The pictures I had posted had blown up. I saw them on Facebook when I logged in. I saw them mentioned in conspiracy forums. I saw them everywhere. The general consensus was that I was a brilliant artist who had just leaked images from a very secretive game being created. A few people on Reddit asked if I had been fired yet, and others asked if I was still alive, as if they were part of a big joke. I posted the pictures of the spider and the landscape in response. I ate the last of the snacks in my backpack and realized that I forgot to bring soap, shampoo, and many of the other little stuff I never really thought about. Perhaps I shouldn’t have put that money on the counter, and instead have taken it with me. Too late.

I slept a little, with my teeth feeling a little gritty, and the taste in my mouth being a little foul, and woke up when it was dark, feeling refreshed at around 10:30 in the evening. It was quiet. Extremely quiet. There was normally some noise that accompanied my sleep. I stand up, and head to the restroom, in the corner of the room. It was small, and I could barely fit, but there was everything a bathroom needed: a shower, a sink, and a toilet. I do my business, take a shower, and get dressed: I need money quickly. I healed my face a couple of times while waiting for midnight.

My current progress on the Novice Mage achievement was 23/100. My Magic Affinity was currently at 2/999. Lesser Healing was the highest-level spell I had, at 10/999. Repel was closely behind at 6/999. If I wanted to be a mage, I would need to find some way to kill things with magic. Currently, I was closer to being a warrior with a messed up stat distribution: Warrior I currently sat at 4/100, while Battlemage I currently sat at 0/100. My Magic stat was at 12, which was the highest of my stats, aside from Creativity still at 15.

I dig out one of my notebooks during the dead time between the time I had woken up, and midnight, when I’d start again, and make a list of things that I’d need ASAP from the store: dog food and cat food at the top of the list, followed by other things like soap and shampoo and other toiletries. I also wanted to get more clothes: in my haste, I had forgotten to take nearly all of the ones I owned and a sewing kit, so I’d be able to repair what clothes I had. My favorite hoodie now had a tear in the side, after all. I also wanted new notebooks to help me begin to decipher the strange language of Efra, and some food to hold me over until I could buy a refrigerator.

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My larger goal, at the moment, was to save up enough money to buy a truck so I could haul more stuff than I could in my small car. Not new. I still didn’t have my license. I’ll get that later.

“Can you show me the map of the surrounding area?”

I took out my Shard. Trying to look at the map just by the flashing memory I got from the messages and tables, was a difficult experience. There were 10 doors in the small plaza that contained the Townhouses, and a quest to clear them. That would be impossible, however, thanks to the one in my yard, but leaving them would leave a bad taste in my mouth, so I suppose I’ll close the other doors in the plaza. I walked toward the front door, and then remembered something, and headed back into the door in my backyard.

Despite being night, and 24 hours since the doors opened, it was still daylight inside of Efra. I walked over to the corpse, pulled the shield off the creature’s arm, and headed back to Earth. I suppose I’ll get a shovel as well. A light rain had begun to fall in the time it took me to go in and come out. I raised my hood and buckled the shield over my arm.

“Bye Clio.” I scratch the dog’s head, “Love you.”

She wagged her tail, and I left the back door open for her to go in and out as she pleased. I left the apartment and locked the door behind me. The closest door was just around the corner. Embedded into the side of the wall of the townhouse building next to mine. A level two.

I glanced around, to make sure no one was watching, secretly cast Repel on myself and stepped into it and once more into Efra.

I stepped out into an open street. Wattle-and-daub constructs stretched around me. Behind me, I had stepped through the half-destroyed door of a burned-down building.

“What’s the goal?”

The Shard shone in my pocket, and the message flashed into my mind.

Kill the enemy 0/1

I glanced at the roofs. Nothing was there. Good.

“Didn’t you say that you’d show me why the enemy can’t just push through the door?”

Indeed. Don’t kill him just yet.

“Who?”

I stepped forward, and something jumped on my back from the shade in between the burned-down building, and the fogwall next to it. Its rat legs wrapped around my neck, and a flurry of blows fell down with some kind of clubs. The Repel held firm for the first few.

Bring him to the door.

I grab hold of his legs, as my Repel shatters. A club blow strikes me in the jaw, and I rush backward toward the door. The ratman screams in pain as we near. Soon, an unbearable heat scorches my back, and I let go of the rat. It falls down and I quickly back away and glance back. The white flame burned away at the creature until it was nothing but a pile of ash.

That’s why.

I step back into Earth $220 richer.