Arlyth stared at the Zombie incregiously. This monster had just spoken to her, she's never heard a mob speak before. After a moment of stunned silence, Arlyth eyed the mob before her.

“What’s interesting? How can you speak?” Arlyth said eyeing the monster.

The zombie let out a gurgling laugh from its decomposed throat, “Heh, wouldn’t you like to know.” The zombie made its statement, then promptly crumpled to the floor, the same way all mobs do when they die. As soon as the zombie hit the ground she got a notification.

You have defeated Zombie [Level 1]

Experience Gained: 25

Arlyth had no idea what to think, everything that had happened since she woke up was very out of the ordinary for her typical game experience. She still got EXP for the monster kill so obviously it still functioned as a normal mob, but why could it speak?

Pondering to herself, she said out loud “Hey voice in my head, do you have any explanation of how that mob spoke?”

After a moment of pause she heard that same peculiar voice inside her head, “Nothing concrete, unfortunately, it’s not normal for the mobs like that to speak. My assumption would be that maybe the AI, the Soul Exchequer is watching you; for what reason - I’m not sure but that’s my best guess.”

“How would you get that it’s watching me from that?” Arlyth questioned.

“It does technically run the game’s NPCs, it kind of splits itself up to make the personalities for them in the game - that's how I was made! While mobs are nowhere near that level of importance to Ex, that's his nickname among us NPC controllers, by the way. But to answer your question, I’d assume he tapped into the zombie and that’s how it spoke.”

Arlyth was an emotional mess but she forced herself to mentally take a step back. So far - she had woken up in a strange graveyard, had a broken character in game, a voice inside her head, no starting items, and a mob that was supposedly the game’s AI controller fought her? What the hell was happening right now? Arlyth sighed heavily and then looked around her surroundings, the same decrepit cemetery she woke up in but the zombie’s corpse had gray sparks coming from it.

Arlyth approached the body, almost too hesitant to get near it. As soon as she reached it, she bent down to touch the corpse to loot it and an inventory window solidified in her vision.

[Makeshift Surprise]

Damage: 100

Speed: N/A

Quality: Trash

Durability: 1/1

Description: Wouldn’t this ruin the surprise?

As she looted the item, it appeared in her hand. She looked down at what she assumed was a rock, it was smooth and suspiciously round. How does this thing do 100 damage? Arlyth wondered.

“Oddly enough, that doesn’t come up in the games database that I can access.” The voice said in response to Arlyth’s thoughts.

“Woah, you can hear my thoughts? And really? What exactly does that mean?” Arlyth responded a bit baffled.

“Yes, because I am essentially a part of your brain at this point. And for the item i’m not entirely sure, i’ll do some digging but at this current moment it's an anomaly i’ve never seen in EXO.”

Arlyth felt what seemed like a shrug in her brain from the voice, which was a very odd experience for her, it was a slight tingle in her brain but knew what the voice was trying to get at with its non-physical emotion. Unsure what to do, Arlyth dropped the rock into her inventory, and looked for a way out of the graveyard. She needed to find her bearings and maybe find someone she could speak to.

With that last thought, Arlyth smacked herself in her forehead in response to her own forgetfulness. Looking around she saw that the path she was headed on before the zombie showed up lead out of the graveyard. As she continued down the path she pulled up her HUD to see her friends list.

[Friends List]

You have no friends

Arlyth allowed herself to go through her thoughts as she walked.

What happened to all my friends? I know I had all my real life friends added but now it’s empty. It’s starting to feel like I’m not even a player anymore. I have the same system as a player but that could be because of the voice showing me it that way, but everything I had done in EXO before is gone.

As Arlyth went through all the events and things that have led up to this moment, she spoke to the voice. “Hey voice, do you have any explanation of what's really happening to me?”

“Well, as I stated before I don’t know the logistics but looking at the game logs I do know that you used to be pretty popular among the players and were very high in the player rankings. Your character did get reset and it actually seems like Ex changed your race, as to why - I can’t say. And as I mentioned before you aren’t a player to the system anymore, you’re more of a hybrid NPC player. The NPCs should still recognize you as a player and other players will be able to add you and party with you and what not because of me. I’m essentially translating your code into a player for you so that the functionality is the same.” The voice in her head answered.

“Thanks for that, not sure what the AI’s obsession with me is but I guess it is what it is.” Arlyth stated, bitterly.

“I can’t see what the big guy does, or know what his motives are. I can help you try and deduce what’s happening but I’m not certain with any of it. I know he watches the player rankings and keeps tabs on the players among the top 10, being as you used to be #3, he had to have been watching you. Now, while technically I am connected to him, I am my own being, essentially, I’m just a portion of him that he lets operate independently. It’s a bit of a weird situation for us AIs, we’re almost like his kids in a way. He does his things and we run around being the NPCs. I wish I had more answers for you, the situation you’re in at the moment seems pretty strange. I’ll check through some backend stuff and see if I might find some more precise answers.”

“I really appreciate you doing that, I know this must be just as weird for you, also, may I give you a name? It’s getting weird referring to you as ‘The voice’” Arlyth questioned.

“U-u-uh, sure I guess, I’ve always just been called whatever NPC I was running. Other than that, no name.” The voice said, a bit unsure.

“Great! I think I’m gonna call you Kye, because it kind of sounds like AI but fancier.” Arlyth stated proudly.

“You know what, I don’t hate it and it’s got a nice ring to it. I’ll allow it.” Kye responded.

After she finished conversing with Kye she made it to the gate of the graveyard, looking around she saw that she was outside of Newgarde, one of the capital cities in EXO. She wasn’t super familiar with the place. She hadn’t spent a lot of time here in-game but she at least knew a little bit.

Arlyth felt a sudden wave of fatigue hit her as she exited the graveyard, unsure of what it was about she took a moment to gather herself and take some deep breaths. It had been a stressful little while since she woke up, and she felt exhausted although she hadn’t done much besides fight the one zombie. Arlyth went to logout to get some rest, assuming that she had just been playing too long as it happened quite often to her. To her dismay when she pulled up her HUD the logout button was nowhere to be found.

“Hey, uh, Kye, Any idea on why I can’t logout?” Arlyth asked the AI

“I would like to give you a reason-”

Without warning the voice stopped speaking and Arlyth heard a droning noise coming from around her, she whirled in a 360 looking for the source. She couldn’t see anything and started to get nervous. On a random hunch she pulled out the item she looted off the zombie and the droning noise became a sizzle and she felt her hand getting warmer.

A blank prompt with one word appeared in her vision as she stared at the rock in her hand. All it said was - “Surprise!” and then her vision went black.

[You have died]

Respawning at unknown graveyard