WORD COUNT: 2,992
"The...magic realm?" Eli asked slowly, giving purple-eyed man a look of disbelief.
"Yes. The Magic Realm. Were you not paying attention to a word I said?" purple-eyed man asked.
"I mean...we read it..." Alex mumbled.
"You just weren't actually listening because you didn't think it mattered." purple-eyes sighed. Alex and Eli looked at each-other, then back to purple-eyed man, then shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads dumbly.
"Well then let me recap," purple-eyes said with a great amount of clear exasperation, "The royal family thinks they're all high-and-mighty because they pretty much are, so they want to take all magic out of the kingdom. Once all magic is removed, they will be the only remaining wizards in the land and, therefore, all powerful. We need you two to help us to prevent that from happening. The process of wiping out all magic has already begun, so we have to work quickly and efficiently."
A beat passed of Alex looking between purple-eyes and Eli, back and forth, blinking very hard before he decided to say something.
"Okay, first of all, what? Second, why do you need us of all people? I'm sure there are plenty of geeky superfans of this stupid game that would absolutely die to be in our position," Alex asked, arms folded and eyebrow raised skeptically.
"To be completely honest, I don't know. Usually, whoever clicks 'no' just gets their memories of the game erased and the game resets. I guess the game decided it wanted you, though, and I'm not really one to argue with the programming," purple-eyes explained.
"That literally helps nothing," Elijah complained.
"Third, who is 'we'?" Alex asked, ignoring Eli's commentary.
"Me, Joan, if you didn't catch it the first time, and then Amber and Evalyn," Joan replied simply.
"Who are they?" Eli asked, interrupting whatever Alex was about to say, "'Cause if they're as weird as you, I quit."
"Oh, no. You can't do that. There's no quitting. You're stuck here until we defeat the royal family. That's how the programming works," Joan said casually, as if it were no big deal at all. Elijah paled, his jaw dropped just a little bit. Alex patted him on the shoulder as a gesture of comfort, though he, himself, was rather uneasy. Eli half-heartedly brushed his hand off and shook his head.
"Alex, can I talk to you a minute?" he asked, and began to walk in the other direction before Alex could really utter his response. Alex followed regardless, waiting until they were out of earshot before he started talking.
"So what's up?" he asked calmly. Eli abruptly stopped walking.
"'What's up'? 'What's up'?! What do you mean, 'what's up'? We are stuck in a wizarding video game RPG with seemingly no way out, and you have the nerve to ask 'what's up'? I'm freaking out, man! What do you think is up?!" Elijah whisper-shouted. Alex's eyes widened a little at his aggressive tone. Eli had little outbursts all the time, but the words "freaking out" never seemed to come up. (Usually, its was something more along the lines of "I'm fine, but-" or "I'm fine, it's just" or "Don't worry about me, I'm good, but like-".)
"Just take a deep breath. To be honest, I'm just waiting to wake up. This is the most absurd thing that's ever happened to me, and I know it can't be real. We'll be fine. As soon as we wake up, we'll be in my room, right where we left. So just try to keep your breathing even and maybe I'll get us some ice cream or something when we wake up," Alex reasoned, managing to sound convincing enough that Eli actually listened (albeit, reluctantly). He wasn't sure whether he actually believed what he was saying or not, but Eli seemed to believe it and that was all that mattered. He took a deep breath in through the nose and huffed it out.
"I guess you're right. This-...This can't be real. It's too...weird to be real," Eli decided with an uncertain nod.
"Exactly. So let's go back there and just do whatever weird stuff Joan asks us to do, pretend like we're listening to him, and stick it out until we wake up. Then we can make another video since we're supposed to upload in two days," Alex suggested. Eli ran a hand down his face with a sigh, but he nodded and started walking back toward Joan with Alex by his side. He was slightly intimidated by his tall the hills (for lack of a better word), and he didn't enjoy having to actively avoid stepping on pointy crystals in the ground. He grew more and more angry with every rock that he failed to see and accidentally stepped on. Those rocks were pointy, they hurt. His resentment for this "Magic Realm" continued to boil.
"So have you sorted out whatever you needed to sort out?" Joan asked, clearly uninterested in hearing an actual answer.
"Yes. We've decided that you're dumb as hell, but we'll let you drag us around until we wake up," Eli said, punctuating his sentence with an overly-friendly, very fake smile.
Joan scoffed.
"You are awake, but keep ignoring reality, I suppose. I'm just saying, it's going to hurt when you realize that this is happening whether you like it or not, and you don't have a way out," Joan warned.
"Wow. That sure scared me," Eli deadpanned, expression void of emotion despite the fact that having no way out of the world made him feel lightheaded and slightly nauseous.
Joan was about to say something else when he froze very suddenly, closing his mouth and turning sharply on his heel. Eli promised himself he did not see the swirl of some 'yellow zappy thing' around Joan's left wrist, but it disappeared when Joan's eyes widened and his concerned expression morphed into one of muted joy. Someone was running over the peak of one of the hills, and for a moment, Eli was worried that the person could be, possibly, about to attack them. That changed when Joan started talking.
