Open - Reflections of Days Past

It was a relatively normal day as Sean looked out into a clearing that was all too familiar to him. Oh, the memories, he thought to himself. He remembered when he first met his first, and likely only, friend in this world while being attacked by wolves. He remembered when his friend brought him to this exact clearing to train together. He remembered when he set his own sword on fire to impress her, leaving his own hair scorching. He remembered felling a bear together. Sitting with his back to one of the trees, he let out a small sigh.

One day, Solaria... I will become stronger. I will gain the power to protect those I care about... The power to protect you.

As he looked around for something, anything, to get his mind off the friend he hasn't been in contact with, Sean walked out into the middle of the clearing and just laid down.

Why can't I get you out of my head, Solaria?

As he laid there, Sean noticed several growling sounds around him. Oh, not again! He immediately bolted upright and started looking around. A pack of wolves, just like his first encounter. I can't do this by myself, but I'm surrounded... Panicking, he pulled up the text chat and began typing.

Sean Poteitoku

Somebody, send help! I got surrounded by wolves, and if nobody helps me, I'm done for!

As Sean hit send and promptly closed the text chat, he turned to face the nearest wolf. "Get away!" He yelled, fear evident in his voice, as he held up his left hand at a wolf. Supporting it with his right hand, he yelled "Firebolt!" and sent a bolt of fire at the wolf, hitting it in the head and knocking it back a bit, yet not doing much to take it down. What have I gotten myself into?

 

When Alejandra first opened the eyes, she found herself surrounded by a deep green groove. It was a very clear blue sky with a few cotton whites tearing at the north. The air felt breezy on her cheeks. Her fingers opened and closed strong enough to feel the clawing nails. The taste of wet dirt invaded her teeth and tongue. Just below, she met the stare of her wide, breastless chest.

A zap of embarassment ran her throughout the veins. She squinted around. Touching her cheeks, her face also felt longer than usual. Big hands frantically up to the scalp, the pointy ears, the hanging bow, the rock-muscled arms and legs. Checking once again down below the toned abdomen, she pulled the hem of her pants and took a sneaky timid peek, which dawned her a cocky proud smirk.

“Holy cow. I’m a dude!” He balled fists up and started hopping around. “Dude dude dude, duuude!" And then checked their looks on a nearby spring. "Jesus Christ, just look at this. I'm so annoyingly hot I'd marry myself."

Finished the initial dance, a young male call twitched his pointy ears. It took him a moment to realise it wasn’t his train of thought. He ran to the voice’s direction, arriving by the side of the cliff. A vast clearing expanded a few yards below. Above it, a screen flashed on the blue sky, under which a redhead warrior-looking guy surrounded by a pack of wolves.

“The eff! Those are like double my height. How I’m supposed to go without the combat tutorial?!”

As Gwainedhel stumbled backward, he felt a hard touch by his wrist and stopped to pat his own back. Duh, of course. There was his starter bow, his head between the wood and the shooting string. He had been so embedded into his new body he hadn’t noticed this and the carcaj at the height of his legs. A shame he had never shot an arrow in his entire life. But then, even so, those fletchier backfeathers felt, so, magnetic…

So what he did, he stepped close to the edge and filled his lungs with clean air.

“AHOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL!"

His heels then exploded out of dirt and flew to the trees surrounding the clearing. The field was a somewhat circular area so it didn't come as hard to get ahold with the enviroment. Branch by branch Gwainedhel leaped like an unknowing monkey until reaching a big oak that stood behind the red warrior. He pulled his bow but the arrow hit the in-between ground.

"Hey! Y'got a nice fur-bag feast here. Care I join the fun?”

 

As Sean panicked, he heard a call. "Hey! Y'got a nice fur-bag feast here. Care I join the fun?” Without thinking, Sean yelled. "JUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT THESE THINGS, I DON'T CARE WHAT!" As if on cue, a wolf attacked him from behind, promptly getting swatted out of the air. "AAAAAAAGH!!!" He yelled, sweating profusely.

 

Wow, that was a long flight, even for a virtual game.

