Heart Events with the Forbidden Farmer Next Door

Prologue

Welcome to Gem Ridge.

“Lo, traveler.”

I’ve read those words a hundred times, but I have never—once—heard them spoken so clearly. Despite my countless attempts to vividly dream of my beloved cozy farming sim, Vale of Gems, my brain has remained an uncooperative creature heckishly bent on my destruction.

Groggy, I squint up at much too unpixelated eyes.

The strikingly attractive man smiles as light generates a halo around his long blond hair. “Good morning, sunshine.”

It is entirely possible I blink one eye fully before I blink the other.

The man—who looks deceptively similar to Lord Lazul from my game in a hyper-realistic fan art kinda way—chuckles.

“Can you stand?” He peers sidelong out of the glade I seem to be sprawled in and sets a hand at his chin.

“I’m uncertain whether I can carry you to Peri by myself, but I’m hesitant to leave you alone and fetch her. ”

Peri.

I know that name.

I know that name just as well as I know these words.

When this man snaps his fingers, my lips move soundlessly alongside his as he says, “I know. Even if you can’t stand, I’ll feel better leaving you alone momentarily if you remember your name.”

This is when the text box for character creation appears.

Except, this time, it doesn’t.

Mouth dry, head aching, I fight through the vertigo and say the name I gave the character in my favorite Vale of Gems playthrough, “Citrus.”

This Lord Lazul lookalike does not sparkle and say Ah, what a beautiful name! like he’s supposed to when you’re done creating your character and proceed to the next cutscene. Instead, he tilts his head, causing the waterfall of his blond hair to slip across his smooth cheek. “Citrine?”

Unstable, I sit up, feel the presence of a light backpack strapped to me, and murmur, “No. Citrus. Like…the fruits?”

“How unusual.” He clears his throat. “Or…unique. I meant to say unique.”

Um. Yeah. I bet you did, you lousy politician.

His smile blinds me, and I discover I’m wearing glasses when I bump into round frames after lifting a hand to shield my eyes.

I do normally wear glasses, of course—horrible, black, blocky things that are heavy and were cheap at Walmart for a lass without health insurance—but these aren’t my glasses.

They must be the cute, round ones I gave to Citrus when I made her many moons ago.

Lazul returns to his script, laying a hand against his elegant suit coat. “I am Lazul, lord and benevolent overseer of Gem Ridge. Do you remember what brings you this way?”

I remember the in-game options afforded me at this juncture.

It’s a little fuzzy… or Fate seemed to be calling me here.

I say, “Not…really. I thought I was going to work.”

Walking to work. In hundred degree weather.

Because my car is in the shop.

Again.

The only reason I even bother trucking my way through the horrid Florida summer to my somehow more horrid Florida fast food job is because I require access to electricity.

So I can play Vale of Gems.

Calling Vale of Gems my “sole reason to live” at this point sounds dramatic, but drama never made anything less true.

“Work?” Lazul asks, a brow raised.

“Work. At Hardee’s. I make burgers.” And season them with my tears because it is oh-so-terribly-hot in the kitchen, the outdoors offer no relief, and my boss said if he finds me sobbing in the freezer one more time, I’m fired.

So.

Yeah.

Hopefully no one with low-sodium needs orders while I’m on grill.

Being outstandingly dehydrated on the regular probably means my tears are nothing but salt crystals tumbling down my cheeks.

Consternation—an emotion I’m certain I’ve never seen reflected in Lazul’s in-game blue eyes—crosses his face.

“Hard…E’s? Are you certain you’re in the right place?

” Sorrow overtakes his expression. “I’ve yet to assess much of the flood’s impact on the surrounding communities since the waters have only just receded well enough for us to begin reconstruction.

Are you perhaps from Amecrest? I would have thought the city on the hill to be spared from the worst of the storm, but if you were traveling…

” He glances toward my backpack straps. “…it’s not impossible that you would have washed up here. ”

My gaze skims beyond this glade, toward a world torn apart.

Divots where water must have rushed like rivers cut into the roll of hills ahead.

Trees sliced into splinters lay askew, some uprooted fully and keeled on their sides.

It’s hauntingly akin to a Vale of Gems forage area, where the player can collect resources.

That is…it would be familiar if WonderGlass—the single-person developer behind the game—had decided not to reuse a single sprite.

Nothing repeats. Everything is clear and… devastating.

But, you know what?

It’s leaps and bounds better than a Hardee’s kitchen above the grill during a Florida summer.

“This is Gem Ridge?” I ask.

Lazul beams. “Yes! The lovely jewel of…” His attention lands on the same felled trees, brush, and debris that I’m looking at. “Well…what once was the lovely jewel of the Obsidian Kingdom. We are on the coattails of a natural disaster.”

“The storm,” I whisper.

Now that my head is clearing, it’s unmistakable.

I have finally obtained my Vale of Gems dream!

Will to live renewed, I sit tight, awaiting the lines I have burned into the back of my brain…the lines that lead me into the early game.

Lazul frees a breath, seeming defeated, as he unwittingly obliges.

“Yes. The storm. I’m glad you remember it.

The Ridge could use a lot of help after this past week.

The accommodations I have available aren’t…

in the best conditions…but if you’re willing to contribute to the community, I’m sure we can work something out.

We could really use another able body right now. ”

My heart pounds.

Gentle, Lazul extends his hand to me. “Who knows? Maybe once we’ve recovered from the wreckage, you’ll even grow to like it here.”

As my pale, lightly freckled hand comes into view to take his, I know one thing’s for sure.

I’m gonna dread waking up.