"A new door?" I ask, as Akemi leans against my wall, having run a good three miles or so. She'd already shook off her boots and gotten snow all over my floor an is now proceeding to shake off her scarf.

"A... new... door..." She agrees, collapsing on my bed and burying her face in my pillow. "Claw marks... all over it..."

"Claw marks? What kind of claw marks?"

"Do I look like a claw mark expert?" She asks, her voice muffled.

"Are they, like, fluffy cat claw marks? Or are they destroyer beast of inferno hell claw marks?"

"A little closer to the latter, I think." The warrior rolls over and lies in a daze on my bed. "Each one was taller than me." She adds, to make the point.

"Ah." I say. "And I suppose that's secondary information?"

"Pretty much, yeah." She yawns and looks ready for a good long nap before I leap up.

"No sleeping on my bed! You can get the sofa, if you want, but the bed's mine!"

"Make me, Conan the Barbarian." She groans, tucking herself in. Of course I can't stop her, so she takes a good long nap.

***

A quest is exactly what it sounds like; a quest.

They're usually offered by NPCs who have make-believe issues and problems. A sick child, a monster infestation, material loss, letter deliveries, etc...

I always wonder why, in a world with so much magic, people still can't get around to harvesting their own carrots.

Today, Aaron walked off with Akemi to do clear the locusts, a level 14 to 27 quest. The name is pretty self-explanatory.

If you didn't get it, you need to grow a particular plant that attracts locusts under the guidance of a young and anatomically obscene witch, clear the locusts when they arrive, get betrayed by the young and anatomically obscene witch who becomes a young, anthropomorphic, anatomically obscene witch-cricket.

The fight involves several uses of her anatomically obscene body, so it's very popular among young men.

Of course, staring too long at the wrong places cause her to shoot a laser from that spot and nail you in the eyes, inflicting temporary blindness. The developers were very careful. And no touching, she's poisonous.

Yes, pretty self-explanatory.

I really can't understand why Aaron would want a girl to go with him on that quest. If he'd told me where he was going, I would've dropped Yin like a sac of hot potatoes with magma fillings, god forbid.

***

As we approach the mouth of the forest, I feel a certain rustling in the leaves. The branches sway without breeze. My breath doesn't mist in the cold winter air and I can feel a shiver go down my back.

I just now notice how utterly small and sad of a presence Yin has. She's so... tiny. Akemi is like a constantly stalking tiger and certainly has the presence to fulfill it. Aaron is more like a thunderstorm in the distance, an easygoing, goofy one, sure, but you can't be selective over your distant thunderstorms.

Yin reminds me too much of a butterfly. She feels like the one that needs to be protected, rather than the one that could potentially protect me. The weight of my responsibility over her suddenly feels very, very heavy.

"Well, I guess after me, then?" I say, stepping into the forest. I get another shiver down my back and swallow a little.

Honestly, I don't think Yin is very reassured by my presence either.

The two of us walk down the icy trail in tense silence, ready for something, anything, to jump out at us.

"So... tell me more about how you met Akemi." I say, trying to practice a few of the signs she'd taught me. "You guys knew each other before, right?"

A smile of relief crosses Yin's small face and she shakes her hands, as if warming up.

I was all alone in a forest, a pretty pathetic level at the time. She gives me a pained smile. I didn't have my whip staff, back then. Mine transformed into a short sword. You know, the standard weapon.

"Right." I nod. "The one you first get when you first select the class."

That's the one. I was cornered by a gang of hobgoblins. She blushes lightly. Really low level ones. It's a little embarrassing, but I was really weak and there were a bunch of them. I was going to lose my life and I was so, so scared. I fell down and cried and the monsters were about to get me when she showed up and totally DESTROYED THEM!

She adds a satisfied smack in her palm to emphasize her enthusiasm. I halt in surprise and snort. She looks around and scowls.

Don't laugh! This is my storytime!

"I'm sorry." I say, chuckling. "I've just never seen you talk... er... sign like that, before."

"It's funny." I add, which was seriously unnecessary.

Right. Well, she dispatched them in no time, anyways. I thought she was going to laugh at me, but she just helped me up and tried talking to me.

She smiles a little and her signing becomes smoother. Easier to read. When she figured out I was deaf, she didn't the usual questions like "Are you really deaf?", "So you can't hear me, right now?", "How long have you been deaf for?", or "How many fingers am I holding up?"

She just said: "Well, I think you did good, back there. Want to go on a quest with me?"

I gape at her. "That's it?"

Pretty much.

"She just asked?" I splutter in horror. "How?! How did something so out of context and awkward sound so normal coming from her?"

Natural talent. Speculates Yin, clearly mystified. I have no idea.

"By the way, do people really say 'how many fingers am I holding up'?"

Sometimes. She signs with venom in her hands. There really are every idiots in the world, huh?

"What the heck, it's not like you're having a seizure." I scratch my head. "You've had it pretty rough, huh?"

I guess. Yin pauses and makes a few meaningless motions with her fingers, maybe trying to decide what to say next. I feel like I just don't know where I belong. Akemi helped me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could be someone I can be proud of. But I don't quite know-

"Wait!" I point out a small, decrepit stable barely standing in a clearing. "We're here."

