As Zarra had explained, I lay in a grove of trees. I was on my back, and I felt the firmness of the ground the moment my eyes opened. The trees were fantastic looking; like maple trees, with big, wide leaves, but the trunks and branches were gnarled like the kind of oak trees that would be found in California. The bark was a deep brown color, but parts of the wood flaked off into grayish pieces. Their leaves were green, but as the wind whispered a gentle breeze, I noticed that the top part was a strange purplish color.

Then I gasped as I realized the obvious.

I felt the ground underneath me.

I was sitting upright now, and the dampness of the grass was apparent on my bare ass. I reached my hand down and pushed a finger into the soft dirt. My fingers felt the resistance, the small amount of dampness I’d expect for grass to hold, and I pulled them away to see mud on my fingertips.

“Holy shit.”

They had done it. They’d figured out a way to add tactile feedback to a game.

Astafar Unlimited had some feedback, of course. I could feel the platform of the omni station when I ran on it, and there were feedback vibrators attached to the sensors, so that when I hit something, my limbs felt a brief shake, but there was nothing like this in any game I’d ever played.

I moved the pointer finger of my right hand and pressed it into my left arm. I felt my skin and the pressure at both places, and I let out a whistle. Then I was amazed that I could actually whistle in the game.

“Wow, wow, wow.”

I lay the palm of my hand to the dark green grass and pushed myself to my feet. I stood easily and did a few stretching movements while I looked down at my naked body. I hadn’t been able to pick an avatar, so I had guessed that they would use a generic one in the game, but I noticed the various scars on my knees from playing basketball growing up, and I glanced at my hands again to see the familiar scars from years of martial arts training.

How did they get my body so perfectly? It must have something to do with the VRIU juice that I was currently floating in. The liquid was probably able to determine my exact body composition and then translate it into the game. It was kind of a genius idea, and I felt bad for mocking Zarra’s game a few minutes ago. Yeah, I guessed that this system was going to be expensive, and maybe only the rich would play it, but I was already impressed by the tactile feedback. Even if this was just a sandbox game, I would think that people with money would want to get a chance to play.

Something tickled my foot, and I looked down.

It was an ant.

“Holy shit. Holy shit.” I couldn’t stop from smiling, and I let out a laugh. This game was fucking amazing. I reached down with my hand, and the insect ran onto my finger. I could feel it crawl across my skin, and I saw all of its legs move just like real ants would.

It was fantastic.

I didn’t think graphics like this were possible. The amount of detail on the ant, my skin, the grass, the trees, and the sky was unbelievable. As a test, I shook my hand quickly and tossed the ant from my skin. The sensation felt real, and I had to let out a short laugh of amazement.

So maybe I owed Zarra an apology.

When I thought about the beautiful woman, I recalled her instructions to me. I glanced around the small grove and saw a chest a few feet behind me. It was made of a simple light colored wood with metal hinges. The metal had a light greenish patina on it, and I guessed it was copper. I spent half a minute looking at the tiny details of the green swirls, touching the wood of the chest, and giggling like an idiot to myself before I finally opened it.

Inside was a pair of unbleached underwear of the “tighty whitey” style, a light brown tunic with a leather lace tie in the top half of the front, and matching pants. These both felt as if they were made of a thick cotton, and I rubbed them in-between my fingers to enjoy their sensation. They even smelled great, as if they had just been laundered and dried with a lavender dryer sheet.

I could smell.

“Holy shit,” I said again as I inhaled. I could smell the soap of the clean clothes; I could smell the wood of the chest, and the copper smell of the metal. The dampness of the grass and the bitter scent of the soil underneath were now apparent. I didn’t know how this was possible, but I guessed that they must have been distributing the scent into my helmet. The technology had been around for long enough, and a few of the other games I had test played tried to use the system, but they’d never been able to make it smell real enough, and the systems seemed to be too extreme.

I put on the underwear, pants, and shirt. The material felt nice against my skin, and they looked as if they were handmade with high-quality fabric. I could even see some less-than-perfect stitches on the seams. The attention to detail everywhere was mind boggling, and I was more than a little impressed with what Zarra’s company had done. Astafar Unlimited had wonderful graphics, and even though the game was almost fifteen years old, they continued to patch new visuals in every month.