"Evalyn! Good to see you. Did you finish the side quest?" Joan asked cheerily. The girl, Evalyn, apparently, brushed her black hair out of her face and dusted herself off.
"Yeah, we got it done. I got ten EXP, so that's good, I guess," she replied unenthusiastically, and whatever Joan had of a smile was gone.
"Ten is better than nothing, I suppose," he sighed.
"Hey, so uh-not to like...look stupid or anything, but..'.EXP'?" Eli asked, waving his hand a little to remind Joan that he was, in fact, still there. It was then that Evalyn first caught sight of two unfamiliar faces. She squinted at them, folding her arms.
"Who are they? I don't remember seeing anyone so...modern and...normal in the programming. Did the game get some sort of...well, these two don't exactly look like 'updates' but I guess there's no other word for it," Evalyn asked skeptically. Joan turned fully to Eli.
"Alright, first thing's first, EXP stands for 'experience points'. Or, in other words, the points you get based on how much work you do and how much improvement you make in the game," Joan explained.
"Dude, you knew that," Alex muttered accusingly, lightly nudging Eli's arm with his elbow.
"Well, yeah, but I didn't know that it applied for this game," Eli mumbled sheepishly, shoulders scrunched up defensively.
"What else could 'EXP' stand for? This is an RPG," Alex retaliated. Joan cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow when Eli and Alex both turned their heads to him.
"Anyway," he said slowly, waiting until he was sure no one else would say anything before continuing.
"Evalyn, this is Elijah and Alejandro. Elijah, Alejandro, this is Evalyn," Joan introduced, gesturing between the three of them expectantly.
"You can call me Eva."
"Eli."
"Alex."
There was a rather awkward round of handshaking and some cringing. Eli made sure to make eye contact with Eva, giving her a small smile. She made a mild face of discomfort, Eli was holding on a little longer than normal. He wasn't exactly interested in her, but he liked to think he was charming.
Joan looked like he might intervene, but another hand slapped their hands apart before he could take a step.
Eli rubbed his suddenly stinging wrist with a soft "ow," and he heard someone snigger behind him (he knew it was Alex, though he couldn't see him).
"Hands off my girlfriend," said the voice a little above Eli's head. He looked up to see fiery brown eyes and a messy head of dark brown, almost black, curls. Eli raised his hands in surrender and took a step back when the burning glare intensified.
"That's what I thought."
Eli suddenly felt smaller than usual. And sort of stupid.
"Boys, meet Amber," Joan announced with a cocky grin. Alex held out his hand to shake with an even mix of reluctance and fear. Amber's eyes flicked from Alex's face to his hand, and then back to his face.
"Touch me and I break your hand," she threatened flatly, and Alex immediately nodded and lowered his hand.
"Well now that you're all acquainted, I believe we have a quest to get to," Joan said as a sad attempt to break whatever awkwardness remained between them.
"Yeah, I know, but what are we going to do about them? It's not like we're bringing them with us," Amber asked. Her face darkened at Joan's silence.
"Right?" She asked again.
"We are bringing them with us, unfortunately," Joan sighed.
"What?" Amber asked incredulously.
"We are right here," Alex reminded, eyes narrowed and hands in his pockets. Amber waved a hand at him dismissively.
"You're kidding, right?" Amber turned to Joan. He took her gently by the arm and walked her a few feet away, where they could whisper knowing that no one else would hear.
"Unfortunately, we have no choice," Joan whispered, and Amber looked like she might scream at him.
"Look, the game chose them: not me. I don't see anything particularly special in either of them, but they're here for a reason, even if it's one that I can not explain nor understand," Joan continued to whisper, and Amber's glare dropped into less of 'you've forsaken me' and more of 'you've greatly annoyed and inconvenienced me.'
"That doesn't make any sense," she muttered.
"I know," Joan agreed, "but there's nothing I can do."
Amber's expression said that she still had a lot to say, but her mouth said nothing. Instead, she nodded and they walked the few feet back to the other three.
"So first thing's first; if we're going to complete this quest, we need to stick together. We are going to be around each other a lot in the next few-...well, for a long time. My point is, if you have any problems with each other, now would be a good time to get it out because we can't fight alongside and against each other at the same time. We need to work together to get our job done. So as previously stated, if any of you have unresolved conflict with each other, and I know you do, now would be a good time to resolve it," Joan explained, hoping everyone might say a quick, reasonable something and then they could move on. There were several moments of silence before everyone started talking and yelling at once.
"You are so dumb, I can't even begin to-"
"I'm dumb? You should hear yourself-"
"I can't stand you. Oh my god."
"You know nothing! I can't even-"
"Oh, I know nothing? Remind me who didn't even know what 'EXP' was?"
