DRIFA
“AHHHH! Bob, my love, save me from this monster!” A woman holding a check screams from the TV.
“But, dear, it’s not a monster. It’s only my gambling fees! I’ll win next time around. You’ll see!” Bob says convincingly.
“But how will we pay for the kids!”, she wail
“All I have to do is win. I hear that people win all the time!” He states rather positively.
Stupid Bob. Just like dad… but with shades and weird sideburns,… and with a bigger gut.
“That’s it! I’m getting a divorce-”
ZZZT!
“What!”Shouting in outrage, I let go of the pillow I was holding.
“She was almost free from that cheating idiot, to find her true love! Ack, well I’ll go check if the TV cord got jostled, pretty sure I paid my power bill…”
Walking up to the cord I look at it, it seems fine. Taking it out and plugging it back in again does nothing.
“Huh, weird. I’ll go over to the front desk and ask about it.”
> [Loading…]
Startled I jump back
“So the TV decided to go in my head huh?”
Kinda seems like those books I read where people get transported to a video game-like world. Usually, they get teleported to a tutorial or another world. That would be great, besides all the people dying in those books, but superpowers and epic monster battles seem fun!
I end up walking around the place excited, but after a few minutes have passed I start to get bored.
What’s taking it so long?
Tapping my foot impatiently I look around
Well maybe it’ll let me take stuff from here over? Electronics never work in the stories, so I’ll ignore those.
“Hmm…” I look down at my shoes thoughtfully.
Well may as well have my favourite hoodie when I get there! Maybe I’ll blend in and look like a wizard cloak or something!
A grin splits my face.
I like the sound of that, it’ll also keep me away from the monster while I throw fireballs or something!
Running over to my dresser and rummaging around I find it. Baby blue, oversized, with one big daisy as usual.
What temperature is it over there though? Is it hot, cold, humid? Never mind, I’ll just wear jeans, those are good everywhere! And if I have a tank top under the hoodie it’s okay if it’s hot or cold!
Enthused with my idea I run over and get changed out of my leggings and cardigan.
“OK System, take me! I’m the most prepared of them all!” I say smiling with my arms out. After a minute it gets kind of awkward and I let my hands fall.
> [Loading…]
“Tch. Well, maybe we’ll end up starving because there’s no readily available food like in “Cooking With Disaster” By Dakota Krout… yeah, best to be prepared.” Eyeing all of my favourite snacks I’ve been saving for a special occasion I dive in.
This is a special occasion I think. May as well also have some water.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Any time now…” Tapping my foot impatiently I look at my wrist.
“It’s always good to be fit!”
Doing some jumping jacks, eventually drenched in sweat, I grow concerned.
Am I just crazy? I’m not acting like a rational person right now. A reasonable response would be having a mental breakdown or questioning their sanity or something like that. I guess I’m doing the second bit now, just had a bit of lag.
I frown.
I’m probably fine then… I think. But may as well call for some help.
Reaching out for my phone I click the power button, only to be received by a black screen.
“Ohhh yeah, powers out. But I don’t think that should extend to my phone. Right? Ha! So there’s still a chance I’m not crazy.”
So how do I use it? Open interface. Open. System view.
> [Loading…]
“No? Okay, fine.” I grump, “Maybe it’ll work aloud? Open interface! Open! System view!”
> [Loading…]
“Okay, so none of those work. Maybe we don’t get to look at it yet? Or maybe this System doesn’t have that option? I guess the stories wouldn’t be that accurate.”* * *
> [Loading complete!]
“Finally! It’s been long enough! One and a half days of nothing is boring.”
Jumping up from my bed I run to the kitchen to grab a knife.
Perfect! The other ones are in the wash and the System probably doesn’t want biomaterial.
Gazing down at my clean butter knife triumphantly the world goes blue.
After a while, I see some colours other than blue show up. Slowly pulling itself together to a point where it’s understandable I find myself in a small rustic-looking hotel room without any open windows and a small candle.
It’s a bed I guess. Not the best but not the worst I’ve seen. Doesn’t look magical, maybe it was all a weird dream and I got kidnapped? Drugged? Nah, seems too fancy of a place for that.
I chuckled to myself.
“But I do need to figure out where I am. Hopefully, it’ll ease me into it. And it isn’t like I’m leaving anything behind except my TV. But I should be careful even if this is exciting. People seem to die a lot in those books and I don’t want to do that.”
After thinking for a bit I decided that I should probably stay here.
It’s safe, and maybe it’s a waiting room anyway and other people will show up.
***
ISMUND
After toweling myself off I get dressed and head over to my room.
> [Loading compete!]
Now I can go see what this mysterious ‘Help’ is. Get some sleep, head off to see if there’s anything left of the village, and get strong enough to exact revenge.
Walking into my room I’m greeted by an unexpected sight.
“Who are you?! Is this like a waiting room or something? I’m warning you, I am good at buttering toast!” A weirdly dressed girl shouts with frazzled curly white hair.
I don’t know what she’s expecting to do with that butter knife.
“Why are you in my room?” I say exasperated.
It’s been a long day.
“I don’t know! There was a loading screen and then, and then, the world was blue and then I was here. Is this like the room you get sent to like a tutorial?” She says rapid fire.
Oh boy. Maybe I should be thankful for the new update. The system, where’s my so-called ‘Help’?
> [Answering query…]
>
> [User Drifa Helgason’s designation is ‘Help’. There were no available users or creatures that were deemed acceptable at this time. It was deemed necessary to take user Drifa from her timeline to complete the request by using emergency energy reserves.]
I grew pensive.
Wouldn’t that mess with the timeline?
> [User Drifa originally died 0.3 seconds after initialization due to a heart attack. She will not affect the timeline]
So why would she be helpful?
> [Help’s skills seem to be complimentary to user Ismund as a support class.]
I sigh.
Okay, you know what? Why not at this point?
“You seem kind of zoned out. Did I say something wrong? You still haven’t answered my question!” The girl, Drifa, says agitatedly.
“I’ll tell you later. Just wait, I’m going to get you a room. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.” Frustrated about having to spend more money I head over to the front desk to spend more money.
Going over to close the door she seems to think it’s a good idea to talk more so I give her a warning glare and close the door.
Hopefully, she doesn’t take anything of mine.
Heading downstairs I buy another room for her and grab the key.
“Hey! I got you a room. Go take it and get out of mine.” I call through the door.
“Coming!” She opens the door, takes the key and finally leaves me alone.
Re-entering my room I find it a mess.
She must’ve been curious. But that’s no excuse to leave the place like this.
Frowning, I put the place back together and try to figure out what on Earth I’m going to do with her.
It says that she’s supposed to help me, but I don’t see how that’ll be possible with somebody who has no prior training and is going to have a heart attack. I’m not sure why that didn’t happen this time but I guess she got to stare at a loading screen for a while first instead of being thrust into a world with monsters right away.
I’m not particularly keen on bringing her anywhere though. I also don’t think that leaving her here is going to be helping anything. She’s supposed to be a support class so at least I don’t have to train her. I’ll just ask what kind later and give her the stuff for it. I don’t want to have her involved in the whole revenge thing. It’s my family, not hers.
Deciding that’s a good enough plan for now, I hit the hay.