Several days followed and the boredom increased with each passing second; the only thing breaking up the monotony of darkness and silence was the guard dropping off food.
“I can’t take this anymore! I’ve got to do something! I can’t just sit here!” Nayir started shouting.
The boredom became too powerful for Nayir and he resorted to an act that he had never contemplated before in his life all in order to stave off the boredom.
He rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up on his hands and knees.
“What… am I doing…?”
He was shocked at himself.
“I can’t do this. I shouldn’t have to.”
Nayir sat back down and resumed his silent waiting.
“…”
Nayir screamed in frustration.
“I have to… I can’t sit here any longer! I can’t!”
He began a physical workout doing press ups.
“This may… even… help me… run longer… so I… don’t… get caught…”
Nayir’s workout lasted less than one minute before he collapsed from exhaustion.
“Why… why is it so hard?”
He lay where he collapsed, resting, until he was able to move again.
“I’m not doing this. It’s stupid. Why should I tire myself out over something so difficult?” Nayir paced in the dark, “But… I don’t want to be bored anymore…”
Nayir returned to the press up position after he fully recovered his stamina and continued with the exercise until he could move no longer, rested and started again, changing to sit ups.
Many hours of this pattern continued when two system messages appeared causing him to stop momentarily to read it.
Stamina rises by 1 point. (+1 STA)
Strength rises by 1 point. (+1 STR)
“Oh? You can get stats by repetitive actions? But it’s not very efficient… it takes so long… I think… I’ll rest for the time being. I’ve worked hard today.”
He sat down with his back up against a wall.
“Stats window.”
Status WindowNameNayirAlignmentNeutralLevel1ClassMageTitleNoneFame-50Health65Mana150Strength10Agility9Stamina11Wisdom11Intellect21Luck0Leadership0Attack3Defence0Magic ResistanceFire6%Water6%Earth6%Black Magic0%
“Still pathetically weak… but now to rest; I’ve earned it.”
With that, he settled down and fell into a deep sleep.
After another couple of days, Nayir began to consider what he would do first when he left prison.
“I can’t get new spells because that miserly shopkeeper won’t lend any to me. I can’t go outside because of their stupid four week rule so that’s close to another two weeks where I have to find something to do…”
Nayir thought hard, considering what may benefit him when he is able to go outside.
“I could get a weapon… but the people here aren’t very giving. That goes the same for armour and other items, I guess. I suppose I could do what I’ve been doing in here, for magic instead of physical…It would certainly help if I could inflict more damage with my spell… But how? I can’t practise magic in the city… that might happen again. I guess I’ll just have to ask someone. Hopefully it won’t be as tiring”
With that matter safely decided upon, Nayir continued on with his routine of sleeping with breaks to exercise.
The rest of his imprisonment continued in very much the same way and the time passed a little quicker now that he was actually doing something. He also found that he could sleep for longer after the physical exertion he put his body through and, since he was brought food and water, he did not have to worry about dying of hunger.
By the time his sentence was served he had managed to raise a total of eight points in Strength, five points in Stamina and three points in Agility.
The familiar clang of the metal door resounded throughout the prison that signalled the approach of the guard.
“Come on, foreigner. Let’s go.” The guard spoke as he opened the door to the room where Nayir was being kept.
“…Just... five more…minutes…” Nayir replied after being partially woken from his slumber.
“I’m not waiting for you! We do things in my time, foreigner! If you’re not coming out; I’ll drag you out!”
With that phrase, the guard walked into the room, grabbed Nayir by his ponytail and walked back out.
Nayir was instantly awake.
“Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! That hurts! Stop it! Stop it right now! Let go! Ow! I’ll walk! I’ll walk!”
The guard ignored Nayir’s pleas and continued to drag him out of the prison by his hair.
After a few minutes, the pair emerged into the morning sunlight.
“Ow! Ow! My eyes! My hair! Eyes! Eyes!”
You have been temporarily blinded.
Accuracy of attacks decreased by 60%.
Defence decreased by 35%.
Chance of critical hits being received increased by 40%.
Lasts 20 Seconds
“I don’t want to have to see you again! So don’t go stealing anything else, you hear!”
A force propelled Nayir forwards but, due to his being unable to see properly, he stumbled and fell onto his face.
“Ow…”
Nayir remained in the position that he had fallen in until he received the system message:
Blindness effect disappeared.
All stats return to normal.
“How dare he?! Dragging a person by their hair! What sort of man does that?! That hurt!”
Nayir gradually got up and gazed around him to find there were several people staring at him.
“Well, at least I am finally outside. Now let’s see. I don’t want to damage my nose again so I think I’ll ask someone who will use a little less force. Now, who is weak but will know where I can increase my stats…!”
Nayir chose one of his observers.
“What class is weak but has high Intellect?”
The person looked stunned. A young man had been thrown out of the prison by one of the city’s guards and had decided to ask them a question.
“You! Answer me!”
“Um… I don’t know… a cleric…?”
“Where can I find a cleric?”
“…The church?”
“Where is the church?”
“…It’s the building with the spire. You can see above the rooftops over there.”
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Nayir set out on his journey to find a cleric.
***
After an hour had passed, Nayir was still walking. Getting to the location he wanted was proving difficult through the many twists and turns of the city streets.
“Why couldn’t there be a straight road there? That would have made this so much easier! Then I wouldn’t have to go through all of this effort just to find the place!”
