368 days after a wizard cursed the REALM…
Current Version:
“…and at the banquet, thrown in my honor by the way, the QUEEN gave me a score of 2!”
“I know,” said Belinda. “I was there. It was yesterday.”
“2 is the lowest score anyone’s ever gotten,” Wordler 367 went on. “That means it’s the best.”
“I know what it means.”
“So now I get to be on the Advisory Council with Wordler 227 and all the rest of them. I’m an elite!”
“You don’t have to GLOAT,” Belinda told her friend.
“Yes, that was my word,” 367 confirmed. “But I’m not gloating. I’m letting you know that if you get a 2 for yourself, we can be on the Advisory Council together!”
Belinda rolled her eyes. “As if. Eve—”
“Call me Elite Wordler 367,” said her friend.
“Eve,” said Belinda, “in case you’ve never noticed, I’m not as smart as you are. Or as brave. Or as strong. I’m bad at everything I try. I don’t even know why the QUEEN picked me.”
“She may have had some advice from her council,” said 367, looking innocently up at the sky.
“You? You did this?”
“As an elite questor, I have the QUEEN’s ear.”
“Eve, how could you? I’m going to fail the quest and let everyone down!”
“Nah! You’ll do great. I’ve got a feeling about it, and I’m an elite now so my feelings are always right.”
Belinda tried her best to think positive thoughts. She gave herself little mental pep-talks all through the ceremony where she was renamed Wordler 368. She set out with the best of intentions. But as she feared, things went badly from the start and just kept getting worse.
At the end of the day, with the sun low on the horizon, 368 found herself waist-deep in quicksand, surrounded by a cloud of angry wasps, while a hungry tiger paced in a circle around her. “This is bad. This is terrible. This is horrendous. This is—”
The Word of Power came to her at the last possible moment.
“That was very close,” she laughed. “Now I just have to get back this Word to Wordler Village.”
“Wordler Village? That's not far. I can give you a ride,” said the tiger. The wasps scattered at the sound of its growl, and 368 found that the quicksand wasn’t nearly quick or sandy enough to hold her down.
“You can talk?” 368 asked the tiger.
It shrugged its shoulders. “I understand your surprise. Most tigers can’t speak human languages, just like most tigers aren’t vegetarians. But lucky for you, I’m really bad at being a tiger.”
Web3 Draft:
Revision Notes:
To be added.
