Chapter 2

Oddly enough, nobody seems to have a straight answer of how this world—or even the others, for that matter—came to be. For every answer I find spawns a thousand more questions.

—From the Journal of someone named “Archedeaus”, date undocumented. Also noted that the page is remarkably intact compared to the others.

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Stepping foot into the town, Kai wasn’t sure what to expect.

When the grass turned to gravel and finally into cobblestone, he found himself among buildings that—like his clothes—looked like they might have been out of a video game, or the Middle Ages, or…something. Carefully chiseled stone or baked brick, encased by wood and sometimes metal framing, with wooden or straw roofs. Some were larger than the others, though no more than a story or two in height.

There weren't even that many of them—roughly twenty or so, with the town itself split by a river that led into a cave on the far end that illuminated a gentle blue glow in contrast to the brighter, more lively string lights with small little flames within that crossed the streets. In the distance, he could see a cliff, above which the silhouette of a forest stood tall against the night.

Something was gnawing at him from within. Like Deja Vu on steroids.

Boots clacking against the cobblestone, Kai walked, taking in his surroundings. People passed him by on either side, some carrying things like wicker baskets full of laundry or supplies while others seemed content to enjoy the night, strolling or—in the case of the children—chasing each other along. On the lampposts and some of the buildings, sconces in varying styles and sizes cast shifting, multi-colored lights across the town. Kai stepped close to one, seeing a red flame that danced, tempered by small gusts of ice that kept the fire tame.

It seemed familiar. Maybe not that sconce in particular, but the concept. Elements mixing, fighting…and yet working together.

Mana, he realized. This sconce was using mana.

But how did he know that?

Kai arched an eyebrow, then heard the clanking of metal striking metal. He turned and saw a blacksmith hard at work in his forge, only something was off. The fires that burned weren’t normal. They burned red, and orange, yes. But also blue and green melding into them, making the flames shimmer like a rainbow. The embers that trailed off the flames looked more like leaves than actual embers.

Kai’s eyes narrowed, and he approached it, fascinated. Then, without warning his foot caught the end of one of the pavement stones and he fell on his ass.

Groaning, he managed to stand, his left foot in the air as he limped off to the side, pressing his back against the stone wall. He inspected his foot, which pulsed within his boot. He moved to pull it off but stopped as something dangled in front of his face.

No, not dangled. Floated. In front of him, approximately half a meter, was a strange looking set of words, framed in at different points by a semi-transparent wooden rectangle with metal accents.

“Kai Nakamura,” he said, arching an eyebrow at seeing his own name, then read on. Below that, in several adjacent boxes in the bottom left corner of the main one was a red line of sorts, a portion of it missing and the rest flashing slowly. Almost like—

A health bar. Kai’s eyes widened. Don’t tell me this is an actual heads up display? If so…

“Alright. Uhhh…” Kai studied it for a moment, curious about how it worked. Then an idea came to him. “Show me…uh, inventory?”

The big box shifted. Now at the top was a set of strange symbols, which flickered and danced like small flames before changing into English, forming the word INVENTORY. Below was the symbol of a gold coin next to the number zero.

Kai scoffed. Leave it to him to be broke both back home and in a fantasy world. Sighing, he said, “show me stats.”

The HUD obliged, shifting to another page. Kai studied it.

<< Class: ??? >>

<< Level: ??? >>

<< Skills: ??? >>

Well that’s helpful. Kai stood, ignoring his throbbing foot. He eyed the HUD. “Show me attributes.”

Attributes:

<<Charisma:??? >>

<<Intelligence:??? >>

<<Strength:??? >>

<<Dexterity:??? >>

<<Stealth:??? >>

<<Constitution:??? >>

<<Wisdom:??? >>

That's…weird, Kai thought, pacing back and forth in the alley as the HUD faded. Still, this did bring up an interesting possibility. Stats. Inventory. A heads up display. Am I in some kind of game?

The noises from the festival shook Kai from his thoughts. He slowly walked back to the main street, toward the small crowds that passed him by, watching each of them: the way they acted. The way they danced. Their conversations, where one man—probably drunk—about his age flailed around and appeared to cluck like a chicken while his friends nearly fell over laughing.

Awfully convincing for ‘NPCs.’ Kai scratched his head. But maybe there’s a way to be sure.

