by Tao Wong
Rachel’s eyes narrow and Richard just snorts before letting the topic go.
“Jason,” I nod to the man as I sit, legs propped up on a table as I read through my books. Jason frowns, glancing at the book briefly before taking a seat next to me. Mikito in the corner continues to sleep, Richard and Rachel having gone out to mingle with the others for the moment. My turn to keep an eye on sleeping beauty.
“John, about the cave,” Jason starts and I sigh, waving the window away. I’m almost ready to pull Ali back but I’m tempted to let him stew there for a little longer. It’s been nice and quiet without him.
“Not going to happen kid,” I point a finger at him and continue. “Your mum would kill me.”
Jason sighs and moves a hand to push non-existent glasses up his face before faltering, “She won’t let me do anything without her around. If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t understand half this shit.”
I nod in agreement at his words, letting the kid rant for a moment. He has a point, his knowledge of games and game mechanics certainly saved their asses early on.
Slumping in his chair, Jason looks me over again before asking. “I’ve been meaning to ask – what kind of build are you going for?”
“Huh?” I stare at the boy, waggling my finger for him to elaborate. Like talking to Ali.
“Build – you know, what are you trying to achieve? At first, I thought it was an Assassin-Rogue kind of thing, especially after our walk in the forest. But Rachel tells me you do a lot of fighting up front and actually get kicked around a lot and you’ve got that healing spell, so I’m thinking Paladin-Tank now. On the other hand, she says you’ve been studying magic too,” Jason says.
“Ah…” I tilt my head, looking him over once more, noting the still scrawny arms, the lack of a chest and the way he pulls himself in slightly. I recall the pitiful health score his Status bar had. Jason looks confused when I rub my forehead, “Let me guess. You’re min-maxing your character right, putting all your points into Intelligence for a bigger mana pool, some points into Willpower to control spells more finely and some Perception to help cast them?”
Jason nods at that, puffing up proudly and I reach out and smack him on the top of his head very, very lightly. He staggers from the blow and I make a note to reduce strength even further the next time I feel the urge to do that, nostrils flaring as I cut him off by asking, “How much health did I take off you?”
“What?”
“Health, how much?”
“Ummm… 5 points?” Jason continues to rub his head, frowning.
“I was trying really hard not to hurt you and that’s how much I did. And that’s a significant portion for you,” I point over to Mikito, continuing “The creature that attacked us? The Shifter did more damage in one hit than you have life. You’d be so much red paste if you were in the cave with us.”
Jason nods at the words, face set in stubborn refusal to get my point so far.
“What happens when you die in your games?” When silence greets my question, I prod him again with the same question.
“You restart,” Jason finally relents and answers me.
“Yeah, no restart here. You can’t min-max your stats in real life, Jason, not if you want to survive. There’s no second chance here. If you want my guess why your mum isn’t letting you out, it’s because she knows you haven’t gotten that into your head yet. Put your points into Constitution, build up some Strength and Agility. Hell, buy it from the Shop if you have to, but right now, you’re a stiff breeze away from dying.”
“What about you then? You throw yourself into crazy, stupid situations all the time,” Jason retorts.
“Yeah, I do. We do,” I correct myself after a moment. “Crazy and stupid is the kind of world we live in these days. You think I want to be out there? I just don’t have a choice. If I stop, if I slow down, people die. If we don’t keep pushing back the monsters, they keep building up and then we’ll have a monster horde.
I draw a deep breath, pushing against the anger that rushes in. Damn kid. “Anyway, I didn’t say don’t do it, just don’t treat it like a game. This world needs people like you, Jason, more than ever.”
“So, go around white knighting because that’s the right thing to do?” Jason shoots back, a teenagers cynicism in his voice.
“No. Just the correct thing,” I say.
My reply just confuses the kid, which it should. How do you explain that’s there’s a difference between right and correct – that we make so many distinctions between good and bad, right and wrong but fail to see that some things just are. When the world just is, the choice stops being about right or wrong but about deciding to do the correct thing or not in a situation. It’s a hard concept to grasp, and it’s not as I was ever good at it myself. I still struggle daily with the fact that I’m not hiding away at home but I’ve tried that and it never ends well.
Still, confusing him is enough to make Jason stop pushing back for a moment and I can see him slowly processing everything else we’ve spoken about. I can’t help but wonder if I’ve done any good here though. Jason acted like this was a game because it was easier than the reality of our situation – a coping mechanism that helped him and his mum and Carcross survive. Taking it away might do more harm than good. I watch him sit in silence for a while and I push my doubts away, holding to the only truth that I know. What is, is.
Our quiet contemplation is disturbed by groaning from the corner as Mikito finally wakes. I am on my feet in a second and crossing over with a glass of water as I help her up. When her eyes finally open, she looks around panickily for her weapon before relaxing at seeing it propped next to her. She reaches for the weapon first, putting it next to her before taking the proffered water.
“Welcome back Mikito,” I say. Behind, Jason takes it as his cue to leave.
Mikito drinks the water in silence, head buried under the falls of her hair. After the spiders, she just cut it short to get it out of the way but there’s still enough to hide her. She stays in that position, head bent and slowly my ears pick up the sound of snuffling and I realise she’s crying.
