Dash has reached Rank 2!

Dash has reached Rank 3!

Dash has reached Rank 4!

Sprint has reached Rank 2!

Sprint has reached Rank 3!

Sprint has reached Rank 4!

Fire Enchant has reached Rank 2!

Your recent activities have granted you +2 Endurance, +2 Agility, +1 Intelligence.

Darith closed all of the notifications as he watched his Through the Pain buff disappear and his body stopped glowing yellow.

Debuff: Exhaustion: 24h+

He didn’t show any emotion in regards to its duration, but instead went into his display menu and changed his appearance back to normal, then stared up at his ceiling blankly for a bit. He could hear Kristen and Liana downstairs talking, but he wasn’t trying to listen to what they were saying.

“Damn it!” he shouted suddenly, releasing his frustration as he punched his floor with clenched fists. He struggled to sit himself up and then leaned his back against the side of his bed. “I’ve got to get stronger, a lot stronger.”

“Where’d you come from?” Kristen asked as she watched Darith slump down the stairs.

“Huh? Oh, my room.” He replied sluggishly, his entire body feeling weak and drained to the point that he was relying heavily on the handrails to descend without falling.

“Hm, I checked your room after I saw your shoes. I figured you’d gone out barefooted again.” Kristen said while turning back to the stove as she made dinner, appearing uninterested.

“I guess I was in the bathroom.” Darith shrugged.

“Did you get it?!” Liana called excitedly from the living room.

“Get what?” Kristen asked before Darith could answer.

“Darith said he found a game that maybe I could play!” Liana replied.

“Ooh, that sounds fun.” Kristen responded, but was completely uninterested in games and tuned herself out of the conversation. Darith turned to the living room to see Liana looking up at him with a sparkle in her eye. He flopped onto the couch beside her, still running his mind over what to say.

“About the game...” Darith started saying, and Darith watched the sparkle in her eye immediately vanish.

“Oh... Okay.” Liana replied.

“It’s just that, it’s a lot more dangerous than I thought. I don’t even know if I’d call it a game...” Darith said as he looked away from her.

“But you said it was something I could do, even like this, right?” Liana asked.

“Well, I think so...”

“Then I don’t care if its dangerous!”

“I don’t want anything bad to happen to you! I’m just not strong enough yet...” Darith said, looking down at his feet.

“Huh? It’s just a game though right?” She paused for a second, watching his expression carefully. “Darith, look at me.” She said in a very serious tone, more serious than he had ever heard her. “Something already has happened to me. When you said there was something I could do, even if it’s just a game... That was the happiest I’ve ever been in a long time. Please, just let me try it, whatever it is, if it’s even real... I just want something to do.” She said, locking her eyes onto Darith’s, though he looked away. He went deep into thought for a moment as he fiddled his fingers, images flashed in his mind of the Ice Wraith’s glowing eyes, the expression on Aaron’s face as he turned to ice.

“Something happened today, didn’t it?” She asked. He knew he couldn’t say, but he wanted to. “Was it this game?” She asked, still no reply from Darith at first, then he nodded his head slightly.

“I can help you, we make a great team in games, don’t we? Let me play it with you!” She asked. He didn’t move his head again, no response, eyes locked down to the ground onto his feet. “Please...” She said, desperation in her voice.

The image of Liana appeared in his head, frozen in a block of ice. But his image blurred, she wasn’t in her wheelchair anymore, was she? Would she get a new body like Darith and be standing? walking for the first time since her accident. What would she look like? What could they do together in the game? Would she be an archer like Aaron? If he protected her, if he got stronger and made sure she never went into a high level area like that, wouldn’t her life be better?

“You have to promise you don’t do anything in this game without me, okay?” Darith said, and the sparkle slipped back into her eyes.

“I promise!” She said instantly.

“I mean it, it’s dangerous, I don’t want you to try anything unless we’re together.” Darith replied seriously, the two looking deep into each others eyes.

“I got it, we’ll only play together.” Liana nodded. Darith hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath.

“I, Darith, invite Liana to join my party.” Darith said. Liana looked at him confused as the living room went silent save for the sound of the sitcom on the television. It stayed silent for a moment, Darith waiting for a sound from her cell phone, while Liana just remained confused.

“Huh?” Liana finally said, sounding incredibly disappointed.

“It didn’t work?” Darith asked.

“What didn’t work? Was saying that supposed to do something?” Liana asked with her eyebrow curled.

