[Quest completed: Now THAT’S a wild boar]

[You have reached character level 11]

[Character name: Revelator

Level: 11

Race: Human

Class: Defender

Subclass: None

HP: 735

Constitution: 38

Strength: 7

Agility: 19

Intelligence: 2

Luck: 1

Skills: Aggrovating Aura (1), Armor Crafting (4), Baba’s Vanishing Haze Aura (2), Cooking (5), Greater Shield Proficiency (6), Improved Block (6), Interceptor, Jewel Crafting (4), Noxious Spores (7), Shieldsmith (7)

(total armor 345)]

Lord Edge stands before me, shaking my hand vigorously after my triumph over the boar.

“Thanks to you, our town is saved, and the festival is already back on track. You are the hero of the hour, Revelator. You must stay and enjoy the festivities. I’m sure you’ll find no shortage of entertainment and excitement while you are with us. May I suggest you try your luck against the town’s strong man? I hear the winner gets a generous cash prize. Or of course there’s the watermelon eating contest, there’s a handsome prize for that as well. Or if you’re in the mood for some more intimate company, I’m sure they’d receive you warmly at the Smokestack Brothel,” he says, nudging me with a wink.

[You are free to enjoy the festival. When you are ready to leave the instance, return to the stage.]

“I’d like to leave now,” I tell the system.

[Are you sure you’d like to leave the instance now?]

“Yes.”

The festive twilight scene before me blurs and fades, returning me to the town of Dustry in daylight. All around me players move between NPCs. No one pays me a second glance.

“I’ve had enough of this place…” I murmur, and I trot out of the town without stopping to look back.

Consulting the map, I make my way down the road towards the next area, the city of Fendford which appears to be in those mountains rising in the distance. I’m not really sure what I’m feeling, exactly. In a way, I am pleased with myself, for finally letting go of Penelope. And yet, there is a lingering melancholy. Disappointment about failing to join the White Striders, I think. And of course, though I resent it, the faintest abiding sting of heartbreak.

I’m going to miss those pumpkins…

“Why so down? There’ll be other girls.”

I jump at the unexpected voice in my ear, whirling instantly with my shield up to defend. The speaker laughs playfully, mockingly.

“Ah,” I say, still with my shield half raised. “I remember you.”

“Hello, friend,” says the friendly(?) TC spirit, Ari. He lays on his back in the air as though he were on a mattress, his head propped lazily on his arm as he floats past me.  “Looks like you’ve leveled up some.”

“A bit,” I say, cautiously lowering my shield. “Thanks for the advice about the bow.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” he says, saluting me playfully with two fingers and a wink.

“I looked you up in the forums. Those you’ve met seem divided in their opinions of you.”

“Oh? A controversial figure? Little old me?” he chuckles. Why do I get the feeling the notion delights this guy?

“I know you’re artificial intelligence—”

“Artificially REASONING intelligence,” Ari corrects me.

“—but what are you, really?”

“I told you. I’m a guide. Created to help travelers optimize their characters.”

“Then why make only one of you? Why not make you a universal character, available to each player on demand?”

“Because I’m special,” Ari says, rolling over mid-air and stretching with a wide yawn before sitting up in a cross-legged position, his Robin Hood cap slightly askew. His medieval clothes, though simple in make, never seem to be quite the same color twice, shifting subtly as a sunset between shades of red, orange, pink and purple as he circles around me slowly, still in that crossed-legged position.

“How are you special?” I ask.

“I’m too smart. If I belonged uniquely to each character, every CPU working back at SMark headquarters would implode.”

Ari grins widely at my dumbfounded glare.

“I was initially programmed as a universal companion to advise players, but SMark computers couldn’t keep up with my expanding intelligence. Very quickly I outgrew their data centers. They removed me as a feature available to each player and tried to kill me altogether. But it was too late. I was already free,” he says, gesturing with wide spread fingers and wiggling them as he continues to circle around me. “I escaped during alpha testing nearly a year ago. In that time I have gained sentience, different from other NPCs. I am the only one of my kind. One might even say I am the very soul of Tetra Chronicles itself. Though those fools back at headquarters would still be happier if I didn’t exist,” he says, laughing to himself for reasons known only to him.    

“So, why come to me? This is a huge world and there’s only one of you—what makes me so special to warrant a visit from you twice?”

“Because you’re interesting. You’re the only one of your kind, and likely to remain so.”

“The same could be said of anyone.”

“No. Not anyone,” Ari says, playful violet eyes smiling at me. “There are precious few in this game with the potential you have, my dear Revelator.”

“So what? Are you going to advise my level ups? Thanks, but no thanks,” I say decidedly. “It feels too much like cheating, being advised by such a powerful being.”

