I woke early in the morning.
Screech was still in bed, snoring like a clogged motor.
The window was wide open, spilling soft light of early sunrise into the kitchen, sparkling on the polished counter and smooth wooden floor.
Everything was in quiet order.
I dragged myself from bed, bumbling to the fridge in search of respite, only to face frigid, empty shelves.
My stomach growled.
I checked over my shoulder, summoning up a sneaky little breakfast sandwich.
After no flaring pain or doubled vision, I plopped down and started eating.
Judging by the flakiness of the bread, I could only guess I’d summoned whole-grain buns. Why had I done that? If I was going to have a cheat day I might as well commit, right?
Plus the eggs had blue yolks.
And the sandwich was slightly glowing.
Maybe, when Soise said I really shouldn’t be using mental energy, she actually had a point? Maybe?
I brushed my crummy hands on my pants; sandwich finished faster than expected.
The city was silent. Utterly devoid of the crowd’s murmur and howling of merchants.
I drummed my foot on the floor, checking the time.
{Clock}
[4:41 AM]
Wow.
Far earlier than I expected.
This was just a quiet morning.
Since Screech was still asleep and Sharon was gone, I decided to go back.
After tossing and turning for an hour or two, I got up again.
My pulse was racing. I noticed the speckled texture of the drywall around our room. If I focused a little more, I could feel every individual fiber in the blanket.
But as quickly as the sensation became overpowering, it cut off, like jagged crystal.
I got up and started pacing again.
What was wrong with me?
I attempted something of a workout routine, halting the moment I felt pain in my shoulders, which was about ten seconds before I even started doing push-ups.
Right.
I was supposed to take today off. Rest up. The academy was giving students three whole days to do whatever they wanted.
I could do whatever I wanted.
What did I want to do?
Whistling to myself, I collapsed on the couch.
Maybe I could ask if Ardenidi wanted to come over? We could wander around town.
I bit my lip.
Sure.
Why not?
I left.
Ardenidi was still asleep when I knocked on her door, so I came back to my apartment.
After another hour of waiting, I checked back, and she was still asleep.
I knocked on her door one more time, before double-checking the sky. It’d been hours upon hours past sunrise, yet the streets were deserted and the air, silent as death.
This could be another attack. A spell.
I rushed through my afflictions menu, finding nothing, for all the difference that made. The most dangerous spells were the kinds you didn’t know until it was too late.
I bashed the door. “ARDENIDI!”
She tore it open with a glare. The kind that could’ve bored a hole in an armored car.
“What.”
Her scarf had been hastily knotted, covering her face up to her eyes.
“I-” I faltered slightly. “Uh. I think the city has a sleeping-based affliction.”
“Sleeping-based.”
“Yes.”
Ardenidi massaged her forehead. “Please don’t make me hit you.”
“Ah. What?”
She pointed at the sky. “Grind, it’s five in the morning,” she huffed, adjusting her robe. “Are you insane?”
I checked my screens.
{Clock}
[5:13 AM]
I waited for a moment.
“That’s not possible,” I whispered. “I’ve been waiting for at least a few hours—”
“For crying out loud. Your sense of time is horrible!” Ardenidi bopped my screen, expanding the clock.
{Clock}
[5:13:02 AM]
I waited several seconds. “Is this broken—?”
{Clock}
[5:13:03 AM]
I flushed a scalding red.
My thinking speed had increased, that was all.
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“What’s up with you?” Ardenidi grumbled. “You’re all frantic and twitchy.” Her eyes narrowed. “Did you get into a fight?”
“What—no, no, nothing like that,” I brushed the thought away. “I…I just…well I don’t really know,” I sighed, stuffing my hands in my pants. “Sorry for waking you up.”
“Bah. I should've gotten up earlier.”
I bobbed up and down.
“Hey, could we go on a walk or something?”
She glanced down the street. “Around here? Now?”
“...Yeah?”
“Uh…” Ardenidi fidgeted with her hands. “Sure.”
She adjusted her robe again. “I should…I’m going to get changed.”
“Alright.”
I waited outside, tapping my foot on the pavement.
It took a little while, so I tried whistling to myself again.
Whistling.
When’d I learn how to do that? Was that a skill natural to me, or to all players.
What if…
I grabbed a stone and flicked it across the street, clattering to a stop after several bounces. Judging by the rotation and ease movement, I instinctively knew how to skip rocks. That could actually come in handy, couldn’t it?
Ardenidi opened the door, wearing black jeans and a white top, plus her scarf, which always covered her face. It was a little cold in the morning, so she had a cotton sash. And—
“You did your hair into braids,” I stated, partially in shock.
“What? Is it weird?” She flushed. “I can switch it back—”
“No, no you’re good—”
“It’s really not a problem—” She reached toward her hair.
“No!” I started toward her. “I think it’s pretty.”
“Oh.”
She smiled a little. “Thank you.”
We started walking.
Now that it was a little past five, some people were starting to get up, wandering around the street. The merchants, of course, were gone. From what I heard, the majority chose to spend these few days restoring their supplies. Meaning, virtually all the stores were left empty.
“What’s that dump?” Ardenidi asked, pointing to a little shack tethered to an elaborate marble complex by duct tape and prayers. “Cleave?”
“That’s Geaves Cleve.” I smirked. "I’m surprised he hasn’t got a better store yet. You know, he’s a nice guy with some good supplies.”
“Geaves Cleve.” Ardenidi snorted. “Isn’t he that bandit merchant?”
“Uh. What?”
