Extra's Guide to Surviving a Dark Fantasy World

"Identify yourself." One of the two men spoke again, his sword ready to strike at a moment's notice. I, however, was too baffled to speak.

Aria Nyrith, what was she doing here in this accursed desert? Shouldn't she be in Thyrox, preparing for the academy? There was no reason for her to be here.

Or was there? My mind immediately went back to Siv. Wasn't he supposed to be in Thyrox to meet one of his associates at the start of the novel? Was this it? Because he had died, the plot changed.

"You are asked a question, boy. Don't make me repeat myself. Identify yourself." The old man's ramblings forced me out of my thoughts, causing me to subconsciously check the face-changing ring on my hand.

Thank god I had worn this thing before they blew up the door. Right now, my mind was playing the memory of me puking all over her in front of the most important individuals in the entire human alliance, proceeded by her slapping me unconscious.

If she finds out it's me, she might actually stab me to death.

"My name is Zane Ashwood. Who are you guys?" Cooling my mind I gave them the name of the fake identity in my pocket. They didn't knew who I was, if I played this right I might secure a safe passage to the civilization.

"Zane Ashwood? What are you doing here all alone in the middle of Gleaming Wastes? Where is the rest of your team?"

"It's just me; I came here alone."

The man scrunched up his nose in suspicion. "Alone, you say? You expect me to believe you journeyed this far in the Gleaming Wastes all by yourself. Don't lie to me, boy."

"I am not lying." I protested. Every fiber of my being was suggesting I tell the man to shove it, but at the same time, I needed their help to get out of this place. "I came here from one of the stone ships. You know, the ones that dock near the shattered sea. Anyways, it was attacked by a giant octopus-like monster before I could get back."

"Enough about me though, the question should be, who are you people? Barging in here like you own this place."

The man's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You-" He was about to speak when he was interrupted by Aria standing beside her.

"We are a convoy from the Nyrith family, sent here to explore the Gleaming Wastes."

"Nyrith Family? Aren't those the big shots from Thyrox?" I questioned.

"That is correct, we apologize if we disturbed your rest, our party was only trying to ascertain that there weren't any dangerous beasts hiding in the fort before we made camp. We didn't realize, a human would be present here, sleeping in one of the rooms."

Listening to her, I relaxed my posture but still kept the spell at bay. At the same time, I closely began examining the party of four, looking for things I had previously missed.

All of their armors were battered and covered in faint traces of blood. The other man, besides the gruff one standing beside Aria, was also breathing a little too heavily. It wasn't much visible in the dark, but I was pretty sure I saw a bloodied bandage wrapped right around his torso, peaking a little from behind his armor.

All of them were injured and perhaps went through some arduous battle to reach this place. That made sense; they had come here after midnight if they were moving in the dark through the accursed desert; who knows what kind of monsters they had encountered?

I slowly put the ceremonial knife behind me and stuck it in my belt. I then proceeded to sit back down on the stone floor.

Normally, I would have been a lot more cautious if I had encountered a group of armed strangers in such a place. But I knew Aria; she wasn't the kind of person who would attack a stranger for no reason.

Seeing that I had put away my knife, all of them also relaxed and sat down on the floor, slowly taking out there things from there spatial storage.

"So are you gonna stay in this room? What about the rest of your party, besides you four I mean. If a couple of you want to stay in this room its fine, but try not to crowd up my place, alright."

Hearing me speak, Aria flinched a little; beside her, the gruff man from before growled.

"Its just us, the woman with blonde hair spoke this time, while lightly putting down her Warhammer."

"What do you mean it's just you? The Nyrith Family wouldn't send just fo-"

I paused as my eyes widened in realization. The rest of the party had been wiped out, which explained why they were so injured and entered the fort so late at night.

"It's none of your business, boy," the man snapped out. "Just get inside your damned sleeping bag and go to sleep."

He then turned towards Aria. "My lady, I should go with Tessa and take a look at the perimeter in case there are some dangerous beasts lurking around."

"It's fine. I have already.." Before I could finish my sentence, the man turned around with the woman I was presuming named Tessa and left the room, leaving behind Aria and the injured guard. Who was trying his best to look as threatening as possible?

Well isn't this just great. I scowled and turned towards Aria. I had known bratty she was from my previous memories, but considering the crowd she was somehow emerging out as the friendliest.

"So what happened with you guys?" I asked.

Hearing my question, Aria turned her head away, staring longingly into the darkness. She eventually let out a sigh and spoke.

"We were attacked by the Wastes. One of our men. He looked down at his reflection."

I paused and got quiet myself.

Every single guide I had read about this place, every last speck of information my tutors had given me, all of them warned against the same thing. Never go out exploring the Gleaming wastes at night, If for some reason you have to, absolutely never look at your reflection.

Made sense why they were in such a fowl mood, a lot of them must have died not so long ago, they themselves must have escaped by the skin of their teeth.

I let out a deep sigh. If everything had gone according to the plot than Aria would still have been in Thyrox and none of those people would have died.

I hadn't realized it up until now, but the moment I stepped foot in this world, I had already begun changing the story of the people around me. Even someone like Aria, one of the main heroines, was affected.

My biggest advantage in this world was my knowledge about the upcoming months. Now, it looked like a bad idea to rely on it in the first place.

According to the book, I need to be more cautious when acting out.

With nothing else to say from my side and Aria and her bodyguard not talking in the first place, the entire room descended into silence.

Even though I was dying to know what they had seen in the desert, I was smart enough to not ask. These people were grieving, the least I could do was not remind them of the incident again.

Time passed just like this, with us sitting quietly in the dark. Deciding that this much time was appropriate, I was about to reach for my sleeping bag when.

BOOOM!!!

A large explosion resounded through the fort, shocking everyone in the room. The three of us immediately got on our feet and took out our weapons.

What did those idiots do? The last time I checked, this place was absolutely safe.

"GO UPSTAIRS, "PROTECT THE LADY!!!"

A loud scream made me pause my thought; just what did they find?

In front of me, Aria and the knight sprung into action and rushed out the door. I, too, followed close behind them, rushing out into the hallways. In front of us we saw the panting figure of the woman named Tess rushing towards our direction.

"My lady, we need to get out of here this instant."

"What happened? Where is Vexis?" Aria questioned, trying her best to remain calm.

"Commander Vexis is in the basement trying to fend off those things. My lady that place is a nest, filled with Duskwraiths. One of them even managed to ambush the commander, we need to get out of here before commander loses his strength and is unable to cover our retreat."

Duskwraiths were cobald like beastly creatures who stalked the night, looking for a prey. There primary form of attack was hiding in the dark and ambushing their prey.

"Duskwraiths? Commander Vexis shouldn't have any problem dealing with those pesky things." Aria spoke in confusion.

"And where did you even find those things? I checked the entire castle before sleeping, and I didn't find anything." I questioned as well