Chapter 9 - The dude whom appeared out of nowhere

Kifirin had been level 66 for a while and yet she hadn't unlocked her profession. It was aligned with chaos so she though that the killing spree would help satisfy the requirements, but it hadn't done anything. *Hmmm... Maybe it's time I went to see Davros. He did ask me to come from time to time. Let's go!*

However, it didn't really go as planned. The library. She could see it.... it dwarfed all the others edifices. But somehow? She couldn't get to it. She had gotten lost in Heimlin a few times already, but this... this was not natural.

By the way, she had also gotten lost in the woods, finally giving up when they ended up in the middle of a god-forsaken swamp. From then on the un-amused Van had taken the lead. He hated mosquitoes, but the singed eyebrows he got as a result of her 'dealing with them' had been the cherry on the sundae.

She admitted to having a really bad sense of orientation but this was getting ridiculous. She could have sworn the roads were warping. How hard could it be getting from a point A to a point B when you could SEE point B from miles away? *I will not be beaten! I WILL get to that FUCKING library!*

………….

2 hours later

“I GIVE UP! Whomever is doing this listen! I give up! You got me good… I lost. Can you stop now?” screamed a banshee.

Well, it wasn’t a banshee per se, but the wail was mistaken as such by the few unlucky enough to hear it, and a rumor of banshees hiding in town was born.

“OY! Your hear me? Stop it!” she screeched

Ding!

System notice: New skill [VAR] - System patch

{FORCED} PASSIVE – Abysmal sense of orientation [Advanced 1- 0%] / chaotic

You are absolutely hopeless with directions and will lose your way more often than not

- Maps are useless junk to you

- You just don’t understand directions given orally

- You just can’t seem to recognize places you should, by all means, recognize

- Professional guides may avoid you because half the time, they get lost while guiding you.

You may not delete this skill

The new skill just made her day.

Ding! Ding!

“Alright I get it! What’s with women and screaming nowadays? Do you guys really think that having a fit will make it all better? Seriously? That’s moronic” Said a dude whom appeared out of nowhere

“You…. You! Is it you? Did you just force this skill on me? WHY IS IT ADVANCED FROM THE GET GO!?” Kifirin was sputtering

“Wow tone it down lady! I’m here to help but if you don’t want to have a decent conversation I guess I could take my little gift and leave” Unknown dude raised an eyebrow

“… Sorry. I’m just a little bit emotional right now”

“Are you? Geez I wouldn’t have gotten it by myself. Whatever… I was sent by the Trollking. He said that with time you would get such a skill and told me to come up with something in order to counteract it.”

“Trollking? Who’s that?” She squinted “Is he responsible for this shit? I think Systra said something about him before…”

“… Yes and no”

“That’s not an answer”

“Then let’s go with yes” Unknown dude knew his boss would have his head for that but the occasion was too perfect to pass up. He snickered. Payback was a bitch.

“… I see. Trollking huh… I’ll remember that” Cold. Her gaze was cold. It promised retribution.

“Kekekeke! Kekekekek -- ekek. Koff Koff! Erm Erm. Here, for you” The dude got back his bearings from the strangling hilarity and handed her a golden compass. As it touched her palm, it disappeared in a flash of light.

“Huh? Where did it go?”

“Check the skill”

{FORCED } PASSIVE – Abysmal sense of orientation [Advanced 1- 0%] / chaotic

You are absolutely hopeless with directions and will lose your way more often than not

- Maps are useless junk to you

- You just don’t understand directions given orally

- You just can’t seem to recognize places you should, by all means, recognize

- Professional guides may avoid you because half the time, they get lost while guiding you.

System notice: You are the owner of The Golden Compass, who seems to counteract (up to a point) this skill, but it is not infallible and may fail you from times to times.

You may not delete this skill

“Ah. Not foolproof then. Is this supposed to be better?” She sneered

“Please! Do you even know what your skill is? It’s a result of the essence of chaos massively bending the natural order of things around you. Sure, chaos is part of nature but you’re totally hoarding it and it’s affecting reality.

The balance is BREAKING. Be happy that it only manifest this way. And even then… if left as it was it would have ended up tearing a hole through the fabric of the universe. It would have KILLED us all.

Do you think that just anybody could counter that? This compass is a mythical treasure that many would MURDER to get their hands on”

“… Ok. Sorry again. I take it you’re a game master?” Unknown dude had graduated to Whiny dude in Kif's mind.

