A large crowd woke Sim up from his slumber as he gawked out his window to find the white hooded figures walking down the street. He got up and went straight downstairs to see Roman, and Isla all standing together waiting for him.

“Good morning, Sim!” Roman exclaimed enthusiastically. “How are you feeling?”

He ignored Roman to walk past him outside to watch the chaos of the streets. The hooded figures were surrounding the city walls protecting anyone they saw from getting hurt. Sim frowned as the hoods covered their faces completely preventing anyone from seeing their faces.

As the hoods got closer to the city gates someone ran past them pushing everyone out of the way, the figure was carrying a huge spear.

Sim noticed a familiar face in the crowd as he ran up to touch his father's back in shock with hollow eyes.

“Dad!” He cried out happily. His father smiled looking relieved.

“Who are you?” He asked.

His heart sank into his stomach when he realized how long it had been since he last saw his dad. He didn't look well; his body was frail and his skin appeared pale. He looked weak and tired as if he hadn’t slept in days.

“Dad!” He cried out happily that he was finally home.

“But...I am your kid, remember?” Sim shouted.

“It's me...it's you…?” His father asked.

Something wasn't right as Sim could sense some sort of dark emotion emitting from his father's aura. It scared Sim to the core. He knew what his father was capable of. And he wanted nothing more than to run away as fast as he could.

Up front he could see Della cheerfully chatting with the people above now dressed in the same white cloak before she noticed Sim she waved excitedly at him Sim couldn't help but smile at how happy she looked. She came running after him and she jumped into his arms as soon as she reached him. He hugged her tight, smiling and crying as she squeezed as hard as she could.

“Della…!” He cried out.

“For the first time in my life, I am someone!” Della said happily.

“What happened?” Sim asked.

He turned his head as he noticed Bellamy tapping his shoulders repeatedly, he was shaking his shoulder as he pointed at something behind Sim's back.

“Come with me,” Kavan whispered.

“I will catch up with you later!” He yelled.

Della looked disappointed as she watched him leave. She gave a sad little wave but then continued talking to the people below her who were looking at her curiously, she was oblivious.

Bellamy pulled Sim aside.

“Sim, I would rather you not get mixed up with these kinds of people,” Kavan noted.

“Why? Who are they?” Sim asked.

“They are known as Messengers of Damuzen and they want this small town of ours,” He stated.

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“My best friend is part of that group now…” He thought.

“She is no one you wanna know now,” Kavan scolded.

Everything was hitting him all at once as he watched Della from afar as she cast a brilliant light spell while wearing a pure white robe that sparkled in the sunlight. He watched her smile and laugh at the people talking to her. He could hear her voice in his head telling him to never forget her.

“If anything happens to her…,” He whispered.

“Don’t worry about that idiot boy,” Kavan replied.

“Huh?” Sim muttered.

“Come with me,” Bellamy smiled.

They walked side by side heading down the road to a nearby town that was surrounded by tall green hedges. When they arrived they could see a small square with many different shops all selling various goods, there was also an open green pavilion which was full of women sitting on a variety of cushions playing cards with dice.

Sim became confused when he noticed the black broken pavement ahead that heads out of town. He stared blankly at the ground in confusion until he felt a hand grab his wrist pulling him along as he tried to resist but the hand only tightened its grip.

“There is a barrier there and will turn you into a puppet if touched,” Kavan explained.

“Puppet?!” SIm shouted.

“Until we figure out what is going on we need to be careful!” Kavan noted.

His mind shot back to how his father was acting amnesiac and more akin to the townspeople earlier he felt anxious as he tried to remember what exactly his situation was.

“The thing is…you are right we should be careful…” Sim mumbled.

He felt horrible because he could barely write anything he had written on those pages from the time he wrote them. He wanted to understand what was happening. What did he write in there and why is he forgetting it all, his memories of his old life are fading away.

‘Is this really happening? Is the world really changing around us that I must learn everything from scratch?’ Sim questioned.

“Hey! Are you ready for training?” Roman announced.

Isla’s metal balls floated high above her head as she walked over to where Sim and Bellamy were. As she landed next to them her metal ball suddenly shattered the ground below killing the silence in the air.

“What level are you, Kavan?” Isla asked.

“Level fifty,” He boasted.

“KAVAN!” A voice shouted.

Three more people in the distance could be seen dressed in uniforms walking towards the group they seemed to be guards as they had swords on their hips. They stopped and bowed as they called out.

Walking towards the group they seemed to be guards as they had swords on their hips. They stopped and bowed as they called out. A pink-haired woman stepped forward with two knights following behind her. Her long pink hair bounced with each step she took as she walked gracefully.

“Welcome! It’s nice to meet you. You are…” She stopped.

“My name is Sim,” He muttered.

“This is Zina, one in the silver armor is Lennox and the training armor is Naveen!” Kavan laughed.

“May I ask you to pull your screen?” Zina asked.

Sim did what he was told as he pulled up the holographic screen in front of him. Zina placed both hands under her chin as she examined his stats. Lennox stood beside her as he observed Sim’s stats. Naveen stood beside Lennox as they too examined Sim’s stats.

“You three are odd,” Sim laughed.

[Current status.]

[Name: Sim Owens]

[Rank: F]

[Strength: D]

[Agility: F]

[Stamina: F]

[Intelligence: C]

[Mana: F-]

[Luck: F]

[Charm F+]

“You really are bottom of the barrel…” Zina mumbled.

Sim felt embarrassed as he realized that he was so poor and weak than the lower-ranked people in the town put together.

“If you are to join then your rank will be F,” Lennox spouted.

“Wait, is this because you want me to join the guild?!” Sim shouted.

“Of course, we do since you and Roman are like siblings aren’t you?” Kavan smiled.

He wanted nothing to do with anyone in this world as far as he could tell it would only lead to bad things. All he wanted now was a way to disappear without any trace or be able to go back to the real world. If there was no world like this and there was really no chance of being discovered or caught then why would he bother coming back?

“So…what now?” Sim asked.

“I was told by Roman what rune you are capable of,” Zina laughed.

She tossed a small bag on the ground next to Sim's feet containing nature-based runes. The small bag had twenty rune stones inside which were already charged. Sim frowned at the idea of learning a new skill from these three people who he just met, but the offer was there and he knew if he didn't accept it he wouldn’t be able to survive in his new world.

“The other option we can give you is later you can have your main rune tattooed on your body,” Lennox stated.

“I have never had a tattoo before!” Sim shouted.

“It has to be done by stitching so that the ink is able to invoke your ability,” Zina noted.

His body shook hearing the barbaric method used for tattooing a rune onto his skin. It sounded horrible and painful, but if this was the only choice then Sim needed to give it a try.

“Will this hurt?” Sim asked worriedly.

Lennox nodded as he took off the bracelet showing his palm. Sim quickly went closer to take a look at Lennox’s rune symbolizing it was covered with thick veins of red blood, some of the veins started dripping down from Lennox’s forearm. It was a dark red color and it looked disgusting to him.

“I guess we don't have a choice do we?” Sim sighed.

“I am new like you, but it will be okay,” He laughed.