“Ok, so, you know I got to ask why a crafter’s guild is going by the Fallen Reapers, right?” Ma’Z asked as they walked toward their room. Heaven gave him a knowing look but kept walking.
“No, we’re mercenaries, grouta. Besides, reaper merch goes for a premium, boa,” Heaven answered smugly. Ma’Z rolled his eyes. “Is that why you took me to Rompers instead of giving me a hookup from your own coffers?” Ma’Z asked in mock derision.
“I did, and I didn’t. I loaded you with more than just some fancy digs and some gear. You might find it to be… very familiar.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Trust me. You’re going to love it. We’re here.”
Heaven stopped abruptly in front of a wooden door. Ma’Z noted the golden inlay of a wyvern marking their room. With a press of her palm, there was a shimmer, like a barrier being lifted, before the door slid open. It wasn’t until after they walked inside that Ma’Z realized there was no door handle.
“Give me your hand,” Heaven ordered.
Ma’Z did so without question.
There was a flash in her eyes, then she said, “Ok. I’ve given you free access to our room. You just put your hand to the door, and it acts kind of like an RF scan. It should open on its own.”
“Ah, is that what the flashing in your eyes was for?” Ma’Z asked.
“Yeah, you’ll get used to it. Whenever someone accesses certain functions in their Vision, you’ll see it. Though I guess you can also use the console on the dash of your Erzelis, orrr you can just use this.”
Heaven made a gesture and produced a crystal orb in her palm. She rolled it around for mock effect.
“Here,” she said handing it over.
Ma’Z stared at it, raising his eyebrow at the obvious question. Heaven started to laugh.
Hearing it gave Ma’Z a new appreciation for the elven woman standing before him. In nearly every way she was still the Lena he knew and loved, but here… here she was something more. She seemed more vibrant. She seemed more spontaneous and comfortable in her own skin. She was always confident, but she was also a bit more reserved.
Not now.
It was the elf ears. He was sure of it.
Without a second thought, he cupped a hand across her face and pulled her in against his lips. Heaven’s laugh abruptly came to a halt, but she moaned greedily the moment her lips touched his. They started making out like it was their first time all over again, their hands traveling across each other with intimate familiarity.
The orb fell to the floor with a dull thud.
Heaven pulled away for just a moment to take a breath before plunging back into the fray. When their lips touched again, her forehead simultaneously grazed against the jewel in the middle of his forehead, causing him to recoil immediately.
“Holy shit that hurts! What the fuck,” he blurted. His Third Eye burned with an intensity he had never felt before. Of course, he never had a third eye before, but he did get dirt in his eyes once, and this was leagues worse.
Heaven was frantic. Not really sure what to do, she said, “Oh Goddess, I’m so sorry. Are you ok? I didn’t think it-”
“I didn’t think it would either! Like this seriously fucking hurts. Does everything hurt like this?”
“Not usually. I mean, raising your Durability increases your pain tolerance, but even out the gate, I don’t remember ever hurting that bad.”
“I have to basically pay to not be a little bitch?”
“Ehhh? I mean when you put it that way, I guess. Yeah.”
“Holy hell, I’ve been poked in the eye before, but this is on a whole other level. Why me?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know I’Lu could feel anything from it. You can’t see out of it, can you? Like, is it an actual third eye?”
“I don’t know. Not that I can’t… wait.”
“What is it?”
When Ma’Z removed his hands, he realized he couldn’t see, per se, but he had an awareness he didn’t really know how to describe other than, “Well, the pain is starting to go away, and I’m like… I feel like Daredevil. Like I can see things!”
It wasn’t the best description, but it wasn’t that far off either. There were colors everywhere, but unlike the usual colors he could see in the visible spectrum, this was something else. Like seeing the soul or something. Everything around him seemed to radiate an aura, and on some instinctual level he just knew he was seeing with the sight of an Element.
But no sooner that he saw all of this, it was gone.
“Aw man, never mind,” Ma’Z pouted. He cautiously touched the jewel on his forehead but only felt a cold lifeless stone.
“Ma’Z, look,” Heaven gestured. Ma’Hiz looked around, blinking frantically, and saw the fading light of his newly discovered sight wash over every object in the room.
Heaven glided across the room taking in the kaleidoscope of colors with childlike fascination. As he turned his head, he quickly realized it was being projected from his eye. The colors were fading fast, though.
A few moments later, Heaven finally settled down, picking up the little glass orb she showed him earlier.
“That was really cool. Sorry you had to go through so much pain just to do… whatever that was,” she said.
“I’m all but certain that that’s not how it’s supposed to work.”
“Don’t suppose you can do it again, now that you’ve seen it?”
Ma’Z’s face twisted as he tried to concentrate on the jewel in his and make it light up again.
No go.
“Nope,” he said.
