CC 5 ~ 4!

4

“Don’t worry about dragons. There aren’t any in this Zone.” Captain pulled Joe up from the floor and brushed off his charred shoulders. Skin sloughed off, and Joe let out a sharp gasp of pain. “Yikes, that light magic really did a number on you. Gotta watch out for that; Elves are known for their ‘impressive’ ability to manipulate light, sound, and sensory input. Just one more reason you can never trust them.”

The Dwarf snorted, half-turned and took a few steps, then waved at Joe to follow after him. “What's all that impressive about creating things that aren't real? Solid? ‘Oh look, I tricked this person into tripping over their own feet. Look at how witty I am’. Ridiculous. What a waste of an existence.”

Joe healed himself with two spells in quick succession, then started to follow after Captain. A thought crossed his mind, and in the next instant, he activated his Exquisite Shell. It appeared that they would be walking for quite a while, so he was not worried about having to use his mana anytime soon. As soon as he could, Joe toggled Retaliation of Shadows to be on as well. He was almost kicking himself for not having these active, but to be fair, he had been devoting all of his mental energy to breaking the Mortal Limit. “Where are we going, Captain? What is going on in this Zone, and how can we move it along so that I can start doing what I want to be doing?”

“We are going to the spawning grounds of a minor fort,” Captain told the human without turning back to face him. Joe hoped that he was just focused and not nervous about what might be in the area. “As for what is going on? War! I’ll tell you now, human-”

“My name is Joe.”

“I'll remember your name when it matters.” Captain spoke the words with the same inflection as a hardcore gamer casually promising to do the dishes ‘later’. “Let me explain the rules of Svaltarheim for you. Reputation is everything. You buy things with it, sell things for it, you gain reputation for completing quests and for acts of service for all of Dwarvenkind. Things that will get you the most reputation: capturing minor forts, capturing major forts, and doing what your commanding Officer tells you to do.”

“What is this about forts? I don’t have any idea what that means.” Joe was starting to get grumpy; even though this Dwarf had much shorter legs than he did, his physical stats were likely insanely higher. He was practically running just to keep up, and still trying to ask questions? It was starting to become frustrating.

“Right, well, you know what happens when the people of Eternium die. It’s a little different here, because of the constant war. If we all respawned with opposing viewpoints every single time we died, we would have-”

“Wait.” Joe cut Captain off, his eyes wide. He had been seeking out this information, subconsciously or not, since he’d started the game. What did happen to NPCs when they died? “Captain, I don't know why you assume I would know what happened to the people of the world. Could you give me a quick rundown?”

“What?” Captain actually came to a halt, surprise clear on his face. “But you are here? You won the war for your Zone already; we all got the notification. Don't tell me you won your war, and you didn't even know what you were fighting for? Celestials, humans are kinda messed up… that means…”

“Your people are going to fit in with us just fine!” Unexpectedly, Captain burst into laughter. He clapped Joe on the shoulder hard enough to knock the man to the ground and got slapped by a shadow for his trouble, then continued walking, still chuckling. “Pretty big mosquitoes in here. Listen up, human. When a native of Eternium dies, they come back. Problem is, all of us made a deal so that we could live here. Part of the deal was that we would always come back. And…”

Captain hesitated for a breath of time, but he pressed forward after a long pause. “It was a dark time in our history. We had the option to live in peace and grow together, but too many people clamored for war. The System decided that if we were going to be at war all the time, we needed to really understand what we were doing to each other. Every time one of us dies in enemy territory and the fort isn’t captured by our people in time, our memories of living as that race are saved and locked away.”

“Then, we come back as a member of our opposing race, losing all the memories of that life. By regaining levels, or by increasing certain characteristics to a high enough point, we slowly unlock the memories, skills, or spells that we have stored away. It’s all race-specific. For instance, if I died, I’d come back as a low-leveled Elf. If I got to the level I am now, as a Dwarf, I’d start to remember my life here, as a Dwarf. I wouldn’t be any good with a hammer, but I’d understand it better. Just like I understand illusions, and how nasty they are.”

