Chapter 7: A Funeral for an Old Friend, A Connection with a New Companion

The forest surrounding Hillsborough was surprisingly serene, giving way to a peaceful jaunt for Lucas and Joten. Having become accustomed to the alpine scenery these last five years, Lucas enjoyed the trip through a deciduous forest in full bloom. White petals dripped from fruit trees with each passing breeze, amassing in drifts like fragile snow banks across the dirty forest floor. Wildflowers bravely ventured forth from the cold embrace of the earth like astronauts headed for orbit. Most still hid, encapsulated within their buds, but a few had blossomed into purples and blues and whites that dotted the verdant landscape just sparse enough that each instance was a refreshing splash of color across the verdant canvas. Lucas picked a few of the more beautiful ones to give to Ben's widow. As he plucked them from the soil, he was reminded of his favorite poem from Earth.

"I am a parcel of vain strivings tied

By a chance bond together,

Dangling this way and that, their links

Were made so loose and wide,

Methinks,

For milder weather.

A bunch of violets without their roots,

And sorrel intermixed,

Encircled by a wisp of straw

Once coiled about their shoots,

The law

By which I'm fixed.

A nosegay which Time clutched from out

Those fair Elysian fields,

With weeds and broken stems, in haste,

Doth make the rabble rout

That waste

The day he yields.

And here I bloom for a short hour unseen,

Drinking my juices up,

With no root in the land

To keep my branches green,

But stand

In a bare cup."*

Lucas felt a pang of empathy for the flowers in his hands as he thought of his own stem and roots, broken when he was clutched by Time from the fields of Earth and delivered unto the land of Savior Online. How would his life have developed differently had he stayed? Did this mimicry of life stunt his growth, or would the stormy indifference of nature have trampled him had he not been stolen away into the vase that was now his prison?

The woods suddenly opened up into the rolling hills of a plain. In the distance Lucas could make out the round shapes of cattle grazing in the fields next to a collection of homesteads. Beyond a hill below the farmss he could barely make out the rising smoke from a few stacks of chimneys. That was probably Hillsborough proper.

A branch snapping from behind followed by the crunch of boots on grass let Lucas know Joten had joined him.

"Finally, we're home!" Joten shouted between beleaguered breaths. It had barely been a two and a half day hike, rather than the three Joten had taken on the way to find his mountain hermitage. Lucas wondered if he had perhaps pushed the boy too hard.

The sun was beginning to set on the land, illuminating the golden fields of wheat that usurped the grassy plains beyond. Wind rushed through the fields and bent the stalks of wheat in waves like a tumultuous sea. It was a beautiful sight.

Joten started off before Lucas, powered by a spurt of homesick excitement. Lucas allowed him to run ahead while he sauntered toward the village, taking in the sights before him. A chattering of starlings erupted from a field to the right as Joten sprinted past, taking to the skies in an undulating murmuration that swam gracefully through the sky like a school of fish. Grasshoppers flanked the path and chirped their evening tune.

Despite the beauty of the valley and the excitement Joten had injected into the situation, Lucas still felt a pit of worry in his gut. The last time he had been to a funeral was the Lamentation nearly five years ago, when the player-led council at Freehold had given a massive funeral to those who died at the Demon King's fortress. He was supposed to give a speech for Cara, the leader of one of the most powerful and successful guilds in Savior Online, but he broke down only moments before and fled the proceedings.

He didn't run for fear of public speaking or overwhelming sadness - though that would have been understandable. He fled because of the realization that his words would be nothing more than hollow platitudes, sounds devoid of meaning in the face of an absurd but suffocating truth.

As much as he had loved Cara, Lucas had come to understand that she and the others died for nothing. It gnawed at him like bitter bile that burned away at his throat. All of the orators extolled the bravery of those lost, the admiration they had for their ambition, the selflessness of their sacrifice; yet none recognized the futile truth of their situation. After having lost the most powerful players in all of Savior Online, their cause was moot. The Demon King would never fall. They would be trapped forever, and their deaths had been in vain. Nothing that they did in this world mattered anymore.

Now Lucas stood at the edge of Hillsborough, preparing to deliver remarks to the NPC villagers regarding the death of his other closest friend. He couldn't decide if it were more or less absurd to explain the concept of nihilism to NPCs compared to players, but it didn't matter. The idea was the same - they lived in a virtual world that could end at any moment, erasing their memories and hopes and accomplishments from the face of the universe forever.

