— Daena!

Katarina rode hurriedly, mounted on a sturdy white horse, stopping as soon as she saw the girl. She dismounted the horse and examined the girl from top to bottom looking for any scratches or bruises, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that she was okay. Hiding, Darka noticed that the heroine was a mess, with her golden hair tangled and her braid almost falling apart.

— Where have you been? Can you believe that coward ran away in the middle of our epic battle? I was afraid he had found you!

"Well, I guess I found him first.", Daena thought, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the bush where she threw Darka. He just gave her a bored look.

— I fled as soon as the fire started. I was hiding and I decided to get away when I realized you two were fighting.

— You did good, darling. — Katarina hugged Daena. — That filth ran away again! Imagine if he had found you...

— I'm fine, aunt. In fact... I think I saw the Unpronounceable heading northwest after he fled.

— Northwest?! Are you sure about this, Daena?

— Yes ma'am! He was smiling with an evil face, as if he was making fun of the great knight of divine light. — The girl gave an exaggerated dramatic performance.

— That despicable being! Heretic! Scum! I'm going to break him with the force of a thousand whips! Daena, we are near Fawn Village. Go there and wait a few hours before heading back to Talphen. Tell your father what happened.

— Yes ma'am.

— I'm sure he'll go after the last seal that hold his mother. I will stop him from resurrecting her!

Katarina turned towards the direction she had come from, climbing onto her gallant mount and following the road north as Daena waved at her with a forced smile on her face. From the bushes, Darka just watched everything in silence, waiting for the knight to leave. When he realized that she was already far away, he left the bush with a very confused expression, taking some sticks out of his hair.

— Is she your aunt?? How strange, I didn't know she had any relatives. Did I miss this part of the lore?

— That's not of your business! Let's go before I lose my patience, the sooner we get to my father, the sooner we can arrange a meeting between you and your mother.

— Wait, wait. Katarina said you're going to Talphen, but you told me we were going to Caadis.

— And? I go wherever I want!

— And where are you going?

— ...Talphen.

Darka took a deep breath. Apparently the plan to reach Caadis as a prisoner was not going to work since his captor was not exactly someone who would capture even a rabbit. He sat on the floor in a thoughtful pose and began to ramble.

"Maybe... maybe I underestimated the situation. I know that finding Amara would be complicated, after all, just press keys and let my character automatically go to the destination while I get a cup of coffee and cookies is really different from going through a gigantic open map by myself. I thought that going with this girl would at least guarantee that I wouldn't be attacked by others on the way, since I would be in someone's custody... or not too, after all even though she's Katarina's niece, this girl just barks."

His train of thought was interrupted by the pain of a kick to his ribs.

— Ouch! What the...

— What are you doing, moron?! — An impatient Daena began to pull him by his cloak. — Get your ass out of there and let's go, I don't have all day! You'll lose that greasy attitude when my father punishes you!

— Let me go! I'm not going anywhere with you! You're unbearable!

This time he was the one who lost the patience. In an attempt to free himself from the girl's pulls, he released the clasp on his cloak, causing her to stumble awkwardly. As soon as she hit the ground, something clicked in Darka's mind and the command of some skill seemed to have been activated, quickly causing some chains to come out of the earth around her and bind her feet.

— The hell...?

"Oops, it looks like my spells still work!", Darka thought in surprise, at the same time recognizing the immobilizing ability he used when his opponent fell to the ground. Seeing Daena falling must have activated his magic command reflex, and now he wondered if that would apply to other skills as well.

— Ha! Now you're the one who's not going anywhere! — He took the cape from the girl's hand, who was still on the floor, grumbling while massaging her back. — At least now I can travel without a bossy, two-feet-tall annoying kid beating me up. Bye.

— Come back here, you idiot!

He turned around and ran down the road, going over the map of the region in his mind and choosing the route that would take him to a nearby village that wasn't Fawn. The young man didn't notice, but Daena stared at him with an expression that went from anger to a hint of sadness as she watched him run away.

✰★✰★✰

— Man, what part of "I'm going to punch that smile out of your face if you don't stop offering me that rug" didn't you understand?

A man pushed an elaborately patterned fabric toward him as he described the supposedly delicate weaving process of that piece, once again ignoring the potential customer's intimidating refusal. Losing his patience, Darka just grunted and turned to go ask directions to another tent before the threat became reality.

