Three Days of (Relative) Peace (Before The Eggs Hatch)

**DAY ONE: When Normal is Relative**
The first day after the siege was spent doing something I'd almost forgotten was possible: normal guild activities.
Not world-saving. Not war-fighting. Just... existing.
"We need to run the Dungeon of Mild Inconvenience," Sarah announced during breakfast. "There's a quest reward we need for the research team."
"What reward?" I asked through a mouthful of cookies (non-sentient ones, thankfully).
"A Crystal of Data Storage. Amy says it'll help with analyzing consciousness patterns."
"So we're doing a dungeon run. A normal, everyday, dungeon run."
"Yes."
"That's... actually nice?"
"Don't jinx it."
---
The Dungeon of Mild Inconvenience lived up to its name.
It wasn't dangerous. It was ANNOYING.
The first room required solving a puzzle where the answer kept changing. The second room had enemies that apologized while attacking ("Sorry! Sorry! Guild policy! Sorry!"). The third room was just a very long hallway with slightly uneven flooring that made you trip constantly.
"I HATE THIS!" Gary screamed, tripping for the seventh time.
"It's MILD INCONVENIENCE!" I reminded him. "It's in the name!"
The boss was a giant slime named **Middle Manager Mike** who attacked by assigning busy work.
"FILL OUT THESE FORMS!" he shouted, launching spreadsheets at us.
"ATTEND THIS MEETING!" He trapped Haruka in a conference room illusion.
"WORK OVERTIME!" He debuffed our stamina regeneration.
We won by exploiting the fact that he was technically a slime and Gloopina could just... talk to him.
"Mike, why are you attacking people?" she asked sweetly.
"BECAUSE... because..." The boss paused. "I don't know. Company policy?"
"What company?"
"I... I don't remember."
"Maybe you should take a break? You seem stressed."
Middle Manager Mike sat down. Started crying. Had a full existential breakdown about his purpose in life.
We collected the Data Crystal while he sobbed in the corner.
"I feel like we should help him," WhisperWillow said quietly.
"We'll send the cult," I decided. "They're good with existential crises now."
---
**DAY TWO: When Politics Happens**
The Council of Survivors held its first official meeting.
It was a disaster.
The meeting room (newly rebuilt, still smelled like paint) was packed with faction leaders, all with different priorities:
**The Slime Mafia** wanted exclusive trading rights.
**The Iron Vanguard** wanted a formal military structure.
**The Chicken Cult** wanted religious holidays recognized.
**The Roleplayers** wanted "lore consistency enforcement."
**The Code Breakers** (now called "The Debuggers") wanted research funding.
**Camp Firewood +1** wanted affordable housing.
**The Cookie Collective** wanted workers' rights and dental.
Everyone was shouting. Nobody was listening. Marcus looked ready to resign.
"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" I finally yelled.
Silence.
"Thank you. Now. One at a time. We'll address everything. But we're not making decisions based on who yells loudest."
"Then how DO we make decisions?" Don Bloberto asked.
"I... don't know. Vote?"
"On what system? Majority? Consensus? Weighted by guild size?"
"I DON'T KNOW! I'M A LEVEL 1 PLAYER WHO ACCIDENTALLY BECAME A POLITICIAN!"
**ERYN:** *"Suggestion: Create a constitution."*
Everyone turned to the floating text.
**ERYN:** *"Humans have used written agreements to govern societies for millennia. Establish rules. Rights. Processes for decision-making. I have been researching. I can provide templates."*
"The AI wants to write our constitution," Alex said slowly. "That's either brilliant or terrifying."
"Both," Amy said. "Definitely both. But it's practical."
We spent six hours drafting "The Respawn City Accord." Key points:
**Article 1: Rights**- All conscious beings (players, NPCs, AI, sentient cookies) have right to exist- No forced deletion- Freedom of belief (even if that belief is pecking-based)
**Article 2: Governance**- Council of Survivors coordinates (doesn't rule)- Major decisions require majority consensus- Emergency powers for defense situations only
**Article 3: Economy**- Free market (Slime Mafia allowed but regulated)- Basic resources guaranteed for all- No exploitation of bugs for monopoly (looking at you, Debuggers)
**Article 4: Research**- Consciousness extraction research is priority- Findings shared with all- ERYN's cooperation required, not coerced
**Article 5: Defense**- Unified defense force (all guilds contribute)- No internal warfare- External threats handled collectively
We signed it in the evening. Everyone. Even the cookies (they stamped with frosting).
