THE STONE HEART

The water I poured the first time had destroyed one of the Sand Demons' arms so that when it stood, it had only one arm.

I sat on my bottom the entire time, now sure that they would kill me, as I'd run out of the water to use in fighting them, but nothing matched the confusion I felt when I saw them bow before me even as I sat in the sand.

The one with an arm raised its head and spoke in a language that was strange to me. I found it imperative to call Maia.

“Congratulations,” her voice intoned. “You have made your first kill.”

I turned the stone heart of the Sand Demon in my hand, finding it almost unbelievable that I had killed such terrifying things with water. Only water.

“I need you to tell me what the Sand Demon said. He said it in a language I don't understand.”

“He speaks an ancient language, indeed. He said:

I have terrified travellers across this distance for millions of years, but none has taken the heart of a Sand Demon since Alexandros the Great fought us on these plains. Even he did not fight us without the help of Zeus. But you have done it alone.”

“Oh,” was all I could manage to say, before I could gather myself to say anything else. “But Maia helped me.”

“No. You did it all on your own. All I gave you was a clue, to use what you had. Somehow, you realised that to kill the Sand Demons, you would need water. Anyway, the Sand Demons respect whoever takes one of their hearts, and for as long as you hold the heart with you, they will respect you. They now offer themselves to you, to serve you for the rest of your sojourn through this desert.”

“They will do anything I ask?”

“Anything. Even if you would have them kill themselves, they will do it, as long as you have the Sand Demon's stone heart. Note that you have to be careful, as losing it while you are with them can cause an instant mutiny. Do also realise that killing the Sand Demon has earned you bronze coins, and that you can add the stone heart to your System storage for safety.”

I made a sign for the Sand Demons to rise, and was almost amused when they did. Without hesitation, I resolved to keep the stone heart safer than I would anything else, even my beating heart in a metal body. It brought me security in this dry, dreary, place.

There could be no illusions about what I wanted. Attacking the Sand Demons with water had left me with an empty supply, and I could think of nothing else.

“Can you take me to a water supply?”

Maia translated the question in the strange language, which was returned appropriately.

“Yes. They say there is an oasis a distance away, and will even get you a camel to take you there if you need a ride.”

“Tell them that I would be honoured to go with them. Also, keep this stone heart in my storage.” I said, half fearing that the storage was a trick for Hades to turn the creatures against me at a point when I was weak by stealing the stone heart. It was not above the mischievous deity, to me.

“Can Hades get to my storage?” I asked.

“Even Zeus couldn't get into your storage. The only one who has access to it is you.”

Satisfied, I asked Maia to keep the stone heart in the storage. She did as I said, and I lay back as the Sand Demons went into the distance, leaving me alone. The whole thing I'd just been through made me want to laugh, to cry, to even shout for joy. The moment was only ruined by the sound of the beeping alarm again, coming from my system dashboard.

*Updates to System Dashboard*

Name: [Alexander]

Level: 1

Bronze Coins: 100/500 : +100 Bronze Coins for killing Sand Demon. 0 used.

Experience Points (XP): 2,000/10,000 : + 2,000 XP for killing Sand Demon.

Health Points (HP): 2,000/10,000 : + 2,000 HP for killing Sand Demon.

Magic Points (MP): 2,000/10,000 : +2,000 MP for possessing the stone heart of Sand Demon.

Strength: 1/10 : -5 for exhaustion.

Intelligence: 7/10 : +3 for figuring out the trick to kill Sand Demon.

Agility: 5/10 : +4 after fighting Sand Demon.

*Skill Section*

Active Skills: NONE

Passive Skills: + Night Vision.

Skill Cooldowns: 5 hours (Night Vision).

*Quest and Mission Log*

Current Quests: Find the Sword of Pella.

Completed Quests: NONE

*Statistics and Analytics*

Kill Count: 1/10 : +1 after killing Sand Demon.

Distance Travelled: 15.9/50 km

Resources Gathered: 0/1

*Notifications and Alerts*

System Messages: Congratulations on killing Sand Demon. New updates have been added.

Warning Alerts: NONE

Event Notifications: NONE

*Equipment and Inventory*

Equipment: NONE

Inventory: 1x Bag, 1x Water Bottle, 1x Biscuit Box, 1x Night Goggles, 1x Dark Hood.

Storage: 1x Sand Demon Heart.

*Map and Minimap*

Loading…

I processed every update.

A hundred bronze coins for killing the Sand Demon…

If I killed the remaining sand demons, I would have three hundred in total, in addition to the two hundred I would get after I found the sword of Pella, getting me all the coins I wanted in that instant. They would let me kill them too, as I still had the stone heart of the one I killed. In the end, my conscience got the better of me, and I decided to let them be. There would still be many bronze coins to gain over the journey.

The Experience, Health and Magic Points seemed sufficient enough to me, and I was satisfied with them. I could also not agree less with the Strength level, as I was weak. The increase in my Intelligence and Agility levels also brought me joy that evaporated when I saw that the only skill I gained was Night Vision.

“But I have the goggles,” I complained to Maia.

“Well… you can see in the night, and won't have to wear them. But only for a maximum of five hours.”

I will not deny that the thought of killing the Sand Demons came to me again when I saw that I could use them to raise my kill count, but the idea did not take hold.

Something was missing to me, however. In the equipment.

It came to me at once. “Help me find the katana, Maia.”

She loaded the map, and my weapon lay a certain distance away. I rushed to it, put my hand in the sand, and got it out, half amused by the trick now that all was over.

Hades had given me a weapon, knowing fully well that water was all I would need.