Chapter One

        I’m in love with a video game character. There. I said it and to be honest I’m not that ashamed of it. He is kind, smart, and most importantly he knows how to fight with a sword. I mean, it can’t get much better than that.

        “Are you still playing that game?” My roommate, Melody, asked as she stumbled into the living room. I looked up from my computer scene to see her rub her eyes. She squinted against the brightness of my computer screen to look at me Her long blond hair was ruffled in a way that sleeping could only do. She was wearing her signature baggy t-shirt and shorts assemble she only wore to sleep in. The t-shirt had the name of a band I had never heard of on it and the shorts that barely showed had seen better days. “Jeez Ken. It’s three in the morning. Put the game down and go to sleep. There is such a thing as needing to get up and go to your classes in the morning.”

        I sighed. “Fine. Just let me finish this mission and I will go to bed.”

        She grunted disbelievingly as shuffled back to her bedroom down the hall. She knew me too well. I probably wouldn’t go to bed after I finished this mission like I told her. I’ve tried to convince myself that it would happen more times then I could count but it always ended the same way. I would finish the mission I was on and get distracted by a new shiny mission that would come up. Plus there was always the cut scenes to watch and the companion characters that needed to be talked to make sure that they didn’t have new things to chat about. They almost never did or at least not as much as I would like them to but it was what kept me going. Those small conversations with the characters that I had become obsessed with. Especially the male air warrior that you could flirt with and even romance so that your character and his would be together in the story.

        He wasn’t the only thing about the game I was obsessed about but he was the biggest distraction for me. The reason for the sleepless nights and the constant restart of the game after I had finished it once again. I needed those small cut scenes with him to sustain me into believing that there really could be men like him somewhere in this world and that if there were that I could find one someday. He was my part of my life line to coping with all the nonsense the real world kept throwing at me.

        My eyes drifted back to the computer screen in front of me. I blinked as I let my eyes readjust to the brightness. Where was I again? Oh that’s right, I was working my way through Rinosh before I headed over into the Forest of Tugain again so that I could finally finish the quest that has swallowed my entire night. No wait. I need to get off of this game. I’ll just do this one other quest…

~~~~

        “Kendra! Wake up! You’re going to be late to your classes again…” I heard a voice say in my ear. The voice sounded strangely like my roommate but that was impossible. She couldn’t be here in the Forest of Tugain too. She was off busy in reality working on “real life” problems as she liked put it.

“Ken!” There was that voice again but I couldn’t find where it was coming from. I looked around at the lush green forest around me and tightened the grip on the sword in my hand. What was happening?

My eyes flew open as a hand roughly jabbed me in my shoulder. I blinked to find not a lush forest surrounding me any longer but the bland white walls that made up the walls of the small apartment and the blond, blue eyed face of my roommate. Where was my sword? Oh, that’s right. That must’ve been part of the dream I was having as well. Shaking my head slightly I tried to wake myself up fully. I hated the dreams like that. The ones that are pull you into their depths so deeply that you don’t know that it is a dream at all until you wake up.

“Kendra!” Melody yelled as she shook my shoulder once again. Blinking age I turned and focused on her. Her blue eyes looked into mine as her brow furrowed in anger. “Get up! You are already late to class.”

I shot straight up until I was sitting up fully, the grogginess of waking up left me in an instant. I searched frantically for my phone on the dark colored couch. I heard a sigh as my phone was thrust in front of my face, the screen already lit up to show me the time. Yup. I was already a good five minutes late and it would take me another 10 just to get there from our apartment.”

Disgruntled I launched off the couch towards the door. I can’t be any later than I already was. The professor would lock me out if I wasn’t careful.

“Are you forgetting something?” Melody asked.

What? What could I be missing. I looked down. Oh, right. I looked like a hot mess. My shirt was wrinkled from sleep and I was still wearing sleep shorts. That would have to do for though. The one thing I couldn’t leave the house without was shoes. Melody sighed in a defeated way and shoved a pair of shoes in my direction. Luckily she handed me a pair of slip-ons as I hopped as I put them on. My hand reached out to the door as I felt the familiar heavy weight of my book bag land on my shoulder. Yes. That would be helpful too.

“Thanks Mels. I’d be completely lost with out.” I hugged her quickly as I ran out the door.

“Yeah, well I am gonna start taking your laptop away from you if you don’t start going to bed at a normal hour.” I heard Melody say as she shut the door.

I chuckled. She always threatened to take my laptop when she didn’t feel like I was being responsible but she rarely actually did it.

The path to the college Mel and I attended stood surprisingly empty considering the hour. Usually there was tons of people running late just like I was but typically for completely different reasons. Most tended to be hung over instead of staying up way too late playing video games and having unhealthy crushes on fictional characters. Too bad for them though. I’d rather video game sleep deprivation over a hang over any day. Today it looked to be just me a few select others as we scurried across the road and into the large entrance of campus. Thank God that are living quarters were only across the street. I raced up the two flights of stairs and counted the door to the fifth one on the right and entered as silently as I could, taking a seat in the back row. Note to self: Don’t ever take another class at eight in the morning…

~~~~

        “Here.” An angel said as a paper cup from the local coffee shop appeared over my shoulder.

