“This way of writing is so inconvenient,” Freya remarked, slowly finding each character she needed for her message.

[Dear Infamous Biscuit,

  Greetings, my name is Freya Evenkey. I am the Shaman of Safka. Recently your colleague Azer, also known as Dylan Adams in the land of Ohio, attempted to kill me. However, in a twist of fate, he met his end at the hands of a demon. He claims you are another player in a game he played. I would like to request information from you in return for an item Azer once promised you.

  If you are interested in a trade, please reply to this letter.

Sincerely,

Freya Evenkey]

After looking over the letter, Freya’s finger hovered over the arrow button. Azer said all she had to do was press this button, and her message would be sent. She didn’t see how that was possible. How could the letter find someone on its own? 

Nervously tapping her foot, she pressed the arrow button. She expected her words to fly off to find the letter’s recipient. But her writing only shifted slightly up on the screen. Looking closer, she noticed the word [Sent] in small text underneath her message.

“That’s it?” Freya bit her cheek. Did she do it correctly?

She stared at the screen, doubt eating at her. But there was little she could do. Shaking her head, she focused her vision outside the screen as she had done before. The text disappeared in a blink.

Leaving Azer’s belongings alone, Freya went inside the house. Just before stepping inside, she noticed a gold coin lying in the grass outside. Freya picked it up and scratched her head.

“Was this guy so rich he was just throwing gold around?”

She shrugged; it was the least of the strange occurrences today. Continuing into the house, she examined Azer’s former living arrangement. The front room was almost empty, save for a table, stove, and a few cupboards. The space was rather clean; there weren't even soot marks in the fireplace. Perhaps he had just moved in.

Going through the rest of the house, Freya peered around corners and under furniture to ascertain there weren’t any other demons. 

There wasn’t much in the house. There was a bed, but the sheets didn’t look like they had ever been slept on. Back in the front room, she found he had nothing in his cupboard–not one scrap of food or even a teakettle. 

A shiver ran up Freya’s neck. She wished she had asked Azer more questions. 

After inspecting the sparse contents of the house, Freya went back outside to look around his property. As she passed by Azer’s belongings she noticed something. The books now had easily readable titles:

{Wind Healing}

{Slick Surface}

 {Watermelon Bombs}

“But I swear they were written in a different language before…”

She reached down to pick up the book Azer mentioned.

Beep!

Freya jumped, almost dropping the book.

A green dot glowed at the corner of her vision. She shakily reached out to touch it. 

[Infamous Biscuit: Let’s meet. I’ll send you my location]

Beep!

[System]

[Infamous Biscuit shared their location!]

[Would you like to fast travel?]

[Daily fast travel limit: 0/2]

[Yes] [No]

The latter message filled up her whole view, blocking the direct message from Infamous Biscuit. It appeared closer to her, so Freya reached out unconsciously to move it like a piece of paper.

[Fast travel to the location of Infamous Biscuit engaged]

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Everything around Freya went black. Heart racing, she spun around taking in the empty space. Darkness enveloped her, yet she could see herself well, and even the book she still had clutched in her hand. Her feet felt like they were on solid ground, but Freya couldn’t tell how the ground differentiated from the sky. Her stomach lurched. What curse had overtaken her now? 

Then, true sky shone above her. She shielded her eyes.

A refreshing breeze hit her face and played with her hair. The smell of salt and fish washed over her. 

“Come help me bring these in you lazy dogs!”

“Oi, be careful with that!”

Freya squinted at the scene around her. She was standing on an old wood boardwalk. People rushed about all around her. To her left, a great galleon swarmed with deck workers. On her right, a rocky shoreline stretched off into the distance. In front, hills covered with buildings and terraced gardens rose.

The buildings all shared a similar architecture, favoring tall narrow shapes with white-washed walls and red roofs. Memories stirred in the back of Freya’s mind. Examining the buildings close to the dock, the giant red clock tower with white stripes sparked recognition.

“Am I in Pelophia?”

“Oh? Have you been here before?”

