{{Authors note: Have changed to Americanized English due to people claiming I am mispelling things like 'Armour' and 'Colour'
Also had a request to not break the paragraphs so frequently (make the paragraphs longer) so trying that in this chapter. Let me know what you think or if you noticed the difference }}
Chapter 9: Return of the Travelers.
Joe Heartless
Impatiently waiting for the Korean Clock to turn midnight, Joe continued browsing the forums. His fiance claimed she didn't know what the big deal was but he knew it was a lie. Aevitas had been going so well for him that it had become his second life and it was the same for her. That was before some idiot guy got himself trapped in the game though. When the game had closed, she was almost as devastated about losing her Dark Elf as he'd been about losing his Racian.
Back then, they were both planning to meet up in Anderon as soon as they were strong enough to leave their starting countries. The countries themselves were only half the problem though. Moving from city to city was dangerous in itself but the borders of countries were an entirely different kettle of fish. Monsters leveled up like people, so those far from civilization had stopped being the pathetic respawn level a long time ago. Killing and hunting each other in the wild had led to some crazy high level mobs and monsters.
With less than a minute left until midnight, Joe jumped into his dive unit. He was 90% sure where he was up to in the world of Aevitas, but he was not convinced. If he was right, he should be at the Harbor on the Northern coast - ready to sail to Magrathea. No Lemurian had stepped foot on a different continent in hundreds of years, but there was still charts showing the routes and a sailor had been willing to take him for the right price. He just had to hope the seafarer still remembered him and their deal. That's assuming the man was still alive though; the crook was known for the occasional piracy so there was a chance the man had died by now.
"Servers are now open." His unit called after almost two minutes of him waiting. The servers were not quite as punctual as he'd expected.
"Log in!"
Experiencing the half forgotten sleep inducing feeling that happened whenever he logged into the game, Joe smiled and drifted off. The smile only got larger as he looked at the familiar landscape he'd been missing the past few months. If compared to reality, it was probably similar to a fantasy setting version of medieval China. The housing, trees, rice fields, cherry blossom trees and pretty much everything he looked at made him think of China. The only thing he hadn't seen was a Panda, which spoiled it a bit because he knew they existed and he'd wanted to see one.
There were many differences really though. Almost every kind of animal imaginable lived in Lemuria in one place or another. Remembering the first time he'd seen a Rhino, he chuckled to himself. The crazy half blind animal had been tough as nails but an easy target for good experience.
"Open Advanced User Window"
Name: Joe Heartless
Level92Health: 1490/1490Rage: 0/2960Energy: 100/100Satiety: 55/100
TITLESIron Bull
the Unchained
Alpha
[td100]STATS[/tds]
Distributable Points0 (495 used)Health Points103Intelligence55Strength250Wisdom17Attack201Dexterity202Agility198Defence204Leadership101Piety35Charm57Charisma85???-Stamina219Nobility81???-???-Endurance198Speed33???-
[td100]Additional Information[/tds]
RaceRacian;GenderMaleAlignmentGood; Heroic;ClassBerserkerAffinityMurmedoore; Water; Air; BloodAllegianceEmperor Bastim of Lemuria
Professions [+Others+]
Fishing: Intermediate 1 (+102 Health Points)
Carpentry: Intermediate 7 (+114 Dexterity)
Lumberjack: Intermediate 12 (+62 Strength)
Miner: Intermediate 3 (+26 Strength; +26 Attack)
Blacksmith: Intermediate 7 (+57 Strength; +57 Defence)
Jeweller: Beginner 44 (+44 Intelligence)
++Others++
Linguistics Beginner 32
- Known Languages: Elven, Human [Racian]
Swimming: Beginner 35
Smiling at the familiar stat screen, Joe inspected all of his gear; making sure it was all as it should be and fully repaired.The armor along with both daggers, his axe, hammer, backpack, cape, helmet and shoes were all hard won; they were his pride. For his level, they were on the OP side but considering the effort to getting them, they almost seemed like a small compensation.
The journey so far hadn't been easy at all, and not just because his fiance was living as a Dark Elf half way around the world. He'd been tempted to follow the same path as everyone else and compete to be the best. Planning ahead was better though, so whilst they were all grabbing standard classes in the training halls; he was doing quests around town. Whilst they were hunting monsters in the forests, he was learning professions. Whilst they were running dungeons, he was doing basic training as if the world was real.
The training had probably paid off more than anything else. The bonuses from professions were great; especially the Fishing and Carpentry that offered his race double the normal gains. The training however was something else entirely. Even with his energy close to zero, he forced himself to get that one extra piece of ore whilst mining. With his weight limit maxed out, he forced himself to carry that one extra log when doing Lumberjack; and with his stamina close to depleted, he forced himself to ignore stat losses and finish his task. That's how he'd learned about gains from actual labor and developed his character.
Even using methods like pull ups on tree branches, Joe raised his stats as much as possible. He could remember being a little doubtful of his chosen path when people were hitting level 50 and he was still level 10. Then he heard the man boasting about his stats and he'd been forced to choke back a laugh. Level 10 Joe had almost equal stats to the level 50 man with affinity to a Rhino. His half form kind of reminded Joe of Bebop from the Ninja Turtles. The guy was a joker and a poser.
Happy with his choice and planned path, Joe worked like a madman to gain all the stats he could. Even when it seemed like his stats would no longer grow without level gains, he tried new things and worked all that much harder. Then came the quests that changed his plan completely. The quest had first been a fight tournament to find a champion. As he'd only been level 15 at the time, he had intended to go watch; he didn't think his low level would allow him to enter. When he found out he could enter, he did so instantly.
Without thinking he'd get very far, especially if he faced a level 60 player early on, he hoped to just test his own abilities. His affinity at the time was a Gorilla and his half-Gorilla form boosted his strength by 50. His first opponent had been a level 25 lizard-man-thing. He felt like King Kong against a Dinosaur. Needless to say, he slaughtered his opponent.
To his surprise, he gained experience for winning the fight. He'd rarely heard of PVP giving experience outside of bounties and it proved to be a nice boost to his level. As his opponent had been ten levels higher, the experience was increased by 50% and instantly put him to level 17. The fights continued like that until he reached level 41 and entered the quarter finals of the tournament. That's when he faced his first mage and was forced to use full Gorilla form. The Gorilla had high resilience to most magics due to it's thick skin and fur.
After struggling to get close to the mage for 4 long, arduous minutes, it took a small swat of his arm to stun the mage. Surprised by stunning his opponent, Joe took the opportunity to beat him senseless. When he thought about it afterward, he couldn't help but wonder how the mage had made it so far. The man had been his easiest opponent throughout the tournament once he reflected on it.
It wasn't until after the tournament Joe worked out why the mage had been so crappy. Not just the mage either, but almost all of his opponents. They were all using something called a system assist. He had used it to, but he thought it was just a way for the system to show you how its done. After that, he thought you were supposed to do it yourself, so that's what he did. His proficiency gains were amazing (in his opinion but not so much the opinions of other people). The mage with his system assist had been stuck casting during Joe's attack. Had he cast it himself without the system assist, he might've cast it quicker or been able to cancel the spell and dodge.
As far as Joe was concerned, it served him right for using system assist like a noob. The delay for using the system was hard to compensate for and it had given Joe all the time he needed to win the fight. The last two fights however had been incredibly difficult. A leopard woman whose agility, claws and fangs had him struggling to hold his own. It wasn't like she didn't use weapons and armor either; her daggers were laced with poison and there were spikes on various parts of her armor. Just grabbing her was causing him trouble. His lucky break had come when he stepped on her foot by pure accident. Her defense, it turned out, was seriously low. The damage hadn't been great but it gave her pause and that had been all he needed. One monstrous body blow later, the fight had been knocked out of her. Almost literally.
