The Run

Alex rushed his way out of the forest. Or, to be more specific, he made his way out of Havenside Natural Reserve.

It was a good thirty-minute trek down the side of a large hill and through some more stretches of forestland until he popped out into a tiny parking lot meant for people ready for a weekend camp or day hike.

There were no people in the reserve, however, because as per regulation, the Court of Keys had issued a field of warding around the area of the Rift that blocked away people that did not have sufficiently high mana levels.

Alex, even as a Dud, managed to get in because he had an authorization seal in the form of a ring on his index finger that let him be immune to these fields.

But that ring reminded him of how little he belonged to the world anymore.

Around 80% of the world's population was now mana sensitive, leaving Alex in the distinct minority.

In what was known as the Occultation that occurred in 1950, shortly after World War II, Rifts suddenly started appearing around the world.

At first, Rifts emerged in small numbers, and the Court of Keys and various other magical organizations still remained hidden, taking down the Rifts while trying to keep magic unknown to the world.

But the Occultation fundamentally changed the world. It was not just monsters that came from the Rifts, but also higher concentrations of mana that charged into the atmosphere, and very soon, the number of mana sensitive people began to explode upwards.

However, many people with newfound mana were extremely weak, not even managing to qualify for any mage academy.

Maybe only 10% of individuals around the world ever became good enough to enter a mage academy and pass it, not to even mention getting stars in recognition for their Rifting skill or titles in recognition for their research.

Mage society was old, almost as old as humanity itself, and in the past, during the Age of Myth, they were the leaders of the world.

Witches and sorcerers and prophets and whatnot that advised kings or brought rains to end droughts or felled great monsters.

From them, long standing mage bloodlines sprouted, and these noble bloodlines dominated the top ranks of mages even now.

Alex got the shortest end of the stick out of all of this because he was completely and utterly manaless.

In reality, the average person with barely any natural magic talent was not much different from Alex.

Maybe they could make themselves stronger for a couple of seconds or shoot out tiny sparks, but that was the extent of it.

But the reason why society rejected Alex so was because he was a defect. He was a symbol of a past era of humanity that had not evolved to regulate mana. In fact, many Duds like Alex naturally died out as high mana concentrations in the air would kill them over time.

Alex was a relic of a failed past and, most importantly, he had a tainted bloodline.

If Alex was even just a tiny bit mana capable. Then if he had a child with a mage, at the very least, his child would very likely have mana capability.

But as a Dud with no capability, even in this post-Occultation age, his children were likely to be Duds as well, and nobody wanted to have children that could not help defend humanity.

Basically, Alex was a burden to humanity.

Whatever, though. Things like the circumstances of his birth, he could not change.

What he focused on now was the status screen in front of him. The one thing that could change his lowly existence.

When Alex got into his car, a rundown, tiny little Prius that he had snagged off of some desperate crackhead a couple years back, he started to get to work.

At least in his car that reeked of weed even now, he felt somewhat safe. Away from prying mage eyes.

As he drove back home, past stretches of broken, cracked roads, his hands were kept tight on his steering wheel, his fingers turning white as he dug into the frayed leather.

He kept looking at the timer for the quest counting down, seeing valuable time wasting away.

No, he reminded himself, he was not wasting time. He needed to drive back home and get ready.

He knew full well this was his one chance. The only chance to become something more than a useless porter in this world. To bring his sister back and give her a chance at life she deserved.

Alex read the message on the quest tab.

Insufficient performance would result in death?

He scoffed and pushed down on the accelerator, heading home.

His life was barely worth living right now. Living for nothing, as an abnormality in this world meant to be looked down on, spat on, ignored, and, eventually, phased out.

The threat of death was nothing more than a motivator for him at this point.

He would do everything in his power to finish this quest, no matter what it took, even if he died trying.

==

Alex went home to his dingy one bedroom apartment in one of the worst parts of town where rusted out, chained up shacks and streetside drug dealers were the norm, and got ready.

He packed workout clothes that would not stand out, bottles of energy drinks, food, bandages, painkillers, towels, warm clothes, heat packs, and the like.

He sat on his creaky bed and started to tape up his feet to prevent blisters, looking out of his window to see that night had come. It had been late afternoon by the time he had gotten out of the Rift, meaning he would have to run in the dark.

But that was not the issue here.

He felt his window rattle as howling winds raged against it. Ice and snow began to clump up against the glass at a frightening rate.

Just his luck for him to encounter a winter storm like this now of all times.

A pretty bad one, too.

He had heard on TV about a nasty storm approaching his area, but the forecast had said it would circle past, leaving just light snowfall.

Then again, Alex's luck stat was a measly 1. Explained his entire life, really.

He finished taping his feet up and stood up, putting a hoodie over his head and taking a deep breath.

At first, Alex had thought the quest not that bad. He had twenty four hours to complete it, and he was no stranger to physical exercise.

In fact, he could be considered a fitness junkie. Came with being delusional enough to think he could beat monsters with his bare hands.

That meant he was strong, fast, and had good stamina.

500 pushups, 500 situps, and 500 squats was manageable.

In fact, he had already done one hundred of each, and the quest tab on his status screen tallied the exercises he did accurately. Even made sure if he did not use proper form, it would not count.

It was the 50 kilometers that was going to be one hell of a challenge.

