I’m friggin’ in Elora again. Holy mother of God.
I jump up and look around, then look down at my hands. Still a Nuudle. Moldavite ring. Still a Mystic.
I run upto the first player I see, another Nuudle, a Magician. “Hey, hey. Can you help me? Sorry to bother you, but—”
He completely ignores me and I’m getting pissed, but then he walks right through me. Through me! Like I’m a ghost!
Shit, can nobody see me here? What the fuck did Anella tell me to come here for?
I feel an uncharacteristic burst of rage, but cast Spontaneity on myself after a moment and get a nice CRG boost. It calms me and gets me thinking progressively almost instantly.
“Excuse me,” I hear a girl’s voice say behind me.
I turn. A Siren Blessed stands there, wearing lower-stat gear. I’d guess she’s been playing a year and she’s pretty young in RL. But she can see me. She’s talking to me.
“You can see me? Can you hear me?”
“Of course I can. Why wouldn’t I?” She cocks her head and pushes her white eyebrows together, eyes glowing brightly with curiosity.
“Nobody else can see me.”
“No way.” She gasps dramatically.
“Yeah. How can you see me and nobody else can?”
“Well, I was just going to ask you what that spell Spontaneity is. It looks so cool! That’s a great stat boost you got from it. What class are you?”
I hesitate. “You’re a Blessed, right?”
Misdirection back at someone else so they talk about themselves usually works.
“Yes, I’m low-stat, don’t play all the time. I have school, but it’s the weekend.”
“Can I ask you a weird question?”
“Uh, ok.” She looks uncertain.
“What year is it?”
She laughs.
“No, for real.”
“It’s 2036, silly. Do you want to know who the leader of the UN is, too?”
One year later. At least, at most?
“Look, I’m sorry I bothered you,” she says. “I was just curious.” I can tell she thinks I’m a stuck-up, high-stat snob about newbs, but I’m not, and I need her help.
“Wait, I’ll tell you my class, but please, keep it to yourself.” This should entice her for a little longer. I’m forming a plan but need her help and some verification.
“Oh?” She takes a step closer, trying to see under my hood to my marking.
“I’m a Mystic.”
“No way.”
“Yeah.”
“Is that why you have one name?”
“Kind of.”
“Can you, like, show me what summons you have?”
“To be honest,” I lie, “I don’t know if I can. Nobody but you has seen me. Why is that?”
“Has this been going on all day?”
I look to the side. “Ever since I got here.”
“Hm. Well, it could be because I’m a Blessed.”
“How’s that?”
“A Blessed always sees the golden truth of reality.” She smiles proudly.
She probably remembers that from a class description when she picked Blessed.
I glance above her head. Her name is Nina Lovesalot. “Nina, can you do me a big favor?”
She lowers her brows. “Like what?”
“I have tried, but I can’t send messages… today… either. Can you send a message to my friend? Tell her Sid Vicious needs to know her location?”
Her eyes widen. “You know Sid Vicious?”
“Uh, yeah. He’s looking for a White Elf Blessed named Silvia Diamond but needs to know where she is. He can’t search the world server list, either.”
“That’s weird. Well, I’ll do anything for that poor soul. Must be some message he left behind.”
I don’t like the sound of that, but I say nothing. What does she know about me and the legend of Sid Vicious? Instead, I ask, “Can you send her that message now, please?”
“Oh, ok, one second.” Her eyes go into automode as she accesses a lot in her menu. After a moment, her eyes focus back on me. “She just keeps saying, ‘Who is this?’ over and over.”
I sigh. “Tell her… ask her if she’s still wearing the lily he gave her.”
Eyes auto, then she’s back. She looks spooked, looking over her shoulders, and backing away from me. “This is all too weird for me,” she mutters.
“What did she say?”
“I don’t want to be involved.”
“Please, this is so very important, and you’re the only one who can help.” I give her my mastered big Nuudle eyes.