“Of course! It’s supposed to send a message to your cell phone.” Darith replied.

“I don’t have a cell phone.” Liana replied in a ‘no-duh’ tone. Darith then slapped his palm to his forehead.

“I forgot!” Darith sighed, falling back into the couch.

“So that means I can’t play? It’s some weird cell phone game?” Liana said grumpily.

“Weird cell phone- hey a second ago you were saying you’d be fine playing anything.” Darith retorted.

“Well, yeah, I guess. You made it sound like something really cool though.” Liana sighed.

“Hey! It is cool!” Darith said defensively.

“Well, what’s it called? What do you do in it?” She asked.

“I-I’m not allowed to tell you, you have to be playing the game to talk to others about it.” Darith replied.

“Oh, it’s some sort of weird secretive mystery game?” Liana, sounding even more disappointed.

“N-no! I swear, it’s cool. It’ll blow your mind, we just need to get you a cell phone I guess. I don’t really know how it works.” Darith replied.

“How are we going to get a cell phone? Do you have any money?” Liana asked.

“Well... No...” Darith replied hesitantly.

“Dinner’s ready!” Kristen called from the kitchen as they heard the clinking of plates being set on the table. “We can ask mom!” Darith said.

“Good luck with that.” Liana replied as Darith stood up, wobbling for a moment and almost falling back over. “You okay?” Liana asked as she watched him stumble.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” He said, grabbing onto the back of her wheelchair partly for balance, partly to move her to the kitchen table.

“And, how's the game?” Kristen asked as all three arrived at the table, tonight was spaghetti.

“Can’t play, Darith says I need a cell phone.” Liana replied.

“Mom, could we b-”

“Nope, money’s tight.” Kristen replied before he could finish. “Ask me again next Friday when I get paid and we’ll see.” She said as she started eating. Darith looked to Liana to say sorry, but she already had an expression that said ‘oh well’.

“Okay.” Darith replied.

“Homework?” She then asked.

“Ah, none! Actually I did some girls grade 11 homework today, it wasn’t that hard!” Darith said, trying to flow a conversation to keep his mind off the ice wraith.

“Oh? Are you trying to say grade 10 is too easy and you want to skip ahead?” his mom asked.

“You did it for a girl?” Liana asked with an eyebrow raised, taking an entirely different tone.

“Well... Yeah...” He replied hesitantly.

“Oh, what kind of girl is she? Maybe a girlfriend?” Kristen said excitedly, and both her and Liana stopped eating to watch Darith’s face as he replied.

“N-no... Nothing like that, she just asked me for help, because she needed more time to practice her dance routine...”

“She was a dancer? Was she pretty?” Liana asked.

“Darith, don’t let pretty girls use you, you’re better than that. Next time she asks you tell her to do it herself. If you want a girlfriend, first you have to respect yourself.” Kristen replied.

“Wha-hey! You guys are just assuming stuff! I just helped her because I wanted the challenge!” Darith replied as his face started to go red.

“She definitely seduced him.” Liana said to Kristen.

“Yep, he’s a sucker.” Kristen replied, both ignoring Darith’s protest.

“She didn’t!” he grumbled back.

“Ah, my hand... I can’t lift this...” Liana said as she dropped her fork on the plate. “Darith can you help me?” She asked in a pleading tone.

“Y-yeah, here...” He reached across the table to lift Liana’s fork for her with spaghetti wrapped around it, slowly moving it up to her mouth for her.

“Oh gimme that, you’re way too easy. I’m not even pretty.” Liana rolled her eyes, grabbing the fork from Darith.

“What did I raise.” Kristen said while putting her palm to her forehead, causing Liana to chuckle.

“Fine! See if I ever help either of you ever again!” Darith said grumpily, making Kristen chuckle at him.

“Oh come on we’re just teasing.” She laughed, but Darith was now ignoring them as he ate the spaghetti.

“I think he’s mad at us.” Liana whispered, and Kristen nodded back at her as if Darith couldn’t hear or see them still. He just let out an annoyed sigh at the two of them.

The two continued to tease him until they finished eating, then Darith went straight to his room despite Liana asking him to play a game with her, so instead she watched TV with Kristen. When he got to his room he flopped to his bed again, glancing to see the exhaustion status was still showing more than 24 hours left. He imagined he’d have it for quite a long time based on how often he used dash and sprint. The image of the ice wraith flashed through his mind once more.

