Beauty and Danger

The white of her dress was radiant, glowing in the sun.

Yuri approached her slowly, trying not to scare her, as if she were a bird or a wild animal, who could disappear at the first sign of danger.

But she was not planning on disappearing any time soon. She was curious, looking around in wonder, and soon addressed Yuri herself, as he was the only one who could satisfy her curiosity.

“Where am I?”

“What? Ah, well… It’s hard to explain,” answered Yuri, he himself full of questions. Who was this girl? She did not resemble any of the NPCs he designed. Was she a player? One of the playtesters? But how could a player be transported here, inside this world? And how was he, Yuri, transported here in the first place? “If I had to guess, I would say, that this is a White Glade, in the western part of a Locked Forest”.

“I have no idea, where that is,” replied the girl, “but it’s beautiful. Will you show me around?”.

“Sure. I mean, why not. But first, tell me, who are you?”

The girl was already twenty steps away from him, in the middle of the glade, crouching and admiring the flowers.

“Em, excuse me? …Girl?” called Yuri, coming closer.

“Shh,” she replied, “they’re whispering.”

Yuri leaned forward. The only thing he could hear, was slight rustling on the wind.

“I don’t hear anything,” whispered Yuri.

“Look!” pointed the girl, completely ignoring him, “It’s a butterfly!”

And she ran off after a big butterfly with gentle red wings.

Yuri sighed.

“I guess, I did get to meet a Cheshire Cat,” he said under his breath, and then louder, “Hey, girl! If you catch it, you could sell it for a nice price in Heartwood!”

She suddenly stopped.

“Catch it? I… don’t want to catch it.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I… I’m tired. I want to be around for a bit longer.”

Yuri finally caught up with her. He was shorter than him, but not much. He was calling her “girl”, but at a closer look, she did not look like a child. Yuri was not good at assessing people by their looks, but she could easily be around twenty. That made her behavior even more unusual.

“We can do that. We can stay a little longer. Just don’t go running off on your own, it can be dangerous,” noted Yuri, watching her reaction. She paid no heed to his warnings. No, this definitely was not a player. Yuri sighed again. “So, what’s your name?”

“Huh?”

“Your name? How should I call you?”

She paused for a moment, inquisitively looking at the sky.

“I… don’t know,” she answered at last, “I don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember?”

“Why? Is it strange?”

“Yes,” said Yuri with less confidence in his voice than he would’ve liked, “People usually remember their names.”

“Well, I don’t,” she shrugged, “Maybe I don’t have one.”

“People usually have names”.

“Are you sure?” she asked, turning her head away and starting walking toward the treeline on the other side of the glade, “Then how did you know what your name was?”

“Well… It’s not like someone explicitly told me,” answered Yuri, catching up to her, “Parents just called me Yura since I was little, and that’s how knew that it’s how I’m called.”

“Great!” she said with a brightened expression, “Then I’m called ‘Excuse me’. Or ‘Girl’. Nice to meet you, Yura.”

Yuri rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was more confused than irritated. “No, it’s not your personal name. You can call anyone with ‘Excuse me’ or ‘Girl’,” he explained calmly, “You need to have something unique to you, something personal.”

“Then call me something personal, Girl,” she answered without a hint of hesitation.

Yuri found himself at a loss for words. He stopped for a moment, before collecting himself.

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Why do you say that? I want you to make a name for me,” she replied with the most innocent of smiles.

Yuri shook his head.

“I don’t think, that it’s a good idea. I’m really bad with names. You’ll see. Better ask someone else.”

“But you’re the smartest person I know!”

“And how many people do you know?”

“Not a lot. Just you.”

They left the clearing and were walking between the trees. The woods started to change. Instead of this tall majestic trees that evoke a sense of a fairytale wonder, this section of the forest was filled with more usual strict long pines. Pine needles crunched under their feet, the smell was sharp, yet nice, almost akin to a herbal tea.

The atmosphere became darker, but still not threatening. Just a different kind of comforting.

Yuri looked around. They seemed to be not far from Heartwood, a starting village. This was fortunate. Yuri tried to not think about what would have happened, was he transported to the late-game area. Still, if they could just-

“Wow…” said the girl from the back. She lagged behind, distracted by something.

“What did you find, a pretty root or something?” said Yuri, looking back, but froze in place as soon as he saw that the girl was kneeling in front of a patch of a long grass. Her head and shoulders completely disappeared inside.

“Look, it’s a squirrel!”

“Get away! It’s not a-,” shouted Yuri, but it was too late. A wild Woodrat appeared, and it was not happy.

The girl has cried out, falling back, a Woodrat biting at her left forearm. It was a big meaty creature with unproportionally long teeth, and stripes of red on its brown fur. It was designed to be the easiest enemy in the game, but it certainly didn’t look like that now.