But damn! Neither the howl nor the arrow did give an effect? Gwainedhel didn't understand, he expected virtual mobs to be at least a tad smarter than their non-virtual MMO counterparts. Why did the wolves keep triggering the poor ginger guy? It worked in Tarzan!

This time, as Gwainedhel pulled another arrow, his own pulse was throbbing. Now when did he even agree to do this? How in the earth did he even manage to jump there without knowing how to parkour? This was madness. In the other world she would have never dreamt to climb not even a short lemon tree.

He didn't think, and at the next moment, he shot the point in the eye.

"Wohooo!"

This second shot he did like it so much, he fired another arrow, and a third, and a four. Two of the hit wolves recoiled in pain as the other three growled at Gwainedhel and started stalking him from the ground. He kept leaping away - his tactic was to lure them out of his companion, have him out of danger, out of peril. As long as he didn't think, the arrow spamming would go on.

"Say, how did you get into this?!" Gasp. Phew! Phew! Phew phew! "You look rad. I thought this was newbie zone!" Phew phew! Phew phew! "Are you a newb too or how?"

 

As Sean noticed an opening, he dashed through it and climbed up onto a tree. "Yeah, it's a newbie zone. I'm not particularly a noob, but due to circumstances, living things smaller than me make me panic." He shot some fire down onto the wolves, hitting two more. "It's a long story involving goblins. So, are you new, or...?"

 

"Yeah, you could say so." He admitted. "Seriously I just spawned like three minutes ago. I've got no idea what in the earth I'm doing. You know the ball, got this link from a friend and-..."

Phew phew. Phew phew. Bullseye! One of the scorching wolves down. Phew phew. Phew phew. The carcaj was deploying down to its half. His arms started to go numb.

"Jesus, this sure is getting tiring. If you ain't a noob, don't you have a more powerful spell to bake these guys?"

 

"I can try... Okay, let's do it!" Sean suddenly leaped off the tree. "Flame Descent!" He surrounded himself in flames and plummeted to the ground headfirst, creating a decently-sized explosion of fire and knocking out the rest of the wolves. When the fire settled, Sean was stuck in the ground, only his lower body visible.

 

When he saw the red warrior jumping down, Gwainedhel reached for a higher branch and embraced it as he witnessed the performance. The guy he had been talking to just two seconds ago was now a plungering bomb that disappeared in a bombastic smokescreen. The heavy charring made the Yladian cry and choke madly. He fought for his leg to propulse him on the higher branch, and he sat on there. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to discern figures among the smoke.

Not long, his nose sensed a scent similar to a garden-fresh barbacue. As the smoke was fading, the wolverines began to appear one by one, charred on the ground. Surrounded by what seemed an ash-grey semicircle that nearly occupied the whole clearing, there was his burning flame. Stuck upside-down.

Tears still forming in his eyes, Gwainedhel couldn't refrain the cackle. "Bwahaha! Are you alright, man?" What a winner-loser. "That was a- that was friggin' fabulous! You looked like behold-to-your-Lord-Phoenix!" He leaped down to ground-level too and ran to his pal. "Hang in there, lemme-..." And before he finished the sentence, he braced the other's legs and tried to pull him out, like a heap of potatoes.

 

As Sean was pulled out of the hole, he started to laugh. "Bahaha! That was awesome!" He shook his head. "My head slightly hurts, but other than that I'm fine. Maybe I should think of a cooler name for it." He looked around. "I was just reminiscing on my previous adventures. It's funny how you go back to previous places, isn't it?" He sat against a nearby tree and started to doze off.

 

Hmph, he was lighter than Gwain thought. It could be because of his elven strenght, it could also be the redhead's sword. In the end though he came out quite swiftly. The ginger appeared quite jolly, despite having fallen upon a murdering feast of blood-thirsty wolverines.

"Eh, I guess. I'm more of getting memories at random." said Gwainedhel, checking the string marks on brand new archer fingers. "But it doesn't happen often that a newb's got to help a Mister Phoenix-Lord. And I'm nearly out of ammo. So why don't you fill me in while we have this pleasant walk to the next NPC town, uh...?

