He started at them and then slowly turned to look around at the place. It looked.. While everything else in the village had been wood and stone, this place seemed more marble. There was a huge lounge area with couches and chairs around smaller fires. It seemed like it had room for a lot of people, but there was barely anyone there. Very calmly he walked over to the front counter where someone was, waiting for a quest to be accepted. “Where is your restroom?” He asked.

“Those doors there, sir.” He said as he pointed them out with a smile. He turned and calmly walked over to the bathroom, entering into the men’s side and walking to the sink.

He turned on the water and splashed his face into it. A dream.. A bad dream? So far it didn’t seem bad but it sure as shit wasn’t normal. When his hair was watered down and his collar soaked he looked at himself in the mirror, suddenly not looking as calm. He turned and rushed at the wall, hitting his forehead on it hard enough to send him flat on his butt and to cause a bit of blood to appear - and that wasn’t the only thing that appeared as a bar appeared down in his line of sight. He looked at sharply as it read ‘99’ health and his heart sunk deeply in his gut now. Health? As in health bar? He tried to hit it but his hand simply went through it and suddenly something else popped up now - an empty space that he could clearly see against the wall. Was this.. Where items went and shit? Right now it only showed it had a hundred gold coins in the corner with no silver or copper. And there - beside it - Stats? He was pretty basic it seemed but none of this was making him feel better..

After several minutes he gathered himself up and stood, washing off his forehead a bit and stepping outside again. Game.. This was.. Like a game.. So then, what came next? Maybe something would happen if he accepted a quest? He moved over to the board again and after a bit of thought accepted the one to bring seeds to the outside of town for the elder couple. Two copper coins wasn’t much next to his hundred gold, but he had to take this slow to figure things out.

Once the offer was taken, the little pin that had been holding it there disappeared. He found out he couldn't just walk out with the paper quest either, but rather had to go to the guild clerk to have it ‘stamped’ and the letter disappeared into his inventory. “Happy questing!” the man smiled. Every quest was important after all for the community. Even one as simple as seed delivery. It was as he stepped outside, that he realized, he didn't even know where to get seeds!

“Hey, hey, is this your first mission?” a voice asked now. Making him turn and look at the being that had come before him. A male elf, his face bright and eager, his ears pointed as the others and his hair a dusty brown. He looked like a little mouse in a way, or maybe that was just because he was a couple inches taller than him. “Hello? “he blinked in confusion to the other's.. staring.

Ah, his New Yorker side was showing.. “Yeah..” He said softly, blinking at him now. “It’s just simple.. Seeds for a couple on the edge of town.” He muttered, turning his head a little. For some reason he felt like he knew where to go in order to deliver the seeds but he didn’t know where to get the seeds themselves. It was a little backwards, he thought. But first missions were normally really easy so he didn’t think this one would be anything but that either. “Even though I took it I haven’t explored the town very much, so I’m not sure where to get the seeds they’re asking for.. Well, there’s a market around here somewhere I guess, so maybe there.”

“Market? That's for food.” he pointed out now in confusion. “You can gather seeds from reaping some of the monsters in the forests.” he hummed.

The other looked at him oddly. “Do what now?” He asked as he suddenly looked like he wanted to trash the flyer and take off. “Who.. Who does that?”

“Everyone?” he blinked. “Well not exactly everyone but even town people can kill the little monsters on the edges of the forest. They're not big at all.” he pointed out.

“You make it sound like all I have to do is pick up a stick, go whack it on the head and loot its dead body.” He said dryly.

“Basically.”he pointed out. “There’s good sticks on the forest edge too. And they poof out of existence when they die, leaving behind the seeds. Sometimes meat.” he shrugged.

“W.. Why?” He asked him now, staring at him. “Don’t you think it’s weird that they just.. Disappear?”

“No? I mean, everyone knows that happens. It's a good way of farming seeds really. Though.. “he peered over the mission he had in hand. “Yeah. Eventually not everyone can do it.”

“So.. When a person dies, do they disappear?” He asked, wondering just how deep this.. Place was. “Is there a heaven? A hell? A God?”

