9 PRANK IN THE RUINS *GONE WRONG*

~Are we there yet?~

"No."

~Are we there yet?~

"No."

~Are we there yet?~

"No."

~Are we there yet?~

"No, how many times do I have to tell you that we aren't there yet."

~Do you even know where we are? Do you have any idea where you want to go?~

"I think we are somewhere in Sacae, I'm pretty confident in this guess. And to be perfectly honest, no, I don't know where I want to go. I need to find a clue soon, just so I know where I am heading."

~And when you do know where you are, what then? How long will you aimlessly wander until you get the clue? You need to care more about your future. What if the clue you get doesn't help you at all? What if you never find it? How do you plan to live your life then?~

"Why are you so nice and caring all of a sudden? It feels so wrong, stop acting like my mother, it doesn't suit you."

~What do you mean? It is the job of the enlightened to educate the ignorant. I am simply doing my duty as the superior one in this relationship.~

"That's better, that's the Clara I know and love. I already learned to accept that shitty side of you."

~So you are a masochist, a lot of your previous actions make sense with that reasoning. Only a dullard or a masochist would needlessly suffer like that to get across a river. Then again, only an ignoramus would consider drinking their urine, as soon as they run out of water.~

"I didn't drink my own piss. You are never going to let me live that down, are you? You are right though, I should have had that as my first thought. Luckily it rained, and I was spared from doing that."

~You can't count on providence to save you every time you are in a bind. You really should be smarter and remember to use your skills more effectively. For someone trained by one of the greatest heroes, you are a disappointment so far.~

"Okay, that was a bit harsher than what I am used to. What offended you this time? Besides my existence, I already know that it is the number one thing that annoys you. I can respect that, I did kill and eat you after all."

~I don't care about that, I care more about the legacy of the person who slew me. I just don't want the person that ended my glorious existence to die like some cannon fodder with no witnesses. Especially when he has the potential to be something greater, there is no shame in losing to someone better.~

However, you aren't that person yet, you still have a lot of room to grow. You are too calm and very careless at times, that is what irritates me the most about you. Despite your calmness, your plans aren't the best ones, you can do so much better than that.

"I knew you cared"

~SHUT UP!! Look for your clues that are dubious at best, and then get your life together after what you find.~

----------------2 days later

I feel a familiar trace of magic off in the distance, it is very faint, almost undetectable to even the strongest sages. This is my master's magic, I was specifically taught to sense this particular spell. This is sealing magic, what is being held behind that seal is terrifying and world-threatening.

The 8 divine weapons of the 8 heroes who fought the dragons and won the war in the end. The weapons were the pinnacle of magic and technology in that era, so the power of those weapons was immense for sure. When the weapons clashed with the dragons, the power unleashed was enough to bend the laws of physics. That is why the weapon's remained sealed to this day by my master, humans can't be trusted with power that can cause a calamity.

The weapons are behind a multilayered seal, the main magic seal in Bern is meant to hide the locations of the weapons. The locations themselves also have seals meant to deter people away from the location. For more insurance inside they all have deadly traps and the ghosts of the previous wielders as guards. Essentially an end-game dungeon you need a party to raid, the weapon should be safe.

I get closer and what do I see? I see the ruins, the source of the magic I sensed.

I ALSO SEE MORE RIVERS! FUUUUCK!!!!!

--------------1 Day Later

After coming to terms with my hatred of rivers and crossing the multiple rivers by hopping across a rock path I refused to use last time, I am finally at the ruins. Now I know for sure I am in Sacae, and these ruins are where the Tempest Bow Mulagir, is sealed away.

How do I know, well, the other weapons are sealed in temples located in the most dangerous locations in the region the hero settled in. Sacae doesn't have anything like that, the biggest obstacle is finding the temple in the vast open plains without any clues. So it has a barrier spell to keep people from entering if they do manage to find the temple for some reason.

If the temple was any bigger, they would have been easier to run into by wandering blindly around the plains. Right now I can somewhat see the temple in its ruined state, however, it looks kind of blurry. There seems to be a connection between the damaged state of the temple and the magic that makes it invisible to most detection methods. The magic is still working, but it is not perfect, I can still tell something is off. To even catch that minor flaw, I need to be in an area close to the temple, so I guess that is a plus. The other thing I noticed is magic that keeps people from entering is also damaged, I don't sense any magic blocking the entrance.

