Mmmmmmh…
Thaaaat’s a big stretch. Ouch, I really should get up and move around a little more often. Not like I’d have lost anything from getting a little exercise in while waiting for Screech to try and find me, just a bit too much of a goober to do that though I suppose…
“Alright…”
Peeling myself out of the wall bit by bit, my entire body continues to, you like, you know that feeling that you’re tearing yourself apart when you stretch but you’re actually not and it’s a mildly pleasing feeling? That, that feeling, I don’t know how else to put it.
My entire body continues to do that, and it isn’t long before I’m finally taking proper steps forward. I’ve been going from like, 2AM to now I think? What time even is it? I didn’t exactly check before logging out.
I take a look at the clock, aaaaand, eesh, 5PM. That’s not that bad, but it explains the soreness.
Anyways… just let me finish stretching, so I can eat food, and get back to not moving! I am positively starved. But the real question lies here, to which avenue of food do I pursue?
…Honestly I’m kind of feeling a burger. Seeing Screech decimate that thang made me kinda hungry for one myself. So… burger? I have the money… I HAVE the power… Burger. It’s burger time gamers.
“Luci!”
“Yes, Ethan?”
“I kindly ask of you to order a burger from Salazar’s! Bacon, ketchup, lettuce, mayo, NO CHEESE, fries, and uhhhhh, medium sprite please!”
“Certainly, Ethan. Please wait one moment.”
“...One, t-”
“Your food will be ready in nine minutes. The order has been paid for and will be delivered within fifteen.”
Tsk tsk tsk, I think I’m kind of already missing my motley crew which has been my crew for the span of like three hours. It’s rather boring when something has no bark with its bite.
…Well, what should I do while I wait?
…
The air is cold, frigid, even. It’s turning to winter, so… that about makes sense. It’s already nearly pitch black at five o’clock, so the chill is to be expected given the time I suppose.
…Even still, I take a few shaky steps forward, and I sit down. It’s probably… thirty something degrees out here right now? Yet… here I am, taking a seat, in shorts and a t-shirt.
…Why is that?
Because I wanted to take a look at the sky. It’s a cloudless night after all, just by sheer happenstance! So… I wanted to look, see if I can’t find what it is that got me so good on that wagon ride.
Filling my lungs with another dose of that same freezing air, I let loose the breath and watch the heat float away, allowing my eyes to trail upwards along with it shortly before it vanishes.
The sky is black.
No clouds in sight, just an endlessly rolling blank canvas.
Oh, sure… neon lights fill the sky, or at least a part of it, Billboards and advertisements in the far off distance, various similar lights flash in the edges of my vision. It’s certainly something splattered across that great empty canvas, but… it’s just ink spilled into the whole, it was not drawn, nor could it be misconstrued as such.
I know I don’t put myself in the best headspace… thinking about things like this… but I guess I just can’t help it.
It’s all so… dull, disappointing.
…I wish I was born, twenty… no, maybe even only ten years earlier… Maybe then I’d know what it’s like, even if only for a moment… what that sparkling masterpiece was meant to be.
Wait, wait wait wait wait wait hold up, what is that in the distance!??!
Ethan. Drop everything, the burger is here. Ethan, get the burger.
A drone comes flying by, stopping just over the floor of my porch, and shortly thereafter it drops a package with a soft thud.
And feeling both the wind ravaging my pale skin, as well as the hunger pangs ravaging from within, I don’t find myself sitting in this here chair much longer at all! No time to dwell on all that, I’ve got things to do, places to be, people to see! Well, not people, people, but like, you know, people.
All of them certainly being much better things than spending my time here, under a starless sky.
—
Settling back into the Immersion Gear is easy, it doesn’t even take me a second thought to decide if I want to go STRAIGHT back in or not. I only needed like, a twenty minute break to begin with, and it’s not like I wanted to stay out any longer or anything! I’ve got gaming to get back to!
So, oop, that’s a DM, how long has that been here…? A whole day? Uh, woopsie poopsie? Must’ve missed it last time I logged in. Who’s it from… Onesie? What the heck is he DMing me for? And not Cassie or Rither? I’m like, almost mildly offended by this! Whatever, whatever.
“How are the first few days going for you? They’ve been going fairly well for me and the rest of my guild. Two of us got a rare class and we’ve also reached an average level of seven. All things considered, I think we’re doing fairly well.”
Does… does he like, think we’re friends, or…? Cause why the heck is he dming me over minor stuff like this? Didn’t we agree on a business relationship? Ah, to hell with it why not?
