“You sure you want to come today? You could stay home and play, you had your check up and bath yesterday.” Kristen said as she pushed Liana’s wheelchair out to the driveway to the passenger side of the car.

“Yup!” Liana replied cheerfully as Darith stepped out of the house and locked the door behind him as usual.

“Have a good day, don’t forget what I said!” Darith said to Liana as he walked down the driveway to the street.

“You too.” Kristen and Liana called back, then turned to Liana as she lifted her carefully into the passenger seat of the car. “What’d he say?” Kristen asked curiously.

“Oh nothing, just something about the game.” Liana replied.

“Ugh, you two and video games.” Kristen rolled her eyes. After securing Liana in the car she drove the two straight to the hospital and brought Liana with her into the changing room as Kristen switched from her casual wear to her hospital uniform.

“Anywhere I should drop you off today?” Kristen asked as they left the changing rooms.

“Hmm, can I stop by the police officer again?” Liana asked, trying to sound innocent while at the same time being anxious.

“I thought you said they wouldn’t let you talk to him yesterday.” Kristen replied curiously.

“Maybe today though!” Liana said with enthusiasm.

“Alright.” Kristen shrugged, taking Liana into an elevator up to the floor with Jaese’s room, and stopping her in front of it where a different officer was standing guard today.

“How’s he doing?” Kristen asked.

“He’s getting antsy, says he feels fine and wants to know when he can get out of here.” The officer replied to Kristen. Kristen then opened the door and walked inside to see Jaese sitting up in his bed, still in hospital gown and reading a newspaper.

“Ah, Nurse Kristen, right?” Jaese asked, recognizing her immediately.

“You remembered.” She smiled.

“Are you here to tell me I’m good to leave?” Jaese asked her hopeful as Kristen went to glance at his chart sitting at the edge of his bed, then checked the monitors hooked up to him.

“Hmm, you look like you’re doing okay... I’ll see if I can find a doctor to have a look at you and see if your safe to discharge.” Kristen smiled at him.

“Great, thanks.” Jaese replied politely. As Kristen walked out of the room Liana had just finished pulling out her phone from her pocket using her right hand, seeing the timer she had set ticking down from 3 hours.

“Can I talk to him now?” Liana asked anxiously.

“Ask him yourself, I’ll be back with a doctor as soon as possible.” Kristen said to Liana, then to the officer standing guard.

“Thank you m’am.” The officer replied politely.

“Excuse me officer, is it okay If I go in to talk to officer Jaese?” Liana asked him as politely as she could.

“You a friend of his?” The officer asked.

“I think so, sort of.” Liana shrugged impatiently.

“Alright, sure, I don’t see why not.” He shrugged at the scarred girl, holding the door open for her as she quickly used her controls with her right hand to move her wheelchair forward into Jaese’s room. Jaese turned to look at her after hearing her motor buzzing into the room.

“Oh, hey. Liana was your name, right?” Jaese said to her, setting down the newspaper.

“Yup! How are you feeling?” She asked awkwardly. Now that she was in the room with him, she wasn’t quite sure how to go about casting the remove curse without being noticed.

“I’m alright. I wanted to thank you, that advice you gave about following their tricks. It gave us some real leads.”

“I don’t know about that.” Liana replied nervously, only now realizing that the tricks he had described were most likely done by the same player that cursed him. “I think you should stop chasing that bad guy.” She said.

“I can’t stop chasing bad guys, it’s my job as a police officer.” Jaese smiled at her.

“These bad guys are the reason you are here though right?” She replied.

“Yeah, that’s true, but that’s part of the job. Sometimes police officers get hurt so that they can protect other people.” He reassured her. “Besides, I’m almost out of here, I’m doing fine.” He smiled. Liana heard this and tried to force a smile back at him, but every time she looked at him she couldn’t help but focus on the icon of the curse beside his floating name.

“Did you want to ask me something?” Jaese then asked, watching her strange expressions while not staring at her scars like most people did.

“Uhm, yeah! One second!” She said, spinning her wheelchair around to shut the door behind them, then turning back to face Jaese. “could you close your eyes tight for me, and cover them with your hands?”

“Close my eyes and cover them? Why?” Jaese replied confused.

“It’s a... It’s a surprise!” She replied hesitantly as she pondered a good excuse.

“You don’t seem too sure about that.” Jaese replied.

“I won’t do anything weird, I promise!” Liana pleaded.

“People usually only say that when they’re doing something weird.” Jaese replied, and this only made Liana accidently shrug in agreement.

“Hah, no way.” He commented after he saw this.

“Please, just for a few seconds!” She begged. He stared at her closely, then sighed.

“Alright, whatever.” Jaese shrugged. He closed his eyes tight and put his hands over them.

“No peeking, okay?” Liana said.

“Got it.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” Jaese replied.

