Do you want to go on an Adventure?

Something warm and wet was touching Alex in the face. He opened his eyes and saw a big round nose in front of him.

“What the…”, he mumbled.

The young dire boar that was licking his face hopped back in surprise. Alex was still in the burrow where they found the animal.

“Oh damn, what was that…”, mumbled Violet to his right.

They both sat up. Violet looked at her wrist. The aquamarine bracelet was still there. She tried to pull it off but failed. With a sigh she let go of it. Violet turned and looked at Alex.

“You okay?”, she asked.

Alex nodded. Violet’s gaze went to his right wrist, where a identical bracelet was. Alex realized and tried to get it off. He failed too. Violet looked him into the eyes.

“Hm… did you also have a really weird dream… like you saw the life of someone else?”, she asked.

“Yeah… I did.”

“Who did you see?”

“I think… you…”

“What did you see?”

Alex retold the scenes that he saw. Violet kept silent the whole time with a strange look on her face. After Alex finished, they went silent for a while.

“You’re right… the girl in these visions was me… I am the daughter of a noble family in the Huelsn Empire. The boy you saw was Eduard. A boy from another noble family. I knew him since I can think… we always played together as children. As we grew older our friendship grew even deeper and soon there was something more between us. We fell in love with each other… kissed… and did other things to… I truly thought he was the love of my life… A few years later we even got married. Most of the other girls I knew had a arranged marriage and were shipped off to some old fart in the hopes for some political power. I was so happy that I could marry the man I loved... We were happy together. We were like soulmates… at least I thought so… After the marriage he was named the heir of our family, since I was an only child and the Huelsn Empire is a patriarchy, so it is custom for the son to inherit. Since my parents couldn’t get any children anymore, Eduard was named heir, even if he was just married into the family. We continued our happy married life for a while, and I thought I was in paradise… until… it… happened. You saw what happened that night. The official story was, that a group of bandits raided our home and killed nearly everyone. Eduard and I were the only survivors. He was said to have fought bravely while defending me but tragically he could not save anyone else. In reality he was the one that let the bandits in. Soon after he told me, that he never loved me and this was all planned from the get-go. It was just a game to oust an political rival and gain power for his family. My whole world collapsed that night…”, explained Violet with a pained expression on her face.

The young dire boar squeaked quietly. It poked Violet side with its nose and snuggled up to her, as if trying to cheer her up. Violet started petting the animal’s head.

“Could you not have told someone what he did and get help?”, asked Alex after a while.

“Well, it would have been my word against his and unfortunately a man’s word weighs more in eye of the empire as a woman’s… Also, I didn’t have the opportunity… after that night, he imprisoned me in my bedroom for a long time… at least that’s what it felt like to me. He visited me sometimes and demanded that I fulfill my duty as a wife. Afterwards Edward always left and locked the door. Luckily one night he was so drunk, when he came for one of his… nightly visits… that he fell asleep right after he… was done. I took the opportunity, stole the key, sneaked out of the house and ran. I just ran. I didn’t care where to, as long as it was away from there. I fled the country and ended up in the Edgeregions. The farthest place from him, I could think of. I nearly got killed by a pack of monsters in the Forest of Findings, but Grandpa Barrik saved me. He then took me in. Grandpa Yaeon noticed a talent for Magic in me, and I began my training.”

“So, you weren’t lying back then, when you told me you were of nobility.”

“I tend to not lie! At least not completely. There are no assassins after me… at least I think not. I don’t think Eduard is looking for me. He probably thinks I died in some woods and got eaten by a bear or somethings… which is fine with me.”

Violet stroked the head of the dire boar. After a few moments of silence, she turned to Alex.

“But enough of me… you… didn’t lie either… you really come from another world. A world with all kind of crazy stuff. I had no idea what most of the thing s were that I saw.”, she said curiously.

“Yeah, I bet, some of the things were unbelievable… It would have been the same for me here, if I hadn’t read so much fantasy and gotten kinda used to the idea of magic and monsters…”

“Can I ask you something?”, said Violet and sought his gaze.

“Sure…”, answered Alex and met her eyes.

“That brunette haired Woman with the blue eyes… was that Valerie?”

“Yes.”

“Damn…”

They both fell silent again. Only the satisfied squeaking of the dire boar was echoing through the burrow.

“There is one thing I don’t understand though…”, said Violet after a while.

“Hm? What is it?”

“I saw scenes of your earlier life too… You were surrounded by friends and family… You seemed happy… at least in front of others… when you were alone your face changed… You had a sad, lonely and depressed expression… I don’t saw a reason for that… why? If you don’t want to answer, it’s okay…”

Alex turned his head and looked at the floor. It took a while before he answered.

