After checking both of their souls to the best of my ability. The best I could tell was they weren't lying to me and so I told them I would be back soon and that I'd planned to leave to find some ruins nearby. I then left them and told the guards that they could be trusted and allowed to stay here while I was gone I told them I'd be back and that I needed to visit someone and that I'd be back soon. I then hid behind a tent and said ‘log out’.

I was then logged out and returned to my body and bed. Much to the displeasure of my companions.

‘Come on we were just about to break into the good stuff, Briana.’

‘Well thank God that is over. I'm actually glad I don't have a stomach right now. Why the hell did you guys just leave me alone unattended in that tent? I needed help, you guys.’

‘You were fine John. We just didn't want to clean up after you and didn't want to catch it if it was contagious.’

‘That still doesn't mean you leave me unattended! I was dying there!’

‘Lennie said it was just mana deficiency from the teleport. He said you'd be better in a day. So we were letting you rest.’

‘Resting my ass! You try resting near your own bile when you can barely move. That sure ain't resting I'll tell you that.’

‘Well, at least it let us get away with making Briana a ‘god’ securing us some sweet grub and shelter.’

‘That's blasphemous! Why would you lie to those people like that? Religion isn't something you go around and mess with for some benefits. It's an important part of a people's history and their beliefs.’

‘And their beliefs are that kitsune are ‘gods’ to them. So since Briana is one we weren't lying to anyone. We were just using her ‘god’ status to gain some perks while we were visiting them.’

‘It's he right now Elizabeth. Anyways what time is it?’

I looked at my wall clock and saw it was six. Earlier than I usually got up but I don't feel like sleeping right now. I felt rested enough that I should make it to noon the. I can take a quick nap before logging back in.

I sit up and stretch for a minute before feeling faint soul presences around me. Reminding me that I needed to set up my soul defense for the day. It wasn't going to help that the church that my family goes to on Sunday is on the bigger side hosting around 1000+ people in it every weekend. I am probably going to be grinding my soul defense during church just so that I don't get overwhelmed by the number of people.

Thinking about it, learning about my heritage and my circumstances. This ‘game’ was having a drastic impact on my life. I learned that my soul and voices were all alien to this world and that I'd inhabited this body by inhabiting the soulless shell of a new born baby.

This all didn't make sense, but the effects were definitely real. I felt others souls yesterday and it didn't feel fake or made up, and I still felt them today. I felt that I needed more information than I had. Cause right now it feels like something is amiss. This ‘game’ must be being used for something, but for what?

I get up and get changed into my church clothes before making my way to the kitchen to make breakfast.

‘Ding’

I stop and check my phone to see that my sister just texted me.

‘Are you busy next weekend?’

‘No’

I made it to the kitchen and got out a frying pan on the stove.

‘Would you mind coming up and being a test subject for my new experiment?’

I wish my sister didn't text me just to see if I'd be her guinea pig. The only reason she did was because my parents actively encouraged it and it was less of a hassle than getting an uncooperative subject.

‘What is it this time’

I then got some ham and eggs was starting to fry them when her reply came.

‘I'm working on this new research project my professor is having me work on it's a new medical

scanner we've been developing. It's top secret though so I can't tell you the details. We just need willing test subjects to be in our setup for 24 hours’

Heck no! Why would I spend my whole weekend to be her test subject?

‘No way! I'd rather play SQO. I just got it this Friday for my birthday!’

I stirred the eggs as the ham sizzled on the stove.

‘What if I told you that you could play SQO while doing our tests’

It would get her off my back and allow me to dive for a full twenty four hours. That would definitely be nice.

‘Fine I'll do it, but I better be getting paid for this’

‘Your payment was me helping you pass chemistry’

I really wish she'd stop using that card, but she really was the reason that I even did decently in that class. It just never clicked with me for some reason.

‘Fine when do you want me there’

The eggs were cooked and the ham warmed so I served them up and put the pan in the sink.

‘8:00 pm Friday. You can spend Saturday night at my place and then you can drive back Sunday’

‘Do mom and dad know?’

