“Lady Kashi…?” Tala asked as she reached the old woman who walked really slow, limping and dragging her feet.

The shadow stopped, dropped some bags on the ground, and turned to look at Tala.

Tala stopped into a bit of light that the street lamp was giving out, folded her hands in front of her, saluted her, and gave her a nice big smile, her lips moving toward her ears as much as she could muster.

“Sorry if I had started you, Lady Kashi, it’s just that I saw you walking a bit strange.”

“Oh, yes, I’m limping,” the old woman said, looking a bit relieved, even pleased, to see the person who stopped her had a pretty sweet and innocent face.

“So forgive me if I’m bothering you,” Tala said in the sweetest version of her voice, lowering her head slowly in showing respect.

“No, don’t worry, you’re not bothering me at all,” the old woman interrupted her swiftly, waving her hand as if she was dismissing Tala’s idea that she could ever bother her.

“I was just wondering if you need some help. I am in no rush, and it appears you could use a bit of help from me.”

The old woman sighed and then yelped in pain as she tried to shift her weight and make a step.

"Do you want me to call an ambulance?" Tala asked.

"Oh, no!" the old lady answered instantly. "I'll be fine."

“But you are hurt! What happened?” Tala asked, frowning her forehead, opening her eyes wide, and turning her face now in the utmost expression of worry.

The old woman looked at her, sighed, and then obviously decided that Tala was someone who was no danger to her. “Oh, I fell down, and now my ankle is hurting… I thought I would be okay, but… You know, I’m not as young as I used to be. I tried calling my grandkid, but he is not answering. He was supposed to come and go shopping with me today but did not make it, so I had to go alone, and…” The old lady seemed eager to have someone to talk to and Tala let her do it, nodding her head and smiling.

“Well, I'm not busy. Let me just help you. Those bags seem awfully heavy.”

“Oh… your face looks familiar,” the old lady suddenly said. “Where do I know you from?”

“Probably the neighborhood. My parents lived here a long time ago, but then we moved.”

“I see. But then… I don’t remember things so well anymore. I… am getting old, you know.”

Tala took a step closer and took a peek at her bags. They were stuffed with groceries.

“Look, I can carry this for you, and you can hold on to my forearm and we can get you home in no time,” Tala told the lady, seeing that the old lady got a bit worried, maybe fearing she may run away with her groceries.

Maybe that’s why she grabbed Tala’s arm so hard and squeezed it as if her life depended on it.

“Thank you,” the old lady answered, letting Tala now pick the bags up, still squeezing her under her forearm. “Your elders raised you right. You’re such a good person,” she told Tala and smiled at her. "You make sure you tell your grandma I said that."

"I will."

They made a few steps up the street, Tala feeling less of an arm being squeezed.

"Just hold on to me," she told the old woman. "That way you can use me for support. It will hurt you less that way."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Oh, I will," the old woman said. "You're such a good person. There are not many of you around. You know, I have a grandson. He is also... such a nice person. I wish you would meet him.”

Two bikers came out of nowhere, passed them by, slowed down, and squealed to a stop behind them. In the corner of her eyes, Tala could see them looking at them. But only for a moment as the sound of their engines soon ripped the quiet night’s air as they rode away.

“You live around here?” the old lady asked her.

“No, like I said, my parents moved away from here years ago.”

That much was true. And the neighborhood had changed drastically since then. Not that she remembered much. She was not even in the school when that happened.

But she thought she recognized the entrance of the home they suddenly found themselves next to.

The old lady stopped there as if she needed a break. Then she lifted her leg and made a step to the entrance.

“You live here?” Tala asked and then twitched back as the old lady turned around and looked at her with a bit of surprise. “Of course you do,” Tala corrected herself. “It’s been such a long time, I must have forgotten.

The front yard was small, but there was a tree, an old and trimmed-down cherry tree, and it looked very familiar to Tala, making her think if she was just having a DejaVu or if the memories were real.

Tala waited patiently for the old lady to get the key out of her pocket and open the front door. Then she dropped the bags inside

The old lady turned around and waved at her, smiling, and Tala stepped back.

“Go home, it’s getting late. Your mother might get worried,” the old lady said.

Tala nodded her head, smiled back, and was thrilled to notice a message suddenly flashed in the corner of her vision.

It said,

[Mission 'Helping Lady Kashi Was Completed: Sufficiently]

“Don’t forget to put some ice on it!” Tala called back before the old lady closed the door, happy that she finally finished one mission.

After just a few steps away, she anxiously asked, “Okay, so now tell me, what did I get for completing this mission?”

[Mission Completion Awards:

Agents Points: 50

Karma: 1 point

You can choose from one from the following abilities:

The Blacksmith’s Strike Ability

The Run of Antelope Ability

Dogs Scent Ability]

“Cool. Some special abilities. That looks interesting. I have to think about that. So, what I could be able to sniff around like a dog? Do I really want that?”

She thought about it for a while. “Might be useful. I’ll make up my mind later. But what is important… Really… Those missions might not be complicated at all. Helping that old lady… that was not difficult at all. And now, I bet I’ll be able to smell things as if I was a dog? Run like antelope? Or have the strength of a blacksmith? How useful would that be? Well, if I was Thor… that could be awesome. Sure wished though they would have named it differently. Why Blacksmith’s strike? Why not Thor’s Strike? If it was like that, I would get it right away!”

She felt excitement overcome her. “And all of this, I can become in real life. I’m loving it!! What a game. Now I want more. So, what… any more old ladies I can help around?”

[No missions available at this time]

“Shit, really??” she asked all disappointed.

[You will be alerted whenever new mission is posted that match up to your Level]

“Crap, I knew it! Now when I’m in the mood for doing them, there’s nothing!”

She walked back the way she came from, looking up and down the alley to see if the guys on bikes were hiding someplace.

“If I had dogs scent, could I smell them? Would it not be better to have better hearing? Dogs hear really good, don’t they? I think that would be a bigger help.”

But there was no new mission to give her new ability options so all she could do was shrug her shoulders.

She looked up at the night sky, thinking what was to be her limit. "Up there? Would I ever be able to fly?"

A sudden sobering thought chilled her to the point her whole body shivered. "I'm so excited, but I have no idea what this is going to do to me. Am I going to become like an animal? An alien? I am so excited, but maybe I should be scared."

Another sobering thought occurred to her then. “How could my AI know that there was some lady who needed help??? Is it like a system that sees and hears everything? That they know everything? So, what, I'm like a puppet? No, I have my free will. I chose to complete that mission. The other ones I did not. I have my free will. Still.”

Then she realized how excited she got and eager to complete another mission. "Do I really have a free will?"

She contemplated about it and decided that she was going to continue and see where it would take her., realized there was no way for her to know enough about the system and how it worked. “I guess the system gathers all this information, and not only from me. And the information I'm given is not only based on what is only inside of me, but it’s shared and interchanged with outside sources. I guess that is what it might mean to be Integrated.”

Her thoughts got interrupted as at the far side of the street she spotted a white van with blinking lights and a familiar figure behind the wheel.