PvP Dungeon Hunter

A New World

Who am I?

Akuji a voice spoke in his mind.

Akuji?

Yes, that is your name, don’t you remember?

He heard the humming of a sound playing in his head. It seemed to be reaching to him, guiding him as he slowly fell.

A cool breeze greeted him. His body itched instinctively causing him to scratch. He got up slowly, noticing the lush green grass, daisy flowers, and tall trees swaying in the distance. Birds chirped as they passed overhead, going to and fro. 

Standing, he looked left, then right. He placed his dark brown hands in front of his face and then moved it away. He realized his vision was perfect. How and where was he now? Where were his glasses and how could he see everything so perfectly? Was this all a dream?

On the ground beside him was what appeared to be an old wooden basket. On one side were flowers, herbs, a quill, paper and a strange flute on top. The other side contained food and two strangely shaped bottles. Both had a quarter of their content inside, one was a red liquid and the other was blue. He looked first at the paper, but couldn’t understand a single word written on it.

The bottles were bizarre to him, but also familiar. He bent over to pick the red one up. What was it exactly? He brought it to his nose and smelt it; no smell came from the bottle.

He rested it back down in the basket as a strange-looking display popped into his view. It was so sudden that he stumbled back falling onto the ground.

 Hovering over the object was a display:

Light Health Potion recovers 50 health points.

Light Magic Potion recovers 50 magic points.

He looked at the food in the container.

Pottage plus 1 constitution for 60 seconds fills 10 hunger.

Cheap red wine—lowers thirst by 10

He got himself back up. What exactly is this? It’s almost like a game. But how did he know that? He knew bits and pieces of things, but could not explain how or why.

“Um, hello, are you okay?”

