As if struck by lightning, another memory shot through my mind, more violently than the last. I heard the echoes of someone yelling my name and saw a man holding the ‘Glass Heart’ in his hands above me, whispering something impossible to hear as the light faded from my vision.
I opened my eyes again to find Kerebor busily scrolling through his invisible menu again. He hadn’t noticed my blackout.
“Hey, can I keep this?” I asked. Clearly there was something about this item, if only I could remember what.
“Sure, I was just planning on selling it anyway.” He wasn’t interested in it at all, despite me dying to acquire it. What a chivalrous knight he was…
“How are you doing that, by the way?” I waved my hand in front of me for emphasis.
“What? The Menu Access Gesture? You hold your fingers like this,” he said, showing his index and middle fingers stretched, while the other three were curled into the palm. “Then you just pull down in the air in front of you to bring up the menu. From that you can access your Stats, Inventory, Skills & Weapon Progression, World Map, and Group Functions.”
I followed his instructions and when I swiped my fingers down in the air in front of me, a little menu appeared out of nowhere and the ‘Glass Heart’ vanished from my hands. I clicked on the first option, ‘Statistics’, which brought up a screen showing ‘Health’, ‘Armour Rating’, ‘Stamina’, ‘Equipment Weight’, ‘Movement Speed’, and ‘Resistances’ on the left side, and a small moveable 3D image of what I looked like in the middle.
Until now, I hadn’t even realised what I was wearing, but, from looking at the screen and then down at myself, I could see that I was outfitted with a very flimsy beige-or-off-white linen tunic and dirt-brown and torn baggy trousers. From what I remembered of myself in the real world, I could also tell that some ‘enhancements’ had been made to my body. Perhaps there was some way I could change my appearance, or perhaps my appearance now was my ideal self? Although, as I looked back down my body and then at the 3D image, I felt like that wasn’t it.
“I see I don’t get to start with a weapon… are we supposed to start out by fighting with our hands?” I asked sarcastically.
Kerebor had finally stopped scrolling through his menu and when he looked up our eyes met. He immediately looked away though, red colouring his cheeks. In the past I’d probably have acted the same way, I mean, personality aside, he was quite handsome, for a man, but it wasn’t really doing anything for me just now, which was odd, because I did remember having had a boyfriend in the past, even if the memory of what he’d looked like was lost to me.
He cleared his throat and looked at me again. “Normally you would receive your first weapon in The Forgotten Village down there, or after you complete your first Stage.” He pointed to the town I’d seen in the distance earlier, and, as I looked in the direction, I spotted players, wearing the same humble attire as me, making their way down the road.
As I turned back to look at him, he was once more scrolling some unseen menu. “Wait, what do you mean normally?”
Kerebor didn’t answer and instead kept scrolling until he found what he was looking for. Then, from the air in front of him, he pulled out a long, black, scabbarded sword and a strange raven-feather cloak. The biggest surprise was when he handed them to me. “These are yours,” he said. “The sword is a unique lightweight two-hander called ‘Passing Breeze’ and the cape is an incredibly-rare cosmetic item called ‘Raven-Black Cloak’. You’re kind of known for wearing the cloak. For some reason, only you can equip it, kind of like with Heiress’ wings.”
Again with this Heiress person?
I took hold of the items and immediately they vanished, just like the Heart had done moments before. Without knowing why, I performed the menu gesture and pulled up the inventory screen, which showed a grid of squares, with only three occupied by images.
It really is just like a game, I thought to myself. Despite my severe amnesia, the knowledge of how games worked and were designed remained.
I clicked on the cloak and a further window appeared. It showed a close-up of the static item art and read:
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‘Raven-Black Cloak’
-Cosmetic-
Clothing > Cape
“The Raven Knight wanders the frigid streets of the Lightless City, with nothing but this cloak to keep him warm.”
Equip
Discard
Weight: 1.7 kilos
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Below the flavour text were two buttons to ‘Discard’ or ‘Equip’. I clicked ‘Equip’ and suddenly the cloak was on my body, a plume of black raven feathers covering my shoulders and a length of smooth, sturdy fabric hanging down my back.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Now you just need some better armour to go with that and you will be all ready to start progressing again.” His tone implied that it would be by myself, which I thought was odd, given that he’d come back to find me following my death. Maybe it wasn’t possible for him to help me out?
I looked back at my inventory and clicked on the ‘Glass Heart’. The item art was animated, showing the little light flitting back-and-forth within the transparent white glass.
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‘Glass Heart’
-Consumable-
“Finally sated of his endless yearning, the heartless King Consort now rests at the peak of the Spire he calls home.”
Use
Discard
Weight: 0.3 kilos
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According to the item tag, it was a ‘Consumable’, however, the ‘Use’ button at the bottom was greyed-out.
Who would want to eat a heart made of glass anyway?
