The town had no name, the locals simply referred to it as ‘the town’ while the few outsiders who knew of it simply called it the ‘Town north of Templeholm.’ Less than a dozen families called it home, so not even the local kingdom cared enough to tax them. The only merchant to visit was a local who’d been born there but decided to leave and pursue the career of a trader in Templeholm. He was the only outsider the locals would sell the skins they hunted to, and the only one they’d buy goods the couldn’t make locally from. Occasionally they would play host to some Slayer Knights, who were given more of a welcome than most, but they’d make clear that the knights weren’t to stay long.
So, when Gregory rode into town with a group of Davlos Militant, warriors of Davlos who had yet to earn a blessing, it was quite the cold welcome they received. Already they’d had to put up with a group of Slayer Knights for a few days who’d purchased much of their stockpiled supplies, and they were unhappy seeing those who claimed to be their protectors.
“Are things so dire that the Protector sent two of his heralds?” the lead Knight asked as Lex and Gregory dismounted.
“We could sense the danger hanging over this place from a day out,” Lex replied and Gregory nodded. Ever since he’d gotten the blessing he’d been able to see, for lack of a better term, potential danger. It wasn’t anything he could describe easily, but it slithered through the air like mist, preceding each swing from Lex’s spear, alerting him even before his aura did. Between the two he had an almost preternatural ability to avoid attacks, but once he saw the small nameless town they were headed to that he understood the true purpose of the sense. Danger filled the air like smog, the kind of creeping feeling you get from being watched but applied to others. One he felt compelled to head towards.
“The Mutts have been circling this place for the last couple days, ever since we arrived,” the Knight explained, “we found an Ascender north of here, he killed nearly an entire pack of Mutts by himself. With his injuries we couldn’t leave him there.”
“And entire pack, by himself?” Lex asked, looking surprised, “no wonder, the Mutts probably followed his mark here.”
“They can track you through the mark?” Gregory asked.
“If you accumulate enough of them in a short enough period of time, yes,” she nodded, “and they don’t let their prey go easily. I wouldn’t be surprised if a larger portion of their horde was headed this way as we speak.”
“This town isn’t built for a siege,” the Knight said, looking around at the earthen wall that surrounded the town, “any chance we can lead them away? The Ascender is healed enough to move now, apparently, he heals very quickly.”
“If it’s been a few days chances are the marks have faded,” Lex said, looking at the ground for a moment, “where is this Ascender?”
\*\*\*\*\*
“You can’t keep us here!” a man in rough leathers shouted, an unstrung bow in one hand, “we’ll need to restore our stocks now that you took most of what we had!”
“You were more than fairly compensated,” one of the ‘Slayer Knights’ said, holding his hands up as if trying to calm the other man down, “and it’s dangerous out there, we’ve seen a number of Mutts running around.”
“Mutts you led here!” the local accused.
“Regardless it’s not safe out there, I can’t let you leave until things are calmer.”
Nathen watched the fight from where he sat alongside one of the earthen huts that made up most of the town. Even without healing water he’d recovered from his injuries quickly, wounds that should have lingered for weeks healed over in a day. The knights attributed it to him being an Ascender, meaning it was a way to explain rapid healing for players by the developers. He still wasn’t back to full strength, he had aches and pains where some of the deeper wounds had been, which made him marvel at the dedication to realism in this game. Finally coming to a decision he approached the two shouting men.
“If he wants to risk his life, shouldn’t that be his choice?” Nathen said, interrupting something the knight was saying.
“What?” the Knight asked, looking surprised, “No! Our job is to keep everyone safe, once the Mutts are dealt with he can go hunt all he wants.”
“Meaning you’ll keep him locked up until then?” Nathen pressed.
“I’m doing this for his safety! A hunter can’t deal with a pack of Mutts.”
“Then I’ll escort him,” Nathen said over some grumbles the hunter made, “I’ve shown I can beat them, is that ok?”
“Who said I need an escort?” the hunter demanded.
“I want to do some hunting too,” Nathen shrugged, “if you’d rather I left you here…”
“No!” the knight interrupted, “you are still injured, Sir Ascender, and you almost died last time. Neither of you are allowed to leave.”
“And are you going to stop me?” Nathen asked in a dangerous tone.