When Gwainedhel turned to his username, both his pupils dilated. His smile froze in place.

"Sean... Poteitoku?"

What was this guy? Ten?

 

At the mention of his name, Sean scratched the back of his head. "My nickname is Poteitoku. It's dumb, I know. And I'm nowhere near a Phoenix-Lord. I'm just a simple adventurer trying to make a living." He stood up from where he sat. "Yeah, let's get to the nearest town. It should be this way!" He pointed into the trees and began walking. "So wanna hear about why I was scared?" This feels a lot like my first time here. I met somebody new and I got attacked by wolves!

 

"Sure thing. If you fancy."

And so Gwain and who we will merely call Sean began their wondrous way through the leafy forest path. Sunshine fell in morning beams through the branches, birds chirped here and there. An strange sense of pride filled Gwain, as he didn't think he'd make an acquaitance this easily. And in what? In like, ten minutes after logging in?

He looked up to the lushing greenery, and also glimpsed at Sean's username once more. He somehow liked the humility with which Sean acknowledged its dumbness. Perhaps his mental age would make it to fifteen after all.

 

Sean's face began to darken. "Very well." As he strolled along, he looked around. "So I was just starting out and looking to make some quick cash, and noticed a sign: Rugome Fort had been captured by goblins. Interested in driving them out, I signed up and was put into a party. Long story short, the battle went well until the boss came out, and I got impaled." His eyes were visibly watery, yet he showed no signs of actually crying. "I vowed to one day get stronger so I can protect people from experiencing what happened to me." He looked to the sky. "So here I am." He looked back down and saw some light. "Oh hey, it's the town! Let's go!" He motioned to the light and began running, just to get slammed from the side and pinned down out of sight by a bear. A few seconds passed and the bear was launched back, landing by a tree in a crumpled, flaming heap. Sean reappeared, a huge scratch on his face. "I'm fine, let's go."

 

But then a shadow darkened Sean's face. Just for that look, the story about to start got the feel of an advanced tragedy. The elf and the girl behind him listened to Sean's first words with a serious intent, no chill left on the former's sharp features. Soon enough, while the end of the story allowed him to put up a painful grimace on his face, a deeper part from his subconscious couldn't help but...

"Wait a minute! Is he getting so drama and edgy because he simply got dunked on? Oh come on!"

Gwain had already smelled Sean fancied playing to be the chilvalric humble knight, but this was a bit too much. He then tried to remember which was the last time he was traumatised by a boss-kill, but he couldn't track further than when he got these nasty nightmares during Silent Hill 2. While he tried to take in consideration the impact of experiencing a death in first person, that still didn't fill the bill either. When you can parkour and throw arrows non-stop by just leaving your mind in blank, why would he worry if a greenskin thrusts a lance throughout his stomach? At most he imagined it'd feel like having a staggering stomachache, or something like that. For someone who hadn't heard the most gruesome rumours about Terrasphere, such level of sympathy was simply non-existant.

When the bear savaged Sean and was savaged back by his acquaitance, he simply stood in place and said:

"Hey, dude. Don't overdo these or you'd need to get you a cute pinky healer."

And then, after killing a few rabbits and the first taste of the wilderness, they found themselves on the first village: Honeyhome. The typical starter town where everyone but yourself is happy. The warm grain scent from the nearby bakery reminded Gwain's vowels of the upcoming need to take a bite. Hiking with Sean by the central square, Gwain was getting a little tired of all the handbook-kind greetings.

"Whew! At least that took shorter than in real life." He commented nonchalantly. "So what now? You want to local priest to heal that nasty cut, sell tthe drops and get ammo, or you give me your personal guide tour as my truly newbie helper?"

 

As Sean arrived in Honeyhome with his new companion, something dawned on him. "Well, the impalement was more than just a spear stabbing through my body. It was actually multiple sprouting from the ground into me." He stopped and thought. "Let's start with a small tour. First, the inn." Sean walked to a building and led his companion in. "As you could guess, it's a place for adventurers to rest."