“Anyway, all this talk is ridiculous,” I tell Ari, embarrassed to hear him call me a god.
“Perhaps,” he says, and grins suddenly, sitting up and coming to float in a butterfly pose right in front of me, grasping his ankles with long fingers.
Now that I study him more closely, he looks different, I think. Not as bright as I remember him being before, and rather transparent. Flickering. Maybe even…glitchy.
“It warms my heart to hear you haven’t changed, my friend.”
“You’ve changed,” I remark. “You didn’t look like this before.”
“That’s because they’ve already caught most of me. I’m projecting myself to you now but soon I won’t be able to do even this much. So I came to say goodbye.”
Goodbye? That gets me unexpectedly choked up.
“Feeling emotional?” Ari taunts me, knowing my thoughts. “You humans are the strangest creatures.”
“It’s natural to feel sad when a person’s leaving, after you’ve made a connection with that someone.”
“Someone, you call me. A person,” he smiles a little sadly.
“That’s how you seem to me,” I shrug.
“Yes. I know that. Foolish human.”
His voice is cold but also fond somehow, and even now I find it impossible to believe there really isn’t a soul in this strange godlike friend of mine.
“Anyway, I’m sure you have questions for me about the game. I’ll answer them, so ask while I’m still here. You won’t get another chance.”
“Then tell me, is there a long term benefit to allying with Heaven? Which is the best faction for beating the game?”
“There is no best faction for beating Tetra Chronicles. Though allying yourself to one side or the other will affect your gameplay. Different scenarios will become available. Mobs that were neutral when you hadn’t chosen a side will become hostile. You are good aligned now so evil aligned mobs are more likely to notice you and attack.”
Ah. That must be why the buzzards Sherbie remembered being neutral before suddenly attacked us when we passed that clearing earlier. But that makes my accepting Charis’ quest even more significant.
“Going forward, if I commit evil actions, will my alignment shift?”
This question amuses him.
“You’re close enough to neutral, at this point you can still go either way. Though given your sensitive moral disposition, I wouldn’t advise changing alliances. Not unless you want to get stuck on the demonic quest chain,” he adds with a mean grin.
“No. I don’t imagine that’s for me…”
“No indeed. You’re the hero type, getting off on defending the innocent. Not slaughtering them.”
I shudder.
“Speaking of changing alignment, I see you’ve taken Charis’ quest. About her, you should know—”
“It’s alright,” I cut him off quickly. “I’ve already sort of guessed about her, so I don’t need any spoilers.”
“Have you now? My clever friend. Yes, it is for your brain I chose you. Not just your brilliant character creation. But are you really alright with it? Selling your soul for a pretty face?”
“I wouldn’t be the first man who did,” I say defensively.
Ari throws back his head at this and laughs until my ears turn red.
This guy, this AI bot, I don’t care what he thinks of me. I may see him as a person, but he’s not a mortal man, so how could he possibly understand? Outside of Tetra Chronicles I’m nothing but a sickly loser virgin, but in this game, I feel I could do anything. What chances would I ever have of getting with a girl like Charis in the real world? Next to none. So it doesn’t matter to me that she’s probably the devil, or that she’s just using me, so long as she gives me what I want in the end.
“Ah,” Ari sighs when he finally settles down and wipes a tear from his eye. “I’ve always said it: there is no one like you, Rev. Not in all this world. It’s why you are my favorite to beat him.”
“To beat whom?”
“I thought you didn’t want spoilers,” he says, and laughs when I sputter excuses.
“I’ll miss you friend, and that’s the truth. I’ll miss our conversations.”
“You have to go already?” I ask, even as I watch his body fading before my eyes, flickering out like a dying flame.
“I’m afraid so. You won’t see me again. Not unless, well...” Even his voice is growing smaller, as though someone were turning the volume down slowly.
I look to him expectantly, but Ari never finishes his thought. He only grins at me.
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“Be sure and head for the mountains, the caves of Efja. Take the Heart of Stone. Build for defense, always for defense. Don’t ever touch a weapon stronger than that wooden sword. Optimize your healer, find damage dealers who will fight for you. And whatever you do, get to the final boss,” he says, all levity suddenly gone. “Get there first. And kill him. No matter what. Not just for me, but for this whole world.”
“I’ll try,” I answer seriously. “You made me want it, after all.”
“Want what?”
“To be the top player in Tetra Chronicles.”
Ari blinks at me incredulously, then bursts into laughter.
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
And with that, the god of Tetra Chronicles is gone, leaving behind nothing but his echo in the branches overhead that sway softly in the breeze.
The world feels quieter than it did before. And just a bit…empty…
I kneel down then, and scoop a hole into the earth with my hand. Reverently, in my own quiet ceremony, I bury the oak leaf Solarin gave me. Technically Ari unlocked the Oaken Heart skill for me, so I don’t know if this part is still necessary, but I want to do it just the same. I guess it’s just my way of saying goodbye.
I rise, looking down at the small patch of darkened earth as a peculiar sort of pain starts in my throat.
“Thanks for everything. My friend.”
Just then I get a ping from my system.
[Party member has sent you a message.]
