Aacek walked in through the open half of the gate, taking hesitant steps. He saw a man standing just behind the closed half of the gate. Aacek wondered if the man had been there before he had stepped in.

  The man was well nourished with an excessive amount of adipose tissue around the middle of his body. He wore a sour expression. “Greetings, weary traveller,” he said.

  “I am not a traveller and I am not weary.”

  “Oh, you are. And don’t worry, soon you will be weary.”

  “What is that supposed to mean? Where am I?”

  “You just read the message. You are in the Realm.”

  “Realm of what? Whom?”

  “No one. You are in Horic Town of the Realm.”

  Aacek felt he was getting nowhere with this. If this was a game, he kind of knew how it worked. “Ok. What now?”

  “Go to the Dancing Tiger.”

  “What?”

  “Just go in, traveller.”

  “Alright.”

  Aacek walked in. He had walked only a few steps when he saw, on his right, a wooden signboard hanging outside one of the stone buildings. The board was suspended by chains and the wind pushed the signboard, making it make mildly infuriating creaking noises. On the signboard, a tiger stood on its hind legs and had rotated its upper body at an angle.

  Well, looks like it is dancing all right.

  He reached out to knock on the arched wooden door.

  A stocky man, wearing chainmail that had a bluish tinge, opened the door. He had a long white braided beard and long silky white hair that flowed to his shoulders. Aacek saw a long scabbard, adorned with blue glowing patterns he couldn’t recognise, attached to his leather belt. And, he saw an overlay on top of his head, Destroyer Devinir, lvl 75.

  If this is a game, I better start playing it earnestly. There is usually a character/NPC who gives an intro and a starting quest. The man at the gate must be doing that… Bad design? Or intended?

  “Hi, Destroyer Devinir. Nice to meet you. Can you help me here? What exactly is this place?”

  Destroyer Devinir looked over Aacek’s head and shook his head. “Trust me, Aacek, it is better if you go through the proper channel, starting at the beginning. Once you have the basics, we can talk again. I will be seeing you around,” he said and walked away.

  Oh well, let’s see if I get more help at this tavern/inn. He walked in.

  The noise was what first caught his attention. The chatter was loud but mostly indecipherable. There was lilting music coming from a corner; he couldn’t see who was playing the instrument—probably a harp, the instrument being played, that is.

  Aacek absorbed his surroundings. The furnishings were all polished wood, probably teak by the looks of it. The flooring was wooden too, though not polished and probably not teak. Clearly, the planks on the floor had seen better days. The walls were stone, of course. There was a counter where a man with a thick moustache served drinks foaming at the brim. Many customers sat on high stools at the counter. Others sat around alone or in groups at tables served by other men and women. The crowd consisted not just of humans but other humanoid and non-humanoid creatures as well. There was an octopus-like eight-legged creature sitting at the counter, but instead of a round head, it had a narrow tapering cone for a head and the eyes were placed one below the other. On top of its head, the overlay said, Betrayer Suilka, lvl 55. There was a man dressed in a bright red shirt and an almost-fluorescent-yellow pant sitting at a table alone. He wore no armour, unlike the others. He was the only one who had looked at him when he had entered. The others went about their business.

  Aacek pinched himself. That hurt. If this is a dream, why am I not waking up?

  The man in the colourful clothes beckoned to him. Aacek walked over to the table and sat opposite him.

  “Greetings, Aacek. I am Pamral. Thank you for joining us in our quest to defeat the Alzama, the beings from Alzam, the dark realm. It is most noble of you to consider joining us but we need to hone your skills before you take on the truly evil beings.

  “Outside the gates you just entered through, there are some small Alzam Spawn that keep appearing no matter how many we kill. They keep our more powerful warriors engaged while their services may be of use in defeating stronger foes.

  “Since you are new here and need to get a hang of things, we request you to dispose of at least ten of them and return here for your reward. You are a level one warrior now; killing ten Alzam Spawn should easily get you to level two and then you can choose your class.

  “You will be given a common club and a common shield for the task. Any items you find on your adventures are yours to keep. Off you go on your first task. May your deeds be legendary and drops mythic,” he finished with a flourish.

