My phone went off on the nightstand and I groggily tried to silence it. I slapped it, sending it onto the floor. Somehow it ended up underneath my bed, ringing in its taunting fashion. I stuck my head under the pillows hoping it would go away for a few minutes so I could get five more minutes of sleep. I remembered the text I had gotten after closing and I threw myself out of bed. I fished under the bed until I found the loud device and finally silenced it.

The first thing to greet me when I opened it was a text from Dan saying a few kids broke into the store last night and he had the police there. He told me the store was closed until the investigation was over and that everyone would receive a week of paid time off.

I broke out into a little dance and popped off a message expressing my concern but thanking Dan. It was a rare treat that Dan handled situations, usually he gave it out to the senior managers to handle. Not wanting to lose out on the day I went into my living room and turned on my flat screen.

The display stayed off and I tapped the button again. After nothing happened I went to the wall and tried the light switch. The room stayed dimmed which meant I needed to call my landlord. Not the best start to an impromptu vacation, I’d have to call my landlord later.

Going about my usual morning routine I couldn’t help but wonder what happened after work last night. I must have drank enough to black out while watching some Halloween movies because on the coffee table was an empty 40oz bottle and a few rented flicks. Strange images appeared in my head, a blood thirsty rabbit, some cute athletic type girl and magic. It must have been some odd low budget movie marathon I had decided on last night.

With my bowl of cereal in hand I sat down at my dinner table and found it covered by a board game. There were hand drawn maps and mini’s spread around the board, character sheets and dice. I didn’t recognize the game and I looked around for the box. A simple black box was on the far end of the table with a cheap looking crystal set on top of it. The game was called Dungeon Keeper and I couldn’t make heads or tails what it was for yet.

Putting the bowl aside I checked the page in front of me and it was a character sheet, of myself. The previous days crashed into me and with a start I looked around the room. Pain exploded in my head and I pushed myself away from the table in a panic.

I held a hand to my head and felt my sudden headache stop. “What the fuck…”

“Do you still wish to continue, Keeper?”

I looked around and found the source of the monotone voice, the television had turned on and standing in a stone room was the thing I had met on the fateful night. The black mirror under its hood swirled with shapes, thousands of small crystals that grew wider out towards the edge. They circled around a central whirlpool etched in the black glass that pushed them outwards until they reached the end of the mirror. Occasionally a crystal would materialize on the surface and fall like a shooting star disappearing from view.

A pop up appeared asking the question again and underneath was two boxes. One was to confirm, while the other was to quit. Faint text underneath listed that I would be returned to a safe resting spot, and be freed of the keeper crystal.

“What’s the catch?” I asked. “I’m figuring stuff out, even managed to level up on my own.”

The figure became agitated and the crystals in the mirror hardened into spikes. “I’ve lost too many crystals to idiocy and egos. You have proven to at least be willing to bend the knee if it means to survive though I question your choice of devotion. So if you wish to continue this little game then I hope for your sake that intelligence stat isn’t just for show.”

“Can I ask a few questions first?” I asked.

“Men devote their lives in hopes to gain my attention, even my priests go their whole lives not knowing if my existence is a falsehood. You have seen more and heard more of me than most can dream and you believe you can just ask me questions to your heart's content?” It slammed its skeletal fist onto the screen cracking the display.

Silence hung like a heavy fog on the room, weighing down my shoulders threatening to crush me under the strain. I focused on the supposed god and tried to see if I could get a pop up.

Knowledge : Divine Partial Success!

Icharn the god of hidden knowledge and dreams is one of the major gods of the world. He frequently gives advice or insight to dreamers to aid them in their daily lives. He is known as one of the most mysterious gods with few ever gaining an encounter with the god’s true form. All accounts on meeting the god face to face have noted his willingness to answer questions.

“For the love of…” Icharn said. “Fine, ask a few questions. I have a bit of time.”

