Ben wakes up the next morning as the sun's rays come through the hut. He struggles to get up. `Are my thoughts really mine or just part of the fragments that make me up? Who am I really? Created and then packed into an illusion. For what? What is my purpose in this world?` Ben sighs
he probably won't get any answers to those questions at the moment. Through the curtain of leaves he emerges from the hut. Malwin lies curled up in front of him. He opens one eye and watches Ben before he stands up and stretches. Slowly he trots to Anabella's home and lies down on the ground again. Ben, on the other hand, looks around to find the Dyrade as the events of yesterday come back to his mind.
He shakes his head slightly to dispel the thoughts. Now is not the time, he has so many questions and no time to daydream. When they reach the tree, Anabella already comes out of it. She looks exhausted and tired. "Are you all right? You look worn out." The dryad smiles faintly "I was talking to my sisters about you."
Ben tilts his head slightly "huh are there any other dyrads here or do you have cards for that?" "No we dryads can communicate with each other like this. It's one of our racial abilities. Ben I hope this isn't too personal but what kind of heart cards do you have?"
Ben thinks for a moment before answering " I have two Jack of all Trades cards, one for Life skills and the other for Magic skills." The dryad's eyes grow wide " Ben are you sure? Can you send me the information?" Ben doesn't understand what Anabella wants him to do. "Use your interface and there you can select the heart cards with your mind. After that, think 'send' and then me. Then you should get a message about sharing your heart cards details."
Ben is about to open his interface when he remembers Maxwell's warning. He tells Anabella about it, but she only snorts "If you had a tracker or a spell like that, I would have noticed it immediately and erased it. You can safely use your interface and cards but please show me Maxwell's book. That would be the best way to hide a tracker." Ben calls the book out of the void and wants to hand it to the dryad but she says "Put it on the floor. There are several enchantments on the book. I will dissolve them all."
The book on the floor starts to glow as the dryad casts a spell on it. The glow fades into a slight glow as the phenomenon stops completely. "Mhm there were more spells on it than I thought. A suggestion spell and a time spell, among others. No bad enchantments as thought. Do you have any other stuff from Maxwell, if so everything out with it." Ben pulls everything out of the void and as the sigil falls out the dryad snorts angrily.
The seal starts glowing and begins to melt. "That was a tracker. It also had a suggestion spell on it. As soon as the counterpart is near you, you would believe everything the other person says. I already had my doubts but this confirms my suspicions. Maxwell is not the Samaritan he claims to be. First the enchanted items and second the sigil doesn't bear the symbol of the All Mother as you told me in your story yesterday."
Ben shakes his head. Sad and hurt. `I should have known better than to trust Maxwell. He had some other motives. He probably just wants to use me too, like that noble house." The dryad picks up the disenchanted book and starts reading while Ben calls up his interface.
Name : Ben Allister (???)
Age : 21 years
Race : ???
Lvl : 1 ( 0 / 100 exp )
Hero System [tap to open]
Heart cards 2/5 [tap to open]
Pack of cards 3/20 [tap to open]
Sidedeck [tap to open]
Wait why am I 21 years old now? I was only 16 the other day and why doesn't the system know what race I am and what the fuck are the question marks after my name?` Ben notices the inconsistencies when he asks the dryad about it, who looks up from Maxwell's book.
"I honestly can't tell you but there could be several factors. The illusion or your assembled self." He ignores it for the moment and adds it to the list of Weird Matters. Once in the interface he sends his card information to Anabella. She looks up from the book again and reads through Ben's information.
The more time that passes, the more her eyebrows draw together. Suddenly the dryad disappears into her tree and Ben stands around helplessly, turning to Malwin, who just yawns and returns to his sleep.
Ben shrugs his shoulders and decides to eat something. Anabella must have had a reason for her disappearing. Ben lies in the grass and looks at the leaves as they blow in the wind.
`The leaves are just like me. A slight force from outside and they move with the force. 3 weeks ago I was happy in my bubble of ignorance and now here I am, apparently making soul love to a dryad. Oh yeah and apparently I'm 21 too. Life is crazy.
Nothing makes sense but I should be even more like the leaves. No matter where the wind comes from always ride it gently. If I could caress Anabella one more time. I should probably ask her again for a second exam. Nonono rather not. She seems like a nice person and is really trying to help me too.` His mind wanders as Anbelle looms over his head.
"Ben I think we've figured out what's going on."