The Fae World: Kristen: Waking Up (part 2)

[k_a_webb]

Part 1

Kristen raised an eyebrow. “How long is a long time?” she asked, even though she wasn’t sure she wanted an answer to the question. “I need to be prepared for the future, whatever that may bring.”

Eventually, after staring at her for what felt like hours, he nodded. “There’s no way for me to know how long it’s been on Earth,” he explained, “but here it’s just over six years and I’ve met people who were here for longer than that. My guide had been here for ten years when he met me.”

Breathing a sigh, Kristen tried not to let the wave of emotions she was feeling get the better of her. “Okay…” She swallowed. “Has anyone from Earth died?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of someone from Earth dying here but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, so I’m not going to lie to you to make you feel better about being here.”

“Right now I don’t think anything will make me feel better about being here.” Breathing deeply again, trying to stay calm, she attempted to work out what she wanted to ask her guide. “Who are you?”

“I’m known as Thane here. It was the name I chose when I got here, the name I was using for my character in the game, and it felt right, so I don’t use my old name.” Thane smiled at her. “If you wanted you could do the same.”

Shaking her head, Kristin tried to summon her own smile. “I’m happy being me,” she replied. “I’m Kristen.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Kristen.”

“I wish I could say the same about you, Thane.”

“Trust me, I felt exactly the same way when I first got here, but it does get easier. With time.”

“How like the game is this world?”

“That’s a difficult question to answer.” Thane bit his lip, staring into the distance. “Everyone has a class, like in the game, but there are more. I’m a rogue, which was unexpected to say the least. I have some magical power, I’ve learnt how to do everything a rogue is meant to do, and I’m happy enough. Sometimes I wish I had a choice in what I was, because I would have been a paladin or something like it.”

“Maybe that’s why you weren’t given a choice.” This time when Kristen smiled it was almost real. “It would be too easy to choose to be the wrong class and be unable to cope with it. By being given one it’s more likely to be the right one.”

Thane nodded. “I know. I’ve seen it happen before with the races who were born here.” He bit his lip. “It’s got to the point where I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t. If I didn’t occasionally meet new arrivals like you I would be certain that Earth was just a dream and I’d been here all my life.”

“What class do you think I am?”

Tilting his head to the side Thane studied her. “From the clothing my guess would be a druid.” He looked around. “It’s likely that we’ll find a bag or something around to give us a better idea.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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>> “Everyone has a class, like in the game, but there are more. I’m a rogue, which was unexpected to say the least. I have some magical power, I’ve learnt how to do everything a rogue is meant to do, and I’m happy enough. Sometimes I wish I had a choice in what I was, because I would have been a paladin or something like it.” <<

That's fascinating! So it's like ... the magic reads a person, and assigns them a role they fit best. I wonder how that affects the society, with the classes so crisply defined. And would it be easier or harder to adjust, depending on whether someone came from a class-light society like America, moderate like England, or heavy like India?