*Date: 33,476 First Quarter - Isles of Selqua*
*Aris Orvellis: Level 1*
Chaos erupted in the coastal city. Local seafolk retreated to their homes, but human players ran toward the teleport points. The crowd moved like a panicked herd, voices rising in desperate confusion.
"Hey kid, you're not my master anymore," the black fox said, its voice carrying an odd mix of relief and resignation. "But since you pulled me out of that inventory, I'll help you."
Aris stood frozen, still trying to process what had happened. The fox nudged his leg with its snout. "Kid, snap out of it and start running."
"Where?" Aris's voice came out as a whisper.
"Follow me. The Council probably sent imperial soldiers to seize the portals. This place will be a bloodbath soon."
"I need to get to Demir. He can protect me."
"Don't even think about going to the Iron Confederacy. The road is filled with monsters. Factions will rip you apart in seconds. Also there is a sea between us an mainland."
They started running toward the outskirts of the coastal city. Various sea creatures walked along the beach, their forms alien and beautiful. Most people who had been farming or questing abandoned their tasks and ran toward the city. Aris was the only one running away from it.
"Are all those animals talking now too?" Aris panted as they ran. "Did you all gain sentience?"
"No, I don't know. I'm not an animal like them." The fox's ears flicked back. "Anyway, this is my one and only help to you."
They ran for nearly half an hour. Even though Aris had worked with his hands helping his mother in the fields, he was mostly a studious boy. The thirty-minute jog exhausted him, but fear kept him moving. When they reached a river, his legs finally gave out and he collapsed toward the water's edge.
Aris began drinking greedily. The fox joined him. "Hey, this isn't enough distance. Eh, whatever..." It started drinking as well.
Catching his breath, Aris asked, "How can I go back now? Looking at their reaction, it wasn't a game event, right?"
"I don't think it was a game event. There was a binding that wouldn't let me talk, making me act like a cute pet all these years."
"How old are you? What's your name?"
"I had many names. Each one I hated more than the last. I don't know how old I am. In fact, I might have been created right now with fake memories."
"What do you want me to call you?"
"Don't call me anything. I'm Fox. Fox the Black. And I'm leaving you as soon as you find something better."
That moment, they heard a crackling noise, screams, and then nothing.
Aris perked up and started running along the river toward the sound. Fox chased after him. "Hey, what are you doing? There's clearly danger there."
"Demir would have run to help," Aris thought as he pushed forward.
After they passed a giant tree blocking their view, they saw the source of the noise. A massive stone bridge spanning the river had collapsed. People and seafolk were scattered around, crushed beneath the rubble. It was an awful scene. Body parts and blood were everywhere.
Some of the wounded were leaking into the river. Shocked survivors began waking from the accident, begging for help, crying out in pain.
One survivor, an old man in patched garments, stood up and looked around. His eyes finally settled on Aris.
"Help me, kid. I'm a healer. Look for anyone alive and press their wounds while I cast mass heal."
"What happened here?" Aris located a seafolk woman with her gut torn open. He tore his shirt and started pressing the wound. Their planet was rough - earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis were common. Aris had emergency training.
"Fox, stand on this wound. I see someone else." Aris constantly searched for survivors.
"The bridge overloaded with people and collapsed," the old man said, raising his hands above his head to begin a ritual.
But to Aris, it didn't look like a natural collapse. How could a game bridge collapse under the weight of people? This wasn't built by medieval locals. Realmforge had constructed it.
He left the woman to Fox and ran to another victim - someone with a leg nearly severed. He unbuckled his belt and wrapped it around the limb as a tourniquet.
The old man finished charging his magic. Golden light emanated from his palms, spreading to the people around them. Wounds began closing. Bleeding stopped.
Aris watched magic work for the first time, torn between admiration and frustration. He could no longer gain levels or learn magic himself.
"I have a cabin near the cliff," the old man said. "Help me carry those with severed limbs who are still alive."
Some humans, once their wounds healed, immediately started running. The Stat Freeze law and being trapped here had driven them to panic. "Why wouldn't it?" Aris thought. The realization hit him like a physical blow. He was stuck in a pocket universe with no way to leave. He started crying silently but still grabbed a hurt seafolk child and tried to carry them to the old man's cabin.
The journey to the cabin took nearly half an hour. Aris was exhausted by the time he placed the child inside a patient room. The old man began operating while giving Aris vials of potion.
"Give these to the people still at the collapse zone," he instructed.
Without catching his breath, Aris ran back to the zone. He found several unconscious but not critically wounded people and administered the potions. Some thanked him. Others ran toward the city without a word.
Aris hesitated about returning to the cabin, but he had nowhere else to go. When he arrived, he found the old man covered in blood, having patched up the woman and child. Aris was exhausted, breathing heavily. He struggled to stand anymore. The healer poured a glass of water, offering it to Aris.
"Good job, kid. Catch your breath. I have some eggs if you're hungry."
For the first time since the coup announcement, Aris felt a moment of safety. But even as he accepted the water, questions burned in his mind. Who was this healer? Why had the bridge really collapsed? And how was he, a thirteen-year-old boy, going to survive in this world that had suddenly become all too real?
The old man watched him with knowing eyes, as if he could read every thought.
"Name's Nebukadnezar," he said quietly. "But most folks call me Nebu. And you, young one, have just taken your first step into a much larger world."