Zarra’s game looked a thousand times better.

It was maybe a little too vivid. The colors were really rich, and the visuals seemed to glow with an internal light. It was probably just a stylistic decision, though, and I realized that the only reason it was kind of throwing me off was because I was so used to Astafar Unlimited’s more muted color palette.

There was a pair of socks and boots at the bottom of the chest, and I put them on to complete my outfit. I didn’t see any weapon inside of the chest, and it was a bit annoying. I knew that Zarra had told me not to get into combat, but I kind of expected some sort of starter sword, or dagger, or staff, or anything that I could have used to beat something. I wanted to get a small taste of what little they had set up for the combat system.

A flock of small brown and blue birds flew through the trees and chirped at me. I studied their movements and shook my head again. There were all sorts of non-aggressive fauna and flora in Astafar Unlimited, but if I watched the birds and ground creatures for long enough, I could see the redundancy in their programmed movements. The AI in Ohlavar Quest must have been cutting edge, because the birds moved as if they were real.

The leaves of the trees swayed once more in the breeze, and I marveled again at their rustle. There was a lot of movement, sound, smell, and color going on at once, and I made a mental note to talk to Zarra about the hardware that was running the game servers. I also wanted to talk about the AI, but I doubted that the woman would spill any of the secrets. Most game developers regarded their Artificial Intelligence, and their game engines, as their secret sauce, and engineers practically signed their NDA agreements with the blood of their first born.

“Time to find this village,” I said to no one in particular. I couldn’t even feel the breathing tube in my mouth anymore, and I figured that the body temperature fluid I floated in was doing a great job of numbing my mouth feel.

There wasn’t a clear trail out of the grove, and the tall reach of the trees was preventing me from seeing the sun. I could tell that it was day because of the bright light that peeped through the strangely colored leaves, but I could only guess at the time. I didn’t even know how the time worked in the game. Astafar Unlimited made fifteen minutes in real life equal an hour in the game, so a player could get a full pass of a day within six hours.

That was another oddity about Zarra’s game: there were no heads up display or user interface. I couldn’t see a time or date counter on the corner of my vision. I didn’t see my hit point or magic meter. I didn’t even see a way to open my inventory. Maybe they were trying to go ultra real, and they expected players to carry their equipment in actual packs. It was a risky move for sure since a lot of players wanted to suspend an aspect of real life when they played. They didn’t want to feel like they were encumbered by the gear or treasure that they picked up, and inventory management was something that Astafar Unlimited had kind of done away with.

I picked a direction to walk and threaded my way through the closely nestled trees. My passage disturbed a family of squirrels, and the rodents took to the trees with a twitter of over exaggerated anger. I paused my walk to stare at the creatures. They had leopard-like spots on their brown fur, and their tails were way longer than I would have expected. As I watched, one of them reached out its tail to the branch above. The limb wrapped around the tree and lifted the creature while it snickered at me.

“Funny,” I said with a laugh. It was little creatures like these squirrels that would make a lot of players fall in love with the game world. There was a huge subculture of pet collectors in Astafar Unlimited, and they would go to great lengths in order to acquire and train their virtual pets. There was even a competitive side of the game, but it wasn’t as popular as the World Series, and I had never really competed in that aspect.

I soon reached the edge of the grove of trees. The spot sat on a bit of a hill, and I was able to survey the land. I was again impressed by the graphics of the game. The light from the sun was a beautiful yellowish color, and its rays seemed to warm my shoulders when it fell on me. The sky was a dark blue, and there was a large purple planet with an orange Saturn looking ring sitting on the horizon. I thought it was a cool touch, but a lot of gamers really wanted a traditional fantasy environment, and I guessed that they would think the near sitting planet would make the scenery too science fiction feeling.

My eyes took in the field around me again. It looked like a standard setting of long wheat colored grass. The stands came up to my waist, and I ran my hands over some of the tips. They tickled my palms, and a breeze made the field sway like it was a blonde ocean.

