Harold of the City

“Hey, give that back!” Lilian shouted.

“Guys!” yelled Kyle, parading a pair of sparkly black underwear. “Did you know Lilian has magic underwear?”

“I didn’t know you were Mormon,” said Paelyn.

“I’m not. Kyle, give it back!”

Lilian pulled out her wand and froze Kyle with a freezing spell.

“So what are magic underwear?” I asked, as Lilian shoved them out of sight.

“I bought them from that traveling fortuneteller the other day. They’re supposed to slightly raise my magic stat but they feel a little revealing so I haven’t put them on yet,” she confessed.

“Why? It’s not like anyone can see your underwear,” I said.

“No, but I can feel it all up in my–why am I explaining this to you!?” Lilian ended her sentence by slapping me.

“Ow! Did you have to do that?” I asked.

“Sorry, I thought you’d defend yourself,” said Lilian.

“With what hands?”

“Um, can I get a little help here?” asked Kyle, who was frozen from the neck down.

“You should unfreeze in about a minute. Use that time to think about your actions.”

“Why?” asked Kyle.

Lilian slapped him.

“Ouch!” 

“That’s why,” said Lilian, walking off to her tent.

It had been almost a week since we left the lake, traveling northwest, and if I was counting correctly, today marked the first day I had spent more time with Leo and Lilian’s party than with Ori. It was a strange realization, since those early days had felt so significant to me. Now time seemed to blur together, not in a bad way, but there hadn’t been any major evolution in my relationships with the others. Paelyn was nice, but our conversations were invariably awkward. Lilian treated me with the same curious irregularity as before–at times we were almost intimate friends, while at others I was subjected with haughty contempt. Kyle and I shared occasional jokes, but friendship seemed our asymptote–a line we could approach but not cross. Perhaps my only real friend among them was Leo, but even he was closer to Kyle than with me. Looking back, I think that first week had been a special period, when we were all anxious and vulnerable, but also when we were open to forming particularly strong bonds.

As we walked along the dusty road leading north and westward I reflected on the two weeks: the first with Ori and the second with Lilian’s party. I wondered if Ori felt at all similar. If she still felt like our early time together had a special significance, or if it was now just a forgotten episode, an incongruous prelude to her time in Eutopia.

“What’s that?” said Leo.

“What?” asked Kyle.

“Up there on the hill. It’s hard to see through the trees.”

“Looks like a tower,” said Lilian.

“I think it’s a steeple,” I said.

The road was climbing, and the trees ahead often blocked our view. It wasn’t until we came over a slope of the hill that we saw the gates of the city before us.

“Welcome to Halcyon,” said Lilian.

“Wait, how do you know what it’s called?” asked Leo.

“It’s on the map,” said Kyle.

“Oh.”

We passed through the gate and into a busy plaza. “This is a bustling place,” said Paelyn, ducking under a large beam being carried by a pair of workmen.

“A lot of busy NPCs,” said Kyle.

“And players too,” said Leo. “I recognize some of these people from orientation.”

“This place is big. It’s like a real city here,” said Kyle, glancing down the main thoroughfare.

Suddenly I heard the ping of an alert, and went to my notifications. There I saw a short message from Pasqual:

Update: Goblin Petard casks made unequipable (and equipable) in inventory menu.

With tremulous excitement I went to my inventory and scrolled to my equipped weapon. With one final bump of my right peck I selected it, and the casks disappeared from my hands. There, before me, were my green hands, moving uncannily in response to my impulses. I glanced around for my companions through now tearful eyes and spotted their blurry figures by the fountain.

“You guys! I have hands! I have hands!” I yelled, as I embraced Lilian and Paelyn from behind.

“Um, I’m happy for you, but if you don’t take your hand off my chest you’re going to go back to not having hands,” said Lilian, suppressing her indignation.

“Oh, sorry,” I said, wiping my eyes. “I just can’t believe it. I’m so happy,” I sobbed.

“So what happened?” asked Leo.

“I just got a message from Pasqual saying he updated my casks to let me unequip them.”

“Generous guy,” said Lilian.

“Yeah…” I said with a chuckle.

“You there!” called a young man approaching us. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

“So are you,” said Lilian. “We haven’t even been here two weeks.”

The man laughed. “Halcyon is truly the greatest place in all of Eutopia. We hope you’ll choose to stay.”

“Thanks,” said Lilian. “I think we’ll just have a look around.”

