It had taken a few days to even think of logging back in. The words of the Sorrowful King of the Forest still weighed heavily on his mind. The heroes "invaded" the world of Alrisia, a prophecy, Shadow of the Celestials. He knew the company that created the game and headgear, Dream.net, made the game to be hyper realistic, but this was too real. Certainly the game designers didn't have the programming capability to make every single players experience with an NPC unique to their specific character. There wasn't enough space in the Dreamgear's memory banks to hold that kind of information, if even the devs did have that kind of capability. It just didn't make any sense.
Hesitantly he crossed his room and picked up the Dreamgear. He knew you couldn't actually get trapped in a game like this, but he wasn't sure he could cope with it if this did turn out to actually be another living, breathing world. He placed the Dreamgear on his head and laid down on the bed.
He turned the machine on and closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back on the main street inside the Citadel. Checking to make sure his inventory was in order he headed down towards the main avenue near the entrance to town, where the vendors stood all day attempting to sell their wares. He found a comfy wooden bench to sit on an opened his quest log.
Quest Log (Incomplete)
-Special Quest: Shadows of the Lost Lands
-The Gates of the Shadowlands
-Trials of the Sorrowful King
He looked at the three main quest lines deep in thought. At this moment in time he couldn't complete any of them. He was still waiting to hear from the Black Alchemist's Guild, and his level was too insufficient to even attempt the other two quest lines. There had to be something else he could do to level more quickly, his current progress was painfully slow. He sighed and looked up, and nearly leapt out of his seat. Old Hag Frostbloom stood over him, staring, her face the picture of disapproval and impatience.
"Are you coming?" was all she had said before proceeding to turn around and hobble away on her cane.
Zalin stood up and followed the old hag, more out of curiosity than anything. Her visit had been completely unexpected, and he knew she was waiting for him in any quest line, so maybe he had reach some kind of prerequisite to being her apprentice. That thought was enticing, and enough for him to want to know what was going on. He caught up to Old Hag Frostbloom and walked beside her, slowing his place to hers.
"Where are we going Madame Frostbloom?" he asked politely.
"Hold your tongue boy. The streets of the Citadel are not safe to speak openly in," he replied in a hurried whisper.
He follow the Old Hag up the winding road to her shoppe. Upon entering it she closed and barred the door, locking it firmly in place, before closing the shutters on her windows and dimming the lights. She put a finger to her lips and gestured for him to follow her into the back room. Zalin followed silently without question.
The room turned out to be a storage area of sorts, all manner of herbalist ingredient's, including a few legendary tier ingredients, lined the walls. Though it was the center of the room that attracted his attention the most, where a swirling blue portal floated from floor to ceiling. Where it led to, he could only guess. With the exception of dungeon entrances, nothing he had read on the game suggested other types of portals.
Old hag Frostbloom gestured for him to walk through the portal.
"Be respectful when you meet her boy," she warned Zalin sternly. "Be off with you."
Before he knew what was happening the Old Hag had pushed him through the portal.