“Wow, so pretty.” It felt weird to talk to myself, but I guessed that Zarra and her team would be able to hear me. I bet she was probably smirking like the cat that ate the canary right about now, and I knew I’d hear her say ‘I told you so’ a few dozen times when I dined with her parents tonight.

The fields stretched for miles in each direction I could see, but I did notice that I appeared to be in a valley. I couldn’t see past the group of trees behind me, but in the other three directions, I saw the steep angles of large mountains. The tallest grouping had some snow on top of the teeth, but all three ranges looked impressive. They had a dark gray, brown, and purple hue to the distant rocks, and it definitely made me feel as if I was in a unique fantasy world.

There was a distant plume of smoke drifting where the horizon of the mountains met the sway of the fields, and I spotted the city that Zarra had mentioned. The beautiful woman had also said that it was about a half mile away, but it appeared to be twice that distance. Then again, I didn’t quite know if my vision was measuring the correct distance in the game environment.

I walked through the field toward the distant plume of smoke. The individual blades of grass slid across my legs and arms, and I couldn’t wipe the damn smile off of my face. It just felt so real. I didn’t know how Zarra’s team had been able to program all of this, and I almost wanted to logout right now so that I could talk with her.

After a few minutes of wading through the grass field, I noticed a dirt road cutting through on my right side. I made a direct line there and was soon walking on the wagon wide path toward the town. The dirt had evidence of wheel tracks and hoof prints that might have been made during rain. It didn’t look like it was a simple graphical texture, and I kicked some of the dirt with my toe. The edge of a raised part crumpled off, and I was able to stamp it down into place over a dent to change the texture of the road. It was a nice touch that I think most players would love, but I wondered how much resources their graphic engine was going to consume. You could make small changes in Astafar Unlimited, like cutting grass, or trees, or breaking walls, but the map would fade back into place after a few hours. The ‘feature’ was real to provide relief to the game’s engines, and a lot of gamers didn’t like that they were unable to permanently change the game world. Then again, I’d just stamped the road flat, and it might revert back to its original texture in a few minutes. I would have to ask Zarra how it all worked over dinner.

I continued my walk on the road for another minute, and then I heard the sound of a horse behind me. I stepped off the road and turned to see a mule drawn wagon bouncing down the path. The vehicle was moving about three times my walking speed, and I noticed that the animal had a pair of curved horns on its head so that it resembled a ram-mule creature.

“Hi,” I said as I waved to the driver. The man sat on the wagon bench and held leather reins in his hand.

“Greetings, whoa,” he pulled on the reins and slowed the beast that pulled his wagon. It still reminded me of a donkey because of its big ears and squat stance. “You heading into town?” the man asked once the wagon stopped. His face was covered by a wide hat, and I couldn’t really see his shape under the large western style duster that he wore.

“Yeah, I was just walking there now.”

“Walking there? You don’t have any packs? Where are you from?” His accent sounded strange. Like a New Zealand accent, but the vowel sounds were shorter.

“I just arrived. Starting out in the game. I don’t see your health bar above your head. Are you an NPC?” I smirked as I talked.

“NPC? Starting out? You are a strange one. Do you have any weapons?” He asked with a careful nod. I had guessed that the man would ignore my reference to a non-player character.

“Nope. There wasn’t one in the chest. They told me not to get in any fights for my first session.”

“Ahh, that makes no sense at all, but if you promise not to speak anymore crazy talk, I’ll let ya ride with me into town.” He patted the bench next to him.

“That is nice of you. Thank you,” I said as I climbed up the wagon.

The bench had some springs on the bottom of it to give it a suspension, but the wood where my ass sat wasn’t that comfortable, and I felt the jarring of the wagon through my teeth when the man cracked his reins. This VRIU was absolutely incredible.

“What is the name of this town we are heading toward?” I asked him after we’d been moving for a handful of seconds.

“Cutno,” the man laughed “you are a strange one huh?”

“Yep. How many NPC--people live there?” I asked.

“Grrrr about six thousand. Maybe less.” He had made a growling noise before he spoke, but it didn’t sound hostile. It was more like he was clearing his throat.

“Are there any quests for adventures?”

“Ha! So you are an adventurer?” He bobbed his hat covered head as he chuckled.

