Chapter 005: The Great Triggering

I resurrected myself straight away if only to avoid Leria running into my body. My ‘sister’ being terrified that I am dead for who knows how long (I'm roleplaying, dammit) was one thing. That I wasn't sure if I didn't empty my bowels in last seconds of my life was the second thing. Nobody should see me like that.

I choose resurrection and... suddenly I was somewhere. It was dark. Incredibly narrow. I was curled in a fetal position and surrounded by something fleshy. Whatever it was, it kept pulsating.

AAAAA!

I tried to straighten up... and the flesh subsided. There was an opening! A fresh air. I pulled it into my lungs.

Jesus, I'm protruding from the Gore Altar. My lower half was still inside the disgusting pile of mangled remains. I was naked. My equipment lied scattered on the ground beyond the Altar.

I think I was... reborn. Literally. I think that the reason we do not remember our birth is how awkward and disgusting that memory would be. Because I just underwent something similar, and it was gross. This will haunt me.

Something falls on the ground. I turn towards the source of the sound. Leria stands in the entrance, with a shocked expression. She must have been carrying the food for our captive in the prison and heard the noise. She dropped the plate on the ground from shock.

"I can explain!"

***

I was spanked.

Leria spanked my ass (with a blunt part of her sword) for being stupid enough to try alchemical ingredients on myself. And she did it on my naked ass since she gave me no time to get my clothing back. She also had me promise I will never do something so stupid again.

I guess I deserved it, but it was humiliating. Absolutely humiliating. And a woman did it, to top it all! I lost few points of manliness. On the other hand, however, my respect to programmers responsible for creating this game grew even further. It was hard to believe that she was only a set of 0’s and 1’s somewhere in the gamecode.

I still think it was a good idea. Made sense in a context. Medicines to counter blood loss would be essential from now on. But that spanking will be another thing that will haunt me ...

I used my supernatural origin as an excuse to retire to the cult leader quarters. For a few days. I had to log out and spend a day (three or four in the game) to do mundane things. Like, studying. It was yet another thing - after amnesia and ability to resurrect myself - that I pinned on my 'connection' to the Beyond. Leria believed it. I told her to watch our prisoner with extreme caution. If he woke up, she was to kept him waiting until I return from my self-imposed solitary confinement.

Then I logged out.

***

I went to university as I did every other day. I wasn't the most diligent student around, but I wanted to finish my studies with a decent degree. I soon discovered, however, that it would not be the most productive day of my life. The chief subject of pretty much every small talk was Infinity. Even the lecturers were into it. DFI, as always, offended pretty much every person in the world with their game.

Political right was pissed off because of additional genders (I wasn't the only one to encounter them, though they were rare) and several of its chief members having their alter-egoes in games as various crazies. For example, there was a ruthless capitalist god-emperor wannabe in Long War that looked similar to former USA president.

Political left was pissed off because most 'normal' countries in the game had a strict no-divorce rule, detested abortions as abominable, outlawed or at least not tolerated atheism and... the game portrayed all of this as a great ideas. Also all 'really' left countries in Long War were bloodthirsty totalitarian regimes.

Monarchists? Lots of monarchies either degenerated into complete parodies of themselves or in the middle of the strife because of conflicts between heirs of dying monarchs.

Democrats? Lots of democracies that overtime degenerated into either oligarchies or mob rules, with inefficiencies of democracy portrayed with almost grotesque level of details.

Authoritarians? Oh boy.

Christians and Muslims? Both religions had their own versions in pretty much every game inside Infinity. Talks about crusades/jihads were everywhere on the internet. With game-loving zealots crowding the GoE and grinding to get good enough to take part. If you couldn't liberate Jerusalem, you could always liberate holy city of Aktaab. Or conquer Nikopol in the name of the prophet Hezra.

So it begins. The great triggering of our times.

In 1969 there was a brief war between Salvador and Honduras. There were tensions earlier, but the final spark was the football game. There was a long-standing joke that DFI wanted to do the same with a computer game, to prove that normal games and computer games are equal.

Somebody asked Robinson about that during one of the past press conferences. He laughed. His lack of answer and clear rejections was water on the mill of conspiracy theories.

This time DFI refused to make any statements regarding the content of Infinity. There was a press conference, but the company spokesman refused to answer questions and instead announced that within two weeks  'modding tools' that will allow for making more games for Infinity will be released. Free of charges. He also announced that there would be some great event occurring within all games on 28 March, 4:00 a.m. in each time zone.

He promised great rewards for those taking part. The internet was already abuzz with theories. Jesus, these guys knew how to push the planet into a frenzy. Supply of Infinities was much beneath demand. It would not be just a financial success - their share price was going up with the velocity of a space rocket. Together with them, almost all the gamedev sector went up, since it was hard to find a respectable company that didn't take part in the Infinity Project.

