Ch 24- Tal
Tal ruffled his short, messy hair and spoke in an exasperated voice. "I think it was around three and a half weeks ago", he looked up at the ceiling of the cave while chasing the memories of the recent events.
"One day a small gypsy group came into our town and put up a traveling circus act. They initially came to the village head and received his approval for setting up their attraction. Although our village is small, it's not unusual to see such groups or traveling caravans from time to time. So we were not particularly wary of these visitors and many even took part in their plays and wonders in delight".
As he continued to talk his face became more frustrated and grim. "The circus stayed in town for five days, which is considerably long for outsiders. So some of our people were charmed by the group and grew close to them. To be honest, I don't know who it was, but I heard that one of our kind fell in love with one of the magi dancers and showed her his beast state while mating. The woman seemingly accepted the man and many other adults supported their union; thus the man planned to leave with the circus group to be with that woman. So two days later the group announced it would be their final act that day and that it would be completely free and heavily encouraged the whole village to participate".
Tal lowered his head and sneered "we were all fools, at the closing of the final show the headmaster of the circus snapped his fingers and cast a revelation and barrier spell on the venue. Everyone showed their beast shape, and that's when things turned for the worst. One by one they attacked and captured our people, using various spells to hypnotize and cage our people".
Tal looked up at Glacé with watery eyes "basically everyone in this cave are people who weren't present in the venue at that time, with the exception of myself. I happened to be wearing a magical amulet passed down only to the successor of our village; which allowed me to break through the magical barrier and rally everyone outside to run away".
Tal inhaled a deep breath, "I had everyone evacuate here and went back to the village to see the situation, I saw all the beautiful and unique circus people had changed into typical bandit clothing. They were looting, laughing, drinking, and eating everything from our village. Taking advantage of our people and they even executed my father on the spot; laughing and cheering, cursing our race as abominations". Tears silently fell from Tals eyes. Glacé cautiously raised a hand and patted his back "I think I have a general idea now. After they finished celebrating they burned the village down and took the others away to sell, right?".
Tal didn't move a muscle but said a faint "yea that's right, I tried to break people out of the cages and was caught by some drunken performers. Thankfully they weren't fully coherent or otherwise I wouldn't have made it back here, however, they certainly did a good amount of damage to me before I escaped". Tal gestured to the right side of his body, which was covered in injuries, as he slowly unraveled the bandage on his arms Glacé saw hideous burn marks; which he assumed covered the majority of right side of his body.
'What can I say in moments like this? Can I even be of any help?'. He said nothing but he cast healing magic to make all the injuries on Tal disappear, leaving his skin smooth and clear.
Glacè was furious. 'God I know this is just a game and I shouldn't be upset. But I feel so fucking pissed, how the hell can the game make plots like this? Fucking sick'. Glacè was so angry he wanted to pull out his hair in frustration, however, he couldn't express his feelings. As he didn't want to negatively affect the people around him who lost everything. His porcelain white skin slowly stained bright red as he forcefully swallowed down his anger and murderous intent.
"Phew" Glacè pinched his nose and gave a loud exhale in an attempt to get his composure back together. "Before I go making decisions on my own, can you tell me what you all want or hope to do?"
Tal who had been staring at the rocks by his feet slowly glanced up at Gacé. "If I'm honest, I want to find the circus, rescue everyone, and burn those bitches to the ground. Unfortunately, neither I nor my people here have the power or ability to do so, and neither do you. So I'm not sure what to do now, the village is burnt down. Even if we decided to stay and rebuild we'd probably end up a target again, so in all reality, we can't stay here". Tal looked back at the ceiling, his arms hung limply by his sides as he mumbled, "I don't know what to do anymore". Glacé saw his despondent look and felt genuine pity and sadness for these NPCs.
'What can I do? I can't leave them like this'. As Glacè pondered over the situation he felt a fire burning 'I have to do something!'.
*Ding* - 'You have received an optional quest open 'Quest' tab for more details'
Glacè heard a familiar system notification; awakening him from his thoughts, he looked up and saw a new quest notification and quickly looked up the information.
