In preparation for the game, there was a lot of reading done, lots of contemplations were made and a lot of thought went into creating ‘Ilusa’.

And yet nothing truly prepared her for experiencing the full dive and finding herself in an empty grey room with a random woman sitting on a chair before her. Of course that mentally she knew this was to be her avatar, but it still felt odd. Still, she knew what she wanted and thus she started the editing process. She wanted the same height that she in real life so first, she copied herself onto the avatar and then started adjustment process. Change of race, erasure of the scars, build trimmed down; after all she knew that the balance will be already a struggle to get used with the tail, so taking off a cup-size and softening the muscles would not change it.

The hair was shortened a lot and straightened a little, but still slight wavy texture was left. Then the colour was changed into matte white then adjusted a little until it was no longer matte white, but also not grey nor silver. Of course ears were of the same colour. Then the ears were lengthened, flattened rotated and she looked the avatar around to make sure they were what she imagined (the tail was only slightly lengthened and the fur on it kept bit longer giving it a slightly bushy look).

Face took more time, it was after all made into younger, sweeter version; a preface was used to sped up the process. Slight modification to cheeks, to lips, to eyes, to eyelashes, to nose... Added on a tattoo, changed skin colour and eye colour and she was ready. Last was the voice; her own modified into more younger sounding and it was done.

….The next time she opened her eyes, the world changed. It was hard to imagine it was all virtual reality, everything felt real. There was air against her skin, feel of the clothes against it, her ear and tail twitched and she stood still to get used to the new feeling of balance. Everything felt real. The rustle of leaves, the scent of the nature; so sharp and fresh that a small sigh left her. For moment she stopped to check how to use her new appendages; the ears and the tail. The ears were easier while the tail felt like and extension of her spine, one that was much more easy to move.

“..Okay.” She murmured and a sweet but gentle voice entered her ears. They twitched at the oddness of hearing this as her voice. Closing and opening her palm she saw her control panel; and looked at each of those to get used to where each was and then manoeuvred to check her masteries… They were of course at level zero right now but that was okay, she had prepared an excuse for ‘Ilusa’ to start from zero; all steaming from her personality.

That done she instead put her index and middle finger to her temple and looked around, investigating the part of the forest she found herself in. It was exciting and while she could see a light in the distance, she pondered if perhaps some of the plants here could not be gathered to later try to do something with Alchemy.

 

Astor completely stopped his huffing and panting as a crazy blond woman showed up out of nowhere and ran next to him as though they were in a marathon together. Who’s this bitch? Astor thought to himself as he scanned her from head to feet. And then… she lost him the moment she started talking about her wife. Now Astor is a detective, sure, but he’s not about to become Sherlock Holmes and use the power of deduction to pinpoint where this woman’s “wife” might have end up. Although, if he had to take a gander (while they were being chased down by angry wolves, I might add), he figured they had been separated by the game sending them to random locations, evident by his ending up in a wolf’s den. Noticing her unbothered and oblivious expression, Astor thought to himself that this woman would make the perfect wolf bait. So what if it was unlawful? He wasn’t about to become some mongrels’ dinner because some crazy bitch got in his way.

“Oi,” he called out to the woman. “you won’t be able to find your wife at this rate. We need to split up, to split the pack of wolves. Find me at the pillar later.” Astor’s voice was unsteady as he expertly dodged the low-hanging branches and avoided obstacles in his path while formulating words to speak to the blonde. “On the count of 3, I’m going to head in this direction, you should take the other path. Got it?”

Without waiting for her consent, he started counting, which ended with him splitting off immediately on 3. He had a secret plan, however, as he had accidently, grabbed a tiny pup with him earlier, which has been hiding in his peasant tunic this entire time. Grabbing the tiny beast by the neck, he threw it toward Liliana’s direction before slinking away into the down trodden path leading away from the pillar of light. He couldn’t exactly take it easy, however, as one of the wolf noticed him making a quick escape and decided to follow him.

“Goddammit!” Astor shouted at the top of his lungs as he began to feel fatigue in this legs. Opening up the palm menu, he noticed that his energy level was getting rather low. Knowing that he won’t last for much longer, Astor switched direction mid-sprint, to throw off the wolf; however, he wasn’t as agile or athletic as he was in real life, thus resulted in him tripping over himself and sliding face-first into whatever plant @Ilusa Nakhalee was looking at the time. “Ooof…” the painful skidding elicit pained groan from the grown man as he had a taste of dirt in game, which tasted every bit as bad as dirt in real life.

Also @Lilianna Talbot

 

It seemed that her ability, the ‘Mastery’ was too low to really know what was what. The plants and trees were simply question marks. Still, some seemed useful so she crouched and took it. The grass felt smooth against her skin, the moment she pulled it out, scent of earth tickled her nose. The grass in her hand was then dragged in into the inventory panel. Again and again she did so, with anything that had the question marks, did not look poisonous and seemed like something to be used in alchemy.

After few moments in her inventory there were three types of grass, one type of mushroom, two types of moss and one type of some rock. All were unknown and their quantity was higher than one (sans one type of moss). She knelt before a mushroom that seemed like a good alchemical ingredient when a rustle of leaves and heavy footsteps reached her ears; making them twitch, which felt odd.

Before she could do more than realise what those sounds meant, a figure leapt from the foliage! …Or rather stumbled out. Because the figure, male, tall, athletic, human, with grab very similar to her own and some bloodstains on his very low back, faceplanted into the mushrooms she was about to pick up.

For a moment she wondered which setting the other used; if he was even a player that is. Personally she chose the realistic option, fearing that lack of sharp enough pain would make her too worried. But that was but a moment because, in fact, this presented her a perfect opportunity!

Her red eyes shone with anticipation.

It was as if heavens, or karma, smiled down on her and gave her the most anticipated first patient. It was not like she had large number of spells, in fact currently she had only one that she really wanted to use. Swiping her hand to side a panel appeared before her eyes and she quickly tapped the correct icon and then her lips were moving on her own, words were formed on her own.

It was a little freaky for her who counted on her body to keep her alive, for it to move and act on its own. It was decided, come high or low, she would learn how to do it on her own and not use the system to do it for her. She could only wait as the system used her avatar to finish the incantation and then, the first spell was cast!

