An Awkward Reunion

Ember hurried through the forest, following the dirt path he had taken to get through the first time, thankful for the lack of bramble bears this time around. The tree density gradually thinned as he soon emerged into the fields that they bordered. Once more, there were a decent handful of players out and about here, running through the fields and fending off the occasional mob who’s numbers this time around seemed a fair bit fewer. His eyes however had been locked on his codex during most of his trip, watching himself leave the Northern Forest to the Santa Rio Farms, and soon to be crossing the threshold through the Northern Gate and into town.

Unfortunately, this was where his navigation trick came to an end as the location tracker didn’t seem to become any more specific. Meanwhile, both he and his friends were now in town. As he contemplated where he would go now, it seemed fortune would be on his side for once. It appeared he was not the only one looking for his friends as he heard two familiar voices sound out clear as day to his left. When his gaze turned to find the sources, there they were. Dashing through the crowds, the familiar Dragon Soul and Feliccan hurried to his side, stopping a few feet short of him as they looked down.

“Ember, Ember, there you are! Holy crap, that’s you isn’t it!? What the heck happened!? Your parents are looking all over for you!” Thordon shouted.

“Yea man, they were blowing up my phone this morning, they couldn’t find you anywhere! What’s going on!?” Clarissa asked frantically.

Ember stared blankly at them as if his brain was suddenly hit with a sledgehammer of realization. His parents. He was so focused on figuring out what was going on, that thoughts of what might have been happening in the real world completely slipped his mind. His heart sank as anxiety surged through every nerve. He looked around. The area was still very crowded due to this only being the second day of the game’s release.

“Umm, th-this way, I’d rather go somewhere more private.” Ember said meekly.

The imp then turned and made his way back through the gate, turning back only to see if his friends were following. They took a moment to look at one another as if trying to see if either of them had even an inkling of what was going on, but it was clear they were both equally clueless. Still, there was no way they weren’t going to find out, and they began to follow moments later. Ember made his way off the path and out into one of the fields, glancing back occasionally before he finally found himself in an appropriately random and out of the way location amidst some melons. The others had followed close behind. Ember could have sworn they were calling out to him as they went, but either it never fully registered or he was far too focused on getting somewhere else. Either way, he looked up to them to see the absolute confusion on their faces.

“Okay, seriously, Ember, what’s going on!? Your parents are freaking out right now. They’ve been messaging us like crazy asking if we’ve seen you. They said you weren’t at the house and you’d left your phone on your desk! Thordon even called out of work to look for you and, god. Then I seen you were online and you even accepted the friend request. we freak’n found you and… Seriously Ember, what’s going on. We’ve been worried!?” Clarissa asked, absolutely pleading for an answer.

There was… something wrong. Ember noticed something about the way they were talking, more specifically, the way they were addressing him and each other. Still, there was enough on his mind already with everything being what it was that he didn’t think about it too much. He was silent for a moment as he struggled to make sense of everything. He was not expecting to have to deal with this when he encountered them, but the whole situation made sense. Eventually, he managed to come to some sort of response in his head.

“Th-that… I-I dunno. I honestly don’t even know where to start. You’re saying my parents couldn’t find me out cold in my room or anything?” Ember asked.

“No, what? What do you mean out cold in your room? Why would they find you like that? No, they didn’t. They couldn’t find you anywhere. It looked like you’d just gotten up and walked out of your room last night.” Clarissa frantically explained.

“I-I see… So, it didn’t even leave my body behind…” Ember pondered.

“What. Are. You. Talking about Ember?” Clarissa asked, leaning down and grabbing him by the shoulders.

To his surprise, he could actually feel them, unlike the ephemeral touch he experienced when making contact with other players.

“I… I have no idea how to explain it. I was finishing my level up last night, and then when I went to take my headset off, I sort of… froze. Seriously, I couldn’t move at all. Then, when I suddenly was able to move again, I had fallen face first in the grass, here, in this freaking game!” Ember explained.

The two avatars looked at one another before looking back to Ember.

“I-I’m sorry, you cut out for a second. You said you couldn’t move or something?” Clarissa asked, concerned.

“I told ya that when I could move again, it was after I fell into this game!” Ember repeated, trying to sound a little clearer.

Still, there was no response as his friends looked at him, confused.

“Dude, you keep cutting out. Like, both times, you cut out after the freezing part. Are you okay, is your headset messed up or something? Dude, you need to explain what’s going on.” Thordon implored.

Ember growled. “I said, I was only unfrozen when I fell into this stupid freaking game!”

The two flinched at the sudden shouting, but still didn’t seem to catch what he was saying. Seeing this, Ember’s face suddenly turned grim.

“Umm, can you guys not understand me when I say that I ended up pulled into this game, and now I’m stuck here?” Ember asked.

“N-no, we can’t understand you. You keep cutting out every time you get to what you’re trying to say.” Clarissa explained.

Ember was silent again, his gaze shifting downward to the fields they were standing in. His mind hearkened back to when he was talking to the girl by the house, when she was trying to speak, but nothing came out… Was this a similar thing? Was this what it was like for her? She had the mark, the orange one that seemed to indicate that the Chosen was already in the game. Maybe that’s what she was trying to say, maybe she was trying to tell them that she was trapped here, just as Ember was now, and just like her, his words couldn’t register with anyone outside of the game. Was it just not possible? Either way, although he could freely talk about it with Moze who was also trapped here, it would appear that he would be unable to just tell his friends that he was stuck here… Still, he needed to do something. The thought of seeing his parents scrambling around in worry was almost enough to make him puke. It was just fortunate that he hadn’t had anything to eat yet today. He looked back up to the others and crossed his arms, his mind going one hundred miles an hour.

