Thirty-six trolls dead.
“Once upon a time,” Archie began. “There were two worlds. Two dimensions of existence. One of them you are familiar with.”
Sally nodded, still keeping an eye on combat. “Earth?”
“Correct. The second one is called Othea.”
She frowned and turned a questioning glare toward the ginger cat. “That’s the name of our world.”
“Something of a coincidence. No... A holdover, perhaps.” Archie tilted his head. “Named after the actual planet of similar name. A world of fantasy and the whimsical, not so unlike our System.”
'Whimsical’ was pushing it, but she couldn’t deny that it had plenty of fantasy and adventure. All the stuff you might expect, like magic, dragons, and getting away with mass murder. She nodded for him to continue.
“Somewhere along the line, a wizard with more ideas and power than common sense sought to create a pocket-world for himself. Inadvertently, he did something much worse.”
Sally paused and sighed, trying to still keep the trolls in her peripheral. “They created the System multiverse, but somehow connected Earth to Othea?”
“Only in the sense that your ‘soul’ can be moved through onto one of these worlds, but yes.” He tilted his head to the side. “Although, it has a proper name. The Star System.”
She groaned and deflated. “Let me guess then. There’s a number of different Earths and Otheas connected through to the ‘Star System’ where people can be killed and plopped down on one of these half-baked existences?”
“Big brother always said you were astute.”
Grumbling to herself, she turned back to the combat and tried to command the zombies to hurry things up. Forty-one dead. They were at least near whatever the end may be. As to what she truly thought about all the world nonsense… it was rather beyond her. Not that she didn’t understand it - but without a way to go back to any of these worlds, they didn’t matter to her in the slightest.
Perhaps this was just background information for something else. She ran her tongue across her sharp teeth. “You’re saying I might meet Players from one of these other worlds in my travels, right?”
“Yes. From the information I have been able to unlock from the original Creator’s plans, it appears it is actually a very small and finite number of worlds connected. A cluster of six. Or versions of worlds… you could say.”
She sighed again. “Speak clearly, cat.”
“Three are different versions of Earth, three are versions of Othea.”
“Do the other Earths have living Sallys?”
Archie paused before responding. “There is no way for us to check, but it is likely.”
Now that was more of an interesting thought. Her current existence was just one of who knows how many different worlds - if there were more than what had been connected to the STARs. Did the other Sallys have normal lives? Were they dating Theo and working in the diner still? She raised her wrist up to look at the shape. It would have made more sense if it had six or seven points, rather than five, but perhaps not everything had to be a part of the puzzle.
“We don’t know what the other worlds are like, only that they exist,” Archie continued. “But yes, you may come across humans, orcs, and elves who weren’t created by the System but are as ‘real’ as you once were. Probably plenty weirder than those fantasy tropes as well.”
She nodded, but didn’t turn back to him. Most of her friends weren't exactly human, so accepting that part wasn't too difficult. Forty-four trolls dead. It just meant that she had to be careful who she ate if her goal was to save all Players. Or at least the ones allowed her to be saved… there were plenty of Players she had killed and consumed in…
“Hey Arch, we should give our world a new name.”
"I’ll float it with the Architect - it might make things less confusing. You have one in mind, I take it?”
She shot him a wink. “Of course.”
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Theo stared at the plain gray ceiling and sighed. Eventually, he turned his head to look at the Shade sitting beside him with a book and pen in hand. Bookshelves lined the walls behind him, and the flickering lantern was unnecessary in the daytime, but added a comforting ambience to the place.
“I guess you’re right,” the vampire said. “Saving the world was the worst thing I have done.”
“That’s not exactly what I said.” Lucius waved his hand as sweat-drops appeared beside his head.
“I’m motivated by grinding to grasp every ounce of power the System allows,” Theo continued, looking back up the ceiling from his laying position. “Once I could just ask Chuck to change my Stats or give me items… the lustre fell off.”
Lucius nodded. “But you’ve been avoiding expressing these feelings.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The vampire was silent for a few moments. “I had hoped I could just be content. Sally seemed happy. Things were going well.”
“Both of you are unlike any other Player or Monster I work with.” The Shade tapped his pen at the edge of the page. “Maybe that is because you can remember where you came from - but the three of you including Chuck are just… built for more.”
“More?”
“No matter how good your relationships or day-to-day are here, you wouldn’t be satisfied long term. Chuck knew this, which is why he was pressing me to get you both in regularly.” A smiling emoji popped up. “He is satisfied with running the System, but you two need room to grow.”
Theo grunted. It wasn’t even that he disagreed with the assessment. He would like to go and get some actual progression and grinding in. Something to actually achieve and give him purpose again.
“I’m a little envious of Sally right now,” he admitted.
“Just a little?”
The vampire turned his head back to Lucius and frowned at him. To his credit, the Shade didn’t look any more nervous than usual. “She is currently in another world, probably having the time of her life.”
“You don’t know if either of those things are true.” He held up a hand before Theo could continue. “I’ll tell you what, though. Let’s arrange a meeting with Chuck and Sally, and the four of us can come up with something so you’re not gnawing at the furniture just waiting to be useful.”