A soft glow of light, more akin to soft moonlight than sharp sunlight flowed from her fingers onto the person before her. She felt something leaving her and the energy bar, or rather, the mana bar in her case, got smaller as the cost for the spell was taken away from it. It was a pity she could not see his health-bar and see how it was filled higher and higher. She could only guess how it worked or not. “Are you okay?”

@Astor Balthas

 

A comforting warm radiance surrounds his body as Astor struggled to retrieve his handsome face from the dirt. He couldn’t help but notice the contoured indentation in the soft patch of dirt where his face sat snuggly once. He would let out a groan as he used the adjacent tree to straighten his weary body. Noticing the attractive girl in front of him, Astor tried to salvage the situation he’s gotten himself into, with a mouth full of dirt and strange mushroom smashed against his face. “Heh,” he let out a scoff as he leaned against the large tree, assuming a nonchalant posture as he gave her a cool “hey, thanks.” Brushing off all signs of struggles that he had experienced up until now. He was prideful.

“So are you around here?” he asked.

Ghrrrrrr…. A throaty growl could be heard as the two were beginning to engage in a dialog. It’s too late for him, Astor’s gone too far to appear cool and there was no way for him to backtrack. He needed to stick to the character he had shoehorned himself into and go all the way.

Raising his hand, Astor pointed directly at the white wolf, which if they had study more carefully, they would be able to see all kinds of scars and patches of missing fur decorating its muscularly lithe body. Although the wolf might not have been the pack’s alpha, it was seasoned at the very least and would have no problem tearing both of them to shreds. Astor didn’t know what the girl had set for her pain tolerance, but he chose the more realistic option so he would rather end the encounter as quickly as possible.

“Mongrel, you dare attack me and my companion? Learn your place.” Astor asked the wolf who narrowed its eyes and flashed its sharp teeth. There were sparks between them, Astor was trying to out-glare the dog.

During the tense standoff between man and beast, Astor secretly opened his palm menu behind his back. Thanks to his photographic memory, he recalled which position the spell shortcut was located from earlier and tapped it, opening up the window of spells in front of him. Tapping on literally the first spell he saw, his character began to recite the short spell and quickly enough he could feel a burning sensation gathering within his palm. In the span of a few seconds, he aimed his hand at the wolf as he felt fireball beginning to manifest. It was the most powerful feeling he’s ever experience, and from his intuition alone, he could see that they are going to get to enjoy some wolf meat that night.

However, all that launched from the center of his palm was a tiny speck of fire that flaccidly flopped onto a branch in front of the wolf. Hey, at least the branch caught on fire at least.

Turning around to look at Ilusa, Astor’s eyes as closed as his mouth was stretched into a forced, closed-lips smile. He was breaking into cold sweat. Immediately, he started sprinting at her at full speed, holding no stop. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, run!!!”

@Ilusa Nakhalee

 

A tail swayed as red eyes shone with excitement at the spell working as intended. Seeing it, feeling it was all she hoped for. Still not enough; still weak and clumsy, but the potential. Oh the potential was already making her feel eager and want to smile like a cat that ate the canary and was eyeing the cream. Of course she pushed it back, into normal smile, watching how the man next acted.

“Hehe.” A small giggle escaped her at his posturing, all while he had dirt and mushrooms on his face. Before she could point out that he had something on his face, the man brushed it off. With no mushrooms, dirt and bit of moss clinging to his face he did look quite fetching.

The hair was in colour like liquid gold. Eyes of red darker than hers were sharp and framed by long but not too long eyelashes. His features were of noble bearing, reminding her of pictures of aristocrats. Now that he was standing, instead of face-planted, there was air of dignity and poise, even the dreary clothes failed to hide how his body was his well sculptured. The few sun rays that fell onto him gave him an other-worldly look. The voice she heard was full of pride. The game was truly amazing, allowing for creation of the ideals. Her own avatar after all was, objectively speaking, very attractive.

“Hm? I guess you can-” But before she finished replying to the question, there was a growl and the hair on her tail and ears puffed up in purely instinctual reply to a perceived danger. Her fangs (little longer than human, both in lower and upper row) flashed and she, well for lack of better term-

“Hisss!”

Hissed at the monster that appeared. She did not glare at the other person (probably player) who probably was the one who led the creature there. Standing up, tail rigid and ears flat against her hair and skull she glared at the monster too, watching how its health bar appeared. The name meant nothing but the colour did. The green did not fill her with confidence and the monster looked very realistic; as expected of the game like that; yet it needed to be repeated. Expecting something and meeting it face to face were two different things after all.

Her attention while largely on the threat, also moved to the human who spoke. Now, his words were probably bluff, but oftentimes such tactics helped to win or avoid a fight at all. Nimbly, if not very quickly, she inched closer to the man and bit behind him; then even more behind him and some more behind him. After all she would not be the one dealing any damage to enemies. She had decided that long before. Now, healing during fight, that she could do… Though, perhaps after some more experience. This also allowed her to avoid bringing more attention to herself, the monster attention focusing on the human.

That position allowed her to see from corner of eye a familiar movement of his hand, opening and closing of fist which made her believe he was a fellow player not a non-playable character. Her left ear flickered at the feel of the ‘mana’ at the gathering of the energy before his fingertips, alien incantation and one she would not make use of (after all, it was a different magic branch from her own).

The monster was wary of the energy, the glare still held its attention and it seemed the man had it all in hand.. Until the spell was shot off that is. For one moment she wondered if it was glitch, or if she saw wrong, but no, the result, a flaming branch did not change.

Her eyes widened and the other pair of red eyes turned to face her, then closed lips stretched in a smile that looked bit forced. And then he started to run, at her. “Meow!” A rather cat-like sound escaped her, her ears stood straight, but she only turned herself and started to run, grabbing onto his hand when he passed her (he had a longer start, two steps did make a difference). “Why it didn’t work?!” She yelled, feeling the action of run being odd. There was none of the slightly-uncomfortable feeling of tightness of skin around the scars she got used to, but at the same time it felt like she was running way slower than she was used to. Similar to how she felt soon after her hospital stay ended.