I left the university in the middle of the lectures. There was no use leaving my flat at least until the Infinity settles in. Even lecturers seemed to drift into that subject - at least those that actually showed up. I returned home, checked my friends on social media (most of them offline), exchanged a few words with those that were online... and then decided that it was time to return to the Gates of Eternity.

***

I left the cult leader room (now mine, since Leria was fine with sleeping in the common quarters) and went to search for my 'sister'. It didn't take me long, since she was in the mess hall, the little glutton.

"What, you eating again?" I discovered during our trip to Black Woods that she likes eating a lot. She - unlike me - did all the menial work, not to mention fighting in a melee, so I guess she burns more calories than me... not like it could stop me from joking about it.

"Yeah, nice to see you back. It was rather boring without you." Awww. You are my favourite murderous Beyond-worshipping cultist, Leria. "She woke up." She? Oh, right. Leria was still oblivious. Heh. It would be fun.

"So let's pay our captive a visit."

***

"So, you are awake." I said. He responded by glaring daggers at me. Couldn't blame him, since Leria added additional bindings. Including a gag. A ring one, another restraint from the prison that looked like something straight from a BDSM session. It was a literal ring that kept him from closing his mouth and made biting something off impossible in case of a another person wishing to... put it there forcefully. Ramshiran must have had interesting hobbies.

"Leria, you didn't do... anything weird when I was away, right?"  I asked, with the accent on the 'anything weird' suggesting that I meant only a certain type of activities.

"What? No. I decided that she needs to be restrained properly. Armbinder wasn't enough, since she could still cast spells. So I gagged her."

"There was no NORMAL gag around?" I sighed when she shook her head. "Oh, well. Take it off."

"Why me?!"

"First - because you put it there. Second - because as an aura user you can survive if you get a spell cast at you point blank." I explained. While still avoiding using the captive's pronoun.

She rolled her eyes, walked into the cell and removed the gag.

"So, what do you plan to do to me now?" He spoke the local language well though there was a noticeable foreign accent. In fact, it sounded cute. Despite glaring daggers at me, he looked resigned.

"Oh, that depends on many factors." I answered. "Obviously we could sell you as a slave, I can't even fathom your potential monetary worth. Now is the moment for you to persuade us otherwise."

"We won't sell her?" Leria interjected. Time for a coup de main.

"Him, sis. Him. It's a young man." I almost chuckled after seeing the face she made. "Yeah, I was surprised as well. Supernatural knowledge is nice, but I thought for a while it broke. You are a very, veeery feminine man, isn't it? Vaera?" This time he was shocked. By the fact I somehow knew his name. "Unless you personally identify as a female. In that case, however, I will still keep referring to you as 'him'. You have a dick and no vagina, you are a man. No other option."

This was one field where my beliefs aligned with those of DFI's. I… still wasn’t sure what to think of another ‘additional gender’ which combined genitals of both sexes with outwardly feminine appearance. Fucking DFI.

"... no. I'm a man." Elf almost mumbles this. Then he took a deep breath and spoke with less... resignation and shock. "I can be of use. I'm a sorcerer. Strong one."

"You 'were' a strong one. You have a curse on you that steals most of your power." He makes a 'how the hell did you know' face. Leria joins him this time. "Supernatural knowledge, being blessed by Beyond and all that. Is it a progressive curse or a flat one?"

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He looks dumbfounded. Well, can't blame him, mountain elves aren't known for their great knowledge of a magic. Especially one more subtle than burning people with a fireball. I had knowledge from past games, which gave me an unfair advantage.

"Flat curse is a curse that takes a part of your power and seals it. Despite this, you are free to improve yourself on the same field once again, potentially reaching the same level or even higher. If you later break the curse, you will get the power back overtime as your progress will be temporarily sped up. Progressive curse not only seals your power but also impairs your progress. You will most likely never catch up to your pre-curse level because your strength, for example, grows 80% slower than it used to. It will still be regained after the curse is broken, but such curses tends to be much harder to erase." I explained. I already knew this curse was a nasty one - since it brought down his overall level, being a permanent debuff to EVERYTHING, setting max levels of spells and skills to 5.

"... it's a flat one, then." Huh. We should find a theoretical sorcerer or a proper magician to take a look at him. Even if we were to sell him, a Devouring Curse would still lower his value a lot.

"I see. Means you still qualify to become a part of our merry group." Leria remained silent, which surprised me. "However, before we decide your fate, I need to know one thing." Vaera looked at me with a question mark written on his face. "Why other mountain elves tried to kill you."

Well, a Dragonbride as a follower would be a potentially great asset to us. But if I will pay for it by making mountain elves desire my head on a silver platter, then nope.  Nothing is worth that.