Kai spun, looking for a good candidate for his little “test.” Ahead on the opposite end of the street appeared to be a merchant, tables laid out with various goods: baskets full of fruits, a separate section where juicy-looking meat lay on top of a cutting board. Behind that table was a burly man, middle-aged, bald headed yet with a thick, manly beard that made Kai feel inadequate just looking at it.

Here goes nothing. Kai approached, gently pushing his way through those who stopped to look to the sky as multiple cracks sounded. Kai stopped and looked up, seeing the night sky filled with an array of incredible lights, blue and red clashing and chasing the other across the expanse as more colors joined; bright and powerful, before gently fading, only for the sky to erupt again in a flurry of light and beauty.

Fireworks. Kai smiled, then spun. “Hey Emily, what do you—”

She wasn’t there. Kai frowned, thinking back to the fireworks festival in Central Park just two weeks prior. Seeing the lights in the night sky flash as Emily stared in awe, her eyes wide.

Kai grimaced, taking a minute to stare back up at the show. Beautiful it still was, yet they seemed…dimmer. Colder. They were missing something.

Or, rather, he was. Missing her.

Shaking his head, Kai tore his gaze from the show and waltzed over to the merchant, who himself looked down from the fireworks, agitation creeping across his face.

“Can I help you, young man?”

“Uh, yes.” Kai swallowed. He had to pick his words carefully. Something an NPC wouldn’t mind but a human would react to. “Show me your wares.”

The man eyed him, then scoffed. “Which ones?”

“Er…all of them.”

The merchant’s brows furrowed. Sighing, he made his way into the little hut behind his stand, coming out with a box full of fruits, lugging it onto the wooden table with a loud clunk. Kai glanced at it, looking for the smallest one. He pointed to it.

“How much for that one?”

“10 G.”

“Okay,” Kai made a show of digging around in his pockets. “Um, I must have left it at home. Is there a way we could perhaps…barter?”

The merchant eyed him up and down. “You don’t look like you have anything to barter with, young man.”

Kai hesitated, wracking his brain for an answer. “You’re right. I don’t. I’m sorry.”

The man scoffed. “Then why bother?”

“I just wanted to see if you were real,” Kai blurted out. The merchant blinked, and Kai's cheeks burned. “Wait, I didn’t mean—”

“You don’t think I’m real, eh?” The merchant said, eyes narrowed.

“No, I…” Kai wanted to slap himself. Idiot. How should he explain it? “This is going to sound weird, but—”

The man rounded the table. Kai held his hands up.

“Woah, woah, hey—”

Before Kai knew it, the man had grabbed him by the collar and his belt and tossed him. He landed, rolling along until he came to rest on his back, the stones in the path digging into his spine as he groaned.

The man loomed over Kai, then squatted next to him. “That real enough for you?”

Kai winced and nodded. The man grabbed him by the collar, and for a moment Kai was afraid he’d hurl him into the river next. “Come back when you have coin. Otherwise, don’t you dare waste my time again.”

“Yes, sir,” Kai rasped.

The man nodded, then slowly let him back down, releasing his shirt and going back to who Kai assumed to be his wife and daughter, standing in the illuminated doorway to their hut. He stopped to shoot Kai one last glance, then disappeared behind it. After sitting and stewing in his own stupidity for another few minutes, Kai sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

That went well, he thought, wincing as he stretched. At least it proves my theory. I don’t think NPCs would get offended and yeet someone out into the street like that.

Without warning, the HUD popped up again. Kai squinted his eyes to read it.

<<Charisma: 2 >>

Kai blinked, surprised. Not by the low charisma, no, that was probably the least surprising part about it. But the fact that it had changed.

Now, he knew why they were blank. The HUD was assessing him.

He moved to stand but found something bright and red in front of him, not even half a meter in front of his face. He looked past it and saw a young girl—roughly twelve—with auburn hair and a simple beige dress holding out a tomato for him, beaming.

“Take it,” she said. “Father sends it as an apology.”

“‘Father?’” Kai glanced over to where the merchant’s shop was, seeing the man and what Kai assumed to be his wife still standing in the doorway, though the man crossed his arms and didn’t look Kai in the eye while the wife beamed at them with her hands behind her back. Kai faced the girl again. “Oh.”