  That was sprightly, but

  “How did I even end up here? When did I choose to help you?”

  “Come back after you have defeated ten Alzam Spawn.”

  “Ok, can you give me more information on these Spawn then?”

  “Come back after you have defeated ten Alzam Spawn.”

  Oh man, this is going to be like those old-school games.

  Aacek got up, looking for a club and shield somewhere around. The moment he thought about them, his fingers curled around objects. He looked down at his hands and was surprised to see a wooden club, wrapped with a leather handhold at its base, in his right hand and a small wooden shield, reinforced with what looked like rusting iron, in his left hand.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The game knows my handedness!

  Aacek was also surprised to see that he was wearing bracers on his forearms; they were brown and seemed to be made of leather. He wore black leather gloves as well. He looked at his torso and his legs and he looked like a medieval-age fighter overall, dressed in leather and carrying ancient weapons.

  “Hey lvl 1, do you want a tip? Aim for the legs,” the octopus-like creature named Betrayer Suilka shouted over the din. Aacek wondered from where Suilka had spoken, as he did not see a mouth; he just nodded, smiled and waved at the creature.

  He headed out the arched wooden door. To his surprise, the weapon and shield had disappeared the moment he stopped thinking about them. Quite intuitive!

  He looked at the double-swinging gate, half of which still stood open. The rotund man near the gate had disappeared though. Outside the gate, he thought he saw dark shadows. He could not be sure what they were at this distance. The moon had disappeared behind clouds, so the area was a lot less illuminated now.

  He approached the gate slowly and saw the shadows become more distinct. They looked like water-filled balloons floating just above ground. The skin of the balloons seemed to be made of black silk. They did not seem to have any organs to see.

  Why can't they come in through the gate? It is open! I just don't understand these game mechanics. Or, am I supposed to assume there is an enchantment at the gate, preventing the balloons from entering the town?

  He almost laughed when he got closer to them. They were his height, no appendages to attack really, no eyes to see. They might still smell me, although I don't see any organ for any of the senses we know. There is no opening anywhere. Strange creatures!

  As he came up to the closest one, an overlay hovered over it. It said, in white text:

  Alzam Spawn / Common/ Lvl 2

  And there was a red line below the text. Aacek assumed that was the monster’s health.

  Just as he was deciding whether to puncture it with his club or topple it over by hitting it, the monster rotated in place and butted Aacek in the chest. Aacek went flying towards the gate and landed on his bottom.

  That really hurt!

  He rubbed his chest hard and got back up quickly. He thought of his club and shield and they appeared in his hands. Now I will show you.

  Aacek charged at the creature and smashed his club as hard as possible in the middle of its body. It didn't even flinch.

  The monster started rotating in place. Aacek quickly hopped back and blocked the head butt with his shield this time. He circled around the monster, looking for any weaknesses but found none. It looked the same all around. Just a black ghost-like balloon.

  Aacek poked the monster with his club to see if it would puncture it. It didn't. The other Spawn thankfully did not approach Aacek while he was engaged with this one. Aacek kept blocking the head butts with his shield, searching for a way out.

  He remembered Suilka's words: Aim for the legs.

  Maybe Suilka had faced some other starting monster. Maybe the advice was for some other monster that came later.

  Aacek bent down, checking to see if he had missed some tiny legs. There were none. The black monster just hovered a few inches over the dry grass. If any legs held the creature up, they were invisible.

  Aacek felt stupid but he still hacked at the clear space between the monster and the earth. He hit something hard and the monster stopped moving around. He kept at it and slowly the black silk-like covering of the monster disappeared to reveal a humanoid skeleton, which had visible legs placed firmly on the ground. The back of the skull was far too elongated for it to be a human skull.

  Should be a far easier fight now. Thanks, Suilka!

  Aacek straightened, club at the ready. The monster charged, ready to butt again. Aacek deflected the head with his shield and whacked one of the arms. The arm fell along with the forearm and hand bones attached. The red line below the monster info text reduced in size.

