The view from the hospital window was filled with autumn leaves and all the spectacles that came with the changing seasons, but Sage acknowledged none of it. With distant eyes, he gazed out the hall window. Leaning against the wall, he searched for something that wasn’t quite there, a purpose? Perhaps, though even Sage himself didn’t know. The only clear truth was that he wished to be elsewhere. Somewhere beyond the visible distance. Somewhere the window couldn’t capture.
Had he actually gone to that world? For sanity’s sake, he wished it were all a dream. But that wasn’t the case, he still had the card with his information on it. That card should’ve been thrown out. He should’ve gotten rid of it. Even if that place did exist, he had no obligations to return and had no intention of doing so. Whether the four survived was of no matter to him. He had enough to worry about.
“Mr. Hunter?” The nurse's voice intruded his thoughts. “Her check-up is now over; you can head on in.”
Sage nodded while turning. The door to his sister’s hospital room was open, but for some reason, it felt closed; for some reason, he didn’t want to enter. How foolish.
“Thank you,” Sage said as he walked past the nurse.
As he walked through the entrance, all his other thoughts left him. His face relaxed and his step hastened.
Jessica’s side profile was sullen and her black hair weak; perhaps it was due to the grey light that coated her face, or perhaps from topics better left unspoken. It didn’t matter. All Sage cared for was brightening the grayness so unsuited to his sister.
“Jessica, did you miss me?” Sage said.
She turned to him and a smile stretched across her face. He mirrored her, visually, that is. Her happiness, he hoped, was genuine. His was superficial. Would it make her happier if he smiled along with her? He’d do it even if the chances were low.
“I did, no one here goes out and gets the snacks I ask for,” she said through joyful chuckles.
Sage smiled. She looked so much like their mother— that caused him pain.
“I’ll get you all the snacks you want when they dismiss you from here,” Sage said. He gazed around the room, “I bet it must suck being cooped up in here. Did the nurse say when you’ll be free to go?”
Jessica shook her head, “She didn’t. I’m assuming it won’t be soon, they always tell us right away when that’s the case.”
She cast her face down and her shoulders slugged.
Sage went to say something, but she spoke again before he could.
“It’s not as if I can do much at home anyways. Plus, the only thing that truly sucks here is the TV,” she flipped through countless channels of soap operas and infomercials, “See? it’s all junk. Oh, and not having you with me sucks, I guess.”
She laughed in her usual way. The way that made Sage reminisce on the past, where her laugh wasn’t filled with pain.
“You can do lots at home, what are you talking about? And nice try, you can’t even keep your story straight, you said you were happy to see me,” he said.
“And me saying that made you happy, didn’t it? I do it for you, you’d be sad otherwise. Plus, I said you’re the only one who gets me the things I want, don’t leave out the important details.”
Sage’s chest tightened. He smiled and let out a laugh.
“It did, it really did make me happy. But now I take back what I said, I’m telling Ms. Grant to feed you nothing but porridge when you’re dismissed.”
“Don’t you dare! Her porridge is the worst, it’s not even edible.”
“Then treat me better!” Sage yelled playfully.
Jessica’s chest bounced with laughter, as did his own. He didn’t know whether it was genuine or not anymore. That was probably for the best.
Visitation times were ending in under an hour, so the two siblings caught each other up on everything the other had missed over their week apart. The entire time they spoke, Sage averted his eyes from the corner of the room where he knew it rested; if he looked at it, he wouldn’t be able to converse with his sister while composed— it would force him to remember and think, two very dangerous actions when done against your will.
Before they knew it, their time had come to an end.
“I’ll be back tomorrow evening see you after my shift at work. Maybe I’ll sneak a snack or two in for you,” Sage said.
Jessica nodded her head in agreement.
“You better, you just gave your word.”
“I said maybe.”
They both chuckled.
As Sage was closing the door, he saw Jessica look to the corner he had avoided; he instinctively followed her gaze. The door didn’t close quickly enough and he caught a glimpse of her wheelchair.
The accident. Their death. Her disability.
Sage gritted his teeth as he was battered with unwanted thoughts. Because of him, that’s why this all happened. He killed them, he put her in that wheelchair. Sage’s knees grew weak. He gripped the door handle until his knuckles turned white and prayed that something freed him from his thoughts.
