Winter poked my side while putting a finger to his mouth. He then pointed to the other side of the river some distance away. After looking for a second I made out the faint outline of a person. The sound of flowing water, albeit quiet, was still there so I wasn't worried about them hearing me if I whispered. "What should we do?" I asked Winter quietly. "Let us greet them," "no! Are you sure that's a good idea?" "It might lead to fun," "that's…" I shook my head. Winter started walking closer to them. "Oh… well, whatever," I said, standing up to follow Winter. Winter's hand went into the air to wave as he said, "Hello! We mean no harm!" Not wanting to scare whoever it was away. Surprisingly the figure across the stream waved back. The figure was clearer now that we were closer. He had dirty blonde hair joined together to make thick spikes that I would only ever expect to see in an anime. Even in his apparent surprise, his face looked kind and inviting. He had a gray mantle cape on, a chainmail vest which was covered by a tan shirt that looked medieval, light brown pants, leather boots, a necklace, a few earrings, and a rapier. He waved back. After giving us a good lookover he spoke "good to see another group here, how long have you been on this island?" "Oh, I do not think that we have been here more than a few hours," Winter said. "Wow, I'm guessing you guys haven't run into those spirits yet then," "you mean the wisps, we saw a few," "Did they not attack you, Or do you know how to defeat them!?" "No, I know how they work, that is all," "Does that mean…" While they were talking I was just standing there nodding my head. 'Winter, how is this going to lead to any fun,' I was complaining mentally. The annoying thing about talkative people for me is that they always have something to say, so it's really hard to interject yourself into a conversation, and so, I was relegated to my current situation.
Amidst their ramblings something that the man said snapped me back to attention. "I think I know the answer, but you guys also came from the stained slopes right?" "Wait, you also…" I blurted out, trailing off at the end. "Yeah, there's another group here that also got sent here from the stained slopes," Winter spoke up again, "How did you guys get here?" "Oh, Bogdan threw us here after being attacked by… Citlali I think was the name," "That also happened to us, how… did he get away when he sent you here then got caught again?" Winter was clearly trying to figure out the logistics behind everything. I was also quite confused. "No, I think– Do you guys not know?" "Know what!?" Winter and I both said. "How long have you guys been up here?" We both stared at him blankly. "Wow, you really have no Idea, well I guess it took me about a month to get it fully figured out," He muttered. "You should come with… oh I forgot about the barrier," "Barrier?" "There's a barrier stretched across the entirety of the river as far as I'm aware, so you can't really get across."
Winter and I seemed to have the same idea as he immediately looked at me while I summoned the 'Enhanced Barrier Monocle' from my inventory. As I put it on I saw a barrier unlike any I had seen before, not that I have seen very many. There was a tall white curtain that was shimmering in front of me, instead of the usual prismatic ones. "That thing doesn't work, I tried," Said the guy. But I had already activated it. A hole the size of a small car opened in the barrier. "It worked," I said. Winter jumped through and he motioned for me to follow. I was about to, when I thought of something. 'This thing only works when I'm looking at the barrier right, so what if I jump through then when I stop seeing it, I get bisected by the barrier,' "Wait let me try something," I said. Even though it didn't look like I did anything I deactivated the monocle. The barrier quickly started repairing itself but it wasn't instant like I had feared. I jumped through after renewing the hole, and briefly explained my thinking to Winter and the other guy. "Is that not the 'Barrier Monocle'?" the guy asked. "It's called the 'Enhanced Barrier Monocle,'" I said. "Did you get it from the 'Tomb of the Red Wardemon'?" "yes," "I guess there's always more to learn then," the guy said with a confused smile. Which only amplified my own confusion.
On the walk over to his camp we all introduced ourselves. The guy was named Leo. The walk only took 30 minutes, and we didn't talk about anything too important because Leo wanted to wait to talk about our confusions until his companion was with him to make sure he didn't miss anything. Regardless, we learned that Leo was stuck on the starter island for over a month because he just wanted to take a break from everything. He didn't exactly say why. And that he and his adventuring companion had only been with each other for a few weeks, they were level 26 and 27 respectively. He also mentioned that he was a 'weapon master' and that his companion was an 'artificer.' "Before we arrive, I'll just say that my companion can look a bit hateful. But he just looks like that, it's almost been the source of a few fights." He said, chuckling lightly.
