Private - Fearless, Therefore Powerful

“Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be his world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.”
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein

First post continued from here.

Magdalyn sucked in a breath, stumbling backward as she attempted to put as much distance between herself and the corpse as possible. And as the hot, repugnant air hit her lungs, she gagged aloud. She wanted to curse, to spit, to cry, but getting out of the small cabin and back into the open wilderness was her first priority. When she did so, Mags bent at the waist, her hands on her knees, her blue hair falling in a curtain around her face.

You've seen dead bodies in the game before, she tried to rationalize. But none had ever been quite so dead. And for so long. And this was the first that had been baking inside a confined space.

 

The last thing Rhalgr expected to interrupt his nap was an ear-piecing scream. He'd been resting at the base of a large oak tree in a clearing with the most flowers he'd ever seen in his life. Willing to let his eyes close for a moment and allow the boundless amount of energy in his body settle, his short nap took a turn for the worst. Rhalgr sat up abruptly with his heart hammering in his chest and eyes scanning the clearing for any sign of life. A bunny's ears were perked, the creature sitting on its hindlegs, looking around just as he was.

The two met eyes before the small creature quickly rushed into the underbrush leaving him alone and concerned. He wasn't equipped with anything aside from a rusted sword and beginner's armor, the fact that he'd traveled so far from town was a dangerous one in itself. But curiosity took hold where fear had been and Rhalgr stood only to follow the noise rather than run away from it. His footsteps led him to a log cabin nestled at the base of the looming mountain.

Sheilding his eyes with his hand, he let out a low whistle in awe of the grand sight in front of him. However that awe soon turned into concern as a woman burst through the open doorway of the cabin. She fell to her knees a few feet in front of him and seemed to be in shock.

"Miss?" He called out, cautiously taking a few steps forward. "Hey, are you alright?"​

 

The only sound in her head was the thundering of her own heart, a gallop not unlike hooves thudding across hard-packed earth. Then, suddenly, there was another voice. It startled her, or at least, more than an already startled woman could be. Magdalyn felt herself trembling, but she clenched her hands into tight fists in her lap. The motion was somehow empowering, reminding her to collect herself. It was just a game, after all. And the clenching of her muscles was a physical sensation that helped to ground her.

“Yeah,” the woman replied, her voice more level than she had anticipated. Slowly, carefully, she found her feet again. Then she looked to the man standing before her. It could be difficult to tell, but based on his familiar starter gear, Magdalyn ventured a guess that he was another player. Where had he come from? The landscape was quite open, with rolling hills that smacked into the mountains like waves on rocks. She should have seen him walking behind her - had she been so wrapped up in her own thoughts? The mere notion of it was a bit frightening. What if an enemy had jumped her while she was distracted? Well, there was no worrying about that now, she supposed.

“Yeah,” she said again, “I’m alright. There’s… there’s a body in there. I don’t think it’s another player.” Her jaw worked as she thought over the situation she found herself in. Now removed from the initial fear and confusion, Mags had time to think through things a bit more logically. “I wonder if it might be a plot device of some sort, maybe for a quest?” She inhaled deeply through her nose, before adding, “It might be a good idea to go back in and check it out.”