After eventually winning the tournament, he earned the title of 'Alpha' and went on to part two of the Quest. He was to lead a small force into a locked dungeon and wipe it out. The Emperor provided him with 30 of his elite soldiers and allowed him to take 4 more players. As the Elites had no healers among them, he took four Druids with him. Druids weren't the best healers, but their curses and buffs were amazing and their heals were good enough. The long line of people he'd turned down in favour of taking four mages had earned him plenty of enemies.
The dungeon alone had taken a full month of real time. The Druids had seen so much battle in there that were sick. The NPC troops weren't much better: The 5 Travelers they were accompanying would occasionally return to their home world and leave them hiding somewhere. Only Joe seemed to relish every battle. For the NPC's it had been 4 months of underground fighting before they met the dungeons boss. At the end of the final battle, a single druid, three elite soldiers and Joe were left alive. The boss had been a Giant Minotaur looking thing that refused to die.
The reward at the end had given him Nobility due to his intimacy with the Emperor -to whom he swore allegiance- and the ability to change his affinity to a Murmedoore. He had no idea what the hell a Murmedoore was but, surely the quest awarded appropriately and didn't just give him a random affinity...
With that thought in mind, he accepted to find out what the Murmedoore thing was.
Accepting the affinity change. Joe went to find a mirror and entered the full form of whatever the creature was. His full transform was very similar to a minotaur. probably the boss of the dungeon he completed.
His half-form was just less hairy and lacked hooves. His skin was red whilst his body was mostly hairless and there were crazy horns on his head. Thankfully, he didn't have a typical bull nose you would see on a minotaur. His half form was exactly like the boss of the dungeon. The one time only boss that would never respawn had given him a super rare affinity.
The title that came with the new affinity was 'the Unchained' and offered him the Berserker class if he wanted. After accepting the Berserker class, his 'Power' turned into Rage and many of his skills now needed Rage in order to be used.
Before Rage, Power was the warrior class version of Mana. It was Strength + Attack multiplied by 10 and then divided by 2. Level didn't play a part of it - as was the case with mana.
All skills cost a certain amount of Power and it worked almost identical to mana. The difference being that warriors didn't need high intelligence so Power was used instead. Rage however was brutally awesome. It started at zero and increased as the fight went on. Causing blood to spill on the battlefield increased rage further and even taking damage increased rage. A long drawn out battle could have Rage grow so fast that you never ran out.
The way rage was worked out was different too. 5 Rage per level, plus 10 rage per strength stat. The difference to his current stats would be 2255 Power instead of 2960 Rage.
Best of all was the Rage convergence to Energy. For exactly 50% of your rage maximum, your energy would return to full and you would be healed by 10%. If you let his rage hit 60%, Joe considered himself close to invincible. It wasn't just because of the energy refill and small heal either: When he hit 60% rage, he entered a bloodlust state which reduced all damage by 25% and increased all stats by 10%. That in turn raised his maximum Rage, increased the speed he gained rage and let him cast off even more skills.
The downfall to his affinity was the recoil from certain attacks which caused damage to himself. Comparing himself to those with affinity to a Bull (as they were the closest similarity he could find among other players) he asked what kind of armor they wore. Like in Joe's case, their charging attacks could cause heavy recoil damage - especially if countered. To reduce it, people wore leather under plated-armor and had their agility reduced by as much as half. The compensation being that they no longer suffered recoil and their defense was huge. Joe went the opposite way. He wore Agility enhancing armor that revealed a lot of flesh and let the armor increase his agility further.
The reason was actually quite sound. His charge attacks (with help from agility) did so much damage, he could plow through dozens of enemies and force his rage up at huge speeds. The recoil would do around 10% damage to his health on average; which proved to increase his rage even further. The health he lost in the attack he would regain with the rage transfer as soon as he entered bloodlust. His class was a monster!
As far as levels went, he was just short of the top 20. That didn't matter to him though, there was nobody he thought could defeat him in a duel - no matter what class. His stats were so far above the average, he wouldn't be surprised if he was actually the number one player in the game. There was one person he wanted to test himself against though. A human bounty hunter by the name of Calamity. A rumor online claimed her class was 'Enforcer' and it was super rare. They also said she'd named herself after Calamity Jane and she never lost a fight. She was ranked 3rd in the world and the number 1 Player vs Player fighter.
Who better to challenge and find out how powerful he really was?
"Joe?"
Turning as he adjusted the buckle on his armor, Joe shifted into his half form. He'd only been back minutes but people held grudges a long time. The transformation made the armor he'd adjusted feel tight, but it was a welcome feeling. The piece was a little weird really as it only covered both shoulders, arms and fists. It did cover a portion of his upper back too and the full length of his spine, but he couldn't see that part of the armor so it didn't count. It left his entire chest and abdomen exposed. Plenty of free movement though and the only metal armor that allowed agility gains. It also allowed him to fight without a shield. The armor did a good enough job on it's own if he simply stuck his arm in the way. He didn't fight just with that though, he had his Great-Axe or War-hammer as two optional primary weapons.
"Sorry, I have forgotten your name." Joe replied to the wolf wearing battle-armor.
As the wolf shifted into half form -which somehow transformed the armor to fit the werewolf like form- Joe felt a slight recognition.
"It's me, Braden. You helped me get stationed in the town guard two years ago."
"Ah! Braden. That was in the capital though; what are you doing way up here in the North?"
"Since all the Travelers left, things have changed. Pirates led by a small fat human started raiding our shores. There was also two dragon sightings. They haven't been seen near Lemuria in centuries yet there was two this past year. A lot of us have been stationed at harbor towns."
Looking out to the harbor, Joe asked Braden if Captain Lakefur was still sailing about the waters.
Scowling in response and obvious dislike, Braden told Joe that the man was in port right now. He'd refitted his ship for battle, but the man was as likely to attack merchants as he was Pirates. The man was making quite a name for himself - and a lot of money too.
Smiling, Joe went down to the harbor to remind the man of their deal and the price he'd paid in advance for the passage.
***
Tobi
Teeth chattering and shivering, Tobi tried to warm himself by the fire Selene was tending to. They had found Captain Braddock easily but the man refused to give them passage. He'd said he would only ferry people who were able to swim. After asking around, it turned out that all ship captains had the same rule. Selene had explained that many Travelers didn't change continents for that very reason. They all attempted to learn how to swim but usually drowned.
Tobi had scoffed at the Travelers and was more than happy to show off his swimming skills. Diving off the pier without a worry in the world, Tobi sank like a brick. He'd been under the water less than ten seconds before a blue bar appeared in his vision and started declining rapidly. Assuming it was an oxygen bar, Tobi waited until his feet touched the floor and jumped with all he could and tried to swim. He barely refilled his oxygen bar before he started sinking again. The process was repeated four times before he realized he was in a desperate struggle; he couldn't swim at all.
Trying not to panic, Tobi moved closer to the shore with each jump and frantic strokes of his arms. To make things worse, the cold water sapped some of his strength and his energy bar was decreasing rapidly. By the time he got to waist deep water, he barely had the energy to drag himself out of the water.
He'd been too cold and worn out to shout at Selene for not saving him. When he did regain enough energy, the fight had been taken from him and he could only ask her what was so funny; she'd been laughing non-stop and was still unable to answer due to her laughing. Short bursts of words like 'flapping' and 'fish' were all he could get out of her. That and some half-comical body motions and arm waving.
He knew one thing that would make her stop laughing though, so he pulled out the box holding his old Brooch from Ranall. As her face turned into a scowl instantly, Tobi opened it and looked inside. Vallen had told him that there were three magics attached to the item and he could only identify one: A tracking magic that was common forty-years earlier. People had it placed on valuable items to prevent thievery.
That was before a fake mage offered the service cheap though and didn't do the job at all. Instead, the man merely took note of the items they had. He would come back and steal them later. People were less trusting after that incident and the practice became half-forgotten.
