The Fool's Freedom

Alan slept well. He dreamed of his grandmother, who would feed him until he was full and stroke his hair until he fell asleep, and his grandfather who told him stories as they sat on the porch in the little village that was their home. The time spent with them was the greatest part of his life, and his parents didn’t dare to act as they did the rest of the time. It had been a long time since he felt that safe.

He gently opened his eyes, feeling rested. There were no windows in the room and the only light came from the single flickering candlestone so he couldn’t tell what time it was. He stood up and looked towards Florence, but she was gone. When had that happened?

Alan stood up and stretched. His stomach rumbled and he was thirsty. This new way of living had screwed up his habits. Eating was now more of a thing that he was reminded of when hunger came, and not a set activity. It seemed to be working out just fine as each day he felt better and more in control of his new body and attributes.

He heard voices in the main room of Walter’s dwelling and pushed the curtain aside, focusing on the smell of roasting meat. Florence and Ashlyn were sitting on a newly acquired table and chairs, eating cut-up fruit and talking. Alan tensed, but Ashlyn seemed to be less cold and violent than he had expected. That was good.

“Hey, girls. What’s for breakfast?” he asked and strolled confidently into the room, almost running into a barrel of fresh water.

“Your ego,” Ashlyn replied, and Florence chuckled.

“Fair enough. How are you doing Flo…rence?” he asked.

“Very well, thank you. Ashlyn said you fed me your last one. I heard it was your last. I will repay you, I promise.”

“No need. The way I see it I owe you, plus we are friends, right? Gotta look out for each other.”

Florence and Ashlyn looked at each other, almost as if they knew something he didn’t. Alan didn’t care as he sat on the spare chair and grabbed a handful of the fruit on the table, chomping down without restraint. This was not the rose apple he knew, instead, it looked like a blackberry with the proportions of an orange. It was easy to eat and quite delicious, with a sweet and sour tropical taste.

“This is amazing!” he almost spat out as he took another one.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” Ashlyn scolded and stood up to cut a piece of meat. It took her seconds to return with a large wooden plate filled to the brim with meat.

“Thanks, ma’,” Alan said and she gently slapped him on the back of the head.

Florence watched the exchange with a smile. She took deep breaths from time to time, looking uncomfortable, but quickly hid it.

“What is the matter?” Ashlyn asked while Alan was stuffing his mouth.

“Is it that obvious?” Florence grimaced, “Well… apart from what I already shared, I am struggling with my powers. Reigning in the constant need to feel the emotional state of everyone around is hard. Since I chose my class I have this urge… it’s hard to describe.”

Ashlyn nodded, “I get you. I just want to run among the trees and chase prey. This place is nowhere near the city we used to live in and it still feels suffocating. I can’t wait to get out there.”

“Fuck, thinking about our classes changing us is terrifying. Do you think we will lose ourselves and become mere reflections of the Class we picked?”

Alan swallowed and waved the piece of meat in his hand, “The way I see it, change is great. So what if you get strange urges? The Class is simply the path you picked to follow, your path. If it’s wrong or right it doesn’t matter. Simply do what you want and if you think you are going too far, stop.”

“Easy for you to say. Your class seems to have simply empowered what was already there, making you even more you,” Ashlyn said, and tried to dodge a piece of fat that had flown off Alan’s hand, “Can you stop waving that?”

“Look, you are still you, only more. You, Ash, have always sought out freedom and personal strength. Your parents dictated a lot of your choices, your job, who you can date. Remember when they tried to stop you from exercising because it would stop you from getting a good husband if you got too bulky? Fuck that. What you were back on earth was only the beta version. Here you can kickass, hunt, and bag a hot elven girlfriend or two. And who will stop you if you are strong enough?” Alan said and took another bite of meat. It was so good.

