by Jakob Tanner
Brutal. The EXP loss wasn’t too bad for me this time as I had just leveled up and had barely progressed towards my next but it would be a brutal blow to anyone at higher levels. Also the stat debuffs and EXP gain penalties were a real pain. The after effects of death were really meant to sting. The worst part so far was still the purgatory I’d been sent to. The great traumatic sea of nothing.
How long had I been out for?
I had respawned in the Skren cavern. I retained all my equipment and weapons. My body was intact: no bruises or scars. I examined my right wrist where the thing had touched me. It had left a mark: a swirling black circle with jagged edges. I waited expectantly for a prompt but nothing appeared. Ominous. I’d have to research into what this symbol meant. But for now, I had to get out of here.
The cavern was quiet. Smelly too. Puddles of blood lingered on the gravel ground from our battle with the bandits. The great glow of the fire had dwindled in the cavern below. I fell into stealth mode and hurried over to the ramp on the edge of the encampment.
I gagged in horror.
Bodies everywhere. Guts and organs laid strewn all across the encampment. Around the fire, on the ramp, near the lumber mill. The mutant creature had massacred its own kind.
I turned around and ran out the cavern. I had to escape. I needed to find the nearest town. Warn them this creature was roaming the woods.
The cavern opened to a small encampment of tents. More dead Skren bodies laid strewn across the ground. I stepped over the corpses and headed towards the woods. The night sky was dark blue and clear. Stars stretched across the expanse of space like glittering dust. Two moons glowed down on the night, making it easy enough to see through the darkness of the trees.
I took a few steps into the forest when someone came crashing down from above. The force pinned me to the ground.
I elbowed whoever attacked me. I pushed off the ground and ran through the woods. I sprinted past thick ancient trees, hopping over the giant roots entangled in the forest floor.
Alive for ten minutes and already I’m running for my life again.
My heart pounded as I headed deeper into the shadowy woods. I had no idea where to go. I had to get away. My throat burned. I panted like a mad man. Don’t stop. The goal was to keep moving. I headed towards a group of trees when a shadowy figure stepped out in front of me and into the glimmer of moonlight.
I recognized the man.
It was Shade.
He didn’t recognize me though. He lifted his sword and pointed it at me.
“Shade—what’s going on?”
The thief shook its head and hissed at me. “Don’t play tricks with me foul creature. How do you know my name?”
“What do you mean? We fought a bunch of bandits—”
“You impersonate my fellow prisoner. I watched him die. Now you reincarnate yourself to appear as him like that bandit leader.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Shade—it’s me! We fought those bandits and then the leader, I don’t know what happened to him. He changed and I died.”
“And now you’re back and possessed by a demon!”
“No I came back Shade,” I said. “I came back to life. I can’t explain it properly but I’m different from you. I don’t come from here. Illyria isn’t my original world.”
Shade took a step back. His tail froze. He lowered his blade and sighed. “I guess the rumors are true then. The Chosen truly have returned.”
“The Chosen?”
Shade nodded and scratched his hair. His tail wagged and he looked up to the two moons in the sky, whispering a prayer.
“All of the great religions speak of The Chosen in one way or another. The Lirana call them the Akhen’a, which means something close to ‘those that return’. The Rorn have their own name for them and so do the Muumuu and Aeri. The Haeren believe themselves to be the true descendants of The Chosen. Stories of these beings have been around since forever. The main tale goes as follows: a long time ago before the Great Rupture, a group of beings saved Illyria from an evil destructive force. Afterwards they were never seen again. But, as the story goes, The Chosen were prophesied to return someday to rid Illyria of a new evil. The arrival of The Chosen isn’t a blessing but an omen for a new dangerous age.”
This was clever work on the devs part for incorporating players into the lore of the world. New approaching evil, however, did not sound as cool. Was the mutant Skren the new evil? Something told me it wasn’t. There was something very off about the mutant Skren. From the way its name appeared in the caption to the strange way it killed me. I hid my right arm from Shade’s view. I’d keep the mark to myself for now. At least until he grew comfortable with me again.
“What happened to you after I died?”
Shade shook his head. “I ran. I’m sorry for leaving you behind. But one look at that thing and I knew it would be a losing battle to fight it. I ran out here and tried to warn the Skren outpost guard but they wouldn’t listen to me. They wanted to fight so I ran from them. I hurried into the woods and climbed up a tree. I hid up above in the branches and listened to all those Skren scream.”
Shade wiped a tear from his eye.
“As much as I don’t care for the Skren—it was tough to listening to their slaughter. The creature came out here, massacred the outpost and then rushed into the forest. I haven’t heard or seen it since. I only came down when I finally spotted you running out of the cavern. I thought you were a lesser demon who might have answers for me. I’m sorry for threatening you.”
I shook my head and waved my arms. “No worries man.”
You have gained status with Shade. You have gone from “Stranger” to “Trusted Acquaintance."
“Listen to me, Clay. We need to get as far away from here as possible. I know someone at Claren’s Crossing who can stow us away on an airship. What do you think?”
Shade wanted to run away. It wouldn’t help our predicament. Plus that mutant thing was still out there. We needed to warn the nearby towns; make sure they were prepared for it.
