"Hero?"
A soft, scratchy voice caused me to raise my head from where I sat resting it on my propped-up knees.
I smiled softly. "You're awake."
Her eyes were squinted as she stared at me, as if she couldn't process the sight of me sitting on a chair in front of her. She groaned and slowly lifted an arm from beneath the bed covers to grab her head. Alarmed, I set my legs down on the floor and reached for her, "What's wrong? How do you feel?"
"It's… too bright," She choked out and I let out an 'Oh' and went to close the curtains that had been letting the early morning sun rays in.
I came back to her and had only just rested my fingers on her head to examine her when the door to the clinic room slammed open and a tall, blonde man with the exact same features as Lilly opened the door and stepped in. There was a deep frown on his face.
He held a basket which I supposed held food, but as soon as he saw me, he yelled, "You! I told you to leave this place." His gaze followed my outstretched arm to where they rested on her face and his features contorted in anger, "What the hell are you doing to my daughter?"
I frowned and drew my arm back. "I'm sorry, sir, but I couldn't leave until I was sure she was fine," I said. "She is now so I'll be taking my leave."
"Hero," Lilly, who I'd forgotten was awake, called weakly in protest. I ignored her. There was no reason for me to remain here with her any longer. She was safe now. She was back with her family and had gotten the treatment she needed. Everything was as fine as it could possibly be.
The room was quiet as I got up and picked up the sword hilt I had set on the ground. I walked to Lilly's dad who stared coldly at me and stretched out my hand, handing it over to him. Rage drew his features together as he realized what it was but before he could question me, I slipped around him and walked towards the door.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted Cassie, Lilly's little sister whom she trusted. She hid silently behind her dad, avoiding looking at me, but really, I didn't blame her for what she did. I left the room and shut the door quietly.
Two days ago, everything had been perfectly fine. I was a new player running around like a headless chicken trying to solve a simple task and now, not even a full forty-eight hours later, this absolute disaster had happened.
Back in the forest, when I discovered no one was coming to help, I decided sitting around wasn't going to help in any way. I grabbed Lilly's backpack from the ground and ate some of the remaining food in it. Once I'd gained all my energy back, I picked her up and carried her all the way back to Woodpine, all the while trying to stop her bleeding by stuffing the frays of the torn parts of her clothes into the wounds. After a while, I stopped though. I was probably making it worse somehow and decided it would be better to just focus on getting to town quickly.
It was that time of day when people were around so it was impossible to avoid looks and concerned stares. I could only imagine what it looked like.
"Is that Lilly?" Someone had called, and more and more attention was on us. I didn't give them time to speculate though, shielding her face and running even faster.
I wanted to check the map for where the town's hospital could be but it occurred to me that I couldn't do the gesture with Lilly in my arms. What an awful inconvenience. I noted it for future times and headed straight to Lilly's house, careful not to jostle her in my hurry. It didn't matter that going there was going to make this situation unfavorable for me. It was what was necessary.
Lilly's dad wasn't home. He'd gone to work as usual because Lilly and I weren't gone up to a day so there was no reason for him to be worried. But if this had all happened the next day, I'd have had to face him sooner than I'd have liked. Thanking my lucky stars, I knocked on the door, my barely controlled voice and urgent tone convincing Cassie to let me in.
The door opened. It made me cringe, horror on Cassie's face as soon as she laid her eyes on her sister in this state, bloody and unconscious. Under my instruction she ran back to the center of town to get medical help while I spent my time waiting by checking Lilly's pulse and pacing the living room.
This whole thing could have been salvaged had Cassie not revealed my stay at their house yesterday. The doctor and his assistant came to help take Lilly to the clinic and her father, Mr Dirge was called all the way from Woodpine's local library. His face was pale when he stormed in asking for his daughter, the doctors and healers trying to calm him — she'd lost a lot of blood but they could still save her with healing magic and medication.
Only after he calmed down did he notice me, and his next words were, "Who are you?"
And Cassie who'd been crying for her sister the entire time started crying harder, immediately telling Mr Dirge about Lilly bringing me to their home and telling her not to spill. She didn't know what we were doing but she'd heard us leave in the early hours of the morning. And immediately, everything was pinned on me.
I tried explaining everything to Mr Dirge but as it was, he refused to listen to anything that came out of my mouth and asked me to leave before he demanded my arrest. He couldn't prove I did anything so that was my saving grace, I guess. Not that there was anything to prove.
As I walked aimlessly through the streets, I felt even more like a failure than ever. I knew a good chunk of the unfortunate shit was a result of the shit configuration of this game, but it didn't make the feeling hit any less.
This was a dead end. Really, I had nothing to do but start over again. A new save file where I could make better choices, and pick a quest that wouldn't be hell to get stuck in. That was the best course of action for me right now, but deep down, almost instinctually, I knew it was impossible, just like logging out was.
At this, I let out a laugh. Anyone watching from a distance would think I had gone mad. I laughed deeply, almost maniacally, until my throat hurt. I laughed at my predicament. At the fact that I wanted to give up but didn't even have that choice. I laughed at myself for getting into this game for whatever reason I did in the first place.
Sighing, I opened my menu, deciding to wait a bit longer and see what happened. It was magic they were using to heal her, it couldn't take too long before she was completely fine. Looking at my screen, I saw I had notifications as usual, but my heart started to race faster when I saw what they were.
[New Skill Acquired]
[You've leveled up!]
Swallowing thickly, I tapped on the bottom one first.
[You've leveled up!]
[Monster slain: [ERROR_null]]
[XP points gained: 750]
[Congratulations, Hero! You've moved to Level 5.]
[Stats:
Strength [7]
Defence [5]
Agility [10]
Vitality [7]
Intelligence [6]
Endurance [5]
You can now select a Class.]
I exhaled slowly after going through everything and ran a hand down my face. This was good. I deserved some good news after the hell I'd gone through with this game's shit start.
I closed the window and went to check the other notifications.
[Messaging Unlocked]
[You can view and message close acquaintances and friends in your Friends list.]
[New Skill Acquired]
[You used Absorb by slaying [ERROR_null] and gained Flicker!]
[Tap here to learn about Flicker]
Well, then. About time.