They probably did but I wanted to make sure. It wasn't unlike her to pull something like this.

‘Yep they said I just had to get your permission’

‘Alright then. See you then’

I then sat down and started to eat my breakfast. My parents both walked in a minute later and turned on the coffee maker before realizing I was eating breakfast.

“You’re up early today.”

“I went to bed early last night. No one was on last night.”

“But weren’t you by yourself?”

“I had a quest that passed by them so we hung out for a bit. We had planned on doing something last night but they were busy so I just went to bed cause I was tired.”

“You’re going to early church with us right?”

“Yeah, I just have to clean my dishes and get dressed.”

“You made breakfast and didn’t make enough for all of us!”

“Sorry?”

To make things short I made more breakfast before getting dressed and going to church. My dad drove and I sat shotgun with mom in the backseat. We then pulled out of the driveway and made our way to church when it suddenly hit me.

‘J-jpjasd’ ‘adsnaw’ ‘aswjd-n’ ‘asdnq0’ ‘qdmppmq’

Crap this isn’t good. I had only thought about the people at the church and not the amount of people I’d pass on the way there. I tried to compensate by meditating and reinforcing my soul’s defenses. It was definitely unpleasant, to say the least. I wondered why it wasn’t this bad yesterday on my way to Rachel’s house.

The only reason I could think of is if my powers were naturally growing after awakening. In which case I had no idea how sensitive I would become to this. One thing was definitely sure though I was definitely improving this ability pronto.

I didn’t realize we were there until my dad shook me. I opened my eyes and tried to calm down and looked at him.

“Hey, you okay buddy you don’t look alright. Did you make yourself sick this morning? Do we need to be worried?”

“No, I’m fine just feeling car sick for some reason today.”

“Want me to drive you home?”

“No, I’m fine.

“You don’t look fine Brenner are you sure?”

“Yeah, I just need to sit down and catch my breath.”

“Okay just don’t push yourself too much you don’t look good.”

“I’ll be better in a minute just you watch.”

We made our way to our usual seats and waited for service to start. I tried to get my soul defenses squared away while I waited. But I just felt like something was wrong. My body felt way weaker than earlier, but my soul defenses were fine I double checked and couldn’t find anything wrong there. But as time passed I felt weaker and weaker.

“Are you okay son? You're looking worse and worse by the second.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I just need to use the restroom.”

I stood up but my legs started to tremble. My dad caught me as I fell.

“Here I’ll take you to the bathroom and you can take care of your business, but then we’re going home you hear.”

“Yeah, that sounds, good.”

After making my way to the bathroom I puked into the toilet before a sudden thought occurred. Weren’t these the same symptoms as John’s after the teleport? Had I used too much mana trying to shore up my soul defenses? Actually, why couldn’t I hear them? What was going on! I stood up and walked over to my dad before passing out.

I woke up on my bed and looked over at my clock. It was currently four in the afternoon. I bolted upright and looked around. A sudden wave of fatigue hit me and I fell back on my bed. I grabbed my phone which was still in my pocket and called my mom. She picked up right away.

“Are you awake sweety.”

“Yeah just feeling weak still. Are you guys home?”

“Yes, we were in the living room watching a show while you were asleep. Would you like me to bring you some food?”

“Yes please.”

“I’ll be up in a minute then with some soup.”

I hang up my phone and lay back down. What the hell happened.

‘Hello, Earth to Briana can you hear us?’

‘Is that you John?’

‘Of course, it is. What the hell happened?’

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

‘I don’t know I think I passed out from mana exhaustion for some reason.’

‘No I mean why couldn’t we contact you this morning?’

‘What do you mean.”

‘After you set up your soul defense you couldn’t hear us for some reason.’

‘It was starting to worry us lass. I know you ignore us a lot but you didn’t even react to anything we did.’

‘And they did a lot of stuff I’d rather forget trying to get your attention.’

‘Come on Elizabeth I know you don’t like it but usually, it gets his attention so we had to.”

‘You didn’t have to think that vulgarly you dumb oaf.’

