《The boring yet exciting life of Green Johnson》 Volume 1 - Prologue Author''s Note: Hello and welcome to my very first fanfic! I''m not a native english speaker so please be lenient with me *hides*. Anyhow, please enjoy! I''ll be happy with any comments, suggestions, questions or criticism I receive! Thank you!~ ----------------------------------------------- Prologue Hey, did you know? In this world there are millions of races of animals. They feed on each other, fight each other, ally with each other and still coexist. But there is one mutant out there. One puzzle piece that doesn¡¯t fit in with the rest. This conceited piece even goes as far as destroying the frame of the puzzle. Do you know what I¡¯m referring to? Correct. Humans. They are truly greedy creatures. Greedy for power Greedy for money Greedy to possess To still their hunger, their greed - they are ruthless when it comes to achieving what they want. Because of this, because of their desire to be above the rest they are creatures that cannot coexist with the other races on an even level. They are violent, unable to continue on without conflict. Just think of how they treat other carnivores. Wolves are evil since they can hurt us ¨C even if they are usually peace-loving and only attack to protect their kin. But they don¡¯t stop there. Since the threat from animals doesn¡¯t exist anymore they went on to fighting amongst themselves. Criticising one another, throwing punches around like a child would flower petals or confetti, killing each other uselessly under pretences of justice and good. Do you know what the funny thing is? They don¡¯t even realize this themselves. At least most of them. There are a few exceptions that confirm the rule but¡­ well¡­ let¡¯s say I haven¡¯t met them yet. And no, I¡¯m talking about the ones that aren¡¯t all talk. Not the ones that realized the problem and complain about it from their comfortable leather sofa at home but someone who realizes what¡¯s happening and goes out to do something about it. Humanity is something that hardly ever changes for the better of the world because it¡¯s individuals with strong conviction or determination that manage to move the masses. But a drive strong enough to give you the necessary mental strength to call upon change is very rarely achieved with something that wouldn¡¯t impact oneself. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Yes, please don¡¯t forget that humans are selfish creatures. It is always harder to work for something that won¡¯t benefit you. Be it something minor like homework or something major like the climate change. The role of humanity as it currently is would be comparable to the ancient meteoroid impact that has wiped out the existence of dinosaurs from the earth ¨C to purge everything. To reset the world itself. This might seem like an extreme view on things, but think about it. Humanity has already developed weaponry capable of wiping everything clean. In the long run it is impossible that nuclear weapons will not be deployed in an actual war. Think about it. When a nation in possession of nuclear warheads is in a bind their deployment will seem more and more alluring. Sooner or later someone will give in to this temptation. Because that is how humans are. -Green Johnson on Humanity Professor Kain shook his head as he read through the essay of his newest patient. He frowned and relaxed his shoulders as he sunk back into his chair, staring up at the ceiling while losing himself in thought. The patient had shown clear signs of depression and detachment when he had first talked to him. Luckily his physical state had been fine after the incident so depending on his evaluation Mr. Johnson¡¯s case would be considered closed. But¡­ no matter how he looked at it there was no way the teenager was stable enough to continue without treatment. Psychological that is. His negativity and sarcastic attitude to life itself was dangerous. It would eventually bring real harm to the patient. The resulting selfhatred and his attitude as if nothing mattered to him anymore was true cause for worry. Nevertheless¡­ after reading the essay Professor Kain couldn¡¯t argue that anything written in it wasn¡¯t accurate... He stopped his train of thought and focused his gaze back onto the patient file in front of him. Even if it contained the truth, the way he described it was too pessimistic. Thinking that, the professor smiled. During a recent meeting a physicist had introduced a unique way of treating cases of mental detachment and depression. The theory hadn¡¯t been proven yet since the technology was only just starting to take foot in the society but¡­ this could be the perfect method to treat Green¡¯s case. Smiling, professor Kain filled out the necessary paperwork and put it into an envelope. ¡®Now then, this could be intresting.¡¯ Volume 1 - Chapter 1 part 1

Chapter 1 ¨C Life changing accidents

Though despite the title it wasn¡¯t an accident really¡­ but let¡¯s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we. Green Johnson¡¯s life was ¨C apart from his parents¡¯ unique naming sense ¨C quite ordinary. He grew up with 2 sisters, one currently 20, the other 24 while he was 17. They were both attending college and university respectively. Actually his oldest sister Lettuce had already moved out while his second sister Ivy was already making plans to settle down abroad to study after she finished college. They had grown up together with their parents in a normal middle class household. They were loving people who took great care of their children, so them moving out this fast didn¡¯t mean they¡¯d leave him alone in hell or anything. If anything, they were overprotective. Quite strongly so. An example? The simplest would be that they don¡¯t let them use public transport. It¡¯s too dangerous, what kind of viruses fly around in there? And what kind of people could be lurking around, just waiting to devour them alive? Sarcasm there. But yes, like this they overwhelmed their children with their love and wanted to know everything about their lives, not letting them develop any kind of independence. This they learned through their grandparents, which resulted in many fights between our parents and them. But they loved our dear grandpa and grandma because of it, actually you could say he currently spend more time at my grandparents¡¯ than his actual home. How he managed to convince his parents to let him stay there so long? Simple. School. His need to go to school was something they couldn¡¯t deny. But the way to his school from his parents¡¯ house was over 2 hours by car, which is way too far to travel every day. Therefore, his grandparents¡¯ home that was situated conveniently just 10 minutes away by foot was ideal. That''s why he was allowed to move in with them under the condition to come home over the holidays. Thus his life with his grandparents had started and he loved every second of it. He helped them out a lot without complaining since they taught him lots of things you need to know around the house. Among other things his grandma taught him cooking and some sewing to help fix old clothes which he did to make her smile. But he enjoyed the time with his grandfather most. He often told his grandson stories about the sea as they worked in the workshop behind the house. They worked with wood a lot, creating puzzles, figures of ships and other useful items for the house. They even repaired tools for the neighbourhood and made some surfboards Green tried out eagerly. He enjoyed surfing with his classmates a lot, but he¡¯d never do it if it hadn¡¯t been for his grandfather¡¯s board. But if you¡¯d ask him what he loved doing the most it¡¯d be engineering. Green was a very bright child. He held great interest in technology, not because he liked using it but because he wanted to know how it worked. And if he was interested in something he couldn¡¯t rest before his curiosity was satisfied. He disassembled and reassembled computers and motorbikes, old phones and everything else he found interesting. As a result he soon became an expert on the workings of every piece of technology in their town. Well, that¡¯s how it felt to him anyways. He now knew how TVs worked, how cars moved and why the phone in their house kept acting up. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.He even went as far as to build his own computer from spare parts he found at the trash collection point. It was a nice PC, it could run all the programmes he ever needed. And in his grandfather¡¯s workplace he had found the perfect space to further pursue his hobby without getting anything in the house dirty with oil or¡­ other¡­ things. Thus, his exciting days with his grandparents went on. That¡¯s right, everything was picture-perfect. Until that day. Right, on that day just after the last bell rang, Green walked out of the classroom, followed by his best friend Gray and 3 other classmates. They had been chatting excitedly throughout lunch and were planning to go surfing right then. ¡°Uuuuaaaa¡± Gray stretched and continued ¡°I can¡¯t wait, the waves are supposed to be awesome today.¡± ¡°You sure, man? I can¡¯t feel a breeze¡­ its so hot¡­¡± Another one of us said dejectedly as she took off her tie and fanned herself with a notebook. ¡°Yea, seriously¡­ to wear a school uniform in this weather is just cruel.¡± ¡°Indeed¡± We all agreed and laughed, merrily making our way towards the shore. It was then. Green¡¯s phone vibrated, signalling he had gotten a message. His grandmother had texted him, asking him to come home and help them with some shopping. ¡°Hey guys, sorry about this but I¡¯ll have to go for today.¡± ¡°Ehhh?¡± ¡°Awww, really?¡± ¡°Yea, sorry, maybe I can join you later though?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t be helped then¡­¡± ¡°Sure! Let us know when you can make it, ok?¡± Gray waved around his own mobile to hint he would take it to the beach so he could reach them ¡°Yea, alright! See you!