Game V.S. Gamer (A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Story) *ON HOLD*

Chapter 4: Cold Truth

(y/n) looked to the little boy, then to the large expanse of forest separating them from the village that he had told them about. She knew that the smell of blood would likely attract whatever form of carnivorous beast had attacked him earlier, and they would be forced into a fight that they had a very small chance of winning, should they try to take him back to his home. She hated to admit this to herself, but the kid was a liability that none of the members of her party - herself included - felt they were quite ready to handle. And, besides, although appearances could be very deceptive, the child wasn't real in any sense of the word. He was just a collection of coded letters and numbers, surrounded by a fictional gaming world made up by the creative abilities of multiple men and women in the gaming industry. Helping him was optional, but she was at least merciful enough not to let him know that... "Alright. The thing is we're going to need to put you to sleep, okay kid?"
"Put me to sleep? Why?" the curious child questioned.
"Well, we can't have you screaming when we're carrying you. You could bring more monsters out of hiding, and we aren't quite good enough at fighting to protect you yet..." (y/n) responded calmly, reaching out for Karin's training staff.
"But isn't she a Tamer? Couldn't she just convince the monsters that we're not a threat?" the boy countered. For a child of his age, he was smarter than he looked.
"Well, yeah. But she only just started. If we were to run into a really hungry monster that likes eating people, she wouldn't be very good at training it and we'd probably all die. Besides, you won't feel any pain if you're asleep," (y/n) sighed, trying to convince the little boy to go along with her plan as Karin let go of the staff, thinking she was going to do exactly as she had told him.
"Okay. Go ahead. As long as I get to see my mom again, I'll trust you..." the child honestly replied, turning his head to the side and closing his eyes.
(y/n) bit her lip, hesitating for a fraction of a second before looking to Emmet. "You have any sleeping spells we could use, so I don't have to...?"
Emmet shook his head slowly, sensing her hesitation. "I'm sorry. I only thought to put in Healing Rain and Light of Glory. I figured we'd need Enhancements and Healing until I could gain enough space in my spellbook to put in some attack spells."
"Guess I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way..." (y/n) muttered, standing up and gripping the staff in both hands before bringing it swiftly down and knocking the child unconcious with the force of the blow.
Emmet knelt down next to the young boy, about ready to pick him up and take him along, when (y/n) held up a hand and stopped him. "What? (y/n), we need to hurry and get him to the village!"
"We aren't taking him to the village. It's not the screaming that worries me as far as getting him out of here is concerned. It's the blood. Even if we cover it and bandage it like there's no tomorrow, the monsters can probably smell it a mile off," (y/n) replied, turning her back on the little child waiting for a reunion that would never be and facing the direction of the village.
"S-So you're just gonna leave him here?! He could die!" Karin protested, swiping her staff back and hastily cleaning off what little blood was on it by using the wet grass at her feet.
"He can't die. He was never alive to begin with. He's just videogame data anyway..." (y/n) again sighed in annoyance that already, the team was beginning to see things differently.
"Still. That's cold, especially coming from you, (y/n)," Emmet muttered, crossing his arms as he joined his friend.
"I can't believe all this is just a game. It feels so real..." Karin whispered to herself, taking in her surroundings with a new set of eyes.
"I know. It's a bit weird that everything's set up the way it is. Kinda makes you wonder if dying would feel the same, since our emotions and senses can be redirected so easily..." (y/n) wondered, continuing the long walk into the village they had been told about.
"D-Don't even say stuff like that! I don't like the idea of dying!" Karin squeaked, clamping onto her boyfriend.
"It's okay, Karin. This is just a game. We probably have multiple lives we don't even know about. And I doubt we would feel pain if we got hurt," Emmet sighed, holding Karin close to comfort her.
(y/n) thought hard about what her friends were discussing as they continued towards Celestia Village. Although it was unlikely that they would feel pain whenever they were injured, and the game obviously was set up with Life Point counters, that information paled in comparision to the fact that Leila, one of the programmers, had warned only her about the true nature of this particular situation. Under completely normal circumstances, it would be safe to assume that you could have as many retries as you wanted. However, these were far from your normal set of circumstances. The surge most likely messed with the program, making it impossible to have more than one life. Leila had made it perfectly clear to her that nobody knew what happened to a player once their life was lost after a power surge like what had happened today. Was it possible that dying here was linked to dying back home...?
