They kept at each other, one grinning and the other with glaring eyes. After a few minutes that felt like an eternity, he let down his broken sceptre and looked around. The young knight leapt back but he still kept his eyes and the teenager.
Mike didn't expect the situation to shift this quickly. The boy was sleeping tightly, enough to know that he was tired. The barrier came as a surprise but it wasn't important. The boy could be a mage or an apprentice considering his appearance. He looked around his sixteen years old.
"So, who are you?" Mike sheathed his sword. "Are you from the magic academy?"
"No, what's that?" he looked suspiciously around. He was still in the place where he fainted because of so much running. However, he was surprised by the strange barrier enveloping both of them. It was keeping the Ustriestan away. He looked at the floating window that he didn't close.
He didn't remember the game worked that way but remembered how the fog was deadly for anyone engaging in it. Stephan looked at the man suspiciously. He was fine even when he was standing in the fog. There was no normal human who would just survive being in the mist for long. The Ustriestan seeped inside the bones and made the flesh become rotten and the mind turn insane always looking for brains or living flesh.
He didn't remember much about Legend of the Past but there was something that didn't leave his mind and he always put himself as someone from there. The humans had one kingdom left and they would lose it in a war against the elves because their foolish king raped one of their princesses and enslaved her. It was one of the many scenarios possible and so cruel. Humanity would be enslaved and rendered powerless more than they were.
The memories of last night flashed before him; he spent his night running. The Night Grim's silhouette in his memory sent shivers down his spine. He stood up and picked the second part of the sceptre. Since the knight didn't attack him, he assumed he was from Valtrar, the last of the human kingdoms.
"Since you don't know about it, it means you aren't from there. Well, it's expected since you have poor clothes and you don't have their outfit. I just assumed you were one of them since they are the one that used a barrier like that to protect themselves. So who are you?"
"Are you from the Corp?"
"You know about the inside system of Valtrar. I guess it might be easier for introductions them," Mike brought his hand to heart while clenching his fist and put his other hand over his sword. The left over the heart, the right over the sword hilt. He bent down his head slightly, "I am Mike Roosevelt, one of the new knights of the Outside Walls Corporation. Glad to make your acquaintance!"
Stephan stared at him speechless. The world seemed more and more like that game. However, the game had one fault; things like these never happened in it. The knight didn't look like an NPC either. It was the first time someone greeted him so politely. The last one who did that when he was on Earth was disappointed afterwards since he thought he was someone important. Stephan was important only in the virtual world.
"I am Stephan Lancaster," he said awkwardly. His eyes kept moving up and down at the knight. "Do you know if I can get to a city around here…? Except for Valtrar of course."
Mike rubbed his chin thinking but soon shook his head. "I am still new to the unit and this is my first mission. Maybe some of my companions can tell you what you seek, Stephan. So are you a mage?"
"I am still an apprentice."
"I suggest you don't tell much to the others; they will try to recruit you or make you sign a magic document maybe a blood pact… You see, mages are important for anyone," he hesitated. "Humans don't have many magic talents. We mostly go for knighthood and waste our lives outside the walls."
"Why would you do that?"
"For shortage of food… When the food becomes scarce, the king sends civilians outside for a certain suicide mission but no one mostly returns. Since they were given false blessing and sent inside the fog instead of just walking on the blessed pathway," Mike stared ahead of him, his eyes turning dull slightly. There was a hint of grudge inside of them. Even Stephan who wasn't used to talking to people understood there was something wrong in what the man said.
Stephan remembered something from the game. The war when humans waged it against vampires to protect Darsoania from their hands. The cold was against them and they lost horribly. However, some of the humans were able to escape vampire clutches and moved to Valtrar. However, it wasn't a good idea. Valtrar suffered from shortage of food so they trained the refugees quickly and sent them over the wall, calling it a secret mission. None returned.
He remembered it because he played it in the game. He tried different scenarios to stop the war from happening but it happened anyway; it was as if the game developer set it in stones so no matter what he did, Darsoania was lost to vampires. It was a dirty history of humans, a crashing defeat. Stephan changed his strategy in the game to survival; he made it so there would be a few of dead.
"I bet you aren't supposed to say something like this to me."
"It's true so forget about it," Mike turned his head turning his grudge on Stephan. "But keep my warnings. Don't accept anything they offer you, even if it's food. Surviving on berries might be better for you."
Stephen pointed the sceptre at the knight again. He knew the man wouldn't attack him for a strange reason. "Don't point your grudge at me! I am a lost wanderer. I just wish to move to a safe town," it was a lie tainted with a smile. Stephan smiled.