“Hold on and bite down,” Roy said as he held Kaine’s dislocated shoulder, Jedd and Farvo holding the rest of him.

Kaine nodded, a bundle of cloth in his mouth blocking him from speaking as he bit down on it.

“Alright, on three?” Roy said, and Kaine nodded once more. “One…Two-” Roy counted, suddenly pulling on two as the sound of bone being relocated filled their ears.

“Mudder Fak!-” Kaine mumbled in agony, groaning as it then dampened into mild pain. “Fuck that hurt worse than the landing!” He mused after spitting out the cloth.

“Hmph, shouldn’t have rushed after that bloody thing then.” Jedd said in annoyance, grinning as he lay there clutching his left shoulder.

“I…Yeah, I lose my head sometimes…Sorry.” Kaine apologised, his gaze moving off them and onto Nova who watched from a nearby rock.

“So…what do we do with this thing?” Rey asked, gesturing at the mass of green fur and flesh still blocking most of the river.

“Its fur looked really flammable…” Lara mused as she played with a flame, throwing it from finger to finger.

“Yeah could be useful for starting a campfire quickly,” Farvo mused, “Or…other things.” A smirk then growing on his face as he began to ponder.

“Please tell me he’s out of that powder…” Roy groaned.

“Nope, still got some and found more on the way, what do you think I’ve been mixing as we walked?” Farvo said with a wicked chuckle.

“By the way…where’s Butch?” Rey then mused, causing Jedd to groan as she gestured at a shaking nearby bush.

“Right there, the coward’s been hiding the entire time.” Jedd said with a grimace.

“Aww, poor thing must be terrified.” Lara said, standing up to move towards the bush.

Seeing this, the worg rushed out and leapt into an even larger set of foliage.

Causing Lara to pale, “Its…me isn’t it?”

“Naah-” Jedd was about to assure her…

But Rey just shrugged, “Yeah its your flames.” She pointed out, Lara still having a flickering blaze around her index finger.

“At least I know it ain’t just me,” Kaine mused as he rose up, “In the past game you’d need to be at least halfway through Martial Arts to have access to a Magic Tutor to even start learning that.”

“Damn how much did they change the game then?” Farvo asked as he began gathering some of the beast’s fur.

“A lot, other than the basic movements and combat assist system…I barely recognise this world now.” Kaine explained with a sigh, then gesturing at the monster’s corpse. “In the older game you’d be lucky as hell to encounter one of these things, the game calls them Elites but we used to call them Aberrations. They roam areas of lower level than themselves and act as a mobile boss encounter, they also have an ability that activates once a certain health threshold has been hit.”

“So…that’s why it pumped up into an eggplant?” Rey asked, poking one of the monster’s massive arms.

“Yeah, normally you’d want to kill it before the transformation is complete or not only does it gain two levels in power but grows in size. That specific ability was either Berzerk or Demonic Rage.” Kaine said as he stared at the beast’s beady white eyes. “But that’s not all either…those worgs, the army at the waterfall, the Gaizedon…” He then mused, falling into deep thought.

“The AI update?” Roy guessed, “Yeah, I’ve been pondering the same. If they updated the AI of NPCs, which is my current theory as of why we’re in this situation in the first place, then doesn’t that mean they’ve updated the AI of monsters as well?”

Kaine nodded, “But then, why does it look like they are not as aware as the dark being from the introduction?”

Roy shrugged, “Their level of programmed intelligence maybe? Not that I know what bloody level of intelligence you’d need to realise the meaning of your fucking existence and gain access to the game’s code and network to…” he gestured at them all, “Pull all this shit off”.

“What if…” Lara then said in a low voice as realization sparked within her mind, “W-What if they already had access to the code?”

Each turned to look at her with confusion, causing her to blush by the sudden attention. “I-I mean like, this game has hundreds of s-short sub-quests but, the main storyline quests are using a n-new system too no?”

“Yeah…The main storyline is using the same system as Blood Sabre, which if I’m not mistaken is owned by the same parent company that owns this game?” Roy mused, realization hitting him as well.

“Which means, what?” Kaine asked, all of them then glancing at him. “What?...I haven’t played MMORPGs in a long while okay? I’m not…up to date.”

“The new main-quest system uses a smart, real-time learning AI, to formulate objectives along the pre-determined plotline.” Roy said confusing most of them further, “In layman’s terms…Whichever NPC has access to this other AI, also has direct access to altering the code. Now the question is, which NPCs in this world give out objectives for the main quest line?”

“Gods.” Kaine then mused, realisation hitting him too. “In the last game, Gods gave out objectives for the main quest line. The Player Character would early on choose a Deity to follow, and from then on that Deity would give them objectives to complete in his/her or their people’s name.”

“And normal NPCs did not? How would this God commune with the PC in the first place?” Roy asked.

“Through other NPCs,” Kaine answered, “Or at least that is how the story portrayed it, the God would give a priest of their church, cult or house the objective and that priest would relay it to the player character whenever they passed by. Quests didn’t update the moment you completed the last objective, not in Aether, instead after completing an objective the player would have to wait some time for the next one. As the world around them would then change and be altered in some way depending on what and how well they did.”

“Wait, that makes no sense, how could that even be possible graphically speaking?” Farvo then asked, “Say you complete an objective and that kills an NPC, would other players still see that NPC and you no? Or like changes in terrain or cities?”