Akuji’s eyes turned to the voice that was behind him.

~~~~~????? Level 1 Green bar 47/50HP~~~~

A squeak followed it as the girl fell to the ground.

She had pale skin and her eyes were mixed, one was grey, the other looked yellow. She quickly hid her yellow eye with her long golden hair. The clothes she wore were simple and looked mostly handmade, a blue and white dress overall with patches on the left side, and a freshly picked red flower was in her hair. Her hands were dirty and bore many calluses. They both had cuts upon them that ran up to her arms and her legs were caked in mud.

Akuji wondered, was she afraid of him?

He licked his lips, realizing that they were dry. He tried his best to smile as he stuttered over himself. “Sorry… who… who are you?”

Her straight eyebrows rose. “My name is Canta.” She got up from the ground. Her hands were now folded and her body turned in. “I found you out here when I was picking herbs and flowers for the task that has been assigned to me in the village. You were passed out and I went to get you some water from the river.”

Akuji took a seat next to the basket. “A village? Is it far? Where exactly is this place? Is this even real, I must be dreaming it all, right?”

The girl looked at him for a while before she approached him one step at a time. It made him feel like he was some sort of wild beast she was trying to tame.

She pulled out a water skin from seemingly out of thin air. “Here.”

Akuji took it in his hand, it was light and the water rattled inside. He noticed it was being registered.

Fills thirst 20.

“Sorry, again… my name is Akuji.” He placed the water to his mouth and drank within an instant it was gone. It was then he noticed that she wore no shoes.

Canta nodded as she took a seat next to him. “I am from the village of Rusvaer. It is a small village and not many people know about it, well other than the people that happen to stumble upon it. It’s only a short distance away from here. I assume you are from the city of Cervantia?”

He nodded his head from side to side.

 “Okay, you see, I thought you were… I thought you were dead or dying and I didn’t know what to do.” She pointed at the potions, and then her hand pointed up. “You fell out of the sky.”

“The sky?”

“Yes, I am so relieved to know that you’re alive. I couldn’t bear to have another death on my consciousness.” She paused and looked at Akuji from head to toe. “Are you an adventurer?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think so.”

 “Then how did you survive the fall?” she muttered to herself. “Where are you from?” She asked while rubbing her thin nose.

Another death? What did she mean about that? Akuji thought about it for a while, and then about himself, but he remembered nothing. The only memory he had was of the most basic things about himself and information regarding things he couldn’t explain. How he knew this had to be a game or a dream, but was unable to put together why. Who exactly was he? Where did he live?

“I don’t remember anything,” he replied as he looked towards the sky.

There was a pause between them and the wind whistled.

“Did you perhaps walk in the forest of forgotten memories?”

“What exactly is the forest of forgotten memories?”

“I am not entirely sure, but a bard that once came to our village talked about it all the time. He said that Adventurers enter there to find a treasure and either met their end or forget who they were.”

“Adventurers?”

“Yes,” she paused for a while and fidgeted with her hands. “Would you like to come with me back to the village? I am not sure what else I can do. You don’t seem like a bad person perhaps the elder could help.”

Akuji nodded his head to her, and a slight smile came to her face.

“Can you see my HP?”

“Your HP?” she looked at him as though he asked a strange question.

So he asked another one. “Do you have a strange menu in the corner of your vision, identifying things for you?”

She looked at him dumbfounded. Her head slightly twisted to the side.

“Ok, this water, how did you produce it? How were you able to bring that to me?”

“I placed it in my inventory and brought it here.”

Akuji nodded. “Inventory great, how do I access that?”

He got the same look from her that he got before.

Canta got up. “I have to pick some more herbs for the village. You can wait here while I get it.”

“Can I help too?” Akuji asked.

“You can’t, it’s the task that’s been assigned to me.”

“It’s still your task. I am just helping you do it faster.”

“Um, okay, pick the herbs that look like these,” she pulled one out of the bag.

The item had question marks all over it.

“What is that?”

“It is called Motherwort. It has rather a pungent odour and a very bitter taste. Look for plants with a squarish stem with short hairs. The lower surfaces of the leaves are light green and the upper surfaces are dark green. It usually bears a flower that’s either pink or lilac. Its fine if you can’t find any.”

“Motherwort, okay, I think I got it.”

She nodded. “I am getting herbs for cooking, the village health, and selling to the occasional traveller. There aren’t any monsters on this side of the fores---

“Monsters? What Monsters?” Akuji asked.

 “Yes, you will be fine. Don’t go past the red glowing ward markings on the trees.” She pointed to the trees on the left. “You go that side and I will go on this side to look for another type of herbs and we will bring them back here.”

“Ok.” Akuji turned and headed in that direction as Canta went to hers. 

The closer he got to the trees, the bigger they seemed compared to before. They made him look like a dwarf in comparison and the ground was littered with leaves. The roots almost looked like they had feet while small little critters ran across them. The system identified them as they passed with a blue bar. Most didn’t even have a level or HP. Shafts of sunlight penetrated the gaps between the branches and fell upon the green fern, creating shadows upon the ground.

The further he went into the forest, the more his thoughts about his past crossed his mind and his current state. How would he see his own HP, he wondered, did he even have one? Was he some cool adventurer that had forgotten their memories?

It was deeper in the forest that he saw the first set of Motherwort exclusively hanging out alone. He went over and picked some, but as soon as he did it seemed to disappear in his hand. He did it over and over again, each time trying to keep it in his hand, but it kept going on with the same result until there was none left. Further, he didn’t even need to touch it with his hand if he walked over it, it disappeared too.

What was going on?

He followed the trail of Motherwort until he came to what looked like the end of the trail. Beyond that were the strange red markings on the tree. The scenery on the other side looked the same as the one that he was on. Akuji didn’t understand the danger of it that she had mentioned, and standing on the other side was more Motherwort.

Akuji weighed it in his mind. He could step out for a moment and just step back in. He didn’t want to go back empty-handed after he offered to help her.

He took a deep breath as he slowly walked to the trees that glowed.

Don’t think about it.

One 

Two

Three

He rushed passed the line and grabbed the Motherwort, only for it to fade back into his hand. Frustrated he headed back slower than before. He passed the line and nothing had attacked him. He scratched his face, she had probably just overreacted.

Defeated, he headed back to the area where they first met and he saw she had collected more herbs in the basket. The system started to identify them, but Akuji looked away from it.

“You didn’t find any?” Canta asked.

“I found some, but they kept disappearing when I touched it.”

She gave him another perplexed look before her gaze fell on the sun then towards her feet. “It is time to head home. Hopefully, this is enough. Please don’t do too much talking, the villagers tend not to like outside people.”

Akuji nodded as she took up the basket, placing the potions inside. They both started walking he trailed behind her.

“So what do you do in the village Canta?”

“I work all the odd jobs that I am needed to by the village.”

“Odd jobs, is that how you got all of those cuts?”

“Yes, Akuji don’t worry, they aren’t so bad they will heal in time or faster if I drink the potion.”

“Okay, I saw you had a flute in your basket do you play music?”

She stopped for a moment and turned her head with a smile before continuing to walk. “I hope to one day make enough money to become a bard and then have plenty of adventures. I have been in love with it from the time I heard one played at our village two summers ago.”

“I see that sounds great, perhaps I might become an adventurer too,” Akuji motioned his hand in the air swinging at invisible targets.

Her voice turned solemn for a moment, “Thank you, but the villagers aren’t fond of anything they can’t understand. It might all be just one big dream for me.”

“Don’t all dreams always seem out of the realm of belief?” 

“Yes, I guess your right then we can work together and slay monsters and see the outside world.”

“What do your parents think?”

“My parents?” She came to a halt. “Before I used to sing to the children in the village, but my father got mad and banned me from doing it in public. They think my singing is magical, and the village despises magic even more since the seer came to stay there.”

“Why?” Akuji asked.

Canta did not respond as she kept walking forward.

Cut trees were spotted first before a small farm appeared with an abundance of crops. The remnants of a very small village came into view with the outlines of a few houses. Children ran up and down the entrance of the patched ground of a road. A well sat easily in the centre and as they walked further in Akuji saw people muttering to each other with their fingers pointed in their direction.

 “She endangered us?”

“I knew something was wrong with her from the time she started writing and reading.”

“That witch, I can’t believe I let her play with my child.”

“She doesn’t deserve to be here.”

“She should have died at birth.”

“Who is that with her?”

Akuji took note of the multiple bars that popped above each person they passed. 

Their names held question marks, two, and three were the highest levels with different HPS and some seemed to be holding negative status effects.

Canta was still quiet as more and more people came forward and walked alongside them. They looked at Akuji and Canta in a mixed degree of expressions.

Why are they saying such things about her? The way these faces looked at her churned his stomach. It felt foreign, yet familiar at the same time. She had been nothing but nice to him from the time, he met her. He felt anger taking him as if their actions were directed at him. He glared at them as he clenched his fist still their stares persisted until he focused back ahead of him.

There an old man with bushy eyebrows and a serious face came in the middle of the road, stopping them from going further. His hair was grey and balding in the middle like everyone else here his skin was pale.  The old man’s piercing eyes met theirs. He looked at Canta for a while. It was an uneasy look that caused her to look away before he spoke.

“Did you step outside the wards that protect this village?”