“Ah well. It was worth a shot.”
Giving the orb in her hand another mock twirl, she said, “Well now that the mood is ruined, how about we get back to this? There’s no special trick to it. You just say what you want to see, and it’ll display it for you. It only works on yourself though, so no, you can’t go using it to find info on other people. You also don’t have to be super specific in your language. So, if you say, ohh, ‘Show me my stats.’ You get this. See?”
The orb began to hover in place as it lit up, showing a full display of her character sheet. Ma’Z drew his gaze past the display to look at his fiancé. She looked a little embarrassed as if she was sharing a closely guarded secret.
“Really? Embarrassed? How many people have you shown this too?” Ma’Z asked.
“Just you,” she replied.
Looking at the silver lettering of her name, Ma’Z instantly understood.
Heaven Vi’Oya
Elf –Steel (Water Dominant)
Ērzelis Frame – Yemaya
Scout - Chevalier
Traits:
Accuracy (racial)
Calm
Control
Godseye (passive)
Keen Eye
Steady Hand
Abilities:
Clarity
Darkvision
Double Time
Farsight (racial)
Increase Parameter
Quality Up
Quickdraw
Retain Durability
Wheelhouse
Spells:
Light Reduction
Power Shot
Railgun
Bullet Sponge
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Dance of the First Light
Transfer Ability Score
Cloak of the Sky
Flash of the Brightlord
Judgement of the Last Light
Light Tethers
Tier: Hunter
Æther Slots:
10 of 10
Physical Points:
60 of 60
Acceleration: +4
Top Speed: 570 lph
Boost Charges: 4
Currency
Cyn-P: 34,457,576
Cyn-E: 74
Cyn-D: 63
Ti Ara Gate: :
Might: 15
Reflexes: 25
Durability: 17
Intellect: 20
Will: 17
Idan Gate: :
Stratos: B
Flare: B
Luminescence: A
Nocturn: D
Steel: S
Torrent: C
Void: C
Drive: :
Brakes: Reaper
Engine: Reaper
Suspension: Reaper
Tires: Reaper - (All-Terrain)
Core: Dunamis
Booster: Reik Shokk
Weight: 3,277 awls
Combat: :
Head: Wyvern Eyes
Body: Wyvern Do
Arms: Wyvern Kote
Legs: Wyvern Sune-Ate
MainHand: Timber Galatia (SMG)
OffHand: Ever’Nasche (SR)
Special: Wyvern Span (SS)
It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. As soon as he did, a smile suddenly found its way across his face. He focused on the passive stat and had to fight himself not to whoop in excitement.
“Godseye You have omnidirectional vision of everything within 30 arl of you. Studying a target reveals its strengths and weaknesses the longer you concentrate on it,” he read to himself.
“It’s pretty neat. Abilities like these are literal game changers,” she said.
Ma’Z turned his attention back to her as she closed the display. She handed him the orb and said, “Of course this is just the snapshot of our characters. You’d have to focus on each grid to get a more detailed account of each item or ability. Most people are content to stand around looking silly while they do their character maintenance, but I kind of prefer the analog approach, you know? Though a bit more private.”
He understood perfectly. They were a lot alike in that regard. He walked past her and took a seat on their bed. Heaven, in turned, moved to sit next to him. Ma’Z sat with one arm back to support himself as he pondered at the little orb held in front of him. After a moment he said, “Status.”
Ma’Hiz Vi’Olorun
I’Lu – Stratos Savant (Void Lord)
Ērzelis Frame – Unnamed
Rounder - Unspecialized
Traits:
Aggression
Control
Evasion
Protection
Telepathy (racial)
Raw Instinct (passive)
Abilities:
Minor Telekinesis (racial)
Wheelhouse
Spells:
Tier: Blooded
Æther Slots:
6 of 6
Physical Points:
20 of 20
Acceleration: +3
Top Speed: 521 kmh
Boost Charges: 4
Currency
Cyn-P: 200
Cyn-E: 600
Cyn-D: 0
Ti Ara Gate: :
Might: 10
Dexterity: 12
Durability: 10
Intellect: 11
Will: 11
Idan Gate: :
Stratos: A
Flare: C
Luminescence: D
Nocturn: C
Steel: D
Torrent: C
Void: S
Drive: :
Brakes: Reaper
Engine: Reaper
Rotors: Reaper
Suspension: Reaper
Tires: Reaper - (all-terrain)
Core: Dua’Lessa
Booster: Reik Shokk
Weight: 3,790 kg
Combat: :
Head: Ogre Eyes
Body: Ogre Plate
Arms: Ogre Brace
Legs: Ogre Guards
MainHand: Storm Shatter (SMG)
OffHand: Durandal (LS)
“Wait a minute. Is this for real?” Heaven asked. “Your elements are all wrong for your race, and what the hell is a savant? And a Void Lord!? What the falsh?”
