The beginning was always the hardest. Matters not what it is you’re trying to accomplish, when it’s your first roundabout behind the wheel, you’re bound to crash and burn a couple of times at least.

“You died again, Ash.”

Brought a stool up to her room a couple of minutes back, figured it would be an easier time sitting beside her than standing beside her, especially since I got my hand permanently affixed to the mouse, clicking over and over again the restart button in periodic intervals with every death.

Ash kept crashing and burning.

To my eyes, it looked as if she was deliberately trying to get herself killed. But apparently, every suicidal action came with a defense and a reasoning as to why she does what she does. Seriously, if each death came with a gravestone, the excuses she comes up with would be the perfect epitaphs for them.

“I forgot the block button”

“Dodge. Which button is dodge?”

“Master, I couldn’t swing my sword”

She didn’t even have a sword equipped on that last one, so I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about there.

Her latest obituary was probably the most amusing to me.

“I merely took a small leap forward,” she said.

I clicked the mouse again, then turned to look at her. “Ash, you jumped off a cliff.”

“I’ve assessed that my chances of survival would be quite high.”

“It’s a cliff.”

“Not a tall one.”

“Tall enough.”

The game loaded back in again, placing the recently deceased hero back at the latest checkpoint, overlooking the same cliff he was deliberately sent plummeting into just moments before.

Poor Dad.

Ash, still with the controller held at odd angles, turned her gaze straight and continued on with the game.

“Noted,” she muttered, heading off this time in the total opposite direction from the cliff edge.

As I stated earlier, the beginning will always be the hardest hurdle to overcome, and as fate would have it, it was going to be a long arduous first few hours.

At the start of hour one, she had asked me just how far and wide the extent of my knowledge was at that point in time. After considering briefly, I simply told her that she probably knew more than I did, really.

“Still just getting started,” I said.

“Then set me down the same path,” she said with absolute confidence. “Have me retrace the steps you have taken.”

So new game, it was.

Made a new save, skimmed through the character customization, then handed the reins back to her uneasy hands.

She stayed silent and watching as the intro cutscene played out in front of her, soaking in the narrator’s gravelly solemn exposition of Asteria’s harrowing plight against the forces of the all-powerful all-evil demon queen Terestra the Vile.

Right here, I expected a reaction from Ash. Something, anything… shock, confusion - it was Terestra after all. Everybody and their mothers knew of her, hell, even I did.

Who didn’t?

Ash didn’t.

Or at least, she didn’t give any indication that she did. The narrator moved on past Terestra the Vile, addressing instead to the state of Asteria and establishing the many kingdoms within it.

On and on it went, relaying information we both already knew. Yet whereas Ash looked on with eyes sharp and focus, I on the other hand, just kept getting distracted by that one little thing.

Does she really not know about Terestra?

I thought about asking her about it, but I feared disturbing her concentration especially since she was so invested. So I held my tongue and instead said to myself: Later. There’s always a later.

Turns out, I didn’t need a later. Ash had finally reacted to something, and as it also turns out, it was a something that I didn’t even consider to be a something.

“5314 A.E.?”

The question that broke the quiet, and also my expectations.

“Something wrong with the year?” I asked, immediately reaching for the pause button.

“I had suspected something was amiss,” said Ash. “The disembodied voice spoke of records and events that I hold no knowledge of. Just then, he spoke of a province - Lamir. I know of no Lamir.”

“Lamir doesn’t exist?”

“Lamir has yet to exist,” explained Ash, her confusion mirroring my own. “Master, does this game… does it speak of the future?”

I reared my head back, blinking rapidly. “Not to me. Apparently… you think different. What year do you think you’re from?”

“5110 A.E. in the winter months of Limim.”

“You’re from two centuries ago?!”

‘I…” Ash furrowed her brows. “That’s what I know for certain.”

Silent was my reaction. Wide-open were my eyes. Gaping were my lips.

“He also mentioned a Terestra,” I said slowly. “Do you know of a Terestra?”

When Ash frowned and shook her head, right then everything started making sense to me again and thank God it did, I was about to lose my fucking head.

