[Spectre]

"H-Huh? W-What happened?"

Armand muttered as he blinked several times to clear his blurry vision after opening his eyes.

"Ugh... I must have dozed off or something... No, it can't be. I wasn't tired back then."

It's true. Sure, he woke up early to do his usual chores despite being on the weekends, but he didn't feel any morning fatigue since he slept early at about 10 PM or so yesterday. But still, he never remembered going back to bed beforehand.

"Then again, I must be studying too much again this week," he muttered as he placed his slightly pale right hand over his forehead. "Guess Sven is right. I need to..."

He stopped muttering as he realized something. He quickly took a closer look at his right hand, which not only see his slightly pale skin but also that he was now wearing some sort of a black bracer around his forearm. Strange, last time he checked that he was wearing nothing more than a shirt and shorts as his loungewear. Not only that, his skin was on a peachy color side and he never stayed in his room or house for so long now.

"W-What the? What the hell is this?"

But as he could take a closer look at his other arm, his eyes widened upon seeing where he was right now. Instead of seeing his usual room in the college dormitory, he found himself in a street with several broken cars covered in vines with a large tree covering the blue sky above him.

"Y-You're kidding me, right?" Armand muttered as he backed away from what he just saw. "I-I must be dreaming... Y-Yeah... Just finding myself in an abandoned street without any warning is very unrealistic in my case. I mean, someone might have kidnapped me and dropped me off in some kind of a movie set. I know I might be reading this off from Jason's messed-up comics, but..."

But as he continued to back away, he suddenly tripped and fell on the puddle.

"Ow! Damn it!"

As he tried to get up, he noticed something from his reflection on the puddle. Instead of seeing his black short hair and brown eyes, he saw only a man in his thirties with dark, unkempt hair and bright red eyes. Not only that, he noticed that he was also wearing some kind of black leather armor on the top of his grey long-sleeved shirt. For a few seconds, he stared at this new reflection with his jaws drop. Then, seeing that if this was him, he pinched his right cheek, which his reflection did the same. Upon seeing this, Armand then screamed and backed away from the puddle, gasping in complete shock at what has happened to him.

"Is this some kind of a sick joke?! How in the world did I change into this body?! Is this even possible?!" He said as he looked at both of his arms. "What the hell is going on here?!"

After a few seconds, he managed to take a few deep breaths and looked around at his new surroundings.

"Calm down, Armand. Panicking will get me nowhere. Let's just think logically for a second. There's a chance that this is all just a twisted nightmare that was conjured up from reading too many supernatural novels. Don't worry, you just need to wake up in your bed and everything is back to normal."

But as he took a few steps forward, he suddenly found himself tripping and falling onto the concrete ground again. And as he was struggled to get up, something has popped in front of his vision. Upon taking a closer look, he saw a holographic display with several buttons and a status screen that he often saw in some RPGs and MMORPGs that his cousin played. He was speechless, unable to process at what he saw. He still wanted to disbelief this due to how unrealistic his whole situation was, but just seeing this strange RPG status screen-like display said otherwise.

Once he processed everything, he began to let out a burst of dry laughter and said, "I hate this. Any common sense I know has thrown out the window. All because of these strange occurrences, huh?"

He laughed again as he looked both at the status display and the skyscraper ruins and destroyed cars in front of him.

"Talk about the worst Spring Break ever."

----------------------

A few minutes later, Armand managed to clear his head after his small freak-out. While he was still struggling to walk thanks to his new body, he took the time wandering around the sidewalks while observing his new apocalyptic surroundings. As he did, he took a deep sigh as his expression turned cold.

"As expected, this is neither Lehman College nor New York itself. Judging by its vegetation and decay, it looks like the whole city has been aged for several years now," he muttered. But this still doesn't make sense. Where the heck is I and how did I get here in the first place?"

As he thought about his current situation, he began to remember what happened beforehand. He was sitting in front of his computer desk, waiting for a patch to be fully downloaded before the new expansion launched. It was already Spring Break, but rather than spending time at the beach like any other college student, he opted to stay in his dorm and spend time online with his gaming-obsessed cousin. He was not a full-time gamer like him, but he was interested in playing one of their favorite games after he told him about Gaia Reborn and its upcoming expansion. Ever since he entered college, he was focusing on his studies and projects non-stop and realizing how it may affect his performance, he might as well try it out for himself. It might loosen him up a bit and judging by reading it's setting, he was interested in how it implemented the apocalyptic setting of Earth with the fantasy elements.

So after they were finished and the new expansion has launched, he went to his desk and click "START" on the game client and created his character. But after all of that, the last thing he could recall was only darkness.

After he remembered everything up to that point, Armand sighed and said, "I still can't believe all of this, but I do know this. I know this is not the Earth I know and that I'm in some sort of an RPG-esque world. And judging by my new appearance, it seems I didn't transport here through normal means. The real question is where exactly is this and how I transformed into this middle-aged body."