“That’s the dream, isn’t it? Help people, slay monsters, get loot and more power. Then become the hero of the world.” I smiled at the man after I spoke. This was an NPC conversation that was remarkable. Arnacript’s AI writing for their NPCs was rather amazing, and I didn’t know how it was creating such a fluid response. This almost felt like a real conversation.

“There is always work to be had. The news bulletin will have jobs for all types,” he said.

“What types are there?” I asked. Zarra had been coy when she’d spoken about the game, and I wanted to know more about the classes available to me in the world. I guessed that I would have to find a trainer so that I could pick one. Would I be able to pick multiple classes?

“Types?”

“Yes, classes of adventurers. Like warriors, or mages. What type of professions are there?”

“You mean magic? Grrrr, I suppose most are Body. I can do a little bit of it myself. Helps when I need to lift my goods into the wagon.” He gestured with a thumb behind him, and I picked out the shape of boxes under a canvas blanket.

“What kind of goods are you selling?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Spices. I’ve traveled from Arnicoal.” He paused after he spoke, and I wondered if he thought I should be impressed.

“How far away is Arnicoal?”

“Grrr, you’ve never heard of Arnicoal?” He turned away from his donkey to gaze at me, and I saw that his eyes looked like a cat’s. There were a bright green and had an oval pupil.

“Sorry friend. As I said before, I just arrived here. I don’t know much of anything,” I admitted.

“Grrr, and your accent is all weird. Good thing we are only in Cutno. If we were in Arnicoal, they would think you were some sort of country bumpkin, even though I’ve never heard country folk speak like you do.”

“I come from one of the largest cities in my land,” I chuckled at the covered man.

“Where is that?”

“New York City! Ever heard of it?”

“Can’t say that I have, and I am well traveled. As I said, you are a strange one, but you seem likable enough.”

“Thanks, friend. I didn’t get your name earlier.”

“Artus Osher, is my name. Of the Osher trade clan,” he said proudly.

“Nice to meet you, Artus. I’m Leo Lennox.” I held out my hand toward the man, and he glanced down at my fingers.

“I’ve not heard of the Lennox clan. Grrr,” he said as he cautiously held his clothe-wrapped hand out like mine.

“There aren’t many of us.” I completed the handshake, and his eyes opened with surprise.

“Why are you touching my hand?” he asked.

“It’s a handshake. People do it when they first meet each other.”

“Leo, you know I am fenia? I’m surprised you are touching me. Not that I mind, but your kind normally doesn't like my kind.”

“I don’t know what a fenia is, Artus, but I like you,” I smiled at the man.

“Ha. Well, okay.” He let go of my hand and then pointed a wrapped finger down the road. “We approach the gates of Cutno.”

I followed his fingers and saw the city. There was an eight foot stone wall around the vast perimeter. I couldn’t see much past its walls other than a large keep that sat on a hill in the middle. It seemed pretty standard fantasy fare, and I was somewhat unimpressed with the visual, but that was probably because everything else in the game had blown me away.

“You should be careful at the gate, friend Leo. The town is somewhat unreceptive of newcomers. Grrrr, perhaps you shouldn’t speak to them as you spoke to me? They might be confused. I know I am,” Artus said.

“That’s good to know. Although, I am surprised a starter town wouldn’t welcome new adventurers. Seems like it would create a negative first impression for new players.”

“You mentioned you were looking for work?” the man asked.

“Yes! Do you know of any quests?” I asked. The gates were about a hundred yards away now, and I could see a pair of guards wearing chain mail and holding spears at the entrance.

“I need someone to help me unload my wares and load up my other trade goods. I’ll pay you a few coppers, and if you don’t have a place to sleep tonight, you can curl up here,” he said as he patted the bench we rode on.

“That is a great offer! I’ll probably be going back home at night, but I will gladly help you with your boxes,” I said.

“Excellennnnnt,” he kind of growled at the end of the word, and I noticed that some orange fur was poking through the wrapping around his neck area.

“Has it been three months already, Artus?” one of the guards called out as we approached.

“Geelant, is that you? Ha! Looks like your beard is finally coming in,” my new friend waved as he stopped the animal that pulled on his wagon.