“Mikito?” I ask, moving to reach out to her and stopping, recalling she does not touch.
“So close,” she sobs again and pulls her knees up to her body, naginata cradled between her body as the sobs grow in intensity. I say nothing, just lending my support as she works through it. When she is ready, she sits up though she refuses to look at me. “Thank you.”
“No need,” I reply and then, deciding there is nothing to lose I ask, “Do you want to talk about it?”
She shakes her head and I sigh, leaning back on my heels to watch the tiny woman.
“I should be dead. Ken, he died for me. I asked to come. Here. We wanted a baby, a good luck baby. Good fortune. When System came, I got class. He gave up his for this.” I look to the hand that clutches the naginata in a death grip and stay silent, letting her continue, “Ken knew my sofu, grandfather, trained me. Said I had to survive.
“I couldn’t save him.”
The last words are stark, a condemnation. I exhale, her raw grief a reminder of my own, “None of us can.”
She looks up at me then, just a brief glance and then she looks down once more. “Failures. All of us.”
I nod and we fall into silence for a time, caught up in our own dark thoughts. After a time, Mikito speaks softly, “Not easy. Hurts all the time. But, I do better.”
I acknowledge her words with a smile and then stand, offering her a hand up which she hesitantly takes. “Come on, let’s get some food into you. All that healing must have left you famished.”
Mikito tilts her head at the last word and I quickly explain it as we leave to hunt down some food. And dessert. Seems today was the day of hard talks.
Hours later, when I’m alone I stand on one unguarded corner of the wall.
Do You Wish to Resummon Your Spirit Companion
Cost: 500 Mana
(Y/N)
I se
lect the Yes mentally and I feel my mana rush out of me in a wave, sending shivers through my body as the mana collects to my left. It spins in a circle, glowing brighter and brighter before Ali returns, tapping his foot.
“You couldn’t have waited another hour? I was just about done with America’s Top Model Season 5!” Ali grumbles, shaking his head.
“Fine, one second.” I mentally select the Companion tab again, noting the option to banish him. It stays open for a brief second before it closes as Ali waves his hand up and down frantically.
“No, no, no. It’s fine, it’s fine. Tara Banks will always be there,” Ali comments quickly and spins around me, eyes unfocusing for a moment. “You guys all made it eh?”
“Yeah, we did,” I add. “Thanks. I take it your little spell was too much for you eh?”
Ali grimaces and nods. “So, what are we going to do about the cave? Time to call it a day?”
“No. We’ll be going back. I have a plan,” I reply and watch as Ali dramatically shivers as I say those words. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up asshole. I missed you too.
“Come on, we’ve got a lot talk about,” I gesture him over while the rest of my companions’ sleep. Truth be told, I have less of a plan and more of a concept and I’ll need a lot more information to make this work. That starts with Ali.
Chapter 18
The next morning, the team is up by seven. I guess sleep wasn’t easy either, no matter how comfortable the bed is. I’d spent the night walking the perimeter before crashing, listening to the guards talk and chatting with Ali about what I intended to do. I didn’t pick up much useful in terms of gossip, just low-level dissatisfaction with the ban on alcohol and the fast depleting stocks of cigarettes. If I was inclined to play trader or smuggler, carrying both on my regular runs would make me a decent profit. Instead, I just make note to look into the cost of a pack of cigarettes in the store. You never know when good bribe material might come in handy.
“Elder,” I tilt my head to the old woman as she comes up to see us off. As late as I went to bed, she had been up later, catching up with paperwork and the toll is showing. Enhanced constitution or not, the woman needs rest. Unfortunately, it’s not my place to say, “Need anything?”
She shakes her head, a tired smile crossing her face. “No, just seeing you off. You children be careful alright? It’d be lonely without you.”
I smile politely, knowing what she means. The Circle is too busy grinding, venturing into more and more dangerous zones on the days they aren’t helping out in Whitehorse. The Brotherhood has swung by Carcross once and promptly never returned. From what I hear, Ms. Badger took them to task for their lack of community spirit, which has resulted in them not returning. Guess teenagers given a sense of power and freedom aren’t particularly fond of being told off like children. Then again, they joined the Whitehorse Council and are finally helping out with leveling the population, so maybe some good came of it. Either case, we’re the only high-powered group that regularly makes trips in. Jim and his people swing by when they can, but they rarely have time with the food situation being what it is.
Leaving Carcross this time takes longer than normal. First, we have to pry the kids - and the not-so-suffering teenagers tasked with watching them - off the backs of the puppies which always takes a while. Then we have to deal with the verbal fight that breaks out among the passengers who now want to move to Whitehorse over who gets to go first. Initially, when the supply runs started, we had a few decide they’d prefer living in the big city. Then, we had a small flow of people going the other way, when word got out that Carcross was an actual safe zone in its entirety. Now, word of the raid bosses has spread and people are running again, looking for safety in numbers.
Once all that is settled, we are finally ready to roll out, though more than one passenger complains about being stuffed amongst the puppies. Mikito just glares at them till they shut up as she’s relegated to riding behind me today. Finally organised, we roll out.
