Willow

The Summit, Savriâ

Dungeons. Rifts were dungeons. “They’re not video game dungeons.” Madrick insisted yet again.

Lounging on the oh-so-comfy stone mountain top Willow held up a fist and flicked her pointer finger up. “Rifts are extra-dimensional spaces that have one or two entrances that appear semi randomly. Yeah yeah there are rules about how and where they appear, but for a layman like me, it’s random. Dungeons in games can be anything from a cave system to a castle, and usually they’re entirely self contained. It’s pretty much exactly the same thing.”

Pulling her left leg up so that her knee was visible at the edge of her peripheral vision, the sole of her foot laying flat, she hooked her right left atop the ridge of her knee. She raised another finger, “Rifts are full of monsters which, when you kill them, make you stronger. That’s literally the point of dungeons in video games.” Before Madrick could try and cut her off she flicked up a third finger and spoke louder, “AND FINALLY! They give out items and spells and stuff. It’s LITERALLY a dungeon.”

“Ungrateful.” Madrick muttered, then tried to convince her again. “Rifts have existed for far longer than the ridiculous ‘video game system’ insights.”

Lifting her head from her bed of rock, Willow looked over her legs at Madrick’s glowering form. For some reason he seemed to hate anything being compared to a game. She couldn’t wait to tell Jonah about the hissy fit the big-bad man threw about this.

Uncrossing her legs, she sat up, then rose and began stretching. She’d been sitting for much longer than the hour she’d planned. As it happened, Madrick was apparently more than happy to talk about rifts and anything having to do with monsters or fighting. As she stretched she mentioned, “Doesn’t that just mean dungeons are based on rifts, instead of the other way around? Doesn’t make the idea they’re the same thing any less accurate. Why do you care so much about the terminology anyway, you said you aren’t a scholar before. Why get caught up on the details?”

Huffing disdainfully, he answered, “It’s an issue because it encourages that silly ‘Omniscient System’ path. It’s the only path with a ceiling.” By now Willow recognized Madrick’s ‘getting warmed up’ tone. She moved on from stretches to a series of light exercises she could keep up while listening.

Noticing he’d gone quiet, Willow turned to face him while doing her modified knee-ups. Modified because she was leaping as high as she could with one leg while the other was being pulled up. It was fun, if hard. Giving him a smile and nod to indicate he had her attention, he continued after a moment.

“The ‘Omniscient System’ path is the only one which, to all appearances, is a true dead end. The insights which encompass the path all lead to a flawed understanding of the universe which cannot be reconciled to reach the peaks of power. There are no ‘gamer’ gods. Much less god kings or pinnacle gods. There are paths based around pigments and colors, the sound a horned owl makes during mating, the feeling of bafflement when a sudden smell permeates an empty room. These aren’t hypothetical, there are gods who literally started their paths with those kinds of insights. The first is part of a path that god later named the ‘Colors of the Soul’ path. The second, ‘Sounds of Passion’. And the last, ‘The Path of Unobserved Incredulity’. These were all born of seemingly ridiculous concepts, yet they were capable of being built and expanded into truly earth shattering depths of understanding of the inner workings of the multiverse. The ‘Omniscient System’ path, on the other hand, has millions, maybe billions, of followers. Yet not a single god.”

Apparently realizing his rant had started to become circular, Madrick stopped with a deep breath before concluding, “The reason I hate anything associated with that path is that it cripples those who follow it. What you believe, how you perceive the world, matters. If you believe a lie, then you either have to become powerful enough to make the lie a reality, or you are forever stuck in your self-inflicted ignorance. Abandoning a broken path is hard. The easiest way to wipe that slate clean is to die.”

His last words landed with finality, disgust twisting his upper lip.

Ignoring the attempted gravity, Willow switched to star jumps. Realizing star jumps were downright easy, she started flipping horizontally in the air with each one, left and right, trying to stay more or less in the same area. She ignored Madrick’s annoyed expression as she acted in an unapologetically ridiculous manner while he attempted to sound cool.