“I’ll get stronger, as soon as this effect is gone. I’ll go back and defeat that Ice Wraith and free all those people.” He said, affirming his resolution to himself. “No matter how long it takes.” He whispered, turning his head into his pillow in frustration. He wasn’t used to this, being beat so badly in a game. It was hurting his pride more than anything that he’d left Aaron there, that he had to run away. He got more frustrated as he thought about what Ryan and Jacob were doing, knowing they were probably playing without having to worry about an exhaustion effect. It took awhile, but he eventually dozed off.

“We’re out of the house in 30! Thank god its Friday.” Kristen called into his room in the morning, knocking on his door. He drowsily opened his eyes and slowly rolled out of the bed, standing up to look around for clothes.

“Wait... Something's off.” He said, then looked at his health bar to see no status effect there. “What? Why is... It’s gone? The exhaust effect is gone? How?” He shouted excitedly. He began shifting through his menus to look at his items and then his skills. Nothing under his regular skill list was different, but he then spotted a second menu button hidden at the top of his skills menu and clicked it.

Default Skills - Nemothyne

Drinking: Passive

Eating: Passive

Sleeping: Passive

Muscle Training: Passive

Reflex Training: Passive

Mind Training: Passive

Endurance Training: Passive

Luck Training: Passive

Charisma Training: Passive

Constitution Training: Passive

Spirit Training: Passive

Tail Mobility(Nemothyne): Passive

Magic Affinity(Nemothyne): Passive

Nimble(Nemothyne): Passive

“Whoa, what the heck are all these?” Darith said with wide eyes. “Drinking restores mana based on the quality of the drink... Eating restores health, sometimes medicine and food remove status effects... Hmm I didn’t eat anything special though. Sleeping restores energy, sleeping for more than 5 hours removes all exhaustion effects... That’s it! I removed it by sleeping? So I can start training right away?” Darith said excitedly, but he was more intrigued by the rest of the menu.

“All these passives, they’re the reason I’ve been getting attributes without leveling up? Muscle training will increase my strength when I use my muscles a lot, reflex training from reacting quickly and dodging attacks... That seems tricky, it requires someone attacking me. Mind training is increased by problem solving and studying? Endurance goes up from spending high amounts of energy, luck goes up from gambling? Wow, I would’ve never figured that out.” Darith said as he continued. “Charisma from improving relationships and meeting new people... Like flirting?” He asked himself with a raised brow. “Constitution increases from taking hits, Spirit increases from strong emotions, maintaining resolutions and reaching goals. Huh that seems a little tricky to raise.”

“Tail mobility allows me to wiggle my tail, that explains why I could move it. Magic affinity increases the rate at which I gain experience for magic skills, and nimble increases the experience I get in reflex training. I guess because I’m so tiny?” Darith commented, and he briefly looked at all of the training passives. Each passive had experience bars that showed how close he was to the next attribute gain. He noticed the Muscle training bar was almost full.

“Let’s try it...” He said, dropping to the ground to do some push ups. He did one and saw the bar move by 1 point, 73 out of 75. He then did another, and another.

Attribute Up!: +1 Str

A message popped up. He then looked to see the bar was now 0/160.

“Huh, it gets harder and harder to raise a stat point the higher it gets. I should try and raise all of my stats as high as reasonably possible before I start spending attribute points in them.” Darith said to himself.

“Hey hey, come on let’s get a move on!” Kristen called into his bedroom again, reminding Darith he had to get ready for school.

By the time he finished his morning routine, Kristen and Liana were already out the door heading to the car. Darith stepped out after them just as a Post Delivery van stopped right in front of their house. Darith locked the door behind himself as Kristen started helping Liana get out of her chair into the passenger seat of the car. A man stepped out of the Van with a yellow padded envelope and a small device in his other hand, and walked straight up their driveway.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for a Liana? Liana Hainsworth?” The delivery man said.

“Yes?” Liana said as Kristen stopped trying to get her out of her wheelchair and turned it to face the delivery man.

“Here, package for you.” He said as he handed her the envelope, giving her an odd disgusted look as he saw her scarred face, but she ignored it and looked at the envelope excitedly. “Sign here please.” He asked, handing out an electronic device with a touch screen and a tiny black stick to sign it. She quickly scribbled her name with the stick using her right hand. “Have a nice day.” He said quickly, turning from them to hop back in his Van.

“Who’s the package from?” Kristen asked.

“I don’t know... Oh, here...” She said as she turned it, then looked to Darith as he looked curiously back at her. “You didn’t tell me you were sending me a package Darith!” Liana said excitedly. “What is it?!” She smiled as she turned back to the envelope.

