Maria watched as the village was engulfed by flames. She had tried to help, but the dwarf wouldn’t permit her to return to the village. All she could do was watch. The platinum-haired warrior extinguished the burning houses by shooting streams of water from her palm.

When the fires were doused, she marched to the older man. “I hope that’s the end of them.”

“For tonight, at least,” said Vadros. “Shadow Jesters have been more and more of a problem as of late. The guild’s running out of adventurers to protect the villages.”

A guild? Sounded promising.

“What of Chariot and Tanalia?” the platinum-haired warrior asked.

Vadros crossed his arms. “What do you think?”

She sighed. “Why was I expecting anything different?”

“You were holding out hope they would actually work together.”

“Honestly. They’re going to stain the name of our guild if they’re ever put together.”

“Their constant fighting will get people killed. Someone almost died because they were bickering. I had to rush in to save them.”

“Where are those two anyway?”

“Patrolling the outskirts of the village. At least they’re doing something productive right now. Don’t worry about them. I’ll have a talk with them.” A flask materialized in the palm of the older man's hand.

She glared at him. “Now? Of all times.”

“No need to be stiff. We did a fine job. No one’s dead. I’ll drink to that. Besides, if I’m to deal with them again, I need a drink.”

The woman shook her head. “That’s expected. None will die on my watch. You shouldn’t drink on the job.”

Vadros shrugged, and took a swig of the flask. “Go around and make sure everyone's okay.”

The platinum-blond warrior nodded. She went around, introducing herself to the townsfolk, and checked if they were alright. The warrior had a soft, caring voice, and carried herself with pride and stoicism. Even after all that fighting she hardly looked winded. Her gorgeous, platinum blond hair was braided over her shoulder. Maria’s eyes traced her slim figure, almost hidden by her cloak. Her gaze lingered on her breasts. Her armor was shaped around them. Same size as hers, just the way she liked them. What lucky blacksmith got to measure those to fit?

The warrior looked at Maria. “What about you, are you alright?”

Maria didn’t answer. The warrior's breasts had her captivated.

The warrior stood before her. “Can you hear me?” She snapped her fingers.

Maria’s eyes popped. A blush rose on her cheeks. “O- Oh, yes, I can. Sorry. I’m fine. T- Thanks for saving me back there.”

The woman narrowed her eyes and raised her eyebrow. “What were you looking at?” she crossed her arms over her chest.

Maria pursed her lips as she kept her eye on the prize. “Uhhh… Your armor. Excellent craftsmanship.”

The warrior smirked. “Custom ordered and fitted. You’ve an eye for quality.” She cleared her throat and her expression turned stern. “You ran back to the village. That was a stupid thing to do.”

Maria took a step back. “I was just—”

“Saving someone, I know, I know. Stupid… but brave.” She held out her hand to shake. “I’m Irra. Irra Illenwood.” She flashed a smile, then gestured to the older man standing watch over the crowd of people with her thumb. “He is Vadros.”

Maria smiled back, relieved things hadn’t escalated. “The name’s Maria.”

“What were you two thinking!” Vadros’s voice grabbed the crowd’s attention. Chariot and Tanalia stood in front of him.

“I was trying to protect people!” Chariot pointed at Tanalia. “She doesn't care! She’s only in this for the XP!”

“Don’t go accusing me, jackass!”

“If you cared, you would worry more about helping people!”

“I did help someone!”

“After you nearly hit me again!”

“Enough, the two of you!” Vadros said. “Three months I’ve given you. No matter how many times I’ve tried, you two won’t cooperate. I’m done with you.”

“What are you saying?” Chariot asked, her tone growing more worried.

“Neither of you is getting into the guild. Your teamwork is atrocious.”

“I can work with others!” Chariot said. “Just not her.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“No more! When we return to Oxfell, I’m expelling both of you.”

Tanalia scoffed and stomped away without another word.

“Please, I’m trying my hardest!” Chariot said.

“Not another word,” Vadros said.

An awkward silence fell onto the crowd. Maria pursed her lips watching it all unfold.

“Forgive me,” Irra said. “They’ve been troublesome apprentices for a while now. Good riddance to them. I was worried they would do something to tarnish the name of our guild.”

“It’s fine. You know, I’m something of an adventurer myself.”

Irra looked dumbfounded. “You don’t look like one. What in god's name are you even wearing?”

Maria looked down at her T-shirt and jeans. “Uh… clothes?”

“Strange-looking clothes.”

Maria scrunched her face up. “Gee, thanks.” Maria closed her eyes and craned her neck back as she caught her breath. She opened them and was awestruck. Amidst the starry night, the moon, bright as it was, had been shattered. Large fragments of dust spilled out from the far right side as if it had been hit by a meteor. “What… happened to the moon?”

Irra tilted her head up. “Do you not know the story?”

