After exiting the ga, I just sat for a few seconds, before laughter bubbled up within . Dying for the first ti, not in so epic battle or fighting against impossible odds, but because a magical experint gone awry. It was so strangely fitting, I could only laugh at it.
Shaking my head, I decided to do what every good scientist would do after an experint had wholly unexpected side-effects, naly look at the data. In this case, a lot of data was lost or locked behind that countdown, but I could take a look at the recordings, hoping to find sothing of interest.
What I found was what I should have expected, naly what my Avatar, the body, had done. I could see the incision I had made into Ylva’s pelt, I could see myself placing my hand on the rune, and I could watch for a minute while nothing happened. After that minute, I could hear Sigmir exclaim in surprise and shortly after that, the cara circled my body once, while my Avatar faded into the black particles, leaving behind a distressed looking Lenore.
One thing of interest was visible, naly that Ylva started to glow in a curious mixture of silver and gold, but it was only on a few fras at the end of the video, giving very little to go on, at least not until I was able to return to Mundus.
Before logging out of the capsule, I did my due-diligence, compiling the events into a bug-report and filing it in the appropriate system. While I was almost certain that I didn’t die due to a bug, it might have been one, so reporting it felt like the right thing to do. Once that was done, I logged out, still not certain what to do with myself.
Shaking my head again, I decided to make the best I could of the sudden, enforced vacation from Mundus and take care of a few chores I had postponed before. One of those chores was to send Chris a ssage, like he had asked when we had last t, sothing about getting another coffee one of these days. While I wasn’t quite certain what he wanted to talk about, he seed to have moved on with his life, my mother had taught that friendships needed a certain ti-investnt if you wanted to remain friends. Chris and I hadn’t seen each other for a few years, so maybe we just needed to invest so more ti into our friendship, or sothing like that. If nothing else, the fact that his job and my nominal job as an accountant were in similar fields might give us sothing to talk about.
After sending the ssage to him, I went about my appartent, doing those pesky chores that always fell by the wayside, things like cleaning the windows, dusting on the cupboards. None of the chores were urgent but at the sa ti, I had to do them at so point, or they would still be on my to-do list by the ti the life-version ca out.
I hadn’t even managed to clean one of the windows, when my mobile-phone chirped to tell I had a reply, making realise that Chris likely had received my ssage during his coffee-break, as it was roughly the right ti. His ssage was short and to the point, suggesting a eting in the afternoon, at a coffee-shop near his work-place. While it was a bit of a surprise that he actually had ti on such short notice, I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially not when I had ti to kill anyway.
By the ti I had to get ready, I had managed to do the piled-up chores and even had so extra ti to read on the forums, though there wasn’t a lot of interesting information to be found. Life on Mundus was going on as usual, despite the fact that I had died for the first ti. There was a wry smile on my lips as I realised just how arrogant that thought was, but at the sa ti, the only being that had managed to kill , had been myself. That had to count for sothing.
Dressed in one of my professional-looking pant-suits and a dark coat, I wouldn’t look out of place, which was always sothing to strive for. While I didn’t mind standing out when within a computer-ga or generally on the Internet, I disliked being stared at. It was uncomfortable enough with my diminutive physique, making appear to be a child at tis so professional dress when in social situations made more comfortable.
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Curiously, Chris and I got to the coffee-shop at the sa ti, with him holding the door for . It brought a smile on my face, that actions of decorum Mrs. Wu and my mother had told about were used so naturally by Chris, despite the, at tis, rough way he had been as a teenager. Maybe people actually did grow up, which made wonder about myself. Had I changed, and if so, in what way? It was difficult to tell from the inside how my subconscious actions had changed, and if so, for what reason.
After shaking off my weird, pensive mood, more suitable for Mundus and the introspective nature of my magical studies, I focused on the world around as we went through the motions of ordering.
His order, so hideously complicated drink I would need a manual to make, with a mixture of soy and half-fat milk, only to add so sugary syrup afterwards, amused to no end, especially given that he had used to take his coffee black, without adding anything. It must have been a relatively usual concoction, as they easily took his order, while my simple, green tea needed to be confird twice.
“So, how have you been?” he asked, once we were seated at one of the corner tables. As I answered his question with the aningless platitudes he undoubtedly expected, I realised that I had fallen back on the training with Mrs. Wu. I was sitting with my back to the corner, close to the employee-only door, able to easily see the entrance and counter, just like she had taught to. Similarly, my reply was performative to the extre, without giving any information of substance, but the idea of talking about Mundus and Road to Purgatory felt strangely alien to , especially when sitting in a coffee-shop, wearing professional clothes. As if that talk belonged to another world, maybe another ti. Back, when we had been teenagers, I wouldn’t have thought twice about talking about the latest Craft of War changes. Maybe that was proof that I had actually changed.
Luckily, while I had very little to add to the conversation beyond aningless platitudes, my own professional activities limited to keeping my certification active, Chris seed to be content to tell all about a rger he and his colleagues were working on.
Personally, I hardly cared, but it was interesting to practise Mrs. Wu’s lessons, trying to spot when he was embellishing his role and when he was genuine. It gave sothing to do, while nodding along to his tale and certainly kept my mind occupied. Still, as I listened, I began to wonder if renewing a friendship was worth it, if there seed to be nothing we still had in common.
“Say, have you thought about what you are going to do in the future?” he asked, after his story about the rger wound down. It caught a little by surprise, so I rely shook my head while taking another sip of my tea.
“After we t, I looked Craft of War up, for old tis and all that, you know? Wouldn’t now, after leaving the old team, be a good ti to make a new start? To do sothing respectable and professional, maybe even look to start a family?” he continued, making freeze for a mont.
“There are so things in the works.” I replied, trying to give a professional reply without making it obvious that I was playing for ti to think.
“Why do you ask?” I brought the question back to him, my mind looking for a fitting reply. The problem was, I didn’t really have one. While a part of wanted to sink myself into Road to Purgatory, to delve into the deepest of its mysteries, was that a viable long-term plan? Especially if there was the always-present possibility that there would be no Sigmir in the official release?
“Just the other day, I talked to one of my colleagues, and there might be a position at the bank for soone of your qualifications. You did keep your license active, as we discussed during University, right?” he explained, and I found myself nodding along, not agreeing but simply showing that I listened, while my mind was churning.
“As I said, there are things in the work. But I’d like to think about it, if that is no problem?” I suggested, getting a nod in response.
“Great. Why don’t we et again, soon? I’m afraid I’ll have to get back to work.” After getting a nod, he quickly emptied his coffee and got up, while I was still sitting there, until I realised that my tea had gone cold.
He certainly had given sothing to think about.
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