¡± ¡°See ya!¡± Thus they split up and Green headed home. (back to the present) Thinking back on it, if he had just taken some more time walking home¡­ none of this would have happened. That¡¯s right, he could have prevented it¡­ Green gritted his teeth. He needed to stop thinking about it. It couldn¡¯t be changed now, not anymore. He knew this¡­ and yet¡­ and yet¡­ ¡°Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT! DAMMIIITTT!!¡± Green let out a frustrated voice and forcefully relaxed his hands that had formed into fists unknowingly before reforming them and hitting them hard against the wall in front of him. Left, right, left, right. He kept repeatedly striking the wall of their house. ¡°Green, stop!!¡± Lettuce and Ivy came running towards him and were trying to calm him down. ¡°Please Green, stop it¡­¡± They said while hardly biting back their tears themselves. Then Lettuce reached out and simply hugged him to force him to stop. His fists had become bloody but he didn¡¯t care. If he hadn¡¯t hurt her by doing it he¡¯d not have stopped even now. It was like the physical pain helped¡­ of course in truth it didn¡¯t, it only delayed the inevitable. Saying that, Green had long since given up holding back his tears and his emotions were flowing out freely. ¡°Guh¡­..¡± Even though he wanted to say something, to tell her to let go, his voice wouldn¡¯t come out and he just kept on crying into her shoulder as the blood from his fists silently dripped to the ground. ------ [A/N]: I hope you enjoyed it!~ But for now I''ll head to bed~ Look forward to more! And if you have time, criticism, comments, ideas, questions and impressions are all welcome <3 Volume 1 - Chapter 1 part 2 As he stood there surrounded by his sister¡¯s arms he slowly calmed down. Then he noticed she was shivering. He carefully turned his head and looked into her face. What he saw shocked him even more. It was fear. She was afraid. And that fear was directed towards him. His own sister was afraid of him. ¡°¡­¡± He opened his mouth to say something, to let her know he wasn¡¯t scary, but nothing came out. After all it wasn''t weird for her to feel that way. He never got angry, he hated violence, yet he had an outburst like that... So he just slowly turned back his head so he wouldn¡¯t startle her and raised his hands so he could see them over her shoulder. She stiffened up slightly as he moved, making him bite his lips. At that moment something inside him broke. He thought he even heard it break. And the next moment like a vacuum, all his emotions seemed to vanish, leaving only expressionless calmness. He stared at the closed fists his hands were still making. They were bloody and his skin had peeled off in many places. Blood was still oozing out, colouring his whole hand in a dark crimson. He slowly forced his fist open, which was quite hard since his nails had firmly dug themselves into his palm. Then he relaxed the rest of his body, his shoulders, arms and legs and finally managed to say ¡°It¡¯s fine now.¡± His voice sounded odd even in his ears. Emotionless, almost cold. His words made his sister jump, like a jolt of electricity had hit her and she hurriedly let go of him. He noticed how she quickly fixed her own expression before backing off and looking him over. ¡°A-are you sure?¡± She couldn¡¯t hide the small stutter she always had when she was nervous. ¡°Yea¡­¡± He didn¡¯t want to keep troubling her. She was forcing herself to act like the eldest sister should but that was not something he liked. He didn¡¯t want to trouble her more than he did already. She would get hurt because she tried to help him too much. He nodded, his face looking slightly down. His blond hair was really messy as he hadn¡¯t bothered to even look into the mirror today and successfully hid his eyes from view. They were weird eyes, they always reflected his emotions. If he was happy they¡¯d be a bright brown, almost yellow colour but if he was depressed they would almost turn black, like now. He looked horrible. He had dark rings under his eyes and his face was swollen from the tears he had shed. Honestly, his sister didn¡¯t look any better; her makeup had long since been smeared all over her face, making her look like some kind of ghost, especially since she had paled considerably. It was the same for Ivy who stood on the side watching us worriedly. We all looked completely worn out, and no wonder considering what had happened the last few days. (flashback) After the incident he had been taken to the hospital like all the others. They had called his parents and performed a routine check up on him to confirm if he had received any injuries but except for a few scratches they hadn¡¯t found anything. He had been quite confused and disoriented, only slowly able to recall what happened. But instead of answering the stream of questions of both the police and his family then the only thing he asked when he remembered everything was ¡°Where are grandpa and grandma?¡± At that question his mother had started crying and had to be guided out by his dad. A bad feeling had started to spread within his gut at that point. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t leave, where are they? Why are you crying? Hey!!¡± His own voice kept echoing in his head as he shouted after his parents. Why weren¡¯t they there? That was when his thoughts blanked out. (flashback end) He forcefully stopped his mind in its tracks again, cutting off the memory he had recalled and turned around, away from his sisters. He was staring at their house, not the now so familiar old wooden house of his grandparents but the normal house he had grown up in and muttered ¡°I¡¯m going back.¡± Without confirming if they followed him he went back inside and up to the second floor past the living room where his parents were still quietly discussing amongst themselves. They didn¡¯t know what to do with him now. He ignored them and went on. Just when he stretched out his hands to open the door to his room the throbbing pain in his hands reminded him that he couldn¡¯t enter like this. Therefore he went to the bathroom and cleaned out his wounds from the blood. Then he got out the first aid kit from above the mirror and disinfected and bandaged his hands. He cleaned up after himself and went up to his room, he needed to do something to occupy his mind before he went crazy so he started puzzling. The next day his parents took him to a psychologist. This was something that they had been asked to do by the hospital as a condition for discharging him. After all an incident like that left deep scars with someone. The doctor had asked them to let him come alone so after he reassured them he¡¯d be alright they agreed to wait at the restaurant next door. He got called in by the nurse who asked him to complete some questionnaires first. Half an hour later he got called in to the office. ¡°Welcome to my office.¡± A tall gentle looking man in his mid -30s greeted Green as he walked into the room. Green nodded, he didn¡¯t seem to recognize him. ¡°Nice to meet you again, my name is Professor Kain.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you¡­¡± Green was a little confused since he was sure he hadn¡¯t met this man before but he still shook his hand. Of course the bandages on it didn¡¯t escape the psychologist¡¯s notice. He could guess what had happened to them. ¡°Well then, Green. Is it alright to call you Green?¡± He asked with raised eyebrows. Green simply nodded. He didn¡¯t really care. ¡°You may not remember but we have in fact met and talked before in the hospital. I looked at the results of the questionnaires and other tests we did the last time we met and I¡¯ve come to a decision.¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. That was why, Green didn¡¯t really remember most of what happened in the hospital since he had been too focused on recalling all the events of the incident. ¡°I see¡± he replied, waiting for Professor Kain to continue. ¡°Green, have you ever heard of Parallebrium?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°No? Well, the news didn¡¯t really reach the coast yet, I suppose.¡± The professor coughed and instead of explaining asked another question. ¡°How about virtual reality? Full immersion technology?¡± ¡°Yea¡­ I heard.¡± He really didn¡¯t know what that had to do with the situation¡­ Virtual reality and full immersion technology had successfully been developed a year ago. Full Immersion technology made use of magnetic and electric waves to stimulate the brain directly, placing the user in a dreamlike state. In this state the technology was capable of controlling what the user perceived with his senses, meaning it was possible to successfully place someone into an artificial or virtual reality. A virtual reality refers to a reality that is mostly based on some software and various programmes. If done well enough it felt completely real. Some people had even started to use Virtual reality (VR for short) as a substitute for travelling. They could visit the pyramids or the sea and with the right programme it was detailed to perfection and felt completely like the real deal. If he recalled correctly recently VR took a hold of the business sector as well. You could hold meetings there instead of traveling long distances if you connected to the internet and visualizing and presenting things got way easier using recent technology. ¡°Since you already know about those that makes it easier. Now, let me explain about Parallebrium.¡± Green nodded, signalling he was listening. ¡®No way around it anyhow.