HokumPocus

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Laughing Worg -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

"Wait, armor?"

Alja vanished from the bar, leaving him with a set of armor that probably weighed as much as he did. He plopped back on the tavern's seat and let out a sigh, not even trying to save face near Siegfried or Kalie. "Aw, man," he said. His vision throbbed for a bit.

Left to guard duty. He was bummed about it at first, until the fresh sting of Kazuki's departure flashed across his mind. Alex had already known he was awful when it came to making friends, even just talking to people in general, but that interaction had solidified it. He didn't know why, but a part of him had been expecting that flaw to be less apparent within Pariah. Even in a completely different world with an appearance custom-tailored to make every physical insecurity vanish, he still made the same mistakes. It was an interesting observation. A disappointing one, too. It was for the best if he stayed.

He supposed he could've intruded on whatever conversation Siegfried and Kalie were having, but even he had an idea as to the atmosphere going on over there was like. Some gesticulations coming from Siegfried, gentle movements from Kalie. He could already imagine the other man's reaction to having his mission thwarted by captain oblivious. The snark from his sister Sif would be hilarous, though. Or was that what the alcohol was whispering in his ear?

Alex's reverie stretched for a blurry amount of time until a certain pair of people returned. Alja had been successful, and brought Benkei with her. He started talking, and it took him a moment to realize he was supposed to listen. An introduction. A warped one, the one you could only have on the internet, yet different from that as well. The one you could only have on the internet after circumstances had made it a matter of life or death. He wanted to interrupt him to point out how amusingly odd the whole situation was, but kept his mouth shut. Until Benkei did too.

Well, he failed at saying the right words to strangers the first time around before the dungeon, and he certainly made that mistake again. If the others weren't going to follow up, then he'd do it. Third time's the charm.

"'This group' huh... so it's official, more or less." He stopped for a moment, performing the agonizing process of thinking before speaking. "Don't worry too much about emotions. We're going through a total mess no one in the history of the world has ever gone through. Even older people probably wouldn't get it if you tried explaining what the hell was happening here to them. Nothing about this is normal, so you shouldn't try to act normally." From the corner of his eye, he saw a faint stain caused by the tankard he had been drinking out of. Acting differently could be bad in excess, fine, whatever.

"My name is Alex, in real life too pretty much. I'm twenty years old, a freelance artist that juggles projects a lot. I get bored of just doing one thing, really." It was hard to think of anything else, given that he hadn't made much of an impact both within the game in general and throughout their conflicts. He did have one thing he wanted to clear up.

"I... hope your brother comes back though." He cleared his throat, leaving an awkward pause in the room.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Laughing Worg -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The commotion in the tavern deflated as the bulk of its quarreling patrons left. Alex deflated too, letting out a large breath that made his shoulders sag. Their plans of being reunited had been all but extinguished, with Alex unable to have even protested Kazuki removing his hand. Him, Graves, Benkei, Seele. All of them had left the Laughing Worg in some form of discontent or another.

Alex stood in place, slowly taking in the now empty seats before him. He wondered if this was the eventual fate of every group in Pariah, players prioritizing their own survival so much that they pushed everyone else away in the process. It was a sad thought, as it painted their situation in a far more depressing light; It made it seem less like a possibly deadly prolonged stay in a game and more like an apocalypse or something, where people hoarded resources and spent every waking moment thinking death was just around the corner. And with the denizens beginning to display remarkable feats of power, it was all too much. He cursed at himself for having tried to drink his anxiousness away. He needed his mind for too many things right now.

A sudden noise made his head spin, for a tad longer than usual given his current state. Alja.

"Er," he shook his head, trying to focus, "Graves, Kazuki, Benkei, Seele. All of them left." He supported his temple with the palm of his hand. "Things got bad real quick. No real fighting 'cause of the NPCs, but the stuff some of them said to each other was probably worse." The urgency in her tone was undeniable, and he was unsatisfied after only one shot at getting everyone back together. The idea that popped into his head was obvious, then.

"We might've drunken too much, but damn it, we've gotta go find them!"

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Laughing Worg -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

One by one the dominoes that composed the Laughing Worg fell around them, bringing more chaos with every successive crash of words. What Logan's brother had once told him rang in his mind again, about games bringing out the worst in people. This wasn't a game anymore, though, and Alex didn't want to think about the possible repercussions in a true fight between players.

