Private - Trust and Reliance

Astor sat alone in the dark, taking long sips from a golden chalice filled to the brim with the most exquisite of brandies, which was a trophy from the battle against Azog. His mind was replaying the entire Titanius crisis from the very beginning to the end. He struggled to navigate the emotional labyrinth that imprisoned him. Despite his best effort to be a good king, evil always found a way to exploit his human heart.

In his final moments, after he was able to break free from dissonance, he could only watch in silence as those he had sworn to protect and loved were slain before him despite his best attempt to save them; the thought elicited a sharp pang of guilt more painful than he had thought. But, they had to defeat Titanius and even if many lives were lost, the end justified the mean. Titanius would never be able to return once its core had been shattered. That thought alone helped him sleep at night, but the scar the ancient dissonance left behind ran deep.

Before he finished the last of the sweet alcohol swirling on the edge of his chalice, a series gentle knocks disrupted his chain of thought. Cessia quietly came into the room after a soft greeting. “Apologies, your majesty. Oh, isn’t it a bit dark in here?” the girl commented as she cast a spell at one of the magical lamp, lighting up part of the incredibly spacious room that seemed to only contain two sofas separated by an end table. “Your majesty? Your guests have arrived. Shall I send them in?” she asked in her usual soft voice, which was the one thing Astor could count on for consistency as he inhabited this crazy and turbulent world. He nodded affirmatively.

Once the people he had requested came into the room, Astor gestured for them to make themselves comfortable across from him before he gave Cessia an instructive stare. The girl quietly closed the door behind her and cast some kind of seal on the frame of the door. It was only then that the blonde began speaking for the first time in days,

I invited both of you here because both of you are the only people I can put my trust in completely. @Lucia Mierz, my longtime friend, how glad am I to be able to rely on you in time of need. @Ilusa Nakhalee, my love, I’m sorry I haven’t been answering your messages, there is a reason for my recent absence.

I invited both of you here to disclose something extremely damning. The truth is, I am completely locked out of my UI after my third and most recent death. When I woke up after dying to Titanius, I found my equipment strewn around me atop an unfamiliar field. Since then, I cannot bring up the palm menu no matter what. I believe this is my last life.

There have been a lot of rumors about other players who have had this kind of thing happening to them as well. I think there’s something rather sinister behind all of this. As the king and protector of this nation, I cannot neglect my duty, even if that put me in extreme danger. After surviving the crisis we had gone though earlier this week and having felt mortality in this world for the first time, I believe Astorea must change, and the changes must happen soon, before my next enemy make a move on me.

Keep this under wrap for now, we cannot spread panic among the players until we have a better picture of what is happening. Lucia, will you and your contact look into incidences similar to mine? For all we know, it could be that terrible magic that tampered with our UI access when we fell into King Theodore’s trap again.

Ilusa, perhaps you too can use your title to gather some information about this. But more importantly…

He looked at her with firm, unwavering eyes. Do not under any circumstances die a third time, do you understand?

 

To say that she was glad to have received summons by the king, by Astor would have been an understatement. Getting that letter, that notification had signalled lifting of a crushing weight, ease of the worries that had even gotten in the way of her life outside the game.

It was a relief, the tenseness she got used to fled, leaving her almost light-headed. It made guilt bubble inside her, but she pushed it away. Now, she would be able to see with her own eyes (or that of the avatar) that he was fine. Touch him and feel the warmth, feel his heart beating, reassure herself that he is truly there and alive and as well as he could be in the current situation.

And now that she was about to see him, excitement bubbled underneath her skin. Her ears were up perked, attentively and her tail was swishing around in the barely contained enthusiasm… Which covered the layer of worry she could not shake off. After all, it took him so long to contact them and not via the usual messages. Why, was the question.

Privately, she wondered if the ‘Death Penalty’ that he gained was hard to get used to – she herself did freak out a little once she started hearing whispers demanding to be fed.. Or seeing her glowing eyes in a mirror. But over all, it was a minor inconvenience. Perhaps his was not?

In her musings and waiting for the ‘audience’ she noticed another person who was invited. She gave the other woman, the other veteran, @Lucia Mierz a grin and nod, to acknowledge her but before she could say more, the doors opened and Ilusa went in.

A genuine smile spread across her face when he saw him, seated comfortably, drinking from a chalice a wine. When he gestured them to make themselves comfortable, for a moment Ilusa hesitated. The place he indicated was across him after all.

Astor!

In the end, the felis, no, the person behind the avatar came to decision and seated herself next to @Astor Balthas, to the side of the hand that did not hold the drink, tail wrapping around his waist, head leaning against his shoulder. As the dark haired Cessia made her exit, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in crook of his neck, taking in the scent, the presence and letting the last worries lay to rest. He was here. He was here, there, next to her, warm and alive. If her eyes misted a little, well… No one had to know.

For few precious moments she stayed like that, gaining reassurance, strength from his presence, before pulling a little away as he started to speak. Her tail still laid somewhat wrapped around his waist, but her hand only held his arm now, instead of the full body hug both of them were before. Her eyes looked normal, if bright.

