I fell onto my back in the middle of the floor back in New Beginnings. I couldn’t quite move yet as I had just used my energy or mana or whatever my healing spells used. I lay there for a bit in relief and then in panic.

“Clint! Oh no, Clint, please be ok.” I rolled a little to watch the tower. It felt like eternity but I heard the jingle of coins hit my bag twice and then the bull-faced man broke through the surface of the black marble as if it were water. He was gasping and bleeding. He slumped to the ground next to me and we lay there looking up at the towering black above us in a bright blue sky.

Clint broke the silence. “We didn’t die.”

His deadpan announcement caused me to burst into laughter. Maybe it was just nerves finally leaving but it was a good laugh. Clint grinned and chuckled a little. “That was close. This is going to be harder than I thought. Usually the start of games is really easy so people can get used to how things work.”

“Life was never easy, maybe that is why this ain’t either.”

I rolled over to look at my party mate. He was surprisingly insightful and still bleeding. “Are you ok? I will heal you when I can, I’m still recovering from the last spell.”

“Nah, I’m finer than frog hair and just as perdy. It doesn’t hurt like I thought it would.” He pulled himself to his feet, pushed his sword into his drawstring bag, and bent down to pick me up. It was with a disturbing ease that he could lift me into his arms. “You got plenty of needles in you as well. I am sure a sitting by the fire at the inn will help us feel better.”

The inn had a few more people in it now, I struggled to slip out of Clint’s arms. I didn’t want people to get the wrong impression about him and I. It was sure to look like a romantic gesture but from Clint it just felt like a long forgotten politeness. Besides, I could walk again fine, my energy had come back. It felt like it came back a little quicker.

I weaved through the mess of tables and chairs to a spot near the fireplace. It seemed quietest there. Before sitting, I pulled a few needles from my backside and struggled to reach those in the middle of my back.

“Let me help!” A cheerful voice came behind me. I turned to see teen aged girl about a head shorter than me looking at me and Clint over. She was asian. Her hair was silky black, her brown eyes seemed to have gold flecks in them that sparkled in the fire light. Her skin was flawless save for some bright gold scales that covered the back of her face and traced up the sides of her face before disappearing into her hairline. I was relieved that she wasn’t all human, but I couldn’t exactly tell what she was. There was no snake in the zodiac, at least this zodiac.

“Oh, um, sure. Thanks.” I mumbled and turned around.

“You are welcome. My name is Jun. I just spawned.” She was chipper, pleasant, and excited. It was a bit much for me.

Was this how I sounded to poor Clint when I bumped into him? Poor Clint.

Her hands were gentle as she plucked the needles out of my back. She held one up to her face to have a close look. “How did pine needles get stuck so deep?”

“Blights. These walking plants that attack on sight.” I said and shook out my dress once she had finished. A few stray needles that hit but didn’t go through the cloth fell onto the floor. “I’m Alice.”

“I’m Clint, nice ta meet you Miss Jun. Could you get a few off my shoulder? I can’t quite reach it.” He asked as he sat down into a chair and leaned forward on the table so the short woman would be able to reach with ease.

“Blights sound dangerous.” She said as she began to remove needles from Clint. “Are all the monsters so dangerous?”

“They are all out there to kill us, ma’am. They can’t do that without bein’ dangerous.” Clint said with his charming smile.

“They are the only thing I’ve encountered so far. I think Clint’s first encounter was a goblin.” I touched my pendant and used my spell again to stop the bleeding on the cuts Clint had on his arms and chest. Minor heal seemed to cover them fine so it must have been, well, minor. I lay my head on the table. “Are you gamer savvy?”

“A little, but more shooters. Fantasy rpg were not my thing.” She finished with Clint and sat at our table. “I’m a caster and I’m not really sure how to go about this.”

“Then you should join our party.” Clint offered quickly.

“Wait, we don’t know her.” I said, panicking a little. “N-no offense Jun.”

“You didn’t know me when you invited me into your party.” Clint countered, raising an eyebrow at me.

“Yes but…” I trailed off and looked to the floor. There was no excuse other than she wasn’t very animal-like and she didn’t have what I needed. I felt pretty ashamed. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt. Would you be interested in joining a party?”

Jun stared at us both silently for a moment. “I don’t want to be in a love triangle.” She finally said flatly.

I felt like a goldfish with how my mouth was opening and closing silently. I was completely at a loss for words. A love triangle? She was a kid! Clint was really nice, but I had no feelings for him other than hoping he stays safe. The audacity.

It was Clint who saved me some embarrassment. He chuckled and clapped me on the back. “I don’t think we have much a mind for romancin’. That’s all life stuff, isn’t it?”

“In that case, how do I sign up?” She said cheerful again.

While Clint explained to her how to join a party and added her, I got up and fetched a meal from the NPC of the Inn. It was a hot bowl of some kind of stew and a hunk of bread. The smell of it brought back memories, some good memories.