He stopped walking and mentally summoned the holographic display as he walked towards a pond with a broken wall nearby. As he played it around, he learned that not only he can manipulate it with his fingertips and his mind, he was able to check his inventory, skills, and other things that he normally seen in some video games. However, as he checked through the options menu, he tried to tap on the "LOGOUT" button several times, but it gave no response at all.

"Figures that didn't work. So I guess I'm stuck here, huh?" Armand sighed again as he looked at the boutique's unkempt state. "A world where every modern technology I know is gone and the only thing I have is a strange RPG status display."

However, his eyes widened as he realized what he said. Looking at his display once more, he tapped on the "STATUS" screen and checked it and the mini window above his vision.

"Let's see... "Spectre Veilheart", the class is "Spellblade", class EXP is zero, talents are "Pathfinder" and "Scribe"..." He stopped muttering as he gasped at this information. "Hold on, those are the same choices I've made when I was creating a character for that "Gaia Reborn" game. And now that I think about it, the game's setting sounds similar to where I am right now."

He continued reading through the information from the display until he read through the Race section.

"Nozgor? That's the race I also chose for my character. If I recall from that site, they seemed to be the vampiric race of that game. Hang on..."

Walking towards a nearby pond, he felt through inside his mouth with his tongue and when he opened it, he saw through his reflection that his teeth now has two fangs instead of his front canine, which was one of the main detail of the Nozgor race. Now that he thought about it, the hair, his middle-aged body, the dark coloring of his current outfit was very similar to the character that he made before he tried playing the game. He also realized that the apocalyptic city he was in right now might be connected to the same setting that the game took place. Could it be...?

"Stop it, Armand. You're overthinking this a bit too much," he muttered as he shook his head. "All I know is that I somehow transported into this world in a body of my Gaia Reborn character. The real question now is where exactly I am. I doubt I can find anybody considering my current location."

But as he said this, he heard a commotion nearby.

"Or maybe I spoke too soon." Curious and surprised at what he just heard, he scanned around the area to find where it was coming from until he found something on the right side of the path. "Looks like it came from that district."

He walked towards the said direction in an attempt to follow the source of the commotion. But as he passed through the path where sunlight shined for a few seconds, his eyes widened as started to stumble.

"W-What the?" He quickly stepped away from the sunlight as he held his forehead on his head. "M-My head... I-I feel exhausted..."

As he stumbled away from the light and into the nearby shade of the skyscraper, he began to gasp for air while he rested against another wall.

"Huh, guess I'm now okay. But I wasn't tired when I arrived here," he muttered as he continued gasping until he took a deep breath. "W-What's going on?"

As he tried to regain the strength of his new body, he noticed the display in his vision.

"M-Maybe..."

Curious, he opened every display he saw until he noticed the contents of the "SKILL" window.

"Racial... skill?" He then closed the other windows and switched the tab on the skill window. "N-Nozgorim P-Photo...sensitivity... People of the night..."

Then, his eyes widened as he read the last line of the skill.

"Will not regenerate health while in direct sunlight?!"

Armand groaned while he slapped his forehead.

"I'm glad that I won't suffer a bit of sunburn, but do they have to added that weakness into this race?!" He complained as he looked at the sun that was shining in the path he was walking a few seconds ago before he let out another sigh. "Then again, this is their interpretation of the vampire race, so I can't complain about it any further. For now, I should avoid the sunlight until I can get around without using a shade."

Sighing again, he walked past the sunlight before he headed off to his destination.

coded by benetnasch of THQ

Status:
HP: 100%
MP: 100%

Notes:
N/A

Tags:
N/A

Words:
1,898

Total Words:
1,898

[Spectre]

Armand couldn't believe his strange situation right now. What he thought to be a normal day trying out a popular MMO that his cousin suggested to try it out during his Spring Break turned into a living nightmare as he found himself in a strange apocalyptic world trapped in a customized game character that he just made for the said MMO with no way to return to his world nor to "log out" of it. Thankfully for him, he managed to find some shade areas for him to walk through so he could avoid the sunlight that might potentially drain his energy if he walked into it. Not only that, he slowly managed to adjust to his new body, allowing him to walk normally as before without any aid of a wall or stick to keep himself up. But as he continued to wander around the ruined city, all he could see were overgrown flora wrapped around the ruins of the former skyscrapers and buildings and the remains of the aging modern technology such as cars, stoplights, and streetlights until he stopped and rested on a nearby branch.

"As I expected, there's nothing than the wreckage and rubble of a modern city," he sighed as he continued to walk. "I can't even see any signs of life here. Weird, I thought I heard someone nearby... Maybe I must have transported here all by myself and whoever sent me here expected me to survive this new world or something..."

He hummed at this said thought before he shook his head and chuckled for a few seconds.

