I stood beneath four setting nozzle head in my shower and soaked in the blissfully hot water. I would've taken a bath, but the only tub was in the bathroom adjacent to my parents bedroom and I wasn't quite ready to face them yet.

You don't realize how much you love plumbing until it's gone, and the closest you get to a warm bath is a hot spring occupied by a hundred other people with the same idea. Trust me, the next time you take a shower, savor it. There was a time I would have killed for this feeling... Come to think of it, I did kill for this. I killed a lot for this moment to bless, and believe me, I was going to enjoy it.

After a forty-five minute stint of scrubbing every part of my body raw, followed by twenty minutes of just soaking in the water, I stepped out of the bathtub and toweled myself off. The scalding water had steamed up the bathroom quite a bit, so I cracked the door open to ventilate the room.

I barely recognized the boy standing in the full-length mirror hanging on the back of the door; shaggy reddish blonde hair that covered my eyes when wet. Skin a few shades paler than was healthy, a side effect of being cooped up inside most of my life; judging by the slightly darker shade of my arms, it seemed I'd been trying to get a tan before I was so rudely taken from my room.

I didn't remember tanning, but it had been five years since I looked like this. It was possible, though unlikely, given how I used to be.

Tired hazel eyes peeked out from between my bangs. They were the only things capable of giving away my age; they say your eyes of the windows to your soul. Well my eyes have seen some shit, enough to fill up the Grand Canyon and then some. I remember thinking that RPG's were highly unrealistic, and always used the same tropes in their scripts.

Goblins were evil, trolls were dumb, giants were slow; both physically and sometimes mentally... The truth doesn't do any of them justice.

Goblins weren't evil, but they were conniving, opportunistic sadists.

Trolls weren't dumb, they were just so tough that strategy is useless for them. Why sneak around when you're strong enough to rip a drawbridge from its hinges and throw it fifty feet?

Giants are slow, that much is true. But you don't have to be fast when every stride takes you several hundred feet, when just by reaching out your arm you can destroy walls ten feet thick. When you're that big, you can be slow and still be one of the scariest things on the planet. I would even go so far as to say that earned you a few more points in the scary column.

I shook my head and toweled off my hair. The clock on my nightstand said it was 5:30 in the morning, I don't think I was supposed to be awake for another forty-five minutes, but there was no way I was going to sleep now. I was finally home, back in my own body, with everything back to the way they were supposed to be-

New Skill Created! Heat resistance

For withstanding scalding hot temperatures for an extended period of time, your skin has begun to adapt to the heat. Further exposure will increase your resistance.

Heat resistance Level: 1 (0.00% / 100.00%) 1% Resistance

Well... Maybe not entirely. It was something I noticed almost immediately after crawling out of bed; the leveling system from (Titan Hunter 4) had apparently followed me out of the game. I didn't know why or how, but then again, I didn't know how the hell I was dragged in there to begin with. And honestly, of the two which would you be more freaked out by?

Truthfully, I didn't mind it. I mean, yeah, a part of me wanted to go back to the way things used to be- before all of this. But the logical part of me, the side that spent the last five years in hell, that part was thrilled to have brought the system with me. I was basically one of those comic book superheroes.

"Open character panel." I intoned inside my head.

Name: Robin Murray

Race: Technically Human

Level: 1 (0.00% / 100.00%)

Attributes: HP 10 / 10 | MP 20 / 20 | SP 100 / 100

Stats: STR 3 | AGI 4 | VIT 2 | INT 5 | WIL 10 | LCK 1

AP: 0

Skills:

Main Character's Body | Level MAX (0.00% / 0.00%)

Inspect | Level MAX (0.00% / 0.00%)

Heat Resistance | Level 1 (0.00% / 100.00%)

I felt my eyes twitching at the sight of my stats. Once upon a time, my lowest stat was still in the double digits. These stats actually placed me lower on the totem pole than gnomes, especially when they were wet... I shivered at the memory of having to deal with a hundred soaking wet, and royally pissed off gnomes. That's an experience I'd really rather not talk about- Ever.

The rest of the character panel was fairly standard, apart from the 'technically human' bit, which I didn't understand; I had ten hit points, twenty mana points, and a hundred stamina points. All of which would grow over time, and were the resources I used in everyday life. Well, maybe not mana, though it is incredibly useful- don't get me wrong. But since I currently lacked spells, and didn't have time to create any, mana was going to be useless for a little while.

