— Turn around, now... and slowly.

Determined to maintain the character's identity for safety, Darka obeyed the order, raising his hands and wondering if it would be a good idea to test whether his spells also worked like they did in the game. When he turned around, he had to lower his gaze a little to see who wanted to kill him this time. A girl pointed a shotgun towards him with a fierce and proud look, which faltered for a second when she saw the confused face of the supposed wanted demon.

— You come with me, Unpronounceable! — She recovered herself and brought the shotgun closer to Darka's face. — Don't resist, or I'll blow your brains out!

— Wait... Do I know you? — Darka tried to remember if he had seen that NPC before, but he didn't remember any five-feet-tall teenager with red hair wandering around. — I've never seen you around here before, are you some mob?

— A what? — The girl shook her head to clear away the confusion, now pushing the tip of her gun into the cheeks of the supposed Unpronounceable. — Stop trying to distract me!

Darka turned his face away, uncomfortable. When he noticed something on the gun, he just lowered his arms.

— And what did you say you were going to do?

— Why did you let your guard down? What are you up to?! I'm going to snap your face now! — She quickly straightened up to shoot, but as soon as she pulled the trigger, nothing happened. — But what... What did you do??

"Wow, she really pulled the trigger..." — Lauren seemed surprised. If the girl hadn't forgotten to take the security lock off the weapon, Darka probably wouldn't have enough HP to withstand damage from that distance. In fact, she didn't even know if the concept of HP still existed in the current situation, if it did, Darka had already lost some points due to the cut on his arm.

— Aren't you too young to be walking around with a gun? I didn't know the mercenary guild was accepting children.

— Shut up! I'm not a mercenary! — The girl was trying to fix her gun, but she ended up pulling the security lock too hard and jamming it. Seeing that her shotgun was useless, she just threw it on the ground and attacked Darka.

— Hey Hey hey! Calm down!

— I'm going to kill you in and take your pieces with me to sell in Caadis! — She gathered all her strength to throw several punches at him, who despite being much taller, just flinched in defense.

— Ouch! Stop! STOP!! Look, I surrender, okay?! You can stop hitting me now! Such a brat!

The girl stopped suddenly, a little in disbelief, with her arms raised ready for another wave of attacks.

— Are you serious...? Like, are you really going to surrender?

— Yes, oh powerful one... what is your name again?

— Daena!

— ... Mighty Daena. — Lauren searched her memories once again trying to find a match for the name, but she didn't remember any. A sound of explosion coming from the burning city startled her and reminded her that she shouldn't be there. The girl seemed to have heard it too, and soon became full of herself.

— Katarina must be pissed right now. Imagine her face when she finds out that I managed to capture the Unpronounceable and she didn't!

Before she knew it, Daena felt her arm being pulled. Darka hurried to pick up the shotgun from the ground with one hand while she dragged the girl with the other, heading towards a nearby forest.

— What do you think you're doing, you disgusting bastard?! Let me go!

— You have a vocabulary full of frills, like Katarina. Just run!

They continued deeper into the forest, going as far as possible from the sounds of explosions. Darka didn't let go of Daena's hand, who struggled and complained, but ran along. They only stopped when they reached a glade, marked on Lauren's mental map as an empty camp that was used as a respawn point for players.

— I don't think she can find me here... Are you okay? — Darka saw Daena panting. — You shouldn't waste energy talking while running, it's bad for your lungs.

— Shut... up... — Her voice barely came out. Falling to her knees on the ground, she tried not to take her eyes off the person in front of her who was just pitifully staring at her.

— Look, I'm not going to run away, okay? I should, yes, of course, after all you tried to shoot me, but I won't.

Darka bent down, sitting next to Daena. Lauren still didn't understand exactly what happened, whether it was a hallucination or a dream, but it all seemed too real. But if that was true, her life was at risk and it was better to be very careful about what was going to happen. Despite this, realizing that she could meet Amara in person caused an excitement that easily overcame most of the worry and, when imagining herself finally hugging her comfort character, it was as if all the fear and trepidation of being in a relatively unknown place disappeared. Instead, her mind was now swirling with plans to get to Amara safely, so she waited for the girl to catch her breath to try to fix the situation and take advantage of it.

— Daena... You said you were going to take me to Caadis, right? Do you live there?

— That's none of your business. You are my prisoner. Prisoners don't ask questions.

— Oh, c'mon, I saved you, you know? If we had stayed in that stable, Katarina would have found me quickly. And you seem to know her, you know she knocks first and asks questions later, so she would destroy the place with us inside without any problems.

— ...

— Your silence says it all. Am I right? — Darka made a teasing face. — Come on, admit it.

