Mary Percival left me on edge. There was nothing else to say except that. Our conversation played over and over in my mind, as I desperately tried to understand how I’d gone from returning a locket to all but committing to purchase a woman.

‘How…?’ I muttered to myself. Yep, still nothing on that front.

Perhaps it was fitting that my next location after visiting Mary was the church. More than fitting.

I plodded my way up the street in the afternoon sun. As it dropped in the west, the shadows stretched across the rooftops, and while the warmth in the air lingered for a time, it faded rapidly with each passing minute. A cold night was coming, my bones told me, and I needed to avoid that cold night by finding myself a nice warm bed.

The church wasn’t hard to locate, but its location itself was surprising. If I imagined a church, I pictured somewhere quiet, secluded, and surrounded by a large expanse of green grass only broken up by the tombstones of long-forgotten parishioners. Oro City’s church sat not fifty metres from two large saloons, and another building which, on closer examination, appeared to be a brothel – if the women seductively beckoning me inside were anything to go by.

‘Thank you, ladies, but perhaps another time.’ I ducked my head respectfully in farewell.

Small and weathered, the church had painted white walls standing in stark contrast to the dusty grounds upon which grass vainly struggled to survive. The building had a simple yet dignified design with a single-story rectangular structure crowned by a steeple reaching to the heavens. As I said, not hard to find.

A man exited the building as I walked up the entrance pathway.

He was tall and wiry and somewhere in his early twenties. A black hat concealed his neatly kept hair, with stubble upon his face crowned by an impressive moustache. Attractive, if I could acknowledge that in a very neutral way, and dressed well, in a long blue coat and dark brown pants. There was a style about him that didn’t quite fit the town.

He touched his hat as he passed, and I nodded and gave my now customary ‘G’day’.

The porch of the church had a few benches for members of the congregation to sit, and someone had gone to the effort of potting small plants and wildflowers along a railing. As with all buildings in Oro City, huge doors – these ones carved with what I assumed were biblical symbols – opened to a dark interior. The windows were shuttered, keeping out the dwindling afternoon light. As expected, row upon row of pews led towards a large lectern adorned with yet more crucifixes. Against the wall, a large musical instrument, some type of organ or piano unknown to me, stood ready to be played for hymns.

Quest Completion:

* Visit Father Clarence’s church (optional).

* You have been awarded 3 experience for finding the easiest man to locate in the town. Your stalking skills are swiftly developing

An old man shuffled through a small rear door. ‘Ah, I thought I’d heard the doors open. There’s something to be said for a good squeaky door letting you know when someone arrives.’ The priest smiled at me, wrinkles forming across his features. ‘Welcome to the Oro City Church, young man. What challenges bring you here?’

The ‘young’ man gave me a pause, reminding me that I had literally no clue what I looked like or even my age. That was… uncomfortable, but something I needed to shelve for the moment. Maybe the priest could help, later.

My changing thoughts must have registered on my face, as the priest said: ‘Have no fear, nothing is hidden from the Lord. He knows you already. It is us who must understand our sins.’

I wasn’t keen on the religious talk. That’s a polite way of saying that in my current situation, it really grated on me. If God controlled my life, then he’d gone out of his way to erase my memories, bury me, and put me someplace where I could have died to a lion’s claws. Oh, and he’d made me naked… What sort of God would do that? In summary, it sounded more like a cruel joke than the will of God.

‘Father Clarence?’

‘You have me at a disadvantage. You know of me. Only good things, I hope?’

I tried a smile. ‘Of course, Father.’

The old man beckoned me to take a seat on a pew. I obliged and he seated himself nearby with a few grimaces.

‘What can I do for you, my son?’

‘I was advised to come here, Father. Kurt, the barman, said you might be able to teach me about the system.’

‘More so than the average man in a tavern, I would say, but less than you may think.’

I nodded, accepting his words. ‘Whatever help you can provide is beneficial. I’m new to town…’

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The priest smiled knowingly. ‘Of course. Knowing the system is the way to power, is it not?’

Uncomfortable, I shrugged. Power wasn’t high on the list of things that I wanted. Answers yes, power, no. ‘I’ve no desire for power. I do God’s work as well as the next man.’ Surely that’s what he wanted to hear, right?

‘Do you just?’ The priest smirked but didn’t push. ‘And what offering will you give to God in return?’

‘Payment?’ I coughed, surprised at the old man. ‘I thought you were a priest. The kindness of giving and all that...’

The smile didn’t leave his face. ‘Many assume it is so, but the needy do not feed themselves. We must all pay our way in this world, and money brings food and shelter.’

‘Of which I have neither, Father, nor the money to purchase them myself.’ A technical truth, but still the truth in my book. The money belonged to a dead man.

‘Then your money can be found in your arms, in your strength. A favour to be redeemed, perhaps?’

I studied Father Clarence for a moment before nodding in agreement. Yeah, favours for people I didn’t know weren’t great idea, but I had nothing else to trade with.