This isn't good, now people can somewhat see the ruins and they can enter it. Sadly, once a person has a general idea of the location, they can find the temple once again. It's a good thing there are other countermeasures in place, but I don't feel too safe with them either. I never underestimate human greed, ruins from the time of The Scouring are priceless.

If the news reaches a monarch or noble, the number of resources they pool into raiding this temple will be worth the sacrifices made. Just a single weapon from the scouring will allow anyone to have the power to conquer most of the continent. I know Bern still has Eckesachs available to them, but most of its power has been sealed and it can only be used by the royalty of Bern. However, the clashing of the two weapons could unseal the sword's true power and cause a calamity in the process.

I just got here, I don't want the world to end already. I have to try and fix the seal somehow, or at the very least troubleshoot to see what is wrong with the seal. If someone does show up, it is one of my mission's objectives to stop people from wielding one of those weapons by any means possible.

"I hope I don't have to kill somebody."

I can probably kill them with magic, but it has to be an ambush for it to happen. My accuracy is not the best, and my body can't put up a fight in any physical confrontation.

-------------

~You jinxed it, someone is looking around the ruins. Now he is going inside to explore the ruins. You should know by now to never say anything you don't want to happen out loud, don't even think about it. The best things happen when you don't need them to, or when you don't think about what you need.~

"Yeah, you're right. How am I going to get him out of the ruins? Should I scare him out?"

~So how do you, a 5-year-old child, expect to intimidate a grown man. Last I checked, you have the intimidation level of a baby bunny. Your high-pitched, nearly angelic voice doesn't do you any favors.~

"Hey even if I am a rabbit, I am at the very least the Rabbit of Caerbannog. Anyways, I plan to sneak behind him and haunt him. Hearing the voice of a child in the ruins of a temple is pretty creepy. Maybe I can convince him the temple was used to sacrifice children and scare him that way."

----------------------

I see him, and the part he is in is really dark. I can work with this, what can I do to creep him out? I follow him into the ruins and hide behind a wall. Alright time to go for it.

"Mister are you here to hurt us."

Sweet there is an echo effect, this is going to make it much harder for him to find me.

"What the hell is that"

"Please leave us alone. Just let us rest. We want to have peace. Why are you here bothering us."

"Who are you? Where are you?"

"I am someone who died here. Died when I was sacrificed. I am not the only child who was sacrificed. We don't want to kill you, but we are forced to protect the temple. Please leave now."

I can sense his fear, he is looking for somewhere to hide. Crap!! He is heading towards the wall where I am hiding. Plan B, if he comes here, I knock him out with my magic.

Welp, Plan B it is.

'Strike'

I accidentally hit him in the head, but I successfully knocked him out. Plan B worked. Wait why is he bleeding out, or is that some sort of shadow moving? Did I kill him? One way to find out, I have to check for his pulse.

"Hmm. Either I suck at checking for pulses, or this guy is dead. I am taking my first kill rather well. I should probably check my setting to see what is fucked up with my mind."

What I call my settings, is a magic spell I created that helps to track what aspects of my personality are suppressed and amplified as a result of using my dark magic too much. I am given a menu of emotions, instincts, and other aspects of me, and a rating ranging from 0 to 10 is assigned to each category. I then compare the changes to my default healthy mindset, and I see where everything went wrong.

"Let's see what was amplified. Okay, so my survival instinct went from 7 to a 9, my calmness went from 7 to 8, my credulity went from 4 to 7, and my optimism went from 4 to 9. As for what was suppressed, my sanity went from 7 to 3, social awareness went from 8-5, remorse went from 9 to 2, my memories went from 8 to 4, my confidence went from 8 to 7, and everything else is fine"

Okay, that explains a lot, I was too happy-go-lucky for being in such a shitty situation. It also explains why I am taking this murder so well. I thought this would be traumatizing, but now I am thinking it is going to be a hassle to dispose of the body. As for memories, they are hazy, but I remember the most important ones, the happy ones.

"Clara, any ideas as to why that spell killed him?"

~Maybe you got a critical hit.~

"Just great, the one time I try not to kill something and I get a crit. Well, I need to loot his corpse before I throw it into the river. Hope he is carrying something of value."