“Pretty well tbh got a different class this time around instead of going for a swordsman type. its common but I’m pretty satisfied with it in all seriousness. Im not just gonna tell you what it is but as a hint my average level has reached”-actually what is my average level? Nine, nine, twelve… nine plus nine plus twelve is thirty, quick maths. Thirty divided by three is-”ten. See if you cant figure it out lmao”
Alright, DM answered in a vague and hopefully unsatisfying way, let’s get right back into the news!
L-la-lalalalala-log in!
“...!”
“Oh hi you’re back what was up with that you disappeared for a really long time out of nowhere!”
“...What?”
Well this is… different. Why the heck is Jasper whining straight into my mind?
“...!!! Mmm! ..mM!”
She’s usually not so vocal, the heck is going on with hHOH MY GOODNESS!
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Flying through the window, Jasper practically lunges for my face, in which she barely misses because her intention was obviously choreographed through our link ahead of time. Still though, there was power behind that! What in the hell is she doing!?
I logged out in bed beforehand, so I’m still under covers here and can’t really get up right aw-
…
“You… you alright?”
Rebounding with all her prior momentum, Jasper redirects that into a very emotionally charged headbut. Specifically of a variety known as stress.
“Mmmmgh…”
“Okay… what the hell happened for you to be so worried about me?”
“M??-MMmM!”
“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’??? Cause no, I really don’t know what happened???”
“MMM!”
“I… disappeared?”
Like… from logging out?
“MM!”
“...How so?”
“M-mmmMmhhh, mmhmmm…”
“You… couldn’t sense me at all, like I just vanished vanished, outright?”
“Mhm!”
“Uh huh… alright, I’m going to just try something real quick. I might vanish again-”
“MMM???”
“BUT, please do not freak out, I’ll be back in ten seconds.”
“M-MmmMgmgMM-”
Log out.
Uno-dos-tres-quatro I-don’t-know-the-rest-R.I.P!
“MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM-”
“Okay, sorry, sorry! Just testing a theory, I’m not in… any danger??? And one more thing, I shouldn’t vanish this time. Everybody? Uh, not everybody, Screech and Jerry, you two feel free to stay out.”
“Okay!”
[Recall]
And, log out.
I… have an idea here. Jasper’s never made a stink of these before despite being with me on a log out on multiple occasions. But, she was also de-summoned each time I wasn’t in the game. It’s kind of obvious I suppose, if they’re not bound to you when you leave the game, their free will wouldn’t be impacted? I guess?
…This raises interesting conundrums, but that’s besides the point right now. I have to be right for it to matter.
Checking that theory, in three, two, one!
Log in!
“And did my presence just vanish suddenly?”
“Mm-mm.”
“Yes!”
“Mmm?”
Jasper seems to be under the impression that no, I did not, but Screech being the outside observer here, knows better.
“...Okay.”
I’m… not sure how to explain the concept of being a creature from another plain of existence compared to these npcs, if they’re even capable of understanding it, without breaking their perception of reality…
Actually, I can just do that to a T, can’t I?
“...Let me explain what’s going on. Okay?”
“...Mmm.”
“I would love to hear it this is weird! I haven’t lost track of you a single time yet today and suddenly you just vanished for realises! Like you died or something! I thought I wouldn’t be able to get more of the truffles from you ever again for a moment!”
“...”
Oof, that’s Jasper silence, not Jerry silence, she’s not a fan of that prospect, of me dying, not the no more truffles one.
“I’m… a being from another plane of existence. A whole lot of us recently came to this world, that’s why you saw so many people similar to me in town, Jasper. Screech, you wouldn’t have any reference point, but just trust me.”
“...Mmm.”
“Okie dokie!”
“We… have the… unique…” I ponder it as I navigate this web of bullshit I’m currently spinning. “Ability to head to a separate dimension when not in danger in order to restore our energy and rest, and recover… and that’s what I just did. I did it a few times with you before, just while you weren’t summoned, so it must’ve… taken you with me in some capacity, Jasper? Sorry to give you a scare, I just didn’t realize it would be an issue if you were summoned.”
…Please believe that?
“M- …Mmmm.”
Yessir. I really didn’t wanna explain that they’re actually fake creatures constructed to be sources of entertainment.
“Mm… mmmmhh.”
“I… apologize. I really didn’t mean to scare you like that. I’m not dead… I’m not going anywhere.”
I know they have some kind of trauma on that front, so… even if they’re just an npc… it was kind of cruel of me to do that, even if I had no idea that I could do that.
…But as long as I’m playing this game, I’ll strive for the best for everything I own, and that includes my monsters. Even if they’re not real, I’ll at least do them the courtesy of treating them like it.
And if what Jasper needs right now is a light, I’ll be that star guiding the way.