“What’s with the weird address?” Kristen pointed out, but Liana tore the envelope open too fast for her to repeat it completely.

“536 Main Square, AV? Broken Realm? That’s not a country.” Kristen said.

“Ahehe...” Darith said nervously as he walked towards them quickly.

“It’s a cell phone! You got me a cell phone? So I could play with you?” Liana said excitedly as she held the phone in her good hand and fiddled for the power button.

“Well... Yeah, of course!” Darith replied hesitantly.

“After all that saying you thought it was too dangerous, you already got it.” She smiled. “You’re the best!” She cheered.

“How’d you get the money for a cell phone?” Kristen asked with squinted eyes.

“I uh, sold some old games...” He said as he avoided her gaze.

“Hmm...” She pondered for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to believe him. “Well, that was very nice of you.”

“Darith has invited you to join his party in Broken World. Do you accept?” Liana read out loud after having turned the phone on. “Of course I do!” She said excitedly.

“WAIT! Stop!” Darith shouted, shocking both Kristen and Liana. “Ah, uh, sorry. Remember the promise, right? You can’t play it without me.” He said slowly.

“Oh... Right.” Liana replied, smiling hesitantly “Then we’ll play tonight?” She asked, though her disappointment was blatantly obvious.

“Y-yeah.” He replied. Kristen eyed the two of them back and forth.

“Are you feeling alright, Darith?” Kristen then asked, walking towards him.

“Yeah! Of course.” He replied quickly, worried his mom had figured something out.

“Are you sure?” She asked as she put her hand on his forehead.

“I’m sure.” He replied, avoiding her eye contact.

“Hm, well, I’m the nurse here and it seems to me you’re burning up.”

“I’m not!” Darith stepped back, checking his forehead himself.

“Oh you definitely are. You should stay home today. I’ll leave Liana here to take care of you, just to be safe, okay?” Kristen said, and just then Darith clued in to what his mom was doing.

“Really?!” Liana said excitedly.

“Just this once. I haven’t seen you this excited before.” Kristen said, turning to smile at Liana.

“You’re the best!” Liana shouted excitedly as Darith smiled, excitement filling up inside of him as his imagination ran wild. It was Friday, no school, that meant three days of playing, and with a new party member!

“You’re awesome mom!” Darith said as he quickly grabbed Liana’s wheelchair.

“Just make sure your room is clean when I get home.” She sighed as she got into her car. “Have fun.” She waved and shut the driver side door, starting the engine.

“Can I hit accept now?!” Liana asked, the two looking like children on Christmas morning.

“Not yet not yet, let’s go inside first!” Darith replied, pushing her chair back into the house, then locking it behind them again and taking her to the living room.

“Okay, now?” She asked.

“Yup, but read the rules, they’re important.” Darith said as he sat on the couch in a way that let him look over Liana’s shoulder and see the screen of the phone. As she read the rules Darith was more looking at the phone. It was brand new, but it had no brand name on it, it wasn’t a model he had seen before.

“Okay so it’s an MMORPG right? These rules look like an MMORPG.” Liana asked.

“Yup.” Darith replied and she arrived at the character creation menu. Her default avatar was strange though. When Darith reached this menu it displayed an avatar that resembled him perfectly, but Liana’s avatar was different. Her avatar had none of her scars. It was wearing her clothes, and the hair and eyes were the same as was her height, but she had no scars. She had bright blue eyes and perfectly silky long brown hair and a beautiful face, more beautiful than Darith could have imagined.

Seeing it though, Liana said nothing. She stared at the avatar as her mind went blank and tears began to stream down her face.

“W-what is this? Some sort of joke?” She said angrily.

“What do you mean?” Darith asked.

“This is me... What I used to look like, but older? Did you do this? You made this character?” She shouted angrily at him.

“I didn’t, I swear! The game did it! It does things!” Darith said, leaning away from her.

“I’m not stupid! Game’s don’t just do things!” She shouted, throwing the phone at him. “This isn’t funny, your stupid game. Is this how I was supposed to play?”

“N..no, that’s not it at all, liste-”

“I want to go! Take me to the hospital, then go to school. I don’t want to play this stupid game.” She shouted, turning away as tears covered her face and filled her eyes. Darith went quiet for a moment and watched her cover her face while making whimpering sounds behind the veil of her right arm.