Yuri rushed to the girl. Her pale skin was even lighter of color. He kicked the rat, but it didn’t help. The bite was too strong. Girl cried in pain once more.

Then Yuri grabbed the rat around the neck, squeezing with all his strength (of which there was not a lot), not nearly endangering the creature, but forcing it to deal with a new annoying threat.

The Woodrat let the girl go, and snapped at Yuri, but he was quick to trow it as far, as he could. It landed in the middle of the grass, spawning two more of its brethren.

He grabbed the girl, accidentally grasping the injured forearm, and took off running. The girl squeaked and flinched, but did not pull away.

They ran, branches and trunks rushing past them, but the creatures were gaining. Yuri was barely fit for walking, not to say running. He was out of breath, and having pain in his right side, but he knew that if they managed to go far enough, the enemies would retreat.

He stumbled.

He tripped over some sort of fallen branch, landing face-first onto the ground. The girl fell right on top of him. It would’ve been a funny moment, were not they in such a danger.

Pushing the girl to the side and slowly getting up, Yuri looked back. The creatures were unto them. Three big ugly rats, more resembling beasts of hell, then simple wooden critters. Why did he design them this way? To his defense, they were not nearly as bad in pixel art.

Yuri noticed that the thing he tripped over was a sturdy stick, one that could be used as a cane with little modification. Without thinking, he grabbed it and faced the approaching Woodrats.

“Get behind me.”

The girl did just that.

The first one was met with a swing of a stick, like a baseball, and was flung flying to the side.

The second one grabbed the stick with its teeth, and was slammed at the third one. It turned out that rats were not a great weapon against other rats, as the last one quickly recovered, and lunged at Yuri. It bit his leg. The pain was sharp, and smelled of rot (and maybe molded peanut butter).

[-5 HP]

Yuri clenched his teeth and tried to hit the rat with his stick. But with the awkward angle, and the other rat at the end of his weapon, he only hit the ground. The stick broke at the point where the teeth have damaged it.

If Yuri didn’t design the game, he would assume that the rats were simply immune to his damage. He kicked and smashed, but they showed no reaction.

With one rat biting his leg, and the other coming from the sides, perhaps to reach the easier target, things looked grim.

“If you have some sort of insane magical fighting power, now would be a good time to show it,” said Yuri to the girl.

“I’m not going to harm them!”

“What?”

One of the rats tried to rush the girl, but Yuri jumped in front of her, and the rat ran to the side. The one gnawing on his leg was not letting go.

[-3 HP]

“I’m not harming them! They were made this way, I’m not going to punish them for that.”

“What are you talking about? They are going to kill us!”

“Then why don't you use your insane magical power then? If you want to fight, do it yourself.”

“That’s what I’m doing!” cried out Yuri with extreme irritation, but in his mind he had to agree that the girl has a point.

He did not believe in suddenly acquiring some overpowered magical gift, but he was able to use the game’s system before. Maybe, he has some sort of skill? Or exploit? If only he could conjure a fireball, the wooden-type creatures have vulnerability to fire damage.

Wait. That’s it.

While Woodrats are considered wooden creatures, they were also registered as pests. And pests have vulnerability to piercing damage.

Yuri jammed the broken end of the stick into the rat on his leg. It screeched and let him go. The stick has broken at a sharp enough angle to be considered a piercing weapon.

“Yes! Ha-ha-ha! I’m unstoppable!”

With maniacal laughter, Yuri struck the rat again.

It froze for a second, blinked in and out of existence a couple of times, and suddenly exploded into a giant could of smoke. There was no blood and no blast, it was just replaced with the enormous amount of grayish smoke.

Yuri took a step back, coughing. He realized that it must have been the death animation. It was a temporary solution, but every creature in the game died with the same smokey animation.

With his new acquired power, Yuri managed to hold two remaining rats at bay and even stroke one of them down.

The last one has stopped attacking and was clearly hesitant to push its luck any further. It was great because Yuri’s rush started to pass, and he could feel the pain and exhaustion catching up to him. His vision blurred. He wiped sweat from his face with the back of his hand. When he looked back at the rat, he could only catch a glimpse of a bolt, sunken deep into the rat’s side, before it puffed out of existence in a cloud of smoke.

Yuri glanced around, holding his stick up.

“Who’s there?” he cried out.

There was a rustling of the leaves of nearby bushes, and out came a literal knight in a shining armor, modestly obscured with a thin layer of cloth.

“Hello, weary travelers! My name is Gaudeamus Igitur, and ’tis I who saved you from these foul creatures, though you need not thank me! Your faces, brightened with joy, would be enough for my humble heart.”

Yuri’s face exuded such a mix of skepticism, bewilderment, and sheer pain, that it couldn’t be further from joy.

The girl, on the other hand, was the most excited.

“Hello, I’m Excuse Me and this is Girl, and it’s not personal. Nice to meet you!”