[Current status.]

[Name: Sim Owens/Roman Loughty]

[Rank: F]

[Strength: D]

[Agility: F]

[Stamina: F]

[Intelligence: C]

[Mana: F-]

[Luck: F]

[Charm F+]

[Profession: None]

“We just got a plus in charm?” Sim whispered.

He watched Roman happily chatting with his little sister. She was acting differently, happier. It reminded him of when they used to play pretend games together, but now she was acting differently than back then, and it scared Sim.

“Okay! We will meet later okay?” Roman smiled.

“You are lucky I can make a lie,” The girl groaned.

“Whatever Isla, I will come by later!” Sim shouted.

Sim noticed the sad expression as he spoke with his sister. The way she was holding herself and the way she was speaking reminded him of the way his father had spoken to him. It hurt him that the two people who raised him thought he wasn't worth anything. It was a very real pain.

“I forgot the only thing keeping you going was Lily,” He noted.

Roman could sense the opposite support given to Sim by his sister's words and it angered him. He felt like he was letting the people around him down, not allowing them to live up to their potential. He couldn't allow that anymore; no more second guessing, no more doubts, no more questions. It was over. It was done. He needed to let things happen naturally.

“From the looks of it you wish you had the same,” Roman thought.

“Yup…but it's whatever,” Sim responded.

A scream outside had them both clamor to the window to see what was happening outside and to find a verdant green creature scaring his sibling. As the creature turned around they realized it was a monster.

“SIM!” She cried.

“I am coming!” Sim yelled.

“Just jump out of the window!” Roman shouted.

Sim watched horrified as Roman opened the window preparing to jump out himself to help Sim out. His stomach dropped seeing him leap out the window. But Sim stood motionless. He wasn't moving. The monsters screeched in frustration as they watched Roman stand frozen staring at each other.

The beast lunged for Roman first. It was a goblin, a real goblin! The goblins were notorious for eating humans alive. Even though many of its kind were killed by soldiers, it survived off of fresh meat. It always attacked when it found new prey. Its verdant green skin glowed in the moonlight making it stand out from the crowd of other monsters in the forest surrounding his house.

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“Wasn’t it still day out not too long ago?” Sim thought.

Pulling his pendant off the crow's beak morphed into a sword and swung forward frightening the goblin. It stumbled backward while growling at him. As it did, Sim ran after Roman with his sword, slashing across its face before running away as fast as possible.

“I thought it would be like the others and stay…” Roman whispered.

“Roman! Y-You actually saved me?!” Isla yelled.

“You remind me of my big sister, but right now I dunno where she is at,” Roman muttered.

His face began to pinken with embarrassment as he looked over at Isla and laughed nervously.

“Thanks for saving me again Roman,” She said, smiling sweetly. Roman looked down at his feet.

“No problem…” He smiled.

“So now the creatures are manifesting…” Sim whispered.

“Would you mind walking me home?” Isla asked.

“Of course!” Roman responded happily.

As Roman looked over at Isla he couldn’t help smiling at how adorable she looked while laughing. Sim was not looking forward to going home soon. All he wanted to do was go back to playing his game with Roman,but unfortunately, his life wasn’t as easy as his games usually were. He knew the world was not as wonderful as those games depicted it to be. Things weren’t as perfect as everyone made them appear to be.

Roman had more confidence than Sim did. Roman had more ambition and more drive. Roman believed in him. That alone was worth fighting for. Roman was more ambitious than Sim ever could be, and more driven to achieve his goals. And if he was honest with himself, he would admit that he admired Roman.

They all walked together through the town, slowly enjoying the silence. Their steps echoed loudly throughout the empty streets and buildings around them. Roman and Sim could see the tension in Isla, but she was happy to have a friend. She had never had any friends besides Roman and Roman was happy that he could do his best to protect her.

When they arrived at the house they saw that both their father and mother were sitting there waiting for them. Both parents looked relieved to see that they arrived safe and sound. Isla rushed over to the door and flung it open to enter.

“Not you Sim!” Sim’s father shouted.

He was angry. His voice was stern and firm, which surprised Sim. He knew he had done something wrong, but what?

“I'm done with you Sim!” He yelled.

Showing his report card, Sim’s eyes widened in fear. His face contorted as his father glared hatefully at him before storming into the house with his wife trailing behind him. Before closing the door the family heard their husband's harsh breathing and angry shouts.

“Dad!” Sim yelled.

The paper fell to the floor and crumbled in Sim’s hand. He stared at it with sadness in his brown eyes. He picked it up from the floor, folded it, and put it inside his shirt pocket he sighed.

“We have bigger problems than that paper!” Roman replied.

“We won’t have a place to stay!” Sim shouted angrily.

“Wha-?” He hesitated to reply.

“Why do you think I made you…” Sim said softly.

“Because you are a chicken shit who is too scared to fight his own battles!” A female voice echoed.

A silver blade extended through Sim’s stomach He gasped as his body fell forward to the ground. Falling onto his knees he held onto his stomach, wincing in pain. Blood dripped down his fingers, and pooled underneath his shirt.

“Jewel…” Sim mumbled.

“Jewel!” Roman shouted.

Sim choked out blood as Jewel smirked, grabbing the sword. She pulled it out and stabbed him once more. Blood spurted out of his mouth in an arc. She stepped over it and grabbed his face forcing him to look straight ahead.

“I know you are weak and you will die in your own world,” She spat.

“Get away from him!” Roman shouted.

Bringing out the rune from his pocket charging it enough to explode Jewel jumped backward as it exploded creating a blinding light, blinding all three of them. It was bright enough that they had to cover their eyes.

“You can't get away from me!” Jewel howled.

Roman carried Sim on his back to get away from Jewel. He didn’t care how far they went, all he cared about was getting away from Jewel. After several minutes he finally got a chance to catch his breath. They were somewhere dark so he stopped walking. He looked around for someplace they could hide. There was nothing.

Her laughter was loud enough to tell she was near. She sounded extremely close. He glanced at Sim worried. Roman sighed knowing he couldn’t carry him much longer without pausing for air.

A crowd on the other side of the alley could be seen as they pondered at the tower in the distance causing commotion. They had never seen anything like it. The tower was taller than any building they had ever seen before.

“There,” A man said, pointing toward the tower.

He was pointing at the spiraling tower that seemed to defy physics itself. Roman was amazed how quickly the new terrain was changing as well. The landscape they were just walking through was gone, but the structure of the city they were currently in was still there.

“We need to find who has the books…” Roman thought out loud.

He could see the witches flying high above the sky on their brooms heading towards the tower at top speed. Their bodies glimmered slightly from within. The wind blowing at their faces created small gusts. Roman felt dizzy standing here as he gazed upon the tower's spire.

“Hey, do you know where I can get help?” Roman shouted.

The small group turned around to look at him and then at the tower before giving him strange looks. They then turned back toward the tower and nodded their heads, signaling for him to follow. Roman gave them curious looks, he couldn't believe how weird they were acting.

Roman asked. Suddenly he could feel someone grab the back of his shirt. He turned around and found Isla smiling holding him by the shirt collar.

“I snuck out to see if I could find you, but also wouldn't trust those guys,” Isla noted.

“Isla, Sim needs help!” Roman begged.

“I can see that, but you need to stay calm as we're going to the hospital,” She scolded.

“Right!” Roman yelled.

“He will be fine…” Isla smiled.