Stella returned from the tennis practice with a pleasant full body ache. Coach Woodward had made Stella do muscle training with a fitness ball. Stella did muscle training and core exercises on regular bases and was used to them, but now her muscles felt like they were on fire.

Mathilda had left already, and the house was empty when Stella came home. She sighed as she turned on lights around the quiet house.

She trudged to the kitchen and dropped her bag on one of the chairs. Mila appeared from the shadows of the house and meowed her demand for dinner before rubbing herself against Stella’s legs. The girl smiled and scratched her cat behind the ear before she slipped away.

Stella poured food in Mila’s bowl and changed the water before digging out the chicken wraps and lunch salad she had bought on the way home. Cooking wasn’t one of Stella’s strong suits, and even though Mathilda had tried her best to teach the girl, she hadn’t learned anything particularly complicated. She could sustain herself with noodles and omelettes, but she could get a faster and more balanced meal from the shop. Stella ate the dinner while doing homework, and then she headed to her room for a much awaited relaxation. Finally she could turn off her brain for a bit.

Some months ago Stella had stumbled upon an online game ad. She didn’t normally spend her time on games (she didn’t even have games on her phone!), but cool character designs and the promise of exciting adventure had made Stella click on the ad on a whim. She had been instantly hooked on Argent Night. The game was fun, interesting, and there was always something to do. Now Stella spent most of her free time playing the game, despite not being great at it. She could ignore all the other things in her life while playing, and she loved it.

Welcome back Spica. You have 3 new message(s) and 2 new notification(s). 

Stella clicked through the messages and notifications, but there was nothing interesting in them. The usual daily update, and some hours old messages asking if she was online and available to help on quests.

Since nothing required her immediate attention, Stella directed her character Spica, a level 25 battlemage and spell dancer, towards the forest to look for herbs for a sidequest. Item collecting wasn’t the most riveting form of gameplay, but the rewards would be worth it. She needed new items for her build, and new spells would be nice as well since she had just unlocked a new spell slot by leveling up.

The beautiful world was one of the things Stella liked about the game. The music and sound effects were amazing as well, and she could feel immersed in the world, as her character moved around in the woods, picking up mushrooms and flowers. Stella was so focused on foraging that she nearly jumped in her seat when a notification popped up on the screen.

You have a help request from user GeminiWarrior. Would you like to accept the request?

She bit her lip in contemplation. She hadn’t done a lot of rescue missions, since despite her decent level, she wasn’t an amazing battler. But if she were in trouble, she would’ve loved someone to at least try to help her, so she accepted the request.

She was instantly teleported to the edge of a forest. Stella turned the camera around to find the sender of the request, and quickly she noticed a tall warrior character crouching on rock, and a striped bear monster circling it.

Despite the threatening situation, the sight was funny and Stella chuckled. Her loud footsteps alerted the bear when she ran towards it, and the creature spun around to face her. Stella summoned her fire spells, keeping a fair distance from this heavy melee unit. Thanks to her evasion and speed boosting spells, she was able to close the distance a few times to deliver a few physical hit combos as well. After a few attempts to kick and punch the bear, Stella noticed that magic did better damage to it, so she focused her efforts on shooting fireballs and staying out of the range of the sharp claws.

A few minutes of intense dodging and firing later, the bear poofed out of existence, and Stella got a bear skin and some gold as a reward for defeating the beast.

GeminiWarrior jumped down from the rock and waved at Stella’s character, a small speech bubble with a happy emoticon appearing above his head. Stella smiled and emoted back to him.

The game chat lit up with one unread message. Stella clicked it open.

[GeminiWarrior]: Thanks for the help :D

Stella’s smile widened.

[Spica]: No problem. I’m happy I got here in time.

[GeminiWarrior]: Same. I thought I was done for. I ran out of potions

[GeminiWarrior]: I haven’t been in town in a week. I dunno where I would’ve spawned if I had died

[Spica] That’s a long time. Have you been just wandering about?

[GeminiWarrior]: Yeah! I was roleplaying a bit lol. I’m trying to have my character be as self-sufficient as possible

[Spica]: Sounds cool. 

[GeminiWarrior]: It’s a lot of fun. But I guess I’ll have to go refresh my spawn spot to this side of the map, lol

[Spica] Should I accompany you to town or will you survive on your own? :D

[GeminiWarrior]: I’m not completely helpless xD So maybe I can survive. It’s just around the corner

[Spica]: I’m available for rescue operations in the future too if there’s a need.

[GeminiWarrior]: I’ll keep that in mind :)

You have a friend request from user GeminiWarrior. Do you want to accept the request?

Stella clicked ‘yes’. GeminiWarrior seemed like a cool person.

[Spica]: That was fast.

[GeminiWarrior]: Well, I do need to know when my saviour is online if I ever need help

[Spica]: True, true. :D

[GeminiWarrior]: But I need to go now. Thanks for the help again. Bye

[Spica]: No worries. Bye.

GeminiWarrior disappeared from the screen when the player logged out of the game. Stella smiled to herself. It was nice to meet someone who was this friendly. It could be cool to play together later.

She opened the game map to see how far she had been teleported from her herb collecting spot. Luckily not far. She was on the opposite side of the city of Farne, and she could sell the bear skin and stock up on some potions while she passed through it on her way back to the forest. She could pick up some more side quests too.

Stella played for a little bit longer, but after the adrenaline rush from the rescue mission, collecting herbs was boring. With a sigh she logged out and turned off her computer. 

She lay down on her bed, and as if summoned, Mila appeared and jumped on the bed to sleep on Stella’s stomach. Stella lazily petted her grayish blue fur while trying to use her phone with one hand. She nearly dropped the phone when Justin called her.

“Yeah?”

“I just wanted to check in about tomorrow. Are you free to go buy the paints and stuff?”

“Sure. I don’t have anything.”

“Cool. Right after school?”

“Yeah. Also, I was thinking, should we ask tomorrow who wants to help with the painting? I could make an announcement that they write their names on a list or something.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“I only have good ideas,” Stella chuckled.

“I wouldn’t necessarily go that far.”

“Excuse me? I’m brilliant.”

Justin laughed at the mock-offended tone in Stella’s voice.

“By the way, where do you think we’ll find the coffee monopoly?” Stella asked. She had never heard of such a thing before today.

“I have no idea. I don’t even know if they’re available anywhere.”

The principal had suggested the game, so it could very well be a vintage item from forty years ago.

“True. Although I don’t know if it’d be a big disappointment if we didn’t find it.”

“True. No need to stress over it. We can get something else. I’m sure there's a bunch of coffee themed games somewhere.”

“Yea-aaah,” Stella said and yawned. “Sorry. I guess Ineed to head to bed.”

“Okay. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Stella yawned again and gently lifted Mila from her stomach. Mondays always left her exhausted. She took a quick shower and relaxed with fifteen minutes of bedtime yoga before wrapping herself in warm blankets. Mila was curled at her feet. She drifted off to sleep while thinking about everything she’d have to do the next day.