A Difference of Principles

The next day we trained from sunup to sundown. We got Ori to level 2 in the morning and finally reached level 3 just as the sun was setting. Unsurprisingly, level 3 required more experience and took us much longer to obtain. We didn’t talk much that day. It might have become routine what we were doing, but it always felt dangerous, and I think that kept us from idle chitchat.

We talked a little that night before bed about the training and read over Ori’s skill tree in greater depth. From what we could tell she wouldn’t have any real decisions to make until level 7 when she could choose either to learn a new combat ability or strengthen her healing.

The next morning I awoke to find half a dozen oranges on the table in front of me. Ori was not in the gatehouse, but I soon found her outside enjoying the morning breeze and looking out over this strange world of which, as yet we had seen so little.

“Where’d you get the oranges?” I asked.

“I foraged them.”

“Oh, that’s cool. You used your plant skills to forage us food.”

“Yeah, it’s because I work in a plant shop that I’m able to identify an orange,” said Ori with a smirk.

“Hey, I just woke up, okay? Sheesh, I didn’t know you were capable of sarcasm.”

“What will we do today?” asked Ori, as she put a section of orange in my mouth. 

“Mmm," I grunted. "More training."

Ori sighed.

“We have no choice. Any time we aren’t trying to get stronger is time wasted,” I said.

“But have you seen how much experience I need for level 4? We could train all day and I wouldn’t get there. For all we know there are much better ways of getting experience, not to mention points–out there.”

I considered this for a while. “Alright,” I said, “if you want to go, then lead the way.”

Ori put the uneaten oranges back in her inventory, and we set off down the mountain, following the track we knew well. We skirted the areas where wolves were most likely to be found although, by now, they did not pose much threat to us. Along the way we found a sturdy stick for Ori to use as a rudimentary weapon. It was a long climb down and it wasn’t until about midmorning when the ground finally leveled out. When we reached the edge of the forest we sat down and ate, mostly because we were parched and the oranges were juicy enough to quench our thirst a little.

“How much damage did the wolf’s attack do again?” asked Ori.

“I think it ranged from like twenty to thirty damage,” I said.

“I don’t see how I’m ever going to be strong enough to fight anything,” said Ori. Suddenly, she looked up. “Horses?” she said. I heard it now too, the sound of hooves on a beaten path. I rose to investigate and discovered a road nearby, along which came a cart, pulled by two horses.

“Hello adventurers!” said a grey haired man, “what brings you to these parts?”

“Same as you,” said Ori. “I think they called it Scuba.”

“He’s not a real person, Ori,” I said, shaking my head.

“How do you know?” she asked.

“Would you be interested in some of my wares?” asked the man, with a silly grin on his face.

“Did you see anyone that old in the tutorial? It’s all kids and young adults here. They’re not giving the panacea to some sixty-year-old geezer.”

“Would you be interested in some of my wares?” repeated the man.

“Yeah alright, let’s see what you’ve got,” I said. A trade menu popped up and I saw the prices of various items.

“Oh yeah, I don’t have money.”

“There seem to be a lot of things we don’t have,” said Ori.

“Tell me about it. You know," I said lowering my voice, "you might be able to take it by force.”

“Bastian, how can you say such a thing?”

“What, it’s only a game,” I said.

“No it isn’t. It’s our lives now.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I said, as there seemed no sense in arguing. “Thanks old man, maybe next time.”

“Take care now,” he said, and he shook the reins. I looked around for Ori who had been right behind me, but suddenly she was gone.

Then I heard her voice. “Come on!”

I turned around again and there she was, fifty feet down the road in the back of the merchant’s cart. By the time I caught up, I was all out of breath. As I climbed in, panting, I found that Ori was having a conversation with the merchant.

“I don’t know what any of that means, but I’m glad you are finding success,” said the NPC.

“What about you? What are your aspirations?” Ori asked earnestly, in a way I found equal parts ridiculous and cute.

“I want to sell everything in my inventory,” said the NPC.

“What will you do then?”

“I will get more items to sell.”

“Oh,” said Ori. “That makes sense.”

“Why are you talking to the NPC?” I asked her.

“I don’t know. Why not? He might know something useful.”

“Maybe,” I said doubtfully.

“Hey Mister,” said Ori.

