A golden-scaled fish swam across the pond. The end of its head had whiskers like a catfish, but its length made it look more like an eel. The water was clear. Gray saw a frog hop from water lily to water lily as it dodged the 20-foot-long fish. The golden fish was not a direct threat to the lonesome frog, but its long body tended to disturb the water and create waves.

Gray watched this strange and wondrous fish. It made a sharp turn, and a wave of water overtook the frog. The frog collided into the earth on its back. It regained its senses after a moment and then hopped away to another pond.

The current area was called the Sapphire Lands. It was a glistening sibling to the Qualfo Swamp, as it was a stretch of land that was filled with glistening ponds. Rays of light would occasionally shine on from on high.

“I think the name for that fish is Kyron,” Akira sat down next to Gray. “Named after the golden horse that Talik would ride into battle.”

“Hey Akira,” Gray saw the spectacle between the generic frog and Kyron repeat. Coded creatures stuck in an endless cycle. Only not quite. This time after Kyron annoyed the poor frog, it coiled together like a pile of rope and disappeared into sparkles. Gray thought that maybe it was a rare fish that was only available for a short period of time. A challenge for the fishers. “Talik’s name comes up a lot in this game, huh?’

“Well, it’s kind because he’s the main god of this area. There’s plenty of other gods and some endgame areas start talking about ancient ones like the Yog, the god of giants or Gryzel, goddess of death.”

“Oh yeah? What type of lore are we going to find out today,” Gray stood up. He wiped some dirt off his pants out of habit. It wasn’t like there was actual dirt on his clothes. Even if there was, it would disappear after a few minutes. Akira had invited him to get a codex that required two players to acquire. Gray was happy to help.

“There’s a hidden codex in the Sapphire Lands. I already looked into it, you need to jump into the ponds in a certain order. Then the two of us need to attack two different flowers at the same time. After that a jumping puzzle spawns. The codex appears once you do the jumping puzzle.”

“Wow, that sounds pretty in-depth for some piece of lore. It seems more like an easter egg.”

“I guess they just got bored,” Akira shrugged. “Let’s go do the ponds in order.”

And so Gray and Akira started to jump into the ponds that were dotted across the area. From the sky, Gray imagined that it looked like a bunch of holes were dug into the ground. Akira guided Gray as they needed to jump into very specific ponds at the same time.

“What are you guys doing?” A random bard shouted at them.

“Getting a codex,” Akira replied. “Want to help?”

“Hell no,” The bard went off to do things that were surely more important.

“Man, why does no one care that much about the lore,” Akira sighed.

“I'm sure a lot of people make videos that cover the lore, so people don’t read it because they can just watch it online,” Gray threw himself into the fourth pond. As he submerged himself beneath the water, he saw a ball-like fish with purple eyes stare at him. It looked like a basketball. He rose along with the bubbles and saw a white lotus appear in the pond.

“Did a flower show up for you?” Akira asked. He was floating along in some adjacent pond a few feet away.

“Yup, let’s attack on three.”

One. Two. Three. Gray threw a lightning bolt at the flower and he heard the sound of an arrow hitting a target. Wood, steel, or stone, the sound effect was always the same for the ranger’s basic attack. The lotus wilted and turned to dust. Behind the trailing particles of the destroyed louts, Gray saw the floating steps appear for the jumping puzzle.

It was a series of impossibly floating platforms and staircases. Though Gray supposed simply stating the word 'magic' was a good enough explanation. The entrance of the puzzle was a set of large steps marked by broken marble pillars.

Akira was the first to try his hand at jumping. He backed up and tried a running leap. Gray grimaced when he noticed that Akira jumped early. The ranger was not able to find the speed that he was looking for and fell onto the ground. He died instantly from fall damage.

Gray went down the stairs and begged any passing player to revive Akira, but the bard that hated lore was nowhere to be seen and the few players that passed by were not healers.

“Don’t worry, Akira. I’ll find someone,” Gray crouched down and looked around the horizon. “Hopefully.”

Gray sprinted around the surrounding area and attempted to hide away from the passing moose with steel antlers and fire breath. After a bit of running, Gray did find another player that was standing around the ponds.

A human named Rachel Sa’kro. Gray saw her and assumed that she was some NPC that was connected to some world quest, but then he saw the name above her head like any other player. It was her plain clothing that set her apart. A wimple on her head and a long gown that was a vague brown. Most players tried to wear something spectacular or even wore modern clothes.

From a distance, Gray could see the scales and swords as her weapons. She was a dryad.

She pressed her hands together and droplets of water rose from the pond’s surface and merged in her palms. It was like she was a casting spell. A perfect sphere of water floated above her hands. Then she moved her hands apart suddenly and the sphere split perfectly. Moving her fingers had a similar effect. She would pick off droplets of water from her floating shapes and they would orbit around her. At the end, she wove the water around her like it was a scarf.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Hello,” Rachel said. The scarf of water fell to the ground.

“Hi,” Gray responded. “How did you do that sphere stuff with the pond water? Was it some kind of item? I heard there were fireworks and stuff like that, but nothing like that.”

“The people that make this game work very hard,”

“Umm…” Gray raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, MMOs are usually very hard games to maintain. They’re a big risk even for the larger companies. It’s a money sink.”

