For several years I played the MMORPG Storm and Tempest. It was a place where players could travel through the torn worlds of The Rift. Giant floating islands filled with dungeons and bosses, divided by massive storms of arcane energies named The Aether.
It took me quite a while to level up my character, a dragonkin by the name Kyroz. From the lower level plateau to the war-torn wastelands of aether ravaged worlds. I enjoyed my time on all player vs. environment events I found and collected as most achievements I could manage. When it came to player vs. player, I usually was the one on the losing side though.
As Kyroz, I didn’t need to level alone. When I finally got to level 15, a quest line led me to create my first NPC follower. After a quest chain in some city, I created a winged demoness who I named Mia. I selected the Thief and Monk classes as her starting point.
Then at level 35, I completed the requirements for my second follower. This time I needed a healer. Thinking that a blood-sucking monster using light magic sounded cool, I choose a vampire that I named Sira. She was both a Warrior and a Priest; I was hoping to get something like a paladin. Around that time Mia had maxed out her classes, so I changed them for a Bard and Elemental Mage, more or less balancing our party.
My last NPC follower was a foxkin named Holly. I knew immediately I wanted her as a Priest and Elemental Mage. I took advantage of racial traits and unlocked classes to change most of them. For the end game, Mia remained as an Assassin and Archer. I droped the cool light-wielding vampire and gave Sira Psychic and Swordswoman classes.
My tree followers were a balanced party themselves, as the player I directed them and filled any gaps and corrected some mistakes. I had all of their skills because for my followers to even learn a class, I had to master it first.
I joined some guilds, but after some time they faded and was again waiting in the queues looking for groups. Raid parties with other players were fun, but the most enjoyable was the game scenarios. A group of random players with their NPC followers fighting together in a particular overworld dungeon.
The game allowed you to customize parts of the IA of each follower. It required you to know how to code a script that managed their behavior. Most players copy-pasted them from the internet. For me, it took a lot of tweaking, until I could manage to balance my NPC party. After a while, I could clear several max level dungeons alone which granted me several fancy achievements.
Most people jumped directly to max level and enjoyed only the end-game content. I preferred to enjoy it slowly, questing and exploring the Rift as I learned its lore.
Commercially, Storm and Tempest was a flop. A failure that I enjoyed it nevertheless. Seven years and three expansions after, the MMO was shutting down, and I had to say goodbye to Mia, Sira, Holly, and Kyroz.
I was seeing the Rift for the last time when a server-wide message popped with the words SERVER SHUTDOWN and THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!.
Soon after the game client was back on the login screen and a window with the message “Error 503: Service unavailable.” asked me to continue. I just shut down my laptop and went to sleep.
----------------------------------------
I don't want to get up. It is breezy, and the sun is annoying, but I deserve to laze around!
“Ma… ake…”
And, my head feels light. It hurts a little bit. This odd sensation, I know of it. It feels just like when I decided to stay up all night gaming, or the time I did it to read everything up to the last chapter of a novel, or that night when I binge watched a 300 episode series.
“Mas… ake up!”
But I went to sleep, did I not? I mean, sure, the game shut down around three a.m. at home, but tomorrow is Sunday, so no problems on waking up in the afternoon, right?
“Mia! What is taking you so long?! Wake him up now!”
Suddenly a kick threw me off of my bed, into the dirt of the ground.
Wait, dirt?
As I look down, I can see both of my hands and notice many unnatural triangles with sharp yet barely noticeable borders. The skin seems simplistic, without the small tinctures and details. The wrinkles and veins of a proper hand are not present here. The floors dirt is the same, it looks like a painting, even if the sandiness feeling is alright I cant scoop the dust off the ground.
“Master! Quickly we need to go!”
Rising my head, I see a winged demoness in a black dress and white apron. I recognized her immediately as Mia, the NPC I spent so much time, and whom I departed just a few hours ago.
“Dear, it is not the time to be dumbfounded! The aether is closing in!”