¡¯ He signed inwardly. ¡°Parallebrium is essentially a game. It makes use of the Full Immersion technology and takes the user to a virtual reality. The special thing about it is that it¡¯s a multilayer game. A so-called MMORPG to be precise. Just for the record this stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Many others will be playing in the same world at the same time together and its possible to form alliances and small groups to help one another out in this new world. The developers have asked everyone to look at is as a parallel world rather than a game. The support characters in the game that are controlled by the main programme will react depending on the situation and will come to conclusions independently, the system will only have minimal control over their actions. Now as for the game itself it takes place in a historical fantasy setting. They don¡¯t have modern technology yet and only make use of crude weapons such as swords and magic. As to why they need them, this is because magical creatures or monsters have started appearing and attacking innocent citizens at random. Basically animals that have been in contact with magic too strong for them to handle turn into monsters and lose all reason, attacking people at random. In a world like this the users will start living a new life. They can choose to help and fight against these monsters or just live a normal live as farmers or similar in Parallebrium.¡± The professor finished his basic explanation and looked at Green expectantly. But Green just had an expressionless look on his face, seemingly disinterested. The professor sighed loudly. ¡°Let¡¯s get to the point, shall we. The game comes out next week. I have ordered the hardware and a copy of the game for you. My prescription is this: Play Parallebrium and get another view on things!¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± A undefinable emotion now showed on Green¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯re seriously prescribing me to play a game?¡± ¡°Precisely.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I said I don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°Unfortunately your parents have already agreed and everything has been ordered, so I¡¯m afraid you don¡¯t have a choice in the matter.¡± ¡°¡­say what?¡± Green¡¯s ecpression darkened and anger slowly welled up inside him. What the hell kind of doctor was this!? Professor Kain sighed. ¡°Alright, here is the deal. 3 months. Play the game seriously for 3 months and if I don¡¯t see any change with your problem or you really hate the place we wont force you to go on after that. But you have to seriously play the game during that time.¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was only silence for a few minutes. Then Green finally burst out in an angry voice. ¡°Fine!¡± ¡®Dammit, my grandparents just died and here I am at a psychologist getting forced to play a stupid game.¡¯ (flashback) Right¡­ in that incident¡­ they had been killed. They hadn¡¯t made it through like the rest of them. That¡¯s what the police officer told them as well. He knew it well, he had seen it after all, he had been there, but he hadn¡¯t wanted to believe it. Not until the police had confirmed it, until they had let him see them one last time. That was when his mind broke. After all¡­ he could have prevented it. He wasn¡¯t a masochist and blamed himself for what happened. But the truth was that there had been signs. Signs that should have warned him. (flashback end) Shaking off this way of thinking once more he stared at the psychologist before him angrily. If you could kill someone with your eyes Professor Kain was sure he¡¯d be dead 10 times over by now. But he felt this was necessary for the boy. He needed to gain some space, to get away from everything and look at things in a different manner entirely. Or his anger and frustration would eventually consume him. Thus, Green left the office and met up with his parents, his face a mask of expressionlessness. ----------------- [A/N]: Hey dere and goood afternoon! :hi: hope you enjoyed the continuation of chapter 1 and please let me know if the time jumps this time were as confusing! Any other comments, suggestions, remarks or just thoughts are very welcome as well [th_084_.gif] Volume 1 - Chapter 1 part 3 The few days after the visit to the psychologist were very quiet for Green. He had been exempted from school for the time being, so despite it being the middle of the school year he was just staying at home. He had taken the time he got to think. He consciously directed his thoughts away from the incident that had killed his grandparents and reflected. On everything. What he should have done with them, for them, how much he had wished to spend more time with them. He remembered their kind smiling faces, their warmth and the time they had spent together. In other words, he now had the time to properly grieve. But just because he was grieving that didn¡¯t mean he had accepted reality. Neither did it mean his anger and rage had disappeared. He had simply pushed those back for now. He consciously kept on recalling everything he had experienced with his grandparents. And with every memory the rage he held back grew larger. The time his grandfather had given him his first toolset for engineering as a Christmas present. It had been a very basic set, nothing fancy and his mother had looked annoyed as she had seen what was in the package he had opened. It seemed quite cheap and shabby, but to Green it had meant the world. In fact he still kept on stubbornly repairing and using those tools until today. The kind and happy expressions on his grandparents¡¯ faces as they looked at their gleeful grandson opening their present at that point were something Green wouldn¡¯t forget for the rest of his life. He also recalled the time his grandfather had taught him surfing, patiently explaining things and correcting his form again and again. It had been quite hard for Green to get the hang of it but he kept on trying nonetheless, wanting to make his grandfather proud by learning how to surf. And he had managed it. The incredible sense of freedom that came with surfing which he had experienced for the first time that day had hooked him and from that time onwards he never missed a chance to stand on the board whenever the waves allowed it. And as he had expected, the proud look on his grandfather¡¯s face as he had watched Green climb over all the difficulties he faced was priceless to him. He had rubbed over his head as he always did and praised him with a big smile on his face. ¡®Good job, Green! Keep on going!¡¯ A sudden pain called Green back to reality. His mouth was throbbing painfully and he could taste blood. He had unconsciously bit down on his lips until his teeth had broken the skin. The resulting pain had successfully snapped him out of his daze and he quickly got up, moving towards the mirrored dresser on the opposite side of his room. His lips were still bleeding but upon closer inspection Green decided he wouldn¡¯t need to treat them. Rather, he actually welcomed the pain. It had cleared his mind a bit and he had decided. He couldn¡¯t go on like this. His emotions kept on clashing, fighting for the upper hand. But the battle always ended in a stalemate. He needed to get his mind to concentrate on something, something logical. He hoped he could figure out what to do from now on if he got his mind to work properly again. While Green had shut himself in his room most of the time, staring into space as he was reminiscing he had eaten less and less. Not only that he did absolutely nothing but staring at the same wall every day as if he wanted to tear it down with his gaze alone. This had worried his family a lot. His sisters had actually decided to stay home instead of going back to their studies as they saw his condition on the funeral day. The day when he had snapped for the first time. Frankly speaking at first they had been a bit scared of him then. The way he had furiously kept smashing his fists into the wall as if possessed by something, shouting loudly. It was as if the brother they knew had turned into someone else in their eyes. He had never lost himself in rage before. He was a bright and happy child that was unable to hurt a fly. That was why his sudden outburst had left them at a loss of what to do. ¡®But¡­¡¯, Lettuce thought as she peeked into Green¡¯s room, sighing as she noticed he hadn¡¯t eaten the sandwiches they prepared for him again today, ¡®this Green that doesn¡¯t seem to notice anything is far worse.¡¯ The family had grown more and more worried, they had tried talking to him and shaking him but once he was in that state they weren¡¯t able to reach him at all. The periods he was blanking out like that were growing longer by day as well and they were seriously considering to consult the psychiatrist again. They were at the end of their ropes. That was when Green suddenly came walking down the stairs. ¡°I¡¯m going out.¡±, he murmured and left without waiting for a reply, leaving them baffled in the living room, unable to understand what had just happened. ¡°Huh?¡± This surprised sound was all he heard as he shut the front door behind him and walked towards the bus stop. