1. Chapter One #2
Is that…? Knife asked. Is that the girl? The one you came back for?
Yeah…That’s her.
Morgan was curvy, the kind of girl who had a body that was always a bit on the thicker side. Her hair was a bright, coppery red, and she had pale skin even in the summer, with delicate freckles on her arms and cheeks.
Morgan had been his summertime sweetheart.
He grew up in Winbrook, a city a few hours south of the small town of Cornerstone.
His mom would drive him up to his Grandpa Sam’s place and leave him there for the months of July and August. Morgan was a year-round resident of Cornerstone who lived down the road from Grandpa Sam.
She was the girl he spent time with every summer since he was a kid.
Morgan had been his first girlfriend. His first love.
She’s also been his tether to Earth the entire time he was in Velasarin. She was the reason he had fought so hard to find a way back.
Morgan was the love of his life.
But Morgan was also his ex. Because he broke up with her after spending an entire summer as boyfriend and girlfriend at the age of eighteen.
Morgan had wanted to keep dating. She wanted to do the long-distance thing while she went to university in Toronto and he went to work at his new job at the auto factory in Winbrook.
She even suggested they get engaged, so they were promised to each other, forever.
She talked about getting married the following summer and having kids once she was done college.
It was a bit too much too fast for eighteen-year-old Cody.
He said no, to all of it. He went back to Winbrook and never spoke to her again.
Ten years in this world flew by, and their paths never crossed.
Cody had come up to the cottage to visit Grandpa Sam a few times during that decade, but only for a weekend here and there.
Morgan either avoided him or wasn’t in Cornerstone because she was in a summer session at university.
Cody tried looking her up on social media, but he could never find her.
She’s the real deal, Knife said. She fits your memories perfectly. The tits on this girl—
No, Cody said to Knife sternly. Not now.
Morgan’s steps slowed as she got closer, and Cody realized he was just standing there, watching her walk down the road.
“Hey…” Cody waved hesitantly.
Morgan slowly walked over to him, studying his face with her brows knit. “Cody? What are you doing here?”
“Moving…in.” Cody motioned to the cottage.
“Right. The cottage is yours now.” She took a step closer, looking at his head. “You’re um…bleeding. Are you okay?”
“Um…” Cody’s brain still felt sluggish. “Cow patty…rock-kun’d…what year is it? It’s 2026, right?”
“Did you hit your head?” Morgan asked, completely ignoring his question. But she sounded genuinely concerned, which was nice. She wasn’t brushing him off.
He smiled at her as her blue eyes roamed over his face, and then his body, as if assessing if he was okay.
She was being so nice it was making him feel…
everything. Happy that she was actually talking to him, thankful that she seemed to genuinely care about his wellbeing, and well, horny, because even in her simple work uniform she was gorgeous.
But then his world started spinning like he was on a carnival ride.
Morgan quickly stepped closer and caught him under the arms before he toppled over, and he gratefully leaned on her. She flinched, scrunching up her nose.
“You smell awful,” Morgan said, but she took most of his weight on her shorter frame anyway. “Let’s get you into the cottage.”
Morgan helped him inside and she directed him straight to the bathroom, where she sat him down on the closed lid of the toilet.
He slumped there, leaning back and enjoying the sensation of the cold porcelain of the tank through his sweaty T-shirt.
Morgan grabbed the glass next to the sink and filled it with water.
“Here.” She passed it to him, eyeing him wearily. Cody gulped it down, spilling most of it down his chin.
“Wow, that tastes amazing.” He passed the glass back to her. She filled it again and handed it over, and he gulped down more of the best tasting water he’d had in years. It was so fresh and cool and clean tasting.
Morgan waved her hand over her nose, as if his smell was even more offensive in the small bathroom. “Can you shower on your own? Or is that blood on your head? Cody, what happened to you?”
“It is a very long story.” He gave her a weak smile. “But what year is it? Did you answer that already?”
“It’s 2026…I think you may have hit your head.” She leaned over him, gently inspecting his bloody hair on the side of his head.
“It’s fine,” he said, but couldn’t help enjoying her closeness. He liked the way her fingers parted his hair, gently touching his scalp.
Morgan smelled like fresh laundry and something else sweet, like honey.
The smell alone was enough to flood his mind with memories of being close to this woman.
Kissing her and making love to her and holding her in his arms. His throat grew tight, feeling uncertain if he’d be able to make things right and have all of that again.
It was one thing to dream about it on lonely nights under the Velasarin stars, and to put in the work to get back here, but it was another thing entirely to be faced with the reality of being right in front of her again.
But the fact that she didn’t immediately brush him off when she saw him on the road gave him hope.
“There’s a lot of coagulated blood but weirdly no cut or anything…Is this not your blood?” she asked, but before he could answer, she continued: “And you’re acting weird. Not that I’ve seen you in forever, but…Seriously, did you hit your head? Should I take you to the hospital?”
“I’m fine,” Cody insisted. “But I could use a snack?”
“Shower first because you stink, and when you come out, I’ll have a snack ready for you.”
“But it’s 2026?” Cody said before she left the bathroom. “July? Like…I never left?”
“Yeah, it’s July 2026. Have a shower, Cody.”
Relieved that Morgan had confirmed it was the exact day he left, Cody found the strength to shower. He used Grandpa Sam’s manly pine-scented soap and shampoo, reveling in the warm water and indoor plumbing—things Velasarin did not have.
Once he had washed all the blood out of his hair, he was able to confirm that he hadn’t been injured.
He supposed that meant the fatal wound that had sent him to another world had been reversed upon his return.
He figured he’d never understand why the gods of realm-hopping felt it fit to leave him with a head covered in blood.
Celestial overseers of game worlds work in mysterious ways and all that.
As he soaped up and got clean, he realized the muscles he had built while fighting dungeon monsters had vanished.
He was back in his pre-Velasarin body. The original body wasn’t exactly lacking, but all his gains were gone.
Once again, he tried to bring up his stats screen, and nothing happened.
He supposed that meant all the XP he dumped into strength and dexterity were also gone, but he was still left confused by the remaining Stamina Bar and Inventory.
I don’t get it either, man, Knife said.
Once he was done showering, Cody put on his grandfather’s plaid robe. It had been hanging on the back of the bathroom door. Morgan was waiting for him in the kitchen. She frowned and handed him a granola bar.
“Sorry, I realized there’s no food in the cottage since it’s been empty for a few months,” she said. “I had this in my purse.”
“Thanks.” He tore into it, eating it in record time. When he checked his Stamina, it had risen to sixteen percent. That was still pretty awful, and he still felt like shit.
“So, do you have an explanation…?” Morgan asked.
“Not…not right now.” He put his hand on the wall to steady himself as he turned to walk down the hall to the master bedroom. He felt completely drained of energy, which made sense, since his Stamina was only at fourteen percent. “Need…sleep.”
He heard Morgan sigh, and then she was right there, wrapping her arm around him. She made sure he made it to the bedroom without falling. Cody fell into bed and everything went blissfully black.
When Cody woke up, he saw he had kicked off most of the covers, and the sun was shining in through the window that looked out onto the lake.
He had to pee like crazy. He checked his Stamina and was elated that it had gone back to a full one hundred percent.
He smiled to himself, realizing he felt much better.
There was no more headache or brain fog.