“I didn’t send that phone.” Darith said as he moved across the room and picked the phone up off the ground, handing it back to her. She refused to take it.

“Liar.” She said angrily. “Just stop! Take me out of here!” She screamed over her crying.

“Just listen! Look at it! Sony? Samsung? Apple? What is it?” Darith said as he held it out to her. “It has no brand, I have no idea where it came from! The game sent it!” He said, but she was too angry to reply.

“I told my mom I sold some games to buy it, right? Look, here.” He walked over to the TV where all the games they played were stacked. He started to lift the games up one by one to show her they were all still there. “I didn’t sell anything. That phone just appeared, it just knew what you would look like without your accident. This game knows a lot of strange stuff, but I can’t talk about it until you are a part of it, it’s one of the rules remember?” He said as calmly as he could. Seeing all the games seemed to calm her, she started wiping her tears away and looked to Darith again.

“How could a game do stuff like that?” Liana said in disbelief.

“Honestly I don’t know, there’s a lot I don’t know, that’s why I told you it was dangerous, but you said you wanted to try it anyway. So let’s try it! Make your character.” Darith replied, holding the phone out for her. She just stared at it for a bit, the image of her old self looking back at her in the form of a video game character.

“It’s fine like this then. I want to look like this.” She replied and took it stubbornly.

“Wait, there’s other stuff you can change, like race and stats and-” Darith said.

“It’s fine I said.” She hastily hit accept, and the phone released a bright flash of light while making a buzzing sound. Liana’s head fell back in her chair and her eyes closed, passing out instantly.

“Liana?” Darith called out worriedly, then remembered he also blacked out after starting the game. Her body then began glowing faintly, a weak white glow that slowly got brighter. Darith first moved his hands over his eyes, then turned away completely as the living room filled with bright light. He heard a strange humming sound in his ears for a moment, then in an instant the humming left and the light faded.

In the top right corner of his peripheral vision, just underneath his health bars, appeared a player. It showed Liana's name, level, health, mana, and energy, but all of her stats were very low. Her health was only 40, mana 20, and energy 5. A second later he got another pop up message that told him Liana had joined the party, and he was now the Party Leader.

“So it worked, she’s in?” He said, turning around to see her. He was stunned. It was still Liana, he could tell, her height was the same, but all of her scars were gone. Her skin looked perfect, pale and fair. Her long hair seemed to be shining from the sunlight reaching into the living room through the windows. Her once weak looking legs looked normal, the cast on her left arm was gone too. She laid back in her chair with her eyes closed, mouth slightly open as he looked at the health bar above her head. The color of her name had changed from white to blue, to show that she was a party member.

“L-Liana?” Darith said nervously, but got no response from her, she seemed completely out. He then slowly moved his hand to her arm, poking her skin lightly.

“Ah!” She shot her head up, eyes open.

“You’re back! How are you feeling?” He asked, taking a step away from her as he eyed her up and down.

“What just happened? I feel...” She said, looking around while still disoriented. She looked to her left hand, then right, and her eyes opened so wide it looked as though they would come out of their sockets. She lifted her left arm and wiggled her fingers, she then looked to her feet and wiggled her toes, lifting her legs.

“H-h-h-h-how... Di-di-di-di-” She was unable to speak as her body began trembling from both fear and excitement.

“I told you, this game can do some weird stuff. Welcome to your character’s body, you’re now a part of the Broken World RPG.” Darith said, standing back and smiling as he watched Liana’s face.

“This... This is the game character? From the phone? How…” She said in disbelief, tears swelling up in her eyes.

“Yeah, you’re now an MMORPG character. You have stats, skills, everything. There’s dungeons, quests... We’re in the same party now too!” He said excitedly, but Liana was barely listening. She put her feet on the ground and then lifted herself up with most of her weight on her left hand pushing against her wheelchairs armrest. Once she put weight onto her feet and legs she immediately fumbled forward, but Darith quickly caught her and stopped her from falling completely.

“I can’t walk?” She asked, confused.

“The game lets you change your appearance but your stats stay the same.” He replied as he set her back down in the chair.

“What stats?” She asked.

“Here.” Darith said as he took her phone and showed her her character.

Liana: Level 1, Female(Female), Human

Health: 40/40

Mana: 20/20

Energy: 5/5

Strength: 0

Agility: 0

Intelligence: 10

Spirit: 10

Endurance: 0

Constitution: 0

Charisma: 3

Luck: 3

“Wow.” Darith said as he looked at her stats.

