3.

Damsel stood outside one of the grand structures of the academy, waiting for Grey. The clouds up above darkened by the minute, there was a dark aura ahead, Damsel could feel it. She watched Grey as he walked out from the massive wooden doors encasing the Training Wing of the school. Still wrapped in that cloak, his body was dry, but he shook with nervousness. Grey contemplated what he should reveal to Damsel. Perhaps he was in trouble? If he was, he wouldn’t want to burden his closest friend with it.

“Grey!” Damsel called out, running eagerly towards him, “Grey. How’d it go? You were awesome, huh? I knew it! Damsel tugged at the cloak Grey had wrapped around him, “You still wearing that thing?”

“Oh, yeah, oops.”

“So...are you going to tell me how it went?”

Damsel was too excited to see how Grey was feeling. He had no idea what to say; what to reveal, “You go first. You were awesome. Obviously.”

“Yeah, I mean, just like we trained for, right?” she asked, then put her hand on his shoulder. “Right?”

“Well, I don’t know. Some of it was, I guess.”

“What? You’re being weird, Grey. Show me your Bitvision, I want to see what class you got!”

“Well,” Grey looked around them; the well-manicured courtyard of statues, lawn, and fountains was a mass of second years, all of them already forming parties with one another, swiping their hands over the air to display their own bitvisions. He shook his head. “Invite me to your party and I think, um, I’ll show you, but not here.”

“Why are you being so cryptic? It’s not like anyone can see, you don’t have to be embarrassed.”

But Grey had already started moving toward the academy’s doors. She followed quickly behind as he thrust them open. They passed through the hallway between the courtyard and the front lawn of floral beds and paths which forked into several different directions, main roads and side roads most of them, and as they shouldered past several other students who had already met their parents outside, he found himself looking up into the sky. He cringed. Something seemed to happen there, he swore it. Toward the left of his peripheral the clouds had glitched, a splotch of green ones and zeroes. He felt his jaw clench, and despite his dislike for the Illustrious forest, he gestured toward it.

“In here.” Grey continued into the forest and Damsel followed suit.

“Alright Grey, this is ridiculous, just show me.”

They were well into the forest, but still he looked over his shoulder, past the entanglement of hanging vines and tall assortment of foliage.

“There’s no one here Grey,” said Damsel. “Remember? This is our safe place.”

Reluctant, but ultimately giving in, Grey knew he could trust Damsel with his new secret. He pulled her over toward a large log and sat her down. With shaky hands, he motioned in the air in front of him, a wall of stats and attributes fell in front of the two.

At first glance, the wall looked normal: Name, level, Reputation. Grey was waiting for Damsel to freak out, instead, she furrowed her brow, “Wait a second. What class did you get? I can’t see it. It’s just a bunch of ancient script.” She muttered to herself trying to translate what she knew from her studies of the ancient language, “What is this Grey?”

He took a deep breath, scratched his head, and stared with a dismal emptiness at the vision. Then noticed the tabs near the top of the display; one of them was a faint glow. He rose his finger to sweep over to it and chuckled half-heartedly. Damsel had been one step ahead of him.

“Did you. . .” she said, shaking her head. “Why didn’t you already open this?”

Grey just stared absently, as the Info gave way to the Items screen. Together, sitting side by side, the party inspected what showed before them. It was a prompt.

You have received:

One-Handed Bone Sword

Damage: + 6-8

Durability: 4/4

Item Class: Uncommon

Forgery: The Undead

Quality: Above Average

Weight: 1.9

You have received:

Shield of the Misnomer

Cost: Cannot be sold or traded

Defense: + 21-25

Durability: 13/13

Item Class: Rare (well, this wasn’t supposed to happen)

Forgery: Hero Subconscious

Quality: Well-made

Weight: 4.7

Properties

❖ +7% chance to counter

❖ +10% resistance to fire damage

Ability:

Loyalist: Shield of the Misnomer’s stats increase with the Hero’s level.

Damsel nearly fell off her seat, but caught herself and with her finger to the vision, traced its information again.

“You. . .have you seen this? Grey! That is so awesome. No one ever gets items in their field test, especially not a rare one.” She paused, holding her finger on the shield. Then bit her lip. “That’s so weird.”

“Yeah.”

“I got an A+ in our Item Studies class, but I’ve never heard of Shield of the Misnomer. Wow, I guess there’s always something new to learn, huh?”

She glanced over at Grey, and recoiled, putting her hand to her heart. “Grey?”

“That wasn’t learning,” he muttered to himself. “And it wasn’t a field test, Damsel, it was something. . .”

“Something as in?”

“I don’t know. It was just. . .off.” “Off how?”

“Off, like, it wasn’t really a test. Something was in there with me.”

“Are you sure? Really, it’s just a battle scenario.”

He shook his head. “Something in there really wanted me dead,” then motioned towards his feet; his shoes like two barbequed kebabs.

Damsel wrapped her hand around her mouth, “For the love of the Gods. What happened to your feet?”

