Elemental Soul (Book 1 of 'A Fantasy in Time')

Chapter 2: The Perfect Date. Or Else. . . .

Chapter 2: The Perfect Date.  Or Else. . . .

“Wow!  What a day.”  I sighed as I went over all the happenings of a full day in game.  Hmm, assuming I get to sleep for 9 hour in-game time during the night, that leaves me with 3 hours to get things done at home in real life.   Getting up to stretch I made my way to the kitchen to heat up some instant food.  I know, extravagant right?  That’s the life of a bachelor during summer break.  Soon after a quick meal I headed off to the gym to renew my membership and spent an hour of intense swimming.

Too soon the hour was up and I headed back home.  With half an hour to spare I checked up online to see what was being said about this new Virtual Reality.  The news reports said that close to 100,000 people had already received messages saying that they had won, but currently there was no data on how many had accepted the prize.  I wondered if I would be seeing anyone come to my city any time soon.  With no further thought on that, I closed down my computer and lay down in my capsule.
                                                                                    *                         *                              *

*Bang!*Bang!*Bang!* The first thing to greet me was a sound that was too much like someone banging metal pots together.  “What the Hell?!” *Slam!*   “Ugh!”  I opened my eyes to see myself laying on the ground with my overturned cot laying on top of me.  Victoria had apparently set aside her cooking pans to then toss me out of my bed when she realized I was finally awake.

“Good morning!  You should have been up over an hour ago!”  Her fierce glare and now back in hand cooking pans kept me from speaking a few choice words that Really wanted to be spoken.  I moved out of my parent’s house to live on my own so that I could Avoid this kind of situation!  

However, I needed her knowledge and skills in order to make my way in this world, so getting angry was not the answer.  Taking a deep breath to calm my emotions, I looked up with what I hoped to be a penitent stare and apologized.  “I am sorry mam, I was taking care of some things back in my own world.  I will do better to be back in time in the future.”

“See that you do.”  With a twitch of her lips in what I could have sworn to be a smile and seeming somewhat mollified she then left me alone in the room.  Damn that woman for having fun at my expense!  After setting everything right by putting the cot back right side up and reorganizing the bedding, I made my way into her kitchen.

“Your breakfast was about to get cold, but it should still be warm enough to enjoy.  You’ll need the energy today to get everything done.  So hop to it.”  She said this while busying herself about the kitchen cleaning up the various utensils she used for cooking.  Eating the warmish eggs and what looked like thick pieces of bacon along with some biscuits (all of which was tasty), I wasted no time as I polished off the meal and made myself presentable enough to head out into the city.

“Thank you for breakfast!”  I called out as I hurried on my way to escape anything that she might have for me to do, in addition to finding Monroe.  Pulling out my map I looked at all the different places available in a city this large.  Unfortunately the map only showed buildings and streets but didn’t label anything.  I could see where the trading district was as I had become somewhat familiar with it just yesterday, but as for the rest of the city, I was completely ignorant as to where everything was.  Not wanting to bother Victoria further I headed to the nearby craftsman district.
“Blades, get your blades here, you know you’ll need them when going out into the wild.”  A thickly muscled man with a shaggy beard called out to the passing crowd from his shop next to his forge.  “You son!  What kind of blades would you be interested in?”  Realizing he was looking directly at me I figured he was as good a person as any to ask about where Monroe might be.