The world of Frozen Hearts loaded in with a bright blue light going off before the brunette's eyes. Her feet landed on the cold earth and her body was hit with the heavy wind that transverses over the land. Elizabeth saw that this time she'd been placed in the middle of the town square.
She felt relieved that she'd never be stuck in those mountains ever again. But she couldn't help but feel confused. The tutorial was still active so why wasn't she being bombarded like before with notifications to finish it?
Instead, she had just a handful of new messages from the system and Yuki. Before she could click on a message the game decided to choose one for her. A blue envelope opened and a pixelated chibi version of Yuki popped out of it.
The pixelated woman noticed her and lit up with a wide smile. “Oh, there you are!” Pixel Yuki waved a stumpy hand at her and bounced around the top of the envelope. “Eliza! I am here just to tell you that Yuki has registered you for the guild and has Pudding in her custody.”
“Ah…” The teenager was still trying to process it talking in a different level of 3D in a world that was as realistic as possible. It had some uncanny valley vibes but the teen swallowed her discomfort. “That's great to hear.”
Pixel Yuki bounced from the envelope to her shoulder, patting a cutesy hand against her head. The veiled woman's chibi was smiling as she continued explaining everything to the teenager. “Real Yuki and Pudding have been waiting for you so let's cut to the chase. You can go into your inventory and you'll see a pass to your guild.”
“Click on it and you'll be given an instant trip to the base your guildmates have chosen. That will be your home from now on and once you enter your bedroom, that will be your respawn location. Anytime you die or log on you will be returned to that bedroom. So, no more mountains for you!” Elizabeth blushed at this comment as the chibi sat on her shoulder.
She did as the chibi instructed and opened her inventory. What she found surprised her and she looked at the chibi who just smiled at her cutesy.
{INVENTORY OPEN}
◇ 1 SNOW BUG SPRAY ◇
◇ 1 WICKER BROOM ◇
◇ 1 CRYSTAL VACUUM ◇
◇ 1 MAID OUTFIT ◇
item currently equipped
◇ 1 MAP OF FROST TOWN ◇
◇ 1 MAP OF FROST ESTATE ◇
◇ 1 DAMAGED WEREBEAR COAT ◇
◇ 4 SNOW LION STEAKS ◇
◇ 1 SNOW LION PELT COAT ◇
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
◇ 1 SNOW LION FANG DAGGER ◇
◇ 2 PUB PASSES ◇
◇ 1 WET RAG ◇
◇ GUILD PASS ◇
◇ 1 MAMMOTH TOOTH ◇
◇ 1 MAMMOTH FUR STRIP ◇
“Oh? You didn't know! Well, any item earned by a guildmate during a team battle will be shared. So, since Catherine won a tooth and a strip you won the same thing. Don't worry, using it doesn't mean that you used Selene's or Jake's. The hard work between you all paid off!” The chibi said, smiling under its veil as it praised the dark-haired teenager.
It made sense but honestly, it was a lot to take in. If she was going to level up faster she needed to do more team battles and especially more with Catherine. The elf was extremely powerful, Elizabeth had found her social media accounts while at school.
None of the accounts had any posts with her real photo but plenty of in-game footage and screenshots had been uploaded. The teenager was impressed by the amount of hours she put into the game while being a full-time student. All of her guildmates were very impressive.
She found that Jake was an avid poster on the official Frozen Hearts forums. He would offer advice to new players and posted written guides to some of the games' harder, more obscure lore and settings. She was amazed by the dedication he showed to helping out others.
It made her feel secure in trusting them in this world. “Alright, you said I just have to equip the pass and I'll be taken to the others?” Pixelated Yuki nodded with a grin. “Alright? Who's at the guild base right now?”
A loading circle appeared above the chibi's head as it processed her question. It smiled and the circle vanished as it answered. “Yuki is with your beloved Pudding right now. It's been behaving unruly since it woke up to you not being there. Tsk, tsk. A child abandoned by its mother.”
“A child abandoned by its mother?” Elizabeth asked with a confused frown.
Pixelated Yuki flicked her on the head lightly. “Pudding is your child, silly. You accepted it as your companion and now it sees you as its mother. When you bonded with it, Pudding grew to love you like a puppy would with its new owner. You can't just log out and forget about your responsibilities.”
The teenager hurried to explain the situation. “Hey!” The chibi Yuki looked at her and tried to speak but was quickly shut down. “I didn't know that. If I had, I wouldn't have just logged out without saying goodbye.” She never imagined that it saw her as its mom but it did make sense at the moment.
“Well, the past is the past. Go on, go on. Go save my actual self from the temper tantrum that slime toddler is having.” With that final quip, the pixelated Yuki began to vanish, turning into a slow that blew in the wind.
She stood there in shock, taking everything in. It made sense that an NPC would be mad at her for abandoning another NPC. But that wasn't what she had intended to do at all. She had a real life outside of this game and she'd been playing for twelve hours straight.
Plus she had just spoken to her mom about how often she sits in the dark with her headset on. Still, Pudding was her responsibility and she'd been out of the game for an entire day. It made her tear up a bit and she hurried to wipe her tears in disbelief.
The slime was just a NPC and yet she felt so bad for upsetting it. This whole thing really was like when she had a virtual pet. When she would forget to feed it the then ten-year-old would cry and beg her mom to buy her a new one. Her heart was really heavy as she remembered those days, her eyes watering. The teenager cleared her throat and took a deep breath before speaking.
“I can fix whatever went wrong while I was gone.” The GUILD PASS was activated and she felt like she'd been turned into putty as she vanished.
Her body was transported into a cozy looking room and she swore she almost fell through its floor. “AGGHHH!” Elizabeth screamed as she desperately touched the carpet, her heart beating a mile a minute.
After what had to be an eternity of thanking God that she didn't no clip out of existence she finally started to look around. The house she was in had a soft carpet that tickled her toes and warmth that came from a huge fireplace.
The fire looked so real, that she walked up to it and held her hands over it. She smiled as the baby flames turned her skin pink. The furniture reminded her of the setup you'd see in a Christmas movie. A quilt covering a huge couch, a large recliner that had a knob, and a pullout couch full of knitted pillows.
The guild must have gotten a good deal on a place like this. Outside she saw nothing but trees and snow so that must be away from other players. The teenager smiled. She would have to ask them about it after she found where they were with Pudding. The little slime must be so terrified now.
Almost as if the slime had read her mind, Elizabeth heard something that made her eyes widen. It was a large crashing noise. Then a familiar voice telling whoever had caused the ruckus to calm down. Her jaw dropped as she hurried to the nearest staircase, hearing scared chirps. “Yuki! Pudding!”