Mature Content Warning: A little language and innuendo.

Author's Note: I think the complete remastering and upgrading of the second volume will be done within the 7-10 day time frame that I quoted, but it might take as long as 12 days. I've revamped over half of the story so far, and added in a few new scenes already.

I decided that since waiting for over a week just to get an update, about updates, seemed cruel. So, I am going to let any of you who care to do so, read the 95% done version of the first chapter. There needs to be another round of edits to make sure I get any stray issues, but this is mostly what it will be.

If you do not wish to read it, that is fine. :) I just thought, that maybe something was better than nothing while we wait.

The next update will be the final volume 2 update, and then there will be volume 3 Chapter 1. At the very latest they should pop up by next Friday, but I doubt it will take more than another few days to finish up the initial clean-up. Then there are a few more new scenes to write (Most of those have already been written actually) and another round of clean-up edits.

Anyway, enjoy the remastered chapter 1. If you hate it, I don't mind. :)

---

I had a dream last night. I ran through a field of wild flowers and fresh green grass. Behind me there were others, people who I had never met. I could not see their faces since I ran ahead of them. Yet, I knew that they were with me.

I don’t know why we ran, but in the distance ahead there was a storm on the far horizon. The black clouds roiled like a living thing, an encroaching darkness lit only by serpentine lightning that shot out in all directions.

I knew that I should have run from that storm, but I did not. My place was there at the heart of that maelstrom. Something incredibly important waited for me there and I would go to it. I did not know what that something was. I only knew that I could not turn away and profess ignorance. I could not be such a person, any longer.

Chapter 1: Please Lie Next to Me

There were many forests in the world. Each had a distinct presence, a type of existence that defined it. Within the leaves and boughs of those forests many secrets might be hidden by twisting shadows and numerous leaves born upon the wind. In one particular forest, the Hidden Forest of the Wayward Heart, that secret came in the form of a small group of people.

A swirl of leaves stirred by a sudden wind indicated the arrival of a newcomer. Immediately that newcomer was greeted in a familiar manner. “Hey, Sharde!”

Sharde, a ninja master of shadow and flame turned swiftly toward the one calling out to her. “Hey Gambol!”

The ninja girl gracefully performed a backflip that took her from the forest teleportation circle and down a large drop to the ground below. A lesser person would have died horribly, but for a true ninja master such a drop was nothing more than a casual step.

“I did not expect to see you back so soon.” replied Gambol, ninja master of wind and rain. He was a tall man of modest build, but his eyes and casual grace bespoke his true skill and power.

Sharde, a red haired girl of average height and above average beauty smiled at the man. “Something interesting has happened.”

“Oh, what is that?” asked Gambol.

“My sister has her eye on a man.” said Sharde.

Gambol’s left eyelid began to twitch spastically. “When you say sister...?”

“I think you know which one, Gambol. If it was one of the other’s this would hardly be worth my attention.”

“So, the goddess of love finally took an interest...” said the man.

“Now, now Gambol. Use her proper name here.” requested Sharde.

“Ah, Rhea Ardente wasn’t it?” asked Gambol.

Sharde nodded. “If we’re going to be here, the least we can do is actually act like it.”

“You always get so into it, don’t you?” Gambol smirked at the ninja girl. It was good to see her so interested in something in this world, again. Recently she had begun to act as though she were bored of it all.

Sharde laughed heartily then slapped Gambol on the shoulder. “Of course, what’s the point otherwise? This world is a wonderful place.”

“Truly it is... Sharde, what kind of man is he? This man who has your sister’s attention?” asked Gambol.

The ninja girl spread her hands to the side then shook her head. “Never met the guy, but I overheard mother talking to my dear sister. You’ll never guess what kind of guy it is.”

“What kind? Do you mean which family? I would suspect that he must be of noble birth, at least.”

Sharde put her hand to her mouth and laughed haughtily. “The noblest!”

“Really? Which one?” asked Gambol. This was even bigger news than he had thought! Was her sister’s current love interest a true family scion just like she was?

She gestured for him to come closer so that she could share the secret. After he did so she said, “He’s an Earth Human!”

Gambol’s eyes widened to almost comical proportions. “No! How is that even possible...? I mean, that’s amazing news... but how?”

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” said Sharde. She looked to the side as she said it, however.