“That’s what I’m saying! It wasn’t fake. The Professors told me they had no control over the test. That something else had control. They had to break me out of there, Damsel.”

Grey finally felt the weight of the scenario and dropped his head in his hands; confusion settled into fear settling into panic.

“Okay. Okay. Let’s think about this.” Damsel exited out of their Vision displays, “Who would want you dead? And why did no one else go through this? Is there something you’re not telling me, Grey.”

“No! Really, I swear, I have no idea what’s happening.” Grey reached his hand out to grab Damsel’s. They stood there, still, in the Illustrious Forest, the trees hanging over head and all around them, a blanket of protection, “You have to believe me.”

She stood, canvassing Grey with a steely gaze, “Alright. I know you wouldn’t lie to me. But, we need answers. I’m sure our parents can tell us more.”

The two newly appointed adventurers walked back home through the Illustrious Forest. It was dark, save for the luminescent blue glow of the flora. Smatterings of delicate chirps and whistles sounded from the trees and tiny creatures frolicked across the path in front of them. Hardly speaking a word to each other, Grey and Damsel pondered along the way of the magical forest. Grey looked at Damsel every few steps, trying to meet her gaze. She was silent. Pondering Grey’s Bitvision he could only imagine. He couldn’t. He only wanted to know what Damsel was thinking. Whatever was happening to him, he knew he needed her by his side.

Opening the mysterious clutches of its low hanging branches, the Forest released the two young travelers onto the path back home. There was a crack in the sky. The clouds erupted with electricity, but rain did not follow. A powerful tornado of winds danced in the sky like violent ballet. The skies were dark, but a red hue hung in the distance.

They turned to one another.

“What’s going on?” Damsel asked, clutching onto Grey’s shirtsleeve.

He stared studiously over the dense trees, into the amber sky. “I don’t know, but it’s coming from town.”

A great sound ruptured the world, and a horrendous gale was carried on it. A massive flock of birds screeched and escaped their placed in one huge speckled cloud, only to be hurled erratically. Fairies screamed and cursed, as the wind crashed through their home, stealing them from safety. It was like a stampede and all in its path was affected. Grey’s eyes darted in search of cover as some hundred yards away he could see branches breaking, hurled into other trees which were coming uprooted. He scanned left then right as Damsel stood, frozen and sobbing. He grabbed her hand as a whirlwind wall of leaves rushed toward them, devastating the forest in its way. Finally, only a few feet away, he found a huge troll that was on one knee and bent over as if it had fallen asleep amidst some very deep thoughts. It would have to do. Grey tugged hard on Damsel, but she didn’t move.

“Come on,” he said.

“I. . .”

It was too late. The wall of wind broke over the world before them, and although some of the more sturdy trees did not fall, a splinter raced up one and its contents exploded. One large branch cracked and fell. Grey tackled Damsel to the side just as it landed where they’d been. The tree, however, followed suit. Instinctively, he turned his back over her and held his arm over their heads.

The tree crashed.

Simultaneously, he felt a surge of power and a giant weight on his forearm. He screamed in pain. And the next second the weight was gone. All around them was a smattering of bark and wood, and in his hand he noticed the shield had once again come to his aid. He didn’t know whether he had consciously equipped it or if it had just happened, but it didn’t matter then. He took Damsel’s shoulder in his hand, and tried to navigate her coiled body to look at her face. But she was sobbing into her hands.

“Gods help us,” she cried. “Something’s wrong, Grey.”

Slowly, he stood to his feet and peered about them, holding onto his pained forearm. Their safe haven, the Illustrious Forest, had been devastated. Broken trees everywhere, upturned trolls, who’d likely wake up very confused about why their arm was ten feet away, homes of fairies totally destroyed, and, he looked back up into the burning sky of ash and red.

It glitched again.

She was right, something was very wrong.

And then, in the right of his peripheral he saw another prompt.

You’ve been struck by a large tree.

You blocked the tree’s attack.

Tree does physical nature damage.

You’ve lost 21 HP to the tree.

The Tree broke at the might of your shield.

Congratulations, you defeated the inanimate object!

Shortly into his Hero’s journey Grey had slain two mighty beasts. Well, one mighty beast. The wood laid across the forest’s edge; a crumbled dock leading to the rest of the world. The two stepped over the fallen tree, Damsel’s eyes swollen with tears. Together they navigated through the ravaged forest. Destruction lie in wake underneath the broken sky and a desolate wasteland was scattered around them as if some unspeakable hell had ransacked the glorious lands of Bitworld. Fire crawled up the skyline ahead, smoke bleeding out near their town, and as they rushed forward the now solemn wind carried with it an overpowering scent of a world on fire.

And when they finally reached the edge of the forest, what’d once been the gateway of hanging vines, was now a small hill of entanglement and fallen trees. Helping his nearly paralyzed friend along, Grey climbed through the mess, slashing at the obstructions, until the way was clear, and they could see the ruins of their past.