“Um no. People have graves.”he said, giving him a strange look at the sudden barrage of questions. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I uh.. Yeah, fine.” In a new place and already he was looking like a weirdo it seemed. “Just uh.. Let’s go see these things..”

“Alright.”he grinned. “By the way, my name is Ash, what's yours?” he asked as they walked along now.

“My name?” There was a pause, for a moment he became faintly confused. His name.. He knew his parents had given him one, so why was it so difficult to remember their faces? He was quiet for a while as they walked before it seemed to just appear in his mind. “My name is Heart..”

“Nice to meet you Heart.” he grinned happily. Moving away from the town, slowly and surely, they returned to the forest edge. Close to the house he had woken up in, but not exactly. Arriving to the edge, he picked up a stick and pointed some out to him. “Get one too.”

Heart started at them, these.. Monsters moving around together. He could see how they were plant types with the way they looked. They were roughly about five feet and a half? Not as tall as him and right now not as threatening looking either. They had a bulb that acted as the center of their body, half green on the bottom and the top came in either orange or pink/light purple. Their feet were four slim feelers, almost vine like by the look of them. They had a shiny and tall neck, and the top of their head looked like beaks in a way - once more with green on bottom and their second color on top. No eyes or ears, but they did appear to have mouths. He was faintly reminded of flowers. Above their heads a health bar suddenly appeared for them along with their names - Lullabud, level 1.

Heart looked around a little and found a stick, picking it up to look at it. Stick, basic attack weapon. “So just.. Over the head?” He asked, looking back at the monsters that hadn’t spotted them just yet.

“Yup. It'll just take a couple of hits. Though you'll need to be careful of their vine attacks and possible poison attacks. A good tactic would be just hitting them and staying out of their range-" but before Ash could fully explain what to do, the Male had jerked forward. Heart held the stick firmly as the monsters turned to look at his rapid approach. Ash was stunned really as poison balls were spat at him, but Heart dodged the attacks easily. Coming close enough to whack at the first monster, making it poof. Turning on his heel to the second monster and whacking it out of existence before the third seemed to make a noise and ran away from battle. Disappearing into the nearby bushes and out of sight- hell Heart looked like he was about to jump in after him but Ash cried out.

“Wait! Going into the forest is different Heart… you're not experienced enough for that..”he mumbled. Though at the same time, Heart could feel a warmth course through him. His health bar having a new bar appear, that seemed to sparkle, and increase with five points along the meter. It seemed to be one fifth of the way filled really- but it disappeared in the next moment. Looking at the ground now, he could see little things shining in the grass.

Heart bent down to pick them up, seeds? They were in different shapes and sizes, but he was pretty sure this was what they were. But those points on his health bar - had he leveled up? Well that was the way with most games, you leveled up quickly in the beginning. He looked up at where the plant monster had run off toward, wondering why he didn’t feel afraid.. It was faint and he couldn’t remember very well, but he got the feeling he had gotten into a lot of fights before - in the other world, his home. “Ash, this is enough right?” He asked, showing him the seeds he had gathered.

Ash came over now, and tucked the stick he had been holding away behind his back. It disappeared in the next moment as he peered over the seeds and smiled. “Yup. That should be more than enough. Farmers grind them up even smaller for fruits and vegetables.” he explained.

Heart turned them over a little for a moment before putting them away. “Okay, now to complete the quest.” He said as they started to walk back to the village now. “So.. Why did you help me out?” He asked, looking at Ash.

“Well you looked a little lost honestly. And I had a good feeling about you.” Ash grinned, though Heart got the feeling he was being earnest. “You don't mind me tagging along too right? I'm new to this whole adventuring thing, but I want to form a team to explore the world together.” he said now, stars in his eyes.

Heart blinked at him. “Why not just go by yourself?” He asked. “Those monsters didn’t seem very strong at all..”

Ash pouted now and said “Well that's no fun.. and monsters get stronger you know. You can’t even join guild runs without a team.. or accept higher level missions without a team. I'm tired of farming seeds.”

“Oh.. It seems a lot more complex than I thought.” Heart looked forward now as at the end of the road he could see where the marker was, showing the end of the quest. “Do you know about the house under the tree on the outside of town?” He asked.

