Logan followed the bolt of lightning as best his eyes would let him, it would at least give him a good enough direction. Moving his vision to the battlements, he warped into his centre and burst outwards atop them, the wind blast pushing away rain droplets onto nearby guards.

Several guards jumped at the teleportation, their hands on their hilts and their gazes on Logan. Those on his right softened their stance as they waved down the others, noticing Logan’s hunter armband.

Scanning the vast plains and forests ahead of him, the darkness of the night combined with the heavy rain obfuscating his view any further than that, Logan had a hard time telling where the lightning bolt had struck.

“Wanting to watch the sparks fly, Logan?” one of the guards asked.

Logan looked to the side quickly before returning his vision to the expanse ahead of him, “Hey, Weevil, right? Yeah.”

“You just missed a good one, swear I could feel the quakes in my boots!” the man replied with a hearty laugh.

“Oh yeah? Whereabouts?”

“That way or so, the rain’ll douse any flames it will create”, Weevil answered as he pointed off to the east.

“Thanks. I’m gonna get deeper in, get closer to the action.”

“Really? O-” Weevil began but was cut off as Logan warped away again.

Logan darted through the skies above the wilderness. Giving his body a boost of velocity as he used his newly acquired Air Blast spell to propel him forwards.

Each blast from his palm exploded outwards, pushing water away from his back as the rain in front of him pelted against his face and clothing. If it weren’t for the speed and lack of total control, Logan would feel like he was flying.

Logan’s eyes danced around as they feverishly looked for signs of the lightning strike from before.

“Are they aligned with the above or the below?” he worried in his head.

Landing atop a canopy, Logan twisted and turned before realigning with the direction of the bolt, blasting off into the air again.

“Will they get attacked by a monster like I did?”

Warping in and out, he covered great strides, trying hard to line up his map with his memory of the spark.

“Logan, we are close”, Fol spoke inside Logan’s head.

“I can tell”, Logan replied as he saw the faint image of smoke rising amidst the black and blues of the night.

Jumping from tree to tree, Logan fell through the canopy of the last and landed in shifting mud and grass, the rain having made terrible conditions for ground movement. Standing back up straight, Logan walked over towards a newly formed crater in the ground, smoke rising from all over it that was dashed away in the rain.

Within the middle of the crater was a woman whose back and arms had been absorbed into the hard crevices of the earth surrounding her. Green cuboids floated off her body, parts of it still materialising in her half-open tomb.

Logan recognised the green cubes, he saw them every time he accessed his inventory, so he correlated it to some effect of the System at play. Though his entrance had him awakening in the morning. Did he also appear at night to fully form when we awoke the next day?

“You are currently viewing a PC.”

The familiar warning appeared beside the woman. She had no way to defend against it or anything. Did those chosen from below appear in the same fashion? Should Logan deal with her now?

“Identify.”

“Amalia Lehmann. Guardian 1, 14/14 HP.

A Player underneath an unknown deity.

Skills: Last Bastion, Savant Pupil.”

“That’s the first I’ve seen such a small description, at least for people that don’t block Identification”, Logan thought to himself. “Maybe it only identifies their life on Avanar and not Earth. This doesn’t help me learn her patron deity, but the mention of ‘Guardian’ paints her as some form of Knight hybrid.”

Logan hadn’t heard of the two skills the woman had either, most likely her specific skills for her unique class. Logan’s were Essence Absorption and Spell Absorption, so her skills must have been towards defence.

“Fol, got any pieces of advice?” Logan asked in his head.

“All we can do is wait. Even if she is an ally of one from below, she is only level 1. Dealing with her whilst awake would prove no issue for you.”

“Why has another one appeared so soon though? I only arrived just over two months back.”

“Through what you and I have gathered, there are no correlations between current events and PC sightings. Many were incognito, as you are.”

“That, or no one has deciphered any yet.”

The rain continued to batter down, rumbling overhead signalling that other lightning strikes had occurred off in the distance.

