Still Lost

He was lost, confused, scared, and worried, but completely dumbfounded he was not, at least not till he started exploring the castle attached to the courtyard. At first, it was all the sun and moons depicted all over the castle that were strange, then the room with a huge pipe organ. The random rooms were full of nothing; whatever was there had long rotted away, but then why were their rooms full of books in perfect condition? Unfortunately, whatever the books were written in, it was not a language he could read, let alone have ever seen before.

Then there was the garden in the center of the somewhat square castle. Two very old apple trees and one pear tree stood defiant to the very place they stood healthy and strong as what seemed to be a long-forgotten place lost in time, and if the deep cuts in the floor and walls seemed to be gone blowin' away in some long-forgotten battle if that meant anything, Alice couldn't tell at least with the hunger setting in his vision fading in and out not knowing if the trees were even there. He walked over to the closer apple tree and reached up, his hand wrapping around the apple. He stood there, his brain working in slow motion.

"What... why are... whatever?" Alice stammered out, picking the apple as he did.

Alice ate that apple, but another and another followed, until, like a switch, his vision came back and he could finally think.

*Okay, I've got food and water, but is this place even safe to be in? Or am I risking going out into that forest at night? Sure, the moon is letting me see, but banking on the moon alone is dumb, plus those dam timber wolves or what is left might be waiting for me. The fog might be gone, but could it come back? Bunkering up in this castle might not be a bad idea. All I need to find are the throne room and bed chambers. Maybe what was keeping the books from rotting was used on the king's bedchambers or something.*

Alice roamed the halls, slowly learning the layout, room by room. Once he found the huge dining room, only a few chairs were left around a table that could hold fifty. Oddly enough, two doors, one on the back left with a sun on it and one on the right with a moon, stood there, asking to be opened.

"I like the moon like any true Frank Sinatra fan!"

Alice walked over to the moon door and pushed down on the handle. It didn't budge. Thinking the wooden door was just swollen, he gave it a good kick. The door flew open, the hinges breaking off the wall. Alice chuckled at how much stronger he really was now.

"Having forty-two strength makes me feel like a tank; what would one hundred be like?"

A small smile crossed Alice's face as he set a new goal. Strength one hundred would be something crazy to see, and at the moment, Alice needed to keep his sense of being alone controlled and pushed to the back of his mind for as long as possible. Going insane would only get him killed. It only helped him. Being alone after so many years and fighting to survive, trying day by day to make it big in the music industry, was almost as hard as clearing a house with no night vision just for some fucker to be hiding behind a turned-over laundry basket. Next thing you know, you've got 5.45x39 in your left thigh. Jokes on him: 7.62x39 to the head, even with some cheap Russian so-called helmet armor, is what we call a kill shot, but that's neither here nor there.

The room was dark on account of the shades still being in good condition, walking over the little bit of light coming from the gap between each shade guiding him. Alice spread open the shades, and with a gasp, he saw everything from the carpet to the long empty tea cup sitting on the nightstand next to what looked like a clean bed, the pillows still fluffy, maybe even a little too fluffy, but to Alice, anything beat sleeping on a rock or, god forbid, another tree.

Yawning Alice laid down, falling to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Alice woke to birds chirping and, strangely enough, a new quest.

NEW QUEST
"Demonic castle"
Goals: Kill all demons in the castle before guests arrive.
Rewards: 10000xp
Difficulty: Hard (you are under-leveled; level 60 is recommended for the quest).
Time limit: unknown (before "guests" arrive)

"What fucking guests and what fucking demons!"

Alice shot out of bed, throwing the crazy comfortable blanket off him, and looked around.

"There's nothing in my new room trying to eat me, at least."

Alice then focused on his map, and, with a look of horror, he saw twelve reddish-purple dots.

*I'm only level 26; sure, I got one skill point from yesterday's Daily Quest and put the three ability points into a pure rage, but I'm still not a match for a level 60 quest.*

"Shit, I really don't have a choice, do I?" Alice stood up and took a deep breath.

*I need to take one on at a time, and the weakest ones first. Maybe I can get a few levels out of that, then go for the strongest one last, like I'm doing some kind of boss battle.*

Alice peeked his head out of the bedroom to see a floating eye-like demon but before he could read its name and rank.

NOTIFICATION
Daily quest has started.
Time Left: 19 hours
Complete:

100/0 push-ups
100/0 sit-ups
100/0 pull-ups
100/0 jumping jacks
10/0 mile run

Rewards:

1 skill point
3 ability points
1 FULL RECOVERY

Fail to complete, and the "player" will receive a penalty!

"FUCK GET AWAY, I CANNOT SEE!" Alice waved his hand in anger.

Alice realized too late what he just did, and the next thing he knew, the level 60 demon was on top of him and ready to kill.