“You’re saying that Cornelius is your grandfather?” Finn asked, arms folded across his chest. He had picked up a piece of straw from the side of the road and started chewing it in the curve of his mouth.

“Maybe. Or at least he’s connected to my grandpa in some way,” I felt like I was coming across as a crazy person. Having explained to Finn about the username, my grandfather’s disappearance, and then hearing his voice in the darkness before I woke up. That last part seemed to really pique Finn’s interest as he commented that no one in Phyrelia knew anything before they first opened their eyes in this world. They only had notions of their previous lives almost like a dream of a fading memory. He shared how most people in Phyrelia knew that this was some kind of game or system and that they weren’t originally from this world.

“Has anyone tried to leave?” I asked as we stepped under the shifting leaves of a golden oak tree.

“The Gatefinders tried, and they're still trying as far as I know,” Finn said as he kicked a small rock into the underbrush that folded over the path.

“Who are the Gatefinders?” I asked.

Finn looked up at the shimmering light that was pooling through the thin overcast of shaking leaves. The wind had picked up a few minutes prior and had made the trees whistle. It reminded me of long days trudging through the northern woods of Montana watching the sun turn the forest into a blaze of orange and red. It was a wonderful memory and one I thought of frequently. However, it did bring up a question I never would have thought of before. What would my life be like if I didn’t have any of my memories? Would I even miss something I couldn’t remember? Would I try to seek some unknown treasure that no longer had any significance in my life?

Finn finally spoke, but his eyes never left the treetops. “The first few weeks after everyone woke up here a group of avatars got together to form a guild known as the Gatefinders. They called themselves that after the leader found the first gate.”

“Gate?” I asked.

“There’s a rumor that spread from the Guild that if we could find all the gates hidden through the world and found a way to activate them, we could return home,” Finn hopped over a long root that curved down from a small edge of dry grass. He let out a stifled laugh and then continued. “A lot of people joined the Guild hoping to find a way home. After not finding anything after the first year... many gave up. They decided they didn’t want to put their lives in danger for a life they no longer remembered. Many of us found life here to be pretty good. That is if you stay close to the towns or stay away from the higher difficulty areas.”

“What about you?” I asked as we crossed a small stone bridge that took us over a gently dancing creak. I saw fish swimming in the water and bobbing their heads for low flying bugs.

“What about me?” Finn asked.

“Did you ever go looking for these gates?”

Again, Finn hesitated to answer. He reached up and scratched behind his tall ear and then spit out the straw in his mouth. “I did. For a while. I used to be a member of the Gatefinders too. Left them a long time ago to go out on my own.”

“Why?” I felt like a prying student whose questions were starting to annoy their professors, but I had so many running through my mind, and I had to get a few answers.

“You hungry?” Finn hopped over to the edge of the path and sat down on a fallen tree. He reached around and pulled a pack from behind his back. He opened the bag but didn’t reach inside. He flipped his paw-like hand in the air and a red apple instantly materialized out of nowhere. The whole action almost made me laugh. It was like the magician pulling a rabbit out of their hat, only this time the magician was a rabbit.

“How did you do that?” I asked as he tossed the apple into my hands.

“Everyone can do that. Even you can. It’s part of the system,” Again he motioned with his hand and this time a thin cut of dried meat appeared. He started chewing it while talking at the same time. “Look... I’ll tell you how to do it. Grab your pack.”

I did as he said and pulled my pack out. He instructed me to open it up by loosening the long strap. Once the bag was opened a line of green text wrote itself out in the air.

Traveler’s Bag

Empty

“Woah,” I exclaimed in a breathy voice.

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“Pretty cool huh?” Finn took another bite of the cured meat. “Let me guess. It says it’s empty?” I nodded. “Good, okay. Now with the apple in your hand imagine it inside the bag.”

In a flash the apple vanished. I couldn’t help but smile in excitement. It was really gone.

“Alright. First try!” Finn stood and patted me on the back. “Check your bag in the system.”

Looking at the Traveler’s Bag notification in the air, it no longer said empty.

Traveler’s Bag

Red Apple

“Now with the apple in your bag imagine it showing up in your hand. I like to add a little twist of the wrist when I do it. Makes it look more interesting in my opinion,” He ripped a piece of meat with his rabbit-like teeth then, holding out the remaining meat, he twisted his wrist, and it disappeared. I flicked my hand around as if I was performing my own magician’s trick and the apple popped back into my palm.

