REBORN HERO: THE ULTIMATE SYSTEM

CHAPTER 004: THE STRANGER AND THE WORM

Valor walked through the empty wasteland, the red sky above him like a burning fire. The air was hot and wavy, making it hard to see the old ruins and bones in the distance.

He'd been surviving in this harsh land for three years, his strength and power almost gone. All he had left was his will to keep going and the weight of the Astral Sanctum, held tightly to his chest.

He still heard his son's voice in his mind: "Faster, Dad!" It had been a year since his son's soul had awakened, and talking to each other kept them sane.

But now, Valor had a bigger problem. A huge desert worm was chasing him, its loud scream making the ground shake. The worm burst out of the sand, sending rocks and sand flying.

Valor ran as fast as he could, his breathing hard. "I'm going as fast as I can, Dusk!" he yelled back, jumping over a sharp rock. "Do you have a better idea?"

The worm came out of the ground again, sending a big cloud of sand into the air. Valor covered his face, stumbling as the shockwave hit him.

"Should've gone left!" Dusk's voice called out, laughing nervously. Valor clenched his teeth. "Easy for you to say! You're not the one being chased by a giant monster!"

Valor had learned a lot in his three years in the wasteland. First was that to survive, you had to adapt. He had lost his powers when he created the Astral Sanctum and escaped. Since then, he'd had to use all his human skills to stay alive.

The second lesson was harder to swallow: the cities beyond the walls had given up on this world. The wasteland was a graveyard of forgotten dreams, where broken pieces of humanity's hopes lay scattered. This was where outcasts came: mutants, monsters, and desperate people with nowhere else to go.

"Dad, focus!" Dusk's voice snapped Valor back to reality. 

"Got any ideas, kid?" he panted, his muscles burning.

A moment of silence passed, then Dusk spoke, his voice softer now. "There's a ravine up ahead. Time it right, you can make the jump. The worm won't be able to follow."

Valor looked ahead and saw a deep, rocky chasm. He didn't question how Dusk knew about it; his son's connection through the Astral Sanctum often gave him a strange ability to sense the normal world.

"Got it," Valor grunted, running faster despite his tired legs. The worm roared loudly, shaking the ground. Valor ran quicker as the chasm got closer.

"Dad," Dusk said, sounding worried. "You won't make it if you hesitate."

"I know," Valor replied, his voice calm despite the danger.

As he reached the edge of the chasm, the worm burst out of the ground behind him. Valor jumped into the air, using his momentum to carry him across. For a moment, he felt weightless.

Then he landed hard on the other side, his body dangling over the edge as he gripped it with one hand.

"Spirits!" he grunted.

The worm's momentum carried it forward, but it skidded to a halt just short of the ravine, its massive body writhing as it let out a frustrated roar.

Valor pulled himself up, collapsing onto the ground in a heap. His chest heaved as he caught his breath, the Astral Sanctum still dangling from a pouch inside his duster coat.

“You made it,” Dusk said softly, relief evident in his voice.

“Barely,” Valor muttered, staring up at the crimson sky. “But I’m still here. And so are you.”

Valor stood up, brushing himself off. He looked back and saw that the worm was gone. In front of him, the empty desert stretched out.

Then he heard a faint noise, like sand or leaves rustling. Valor tensed up. "Dusk, do you hear that?" he whispered.

"I hear it," Dusk replied, sounding worried. "It's not a monster, Dad. It's human."

Valor's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't seen another person in three years. He crouched low and scanned the horizon.

Then he saw a figure moving near some old ruins. It was small, wearing tattered clothes, and had a hood over its face. Valor's instincts kicked in.

"Hey! You there!" he called out. 

The figure didn't react at first. Then it suddenly ran away. Valor's breath caught in his throat. He hadn't seen another human in so long, and he couldn't let this chance slip away

“Dusk, stay close,” he said, his voice grim as he broke into a sprint.

“I don't have a choice now, do I?” he could hear the sarcasm in his son’s ethereal voice.

Valor hadn't moved more than a few meters when he stepped onto what seemed like a pressure plate, and something snapped up, causing him to pause instinctively. However, before he knew it, he was inside a small wooden cage. He realized at the moment that he’d fallen into a trap. 

The girl stepped back, her hood falling just enough to reveal a pair of piercing green eyes, sharp and calculating. She was no older than fifteen, but the hardened look in her expression betrayed a life lived in constant survival. Her hand shot to a device at her side—a sleek, cylindrical weapon that hummed with energy.

“Stay where you are,” the girl commanded, her voice steady and unyielding as she raised the weapon. “State your business. Who are you?”

Slowly, Valor raised his hands, showing that he was no threat. "I mean no harm, and this is my first time seeing any human being out here,” he told her, keeping his voice quite calm yet not soft. "My name is Valor.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed, her finger twitching on the trigger. “Valor?” she repeated, as if testing the name. “You are Valor?” She asked again.

“Yes,” Valor replied. “Were you hoping that I would be someone else?”

“Where are you from?” The girl asked, pointing her weapon towards him as if she was trigger happy. 

“Cosmic Harbor?” Valor replied.

The girl bulged her eyes in surprise. “You are the one Ravian is looking for?” 

“Ravian? You know Ravian?”