“If I have to,” the Knight countered, glaring back only for Nathen to punch him square in the face. Half from shock the Knight stumbled backwards before falling to the ground, holding his nose. Looking up in time for Nathen to kick him unconscious.
“Are you coming?” Nathen asked, looking at the hunter who was also surprised at Nathen’s actions, but moved to follow the ascender without a word.
The only way in or out of the village was what could charitably be called a gate being a collection of scrap wood bound together and placed in the only break in the earthen wall when it had to be closed. The wall itself wasn’t that high, but it was topped with jagged rocks that had been piled up over the years and would be difficult to climb. But Nathen barely turned the corner of the earthen building when he ran into Gregory, Lex and the head Slayer Knight.
“You up and about already, sir Nathen?” the knight asked, “I thought I told Gav to keep you in bed.”
“I’m feeling fine, and decided to go out hunting,” Nathen shrugged, then nodded to the hunter behind him, “this man also wanted to, figured I could escort him out.”
“Sorry but no one leaves until it is safe. I don’t know what Gav was thinking letting you-.”
He was interrupted as Lex suddenly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back just as Nathen was tensing up. After regaining his balance he looked in askance at Lex who’s eyes were fixed on Nathen.
“Get back,” she said in a soft but insistent voice, “he’s dangerous.”
“I’m leaving now,” Nathen said, glancing at Gregory, “unless you want to try and stop me again.”
“You can’t leave,” Gregory said, tightening his grip on his spear, “it’s dangerous out there.”
“I should hope so,” Nathen smiled, his hand going to the hilt of his sword. Thankfully he’d had time to switch out the worn blade with the spare. He’d considered throwing the spare away, but decided to keep it in case he could get it repaired. He imagined that was cheaper than a new blade, and until he found a weapon that could hold up for longer he figured it would be cheaper.
“Don’t do this,” Gregory pleaded, taking his spear in both hands.
“Then get out of my way.”
“I can’t do that.”
Rather than reply Nathen drew his sword in a flash, only his danger sense allowed Gregory to dance back away from the attack.
“Lex,” he shouted as he took a fighting stance of his own, “get back.”
“You sure?” she asked, having grabbed her own weapon after pushing the Knight out of the way behind her, “didn’t he beat you last time?”
“That won’t happen again.”
Behind him she nodded and relaxed, moving further back with the leader of the Slayer Knights, giving the two Ascenders plenty of space. Both were quickly discarding various packs and pouches to lighten themselves for combat while keeping their eyes and weapons trained on one another.
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“Are you sure about this, sister?” the Knight asked softly, “leaving him to fight alone?”
“It’s a fight between Ascenders,” she replied, “trust me, you don’t want to get involved in those if you can avoid it.”
Nathen was the first to attack, lashing out with several quick swipes of his sword that were easily parried by Gregory, skillfully spinning his spear like a staff to ward off the simplistic attacks. Far more confident in his combat training, and with a couple new abilities under his belt, he felt much calmer. His increased strength from his blessing made it easier to block Nathen’s attacks without stumbling while the extensive training Lex had put him through prevented him from panicking. After having his attack sequence repelled Nathen backed off, only to be caught off guard by several stabs from Gregory’s spear, forcing him onto the defensive for the first time in either of their fights.
“You’ve gotten better,” Nathen chuckled, taking a couple shallow cuts from the attacks, “but so have I!”
Nathen surged back onto the attack, applying all he’d learned of swordsmanship from his fight with the kobolds. Early in that fight he’d gone for quick kills, to rack up his Focused Blows buff, but as the fight had worn on he’d been forced to switch to aiming for grazing hits in order to maintain the buff. Rather than attacking center of mass he would aim for cuts to an arm or leg, not enough to deal real damage but it would make him stronger and faster. He suspected Gregory still had a chain shirt on under his tunic, so an attack there wouldn’t inflict much damage without significant buffs anyways.
It took him a few exchanges to figure out Gregory’s new fighting style, which seemed to involve using the spear like a quarterstaff while on defense and switching to stabbing with it when attacking. But there was some stiffness to his movements, as if he was rigidly sticking to his training without much experience in real fights. Perhaps that woman with him had been training him, both seemed to use spears. But Nathen still clearly had an edge in actual combat experience, which began to show more and more as the fight went on. Small bonuses to his strength and speed began to stack up, where once he’d been struggling to get past Gregory’s defenses, more and more cuts were appearing on his enemy’s arms.
