by Erik Rounds
The king nodded. “It might be best for her to return to the castle for the time being. Have her found and brought back.”
King Questgiver pulled up his menu. The clock read 99:11:10. The timer diminished slowly; it had gone down less than a minute in the last hour.
He looked out into the night sky, not knowing that the ancient god who lived there was staring back at him.
♦ ♦ ♦
On the 29th of Catuary, at precisely 2:25 p.m., an unprecedented phenomenon occurred. Throughout the whole of Questgivria, to the best of this newspaper’s knowledge, all citizens had their menu clocks replaced with a bizarre countdown. The countdown appears to be ticking backward from one hundred hours. It has been confirmed that the time is diminishing at irregular intervals. Much of the time it remains stationary, and at other times it is reduced by entire minutes. There is no obvious rhyme or reason as to why it is behaving in this strange manner.
Shortly after this phenomenon took place, Snickers the Bumble, who is advisor to high king Iolo Questgiver, made a statement in the town square of Brightwind City. According to Snickers, the countdown heralds the return of the eidolon known as Entropy. At the time of this printing, the crown has declined to comment. Expect late editions of this paper as this story develops.
—Special Edition of The Brightwind Tribune, Catuary 29th, 3205 3E
Chapter 9
Random Encounters
In order to understand ethereal mist, we first must define it. The mist can be best described as the omnipresent medium through which the divine beings known as aire regulate the balance of our world. Ethereal mist particles are shapeshifting organisms capable of assuming whatever form is required of them.
Ethereal mist can shape itself into both solid and gaseous forms. When a mob spawns, a sufficient quantity of mist draws together to form the material of the monster. During its transitory form between a gas and a solid, it appears as a purple mist-like cloud. When the monsters are killed or despawn, their solid form dissolves, dissipating into its original gaseous state.
Mist is also present in our own bodies. When a person levels up and assigns stat points, mist particles affect changes in the body, improving muscle tone, bone strength, and physical appearance as well as the brain’s level of neural activity.
A person with a high strength stat will have bones that are as hard as steel and muscles to match. Someone with a high intelligence score will be able to perform differential calculus in their head. Someone with a high charisma score will always know the right thing to say to sway others to their point of view. Etherians shape the people they are through the allocation of statistic points.
In addition to a person’s primary stats, there are also derived stats based on what sort of armor and equipment a person has equipped. A piece of armor with a high defense stat will cause mist to form a light, invisible barrier at the point of impact, reducing the amount of damage to match the calculated amount.
Ethereal mist is a necessary part of everyday life. In fact, it is safe to say that life could not exist without the presence of mist. Deep thought requires at least some points be allocated in intelligence. Without strength points, nothing would stop a person from being killed by the first wild animal they meet.
An existence without mist is absurd to even contemplate—the only way people can truly improve themselves is through stat allocation. The absurd concept that intelligent life could exist without mist should be relegated to the confines of speculative fiction and has no place in serious academic study.
—On the Behavior and Composition of Ethereal Mist by Jarl Lorren
As a hardcore couch potato, Tasha was thoroughly unaccustomed to doing so much walking. It was fortunate that her augmented agility and strength prevented her from getting easily worn out. Of course, it would have been nice if she had something to wear. Something other than bunny slippers and a bathrobe.
After walking for what must have been close to an hour, she could feel a change in the atmosphere around her. The air pressure seemed thicker, and there were multicolored swirls dancing about.
She stopped and turned to her new friend. “Mr. Ari, what’s going on? The air around me looks all funky.”
“Don’t worry, Tasha. It’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“Well, that’s good,” she said, relieved.
But Ari continued, “It’s only the mist trying to kill us.”
Tasha flung out her arms, exasperated. “And just how is that nothing to worry about? What is this ‘mist’ stuff, anyway?”
He pointed at one of the eddies that formed in the air. “Do they really not have mist where you come from? I suppose I can explain it to you. Mist is an ever-present miasma that stretches across all of Etheria. It’s in the very air we breathe. There are living intelligent beings who live within the mist.”
“You mean like that glove monster back at the temple or those boblins that tried to kill me?”
“No. Those are merely artificial constructs designed to fight us. They are mindless beings that can only follow preprogrammed attack patterns.”
“They’re artificial? Then who designed them?”
“They are designed by the aire, the beings I was talking about earlier. They exist as part of the mist without physical bodies that we are able to see.”
She looked around at the swirling patterns of color. Tiny drops of light floated in the air amongst the swirling clouds. “How many of them are there?”
“We don’t actually know. We only have information about the handful who choose to interact with us. There are two major types of aire that we are aware of. First there are the developers. Tasha, why don’t you open up your options menu, then scroll down and tap on ‘Credits’?”
Opening the menu, she did as he asked. Then she tapped on the “Credits” menu option. The first line read “Lead Producer,” followed by static. After that there was Associate Producer, Art Director, Concept Artist. Further down was Lead Programmer, Behavior Programmer, Lead Designer, Tech Artist, QA Lead,” and so forth. Each line was followed by a line of unreadable static.