“Yep. Haha,” the guard laughed and stroked his beard with the hand that wasn't holding onto his spear. The two men were human, and they seemed happy to see Artus.

“Who is with you?” the other guard asked somewhat suspiciously.

“He is Leo, of the Lennox clan. Grrrrr,” Artus introduced me. “He’s helping me unload my boxes.”

“Ahhh. Be careful. Halafast’s son is still around,” the second guard said.

“I don’t want any trouble. I’m a businessman. I just want to sell my spices and move on.”

“Ehhh, you know that isn’t how it works. After you had left last time, Kimmel was going around to all the bars saying that you didn’t pay your taxes.”

“I always pay my trade taxes. I just didn’t pay him his ‘protection fee.’ He’s a prick.”

“Yeah, but, once he finds out you are back in town, he might come visit you,” one of the guards said.

“How would he find out I’m back?” Artus asked, and the two guards looked at each other with a shrug.

“Ahhh, come on guys. Grrrrr,” my friend’s words sounded slightly annoyed.

“It’s just dang hot out here in the sun. I’m really looking forward to a beer at the end of the day,” the second guard said.

“If our friend were to buy us a round, I’d quickly forget that he was in town,” Geelant said with a shrug.

“Grrr, you two. Fine. Here,” Artus reached into his coat pocket and threw each one a coin.

I watched the exchange with more than a little interest. This NPC dialogue was crazy. I’d never been in a game where the conversation sounded so real. I kind of wanted to step in, and tell the guards that they couldn’t extort my friend, but I was more interested to see how the actual shakedown went down. Then I wondered if my inaction would be judged by the game’s AI as dishonorable. It might think my character’s alignment was evil or self-serving, and maybe it would begin to adjust the encounters so that I faced darker quests. I didn’t see any display or user interface hints as to what I should do, and I realized that I was kind of lost without some of the usual quest remarks. I’d have to bring it up with Zarra when I returned.

“Thanks for the beer, fenia,” the second guard said. Then he spit on the ground and gestured for us to enter the city.

“What was that all about?” I asked as we cleared the gates and moved past the guards hearing range.

“Usual treatment for my kind. Grrr. Joke’s on them, though. I had a silver ready for each of them, and they took copper. Ha!” Artus let out a growl-laugh, and then he angled his wagon into the main thoroughfare of the city.

The buildings and roads inside the walls reminded me of one of those old-timey German or Dutch medieval designs. There were a lot of squat stone homes supported by thick wood beams, thatched roofs, and decorative architecture. It was quaint bordering on beautiful, and I found something fun to look at in almost every direction I turned.

The citizens were the best part. They were mostly human, but I noticed a few elves and dwarves. They walked through the city streets with purpose, nodded to each other as they passed one another, exchanged pleasantries, and only gave a passing glance at our cart. Some of them carried baskets; others carried tools, but most were moving as if they had a destination in mind.

Cutno felt like a real city.

Cities I would find in Astafar Unlimited felt like a traditional video game environment. Yes, there were NPC citizens, but they seemed to mill around the buildings, streets, and stores without real purpose. Some of them would occasionally have a conversation with another NPC, but it was a canned exchange, and I’d spent so many years of my life playing the game, I had all the scripted lines of the various characters memorized.

The NPCs in other games were just there for environmental flavor, and they served no other purpose than to make the players feel as if the world were pretending to be alive.

Ohlavar Quest felt alive everywhere.

The game’s AI was beyond extraordinary. I almost wanted to log out right now, and then congratulate Zarra on blowing my mind, but I wanted to keep playing more, and I was starting to understand the gleeful looks that the patients had made earlier when they talked about the game. It was easy to see how someone could get addicted to a world like this.

Our small wagon passed a group of three guards walking the other direction on the cobblestone street, and Artus turned away a bit and seemed to sink into his seat. They glanced at us briefly as they walked by, but I didn’t get a feeling that they were interested in harassing us. The exchange made me shake my head with a smile. This was like real fucking life, only I was in a video game. I was actually reading the faces of the NPCs to try and figure out what they would do. Absolutely amazing.