“You know.” She jabbed me in the shoulder. “There’s a bunch of merchants who sell stolen goods, but there’s this one guy who steals in broad daylight. Nobody can catch him. It’s something of an urban legend.”
“Well he was in the tutorial area too,” I stated. “He’d have to be an Npc, right? They can’t steal from players.”
Ardenidi shrugged. “A sketchy stand with unusually good supplies? It ought to be obvious.”
We continued along the street, finding nothing else of interest.
It was a quiet walk.
“Are you alright?” Ardenidi blurted.
I stopped. “What? Yeah. I’m great.”
She nodded. “Alright.”
She started walking again, before I stopped her.
“Actually,” I let out a sigh. “No. I’m not.”
Ardenidi blinked. “Alright. Or…uh…you wanna talk about it?”
“Sure. Yes. I would like to.”
I took a deep breath. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really? You seem pretty put together.”
“I’m not. I’m scared and worried, an-and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to stop that. I’m a silver now, but nothing has changed. I’m still scared, Ardenidi. And I still feel helpless. You heard Master Tentazui, didn’t you? Someone far, far stronger than me is trying to hurt people. How am I supposed to do anything?”
I grabbed my face.
“And I still sound like an idiot.”
“Trust in your friends,” Ardenidi stated. “Or the other nine players in the big ten. They’re not just going to let someone destroy the second area.”
“I know that, or I think I know that,” I whispered. “But I don’t feel like I know that. All I can think about is dying and losing this whole life all over again.”
She nodded very slowly. “Again?”
“I had another party, some…I guess some months ago, now. Or weeks?” I chuckled. “Maybe all time travelers are bad with time. Anyway, I had a life. I had friends. I was actually on a team with you too, back in the first area.”
Ardenidi faltered. “The first area? What was I doing there?”
“I never asked,” I said. “Maybe you beat someone up more than you should and that got you stuck there?”
“Probably.” She fidgeted. “I don’t mean to be a jerk sometimes. I just get…” she gestured toward her head. “Angry. You were…saying? Uh...losing people.”
We were walking again.
“There was a fourth-area cultist,” I started. “She just killed everyone.”
Ardenidi was noticeably paler than before. “Fourth area? She’s going to kill the entire tutorial area? When?”
“No, I figured out a way to kill her.”
Ardenidi just looked at me.
“A fourth area—”
“Yeah.”
She huffed.
“Of course you did. You have no idea how stupid that is, do you?”
“I’m starting to get something of an idea. But losing my friends wasn’t the hard part. It was still hard but…” I grit my teeth. “Ardenidi. They don’t know me anymore. Not in this life.”
“Why not?”
“I got too strong,” I mumbled. “Each time I die, I restart stronger than before. It got to the point where I couldn’t really make progress in the first area. And since they were still starting their journey, nobody was strong enough to join me. Besides, they had their own lives to live. The nature of a time loop forces me apart from all the friends I ever make.”
Ardenidi was starting to realize what I was getting at. “So…if you die now…”
“You won’t know me either. Nobody I used to know would know me. I can go to the third area, Ardenidi. But I don’t want to. Not until the rest of you guys are Silver too. If I died now, that would only widen the gap between us!”
She frowned. “We won, Grind. You’re not going to die.”
“I know but—”
“You’re not going to die.”
“Ardenidi, you can’t possibly know that,” I sighed.
“Look, I’m still here, aren’t I?” She asked. “And so are you, and we’re both pretty strong, aren’t we? Besides, even if there was something that could kill us, we could just be revived.”
“But—”
She shook her head. “Grind. Stop. Calm down and be in the moment. Don’t bother stressing about anything you can’t fight. Fear’s a waste of energy.”
Ardenidi adjusted her scarf.
“But, if…we do die…promise me you’ll come back.”
I blinked. “You said we won’t—”
“I know what I said!” Ardenidi snapped. “But…I dunno maybe something terrible is going to happen. You know how this game works. If there’s a player who’s immortal maybe the game’s going to try and scale the enemies to match him—”
“This isn’t my fault,” I muttered. “At least I don’t think it is—”
“Just listen to me!” She took a deep breath. “If you die, just do all the things you did before. Retrace your steps or whatever, and we’ll know each other again. You’ll know what’s going to try and kill us, and then we’ll alert Xoiae and she can wipe it from existence. You don’t have to go to the third area.”
“I…” I took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
She nodded. “But we’re not going to die. But even if we do, it’ll be alright.” She started flushing, adjusting her scarf again. “You know how relationships are here. People die. But you won’t, and you’re a good guy, so everything’s going to be alright.”
We looped around the block, back to her place.
She was flushed red-hot.
I smiled. “Thank you—”
She gave me a peck on the cheek, whipping her scarf immediately back up.
I blinked.
She scuffed her feet. “Uh. See you around.”
Ardenidi virtually teleported back inside.
I let out a sigh.
I know she was trying to cheer me up, but a kiss, now of all times, was just making me all the more stressed. What if I lost this life? How could I take comfort in the very thing I found so dangerously fragile—
Ardenidi cracked the door open. “Stop overthinking it, Grind.”
She smiled, closing the door with a click of warm metal.
I walked back home.
As I opened the door, I held a hand to my cheek.
Screech looked up from his bed, groggy from sleep. “Good morning Grind.” He yawned. “What’re you smiling ‘bout?”
“Nothing.”
// {Notice} //
Hi! Hope you enjoyed my fantasy story. But as much fun as a fantasy is, there’s things in the real world beyond what writing can fix. That’s where you come in.
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Yay rewrite?