Without being able to determine the other two magics, both Selene and Vallen had avised him to throw it away. Items could carry curses and all other manner of spells that you wouldn't want unleashed. Tobi refused and decided to keep it. To try and keep Tobi safe, Vallen gave him a special box to keep it inside. The box 'should' keep him safe from whatever magic was contained; including a block to the tracking magic. He was told not to take the Brooch out until he found a mage that may be able to discern what other magics were inside. A High Elf for example; or a Dark Elf if he felt brave.
Locking the Brooch back in his box, Tobi looked back to the sea. His small and petty vengeance on Selene for laughing at him left a bad taste in his mouth.
"I can't believe I didn't learn swimming after all that effort." Tobi mumbled to himself.
Selene sighed and nodded, "It was impossible to learn like that from the start. Many Travelers did the exact same thing, but they often didn't make it out again. I was ready to jump in at any time but the more I watched the funnier it became. I am sorry for laughing."
Tobi shrugged. He was more concerned about his clothes now that he was safe. He'd stupidly jumped in the water in his full mage robes. The set had been given to him as a farewell gift from the Novices.
They were mostly the Novices he played chess against in the morning. the ones he usually made breakfast for. Still, the robes were quite nice. Old-fashioned like what Vallen wore -but on the basic side.
The cloth clothing really didn't do much for defenses though and only the third piece gave him any stat bonuses. The clothes were currently drying on a line beside the fire and looked raggedy. He was still warming up whilst wrapped in a towel big enough to be a blanket.
"So how do I learn to swim?" Tobi asked trying not to look directly at Selene. She was far too pretty sat beside the fire as the sun set in the distance. She'd caught him looking at her too many times already. She was clearly enjoying the glances but that only unsettled him further.
"You can't learn by yourself. Well, you might be able to but it is a pain. When the sun is down and it is harder to see, I will help you."
"Why when the sun goes down?" Tobi asked confused. Surely it didn't need to be night time to learn to swim? That was be ridiculous.
"I don't have suitable clothing for swimming. I don't want people to see."
Imagining her in all manner of clothing, Tobi couldn't help but smile a little. As she blushed in response and looked away, Tobi felt like he'd scored a point. She hadn't blushed since they'd met in the church after he spoke with Selest, the mother of the Gods. She was far too proud to be shamed by her feelings and hid her embarrassment well.
Not sure whether he truly had feelings for her or not, Tobi pushed his idle thoughts aside. He didn't want to play with the girls emotions or hurt her. To distract himself, he decided to make a staff from a large piece of timber Selene had collected for the fire. He didn't know if there were any requirements, but singing it into the right shape might be enough.
Imagining what he wanted to make, Tobi chose a song so old he was surprised he remembered it at all. Applying his mana whilst he sang, Tobi got to work on the piece. It was only when he was half finished that he realized the wood was probably too short to be a staff. Shouldn't it be at least chest height?
"That sounded...different. Not like what the Bards sing."
"It sounds better with music, but I don't know how to play and we don't have any instruments." Tobi replied as his cheeks burned. He usually tried to do his Carpentry when alone. He was getting more confident these days, but only if he was crafting items.
"I liked it, could you sing another?"
Mildly happy, he agreed to sing another time. He wanted to learn to swim first and it would only get colder as the night went on. Selene wasn't so eager, but not due to the cold. The docks were still fairly busy and she didn't want to be seen by other people showing so much skin.
Taking her along the shore so they were far away from the docks, Tobi set up a new camp and hung the towel-blanket over a make-shift line for her to change behind. When she came back out, it took definite effort not to oggle her. The covering for her chest was cloth wrapped around like a bandage, whilst the lower half was wrapped in a towel-like sheet to hide whatever she was wearing underneath.
If compared to the average bikini, she was far more covered up than you'd normally see at a beach, yet the modesty shown by covering as best she could was so alluring, Tobi had to force his eyes away.
Figuring it would be better once they were in the water and most of their bodies moved out of sight, Tobi made a move toward the sea. When he made it to waist deep, he turned to see how far behind she was - only to find she was right behind him.
Her determined face froze the words he'd been about to say so he continued deeper until they were almost chest deep.
"Is this far enough?" Tobi asked.
Nodding but saying nothing, Selene took his hands and moved to face him, "Let the water take your weight and kick. I will keep you held up. Try to pushed me backward without paddling your arms."
Tobi nodded and did as he was told. After a few moments the cold of the water was forgotten. Instead, it was the depleting energy that annoyed him. All that stamina he worked to gain was useless in the cold sea.
You have gained 1 Endurance for resisting the cold water.
Oh. Well that is a welcome bonus.
Increasing his effort, Selene nodded and told him to stop. This time, she wanted him to fully submerge and try to swim under the water back toward the shore. Obliging her, he performed the task several times. He had to keep doing it until she was satisfied with his progress. As he knew how to swim [and yet couldn't] his actions were all done correctly, so Selene didn't need to correct his methods. She only had to give him lessons until he unlocked the ability. For his final task, she held his hands again.
Occasionally letting go of one hand, she told him to use the hand to stroke the water. After grabbing back onto her hand, he had to do the same with the other arm.
A few minutes later -when Tobi's energy was severely low and the cold had started to affect his stats- Selene told him to swim alone toward the shore. The difference compared to earlier was obvious, but it was still hard to keep his head above water. Calling him back, Selene held him up by his stomach whilst he performed the breast stroke. When she was confident he was ready, she let him go and watched as he swam toward the shore.
You have learned the Swimming Ability
Swimming Beginner level 1.
You can now hold your breath for a longer duration and stats will not be as heavily effected by water conditions.
See advanced window for more information.
Silently cheering but too tired to actually let out any sound, Tobi dragged himself back out of the water. Swimming in Aevitas was a joke. This was one skill you couldn't bring from the other world no matter how good a swimmer you might be. Wondering how many people had died without that knowledge, Tobi tried not to imagine what drowning was like.
Walking out of the water as if she'd done nothing more than a casual stroll on a Summers day, Selene pulled her towel wrappings back down around her legs. Tobi wasn't sure if she'd been showing off her legs on purpose or not, but he couldn't help wonder how she'd resisted the cold waters so well. It was only when she was about to walk behind the sheet to get changed that he realized; she hadn't resisted it well at all. Her hands and arms were shaking so bad he felt guilty.
Adding extra wood to the fire, Tobi let his under clothes dry without getting changed out of them. As soon as they were dry, he put his robes back on and set up their beds.
Sleeping on the beach without shelter wasn't really considered safe, but Tobi had been expecting to sail straight away; not need a place to spend the night. They could have just gone back to the mage guild, but after the grand farewell, that would have been too awkward.
"Are you OK, Selene?"
"Yes. Just deciding what to wear. I don't want to wear my robes for sleeping in and I also don't want to wear my usual...night clothes."
Ignoring all mental images, Tobi added another half yard between their two beds beside the fire.
The beds were actually little more than yoga-mats acting as roll-up futons. He also had custom made sleeping bags he altered himself to include pillows at the head end. Making both beds ready for sleeping in, Tobi stoked the fire and waited for Selene.
As Selene took down the sheet she'd changed behind and wrapped it around herself, Tobi once again ignored thoughts of what she might be wearing. Instead, he lay on his back and looked up to the stars.
"Selene, have you prayed since leaving the monastery-church place?"
"No. I don't know how I can when whoever I pray to first will affect your standing with them all."
Tobi nodded, "Maybe it's time to start my lessons. We can't have you going the rest of your life as a Priestess that never prays."
Selene nodded as she kicked the bed roll closer to Tobi's before sitting on it. The sheet slipped a little over one shoulder; just enough to play with Tobi's imagination. Keeping his eyes fixed on the strange constellations above, Tobi asked her to start with the Unholy Gods.