— Silent, Unpronounceable! You talk too much! — Daena stood up suddenly, cleaning her knees and picking up the broken shotgun. Darka remained sitting, now with his legs crossed.

— Why do you call me that? I don't remember being called that before. — He thought a little. — Is it because my name is taboo among people?

— Taboo? No, it's because no one can pronounce it anyway! Was it your mother who gave you that stupid name? In addition to her bad habit of destroying cities, she also doesn't seem to know how to name her own son.

— Wait... What do you think my name is?

— Huh, the x, x... darchaos line eighteen... oh, dang it!

Darka started to laugh. Lauren would never imagine that her nickname was actually her name in that world, the real name by which everyone knew her. Daena turned red, thinking the laughter was because of her, punching  the head of that rude person who dared to make fun of her pronunciation.

— Ahahahahaha... Ouch! Why did you hit me? — He was still laughing despite the aggression, and trying to wipe away his tears.

— Do not laugh at me! It's not my fault you have a stupid name!

— Ok, I'm sorry. But you don't need to call me that or "Unpronounceable", that's kind of stupid. You can call me Darka, my friends call me that.

— But we are not friends.

— My enemies also call me that. — Lauren remembered some game contacts who only called her for PVP fights.

— Hmm. Then I'll call you Darka. Because we are enemies and I hate you.

Hearing the character's name being said by Daena caused a strange lump in his throat. Lauren realized that she really was no longer "Lauren" but "Darka". No one there would see her as a player in a virtual world, but rather as the son of a witch who threatens the world. Although it was a little strange, she didn't feel that it would be difficult to adhere to his identity, after all, she herself never cared much about her own gender. In fact, it was surreal how at the same time she knew she was Lauren, a 24-year-old girl full of problems who lived alone and spent much of her free time playing games, she also knew she was Darka, a young magical being who was born and raised in a fantasy land. It was almost as if she had never been anyone else before.

"Will Amara see me as Darka too? What if he... has changed?"

— Okay, Daena. Shall we go to Caadis now?

— You're strangely excited to go there... — Daena crossed her arms, looking suspiciously at Darka. — What are you up to?

— Absolutely nothing. You captured me, remember? And you said you're going to take me there, so let's go.

Caadis was the closest town to Amara's small village, Olsid, and from there it was less then a couple hours by train to his workshop. Despite having the map committed to memory, Lauren knew it would be easier to walk around as someone's prisoner than as a wanted criminal. Furthermore, Daena could let Darka know some things about the world.

✰★✰★✰

— Daena, this is tight. My wrist is hurting. I'm going to die and you're going to have to drag a stinking corpse until we get to the town.

The girl had insisted on tying Darka's hands with rope, but was bitterly regretting it after listening to him complain for the last two hours.

— I should tie up that mouth of yours too! You don't look like a powerful demon at all, you're more like a complaining kid.

— Hey, I'm older, respect me! By the way, how old are you? Thirteen?

— Thirteen? Are you calling me a short brat? — Daena looked very offended. — I'm eighteen and a half!

— I did not say that! And I'm... 122? — Lauren did the math in her head. That was Darka's estimated age according to the story fragments the game gave in those years. In the timeline in his head, it had only been two years since he woke up with amnesia in a cave on the coast of the continent, a few miles from the village where Amara stayed.

— By the way, did you know that I can burn this rope? But I don't want to, because I'm trying to be a nice person and give you the opportunity to release me on your own.

— Ah, what a shame that I'm going to let this opportunity pass by.

— You are so boring. Are you related to Katarina by any chance?

— It doesn't matter.

— Boooring. Not even your parents should like you.

Daena stopped, lowering her head and shrugging her shoulders. Darka approached, noticing that her mood had changed.

"Hey, did I step on some toes?", — he thought.

She turned suddenly and her fist hit the young man in the face, who fell to his knees with a trickle of blood running from his nose. Darka noticed her angry expression soon turning into joy.

— Yeah! This time I hit the punch AND I even knocked you down! You clod!

— Oh, you... — Darka jumped on top of Daena to knock her down too, without failing to notice that this was like the wrestling games Lauren played with her younger cousins ​​to gain their sympathy. It wasn't her intention to hurt, and she hoped that the funny vibe of this moment would make things easier between them.

— Get away from me, stupid! — Daena tried to kick him, aiming for his stomach. But Darka was faster and wrapped the rope around her foot, securing it with his hands.

— Now you're going to have to untie it to free us both.

— Jerk... — She started to untie it with extreme disgust, when she noticed that Darka suddenly became nervous, looking at the road. — What's happening?

— Katarina... — Darka had barely finished speaking the name of the knight who was marching along the road in the distance, when he felt Daena's push throwing him into the middle of a bush.