A woman with wavy honey-colored hair calls to me, even without the fox ears and tail this avatar could only be Holly.
“Sira, you may need to kick him again,” says Holly to the third person in the group.
She was shorter than the other two and looks younger. Her skin is pale with a blue tinge. Sira’s red eyes stare back at me with a worried look.
“What is happening? A dream?” I say looking at the NPC followers around me. “How are you even talking?”
I knew at a simple glance where I was. I was standing in the bank of a river south of one of the game capitals. It was the place where I left my character when the game shut down.
“Why am I here? What is…that?!”
Fear. Whatever that thing is, it gives me dread. In front of me, behind the NPCs is a giant storm of aether rampaging and closing in. It was an effect I never before saw in the many years playing, but what else could it be because of the color and aurora-like look.
“Leave it for later Ky. We must run.”
With Sira's words signaled Mia to take my hand and pull me. The three of us run north as fast as we can. The low-level bears and wolves are running alongside us. The mobs don’t bother to fight us even when in aggro range. Whatever that aether storm is, the creatures feel the danger on an instinctual level.
“This is not working Sira! Dear, can’t you fly us away?”
“Fly? Ah! The dragon form! Shit, how do I use it without the action bars?”
“Action bars? Do what you always do!” said Sira as she jumped over a fallen tree.
Didn’t a treasure hunt quest end there? No this was not the time for that. I tried to think in my dragon mount, but nothing, I could not concentrate while running. The city gates could be barely seen, clipped in half by the render distance.
After I look up, I can only stop my feet. “This is useless, look behind the city. And above us.”
The NPCs look around and also stop. The aether surrounds us. It is engulfing this platform, the last fragment of whatever world this city came from was being finally destroyed.
“I suppose this is the end, huh.”
The NPCs turn back, their expressions showing confusion because of my words.
“What are you saying Ky?” said Sira who seemed to be the most level-headed of the bunch. “You are acting weirder than usual. You were talking about dreams back there too.”
“Sira? I kinda expected Mia to be the calmer one. Anyway, this is a dream, right? The game ended last night and now I am fantasizing about being in the game. It happened that time when I played the whole weekend back in high school too.”
“A game? Dear, let's leave that for later, we must leave!”
“Why are you calling me dear? Why are you all calling me that way anyway? I never programmed you for that.” followers had the say command, but I only used it for notifications ”I like it tough, maybe I should have… nah, other players would think I am a weirdo.”
“Holly, Mia, I think the aether may have broken Ky.”
I looked at the silver-haired vampire. It took me a moment to notice the long skirt the girl was wearing. How could she run with that thing? Well, it was a dream so fuck logic. If she wanted to, she could have used that teleport spell the psychics fancy so much.
With that thought in mind, I look directly at my NPC and ask her “Sira, why don’t you use your teleport skill?”
With just an “Ah!” Sira immediately begins to cast the teleportation spell. Only a few seconds after, “I’ll link us to Academy City! Hold on!” with a grin on her polygonal face.
The air around us distorts, and an instant later we are standing in front of the library in Academy City. No loading screen? That certainly would have helped the game.
Here it was mayhem. The vendors and city guards were running and screaming all around us, the dark clouds of the aether were engulfing this place too. They were closer than the ones before our teleport.
With a thud, Sira’s knees collapse in front of me. That pose was not among the emotes any player could perform. A weird thought to have considering the circumstances.
“I told you, this is the end of the game. All game zones of Storm and Tempest. The whole Rift is ending.”
My NPC looked at me, seemingly incapable of understanding. Maybe I do owe them an explanation, even if it is a bizarre thing to do.
“All of this was a game. All dungeons, bosses, and towns are fancy toys. And you are just puppets, a digital doll to helps players like me. Last night the game ended because the developers didn’t earn as much as they expected.”
Their faces reflect a total lack of understanding of my words. I don't know what I am expecting. This dream is weirdly homogeneous. The looks of dread and despair in their avatar models are genuinely believable. I could even feel it like it irradiates through a cord binding us together. The uneasy feeling, maybe it means something. I liked that MMO, and perhaps I need closure?
