Chapter 4

Saranie was currently sitting on Xercoid's bed, while he sat in the fanciest chair she had ever seen across from her. Well fancy isn't right, but strange and tall. Anyway she was currently battling the awkward silence in the room, so she decided to put a stop to it.

"I guess we could start with… I'm Saranie."

The young man across from her was just staring at her and not saying anything at the moment. His foot kept tapping the ground, before he sighed and spoke. "I know your name. My name is Chalamar as you already heard."

"I did yes, but… I'm trying here. This is just… strange." She really had no idea what word could encompass all she had gone through since closing the portal. "But I would like to apologize for my behavior. I attacked you, even after you said that you would help me escape the city. Even went as far as to ambush you and then well… interrogate you." He cut her off.

"Interrogate?" He had raised his voice, before taking a moment to calm himself down. "I don't understand what is going on. So let's start with how you got here."

"Here?"

"Yes, here."

"Didn't you bring me here?"

"No, I very much didn't. NPCs don't just jump out of the game and appear here."

"What's an NPC?" She had heard him say that a lot since this whole thing started. Like before she needed answers, just without her dagger.

"Never mind about that for now."

---

Explaining what an NPC was to an NPC was absurd, but he was trying. If he could get her to undo what she did and go back in the game or just leave him alone he was fine with that. But a part of him wanted her to stay, because magic. Because if she didn't know what she had done, maybe it was an accident or there were circumstances that she might not be aware of.

"Let's get some facts straight for now. No one can see you, hear you, or touch you, other than me. Correct?" She nodded. "Even though your mother has stepped through you, you are unable to go through doors or even interact with them." She nodded when he paused there. "Anything else?"

"I'm certain that if I get too far away from you… I disappear."

This was new… "What do you mean?"

"I tried to go down stairs, but my body started to see through and I felt weak."

If that was true, then how was she 'here'? He had been staying in a hotel for the past few weeks with his mother and when he came back she was here.

"When we first met, how long ago was that?"

"About a day, but I feel it has been longer."

"Three weeks."

"I see." She was surprised by his statement.

So if she didn't know about the time difference, then if he were to leave her at the park and never go there again, she would just linger there as if dead. A possibility, but that was too harsh even for him. Now that he knew leaving her alone would be killing her, he planned to keep her close by. But he had to be sure.

"Let's test that. Stay here." He opened the door, walked down the hallway until he heard her speak up.

"It's happening again." So the distance of his hallway… Further than that and she would suffer adverse effects.

He walked back into his room and closed the door.

"Okay, okay… Let's talk about something else. So you don't know how you got here? I got it." Now there had been something bothering him from before. When he was playing the game. "You mentioned this place called the Vellheart kingdom, right? What or where is that?"

"What do you mean? It's my home. I'm sure it is far away from here, probably on another continent." She replied like it answered his question. But a part of it did. One she thought she was still in the game and that she had no idea where it was located in relation to the game. Although he already knew that last part.

"Well it isn't 'here'," Chalamar emphasized, "it would be somewhere in game, but I looked it up, and there is no place like that."

---

"What 'game' are you talking about?" Saranie asked.

To which Chalamar sighed heavily, turned around, and started messing with… well she didn't know what it was.

"We'll start with the basics, so you can understand what I mean. I will take time, so let's get to it." He wasn't looking at her, but then he gestured for her to come over. "Here is a map of the world, your world."

What she was looking at was a map. It looked like an old parchment map with stains on it. Whatever it was one was bright and there were moving pictures off to the side with… questionable images.

"What's that?"

"Ads. Don't focus on them. Look at the map."

She did and it was an overview of a world. The area outlined for Treyllo was there, including other countries and notable landmarks. But it wasn't her world. Did that mean…

"That isn't 'my' world." When he looked at her with a questionable face, she explained. "During the war, I traveled all over. I've seen many maps, but none that looked like that. No one has ever mentioned places like the ones there."

He didn't say anything. Just staring at her. Then he looked up and down. Not at her, just off to the side like he was putting something together.

"Please tell me about yourself. Everything and be as specific as you can."