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He hadn¡¯t taken anything with him but his bus pass. That was all he needed for what he was planning to do. Three hours later he had reached his destination and stood before the doorstep of his old home. Right. He went to his grandparents¡¯ house. He stared at the entrance, wondering whether or not to go in or not. He simply stood there for countless minutes, staring at the door, but finally decided against it. So he simply rounded the property and stopped in front of the fence in the back. It had only been a few days but the small door in the middle, almost overgrown by ivy and thus almost invisible if you didn¡¯t know it was there, invoked a sense of nostalgia already. His hand automatically reached for the top out the door, gently parting the ivy and he pulled out a small key that was always hidden in the small space on top of the door itself. Then he unlocked the backdoor and carefully stepped through it, slowly as to not destroy the intricate patterns the ivy drew on the door. Once in the small garden behind the house he closed and locked the door again. Then he turned around and crossed the small greeneries. His goal was the big work shed next to the house. With a loud creak he opened the door and entered the place. The smell of wood and oil hung heavily in the air as always, welcoming him back like an old friend. For most people this smell was too overwhelming and they felt uncomfortable in the workshop but for Green the place was the most relaxing. Admittedly it was also the most painful right now, since many of his best memories had been created here, but he forced himself not to think about it. He could only concentrate on his goal right now or he would fall back into his staring contest with the wall. Thus he reconfirmed his determination and went to the back of the room, sitting down in his usual spot and took out his tools. He would make something complicated. Something that would take his full concentration. Yes, like a model of the Cutty Sark. He had decided on what to make on reflex and promptly started shaping the large wooden blocks in the room. But his model wasn¡¯t important, he wasn¡¯t building it for the result but for the process. He needed to stop thinking, to stop thinking¡­. But he couldn¡¯t. Even as he poured all his concentration and effort into the task at hand his mind still kept on working. So he put even more effort into it, concentrating like he never had before. But it was no use, he didn¡¯t manage to completely occupy his mind and so, unnoticeably the direction of his thoughts became darker and darker along with the passing of the day. 9 hours had passed in an instant and it was now dark outside but Green had mindlessly immersed himself in work and was completely exhausted. Mustering his work with half-closed eyes, he thoroughly stretched, allowing his hands that were screaming in pain from the constant action, attempting to somewhat relax the tensed up muscles in his body. He had created all the individual pieces for the model and lined them up neatly, ready to be pieced together. The look in his eyes was cold. His eye colour had brightened up to a deep orange-yellow similar to a fire, but the feeling they gave off was cold as ice. For the first time in hours he consciously allowed his mind to return to the problem at hand. He couldn¡¯t bring his grandparents back. That was a fact he had to accept. Then what should he do? How could he deal with this rage and pain inside? Revenge? That was impossible. For now. He didn¡¯t know who or what was responsible yet. Could he find out? The police was on it, if they couldn¡¯t figure anything out then neither could he. Then what? He didn¡¯t know. What he did know however was that¡­ If his rage kept on growing like this he would most likely go mad. Crazy. This time he had only had a small outbreak. But that instant he had seen fear in his sisters¡¯ expressions was enough for him. He didn¡¯t want to see it again. So he came to the natural conclusion. ¡®First¡­ I have to create some distance. I need to getaway or all of us will only get hurt. And he had been handed the perfect instrument for this first step. It would arrive any day now. The software of Parallebrium and Full Immersion technology the psychologist had handed him. His step into a new world. He would use it as a tool. And while he was busy with that he would come up with further steps to take. Thus Green decided to hurry home for the day. After all you needed to know about the tools you were using. And to get to know this tool he needed to do research. And a lot of it. -------------- Hey there *-* I hope you enjoyed the last part of chapter 1! I''ll start working on chapter 2 soon, just need to get settled back home :3 See you all around! Volume 1 - Chapter 2 Chaper 2 ¨C Parallebrium His family had taken a few moments to register what had just happened when Green suddenly came down and left just like that. ¡°Wa-wa¡­ Green??¡± Ivy was the first to recover. They had all just been staring at the point where Green stood moments before blankly. The first time he had really talked in days and he just came and left like that, no wonder everyone was shocked. ¡°Wait just a second, he didn¡¯t even say hi, where in the world is he going??¡± ¡°¡­ I don¡¯t know?¡± everyone shrugged their shoulders helplessly. Ivy had already stormed out of the room after Green but soon came back with dropped shoulders. She just shook her head, motioning she didn¡¯t catch him anymore. The discussion went on in that fashion, first with everyone complaining how he had left, then speculations where he had gone, questions how he had suddenly snapped out of it and finally a dead silence. This circle repeated endlessly, they fidgeted around nervously and complained why he hadn¡¯t come back yet and the circle repeated. Currently they were sitting in the living room in silence again. ¡°It¡¯s getting late.¡± It was a statement. It was 11 pm and the sisters couldn¡¯t keep their parents from worrying anymore. Their mother seemed close to exploding while their father sat there with a grave expression. The atmosphere spoke more than words ever could. ¡®You are SOO grounded when you come back, Green. So hurry before it gets any worse¡­¡¯ The sisters were thinking this nervously. They had backed off from their parents slowly, not wanting to stand out and get hit by those sparks they had started to send off. ¡®Somebody heeeellpp!¡¯ Then the doorbell rang and their mother got up and was about to hurry and open it faster than a furious Rottweiler. But her husband was even faster. He held her back with his arm and motioned her to wait. He walked to the door slowly, opening it calmly and stepped out. ¡°Green.¡± Was the only greeting he gave. ¡°¡­¡± Green just stayed quiet. From his father¡¯s attitude and atmosphere he could guess what was going to follow next. In a way this suited him just fine. Green had expected a similar greeting for when he came home, seeing as he hadn¡¯t told them where he was going and stayed calm. ¡°You have nothing to say for yourself?¡± His father stared at him intensely. There was still no response. Then he slowly walked over to him at the front gate. ¡°I thought we had taught you better than that.¡± With those words he hit Green squarely in the face. Only once but he could taste blood. Despite that Green didn¡¯t react at all, he simply looked at his father with expressionless eyes. He had never hit him before, but that didn¡¯t matter at the moment. ¡°You have no idea just how worried your mother and your sisters were this last few days, do you. And then you pull something like this. Let me tell you this. I don¡¯t care where you were. But you¡¯re grounded until I tell you otherwise, got it?¡± With those words he simply turned around without waiting for any response from Green and walked back inside, leaving the door open. Green simply stood there for a while. Two old ladies from the neighbourhood had watched the spectacle and were now giggling amongst themselves but the only words he could make out were ¡°How unsightly¡± and ¡°about time¡±. He didn¡¯t turn around to look at them and simply walked inside, taking off his sneakers and jacket and headed towards his room, but as expected he got stopped when he walked past the livingroom. ¡°GREEN!!! WHERE IN THE WORLD DID YOU GO!?¡± He looked at his mother expressionlessly. ¡°Since when do I need to tell you where I go when I go out?¡± He finally said expressionlessly ¡°T-that¡¯s¡­ but we didn¡¯t even know when you¡¯d be back!¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. I didn¡¯t know either.¡± ¡°Huh?? How can you not know?? If you don¡¯t know who would??¡± ¡°Look, I just needed some space, alright?¡± Green tried to keep calm as he talked to her so he wouldn¡¯t agitate her more. Then suddenly his dad who had watched the exchange quietly for a while voiced out. ¡°That¡¯s no way to be talking to your mother.¡± ¡°What did I say?¡± ¡°It¡¯s what you didn¡¯t say. An apology is in order.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ sorry.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He left them speechless. Where did their honest and kind son go? What had happened to their beloved Green they always doted on? Since they didn¡¯t say anything else he continued on to his room. A bitter feeling welled up inside him despite himself. When he entered the room he swiftly switched on his computer. While he was waiting for it to finish its loading sequence his gaze fell onto his mobile. Looking at it normally the black folding phone was a very old model, but he had tinkered on it quite a bit, adding quite a few new functions in the past. Now it wouldn¡¯t lose to any of the new mobiles. Sure, he didn¡¯t have a touch screen, but who needed that. Instead he had optimized the voice command system. He flipped it open and quickly called up the missed calls, not in the mood to talk to his phone today. He had 20 missed phone calls made by his family today. Except for that there hadn¡¯t been any calls at all since the last day he went to school. It seems not even his friends bothered with him anymore. Or maybe he never had any. They hadn¡¯t even been to his grandparents¡¯ funeral. In fact since he had had to leave them to surf by themselves the last time he hadn¡¯t heard from anyone. Silently he closed his phone again. His PC had finished the starting sequence. If you¡¯re wondering why this took so long, it¡¯s because Green intended it to. He had built the PC in a way that it would always check for errors or problems in the system and the hardware during every start-up. This way he could fix them as soon as possible. He swiftly opened his browser and started on his research. His fingers were flying over his keyboard quickly and soon he had found nearly all the information released about the game. After all