Chapter Two: Rituals and Granny's

"So this is the virtual world huh."

John stood in the middle of a dirt road. Surrounding him were a few thatch-roofed huts and a wooden cabin off at the end of the road. There was a slight breeze, enough to lift his shirt and tickle his back like it was blowing up a pillowcase. Off in the distance, John could see large swaths of land drenched in golden stalks, swaying in a manner reminiscent of deep ocean waves and tall forest canopies behind those fields. The sky was a turquoise blue blotched out occasionally by white clouds so bright they looked like cotton balls.

"Well, this is fairly picturesque." Despite the beautiful surroundings and cool summer morning air, John had a plan that he intended to carry out. He had played plenty of virtual games before, granted they weren't as lifelike as this one, and the sense of touch he experienced wasn't so real, but he had nevertheless become familiar with basic MMORPG concepts, so he decided after he had gotten over the death of his headset that he would ask the starting villagers for quests as every gamer ought to.

"Oh, there's one." John scurried over to a young man sitting on a stool behind one of the huts. He seemed to be milking a shaggy goat, though to be honest, it could have passed off as some type of furry alien in John's opinion. "Um good morning, do you need anything?"

The young man stopped milking the goat, looked up at him, turned his head around to check if he was speaking to anyone else, and then replied. "Watcha on about now?"

John was slightly confused, maybe he hadn't spoken loud enough. "I said, do you need anything?!"

The young man, dressed in worn cloth and leather boots, remained on his stool, but now looked at John as if he were some strange creature. "What in the seven hells are you on about? I don't know ya, I've never seen ya before in me life, why would I need ya for somethin'? Now go on about your day hooligan, I'm tryna milk ma goat!"

John quickly apologized and began walking away from the villager, as he made his way to another hut he could hear the young man whispering about no good strangers from other villages and people unappreciative of goat milk.

"Hmm, maybe I should try to find the village chief?" John turned away from the huts and walked towards the log cabin at the end of the road. He knocked on the door for a few seconds and waited.

The door suddenly opened to a rather short thin man with a big nose, a long white beard and eyes that matched the shade of his tan leathery skin so well that he appeared to not have any. The old man squinted at him. "Who are ya? I've never seen ya before."

John scratched his head. "Um, I'm a player?"

The old man cocked his head and pulled on his beard until his eyes suddenly lit up. "Ah! Ya mean yer the plower Frund Village was sendin' over ere, well come on in, I've got yer plow. Now I know yer a youngin' and not used to plowin' but don't worry, we'll fix ya right up as fast as a goat can chew through hay."

"Uh"

The old man stumbled through the doorway but looked back when John wasn't following him. "What are ya daft boy, hurry up we don't ave all day do we. We lost our oxen last winter so we need all the hands we can get."

Shrugging his shoulders John guessed that perhaps this may be some entry point into a larger quest chain and so he picked up a plow and followed the village chief out to an empty field that had yet to be sown.

…

"You know… I don't think…. There's… a quest chain!" John had been tilling row after row of rock-hard soil for hours and hadn't seen the chief since he had brought him here. The chief left him a small cloth of stale bread and a wooden cup of ale and took off after mentioning not to come back till sundown. John stopped tilling, setting the plow down on the turned soil, he sat and watched as midday turned to dusk and the sky slowly took on a red hue near the horizon. He was drenched in sweat, he could smell the earthy undertones of the soil and his eyes stung from the sweat falling off his brow. He couldn't remember the last time he had done so much manual labor. "Seriously what kind of game is this, I hopped in the pod, closed my eyes, and now here I am. I've always been into hardcore games but this is just a fucking Dark souls infused farming simulator.

"Uhh, my whole body aches, shit. What time is it anyway?" Flicking his wrist up, John was relieved that the console command for the pod was the same as his headset. He hadn't actually looked into how to operate anything in his pod beforehand, he had been depressed about the loss of his pride and joy and then overcome with determination to start the new game that suddenly barged into his life. He now saw how fucking dumb he was.

