Chapter 9

Upon entering, what is assumedly, the guild hall the duo of Ryder and Yuria notice that it's practically dead inside save for one or two people talking near a counter.

Ryder looks around, a bit surprised by the lack of people around, though if they got out of a meeting they must've gone to take care of whatever they had planned.

"So this is where adventurers gather for missions and such?" Yuria asks as she looks around in interest. "It could certainly hold a lot of people, though I can understand why they went out of fashion years ago."

"They did? I'm going to guess it's whenever things started to go bad." Ryder looks to Yuria now while loosely keeping an eye out for Aranea.

Yuria nods in response. "Indeed, when the collapse happened there were very few who wished to stay side by side with others." After a brief pause she slowly began walking towards a flight of stairs in the back. "After all, many sought to claim power for themselves, while others simply wished to survive."

Yuria stops and looks at a door to the right at the top of the stairs. "Your leader is in there, I can sense her."

Ryder raises an eyebrow in a questioning manner. "I'm sorry, you can sense her? How?"

"It's just a talent of mine, not only that but I also have special eyes that let me see eeeeverything." she says in what seemed to be a joking manner, a small smile on her face.

Ryder sighs as she says this and rolls his eyes, not taking her seriously in the slightest. "Sure you do."

Though he may not have believed her fully he still walked over to the room to check and see if Aranea was in there.

His hand casually pushed the door open where he saw Aranea sitting at a desk reading over a page of some sort. Her eyes quickly darted over to him as if on high alert, more than likely due to not expecting any more visitors.

Aranea's eyes widen a bit as she realizes who it is, the paper almost slipping out of her hand.

Quickly she stands up and walks closer, looking him over as if to make sure this isn't some kind of illusion.

"You're back? How? Everyone said you were dead and gone." she asks while patting him on the shoulder to make sure he wasn't fake.

"Long story… basically though I made it out of bounds and was saved by Yuria." Ryder says while motioning to his companion in green who's absentmindedly just staring off into space.

"Alright then, well it's good to see you alive and well." Aranea says with a smile on her face before backing up a little bit. "So what brings you here? I imagine there's something you wanted to talk about."

"That I do, I want to know exactly what's been going on since I left." Ryder's voice seems to get a bit more serious now, not the normal soft tone that usually lingers out.

His eyes seem to harden a bit as well, it's an unusual characteristic. "I want to know as many details about the dungeon and land as possible."

"Alright… well there's a lot to know about the Fort." Aranea mutters a bit as she reaches down and pulls a map out from under her desk. "I hope you're ready, because this will take a minute."

Ryder nods in response, his eyes fixated on the map in her hand. All he wanted was to finish this game before anything else could happen.

No more confusing story, no more being stuck here, no more otherworldly beings!

All Ryder wanted was to get out and make sure everything was still okay, after all he's been gone a little over a month! Who knows what could've happened in that time?

Aranea slowly unrolled the map across the desk, revealing it to be surprisingly large and filled with many many more details than Ryder could've expected.

Not only had they scouted out the locations of possible treasures and materials but there were also enemy locations, patrol patterns, secret rooms and even safe zones marked.

With a map like this it should be possible to easily secure a route to the boss and find a good way to beat it… whatever it was.

Aranea sighs before beginning. "As you can see we've got the entirety of the fort already mapped out, so you're probably wondering why we haven't beaten it yet." She places what looks like a sculpture of a player in a black cloak on the map. "This is why, a mysterious NPC is roaming the fort killing anyone they come across and claiming it's to weed out the true Lord Candidates… bastard can even invade the boss room."

"Wait, seriously?" Ryder asks in utter confusion as he examines the sculpture closer. It appeared to be made of some kind of wood and really the only detail that was visible aside from the cloak was an odd pitch black dagger in their left hand.

"You shouldn't be so surprised, those limitations you lot spoke of don't exist now." Yuria casually states while taking the sculpture and examining it. "Dark fellows such as these won't bow to any rules you might know, they'll act as they see fit."