***
Bastion
Wasting no time after logging in, Bastion headed straight for the Hall of Architecture. In simple terms; it was where builders went to design and plan the development of the city by order of the King. He'd been on a quest to rebuild the church when the servers were shut and he didn't know how things had turned out. Everything was virtually completed when the servers closed - he had NPC builders doing the final touches.
He was sure everything ended well, but he'd never been able to finish the quest and claim the rewards.
"Bastion!" A man called the moment he opened the doors.
"Gaston. I am sorry about disappearing..."
"Don't worry about it." Gaston interrupted with a smile. The old man was still wearing the familiar brown apron over casual clothes common among the builders, "We already know the story. A Prophet to the South foretold of Travelers leaving. He also foretold of your return. We knew you would be back."
"Really?"
Intrigued, Bastion asked the man to tell the story about the Prophet but he didn't let the business about the church leave his mind.
"Gods Chosen? Does he not have a name?" Bastion asked.
"He has many but the rumors are still new and a little bizarre. Some say he is a baker, some say he is an inventor - others say he is the World Chess Champion. Whatever the case, it is mostly believed that his name is Tobi."
Nodding at the name he'd read online, Bastion wondered if it was indeed the - "World Chess Champion? This world has chess?"
"Indeed. Tobi of Brackley invented it. If that is the same Tobi that is Gods Chosen though, we have not confirmed. Some Priests have headed to Cohol to find out."
"Why Cohol if the man is from Brackley?"
After the man finished telling him all the gossip he had, Bastion decided there was three Tobi's and they were all interesting. The inventor of Chess was probably the one from his world, the world chess Champion was probably just an NPC mage with the same or similar name. Mage's were incredibly intelligent, so beating them at Chess would be like beating a real World Chess Champion. As for Gods Chosen, that was probably some event to do with the return of players initiated by Skea-Tech. Either way, it had nothing to do with him. That stuff was for adventurers. Bastion was a Mason and had next to no battle abilities.
Asking about the church quest, Bastion hoped that his reward was still available.
"Oh yes. The church was quite pleased. They agreed to your name too; The Temple of Camlann. They don't understand why you designed it in such a way, but many people have been visiting the capital to see the building and worship the gods here. There was even a Pilgrimage to visit your temple during harvest season. The King is very pleased with the Capital and Revenue your building has brought to the city."
Bastion had secretly half stolen the design from Mount Olympous from the real world. Using sculpted white marble for the base, he designed a classic religious type temple on top a base of clouds. Truly it looked like it was the home of a God on top of a cloud; only it was built on the ground rather than in the sky. Bastion had heard that a man had once built a bridge out of air and people were able to walk on it. Unfortunately it was also invisible so when part of it broke, nobody knew and people fell to their death. Just the same, Bastion's dream was to do something just as amazing.
Quest Complete: House of Twelve.Your building has been accepted by the Gods and the People. The faith could not be happier.
News of your building has already reached all corners of Anderon.
+2,000 Masonry Experience
Your Masonry has leveled up to Advanced 1.
You are now considered a builder of great renown; even Dwarves will recognize your skill.
You have unlocked affinity with Earth.
To learn how this benefits you, seek out a Dwarven Mason to teach you new skills.
If you seek out one of the 12 Popes of Anderon, you will receive a monetary reward and perhaps a second commission.
For reaching Advanced Mason, you can now perform perfect repairs on structures falling into ruin. The level of damage will determine what and how many materials are needed for the repair. Manual repairs will change the quality of the repair. System assist at Advanced 1 will guarantee almost perfect repairs.
See Advanced Window for more information.
"Awesome, I just reached Advanced Masonry."
Proudly grabbing Bastion by both shoulders, Gaston gave his biggest and brightest smile; "I knew you could do it. I have missed you so much. Now you have reached advanced, I have a special mission for you. Would you like to hear it?"
Bastion nodded. If he had to walk into hell itself, he would never turn down a quest by Gaston. He didn't tell people of the real world -not that he had anyone to actually tell- but Bastion actually thought of Gaston as his father. He'd never known his real dad and his mother was always working. In school he was bullied, on the street he was bullied and life in general was pointless and crap. Only here in Aevitas did he have somewhere he belonged. Only here did he have friends, a family and a life.
"What is it? You can count on me Gaston."
"I knew I could, Son. Come with me...I am so glad you're back home."
***
Tobi
Unable to get any proper sleep due to Selene sleeping so close by (and the fact that they were outdoors where he considered it dangerous), Tobi eventually gave up on trying to sleep at all. He'd decided to get an early start on making breakfast instead and moved to get up.
Spotting 3 pairs of eyes looking at him across the fire, Tobi's heart jumped and he froze. Squinting past the light of the flame, Tobi lifted himself up on to his elbows. He thought he might be seeing things and tried to get a better look.
The three figures were almost entirely transparent. They were little more than darker shades of night with billowing, black, raggedy cloaks and sunken faces. The eyes appeared to be the only indication of life within the spectral beings.
Still curious as to whether or not he was seeing things, Tobi sat up and wondered if he should say hello or grab Selene and run away. His heart was still hammering but it was starting to calm down. Noting how their hands hovered close to the fire, it was as if the 'beings' were just trying to get warm.
"Hello...?" Tobi called in little more than a whisper.
The three figures turned almost completely invisible. He could just about see the thin outline of their bodies and almost discern their eyes.
"Sorry but...I can still see you. You're still there, just less visible."
The three figures looked at each other and appeared to be talking. Tobi couldn't hear anything though so just waited to see the outcome and hoped for the best. If they turned out to be dangerous or enemies, he doubted he could do much to fight against them. How do you hurt a ghost in the first place? As the one furthest from Tobi turned back to the darkened form easy to see, Tobi said hello again.
"Good morrow." The figure replied in a raspy voice, "We apologize for stealing your fires warmth; it is just hard to find heat when the sky-fire sleeps."
"Sky fire? The sun? And don't mind it, we are happy to share our fire." At the same time as responding, Tobi noticed how true the words were the spirit thing had spoken. The fire was no longer giving off any heat at all. As far as looks went, there was no difference. In need of a few more logs maybe. As for heat, there was none. He almost felt that he wouldn't be burned if he stuck his hand inside the flames- not that he would try it like.
"Yes the sky fire. Without it, the cold causes us pains."
"Ghosts that hate cold? That's certainly original. What are you guys anyway?"
The other two beings came into view as they considered his question, "We have never named ourselves but named by others we are."
Waiting for them to expand on their answer, it was almost with amusement that Tobi realized they had said all they planned to say. "So what do people of Anderon call you?"
"They never call us. They have forgotten us."
"No..." Tobi replied, "what names do they know you by. Or what names did they know you by. I am human, what are you? Understand?"
"We have never named ourselves." They repeated in unison.
Hearing a small giggle from nearby, Tobi thought Selene had woken up and looked in her direction. When she told an unseen person not to do that in public, he turned his attention back to the spirits.
"Are you spirits?"
"Spirits we have been known by. We have also been known as: Penance; Demons; Ghosts; Apparitions; God Whisperers; Wind Walkers; Nightingales; Harbingers; Omens; Oracles; Heralds; Doomsayers; Gossips..." The list went on but they were speaking without breath and the words were being said faster and faster. Before Tobi realized it, they were speaking so fast it couldn't even considered a mumble anymore. It was pretty close to how he'd imagine a Banshee scream to sound (if it wasn't for the fact they were doing it no louder than a whisper).
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Enough!" Tobi snapped.
The three spirits ended their ceaseless chatter instantly. There was no emotional response. Just calm silence as they looked at Tobi.
"Is there any name you have been known by that you like?"
Whispering among themselves, the three spirits seemed to come to an agreement. "Perudious. So named by the Mother; recently named Selest by a child of the Gods."
"Selest gave you your species name?" Tobi asked wondering how many species she'd named. Humans, Dwarves, Mermaids, Dragons and the like are human terms so they weren't by her. Malanchuit could have been named by her though. He'd never heard such a strange word in all his life.
