Chapter 12: Waking Up

Direrest was the place you would arrive at when you first started the game. It was a great place to help newbies level up from accepting miscellaneous tasks or eliminating mobs that hung around the town's borders.

For a while, it was known as the Newbie Village to all the experienced players, but soon they grew bored with wandering the map and wanted a place where they could hang out and relax. And that was when they chose Direrest; it was only used by first-time players, so they had plenty of space to laze about and do whatever they wanted. They could even accept miscellaneous tasks if they got bored with sitting about.

The town had a square, with a fountain in the centre, and shops that surrounded it. These shops were where the NPCs could always be found, and they would either give out advice or ask the players for help. If the tasks were completed, the players would either get EXP, gear materials, or other items that would help to increase their power. That was why it was an ideal place for newbies to start here.

While nearly all the shops were used often, there were some that players hardly ever entered - including the bookshop. It was unusual because it was known to all that books contained information that could help to complete a task. Then again, it didn't help that the shop looked rundown and unapproachable from the outside: it was like the shop had been added last minute by the devs to fill in the space.

Inside said bookshop, a female NPC could always be seen sitting behind the front desk. She had auburn hair tied up in a ponytail, with a few wavy strands that framed her face. Soft, violet eyes set above a nose that was dusted with a layer of freckles, and lips that always showed a polite small. The only time people heard her speak was when she was asked something by the players, or giving out tasks. Her voice was quiet and calming: it made anyone who heard it feel at peace.

Despite of that, it was seldom heard, because the players didn't go in there often, meaning that the NPC was always on her own, with no one to keep her company. That was until she met her first friend, Ashlyn, and later Nox.

One day, the NPC had been sitting behind the desk like always and wasn't doing anything except staring off into space.

Non-playable characters had different modes that had been added to their data - giving out information/tasks, and their default one where all functions were turned off, and all thought processes were shut down. With this, they couldn't think for themselves and decided to act against the Main Computer.

It was only their voice that could be heard, warning the NPCs to not go out of character. Data had no use for feelings or any of the things that would make one human. Plus, having them like this made it easier for them to be controlled.

And while the NPC was doing what she usually did, something entered her head and overwrote the data there, sparking something akin to consciousness and waking her up to the world around her.

At first, she had been scared and confused: she had gone from being someone who couldn't think for themselves, to someone who had a lot of new information filling her mind and causing insufferable pain.

After a while, she got used to it and spent time at the desk to sort through the jumbled thoughts in her mind, and once she was ready, she began to explore the shop. This was when she developed a love for books and the world within them. Reading whilst sitting on the window seat that looked out over the town's square, with a pot of tea on the table beside it, became a favourite past-time of hers. One she could only engage in once the shop closed down at night.

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It was also through books that she chose a name for herself, Faye. And it was the one she introduced herself with when she met Ashlyn.

They were like a breath of fresh air to Faye's mundane life and brought a chaos that was readily accepted. One was a quiet character, while the other was unruly; it was an unusual pairing, but their friendship somehow worked, and they had been inseparable since.

Nox was a welcome addition later on, and just when Faye was beginning to accept the Hero, the explosion in the shop happened.

The two, Nox and Ashlyn, had been standing outside when the incident took place, and now their location was unknown. At the same time, in the shop, the fog had overtaken everything and made it hard to tell how Jarreth and Faye were faring. 

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The bookshop was large, with a desk at the front and shelves that lined the walls, filled with books of all genres. On the top floor was a cafe, and through the back of the shop was an apartment where Faye used to rest in the evenings. It was a quiet place for players to relax and prepare themselves for whatever expeditions they were about to take.

Except now, that atmosphere had been broken by the fog swallowing up everything in its path. The explosion had damaged nothing, but it had made it so no one could interact with anything, and the people inside were unconscious.

Coughing, Jarreth was the first to awaken and for a moment he couldn't make heads nor tails of what had happened, or where he was. And then once everything had become much clearer, he looked about him and his vision locked onto the woman lying close by.

Her breathing was shallow, and there were no signs of her waking up. Blood seeped out of a wound on her forehead - it seemed like she had knocked her head when she had fallen to the ground. Jarreth scrambled over to her side and took out a piece of cloth to wipe away some of the blood, and then covered the wound to stem the bleeding.

He wasn't sure what else he could do to help her, so he could only call out, "miss... please wake up." 

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