“Where’s the nearest town? Let’s head there. We need to warn people about the mutant Skren.”
“And be put behind bars for having our heads possessed? Trust me, I’ve been in the village drunk tank before and it is not a pretty place.”
Appealing to Shade’s sense of moral responsibility was the wrong tactic. I switched gears. “Also—there are rewards for bringing valuable information to the right authorities.”
Shade’s ears perked up. “Reward you say?” His tail wagged and he scratched his chin. He was definitely imagining a mountain of gold coins to swim in. “Any thief can sell stolen goods, but real criminals trade in the most valuable of currencies: information.”
New Quest Alert: Mystery Creature in the Woods
Report to local authorities about the S^%AD”@@@@@ in the woods. Speak to a member of the Royal Knights of Laergard at their guild hall in Land’s Shield or any of their outposts (such as Arondale and Claren’s Crossing)
Quest Type: Unique
Quest Difficulty: Moderate
Reward: 100 EXP + More Information
Accept: Yes/No ?
I paused. The quest itself was unable to even name the creature we had fought. The game was malfunctioning. Or attempting to make a quest around an issue its algorithms didn’t fully understand. It was strange. Accepting the quest, however, was a good way of ensuring Shade stuck with me and led me to the nearest town. I agreed to the quest and the prompt disappeared.
“Where’s the closest town?”
“Arondale,” sung Shade, excitedly. “Where the mead is sweet and the Haeren girls are even sweeter. Shall I lead the way?”
I nodded my head and walked a few paces behind the rogue as he led me deeper into the dark woods.
11
We walked in silence. I suffered through the pain of the death’s punishment debuff while Shade focused on leading the way. Neither of us were in chatty moods. Not after the eveni
ng we’d had. Monsters peered out at us from the shadows. Their red eyes glowing through the darkness. They didn’t attack us though. Maybe they knew we weren’t in the mood for another fight.
Since accepting the quest, Shade and I were party members again. I took a moment to look over his stats. Like me he had leveled up while fighting the Skren.
Shade
Level 4
Race: Lirana
Class: Thief
HP: 137
MP: 11
ATKP: 21
MTKP: 3
TGH: 14
SPIRIT: 4
LUCK: 36
I closed Shade’s stat page and contemplated my own. I had nine unused attribute points. I was thankful I hadn’t lost them when I died. Games did that to you and it was terrible. You’d think with all the close calls that I would put points into Toughness but it didn’t feel right. If I were going to be a magic user, I would have to accept partying up with a tank. I put all nine points into Magic Attack Power. I pulled up my new stats to take a peek.
Clay Hopewell
Level: 4
Race: Aeri (Eldra)
Class: N/A
HP: 107
MP: 28
ATKP: 3
MTKP: 29
TGH: 4
SPIRIT: 20
LUCK: 3
I half tripped over a mangled root and closed my HUD. We traversed the woods for another few minutes. The trees cleared and we approached a dip in the land and discovered a large valley of farms. There were corn and wheat fields, pig stys and chicken coops, and even a small apple orchard. Small windmill houses dotted the farm landscape while a winding dirt road curved through the farms leading up to a bridge which crossed a rushing stream and revealed a small bustling city in the distance.
Smoke and eerie unnatural lights glowed from beyond the walls of the urban dwelling, a bright purple and green haze floating above in a hazy fog. Thick irrigation and sewage pipes stretched out from the walls like spider legs and ran through the valley towards a large river and lake. Where were we heading?
“Is this—”
“Yes it is,” said Shade, ripping off a batch of red berries from a nearby bush and tossing them into his mouth one by one. He spoke with his mouth full: “Arondale.”
We headed down the road between the farmer’s fields. It was late, so the roads were quiet. We passed by quaint houses with thatched roofs. Lit candles on homely kitchen tables glowed out through mullioned windows. We passed by stables and parked wagons. The smell of horse and pig manure felt oddly comforting. It reminded me of field trips to hokey historical farmhouses my elementary school took my class on. The smell was a faint reminder of the world from which I had come from. Which shouldn’t be a surprise. This whole reality was based on our world, shaped and distorted by the deranged programmers and developers over at TriCorp. Echoes of Earth in Illyria only made sense.
As we approached Arondale, the wall grew in size and stature, its shadow looming over us even from far away. To cross the stream towards the wall’s gate, we walked over a bridge made of bright white stone. Lamp posts stood along the bridge, bright with a purple luminescence.
“What’s powering these lamps?” I asked.
“You’re a weird one, you know,” said Shade. “I know the Aeri generally don't care for manatech but c’mon, you know how mana crystals work. Tiny shards of purified mana, lasts ages, and can keep streets lit at night. Same principle for airships though you need more than a tiny shard for them. Expensive stuff, mana crystals. I know a guy who says he knows a guy who can get us to a mine full of purified mana. A few crystal shards would be enough to make you rich for life but it’s for that reason I don’t go near the stuff. The product is too hot, understand. People kill for purified mana. Start wars over it. It wouldn’t surprise me if this feud between Laergard and Arethkar came down to nothing but mana crystals. Gosh—now you have me ranting about politics. Seriously, hurry up, I need a drink.”