“Going after him yourself?” asked Gambol. He noted her body language and considered the ramifications. He had never known her to act like this before. At least, not in regards to a man. She was notorious for ignoring the affections and attentions of men.

Sharde laughed softly then looked back up at him. She grinned mischievously and said, “What’s a modern ninja girl to do? I can’t let my sister have all the fun. I want to play with him too.”

“Well, yeah... me too.” said Gambol. He’d love to play with an Earth Human. The human race was the foundation of his entire civilization after all.

“Denied!” replied Sharde. Gambol made a face and she laughed at him in a playful manner.

Gambol groaned loudly. “You’re really going to deny me the chance to play with an Earth Human? Really?”

“Let me check him out first. Maybe he isn’t even that interesting.” said Sharde.

The ninja of the wind and rain gazed at Sharde with a disbelieving and sarcastic expression. She stuck out her tongue at him then twirled her left index finger in the air. “If he sets my heart aflame with passionate butterflies I’ll let you know.”

“I hope so. It would be awful if the first Earth Human brought here turned out to be a dud.” said Gambol.

Sharde grew quiet for a moment. For a time she wore a thoughtful expression. That moment passed, however, and she smiled at Gambol. “I’ve already investigated and discovered some information. Dear sister needs to delete her browser history more thoroughly and learn to name her personal files better. Would you believe that he defeated a black grass rat overlord when he was level five?”

“No...” Gambol said in a surprised, but hopeful, tone.

“Well, he did.” said Sharde in a reassuring manner.

A sudden girlish squeal erupted throughout the area. Sharde eyed Gambol critically and he apologized for becoming so excited. He was could not help his outburst. He was incredibly happy to hear that the Earth Human might actually live up to the hype that surrounded his race.

“I wonder if he’s handsome. I had thought that if I ever managed to meet one, it would be one of those cute little fat ones who wore glasses and had that weird skin condition. What was it called?” She turned to look at Gambol for further information.

“I believe it is called acne if it is on the face.” replied the powerful ninja.

“Yes, of course! I wonder if he has that? I’ve never seen it in person...” said Sharde.

“One can only hope!” Gambol’s eyes lit up happily. A real live Earth Human to play with! Who would have thought it possible?

“What are you thinking, Gambol?” asked Sharde.

“I wonder if we can be bros!” Gambol’s eyes lit up with great excitement.

“Denied!” exclaimed Sharde.

“You’re so mean, Sharde! I’ll tell your sister about you.” said Gambol.

Sharde laughed at her long -time friend then patted him on the shoulder. “There, there, Gambol. Oh, did I mention that he chose the sorcerer class?”

Another girlish squeal of joy echoed through the small forest clearing. Gambol was certainly excited to hear that. Maybe they could spar! Bros could totally spar. Who would have thought that an Earth Human would come to this world and that he would choose a magic and agility based class. Sorcerers were the closest things to ninjas that a basic class could be at present.

***

Fists flew furiously in rapid-fire succession. Quick and skillful footwork moved Scott through the pattern that his body wanted to follow. Since the day that they had left the inn, he had spent at least an hour each morning training his body and basic movement skills. After he had first arrived in this world he had not spent much time in simple training. The fact that raising his level also increased all of his stats by a small degree, made him think that level was everything.

While he would gain no physical benefit from training his body outside of maintaining a lean appearance, he had become slightly more aware of his movement capacity. He could feel the knowledge of the sorcerer flowing through his body and mind.

Scott could already feel greater confidence when moving with strength, grace, and athleticism. His agility was higher than an average human back home by a great degree. He could perform actions that would astonish an Olympic level gymnast due to the nature of this world’s system mechanics.

Scott leapt into the air and performed a quick spinning jump kick before moving into a series of quick punches after landing. Before he had started his daily training regimen, he had relied only on sudden instinct. However, even the minor training that he actually performed had greatly improved his basic capacity for unarmed combat. He already had the instincts, and apparently even the knowledge, of a trained fighter. This sort of training helped him to better execute that knowledge.

“Not bad, but you’re still leaning too far to the left when you jump and land. Your balance will be off.” said Rhea. She rubbed her chin and considered his performance with a critical eye. He had improved quickly, but it would still take quite a bit of time before he could be called truly competent. Of course, she had a biased and critical eye for agile combat movements.

“Thanks, so I should do it more like this?” He performed the same spinning kick motion as before, but over-compensated by moving farther to the right.