“Arrrr right Leo, here is the place.” Artus turned the wagon down a narrower side street. The path could probably fit another cart the same size as my friend’s in its width, but it appeared that the cobblestones were beginning to angle upward, and I saw more of the castle in the distance.

“Jerjay’s shop. They have the first shipment. Can you keep an eye on the merchandise? I’ll go in and let him know it is here.”

“You got it,” I said as I leapt from the wagon’s bench.

Artus walked with a strange looking gait, and he entered into the door of a shop. There was a hanging wood sign over the door that read: “Jerjay’s cooking supply.”

I stood by the back corner of the wagon and amused myself by watching the NPCs walk on the main avenue. Every few minutes one would turn the corner and walk up my street. I greeted each one as they passed me, they each returned my greeting with a smile, and they all had very unique features. Different clothes, hats, shoes, faces, stances. It was remarkable.

“Alright Jer, I’ve got four crates. We’ll carry them in for you,” my friend said as he exited the store with a short human man.

“Thanks, Artus.” The human’s cheeks were a rosy red, and his apron was covered with what looked like cooking oil.

“These four, Leo,” Artus pointed to the first four crates nearest the back part of the wagon. “They are quite heavy, I’ll grab this side an--”

“I got it,” I lifted one of the wooden boxes up and out of the wagon before my friend could open the back hatch. It felt like it weighed only a few pounds.

Both Artus and Jer stared at me with amazement, and then the shorter man gestured for me to follow him inside.

“You can set it in the back here,” he said after I’d walked in through the doors, and past the front counter. The store was filled with manual type cooking gear that would have been useful if a home didn’t have electricity. There was a cleared spot in the storage area at the back, and I set the crate down where the store owner gestured.

Artus had the hatch down when I returned, and he was trying to push one of the crates to the edge by himself.

“I’ve got this, don’t worry buddy.” I pulled the crate he was touching to the edge, and then I jumped up on the wagon. Then I picked up the other two crates, stacked them on top of each other, and lifted them at once.

“Whoa! Careful Leo! Don’t hurt yourself!” he begged.

“It’s fine, Artus, it really doesn’t weigh anything,” I said as I walked with my load back to the shop.

I realized there was no quest progress bar, and while I didn’t think it was a deal breaker, it was something that a lot of players preferred so that they would know exactly how far through the quests they were. I’d have to bring it up with Zarra when I logged out.

“Well, don’t drop anything either. Grrrrrr, ohh. Please don’t!”

“It’s fine. This is really light.” It felt like I was carrying empty cardboard boxes, and I had to bend my knees a little to fit the top of my load under the arch of the front door.

“Your man is strong, Artus!” Jer said once I had set the three boxes down.

“Yes, thank the Body,” my friend’s strange eyes were wide, and he had his hands clasped nervously.

“Alright, I’ve got your coin,” Jer handed the other man a bag, “and I’ve got your crate of pans here.” He gestured to another crate, and then he looked at me.

“I’ll get it,” I said as I squatted down and hooked my fingers under the wood.

“That’s real heavy kid. But you seemed to--”

I had thought that this box would actually weigh something, but it felt only a few pounds lighter than the spices I’d just hauled in.

“Well, there you go. Artus, you should think about starting a circus show with him, he doesn’t even look like he is breathing hard.

“It’s really not that heavy,” I smiled at them as I exited the store. This was kind of a cool touch that Zarra must have added to the game. They were probably making the players stronger than the NPCs so that they felt a little more heroic. I’d have to talk to her about the settings because it was possible that they had me too strong for a new character.

“Where to next?” I asked after I set the crate in the wagon.

“It’s in another block of the city. Gonna take us a little under ten minutes to get there,” Artus said as he closed the hatch with a wrapped hand.

“I’ll see you in a few months,” Jer said to my friend. “Hey, watch out for Kimmel Halafast. He asked about you the last time you were here.”

“What did he say?”

“The usual. Said he didn’t want your kind in the city. Said you weren’t paying taxes, and that none of your kind ever did.”

“Grrrr. Thanks, Jerjay. I’ll be heading back tomorrow morning.”