  He hacked at the other arm quickly, spinning around before the monster faced him. Same result.

  The armless Spawn charged for another butt. Aacek, instead of blocking it with a shield this time, deftly sidestepped the attack and brought down his club with full force over the back of the monster’s skull. The skull imploded in a wisp of black smoke and the rest of the skeleton clattered to the ground.

  Aacek was in a frenzy now. He hunted down the next eight monsters quickly and came upon the tenth one. This one guarded a leafless, flowerless, black misshapen tree similar to the tree he had seen in the town square. This tree had a lot less branches and looked smaller.

  The tenth Alzam Spawn was taller than Aacek and did not want to come out too far away from the tree. If Aacek went far enough, the monster just went back to circling the grim tree.

  Aacek quickly hacked at the legs to reveal a larger skeleton with a larger skull. This one had a sword in its right hand. The sword seemed to be shaped from the long bone of a fellow Spawn’s leg.

  The monster info for this larger Spawn read :

  Alzam Spawn / Leader/ Lvl 3

  and the text along with the health bar were both red in colour.

  Aacek moved in closer. The leader brought his sword down on Aacek who just had time enough to deflect the attack.

  The monster made a side swipe.

  Aacek dodged.

  Thrust forward.

  Aacek blocked with his shield.

  The shield had started splintering now.

  Aacek ran around the monster trying to reach the monster’s skull. He couldn’t. This one was far taller than him. Aacek retreated beyond the monster’s field of attack.

  He observed the movement of the monster again. It was predictable. Aacek moved in and attacked its legs, trying to get at the hip joint. He attacked and jumped back, before the monster could attack. Eventually, the monster lost both its lower limbs. Without legs, it crawled on its hands and torso around the tree it was guarding. Aacek moved in for the kill and smashed its oblong skull, which disappeared in a wisp of black smoke again and the rest of its skeleton lay sprawled across the ground.

  Aacek felt exhausted suddenly. The thrill of battle and the accompanying adrenaline rush had kept him going but it had been a while since he had exerted himself this much. Heart thudding against his chest wall, he sat cross-legged on the ground. He looked at the dark leafless tree in front of him and wondered what he was doing inside a game. He was laughing maniacally when he felt a burst of warmth course through his body and all the exhaustion seemed to fade away.

  The clouds floating across the face of the moon froze mid-flight. The wind stopped whispering. Time stood still.

  [Ding!]

  Aacek heard a very familiar notification sound.

  [You have levelled up!

  Congratulations on reaching level 2!

  You can now choose a class to specialize in.

  You will unlock your class-specific skill tree when you choose your class.

  You looted the Spawn Shadow Tunic from the Alzam Spawn Leader.

  You have unlocked the use of the Portal Trees.

  You may now teleport back to town through the portal tree you just unlocked and meet Pamral for more guidance.]

  The wind and clouds resumed their whispers and flotations. Time resumed its flow.

  Aacek stood and examined the tree more closely. An overlay at the end of one of the smaller branches appeared and it said, Horic Town. Aacek was not sure what to do now. He thought of Horic Town but he was still there. He reached out to touch the display but his fingers just passed through. As he withdrew his hand, it touched the branch in question. Aacek felt himself pulled into the trunk of the tree and he entered a dark place for a fraction of a second before being deposited in front of the large black tree in the Horic Town square.

  Aacek shook his head. This is better than passing through a portal, but more violent!

  He picked himself up from the ground and dusted off his leathers. He turned to the path leading back to the gates and the stone buildings on either side. He walked till he reached the Dancing Tiger. He extended his arm to knock on the arched door but again, it opened on its own accord.

  A lady walked out and held the door open for him. She wore similar leather bracers, gloves and shoes like him but her dress looked more like a satin black gown. The overlay over her head said Merry, lvl 1.

  He smiled and said, “Thank you. I have a tip for you. Aim for the legs or wherever the legs are supposed to be.”

  Merry said, “Ok. Thank you, Aacek,” and headed out with an expression that made it clear she had not understood what Aacek said.

  “Don’t worry. It will soon make sense,” Aacek shouted as she made her way to the gates.