Garrett whipped his head up at the shout. A shadow swept down towards him, but it wasn't just a bird passing overhead; its wings extended easily as long as a truck. As it swooped closer, he threw himself to the side.

Not a moment too soon. As he hit the ground, he looked back to see the bird — or whatever the creature was — scrape its talons in the spot where he'd just been. It screeched in what sounded like frustration, then flew up and away. Apparently, it wasn't one to wait around for escaped prey.

Garrett's heart was hammering, his palms were sweaty, and his breath was coming fast. But he was grinning. He'd never felt danger like that before, and he found he liked it. Besides, even though he'd scraped his hands and knees falling to the stone, they'd barely hurt. And a look at his hands showed his wounds were already healing.

And he could breathe. God, could he breathe!

“That was a close one, eh?”

Garrett looked around and saw the man who had warned him. He was clearly a Hawk as well, with the same tan skin, narrow eyes, and pointy ears poking out from underneath a wide-brimmed, straw hat. Lines of worried were carved into his sun-beaten, but he wore a small smile now.

“Would have been a shame to lose another,” he said quietly.

Garrett found his voice. “Another?” He startled hearing it. It was lower than he was used to, and stronger, and didn't crack from puberty.

The fellow Hawk didn't notice anything amok though. “You must be one of those who have been sleeping,” he noted. “Suppose that also make you one of them Drifters.”

“Drifters? Aren't you one?”

The man shook his head with a smile. “You never seem to remember that. No, I'm one of the normal ones. Sure, I follow the Way of Aer. But ask me to whip up a wind and I'm helpless!”

Garrett thought it over. “So only Drifters can use magic?”

The man nodded.

It was only then that Garrett realized as much as he'd looked into the game and dreamed of how he'd play it, he'd never immersed himself into the world's lore. It has always been window dressing, looking in from the outside. But now that he was here, he found himself being swept up into it.

He gestured to the sky where the giant bird had ascended. “What was that thing?”

“A Rocwing.” He shook his head. “You may as well call it Death That Flies. They're hunting us to extinction, they are.” The old man sighed. “I never expected to see so many younger folk going before me. We're all of us breathing our last breaths.”

The words nearly took away Garrett's own breath. He knew a thing or two about last breaths. Living in a hospital wing with other kids with cystic fibrosis, he'd seen a lot of his friends not able to go on any longer.

“I'll stop them.” He said the words before he really thought about what they meant. Stop those giant beasts? He'd only just arrived and didn't know the first thing about fighting.

But the game didn't seem to care. A window appeared on the left-hand side of his vision:

You have agreed to save the settlement of Nan'xin of the Hawk faction from extinction by the Rocwings.

If you succeed:

+1000 Reputation

Access to Hawk faction storylines and resources

If you fail:

-1000 Reputation

Limited access to Hawk faction storylines and resources

>

Garrett realized belatedly that what he'd read online was absolutely true: that every action you committed in Elementia had consequences. Here, he'd stumbled into a quest that could greatly help him, but also hurt him a lot if he failed. This wasn't a game without stakes. Screw things up too much, and he’d basically have to start over to do anything.

But right then, Garrett didn't so much care about that. He'd never expected it, but he really felt for the people of Nan'xin’s predicament. He'd chosen the Hawk faction, and now he felt obligated to make sure this segment of it remained intact. The consequences of failure when beyond what the quest said, at least for him. He had to do this.

But how?

The man's face crinkled into a wide smile. “Thank you, Drifter. Wind’s blessings on you.” He pointed up, where a series of rock pillars rose high above. “You'll time the Rocwings’ nests on top of the Fingers. Destroy their nests and they'll find another place to roost.”

Garrett stared at the pillars. He knew he could jump higher here, but he couldn't jump that high. He needed some serious training, and fast if he was going to save his people.

“Where’s the village?” he asked the man.

He pointed up the path leading away from the stone pillars. “Not far that way, can't miss it. You just tell them you're working on the Rocwing problem and people will be happy to help you.” He grasped Garrett's hand in both of his and bowed so low his forehead touched his hand. “Thank you.”

Garrett smiled, embarrassed but pleased, and watched the man pick up a basket by the side of the road and walk off the path and down to the beach he could hear nearby, always keeping one eye to the sky.

High time that he was off himself. Garrett started off in the direction that the man had said the village was located. As he walked, he decided it was time to figure out just what he was starting with here. As soon as he thought about accessing the menu, a transparent screen popped up on his right side, with a variety of options. He started with what was most immediately applicable and opened the first option, Actions.

An explanation window immediately popped up:

While much of the movement is intuitive within Elementia, there are many actions that are partially assisted, while others can be automated.