She shook her head. “Better, but now you lean too far to the right.”

Scott practiced the movement several more times before he finally found the proper rhythm. He could have trained alone and possibly reached a greater level of precision. However, utilizing Rhea to check his movements for awkwardness sped his training along at a tremendous rate. She acted as a set of beautiful jade green eyes that could perceive the flaws in his still basic, if flashy, technique.

“Well, if you’re done for the morning we should probably head to Meaden.” said Rhea.

The sorcerer smiled then stretched. It was good to work the kinks out of his body. “Sure, we can resupply a bit and rest up for the final push toward the mine.”

“That’s the plan! Since you’ve covered the costs of the supplies and the tavern a few days ago, this stay will be my treat.”

“Far be it from me to deny a lady the right to spend money on Me.” quipped Scott. His cheeky grin caused Rhea to laugh. It was a mutually enjoyable moment and Scott joined her by unleashing a laugh of his own.

They packed up their bedrolls and put them away in their inventories before heading out. They only needed to travel another few hours to reach Meaden.

Along the way, they were occasionally accosted by a stray rabbit or a wild dog. There was nothing particularly powerful this close to the road, so it took little time to dispatch them.

“So, that’s Meaden?” asked Scott.

The town in the distance seemed to be much smaller than Victory Station. He knew that it would be that way, but it was still a bit shocking. There were probably fewer than one thousand people living there.

“Yes, it’s just a small town with nothing to set it apart from other similar little towns. The largest in this region is Victory Station. If you want a bigger town, or an actual city, you would need to head north toward Arnette or East toward Eizen.”

“Eizen, that’s the coastal kingdom right? The one that has the main portion of the country on a single mountainous island, but it has several small allied towns on the coast of the continent?

Rhea nodded at her comrade. “Yes, they have a strong naval presence but their ground soldiers aren’t as strong as Arnette’s soldiers. That situation is the reason why free towns like Victory Station can exist.”

“Right, they act as some sort of buffer between those states.” said Scott. He had read that much in the library.

“True, they are not currently at war. These buffer zone towns tend to keep things that way to some extent.”

While the conversed the town came rapidly into view. Soon they were at the entry gates. Though, the gates were little more than a set of massive logs that could be raised or lowered quickly from inside the wooden palisade. Meaden did not even register the need for a true stone wall, apparently.

There was a short line of people waiting to enter the town. Scott was curious about the wait and looked askance at Rhea.

“Hmm?” she asked.

“Everyone has inventory screens right? Why do they need so many wagons?” asked the sorcerer.

“Ah, it is because of how items become tagged as property when they enter someone’s inventory. If you hire someone to simple walk around with a massive amount of your merchandise, they can legitimately walk off with it and never come back. You can write contracts, but you can only really enforce them in certain locations.”

“How do people move things then, is it always in carts like this?”

“Yes, when it is large shipments. However, they do hire couriers too. They just need to be sure that the contracts are registered in locations with a large reach and authority.”

“Such as?”

Rhea smiled at Scott. “Cities and towns with a merchant guild branch office. If the guild exists in a town in any meaningful manner, they control commerce in that area and can enforce contracts.”

“Does Meaden have such an office?” asked Scott.

“Yes, of course they do. Only small villages and unincorporated frontier towns will lack a merchant guild office, normally. Though, towns can refuse the guild and start their own local commercial laws. Most of the towns in this part of the world work with the guild since they also offer extra commercial protection.”

Learning that bit of information brought Scott back to his original thought. Why not just hire people to carry your goods? Carts and wagons were just targets for thieves. If Meaden did not have a Merchant Guild office, he could understand it.

However, since they could enforce contracts here, it made no sense to the man. He mentioned that to Rhea and she chuckled at him.

“Well, you might want to take a look at what they are hauling.” The elf maiden gestured to the closest wagon.

Scott looked it over then checked another. “Produce and Hay? Farm supplies and things like that... Oh, I see now.”

“Yep, a lot of these people are probably local farmers. Why hire someone who might run off with your merchandise, when you live close enough to town just to haul it here yourself.”

“That makes sense.” said Scott. He could carry over a few thousand items in his inventory, but they had to be extremely similar if not identical. A farmer might have to walk back and forth several times with items in their inventory if they were not nearly identical.

The wagons made sense, now. If he ran a business where he had high value items, like armor or accessories, to sell he would use his inventory. The value in produce was found in how much of it that you had to sell. Individually, a potato is not worth the cost in time or labor to walk a few dozen of them to town in your inventory.