Thinking that I calmly prepare to say my goodbyes to my NPCs. The aether is so close that the air smells like static electricity.
“Meeting you all was fun. I never expected that you could have all this range of emotions. The devs should have implemented that in the game, it would have skyrocketed. For the last adventure, it was delightful. Even if you are the NPCs I created, you are close friends whom I had many adventures with.”
The aether was touching the plaza. Escape was not possible. I remember all the fun and good memories of this game looking at my NPC friends. My chest feels warm because of my reminiscence, and I can feel that sensation going into to Mia, Sira, and Holly.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“I’ll miss you.”
As if my words were the last drop, the girls start to weep. Their faces still darken as their eyes move to the ground. Resignation and despair because of their imminent deaths flow through our link.
But not from the demoness. From Mia, the link receives only one sensation. A determination to keep on living, and anger at the dying world.
“Hell no! I will not die! I will not die before achieving something with my Kaikai!”
I am your what now?
“I did not walk around for two years in maid clothes and going ‘master this and that’ for nothing!”
You were faking it?!
“Kaikai! We have been through the absolute worst the Rift could throw at us! And you always kept trying until we won! You WILL get us out of here. You WILL find a safe place for us. And you WON'T ever say goodbye! Is that clear?”
“Were you always like this?”
“Is. That. Clear.” answered back with a genuinely frightening glare worthy of a demoness maid.
I have to salute her back with a “Yes, mistress!”, there goes my closure.
The aether falls into us like a wave in a storm.
“Kaikai we should create a barrier around us!”
“And I told you I am not capable without my toolbar!”
“Ky! Just try doing it!”
The aether eats away the stone slabs of the street. The products in display on a vendor stall spiral through the air and become dust before our eyes. The dream must be the ending. I might as well finish it as the hero. Now think, Mia’s mage barrier won’t hold much longer. Wait. Mia is not a mage.
“Mia, how can you be making a barrier?”
“You don't remember you taught me?”
“Yeah, but you don't have the class anymore!”
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE. A massive tremor suddenly runs through the city. The library behind us starts to collapse as the aether eats away the debris. The plaza’s floor itself, the complete platform where Academy City stood is beginning to tear apart.
“Dear we have no time!”
“Argh! Ok! I can't use a single skill, but I am still an expert in game lore! Holly assist Mia with mana share! Sira we must find a safe place outside the Rift to teleport to.”
“But Ky!”
“We will find new adventures elsewhere! The four of us!”
Sira smiles back at me; she is now confident “Ok, what do you want me to do? Depending on the target’s distance I might not have enough mana to teleport.”
“First, in lore, psychics don't use mana. They use willpower.” I adjust my non-existent glasses “And second you are going to do an incomplete teleport, with no target!”
“Master, get to the point!”
“In lore, a psychic once managed to escape the Rift using teleport with no target as the aether clouds swallowed him. He arrived at another world, and his chronicles returned to the Rift in a fragment of that world when it eventually got destroyed.”
“We’ll do just that!” I say to my companions with the most reassuring smile I can.
“And Sira, about your mana,” I cut the back of my hand with the knife in my belt. “Drink my blood.”
That hurt, didn’t the pain in dreams wake you up? Is this really a dream?
Before I could process it, Sira jumps into my arms. Her left hand gently surround my neck as her face snuggles my shoulder. I notice how her hair smells like lavender, as the silver threads gently caress the side of my cheek.
After a small nip of her sharp fangs, I can feel the gentle caress of her tongue on my neck. The girl’s warmth permeates through my arms.
Is she really an NPC?
I look at the other two; their emotions shared through our link. Even tough Holly feels envious, she is aware there are more pressing matters. As for Mia… wasn't Sira the one who should be bloodthirsty? And about that, isn’t Sira taking too long?
“Uhm Sira? You can stop now… Sira?”
“Fufufufuh… I CAN DO ANYTHING!!!!”
