The faint sound of someone chiseling rock somewhere within the village was all that could be heard as Vin stared at the elder, trying to wrap his head around her words.
"I'm sorry… when you say, 'the world ended'… what do you mean by that exactly?"
"It is as it sounds," she said solemnly, a single tear rolling down her face as her eyes clouded. "A powerful madness slowly crept up out of nowhere and infested the world. People turned on loved ones overnight. Monsters became more plentiful than gravel. The sky itself grew dark as hope faded away."
"That does sound pretty bad," Vin muttered, waiting for her to continue as she took a shuddering breath and reined in her emotion.
"Villages fell like wheat before the scythe. Even our great cities of stone that had stood for thousands of years collapsed one after another. All seemed lost, and our small village could do no more than isolate ourselves from the spreading madness and pray to the Great System to keep us safe."
"As the last of our neighboring villages fell, the Great System finally answered our prayers, plucking us from our world like a berry from a bush and transporting us somewhere safe. Edregon."
Vin could do little more than stare at the elder in wonder, his mind churning as he took all this in. "So this area we're in. The rocky, hilly zone that stretches for at least a few miles. This is a piece of your world?"
"Indeed. As far as we know, our lone village and the surrounding area were all that the Great System was able to salvage from our world. Our Great Migration and the following Great Reset occurred about three months ago. Since then we've sent out a few scouting parties, and thanks to those that returned, we now know that there are six different edges to what is left of our world, each leading somewhere entirely new to us."
These people sure like putting 'Great' in front of their important things, Vin thought, briefly wondering if it was just his new translation passive simplifying things for him. "Wait. Great Reset? That was something different from you guys getting yanked from your world and put here?"
The elder nodded, a small frown causing her wrinkles to stand out. "Yes. Far from us to question the decisions of the Great System, especially after saving us from the end of our world. But the Great Reset came as quite the shock to my people. Before they were lost to us, our records spanned back nearly ten thousand years, and never had we heard of such a thing."
"Immediately after placing us on this new world, the Great System stripped us of its many gifts. Classes, skills, spells; everything that the Great System had rewarded us with over our lifetimes removed in an instant. Without warning, all were returned to infancy, and all had to start over from the beginning. With our warriors weakened and mages hamstrung, we shouldn't have lasted a day against the monsters known to roam around the wilderness surrounding our village. Thankfully, the Great System saw fit to give us a fighting chance, somehow weakening the monsters and reducing their number to allow us to regain some of our former glory. We are far from where we once stood, but in time, we will grow stronger than we ever were before."
Throughout the elder's speech, Vin watched as her troubled face slowly shifted to one of determination and strength. By the time she finished there was a powerful fire burning within her eyes that made her seem decades younger. She clearly believed every word she said, and Vin didn't doubt that the village would one day be a fantastic ally if they could be persuaded to form some sort of alliance with his camp. Spur would probably throw him a party if he came back with word of new allies along with all this information.
"I'm sorry your people had to go through all that," Vin said, struggling to imagine how hard that must have been. To go from the end of the world, to being transported without warning somewhere entirely new, and then having the power you'd spent your entire life building forcibly stripped from you?
Honestly, he wasn't sure if he would have been able to keep going after all that.
"Your words are appreciated," the elder said, nodding in thanks. "Fortunately, my people are as resilient as the rocks we carve upon. Even a broken rock can be transformed into something greater with enough skill and mortar."
"Your buildings truly are magnificent," Vin said, hoping to lighten the conversation a bit. Though he absolutely meant what he said; the skill required to carve the images into the different structures had blown him away when he first laid eyes on the village. "What do all the different pictures and shapes mean?"
"It is custom for our people to carve important memories into their walls when they receive their first dwelling," she explained, smiling at his genuine interest in their culture. "All our people purchase the Carving skill from the Great System the moment they are able, regardless of their class choice. Stone is crucial to our way of life after all, regardless of what path our people choose for themselves."
"Based on what I've seen of your village, I can believe it," he said, laughing. "I can't begin to thank you for all you've told me. My people were moved to this new world rather suddenly as well, but the Great System is brand new to us and we have much to learn."
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Truly?" The elder looked surprised for the first time since they'd begun talking, her gaze growing distant. "A world without the Great System… I struggle to even imagine what that would look like."
"It's definitely taking some getting used to." Taking a deep breath, Vin went for it. "Do you think your people would be willing to work with mine? We just arrived in one of the fragments bordering this one earlier today, and it feels like a good idea to make friends with our new neighbors. Maybe we could trade information or resources going forward, or something along those lines? To be entirely honest, I'm not a diplomat. Just a guy who enjoys wandering around and discovering new things. I'm a bit out of my league here."
His honesty earned him another chuckle from the elder, and he felt hopeful seeing her genuine smile.
"Spoken like one of my own," she said, tapping her cane on the ground. "My people believe that knowledge and therefore honesty should be shared by all, so I appreciate your candor. In these unforeseen times, I also believe a partnership between our people would be a wise course of action. Despite the loss of our Great Stone, we still have the knowledge that rests within our minds. We would be happy to share it with your people in exchange for good relations moving forward."
HELL YEAH! He cheered in his mind, doing his best to keep his expression far less excited despite his building desire to jump up and dance a little jig right then and there. "That would be amazing, thank you! When I return to my people I will let them know, and we'll probably send a few people over to have a more thorough discussion. All that will be up to our leader though, so I can't say for certain what that will look like."
"Then we shall look forward to our next meeting," the elder said, giving him a slight nod of the head. "Before you return to your people however… would you perhaps be willing to aid us with something?"
"Uh, sure?" Vin said, trying to push all the images of Spur carrying him around on his shoulders to the back of his mind and focus on the elder once more. "What do you need? You should probably know I'm not exactly a high level or anything."
"One of the first things you will learn about the Great System is that levels are not everything." The elder shook her head, clearly speaking from experience. "What good will a level 50 spearman do when you need a potion brewed correctly, or a newborn delivered safely? No, you must find the right class for the right job."
"So you need an Explorer for something?" Vin surmised.
"Exactly," she nodded. "When the Great Migration happened and we had our gifts stripped from us, we first focused on building back up our combat prowess and securing our immediate perimeter. It was only recently that we allowed our scouts to venture out further than a few miles and begin searching for others that may have been rescued by the Great System as well. That is how we learned of the many world fragments that make up this new world."
"With the reduced monster count our scouts were able to explore this strange new world fairly easily, and we decided to send them deeper into one of the adjacent fragments that looked lush with life and potential. The trip should have taken no more than a day, two at the most. However, it's been four days since they departed, and I am beginning to grow worried."
"Why not send some of your warriors?" Vin asked, thinking back to how easily the group of six dispatched the monster than had been chasing him. "The ones I ran into seemed pretty competent."
"The right class for the right job," the elder repeated, shaking her head. "I called them scouts, but they were not Scouts. Their classes were a myriad of combat focused ones. That means rather than invest attribute points into focus to better observe their surroundings, they invested almost exclusively in strength, endurance, and vigor. Assuming they still draw breath, whatever problem they encountered that has delayed them must not be one that can be solved by martial might."