Her shoulders sink. “She’s in the Mantle of Bliss crafting Cashmere Cloth stacks. Okay? I’ve really got to go. I have plans. All of a sudden, you know. Nice meeting you,” she says in a rush, and all but runs away from me.
“Wait, one more thing!” I call to her, and I’m shocked that she stops. Doesn’t turn around. “Can you teleport me there?”
She slowly turns. Eyes me carefully. “I don’t know who you are, but I’ll tele you and then you leave me alone.”
“Perfect,” I tell her with a smile.
She invites me to a party, and then in a flash of white light, we’re at the grand entrance of the Mantle of Bliss. She instantly disbands the group. “I hope you find what you’re looking for,” she says, and then teles out.
I think I spent maybe five, ten minutes with her tops, and I have no idea what got her so freaked out.
I enter the Mantle of Bliss and head straight for the clothcrafting station, but Silvia isn’t there. I go around the circular building, too, and peek behind some curtains once inside again.
She’s not here where she said she’d be.
I plop down on the steps to the clothcraft building station and drop my head into my hands. She lied to the young Blessed because of something she knows about me. Something where if she heard I was looking for her, she doesn’t want anything to do with it.
I sense someone beside me, and a soft hand touches my shoulder. I see the delicate White Elf fingertips out of the corner of my eye. I look up to my left.
It’s her. Silvia. A Shadow Potion is wearing off her, and a nip of those makes you invisible for about twenty minutes. She wanted to see this person looking for her first.
“Hi,” I say.
She keeps her hand on me. She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen. Her eyebrows are pushed together hard, and her glowing White Elf eyes twinkle with deep figuring. Her long, blonde hair is down and falls in shining waves as she frowns at me, scrutinizing me. I sense anger coming from her that she’s trying to contain. She doesn’t like to jump to conclusions, and I have no idea what she’s heard happened to me a year ago.
Finally, she softly says, “Hi. Why is your name Sid? Just Sid?”
I stand and gaze up at her. My Nuudle eyes are sincere. “Silvia, it’s me. It’s me.”
She shakes her head. “No, you’re not… him. He died. He’s dead. You’re… you’re an asshole.” Her eyes fill with tears and her cheeks redden, but she lets her toon continue this way without adjusting her character controls.
I reach up on my tiptoes and touch the Love Lily tucked behind her ear. “I’m so glad you still wear it. I have another flower for you.”
She pulls away. “Stop. I’m so confused. Just give me a minute, okay? This is a mean, mean joke, or… or…”
“There’s so much to it.”
She stares at the name above my head. “Sid,” she says more to herself, then, “One name.”
“Right.” I wait.
“But Peter said—I mean, he and Good Deeds went to your funeral. Do you even know what I’m talking about?”
I shrug. “I have an idea, but I’d love it if you told me more.”
“How can you not know?”
I pause, thinking, and then say, “I want to tell you everything, but first, I need you to believe me.”
A Dragonbane Lancer walks upto us and says to Silvia, “Sorry, I’m just dying of
curiosity. Who are you talking to?”
She looks confused for a moment, and then points at me. “Him. Right here. Nuudle.”
The Dragonbane looks through me. “Ah, okay. Sure. Thanks. My friends and I were just wondering.” He snickers as he walks away.
She turns to me, eyes wide. “He couldn’t see you. Why couldn’t he see you?”
“I don’t know. Only a Blessed has been able to see me, the one who contacted you for me. She thought maybe all Blesseds could, so I came to you.” There are a million more reasons I went straight to Silvia, but now’s not the time.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Look,” I say, and pull my hood back, revealing my Mystic Ananta marking. “Look, I’m a Mystic now.”
Her mouth falls open. “That marking, the serpent heads…”
“He’s the only one I know of that I don’t have.”
She collapses on the ground and stares up at me, tears freely streaking down her pale cheeks. “Oh my God. Sid. Sid. Where have you been?”
I sit with her and take her hands. “I don’t know, but you get that it’s me, right? You believe it now. Right?”