Jumping and climbing back to the canopies, Logan kept a close eye on the bolts as best he could. On the off-chance that more than one PC would appear in a storm, he wanted to be sure he knew of them.

The night went by slowly, Logan’s watchful gaze at the skies kept him busy alongside the use of Echo Radar letting him know of any approaching threats. Thankfully nothing came near him or the unconscious woman in the crater.

Awakening early the next day, Logan stood without any elementals at his side. He thought that beings made up of flames, ice, electrical sparks, or animated water would not do well with someone who just arrived here.

Standing far away from the crater, Logan leant up against a tree and waited for the victim’s initial shock to pass.

“The hell happened last night”, the woman spoke softly, a german accent attached to her words.

The familiar event of cracking mud off from arms occurred as the woman fumbled out of her crater, the hardened earth falling off her and she stood.

“I was nowhere near a field”, she continued as she rubbed her face, she quickly removed her hands as toughness met her cheek, “the fuck? These gloves aren’t mine.”

The woman stared at her hands, her scarlet hair dangling around her face and flowing at her back with the wind. She looked to be 5’11”, though was garbed in a chainmail cuirass over a dark-brown leather tunic. At her hip was a shortsword that she probably hadn’t noticed just yet, along with a huge metallic bouche-style shield at her back that she most certainly had recognised.

Stepping away from the crater in her black leather boots with metallic tips and heels, her gloves were a similar design of dark brown with metallic backs. Her yellow eyes looked upwards towards an approaching Logan, taking on a defensive stance with a mix of confusion and anger on her face.

“You with those lot I had to throw out last night?” she barked.

Logan held up his hands in a peaceful manner, “No, I found you lying in that crater”, Logan replied as he pointed behind her.

The woman looked back and then returned to look at Logan. Eyeing up his attire, she was surely confused, continuing to rub her eyes as she inspected him. “I don’t recognise that accent from last night, where the hell am I?” she questioned.

“That’s a bit hard to explain. We should probably sit down for this talk.”

“What’s so hard about ‘where am I’?” the woman replied as she continued rubbing her eyes.

“Is there a floater in your eye? Looks like an exclamation point?”

“Yeah? How’d you know that?”

“The same happened to me, look, let’s sit down first.”

“Whatever, I can”, the woman replied as he placed a hand on her side, finding a sword hilt instead of a phone in her pocket, “the fuck?”

“Listen-”

“Where’s my phone? My trousers? Is this some roleplay fetish?” the woman barked in anger, almost wanting to draw the sword.

“Alright, I know you’re surprised here”, Logan began, “Does she not have the same mind-control fog as I had?” he thought to himself. “What is the last thing you remember?”

“What? Aren’t Brits meant to be polite? Why are you answering my questions with questions!?”

“Ok, ok. Your phone is gone, and your clothes are replaced with what you’re wearing now. There’s no fetish stuff going on. I thought I got drunk at a ren fair when this happened to me.”

“What do you mean gone? Replaced? Did someone spike my drink or something?”

“I can’t say anything about all that. But if it was like with me, you were walking in a lightning storm, right?”

“You’d know there was a storm if you were close enough to see me now.”

“Do you remember getting struck?”

“In the back of the head?”

“No, by lightning.”

“What, I…” the woman started as she took on a thinking look. “Yes… Am I… dead?” she asked as she finally sat down, though with a thud.

Logan sat similarly, “Depends on your outlook. I would say no. You were taken from Earth by that lightning strike and were dropped here.”

“What the fuck?” the woman spoke, holding her head. “Does that make you Oz or something?”

Logan grinned, “I see the similarity, but not really. I got struck too. Been here for sixty-four days now.”

“How do I go back!?” the woman demanded as she removed her hands from her head.

“I know of two ways, make a portal, or complete a specific quest.”

“Portal? Quest? The hell are you talking about?”

“Push that exclamation mark in front of you.”