Lucas had unknowingly entered the center of the village while lost in thought. He was awakened from his hypnosis by the feeling of being watched that raised the hackles on his neck.

A woman stood in a doorway across the road from Lucas. Her house was made of proud stonework and seemed much sturdier than the other thatch homes he had passed on his way into the village proper. Aside from her ornate and solid home, she looked much the same as any other villager: clad in muted linen clothing with her short brown hair tied atop her head. She folded her arms and stared at him intensely. There was no green diamond above her head when Lucas targeted her.

"Another player…?" he mumbled under his breath in surprise. She returned into the home and closed the door without a word.

As Lucas took a step toward the house to pursue the other player, a shout came from behind.

"Hey, Lucas! Come meet my mom!" Joten shouted from down the road. He stood in front of the most out-of-place inn that Lucas had ever seen. Ben's influence was immediately noticeable. Lucas did a double take to ensure he was correct in what he saw, but the eclectic inn hadn't changed on the second viewing.

There was no denying it.

In the midst of the medieval village stood a Japanese ryokan.

The exterior of the large two-story inn seemed to be built of oak or pine in a traditional Japanese style. Wooden lattices created doors and windows, and were filled with paper coverings. The roof was built of dark and ruddy layered ceramic tiles that sloped upward at the corners of the roof. A white rope hung from the doors at the entrance with flags trailing from it indicating the name of the ryokan: "Sakura Bed and Breakfast".

It was obvious that the design was put in the game by developers who didn't mind player-owned buildings looking out of place among NPC-constructed establishments, but it now seemed obnoxious given the circumstances. Outside of the ryokan stood a woman in an apron who Lucas assumed was Ben's widow.

She was an attractive woman with short black hair that she tied in a small ponytail beneath a sage-colored bandana. Lucas approached her and bowed his head slightly before handing over the bunch of flowers he had picked in the woods.

"My condolences for your loss. I'm Lucas, Ben's old adventuring friend," Lucas said as he introduced himself.

The woman sniffed the flowers and smiled before introducing herself as well.

"Thank you, Savior. I am Lorna. The funeral proceedings for my husband will be tomorrow morning. As a friend of Ben, you are welcome to stay at the Sakura for as long as you'd like," the woman said stiffly. Though she stood straight and spoke clearly, Lucas thought he could see a sadness just behind her brown eyes.

"I appreciate the hospitality," Lucas said with a warm smile. He imagined dipping into the hot waters of the onsen tonight and melting away the tension in his muscles with a towel over his eyes. Maybe Ben was onto something after all.

The woman bowed her head and returned to the inn, grabbing a broom that leaned against the door as she went. Lucas couldn't imagine returning to work so soon after losing his spouse. Even five years on he struggled to return to the world of Alstyn - though perhaps it was different for NPCs. Or maybe it wasn't, and this was just how she processed her grief?

Lucas was getting a headache trying to parse the differences between NPCs and players in every interaction.

"Hey, are you alright?" Joten asked from beside Lucas. He realized he had been holding his head in pain while he thought. It would be nice to talk to another player about these realizations, rather than trying to hold them all together in his head alone.

"What do you know about the woman who lives in the stone house?" Lucas asked Joten, brushing aside his concerns.

Joten's usually lively demeanor drooped a bit after Lucas asked the question.

"An old Savior, Elvira, lives there with her daughter," Lucas said in a low voice. He sounded crestfallen, as if Lucas had asked him if he broke the vase in the living room and he was forcing himself to admit to it.

"Her daughter is a player too?" Lucas asked.

"No, she's just…" Joten said while trailing off. It was very uncharacteristic of him to avoid a topic. Usually he jumped in, naivete on full display, even if he wasn't sure of the propriety of his statements.

"Well, spit it out!" Lucas said to the boy.

Joten spat a wad of saliva onto the ground and looked up for approval.

"No, that's not what I meant," Lucas said frustratedly. He ran a hand through his hair, accidentally surprising himself at its shortness. The recent changes to his appearance would take some getting used to. "What is wrong with the daughter?"

"I don't like Bree. She always bullied me when we were kids," Joten finally admitted. He stuck out his lip like an annoyed child.