"1 p.m.! What the hell! How has only one hour passed since I got in the pod? Time dilation? But that's really only a thing in anime and manga. I think I'm starting to see why that NervaCorp agent said that getting this pod for free was a miracle."

…

John had eventually gone back to the village and met with the chief who let him sleep in a small pigsty. He wasn't too happy about the arrangements but reasoned that this was better than sleeping outside. He wasn't too sure yet but John had a strange suspicion that this game wasn't as innocent as it appeared to be and would rather not have to find out the hard way that he could feel extreme pain via some wandering wolves or whatnot. His muscles ached just like they would in real life, so he didn't want to take his chances with other sensations.

The next morning John got up before dawn, damn roosters, got his plow and food from the village chief, and began walking towards his field. The day before the village had seemed like a ghost town but was now teeming with life. About twenty or thirty villagers were either making their way out to the fields or sending someone off who was going to one, there was the incessant banging of an anvil and older women sang as they Hung clothes up on lines to dry. "I guess I just arrived too late yesterday, these guys are fucking crazy waking up this early every day. Actually, why am I still playing this? I'm literally going off to a field to plow for hours on end with only a piece of bread and some ale to show for it, oh yeah, and some pig cuddle buddies. I haven't so much as seen a coin or heard any type of notification bell. What the hell is going on?"

John just as he had the day before, went to his field and tilled for hours on end. He complained incessantly about the work but actually came to enjoy it a bit, it felt good to get out and smell fresh air, to do some hard work, and feel spent before bed.

John continued this routine, and every day when he woke up, he would check his console clock only to find that one hour in the real world had passed. Something else had been bothering him though, the last few nights he felt as though someone was watching him, and the previous night he could've sworn that he had seen red eyes peering out of the darkness after he began to return to the village.

John scratched his head. "I don't know if I'm going crazy or all those hours of playing post-apocalyptic shooters are paying off, warning me of something." John sighed as he got up for another day of work. "Whatever, guess I'll just go talk to the chief again and see what happens."

Quickly making his way to the village chief's hut he knocked on the door and waited. Normally the village chief would answer right away and send him off to the fields with his plow but this time he stood there for several minutes. Just as John was about to knock again, the door opened.

"Ah, so this is the newcomer hmm." John's eyebrows rose, proper English? I haven't heard that in days!

"An old woman, hunched over a cane with long spindly arms and a crooked nose peered out from her shawl with interest. "Yes, I see what you were saying Arnold, he'll do just fine." Then the old woman shuffled out of the doorway and down the dirt path towards the exit of the village.

"Alright boy, today yer gonna be helpin' that fine ole lady. She's the village healer and needs a bit of help pickin' some herbs. Off ya trot ma boy."

"Ah sure, but what should I call her chief?"

"Her names Esmerelda lad, but everyone ere' just calls her granny." The chief nodded his head towards the dirt road. "Hurry now, don't wanta make her wait, she'll rip ya a new one."

John shrugged his shoulders and jogged off towards the old granny with the cane.

…

"So I'm supposed to look for plants like these?" After John had caught up to Granny, the two had made their way through the fields into the forest where they happened upon a clearing with a small cottage sat squat near a little pond. The forest was cooler than the village and darker, besides the clearing where the sun's rays blazed down on the cottage unfiltered. The trees protected the forest floor from the sun that had begun to get warmer over the past few days which John was immensely grateful for. A nice cool breeze drifted between the tree trunks, catching leaves that fell from the canopy up into small green trains drifting about the forest floor. As John had walked through the forest he could smell a rich earthy scent and the sweet tang of flowers that remained unseen. But now he was in Granny's cottage trying to memorize the herbs she wanted to be picked by the end of the day.