“There will be a service at the church tonight. Feel free to stop by.”

“Okay…a bit of a Lotus-Eaters vibe going on here that I’m not wild about,” said Lilian, when the man had gone.

“I was going to say Castle Anthrax,” said Leo.

“Castle Anthrax?” repeated Lilian.

“You know from Monty Python,” said Leo.

Lilian rolled her eyes, “Of course, Monty Python! Why didn’t I know that?” she said mockingly.

“What’s with her?” asked Leo, looking at Kyle and I. We both shrugged.

“Guys!” I said excitedly. “There’s something I want to do.”

“What?” asked Lilian.

“Eat lunch…with a fork!” I said, almost tearing up again.

Leo laughed. “Alright, let’s get some food.”

We spent the next couple hours eating at an Italian restaurant and exploring the city. Halcyon had a Tuscan hilltop-town feel to it, and the architecture was reminiscent of medieval Italy. Even the vistas, visible down the long sloping streets from the central plaza, revealed the kind of gently rolling hills one associates with that picturesque landscape.

We found there were a lot of different craftsmen NPCs one could trade with, and the party spent a bunch of their money in making upgrades to their equipment.

We didn’t bother trying to talk to all the NPCs as it seemed Halcyon was a highly trafficked area, and we assumed most of the obvious quests had probably already been completed. We did learn, though, that there was a bulletin board in the town square which regularly displayed new quests for players to undertake, positioned prominently in front of city hall.

“Kill ten fire bats in the cave of Gasul, located five miles southwest of here,” read Lilian. “Alright, let’s go I guess.”

“I wouldn’t bother if I was you,” said someone behind us.

I turned around to see a familiar face, beneath a veil of straight blond hair, shaved on the sides. I was trying to recall his name when he introduced himself.

“I’m Harold, by the way. I don’t think we’ve met,” he said, looking only at Lilian.

“No, I don’t think we have. Care to explain?”

“I guess I just wasn’t lucky,” he said with a smile.

Lilian said nothing.

“Just a joke,” said Harold with a laugh. “You shouldn’t leave now, because that posting is hours old. Several teams set out this morning for the cave, and no doubt one of them will be completing the quest very soon. Once the quest is completed the next quest will go up at 8 am the following day.

“Eight a.m.?” asked Lilian.

“Eight in the morning? Oh, you're confused about the exact time. There’s a clock on the bell tower there,” he said, pointing to the church. Somehow we hadn’t noticed.

“Ah, I see. Thanks,” Lilian mumbled.

“You’re welcome. Let me know if you need anything else. Oh, and if you haven’t chosen a hotel yet I can recommend the Griffin’s Nest. It’s where I’m staying, and the accommodation is excellent.”

Lilian made no answer.

“Thanks for the recommendation,” said Leo.

Harold nodded and left.

“Strange guy,” said Kyle.

“I thought he seemed like a nice fellow,” said Leo.

“What did you make of him?” asked Kyle, looking at me.

“He seems keen to be helpful,” I said.

“Hmm,” said Kyle, obviously not impressed by my answer. In truth I sort of agreed with him. Not that I detected anything sinister about Harold, but I didn’t feel like I really understood him.

“I got the sense that his guard was up,” I said after taking a few seconds to process.

Kyle nodded and pointed a finger at me. There was a sound, like a short blast from a trumpet, which set us looking all around for the source.

“I’d wager that was it,” said Kyle, pointing to the bulletin board. The quest was now scored through with a line, indicating that it was completed.

“Sure glad we didn’t decide to hike five miles into the wilderness to complete a quest we wouldn’t get any credit for,” I said.

“So what now?” asked Leo.

“I guess we could check out that guy’s service,” said Paelyn.

“Eww, no,” said Kyle.

I started tuning them out. I was staring at my hands, slowly clenching and unclenching my fists.

“What are you doing?” asked Lilian.

“You know, these aren’t really my hands,” I said, turning them over.

“Well, obviously. They’re green,” said Paelyn.

“I mean none of us have our real bodies. They have some device up there that intercepts my brain signaling my hand to move, and creates a fake hand which looks and feels like my hand, but isn’t. Anyone else feel that way?”

“Yeah, we kinda talked about that, you’re just two weeks behind,” said Kyle.