“Those are the gods of Etheria,” he said. “They design the dungeons, program the monsters, set up quests, and maintain the economic balance.”
“Wait a minute,” Tasha said. “Let me get this straight… Are you telling me that the gods that you worship are game developers?”
“Well, not me personally, but Developerism is the main religion on Etheria. It’s understandable, I suppose, since they did literally create the world we live in.
“Like I said, there are two kinds of aire that we have knowledge of. The other kind are the godlike beings known as eidolons, and they only number in the dozens. They actually appear in physical form within our world, and each has a unique archetype. Before you ask, yes, some people do worship them.”
“Have you ever met an eidolon?” Tasha asked.
“I saw one right before I met you. Catalyst, the goddess of change, appears as a great thunderstorm. Immense thunderclouds appeared above the temple, and a series of powerful lightning strikes brought the temple into being.
“Besides her, there is Entropy, who appears in the night sky. He takes the form of a great serpent, but he is so far away from us that to the naked eye he seems to be nothing more than a bright spot in the sky.
“There is a trickster god who resides at Brightwind Keep with the high king. He’s taken the form of a clown. He’s one of the few eidolons who communicate with humans using the spoken word.”
The clouds of mist continued to swirl around them. “Do we need to worry about them?” she asked.
“The eidolons? They aren’t dangerous as long as you take great care in your dealings with them. The eidolons are governed by a set of rules, which keeps them from harming us, at least not without our consent. One of the things we know about the eidolons is that they can’t do anything to us without our permission. The eidolons are like players, and this world is their playground. They follo
w strict rules in order to keep the game fair. If an eidolon ever offers to make a deal with you, exercise great caution. There are many legends about eidolons who trick mortals into entering foolish agreements.”
Tasha’s mind went back to the floating sign that appeared at the crossroads. Could that have been Catalyst, the eidolon Ari had described?
Had she inadvertently entered into an agreement with one of these godlike beings? Her taking the path of “Adventure” might have constituted consent for an eidolon to bring her here. By bringing Tasha to Etheria, the eidolon had delivered on the promise of adventure.
“Thanks for the info,” she said, “So what about this mist? Why is it surrounding us now?”
“It’s surrounding us as a warning,” said Ari. “We’re about to be attacked by mobs.”
“What? Why didn’t you say so sooner?”
“They won’t attack until after we start moving. You should equip your weapon. We’re in a higher-level area, so let me do most of the fighting. Even if you don’t fight, you’ll still get a smaller portion of the gained XP.”
“Got it.”
Pan had already equipped her crossbow, fully cocked it, and loaded a bolt into the barrel.
After removing her gunblade from her inventory, Tasha proceeded onward, following Ari half a dozen paces behind. The mist continued to grow thicker as they advanced. After a few minutes, the mist coalesced into a fearsome beast and three larger-than-ordinary frogs. Her battle HUD appeared.
Grass Wumpus – Level 11
A fearsome smelly beast. If you see him, it’s already too late to get away.
ATK 21MATK 0
DEF 16MDEF 7
Giant Spotted Frog – Level 6
Used to be a giant spotted prince.
ATK 10MATK 4
DEF 6MDEF 4
1 Grass Wumpus and 3 Giant Spotted Frogs appear! Combat started.
Grass Wumpus attacks Tasha.
Giant Frog A attacks Tasha.
Giant Frog B attacks Tasha.
Giant Frog C attacks Tasha.
Tasha balked when she read the notification and looked up to see a giant beast and all three frogs bearing down on her.
What? Why is everything attacking me? That’s not fair!
Fortunately, Ari was able to pull the wumpus off her with a spin kick to its bark-like abdomen, and Pan took out one of the frogs with a well-placed headshot. Denver had tackled another of the frogs, distracting it and allowing Tasha to focus on the single remaining enemy.
Tasha slashed at one of the frogs, injuring but not killing it. She had mistimed the trigger action and failed to deal fire damage to it. The oversized amphibian jumped at her. She attempted to dodge, but was able to avoid its attack.
A situation like this called for a witty pun. “Prepare to croak!” She groaned inwardly at her horrible and not-at-all-witty pun. After two more strikes, she was able to finish it off.
After all three of the frogs were killed, Tasha, Pan, and Denver turned their attention to the battle between Ari and the wumpus. Ari hadn’t taken any damage, but the large furry creature was still at over twenty hearts.
After Pan finished reloading, she leveled her crossbow at the wumpus and fired a bolt that took out one of the creature’s eyes. It screamed in pain, losing two and a half hearts, but then it abruptly stopped paying attention to Ari and began rampaging toward the girl.
Reacting to some misguided instinct, Tasha placed herself between the enormous mob and the girl. It wasn’t a smart or strategic decision, but she did it nevertheless.
Tasha stabbed the wumpus in the belly, dealing three-fourth hearts of damage. Pulling the trigger caused her sword to ignite and vibrate, dealing an additional half heart of damage. The wumpus swung at her and would have killed her, but fortunately she was too close for its giant arms to have enough leverage to deal much damage.