“To the light! Let’s run to the light.” The felis tugged at his hand, pulling him toward the direction of the light. That was her idea, that she shared with him. Because that seemed like a place everyone would go and that would also mean the non-playable guards who would surely be better equipped to deal with such strong monster than two starting magic users. The mad run started. Hopefully the mana/stamina bar would last.

@Astor Balthas

 

Although his sprint started out strong, he could feel his legs getting slower as a feeling of heaviness came over them and weighted him down. He knew that that was the sign of his energy approaching a dangerously low level. For someone as physically robust in real life as Dieter, the feeling of being tired was an eerie and foreign feeling; never before in his life had he experienced such a disconnect between his mind and body. It was frustrating to not be able to move his body precisely how he wanted. Sweat dripped down his sharp and contoured face as he and the stranger ran for their lives, hand in hand.

When they ran past a series of thick trees, Astor noticed a river-like bog full of rancid black liquid cutting them off from what appeared to be normal grassland continuing on the other side. The sudden appearance of this bisection forced him to stop. “Wait, let’s take a break real quick,” Astor beckoned Ilusa with a gesture as he hunched over, hands on his knees, as heavy breaths alluded to his weariness.

As he went through the sequence of logic in his head, he came to the realization that there was no way they could outrun the beast. Knowing how realistic the game was, the wolf is likely to be faster and have much more endurance than them. He knew that if they did not somehow stop it soon, it was going to wear them out before tearing them to pieces. It was during this desperate window of time that Astor took notes of the blackened bog.

Bending down, he took a handful of the liquid and rubbed it around in his hand. As he had expected, the substance was thick and viscous albeit oily, given that it made his digits all slippery. Bringing his hand up to his nose, he took a whiff of the unknown substance. The stink was so powerful that it nearly made him empty the content of his stomach.

Recovering from the stench, he pondered for a few seconds as the sound of carmine feet pattering against the soft dirt could be picked up from the distance by beast ears like Ilusa’s, but not his. For Astor, however, the silence was highly unnerving and incredibly distracting as he attempted to get him and his new companion out of this mess.

“Hey… I have an idea,” Astor said as pieces of the puzzle began falling into the proper places in his head. “I want you to cross the bog and wait for me on the other side.” He stopped and beckoned Ilusa for some kind of indicator that she was still following him. “I am going to use myself as bait and try to keep the wolf in the bog. I think I can set it on fire even with my really bad fire spell. This substance seems really flammable. When the wolf is on me, just heal me as much as you can. If this is anything like the real world then it should work, and if it doesn’t… tell the world that the mongrel lives because of my charitable grace,” Astor spoke his last words as the familiar snarl quickly closed the distance. There was no time, the time was right there and right then.

@Ilusa Nakhalee

 

Running with tail was proving a little harder than she expected; mainly because her mind kept coming back to it. Surprisingly, or not, she did not have any balance problems; but she was so painfully aware of this additional appendage that changed how her balance worked that it made running feel awkward now that she was doing it for longer time.

But, the virtual reality was truly amazing; she could feel the air on her face, the warmth of the others hand, the firmness of the ground, the brush of the flora, the scents… The sounds of the enemy following them. Her heart quickened its beat, adrenaline fuelled her body and her free hand itched for a weapon it was so used to but did not have.

The truth was that part of her missed it. The realisation that she might get a little of it back in this virtual, and thus safe, reality was oddly uplifting. It added another bonus to this experience.

But it was also limiting, this body was a shell that did not move like her body did. Again she was reminded of the weakness she felt after leaving the hospital and the realisation that she would have to deal with it due to her chosen professions was a little irking. Not enough to make her change the settings and ideas and enough to pull her from forgetting that this was a virtual world.

Her breath was already coming out in huffs, the false heart thundered as if she had ran a marathon not the short distance. The trees they ran past were thick, looked old and so similar yet different from the reality; it was truly fascinating and she imagined she could marvel at them for many minutes were they not running for their lives right now. As a very unpleasant scent tickled her nose, she was sharply stopped by the other person, by the human.

He stopped and with their joint hands, it pulled her to stop too. Huffing, tail swaying in agitation she glanced back at him as he spoke and released his hands. She too took this as chance to take a breather, but unlike him, she did not put her hands on her knees. Scooting over to him, her eyes were watching the foliage worriedly and her ears kept twitching at the merest sound; tail swaying openly showing her agitation.

From corner of eye she saw him scooping down and taking the disgustingly smelling substance. Her fur rose up and puffed on its own accord at his next actions; that is raising his dirty now hand to his nose. “That isn’t-” She paused, not sure how to say that it wasn’t smart thing when even from here she could smell the foul stench. Right, she had to be diplomatic, just like she was diplomatic as the eye-candy on the arm in the past.

But it seemed that she was too late. He took a whiff and the reaction was… Even more extreme than she expected. The other person, possibly player, had a face that made her believe he was thinking; which was good as her ears just picked up the familiar pitter-patter of the paws of the monster.

“Yes? Hurry, it's nearing.” At the mention of an idea, she turned to face him. There was something familiar about his tone, an aura of man used to making plans and having people follow them. Was it part of the character or him? A thought that she quickly chased away from her mind as irrelevant.

“…” For moment her brows furrowed. There was something deeply dissatisfying at the thought of someone using themselves as bait; but this was not the real world, there was no danger aside some feeling of pain. And in the end, this was adventure, a new different world. His next words only made her earlier guess a certainty. He was another player. “Like real world…” She murmured distractedly, tail brushing against him.

“I-” Before she could say anything more the snarl announced that the monster was almost upon them. “Alright.” The decision was quick. “I’m Ilusa, you?” A quick whisper and after hearing the reply, she dashed off to cross the bog. “Eugh.” A disgusted sound escaped her as the scent became stronger. Yet, she kept glancing back. Worried and opening the menu to keep the icon easily accessible. After all; the fire could burn the man too. And she could undo it.

Perhaps it was foolish, but in the end, she did not run till the very end… But after while turned back to look at his chances… After she found a relatively safe looking tree that is. Climbing it up was bit annoying, but it would keep her safe from the heat of the bog should the idea end up working.

