Milly walked a pace behind Xavier as they marched through the tall grasses of the plains, the four towers of the Castle of Glass growing distant behind them. The heat from the sun poured down, the steady dry breeze doing little to relieve the warmth growing beneath her black hoodie. Sweat beaded on her brow as she picked another tick off her worn jeans, crushed it between two fingers, and flicked it away.
She glanced south, where the shade of the jungle canopy and gentle rain seemed to call to her. Shade and water in such contrast to the stifling head of the tree-sparse flatness they now strode through.
“Tell me again why we did not go into the jungle.” Milly asked, her legs already sore. She was not use to this much walking.
“Because then we would be soaked. I don’t know about you, but these are the only clothes I have at work, and I don’t feel like getting them wet. Plus, it’s a jungle. It will be hot and humid when the rain stops, and then you would be begging for the dry heat of the prairies.”
“You think you are so smart, don’t you,” Milly sulked, grabbing the front of her hoodie and flapping it open to move air across her chest and back.
“Yes, I am,” Xavier said confidently with a laugh, “At least in this regard.” Milly could not help but laugh with him. Ever since they had stepped out of the tower, Xavier had the largest smile plastered across his face, the demanding Xavier from earlier that morning set aside. She had even caught him humming once. Humming, of all things. It was as if she was seeing the real Xavier for the first time.
“Are you…are you enjoying this?” Milly asked curiously.
Xavier stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. He planted the point of the sword he had been carrying in the dirt, leaning on it casually. “Milly, I am a shut-in and a weirdo. I work, I exercise, and I play video games whenever I am not doing one of those other two. I have no friends, my father disowned me, and I am broke. My life is barely worth living. It is barely a life.”
He took a deep breath, leaning his head back and staring up at the beautiful cloudless sky. “But then I get brought to this place, a video game in real life, filled with the thrill of the unknown. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. My dreams become reality. So, yes, I am enjoying this.” His smile filled his face, eyes glistening with child-like wonder.
Milly stared at him as if she were meeting a stranger. He had never talked about his personal life before. Never mentioned his hopes and dreams. Never knew he had that level of personal insight.
She did not realize just how similar they were.
“I…I guess I never thought of it that way,” Milly replied softly, “My life is not anything spectacular either. No friends. No family. Just a dead-end job with my depression to keep me company.”
Xavier closed the distance to Milly and, very tentatively, gave her the shortest, most awkward hug in the history of hugs. “Then choose to embrace a new life here. Why desire returning to the terrible lives we had when we can live this one?”
“Xavier,” she whispered, “I don’t want to die. I’m afraid.”
“So am I,” Xavier admitted, “and doesn’t that make you feel alive? And what is to say we would live longer back home? A bus could hit you tomorrow and poof! That is the end of you. The next week someone else is living in your apartment and has your job, and the world continues uninterrupted. No matter what happens here, it will be better than that.”
“You should be in the sales department, Xavier,” Milly said. She remembered her anger in the lobby, and how, for a moment, she had felt the same way. She was still afraid, but Xavier’s outlook was a refreshing alternative to fear.
“With those jerks? No way. The only person I can stand around here is you. Why do you think I took you with me? You are the only one I trust.”
It was quite a compliment coming from Xavier. “Thanks Xavier. I…I’m glad you took me with you.” She stopped short of saying she trusted him. She did not know if she trusted anyone. The last person she trusted was her third foster father and he…he was not someone she should have trusted.
“Unless we die,” she added with an awkward laugh, “Then I hope I can come back as a ghost and haunt you.”
Xavier snorted in amusement, “You would make a great ghost. You’ve got the personality. Though you might be too introverted to haunt anyone. That would require human interaction.”
Milly slapped his shoulder playfully, and they continued walking through the grass.
“So…why did your father disown you?” Milly asked curiously, trying to focus on anything else. Then she realized what she asked and tried to take it back. “Sorry Xavier, you don’t need to answer that. I was insensitive.”
“No, its fine. I don’t tell people because no one asks, and I don’t care to enlighten. People have enough reason to hate me without adding more fuel to the fire.” he said reluctantly, pausing for a while before answering, “He disowned me because I changed my name.”
“Seems like a very petty reason to disown you,” Milly said sympathetically.
