The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 3: Aid dependency - Life passes by like someone else's film

In many MMOs, especially p2w ones, Gods, Heroes and Angels are strewn around everywhere. Players meet deities, kill deities, are deities - the game is structured around this kind of wish-fulfillment, it acts if it were true. Playing such a game can be like joining a religious service. But prayer is loss of vitality. A Church is a Masque of the Red Death.

The sea of flying arrows seemed to drown the air.

"This is the archery range, you've probably heard of it. It's all the rage, as you can see," said Jarius. The level 40 warrior turned to watch the sea of arrows.

Hundreds of archers strode the large area, surrounded by high fencing. The brown earth below them was firm, and they queued to take their shots.

"People come here to practice their ranged combat. There are a few trainers lurking around, that give them quests for EXP, equipment and better ammo. The quests are basically to hit the targets accurately, using different kinds of arrows, and all that." Jarius paused, and took a deep breath as he adopted a less casual demeanour.

He turned to his Guildmates, stiffened his back, and said, "Does anyone need to train here? If so, go ahead, and we'll take you with us the next time we run the dungeon. You need to train, so that you can win the Valhalla Games' archery segment for our Guild, and prove our worth before the heavens' watchful eye."

Cael saw three archers break off from the group and enter the archery range's gates. They were all in the upper 20s in terms of level.

"I'll be staying here for a few minutes, to monitor our archers' performance. Sorry about that," Jarius said to him.

"Not a problem," replied Cael.

While the group stalled near the entrance to the vast archery range, Cael reached for the band on his right wrist, and again opened the menu. There, he selected some text saying 'Features.'

This then displayed a rectangular table, listing several game features. At present, most options were greyed-out, other than the first two, 'Character' and 'Trait.' The first of those options was where he could distribute his stat points after each level, and also see the stats added by his equipment. The second allowed him to develop the Trait system. The third feature in this list, still greyed-out, was called 'Skill Mastery.' He pressed it to check its requirements, and some text appeared informing him that it would unlock at level 25. At least it was something to look forwards to.

Instead, he pressed the Trait button. The menu screen faded in front of him, leaving him back watching the bustling archery range. However, a rectangular window appeared to his right overlaid on the game world, with a title bar saying 'Trait' above it. There was a set of red spheres in this window, one of them glowed red and had the text 'Spellcaster' engraved beneath it. A line lead through the sphere, displaying a skill tree. He had chosen the lower path on this tree, opting against the 'Battle Mage' sphere above that which offered the ability to convert 15% of INT to DEX or STR temporarily when activated. He didn't see that as equally useful, given that Spellcaster could increase the power of his spells significantly, and spells were his main strength as a mage so sacrificing INT for other stats seemed wasteful for now. Most Traits had both upsides and downsides, meaning that they encouraged players to consider their build more specifically.

Traits could be developed to the next level of the skill tree by completing quests, that gave you Trait points which could be invested in unlocking Traits. He looked at a sidebar on the right of the window, and saw that he had completed the second Trait quest: 'Reach level 22, and memorise 5 spells.' The quest displayed in green, with a check-mark next to it. He hence had a Trait point to use. The next two abilities available in the Spellcaster tree were:

[Mana Refinement | Trait: Increases MP by 2% for each Trait point used on any Trait, but elemental spells cost 30% more Mana.] [Spirit | Trait: 5% chance for each elemental spell cast to raise 20% damage by any other elemental spells cast in the next 15 seconds. This buff does not stack. No MP is recovered for 20 seconds after this buff activates.]

Cael had heard that most powerful mages relied mostly on elemental spells to do damage, because these spells were not only highly powerful but were boosted further by the abilities of elemental magic subclasses. As such, he decided that Spirit would be the safer option, and was probably what most strong mages were using as they needed to cast several elemental spells.

Glancing slightly further in the skill tree, he saw that the Mana ability led to further Mana-related abilities, that could increase MP or strengthen mana-based spells like Mana Push, and Spirit led mostly to Traits that strengthened spells and elemental magic. While he mused that strengthening elemental magic without increasing MP could be a problem, because strong elemental spells often had a high MP cost, he still opted for Spirit because the alternative would still worsen the costs of elemental spells when they became available.