Joan's plea for the four of them to be more civil went unnoticed.
"You shouldn't even be here!" Amber yelled.
"You threatened to break my hand! I was just trying to be friendly!" Alex exclaimed defensively.
"I don't even want to be here! You guys are terrible!" Eli accused.
"Look, I'm not the one that popped out of nowhere just weeks before the quest that I've been training for for over a year! Now, not only do we have to take down all-powerful wizards, but we have to keep you two from dying!" Amber ranted.
"Oh, I'm sorry something completely out of my control is a minor inconvenience to you. It's not like I'm confused and upset, too, or anything," Alex replied sarcastically.
"Listen here, you little nobody, I don't recall asking you for your input," Amber shot back.
"Dude, were you even listening to-" Alex started.
"You'd better not finish that sentence. You don't know anything about listening, you-" Amber interrupted.
"Just shut up, oh my god!" Eli snapped.
"Excuse me?" Evalyn asked loudly.
"Don't tell me to shut up, you brainless-" Amber began.
"Alright, stop!" Joan ordered. Immediate silence followed, "Nevermind. I take it back. If you have issues with each other, either keep it to yourselves or deal with it in a civilized manner at a later time."
Evalyn apologized under her breath, and Joan gave her a small nod of acknowledgement.
"So...I suppose we should get going, if there are no more questions?" Joan checked, having calmed down fairly quickly. Eli raised his hand and Joan sighed heavily.
"Yes, Elijah?"
"Where, exactly, are we going?" He asked, and Joan rubbed the back of his neck.
"To train, I suppose. At my...house. It's where I did a majority of the training with Amber and Evalyn. It's a little ways away, though, so we best be on our way as soon as possible," Joan explained.
"I'm guessing I'm not allowed to say I don't wanna go?" Eli asked, and Joan (as expected) shook his head.
"And we're probably not going to get an answer if we ask what you mean by 'train'?" Alex asked, and grimaced a little when Joan grinned.
"You can get an answer, if you so please, but I have a strong feeling that neither of you will like it," He replied.
"Tell us."
"Don't tell us."
Eli and Alex said simultaneously. They looked to each-other and then at Joan, who pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath.
"You two will be the death of me. Let's just go," he decided, turning on his heel, "It's a long walk. We should get a move-on before sunset."
"Can't you just...like...teleport?" Alex inquired, "I mean, you're kinda a wizard."
"Yes, but we have limited power points. We can't waste them on quick travel in the event that something happens," Joan explained.
"But nothing would happen if we could just teleport there. We have a higher chance of running into danger if we just walk. 'Cause, like, isn't traveling on foot really dangerous?" Alex argued.
"You don't understand gaming as I assumed you did. And I assumed you knew very little. The more EXP you earn, the quicker you level up. The quicker you level up, the more powerful and resilient you get. You earn EXP by winning fights, contributing to the group in positive ways, or getting better at casting spells. If we travel by foot, we save power points in the event that we don't get attacked and we get more EXP in the event that we do," Joan said, "Really, Alejandro, you should know this."
There was a moment of silence in which Alex struggled to find the words for a good comeback.
"So...you wanna use your power points to protect yourself...but you wanna save them to protect yourself. What even are power points? Are they...like...spell lists?" Eli asked.
"Do they not have power points in your world?" Joan asked, though he wasn't expecting nor did he want an answer.
"Well, they do, but our Power Points are basically presentation things you do on computers. No one uses it anymore, though, it's really old," Eli replied thoughtfully.
"Yeah, no. That's not at all what our power points are. Our power points are how many spells we can cast in one game. Or, in this world, how many spells we can cast in a day. They reset at midnight," Joan corrected as they all started to walk. (Evalyn and Amber were walking behind everyone by a few feet, engaged in their own side conversation.)
"Oh," Eli said softly in realization, "So how many power points do you have?"
"Forty-five," Joan replied. Eli made a noise of frustration.
"Then couldn't you teleport everyone with forty-four power points leftover?" Eli asked through his teeth.
"No. Every hundred feet takes a power point. Just teleporting one of us would use more power points than I have. Besides, I can only teleport myself and small objects," Joan snipped, "Magic isn't as simple as you're trying to make it."
"Magic can't be simple or not simple, I never said it was! It can't be anything, if it doesn't exist, which it doesn't!" Eli exclaimed angrily. Alex put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a warning look. Eli sighed heavily and heaved in a deep breath.
"You're right," he mumbled. Alex nodded and retracted his hand.
"You need to learn to keep your mouth shut, Elijah. You will get into trouble, if you don't. I can promise you that," Joan warned. Had Alex not shut him up, Joan was ready to show Eli that magic was real and maybe get him to be quiet in the process. Of course he wouldn't do anything major, but he would not hesitate to at least give Eli a good scare.
"Fine," Elijah grumbled, and Joan and Alex both knew that that was the closest thing to an apology that Joan was going to get from him.