Finding the Vitum flowers was easy peasy lemon squeezy - their fiery red petals a stark contrast to the overwhelmingly green forest, almost as if the saturation had been dialed up to max. That wasn't surprising, considering this was all a figment of my imagination.

In no time, I'd plucked the remaining nine Vitums, stashed the flowers in the old leather rucksack Merlin lend me, and set off back to the odd wizard.

That's when I saw the black boar, partially concealed behind a tree. Merlin's warning about me not being ready to fight echoed in my head, but I did have the stave, and the boar didn't look scary at all, and boars were always one of the weakest creatures in RPG beginner areas.

I slinked up to the creature, but it didn’t seem bothered by the Dwarf clumsily skulking towards it with a stick. It just stood there, its blank black eyes trained on me, a yellow shimmer enveloping it. I knew from my gaming experience that the yellow indicated neutrality - it was neither friend nor foe.

Then I poked it with my stave.

And Instantly I knew I'd made a mistake.

The once yellow shimmer transformed to a menacing blood-red as the boar lunged at me. I recoiled, hitting it with my stave as hard as I could. Above the boar, a health bar materialized.

“You have to be kidding me!” I yelled and started to run. The bar hadn’t budged, and the boar was now angry, for real.

It didn’t take long until it caught up with me and bit my ass. In all the online RPGs I had played over the years, the only pain I’d felt was in my ego and perhaps the occasional bruised knuckle from a frustrated slam on the table. In the “real” world, being bitten by a boar was as real as excruciating.

The first bite tinted my vision a cautionary yellow. The second, an alarming orange. The third, my world pulsed an ominous red. I knew I wouldn’t survive a fourth and I could hear the boar closing in, its heavy snorts echoing in my ears, gearing up for what I assumed was the killing bite.

Then there was a deafening sound immediately followed by a bright light that blinded me. Running without seeing didn’t go well, and after a couple of steps, I tripped and fell. I immediately curled up, shut my eyes, and prepared for the final blow.

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But it never came.

Opening my eyes, I found Merlin's familiar figure towering over me.

“What... What happened?” I stammered, attempting to regain my footing.

“You nearly died. While picking flowers. That was a first,” Merlin said, his voice laced with sarcasm as he extended a hand toward me. Ignoring his offer, I managed to get back on my feet on my own and cast a glance at the now-lifeless boar lying about ten feet away.

“How?”

“Lightning Bolt.”

“Can you teach me?”

“No. Did you gather the Vitum?” Merlin asked, setting off again.

“Yes,” I said, hobbling after him with a painful wince as my rear end throbbed.

“Then make a potion from it. You need it urgently.”

“How?”

“Have you forgotten the quest already?”

“Uhm, no?”

“Good. Then hurry up.”

I grabbed the flowers from the backpack, studying them carefully. I remembered he'd said to mix them with water, and something else…The pulsating red vision and searing pain clouded my thinking. Grind!

I found a rock and knelt in front of it, beginning the laborious process of grinding the flowers against it with my bare hands. It seemed to take forever. By the time I was working on the fourth flower, Merlin handed me a wooden bowl with a thick stick – a grinder.

“Why didn’t you give it to me at once?” I said, teeth gritted in frustration.

“You never asked.”

I responded with an exasperated shake of my head, depositing the flowers in the grinder and getting back to work.

When I was done I looked at Merlin again. “I need water.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Do you have some?”

“Yes, I do.”

“C’mon Merlin. Do I really have to ask?”

Merlin just stared at me with a blank expression.

“Fine... Merlin, may I please have some water to make my fudging potion?”

“Potion?”

“Aquavita! Can I get some fricking water to make my stupid Aquavita!!” I felt my face heat up. If dwarfs could even blush.

“Certainly, Mr. Tim, here you go,” Merlin pulled another satchel from his robe and handed it to me.

Without waiting for Merlin's approval, I combined the water and the ground Vitum in my newfound satchel and quickly drank the mixture. The escalating pain was becoming unbearable.

It didn’t take many seconds until a warm, comforting sensation spread across my buttock. I felt better but not as good as earlier; my vision still had a yellowish hue.

“You aren't completely healed,” Merlin said, walking over to the log and cart where a fireplace suddenly had appeared. He lighted it effortlessly with a simple touch of his index finger.

He was indeed a wizard, and I found myself yearning to master such abilities - ignite fires with my finger and shoot lightning at boars - my newfound nemesis.

“Sit here, next to the fire. The fire will gradually heal you, but much slower than the Aquavita elixir.”

Grateful for the odd, archaic-speaking man, I did as he instructed.

“Once you're feeling better, come see me back at the log. I have a new quest for you. But you need to be at full health for this one,” he said, moving only a couple of feet before seating himself next to me on the log.