[New Trait unlocked! Spirit | Trait: 5% chance for each elemental spell cast to raise 20% damage by any other elemental spells cast in the next 15 seconds. This buff does not stack. No MP is recovered for 30 seconds after this buff activates.]

He looked to the right of the Trait window, and saw that his next quest was: 'Explore a cave, and kill 3 creatures inside.' Cave creatures were an MMORPG staple, and he assumed that he would be fighting oversized cave spiders, bats, and possibly slugs. They represented a strange crossroads between a hero's grand quest to slay the dragon, and an episode of Fear Factor. While unpleasant company was likely, he figured that the game was using this quest to encourage exploration. He might as well get it over with, if there was a cave nearby with low-level creatures.

Scanning the sparsely wooded area around the archery range, he saw some slightly distant rocky hills to the Northwest, and a few holes near their base that may be caves. Turning to Jarius, he asked, "Are there any caves near those hills?"

Looking in the direction that Cael was pointing, Jarius replied, "Those hills are near the town of Sanra, where we're heading next. I'm not sure if they have caves, but Byron here explores everything, so he may know." He gestured towards a lightly-armoured warrior besides him, with a thick, brown beard but short hair.

This man, Byron, joined in the conversation, "Yes, there are caves there. I think the ones next to Sanra have creatures that you could fight. Do you have any quests to do in caves?"

"Yes," said Cael, "And thank you for mentioning it. Shall I make my way there while you guys are on your way to the dungeon?"

"No, come and see the dungeon," smiled Jarius, "But most of it might be too threatening for you, so you can backtrack to the cave once we reach the difficult sections. Enemies swarm you in the dungeon. Meet us in the town when you're done. Despite the swarm, archers can be useful, but with the weak shots of these guys they'd just be moving targets." Jarius was looking at the archery range again, where a Guildmate named [Hurricanrana] was taking quick shots that often fell low on the target. Cael was slightly impressed at how quickly the archer was shooting, but Jarius was obviously less than impressed because the shots weren't as strong as he would prefer. Jarius clenched his fists, clad in thin, dark purple-grey [Gloves of the Divine Warrior].

"Sure, I'll meet you there after the cave," said Cael. He was slightly bemused by Jarius' earlier tone, as if the Guild leader forgot that Cael was there when he started castigating the archers. Cael wasn't aware that Jarius' ambitions required his Guild to do well at the Valhalla Games event in order to complete his full set of Divine Warrior equipment, and gain the powerful set bonuses. However, Cael could understand that the tasks of a Guild leader could be strenuous in the early days of the game, and Jarius probably had to focus on leading his Guild and monitoring its members.

Soon, the three archers returned to the group, and they set off down a winding path leading Northeast. Looking to his left, Cael could see a few groups of adventurers grinding by fighting giant rats and young goblins. These rats were larger than the basic rat enemy that Cael had already fought, but most groups found them to be easy kills. The propagation of rats in MMORPGs, sometimes even including rats of different shapes, sizes, radioactivity levels, and possibly some wielding weapons, gave one the distinct impression that MMORPG developers were probably brainwashed former dissidents from an Orwellian dystopia. As the path slanted North, the trees surrounding it became more dense, with flares of light creeping through the thick leaves. The sunlit greenery around the path got slightly darker, as evening approached.

The town of Sanra was very crowded, due to its proximity to several popular grinding areas. Cael considered spending more time in these areas, but at the moment they were so crowded that their EXP drops weren't that high. He had read some analysis of this in an article linked on the game's forums. Many of the higher-level players had been grinding in more obscure areas, like out-of-the-way caves and rooms deep inside of buildings, where monsters of appropriate level could be found and not shared. Unsurprisingly, they didn't tend to share these spots with the public.

As Jarius' group split up, Cael shuffled past the crowd and entered Sanra's Alchemist's Store.