“Yes, well, he thought it was pretty fucking unforgiveable. As if it was my fault he was so attached to the name Vivian. Fucker kicked me out of the house the moment I told him.”
Milly mouthed a silent “Ooh”, realizing what he meant. She did not know what to say to that. She had never noticed before, but now that she knew…maybe…
“He sounds like a terrible father,” Milly finally replied, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “Xavier suits you better.”
“I like to think so,” Xavier responded, and Milly heard an audible sigh of relief from him. “Now it is your turn.”
“My turn for what?”
“To tell me your biggest secret,” Xavier said casually, bending down to look at something in the dirt at his feet, “You know mine now, so it seems only fair.”
“You’ve never asked anything about me before,” Milly said, trying to stall. Could she be that brave? Xavier had trusted her with his secret, after all.
“Well, we were work colleagues before. Frankly, I did not care to know more about you. People come and go so fast at Acicentre that I don’t like to get attached. But our situation has changed, don’t you think?” He stood back up, adjusting their course to the north. “We are getting closer.”
“Closer to what?” Milly asked, trying to change the topic.
“Our first encounter,” Xavier said simply.
“Our first what?”
“Our first fight,” Xavier clarified, “And don’t think you can avoid the question. Come on, Mildred Persephone Brown, reveal to me your deep dark secrets.” He laughed, waving his hands dramatically at her.
“Ummm…I guess so…I….” she stammered.
“Gods, Milly, you don’t have to tell me. I don’t really care that much,” he laughed as she grew uncomfortable. “Keep your secrets.”
“No…I…I’ll tell. We could be dead tomorrow, anyways,” admitted Milly, and she started to roll up the sleeves of her hoodie. “Just…please don’t judge me.
Milly rolled until her sleeves were past her forearms. She turned her arms outwards towards Xavier, showing the deep scars across her wrists. “I was fourteen,” she started, her voice low but steady, “My foster father was abusive. He would get drunk, and then he would get violent. Or worse. It was after a really bad night. I filled up the tub and climbed in and…you know. I remember feeling dead inside and laying there, wishing my outside would match how I felt inside. They found me before the end and took me to the hospital. Police got involved. It was a whole thing. At least I never saw him again.”
She paused, waiting for him to respond, fearful of what his response might be.
Xavier shrugged. “That’s shitty, Milly. Looks like we both drew the short straws when they were handing out parents.”
Milly looked at him, then burst out laughing. Of course Xavier would make such a flippant comment. It was his style. What had she expected? Sympathy? Even if he were capable of that level of empathy, it would only have made her uncomfortable.
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“Yah, I guess we did,” was all she said when she had stopped laughing.
“Are we done being all deep and emotional and shit?” Xavier asked with a grin, “Because we’ve got adventure ahead of us.”
Milly nodded and they continued walking through the grass. Except this time, Milly had found a bounce in her step to mirror Xavier’s.
Despite everything, she felt lighter than she had in an extraordinarily long time.
* * *
An hour after leaving the tower, the sun reaching its zenith in the prairie sky, Xavier suddenly stopped, ducking down behind the tall grass, and pulling Milly down with him. “That’s what we’ve been looking for,” he whispered.
Milly raised her head carefully above the grass. About thirty paces away, a small green creature, humanoid but with sharp fangs and claws and covered in warts and scars, crouched over the body of a deer. Milly watched as the creature ripped hunks of flesh from the deer’s body, eating them raw. Blood streamed down the creature’s face and chest, and Milly nearly gasped aloud when she saw the deer struggle to stand, only for the creature to strike it in the head with a rock.
Milly ducked back down, eyes full of tears. “That poor deer is still alive. It is being eaten alive,” she whispered.
Xavier rolled his eyes, “Lots of creatures each their prey alive. And if we are not careful, we will be the deer next. Now, what did you see that was useful? Did it have weapons? Armor? Anything else nearby? Every piece of knowledge is critical for our survival.”
Milly frowned. The gruff, obsessive Xavier had returned. She pictured the scene again, trying to forget the deer. “It has a rock. And a spear at its side.”
“Which side,” Xavier asked impatiently.
“His…right side?” she said, uncertainly.
“What was it wearing?”
