'It's been a long time since I've been to Rest, and that visit wasn't for long.' Dolon started. 'Where's a good place to get food around here?'

The young woman furrowed her brow and fingered the longsword at her side. Her blue tunic and leather trousers were tight to her skin, it looked good. She knew it, Dolon knew it, but he was sincere in his question, a sincerity that was lost to the woman. 'Are you inviting me out?'

Did it sound like that? Dolon pulled on the strap of his rifle bag, tightening it to his shoulder. The street lamp light played off the water of the fountain in front of them, the golden waves of light worked well in the woman's favour as it danced over her. He was quick to think. 'Yeah. I'm asking where you most love to eat, and I'm hoping to treat you.' He smiled cheekily. 'Because hope is all a man might have when looking towards someone as transcendent as you.'

The blue clad woman hesitated first, then swallowed. 'No thank you.' She looked away quickly, a stiffness taking her.

Dolon laughed and walked away backwards. Before he made to turn, he pointed a finger from his hip. 'Hey!' He called, and the woman looked. 'You blushed.' He smiled and gave a single nod, then she was in his past.

The city was quiet at this time of night, which was surprising, as the usual perception of the place was that people were enjoying themselves on the streets and in the parks at all hours. The City of Rest was a tourist's paradise. It had extensive markets and high end stores for players of all types, the best food in Hurdland, the best medicine outside of Negam Town in the east, and it was open day and night, all twelve hours of the cycle.

Dolon had journeyed here with four others, members of his very select group. They were scheduled to meet each other the next morning and then quickly move on, but Dolon wanted to get accustomed to the city before then.

The unique odours of countless types of food were in the air, music drifted to his ears from a distance, and the mood was warm and soothing. Rest was certainly a place for rest and relaxation, an almost bewitching place that gently persuaded the tourists into spending their money on the many alluring items for sale. Or just dropping to the floor to sleep. Dolon thought.

It was comforting to be here, yet Dolon imagined there to be a dark agenda laying beneath the offerings of the city. This could be a honey trap, made to capture those visitors from other nations into Hurdland's tight grip.

Maybe it was. Theres streets of white and yellow and blue stone, lit by orange and gold lamps, warm and inviting, mystical in a way, far removed from the slums of the northern towns and less intense than the sprawling giant cities of the enemy nation Amaratsu, could be a subtle psychological warfare or mind control, made to bring wandering adventurers from Amaratsu or the island nation of Churash onto Hurdland's side. Fight for us, it could certainly be saying to Dolon. Fight for us and earn your place in our paradise.

It was the most eerie thing he had experienced, falsely perceived or not, and Dolon was no stranger to the actual intentional creepiness that the game had to offer in its vast world of experiences.

Exploration passed the time quickly, night became day and the warm orange streets became brighter and purer in the daylight, despite the grey clouds above. It soon rained, but a soft rain, body temperature and hardly noticeable at all. It was pleasant, actually, probably another aspect of the spell that was the City of Rest.

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The meeting with the others would come soon, but fatigue was setting in. He scanned the area for somewhere to take a break from his constant walking. Stone buildings to his left, commercial stores and food vendors; a small grass area to his right, situated between two blocks of small brick houses. He chose the former, seating himself at an outside bar where food was being served through a large window directly to customers. Right now there were not many patrons there. It was a limited menu painted on a board on the counter. Dolon chose quickly.

'Meat and potato stew.' Dolon asked a man behind the stone bar, who gave him a nod and a smile before turning to make an order with the cook inside the building. 'And add extra salt.' Dolon placed an elbow on the counter and looked about him, taking in the immediate sights: a woman several seats down from him, a man paying for his bread and stew before leaving, and a Hurdland Soldier in blue and grey gulping down a tankard of thick brown ale that spilt down his chin.

Not much going on here. He thought to himself. As he waited for his food, he looked to his periphery. On his left was the white menu bar that gave access to in game options, hardly noticeable unless looked for. All players had this. On the bottom right was a pulsating red dot, something only he and possibly a few select others were aware of in their own fields of vision. This was an outside program recording Dolon's in-game experiences, streaming them over the net. It was a frowned upon practice, something The Law of War security programs would detect and disable, banning accounts using such software. Yet Dolon was given a means to override these security measures, and he was paid quite handsomely to do so. Well enough that he needed no job in the outside world. All he had to do was keep this secret from anyone in-game, record and deliver, and he was set.

This type of secret was one that would cause a terrible amount of damage. It was the ultimate sin outside of breaking character. Spying was fine, in game, as a serious tool in the wars of the world. Yet meta gaming, gaining knowledge of things on the outside and using them to give you an advantage on the inside, this was not to be done. And if players who partook in this act were penalised harshly, then what of those who enabled the behaviour by supplying meta knowledge, and to a greater extent profited from it, like Dolon? No news of that sort had ever been heard before, so he did not know. And did not want to know.

Aside from all of this, what about personal reputation and relationships? Despite not knowing other players in the real world, relationships here with other people's role play characters became very real. Feelings were real, and feelings could be hurt. Dolon's team were an especially dangerous group to cross in this manner, as they were vicious and chaotic and temperamental. They were the Harlequins of Churash, a group taking their abilities from the Druid Job Progression, men able to transform into anthropomorphic beasts and control aspects of nature. Their missions were highly secretive, their whereabouts best kept hushed. Their reaction to Dolon's own secrets would be deadly. Maybe even in the outside world. He thought. And why not? People are willing to pay a healthy sum for information to cheat at the game, why not pay to have Dolon dealt with too? Who knows?

Risk, reward. Dolon thought. It kept food an the table and made his life very interesting, even though it was nerve racking. It was also better than any other job he could hope to have in life, a constant adventure.

The food was delivered directly under his nose, breaking Dolon out of his inner thoughts. A steaming hot bowl of meat, potatoes, carrots and parsnips in an onion gravy, served with thickly buttered bread, turned a dry mouth into an uncontrollable saliva machine. 'This. Looks. Wonderful!' He punched the air at the cook and the waiter. 'Thank you.' A courteous bow was returned.

Dolon filled himself on the food and cleaned the bowl with the bread, stuffing his mouth with the gravy soaked cob. Copper coins were graciously placed on the bar, his payment, plus an extra coin as a tip.

After leaving the restaurant, Dolon made his way to the eastern side of the city. This section of the sprawl was dense with houses and shared living spaces. Most buildings here were three stories tall and packed to the windows with people, players and Non-Player-Characters alike. Despite the large number of eyes and ears, most of the dwellers here paid no mind to certain underhanded goings on. The City of Rest was a paradise, sure, but it was a city all the same, and all cities had a dark under-belly. This was no exception. Today however, it would become a little darker... begrudgingly because of Dolon.