“What is it?” She asked, wiping tears away. She didn’t look at the screen, but rather her left arm and its fingers.

“Your stats are... Pretty bad. They are worse than what I started with. I guess it makes sense though, you’re stuck in a wheelchair unable to move...”

“No duh.” She replied. “So does that mean I can’t walk, even with this body?” She asked him.

“No, you should be able to, we just need to raise your stats a bit...” Darith replied.

“How do we do that?” She asked.

“I’ll tell you everything I know about the game so far, then we can figure it out together. We’re going to be a team in this.” Darith said to her with a shy smile, finding it oddly hard to look her in the eyes now that she was so beautiful, but she noticed this fast.

“You’re acting shy now? Relax Darith! It’s still me!” She replied to him with a smile.

“Even if you say that, you look really pr-” He stopped himself.

“I look really what?” She asked with a big smile.

“Different.” He said nervously. He then began his explanation, starting with the display menu. He taught her to use the same display he did so that she didn’t need the phone, which took her a lot of time to get used to, it was a lot to take in. Darith explained the dungeon to her, the quests, the skills, the default skills and how mana and health and energy worked, even items and the inventory. It was a good hour before he got through everything and finished answering Liana’s questions.

“This is so cool, I really can’t believe this! I can get stronger, and then I can live a normal life! I can go to school with you!” She said with a glowing face.

“Y-yeah... Remember though it’s a game. Mom will expect you to be in a wheelchair, and we can’t talk to anyone about it.”

“Oh, right...” She replied.

“Any more questions before we start your training?” Darith asked.

“Yup! What about your character?” Liana asked.

“Ah, well... My character is a bit different. I didn’t know about the game when I made it, so...” He started mumbling.

“Oh come on, show me!” She said excitedly.

“Alright but don’t make fun of me.” Darith replied, moving through his menu and then hitting the button to swap his appearance. There was a bright flash of light, then he re-appeared in front of Liana in his Nemothyne body. Staff, Silk gloves and armor, brown pointy ears and tail.

“Oooooh, a different race! What can they do different from humans?” Liana asked, surprising Darith.

“You’re not going to laugh that I’m a boy?” He asked her, his voice now that of a child.

“Oh even your voice changed?!” She said excitedly. “Of course you picked a Nemothyne because they’re smaller right? Or something. You always look at the best character for your play style before you pick.” Liana shrugged, making Darith smile wide.

“Y-yeah! Nemothyne’s are good at Magic. You picked humans so you are all around good I think.”

“Can you come close for a second?” She said, seeming to ignore his last statements.

“O-okay...?” He slowly moved towards her, and she reached up and started rubbing his ears.

“So soft!” She said in amazement.

“Ah-ahh! That tickles!” He pulled away, his face bright red.

“Aww, you make a cute little cat boy!” She cheered.

“Fox, I’m a fox boy.” He replied grumpily.

“So I can pick a weapon too? If I do a starter quest in one of those dungeons?”

“Yup, but walking first, then we’ll worry about a quest or a dungeon.” Darith said.

“Right... So how do I raise my stats?” She asked.

“Hm... You only have 5 energy. If you did a push up it would put you in exhaust state, so even if I gave you energy potions it wouldn’t help. We need an activity that uses less than 5 Energy at a time so you can keep doing it without running out by using my potions. I’ve got 9 Energy potions left, so hopefully that’ll be enough to get you to walk.”

“Okay, so what’s something that I can do for 1 Energy?” She asked.

“Kick, I think... Try kicking me!” Darith said, walking close to Liana. She then kicked out her leg at Darith, but a sudden blue wall appeared between them, blocking her kick. Both of them got a pop up message in front of their faces.

Warning!: PvP Combat is disabled for all players under level 10.

“Uh oh, we made it mad.” Liana said as she poked her finger in the air to close the message.

“Hmm, right. Okay, let’s try this...” Darith grabbed a couch pillow and set it on the ground in front of Liana’s wheelchair. “Kick it!” He said, she then moved to the edge of her wheelchair and swung her foot forward, but her foot barely moved the pillow.

“It’s hard to kick while sitting... Can you help me stand?” She asked.

“Y-yeah, I guess.” Darith said as he moved to her side. She pushed herself up with her right arm as Darith moved to her left side to help give her something to lean on. She started falling so Darith quickly put his arm around her waist to hold her up as best he could.

