Of Future Plans and Relaxing Rides

The Warden’s words echoed softly, both in her manor’s impressive entrance hall and in the mind of The Gamer. Moira did her best to offer a friendly smile as John paused to consider that. The sudden weight of faith and expectation settled on him. He withered somewhat, stomach rolling over itself.

“I…” He sighed, words caught in his throat. “I appreciate it, but I was terrified the whole time. Not exactly the makings of a hero.”

“Without fear, there cannot be courage,” she countered reassuringly.

John smiled, trying to accept that reasoning. Part of him did, part of him refused.“That’s poetic.”

“I took it from an author,” the redhead admitted, allowing hints of levity into her normally stoic voice, “but I do believe it. You were only introduced to the Abyss a couple days ago. Give yourself time.”

He turned to her, meeting her emerald eyes. “...I hope you’re right.”

John allowed the cool of the afternoon to wash over him as he opened the manor’s impressive front doors. He blinked away the light as he took a deep breath of the fresh air. The simplicity of it all still felt surreal after all he’d been through that morning. That thought sent a shudder down his spine, and he tried to push it all away again.

He turned back inside, offering one final look to Moira Brighton, the Warden of the Golden Rose. The Gamer waved goodbye, and let the door close behind him. His shoes clicked on the polished stone as he walked down to the front circle, crossing over towards where Ela and Reginald were standing by one of the Order’s cars.

Nodding to the both of them as he approached, he apologized for the wait. Neither seemed to mind though. With a nod, Reginald moved to the side of the car - an inconspicuous black minivan with red accents and a small golden rose on the hood - and opened one of the back doors to let John and Ela in.

“I can put your bags in the back, if you prefer,” the butler offered.

John shook his head, quickly storing away the duffel in his inventory. “No, thank you.”

Ela accepted the butler’s offer, handing both the duffel she’d been carrying earlier and the one that John recognized from her car over to the man, who walked them back to the trunk as the blonde climbed in.

Before he joined her, he looked back at Reginald. “Um, do you need my address or anything?”

The older man looked up with a professional smile. “No, Mr. Newman, that information has been retrieved from Ashcroft’s records. I have already been informed of your address, as well as the plans to bring you back to the manor tomorrow.”

“Oh, gotcha, I guess that makes sense,” John said, scratching his head before turning back to the car and getting in.

The Order’s vehicle was rather well furnished for its outward simplicity. The inside had been completely redesigned, maximizing its space while maintaining a very upscale sense of comfort. Ela slid over to the far seat, giving John plenty of room to stretch out. He sat back, relaxing in the seat as best he could once he’d buckled up.

Almost immediately, he could feel the pull of drowsy darkness fall upon him. Exhaustion compounded over and over on top of him until he reached a strange zen state between tired and not. A shudder ran down his body as he stretched his limbs until they shook. Then, he went almost limp on the seat, sinking slowly into the cushioning.

“You really need some sleep.” The blonde giggled off to his side.

The Gamer exhaled heavily, putting off responding until Reginald had started driving. “I need a lot of things right now, but yeah, sleep sounds amazing. Heh, I’ve got like a dozen odd windows of stuff to look through eventually, but I’m so worn out…

“Not sure my brain is up to brain-ing right now.”

“Mmm… Maybe after a shower and some food,” the Bookworm Knight mused. “I want some good food, but I really don’t think I’m going to want to walk somewhere…”

“I’m probably gonna go maximum lazy tonight… maybe order some fast food or something,” John said, musing about the options he might have. “A decent number of places deliver from around here. I could use something fatty and greasy and comfort food-y.”

"I am not sure I understand fast food being comforting." Ela giggled lightly. “I cannot blame you for not wanting to cook, though.”

“I’m, uh, not a fantastic cook anyway,” he admitted. “My skills are basically limited to simple pan-seared meats and some breakfast foods.”

John sighed thinking back to the morning again. “I think my mom was trying to tell me she’d be late again tonight, before everything happened this morning. Ought to find something I can keep around for her later.”

“I- Someone… Alyx used to try to teach me how to cook,” Ela muttered, voice trailing away as she shifted to look out the window again. “I was never good at it, but I learned a few things.”

Ela squirmed in her seat again, resting the top of her head on the window. "Maybe I will give it a try…”

John didn’t know what to say to her sudden mood turn, so he let the conversation fade away.

The silence that followed was pleasant, at least, only occasionally interrupted by the low rumble of the engine and the occasional bumpiness of the road. John took the time to ponder what he might be able to order for himself and his mother, eventually settling on getting a pair of sub sandwiches for them, maybe with a dessert order of cookies.

“By the way, John?” the Bookworm Knight said, drawing his attention away from his growing hunger. “Even after today, do you think that you will still want to do another dungeon or work with the Order again?”

“I-” The Gamer paused. His first instinct had been to affirm that he wanted to keep going with everything, but a part of him tugged backwards for a moment - the part of him that was afraid, he realized. A large part of him was still the scared, risk-averse nerd he’d been a couple days ago. No amount of magic or hot women or world-shifting dungeons had changed that.

John shuddered, and shook all that off.

For all the physical pain he’d been through, he couldn’t really ever imagine wanting to go back to the muted quagmire of his life before his powers - no friends, just plodding along, destined for some unimportant office job where he’d work - until he died, alone. Becoming “The Gamer” had given him a lot of things, but the opportunity to really change his life’s course and make friends again was worth far more than even the magic itself to him.

John opened his eyes, looking over at the woman he most thought of when solidifying his resolve.

“I’m not sure I have a way out, even if I wanted one.” He chuckled lightly. “I don’t want one, but hopefully I can be a lot better prepared in the future. I could do without ever having a fight like today again.”