@Astor Balthas

 

Considering that it was literally his first day in the game, Astor couldn’t quite separate his in-game emotions from that of the real life’s. There was a massive dissonance between him as a competitive player and him as a public servant who fights to protect people. But standing at the crossroad of leaving the girl behind to be eaten by the wolf, or opting for an option where one of them might get away, the latter was proving far more desirable. Taking a deep breath, Astor mentally prepared himself for the pain ahead. At this point in time, he wasn’t even aware of how to switch his pain receptor from realism to simulated, which was likely his doom if he couldn’t bear the pain to cast the spell.

With all of his power, Astor trudged through the blackened bog, heaving as he picked him his legs from the viscous adhesive keeping him glued to it. Turning back to check on the wolf’s positioning, Astor’s breathing began to speed up as he saw the angry mongrel in full display. From a glance, the wolf’s face was twisted with ferocity, expressing near-desperate hunger from the way viscous drool dripped down from its massive jaw. Astor was going to be a feast compare to what it has been eating lately. Heck, Astor himself would have nothing but compliments to drop about his own taste: tender with a tinge of spiciness… He was so fucking dead… he thought to himself.

The wolf did not follow Astor into the bog as he had planned. Instead, it growled and began running in a circle, keeping its eye on the prize the entire time. In that time, Astor could have crossed the bog and get onto land, but that would ruin the hard plan they had established. Saying a quick prayer, Astor began to taunt the wolf, calling it unimaginatively vulgar names as he flung the ill-scented material at the wolf, coating its fine fur in splatter of the nasty liquid.

“Come eat me, you son of a bitch! What’s the matter, huh mongrel? Are you just going to stand there all day, huh?!”

If one had ever seen how aggravating a feces-flinging monkey can be at a zoo, one might be able to relate with the wolf who scrunched its face and growled loudly, falling for Astor’s taunt, hook, line, and sinker. In the span of a few seconds, the wolf leapt onto where Astor was and immediately locked its murderously strong jaw down on Astor’s arm, tearing it apart. The sudden pain introduced to his system made the detective elicit a blood curdling scream as he could feel the jagged teeth sinking through his flesh like butter and snapping his twig of bones in one bite. It didn’t help that the wolf was janking him back and forth, threatening to tear him apart.

In his battered state, Astor found himself succumbing to painful grunts that couldn’t quite form into proper words. So, he did the next best thing and immediately opened his palm menu and clicking on direct message.

Momentarily, Ilusa should have received a message on her user interface that says:

Astor Balthas

Do you have any kind of protection spell? I think I’m just going to die from both the wolf and the fire.

“ARGH, Goddammit!!!” he grunted, kneeing the wolf in the eye socket with his knees, but having randomized his character meant he was at the mercy of RNG, and RNG gave him an incredibly sexy looking body where each and every one of those eye-popping muscles were for simply for show… he was actually physically weak.

With his palm menu still opened, Astor tapped on the spell menu and quickly hit the first thing he saw. Immidiately, his mouth began to recite the spell between lapses of pained grunts, “Vindarh… hgnn… vende anzala norath… afhhg… fus fen zadah”

A spark of fire graced his fingertips before it turned into a small stream of fire that reached the bog water and set it massively ablaze. The resulting wave of fire afterward began to span the entire width and length of the bog, covering him and the wolf in fire. As expected, the wolf’s fur made it much easier for it to catch fire. But at this point, Astor was practically running on an empty fuel tank as the lit-wolf roared out in pain, rolling in the bog in an attempt to put out the fire. Crawling desperately onto the shore, Astor fell unconscious at some point, leaving his newfound companion to deal with the rest. He was done.

@Ilusa Nakhalee

 

Her ears heard it first, then her eyes saw it and they widened in silent alarm. Hearing the plan and seeing him in middle of that disgusting, possibly highly flammable substance was different. Vastly different. And if it was real life, she would be incapable of staying still in her position.

Yet even knowing it was only virtual, not real, a tricked mind, did not stop her heart from quickening as she saw what was happening. On the plus side, her current position meant that the Stamana bar (because as a caster her Stamina was also her Mana) was filling up nicely. Still, her eyes were almost glued to the two beings, the human who had not introduced himself back and the monster.

The loud taunts echoed through the bog, reaching her tree with ease. As if it was the reality, the enemy did react to the sounds, tone and the smelly stuff being thrown at it. Ilusa winced at the impact; she did not see it clearly, could not with the large figure of the monster, but the sound of teeth digging into the flesh and the following scream made her ears flatten themselves to her skull (which still felt odd).

And without anyone seeing her she could open the menu and hover her finger over the only accessible for now spells she had. It was harder to stop herself from pressing the healing spell icon; it would destroy the plan, but the sounds were… They sounded painful. Either the other had the same setting as her for the pain or was very unused to any form of pain.

The pale furred tail twitched with each pained sounds the blonde elicited. And then suddenly before her appeared a new window. Not exactly right before her, not getting in the way of her sight, but there should she choose to focus on it and focus she did.
For a moment the woman behind the avatar was startled. In such painful situation managing to type such coherent sentence was a feat. It was almost painful that she had to reply negatively.

Ilusa Nakhalee

No.
Not yet.
You can do it!

This was all she could do to help him right now. But she did note mentally, once she empowered her abilities that is, to look into protective spells aside pure healing ones.
As she pondered if she should type in something else, the fire appeared. It spread in a blink of the eye covering the whole bog, causing the air to become hot even in her perching place, not to mention the fire licked at the roots of the tree she was on. It really was lucky she chose this as the watching place, else she would be on fire just like the wolf... And Astor.

To be completely honest it was hard to see anything in the fire, but the pained howls were very loud. Still, the enemy, the beast was alive. A movement from the corner of her eye showed her the familiar male avatar and a breath of relief escaped her before she focused on the howling mass.

The truth was that she had not wanted to take part of the battle; but it just so happened that her second spell was, in fact, the damage dealing spell. The wolf was in range. Astor was unconscious; after withstanding burning and teeth in in his arm. How could she let it all go to waste? Besides her Stamana bar needed to be used up. And after, she can always heal him, but for that, the one who did the damage needed to be dealt with.

A single finger taped the corresponding icon and the unknown, alien words were recited without her input. It felt; wrong, her body moving on its own. The words felt even more alien as she did not read them did not try them out like she did with the healing spell. Still, the system did what it had to and the distracted wolf was an easy prey to the spell. In a way, it was a beautiful spell, full of light that was as unforgiving as the hammer of a god, or blade of an angel. It was made of light, it was beautiful and yet, it was also terrifying.