“I’m confused, but yeah. Yes, I do, but I don’t know why. I can feel it. I just know. I’ve missed you so much, I—” She stops herself, takes a deep breath. “I need to get on guild chat and tell them about this.”
“No, please don’t. I’m not quite ready to talk to them yet. There’s so much I still don’t know or understand, and I don’t want to confuse or upset anyone.”
“How can your best friends knowing you’re alive hurt them?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t think I am alive. I honestly don’t know what I am. Silvia, do you have any of those weird spells you sometimes pick up as a mage that you don’t have a use for?”
She tilts her head, thinking. “There is one I got about a year ago. Awaken. I’ve used it on lots of things, but it never did anything.”
“Try it on me.”
“Why?”
“It might do something to me to make me able to interact with Elora. I really need to be able to… to get Ananta.”
She blinks. “Well, okay. I’ll try.” She holds her hands out in an exotic pose and white glowing sparkles come out of her fingertips.
Silvia Diamond casts Awaken. Sid is Awakened.
Suddenly, a rush of sensations hits me. I’m feeling Elora. I hadn’t realized I haven’t felt anything except that Spontaneity I cast on myself until now. I was too focused on my mission to find Silvia. “Oh,” I mutter.
“What is it?” She takes my thin shoulder in her long fingers. Dainty pressure.
“I’ll explain it soon. First, I need to see if other players can see me.”
We look around. There are players walking and running around everywhere, but none pay any attention to us.
“Let me try something,” I say. I stand up and hold my hand out to her. She takes it and I pull her up. “Pretty strong for a Nuudle, huh?”
She allows herself a small smile.
Sid summons Oni.
Varying hues of blue mist spurts out of my chest and forms the intimidating Oni. He hovers in the air quietly, observing. Filling gobs of space that nobody will be able to not notice.
Yes, people see me. Pretty much everyone in eyesight stops what they are doing, including walking and running, and gapes.
Sid dismisses Oni.
“Holy crap!” Silvia exclaims.
“Yeah.” I can’t help but grin. I’d impressed her, at least enough to make her stop being so upset and confused. “I have so much I want to tell you.”
“You’re… you’re not dead…” she says again. Tears fill her eyes once more. “Peter said there was a murder-suicide, that a stranger broke into your apartment and shot you in the head while we were running that dungeon. You just vanished while in game. Nobody knows who the guy is who shot you. The police gathered that he shot you, and then for some reason, hooked himself up to your Elora headset and logged in under another account, and then shot himself in the head. They couldn’t trace the account he logged into. He’d hacked it so it would be useless after he was dead… How can you be alive? But I know you are. I can feel it’s you. I can tell!”
I have to calm her down so I can talk to her, tell her everything.
I have an idea. Oni had cheered her for a moment.
“There are some… people… I’d like to introduce you to. One in particular.”
She cocks her head and sniffles, wiping her eyes.
“Let’s go out to an empty place near the sea in White Elf Territory, south of here. We can walk.”
“O—okay. Okay, Sid.” She smiles and bursts into laughter. Then she throws her arms around my little body. “Oh, I’m so happy. This is the happiest day of my life.”
I hold her, too, and my heart feels just as warm as when I claim a summon. We’ve never been this close physically, and I can feel her, smell her. She’s soft and feminine, with a scent like fresh rosemary. It’s amazing to hold her, and I don’t want to let go when she pulls away.
“Okay, Sid, show me what you want to show me.”
We walk to a glade she knows of where she does her White Elf Blessed version of my Mystic Recite, which is Bonding. She lies in the grass in White Elf Territory for an hour or so to recharge. She tells me this is her favorite spot, and she thought of it when I said by the sea. Three sides are guarded from view by high, blooming willows covered in leafy vines, and the other side is a clear, beautiful sight of the eastern ocean from high on the cliffs.
“Perfect place. I love it,” I tell her.
“Me too.” Her voice is soft. She sounds uncertain and upset still.
“Hey, have a seat. Facing the sea. I have things to show you that will cheer you up. Just like Oni did. Actually, exactly like Oni did.”