He tilted his head “Something like that. Not the head honcho though. You may call me Gen by the way”

“Alright. I’m Kifirin but I guess you already know that”

“Obviously. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do, so… see you” Gen left, and as he did so, he muttered “Females and PMS! Pff!”

Kifirin’s tentative smile froze at the edge. *Haha. Ha. HA!* She had heard him

…………..

*Yada yada games masters yada yada. So what if I’m a teeny weeny bit unstable? It shouldn’t affect the game shouldn’t it? And there’s no way in hell that my getting lost would DESTROY tales of fates. What a pile of crap, I could bet this ‘Trollking’ is just having fun at my expense. Look at his name already! If we ever cross paths I’ll tear him a new one*

She had headed for the library as soon as Whiny Gen left and didn’t get lost this time. She was currently taking the stairs leading to Davros’ study. She hoped he was there. Well, she could still wait if it wasn’t so.

*Hmm? Now that I think about didn’t I get a few system notice after I got THE skill? I never got around to open them, Gen was too aggravating*

She displayed the windows

System Notice: Profession requirements met

Congratulation! You have unlocked you profession, ‘Personification of chaos” and can now access its skills

*Huh? I unlocked it? How? Nothing happened. Well… the skill. Did my ‘hoarding of chaos’ and ‘affecting of reality’ do the deed? Ridiculous. Let’s see the skills, I’m curious, I wil ---*

Ding!

Systeme Notice: Bounty

Congratulations, Kiri is now topping the 'most wanted list' of the Strategos Empire and it's affiliated states. A bounty of 2 470 Crystals has been placed on her (10 Crysal coin per 1K infamy)

>> As the first shifter to have unlocked this achievement, you will take #1 place on the SitumCorp's newly opened hall of shame.

*.... this..... Hall of shame? Number one? A-ah. Ha! .. . Newly created? i wouldn't be the reason would I? Noes! Noes! Noes! Stupid profession! Stupid infamy! ... alright, it's alright! None else than Vanhart knows us as Kiri , and he'd probably tell us good job! The bounty though... Dayum. Tch! *

"Show newly unlocked chaotic Skills"

She had obviously tweaked the chaos release skill as soon as she saw it and saved subspells. But damn if it wasn't costly in mana.

The mad laugh and aura of doom had been obtained during her player killing stunt, but it hadn’t been chaotic then, so she guessed it had been taken under the red umbrella. The daggers of chaos were a nice skill but the daggers ban cooldown bothered her a bit. She loved cutting up people. Betaing them up or just doing a magic WWF smackdown on their asses wasn't as fun as playing 'give them body art'

The chaos release? Ah well it explained the 5-claws disintegration event. She knew she would NEVER initiate it willingly… unless she felt like livening things up.

But the 5% chances of random activation sure got her sweating. she didn't want Kifirin associated with her chaos persona. Hopefully it wouldn’t happen a lot.

Anyayways... at Beginner 1 the skill was already monstrous. 600% stats buff? No cooldowns? Outrageous. Scandalous. Horrific... Wonderful! Too bad she had no control over it. Maybe later? Hmm grinding it wasn't really an option... was it?

She was glad that any killed native wouldn’t face true death. Itgave her the green light for many, many uses...

*Mfu Mfu Mfu! This 200 000 infamy... I'll make sure to deserve it... one day!* She giggled and passerby wrote her off as mentally challenged. How little did they know! How little did they know....

She checked the chaos persona.

# Chaos persona - ???? ???

Persona that gets forcefully equipped whenever you enter a chaos streak. A title shall be awarded to it once you enter your first chaos streak and will forever be equipped by this persona.

The chaos persona will have abysmal bounties on it, so you are advised not to equip it in a city unless you want to be the star of a good ol’ witch hunt

This persona also takes on your 1st celestial appearance (for now), making you unrecognizable because of physical transformation and the red orange glow emitted by your whole body.

…………….

“So? You’re back in town? Sorry for last time I somehow lost sense of time and forgot about you”

Davros had been in his study when she knocked, so she invited herself in and sat when he nodded at her to do so.

“Yep. No problems, it also happens to me. Sometimes, you just have to do some serious thinking, and reality takes a seat back for a little while. No offense taken. I left you a note after all, so we’re good”

“Hmm I guess so. Are you there for something in particular or would like to relax while sharing some tea and cookies with me?”

“I would love to, thank you” He smiled and gave her a cup “Hmm It’s more of a visit of curtesy, and I was missing our talks, so here I am. I also unlocked my profession and though you might want to get a look” She shrugged.