Of course once was not enough. She recast it. And again. And again. Even as the burning wolf realised that something, someone was also causing damage aside from the flaming bog that it was trying to leave. Bloodshot, inhuman eye found her and the great flaming body angled towards her. She pressed the icon again. Glancing at the diminishing Staman bar from the corner from her eye, she continued the onslaught, a race of time; will she manage to kill it before it will reach her?

The scent of burned fur and meat tickled her nose, the wolf was reaching her. She was reciting the spell even as the monster lunged at the tree, at her, murder shining in the eye, teeth barred and flame still consuming the flesh of the enemy, sharp claws reaching towards her and-

The spell was cast.

With the last howl, the beast fell.

“Just in time too.” It was odd; she was no stranger to deadly battle and yet, she was shivering. Perhaps it was inexperience, perhaps it was something else. Still, she shook herself and then quickly climbed down. She glanced at the carcass and tried to see if she could take something from it, to give the other later on.

Then she jogged over to the other player. The fire could spread after all.

Ilusa reached him and winced at the sight. A glance at the fire, made her grab him in a practised hold and pull him a bit away. Then panting a little (he was tall and heavy and this body lacked the strength of her real life). After a moment, she tapped the healing icon to heal him, trying to memorise the words. Reading the lines and hearing them showed a difference between spelling and pronunciation that was surely important.

The healing did not wake him, but he looked more human.. So she recast it, again. And then again. After which she waited a little more for her Stamana bar to replenish. Then, she hoisted him up. It took bit manoeuvring, but she made him lean on her back, hold his legs and give him a piggy ride.

Without word, she started to walk toward the light. Slowly. It will be a long road, but she would not leave him in the wilderness after his actions.

@Astor Balthas

 

Despite being knocked the hell out, Astor was positive that he looked like burnt barbecue at one point after he set himself and the wolf on fire. Fortunately, the burning status effect that had popped up next to his health bar as a result of his flame expired before he did, leaving him with one HP. If there was a god, that single HP must have been a divine gift from the almighty himself. Afterward, it seemed that the feline priestess took care of the rest.

When he slowly stirred awake, a peculiar fragrance tickled his nose. Instinctively jutting his nose forward, he went through Ilusa’s pure white hair and ended up caressing it against the back of the girl’s neck. He continued drawing her natural scent into his lungs, tightening his arms, which were wrapped around her.

“Mm…” Astor let out a long and painful groan as he slowly opened his eyes.

It took him at least a good minute to shake off his dazed state and register what was happening to him. When he realized that his dutiful companion from earlier was carrying him while he was draped over her girlishly narrowed back like some kind of rare rug, he shouted “Whoa!” as he lose his balance and fall onto the forest floor.

While he was still on the ground, Astor decided to check himself for any signs of injuries. Fortunately, he could not find a one, despite having been roasted earlier by his own fire earlier. Picking himself up from the ground, he met Ilusa’s eyes and smiled warmly as he extended his hand and grabbed onto her upper arm. “That was a lot closer than I had expected. I’m not exactly sure one what happened after I passed out, but thanks for having my back. I owe you a favor,” he spoke clearly and without remorse despite being the one who brought the wolf to them in the first place.

When the silence took over their conversation, Astor came to the realization that he never actually introduced himself. Quickly remedying the situation, he introduced himself. “My name is Astor by the way. And if you planned on getting to that light,” he paused, pointing to the pillar of light that reached the sky.

“If you are heading toward the beacon, want to join my group? If not, I wouldn't object. But, it would probably be the safest way to get to town without being outnumbered by bandits or monsters,” he said, opening up his palm menu and initiating a party invite.

​

Invite

Astor Balthas has invited you to their party. Accept?

@Ilusa Nakhalee​

 

The walk was slow. With her avatar’s strength as it was, going slow depleted stamina bar slower and the breaks she had to take leaning against a tree were shorter. It was perhaps a little more annoying to feel so weak again than she had expected when going into this game, but it was something she had to live with as her choice was a caster character.

Luckily, The Lady Luck seemed to smile upon them as their path did not cross with that of any monster. Ilusa was not paying much attention to time right now and continued the walk, step by step by step. Sometimes she stopped to observe the area, the unusual flora.

How much time passed before she felt the other stir she could not see, but her ears perked up as his breathing changed its pattern. Perhaps it was foolish to expect it happen like in real life, but she thought it meant he would be waking up soon. As if to support those conclusion, there was movement from him. If one she had not expected, that is his face pressing against the back of her neck. The hot puffs of breath tickled her skin there. Her left ear twitched and the tip of her tail (as at the base it was bit trapped by his weigth) swayed in mild agitation.

It really felt realistic.

Her walk slowed even more and then his arms that she put around herself for ease of transportation tightened. A smile climbed onto her face; it seemed her companion was a snuggler when sleeping. It was rather at odds with the image his avatar brought to mind. Deciding to not mind this, she continued her walk, the tip of her tail swaying in accordance to her good mood.

Of course then he did wake up fully and let out a loud shout. “Eh?!” The surprise caused her hold on his legs to slacken, which with his sudden movement was enough to have him slip from her grasp and end up falling down. She whirled around and glanced down at him, extending her hand to help him. Her smile widened at his smile; noting that such smile, not smirk softened his features a little.

“That it was.” She agreed and then at the question what happened, Ilusa grimaced, her ears flattening a little. “…I… Ended up going back, climbing onto a tree. So I saw everything. After seeing it, how you almost died, I couldn’t just stand back and do nothing. My second spell is an attack one… So while it was distracted burning alive I finished it off… Then I did my best to heal you. There’s nothing wrong I hope? Nothing hurting anymore? You seemed fine, but if something hurts, tell me and I will heal it up in a snap!” Ilusa said, her eyes sparkling with determination, ears and tail perking up.

She liked that, enjoyed the sight of the charred flesh turning bit by bit back to this pristine and flawless appearance. This was something she could not get in the real life. So, she could heal him up again and get that feeling of undoing the damage.

