The group stumbled down the side of the great dune and trudged their way through the fine sand.

“You guys made it all the way up here, but didn’t bother to bring anything to get back down with? That’s some pretty poor planning,” said Ris as she high stepped through the sand.

“Well, we wanted to show you the view,” said Al, his robe girded to prevent the sand from getting caught in uncomfortable places. It also made him look like a rather large thin baby with pale legs.

“We? I was teleported here just like her! Speaking of which, I didn’t get to finish my armor set! Now what am I going to do with all these pieces? They are worthless for another month,” grumbled Ger. The sand seemed to bother him the least as he barely picked his feet up as they descended.

“I am sorry about that, you know. You did agree to be here though.”

“I agreed to welcome her, not to be torn away from my work! I had promised some items to a few people by next week. Now I’ll be stuck working late nights until then.”

“Wait, you mean the digital you will be doing that. Why are you so torn up about it?” asked Ris as she attempted to use her spear as a walking stick. It, unfortunately, was too fine a weapon and seemed to glide into the sand, barely finding any purchase at all.

“Well yeah, I’m not going to waste real sleep on it, but when I do sync back up, I wanted the memories to be more enjoyable. There is a satisfaction in making things from raw elements, less so when you’re stressed that you can’t make them all in time. Plus I have my reputation to think about.”

Al chuckled at that, “Which I might add is a bit funny in the first place. To think that a Crocrin would bother making armor. Look, he doesn’t even wear metal!”

“Wait, you’re not wearing metal either?” retorted Ris, “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Al waved his hand and a spark of fire appeared in his hand, “I’m a Sorcerer, so it doesn’t make sense for me to wear heavy armor.” He made another motion and it hardened into a contained flame on his forearm. “I can just magic some up. You really should have read those things I left with you. Our good reptile here is a warrior, so he should be wearing armor.”

The reptilian eyes rolled so hard it looked like they were doing a death roll. “And I told you that I didn’t have to. I drank that draught that ended up infusing my skin with metal. It would be redundant at this point.”

“Where’d you get something like that?” asked Ris, that potion sounded like it gave a pretty sweet perk.

“Well, I stopped an assassination attempt on the Chief of the Crocrins,” said Ger rubbing the rough scales of his forearms.

Al made a pffff sound and said, “Come now, don’t make it more than what it really was. You stumbled into a would be assassin when you were trying to go to the bathroom. Honestly, this guy’s potty dance should be a battle move.”

“Well, I stopped the attempt, regardless. And the Chief didn’t care-said so himself.”

Ris didn’t like how hard it would be to get the potion, but asked anyway, “So if I wanted something like that, I’d have to ask him for it?”

“Oh no, this would kill a human. It would cause your skin to turn to metal. Sweating is pretty important for humans, not so much for people like me.”

“Oh,” Ris said dejectedly, “do you collect your own scales for the metal then?” Ger scratched his chin.

“Hm, I hadn’t thought about that. I wonder what the quality would be like….” Ger stared off thinking about the possibilities.

They’d made it a quarter way down the slope by this point, and Ris’s legs already felt like jelly.

“Mind if we take a bit of a break, my legs are killing me. Also, did one of you bring water?” Ris asked by leaning against the side of the dune.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, you’re new so everything will take some time to adjust. Plus your scores are probably really low,” said Al sitting down next to her, “and for the water, watch this.” He made a few gestures and a set of cups and a pitcher appeared in front of him. He made a few more different gestures and a small stream of water shot out of his finger. He filled the pitcher, poured a cup full, and handed it to her.

“Neat party trick. Can you turn the water into wine, though?” Ris gulped the liquid down greedily. She didn’t realize how thirsty she really was. It also was one of the best glasses of water she had ever tasted.

Al let out a laugh, “Now that’d be something! I could just open my own tavern if I could do that. But no, the wine industry is stable and safe from a sudden magical supply.”

“Well if we’re going to take a break, I’m going to get to repairing some equipment,” said Ger reaching into a small bag on his belt.