His recent boss fight against the chicken-that-was-not-a-chicken had given Cael an idea. He remembered how difficult it was to recover when the enemy slammed him into the wall, making it easy for the boss to keep him grounded. This seemed like it would accentuate the disempowering effect of Spark, and while he had his misgivings about that spell, his recent fight showed that it was something he might need when the going got tough. As such, he quickly purchased [Mana Strike], which was cheaper here than in Kruxol because most mages reaching here already had it. Cael hadn't planned this gold-saving tactic out in advance, it was a lucky coincidence. In any case, he memorised the spell quickly, and looked forwards to testing it in the cave.

As Cael walked out of the store, he saw that Jarius and some of his group were fighting a [Brown Boar] a short way to the North of the city. In this game, boars were bulky, fierce creatures resembling tusked bears more than pigs. This was a fortunate circumstance, Cael mused, as - unlike bears - pigs are infamous for taking, "the rights away from all the kids." No wonder that some people considered them najis. He walked closer to watch.

The boar was a tough opponent, and had just knocked down Byron. It lunged at Jarius with its tusks, but Jarius used his [Hilt Blow] skill to divert the boar's blow, smashing the boar's left cheek with the hilt of his sword and causing its head to lurch back. Jarius then used [Combined Slash] to slash down on the boar's back, near its neck, building upon the momentum of his previous attack. [Combined Slash] does more damage if it is activated straight after a previous attack, and it will continue fluidly from the last attack in one smooth motion.

Cael could recognise Jarius' subclass as the 'Knight' subclass, a type of warrior that specialised in slightly crude and hard, but still skillful, swordplay. He saw Jarius raise his shield to the boar, keeping a precise distance from it.

The boar was still standing firm, with its high HP and defences, and it was still at 60% HP. It steadied itself, and started to skulk towards Byron. Byron was wielding lighter equipment than Jarius, so he quickly took a few steps back like a fencer. The distance between him and the boar grew.

However, the boar then began to charge, and Byron froze for half a second before leaping quickly to the side, holding out his sword in the direction of the boar to ward it off. Byron seemed quite frightened by the boar, but it wasn't that surprising a reaction given this level of immersion. At this point, Jarius signalled to an archer who had come running from the city's weaponry shop, and the Archer opened fire on the boar. The boar quickly aggroed on the Archer, as if sensing a target with little armour or defenses in close combat, but soon turned around as Jarius hacked at its back. As Jarius prepared for a more purposive strike, the boar suddenly lifted itself and lunged at Jarius, catching the Knight's face sharply with its dew claw and throwing him to the ground. "Give me some support, Byron!" screamed Jarius, not entirely without reason.

Byron tentatively waltzed towards the boar, and struck at it sharply with his rapier, using the [Piercing Blow] skill. However, it was a poor choice, as the move had a higher chance to pierce the enemy and deal high damage if the enemy was close to it, and Byron was standing as far away as possible. It hence only grazed the boar, reducing 2% of its HP. However, more of Jarius' Guildmates were joining the fight, and a volley of arrows dropped the boar to 45% HP.

A mage named [Sebastienne] walked up to Jarius and used [Greater Healing] to restore the leader's HP to 90%. Seeing this, Byron became more daring, and leapt up beside the boar to try and use [Rapier Slash] across its face. The boar, however, sensed its lightly-armoured foe and with a slight movement shoved Byron to the ground, before placing a claw on the fallen warrior's chest and slashing at his face. It slowly stepped off.

Jarius rallied, and slashed hard at the boar's back, yet only dealt 10% damage to the sturdy creature. The boar growled at Byron, who was scrambling on the ground. Byron was nearly dead, and while Jarius was reluctant to lose a dungeon team member, he used [Shield Execution], pressing the boar's head towards the ground with his shield and striking with his sword on its neck. This dealt high damage, reducing the boar to 15% HP, but shoved the boar's head close to Byron. In retaliation, the boar's tusks tore across Byron's body lying right in front of it, and Byron died. Jarius looked on, nonplussed.

