Clair or Eris?

A rickety wooden wagon being pulled by a horse was making it's way down a dirt path back to its village. Ren [18] was walking alongside the horse with the reins in his hands when he saw a lump of clothes out in the flower field in front of him. He squinted his eyes, and stop the horse. Not taking any chances Ren prepared for an ambush and pulled out his dagger that was hanging off his belt. He approached slowly until he noticed it was a young girl in rags of burnt clothes.

"What the..." Ren said under his breath. "Hello? Are you okay?" He said a bit louder as he stood in place for a bit.

~Guess that's an obvious no.~

Ren thought as he slowly decrease the distance between them. Sensing no movement he reached out his is hand and moved her hair aside to see her face. His eyes widened in surprise and then softened in sympathy when he saw her eyes. They were scarred with burn marks.

~How sad, having burn marks like that at such a young age and on her face no less. I wonder what she went through to be mangled that bad, and where her family is. I might be able to bring her home. Let's hope father allows it.~

Ren carefully place one hand under her knees and the other along her back and picked her up princess style. He set her down onto the back of the wagon and proceeded home.

***

Clair woke up. She was groggy and everything hurt. She groaned and opened her eyes, but noticed she couldn't see her surroundings.

~What's going on? This isn't my bed...~

She thought slowly as she felt the pillow and sheets. As she tried to get up, her left leg refused to move and so she lied back down.

~Am I not out of the game? Why can't I move my leg or see?~

"H... Hello? Anyone there?" Clair tentatively asked outloud.

There was no response, only the continuous creaking from the roof being blown by the wind.

~This is not right. What do I do? I'm too week to move and I can't see.~

Clair gave up and started to replay events in her head. Most of the events were fuzzy and didn't connect to each other. She was getting bits and pieces of the last day leading up to the team wipe. Unfortunately nothing made sense and just thinking about it made her exhausted.

Creak!

The door suddenly opened and Ren walked inside with a bucket of water. He noticed that Clair had moved and decided to see if she was awake. He picked up a worn out chair and set it next to her bed. Grabbing a piece of cloth, he dipped it into the water and wiped off her face.

Clair froze she had no idea what was going on and didn't know how to react.

Ren noticed her movement and faintly smiled. His face softened as he started to think.

~Shes probably too shy to say anything. Guess that means I'm up!~

"You're awake right?" Ren probed.

Not getting a response he continued, "I saw you flinch, it's okay if you don't want to talk. I can do the talking for the both of us." He stopped wiping her face and proceeded to her arms.

"My name is Ren, I found you in a field while I was on my way back to the village. You were really beat up. Bleeding out of your leg, eyes recently burnt and clothes in tatters... Uh... Don't worry though, I didn't see or do anything weird. Anyways, I picked you up and brought you to my house. I live here in this small cottage with my dad, his name is Vant and we are blacksmiths. My dad has a small shop in town, but we make most of our money from West City. I was there today selling our weapons right before I found you. Hmmm... You are currently in the city of Augusta, it's not very big, but it's where home is."

Ren paused as he was out of breath, he hadn't spoken to another person in quite a while. His dad normally did all the talking, while he would be in the back measuring ores and collecting material. He stopped wiping down her arms, and started to unravel her eye bandages.

"My dad, Vant, went out to find the city healer to hopefully cure you're eyes and leg..."

"Is it bad?" Clair asked weakly.

Ren gently patted her head and thought about how to answer.

~Do I tell her the truth? Would she know if I lied? Ah! This is such a trap question!~

Clair was becoming increasingly more downcast the longer Ren took to answer.

Ren sighed and finally responded. "Do you want the truth, or do you want me to lie? I know how important looks are to a young woman."

~God damnit. It must be worse than I thought.~

"Please, just say it how it is. The quicker it is the less painful it will be." Clair grabbed the covers and prepared herself for the bad news.

Ren traced the skin around her eyes, careful not to touch any part that was burnt.