"I suppose that makes sense… but what if they did run into a monster that was too much for them to handle? It would be like sending me into a meat grinder," Vin pointed out.
The elder frowned, raising an eyebrow. "Meat… grinder?"
I guess the translation passive doesn't work when the other culture has no close approximation for something. "Sorry, just a phrase my people use. I mean it would be sending me to my death."
"Ah, I see," she nodded. "It is unlikely they ran into a powerful monster. We have been carefully monitoring the monsters as they've slowly increased in strength and number ever since the Great Migration, and unless each fragment follows drastically different rules, there shouldn't have been any monsters able to wipe out our scouts so handily. Even if they did encounter something too strong for them to fight, at least one or two should have been able to escape and return home to warn us."
Sighing, Vin ran his hands through his hair and looked up at the ceiling, debating what he should do. On the one hand, if something had waylaid a trained group of fighters, he really didn't want to go running headfirst toward it. Getting chased for mile after mile by a giant scorpion had been enough for him, thank you very much. But on the other hand, establishing good relations with the village was clearly a top priority. Even without their Great Stone, they obviously had a ton of useful information that he had no doubt would be worth its weight in gold for his people. It would be the difference between figuring out everything from scratch and starting this crazy journey with some sort of manual. Not to mention they might be able to help out if their group was attacked by something they couldn't handle before they got their System legs under them.
Spur better thank me for this. Taking a deep breath, he nodded, returning his gaze to the hopeful elder. "Alright, I'll do my best to figure out what happened to them."
"Thank you," the elder said, getting to her feet and taking his hand. "Follow me. I will show you the direction they were headed when they left the village."
Following the elder out of the stone building, Vin tried to squash the sinking feeling in his gut. Karma was supposed to reward people for doing the right thing after all.
…Right?
They headed east from here," the elder said, gesturing off into the distance. The two of them stood at the edge of the village while a handful of villagers watched them from a respectful distance. Vin wasn't sure if it was because of how highly these people valued honesty, but not a single one of the onlookers was even pretending to be doing something other than staring at them with hope or interest in their eyes.
Granted it's not like these people had lawnmowers they could use to pretend to mow a lawn as they looked on.
"You wouldn't happen to have any sort of magical way of tracking them I suppose?" Vin asked, trying his luck. "Some sort of magic rock you can give me that will lead me right to them perhaps?"
"We used to have spells similar to that which you describe, but our Shamans and Stone Mages suffered the worst from the Great Reset," the elder said, shaking her head. "It will be some time before we have access to the same level of magic we once did."
"Sorta figured that would be the case," he sighed. Scratching his head, Vin thought about his next move. He could just wander aimlessly in that general direction. Try heading in as straight a line as possible and hope for the best. But if he were being realistic, that probably wouldn't work too well for him. But without magic, he didn't really have any other option. It wasn't like he knew how to follow tracks after all.
Vin blinked. Curious, he pulled up the System, focusing on his waiting skill point and taking a second look at the Explorer skill list. Sure enough, there it was, just ripe for the picking.
Tracking
Huh. Well how about that. Vin stared at the floating text, his brow furrowed in thought. It certainly wasn't as fun sounding as Spellcraft or Dungeoneering, but it was exactly the skill he needed in this moment. Not to mention if he planned on spending the rest of his life exploring the great unknown, it was almost certainly a skill he'd get plenty of use out of. Shrugging, he focused on the skill, and his jaw dropped at the sudden influx of information that poured into his head.
In seconds, he suddenly just knew the basics of how to track. But it was more than that. He didn't just know the signs to look out for when tracking something or how to read a footprint in the mud, it was like he had secondhand experience stamped into his own memory. Like he'd taken a month long, hands-on survival course dedicated to tracking, but it had been a few years ago rather than fresh in his mind.
"Now that's a rush," he muttered, stepping forward and taking a closer look at the ground. Thankfully, the elder had informed him there hadn't been any rain within the last four days, which meant the tracks were still relatively fresh thanks to the dusty and rocky terrain. Despite his new skill, if it had been only one person, Vin may have been out of luck. But the group of four had been large enough that he thought he'd be able to follow them as long as he paid close attention.
"Alright, I think I can take it from here," he said, throwing one final look over his shoulder at the hopeful villagers. "If I'm not back in a day or two, I guess you should assume whatever got them got me as well."
"Good luck to you," the elder said, smacking her cane into the ground one last time. Waving over his shoulder, Vin headed off in search of the missing scouting party.
My first quest! He couldn't help but grin as he left the village. This was exactly what he'd hoped would happen when he discovered the Explorer class. Finding new people and cultures, seeing new sights, even helping where he could when possible. Yes siree, the life of the traveled vagabond was never dull.
Following the tracks was definitely slower going than just wandering around aimlessly, but at least he knew he was going in the right direction. His attention was now split three ways between making sure he didn't lose the group's trail, keeping an eye out for monsters, and trying to spot new creatures for that sweet, sweet experience. He wasn't having any luck on the creature front, but he did receive a nice surprise after about fifteen minutes of following dusty footprints through the rocky wilderness.
Tracking increased to lvl 2! 200 exp gained.
"Oh!" Vin started, his eyes flickering over the notification. "So individual skills can level up, and that grants experience toward the class? Good to know!" He tried to determine exactly what had changed from leveling up, but the adjustment from Tracking level 1 to Tracking level 2 must have been fairly minute. If anything, he thought the tracks may have become ever so slightly easier to make out, but it might have been all in his head. At the very least the 200 experience had brought him closer to level 3.
The System seemed to track his overall experience rather than wiping the slate clean every level, so he was currently sitting at 2210/3000. According to the elder, the missing scouts had been planning on investigating the adjacent fragment, which was at minimum another 500 experience points coming his way. If he could just find a few more creatures or keep leveling up his new skill, he'd hit level 3 in no time!
Vin couldn't help but chuckle at the mental image of returning to Spur not only with news of other people and a brand-new alliance, but having also become the highest leveled person in the camp in less than a day. Who knows, maybe they'd make him humanity's newest king or something.
Granted, that sounded absolutely terrible, but it was a funny thought nonetheless.
With his attention so divided, it took him most of the afternoon to follow the tracks to the edge of the fragment the scouts had headed toward. And while he managed to increase his tracking to level 3 in that time, earning himself another 300 experience, he hadn't spotted any new creatures.
He had seen what looked eerily like that same goat that had glared at him earlier watching him from a distance, but he focused on avoiding eye contact and hurried along to the edge of the world.
This new fragment looked much closer to the fragment the System had first thrown them down on. Where the invisible boundary stood the rocky hills and sparse vegetation he was currently in once again transformed into thick, lush green grass. Yet rather than scattered forests, this new world fragment seemed to be dotted with the occasional giant tree; each one reaching between five to ten stories tall with monstrous canopies rivaling the size of an entire supermarket. After admiring one of the massive, far-off trees, Vin grinned in anticipation and stepped over the invisible line.
New fragment discovered! 500 exp gained.
Level up! Explorer Lvl 3.
+3 Attribute points to spend.
"Hell yeah!" Vin said, pumping his fist and pulling up his System interface.
