Chapter 4: My First Quest

Chapter 4: My First Quest

I have always hated it when people try to force their views on you. While I was at school, there was this one jerk that didn't like it when people thought differently to him. I can remember times when he would threaten fellow students until they agreed with everything he said.

The walk to the Warthog Forest is peaceful, and once we left the city, we didn't see a single soul apart from a patrolling group of soldiers. But despite the peace and quiet, I notice that my new friend Amelara is still nervous and anxiously looking around. She's on edge despite their being no apparent danger. I had hoped that she would start to relax as we walked, but she seems only to be getting worse the closer we get to the woods. I should have expected that considering how dangers the locals say the forest is.

"I only fought one monster when I was in the forest yesterday," I tell her hoping to ease her nerves a little. "There's a chance that we might not encounter any while we are there."

"Really?" Amelara looks up surprised hearing this. "But I overheard people saying that the Warthog Forest was full of dangerous monsters."

"It's a big place so I wouldn't be surprised to find that there are areas in the forest that are filled with monsters, but if we go to the place where I was yesterday we should be fine," I reply feeling glad that at least she is looking slightly better now. Amelara is still nervous, but I can defiantly see some improvements there.

"I hope your right," Amelara replies, looking ahead where a tree line stretches as far as we can see in both directions. "Between getting lost and the monsters that place really isn't a nice place to visit."

Oh, I wonder if I can set up a waypoint ao we won't get lost. I was warned yesterday that getting lost in these trees is a common problem, so I need to ensure that doesn't happen to us today. I haven't done this before but maybe if I tap my minimap… that's it as a large map opens before my eyes, but unfortunately, it's mostly blank with only places I have visited before being shown, but at least I can set a waypoint on this map screen. It's a simple process as I only have tap a location on the map and it asks me if I want to set a waypoint. I'm glad this game is user friendly, and now we won't have to worry about getting lost.

I close the map only to find Amelara staring at me with her eyes wide. Is there something on my face? I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if there was. Was it something I did then? But all I have done is walk by her side and open my… That could be it. I wonder if hud's and minimaps not something everyone has in this world?

"Are… are you a hero, Suki?" Amelara asks, looking at me as if I was some kind of celebrity. "You were just using a hud. I heard that only heroes have those."

"Well, I was using a hud, but I'm not a hero," I tell her. If I was a hero, I'm sure the Gamemaker would have said something to me when I first arrived in this world.

"Then it must be just a rare gift then," Amelara sighs looking disappointed. "Or maybe you are just a decadent of a hero."

"Are heroes coming in this world?" I question.

"No," Amelara shakes her head. "The last hero appeared over a hundred years ago, and the time before that was nearly five hundred years ago. One rarely appears, but when they do, the heroes are said to have the strength to change the world."

"Well, I can tell you that I don't have that strength," I tell her. "Although it does sound appealing to be able to change the world."

"I know, right?" Amelara smiled. "If I had that strength I could finally return hom… never mind there is nothing I to use that strength for."

Something must have happened, and as much as I want to ask her what it was, I stay silent. I'm sure she will tell me one day when we become closer friends. Until then, I just have to stay by her side until she is ready to open up and talk about it.

"Anyway I just set a waypoint, so we don't have to worry about getting lost," I tell her changing the subject.

"What's a waypoint?"

I guess that is something only heroes and I can do.

"It's something I can use on my hud to help me navigate," I answer as best I can. "I just set one on this location so no matter where we are, we won't get lost."

"I see," Amelara nods her head.

The Warthog Forest is just as I remember with tall trees packed together and their canopies threatening to block out the sun. Several boulders are clearly visible, and despite the air being clear outside of the trees inside the forest, there is a thin mist covering the ground. I have seen sudden changes in the weather in games before but experiencing it as it would happen in real life is a little unsettling. I will have to get used to it since I'm going to be in this world for the next eight years.

