- Ugh, here we go again.

SOMEONE IS STICKING A FINGER in my nose. Again.

"Knock it off!"

I yank the creature's hand from my nose and stumble back when it flutters towards me like a honeybee. "Stay back, monster!"

I never knew meatballs could have facial muscles that pull up in expressions of horror. But guess you learn a new thing everyday. The meatballs's face contorts like lightning and a look of absolute terror washes it over as it spins around.

"Monster? Oh no, where?!"

Weirdly enough, it has the voice of a young boy and the words turn into a frenzied screech, ripping through my eardrums.

"I'm talking about you, meatball!" I shout back.

It pauses, and then, "Did you just call me a meatball..?" No, I just called you a monster.

It slowly flies to me and I take a step back. Unfortunately, an open space in the wild is only so big and my back soon hits the trunk of a tree before I can put a mile in between us. I look back at the forest, quickly weighing the pros and cons of taking off in the middle of night. The trees answer me back with vile, dangerous whispers– exuding an enigmatic dark aura. Extremely off putting. Definitely not a great idea.

God, maybe I should've gone to those camping trips Shin Woo always invited me to. I literally can’t make a fire to save my soul.

"Take it back!"

I don't dare reply. A boyish huff enters my ears and I see the meatball kick an indignant leg while flying. This can't get weirder than that.

"You do realise that is food-shaming, right?"

My genius tongue throbs to point out that it is actually body shaming. But I'm still in shock that I just freeze in response.

"Do you?"

Its big eyes go bigger, as it leans towards me, peering down like I was an ant. You know what, I take it back. More than a flying meatball, it looks more like an actual scary Mike Wazowski if Disney and Pixar decided to greenwash this creature and take an eye out so he'd look more approachable. Maybe this is all a dream. It better be a dream.

Wake up, I urge in my head.

Suddenly, two eyed Mike Wazowski shoots away from me with excited eyes. “Look! A snowpale butterfly. It’s off season!”

Wake the hell up, Rudra.

But it is at this brilliant moment that the same decadent voice decides to speak. This time, I feel it infiltrate my mind. Like a slow tendril of fog that aches to move, the voice enters my consciousness, echoing closer than comfortable. It sounds mostly like a tired woman with a bad case of common cold. Yet, I feel my body petrify as the foreign sensation of having a voice in my head overruns me like cobwebs that won't go.

"New quest detected," the female voice drones. "Reach the city gates of Brumdn Cove to proceed. I repeat, reach the city gates of Brumdn Cove."

The voice goes away as slowly as it comes, leaving me with an unshakeable chill. My legs give out and I sink to the ground. As self-deprecating as it sounds, my brain didn't have the capability to conjure actual words while I’m sober, let alone when I’m sleeping. This can't be a dream.

"Brumdn Cove is miles away. You'd better start now if you want to reach there by morning," the flying pest hums.

"You heard the voice?"

"The voice? Oh, you mean the System? Of course I did. We're best pals!" For unfathomable reasons, it looks smug, like being best friends with a tired, creepy voice was the friendship of the century.

Swallowing, I finally look around me, taking in the dark forest and the eerie sky. The trees are higher than anything I’ve seen, rising above me like a steep mountain range of mosses, the colour of a raven. From the top, feeble moonlight peers down, barely enough to light anything. The meatball– creature had a torch planted on the damp ground so at least, we weren’t drenched in absolute darkness.

I pinch myself. If this is indeed a dream, I will wake up, right? I pinch more. Harder, harsher. Nope. Nothing. The creature looks at me curiously. Maybe it is the boyish voice or the big eyes, but I get a feeling that if there are a horde of these creatures, it might be on the younger side of its species.

I glance at the forest again and sigh. There is no way in hell that I can get out of this scary canopy of leaves by myself. Even Shin Woo and his camping skills may not be of any use against the aberrant darkness. And staying in this miniscule clearing forever is definitely not the way to survive.

So I make up my mind.

“Do you have a name?” I ask.

Its lips pull into what is the scariest and ugliest smile I’ve ever seen. I stop myself from shuddering as I stare at it with a straight face. With a highly pleased flourish, it bows its head. Or more like, bows the only part of its body that aren’t limbs.

“Of course I do, silly. I go by Foras. Sounds dainty, doesn’t it?”

“Foras?” It did not suit a flying piece of meat. Foras nods again with his whole body.

“I totally love it!” I bet you do.

“So, how do we get to Brumdn Cove?” I ask. The cold dips, adding sudden urgency to my mind that is already a mess. Foras extends two thin hands while shrugging like an actual crook. “Oh, I don’t know. I was hoping you’d know. Since you’re the Chosen One and all that jazz.”

Chosen one? Now, what does that even mean? Forget it. One thing at a time.

