8:04 PM — Arizona
"Alright, I'm seriously logging off this time," Erynne said, her voice muffled as she sank back into a pile of pillows. "Like, real goodbye. Not fake goodbye."
Alrik’s voice came through her headphones, as casual as ever. “Sure. Just like twenty minutes ago. And the hour before that.”
She rolled her eyes, smiling. On her screen, his game window filled most of the view—some kind of dungeon, glowing monsters, classic RPG stuff. He was weaving through a mob of skeletons like he’d been born in the code.
“I mean it,” she said, pulling her blanket up. “If I don’t get off now, I’ll end up watching you speedrun through another two bosses and I’ll be awake until 1 AM.”
“Would that be such a tragedy?”
“Yes,” she said, already halfway into a yawn. “I’m not twenty anymore.”
“You’re not even thirty anymore.”
"Watch it."
He laughed. “Alright, night.”
“Night.”
She clicked “Leave Call,” and the Discord window vanished. The room felt quieter than it had just moments ago. Erynne let her laptop screen go dark and stared at the ceiling, the familiar hum of nighttime routine settling around her.
Even without video, she could still picture Alrik perfectly—sitting in his dimly lit room in Arizona, one headphone on, probably half-eaten bag of chips nearby. Their game nights had become part of her rhythm, a way to stay connected across time zones and years.
She smiled faintly and turned off her lamp.
And then, the bed glowed.
A sharp, bluish light flared from beneath her, casting strange shadows up the walls. She sat up sharply, heart pounding.
“What the—”
She threw the blanket off. A glowing magic circle—intricate, spinning, and utterly unearthly—was etched beneath her mattress like it had been waiting there the whole time.
Before she could scream or even move, the circle pulsed once more.
And everything went white.
Meanwhile — Arizona
Alrik was mid-reach for his water bottle when the same kind of magic circle appeared beneath his chair.
He blinked. “...Oh. Ohhh, yes.”
His grin widened.
Then the light swallowed him, too.
Somewhere Else — A Meadow at the Edge of a Forest
Erynne woke up with her cheek pressed to damp grass.
She blinked, once, twice. The scent of rain and something sweet filled her nose—like clove, or spiced honey. The sky above her was too bright and too purple, like someone had cranked the saturation slider on reality. She sat up slowly, her fingers digging into the mossy earth.
Wherever she was, it definitely wasn’t North Carolina.
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Wide, soft hills stretched out in the distance, framed by giant trees that shimmered slightly, their leaves catching the lavender sky like polished glass. The whole world felt like a storybook she hadn’t meant to open.
She turned her head—just in time to see someone else lying nearby, facedown in the grass.
“Alrik?” she called out automatically.
A groan. “Ugh. Did we just fast-travel into a JRPG?”
She let out a shaky laugh. “I think we got isekai’d.”
He pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around, blinking blearily at the surreal landscape. “Wow. Okay. Not gonna lie, this is a better opening zone than I expected.”
She walked over and helped him up. “You’re taking this weirdly well.”
“I’ve been preparing for this since I was ten. It’s either this, or I finally passed out while streaming and started lucid dreaming in high definition.”
“I mean, I was going to sleep. I just didn’t expect to wake up in an actual fantasy novel.”
He brushed grass off his hoodie, then straightened. “First thing’s first—status screen?”
Erynne raised an eyebrow. “What, like voice-activated?”
“C’mon, it’s a classic. Try a hand gesture.”
She sighed and flicked her fingers in the air like a magician who didn’t quite believe in her own act.
To her surprise, a glowing blue window appeared in front of her, hovering in midair.
Her heart skipped.
[Player: Erynne]
Level: 1
Class: ???
HP: 100/100
MP: 220/220
Skills: Solar Flare, Arcane Construction, Queen’s Command, Mild Flame Resistance, Spatial Storage, Unknown Divine Trait (LOCKED)
“…Okay,” she said slowly. “That… looks like a lot.”
Alrik leaned closer. “Whoa. You’ve got, like, capital-letter abilities.”
“I have no idea what any of them do.”
“Doesn’t matter. Anyone with something called ‘Queen’s Command’ is either dangerous or dramatic.”
“Or both.”
He laughed and tried the same gesture.
A second window popped into existence, this one far more… minimal.
[Player: Alrik]
Level: 1
Class: ???
HP: 95/95
MP: 30/30
Skills: Basic Foraging, Rock Identification
Alrik stared.
Erynne squinted. “…Seriously?”
“I’m… not sure how to feel about this.”
“I guess you’ll be very helpful if we need to snack or classify pebbles.”
“I was born to snack,” he muttered. “Classifying pebbles might be a stretch.”
Something rustled in the nearby brush.
They turned just as a guttural growl filled the air.
A massive boar emerged from the trees—its hide cracked with molten seams, its tusks gnarled and glowing faintly red. Two whip-like tails lashed behind it. Sprouting from the top of its head were strange, glowing mushrooms.
A status tag floated above its head:
[Lv. 24 - Sporefang Boar - Unique]
Erynne blinked. “Level twenty-four? We’re level one!”
Alrik grabbed a thick branch from the ground. “Okay, okay. Maybe it’s just a test. Like one of those unbeatable tutorial bosses.”
“Then why are you running at it?!”
“Because I don’t want to find out what happens if we just stand here!"
Alrik charged, ducking under a swiping tusk and swinging his branch hard. It connected with a meaty thunk—and did almost nothing. The boar barely reacted.
“Uh,” Alrik muttered, dodging back. “Little help? It’s taking off chunks of my health bar and my stick is apparently made of regrets.”
Erynne scanned her status screen again and shouted, “Queen’s Command!”
A strange weight pressed behind her eyes. She threw a hand forward. “STOP!”
The boar froze in place.
Alrik skidded to a halt. “...You can command it?! That actually worked?!”
“Apparently,” Erynne said, half in shock.
Taking advantage of the opening, Alrik wailed on the stunned boar, whacking at its legs, sides, and head. Each strike made a dull thud, as if he were trying to defeat a refrigerator with a rolled-up newspaper. His damage was so low it was borderline symbolic. Still, he persisted—grunting, sweating, occasionally muttering things like "this is for all the times RNG betrayed me" and "I am one with the stick."
The boar began to tremble. Its status flickered.
“Uh-oh,” Erynne muttered.
With a snort, the creature broke free of the command. It lunged forward—but just as it did, Alrik leapt up and brought his branch down squarely on the mushroom cluster.
The fungi burst in a puff of iridescent spores that glittered like fairy dust but probably smelled like gym socks and vengeance.
The boar gave a final squeal—and dissolved into a cloud of violet mist.
Alrik stumbled back, panting. “YES! That’s gotta be rare loot, right?”
But instead of item drops, both of their screens flickered.
[ALERT: Alrik has been CURSED]
“Trial of the Unburdened” has been applied.
Wearing any gear will halve all EXP gained from combat.
Bonus: Unarmed damage scales faster. Agility and intuition increased. Curse may evolve.
Erynne squinted at the message. “...You’re cursed already?”
Alrik read it once. Then again. And grinned.
“No gear. No weapons. Just fists and fury.”
“You’re going to fight everything in a hoodie.”
“I’m going to win in a hoodie.”
“This world is doomed.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
One Hit Kill Sister. We thought it would be hilarious—he’s the gamer, I’m not, so the idea of me being OP in an isekai world while he flailed around seemed like comedy gold.
real fast.
non-gamer one ended up with all the OP magic? So I started writing, tweaked our names, and here we are.