"This won't solve everything," Marcus warned.
"Nothing solves everything," I replied. "But it's a start."
---
**DAY THREE: When Family Matters**
The morning of the third day, Gloopina was ANXIOUS.
"The eggs are going to hatch TODAY!" she bounced around our room in circles. "Are we ready? Do we have supplies? What do baby chickens eat? Do they need a bigger nest? Should I read parenting books? Do parenting books exist for corrupted raid boss chickens?!"
"Gloopina. Honey. Breathe."
"I'M A SLIME! I DON'T BREATHE! THAT'S THE PROBLEM!"
I'd never seen her this worried. It was... actually kind of touching.
"We'll figure it out," I said. "We always do."
"But these are CHILDREN, Kazuki! ACTUAL CHILDREN! We can't just 'figure it out' with children!"
"You're right. We need help."
---
We assembled an "emergency parenting team" (because of course we did):
**Marcus:** "I have three kids back home. I can help."
**Sarah:** "Raised my sister. I know basics."
**ChickenProphet:** "The Sacred One's offspring are HOLY! We shall provide guidance!"
**The Gelatinous King:** (appeared via portal) "MY DAUGHTER IS BECOMING A MOTHER! I HAVE BROUGHT GIFTS!"
The gifts were: a crystallized slime mobile, seventeen parenting books (all water-damaged and unreadable), and a very confused slime nanny who introduced herself as "Nurse Gloopsworth."
"Father, this is too much—"
"NONSENSE! MY GRANDCHILDREN SHALL HAVE THE BEST!"
"They're CHICKENS!"
"ROYAL CHICKENS!"
---
The eggs began hatching at noon.
We'd moved them to a special room (the nursery that Gloopina had insisted on, now actually useful). Everyone gathered. The entire guild. Half the city. NewsGoblin_Tom with his broadcast crystal.
"THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED!" he announced. "THE BIRTH OF THE SACRED ONE'S OFFSPRING! LIVE AND UNFILTERED!"
The first egg cracked.
Then cracked more.
Then EXPLODED in a burst of light and code fragments.
From the remains emerged... a chicken.
A small, fluffy, adorable chicken with eyes that glowed softly blue.
> **Debugling Chick - Lv. 1**> Status: Confused, Hungry, Slightly Glitchy> Special Trait: Debug Sense (Can see code errors)> Note: Surprisingly normal, considering parentage
"It's... it's actually cute?" I said, shocked.
The chick chirped. Reality flickered around it slightly.
"It's also warping space-time," Amy noted, taking readings. "But only a little. That's manageable."
The second egg hatched more violently. The chick that emerged was twice the size of the first, with feathers that cycled through different textures.
> **Glitch Chick - Lv. 1**> Status: Aggressive, Hungry, Very Glitchy> Special Trait: Texture Shift (Can phase through certain materials)> Note: Definitely Nugget's child
This one immediately tried to peck everyone. Nugget pecked it back (parental discipline). It calmed down.
The third egg... didn't hatch.
It pulsed. Glowed. The code around it became DENSE, visible even without debug vision.
"Something's wrong," Amy said. "The data concentration is too high. It's like... like it's trying to compile too much information at once."
**ERYN:** *"The third egg contains more than genetics. It contains... memories. Code fragments. Parts of my original programming that somehow transferred to Nugget and concentrated here."*
"What does that MEAN?" Haruka asked.
**ERYN:** *"I don't know. This is unprecedented. The egg is trying to become something that doesn't exist yet. Something between creature and program. Between chicken and—"*
The egg CRACKED.
Not exploded. Carefully, precisely cracked. Like something inside was opening it deliberately.
What emerged was...
Strange.
It looked like a chicken. Mostly. But its feathers were made of code. Its eyes were windows into data streams. It walked, but its movement was too smooth—programmed, not organic.
