Plot twist

Drahon looked at the words, momentarily stunned.

It was hard to believe.

"Impossible!" he roared as he dashed towards the door and opened it, going around the cottage to find nothing.

Devon and the others seemed surprised by his outburst. Why was he suddenly almost insane because the barbarian was no longer here?

Drahon stormed back inside, picking up the note from the table and looking at it fixedly.

'We we will meet soon.'

It was vague as fuck! Just like his profile.

Drahon sighed, trying to come back to his senses, which at the moment were gone.

"Why the outburst?" Devon asked, a bit worried. "At least we didn't die. That means he didn't poison us, so he meant no harm."

Drahon sighed again, more deeply this time, like he was drawing something into his nostrils.

The other players stood afar, gazing at Drahon in surprise. They hadn't seen him this half-insane?

"You don't understand," Drahon said. "You think this barbarian dude was some sort of non-player?"

Devon shrugged.

"Clearly," a male player said. "He's clearly an NPC."

Drahon looked at the player and nodded in the negative.

"He isn't an NPC…"

"I mean… perhaps his job was to provide us food and shelter?" a female player said, shrugging.

"Could make sense," Devon put in. "I mean, he behaved like an NPC."

Drahon nodded in the negative again.

"That's not it. He's not an NPC. He could be, but he isn't a real NPC."

The players looked befuddled.

What was Drahon on about?

"You see," Drahon began. "When we first met the barbarian, I was curious. I had one question on my mind the whole time. One that didn't quite give me peace of mind."

He stopped and looked at their faces…

"C'mon!" a male player said and grinned. "Go on. No need for the suspenseful breaks."

Drahon continued:

"Was the barbarian an NPC or just some player in the game? But then, he acted normal, like he had been programmed to say those things, not once talking about the game world or stuff like that. Out of intensified curiosity, I did a quick scan and discovered…"

The players' eyes widened, even Devon's.

"…Nothing. Absolutely nothing. All his info was just question marks. His name was a question mark, and every goddamn thing about him was in question marks."

Devon and the players shrugged.

"And so? What's your point?" a male player named Jeff said. "It simply means that he's an NPC."

"That's not all," Drahon blurted. "At the end of the stats, the system gave me the words: Information is limited. Subject does not match any existing player or registered entity. Proceed with caution."

(Drahon had memorized the words like it was a school anthem.)

The players all exchanged looks of surprise.

"So what are you saying?" they asked in unison.

Drahon replied: "What I'm saying is that we players only get to scan the profile of monsters or objects that are in the game. If I'm to scan any of you, the system would surely say something like 'Cannot be Scanned.'"

Finally… it made sense. The players decided Drahon was on to something, perhaps?

Jeff paced around the room, looking for anything that could hint at the mystery they were covered in. But he found nothing.

Devon walked over to the table where the bottle of liquids lay and picked one up.

"What do you think of this liquid stuff in the bottles?" he asked everyone.

They looked at him blankly, no one saying a word. Meanwhile, Drahon was still looking intently at the paper.

If the barbarian was trying to help them, then he wouldn't be so vague with the stuff he scribbled on the paper.

And what the hell was:

'We we will meet soon.'

That simply was it! Perhaps the barbarian was an ex-player who was running from the game catching him.

Or he was an NPC who had done his job of assisting them and suddenly vanished into thin air?

Or he was another player in the game who was trying to survive like them?

Drahon had a lot of questions.

They still had over a hundred skeleton monsters to kill though. They didn't know the exact number, as the voice that had been announcing it before didn't do so when they killed the former ones.

"What's your name?" a female player asked as Devon was just reading some tiny letters on the bottles filled with liquids.

Devon was a bit bemused by the question.

"You must have heard the voice say it. I'm Devon, and the guy over there," he pointed to Drahon, "is Drahon."

"Ok," the female said and let out a cute smile. "I'm Vanyra."

Drahon looked at the scenario, half-minded though, still trying to think what to do next at this point.

"I'm Jeff."

"I'm Dan."

"I'm Ellen."

"I'm Cody."

"I'm Justin."

Drahon and Devon exchanged glances. This was another dumb moment since they entered the game. The first was the players announcing the type of dragons they got and their tiers, and now this.

Another dumb moment!

The fuck was he going to use the name for?

When this level first started, there were over thirty players and now, it was remaining just eight—that is, them included.

If Drahon, for example, had known all the names of the dead players before they died, now it would be all for nothing.

(Probably the reason the author didn't give them names earlier, as you just don't know who might die next.)

An awkward silence followed before Devon said:

"Okay? Nice names. Hope we don't lose any of you guys next."

As grim as it may have sounded, it was funny as hell, and the players couldn't help but burst into laughter. Including Drahon, who at that moment forgot about the barbarian.

"This seems to be potions," Devon said as he got to where Drahon was seated (a rusty old chair actually.)

"What do they do?" he asked.

"I don't know. I saw a description that some can kill and the others could make one stronger. It's just about finding the right one."

Drahon looked at the jars (bottle-like stuff) in disgust.

"I'm not about to die," he chuckled grimly. "I don't need any extra powers or something like that."

Devon shrugged as he returned the jars to where he had met them.

"Let's get out of here," Vanyra said. "We're almost done with level one. Let's go burn some skeleton monsters."

Drahon stood up, taking one last look at the paper before saying:

"But we'll have to be more cautious though. The sudden absence of the barbarian still spooks me, and his profile too. I'll take it as an unsolved mystery."

The players went on to take a lot of roasted meat for the road and some bottles of water too, even bread, which they kept in a sack they found in the cottage.

They didn't take any badger meat though.

They all walked to the door, Devon going first and Drahon going last. He still held the paper though, glancing fixedly at it, expecting to see something else… something new.

And then, just when he was about to fold it in his palm and throw it on the floor, he saw the words, scribbled so tiny he had to squint his eyes to the max (almost shutting them completely), before he saw the words:

'I hope the right player sees this. There's a dragon egg in the fourth shelf. If you are to see this, go on and hatch the egg. It contains a dragon…'