Truths Hidden in a Story

Anyone could have guessed what Lin's reaction would be once she realized that he was truly stuck in the game and not some figment of her dreams or imagination, but Kurai didn't expect her to immediately start making mental notes about what he needed to do next the moment she bounced back from her shock.

In her own words, "I can't believe that you get to experience what it's like to actually be in a game. You don't even like games! Do you know what any gamer would give to spend a day in their favorite game as an actual character?! And then there's your lack of knowledge. We have a lot to do before you're ready to face the quests!"

Naturally, it was a moot point since nothing had really been leaked of the game except a few teasers, so even Lin didn't know what to expect from the game as the advertising had mostly been focused on it being the first Virtual Reality game to be made and what followed resulted in an exhausted Lin declaring that she needed some time to gather information before they met up again.

It wasn't a moment too soon as Kurai suddenly heard Hana banging loudly on a pan and declaring that anyone that didn't wake up early enough for breakfast didn't deserve to be fed.

Predictably, that got many of the warriors moving quite quickly, and the dining hall filled up in a blink of an eye.

Rai spotted him as he entered the hall and enthusiastically dragged him to their table, but before he was allowed to sit down, he turned him to face the rest of the hall, "Everyone, this is Kurai. He will be training here at the hall from now on!"

The hall became noisy as everyone greeted him, but it wasn't long before it died down, as many of the warriors were too busy digging into the delicious breakfast to talk.

Rai showed him to a seat before sitting down beside him, and it occurred to Kurai that he'd been so caught up with being stuck in the game that he never even introduced himself to any of them.

He turned to Rai as he sat, "How did you know my name?"

The man blinked at him in confusion, with the food halfway to his mouth already, before lowering his hand and shrugging, "Lee told me. You seemed quite distracted yesterday, so I also told Ren and Hana as well."

Kurai nodded, though inwardly he was quite embarrassed, and started eating, but his gaze kept returning to Rai as he tried to figure out what to do next.

He didn't have long to think about it as Ren dragged him into morning training, and surprisingly, even Rai participated with his usual overenthusiastic self to cheer them on, "Come on! You can do it! Just ten more miles, and you're done with the warm-up."

Naturally, the newer warriors became more determined once they heard the first part, but quite a few stumbled over their feet as he finished his sentence.

Even Kurai felt like he was dying by the time they finally finished morning training, but the only thing that stopped him from giving up was the fact that his strength and endurance were noticeably leveling up.

After the training, Ren called him aside, "Thanks. It has been quite a while since I've seen Rai so enthusiastic about training."

Kurai tilted his head to the side in confusion, "But I didn't do anything. He did that on his own."

Ren nodded, "That may be, but it is because he wanted to train with you that he-"

His words were cut off as they heard someone call out, and both of them turned to find one of the warriors running toward them in a panic.

The man placed his hands on his knees to try and catch his breath, but it was only a few seconds before he looked up at Ren with a worried expression, "It's Rai! He collapsed as we were practicing our sword techniques! He's at the house-"

Ren immediately started running, and Kurai ran after him.

They didn't stop until they entered to room to find Hana fussing over an extremely irritated Rai, who suddenly snapped, "I said I'm fine! My body isn't used to training like that anymore. That is all. Now back off!"

Rai moved to stand, and Kurai expected him to storm out of the room, but instead, his legs gave out from under him, and both Ren and Kurai grabbed an arm to steady him.

They helped Rai onto the bed, and this time he didn't fight against it. Instead, he hung his head while staring at his hands. Hana left to get him something to eat and drink, though Kurai also suspected that she was trying not to cry in front of Rai.

A sigh from Rai drew Kurai's attention back to him as the other clenched his fists, once more drawing Kurai's attention to the wounds he'd received from the roses the previous day. Something about the wounds bothered him, he realized.

He took note of the way that the skin was inflamed around the edges, and although that would usually be normal with certain wounds, the blistered rash that appeared around it was not.