Enabled actions include many combat actions and magic spells. Enabled actions improve with increased use, training, certain enchantments, and certain items.

Actions that can be automated include movement and crafting. Automated actions also improve with use, training, certain enchantments, and certain items.

Select each type of action for a complete list.

>

Garrett closed the window. He'd find out the specifics when they came necessary. More and more, though, he was finding out how all his reading had just scratched the surface of Elementia Online. There was so much he'd never thought to read up on. Never had he been so thrilled to find out about his ignorance.

Figuring he'd try and automated action, he simply thought the command Auto-run. But instead of his avatar following the command, a message came up:

To enable an automated action, your avatar must first perform it manually.

>

Duh. He'd only walked so far. Garrett kicked his body into gear and started jogging. Running had never felt better. Back in real life, any running he'd done had been slow and incredibly difficult. Here, it was effortless, and it felt great to be moving along at a clip.

He continued manually doing it for a bit before thinking the Auto-run command again. This time, his avatar took right to it. It was strange to have his body moving without his explicit direction, almost a little creepy, but he figured he'd get used to it soon enough. It was sure useful at least.

Before jumping back into the menus, Garrett noticed something else: a series of three circles running along the bottom of his vision, one red, one green, and the last blue. He already thought he knew what they indicated, especially as the green circle was only a quarter full, but he checked to confirm. Yes — red was for health points, or HP, green for energy points, or EP, and blue for magic points, or MP. As expected, running constantly was draining his EP. He felt the strain of his low energy, though not half as much as what he'd experienced even walking in real life.

Considering it wasn't paining him much, Garrett decided to push it all the way. His breathing came quicker as his EP fell to 10%. At 5%, his legs started getting leaden. He pushed on, all the way until he couldn't go any further, just shy of empty. No matter how he pushed after that, his body would only let him go walk and move slowly until it crept back up above 5%. Good to know if he ever got into a bad situation. Like with those huge birds above, say.

As he walked and recovered EP, Garrett craned his head back and scanned the sky. The sun was up and bright, but not a single animal stirred that he could hear. The island — from the smell of sea, the Hawk fisherman, and the sound of the tide faintly on either side, it seemed he was on an island — was eerily deserted.

It contrasted with the natural beach he'd seen one of the few times he'd been stable enough to go on vacation with his family. Then, he and Nelly had been younger, and his sister had gone chasing after seagulls and crabs, while Garrett had watched and laughed. He'd had to sit back and watch a lot of his life.

He set his jaw. No more.

But that was putting the driver in front of the car, as his dad always said. He had to figure out the game mechanics first before he took out the threat to this island. His island.

His EP recovered, he tested out jumping next. This was even more thrilling. Jumping here felt almost like flying. It might be 225% of the height of a normal person, but it was way more than what he'd been able to do. He tested out hopping on nearby rocks, jumping higher and higher. It ate up a good chunk of EP each jump, nearly 10% of the circle, so it was something he’d have to watch in a fight.

A scream pierced the sky, and Garrett whipped his head around. Another huge Rocwing was descending from a high rock pillar, and it looked to be heading for him. He started hopping down, berating himself for not being more careful and getting carried away jumping. His EP was down to 40%, and he was only halfway down the rocks.

He heard the beat of wings as the Rocwing positioned itself to grab him, so he dove off the stones even though he was still high enough up that it made his heart pound. The ground rushed towards him, but he wasn't so lucky in his dodge as last time. The corners of his vision flashed red as he felt a talon cut along his leg. A moment later, the ground found him as well.

It didn't hurt as badly as he expected, but it still set fire going along his body. Nothing like the pain he'd felt in his life, but definitely something he wanted to avoid. A glance at the red circle showed his HP was down below 40%. For a fall of 20 feet as well as the bird’s slash, that was reasonable, but it showed he definitely wasn't invincible here.

The Rocwing was swooping back around towards him, so Garrett limped his way into a crevice under the pile of rocks he'd been jumping on. Maybe it would give up quickly like the first. Or maybe now that it had drawn blood, it would keep at him until it had him. He knew so little here, not even how to fight or use magic. Why had he drawn its attention?

The Rocwing landed heavily before him and began walked on its thick legs toward his hiding spot. It had a wicked, long orange beak, with the cruel yellow eyes of a raptor that watched him carefully. Blue feathers ran over his head, melding into the blue and brown of the rest of its body. It might have been beautiful in a wild sort of way if it hadn't been trying to kill him.

Garrett backed way from that long beak, but his crevice wasn't deep enough. He'd have to make a run for it, and sooner rather than later. He tensed and made ready, but with the Rocwing watching so carefully, he knew he wouldn't make it. He'd barely even started and he was already going to die.