Chapter 1 - Endowment

Inside the city of Trudge, or just outside of it, sat a campfire. This campfire was surrounded by tree stumps in a similar to a clock. This was a rare sight because; one, campfires were outlawed in the 1500's; and two, because all trees, even their stumps and roots, were used to make paper for the ever increasing needs of books.

Here comes a figure, stumbling and, obviously, drunk. He bent down to puke, not because of how drunk he was, but because he was poisoned. To know why he was poisoned, we'd have to go back a few hours. But his sobering mind couldn't remember most things that happened, except for blazing lights. He looked to be around 18, but he, himself, wasn't so sure in his current state.

He looked up and saw the campfire a little ahead of himself. Listening to instinct, and his want to sit down on something other than concrete, he headed towards it. He knew his life was going to end.

He sat down on a stump, then noticed the bundle of wood stacked into a tip, surrounded by big rocks. Remembering something about wood and fire, he took out a lighter from his pocket. With some effort, he walked to the group of sticks. Squatting, he flicked the lighter and held it next to the wood.

Feeling his heart ache, he dropped the lighter, still burning. He clutched his heart, the fallen lighter next to some paper gone unnoticed by him. Soon, the fire caught onto the paper, growing in size until it held all of the sticks.

When he saw the fire, it looked... beautiful. Then, he felt something appear on his forearm. Moving his black long sleeves, he saw multiple lines of words:

[Fire Lighter, your life and the fire are fused. One cannot go out completely, as long as the other is still alive, except for when it is day. The Campfire only burns after Nightfall. As the Fire Lighter, your journey into the stories told for millennia around campfires will begin. When a story is told around this Campfire, and people enjoy it, the Fire Lighter will gain Story Points (SP) that can be used for a round of spinning the Story wheel, or increasing the comfortability of the Campfire. Be warned, though: Some Listeners aren't all Human.]

Then, he fell to the ground, seemingly dead.

The next morning, he found himself awake, right in front of a campfire. He tried to remember what happened, but still couldn't, for the most part. He still remembered the beating lights and loud noises, along with something showing up on his arm. He checked his forearm, seeing nothing there. Thinking that it was weird, he looked towards the sky, getting a rough estimate of how long he'd been here.

That didn't help. He looked towards the closest building, one he didn't really recognise. He moved to the front of the building, trying to figure out where he was, finally remembering the building. He'd just never seen its back before. He partially looked into the building, noticing that no one was in it. No one was inside the book store, not a single person. It would've been reasonable to call it a bad day for business if there was a clerk.

He went to the next store, a laundry mat. Again, no one was in the laundry mat. The washbasin's were full of water, soap, and clothes, but nothing was moving and there was no one inside.

If he hadn't lived here before, he would've called it a Ghost Town. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he felt something move on his arm. He still had his sleeve rolled up, so he just looked over, reading lines that just appeared and still are appearing.

[The Fire Lighter has found the first story - The Missing Day (Enjoyment Rating (ER) 0.01 stars). For years, there have been days that no one remembers, thus calling those days 'Non-existent'. However, those legends are true and the Fire Lighter has found their self in The Missing Day.

Story Requirement: Survive until a new day starts.

Reward: The Missing Day story unlocks, allowing the Fire Lighter to tell others about the experience. Guitar of Missing Notes.

Story Failure: Die or interact with any objects that others have touched yesterday.

Punishment: All memories of The Missing Day will be deleted, and further stories will be locked forever.

Hint: Something doesn't want people to remember today.]

He felt dumbstruck as he read the words appearing and disappearing on his arm, as if they were never there. It appeared when he wanted to read it, though it disappeared when his eyes went to the next word.

He heard some sounds behind him. Turning around, he wished he hadn't. A horde of zombie-looking things walked around, their arms ahead of them. They didn't come rushing at him, but they didn't quite ignore him, either. They didn't have the rotting skin he thought they would have, since they're zombies, after all.

Well, he decided to overlook the zombies as they weren't doing much. He squinted, trying to find differences from his past in this place. He couldn't find any; the broken fountain with black water still in the middle of the road, forming a roundabout, while wood houses covered every street. Even the people were the same old, same old. The cars, on what he assumed, stayed in their spots, not moving unless bumped into.

But the town, itself, caused him to shiver. Nervously, he looked towards his arm, willing the words to appear again. There was a hint. Maybe he could end this by finding the answer.

Resolutely, he looked closer at the town, seeing zero critters. Usually, in a city this big, there would always be a cat, dog, or other creatures walking the street. But there was none. He found it odd, then looked behind him, back to the campfire he awoke at. Surprisingly, it wasn't there, as if it didn't exist. He gulped.

Another thing he was surprised about was where the zombies were headed to. Looking into the city, they went backwards, left, and right, but never forward. They never tried going deeper into the city. Surprising. Another shocking thing, though very unimportant right now, was by how unperturbed he was.

