Arika, First Step is Information.

I’m sure I remember a few details wrong with this, but a memory plays on the back of my mind as I start remembering.

“Gramma, what are you playing this time?”

The small, innocent me of the past sat on my grandmother’s lap while she was fiddling with the computer, as if waiting for her to tell a fairy-tale to put me on my nap. In some ways, it’s not quite wrong. To me from that time, the tales of my grandmother in online games are like stories from a fairy-tale. A fantastical story that I do not personally experience myself, but felt close enough with.

“It’s ETO— Elven's Trailblaze Online. Do you want to hear how the story goes?”

“Mm, sure!”

“Well, you see, it’s a world where elves and very special humans that came from a falling meteor known as ‘Blessed Ones’ band together to explore an unknown world with the power of magic— hey, no clicking, okay?”

I remember. The myself from that time, as childish as she is, didn’t have much interest in any of its intricate world-building, so she just went ahead and observed what could be observed from the screen. Right now, when I’m supposedly summoned to a world similar to ETO, there’s only one thing I could remember again, vividly as if it was just yesterday.

The player character on the screen, one that belongs to my Grandmother’s; a girl with long, curly, strawberry blonde hair and a choice of light colored fantasy robe.

“Grandma, your character is so pretty!”

“She is, right? Her name is Angelica.”

As I gaze towards my own reflection on a riverbank that flew through the forest, the familiarity I had with said character is an uncanny valley on its own. One that didn’t allow my foot to step further on following the bickering twins, up until they noticed my lack of footsteps.

“Hey, what are you doing? Do you want to get lost in the forest?”

Rama’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. Putting aside his rude behavior in comparison of his much more polite self before Rana came to the equation, I realized that I've lost too much of my own thoughts but I didn’t want to get lost physically too, either. So I decided to steady back my steps to reality, as I walked behind the twins again.

“Sorry. I got too much on my thoughts!” I apologized with a smile akin to a business smile. This trip to another world must’ve had its own meaning and responsibility, so in some ways, a business smile would be the most fitting to the situation.

“Well, you just arrived here. I’m sure you have so many questions. Ones that we could not answer much by ourselves, but we might try.” Rana chuckled. Unlike Rama, her demeanor and movement were much more refined, which gives the vibe of a rich little lady. I wondered if Rama and Rana were some sort of Elf nobles in this world, as I kept my thoughts to myself while I followed them.

“So… I’m a Blessed One, correct?” I asked. “What exactly is that?”

“Mm… I’m not sure about the details, because I was quite young when they just never came into this world anymore. Like, 1000 years young?” Rana pondered, as she began her explanations while pointing to the sky. “But they’re blessed humans with that came from the sky, arriving in immortal bodies from meteorites”

I nodded in expressing my understanding. Rana’s explanation was short and simple, and still shrouded in mysteries, but it was quite enough for me to put some little puzzle pieces of the situation.

“Hey. You said you’re from another world, right? Is that the world where Blessed Ones come from?” Rama asked this time, curiosity sparked in his pair of blue eyes. To think of it, his twin sister has the exact same blue as her hair color, while her eyes are hazel yellow like his blonde hair. But putting that aside, his question piqued my curiosity, too.

“Ah, yeah, probably? I’m not sure. I came from a planet… no, a world called Earth.” I explained rather halfheartedly, as I don’t know how I could explain the Earth to people from other worlds, even if what I remembered from ETO has sci-fi elements with it too.

“...’Earth’ is a strange name for a place.”

“Well, what do you name places here, then?”

I raised my eyebrows at Rama’s statement.

“Well, for example, our town we’re arriving soon are named— _____”

I couldn’t clearly catch what Rama was saying, so I just followed his way of saying words. He frowned, as Rana gasped, before she clearly stopped Rama from scolding me.

“My, my. Lady Arika, that’s a crude way to speak.” Rana said, before she fiercely stared at her own twin brother— “You’re no better either, so don’t say anything, Rama.”

“That’s one way to know I messed up the pronunciation!” I sighed. It is unfortunate that Rui walked far up our own steps to help us find a way outside of the forest that I couldn’t just cope with fluffing the kitty. “Is there any other names I could refer to your town with? I don’t want to be stamped as some crude words speaker in another world!”

Rana and Rama stared at each other before they nodded in agreement as if there was some kind of twin telepathy between them.

“Well, this is a name that Blessed Ones used to use, but you can refer to our town as Magifa– the starting town .”

Fortunately, that name was the one I could read on the town’s wooden sign as we arrived, confirming its truth.

-~-~-~-

“You two are back. Did you discover something wrong— oh, no way.”

An older looking brown-haired elf with thin brown moustache and beard, looked like a popular Western actor at his 40-ish from my world that I probably shouldn’t name as it means nothing in this world, was crossing his arms leaning to the wooden sign of the town casually until he realized the two aren’t alone. Well, there’s me with them, for exact.

“Elder! I found a Blessed One, and moreover she’s named Angelica!” Rama declared, as she pulled my hand to present to the seemingly town Elder. I knew elves are supposed to be looking young, but to think this was the kind to be an Elder, makes me entirely sure that elves would make great, non-aging actors in my own world.

“I could tell it from her appearance alone. Specifically her ears.” Elder’s piercing gaze bothered me even more than Rama’s. It was as if he’s judging my every step, and it bothered me. It reminded me of my old boss— though to be fair, I’d be more motivated in my previous job if I had a handsome boss that looked like a Hollywood famous actor like this instead of a typical old man you’d find everywhere in offices.

“Riiight, there goes my plan of hogging her upcoming glories for myself. Should’ve used my Distraction Magic and got some illusion going” Rana sighed. Oh, so that’s why she was very keen on keeping me a secret…

“Which you should do anyway, until we get what’s going on.” The elder said with his deep voice. I just noticed it, but even his voice is hot. If he had a muscular six-pack beyond his robe, I’d think he’d suit acting in my world much more than being an elf leader.

“Um. I… seemingly got summoned from another world as Angelica—” I tried not to let my lust toward handsome older men distract me, and focus on gathering information.

“We’ll talk about that later in private.” —Damn, the way he said it made it sound hot, but I shouldn’t be distracted as I coughed to myself to keep myself sane. “---For now, wear this. It’s something Rana made with her magic, and should disguise you perfectly. For now, no one shall know you’re a human, let alone a Blessed One. Even a rumor of one descending to this world could cause chaos had it not been taken care of carefully.”

The Elder passed a necklace to me, and I wore it as he told me to. There’s no refusing him in any case. But one thing does drive my curiosity of this world once again. Humans do exist in the world of ETO as I knew. There were NPC humans along with NPC Elves, so there’s no way humans are only player characters there. They were together with the elves, learning magic and discovering places, but why shouldn’t they know I’m even a human? His reaction from seeing my human ears as Angelica bothered me too….

“....Um. I know it’s probably for the best not to announce I’m a Blessed One, but what’s wrong with me being a human and not an Elf?”

The Elder sighed heavily. I could swear he muttered something under his breath, though it’s not a swear word as Rama would’ve said out loud— though even if it is, he would make it sound hotter than Rama’s childish behavior would ever.

“I guess with how the situation is, there’s no way you could’ve known. Humans went extinct exactly one hundred years after Blessed Ones stopped falling from the sky.”