“Equipment? You’re telling me that little bag can hold more than a toothpick?” Ris said pointing at the tiny bag.

Ger smiled, reached his whole arm into the bag, “Pocket dimensions are pretty snazzy,” and pulled out a large kite shield that had some severe dents in it.

“Always the business man, eh, Ger? Can’t you just relax and enjoy the view?”

“I would, but I have a few orders to fill, and if I hadn’t been so rudely kidnapped, I could enjoy the view, Al.” Ger said hammering away at the kite shield with a small mallet he had pulled out of his bag.

“That’s a pretty big shield, Ger. Who are you fixing it for?” asked Ris drinking more of the cool water.

Ger huffed and said, “Half-giant who got into a nasty fight with a few mountain trolls. Buddy of mine that I owe a favor to.”

“Ger’s always making friends, but he never makes time to enjoy their company!”

Ris had been thinking about what she’d want to carry along with the spear, since she assumed that her main weapon had already been picked out for her. Maybe a shield would help with things that got inside of the spears length? “Mind if I see that shield, Ger?”

“It’s really heavy but sure, here, have a look.” Ger tossed the shield her way.

Ris reached out to grab it, her reflexes were much faster than before, but her strength was still lacking. She grabbed onto the shield, but it slipped through her fingers as she failed to hold on. “Ah, crap-” The shield slid down the side of the dune, with the sand making a swish noise as it slid across the fine particles.

“Hey be more careful next time! You could’ve damaged it.”

As the shield came to a stop, she looked up at Ger, an idea coming to mind and a smile to her lips. “I think I just got us a faster route down, boys.”

——-

Twenty Minutes later, they were at the base of the dune with three very well worn shields. Everyone’s ass was quite thoroughly sore though. “I’ll be lucky to walk around straight after this,” said Al rubbing his girded rump.

“Does baby need some powder?” asked Ger, who was busy massaging his own posterior.

“Har, har, har,” said Al, and shot some water at Ger, soaking his tunic. “I hope you get chafed.”

“Come children, I want to get to the town sometime this lifetime. Thanks for letting us use the shields, Ger,” said Ris as she attempted to shake all the sand out of her calf high boots. “I hope they aren’t too damaged.”

“Eh, nothing I can’t fix. I’m just glad we got down off that mountain of a dune.”

Ris, having shaken her boots clear, slipped them back on. “Alright, where to?”

Al pointed in the direction of some more low lying dunes, “maybe two miles that way and we’ll be in the town.”

Ger slipped the shields back into his bag and the group started walking again. The fine tan sand crunching under their feet as they walked toward the sun and the ocean, and civilization.

After cresting the last dune, the town finally came into view. “Whew, almost there!” Ger exclaimed at seeing the peaks of the towers in the town. “I know the desert can be exhausting and nobody was in the mood to talk, but is there any reason why we walked in single file the entire time there?”

Al grinned and said, “The sand people walk in single file to hide their numbers.”

Ris giggled a bit at the reference, “Besides, I wanted to stare at that fine reptilian ass.”

“I am not a piece of meat!”

“Yes, you are, if southern cooking has told me anything, you probably taste like chicken.”

“I resent that!”

“And we tolerate your presence, so we’re even,” said Al, “anyway, now that I can feel the ocean breeze I think its time to fill Ris in more on what exactly we are supposed to be doing and how to play.” Ris wholeheartedly agreed to that.

“Okay, so you started a little unusually, and normally some npcs would give you a bunch of quests about how to use the inventory and stuff like that. You might have noticed in the time that we’ve been walking, that you don’t have anything in your field of view. There aren’t any addable elements in this game because we wanted you to feel like you were living your time here. This is the ultimate storybook adventure, and we’ve tried to make it so. When I shared the map with you, you knew where everything I’ve been was, but you won’t see it in a confined space - it’s just in your head now. If you ever want to log out, you can just think menu and it’ll bring up some toggles for you. That is really the only major menu in this game. Your inventory, speaking of which, here,” he tossed her a bag similar to Ger’s, “is similar to the map. As long as you’re holding the bag and think about what’s inside, you’ll know whats in the bag. That is unless someone who officially owns or binds their soul to the bag doesn’t want you to know about an item. For not magical bags and chests, you’ll just have to take a look at it. Also, there isn’t an ‘identify’ feature in this game. If it looks like a duck, talks like a duck, and acts like a duck, then it’s probably a duck. If you don’t know what a duck is, then you won’t have a clue at what you’re looking at. We don’t spoon feed here. You can find books that impart knowledge about these things around the world and you can purchase them from shops.

