Lighter than Air – Part 1

“We’re lifting off!” Fianna said with the intensity of a pirate captain departing for a plundering adventure. In turn, the turbines of the airship roared to life, rumbling the cabin as the entire airship began rising from the ground.

“We’re flying! We’re actually flying!!” I said as I watched Luribel get smaller and smaller from the windows of the cockpit.

“Is that really that impressive?” Yzara said quietly enough so that only I could hear it. “Well, I do understand. I’ve never ridden in an airship before now, either.”

We had a fantastic view of the expansive countryside in front of us. Too bad all of it was that bleached white color, save for the town we had just departed from.

“It’s good to be out of the Wastelands, at least.”

“We’re still not safe,” I heard Fianna say from behind us. “We could always get attacked by flying monsters.”

Yikes. I sure hope that doesn’t happen.

“But we’ve been culling this area pretty thoroughly, so we should be fine. Now, follow me so I can give you a tour of the Airdrake.”

I didn’t really care how small the Airdrake was. The fact they build an actual functioning airship was enough to satisfy my inner child. To make a comparison, the cabin felt about as cramped as a submarine. The front had the cockpit, and the back had the engine room. In between were other rooms, like bedrooms, bathroom, storage, and a common area, all tightly packed with little room to maneuver. Around the middle of the central corridor was the exit door, and opposite it was a long ladder leading up through the inside of the balloon and to an observation deck on top of it. After boarding, the crew divided labor amongst themselves—Tanney at the controls, Keil on the observation deck, and Fianna on standby.

“It’ll take us about a half a day to get to Adaville from here,” the elf said. “We’ll get there in the evening. Feel free to hang around in the common area in the meanwhile.”

As the three of us began making our way to the common area together, I heard a yawn.

It was Chloe.

“Oh, excuse me,” she quickly added.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes. Just a little tired, is all.”

Oh, so even the Demon Queen gets tired if she doesn’t get enough sleep, huh?

“If you want, you can borrow the free bed in Keil’s quarters,” Fianna said. “He won’t use that bedroom until we get to Adaville.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t…”

“Just take the offer, Chloe,” I said. “You already did enough today.”

She paused for a second, as if considering what to do. “Alright. I’ll rest for a bit. Sorry, Takashi. I’ll have to leave you for a few hours…”

“Nah, that’s fine. Rest well.”

She smiled—almost innocently, I might add. She was about to turn tail, but then stopped and looked at me seriously.

“Feel free to take the time to learn Profane Magic, Takashi. We’ll need it. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

With a little wave, Chloe disappeared with Fianna, so I made my way to the common area alone. In what felt like the first time since I rudely yanked to Iditath, I was all alone, and I found myself sinking into the sofas and deeper into my own thoughts.

In less than 24 hours, I went from jobless and buried in debt to hanging out with the Demon Queen in an incredibly realistic version of Iditath.

No, that’s not quite right.

This was a whole other world that was halfway between a game and reality. Game systems were in place and apparently worked just fine, but the NPCs—sorry, the people—were definitely conscious now. But that thought led me to yet another set of intriguing questions.

When did that shift happen? Was it a gradual thing, or did it happen all at once?

And then there was the matter of the White Death, this unknown glitch that corrupted half the world. Where did it come from? And did it have anything to do with the NPCs gaining consciousness?

Just at the right moment, Fianna returned to the common area. She returned my look with a nod, but otherwise kept her taciturn face as she sat on another sofa.

Guess she isn’t one to chitchat much.

Yet, I had way too much to ask her, and now was probably the best time to do it. Heck, it was a chance to talk with someone who existed in Arcforge and that also didn’t want to kill me.

Probably.

“Hey, Fianna. Mind if I ask some questions? About this world, and stuff.”

“Sure,” she answered, her tone carrying her suspicion. “Depends on what you want to know.”

“Yz—I mean, Chloe has told me about a bunch of stuff, but this is all a bit too much to take in less than a day.”

“I see. Well, go on, then,” she said as she sat in another sofa.

Alright, I’ve finally made her open up a bit.

“First off… were you alive a hundred years ago?”

“Don’t you know it’s bad manners to ask a woman her age?” She retorted.

“Ah-ah, sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. Just that…” I hesitated a bit. “I actually remember you from back then. Back when I was in this world before.”

“Oh-oh?” She leaned forward, with a smile that told me I had grabbed her attention. “Now that’s curious indeed. You’re saying you were around in the Age of Heroes? And that we’ve met?”

I quickly backtracked. “Oh, no, we haven’t met.”

That was true even during the alpha builds. I had little to do with the NPC stuff, so I’d never actually seen Fianna in-game.