Being overburdened with hanger-ons' means we have to move slower which means more chance encounters in the wilderness. Twice, we have to stop to deal with monsters that get too close for comfort. The first time, we have to keep Richard and company back since our opponents throw acid from their bodies. This time, Mikito even looks at me for acknowledgement before running into the middle of the pack while I work my rifle from a ditch in the side of the road. Mikito quite literally dances through the acid splashes, blade held together as she blurs at a dead sprint that’d make Usain Bolt look like a toddler. Once again, I can’t help but wish for access to my Class Skills. The good news is that the creatures are squishy and when Mikito gets in-between them, the fight is all but over. She’s moving too fast for me to take a shot without risk of hitting her, so I just sit back and leave her to it.
Our second run in is with a Troll and this time round, we’re told to back off as Richard stalks out with the puppies in tow. What happens next is what I assume bear baiting looked like, with the occasional addition of a shotgun blast to the face. The fight is brutal with the puppies ripping chunks off the troll faster than it can heal. Richard just smiles grimly as the puppies’ work. I guess we all have some unresolved issues.
Our passengers mostly cower and hide though a few of the braver souls keep watch with their guns. I listen to one throw up and another sniff at the brutality, muttering about us being savages. That one makes me want to walk over and bitch-slap the stupid blonde but I shove the anger down again.
As we close in on Whitehorse, Ali floats back to me and waggles his fingers in his sign for ‘slow-down’. I do so, wondering what he picked up.
“So, John. You like Roxley right?” I nod, “And Xev’s pretty cool too even if it’s a bit creepy right?” I nod again. It because Xev’s reproduction method really, really doesn’t come even close to the human dynamics.
“Ali….” I begin out loud so Mikito can listen in to both sides of this conversation.
“Right, so there’s a group of non-human sentients at the gate in Whitehorse. They’re here on invitation, so don’t shoot them,” Ali finishes and watches me for my reaction. I slow down even more, knowing Richard will follow suit once he catches up. Shit, non-human guests?
“They’re here to settle under the invitation that Roxley set-up in the System,” Ali explains and grimaces. “I’m guessing it’s not going over well with your people since there’s quite a crowd of humans waiting for them.”
“Shit,” I frown and pull to a stop, well out of sight of the gate. I’m trying to work out my feelings about this, mostly, it’s variations of ‘oh shit’.
When the others catch up, I have Ali quickly explain the situation.
“What is he doing inviting people into our city?” Richard throws his hands up and, around us, the dogs bristle in reaction to his emotions.
“Pretty sure he thinks it’s his city,” I point out and shrug under Richard’s glare. Just telling the truth there.
“Fuck. And you’re okay with this,” Richard stares at me and at his question, both Rachel and Mikito turn their gazes on me. Mikito has gotten off the bike and is facing away from us watching the treeline but at those words turns back to us.
“I sort-of figured we’d have alien guests sooner or later, though I’ll admit, this is a bit earlier than I expected,” Ever since Ali explained the reason for our world, it made sense that we’d get visitors. I just didn’t really expect them till after the integration was complete, but I guess some people are more willing to jump than others.
Richard growls and points to Mikito, asking next; “And you?”
She considers, eyes tightening and then looking at her polearm before down again. At last, she looks at me and then back to Richard before she speaks, “I promised better. Lead, I follow.”
“If you’re going to ask me next, I don’t care. Not as if anyone ever asks when they settle here anyway,” Rachel speaks up, arms crossed over body.
Richard opens his mouth and then shuts it
, looking at Rachel then the rest of us. Max moves over to Richard and he begins to stroke the dog on the head, the action visibly calming him down. “I’m not happy about this,” he states.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure most people aren’t. Not as if we have a choice though,” I point out and he nods at that. “So, overall we’re good with this. Question is, what do we want to do? We can head around, maybe skip around…”
“At this rate, it looks like someone might get shot,” Ali says.
“What happens then?” I say.
“Then bad things happen. They are significantly higher level than the guards and if they get pushed…” Ali adds.
“Fuck…” I shake my head and look at the others. “Do we step in?”
Mikito doesn’t answer, already having turned away to watch the treeline. Rachel just nods, and Richard grimaces a lot before giving a curt nod. Yeah, he’s not happy. I roll my neck, trying to get the tension out that has suddenly appeared.
“Let’s do this,” I grumble and start the bike. I blink and Mikito’s on the bike next to me, straddling again and I shake my head. Damn but that woman can move. “Ali, you have anything useful to add?”
“Always. So, first thing – they’re called Yerick. Or that’s the closest you’ll get anyway. They were integrated into the System 2,000 years ago and their planet is nearly on the opposite side of the Council’s lands. Unfortunately, they weren’t very advanced when they were integrated like you humans, so they’ve mostly been relegated to being the lowest class of workers – Adventurers,” Ali begins talking, looking ahead to where we are and information only he can see. “Looks like they’re going to be a mix though, crafters and Adventurers with some kids.”
I nod, taking the curves down the hill as we begin to approach the city proper. I tap my helmet, letting it retract and feeling the wind on my hair. Damn but I need a haircut.