I won’t lie, your lack of reply worried me. But it is good to see you, hear you, feel you again.

The felis said with bright, happy smile and for moment leaned to nuzzle his shoulder in a semi-playful way.

Only for the further words he uttered to shatter the warmth she felt.

What.

The voice that came out was flat. Utterly, completely flat. Warmth fled from her face. It turned completely serious adding maturity to the youthful looks. A game face, a business face. Because what he said was utterly serious. Utterly impossible. Utterly wrong.

Her thoughts raced, frown slowly forming even as the hand around his arm tightened, as if to reassure herself that he still was there. At the same time, her mind had trouble wrapping around it. And around the mechanics of it. Her mind still refused to admit the possibility of the magic being real, it struggled to find an explanation that was scientific.

Slowly, she nodded at the words, at the mission given to her. Gathering information was.. not what she liked to do, nor what she was best at, but her life had given her certain proficiency in it.

Immediately plans to increase the time spent in the game sprung into her life, the issue was after all very dire.

Her thoughts paused for a moment when she felt his gaze on her. Red met red and warmth again filled her at his words. Resolutely, she nodded.

Mhm. This had been my first death and I do not wish to repeat the… Experience. But… If you do not have UI, does it mean you cannot log out? That you cannot store items into inventory and have to carry them around? I think I have enough space to allocate it to your items… What about sleep?

Worry coloured the last sentence. In fact, the whole situation made her worry, and an undercurrent of rage was starting to form. Because if his psyche was trapped in the game, what happened to his body? Waiting for his answer, she watched him, mentally thinking of the panic this could cause in real life, the inability to wake people. Hospitals would start to get people admitted and.. She perhaps would ask him for his identity, in order to look after him, make sure the care he received was top-notch. That all was of course, provided he could not log out.

And of course she would touch upon the subject of the dissonance and him being trapped in the game grip, made to betray and attack them. She did feel a little uneasy about asking that with the other person present, but she understood that he trusted the other woman.. Thus she gave her some of the trust back.

 

Lucia received the notice a little perplexed, after all she was much easier to contact through messages. As it was Lucia lived the life of a Nomad more often then not, wandering the countrysides with a horde of undead carrying her worldly possessions and dragging what would someday be her duchy's infrastructure along with her. Finding her was always trying since she had to keep on the move so as to not alert or alarm the local populous. Finally receiving the message though, she couldn't help huff a little at the efficiency issue, wondering why she wasn't just messaged she changed course, directing her subordinates to change locations towards Astorea's capital once more.

She made her way to Astor's place quickly, though not exactly hastily, she wasn't sure why she would be pulled back in such a way but given the means used to summon her she took it as something that wasn't urgent. Upon arriving to find Illusa, Lucia chuckled a little, thinking it might be a meeting to do something about those who were abusing their power. With a firm resolve, she nodded her head internally, it was good they were finally going to do something about it.

When they got inside though, Lucia took a seat across from the couple, though it was a little awkward to sit in on such a private matter. Lucia herself wouldn't have been bothered by it if it was one of her girls cuddling up with another, after all she enjoyed her loves cozying up to one another, but when it was something she was unrelated to, Lucia was clearly at a loss in what to do. Sitting down, hoping to be served some kind of drink so she could fill the silence with some kind of action. If she wasn't she could only count on Mortimer appearing for a quick flash to hand her something from a puff of smoke before disappearing in silence.

Though, hearing Astor's words, particularly Illusa's reaction, she couldn't help flashing a bitter smile. Perhaps Astor hadn't heard because he was busy, Illusa though, maybe she was with him. Things were a bit more bleak then that. "I'm afraid Roland already made a rather loud proclamation about it already before Titanius even began. After barring normal players out from his little mansion, he let the NPCs talk about a strategy before letting in your average joe just so he could spill the beans. If you ask me, things would've ran a lot smoother if it wasn't for this little hiccup." Lucia explained over her glass with a dry chuckle. It was largely because despite her best efforts, people didn't listen to her opinion. It reminded her of her first raid a great deal, with people having difficulty focusing on the goal.

Astor's opinion on magic though made Lucia rub her forehead. She could be as immersed into the game as the next person after all, she did enjoy this game more then her own world by far. However, the thought that the game's magic might be able to interfere with it's systems made her frown as she considered the implications. "So you mean to say you suspect that the UI is as much a part of this game's system as Magic and Martial skills? If Magic can remove the UI, it should be able to fix it if not completely replace it. But if that's the case, there should be 'Log out skills' and 'Inventory magic'. That could explain why we've never seen any kind of space magic." Lucia mused, thinking that even without the UI, if the game's skills could replace their function maybe the UI was a part of the tutorial? Perhaps all along they were never meant to use the UI and it had been something that was meant to disappear over time all along?

"I can ask around... Do some research. In the mean time though you should let Illusa find you in reality at least. We should make sure that our bodies are okay after going into this state. If you were brain dead in reality as a result of this... things would change drastically. Even if you were fine, keeping you alive would be hard." Lucia confessed with a dry smile, knowing that the things she was suggesting or hinting at might be unwelcome.