"Uhm... it is about my... gender problem. They didn't know I'm in fact a man, no one in the tribe knew aside from my parents. Everyone thought I was the prettiest girl around, and then I was chosen as a Dragonbride, and..."

"Wait a second." I interjected. "So you... Oh. I get it now. They must be pissed off?" He nodded. Leria seemed lost, so I helped her.

"DragonBRIDES, Leria. According to mountain elves custom they 'marry' their prettiest girls to the dragons they worship. It's a religious ceremony. Now, imagine that you discover that the newest 'bride' was actually a man." I chuckle. "The priestesses must have been pretty pissed off." Vaera nodded again. I laughed internally. This must have been hilarious. “So, what do you think about it, Leria?”

“Hm. I think I will trust you to make this decision." It's good to be trusted, huh. I turned again towards our captive.

"One last question before we free you." Oh, enthusiasm filled his pretty face. "How are people chosen as Dragonbride candidates changed? I know you guys have increased libido and magical power, plus the general prettiness and shining lines on your skin. How does that happen?" And now, a shocked expression.

DFI used mountain elves in their games several times already. Dragonbrides were always a thing there, however the exact details of their change were never specified. There were only a few times that people could inquire NPCs that knew something, and the answer was always 'You don't want to know' or something similar. You could find a lot of theories on the internet... and a lot of 18+ art. Now I had an occasion to at least TRY to inquire a person who should be able to answer me, at least considering how life-like the NPCs were.

“Well… “ Elf didn’t seem to happy about divulging this ancient secret. “I theoretically could do that, but… it would made other Dragonbrides even more hellbent on murdering me. Can we… uhm… leave it over for when we… I don’t mean I don’t trust you to keep this a secret, but…”

...but you don’t trust us to keep this a secret.” I interjected. Oh, well. It’s true that I was immensely curious about that, but I also could surely wait for it. I could force him to talk, but it would only mean bad blood between us. And I preferred to keep allies close. Treating them decent had a curious quirk of lowering chances for betrayal, who might have guessed.

“... Yeah.” He decided to agree. Proving that I was right. It was interesting. It surely looked like it was possible to learn this secret in Gates of Eternity. Most interesting.

“Well, I guess I’m not going to force you.” Let’s make this official. “Now, I mean. I’m still totally curious and I will probably try to dig for truth when you will fully become a part of our merry group.” As if three people could be called a group.

“Ok!” Elf seemed relieved. Well, I guess I just scored a point, hmm?

“Leria, let him out. Looks like we got ourselves a new companion.” And may History judge us all.

QUEST FINISHED

Type: Secondary Quest

Name: Death in Black Woods

Difficulty: Iron IV

You found and saved Vaera Vannylan. You also decided not to kill or enslave him, instead gaining a new follower.

Rewards:

NEW FOLLOWER: Vaera Vannylan.

His gratitude for not being sold into slavery was... overwhelming. We ate a meal together and chatted to learn more about each other. Turned out that Vaera was cast away together with a small entourage of supporters (and a curse) after he almost caused a religious schism. After all, the dragon didn't care about his gender and that could undermine the entire social structure of mountain elves. Dragonbrides ruled over them, making them a matriarchy. It was all based on a presumption that dragons gave their 'blessings' to females only. And the most pretty ones.

This made him a target to silence. A group of warriors assaulted him when he was passing (together with his entourage) through the area. Survivors fled into the Black Woods, hoping to escape their pursuers. They didn't, but the last surviving attackers ended up slaughtered by daemons before they could finish the job. Their commander supposedly fled, which meant the elves would be persuaded that Vaera is dead.

This discovery - if made public - would one way or another trigger most of humanity. The entire religion being mostly a scam made to uphold a rule of a group. Ugh. And they probably filled this game to the brim with all sorts of triggers, just waiting to be discovered.

It somehow reminded me of DFI's press conference after the flame war caused by their last Doomplace. Robinson came in front, asked people if the content of the game world offended them. Journalists said yes. What did he do then? He told them "Then change it." Then he left the room, ignoring them. DFI just provides the universe. If you don't like the world they give you, you are free to change it.

And they did, in fact. The last Doomplace was the first made in a game that allowed almost total freedom of decisions. Result? A crusade that included many in-game countries and people from pretty much every part of political and religious spectrum. The whole area was burned to the ground, most NPCs were either killed or forced to flee and hide in forgotten corners of the world, and the players that fought to defend it were hunted back to the first level and forced to abandon the game completely. DFI actually sent all participants small monetary gifts and medals for "Taking the right moral choices and being ready to fight for them". The madmen.

This knowledge could still trigger a lot of people... which was the reason why I would keep it to myself. It could be useful in some future quests.

