NOVEL WEB 29: Others
"You did what!?" Lily's staccato voice shouted, almost waking Jonathan's companions from their slumber.
"Shhh, keep it down." Jonathan whispered, he was still not ready to explain to Saikhi and Talitha the whole 'I am from another world, and this is my tutorial fairy thing'. Besides, Lily wasn't the kind of girl you take home to your parents or that you introduce to your friends. "As I said, I escaped from the Inquisition. I don't see why that is upsetting to-"
"Not that." Lily interrupted. "You just let the whole city of Sidim burn to the ground? I mean, I have heard of callous, but that takes it to a whole new level, your alignment would have definitely taken a shift in the 'evil' direction if I had anything to say about it."
"Hey, you are not the one being chased by a group of people that turn sorcerers into braindead potatoes." Jonathan retorted. "Besides, I am pretty sure your character alignment would read 'Chaotic Unhelpful'."
Lily huffed in her usual manner. The reprimand would have probably been more effective if it was delivered by anyone else besides her. Jonathan found it hard to take anything the six-inch fairy said seriously. In all honesty, he had to force himself to open the guidebook and talk to Lily today. He had been putting it off every time the thought came to his mind. Her shenanigans were just not something that he could deal with so soon after such an intense episode. So he pushed it off for a few days, instead focusing on the benefits of not being turned into a rotisserie chicken. It was good to stay thankful for the little things. Jonathan's group had finally travelled far enough north to lose sight of Sidim's blaze.
"Also, why are you able to stick around so long today? Usually by now you would have said "Watch out for that-" or "Don't forget to-" before vanishing in a puff of smoke, with all the staying power of a virgin on prom night." Jonathan complained.
"No need to bring up your prom night's sexual failure, I have enough trouble keeping an eye on your pervertedness here without having to think about what you were like back home." Lily retched. Jonathan walked into that one. "The amount of crazy magical mumbo jumbo that goes into how I work would be lost on you if I tried to explain it all. For now, just imagine that I am like a rechargeable battery. The longer I have to charge, the longer I last."
That seemed to make sense. Jonathan made a mental note to contact Lily less frequently. He could get used to that.
"Anyway I actually have something rather important to tell you." Lily continued. Jonathan waited expectantly for her to suddenly disappear. Nope, still here. Good. "You are not the only beta tester that was transported over to Adearath from your world." Jonathan's eyes widened. The idea of not being in this alone made him feel relieved. He was a bit annoyed that she hadn't told him sooner, but that was par for the course with Lily.
"I am not the only one? That's great news! Who else was transported over? How do I find them? Did they get transported over at the same time?" Jonathan excitedly rushed through his questions.
"Woah, slow down there cowboy." Lily said with her best southern accent. "One at a time." Suddenly, Lily materialised a scroll into her hand and put on a pair of reading glasses. "As of right now there are 48 other beta testers in Adearath. No wait… scratch that, 47. One just got eaten by a- well it's not important."
"Eaten?" Jonathan winced.
"Yeah, that happens from time to time." Lily continued flippantly. "Each one of the beta testers went through their own character creation, just like you and signed the NDA, just like you. I am surprised you didn't guess that there were more of you out there. It seems pretty obvious" Lily said as she removed her glasses.
"So these other people from my world, they have an ability just like me?" Jonathan asked.
"No, most of them picked an ability more useful and way less perverted than you did." Lily said teasingly. "Meanwhile ol' Jonno had to get his hentai wish fulfilment rocks off. You literally skipped past super-strength, you know how useful super-strength is?"
"To be fair, I didn't know what I was signing up for." Jonathan defended.
"Tsk, tsk. This is why you always read the fine print."
"So how do I find the others?" If Jonathan could meet up with even one or two others from his world, they might stand a better chance at surviving in this one. "Can you tell me where they are?"
"Nope, sorry. Against the rules."
"Rules? What rules?" Jonathan demanded.
"The rules of the game! The NDA you signed, strictly prohibits us from sharing your location or identity to others." Lily sighed. "It also technically prohibits you from saying anything about this game back home, but I see that being a problem, it's good to cover all your bases."
"Wait, so this is all just a game?" Jonathan held out hope that he might be able to 'wake up' from this whole ordeal.
"Well, not just a game, no. Look, you have been taken from your game over on Earth and have been placed in this game: Adearath. Most of the same rules apply. You live, you die, and it is pretty sandbox-y. It was just that, Earth is a rather old game and is getting stale, so we are testing new ones." Lily stopped. "That is all I can really say about that. Hopefully I will be able to say more once the beta testing period is over."
"That is a lot to process." The whole thing was getting to be far too much for Jonathan to think about right now. Whilst he had managed to escape Sidim, there was no guarantee the Inquisition would be right on their tails, that is, if they were still alive. Whatever ended up happening in Sidim after Jonathan left caused the whole place to go up in flames. Hopefully, that dealt with Jonathan's Inquisition problem.
"Well, time's up. Talk soon, same bat-time, same bat-channel." She smirked with a knowing grin. "Mr. Wayne."
'Oh no, she knows about Gotham.' Jonathan felt his cheeks go bright red as Lily vanished.