Chapter 23

Freedom.

That was all Ryder could think of as he gazed out at the bright blue skies and sparkling ocean.

A bright smile found its way on his face as he watched what appeared to be a whale of some kind emerge in the distance, a childlike wonder clear in his eyes.

In all honesty even though he could easily go to the sea he'd neve been out like this before, it was yet another new experience to him.

One that he couldn't stop being amazed by as he saw new creatures at each turn.

"Man, I'm surprised you can stand at all." Regis' voice came from behind him as she walked up to his side. "It's already hard enough to get your sea legs, it's even harder when you have someone like Teach manning the ship."

"Ah it's probably because I took some of his knowledge… probably." Ryder replies, an unsure tone lingering in his voice as he observes the ocean. "Honestly I still don't fully understand it, this whole thing with knowledge and memories."

"Well don't look at me, I'm not fully knowledgeable on how it works, I only know the basics thanks to my Lord." She shrugs a little and leans on the railing. "So, are you ready for the mainland? From what I hear it's going to be one hell of a fight once we dock."

"Right, I still need to ask Aranea about what we're fighting exactly, I only know it's worse than what was back on the island." Ryder stops and thinks for a moment. "Will we actually be able to beat it if it's that bad?"

"Oh come on, don't tell me you're getting cold feet now! You're the most qualified Lord Candidate out of everyone here, we don't have a chance without you!" Regis replies while now gazing out at the sea. "Just stay strong for now, I'm sure things will work out."

"Yeah, that's true… and to think all this happened because I just trusted my gut, I honestly didn't know what that guardian would think of my little speech." Ryder lets out a slightly nervous laugh at the memory. "I half expected to just be rejected then and there."

"You weren't though, what that says about your character? Only you can fully decide, after all only you and Lily were there." She nonchalantly says while looking at him. "Now, you should go talk with Aranea, don't want to be caught off guard by what's on the mainland, right?"

With a nod Ryder pushes off the railing, easily keeping his balance as he stretches a little. "You're right, I'll talk to you later Regis." He waves to Regis as he walks away, heading to the interior of the ship.

Ryder approaches the wooden door and opens it with ease, finding a small room with a staircase leading down in the middle, there were some supplies and some members of the crew here but no one he was familiar with.

It was exciting though, seeing real pirates in action… or as close to real pirates as he'd get anyway.

He moved quietly past the crew, trying not to disrupt them as he made his way downstairs to where his friends and the rest of the Outlanders were resting.

It was darker down here but he could clearly see the various people sitting on the floor, all people who'd been with them since the beginning.

Towards the back was a familiar head of red hair resting with a book in her hand.

As he tried to make his way over he heard someone quietly call out to him. "Please wait!"

Looking to his left Ryder spots the origin of the voice, it was one of the players that'd been there on the first night… but not someone he'd actually talked with.

Perhaps he really should've tried to make more friends.

With a shake of his head he walked over, getting a better look at her now as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Mousy messy brown hair, some slightly bushy eyebrows, big hazel eyes behind a pair of glasses and pale skin with some light freckles on it.

She also seemed to be short and stout, her outfit looking like a mish mash of armor he hadn't seen before like it was taken from various sets.

He saw what looked like a greatsword near her… just what build was she going for exactly?

Ryder couldn't help but also notice she seemed slightly nervous, perhaps she wasn't used to calling out to people?

With a smile he tried to be as friendly as possible. "What's up?" his voice was hushed as well, staying low as to not disrupt anyone else's rest.

The girl gulps nervously, having trouble maintaining eye contact as she nervously taps the ground a bit. "Aranea… she just fell asleep, she's been up since yesterday, so I just didn't want to have her rest interrupted… especially with a big battle coming up."

"Ah, that makes sense, don't want our fearless leader tired on the big day…" Ryder says, looking back at Aranea for a moment. "Hey you wouldn't mind if I talk with you for a bit, would you?"

The girl lightly shakes her head and slight scoots over, letting Ryder take a seat next to her.

For a moment the two just sit in silence as Ryder takes in the atmosphere around him, the peacefulness of it mixing with the absurdity of the situation in his mind.

"So, you've been with this group since the beginning right? Sorry we haven't really had a chance to talk yet, kinda been caught up in a lot since the whole thing started." Ryder starts, trying to spark up some kind of conversation.

"No, it's alright… you've put in the most work and are a big reason why we're here now." she responds, still being unable to look right at him. "If it wasn't for your magic we'd probably still be at the fort."

"I guess… still feels weird to be honest, the whole ancient magic thing." he sighs a little. "So, what's your name? I'd like to get to know everyone that's been helping the group while I've pulled my little vanishing acts."