“Mr. Hunter?” the nurse said.
He whipped his head to the side, startling her. His face was pale, and his eyes were pained; he was thankful to be free from his own mind.
“Yes? What is it?”
The nurse flipped through the folder in her hand, landing on a section that had his sister's name on the divider.
“It’s about the costs of her recent procedure. I’m afraid we can’t postpone them for as long as we did last time. They need to be paid by the end of the month.”
Sage knitted his eyebrows and tried forming his thoughts into words, but all variants of the sentence weren’t professional.
“Wasn’t this a procedure to fix a mistake made in her last one? Why do I have to pay for your errors?”
The nurse held out a form with Sage’s signature on it.
“All the information was in the waiver you signed when she was admitted. See? right here.”
Sage waved her hands away. Of all the things that could’ve pulled him from his thoughts, it had to be this.
“I’ll have the money by the end of the month, thank you for letting me know,” he said.
The nurse nodded and went on her way.
How was he supposed to pay for her bills when they were at the ends of their parent’s insurance money? There was no way they had enough to cover the bills, and they both still had to eat. Perhaps Ms. Grant would allow them to skip out on a month of rent? Maybe then he could put food on the table while covering the rest of the bills cost with a loan or whatever he gathered up from his tiny paychecks.
Sage sighed. He looked at Jessica’s room, pursing his lips as he did.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Part of him hoped she heard it, as he could never muster the strength to say it to her face. Everything would be so much easier if he could just do that, then they could talk, properly talk. She wouldn’t have to tread so carefully around him and would be able to show how she truly felt. If only he wasn’t so weak.
The air bit at Sage’s face as he left the hospital. Wasn’t it supposed to be autumn? His walk back home made him wish he had dressed in thicker clothing. He at least should’ve brought a jacket. Though the cold was greatly preferred over the sweltering heat.
Sage was disconnected when he entered the lobby of his apartment. At some point in his walk, he had entered his mind, protecting it from thinking any more than it had. He felt a yank on his arm and after a moment of daze, he noticed Ms. Grant holding his arm, looking at his face with a hint of concern.
“Ms. Grant,” he put his hand to her own to prompt her to remove it, “Is something wrong?”
“That’s what I’d like to ask you. I called you three times and you didn’t respond once.” The graying woman paused for a second, eyebrows knitted. She then sighed faintly and nodded her head.
“How is she?”
Sage bit the inside of his lip.
“She’s fine, a little bummed about not getting a release time, but she’s fine despite that. She really wants your porridge when she gets dismissed, by the way.”
“Really? Did she say that? I’ll make her as much as she wants then. She can have it for an entire month after she’s dismissed.”
Sage couldn’t help but laugh at Ms. Grant's innocent smile. The old woman placed a hand on Sage’s shoulder, jolliness replaced with what Sage saw as sympathy, or pity.
“She’ll recover in no time; she has youth on her side. But if there’s anything I can do to help, please, ask,” Ms. Grant said.
Sage patted her hand.
“Thank you, but we’ll be fine. You’ve helped us enough already.”
This was his duty. It was on him to handle it.
Ms. Grant left, telling him she wrapped the leftovers from lunch and put them in the fridge. With her gone, he was alone again and with nothing to do. Should he pick up more shifts at work? It’s not as if he attended school anymore— that was a luxury too rich for him. He might as well just work twenty-four hours a day, it wouldn't make a difference if he did or didn’t. Sage sighed.
The apartment was a similar sullen gray as Jessica’s hospital room when he entered. They say we see the world through filtered eyes, that each of us perceives it differently based on our emotions. A reflection of how we feel about what we’re viewing. Sullen gray, how fitting.
Although he tried not to, when he entered his bedroom, his mind was immediately filled with thoughts of the other world. He had resisted it enough.
Sage laid on his bed and allowed his thoughts to flow.