As he continued up the street he was traversing, the road brought him past a figure pulling itself along the ground.
It looked up at Nayir.
“Oh! A person! Thank the heavens! Kind sir, would be as generous as to provide me with a small bite to eat and some water. You see, I was in the training hall behind me but, unfortunately, I got too into the training and hadn’t noticed that I had run out of provisions...”
Nayir gazed at the figure.
“Now, my stamina is all gone, so I can barely move and my satiety is almost at the bottom. I’m sure a warm-hearted and generous person, such as yourself, would be willing to help me, so that I don’t die from hunger, wouldn’t you?”
Nayir stared at the figure, it turned out to be a bedraggled young man; glancing past the young man he spotted the training hall where he could make out what seemed to be people hitting something with a stick.
Returning his attention to the man on the floor, he spoke,
“Where is the church?”
“The church?”
“Yes.”
“Oh! You’re a player! Ok. Can’t get something for nothing, I guess.”
“Where’s the church?”
“I haven’t been in this game long but, luckily, I did happen across it as I explored the city.”
“Church.”
“The church, right. Then you’ll help me, yes? You can get to it through that alley; it will take you straight there.”
“Lovely.”
Nayir headed towards the alley that the man had indicated and entered it.
“Wait… he’s… just… going to leave me here?” The young man stuttered incredulously.
“Even after I told him how to get to the church?! What kind of person is he to leave me in this state?! How dare he!”
With the last reserves of his strength, he shouted after Nayir,
“I’ll remember this, elf!”
Using up all of his energy, his hunger overwhelmed him and he disappeared in a grey flash as Nayir vanished from his sight.
***
Several in-game days later, a strange sight could be seen in Desseria’s training hall.
There was a young man frantically beating up a scarecrow. The scarecrow, however, appeared to have been modified.
The young man was striking the scarecrow with such intensity that it made the surrounding players rather nervous.
“Who do you think that is?”
“What happened to him?”
“Why does the scarecrow have pointed ears?”
At hearing that, the young man picked up his pace and, in between his strikes, he spat at the scarecrow,
“You will not be forgiven for letting me die, elf!”
***
Nayir exited the alley and, true to what he had been told, he appeared before the church he had been searching for.
He walked across to stand in front of the entrance.
It was a smaller building than Nayir had expected and lacked the pomp of what he thought a city’s main religious building would have.
“For a church it’s not all that impressive but as long as I can find a cleric then it’s ok. Now where might… ah!”
As Nayir searched around him for a cleric, a female wearing a long robe was running in his direction, to the entrance of the church.
“She must be a cleric!”
As she neared him, Nayir reached out and caught hold of her upper arm, stopping her suddenly.
“Where can I raise my Intellect?”
The cleric looked terrified.
“Tell me! Where can I raise my Intellect?”
Still the cleric said nothing.
Nayir got annoyed, grabbed her other arm and began to shake her.
“Where can I raise my Intellect? Answer me!”
The cleric had started to cry.
Nayir shook harder.
“Why won’t you speak, woman! Where can I raise my Intellect!”
Nayir’s raised voice had drawn the attention of a couple of the paladins from within the church to appear and, upon witnessing the scene, swiftly intervened.
Each of the paladins took hold of one of Nayir’s arms, pried them off of the female cleric and forced him backwards.
“Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me! Let go of me, I tell you!”
The cleric, taking the opportunity, dashed inside the church.
“Hey! Wait! You haven’t answered my question! Come back here! Where can I raise Intellect?!”
“Listen, elf! If you don’t want to get hurt then I suggest leaving. Now.”
“But I want her to answer my question!”
“Try the library! Just leave now. Before I can no longer restrain myself from acting upon your manhandling of my cousin and receive the murderer’s mark under the shadow of the holy church of Freya!”
“Where’s the library?”
“You...! Urgh… It’s that large building a couple of streets behind the church. Now leave!”
Nayir left towards the path that would take him past the church, rather pleased his nose was still intact.
“I keep meeting nice people today. It must be my lucky day. Although that cleric could’ve been friendlier, she didn’t have to ignore me like that.”
***
This day affected a certain girl gravely: she developed a phobia of elves.
Should she meet an elf in passing, she will run in the opposite direction, crying.
Her companions could only look on helplessly, as nothing they had tried could remove her fear.
“Elves…so… scary….”
***
Following a brief journey, Nayir arrived in front of a large building that declared itself as a library by the sign next to the entrance.
He strolled through the entrance, into a large room filled with books, and up to the man working behind a desk, next to the entrance.
“Hi, I want to have more Intellect.”
-END CHAPTER-
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Sorry for this being so short. I've been extraordinarily busy since returning to caring for the little cherubs at school, on top of my other job, and what time I have had has been spent sleeping.
I figured that I'd rather post this as it is, instead of holding it back, since it's only the third chapter and I don't want to get behind so early.
Should I have time in the future, I will rewrite this and expand upon it but at least it meets my goal of at least 2,000 words per chapter, barely.
I would imagine people are beginning to have an inkling of one thing that is going to happen in this story.
I've just found out that the name for the fear of elves is 'fayophobia'. Whether that's true or not, I'm unsure. Why would someone have a fear of something fictional in the first place? It's bizarre. Then again, so are most phobias. Feel free to comment with the weirdest phobia that you know, it'll give me a laugh.
~Emeki