Pan hit it with another headshot, and Ari hit it with a barrage of heavy punches and kicks. It was already down to seven hearts. Even so, it remained fixated on Tasha, ignoring everyone else’s attacks. It must have been because she was cute. That’s what Tasha told herself, at any rate.
It was doubtful that Tasha would be able to survive even a single hit from the massive creature. It moved faster than she did, and she was lucky that Ari and Pan were able to finish it off before it reached her.
Victory! All enemies have been vanquished.
+170 experience gained.
13 GP found.
As the victory music played, Ari helped her to her feet. “Tasha, I thought I said not to engage these enemies if you could avoid it. That monster is far too high level for you. You could have been killed.”
“I know,” Tasha said, “but it was attacking Pan, and I just sort of reacted.”
“And I appreciate that, but she’s twice your level. Pan knows how to take care of herself.”
As he said that, Tasha felt two small arms wrapping around her. Pan was giving her a hug, but she didn’t say anything. The hug only lasted a moment as she backed away and picked up a capsule that the monster dropped.
“She doesn’t normally like being touched,” said Ari. “I guess she likes you.”
“I guess so.”
Tasha looked at her gunblade and said to it, “And now I will give you a name. And I shall call you… Kermit the Frog Cleaver.”
Her traveling companions simply looked at her like she was some kind of idiot.
“What? You guys don’t name your weapons?”
Aralogos shook his head. “I don’t use weapons. I specialize in unarmed combat, and I’m not naming my fists. Because that would be weird.”
“C-can I name my crossbow Josephine?” Pan asked.
“Trust me,” Tasha said, “all the best weapons have names.”
The capsule contained some hand soap and three rolls of toilet paper. Well, at least that solved her bathroom related concerns for the immediate future. She added them to her inventory.
After the fight, they decided to break for lunch. Ari handed out some cheeseburgers in paper wrappers from his inventory along with some French fries and strawberry milkshakes. Tasha thought that this was odd. She didn’t recall passing a Wendy’s in their travels. The burgers and fries were still hot and delicious, as though they had been freshly made, and the milkshake was chilled. It appeared that items that were placed in a person’s inventory went into some kind of suspended animation.
“Mr. Ari, can I ask you something? It’s something that has been bothering me.”
He nodded. “You can ask me anything. It’s just Ari, by the way.”
“So… in this world, what happens when someone dies? I died once and was in a place of darkness for the longest time. Then I came back to life and I was… different somehow. I’m changed… more violent and more decisive than I used to be. What happened to me?”
He hesitated. “I’ll try my best to answer. When you die, your essence spends some time in Oblivion while a new body is prepared for you. The new body isn’t a copy of the old one, but it is very similar. Your spirit and memories are installed on the new brain, but since the new brain isn’t simply a copy of the old one, there will be some changes in how you think. Most people avoid death in order to preserve their personality and identity.”
“I see,” she said. “So I’m not the same person I was before I died.”
“No, you aren’t,” he said, “But it’s best not to overthink it. People constantly change over time. I’m not the same person I was when I woke up this morning. I’ve changed some since I met you. The only difference between that kind of change and resurrection is how abruptly the change happens.”
She thought about that. What constituted Tasha as a person? was it just her memories, or did her personality play into it?
“So… I’m a new person, similar but distinct from the Tasha who died.”
“That’s an enlightened viewpoint,” Ari said. “We Etherians are used to the concept of resurrection and the death of personality t
hat accompanies it.”
“Is there any way to bring someone back from death to their old body so they don’t lose their personality?”
Ari looked thoughtful. “There have always been rumors of such an ability, but I think that’s all they are, just rumors. To my knowledge, there are no healing spells or abilities that can bring people back from the dead.”
They cleaned up the picnic and continued on their journey. As they walked, Tasha repeatedly jumped into the air, invoking her Double Jump ability. After a few minutes of this, Ari asked, “Tasha, what are you doing? You look ridiculous.”
Tasha stopped jumping. “I’m trying to level up my Double Jump ability so I can keep it. My class gave me this ability, but I can only keep it if I level it up. It should just be another half hour or so.”
He shook his head. “Whatever you say.”
She did finally achieve level 1 in Double Jump and collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Ari handed her a canteen and helped her to her feet. They took a short break before continuing.
After about an hour of walking, she received a notification that they had entered a zone of level 5 to 8 mobs. The monsters seemed to be mainly boblins and imps. Between the four of them, the creatures that spawned did not present much of a challenge.
While walking, Tasha noticed a herd of elk grazing in the distance. They might have been deer or antelope. She hadn’t watched enough Animal Planet to be able to properly discern the difference.
“Those are elk right?” Tasha said. “Don’t they have to worry about being attacked by mobs?”
“N-no,” said Pan. “They c-can’t see monsters.”
Pan seemed to have opened up and was becoming more verbal around Tasha.
“Most people believe that wild animals don’t even see monsters,” said Ari. “Animals usually run from humans when we engage monsters, but that’s just because they see us swinging swords around and shooting fireballs and stuff.”
“What about Denver?” Tasha asked.