Elias wandered through the city of Astravell, frustration simmering with each step. The quest log had been vague—Forge the Sword of the First Champion—but where did that journey even begin? There were no indicators, no helpful markers. This wasn't the type of challenge he'd faced before.
He checked the party chat. Find anything? he messaged Artemis.
Her response came quickly. Nothing. Game's acting weird, though. NPCs are behaving off.
Elias glanced around the market square, where the merchants usually greeted players with a friendly cadence, only now their eyes seemed just a shade too bright, their smiles a fraction too fixed.
He moved forward, scanning his surroundings, when a faint sound drew his attention. Footsteps, light and cautious, approached from behind. He turned to see Artemis.
"Nothing, huh?" he said, attempting a smile.
"Not yet," she replied, her gaze sharp. "But I was just poking around some of the ruins."
"Ruins?" He raised an eyebrow. "You've found something?"
She nodded, an almost-hidden look of intrigue flickering in her eyes. "Come on."
Together, they made their way through winding alleys and narrow passages until they reached an overgrown pathway that led to a crumbling stone courtyard. A statue, old and imposing, loomed at the center. Behind it, the remnants of a mural clung to the weathered stone wall, faded yet still oddly compelling. Strange, intricate symbols were carved into both the statue and the mural, their forms twisting and interlocking in ways that felt unsettling.
Elias brushed his fingers over the carvings on the mural, tracing lines that seemed familiar and yet unknowable. "What… is this?"
Artemis stepped closer, her gaze sharp. "These symbols… they're not random." She crouched down, her fingers hovering over a particularly intricate section, her face a mixture of concentration and something he couldn't place. "I've seen something like this before, but…" She trailed off, lost in thought.
"Where?" Elias pressed, but she didn't answer right away. Instead, she stood, stepping back to take in the whole statue.
"It's… ancient. Or it looks that way," she murmured. "Like a warning."
They were quiet for a moment, the weight of the discovery pressing down on them, when Elias noticed her fidgeting with her interface.
"Logging out already?" he asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
"I just… I need to look into something," she replied, glancing back at the mural one last time before her avatar vanished.
He stared at the empty space she'd left behind, unsure what to make of it. Artemis always seemed so easygoing, but this had her rattled. That thought lingered as he turned back to the statue, its hollow eyes staring down at him.
When Elias finally logged out hours later, he was still haunted by the mural's twisted symbols and the statue's ominous gaze. He stretched in his chair, feeling a familiar rush of disorientation as his room came into focus. Just as he turned to grab his water bottle, his eyes caught on something unusual—a small, carved statue standing on his desk. It was nearly identical to the one in the game, down to the strange symbols he hadn't been able to decipher.
He picked it up, his mind racing. This shouldn't be here, he thought, a chill creeping down his spine. But it was, sitting in his hands as solidly as anything in the room.
For a long moment, he just stared at it, the line between game and reality suddenly feeling dangerously thin.