Because I Am Surtr

"Something's not right."

As Miss Surtr walked through the outer gate of the Firelink Shrine, the scene that met her eyes felt… off.

What was wrong? Everything.

She saw the leaden-grey, gloomy, and dim sky. She saw the continuous thick fog and the occasional city silhouette beyond the cliffs. She saw gravestones and sealed sarcophagi spread across her vision. She saw flocks of crows flying in lines overhead, cawing softly.

She saw death, decay, and the decline of flame. But beyond all that, something was missing from her sight.

What was it?

She didn't know.

She scanned her surroundings, her gaze searching, trying to find an answer to the unease in her heart—she soon discovered a small anomaly.

Where were the bodies of dried ashes?

Where were the hollows, once pilgrims, who used to dwell around with their crude weapons?

Where were the pale shells, their souls burned out, lying dead around the shrine?

Where were they?

She ascended the stone stairs, only to see clumps of grass stubbornly growing in the dry earth. The architectural outlines she saw were indeed similar to the game content in her Arknights memories, but many key and non-key parts were vastly different.

She hadn't seen a single hollow on the path up the mountain, not a single corpse—considering the combat prowess displayed by that Fire Keeper lady, it wasn't unreasonable to assume she had cleared out the minor enemies within the shrine. However, even after forcing herself to accept this explanation, the girl's confusion remained.

It wasn't this.

The absence of hollows and corpses was indeed an anomaly. But that wasn't what "not right" referred to. This confusion stemmed from the depths of her heart, from a place her eyes couldn't confirm, from intuition, from wisdom and instinct—something had happened beyond her expectations. And this matter was closely related to her.

"Did I make a mistake somewhere?" She stopped and glanced back in the direction she came from. A faint, cool breeze seemed to brush past her fingertips, but when she looked closely, she only saw swaying grass.

—It's a stalker, that white figure.

Although she couldn't see anyone, she was certain someone was lurking nearby. After all, physical ability was one thing, but experience and skill didn't diminish. With just the slightest clue, she could deduce many things.

So…

—Should I draw them out? Or should I wake up directly and see if there's any strange activity in the real world?

The girl thought, but quickly dismissed the former idea.

—Stay calm, I need to stay calm. Since I've decided to face this world with a more relaxed approach. I can't be as tense as before…

"—Like hell I will!"

Exhaling, she spoke, her strength erupting.

In a flash, Miss Surtr, wielding the Spiral Sword of Burning Flame, lunged like a phantom towards the patch of swaying grass. Her sword followed her shadow, leaving a third behind, exerting seven parts of her strength, cleanly slicing through the supple blades of grass.

"Come out!"

Her voice exploded like a blast wave, echoing through the surroundings and blowing down all the nearby grass. But beyond that, the area within her sight remained empty.

Not here.

But definitely not far!

She sensed the flow of air, the change in aura, as if icy water vapor was condensing, and the place where this energy was gathering was certainly not far from here!

—To the right!

Her body flickered, her spiral blade now coated in molten flame. A sharp ice shard grazed the spot where she had just stood and shattered against the surface of an old stone tablet. Without hesitation, she swung her blade towards the direction where the cold air was surging—

'Crack—' The sound of ice shattering was familiar, and she instinctively eased up on her strength. A combat finishing move, which had been ready to unleash, transformed into a grappling technique to restrict movement the moment it was executed—the white figure appeared blurry yet strangely familiar in its high-speed movement, and the girl's gasp made her eyes widen abruptly.

—What's going on? This voice… why is this voice here?

Her thoughts raced faster than her actions, but as she pondered, she felt a soft touch on her palm. As her spinning vision stabilized, a familiar face appeared before her—grey eyes, snow-white hair, delicate features, pointed ears—how could this person be here, how could she exist in this world!

She was even being held down by her, her hands pushed to the ground covered in soft grass!?

"Yelena?" Surtr couldn't help but exclaim, hardly believing her eyes.

The moment her voice left her lips, the struggle in the girl beneath her and the resistance in her eyes vanished instantly. Her limbs became softer, allowing Surtr to hold her tighter.

"Surtr? Is it really you?" The familiar voice completed the last piece of the puzzle.

Good.

This is just great.

She didn't know whether the world or she herself had gone wrong, but either way, the trouble had just escalated.

"...Wait for me." Surtr took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

—I need to go back… no, not back, but open the way back for me!

The girl's will moved the principles of the world, and the portal to the real world unfolded in her consciousness. Just like every dream realm journey before, her consciousness ascended like light on the surface of the Sea of Worlds. This should have been an uneventful return journey, but this time, the unfolding was different from usual.

I can't get in! No matter how I think about it, I can't get in!

The gate between the two worlds was indeed open, but her thoughts couldn't propel herself in the direction she came from!

Did the gate shrink? No, the gate was the same as before… it was her own scale that had increased, there was excess space around her, she had brought something else with her on this journey between worlds!

Although she didn't know how she got here, now, a passage that could only carry one will across couldn't take two souls at once!

Surtr, open your eyes.

Her gaze upon the girl beneath her was filled with complexity.

—This is a huge problem, a huge problem, a huge problem, a huge problem, a huge problem, a huge problem, a huge problem, a huge problem.

—Haaah… Calm down, calm down. The immediate priority is to find a time machine—Damn it! But I am the time machine, so what do I do if I can't fix this, ahhhhhh!

Her thoughts raced. She maintained the pose of pinning Yelena to the ground for a full fifteen seconds. Even as Yelena's cheeks flushed crimson, she paid no mind to the details that should have been obvious.

She simply let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

"You're not mistaken. I truly am... I am Surtr."

We're going on the shelves tomorrow. There will probably be three chapters (a one-day special). I hope the initial subscription count is at least a not-too-embarrassing five hundred (:з」∠)