“There you go,” Finn clapped his hands, then sat back down on the log. He twisted his hand out and instead of an apple or piece of meat a blade popped into existence. The weapon was as long as his arm and reflected the light of the setting sun. “You can do it with basically anything. If you still have space in your bag that is. Your first bag won’t have much space. You’ll eventually get a better one as you level up, but don’t worry about it right now. It will be some time before you’ll need the upgrade. Here,” He made the blade disappear then reached his hand out to me. “Take these.”

In his hand were five gold coins. I let the apple drop back into my bag and took the coins. “Thank you.”

“No problem. It’s not a lot but you should get to stay a week or two at the local taverns and buy yourself a few good meals. Now take a load off I’ll give you some wolf jerky I smoked myself.” I went and sat on a rock on the other side of the path under a bent pine tree. It had dusted the rock with dried needles. I brushed them away, adjusted my tail, and sat down. We had only been walking for about an hour and already my feet hurt. I lifted one of my long mousefeet and started to rub it. The fur was smooth and the padding thick but soft to the touch. I realized that despite not wearing any boots I hadn’t noticed any pain from sharp rocks or loose pine needles. I placed my staff down against the broken bark of the pine tree and retrieved my apple.

Finn and I sat and ate for half an hour. It was quiet for the first few minutes as he sat with his head back and was looking up at the sky. Once he finished his own green apple, he started asking me questions about my grandfather. I told him how I've lived with him for a long time since my parents passed away. How he taught me how to work hard and study harder. He showed me how to hunt, clean a fish and carve a pointed stick by cutting away from yourself. Memories of us going camping, of him making me hot chocolate while I waited in his work trailer during the rain or snow. I couldn’t help but let all these stories flow out of me. I think it was something about the rustling leaves, the gentle breeze and the distant sound of the brambling brook that brought out the nostalgic side of me.

When the conversation began to die, I thought about asking Finn a few questions about his life in Phyrelia but before I could he stood up and told me we needed to keep going. “We’re about to reach the low fields of the Mireglades. You don’t want to be caught out in the marsh when night comes. Let’s go.”

The tall alley of white oaks and verdant pines curved around a high hill to our left that reached up and over a wide valley that opened to a cloud-filled sky. Large billows of clouds stretched across the horizon like fluffed cotton alight with fire. A deep crimson and tangerine light was beginning to stretch across the long fields of flowing grass dotted with sunburst flowers of white and yellow. Beyond a spread of squat downs, I watched a fluttering flock of birds fly against the building wind. Every few minutes the songs of hidden robins seemed to cut through the buzz of whipping leaves and brushing grass.

We started down a prolonged decline that led us passed a few tumbled stone buildings. Finn mentioned that the world was filled with thousands of years of history that could be found in books, tapestries, songs and in the ruins of ancient civilizations. All part of the system Lore. The area we were in used to be part of an old kingdom of Blackwings that had towering fortresses that stretched higher than the peaks between Riverbend and the Sunflare Sands. Hidden relics could be found among the old ruins for those who were brave enough to venture into their dungeons. A task meant for groups of at least four or five adventurers or high leveled avatars. Even then they were risky ventures. Death was still a thing in Phyrelia and there were plenty of things that could kill you.

As the descent finally flattened, I started to hear in the distance the chirping of crickets and the buzzing of flies. The earthy scent of still waters and shallow mudflats touched my whiskers. The air transitioned from a crisp autumn breeze to that of a humid, stale draft. I could taste the subtle flavors of spoiled leaves and drifting cattail cotton. All my senses seemed so sharp and well defined since taking on this new form. The details of the world were being painted before me with vivid strokes. I thought it would overwhelm me at first but once I found I could tune it out my senses cleared, and the world sharpened and steadied.

“About another hour before we get past the Mireglades and judging on the light we should get there before it gets dark,” Finn said as the dry path softened under our feet. We made it twenty minutes before we heard the singing. A low guttural voice that seemed to blend into the songs of the mire. Coming around a short bend in the tall reeds we saw him. A stout, frog-like man sitting on a turned over cartwheel. A large carriage was set off the side of the road with the back end sunk deep in the earth. The frogman was smoking a long pipe and was twiddling his grey beard. Did frogs grow beards?

“I forgot about him,” Finn said as he came to a stop and started scratching his ear again. He turned to look back at the way we came then with a huff turned to me. “Alright Miles. The choice is yours. We can either turn around and set camp back up the way we came before the glades, or you can take on your first quest.”