I had lost my diary. Down a ravine, perhaps. Or during the… incident. My palette for starting a second one is waning… even as I write this sentence. Perhaps things are better lived in the present or in our fallible memories.
Working my jaw, I looted the fifteenth Chance Box from the dead Wildfolk. Putting the task of opening them up until later had just become a wall I was building, burying myself. If only there was some easy way of only seeing what was useful for me.
“Power Token, trickster. This one is yours.” Ren flung it through the air toward me.
I looked in its direction and looted it without moving. Already my menus were up, ready to use it without thinking about it too hard. Might start stockpiling them soon for the bigger upgrades.
[
There were a plethora of skills and passives I could upgrade, and truly I would never stop going over them again and again if I stopped to consider the most optimal choice. We seemed to be getting the basic Tokens a lot quicker in this area, so my use was a little more flagrant.
Plus, an extra two seconds of being invisible was powerful. I used it, just to get the feel, vanishing from where I was crouched down.
“Max?” Ren asked, having me only in her peripheral. “You’d better not sneak up on me again.”
“He hasn’t moved,” Wolf grumbled, looking over at me with a muzzle covered in gore. His form of ‘looting’ looked to be filling his personal inventory, if his glazed over eyes were anything to go by.
I reappeared in the same position, then looked up at the bear. “You could see me?”
“Not quite.” He stood up taller to stretch out. “You looked like a wiggly ghost. And you smell.”
My head nodded some acknowledgement, but I wasn’t too sure what to make of that revelation. Of him being able to see me, anyway. I was certain that after a few hours of combat—and a slight mental break—that I could do with a wash. It’s not like he smelled any better, being snout deep in the internal organs of the Monsters he had been maiming. He hadn't been able to see Rolo, so either it only worked on certain invisibilities, or was it because we were in the same Party?
“For what it’s worth, trickster, I’m sure we’re all pretty dire. At least the hats keep the sun out of our faces.” She shrugged and looked over at the bear, whose hat was way too small to do just that.
It made me smile, though. Whatever had been driving a screw into my sanity prior had sunk away and relaxed. Even as we cycled back through the monster packs and passed the body of Rolo, it didn’t chip away at anything within me. I stopped, however, and held my hand out. There was a new element to
My brow furrowed as the blue outline switched between the different objects around his corpse. It took a little effort, but I learned how to just use one of the charges rather than both, and how to hold one target while I selected what to use the second one on.
There was something else... as if I could see the strings behind the performance.
“Everything okay, Max?” The elf had stopped and had been watching me glare at the body with hand out, so the question wasn’t unwarranted.
My hand shook as I concentrated. “One sec.” I ran my mana down these threads, encircling and clutching at the invisible tethers highlighting my intended targets. It was a struggle, but I pulled them together, bending something intangible and beyond my understanding to my will. I was the one who chose how to perform my tricks.
The System couldn’t define me.
Blood dripped from my outstretched palm as the corpse vanished.
“Balls,” I said as I shook my hand. Some minor aches ran down my forearm, but I’d had worse.
“Don’t tell me,” the elf said as she shook her head. “You just used bullshit to invisible something you weren’t supposed to.”
I pouted. “Did I ever tell you how smart you were?”
She rolled her eyes. “Save your flattery, trickster. For later.” She adjusted her hat. “Back to the grind.”
If I didn’t know any better, I may have assumed I had imagined the extra line she added in the middle. Rolo's corpse reappeared. We had one more repeat of the Quest left, maybe a second to get our level ten and class upgrades.
“Could we take a brief break?” Wolf requested. “I need to use the… woods.”
My eye went out to the forest area to our side. A reasonable request, and it didn’t look too dangerous. “Alright, but just roar out if there is a problem.”
“A problem with my shitting?” He furrowed his brow before giving me a shrug, perhaps realizing that was a reasonable outcome.
I watched him leave. Wolf was the most hardy and capable of violence out of the three of us, but it would just take a few smart Players to catch him out.
“He eats a lot of meat,” I said, turning to the elf after the bear had vanished from view. “An absurd amount. Are we responsible for ensuring he has a good diet?” I chose to ignore the part where most of the meat was people. Seemed rather moot when Wolf was people too, in a way.
She shrugged. “Now that you mention it, I’ll feel bad if we don’t.” Ren removed her hat and fanned her face. “Speaking of, should we stop for some food?”