"The area all around your eyes have been scarred. Your eyebrows are fine, along with the tip of your nose and everything below it. The only real parts affected are your eye sockets and nose bridge. You can cover it up completely with a ribbon, or a small piece of cloth. Or, if we save up money we might be able to buy you a veil, I have been seeing many ladies walk around with them in town. Despite the fact that you will attract attention, I don't think wearing something that covers your face will take away from your overall figure." Ren gave his honest opinion about her eyes and then proceeded to uncover her leg. He folded the sheet over and unbandaged her leg, preparing to clean and rewrap the wound.

"On the other hand, your left leg seemed to be pierced with a hard object and it was broken in an awkward place. I don't know much about medicine so I can't tell you how long it will take to recover. However, when dad gets back with Mage Nana, I'm sure she will be able to give you a solid answer." Ren continued to unwrap her bandage and then proceeded to dab the wet cloth around her wound.

"Thank you for your honesty Mr. Ren. My name..."

Clair paused, what name was she supposed to use. She didn't know if she was still in game or in reality.

~Crap, I don't even know if I'm human or not. I guess my ears will be able to tell me if I'm Eris the ice elf, or Clair the human.~

She reached towards her ears and felt the pointy tips. She sighed in exasperation. I guess it doesn't matter anymore, I don't seem to be in a game anymore.

"My name's Clair Eris, an ice mage. You can call me by either name, my friends do... from what I remember. My memory is kind of blurry and I'm still getting bits and pieces back. I appreciate the help and the shelter. Once I'm better I'll be sure to repay you and your father. I'm not sure how much help I will be though, without my vision, but I'll do my best. I'm sorry for the inconvenience I've caused." Clair dropped her head in shame, becoming more depressed by the second.

~Everything I am relies on being able to see. Fighting, hunting, defending... That's one thing but simple daily living is going to be a task now. Cooking, cleaning, walking without running into shit! Ugh! Why me!~

Claire's eyebrows scrunched up and her face turned red in anger and frustration. She was on the verge of a mental breakdown, until Ren started to brush out her hair. He had already finished rewrapping her leg and noticed her ever-changing mood. He had grabbed his mom's wooden comb and started gently brushing her hair.

"Before my mom passed away I would brush her hair for her each night... She said it would calm her nerves and that it was relaxing. I hope you don't mind. If I had a little sister I would do the same for her too." Ren smiled as he thought about it.

~You dumbass, can't you just act normal! She probably thinks your weird now!~

Clair smiled, "thanks, it does feel nice."

"Anyways, dad and I are well off enough. You can just focus on getting better first, and repaying us later. I don't think he will mind."

Bang!

The door flew open, letting in the cold spring air. Vant, barely fit through the door with his tall frame and wide shoulders. He was followed by old Mage Nana.

"Don't think I will mind what? What will I not mind, Ren?" Vants voice was loud and deep as he questioned his son.

Ren stopped brushing Clair's hair and awkwardly put away the comb. He had been caught caring for a girl in front of his father. Ren stood up from his chair and walked towards old Mage Nana hugging her and escorting her to sit down where he was once seated.

"Thank you for coming Mage Nana, we have been waiting for your arrival." Ren ignored his dads question as he gave his attention to old Mage Nana.

"It's no trouble, Ren. Hello sweet thing, what's your name?" Mage Nana kindly asked while observing Clair's scars.

"I'm Clair Eris, it's nice to meet you." Clair said lightly.

"Me too, darling, I'm sorry we couldn't meet on better terms, but I assure you I will do my best to help you out. Hold still and I will assess your injuries."

Mage Nana held out her hands over Clair's body and there was a dim white light enveloping her. After a few seconds the spell stopped and Mage Nana had a sad and thoughtful look on her face.

"I'm sorry darling, there is nothing I can do to fix your vision. However, I can work on the scars around your eyes to clear up your face. As for your leg, it's a simple physical wound. Despite the stab being quite deep and the broken bone, it's still manageable for a Mage of my standard. I will do 2 sessions, first your eyes, then your leg. We split up healing procedures because of the amount of energy you will lose during each one. I suggest eating a big meal tomorrow and the day after in preparation."

"I understand Mage Nana, thank you for looking after me. And thank you Sir Vant for allowing me to stay here. I will work to repay you once I'm better."

