Chapter 2: This is no escort quest.

Melly's thoughts churned as she marched homewards. Clemiticus quick on her heel skipped like a schoolboy.

She had so many questions.

What was his purpose? Did he even have one? What’s his goal? All those essential questions paled compared to the biggest of all.

Why, oh why, was he wearing two halves of a dead wolf as shoes?

Clemiticus said they gave him three stamina. Whatever that meant.

The two of them, now unlikely travelling companions, made their way through the path that Melly herself had taken that very morning. The grassy fields and fruit trees had quickly disappeared behind a dark dense forest while the dirt path was ancient with no forks and tonnes of bends. Their destination ahead was none other than Melly's home. A calm, peaceful place called Lobee Village.

Why is he still following me?

Somewhere inside her head, another voice yelled.

You should run! Why aren't you running! Run away from him, you idiot!

For some strange reason, she didn’t.

"So! Did I end up telling you, my name? It's Clemiticus, by the way," he said as he skipped behind her. His blonde ear-length hair bounced as he moved with a childish grin on his face. His sparkly green eyes darted about, enjoying the complete experience. The man was handsome and muscular. However, she instinctively felt uneasy around him.

Melly sighed.

"Yes, I heard it. Now please don’t follow me!"

"Oh, you did? So, what's your name, then?" He continued jogging, ignoring the disapproval in her tone.

Melly’s jaw tightened. This guy didn’t get it. He wasn’t listening.

She groaned. "It's Melly - alright? Now, can you please leave?"

"Nelly?"

"No. Meh lee." she spoke slowly. "With an M."

"Oh, Melly. With an EMMM."

He mimicked her exaggerated pronunciation with a sideways wink.

“I wonder if I can turn name tags on. Hey Fairy? How do I do that?”

The fairy floated beside the frolicking man and smiled.

“Shall I turn on nameplates for you, Master?”

“Yeah, do it! I want to see all the stats, names and stuff. Oh, there we go! I can see them now and it says Melly, level one, age twenty-one and your class is a villager. That’s kind of boring.”

Melly turned in shock. Her attention was however stolen by the new Shoes the stalker had recently acquired. They barely fit and had lost all resemblance to the menacing creature it once had been.

"How can you even walk in those?" she asked.

"Easy. See!" He surged forward to walk beside her. "Just one foot after the..."

Suddenly the tail from his left shoe caught on the mouth of his right.

Before Melly could dodge, the man tumbled forwards and grabbed her. At that moment, the world slowed, and she knew what was about to happen. She was about to fall; this fact was unavoidable. Yet she had two open paths ahead, two distinct options.

On her right was a nice, comfortable bed of beautiful yellow and blue flowers. The sun shone down over them, inviting her to join them in a warm, wonderful, and soft embrace, just like home.

On her left were dark shadows, a deep sense of foreboding followed by a jagged cliff full of brambles, dirt, and death.

Her instinct went into overdrive as she leant her entire being towards the comfy, welcoming landing. She felt a thrill of success as her body shifted in the right direction.

Suddenly a huge clumsy arm grabbed her waist. Clemiticus overpowered Melly and, within a few awkward shuffling moments, sent the two of them tumbling in the opposite direction.

"For!" she screamed as they plummeted down the path of pain. "Fucks! Ugh! Sake!"

Each word came out with a cacophony of bangs, crashes and thuds as their bodies mashed over rocks, logs and muck.

Bing!

“Clemiticus has just entered the zone: The Diseased Wasteland!”

Thud!

“Ow!” Melly groaned.

“Oops,” said Clemiticus.

“What do you mean oops? You nearly killed us!”

They both had landed in a pool of thick mud. Melly swore and tore the muck from her face so she could scan her surroundings. Well, at least they weren’t dead, she thought. Instead, they appeared to have entered a small, hidden swamp. All around them lay dead trees strewn about and torn to pieces. Yet the worse thing about the entire ordeal was the smell.

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"Ugghhh! Idiot! What did you do?"

She spun around to look at him. Clemiticus lay upside-down with his head covered by his filth-soaked shirt. She froze. There was something odd on his stomach.

What was he? He was lean and muscular to the point of perfection. There were no scars, no moles or even hair. And the most peculiar thing was his belly button. Instead of the usual navel, there was an odd-looking symbol. It was a circle with flat squares protruding from its outer edge. Melly recognised it instantly. It was a cog. Her father had taught her about them in his workshop.

Why did this man have one on his stomach?

"What is that?" She pointed to the peculiar ornament.

Clemiticus flipped himself upright and crooked an eyebrow when he saw it.

"Oh! Nice job Melly! You found the menu," he said, grinning.

He then hefted himself up onto a fallen log, ignoring the strange noise the wood gave off and poked himself in the button. The gear spun instantly.

"Sweet.”

He looked up at Melly and pointed at something invisible. "Oh damn! Just what Fairy said, I’m level two. Easy game. And I got a bunch of stat points to assign.”

"Level two? Stats? What do you mean game?"

"Yeah, yeah. Level two already," he said, ignoring her questioned. "And look, I can accept an escort quest. It says, to deliver Melly to her village."

"What? Wait! No! No quests or games!"

He continued to read something invisible. "Rewards include character experience, more quests, passive bonuses and even a follower."

"Experience? Follower? Please slow down. You’re not making any sense."

“Fairy, my happy little friend.”

“Master?”

“Is there any information about this follower?” Clemiticus asked.

Fairy only shrugged.

Melly was baffled. As far as she was concerned, the two of them might as well be talking with their heads underwater or in some foreign language. She closed her eyes as she felt a headache coming on. The picture of home floated in her mind as she imagined hearing her father's voice. Run away!

