Prologue
Kristen Morisen sat lazily in her seat with her cheek mushed into her left palm. She was positioned directly in the center of a lecture hall filled with students, and listening to a professor drone on and on about history.
“In the aftermath of World War I, a man by the name of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk led a revolution that would establish-“
Kristen’s thoughts cut off the professor before he could finish. Not that she cared much about what he was saying anyway. “Why am I still learning about history? I thought I wouldn’t see it again after high school?” she said to herself. “I guess this is something all freshmen have to deal with so I shouldn’t complain.” She let out an audible sigh and let her vibrant green eyes trail off into space.
A flash back to the time she had visited the college as a high school senior appeared and she remembered what the guide had told her then “We offer a very unique curriculum here where you get to take classes pertaining to your major starting in your freshman year!”
Hah! What a load of bull!
“They really got me good.” She mused “little did I know that there are still prerequisites for all the classes I actually wanted to take.”
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a zipper. Kristen shot a glance at the person to her right and saw a guy trying to fill his backpack with notebooks and papers. He looked up quickly and met her viridian gaze. He gave a quick chuckle as if to break the awkwardness, and pointed over his shoulder toward the clock on the wall. It read 12:15PM.
“Finally!” she thought “I can get out of here.” It seems the only other person that hadn’t noticed that class had ended was the professor. “And so that is why-ah- it’s time already? Ok then for next week study chapter 7 in the book and do the review questions on page 136.” Kristen quickly jotted down the homework before gathering her things and dashing out of the classroom.
Normally she wouldn’t be very happy about getting out of class because that means she would have to go to work. However, fortunately for her, today was her day off. Being in a happy mood Kristen merrily made her way to the center courtyard on campus in hopes of making it on time to meet her friend.
“Krissy!~” a petite girl with short blonde hair was waving vigorously from one of the many park benches as Kristen entered the area. “Over here!” she called out. Spotting this spectacle, Kristen briskly made her way over before replying “Hey Jen!” Jen gave a hearty smile and quickly shot up to give Kristen a hug.
Before she could build momentum, Kristen’s palm was firmly placed onto Jen’s forehead. In an irritated tone she said “Jen, why do you always have to be so clingy? You’re acting like you didn’t just see me this morning.” Jen continued to push her head into Kristen’s palm and wave her arms frantically in the hope that it might give way.
“Eh~” Jen finally took a step back and began pouting.
“That doesn’t count; we hardly get to hang out nowadays because you’re always busy with work or your writing!” she then proceeded to stomp back over to the bench, plop down, and cross her arms and legs.
“Hmph”
“Hey, there’s nothing I can do about it. Unlike some people, I have to work to make sure I have a place to live.” Kristen retorted.
“Whoa, wait a second here, wasn’t that your choice? That last remark was a little uncalled for.”
Kristen did feel a little guilty for what she just said, and what Jen had said was true. She had made the decision to live on her own even though she had the option to commute from home. This was mostly to avoid dealing with her crazy family, mainly her 4 younger brothers, but also because the alternative was to double her school tuition with the additional payments of dorm housing.
“Ok ok, I get it. I’m sorry.”
Jen paused for a second as if to take in the apology before jumping up and latching on to Kristen with a suffocating hug, much to Kristen’s chagrin. “Yay!~” exclaimed Jen while rubbing her cheek against Kristen’s.
“Let’s head to Jazzman’s now, I’m starving.”
After finally managing to pry Jen off of her, Kristen was forced to wipe the globs of make-up left over from the exchange. Kristen often wondered how she came to be acquainted with such an energetic and outgoing person. It could be said that they were exact opposites. Jen had short blonde hair that stopped just above her jawline and a petite build at 5’2”. She must have barely weighed over 100lbs, if at all. She also had a cute baby face that would often make the guys swoon over her.
“Must be nice” Thought Kristen to herself.