---

Chalamar has played A Night's Embrace: Treyllo a lot. He is proud of that fact and the fans he made from watching his content as a streamer. So with Gennt's mod for random NPCs, Saranie did stand out over the others. While they were close to being sentient, they were nowhere as close as Saranie who would be considered sapient. If he was capable of reason, then she clearly was as well.

When she had to go to the bathroom, she kicked him out. It wasn't like he wanted to stay in there either, but the whole situation was messed up.

"Wait, have you eaten?" Just before she started her backstory, or as he suspected in real life, he asked her an important question. If she had to use the restroom, then she might need to eat as well. Then she nodded, so he went downstairs to get her some food.

To help and to be kind or to get rid of a supernatural being and his attacker. His morality won out and things were getting interesting. If it was a game, book, or show, Saranie's story might be something he would really like to listen to.

Back to where he was before in his thoughts. Saranie was capable of more than an NPC. Even if NPCs could be scripted to say, eat, they wouldn't feel hunger, not really. Even last night when he closed the door on her, he heard her stomach rumble. She clearly was hungry then, but never asked for food. Well she would get some now.

Before when he was in the sewers, those thieves were acting more realistic, but nowhere near an actual person. Which again brought him and his chat to want to get to know more about Saranie.

She was new and that escape from the throne room was amazing. At first he thought that maybe Gennt had scripted that fight, but when asked about it, he said no. Which got him to praise Gennt for his exceptional AI overhaul. But then Gennt was modest, saying that wasn't him and maybe just a coincidence. Back then, he agreed.

Her fear when they mentioned cutting her arm off was so real… well he believed she was real now. That she wasn't an NPC. That there was more going on.

---

Saranie was starving at this point, but thanks to the snacks that Chalamar brought she was able to eat and talk about her past. To which he was much more friendly than before, but during her explanation she wasn't as in depth as he meant.

So she started from the beginning. Her life at the orphanage, to her apprenticeship as a blacksmith, all the way through the war, various places she visited, then to the portal that she closed. The entire day passed by and she was tired at the end. Not just from talking, but how she portrayed her past. Saranie lay everything out there in the open to the man she had attempted to kill. The things she likes and her mistakes that follow decisions. Truthful and blunt. Her friends and family died before her eyes. How she was the one to survive, but no one else.

She told herself that it was the truth. Everything she said. It was more of a lie to herself. She was harsh with her words and they were directed towards herself. 'The war made her do all of those things', she had said in the past. In truth she did those things. Believed everything she had done was just. That she attacked the man in front of her for safety and to purge another cultist, without knowing the whole truth.

But she never cried. That was for those she cared about. Not herself.

"Let me know if you need anything. I'll get you a blanket and pillow and you can sleep on the floor here."

---

He wasn't sure what to think about Saranie right now. Starting with her past, it was too real. That was just another thing that proved how real she was.

The war she went through was painful. He never served in the military, nor knew anyone that had. So no matter how many times he played games like that, the ones that portrayed someone within a war, he couldn't truly understand the pain that it inflicted. But he knew it wasn't a game. Her life nor war.

Did he pity Saranie? Yes he did. Was that right of him to do? No, not really, but it was how he felt.

She was the same age as him, but instead of playing games throughout her life, she killed people. He had seen that side of her. Too real for him. His hand shook at the thought as he lay in bed.

Looking at Saranie, she was still awake. Just looking up at the ceiling. When he put the blanket on her, she couldn't move in it and became trapped. So instead she was just laying on top of it. He had turned up the heat for the second floor. Telling his mom that he was getting chilly.

Anyway, his hunch was right. There was more. A portal to a place that held unspeakable horrors. Alone she closed it and gained a power up from it. It was cool, but what she had to do to get to that point made her much stronger than him. Not just in physical strength or magical power, but bravery and courage.

He had played many games, so he could tell.

'It exploded and then I was in the throne room.' She had said. But he asked for clarification, just in case there was something she had skipped over. It was something she had done a lot, so he needed to ask. Saranie told him about the pain she went through. How the world froze and she was unable to move her body, but could still hear him talk. She didn't explain how much pain she was in, but he could tell it was more than what she was saying.