“And you Florence, don’t tell me the sweet helpful girl that tolerated everyone’s bullshit is who you are? In your case what is strengthened is the desire to control the environment around you so you can feel safe. You gotta find what you want to be, and then the skills and the class will follow. I’ve been told multiple times that we shouldn’t lose sight of who we are. I am cynical, sarcastic, and a bit arrogant, and I think I might have a slight problem with authority. So what? If I had met Cole in the past I would use my health issues as a shield to be an asshole. Now I can use my strength! Just be you and slowly remove the parts you don’t like. This place is all about finding a path and following it until you are the strongest.”

The two girls stared at him in silence while he took another piece of meat. Alan couldn’t get enough and he could almost swear he felt the energy rushing through his muscles. The digestion boost was working overtime as he gorged on more and more fruit and meat.

“Goddamn, who are you?” Ashlyn finally said, and Alan looked at her in surprise, “Do you have a skill that makes your bullshit more convincing or something?”

“I feel better, thanks Alan,” Florence added and smiled sweetly. The apocalypse had done little to reduce her charm, even if her clothes were dirty and tattered and she looked like she hadn’t had a cleanse in… a while.

Alan blinked and looked away. On second thought, the state of the clothes might just boost her charm to dangerous levels.

“You are welcome. See, Ash? A little bit of thanks goes a long way.”

“Right.”

The two chatted a bit more until Alan was finally full, having decimated most of the fruit and a quarter of the boar, to the surprise of the two women.

“So, wanna share your story now?” he asked while rubbing his full stomach.

“Well… short story is that while me and Davis were out leveling, we went a bit too far and got chased into a dungeon.”

Alan stared at her, “Say that again?”

“We were out lev-,”

“No, no! You said dungeon! Like an actual dungeon, you fight stuff and win rewards, not the sex or Spanish Inquisition thing, right?”

“Yes, Alan. She means a dungeon like the ones in the RPGs.”

Alan stood up, making the chair scrape across the bare concrete beneath, “Well fuck me, let’s go!”

“Hold your horses,” Ashlyn pulled him back down with enough strength to make him sit.

“But it’s a dungeon! Wait, is Davis dead? Did he die in the dungeon?”

Florence looked down at a piece of fruit and started playing absentmindedly with it, “I don’t know. The last I saw him he was pocked full of arrows and they were tying him up. It was easy at the start – in the dungeon, there were some gremlin-like things reminiscent of the tutorial imps that took me almost no effort to subdue with Davis. Then it became much worse, but we managed to flee and exit the dungeon.”

Florence hit the piece of fruit with her fingers and it rolled off the table, “They took us outside. At first, I was frozen, thinking we were being assaulted by elves, with their very long pointed ears, pale skin, sharp teeth.”

“Elves don’t have sharp teeth,” Alan blurted out and Ashlyn kicked his boot under the table.

“Yeah,” Florence nodded. “They had weapons and armor similar in make to Ashlyn’s, and all looked strong and tough. I managed to frighten them with my skill, giving us a chance to try and escape, but they shook off the effect quickly and chased us down. I made Davis fight and slow them down.

Florence paused and looked at the two of them. Ashlyn looked like she was already familiar with the story, but Alan didn’t know what to think. Florence’s abilities were to say the least very intrusive and fucked and using humans as shields was generally quite the evil thing to do.

Could he judge her considering he had executed humans and was even holding one of his victim’s shirts in his pocket space as a spare? He didn’t even need it, considering the trading system was right there and offered good clothes that didn’t come from people he had recently murdered in cold blood.

I should throw that out.

Good and evil, oh well. Davis had been an alright guy, but Alan didn’t get attached easily. If they were back on Earth, he would probably admonish Florence for her actions and manipulations, but that time was over. It was survival of the fittest now.

And it’s not like he hadn’t asked her to do something similar before, only to him.

“Alright, so those sharp-toothed elves took Davis, and you somehow managed to escape?” Alan asked. This part didn’t make sense.

Florence nodded, “I have a skill that masks every last trace of my presence, as long as I don’t move fast. Smell, sound, emotions… everything but the visuals. I have this for that part.” She produced a small ring that looked like it could go on her pinky. It was made of smooth gold and featureless.