How did he get to that world in the first place? Unlike when he left, there was no message asking him if he wanted to enter. He just opened his eyes from a nap and he was there. If he was randomly pulled into it, then magic was definitely the cause— essence, not magic. Essence is what kept those islands floating, those beautiful, vibrant islands. It’s also what drew that thing to them, that horrid creature. Sage felt weak at the thought of it. Less from the disturbance of its scattered insides and more from the near-death experience it gave him, and from the death he gave it.
Do all things feel the same when they’re killed? Did the creature feel fear, worry, regret? Sage ran his hand through his hair and shook it aggressively. A murderous monster feeling those things, was he a member of PETA? Did he worry that killing other monsters would make him feel guilty?
He rolled onto his side and let his gaze fall onto the card sitting on his floor exactly where he had left it the night before. He was never going back there.
What if he died? Death was an issue enough, but what of his responsibilities here? His gaze remained on the card.
Sage sighed and forcefully pushed off his bed, walking over and bending down to pick the card up. He read it more carefully than before. It was similar to a driver’s license or other forms of I.D, and was a worn white color, like that of olden time paper. His photo was on the left side of the card, and to the right of it, as high up as they could be, were three points of information.
[Name: Sage Hunter | Level: 8 | Class: Unknown]
They were the same as before. Unknown, did that mean he hadn’t chosen a class yet? How game-like. Sage used to love RPG’s and the like. That was back when he had time, back before the accident. He shook his head.
Underneath the top information was a menu of sorts with six different tabs.
[Maps]
[Skills]
[Stats]
[Quests]
[Tasks]
[Enter]
The enter was clear to him. If he were in that world, it would probably say exit instead. He removed his eyes from that tab and went back to maps. He wasn’t entering the world, he wasn’t going back there, but he could see what the card was all about.
Sage tapped on the maps tab. When nothing happened, he tapped it again. When still nothing happened, he tapped it ten times as quickly and aggressively as he could. Of course, nothing happened. Stupid thing. He tossed the card away, kissing his teeth as he did.
“Just open the damn maps,” he said.
Suddenly, a technological sound entered his ear, and soon after, a holographic screen popped up in front of him. It had the same color of text and the same borders as the messages he had received in the other world, but now it was a large square the size of a laptop.
[Maps]
{No Maps Available}
[Home]
Wherever Sage turned to face, the screen stayed in front of him, displaying the same message. Incredible.
Sage tried clicking the home button, and this time it worked. So, when it was holographic, he could touch it? He decided to try some things.
“Close menu,” he said. The screen went away.
“Open menu.” The screen returned, but unlike before, it didn’t go straight to maps, but to a holographic version of what was on his card.
Sage smiled. He was coming to understand it.
He tapped on skills next.
[Skills]
{Wave Burst: Lvl 1}
{Freelancer: Lvl 1}
{Essence Connoisseur: Lvl 1}
[Home]
Sage recalled his interaction with the scorpion. Wave burst is what he had used to defeat it. It was quite unbelievable to think such a thing came from his hand. The other skills he had no clue about; they weren’t present before he got his card, Rorrin made that clear by somehow “checking” him. Sage just passed over them. He closed the tab and went to stats.
[Stats]
{10 points available}
{Hp: 78 | Mp: 42 | Ess: 12}
Str: 14
End: 10
Int: 9
Agi: 12
Dex: 9
[Home]
Strength? Sage could guess what they represented. If he increased these, would they actually correlate to his physical body? Would increasing intelligence make him smarter? He didn’t understand how that’d work. It didn’t matter anyway; he kept reminding himself of that as if trying to convince himself.
Next were quests.
[Quests]
{Becoming an Adventurer: F}
[Home]
He hovered his finger over the quest. It’s not as if it would take him to the other world, there was no harm in clicking it. He clicked on the quest and was presented with a description of it.
Welcome, new adventurer. Now that you’ve obtained your card, there is much you need to learn before you can step out into the world of questing and hunting and dungeon raiding. Head to the nearest starting town and speak with the guild association to get you sorted out. [Accept] [Home]
Even if he clicked accept, there was no way he’d be teleported anywhere, or so he hoped. He clicked the accept button, suspenseful, but was shown a message of error.
[Cannot Start Quest in Current World]
He should’ve figured that. He moved on to tasks, though he now expected nothing to come of those too.