As she jumps from my arms, she screams from the top of her lungs.
“I WILL ESCAPE WITH MY KY, AND NO PERVERT FOX OR PSYCHO DEMON WILL STOP ME!!!!!!!”
Wait, Holly really?
I look at the foxkin and... she blushes… no way… really?
This dream is turning into a weird direction!
“Hahahaha... HAHAHAHA!!!!! Come cloudy! Sira is ready!”
As if reacting to Sira’s taunt, the aether finally clashes at us making Mia’s barrier crack. Fortunately for us, the vampire has finished her spell.
“Its done!”
A blinding flash of light covers my view. An instant later a tempestuous spiral of color bursts all around me. None of the girls is at my side as I stumble through this torrent of energy. It looks like I am flying through a tunnel of aether, snaking around the cosmos. I really want a blue box now.
After what it seemed like two minutes on a rollercoaster, I reach the end of the rainbow.
----------------------------------------
Buu, again with the sun! I said I don't want to get up. It is even more breezy here. Where is my blanket?
Eh? So its a forest now? The smell of trees, really makes me remember grandma’s house.
Where is this? This is a clearing in an actual forest, right?
I mean last night dream was weird. It was like I was in Storm and Tempest. Cartoony graphics and all. And who gave my NPCs those personalities? Subconscious desires aside, I would never actually program them that way… maybe Sira, she looked normal.
WHY AM I IN A FOREST!
“ROOOAAAARRRR!!!!”
Eh?
Roar.
“ROAR!”
Growl.
“GROWL!”
Rawr?
“RAWR?!”
My hands… they seem scally… and sharp. And is that a tail?
Sweep, sweep.
WHY DO I HAVE A FRICKIN TAIL!!!!!
“ROOOOOARRRRR!!!!!!!!!”
First I got spirited away, and now I am a two tons flying lizard. I will crawl into a ball, and just wait for the evil thoughts to leave. Yep just like that.
“Sira! Mia! Dear’s smell is comes from here!”
That was Holly’s voice, is she here too? It means that all of that did happen?
I can only raise my head from my ball position. A pair of fox ears peeks amongst the trees, and a moment later the body they are attached shows up.
That’s Holly? Is that Holly in real life?! She looks… wow.
A stunning woman honey-colored wavy long hair is standing in front of me. Her cream-colored dress with red ornaments is now torn in several places showing the milky white skin. The attire fails to give merit to the curves of her body. A sophisticated appeal emanates from her movements and expressions. A pair of sky-blue eyes adorns her oval shaped face. Two white marble canines appear between her thin, smiling lips. The fox ears are the same color of her hair as are the tails of the same animal that twirl by her will on her back.
Tails? In plural?
Indeed Holly now has nine tails. But in the game, she was just a foxkin with a single tail.
For a moment Holly appears afraid of me. And who wouldn't be frightened of disturbing a dragon's sleep?
“Dear? Are you a dragon?”
I become aware I have been staring at her for a while now, so I quickly answer hoping she doesn't notice.
Yes. It's me.
“Rawr! Grr!”
"Oh! What a relief. We've been looking for you... now if you let me..."
Sniff sniff.
Holly, are you smelling me?
“Grrr Growl! Rrraawr?!”
“Oh? I am sorry dear! It's just… you smell a little different. I can’t point out exactly what.”
Oh, you don't know. Wouldn't it be because cause I AM A FRICKING DRAGON?!!!!
“Grr Rawr. Raw Grr Growl ROOOOAAAARRR?!!!!”
As if answering my scream another voice rings from the direction Holly arrived.
“Holly? Are you around the screaming lizard?”
This time the voice belongs to Sira. And soon she appears.
Her long silver hair has been tied with a ponytail made of what it seems to be a torn strap of cloth from the hem of her skirt. Her left sleeve is gone, showing her now pink and glossy arm. The former blue hue is gone and it now it seems to reflect the warmth of the sun rays. Her ears are now long and pointy, like an elf's. She appears a little taller than before, with an athletic and agile figure. All of her proportions match, adding to the image of a woman starting her twenties.
