Ilunta

"Here, as thanks for helping me, you can have one of these," I say, reaching into my bag. I hand each of them an Ees-cape. "I don't know what city it'll take us to. I think the nearest one is Arauros."

They both take one, peering into the crystal, and a cloak materializes for each one. Without saying anything, the human mystic equips the cloak and he vanishes. The Sorgin mystic lets out a soft "ooooh," and he also places the cloak on his back.

"Thank you, and I apologize for my friend's rudeness. He's having a hard time adjusting to… the new way of things. Eh… Would you like to keep in touch?" he says.

I hadn't realized this player was an RP player, or role playing gamer. These people don't talk about the game as a game, but rather, assume the role of their characters and stick to speaking as if they're a part of the world. Even if you mention things like keyboards or anything from the real world, they will ignore you and stay in character.

There used to be more people who played like that, but now they mostly hang out in unimportant cities where they throw costume parties and just enjoy the game, without worrying about getting equipment or fighting others. If he had been a normal player, he would have asked me to add him to my friend's list, instead of asking me if I wanted to keep in touch with him.

"I'm sorry, I prefer to be alone," I say, and I also equip my black cloak. The Sorgin mystic shrugs, and he also vanishes before I can say anything else.

Eugene is nowhere in sight, and I have no idea how to call him back except to call out his name, but he doesn't come. Some heads belonging to the NPCS who had run away from the square during the fight start popping out of windows and doorways, with gelid looks in their eyes.

"Where's Ollandus? I was supposed to meet him here," says a young human NPC. She's wearing a hood and a dark purple dress, as if she were trying to conceal her identity. "His shift must be over now," she continues, as she looks around desperately.

The fat head of another man pops out of the window.

"That wretched Sorgin attacked the guards. Ask her about your lover," he says to the woman. She turns her head and stares at me with her eyes wide open.

"Who are you? Did you attack Ollandus and his men?"

"Eh… I…"

I can't think of anything to say. I had no idea NPCs had relationships with each other, and least of all, I didn't even think about their permanent deaths.

"Guards! Someone, help! There's a murderer in Moonshard square!" yells the woman.

That's my cue to leave.

I close my eyes and teleport out of Starford. My body jerks upward, as if I'm tugged by a rope. The next second, the sounds around me change from the stillness of Starford to the melancholic music coming from a nearby inn.

I forgot that the closest city to Starford isn't Arauros.

It's Ilunta, the underground city of the Sorgin.

I've been teleported to the center of the city, in the middle of a large courtyard covered by thorny bushes. The site resembles a graveyard, sans the tombstones and mausoleums, and every column and bench has been taken over by the dark leaved plants. I don't know why they even have benches in the most unwelcoming place in the city. It's not like anyone would enjoy coming here to chill out or stroll about, but then again, there's nothing welcoming or friendly in Ilunta.

A yellow notification springs up in the corner of my vision, and I wave my hand to open it.

"Welcome home, Sorgin. To continue on your path to mastering your skills, please visit Esan in his throne room."

Esan is the ruler of the Sorgin, the young king who found the site to build Ilunta. He allegedly used dark magic to blast the underground into rock, flattening the earth and making space for the Sorgin to move into this hole. Then he enchanted the ceiling, creating an eternal night sky.

Esan's gift, they call it.

The ceiling above is really just compacted dirt, but thanks to Esan, it looks like you're staring up into the universe through a telescope. It changes according to the place of Amoria with respect to its sun, and tonight, a purple and bluish exploding supernova lights up the city. The stars twinkle as if they were real too.

According to the lore, the Sorgin were a race of astronomers, living high up in the Yauyo sierras, even before the chinchillas took over. That was why they felt an affinity to Iluntasuna, the goddess of darkness. She allegedly spoke to them from the void of space, guiding them through her eyes. While she is technically not the goddess of literal darkness, but rather, of nothingness, the other citizens of Amoria began to associate her with evil.

The story never made much sense to me, but I was never able to learn why Iluntasuna fell out of favor with the other races and why this caused the Sorgin to move underground. I had no idea this was the story of the race I chose to play when I created Stormborn. I only picked a Sorgin because I loved the color of her skin and because I was going through a gothic phase way back then.

But alas, here I am.

Unlike most of the cities in Amoria, where the main castles are in the center of the cities, Esan's castle is in the city's entrance. The only way to walk into Ilunta is to go through a waterfall where the Orgus river ends and becomes the sea of Tristura. After passing under the waterfall, a long tunnel takes you into the city. The castle sits above that tunnel, overlooking the rest of the city.

The other races can't even go through the water. So the Sorgin mystic must have ended up here, too. And his human friend must have been teleported to Arauros. But the courtyard is empty, now that almost no one can teleport into the city.

The song coming from the nearby inn continues to play. It's now an even sadder tune, and it makes me feel miserable. The melody reminds me of a funeral march, with low notes that seem to cry out in pain.

I don't know how long the Neural X will last without its charger, and going back to Starford is out of the question. It will take me at least an hour to go back if I have to walk there, and I don't even have Eugene to carry me. I wonder what happened to him, and I just hope there's a way to get him back.

The only choice I have is to wait for my cloak's cooldown to reset and teleport back to Arauros or Starford. In the meantime, the best way to use my time is to advance in the quest to reach level 101. So I start to move towards Esan's castle, trying to think of happy things.