“I just got hands, okay! Give me a break…”

We decided to split up and meet back in the plaza at six o’clock for dinner. It's difficult to describe the experience of losing both arms and having them magically restored. What did I do with my free time? I dipped my finger in the fountain to write my name on the stone. I picked things up simply to feel them in my hands. I went into the tailor shop to touch the fabrics. I dangled, threw, flicked, and cartwheeled the afternoon away until I was exhausted. Then I climbed up on the wall at the edge of town and looked out through the treetops at the idyllic countryside, propped up on my elbow. Only then did I completely forget that I was a person with hands. I was just a person again. And as my mind began to wander, it drifted once again to the sweet, charitable, infectiously innocent Ori. One week apart had so far done nothing to diminish my infatuation, and I lay, looking out on that beautiful scenery in the pleasure and misery of lovesickness.

As the clock struck six, I climbed down from the wall and scaled the hill to the plaza. Leo and Kyle were there, waiting under the bulletin board, but the girls had yet to arrive. A few minutes later I saw them, walking quickly across the street from the hotel.

“Sorry, we got held up. That handsome guy asked Lilian to dinner!” said Paelyn.

“What did you say?” spat Leo and I, almost in the same moment.

“No, obviously,” said Lilian, looking embarrassed.

“You should accept,” said Kyle.

“Why?” 

“Because it’s obvious he has something he wants to tell you.”

“What? That she’s smoking hot?” asked Paelyn.

“Yeah, I feel like there’s an obvious reason he’s been so especially friendly to Lilian…” I said, avoiding Lilian’s eyes.

“Lilian please, this could be a great opportunity to gather information. He’s apparently been around here a while, and he seems clued into what people are up to.”

“Why does it have to be me?” asked Lilian.

“Because he likes you. Lilian, I’ve literally never asked anything of you, but I’m asking you now. My gut says you need to accept his invitation.”

Lilian turned to Leo, waiting for his opinion on the matter.

“I agree with Baylor. I think it could prove an invaluable source of information,” he said.

Lilian shook her head with a sigh. “My first ever date is going to be with bowl cut guy in a simulator game. I hate my life.”

“You’ve never been on a date?” we all asked in amazement.

“I mean, I’ve been asked out a lot of times. I’ve just always said ‘no’.”

“Yeah, that tracks,” I said.

“Alright well, wish me luck I guess.”

“Have fun!” said Paelyn.

“Don’t forget your cute underwear!” said Kyle.

“Do you want me to do this or not!?” exclaimed Lilian, pulling Kyle’s head down with one arm and punching him with the other.

“Sorry! I’m sorry!” said Kyle, allowing her onslaught, “You’re right! That was my bad. It was just too tempting!”

The rest of us went to dinner and returned to the hotel to await Lilian’s return. Sometime later, they came out of the dining room together. Harold bade her goodnight, gave the rest of us a friendly nod, and went off to his room.

Lilian had a sort of dazed look on her face. The hotel lobby felt a little too public for our conversation so we retreated to one of the bedrooms and managed, with much prodding, to extract the story of Lilian’s evening.

She found Harold sitting in the hotel restaurant, where he had promised to be if she changed her mind. As she entered, he got up to pull out her chair. Then he signaled to the waiter for another place setting.

“Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” he said.

“My friends pressured me to come.”

Harold smiled. “I’m glad they did. It’s good to get out of one’s comfort zone and meet people.”

The waiter returned with the glass and silverware.

“A bottle of red, something local,” he said.

“Prego,” said the waiter.

“Do you know what I like about restaurants in Eutopia?”

“What is that?” asked Lilian, making no effort to feign interest.

“It’s just predictable enough that I can fool myself into thinking it’s all real. That the waiter is real, that that table over there is full of real people having a real conversation. I could walk over and talk to them and the illusion would be destroyed, but from here–the sound of their voices, the gentle rising and falling intonations, they create that semblance of reality which is lacking in so many interactions here.”

The waiter returned with a bottle which he presented to Harold. “We have the Sfizio Del Pastore Classico 2019, a strong vintage,” he said in a slight but not distracting accent.

“Very good,” said Harold.

The waiter removed the cork and poured a little into Harold’s glass. The young man smelled the wine and smiled.

“It’s good?” said the waiter, going to fill the glass.

“Yes, thank you,” said Harold.

“And a glass for the lady?” asked the waiter.

“Yes, please,” said Harold.

“No, thank you,” said Lilian, covering the glass.

