Dematerialized
The darkness approached the dawn. The sky was still very dark. Cold fog shrouded the woods. Roosters were crowing.
Inside the nipa hut, two young men lay down on the cold dirt floor. They didn't even sleep on their own bed.
"Uh, my head really hurts." Eirwyn stroked the back of his head. He yawned and stretched his arms.
"Zzzzzzzz..." Terrell snored. He slept soundly while his mouth wide open and drooling.
"Hmm... why we slept here? Hey, wake up!" Eirwyn stood up. He interrupted the cozy sleep of Terrell.
"Bububububu... What happened last night?" Terrell shook his head quickly as he woke himself up. The drool flew from his mouth. He looked like a dog.
"I don't know." Eirwyn shrugged and shook his head.
"Why does my wound doesn't hurt anymore?" Terrell raised his leg and he looked on his feet wrapped with a cloth.
"Oh, lemme see... What the, how is that even possible?!" Eirwyn shocked as he removed the cloth and took a look on Terrell's feet and saw the wound was gone.
"Whatever happens, happens for the best. At least it's okay now." Terrell stood up as he patted away the dirt from his body.
"Hayzz... okay then." Eirwyn hissed softly.
They washed their face with the water stored in a plastic pail and started to prepare for the morning breakfast. Meanwhile.
"Huuuuuh!?" Terrell yelled.
"What now?" Eirwyn was fazed.
"The kerosene lamp! Why you didn't put out the light?" Terrell chided and pointed at Eirwyn with the lamp.
"Well, I slept early last night. I dreamed about something strange and seems realistic." Eirwyn scratched his head.
"Oh? Me too. I was talking to a little bird in my dream." Terrell's expression changed swiftly.
Eirwyn paused and became dumbstruck.
A moment passed...
"Set that aside for later, we have a class later!" Eirwyn broke the silence and reminded Terrell.
Terrell chopped the firewood and lit it up. He filled the old cauldron with water and placed on a stand above the flames from burning firewood.
Terrell watched over the fire. Smoke rose up to the air. The water inside the cauldron slowly boiling up.
Eirwyn picked up raw wild bananas, and he pulled up sweet potatoes from the ground where they planted other sweet potatoes on their own. He put them on a rattan basket.
Eirwyn washed them on the stream and quickly returned. He carefully placed the bananas and sweet potatoes inside the steaming cauldron with boiling water. They continue to prepare and cleaned their home while they waited until it cooked.
After minutes passed. They ate the boiled banana and sweet potato.
Terrell and Eirwyn brought the soap and a dipper. They took a bath at the stream. After that, they dried themselves with worn out cotton towels. They wore their underwear with some small holes, old white school uniform, worn-out socks, and second-hand black shoes.
They sorted out castoff smartphones and returned it properly inside the carton. Then they placed the scrap metal and glass bottles on separate sacks.
They departed and took a shortcut. They walked at a fast pace beside a road. Terrell carried the sacks with both hands, while Eirwyn carried the carton on his left arm and sacks on his right.
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Dawn. They arrived in a bustling town of Inayauan. The town lies at the foot of the mountains where Terrell and Eirwyn lived.
At the town's core section, the public market and the streets were crowded with busy people. Vendors selling their goods and customers buying their needs. The cars, jeepneys, and tricycles went to and fro. Shops and establishments are opened and begun their business activities. Different kinds of people occupied on different activities of their daily lives.
In a secluded area of the town, piles of scrap metal, a stack of used tires, bottles and other junk was organized neatly. The owner maintained his junk shop clean and orderly.
"Morning!" Terrell greeted the owner.
"Oh, it appears these lads brought plenty of stuff this time. Hohoho!" The middle-aged man laughed in a boisterous way.
"Hahahaha! We're just lucky." Terrell slapped Eirwyn's back heavily.
"How much for a kilogram of scrap metal?" Eirwyn shook off Terrell's hand as he asked the man.
"16 pesos." The man replied abruptly.
"What?! The price is very cheap!" Terrell scowled and yelled at the man from disbelief.
"I have plenty of scraps right now. Also, the demand right now was too low." The man was unaffected and replied calmly.
"Haist!" Terrell hissed and gave in, he frowned.
The middle-aged man measured the total weight of the scrap metal Eirwyn and Terrell collected. He tapped on his calculator.
"12 kilograms. 192 pesos."
They also weighted the remaining glass bottles.
"Scrap metal and glass bottles, a total of 276 pesos."
"Uhm... Do you buy second-hand smartphones?" Eirwyn asked as he place the carton on a wooden table.
"Hmm... these phones are in good condition, I could buy these." The man open the carton to check the smartphones and smiled inwardly.
"How much?" Eirwyn asked.
"5 thousand." The man replied immediately.
"5 thousand?!" Terrell exclaimed, the price was too high for him.
"5 thousand? These were worth more than 5 thousand!" Eirwyn gritted is teeth.
"5 thousand is all I have right now." The man scratched his head.
