In the late game zones, there’s a blasted land, ignited over and over with the fires of war that it no longer supports any stable flora. It’s been dry for so long, it’s become a full, mercury-colored wasteland that’s home to only the arid winds and the millions of corpses of the fallen. Of course, the designers of Dragon Scythe Online were not aware that they had made this area in the game, because they hadn’t.

“Do you see him?” Clark asks, crouched next to a pile of bones.

Ein’s silent as he peers through his rifle scope. “…No, but I know he’s close.”

Clark scoffs. “Gotta say, this game keeps impressing me. Making instances like this just for random PvP is pretty damn cool.”

Ein scoffs as well, but not for the same reason. “Right, just be on your guard, because if we don’t kill him here we won’t make it out alive.”

Clark hums as he looks along the landscape of bones and dunes. “This guy’s really that maniac?”

Ein nods as he continues his search. “You about PKers, right?”

“Player Killers like me? Sure.”

“You can consider him a PKK.”

“Wait, but isn’t he PvE focused?”

“That Hero player is. This untargetable is one of the original devs.”

“Jesus what a cheating bitch.”

“Yeah. He hates PKers so much he spends most of his free time just killing them. He almost quit once because…” Ein sighs. “Look, kid, I can’t really keep it up. I need to be honest with you.”

“What?”

“He’s not a developer.”

“Whoa, a hacker?”

“And neither am I.”

This causes Clark to glance over to Ein a moment before returning to the search. “…Okay.”

“I generally consider myself a fairly honest man. Lying is below me, and I deceived you because it made it easier to get you on board.”

“Cool, so everyone except me got the memo that this was a full-immersion roleplaying game. Awesome.”

Ein sighs again. “It’s not. I’m being for real, Clark.”

“Okay, how am I supposed to believe you?”

“Our target, Kell Inkston, he’s an analyst from another dimension. He’s been watching my association, the O.E.L., for thousands of years and has finally moved to stop us.”

Clark squints. “I said believe you. Say something that’ll make me believe you.”

“Look, if you could ask him, he could answer almost anything about your world.”

“So? If he’s from my world then he’d know all that-”

“About your personal life. Your favorite food, color, animal, you name it.”

Clark pauses a moment as he almost considers it — he shrugs. “…Alright, but there’s no way I can figure that out, so it’s kinda pointless you telling me this and all.”

Ein chuckles. “I got it off my chest, at least. What I’m saying, Clark, is that this is serious, because while your life might not be on the line, mine is.”

Clark rolls his eyes. “Well he doesn’t have his little zippy bitch thing so he shouldn’t be that bad.”

Ein shakes his head as he starts focusing his scope intently at a single spot only fifty meters away. “He’s not an analyst from his association anymore. He no longer watches dimensions and catalogs happenstances. He’s a runaway; and he stole that ‘zippy thing’ and his cloak from his boss. These people are big on starting fights, Clark, but they sure as hell know how to finish them. This is unprecedented, the O.E.L. has never faced a creature like one of Kell’s.”

Clark sighs, really starting to tire of Ein’s cheesy fanfic garbage. “Whoa cool. So what do you call these guys? Does he have an invincibility shield?”

“Yes,” Clark says without humor.

Clark chuckles. “Wait, really?”

“Yes, we’ve been able to ‘kill’ Kell a few times, but so long as the ‘narrative’ continues he can just write himself back in.”

Finally, Ein says something so outlandish, that Clark actually begins to seriously consider it. “…Write himself back in?”

“Yes. His race… his species are… from what we understand they’re sentient knowledge. Like media that has a mind of its own. We actually have to completely stop the events of the story for him to actually die, and it’s much easier said than done, just ‘canceling’ a narrative, especially with multiple main characters. As long as there’s an event he would naturally be assigned to, he’s almost god-like when it comes to the events surrounding it.”

Clark stares at the same spot Ein is aiming down. “What… what the fuck?”

“Trust me. Our reaction was the same… I think that’s him.”

Clark focuses in on the nearby hill. “Yeah. But he doesn’t have any range, so we have a distinct advantage. Also we have the element of surprise.” Clark grins cruelly. “Maybe once we tear off both his arms and interrogate him, we ca-”

“Night-Winter, exhume!” Cries the voice of Kell from behind the nearby pile of bones.

Without warning, a horrific, black entity smashed up from below the two’s feet. It’s Kell’s cloak, minus Kell and moving entirely on its own volition.

“Holy Shi-”

“Get down!” Ein tackles Clark out of the way just as the cloak, shaped to a point and with the hardness of a rock, smashes down at them with the speed of a crash. The two tumble across the bone-scape, only for them both to regain their feet as the cloak tears for them like a shambling horror.