~Aldwin~

Aldwin had stormed downstairs without a word, and poured himself a series of ales. Lining them up in front of him, he downed one after another. His frayed nerves calmed after about the fourth. The tremor in his hand rattled the tankard against the bar top, and even that eased after a couple more. Alfred had been far too stingy with the ale the past couple of days. While Alfred monitored him, he was allowing him to raid the ale supply with impunity.

He didn’t understand what was happening, and frankly, didn’t want to think about it. He was done helping. Screw Baherune. Screw NPCs. Screw it all. I’m done. It’s not my job any longer.

Afternoon turned into evening as Aldwin focused on forgetting, and a slight chill was in the air. This was not an unusual occurrence this close to the Emerald Spires, so Alfred had a small fire going in the hearth. Thorben had fallen back asleep after Aldwin dove into the tankard. Tanrin had dozed off in the chair next to him. His ingrained instincts warred with his ailing body until he could not resist falling into a healing slumber amidst strangers. Martha went about cleaning and preparing the evening meal, periodically checking in on her patient. Overall, it was a very peaceful evening further helping Aldwin to embrace the stupor he found himself in. His mind was foggy and semi-peaceful until the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs shattered it.

“It’s good to see you up and moving,” Alfred greeted Thorben. “Have a seat by the fire and I will grab you some food and a drink.”

“Thank you, Mr. Miller,” Thorben struggled to breathe evenly as he sank down into a chair. Tanrin had helped him down the stairs, but even with help, that trip seemed to have taken a lot more out of him than it should have. Aldwin glanced over and did his best to make his eyes focus.

I thought I told him to stay asleep. But nooooo, don’t bother listening to someone who is as close to a game master as it’s possible to be. Does he want to shatter his newly repaired soul permanently? Stupid kid. Does he not realize how damned lucky he was to wake up at all?! For fuck’s sake! If I hadn’t hoarded Grand Soul Stones my entire ridiculously long life, he would be a drooling invalid right now.

~Thorben~

What is wrong with me? That walk was only 30 paces, and I feel like I’ve been working the forge nonstop for days on end. Thorben closed his eyes to rest in front of the fire.

“Do you want anything?” Tanrin asked, concern clear in his voice.

“Just rest.”

The entire room turned to stare at Aldwin as he launched into a rant, as if he thought no one could hear him. “I thought I told him to stay asleep. But nooooo, don’t bother listening to someone who is as close to a game master as it’s possible to be. Does he want to shatter his repaired soul permanently? Stupid kid. Does he not realize how damned lucky he was to wake up at all?! For fuck’s sake! If I hadn’t hoarded Grand Soul Stones my entire ridiculously long life, he would be a drooling invalid right now.”

Thorben opened his eyes and looked over. What was a game master? This guy isn’t all home. After a moment of silent thought, he Thorben gave in to his sarcasm. “Sorry game master, I have no desire to shatter this soul thing you speak of. Would you be willing to explain to this stupid kid why he is so lucky not to be a drooling invalid?”

Aldwin turned to face Thorben with wide eyes. “No way! You have a mind reading skill at level 1?”

“Dammit Aldwin, Keep your hands off my ale tap,.” Alfred headed over towards the bar, shaking his head to mitigate any trouble that might arise.

“Mind reading skills? What are you talking about? Just how much ale have you had, you drunkard?” Tanrin asked.

“Yes, I do,” Thorben interjected with a pointed look towards his brother. “It is especially helpful for telling when someone is lying to me.” Despite his tiredness, Thorben knew an opportunity for answers had presented itself. He met his brother’s gaze before turning back to Aldwin. “Perhaps we might have an honest conversation, and while you talk, drinks are on me.”

A shooting pain ripped through his brain, right behind his eyes. He closed them. Words were visible, despite his eyes being closed.

Persuasion Skill (Lvl. 1) - Critical Success

“You’re alright Thorben, a good man… elf…, you know what I mean. I suppose it won’t hurt anything other than your extremely fragile mind, but booze speaks, my boy. Let’s talk.” Thorben couldn’t determine just how Aldwin was still speaking after consuming so much ale.

“Alright, let’s start with what a soul is and how mine shattered,” stated Thorben.

Aldwin laughed and slapped his knee. “Hell, we weren’t 100% sure what a soul was before I left the real world, but I’ll try to explain the concept.” He stumbled over from his stool at the bar and sat in the chair that had been intended for Tanrin. “Think of your soul as an invisible spirit, or energy, signature that is unique to you. This spirit contains everything that makes you an individual. Many believe that this part of you transcends individual lifetimes, or put simply it continues to exist after we die.”

“It continues to exist? How?” Asked Thorben.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“That is a point of contention throughout human history. People have waged wars over it. Some believe that we are in a cycle of continual rebirth, but with the catch being that our physical bodies are incapable of recalling information from our previous lives. Others believe that the spirit enters an alternate reality. This eternal reality can either be an unending paradise or endless suffering, depending on your religious beliefs or behavior while you are alive. Most agree that communication between our current reality and the afterlife isn’t possible. There are many other belief systems, and even people, that believe death is final and that the soul dissipates upon dying.”

Thorben held up his hand, pausing Aldwin. “Okay, so it seems safe to say that most people agree we have a soul, and some disagree on the afterlife. What is the soul’s purpose?”