“What's the name of the world, am I going to be hunted down for being a keeper and is there some helpful tips you could give me?” I asked counting off my fingers.

“One, the world's true name has been lost but that woman with you will know it as Ewyernar. Two, the human leader of a local town has decreed all keepers have a bounty on them, but they haven’t exactly made themselves well loved by the people of the world. Lastly, don't get killed.” Icharn said, answering my questions rapidly. He held up an hourglass and shook it showing the remaining bits of sand falling to the bottom.

The pop up appeared again and refused to move from my vision. Taking the hint I accepted and looked at the odd behaving god. Perhaps I should also make him a shrine to gain some favour or another chance at a meeting.

My shadow expanded under me turning into a pool of liquid black. Tiny hands rose out to grab onto me and I held my breath as I sank below the surface feeling the abyss take hold of me again.

...

I woke up and stared at an odd ceiling, a scratchy wool blanket and a cloak piled on top of me. There was an absence of the athletic cat girl and I felt a bit disappointed. I got up to pull on my boxers and pants but couldn’t find my shirt anywhere. I lifted my nose smelling something being cooked in the next room and let myself be pulled to the source.

Lin stood in front of the stove cooking on the clay plate, she had two freshly caught fish and a few berries off to the side to make a morning meal. She hummed a cheerful tune to herself while swaying her hips to the beat. The calming scene came to a halt when I stubbed my toe on the table and yelled.

Lin looked at me and tried her best to contain her amusement as she started to remove her jacket. Under it she wore my shirt and stripped it off leaving herself topless with the exception of the chest bindings.

“Didn’t want you to freeze so I left my cloak while I borrowed your shirt. Thought it would be a fair trade since you are getting a free breakfast.” Lin said.

I pulled on my shirt and I could tell it needed a wash, and soon. The bathing room I hoped could double as a laundry room and mentally it went up a few places in my priority. Not having access to a shower or bath was starting to show with the accumulated rock dust on my arms and I hoped I didn’t smell too offensive to Lin.

“I’ll take that trade any day.” I said falling into one of the chairs. “Got any plans today?”

“I figured we could explore around, find a few weak monsters to kill and get you a level up. I’m already four, meaning the experience for me will be in the single digits while for you it should be closer like high thirties.” Lin said. “Also you woke up at the perfect time, breakfast is served.”

“Why's that?” I asked, accepting a plate of food.

“As long as anyone has had records it's always been that way. Some egghead told me it was part of the theory of relative experience. If you do something you always have, then you are just practising, not really learning. It applies to crafting, fighting and everything else. It's why you see tradesmen cap out around level four or five while an expert can really only get up to seven on his craft alone.” Lin explained between mouthfuls of food.

I ate in silence for a minute thinking over what she said. When I used my skills and they succeeded I was earning pennies on the dollar for experience, while slaying that one stag hare essentially earned me my entire first level. I had been level zero and had never killed an animal in my life so for me it was a whole new experience.

“Last night you mentioned teens would team up with hunters for an early level up, why don’t city people ever do stuff like that?” I asked.

Lin nodded and spoke around a bite of fish. “City folk typically like to keep their hands clean, saying their levels are from honest hard work. Some guild houses will only let people without combat skills into their fold. Don’t worry, country folk don’t look down on you small guys too badly.”

When she mentioned the small part her face broke into a smirk and I frowned at her. She looked to the top of my head and fought to contain herself.

“You are at most an inch taller than me.” I said knowing what was about to happen. “Not to mention I can throw a punch just fine if fire doesn’t work.”

She reached over and ruffled my hair and cooed. “Aw the cute little wizard thinks he can be a big boy and protect me, doesn't he?”

I took the string out of my pocket and held it menacingly.

Lin backed up and threw up her hands. “Whoa there Joshie, let’s not put kitty in time out now. What if we get attacked?”

It was my turn to grin as I chased her around the room with the string. “Then I guess you have to let the little wizard protect you!”