"Alright, good to know." Ryder looks from Yuria back to Aranea. "So, you're telling me that the thing causing so many deaths is a killer NPC… not any enemy or the boss, but the NPC?"

"Yes, they're the reason our initial strategy for clearing the fort didn't work." Aranea leans back in her chair, letting out a very long and annoyed sigh. "You see we planned to just keep people in the fort to prevent enemy spawns."

"Just like with the main path leading to this village." he interjects, piecing this together slowly but surely. "And when you tried to do that, this assassin appeared and made sure that wasn't possible?"

"Unfortunately that would be correct." leaning forward she looks over the map again. "And it didn't matter what paths we tried to take or what enemies we fought or avoided, that damn NPC keeps showing up."

Ryder pauses, eyeing the map and scanning over the routes. There were several routes that could minimize enemy encounters but that'd probably be where the assassin would be patrolling first.

Yet that might not be a bad thing for them… no it could be a great thing!

"Aranea! Is there only one NPC assassin in that place?" Ryder asks while quickly grabbing the statue back from Yuria.

"Huh? I mean as far as we know there is, we've only seen the one and they always have the same voice so it's safe to assume it's the same NPC every time."

"Then I know what we can do, but it's going to be a risky operation." Ryder places the statue back on the map but in one of the less heavily guarded paths. "We lure them over here where I, along with whoever wishes to accompany me, will fight the NPC." Ryder then looks up to Aranea. "From there you and your teams will go around, make your way to the boss and initiate the fight, my team will regroup with you after we've taken care of things on our end."

"Ryder we've considered that before, but this NPC is too dangerous for that kind of mission, it makes the spectral Burial Knight up in the castle look like a joke." she leans back again and sighs. "This is why we've just considered going past it and looking for the main Lord Candidate instead."

"It's dangerous, yes but I think I've got a secret up my sleeve I can use, and if I'm accompanied by Yuria, Oto and Lily then I know I'll do just fine." Ryder replies before pulling out the sketchbook. "Take a look at this, I know I saw that figure in here."

Quietly Aranea takes the sketchbook and begins looking through it, her expression getting more confused and concerned as she does.

"Ryder, where the hell did you get this?" she looks him dead in the eyes, her fear being clear as day.

"It's a long story, how much time do you have?" Ryder replies, crossing his arms.

"All day now, I only had the meeting to worry about earlier." her voice is calm as she motions for him to begin.

A small smile comes across Ryder's face now. "Good, well where to begin…"

With that Ryder begins recounting everything to her, all the details of the dreamscape he'd encountered.

The crumbling buildings.

Finding the office with various books in it.

Being stuck in a never ending loop for a month apparently.

Meeting a guardian face to face.

All of it.

Aranea just leans back further in her chair, eyes wide as she tries to take it all in, her reality seemingly being shattered in an instant by all this information.

"So there's way more to all this than I'd hoped… it's not just some crazy man making a death game." out of frustration she slams the book hard. "And what's more it likely means that it really was the creator's doing."

"The creator? You mean the man who made Reflection?" Ryder asks curiously, having heard he worked on it previously.

"No, not him, he only invested in this game as he saw potential in it. The man who made the game was L.S, Lukas Solence."

Yuria walks up to the table. "Ohh so that's the one who created this dream, I was wondering who's been puppeteering the Lord." She casually places one finger on the statue and starts loosely tilting it back and forth. "This Solence must be the reason for such oddities as well."

"Yeah, I had a feeling he would be after talking with Demea." Aranea replies calmly. "After all it seems like even the deepest insiders had no clue this would happen."

"You've spoken with others like Demea?" Ryder questions, his tone lightening up a bit now.

Lightly Aranea nods before resting a hand on her head, seemingly tired of everything. "Yes, many came to group up with us after we captured this village and secured a couple of safe routes from place to place."

