Summoned! To Grimworld

Chapter 10: It's a Shame that Princesses Don't Play Online Games

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 On waking, Sina felt aches in her legs, a powerful thirst, and a strong craving for fish. Yet she was not at all miserable, far from it. Despite all the stiffness and the difficulties of life on Grimworld she felt happy. This was a place to live in the moment. Her Instagram account, so long the focus of her thoughts, no longer seemed to have any importance whatsoever. Her old concern with her digital community was meaningless; she remembered it only as if a dream.

Back on Earth, Sina had a fifteen-minute morning yoga routine to energize herself for the day ahead and that was a feature of her old life that was transferable to this one. She worked her way through the poses, trying to focus on her breathing and not the massive 'to do' list that the system menus of planet Grimworld were stacking up: cat-cow; downward dog; pigeon; chaturanga; upward dog; downward dog again; and crescent.

Only after a wash, a cold drink, and a breakfast of nuts and berries did Sina turn her attention to the planet's menus. First, she must check on the Otaxel. Good, it was still on the map and not too far away in the direction of the sea. Although there were dozens of construction options for Sina to look at, she still felt her priority was to try to complete the pet quest. So picking up her spear and the bag of jerky, she set off towards the green dot on her map.

Less than an hour's jog and she reached the point at which the creature should have been visible. But where was it? Oh! A silent, sudden motion and the Otaxel stood up from where it had been lying among some wild grains growing just below the top of a dune.

Close up the beast was huge; powerful muscles shaped the curves of its shoulders and hips. The monster's teeth were large and sharp, easily capable of savaging her. Terrified, despite her earlier faith in the quest, Sina ran back several steps while the Otaxel watched her with unblinking black eyes. It gave a snort and sniffed the wind.

'Here, Otso, here!' Feeling around in her bag, Sina pulled out a strip of jerky and waved it before her. The name Otso had just issued from her without any kind of planning; the Otaxel was as big as a bear so it was a good Finnish word for him. Should she throw the meat? But then it would land on the sand and while that probably didn't matter to the Otaxel – Otso – throwing food in the dirt didn't seem right. Instead, she placed the strip of meat on a clump of grass nearby and backed off, then backed off some more. Eventually, the beast sauntered forward, explored the jerky with its strange mouth-tendrils, and with a quick darting motion, ate it.

'Good boy Otso!' cried Sina, delighted the monster was willing to eat her offering. 'Want another?' And she laid down another strip of jerky to the same effect. The third time, however, the Otaxel didn't even look at the meat. Instead, it raised its head high and then bounded away northwards, leaving Sina feeling disappointed. Checking the menu, her quest was still active, but nothing had changed. Should she follow the creature? That seemed pointless. Feeling a breeze from the sea that was almost cold for once, Sina decided to go back to the base and work on her various crafting projects. Perhaps in the evening she would go look for Otso again, in the hope he was hungry enough to take her food once more.

After her run back to the base, Sina sat down and studied her system menus carefully. There were dozens of items of furniture that were now available options for her to build. Perhaps she should build a chair? Or at least a stool? That would be a real comfort. A bed was an attractive build too. Yet the information on the higher level menu for the base implied there were more basic tasks that she should make her priority. A cascade of greyed out options were available as submenus under each of Residences, Industrial Buildings, Energy Sources and Agricultural Lands. It seemed significant, for example, that defensive features became available once she had built a residence: stockades, trenches, towers, spike traps...