I nodded, and we walked over to the side by the ledge before the empty field. Took my boots off before I sat down and was glad for the slight calm after so much combat. Ren did the same and then sat beside me. From her Inventory she brought out a couple of pastries.
“These are pretty plain, but will keep you full for a while.” She passed one over, which I accepted with a nod of thanks.
We sat and ate in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the scenery. Eventually, I couldn’t hold the questions in any longer.
“When I surprised you, why was your reaction to kiss me?”
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She paused her chewing, but otherwise didn’t move. “Is that a complaint?”
“Just curious.” I grinned, clearly having caught her out.
Ren shrugged, still looking out towards the distance. “I suppose we all exit our shells in different ways.”
My intention to goad her along slowly slithered away. Disarmed by her honest and plain reasoning, my next question escaped before I had a chance to think it through properly.
“Ren, are we dating?”
She snorted and finally turned her head to me. A slight scowl, but warmth behind her eyes. “Asshole. You don’t really date in an apocalypse scenario.” Her eyes rolled, and she sighed. “We are together, if that’s what you want?”
I nodded. “It is. Do you want that too?”
“Of course.” She gave me a pat on the leg and looked back out toward the horizon. “I know that admitting it just means tragedy will come to us, but we can at least be happy until the Lady kills us, or you turn into a demon.” Her head turned back to me, a wry grin at the corner of her mouth.
“Until System do us part, then.”
“Dickbag.” She leaned against me and put her head on my shoulder. “It’s too-”
“It’s too early in the day for your heart to be in bloom, I know.”
She sighed once more, but said nothing. Too on the mark to chastise me any further. We sat and existed for almost a whole minute, before the pads of Wolf’s feet came from behind us. Ren plied herself from me, shooting me a soft smile before standing and brushing herself down. With a grunt, I followed suit and donned my boots, giving the bear a nod as he came to greet us.
“I feel twenty big-owlpeople lighter,” he said with a wide grin.
“There’s some fruit you can have too,” I offered. “It might give a bit more variety to your diet.”
He stared at me blankly for a moment, before nodding. “Okay.”
Ren already had her bow out and an arrow drawn. “Look alive. I want to get this over with.”
“Hail.”
We each winced, and she lowered her shot. Turning, we saw a familiar figure moving off of the road and into the field. Quinn.
“If you murder him,” Ren said in a hushed tone, “I won’t hold it against you.”
I tried to ignore her. As my now confirmed elven-girlfriend, she definitely had my ear on such matters. But I also didn’t need anyone else prompting me toward wanton violence. It was bad enough that half of me was fine with the prospect of coring this affable man with a card right now. We already had enough enemies. And corpses littering our wake.
“Sorry for intruding!” he continued, gradually getting close enough to talk in a normal tone. “I wasn’t exactly given the all-clear to leave the camp, but the good doctor was otherwise distracted.” His arm was no longer in a sling, but he didn’t seem to be at one-hundred percent yet, despite his grin.
“And you chose to come find us.” A statement, rather than a question, as his presence was apparent. My years of training in presenting a faux-genuine smile paying off dividends. “I was just about to go through all my Chance Boxes, too. Shame.”
“You want to open mine too, trickster?” Ren stepped up closer to me. “I have sooo many.”
My whole body tensed and my right eye twitched, as if I considered literally running from the prospect. How far could I get? That depended on how eager Ren was on sticking me with an arrow, I supposed.
“I did indeed,” Quinn replied, not hearing the elf prod me with her words. “Again, my apologies for being so forward.” He scratched at his eye-patch and then his view switched to just past us.
I raised an eyebrow and turned my head to see what had caught his eye. Oh. The mangled corpse of Rolo. Perhaps we should have done something with it, although hiding it sounded like it would make me feel more guilty, when currently I didn’t feel guilty at all.
“He was working with the Crimson Shadow,” I filled in the questions unspoken. “Was spying on us, which didn’t work out too well for him.”
Quinn whistled and stretched his back out. “Originally, I was going to ask to accompany you, but you can’t help but get in trouble, can you?” He raised an eyebrow.
Did we keep falling into bad times? Or was the world steeped in it and we were just trying to push through as nicely as possible? The truth was probably somewhere in the middle. We sought to remove the Lady who was trying to corrupt this world, and that involved stomping through the murkiest puddles around.
“We have a job to do,” Ren stepped in verbally. “And we are very efficient.”