"Alright, well I may need to speak with them when I get the chance, after all they might be able to help out." Ryder thinks for a moment, trying to decide on his next action though a bit unsure of what to do. "Do you have any more details on the NPC? I just want to make sure I'm not in the dark here."

"Unfortunately we don't know any more than what i already told you, those details come from people who ran when they were spotted."

"So aside from looking like an assassin we have nothing… well that's great…" Ryder sighs a little. "Well I still think the plan is the best shot we have at clearing this place, especially if a pact can be formed with the guardian."

"I'm sorry, you want to go back to meet with that thing?!" Aranea proclaims loudly as she suddenly shoots up from her chair. "Do you know how dangerous that would be?! Not only that but who knows how long you'd be gone this time-"

"With the difference in time flow? Possibly another month, or could be as short as 3 seconds." Yuria cuts in, now flicking the statue back over. "You must remember, time is fractured here. Even the simplest of places can make time move differently, surely you've noticed."

"Fractured?" Aranea asks as she looks over towards Yuria. "Fractured… how badly are we talking here?" she asks, already seeming to catch on way faster than Ryder did.

"Oh horribly, this entire island is far flung into the future of this place, it's why this place is mainly ruins and tired weary souls." Yuria dons a rather ominous looking smile as she picks up the statue. "For instance, our assailant here might not be of this fractured time, they could be from one of many others on the mainland."

"So then there's more, that's good to know actually… if we know about the fractured time zones going into it we could use that to our advantage." Aranea thinks for a moment, her eyes widening as a realization hits her. "Could these fractures be from any point in the history of this land?!"

Yuria just shrugs nonchalantly, the odd smile still attached to her face. "Who could say? All I know is that I can feel the flow of time ruptured and irreversibly broken by that man at the end of everything."

Without wasting a moment Aranea suddenly rolls up the map and hands it to Ryder. "Here, keep this and study it, I need to go call another meeting soon."

"Woah, why? What're you planning?" Ryder asks, slightly concerned at what the leader of this brigade might be planning.

"We're going with your plan, as soon as you're ready we'll head out. Aside from that we need to get the others briefed on the state of time here, Radogan especially." she picks up the sketchbook and hands it back as well. "Keep this hidden for now, only show it to those you can fully trust."

"Would it really be that bad to show it to other people?" Ryder asks, once again slightly confused at this sense of urgency.

"There could be people working with Solence, so yes, it very well could be. Not only that but others could use this to manipulate the situation to only favor them." she looks him dead in the eyes. "Remember, only people you can fully trust, no one else."

"Right…" Ryder replies, clearly a bit nervous and surprised by her sudden seriousness.

Without another word Aranea walks past the two of them and heads out of the room, leaving Ryder confused and slightly shocked.

Ryder sighs and shakes his head a bit, "I didn't think she'd get that serious about this, I can see why she's the leader now."

"Often leaders are the ones to get most serious and realize what is the best route to take… or so the books say anyways." Yuria replies before walking towards the door. "Well dear companion of mine, what shall we do now?"

"Personally? I'd like to rest a little bit before moving back to find that guardian again… I still feel kinda tired after all that." Ryder stretches a bit, his shoulders seeming to pop as he does so "Not only that but hopefully this gives me a chance to see Laurence, Oto or Lily as well."

"Well do not linger too long, who knows how long you'd actually be stuck in that other place again?" Yuria says while walking out the door.

"Wait, I thought you did!" Ryder yells while chasing after her.

"No, I only gave a guess based on how long you were gone last time." she replies with a carefree tone and smile on her face as she walks downstairs.

"Seriously?!" Ryder lets out a long exasperated sigh before following her down and outside.

Once outside it's clear to tell that it'd gotten later as the night sky was hanging high over them at this point, the stars shining brightly, yet they don't bring any beauty anymore.

It seems like most of the crowds have left at this point, there's not as much chatter and only very minor conversations can be heard.

