“Snap your fingers while thinking about opening the status window.” Alex replied as he demonstrated.

A blue panel of light popped into existence right in front of Alex. It was covered with characters in some bizarre foreign language. They looked ancient, and had an uncanny similarity to runes.

Filling Alex’s instructions, Marshal snapped his fingers, and another blue panel popped up in front of his face. The only difference was that his panel was written in plain English.

“Holy shit! This kind of reminds me of a video game.”

The panel had four separate buttons. They were labeled Fate, Titles, Inventory, and Shop, respectively. Inventory and Shop seemed self explanatory, and Marshal had an inkling on what Titles meant. However, There were two things that bugged him.

The first was the unknown use of the Fate button. Unable to resist the temptation, he clicked on it. By doing so, it revealed what could only be described as a stat page, but it was very different from the norm.

Instead of the usual variables such as agility, stamina, intelligence, wisdom, constitution, and strength, there were three unconventional stats. They were Luck, Health, and Fame. Luck and Health weren’t too out of the box. Luck could mean better chances for pulling rarer loot, and Health could basically be written off as constitution.

Fame was an odd stat to have. Marshal had played games where reputation had an impact on how NPCs interacted with the player, but he was unsure if it had a similar effect.

No what am I thinking? This has to either be a hallucination or a dream. Well, checking it out can’t hurt.

Shaking his head to clear out his brain, Marshal went back to browsing the panel of light. Each stat had a value of ten, and there was nothing else on the page.

Going back, Marshal clicked on the other options. Titles was just an empty page, and inventory was basically the same. The only difference being there were twenty empty boxes, much like a normal inventory system in a game. When he clicked on the shop, a puff of smoke exploded out from the panel. Once it cleared, a small imp was flying right next to the panel.

“Welcome to Parcaeland player 11210! I am Bartus the shopkeeper.” Bartus said while flapping his wings in excitement. “Normally I would appear when you first enter this paradise, but that couldn’t be helped considering your friend used the Call for Help ticket.”

“Call for Help?”

Bartus looked displeased at the interruption. “Yes, yes, the Call for Help Is a one time use ticket item for sale in the shop. It is originally meant to teleport the closest ally to the user. If a non player was summoned. Well, I am sorry for your loss.”

All the color drained from Alex’s face. His hands balled up into fists and his teeth grinded against each other.

“Anyways, back to what’s important,” Bartus continued with a chipper voice. “As a new player there is much you don’t know. It is my job to fill in some of the gaps.”

Marshal nodded. He wanted to comfort his friend, but listening to this explanation took priority. From the sound of it, the two of them were alone in this place.

“You can use the points accumulated in the Fate section to purchase items in the shop. Points are earned by accomplishing deeds deemed worthy of compensation by the system. That’s about it.”

“Wait, is that all? How do we get out of here?” Marshal said while stepping towards Bartus.

“Do I look like some tour guide to you? This isn’t some question and answer session. Nor is this a tutorial. All I’m obligated to do was explain where you are and how to use the shop.”

“You’ve basically told me things that I could’ve learn by myself.” Marshal said, his voice rising with each word. “Tell me something useful.”

Bartus squinted his eyes and hummed in a displeased manner. A menacing aura poured out from the creature; causing the air to chill to the point where Marshal could see his own breath.

“I could have sworn I said that I’m not a guide. Do you know what happened to the last player who got cheeky with me? I do believe his corpse is still thawing out.”

Marshal gulped at the unrestrained display of power. He felt like a bug that was being slowly stepped on. The weight gradually forced him to his knees, as his inner organs compressed to the point of almost bursting. Then it all disappeared.

Bartus was beginning to fade away, a look of disdain heavy on his face. Still he seemed to be evaluating him.

“Alright,” caved the temperamental creature. “I guess being charitable is good for the soul. Heed my words. All your points are worth more than you know.”

Right after he finished providing his tip, the imp was gone. Leaving Marshal both terrified and confused.

“No shit the points are important,” he muttered.

“Don’t be too surprised. A lot of my teammates received similar treatment from their shopkeepers. Mine is nice enough.”

Alex came over and placed a hand on Marshal’s shoulder. “I know this is a lot to take in, and I’m sorry for dragging you into this. If I had known this would happen, I’d have never used that ticket.”

Closing his eyes, Marshal did his best to clear his mind. Slowly but surely, he was coming to terms that this might not be a dream. If this was all real, he understood that being slow to adapt could lead to deadly consequences.

He might be in a safe place for now, but the situation could change at any time. He knew too little information. So, he shoved his emotions away. There was too much to do.

“I’m fine,” he said. “More importantly can you fill in the gaps? I’m still clueless on a lot of things.”

“Yeah man, I got you.” Alex smiled. “What do you want to know first?”

“How in the world are we supposed to get rid of that guy,” Marshal said, and pointed at the centaur that was pacing back and forth. “Also, how long can we stay here?”

Alex let out a heavy sigh. “As far as I know, we can stay in a shelter indefinitely.”

“And that centaur?”

An awkward silence was the only response he received.

Marshal looked up at the sky and let out a sigh as well.

“Fuck.”