The mage next to Jarius cast [Hephaestus's Fire], enchanting Jarius' weapon with the fire element, and the boar's next lunge met a soaring blow that reduced the boar to 7% HP and caused it to flinch slightly. Jarius skipped away from the large creature slightly, to maintain a safe distance. He was confident that if the boar approached him, he would be able to safely strike at the creature with his enchanted weapon. The boar was on its last legs, but ran on a seemingly suicidal run towards the archers, who managed to loose some arrows into the large target. One of those was a Poison Arrow, cast by the female archer named [Audet], and caused the boar to take damage over time from the poison status. This whittled away its remaining health. However, it still managed to tackle one of the other archers to the ground, reducing the archer to 25% HP, before collapsing. With the boar fallen, Jarius turned to Sebastienne and said, "Thank you," and then gestured to Cael and the archers to join with the rest of the group.

"So, do we wait for Byron?" asked Audet.

"Forget him," responded Jarius, "He spent the fight dancing. Perhaps he was drunk. Also, don't tell him that I said that. Anyway, we can replace him in our team. Since you're our archer, and we have Sebastienne, we just need to find a warrior as backup. I think that Justiciar is still in the town, find him and drag him over here. He's probably looking for weapons or armour. It's a pity that he didn't join, but he's strong and should be enough to replace our estimable but fallen fencer."

Audet nodded, having some idea of where Justiciar would probably be found given his picky approach to gear, and ducked into Sanra's weaponry shop. There, she entered a side-room.

Jarius pressed the band on his right hand, and maneouvered to a menu showing his powers as Guild Leader. He quickly typed out a command, that would show in bold red on the screen of his Guild-mates, telling them to assemble up North if they were in Sanra. After a few minutes, the whole group had assembled, with Audet escorting Justiciar and the rest emerging from the town one by one. Jarius turned to the newcomers and said, "It's a pity that you missed out on the loot from the boar. Hurrican, please guard Byron's corpse, he will respawn in an hour and recover his inventory." He gestured to the archer Hurricanrana, who frowned but accepted the task. The archer stood by the corpse, but was annoyed at this clear indication that his leader saw him as disposable.

"Has everyone set Sanra as their spawn-point? If not, go and do so now, so that if anything goes wrong you will respawn here and not in Kruxol or farther afield," Jarius continued.

Cael hadn't remembered to do this, as it was a feature that he hadn't had to use much yet. He followed Audet and Sebastienne down to the town of Sanra, squeezing through the crowds to reach a small, glowing page which read, "All things repeat, for they never can change." Touching his hand to the page, the glowing page flashed brightly as his spawn-point was saved. The other two did likewise, and they joined up with the group.

The pathway to the dungeon zigzagged uphill through green fields Northwest of Sanra, and evening's approach dimmed the sunlight until the scene was as grey as the hills that rose beside them. They took care to avoid the occasional creature, but noticed that the boars were mostly orange-named - they would not attack on sight, only if disturbed - and they managed to keep their distance from any aggressive creatures on the way. The path was intermittent and rough, often breaking up or disappearing into the grass. At last, they arrived at a large hole in a hill, with large wooden planks laid across its edges. Jarius indicated that it was the dungeon, and they stepped in.

As he stepped into the door, Cael noticed that his character seemed to freeze in place for 10 seconds, before he suddenly appeared in a dark cavern inside the hill.

"Since some of you haven't run these before, the dungeons in this game are instanced. As you step through the doors, you load the next room and appear there. It might be confusing at first, but you get used to it," said Jarius.

The dungeon was dark, and Cael wasn't sure what direction they were taking. Sebastienne lit up a [Conjure Light] spell, and Cael quickly followed suit on seeing that the group wouldn't object to it. Jarius said, "Thank you for the light, mages," and then ran into a large opening on the left wall. He froze at the entrance, then disappeared to the other side. The rest of the group followed.

On the other side, Cael froze when he saw some enemies appear. They were large creatures, shaped like boulders but with an appearance more like magma, and called [Imp]. There were two of them in the room, both at level 35. If they attacked Cael, he would probably fall quickly.