The only distinct sound now is that of a bard playing violin in the central area, the notes making for a perfectly calming and relaxing backdrop to the area.

"There is still one more problem though." Ryder mutters to himself "How am I going to catch up on levels? Or better armor for that matter…"

"I get the feeling you won't need to truly worry about that for long." Yuria looks over at him with a curious smile on her face. A hint of her hiding something clear in her eyes. "After all if your plan is the one that's chosen they can't just send you in as is, you're just a child in comparison after all."

"That's true I suppose… I just hope the talks go well." Ryder pauses and looks around, taking in the sights one more time.

Had it truly been a month? He was still trying to wrap his head around it.

How could they have really and truly been stuck in a game for so long without any outside interference… surely someone would've tried just about anything.

Shutting the servers down, removing helmets, disconnecting the wifi.

There were a dozen different options he could think of just off the top of his head.

Yet it wasn't all that bad either, this was the first time in a long while that he felt alive again.

There was something eerily calming about all of it in his mind.

It was as if this was truly a fresh start away from everything and everyone for the most part. Yet there were still phantoms he knew he'd never escape.

Truths he'd have to face upon leaving this dream.

For now though this place was his world, and it wouldn't change anytime soon unless they made it past this dungeon.

However even if they make it past this it doesn't mean they'll actually escape… as who knows how much else there is or what's left to deal with?

It's especially concerning when variables like the guardians and sentient AI are introduced into the mix.

Just what was this game supposed to be, really?

"You seem to have a lot on your mind friend, it's not good to stay alone with your thoughts." and then there's Yuria… an AI so sentient she seems to know that she's in a game and acknowledges things like bugs.

"Right… just… just trying to figure out what exactly is going on with this world." Ryder replies while shrugging a little. "I still barely understand a thing outside of some basic lore and even that doesn't seem to mean much here."

"Ah but you see it does, for those on the surface level anyways." Yuria states while walking a few steps forward. "Dreams are curious things after all. To many they simply are what they are… but to those like you and I there's more to be found."

"More to be found? Like what, those weird glitches?" Ryder asks while trying to catch up.

"They aren't glitches! They are there for a reason, you peeled back one layer of the dream… now the question is how many more will you peel away?" she vaguely states while walking away in a seemingly random direction.

"Honestly your vagueness isn't helping in the slightest" Ryder mumbles while following her.

"Well, I can't just give you all the answers now can I? You have to delve deeper on your own." she rounds a corner now, vanishing from Ryder's sight.

As Ryder catches up and looks around the corner he sees that Yuria has seemingly vanished without a trace.

The only thing he sees is just the backside of a building and a crate.

"Cheshire Cat indeed…" Ryder lets out a slightly annoyed huff and looks around.

The village is essentially dead now, if there are still people here then they must've headed inside now.

It's grown incredibly quiet and even the sky has become more of a violet color now.

"Might as well find a place to rest for the night…"

Ryder walks in silence for a moment as he looks around the village for an inn or any resting spot.

His footfalls were the only thing that could be heard as he walked up to the building marked "Hillside Inn".

It was a tiny place, only two floors and possibly only enough space for five small rooms on both floors.

Hoping that they had a room available he slowly pushed the door open, squinting his eyes ever so lightly as the light inside caught him off guard.

The sound of a crackling fire could be heard as two people spoke and light music played from the corner.

As Ryder's eyes adjust to the light he can see the inside of the inn more clearly.

The lobby is small but oddly homey with what looks like a dining room off to the side of it, possibly doubling as a tavern.

The wooden decor put Ryder's mind at ease as he walked in, glancing around to get a better picture of the place.

The lights consisted of a small fireplace in the dining room and a couple of oil lanterns scattered around the tables and on what is assumedly the check in counter.

Two people stood at the counter talking, both clearly not noticing Ryder's presence as they continued chatting away.