The woman looked at Logan for a bit, her eyes darting to the right a few times. Raising a hand, she pushed the button that Logan could not see, though he did see the woman’s eyes widen and the colour leave her face.

“System… tutorial… Avanar…” the woman read quietly under her breath. Rubbing her head and messing her hair, she stared at Logan, “Fine, you know how to go home. Do it.”

“It’s not that simple, sadly. My last attempt at getting home was dashed.”

“That’s not good enough. Hey, System, whatever, send me home!... What do you mean no?!”

Jumping to her feet, the woman started to hit her heels together thinking hard about some imaginary words. When that failed she moved to her crater, looking for something like an escape pod or spaceship sphere.

“No I don’t”, she replied to something her System asked.

“Uh… excuse me”, Logan tried to butt in the woman’s antics.

Reaching over her shoulders, she took off her shield and threw it to the floor. “Why me? When did I ask for this?” she asked aloud as she drew her sword, “If I die here do I go back?!” she demanded.

Logan took a few steps towards her with an outstretched hand, “Wait, don’t!”

“What?!”

“If you die, you won’t go back!”

“Argh. That bloody window says the same! Fine. I’ll find a way out”, she replied as she picked up her shield and began to walk away.

“Wait up”, Logan called after her as he followed.

“This isn’t real. All I gotta do is find a door and wake up. Find something I would never dream of, and wake up from the dream.”

“We’re not in some sort of dream zone, c’mon, there are monsters out in the woods.”

“Some sort of big bad wolf?” the woman shouted back sarcastically.

Logan was going to reply if not for a rustling of the nearby bushes alerting him to a nearby threat. Circling the woman, Logan threw out a hand and grappled the throat of a leaping wolf that aimed to attack the newcomer.

“The hell?” the woman exclaimed as she jumped away from the wolf and the Spellthief.

“Exactly”, Logan replied. “Look, this is real”, he continued as he tightened his hold, “Flame Grasp”, he chanted, igniting the wolf in dazzling flames and blackening its brown fur before its limp corpse hit the floor.

“What?” the woman asked as she stepped back.

“I’m sorry, but you have to realise. This is real. If you’re not careful you’ll end up dead.”

The woman fell back into a sitting position on the grassy ground, her body shaking all over as she came to terms with the situation.

Kneeling down, Logan continued, “Listen, I was in your shoes a while ago. A bit different, but I can explain what I know if you’ll let me.”

The woman sighed, her gaze slightly blank as she stared at the smouldering wolf behind Logan. “Fine.”

An hour passed before Logan was able to fully clue in this newcomer to the world of Avanar, he knew he would have done several things differently if he had such guidance. However, this new PC, Amalia, had nothing close to the Vokka’s Mind Protection that Logan was granted on his entrance.

While he had grievances with his position, or about killing, he still went through with it, a push at his back and the slow loss of such grievances as he continued to do so. Amalia was not in the same boat, she could probably be content with staying far from all of this and turning into another Ahren.

Looking up at Logan, Amalia spoke, “So, what’s next, Logan? Do I have to do these tutorial things?”

“That’s up to you, Amalia. It’d be best for you to get used to your System. It’ll be robotic like I mentioned, but it is your defence against what this world will put against you.”

“This just sounds like those games I saw pick up in popularity.”

“As far as I can tell, this isn’t a game in that way. Though whoever took you is playing their own game.”

“You said they give me a starting bonus? I can’t see anything in my windows about that”, Amalia informed as she looked to the side.

“I only found mine at the end of the first quest, is yours the same as mine?”

“Seven days, level 5, 5 gold, learn five skills, complete ten quests”, Amalia listed off.

“The final question is. After all that I’ve told you, do you want to work towards your portal quest, backseat off of mine, or stay here?”

“I might not even get a portal quest in the time you did, right?”

“I have little data to go off, so I’d say don’t take my time into calculations.”

