Pieces of Sonder

The spirit of the young child at the train station haunted Freya’s mind as she continued to read the diary entry.

{I don’t know if Ghira did the right thing. I really don’t know. I think he might have murdered that poor girl. Ghira said it was for the best. If her curse couldn’t be exorcised, then she would have become a demon someday. We did try everything. So many potions and talismans, but nothing made a difference. I helped Ghira at first trying other methods, but I couldn’t do it. I never took part in the really harsh methods, but I also didn’t stop him. Mayor Yusuf called all of us murderers. I don’t know. Maybe he’s right.

Jura said it’s not our fault. The child got cursed playing outside, and we did our best to get rid of it. Jura said we should be praised for taking care of a potential danger to the district. She said it’s unfortunate that the child died, but as Ghira said, it’s better than her turning into a demon. Still, I’m not sure if her curse was that bad. The child was never violent to anyone. She only said she saw things no one else could see. Was that really that bad?

I asked Jura if she’s seen anything like this before, and she said she has. She’s only been here two years longer than me, and she’s already seen something like this before. I can’t imagine going through this again. Something like this never happened during my seven-year apprenticeship, but I guess I was in a small town. The Port District is much bigger, and we serve a lot more people. But I hope this isn’t common. I don’t want to go through this again.}

“I can’t believe it,” Freya said out loud. “All because she picked up a Player Card…”

Crowded around her, Infamous Biscuit, K13, and Scrimmancer also read the diary entry. At Freya’s words, Scrimmancer repeated, “Picked up a Player Card?”

Freya recounted her meeting with the spirit of Aziza. The little girl had said she saw things that sounded like text boxes while she was alive. The two stories matched up. Aziza had pleaded with Freya to tell her father that she didn’t need any more ‘treatments’ for her curse. After hearing this, Freya had suspected the shaman was trying torture methods to free the child from a demonic curse. Those methods were questionable in the first place but certainly wouldn’t work to remove a Player Card.

“I didn’t know NPCs could pick up a Player Card,” Scrimmancer said. 

Everyone else exchanged startled glances. At some point, they’d all forgotten neither Scrimmancer nor Hamra knew Freya was not an ordinary game player. Since Scrimmancer shared his knowledge about the game with Hamra, it felt like they were already in the loop. 

Freya nervously laughed, “I know because that’s what happened to me.”

After a lengthy explanation, Scrimmancer’s face froze in an incredulous expression. Heilong and Infamous Biscuit offered some additional testimony. At the end, he only said absently, “I thought something was strange about this game.”

As Scrimmancer stared into space, Freya continued to read the diary. The entry Heilong found was in the middle of the book. Freya flipped back to see if he said anything before about Aziza, but the previous entries were months older. It seemed Shaman Nafis didn’t write every day. There was a month gap between the first mention of the child with the curse and her death. However, the following entry was only three days after.

{I’ve heard wizards speak before about “karma.” I cannot help but think that’s what’s happening to me. I hope I am only being delusional.}

Freya scrunched her brow at this short, strange entry. She’d never heard of this wizard thing before. Flipping to the next page, she noticed the date was several weeks after the last.

{Yesterday there was a terrible incident in the middle of town. Several demons somehow got into town. Although, I shouldn’t say “somehow.” It’s because we’ve done nothing. We haven’t been paid since the mayor’s daughter died, but we shouldn’t have abandoned our duties. I would have patrolled and kept working, but right after that girl died-}

The rest of the line was heavily scratched out. A part of the paper tore from the repeated pen gouges. The shaman skipped a line and then continued writing in a shaky script.

{No, I suppose it doesn’t matter if I write it here. I don’t plan to stay here. Everything is just wrong here. Head Shaman Ghira told us to refuse any requests and not to go out on patrol. Shaman Jura and I have gone along with it, but I can’t anymore. If I were in the right mind, I would not have listened to him in the first place.

I was worried about other things. I was afraid for myself, so I didn’t do anything. You see, shortly after Shaman Ghira killed the mayor’s daughter, I picked up her curse. I began seeing things: people’s names and all these numbers and other nonsense. I think it happened when I was cleaning up the space she was killed in. I wonder if her ghost cursed me. I probably deserve it. 

I never told Ghira or Jura about it. I made sure not to tell anyone. I tried to exorcise it myself. But just like with the little girl, nothing worked. I’m still cursed now. But even if I’m cursed, the district needs a shaman. Ghira and Jura aren’t going to do anything. Ghira said the massacre will teach the mayor a lesson for not paying us. But I don’t think the feud between the two of them will ever be solved. Certainly not like this. 

We’ve abandoned our duties too long. I’m the weakest out of all of us, and I’m already cursed, but I have to do something. I have a bag packed. I’m going to leave tonight once they go to bed. I hope I can still make a difference.}

There were no more entries, just empty pages. Freya handed the diary off for the others to read. The timeline of events fell into place in her mind. 

Everything started with Aziza picking up a Player Card. Her unnecessary death led to a feud between the Port District’s shamans and the mayor. The mayor cut their funding, leading to the poor management of the district. Simultaneously, the diary’s owner, Shaman Nafis, accidentally picked up Aziza’s Player Card, leading him to believe he had the same curse. Then the first demon attack occurred. This seemed to snap Shaman Nafis out of his inaction, and he left to help. By leaving, he also avoided the angry mob that descended on the shamans. 

However, despite Shaman Nafis finally returning to his duties, he acted too late. Too many demons had descended on the district. He probably set the shabby talisman they saw near the dock. It was a last-ditch effort when he didn’t have good supplies. 

“Do you think he made a difference in the end?” Infamous Biscuit asked. He held the diary in his hands with a somber countenance.

“I don’t know,” Freya said earnestly. “Maybe more people escaped because of him. But at the same time, if he had done more, if he at least told someone outside the district what was going on…”

“Do you think he died on the docks then,” Heilong asked.

“Probably. Why?” Freya inquired after seeing Heilong’s complicated expression. 

Heilong grimaced, then said, “Do you think the Player Card’s there then? We were just close by there. That demoniclast that’s looking for Player Card’s seems to know they come from dead bodies. Do you think Sangen found it?”