“Thanks...” She smiled. He thought it would be hard, but he felt she was light. He wasn’t sure if she got lighter because of the game, or all of the strength he had gained so far was making a difference. “Here goes nothing!” She winded her right foot back and then swung it forward with all her might, sending the pillow across the room. The motion caused her to completely lose her balance and fall over onto Darith while screaming lightly.

“Owww..” Darith groaned.

“Sorry, sorry!” She said as she rolled off of him.

“It’s okay... Did it work?” Darith asked.

“Uhm.... Yeah! It worked! It worked! I learned a skill called kick! And my Energy went down by one!” She said excitedly as she looked up to the ceiling at her floating menu.

“Great! Let’s try again!” Darith said as he jumped up onto his feet, then pulled Liana up by grabbing her right hand. Helping her balance, they walked over to the pillow and she kicked it again, this time without falling. Then a third time.

“Your recent activities have granted you 1 endurance, it says! Look! My maximum energy is now 10!” She said like an excited preschooler.

“Nice! Let’s try and get it up to 20 so we can start working on your strength.” Darith said, and she nodded. He continued to help her kick the pillow around, but it took a lot of kicks to get to 2 endurance, he had to give her 2 Energy potions before it raised.

“Is it going a bit slow? The first point came so fast.” Liana asked.

“I think that’s because you were at 0. It takes longer after each point. Don’t worry I’ve got 7 potions left, if we can get you to 3 Endurance then we should be able to get you walking.” Darith reassured her.

“Okay.” She nodded. They kicked and kicked, going from 15 energy to 1, then back to 15 with a potion. The potions were more efficient now that she had 15 points to refill, and banana was one of her favorite flavors, but it was still taking a long time. It wasn’t until Darith got down to his last potion that it raised up.

“Got it! Look! 6/20 Energy!” She cheered. I have 3 Endurance now.

“Alright! Now let’s get you 1 point in strength!” Darith said.

“How do I do that?” Liana asked.

“A push up!” Darith said.

“Okay!” She dropped down on the ground slowly, then wiggled herself into a push-up position. “My right arm feels normal, but the rest of my body still feels weird.” She commented as she wiggled up into push up position, nearly all her body weight on her right hand.

“That’s normal, it’s just like this tail here... It’s a muscle I’m not used to using, so when I use it, it feels weird.”

“I don’t think it’s the same as having a tail.” Liana replied with a giggle. She slowly did her push up, her right arm shaking the whole way as it bore all of her wait, and her Energy dropped by 5.

“Okay, here, last one.” He handed her the yellow potion and she quickly drank it, bringing her Energy back to 16. “You can do three more, I hope it's enough.” Darith said as Liana went back into push up position. She did one and nothing, but after the second she got a message.

“I did it! My strength has increased by one! I have a strength point now!” She cheered.

“Great! You should be able to start walking then!” He replied and she nodded at him. Darith stood beside her and reached his hand out, pulling her up by her right hand. She wobbled around on her feet and started to fall over, but Darith held her up with his tiny arms. His head barely reached her shoulders when they stood side by side.

“It still feels weird, I can’t...” She said as she wobbled.

“I don’t think it's just related to your stats... You just have to learn how to walk again. You haven’t walked in so long...” Darith said.

“Okay...” She said nervously, trying to take a step but fumbling her weight back onto Darith.

“Try to balance your weight between your legs, remember your feet should be flat on the ground.” Darith said.

“I feel like a toddler learning to walk for the first time.” She sighed at herself.

“Well, you sort of are.” Darith replied with a shrug.

“I guess I am.” She replied nervously, taking another fumbling step, but didn’t fall back this time.

“Good! That’s a lot better. It’s not a normal case of rehabilitation like mom deals with in the hospital. Your body has the muscles to walk, you just don’t know how to use them. Like learning to ride a bike again, but with your legs... At least I think.” Darith said. She took another step though and fumbled back to him.

“I can’t, it just feels too weird, too unnatural... I just can’t walk.” Liana replied shamefully.

“You can. You need to forget your old body. It’s not like before, this body has legs, it has muscles that you can control. You can do it!” Darith said.

“You say it like it’s so easy...” She replied, fumbling again and almost pulling Darith down completely. “I can’t.” She sighed in frustration. Darith held her still for a moment while thinking, then decided to let her go and step away. His sudden movement caused her to fall forward on her knees.

“H-hey!” She cried out to him.