"Like that ever happen. I think I've been listening too much of Jason ranting about his light novels and manga. But I think if that might be a possible reason behind my current predicament, I might enjoy it for a bit. But then, I might start losing my sanity over my desire to talk to someone. It's not like I'm not the only person who was sent to this world."

But after he said this, he suddenly heard some kind of scream not far from where he was currently was right now, which caused his eyes to widen.

"What the hell?!" He cursed as he turned around to where he was supposed to go. "That must be one of the voices I heard just now. Maybe I should retract my statement about no signs of life around here."

He quickly stood up from his seat and ran off towards his intended destination while trying to avoid more of the sunlight peeking through the tree shades. Eventually, he found himself in some kind of a shopping district, and to his surprise, he saw several people in several fantasy races in leather and plated armors scattered around while screaming and complaining loudly mixed with anger and panic. While he couldn't hear most of them due to their cries mixed up in the hysteria, he could hear some of them nearby.

"W-What the hell is this?!"

"I-Is this part of the gameplay?! I never heard that it can suck you into its game world!"

"Hey! Can someone tell me how do log out of here?! I can't leave even if I tapped the LOGOUT button several times!"

"Come on, where are the GMs?! I need to get back and get the pizza I just ordered a few minutes ago!"

"Hello? Someone? I'm scared... I didn't want to play this game in the first place..."

Armand couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not only he saw some crying girls sitting on the ground and most armored people are screaming in anger, but he saw some grabbing some people in simple peasant clothing that he often saw in some fantasy novels and movies, demanding them to call some "GMs". He was a bit speechless at first upon seeing the panicked crowd of people, but he suddenly let out another quiet dry chuckle.

"Y-You're kidding me, right? I understand one person being spirited away into a game world, but a million people as well?!" He thought as he slowly walked around the district in shock. "This is getting crazier and surreal in every minute. If I find the person who sent us here, I swear, I'm going to smack them to the next century!"

Groaning at this, he quietly passed through several panicked people as he continued to wander around the ruined city. However, he stopped as he noticed a group of armored men surrounded an older scared man in peasant clothing as the man who has some kind of horns on his forehead grabbed his collar and glared at him.

"I-I already told you, I don't know what you're talking about!" The man shouted. "I-I'm just selling books and scrolls in here!"

"Stop repeating your sentences, old man and get us the admin already!" The armored man spatted out venomously. "We can't access it through our menu and we can't leave the game to contact them!"

"B-But I told you..."

However, the old man was thrown to the ground as the armored man's friend who seemed to be a human wearing leather armor whispered to him. "Hey, I think this guy has some bugs or something. What do we do?"

The armored man hummed to himself for a few seconds until he made a big grin on his face.

"Of course, what we always do back in our old stomping grounds. Mess him up until he's ready to talk!"

"Seriously? Can we even do that in this game?" Another man in leather armor who has black wolf ears on his head asked.

"Why not? There's no dialogue window and everything, so we'll just have to rough him up until he gets some answers. Though we have to avoid some unnecessary "accidents" just in case."

After he said this, he grabbed the old man's neck while laughing at this prospect as he pleaded for help. As they began to torture them though, Armand just frowned at what he just witnessed. Seeing this made him remind him too much of his high school days and this was even painful to watch as he witnessed them using brute force on a seemingly innocent old man for answers. He wanted to just move on and ignore them to avoid attention, but seeing this was the last straw for him.

With a loud sigh of dismay, he walked towards the armored man. However, Armand stopped at noticed something behind the player. A large armored figure suddenly appeared behind the players with a large broadsword in hand. And as the bout continued, it raised its weapon towards the player. He has no clue what it was, but he knew whatever it was, it might have something to do with those rude players. At this point, he had to act as he rushed towards one of them just as he could throw his fist to the old man.

"Huh? What the?"

Confused, the man turned around to see Armand grabbing his right arm with his hand curled into a fist.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Without a word, he threw the armored man to the floor and gave him a menacing glare as he only said to him, "Leave him alone."

Both of him and his friends became surprised at his sudden warning to him. However, after a few seconds, they began to laugh as the leader stood up from the ground and dusted off his leg armor.

"What are you? Some kind of a knight-in-shining-armor?" The armored man asked as he noticed Armand's current appearance. "You look more than a poor excuse for a Dracula wannabe than a knight to me. Why don't you go to some creepy castle and brood like any other emo vampires?"

But just as they were about to turn their attention back to the old man, Armand grabbed the armored man's collar from the shirt underneath his armor and pulled him closer towards his face.

"LEAVE. HIM. ALONE."

The rowdy players stopped laughing as they quickly backed away from the Nozgor man a few steps away as the armored man stared at him in shock. However, his expression turned into a confused glare aiming towards the stranger as he then said, "You're serious, right? Are you even aware that you're defending an NPC in this game?"