Ela smiled, running a hand along the warm glass of the car’s window. “I may be able to help with that. I had intended to talk to you earlier about this, but I never got a chance.

“Would you be interested in joining me for my morning runs?” she asked, turning to face him. “I cannot offer real training like the Order can, but it would still be good to work on your fitness. Your house is already on my route.”

“Oh, um…” John blinked a few times, processing the offer. He shifted in his seat, unable to stop the image of a hot and sweaty Ela in casual wear from flashing through his head. “Yeah, that would be great. I’m not in fantastic shape, though, so I hope you don’t mind me slowing you down some.”

“You do not have to worry,” she said softly, groaning. The knight giggled lightly as she stretched in her seat. “I think that I could use a few days off of my full workout anyway.”

“As long as you’re good with it.” He shrugged. “You know, I don’t actually know if a workout or anything like that will still work for me.”

Ela raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, all my stats are like a game character’s now, yeah? You don’t really see a game character gaining stat points from, like, running a mile or lifting weights or something, not normally at least. I genuinely don’t know if exercise can even help me at this point or if I have to level up.”

“There is only one way to find out,” she said, grinning. “If it does not work, at least you will know that you need to find another way to improve.”

“Haha, fair enough.” He chuckled, leaning back and stretching. “To be honest, even after reading the descriptions for my attributes, I’m not even entirely sure how they correlate to actual ability. Like, are you a twenty in strength? Fifteen? Thirty?”

Ela leaned back, resting her head on the window, allowing the orange-gold rays of the sun to shine through her gilded hair, giving her an almost ethereal appearance. “Mmm… Well, I did not see any numbers when your powers provided me a level up, either yesterday or today. Perhaps your stats do not transfer cleanly to other people.”

John shrugged. “Maybe. I suppose there’s some odds I’ll end up with a quest or an achievement or something, if nothing else.”

Imagine thinking you need a reward to go hang out with a cute girl in yoga pants while she works out.

John's eyes widened as his heart skipped around, quickly crossing his legs. ’Wha- Who said anything about yoga pants?’

Oh, come on. She’s going for a morning run. There’s a 90% chance of short shorts or yoga pants.

Again, The Gamer closed his eyes, exhaling heavily to calm himself. ’I will deal with that when- IF it happens.’

:)

“What time do you normally start?” he asked aloud, putting aside the almighty voice in his head.

“Around six AM,” the blonde answered, eyes following the trees that flew past outside the vehicle. “I try to be done before seven, so I have time to take a shower and eat before school, but we can start a little later, if you want, since Ashcroft is closed.”

John took a second to think that over. “I can try to make that work. That’s a little earlier than I’m normally up, but it won’t kill me to try and get up a little earlier. I’d rather get done before it gets hot, anyway.”

“Oh, we should check,” Ela muttered, looking up. “Reginald?”

“Yes, ma’am?” the butler replied, not breaking his focus on the road ahead.

“What time will you need to pick us up tomorrow to return to the manor?”

“The plan is for me to depart half past twelve tomorrow in order to retrieve you both, so, unless heavy traffic keeps me, I should arrive at your residence around one PM. I can then retrieve Mr. Newman a few minutes later on the route back.”

The blonde offered a smile, though the butler was too focused on the precision of his driving to take note. “Thank you.

“So, John,” Ela said, turning back to The Gamer, “we should have plenty of time in the morning to do what we need, then we can split back up to get ready to come back. I can run over to meet you in the morning.”

“Sure, lemme just…”

The pair spent the rest of the car ride working out the specifics of their morning plan - when John should expect her, how long they’d be running for, etc. Ela, with her excellent physique and Abyssal training could do a casual morning run at a dozen or more miles, but John immediately balked at that. The Gamer had no idea where his limits were for exercise anymore, given both how long it had been since he’d sincerely tried any working out and how much he’d changed his stats since Monday, so they decided on a relatively short and simple path to start, one which looped near his own house a couple times, in case he needed to stop early.

Eventually, their time together was **** to come to an end as Reginald turned onto John’s street, bringing the car to a gentle stop in front of The Gamer’s house.

“Thank you for the ride, Reginald,” John said, opening the door to climb out. “I guess, I’ll, uh, see you both tomorrow.”

“Of course, Mr. Newman. It was no trouble at all, certainly not after your actions today.”

John blushed a little at the reminder. Perhaps the smallest bit of pride began to well up within him. He had truly done something worth remembering today, at least for now. Before he closed the door, he turned to the Bookworm Knight, who was still resting gently on the car side of the back seat.

“See you tomorrow, Ela. Get some good sleep tonight.”

“Mmm… Thank you.” She smiled. “Hopefully your own evening will be nice for recharging as well. I am going to sleep for a very long time once I am home.”

“I’m probably going to do the same.”

With that, he closed the door and stepped back, waving one final time as Reginald pulled away. The Gamer stood in his driveway for a minute, watching almost wistfully as the car disappeared around the corner. He shook his head as exhaustion began to catch up to him again.

“How am I this tired?” he muttered, turning around and heading towards his front door. ’I was passed out for a few hours, but I feel like I just finished an all-nighter or two… does being **** like that count as resting? I don’t actually know.’

John shook his head, fumbling with the lock on his front door. ’I’m gonna blame this [Blood Transmutation] spell…’

He managed to stumble inside, thoughts of ordering dinner fading away almost immediately. A switch had flipped inside him, and he was powerless to resist the call of his bed. His legs moved on autopilot, the last of his willpower and resistance gone. John didn’t even remember making it to his bedroom before the realm of sleep overtook him again.

You’ve earned some real rest.