“Hmm, alright, alright, that’s interesting. So, you can’t hear it when I say I’m trapped here, but you can hear everything else?” Ember asked.

Clarissa nodded. “Yea, whatever you were trying to say, we couldn’t hear it.” Clarissa clarified.

“Alright, alright, I see… Well, if anything, I want you to tell my parents I’m fine. You might not believe it, but it may be a while before I can see them again… It… it sucks, it really sucks, but that’s just how it is. I’m still trying to figure things out on my end.” Ember explained.

“Wait, fine? How are you fine? You still haven’t explained where you are. Seriously, have you been kidnapped or something!?” Clarissa asked frantically.

Ember raised his fingers to his chin in thought. “Ya know, I honestly don’t know, but let’s just say, if you’re planning to search for me, don’t bother. You won’t find me anywhere else but here.”

The two looked to one another again, clearly having a hard time making sense of this.

“It's a long story, and you’d never believe it, even if I could explain it. What I can say though, at least, I hope I can… Is that I could definitely use your help. Seriously, it might sound crazy, no it does sound crazy, but this is serious. If I were to ask for your help, would you actually be willing to do it, even if none of this is making sense?” Ember implored.

Indeed, neither looked like they were any more sure of what was going on since they started talking about it, but eventually, Thordon sighed.

“Help with what? Seriously man, if something happened, you need to tell us.” Thordon pleaded.

“I can’t just tell you, I tried to, and I can’t.” Ember replied, his tail thumping against the ground in restrained frustration. “You just need to believe me on this cause in reality, I need all the help I can get. Again, would you help me if I asked? I ain't asking for you to find me or anything, I need you to help me here, in this game.”

The two locked eyes with him, and he theirs. It was as if they were waiting for Ember, at any moment to smirk and tell them that he’s been playing some kind of prank this whole time. Tell them that he somehow slinked off and played the game somewhere else in order to confuse everyone and give them a scare. No doubt they would want to kill him if that were the case, but Ember’s face remained stoic, serious. Even his tone radiated an uncharacteristic weightiness to it. The two once more looked to one another, once more hoping the other might have a clarification or observation to offer about all of this. Unfortunately there was nothing, and Ember remained staring into their eyes with conviction.

“Man” Thordon sighed. “You know, you’re right. This all sounds insane. If this is some kind of stupid joke you came up with, just call it off now, it ain't funny and I’m gonna be pissed once I find out… But, fine. Yes, if somehow what you’re saying is real, that for some reason you really need Clarissa and I to help you, then at the very least, yea, I’ll help. I seriously don’t see what kind of help playing a game can offer, but I’ll take your word for it.” Thordon assured.

“Me too. You make stupid jokes all the freaking time, but I don’t think you’d go so far as to make people think you were abducted for some kind of prank. Seriously, you’re not stupid like that. What kind of help is it you need man?” Clarissa asked.

Ember shuddered, a sudden tear rolling down his cheek. Something about hearing that, hearing these two actually agree to help. It not only helped to ignite the small ember of hope in his heart that he felt when he talked to Moze, but the fact that even despite how far out of his mind he sounded with all of this, they still agreed to help. It triggered a sense of love and gratitude that he did not realize he was holding in.

“Th-Thordon, C-Clarissa… Thank you. Seriously, I must sound completely nuts right now, and maybe nothing makes sense, but it really means so much to me that you’ll help.” Ember replied with a smile.

The two noticed the tear, feeling the sincerity in his voice, but also looked a bit taken aback all of a sudden.

“O-oh yea, seriously, no problem dude, but… umm… Did you just call us by our character names? Are you roleplaying now or something?” Thordon asked.

Ember snapped out of his emotional trance, surprised as he looked up at them.

“U-umm, y-yea, I-I guess I did. B-but you’ve been calling me Ember this whole time right?” Ember asked.

The two fell silent once again.

“No, we’ve been calling you Ember. We were worried about you dude, why in the world would we be calling you by your character’s name!?” Thordon asked incredulously.

“Yea, exactly, you’ve been calling me Ember! How is it so weird if I call you by your names?” Ember retorted.

The two looked down in complete bewilderment.

“No, we’ve seriously been calling you Ember. M.A.R.C.U.S. Ember. I-I don’t wanna ask again, but is this a joke?” Clarisa asked.

Ember looked up to them as he spelled out the letters in his head, but they completely turned to mush. All he could think of was that his name was Ember, and theirs were Thordon and Clarissa. Then again, even that felt off. As he thought however, things slowly began to click in his mind.

“I see… Something’s actually starting to make sense now. You see, I met Moze earlier. Let’s say he and I are in a similar position. Thing was, he couldn’t recall his real name either. He knew it wasn’t Moze, but he couldn’t say what else it could be. I also can’t recall my name, not my real one anyway. I only know myself as Ember, and I only know you two as Thordon and Clarissa. Again, I know these aren’t our names, but it feels natural to hear and say, and I don’t know what other name I could have. Even when you spelled it out just now, it kinda vanished in my head when I thought about it… Maybe in the same way that I can’t tell you anything about what’s going on, I also can’t remember my real name, or honestly, maybe I’m not allowed to even know my real name.” Ember mused.

The others didn’t particularly need any more strangeness today, but it would appear that this was only the tip of the iceberg for them. Regardless, they seemed to understand what Ember was trying to say.

“So, you’re saying that when I say Ember, all you hear is the name Ember? And Clarissa and I are our own in game names now to you as well… Yea, no, you’re right, this is madness, but damn if I don’t still wanna try help’n you through it. So, from now on, I’ll just have to get used to calling you Ember and hearing you call us Thordon and Clarissa… Alright, I think I can understand all this well enough. So then Ember, first order of business, what exactly do you need our help with?” Thordon asked.