Alex could run a marathon, and that was already far and above beyond the average person, but he was no professional runner. His build was more muscular and meant for pushing out power, not running for ages and ages.

In top condition, Alex figured he could run the 42 kilometers of a marathon in five to six hours.

But in this weather?

Alex looked out to his window only to realize that he could no longer see out of it anymore. Too much ice and snow had covered it.

Who knew how long fifty kilometers would take? Was it even physically possible? Once the snow piled up enough, running would be impossible.

That meant the twenty-four-hour time limit was more like four hours at most.

But Alex did not give a damn. As if he would let some snow stop him.

The snow just meant he had no more time to waste. He took his fully packed backpack and moved out.

==

Alex ran.

He ran harder than he had ever before in his life, ignoring his phone constantly buzzing in his pocket, telling him that there was a severe winter storm advisory warning in effect and that everyone should stay at home.

He did not care.

He just ran.

In the nearest park, there was a running trail that circled around that was eight kilometers long. He just had to lap this about seven times.

But after the first two laps, the snowfall had been so intense that it packed up nearly to his ankles, and it would only get worse from here.

Alex pushed through, clenching his fists, feeling the wrist wraps his mother had left behind for him, seeing the image of his sister, pale and so very thin, lying on her hospital bed.

His legs parted through snow, through the wind that howled against him, through the bitter cold that quickly pierced through the layers of clothes he wore and deep into his very bones.

The storm advisory meant nobody was here. The only sounds he heard were his boots crunching on snow, the wind whistling in his ears, and his own heavy breathing.

He was all alone.

As he always had been.

Every single time he finished a lap, he stood up on a park table and did pushups, squats, and situps on it because the snow made it impossible to do them on the ground.

He tried to space things out, to take intermittent breaks between the running and the exercises and resting, but he just had no time.

If he did not finish the run soon, the storm would have built up to the point where there would be so much snow it would be almost physically impossible to run properly.

This was not just a regular winter storm at this point. It was almost unnaturally bad. One of the worst snowfalls in the decade, if not the century.

Mother nature might as well have issued a goddamn orbital strike against Alex just to screw with him.

Carrying a pack as a porter for an hour or two was nothing compared to this.

At the halfway mark, when Alex had run twenty-five kilometers, was when he collapsed for the first time, his chest heaving as he sucked in breaths.

He laid on his back looking up, feeling snow pile on his face, almost as if it was ready to bury him and get his miserable existence done and over with.

After every lap, Alex had gone into his car and warmed himself up, but as per course for his luck, his car had broken down at the halfway mark.

Alex's skin felt ice cold and numb, but his insides were burning up, and he felt like he was always short on air. His vision blurred, and for a moment, he felt warm.

Unnaturally warm. That sensation made him feel like he was drifting away.

That made Alex snap back to attention and get back up. No way he was going to drift away here. He would die if he stopped for even a little bit.

He kept running. No way he would end up dying here, with only the cold and unfeeling snow and ice to keep him company, without even having killed a single monster or done anything with his life.

But now he was just screwed.

No car meant no heat. No heat in this weather meant Alex was going to die of hypothermia frighteningly soon. He might already have been dying from it.

But Alex shoved aside those thoughts and instead filled himself with memories that fueled him. His sister. The abuses he faced. His dwindling bank account. How utterly worthless he was in this world.

That kept him going for another lap before he collapsed again, this time face first in the snow. He closed his eyes, but instead of darkness, all he could see was the status screen in front of him, reminding him why he was here.

[Running Distance Left: 17 Kilometers]

Just slightly over two more laps.

By now, every single step was a god-awful struggle pushing through knee deep snow. One lap might as well have been a marathon on its own.

Alex could not feel his body by this point, but he still got up.

He still stood back up just the same way he had done countless thousands of times before.

When the world had told knocked him down, telling him he had no right to exist, no right to be in Rifts, no right to be fighting, he still stood back up.

The cold had leeched into Alex's head, and the snowfall was so intense he could barely see anything in front of him.

Just a raging mess of snowflakes and hail. White blurs that filled up his vision like static.

It was hard to drive up even the mental energy to think now.

But his body kept running, the few dregs of mental energy left in his mind and soul all culminating to one single word.

Run.

Alex's memories became foggy after that point, his body and mind so numb that he just ran on pure autopilot and sheer fucking will he had no idea he even had.

At one point, he veered off trail, into the forest the park bordered, and even though he had no idea where he was going or how to get back, he still just kept running.

His memories got hazy again until he collapsed again in the snow, surrounded by a thicket of trees half drowned in snow themselves.

This time, he did not get back up as the snow quickly layered on his back, finally laying him to rest in his tomb of ice.

But he went out with a smile, because as his eyes froze shut, he saw in the dark of his consciousness the status screen for one last moment before he fell truly unconscious.

[Running Distance Left: 0 Kilometers]

[Pushups Left: 0]

[Sit Ups Left: 0]

[Squats Left: 0]

….

[Quest: Trial Run has been fully completed]

[The Host has completed all goals even against the divine spell Fimbulwinter]

[Full rewards will be given]

[+10 to all stats granted]

[Access to Forms granted]

[Access to Skills granted]

[Access to the Inner World granted]

[Access to the Forgemaster granted]

[Access to 1x Resurrection granted]

….

[The Host has died]

[Automatically initiating Resurrection]