As he introduced himself, she nodded. “When you messaged me, I got it… But thank you for introducing yourself!” A beaming smile was aimed at him. Then her head titled to the side, sight following where he pointed. Seeing the light, she nodded.

“Oooh!” A Gasp escaped her as a sudden image appeared before her, glancing at it for a moment, she then pressed the accept button and suddenly, they were in party! She could see his health bar, it was useful. The tactical advantages of them being in party were much more numerous than not.

“Now then let’s go!” That done, still smiling, she grabbed his hand and started pulling him toward the light. She hoped she was doing that cheerful tone and expression well. She was bit out of practice with looking and acting cheerful, but she had a set idea of how ‘Ilusa Nakhalee’ is supposed to act and be like; different, but rooted in herself. As she did so, she also activated the investigation mode. For a while she saw nothing new, but then the ‘???’ sign made her attention snap onto it. As a budding alchemist, that meant possible reagents.

“Oooh! Wait a moment.” The felis released the hand of the human and scooted down to look at some grass and then gathered it, putting it into her inventory. Soon after, she did the same with a mushroom and a flower. Then she crawled to grab a new type of moss and two other flowers. After that she stood up and patted her clothes to get the leaves and the likes off, brushed her hand clean and grasped his. “Okay, let’s continue.”

Of course such situation would repeat few more times.


@Astor Balthas

 

Astor felt rather silly that he completely missed such obvious features of the game. Despite seemingly starting at the same time as Ilusa, it sure seemed like she knew a lot more about the game than he did. For someone who was supposed to be competent at technology in the real world, the blond man felt deep shame. However, it didn’t seem as though the cat girl took note of his expression as she took his hand into her own and headed toward the direction of the light. Her bubbly personality and seemingly carefree attitude made her rather attractive, though her assertive personality seemed to be on a completely different level; he’s never met such a woman before, at least someone who displayed such level of familiarity so quickly and so easily with a stranger. Though perhaps he was overthinking the situation a tad too much. Accepting the girl’s hand, they comfortably went on their merry way.

Along the path to Wurst, they stopped frequently, often at spots where Ilusa found a bunch of reagents for herself. When he saw his feline companion activate investigation mode, he copied her and placed his pointer and middle finger against his temple, which immediately put him into the mode. Seeing the interface all around him and labels of most things, Astor figured it was going to be a powerful tool throughout his time in Terrasphere. While Ilusa went off on a detour to collect plant life, Astor simply watched her as she gleefully spent her time stuffing her inventory with all kinds of crap no one in their right mind would hoard, maybe he should be kind and tell her that shopkeepers probably aren’t going to pay a single cent for those items. When she returned to his side, he asked with a curious voice, “what exactly are you gathering all that crap for? They probably won’t sell, you know…”

When the two arrived at the bustling town they would be able to see the bustling outpost, where a sea of people filled the street, engaging in intense haggling beneath the scorching midday sun. Never before had Astor seen such a sight before, it was almost as if someone had rip a page out of a fantasy book. As soon as he took the first couple of steps, the scent of dirty animals and rotten old wood assaulted his nose, working his gag reflex for a good minute or so. Having come close to emptying the content inside his stomach, Astor took a good minute or so to catch his breath and acquaint himself to this rawness. “Wow, I can’t believe how real everything feels, that awful scent though, it’s like we’re gone back in time or something…” he groaned.

Straightening his back, Astor instinctively grabbed onto Ilusa’s hand again in case he would lose her amid the crowd. Before he could take a single step forward, he was stopped by a wall of brawny men blocking his path. Narrowing his eyes in annoyance,

“Given the state of your attire and the way you’re grabbing so tightly onto that cute girl’s wrist, you’re probably some perverted nobles abusing his Felis slave are you. Actually, you could even be a slave trader…” a gruff voice belonging to a massive brute could be heard.

Taking a step back, Astor took a gander at himself, only to realize what he was wearing. It seemed the flame has burned his starting equipment so badly that they broke from durability damage. Suddenly, he finally realized why all of the villagers have been whispering about them the entire time. Shiiit! Astor screamed inside his head as he grabbed his head, nursing a migraine coming on.

The brute continued, “as part of the peacekeeping task force, I hereby release you from his vile man.”
With that the brute grabbed onto Astor’s wrist and applied pressure until he let go of Ilusa. Then, the brute extended his hand and attempted to grab her. Peaking his tolerance for stupidity, Astor attempted to grab Ilusa as well, intending on pulling her lither form into his muscular chest if he was able to.

“Get your hands off her, you mongrels!” he proclaimed with a snarl. At that time, he had a feeling that his words were going to escalate into a square off.

@Ilusa Nakhalee

 

“Hm?” After one of the stops, her human companion and party member finally has inquired to the reason for her actions. Holding his hand as they resumed the walk, she glanced up at him and smiled; her ears perking up a little. “I’m interested in becoming an alchemist on the side and you never know just which out of those is a reagent that will be useful.” She paused for moment, to take a breath (scents tickling her nose), before continuing. “My level is too low right now to know which are most useful, but in the future I will and since I’m going this path either way… I do try to take ones I don’t have in my inventory.”

Finishing her explanation, the felis straightened her spine even more, raised her nose up, squared her shoulders (the action also pushed her breast forward a little more, possibly drawing attention to that detail of the avatar’s anatomy) and swayed her tail in purposeful manner. All in all, she looked mightily pleased with herself and the idea she had, looking almost as if she was waiting for someone to nod along and agree that yes, this was a very good idea, she was very smart to think it up, such a good girl!

It sounded logical in her mind and this game allowed her the freedom of expressing herself in new ways, what with this being disconnected from people knowing her in real life and having expectations of her. She was creating new life for herself, a breather, a chance to play. Of course she intended to make full use of it and if with her body language she was now non-verbally giving cues to Astor to praise her; well she did try to not come off as arrogant, the rest was left up to him.

However those rose-coloured thoughts were met with harsh virtual reality; or rather the scent the outpost to which the light led had. Her pretty nose scrunched in distaste and her tail swayed in agitation at the foul scent. In completely different way compared to the bog. To be completely honest, she was very close to mimicking her party partner; that is almost regurgitating. It did not happed because of two things; her avatar’s stomach was empty and she had in real life smelled and braved even worse smelling places.

