In long moments of joy and play, time is lost to the winds of laughter. Reece had long finished his meal but time almost melted away as he got wrapped up messing around with Irma. He began to suggest silly poses or small games with this tiny power of hers. Unfortunately, there's only so many hours in daylight.
[Reece, It's nearing your curfew! Your parents will be getting back home in an hour or two.]
Reece paused after doing a silly handstand for Irma to try with her paper construct. He can't help but make his most disappointed expression thinking about how little time they had left. A soft sigh escapes his mouth while physically drooping a bit with his tail following suit.
"Sorry Irma, I think we lost track of time and... Dunno how much trouble I'll be in if Mom gets home before me." Reece instinctively scratched the underside of his hair while speaking. He couldn't shake this even in a new body.
"Aw... Couldn't you just ask your Mom to stay the night?" Irma spoke with a clear frown on her small face. The paper figure fell over as her focus shifts entirely on Reece.
"Hm... I'm a bit too tired for that, maybe tomorrow! You could prepare some funny paper crafts for that?" Reece tapped his chin while suggesting his sleepover plans. He's unable to stop his smile even if it's a bit evil looking. 'I don't want to dedicate myself to books but the Idol's tricks are too useful. Fun and learning is my best idea so far.'
"Y-You promise?" Irma gives a hopeful gaze at Reece at the idea of a sleepover. She gives him those heart melting pleading eyes.
"Of course! We're pals, aren't we?" Reece couldn't help but have a pain in his heart instantly hearing that when his thoughts become regrets echoing throughout that dense head of his. 'My greed shouldn't go too far, she's too innocent for that...'
Irma's whole body lights up in excitement at hearing Reece's words on this promise and rushes back to her chair. She wordlessly goes to begin drawing in her binder of paper with even more energy than ever before. In fact, Reece never saw her this excited since he started coming over.
"See ya later, Irma!" Reece waved to Irma who's nose deep in her work for their sleepover tomorrow. He doesn't get a response from her while grabbing a random historical tome off a bookshelf. His footsteps were surprisingly silent leaving the area. 'Best to let her work in peace.'
As Reece left the holy building, the sky was nearing its orange sunset. He wasn't ever allowed outside during the night and should always be home when the heaven's turned even a bit orange. That never became a problem for him being so young in his current body, If he wasn't tired then reading a book usually helped.
'Hey System, sorry we couldn't talk as much back there.' Reece walked back to his home while having a silent conversation with this metaphysical companion. The book rested heavily in his small arms.
[It's no problem! I had fun watching you be silly with Irma :D]
'I still feel bad since you had that death scare with me.' Reece frowned remembering how close to bleeding out he was. If he was supposed to help out this world's hero then mistakes like that shouldn't happen.
[Fair enough! When you get home, you should open that treasure box.]
'Hope it's something that'll be useful for our mission here.' Reece shrugs while approaching his home after a decently walk. The dusk sky dyes everything in orange as he enters. True exhaustion, that's what floods his body after so much happening and finally being able to relax.
He steps through the empty living space, barely lit by stones blessed with light from the Solar Idol's grace. The wooden planks let out subtle cricking as his lightweight body moves towards his bedroom at the back of this house. While the bed cannot compare to his modern world, It's still a comfortable spot for rest.
'What a day... I wonder if Pascal- Dad will have to hunt that monster in the forest, if people are dying to it then the village guard should've noticed by now.' Reece taps on a gem on his nightstand and roughly lights up the room. He plops onto his bed with that tome in hand.
[Hope so too! You can't really tell your parents about you nearly dying without getting into trouble.
Anyway, would you like to open the rank-less treasure box?]
'Yeah, we need it primed for whatever purpose it'll have.' Reece settles into his bed laying against a cotton filled pillow. He watches as some odd system screen appears before him, its color differs from his own system's red projections with a shade of green. "Weird..."
He mutters seeing this screen begin to show him an odd animation. It shows a grassy hill with a pastel blue sky and white blobs for clouds then what Reece could only describe as a poorly rendered black treasure chest flies into view. The whole thing is rather badly animated as the box opens up.
"Oh." He blinks watching a dagger pop out from this alien system menu.
Reece goes to reach for the object and instantly as his fingers touch this polished wooden handle, his own system's screen snaps into existence in his vision.
[Frost Outlander (??? Item) - Rankless
"SYSTEM ERROR"
Effect: {Heat Eater} - {Frost Outlander} can consume heat around its blade, the strength and range is able to be expanded equal to how much mental stamina drained opening the maw wider. By itself, anything touching it will suffer minor coldness.]
[This item has something odd about it, the item's data is seemingly corrupted in some spots?]
'What. How do we know if the Rankless rating or even this effect is even correct then??' Reece picks up the silver dagger from his bed sheet. He quickly notices that an odd cold spot formed on his blanket and moves a hand over it a few times trying to warm it back up. Frost Outlander was this weapon's name, It was clearly made for someone with bigger hands than his current self.
[No clue! I tried my best to translate it for you, so it's accurate on some things... Dunno what else to say :T]
He held it up to view the sides of this silver blade, faded symbols are etched into it and the air becomes slightly chilled giving the illusion of a chilly night's air. To him, this was the classic smell of frost even if that's not really a scent. Reece placed the back of his pointer finger along the blade's side and a chill ran along his knuckle.
'Well, This has uses but my parents would have a heart attack if their clean little boy has a deadly weapon- Maybe some praise from Gramps?' Reece tosses the dagger to his side and an oak door pops into reality before snapping it up into his castle mid-air. 'I'll need to return that ball in the morning, Good night, System.'
[Sleep well, Reece!]
Reece places his borrowed book on his night stand, It'll be a morning read for him. There was no moment of silence between him and the peace of rest as his body was hanging on to barely any strength left inside him. His only thoughts were another day in the village with everyone...
His eyes shot open, an acrid scent leaked through his window and sounds of roaring flames from a house nearby rattled his mind. His gaze snapped towards the reddish orange light that bores its way into his room. In moments, Reece jumped out of his covers and the warm bed to race over towards the windowsill.
His blood froze inside his veins while his heart sunk into a pit in the gut from that sight. Reece's mind raced in confusion and panic... A crimson flame that danced along the village buildings drowning out screams and violence with its burning roar. Was he dreaming? An aching feeling echoed in his mind.
Reece's thoughts raced as that feeling is... Dread? Fear? He couldn't describe it with a single emotion but while he's in a shocked state something appeared from a burning house. At first, the outline of it could be confused with a person but there's a lack of detail that's just wrong.
He couldn't process that fact when begun to sprint at unnatural speeds towards the room's window. His senses finally kicked back in and he ducked back to try escaping, however, his body was still sluggish from waking up. He wasn't able to correct himself before tripping over his own legs.
Its body was an obsidian-like stone with faint red inside like a container of some molten material. However before it could smash through the glass of the window frame, an arrow forged from solid darkness flies past Reece.
What you could call a head of this thing was shattered into pieces with a molten liquid spray. It falls to the ground in a heavy thud. Reece's gaze shifts towards his room's door where that strange arrow flew from.
His eyes widened seeing the person who saved him. Not his father nor Grandpa but someone he assumed was peaceful. "M-Mum!?"