The black-haired man stared at him in silence for a few seconds until he spoke up, "So what?"

"What do you mean by that?! Do you even know what an NPC means? It means it's a "non-player character"! They're not real!"

A "non-player character"? Armand was a bit surprised after hearing this. Sure, he did hear the term "NPC" from his cousin a few times, but he didn't know what it meant until now. Despite this surprising discovery, he remained calm as looked at the old man one more time, which he could see the fear in his eyes.

"Really? Because judging by his expression right now, he seemed to express a bit of true fear thanks to your harassment towards him. And now that I've mentioned it, isn't harassing the elderly a bit too far for you and your lackeys?"

Now feeling annoyed by Armand's cold treatment against him, the armored man grabbed his right wrist in an attempt to free himself from his grip.

"Too far? We're just asking him for help! If you hadn't realized by now, we can't log out through normal means and there is no way for us to contact the GMs! How are we supposed to leave the game if the LOGOUT button is too buggy to work?!"

While he started to feel the pain in his wrist, he tightened his grip around the man's collar as he said, "How about you respect his privacy and back off? NPC or not, harassing the elderly will not change our current situation. I may not know more about the game or wherever we are right now, but I suggest you stop monkeying around and use your brain for once. Unless you want to pay the price just for breaking my wrist."

"What did you say, ya punk?!"

The armored man quickly released his grip from his wrist and tried to tackle the Nozgor, but his friends grabbed his arms and pulled him away from Armand, which caused him to release his grip from his collar as well. Thankfully, it was good timing as he noticed the large armored figure put down its sword after he backed away from the armored man. In fact, it gave him a good idea what the purpose of its presence.

"Calm down, boss! Don't let that old-timer get to you!" The man in leather armor urged to his leader.

"Old-timer?" Armand became confused, yet offended by the man's nickname given to him. Then again, it was his fault that he made his new body the way it was.

"Yeah! You're one of the best players back in our old game!" The human friend added. "Show him how great you and beat his vampire ass!"

Upon hearing his friends' encouragement, the armored leader gave a few deep breaths as he calmed down.

"You're right, you're right. I can't let this arrogant guy get to me," he said before he turned his attention to Armand, who was now frowning after hearing their insults targeted to him, as he flashed a big grin towards him. "As for you, you seemed to be a bit clueless at where you are right now. Is this your first time playing an MMO?"

The horned man waited for his answer, but he just stood there glaring at him.

"I'm guessing that's a yes." He then approached him and attempted to stretch his left arm around his back. "Tell you what, if you keep this little incident to your grave, I'll teach you a few beginner tricks around these parts. Heck, if you join us, there is a chance I'll promote you to a higher rank once I got my very own guild in here."

Join them? Teach them some tricks?

Just hearing those words reminded too much of his past. Some popular kids approached a loner like him and offered him a place in their circle. He was confused at that time, yet he accepted it with the mindset that they were trustworthy and the fact he wanted to fit into his new surroundings. Oh, how naive he was in those days. Because of his so-called friends, because of how oblivious of their true nature on that day, the words those rowdy players gave him made him very incensed at the thought of it. He would try to grab his throat, but just seeing the large figure made him think otherwise. All he could do was to sigh in dismay.

"I have my reasons go alone, but I rather risk myself becoming a murderer than to join you monsters just so you can treat me as a crash test dummy. Of course, I won't resort to violence because of reasons."

"What reasons?"

He didn't say anything else. He just pointed up to where the large armored figure was with its large sword raised. When the players saw it, they were predictably horrified at the sight of it.

"I'm just surprised all of you didn't notice him until now. But if I have to guess, he might do something to you all if you don't stop your harassment," he calmly said with a hint of venom in his voice. "I won't do anything to either of you. But if you do, I have a feeling either of us won't end well with them around."

Upon seeing the large figure, the leader's friends were about to take out their weapons. However, he gestured them to stop their advancement before he glared at Armand. He didn't say anything, but he knew what he was trying to say.

"C-Come on, guys. Those two aren't worth it," he ordered as he turned back and walked away in the opposite direction. "I don't want to deal with him and that armored NPC anyway."

With that, his friends followed him as Armand watched them walking away from him and the old man. When he turns to see the armored figure, it silently disappears, which caused him to take a big sigh of relief before he went off towards another direction. However, the old man quickly approached him and said, "Thank you so much for helping me, young man. Those people were trying to hound me about contacting someone named "GM" for some reason. I'm just glad that there is some kind of a mercenary who is willing this old man in this strange crisis."

Armand raised his eyebrow, confused at what the man just said.

"A mercenary? Are you talking about me?"

"Why yes. I was surprised that several of you folks suddenly appear in this city an hour ago. But we assume from your attire that some of you are mercenaries," the old man explained to him in a calm town. "Though unlike those ungrateful youngsters, you seemed to care about my well-being, which I thank you again for stopping their harassment."