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Vinnie Stone
Explorer: Lvl 3
Titles: None
Exp. 3040/6000
Strength: 13
Dexterity: 14
Endurance: 22
Vigor: 15
Focus: 11
Magic: 0
Attribute Points: 3
Passives: Mental Map, Polyglot
Skills: Tracking lvl 3
Spells: None
"Damn, no new skill point," he muttered, scanning over his information. "Looks like the amount of experience needed for each new level increases by 1,000. The amount I get from creatures or fragments isn't increasing, so the level ups are gonna start slowing down pretty quick unless something changes."
Shrugging, Vin dismissed his information. While he was enjoying all the benefits the System had to offer, he'd never been one to sweat the small stuff or spend time agonizing over making the optimal decision. He preferred going with his gut and dealing with the universe smacking him over the head with the consequences. It was probably why he'd been arrested so many times, come to think of it.
Even if he couldn't really tell how much leveling his skill benefited him, he was thankful Tracking had already hit level 3 because the scouts' tracks became much harder to follow in this new fragment. Dusty footprints had been replaced with stepped on grass, and a few days had proved plenty of time for the grass to right itself and erase nearly any sign people had been through here. Vin was practically bent over now with his face as close to the ground as possible, relying on the small tufts of grass that had been torn by the twist of a foot or bent too far to recover.
His close examination of the thick grass ended up being what saved his life.
Carefully following the tracks, Vin's searching eyes landed on something big that blended in perfectly with the grass. It took him a second to recognize what he was staring at, and he barely had time to stumble backwards, his eyes going wide as the snake that had been lying in wait uncoiled and lunged forward, narrowly missing sinking its fangs into his calf.
"Holy-!" He yelled, scrambling backwards and putting some distance between himself and the green snake that looked to be about as thick as his arm. The snake was the identical color as the grass, and was easily longer than he was tall.
New species discovered! 100 exp gained.
"Yeah, I noticed!" He shouted, heart pounding in his chest as he carefully watched the snake. The creature seemed to stare at him, its tongue flicking out to taste the air as it debated whether or not it should press the attack or try its luck with another unsuspecting target. After a few tense moments, it finally turned, sinking back into the grass and all but vanishing from sight.
"Seriously, screw this fragment," he grumbled, waiting for his heart rate to return to normal before continuing to follow the tracks, going even slower now that he had to keep an eye out for snakes as well. "If I make it out of here alive I'm gonna make that old lady give me her cane as a reward or something."
Following the tracks deeper into the new fragment he spotted a few more green snakes lying in wait that he so eloquently dubbed grass noodles. Thankfully, they seemed to prefer ambushing their prey, as none of them made any move to chase after him when he skirted their coiled forms. He also spotted a family of small lemurs eating fruits up in the branches of a big tree, a pudgy bird that looked like a brown tennis ball hopping around as it pecked at fallen seeds, and a second species of snake that was much longer and thinner and looked like it somehow lived entirely up in the giant tree as it slithered its way between the branches. He had a feeling if he somehow managed to climb up there he'd find an entire ecosystem hidden within the foliage, but that was a task for another day.
It was while he watched another new species, some sort of rabbit creature with nasty spurs on its hindlegs, go to town on a few long blades of grass that a flash of red caught his eye. Carefully approaching the unnatural color that stood out in this sea of green, Vin looked at the dull red splotch of color that had splattered across some of the grass. He didn't need his fancy new Tracking skill to follow what was clearly a trail of blood, and in seconds he stumbled upon the source.
Lying face down in the grass was a woman; the thin rock armor she wore clearly marking her as one of the village scouts. There was a stone mace lying a few inches from her open hand and the body of a grass noodle with its head caved in right beside her. Despite the small swarm of ants and large beetles skittering all over her body, Vin was still able to make out the fang marks sunk deep into her exposed ankle, telling him all he needed to know.
Dismissing the new species notifications that must have come from seeing the insects eating away at the woman's decomposing corpse, Vin turned and began dry heaving as he fell to his hands and knees, his body trying to expel something it didn't have.
Oh yeah, I haven't actually eaten anything yet today. I just seemed to have a full stomach when the System brought me here. The thought seemed out of place as the image of the woman's corpse refused to leave his mind. Eyes watering, Vin crawled about a dozen feet away, not daring to go any further in case he ran into one of the hidden snakes and ended up just like the poor woman.
It took him a few minutes to collect himself and stop retching, but eventually, he got it together. Taking deep, shaky breaths, Vin managed to get to his feet and gradually edge his way over to the woman. Careful not to look directly at her or breathe too deeply, he leaned down and snagged her fallen mace, beating a hasty retreat once he had it in hand. He wasn't even entirely certain why he wanted it, but for some reason he felt better having collected something from the fallen warrior.
"I'll say it again," he shivered, eyeing the sea of grass all around him. "Screw this fragment."
Vin went to continue following the tracks deeper into the surrounding grass, but his legs refused to move. Every time he tried to take a step the image of the dead woman being devoured by bugs appeared crystal clear in his mind, locking up his legs and stopping him dead in his tracks. He couldn't shake the thought that the next step he took might end up putting himself in the exact same situation that had befallen her.
Remembering his recent level up, Vin pulled up his interface and looked at his three free attribute points waiting to be allotted. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if this was the right move instead of making himself stronger or faster. But in the end, he realized being stronger or faster wouldn't do him any good if he didn't see the threat coming in the first place. Not wasting another second, he dumped all three available points into focus, bringing it up from 11 to 14.
It was like the System had injected crushed up Adderall directly into his bloodstream, and Vin's breath caught in surprise as everything suddenly grew sharper in detail. His eyesight and hearing even seemed to improve a little as he realized he was able to hear a family of lemurs chirping quietly overhead before noticing something rather interesting about the grass a few dozen feet in front of him.
The sea of grass was swaying in the slight wind, creating the illusion of waves before his very eyes. But now that his focus had improved, he was able to notice that a few small spots of grass dotting the field around him seemed thinner and weren't moving quite as much as their surroundings. Carefully approaching one such spot, his suspicions were confirmed as he found one of the grass noodles coiled up in wait, its extremely effective camouflage not able to do much about the fact that it was sitting on top of some grass, bending the blades down.
Sending the System a quick prayer of thanks, Vin quickly returned to the tracks, picking up the trail where he left off and moving much faster now that he knew how to spot the snakes' hiding spots. His increased focus helped with his tracking as well, and by the time he stumbled upon what had to be a dirt road leading off into the distance, he'd increased his Tracking to level 4.
"Guess they found this road and decided to follow it," he muttered, looking at how the tracks led up to the road before vanishing. Unlike the dusty ground in the prior fragment or the sea of grass in this one, the well beaten dirt road didn't really leave any sort of tracks behind, meaning the trail had gone dark. There were a few sticks the warriors must have shoved into the edge of the road, no doubt to mark where they'd entered it, but that was the only sign that they'd been here.
According to the sun's position, evening was quickly approaching, and Vin hoped to be miles away from the snake infested fragment before night fell. Gripping the straps of his pack, Vin grit his teeth and began jogging down the dirt path in the direction the scouts had gone. He'd already come this far; he was determined to finish his mission for the village elder and would at least try to find the scouts before giving up.
He only hoped he'd find the rest of them in better shape than the first one.