"(y/n)...? (y/n), we're here... Come back to Earth, ya big space-case!" Emmet taunted, flicking the side of (y/n)'s forehead playfully, having noticed she was lost in her thoughts most of the way there.
"Ow! Hey! Emmet, stop that!" (y/n) protested, holding the side of her head.
"Gimme a break, that couldn't have hurt. You were just scared, that's all," the dark-haired male said with a smirk, as if he knew he was right.
"S-Shut up! I was not scared! You startled me, and that's different!" (y/n) argued, then continued. "I mean, seriously! I've beaten you in more test-of-courage competitions than you've got fingers!"
"So what? That doesn't mean anything!" Emmet countered, about ready to take the verbal fight to the next level.
"So what? I'm still a rock star! I got my rock moves, and I don't need you~!" Karin suddenly burst in, singing her heart out and interrupting the arguement before it could escalate.
"What the-? Karin, what have we told you about the random singing?!" (y/n) responded, trying not to laugh.
"And what have I told you about it? If you can't accept me bursting out in song during casual conversation, then we can't be friends," Karin replied with a smile.
"At any rate, we made it! We're at Celestia Village!" Emmet cheered, counting this as a small victory.
(y/n) and the others looked around at the small village. It seemed peaceful enough, with its crisp green grass, small wooden houses, and the sparkling stream of freshwater separating the homes of the villagers from the farms and ranches where they worked to earn their living. Waving cheerfully at them were various children who passed over the bridge, urging them to play some manner of childish game with them to help pass the time while their parents were away. It made (y/n)'s stomach turn at the thought of having to leave that helpless child in the woods, but only for a few seconds. It's just a game... she thought, trying to ease the guilt creeping through her chest. It's nothing more than a stupid videogame, dang it!
Breaking her from her thoughts was a young woman about 21 years of age. She appeared to be tan, skinny, and somewhat tall. She would have easily passed for a movie model of somekind, had she not been placed in such a world as this. "Hello."
"Hey there," Emmet replied with a small wave.
"You three must be new here. I'm Kayla. We don't have much here, but you're welcome to all of it!" the dark-haired woman happily replied.
"Thanks, Kayla. My name's Karin, this is my friend, (y/n), and my boyfriend, Emmet," Karin said with a smile, introducing herself and her party members.
"It's nice to meet you," Kayla stated, extending her hand to greet each new person as they were introduced.
"Y-Yeah. Same here," (y/n) responded, shaking Kayla's hand, then immediately changing the subject of conversation to where it really needed to go, "Do you know if anyone by the name of (bf/n) went through here?"
"Hmmm... I can't really recall. Lots of small traders and merchants come through all the time, but I can never really remember them by name. Was (bf/n) among them?" Kayla wondered.
"We were kinda hoping you or someone here would know," Emmet said with a sigh.
"Well, the Village Cheif keeps a record of trade for Celestia. You could always check with him to see if (bf/n) was here... But you need to do something to help him out in exchange for the information. That's how things tend to work around here," Kayla noted, hoping the information she was giving would be helpful to the new travelers.
"Oh, really? Where is your Cheif, so we can get to him as soon as we can?" Karin questioned.
"He's in that two-story building next to the church just at the top of the hill. It doubles as our schoolhouse, but he usually lives in the second floor," Kayla replied, then added, "Hopefully you find (bf/n)! Remember, you can come back whenever you need to. You're always welcome here!"
"Thanks! We'll try and visit again sometime!" (y/n) cheerfully said, waving back to the younger woman before turning to her friends. "I always found mini quests annoying, but now that we're living it, I realize it's even more of a royal pain in the butt..."
"Well, look on the bright side, at least we're a little closer to learning where (bf/n) could have gone!" Emmet encouraged.
"True... But still, I can kinda see her point..." Karin grumbled, crossing her arms as they began walking towards the schoolhouse near the church.
As (y/n) came closer towards the building where the village Cheif was said to make his home, she happened to glance towards the small closed tent which served as a mobile church of somekind. By the light of the midday sun, she was barely able to make out the silohuette of a middle-aged man praying with the pastor, obviously hoping for divine intervention for whatever kind of ficticious problem his data had been programmed for. A part of her was curious to explore the town around her, but she knew that she and her friends were working with borrowed time at the moment, so wandering around would have to wait until later, when the game came out for real. (bf/n) was counting on them to show up, so it was paramount that Emmet, Karin, and (y/n) finish the demo as quickly and efficently as was possible. Even if that meant completing one of the stupidest mini quests ever...