We left the King’s war room and followed Leomorn down to some stables. There were horses and cows and pigs and sheep and all kinds of animals in there. I won’t describe the smell but you can probably guess how a bunch of animals all cooped up together would smell. I thought Dennis and his team had gone a little overboard on that particular detail.

Leomorn led us to some horses and Varris picked out a big brown one and I wondered how he was even going to mount it.

Leomorn gestured at a large black horse and said, “That’ll be your mount. Shadow. He’ll forever be yours.”

Seemed kinda convenient. “Does he come when I whistle?” I said, completely joking. Of course, this horse didn’t come when I whistled.

“Yes, if he can hear you then he will come to your whistle. All of the King’s horses are trained to do that.”

Very convenient.

I was staring at the saddle wondering how I was going to ride since I’d never ridden a horse in my life when Leomorn brought out a bundle from somewhere.

“Put these on,” he said.

“What is it,” I opened the box and was surprised to see a set of armor. It wasn’t a full set the knights of the king had worn with helmets and breast plates, but it looked a lot more comfortable than that.

There was a black quilted shirt and a chainmail jacket that you obviously put over the quilted shirt. There was a thick pair of leather boots to go with it. I didn’t want to get rid of my tennis shoes but I figured I needed the support. I put the thick quilted tunic on over my wool shirt, then slipped the chainmail over that. I slipped the boots on and they fit perfectly. I looked like someone who at least didn’t stand out like a sore thumb anymore.

Varris looked me up and down and said, “Not bad, kid.”

Leomorn nodded his approval then handed me a sword in a leather scabbard with a leather belt. I pulled the sword free of the scabbard. The handle was black leather with a silver pommel and a silver guard. The blade was silver and looked sharp. It was a basic weapon but one I knew I could rely on. I hoped I didn’t have to, but I knew I’d have to use it at some point.

I knew from other games I’d played this was one-handed sword and Leomorn brought out a shield. It had a broad top and came to a point at the bottom. It had the King’s griffin symbol on it.

“Now you can defend yourself properly,” Leomorn said.

“I appreciate it.” And I did. I just hoped I wouldn’t have to use them too much.

I’d never ridden a horse before. I approached Shadow and Leomorn came around and held the horse still with its reins. “Put your foot in there,” he said pointing to a stirrup. I put my foot in the stirrup.

“The other foot. If you use that one you’ll be turned around facing backward.”

Oh. I switched feet. I stepped up into the saddle and swung my leg over. Not too hard.

“So I just whistle and he comes, right?”

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Leomorn looked at me like I was a moron who couldn’t grasp the simplest concept that a horse would run to the right where its rider needed it at a whistle.

I wondered what would happen if I questioned these concepts that were clearly the gameplay aspects of this world. I didn’t want to find out right this second so I didn’t push it.

As we rode down the small dirt road that led away from the castle I took a look back and wondered if I’d ever see it again and if I didn’t was it because I was dead or had gotten to go home.

We rode for a while, the rocking of the horse feeling rhythmic and relaxing at first, but the saddle soon making my butt feel like someone was attacking it with a cheese grater. The sun started to get low in the sky and the horizon turned from red to orange to yellow like a beautiful painting that almost made me forget that I was in some strange world.

As we rode I closed my eyes and focused on my menu. Soon it popped up. It was a picture of me wearing my current clothes, the new armor Leomorn had given me. A stat attached to it of +5.

+5 Armor. That was good. I needed all the protection I could get.

I could see a bar at the top that was full and glowed goldenly. I imagined a mouse and scrolled over and clicked on it.

Suddenly my head started to spin. My concentration broke and I looked down to see a golden aura swirling around me. I felt dizzy then an intense shooting pain ran through my whole body. It felt like my whole body was cramping. I held on to my saddle and tried desperately not to fall off.

After a few seconds, I felt fine. In fact, I felt better than I had before. I felt like I had more energy, more strength even.

I felt my chest, then my arms. My fingers probing the muscles, or what should have muscle if I wasn’t a guy that spent all day leaning on a counter in a video game store and instead did a million push-ups. If I wasn’t crazy I would have said they were slightly bigger, like I had gained just the tiniest amount of muscle.

I and closed my eyes and brought up my menu. The bar that had been full was empty. I noticed for the first time there was a small 2 by it.

Had I just leveled up?

I used my mind and flipped to the skills tree. At the top, there was a 1 by a word. Points.

1 point.

I had leveled up.

I looked at the skills tree. There were three of them. One was warrior. I looked at that one.

The first skill was +15% sword damage. From there the skills went down to choices between two skills, then three, then four.

I looked at the next skill. Rogue.

The first skill was +15% arrow damage.

The next skill tree was Magic. The first skill there was +15% magic damage.

Looks like I had a choice to make. Sword, arrow, or magic. I still couldn’t believe I could do magic.

I’d need to practice that more with Leomorn, and I couldn’t really shoot a bow. So I chose the +15% sword damage. I used my imaginary courser and clicked on it. The picture of the skill, a golden sword, turned from grey to gold. I guess I had it now.

So I would do more damage with my sword. That was good. I just hoped nobody was going to try and damage me with theirs first.

We rode on and as night started to set in and the sky turned to purple that gave way to black we got to a crossroads.

Leomorn pulled on the reins of his horse and stopped. He held up a hand to signal for us to stop as well.

“What are we doing?” I said. Being out here at night seemed like a really bad idea.

“Now we wait,” he said.

“For what?” I said.

“Who,” he said and pointed. In the distance, I could see a rider coming.

“I’m assuming that’s someone you’re expecting,” Varris said.

“Brienna,” he said.

“What? I thought the King said she couldn’t come?” I said.

“He did. But that was never going to stop her.”

We watched as she approached riding a big red horse. When she got to us she pulled her horse up and said, “Thank you for waiting, Leomorn.”

He smiled at her. “I’ve been teaching you for a long time. I knew you’d be along shortly.”

I smiled at her, too. She narrowed her eyes at me. “You should not have intervened between Erick and I back there.”

The least she could have done was thanked me. I didn’t tell her that though.

“Leomorn truly believes you’re the heir of the Mages.”

“I guess so.”

“Make no mistake,” she said. “You may be the heir of the Mages but Leomorn has been training me for this since I was a little girl. And I will be the one who uses the Orb to save our kingdom. Not some stranger that I do not trust.”

She kicked her horse and rode off fast without us.

Leomorn sighed and kicked his horse and went after her.

Varris said, “You know, I really think she’s starting to like you.”