{-Casrane-}

They wandered around Nafrius a little while longer, completing a few quests that she knew were worth doing. With what lay ahead, they could use the resources it gave them. It still wasn’t long, though, until they’d found their way out of the city and into the outskirts of Anthalas.

She didn’t want their entire trip to be made in silence. “Would you rather be in an empty room with your worst enemy or a normal room with a lot to do but no one to keep you company?”

“Why do you keep trying to ask us questions?” the Lord questioned from behind her. “We don’t know how to answer them.”

“You come up with your own answer,” she explained. “You don’t try to find something in your programming that tells you what to do—you listen to your heart.” She glanced over her shoulder at them to see them both having confused expressions.

It was up to her to explain it to them in the least confusing way possible. “You’re supposed to be the two descendants of Emmyth, the ones that help me along on this entire quest… but you don’t have to be just that. I know that you have the power to be something special, something no one expected you to be. I want to help you reach that point, so I’m helping you reach the first step—to think for yourself.”

“How… are we supposed to do that..?” the Lady asked, tilting her head.

“Well, what’s the code saying to you? What’s the overwhelming option that you can’t seem to ignore, no matter what you’re doing?”

“It’s telling me to talk about Anthalas,” the Lord said slowly. “Point out the flora and fauna… avoid all traces of having this conversation with you.”

Casrane, with every ounce of confidence, said, “Now do the exact opposite!”

That didn’t seem to help either of them.

“You’re only doing what you’re programmed to do. I want you to think deeper than what it feels like your only option is. Use your own head and go above and beyond what you’re expected to be.”

They both gave her words a moment of deep consideration before the Lady finally nodded and said, “Repeat your question.”

“Would you rather be in an empty room with your worst enemy or a normal room with a lot to do but no one to keep you company?”

“I’d rather be with an enemy,” the Lady replied thoughtfully. “It’s… better than being alone.”

The Lord also joined in after a bit of hesitation. “A normal room with no one there. People are annoying…” He paused. “What would you do, Casrane?”

She couldn’t help but smile at the fact that it was working, though it became a more tame one when she thought of the question. “I guess a normal room, too. It’s not too different from what I’m used to, after all.”

“Were you stuck in a temple all your life until now, too?” the Lady asked without much of a second thought.

Casrane, despite herself, let out a small laugh. “Not really. I’ve just spent a lot of my time alone.”

“You’re not alone now,” the Lord pointed out with a grin of his own. “To be honest, I still don’t understand most of this ‘listen to your heart’ stuff, but… I hope we’ll be able to do it better, to make you happy.” Still, it was going to be a long road ahead, as he still kept a decent distance from her and in a moment defaulted to prompting, “We should get moving. There’s someone we need to meet in Anthalas City.”

She tried to hide her disappointment when she nodded. It didn’t stop her, though, from trying to bring back the fragments of personality she’d just seen. “Would you rather ride a train across the continent or sail a boat around the world?”

“We haven’t been on either,” the Lady remarked. “I don’t know which one I’d rather do…”

“Trains can get bumpy, but they usually have amazing views. As long as everything goes according to plan, then it’s just sitting down and watching the world pass by. Boats always made me sick, but they’ve got good views, too; the endless ocean and, if you’re lucky, you might get to see some fish. Usually nothing bad happens, though if I’m being completely honest, I’m always afraid that something’s going to go wrong.” Casrane paused. “I think it’s pretty obvious which one of the two I’d prefer.”

“Whichever one has fewer people,” the Lord decided. “No matter where I am, I bet there’s something interesting to look at that doesn’t have a crowd around it…”

“A train seems nice,” the Lady said. “Do you think we’ll be able to try riding on one when we get to Anthalas City? According to Duuzlo, there’s just as much there as there is in Nafrius. I mean, I’ve never seen how many are in Nafrius, but it sounds like a lot.”

Casrane nodded. “We can definitely try, as long as it’ll let us all on. I think they mentioned something about using them for fast travel through the city…”

“You sound like you know a lot,” the Lord observed. “From what Duuzlo said about the hero, I would’ve expected us to be the smart ones when it came to how the world worked. You seem to know more than we do…”

“Okay, you’ve been able to handle everything so far so I don’t think this is going to hurt you.” She stopped walking and looked at them, though, just to make sure that she could watch their expressions. “You’re part of a game called Secrets of Masylm. The game’s going to be released in the next couple of weeks, so I’m supposed to be doing an overall test of it to make sure everything’s fine. It’s also why I want to help you guys be more than what you’re made to be—sure, this game is good, but it can be so much better if it unlocked its full potential. I know so much beforehand because my father—”

A loud, thundering noise interrupted what she was going to say. It brought her on edge, drawing attention to the place they’d stumbled into. Something seemed to shake the earth as it approached them, a low groaning sound getting louder as a warning of what was to come.

“What’s happening?” It was nearly impossible to tell whether the line itself was something the Lady was meant to say, but it held a certain amount of panic that the code just wouldn’t have allowed.

“Prepare for a fight,” Casrane instructed. “We’ve wandered into the lair of the beast. We’ll need to fight it before we can move on.”

“We’ve never done this before!” the Lord pointed out. “What are we supposed to do?”

Casrane, only with her knowledge of knowing how things were supposed to go, was able to stay calm. “Just listen to me. It’s going to appear any second and, when it does, it’s going to look terrifying, but don’t worry. Destroy its legs and it’ll leave a vulnerable spot for us to finish it off with.”

Faced with the uncertainty yet somewhat reassured by her level tone, the Lord and Lady both nodded.

The beast came into sight, large and intimidating; it bore the semblance of a dragon, yet the moaning noises could only be described as mechanical. It was the kind of thing that would give plenty of people nightmares… though she had to brace herself for the acknowledgment that it would later look much, much worse.

It, on account of being a “surprise” encounter, was able to attack first. It hit both the Lord and the Lady with two separate attacks, but it didn’t deal a lot of damage. Casrane knew to contribute it to the pendants they both wore.

Casrane took the lead in attacking back, striking one of its legs; the Lord and Lady followed her lead, the last hit dealing more than enough damage to make the leg collapse. Through the careful distribution of resources, they were able to finish it rather easily.

It finally collapsed with one last screech, looking to be more of a nightmarish creature now despite being unable to move.

“What do you think powered it?” the Lord wondered aloud, this she knew to be scripted.

She’d already walked up to it and began rummaging through the remains. She took out a metal plate with dozens of runes scribbled on it. “I think it’s this. When we get to Anthalas City, we’ll ask someone about it.”

The Lady, when she saw it, was about to say something too until she realized her line had already been taken. It was clear she had to think about what to do for a moment, before saying, “Do you think we can continue those questions? They’re actually pretty fun…”

Casrane smiled and nodded. “Definitely. You can ask some of your own, too—there’s not really any rules you have to follow, just do whatever comes to mind.”