Before my step-mom, my dad loved to go camping. We would go anywhere and everywhere. Sometimes he would take me out of school for a week and we would drive to a different state and stay in a state park. We didn’t have much in the way of camping gear because money was tight but at the time I didn’t understand that. As a kid, sleeping in a sleeping bag under the stars in the back of my dad’s truck was the best thing in the world.

He taught me to forage and how to make a snare for rabbits. Often, our meals were just what we caught in snares or fished up. Stews were the best thing to have because with enough gravy, you couldn’t tell what kind of meat it was. I missed those days.

I was quiet and pensive when I sat back at the table, not really hearing the other two talking as I tried not to cry into my meal. I didn’t notice the attention on me until my party mates grew quiet.

“Alice, you alright?” Clint said softly.

I looked up and blinked the tears from my eyes before they could fall and betray my words. “Yes, fine, just tired.”

It was true that I was tired. I have been tired most of my life. Good memories were sometimes worse than the bad memories. It made me hurt more to know that at one point I was worthy of such wonderful times and then things changed.

“You don’t have to heal every wound. Those scratches would have scabbed over.” Clint said, looking concerned.

I don’t like when people get concerned over me. He was still a stranger, after all, I didn’t need to cause him any worry. Besides, it was just a memory making me feel down. I waved his concern away with my hand as if it were a miasma clouding our conversation.

“No, no, it isn’t a problem. That is my value in the party. I am the healer.” I said with a smile and ate some of my stew. Jun was watching me closely. I thought she was going to say something but she excused herself to go get some food as well.

“I jumped the gun inviting her to the party without askin’ you. Are you mad at me?” Clint said once Jun was way from the table.

“What? No. A little, but it was a good choice. I was silly in thinking we could do this just the two of us, especially after what we saw. If she can do magic, we will be able to kill off hordes that chase after us.” I offer him a smile. It is the best smile I can put on my face at the moment. Today has just been a bit much for me.

The smile seems to work as Clint smiles back and pushes his chair back to stand. “Great. I wouldn’t want to lose you from my party over any number of people. Next time, I’ll remember ta discuss it before we add anyone.”

I watched him walk off to get his own food. The sky was starting to change colors as the sun set. I had wondered if it would always be day here in New Beginnings like most games. I was relieved that it wasn’t the case. I could never sleep during the day.

Though the light outside dimmed, the light in the tavern stayed the same. It was a warm glow, bright enough to read from but soft enough to not be harsh on the eyes. More people filed into the Inn, picking up food from the counter and filling the tables. It was starting to get crowded.

To distract myself, I pulled out my guide book to see where my experience was and if there were any other options on the other pages. I was pleasantly surprised to see I had advanced to level two. There were no more options for skills, but my had advanced to level two. That must be why it didn’t take as long to refresh.

I flipped to the pages past my skills page and party page. There was a guild page and the rest were blank. Upon asking the Nothing about those pages, I was informed that the information would unlock as the content became available to me. Not very satisfying.

I was rummaging through my bag when Jun and Clint returned with their meal. I had gathered 6 copper coins from our fight and ten different species of flower. None of the flowers were once I recognized as ones from when I was alive. They were beautiful but very exotic. The trees had been identifiable, but these flowers were completely alien to me. They had to be ingredients of some kind.

“That’s a lot of flowers. What are you going to do with them?” Jun asked as she ripped the hearty piece of bread she was given with her stew in two.

“I’m going to check if they are crafting ingredients. Maybe I can make potions out of them. It could be something I can sell or will give us an edge. Those starting monsters are stronger than I think they should be so hopefully there are ways we can boost our own abilities, like with crafting.” I explained as I put the flowers away one at a time. “Have you been to floor one yet?”

Jun shook her head quickly. “I don’t even know how to cast a spell and I doubt my little wand will do much besides poke an eye out if I am lucky. Why couldn’t this be a first person shooter game? I rock at those.”

“Alice can help with that. She figured out how I can use my skill and can use her magic. I am sure it is the same for you. What can you do?” Clint asked between big mouths full of stew. Absently, I wondered how taboo it might be for him to be eating beef.

“I have a spell called and a spell called .” She dipped her bread into her stew and let it soak for a minute before taking a bite. “It would be lit if turned my wand into a gun. I’d take out those Blight like a boss.”

“I’m more curious as to what does. It could be a shield for extra defense, maybe it is a wall for crowd control.” I tapped my spoon on my bowl in thought. “It could even be a little wind minion that you can control. The only way to tell is to try it out. We can try after dinner if you want to.”

“Might as well. The sooner the better.” Jun lifted her own spoon and flicked it about like a wand and made “pew pew” sounds. “Hopefully aiming in this game isn’t too hard.”

“It doesn’t seem too hard to get the minimum to stay at the inn, so we have all the time in the universe to practice. I propose we take our time with the first floor. It is hard now, but if we do things right, we can level up and exploit the hell out of the experience here. We shouldn’t go to the next floor until we just aren’t getting any experience any more on floor one. Then we do the same with the following floors. It is the safest way to do it, I think. I’m not too keen on dying.” I proposed, looked between my two party mates.