“This game is strange. I’m a fat chubby kid with no physical ability, but yesterday I was able to jump across a cavern and swing from a thread of silk, then hold up my own weight with my own arms.” Darith said, going into his display menu to change back to his normal appearance. “These arms.” He pointed at his flabby, completely un-toned arms. “The game let me do it, that stuff yesterday. Stuff that isn’t normally possible.” Darith then turned back into his Nemothyne body.

“Firebolt!” He shouted, and the red circle began to form in front of his face. Liana looked with eyes opened wide as the red circle started to form, but Darith quickly moved to cancel the cast. “Well, shooting fireballs inside the house is probably not a good idea, but you get the point. You can walk, you can do anything you can think of, you just have to think of it.” Darith said. “Now come, walk to me, let’s go on an adventure!” He smiled, holding out his hand for her while standing across the living room. Her face went serious, she looked at the ground for a moment while deep in thought. She then eyed her left arm up and down, and her right, then glanced at her wheelchair.

“This is my chance... A once in a lifetime chance to be normal.” She said to herself. “I have working legs! I can do this!” She shouted, pushing herself up off both her arms this time, though her left wobbled. Then in a bent over position she attempted to stand upright, but fell forward, face first into the carpet. Darith watched and started moving forward to help her, it was hard to resist, but he did his best and pulled his foot back to where it was, waiting for her to grab his hand.

“Oww..” she groaned, then lifted herself up onto her hands again, this time leaning back slightly as she stood up right. She got up all the way but fell backwards as if slipping on ice, this time landing flat on her bottom.

“C’mon Legs!” She shouted, getting up a third time. She fumbled left, right, forward and back, then put her hand on the top of the TV for balance, her knees bent inward while her legs shook as if she had to use the bathroom and was trying to hold it in.

“L-look! I’m standing!” She cheered excitedly as she looked over to Darith, his hand still held out for her.

“Just a few steps, you can make it!” Darith said. Her smile went back to a serious expression and she nodded at him. She slowly moved her hand from the top of the television, wobbling a bit, then took a giant lunging step forward with her left foot. She leaned in and landed herself in an awkward lunge position, but she didn’t fall over. She then slowly dragged her right foot forward to meet her left, then once she had her balance again took a tiny step forward towards Darith.

She didn’t fall. She wobbled and wiggled, but she stayed up. Another tiny step, then another. Her head was down as she watched her feet carefully, watching herself put one foot in front of the other.

“I-I’m doing it....” She said in disbelief. Tears began to fill her eyes, rolling down her cheek as she took a few more tiny steps. “I’m walking...”

“Almost here!” Darith said, causing her to look up to him, losing her balance a bit. She stepped forward quickly, stumbling towards Darith as she reached out for his hand but missed, falling over on top of him instead.

“Ah, sorry... Sorry.” She whimpered as she started crying, but not from sadness. She had a huge smile on her face.

“Good job, Liana.” Darith replied, smiling back at her.

Attribute Up!: +1 Cha

Darith read the message and quickly closed it.

“This is the best game ever.” She said in between her sobs. Darith continued to cheer her on over the next hour as she practiced walking. The more she did it the easier it seemed to get and they moved to having her climb the stairs. After an hour of trying she could climb by herself and it seemed like she was comfortable using her leg muscles, muscles she hadn’t had to use in years and never thought she’d be using ever again. The two then moved to the table as the clock reached 12:00 and ate lunch together before deciding to head outside and walk without anything around to help support her.

“This is a bit scary...” Liana said as Darith walked closely beside her.

“It’s just like walking inside.” He replied, in his normal body now. “You’re pretty lucky you know, you picked a human body. I can’t let people see me as a Nemothyne, but you really can do whatever you want.” Darith said with a smile.

“We don’t need to go outside though right? You said you had a key to a dungeon?” Liana asked.

“Y-yeah...” Darith said as his expression changed, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Liana. “I don’t want to go back to that dungeon though, not yet.” He replied.

“Did something happen?” She asked.

“No, nothing.” He lied.

“Oh, okay... Then how can we find a new dungeon?” She asked, and just then at the end of the street there was a huge flashing beam of light that shot down from the sky. They both jerked their heads to look at the yellow beam, barely visible with the sunlight of the sky behind it, but at the base of the beam formed an archway out of swirling sand. Once the Archway formed, a pair of large wooden double doors appeared in it with text floating in front.

World Gate: Suutrin Desert, Level 1-9 (Region)

“Like that!” Darith said, excitement burning in his eyes. “Come on! Let’s go!” he started running toward it.

“H-hey, wait!” Liana said as she stumbled after him.