Ris smirked, “So I can understand the fundamental duckyness of a duck?”

“Exactly! I think another good example is to talk about making things. Ger, is a surprisingly good armorsmith.” Al turned to him, “Do you wanna tell her about crafts?”

A proud look flashed across“Sure! Ris, you know how you like to cook?”

“Well yeah.”

“Good, that’s how you craft!” Ger said nodding his vigorously.

“That is super helpful, Ger,” Ris said sarcastically.

“But it is! Recipes are only written directions, once you know what you’re doing, you don’t need them anymore. For instance, I know that repairing those shields were take at least some amount of metal. However, I could need more, or I could need less, so the whole idea of a guaranteed result is moot. And that’s part of what makes this game so fun.”

“That it doesn’t give any directions on how to do anything?”

“Well, yeah, you just gotta try things. You’ll never know what will happen! Al, show her some of the magic stuff.”

Al nodded, “First aren’t any set classes either. We just use traditional names to keep introductions short. No one wants to hear that I am a mage who specializes in conjurations in both fire and water while also dabbling in illusions, healing, and alteration magics. Anyway, magic here is more of a fundamental thing. It can be taught, but there is no guarantee that the student will be able to pick it up on the first go. You have to feel a connection with a force before you can tap into it. Like I feel the heat of the sun, on a fundamental level mind you, and I can tap into that heat to generate a flame, like this -” He snapped his finger to make a tiny flame appear above his index finger.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Magic also doesn’t necessarily require gestures here, it just requires to proper application of mind and will. Why don’t you try and see if you can feel some of the forces? With your interesting start, I bet you have some rather high starting affinities.”

“Alright, just feel the heat, right?” Ris stopped, and closed her eyes and felt the sun beat down on her skin. The sweltering heat seemed to pour into her, and she also felt some of the heat coming from her own self. “I feel something, that’s for sure.”

“Now just focus it, imagine something characteristic that helps your direction.”

Ris reached back in her memory for the time that her dad was sitting outside on the porch with her. They were watching the summer thunderstorm roll through their little part of the world. Together they rocked in their chairs, they didn’t say anything but her dad had one of those flip top lighters. Every once in a while, he would flip it open, rock, and then flip it closed. Flip, rock, flip, rock. Eventually he would light the cigar hanging from his mouth with it. She remembered the way the smoke would lazily drift off the tip into the humid air of the porch until it was beaten down by the rain when it tried to escape.

Ris took a breath, rocked on her feet, and then snapped her fingers. She felt a movement as the laws of physics strained to explain the spark that appeared briefly with the snap.

Both Al and Ger clapped in excitement!

“That was great, Ris!” said Ger. He tapped her on the back.

“I would have to agree,” said Al, “and I think you’ll have quite the time here if you continue to practice. I’ll buy you a few books when we get to town to help you out.”

They reached the gates of the town as the sun was setting onto the ocean. The gates were made of a hard rock material that was reminiscent of the sand around them. It looked well worn by the wind and the sand. There were some markings along the length of wall, with some being quite faded and others freshly scratched. Some Ris recognized as regular graffiti with unfamiliar slurs and tags. Some were in a language she wasn’t sure was magical or just foreign. Overhead, two moons began to make their appearance in the fading sunlight.

The guards looked positively bored as they approached but began to straighten when they realized the group was not a mirage. “Not like to see many people come from the desert these days. What were ya doin out there?” One guard said in an accent that sounded like a british accent that had been trapped at sea for three hundred years.