“Maybe you should leave tonight?” the short human asked with a shrug, “but then again, your tall friend there seems capable of taking care of himself. Just be careful. Okay?”

“I will be. Thanks.” The two men nodded at each other, and then my friend jumped back into the wagon.

I joined him up on the bench, and the horned donkey started to move up the incline of the cobblestone hill.

“We’ll stick to the side streets, just in case,” Artus explained.

“Why is this guy Kimmel mad at you?”

“His father is the lord of the city. He’s the fifth son, and thinks he is the tax collector, or the captain of the guards, or whatever title he believes he should have in order to get his way.”

“So he is a bully?”

“Grrrr. Suppose so. I know you said you aren’t from around here, but it’s not uncommon for my kind to get harassed. I half expect it. Still, I don’t want any trouble. I didn’t have enough money to pay him last time he came around, and it made him upset. I brought extra this time, so if he shows up, I can pay him off. I’d prefer to just do my business, and then get out of the city by tomorrow morning.”

“Couldn’t you leave tonight? Like Jer asked you to?”

“One of my clients is a farmer that is a few dozen miles out of my route. I’m going to send him a Mind Message to come meet me, but he won’t be able to come until tomorrow morning.”

“What is a Mind Message? Wouldn’t it be worth it to go out of your way if it meant that you wouldn’t get harassed by this asshole?” I asked.

“Ha! Asshole. That is a good description for Kimmel. I like that word. I’ve never heard anyone say that insult before.”

“Where I come from, we say it all the time,” I laughed.

“Mind Message is magic that reaches someone,” Artus explained.

“Oh, that makes sense,” I said with a nod. I guessed that it was probably the game’s internal messaging system. Zarra’s developers must have decided to make it so that it cost the players money to send private messages or instant mail.

“I might be able to go out of my way, but it would add another day or so to my travels. This client likes to talk a lot. If I go and visit him, he might not want to let me leave. Grrrr.”

“Might be better than extortion,” I shrugged with a laugh. I could tell that this lord’s son Kimmel was probably going to show up in the next few minutes. The storyline of the game was a bit heavy handed, and I felt that the designers were dropping too many hints about what was going to happen next in this quest. It was still great, and I figured that most players would love it. I was just used to playing these games, and had been on too many “escort quests.” Zarra had asked me not to fight, so I guessed that there would be a way that I could talk Kimmel out of whatever violence he had in mind for my friend.

“Here is the next stop, Leo. Just one crate.” Artus pointed at a box in the middle of the wagon. “Can you move that to the lip? I’ll have you bring it in after I talk to Mitkia and send my message.”

“Sounds good,” I said as I climbed into the back of the wagon.

“Be a few minutes.”

“I’ll watch the wagon. Don’t worry,” I assured him as I shifted the crates around.

“Thanks, Leo,” he said.

I watched him walk into the door of a small home. The door was painted a bright lavender color, and the edges of the roof were lined with hanging pots that appeared to be filled with herbs.

I opened the tailgate of the wagon, pushed the crate to the edge, and then sat with my feet dangling off of the wood. I felt as if I could watch the hustle and bustle of the city for weeks, and I didn’t mind waiting. After a few minutes, Artus came out of the lavender door, and he gestured for me to bring the crate.

“You can set that on the counter here,” a woman said as I walked inside with the crate.

“This good?” I asked as I set it down on her counter. The home had shelves of herbs, bags of spices, and an array of crystals hanging from several hooks behind the counter.

“Yes,” the woman said. She looked as if she was in her fifties, she was very pretty and kept her long gray hair braided over one shoulder.

“Thanks, Mitkia,” my bandaged friend said to the woman.

“No, thank you. You always bring me the best quality-- who is this?” The woman seemed to notice me, and her eyes opened wide.

“I’m Leo Lennox,” I said. “Nice to meet you.” I held out my hand.

She grasped my fingers quickly, and her grip was surprisingly strong. The inside of her home had a few windows in the front, but the curtains were closed, and there wasn’t much light in the place. The dimness made her eyes seem to glow a dark blue, and I felt my breath catch in my chest.

“Why are you here?” she whispered.

“I’m uhhh, helping Artus deliver his goods.”