"Okay then. I'll receive the money now. We're going." Eirwyn picked up the carton and gave to Terrell. He extended his right hand to the man.
"Hey, five thousand is a hefty sum, you know?" The man was agitated.
"Nah, thank you." Eirwyn waved his hand.
"Uh oh... Okay, eight thousand..." The man didn't want to raise the price.
"Twenty thousand!" Eirwyn retorted immediately. His right hand gestured a peace sign.
"Huh?! Twenty thousand?!" The man startled.
"Yeah." Eirwyn nodded his head to confirm.
"Tsk. Fifteen thousand." The man snarled.
"Eighteen thousand!" Eirwyn continued haggling.
"Haaaaah! Fine! Eighteen thousand." The man groaned.
"Wow! Eighteen thousand!" Terrell was felt elated. He never got this amount of money before.
"Here. Eighteen thousand for the second-hand smartphone and two hundred seventy for the junk." The middle-aged man handed over the cash.
This is fine. I can still earn more. Eighteen thousand was nothing. The man thought while he condoled to himself.
"Thank you uncle!" Eirwyn received the money.
Terrell and Eirwyn turned away and left the junk shop. As they walk through the sidewalk, Eirwyn held the money on his left hand and begun to count yet the bills and coins turned into particles of light. Only six pieces of 1 peso coin remained.
"WHAT THE F*CK!?" Eirwyn cursed loudly.
"Why?" Terrell was alarmed.
"The money vanished!" Eirwyn was anxious.
"Huh? You're kidding right?" Terrell has trembled.
Terrell grabbed Eirwyn's left arm to check if the money was still there.
He accidentally touched the black wristband inscribed with circuit patterns strapped on Eirwyn's wrist. It glowed faint blue light.
A window popped out and displayed in front of Eirwyn.
'Cling!'
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
ー〔 Eirwyn Ferrer 〕ー
〖 Rank 〗 ---
〖 Title 〗 ---
〖 Class 〗 Frostblade
〖 Level 〗1
〖 EXP 〗
〔 0 / 2500 〕
〖 HP 〗
〔 3100 / 3100 〕
〖 MP 〗
〔 1550 / 1550 〕
〖 Status 〗 Normal
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
'Cling!'
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
ー〔 Menu 〕ー
[ Attributes ]
[ Skills ]
[ Technique ]
[ Talent ]
[ Equipment ]
[ Inventory ]
[ Map ]
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
Terrell and Eirwyn were flabbergasted when they saw the holographic window.
They only noticed the black wristband around their left wrist until this moment.
Eirwyn recalled all of the memories last night as he saw the same patterns of the wristband and odd smartphone-like object. Eirwyn pondered.
An idea flashed inside of Eirwyn's mind. He viewed the window and he selected the inventory, a new window popped out.
'Cling!'
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
ー〔 Inventory 〕ー
〖 Coin Purse 〗
Gold – 0
Silver – 18
Copper – 27
〔 Withdraw 〕 〔 Deposit 〕
〖 Item List 〗 — 3/50
• Yellow Pad Paper x20
• Black Ballpoint Pen x2
• Big Notebook x1
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
Eirwyn gasped. At this moment, he was quite aware of the current situation.
"Terrell, try to touch the wristband on your arm," Eirwyn told as he looked at Terrell seriously.
Terrell understood and nodded as he touched the wristband. The patterns are glowing with a faint grey light on his left arm.
A window popped up in front of him.
'Cling!'
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
ー 〔 Terrell Arce 〕 ー
〖 Rank 〗 ---
〖 Title 〗 ---
〖 Class 〗 Stormgarde
〖 Level 〗1
〖 EXP 〗
〔 0 / 2500 〕
〖 HP 〗
〔 4600 / 4600 〕
〖 MP 〗
〔 1200 / 1200 〕
〖 Status 〗 Normal
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
"THIS IS AWESOME! IS IT REAL?!" Terrell was surprised.
"Shush. Someone might hear you." Eirwyn said while he looked at the surroundings.
"This is real, the money that we earned turned into a game currency. Look. I think this was related to our dream last night and those odd-looking smartphones." Eirwyn explained as he pointed with his right index finger on the inventory window.
"Woah." Terrell was amazed.
"We are getting late from class, we'll find about it later. Let's go." Eirwyn told as he closed the interface window and continued to walk, headed towards to the main road.
"Oh, alright. We must hurry, the classes will start soon." Terrell stood for a while and took a glance on the wristband. He smiled and hurriedly followed Eirwyn.
Terrell and Eirwyn waited on the side of the main road to hitchhike.
A light pick-up truck containg bananas passed by. Eirwyn and Terrell look through the windshield and fixed their eyes on the driver. They waved their hands.
The truck driver saw their worn out uniforms with a badge of Lucero City National High School stiched on their chest pocket.
The driver breaked. The truck stopped slowly.
"Hey fellas, get in! Don't damage my goods or I will beat you up!" The driver gestured them with his hand to ride on.
"Thank you uncle!" Terrell and Eirwyn expressed their gratitude.