He had her talk about her time in the game. Most of it was standard, but when she talked about the interrogation, he had tensed up. It wasn't like he was scared of it, not even in game, but it was at the end of it when she moved when he had paused the game. That part still freaked him out more than anything else.

Saranie explained all the spells she tried to prevent him from running away or freezing time. While she couldn't know if her spells could have taken her with him, she said it was unlikely. As it was mostly to counter or dispel any magic in general.

Then once she got into his room, the same pain from before presented itself. He couldn't believe that she was going through that while still being able to grab him and tackle him. And he had to use his daily power in the game to keep himself alive against her, but still failed. That pain, from transferring worlds, was the only thing in his eyes that kept him alive. Even if she said she wanted to keep him alive for answers.

Tomorrow they will talk more.

---

In the morning, Saranie and Chalamar found out something amazing.

Saranie was already awake before that loud noise coming from that object next to Chalamar's bed went off. So she stood up and after he did stretches and walked over to her, next to the door, she opened it.

It wasn't like she could stop herself from trying to open the door, but when it worked, it took both of them a moment to realize what happened. So she went to open it again, but even the slightest movement couldn't move the door. Putting her whole weight on the door that was slowly swinging shut, didn't move to her actions.

It was then that Chalamar realized he had touched her the moment her hand twisted the door knob. He was giving her a shoulder pat as he said good morning to her.

After taking care of their morning business and eating breakfast, they went back to his room and tested it out.

---

After this morning's discovery, Chalamar was excited to test how it worked. Like any game he played, finding out the mechanics and breaking them were the most fun. He set up his camera on his computer to record their tests. Just to see exactly the effects.

First they tests having Saranie lift a pillow. Nothing happened, so he held her hand and then it worked. Next he tried tying one of his longer shirts to each of their arms, but that just locked her arm in place. Next he held onto her shirt, while she lifted the pillow, but that didn't work.

When he checked the video, only when they held hands did it look like the pillow in front of him was just floating all by himself.

"So you really can't see me. What is this anyway?" Saranie was asking about the camera, video and computer. He expected her questions and tried to explain the best he could. Anyway, he went on more testing.

Other than skin to skin contact, nothing else worked. But it was interesting to find out.

The armor and knife that she had brought along, it was invisible to the camera, but he could still hold, wear and use them like normal. He was assured by Saranie that she could heal any wounds and… he was curious. So he poked his finger with the knife and it started bleeding. The recording just showed his finger starting bleeding randomly, then slowly healing itself.

Along those lines too, he asked her to use magic as well. She had mentioned two different types of magic. Mana, normal stuff, and lifeforce which got an upgrade after she closed the portal.

Mana, visually nor its effects exist to the recording. Even if his foot was wet with water, none of it showed on the video. But when they tested Saranie's lifeforce, which he asked her to make sure no blood gets on the carpet, did. A small dot of blood spilled out in the air, followed by a rainbow light effect and then a floating ball of water.

So lifeforce was one thing that did affect the real world. It made sense since her blood was found by the police.

He asked her to push the pillow out of his hands. He wasn't going to touch her and she would use a wind spell using her lifeforce to move it. It worked!

Chalamar then asked her to cover her hand in lifeforce energy, or whatever it was called, and to pick up the pillow. Once again it worked.

---

Saranie was thankful that her lifeforce was different again. The amount of things Chalamar asked her to do with it, would have been life threatening before the change.

"Now I know you don't want to bleed just to open the door, so I will help you." Chalamar was smiling towards her now. At this point she was too.

Saranie, at least right now, didn't have to fight. She didn't have to stay alert in case of a nighttime attack or did she have to run for her life in a new environment. It was a calm place, with her having fun.

Yes, she was having fun right now. It felt like she was with her siblings back in the past. Playing with toys, exploring the town, telling stories… It was refreshing and she had to express herself.

"Thank you."

"It's nothing, don't worry about it."

His reply was swift. Probably thinking she was thanking him for his previous statement. Either way, in this short amount of time she had known him, things were looking up.

---

"Let's stop here. We can try more later. I have to get streaming here shortly." Chalamar sat back in his chair. He stretched already, so he was good to go. He wouldn't be doing VR or Treyllo today, just simple multiplayer games. He would let his Dudes join him and be his way to repay them for all they have done for him even while he was gone. "How long can you keep that effect going?" He was referring to magic… lifeforce that would allow her to interact with stuff.

