A Failed Confession

After a horrible, grueling week, it was finally Saturday, which meant Kyo woke up at the bright and early time of 1 PM. Rolling out of bed with only minimal groaning, Kyo ate a granola bar in two bites, grabbed a can of espresso, and logged onto WanderQuest. Saturdays were his only day off, and Kyo wanted nothing more than to spend it reorganizing the flowerbeds in the southern quadrant of his valley.

As Kyo directed his avatar towards the flowerbeds in question, his mind drifted to last night’s conversation with Asterion. Every day Kyo’s affection for him seemed to grow a little more; when he first realized he was in love with Asterion, Kyo refused to say anything because he hoped it would go away on its own, but now he knew that would never happen. Today’s the day, Kyo decided. I won’t chicken out this time.

Usually on Saturdays, Asterion would log in even later than Kyo and they’d meet up before dinner. A quick check to his woefully short friends list told Kyo that Asterion was online right now. One quick message to him and Asterion could be here in ten minutes. Kyo’s hand hovered over his mouse, the cursor blinking over the chat box. He hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. I need time to plan what I’m gonna say, Kyo reasoned. If Asterion showed up now, he had no clue what would come out of his mouth and there was no way he was going to mess this up.

Kyo decided to pass the time by watering his crops while he thought of what to say. You’re the only person in this game that isn’t really annoying. Yeah real romantic. Being told you’re “not annoying” wasn’t really the kind of love confession someone typically liked to hear. I love how passionate you are at killing monsters. Should he really mention Asterion’s kill count in a confession? He definitely didn’t want to make Asterion sound like some sort of murder fiend. Sure he was really good at killing monsters, and Kyo thought Asterion was at least a little proud of it, but he didn’t want to make Asterion look really bloodthirsty when Kyo knew how peaceful he was.

Kyo groaned and tilted his avatar’s head for added dramatic effect. Why was this so hard? He’d seen a few love confessions when he was in school, but those were in real life. Kyo didn’t know what Asterion looked like or even his real name, two things that always seemed to come up in a confession.

Screw it, Kyo thought as he ran over to a different section of the garden. If words were failing him, maybe he could prove his love to Asterion with a gift instead. Kyo reached the planters that held the rarest flowers in his possession and carefully plucked a handful of Starling roses. They were a deep blue color—almost the same as Asterion’s eyes—with specks of dark purple and white dots, almost like the night sky. They were beautiful on their own but were also useful in a lot of potions and, as far as Kyo was aware, he was the only player in the game with a large quantity of them. This was the perfect gift: beautiful, rare, and practical.

Once Kyo had plucked enough Starling roses, he pruned the bottoms until they were even and tied a cream colored ribbon around them to hold them together. Then he placed them in his inventory for safekeeping. Kyo smiled as he returned to his landscaping; there was no way Asterion wouldn’t like this gift.

Kyo checked the time and saw that it was now 4 PM. In an hour or so, Asterion would be there. Kyo decided to finish the section he was working on and head to the front of his valley where Asterion would enter. Just as he finished weeding the last planter, Kyo looked up and saw a flock of birds roosting on something. That’s weird, Kyo thought. The birds almost never sat this low to the ground, typically preferring the taller branches of the small forest Kyo had planted. Kyo’s avatar stood up, and he directed it towards the birds. As he got closer, the birds startled and flew off, revealing that they had been sitting on a stone statue.

Kyo didn’t remember seeing this statue before, but a little red stone sat right next to it, marking the edge of the safe zone. He had probably run across it when first marking the barrier and then completely forgot about it.

Once Kyo’s avatar was only a foot away from the statue, a small prompt appeared on screen. The word interact? hovered next to the statue. Kyo clicked on it.

At first nothing happened. Then the statue started to glow and a text box appeared.

“Daffodil!” Kyo narrated in a monotone voice. “I am Ymara, the God of WanderQuest, and I am here to grant you a blessing!” Kyo clicked his mouse once to go to the next block of text. “I didn’t know there were gods in this game,” he said to himself.

The next chunk of text appeared, and he continued to narrate. “You have taken great care of my land and shall be rewarded accordingly.” Kyo clicked his mouse again but there was no more text. The box disappeared, and Kyo waited for an item to be added to his inventory. When nothing appeared, Kyo muttered, “Bullshit,” and then started moving his avatar towards the entrance of his meadow. After a moment, however, his hands locked up and he couldn’t press the key down properly.