Chapter 10 – Don’t play dumb, dear. Hand over the faerie.

“Give her to me,” the Anndr disguised as the tutorial faerie hissed, bringing her face close to Daniel’s. Her glamour disguise flickered in and out of existence, her face alternating between that of an ethereally beautiful woman, and that of a grotesque she-demon with a forked tongue, sunken eyes, and decaying flesh hanging from where her cheeks should be.

Down at Daniel’s feet, the pig he captured earlier squealed and ran off to the field, and Daniel could feel the small faerie hiding behind his back shaking like a leaf. He couldn’t blame her– he was also quivering in his pants.

“W-what are you talking about?” Daniel asked in a small voice.

“Don’t play dumb, dear. Hand over the faerie.” The Anndr grabbed Daniel’s arm, digging her long nails into his arm until they drew blood. Her wicked nails were sharp and demonic underneath the glamour spell.

Daniel felt a small hand frantically tug on his shirt from behind his back. “Don’t listen to her!” the small faerie shouted. “Just run!”

“Give me… the… faerie!” the Anndr hissed, her face twisting in anger as her glamour flickered in and out of existence, the spell proving difficult to maintain while the caster’s thoughts were tainted by anger.

Daniel shook off the Anndr’s grip and ran as fast as he could. “Help!” he shouted, running straight into the field where players were still collecting their life essence orbs. Strangely, nobody seemed to notice his shouts, and they didn’t even blink when he ran right in front of them. Not even Eric, who Daniel just ran past. Daniel hit Eric’s shoulder while running past, but the latter just turned and looked confused.

“Hm… must’ve been the wind.” Eric had no idea what was going on.

He and the other players did however give a passing glance at the Anndr as she floated by them while chasing Daniel. Her glamour disguise seemed to be holding up, since nobody seemed to think that it was abnormal for the tutorial faerie to be floating through the tutorial field.

Daniel glanced back at the Anndr, and noticed in the corner of his eye that the bonfire players were depositing their life essence orbs into was actually a glamoured large black pot of stew, and each life essence orb dropped into the stew melted and engulfed the sleeping faerie inside. He saw a small leg pop up, and then a mutilated faerie head...The Anndr was making faerie stew, and had all the tutorial players unknowingly aid her in doing so. Daniel felt himself retch at the concept, but regained his composure to continue running.

“Go this way!” said the faerie that Daniel held protectively at his chest. “She can’t go through there!”

The faerie was pointing at a rock wall forming a cliff, about a minute away from the fields. If you could think of the tutorial field from a top-down perspective, the pig field was in a cul-de-sac enveloped by a contiguous steep cliff wall, with the tutorial village nested right in the middle. The rock wall clearly denominated the end of the map, or the boundary point.

“What are you talking about, that’s solid rock– that’s a dead end!” Daniel shouted. All he saw in front of him was a giant cliff that he would face plant into if he kept running straight. He began to veer to the right.

“No, not to the right. Run through the rock! Just trust me!” the faerie peeped frantically, alarmed that Daniel was changing course.

With the Anndr less than two feet behind him, her long spidery arms outstretched, Daniel decided to trust the faerie. It was not easy though; he had to override all of his natural instinct to avoid a head on collision with the precipitous rock wall right in front of him. Closing his eyes out of instinct, Daniel braced for collision with the rock wall, just as the Anndr’s claws dug into his back and left a deep scratch mark.

"No!!!!!" the Anndr shrieked.

[You are bleeding.]

[Bleeding is a status that causes you to lose health over time.]

[You have been cured of bleeding status, due to Tutorial Parameters.]

Slamming into the wall like a linebacker, Daniel elbowed his way towards the rock surface, before… phasing right through?

“Good, she can’t get into here. Even though she impersonated the guide faerie, she still took on the role of tutorial guide, so she can’t leave the tutorial area,” the faerie explained in a relieved voice, dusting off her scant rag cloth dress before spinning around to examine Daniel.

Daniel’s heart was racing at a million beats per minute, as he looked around at his surroundings. He was now in some sort of dark, creepy cave, and the sound of water dripping echoed through the cavern walls.

“Where are we?” asked Daniel.