Remove
It only took Vin about a mile of jogging down the dirt path before he stumbled upon the abandoned town. Located between a handful of the massive trees was a lifeless town without a single speck of movement. As he approached, Vin scanned the oddly quiet cluster of buildings, looking for anyone who could help him.
The buildings looked like they'd been constructed from bricks made of pressed-grass; the finely crafted wooden doors and window frames were the only unique features from each grassy home. Thanks to his newly increased focus, he was able to admire the impressive craftsmanship from afar, and he wondered just how many doors a single one of the giant trees could make when felled.
New town discovered! 500 exp gained.
"Huh," he said, glancing at the increased experience gain. "I guess towns are worth more than villages. Despite the fact that this one is empty." Vin looked around at the vacant buildings surrounding him, even going so far as to poke his head into one or two of them. Like the doors, each of the grassy buildings contained finely crafted wooden furniture and various personal items. He spotted piles of clothes, rotting stores of food, and even a few useful tools. What he didn't spot however, were any people.
"Of course I'd find a creepy abandoned town in the snake infested fragment right before nightfall," he muttered, poking his head into yet another building. "Where the hell is everyone?"
Seeing as nobody would object, Vin decided to snag a few of the more useful items he spotted as he checked out the town. A coil of rope made from tightly woven grass, a lantern with a handful of candles, and a few pounds of some sort of hardtack, the only edible thing that hadn't rotted yet, all made their way into his pack. He contemplated grabbing the pouches of wooden coins lying about here and there, but decided against it. They no doubt were worth something to these people, but in this new patchwork world? There was no way any sort of standard currency had been agreed upon in the last couple of months.
Nibbling on one of the earthy hardtacks that was a bit too matcha flavored for his tastes, Vin continued exploring the town before a faint cracking sound grabbed his attention. Focusing on the noise, Vin thought it sounded like rocks crashing against even more rocks, and he quickly ran toward the source of the clanging.
On the other side of town, just a few hundred feet beyond the settlement's border, he spotted the source of the noise.
Two warriors, each wearing heavy stone armor, were battling head to head. They both fought with long stone maces like the one he'd picked up off the fallen warrior and held thick rocky shields.
And as far as Vin could tell, both were currently in the middle of trying to bash the other one's face in.
While taking in the strange scene, he realized one of the two warriors was defending the final scout, currently lying face down on the ground, their stone armor cracked and broken in a handful of places.
Vin hung back at the edge of the town, watching the two warriors go at it as he tried to make sense of what was happening. At first, he was just worried about interrupting the dispute that the group was clearly having. But after a minute of watching their fight, he realized something strange was going on.
He was far from skilled at combat and had practically no experience, but even he could tell that neither of the two warriors were giving it their all. Each one seemed to pull back on the force of their swings at the last second, or make sure they were targeting a spot on the other's body that was well armored with their strikes. If it wasn't for the warrior desperately defending the unconscious one lying on the ground, Vin would have thought they were just sparring with one another.
After watching the fight for a few more minutes, Vin realized he hadn't made any attempt to hide himself when the warrior defending her fallen comrade finally spotted him, her eyes widening.
"You!" She shouted, blocking a strike from above with a raised shield. "We need help! Something's happened to Roge!" With a grunt, the warrior shield checked her opponent, knocking him back a few feet and buying herself a moment to breath. "All of a sudden he turned on us, lashing out and yelling nonsense. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. Help me restrain him!"
Roge clearly didn't care for her attempt at a reprieve, as the moment he caught his balance he lunged back at his opponent, smashing his mace into her shield as he screamed at the top of his lungs, his very vocal cords seeming to rasp and shake with the force of his warbling cry. "Kill me!"
Well that's creepy as all hell, was all Vin could think, watching the two warriors continue their fight. Looking closer, he could see the hairline cracks already spreading throughout both of their sets of armor. He wasn't sure how long the two of them had been at this, but it was clear the battle would be ending sooner than later even if he didn't intervene.
While stone cracked against stone and Roge continued to demand his fellow warrior end his life, Vin made his decision. Cursing, he grabbed the coil of rope he'd picked up and charged toward the fight. Before he could change his mind, he lobbed the coil of rope as hard as he could at Roge's feet, hoping to tangle the warrior up.
To his shock, his hastily put together plan worked exactly as he'd hoped. The rope unwound just enough to tangle up Roge's legs for a moment, and the man stumbled, falling to the ground as he tried to step closer toward his opponent. Before he could get up, the woman brought her mace down with an anguished cry, smashing it into the back of Roge's head and knocking him unconscious. The two of them panted for a few seconds, Vin the first one to break the silence.
"What the hell is going on?" He demanded, gesturing to the two fallen warriors. "Your elder sent me to check up on the four of you when you didn't come back to the village. I found one of you dead from a snakebite and the other three doing their best to save the snakes the hassle!"
"Then Olga didn't make it," the woman said, her already tired expression growing even more weary. "Leaving our world fragment was a mistake. We tried to send her to get help when Roge went crazy, but in her haste, I guess one of the snakes got the drop on her." Sighing, the woman shook her head. "Thank you for coming to help us at least. I'm Samtha, leader of our scouting party." She glanced down at her two unconscious party members. "…or what's left of it anyway."
"Why have you been gone for so long?" Vin asked, trying to make sense of her story. "The elder said it's been four days. Surely you haven't been fighting all this time."
"No, not at first," Samtha confirmed. "It took us a solid day to make our way through the snake infested grasses. After a few close calls, we decided to take our time and move slower than normal. We discovered this town that first night and made camp here. The next day was spent exploring the town, trying to figure out what happened to the people and see if there was anything useful we could bring back to our village. We ended up spending longer than anticipated looking around, and so we decided to camp outside the town for an additional night." Samtha paused, frowning at the fallen Roge. "That's where things went wrong."
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"In the middle of the night, we awoke to Roge clawing at his own face and screaming incoherently. When we tried to ask what was wrong, he attacked us, his screams turning to insane demands that we end his life. Roge is a decent warrior, and any member of our village would be happy to fight by his side. But he was never anything amazing. But that thing that attacked us…" Samtha shivered, looking away from her fallen comrade. "That wasn't Roge."
"Roge somehow fought us three on one. Not only that, but he was winning. Despite the fact that he didn't seem to be going for killing blows, he played with the three of us like we were children who had just taken up the mace for the first time." Samtha's knuckles whitened and her hand shook as she gripped her mace. "I've never felt so helpless in my life."
"So you sent Olga to get help? Despite the fact that you were already losing a three-on-one fight?"
"Once I realized Roge didn't seem like he was actually trying to kill us, I ordered Olga to go get help," she nodded. "Unfortunately, it was a bad call. Roge went berserk when he realized Olga was fleeing, overwhelming us in an instant and nearly killing Korey." She said, gesturing to her fallen comrade. "Seeing Korey go down so easily seemed to rein Roge back in however, and he returned to pulling his punches, seemingly content fighting me to a standstill for some reason. The two of us had been locked in a strange mockery of a life and death battle right up until you showed up."
"Wait… You sent Olga away yesterday," Vin said, doing the admittedly simple math. "You've been fighting for an entire day?"