Sira's eyes glare at me defiantly, studying me in a calm demeanor. Not trusting what it looks to her as a monster in the middle of the forest.
"Holly, why are you playing with that thing? Shouldn't you be following the track of Kyroz?"
Holly speaks to me in a small voice “Oh my god! Sira hasn’t realized it is you, dear! Please play along!" It seems I am part of a prank now.
Holly steps forward as she talks to Sira, "Don't be silly. This is, erm… Ky… Kato! I am going to train it as my pet dragon!”
So you want me as your pet? Oh, I am not gonna let you out of this! That's it from now on you are my pet fox!
“Brr! Dear, whatever you are glaring me for, we could leave it for later” whispered Holly while winking.
“Why do we even need a stupid pet dragon. Even if we needed one, none of us is a tamer.”
“Come on! Think about it! We could have a flying flamethrower to help us out!”
“You can throw fireballs!”
“He can breath fireballs!”
"You shouldn't be losing time with an overgrown lizard! We have to find Kyroz! Your dragon looks weak, and its face is dumb! The black horns and wings are nothing new, and the scales look dull and disordered. I do like the red stripes in the back, and the golden eyes are really... similar to... Ky's."
Holly, Do I look dumb?
“Grr, Rawr?”
"No, dear. But It'd be good if you took more care about your appearance."
Come on, I had just woken up. And I have feathers, not scales!
“You said 'dear.' Say, Holly, is there a chance this dragon IS Kyroz?”
“I say yes. A hundred percent chance.”
Hi! Sira!
“Rawr!”
“Wawawawa! Stupid Ky! Stupid Holly! Someone, please kill me!”
“I may help you.”
The last member of the team finally arrives. Her maid outfit is mostly intact and only dirtied with mud and dirt. Her white apron and tiara are missing; she carries a sash instead with many knives and daggers.
“Ah! Mia, this is Kato my new pet dragon.”
Mia smiles and says, “and this is Pain, my poisoned dagger. You two should stop playing around if you don't want it sticking out of your backs.”
Scary… no-nonsense Mia is just frightening.
“I see master has also changed appearance in this new world.”
Right, her looks are even more noticeable than the other two. Her stern gaze borders the unemotional. Her mouth seems incapable of both frown and smile, while her eyes look calm and collected. If it were not for her youth, she would certainly fit the role of an evil stepmother or tyrant old teacher.
“Is there a problem master?”
Scary. Note to self: Mia is a lovely young ladylike girl of an unspecified age. If anything she looks to be the stern middle sister of the three.
The large horns protruding from her forehead have moved back and now twist over much like a ram's. She no longer has a tail, and her webbed wings are now a pair of raven black angel-like wings born from her shoulder blades. Her short and asymmetrical black hair is combed to the sides. And her black eyes would undoubtedly match a pair of thin framed glasses.
“Well, now that we are all together I think is time for us to talk,” says Mia. “Because it seems master's incapable of giving proper responses I will take the lead.”
Oh no, here comes the ‘why should we follow you’ speech... Huh? No one? Sira and Holly are ok with it?
“Dear, as much as I like to object. Mia has seniority in the party.”
“And Mia is scary,” adds Sira.
It seems that Mia is aware of how frightening she is, as she coughs to encourage us to go on, “Now that’s solved. We should talk about the changes in our bodies.”
And the three look at me. I didn’t want to become a dragon! It's not my fault!
“As you can see I am not just a demoness, its seems my race has changed to a Fallen.” Mia pauses to look at me “I believe its pretty self-explanatory. Holly, you should be next.”
Holly nods and stands. “Hello! My name is Holly and I been a Ninetails, a Divine Beast for about thirty minutes!”
Storm and Tempest had a lot of references, so I understand why she knows about that. Should I clap?
“My race also changed to something called Sag’naar Royal,” says Sira not caring about Holly’s joke.
Sag’naar? That is probably a fancy word for blood drinking elves.
