The Transience of Her

This Ain't a 24-Hour Quest, Part 1

Lianna and I remain in the HQ's courtyard, chilling out in the provided wooden chaise lounges.

“I feel like this moment of ours is a calm before the storm.”

“Ah, because I know you were drafted into our guild for a reason.”

“Yeah. In fact, if you haven't browsed the official forums, players are abuzz with news about bosses that are really tough to kill.”

“I don't go to forums, sorry.”

“I'll help you fill in the details, Lianna. Exactly a month ago, a brand-new update was released. It's a major one, really; as a brand-new dungeon called the Stratosphere of Isolation was rolled out; and with it, several high-level quests and bosses.”

“Ah, I've heard of that update in passing.”

“But there's one catch. The developers announced the bosses except for one. They even implemented news blackouts and beta player NDAs for that boss, which makes even leaks impossible.”

“Goodness gracious! Why would they wanna do it?”

“It's just the element of surprise, taken into a higher art form.”

“A much more sadistic one, I presume.”

“Correct. And from reading the forum posts alone, they only hint that they can give is that the hidden boss is really tough to kill. Even for high-level adventurers.”

“Waaaait a minute. Did you say--”

We then hear a booming female voice from the HQ's intercom system.

“Attention, fellow brothers-in-arms! This is your guildmaster, Maricar van der Valde! Our meeting will start in three minutes! Please prepare yourselves and head to the command center pronto!”

I rise up from slouching as I say...

“Lianna, let's chop chop! No more time for chit-chat!”

“Of course! I'm just that pumped!”

Three minutes later...

All of us at The Sandwich Guild gather around the central table of the command center, like the legendary Knights of the Round Table.

The guildmaster starts the meeting with the following words.

“Thank you all for being present in this important meeting. Our agenda for today is a quest that we've all worked hard for so long to beat; but as we were close to grasping victory, something inevitable yet still accidental has rendered our efforts utterly useless.”

Zoredd the Dragon Warlock responds thus.

“Is it about that notorious boss at the tail-end of the 'Higher than the Sky' quest?”

“Yes, it is. You indeed have great memory recall. For the benefit of our esteemed newcomer, Melchor, here are the details of the quest.”

Lianna whispers to me, “See? That's the thing I was talking about earlier.”

I nod in agreement as Maricar divulges the details of the quest.

“The 'Higher than the Sky' quest, as you may all know, is the most difficult quest being implemented in the latest update that added the Stratosphere of Isolation dungeon.

“The entire quest is composed of six phases, with the first five involving puzzle-solving elements while battling monsters at the same time, and the last one being an extremely difficult boss battle against one of the revealed bosses, the Stratosphere Overseer.

“We've already implemented a strategy to defeating the Stratosphere Overseer; and with an Infernal Gunner now in our ranks, our battle should ideally be a bit easier.

“But here lies our problem. After we defeat the Stratosphere Overseer, we suddenly get struck by Pangs of Death, which is a unique and especially deadly AOE 1-hit KO spell. What makes it deadly is that it's unblockable or unavoidable by any means. Anti-KO equipment and even auto-revival items are especially useless.”

Aulina Freya chimes in.

“And no matter what we do, master, we can never reach whoever cast it. It's like... something behind the scenes is casting it instantaneously, making our hard-earned victory a wasted one.”

Leggy adds to the conversation.

“It's clear that it's not the Stratosphere Overseer that's casting that wretched spell, as certain other bosses only cast certain spells or unleash their furious attacks after their health reaches zero, and before they actually die – not after they actually die. It's a little difference in timing, but it makes for a whole new world of pain.”

Giovanna also adds...

“Once we're knocked out, we see a black mass from where the Stratosphere Overseer once stood. We know it's a monster, but its name is covered in question marks and is never revealed until we do that one thing...”

Finally, Lianna completes the sentence.

“...survive that forsaken spell and even reach whatever that abomination is. That's the hidden boss we're all talking about, Melchor.”

Oh, I knew she had a taste of that, as the tone of her voice when she said "Waaaait a minute" right before the meeting started was a dead giveaway.

The guildmaster then continues.

“Want to learning something embarrassing, Melchor? I hope you don't sneer at me, 'cause I'll rip your guts off if you do that or any other reaction that's certified funny.”

“OK, OK, yes, ma'am.”

“We've attempted the entire 'Higher than the Sky' quest twenty-seven times so far, and all of those attempts ended in failure. It was so embarrassing for us that we decided not to talk about it to anyone other than ourselves, in our own little clique. Now then, newbie to our cause, do you swear to never ever divulge that shameful fact of ours?”

The developers really weren't kidding when they named this quest, with a difficulty that's exactly what it says on the tin! And they're the ones that should be sneering, not me!

“Ma'am, yes, ma'am!”

Guess being under a military-influenced priestess rubbed off on me.

“Good. Everyone, you can rest until tomorrow at 7 pm sharp right here, because that's the time that we'll be attempting the 'Higher than the Sky' quest for the twenty-eighth, and hopefully last, time. No one should be late, you hear?”