The waiter smiled, “I’ll just leave the bottle here, signorina.”

“Won’t you join me?” asked Harold.

“I don’t drink,” said Lilian.

“You’re not lying to me are you?” asked Harold.

“What makes you think I’m lying?” asked Lilian.

Harold shook his head. “I just pick up on little things, that’s all.”

“Such as?” asked Lilian.

Harold smiled, looking a bit embarrassed. “When he brought you the glass, you picked it up and fidgeted with it, just for a moment. Most people who’ve never drank wine before will pick up the bowl, but you picked it up by the stim.”

“Not very conclusive,” said Lilian.

“Then when the waiter was going to pour you a glass you sort of sprang to cover it, suggesting you’d been deliberating whether you would drink with me or not.”

Lilian sighed, “Go on then,” she said, pushing her glass across the table. “You can’t get drunk off the stuff anyway.”

“I know,” said Harold. “Now where is the fun in that?”

“Tell me, Harold,” said Lilian in a mocking tone. “How come you spend your time reading in the hotel lobby and waste your money on expensive dinners? You don't strike me as a frivolous idiot.”

Harold shook his head with a wry smile, “Why thank you, but I'm afraid you won't like my answer. It's because I feel like it.”

“Aren’t you worried about getting points? Do you not want to win the competition? Get the Panacea, so you can go back to the real world?”

Harold smiled, “Do you remember when you were in school and the teacher would split the students into groups and make you play a quiz game? Do you remember how, as you got closer to the end, the questions would always become worth more? Sometimes at the end she’d say, ‘This question is for ten thousand points' when the difference between the teams was only nine thousand, meaning whoever got the last question would win?”

“Yes, it’s an awful system, but what makes you think they’ll do that here?”

“It isn’t an awful system. It’s a system designed to keep the most people motivated and engaged all the way to the end. Do you really think the later contests are going to be worth a couple hundred points?” Harold shook his head.

“Every point could count. What if you don’t do well in the final challenges?”

“Then I don’t think I’m going to win anyway,” he said. “Listen, it’s not like I never train, or never do quests. I do just enough to stay comfortably in the top half. As long as I’m where I want to be?” he shrugged, reclining in his chair, “might as well enjoy myself.”

“How does your party feel about that?”

“I don’t have a party,” said Harold.

“And how’s that working out for you?”

“Fine. Actually I prefer it. Think about it this way. If I went out with everyone else this morning to Gasul cave and tried to kill ten fire bats before the other parties I would lose. The big parties would be able to do that before me. I would get a tiny amount of experience and what not for what I killed but no big reward. But take another quest: Go to the monastery at the top of Mount wherever and pass the monk’s test. There’s no advantage in that case to being in a large party, and when I finish it, I get the whole reward myself. I’m not sharing it four or five ways.”

“That’s a ridiculous outlook if you are serious about winning. It isn’t about efficiency, it’s about getting the most points possible.”

“Perhaps, but there are advantages to being in the middle of the pack.”

“Oh, and what are the advantages to having less points?”

“Having too many points could be dangerous,” said Harold, cryptically.

The waiter arrived to take their order, temporarily interrupting the conversation.

“How is having too many points dangerous?” asked Lilian.

“Let me tell you about this guy I met at the orientation.”

“Okay…” said Lilian.

“He was going on and on about how much fun this was going to be and how the architecture reminded him of his favorite video game, and how much he loved this game.”

“What does this have to do with anything?”

“I’m getting there. Do you know what game it was? It was that dragon fighter game.”

“You mean the one made by the same people as made Eutopia?”

“Exactly. When they mentioned that, he just about lost his mind–he was so excited. He started talking about all these things–strategies, game mechanics–that he hoped he’d be able to take advantage of here.”

“Okay?” said Lilian, her interest piqued.

“Do you know what his name was? Darren–the first guy eliminated from the competition.”

“What’s your point?” asked Lilian.

“I just think it’s odd that a guy like that would be the first one out. And I don’t know this for a fact, but I have a hunch–the person who had the most points at the first event–I bet you that was also Darren.”

“Wait, so what are you saying?”

“I just think it’s suspicious what happened to someone who should have been a frontrunner to win this competition. I would watch out if I was you. Try not to draw too much attention.”

“You think…he got murdered?” asked Lilian.

“I don’t know. I’m just saying you should be careful. That’s all. If there are people out there willing to win by any means necessary, they'll be going for the people at the top.”