The sounds of them fighting had begun to ring through the small village, and it shouldn’t have been a surprise that they’d gathered a crowd. The hunter who’d been following Nathen had backed off, not wanting to get involved in a fight between Ascenders, even several other Slayer Knights had gathered to watch.
Neither combatant noticed, however, as they were so focused on one another. While Nathen was growing stronger and faster, Gregory was growing angrier at himself. For all his training he still couldn’t beat Nathen? At first he’d thought he’d evened the field, but as the fight wore on it was clear he was still outmatched in pure skill. And he couldn’t understand it, how could this other man, who’d clearly arrived around the same time as him, be so far ahead? Had he learned swordsmanship before ascending somehow?
Those frustrated thoughts were interrupted when he moved to block an attack, only to be surprised when the sword changed direction midswing. In desperation Gregory spun his spear to deflect the new attack, but doing so put his weapon out of position, unable to stop a follow up attack aimed for his neck. Everyone watching held their breath as Gregory stumbled from the poor block, Nathen’s sword slicing through the air towards his neck.
“Stop!” Gregory shouted, and to the surprise of everyone except Lex, Nathen’s blade did. Shrouded by a blue mist the weapon came to a halt as if it had struck stone. He’d been hoping to use that ability later to hold Nathen down, rather than to save himself, but his bad block had forced his hand.
“Neat trick,” Nathen said as Gregory regained his balance, “you’ll have to show me how to do that later.”
“What the hell are-,” before Gregory could finish Nathen renewed the assault. This time Gregory made no attempt to use only his weapon skill, often stopping Nathen’s sword to counterattack. And it worked, he quickly landed a few light blows that, to his surprise, caused Nathen to slow down. Between the surprising weakening of Nathen and Gregory making use of his aura, Gregory quickly got on the offensive. The shift left him feeling uncomfortable, just moments earlier Nathen had been pressing him, now he was struggling to keep up. His skills were just as good, to Gregory’s eye, but he seemed to be moving slow, hitting lighter, than before. Was there some ability Nathen had that Gregory had unknowingly disrupted? Was that why he lost the last fight, and not just pure skill?
What had been a back and forth fight quickly turned into a rather one sided beating, Gregory landing numerous hits, yet Nathen continued to fight back for some reason. Gregory pled in his mind for Nathen to surrender, yet every time he thought the other man was backing off to give in, he’d just launch into another attack. Gregory wanted to back off himself, but, for some reason, the sense of danger Nathen was giving off was only growing. That made Gregory nervous, so each time Nathen attacked, Gregory stopped his blade with a barked command and struck him again with his spear.
“You’ve gotten better,” Nathen said, panting as he finally seemed to back off, blood running down his face.
“Surrender,” Gregory demanded, pointing his spear at the other man who was clearly beaten. Yet, despite that Gregroy couldn’t shake the feeling that Nathen was more dangerous now than ever.
“Some new tricks,” Nathen continued after spitting out a mouthful of blood, then, to the surprise of Gregory he lifted his blade and took a fighting stance once more, “but I also have new tricks.”
Before he could respond an aura washed out from Nathen like a wave, justifying the sense of danger Gregory had felt. He knew it was another aura, only felt through his own, but beyond that it was very different. It carried the feel of a wounded animal, snapping out in desperation, willing to do anything to survive. Or even just take down its attacker with it.
“Oh, your ability was an aura too?” Nathen asked with a bloody smile.
Nathen was impressed to say the least, to be pushed this far by the other player. Last time they’d fought it had been very one-sided, with Gregory struggling to land but a single blow. But now he’d been pushed to the same point a pack of kobolds had managed. He’d restrained his aura for several reasons, most notably was that it inflicted damage to all within it, being in town he hadn’t wanted to agro the locals so he’d restrained himself. Additionally, it wasn’t that strong unless he was heavily injured, so the longer he could keep it in his pocket the more impactful it would be when he did bring it out.
