Honorine's Run To Save The World - Chapter One (Patreon)

Today we have the first chapter of a new light novel we'll be publishing online. This fantasy adventure is the first project from our newest member and writer, Stella. After meeting a mysterious girl in an abandoned temple, Honorine learns she only has several weeks to save the world. Look forward to new chapters on a monthly basis as Honorine's quest takes her to the Zephyr Coast and more!

When the rumors led me to the Mournian, I was over the moon. Growing up in the shadow of its jagged peak, I've always wanted to scale that mountain and discover the secrets buried in its snow-capped embrace. I remember daydreaming about climbing it as a kid and even well into my university years, wondering what it would be like to be on those slopes.

As it turns out, the answer to that question is 'absolutely terrible'. I'm wearing the heaviest watchcoat I could find at the last store I visited, and the cold just ignores it to bite directly at my skin. The wind isn't helping either; it's not as harsh as I imagine it would be further up the mountain, but it's still more than strong enough to rub my face raw. The only consolation I've got is that I'm getting close to my end goal: the old Streician temple I've heard people talk about. They say it calls out to the people living on the Mournian's slopes, which… It's not a claim I believe, for sure, but I've seen too many oddities I'd previously thought impossible to simply dismiss it out of hand.

Whatever the case, I know for a fact that the temple is located in some sort of ravine at this altitude, so that's where I've been looking for the past… two hours? Three hours? It feels like ages, but the sun is still in the sky so it can't have been very long. I start to check the watch on my wrist, and then remember that it's broken. Great, I've got no way of knowing how long I've been up here. What I do know, though, is that however long it's been, it clearly hasn't been enough for me to find this temple.

I'm starting to entertain the thought that the tip I got might have been wrong: maybe this place is lower down on the mountain. Or maybe—I shudder at the thought—it's further up. I'll give it… five more minutes should be fine, and then if I find nothing, I'm going to have to start climbing again. I try to check my watch again, and am again reminded that it's broken. Oh, well, I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way: Counting the seconds. One, two, three...

"...two hundred and thirty five, two hundred and thirty six, two hundred and thirty seven..." My jaw starts to hurt from moving it so much, and my throat is dry as a bone. I want to skip the count and just move on already, but I feel like I'm too close to give up now. Just one more minute, Honorine. You can do it. One more minute and—

Something catches my eye. On the rock face, a hint of… green? Could it be? I ignore my aching legs, running as fast as they'll let me to where I saw that flash of color. There's a crack in the wall there, big enough to admit a person, and there, on the rock… Moss! It's dead, yes, and covered in frost, but it's still something that has no business being here at all. I look at the crack next, trying to see how deep it goes. I can't see the end of it clearly, but there's light of some sort there.

Yes, it's got to be...!

I take a deep breath, and climb in, sword drawn. A small voice in the back of my head nags me; I should have set up a piton, tied a rope to a rock outside, just done something to make sure I won't meet with a terrible fate if the crevice ends in a sheer drop or something along those lines. The voice isn’t wrong, but I'm already in, so what's the point? I push through the darkness, aiming for that light at the end and, also in the back of my head, hope that the crevice doesn't actually end in a sheer drop.

Turns out, the voice was half-right: The crevice does end in a drop, it's just not deadly, or even particularly high for that matter. I fall over, landing on my face in something soft. For a moment I imagine it's snow, but then I notice that whatever it is I've landed in, it's green. More moss, maybe? No, wrong texture. That means it must be grass, which in turn means...

I get up, assessing my surroundings. I'm definitely in a ravine; I can see the walls rising up around me, though I can't actually see where they end. There's lots of grass under my feet too, enough that I'm forced to notice the relative warmth of the area. It's all very unusual, but nothing compared to the main event: A building towards the back, spanning across the ravine. It's got all the hallmarks of Streician architecture: It's sleek and circular, and it has that distinctive pearly-white surface.

Most importantly, though, it's utterly pristine. If the temple's tucked-away location didn't already tip me off that something big was in there, that absolutely would have. I make my approach, sword still drawn; I've never been on the receiving end of them myself, but I've heard horror stories about the kind of defenses these places tend to have.

My arms tense up in anticipation as I approach the door, readying to swing my blade at a moment's notice if any defenses kick in. Nothing happens, though, and in fact the door readily slides open when I approach it. If this isn't a red flag, I don't know what is. I raise the sword into a defensive position, and step inside.

The first (and possibly most alarming) thing I notice is that I haven't triggered any traps yet. No strange machines have popped out of the walls to riddle me with magical bolts, nor has the room filled with sedative clouds. It's very strange, and almost disappointing—there aren’t very many girls who would be impressed by 'I walked into an intact Streician building and came out unscathed because there were no defenses whatsoever.’

The second thing I notice is that the room is actually near-completely empty, save for a device of some sort in the center. I approach that, trying to figure out what it is exactly. It's the right size for a bed, but there's a fogged-over glass canopy on top of it, and I see no way of getting into or out of it. Maybe if I could see into this thing, I'll be able to figure it out? I reach out to wipe some of the moisture off the canopy, and immediately regret it once I see what's behind the glass.

It's a girl, about my age. Her eyes are shut and she's not moving. I don't know how to react to this—have I just intruded on someone's tomb? Is that why there were no defenses here? It'd explain why this place was so tucked-away, too… I back away, my face burning with embarrassment. I think I'll just go back home and never speak of this again.

About halfway to the door, a hiss reaches my ears. It's behind me, roughly where the casket was. Probably some kind of tomb guardian or whatever, awakened by my meddling here. I whip around, ready to face it, and once again find myself faced with a bizarre sight: The casket has opened, leaking thick white smoke onto the floor, and the dead girl is sitting up in it, staring right at me with piercing orange eyes. For a brief moment, silence reigns, and then she speaks.

"Hello," she begins, her voice quiet but surprisingly heavy. "The apocalypse is coming, and I require your assistance to stop it."

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