"It's nothing. I only did it because it wouldn't be right for me to ignore your current situation, sir."

While he didn't want to get involved in several incidents and situations that didn't involve himself, just leaving anyone to their fate would leave him guilt-ridden over his inaction.

"Well, I should go now. I hope you should able to continue your business without those rowdy people pestering you," he said as he was about to leave the old man.

"A-Are you sure you don't want to stay for a while? I can provide you some water and bread. You seemed to look parched. Also, it's my way of thanking you for defending me against those Adventurers."

He did look tired after his small stint with the sunlight, but he didn't look like he was a bit hungry. But then again, he did remember that it's almost lunch back in the real world. Plus, he couldn't refuse this elderly man's gratitude after what happened. Sighing, he turned around and approached the old man.

"Alright, I think I should stay for a while. Besides, I have no idea where I am and I need to know more about this place."

"I see. Well, if you follow me, I think I can help you with your current dilemma. Don't worry, my house is not far away from here."

While he felt a bit uncomfortable at the fact he was invited by an A.I. to his house in this game-like world, he decided to follow him, hoping he might give him some said information about this ruined city.

coded by benetnasch of THQ

Status:
HP: 100%
MP: 100%

Notes:
N/A

Tags:
N/A

Words:
2,788

Total Words:
4,686

[Spectre]

Non-player characters. As he recalled when he encountered his cousin playing one of his MMO games, they were supposed to be people who were created for video games to buy and sell items to them for money as well to give out quests and information about their tasks. In other words, they were not supposed to be real people. Yet upon encountering this elderly man during his current crisis, he was starting to doubt that they were nothing more than data made for a video game. He didn't know why, but he knew something didn't add up when he talked to him.

"Here we are. I hope you weren't tired from all of that walking."

He quickly shook his head upon hearing his voice. However, as he looked in front of where the man was pointing, he let out a loud gasp as he saw the house in front of him.

Above him was a two-story small house near an abandoned large building that resembled an apartment building, only the roof was made of wood that was somehow found from fruit stands, shop signs, and some janitorial signs and the windows somehow came from other houses and glasses from some of the shops. Despite seeing all of this, he was surprised it looked like a normal medium-sized house from a fantasy novel despite it was built in a post-apocalyptic city.

"Young man. Are you okay?"

He snapped out of his trance when he heard the old man's voice, which he noticed that he was about to enter the house.

"O-Oh, sorry. Don't worry, I'm okay."

He then took a deep breath before he entered the old man's house. Inside, he saw from its wooden interior that there were a wooden sofa and a coffee table in some kind of a living room on the left, a small kitchen with a brick stove on the right, and a staircase that led to the second floor of the house.

"I-I didn't expect you live in this kind of house, sir," he remarked. "This looks amazing."

"Well, it's nothing much. We just had to use some of the salvaged materials to build this house several years ago. Though it took about 3-4 men to finish the whole thing," the old man explained as he sat down on the sofa while Armand did the same.

"I see." That was expected for anyone who was living in this ruined city. Yet he was surprised how long this house lasted despite the salvaged materials they used. "But did you use any fresh wood when you built this house?"

"We did, but we only had a few logs during that time. And unfortunately, most of the loggers were had a difficult time outside the city thanks to some monsters roaming around."

Armand raised his eyebrow upon hearing that word.

"Monsters? You're joking, right?"

But to his surprise, the old man nodded with a frown and said, "I'm afraid not. Monsters are roaming outside the city and it's even worse if you attempt to wander there at night. But I'm surprised that an Adventurer like you do not know about it."

Well, he was new to this game and he just arrived in this strange world. So it wouldn't be a surprise for him to not know about the existence of monsters in this world.

"I... I'm actually a new Adventurer and I just arrived in this city."

"Oh, I see. Since you're new, I think I see most Adventurers leave the city. I guess they are trying their hands against those monsters. However, you have to be careful if you choose to confront them."

Monsters, huh? Well, this world seemed like the game he was supposed to play. Besides, if what this man was saying was true, he might as well prepare himself if he planned to go out of the city.

"Alright, I understand. Thank you for the warning, sir."

"Please, call me Evan. It's the least I do after you helped me with those hooligans before," the man nodded as he gave him a small smile. "By the way, you haven't told me your name before, young man."

His name? His real name wouldn't do in this world, but even if he used the one from his character, should he even give a stranger his own name like that? Then again, he looked trustworthy and he even invited him to his house after defending him from the players’ harassment. Thinking of this made him sigh as he scratched the back of his head.

"I'm not normally the type to share my name so recklessly, but..."

Before he could say anything else, he heard some footsteps from upstairs.

"Grandpa, is that you?" A young girl's voice called out from the top floor.

"Oh, yes, Wit. Come, we have a guest here," Evan happily replied as he waved his hand to the stairs.

