The Realm of Rachana

"This is a really old story from years ago that I just never deleted from my computer. I was recently asked which of my characters was the best at video games, which sparked me working on this again.

Also; first person present tense! It's so difficult to get that narrative going, but I really think it's the best option for this particular story." -Casey

My fingers dash across the keyboard purely on muscle memory because my eyes and my focus are both entirely on my computer screen. My character dashes through the thick forest with Gwen running beside him. The effects in this game are really quite remarkable. Gwen’s long flowing blond hair and silken green dress billow behind her very realistically as she pulls ahead of me. She must be wearing the magic boots.

A river comes into view just ahead of us. That must be where she was leading us. After all, we are being chased by a fire wizard. Speaking of which, I wonder if he’s gaining on us. I scroll my point of view around and see that the wizard is only a few feet away. In fact, he’s throwing another barrage of fire balls at us. I call out to Gwen through my headset as I dodge the attack. I try to turn back around to watch where I’m going, but now the camera is spinning and I’ve lost all sense of direction.

I swivel the camera back around and catch sight of the river again. Gwen is running that way. I dive into the water just behind her with a loud splash and the muffled sound of running water filling my ears.

My head pops back up to the surface and I spot Gwen standing on the shore hiding from the wizard behind a tree. She spots me bobbing in the water and takes time to roll her eyes at me.

“Any bright ideas, sir?” Gwen asked sarcastically.

“How was I supposed to know that he was a fire wizard?” I demanded. Those kinds of stats weren’t available to the general public after all.

The wizard reaches the river and starts throwing more fireballs at me. I duck beneath the water again and the fire hits harmlessly above me. I resurface, wishing that I had become a water wizard so that I could breathe underwater.

Apparently the wizard didn’t see Gwen over to his left because he walked right past her. The sleeves of his long red robe are singed as he forms even larger fire balls above his hands.

I type the action into my keyboard five times before I notice the “Cannot Draw Sword” warning in the corner of the screen. Why can’t I draw it? What am I doing wrong?

“Do you really think that water will protect you from a level 38 wizard, dude?” he taunts through my headset. I have to learn how to change that proximity setting.

“Seems to be working so far, hotshot,” I come back. Weak…

The fire above the wizard’s hands turns blue and completely engulfs his arms. “Noob!” he shouts. “Watch how fast your health meter goes down when I boil the river away!”

Story and Characters (C) SuperheroGeek13