The girl pauses, having a hard time responding before she squeaks out "Melia."

"It's nice to meet you Melia, I'm Ryder, just Ryder preferably, none of that Champion stuff." he leans back against the ship wall now. "So, do you know what we're up against?"

"Wait… you don't know?" Melia actually looks at him now, clearly shocked that he's in the dark.

Ryder lets out an awkward chuckle. "Nope, I didn't get to ask Aranea that… or how to send a message."

Melia's eyes go wide, surprised that this is their champion, someone who didn't even know how to send messages and didn't even ask what they were going to fight.

Slowly she sighs and shakes her head a little. "Well, I can help you with both of those."

"Really? Thank you!" Ryder smiles as he waits for her to continue.

"Well, the easier of the two is the messaging system… go ahead and pull out your journal and go to the social tab." she begins plainly while pulling out her own journal.

Ryder mimics her, quickly going to the socials tab where he sees his friends list, seeing Lily and the others there.

Before he can do anything he sees a new friend request pop up, the icon and name belonging to Melia.

With no reason to reject the friend request he accepts it, shortly after a new window pops up.

[1 New Message From: Melia!]

"If you click that it should take you to the message page…" she chimes in, now waiting on him to open it up.

Upon clicking the window Ryder sees the journal turn a few pages to what looks like a chat log with Melia's name at the top.

The page is blank save for one surprisingly cute napping cat emoji she'd sent.

Ryder can't help but let a small chuckle out at this.

"Cute choice." he says politely, not noticing the slight blush on her face.

Quickly she composes herself and continues. "That's called a stamp, they're this game's emotes… since physical emotes are kinda pointless for a fulldive mmorpg."

"Ah, that's fair… and I guess if I want to reply I just…" as he says this Ryder taps on the bottom of the chatbox, making a virtual keyboard appear. "That's nice, a little immersion breaking, but nice."

"Well if you really wanted to you could use a pen and write out your messages by hand, each Journal comes with one in the settings." she holds up her own pen to show it off.

"I think I'll do that, it'll probably be more helpful in the long run." with just a few quick page turns he finds a pen now attached to the outside of the journal. "So now I know how messages look, how do I access them myself?"

"Oh that's easy, just go back to the socials and click any friend then hit message… or if you have messages already going you'll be able to see a message tab now." she replies while holding her own journal out as an example for him to see.

Nodding slowly he looks back at his own journal, flipping through the pages back to the social and stopping for a moment.

He had been planning on just sending a message to Lily as a test, but something else caught his eye.

It was the tab that read [Recently Partied/Fought], something about it piqued his curiosity and he tapped on it to check.

Sure enough upon opening it he sees the familiar names of the others he partied with, mainly being Oto and Lily… however one name made him freeze dead in his tracks.

How, how could this name be here?

It shouldn't be possible, Yuria and Eleanor weren't here, they were NPCs so they weren't included on the list… so why was that name here?!

It made his blood run cold and his heart race as he tried to find the meaning behind it, his hands starting to shake a little bit.

"Hey, are you alright?" Melia's voice calls to him, but he couldn't shake the fear as he looked at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just nervous about the mainland y'know." he lies while closing his journal, making note to talk to Aranea later.

"Oh right, you didn't know about it… well for the most part we'll be mainly seeing husks like on the island, but in way more abundance." she starts while trying to remember what else. "Plus some bigger enemies like the infector and blighted enemies."

"That doesn't sound good." Ryder sighs a little, now trying to picture just how many enemies they'd be up against.

"It's not, we outlanders are mainly immune to the bigger repercussions of the Blight but it still acts like a poison to us, but it twists and transforms everyone else it comes into contact with." She holds onto her greatsword now, seeming to have bad memories of the beta. "There were even some nasty ones that were taller than the houses…"

"Seriously?!" Ryder lets out louder than intended, quickly realizing his mistake as some of the people stir for a moment before becoming still once more. "Geez… just what the hell is this world?"

"A dark fantasy inspired some of the greatest RPGs and stories." Melia happily replies, earning a questioning look from Ryder. "By the way, have you rested yet? I haven't seen you down here at all."

"Me? No, not since we left the island yesterday." He replies honestly, now realizing just how long he'd been up this time. "Maybe I should try to rest before we get into battle…"

"That would probably be a good idea… if we hit land I'll wake you up, alright?" She tries her hardest to smile without seeming awkward.

Ryder just politely returns the smile before leaning back and closing his eyes.

Though he wanted to sleep soundly he just wanted to know why, why that name was in the journal.

Had they not been an NPC after all?

Were they really an Outlander after all?

If so… why… why did they do it?

Why did they kill all those people?

What was his goal?

Who was Shade?