“Trust me, you do not want to die in there. Re-spawning is…” and his words cut out. His mouth kept moving as if he were speaking, but I couldn’t hear a thing. I looked at Jun and she was just as confused as I was.

No spoilers. You’ll learn in your own time. The Nothing said.

“Some bullshit. Sharing intel is part of any game.” Jun complained loudly. Clint looked lost and confused.

“Nothing made it so we couldn’t hear what you said. Some things are not allowed to be shared, it seems.” I explained and turned back to my stew. “I wonder if it will be the same for what is on other floors. That will make it difficult to strategize in areas where bosses and raid bosses are.”

“We will just have to power through them.” Jun said with a smile. Clint and I nodded in agreement.

After we finished our stew and bread, the inn was far too busy. It seemed as though everyone who had been spawned so far was there. I have never enjoyed crowded places and this was worse as there was too much to look at. There were so many different kinds of people on a strange spectrum of human and not. It made my fuzzy new ears quiver with nerves. I was happy to escape it to get June some time to test her spells.

We picked a spot that was on the second lowest tier of the town. Nothing was built here and there was no one around. The moon was nearly full, so light wasn’t much of an issue. It was dim, sure, but there wasn’t much to see beyond white marble.

“Ok, to activate a skill, you need to hold onto your weapon, think really hard about what you want to do, and then say the skill name. We know what will do, so start there. Hold your want, point to the wall there, and fire away.” I said, standing back a bit.

Clint was swinging his sword a few paces behind us. He had said something about needing to get used to feel of its weight and how it felt. I didn’t question him, sometimes guys just like to swing around weapons, right?

Jun drew out her wand. It was a scraggly piece of wood that was just barely better than a twig. It seemed to be polished and had a blue stone that was strapped to the base with some copper wire. She lifted the wand and pointed it right at the wall at the back of the tier we stood on. I could see her face scrunch up as she concentrated.

“!”

The air around her hand became clouded. It circled her fist before darting along the length of her wand and out with a crack that sounded like a mini sonic boom. There was no way to really follow the wind bullet, it moved too quick. We both ran to the wall to inspect for damage, but there wasn’t any. Jun looked disappointed.

“In games, the towns are usually invulnerable.” I tried to reassure her. “Try it again, see what your cool-down is.”

After about an hour of testing things out, we found out that Jun’s had about a fifteen second cool down. That wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t too great either. It couldn’t be rapid fired, but it would help in a fight. It was just a question of how strong the bullet was, that was something we would have to figure out on the first floor.

When it came to her other skill, we couldn’t figure it out. The skill wouldn’t trigger. It wasn’t a barrier, a shield, a minion, or even just a knock back. No matter what we came up with and had Jun try, nothing happened. She got really discouraged and ended up storming back to the inn, wanting some time by herself. I was going to go after her, but Clint stopped me.

“Let her figure it out on her own. She’ll get it, it isn’t good to be too helpful. Makes people feel smothered.” He advised and sat on the edge of the tiered platform, his bull legs dangling. He patted a spot next to him and I joined him.

“I’m lucky to have run into you, Clint. You are a pretty great guy.” I said as I looked up at unfamiliar stars.

“You ain’t so bad yourself. Even if we didn’t have these animal parts, I think anyone could tell you are a pretty good person. Smart as the crack of a whip, too.”

“I’m just lucky to be in my element. I am sure that if we had to work on a farm in the early 1900s, you would be the one we turned to for knowledge.” I smiled at him only to have him laugh.

“A farm? You think I’m a farm boy?” Clint chuckled and slapped me on the back. “My father owned one of the largest warehouses in the port near where I was born. I was spoiled as can be. I got a decent education, but never worked a day in my life. I wish I had, I think I would have been a better man if I did.”

I looked up at his hulking form. I guess even wonderful people worry about not having been enough. I knew he had confidence issues, but I thought it was only due to fighting being scary as hell.

“Clint, if you were any better of a man the Nothing would have turned you into a full on bull! You underestimate yourself. You are pretty great.” I got to my feet and offered him a smile. “Let’s promise to be us and let that be enough, what do you say?”

He stood to join me, nodding. “You have a deal, Alice. We’ll just be us.”

Without another word, we started back to the inn. I had a lot planned for tomorrow, hopefully everyone would be on board for it all. We needed to do some more testing, some more material gathering, and see what it takes to get those items identified. I know we didn’t have to rush, but something made it feel urgent. Keeping busy right now was also helping me ignore how terrible I was feeling about existing again. I really wasn’t ok with that and didn’t know how to face it. Monsters seemed easier.

My room at the inn left much to be desired. They all seemed to be a pocket dimension, allowing for more residents than there was physical space for. This meant that we could have had better rooms than what we got. There was barely enough room for me to walk into the room beside the bed. There was a small table with a single drawer and a bed that had a straw mattress and wool blankets. There was no pillow. I guess it was an incentive to grow the town, but it made sleeping out in a tent like some were seem appealing.

I flopped down on my bed and quickly let the exhaustion of the day take me into sleep.