I was honestly questioning my own sanity. How could I not? I must be so high right now, I thought, but then again I didn't remember getting high, either. Was I so high that I could even remember getting high? Is that even possible? I don't know about you, but I would probably consider that an achievement.

Okay, back track. I should probably start from the beginning.

It was a clear sunny day, and I was enjoying the fresh afternoon at the park, eating lunch at a bench. I'd ordered a meatball sub and was just now unwrapping it as I sat at the bench, listening to the birds singing.

Why was I at the park, you ask? Oh, so I can't just enjoy a nice day at the park?

. . .

Okay, fine. I had an appointment with your friendly neighborhood drug dealer. Had a real need for some weed. A hankering for some of that devil's lettuce. It would be a fateful encounter that would change my life for probably a week or so. I burn through that shit pretty fast, for real.

So I was sitting on the bench, eating my meatball sub, waiting to meet up with my dealer. When I noticed this absolutely sus looking guy walking towards me, I had honestly no clue that I would actually be having a fateful encounter that would change my life forever.

My first thought was like, hey, maybe it's my drug dealer?

Nope.

Thinking back, I'd never seen good old Tommy wearing a hooded trench coat. Or sunnies. Or a mask.

Next thing I know, the hairs on the back of my neck rose. Not exactly sure what it was, but something about this guy really just rustled the jimmies. Glancing around, I also just happened to notice there was absolutely nobody else in my general vicinity – or out of it, for that matter.

I was completely alone with no one in sight except for a weird guy approaching me rapidly.

Okay, okay maybe I'm just being paranoid? Well, that's the general assumption, yes. However, I must state that, once he pulled out the two kukri shaped, big ass knives from his coat, you can bet I Usain bolted the fuck outta there, meatball sub in hand.

Gotta eat fresh. And yes, you're damn right I was tempted to take a bite while sprinting for my life. If only I was so skilled, but alas it is not to be. The munch will have to wait until I'm safe, as I absolutely cannot risk dropping even one precious meatball.

I looked back, and the guy was gaining on me. He was even doing a Naruto run and everything, what a fucking weeb. You'd never think that you'd almost piss yourself seeing something like that, but guess again, leg's wet palms are sweaty.

I was on the street now, coming out of the park. "Help! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Help me!" I yelled out as I passed some people. They just looked at me strangely, making no move at all. Did they not see the guy chasing me? I wondered.

I ran out onto the road, trying to put some cars between us. I almost got hit, myself. The car slid to halt, honking loudly and making my ears ring. It was literally a foot from hitting me, but I just kept running.

Just as I got to the curb, I looked back to see the car lurch forward – right into the trenchcoat asshole, sending him rolling like twenty feet along the road. Yep, he was dead, for sure. Phew.

The passenger door opened, and a young guy with a side shave was leaning over. "Get in!" he shouted.

When I saw the asshole starting to rise, bitch I didn't hesitate. I practically dived into the car, holding my meatball sub close to my chest. I wasn't even belted in when the car launched off, running over the trenchcoat guy with a bump, bump. My door wasn't even shut. I reached out, slamming it closed. Then buckled up, of course, breathing fast.

"Holy shit!" My heart was racing, and I couldn't stop shaking. The only thing running through my mind was What the fuck? "Did you kill him?" I asked.

"No way," the guy replied, scoffing. "He's got dice. A little something like that won't do shit."

Dice? "What?" I was obviously and completely confused right now.

"Yep, dice. Shit, don't tell me… you're a new Arter?"

Okay, now I was just annoyed. "I don't know, what are you even talking about?"

"Well, welcome to the shitshow dude. You picked up a die, and heard that voice ring in your head, now you're part of the game, where people kill each other for more dice. That about summing it up?"

"Uhh…" I took a bite out of my meatball sub, swallowed. It seemed like an appropriate thing to do before I replied. "I didn't pick up any dice…"

The guy's eyes widened. "The fuck– what do you mean, no dice?" He leaned back in his seat. "No, that's not right…"

I took another bite out of my sub as the guy slowed down at a set of traffic lights, and he looked at me, narrowing his eyes.

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I swallowed, and suddenly started choking.

"Ah, that explains it. Hey, not in the car!"

I somehow managed to cough up the meatball only after I'd opened the door of the car. A four sided, green die went click, clack out onto the road, amongst chunks of meatball. How the hell did that get into my sub? I thought as I continued to cough onto the road.

"Yo, quick, pick that up before the light goes green."

[Core Die (d4) obtained]

—————

"Okay, so… let me just, repeat back what you said to me." The man who'd introduced himself as Lan had been telling me basically… everything that had just happened.

"Yeah, go ahead," Lan said.