"She did."
Realizing once more that they didn't plan on expanding any further on their answer, Tobi asked what they were exactly. He didn't expect an answer, but he hoped he phrased the question well enough for them to understand.
"We are protectors. We had no purpose and only existed. We watched and listened as the world grew. Nothing else. When one of the old Gods asked us to do a task, we accepted. We had nothing else to do and watching the world rip itself apart in wars and greed had become very boring. He gave us the task of protecting campers that were not stained."
"Stained by what?" Tobi asked looking at the mud stains on his sleeping bag.
"Innocent blood. None ask for our protection in Anderon anymore. This is our first time granting protection in this land since before the fall."
"Fall?"
All three spirits nodded but said nothing.
"Then, you protected us through the night?"
The spirits -Perudious- nodded again.
"Then I thank you for watching over us." Tobi said at last. All three spirits bowed their heads and disappeared.
Bemused, Tobi looked around the area but they'd disappeared without a trace. He hadn't meant for them to leave; he hadn't yet asked them how they protect innocent campers or how campers can call on them for protection. He wanted to ask them so much more, including which God tasked them with protecting campers. That God might be worth Selene's first prayer as a Priestess.
Finally giving up, Tobi dug around in his 'Mary Poppins' bag for his supplies. The bag had been one he purchased himself after the chess tournament. The Gold he earned from the tournamanet had been 25 Silver per entrant and a cut of profits made from the various stalls of the festival. In short, it had been a lot. More than enough compensation for the original chess set; and more than enough to pay 450Gold for the best bag available in all of Cohol.
Tobi wasn't sure how inventories worked exactly, but his bag had a weight limit of 1,000kg. Even though he could never lift that much, it was impossible to believe such a weight could fit in his bag in the first place. That was until he found out how truly 'fantastic' Tailoring could become. Combining Mastered Enchanter with Mastered Tailor and Earth magic; the tailors had invented a bag that reduced any item to the size of a marble and reduced it's weight to that of 1kg. Truly amazing. The only catch was that the item had to fully fit into the bag before it could be shrunk. It would only return to it's real size when it was fully taken out again.
The downside was that it worked the opposite way too. If you put something small and light inside, it would grow to the size of a marble and increase it's weight to 1kg. Even a Grain of sand. The man had made a point of it by dropping in a handful of dirt. They spent so long trying to clean it out again that Tobi ended up buying an identical bag rather than one that weighed unknown tons.
The other problem was finding items. The bag was a complete mess.
Because he didn't want marble-sized steaks rolling around with equally small planks of wood, nails, logs, clothes, linen and anything else he had in there. He'd made boxes and all other manner of things to keep the items separated. The boxes proved to give an added bonus too that even the tailor hadn't known about. Items inside the box shrank along with the box, but it was the collective weight that was registered. Not each individual nail. thanks to that, he had a box of 100 nails that weighed 1kg instead of 100kg. As clever as he thought he was at the time - he'd forgotten to give them markings to distinguish one box from another. The beach was soon littered with boxes containing all manner of items.
He currently had fifty boxes of different sizes and weight. When in his bag, it was 50kg, but outside his bag, he'd have never been able to carry half of it.
When at last he found the items he wanted, he began the long process of packing it all away again. He'd barely finished when Selene woke up with the craziest bed-hair he'd ever seen.
***
Graham / Gilgamesh
Logging back into Aevitas for the first time in months, Gilgamesh [real name Graham] was glad to see that nothing had changed in his little hiding hole. Good thing too, as it could have undone all his hard work. How typical it would have been for something outside his control to ruin all his plans.
In the real world he was short, stumpy, full of achne and bullied habitually. The only people who didn't bully him were the schools elite five. Too good for anyone but each other. Idolized by all, they lived a cushy life and walked by (doing nothing) whilst he was beat up at the sidelines. They may have never done anything to him directly, but flat out pretending he didn't exist was worse than anything else. He hated the lot of them.
That's why Aevitas was so special though. In this world, it didn't matter if you were short and stumpy. Dwarves were proof of that and that's why he'd chosen to be one: Along with the fact that his entire class was choosing human in Anderon, Dwarf made perfect sense.
His class heard a rumor that 'The Five were choosing human and would be found in Deniya. Obviously their 'fans' were going to follow them.
Without directly asking anyone, he made sure to find out their game names. Typically, the vanity of the girls had them choose their real names. The boys however changed their names. Chase, Richman, Veronika, Claire and Sophie. He'd definitely ruin their Aevitas lives some day. First though, he had to finish up his plans in Irtun and sail to Humming Mountain.
His plans were constantly held up however due to his double life. In the cities, he was recognized as 'Gilgamesh, the Holy Paladin'. Deep in the mines where there were battles against strange creatures, he was 'Daldrock the Dark'; a Player Killer so infamous, they tried to hire Gilgamesh to hunt him down and kill him.
The double life had been great until that point, but he'd been labelled a coward for not hunting down the dark skinned murderer. But how could he, when he was that very same murderer?
His affinity was originally Earth, as is common with Dwarves. Due to Dwarves having terrible magical abilities and their mana working differently to other races, almost all dwarves were Warrior types. Some were the half warrior classes like Rogues, but the majority were Paladin types. Hammer and Shield, Axe and Shield, etc. Then came Gilgamesh, proud warrior intent on freeing the Dwarves from the endless war against the Trimera. After that, Dwarves would rise from their mines once more and claim the land taken by humans.
In reality, he wanted to learn all he could and gather an army behind him. Aevitas promised that anything would be possible. That would include getting a Nation of Dwarves behind you to wage war on humans, right? That would include vengeance on class-mates that bullied you...right?!
With that in mind, he'd set off on a path of glory and fame. Then came the quest to clean out a Trimera stronghold known as 'The Heart Gate'. Formerly a hold belonging to the Dwarves but became overrun a few hundred years earlier. On the brink of death and quest about to fail, a strange 3-eyed cyclops (a triclops?) wearing a red robe stopped the ugly goblin from decapitating him.
Curious, Gilgamesh asked him what he was waiting for and vowed to return again.
"I know you will return," the Triclops had said, "that is why I spare you now. Why do you Travelers involve yourselves in the affairs of this world? Who called you here? What is it you want?"
Gilgamesh had thought about it for a long time. Eventually, he admitted that he didn't care about the Dwarves. He wanted revenge on people from his own world. In his own world, he would not be able to get the power he required to get his vengeance, but in this world he could. He doubted the Triclops would understand.
"Then do not work for the Dwarves and I will give you the power you require. Help us eradicate the Dwarves and we will help you claim vengeance on your enemies."
That had been the start of his new path. By putting on an item they had given him; his skin turned dark, his eyes turned red and a new identity was given: Daldrock the fallen. With the ability to switch from one to the other, Gilgamesh started playing both sides of the fence. His loyalty was with the Trimera, but he played his role perfectly and kept up appearances. The Triclops even informed him of deliberately placed patrols for him to go and kill - usually deserters and cowards, but a good show for the Dwarves just the same.
As Gilgamesh, he informed Dwarves of Patrols and Trimeran movement. He would form a party and slaughter them all. As Daldrock, he would operate alone and wipe out player after player. He would sometimes even call on the help of Trimeran's or the Triclops themselves. Best of all, the punishment for player killing stacked on Daldrock, whilst the rewards of being a hero were given to Gilgamesh. In what other world could you do that?
He didn't get much experience for player killing, but the experience for killing Bounty Hunters was great. Anybody he killed that was carrying a reward notice would give him 50% extra experience and three times the loot drop. It was crazy and the profit was amazing. The downside was that Daldrock got peanuts for selling items. Gilgamesh on the other hand couldn't sell them because the items were 'hot' (stolen by a player killer).