Huffing between jumps, Willow asked, “Doesn’t… *huff*… that just mean no one has gotten… *huff*… to god-level yet? Besides, what’s the big… *huff* deal… *huff*… About being a god?”

Head subtly swaying as he watched her, Madrick crossed his arms. “Being a god is just a matter of rank, true. But breaking rank one hundred is a qualitative change in power. Each rank matters, each one compounding your power. There are even thresholds where your power will spike sharply. You’ll see, when you read that book I sent you. When you reach rank one hundred, though, everything below your rank becomes as an ant or speck of dust.”

Laughing, Willow switched from her modified star-jumps to triple twist combined with a flip. Landing it easily, she added an additional flip. Finding that landing after two flips was sufficiently challenging, she continued at that level. Between flips she remarked, “So not really different from…” Jump, twist, flip, twist, flip “…How you are now!”

Raising his head haughtily, Madrick agreed, “Naturally. As one who has reached godhood previously, it’s only natural I see no equal among those of my current rank.”

That was enough to get Willow to stop mid-crouch, preparing to spring. Her eyebrows rose, “You were a god? And you somehow, what, lost ranks? That’s possible?” Noticing she’d stopped her exercise, Willow exploded upward again.

“Of course. Anything that can be gained can be lost. Mostly.” Madrick shrugged, then sighed, “Are you never still?”

“Sometimes! But it’d be a waste of time right now, I’ve got nothing else to do but train, right?”

Sighing in a very put-upon manner, Madrick answered in the way of someone who thinks they’re being ceaselessly patient, “You are doing something else. You’re conversing with your master.”

“Sure, sure…” Jump. “…But I can do both! So why not?”

“Because it’s rude?” He suggested.

“So is ambushing innocent girls and demanding they hit you…” “…while using some kind of uber-scary spell or something…” “…then kidnapping them!”

Between her leaps Willow was able to see his exaggerated posture. Shoulders slumped, leaning back, head tilted toward the heavens as if searching for patience. For a minute, Willow was pretty sure he wasn’t going to answer. Finally, though, he turned back to look at her, “Surely, being tutored and granted discipleship to a former and soon to be returned god should be more than enough to make amends for any perceived wrongdoing.”

“Nope!” Not even an apology, seriously? Nope. Not forgiven. Try admitting you were wrong, that might get you somewhere.

Although she did her best to fume internally, the anger was cold by now. She was fairly certain Madrick didn’t actually mean her any harm. It seemed to be just the opposite, actually. That doesn’t excuse his actions or attitude, though. Until he admits his fault, he doesn’t get my forgiveness. She resolved.

Ending her flipping twists, Willow dropped into a front split. Taking a deep breath, she shoved herself up with her arms. Finding herself several meters further into the air than expected, she flailed momentarily before twisting and landing on her feet. Huh, that used to be super hard.

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Deciding Madrick wasn’t going to apologize at this time, she switched topics, “So how, exactly, did you lose your godship?”

“I died.” The statement was given so nonchalantly that Willow almost thought she’d misheard.

“You… Died. But you’re fine?”

“Of course, I-” His reply was cut short as a distant crash caught their attention. Both turning, Willow could see massive blurry figures in the distance. They were a long ways away still. As far as she could tell, they probably wouldn’t arrive today. If they stopped for the night, maybe tomorrow? If they didn’t, maybe half way through the night.

“Ah, you can finally see them. Good. Then, I’ll take my leave and you can continue on with your little plan.”

Turning to Madrick, Willow gave him an annoyed look, “How about you just zap me and my friends off this planet instead?”

“Nah.”

With that, Madrick leapt into the air, hovering a hundred meters above her for a moment, before taking off directly upward, at least as fast as a jet from earth.

Shaking her head, Willow turned back to stare toward her oncoming enemies. They had somewhat clumped together. It was hard to be sure about how far apart they were from this distance, considering the scales involved, but she’d guess only a half dozen kilometers separated them at most.