In a brazen moment spurred partly by alcohol, Alex stood up from the tavern and took a couple of steps back. "Woah, woah, woah. These aren't fights you can just have anymore." He gazed longingly at his spilled tankard and swallowed the irritation. If someone like... himself... had to be the voice of reason, he'd try his hardest. "Between all of our abilities, it's like all of us are carrying loaded guns at all times, all right? If you're gonna fight, keep it to words."

He felt like that last bit hadn't been the best thing to say. He didn't like the idea of telling someone to be dishonest though, it'd just make him a hypocrite.

"And I'm sorry. I wanted us--all of us--to come together."

Crud. Crap. Fuck. This wasn't good. This was not good.

One of his arms clasped Kazuki's shoulder. From what little he could gather they had both lived very different lives, but Alex knew that question was roiling in his mind. The "what if" that led to a neverending downward spiral of regret and self-loathing. He wasn't going to just stand there and watch another person get dragged into that. "We... don't know how anything here works yet. No one, not even you. Anyone who tells you anything else is lying. We can't reach any answer now, and even if we did down the line? It would never change us not knowing now." It was a microcosm of his life philosophy, running and never looking back.

Eɴᴛᴇʀ — Into an Isekai World

---

Kotana

---

First horses, now guns. The more Ipharia spoke, the more it seemed like this strange land was the total opposite of Japan. As someone who'd never been around them, the idea of encountering an opponent with one sent a small shiver down his spine. "If it's a newer weapon, it's most likely uncommon, right?" he asked, hopeful. He knew Hiroko was interested in owning one, but his fear of one ending up in an opposing side's hands rather than their own trumped any sort of sympathy from the man. "A weapon that can bypass the need for magic, maybe work even better... such a thing should be a concern for us. Assuming the technology has evolved enough, that is," he said, the last of his words tacked on as he thought about it more. For all he knew, this so called arquebus could have been closer to an ancient rifle, or was even something entirely different.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Laughing Worg -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Alex didn't understand why he was being offered a handkerchief at first, until he saw the state of his letter.

Eh, it was still legible.

He wiped the area around his chin in a hurry, the pang of embarrassment shaking him out of his current state. It was relieving that Kazuki had spoken that directly about wanting to form a team. Alex was thinking of a similar idea, but had gotten so distracted that he was beginning to settle for a partnership with a lower amount of people. Regardless of whatever route he thought was wisest, a healer like Kazuki was indispensable to a frailer player such as himself.

"Banding together, huh. I like the sound of that," he said, tracing his jawline with the cloth. "Does that mean you're trying to band the entire raid party together? I drank a little," he paused and quirked his brows, "okay, more than a little, but even then I know that's gonna be tough to pull off."

The way he saw it, the strong players that tended to be individualists were going to swallow their pride and seek out the strong guilds, who in turn were seeking them out too. A situation like that would probably end up with Alex falling back on his brother's guild, going back to selling light armor to make ends meet. The whole thing felt like crawling back to live in your parents' house after being unable to find a job. And Pariah was supposed to be an escape from the real world.

"How're my two favorite fuck-ups doin' this fine mornin'?"

Both the conversation and his thoughts were crashed by Graves, with all of the bravado he would expect from a person who had no idea their life was at stake. Did he really not care? Alex hadn't known the man well enough to think beyond a surface level, having mentally categorized Graves as "that tank guy who split dog people in half like they were avocados".

"Kazuki's been planning something," he said, folding the note in one of his many pockets of his everyday wear. Now that there were real world consequences to creating clothing, his more utilitarian style of crafting was better suited in comparison to the flashier stuff it seemed like the rest of the playerbase was enamored with. It was a little moment of vindication he'd keep to himself. Kazuki was handling the conversation way better, anyways... but a detail did catch his attention.

"The NPC talked like a player?" he asked. "I was in the drox hall earlier, and this girl there was acting kind of weird. Instead of just giving tips for newbies she started going on about the places factions were located. I mean, still totally useless info, but weird, man." Near him, what looked like an argument between the people he had raided with was brewing.

"Crap," he groaned, reaching for another sip, "this just made our job a whole lot harder."

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: City Streets -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

"Buh..."

Alex unpeeled his face from the finished letter. Or at least, the letter in which he really didn't know what else to include. It reminded him of talking to distant relatives after years of not having seen one another, where there were so many possible topics and you avoided them all in favor of small talk because you didn't really know them well. Logan and Alex were closer and loved one another, but Pariah had caused a lot of friction within their relationship. Was there really a point in divulging details apart from not being dead and vague motions towards his current plans? He'd just get frustrated at Alex no matter what. Assuming he was alive of course, but ale did a good job of keeping him from thinking about that.