"Uh, right. So. Call the police, and I'll probably get arrested for a false report. Try and defend myself, and I'll get murdered. Get murdered, even in broad daylight, with dozens of witnesses, and they'll probably just chalk it up to a horrible, instantaneous heart attack?"

"Yep, that about sums it up."

I sighed. Basically, only we could see the guy chasing me, and even if I got stabbed, it wouldn't leave any actual wounds. Why? Lan just shrugged when I asked. But it would kill me, that was certain, and apparently I had no means to defend myself.

"So what do I do then?"

Lan gave me a toothy grin as we came to a stop and the car petered out. "Simple. We give you a means to defend yourself!"

We'd pulled into a driveway, in a street off the main road into town – he didn't live far away at all. We walked up a set of stairs to an outer balcony, where Lan lived on the second floor. He grabbed out his keys and unlocked the door.

The first thing I noted when I followed him inside was that the place was quite minimal. A small desk for a laptop, a small TV sitting on the carpet, a gaming console beside it, across from a small couch. You could see into a small kitchen. Cozy.

"In my room," Lan said, and I followed. He promptly opened the wardrobe, but instead of clothes, there was a massive array of weaponry. No guns or anything, but damn. Baseball bats, swords, hatchets, katana, warhammers, there was even a shield or two. Like, seriously, you name it, it was there. How he managed to fit that many weapons in there, I'll never know.

I briefly wondered what it would look like, seeing this guy carrying various weapons into his apartment every now and then.

"Means to defend yourself," he said. "You still have that die, right?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, reaching forward and picking up a pair of nun-chucks.

"Right. So, normally just running at a player with a normal weapon wouldn't do shit. However! You can choose one of these, and put your die into it. It will then become an Artifact, and you'll be able to defend yourself."

That was some wack shit, in more ways than one if I may say so myself. I wasn't about to argue with his logic, however. I had no idea how any of this worked. "Does it matter what I pick?" I asked.

"Well yeah, I guess. But I've found that you're just best picking the weapon that vibes with you the most. Try a sword, give it a swing, then try something else. Whatever feels right will probably be the most beneficial."

"Probably?"

"Hey, I'm no expert. But I can at least tell you that I've – once – tried to make suggestions, which undoubtedly influenced what that guy picked, only for that guy to then go ahead and die against a weaker opponent. Yeah, I'm not about to make that mistake again."

I nodded, picking up a sword. "Fair enough." I did what he suggested, gave it a swing, but it didn't feel right. I put it down, and tried a different sword. It was a bit better, but still no dice.

I tried all the swords first, and then the spear. I tried a shield, then it occurred to me. "Wait, so can I only pick one?"

"Yep."

"So how come that crazy guy had two knives?"

Lan smiled. "You'll see. Anything you're leaning towards?"

I shook my head. "I don't know."

"Keep going then."

Hammer, mace, ax. I kept trying. There was even a double sided halberd which I thought was pretty freaking awesome, but as soon as I picked it up I was scared I was gonna cut myself with the other side. I quickly discarded the idea.

I picked up a staff. Could I use magic, maybe? I was about to ask Lan, but then I saw it. A gauntlet with thick steel plating around the knuckles and on the back of the hand, that continued halfway up the forearm. I gasped, put it on, and marveled at how… awesome it was.

"Looks like you've found it," Lan said.

I was pulled out of my stupor. "Really? But it's just a gauntlet. Can't I use it with something else?"

"It's up to you. But no, you won't be able to use it with anything else. Even if you brought it into a fight with an actual Artifact, it would give you no practical advantage."

"That… doesn't make sense, but I'll just take your word for it. So it's either the gauntlet, or something else?"

"That's right."

I looked back into the wardrobe, but I think my mind was already decided. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be prudent. "What if there's a better suited weapon?"

"I can't help you with that," Lan said bluntly. "All I know is that if you don't pick something, and run into that guy again, you'll be screwed. I need to run you through the basics and everything too, so no, you can't just hold on to the gauntlet. I'm not gonna risk it, so you're picking something today."

Gauntlet it is, then. I grabbed the little pyramid shaped die out of my pocket – which, may I add, did not smell like bile – and touched it to the gauntlet. It clinked against one of the steel plates, and then I heard the familiar voice in my head that sounded similar to my own.

[Infuse Core Die into object?]

Yes.

[Processing…]

The die flashed blue, and struck into the gauntlet.

[Complete. Please assign a user ID for the Artifact]

It was at this point I realized. How could I have forgotten? Something so important to me, and I'd completely overlooked it, probably due to just the general craziness that was today. I still don't forgive myself for losing such an important item.

"Wait! What happened to my meatball sub!?"

[Name accepted. User ID set: Meatball]

"Wait, no, I–"

Lan started laughing.