Kurai realized that Rai's hands were also swollen, and he tried to remember what it all meant when Rai spoke softly, "Am I also simply going to die like Mom? Am I also just going to get weaker and weaker until I can barely walk and then just collapse without waking up again?"

Ren moved to speak, but Rai wasn't done, "Who's going to tend Mom's garden when I'm gone? Who's going to lay roses at her shrine and keep it clean?" It was clear that Rai was running a fever as his mumblings became frantic even as he still stared at his hands.

Kurai's eyes widened as an idea struck him, and he quickly turned to Ren, "Does Rai have some kind of allergy?"

Ren frowned and shook his head, "None that I know of. We've been here for years, and nothing like this happened until a while after our mom died."

Kurai cursed under his breath and moved to sit down to think until he spotted a sword leaning against Rai's bed, "Not even metal?"

Ren laughed bitterly, "If we were allergic to metal, we wouldn't have opened the training grounds, and all of us would've been in the same state-"

He cut himself off as his eyes widened, and he suddenly ran from the room. Kurai heard stuff being tossed around in a hurry before Ren ran down the hall and almost skidded past the doorway in his haste as he caught himself on the doorframe.

In his hands, he held a book, and he placed it down on the table before frantically paging through it, "It's one of the stories our grandmother used to tell us when we asked her why the other tribes are so different from us."

Ren turned the book and showed it to Kurai, who immediately recognized it as the longer version of what he'd learned from the book of races, although Ren's book also included their weaknesses, namely iron.

Kuran looked up at Ren, "Is there any iron equipment on the training grounds? Ones that both your mother and Rai could have been exposed to?"

Ren shook his head in thought, "We regularly have someone that checks the equipment. Steel is stronger than iron, so we always buy steel equipment rather than iron. Even the buildings are held together with steel rather than iron materials."

Kurai glanced back at Rai's hands, "Did your mother always have that garden, and why is Rai only taking care of half of it?"

Ren seemed to think for a moment, "The garden tools are also not iron if that is what you think, but no, she didn't always have the garden. She started making it for herself when Rai became old enough to train at 6. She didn't really like the emptiness of the house, so she always said she needed something to keep her busy."

Ren grimaced as if remembering a sad thought, "The reason Rai only tends to one side of the garden is because the other half refuses to grow."

Kurai nodded and headed toward the door before he turned to Ren, "Would Hana be able to watch him for a bit? And do you know where I would be able to find a piece of lodestone?"

Ren gave a determined nod, "I will ask her," then he glanced worriedly at Rai, "As for the lodestone, I can ask one of the other warriors to get a piece, but what do you need it for? The iron in it could make Rai even worse if you bring it close to him."

Kurai shook his head, "I wasn't going to bring it close to any of you, but I think I may know what happened."

Ren quickly left the room to call Hana and to ask one of the non-fae warriors to fetch a lodestone, and Kurai left the building and headed towards the garden.

He carefully glanced over the roses but couldn't find anything that could resemble an old iron structure, and he wondered whether he would have to dig up some of the rose bushes to find something.

He didn't really want to, given what the garden meant for Rai, but he would if he needed to. Just then, one of the warriors that he'd trained with earlier came running up with a lodestone, and Kurai suddenly wondered whether it would work the same as in real life.

'Wouldn't know unless I try, right?'

He carefully tied the stone to a string he took from one of the rosebushes and kept it inches off the ground as he walked with it. He could see Ren standing with a few of the warriors a few feet away but didn't allow it to distract him as he tried to use the lodestone to find the iron.

It took quite a while as he walked through the garden, but nothing attracted the stone enough for it to move, and Kurai bent down to pick it up in frustration, only to be stopped short as he noticed the considerable amount of small wood-like flakes and bits of sand that were clinging to the stone's bottom half.

He held his breath and brushed a few flakes onto his hand before holding the stone over it and watching as the flakes and sand immediately jumped back to the stone.

He glanced back and frowned at Ren and the few warriors that had moved closer when they noticed that he'd found something, "This is worse than I expected."

The sound of a 'ding' followed his words.