Maria paused. “No, I don’t. I’m not from around here. I’m actually from really, really far away.”

“Far enough away to not notice the moon? You live your whole life staring at the ground?”

“We’ll just go with that, sure. What happened?”

Irra cleared her throat. “Long ago, Moldark slayed the previous demon king, Orzamath. The people of Mytharia had once thought he would be there to rid them of the demon king's evil, but Moldark only took the place of his predecessor. The Church of the Lunar Goddess staged an uprising from the moon. Punishment for betraying their trust. He crushed them with a spell so powerful that it shattered the moon into fragments. It serves as a reminder to anyone who would dare challenge Moldark. They will die. Lunar goddess followers secretly turned their devotion to the demon king out of fear. What a sad bunch.”

A chill sent goosebumps all over. Her father did that? He destroyed the moon? The very thought that her father was even powerful enough to shatter a celestial body left Maria’s stomach in knots. If anyone found out she was his daughter, there would be hell to pay. She’d be lucky if they didn’t cut her down on the spot.

Maria glanced at her wrist and tensed. The mark of the demon king was concealed under her jacket. She needed to find something to hide it in case the sleeve wasn’t.

Irra raised her eyebrow. “Is it truly possible you never noticed? Seems hard to miss. Are you actually looking down all the time?”

“What can I say? I’m just a really grounded person.” Maria smiled, awaiting a response. Irra didn’t laugh. Maria cleared her throat and continued. “Where I’m from we couldn’t see the night sky. Air pollution created a constant fog.”

“Doesn’t sound too pleasant,” Irra said.

“Believe me, it wasn’t. But, I’m here now… wherever here is.”

“Are you lost?”

“You could say that, yeah.”

“Well this is… or rather, was, the village of Spirmond. It’s only a few miles from Oxfell.”

“Oxfell?”

“You’ve never heard of Oxfell?”

“Wouldn’t be questioning it if I did.”

Irra explained, “It’s a small human city where most adventurers begin their journey. The area is teeming with low-level monsters, so it makes for good training. They’re no less dangerous, though.”

Maria scratched her head. “Low-leveled?” Her eyes widened as the realization dawned on her. An enemy health bar, the images burned into her vision, the monster disappearing into an explosion of particles. It was no different than any of the video games she had played. The red bar was health, and the blue bar beneath was mana or magic, or whatever they called it in this world. She knew what kind of world this was.

“They usually range from level one to ten around here. Easy to kill, though sometimes a few higher level ones will wander in though.”

“Right, right…” Maria pursed her lips.

Irra stared at Maria for a while before finally asking, “What level are you?”

“Uh… I don’t remember?”

“Check your menu.”

“Menu?”

“You don’t know how to open your menu?”

“Nope.”

Irra scoffed, “Maybe you are an idiot. How old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

“You’ve had access to the system for a year and never figured out how to use it?”

Maria frowned. “We didn’t have the system where I’m from.”

“Press your fingers together and swipe down, like this.” Irra performed the motion.

Maria mimicked her movements. She pressed her index and middle fingers together, then swiped them down, causing a jingling sound to echo in her ears as a flat, gray rectangular box materialized in front of her. Unlike the bars indicating her HP and MP, this display didn't move and stayed oriented with her torso. She traced her finger around the display. It was transparent and felt like glass. There were five tabs listed beside a large silhouette of her figure, Inventory, Skills/Spells, Friends/Guild, Communications, Map/Quests. Maria tapped on inventory first. A second window opened, layered over the initial one. There were even more tabs— Weapons, Apparel, Potions, Food, Ingredients, Books, Keys, and Miscellaneous.

“Easy, right?” Irra said.

“Weird…”

“I’m surprised you never opened it before. Did no one teach you when you came of age?”

“I learned about a lot of things at eighteen, believe me, but never anything like this.”

“It’s common knowledge. You can’t be an adventurer without knowing the basics.”

“Don’t suppose you could teach me?”

“I don’t have time to train some greenhorn with all these Shadow Jesters running around.” Irra rolled her eyes. “If you seriously want training— and I highly recommend it— you should join the Adventurers Guild.” Irra tapped the bronze emblem of a sword crossed over a shield on her breast. It was quite possibly the most generic design Maria had ever seen for anything. “We have a guild hall in Oxfell. You can sign up to join there. They’re always looking for new adventurers.”

“Might as well join.”

“Feel free to follow us. We need to escort these people safely to Oxfell anyway.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” Maria chuckled. “I don’t really have anything to defend myself with.”

“Then stay with the group,” Irra said, and marched off to speak with the townsfolk.

Maria nodded and joined the townsfolk when they departed. She trudged amongst them, but something didn’t feel right. Her father was responsible for all this suffering, for monsters like these. She needed to join the guild and learn how this world worked.

She had to.

She was going to.