“Yes?”

“Where are we going?”

“To the village of Elvera.”

“How long will it take us to get there?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t really think about time.”

“That’s fair,” I said.

“Hey, that was useful information. Now we know where we’re going at least.”

It was easy to get lost staring out over the valley of wildflowers and the many mountains which enclosed the meadow. Eventually I turned to Ori and saw she had a heavy-knit brow and a perplexed look on her face.

“Something troubling you?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s nothing.”

“Alright,” I said.

“Actually I do want to talk about it.”

“That’s fine,” I answered in the same tone of indifference.

“Only it’s kind of embarrassing.”

“Oh?” I said, my interest slightly piqued.

“I’m afraid I’m…unwell.”

“Unwell?” I said. “You mean you don’t feel well?”

“Not exactly. You see, I feel totally fine.”

“Then what’s the problem?” I asked.

“It’s just that–well–the whole time we’ve been here…I haven’t been able to go…to the bathroom…”

I burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny!” she said, hitting me, her face bright red.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just can’t believe you’ve been thinking about that all this time.”

“Is something wrong with me?”

“No, no. I think you just don’t do that here.”

“Don't do that here?” said the girl, not understanding.

“Do you remember on the first day when Pasqual told us about the food?”

“Mhmm.”

“Well, he said something like: the Doctor thought carefully about which experiences to bring to Eutopia. So eating made the cut because it’s enjoyable, and we have to sleep because it would just feel weird not to sleep, and probably our brains still need sleep, even if they are just being sent all of this information. But we don’t need to go to the bathroom, at least, we don't in here.”

“You mean we’re still…up there…?” Ori covered her mouth and gagged.

“Yeah, it is pretty gross…But hey, that’s a normal hospital thing. Just be glad I don’t have to get you to help me wipe my butt!”

“Uh! You’re disgusting!” she yelled, and she hit me across the face with her staff.

“Ow! You know for a mild kind of girl you sure do resort to violence a lot.”

“Humph! You bring it upon yourself!” she said, crossing her arms and turning away.

I think it was a little after noon when we noticed buildings up ahead of us. The town square of Elvera had an inn and several shops, corresponding to the kinds of things which might be useful to us, like a blacksmith’s shop and general store. We started walking down the main street when suddenly we heard a group of voices calling out to us for help and discovered four adventures behind bars.

“Are they NPCs?” asked Ori.

"Yeah, best to keep moving,” I said, trying to lead her away, but they all started protesting and incoherently recounting our arrival and the trial with the troll.

“But how did you all get locked up in there?” asked Ori.

“We tried to rob the blacksmith,” one of them sighed.

“Yeah, and whose bright idea was that, Charles?”

A brief struggle ensued, which ended when the tall girl of the party gave them each a sound wallop on the head. “What we’d like to say is that we would be eternally grateful if you could find a way to get us out of here,” she said.

“And what will you give us in–”

“Of course we will,” said Ori, cutting me off.

“Oh, thank you so much. We’re counting on you!”

“Hey wait a second,” I said. “Can we talk about this?”

“Okay. We’re going to help them.”

“That’s not really what I meant by talking about it.”

“Why shouldn’t we help them?” Ori asked.

“Because right now they are probably the only people in the whole competition doing worse than us. You let them out without any benefit to yourself, and that’s time wasted. Worse, it’s time expended to your own detriment.”

Ori sighed. “I get what you’re saying, and honestly it makes sense. But I don’t want to get out of here alive so badly that I’m willing to become a bad person in the process. The right thing is to help them, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Fine. But don’t expect me to help you,” I huffed, stomping off.

“Jerk,” she said.

I turned the corner into an alley as soon as possible to get out of sight and slouched down. “Great,” I muttered. “Guess we’ll be here all day.” I closed my eyes and took a nap until the lady who owned the building found me and ended up chasing me off with her broom. From there I wandered back to the square, where I was approached by these three kinda dodgy looking NPCs who asked me if I wanted to make a quick buck. I was on the point of refusing when I saw Ori coming out of the inn.

“Alright,” I said, loud enough for her to hear. “I accept your proposition.”

“Don’t go with them, they look like muggers,” said Ori, as she passed by.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to judge a book by its cover?" I retorted. "Watch how a veteran interacts with his environment. Lead the way my valued companions!”