“Yeah. He gets too aggressive sometimes and it ends up hurting the business. Mother is trying to break him of the habit,” the girl said, holding out the tomato for him.

Kai hesitated, then gently pushed it back. “I’m not really hungry. I just wanted to test something.”

The girl blinked. “What were you testing?”

Kai took a moment to ponder exactly how to parse his words. “It’s kinda hard to explain, but I’m from a faraway land, where things are, uh, different.”

“Ah.” The girl nodded and knelt next to him, cocking her head. “Is that why you said he ‘wasn’t real?’”

Kai nodded. The girl snorted.

“A faraway land…where people aren't real?”

Some of them, at least, Kai thought. “Sort of.” He smiled, stood, and offered his hand. “I’m Kai.”

“Lydia,” she said, shaking it.

“Lydia,” Kai repeated. “Say, this might sound a little embarrassing, but I…well, I don’t really know how I got here. Or where I am for that matter.”

“Huh.” Lydia studied him. “Well, welcome to Riversong village, I suppose.”

A chill crawled up Kai’s spine. Riversong. Why does that sound familiar? Kai shook his head, his eyes narrowing. “What country is this in?”

Lydia looked at him like he was crazy. “Um…Astraven?”

Kai’s eyes widened and he turned his gaze to the now-calm night sky, the clouds slowly churning across, covering the waxing moon that shone in a kaleidoscope of color.

Exactly the way he had imagined it all those years ago.

Like a tsunami, the memories all rushed back in: those early days when he and Emily would scribble on endless sheets of paper: writing, drawing maps, characters, and whatever else. He was the writer, and Emily was the artist. Building a world—their world.

A world, that unless Kai was hallucinating really badly, that he was now in.

“No way,” Kai whispered, walking over to a nearby building across from the merchant’s home and pressing his back to the wall. Lydia joined him with a confused expression on her face.

“Is something wrong, Kai?”

Kai didn’t answer, because an idea had just come to him. This supposedly was Astraven, after all. A world he created. Did that mean he was its god?

If so…

“Can I borrow that tomato for a second?” Kai asked.

Lydia nodded and handed it to him. Kai held it up in front of his face, focusing on turning it into something else, a knife maybe.

It didn’t budge. Kai focused harder.

“Turn…into…a knife,” he commanded, keeping his voice low, but determined.

The tomato did absolutely nothing. Kai groaned as Lydia chuckled.

“You really thought that tomato would just turn into a knife?” she asked. She snorted and shook her head. “Father was right about one thing. You really are an idiot, Kai.”

Kai glared, then handed her the tomato before standing up, scratching his head. So apparently, he wasn’t a god, and everyone around him were definitely not NPCs. A world that he had created and almost forgotten about not only existed, but felt equally as real as his own. Looking up, Kai scanned the town as the celebrations continued, his brows creasing.

So, I’m not in a game. And these are people, real people. But then what the heck is going on here?

The HUD flashed: <<Intelligence: 8>>

At least that stat is good,...I think. Kai continued to stare skyward, feeling a gentle breeze brush past him. So he knew where he was, that was good. But he still didn’t know why.

I suspect they don’t either. But maybe someone does. It's just a matter of finding them.

“Hey, Lydia?”

Lydia looked at him.

“You happen to know any—”

The ground rumbled. The laughter and chattering of the crowd suddenly faded to silence. Murmurs began, that evolved to panicked chattering that eventually devolved into screaming.

Behind him and Lydia, the door to the merchant’s home slammed open and the man himself came out, eyes widened in a frenzy, focused on the source of the noises.

“Father?” Lydia asked, approaching the house. “What’s wrong?”

“The Shadows,” he said, grimacing. “They’re coming.”

Before Kai could ask what he was talking about, a series of loud roars erupted from the direction of the forest, before a loud thump sounded and the house across the street shattered, sending stone, wood, steel and dust into the air. Kai covered his mouth with his elbow and looked up in horror, seeing something dark looming in the smoke, with the vague outline of wings spread high above them.

The dust cleared, and Kai finally saw it. Five meters from head to tail, swirling black and gray in its griffin-like form and burning red eyes that focused directly on him. Kai quivered.

“Scratch that,” the burly man said. “The Shadows aren't coming. They’re already here.”