Looking to my side, I see Amelara is uneasy as well, but by the ways, her eyes scan the area I believe it's due to nerves rather than the sudden appearance of the mist. I guess she's used to it being from this world and all. I watch as my new friend takes a short bow off from her shoulder and notches an arrow. I should mention that Amelara is similar equipment to me as she is wearing leather armour and has a short sword on her hips, but she also carries a short bow and instead of my Magical Backpack Amelara has an Item Pouch.

Although I haven't seen her in a fight, I can tell I don't have to worry about Amelara as from the way she handles her bow I can tell she's no stranger to the weapon. I'll have to worry about finding a way we can work together and that I don't get in her way. I'm starting to hope we don't run into any enemies as just by looking at Amelara I can tell she is more skilled in combat than me and I don't want to embarrass myself in front of my only friend in this world. I take a deep breath before I begin to lead us deeper into the Warthog Forest.

"So how deep in are the barriers you found?" Amelara asks as we walk.

"I can remember exactly, but they shouldn't be that hard to find as I saw plenty of branches being weighed down with them yesterday," I answer scanning the area in front of me checking the shadows for monsters waiting to ambush us. "It shouldn't take us more than an hour to collect what we need and start to head back."

"I hope so," Amelara replies and when I glance at her, I could swear I saw her shiver slightly. "The sprites of these trees seem off here."

"How so?" I ask out of curiosity as I turn my attention back to seeking out protentional threats.

"Normally tree spirts are bright and move fast around their trees but hear they are dim and slow as if their life is being sucked away," Amelara explains. "None of them have even reacted to our presence like they…"

Before she can continue Amelara suddenly dives at me, knocking me to the ground and just as I was about to question her actions the ground where I once stood suddenly explodes into a cloud of dirt as what appears to be blades of air slice into the mud. We quickly get to our feet, and I draw my sword just as a fairy straight out of the children books I used to love floats down from between the trees.

The creature has a tiny body of a female about the size of my hand with tanned skin that appears as if it glows while the fairies bright blue wings have sparkles dripping from them. If it weren't for the fact that it just attacked us, I wouldn't have felt threatened by this fairy since it looks so weak and harmless. The fairy looks very weak, but I don't let my guard down as I just saw that this monster makes up for its lack of strength with the use of magic. Part of me is going to regret harming a creature that looks so innocent, but I remind myself that its either this fairy or us and find my resolve.

"Gahhhh!" The fairy lets out a cry that was much louder than anything I could expect from a creature of this size, hurting my ears.

"Be careful," Amelara warns. "Fairies try to keep their distance while lunching magical attacks. They are fast so I don't know if I can hit it with an arrow."

"I'll find a way to slow it down for you," I tell her as I rush forward. "Wait for an opening while I distract it."

I try to slash it with my sword, and although I expected the fairy to dodge my attack, I still feel disappointed that my blade only slices air as the monster easy evades my attack. I make a second attempt only for the fairy to dodge again before an orange glow begins to form in the palm of its tiny hands. That glow grows into a ball, and soon I have to dive out of the way as a ball of fire is sent my way. The fireball explodes, but the small fire that starts quickly dies out. I barely have time to get up before I have to dive again only this time blades of air are hurtling towards me. I barely dodge the attack, and I don't have time to react before something wraps around my ankle.

"Suki!" I hear Amelara yell as I look down.

I see a tentacle of water trapping my leg socking the bottom of my trousers and squeezing tight enough to make me wince. I don't have time to fully absorb what is happening before the water pulls me towards the fairy where I see its glowing hands, preparing to shoot another fireball at me. I act more out of instinct than rational thought taking my sword and cutting the tentacle of water causing it to lose its form and splash on the ground but as I look towards the fairy I see it is too late as the fireball is just about to be fired. Part of me can't believe I am dying to a monster so small and innocent looking, but it shouldn't be that surprising with these things ability to cast a range of spells. I can only watch as the ball of fire grows to half the size of the faires body then an arrow causing the monsters head to explode. Amelara saved me once again.

"Suki!" I get up just as Amelara reaches me after spriting the distance between us. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, right?"

"I'm fine," I assure her once I can get a word in. "Thankyou Amelara, you saved me back there."

"That's what partners are for," Amelara smiles.

"I'm glad I have a partner like you backing me up," I tell her making Amelara blush slightly.

