‘Excuse me, sir!’

I whirled to see a young girl, barely taller than my waist, tugging on my white robes and pointing towards a building that was only lightly smoldering instead of actually being on fire. ‘Can you help mummy?’

‘In a minute. Got some killing to do.’ I turned back to the action.

‘But sir, she won’t last long without your help.’

I shifted on the balls of my feet, unease rippling through me. Was the girl an evil morale sucking beast, or my conscience. Koif seemed to have things under control and could hold these guys off while I did a quick side quest. Also, I had to admit, the child was really working the helpless puppy angle.

‘I’ll help you. Take me to her.’

The girl dashed across the dusty track to the small house and pointed inside. I followed quickly, wanting to help her, but also not wanting to let Koif down. As I followed, I noticed what at first seemed to be a large burn trailing down her back, but on closer inspection was actually a tattoo in the shape of an otherworldly looking tentacle, spiralling towards the centre of her spine and into a hexagon of some kind – but with the rest covered by her clothes, I couldn’t make out the full symbol. Odd customs in these areas, to tattoo a child.

I stepped inside the house and saw what must have been the little girl’s mother. She was slumped in the far corner of the single room house, hand clutching her leg.

‘The Pristine Guard?’ the mother asked, hope rising in her voice. ‘I thought I was done for, but you’ve come to save me!’

‘Umm, yeah, that’s what we do. How can I help, madam?’

‘One of those brutes cut my leg, and I can’t walk, not even to escape this burning house.’

‘Okay, I’ll carry you outside to make sure you’re safe for now, finish liberating the village, then tend to your wounds. Sound good?’

The woman looked a bit perturbed at my simple statement of facts. ‘But sir, I’m not sure I can be moved. Do you not have a healer?’

We did not have a healer, that much I knew. I definitely didn’t want to fail this quest by having the woman bleed out if I moved her or burn to death if I left her.

‘Oh! Yes, I just picked up a damp bandage. I can wrap your wound, then move you. Okay?’

She nodded her assent. ‘I believe that will work, sir.’

I moved over to her and inspected her leg. She was right, had I moved her she wouldn’t have lasted long. She really undersold the wound when she said, “Those brutes cut my leg”. It was practically hanging off at the thigh, and she would be dead in a minute. Luckily for me, I had the option to apply the bandage to the wound, as I had no idea how to actually treat something this severe. My hands began their work, tightening the bandage as a tourniquet. The leg was already lost, so I tightened it as much as I could. After I was finished, I tried to hide my worry from the woman’s face.

‘Don’t worry,’ she whispered. ‘I know, but don’t tell the little one.’

I looked back at the little girl, standing shyly behind a chair. ‘No, of course.’

With what little I could do done, I picked the woman up and carried her out of the room, resting her between two buildings, hopefully safe from any spreading flames. The little girl stood by her, confused and trying awfully hard to hold back tears. The movement had worn the woman out, and she was breathing heavily, unable to speak.

To the side of my vision, a blue number appeared. “20”. It then rolled up until it stopped on “50”.

The woman had just enough breath left to mutter, ‘That’s your experience. Well done, sir.’ Then she passed out.

I must have missed the first times I’d received experience. Learning new things and killing ransackers had provided minimal exp, but completing this quest had more than doubled everything I did before. Okay, quest completion is the key to levelling! Good to know.

I looked at the small child and didn’t know what to do. ‘Stay here. I’ll come back for you, okay?’

She nodded between sniffles and stroked her mother’s hair.

I turned, wanting to get back to the fight, a sudden anger bubbling forth from me at what these enemies had done. I’d make them pay.

Uh oh. Apparently, Koif wasn’t quite as indestructible as I’d thought, as he was now on his knees, the ransacker boss’ wicked sword against his throat.

‘Severo, where were you? You left us in the heat of battle!’

The ransacker boss punched Koif in the side of the head and called out across the square. ‘This is what the Pristine Guard has come to, eh?’

People around here seemed to have an awfully high regard for this organisation I was a part of, yet it was my first day in the game. I sized up the boss. He was easily a head taller than any other pillager I’d seen so far and wore leather armour instead of ragged cloth.

So, what, he’d take two Shadowbolts to kill? I was pretty sure I could get a few off before he could close the distance between us, even if I missed one or two. But even if a single Shadowbolt would kill him, I wouldn’t be quick enough to save Koif. Yeah, he was just an NPC, but the AI they’d given him was great. I’m not saying we’d be best friends, but at the same time I didn’t want him to die. What else could I do?

‘You’re right. This is what the Pristine Guard has become. It only took four of us to liberate this village. Four against twelve. So, are you worth three of your men?’

The boss laughed. ‘Easily! These maggots were nothing. Recruits cutting their teeth. It took four of you, but I could have done it single handedly!’

I was really hoping that was a bluff, because otherwise I was about to be real dead. ‘Don’t worry, I wouldn’t expect scum like you to tell the truth. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll give you this one chance. Hurt no one else, and I’ll let you leave with your life.’

‘Are you stupid? I’m not afraid of one Pristine Guard.’

I began walking towards the boss, slowly closing the gulf between us. ‘You need to learn to count. I don’t see a single Pristine Guard.’

‘This one’s about to be dead, but sure, you can count him if you want to, fool.’

‘So narrow minded. Look around you. Your men are dead. It’s not me against you.’ I pointed to the group of still cowering villagers. ‘It’s you against the entire village.’

The boss’ facade cracked for a moment as he did the mental gymnastics to see if he could kill everyone.

‘These weaklings?’ He put his mean face back on. ‘Ha! Look at them. They won’t even stand up to run away and save themselves, but you think they will fight for you?’