Sighing in exasperation, I look around once again, trying to miraculously find a well lit exit. Maybe I should gather some dry twigs and cook this unhelpful floating meat while I’m at it.

Ignoring Foras, I walk around the clearing with the torch in my hand. The bark of the trees are obsidian, merging with the dark, like night solidified. Beyond the trunks, I see nothing. The trees are a wall of barren black covered in climbers and I feel a bursting frustration creep in.

Perhaps, it felt my internal chiding or the System was simply doing its job but it decides to grace me with its presence again. This time, I’m ready when the sense of fog engulfs me and I don’t resist when it reaches inside my head.

“Congratulations hero, you’ve unlocked the beginner’s kit. Equipping: a level one D grade armour, a level one D grade sword, a level one D grade boots, a level one D grade cape and a level one D grade helmet. You can view the items in the inventory.”

Before the System can ditch me again, I question back. “How do I reach Brumdn Cove?” I ask in my head, deducing telepathy might be the key for communication. “And how do I access the inventory?”

There’s a pause and a throat clear. When the System speaks again, it sounds tired, borderline annoyed and a whole lot slower. “East. Brumdn Cove is in the east. And about the inventory–” it stops. Sighing, it continues. “You are wearing it.”

After all this time, I finally notice the flimsy backpack I’m wearing. It is in tatters and the zip is broken. “This is the inventory?” I don’t care to hide the incredulity.

There isn’t even the slightest hint of a hitch as the System replies. “Doing a B grade quest is mandatory to earn the mental inventory. This is simply the beginner’s one.” AKA beggars can’t be choosers.

“Um, so, what exactly is the purpose of having Foras float around me?”

“System cannot compute.” Can I punch you? Will that make you compute?

With each growing second, I start feeling the impatient System creep away. Having no clue when I can access it again, I blurt out the question that has been bugging me since I woke up here. “System, wait! Is this . . . is this real? How do I get out of here?”

It’s a feeling but I know the System precisely understood what I meant. I don’t get a reply and the seconds trickle away. The foreign chill accompanying the System is almost gone and a sense of devastation pushes me hard. I feel the frustration finally break in, in the form of hot tears on the verge of falling, when I hear a faint answer.

“Are you real?” The System asks me back. It’s faint. Almost a whisper. “Maybe, you already know how to get back.

t o b e c o n t i n u e d

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Any thoughts about The System and Foras? I LOVE THEM HAHAHA.

If you liked the chapter, consider adding the story to your library. You can also contact me via my socials.

Instagram: @kaitsukama

Twitter: @kaitsukama

And if you want to support me, you can also buy me a ko-fi! You can find me @kaitsukama :)

Thank you and see you on the next chapter!

- A healthy walk in the dark

“WHAT HAPPENED?” FORAS ASKS. “You are totally zoning out.”

I ignore him, grabbing the backpack. It weighs almost nothing and when I look inside, it has nothing, too. Until Foras reaches in and picks out a piece of parchment close to tatters. Where did he find it?

“Brumdn Cove is on the east!”

I stop at his words. “Did you eavesdrop again?” Foras thrusts the paper onto my chest, with a face similar to my mum’s face when I show her the report card. “It’s on the map,” he says. Add in a ‘duh’ at the end and it’ll be the perfect diss.

I take the ‘map’ from Foras and peer into it. And I must say, I understand utterly nothing. Not even a single stroke of ink on it. The map is a thick piece of yellowed vellum, the kind I’ve only seen in historical films. Across it, a noodle of strokes runs haphazardly, making zero sense whatsoever. There aren’t any words on it let alone coordinates. Even with a compass, I’m as good as a pond fish lost in the sea. So how the heck do I find which way is the east without one?

If Shin Woo was here, he’d probably know.

I wonder what he is doing right now. Was he crying? Did he tell Hanna about my mammoth of a crush on her? Was he eating my share of food? We were supposed to go to the new tteokbokki place at the corner across from the dormitory.

I wonder about my family too. Mum was supposed to cook me biryani this weekend when I’d visit home. And dad would be there too, for once in casuals instead of his work attire. I let every mundane promise run over me and at last, I face the big question.

Was I dead in the real world?

Are you real? Maybe, you already know how to get back.

At least my sister might be okay getting used to not having me around. She’d dig it– OH EM GEE GOOD RIDDANCE DEVIL BRO– if I’m being completely honest.

Since I am not a born explorer and the only thing here with me is a loudmouthed loose lip with an annoying tendency to talk in paroxysms, I turn to Foras with resignation. “So? Know how to get out of here?” For good measure, I poke at it with an index finger with what I hope is my best smile— buddy-buddy, warm and whatever the heck I was trying to project on Foras. Better get on his good side rather than end up getting eaten up for calling him a monster.