‘Ask away then, young…?’ He raised an eyebrow.

‘Jacob.’

‘Ask.’

Where to start? Despite the overwhelming nature of everything, I at least had some broad strokes on how the system worked, but the intricacies were lost on me, and I was so far behind someone who had lived with the system for years, if not decades. How did charisma change you, for example? Did it make you more beautiful, or did it make you appeal to women, or convince someone to do something for you? Too many questions, which brought me right back to, the question of where to start…

‘The messages the system delivers to me are very sarcastic.’ Okay, so I had my back up about that.

The priest laughed. ‘Many a complaint has been made about its words. However, I’m led to believe the system uses language you understand. So, the question then becomes, what does that say about you?’

Point taken, old man.

‘Can you tell me about quests?’ Quests gave experience, and I needed experience.

‘The quest system is relatively simple. Your active quests can be completed, and when they are, you gain experience.’

‘But not a lot.’

‘That would depend on the nature of the quest. Ease does not bring experience, challenge does.’

‘Okay, that makes sense. But how are the quests set?’

‘That’s certainly a more interesting question, and I fear the answer I give you might not satisfy. There are many theories about the system, and the ‘magic’ that underpins it, and the so-called ‘setter of quests’. I believe the Lord sets us quests as he gives us the means to fight evil.’

‘What evil?’

Father Clarence’s eyes widened. ‘What do you mean, what evil?’

‘You’re talking about fighting evil. What evil is that?’

‘Where are you from?’ the priest whispered, ‘that you don’t know of the evil plaguing this world?’

‘I’m an… outcast,’ I shrugged. The way people had thrown that at me must mean something.

It didn’t seem to work here, but Father Clarence answered my question. ‘The canyons, do you know of the canyons?’

‘I walked past them earlier today. They must be so deep if mist forms in the bottom like it does.’

The priest crossed his chest. ‘Dear God, have you sent me a madman to counsel? You looked in them. Have you no understanding of the Lord’s word?’ He quoted: ‘When he arrived two demons met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way after. There are demons in the canyons, and you just looked down upon them.’

Well… yeah.

I leant back in the pew, processing his words. There wasn’t much I could do about it in hindsight. I’d not known it the dangers at the time, and I had pressing needs requiring addressing. But… demons?

‘What do you mean demons?’

‘Creatures of the night! Creatures that fear the light – the light of the Lord! Most importantly, creatures that will hunt you, kill you, consume you, and condemn your soul to hell.’

‘And they live in the canyons?’

‘They came from the canyons on the day of judgment. The canyons rent the earth open and forth spewed the denizens of hell during the night. Cities fell, communication was cut, and so many lives were lost…’ It sounded like the start of a sermon the priest was winding up to deliver before he paused himself and took a breath. ‘From the devastation of that day, the system awakened.’

Armageddon. There were demons leaving the canyons at night.

Should that fill me with more terror? Oddly, it didn’t.

Move forward. My new mantra was quite good at letting me ignore the realities of the world.

‘But the quests?’

My responses had clearly taken Father Clarence aback. I don’t know what reaction he expected, but judging by the wide eyes and shaking head, it wasn’t the one he was getting. He muttered a few more words under his breath, visibly steadied himself against the pew, and then replied: ‘The quests… yes. There are different views on the system. As I told you before, my belief is that the quests are God’s will made real. They are a way for Him to guide us onto the righteous path.’

‘God sets them?’ I tried not to sound sceptical, but maybe this was a futile conversation to have with a priest. Ask a religious man his perspective and it would by nature, be religious.

‘No, I did not say that. I said they affirm his path for us. The truth is, that you largely determine the quests which appear in your log. You commit to doing something and are rewarded for doing that. It is not much changed from before, where you act upon your desires. Now you may manifest them as a quest first, and then be rewarded for completing it.’

‘I’ve noticed there are no hints on how to solve the quests.’

‘Is that not like life itself? It is possible to receive snippets of extra information. If that is the case, the blessings of the Saviour are upon you. But the Lord believes in giving us free will, and with that free will you have the ability to shape the world around you.’

That was true. My quests so far were largely simple things I needed to do, likely things I would have done anyway like travel to the town. ‘What about harder quests? What if I wanted to achieve something significant?’

‘The system realises your intention and provides rewards for the difficulty, often exceptional rewards. But that comes with a warning you must heed. Do not be reckless. You can set a quest of good or evil, right or wrong, serious or trivial. But as with all things, there are dangers.’

I waved him away. ‘I’m only trying to work out the limitations, Father, to try to figure out how realistic something needs to be for a quest to become reality. If I were to come up with a quest where I wanted to say, kill a horse, would that…’

Queue text.

New Quest – Kill a horse.

Oh.

Father Clarence stared at me for several breaths. ‘Get out of my church. Now.’

Yep, time to go.