Bright rays of sunlight cut through my blurry vision, most of which was obscured by shades of green... Hang on. I snapped open my eyes before sitting upright.

I looked to my left and saw that Urvi was already awake, still sitting on the ground with her legs crossed and with an irritated look on her face. “You still remember everything?” She asked.

“I think so...” I said. “Details are a little blurry.”

“Then I guess you don’t know what killed us.”

I shut my eyes, squeezing them as I tried to remember what had happened. The last thing I remembered was... the last thing was... I remember the ground shaking and something moving. But what was moving? I think. I think it was the forest itself... I remember now!

“Mother of the treants!” I said aloud as I opened my eyes again. “She was huge!”

“What the fuck Karna! She took us out in one shot! Unless I missed you fighting that thing.”

I had an awkward smile on my face. “No. Don’t worry. I pretty much died seconds later when it stomped on me.”

She grunted hard, looking down at the ground, almost like she was going to throw up.

“Are you okay?” I asked. We seemed to have resurrected back in the center, next to the great oak. The clothes we were given were still on, so I guess this is going to be our base armour. I looked around us and saw the weapons leaning against the oak tree as well. All is good, I guess. Though, the shard was nowhere to be seen.

“I am fine,” she said, pressing her palm against her forehead. “Just... I never felt death.” She looked at me, a little puzzled. “You don’t seem fazed at all!”

“My head is a little dizzy, but I didn’t feel any pain when I got crushed. So, it just felt like I blanked out,” I said.

Suddenly I felt a calming tone, like the keys of a piano whisper in the air. I looked around me, to see where they were coming from. But I didn’t know from where. “Did you hear a piano tune?”

Urvi crossed her legs and sat silently. “No...” Suddenly her eyes lit up too. “Wait! I did too!” She said looking at me. “What was that?”

Piano tune... both heard but separately... could it be? If it was, where do I see it?

I looked at my arm and saw the experience band had increased. “Check your arm.”

She did as she was told when a huge smile appeared on her face. She looked back at me and said, “I got experience!” Pointing at her arm.

“We progressed!” I replied, raising my arms in the air.

“You know what would be better?” Her expression changed to that of anger. “If we didn’t die to get it!”

“Baby steps Urvi. Baby steps.”

She pushed herself off the ground with a grunt. Looking around, her eyes caught the location of the axe, and she immediately began to pace towards it. “I am going to fucking kill that thing.”

“Whoa there babe!” I said as I got up myself. “We need a plan.”

“A plan? For what?”

“To deal with it. Trying to take it head on, will not end well.”

She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me with a tired expression. “Okay. Go ahead. What do you entail us to do?”

This is probably where the super smart gamer brain should have started working and in a way it did. But the problem was that none of my plans really worked.

Plan A - Get to the chest without provoking the treants. The mother must have clearly been pissed off that we killed the treants. So, this time we decided to not kill any and find the chest. We found the chest exactly where we had left it, half buried in the ground. No treants approached us and the shard was in the chest. All looked good until the loud thundering began. The forest moved and this time Urvi sprinted towards the thing swinging her axe like a madwoman. Only this time, the thing wacked her into the atmosphere while I was once again crushed to death by it.

Plan B - Stealth our way to the chest and stealth our way out. Once again, no treants. The chest was where it was supposed to be. We stuck close to the ground, staying below the shrubs. I picked up the shard when suddenly Urvi disappeared from beside me with a loud scream. “Oh no...” I felt something sharp pierce me and before I knew it, I was back near the oak.

Plan C - Take a different route. This time we will go up north. It only took five steps outside the circle for the ground to start shaking again. “What the actual fuck?” Urvi cursed. “Is the forest full of these fucking things?” “That sounds plausible,” I replied. The tree moved and two crushing blows later, we were back in the circle.

Plan D - I wonder what is towards the east. Same fucking thing.

Plan E - West looks normal. Nope. Same disaster was walking.

Plan F, G, H, I, J, K, L, I, lost track - Charge at that thing with everything we got. Even if it is not working.

***

“What are we missing?” I said aloud. We sat beneath the great oak. Contemplating what to do next.

“I will tell you what we are missing, actual skill. Two fucking losers came to a new world with big hopes and dreams and look at us! Pathetic pieces of shit!” Urvi looked to be on the verge of tears.

“Ouch. You didn’t have to be so harsh...”

“What is wrong with us? What is wrong with me? Why am I such a waste of breath!?” She shouted.

“Urvi... what is going on?” I asked, looking concerned.

She remained silent. “Sorry. I got emotional there.”

The two of us sat quietly. I wished to solve her problem, but she will not open up. But not opening up is looking to cause a lot more problems than we would want right now.

“Urvi... Please tell me what happened between you and your daughter,” I asked politely.

She remained silent. Looking into the distance mournfully. I didn’t ask her again, instead chose to remain silent as well.

“We fought. Badly,” She finally said.

“What happened?” I asked.

“She must have found out about my whoring. Though I do not know how or what exactly she knew. She appeared to be very frustrated with me. Angry. I tried to pry her open and she exploded.” She bowed her head down. 

I pushed myself closer to her, before placing my right arm around her shoulders. “What did she say?”

“Things a mother wouldn’t want to hear. Called me unfaithful, selfish, and ugly on the inside.”

So, just short of calling her own mother a whore. That is just plain bad. “She just doesn’t know that you did it for her.”

“That shouldn’t matter. So, what if I did sleep with other men? I never preached to her. Always trusted her, never judged her. Even when her father forbade her from marrying her boyfriend, it was I who stood beside her. Why... why would anyone do that to someone who has been so supportive?” She swallowed hard. Small drops of tears formed on her eyelashes while her pink lips trembled. “No. It is me. I always thought I was doing this for her. But I can’t deny it anymore. I enjoyed it way more than I was allowed to.”

Oh, Urvi. Still bogged down by social norms.

Tears streamed down her cheeks which she wiped away immediately. “I am sorry Karna.”

“For what?”

“For using you. After my daughter was married. I felt so lonely. I couldn’t stop myself from getting back into it. I will admit, my first thought was other men. I spent a month, every other night with one or the other. But by the end of it, that hollowness was never filled. That is when I finally walked back to your apartment.”

My heart shrunk a little. I cannot deny that. I never had any luck with women. Even then, it hurts every time you hear such things. This was two months ago. I worked from home and so I was couped up in that apartment room all day. It felt safe, away from the world, but it also felt lonely. But after that day, I began to feel less lonely.

“Found something in your room that I didn’t find anywhere else.”

“What is that?”

“Comfort.”

However, she never really stopped. I was aware of this, but if there was one thing, we both shared, it was an insatiable lust. Every night should be walk out but would be back by dawn.

“And I used it. I never stopped; you know?” She asked.

“I know. But you are just like me. So, I understand.”

She snorted as she shook her head. “No. Even now you are just defending me.”

“It is true. You know deep down I am even worse. I just never had the looks.”

“Even if you did, you wouldn’t do it. You are just too humble,” She interrupted.

“So are you. Look, I am a degenerate with no wants or needs for marriage. But, if there was anyone in this world I would ask to marry, it is you,” I declared.

Her eyes widened; and her jaw dropped slightly. My heart began to swell as I stared back at her with an awkward smile.

Suddenly there was this piano tune again, only this time, it was accompanied by a soothing voice which said, “destinies linked.”

---

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