“No. No. No. No.” She shook her head, and her face seemed to have lost all of its color.

“The young man has been helping me, Mitkia. He’s a good soul.”

“He isn’t trained. Leo is your name?” The color seemed to have returned to her face.

“Yes, umm ma’am,” I said. I didn’t know how you addressed an elder in the game, but I figured that “ma’am” was safe to use everywhere.

“Don’t use the Body, Mind, Light, or Shadow. Do you understand?” her whisper was urgent and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention.

“I don’t really know what you are talking about. Is that magic?”

“Leo isn’t from around here, Mitkia. Said he comes from York City or something. Have you ever heard of that place? Grrr, grrr, grrr.” It sounded like Artus was laughing.

“No, I haven’t, but now you must leave,” the woman said as she pulled her hand away from mine.

“Will do. Thank you again, Mitkia,” Artus tapped my shoulder and then he gestured for us to walk out the door.

“Is she a magic user?”

“Yes, she does Mind exclusively. They can be a little strange sometimes, and moody, so don’t let her comments bother you.”

“She said ‘Light’ and ‘Shadow’. Are those also types of magic?”

“Ha. Grrr. Grrr. I never thought I’d have to teach someone the basics of magic. I can hardly use Body.” Artus shook his head as he stepped on the edge of the wagon and hoisted himself onto the bench.

“I’d love to learn,” I said as I joined him on the seat. The sun was warm, and the heat on my neck took some of the chills out of the hairs there.

“You need a real teacher then. Grrr. I’ll explain it simply. Hmmm. So there are four types of magic. Oh, I know!” he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a piece of scrap paper. It looked like it had a shopping list.

“See. It is like a circle or a cross. At the top you have Light, then on the other side of the axis, you have Shadow. To the left you have Body. To the right is Mind. It doesn’t really matter with the layout. I’ve seen Mind written on top, and Light on the Right. Body and Mind are always on opposite sides. Same with Light and Shadow.”

Artus drew on the slip of paper with a piece of charcoal while he talked. The drawing looked like a compass rose, with the top being Light, bottom Shadow, left pointing at Body, and the right pointing at Mind.

“Seems simple enough,” I said. “Let me guess, you can have magic that uses both Light and Body, or Light and Mind, but you can’t have both Light and Shadow?”

“You got it, grrrr, and you can’t have both Mind and Body.”

“How do I learn the spells?” I asked.

The design of the magic seemed really simple, which kind of excited me. Astafar Unlimited had spells assigned to each class, and while they had a common class theme, I didn’t like how contained the system felt. Something like this seemed as if it could be mixed and matched with the different axis of magic to make it more interesting. I was also glad they weren’t going with the whole ‘Air, Water, Fire, and Earth’ elemental trope since the idea of a ‘Mind’ or ‘Shadow’ element seemed really interesting. Maybe I would play a mage in this game?

“You have to find a teacher. You can learn spells yourself, but it could take years to uncover one, so I hear it is better to learn them. I also hear you can discover them.” The bandaged man flipped his reins again, and the horned donkey started pulling the wagon.

“Discover them?”

“Sure, there are plenty of old ruins. Left over from the Time of Heliotrope.”

“Was the Time of Heliotrope when a bunch of powerful mages warred with each other and almost destroyed all life?” I asked with a smirk. Okay, maybe Zarra was throwing too many tropes in here. I guessed that most people would like it, though.

“Yes, grrrr. So you do know something about it?” he asked.

“I just guessed.” I smiled at him. I didn’t really know what ‘Heliotrope’ meant, but the way my new friend had said it made me think it was destructive. “So these mages were really powerful? More powerful than the ones nowadays? And there are lots of treasure hunters searching for their old relics?”

“Ha, Leo! You and your adventures. I don’t really know anything about that. Could be possible. I’m just trying to sell my spices, and not have to--”

“Artus!” a voice screamed in front of us, and we turned to see who shouted. It was a tall, blond man wearing a light shirt of gleaming chainmail, a long sword, and an angry facial expression. He was flanked by three other men who were also armed, and the citizens in the street began to duck into the alleyways.

“Pay Kimmel Halafast all of my profits,” Artus finished with a sigh.