Sighing, she got back to her exercise. They were below her, which was a good enough reason to stay here. Besides that, if she left the mountain top and ran in the opposite direction she wouldn’t be able to track their progress. Finally, she wanted to stay near this very obvious landmark since it’d be difficult for her party and the kobolds to find her otherwise. Though… I guess the giant walking disasters might be a pretty good landmark for them.

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Jonah

Kobolt Under-Tree City, Savriâ

Urgh, it’s finally over. Jonah thought as he collapsed. As soon as he’d told Halshath about his Effortless Movement ability, the kobold had dragged him to the training yard. His entire explanation was, “You must understands your abilities.”

When he protested that they needed to get ready to help Willow, he’d just waved it off and said it would take time to rally their warriors. They could do both, according to the grizzled chieftain. What followed has been more like a torture session than any kind of experimentation Jonah had ever heard of.

He’d had to go through obstacle courses, run around a track, hit dummies with training weapons, block strikes from training weapons, and generally just do various outlandish exercises. He had to admit it had been informative. But couldn’t we have been more scientific about it? Plan out the tests so we knew what we’re testing beforehand? He grumbled to himself while staring up at the ceiling coated in that odd softly glowing orange light which ignored physical laws.

To summarize what I’ve learned… Anything that requires an external force isn’t included in my ability. Swinging a sword cost him nothing. Swinging a sword, which struck a dummy, cost him just the stamina the strike required, and the only strain came from the recoil. The motions of climbing were effortless, but lifting and holding himself were not. Jumping was as simple as breathing. Even flipping would be, if he could stop landing on his back and knocking the air out of himself. Running with weights was odd, as he lost about as much energy as he would if he just stood around holding said weights. On the other hand, if he tried to run with a strong but stretchy vine tied around his waist to resist him, it rapidly became exhausting.

He’d gained a point in endurance and one in strength from the four hour stint of training, at least. Halshath’s scarred snout came into Jonah’s field of vision and he knew his break was at an end. Groaning, he slowly sat and then stood. The darkly dappled kobold flashed a wicked smile, but didn’t demand he continue. Instead, he told Jonah, “Our warriors have their orders and are forming ups. We can leave in six hours. You should go sleeps until then. Your friend Naomi has done nearly nothing else since you twos arrived. She did not have your ability to brace hers along the trip.”

Nodding, Jonah fell in step with Halshath, letting himself be led through the frankly disorienting city toward the small hovel which the kobold leaders were allowing them to rest in. As he walked, he opened his interface and started the party chat. He held his breath, then relaxed as it connected. They’d tested the party chat at various ranges and hadn’t found a limit, so they’d all been hopeful it would work. Hope or no hope, they hadn’t been sure.

As soon as Willow connected into the party Jonah gave he an update, “We’ll be leaving with all the kobold warriors Halshath could whip up in around six hours.”

“Jonah! Thank GOD you called!” Willow’s voice came through sounding delighted.

Although her tone didn’t suggest anything was wrong, he hadn’t expected quite such a happy reaction. “Is… Everything okay?”

“No!” She semi-shouted in his mind, “I’m SO bored! I’ve been watching these stupid building-sized giants walking toward me for like three hours. Madrick went off to do whatever Madrick does when he’s not messing with me, and I’ve run out of new exercises to try.”

Suppressing his desire to roll his eyes on the off chance Halshath noticed and started wondering if he was crazy, Jonah asked, “How about your magic? Practiced anything new with that?”

“Yeah! You won’t believe it, but I climbed a mountain that’s like… Uh… Huh, I don’t really know how big it is. It’s massive though! The giant pop-hopper final-boss guys look like ants from up here! I think they’ll be here in like… Eh… Fifteen hours or so? I don’t know if they’ll stop to sleep or anything though. Anyway! Let me tell you about this climb, Madrick was such a jerk and…”

Listening to Willow regale him about her adventure in climbing a sheer cliff-like mountain was entertaining enough that Jonah found himself surprised when they arrived back at Skeetha and Halshath’s home.

