Reverse Chronicles

Past the Forest of Mysteries

     I hear someone knocking on the window pane. It was still dark outside, but it must be because of the thick vegetation. Daniel is still sleeping soundly beside me. He is lying supine and seems to have an extra morning bone. I get out of bed to check out what or who could be knocking on the windows.  I wipe the curtains aside to see three deers, a buck and two does. The buck is banging his antlers against the windowpane creating the knocking sound. This is quite strange. I looked around through the window to inspect if something was bothering them. There seems to be nothing, perhaps it is just how deers act.

     A morning stretch was just what I needed to start up my energy. I washed my face and cleaned myself while keeping an eye on the sleeping boy in the bed. I can’t keep my eyes off the bulging sheet, but it isn’t something that I haven’t experienced with my old body so it isn’t that strange. After doing my hygiene, I wore my garbs and outfits. I also equipped Whisperer and did a few swings.

     The deers are still knocking on the windowpane which irritated me a bit. I went outside to see what they wanted. The forest was cold early morning. There was only a faint light illuminating the surroundings. I could still hear the sounds of animals and the cry of monsters, chirps, hisses, and hoots. I went to where the deers were knocking. When they saw me, they immediately approached. I flinched and was a bit surprised but I now I know what they wanted. One of the does had sharp barbs around its left hind leg. It was limping as it approached me. Slowly, I approached the doe and cut off the barbs with Whisperer. I was careful to not prick my hand and also further injure the deer.

     With a few cuts, I managed to remove the barbs from the deer’s left hind leg. The deer sustained injuries so I grabbed a cloth from the hut. I cleaned the injury and wrapped it with the cloth to prevent bleeding. After finishing up, the deers left and went on their way. As I went back inside the hut, Daniel has just woken up. He was doing a morning stretch beside the bed, which looked awkward because his extra bone was still poking his lower leather garb.

     “Good morning,” I did my best to prevent an awkward situation. I had the remaining ingredients from last night’s meal ready.

     “Good morning, Josh. You’re an early bird, huh.” Daniel got ready and washed his face. He was making some splashing sounds as I went outside to practice with Whisperer. I did swinging exercises that Marcus taught me. In the middle of my practice, Daniel called me for breakfast and we ate.

     We finally said our goodbyes to the hut as we continued on our way. While we were walking, Daniel started to orient me with the basics of his skill, Intense Accuracy. “The skill Intense Accuracy allows you to unconditionally and undoubtedly hit your targets. To activate this skill, you must have a clear mind, so you need to clear your thoughts. Allow yourself to be swallowed by the moment. It is also important to focus on. This skill, however, leaves your defenses open to attacks so you should only use it in the rear or when someone is defending you.”

     As he finished, we coincidentally encountered two goblins. “Well, it seems you have to learn it firsthand in a battle,” he equipped his bow and grabbed an arrow from his quiver. I observed as his eyes became aquiline-sharp again and shot one of the goblins in a headshot. “It’s your turn,” he handed me the bow. However, I am not acquainted with archery so I refused it, “I’m going to use Whisperer for this one.” With Whisperer in my right hand, I thought of nothing except for vanquishing my enemy. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly. When I opened my eyes, I could see an azure path that led to the enemy.

     I let myself be guided into the flow of the battle. I ran towards the enemy. It was strange. I couldn’t hear my footsteps, nor the sound of the wind. There was only the sound of the enemy’s breathing and the sound of its movements. I ran to it from the right but the path I saw did not end there. The goblin attacked but I was able to dodge it by following the path in my eyes. I ran to its left and circled it from behind slashing it at its nape where the path ended.

     “Goblin horde defeated, gained 9 experience points. Congratulations! You are now at level 6. 93 experience points needed for level 7.”

     “Wow, what was that?” Daniel exclaimed as he approached when I was collecting the loot, which was a leather skin.

     “What was what?” I was puzzled.

     “The skill that you just executed to finish the battle,” he answered.

     “That was just Intense Accuracy,” I replied. “I just followed your instructions and that led me to do that.”

     “That was different and it was intense. You moved so fast and you dodged that attacked so gracefully. It looked the same but was different. Check your Skill List and tell me what it is.”

     “Skill list? How do I do that?”

     “Put your dominant hand on your chest and draw it away from you,” I did what he said and a menu appeared in front of me.

     “Status, Skills, Equipment, Items, Class, and Party,” now things just look like from a game.

     “Now focus on skills, it should give you a list of the skills that you know.” I did exactly what he instructed and it gave me a list of two skills, Intense Accuracy and Reversal Break. Wait, when did I learn Reversal Break?

     “What skills are there?”

     “Well, there’s Intense Accuracy and Reversal Break.”

     “Reversal Break? Woah, that sounds phenomenal. Show me how to do it.“

     “That’s the problem, I don’t know how to. I don’t even know how I learned this skill.”

     “Really? You are one weird girl, and it’s so remarkable.”

     “Thanks, I guess? But I think the skill I used was Intense Accuracy.”

     “Well, you looked so awesome in that finishing blow. I didn’t know that you can use Intense Accuracy with a sword, though. What’s your class, I haven’t asked?”

     I focused on the class and it said, Outsider. What became more strange is that the three basic classes, Trainee, Pupil, and Apprentice, have lines connecting to Outsider. “I’m an Outsider, it says here.”

     “An Outsider? I haven’t heard of that, but it sounds so fascinating. You are one spectacular girl.”

    “Thanks,” was all I could say. I have told people that I am a boy, but they just don’t believe me. We continued on our way. There were monsters that we instantly defeated with our skills. It seems that the more I use my skill, the easier it is to activate it subconsciously. After hours of walking, we eventually found ourselves in a lightly dense area of the forest. It seemed that we are close to the exit.

     We took a break and ate our lunch. We had some leftovers from breakfast. I’ve been noticing that Daniel has been much calmer like when we were at the other edge. He is more composed than when we were inside the deeper parts of the forest.

     “When we arrive at Jyria,” he suddenly spoke. “We have to say our farewells.” He was so serious that it sounded a bit creepy.

      “Okay,” I tried to lighten the mood with a smile.

     After lunch, we encountered a lot of monsters. They all were not enough to stop us though, and we made our way through the forest. After a little while, we finally found the other edge of the forest. However, before we could get there more monsters attacked which raised my level to 7.

     “Scocreeps defeated, gained 18 experience points. Congratulations! You are now at level 7. 126 experience points needed for level 8.”

     We finally reached the end of the forest. In front of us, a wide plain showed itself. In the middle of the meadows, a city stood proudly. I am finally near Jyria. Will I find answers that may bring me back to my world?