Likewise, stats are pretty self-explanatory and went in this order; strength, agility, vitality, intelligence, willpower, luck. The last thing, 'AP' stood for attribute points. As I leveled up... If I leveled up? Now I was wondering if it was actually possible for me to level up or if I was just stuck with these stats. Normally you got experience for killing things or completing quests, but unless I took up hunting as a hobby- which wouldn't be that difficult considering where I live, I didn't plan on killing anything anytime soon. It's like the option of taking and completing quests, but I wasn't sure how to get a quest. In the game, It was fairly simple; you see a character with a golden exclamation point above their head, they had a high priority quest for me. Silver exclamation points also meant a quest was available, but it wasn't as important and could be skipped.

"Something to test later, I suppose."

I knew what (Inspect) was. It was a skill given to the main character of Titan Hunter 4 as an explanation for why they could see the names of items, creatures, people, etc. I glanced around my room, and for the first time since returning, actually looked at what I was seeing. Like magic, the names of every item in my room became visible. The words were white and mostly transparent, which is why I hadn't noticed them before. This also tracked with the item names in the game the same way, with a few exceptions, of course. Items were divided into five distinct categories; (common), (uncommon), (rare), (epic), and (legendary).

My ring of recall was a (legendary) artifact, and my staff was (epic) ranked before its untimely demise. After the crystal core cracked, it fell a rank and suffered a subsequent loss of power. "Had it not been for that..." I shook my head and dismissed the thought entirely. It didn't matter what could have been, the only thing that mattered is what was. I was a royal fuck up, plain and simple. I wasted too much time on trivial pursuits of leisure and enjoyment. Of course, the game punished me by taking away the reason I'd wasted so much time.

I crinkled my nose at the stench, wafting off of my bed, but I didn't have time to do anything about it right now. I would have to do laundry sometime this afternoon. No two ways about it.

The calendar on the wall; depicting Miss October in a rather striking blue bikini, said the day was Wednesday, the 3rd. I had school today. If memory served, I was supposed to be in my classroom by 7 AM... "I've got time." Depending on traffic, I believed it would take approximately fifteen minutes to make it from my house to the school. My dad usually dropped me off around 6:45 AM, giving me a few precious minutes to grab a snack from the vending machine and make my way to class. If the pattern held true to my memory, and I had plenty of time to do something I'd been dying to do.

I crept out of my room with my shoes held in my right hand. My house was an old two-story affair built sometime in the eighties; it had three bedrooms, and two bathrooms- each attached to a bedroom, upstairs. The main living area held a living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, and a third bathroom for guests to use. Unfortunately, the upstairs floorboards had a tendency to squeak and creak when stepped on. Hence why I was carrying my shoes instead of wearing them.

I made my way to the bottom of the stairs, successfully passing by my parents room without waking them, and slipped on my sneakers while sitting on the bottom step. At this time of morning, I would need to step into our enclosed back porch to fulfill my task.

I passed through the living room and kitchen on my way to the back door. The moment I laid my hand on the knob, I hesitated. Was I truly ready for this? Was I really ready to face what had haunted my dreams for five years?

I twisted the nob and pushed open the door- seven pairs of eyes swiveled to look at me, all but two glowing yellow and the darkness, the others glowed red and blue respectively. I fumbled to find the light switch on the wall for a moment before I found it and illuminated the dark, enclosed porch.

"Hi, Babies!" I sqealed upon seeing my dogs. The seven scrambled to their feet and raced towards me; the first to reach me was the youngest, and largest, of the Murray pack. Bear was a German Shepherd mixed with a pitbull, and I affectionately called him the dump truck because of his size and his ability to seemingly eat anything. Seriously, he's chewed through a wooden door before. Numbers two and three to reach me were Demon; a German Shepherd / Boxer bulldog mix, and Jasper; a Border Collie / Labrador mix. These three were the largest, and thereby the fastest. But the remaining herd was hot on their tails; Rex; miniature pincher, Angel; the mother of Rex, and also a miniature pincher, Rose; a long-haired Chihuahua, and Fiona 'FiFi'; was a shorthaired Chihuahua.

I spent several minutes hugging the seven individually and as a group. Once I was done, I took a moment to count them again and realized that we were missing someone- two someones.