“Just taking in the views, my good man. How goes the watch?” spoke Al.

“The same as before. It’s like watching mud dry. I swear I’ve been out here so long that I’ve seen the dunes move. I hate the desert gate post. The captain always puts us on it when the good ships come into port.”

“Oi, Clem. We get compensated fair right for the post. It’s triple the port gate pay.” The other guard leaned his spear towards his fellow.

“Yeah, but that’s a cause we hafta worry about them snake people coming out of the desert. You saw what them done to ole John-boy. Hell’uva time about it too. The man were bout to get into carpentry after his last pay.”

Al cleared his throat, “very good, now may we pass.”

The two guards eyed the elf suspiciously, “you got anything ya wish to declare?”

“A new friend, if that’s taxable?”

Clem looked over at the other guard, who shook his head. “Nah, you’re free ta go. Keep the piece or we’ll put ya on my wall. Welcome to Sho’Dul.”

Al nodded at them as the group walked by. “I hope you don’t see any snake people today,” called back Ris as they made their way into the town.

The gate was like a portal to another world. Once through, Ris could hear the loud shouts of what she guessed was a market. She heard the sounds of livestock and people going about their business.

“Well, welcome to Sho’Dul. The only major city on this side of the desert. Let me grab you a couple of books and then we can head off for the night.”

“I think I’ll take a portal back to Thein City. I really need to finish those orders.”

“Go if you have to, Ger. I really appreciate the welcome!” Ris went over and hugged the scaled man.

“I’ll set everything up in the shop and then I’ll meet you back in the clinic.” Ger nodded at Al, and then walked away toward a large domed building near the center of town.

“I know a good bookseller here. She might have a few of the things we’re after. This way.” Al led her through a bunch of winding streets that she already knew. It was like a constant stream of deja vu.

“Hey Al, do people share maps often?” Al, stopped and looked back at her.

“Not really, most people can’t get over the weird sensation of already being there. Besides, it ruins the whole exploration thing for some people.”

“Then why’d you give me the map?”

“Because I needed you to know where things are. You’re technically an employee of EO now, and while this job can be a lot of fun, you’ll ultimately have to check things out that many people don’t know how to get to.”

“Ah right, so are we going to The Velvet Cover, or The Cracked Spine?”

Al smiled, “A quick learner I see. Ger was right about you being perfect for the job. We’re going to The Cracked Spine. Magora, the owner there, has a more exotic collection.”

“Mind if I lead? I think it might help get rid of the deja vu.”

Al put his hands up, “By all means.”

After a few turnarounds, Ris got comfortable with the knowledge of where she was. Leading did help with the funny feelings about the memories but didn’t make it go completely away. She supposed she’d just get used to it.

The shop door was framed by the spines of some creatures that must have been much longer than the average person. The squat building sat on a row of other trade houses but was the only one blessed to have the corner spot. The windows looking out into the street had a peculiar look to them. Yes, one could look into them, but if one stared too long one got queasy.

Shaking the odd feeling away, she followed Al into the shop.

“Magora, how have you been?” Al said with his arms wide. He went to give the small wizened old woman a hug, but she pushed him back with a pulse of blue energy.

“Your charms won’t work on me incubus. Now what do you want?”

“To look through your lofty collection for a few knowledge tomes for my friend here. She’s just discovered that she has the knack!”

Magora beckoned Ris into the shop. “Ah, yes of course, come in dear.”

“My, what interesting eyes, I’ve never seen their sort before,” Magora said, taking a step closer to Ris.

“Her mother had an unfortunate accident that caused it to become inheritable. Deals with devils and such.” Al said while looking through a few tomes.

Magora continued to approach Ris, and was getting uncomfortably close when Al called Ris over, “Hey Ris, what types of magic are you interested in?”

Seeing her escape, Ris scampered over to Al’s side, “Well what would you suggest?”

“I think you might like this book at magical properties of items. That’ll give a brief overview of pretty much every school of magic, and help you understand magical items a bit. Here’s a book on fire magic, which I think you’ll like. Now for the last one… “

Ris remembered being back to being young and with her dad. He was showing her how to make pasta. It was magic to her that you could take something like flour, so fluffy and powdery and with an egg make something delicious. It was magic to her then and it was still magic to her now.

