Which technically wasn’t a lie. Louie was the main—the only—reason I wouldn’t just stop getting out of bed in the morning.
“Anyway,” Leo said, trying to lighten the atmosphere and blow away the awkwardness. “You were a hot mess when they picked you up. The doctors treated you and gave you a CT scan. They said you’re fine and your wounds will heal, apart from the six stitches on your head.”
“Thanks, man.”
“They did say they can’t do much about your face,” he continued in a serious tone, “but I reassured them that you were this ugly before getting beat up, so that’s fine.”
I smiled at his unexpected joke, but my mood darkened swiftly as I glanced up at the text that had appeared above his head.
Name : Leonardo DiFiore
Race : ???/Human
Class : Mystic
Level : ???
Mystic? Leo usually played warriors. I started to think that I should set some ground rules for my insanity.
“Are you okay?” Leo asked, worried. “Are you feeling dizzy? Should I call someone?”
“Nah, I’m fine,” I said. “I just remembered the dream I had before you arrived. People were walking around with levels and classes above their heads.”
I laughed it off and turned my head to face Louie who was now fast asleep on his little pillow, his paws twitching slightly. Hopefully, his dream was more pleasant. When I faced Leo again, he was still looking at me. He pressed his lips as though he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure how.
“What?” I asked as he stood up and moved to the door. “No need to call anyone. I said I’m fine.”
Instead of calling a nurse, he closed the door and took a stool from the other end of the room. He placed it next to me, careful not to wake up Louie, and sat down.
“So you know I’m a mystic then?”
3
Inis Mona
Is this happening? Am I still dreaming?
No, the pain was still too real for a dream.
“Alex, I know you’re the person who will interrupt others with snarky comments and I love you for it, but I need you to shut up for once in your life and pay attention to what I’m about to tell you… because you’ll find it difficult to believe.”
“Okay,” was all I could bring myself to say. Surely this was some kind of pain drug-induced illusion?
“I understand that this is difficult to comprehend, but here goes nothing. There is a world. Another world, parallel to ours. Or rather our world, the Cosmos, is much smaller than the other one. The Apocosmos.”
Yep! Definitely the drugs kicking in.
“The Apocosmos is a different universe, with its own sets of rules and physics. The Cosmos and the Apocosmos exist next to each other, but most of the inhabitants of the Cosmos are blissfully unaware. Many of the fantasy stories and mythological worlds you’ve read about aren’t actually myths at all, but rather part of this second world. They are pieces of it that have seeped into ours via stories, art, or entertainment.”
I burst out laughing. I don’t think I had laughed in years. Funny what a few tiny molecules can do to a man once they enter his bloodstream.
“I know, it’s hard to believe…” he said, before I interrupted him.
“You really think I’m going to believe any of this is real? Come on, where are the cameras? Do you have one on your new specs? I’ve told you so many times that I hate birthday surprises. I don’t celebrate.”
“I wish this was a joke, Alex,” he replied completely seriously, before standing up and bringing his hands in front of his stomach.
Within a second, the same wind sphere I’d been attacked with materialized in front of him. Louie stirred on his little pillow, his sleep disturbed by the sudden gust of wind.
“That thing,” I almost shouted. “I was attacked by this Rasengan-like jutsu.”
“This isn’t Rasengan,” he replied with a smile as the winds in his hands died down. “This is called ‘Gale Blast’ and it’s one of the most basic offensive spells spellcasters learn. This is the reason why you can see numbers and levels and whatever other interfaces you might have noticed.”
He took a step forward and sat down next to me once more.
“I’m sure you’ve heard of Dark Energy before?”
“What the fuck does a theoretical form of energy have to do with your crazy talk?”
“Dark Energy is very much real, Alex. It’s what keeps this world and the Apocosmos apart. And the only way for somebody who isn’t born in the Apocosmos to become a part of it is if a member of the Apocosmos pulls them in. Those people who attacked you were most probably natives, and when they saw they couldn’t hurt you here, they decided to pull you in. I’m guessing that’s when you started seeing stats and hovering text blocks.”
“It is,” I admitted, at a loss over the explanation and his very convincing demonstration of magic. “What are all those numbers though?”
“Those stats are the logical interpretation of each creature’s significance in the world. The Dark Energy that runs through the worlds provides this information and manifests them for everyone.”
“So it’s a game world then?”
“It’s wrong to consider the Apocosmos a game world. I’d rather say that in the limited world you’re living in, games are modeled after the real world.”
“My limited world? Because you’re an Apocosmos native?”
“Dude, I wasn’t joking when I said I’m half-elf. My father is Italian, but my mother is an elf.”
“But the…” I tried to find the correct words. “She…”
“What? She doesn’t have pointy ears?” he said, seemingly frustrated. “That is such an ignorant thing to say. Not all elves fall into your stereotypes, mister human.”
“Um… sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
He interrupted me with a snicker. “She actually does but she hides them. You know, people would ask questions.” He smiled at me.
“So… let me get this straight,” I said and tried to sit more upright in my bed.