Their camp was not much, but they had a small covering and some blankets that they had in their inventories prior to coming here. Leo had mentioned that on the way over. This probably confirmed that my system was not all that special. Upon noticing that we were here along with Leo, a figure stood up. 'He kinda does look hateful' I thought. He had long black hair messily thrown into a ponytail. He had a darkly colored cloak over some leather gear and boots. And as warned, he kinda seemed to look upon everything with disdain. The only not dark thing about him seemed to be his tanned skin. On closer inspection his eyes were red too. 'Oh wow, let me guess, his name is Satan, or maybe Belial,' "I'm back," Leo said cheerfully. "This is Kevin and this is Winter," He said, pointing to each of us. The new guy nodded and said in seeming disdain, "I'm Lucifer, pleased to meet you." 'what did I say…' I thought. 'I shouldn't stereotype people I guess, even though there's a solid 50% chance that this guy is the devil,' "so, what did you bring them here for," Lucifer asked Leo. "They know even less than I did when I met you so…" "Impressive," "I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything before sending them off, or maybe we could help each other, Winter seems to know how to deal with the spirits." Winter spoke up, "I do, but even combined we do not have enough power to get rid of them in the methods I know of," "I'm sure we can work something out," Leo said brightly.
"So your first question was how we also knew Bogdan right?" Leo asked. We both nodded. "First, let me say that we also captured that Tattooed man on the starter island, we also found that dead demon with that letter, we also went into the 'Red Wardemon's Tomb', we also got captured by that Lion headed Demon, and we also got sent here by Bogdan and saw Citlali. The Heartwood Forest and the Stained slopes are both fragments of a proper world, as indicated by your 'lexicon'. When an individual, or a party formed at a brotherhood enters a world or 'fragment' for the first time, you enter that world at a certain point in time. And every person that goes into that world or fragment enters it at that point in time in that world's history. Does that make any sense at all?" I was surprisingly the first one to speak again after a short pause. "So it's like a videogame?" I asked, not really expecting them to know what I was talking about. "I have heard it described that way, but I have no idea what it entails, and don't worry about trying to explain it to me, many people have tried and failed, it makes no sense." I nodded. 'This is crazy,' I sang mentally in excitement. Winter spoke up. "So every person that goes to a world can affect it in their own way if I am understanding what you are saying, but then how did the same thing happen to both our groups." His question was fair, and was also something that I was wondering. Leo pursed his lips in thought, but after sighing in annoyance Lucifer was the one to answer. "The effect is visible more at lower levels, but sometimes the 'firmament' works things in a way so that there are only a few outcomes possible."
"I am confused about a few things, What is the 'firmament', what is a 'fragment', and what is a 'lexicon' for starters?" Winter asked. Leo piped up. "We don't really know what the firmament is except for that it is what people call the system that runs this place. Fragments are the floating islands you see. And a lexicon is something like this," Leo stuck out his hand and a large scroll burst into existence. He unraveled it, showing it to us briefly. It had his information on it and all the other things that my system had. The scroll then disappeared in a dim flash. "Everyone has one," Lucifer said. Winter pulled out his book, which seemed to always be in very poor condition. He showed them the first pages for a second. This seemed to stump Leo and Lucifer for some reason. "I've never seen one that looks so bad," Leo said apologetically after a second. Lucifer nodded in agreement. "Now that I am thinking of it, you said that the lexicon talked about fragments?" Winter asked "yes, there's a section called 'Worlds & Fragments'," Leo responded. "Mine does not have it, see" Winter said, flipping to a page that was titled… 'Worlds & Fragments.' "ok, last time it was just called Worlds, I have no idea what is wrong with this thing," He said in annoyance.
"Maybe not on topic, but I also have this book for my inventory," Winter said, showing them an even more ragged book. "It only stores 50 items while Kevins stores 250, do you know why that is?" This question perplexed both of them even more. Leo looked at Lucifer and asked "Don't all inventories store 200 items," "that's what I thought too," Lucifer said, narrowing his eyes. "I think the firmament just hates me," Winter said. "What makes you think that?" Leo asked. Winter just looked at him.
"Next question, you speak like you've been a higher level yourself Lucifer, did you get demoted or something," Winter asked. "Are you aware of the teachers you can find in the Heartwood forest at the cathedral," Lucifer asked. "They are quite weak, no?" "That's how they seem, but they know a lot if you talk with them for even a second, I think that they are more than meets the eye" "I see,"
"Here is the last of my current questions. What do you mean when you say 'this place' I have heard many people bring it up and it is always in a strange context, Leo has said it a few times in the short time we have talked also," Winter asked.
Name: Kevin
Age: 17
Level : 21
EXP: 5,500/10,000
Lesser Shapeshifter
Health: 281
Mana: 25
Stat Points: 0
Stats:
Vitality : 23
Mind : 15
Endurance : 10
Strength : 20
Intelligence : 5
Soul : 5
Instinct : 30
Tinkering : 5
Luck : 0
Skill Points: 0
Skills:
Language
Lesser Shapeshifting(level 11)
Red Demon Transformation