Ma’Z laughed nervously, “I mean, I was hoping you could tell me.”
“I don’t even know where to start, Everett. From everything you’ve told me, to the clear addition of having three more traits than a starter should have, the tier bump, and a literal relic tier Erzalis, it’s slaps of cheating, if I’m being honest.”
Ma’Z retrieved the orb, turned to Heaven and said, “I actually got those three from the raid boss, but either way, I guess that would make you an accomplice since you’re the one who set me up.”
“Har har,” Heaven monotoned. She sat for a long moment thinking. “Bring up your sheet again?” She asked.
He did.
“Based on how you tend to play, I assumed you were going for a jack-of-all-trades approach anyway, right? And I tried to make your gear based on that. So, getting your elemental affinities up to at least B tier might be worth training. You’ll want to balance your stats obviously, but I think you can get away with neglecting your Might and Intellect.
“Obviously, you’ll want to craft your spells as soon as possible, but on the driving front, you can go either way with knight and lancer. Knight boasts a stronger defense, while Lancer is higher offensively. They both handle nearly identically, though. Just comes down to preference.
“That said, you’ll probably want to start trying a variety of weapons and seeing which ones you like best. I gave you an SMG and a longsword because they’re easy to handle. The trade-off is obviously distance, but I think you can handle it.”
Ma’Z stiffened at the thought of being a frontline fighter. Maybe he could just buy a rifle later. Of course, that was later, and this is what he had now.
With a huff, he made his peace with it. The SMG was silver, which all but screamed it was a good fit for him. Though a thought occurred to him. “Heaven? Got a question,” he said.
She perked up, turning to look at him. “Just so I can make sure I understand, can you explain affinity to me again? Is it actually a tangible thing or just stats?”
Heaven gave a knowing nod and said, “Ahh.”
She then jumped up off the bed and started pacing back and forth. Ma’Z had actually noticed when they first walked in, but for some reason it hadn’t quite sunk in that their room was almost an exact replica of their room in the real world. The placement of their bed, the bookshelves, display case with in-game figurines in place of the models they’d collected over the years. He finally realized what she meant by very familiar.
“Affinity is… it’s mostly relegated to your idan gate. The better you get at using a magical element, the greater your mastery is expressed, the greater your affinity with it. Those you can on your sheet.
“Others, however, like my Godseye, are more like something intrinsic to the individual. Some things stand out easily. You’re a gunsmith and weaponsmith by trade and a top ranked street racer who could go pro anytime they wished. Those skills and abilities aren’t necessarily lost because you’re now in a foreign body.
“They’re a part of you. On a subconscious level, you simply know what works for you and what doesn’t. Your affinity is just an expression of that, and typically when your body catches back up to your real world self, it almost always turns gold.
“It’s like the difference between some freshly minted college graduate with their degree and someone who’s been doing his job for close to thirty years on some niche machine and knows the thing better than he knows his own children.”
She paused for a moment to see if Ma’Z was following along. His expression was intense, but otherwise unreadable. If he didn’t understand, he wasn’t showing it, but she knew he had no qualms asking if he didn’t.
“All that being said, your turning up as anything other than an elf is well… Turns everything I know about you on its head. Granted, I was kind of surprised when I chose to be an elf myself. I intended to just be a human. But when I thought about us playing together and how much you loved these pointy eared bautras, I just embraced it. And no, I don’t regret it. I love being me.”
Ma’Z found himself staring at her yellow sundress and the way it hugged her body. He knew he should be listening, but he was caught up in his own thoughts of how they had met. How much he used to look at her. But he mostly missed just being with her, listening to her tell stories about the places she’d been, or training together.
They used to play co-op games all the time, but that had died out eventually. It didn’t seem like that long ago, but it had actually been years. Listening to her now, those memories came flooding back, and he almost missed what she said next.
“-y relics are essentially believed to be the truest expression of the self. Like putting yourself together piece by piece. Interestingly, you can tell you’re on the brink of getting one when the stats shift and become hidden to you. It then becomes like answering an existential question you didn’t know you were asking.”
That made Ma’Z raise an eyebrow. He wasn’t expecting it to become so metaphysical, but then again, people liked getting into lore. Hell, that’s all he did before finally logging in. He wondered if these relics might be related in that regard.
But that was something to ponder for another time. Mulling over Heaven’s recommendations, he now had an idea of what to shoot for. Then after that, it was time to smash a fortress.
“Hey Heaven,” Ma’Z called out.
She stopped pacing and looked at her fiancé questioningly.
“I think I understand now. Thank you. I mean it. But I think there’s one more thing you could help me with as well.”
Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Come here,” he said gesturing towards the bed.
A smile suddenly crept across her face. That was indeed something she could help with.