Quest- 'Revival of the hidden village (optional)'- 'you have met the leftover scraps of Zell, the hidden beast-person village. You have seen and understood the tragedy that happened to these beasts. Now that you have seen and heard you must decide which road to take (rewards vary depending on the chosen path, you will not know until one of the paths is selected and completed)'
1st Choice - " Pretend you saw nothing and leave these beast-people behind quietly"
2nd Choice - " Capture and/or report their whereabouts to slave traders and let them handle the rest"
3- "rescue the villagers that were taken and dispose of the small slave trader group called 'pacsull'"
4- "relocate the ones left behind and let the matter go afterward"
'What. The. Fuck. If it was any other quests where I got an option to choose what path to take I would be completely thrilled and amazed. But this…. Is fucking bullshit, this game really is sick. There's a reward for hunting and turning these people in, how inhumane is this?!'
Glacè never thought the game developers would have such cruel and sick plots in the game 'isn't this just giving people an incentive and opportunity to let out the evil they possess?' Glacè shuddered at the thought 'no. There's no way the game would have such complex and bad goals, it's just meant for making things interesting; helping to resonate with the players by pulling their emotions'. Glacé reasoned silently with himself in his mind.
Although VR has dominated the galaxy for hundreds of years most games conform to morality and won't incite players to go against "humane" standards.Population of humans has dropped more and more over the years so all fighting and war-based games focus on non-human enemies. While there are many gory fighting and mech games, they are still restricted in what is and isn't possible.
'Still even if they think it's okay because they're NPCs and technically not human, it's still wrong. AIs are so advanced that they can even have their own sentience, not much different from human beings'. Glacè stared at the quest screen blankly for a long time.
"Yip?"
Bai gave a soft cry to attract Glacès attention. Glacè looked down as Bai rubbed his hand and gave a soft smile 'right, let's not overthink it and just do what's right'. With that thought, Glacè selected his quest path and set his next goal in stone. He looked up at Tal and gave a small smile "I know it's been hard for you all. So I'll help find a safe home for you. Also I will help you get your revenge and save those we can".
As Tal listened his eyes started to water and when Glacé finished his sentence his eyes widened in surprise. He pounced up and threw himself at Glacè; pushing him down to the ground and pinning his muscular body on top of Glacè. "Thank you, thank you unicorn! I have nothing I can give to repay you" Tal let out soft tears and pursed his lips in thought. "Do you want me? I can give my whole self to you in return for this favor".
Glacè froze, he was pushed down by his dream body, and then said person offered himself as a slave essentially. Slowly Glacè scowled and smacked Tal on his head "who would want you?! Just take care of your people well, that's enough payment for me. Also my name is Glacé, don't call me Unicorn, if others find out about me; it'd be bad".
Tal stared at Glacè with worshipping eyes "ahhhh, unicorns are really just as pure and merciful as the stories! If it's you I don't mind giving away myself, I'm still a pure virgin. I may not be the best or brightest, but I'm very confident in my looks and body. I am sure I would make a great partner".
Glacè felt his eyes starting to twitch, he tried to hold it in but as he listened to Tal's raving he got pissed and punched him fiercely in the head, using his full strength. To be fair though a magic-wielding unicorn has little strength when compared to an adult lion beat-person. So Tal sat up and lightly rubbed his head before blowing rainbow farts at Glacè. "Wow, you're such a strong, tough, and absolutely gorgeous beauty. Absolutely the best ever!". Tal narrowed his eyes and raised his thumb at Glacè; who in return bitterly started cursing under his breath while stomping away toward the entrance of the cave.
"What now?" Bai walked next to Glacè and stared at him curiously; Glacè looked out at the woods in front of the cave for a moment then stared down at Bai before grinning. "Isn't it obvious? We track down that circus and blow them all to bits. Then find these people a new home, we may need some extra help but I've got a couple of people I know we can count on!".
Glacè continued to grin as he reached out to pick Bai up; he turned back toward the gave and called Tal. "Alright! Here's what we're gonna do"...
Bia turned on his special NPC communication device to call in reliable backup.