She looked around, seeing that people were pointing at them and whispering; probably the cause was the almost gone shirt of Astor. The man was lucky his shirt existed at all and he was not walking half-naked. Which made her thoughts turn into the direction of what would have happened had one’s all clothes ran out of durability. Would they be naked or in mere undergarments..? Was it possible to change undergarments..? Just how realistic was this game when it came to more intimate aspects, or baths?

His words pulled her away from the wool gathering. She nodded, agreeing, hovering around him in a way that could be interpreted as nervous. “I sure hope all places won’t be like that.” That would take away part of pleasure from this game to her. Perhaps would force her to keep away from any cities or settlement. Which might pose a problem as she was pretty sure one could log out safely only in those.

As his hand grabbed a hold of hers, though this time it ended as wrist grasp rather than hand-hold a new development happened; one that made her started. The words of the tall, very tall man (which meant he was a giant as she was rather tall herself) made her look around for that horrible thing. She knew that slavery was part of the lore of the game, she did read the race descriptions thank you very much). Why the tiny fearin were almost exterminated and even now many were enslaved (which, part of her mind wryly noted was very human like and even now in certain parts of the world slavery was real; she had seen it)! But she did not find any little cowering pointy eared girl, or girly looking boy. Or any possessing that gut wrenching dead look.

That was a reason why her eyes widened and her lips parted in look of utter surprise when she realised that the man was talking about her and Astor, when he made Astor release her wrist. She was stupefied, because that made her realise how the whole culture in the game was different from the one in America; that meant that many things seen as normal, here were not. Just like she had seen so often during her old work. It would explain why they were taken as pair of slave and owner.

It was almost amusing, were it not the fact that the group looked strong and after their last ‘fight’ with the monster, she did not see Astor having good chance against them. Luckily, they could talk and easily resolve the issue, or rather the misunderstanding.

But, before she could do that, the situation escalated. Unfamiliar and familiar hand grabbed her. Of course she did not shrug off Astors’ hold, but she did tense at the large, towering man’s hold on her (of course place and culture like the one she was seeing meant that the people were probably not aware that freed slaves did not take well to being grabbed by unfamiliar people who towered over them; often gender opposing to that of former tormentor was also recommended, to distance the hold from the thought of still being enslaved).

…Which might have been a mistake as when her party member pulled her out of the other man hold and into his chest (which she did not mind, if people were unused to deadly situation, even if virtual, they latched onto the person who survived it with them), involuntarily her tail swayed in dismay; the scent of charred material was not nice and the tail was new enough that she did not have control over it. At least not enough to stop the subconscious reaction to the scent of charred cloth.

It ould easily cause only further misunderstanding… Especially when coupled with the line Astor just used! Her mind shouted and she almost cried from laughter at how ridiculous it all was. But, there was lack of urgency she would feel in real life. It was after all a game.

Still, best to inform him of that. It was easy to type the direct message.

Ilusa Nakhalee

That was a bad choice of words.
Really bad.
Terribad.

“Are you really?” Ilusa asked, glancing out from the secure (that could be easily taken as possessive) hold, peeking up at the towering man. “Part of the peacekeeping task force I mean.” There. Distraction. The men should focus on her, not Astor.

@Astor Balthas

 

Irritated veins appeared all over Astor’s reddening face as the self-proclaimed, beefcake of a man pressed forward with his insistence to ‘free’ Ilusa from her supposed slaver. If there was anything Astor’s learned from his time working in the force, it is that people with ill-intents tend to have tell signs that one should look for and this guy was full of them. In fact, even without his investigator’s insight, the fact that the guy looked and acted like a complete asshole was enough to tip him off that they were being fooled.

At that moment, he noticed neatly-rolled rope and chained cuffs made from iron tucked at one of the ‘guards’ waist. Why would someone who was part of the peacekeeping task force have restraining tools that he hasn’t even seen on any of the guards? The more he thought about it, the more bizarre their predicament appears. Not to mention the fact that they called him as slaver, his instinct told him they were projecting. Hah! Medieval barbarians… Astor scoffed inside his head. They were a few centuries too old to pull such an amateur con on him.

Before Astor could call out the brutes’ bullshit, he received a direct message from his feline companion, stating very obvious things. He replied right away by tapping furiously at the keypad without looking at it.

Astor Balthas

That could have gone a lot better…

Let’s just come up with some excuse and get out of here.

What Astor didn’t realize was that NPCs cannot comprehend the player’s user interface, thus, to them it looked as though Astor was fondling the air, forging dangerous hand signs often used by high-esteemed magical practitioners. Whereas the beefcake was being rather coy and subtly pushy before, Astor’s gesture had tipped him over the edge to where he and the rest of his goonies brandished their swords and axes, they were ready for a tussle.

“Cur, you really are a slaver, huh? You’re the blond you have been poaching our slave girls haven’t you? What, stealing someone’s source of livelihood is not enough that you’re out to kill us too?! Well… not today… grab her and run…” the brute shouted at his goonies, trailing off into a whisper at the end of their sentence.

Before Astor could react in time, two axes came for his head. Haphazardly throwing himself out of their path, Astor ended up on the ground, distancing himself far enough from Ilusa that gave them the opportunity to snatch her with the rope he saw earlier before the leader of the brutes put her lithe body over his shoulder and made a run for it.

​

“Nng?!!!!”​

Astor was completely baffled by the turn of event simply due to a few miscommunicated lines and lack of understanding on the brutes’ side. Either way, his companion was poached, catnapped even, surely he’s got to pursue them and rescue Ilusa before they do all sorts of unspeakable things to her. After all, he does owe her his life… he can’t possibly leave her in the hands of those slavers. Heck, even if it was the case where he had no tie to her, his morality would still force him to go on a rescue mission. Though… his magic was literally at zero, how could he fight against those burly meatheads? In fact, he was lucky that his gesture was enough to dissuade them into a direct fight with him, which he figured he would lose 10/10 times. At that exact moment, an idea popped into his head. Not knowing whether Ilusa could reply to his message, Astor sent a private message anyways.

Astor Balthas

Try not to get molested, I’ll come save you soon.

If possible send me a dynamic tracker so I can track you down.

Drawing a deep breath into his lungs, Astor got up and quickly fled the town taking refuse under the shade of the trees.