In comparison Kristen was on the tall side at 5’8” and had long dark brown hair that made its way to the middle of her back. She had a masculine jawline that was accentuated by her glasses, which she often avoided using in public for that very reason. “I blame my parents for bad genes!” she often yelled in frustration.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
They were even opposite in their interests. While Jen always had to have the latest designer items, clothes, and accessories; Kristen would rather spend her money on books or writing utensils. She had never taken an interest in clothes and makeup in high school because she was always too busy playing sports of some kind. If it wasn’t Soccer in the summer and fall, it was track in the spring. That being said, her only athletic merit was how fast she could run.
Living and working on her own was rather tough and because she was always so busy Kristen had missed out on most of the orientation events where people met. Even despite that, she was able to make a great friend like Jen because of how easy it is to get along with her. Not to mention they lived in the same neighborhood so it was easy to meet outside of class. Unlike Kristen though, Jen lived at home with her parents. Kristen had moved in to the apartment building down the street because it was the cheapest she could find, which means the two often commuted to school together.
After getting seated at one of the tables on the outdoor patio at Jazzman’s Café, a place they frequented, the two ordered some food and began chatting away about various topics. During a lull in their conversation, they caught a snippet of the conversation going on at the adjacent table.
“Hey did you end up checking out that dungeon the other day?” said a lanky dark haired boy to his friend sitting opposite him. The boy who responded was about average build with brown bangs that hovered just above his eyes. “No way, turns out it’s a dungeon for epic level players. A friend of mine who’s high level went in there with a team of like level 250’s and he said they all died within 10 minutes.” The dark haired boy couldn’t hide his surprise “What!? No way! I thought for sure we’d be able to do it with some help, I guess that double experience will go to waste now.”
As if catching Kristen’s attention on the topic being discussed, Jen started to say “Hey, speaking of-“
But Kristen quickly cut her off before she could even finish.
“No.”
Jen Furrowed her brow a little and said “Oh come on, you don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“Yes I do, it’s what you’ve said every time the topic has been brought up for the past 2 months.”
“And what would that be?” said Jen in a sarcastic tone, playing with the straw in her drink.
“You say ‘why don’t you play Royal Road it’s really fun and I’m sure you’d love it’” Kristen responded in a voice mocking Jen’s.
“I don’t talk like that!” complained Jen.
“It’s close enough.” said Kristen as she calmly sipped the straw from the ice tea placed in front of her.
“I don’t know why you’re so stubborn about this; it’s not like money is that big of an issue. You said you already had enough to buy a computer right? At this rate you’ll be the only person left alive who doesn’t play.”
Hearing these words made Kristen reel a little bit. Truthfully, she had no reason not to play. It’s true that pretty much everyone she could think of played the game. She often felt isolated not being able to talk to people about it. It’s not like she had no experience with games either. Her brothers would often torment her by hiding her books until she beat them in whatever games they wanted to play. But at this point she was denying her interest simply due to her own stubbornness.
“Even so, I don’t really have the luxury to play games with how busy I am.”
“Just think of it like a social networking site where you do things with friends. You only have to hunt if you want to and there are many things to do besides hunting. You seem like you might be better suited for a crafting class anyway. On top of that, it’s pretty easy once you get the hang of things, take me as an example, I play it pretty casually and I’m still level 135.” Jen gave a self-satisfying grin and puffed out her chest, not that there was much to puff.
Heheh I guess that’s one area I can say I’m the clear winner in.
“I guess I’ll think about it.” said Kristen, redirecting her thoughts to the topic at hand.
“That’s what you said last time!” said Jen, turning her grin into a pouting face once again.
“This time I’m serious. I’ll really think about it, I promise.” She really did mean it this time.
“You have to, I’ll be sad if you don’t.” Jen grabbed Kristen’s hand and gave the saddest puppy dog eyes possible.
“You know I’m not a guy so that doesn’t really work on me right?” said Kristen with a rather disgusted look on her face.
“Pwetty pwease” said Jen, obviously attempting to well up some tears from her hazel eyes for sympathy.
“OK! I get it! Just stop that you’re creeping me out!”
“Good!” exclaimed Jen, now satisfied with the answer.
As if on cue the waiter came with their food at that moment and the two quickly ended their conversation in favor of filling their hungry stomachs.