While they waited, another wagon moved into line behind them. Scott turned to see that it was driven by a middle-age man. Next to the driver sat an attractive woman with a baby on her lap.

“Mornin’.” said Scott.

The farmer looked down at him then nodded his head. “Mornin’. Been waitin’ long?”

Scott shook his head. “Nah, we just got here not too long ago.”

The older man nodded again then settled back to wait. Time passed, and a wagon moved forward into town. Once that wagon managed to make it inside; the other wagons moved through at a steady pace. Three more wagons appeared behind them while they waited, but no one acted like the wait was unusual.

Scott heard discussion behind them. After the discussion grew heated he turned to see that the farmer was trying to silence his wife in a gentle, but firm manner.

The man gave up when he saw Scott looking at them, and he apologized. “I’m sorry. My wife was just excited. She wants me to ask you if your companion is an elf.”

Rhea winced then sighed. She had not kept up her former disguise after partying together with Scott. It was obvious that she was not human, but that did not matter to her. There was only one opinion besides her own that she cared for at the moment. That opinion belonged to Scott.

Scott turned to look at Rhea and she nodded at him in a casual manner. He looked back at the farmer and smiled. “Yes, sir. She is an elf. Though, she does not like to make a big deal out of such things.”

“Oh, I’m sure my wife meant no harm by it.”

“I didn’t! She’s just so pretty... Like some sort of fairytale princess.” said the woman excitedly.

Rhea’s face darkened slightly then took on a reddish tone. She spoke softly, “Thank you.”

They moved forward in line. Only one wagon was ahead of them now.

The farmer and his wife argued back and forth for a moment. Eventually, the farmer sighed in exacerbation and asked. “Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you two. My wife wanted to know if you’d like to come to our house for dinner tonight?”

Scott blinked then quirked his eyebrow. They did not even know them, but wanted them to come over for dinner?

Rhea tilted her head to the side and smiled. “That would be fine with me...”

The sorcerer glanced at her then rolled his eyes. Of course it would! She was supposed to pay for meals and lodging while they were in town. He composed himself then turned to the farmer. “My companion and I would be delighted to join you and your lady wife for dinner.”

“Lady wife? My wife?” The farmer ‘s face took on a strange and confused expression.

His wife slapped him on the shoulder in response. “If I wasn’t such a refined lady, I’d whip you good Jacob Rasnell!”

“Yes, Honey.” replied the long suffering husband.

Rhea placed a fist to her lips and giggled into her knuckles. Scott shook his head.

Scott looked at her flatly then asked her in a playful manner, “Remind you of anyone?”

“Whatever do you mean? I am a sweet and delicate flower.” replied Rhea.

Scott looked as though he might say something to the contrary so she placed her hand atop her sword pommel and quirked one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. “Right?”

He tossed her a wry smile then looked her squarely in the eye before speaking in a flat monotone voice. “Oh Rhea, you are the most delicate and beautiful flower in the garden of life. The sun obviously rises in the morning only to see your smiling face.”

She made a little gasping noise then slapped him on the shoulder before turning away. He had been joking, and she knew it, but to hear him say such a thing was quite embarrassing. Her face heated up greatly and turned bright red.

Scott stared at the strange special effect. Her face had literally turned bright red!

“Aww, Jacob... Look at them. Isn’t that sweet?”

“Yes, Honey.” said the farmer.

The wagon in front of them moved into town and it was there turn to speak to the guard. They answered a few brief questions about their purpose for visiting Meaden then were allowed inside. They waited for the farmer and his wife.

>>

The music of the road changed to a quirky tune with a rural theme. Scott nodded in time to the tune while he took in the sight of the second town that he had entered since coming to this world. It was a tidy looking little place. The people seemed happy, and there were children playing near a large water fountain up ahead.

After the older couple entered town, Scott and Rhea discussed when they should visit their house. The location of their farm was added to the dynamic duo’s map-screen and the quarter parted ways.

“What do you think?” asked Rhea.

“It seems nice. Though, I haven’t checked any prices yet so my opinion might change.” said Scott. He grinned at Rhea and she shook her head.

“I’m paying this time, remember?” She poked him in the shoulder then shook her delicate finger at him.

“That’s true. You tell me if your opinion of the place changes then, and I will take that into advisement.”