Milly scrunched her face in confusion. “Why does that matter?”
“Its defense, of course. If we go up against something heavily armored or enchanted, we’re dead. Come on Milly, get your head in the game.”
“It is not a game,” she countered, “This whole thing might be designed around a video game, Xavier, but this is real life. Do we need to fight this thing? We can leave it alone and go around.”
“What was it wearing?” he asked again impatiently.
“Just a loin cloth covering…not enough. But…”
Milly did not get a chance to finish. Xavier moved into the tall grass, holding his sword at his side with a fierce grip. “Stay here if you are scared. This will be easy. I can do this alone.” He disappeared into the grassy thickness.
Milly opened her inventory, grabbing a rusty spear and holding it tightly to her chest. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest and sweat dripped down her forehead. Her hands were clammy, making it increasingly difficult to keep her grip on the spear.
“Come on, Milly. Come on. You can do this. You cannot let him do it alone. Move. Your. Feet,” she whispered to herself. But her feet were not listening. They felt glued to the ground beneath her, knees weak and shaking. Her breaths were shallow, her eyes darting around at every sound around her. The few seconds seemed to stretch agonizingly slowly.
Suddenly, she heard Xavier erupt from the tall grass near the creature, the rush of parting grasses and heavy stomps in the dirt breaking the spell cast by her fear. Without thinking, she stood, desperate to see what was happening.
She saw the creature’s rock strike Xavier hard in the forehead before he had taken his fifth step, a resounding crack carried to Milly’s ears. Xavier collapsed in a heap, sword skidding across the prairie soil. Blood trickled from above his eye, flowing down his face as he lay on the ground, unmoving.
“Xavier!” Milly shouted before she could stop herself. The creature looked up, spotting the young women in the oversized hoodie standing in the grass, clutching her spear in fear. It smiled, a wicked grin of sharply pointed teeth growing wide, as it slowly picked up its own spear and strode in her direction. It licked its tongue over its blood-soaked face, eyes intent on death.
Milly stood frozen in fear as it slowly took each step forward. She was a deer in the headlights. Her heart was pounding in her chest so fast and so hard that she felt she might pass out, and she felt herself sway on her feet. “Milly, get moving. You need to run. Run!” she whispered to herself, but her feet still refused to comply. She looked over at Xavier, blood starting to drip onto the soil below his form.
The scarred creature suddenly sprinted forward, spear held horizontally outwards to skewer Milly through her naval. The motion triggered something within Milly, cutting through her fears as instinct took over. She stumbled to the side just as the creature thrust out its spear. It sliced open Milly’s hoodie from side to side just above the pocket, narrowly missing Milly’s stomach.
The creature was thrown off balance, shocked by the sudden movement of its prey. It turned around to face Milly, eyes shooting daggers of intense anger, just in time for Milly’s right foot to connect with its shin. A weak and feeble kick that nonetheless caught the creature off guard.
Milly stepped back a dozen steps, never taking her eye off the creature and trying to catch her breath. She felt the wind blowing through the large hole cut through her hoodie, bringing her a small but welcome sense of release from the heat. “Ok Milly. Be brave. You can do this,” she told herself, gripping her spear tightly and pointing it at the creature.
“Stay back,” she shouted at it, though it came out closer to a squeak. A mouse commanding a cat. “I’ll use this if I have to.”
The look in the scarred creature’s eyes told Milly everything she needed to know. The hatred burned bright, not a single ounce of fear in its eyes. Milly felt its intent to kill – its need to kill – and knew she only had one option left. To fight.
As the creature rushed forward, Milly hurled her spear at it as hard as she could. The unexpected attack surprised the creature, and it could not move fast enough to dodge it. The spear struck the creature in its unprotected shoulder, driving deep into flesh and popping a massive wort that shot green puss across its arm. The creature howled in pain and rage as a sickening smell of rot and decay permeated the air.
Milly held her breath, wanting to vomit, but kept her mind focused. “Inventory,” she thought, and the blue screen appeared in front of her. As the creature resumed its rush towards her, his approach visible through the translucent screen in front of her, Milly reached for the first stored weapon she saw, grabbing its icon and pulling. “I hope this works,” she prayed.