Another player living with an adopted NPC child. It would behoove Lucas's investigation into Ben's death and the changes in Joten if he could gather more information from this "Elvira" person - but if she had information to share with him, why did it seem like she was avoiding him earlier?

Lucas wracked his brain to try and remember another player with the username "Elvira" from any past campaigns against the Demon King's army, but he came up blank.

"Maybe I'll talk to her at the funeral," Lucas mumbled to himself absently.

"No, don't do that!" Joten interjected suddenly, surprising Lucas.

"Why? Is she dangerous?" he asked, wondering what Elvira could have done to scare him so badly.

"No, not like that," Joten replied. "Ben told me I should stand up for myself to Bree and get her to stop bullying me. I don't want you to step in on my behalf."

Oh, right. The daughter.

"That's very mature of you," Lucas said, trying to hide the fact that he had forgotten completely about their childish squabbles. "I'll leave that conversation to you, then."

Lucas patted Joten's head as the boy looked down nervously. Clearly the girl had him on edge. Did he have a crush on her? Come to think of it, Lucas had never seen an NPC develop feelings for another. He had been so focused on leveling and acquiring equipment to clear the game that he hadn't the time to pay attention to trivial things like NPC romances. Would life have been better had he stopped to pay attention every now and then?

Lucas slid open the paper door to the inn and entered with a stretch. Three days of traveling, intense thought, and battling a Legendary-class enemy had left him fatigued both physically and mentally. After finding his room and stripping down to a towel, Lucas dipped slowly into the steaming pool that awaited him. As he dropped below the volcanically-heated water that caressed his sore muscles, he fell into the ethereal world of memory.

The gardens of Crete were a world-class wonder this time of year. Spring heralded legions of rainbow-colored flowers in carefully manicured rows that crawled over hills and around crystal clear pools like a beautiful floral landslide flowing through the six-square mile park in the center of the massive city. Pre-release developer diaries had explained the meticulous process of hiring professional botanists and landscape architects in order to create the most visually-appealing garden ever seen - one without the cumbersome constraints of reality.

Lucas walked through the park today because it was the quickest path between his temporary accommodation and the sparring dojo. His muscles ached from twelve hours of heavy exertion in longsword training, though the strength and dexterity levels he had attained more than made up for the pain.

A man called out to the "Death Seeker" from an adjacent path, but Lucas ignored the call. His mind was still engrossed in training. Step back, parry the advance, move forward with a thrust. Watch your feet. He carefully replayed each battle in his head while critiquing his form, dwelling extra long on the matches he had lost. Crete had been re-conquered from the Demon King's army following a massive two-week long campaign only a few days prior, so the strongest of Savior Online's players all amassed here for the time being.

"Hey, Lucas," a woman said calmly to him from beside the walking path. Her voice cut cleanly through his thoughts like a sword through paper, his former ruminations fluttering to the ground in tatters as his mind went blank.

Lucas looked up from the path to his left. A pale woman wearing a white polka-dotted dress with red hair tied in a long braid lay among a bed of artificial sunflowers. They resembled their real life counterparts, except they were as small and as numerous as daisies. She was beautiful.

"Hi, Cara," Lucas replied softly. Far softer than he had intended. He coughed conspicuously to clear his throat before repeating in a deeper voice. "Hi, Cara."

She snickered at his silliness and smiled while picking a flower beside her. It instantly grew back only a moment after she removed it.

"You don't seem to be enjoying our post-victory leisure period very much," she said while still eyeing the miniature sunflower. It was hard to believe the delicate woman appreciating the flowers had decimated a squadron of hardened demons with a single spell only a few days before.

"You know what they say, 'no rest for the wicked'," Lucas joked back.

"I don't think you're wicked," Cara replied as she put the flower behind her ear and stared at Lucas. "You try hard to hide it, but within you lies a compassionate heart."

"If you're talking about the other day, I only saved Ben because it would have been annoying finding another Ranger to join the party," Lucas said while wringing his hands. During the attack on the city, Ben had accidentally fallen through a crumbling building and was partially covered in rubble. As Cara and another squad searched for him and dug him out, Lucas single-handedly held off a roaming demi-boss whose patrol route they had accidentally strayed into. The leader of the Vanguard, Ann "MilkTeaKiller" had personally commended his actions after their victory.