it wasn¡¯t released yet so not that much was available. As the psychiatrist has explained the game allowed a lot of freedom. The programmes or AIs that controlled and ran the game were given a lot of freedom. It could even be said they were self-aware. Therefore looking at them as normal NPCs would be a huge mistake. The system continuously gathered information. So did its inhabitants. They would adapt to your actions and react accordingly. This also included monsters, of course. But Green had never been that interested in games so he decided not to think too much about it. The first thing he found out was about time conversion. Since people from all around the world would be playing in the same place it had been decided that the game needed to have a time conversion so nobody had to play only during the night in the game. Therefore 24 hours in reality would equal 6 whole days in the game. This was deemed and tested a safe amount. This meant time for people playing the game had extended 6-fold. This alone was already amazing to Green. There hadn¡¯t been any information on races on the website, but Green assumed everyone would be human in this case. The developers had informed the public that there was a nearly unlimited amount of professions and classes in the game. You could only have 1 class at a time. They also shared that there are different tiers of classes one could become and that some classes could be changed later. Then again some couldn¡¯t, but they didn¡¯t go into any specifics, only giving the basic classes most games have as examples. This included blacksmiths, tailors or fishermen but also magicians, warriors or hunters. They gave a basic explanation of each class, but for Green the names alone were pretty self-explanatory. As for professions, you could have up to 5. This was basically your ¡®job¡¯ in the game, or rather referred to special passive skills that support your character. That said it doesn¡¯t include all passive skills. It just refers to basic skills needed for your profession. For example ¡®Sword Mastery¡¯ as a passive skill automatically fills one Profession slot with the ¡®Swordsman¡¯ profession, whereas the passive skill ¡®Iron Skin¡¯ that increases your endurance and vitality doesn¡¯t give you any profession. There was also a warning attached to this system. Some compatible professions may merge at a certain level and evolve into a more useful profession. And some professions that aren¡¯t compatible with your class would be very hard to advance. So a magician trying to advance his swordsmanship would have a way harder time than a warrior doing the same. Other than that professions worked the same way as normal skills. As far as he could tell the number of skills one could learn wasn¡¯t limited. But some skills could only be learned if you fulfilled special requirements. This could include being of a certain profession or even class. But to be as good as one could be one had to fully master their skills. Skills could be mastered through repeatedly using them. So through producing swords blacksmiths could advance their blacksmithing skills. There were a few stages to this mastery. You started at the ¡® ¡®Basic¡¯ stage and went on to ¡®Beginner¡¯, ¡®Intermediate¡¯, ¡®Advanced¡¯, ¡®Master¡¯, ¡®Grand Master¡¯ and finally ¡®Legendary¡¯. Should you fail a lot skill mastery would go down, sometimes even reaching the ¡®Bad¡¯ or ¡®Horrible¡¯ stage. There were also different attributes called stats that the character had. The character was born with only Intelligence and Strength (INT and STR). In addition to these the user had to create all other attributes himself. There were many ways to create them but apart from this information nothing else was disclosed online. Finally the last information he found on stats was that you could gain stats throughout the game, but also through progress. This referred to gaining experience with your character. If you gained enough experience (exp) your character would level up. With every level (lvl) you gain some stats would advance automatically and you would also gain 10 points to allocate to your stats yourself. There was currently no information on a lvl or stat limit but Green assumed more info would be made public the closer the game was to its official launch the day after tomorrow. Green had finished his research and it was the middle of the night. His watch jumped to 3.30 am just when he stretched, satisfied with the information he had gathered. He had worked in complete darkness, on one hand too engrossed to be bothered by the darkness, on the other hand he wouldn¡¯t have turned on the lights as to not alert his family he was still up this late. He decided it was time to get some rest. He would think more about it tomorrow. [The next day] Green got woken up by his sister. Apparently the hardware for the game as well as the game itself had arrived. He swiftly hot up and headed downstairs with her, not bothered by the fact he was still wearing his worn out pyjamas and greeted the deliverymen. Then he guided them up to his room. He asked them to install the cocoon on the corner next to the computer. It had been empty anyways since he removed the oversized surfboard from its place there. Yea, he put his board into the basement since he couldn¡¯t bear looking at it. They put down the hardware and started connecting and installing the device. The cocoon had the shape of a black egg lying inside a leathery cushion on a stand. You opened the upper half of the cocoon and lay inside while you used the full immersion technology in a slightly tilted position, your head higher than your feet. The cocoon would monitor your body¡¯s condition at all times and alert you should anything be wrong with it. It would also massage your muscles to keep them warm and keep them from deteriorating. Nevertheless it was advised to work out at least 2 times a week to keep healthy. To connect to the game he¡¯d have to install the game onto his pc, then connect the cocoon to his PC and enter the world of Parallebrium through the helmet connected to the cocoon. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.They spent the rest of the day installing and calibrating the hardware. Then he installed the game in the evening. Now he just had to go to sleep and tomorrow at 11 am the servers would open. [The next day] Green had gotten up at 9 am and had some breakfast. Then he went out running along the beach for an hour. When he had a short break in the shades of some trees below the road, panting from running at full speed for 20 minutes, it happened. His friends were passing by above him on the road, laughing and discussing loudly. ¡°Hey, let¡¯s go to the beach later.¡± ¡°Hell yea, the annoying one¡¯s gone so I¡¯m in!¡± ¡°Hey, hey, since when were you so enthusiastic?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have to pretend to have fun anymore so of course I¡¯d be.¡± ¡°Yea, true, it always seemed forced when Green was around, didn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°Ya, to be honest I¡¯m pretty happy he¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°You said it.¡± He had heard enough. Green got up and stretched. Then he ran back home, telling himself it was better this way. He sprinted all the way, ignoring his heavy breath. Then he walked up and down the road in front of their entrance a few times to relax his muscles before going up to take a quick shower. His expression that had become messed up when he had overheard his friends earlier was fixed again now, replaced by a mask of expressionlessness. When he entered his room again and started up his computer he still had 5 minutes before the launch. Not knowing what else to do he decided to just connect now. Sighing he lay down inside the cocoon and put the helmet on, pressing the button on the side of it to signal he was ready. The cocoon confirmed everything was in order and slowly shut itself. A few moments later he got blinded by a bright light, pulling him into the virtual reality. His eyes slowly adjusted again and to his surprise he already found himself lying in the blue room that was the desktop of his computer. Without getting up he called out. ¡°System, execute Parallebrium. Destination: Desktop¡± A pleasant female voice answered him. ¡°Program found. Executing Parallebrium.¡± Just as she finished the blue room around him seemed to break apart like a papercube and he found himself in complete darkness. Then the same voice greeted him once more. ¡°The scan of your iris and fingerprints has confirmed you are a new user. Would you like to create an account?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He chose an accountname and put in all relevant information needed for his game account, then the voice finally said. ¡°Parallebrium has not yet opened. The game will launch at 11:00 am local time. Would you like to wait?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± As soon as he replied some transparent numbers appeared in front of his eyes, counting down from 50. He had had great timing, only 50 seconds before the game would launch. He relaxed and watched as the numbers counted down to 0. Then he suddenly felt a strong force pull on his body and he felt like he was falling. He looked ahead and found instead of in a black space he was now floating in the universe. He was being pulled towards a planet surrounded by white mist. Or clouds? When he got close to the clouds he slowed down and finally his body softly landed on the clouds. Gravity had returned, but he didn¡¯t break through the clouds, rather it felt like he was standing on a mountain of feathers. As he marvelled at his surroundings he suddenly heard an amused little cough behind him. He quickly turned around and found a small boy looking at him with a big smile. Rather than a boy¡­ it was more like an angel? He had long white wings on his back and was wearing a white tunic that reached down to his knees. His curly blond hair was kept short and seemed almost like a halo around his head. He had a very kind expression on his face. ¡°Welcome to Parallebrium, Green!