“Your name sounded familiar, and only now did I figure out why. I had heard of you before from other Heroes.”

“I see,” she said with a tone that revealed her interest. “But if you’ll allow me the tangent, how did a human manage to survive for over a hundred years?”

“Well… in my world, only eight years passed since the Heroes… all came back,” I said, hoping my lying wasn’t too obvious. “Oh, and I don’t mean that our years are longer; they are the same. Just that less time passed in our world than in here.”

“And I suppose you don’t know why that is?”

“I’m as confused as you are, trust me. Our timelines used to be synced back when I first came here.”

“I see. The mystery of the Heroes’ disappearance has been plaguing Iditath for generations... Do you know what happened?”

“Well… All I can say is that our access to this world suddenly got severed… permanently. Or at least I thought so. I never expected to make my way back here, either.”

“Very well. The Heroes have always been a secretive bunch, so I understand if you can’t explain everything. Now go on, you had a question for me, right?”

“Yeah, so Chloe told me about how all Heroes disappeared one day. I assume they just up and vanished?”

“Pretty much, sometimes even in front of witnesses. Even I—” She began saying, but she held her tongue, her words disappearing among the sound of the ship engines. “Never mind. As you might imagine, it was chaos for a good while after that, especially in the Polis.”

“And the White Death just showed up later?”

“Yes. As if the Heroes disappearing wasn’t enough chaos. They kept the Dark Horde in check, but when they disappeared, Yzara decided to send this infection across the world.”

So they really blame Yzara for it, huh.

“What was it like at the time? Did it feel any different from how things were before?”

Fianna narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “I’m not sure what you mean by that. I can’t recall anything feeling different. But it has been almost a hundred years since then. Even my memory starts faltering a bit with time.”

“Yeah, of course. Sorry about the weird question.”

I could almost feel the affection points dropping in real time. Before she could up and leave, though, I asked another potentially dangerous question.

“There’s something else bothering me. How do you know the Demon Queen is to blame for this?” After hearing my question, Fianna’s mood immediately turned. Uh-oh, there goes my affection meter down again! “S-Sorry, did I say anything wrong again?”

“…No, not really. But never bring that up in front of Chloe, you hear me? Most Holy Mages don’t take this lightly.”

Oh, how innocent you are.

“On the other hand, practitioners of Profane Magic are adamant that the Demon Queen isn’t to blame. But we have evidence.”

“Go on.”

“There have been some excursions deeper into the Wastelands and into former demon territory. And they all seem to suggest that the source of the infection is right at the demon castle, with the Queen nowhere to be found. Some people even suggest the Queen died, and the White Death is the remnants of her power spreading across the land.”

“I-I see.”

Guess Yzara wasn’t lying when she said she sealed the infection inside her castle. But that just led to people believing she’s the one responsible.

“Anything else you want to ask?” Fianna said, clearly a bit impatient.

“Actually, yes. What’s up with the ‘infected’ people you mentioned? How does that even work?”

“Simple. Spend enough time in the Wastelands, and you run the risk of being infected. That’s all we know about this so far. Apparently, different people respond differently to the infection. Some go feral, while others seem to show no signs of anything wrong until they side with the White Death.”

“Side with?”

“They betray their companions, or suddenly act in a way they never did before. I never saw any infected person myself, but… some who did say they become entirely devoted to the White Death, thinking it’s some sort of divine revelation. Quite disturbing, if you ask me.” Well, that doesn’t seem nice at all. “And there’s no cure. All you can do for them is end their misery. Simple as that.”

“And how did you know the two of us weren’t infected?” I asked.

“I know the Infection Detection skill. I used it on you two while you were asleep.”

<Infected Detection> was a Holy Magic skill that could, well, detect if a mob or NPC was infected by something, and exactly what type of infection that was. But that brought on quite a few more questions than answers.

“Wait, I thought you didn’t like using magic.”

Fianna gave me a look that could kill an elephant. “...How do you know that?”

“W-well… I heard about your distaste for magic and all that before. It’s unusual for an elf to not use magic.”

“Hmph. I suppose that was notable enough to make the rounds among Heroes. Yes, a long time ago… I did go the way of the sword out of my own volition. But the world has changed since. I had to learn basic Holy Magic to fight against the White Death myself.”

“Couldn’t you have just found a Cleric to add to the crew of the Airdrake?”

“Clerics are in very short supply. No one would risk such a dangerous job when the Polis offer safer and more lucrative quests than privateer work.”

“Makes sense… huh?”

I saw something shifting in the shadows of the corridor from the corner of my eye. When I looked, I saw the faintest glimpse of orange that quickly disappeared back inside.

Is that… Tanney?

Apparently, we were being visited by the most elusive member of the Airdrake crew.