The world blurred, a sudden, disorienting rush of white. A strange sense of nothingness. One moment, Dawn was standing in Xander’s living room; the next, she was within the solid white character creation room, the familiar holographic HUD shimmering before her. Xander stood calmly beside her with his own character HUD slightly transparent, his expression unreadable in the sterile light.

  "Welcome, new legend, Dawn," Cosmo’s robotic voice intoned, resonating through the void. "Situation: Restoration. Difficulty: F-Rank."

  Dawn blinked, turning to Xander. "Why did Cosmo just refer to me instead of you, Xander? Didn't you start this situation? "

  Xander’s face tightened, losing its neutral composure. "First, some ground rules. When we are not on Earth, you refer to me as Agent X." His gaze was sharp, unwavering. "Second, no matter where you are, you do not reveal that you are an Incarnate, or the system that governs us." With a sigh his face went back to neutral, a small, almost imperceptible grin touching his lips. "Finally, to answer your question: the phone I dialed from is registered to you for your incarnate activities. Normally it would go to your own phone, but i had a strong feeling you would come find me. So i told cosmo to load your profile onto a new phone I planned to give you. Now, you need to pick your loadout."

  "Loadout?" Dawn asked, confused.

  Xander nodded. "Yes. You know? A loadout. Your avatar’s race, ability, and other starting options."

  Dawn’s eyes widened in realization. "Oh!" She turned to the panel paying more attention to the various choices. The left side had a couple columns. First column was various fantasy races and the second column was various abilities. A moment later, a human avatar similar to her Earth appearance, with her brunette hair, brown eyes, and a determined expression, solidified on the right side of the HUD. As Dawn went to hit the next button, Xander's voice cut through the silence. "Wait."

  "What?" Dawn asked, startled.

  "Did you notice anything strange in the creation so far?" Xander asked, his voice even.

  Dawn thought for a minute, reviewing the options she'd scrolled through, before shaking her head. "No. Not really."

  "Look at the race options again," Xander instructed.

  Confused but obedient, Dawn looking back at the first column. She scrolled slowly, her brow furrowing. "What? There are a lot of different elves? I'm not sure what you mean."

  Xander sighed faintly. "Early on, you won't get much direct information. But if you pay attention, there are always hints. In this case, Cosmo is hinting that this situation is dominated by elves. So, by picking a human, you might already put yourself at a disadvantage. In some realms, humans are even the antagonist to other races."

  Surprise jolted through Dawn, and she vigorously nodded her head, understanding clicking into place. "Oh!" Quickly, she changed her avatar to an Elven one; its features were still strikingly similar to her Earthly appearance except now with pointed ears. She turned back to Xander, a hopeful smile on her face. "Will this work?"

  Xander nodded. "Now, what ability?"

  Dawn looked at the HUD, scrolling through the list of available abilities. "I might just give Beast Tamer another try," she mused. "It is still a Restoration mission, after all."

  Xander shook his head in disappointment. "Think about it. How did that ability work for you in the last situation?"

  Dawn’s shoulders slumped, disappointed. "You're right, I didnt even see a single beast."

  "Don't worry," Xander said, a rare hint of something almost like patience in his voice. "Here's a tip: when starting out, use powers that are produced or centered off you. That way, no one can take it away from you. Also, if you learn elemental manipulation, its general use can be shared across multiple elements. Earth and ice can be used the same for many cases. Dark and light are controlled similarly but have different affects on the target. But if you learn the basics of one, the next element usually comes to you easier. So if you learn one of those you basically learn three or more at a time."

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Dawn, feeling defeated, looked back at the HUD. As she looked, she realized there were a lot of water based abilities, and a few other elemental kinds. This list seems more focused on water. Maybe i should just pick water manipulation for this situation. It also lines up with advice Agent X gave me. With these final thoughts she selected an ability and then hit Confirm.

  "Cosmo, I want my High Elf Mage loadout," Xander said.

  "Legend Dawn loadout complete. Agent X High Elf Mage loadout selected. Start situation?" Cosmo's voice questioned.

  "Confirm," Xander said.

  "Situation initializing."

  As their eyes adjusted, the white room dissolved into a vibrant, sun-dappled glade in the middle of a dense elven forest. Birds could be heard chirping and the leaves rustled in the wind. Dawn blinked repeatedly, looking at her slender, elegant elven arms and new, graceful body. She felt lighter than normal, almost weightless compared to her normal body. Is this body stronger than my earthly body, Dawn thought to herself. As her eyes finally adjusted, she heard a young elf with jet black hair speaking with an air of demanding authority. He was speaking to an older looking elf with two young elves by his side. The elder elf wearing a big robe. On the collar and cuffs of the robe gemstones decorated it. It seemed as if this elf was of a high status in this area.

  "The recall crystal!" the younger elf demanded, his hand outstretched toward the fanciest-looking elf there, who flinched and took a step back.

  "What do you mean?" the elder elf stammered, confused.

  "Are you the one who summoned us?" the younger elf asked, his jet-black hair falling slightly over one eye. The elder elf nodded slowly, still confused. The younger elf extended his hand again. "Then after we were summoned, a crystal should have been created and placed in your possession."