I didn’t know if there was a bluff skill in this game, or a charisma statistic, but right now I really hoped I was reading the situation right. I was channeling my inner Daniel from that first day we’d met and he’d saved me with nothing but words. ‘For me? Of course not. But for themselves? For their families? For their homes? How could they not? Everyone, listen to me!’ This was either going to end in a lot of laughs in the tavern tonight, or me finding out how dying in the game feels. Oh, and a lot of awkwardness right before that death. ‘Every man, woman, and child that stands and fights by my side is a member of the Pristine Guard. We’re not a uniform, we’re an ideal, and you can be that ideal. So stand. Stand and fight and liberate yourselves from oppression!’

And holy shit they fell for it. I must have rolled a crit, because the villagers changed from the scared mass of patheticness they had been, all the way to picking up stones or even clumps of mud, ready to do battle. All in the time it had taken me to improv that speech. I didn’t even know what the Pristine Guard were. Total guess. So damn awesome!

The boss took a step back, dragging Koif with him, but he’d made a mistake. He’d pointed his sword at the villagers, threatening them back into submission. ‘Back on your knees, dogs!’

I pointed at him with my right hand, taking careful aim. He didn’t see the darkness of Shadowbolt jumping between my hands, and he didn’t see it flying towards him. He did, however, feel it. As Shadowbolt slammed into his head, I saw the number bounce away from the fallen boss. “56”. My first crit. Glorious.

To my surprise, he wasn’t dead. He managed to prop himself up on an elbow and look at me. He managed to mouth a silent curse before the mob of villagers descended upon him. A few seconds later, and a blue number appeared to the side of my vision. Good to know I didn’t need to get the last hit to count the kill as mine.

Koif scrambled away from the mob of villagers and I made my way over to him.

‘Are you okay?’

He got to his feet, rubbing his neck. ‘I am. Somehow. Most heroes don’t save me.’

Okay, he’d broken character so many times, I had to see how much I could push it. How would the AI hold up?

‘Don’t save you?’

He nodded. ‘Don’t get me wrong, most heroes also actually stay with me in the fight. That was a terrible decision, by the way. But yes, once the boss has me, I rarely survive.’

‘So, this happens to you a lot?’

‘Of course. I’m the tutorial NPC.’

‘Aaaand you know what an NPC is? And a tutorial? And I’m guessing that you respawn?’

He turned away from me for a moment, but I was pretty sure he was rolling his eyes. ‘Yes. I’m a non-player character. You’re a player. A real person, with a life outside this game. I’m guiding you through this tutorial so that you don’t screw up and instantly lose all your valuables when you get set loose upon Tulgatha.’ He held up a hand to stop my next question. ‘Yes, all of the NPCs know you’re a player, this isn’t limited to some fourth wall breaking in the tutorial. We are real AI that change and evolve over time. NPCs take a week to respawn, and there can be permanent changes depending on how we die, but usually we’re fine. Mobs like the pillagers you just killed have variable respawn timers based on their location and power. Players respawn… well, you’ll see. Speaking of which, my apologies.’

‘That all seems really weird. I mean, it’s hardly immersive if you all know… everything you just said. And apologies for what?’

‘Actually, it’s even more immersive, you’ll see. Total separation of the real world and Tulgatha led to a lot of issues. So, in the first major content patch, they integrated the two. That had its own issues, but nothing’s perfect.’

A voice from behind me, soft and high-pitched. ‘Are you done, Captain?’

Koif waved his hand, signalling for the newcomer to proceed. I turned to see who it was. The little girl whose mother I’d just saved.

I bent down a little to get closer to her eye level and spoke softly. ‘Hello. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget my promise about returning for you. Are you okay?’

She glanced at Koif before answering me. ‘You have proven lucky, warlock. Most find saving my mother a sacrifice and lose the good Captain in the boss battle. You’ve come out on top. Although it does leave you with an awkward choice to make.’

I was confused as all hell. ‘Umm, what’s the choice?’

‘Me or the Captain.’

‘Why would that be a choice? Koif doesn’t want to hurt you.’

‘Actually, Severo, I do. The little imp is right. It’s me or her.’ Koif stood next to the little girl, both of them facing me. ‘She’s evil. Everything the Pristine Guard stands against.’

‘I’m not evil. I harness our enemy's power against them. I fight fire with fire. As should any warlock worth his salt.’

‘She would kill innocents if they got in her way. The people need to be protected from the what she fights, and from her. She is blind to her own corruption, and we must put her down like the dog that she is.’

‘If a few must sacrifice themselves for the good of the many, then yes, I’ll make that choice, and I’ll stand by what I’m forced to do!’

I held my hands up. ‘Woah, woah. Both of you just calm down.’

So, the little girl was far more than she appeared to be. Koif seemed on the level. Yet he was advocating killing this little girl. A little girl that I’d just saved. However, the little girl did, now, seem a touch insane.

‘We don’t have all day,’ the girl said. ‘Side with one of us, and let’s get out of this damned village.’

‘I can’t… I don’t know enough to make this decision. What do you stand for? What are your goals? I don’t really know.’

Koif drew his sword. ‘Then go with your instinct. I can tell you have a pure heart, Severo. Join me and wipe this stain from the world. You can’t understand this yet but trust me. I am only trying to help you here. Wake you up.’

‘I’m not killing a little girl, Koif, and I won’t let you hurt her either.’

A little blue number rolled up in the side of my vision. I’d received experience. For completing a quest. With those words, I’d made my choice, and I hadn’t even realised it.

‘It was inevitable. This is what I apologised for.’ Koif dashed forward, knocking me down with his shield, shattering my Shadow Skin, leaving me defenceless. I didn’t even have time to think about what to do before Koif’s sword drove into my skull, turning my vision black.