Lilian shivered.

“Relax, you’re perfectly safe here. Do you know what the difference is between a place like the Griffin’s Nest and some random bunkroom hostel?”

“More privacy?” asked Lilian.

“Not quite, though that is a perk, if you want to spend a little quality time together later.”

“Not interested,” said Lilian.

Harold laughed. “The difference is this hotel is a true shelter, a sanctuary if you will. I bet you haven’t tried casting a spell in here, so you might not have noticed, but you can’t.”

“How do you know I use spells?”

“You’re the ice elemental. You made a bit of a splash, first at orientation and then later at the fair. Don’t be surprised that I noticed you. You can be sure I wasn’t the only one.”

“So you’re saying this hotel is safer?”

“It’s one of the few places in Eutopia where you can sleep completely at ease.”

“You sound paranoid,” said Lilian.

“Sooner or later it’s going to dawn on people that only one of us is getting out of here, and when that happens don’t be surprised to see a new side of people–even people you think you know–especially people you think you know.”

“So why are you telling me all of this? Why help me? I’m your competition; you’ve already said you don’t want to team up.”

“I don’t want to team up for its own sake. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t make an exception in your case.”

“Why me?” asked Lilian.

“You’re smart, you have a top tier class, and obviously there’s the human element too. You are very beautiful. I’m only a man, after all.” He took a sip of wine and smiled.

“What’s the point of a relationship? We couldn’t leave here together.”

“That’s a very feminine way of looking at a relationship. We can enjoy each other’s company, drink wine, go to bed, wake up together, do it all again–what more is there to a relationship than that? And who knows, maybe I’d fall so madly in love with you that I’d sacrifice everything to help you get the Panacea. I wouldn’t be the first sensible man to lose his head for a woman.”

“A tempting offer, but I’m going to have to pass,” said Lilian. “I have a good thing going, and I’m not sure we’re really very compatible.”

“You don’t know until you try,” said Harold, looking down and taking a sip of wine.

“I think I do,” said Lilian.

“Why? Is it someone else? Let me guess, it’s that four-eyes, Leo.”

Lilian scoffed, “I don’t date men shorter than me.”

“Well, the invitation is open. Let me know if you change your mind.”

Lilian smiled in an ‘I’ll pretend to think about it’ sort of way. “Thank you for the meal,” she said. “You’ve certainly given me a lot to consider.”

“I’ll walk you back to your friends,” said Harold, pulling out her chair for her. As she stepped out of her seat, he caught her so closely that their bodies touched. “I hope we can do this again sometime,” he said, smiling.

Lilian was stunned for a moment, during which time Harold took her by the arm and led her back out to the lobby.

“Hmm,” said Kyle, when Lilian had finished relating what she could remember of the conversation. “He certainly has some fantastical ideas.”

“The kind of ideas you hope are all a bunch of nonsense,” I said.

“Yes, but we can’t dismiss them simply because we hope they aren’t true. Going forward we need to be cautious, especially if the next points update comes out and we’re at the top of it.”

“How would anybody know?” asked Paelyn.

“Word about that sort of thing gets around. I remember at the first event, we talked about our points,” said Lilian.

“You told them exactly how many you had,” I said.

“Yeah, I kind of regret that now,” said Lilian. “You have any thoughts on any of this Leo? You seem strangely quiet.”

We all turned to Leo to find he was muttering to himself. “Why did he call me four-eyes? I don’t even wear glasses?”

“Oh, because you radiate nerd energy,” said Lilian. “Honestly I didn’t even realize.”

“And why did you say I’m shorter than you? I’m at least an inch taller!”

“Would you relax? We’re trying to have an important conversation here. Now I’ve forgotten what I was saying.”

“You were admitting what a bad idea it was to broadcast how many points you have,” I said.

“Thanks, Bastian,” Lilian said, gritting her teeth.

“No problem.”

“Don’t worry,” said Leo. “We’re here to watch each other’s backs, that’s why we’re a team.”

“Except Bastian,” said Paelyn.

“Speaking of which, isn’t it time you branched out on your own, now that you’re safely back in civilization?” asked Lilian.

“That’s what we’d agreed,” said Kyle.

“I can’t believe you guys are really trying to get rid of me. That’s so mean,” I said.

“They don’t mean it, Bastian,” said Leo, comfortingly. “Don’t listen to them.”