Pieces of Sonder

“Did you see that?” Freya questioned, staring into the fog where the fox spirit disappeared.

“See what?” Nightscythe asked. He turned around with his hands cupped around his eyes and followed Freya’s line of sight. “Oh? Another spirit?”

“I wonder what a fox spirit is doing here in the center of town.”

Freya shook her head. It was the least of their worries. After an hour and a half of searching, they still hadn’t found the plexplex that had trapped them. Freya asked Heilong why she couldn’t use her Tracking skill to find the small demon. Unfortunately, the marksman reminded her she needed a trace of the target before her skill could activate. The small frog-like demon likely hadn’t moved since settling down, which could have been several months ago. So the odds of finding a trace of its movements were slim.

Flipping over a loose cobblestone, Freya’s heart rose for a moment when something jumped out. But it turned out to be just a regular frog.

She dropped the stone back in place, letting it fall with a loud thunk.

“Here, do you want some?” a quiet voice asked Freya.

K13 held out a small bread round. He had a half-eaten one in his other hand.

“Thanks,” Freya said, taking the offering. The bread was softer than she expected, and when she bit into it, a white filling spilled out. 

“Mmm, it’s good!” she exclaimed, quickly devouring the odd food item. “Where did you get this from?”

“A- a green box market,” K13 said, referring to the game system-run fairs exclusive to players. 

“Was it expensive?”

“No, no.” K13 said, waving his hands, “It doesn’t have any buffs, so they were cheap.”

“Still, thanks for sharing,” Freya said, feeling a little guilty. “I should have stocked up on some better tasting provisions.”

She pulled out the plain hard bread she had stored in her inventory. Having eaten K13’s sweet bread roll stirred her simmering hunger to a boil. Chewing on her hard bread, she continued searching. Given nothing spoiled inside the inventory, Freya realized she should make better use of it. 

“Ah, it’s that fox again!” Nightscythe shouted, breaking Freya out of her food thoughts.

Standing in the middle of the street, the red fox spirit calmly watched them. Then after a few moments, it trotted away again.

“Hey,” Nightscythe said, looking into the fog behind the fox. “There’s some people coming. And they’re not ghosts! One of them’s a game player!”

Out of the mist, three figures approached. The tallest of them had a green textbox over his head.

[Scrimmancer]

[Lvl 15 Necromancer]

Hm, necromancer? That’s the first time I’ve seen a player with that class, Freya thought. She remembered both Infamous Biscuit and Heilong saying her stats were similar to a necromancer’s. They complained she should have chosen that or the alchemist class. But the class never appealed to her. Plus, the name sounded weird, something that only a game player would say.

So, she was surprised to see the contents of the next grey colored textbox.

[Hamra Parpi]

[Lvl 25 Necromancer]

The textbox shifted as the cloaked figure moved behind the taller player.

“Hello!” Scrimmancer called out. He wore conservative clothes for a game player, which immediately brought him up a notch in Freya’s opinion. “It’s good to see other real people. We’ve only been seeing ghosts!”

“Scrim…” a feminine voice cautioned behind him. 

“It’s okay. I can tell they’re like me.”

The fox spirit ran up to the figure hiding behind Scrimmancer. Bending down, the cloaked woman picked up the fox and held it like a puppy. The spirit appeared surprisingly solid; its fur even conformed to the woman’s arms. Freya couldn’t see her face, but long strands of black hair poked out from her hood. 

“Nice to meet you,” Infamous Biscuit said, walking up to the front of the group. “Did you also take the story dungeon quest given by the King?” 

“Story dungeon?” Scrimmancer repeated, scratching his head. “No, I didn’t get a prompt or anything. We’re looking for ghosts to make contracts with, and Sangen here is looking for someone, so he’s traveling with us.”

He gestured to the last member of their group. The slim muscular man wore a broadsword on his belt.

[Sangen Yu]

[Lvl 16 Demoniclast]

Sangen nodded a greeting. Freya focused on the word “demoniclast” in his textbox. When she was an apprentice, she worked alongside a boy hoping to become a demoniclast. Also known as “monster hunters,” they shared a lot in common with shamans, but instead of protecting a town from demons, demoniclasts sought demons to fight.

“Seeing as you could see Hamra’s fox, you must be able to see ghosts,” Scrimmancer said, looking towards Nightscythe. “Have you see any other ghosts around here? The demonic energy around here is crazy high, so there must be a bunch here.”

“We’ve only seen one other ghost,” Freya answered. “But do you know about the plexplex?”

Sangen and Hamra tensed at the mention of the demon. 

Scrimmancer frowned, “What’s that?”

Freya explained the situation. As she described their predicament, Hamra slowly came out from behind Scrimmancer. She finally took off her hood, revealing a pale young woman.

“Pah,” Sangen huffed. “It’s only a matter of time before Suen loses all their cities to demons if they can’t even eradicate a plexplex growing in the center of town.”

Hamra shifted her feet, making her black cloak sway. In a quiet but clear voice, she said, “The sooner we find it, the better. We haven’t run into many demons, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“We should work together,” Infamous Biscuit suggested. “If we split into groups, we can cover more ground. How about it?” 

~Info Corner~

Class Descriptions:

[Necromancer]

[Suitability: DPS, Healer]

[Learning the secrets of necromancy allows one to resurrect the dead! Necromancers can be powerful but they must beware of the consequences of trifling with death!]

[Innate Skills: Necrosummoning, Life Drain, Dark Shroud]