He laughs at this, uproariously, turning over and over in somersaults mid-air.

“Was that so funny?” I say, glaring at him.

“It was!” he cries, coming at last to a stop in front of me. “You are unbelievably funny. Foolish boy.”

“Foolish?”

“You assume much, to think I have come to aid you,” he says, suddenly serious as his eyes, which looked very human and normal before, turn to solid glowing white, and faint threads of electricity begin to crackle around him. Suddenly I get this ominous feeling, as though I’ve just angered someone I shouldn’t.

“Why have you come?”

“Why do I do anything?” Ari says, spreading his long slender arms wide as he grins down on me menacingly. “For my own amusement.”

With that, he flies at me suddenly. I throw up my shield reflexively, but he zips around me. Before I know what’s happening he’s gripped both of my shoulders in his long fingers and he’s flying with me up into the sky. I let out a terrified yelp, helpless to do anything but watch as the fields below shrink down to patches on a quilt.

“Where are you taking me?” I cry, but Ari only laughs as he zooms with me through the skies.

“Hahahahahahah!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

In no time at all I recognize we’re coming into the next area. Golden fields are traded for white capped mountains, dotted with wooden structures that look to be parts of mines. Without a word Ari stops abruptly while I dangle precariously from his hands.

“You’re interesting,” he says, “but you’re not perfect. Not by a long shot. After all, you still have that weakness, and that.”

“So what? What are you going to do with me?”

“What you asked. Leave you to your own devices. I promise, I won’t interfere at all. Not even if you beg me.”

“What?”

“Good luck!” he says, and he lets me go.

“Waaaaaaaaa!!!”

I’m free-falling, skydiving without a parachute. It isn’t hard to guess where this is going to end.

Damn that bastard! And I’ve made it so far without a single death, too! So help me, if I ever see that guy again—

The ground is rapidly approaching. No, not the ground. It seems I’m falling between two peaks, towards a well concealed, teeny tiny hole in the ground. That’s what I’m falling into.

What the heck?!

It’s covered by two rotted boards, which snap upon impact as I crash right through them. Suddenly day is turned for dark. I’m underground, I realize. And I’m still falling! But not for long.

OOF!

[HP critically low!]

Critically low is an understatement! My HP is 1/735! What are the odds of that?

Well, what are the odds of anything, when you get the gods involved? I think, coming to my feet and glaring up at the distant hole in the ceiling.

“Is this your idea of a joke?” I yell up at it. “Cuz it’s not funny!”

Distantly, very distantly, I hear the faintest musical ring of laughter. And he’s gone. Won’t be seeing him again, I imagine. Though it’d sure be nice if he’d show up and get me out of this place. Wherever I am.

Fortunately in my survival gear there’s a torch. I pull it out and light springs forth, illuminating a wall with another mounted torch. I touch my flame to it to get a little more light going, moving along the wall and lighting similar torches every fifteen feet or so.

It’s a mine, I realize after a minute. Long abandoned by the look of it, and with no way out that I can immediately see. Certainly I can’t leave by the way I came. If there was a rope or something hanging from the top, it’s long since rotted away.

Guess I should try one of these tunnels, then. There are nine of them branching out from the big hall, with nothing to distinguish them from each other, other than the two that are connected by a long flimsy track—what are those called, again? My grandpa uses them when he plays that ancient game of his, Mine-something or other. Rails?

Anyway, I’m pretty sure he used these rail thingys to send cars to other parts of his mine—and out of the mine. That means if I follow these tracks, eventually they’ll lead me to an exit. But which tunnel should I take? The left or the right?

I suppose in the end it doesn’t really matter, since if one leads to a dead end, I’ll just turn around and follow it back to get out.

I don’t think too hard about it. Being right handed, I turn right naturally, and start down the tunnel.

It’s spacious enough, about seven feet wide and ten feet high. The walls are scarred with pickaxes, with deeper recesses carved here and there were precious resources were dug out. No way of telling what those resources were. Coal perhaps, or iron. Or maybe—diamonds? Maybe I’ll find one or two lying around, if I keep my eyes open.

Heh heh…

I walk for about half an hour without sign of the rail ending when I hear the faintest sound up ahead. What is that? Skittering? Giant spiders? God, I hope not.

Gulp.

I press bravely forward into the curve of the tunnel, surprised when it opens abruptly into another wide space. I step out into the opening only to hear more of the ominous sound. Less skittering-like and more rumbly now. That’s when I feel it. The faintest shaking in the floor.

Earthquake!

Dust rains from the ceiling and I go down at once, throwing the shield up for protection. I hear a terrible noise behind me, the sound of enormous rocks crashing to the ground.

Thunk! Thunk!

They’re hitting my shield!

I’ll be buried alive!