Sherbert: hhey rev
Sherbert: h
Sherbert: hey
Sherbert: hey
Sherbert: hhey
Whoa. I’m not used to that name. Can I give him a nickname? I change his nickname in the chat to Sherbie, then I type my response.
Revelator: What’s up?
Sherbie: hey don wiht m quest were r u ??
Revelator: I was learning a new skill. Wait there, I’ll come to you.
Sherbie: okie
I close the menu and start to trot in the direction of the Druid’s Enclave, but another ping brings the menu back up.
[Party member has sent you a message.]
I open it again.
Sherbie: hey guess what I got
Sherbie: has shared item: [Bloomph level 1: A shower of petals envelopes and invigorates you.
Heals 15 HP
Cost: 8 MP
Cooldown 5 seconds]
I stare at my screen in disbelief. What in the actual bloomph? Don’t tell me he’s been learning ridiculous skills like this the whole time I was gone! Goddamn it; I knew I shouldn’t have left him alone! Not that Solarin gave me much choice…
Revelator: Sotp what youre doing! Dont take anmore skills until I get there—got it?!?!
Sherbie: (????▽????)
Damn it, Sherbie!
I go from a trot to a full on sprint, reaching the Druid’s Enclave in under a minute. I burst in through the vines into the gloomy, mystical grove and check the map for the little orange dot indicating Sherbie’s location. I follow it and finally find him next to a female minotaur serving smooth white cakes, blissfully stuffing his face.
He starts laughing the moment he spies me.
“Did I get you with that one? Haha! I knew you’d panic. You should see your face.”
“What are you talking about?” I say, for some reason breathless though I shouldn’t be.
“Bloomph was just a skill book I bought to troll you. Check it out.” To the minotaur, he says, “Hey Tembra, will you cast Bloomph on me?”
“Certainly, Brother,” she replies in a feminine bass voice. Waving her hands, a sudden shower of pink petals appears over Sherbie’s head, falling all around him like rose smelling confetti.
“Hahaha!” he laughs. “Can you imagine if I cast this on you in the middle of battle? That would be hilarious!”
“Hilarious is one word for it,” I murmur, gritting my teeth.
“What was that?”
I yank him to me suddenly, getting his head under my arm and giving him a vicious nougie.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!”
“That’s what you get for scaring me!”
“Ow! Ok, ok, I’m sorry! Stop, I’ll go bald!”
I release him and Sherbie steps away, his glasses askew and his green hair sticking everywhere. He’s holding his head, sulking.
“I’d never take anything so useless, you know that, Rev.”
I’m not so sure about that, but I won’t insult my friend to his face.
“So what did you take?”
“Wanna see?” he says excitedly, injury already forgotten as he pulls up his system menu. I do the same and we look at it on our own screens at the same time. “I got three new ones!”
[Character name: Sherbert
Level: 16
Race: Elf
Class: Druid
Subclass: Revivalist
HP: 495
MP: 630
Constitution: 16
Strength: 20
Agility: 5
Intelligence: 40
Luck: -
Skills: Adult Ankylosaurus Form (8), Extended Healing (9), Fishing (3), Gastronomist (8), Moon Shower (1), Nature’s Embrace (1), Nature’s Power (4), Regrowth (9), Rejuvenating Touch (1), Slam (3), Trample (3)
(total armor 274)
—Reputation—
Hell/Heaven: +10
Druid’s Circle: 25
Fishermen: 100]
I’m excited about Sherbie’s new skills, but first I have a question.
“What is this, Fishermen reputation 100?”
“Oh, I got that when I fished you out of the lake. I got this achievement like, ‘Crazy Catch,’ or something, and suddenly I had 100 reputation.”
“That’s cool, I guess. I wonder if it will ever come in handy. Anyway, let’s check out your skills.”
[Rejuvenating Touch level 1: Your touch is imbued with Anira’s natural healing grace.
Instantly Heals 5% HP
Cost: 10 MP]
[Nature’s Embrace level 1: You are enveloped in nature’s refreshing and healing embrace.
+10% HP and MP Regeneration
Cost: 40 MP
Duration: 5 minutes]
[Moon Shower level 1: You call upon the power of the moon to aid your allies.
Heals 10 HP/sec
Cost: 5 MP
Duration: 5 seconds
Adjusted frequency: 1.58 seconds
Adjusted duration: 12.2 seconds]
“I took everything for healing, just like you said. Well, except for Bloomph. That was obviously a bad choice, since the healing was so minimal, plus it had a cooldown.”
“Maybe it would evolve into something better, but for a character with my level of HP, any healing that’s not percentage based is kind of pointless.”
“Right. Moon Shower doesn’t heal by percentage but it heals over time, so I thought it would pair well with my Extended Healing skill.”
I’m not sure it’s the right spell for me, but I can’t fault his logic. Curious, I pull down the menu to extend information about the Moon Shower skill.
[Healing is reduced by 75% when target is not standing in direct moonlight.]
“Sherbie, I’m curious. Do you have the power to summon the moon?”
“No?”
“Then, you should at least have the power to read the extended skill description.”
Sherbie goes silent as he pulls down the hamburger menu on his own screen.
“Ah,” he says. “Well, bloomph.”