"A gwuest?" Another girl with a higher-pitched voice called out in a nervous tone. "I-Is it okay to come down, though?"

He let out a light chuckle and said, "Don't worry about it. I promise he won't bite. Just come down and say hello."

The footsteps became louder as Armand turned around and noticed two young girls ran down the stairs and stopped in front of the two men. The first girl who arrived has brown long hair and gray eyes and wore a simple white shirt and pink skirt. The second girl was a bit shorter than the former and unlike her, she has brown short hair, and gray eyes and wore a yellow shirt and blue overalls.

"Young man, these are my granddaughters, Wit, and Susan," Evan introduced them to the dark-haired man.

However, as soon as they saw him, their expression turned into fear as they backed away from Armand while the youngest girl hid behind her older sister. Even as he slowly approached them, they just backed away from the Nozgor man, much to his dismay.

"Of course, they wouldn't trust someone looks like a vampire murderer. Maybe I should reconsider my character's race and appearance once I figure out how to get back to the real world."

Despite this setback, he remained calm and stretched out his hand towards the girls with a small smile on his face.

"It's alright, you two. I'm just an acquaintance of your grandfather. I promise I won't bite."

He needed to consider his wording after this, but he wanted to reassure them that he was harmless to them. Besides, just seeing them reminded him of the kids he befriended in an elementary school he sometimes visited alongside his aunt when he was a teenager. They were fearful of him when they first met, yet ever since then, they started to saw him as their role model and mentor. The last time he saw them was that they already entered middle school, he just hoped that they were still okay back in his world.

"Come now, you two. He's trying to say hello. Not to mention he did save my life earlier. Try to shake his hands," the old man encouraged the girl as he also gave them a small smile. "Don't worry. I'm here for you two. I promise."

Upon hearing their grandfather's encouragement, the two girls looked at each other for a few seconds before the older girl stepped forward. Averting her eyes away from the displaced man, she stretched out her left arm in an attempt to shake his hand. But as she slowly opened her eyes, she gasped as she watched him gently grabbed her hand and shook it in a gentle and slow motion, much to her and her sister's surprise. At first, they were speechless at how he treated her so far, and yet, their fears started to fade as their frown curled into a smile. This was good for Armand, knowing that they were slowly started to trust him.

"Looks like you're starting to warm up to me, huh? I'm guessing you're Wit, correct?"

While she was still nervous about his presence, the girl with the long hair slowly nodded before she finished their handshake.

"Y-Yeah. A-And my younger sister here is Susan."

"H-Hello..." The younger girl spoke up as her face glowed red. "N-Nice to meet you, sir."

He could tell that they were still nervous, yet they were starting to grow comfortable as they continued to talk to them. That was enough for him to know that they were not scared of him anymore.

"Nice to meet you, too, Susan. I'm sorry if I scared you and your sister by accident."

The girls nodded and Wit said, "I-It's okay. We didn't have anyone visiting our Grandpa's house ever since we moved here."

Moved here? Now that he thought about it, neither the girl nor Evan mentioned about their parents. This made him wondered if their absence might have something to do with the NPCs' programmed story or something.

"U-Um, sir." He turned to Susan after hearing her quiet, yet high-pitched voice. "Can you tell us your name? Grandpa already told you our names and Mommy said it's impolite for someone to not give to introduce themselves after we do."

So he had no choice, huh? Then again, most of these people have no intention to trick or deceive him, which made sense considering what happened with Evan earlier. Besides, he was starting to grow attached to them a bit.

"My name, huh?" He hummed as he grew silent for a few seconds before he spoke up again. "Then call me Spectre. Spectre Veilheart."

The girls raised their eyebrows as they stared at the Nozgorim man.

"S-Spec...tere?" Susan repeated.

"If you like, you can call me "Spec" in case you're having trouble with the pronunciation. And you don't need to add "mister". Just Spectre will do fine."

"Okay, mis... Oh, I mean, Spectre. Thank you for saving our grandpa."

"Y-Yeah! Thwanks, Speck!"

Armand let out a dry chuckle upon hearing his mispronounced nickname. Still, if he wanted to survive this world, he might as well start using his name that was intended for Gaia Reborn to avoid any trouble or misunderstanding in the near future.

"U-Um, Spectre. Are you going to stay here for a while?" Wit spoke up with her fearful tone changed to calm, yet nervous tone.

"Somehow, yes. I'm hoping that your grandfather would give me some information about this city and..."

Evan then gestured Spectre to stop talking and said, "Now, now. How about you'll rest up while I pick up some snacks for us to enjoy?"

"Ooh, ooh! Can we join? We're very hangry!" Susan begged before Wit stopped her.

"Susan! We already had breakfast earlier. Try to remember how much food and ration we currently have right now!" Wit scolded. "Besides, Grandpa is having trouble with his shop and we're trying to save money for his sake."