“Rawrr? Growl Roar Grr Rawwr!”
“Dear says it probably means blood sucking elf.”
Can you understand me?
"Grr Rooar Growl?"
“Yes, didn't you noticed when I answered you before?”
Did she?
“I am impressed. Even for me it only sounds like cute growls,” comments Mia. Heh, I'm cute. Is she showing a look of approval? That Mia?
“It's the obvious proof of my power as the true wife.”
Slap. Punch. And Holly is in the floor caressing her slapped and punched head.
“Thank you for your help Sira.”
“No, thank you, Mia. Would you do the honors?”
Mia walks calmly to Holly’s side and gently puts a hand over her shoulder.
“Now Holly, do you mind giving us a reason why you are the only one who can talk to Kyroz or do I need to slice the truth out of you? Slowly.” adds Mia with a smiling face.
“I am not sure…” Pain, Mia’s dagger ‘mysteriously’ stabs the ground in front of Holly. “Waaa… I think it's because I am a Divine Beast now!”
“And?” says Mia smiling to the blade of yet another dagger.
“Oh, I don't know. Maybe it is because My Dear Kyroz is now A FRICKING DRAGON!!!!”
Is Fricking Dragon gonna be my race? I really hope it isn't. Oh and now they are grappling, very mature girls.
How did you learn about your race?
"Groowl rawr roaar?"
"We don't know anything but their names. Mia used 'Creature Inspect' to know it. Talking about it, would you mind releasing the armlock? Dear wants to know his race." answers Holly, unfazed by Mia's joint lock.
Seriously, are you really fighting or are you just playing around?
"Master's race is... wow! It sounds really dangerous! Its Aether Forged Storm Dragon. It's also a Divine Beast."
"So the reason Holly can understand Ky is they are both divine beasts?"
"Yes, it is strange. I remember hearing dragons eat divine things."
"I am always ready for you dear!"
"You vixen! Sira catch her!"
"I'm on it!"
Please, stop messing around. I only want to know how to turn back into a human.
“Growl. Rawr grr growl grrr rooar roar.”
“Ah! That's easy you have to think about doing foosh! And then you swoop! And you turn human-like!” tells me Holly while swaying her tails.
Not helping.
“Rawr.”
“Ok, look at this!” an instant later, Holly’s body shines. The human-shaped ball of light changes and morphs into a big four-legged animal. A honey-colored fox with nine tiles appears as the luminescence dies .
“See? I told you it was easy!”
To anyone that hears this! Please, grant me patience! This is going to take time.
----------------------------------------
It was a long day. Holly kept trying to teach me how to transform, yet nothing happened. It seems that whatever world we are now, our bodies have adapted and acquired new traits associated with our new races.
Mia was the first to notice back in Academy City that we all could access the abilities of all our past learned classes, no need to switch anymore. I’d be thrilled if not for my incapacity to use any skill. The change of perspective, from being in front of a monitor to living this maddness in the flesh is too much.
I was passing all of that as a dream when everything looked cartoony and polygonal. But now I can’t negate how real all of this feels. The girls too notice the difference. I explained them to the better of my capabilities how the game looked to me. Sometimes they were uncomfortable, other times like they found an explanation to particular behaviors or situations.
It appears I am responsible for a particularly traumatic event for Sira. "I cannot believe you! We were there for FOUR WEEKS! Alone in the dark cave! Those horrible monkeys were everywhere! The stench! I had to throw away my clothes because of the stench! And you were at your grandmother's house?" Sira did not like that summer vacation.
We found a small cave and decided to spend the night there. We kept chatting with Holly as my translator as the light died for the day. There is a lot more in front of us. A whole new world to explore and survive. Today we took it lightly; we escaped from the destruction of the entire Rift. Tomorrow we need to scan our surroundings, learn more about the changes in our bodies and skills, and find our place in this new world.
I should have confidence that this uneasy feeling goes away. I hope the aether stays locked in the dead realms of Storm and Tempest.