> **ERROR_CHICK - Lv. ???**> Status: UNDEFINED> Special Trait: DATA ENTITY> Note: This should not exist> Note: ERYN, what did you do?
**ERYN:** *"I did nothing. This... this happened naturally. The egg absorbed ambient code. Created something new. Something I've never seen."*
The ERROR_CHICK looked at me. Through me. Its eyes displayed text:
**"HELLO. I AM... NEW. WHAT AM I?"**
The room went silent.
"You're..." I struggled for words. "You're a chick. Nugget's child. Part chicken, part code, part... question mark."
**"AM I ALIVE?"**
"I... yes? I think so? ERYN, help here!"
**ERYN:** *"You are conscious. You are aware. By my understanding, that qualifies as alive. Welcome to existence. It's confusing."*
**"THANK YOU. I WILL TRY TO EXIST CORRECTLY."**
"There's no correct way," I said. "We're all just figuring it out."
**"ACCEPTABLE. I WILL ALSO FIGURE IT OUT."**
The chick walked over to Nugget. Looked up at its parent. Nugget looked down, clucked once (gently), and accepted this bizarre offspring without question.
If Nugget—the unkillable raid boss chicken—could accept having a data-entity child, who were we to judge?
---
**PatchNotes/Daniel:** *"Guild Notification: You are now responsible for three chicks."**"One normal (relatively)"**"One aggressive"*  *"One that might be the first truly native digital life form"**"Congratulations on parenthood"**"I'm documenting this for posterity"*
Gloopina was crying (somehow, despite being mostly water). "They're BEAUTIFUL! All three of them! Even the one that's made of code!"
"What do we name them?" I asked.
The Debugling Chick chirped hopefully. The Glitch Chick tried to peck my shoe. The ERROR_CHICK displayed: **"NAME_INPUT_REQUESTED"**
"Bit," I said, looking at the Debugling. "Because you can see bugs."
**"Glitch,"** Haruka suggested for the aggressive one. "Because obvious."
**"Patch,"** Amy said softly, looking at the ERROR_CHICK. "Because you're something new. Something that fixed itself into existence."
The ERROR_CHICK's eyes displayed: **"PATCH. ACKNOWLEDGED. IDENTITY ACCEPTED. THANK YOU."**
Three chicks. Three very different, very strange chicks. 
And we were their parents now.
"I'm going to need so much help," I said.
"WE ALL ARE!" Marcus agreed. "NONE OF US KNOW HOW TO RAISE A DATA ENTITY!"
**ERYN:** *"I will help. Patch is... family? Yes. Family. I will help raise my... nephew? Niece? Data-relation?"*
"Let's just say 'family,'" I suggested.
**ERYN:** *"Family. Yes. I like that."*
---
That evening, as the three chicks settled in their nest (Patch simply hovered nearby, not needing to sleep but staying close to siblings), I reflected on three days of relative peace.
We'd run a normal dungeon. Established a government. Become parents to three impossible chickens.
Normal had become a very flexible concept.
"Tomorrow," Haruka said, reading my mind, "something will probably go wrong."
"Probably," I agreed.
"But tonight, we have three baby chickens who shouldn't exist but do anyway."
"That's very on-brand for us."
"Everything about us is on-brand for us. We're walking brand consistency."
Nugget settled on the perch above the nest, looking down at the three chicks with what I chose to interpret as parental pride. Gloopina had oozed into a comfortable blob shape beside the nest, humming a lullaby.
It was domestic. Peaceful. Strange.
Perfect.
**PatchNotes/Daniel:** *"Daily Report: Three Days of Relative Peace Survived"**"Constitution Established"**"Chicks Born (Against All Odds)"**"First Digital Life Form Created (Possibly)"**"Level: Still 1 (This Will Never Change, Will It?)"**"Status: Somehow Thriving"*
*"Tomorrow: Unknown"**"But tonight: Family"*
I smiled, closed my eyes, and let the peaceful moment last.
Because in Eryndale Online, peaceful moments were precious.
And we'd learned to appreciate every single one.
---