“Alteration if thats okay.”

Al raised an eyebrow at that, “Really? I wouldn’t have guessed. Well, here’s a good starting book on that. It’s a copy of the same book that I used.” Al grabbed a multicolored tome that shimmered on the page ends.

Magora had made her way over to them and was trying again to get a closer look at Ris. “How much for the books, Magora?” Al called.

“Why, I’d give them as a gift if you wouldn’t mind spending some time telling me about your family, what was it, Ris?”

Al frowned deeply at this. “No, Magora, what’s the price?”

A flash of anger ran across Magora’s face. “Hmmm, 50 gold pieces.”

Al’s eyebrows went up, “Only 50 for the three books? I’ll give you an additional 70 if you promise not to harass my friend here.”

Magora raised her hands up in surrender. I just want to get to know the girl. Greed seemed to bubble into her eyes, “It’s not often we get such unusual company in Sho’Dul. But I will agree to your trade.”

Al filled his hand with energy, “then let’s make it binding.”

Magora set her jaw and then shook his hand, “I agree for the price of 120 gold pieces, to give you the three books and to not harass your friend.”

Al’s grip tightened, “Her name is Ris.”

Magora’s face tightened the smile turning into a sneer, “your friend Ris.”

With that, Al released his hand and the energy swirled and came out from between their hands. It shot into each of their chests and then the room returned to normal.

Al beckoned Ris to the door, “Come on, Ris, let’s go.”

They exited and Al led them on a winding path to seemingly nowhere.

“What was that all about?” asked Ris while they were walking.

“She knows that you’re not exactly human. And I think she also knows what you are and the implications of you being here.”

Ris frowned at that, great more problems. “What are the implications of me being here?”

“While we were in the shop, I snatched this,” he handed her a book titled, A Historie of the Sin’rakh. “Give it a read when you’re in a safe place. Anyway she would probably try to kidnap you and sell you to some malicious party. Some of the people, both ‘real’ and digital, have some pretty twisted moral means of getting information.”

Ris raised an eyebrow at that, “Says the man who just stole a book.”

“To help you understand what’s at stake here. Let’s get you to a good inn for the time being and then I can give you the rest of your equipment that you’ll need.”

———-

After a few more winding alleys, Ris realized that they were going to an Inn called The Quacking Duck, and the irony was not lost on her (or was it coincidence?), she could never remember. From the outside, the three storied building was built of a sturdy stone brick and the door was large and inviting, with the image of a rather silly duck on the front.

They went inside and Al made a beeline for the bar. After talking with the proprietor, he got a key and they went up to the top landing. There was only a single door and he opened it to reveal the fantasy version of a penthouse suite. It had a stone tub set into the floor with two rune covered spouts affixed onto it.

The windows were large and expansive and there was a stairway leading up to a trapdoor in the ceiling. There was a large bed off to the side of the room and next to it was a screen to partition the room into compartments. There was a seating area with a couple couches and what looked like a coffee table in the center. Al walked over to the couch and plopped down. He reached into his bag and pulled out the books, a small earring with a pearl on it, a key, and another bag which sounded like it had coins in it.

“Ah, I love this room. I always get it when I’m doing some research over here.”

“You come here often? How long exactly have you been playing this game?”

“I used to back in the day. In the beta testing time, I was often one of the few people on. So I turned up the play time to make the game go by faster when I wasn’t directly playing.”

“Wait, you kept the character from when the game was in beta?”

“Yeah, please don’t mention that to other people. They may think that as unfair.”

“Well isn’t it?”

“I don’t expect you to understand right now, Ris, but this game means a lot to me. I only did it so I could experience more of the game, not to get more powerful. You’ll learn that gaining more experience doesn’t necessarily make you better at fighting. You’ll still lose even if you have done everything right. That’s just life.”

“Well, how old is your character then?”