“So then after like the twentieth time I fell, I figured out I can speed up the healing if I cycle my mana in the skill’s pattern manually! It cut the time I had to wait between attempts in like a tenth.”

“Hey Willow.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ve been rambling, oops…. Uh, how’ve you been?”

Doing his best to send a sense of amusement over the channel, Jonah answered, “We’re doing okay. I’ll tell you about a cool ability I got. But we just got back to the house and I need to get some sleep before we head your way.”

“Oh! Right! Okay, sleep well! Tell Naomi hi! I’ll see you guys soon!”

Agreeing, Jonah said his goodbyes and closed the channel. Noticing everyone was staring at him, he winced, “Sorry. I ah, I was talking to Willow. Telling her we’re going to be heading out soon.”

That seemed to be enough of an explanation as to why he had been spaced out. Skeetha gestured, “Please, sits, eat. Then we will alls get some sleep before the march starts tomorrows.”

Doing as asked, he sat. Taking one of the odd leaf-wrapped rolls, he waited to see how Halshath ate his. He just popped the whole bundle in his mouth, so Jonah followed suit. It was delicious, a well seasoned packet of soft meat and tubers. “Where do you guys get meat?” Jonah spoke curiously, having never thought to ask.

“We have livestalks for it.” Halshath mentioned. “They are further downs. Bats too big to fly. We traded the lasts of our EBs for their grand sires long ago.”

“What do they eat? I haven’t noticed any bugs or anything here…” Naomi asked between her own bites.

“They can eats any plant. We make sure they have plentys and they keep us well feds too. Their droppings even helps make that easier. We can grows a lot of the plants native to this planets underground because of the sun-childs light and their fertilizer.”

As they ate, the group continued to chat. Naomi and Jonah were both interested to learn more about the kobold’s way of life. Now that they’d scavenged for food and survived off of the weirdly one-note nutrients available on the planet, they had a new appreciation for these people. Even more so when they learned that many of the residents spent most of their days working various artistic or crafting pursuits.

A lot of their work ended up getting sold to traders who came to the planet every month or so, in exchange for more materials to continue plying their trades. The planet itself was barely survivable, yet the kobolds had found a way to thrive without using the UICI and interacting with the larger universe at large.

The stories that Halshath told them about the time they had worked for the order which had contracted them upon arrival, the Wesnmen’s Coallition, were nothing if not horrifying. They’d spent literal decades at a time stuck in cubicle style buildings working most of those hours through their UICIs. Rarely allowed to leave except on approved restroom breaks.

As they settled for the night, Jonah glanced at Naomi. Although her eyes weren’t full of the same mixture of gratitude that he’d avoided that fate, fury that it had been a possibility, and pity that others had to go through it, they did have a different kind of light in them than usual. He asked softly, “What is it?”

“I want to break that system. People shouldn’t be able to take advantage like that.” She blinked, then cocked her head to the side with unfocused eyes. “I got a… ‘Quest registration accepted’ alert. It says ‘Break the Cycle: You’ve committed yourself to breaking the arrival system status-quo. Specifically, you wish to put a stop to large organizations’ ability to take advantage of people’s ignorance and emotional vulnerability upon initial arrival. Best Guess Reward: Your choice of changes to arrival system.’” She took a breath then finished, “It has a disclaimer at the bottom that the quest registration is a translation of some ‘Law of Universal Achievement’.”

Skeetha gasped in surprise from across the room. She spoke up quietly, “Follow that quest through to the end. UAs are rares and powerful. You should-” She cut herself off, “We will talk about it later. For now, sleep. We need to bes rested for tomorrows.”

Agreeing, Jonah and Naomi shared a final glance and firm nod, before they each did their best to get comfortable. Although he had wondered whether the anticipation for the upcoming march back and following battle against literal giants would keep him up, Jonah found sleep the moment his eyes closed.