Resolutely, he walked closer to the centre. Nothing changed, at first, but the closer he went, going closer than he'd ever done before in his life, to the centre, the more uneasy he felt. He didn't figure it out until at least an hour of walking. It was the smell, or lack thereof. The normal smell surrounding cities was gone, replaced with nothing. It was weird, he thought, when something lacked a smell. Doesn't a lack of smell just give off a smell?

Despite his many ponders, and wants, he didn't touch anything. Hard to accidentally touch something when you always avoided touching others, he mused. The rest of the walk was boring him.

When he finally reached the centre, the Sun already made a huge dip from where it once was, and his feet were so tired. But he could say that his journey was worth it. He felt pulsing coming from the ground, shaking him. Even just one step forward made it dramatically more intense. When he looked around for the source, he instead found a line of zombies, all people he didn't know. It was surprising how he hadn't noticed it on the way to the centre, but the line was huge. It was like they were waiting for something.

He couldn't call these ones zombies, for there was some conversations happening between people. He walked closer to the front, noticing a drastic rise in volume as he kept walking forward. He couldn't tell what they were saying, though.

The pulsing had gotten so bad that if he wasn't careful, he would fall. This didn't stop him though, as he kept walking towards the front of the line. Obviously, he wasn't in the line, or even close, for the pulsing got worse the closer he was.

The Sun had fallen, giving way for the Moon to overtake the land, and he had finally gotten close enough to see the start of the line. He was crawling, in order to not scrape his skin against the ground as he had done many times before. But what happened at the front of the line horrified him.

A tall, big, fat figure was there. He wasn't even sure if those words could describe it. Its eyes were a little too big; nose a little too small; mouth a little too big. Well, not just a little, he mused. The mouth split from ear to ear, chewing on something that released blood. Some of the blood dripped onto its once-white, now-red shirt, for which it didn't care about. Its stomach literally burst buttons off of the shirt, but those buttons regrew.

It started with a hole in the stomach, the size and shape of the button that popped off. Next, it regenerated, faster than physically possible, then it stretched outwards, as a thin line of skin. After getting through the hole, the tip expanded, becoming like a button. And then it popped off, seconds later, the process restarting.

It would be the most disgusting thing about the figure, the man noted, if it wasn't eating people. It grabbed the people in line one by one, or several at a time, and shoved them into its mouth. He would've puked at this scene, if he hadn't puked from the pulsing earlier. He quickly looked away, not wanting to see those scenes anymore.

Thankfully, the thing didn't even look at the man crawling on the ground, too focused on eating. He began to continue his slow crawl, curiosity beating all other emotions.

When he passed the big man, there was a hole in the ground beneath him. He couldn't see inside the hole, but the things pants were down, so he assumed something he'd never want to think about. And then, writing appeared on his arm. He looked at it:

[Story Requirement has been met, along with a completion of 92%. Story can now be told around the campfire (NOTE: The way the Fire Lighter tells the story will have an effect on the ER).

Since Completion Rate (CR) is over 90%, the bonus item, Guitar of Missing Notes, will be acquired.]

Before continuing to read the next lines, a burning sensation appeared on his wrist. When he looked, it was a tattoo of a guitar. He couldn't tell what, exactly, it looked like, but it was a guitar.

[Fire Lighter has achieved the Hint (Something doesn't want people to remember today). If the Fire Lighter wants, the creature can be called upon around the Campfire (NOTE: The Big Man cannot harm the people around the Campfire, but will make it feel like The Big Man is).

Fire Lighter has awoken next to the Campfire, with all memories intact. Congratulations for participating in a Story! Three free spins of the Story Wheel are granted.]

Exactly like the words said, he found himself next to the Campfire, already burning. It gave him some sense of comfort against the cool night air. Then, more words were added.

[As this was the first Story, a free Upgrade for the Campfire can be done immediately (NOTE: The Upgrade will manifest some time during the day, becoming more apparent at Night). The Campfire of Legend has endowed you, the Fire Lighter, with the ownership (NOTE: You were not given it before because your worth wasn't defined). Missions will be accessible tomorrow.]

The man laid down in. He pulled out what was in his pocket, counting how many coins he has. 3 Iron Drops - enough for a good drink. So he got himself up and walked to his favourite tavern. Cheap and heavy was what made it so popular as he struggled to get to the counter. He got a drink, passing 1 Iron Drop, taking the change, and watched the people around him. Some he had seen getting eaten, although he quickly drowned those thoughts with another sip.

A friend of his walked up to him, clearly surprised he was still alive. "Hey Bud, how are you going?" he asked, clearly wanting to listen.

"I'll tell you later," Bud replied, downing the rest of his drink, "But first, tell me who poisoned me."