‘What else was I supposed to do to get his attention. Yelling louder didn’t help.’

‘I get the point you guys I’ll look into it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. I think it might have to do with my innate magic awakening and growing faster than I know how to control it.’

‘The best plan then should be to play SQO and learn to control it there. That way we have twice the time.’

‘I think I’m going to need a few more hours Matt. I don’t quite feel up for that just yet.’

I wonder how else my body or abilities is changing out here. I just hope Velouria wasn’t kidding about me not growing a tail or anything. Cause I have no idea how I’d explain that to anyone.

Wait! Brainstorm! If I had magic deficiency just now. Does that mean that I could use magic outside of SQO! Wait, if people knew I could use magic that would be bad right? Argh, there are too many new variables to think about. I didn’t know what I could and there always seemed to be some new event in front of me. Didn’t Velouria give me her journal? Maybe I could find something useful in there. Problem was … I couldn’t read it unless I was in SQO.

Just then the door opened and my mom opened the door with a tray of soup and saltines in hand.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what came over me. But I think I’ll be better by tomorrow.”

“You sure it wasn’t because you stayed up all night playing SQO?”

“I’m sure I went to bed last night.”

If you count sleeping in the game as sleeping then sure. It definitely felt like I was.

“I got you a doctors appointment for tomorrow morning so just take it easy and go to the appointment. You don’t have to go to school till after you get the okay from the doctor.”

Sweet! No school tomorrow! Oh crap, I forgot that I had a test in physics tomorrow, and I haven’t studied at all this weekend. Maybe I could try cheating with magic on the test.

‘Magic isn’t going to help you take a test and are you even sure you can handle being in school nevertheless a test?’

‘Want to help me study Matt?’

‘Not like I got anything else going on, and you have to keep your grades up to keep playing SQO’

‘So you’ll tell me the answers during the test?’

‘No, you still need to learn the material yourself.’

“You okay Brenner?”

“Yeah, I just zoned out for a bit. Thanks for the food!”

“Call me if you need anything else we’ll be downstairs in the living room.”

She then left closing the door behind her. I then ate all the food she brought and spent some time studying for my physics test. After finishing my review I felt much better. Not mentally, but magically and physically I felt much better. I looked at the clock to see it was just about six. Good only about a day has passed. We’ll gather information and supplies before heading to those ruins we heard about. Then we can see if they hold some secret that could help us out. I donned my SQO helmet and laid back before logging back in.

I appeared back where I had logged out behind a tent. I looked around, but it looked like I had logged back in alone. I made my way through the camp back to where the festivities had been. On my way there I stumbled upon two of the villagers who pointed me to the Elder. I thanked them and made my way to his tent. When I arrived I saw him looking at a map talking to someone.

“Lucius has gone missing sir! He left a note saying that he had to visit the ancient burial grounds. Something about something desecrating the ancestors’ graves. I told him we’d send a team after we’d secured more provisions from a hunt. But he said it couldn’t wait and left on his own. There is also the matter of the two humans the princess left here I don’t trust them. We should kill them or kick them out before they bring more trouble.”

Great sounds like they’ve got a job for me today. Also, I’ll have to take those two guys with me before these guys get too twitchy around them.

“I’ll take them both with me to go find Lucius. He’s your spirit walker right?”

“Ah, yes princess. I’d heard that you had to leave and we didn’t expect you to be back so soon.”

“I finished what I needed to do earlier then expected. So I will gladly help you with this matter.”

“Are you sure princess? The ancient burial grounds are not a safe place there are many dangers there.”

“I am aware of this my companions which arrived with me will help protect me as well as those two men from yesterday.”

“Is that wise princess. I don’t trust them they could be working for the church which is after your head.”

“I personally checked their souls for any ill will. I did not find any so I believe they can be trusted. Also, I do not wish to further diminish the security of your village. I must repay your kindness with my assistance. It is the least I can offer after your hospitality.”

“You are too kind princess we shall gladly accept your help then.”