"Hmm, yes that one." Granny moved about her small workshop. Half her home seemed to fit the traditional home elements, a fireplace, a bed, kitchen, etc… The other half was her workspace. It was filled to the brim with glass bottles and cases filled with colored liquids and crushed leaves and roots. She also had, in the center of the room, a large workbench where John assumed, she cut her herbs and mixed various concoctions for the villagers. "Yes, also this one. This one. And That one. Those will do dear. Do remember to pull the entire plants, roots and all, try to get several of each but don't worry too much if you don't, you can always come back tomorrow."

"Sure, no problem, I'll be off then."

Granny looked up and smiled at John as he left the cottage and didn't stop smiling until he had completely disappeared into the forest.

…

John had spent several hours scouring the forest floor for the herbs Granny wanted, he didn't really mind the work much, in his opinion it was much better than tilling in the hot sun all day, besides Granny had given him a sack to carry the herbs with that she said he could keep after he was done. "I haven't gotten any quests so far so I'll take whatever I can fuckin get at this point. Maybe I should pray to Hina-san for rent money again? John had just decided to head back towards the cottage, despite it not being too late yet, the forest blocked out much of the sun and so John couldn't see very well now and knew that in a few minutes he wouldn't be able to tell left from right.

CRACK!

John tensed, slowly swiveling his head he looked at all of his surroundings but couldn't make out much, the shadows he had been thankful for earlier were quickly becoming a hassle he wasn't sure he could afford at the moment.

CRACK!

"Oh, what the fuck!" Spinning John still couldn't see anything and so making a quick decision, he decided to bolt in a random direction to escape whatever was making the noise.

Crack, Crack, CRACK!

He began to hear more and more noise and then the noises began to grow louder. John pushed harder, beginning to sprint through the underbrush but caught a root with his ankle and fell to the floor hitting his head against a rock.

"Uhhh." John moaned as his vision swam, he couldn't feel his ankle, only a radiating heat down his calf, his breathing was labored, and the dark made it seem as though he were gazing into the abyss. Then a dark shadowy figure appeared above him.

"Granny?"

WACK!

John fell unconscious.

…

"Uhhh, where am I and why am I upside down? What the fuckkkk." John groaned. His vision was still somewhat blurry and his body was swaying back and forth upside down. Looking at his legs he could see that his ankles were tied up by a rope, which was attached to a large wooden beam near the ceiling of wherever he was. Below him was a large septagram, a seven-pointed star, painted in what seemed to be, but he sincerely hoped was not, blood. "Hey, didn't that goat milking guy from earlier say something about seven hells? OH SHIT! Please don't be related, I'll pray to Hina-san, Inko-chan, any fucking chan or san there is, just don't let me get gutted like a fucking mackerel!"

John began swaying back and forth through the air, trying to somehow magically escape his bonds through sheer force of will.

"It's no use dear, my younger sisters have very strong hands, any knot they tie will not be coming undone unless they wish it."

English, proper fucking English. "I should've known it was you Granny! Only an imperialist can catch a fellow imperialist!"

John looked out at the room and could see granny standing before the septagram, staring at him in confusion. Besides her, there were six other black-robed figures, which John assumed were her sisters.

"Dear, I don't quite understand what you mean by imperialist, but I assure you we are very different, you and I. You see, I am only an herbalist during the day, but by night, I worship the greatest god there is, Septum, the seven-pointed God, ruler of all seven hells!"

"Uh-huh, but what's that got to do with me?"

"Does a pig really need to know why it goes to the slaughter?" Granny smiled maniacally, her grin showing several of her missing or black rotted teeth.

"Well when said pig can speak and is fucking intelligent, yes I think maybe the pig should be informed as to why it is being sacrificed!" John began to sway around again, annoying Granny.

"Would you stop squirming already!" Granny tapped her cane against the ground after mumbling some incoherent words. Suddenly John's body grew stiff against his will and his body stopped in between swings.

"Uh, what the fuck, magic? M.A.G.I.C. There's fucking magic?! I've been tilling this whole time, what the hell game, give me a quest you bastards!

