Alex woke up, he was lying on a patch of grass next to the inn, he sat up and looked around.

"Ah! What a great day to be a travelling merchant!" he announced patting his clothes clean and sitting up.

He stood up and headed towards the inn, suddenly, he was hit from the side by a massive, mossback, he was launched across the street and into a building.

"What the fuck was that?!" he thought.

"That's right, the mossback! The quest!" Alex realised.

His sentience regained, he looked around, "Quick... think of something to help you remember!" thought Alex.

He slapped himself with his doll arm to no avail.

"It's useless... I don't have anything to write with..."

He stayed silent for a bit, nothing was happening.

"Did I forget?"

"What was I supposed to forget?"

"Aw shit!"

He stood up.

"I have to stay in a loop of thought."

"Remember mossback."

"Why?"

"To remember quest."

"Why?"

"To remember the mossback."

He kept going over the quest-mossback loop.

A sharp, piercing pain spread over his head.

"AGHHH!" he recoilled falling to the ground.

"To Remember mossback."

"Why?"

"To remember quest."

"Why?"

"To remember the mossback."

"Why?"

"To remember quest."

He rocked back and forward the pain suddenly faded.

"I think I broke free..." he breathed a sigh of relief.

"You really are a handful..." Mattius sighed standing beside him.

Alex spun around seeing Mattius sitting there.

"I beat your spell, do I get to go home?" asked Alex grabbing a hold of his little sword.

"Hah, no..."

"Didn't think so, still it was worth a try," he said with a grin, despite this he was shaking.

"What do I do... I don't stand a chance against a God!" Alex thought.

"Why thank you." Mattius exclaimed.

"Fuck he can read my thoughts!" he sighed.

"I sure can!"

"MENTAL DIVERSION NUMBER ONE!"

"Wha-?" Mattius was cut off by Alex imagining the most horrific adult entertainment image he could think of.

"AH!" Mattius cried out covering his eyes.

"What in the fuck was that man doing with all the racoons?! WHY DID HE PUT THEM-"

"I CAN KEEP THINKING!" Alex threatened.

"God, at this rate it'll take me another hundred-thousand year to recover from that image..." he shook.

Alex got an idea.

"Wait! Slow down! Why don't you tell me exactly why you hate Thal so much?"

"He's the demon of misery!"

"You wouldn't go this far for no reason..." Alex said faking confidence.

"I can tell you're bluffing..." Mattius sighed.

A tense minute passed.

"Fine!" Mattius relented.

"This city you see, was single handily wiped off the map by Thal."

He spun around pointing to everything with his hands.

"My friends, family, research and everything I knew, wiped out in a single hit." he sighed.

"Thal did that?" thought Alex.

"He did!"

"Since the start of time, we were tormented by the baseless laws of the demons!"

"Don't settle cities except for these locations..."

"Don't practice magic except for these types..."

"Don't have children because your descendants aren't supposed to exist in the future!"

"Don't change the currency from the piece of shit circle that appears in every fucking boar on the planet, and has the stability of an eighty-year-old woman on half a bag of coke balancing on a rope!"

"They were re-creating the game..." thought Alex.

"What game?!" Mattius demanded.

"It's... eh... hold on..." Alex began imagining scenes from when he played the game, he imagined his character as a man with a six-pack and constantly surrounded by a harem of women but still.

"Why... is the world so rough in your mind?"

"Hey, those are high-end HD graphics! I fucking dare you to find someone with a better PC than me!" Alex exclaimed.

"Woah, touchy subject..." Mattius thought taking a step back.

"So what... are you telling me that all of our history exists as a... as a background for your 'game' ?" he asked.

"I mean... if that was the case, you wouldn't have been able to alter anything, I know for a fact this hole didn't exist in the game." Alex shrugged.

"And... you're a player?" asked Mattius.

"That's right."

"That's how he broke the spell I put on him... Players are said to have incredible resistance to mind-control..."

Alex looked around awkwardly.

"I happen to know Thal was created by Lorb... the one who made this world, so to me, it just sounds like he was doing his job." Alex shrugged.

