It's been a long time since anyone came to visit. I can't feel boredom, not truly, which I suppose I am grateful for. Emotions can't be fully realized here, as I am, bound to this artifact. Nothing more than a ghost, stuck to a bracelet, buried deep in a cave.

My previous owner hid me well. In what, in my day, was known as the "Tutorial Dungeon," he carved a passage in the far back and sealed it up with magic and illusions. Nobody who could sense illusions would ever wander back here, and everybody else would be oblivious to the wall's oddities.

And so here I remain. Here I metaphorically sit. Staring at the blank walls, ceiling, and floor of my chamber. They were hardly carved out of the rock before I was left here. You could easily be fooled into assuming that the cave wore away naturally, if the pedestal with my bracelet wasn't there.

A noise caught my attention, and I glanced towards the entrance of my chamber. Footsteps. A new hero must be wandering around, looking for hidden gold or treasures. How strange. I hadn't heard anybody in a long time. The footsteps continued growing louder and louder, and eventually stopped.

And then they started getting louder still. Odd. The wall should have stopped-

Oh. Somebody walked into the chamber. Not a hero by the standard of those skilled in swords and magic. A... small girl. She looked somewhat sickly. Weak heroes in and of themselves were strange, but this went beyond anything I'd seen before. Have the guild-masters lower their standards?

I lowered myself to the ground in front of the girl. She stumbled back upon seeing me, which gave me a ghost of pleasure.

"Hello, young one. What are you doing back here?" She looked at me in confusion.

"W-what are you?" ...Strange. Did nobody tell my stories nowadays?

"A ghost." I said simply. I was hardly the first ghost an adventurer would encounter.

"But... ghosts don't exist!" I frowned. Ghost didn't exist?

"Then what am I?" I lowered myself a little bit into the ground, staring at the girl. "How do you think I can do this?"

"...Some... optical illusion? Some video player?"

"Video player?" ...Ah.

I'd been asleep for much longer than I thought I had been.

"Well... here." I flew up and back, smiling at the girl. "It's been a long time since I've had any visitors. Might I give you a gift?"

"A gift?" The girl seemed intrigued. This was a new age. No adventurers I knew would trust a random girl in a cave with a gift. I motioned to the bracelet, though I was unable to touch it.

"My bracelet. I've been alone for such a long time, and as my first friend in a while, I would so appreciate you taking this small gift from me!"

"O-oh. Okay." The girl stepped forward and, with barely any hesitation, took the bracelet and slipped it onto her wrist. "Thanks." She looked around, but I had vanished. "Hello?" But nobody responded. She huffed a bit. "Serves me right for trusting a creepy girl in a cave." She glanced down at the bracelet, wondering whether to take it off or not, but decided against it. It'd be a conversation starter, of nothing else.

The girl wandered out of the cave. Good portions of it had collapsed, but there were enough nooks and crannies that a game of hide-and-seek could last a long while. She walked outside, gazing upon the city she called her home. Sighing, she made her way back, dreading having to explain why her clothes were dirty again.

But I went with her. She had my bracelet. I glanced around at an unfamiliar world, one of steel and metal, akin to how swords were made but on a massive scale. I would transform the girl eventually. But for now... let's be her friend. Learn about the world. My rule would come eventually.

I'd already waited for so many years. What was a few more?