The Quest, Commenced

The sun was quickly setting, and Daffodil soon found himself plunged in darkness. The only way he didn’t lose Asterion was thanks to his hands gripping Asterion’s shoulders like an anchor.

“We should… we should plan, shouldn’t we?” Asterion asked after a while. It was still so jarring to hear the lack of confidence in his voice, ending each sentence like a question and looking to Daffodil for confirmation when he was clearly one of the least experienced people in the game.

“Yeah,” Daffodil agreed, and he led the two of them to the meadow he’d slept in last night. Had it really only been one day since he’d been brought into WanderQuest? So much had happened in just one day that it felt like he’d lived through an eternity already.

As they laid down in the meadow, Asterion opened his menu and summoned a glowing orb. The orb floated between the two of them and provided a soft light so they could look at each other while they planned.

“So,” Asterion started, unsure where to begin. To be fair, trying to plan the death of the Demon Lord wasn’t something many people did, so they were traveling through uncharted territory at the moment. “How do we even kill a demon?”

“That’s… a great question,” Daffodil said as he realized he had no clue what he was doing. Did they need to do something special because he was a demon? Use an enchanted weapon perhaps? Were there any weaknesses they could exploit?

“We need to get stronger,” Asterion decided. “I may be the strongest person in WanderQuest, but I don’t think it’ll be enough. And my gear is good quality, but it’s all pretty basic. It would be better if we could find something with a legendary rating.”

As Daffodil lay there, he realized he was absolutely, completely out of his element. “Okay, don’t laugh at me,” he said, “but what if I told you I didn’t realize the game had a Demon Lord?” Daffodil could see Asterion shaking next to him as the man tried to stifle his laughter, but he appreciated Asterion’s valiant effort to keep it in.

When Asterion finally had it under control, he said, “I think the Demon Lord has been a part of the game since its launch. Recently, more and more people have tried to kill him because there’s rumors going around that you get a really good reward for doing so, but no one actually knows what it is. When Ymara brought me into the WanderQuest, he explained that the Demon Lord is an actual demon who wants to break free from the game and take over the world. If someone kills him in the game, he’s dead for real. He made it impossible for players to kill him, but since I’m an NPC now, I should have a fighting chance. If I can get strong enough, that is.”

Daffodil huffed. “It’s not enough to have a bunch of freaky monsters? They needed to include a Demon Lord too? Why make it so complicated?”

Asterion did laugh that time, although not at Daffodil’s expense. “Not everyone likes simple games like you do. A lot of people like how complicated WanderQuest is, although I do agree that it isn’t really helping us now.”

They sat for another minute, neither one knowing what to say next. It was still a novel concept for Daffodil to be able to just speak to Asterion; he was used to the long pauses between sentences as they rushed to type out a response, but now he felt a little weird with the ability to talk to Asterion immediately.

Finally Asterion broke the silence and said, “The only problem is, I don’t know how to get stronger or get better equipment. Usually, I would just complete a bunch of quests to level up, but we don’t have that kind of time.”

Daffodil stared up at the night sky as he tried to think. He couldn’t help but feel like there was a solution sitting in the back of his mind, something he’d read years ago that would help them right now. His eyes kept trailing back to one constellation that looked like an herb. Sage perhaps?

“That’s it!” he exclaimed, shooting up into a sitting position. Asterion followed him and the glowing orb floated over so they could still see properly. “I read a book a year or so ago about the Four Sages. I think it’s four shrines scattered around WanderQuest that are supposed to give you really good skills or armor or something. Maybe if we find the shrines it’ll give us something we can use in the fight!”

“That’s great!” Asterion said, easily matching Daffodil’s excitement. “Do you know where the shrines are?”

Daffodil’s eagerness quickly died as he said, “Uhh, no. I read the book like a year ago, so I barely remember what was written in it. I think I sold it to an NPC a while back.” Asterion wilted a little at the response, so Daffodil quickly added, “But I know there’s a bookshop in Caspia that’s supposed to have the largest selection in the world. Maybe they have a copy there.”

Asterion’s mood improved again. “Alright, it’s settled then! We’ll head to Caspia tomorrow in search of the book and then we can start finding the shrines!”

Daffodil agreed and the two laid down again. With Asterion by his side, Daffodil had no trouble falling asleep.

. . .

The next morning Daffodil woke up even earlier, and his menu cheerily displayed the time as 4:17. Daffodil groaned but knew he needed to get ready now if he didn’t want to deal with players once they reached Caspia.

“Gosh I miss espresso,” he grumbled as he pulled himself to his feet. He spared a glance at Asterion, who was still out cold, and decided to let him sleep a little longer while Daffodil packed. He started by heading to the flower gardens and picking everything he could. He had no idea when he’d be returning to the valley, but he knew everything would be dead by the time he got back; might as well bring them with him in case he needed to sell them for a quick buck.

It felt wrong to see his valley so devoid. Years of hard work all undone by his own hand. I’ll replant when this is all over, he promised himself. Maybe try a new layout. A restart could be just what he needed after staying stagnant for so long.

The next thing Daffodil did was say goodbye to the animals that routinely came to his valley. He gave lots of pats to Snowball and the other wolves, said farewell to the deer, and gave a respectful nod to the group of jackalopes that hung around the edge of the valley. Daffodil didn’t really consider them pets so much as frequent visitors so he hoped they weren’t too domesticated and could still fend for themselves when he left.

It was still dark when he returned to the wild meadow. Asterion hadn’t yet woken up, but Daffodil didn’t want to wait any longer. It was already past five in the morning, and he was really concerned about a player diverting their journey. The earlier they got to Caspia the better.

“Asterion,” Daffodil whispered, nudging the man with his foot. “Asterion!” he tried again, louder.

Asterion grumbled and mumbled something that sounded like, “Five more minutes.”

“C’mon,” Daffodil said, trying his hardest to be gentle. If it were anyone else he would’ve already pushed them out of the bed or dumped water on them, but for Asterion he held back. “The world needs its hero, Asterion. And the hero isn’t allowed to snooze.”

Asterion grumbled again but sat up this time. “What time is it,” he asked, his voice rough from sleep.

“5:23,” Daffodil responded.

Asterion groaned even as he started to prepare for the journey. “Why would anyone get up that early?”

Daffodil ignored the fact that he’d thought the exact same thing yesterday and instead said, “We don’t want to run into players when we reach Caspia. If we sprint the whole way there, we should be able to make it a little after six.”

“Why don’t we want to run into any players? I thought Ymara made them forget about us so we don’t have to worry about any fans swarming me.”

Daffodil paused. “Have you interacted with any players since you were turned into an NPC?”

“No?” Asterion responded, suddenly sounding self-conscious. “Why?”

“I’ll tell you when we get closer to Caspia,” Daffodil decided, taking in the clear exhaustion written all over Asterion’s face. That was a conversation best had awake.

Asterion shrugged and finished getting ready. Then he just stood there. When Daffodil realized he wasn’t about to start moving on his own, he grabbed Asterion's hand and pulled him in the right direction. He felt a small blush creeping up his neck that he fought down through sheer willpower. He smiled a little when Asterion continued to allow the physical contact.

“Let’s get going. You have a world to save.”