He shifted on the couch, “like a woman, you should never ask an elf his age. But if you promise to keep it a secret, I’ll tell you.”

“I promise,” she stuck out her hand.

He laughed and waved it off, “I’m not going to bind you to it, that would be bad for our friendship and also our employer-employee relationship. I’m technically 200 years old, and I’ve played my character for maybe 70 digital years.”

Ris gasped, “Hasn’t that had an effect on you? Don’t you feel like an old man?”

Al laughed again, “Sometimes, but like all memories, portions of this life will fade. The only things from this game that don’t fade are things deemed ‘critical knowledge’ such as discovered spells, and skills. And even then that’s only when you’re in game. We can talk later about the mechanics of memory storage later. My last comment on the subject will be that there is no time dilation in this game now because during the early stages of my time here, I didn’t think of the implications of growing old so fast. Also, it means that things in the game happen on the same scale and rate as things in the real world, making them all the more important. Sure we will speed the growth of crops and such, but npcs now are going to be completely different from npcs 20 years from now assuming the game is still going.”

Al beckoned her over and she sat down next to him, “Now, for the employee welcoming package, I have the books we picked out from earlier today, the key to this room, which will be bound to you for one week, according to the terms of our contract, and the wager of our bet.”

“Ah, the bet, I nearly forgot.”

“Here’s the question for all the marbles: So, when did I log off in the real world?”

Ris thought about how he hadn’t really changed during their entire time while playing. Al was a busy guy, and was probably doing more company stuff at that moment in the clinic. Wait, what about at the dune?

“When we stopped to rest on the way down from the top of the dune.”

Al’s face filled with surprise. “And what makes you so sure? What if I never logged off?”

“You did, because I would’ve wanted to coming down off the mountain if I knew how to. Also you started using more first person pronouns as we descended from the top.”

“But that shield ride was so much fun, you think that I would miss it?”

Ris tapped her cheek, “You’ll still experience it when you sync back up. I’m sure.”

With a smile and the shake of his head, he slid the coins over to her. “Well, a deals a deal. Here ya go. You should definitely put that in the bank,” he said, the smile still on his face, “if you can remember how to get there.”

“I’m guessing this will make me an easy target for thieves?”

“Does a bear shit in the woods?”

“Alright, then. What about the earring?”

“This earring will let you talk to other people if they have one of their own. Simply have them touch it while you think about adding them to your friends list and you’ll be able to contact them. You can get the style changed if that current shape isn’t your thing. It has to stay an earring though. There’s also a weak find person spell on it that will give you the general direction and distance to the person in question if they’re on the list.”

“So it’s like one of those fancy comm badges on those sci fi shows?”

“Pretty much. A word of warning though, don’t let anyone you don’t trust add you to their list. We’ve had to deal with some stalking issues before, and these tools, while helpful for staying in contact with friends, can become a problem when trying to avoid other people.

“Finally, you see that statue over there?” Al said pointing at what Ris thought was some decoration. “That’s a statue to Hern, the god of resurrection. He’ll make you all better if you die, for a price of course.”

“Awesome, so don’t die. Got it. One more question before you head out: how do I log out?”

Al smirked at that, “You didn’t bother bringing up the menu when I told you how to do it?”

“No? Was it supposed to?”

“Just do it.”

With a roll of her eyes, she thought menu and the menu popped up. It had a listing of options, game settings, and log out.

“You could’ve just said that it was there. No reason to be smimey about it.”

“What does that even mean? I thought you were more curious than that. Also, you should think of some concrete things for your digital self to do before you leave. Otherwise, while being you, they may not actually get the things you wanted done.”

“How is that possible?”

“We all get distracted, don’t we? Especially if there’s a brand new world to explore and things to do?”

“Touché.”

And with that, Al waved and left the room.

She put the earring on. It was definitely something she was going to have to change over the coming week. It was far too gaudy for her. Also she had to visit the bank and see how money was handled here. Maybe read those books Al had given her? He was right, there was a lot to do in this game. With a sigh, she brought up the menu again and logged off.