“I’ll do this first quest, you seem like you know what you’re doing. If I feel like I don’t want to keep travelling, I’ll stay at this Gauntlet you spoke of and decide what I want to do next.”

Standing up and offering a hand, Logan replied, “We’ll have to see what your class is good at.”

Taking the hand, Amalia was pulled to her feet, “Sorry for exploding earlier… This was just a bit surprising and infuriating. I wasn’t having the best of nights, to begin with.”

“Mine was really early morning and overworked, you?”

“Bunch of shitheads causing a scene at the doors, I had to knock them on their asses when they got violent.”

“Doors?” Logan asked.

“I work… worked, as a bouncer at a nightclub. No doubt I’ll be fired by the time I get back.”

Logan was taken aback slightly, the expression plain as day on his face.

“What?” Amalia asked.

“Nothing. Just wasn’t expecting that profession.”

Amalia scrunched her eyebrows in response, “Yeah, whatever. So, how are we going to test my class?”

Logan pulled a level one dagger from his inventory, something he kept in reserve to train Backstab and to use MP Thievery on lower-level foes. “Draw your blade and shield, let’s see if your boon grants you combat knowledge”, he instructed.

Amalia did as instructed, getting into a form of defensive stance, though Logan could see it didn’t leave her any advantage and even let her sides open to attack.

“Alright, attack me. Don’t worry about hitting me, I wager I’ll survive a hundred strikes.”

Amalia took on a look of worry, unsure if she could use such a weapon on someone else, but with Logan’s word she struck. Bringing the blade up high, she swung it down at Logan, though it was sloppy and slow.

Logan did a simple sidestep to dodge the blade, Amalia stumbling forwards as she missed and slid into another stance.

“Keep going”, Logan ordered.

Amalia kicked off the ground to lunge at Logan, who sidestepped again, a spinning slash collided with his dagger as Amalia followed her momentum, but with the clash of weapons, she fell onto her side.

“Argh, fuck sake”, Amalia cursed.

“Well, it looks like your patron bonus is far different from mine.”

“How’d they expect me to survive without giving me any experience with these things”, Amalia asked as she looked at her sword and shield.

As the woman stood, Logan replied, “Try and activate your two skills.”

“Alright… the first is apparently a passive thing I can turn off and on, the Savant Pupil one. The other… Last Bastion”, Amalia recited, her body glowing blue quickly but dissipating just as quickly.

“That one is reactionary, like my Spell Absorption. Block my attack and activate it again”, Logan instructed.

“Alright”, Amalia replied.

Logan sliced at Amalia’s shield, even with a level one blade he could deal a heavy 11 damage. As the dagger collided with the shield, Logan could see he cracked it slightly from his own power, even as he tried to hold back a bit with it. However, Amalia blocked it sufficiently.

“Last Bastion”, Amalia called out, her body glowing blue, her shield vibrating, and her blade shining.

Swiping out with her shortsword, she collided with Logan’s dagger, a flush of power shooting from her body, through her blade, and into Logan’s. The Spellthief could feel the increased power when compared to the previous one he had blocked, several times more powerful, but that was most likely due to his own power.

Drawing her sword back, Amalia asked, “Like that? It seemed stronger.”

“That it was. What exactly are the effects of that skill?”

“It says it parries and deals half the damage I blocked, alongside my normal damage. I can also learn skills, but you didn’t use one.”

“No wonder, half of mine would add 5 or more damage to your 1. If you could use this on any attack, that is quite a powerful skill.”

“The skill is now on a cooldown, and it says 5% for mastery”, Amalia read out.

“That part is different from mine, I am charge based and get hurt if I go over. If you can build this skill to become full damage instead of half it would be similar to a monster I fought not long ago.”

“But, it says it is a Guardian skill, so not a normal one. Should I hide it? Like you do?”

“That’ll depend on if you want to hide your status of being a PC, or as the people here call it, Oracle.”

“From how you explained it, I may want to, if I want a peaceful life”, Amalia responded, thinking about her new life in Avanar.

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