[Tasks]
{Daily Tasks}
{Weekly Tasks}
[Home]
He decided to click on daily tasks and was brought to another submenu with two options: Stat Task, and Exp Task. This must be the same as quests; if he clicked on either of them, he’d be given a description of what to do, and then would be unable to access the quest from his current world. Or so he thought. After clicking on Stat Task, he was presented with a description of what he needed to do.
To strengthen our bodies and minds, we must interact with the world. Go out and perform a tasking activity with your body. Reading, jogging, fighting, do as you please. Do something that makes you tired in some way. Doing so will award you stat points. [Accept] [Home]
Sage expected the same result upon clicking accept. He expected to be unable to start the task and then finally be done with the card. But that was not the case.
[Task Accepted]
Sage stared at the message with wide eyes. He quickly gazed at his surroundings to ensure that he hadn’t been sent anywhere; as expected, he was still in the comfort of his own home, grey light, and all. It then dawned on him that he was capable of doing the task and gaining the stat points here in his own world. His heart hastened a little.
Sage quickly changed into a tracksuit and ran to the front of his house to slip on his running shoes; a jog was something simple, how could he justify not doing it. He opened the door and was out of the house, down the stairwell, and jogging through the streets of his city within seconds.
Unaware of how far he was meant to go, Sage decided to run until his legs couldn’t carry him any longer. He was running for upwards of an hour. It seemed he still had some of his stamina leftover from growing up an athlete. By the time he reached home again, he could barely walk up the stairs to their second-floor apartment. Huffing and puffing, Sage entered the house and collapsed to the ground. He lay there out of breath, closing and opening his eyes as he tried to regain his composure.
[Task Completed Sufficiently | 3 Stat Points Awarded]
Only three? Sufficiently? For running till he nearly vomited, all he received was 3 stat points. As upsetting as that initially seemed, Sage felt accomplished. Perhaps he’d allocate those stat points, he now had thirteen stocked up. Sage opened the menu and clicked on stats. Upon clicking {13 points available}, a plus sign appeared next to all of the stats. Sage pondered where to allocate them. He felt smart enough, so intelligence didn’t seem all that important, though he doubted it truly increased how smart he was. Dexterity was a mystery to him, he has no clue exactly what it did, so he decided against it. With three stats remaining, he decided to equally split them with a focus on strength.
[Allocation Complete | Stats Updated | Str: 19 | End: 14 | Agi: 16]
As soon as the message popped up in front of him, Sage felt a surge of power; his tiredness was now gone. Unbelievable. Whether from the strength or endurance, he did not know, but his body just changed, he felt it. Sage started chuckling.
Couldn’t he become an Olympic athlete like this? They’d have no clue. Most people would feel guilty about that, and it’s not as if he would have a clear conscience, but the world screwed him over enough times to make him apathetic like that. He felt a craving for more stat points, for more power in general. What could he do with that Wave Burst skill? He could fight criminals, be a superhero.
Sage clicked on the weekly task, eager to see what he could achieve next. He was presented with only a single option, “Skill Enhancement Task.”
Without second-guessing it, Sage clicked on the task and read the description.
The backbone of an adventurer is their skills. Skills grow stronger through consistent usage, but can also be enhanced directly by powering them with essence. Find an essence vein and charge a skill with it. Will be awarded 30 essence. [Accept] [Home]
Sage instantly clicked accept, not sparing a thought as he usually did. However, much to his dismay: [Can not Start Task in Current World]
Sage grunted and all his energy dissipated. The quest, the task, and possibly everything aside from the daily tasks, assuming they could always be completed here, required him to be in that world. Sage closed the menu and removed his card from his pocket. It was inside of him, the desire. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t go there; the dangers were too great, and he knew nothing of the world. But that excitement, that energy he had just felt.
Sage stared up at the ceiling. He was to spend the rest of his day, and the entirety of tomorrow until his shift, locked in this cell of an apartment as he had been for the past two years. But that was what he needed to do, what he was supposed to do. If something happened to him, Jessica would be left all alone.
He held the card up above him. His face was a conflicted mess.
“Open menu,” he said.
Sage clenched his jaw.
“Enter world.”
Everything around him went black and his stomach twisted.