¡± ¡°U-uhm, thank you.¡± ¡°I see you already looked around a little, do you like it up here?¡± ¡°Yes I do, the view is really mind-bowing¡± Green truthfully said, which put a satisfied expression on the angel¡¯s face who could tell he wasn¡¯t just trying to flatter him but truly meant what he said. Then he added ¡°but may I ask who you are? You see I¡¯m a little confused.¡± ¡°Ahh, sorry about that. My name is Michael, I serve the goddess Heka who has created this world. We have received word that children from a different world would soon be visiting our world to answer our call for help and thus she has sent me and many other angels here to assist you in getting used to our world.¡± ¡°Ahh, I see, thank you for your guidance.¡± ¡°No problem at all, I¡¯m always happy to assist a polite person.¡± ¡°Ah, that reminds me. May I know how you knew my name?¡± ¡°Ah, the goddess receives the names and some basic information on all the ones who volunteered to help us.¡± Green was a bit confused at the answer but then he figured it must have been the account creation. ¡°I see, that explains a lot, thank you.¡± After a short pause the angel Michael finally smiled and asked ¡°Then, shall we get started?¡± ¡°Ah, yes, of course.¡± Green had decided it was safe to treat everyone as human here. And he would try not to offend anyone for the time being. ¡°Alright then, let me start with my explanations.¡± Michael beamed as he excitedly started talking about their world. Green already knew many of the things he was told but still listened to everything attentively. There could always be something he had missed. He nodded every once in a while, motioning he had understood what he was told and threw in the occasional question. At the end the angel quietly said. ¡°Since you listened to me so attentively I will give you some additional information about this world. The planet is not just inhabited by human beings as you might have guessed from my presence. Since you will be reborn into this world you may choose to live as any of the races of the world. I shall allow you to choose your race yourself.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Green was speechless. He hadn¡¯t read anything about the races of the game. Should he just go with human? No, he didn¡¯t want to be human anymore. Michael smiled at him drily, aware how overwhelming all of this must be and just silently waited for Green to grasp everything. Green finally remembered some old novels he read. ¡°Say, Michael¡­ on this planet, are there any dwarves? And elves?¡± ¡°Yes, both of these races inhabit our planet. There are many types of each though, so you¡¯ll have to be more specific if you would like to pick them as your race.¡± ¡°Hmm, is it possible to be a half?¡± ¡°Hmm? Of course, but that¡¯s a rather unique combination. You do realize the races have a strong dislike for each other?¡± ¡°Ah, yes, there was that¡­ but are there any types of elves and dwarves that would be compatible? For a Halfling?¡± The angel pondered for a while and then said carefully ¡°There is one¡­ but this will be quite difficult for you, are you sure?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± ¡°Very well then, please step closer. I will need to imbue your choice into your chest. You will be half Moonlight Elf and half Mithril Dwarf. Both focus a lot on delicate, swift and accurate movements. Seeing as you chose a combination that combines two enemy races you will start in a rather deserted area. You may also often experience animosity from both dwarfs and elves, so be prepared.¡± As he said that he was gathering black and white energy in his hands and then with a loud clash he combined them into a bright energy ball the colour of clouds that gave off electric sparks. ¡°This may hurt a bit, but please bear with me.¡± Green simply nodded. Then the angel took a deep breath and sprinted towards Green, his wings supporting his sudden acceleration. He took the energy into his right hand and as he reached him he reached out with it, using the momentum he had built up to push the crackling energy ball into Green¡¯s body. As the energy entered his body Green gasped. It felt like an electric current ran through his body. He endured the feeling with gritted teeth before the feeling slowly faded, leaving him lying on top of the clouds, looking up into the worried face of Michael. ¡°Are you alright?¡± the angel timidly asked. ¡°Yea, I¡¯m fine.¡± Green got up and tested his limbs. Everything working as it should. Then he added ¡°Thank you.¡± A relieved expression spread on the angel¡¯s face. ¡°Then please tell me, Green. What do you want to be called in this world?¡± he finally asked. ¡°Hmmm¡­ Umi.¡± ¡°Umi? As in ¡®the sea¡¯?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Even though you¡¯re a guy? The name sounds like a girl¡¯s?¡± the angel confirmed one last time. ¡°Yes, since I like the sea. Also the name can be both male and female.¡± ¡°I see.¡± The angel closed his eyes and glowed slightly as he used his powers to set Green¡¯s new name. ¡°This concludes everything we have to do today. Thank you once more for trying to help us, Green, no, Umi. I will be watching over your fate from now on. Your class and professions will be decided while you live in this world. I wish you luck and wish you well.¡± ¡°Thank you very much for your guidance, Michael. I am grateful for your help and I also wish you well. And until we meet again!¡± ¡°Indeed.¡±, the angel smiled gently ¡°Now please close your eyes, Umi.¡± ¡°Alright, but¡­ before that.¡± ¡°?¡± The angel tilted his head. ¡°Would you be my first friend in this world?¡± Even Umi himself didn¡¯t know why he asked this but he had deemed that the angel before him was different than the humans he had met until now. More innocent and pure. Someone he could trust without worrying. ¡°¡­!¡± The angel simply started at him, speechless. Patiently Umi waited for his response silently. ¡°Ah¡­¡± the angel finally let out a sound like that. Nobody had ever asked him this before. In fact not even the angels themselves were close enough to be called friends, yet this stranger from another world had asked him. Indescribable feelings were welling up inside the small angel as he nodded. ¡°Yes, I would like that.¡±
Archangel Michael has been added to your friend list.
¡°!¡± He jumped slightly as that notice appeared before him. ¡°Thank you Michael, I am glad you are my first friend in this world. Let¡¯s meet again.¡± ¡°Yes¡­!¡± Then Umi closed his eyes and soon felt two tiny fingers touch his closed eyelids, and then his consciousness faded. [Meanwhile, back in his house] Ivy and Lettuce were discussing energetically. ¡°Do you think Green is getting better? He seemed so out of it before yesterday¡­¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say, really. Because the last few days it seems like I don¡¯t even know him anymore¡­ I¡¯m worried. You know¡­ he just got this game¡­ should he be playing it alone?¡± ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re right; maybe ¡­ do you want to start playing?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I¡¯m serious, Ivy. Let¡¯s play that game. We¡¯ll play it and meet Green there and see how he¡¯s doing outside of home, ok?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ alright. Let¡¯s ask if they¡¯d let us order it.¡± ¡°Great, so what¡¯s that game about?¡± ¡°¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Thus the sisters started their own research on Parallebrum. Of course their mother who was worried about her son herself instantly agreed to the idea, ordering 3 additional cocoons. Of course one additional one for herself. The delivery would take one week. During this time the 3 women could be seen crowding around the computer screen, researching the game they knew nothing about. ----------------------------------------------- Hey there, I was moving today so I had a lot of time to write in the train. I hope you enjoyed this new chapter (this time a whole one WHOOHOOO XD) See you next time :shy: Volume 1 - Chapter 3 Chapter 3 ¨C A new life?! When Green regained consciousness and opened his eyes he was looking up at grey stone. It took him a while to recognize it as the ceiling of his current home. His eyes took a while to focus completely but then he could make out small marks on the ceiling, telling him that the space he was in was created intentionally. He himself was lying on something soft and when he turned his head he saw that he was lying on top of several fur blankets. When he shifted his weight he furthermore noticed he seemed to be naked except for his underwear?? He tried raising his head reflexively but his body didn¡¯t listen to him. ¡®Huh?? What¡¯s going on?¡¯ ¡°Uga¡­¡± when he tried to speak that was the only noise coming out, almost like his vocal cords weren¡¯t used to being strained. He tried raising his hand and half to his surprise that worked. He was looking at a pink chubby hand with short fingers. The words the angel had left him came back to mind ¡®It will be hard for you¡¯. Was this what he meant? ¡®I mean I¡­ am I a baby? Seriously?¡¯ ¡°uuguuuu¡­.¡± His protest turned into meaningless sounds and he helplessly raised his other hand as well. It was the same. Apparently alerted by the sounds someone hurriedly opened the room. A broad bearded face came into view. It was a dwarf, or so Green assumed. He smelled of oil and ashes and the ends of his red beard seemed slightly burned. He had kind grey eyes that were nearly hidden beyond his bushy eyebrows and thick potato nose. He was wearing a bandana like cloth on his head, apparently to keep his swear from dropping into his eyes. All in all he seemed quite rough, except for his eyes. ¡®If I am a baby¡­ does that mean¡­ he is my dad? Wait, what?? Was I actually born again?