However, her grandfather stopped her as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Not to worry, honey. You two can join in if you like. Just make sure you save some fruits and bread for our guest, okay?"

Hearing this, both girls flashed a big grin on their faces.

"Okay! We'll wash up outside!"

With that, the girls left the house with Spectre smiled at their presence.

"You have very kind grandchildren, Evan," he commented.

"Thank you. To be honest, I'm happy to see them smiling despite their recent tragedy a week ago."

Spectre raised his eyebrow, confused at what he said.

"What do you mean? Do you mean something happened with their parents?"

Evan nodded as he looked out to a window behind him.

"Yes. Their parents passed away during a recent monster attack on her caravan and because they have no remaining relatives in the city, I took them in to protect them from harm and danger. Unfortunately, with my current income from my book and scroll shop and my current age, I feel like I'm reaching my limit. At this rate, by the time I will leave this world, the girls will be homeless in a dangerous environment."

His eyes began to release some tears as he slowly wiped them off from his face.

"I vowed to my daughter and son-in-law that I will protect them and give them a safe place to stay until they grow up as adults. But I feel like I am running out of time. I need to do something to support them in any way as much as possible or my promise with their parents will be in vain."

After he explained everything, Spectre frowned as he watched Evan cry to himself. He wanted to do something for them, yet he has no clue how to do so. Besides, he still has no clue about his current whereabouts or how he got into this mess in the first place.

"O-Oh... I'm sorry to let you see me in my current vulnerable state. I shouldn't throw my problems to a stranger like you."

"N-No... No. It's okay. I understand what you're trying to deal with right now. You don't need to worry about it right now," he said calmly, knowing how he shouldn't get involved in his personal issues, especially to an acquaintance that he recently just met now. "Besides, you were trying to protect them until they are ready to face the world alone. I know how my parents felt after I left home to achieve my dreams."

It was true. He remembered how his mother began to cry before he left home to attend college. He also remembered how his father calmed her down and gave him several pieces of advice.

"Thank you, Spectre."

As Evan began to calm down, Spectre hummed to himself as he began to wonder about his backstory.

"Huh. That sounds like something from a TV show or novel. Yet, his emotions and his feelings say otherwise. From his words to his interactions with me and his granddaughters, he seemed more like a real live human being than an artificial fictional character created for a video game. But is this even that Gaia Reborn game at all? The game menus are there, yet everything I've experienced so far was a bit real to me. This seriously doesn't make sense at all."

Before he could think about this even further, he noticed that Evan disappeared from his seat. When he looked up, he noticed that he was now at the kitchen counter grabbing something from the nearby closet.

"Well, why don't you wait there for a while I prepare some snacks for us to enjoy?"

Hearing this, he gave a slight smile to him as he quietly waited for him to finish preparing the said snacks.

coded by benetnasch of THQ

Status:
HP: 100%
MP: 100%

Notes:
N/A

Tags:
N/A

Words:
2,456

Total Words:
7,142

[Spectre]

A few minutes later, several pieces of bread and wooden cups of water were placed on the table as not only Spectre accepted one of them each, but he smiled as he watched Evan and his granddaughters enjoying themselves. It has been a while since he encountered this scene not just in this world, but also in the real world as the last time he visited his parents and relatives was last Christmas. In his honesty, seeing this nostalgic scenery made him a bit relieved and relaxed. He has no idea when or how will he get back to the real world, but he hoped that his family was okay in his absence.

"Sorry if that's all we can offer you, Spectre. But it should be enough to thank you for helping me earlier."

As he took a bite from his bread, his eyes widened before he nodded to the old man.

"It's okay. I'm just grateful you're doing all of this in return. I did mention before that I'm not the type to leave you with those rude p- I mean, mercenaries," he calmly said. "However, I do need more than bread and water."

"Oh, right. You wanted information, correct? But I don't know if I can give you anything useful. I'm just a simple shopkeeper."

"I can see that. All I want to know first is my current location and I have no clue where I am right now."

"So you do not know your current surroundings? Does that mean you have amnesia?"

"Sort of. I remember that I'm a mercenary, but nothing else." It's a lie, but he couldn't explain to them that he came from another world since it might confuse them. So all he could do was to pretend that he lost some of his memories until then. "I was hoping you have some ideas on where I am right now."

"I see. Well, to answer your question, you're currently in the main city of Romalia in the Enlightened Republic."

"Romalia? Enlightened Republic?"

Now, why did those names sounded familiar to him?

"Yes. This city isn't much, but it is our home. It's not far away from the Tiber Coastline from here and the Citti del Vaticano is a good place to pray for the gods for a good harvest from the farmers outside the city."

Citti del Vaticano? He didn't know other languages outside of his native English and French, but he did read from a history book that its Italian name is translated into "Vatican City". Not to mention that he also mentioned the Tiber Coastline as well. If he connected that with the said city as well with Romalia, he slowly realized what this meant as he let out a silent gasp.