"If anything, I should be the one who is grateful," Amelara replies, looking down. "You took me on when no one else would. Even though I am useless and inexperienced, you still gave me a chance."

I wanted to ask how she can think of herself as useless when she now saved my life multiple times by this point, but the games perfectly timed popups decide to make its appearance.

"Victory."

"Exp: 25."

"Items Dropped: Fairy Wings X1."

At least it was better timed than the last few times, but it cost me the opportunity to question Amelara further as I see her walking forward ready to continue.

"We should get moving before anything else shows up," Amelara suggests, and I nod my head as we start walking once again.

I will find out what happened to her someday.

It doesn't take us long to find the Bright Barries as I stated before they are pretty abundant in this forest. We move from tree to tree refusing to split up after that encounter with the fairy, and soon we fill up Amelara's Item Pouch, so she starts to keep a lookout while I fill my Magical Backpack. In the end, I end up with fifty Bright Barries while Amelara ends up with forty. It seems I can only hold ten stacks of items in my backpack so that's something and with all our barriers we can make nearly a thousand gold coins, so it's not a bad haul. Now, all we have to do is make it back safely.

"I got all I can carry," I tell Amelara as stand up. "We should head back and calm our reward."

"Sure," Amelara replies, looking relieved. "I can't wait to leave this place."

I should have expected that response from her after seeing and hearing her feelings on this place. I guess she is still feeling nervous despite now looking calm on the outside. I can't blame her after all the things I have heard about this place. We leave as soon as I put on my backpack with me taking the lead using my waypoint to guide us out, but before we leave I put another waypoint down on this location just in case, we ever have to come back. This map really is user friendly, allowing me to label the waypoints and turn them on and off, so my minimap isn't covered in them.

"Was it this quiet last time you were here?" Amelara asks as we start to walk away.

"Yeah," I answer with a nod of my head. "At one point, it made me wonder if there really was any monsters in this forest, to begin with."

"I know what you mean," Amelara agrees. "But that's what makes this place so dangerous. Everywhere else you can hear the monsters, but here they sneak up on you without making a sound as that fairy did early." If what she said is true, then I can see why this place is feared, but I don't have enough experience to tell whether that is the case or not. "We should just get out of here before we are attacked again."

"Agreed," I say.

I know I will only respawn, but that doesn't mean I want to die. We should get out of here as soon as possible with our eyes peeled for any signs of an ambush. At least the fog has now cleared making it easier to spot any approaching enemies. Unfortunately for us that also made it, so the monsters had less trouble finding us too. As a warthog steps out in front of us, I start to wonder if the Gamemakers limited the monsters spawning in this forest when I was first here. I can see that happening since I was there by accident.

This warthog is just like the last one I fought, and after explaining how I defeated the last one to Amelara, we have no trouble in taking it down. We dodge then strike me with my sword and Amelara with her bow. We defeat this monster quickly with the knowledge of my previous battle and the fact there is too of use this time, but now with our storge full we can't fit in the goods dropped.

"Victory."

"Exp: 25."

"Items Dropped: Warthog Meat X1, Warthog Pelt X1."

The message pops up as I stare at the neatly folded warthog pelt and perfectly cut meat. I didn't pay it much attention before, but the meat looks like the cuts of steaks I used to buy. I guess that's the advantage of us living in a game world since we don't have to butcher the meat ourselves, but Amelara's staring tells me that something is off here.

"You really are a hero, aren't you Suki?" Amelara asks, looking at me like I am a famous celebrity again. "I heard that heroes cause monsters to make drops like this. A normal person would have had to skin and butcher the warthog, but that's not the case with you."

"Well I have never be called a hero before but I… I don't know…" I answer, confused about what my friend is telling me. "I can use a hud and make drops like this happen, but I don't have the strength you described a hero process or have been told that I am a hero."

"But you can do all this stuff," Amelara points out. "How can you not be a hero?"

"I don't know what I am," I shake my head still confused. Am I a hero? Am I meant to change this world? I don't know any of the answers to those questions. "I'm sorry Amelara I can't say I am a hero because I don't know what I am."

