A mask half black, half white, half sad, half happy. The body was covered by a hooded tunic, also half black half white but on opposite sides of the mask. He wore a pair of boots, one black and one white, this time in the same order as the mask, and like the symbol in the center of the tunic, a Taijitu, or symbol of yin and yang.
He was an NPC that all players knew, an NPC that gave them information about the world, who gave them missions and who nobody knew anything about. Except that he could appear and disappear at any time. The Oracle
"Welcome again, Eldi Hnefa, you are quite late," he or she greeted him. Nobody knew his sex or race, and his voice was neutral.
"Oracle…! How…? Why…? What… are you doing here…?" Eldi stammered.
"I come and go where my presence is required, because that is my mission. I can't answer 'how'," he replied all the questions, as the Oracle always did, although sometimes without giving answers.
"What have you meant by late?" Eldi asked again, still stupefied.
"You are the last to arrive."
"The last? How many more have returned? Other players? Gjaki or Goldmi? What do you know about Melia?"
"Yes, the last one. No one else will come back. They have returned between five and twenty. Yes, other players. I can't give information about individuals," the Oracle answered all the questions, one by one.
"Why did I come back? Is this real world? Was the game real?"
The Oracle looked at the sky, as he had done in the game when he was going to explain something transcendental, some epic background. Then he looked back at Eldi.
"In the past, almost 100 years ago, a terrible threat loomed over the continent of Jorgaldur, a threat against which the power of the empires was insufficient. For this reason, they joined to create avatars with the essence of the earth, magical containers whose shape would be forged through the soul, avatars capable of learning and ascend to the highest levels of power. But few were able to master them and those who were, had enough power to fight for themselves. An army was needed, so they called otherworldly beings who were willing to lend their help."
Without saying a word, Eldi listened once more to the story he already knew, the game background story. However, from then on, it began to change, starting with the time when everything had started. Now it has been added the time that had passed since he had started the game until now.
"Those beings, whom you call players, created ethereal avatars, that could be seen, but that hardly interacted with the world. Many times, they saw the world that had been or could have been, shaped by the power that existed in their origin. For this reason, they often carried out the same actions, such as buying the same weapons, carrying out the same events, missions, as cutting a tree that they had not really cut. But they didn't see it that way. For them, it was to expand their knowledge of the world, of their power, and so they also increased theirs."
Eldi swallowed hard, wondering if this meant he had never actually met Melia.
"However, that army of semi-corporeal beings was effective against a semi-corporeal threat, so they ended up saving those who had summoned them, through what for them was only a game. But neither the powers of those empires are the only ones existing in Jorgaldur, nor were all players equal."
Eldi listened carefully, totally immersed in those words, in what they meant to him.
"Some souls modeled their avatars more intensely, showing themselves sometimes stronger and seeing the world clearer, making them even able to interact with it and its beings, to gain their interest and be claimed by them. There were even those who earned the right to return when their souls would be freed from the bindings of their own world. And, recently, the last of the gates between our worlds closed, which means that the last avatar have regained its owner and merged with him."
"Then, Melia …?" he asked hopefully.
"If the interactions you had were unique among you, different from the rest, they were probably real. If not, probably just the sound of the wind."
His heart was pounding. No one else had spoken with Melia, and rare were the cases that conversations were so real, so intimate. He was convinced that the dryad was real, that his heart wasn't lying to him. Although he still had to find her. He still had to know what her feelings were. And he didn't forget that she wasn't the only different thing that had happened to him in the game.
"And what about the exclusive missions? The ones that only a player could carry out?"
"If they were unique, it is likely that they were real, but I can't say for sure. The powers of this world and yours, those of what you call developers, can affect in different ways."
Gjaki and Goldmi had done exclusive missions. He wondered if they had also come back to this world, if he could meet them. Or if it was just the work of the game developers. However, he had no idea how to contact other players. Or maybe...?
"Is there any way to contact the players who have returned?" He asked, hoping the Oracle could help him.
"If you find them or find someone who knows them. As with any other being in this world," he answered, shattering his hopes.
"And what is expected of me?"
"Nothing. Now you are another being of this world, a free being. I am only here to fulfill my mission, to serve as a guide, not as a patron. You can listen to me or not, ask me or not. I am just a sign in the path that you can follow or ignore," unveiled the Oracle.
"And why is this village deserted? Why was the beginner's area?"
"They were created for all of you, to greet you, although sometimes it was only their reflection that was perceived. When there were no more players to welcome, the power that allowed others to enter was dispersed, and they were abandoned. But they were left standing for those who were about to return."
Eldi stared at him for a while, still confused, still with many questions and doubts. But at least, now he had a clue, now he knew something else, now he understood his situation a little.