The uneven floorboards were slick with melted frost and I slipped crashing into Lin’s legs. We fell into a pile and Lin ended up wrapping her legs around me into a leg lock. From my hands she pried away the string holding it triumphantly over her head.

“Wizard, you will submit to…” Lin breathlessly said. She stopped as one of her ears rose towards the window, her eyes went wide and she twisted to look outside. “Josh, come look.”

She let me go, our little play fight forgotten and crouched beside the window. I followed suit and followed her gaze outside. At the river bank were three more stag hares. Their rabbit fur was more wild looking than the last one, and they had no collars on them.

“Let’s follow them quietly, if we can find their den we can wipe them out all at once.” Lin said. “Just need to grab my things.”

As Lin pulled on her jacket and cloak I waited beside the door in thought. The stag hares would be good for my food stocks if I could find a way to get it underground without her noticing.

“But if we wipe them out then they won’t be a food source later.” I said thinking ahead. “They did taste pretty good, I would hate it if that's the only time I tried it.”

“Where there's three there's more. Would you rather cute little normal rabbits be here or the giant ones that want to stab you?” Lin asked me, flicking one of the small cuts in my shirt.

“That's…a fair point. We could use the skins for blankets too.” I said.

The stag hares were worth a lot of money too if I could ever find a way to sell the parts. As I followed Lin outside I checked if my minions wanted anything. Drone 1 sent a small list of requests, making a carpenter's table, some other places just inside the mine to store ore and the like. I approved his list and I sent one for the scout to come up top.

“Hey I just need to…take care of business.” I said, jutting my thumb towards the far side of town.

“I’ll get a look at their tracks, meet me by the river. It’s best if I scout up ahead anyways.” Lin said. She looked at my feet and added. “No offence but I doubt you have any ranks in sneak.”

As the cat girl left I went to the far side of town to relieve myself and looped back to the storage building. I met Scout 1 at the trap door and crouched low so I could keep my voice down. He leaned out the exit looking around for any signs of danger.

“I’ll be gone for a bit with an adventurer, I need you to keep an eye out but when we come back sneak down here. If you wouldn’t mind, let everyone else know too.” I said.

Scout 1 nodded and vanished back underground. I had quite a bit of faith in them to keep the place running. I still hadn’t gotten a chance to look at the progress and curiosity was getting to me. The troubling part was if keepers were being picked off then I couldn’t risk Lin actually knowing just yet.

The cat girl sat on a log waiting for me just beyond the tree line. She held in one hand a knife and in the other a long straight branch. With smooth long drags of the knife she shaped the branch into a point and checked it with a thrust into the frozen ground. Happy with the results she held it out to me.

“Thanks?” I said, unsure of what it was for.

“Hey, I don't want you walking around unarmed. Just don’t stick me with any pointy bits just yet, yah hear?” Lin said.

As she walked away, her tail slid along my side and flicked its tip towards her telling me to follow. I fell in line behind the cat girl watching how she checked for our quarry’s trail. She stopped every once in a while to check the ground or a broken branch on a bush. She tried to mention off hand what she was doing but it all went over my head.

It boggles my mind that she could look at two tracks that to me looked identical but was able to tell which was more recent. She seemed quite confident which filled me with hope and if we did get lost all we had to do was follow the stream.

As the abandoned town disappeared from view a new pop up came up telling me I was out of range of my crystal and would therefore no longer see any updates on my minion’s progress. I was quite impressed with the range and now I had a feel of how far I could build before things would get tricky to manage.

Lin led me along the stream's edge for what felt like hours. I was wondering if I should ask us to stop for a quick break to break up the monotony but she abruptly stopped catching me off guard. I ran into the back of her and she spun around to cover my mouth with her hand.

I looked at her in confusion to ask what was wrong until a red message appeared.

Perception : Success!

You have detected a hidden enemy!

Perfect, my first outing and I managed to get ambushed.