With a secret tunnel mined out and sealed, Gilgamesh hoarded his treasure and waited for the items to be forgotten and become sellable. As Gilgamesh, he would rake in a fortune.
Things were going too slow though. He'd realized too late that the war between Dwarves and Trimera were part of the game system and mechanics. To alter the present stalemate, a special event had to be activated. He'd never have the Trimera, Triclops, Goblins -or any of the other races involved- on his side. He needed to think of a different plan or find out how to activate the event. There was probably a quest line that would eventually be started but it was impossible to know how to get it going.
He needed a change of plan. He'd just about thought of one worth trying when the servers shut.
It was time for Gilgamesh to head to Anderon.
***
Selene
Waking up to see Tobi first thing in the morning was like a dream come true. How many times had she fantasized about that very thing? Of course, the fantasy had usually been in a nice cottage somewhere and not on a beach, but she wasn't going to curse fortune for minor alterations.
Hiding behind her covers with a smile as he started emptying his backpack, she thought back to the first time she'd seen him. It had been a time when the Priests of Brackley had fallen out with many of the Travelers. Of course, as an Acolyte, she wasn't entitled to know the finer details, but she'd learned enough to know that they couldn't be trusted.
The head Priestess had given her a stern warning too: "If you think life was bad before you joined the faith, you should see what life can be like now. The second great war will be coming thanks to these Travelers. Mark my words."
At the time she could only imagine horrors. Her life before she joined the church was a stuff of nightmares. Imagining how much worse things had become scared her to even imagine. Her oldest memory was age six when she watched two men from Lybernia kill her parents in cold blood. After looting their corpses, they threw her in a sack for the slave trade back in their home country. Later she thought she was to be rescued by a Knight, but the man turned out to be part of their armed escort back to the border.
After being sold to a slave trader and then to a Lybernian family, she'd been worked and beaten daily. At age eight she'd tried to flee and return to Anderon. She didn't know what for but her life back in Deniya had been nice before the slavers came. Perhaps she'd been hoping for that life again - what little of it she could remember. Instead, she'd somehow managed to find herself hiding in some beasts cave. Thanks to her tiny body, she'd been able to slip into a crevice and get out of the creature's reach.
With no other way out, she'd been stuck in there for two days.
The strange beast had left on the third day; probably to hunt after being unable to grab the trapped orphan girl. She made her escape from the cave and ran. She hoped her direction was west but couldn't be sure and eventually found her way to a wood.
Had she known then what wood it was, she would have never entered. She might've even preferred to go back to her Masters in Lybernia.
Whispering Wood, home to the Dark Elves and every beast a nightmare had even invented.
Starved, thirsty and half dead, the girl entered the wood and foraged for berries. She woke some time later with a high fever and locked in a cage. The floor was hard and had some kind of hay scattered around. More cages were all around, above and below her; each filled with one animal or another.
As a Dark Elf approached, her hope flared briefly. That was when she discovered what the cages were. They were holding pens for food. The Elf took some strange chicken looking creature out of a cage and started to prepare it for eating. The chicken was almost as big as her and it was easy to guess that she was on the menu too.
Truly, she thought that was the end for her. Nobody would come rescue her and she'd eventually become dinner for the Dark Elves.
Being fed and watered every second day by the Dark Elves, she'd eaten and drank whatever she was given. She knew they were just keeping her alive and stopping her from wasting away, but she couldn't lose hope that she'd somehow make it out. That's when more Elves came, but these ones weren't Dark skinned or tall. They were smaller than even she had been and wore bark and leaves for clothes. Their skin was varying shades of red and brown whilst their hair was every color imaginable.
Creeping into the camp, about two dozen leaped onto the cages and started opening them all. Hearing the ruckus, Dark Elves came over to see what was going on. The Dark Elves were riddled with arrows and blast with spells before they could even get a good look at the scene. Then came the return fire from unknown dark spots in the forest. She couldn't keep up with everything that was happening: Strange lights, flying arrows, a wood that was dark even during the daytime... chaos.
As soon as her cage opened, she fled. No time for messing around - she ran for all she was worth with no direction in mind. Waking up in a river bank, she figured she'd passed out. Drinking as much water as her shrunken stomach would allow, she followed the streams and rivers in hope they would eventually lead her out of the forest. By following streams, she could at least be sure she wasn't walking around in circles.
Back in Lybernia after days of travel, she was recaptured and sold to a perverted old man. Thankfully the caravan never made it to his compound; the place where he could enact all the terrible things he had described. At least, she would have been thankful if it wasn't due to a bunch of creatures attacking them.
"Trogs" a guard had called the creatures. As soon as her new Master heard the word, he started throwing slaves off the cart and tried to make a get-away. Only she had been spared his sacrifice; the other slaves were being eaten alive at the side of the road in agonizing screams. The man didn't even wait for his guard who were trying to fight them off. With none but her chained beside him, he whipped the horses until they bled and raced away.
The excitement must have been too much because the man keeled over clutching his chest not two-hundred yards down the road. The horses were still racing uncontrolled as she tried to slip the keys from his belt. The grotesque, fat man couldn't even gather the strength to prevent her - try as he might. Unlocking her chains, she pulled on the reigns and slowed the horses. Nudging the man off the seat with all she could, she watched as he tumbled to the road.
Riding away to some distance, she watched as more Trog-things broke from their group and ran toward the man clutching his chest and wheezing for air. They didn't start eating him though; they tied him up and dragged him away. Pleased that the man would be killed and eaten at some point, she cut the cart loose and rode away with both horses.
Things didn't end there. Her road was not a pleasant one. That was the end of the worst though and things did start to get better. She met a man from Anderon who was in the trading business. Unlike the man that bought her last, the man she met didn't seem to want to do anything weird to her. He ran a family business and handled their trade in Lybernia. He didn't trust these strange folk with the life of his wife, so she was left to run things in Anderon.
They were in the cloth business and traded material back and forth for profits. As the man had correctly guessed at her being an escaped slave; he refused to help her escape. Instead, he kept her hidden for three years and then introduced her as his daughter. That's when they put her on a boat to Cohol. After stopping there to resupply, she was to stay with the crew and sail round the coast to Corvon. That's where she would meet up with her foster mother and ride north to Corzone; her new home.
Everything went well until the ride to Corzone. They'd been fiddling their books apparently and some guards had arrested them both. When they discovered she was an escaped slave the pair had rescued, they turned her over to the church. Age fifteen, she became an Acolyte and things got much better. She was still treated like a slave in some respects, but so were all other Acolytes. She'd be treated with due respect and care when she became a Priestess.
Then came Tobi two years later: A dark haired youth sat in the church garden without a care in the world. She didn't know what drew her eyes to him exactly, but when she looked, she didn't want to look away again. As she'd been on an errand for one of the few Priests that didn't look at her like a piece of meat, she pushed her thoughts aside and set off on her duties.
Her mind stayed with Tobi for the full duration of her errand. She knew he was probably a Traveler but that didn't seem to matter. She just wanted to look at him again, that's all. Nothing sinister or anything, just a quick look.
To her surprise, he was still sat there when she returned. She hadn't exactly rushed her errand either; it probably took twice the usual time because she'd spent so much of it wandering around (thinking about him).
As he hadn't moved, she couldn't see his face -but she really wanted to. Walking past the church gate, she peered at him over the small fence. She tried to do it subtly at first so he wouldn't noticed, but he didn't even shift under her gaze so she took a better look. He just stared into space without even noticing her.
On her second passing back toward the gate, she stared at him properly without restraint.
He was definitely her type; even if she hadn't known she had a type until that very moment.
Again he didn't notice her.
Going inside the church, she put her basket of cakes, bread and other groceries inside the church foyer. Intent on saying hello to the man in the garden, she made her way over to him as casually as she could. After losing her nerve at the last moment, she turned tail and tried to think of a good reason to start up conversation.