"Oh, look! If I complete the quest, I can invite you to a party!"

"I don’t want to go to a party,” she stammered.

Bing!

"Clemiticus has accepted the quest: Escort Melly!"

Suddenly, a low rumbling sound echoed all around them. The strange muddy pit they had landed in swirled and shook. The log that Clemiticus had been sitting on shifted, toppling him over Melly. They frantically struggled in the mud but the shifting mud kept knocking them over.

“Sorry Melly, my bad!”

Then a colossal creature emerged from the muck.

Bing!

“Clemiticus has started the event: Ambush in the swamp!”

“Uh oh,” he said.

A massive bald head looked at them with three beady eyes. Its ugly face was nose-less but its mouth was wide, containing only two rotten teeth.

“Mwargh hargh gargh!” it said in a low, rumbling tone.

“What’s that?” asked Melly.

“It’s an Ogre, and I think it’s laughing at us,” Clemiticus supplied.

"Yummy people! Food time," the creature spoke.

The three eyed monster let out another chuckle then swiped a meaty hand at the duo. Melly shot from under the weight of her annoying companion and struggled to gain ground. Clemiticus gingerly stood upright and lazily dodged the monster's arm as if it were by accident.

“Ha! Easy dodge. That’s why I always put all my stat points into Luck!”

“Concentrate on running away!” Melly cried.

Clemiticus stood his ground and glanced above the monstrous creature, smiling.

"A level 20 Three Eyed Swamp Ogre, aye!" He chuckled nervously. "That's way beyond me."

The ogre harrumphed in protest when he continued to miss the lucky fool, then looked between the two to decide that Melly was the easier meal.

"NO! Go away!" she shrieked.

The monster lunged and Melly panicked.

"Ahhhhh!"

Melly dove to one side, landing in the mud as another heavy hand narrowly missed her.

"Scrawny dinner likes to dance!"

Clemiticus stood still on the sideline, examining the one-sided duel.

"What to do, what to do," he said, scratching his chin.

"Please! Do something!"

"Yeah, do something," the Ogre said and laughed.

The blue fairy flew beside Clemiticus and whispered something into his ear. He instantly burst out laughing. The Ogre, annoyed at Clemiticus' amusement, flew into a rage. It bent down, tearing a dead tree from the ground and swung at the blonde simpleton.

Clemiticus ignored the threat and looked down at his feet. The large tree soared overhead as he bent down to scoop up an oddly shaped rock.

“This should do the trick!”

Clemiticus flicked his wrist and hurled the small object towards the three eyed ogre. Melly's jaw dropped as the projectile bounced harmlessly off the monster's shin and rolled away.

Bing!

"Clemiticus has learned the skill: Throw object."

"Hahaha! Puny person!" The Ogre chuckled as its face bent in a repulsive smile.

The blue fairy looked above the ogre's head and turned to Clemiticus with a tiny thumbs up.

The smug adventurer then crossed his arms and grinned.

Instead of jeering back, the Ogre’s face lost all humour.

“What’s happening, puny person?”

The ogre grasped its throat and let out a pained howl. With one last shuddering breath, the ogre's eyes rolled to the back of its head and toppled over.

Bing!

"Clemiticus has defeated the Three eyed Ogre! Congratulations!"

“Clemiticus has gained a significant amount of combat experience for defeating such a difficult enemy!”

Clemiticus laughed.

Melly gasped. "You've got to be kidding me! What on Fanswald was that thing you threw?"

Bing!

"Clemiticus has reached level six!”

"Hell yeah!”

Melly moved forward and scooted around the large dead ogre. She searched furiously for the supposed stone that had killed the monster.

It has to be some magic, she thought.

"What was that?" she asked, searching for the weapon in the mud. “Here!"

She bent down and picked up the odd-looking stone. It was surprisingly light, with an odd silver-white sheen.

"You killed that massive thing with this? Was it some kind of magic trick?"

He shook his head.

"No trick!"

Clemiticus bounded over to the corpse of the swamp Ogre, his eyes shining with greed. Melly just stood still, stunned. She stared at the strange rock as Clemiticus tore away the Ogre's single item of clothing.

Bing!

“Clemiticus has looted the Three eyed Ogre’s undergarments!”

"This loincloth will make a great cape!"

Clemiticus tested the new cloak around his neck.

"Ooh, it's a rare quality with an increase in speed and camouflage. It smells a bit, and I'm not sure what those questionable stains are. Oh wait, the durability is almost zero. Boo!"

The adventurer discarded the cape and continued searching for additional loot.

"Clemiticus stop!" She turned. "What on Fanswald is this?"

He eyed her with curiosity then smiled. An expression an adult might reserve for a naïve child.

"You're wondering how I killed it so easily."

She nodded. "Of course! Is this magic?"

He shook his head and gave out a bark of laughter.

"No, no! The fairy told me what to do. The Ogre had barely any HP left. Around one or two percent. I think we landed on it when we fell. So, I saw its health and picked up the first thing that I could find." He chuckled. "And what d'ya know! It worked like a charm."

"So, this isn’t magic?"

"No, no." He smiled. "I don’t know what it is."

The blue fairy drifted to Melly's side and scratched its chin.

"Item identification," it said as a white light swirled around the object. "Ah! Master, I found out what it is!”

“Yeah?”

“I think it’s the Ogre’s Kidney stone!" said the fairy cheerfully.

Melly screamed and dropped the ‘magic’ ball.

"Ugh, gross!”

"Oh, that's awkward. Maybe we shouldn't keep that!" Clemiticus sidestepped over the precious artifact on the ground and wiped his hand on his trousers.

"Any-who! Onwards! Let's finish the Melly escort quest!"