"For about five bells."

"Hours?" She had mentioned 'bells' when she spoke about her past, so he was guessing that meant hours. Actually that gave him an idea. "Here I'm going to print out some stuff. While I steam, look it over and write notes. It should help you." He wasn't really sure what he could give her that would explain concepts that she wasn't used to. So he went with the idea that she was some really old granny and she didn't know how to use a cell phone and downloaded things that would help older people. "Unless it is an emergency, don't open this curtain." He had his black curtain behind him for when he streamed like this, so no one had to see his room. Well his Dudes had seen it before, but he liked the background better.

---

Saranie was sitting on Chalamar's bed reading the paper he had 'printed' out. The text was crisp, clear, and expertly spaced lines of words. There were a lot of pages that referenced a lot of words she didn't know, but thankfully with the black and white pictures she got the idea of what it was trying to say.

There was a picture of a clock tower. One she hadn't seen before, except it was similar to one she would find in a capital city. It showed the time on there, which she was somewhat familiar with and then it showed numbers. Zero to twenty four 'hours' in a day. Now she understood what Chalamar had been talking about before.

Later she also read about toilets, sinks and showers. The pictures and text didn't match the ones in the house. For some reason the one she was reading about, the toilet, had five different buttons and settings to spray water on her butt. Which was just weird. Thankfully there was nothing like that here that she had to worry about. But one part she did recognize was that she hadn't flushed the toilet. Actually considering the tests they did, were the things that left her body even visible?

She took that time to leave the room and flush the toilet. It was close by so she wouldn't disappear.

After coming back in the room, she heard Chalamar talk. Well he had been doing that a lot. Talking about his absence and with his 'Dudes'. But this time it was aimed at her.

"I forgot to tell you that there were camera's out there. Remember the 'video' of our tests?" She nodded after remembering that magical artifact. "In the ceiling those are being watched, not constantly, by Rashva and Pentaask. I'll figure something out later, but just ask me before you go out again."

"I understand. But are you still… doing what you are doing?"

"Streaming? Yes. But let me know. Only I can hear you remember, but if you move that curtain, they could see it. Not like I can't explain that to them, but it's best if they don't believe there is a ghost living here. My mom sometimes watches my streams, so I don't want to worry her."

---

Before Saranie could ask, "I got some time now, if you have any questions." Chalamar pointed out the stack of papers on his night stand. He was trying to be helpful.

"I do. For starters, there is no mention of mages in here. From the little I've seen of here, there is nothing magical, nor can I sense any near us. You even mentioned magic didn't exist here, but I wasn't sure what you meant by that. After all you are a Star-born right? You used magic. I sensed it when we fought."

That was new. He didn't know she could sense magic and she was able to sense that in the game. Interesting.

He grabbed a sheet of blank paper and drew three circles on it. Then put three letters in the center of the circles. 'S' on the left one, 'T' in the middle, and an 'R' before he erased it and put an 'C'. The 'R' would stand for 'real' world, but he felt that wasn't right considering Saranie next to him.

"This is your world, Saranie. Your whole life took place here. Then once you closed the portal, you ended up here in Treyllo. A game which we will get to later, but still you ended up there. Once I logged out of the game, we ended up here in my world." Then he went back to pointing at Saranie's world. "Both your world and Treyllo have magic, but this one doesn't. I'm aware you can use magic here, but that isn't normal. You with me so far?"

"I understand what you have said so far." It was good that she was following along.

"Now let's talk about Treyllo, NPCs in particular. Am I real to you? Would you consider me to be a real person?" He asked her.

"Yes?" Sounding unsure of herself for just a moment.

"Everyone you met there, at least normally should be, aren't real. You talked to people, ate food that you smelled and tasted, even breathed in a world where everything is fake. Sure that is easy for me to say without the concept of magic. After All you exist and you came from another world through a portal. So what do I mean they are fake? Have you ever read a fictional story?"

"I did, long ago in the orphanage." It took her a moment to think of a reply. When she did there was a hint of sadness that came with her memories.