Deciding to tell him that the garden was off limits and you weren't supposed to sit on it, her plan of attack was made. She knew it was wrong to lie but she couldn't think of any better way to start a conversation.
Two failed attempts later, she stood close to the door and tried to build up her confidence. She'd been about as prepared as she could get when a weird man (wearing the craziest yellow clothes she'd ever seen) approached. Seconds later, the pair left without noticing her at all.
Watching him until he was gone from sight, she sighed and returned to her basket of groceries.
Her first dream of him came that very night.
...
A few days later, the church was abuzz with life as five 'heroes' from Deniya arrived. Two of them were Clerics and all five were on a quest for the King. They were being given the royal treatment and she'd been assigned to escort the one they named 'Claire'.
She didn't much like nor trust Travelers but as soon as she seen Claire; she had to question her sexuality. The most beautiful girl she'd ever laid eyes on smiled and greeted her. Her companions were no less attractive either - if that was possible.
They all appeared to be around fifteen -two years younger than herself- but denying their looks despite the age was impossible.
The girls made her feel as though she was actually lacking, which wasn't an easy achievement: She knew full well how good looking she was. She may have been a bit young looking and on the slim side, but definitely a looker. A wink at any man in town would prove that.
The boys too were pleasing to look at. She couldn't help but mentally compare them to man she'd seen outside days earlier. As the man outside had been immortalized in her mind, the two boys fell short but only by a very small margin.
Claire on the other hand blew her mind. Everything she thought she knew or believed about Travelers was washed away. The girl treated her like a friend or big sister. Not once did the beautiful blonde act anything less than perfect. As their day together went on, they even started acting as though they'd been friends for years. It was the most peculiar day of her life so far.
When Claire even went as far as confessing a secret -that she had a crush on the dark haired boy named Richman- she really felt that the girl was genuinely that loveable: That her personality wasn't an act and she really was the 'hug me' little sister every girl dreamed about having. She had to forcefully resist the urge to hug Claire several times.
The confession was to be kept a strict secret that even the other girls weren't allowed to know. They had been friends many years and things could get awkward if people found out. Other secrets and information was shared too, like: Back in their home world, the dark-haired boy wasn't even called Richman.
It was all very bizarre.
Everything had been so fascinating, she wanted to know more. Then Claire asked if she had anyone she liked. Her hesitation had barely lasted half a moment, but Claire instantly jumped on that moment and asked who it was. Unable to hide it, she told of the boy -man- from the garden. She thought his name might be Misterobi, because the yellow clothed man had said that word first when they met outside. The girl had laughed and asked if the yellow clothed person hadn't said 'Mister Obi.'
Thinking about it, that would make more sense. She couldn't be sure as she'd barely heard anything they said at all.
Claire, determined to help out her new sister, offered to find out who he was and where he lived. A little excited, she agreed - but told Claire to keep it a secret from the Priests and Priestesses.
Claire shown up the next day with news. His name was Tobi and lived in the Plucked Duck. Claire wasn't sure if the man was a Traveler or not either; he seemed to actually live at the scruffy inn.
Together, they had gone to the inn to try and spy on him a little. She'd been nervous that Tobi would spot Claire and be smitten, but the great idiot didn't pay any of them attention at all. He looked at them, asked what they wanted, charged them and moved on. He was totally immune to even Claire.
"I admit, that might be the first time a guy has ever reacted to me like that." Claire had mused aloud.
Dismissing Claire's comment, she asked how to get the guys attention. She had no experience in relationships and had never liked anybody before. Claire had no idea either. With the exception of Chase and Richman, she only had to look at a guy to have him fawn over her - it was really troublesome and scary; especially when guys didn't understand words like 'no'. Tobi was actually interesting to Claire for being different.
Unable to see how she could get Tobi's attention, she decided to stop obsessing over him. That didn't stop her from making two more visits the next day though. Even if she gave up on him, she could still look at him.
After Claire and her companions left for Camlann the next day, she'd been told to attend to two Priests and a Priestess who were going out on errands. She didn't want to, but it was part of her duties and didn't really have much choice.
The three she was attending to were the most disliked in the church. All three followed Unholy Gods and seemed to hate the world. She didn't understand it really, even the Unholy weren't malicious. Just honest with their true natures.
They were busy talking about how much they hated Travelers (despite how much they'd been sucking up to Claire and her companions all week) when Tobi suddenly appeared. He told them not to worry about Travelers, the Gods will be sending them back to their home world.
The Priests didn't believe him, but the Priestess said nothing and watched Tobi walk away as casually as he'd approached them. Believing Tobi instantly, her heart went out to Claire who'd become like a sister to her. It was saddening to think that Claire wouldn't be in the world anymore. She would miss her.
Her visits to Tobi after that had been weekly. She would have visited him daily if she could but her duties prevented it.
After buying food from him a few times, she built up her courage and attempted a few probing questions. Somehow, he always deflected them. She even took her most daring and direct approach when he bought the bakery, asking: "Your wife finally making you get a proper place to live?"
His response gave no more information than all the other probing questions. Worst of all, he didn't even seem to be doing it on purpose; 'Just a temporary place really.'
She refused to give up until she knew he'd been claimed. She wasn't sure when she'd made that resolution, but there it was. Then she found out the church were spying on him - partly because they started asking her questions about him. When they realized she actually liked him, they sent her off to Cohol.
Liking someone wasn't an issue. Even doing whatever you liked with that person wasn't really an issue.
(Depending which God you followed, certain questionable acts weren't even surprising. They were almost expected.)
Yet she wasn't allowed near Tobi? It made no sense at all. The Priestess clearly knew something she didn't and Tobi was off limits. To make that doubly clear, they sent her to Cohol that very night without letting her see him at all.
Cohol had been great but she still thought of Tobi often. When Tobi actually shown up months later (as amazing and handsome as ever), she couldn't believe her eyes. How many nights had she sat up dreaming about him or looking at the stars and wondering if he was looking at them too? How many days did she spend sweeping the same spot over and over with her thoughts filled by him? And there he was with Priests bowing behind him.
And now here he was: Packing away boxes into his backpack. No girlfriend, no wife, not a Traveler and not an enemy of the church. Could life get any better?
"Good morning handsome."
***
Tobi
"Morning to you too," Tobi smiled as he pulled a piece of ham from the box. He'd pre-prepared it to slices that could be used as a bacon replacement.
"What's the plan for today?"
Thinking about it, he wasn't too sure. Captain Braddock wasn't due to set sail until tomorrow, which left them a full day with nothing to do, "Practice swimming? I might as well now I know how."
"What about your lessons on the Gods?"
Grimacing a little, Tobi had hoped to avoid the issue for a while. The little he learned last night had been boring. The so called Gods didn't seem like Gods at all in his opinion. Norse Gods or Hellenic Gods of Olympus would have been more interesting.
The little he knew was that the Gods were not much larger than humans and had amazing magical abilities: 'Divine Powers'. They could grant those powers to lesser beings such as man and give blessings or curses that could last a lifetime. They could even destroy entire continents at will and punish souls after death.
That's what the people believed anyway, Tobi was a little more skeptical. He couldn't imagine a Dragon standing up against such a mighty force, yet his notification window had clearly stated that Dragons would love to fight a deity. There was something in that statement that had Tobi thinking the Gods were not all they seemed to be.
There were things that interested him though. Like how they were all able to witness his interaction with Selest in the monastery? How many places could they watch at the same time? Were they omniscient? Were they really Gods? How powerful are they really?
Selene had said that each of the twelve Gods had once Governed a different territory inside Anderon's borders.
So who owned the territories outside of Anderon's borders?
The 12 Kingdoms of Anderon had originally been named after the Gods, but now only five cities retained the name of the Gods: Ardene, Gilleous, Camlann, Avalon and Deniya.
What about the other seven? Are they happy with the fact that their territories were renamed?