“The war… is still going on? Even with all that? Knowing that you were an Elf at some point?” Joe couldn't comprehend what kind of twisted mindset was required to be literally at war with yourself for hundreds of years.

“Aye, that it is.” The Dwarf nodded sagely, a lopsided grin almost hidden by his thick beard. “The only way to stop the cycle is to shatter the other race. Then, if and when we die, we will at least come back only as Dwarves. That's also why we defend ourselves more than we attack; every soldier that we lose means another enemy we will have to face. That's what I was saying when I said that things are a little different on this Zone. Here is where the forts come in.”

“Now I understand why humans had been reduced to one single City, and were so reluctant to launch an attack against the Wolfmen. At least until they were almost positive they would win in a single strike. As for here…” Joe prodded Captain after a few long moments in which neither he nor the Dwarf were speaking. “Please go on.”

“Huh?” Captain frowned at him in confusion. “Wait, you actually want to hear about this? History and such? I kind of figured that you had zoned out, so I just… yikes, you might have a harder time in the Legion than I was expecting. Alright, listen. There are nine minor forts that surround almost every major fort unless something wonky is going on. Anyone killed in the territory of a minor fort will respawn at that minor fort after a day, so long as we retain control of it and pay the fees for the Ledger of Souls. The Ledger is commonly known as ‘the rolls’, while respawning is referred to as ‘roll call’. Any enemies we kill will come in as low-level Dwarves after that same amount of time.”

Joe was starting to see what Captain was getting at, “I'm guessing that if they took the fort, the Elves would be able to recoup any of their lost troops? They would also gain any Dwarves that fell in that area?”

“Yes, and no.” Captain nodded approvingly, though there was a slight hint of disgust on his face. “They would get their troops back, but the second part is where major forts come in. If we lose a minor fort, we can pay a certain amount of resources to bring back a portion of our fallen, as I said. It is random, so we can't always bring back the best of the best every time, but it is still a costly gamble we are usually willing to bear. The major forts allow specific people to be brought back using the Ledger of Souls; they also act as rapid transit systems. So long as they are not under attack and can pay the cost, minor forts can transfer their people to major, and major can transfer to other major. Gotta hoof it from major to minor forts, unfortunately.”

“I'm betting that skirmishes are really frequent, but all-out attacks are crazily rare?” Joe nodded at his own logic. “That's why you are so excited to take on whatever human arrives? Because they can throw themselves against your enemies again and again without a cost to you, and they’ll always come back on your side? This… this is going to change the face of your entire war, isn't it?”

“Got it in one. Lad, you contribute enough to the war efforts, and you’ll be a hero in no time. But we are here, and it is time for you to join the Legion and the blood games.” The two of them emerged from a tunnel and were met with an assortment of weapons pointed directly at their faces. Captain grinned, then screamed an incoherent stream of expletives at the Dwarves threatening them. So foul were the words—and so potent was his voice—that the air in the vicinity actually started to turn light blue. Captain paused to take a breath, and another Dwarf stepped forward with a smile.

“Captain Bro!” He slammed his forehead into Captain’s, and the two bounced away with grins on their faces and blood dripping down into their eyes. “Welcome back! It so good to see you, haven't had proper spotter in days!”

Joe watched the odd social interaction, trying to figure out if they were speaking his language so poorly. Was there a different language, a Dwarven language, and they were speaking human just so they could be friendly to him? If that were the case, he decided not to judge their poor grammar and sentence structure. The Dwarf turned to face him, and an even wider smile appeared on his face.

“Human Bro! You joined up! Dudemeister, I gotta know… how many plates you squat? Feces, look at the way you stand! Your form terrible, thin Bro. No worry, we fix!” He grabbed Joe’s shoulders and slammed their foreheads together, creating a shower of sparks and a dark version of Joe that slapped him in the face.

Joe stumbled back as all of the Dwarves in the area laughed in excitement. Another, this one without a beard but sporting a glorious mustache, jumped forward and slammed their heads together. “Ha! Sparks and funny feel! Dudes and Dudettes, try this out!”

*Wham*.

Every Dwarf in the area raced over to bash their head against him, and Joe began to despair. “I was wrong. They’re speaking as well as they can. They’re idiots.”