One was a man with long ashen hair tied up into a ponytail, he had unnaturally silver eyes that seemed soft at first glance but clearly held something deeper to them. Though he stood behind the counter with a relaxed posture there was just something about him that screamed 'threat' in Ryder's mind.

Opposite of this new individual was a familiar assassin, talking about the potential plans to move on from this place, that upbeat tone never leaving her voice.

"Lily?" Ryder asked as he approached the two, wishing to confirm his suspicions.

As expected the conversation stops as the two individuals look over to Ryder, seemingly slightly surprised by the new voice.

Sure enough the girl is indeed Lily, her eyes seemingly lighting up as she recognizes Ryder.

"You're back!" She quickly runs over to him and hugs him much to both him and the ashen haired man's surprise. "But how? You fell then vanished, no one could message you… how are you even alive right now?!"

"Look, long story short, I got saved by a strange NPC who just vanished by walking around a corner." Ryder replies, clearly exhausted from everything. "And what's with the hugging? I didn't think we'd gotten that close yet."

"Are you kidding me?! Of course we have! We've explored dungeons together, cleared the first two and arguably hardest bosses together!" Lily almost seems slightly offended that she even had to clarify it to Ryder. "Not only that… but it's nice to see that you didn't die."

Lily pulls away, stepping back with a smile on her face… yet the sorrow couldn't be hidden, not fully.

The bittersweet look in her eyes told more than any words ever could.

"Well it's good to be back, even if I've apparently been gone for a month… which still doesn't make sense to me." Ryder replies while crossing his arms. "I mean sure I lost track of time but it didn't feel like that long."

"Well, I don't know where you were or how you'd lose track of time like that… but it's good to have you back." Lily turns and looks at the man behind the counter. "Oh right! Ryder, this is Feros. He's the inn keeper here as well as a frontline member."

"Wow, juggling an inn and being on the frontlines? Impressive, though I do have to wonder why you'd do both." Ryder asks, trying to maintain a friendly air and not seem scared by the man.

Feros seems to look Ryder up and down before responding. "Well no one else wanted to take the inn so I did." he shrugs ever so slightly. "It helps people out and I earn some currency or favors on the side, not a bad deal."

"I see, well I'm curious, have you two spoken with Aranea yet?" Ryder looks between them. "She might have a new plan for taking down the fort."

"She did mention something about that while grabbing Eleanor… but the meeting isn't for another hour." Lily looks at him curiously now. "Why, did you help plan it?"

"I gave her an idea, nothing complicated… I'm going to take on the assassin and the rest of you will rush to the boss while I distract them." His voice is sure and confident, no hesitation lingering in it at all.

Ryder looks at them as the two stare back at him in disbelief, as if he'd just spoken the most incomprehensible statement imaginable.

Without warning Lily starts shaking him like mad, as if he was nothing more than a ragdoll.

"Are you crazy, do you have a death wish?! You come back after a month and the first thing you do is go challenging the strongest enemy we've ever seen while you're underleveled and under geared?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"Easy there Lily, I'm sure you don't want to kill whatever remains of his mind in that hollow head of his." Feros comments, just watching the entire thing unfold with an amused smirk on his face. "Though if you're really going to fight that killer then I'd like to tag along, I've been curious about their skill for a while now myself."

"Feros! Not you too!" Lily cries out in protest as the ashen haired gentleman just softly laughs in response. "We should at least wait for Aranea to give it the green light."

"Don't worry, I had something else to attend to before attempting the fight." Ryder replies, finally getting Lily to calm down a bit. "I have to catch up to the rest of you, plus I need to see about getting an ace in the hole."

"Ohh? And what would that be? Some strong weapon like a magic katana?" Feros asks while leaning forward, his tone getting ever so slightly friendlier.

"I wish it was that simple… no it's something else, best way to describe it would be like joining a covenant or making a warlock pact." Ryder replies while crossing his arms and thinking about the best way to describe it.