The Game established that Terestra was a threat that only recently had arisen, ravaging the lands for only but a decade long. So it made sense that Ash knew absolutely nothing about her, she’s from two centuries ago!

Question is - why was she from two centuries ago?

That’s a question that neither of us knew the answer to. Speculating about it would take time, time that Ash would rather spend unearthing her digital pandora’s box.

So with shrugged shoulders, I promptly resumed the cutscene.

Hour two was perhaps the most grueling. No narrations, no more exposition, now she was tossed into the game, tossed into the world, and was given no restrictions to her venture. She was free to explore as she saw fit.

Actually, that wasn’t exactly accurate. There was actually a tutorial quest, a bright bold marker pointing her towards the direction for it… that oughta be her first priority, really. But yeah, she ignored that.

I couldn’t even blame her for it. This was Asteria.

Her home.

And she was back… two centuries later.

Now those who were new at the game wouldn’t even be able to tell from their left to their right. Getting lost in the game was inevitable, even I got lost my first time through.

Not Ash though, certainly not her.

She knew those mountains off into the distance, familiar with the flora that swayed in the distant landscapes, recognized every forest, every rock, to every flower that bloomed.

And it pained her that she did.

“This is Asteria. This is Asteria.”

I’d hear her mutter under her breath over and over again in denial, in defiance, then slowly as the minutes passed, in acceptance… quiet, defeated acceptance.

The game entered the paused screen yet I didn’t press a single button. Ash placed the controller down and silently just sat there… contemplating.

I’d have loved to say something right then, find the right words, formed the perfect sentence to comfort her in her time of great need.

Turns out I wasn’t much of an expert in comforting that I originally thought… words just don’t come as easy to me.

“Does he have a name?” Ash suddenly muttered. “The character on screen. Does he?”

Going to the tutorial quest would have answered that question for her. But I realized that she was in no mood to continue forging on just yet, so there I took the mantle of exposition dumper.

‘He does.” I said. “His name is Leonardo. A legendary hero from the past, summoned forward to this year to take up arms against Terestra and get rid of her once and for all. Do you know him?”

Another frown, another shake of the head.

“His name escapes me,” she said. “There exist many heroes of legends and many evils of old. I fear my memory may be muddled with far too many.”

“That’s fine. You’ll learn more about him as the gam - the uhh, story continues.”

Ash nodded her blanky. Don’t even think she was actually paying attention to me with that far-away stare of hers.

It was then that I tried offering a bit of reprieve. “Do you… do you want to stop here for now?”

Should have known by then that Ash would never have given herself such mercy.

“Kindness,” she gave a weak, fleeting smile. “It’s okay, Master. I’m okay. Let’s… let’s resume, shall we? Tell me where I should proceed.”

The rest of hour two played out as I’ve described earlier. Crash and burn. Trial and error. Cliff diving and dying.

The beginning was always the hardest.

But then something magical happened - Ash got good.

Deaths weren’t as frequent, combat scenarios didn’t devolve into just mindless button mashing, and the controller in her hands was finally angled right.

Exactly as stated, Ash replicated my every step. Every quest I ever did, every NPC I ever interacted with, she went and done it all. Sometimes in bouts of intense action, I’ve even caught glimpses of excitement glittering in her wide-open eyes.

Ash was having fun, in spite of everything. Video games are meant to be fun, after all.

If only I could share in her fervor… if only I could joke and laugh and offer some witty remarks. If only…

But the prologue was coming to an end… some part of me wished I didn’t know exactly what comes directly after.

Sure enough, she and her archer companion were informed about an attack in a village nearby, orchestrated by a devoted follower of the demon queen Terestra.

And sure enough, Ash readily agreed to offer her aid and immediately spurred towards the direction of the village.

Night was falling. Demons were arising… and Ash… oh Ash just had to ask the question.

“Master, I’ve been thinking,” she said. “Those cosplayers from before, their knowledge of Asteria stems from here too, yes?”

“Yeah...”

“One was dressed in my image.”

“She was.”

“Do I… “ Hesitation, brief hesitation. “Does that mean that I appear here, as well?”

There was no later to fall back on this time, no excuses to give, what would come will come… and I just couldn’t bring myself to lie.

“Yes, you do.”

The third hour has begun.