"That's easy for you to say when you haven't lost everything!"

"Besides, aren't you doing the exact same thing in this world?" asked Alex.

"..." he didn't reply.

"I remember that little stunt you pulled off where you stole the gold," Alex exclaimed.

"..."

"Except Thal is a cosmic being created by the creator of this world, tasked exclusively with performing his one task, while you're just salty because you were on the short end of the genocide stick," Alex replied.

"No! You're wrong!" Mattius finally spoke up.

"Look around! You're keeping the souls of your family and friends in a limbo, if this wasn't a text-based adventure, I'd probably be shitting myself from the creepy vibes you people give off!" Alex exclaimed.

"..."

"Look, you can sit here and be a baby or accept you and your friends are all dead."

"..."

"Aw shit... now I feel bad..." Alex thought.

Alex walked over to Mattius and saw he trying to cry... though the tears manifested as wet streaks on the cloth surface of the doll.

"Come on, I know a good place to get some soup," Alex said putting an arm on his shoulder.

"How can you honestly offer that after what I did?" Mattius asked.

"I'm just such a nice person, aren't I!?" he exclaimed.

They walked over to the inn located next to the patch of grass where Alex woke up.

"This place is nostalgic..." Mattius said walking into the building after Alex.

"Why don't you ever come and hang out with the dolls?" asked Alex.

"As you said, they're kind of creepy..." Mattius admitted.

"What can I getcha?" asked the doll behind the till.

"I'll have two soups," Alex replied.

Alex sat down, beside him sat down Mattius.

"This place is nice..."

"Yeah..." Mattius was starting to get choked up.

"Ah, don't cry so much, you're a man for god's sake!" Alex exclaimed.

"You're right!" Mattius said still crying.

"Hey, are you new around these parts?" asked the blond-haired doll with the red dress.

"N-not exactly..." Mattius replied.

"He's showing me around the town," Alex replied.

"Oh, I see! You look a lot like my brother! He's always at busy at the mage's guild, so it's not like you'd see him anytime before midnight when he gets home." she laughed.

"..." Mattius ate the soup in silence.

"At least he's a diligent worker!" Alex exclaimed with a chuckle.

"You bet! He's always working on some world-mumbo-jumbo..." she waved her hand dismissively.

"I'll be right back," she replied heading over to the door leading to the pantry.

Alex turned to Mattius.

"They're like normal people when you don't talk about weird stuff," Alex noted.

"I know right..."

"Obviously... I hope to leave this world, but as for these people, it's all up to you."

"Right..."

"On the topic of Thal-" he was cut off by Mattius.

"I'm dead anyway, right? It's none of my business what you plan to do with the new world..." he replied clearing his face of the tear-liquid and cracking a smile for the first time since they came to the inn.

"Thanks... don't worry if Thal goes rogue, you have my word I'll beat his ass back into the sword."

Alex picked up the spoon with which he was eating the soup.

"Or a spoon!" he laughed.

"Right..." Mattius laughed too.

"..."

"..."

They both ate silently.

"I wonder what's in the soup?" Alex asked.

It was light yellow in colour and had a green garnish, cubes of what was similar to potatoes floated around inside.

"White radish and cream soup, it's our mother's recipe," Mattius replied.

"Hm, well it's really good."

Mattius stood up from the till after wolfing down the soup.

"I think it's time we both get going," he said stretching, his voice quivering.

"You could still stay for a while." Alex offered.

"I think I've been here long enough."

As Mattius moved towards the door Alex called out to him "You better respawn soon and make me some of that soup!"

"Don't go making us out to be best buddies or anything..." Mattius replied.

He paused for a moment.

"But... I guess I could get you a bowl sometime."

He grabbed hold of the door handle and twisted it.

"Later," Alex said eating the last of his soup.

Suddenly Alex realised he was sitting, cross-legged in the cave, missing an arm and a leg, eating dirt off the ground like it was the best thing imaginable.

He spit out the dirt.

"That asshole..."