“Okay.” Liana said. “Remove curse.” She whispered as quietly as possible. Jaese couldn’t make out her words, and when the spell released it’s bright flash of light, he didn’t see a thing. “Done!” Liana said happily, seeing the curse had been removed. She let out a huge sigh of relief.

“And, what was the surprise?” Jaese asked confused, looking around the room. Just then the door opened and the officer outside stepped in.

“What was that green flash of light just now?” the officer asked.

“Ask her, she made me close my eyes.” Jaese looked at her curiously.

“What green light? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Liana replied nervously, lying horribly as she spun her wheelchair around and drove it out of the room past the guarding officer.

“What was that about?” The officer asked Jaese.

“No idea.” He shrugged, picking the newspaper back up.

[Darith - Serious]

Darith made it through his first classes with extreme ease. He was disappointed that his math teacher wasn’t able to get the new exam yet so that he could test the limits of his intelligence, but not surprised to see that Ryan hadn’t shown up for class. When he got to the cafeteria he ended up sitting alone at the same table as always, thinking about calling Ryan or Jacob to see what they were doing, but to his surprise he spotted Jacob entering the cafeteria in his normal body.

He instantly felt excited, anxious to talk about the game about how they could find the key to the temple, but he also felt something was off. Unlike yesterday, no girls or anyone seemed to notice him, was it because he wasn’t in his characters body?

“Sup.” Jacob said as he sat at the table and put his bag down to pull out his lunch. “Ryan skipping again?” He asked, and it was then that Darith saw his level.

Jacob - Level 1

“Why are you level one?” Darith asked nervously, scared about the answer he would get.

“What? In what game are you talking about?” Jacob replied confused.

“Broken Realm...?”

“That a new one you’re playin? Haven’t heard about it. It any good?” Jacob asked.

“What happened last night, what’d you do last night?” Darith asked with eyes wide open, leaning forward towards his friend.

“I-I don’t know man.” He replied startled. “What's with you? You’re actin weird.” He said as he pulled out his lunch.

“You can’t remember?” Darith

“Nah… it’s all fuzzy for some reason. Musta just crashed after school. What’d you do? What’s this Broken Realm game like?” Jacob replied, but rather than answer him Darith hastily pulled out his phone.

“Hang on a sec.” He said, quickly dialing Ryan’s number. Pressing his phone to his ear, it rang a few times until it went to voicemail as Jacob started eating his lunch. “Of course he doesn’t answer.” Darith mumbled to himself in frustration. As thoughts began to rush through his mind, he felt a light tap on his shoulder causing both Jacob and Darith to look at Karin standing behind him with a smile.

“Hi! Darith!” Karin said. Her appearance broke him out of his thoughts for a moment. “Is, uhm, your friend around today?” She asked, looking to find Jacob’s game character.

“I’m his friend, how you doin?” Jacob winked at her.

“Ew, no, not you.” Karin replied, and seeing the exchange made Darith put his hand to his forehead.

“He’s not here.” Darith sighed back at her.

“Oh, well, do you think you could hel-”

“What page and questions?” Darith said impatiently.

“108, questions 1 to 8.” She replied.

“Got it.” He said unenthusiastic as the quest icon appeared and he subtly hit the accept button.

“Thank you, you’re the best!” She smiled excitedly, dropping her book down on the desk and heading away.

“Dang, since when are you talking to the hottest girl in school?” Jacob asked him in disbelief.

“Since she needs me to do her math homework.” He replied.

“Nice, I’d do a lot more than her math homework if she was talkin to me, you know what I mean?” Jacob said excitedly.

“I know what you mean.” Darith replied emotionless.

“You alright man?”

“Yeah… I’m fi-” Interrupted by his ringtone. He looked to see it was Ryan calling, and quickly answered.

“What the hell happened?” Darith blurted out immediately.

“Are you somewhere we can talk?” Ryan asked. “Not in front of Jacob though, he’s out. I’m guessin’ you already saw.” Ryan added. Darith hesitated for a moment looking at Jacob eating obliviously.

“Gotta use the bathroom real quick.” Darith said to Jacob, lowering his phone from his ear. Jacob replied with an ‘mm’ sound with a mouth full of food as he pulled out his own cell phone and started fiddling with it.

When Darith got outside of the cafeteria, he moved out front of the school building to a secluded area and pulled his phone back up.

“Alright I’m alone. Tell me what happened to Jacob.” Darith said with urgency.

“We ran into another player last night at the club. Some NPC was fighting him and the other player was gonna kill him, so Jacob jumped in. The guy was way too strong but Jacob wouldn’t back down, so he got taken out in one hit. It was insane, everyone in the club saw it happen. The guy even chased me outside into the streets, but just when I thought I was done for, some guys in black suits showed up. It freaked the other player out, he said they were city guards and he teleported away.” Ryan said quickly, stumbling some of his words as he spoke. Darith heard it all but it took a second for him to process it.

“You guys were using your abilities in a club and nothing happened?” Darith asked.