"Our warriors put nearly all our attribute points into endurance, with a few in strength," Samtha explained. "It's how we're able to wear armor crafted from stone and wield such heavy weapons. Roge could have ended the fight whenever he wanted, but he purposefully dragged it out for some reason, never capitalizing on any of my openings. It was just a battle of endurance, and that's something I could keep up for at least a few days straight."
Damn, dumping everything into endurance might just be the way to go, Vin thought, looking at the warrior who wasn't even out of breath after fighting for an entire day in armor made from solid rock. "So I'm not sure how to say this… But you do realize you can't just knock someone out and have them be fine, right? Especially your pal Korey there…" Vin looked at the fallen comrade who'd apparently been unconscious for nearly an entire day. "Even if they wake up, they're going to have some serious brain damage."
"Thankfully, that's one thing we actually don't have to worry about," Samtha grinned. "Just about all the warriors in our village take Diehard as their first passive. Turns most killing strikes from bludgeoning weapons into nonlethal attacks, and prevents lasting damage from blows to the head. Makes training much easier seeing as you can't blunt a stone weapon very well."
"Oh, well that's good," Vin nodded, relieved he wouldn't have to help carry two braindead warriors encased in stone armor a few miles back to their village. "Then I suppose the only thing left to worry about is the fact that your friend is glowing."
"What do you…" Samtha's words trailed off as the two of them looked at the glowing warrior still tangled up in rope. Roge's body had begun glowing an eerie, luminescent green, and before Vin could suggest that maybe they should back away, a ghostly image of a young woman drifted up and out of him.
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The woman floated a few inches off the ground, glaring at the two of them as they stared at her in shock. She wore a simple tunic and pants with a few ethereal daggers strapped to a belt around her leg. There was an empty sword sheath secured to her back, and her hair was haphazardly cut short as though she'd done it herself with one of her many knives. Despite her smaller frame, her body was wired with muscle, and Vin had no doubt in his mind that the girl knew how to use those weapons strapped all over her.
While Vin and Samtha stared at the floating woman, she crossed her arms and growled, attempting to kick at Roge's head. When her foot went straight through, she seemed to get even more angry, pointing at Samtha and throwing up her hands.
"Why couldn't you have been a Holy Knight or a wandering Cleric or something!" The ghost spat, practically yelling in frustration. "Come on lady, don't you have even an ounce of divinity inside you?!"
Rather than answer her, Samtha turned white as a sheet, taking a step back and nearly tripping over the fallen Korey. "A specter," she whispered, visibly quaking in her stone armor.
"What's a specter?" Vin asked, slowly taking a step backwards as well while the ghost's attention was focused on Samtha.
"A spirit that has lost its way, trapped in our world and unable to move on," she explained in a hushed voice barely more than a whisper. "They are most often aggressive and are unable to be vanquished without the aid of divinity or powerful magics."
"Got it in one you stony prick," the ghost said, rolling her eyes. "And like you wouldn't be aggressive if you were stuck floating around all day, unable to interact with anything or talk to anyone without forcibly possessing someone?"
Vin blinked, his foot pausing mid step as he took in the ghost's words. "Hey Samtha… What do you hear when the Specter's mouth moves?"
"The otherworldly moaning of a lost soul begging to be released from their eternal prison," Samtha whispered, having yet to take her eyes off the ghost floating before them. "It is the most haunting thing I have ever heard, and I fear I may never sleep peacefully again."
"Psh, dramatic much?" The ghost said, sighing and finally turning toward him. "What about you, beanstalk? Got any divinity hidden away in there?"
"Er… no," Vin said, earning a wide-eyed look from the ghost. "Sorry, I'm just an Explorer."
"Hold up, you can hear me?" The ghost asked, her glowing green eyes burning holes into Vin's own. He thought he could make out an equal mixture of longing and fear on the ghost's flickering face, as if she was afraid she'd finally found what she'd been looking for and was worried it wouldn't be everything she'd hoped.
"Yeah, I can hear you," Vin admitted, praying his honesty wouldn't land him in trouble. "I have the Polyglot passive. Lets me understand and speak different languages. I guess that covers whatever weird language ghosts speak?"
The ghost froze in place at his confirmation, even the constant flickering and wavering of her ethereal form seeming to pause for a moment before she screamed, rushing toward him and causing him to trip and fall over at her sudden movement. She tried to take his hands in her own, but they just phased harmlessly through his, sending cold chills through his fingers. The ghost didn't let that deter her however, as she moved directly in front of his face, her glowing green smile literally beaming at him.
"Finally! Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for someone I can actually talk to?! You have to help me, please!" She begged, floating so close she was practically pushing against his face. Vin tried to scramble backwards, but she just drifted closer, matching his movements and not letting him get away. Finally, he nodded, waving his hands in front of him and doing little more than temporarily disrupting her misty form.
"Okay, okay, I'll help you!" He agreed, trying not to breathe in the ghostly woman before him. He had no idea what would happen if he inhaled a ghost, and he didn't want to find out. "What do you need me to do?"
"Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" She cried, finally drifting away from him and doing a little excited twirl in midair. Coming back down, she grinned, planting her hands on her hips.
"It's quite simple really. I just need you to kill me."
Vin stared at the glowing woman floating comfortably a few feet above the ground. Slowly getting to his feet, he brushed himself off and pursed his lips. "Sorry… you want me to do what exactly?"
"Kill me," she said, matter of factly. "You think I want to be stuck like this? A ghost trapped on this mortal plane, never able to rest in peace? I tried to borrow her friend and explain to stony over here," she thumbed over her shoulder toward Samtha. "…but things get a little weird when I possess someone against their will."
"Are you able to understand the specter?" Samtha asked, seeming to get ahold of herself now that it was obvious the specter wasn't about to kill them both.
"Yeah yeah, one second," Vin told her, turning back toward the ghost. "A little weird? You nearly killed two people!"
"Look, I can't control my possession very well when the person is fighting me the entire time," the ghost admitted, crossing her arms defensively. "Just like everything else in my life... Or, past life I guess… the only thing I can do well is fight."
"No kidding," Vin said, glancing at the fallen form of Korey and the chunks of stone armor practically falling off Samtha. "Samtha said that it felt like Roge was toying with her the entire fight."
"Well yeah, I didn't want to kill her," the ghost said, rolling her eyes. "How could she help give me peace if she was dead?"
"What are you two saying?" Samtha asked, growing bolder by the second, her eyes flicking back and forth between Vin and the ghost. "Somehow you're making those same eerie moaning sounds the specter is."
Huh, I guess my language changes to match whoever I'm directly speaking to. Neat.
"The ghost is sorry about attacking you," Vin explained, earning himself a glare from the floating woman. "She wanted your help putting her to rest, but wasn't able to communicate and kinda lost herself when she 'borrowed' your friend."
"The ghost has a name, fleshbag," she said. "I'm Alka. First common born Slayer in history."
"Congratulations," Vin said, giving her a mocking clap. "I have no idea what that is."
"What?" For the first time since she'd floated out of Roge's body, Alka looked completely stunned. Drifting closer to him, she gave him a confused look. "How do you not know about the Slayers? Did you grow up within the seas of grass?"