He was starting to feel hot due to the raised hood and the mask he had improvised to hide the lower half of his face, and if there was one thing that always left Lauren in a bad mood, it was being hot. Besides, it had been almost a whole day since she had woken up in the world of Red Ocean and the fact that she hadn't taken a single shower irritated her more than ever. If she hadn't picked up some fruit on the way, hunger would have played a large part in her mood as well. Fortunately, she had found this trading post that served as a stop for travelers and merchants, but the pair of guards that provided little security there were a risk she didn't want to take, so she decided to try to go unnoticed.

"If I'm not mistaken, there was an inn at that post... Or was it in that village near the river? Argh, I haven't been to that part of the map for months. Those damn devs from Black Cat should have put out more quests around these parts, what are these bunch of random villages for? There aren't even any proper resources here! Since they started adding more PvP content, they ended up dropping the other areas of the game. I should have been more rude in that user opinion email..."

Darka stopped and looked around, better observing the movement of people coming and going. As much as Lauren was aware that she was in a game world she knew, she couldn't help but think about how it still seemed to be just a fantasy, a lie. But the heat, the noise of people, the afternoon breeze blowing... It was very real. Maybe she really had died or was hallucinating, but being there was something kinda hard to believe.

— Excuse me... sir?

A small reddish-colored creature, resembling a cute RPG kobold about four feet tall with olive-green eyes interrupted Darka's mumbling, who was startled by the sudden interaction.

— Me? Are you talking to me? — He observed the little creature who looked at him with a friendly expression. They wore clothes in different shades of brown, with an aviator-style cap that wrapped around the two pairs of horns on their head. He remembered that was a luziwurm, a common race in the game world that usually accompanied some market NPCs. — What do you want?

— I noticed that you arrived at this post just now...

— I don't want to buy anything! — interrupted Darka. — I just want to take a shower, is that too much to ask?!

— I don't... Sorry, sir, you must be wrong, I don't want to sell anything.

— Nothing?

— No way, sir. — They raised their hands to show that they was carrying nothing. They only carried a proportionally small messenger bag.

— No service?

— I just wanted to ask if you could accompany me to the inn. — The luziwurm seemed to be somewhat embarrassed, scratching the back of their head. — They said they don't accept unaccompanied luziwurms. Then I saw that you just arrived and I thought you might be looking for a place to spend the night...

Darka looked thoughtfully at the kid, wondering what to do. Luziwurms were generally quite agitated and messy, even having "zoomies" quite often, but that particular child seemed very polite. He remembered that the inn's rule was probably to avoid problems like the property damage they could cause when they became agitated. Due to an unfortunate coincidence, they were originally from the same continent where Yrina came from, Fearaniar, and were viewed with some suspicion by some people.

— If you can't, no problem! — They tried to fix the situation when they saw the young man thinking and was unable to decipher his expression behind the mask. — Thank you for your attention, have a good afternoon!

— Wait. What was your name again?

— I'm Miko.

— Okay, and how old are you?

— Eleven.

Darka remembered that luziwurms matured at about the same rate as humans, although they stopped growing at 14, so Miko was really a child.

— OK, let's go. But you show me the way to the inn because I'm more lost than an olive in a toothless mouth. And stop calling me sir.

— Yes sir! — Miko grabbed Darka's cloak, pulling him.

The two went to one of the buildings in the center of the post, where a sign with a drawing of a bed was hanging. Before they entered, Darka noticed a bulletin board next to the door, where a poster with a photo of him was flapping in the wind.

He stopped and pulled out the poster, looking at the photo. A poorly done drawing was accompanied by a very high price for his head.

— Why did you stop, sir? The entrance to the inn is right there. — Miko continued pulling Darka's cloak, but stopped when saw what he was doing. — Did you see? The Unpronounceable is scary, isn't it? I hope they catch him soon.

— Have you even met him in person, Miko? — Darka wondered if his character's fame in the game was really unanimous among the NPCs in that world.

— Not really... but I heard stories! Mainly about his mother.

— But if you don't know him, how do you know he's scary?

— Because other people said so! I didn't see it in person, but a lot of my friends saw it when he destroyed the Talphen Cathedral with a thunder, BOOM! And also when he turned the Marue River into blood! — Miko spoke while gesturing, making Darka smile beneath the mask. — But see, see, I never saw it. I hope I don't see, otherwise he turns me into a tomato.

Miko spoke seriously and continued babbling as they headed towards the inn's door. Darka looked at the paper again, wondering if Amara had seen how much it was worth.

— He wouldn't turn you into a tomato, no need to worry.