There was fire.
Smoke drifted like breath from broken earth, curling around jagged wooden fences. Screams echoed somewhere close. Not terrified screams, not yet. Just the panic before it.
A child's voice cut through the haze.
"Please. Please, listen to us. You have to help."
He didn't move. Couldn't. The world around him burned like paper left too close to a stove, flickering and unreal. Above, storm clouds churned but no rain fell. Just ash.
The voice again. Closer now, insistent.
"You're still there, aren't you? Our god?"
The dream cracked like glass.
Kei's eyes opened to a dim, windowless ceiling. His old anime posters drooped in the corners of the room like forgotten flags. His throat was dry.
Just a dream. He rubbed his eyes and rolled over.
Outside his bedroom door, the world was quiet. He sat up, the blanket half-tangled around his legs, and noticed the tray on the floor beside his door. His mom's handwriting was on the sticky note:
Didn't want to wake you. Made some soup. Try to eat it today, okay?
The soup had cooled hours ago. A rubbery egg floated in cloudy broth, the tofu stiff like chalk. He checked the time on his phone.
3:08 PM.
He winced and ran a hand through his hair. The sourness of sleep clung to him. He hadn't even gotten up to say good morning.
He picked up the tray, brought it into his room, and sat cross-legged on the floor. The warmth was gone but he ate in silence. He always did.
I should at least say thanks.
He poked at the egg with his spoon.
But what would I even say? 'Thanks for the soup I ignored all morning?'
He sighed.
They'd ask how I'm doing, and then I'd have to lie. Or worse. Tell the truth.
He took another bite.
It's easier if they don't see me.
His thumb hovered over his phone's screen. It was still open to the app store. Something he'd tapped earlier without thinking had started downloading.
Sanctum of the Forsaken
Protect What Believes in You
He opened it.
The loading screen showed an old temple in a ruined village, vines crawling over stone, soft chanting in the background. Not music just voices, layered, low, like distant prayer.
Welcome, Lesser Deity.
Your name has faded.
But a few still remember you.
Will you listen to their prayers?
He tapped Yes.
The screen shifted to a top-down view. A forested clearing. A cluster of worn-down houses surrounded a central shrine. Only a few people moved. Most were kneeling near the shrine, heads bowed. A woman held a baby, her lips moving in silent prayer. Smoke curled up from a single brazier.
A name hovered over the shrine: Elderglen.
The camera slowly panned to the village gate. A wooden palisade. A single soldier stood there, gripping a short spear. His armor was piecemeal, worn leather, a dented shoulder plate. He glanced back at the village, then toward the treeline. His stance shifted. He was ready to fight.
A message flashed at the bottom of the screen:
Enemy wave approaching. Prepare your village.
Divine Points available: 1
Minor Miracle: Divine Shield – 5 seconds
Kei tapped the shrine. A soft glow spread across the village. He selected the shield.
A pulse of light rippled out from the shrine. The prayer fires flared brighter. A translucent dome shimmered into place, wrapping the village in faint golden light.
The villagers looked up. Several gasped. One of them, an old man by the brazier, dropped to his knees and began weeping. The woman holding the child stared at the sky with wide eyes. The soldier turned, blinking, and then faced the trees again.
The screen shook slightly.
Black shapes moved at the edge of the woods. Misshapen creatures twisted limbs, bone masks, eyes like lanterns emerged, skittering forward. They slammed into the shield. The impact flared like a struck bell. The monsters recoiled, then attacked again.
The soldier shouted something. He held his spear low, bracing for when the shield failed. Kei couldn't hear the words, but a line of text appeared above him.
"They came again. But this time, He heard us."
The monsters continued clawing at the shield, sparks flying, the golden dome bending but holding.
And somewhere in the background, behind the prayer and the fighting, the shrine began to glow a little brighter.
The game didn't pause, no end screen, no reward summary.
Just the soldier at the gate, ready. The villagers behind him, watching the sky.
Just the soldier at the gate, ready. The villagers behind him, watching the sky.
Most of the monsters had been wiped out by the shield bodies sprawled across the ground, twitching or still. But a few goblins had slipped through the barrier's fading edges, snarling as they charged forward.
The soldier gripped his spear tighter and stepped forward. One goblin lunged, claws swinging wildly. The soldier dodged and jabbed, piercing its side. It yelped and dropped.
Two more came from the flanks. The soldier blocked a swipe with his spear shaft and swung back, knocking one down. The other charged again, and the soldier rolled aside, thrusting his spear through its neck.
Kei watched, a little tense but mostly interested in the fight playing out on the screen. Come on, guy. You got this.
The soldier grunted, parrying another attack and knocking a goblin to the ground. A goblin broke through the gate's edge, but the soldier met it with a fierce stab. The creature collapsed.
The last two monsters closed in, but the soldier spun, striking fast and hard. Both fell to the dirt.
Kei leaned back. The shrine pulsed quietly, the village safe for now.
A notification popped up at the bottom of the screen:
Wave Defeated!
Divine Points Earned: 3
Well, that was something. That fight looked straight out of a triple A game.