"Deus vult!" cried Jarius, a standard war-cry of the [GildedKnights].

Jarius and Justiciar ran forwards to shield the others, each fighting one imp. Sebastienne prepared a [Fireball], and Cael saw a ball of fire much more complete than his own Flare's wisps of fire. The Fireball was flung towards the Imp fighting Jarius, and dissipated into smoke slightly as it flew, but eventually collided with the Imp and did a solid 15% damage. Audet nocked a few Poison Arrows, and sprayed them at the Imps, focusing on the one which was attacking Justiciar.

Justiciar's Imp was quickly at low HP, as he used the rare, demanding Arch-Knight class to swing fiercely at the Imp from behind a shield. He shoved the Imp's lunge away with his shield, and then used a [Hammering Strike] to strike hard with his sword on the foe, following this up with a [Hawk Slash] that drew on the momentum of his previous strike and seamlessly slashed horizontally across the exposed Imp. The Imp was nearly dead, but struck at Justiciar's shield arm with its magma-like body flaring up, causing Justiciar to cry out slightly from the burning heat of the blow. His attempt at a retributive blow flailed comfortably wide. However, the poison of Audet's arrows was pushing the Imp to death, and Justiciar finished it with [Stunning Blow], a weak but quick sword strike from an angle that can be difficult to block or respond to.

They turned towards Jarius, who was holding his Imp at a distance and trying to strike when he had an opening. This was difficult, as the Imps' hard skin meant that they could generally withstand one blow and still attack, reducing Jarius' ability to string attacks together safely. The Imp was only on 40% HP. Sebastienne's magic was having a moderate effect, but, since Imps were associated with the fire element and were resistant to it, Sebastienne's pyromancy was limited. Justiciar swung into action against the Imp, striking it with a [Stunning Blow] and following up with a [Hawk Slash], a powerful combination that Cael had seen mentioned as the key to why Arch-Knights were fearsome in PvP. Few other subclasses could carry out such combinations without giving the opponent a chance to respond, and then build on this to strike further.

However, Jarius motioned Justiciar away. Facing the weakened Imp, he blocked an attack with his shield, then stepped back to keep distance and used [Flank Cut] to strike at the creature's side as it prepared another attack. While he struck, almost killing the Imp, the Imp still lunged at him, reaching past his skin to scratch his face. Angered, he struck back with [Counter], catching his opponent with a harsh blow as it attacked him. The damage he dealt was increased by 10%, as the [Counter] skill increases your damage by the amount of damage that the enemy is dealing, up to a maximum of 20% extra damage by you. The Imp finally died, and Sebastienne healed Jarius and Justiciar.

Jarius turned to the rest of the group, who were waiting at the door, and said, "We killed the hellish beasts, who mocked the Heavens! Congratulations, all. We'll leave some loot for you guys, take it and leave. We will meet you at the city, after we defeat the dungeon's demons. Enemies are too powerful for you in the next rooms, and there are too many of them to hold back."

Jarius and his team walked to the next room in the dungeon. Cael accepted a team invitation from an archer who was left behind, and the archer went up to the corpses and looted them. The loot was divided evenly among the party, composed of the players who were to leave, and after this was done the archer dissolved the party. Cael checked his inventory, seeing that he had obtained a small amount of gold and a miscellaneous [Burnt Flesh] item that could be used once to burn an enemy. It wasn't much. There were a few sighs from the remaining players, and Cael followed them out of the dungeon. They all walked back towards Sanra in the blue, ashen air of dusk, avoiding any red-named creatures in the area.

"The Fall is no more an object of understanding than the prohibition it violates."

(Stanley Fish.)

Nations unite in the aftermath of a crisis, and the religious unite around fear of the devil. It's said that Satan was once an angel, but he fell from grace. What earthly human can say why an angel of Heaven would fall, or what motivated the sinless to sin? According to many doctrines, even understanding the state of sinlessness is on some level impossible after the fall. The magnitude and absolute nature of evil, in this context, is expressed in its incomprehensibility.

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