They took me out of town down a dusty forgotten highway. Along the way we passed a sign bearing the message: ‘Watch out for highwaymen’. To calm my nerves I just kept repeating, “Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t judge a book by its cover,” under my breath. Finally they stopped and turned on me with their knives.

“Well, that was predictable,” I said.

“Give us everything you’ve got,” they demanded.

“Okay,” I said. “Here you go.”

“Three oranges?” they yelled, angrily.

“One for each of you,” I said.

The highwaymen looked at each other nodding. “Let’s beat him up.”

What followed was excruciating, not because of the pain, which was bothersome, but because their punches and kicks did so little damage that it took nearly ten minutes for them to get me to low HP. What was worse, I couldn’t move afterward. Not because I was too weak–I felt like I should have been able to get up just fine, but there was something invisible holding me down.

After what felt like half an hour I noticed someone on a horse coming down the road at a glacial pace. When he got near me I saw that he had a sort of cowboy vibe to him, and he spoke with a southern drawl.

“How did ya end up down there?” he asked, with cartoonish astonishment.

“Take me to town,” I said, exasperated.

“I’d best take ya tah town,” was his reply.

“Adda boy,” I said.

He took me to the inn, and they put me in a sick bed next to two bedridden NPCs who had a voice track of groans and one “Oh merciful Lord!” that repeated about every four minutes. Once more my large quantity of HP proved a nightmare as I lay gurneyed to the bed by invisible bindings watching my health bar tick up at a rate of five per minute. I had just done the math, estimating I would be trapped there for another half hour, when who should walk in but Ori.

“Oh God, Ori help me! I’m trapped here until they heal back to full health. If I hear that old man say ‘Oh merciful Lord’ one more time I’m gonna lose it.”

“Oh merciful Lord!” crooned the man, right on cue.

“Alright, one minute,” she said as she healed the two bedridden NPCs one after the other.

“No, not them, me!” I protested, straining against my invisible bonds.

“I’ll get to you in a minute, but right now they are my first priority.”

“How am I below an NPC in your priorities?”

“I need to heal them as part of a deal I worked out to free the prisoners,” said Ori.

Once the NPCs were on their feet she talked to the innkeeper who thanked her by offering her free accommodations for as long as she wished. Meanwhile I was laughing like a madman. “Oh to have the free use of my legs again! To have my arms–that is too much to ask–just give me back my legs!”

Ori giggled. “I might just leave you that way after all,” she said.

“You have no choice–you just used up all your mana. You couldn’t heal me if you wanted to.”

“Oh, right you are!” she said, laughing. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later then.”

“No, don’t go! I don’t want to be alone!” I called after her, but she was gone.

At least the groaning has stopped, I thought.

Just then the old man broke out with, “Thank you! Thank you! Oh merciful Lord!”

When I had finally regained the last of my HP I went in search of Ori, who I found at the jail, speaking with the now freed adventurers. When she saw me, she left them, approaching me with a smile.

“You’re free!”

“Yeah, no thanks to you,” I grumbled. I noticed the four others were watching us. “What do they want?” I asked.

“Oh, they offered to let me join their party.”

“Seriously? That’s amazing!”

“But they only want me.”

“Oh,” I said. I tried to keep my voice steady, “That’s alright. You should definitely join them.”

“There it is!” she said, triumphantly.

“There what is?”

“Your selflessness. You're trying to talk me into abandoning you–that’s completely against your own interests.”

“I mean–sure. But…it’s not like it will really make a difference. I’m a lost cause. You have a real chance.”

“No, we have a real chance: together. Come on,” she said.

“The offer stands!” I heard one of them call after us, but Ori didn’t acknowledge it.

It was evening now, and the town was bathed in yellow light. As Ori led the way back to the inn, I couldn’t bring myself to walk beside her, but I followed along behind, just near enough that I could see the corner of her mouth and see that she was smiling.

I remember feeling a strange mixture of emotions. I was both happy and sad. I think deep down I knew, in that moment, that I would follow her to the ends of the earth. That maybe we would have some incredible triumphs and dire scrapes along the way but eventually, someday, somewhere, she would find herself without any hope of escape, and I would have to make the sacrifice–the one she had stopped me from making, way back at the beginning.