“Hm… I don’t really understand it fully myself… You are right… my whole life I was surrounded by friends and a loving family. I never knew any real hardship, aside from not getting sweets or getting my gaming time cut by my parents, as a punishment when I did something bad… But I always had the feeling that something was missing in my life. I just felt so lonely sometimes, even though I wasn’t really… I had friends, some very good friends, that I hold very dear in my life! But I… I don’t know… something in me longed for something different… something special. I didn’t know what it was for a long time… or at least I thought I didn’t know…”

Alex paused a bit to gather his thoughts. Violet waited and said nothing. She pushed the dire boar in his direction, and it began to snuggle up against Alex. He began to stroke the animal’s head.

Slowly he went on, “Aside from fantasy stories I always loved romantic love stories. They fascinated me. Probably because I never experienced love myself. It was foreign for me to feel that strongly for someone. I was always a bit of a strange kid… By the time most of my friends started having romantic relationships and their first experiences, I was happily playing my video games and putting my nose in every book that seemed interesting… I never fell in love with someone back then. I mean sure, I was physically attracted to some girls but I was always too shy to initiate anything, so I didn’t. I did the thing I always do… I didn’t care… or at least I pretended that I didn’t care… and I was good at pretending to not care… I even fooled myself. And so I went on living and don’t caring. Not caring about missing out on the… normal… adolescence experience between men and women. I mean… I was curios for sure and if the opportunity would have presented itself, I think I would have taken it…but it never did… I didn’t feel strong enough for any girl back then to overcome my shyness, so I didn’t care… I didn’t care for having a … wild youth… like some others…at least in that regard, so I went on without that experience. But then I met…”

Alex voice cracked and he paused.

“Valerie.”, finished Violet for him.

Alex nodded.

“And I started to care… slowly and unnoticed at first, but the feeling was just getting stronger… I started to seek her opportunities to spent as much time with her as possible. I started thinking about her more and more… My first thought after waking up and the last before sleeping was of her with countless throughout the day. Every time we met, my mood went up. I could have the shittiest day, but as soon as I saw her smile I felt good and warm inside. My monochrome life was so full of color every time she was present. It took me a while to realize what I was feeling. One night, we were drinking and celebrating the new year, I gave her a small but very much heartfelt compliment. As a response I got a kiss on the cheek… the first kiss I got, that wasn’t a greeting… That was the moment I realized what my feelings were… love. From then on it just grew and grew inside of me. I started to see her likeness in every woman I saw and every time I read or saw a romantic story I saw her face in my mind. I even did something I very rarely do… I proactively planned things to do, where I could meet her. I even tried to invite her to things with just the two of us… but we never managed to find the right time for us both… All this went on for years and my love for her just grew further. One day I just couldn’t contain it anymore and I just had to tell her… you saw what happened then, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did…”, said Violet.

A small tear ran across Alex face before he could hide it in his hands. Violet scootched a bit over to him and put her arm on his back. Alex started sobbing a bit.

“And this all made me painfully realize what it was, that I was missing in my life… love… romantic love. I just would not admit it my whole life before… I did care… always… I did care, that I never was in a relationship… I did care that I never had any… experience… when everyone around me started having them. I know that I am mostly to blame for this, because I never tried to initiate something since, I was too shy for that, but did it had to be me, that did the first step? Thinking back on my life I just feel so unwanted. At least to women in that regard… I honestly can’t think of one time in my life that someone was interested in me in a more than friendly manner… Not even once… There was even the one time where I went home with a friend after a night of drinking and dancing and we were in the… hm… let’s just say huge carriage for a simpler term… A woman was sitting across from us. She stood up because we were close to the station and then the carriage suddenly stopped. The woman fell on top of my friend. Next thing I saw was them two kissing… She just had to fall a bit sideways or had to take another step and she would have landed on me… Even a fifty-fifty chance is a big fat zero for me… I just feel so god damn invisible as a man… I just dread the fact that I will never experience more than the one kiss on the cheek. Although it meant so much for m-“, Alex was cut off in his sobbing downwards spiral.

Violet had pried his right hand from his face and gave him a big fat smooch on the cheek. Alex eyes widened in shock as he turn towards her.

“See nothing to dread! Now you got two! You are not invisible, not as a person and not as a man… especially after all the training you did these past months, trust me, you were definitely not invisible this morning! Last time I checked I am a woman after all, so you can trust me on that,” said Violet.

She grabbed her left breast and gave it a bit of a squeeze.