“Money sink,” Rachel shook her head. “..Yeah.”

“So do you mind reading one of my friends real quick. We were trying to do the jump puzzle, but he messed up.”

“Help?” Rachel straightened up. “You need my help?”

“Yeah, you’re dryad right? You got the scales and sword that they use.”

“Right, yes. I am a dryad.”

Gray scratched his head. Her cadence just seemed a little off and stunted. Gray just assumed that she was a solo player who didn’t expect to be approached by a stranger. It was strange that a solo player was playing a healer.

“I mean if you’re doing your own thing. You don’t really-”

“No, no, no. Where is your friend?”

Gray took Rachel to what would have been the chalk outline that was Akira’s body.

“So I just rez him?” Rachel seemed to be talking to herself rather than Gray when she kneeled down and used the dryad’s resurrection spell. Akira stood back and shook his head at the jumping puzzle.

“Thank you for helping us out,” Gray said. Akira stared at Rachel for a moment and put his hand to chin.

“Was your name intentional?” Akira asked.

“Rachel?” Gray didn’t understand the significance. It seemed like a common name. In the fantasy world of Elrin, Rachel probably didn’t exist. Or maybe that was the twist. A really simple modern name was used to describe an insanely important character.

“Yes, I chose Sa’kro intentionally.”

“Cool,” Akira turned to Gray. “Sa’kro is like a cosmic god in this universe. Like more almighty than Talik.”

“Ah,” Gray felt a little stupid that he assumed Akira was referring to Rachel.

“I’m glad to have help,” Rachel nodded. “I suppose the two of you have a jumping puzzle to complete now.”

“You can do it with us,” Akira offered.

“I already have all the codexes in this area. You two have fun trying to get it.”

After saying her piece, Rachel walked away from the two of them. She seemed to not have any goal in mind and was content to continue wandering around the many ponds. Akira and Gray shrugged at each other and went back to the jumping puzzle. Gray wanted to make sure that they completed it without any more deaths. He didn’t want to bother any other healer. Thankfully, he and Akira were able to jump from platform to platform without any problems. When they landed on the last platform, the codex appeared before them. Akira rubbed his hands together and grinned.

The two of them took the codex. Gray saw the notification that he had collected 3/121 codexes. It was going to be a long journey for him.

“Oh it’s about Leran. You might be interested in that, Gray.”

“Why?” Gray asked.

“Leran is connected to the Seer class. Go ahead and check it out,” Akira encouraged him and went on to read the text that they just received. Gray shrugged and gave it a shot. If he was going to help Akira and Melody with the codexes then he might have as well read some of them. Gray opened up the codex.

***

The sun was a disk of light melting below the horizon

Dead warriors laid across the broken land.

The survivors held empty gazes as the ravens came to pick clean of the failed army.

and a woman stood among those fields of blades ragged.

Leran, The Sword Saint, recognized their victory.

With her bloody face towards the sea breeze,

She raised her sword to the sky, but no cheers were dared.

Talik’s spear of light was lodged into the earth.

It pulsated with strands of heavenly light that would burn the blades of grass on the field.

Talik, The First Paladin, withdrew the javelin with both hands

and removed the offender of broken earth.

He faced Leran.

Siblings by law, Leran only turned to enemies that remained.

There was no rage left for the opposition, only respect.

And perhaps pity.

It was Leran, The Sword Saint, who ordered the surviving enemies to be cared for.

To have their gnarled wounds healed and their back clothed with hoods to stave off the coming cold of the night.

But peace won through blood was pallid.

The Shadows grew in the final moment of daylight.

The land was silent.

Those that yet lived cradled the fallen until the moon came to welcome their hollow victory.

Basking in such moonlight the fallen were taken to the edge of the promontory.

Leran, The Mother, closed her eyes.

She pressed her lips upon her daughter’s brow.

Before the bodies of the dead were swallowed by moonlit seafoam.

Brothers, sisters, lovers, and children who have earned their rest.

***

Gray finished reading. The rest of the codex would go on to explain the battle of Trisdel, but Gray was more concerned with the depiction of Leran. Gray had the general idea that she was the goddess of war, yet he saw no depiction of war god.

“Akira, is there more lore about Leran?”

“Hmmm. Oh yeah, there’s plenty. She’s a pretty important god in the setting because she was one of the first humans to ascend to godhood. Talik was the first, but Leran followed close behind.”

“Sounds cool. It’s a little strange that the first story I read about the goddess of war is so…human.”

“You should check out more of her codexes,” Akira smiled. “Oh, I’ll need to make lunch before we go fight the world boss later today.”

“Yeah, true. I’ll guess I should do the same in a bit.”

“Cool, then I’ll see you in a bit,” Akira waved his hands and logged off.

Gray remembered that he needed to make lunch as well. This was going to be his first time trying to make a caesar salad with grilled chicken that actually tastes good. And wasn’t burnt. As he went to log off, he spotted Rachel passing by. Still somehow entertained by those ponds.

“Thanks again for the rez,” Gray shouted.

“Keep your eyes open. There’s going to be a lot of content coming along the way,” Rachel handed Gray a sphere of water. Gray watched her continue exploring the Sapphire Lands.

When he checked his inventory, the sphere of water was there with the name: item_not_found.