We all respond with a militaristic “Ma'am, yes, ma'am!”

“Great. You are all dismissed. You can leave the HQ or remain here. It's your call.”

The meeting has finally ended, and we're now free to do as we please for the rest of this play session.

Some of our buddies log out immediately; others use their own Teleportation Crystals to go somewhere else; and others still remain here in this fortified abode.

As for me and Lianna...

“See you tomorrow. I hope I can bring something new to the table.”

“Yeah. That something new could be the key to our victory.”

“But don't treat me like a savior once it's all over, OK? It's not like I'll be defeating that boss alone.”

“Of course not. Our teamwork is what matters most.”

“Well now, this is goodbye for now. For realz.”

“Yeah. See you.”

I immediately log out, leaving her under the peaceful evening skies of Eleftheria as I go back to the peaceful evening reality of Earth.

Man, what an eventful Friday it was.

To sum it up, I found out that Lianna has been reborn in an MMORPG world, she roped me into joining her guild (which I eventually did), and we and her guild are getting ready to face a tough quest with an equally tough boss.

It's at first hard to digest all of this; but after some self-reflection, I believe that all of this must be a combination of the inevitable, the accidental, and the things we actually did.

Hope the next day is as eventful as today was.

Saturday. 6:09 am.

Since there's no school today, I can do whatever the heck I want.

There's still more than enough time to prepare for the upcoming quest, so what?

I know! I must ease out too much excitement that can lead to nervous tension and possible bumbling out in the upcoming battle.

So what I'll do...

Go out window shopping!

After I do my morning rituals, eat breakfast, and do some casual surfing and social media updating, I'm opening the front door and am about to leave for the mall when a deliveryman is right by the doorstep.

“Hello. Are you Mr. Soren Orr?”

“Oh, yes.”

“There's a package coming from... Mr. Levin Ingersoll.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“You just need to sign the form and...”

“Done.”

“Thank you.”

Since mom and dad are out exercising at the nearby public park, I need to keep our house secure.

The package can come later, so I carry it to my room before locking up the house and leaving for the mall.

While I'm at it, I need to check out the upcoming games at the mall's game store.

There's an ad for an upcoming beat-'em-up where two girls must rescue their boyfriends from a local gang.

The graphics are cute, and the gameplay is solid.

Many old-school gamers are raving about this.

Hmm... mental note: Add this to my wishlist.

The next joint I'm visiting is a men's specialty clothing shop.

Gray sweaters? Too bland for me.

Slacks? I only have one of it, and I might get more in the future since I will be donning smart casual wear for job interviews and such.

Oh, a matching pair of a jacket and button-down undershirt, with two color variants, red and blue.

The red jacket's undershirt contains a quote from the late great Stephen Hawking, while the blue jacket's undershirt simply says “No. 3”.

Buying clothes can come later.

Alright, even a short period of window shopping's wearing me out. Time for some bubble tea.

I order the vanilla one (both in flavor and plainness), and I sip on it like it's nobody's business.

And then...

I notice someone.

That person's disposition is similar to that of the mysterious player who gave me the warning note.

Can that person be the one behind that avatar?

No, I mustn't jump into conclusions.

I go back to sipping my bubble tea, and then I notice something on my shirt's pocket.

That's strange.

Man, either I got too distracted, or that guy who put the note is really that skilled.

Whatever.

I open the note and read it.

“Still believing in your own delusion? Grow up; move on.”

Another word of warning? Ho-hum.

Once I finish my bubble tea, I decide to go home and unwrap the package delivered to me earlier before I get to eat lunch.

Let's see the contents.

Oh, it's a DreamStation! I've once owned it, but I eventually sold it off.

Now I get to relive my old favorites and discover hidden gems.

Convenient. It's got a bunch of games, mostly RPGs.

The entire Following Quest series, Dysfunctional Adventurers (which features a useless goddess), Minstrel's Saga, The Proverbial Pledge, among others.

And there's a note.

“To Soren:

I sure you know by now that my cousin suddenly passed away. Like you, I was hit hard by that news.

I even planned to send this box to her like I always do every month; but now that she's gone, it's time I pass this to you instead, as my final package to her.

Once I sort out everything, I plan to entrust all of her pre-loved games and hardware, even the ones I've sent to her in the past, to you, as you are the one closest to her heart.

As a fellow gamer, it's your obligation – no, your own calling – to always preserve the memories of her enjoying the same games as we do, even though there's the inevitability of those memories fading away with time.

Memories can be preserved thanks to technology the same way some enterprising people bring new life to old hardware.

I'm sure she feels the same way, too.

My sympathies,

Levin”

“How noble of you.”

These are my words of gratitude to him.

I'm now done with lunch, and I still have lots of time.

OK, I'll log in right now and stock up on healing items.

Since I've been warned that the enigmatic “hidden boss” uses a really unfair KO spell, my first order of business is to stock up on Revival Plumes for the inevitability where the spell will connect to my guildmates.

I'm not entirely sure, but I have a lingering suspicion that I will eat the spell, too.

Enough speaking of the devil; I still have more than enough time to prepare for the quest.