¡¯ His suspicion was soon confirmed as his new father bent down and scooped him up into his shovel-like hands. ¡°Uaa?¡± he was a bit startled at the sudden action. ¡°Ahh, Umi! You¡¯re awake!¡± with those words he spun him around in a circle. Umi was relieved. He had started to suspect that he¡¯d need to learn a new language as well but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. Then his expression grew grave. ¡°We will manage this, right Umi? Even if mommy isn¡¯t around, Daddy will manage. So you be strong as well, okay?¡± Tears were now dropping from his face. ¡®Huh? This setting, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯ ¡°They took her away from us, Umi. Said it ain¡¯t no good to have us 2 together. Lucky we managed to hide ya , but... she¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°Aa¡­¡± Umi tried to say something but of course his voice didn¡¯t listen to him yet. ¡°But I shouldn¡¯t be telling ya this, right? Ya don¡¯t understand me yet anyway.¡± With these words he noisily wiped his nose and tears away and put Umi back down onto the pelts. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, daddy will take care of you!¡± At those words Umi felt really tired all of a sudden and his consciousness slowly drifted away. Thus Green¡¯s second life as the Halfling Umi started out with the loss of his new mother, although he didn¡¯t really grasp the situation yet. [1 day ago, the stonehouse of Ironhand, the dwarf and Irlina, the elf.] Their baby had been born successfully 6 hours ago and Irlina smiled at her son blissfully. Her beloved Ironhand held the small child in his hands and brought him close to Irlina who was resting on the bed, still fatigued from the process. She gently stretched out her hands to caress her son¡¯s head. Umi. That was the name they had decided on beforehand. Because they had met at the sea. The couple exchanged a loving gaze and looked down on the sleeping child. He had cried healthily earlier, now he was sleeping soundly, recovering from the process like herself. ¡°Let¡¯s let him rest now.¡± Ironhand finally said and got up to take Umi into his room. It was an improvised room at best, behind his own workshop, but they didn¡¯t want to keep him with themselves in the only room of the house. They would build a new home soon enough. He placed his son onto the small mountain of furs that was his baby bed and returned to Irlina¡¯s side. He considered her to be his wife, even if they had never married. Neither race would have supported their love after all. That was also the reason why they had moved their home and workshop to a secluded area close to a small lake in the mountains. The closest settlement was a few hours away in the north, the elven city Alernon. Until now everything went smoothly, they hadn¡¯t let anyone know about their love, just that they had decided to move, so they wouldn¡¯t be stopped. But life wasn¡¯t that easy. The elven council had caught wind of their relationship and became enraged, deciding to take action immediately. Thus the council sent out a group of 20 elven warriors to retrieve Irlina at any cost. This was how, just a few hours after their son was born, the elves knocked on their door. When he opened the door, Ironhand immediately guessed what had happened and turned pale. ¡°Master Ironhand, I understand that Irlina of our kin has been imposing on you.¡± The leader of the group got straight to the point. ¡°Thus we have come to retrieve her. Please do not resist, for this is also in your best interest.¡± The elf thus tried to walk past Ironhand but he just stood in his way. ¡°Like hell it is, there is no way I¡¯ll let you take her rom me!¡± ¡°Ironhand, please don¡¯t make this harder for yourself.¡± The elves had already drawn their weapons at this point, making their intention clear. They would take her even if they had to kill him. Rage had built up inside the dwarf and he was ready to lunge at the closest one of them when he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. Irlina had come out. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I will go with you.¡± She said towards the elves. Then she just managed to whisper one sentence towards her beloved before the warriors had approached close enough to hear her. ¡°No, Irlina, please¡­!!¡± Ironhand wailed, but she just shook her head and sent him a pleading gaze. Then she stepped out the door and inside the circle of the other elves who then bound her arms and lead her away, towards some horses they had bound not too far from the house. Ironhand could just watch with his fists closed tightly. His tears were flowing freely. But he couldn¡¯t do anything to stop them. Why he didn¡¯t lunge at them with everything he had? That was because of what she had asked of him. Her last request. Yes, he knew it well. They would most likely kill her for being together with a dwarf. With him. And so did she. Thus she had urged him with her last words. ¡®Please take good care of Umi, for me as well.¡¯ That¡¯s why¡­ even if it killed him, he would make sure Umi grew up into a healthy and happy boy. Because he was their child, the proof of their love. He watched them until they could no longer be seen and then he hurriedly started packing. They couldn¡¯t stay here. The elves would soon find out that Irlina had been pregnant. And when they did, they would come back to kill the child without doubt. Thus the next morning he would leave their old home together with his son. He would go back to him hometown. In the time he had been away it wasn¡¯t unthinkable that he had met another dwarf and had a child with her. He would say that she had died giving birth and thus he had decided to come back with his son. He could only hope Umi wouldn¡¯t grow to resemble Irlina too much, for his own good. [Back to the present] When Umi woke up again he was in the arms of his new father. But they weren¡¯t inside like last time but his father was driving a wooden cart pulled by a sturdy looking ox. He curiously looked around from where he was lying. They were passing through a dense forest at the moment and the light danced through the leaves. The house was nowhere to be seen. When he raised his hands up again he didn¡¯t notice any big changes from yesterday. ¡®So I have to grow up all over again? Isn¡¯t this a bit too realistic? Rather, when will I actually get to start playing at this rate?¡¯ ¡°Nnn¡­¡± he let out a sigh that sounded quite funny, coming from a baby such as himself. But contrary to his observations he was actually growing at a very fast pace. He already looked like a 2-year old. His fast growth had thoroughly shocked Ironhand at first, but then he had recalled that the goddess¡¯ prophets had foretold about such an event. His son was one of the apostles of Heka who were sent to help the world against the monsters. It was said that they would grow very quickly at the beginning, but slow down or stop once they reach adultery. He hoped this was the case for Umi, but at the same time he was afraid. Would his son leave him this soon? Would he go to distant battlefield, leaving him not knowing whether he lived or died? Unrest had taken hold of Ironhand¡¯s heart as he imagined being alone once more. On the other hand Umi was unsatisfied because of a different reason. First of all he felt hungry. Really hungry. And also¡­ he didn¡¯t know if he could voice it¡­ and lastly¡­ he felt really helpless in this game, was that normal??? ¡®Rumble¡¯ with a cute sound his stomach voiced itself out and Ironhand laughed loudly at the sound. ¡°There, there, you¡¯re hungry, Umi?¡± Umi nodded lightly, embarrassed by the sound. Ironhand then took out a stone box from behind and opened it, revealing a mountain full of mashed potatoes and carrots he had prepared beforehand. He didn¡¯t have anything that could substitute a mother¡¯s milk, so this meal and a bit of goat¡¯s milk would have to do. Umi tried to grab hold of the spoon his father held but his hands were still too clumsy, so he obediently let his father feed him. ¡®This is so embarrassing¡¯ Umi thought to himself as he obediently swallowed spoon after spoon and soon drifted to sleep. As his character fell asleep like the child it was, Umi blacked out. When he regained consciousness he found himself above the clouds once more. He quickly looked around and soon noticed he was in his own body again. ¡®Speaking of which¡¯, Umi pondered, ¡®I¡¯m still a baby so I didn¡¯t notice but¡­ how will I look like when I grow up?¡¯ While he was lost in his own thoughts he didn¡¯t notice someone approaching him. *cough* Michael coughed lightly and watched amused as Umi jumped since he had startled him. ¡°God, Michael! You scared me!¡± ¡°Hahaha, well¡­ I didn¡¯t sneak up on you, you know?¡± ¡°That¡­¡± embarrassed, Umi couldn¡¯t retort. Grinning widely the angel finally broke the short silence that followed and asked curiously: ¡°So what were you thinking about?¡± ¡°Ah, that¡­¡±, Umi had overcome his embarrassment. ¡°I was wondering how I would look like when my body is grown up, that¡¯s all.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.¡°Aaaah!¡± Michael suddenly let out a shocked and slightly guilty sound. ¡°Sorry, I should have mentioned that earlier¡­¡± Michael bowed before Umi in apology. ¡°Ah, no, don¡¯t worry about it.¡±, Umi hurriedly calmed the panicked angel. It took him 10 minutes. ¡°Right, let me explain it now then.¡±, Michael quietly said. ¡°Your appearance is randomized. But some characteristics can be influenced by your actions. For example someone who doesn¡¯t train their strength would not have a lot of muscle mass. You can also get a haircut and similar things. However, the influence you have on your appearance is limited. It can only vary from the default by about 20%.¡± ¡°Hmm, so its basically the same as I¡¯m used to.