Becoming A God In Another World With My Crush

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Xander opened his eyes to fire consuming rooftops. The village was gone..Flames poured through windows like liquid and ash fell like snow.

People were running.

Children with bare feet. Women dragging the injured. Men screaming names that broke in their throats. They didn't see him didn't really see him but they screamed all the same:

"Kaelhi! Somebody...please!"

"The Kaelhi's supposed to protect us!"

"Where is he?! Where is the Kaelhi?!"

Xander's chest heaved.

He tried to move but his legs wouldn't budge. Arms frozen at his sides. He was standing in the center of it all, watching as people died, as shadows lunged from the dark between buildings...creatures that looked stitched from nightmares.One beast, jagged back, mouth unhinged too wide grabbed a screaming boy by the legs and disappeared into the smoke.

Another tore through the bakery wall like paper, someone grabbed his wrist, an old woman with blood on her hands and eyes wide with hope.

"You'll save us… won't you? Kaelhi, please…"

"I—I can't…" Xander tried, voice caught like gravel in his throat. "I want to. I'm here. I—"

But she was dragged away, claw marks seared across the street, something stepped through the flames, it was tall. Cloaked in blackened bone. A mouth full of teeth too sharp, too many. Eyes like burning coins with no pupils.

"You watch well, little god," it said. "You watched them die like the ones before. And you'll watch again."

Xander gasped.

He looked down, and his hands were stained red. Blood up to the elbows. He didn't remember why.

"I am the one true god," it whispered. "This world is mine by blood."

He snapped awake with a gasp, heart thundering too fast, too hard. His palms still felt wet. The crystal beneath his collarbone pulsed once, erratic. Hungry.

Cold air pressing against damp skin. The faint crackle of fire. His eyelashes fluttered open slowly, breath catching as the world came back into focus with trees overhead, stars peeking through the canopy, and the forest heavy with midnight stillness.

He was on the ground. A bed of moss beneath his spine. Something wet slid from his forehead, he blinked just in time to see the cloth tumble into the dirt beside him, it's purpose most likely keeping him cool.

Eli lay curled on his side near the edge of it, face pale but breathing steady. A blanket half-draped across his back.

But, where was Iris?

Xander sat up too fast, the movement sending sparks of pain through his ribs. His head spun. "Iris?" he rasped, heart instantly lurching into his throat. "Iris—"

He shoved himself upright, legs trembling as he took an unsteady step. "Iris!"

Then—

Crunch.

She appeared between the trees a heartbeat later, arms full of sticks, hair damp with dew, and eyes wide with panic until they landed on him.

"Oh!" She dropped the bundle immediately, boots crunching through fallen leaves as she rushed to his side. "You're awake!"

Xander swallowed hard, still catching his breath. "You were gone."

"I was literally five feet away!" she scolded, but the relief cracked her voice anyway. "You've been unconscious for hours, I needed more firewood."

He sagged a little as she guided him gently back toward the fire.

"Don't do that," she muttered, fussing with the blanket he hadn't realized had slipped off his shoulders. "Don't wake up and immediately scare the shit out of me, I thought another monster had come for our asses."

He glanced at her. "sorry."

She off a piece of flatbread and passed it to him without a word. A small wedge of cheese followed, then a dented waterskin that she held up with one brow arched.

Xander hesitated.

"Seriously?" she said, tone dry. "Dude, you almost died. Let me help or I'll throw it at your face."

He relented, taking a small sip. The water was cool, and her hand steady as it tilted just enough to keep him from spilling.

She looked away while he drank but not before he caught the worry still etched in the corners of her mouth.

His face flushed.

This was embarrassing. The cloth. The blanket. The holding-his-head-to-drink thing. It was all too much. And she was right there, glowing faintly in the firelight, hair still a little damp, hands still dirt-smudged. She looked... really, really cute.

He blinked at her.

She glanced back.

"What?" she snapped.

"Nothing."

"You're staring. Stop it."

"S–sorry!"

She scowled. "What a creep."

Then she turned, back to him, arms crossed, like she wasn't the one who'd just helped him drink water like a newborn baby.

They didn't speak for a while after that.

Just the sound of him chewing. The fire popping gently between them. Eli snoring faintly in the background. And something else, settling in the silence.

"So, uh…How's he doing?" he asked quietly.

Iris followed his gaze, then shrugged one shoulder. "He's fine. A bit tired, that's all." She tucked her knees up against her chest, voice low. "Built the fire himself a few hours ago, actually. Nearly passed out afterward. You're not the only one who likes scaring the crap out of me."

Xander winced. "Damn. He okay, though?"

"He'll be alright." Her fingers brushed a twig out of her hair. "Unlike you, he didn't swallow a magic crystal"

Xander blinked. "Wait—how do you—"

She turned toward him slowly. "So Eli was right. You did swallow that thing. Like the Beast King did."

His face flushed. "I panicked!"

She smacked his shoulder.

"Ow...Jesus!"

"Do you ever think before you do crazy shit?! That crystal could've killed you, Xander!"

He rubbed at the spot she hit, grimacing. "damn...you hit harder than the Hydra."

"Good," she snapped. "Maybe one day I'll be able to knock some sense into you."

Xander winced again, not from the sting of her hit but from the wave of guilt rolling through his chest.

He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding her eyes. "I didn't… I didn't plan it, okay? I thought I was dead either way. The Hydra was about to delete me and Eli was out cold and you—" 

He stopped himself.

Iris's eyes narrowed.

"You're unbelievable," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear with a frustrated shake of her head.

"I know," he muttered. "I wasn't trying to be a hero...or whatever."

She huffed, sitting beside him again and yanking the waterskin over to her lap.

"Technically I survived," he offered, managing a weak grin.

Iris turned to him slowly. "Technically, you owe Eli your life...again, he was half-delirious and still managed to crush those herbs and force them into your mouth before your body imploded."

That shut him up.

The fire crackled between them.

Xander let out a quiet sigh, he looked over at her, eyes softer. "You were scared."

She didn't respond right away.

Then, quietly, "Yeah. I was."

The silence that followed held everything they didn't know how to say yet, Iris looked down again, fiddling with the hem of her dress like the fabric had suddenly become fascinating to her.

Xander caught the way her ears tinted a little pink.

"I guess you're not... a total idiot," she said, barely loud enough to rise above the crackling fire. "You were smart enough to know the Hydra's weakness.."

He raised an eyebrow, lips tugging into a crooked grin. "Careful. I might actually think you like me as a person."

Iris went still, like her entire nervous system just short-circuited.

"Shut up," she mumbled, facing the fire again with unnecessary focus. "and eat your stupid cheese."

Xander obeyed, but his gaze lingered for a second longer.

The firelight caught her profile just right the curve of her jaw, the way her lashes dipped when she blinked too long, the way she kept fidgeting even though she was pretending not to care.

He glanced down, pretending to be very interested in a slightly burnt corner of bread.

Then, she said so softly he almost missed it "Thank you."

He blinked.

She didn't look at him. Just stared into the fire like it might answer something she hadn't said out loud. "For the Hydra," she murmured. "And for… everything else."

But he didn't say anything back. He just sat there, chewing slowly, heat in his chest that had nothing to do with the crystal.

She was still cute.

Even more so when she tried not to be.