“The location of the burial grounds is due north from here. You will see a ring of stones with a set of stairs in the middle of them. I wish you a safe journey during your travels princess.”

“I will gather my companions and supplies and will head out then.”

“May the winds grant you fast and safe passage across the plains princess.”

I made my way out of the tent and made my way to where the Reed Dancers had set up camp. I couldn’t find anyone and thought I might be able to find Elizabeth at the very least.

Things just kept getting more interesting didn’t they. I barely logged back in and there is already something to do. I bet the guys are going to be excited. Elizabeth not so much maybe I could get some of the Reed Dancers to help us.

Deep in thought, I accidentally walked into someone and fell backward into the ground.

“Ah sorry about that Briana didn’t see you there.”

“Glad to see your doing better John.”

“Glad to be better. That was definitely was something I’d rather not repeat.”

He reached down to help me up and I grabbed hold as he lifted me back up. We then made our way to their camp and found Elizabeth organizing our packs. Why was she getting our packs ready?

“Hey, Elizabeth how’d you know that we had a job to do?”

“Lucky guess? I mean what else was your plan going to be. You hate sitting around and we need to find some clues about what is going around and we aren’t going to find them here.”

“We have a Quest!”

“Yeah, I forgot to tell you didn’t I. Apparently the village’s spirit walker is headed towards an ancient burial ground our job is to go find out what is going on there.”

“So it’s a Quest!”

“Yes John, it’s a ‘quest’.”

“I’ll go get Matt and Teage then I’ll be back real quick.”

John then sped off to go get them just as Rachel came up to us.

“So you got a quest?”

“Yep, we’re about to head out if you want to join us.”

“In that case, we can take one of the wagons. We’ll have an easier time getting there and collecting loot.”

“We aren’t going to rob the graves Rachel.”

“Why not? Isn’t that basic adventuring 101.”

“All that will do is lower our reputation with the people who live on the plains.”

“True, I guess I’ll have to suffice with whatever crafting materials we gather along the way.”

“THE PROPHET HAS RETURNED!”

That’s weird how did he know I was back already?

“I felt your presence return to us and made my way to you. We are ready to help you in whatever way we can.”

“I don’t know why you're so excited to see her uncle. She may be a prophet but she’s so young. I’m not sure she can be this prophet of yours.”

“How’d you even know I was back?”

“The Lord told me of your return. I then picked up your trail and made my way to you.”

Okay, that’s not creepy at all. Note to self. Figure out how to make some kind of concealment spell.

“Who are these two Brenner?”

“Remus and Raven. They seem to think I’m some kind of prophet from God or whatever.”

“I don’t believe that I just think my uncle is crazy.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because he pays me to protect him.”

She seemed perplexed by this but gave it no more thought as John came back with Matt and Teage in tow.

“Looks like the whole gang is here lass ready to head out?”

“I’m interested in what we may find in these ruins they may have some clues to our search.”

“Quite the crew you’ve gathered Brenner. I’ll have the wagon ready in a minute in the meantime get your gear ready. Apparently, there have been some rampaging beasts in the area. You’ve to always be ready for trouble when you’re traveling out here.”

She then left me with them and it finally dawned on me. We had no armor to speak of.

“You think we’ll be fine without armor?”

“Should be fine if we get hurt we can just have Elizabeth sing for us.”

“I’m not doing it for every scratch you get. So we need to make sure to get some later.”

“There is no need for armor as God shall protect us all.”

“Sure he will uncle, but you're not the one usually fighting, are you. So if you could ask God to give ‘us’ some we’d greatly appreciate it.”

“Nephew we must trust in the Lord and he will provide us with all the armor we need.”

“Sorry old man but I’ve to agree with the lad here. God might protect us, but I’ll feel a lot safer in some good metal armor. Never know when you’ll fall out of his favor and let the blade find you.”

“I’ve finally found you little one.”

Before I could react I was hoisted into the air by a big man. He then proceeded to pet my tail and ears while he held me in his arms. It felt nice but it also felt weird at the same time. I squirmed trying to get away from him, but his strength greatly exceeded mine. So I was left helplessly in his arms.