Cara smiled mischievously at Lucas. She always knew when he was lying, and he could feel the pressure of her stare. After a few moments of gazing at one another, Cara finally broke eye contact with a yawn and a stretch of her arms over her head.

"Come join me in the flower bed. The day is far too beautiful to waste away in a dojo," she said.

Lucas's heart felt like it would beat out of his chest. He stepped over the small barricade that surrounded the path and into the flower bed, watching as the sunflowers instantly regrew in patches where he crushed them underfoot. After picking a spot close to Cara - but not too close as to imply anything untoward - Lucas knelt down into the flowers and allowed himself to plop down onto his back.

He had to admit, it was a surprisingly comfortable spot. Cara sighed softly to his side, but otherwise stayed silent. Soft flower petals tickled Lucas's skin gently. Weak light filtered through the maple trees above, just barely reaching them in dots that punctuated the shade of the canopy. The smell of earth mixed with the sweet aroma of flowers. Sparrows tweeted happily as they leapt from branch to branch.

Before he knew it, the exhaustion he had accrued in the past month dragged him into a deep slumber.

Cara's resting visage was the last thing he saw before he awoke in his bed in the ryokan in Hillsborough. It was morning.

Lucas sat up with a groan. How pathetic was his life when dreams were far preferable to reality?

With a swipe of his hand in empty space, Lucas opened his game menu and checked the time. 6:03 A.M. Ben's funeral would begin in three hours. He needed to get there early to speak with Elvira. While his game menu was open, Lucas navigated to his inventory and equipped his formal clothes. Their defense stats were non-existent, even compared to his traveling clothes, but he didn't expect to get into a fight during a funeral anyways.

In a flash, a black suit with a white undershirt and a black tie materialized on Lucas's body. It had been nearly five years since he last wore this outfit - and never on a good occasion.

A loud metallic clang echoed through the halls as Lucas opened his sliding door, and he activated [Fleet of Foot] out of habit as he rushed toward the source. He threw open a wooden door and came face to face with Lorna in the kitchen, cleaning up a spilled pot on the floor.

"Don't worry. Not everything is an emergency," she said, reprimanding him gently. "You're just like Ben. Every clang meant the world was ending. Reality is a little more nuanced, though," she said, rambling to nobody in particular. His death was clearly still occupying her mind.

"Would you like me to help with breakfast?" Lucas offered, hoping to get her mind off of the pain of her lost husband.

"What is your Cooking level?" she asked warily, clearly having learned from experience to ask this of a Savior before accepting their help in the kitchen. Lucas swiped open his skills panel and relayed the level to her.

"Seven."

"...Seven?" Lorna repeated, a dumbstruck look entering her eyes. "Oh, honey," she said, disappointment filling her voice.

"Let me teach you the difference between a pot and a pan," Lorna joked as she rose back up to her feet.

It was nice cooking with Lorna. She had the patience of a saint - a requirement for dealing effectively with Ben's quirks - and took great lengths to ensure Lucas only contributed to basic cooking tasks that even the lowest of beginners could accomplish without burning anything. When finally a "Congratulations!" message appeared above Lucas's head, indicating he had reached a whopping level eight in his Cooking skill, she heaped praises upon him like a child finally learning to ride a bike on his own.

By the time they had finished preparing breakfast it was already 7:45 A.M., and Lorna needed to hurry back to her quarters and change. As he served the food to the patrons, Lucas received a second "Congratulations!" message, indicating he had reached level nine in the Cooking skill. Not a bad reward for less than two hours of work.

Ben's Cooking skill was around Lucas's own when they had last parted ways; Cara was always the best cook out of the three of them, though none were particularly skilled. Lucas wondered what he had finally achieved at the end. What heights of culinary excellence could he reach if he stayed here and helped out for a few weeks?

He rejected the idea as he remembered his original goal in coming to Hillsborough: investigating Ben's death and these "systemic mutations" in the AI. Now was the time to seek out Elvira.

The funeral was to be held in a farmer's field just outside of Hillsborough proper. It was difficult to find an appropriate meeting place for a large crowd in such a small village, so it was agreed upon that a field far from the village center that butted up against the forest was the most appropriate setting. A small stage had been constructed by a local carpenter just beneath a grove of large oak trees for eulogizing. Atop the small stage lay a small wooden coffin, its exterior already covered in a myriad of flowers. Attendees poured from the village toward the field like lines of ants to a sugar cube. Lucas stood just off to the side of the stage, watching the incoming attendees for Elvira.