The purple lantern glowed softly in the night. Purified mana, huh? Interesting. The light was reminiscent of the energy ball I had summoned. Though they were different in color. My ball was more of a golden yellow, whereas the lamp light was violet. I hurried behind Shade contemplating everything he had said. I had totally forgotten about the Laergard and Arethkar feud until now. Judging from my most recent quest prompt (“report to the Royal Knights of Laergard”) I now knew which continent I was on. I hoped I would have my class sorted out before any giant world changing events happened.
Two guards stood by the entrance to Arondale. They wore bronze metal breast plates and shoulder pads. They had dark green capes and they each held a bayonet-like weapon in their hands. Laergardian soldiers.
The gate between them was no ordinary medieval portcullis but rather a glowing transparent force field. The gate was a thin waterfall of pink energy. The murky contours of a town appeared behind it. It was like staring at a puddle, wincing to make out what lay beneath its surface.
“The gates to the city are closed for the night,” said one guard as we approached.
Shade smiled to the guards in reply. “We have urgent business in the city. Perhaps you could open the gate for us.”
The guard tilted his head like he was seriously considering it. Shade’s luck points and Lirana positive-race bonuses were coming into effect here. But they weren’t enough.
“Can’t do it,” said the guard. “There’s been rumors of goblin attacks and the city is on high alert.”
“Oh c’mon. There’s always rumors of goblin attacks. I’ll tell you what, how does a bit of coin affect the gate situation?” Shade pulled out a gold coin and flicked it towards the guard.
The soldier grinned and snatched the coin in the air. He hollered up to the sentry point above us. “Open the gate.”
“That was easy enough,” I whispered to my companion.
“Says you,” said Shade. “You owe me a drink. Make it two.”
The gate powered down and the force field flickered and then disappeared completely. As we stepped through the gate, a prompt popped up in my HUD:
You have discovered Arondale! +100 EXP!
Oh sweet. This was to encourage players to travel and explore the world. Another pop-up soon followed.
You’ve discovered your first waypoint. You can fast travel to any place you’ve already discovered by opening your world map and selecting the specific waypoint you’d wish to travel to. Price for waypoint depends on how far you’re travelling. You can only use waypoints on the continent you’re currently in. You can’t travel to a waypoint while in combat or in a dungeon.
This would be super handy later on. In-game teleportation was an exciting prospect. For now, though, I closed the prompts and took in a proper sight of Arondale. Crooked wooden buildings leaned over cobblestoned streets. Purple lamp posts lined the walkways. A large blue crystal dome poked out from the red slate roofs near the center of the town. To the east was large cylindrical dome made of glass stained a murky green. All sorts of lights and smoke emanated from the building. Appearing from the other side of it was a giant floating airship with large sails and balloon roof. Radiant pink dust blew out the back of it as it shot forth into the night sky, slowly becoming nothing but a speck in the distance.
“The last airbus to the capital for the night,” said Shade, watching the ship disappear into the clouds.
As I followed Shade through the labyrinthine streets, I sensed Arondale was a renaissance town in the midst of a magitech industrial revolution. The streets were smoggy and full of soot. Despite the glowing lampposts, the streets were quiet. We passed pubs and inns full of people drinking and singing. Rorn engineers chugged back pitchers of ale, Muumuu singers performed ballads, Haeren couples danced, and Lirana merchants gambled their earnings away. The fantasy races in this world had really integrated with each other—or maybe only in more urban dwellings? I did notice a peculiar lack of Aeri though. A large Rorn knight walked by and knocked his elbow into my chest.
I gasped in pain as my HP bar fell down by 3%. What the hell? My race penalty in action. I really hadn’t thought about how shitty these negative alignments were going to be. Stuff like this rarely happened to me back on Earth. This must be what it was like to be a minority in our world. Random penalties becoming obstacles to you just trying to get by.
Shade put his hand on my shoulder. “Maybe keep your head down when passing any Rorn. Especially big ones with massive axes.”
The cat rogue continued down the street, his tail wagging behind him. He eventually turned left and we headed through the murky streets in the direction of the airship station. We entered a quiet piazza with a small fountain and through the clearing of the roofs, a windmill stood on a hill beyond the city’s western walls. A large red balloon ship laid stationary beside it.
“Who lives over there?”
Shade groaned. “Trust me you don’t want to know. Theobold Longstaff. He’s the city’s local mage. He spends all day surrounded by books because he is beyond boring. Don’t worry about him. Hurry.”
The wings of the windmill spun gently in the breeze. The magic user lived there, huh? Perfect. I’d go there tomorrow. He’d be the right person to speak to about unlocking my class.
I hurried to catch up with Shade. He had turned into an even smoggier alley than the one we’d just been in. We were in the engineer and blacksmithing district. Shade hurried down another narrow dark alley. No lamps lined the passageway and the only other thing passing through was a scraggly street rat. A normal rat, thankfully.
We went down the alley and Shade stopped in front of a black door with chipped paint and no doorknob. He knocked on the wood.