Feros laughs a bit more, clearly amused now. "You're lucky I understood those references, otherwise I'd be as lost as Lily is right now."

Sure enough looking back at her Lily is very clearly confused on what those references were. "Hey! I'm sorry I don't know old people games okay?"

"It's fine, I'm a little surprised you don't, especially considering how popular they are but it's fine." Ryder smiles a little before focusing. "But to summarize, I'm going to talk with something and try to get some power from it."

"Are you sure that'd even work? I mean I can see covenants being in the game but no one ever found information on them pre release…" Feros asks, curiosity clearly growing by the second.

"A friend says it would, so it's worth giving a try… worst case scenario I'll probably be missing for awhile again." Ryder states ever so casually, catching them both off guard.

"That's it! If that's the worst case I'm tagging along to make sure you don't go missing again!" Lily practically commands while crossing her arms. "We've already lost too many people as is! I'm not losing someone else!"

"I can't convince you to stay here can I?" Ryder asks half heartedly.

"Nope, I'm going and that's final!" She retorts with a smile on her face.

"I wouldn't try arguing it further, once she makes up her mind there's no way to change it…" Feros sighs a little with a bemused look on his face. "You better rest up then, I imagine tomorrow will be a busy day for all of us."

"Why do you say that? We still don't know if everyone will accept the plan." Ryder replies, now becoming slightly curious himself.

"Easy, this is the first true shot we've had at clearing the fort." Feros replies while leaning on the counter now. "This fort has been a block between us and further exploration for awhile now, everyone wants it cleared so we can have another reliable safe haven before making our way to go fight the Lord of this island."

"Feros is right… this plan is the bit of hope we all need right now, if it works then it's going to be the morale booster we all need!" Lily chimes in. "Plus then we can safely begin exploring the northern part of this place."

"Right, well then once Aranea gives us the go ahead we'll make for the mountain again, that's where I found the entity." Ryder comments, not realizing the confusion the two would have over this statement.

"Entity? Now I'm really going to be expecting a story once you two get back." Feros comments before tossing Ryder a key. "Second floor, last door on the right, feel free to use it tonight."

"Right, thank you." Ryder smiles a little before looking back at Lily. "Well guess we're going to have a busy day after all."

"Yup, and I expect to get all the details on our way!" Lily replies before heading to the door. "But for now Feros and I should get going, don't want to be late for the meeting after all."

"Right, good luck out there." Ryder replies while seeing the two off, their figures vanishing out the door.

With the inn now becoming silent Ryder walked up to his room.

It was a cozy little place, a single bed with a desk and chair along with a window looking out into the village.

The moon hung high now as he sat down on the bed and let out another sigh, everything racing through his mind still.

Would any of this really work? Could that thing even communicate with them or would it be a waste of time? Can the npc even be hurt or is it designed to be an impossible wall?

It was all like a blur in his mind at this point, it was an annoying mess of convoluted events strung together by happenstance and yet he couldn't help but bring himself to laugh.

This was his life now and this was the most human he'd felt in awhile.

No more boring monotony, no more day to day repetitions, no more meaningless white noise.

For the first time in forever he truly felt free, free to just be himself amongst the chaos of this world.

Though he knew it'd have to end eventually it wouldn't hurt to indulge in the mysteries of this world.

After all, if they had to make it to the end of the world then it's best to uncover everything and prepare as much as possible.

"Ah if only you could've seen this." Ryder mutters to himself now lying back on the bed. "You would've loved it here even more than I did…"

With a satisfied smile on his face Ryder closed his eyes and finally began to fully relax.

Letting all his worries and fears temporarily melt away into nothingness.

As his consciousness drifted away into sleep his mind thought of one last thing.

The entity, towering over him, the buildings half submerged into the ground.

Something about it was so disturbing yet calming.

It was as if that place called for him, and desired him to return.

Those inhuman glowing yellow eyes gazing down at him with a knowing look.

What could it all have meant?

What is it?

Who is it?