"In that story, did you think the people were real? Could have been if you weren't reading a book?" Saranie nodded. "NPCs are like that. While like real people they can speak and act, instead they only follow rules rather than do what they want. The rules are dictated by the story and they have to follow that. And the people who made the rules, the story, created those people, the world, where they live here on this world. Like an author to a story, the developers created the game, Treyllo."

"Like gods then?"

"Essentially yes, but nothing like divine. Just average people that have an imagination."

"Then why you thought I wasn't real, an NPC, was because of that?"

"Yes."

---

Saranie was starting to understand. Although she still had questions.

"If that world, Treyllo, isn't real, then how were you there?" She didn't know how the portal she closed worked, but that was how she got there. It was the only thing that made sense. So if that was how she got to that world, then how did Chalamar?

"When you read a book, you can imagine and read about a world. With a game, I'm able to go in there and experience it as if it was real. If I died in the game, I wouldn't really die here in this body." He then turned around towards a similar chime that played when he woke up. "I got to get back and play… Here, why don't you take a break and watch me. It should give you a better idea of what is going. I won't be able to talk to you now, but after I'm done streaming, I can explain more."

He then opened the curtain and gestured for her to come over. The 'screens' as he called them before, were bright and colorful now showing the 'game' he was playing. She stood next to him as he put ear warmers on his head and started talking. At least he had mentioned these things to her before.

"Dudes I'm back. I'll catch up on those donations here in a moment… Alright…" He began to read differently… letters written to him. All of them referenced Xercoid and how thrilled to hear he was back. Some of them mentioned an attack, to which she understood to be when she attacked him. Saranie winced at how she acted. She should have never done that and she regretted it. Once she was able to find out more about her situation, she wanted to make it up to him.

Standing there she continued to watch him play the game. There were two screens, one showing the game and the other with 'chat' or his 'Dudes' with the game and his face in the corner. She was actually getting the hang of the words he was using as well as the game he was playing. It looked really fun.

Saranie was used to standing for long 'hours', so by the time Chalamar was done 'streaming', she didn't need to sit down and rest.

"I'll need to go down stairs for dinner, but we can talk until then."

"How does this work?" She gestured to the 'screens'. Without magic, she didn't really understand it all. Also those papers he printed did give her an idea that there was something other than magic being used, but she didn't really understand it.

"I don't really know." Chalamar said in an unsure tone. "If your world had magic, we have science here. You said you studied magical theory right? Think like that, studying how the world works without magic. How does a fire really work?" He paused to 'look up something on his computer'. "With magic you just snap your fingers and a fire appears, but that's not how it works here. Heat is added to a fuel source, oxygen, atoms begin to vibrate until they break free from their bonds which release gasses… and well poof you get fire. I didn't really understand that in school, but I get the idea. Even if you don't know, don't worry. But my point is, that here we observe what happens and study everything we can, like you did with magic, but we cannot control some 'magical' force like you do." He seemed to think over what he said before saying, "Does that make sense?"

"Kind of." Her teacher did always tell her that he wanted to figure out more about the world. He tried to study magic in his past, before moving to things without it. But as he became stuck on a theory, to which he never shared with her, the war started and he just didn't have the time. So maybe now, she could learn more in his stead. Maybe even find a way back home.

"Again, don't worry about it. Here why don't I show you how to look things up and then you can learn more when I'm eating dinner."

"Wouldn't you be too far away?"

"That's right… Let's test it out. You follow me to the stairs, I'll go to the kitchen, then you walk back here. Stop and yell out for me when you start to 'disappear'."

---

The test revealed that as long as he was sitting furthest from the staircase, she would be fine. His mother was asking what he was doing, but he replied that he was checking the chairs to see if they were wobbly.

Anyway while Saranie was upstairs in his room, he was currently eating dinner with his mother and Pentaask.

"Sorry I didn't catch your stream Chalamar." His mother was apologizing for something silly.

"It's alright, you didn't miss much. I was mostly reading chat while I visited their builds in the game." He was referring to the recent city building game. Also it wasn't like she needed to watch him, but he knew his mother liked to cheer him on in chat sometimes. To which his Dudes would cheer when she would join there. It was funny how much pseudo-respect his mother had when she watched his streams.