Theo sighed and relaxed, putting on a bit of a pout. It was only the one time, and they said it was made from bloodwood.
They had lied.
----------------------------------------
Forty-nine trolls dead.
Sally scowled across through the forest. Where was the last one? There hadn’t been the exact number of enemies in the previous Quests. If anything, the inconsistency was worse than anything else. Other than maybe the taste of the troll's brains, anyway.
“It’s not bugged, is it?” She turned, her face glum as she questioned the cat.
Archie shrugged. “Not my clowns, not my circus.”
Just when he seemed to be settling into being his normal, affable self, too. Plus, it very much was his clowns when he was destined to be her companion throughout every System they might go and fix. A beep from her earring distracted her from scowling at Archie any further.
[Chuck: Very close.]
[Chuck: I’m putting out a message over here for everyone to prepare.]
[Chuck: Things are going as expected.]
[Sally: neat]
She was about to add to that, before a shadow crossed over her.
“Behind you, Sally,” the cat said - without the gravity the warning should have had.
The zombie turned as the displaced air rushed past her, and a very large club struck her.
Dagger spun out of her hand as she ragdolled across the grassy ground, rolling into a small embankment to stop. Without hesitation, she was back up to her feet, glaring up at the monster as warm blood ran down her face.
There was no apparent troll boss, but the creator clearly didn’t think anyone should be completing the questline. The last monster to kill for the Quest was easily three times the size of a normal troll. She growled as it turned and stomped one of her zombie trolls flat into the ground.
First off, damage report. Some shattered ribs. Left arm was broken in two places. A head injury that was bleeding profusely, but she could still stand - even if wobbly. From her Inventory, as another of her pals was pulped by the large club, she brought out Health Potion and downed it. Would have been nice if they had given her more than two, but the second would have to wait for an emergency.
The bleeding from her head slowed as some of her bones clicked back into place. Her left arm still wasn’t very responsive. Perhaps she could go without it. It was just one overpowered monster she needed to kill.
“To think you almost died then, and your time here would have been wasted.” Archie was sitting nearby, a smirk across his face.
“You fuzzy menace,” she wagged a finger at him as she tried to search for her dagger. “You waited until he was close enough to bop me before warning me, didn’t you?”
“This is a comparatively barren world. If you truly want to dive into something with higher stakes, you should take things more seriously.”
Sally pulled a face and grumbled to herself. It wasn’t that he was wrong, of course. If she was going to be solo for chunks of time, she needed to focus a little without her usual goofballs to rely on. Things would be easy if Theo or Humphrey could join her from the outset. If it had been possible, then Chuck would have set it up as such, she was sure.
Looking over at the boss with tired eyes, she watched as it picked up a zombie troll and threw it clear over the treeline. She sighed.
“Best get mulched by this huge jerk then,” she said, stepping over to some thick grass where her measly dagger lay. She hadn’t even bothered using [Chain] yet. It worked opposite to how her [Meat Hook] used to - in bringing the target to her instead of her to the target.
Another glance at the creature pulping the remainder of her pals, and she wondered how it worked on creatures that were way heavier or stronger than her. Trying to keep one eye on the enemy, she brought up the skill information.
[Chain] [Single Target. 20ft Range, draws target of equal or small size toward you.]
So it just didn’t work on anything bigger than her… which seemed a little unfair, given how scrawny she was. With one last sigh, she narrowed her eyes at the monster standing in her way of victory.
----------------------------------------
Edward stared at the wall, not really reading the map of the Wastelands hanging there - it just happened to be in his line of sight. Aimless, really, his mind elsewhere. Leaning back on his chair, his feet were up on the edge of the desk in his office. Warm light pooled in through the window. Another pleasant day in the Administrative District.
His eyes went over to the door as it opened near silently. A female figure in white robes stepped in, giving him a brief curtsey. While he didn't pay attention to most who worked at the building, the woman was easily recognisable for two reasons. The first being that she had the head of a dog - a doberman, if what Sally had said was to be believed.
“Chloe,” he said, as he tilted his head. “I thought I gave you the rest of the day off?” The second reason was that she was paramount to him pretending to get any work done here.
“You did, sir.” The Unique Monster smiled. “With most of the Council away for the day, it seemed too good of an opportunity, so I though I'd get caught up on reports without distraction.” In her hands, a folder, which she stepped forward to place on the demon’s desk.
“As much as I appreciate having you as my assistant,” Edward began, a grin on his face. “You work way too hard. I expect you to go home now, at least?”
“Yes, sir.” She gave him a nod. “Forgive my question, but you’re still here, too?”
“Oh.” The demon hummed to himself, before taking his feet down off the desk to sit properly. “I suppose the same reason as you… although less report making.” He glanced out at the window.
“Not spending time with the Outsiders?”
“Later.” Edward turned back to the woman. “They are currently occupied. Such is life.”
As Chloe opened her mouth to speak, they were both interrupted, as messages from the System came through into their vision.
[System Maintenance Enabled]
[Combat Disabled]
[Please return to Safe Areas and await completion]
[Report any errors to your local Observer units]
[Standby for further updates]