I entered Followers menu, added Vaera to the list of my followers (he was the only entry on the POTENTIAL FOLLOWERS list) and checked an option that made her resurrect in the Gore Altar in case of death. I did the same with Leria before our trip to the Black Woods. Better safe than sorry. Then I added Vaera to the list of people invited to Tyrant’s Hold, so that he could find it if he ever returned to it alone.

That was underwhelming. Considering the sadistic side of DFI, part of me expected that allowing people to be resurrected together with me would require at least a human sacrifice. Or having sex with them - I had two followers from which one was my 'sister' and the second was a trap, so that would be... uh. I don't even want to imagine this.  

It was then I remembered THAT I NEVER APPRAISED LERIA. I'm forgetting the most important things. This game kept immersing me too much.

Leria Khan

Gender: Hermaphrodite

Species: Amalthian

Level: 4

Class: Warrior

Active Effects: n/a

Known Spells and Techniques:

AURA/DEFENSE

Aura Armour, Aura Shield.

AURA/OFFENSE

Offensive, Mighty Blow.

AURA/OTHERS

Leap of Faith, Long Jump.

FOR FUCK’S SAKE. DFI YOU MOTHERFUCKING…

… alright, calm yourself.  So… another gender straight from hentai. Not a real hermaphrodite - I saw nothing manly in… her. So, more like futanari (I curse the day I accidentally run into this term on the internet) but without using the ‘real’ name.

Female bodies, but with genitalia of both males and females. Damn you DFI. Bunch of maniacs. My sister… well, I guess she is still my sister, but… uh. Some things truly should be left unknown. On the other hand… Ramshiran must have an… acquired taste in his approach to slaves.

Let's hope that the AI that DFI made to govern this game would not make DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY GENDER into an expansive series of quests.

I also discovered that my surname is Khan (unless Leria was married which was… unlikely).

Vaera Vannylan

Gender: Shemale

Species: Mountain Elf

Level: 25 → 5

Class: Dragonbride

Active Effects: Devouring Curse

Known Spells and Techniques:

OLD MAGIC/DRAGON/HEALING

Suppress Poison, Suppress Bleeding, Suppress Debuff.

OLD MAGIC/DRAGON/BUFFING

Dragon Might, Dragon Power.

OLD MAGIC/DRAGON/DEFENSE

Dragon Shield.

OLD MAGIC/DRAGON/OFFENSE

Dragon Flare, Dragon Fireball, Dragon Flames.

Alright, so we got ourselves a buffer and healer. As all healers in DFI’s universes, he could use magic to suppress negative effects and restore stamina to make the target keep fighting longer. Or survive until an alchemist/field surgeon could treat him. This would still mean a lot for us, especially after I expand my alchemy hobby into being a 'proper' medic.

He didn't have much to say in terms of pure combat though. The Dragon Magic he wielded wasn't that great. Powerful Dragonbrides often knew a lot about Modern Magic and used it to fix that weakness, but... I guess he wasn't a powerful Dragonbride. Flare was a local equivalent of Arcane Bolt, Fireball was a stronger version of it (that was also much more costly) and Flames allowed him to change into a walking flamethrower. Its range was shit though.

Modern Magic in the DFI's worlds was a vast magical system that included many (a few dozens) schools and sub-schools. Most people - me and an overwhelming majority of magicians included - used it. It had its limits though, despite versatility. Old Magic was a massive assortment of magical systems (not connected to Modern Magic) that could do a lot of things, but was much more complicated.

It also wasn't unified, which was its biggest weakness. To use two types of Old Magic in combat you had to learn them separately, finding necessary teachers to teach you basics. Different in both cases. In Modern Magic you only had to learn foundation to proceed with pretty much any combination of spells and hexes. Sure, to learn rarer schools you had to find teachers that could be rather… elusive. But there was nothing stopping me from learning Fire Magic for example - outside the fact that as a Cultist I was better in learning black magic and profane magic. Multi-classing in DFI games sucked.

The amount of 'Dragons' in the names of Vaera’s spells was a sad reminder of the dreadful secret I uncovered today. Sigh.

I’ve retired for a longer while to the lab to create new potions and ointments.

SKILL LEVEL UP

Alchemy

Rarity: Uncommon

An art of mixing various ingredients - plants, mushrooms, body parts, minerals etc. to create equally varied potions, ointments, dusts, extracts, elixirs and so on.

2 → 3

Potions you make are 5% stronger!

Right now my equipment storage was filled to the brim with potions and ointments. They weren’t worth anything (no self-respectful person would buy such shit-grade potions). The only thing that wasn’t considered an Improvised tier mixture was the poison made from the mushroom that killed me. Not because it was complicated or advanced. I must have stumbled into a rarer and more powerful ingredient - these two things were almost always connected in DFI's worlds.

Alright. I guess it's now time for another expedition.