Facing him was Kazuki, the healer who had survived the raid with him. Kazuki was the opposite of a relative he'd known for a long time, being a near stranger Alex wanted to talk to incessantly over topics such as having almost died and having lived. Not a lot to cover, admittedly, but damn if it wouldn't feel good to find more people to unload with. It took his alcohol-infested brain a while, but what he originally wanted to bring up eventually surfaced in his conscience again.

"Kazuki, dude. Long time no see. I mean, it hasn't really been that long, but it sure feels like it." The words left his mouth in no hurry, a contrast to his usual voice. He was aware of this, but that hadn't been enough to stop him from taking another chug.

"Just here, chillin'. I was gonna ask you guys about your plans and stuff, but I had a letter to write, and, uh..." His face, the lower third of which had smears of ink, tilted towards a corner of the tavern where Seele and Alja were having what looked like an intimate moment. "...Yeah. Don't know what's going on over there."

He slowly grabbed his tankard and swished it around. "So, what brings you here?"

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

OOC: I accidentally deleted this post with no way to recover. Fortunately, it involved no other character. It was Alex just writing a letter. I'll rewrite again in some time please wait kthx

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: City Streets -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The denizen working at the Drox guild hall creased her eyebrows in sympathy, thumbing through an oversized codex. "Did you say he frequently met with a guild based in Thyrien? Those guilds typically congregate in the midlands of Aetheria."

Alex paused. He traveled here knowing full well the guides were going to tell him prescripted information meant to guide new players along, information that was worthless to him. Instead the woman had given an entirely different answer. "I see. Thank you," he replied, not bothering to hide the disappointment in his voice. His trip to the guild had been for emotional reasons and not logical ones, born out of a desperate need to do something and find the whereabouts of his brother. He wasn't expecting to actually find any useful information. Her answer though, as odd as it may have been, was useless all the same. A predictable end to his impulsive plan, he supposed.

The energy that he overflowed with and the urge to do anything returned in a greater wave than before, as did the worries over his brother. His brother's guild was good at combat, he thought to reassure himself, but so were...

Images of impaled and crushed corpses burned in his mind.

So much for keeping his thoughts occupied.

As he continued to wander throughout the day, he inevitably found himself gravitating towards the Laughing Worg. Taverns and wayfarers had a symbiotic relationship, and it had been the first idea to form in his mind. He needed the buzzing of people around him, someone he could strike up conversations with. It was a good plan B. He was also thinking about something else he could find in a tavern, another way to ease himself. He usually never indulged in that sort of thing, but nothing about his life was usual right now.

He entered the tavern with slower steps, a contrast to how he'd greeted his previous group.

Just a little bit of drinking. It won't hurt.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

"Mmphf."

Alex wiped his face in a sloppy series of movements that only seemed to make things worse, mixing the blood that congealed on his sleeves with hot tears and snot that ran wild. The fury that radiated through his body was overwhelming, to the point he was sure it was the angriest he'd been in his life. It was the type of anger that caused a crash of involuntary physical reactions with it, the kind that would have left him shaking had it not been for the single, unified desire between every thought in his mind to hurt what was causing it.

It was enormous, large on a scale you'd only see towering over silhouettes of adult men in diagrams, or museum skeletons that were stories high. He realized he'd never taken Pariah's threats seriously before it became a true struggle of life and death. That thing was terrifying, gigantic on a level he had never truly comprehended prior to that point. It was the sort of monster that would terrorize a child in a nightmare, the sort where if they tried to run away, they'd find their movement sluggish, as if suspended in thick liquid, unable to do anything but close their eyes until the pain stopped.

Another charged arrow struck the shoulder of that abomination and seemed to have barely scratched the surface. It made Alex remember the nightmares he once had as a child, ones where he tried so hard to fight back, only to fail. He suppressed those thoughts just as he suppressed his entire body lashing out. Not for accuracy, as that demon's size had made that of little concern, but for himself. He had to brace himself for his newest plan, the one rational thought among a new and animalistic state of mind that had overtaken him in combat once more. There were two sides, one he was in and one he wasn't. Both sides would try as hard as possible to kill the other. His mind didn't repeat that thought but rather embodied it, overpowering any negative emotion besides the anger that steadied every nerve in his body.

