Tales of the Gemsmith - Chapter 01: A LitRPG Adventure Series (Aldaron Worlds) by Jared Mandani & LitRPG Freaks

Author:Jared Mandani & LitRPG Freaks [Mandani, Jared]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-02-23T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18: The Real World, with a Thump

“Do I have to do this?” Dean said with all the enthusiasm of a man who knew that what came next was going to be difficult, and quite possibly painful.

“Yes, Dean, you really do have to do this,” Marcy said with a frown. She stood on the other end of the walking frame, with his medical-grade walking stick.

Dean Winters was in physical therapy, or at the end of his physical therapy session more accurately, and now Marcy wanted him to walk down the walking frame before he could get his stick, and then go outside.

“No pain, no gain, Dean!” the nurse said cheerfully.

“Sadist,” he muttered, heaving a heavy sigh. The walking frame was little more than a frozen floor escalator, or a stilled running machine – a long bed of slightly spongy vinyl with two handle rails on either side, about six meters long. Just looking at it made Dean feel helpless.

It’s not even the width of a road – why does it fill me with dread? he thought, although he already knew the answer: because it would hurt.

“And you want me to walk down this without using my stick or the rails?” Dean said uncertainly. Just like a normal person could do, a sarcastic corner of his mind told him.

“No stick,” the nurse agreed. “And you can only grab onto the rails if you think you’re gonna fall, got it? Grab them to stop yourself getting another injury, but nothing else.” Her tone was stern, and Dean thought he could see a fragment of Mirelle the powerful elvish ranger in there somewhere.

Not that I’ve seen one iota of her in the game, he reminded himself miserably. I should apologize. I was stupid, lashing out at her like that.

But Marcy – or Mirelle – hadn’t appeared at his side in any of his stories or training sessions in Aldaron. She hadn’t even sent him a message through the game network, and in real life she kept her conversation strictly to the everyday rehabilitation of his battered and bruised body. Dean wondered if she was regretting introducing him to the game.

“Come on Dean, just six meters and you get your stick back. Think of it like XP,” she said, swishing his stick in the air like it was a sword.

Yeah, XP. Dean grimaced. “About that, actually…”

“Ah!” A warning point with the cane. “Walk and talk. No avoiding.”

“I wasn’t avoiding it…” Dean started to say and stopped, suddenly aware he sounded like a child. Okay then, maybe I was. Step, he commanded himself, moving with his good foot first and instantly feeling that tight, red ache in his shattered knee behind him.

He winced, moving the other foot to lurch to his side. Argh! He bit his lips, but didn’t say anything.

“So far, so good, huh?” Marcy beamed at him.

“Yeah.” Dean however, did not sound as though he agreed. At all.

Step he thought again, moving out with his good foot and feeling his back leg wobble under the strain.

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