The last item in my inventory was the sword, ‘Passing Breeze’. The item art was static, similar to that of the cloak, once more confirming my suspicion that the ‘Glass Heart’ was special somehow.
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‘Passing Breeze’
-Melee Weapon-
Sword > Two-handed > Katana
“Light enough to be wielded in one hand and capable of cleaving the wind in passing. The swordsman who once wielded this obsidian blade was feared for his ability to tame the breeze that flows across the towering dunes in the desert.”
Trait(s):
‘Brittle’
‘Lightweight’
‘Rend Armour’
Equip
Discard
Weight: 0.9 kilos
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It had more tags than the other two items: the top-most one indicated it was a ‘Katana’; the three traits beneath read: ‘Brittle’, ‘Lightweight’ and ‘Rend Armour’. Each trait had a star symbol next to it and clicking on the star next to ‘Brittle’, it stated: “Will break when blocking heavy strikes.” The one for ‘Lightweight’ said: “Can be wielded in one hand.” And lastly ‘Rend Armour’: “Ignores most common types of armour.”
“Isn’t that too powerful?”
“What is?” Kerebor replied. Right… he couldn’t see what I saw.
“This Rend Armour weapon trait. It says it ignores most common armour.”
He smiled as if I’d said something funny. “I asked you the same thing when you first showed me that weapon. You told me that it was only really useful against Adds and early-World Bosses, since most Bosses in later Stages wear special armour that cannot be fully ignored, hence the common armour it mentions.”
“Adds?” Again, I felt like I should know what it meant, but I just couldn’t remember.
“That’s what most people call minor enemies. Some Stages you only fight minor enemies in a sort of Horde or Survival Mode, and other times bosses will summon Adds to their side as reinforcements.”
“Ah, so it’s not completely useless.”
Kerebor looked at me seriously. “It is a very good sword.” This was the first time he had shown me an expression like that. It suited him, honestly. For a moment, I wondered what he’d look like in the real world. I very much doubted this was his real face, though to be fair, parts of my body were also greatly exaggerated. I obviously wouldn’t have had any problems with guys in the real world if my breasts were truly this big.[1]
I really had to wonder if this place was less of a tortuous limbo fabricated by a Mad Deity and more like a strange adventure paradise, where everyone could placate their anxieties and fears of the future, and just live-kill-die-repeat for perpetuity. Though, it obviously wasn’t much of a paradise if it stole away our memories and didn’t allow us to leave… although maybe once I’d chosen this?
I looked back at ‘Passing Breeze’ and read its flavour text. It was yet another reference to someone in this Realm. I wondered if, at some point, I’d encounter any of the characters whose items I were now using.
In the bottom of the item tooltip, I noticed some small text that I’d missed previously, which indicated ‘Weight’. After cross-referencing my items, I found that the Raven-Black Cloak was heavier than the sword, weighing in at 1.7 kilograms, while the sword weighed only 900 g. From the ‘Statistics’ screen I could see that my total ‘Equipment Weight’ was 3.2 kgs, including the ‘Glass Heart’ and what little clothing I’d started with.
“How important is Equipment Weight?” I asked.
“Equipment Weight determines your Stamina and Movement Speed. I have heard of some rare items that can even increase these, but, with what little you are wearing right now, you will have the highest possible amount. Before you died, you used to wear plate over leather, which is a good balance between defence and mobility and usually puts you at about Moderate-to-High Speed and seventy-to-eighty percent Stamina.”
“I’m assuming this weight limit is why you were only able to bring me two of my items?”
Kerebor hesitated for a moment. “Yes. Yes, that is right. Even with just those two items I was dangerously close to being over-encumbered, which would have made it impossible for me to move,” he explained, pre-empting my next question. “My plate armour is pretty heavy, but it’s worth it.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled in response and looked back at the menu. The screen showing ‘Passing Breeze’ had two buttons that said ‘Discard’ and ‘Equip’. Clicking the latter one, the sword suddenly appeared on my hip, along with a dark belt around my waist. I pulled the straight blade free and held it in my hands. The obsidian blade was cold like glass against my skin. Surprisingly, the hilt had no crossguard, though, with a trait like ‘Brittle’, I guessed there was no point in having one, since it wasn’t made for guarding. I could already imagine the fighting style involving this sword being quite precarious. The soft black wrapping on the handle was apparently too long, since it spilled off the end. I couldn’t tell if it was an intended part of the design or just sloppy craftsmanship, but I guess it didn’t matter.
“A fine blade, is it not?”
“It looks like a katana,” I replied simply. I mean, it lacked a lot of the things that makes a katana a katana, like the Tsuba[2] and the signature curve, but it had certainly drawn inspiration from the weapon.
“From what I have been told, a lot of this realm borrows from ancient cultures of the real world.”
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[1] No, I’m not giving you the measurements.
[2] The Japanese word for the “crossguard” of a katana.