Chapter 144: Grim Omens

We watched as Astrid finished her meal, consisting of a rather large sandwich and some juice. Since this was the first time we'd met outside of a battlefield, I wasn't really sure of what to make of her. Looking at her right now, she seemed no different than any other player we'd met in this game. 

"So," She said as she gulped down the bit of her sandwich. "I have something to tell you." She glared at me. I hesitated. Was I supposed to say something?

"Uh, I'm listening?" 

"Good!" She declared loudly. Then, her expression turned more serious. "You see," She explained. "Yesterday, there was a meeting among the players that happened to be in Baile Chailce. Naturally, I attended and so did the person who hired me." She hesitated. "Well, you already know Victoria, so no point in being all hush hush." 

She fiddled with her short hair as she continued. "Many players, weak and strong, took turns to address the rest of the player base. Most of them wanted to recruit more people for their groups since they were so scared. Most of what was said is basically meaningless, so I'll spare you the details." She sighed. "But three important things happened."

She glanced at Asher and Lucius. "The first is that you, Kai Friseal, are now an important person and about half of the player base is looking for you."

"They're doing what now?" I asked, my eyes wide. More attention was exactly what I wanted to avoid. 

"Well, you won the tournament and the Ereth keep calling you 'The Divine Matriarch's Champion', so naturally people think you're in the know of some not so obvious things."

"I'm not!" I cried out. "Seriously, Astrid, I don't want to deal with so many people!"

She chuckled. "I doubt there's anything we can do. Anyways, people don't seem to hate you so you should be fine. The second thing that happened is that there is a…" She hesitated, almost as if she were searching for the right word. "There's a divide among the player base." She glanced at Asher again. "I'm not sure if these two know, so…"

"You can tell them anything you want to tell me." I did trust them more than I could trust anyone else.

"If you say so." She sighed. "Someone found out who Erik is in real life." 

I froze. "No way." I mumbled. "Wait, no, who? How?" This was bad; really, really bad. 

"You mean about his father?" Asher asked. I could hear a hint of panic in his voice as well. "How could anyone find out?"

Astrid shrugged. "I don't know. But a rather large group of morons decided that Erik's to blame for them getting stuck here." She clenched her fists. "The girls and I barely got the guy out of the meeting before he was lynched."

I gritted my teeth. Why had this happened when I wasn't in the city? 

"So, the divide is between the people who want Erik to pay and…?" Asher asked. Astrid nodded. "Yeah, between those idiots and the larger group that just wants to band together and off the Demon Lord." She shook her head. "A huge fight broke out after we got Erik out. Apparently one of the Divines had to intervene to make sure no one was killed."

Silence followed her words. I bit my lower lip. This was worse than I feared. "I need to talk to Aelith." I said after a short while. "She needs to-"

"No." Asher shook his head. "You can't constantly keep relying on her." 

"What am I supposed to do?" I shouted. What if something happened to Erik, or anyone who happened to be with him at the time? What if players decided to target Alina, Joshua or Vincent?

"Erik's with the girls right now." Astrid said. "Though they won't stay long. We're supposed to meet in the village tomorrow." She sighed. "Victoria asked me to check up on a few things, so I'll be busy with that. I can't keep an eye on the paladin for you." 

Lucius shook his head. "There is only so much we can do to protect someone, Kai." Asher nodded while the young swordsman continued. "When we return tomorrow, you should talk to him. Perhaps having them leave the city in secret and going somewhere remote, with less players around would be a good idea."

I hesitated. He wasn't wrong, but on the other hand, less populated area meant less Ereth guards. Which meant less protection.

It was a tough choice and honestly, it wasn't my choice to make.

"I want to return to my research once we're done here." Asher said after a moment. "With so many things having come to light, I feel like we need to learn more about the past." I nodded; Asher's words did make sense.

"I should check up on my people as well." Lucius said with a sigh. "I'll be joining you before long though, Kai."

I hesitated, then nodded again. "I'll be with Erik and the others then." While I definitely didn't look forward to facing Erik, I couldn't stand idly by as people came after him for nothing but revenge, for something that isn't even his own fault.

"The son suffers the sins of the father." Astrid mumbled as she looked up at the starry sky. "Let's hope that saying doesn't come true."

"Uh," Lucius mumbled. "Isn't that from the bible?"

Astrid chuckled and shrugged. "Anyways, I'm off to sleep. Good night!"

Without waiting for an answer, she laid on her back and closed her eyes. Within seconds, she had fallen asleep.

"I'm envious." Lucius mumbled, then glanced at me and Asher. "I'll keep first watch. And no, Kai, you don't get to keep watch." I rolled my eyes. "Fine, fine."

I laid on my side and pulled my blanket over me. The cold night breeze tugged at the soft blanket. I closed my eyes and soon drifted to another uneasy sleep, filled with memories of lives that weren't my own.

Come morning, Astrid had already left by the time I woke up. Asher prepared us a modest breakfast and soon, we set off as well. 

We were silent for most of the way, though my silence was because of a task Asher had given me. I focused on the wind that blowed in my face, pulling my hair and clothes as we flew over the land. Just like I did the other morning, I tried to guide the wind to gather in my palm. Like Asher had suggested, we had a whole day of flight in front of us and wasting all that time would be utterly foolish.

Besides, if I wanted to get stronger, strong enough to defy Aelith and kill the Demon Lord, I had to use every single advantage I had. And there could be no greater advantage than having not one, but two primal cores at my disposal.

"So," I heard the two of them speak as I finally managed to catch a tiny breeze in my palm. "What do you think will happen?" Lucius' voice was filled with worry. Asher hesitated a while before responding. "I don't know. But Kai's situation is quite grim." I heard his sigh. "There is a reason why memories are something not messed with in games such as these."

"Oh?" Lucius' interest was piqued. "Why?"

"Because memories are what makes you who you are." Asher hesitated. "Well, experience is. But where is all that experience stored? In your memories. When we make a game, we already give players a new body, so there is no such thing as muscle memory. All that remains is the memories stored in the player's mind. If you tamper with that – take it away or add new ones – you're effectively overwriting a person."

I flinched. I'd never though of it like that, but thinking about it, everything Asher said made sense. Was I still the same Kai as before? No. I could say with certainty that I wasn't.

"Besides," Asher added. I focused, so I could hear his words which were clearly not intended for me. "In Kai's case, they're filling his mind with hundreds of lifetimes worth of memories. It's a miracle the man hasn't completely lost his sense of self yet."

"That can happen?" Lucius asked. Asher sighed. "Of course, that and worse. Look – he hadn't even noticed he was speaking another language. Who knows what else he has done without knowing?"

I clenched my fists. He had made a very good point. 

"Did you mean it, Asher? That you would have killed him on the spot if I weren't there?"

Asher hesitated. "Well." He took a deep breath. "I don't know. Everything he's done so far has been with good intentions. Well, mostly." He chuckled. "I don't think I would have been able to."

I didn't know what to think of his words. "Besides," He added. "He was more surprised than us." Silence followed his words, until Lucius broke it a while later.

"Yeah," He said with a bitter tone. "You have to find a solution to this, Asher."

The blonde sorcerer nodded. "I will. It'll take time, but I will."