“You are asking me?” He looks touched to the point, my toes curl in guilt. Wordlessly, I nod and Foras gives me the same scary-ugly smile he does. I guess he is giving me his best one, too. Hope I don’t look as put off as him when I do.

“I knew we would get along exceptionally well! The System scoffed when I told her.” I wince at the paroxysm of smug happiness constantly raining on me but now that the initial shock of waking up in the middle of nowhere with a meatball sticking a finger into my nose has faded, I manage an actual smile.

“You're the boss,” I tell Foras. It doesn’t take a genius to realise blind walking into the forest won’t be the key to escape. That’s what the dumb characters in horror films do. And they’re the ones that always die first.

A grin grows on Foras’ face, crinkling it like indentations. With sparkling eyes, he pushes up a thumbs up. “Leave it to me, hyung!”

Let me take it back. Maybe blind walking would’ve already gotten us out of the forest.

“Are you sure this might be the way?” I ask for the hundredth time.

“A hundred and twenty three percent sure,” he says. Cue the grin. “I can bet my toe it is!”

No wonder Foras flies. If not, he’d be crawling with amputated legs.

Time stretches like a gigantic piece of chewed bubblegum, going on and on but never snapping. And just like that, I lose the little sense of time I had held on to. Around us, the scenery doesn’t change. The forest looms on us in that ever scary way, totally unfriendly to anyone with claustrophobia. Our puny torch tries its best but there’s only so much it can light. We barely see two feet in front of us.

“When will morning come?” I ask and Foras gives me that same duh-derogatory look.

“It won’t. Not until we get out of Gaal’s Grove.”

“Gaal’s Grove?”

“You don’t know anything, do you?” Foras asks me.

“And how do you know everything?” I reply defensively, a scowl colouring my features. It’s such a weak retort that I internally slap myself. Thankfully, Foras is too self-absorbed to actually care.

“Because I’m the guide!”

“The what?”

“The guide!”

The words finally register in my brain. Foras is a guide. A guide who doesn’t know how to get out of the first obstacle in the game. Great. Amazing. I’d better start looking for a coffin that is my size.

“Maybe we should start marking the way,” I finally say. I rummage through the sad excuse of an inventory but there’s barely anything. Crouching, I look on the ground for stones or pebbles that could help mark the tree barks . “Oh, that won’t work,” Foras helpfully inputs.

“And just why won’t it?”

“Because this is Gaal’s Grove! It’s a constantly rearranging maze made of Stygian Fir.”

A maze. It is a freaking maze! The anger finally kicks in and I grab one of the creature’s legs. “Yah! And it didn’t occur to tell me that before now?”

Foras actually contemplates the rhetorical blame. Actually contem-freakin’-plates. Somebody give me patience so I don’t kill him with my bare hands.

“No,” Foras says. “I thought you knew.”

“Oh my god, I’m going crazy!” I yell. Vexation fills every cell of me and instead of waiting for the System to make contact, I reach out to it for the first time.

“System? System, do you hear me?” I ask in my mind. The slow motion fog arrives quite faster this time and I feel The System in my head in an instant.

“How may I help you, hero?”

“How do I get out of Gaal's Grove?” I’m not exceptionally intelligent but I’m not a moron either. Right questions, I tell myself. This sneaky system hides behind giving misleading answers.

“That, I can’t answer.”

I scoff. “You answered all right last time.”

The System goes silent for a second, and then, an exasperated sigh. “I truly cannot answer that, hero. Reaching the city gates of Brumdn Cove is the first quest. Which makes getting out of Gaal’s Grove your obstacle.”

Getting over my shock of waking up in a game world, my mind finally reels with all the possible ways to complete this. I’m nowhere near a serious gamer but I have my share of experience in playing RPGs. But no matter how much I rack my brain, I come up with nothing. No game gives such a difficult first quest. Heck, they’d be destroyed with bad player reviews if they dare.

“How many lives do I get?”

She smacks me back with sass. “Why don’t you try and figure it out yourself?”

Huffing, I spin to Foras. “Pass me the torch!” I bark. Foras looks confused but still passes it. I feel the System in my head, not moving an inch. Suit yourself. If you won’t tell me things, I’ll just do them my way.

I walk to one of the trees and grab the climber running along it. Foras finally puts two plus two and his voice dips with worry. “Uh, hyung, what are you doing?”

I give him a dry smile. “Just getting out of here.”

And then, I light it on fire.

t o b e c o n t i n u e d

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I swear Rudra is the personification of intrusive thoughts hahaha.

If you liked the chapter, consider adding the story to your library. You can also contact me via my socials.

Instagram: @kaitsukama

Twitter: @kaitsukama

And if you want to support me, you can also buy me a ko-fi! You can find me @kaitsukama :)

Thank you and see you on the next chapter!