wasn’t too sure what this was implying.

“That's supposed to mean what?” Amaya asked.

The Goddess steadily walked circles around Amaya.

“You’re luck. It’s the worst I’ve seen. I went through your memories, and I see how tough it’s been. I really do pity you.”

A wonder filled Amaya’s mind. Could this Goddess be responsible for summoning her?

Not quite.

The goddess explained, ”Amaya. To be frankly honest with you, I don’t know why you are here. Or how you got here. Nobody summoned you. Yet, somehow, you suddenly appeared one day.”

The goddess clapped her hands together, “This has caught my attention.”

Amaya diverted her eyes toward the marble floor, “Yeah...I expected this. There really is no reason for me to be here.” Her voice was full of sorrow, like a person who just lost all hope.

The Goddess objected, “I wouldn’t say that. You see, I’ve been looking for someone like you. Someone who needs a good reason to fight evil.”

“Fight? No. I just want to live out a happy life. At all costs.”

“And to do that, you must fight.” The Goddess lifted her hand towards an empty space. With a quick flicker of light, a gigantic screen revealed itself.

Pixels formed on it, revealing horrifying footage. Not just any foodage, however. It was the future.

Towns, villages, cities; the places that didn’t lay in ruble were standing ablaze. People, all races alike, were scattered across the lands. The ones that still lived were desperately fighting against waves of demons, along with other horrid creatures.

The soil of the world was bloodoeaks, with both good and evil.

The Goddess defined what this was.

“This is the fate of the world within the next year. If someone doesn’t do something, that is.”

It was apparent what the Goddess meant by this. She had chosen Amaya for the Job. Of all people.

“There's really nothing I can do. I’m far from strong. The world is full of lots of skilled and powerful people. Why not just choose one of them?”

It was a simple answer.

“They’re not the same as you. Most of those great warriors are that powerful for one reason: they reached their limit. As a result, they can no longer grow.”

The Goddess reached her hand out, gently touching Amaya’s forehead, “But you, you’re different. Because you are from another world, you’re still considered a hero to the world system. You can keep growing, reaching lengths that nobody else can.”

There was still one big issue. Amaya's misfortune.

“My bad luck will just find a way to ruin things. I know it will.”

“I understand why you think that. However, let me tell you something. This is do-able, even for you. And if you succeed in the end, I’ll do you a favor. I will remove your curse of bad luck, and I will replace it with good fortune.”

This was something Amaya never expected to hear. Never in a Million years–No–A Trillion years.

Her eyes almost teared up.

‘My bad luck can be removed?’

She knew what had to be done.

“Okay. Where do I start?”

The Goddess revealed a map and laid her finger at the center of it. There, was the kingdom's capitol.

'Feilidor' A great city with many opurtunites. Because of this, it was thriving with many great adventurers who travled the lands just to get there.

“Here in the capitol, you will find the first clue. Wait too long, You might just miss it. I'd say, you have about half a month to find it.”

“Don't worry. I'll find it."

'..I hope.' She thought to herself.

"With that taken care of. I wish you the best of luck, Amaya."

Amaya opened her eyes, then sat upright in bed.

It was early morning. The sun’s rays were just barely beginning to fill the darkness.

“I know what I have to do.”

____________

Katsu stood in the center of his bedroom. This was his place of thinking, the place where he pieced together information.

Notes were scattered across the floor and desk, maps hung up along the wall.

Ever since the Tunnel System, Katsu had been investigating who the mastermind really was. Though he had a good idea, he was afraid to jump to that conclusion. But he couldn't ignore all the evidence.

From the information Jackal gave, the one behind it all was an Ogre. On top of that, people were losing their memories when the Gnoll infestation was going on.

“It has to be him. The Shadow Ogre.”

Katsu clenched his fist. He heled a burning hatred for that monster. The very monster that took those dearest to him, and ruined his life. All because of this beast, he lost everything he ever cared for and everything that made him happy.

For so long, he’d been waiting to exact revenge.

‘You gave up on your plan to ruin this town once I took care of the Gnolls. But I won’t let you escape that easily.’

Katsu stared at the kingdom map sprawled across his desk. He knew just where the Shadow Ogre was heading. After all, Katsu was familiar with the Ogre's tactics. He knew enough to write a book.

‘I know eaxcatly what you’re thinking. Shadow Orge.'