"Okay," Amelara sighs. "I can tell you are confused about this so I will drop it for now."

"Thank you," I weakly smile. "Can you do me a favour and keep this a secret."

"Don't worry about it. My lips are sealed," Amelara smiles assuringly.

"Thank you," I reply.

Then we get back to business. We decide that I will carry the meat while Amelara carries the pelt and we are back on our way. It doesn't take long to reach the first waypoint I set, so I quickly delete it before we move on, but unlike before when I was walking towards Embershire, I can be wowed by the sights as my minds a mess right now. "What am I?" I can't seem to answer that question as I wonder if I am a hero like Amelara suggests or just an ordinary player. The person who built this world did tell me I could be whatever I wanted, which included being a hero, but am I meant to be a hero no matter what I decided to be. I just can't figure it out, and we reach the gates of the city before I can put my thoughts together.

Meeting the guild leader this time isn't as bad as before knowing this time what I am here for and having Amelara here with me. The guilds manager politely greets us offer us both a cup of tea and something to snack on as our goods are appraised, and payment gathered. We discuss some small talk about the gossip around town, but the main event is Amelara being made a full member of the guild with Zunra personally handing Amelara her guild card. Amelara immediately forgets where she is and lets out a cheer before hugging me.

"Thank you!" Amelara cries hugging me tightly before the guild manager clears her throat, reminding her where she is. Amelara goes red in the face looking down. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay to be happy and celebrate your triumphs, but you also need to be mindful as to where you are and who you are with my young girl," Zunra tells her before taking a sip of her tea. "An outburst like that could get you in trouble in the presence of a noble, and now that you are a member of the guild your actions will also reflect poorly on everyone here so keep that in mind in the future."

"Yes ma'am," Amelara timidly replies, still staring at the floor.

"I'm glad you understand," Zunra says before turning to me. "Now, about the items, you handed in, we will add the extra items payments to the quest reward, and I would like to thank you both for taking on this request personally." The door opens, and a man walks in carrying a bag and a document handing them both to the guild manager. Zunra quickly reads the document before handing the bag and document to me. "Your payment is here, and as you can see on the document, we have paid nine hundred gold coins for the Bright Barries as promised at ten gold coins a barry and an additional twelve gold coins for the extra items."

"Thank you," I reply, taking the money and document.

"Congratulations Quest Complete!"

"Exp: 150."

"Gold Coins: 912."

"Level Up!"

There's that pop-up announcement again, and I see I didn't get any extra gold for the quest, but I did get enough Exp to level up to level three. Not bad for a mornings work not only did I increase my level but even split in half. I still made three hundred and fifty-six gold coins. To top it all off, I even helped Amelara become a fully-fledged guild member. I really have done a lot this morning and the day is only half over.

"There is something else I wish to discuss with you two," Zunra says after taking another sip of her tea. "It is not uncommon for guild members to form parties, and I was wondering if you two were going to become one."

"…"

Neither Amelara nor I answer instead we look to each other and when see the answers each of us has in our eyes we nod. Turning to Zunra, I answer for the both of us.

"Yes, we will," I reply, making the guild manager smile.

"I was hoping you would say that," Zunra says setting her cup down. "As much as it pains me to admit our guild has declined over the years and most of our members show little promise but the two of you I can tell we go far as adventures so I am pleased to hear you we both work together and I hope to see you grow into grand adventures. There is a form you will need to fill out to make that official, but first I want to tell you the second reason why I am happy to hear you say that." Taking a moment, Zunra pulls out a piece of paper. "I need a team I can trust to handle to represent our guild in this years guild cup, and I want that team to be yours."

"Surely you have stronger teams than us," I say out of shock.

"You are right I do, but I don't trust them," Zunra replies, looking disappointed. "I heard what one of the teams have done to you Suki, and I am afraid that their behaviour is common within teams of this guild. I don't want people like that to be the face of this guild, so please consider it. You still have six months until the tournament, so you don't need to answer right away, but please consider it."

"I'll think it over," I tell her pleasing the guild manager.