  The elder Elf, confused, began checking his pockets. "Oh, this must be it!" he exclaimed, fumbling a crystal about three inches long and an inch thick out of his pouch. The younger elf nodded vigorously, as he gesturing for him to throw it. The elder Elf tossed the crystal to him. With a swift gesture and the word "Stash," the younger elf absorbed the crystal into the swirling void that briefly appeared in his hand, storing it away.

  He then performed a polite, almost ceremonial bow, one hand across his stomach and the other flared out to the side. "I'm sorry to start off like that, but I've been wronged before. I know you summoned a novice legend for your task, so I will be polite for now." He lifted his head and walked to Dawn, who was still blinking in astonishment. He leaned in slightly. "You should introduce yourself by name to the summoner and ask his purpose for summoning you."

  Dawn nodded. "And do I need to get my crystal as well?"

  Xander shook his head. "As I said before, when multiple legends are summoned, they share one crystal. So it's an all-or-nothing kind of thing."

  Dawn walked over closer to the Summoner Elf, trying to project confidence. "I am Dawn," she said firmly. "Why have you summoned us here? What shall we help you with?"

  The Summoner Elf looked confused at Dawn, then over to the young elf hero and back to Dawn. "Our village doesn't have a good way to keep water in our village. We desperately need a better way to get or store water for the village."

  Dawn nodded her head. "We can help with that. Where do you currently go for water?"

  The Summoner Elf's eyes lit up with renewed hope. "If you will follow me, I can show you."

  Dawn looked back at Agent X and motioned for him to follow them. Agent X simply shrugged, falling into step a little further behind, maintaining a silent distance as Dawn and the Summoner Elf walked. The path was narrow, winding through ancient, moss-covered trees, the air thick with the scent of damp earth and pine.

  The Summoner Elf lowered his voice, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder at the figure of the young looking elf. "Who is that elf, if you don't mind me asking? He seems... distant."

  Dawn replied, keeping her voice low. "That's Agent X. I just met him myself, so I'm not sure why he's so distant. But I know he's strong."

  The Summoner Elf repeated the name, a frown creasing his brow. "Agent X? That's similar to that legend of death... Calamity X. Could it just be a coincidence?" His voice was barely a whisper now, filled with a sudden apprehension.

  Dawn, confused, looked at the elder Elf. "What legend of death?"

  The Summoner Elf's eyes darted nervously to Agent X, who remained a silent, unmoving presence behind them. He forced a strained smile. "Oh, never mind. It's nothing. We are about to the spring where we get our water."

  Agent X, trailing behind, heard every word. A faint, almost imperceptible thought echoed in his mind. Rage building within him. Some legends, no matter how hard they try, never truly disappear. There is always more that know of that name.

  Upon reaching the spring, the Summoner Elf gestured to a modest pool, its surface still and clear. "Normally," he explained, his voice tinged with weariness, "our villagers must haul as much water as they can from here back to the village every day. It's hard work, and never enough."

  "Why don't you move closer to the source?" Agent X asked, his voice cutting through the peaceful sounds of the forest, colder than the spring water itself.

  The Summoner Elf looked a little embarrassed. "There is another faction that uses this spring too. If we move closer, it'll cause conflict. They are... quite aggressive and we have already had cases of death from the encounters."

  "Eliminate the other faction," Agent X replied, his tone utterly devoid of emotion, as if suggesting a mundane chore. "The easiest solution is often to eliminate the threat, no matter how many."

  Dawn's head snapped towards him, shocked by the nonchalance of his suggestion. Eliminate? The word echoes in her mind.

  The Summoner Elf stammered, visibly recoiling. "I... we can't do that! That would be... an act of war!"

  Agent X's lips curved into a faint, chilling smile. "I can, and would with no problems. Besides, if they have already killed some of your men isn't that the grounds for war?"

  A palpable sense of horror and dread washed over the Summoner Elf. He quickly shook his head, his voice pleading. "No! No, Agent X, that won't be necessary! We just need water!"

  Agent X simply shrugged, moving a little bit away from the spring's edge. He settled onto a large, flat rock, seemingly content to observe.

  Dawn turned to the Summoner Elf, trying to project a calm she didn't entirely feel. "We will figure something out," she assured him. "Please, wait in your village until I have something more to report."

  The Summoner Elf looked nervously from Dawn to Agent X, then back to Dawn, his fear still evident. "Before I go back," he said, swallowing hard, "can you promise there will be no bloodshed? No... eliminating?"

  Dawn gave him what she hoped was a reassuring, if somewhat false, smile. "No one will die to get your village water." With that, the Summoner Elf, still glancing nervously at Agent X, nodded and hurried back toward his village.

  ?Meanwhile, in the deeper reaches of the forest, a small, hardened group of elves moved with practiced silence. A twig snapped under the boot of a young elf, but the leader simply held up a hand, and they froze. The leader, a wiry elf with a face scarred by past skirmishes, squinted through the ancient trees toward the direction of the spring. His hand rested on the hilt of his blade. They didn't need to haul water like common villagers; they would simply take it. And if any others from the neighboring clan were there, they would ensure they were never thirsty again.