“How do you know that so unquestionably?”
“Unquestioningis what you’re supposed to be practicing, isn’t it?”
He clamps his thick glove to my hand. “Right, right. My bad. I am ever so curious, and you grow curiouser and curiouser.”
“’Tis the female charm,” I provide, free of chalant, then I start directly forward into the mist.
It wraps around us, tingling against my flesh, reminding me completely that magic lives and breathes in Gem Ridge, monsters lurk beneath the surface of the ground, and a historythat remained so open-ended in the game lore exists, finite and singular.
Someone, somewhere, in the great past of an entire world set up the steps to find this place.
Truly, I’m not supposed to be here until I reach the two hundredth level of the mine.
That is where an ancient stone plaque provides the directions to not get lost in these mists.
Once again, I’m jumping steps, but as the mists begin to clear and open on a pool of water that innately glows a soft blue, I know I’ve made it.
Still with me, Slate squeezes my hand and exhales a swear.
“Promise me you’ll stay right here when I let go of your hand?” I say, looking back at him.
He nods, stiff. “I fancy myself smart enough to assume if I don’t, I will die.”
“Basically.” I release him at the edge of the water, fortify myself, and step onto the gleaming surface.
A solid rock rises to meet my shoe the moment it gets wet and I would fall in if I didn’t trust something to lie ahead. With each careful step, a stone appears beneath my sole.
Upon my making it to the center of the water, my Crystal Gem Blade emerges protruding out of a small obsidian island. Rivulets that fill the glowing pond with ripples spill off the monument, and I look down at a sheet of engraved gold.
Legend foretold your arrival.
Destiny beheld your victory.
Do good with the power you draw here.
And may your future be blessed with gifts.
In game, it’s simple. You follow the directions you find at the bottom of the mine to this spot. You read that text. And you laugh as you collect your sword, because—wow—it’s a cozy farming sim, fam; it’snotthat deep.
Surrounded by a darkness formed from interwoven branches above, bathed only in a light that rises from the water around me, I know that there are real people I can help, real quests that affect their quality of life.
It’s not just about affording a marriage circlet or being able to obtain resources easier. It’s about continuing to help while I still have the blueprint on how to improve this world in the wake of devastation.
“I promise,” I whisper, and take hold of the shining hilt.
With ease, the blade slips free.
Chapter 21
♥♥♥♥♥
Communication in a relationship is almost as important as respecting one’s right to make bad decisions.
“You’re actually the cruelest person I have ever met,” Slate says as we leave the Mystic Forest and head back to his lab. “Oh, come throw a bomb at something for me. No, you can’t ask a single question when I pull a clearlyanciently blessedsword from amagic lake rock.”
I’m too busy looking at my pretty new sword to listen too intently to Slate’s tirade.
It sparkles yellow and pink in the late afternoon sun, and the smallest swipes send a little rain of magic fluttering off the shimmering blade.