"Where's Ranger and Max?" I asked the collective. Only Bear and Jasper even registered that I'd spoken, the others were too enraptured with belly rubs, and the container of dog biscuits I'd grabbed from the shelf by the door. Jasper was without a doubt the smartest and goodest of boi's, so he was the one who walked over to the door leading to the backyard and pawed at it.

The door possessed flap large enough for all of the dogs to fit through, maybe not at the same time, but they could get through there. So there was only one reason for Jasper to paw at the door; he was trying to tell me something.

I gently extricated myself from the dog pile and went looking for my remaining dogs. I knew if I found Ranger, I'd find Max, so that's who I started calling. Ranger was a King Charles spaniel, and was highly intelligent in his own right. He also happened to be obsessed with Max; Rex's dad, and also a miniature pincher, who was affectionately referred to as the 'old man' by everyone in my family. No one was really sure how old he was, though it was hotly debated among my parents as to when we actually got Max. Current estimate was he somewhere between fourteen and sixteen years old. Despite that, Max didn't require any aid to get around. In fact, he mostly acted like a dog half his age- though he did have trouble getting up the stairs.

The back porch led to a brick staircase that led to the ground. It was only three steps, but those three are Max's worst enemy.

Almost immediately after stepping outside and taking in some crisp autumn air, I held the door open so 'the seven' could have ample room to run out the door the same time. I found Ranger laying on the ground beside the steps and Max laying on the bottom step with his back to me.

"Need a hand, old man?" I asked the tiny dog.

Max twisted his head to look at me, and grumpily growled.

"You kiss your mama with that mouth?" I chuckled as I lifted him with a single hand and placed him at the top of the stairs. Without so much as a thank you, Max walk through the flap and I could hear him slurping water from their shared water bowl. A moment later Ranger passed me without looking back and went through the flap. I shook my head at their relationship. Ranger had been abandoned as a puppy in the woods behind our property, when we found him he was half starved and almost dead. No matter how much we tried, we never found his owners, and the shelter we tried to take him to said that if he wasn't adopted within six months, he would most likely be euthanized. So we kept him, and raised him- well, technically Max raised him. Ranger latched onto Max as a puppy, and never let go.

I looked over my shoulder for the other dogs, but they were long gone, disappeared into the forest that was our backyard. We were lucky enough to acquire ten acres of land with the house, and now there's a five and a half foot fence around the entire thing. The dogs could run to their hearts content, and play all day long in the safety of our backyard.

I sighed sadly at being abandoned so quickly, but comforted myself in the knowledge that they would be here when I returned. I didn't care what my parents said, the dogs were sleeping in my room tonight.

I stepped inside the house and quietly shut the back door behind me. The clock on the oven said it was now 6:15 AM, it was almost time for me and dad to leave... "Actually, both of my parents should've been awake by now." I realized with a start.

I raced upstairs to my parents bedroom, took a moment to collect myself, then politely knocked on the door and waited for them to let me in. I waited and waited and waited some more, but I didn't hear them making noise. Normally I would hear my dad snoring, but the room was silent. "Hello?" I quietly asked as I opened the door.

The room was still dark, the blinds were closed- blocking even the natural light of the early morning sun.

"Mom?" I called into the darkness.

Mom was a notoriously light sleeper. The slightest peep from me in the other room could wake her up and draw her ire, so I learned early on how to be quiet while gaming and not let my frustration get the best of me.

When I didn't receive an answer after a minute of standing in the doorway, I felt around for the light switch I knew to be beside the door. The ceiling fan light came on silently, chasing away the darkness and revealing an empty bed. The bed hadn't even been slept in, as evident by the fact that it was still pristine from dad making it previous morning.

I checked their bathroom and closet, and found no one. "Are they outside already?" I wondered.

I headed to the front door and found it locked. "Did they re-lock it after going outside?" Though weird, it wasn't unheard of- especially in our area. Though, not because we feared criminals... Unless you counted four hundred pound black bears as criminals, then yeah, we were terrified.

The twisted the lock and threw open the door. We only owned one vehicle, and that was my mom's '98 GMC Envoy, which was still in our driveway. Unless my parents left on foot, they didn't leave at all.

I shut the door and locked it. The clock on the oven showed that it was 6:25 AM, if I took my bike and left right now, I might be able to make it on time... Or I could call out, which was seeming more and more like a better idea the more I thought about it.

Besides, after everything I've gone through, I could use a damn day off.