“Yeah seems like those city guards are guys in suits, but they’re not everywhere at all times. I bet you can get away with a lot more. I used my skeleton soldiers, but the guards didn’t do anything to me when they saw me outside.”

“That’s insane…” Darith said in disbelief.

“You’re tellin me. These high level guys are running around doing whatever they want. That’s why we gotta power up man, start takin’ this game more seriously. I’m on my way to get the rest of my party members.” Ryan replied.

“What? Who?” Darith asked.

“Well I’m starting with Kevosh.”

“Wait Kevosh? He was our main healer from our old guild right?”

“Best healer on the server. Gotta get people who know how to play. I should be able to meet you in 1 hour then we can start grinding.”

“W-wait. I’m still in school, gotta wait until after.” Darith replied.

“You serious? Forget about school man. This is way more important, this can be life or death.”

“...I can’t, I made a promise with my mom.”

“That shit is the reason Jacob got taken out. You’re too busy playing house and ditching us, I bet if you were with us at the club then Jacob would still be in.”

“That’s not fa-” Darith tried replying but was talked over.

“What the hell do you think is gonna happen if you keep screwing around? You think your gonna live a happy life with the game now just cause Liana can walk around or something? While you’re doing that, these guys are level 90 spouting shit about the world changing. And you’re supposed to be the pro gamer in our group.”

“I told you guys not to go, maybe you should’ve listened! Next time listen to me if you think I’m such a pro gamer!” Darith snapped back defensively. He didn’t mean to, he wanted to say something else, but his nerves got the best of him.

“Screw you man. I don’t even need you to get stronger. I’ll leave you in the dust while you’re sitting at school all day.” Ryan shouted back, then hung up the phone. Darith heard the click, being denied a chance to reply. He took a deep breath, then shouted out in anger, turning to punch the brick wall of the school behind him.

As his fist hit the wall, he felt no pain and instead broke off a few pieces of brick, leaving a large crater around his fist. He pulled it back and stared at the crater for a moment in silence. The longer he spent processing that he just punched a wall and broke it, the more Ryan’s words sunk in.

“What am I doing…” he asked himself as he leaned his back against the wall with his head down.

[Jaese + Liana - Snowfall]

“No heavy lifting, and don’t overexert yourself. And change the bandage at least once a day.” The doctor said to Jaese as Kristen stood beside him.

“I understand.” Jaese replied politely.

“I spoke to your boss about getting your paid leave, and you’ll need to come back in next Tuesday to get the stitches removed. Set up a date with Kristen or one of the nurses here on your way out. Do you have any questions?” The doctor asked.

“No questions, thanks for taking care of me doc.” Jaese replied.

“Your clothes are over there, have a good day.” The doctor motioned to a shelf with a drawer, then turned and headed out of the room.

“You too, thanks for taking care of me.” Jaese said to Kristen as he slid his legs off the side of the bed and stood up, stretching them out a bit.

“Just doing my job. Don’t hesitate to call if you have questions or concerns or something happens. And please take the doctors words seriously, don’t overexert yourself.” She said.

“Got it.” He nodded to her.

“Okay, good bye then, have a nice day.” She smiled, leaving the room as well to see Liana waiting outside again, the guarding officer looking at her weirdly.

“How was he, did he seem okay?” Liana asked Kristen as she came into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

“He’s fine, he just got discharged. Why’re you so worried about him anyway?” Kristen asked her curiously as she moved behind Liana’s wheelchair and started pushing her along down the hall.

“No reason, he’s a cop, they’re the good guys, right?” Liana shrugged.

“Most of the time, yeah. But that’s not the first time you’ve seen a police officer patient.”

“This one looked cute.” Liana shrugged. “Don’t you think?” She asked in an attempt to change Kristen’s focus.

“I don’t know about that...” Kristen replied shyly, but just then Liana noticed a familiar looking doctor walk past them, only briefly catching a glimpse of the ???’s above his head.

“Wait, can you stop me here? I want to go back and check something.” Liana said suddenly.

“Huh? I was about to go grab something to eat for us, it's my break now.” Kristen said confused, but stopping the wheelchair.

“It won't be long! I forgot to say something to the officer!” Liana replied impatiently as Kristen let go of the chair and Liana used her controls to turn it around.

“A-alright...” Kristen replied confused, then shrugged. “Teenagers.” she mumbled to herself.

As Kristen walked away, Liana moved her wheelchair after the ??? Doctor, and as she feared, she watched the officer sitting outside the room slide down against the wall as the doctor approached, fast asleep. She then glanced out one of the windows of the hall to see something peculiar that caught her eye. There were tiny snowflakes falling outside the hospital, and as she looked up she saw a few begin to fall from the ceiling, appearing out of nowhere. A status effect icon appeared beside her name and she quickly clicked on it as she watched the doctor enter Jaese’s room.

Snowstorm - Environment

While in this environment, increase the effectiveness of all cold related spells by 10%

After she read it, her eyes opened wide at the snowflakes landing on her.