The blue haired elf sighed at the blue haired human. “I will.”

“Excellent, I win.” said Scott.

She rolled her eyes then pointed toward a sign that had a large pig on the front. “That’s the Tenderloin Tavern. It has the best food and rooms to rent in town. Of course, it is also the only place with rooms that also includes meals.”

Scott’s stomach grumbled suddenly as it realized what she had just said. “Please pardon my angry stomach; it knows not what it does.”

Rhea looked at him then slowly shook her head. “I’m not sure if feeding you is a good idea. You become a bit feisty after you have been fed.”

“Hey, don’t steal my lines.” said Scott. He had said the same thing to her the first time he had cooked dinner during their trip into town. He considered himself to be only a reasonably efficient cook. She had taken her plate of food and acted like it was the most precious thing that anyone had ever given to her. The silly girl had looked almost heartbroken that she had to eat it!

Rhea giggled at him then smiled shyly. She looked down at her hands and fidgeted a little.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Uhm, our lodgings...” she replied.

“What about them?” Was she short of funds? He did not mind sleeping in the woods again if they needed to do so.

The elf girl took a deep breath then said, “We should share a room for the sake of keeping expenses low.”

“Sure.” He saw no problem with that. They frequently slept next to each other on the road. Well, actually Rhea always put her bedroll down next to whatever spot Scott had chosen for his own bedroll. They then took turns keeping watch.

Rhea nodded then spoke to him in a tone of voice that was strangely calm. “Good, let us share a room then Scott.”

A sudden flurry of motion nearby caught Scott’s attention. A little girl had pounced on a little boy and they were wrestling near the water fountain.

Rhea leaned back and punched at the air above her in a double-fisted fist-pumping motion. She bore a triumphant smile. She was on the verge of shouting with joy, but she managed to restrain herself. By the time Scott had turned back to Rhea she had regained her composure and nothing seemed out of place.

“Hmm?” asked Scott. Nothing seemed out of place to the man, but he had a sudden suspicion that he had missed something.

“Hmm?” asked Rhea. She smiled brightly and gazed upon him with wide and innocent eyes.

He stared at her curiously for a moment, and then asked, “Nothing I guess. I just thought that you had asked me something.”

She shook her head back and forth. Her hair swayed captivatingly in the light, and it caught Scott’s attention like a shiny fishing lure catches the attention of a fish. “No, I already had an important question answered.”

“OK...”

Rhea took a deep breath then turned toward the Tenderloin Tavern. She strode forward purposefully with her chin up and her chest out.

Scott quirked his left eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. Had he missed something? He had definitely missed something! The sorcerer snorted then ran to catch up with the rapidly moving girl. She was suddenly in quite the hurry.

The Tenderloin Tavern was a brightly lit and cheery sort of place. Rhea purchased a single room with meals for two.

They ate their lunch happily while discussing their plans. They would set out for the mine in the morning. Today would be a rest day. They also had that dinner date, as Rhea decided to call it, with the farmer and his wife later.

“This ham and cheese sandwich is good.” said Scott. He did wonder where they got the ham, though. He had not seen anyone raising pigs on the way to town.

“Yes, isn’t it? Thunder boars are a good source of meat for people in this zone.”

“Thunder boar?”

Rhea nodded at him. “Yes, you can often find low-level ones in the forest and fields south of here.”

“I see.” That would be useful information once he acquired those survival skills that he lacked currently. It was his hope that he would be able to increase his level to the point that losing eighty thousand experience points to learn a skill-set would be worth the loss.

They finished dinner then headed toward their room. Once inside Rhea immediately started to fuss with the bed excitedly. She giggled and made weird little happy noises that unnerved Scott. She bounced around the room happily, her hair flying around due to her sudden movements.

The poor girl’s jaw dropped when she saw that Scott had moved to the far corner again and had laid out his bed roll.

“You’re sleeping in the corner?”

“Well, yes. I can’t very well take the bed and have you sleep in the corner.” replied Scott.

Her expression changed from surprise to annoyance. “No way! You’ll sleep in this bed like a normal person!”

“Where will you sleep?” asked Scott with faux-innocence. He knew exactly where the girl planned to sleep.

Rhea pouted at him. “You don’t want to sleep next to me? What about the sacred bond of comrades?”

“That’s the first time I ever heard of it.” said Scott.