Granny suddenly seemed to age, her face gaining a few wrinkles. She sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you if only to keep you busy while my sisters prepare for the ritual. As I'm sure you have just seen, every time I use magic, I spend my own life force. Most magi need not use their own life force but as a consequence, their magic is not nearly as powerful. We Sisters of Septum choose to use our life-force in order to accomplish more powerful magic so, in order to not die prematurely, we sacrifice young men with a strong life-force and enough life experience in order to rejuvenate our bodies."

"So you sacrifice young people to recharge your batteries?"

Granny cocked her head. "Batteries? What are those?"

"Oh never mind. I think I get it though, but you said experience right?"

"Ah yes, experience is very important to the ritual. If we didn't need that, we could sacrifice babies in order to receive more life-force, they have more years left after all, but after much trial and error, we have found that young able-bodied men such as yourself are the optimal targets for our ritual."

"Well if experience really is that important, then sorry to tell you, but I'm only about a week old."

Granny scoffed. "Really, you've got to be joking, what do you take me as, a foul? Your obviously not a newborn."

John's eyes grew wider, staring straight at granny. "No seriously, I only came to this world a few days ago, I've got no experience juice in the tank. Can't you test something like this?"

One of the sisters standing behind Granny, preparing the ritual spoke up. "Esmerelda, you don't need to listen to this fool, these are just the wails of cattle before slaughter."

"Silence! I will choose for myself, I don't need you to tell me what to think Genevieve!"

The sister, Genevieve, bowed her head. "Yes, I'm sorry head sister."

Granny looked back up at John. "Hmm, okay I'll listen if only to make sure there is no ritual backlash. Hariette, get me my silver needle!"

"Yes head sister."

"Another of the robed sisters quickly picked up an instrument from a table near the back wall and scurried towards Granny, handing her the needle.

"Alright, boy, I'll test it, but if your lying, I'll make sure you feel the worst pain imaginable before your sacrifice."

"Sounds good to me."

Granny scoffed. Quickly pricking my neck she moved to the back of the room and cast another spell, aging her once again. John watched and could see her eyes widen in disbelief. She cast the spell again, aged again, and, John assumed, got the same results.

Granny looked up at John. "But how?"

"Well, I'm from somewhere else, and many others like me are coming too, we come from another world and are blessed by the Gods with power beyond your comprehension."

Granny smirked. "Really? Power beyond my comprehension?"

The irony was not lost on John.

"Okay not at this very moment, I'm still less than a week old, you have to give it some time, but the fact that I'm only a week old with a grown body should be somewhat mystical to you right?"

Granny began nodding her head. "Yes this is true, I have no choice but to believe some of what you say. We cannot use you in our ritual, but we must still kill you in order to keep you from blabbering to the villagers!"

Granny nodded towards one of her junior sisters. The sister began walking towards John, a rather pointy-looking knife in tow.

"No, wait!"

"For what boy, you've already said everything you can say."

"What if I get your sacrifices for you! Yeah, you don't have to risk getting caught by the villagers and I'm assuming you really don't want to be discovered by even more important people like nobles. I can get your sacrifices for you, all I ask is that you spare my life, and maybe help me out once in a while, deal?"

"Granny squinted at John. "Hmm, alright, but I'm going to perform a contract spell on you, if you break the contract, your life will be snuffed out and fed to Septum in the seven hells."

"Ahh, okay."

Granny muttered a few more incomprehensible words, and a thin yellow glow began to envelop her cane, once enough light gathered she spoke into the yellow orb which then shot out into John's chest. John's chest began to ache with a searing heat.

"Do you swear to keep my coven a secret from the villagers, nobles, or anyone else who might wish us harm?"

John gritted his teeth. "I do."

"Do you swear, as long as we wish, that you will serve us up ritual sacrifices once a month whilst you live within this village?"

"I swear."

"Then by the name of Septum, I seal this contract and curse you to death should you ever break it!"

…

That night John couldn't sleep at all, he had been right, this world was not as it seemed at all.