"No, and neither did she," Vin said, gesturing to Samtha. "We're from two of the adjacent fragments. She was part of a scouting party sent to explore, and their village elder asked me to follow after them when they didn't return home quick enough." Alka's expression only grew more confused as he spoke, and with a start, he realized what the problem must be. Looking at the poor ghost girl, he cleared his throat. "Alka… Do you know where we are? About Edregon?"
"Of course I know where we are," she gave a forced, hearty laugh, spinning and gesturing all around them. "The town of Harbe, within the Tige Kingdom. I've lived here my entire life!"
"Oh man," Vin muttered, scratching his head while trying to figure out how to explain to the floating girl that her kingdom, her world, was probably no more. He figured she must not have access to the System in her current state, and she somehow ended up hitching a ride when the System yanked this section of her world to safety. Trying to come up with a way to delay the conversation, he tried to change the topic, asking the first thing that came to mind. "If you lived here your entire life… Do you know where everyone went? The town was completely deserted when I walked through it."
"Ah… yeah, I know where they went. Or at least where they were going before they up and vanished entirely," she said, drifting a bit further away, a slight frown creasing her face. "Because of our intense training and innate willpower, it's not uncommon for Slayers to become ghosts after their deaths. Especially if they feel they have unfinished business in the mortal plane. Due to the frequency of this situation, there is a protocol put into place by the head of the Slayers himself."
"When I revealed myself to the town, the Mayor gathered every last townsfolk and marched them to our burial grounds to conduct a special ceremony over my remains, which should have put me to rest." Alka paused, glancing back at the empty town. "...but that was a few months ago. The burial grounds are only a few miles from town, to prevent any sudden undead from harming anyone should they arise, but the ceremony should have only taken a single night."
"You didn't think to check on them?" Vin asked.
"Of course I tried that," she snapped. "I seem to be bound to this town for some reason. I can't go more than a few hundred feet out of the town's border without feeling some sort of invisible chain yanking me back. I've spent the last few months alone, flying in and out of buildings trying to figure out the location of whatever it is keeping me bound here while waiting for my townsfolk to return."
Slowly the puzzle pieces fell into place, and Vin gradually painted a picture of what had happened. There were still a good number of pieces missing, but he thought he had a pretty solid interpretation of events leading up to now.
God damn I am not qualified for something like this. I'm an Explorer, not a Therapist, for crying out loud. Taking a deep breath, Vin looked up at the ghost woman. "I think I can explain what happened. But you might want to sit… or float down for this."
Her frown deepening, Alka floated down to the ground, waiting for him to continue. Now that she was standing like a normal person, Vin was surprised to see she was actually about a head shorter than him. Dismissing the thought, he dove straight into the heart of the matter.
"Did your world have some sort of corruption spreading through it? Maybe an increase in monsters, or some other, super bad stuff happening?"
"Monster attacks had been growing significantly in number the past few years," she nodded slowly, never taking her glowing eyes off him. "It's why they increased the number of allotted Slayers, and why a commoner like myself was allowed to become one in the first place." She paused, her eyes narrowing. "What do you mean 'your world?'"
"Exactly that. You, me, and stone girl over here are all from separate worlds," Vin explained. "I'm still putting it all together, but it sounds like some sort of horrific corruption was spreading throughout the universe. Multiverse? Whatever, things were getting bad, and fast. In an attempt to save at least some of the people out there, the System grabbed chunks of different worlds that hadn't been infected yet and tied them all together, like some sort of massive, magical quilt. If my theory is correct, your town ended up being one of these chunks. Except… the people within your town just happened to be on their way to your burial grounds when it was grabbed. They weren't within the borders of this chunk that was pulled from your world, so instead of coming along for the ride, they remain trapped on your corrupt, dying world."
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The longer he spoke, the more confident Vin felt in his personal theory of what happened. He couldn't imagine any other explanation, besides some outrageously powerful monster appearing that had the ability to slaughter an entire town without a single member escaping. The only thing that confused him was why the System wouldn't have waited for the townsfolk to return home before grabbing this chunk of Alka's world. It clearly seemed intelligent, if the note and subsequent death threat he was sent after first appearing on this world was any indication, and he'd thought the entire purpose behind this new world of Edregon was to act as a lifeboat for the dregs of humanity. It just seemed strange that the System would snatch their houses but leave a couple thousand people behind.
To his surprise, after a few seconds of contemplation, Alka nodded, the worry leaving her face. "Well, that all makes sense I suppose."
"Wait, seriously? You're just gonna take everything I say at face value? Just like that?"
"That chick is wearing armor made from rocks. Nobody would be stupid enough to do that on my world."
"Huh… fair enough."
"However…" Alka sighed, rubbing her temple. Vin wondered if ghosts were even capable of getting headaches, because she sure looked like she had one now. "Assuming everything you said is true, and my gut tells me it is… that would mean my remains aren't even a part of this world any more. Why wasn't I put to rest when this piece of my world was stolen?"
"No clue," Vin added helpfully. "It seems to me like this new world and System are a bit… unpolished," he said, thinking back to the weird issue that occurred when he first stepped foot on this world. He wanted to say more, but he also wanted to not die. "Regardless, it looks like you're here now. Are we able to put you to rest if we can't access your remains?"
"It will certainly be a bit more tricky," Alka admitted. "Though not impossible. If we can find someone with a divine class, they should be able to finish me off with a wave of their hand. The hard part will be finding one. If we were still in my world, we'd just have to find the closest Slayer. But seeing as this new world is some giant melting pot of different worlds…"
"There's no telling how long it will take," Vin finished for her. "Hold on, let's check the obvious first."
During Vin and Alka's entire ghostly conversation, Samtha had been waiting patiently. Not wanting to bother asking him to translate every single sentence, she'd instead chosen to check up on her squad members. Vin hadn't seen what she'd done, but Korey and Roge were once again conscious, their eyes wide as they watched the strange exchange before them. Though their faces paled when Vin and Alka turned their attention toward them.
"Hey Samtha. Any chance your village has anyone with a divine class in it?" Vin asked hopefully. This would be the world's shortest quest if so, but maybe he was entitled to be lucky at least once in a while. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be, as the warrior shook her head.
"Divine classes were rare on my world. Those that achieved them tended to live around the Great Stone. We certainly didn't have anyone with one within the village."
"Figures it couldn't be that easy," Vin sighed, glancing at the crestfallen ghost. "Wait, how can you understand what they're saying? There's no way you guys have the same language."
"I don't know, maybe it's some weird ability undead have? I lost the ability to call on the System after I died, so I have no idea." Alka groaned, dismissing his question almost entirely. "Who even cares. How am I supposed to find someone with a divine class like this? I can't go anywhere, and I can't even talk to anyone. I don't want to spend the rest of eternity floating around an abandoned town!"
"Don't worry, you won't have to." Making up his mind, Vin looked up at the floating ghost. "I'm an Explorer. My entire thing is kinda running around looking for stuff. If you come with me, we can work on finding someone with a divine class together. Even if they're rare, surely someone with a divine class ended up getting dragged to this new world."
"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm kinda stuck here," Alka said, drifting back down until her feet rested on the ground. "Unless you can figure out why that is, I'm not going anywhere."