“Hm? House? I think some new person is gonna move there soon. Though I don't know why they'd want to live in Littlebell.. we're a sleepy town.” he muttered before grinning. “But that's why I'm gonna explore this world. Every inch of it.. maybe even challenge the demon king one day.”he said bravely.

“Demon king?” He looked at him now. That sounded like the final boss to him. “Why would you want to do that?”

“They say when you defeat the demon king, you get the ultimate prize. Something that is so strong and powerful it can grant whatever wish you want.”he grinned. “I don't even know what I'd wish for, but I want to be the one to win it.”

Heart looked forward again as he spotted the couple waiting by the fence. “You requested seeds?” He asked the pair as he dug them out now, offering it to the pair. He gained two copper coins and still had a couple seeds left over. It was as they were leaving that Heart resumed talking, “I don’t believe in wishes..” He muttered softly. “But I wonder..”

“Wonder what?” Ash blinked now. Stopping now walking as they seemed to be at a fork in the road. To either go back to town, or to go home for Heart.

Oddly, this was how he felt - divided. “It’s nothing.” He looked at Ash now. “Do you want to do more quests? I want to get stronger to do them on my own.”

Ash smiled softly at him and nodded. “Sure! I think if we level up enough, we could do the dagger quest.”he said eagerly. “Actual weapons would make the quests easier after all.” It would be much better than waving around sticks.

“Yeah, give me a little bit before that one.” He told him before looking thoughtful. He looked at Ash. “Isn’t there a weapon store or something around here though?”

“Weapon store? Sure that's on the other side of town.” he smiled. “I can show you it if you want.. but two coppers isn't enough for things there..” he hummed. “Maybe we could sell our sticks for a copper or two.” he said thoughtfully.

“Can you take me there? I’d like to see what it is they have.” And if his hundred gold told him anything, it was his starting money to buy a basic weapon or armor.

“Sure.”he smiled and nodded. Guiding him forward now as they passed the market, filled with fruits and vegetables. Ash bought them each an apple. Then they walked past other buildings, a bank, a restaurant, another inn- that wasn't connected to a bar this time. Though biting into the apple, he found it was delicious. Sweet and the juices coursed down his chin if he wasn't careful. His health bar popped up once he was done with it, reading ‘100’ again, but the strange thing was that there were no seeds in the apple. Just the stem and the apple itself. He wasn't sure why it didn't have a core.. but that was for another day. They came to the edge of town now. Ash smiling at his confusion and said “It’s close. Don't worry.” Heart could see the little building, the smoke of a hard forge at its side with smoke pouring out a good indication of a working blacksmith in the weapons shop, but he stepped closer, he suddenly hit a wall. A literal wall that made him face plant into it, preventing him from going further. Ash had kept going but realizing a few feet in he wasn't following, turned back to look at him. “What's wrong?”

Heart raised his hand and pressed it firmly against the wall neither of them could see. “It seems.. I’m not strong enough to enter here yet.. Or else I haven’t unlocked the quest yet..” Forced to follow the story eh? For some reason that really pissed him off and maybe it showed in his face when Ash looked at him. “Well, forget it for now. It’s annoying we came all this way to find this out but it can’t be helped..”

“Mm. Well I could pool our copper together for a weapon? I mean.. maybe 10 coopers could get you something..” he said thoughtfully. Pulling out now what seemed like a staff. “I'm a magic caster myself so.. I wouldn't have any weapons to share.”

Heart thought about it for a moment. “I wouldn’t know what to get honestly. I don’t think I’ve ever used a weapon before, besides my fist and this stick. Maybe armor then? Something to boost my defence or attack? Though I wonder how much that would cost.. Tsk,” He looked annoyed again. “Then again, you might end up bring me something level based as well.” Then he looked at Ash’s staff, thinking. “What spells can you use?”

“Well I can do a small healing spell for others.. and a base attack spell, but it takes me time to cast both.” he explained. As he leveled up though, things like that no longer became a problem. “Maybe I can get you some armor then, beginner armor, don’t worry, my staff is a beginning staff too.” he said as to not to make the Male feel bad. They were both just starting out it seemed. How convenient.