"You never know, maybe it is love at first sight."
"Really? Love at first sight, what are you even talking about. Do you even know anything about him?" The female voice rang in Erik's ears. Blinking his eyes rapidly, Erik hoped to escape from these two as quickly as possible. He did not want to get dragged into the conversation.
"I know that he is handsome."
"Mmmh," The female paused for a few seconds, "Alright, I will give you that. He is."
As this sentence entered Erik's ears, his eyes finally cleared. While the last one was more to his favor, being from a female, he did not want to get dragged into something strange. Instead of taking his time to appreciate his surroundings and the beauty of the temple. Not even taking the time to check out who was talking, he simply looked for the nearest door and rushed it.
"Oh great, guess he heard you." A female voice traveled to the running Erik.
"Me! You were the loud one."
"How dare you!"
The voices faded as Erik neared the door, luckily they didn't seem to be following him. Naturally, he was curious why they were waiting in the temple. 'They must be a priest and priestess,' Was his answer, a good enough one to stop him from looking back.
Through the door, Erik stopped and breathed heavily, glad that he had avoided a potential social accident. Taking his time Erik started looking around, quickly realizing he had underestimated the game.
'How is this possible.'
He realized it really felt like real life. He could smell a sweet smell given off from the garden he had rushed into. Behind him stood the temple, majestic and massive. Taking the space of nearly ten houses, the houses used for scale being those beyond the garden. A wide light gray street separating the garden and houses.
"Did those two scare you? They certainly can be scary." A high pitched voice traveled into Erik's ears. Looking around he found a little girl tending to some of the flowers against the church's walls. The girl was wearing a cute, frilly white dress.
He had no idea what type of flowers they were, in fact all the plants in the garden looked strange. He had a feeling that they were native to this land inside of the game. This small thing gave him another shock, realizing that this game was simply too large then.
From all the things he had read and heard, he knew the NPCs seemed to be alive. Yet now it also seemed that there was an entire fauna in the game, different from reality. Erik felt quite confident that these plants in this garden were not magical, at least they wouldn't be potent magical plants. He had no idea how he knew this, but he had a strong feeling that it was indeed the case.
"Mister, do you like these Kitrino flowers?" The little girl asked, plucking one of the bright yellow flowers she was tending, offering it to Erik. The flower had large petals surrounding a small white spot.
"For me?" Erik took the flower carefully, unsure of what was going on. As he took it he could feel, something...
After a few seconds, he felt that this feeling was telling him that this flower loved, that it cared. He had no idea what this meant, yet he somehow got this from holding the flower.
"Thank you, young lady. Can you tell me a bit about this flower?"
To which the girl energetically nodded her head, taking Erik's hand and leading him to the rest of the Kitrino flowers. The flowers grew strangely, having a dense bush at the bottom and a few vines extending from it. These vines clung onto the temple, from which the flowers bloomed.
"This is my favorite flower. Mother always said that it is really special. It only blooms when loved and cared for diligently. In return, it gives us these beautiful flowers. The petals make the best tea ever!"
Erik felt a smile grow on his face as he heard the girl's enthusiasm. 'I guess that is what I felt.' He thought, believing that he felt what the plant needed to live.
"How does this plant survive in nature then?" Erik asked, wondering how such a delicate thing could survive.
"Dad always said that they are cared for by the animals. The animals would give it love and in return, they will be given the flowers to enjoy!"
"How lovely," Erik now started wondering if the plant was actually magical. It sounded magical to him.
Smiling widely the girl moved onto another flower, glad that she could share her knowledge with someone. "This over here is Apalo Roz. Sorry mister, but I am not allowed to give you one of its flowers." The girl looked down, pouting.
Seeing this Erik patted her head, "That is quite alright. I love the Kitrino you gave me. May I touch the Apalo Roz?" The girl nodded energetically to Erik's question, happy that he wasn't angry.
Touching the flower Erik soon felt something again. Stroking the flower he soon felt more, this flower wanted to help, but it also needed help. 'What on earth does this mean.'
"Young lady, what is your name?" Erik asked, still stroking the Apalo Roz.
"Akarui!"
Erik chuckled to her energetic response, "Thank you for the gift Akarui, can you tell me about the Apalo Roz?"
"It is a lovely flower isn't it?"
"It certainly is."
"The priest say that it is a lifesaver. I don't really know why, but they told me to always take good care of it."
"And how do you do that?"
"I give it sweetened water!"
'Sweetened water?' Erik was confused, but he simply nodded after a short pause. He didn't unravel the mystery behind his feeling this time, but he wasn't upset. Instead, he was suddenly hooked by the game. He already loved it.
It was so lovely, he wondered why on earth people would want to fight in this game. This world seemed far more interesting to simply explore.
"And what about this tree. Why does it seem so lonely?" Erik felt a strong lonely feeling from this tree. As he neared the tree this loneliness turned into sadness.
"All its friends died." Akarui's voice was soft, yet Erik caught her response.
Looking around he quickly realized that the tree seemed to be in a large open space in the garden. Only surrounded by grass, this seemed normal. A garden would normally have open spaces, allowing people to enjoy it. But Erik felt something more was at work here, the space seemed a bit too large to him. He had no idea why he thought so, he had never really been into plants in real life.
"Do you know why its friends died?"
"Too many people died."
Hearing this reply Erik was left speechless. He had no idea how this was supposed to be an answer, wanting to know more he approached the tree and placed his hand onto it. A feeling of emptiness and despair quickly invaded him.
Gasping for air Erik fell to his knees. A freezing cold spreading through him while his mind blanked out.
"Mister! Mister are you alright?" A worried Akarui kneeled by Erik.
"Sorry," Erik gasped for air, not managing to say anything more. Having barely managed to hear Akarui's voice.
Worried Akarui quickly grabbed a different flower. A rose. Bringing it to Erik and placing it on his neck. As soon as she did Erik felt things turn for the better. First having his mind return, then the cold left and the emotional pain left last. When he felt well enough to stand he first took the flower from his back. Only to find that it was completely withered, turning to ash in his hands.
"What flower was that?"
"It was a Chairomai. I, always use it when I think of my mommy..." A few tears left Akarui's face as she said this. Yet she didn't take a Chairomai for herself, she knew that using more than one a week would be bad for the flower.
Seeing her tears Erik felt bad, not wanting to force Akarui to talk about it he decided to ask something else.
"And what is the tree called?"
"It is called a Lypi tree." Akarui whispered her reply, seeming not wanting to talk about the tree either.
"Lypi tree... Akarui, what about this flower." Erik continued asking Akarui questions about all the different types of plants in the garden. Praising her often for her knowledge, soon she became happy and energetic again.
Erik spent almost the entire day with her, only leaving the temple after four. While she had offered him a place to stay, Erik didn't want to meet the other two again.
Walking through the city Erik wondered where he should go. As such he called to the system, searching through the interface for the map.
After a few wrong tabs, he finally found the map. Opening it he was quickly overwhelmed, the entire city appearing before his eyes. Taking a moment he asked it to zoom in on his location.
'Alright, let's go to an inn.' As he thought this a few buildings on the map lit up.
'How handy, let's see. The Boiling Axe, The Tricky Cats, Jolly Swords, The Young Tree...'
Not knowing anything about any of the inns, Erik simply chose one of the closest ones and headed there.