There was too much going on for Tobi and he wasn't going to be suckered in. What was a God anyway?
"We can do the lessons on Faith some other time. I think if I deliberately choose a God for you to pray to, it will be worse than choosing one at random. You normally pray to a God every sixth day, right?"
Selene nodded.
"Then whatever God you would have been praying to this sixth day, pray to that one."
Cutting a loaf to make bread and adding the Aevitas equivalent of butter, Tobi wished for condiments such as red or brown sauce. Nothing like a little sauce for a bacon sandwich. After adding some salad and turning it into a first-of-its-kind 'Tobi Special' BLT; he added some extra side salad to the wooden plate and poured a warm cup of honeyed-tea.
"Breakfast, my lady." He smiled with a mock bow as he handed over the semi-traditional English Breakfast. The BLT had been his favorite breakfast during his time at University. Quick, easy, filling and excellent for hangovers.
"What is it?" Selene asked as she picked up the sandwich. Making bread into slices and adding ingredients was something only Travelers did.
"I call it a BLT. Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich. I couldn't cook it properly given the tools I have, but it should be good enough. Let me know what you think. If you don't like it, I will cook you up some of that gruel people seem to like."
"Gruel? Porridge?"
Tobi shrugged, "Po-tay-toe, Po-tar-toe."
"Huh?"
Shaking his head dismissively, Tobi finished preparing his own BLT and tucked in. The ham was a little too salty and the makeshift frying pan hadn't heated well enough over the fire, but it was still good. He'd definitely missed the joys of a good bacon butty. It was definitely true that little things made the world go round.
"I've been to Lybernia before, did you know?"
Looking up with a mouthful of food, Tobi shook his head. Whilst she was delicately eating the food, he was happily wolfing it down.
"They have slaving in that country. It's not a very nice place."
Tobi shrugged and gulped down the food with a little difficulty, "We'll be fine. Probably. Besides, everybody is a slave in one way or another. The only differences are what -or who- you are a slave to. I am a slave to my interests. You are a slave to the Gods. Countries are slaves to weather. The sea is a slave to the moon."
Selene considered the words before replying, "But Lybernian's are evil and cruel. They believe they are a superior race compared to other humans."
"Believing they are superior doesn't make them evil. Nor does enslaving fellow people. There was a man that once said: There is no such thing as darkness, there is only the absence of light. Perhaps they just need to be ... enlightened."
Quickly finishing his food whilst she considered his words, Tobi posed her a question; "Do you think that Lybernian people believe they are evil?"
Calmly drinking his tea and hoping the topic didn't turn into an argument, Tobi waited patiently.
"Probably not."
"Right. Let's say Anderon and Lybernia go to war because Lybernia has slaves and Anderon wishes to make them abolish slavery. Which army is in the right?"
"Anderon." Selene replied without hesitation.
"And Lybernian's, do they agree that Anderon is justified in starting a war for that reason?"
"No, but that's-"
"-because they aren't justified." Tobi interrupted, "There is never justification in war, only reasons and excuses that allow for future gains. Both countries will believe they are right. Both will defend their beliefs.
But Lybernia didn't start a war. Lybernia didn't send thousands of their people to die invading Anderon. Lybernia didn't authorize the murder of countless Anderon's in order to force their views and beliefs on their neighboring country.
Anderon would be the one doing all that."
After a small hesitation, Selene stated that she had once been a slave; as if that somehow expressed something she couldn't put into words.
Guessing she was a slave in Lybernia and had a rough time, Tobi wondered how the topic had even started, "Would you prefer we do not go to Lybernia? If you don't want to go there, I will find another way to reach the Elves."
Selene shook her head. Her eyes had reddened a little but she looked more angry than upset.
"Are you angry with me?"
"No. Angry at myself and ashamed of my past. Your words make sense, they just feel wrong."
Smiling, Tobi nodded and got up, "That's because they are wrong, but we'll have to tackle slavery some other day. You can't play the game if you don't know the rules. Up for a swim?"
You have charmed Selene with the promise to end slavery. +5 charm.
What?! I didn't promise to ... damn it!
"I think I will pass on the swim for now," Selene replied, snapping Tobi's attention away from the notification. Her tone seemed a little happier and her eyes were clear.
"Ah well. I should have guessed as much. You should know though, I can see you just as clearly at night as during the day. The darkness did nothing to hide what I could see."
Wide-eyed and blushing, Selene looked at Tobi open-mouthed, "Is that what your eyes do when they glow?"
Tobi shrugged and laughed, "I have no idea, probably."
In truth, Tobi didn't understand his eyes either. He looked in a mirror one night to see what people were talking about but he couldn't see any difference at all. As far as he could tell, his eyes didn't glow. The biggest mystery (in his opinion) was the fact that nobody spoke about his eyes to his face. They looked but pretended not to see. That in itself was a bigger mystery to Tobi than why his eyes glowed in the first place.
"Still a no on the swim?"
Watching as her blushing cheeks turned a darker shade of red, Tobi laughed again and ran towards the sea. He'd earned a little endurance when swimming the night before, it might prove to be some excellent training.
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Authors Comments and a quick Shout Out:
Spoiler :
Quick thanks to those leaving comments; as always, your input is appreciated.
Extra shout to those leaving a comment on the Cover Page - the time you take to make those comments is heart warming. Cookies for everyone <3
@Yadre
Much love. I deliberately try to write in easy English to help those who read English as a second language. I am glad you were able to follow and enjoy my story. I am so glad you responded. <3
@Mulox
Thank you for the comment. I don't mind the harsh critics though so don't worry. I have plenty of room to improve and their comments will go toward achieving that. <3
@Gibster
I haven't read "play to live" but I will look it up and check it out. Glad you like the pace of Tobi. He is by far the most challenging character I have ever written so each person that likes him makes me happy <3
@Jamerax
Very fair review - will work on it; thank you for taking the time to give your comment. <3
@Piens15
Sometimes I worry the pace is too slow, but it is what it is. Glad you like it. <3
To those leaving comments in the chapters, much love to each of you too. <3 <3 <3
Comments on this chapter:
All characters I introduced have some importance with the story, I didn't just throw out random characters for you to read about. Thought you might like to know. They each have their own story going on and they are the main characters of their own stories - but on the grand scale of things, they all affect each other either directly or indirectly.
I also used them as an opportunity to share a little information about other races and the world. I will be doing similar in the next chapter. I didn't want to end the chapter until I finished introducing the other races, people and other information - but at 13k words[ish], I thought I should pause here and continue in chapter 10.
Sorry if Selene's life summary came up short. I didn't originally intend on giving it. I just put it in based on comments and to get rid of some of the suspicions people might have about her. In many ways she is more complicated than Tobi, but the brief past was all I was willing to share. If I wrote her actual life story, it would take me as many chapters as Tobi's story and I might need a 'Content Warning' to write it properly.
For those concerned, she is still 'innocent'.
Hope the summary will suffice. Let's just call her feelings for Tobi a 'High School Crush' that developed into 'minor obsession' and has now bloomed into 'the unknown'.
~Aspirer <3
P.S. Tobi's bag. Purely designed from the Developers perspective for user inventories. NPC's just accept it as 'Normal' as they've never known any different. Tobi doesn't understand how things in games work so it's a complete mystery to him.
Rather than explain the function of inventories, I tried to get across Tobi's confusion and limited understanding.
Really, it's no different than games that allow you to carry 100 items per inventory slot. Just that the bag is more 'unrealistically' realistic (no slots, just a sack that is like the T.A.R.D.I.S - bigger on the inside)
The bag requirements is "Intermediate or higher in any profession."
The bags name: "Artisans Bottomless Sack."
If you spot any mistakes, holes or discrepancies, please let me know - I have corrected/reworded parts of this so many times I have lost track.
<3
Tobi's stats should be shown in the next chapter for those interested in his progress. Lil spoiler for you there <3
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