Old Maga Nana stood up and Ren helped her. She looked fondly at Clair and then made her way out. Vant escorted her outside and was soon back in the cottage.

"Alright you two, what did I miss?" Vant looked at Ren as he leaned against the wall with a big smirk on his face.

Ren facepalmed and pushed his dad out of the house. He turned to Clair and said, "dad and I have a couple things to do. We will be back in a few hours, try to get some sleep until then." Shutting the door, Ren pushed his father a few steps away, out of hearing distance.

"So? What are we working with?" Vant asked as he folded his arms around his chest.

"Her name is Clair Eris, an ice elf. Her memory is spotty and she barely could recall her own name, either that or she's lying. We can ask her more after she's had a proper meal."

"Alright, you'll be the one taking care of her and her expenses will come out of your pay. I still have orders to finish, I'm going back to the shop, see you for dinner." Vant replied swiftly and walked down the only dirt path which led back to the main city center.

***

Eris rubbed her forehead in pain, her memory wasnt coming back to her. It was all general information, like how she was knocked by something red hot and fell into a pile of rocks. The reason why she was even battling in the first place was beyond her.

~I wonder how much the healing will cost. If I still had my inventory then there would be no problem. Wait, inventory?~

Poof.

Clair's inventory popped up in her mind. It still had every item available to her. Claire was ecstatic even her gold was still in her inventory! While flipping through the tabs she noticed something strange, there were three new skill books sitting quietly in her magical books tab. They were colored white, black, and brown. Clearly they weren't for her job, as only light blue skill books were for ice mages. The three skill books were also flashing green meaning that despite her job being wrong the skills were still learnable.

~Something is super wrong here. I have tons of trash skills that I can't use all because I'm the wrong job, so why are these three in particular lit up?~

Clair mentally picked the three skill books and looked over their titles.

Assassin skill Depth Perception.

(25mp per minute.)

Cleric skill Life Sense.

(50mp per minute.)

Alchemist skill Mana Tracking.

(100mp per minute.)

~No way! Do they all related to vision? Oh my God! This is amazing!~

She hastily clicked on each one learning them one at a time. When she was done she activated the first skill, Depth Perception.

Congratulations, Depth Perception has leveled to 1.

Instantly her mind lit up with white crisscross lines, and showed the general structure of the cottage she was in. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't small either. There were 3 doors that led to 2 bedrooms and a small panty. The room she was in was the dining room and kitchen area. She was laying on a small cot in the corner of the room. Despite the fact that Depth Perception didn't show color, it was a 360 visual spell, that wasn't confined to just the area you were in. For example, Clair could view the bedrooms on the other side of the wall without having to move her head to do so. The closer Clair inspected, the more she noticed. She could see a small stash of money hidden under the floorboards, the individual nails in the wooden beans and the spice bags sitting on the kitchen counter.

Without warning the spell turned off and Clair started to sweat profusely.

~What's wrong? Profile~

Clair's profile page popped up in her mind and she was shocked by what was there.

Name: Eris

Level: 1

Title: None

Race: High Elf

Job: Ice Mage

Secondary Job: Assassin, Cleric

Profession: Alchemist

Secondary Profession: None

Health Points: 70/100 (1 health/min)

Magic Points: 0/150 (2 Mana/min)

Job Skills: Frost Needle LV0

Secondary Job Skills: Depth Perception LV1, Life Sense LV0

Profession Skills: Mana Tracking LV0

Sigh.

~This sucks! I'm back to square one. Not only is my level reset but the three new skills will be a constant drain on my Mana. I won't be able to use them consistently because my Mana pool is just too small. Sheeeiiit, I could hardly use depth perception for a few minutes. I'll have to think of a way to increase my Mana pool quickly... And also my level. I do have some MP books in my inventory, but the granted MP is based off my total, so it's better to use them at higher levels. I guess for now I'll have to train with mana crystals.~

Clair summoned a LV1Mana crystal into her hand held it to her chest. She focused and started to absorb the energy being released from it. A LV1 Mana crystal had the capacity of 10,000 points within it, but only allowed 2 points per minute to be dispersed. Despite the fact that Clair would get almost 120MP per hour, it would still take her over 80 hours to use up one Crystal.