“Yeah still am!”, Violet said while grinning sheepishly.

Alex still just stared at her with wide eyes and wet face. Then he began to simultaneously laugh and cry.

“Thank you…”, he said after he calmed down.

“No problem.”

Violet gave him a quick hug.

“Do you want to go back to your world?”, Violet asked curiously.

“I think so… even though there won’t be more than friendship between me and Valerie, I still miss her… and the rest of my friends and family… but is there even a way for me to go back?”

“I have no Idea. I never heard about someone coming from another world, or even one existing for that matter…”

“Well then it is pointless to think about… I have enough on my mind that I can’t change, so I don’t need more…”

“True…”

They sat silent next to each other for a while.

“Sooo… you really never had anything with a woman other than that kiss on the cheek before?”, asked Violet cautiously.

Alex nodded.

“What about… uhm… professional …uhm… help? Ever thought about that? Maybe if you get it… out of your system… The world would look different”, she asked curiously

“I thought about it, but…”

“But?”

“I hate pay to win…”

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Forget it, just a bad joke… hm… to tell the truth I thought about it, but it just didn’t feel right… when I was younger, I still had the hope that I could… get it out my system… the normal way. As I grew older that hope vanished, but I thought that if it’s going to happen, I wanted it with someone that I love and who loves me back. I don’t want my first time to just be the physical aspect of it, because then I would feel like I waited all this time for nothing.”

“I see… That’s a really nice sentiment. I wish I could help you, but after what happened with Eduard in my past, I’m afraid that I lost the ability to love someone romantically… Argh, what a shame… If you were just looking for some physical love, I would be all over you… I could blow your brains out.. among other things.”, said Violet and winked at him with her left eye.

Alex burst out laughing again.

“Thank you, again…”, he said after calming down.

“Again, no problem! Don’t let this get to you that much dude! Trust me, you are not invisible. I know these may seem just like empty words to you, until you get some experience, but you are quite the catch! You just don’t know it yet! Also it’s not a bad thing to not bite every lure that wiggles in front of you, that’s how you land on the fire and get eaten.”

Violet went silent for a bit and then jumped up.

“I’ve got an idea!”, she exclaimed excited.

“What?”

“My apprenticeship under Grandpa Yaeon is nearing its end and I plan to leave next spring to wander the world a bit in search of adventure and to hone my magic skills. Want to come with me? I could use a reliable guy with an axe. Especially someone who seems to have a knack for saving me… Thank you by the way for saving my ass again back there with the Woodplage”

“Well, it would have be a sin to leave such a beautiful behind hanging.”

Now it was Violet that looked surprised and burst out laughing.

“Woah! Look at that! You have it in you after all! So what do you say? Are we going together on an Adventure? I can’t give you what you seek, but I can damn well support you on your search! I’ll be the best wing woman you’ll ever have! I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I have what the kids nowadays call rizz.”, said Violet while grinning and extending her hand.

Alex looked at her astonished.

“Under one condition.”, said Alex.

“What?”

“You never say that word again!”

“No skibidi fan, huh?”

“Shut the fuck up, dude!”, said Alex and took her hand.

Violet pulled him on the feet.

“Do you know what skibidi means?”, she asked.

“Nope…”

“Me neither…”

Both started laughing hard.

“Well we should get out of here… Oh and we should ask Grandpa Yaeon about those bracelets, maybe he knows something…”, said Violet.

“You’re right… nearly forgot about them…”

They walked out of the burrow. The young dire boar followed them. Out in the clearing it ran up to the big corpse of the older dire boar and poked it with the nose, while squeaking in a sad tone.

“Sorry we couldn’t save your mom, kiddo.”, said Alex.

“How do you know it’s the mom?”, asked Violet curious.

“Male dire boars have six tusked on each side.”

“You really are a walking encyclopedia of monsters.”

“Also, it doesn’t have a… you know… thingy…”

“Ah! I see, that is where you are looking, huh? You pig!”

Violet gave him a quick smack on the shoulder. Alex gave her just a glance of disapproval.

“Well then kiddo, take care!”, said Violet and petted the young dire boar on its head.

The two of them started to walk in the direction of home. Not even off the clearing they heard squeaking behind them. The young dire boar had caught up to them and trotted behind them.

“I think he wants to come with us…”, said Alex.

“Well, if Rudy want’s to…”

“Rudy?”

“That’s his name.”

The dire boar squeaked in approval.

“See he likes the name!”, said Violet grinning.

“Okay… Let’s get going, it will be getting dark soon and I’m hungry.”

“Me too! Come, let’s go Rudy!”

“Oink!”