My name is Alia. Alia! Not Alissa, not Dragon Tamer! I was Alia. I looked over at Hero and gently rubbed his hand in mine. I never wanted to be away from him. We had killed at least a hundred spiders. At least it felt that way. We each died at least a dozen times. But we didn’t say anything after that first incident. Turns out, the spiders could be flipped and had a weak point on their bottoms?

  We had reached the edge of the forest. Both of us now level ten. Hero had gotten anti-gravity as his level five. Just as he promised he would. I had gotten ‘combat awareness’. It gave me full 360 vision all around me during combat mentally. It saved our asses a couple dozen times at least. Those damn bunnies…

  For level 10, Hero had gotten something called charm. I remember when I was Alissa that it would fail a lot. But he assured me it worked more than failed. I had chosen my bubble rifle, obviously. Even if I wasn’t Alissa anymore, a part of her still stayed inside. The bible rifle just felt.. Right.. In my hands.

  Once I had it, the battles became much easier. Hero would use Anti gravity and get me into a tree, then he would lure enemies to me and I would shoot them as he ran in circles. I tried to give him my bubble pistol, but I couldn’t use it. He assured me it would be fine, that once we reached the kingdom we would get some clothes and gear.

  I looked out from the edge of the forest and saw the large, familiar, city walls of Emerald Kingdom. They looked so familiar, yet so strange. “Okay, listen closely. The guards are not very bright. Stay quiet and stay close to me.” Hero said as he looked down at me.

  It was the first words he had spoken in weeks aside from basic directions and weirdly erotic grunts that made me want him more. It was nice to hear his voice again and I nodded. An old part of me. The Alissa I was, disliked being told what to do. I didn’t mind, in fact, I almost preferred it.

  We reached the large plastic metal gates and got in line. Hero grabbed my wrist and pulled us to the side of the line and kept walking. One of the guards walked up to us. He looked.. Different from what I remembered.

  “Sir, please get back in the line” The guard said in a serious tone. I sighed and turned to go back to line, but Hero held my wrist.

  “Ah, but you see, random guard, I am the Hero! So let me in.” Hero’s words caused me to frown. That was ridiculous. Why would the guard just let us in because..

  “Oh! My apologies Hero! Please, right this way!” The guard said suddenly and proceeded to let us enter the city without further questioning. I stared as the guard walked back to the line in pure and utter shock. I definitely didn’t remember that happening before?!

  He dragged me by my wrist to his side and leaned in. “Alright, we are in. Next up, we have to get through the stupid cutscene with Ruby. Just hang out for a minute okay?”

  He glanced off towards the castle before looking back at me. I nodded uncertainly before asking. “What’s a cut-scene?”

  He smiled in a wide smile. Amusement sparkling in his eyes. “Oh, you're gonna love this.” He said quietly as he turned and walked towards the castle.

  I watched him for a moment in confusion. Then I watched in shock as everyone around just.. Vanished?! Suddenly there was a royal procession of guards all around the castle that hadn’t been there a moment before. Princess Ruby walked down the steps and began to speak in grand motions.

  I watched as she talked and suddenly her dress just vanished! I looked at the guards. But none of them seemed to notice their Princess suddenly going nude?! The Princess continued her speech, seemingly unaware. Suddenly, the dress appeared on her bottom half, leaving the top half gone. She was not wearing underwear and I was beyond stunned.

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  “What is happening?!” I cried out in surprise as I stepped back almost reflexively. Hero turned to look at me and winked. I shook my head and pointed at Princess Ruby in horror. He pointed at her as well and laughed. He walked up to her and poked her head a few times. She continued like nothing was happening.

  He began to play with her hair. She was completely unfazed. Was this some magic skill I was unaware of?! He pushed in the center of her chest between her breasts, and both of her breasts flattened?! Was.. was her dress just invisible? But then why only the top half. A moment later, it reappeared and Hero was pushing on the front of the dress.

  He snorted and walked over to a guard. He took the guards weapon and began doing twirls with it. After a moment, Ruby suddenly without warning turned to Hero expectantly. Hero turned and said “Yea, sounds good. Fight the bandits.”

  Princess Ruby looked at him with joy and the guards all cheered in the weirdest in sync movement I had ever seen in my existence! I was horrified. Then it all just.. Stopped. The guards disappeared, the weapon Hero had taken vanished. Princess Ruby did some weird thing where she was fully nude for a second, then she wasn’t. Then her dress was yellow instead of pink.

  I wanted to cry. Reality was tearing apart and Hero seemed to think it was funny! He grabbed Ruby by the hand and began to drag her over here. I felt an immense surge of anger. I didn’t know why, but seeing him hold her hand.. I just.. I don’t know. She was broken and stupid and.. And.. I paused as they got closer.

  “Alirght Alia, first quest achieved. We gotta take the Princess here to the bandits and protect her. Don’t worry if she says things from future events. Happens sometimes.” I stared at him in abject horror.

  “She just.. says things from the future?! Just like that?!” I was beyond lost and I grabbed my head. What was happening?! Everything was so.. This never happened when I was Alissa.. Did it? No! I never remember any of this happening!

  “Thank you for saving me from the bandit trap Hero! We must escape quickly or they will get us!” Princess Ruby suddenly said without warning. She looked around and then dodged into the street. She then vanished and reappeared next to Hero holding his hand. I felt my rage spike. I didn't care if she could see the future. She was about to see my hands on her.

  I tackled her to the ground and started punching her. She ignored me entirely and said “Oh no Hero! I am under attack! Save me!” and then she cowered!

  I felt an arm grab me and pull me off of her. “What are you doing Alia!” Hero snapped at me. “We need her in one piece. Don’t attack the primary quest NPC’s until they have their quests finished!

  I froze and looked at him. “Quest NPC? That.. that is why you don’t want me.. To attack her?” I felt numb for a moment. He didn’t want me to attack her because she.. Had a quest for him.

  I considered that for a moment as I sat there. Then I turned to him as he put me down. “Hero! I have a quest for you!” He turned and looked at me puzzled.

  “What are you..” He started, but I cut him off.

  “Hero! Please.. Um..” I wavered after a moment realizing I didn’t have anything. Was I even able to give quests? If she was then I should be able to!

  Hero just stared at me then shook his head in disappointment. I felt my heart sink and I tried to defend myself. “You see I..”

  He held up a hand. “Alia, Ruby is part of the main questline. She isn’t real. So please stop attacking a glorified object. cannot complete the quest if she dies. We would have to re-watch that whole cutscene again.”

  He looked at me seriously and said “Come, we have bandits to kill.” He took my hand and spoke out loud. “Hey Ruby, It seems I have lost you! I will find you at the bandit camp!”

  Princess Ruby responded. “Good idea Hero! Let’s split up and meet at the bandit camp!” She then just.. Vanished. I stared where she had just been on the ground in stunned silence.

  I was shaken from my shock by Hero, who was holding me and looking into my eyes. “You aren’t one of them anymore Alia. You are like me, a player. You need to get used to this.”

  With that, Hero picked me up and gave me a hug. I felt so warm and hugged him back. Putting me down he said “Alright, let's get us some clothes. Then, we have a princess to save.”

  I didn’t really understand. But I smiled and nodded. Played in my head and I felt at ease. Then the last part hit me and I looked at him puzzled. “What clothes?”