Surprised yelps of pain broke out among the crowd, but he ignored them, channeling the mana his aura was bringing in into his body and renewing his assault. Gregory was looking around in a panic when Nathen attacked, only barely managing to ward off the renewed assault.
“What is this?” Gregory demanded, “is your aura doing this?”
Nathen didn’t reply, pressing the attack. To his surprise Gregory didn’t use his own aura to stop his blade again, instead using it to try and contain his own. Nathen hadn’t know that was possible, but it didn’t matter as his own aura was far stronger than Gregory’s, it was all the other Ascender could do to protect those directly behind him. But meant he couldn’t stop Nathen’s assault.
“Stop this!” Gregory shouted, struggling to hold Nathen off, “what are you thinking?”
“All’s fair in PvP,” Nathen replied, his sword cutting through the air.
“Is this just some game to you?” Gregory asked.
“Obviously,” Nathen said, backing off for a moment, “what, did you think this was all real?”
“This is real!” Gregory shouted.
“I think you need to log off,” Nathen countered, “go touch grass or something, real life doesn’t have popup windows with stats.”
“How can you think this is a game? These are real people around you!”
“They’re impressive AI’s, I’ll admit,” Nathen granted, “but this isn’t real life. Our lives aren’t this free.”
Nathen once more dashed forward, swinging his sword wildly, Gregory desperately parrying the attacks while the townsfolk backed off in panic, unable to perceive why they were suddenly in pain.
“What kind of game looks like this?” Gregory demanded.
“Some experimental VR game, obviously,” Nathen scoffed.
“Is that what you think this is?” Gregory replied, “don’t you remember what happened to us before we arrived here?”
“Just some boring paperwork I’m sure,” Nathen dismissed, which only seemed to anger Gregory whose focus was returning to the battle between them.
“We were drug from our houses against our will!” Gregory shouted, Nathen’s attack hitching for a moment as his head twinged in pain.
“Why would they drag us to some game test?”
“They didn’t!” Gregory continued, taking advantage of the hesitation to counter attack, “we were asked a number of questions before they strapped us into some chair, do you not remember?”
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YOUR FACET … IS UNDER STRAIN
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“I…,” Nathen stuttered, “it was a VR setup.”
“It was no such thing! Remember!” Gregory demanded, “there were dozens of us, herded in like cattle.”
Nathen shook his head, trying to banish images that seemed to appear before him unasked. He wanted to believe that this was another ability of Gregory.
“No… it couldn’t,” despite himself the images refused to be banished so easily. The team of men, dressed in SWAT gear busting down his door, the darkness of the hood they pulled over his head.
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YOUR FACET … IS CRACKING
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“This is no game!” Gregory shouted, sensing that Nathen was becoming unsure. Taking advantage of the other Ascender’s distraction he spun his spear, striking Nathen’s hand hard enough the other man yelped and dropped his sword.
“But, all of these skills,” Nathen pleaded desperately, “how can…”
“Face reality!” Gregory said, slamming the side of his spear into Nathen’s stomach. Nathen fell backwards, coughing up blood, only looking up when he felt the point of Gregory’s spear against his forehead.
“I understand it was a traumatic time,” Gregory continued in a softer voice, “but which do you think is more likely? That we were drug off to be tested on, or they decided to use those like us to test a new game?”
“Maybe they chose to test on us because it was… dangerous?” Nathen offered weakly.
“No, think about it,” Gregory said, “we wouldn’t be that lucky. I saw others be put in that chair and vanish, and I know you saw it too.”
Nathen looked up to meet Gregory, meeting his eyes and, in that instant, he knew it was true.
Memories came back to him in a rush. Being taken from his apartment at night, the officers kicking his dog when it tried to stop them. The interrogation room where uncaring men in white coats demanded he answer seemingly meaningless questions. The injections they gave him that made it hard to focus.
The chair that others were put in one by one, sometimes they would disappear from it after a flash of light, other times they would burst into blue-green flames so hot they’d be reduced to ash in moments.
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YOUR FACET GAMING HAS SHATTERED
MAJOR FACET: Gaming
Good thing this is all just a game!
-Reduced sensory intensity
-Reduced empathy with locals
-Massive passive increase to Willpower
-Hidden Facet
NOTE: this facet has shattered, all bonuses inverted
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