An arrow began to form in his fingertips. The others were working faster than him, taking bigger risks. As a ranged attacker he could use that to his benefit. Keeping the arrow drawn, he let it swell further and further, to an almost blinding shade of emerald green. He just had to ignore the thoughts of watching his the others get mutilated in front of him one by one. His role was to provide as much damage as possible, and he had been granted precious time to do just that with no immediate danger.

"Kill or be killed," he muttered, voice barely audible. Was he responding to something another person had shouted out, or addressing one of the dozens of horrible thoughts that swarmed his mind? He didn't know. As he uttered the words a trickle of saliva dripped and mingled with blood that wasn't his around his chin. The emerald light made every streak and stain on his face glow in an almost sinister light.

The arrow had swelled so far it was crackling now, enveloping his entire body in light. He'd never done this before, he realized. There was always some other threat that needed to be taken care of, or some tank that had neglected to guard him for long enough. But he wasn't afraid about it. His feelings were different, ones that radiated with the light surrounding him. They were dreamlike, almost. Ones that yearned to kill the bad monster.

His body crashed from the recoil and energy expenditure as he set the arrow streaking like a meteor. Although he didn't see the blast, he heard it, giving him the strength to get back up. He was going to do it again, no matter how many times it would take.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Alex's moment of victory had been cut short when what looked like an oversized bat clambered throughout the now cramped bridge. It was greatly wounded, fortunately, but that was of little comfort to him. Surrounding both the creature and his party were a pack of beasts that looked like bipedal canines, their oversized claws scraping against the stone ground with every oversized step. They lurched and tumbled rather than ran, their movements monstrous yet human enough to be far more disturbing than if they were only the former.

Bow drawn, his silver eyes drank the traces of light with fervor. Despite their uncanny movements he was able to pinpoint their strange bodies with ease, the exotic markings on their bodies stretching with every breath all over whatever their rags couldn't cover.

"Seele!"

They had advanced, and fast. Within what felt like only seconds a stray had bounded towards the caster, as if it were ignoring every other player. But Alex was faster. A fully retracted bow with an arrow that was meant for one of his kin at a distance had instead streaked towards the surprise dogman, only a few feet in front of him. The arrow didn't pierce the creature's warped head so much as it liquified it, setting loose a riptide of blood that sprayed in every direction. He felt the warm liquid hit his face, metallic, sharp.

This was no longer a game, it was a life or death situation. Every single situation that involved combat was. Even the ones that didn't posed the possibility of painful injury or death, as he had first seen in the room of pressure plates. Rather than think about any of the risks or danger, he conjured a second arrow. This was his one and only chance at living a happy life, and for these disgusting, lowly creatures to try and take that from him? It filled him with a fury he didn't know he was capable of. If it was him or them, they were all going to die.

The second arrow fired far faster and dug itself into the abdomen of an injured one, trailed by two more. He fought like this, ignoring the dire bat entirely in favor of being a constant nuisance and threat to the dogmen. Every exposed belly or pair of legs was a warm recipient for metal, a target that could be incapacitated and made wet and crimson. The rest of his party followed through in this, with walls of earth and wind and curses beginning to make even reaching their human a battle in of itself. Their group was following a rhythm it seemed, each of its members finding congruence with one another.

Just as he settled for making sure the incapacitated remained that way or worse, a pair that had recovered from Kazuki's wind bounded for him. He used an erratic burst of wind to launch himself sideways, colliding bodies with a beast that had been shambling. It turned around sluggishly, revealing that half of its entrails were on the floor. With a dull thud, it collapsed. But what if that hadn't been the case? His wind could have helped him, but that needed to be closely monitored now. He cursed under his breath, at not being careful enough. The pair had their sights set on him, and there was no turning back. No running away, no hiding, no depending on any other player. He grounded himself and unleashed a rapid stream of arrow after arrow.

The first creature collapsed from enough hits to the skull, letting out a whine of agony as the arrows embedded in its legs snapped and dug themselves further with the force of the fall. The second reached Alex and carved into his upper chest, sending him falling on his rear. He kicked the creature with a leg and sent it toppling with a burst of wind. As the pair skidded on pools of blood Alex rose faster.

"You're not gonna kill me," he hissed. As his opponent struggled to get up, he fired rabidly at its arms and head, ignoring his injured body's protests. For a moment, it seemed as if the battle was going to wage on, but an arrow that popped its eye signalled the beginning of the end as many more accompanied it. It was dead.