***

Yin covers her mouth in horror and shock at the sight of the NPCs. The family looks like they had survived a minor apocalypse and then wrestled a gang of bears to the ground.

The father is cradling his daughter head in his lap. She looks so frail and bony, my legs ache in sympathy.

The mother kneels in the hay, digging through it, scavenging for food. She comes up with a week old chicken bone.

The sight is so terrible and so realistic, I don't understand the ratings on the game for 13+. When I return to the other world, I'm gonna have to voice a complaint about this, though I doubt it'll matter much to them due to the calamity this game is causing

Yin shakes her head, her silver hair whipping her face, and dashes out of the shack, her hands still over her mouth. Probably

I step forward hesitantly.

Immediately, the father turns his head towards me, his daughter as well. A white bubble appears above his head with an exclamation mark in it, signifying a quest offer. For some reason, the cartoonish appearance feels sacrilegious. The moment I step forward, he will begin to speak.

I steel my nerves and force my legs to move.

The father sighs and begins to stroke his daughters head. She whimpers and lies down again. "I see we have some visitors. Are you here to help us? To laugh at us? All that doesn't matter."

I stay silent. Nothing I say would change the course of this conversation, and I feel like talking might be harder than usual right now.

He sighs again. "The town that we lived in, it was hit by a terrible curse. All the townspeople, they became monsters! Once good folks tore at anyone who had remained a human. It was awful. The three of us just managed to get away." He looks up at me and I'm taken aback at how realistic the pleading look in his eyes is. Tears glimmer at the corner of his eyelids. "Please... good sir." The words seem to be coming with more difficulty, now. "Save my village, or... at least... my family. I may... be asking... too much... but please... I believe you... you may be the one who can save us. Please!"

The bubble above his head turns to a question mark.

You'd have to be the scummiest human on Earth to say no to him.

I swallow and realize just how tight my throat is. I feel it knot and can barely breath.

"I will." I croak, my adam's apple bobs up and down.

The father sighs in relief, a smile comes over his face. Then, he lies himself down in a comfortable position. "I... leave it... to you... then." He closes his eyes and his head lolls to the side.

The daughter looks up to him, wondering why the stroking stopped. Where did it go? Why doesn't it happen anymore?

Why is it gone?

The mother crawls over to me and grasps my arm weakly. Her fingers are sticks, but surprisingly strong on my sleeve. "Please, protect our daughter, protect Heta. Save the village" Her voice is a painful rasp, my throat hurts just hearing it. Or maybe my throat just hurts.

I can't do anything. I nod silently. "Yes, I promise."

A smile breaks her tortured, ravaged face. Like a ray of sun breaking through the storm clouds, and I see the face of not an old and decrepit hag, but of a beautiful, smiling young woman. Her grip on my arm slackens as a look of peace comes over her.

A quest icon appears in front of me. The first step into this nightmarish quest. Help Heta.

The daughter sits in the middle of the shack, all alone. Her filthy tunic resembles a pillowcase and her knees are covered in scratches an scabs. Her face is dirt plastered and her skin has a grey-ish hue to it. Her hair is long and supposed to be flowing, but right now, the strands are greasy and unwashed. It's one of the most miserable sights I've ever seen.

I approach her like I'd approach a stray cat. Slowly and without making any sudden move. I kneel next to her.

She whimpers, but eventually, raises her head and looks at me fearfully. I have to choke back a sob. She's resigned herself to just grit her teeth and accept whatever may happen to her, as if the pain is just an unpleasant, normal part of life.

"Hi." I say, mustering up all the paternal potential there may be crouching somewhere in a corner of me. "Are you Heta?"

She nods, her eyes still filled with fear, but also a certain curiosity.

"Well, Heta. My name's Hide." I try to sound upbeat and relaxed, as if I'm some long lost cousin of some sort. "I think I know a way to turn your village back to the way it was. Do you want to help me?"

That was kind of stupid, NPCs can't understand such complex questions, they're limited to their voice box and answer system. I'm about to speak up when, to my surprise, she shakes her head. "I need to stay with mama and papa."

I feel like I'm choking on something. When I speak, my voice almost cracks. "They... they're sleeping right now, your mom and dad. We'll go save your village, and then, when we get back, they'll be nice and rested, and you can tell them that you were a hero."

She looks at me with wide, watery eyes.. "Really?"

I feel like one of those police officers who says nothing to see here at a crime scene, when there's literally everything to see. "Really."

The lie that I'm telling to the small child punctures my heart with a burning stake. She's just an NPC, what's the big deal? She's 

(real)

not real!

"Okay then." She says, pushing herself up. It's painful, seeing her frail body trembling as she struggles to rise. "I'll go with you." Her breath mists in the frigid air. I summon a cape from my inventory and hand it over to her. For a moment, she doesn't understand.

"You can wear it, if you're cold." I say. "You look chilly in that dress."

"Thanks, Hide." She addresses me as if I'm her big brother. Another icon appears in front of me. The first part of my quest is complete.

Heta looks at me curiously for a moment, then gestures to the screen floating in front of me. "What's that?"