“Right, well... The ... The sacred bond of comrades dictates that you must sleep in the same bed for the purposes of becoming better comrades!”

Scott smirked. “You didn’t just make that up did you?”

“No! If we had more comrades we would all have to sleep in the same bed together.” replied Rhea.

“I’m sure you’re making that up.” said Scott.

She pouted at him again. Rhea began to sniffle a little. Tears began to well up at the corners of her wide and innocent eyes. “Don’t you want to sleep next to me?”

“No, not that face!” Scott pulled away from her in absolute horror. She was unleashing a devastating expression. She had unleashed it only once before, when he told her that he would not cook a second helping of dinner for her the other day.

She pouted a little, and her lower lip began to quiver. “Please Scott... Please sleep next to me in the big comfy bed.”

“You’re an evil woman. You know that right?”

Rhea’s cute expression grew even more powerful when she clutched her hands to her chest and began to fidget. “All I want... is to be closer to my comrade. Is that so wrong?”

Scott was losing the battle for the bed. He just knew it. He had to come up with some way to preserve his masculine dignity. He liked Rhea, cared a lot for her really. Yet, they were not intimate beyond being comrades and maybe friends. At least they had not discussed anything further. Accepting her request would set a bad precedent as far as he was concerned.

The elf girl gracefully glided toward him then looked up at him with her innocent and soulful expression. “I promise I won’t molest you in your sleep.”

“Well...” How could he turn down that offer?

Her eyes widened even further then began to sparkle in the light. How did she do that? He still had not figured it out, yet! Was there some sort of emote command that he did not know about?

Defeated utterly, he said, “Fine. I’ll take the side closest to the door.”

“Great! I win!” She threw her arms around him and giggled like an idiot.

Scott rolled his eyes then smiled down at the girl. She was so cute at times.

“You know I have been looking forward to this for a wh-” began Rhea. She began to fall to the floor, but Scott managed to catch her just in time.

The unconscious elf girl began to snore loudly, much to the amusement of her comrade. At least she would be relatively safe inside the inn. He placed her on the bed, gently.

A great distance away, in a city made of crystal and high-tech modern devices, Origin awoke with a start. She took off the tiara that she was wearing and sighed loudly. On the screen before her were bright red letters. AFK.

“What the heck?” she asked the empty air.

Origin looked around then frowned. She did not see anyone, but she had been automatically logged out of the system. That does not happen by accident.

She stood up and walked over to check her door. It was locked. She performed a deep scan of the room using her divine powers. She did not detect anyone hiding in the area.

“That sucks. I wonder why I was l disconnected.” Origin sighed loudly. Whatever had caused it had ruined a perfectly sweet moment with Scott.

She tapped on the return button on her view screen. Her current location was displayed on the screen briefly. Once it faded from view she was ready to return to the world below. She placed the tiara back on her head. She slipped off into dream land once more, and the elf girl Rhea awoke. Origin had returned to her avatar and could once again play with her Scott.

After Origin had fully initialized her login sequence, a soft laugh echoed through the room. A beautiful girl with bright red hair slid out of the shadows. “You’re good dear sister, but you’re no ninja master.”

Shara, Origin’s half-sister, smirked then made her way toward the door. On the way she noticed something then smiled a more normal smile. She walked over to her sister’s desk and snatched up a tissue.

“Seriously, what am I going to do with you?” Shara dabbed of the drool coming from her sister’s lips. It perfectly matched he slight drool that trickled down her avatar’s lips on screen.

“They are in Meaden, gotta remember that.” Shara slipped out of Origin’s room quietly then headed off to her own room. She had to figure out the fastest way to get to Meaden. There was no way that she would let her sister hog the human. She really wanted to play with Scott, too!

Once she reached her room she opened her door and stepped inside. She hummed merrily and walked past her closet filled with various cosplay outfits befitting famous pop-culture characters from Earth. She ignored her desk that held cute little anime inspired ninja figurines, and one strangely familiar figure. On the desk stood a one-sixth scale model of Scott in his US Army Uniform, complete with M-4 and kung-fu grip.

She stopped what she was doing then walked backwards until she returned to her desk. She reached down and picked up the Scott action figure.

“Hey. Do you think I’m pretty, Scott?” she said softly to the inanimate Scott. She moved his opposable limbs and made him take on heroic poses.