At his interested gaze she told him of the atypical events, all the while savouring the fruity tea. he had good tastes! The cookies weren't bad either. *Yum yum. I'd better come back more often...*

“So… this Gen gave you the golden compass? Gen? And he said he was there by the express orders of the Trollking? It would mean his boss. That’s fascinating …. Did you know of the Church of Genesis? Their god is one of the Firsts of Chaos. I also heard that he had had a few close calls with female admirers which gave him a very short fuse when women are involved. Interesting isn't it?

But I don’t understand how you could be hoarding chaos … enough to blow reality up. I knew you were a bomb but that’s a bit outside of my calculations. No scratch that. A LOT outside of my calculations

I though you may be…. but it cannot be…. too much chaos for it…. unless it has to do with your unbalance? Could you be compensating for it? It would mean…. Ah! Yes this must be it! It would also explain his success at hiding you. He only really had to give a push.

Please tell me. How would you define the Dathum plane? Is it more a world or Order or Chaos? I would say its Order isn’t it?”

“Jackpot. Order indeed. The Chaos is still here, seeping under the surface, but one cannot open himself to it unless he wants a very bad ending. Everything is well-ordered there…. There’s a veneer of control over everything. How to act. What to wear. How to prepare for the future. What to do. What not to say. What to THINK.

Straight. It has to be straight and orderly. Everything that isn’t, everything that somehow steers from the given path even a little is discarded, shunned, and ultimately destroyed. But it’s rotten from inside. Because humans are imperfect. Maybe the system would work if we were more…. alike, more rational. But there’s too much individuality, too much emotions and differences between the people for the gear not to get clogged.

People seem to only have a choice between the 2 extremes.

Extreme Order is ugly. Sad. Colorless.

It’s the loss of the identity, of the ‘me’ to become a simple clog with no importance, no prospects, no beauty… No freewill. The worst is that they don’t even feel it, they’re ‘Happy and fulfilled’

Extreme Chaos is a contrary reaction to all this uniformity.

People loose themselves in the madness and ultimately just lose everything. Their families. Their values. Their future. Their lives. Maybe it’s the way to go, because before the endless turmoil and despair, there’s one glorious moment of freedom. It’s like a meteor entering the atmosphere. Isn’t it beautiful when it goes up in flames? Isn’t it warm? But then it just breaks up, sometimes killing and destroying in its death throes as it disintegrates for good.

There’s no middle ground.

But then again maybe I’m biased. I’ve always been feeling choked by my world. I feel so out of place there…. I prefer this plane. We’re true to ourselves there. At least I am. I can FEEL the pressure coming out when I let loose in your world. It balances me. I cannot do it in Dathum.”

“…. I see. Then it is it. The Trollking would also be? Haha. The wheel of fate is turning… and chaos has been dealt the better hand. I better keep this to myself… I know people who would try to interfere. It cannot be allowed.

Child… I learned things that I may not share with you, because even though there is mercy in being told the truth, there is no grace in having it fed to us. For it to be meaningful, you need to uncover the truth about yourself on your own. I will always be there to give you a push when you need one, but I won’t be spoiling your whole future because of curiosity.

Your future doesn’t belongs to you only, but you must build it on your own.

Things will go as they should, and in time you will understand everything. I know you do not like what I’m telling you, but it is the truth. You have to let go. Stop questioning everything and go with the flow. If you follow you instinct you will one day reach this balance that eludes you always. Then you will be what you were always meant to, and will finally be able to CHOOSE.

You’re not ready for the truth. Not yet”

“… Why so serious Davros? Haha. If it wasn’t for you munching on that cookie I would really think you were trying to bait me. No? Not working? Ara…. I must say that the atmosphere felt a little too heavy for me. I won’t insist because I know that sometimes we have reasons for keeping things to ourselves, but you’re being quite obscure here you know. It’s not like my fate matters to the world as whole.

My ‘learning’ when I’m ‘not ready yet’ won’t screw up the cosmic design ya know? ” She sighed “I still think I should have the right to know if it concern my future, but I guess I’ll take your opinion as matter of fact. You are wiser than me after all. I’m just a brat”

*Things are getting weird. Is the game trying to make him my shrink or something? Am I supposed to learn something from this discussion? Because I haven’t. It’s just… queer… why so serious? Unless my case is more severe than I thought? There won’t be a guy from the asylum waiting at home when I unlog will there? Naah… kif… stop the paranoia*

“You’re a new soul. Of course you’re a brat. More mature than most though.”