Alan almost stood up again and screamed, but Ashlyn pinned him down with a single hand, “It’s not the one, believe me,” Ashlyn blushed a little, “I reacted the same way.”

Alan deflated but there was still hope with both elves and rings popping up randomly. He looked around for a dwarf and pouted.

“Anyways,” Florence continued with a smile politely ignoring Alan’s reaction, “It doesn’t make me invisible.”

“Aw, fuck.”

“It simply makes me harder to see and blend with the environment. It’s my enchanted item from the quest.”

Alan quickly made his precious monocle materialize in his hand in a flurry of tiny shadows, making the girls jump back in surprise, then lifted it to look at the ring.

Golden Ring (Blending)

“Amazing. Almost as cool as my enchanted boots.”

“What’s up with the shadowy stuff?” Ashlyn asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

“And how can those beaten-up boots be enchanted?” Florence joined in.

“I got new tricks, and the boots are the best item in existence. They are enchanted for… wait for it… comfort! It’s a pair of magically comfortable boots! They are amazing!” Alan stared lovingly at his feet for a few seconds, then looked up, “Want to try them on?”

“I don’t want to wear your stinky boots, dude.”

“No, thank you.”

Alan shrugged, “Your loss.”

With another flash of shadows, the monocle was gone, and so was a large piece of meat. A few seconds later the meat appeared in his hand. It was still the same and smelled the same. He would need to try it for longer, though, to make sense of how his space would affect food and water and how much stuff he could put into it.

“What’s your item, Ash? You never told me!”

She shrugged, “Indestructible cloak. So, are we going dungeon delving or to save Davis?”

Alan gaped for a few seconds, then frowned. Both would be ideal, but morally prioritizing Davis was a no-brainer. Yeah, he wasn’t attached to the guy but if there was a chance, he was alive it would be a weight off of Florence’s shoulders and a new great addition to their team. It didn’t seem that likely though. They were in a new world, with danger all around, and sharp-toothed elves sounded like just another horror take by the System.

When did I become so self-centered? Was I always like this?

“I mean, fuck, Davis should be a priority,” Alan finally said. “Ideally, we save him, then we dungeon delve and get super overpowered and take over the world.”

The two girls looked at him skeptically and Alan shrugged, “I said ideally.”

“I agree saving Davis should take priority. We met him during the apocalypse and I can’t say I know much about him or that I care, but if he is alive, we should help. He helped us and it is the human thing to do, even though we are all on a one-way track to becoming murderers and villains ourselves,” Ashlyn said.

“Very well put!” Alan stood up and looked at his left forearm, “First, I need to test how much meat we can carry in my new shadow space. I won’t miss my bag.”

Ashlyn’s eyebrows rose, “Is that what it is? Damn, I am jealous.”

“Isn’t your arm… a bit grey? Is that healthy?” Florence asked and stood up to examine his hand closer.

“Eh, who knows? Time will tell. Looks cool though, doesn’t it?”

There was a sigh as Ashlyn stood up too, “I am going to grab some fruit and water, and I will take Florence for new armor and clothes. We should ask Walter if he wants to come, but I think he is content with his new class for now.”

“Who would pass on dungeon delving and elves?” Alan asked, then frowned, “Do you know any non-gang affiliated healers that would love to leave the safety of the Sanctuary for the very likely possibility of being eaten by hot elves?”

“I never said they were hot!”

“All elves should be hot! Even the System must know that much, or else what use is the omnipotence?”

Ashlyn was half out the door dragging Florence along, “I will see what I can do.”

The two girls went out and Alan looked around for something to do. He was beyond excited to get to the Dungeon.

With a thought, he stuffed the rest of the boar in his pocket space. He would get Walter another one, or have Ashlyn do that.

Was he forgetting something?

***

In the dark almost empty void, Xil’Garoth woke up. His prison stood frozen in the emptiness, next to a spear, some rags, a tasty-looking crystal, and a bunch of cooked meat.

What has the stupid human done now?