She cocks her head. “What? You mean Oni, that summon you conjured? Oh, he was amazing! Scary in a way. His eyes. Something so timeless, but tortured.”
“Yeah. He was tormented for ages. He’s a demon, and a powerful one, but he has good intentions.”
“You talk about him like he’s a person.”
“To me, all my summons are like people I know.”
“But they’re NPCs.”
“It’s hard to explain.”
She holds out her hands to me, exasperated. “Where? Where have you been? Why are you a Nuudle Mystic with summons?”
“Shh,” I tell her. “You need to breathe, and so I’m going to show you my summons. I’ll do them in the order I got them.”
First, I pull out the Counts. She gasps and looks frightened. My protector Count actually nods at her, and she half waves at him, hand shaking. “The Counts of Hell,” I say. “They don’t like daylight or public places. So we’ll let them go for now.”
I dismiss them. She sighs in slight relief. “Their black and white color is so haunting, like ancient photos of the dead from way back come to life.”
“Yeah. And they can fight and are also useful in many other ways. Here, you’ll like the next one I got.”
I pull out Varengan. Every tear dries instantly. Her face lights up with delight as Varengan twitters and shows off his plumage, fluttering here and there, seemingly knowing he is to show what a fine bird he is.
“Thank you,” I tell him, flattering him. He loves the attention and lands on the earth near Silvia, sticking first one black eye and then the other into her face.
She giggles. “How cute! But so beautiful! That’s just… incredible.” She reaches up and strokes his head as gently as possible. He coos.
“Next I got Djinn, but I’m saving him for last.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see when you meet him.”
“Are you going to put this bird back, or whatever you call it? I like him.”
“It’s called dismissing. I can bring him out again, but I have a few others I’m dying to show you.”
“Okay.”
Sid dismisses Var
engan.
“After Djinn, I got Xiuhcoatl.” I summon the great gold dragon, and Silvia stares wordlessly at his pure presence. He is something to behold, and he seems genuinely curious about Silvia. He leans his ferocious snout close to her face and sniffs. She’s not scared of him one bit and reaches out, touching the side of his face. She’s afraid of nothing now, amazement taking over her senses.
“You have a new Blessed as a companion. This one is special.” He looks at me. “Good one like you.” A peace enters the way he looks at me finally. I smile. He blinks slowly. Has Xiuhcoatl become okay with me right at this moment? Because of Silvia? Well, if anyone would do it, she could with a simple smile.
“Thanks, Xiuhcoatl. I’m showing her all my summons. I appreciate your not being bothered by my disturbance of your rest.”
“I learn more about you each time you use me.” A little puff of gray smoke comes out of his nose.
I dismiss him with a feeling of satisfaction that I’d reached the dragon, but really, Silvia reached him for me just by being her.
“Then I got this one, and she’s a little scary. Nobody even knows if she’s a normal summon.”
I pull out Keres.
She swirls madly out of my chest in a black mist and forms quickly, breasts boldly bare, mouth salivating. “Master, have you a field of battle for me to feed upon?” she says as soon as she can speak.
“Not right now, Keres. I’m showing you to Silvia, my friend.”
She eyes Silvia. “Too skinny, bad feeding.”
“No, you never eat her. Promise.”
“I cannot make such a promise.”
“I take good care of your needs. This is one thing I’m asking from you. Don’t feed on Silvia Diamond, ever, ever.” Silvia looks mortified throughout this conversation, and has her hands tucked under her butt, biting her bottom lip.
“I’ll think on it.” She narrows her eyes.
“Thank you for being so very considerate, Keres.”
“Hmm.”
I dismiss her. “You’ve seen Oni. He’s a demon, like I said. But Djinn, here, you just have to meet him.”
Sid summons Djinn.
The great, green genie seems to know what’s going on as he takes form, and his eyes instantly go to Silvia. “Ah, Master. She of Mantra fame!”
“Djinn!”
He grins slyly at Silvia. She giggles. “What?” she asks.
Total Immersion: Dark World: A LitRPG Adventure Page 21