Shara sighed then made the action figure take on an expressive stance and made its head bob up and down by shaking it in the air. “Yes, Shara, I do think you’re pretty. You’re the prettiest ninja goddess in the whole world! Please play with me every day!”

She placed the tips of the fingers on her left hand, against shin and smile radiantly. “Of course I will, Scott. I’ll play with you whenever you like.”

The goddess with a ninja girl fixation played with her figurine for a time then placed Army Action Scott back in his spot on her desk. She looked to her desk drawer and unlocked it. She retried a disk then shut her drawer before going to her system node.

The ninja goddess placed the disc into the computer tray and waited for it to boot up. After the loading screen passed she was greeted to a very familiar sight. Scott, in civilian dress, was alone at his barracks room making spaghetti.

She watched him put a few slices of jalapeno into his spaghetti sauce then giggled softly. Honestly, who puts jalapenos in spaghetti? What a noob.

Shara watched Scott for several hours, as she often did. She was not certain what fascinated her about the man, but a few years ago she had taken it upon herself to watch him. Origin had developed a powerful fixation on the man, and it made her feel like her sister had abandoned her.

The red haired ninja goddess smiled gently. “We’ll finally get to play together soon. I just know it.”

Whether she meant Origin or Scott was anyone’s guess. A close-up image of Scott’s face appeared on screen. Shara placed a finger to her monitor and gently traced the curve of his chin. It was hard to judge human beauty. As a goddess she mostly saw the flow of his spiritual energy. Origin’s love interest had a warm and friendly soul tinged with a hint of violence.

Shara shivered gently, but not due to any form of cold or fear. She was not certain why, but whenever she looked at this man she felt something shiver deep inside. It was not an unpleasant sensation.

Eventually she sighed once more then looked down at her console. Her eyes began to shimmer softly in the glow of her monitor. She sniffled a little then turned her head to the side and wiped at her eyes with her fingers.

A sad little smile crossed her lips and she said, “I hope that you want to play with me, too.”

Shara hugged herself and sat there in her room, alone. Recently she had spent most of her time alone. She had few real friends. in fact, she had no friends other than her family members and Gambol. None of them had as much time for her as they used to and the lonely girl hoped that the man on the monitor, a man that she had watched daily for several years now, would want to spend time with her.

Despite her great beauty, Shara did not understand how to socialize properly. She had always been an insular child. While she had played with her sister Origin a lot during their youth, she had been drawn mostly to watching Earth human television and playing games. She loved to cosplay as her favorite characters. Her tendency to fixate of characters that she adored had unintended consequences once she grew older.

She was not sure why it was important, but she felt strongly about playing with Scott. She bit her lower lip and took a deep breath. Shara slowly released her pent up breath then sobbed out. “Please, play with me... Please don’t be like the others.”

Scott, the man on the monitor, was her last hope. Everyone else, even her dear sister, had seemed to abandon her. Even Gambol was only available on a highly irregular basis of late. He was fixated on Theta, Shara’s older sister, and spent most of his time trying to get her attention.

The ninja goddess hugged herself and let the tears fall. She barely understood human emotions, but like any deity she felt them keenly when they occurred. Emotions were hard, brutal, things. She could not understand how humans were able to deal with them. It was like a torturous wave of things she could not properly understand crashed down upon her at random points in time.

A lonely girl cried in her room that night. Her heartfelt self-prayers were sincere desires to spend time with both the one person who had been there for her every day, even if he did not know it, and to once again be able to spend time with her dear sister. Playing with Scott would answer both of her earnest prayers.

The gods wanted to understand humanity to an almost desperate degree. Human cultures, emotions, thoughts, and actions were a mystery to the eternal beings of the divine city. As deities they had incredible powers and could conceivably live forever. Yet, it was only when they could be close to the short-lived mortals that they truly felt alive.

They did not understand human emotion, but they could feel it. Unfortunately, their comprehension and understanding of the concepts of emotion were far more limited than their ability to actively feel such things. In many ways, a human who met a deity and survived might think of them as incomplete beings. In other instances, the gods might seem to be suffering under several varieties of psychosis. Either way, they understood themselves and their feelings even less than they understood human actions and choices. No matter how nice or sweet most divine beings might seem, they were all essentially bat-shit crazy.

-----

Final Notes:

A few somewhat clunky sentences that can be written better... and after reading through, I'll probably extend this slightly more as well. Anyway, this is the first chapter. Thoughts? :)