¡± ¡°Basically.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Oh, one more thing, since we¡¯re talking about appearance. As you have noticed you were literally reborn into this world. But since you are blessed by the gods like all the foreigners from a different world you will age abnormally fast in the beginning. But you will completely stop aging at the age of your soul.¡± ¡®I see, so my character will be the same age as me, huh.¡¯ ¡°Then how long will it take for me to grow up? You said its faster than normal, right?¡± ¡°Ah, at the current speed you are aging about¡­ 3 weeks? But in that time, actually for 6 weeks the goddess has decided that you and your kin need to stay with your family and be taught about the world some more. After all if you simply wander outside and get slaughtered right away that would be bad.¡± ¡°I see¡­ so what happens if I die?¡± ¡°Hmm? Well, if you die you are dead, you know? Your body will be lost and you will need to start with a new body all over again.¡± *Gasp* ¡®What kind of game is this, hey!!!¡¯ ¡°That is unless you receive the blessing of one of the major gods. Then the god will automatically transport you to their closest shrine and revive you. But since this hasn¡¯t happened in a long time and even you foreigners will need to earn this blessing the knowledge regarding any side effects or how long the revival process takes has been lost. Not even I can tell you more about it.¡± ¡°May I know why the gods don¡¯t bless everyone if they have such power?¡± ¡°Because¡± the angel smiled ¡°life is precious. If you could return to life that easily people would stop appreciating life. But that¡¯s only one of the reasons. In fact only a limited amount of people can be blessed by each god. All in all I estimate about 100. Also, the revival process does take time, during which the god has to solely concentrate on the body he or she is restoring and will use up most of the divine power. So they can¡¯t do their usual work and it will pile up until their power is restored. You can see how reviving everyone would be difficult now, right?¡± ¡°Yea¡­ I kind of get it.¡± Umi really felt how realistic and complicated this game would be. ¡°So actually, Michael¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Why am I here again?¡± ¡°Aaahhh!¡± Umi got a d¨¦j¨¤ vu-like feeling at the noise and he slowly realized the obvious. The angel was a scatterbrain. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Sooorrryyyy, I forgot about thaaat¡­ As I thought I¡¯m no goood¡± The angel flailed around with teary eyes, ready to fly off somewhere. Umi spent the next 20 minutes calming Michael don enough so he could hear why he was up here again. *sniff* ¡°Geez¡­¡± Umi sighed as the angel calmed down again. ¡°Actually you¡¯re here because I have a message from one of the gods.¡± Michael was sitting on Umi¡¯s lap now as Umi had been forced to repeatedly stroke the angel¡¯s head and keep him on his lap nearly be force or he¡¯d have flown away and resigned as an angel or something. ¡°Hm, now that you mention it, I only know about Heka from what you told me before. So there are others?¡± ¡°Yea, actually there¡¯s several gods and goddesses in this world, but I¡¯m not gonna tell you about them all, it¡¯d take too long. You can¡¯t leave your body alone much longer. I¡¯ll just give you a few examples, okay?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°So, the goddess I serve is Heka, the goddess of Life who created this world. Then there is also Set, the god of Evil. He has a grudge against Heka since she rejecting his marriage proposal and wants to corrupt her creation. There are different gods for each element and gods for crafts, for seasons and several others. But back to the topic. The deity who sent me today is called Ptah. He is the guardian deity of your father.¡± ¡°Hm, wait a sec. Don¡¯t you serve Heka? Then how come you are Ptah¡¯s messenger today?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re familiar with me already, so Heka allowed it.¡± ¡°Ah, makes sense. Okay, go on.¡± ¡°Right. The message is¡­¡± To sum it up Ptah had warned him to take better care of his father. He favoured his dad and warned him that he had caused a lot of trouble even with his birth alone so he should be careful not to get his old man in trouble too much. ¡®Great.¡¯,Umi sighed silently. ¡®Only my first day and I already pissed off a god.¡¯ Michael smiled sady as he noticed Umi¡¯s mood. ¡°Its okay, Umi. You¡¯re a good guy, you wouldn¡¯t cause that much trouble. So don¡¯t worry about it!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¡°Now, our time is over, you need to go back to your body! It¡¯s time to wake up!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Umi was still pondering and absendmindedly agreed. ¡°See you next time!¡± ¡°Yea, see you Michael, take care!¡± With that Umi was back in his tiny body, looking up at his new father with big baby eyes. ¡°Nya¡± a funny sound escaped his throat as the cart jumped over a particular big bump in the road. ¡°Hnng? Ah, Umi. You¡¯re awake!¡± ¡°waa¡­¡± Umi tried to reply, but his throat wasn¡¯t used to speaking yet so only the senseless babble of a toddler came out. Ironhand obviously forced himself to smile before his son. Reality had caught up to him as he steered the cart along the bumpy road for hours on end, leaving his thoughts much time to wander. But finally he hadn¡¯t been able to evade his thoughts anymore. Irlina¡­ she was gone. He would probably never see her again. Was she still alive right now? Did they reach the elven forest yet? Was she having her trial right now? Or¡­ was she shamed and the execution just started? Had they found out about their child yet? Beautiful, kind Irlina¡­ Worry upon worry clashed above his head and his mind sunk into chaos. That was when his, Irlina¡¯s son woke up and pulled him back out of his thoughts with a cute sound. Looking at the child Irlina had desperately wanted to protect even in the face of her executioners Ironhand renewed his determination and forced a smile upon his face. He would definitely protect her son. His son. Seeing that smile Umi was reminded of his grandparents and his hand unconsciously reached towards his father¡¯s face, but he could only reach the beard with his short limbs and slightly pulled on it. Then, trying to cheer up his father, he started playing with the beard in his hands. His actions had the desired effect and Ironhand laughed loudly. ¡®Success!¡¯, Umi smiled. Thus their journey towards Ironhand¡¯s birth town continued. To keep himself from grieving in front of his child the dwarf started to talk. He told his son many things during this time and he had the impression that he somehow understood him¡­ or he just liked his voice. Ironhand found the latter more believable but he still talked. He told Umi about their destination, a mining town called Rissen. Actually it bordered onto a dwarfen city called Turnus, which was the third biggest city in their kingdom. But the town kept its name despite the fact that it was practically considered part of the city already seeing as it was the best mining location within several miles so calling it by its own name was easiest. Rissen was also the only area of Turnus that was above ground. Correct. Turnus as a whole was directly below Rissen. The city was built on the inside of an inactive volcano while Rissen was build atop the thick crust of soil now covering the volcanic opening. The miners travelled inside of the volcano, digging along the inner walls. Millions of years of extreme heat inside the volcano had created hundreds, if not thousands of high purity crystal, mineral and metal veins that were easily accessible from within the volcano chamber. Working in a place like that takes a lot of courage, but after the first brave dwarfes from Turnus had started working there, many joined them and the mining town was founded. They soon created a spiral path along the volcano walls leading down to the city and broke through the surface on the top, creating a path to the city from outside. Previously Turnus could only be reached by traveling through several labyrinth-like cavern systems and passing through about 10 other cities along the way. But with Rissen the dwarves who loved to live underground had created one of their few original towns above ground, also making trade with Turnus easier and more attractive for merchants of other races. Or that¡¯s how it should have been. But unfortunately the volcano was in the middle of monster territory. The very top where Rissen was located was luckily only inhabited by weaker monsters, but if you got closer to the bottom of the volcano the monsters grew exponentially powerful. Meaning Turnus wasn¡¯t visited by any race other than dwarfes, remaining a legendary city in the minds of all the other races. Why legendary? Because Turnus was the most renowned city of craftsmen even amongst the dwarfen kingdom. And as you might have guessed dwarves were the best craftsmen in the world due to their high affinity with earth and therefore minerals. You could find better woodworkers or artists, but dwarfes held the highest position amongst smiths by far. Umi hungrily absorbed all the information his father gave him, wondering all the while how they would get to the city in that case. Would they spend the time until his body was grown up traveling? His questions would soon be answered. However, the answer he got would only give birth to new questions. -------------------------------- Hello everyone, the wannabe author here *makes peace sign* so yea, i didnt drown or got run over, I AM ALIVEE just have been quite busy with work and other things sooo... you gessed it...releases will be slowww and not regularrrr sorry about that to the ones who follow my ff its just a warning :c OFF TO WAR! with work~ See you next time and I''ll look forward to your comments!~ [th_0tive.gif]