“O-oi… was that really okay? We don’t know if he was from the Oritas group or not, but if he was… those mages are going to haunt us for taking their property, y’know? We won’t win in a direct fight with them…” one of the brutes said as the group flitted around large trees, seeking cover under the verdant canopy.

“Doesn’t matter if we sell her quickly enough. I mean, check out this good, it would be a complete waste in Oritas’s hand, they really don’t know how to make the most out of their product…” the leader of the brutes chortled in his gruff voice as he grabbed onto Ilusa’s asscheek which was right within his reach.

“I hope you didn’t get super attached to that pretty-boy of a master from earlier… you’re ours now,” said the leader as an indecent grin came to his face.

After a distant jog, they arrived at a crude looking, but large cottage made from large logs of the tree within the vicinity. Entering the dark and damply-scented cabin, the brute threw Ilusa into a cell where a few other people were also held.

“With that body, I bet we can fetch a high price for those freaky cat-lovers…” one of the brute commented as he ventured to the other room where the rest of his group was.

From what Ilusa could see, there would be half a dozens of people sitting in the cell with her, their body was frail, it seemed that they had been staying in the tight chamber for a while now. Fortunately, one of the women came over to Ilusa and grabbed onto her hand. “W-what have they done to you, oh no, where you taken from your house in the middle of the night too? D-do you know my husband, Will Aurata? Please tell me my children are okay…” she burst into a sob. “W-what’s happened to the Green Giant’s inn now? I am going to go crazy from being stuck in here…”

OOC: Controlled Ilusa a bit to advance the story, sorry!
@Ilusa Nakhalee

 

Ilusa knew it was different culture, she even had reminder and confirmation happen just a moment ago. And yet even in her imagination she did not think that they would mistake typing a message as casting the spell. There was no telltale signs of it, no movement of the energy, none of the feeling that it had; but then again, they probably had never seen one cast.

At the same time while she thought that, she also pondered on the curious fact the startled brute revealed; that she was exactly right in the words she used as distraction. That they were not in fact a pace-keeping group but rather, the opposite. Still, those two incoming axes looked mighty dangerous! It was of course natural that as Astor threw himselef away, Ilusa did that too; unfortunately, she could only move closer to the men which was what led to her becoming captured.

“Meoo?!” A sound akin to meow of surprise was pulled out of her lungs when a rope found itself around her. Immediately long beaten in reflexes kicked in-

But the body failed to keep up. And so she found herself yanked up and carried of, like a sack of potatoes, staring at her party partner in confusion.

She glanced at him and at the people around him, focusing on them, until their names floated before her eyes colours, luckily blue. While the numbers were great, they were not as overpowering as the monster before, so she acted obediently and did not wiggle too much, waiting for her Stamana bar to fill up more. “Let me go.” Still she huffed and weakly on purpose struggled to not make it look too suspicious.

After all, if they were slavers there were surely many others in bad situation and those kind brutes would lead her, and via her also Astor, right to their lair. A new message arrived and she glanced at it, smiling a little and then, making sure none were looking at her, typed back.

Ilusa Nakhalee

That too could have gone better.
Pretty sure they’re going to lair.
Sorry, haven’t found them yet. Just follow my dot on the minimap.

After all, there was only so much she could discover about the game, even with the helpful tips and poking around the menu.

As they ran, she was a witness to some interesting news. And thus, she decided to share.

Ilusa Nakhalee

There is some interesting misunderstanding going on. They think you are part of Oritas group, which is apparently full of mages who own slaves. We should remember the name for future.

…Even if in middle of doing so she had to stop, hand flying to where she held concealed knife-

Only she did not. It seemed this situation was pulling at her real life ingrained reactions. Instead of digging the sharp blade into the hand, she had to instead ‘attempt’ to pull that offending hand away from where it definitely did not belong. And at the mention of Astor she only hissed, ears flattening and tail standing up, showing her fury. …If perhaps a different fury than he expected, not at the mention of Astor, but reminder what sort of men they were. Even reminder that they were only programs did not help, because there was something slimy and unpleasant about the grin the leader had and the chortles the men around him got as their gazes looked her body over.

Their abode was horrible and she could at single glance see other individuals behind the bars. As she was thrown down and curled for moment, she took this as chance to type in something else.

Ilusa Nakhalee

In cell with others stolen.

Short message done, she uncurled and looked around more closely, frowning the more she saw. Frail, mostly women with two androgynous people that were hard to guess a gender of.

“…” Ilusa listened to the woman speak and then put her second hand ontop of her. “Don’t worry. It will be fine. You’ll get free once those brutes are dealt with by whom I was with when they took me from before him.” Slowly, she glanced more consciously at the people and saw that their health bar was not full (she promised herself to heal them later). Their colours were grey. Which explained why the blue coloured brutes could kidnap and hold them.

The woman cried louder, disbelieving and worried, stress lines marring her otherwise pretty face. “Shh… Shh…” Ilusa embraced the other woman and patted her back until the sobs subsided. “Can you tell me how long you were here? And you?” Then she asked the other person. And another. Before she asked yet another question. “Where there any they took away in the meantime?” All of it was important information.

Then, she slipped away from the woman and walked toward the bars, taking out the bobby pin and- stopping and putting it back. She did not have the skillset to get this simple lock open, even though she could do so in real life. It was annoying. Secretly she decided to take on the rouge skillset later on. Now that she thought about it, it would fit her well, allowing her to slink around on the battlefield to heal those in need.

“Hmm…” Her feline eyes narrowed, the tail swished like that of an annoyed cat. Then she glanced back at the wooden hut. She probably could blow it away, but first, the brutes needed to be dealt with; permanently. It would be best if she could leave it to her companion, after all not only was his fire was better suited to it, but she also wished to play her avatar as a girl who avoided the fight.

She kept walking around the ‘doors’ and straining her ears to hear the ‘captors’, poking around and typing a message at the same time, sharing the numbers and data, how many people they sold, question of where exactly was he, how far away, did he see the hut already, then ending with a most important question.

Ilusa Nakhalee

They are blue, how will you kill them?

And while she did dearly want for him to be the one to end them, here, behind bars se was in a nice.. Place to attack them without being attacked back.

@Astor Balthas