Aldwin took another swig from his tankard and frowned. “Where’d my ale go?” He shrugged. “This takes us even deeper into the theoretical, as no one really knows. I’ve been here a lot of years, so I will explain my working theory to you.” He glanced around, waving his empty tankard in the air. Alfred ignored him, and he set it down with a sigh. “I believe the soul is eternal, and that it can both increase and decrease in potency, similar to an RPG character. I am certain that it houses our individuality, but I also think it stores and manages our potential. Basically, it is a tool for personal growth.”

Ignoring the examples he didn’t understand, he digested the knowledge to the best of his ability. “Okay, if they are eternal, then how did mine shatter?” Thorben asked.

“I think this ties back to the law of conservation of mass that some Russian scientist postulated.” Aldwin said, as if he’d just revealed the secret meaning of life.

“Ummm… okay. Let’s pretend I do not know what that means.” Thorben said, staring at Aldwin.

“Nothing can be truly destroyed or created. Things change. An example would be firewood. It changes form into heat, light, and ash when burned. While the wood has changed form, it remained undestroyed. I believe the soul is the same. It will continue to exist, but that form can change. Most often, that its form changes by strengthening or weakening, but with enough trauma, I believe it can shatter. Think of it like you would a mirror. If I threw a mirror on the ground, it would change from being one large piece to many smaller pieces, yet would remain a mirror. It would still exist but as fragments rather than as a whole. This is what I think happened to your soul.”

“So my soul is causing me to lose consciousness and see things?” Thorben asked.

“See, that’s the thing! You shouldn’t have a soul! NPCs don’t have souls!” Aldwin exclaimed. “You are a non-player character.”

Thorben and Aldwin talked deep into the night. The golden glow of evening faded from the windows, and the impenetrable darkness took its place. As if due to an unspoken agreement, no one intruded on their conversation, other than Martha refilling his herbal tea. It was a trial of patience for Thorben, as Aldwin sobered up, becoming increasingly exasperated and animated as he attempted to explain concepts that were completely foreign to Thorben. He ranted about basic high school education and struggled to find examples of concepts that Thorben had no frame of reference to comprehend. While frustrating for both of them, it was rewarding in knowledge. His view of the world had fundamentally shifted, and he knew that if it wasn’t for his recent brush with not only death, but the shattering of his soul, he wouldn’t believe a word of what he was hearing. Tanrin was going to get a kick out of this. He might take some convincing to buy into it.

Apparently, they all lived in a world that was created by humans, and only existed in what Aldwin referred to as a construct known as servers. He was a part of a simulated reality and wasn’t alive in the traditional sense, but was actually a collection of code created by a group of human workers on an advanced piece of technology called a computer. He existed in an artificial world created to be the next best thing in entertainment for an advanced society of people. When pressed on how a civilization could be so advanced as to create an alternate dimension, he had said that an A.I. had done most of the heavy lifting. Not knowing what it was, Thorben focused on what he found a bit more understandable.

“I hear you Aldwin, but let’s rewind for a second. Let’s ignore the part where you say that I am a toy for some wealthy people on another planet. How did my soul shatter if NPCs don’t have them? How am I seeing the things I am? How do you know all of this?”

“I don’t know. Describe for me what you have seen, and the experience of your soul shattering.” Aldwin said.

I spent the next hour detailing every vision, words and images. Martha had even brought some parchment and a charcoal stick at Aldwin’s request so that Thorben could sketch a few things that he remembered. I recalled every aspect I could from my recent episode, and even the words that appeared before me when he agreed to talk with me.

“You used a skill check on me!” Aldwin said in surprise. Alfred walked over with the first tankard of ale for Aldwin since they had started talking. Alfred’s timing was uncanny, as Aldwin was looking shaken. “You are describing the use of a HUD, the leveling up process, and literal scenes from reality!” Aldwin said after a deep draw from the tankard, and lapsed into an uneasy silence as he flipped through the sketches of something he had called the Statue of Liberty.

“I was a member of a small group of test subjects. We all suffered from a terminal illness or injury. A company, Liberty Gaming, was working on a joint project with a medical research and pharmaceutical company, Salvation Pharmaceutical, to develop a method of keeping people alive until science could discover a way to cure them.” Aldwin said, while staring into the glowing embers of the fire. “They figured out how to transfer our consciousness, or maybe even our soul, into what is an RPG game. RPG stands for role-playing game. Players, people in the real world, control the actions of a character in the game. While we were in the artificial character, they were then going to put our bodies into a stasis, a storage system that preserves them, with the goal being healing our bodies and then re-implanting our consciousness into our healed bodies as soon as possible.”

“The contract we signed was extensive, as was the non-disclosure agreement, but it was clear. It warned that the technology was experimental, and the results were not guaranteed. Best case projections were that they would port us into Baherune for anywhere between 5-20 years, and the experts thought that our exponential growth in technology and science would allow for medical treatment to heal us and allow for transition back to reality. When facing certain death, the warnings that this was experimental fell on deaf ears. So we all jumped at the chance to live.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Thorben said.

“Hmmphh… sounds that way, doesn’t it? There were 5 of us. The project required that we all be at or above the age of 25 since the human brain is fully developed at that age. When facing certain death, experimental is better than the alternative.” Aldwin continued. “We went through a tutorial together earth side where we learned about our HUD and other game information, and then ported in. That was over 2,000 years ago.”

Thorben’s jaw hit the floor!