‘Kick’

“Unhand her you beast. Who are you and what do you want?”

John rescued me in his arms before putting some distance between us.

“John, you do realize that this is the who performed our teleport right?”

“He is? I thought he some random idiot that was assaulting Briana.”

“Well he was, but he did help us so you could have just asked him to have stopped.”

“No, it’s quite alright I shouldn’t have done that. I never seem to learn any self control. Beast-kin fur is just so irresistibly soft I just can’t help myself.”

“Well, I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from that if at all possible.”

“Very well I will do my best, but I must ask for your help first. My friend Lucius felt a disturbance at the nearby burial grounds. He believes someone or something is disturbing the resting spirits. We must quickly go meet up with Lucius to find out what it is and assist him if necessary.

“Rachel is getting the cart right now. As soon as it is ready we’re heading out.”

“Perfect! So is this everyone? It’s quite the crew you’ve gathered. With these numbers, we should finish this real quick.”

Rachel pulled up next to us driving a wagon with some supplies.

“Load up all the stuff you don’t want to carry. You’re going to have to all walk or else it’ll be too heavy.”

We loaded our gear and supplies and set out. Rachel saved a seat for me though saying that I was too small to walk fast enough so I sat shotgun next to her. We set off north to the burial grounds slowly letting the village disappear behind us.

“Quite the crew you’ve gathered. I’ve never had this many NPCs with me. The only NPC I travel with is Lennie. He is very knowledgeable about magic but he is a little … eccentric.”

“Yeah, I kind of found that out firsthand.”

“So how are you holding up? You didn’t look good yesterday are you okay?”

“I just had a stomach bug today so that was probably why.”

“No, I mean with your avatar and everything.”

“Fine I guess, the height thing will take some getting used to.”

“No, I mean the gender bender deal. I mean, how real does it feel?”

“I haven’t thought about it too much to be honest. I mean look at me. I’m a dang child. So not really that much femininity to really notice yet. So I kind of just ignore it for the most part.”

“I guess that makes sense. No need to senselessly dwell of things you can’t change and it worked out either way so I guess we can’t complain.”

I look up into the sky seeing the sun make its way across the sky soaking into my skin and arms. It felt as real as real life but I wonder if it is just me.

“So how real does this feel to you?”

“I don’t know, it felt clunky at first, but it grew on me. If I had to say it matches about 50% realism.”

“Why?”

“The food tastes just a bit off sense wise, and sometimes in a fight, I’ll feel like I’m lagging in my movements. But most of all it feels artificial for a lack of a better word. I can definitely see they tried to be realistic with the game, but it just lacks a certain amount of information that the real world doesn’t I guess.”

Maybe that means that my soul being from this world affects how I perceive it. So could that be the medium for how we come here? Projecting our souls using the headset to come here. That sounded very dangerous to me but so far there haven’t been any reports of anything harmful so I can only guess that there are numeral fail-safes put into place. What could their goal be though? Someone has to be pulling strings from behind the scenes. Cause all of this just didn't add up.

“So are you having fun playing? Even with the … changes.”

“Yeah it’s a blast and it’s interesting having a tail and the lore is definitely amazing I can’t wait to learn more.”

It was true I was having fun playing, but I knew things they could never understand and I didn't know how far these changes would affect me. I could just hope I would be able to enjoy it and worry about the future later.

Oh yeah, Velouria left me that journal of her’s didn’t she I turn around and retrieve it from my pack.

“What’s that?”

“A journal I was given by a kind lady. She said it might explain what happened to me.”

Hard to really explain that it was given to me by my first mother. I don’t think she’d believe me.

“Have you learned anything yet?”

“Nope, I haven’t had time to read it yet.”

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to read it on this trip. Should take us a day or more to get there.”

“That’s quite far I’m amazed more people don’t complain about it.”

“It’s scenic and usually there are events that happen along the way so it’s never completely boring.”

I open up the journal and start to read. Hopefully, it could explain some things to me about being a kitsune.