Phew, the sensation of going in and out of this portal is out of this world, literally. Anyway, the air outside seems to be fresher and the night was getting nighter! I have been feeling better when I had come to term that this is a VR world where I would wake up after getting adequate results as a tester. Since I was the first to come out, I theatrically held out my arms and screamed. The guards around was physically taken back by the sudden scream. A reminder- NPC is too realistic, must not try to pickpocket while in public. The one that came out after me was that creature that seems to be made out of tentacles. He or she or it was staring at me with a face that looked like an eldritch abomination contemplating the fate of a mortal. “Your quarters are this way, summoned ones.” And the tentacles shift its direction and followed the guard who was leading the way. The rest of the summoned ones came out one by one. They all threw a curious glance at me. It was because I was not walking along with them but I was standing at the side, grinning and watching them passed me by. ‘Why is that human standing there like a creep grinning at me?’- anyone with a common sense would ask that upon seeing me. Well it was because I like to be the one walking at the furthest at the back when in group. As I followed behind, we were actually being directed to another portal not far from here. After entering inside that portal, we arrived at walled area that had four clearing and on each clearing, there were several round buildings lined up. It reminded me of a Nuraghi, An ancient round tower that I saw during my travel at the island of Sardinia. The guard in front of us stopped and turned around towards us. “Summoned ones, each of you will be paired and will be sharing a Fhagec.” That was what the building was called? “Each of you has the liberty to choose your partner.” Upon hearing that, everyone quickly took actions and scurried about. I find myself amused as I was observing what had caught my eyes. The trio that had sent me condescending gazes had a little comedy sketch. The red-haired gentleman tried to take the hand of the red-haired woman but instead, that lady quickly lifted her right arm and balls her right hand into a fist and smacks the man away. The man, dejected, turned around and with a clearly arrogant manner, offered his hand at the person that was standing next to him. It was that blue skinned, scaled guy earlier. Well, that guy just accepted the offer in an indifference manner. The red haired woman then took the hand of the elder green haired lady. I wonder where that innocent, younger girl was. Oh, she was one of the Heirs. After that my attention shifted to a pair or rather a couple of elves that were holding hands together. Damn, so lucky of that elf guy but they looked quite similar like they’re twin. “Has everyone picked their partner?” Those words snapped me back into the reality. I mean this Virtual Reality. I frantically look around and saw that everyone has been paired except three not including me. It was the beast-like grey skinned man, the dwarf that had asked the ultimate question in the Inheritor’s hall and an African Earthling who was wearing a tracksuit. “I guess it’s you and me, shorty.” “Whatever. At least it’s not with that orc or that weird, creepy guy.” Guah… that’d hit the mark with a hundred percent accuracy. The earthling and the dwarf had partnered so that leaves me with… Looking at my side, the orc had calmly walked and stood beside me. No worries, he doesn’t look like the one that fancy human meat. Even if I die, I’ll probably get sent back to the real world. “Please, one of the pair, come forward and take two keys that have the same numbers.” The guard pulls out a bag from his back. The orc beside me was looking at the bags without even glancing at me. Although I imagined feeling the pressure emanating from him telling me to go forward, so I succumbed without hesitating. After everyone had took theirs, as always, I was the last one getting the stones. Inside there were only two stones with circles on it and numbers. It took me a while to find the paired stones. As I was walking back to the orc, I was inspecting the stones on my hands. Inside the circular symbol there were two circular symbols inside it. I gave the other stone to the orc after I reached beside him. “Thank you.” He said it with a clear tone. His voice had a calm demeanour to it, something akin of a scholar. I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover. I nodded and we both position ourselves at the edge of the group. “Everyone, there are numbers on the stone. Find the Fhagec that has the same number with the stones. After you found your Fhagec by the number, recite this chant. (‘Eo, Ravus, Lacvi, Ostimu.’)” And so everyone had dispersed and went looking for their Fhagec. The number on our stones was something like number four but it was different as the upper was connected and the bottom part had two horizontal lines running in parallel. It wasn’t long after we found our Fhagec. It was at the second clearing which is in between clearing the first and the third. Our Fhagec was the nearest to the wall as it is the fourth, the last place. Looking at the building, it was quite large and there were no windows as far I could see. We spotted a door-like smooth and blank entrance as we stood in front of the Fhagec. There was no handle to twist or any indication to move it. I stepped forward and held out the gripped stone at the entrance. (‘Eo, Ravus, Lacvi, Ostimu.’) “Huh.” I chanted but nothing happened perhaps I actually need to get the stone closer- “I believe we have to use this stones like this.” The orc took a step or two towards the door and pointed the stones in his right hand towards the entrance. The difference was that the circle on the stone was exposed. (‘Eo, Ravus, Lacvi, Ostimu.’) He chanted the words. The circle on the stone in his hand glowed with red colour. After a few seconds, the door split open with a rumbling sound. “Ooh, nice.” The orc grunted after I commented on it. So this stone is like a key and so, you need to point the circle on the stone at them because it’s not the stone that makes the magic. God, doing that was kind of a common sense. Why didn’t I think of that? “By the way, how did you know that you needed to point the circle on the stone at the door?” “After you pointed the stone and chanted and yet, nothing had happened. So I deduced that the circle was the trigger.” Impressive, he seems quite observant. After the door stopped rumbling and the entrance wide opened, we entered inside. It was single large room and in the middle of this room was a tree that reminded me of an oak. Upward, the sky was hidden by the branches and leaf of the tree. So instead of building a roof, they actually grow one? That is interesting. What was inside this large room could be qualified for a living space. There were two beds, two drawers behind the beds, two tables in front of the beds, two chairs under the tables, and two red and blue carpets that formed a boundary between the tree and all of the furniture were mirroring and placed exactly opposite of their counterpart. In short, the arrangement of the furniture’s was symmetrical. As for the light, there were several number of those floating orbs of light above us. “Do you want to take the left one or the right?”

“I’m fine with either one.” “I’ll take the left.” After I asked him, we both nodded. I walked towards the inviting bed on the left. I was quite tired for today because the time I had been standing was the longest as far as I can remember. I reached and stood beside the bed. Like any normal bed, there was a blanket wrapped on top of it but I decided to lie down on the bed without snuggling inside the blanket. Oh man that feeling when you finally rest your creaking bones and strained muscles! As I laid and was breathing with ease, I shut my eyes because being tired means being sleepy. Click, click, click. Eh? Click, click, click. The noise was coming from my right and so I got up only with my upper half and looked towards the direction of the noise were. The orc was sitting on the table doing something. I couldn’t see what exactly he was doing because of his large frame. The sling bag he had was on the table and I saw a part of what I think was a fabric, draped on his thighs. …… Is he sewing? “I apologize for the noise and also we haven’t introduced each other. My name is Erganisu of the Sky Slayer Clan. What is your?” Oh that’s right. We should have introduced ourselves when we were paired. He is much more civilized than I am at this rate. Okay, let’s introduce!

……

Wait, what was my name again?