I don’t know how long I just stood there after Eira agreed to stay.Maybe it was seconds. Maybe it was enough for the dust to finally settle and for the smell of broken drywall to hit my nose.

  My gaming room — my sanctuary — was wrecked.My poor monitor hung sideways, cracked down the middle. My keyboard was buried under a pile of rubble. The desk? Split like a soggy biscuit.Even my chair — my loyal, ass-molded gaming chair — was leaning to one side like it had given up on life.

  I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Rest in peace, brothers."

  Eira watched me from the center of the room, arms crossed, face perfectly bnk. Probably wondering why a grown man looked like he was about to cry over pieces of pstic and wires.

  "This was my... hobby pce," I croaked, stepping over debris carefully. "Gaming. Streaming. Rage-quitting ranked matches. Y'know, very important cultural activities."

  She tilted her head. "You mourn it as if it were kin."

  I gave a weak ugh. "Might as well be. I spent more hours here than with most people."

  She didn’t respond, just looked around with that same sharp-eyed, calcuting stare.It hit me then — this wasn’t just weird for me.This was a whole new world for her.

  No elven paces. No glowing forests. No war councils or whatever badass assassins usually dealt with.Just... me.And a 2BHK apartment in Sector 44 with cracked walls, a single working AC, and a permanent smell of masa Maggi.

  "You want a tour?" I asked, because what the hell else was I supposed to do.

  She nodded once.

  I kicked aside some pster and gestured grandly. "Welcome to my humble abode."

  We started in the wrecked gaming room — or what was left of it. She inspected everything with a silent, clinical interest. The broken monitor. The shattered figurine of Goku on the shelf. Even the cracked photo frame of me and my old boxing team.

  She touched things lightly, fingers ghosting over surfaces, like she was trying to memorize the texture of this world.

  "This was your battlefield," she said softly.

  I blinked."Yeah," I said after a moment. "In a way."

  We moved to the living room next — more chaos, of course. Couch sagging in the middle. Piles of undry pretending to be furniture. Crumbs everywhere because my vacuum cleaner had died months ago and I kept putting off buying a new one.

  "This is where I waste time watching anime and contempting my life choices," I said. "Top-tier activities."

  Eira crouched beside the couch, poking it like she thought it might be alive.

  Then we hit the kitchen — tiny and custrophobic. Sink full of dishes. Half-eaten packets of Parle-G and instant noodles.I scratched the back of my head, a little embarrassed now."Look, I didn't exactly expect... visitors from other dimensions, alright?"

  She said nothing, but the tiniest smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth.I counted that as a win.

  Finally, we ended at my bedroom.Small. Barely enough room for a bed, a fan, a battered wardrobe, and a sad-looking window with a view of the neighbor’s rusted water tank.

  "This is... where I sleep," I said, awkwardly.

  Eira stepped in without hesitation, scanning everything with that same focused intensity.After a few seconds, she turned to face me, standing straight as a bde.

  "I require shelter for the night," she said simply.

  I stared at her."Yeah. Yeah, of course. You can take the bed. I’ll... figure something out."

  Her brow furrowed. "It is your sleeping pce."

  "And you're an interdimensional assassin who crashed into my life and might kill me in my sleep if I piss you off, so — bed's yours. Non-negotiable."

  Another silence.Then — very slowly — she inclined her head. "Accepted."

  I grabbed a pillow and my thinnest bnket from the wardrobe, throwing them onto the couch outside.It wasn't much, but it was something.

  "Alright," I said, rubbing my face. "We survive tonight. Tomorrow... we'll figure out what the hell is happening."

  As I shuffled out, she stopped me with a word.

  "Karan."

  I turned.

  "Thank you," she said, voice low but clear.

  I blinked."No problem. Seriously. It's not every day I get to be the Earth tour guide for a badass elf assassin."

  She didn’t smile. But the cold in her eyes thawed just a little.

  That night, I y on the sagging couch, staring at the cracked ceiling, brain whirring.

  My gaming setup was dead.My wall was a crime scene.There was a literal assassin sleeping in my bed.

  And somehow...Weirdly...It didn’t feel bad.It felt like the start of something insane and terrifying and kinda... exhirating.

  I finally drifted into a restless sleep, dreaming of broken monitors and silver eyes watching me from the shadows.

  The next morning, sunlight spped me awake like an angry mom.

  I sat up groggily, bnket tangled around my legs, back already protesting from the crappy couch.

  For a moment, I thought it had all been a weird fever dream.

  Then I heard soft footsteps from the bedroom.Eira.Still here.Still real.

  I groaned, rubbing my face. "Good morning, reality. You suck."

  My stomach growled aggressively. Right — breakfast. And also... shit, I needed to figure out a new setup.Work started Monday. No gaming rig, no secondary monitor, no extra keyboard — meant no remote login, no sary, no rent.Panic itched at the back of my mind.

  I grabbed my phone, checking my bank app.

  Bance: ?18,350.

  Not terrible... but not good enough for a full new rig.Especially not after rent, bills, groceries, and the occasional necessary stress snack.

  I flopped back against the couch, groaning."How am I gonna repce a gaming setup with the budget of a broke college kid?"

  From the bedroom, Eira’s voice floated out, calm and curious."You are injured?"

  I ughed bitterly. "Only financially."

  Time to make a list.

  Cheap monitor: maybe second-hand from OLX?

  New keyboard: basic membrane one, no fancy mechanical clickity-ccks.

  New desk? Hah. Cardboard box it is.

  Gaming chair? Forget it. Floor gaming, baby.

  I sat up, determination settling in.This was my battlefield now.Budget shopping and survival.

  I wasn’t going down without a fight.

  And somehow — gncing toward the bedroom door where Eira had disappeared —I had a feeling I wasn’t fighting alone anymore.