His mother made small talk with him about her day. He was active in her conversation and they had a wonderful time. Pentaask even joined in too when prompted by his mother. Looking at his mother's smile made him feel really good inside. Even if Pentaask was being paid to protect his mother, they were turning into good friends.

After dinner, he cleaned everything up. Dishes, table, even the leftover food. Some of it would be for Rashva, but he also sneaked out some for Saranie. It wasn't much and those snacks were already running low. He would go out and buy some extra food just for her.

"I'll be going out tomorrow, mom. Anything you want me to pick up?"

"Can you get some fruit?"

"Sure!"

Back in his room with food, he handed it over to Saranie.

"Here's some dinner. Thought you might be hungry." But as he slowly walked over to her, he looked over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. It was a diagram of the weather. "Weather?"

"I looked at that fire 'tab' you left open. I didn't really understand why 'atoms' were even after reading about that. So I moved on to water, then evaporation, to rain and now the weather."

---

No longer being trapped under the blanket, Saranie was finally able to get some real sleep… At least at first. Her dreams weren't pleasant at all. Faces of those she killed replaced with her family… Chalamar had to wake her up a few times, before neither could sleep with her screaming and nightmares.

She did say sorry. That shouldn't happen and there was no excuse. When she fought on the frontline, early in the war, she had this same problem. That was how she developed the ability to keep part of her mind awake, but asleep at the same time. It wasn't the best sleep in the world, but it kept her from going mad.

Later when she visited towns, the times when she was more or less on vacation, she would feel safe and fall asleep. Nightmares came to her then and eventually she learned to live without sleeping to prevent her from disturbing her allies at night.

Now though she decided it was a good idea to fall asleep. In part because she didn't want to fight anymore. No more war and that she no longer needed to partake in violence. She was safe and thought it would be a good idea to relax, to sleep.

---

Before his alarm could go off, Chalamar turned it off. He was already awake. The one thing he was thankful for, was that no one else could hear Saranie. Her cries and screams… The pain she went through sent a shiver down his spine. When he first awoke to her… nightmare, he didn't want to wake her up. He didn't want to be attacked or yelled at, but as he listened further, he had to put a stop to her suffering. Not just to stop her from screaming, but to help her. He believed that it was the right thing to do.

After breakfast, Chalamar grabbed his satchel and keys. Even though Rashva was there to protect him, he still wished to drive himself. So Rashva sat in the passenger seat and Saranie sat in the back. He had already told her his plans for today and letting her know ahead of time what a car was. He also packed a breakfast meal for Saranie in his satchel, so she could eat while he drove. It wasn't like Rashva could hear her, but he would still see objects moving on their own if Saranie wasn't careful.

Chalamar got on to the main road and left the neighborhood he lived in.

"What music do you like, Rashva?" Saranie was trying her best to keep quiet, but he could hear her. So to distract the man sitting next to him, he brought up music. "Why don't you pick something out and turn it on." His phone was connected to the car, allowing him to play songs from his phone through the car's speakers.

"Good soul music. I love Jazz. The trumpets and saxophones as they play slower songs just calm my mind. You know I played the trumpet in school… Those were the days." Rashva explained with nostalgia.

"Then you don't play anymore?" Rashva shook his head. "Can I ask why?"

"No reason in particular I guess. When I moved to Ullerntas, I only focused on getting this job. Before that and even now, I just didn't have the time to practice and play. All I did was train my body for the most part." Rashva ended his reply with a sigh.

"Would you like to get back into it?" He asked the older man.

"I would love to… Ah, I found the one… but I was hired to do a job and I don't plan on slacking off." Music started playing after Rashva found a song.

"Well you do have breaks and for the most part everything has been fine so far… If you wanted to give it a go, just let me know. I wouldn't say no to music… Actually never seen a real instrument, so if you did bring it over it would be my first time."

"We'll see." Rashva just smiled looking out the window. Keeping his eyes on the road even if Chalamar was the one driving.

He could see Saranie in the back carefully looking out the windows and between him and Rashva. She was expecting the music from earlier, but had voiced her confusion at what they meant. He knew she didn't expect an answer.

As they neared their destination, a slow tune played in the car on the bright sunny day.