"Thank you," She says before there's a knock on the door. "I'm sorry, but I have guild business to attend, but I bid you goodbye, and I hope to hear from you soon."

"Goodbye," I reply, taking the flier for the guild cup from her.

"Bye," Amelara also says still sounding embarrassed by her early outburst.

"Do you want to go get something to eat?" I ask as we start to leave.

"Sure," Amelara nods before her stomach loudly growls embarrassing the poor girl.

We find a lovely café that has beautiful flowers outside, which gives off a pleasant smell. The food they serve looks fancy but affordable, only costing five gold coins each for a meal. I order a grilled chicken burger with a glass of water while Amelara orders herself a salmon dish with a glass of ale to drink. She really loves her booze because as soon as she gets her drinks, she downs half a glass within seconds.

"Before we begin I want to give you your half," I say as I dived the money. It probably isn't a smart thing to do in public, but with the café being nearly empty, I figured it was safe enough.

"My half?" Amelara questions looking at me as if I was crazy. "You don't mean… I wasn't expecting you to give me anything. Guild member in their trial periods usually doesn't get paid."

"You worked hard out there and saved me," I tell her. "You put in half the work out there so of course, I was going to pay you an equal share."

"Thank you," Amelara sats quickly pocketing the coins as if she fears I may take them back.

Our food is brought to us before another word could be said, and my mouth starts to water. It has been a long time since I had a good burger, and this one both looks and smells divine. Just looking at it makes my stomach grumble. I can't wait to bite into it but before I can the window to the café suddenly smashes and a monster I haven't seen before lands next to me as screams from outside start to flood into the restaurant.

The creature isn't like anything I have seen before it is a rabbit but the size of a bear with a drill-like horn on its head and three razor-sharp claws at the end of each of its four limbs. The rabbit has dirt brown fur and soulless black eyes that make me shiver and feel thankful it is dead.

"Everything is okay, the good people of Embershire need not fear as I have slain the Burrowing Rabbit who dug under the wall," I hear a male voice assure the people outside before a young man who looks like a knight walks in handing the café's owner some coins while apologising for the damage before picking up the monster. "I'm sorry to disturb your meals, my good people."

The young man was handsome black short hair and grey eyes that seem to sparkle. He has a strong body and can easily carry the monster despite its massive size. As I watch him go, I can't help but wonder who he is.

Back in my room at the Horseshoe in I quickly update my character skills and stats, putting two points into intelligence, so I no longer have any negative stats and two more points into stealth since that is where my characters strength lies before I collapse on my bed to try and answer the question that has been bugging me all day. Am I a hero like Amelara thinks I am? I could be. I could be a hero, and the game will force me to face some demon whether I want to or not to save this world. Me being a hero does make sense, and that final fight with the demon could be what brings this game to an end.

Bzzz… Bzzz… Bzzz…

That phone again! Perfect maybe he can answer that question for me. I answer the call as soon as that telephone icon appears and am greeted by the voice of that same kind man from before.

"We are detecting you are confused, is something wrong?" He asks as soon as I answer his call.

"There's no problem but can I ask you something?" I really hope he can shed some light on that question that continues to bother me.

"Sure, you can ask me anything," He quickly replies with his calm, friendly voice.

"Am I a hero in this game?"

"You are who you want to be," He answers. "If you want to be a hero, you can be. I told you this before, but in this world, you can be whoever you want to be."

"But my abilities are something only a hero has in this world," I tell him.

"Yes but just because you have the abilities of a hero doesn't mean you can become one," He replies, answering my question but not making me feel any better. "Tell me if I were to open up a bank vault and make sure no one was around but you would you take the money?"

"No," I shake my head.

"Just because you have the position within you doesn't mean you have to be a hero," He tells me. "You are who you are. I have to go now, but I want you to ask yourself something. Who are you, and what do you want? If you can answer that question, then what is bugging you will go away. I'll be going no just remember you are you and not anyone else."

With that, the call ends, and I am left laying on the bed thinking things over. Who am I and want to I want? Do I want to be a hero? I close my eyes as I think about those things. Who am I, and what do I want?