When he did finally catch sight of the other player, Lucas had to do a double take to ensure he wasn't looking at another peasant NPC. She blended in so seamlessly that if the others had lacked a green diamond above their heads he would never have been able to pick her out of a crowd.

Lucas rushed over to speak to the woman, though after catching her eye she averted her gaze and tried to move away.

"Hey, Elvira," Lucas shouted, ensnaring the woman in conversation before she could escape. She whispered something to the young blonde girl that followed her - Lucas presumed that was Bree - before turning to face the man shouting to her. Bree gave her a stink eye from behind her back before continuing on toward the stage.

"I never thought I would see the Death Seeker himself in Hillsborough," the woman responded scornfully. "Why are you here? This is a peaceful village, despite Ben's best attempts."

Clearly she and Ben had not seen eye to eye about some things.

"Sorry, I think we're getting off on the wrong foot," Lucas said before extending a hand for a handshake. "I'm Lucas. My Death Seeker days are behind me; I assure you I am here only for Ben's funeral," he said, hoping to assuage some of her scorn.

Thankfully, she took his hand and shook, some of the anger dissipating from her face.

"I'm Elvira. I've been living here in Hillsborough for over seven years now," she answered back.

"You go by your username?" Lucas asked quizzically.

"I know it's unusual, but it helps me feel more in-tune with the people here. We're all one with Savior Online now, whether we had originally planned to be or not," she answered.

"Well, you left the starting area, so even you had different plans at one point, no?" Lucas inquired.

Elvira sighed. "At one point I was a mage and a healer, but after the death of my two companions I gave up that life and settled down here in Hillsborough. I adopted Bree after her parents died of disease. She and I lived a quiet life, until recently."

Lucas perked up at that. "What happened recently?"

"Strange occurrences involving the system. Mutated monsters. NPCs with skills. I hoped to protect Bree and the village from its implications, so I partnered with Ben to investigate them," she answered while swiping open her game menu. After a few more taps a journal materialized in her hands, which she proffered to Lucas. "I'm not sure Ben shared the same motivations. Regardless, all of our notes are contained within this journal."

Lucas accepted the journal, [Elvira's Research Notes], and added it to his inventory with a few taps.

"After this funeral ends I'm going to Freehold to meet with the Council regarding these 'systemic mutations', as Ben called them. I could use an experienced healer and researcher in my party," Lucas offered to Elvira. The woman smiled bleakly but shook her head.

"My place is here, in Hillsborough with Bree. I know my avatar appears young, but I am pushing 70 years old on Earth. I can feel the effects of a decade of malaise on my mind and body seeping into the game even now. My days of battle have long since passed," she said, a look of sorrow passing behind her brown eyes.

"I hope you find your peace," Lucas replied to Elvira honestly. He bowed his head slightly, a gesture that the woman returned, and the two joined the crowd in front of the funeral stage. Lucas held back the urge to remove the journal from his inventory and immediately begin reading. There would be plenty of time after the funeral.

A hand waved at him from the crowd, so he walked over to join Joten and Lorna at their place near the front of the stage.

"I saved you a spot," Joten said with a smile, removing his hand from the chair next to him. Chairs were reserved for only a few important people and the elderly, it seemed, as most of the crowd stood behind him.

Though he expected to be nervous, Lucas could not help but immerse his mind in the investigation. What had threatened the village so seriously that Elvira, an aging woman seven years retired, had come out of retirement to investigate and combat it? What had she and Ben discovered about the system?

Someone on the stage began speaking of Ben to the crowd, but Lucas had tuned them out. He should have asked about Bree's development. Did she also develop stats like Joten? Had her communication become human-like?

Suddenly, a huge crash exploded through the trees behind the stage, sending large branches flying through the audience at a violent speed. A massive one-eyed demon, at least thirty feet tall, emerged from the forest with a spit-suffused roar. People near Lucas were immediately crushed by the flying debris as the small stage was kicked to shreds by the creature advancing from the woods. Lucas targeted the behemoth as it made its way into the crowd, and noticed a gold border around its name: [Mutated Behemoth Demon].