5 - Unusual Observations

Woodpine was a really beautiful town if you weren't bumbling around distracted and under pressure. The people were close and warm with each other, and when the sun was setting like this, the skies turned a lovely orange and violet, and along with the clouds that were shaded with those colors, well, it all was a very beautiful view.

Ten out of ten for visual aesthetics. That's the score I was giving this game's developer. Everything else was shit out of ten.

I was sitting on one of the public benches, resigned to the fact that I had no money and no place to sleep. I was also thinking about a few weird things I'd discovered throughout the day since I woke that I'd never really given thought to.

For example, the skill that was listed in my player info. Absorb. According to the info I was provided with, Absorb allowed me the ability to gain the traits and abilities of defeated enemies. I would gain a fire-breathing ability if I slayed a dragon, or the skills and abilities of another adventurer if I won a battle with them. I remember seeing it the first time I took a full look at my profile, and I remember it flying right over my head. But not when I checked it again.

The second time I noticed it, I did in fact pause. And now I was thinking, why did a new player with absolutely no stats, not even money, have such an overpowered starter skill?

The second weird thing I thought about was the fact that I really could not log out. Just thinking about it made me feel a wave of panic and claustrophobia. Was this supposed to be my life now? And more importantly, how did I get here? I hadn't discovered any other players in this world, something that simply meant I was in this situation all alone. My actual self in the real world had definitely done something really dumb to have ended up like this.

On to the last discovery, my avatar. I came to this bench to figure out what to do next and decided to finally customize my avatar's appearance and give my player a name, but upon opening my settings, I discovered the customization buttons and sliders were grayed out. Basically, I was stuck the way I appeared. Brown hair and green eyes, and plain looks. Maybe this was just how I was in real life and the game was made to imitate that. It was so sickening that I didn't know who I was, not even my own face and appearance.

Also, to top it all off, I couldn't change my gamer name. It was stuck on "Hero", still with no edit option in sight.

This much-needed moment of thinking had me realizing some things. One plus one always equals two. Every single one of these issues was intentionally placed by whoever made this game and got me in here, and they were all somehow related to this one uncancelable quest I now had to finish.

I dozed off into space, feeling directionless. The wind blew through my hair, cooling down my overheated mind in a way I was grateful for.

I'd already resigned myself to the fact that I would be sleeping on this bench this night because I couldn't pay for any of Woodpine's warm-looking inns when somebody stepped into my view, their shadow falling boldly over my face.

"Get up."

I opened my eyes and looked up to see who'd decided they wanted to order me around. It was a girl. She seemed very pretty but I genuinely could not tell because of the scowl she had on her face as she gazed down at me. Blonde hair fell down to her shoulders and ruby eyes stared arrogantly at me.

"I'm sorry?"

"You were very loud earlier today," She started pacing in front of me. "And I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Han."

Han?

She probably saw the question mark on my face because she rolled her eyes and launched into a description. "Tall? Red-hair? Obsessed with orderliness and rule-keeping??"

It clicked. "Oh." Han, the guy who stopped me from chopping down those "ornamental" trees.

"Okay?" I replied.

"Han is very… noisy. He shows a lot of self-importance for someone so irrelevant. It's no wonder his reply made him sound air-headed but really who can blame him?" She shook her head, then stopped and faced me. "Hero, I have something to tell you. You aren't going insane." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I've been seeing things too. The demon you talked about? I encountered it a week ago."

"Um. I didn't think I was going insane but okay." I sat up, my attention now gripped. "Still, it's a relief someone else believes me."

"I've been watching you wander all over town like your ass was on fire. Are you okay? You're not a local, are you?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine but," This was so embarrassing. "I kind of, um, I have nowhere to stay?"

"I gathered that." She sat down beside me. "I have an offer for you, little hero."

"Little?" I blanched. "You don't look any older than I do." This was a game though and appearance didn't relay much, but still. I was offended.

"You're focusing on the unimportant, my dude. Look, something's not right about that demon. My dad has been the community librarian for years. I was done with all the books in our archives by the time I was eight—including encyclopaedias—and there has been no mention of such a creature. And more research books pour in every few months."

"So basically, Han was right with what he told me." I raised an eyebrow. "And you called him air-headed for it."

Blondie scowled even deeper than she'd been doing this entire time and was quiet for a few seconds. Then she said, "You're right. I just really, really dislike him. You know how you just find that one random person really annoying?"

I nod, "Yes." I didn't know.

"Whatever. Here's my offer. I want to go into the Pine Forest in search for that thing." A visible shiver went over her. "It was so terrifying the first time, I never wanted to be near it again. But it's something I have to do."

The determined look on her face had me staring in awe. "You're not an adventurer, are you?" I took in her clothes. They were homey and… just not the clothing type I'd seen other adventurers wear.

She shook her head. "No. It doesn't matter. I want you to go with me."

I reared back at her words. "Who? Me?"

"No, your freaking shadow."

"Sorry, but you're asking the wrong person. I'm a bit… useless at the moment." I sighed and scratched my head, "I'm kind of a beginner and I have no weapons or skills, sort of. I can't even complete the quest I'm on, I'm really the worst person to ask for help."

"Hero, I am not asking for your help. I said I need you to go with me."

I was so confused as to why and I voiced my question.

"Well, obviously, you're the only other person who knows of this. You saw how it went with Han! No one else would believe me if I asked them. Besides," A blush settled over her face. "I don't want to go out there alone."

Ahhh, I thought. "So, you're scared." I grimaced. "I'm not even going to lie, that trait does not fit your personality at all."

"Would you like to lose all thirty-two of your teeth?"

A chill went down my spine at her menacing tone. "Nope. I'm good."

"Great!"

"So, what do I get out of this? I don't know you. The demon thingy might have sent you to get me back out there for all I know."

"My name is Lillian. Long for Lilly, short for red spider lily."

I stared at her, unblinking.

"Okay, fine, it's just Lillian. I was trying to be funny and ominous."

I snorted. "Your name does not prove anything but okay. So, what do I get out of this?"

"Dinner and a place to stay for the night."

I would like to say I contemplated for a little before accepting, weighed the pros and cons and felt fear holding me back a little. But nope. Lily had me following her down the road to where she lived with just a few words.

"My dad can't know about any of this so I'm going to have to sneak you into my room." She said as we walked and a shiver ran down my body at her revelation. Immediately, I stopped walking.

"No."

"No?" She stopped as well and turned back.

"I don't remember much for complicated reasons I can't explain right now, but something tells me being found in a girl's room in the middle of the night even if we'll just be sleeping is going to be an atrocious event."

"Stop being a wuss and keep walking. I intend to leave before dawn tomorrow and we need to get started on sleep for that to happen." She looked back at me from the corner of her eyes. "I'm a very heavy sleeper."