Freya jumped around. A tall, thin, dark-skinned man stood a few feet away from her. His appearance was rather odd. He wore dark green trousers, a pale green shirt, and a brown jacket, all of which seemed well made and not of a Vansyl style. His black hair was closely cut, and his beard was immaculately trimmed to not more than half an inch.

Perhaps most interestingly, a spirit of an octopus clung to his neck and chest. Its greyish red head peeked out from around his left shoulder.

Above the man’s head floated letters surrounded by a green box.

[Infamous Biscuit]

[Lvl 19 Druid]

“That was an interesting message you left. Are you really getting into the RPG aspect?”

“Excuse me?”

The man frowned.

“Wait, why are you listed as ‘Unclassified’?”

“Answer my question first: how did I come here? Was it the ‘fast travel’ the cursed ‘game’ mentioned?”

Infamous Biscuit’s frown deepened, “What?”

“What’s this game anyway? How did I get infected with it? Please tell me what you know. As I mentioned, I have a book Azer mentioned you wanted. I’m willing to give it to you if you can answer my questions.” Freya hefted up the book in question, silently thanking the coincidence that made her pick up the book seconds before coming here.

The druid inched closer to her, looking her up and down.

“Are you an NPC?”

“What’s an NPC?”

“A non-player character,” Infamous Biscuit said, squinting his eyes. He tapped his beard, then pulled at the octopus on his shoulder.

“Can you see this thing?” he asked, stretching out one of the octopus’ curled arms.

Freya nodded, “It’s an octopus spirit. It must want you to do something. It doesn’t seem malicious, more like a lost child looking for help.”

“Are you a part of the quest related to it then? Nobody else but me can see it.”

“I’m a shaman, so I can see spirits.”

“A shaman. Like that’s your actual profession, not a class.”

Freya stared at him, “I was hired by the city of Safka to be their shaman. I spent seven years as an apprentice to earn my title as shaman.”

Infamous Biscuit looked down at her, his mouth tight with doubt, but his eyes shined curiously, “So you’re really an NPC, like you were born here.”

“I wasn’t born here,” Freya said, taken aback. “I was born in Lisek.”

“I mean you were born in this world.”

Freya examined Infamous Biscuit’s appearance again. She knew of some dark-skinned people who came from the equatorial regions, but something about him looked extra foreign. Few people grew to be so tall. His clothes were of a style she had never seen before. Such a vibrant green color was impossible to get with ordinary dye. His facial hair was immaculately groomed. He looked like a sheltered noble who never left his palace walls. Yet here he was on this fishy smelling boardwalk.

And really, what kind of name was ‘Infamous Biscuit’?

“So, you’re not from this world?”

“No,” he said hesitantly, “Is this going to break the game if I tell an NPC that they’re in a game?”

He looked nervously up at the sky. The cool sea breeze picked up for a second, but the docks of Pelophia remained the same. Shifting his gaze back to Freya, a sly grin grew on his face.

“Hm, well I don’t think you’re an NPC anymore somehow. Your ID screen is green.”

“ID screen?”

“Yeah, this thing,” Infamous Biscuit pointed above his head. “Can you see mine?”

Freya nodded, “There’s your name and other letters and numbers floating above your head.”

“When did you start seeing this?”

“Just today, it happened after I picked up this playing card that appeared when Azer disappeared after he died.”

“A playing card… a Player Card? Oh…” his expression hardened. Scratching his beard, he stared off into the distance.

Freya waited for him to explain, but her impatience won out, “Oh, what?”

“Oh, well…” he looked at her with a different gaze, his eyes not so guarded and unbelieving, “I think you became a Player by picking up that card. Huh, I’m surprised it’s never happened before. Or maybe it has.”

“What happened?!”

“All players in the game get a Player Card when they start. You can’t sell it or drop it. But it’s dropped like a possession when someone dies. I guess if an NPC picks it up they can become a Player.”

“So, now I’m a player in this, this game?”    

“I guess so.”

Freya crossed her arms, “So what exactly is this game you’re all playing?”

Beep!

[Chaos on the Docks Event Dungeon will begin in 10 minutes]

Freya looked at the hovering text. Now what?

“Crap,” Infamous Biscuit said loudly, “This dungeon only opens once a week... Hey, you should do it with me.”

“What?”