"Spectre, is something the matter?"

Hearing Evan's voice, he shook his head and said, "Oh, it's nothing. I think I got an idea where I am right now."

"Um, Grandpa. I'm sorry to ask right now, but did you bring what we ask after you finished your work?" Wit asked Evan, which his smile somehow turned into a slight frown.

"O-Oh, that." He slowly scratched the back of his head as Spectre noticed that he averted his eyes away from his granddaughter. "I wish I did. But I'm afraid it's still dangerous to leave the city. One of our neighbors told me that the monsters are still there and with the current situation in the city right now, I had no choice but to turn back."

"WHHAAAAA?!"

Evan let out another sigh and continued, "I'm sorry, Pumpkin. But you have to understand our current condition right now. Maybe I should try again tomorrow. I promise."

Despite his words, Wit and Susan's eyes started to tear up, much to Spectre's surprise.

"Are you sure? You promised us about six times now," Susan frowned as she hung her head down.

"I'm sure. Now try to clean yourselves up at the well outside. Spectre and I will clean the table."

"Okay..."

As the girls leave the house, Spectre began to wonder what they were talking about. He wanted to ask about it, but he stopped when he saw the old man turned his eyes towards him, who was still frowning even after talking to his grandchildren.

"I'm sorry you have to see that. I wanted to keep my promises, but with my current age and my inability to fight, I had to rely on others to fulfill them."

"Others?" Spectre repeated as he joined Evan on picking up the plates. "Do you mean like mercenaries?"

"Sort of. To be honest, I approached those fellows from earlier since I thought they might be mercenaries looking for work. But..."

"They just started harassing you about "GMs" before I intervene, correct?"

Evan nodded and hung his head in a few seconds of silence.

"I was a bit desperate to fulfill their promise. Not only that, but most of my neighbors are also having some issues of their own. But let's not go there for now. I don't want you to get involved in our personal matter after all."

It's not like he wanted to butt in. Still, this made him doubt that what those players said about Evan and his granddaughters being lifeless NPCS. He then let out a sigh before he turned his attention to the old man again.

"What kind of promise did they ask anyway?"

"They wanted flowers for their flower diary. But it's not just any flower. They wanted a pink and red flower that can only be found in the forest outside the city. You can get them easily, though the problem is the monsters I've mentioned before."

Spectre hummed as he thought about what Evan said.

"Well, if you like, I can get those flowers for you."

The old man's eyes widened at the displaced man's suggestion.

"A-Are you sure? I don't want to bother you after what you did for me earlier."

The Nozgorian man sighed and said, "I don't want to break your promise to those girls. Besides, I don't know where to stay for tonight and if you allow it, then consider it as a payment for my stay."

"I-I see. But are you sure about this? I don't want you to take you out on a busy schedule if you have one."

In truth, he has nothing to do since he still has no clue how to proceed with his new situation. Still, this was another way to get some information. But that was not the only reason.

"Don't worry. I'm not that busy. Plus, I hate to leave here with those girls still pouting over a flower."

Spectre smiled as he thought of those girls and their grandfather. Just seeing them reminded him of the kids back at the kindergarten school he volunteered a few times. So it wasn't strange for him to help them out despite his situation.

"Very well. I guess I can't stop you. But please be careful. I don't know how strong you against them, but you have to aware of your limits."

That was true. Even if his character belonged to a vampire-like race, he still needed to learn how to fight in his new reality.

"I promise. And since it's almost night time, I should get going now."

The old man nodded as he closed his eye and smiled.

"I'll make sure you have a room ready by the time you'll return."

Spectre smiled in return before he stood up and turned towards the door. But as he did, he ran into the young girls who noticed his departure.

"Huh? You're leaving already?" Wit asked in shock.

"B-But we haven't get to know you yet, Spectere!" Susan added in dismay.

"I won't be out for long. I'm just going out for an errand. Don't worry though, I will be back as soon as I can."

As he left the house, the girls try to grab him. But Evan stopped them and said, "Just trust him, girls. I have a feeling he might be staying with us for a while when he returns."

Spectre smiled to the small family, which made sense considering the reason behind his sudden departure.

"Well then, see you."

With that, he left the house to try taking his first "Quest". Still, there were some questions regarding what just happened. Were the people he just encountered were no more than simple NPCs? He would say yes, but from his interactions from them so far, he highly doubted it. More importantly, how in the world did he get into this world in the body of his Gaia Reborn character? And how will he get home?

Either way, if he wanted answers, he might as well get used to his new situation in his new body and find other people like him who might be less hostile than those rude players from earlier.

coded by benetnasch of THQ

Status:
HP: 100%
MP: 100%

Notes:
Finally finished this thread!

Tags:
N/A

Words:
1,485

Total Words:
8,627