“That you are.” He nodded slowly. “I will be forthright with my intentions then. Max, I seek to duel you.”
“Huh, why?” I furrowed my brow.
“For the hand of the fair maiden, Ren.” He gave her a brief bow before leveling an earnest gaze at me.
I removed my top hat and sighed. “Really? What kind of world do you even come from? I’m not sure we have the time for…” I paused as Ren put her hand on my arm.
“You don’t think I’m worth it, trickster?”
Her face was serious, but there was a twinkle in her eyes that said she was enjoying this way too much. My ego had been put on the line, and while I knew I had nothing to prove to the elf, I… had to make a good show of it? Even thinking that felt odd, despite it being something totally in my wheelhouse.
I turned back to Quinn and deflated. “Are you sure? After knowing who we are and what we’ve done? This isn’t to the death, is it?”
“Just until one of us yields and is the clear winner. And I cannot deny my heart’s intentions, even if you were the devil himself.”
My eyes found themselves rolling. How close to the truth he might be. Well, not that close - I shouldn’t prop myself up so high. I looked him over. In reasonable shape considering he was still recovering from his ordeal. Probably a few levels higher than me. A drive in his eyes that was foolish and misguided. Even if he won, Ren would sooner put an arrow through him than be won over.
But then, he wouldn’t win.
Even as I nodded my acceptance, I felt the warmth inside me drain away. My face sunk, the chill of what must be done ready to take the reins.
“Ten paces. The beautiful elf may count us down.”
He turned around, awaiting me to join him. Dagger to the back of his neck right now would be the easy answer. Our world was figuratively cut-throat when it wasn’t literal, and these sorts of games just made me feel ill. Like it was a mockery of what we had suffered through and overcome.
But I could only win by playing by the rules. Stepped up and put my back against his. Some of the humor had left Ren’s eyes after she had clocked my expression. A day with enough mania and turmoil, I should perhaps be eager for a little slice of life action. But part of me couldn’t accept it. Wolf looked vaguely interested in the strange ritual, perhaps a little disappointed the loser wouldn’t be filling his stomach.
“On three then.” She stepped further away to avoid our potential bullshit.
Quinn had a rapier now drawn, and an oddly shaped leather pouch on his hip, which screamed flintlock pistol to me - but I could just be buying into cliches.
“One, two, three.”
We moved, taking ten steps away from each other. My hat was still in my hands. All I needed, really.
Ten steps and I turned, throwing the hat as he raised his sword to deflect it - or what it might be harboring.
Confusion struck his face in seeing I was no longer there, right before my forehead then also struck his face. The invisibility canceled as I made the attack, hands in my pockets. He dropped back to the ground like a sack of bricks, his weapon falling to the grass as he grasped at himself.
“Fucking ass,” I removed a pocketed hand to clutch at my head. “Why is your nose so fucking hard?”
Ren stepped up to me and gave me a heal, the throbbing pain soothing away with warm comfort. “As much as I am pleased with the outcome,” she began, her eyes narrowing. “That was a little underwhelming.”
I shrugged and looked down at the sobbing Quinn as he clutched his bloodied and broken nose. Didn't really feel like smiling at what I had accomplished. Perhaps she was right. “I’ve got the rest of the day off. No autographs.”
The elf crossed her arms. “That's your one-liner? You need to stop hitting your head on things.”
As much as I would have liked to disagree, I couldn’t. The grip of cold within me faded away, and I sighed. Now I had to deal with the injured man. It was much easier when we only had to kill people. In saying that, however, it wasn't like Ren had healed him, either.
She moved away, as if she could read my thoughts, and crouched down beside Quinn. “Hey, dipshit. I’m not a trophy or possession to be won. Be thankful Max didn’t kill you, because I’m sure he will have no such reservation if you piss him off again.” She shook her head and then stood up. “And I’m not healing you. I hope your pain is fertile enough ground for the roots of humility to take hold.”
See, now that made the brief effort worth it. While she had become soft to me over time, I had almost forgotten the rose still had thorns for others.
“Come on, Max,” she said as she passed me, a slight smile at the corner of her mouth. “Let’s finish leveling up.”
Wolf nudged up beside me, my top hat held gently in his mouth. I gave him a brief bow as I retrieved it, noticing his forlorn look toward the injured man before he went to join Ren.
With a shake of my head, I withdrew a healing potion from my Inventory and threw it down on the grass beside him.
Better a humbled fan than a vengeful critic, after all.