"Aren't you the ghost expert or something?" Vin couldn't help but jab. "You're the youngest Slayer in your kingdom or whatever, right? You tell me why you're stuck here." He'd hoped to light a fire under the depressed woman, and his words seemed to do the trick. Alka recoiled as if his words had been a hot iron, and she flew at him, nearly knocking him to the ground yet again as she floated above his head and glared down at him.
"Not 'youngest.' First common born Slayer," Alka corrected him, clearly proud of that accomplishment. "And ghosts are ethereal beings bound to the mortal plane by something that they care deeply about," she spoke as though reciting from a textbook. "This can be an object, a place, or even a person. While this acts as an anchor for them, destroying the anchor will not always allow the ghost to pass on. Doing so more often than not will instead enrage the ghost, forcing them to lose any sense of reason they may have and cause them to lash out at random."
"Okay, we just need to find your anchor then," Vin said, slowly stepping out from under Alka's floating form and grinning up at her. "It's clearly not a person as the town is abandoned, and I'm willing to bet it's not the town either. At least, I'm not getting the vibe that you're all that patriotic about where you grew up."
"No, not at all," she agreed. "I had made up my mind to leave town and wander the green sea for a few years after receiving my Slayer class in the hopes of helping with the increase in monsters. I was never really close to anyone in town. Hell, I wasn't even going to say goodbye before I left. My plan was to leave right after the party celebrating my accomplishment, before the townsfolk could wake from their drunken stupors. Right after getting my…" Alka paused, rubbing her temple again, frowning. "I was enjoying the party… drinking with some of the big shots in town like the Mayor and the nobles and showing off… something… but I can't remember what I was so proud of, or what happened after the drinks. Next thing I can remember is floating around town as a ghost."
"You don't know how you died?" Vin asked, a sinking suspicion beginning to form in his gut.
"No… the Mayor was so proud to have a Slayer come from our own little town, and a common born one at that," she said, a small smile on her face. "He was a good man. Despite it going against all protocol, he used me as an example for why the commoners and noble class weren't so different. He even threw one gigantic party to celebrate my accomplishment, inviting both the nobles and commoners alike from the surrounding area."
"The Mayor sounds like an upstanding guy," Vin admitted. "But I'm assuming he wasn't the only big shot you drank with that night?"
"Oh no," she shook her head, eyes scrunching as she wracked her brain. "There were definitely others… Mr. Faulk, the noble in charge of our town finances… Mrs. Glown, a noble from the next town over who handled Elder Wood distribution… gah!" She yelled, eliciting a few quiet squeaks from the watching warriors as she stomped her foot in midair, trying to tear her own ethereal hair out. "My memories… it's like trying to grab a fistful of water!"
"You don't say…" Vin muttered, his mind whirling as he eyed up the empty sword sheath on the warrior's back and the last of the puzzle pieces snapped into place.
"You have a guess as to what might have happened?" Alka asked, looking at him with clear hope in her eyes.
"More than a guess," he said, nodding his head as he thought over his theory. "If I'm right, we won't just uncover the source of your death. We'll find something much more interesting."
Samtha, do any of you three have the ability to detect secret compartments? Like, if someone was hiding something underground?"
"Yes," Samtha nodded, looking puzzled. "At least, to a degree. Korey and myself both have the Sense Stone spell. If there is a compartment in the ground, we will feel the absence of stone. Even simple dirt ground is littered with small rocks we can use. But if it's a hidden spot in one of the walls, we won't sense anything with these houses made of their strange grass bricks."
"It's alright, that should be enough. Alka," Vin called up, distracting the girl from her inner turmoil. "Would you mind giving me a quick tour of the town? I only want you to show me the buildings owned by nobles."
"Sure," she frowned, clearly still bothered by her missing memories. "It won't take long. Our town was small enough that we only had the one."
Vin gestured for Samtha and her men to join them as they followed Alka's floating form back into town. It didn't take long for her to direct them to one of the larger grass buildings; the wooden door marking the entrance easily the most elaborate carving he'd seen since entering the town.
"This was Mr. Faulk's house," she said, her headache seeming to grow worse as she gestured to the door. "He's the last person I can remember drinking with that night… I'd never met the man before, but from what I can remember, I thought he seemed strangely welcoming for someone I'd heard less than pleasant things about."
"You don't say," Vin muttered, motioning for the group to follow him inside. As he'd expected, the interior of the noble's home was far more intricately decorated than the other houses he'd poked his head into. He wasn't sure why wood seemed to be so important to these people, but there were intricate wooden carvings and wooden furniture placed all around the house. Ignoring most of it, Vin wandered through the large house, quickly finding a locked door. He noticed that the wood making up the door seemed to be a darker brown than the rest of the furniture. Ignoring the strange change in color, he gestured for Samtha to take his place.
"Samtha, if you would."
At his request, the warrior stepped forward, raising her stone mace and smashing it into the wooden door with all her might. To both their shock however, the mace actually rebounded off the door, leaving not so much as a scratch on the wood.
"Well… I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that," Vin said, staring in awe at the unmarred door.
"That door is petrified Elder wood," Alka said blankly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You'll break your weapon before having any luck cracking the door."
Relaying the ghost's words to Samtha, the warrior grinned and hefted her mace once more. "We'll see about that!"
Raising the mace above her head, the warrior must have activated some sort of skill as the head of the mace began glowing a dull gray. Vin had just enough time to cover his ears before she slammed the glowing mace into the door. The resulting explosion of noise was enough to shake his very bones and rattle the structure of the house. Looking up, Vin couldn't help but laugh at the aftermath of Samtha's attack.
Even after all that, the door was completely undamaged. However, both the door and the frame it was still attached to now lay on the ground within the noble's study. The force of Samtha's strike had been so great that it had ripped the seemingly indestructible door from the wall; parts of the grassy bricks it had been connected to were now lying shredded around the room.
"Damn, that is some tough wood," Samtha said, staring at the door in shock. A quick glance at her mace showed a few hairline cracks already spreading throughout the stone weapon.
"Petrified Elder wood," Alka nodded, admiring the door like it was some sort of mystical artifact. "The material is extremely rare. Only the nobles have the knowledge and means to work with it. I… I remember being so excited about it for some reason…" she muttered, rubbing her head.
"Don't worry, we're nearly there," Vin said, stepping over the door as their motley crew entered the study. There was a large desk and a massive portrait of one of the giant trees adorning the wall behind it, but not much else. "Samtha, could you use your spell and tell me if there are any hidden compartments in the ground?"
Nodding, she muttered something, and Vin watched curiously as her feet glowed a similar gray to her mace and she began wandering around the room. Vin waited with bated breath as the warrior slowly finished a lap around the room, and then a second. After her third, she looked up at him, frowning. "No secret compartments I can detect. Plenty of small rocks scattered around underground here."
"Seriously?" he asked, his hopes plummeting. "I was so sure it would be here. I mean, where else…" He paused, looking at the desk once more. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Walking to the other side of the room, he took a closer look at the desk, before stepping right past it, staring up at the portrait of the large tree. Without a moment of hesitation, he reached up and yanked the portrait off the wall, tossing it to the side.
Revealing a glowing sword resting within a small, hidden cubby.