“So says my status window when it shows my race”

“So it does”

“… Whatever, mister enigmatic. I also levelled the turtle’s path quite a lot”

“Is it intermediate yet?”

“No”

“Then come back when it is so. There will be cookies waiting for you”

“Alright. I’ll be going then” His cookies were a wonderful bait

“See you child, see you. And blessed be. Blessed be”

“… I guess? You too”

She left

-----------xxx---------

Once again Alya tried to have a conversation with the absentee Danny, but he was nowhere to be seen. *What is he doing? I haven’t seen him for over a week. Has he moved out or something? Maybe I should contact his familia….*

It was time to go shopping. Winter was coming but she hadn’t enough warm clothes. When she moved out, her parents had given most of the clothes she had left to a charity. Lovely.

She would meet Kathy and Delhia at the mall. Maybe they would also talk about her lack of love-life. She wasn’t really looking forward to that. Somehow no men had ever interested her. Sure, she had made guys friends, but it had been superficial and she never got the ‘spark’, the ‘Zing’.

As it was she hadn’t dated anybody yet and her friends were despairing.

Well… you couldn’t truly yearn for something you hadn’t ever known or gotten a tate of… so she didn’t really feel lacking, just curious. Though, she had to admit that the complicity displayed by some couples made her wonder at what she could have one day.

Yes, the ice queen was considering trying her hand at romance.

-------- xxx --------

1 IRL week earlier

Alistair was in a very bad situation. He hadn’t been allowed to respawn. Judge Fei had asked for the philosopher’s stone but somehow he was cockblocked. Someone or something in the high spires of the Ouroboros court had forbidden it. The guy had then washed his hands off him saying that there was nothing he could do.

*Why? Why? Darius and my stupid sister got it done in a matter of hours. Have I offended a game master or something?*

“Actually you have” said Gen. He had appeared out of nowhere once again

“Huh? Who’re you? You can’t just bury me here you know! I have rights!’”

“Actually you don’t. As long as we don’t infringe on the basic human rights, your government won’t interfere. Your ‘having the right to respawn’ does not qualify. It would be an injustice for sure, but not illegal.

So yes, if I felt like it I could just let you rot here, in this place where time does not flow with any rationale. You’d be automatically unlogged after a while. But I won’t do this. Head honcho decided to give you a chance. I don’t understand why, you are obviously scum, but who am I to comment on his grand design?”

“Ah?“

“Not so sharp are you? Whatever. Let’s say that your behaviour has made somebody unhappy, and to amend for the would-be blackmail you’ll have to complete a quest for us. The reward would be respawn. Nice isn’t it?”

“I’ll sue you”

“Won’t work. You’d have no basis for it. Do you want the quest or not?”

“Fuck you!”

“Alright. I’ve set it so that your Ouroboros time ratio is the same as in the rest of the game, so 1:4. I’ve also deactivated the whisper function… You’ll be on your lonesome. You can roam LA’ATZU as a spirit to your heart contents. Don’t die though or you’ll be very sorry this time… I’ve made it a general policy not to talk to wraiths so it would be too bad if you became one.

You can obviously unlog whenever. Ask loudly for ‘Gen’ whenever you feel like doing the quest. Bye”

The guy had disappeared again.

*I won’t. You bastard... you’ll see*

……………..

Currently:

“Gen! Gen! Answer me damn you! Gen! Come out you little ***!”

“Well well well…. What do we have here? Is Douche-san insulting me? You do realize that you need me right? Have you had fun doing nothing for over a game month? Gets boring after a while doesn’t it? So… what do you want? I ain’t got time for your complaining if this is the point of your screaming your lungs out” His apparition had been instantaneous as usual.

“…. I’ll take your goddamn quest”

“Ooh… You will? That’s great! Ah well… no, not really. In fact I don’t give a flying fuck what you do, but hey? That’s the truth of the world… you’re a nobody and I’m just here because I was asked to. Here’s your quest by the way. Don’t bother me ever again or I’ll smite you. I’m a GOD you know” He waggled his eyebrows and went poof

Titring!

System notice: Atonement quest

Meditate and reach your own enlightenment

Once you understand your many wrongs and are truly sorry for it, then you’ll be allowed to respawn Aka graduate from the spoiled douchebag state.

That’s it! Gen out! *Wink!*

[Douchebag cursing] PROFANITY BLOCK!

…………..

Somewhere else, someplace else:

*Mouhahahahaha! He’s madder than ever! Entertaining! Even better than our last toy!” The laughing figure got serious then. “He will have to change though. That’s the only way I’ll allow him to stay at her side.”

******