“Bless you.” I said as I snatched the cup into my hands, smelling the beverage through the hole in the lid. Just as I suspected it was my favorite tea. I smiled as the smell washed over me and I took the first sip. Ah perfect. Definitely the perfect pick up I needed. I glanced over my shoulder and smiled at the angel that looked surprisingly like my roomy Melody.

She smiled in return as she walked around and sat at the table I had commandeered in the library. “I figured you would need a pick me up. I see you went home at some point and put on real clothes.”

I nodded as I looked down at myself.“Yeah, I had just enough time in between classes this morning.”

I looked a lot different then I had this morning as I had rushed out the door. I was now wearing a simple green cap sleeved tee and my favorite dark colored jeans. I had also thrown my unruly hair up into a ponytail and changed my slip ons for my black converse. It felt much better than the pajama shorts I had rocked earlier. They had gotten me a few strange looks even with almost everyone running around in sweats as well or maybe it had been the rats nest that had been the top of my head. Who will ever know.

“So a bunch of us are going out tonight. Do you want to come with us?”

I shrugged and gave the answer I almost always gave when Melody asked me this. “I don’t know. I have about three papers due soon and I need to finish running over the schedule that I want to lock down for next semester.”

“Oh, come on Ken. I know for a fact that you already finished every single one of those papers and seriously? We are in the middle of spring semester the next semester doesn’t start until the fall. You can’t even sign up for another couple of weeks. At least be more creative with your excuses. We both know you are planning on sitting at home and playing that video game of yours.”

I grimaced at her accurate assumption. That is exactly what I had wanted to do with my evening.It was also the exact reason I was at the library right now trying to finish all the work I needed to get done. It wasn’t that I didn’t like hanging out with people, sometimes. Today had been really long and my introvert self just wanted to sit at home. Plus none of the people in my life were actually named Malcolm Grey and went around fighting things with a sword and magic.

She looked over at me exasperated. “Fine. I’ll give you tonight, but next time you will be coming out with me.”

I nodded, knowing I was defeated in this argument. Melody smiled in response and bounded off towards the exit. Sighing I tried to focus back on the work at hand but it was pointless. I loved Melody and she has been the best friend a girl could ever ask for but sometimes I never really knew how we got along so well. We have been friends since middle school but we never agree on anything. We don’t even typically run in the same crowds. I typically prefer being by myself or with a small group of like minded individuals while she preferred spending her time in large groups and doing crazy outrageous things. Not that wasn’t fun sometimes. Just not as often as she wanted me to.

I also knew she was worried about me since we moved here this last fall. I felt her watching me all the time. I know she was waiting for me to break down or something. Maybe I didn’t even know what she was waiting for. Maybe she didn’t either for that fact. Probably just waiting for something to happen. I don’t know. She was just going to have to keep watching then. I knew that she worried that I hadn’t made any new friends really since we got here. I also know she worried about my college experience as I sat at our apartment with my books and video games to keep me company. I knew exactly how long I could go before Melody would worry too much and force me out with her. So I would go with her every once and awhile with her friends to appease her worrying a little bit. The times in between outings seemed to be getting shorter and shorter though. Maybe I should see if I could branch out and make some new friends but not tonight. Tonight I was restarting “Mage Legacies” for who knows how many times and I was one hundred percent content with that.

~~~~

        I heard the key as it was placed in the lock of the front door and turned. I looked down at my phone to see that it was again three in the morning. I smiled sheepishly as Melody walked through the door. I watched as she took in what I was doing and roll her eyes before heading towards the hallway. “I would tell you to get off that ridiculous video game and go to bed but I know my words will fall onto deaf ears. So good night Ken. I’ll see you in a few hours but if you don’t wake yourself up for your classes you will be missing them.”

        I hung my head for a small moment trying to feel guilty for committing so much of my time to this game, but I just didn’t feel it. I had restarted again tonight and I was still in the first area of the map. It always ended up taking a few hours to finish and that was fine. I was getting close though. I would go to bed once I finished this area. Yeah. That would be the perfect place to stop…