The sword was clearly made of the same mysterious petrified wood that the door had been made from, though not nearly as decorated. Somehow the blade looked as sharp as any metal weapon he'd seen despite being crafted from wood, and the entire sword from hilt to point glowed a very soft, gentle green.
Vin heard a gasp behind him, and he turned to see Alka staring at the weapon, her eyes wide with her hands covering her mouth.
"Dancing Leaf," she whispered, almost in reverence as she reached out a hand toward the glowing sword, her flickering body not daring to come any closer. "That's the name I gave my blade. All Slayers that pass the tests are awarded their own petrified weapon, and despite being a commoner, it was decided that I would be granted my own as well."
"But petrified Elder wood is supposed to be for nobles only," Vin continued, nodding along with her words. "In the most cliche possible fashion, Mr. Faulk couldn't stand the thought of a lowly commoner getting their hands on a piece of petrified wood. I'm willing to bet he poisoned one of your drinks during your celebratory party, killing you and stealing your sword for himself to ensure that the line between nobles and commoners remained firm. Right up until your entire world died because of it."
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"How?" Alka asked, barely managing to tear her eyes from the resting blade. "How could you possibly have put all that together?"
Years of watching low budget dramas and cliche detective shows while hiding in my bedroom in an attempt to distract myself from my parents fighting, he thought, wisely deciding to keep that tidbit to himself. And an assumption that the pettiness of humanity would overcome such tiny boundaries as a growing monster apocalypse.
"Just a lucky guess," he said, thinking back to all the times he'd been arrested. Plenty of those arrests had been for him 'trespassing' on land that he'd come to learn had been owned by rich assholes, despite seeming like complete wilderness. "I've had my fair share of commoner vs noble mentality from my own world. The reason why I figured it was a sword you were anchored to is because of the empty sheath you're carrying around. Seemed odd for a ghost to have something like that."
At his words, Alka reached behind her and felt at the empty sheath secured on her back, surprise clear on her face. "It didn't even occur to me… how could I possibly have forgotten the fact that I'd been given my own petrified blade?"
"Probably something to do with the trauma of dying or something like that," he shrugged. "Like I said, I'm an Explorer, not a therapist. Actually, is that even a class that the System offers?"
Alka ignored his remark, her gaze returning to the glowing sword. The two of them stood like that for a moment, simply admiring the deadly work of art. Well, Alka was still floating, but it was close enough.
"So why is it glowing?" Vin finally had to ask, breaking the silence.
"All Slayer blades are enchanted," she answered, not seeming to mind the question. "They are capable of interacting with and cutting through weaker magics. Ironically, given my current state, my world has… had, a serious problem with undead. Hence our burial grounds being placed so far from our settlements. This blade would have allowed me to more easily fight against monsters with additional magical defenses." Almost as if she knew what he was going to say, she shook her head. "The enchantment won't be enough to kill me. That would work with something like a lesser spirit or will-o-wisp yes, but not a bound ghost. At worst it would disperse my form enough that it would take me a few hours to reform near my anchor."
"And I guess destroying the anchor is entirely out of the question now," Vin said, glancing at the unmarked wooden door lying on the ground. If the sword was made of the same material, and enchanted on top of that, he couldn't even begin to imagine stumbling upon something strong enough to destroy the blade.
"Correct. Petrified Elder wood is supposed to be unbreakable. According to legend, the blade will never dull and the weapon doesn't need an ounce of maintenance. Seems like the perfect tool for a wandering Explorer if you ask me."
The weight behind Alka's words took a second to hit him, and he started, turning to see the ghost watching him intensely. "In exchange for allowing me to accompany you until you can find someone with the power to put me to rest, I will give to you my blade. Do we have a deal?"
"Of course," Vin said, rolling his eyes despite the suddenly heavy atmosphere he found himself in. "I already said I would help you, didn't I? No need to throw a magic sword in there to sweeten the deal." As soon as he accepted her terms, the strange weight that hung in the air vanished, and Alka gave him a toothy grin, her form seeming to solidify to the point of almost looking like a regular, albeit floating, human for a moment.
"Excellent! In that case, I believe it's high time I put this godforsaken town behind me. I've spent the last three months drifting around here aimlessly, and I'm quite sick of the place."
"Works for me. After we bring these guys back to their village, I have to make a quick stop at my own camp and report in." Vin paused, wondering how Spur was going to react when he showed them Alka and his new magic sword. God damn it they really were going to try and make him king if this kept up, weren't they?
Sighing, Vin reached into the cubby and grabbed his new sword, Dancing Leaf, and examined the blade. The hilt was almost warm to the touch, and he swore he thought he felt the wood shift ever so slightly at his touch to better fit his grip. Before he could examine it too closely however, two surprising things happened in quick succession. First, he received a message from the System he wasn't expecting.
New minor artifact discovered! 1,000 exp gained.
Level up! Explorer Lvl 4.
+3 Attribute points to spend.
+1 Skill point to spend.
Hell yeah, he thought, unable to contain his grin as he looked at the sword in a new light. Now we're talking!
But before he could revel in his newfound rewards, he heard a loud gasp, and turned just in time to witness Alka's ethereal form begin rapidly flickering, as though she were fighting to stay in one piece within a whirlwind.
Without warning, her ghostly form snapped directly into him like a too taut rubber band, her body and limbs somehow overlaying his own despite their height difference.
Crying out in shock as Alka's form merged into him, Vin leapt back, smacking his knee against the heavy desk and cursing in pain. While hopping around on one foot, he patted at his seemingly intact chest with his free hand, not finding anything amiss. Before he could start to wonder if he was finally losing it, he heard a familiar voice inside his head.
'What..? What happened?'
"Alka?" He said, shaking his head as if that would dislodge the ghost somehow. His heart was still racing at their sudden predicament, but seeing as everything felt totally normal, he tried to stay calm. "Please tell me you have a good reason for flying into me."
He spotted Samtha and her crew in clear combat stances and quickly waved them down. The last thing he needed was a stone mace to the head on top of whatever was currently happening.
'I don't know! One second everything was normal, and the next, it felt like I was being dragged into you by some sort of inescapable current.'
"Well clearly you're not possessing me," Vin muttered, opening and closing his free hand just to ensure he could. He didn't know what being possessed felt like, but he assumed he would know it when it happened.
'Yeah, I can tell that much.' He snorted at the clear sarcasm in her voice. 'It's strange though… I feel like I could try and take over your body if I wanted. Like how you can choose to flex a muscle.'
"Please refrain from flexing anything inside my body, thank you very much." Looking at the glowing sword he still held, he sighed, turning the blade over and examining it from all sides. As though the magic tree smith or whomever that had crafted it had installed some sort of off switch. "Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the cause of all this. I guess taking possession of your anchor somehow bound you to me? Or me to you? Or some other third thing? Damn it, I never went to college!"
'Your guess is as good as mine.'
The two of them stood together in silence for a moment, neither saying anything as they took in their new circumstances. Vin feared how Alka would react to suddenly having herself bound to his form. She'd been forcibly stuck in this town for so long, he hoped she didn't take her anger out on him now that his own body had become her new prison. After a few tense moments, her voice finally rang out in his head.
'So am I going to have to pay rent now, or…'
"God damn it."