A wooden mallet, three feet long and heavy, appeared in Milly’s hands just as the creature reached her, off balance from the spear still lodged in its shoulder. Milly grasped the handle hard, swinging recklessly with all her might. The mallet struck the creature in the side of the head, carrying it off its feet and disrupting its charge.
Milly heard the snap of its jaw and felt its skull crunch beneath her mallet’s blow, then a terrible squelch as the creature struck a jagged rock where it hit the ground. It lay there twitching as it died, fractured skull seeping its contents into the soil below.
Milly dropped the mallet, covered her mouth in shock, and proceeded to vomit into the tall grass. She felt her vomit stick to the front of her hoodie and trickle down her chin. When she gasped for breath, her mouth was filled with the diseased stench of the creature’s ichor, and she vomited repeatedly, until he had no more left in her.
She stumbled towards where Xavier lay unmoving. “Xavier, no,” Milly cried, wiping the vomit off her chin as she knelt at Xavier’s side. “Come on Xavier, hang in there,” she said to his unconscious form. He was breathing, but with infrequent and shallow gasps that were quickly growing weaker.
Milly looked around for some way to help. The towers were over an hour away and there was not a sign of anything else for miles. She did not have time to find help. She did not have time for anything.
“Please, there must be something I can do. I can’t just let Xavier die. Think, Milly, think,” she said to herself, growing frantic.
And as she thought, a screen materialized before her, smaller than the others, with a short message.
You have defeated Goblin Scout.
You have been awarded 10 experience points.
You have leveled up, receiving two attribute points and one talent point.
Item: Soiled Goblin Loincloth added to inventory.
1 gold added to inventory.
Milly read it quickly. Was the game trying to tell her something? “I don’t understand. How does any of this help?”
The screen closed and another far larger one appeared. It was labeled “Talent Map.”
Tutoria had said something about Talents back in the lobby. “Is…is there a talent that will help here?” she asked.
Responding to her thought, the screen zoomed out, showing giant web of thousands upon thousands of interconnected talents. Some flashed softly, ready to be selected. Others were grey and unreadable, unavailable until prerequisite talents were selected. Still others were completely black, mysteries waiting to be unlocked. In the top right corner, a message flashed in red: “Available Talent Points: 1”
Milly did not have time to read any of it. “Just take me to a talent that will help me save my friend,” she demanded, impatient and growing increasingly desperate as Xavier’s breathing grew shallow.
The screen shifted again, zooming in on the bottom left corner of the web to the category called ‘Healing.’ Milly breathed, daring to hope. Was it possible? She started scanning the options.
“Healer’s alchemy. Nature’s bounty. Regeneration (self)…” she read aloud, dismissing each. “These all take too long.”
Xavier started spasming, and Milly placed a hand on his chest in a panic.
“Just give me something that will help him now,” she pleaded, tears streaming down her face.
The screen zoomed in further, highlighting a single option.
“Healer’s Touch. The player harnesses the power of magic within herself to heal others. The amount of time and energy required is dependent upon the severity of the injury,” she read. The description below the summary was far more descriptive, but Milly did not have time to read it.
“Fine. I select that one,” she said desperately, “Just help me save him.”
The talent’s lettering turned gold. “Talent activated. Available Talent Points: 0.”
Suddenly, a wave of knowledge filled Milly’s head, causing her to grasp the sides of her head in pain. It felt as if someone was shoving a week’s worth of training into her mind through her ears.
It lasted for only a moment, and suddenly Milly knew exactly what to do. She placed her hands against the sides of Xavier’s head, feeling the depth of his injury through her palms. She could sense a pool of power within herself, sitting between her heart and her stomach, and opened herself up to it, breathing deep. A light blue glow surrounded her hands as she focused, cascading over Xavier’s head and into his injury. His spasming stopped and breath steadied. Milly could feel his head wound slowly closing, and ten minutes later it was scabbed over, looking like the injury had happened a week ago. He was still unconscious, but Milly knew he would recover with a bit of rest.
Milly’s hoodie was drenched in sweat by the time she finished, her hands shaking with the effort. She felt emptied inside, the power within her completely drained. She struggled to keep her eyes open. With a final look at Xavier’s steady breathing, she felt her eyes close as she drifted off to sleep, her body falling protectively over Xavier’s unconscious form.