“Aether Online was an MMORPG but unlike the others, I’m guessing the gameplay videos you looked up where mostly combat related?” Kaine said, a nostalgic smile appearing on his face.

“Yeah?...” Farvo said looking confused.

“Aether Online worked on an instance based system, players who took the same choices were grouped into the same instances and saw each other along with other players who’s storyline wasn’t affected or players who’s storyline countered theirs.” Kaine explained, “So say my objective was to save an NPC, but I failed. And say yours was to kill that NPC, and you succeeded…We’d see each other.”

“Damn, that must have taken some processing power.” Farvo mused.

“Yeah, the game's software was pretty average but the hardware behind their servers was always top notch.” Kaine said, “Also, if say you had a friend who you couldn’t normally see around the world? You could join their instance through the friend’s list, it was called ‘Realm Jumping’, and story-wise it meant your character was stepping into a parallel universe.”

“I understand why it was all the rage seven years ago then.” Rey chuckled, understanding some of what they had just said. “How long did you play for? You said you haven’t played MMORPGs for a while so, when did you quit?” she asked…

And Kaine’s smile faltered then. “I played for four years, since the beta of it eight years ago.”

Rey noticed the change in his tone and expression, then deciding she had hit landmine… “Ah, anyway what are we going to do about this thing? Just leave it here and move on?” She asked, changing the subject.

“Oh I’m gathering as much of this fur as I can, but I am curious as to why some boss-class monster drops no actual loot.” Farvo mused, unaware of the sudden tension from Kaine.

“Check its stomach…” Kaine then said, gesturing at the beast. “Its true, an Elite class monster would normally drop something good, but this game like the last doesn’t use a loot drop system but instead a loot gather system. It has nothing of use on it, but inside…well. Aberrations eat anything and everything, I’m sure it’s eaten a couple of interesting things it wasn’t able to digest. That’s how we got our loot from them before anyway.”

“Wait…So…” Rey groaned as her and Lara’s expressions paled.

Taking the axe from Rey’s hand, “Yeap, guess we’re chopping it open!” Jedd pulled them towards the corpse.

“W-W-Wait wait! What?” Lara stuttered in exclamation, “I-I just want to say that there’s no ‘I’ in t-this ‘we’ y-you’re talking about!”

“Loot~” Jedd ignored them both as she hummed some song’s lyrics off memory. “You three! Help me too or you get none!” She then said, continuing to hum away whilst pulling a struggling Elf and Human towards the dead beast’s side.

“Right right, I’ll bust the thing open.” Farvo said, taking hold of his bone long sword before following with.

“I’m…good.” Roy said, glancing at his makeshift bow and arrows.

“And I’m tired, knock yourself out.” Kaine said as he suddenly grabbed Nova by the head and began walking off towards the jungle, “I need to check on my and this thing’s stats real quick too.”

Nova struggled and flapped her serpentine body about as he held her, hissing in objection, but it was hopeless as she couldn’t escape his grip.

“Right…” Roy mused, sensing malice in Kaine’s tone as he walked off.

Watching after him briefly before both him and his familiar disappeared behind a tree.

Knowing that he was now out of sight, Kaine suddenly slammed Nova onto the nearest tree’s bark, his eyes focused into slits as they lay narrow and cold. Set upon the serpent, he glared upon it while his hand clenched tighter around its neck with every passing moment.

“Explain.” Kaine said, his voice drowning in anger.

“E-Explain wh-what dear m-master?” Nova asked, being choked out but seemingly unbothered by it.

Kaine clenched his hand tighter, “The dagger, the voice, their words and the meaning behind why I could barely control myself back there.”

Nova chuckled as she slowly slithered out of his grip, coiling around his arm then as her crimson eyes focused onto his. “You made a pact with mistress, you were in a bit of a pickle back there so she offered you a way out as any good Patron would-”

Suddenly a copper blade embedded itself into the bark mere inches from stabbing Nova through, the serpent fell quiet at that.

As Kaine’s eyes narrowed, “And?”

Nova chuckled once more, a bit more sheepish in her tone this time around. “You made a pact with a Greater Demon, what did you expect? Holy flames like your friend there? Mistress obviously likes what she sees in you, if she offered you that.”

“What does she see in me, and what is that?” Kaine coldly asked.

“She…We see the darkness in you, we see the killer inside you. Growing, growing stronger with each passing day. We see the demon you can be, we see the potential of your ugly heart.” The demonic familiar explained with a hiss, “You falter, you question yourself. Which is why you made the wrong choice back there, luckily for you everything somehow worked out but I question then…will it always? Will luck always be by your side, master?”

Suddenly, Nova’s eyes turned a pitch black. “Will you alwaysss be able to sssurvive with your sssheer mortal ssstrength alone?”

“Survive or not, you don’t control me, you won’t control me.” Kaine hissed back, “This pact we made, is your assistance in return of your freedom. Nothing less, nothing more. Your freedom, does not include my imprisonment, does it?”

The serpent chuckled, “No, it doesss not.”

“Good, because if it does, then I will find a way to break this pact.” Kaine warned, “Let there be no mistake, I don’t need your assistance, I just find it useful. You on the other hand…You need me.” He said with resolve, then releasing the serpent and allowing it to fall to the ground. “I may be just another mortal to you, demon, but unlike you I’m free.”

Nova’s form rose from the ground, her eyes having returned to their normal crimson self as they met his gaze again. “If you say so, master~” She chuckled with a hiss, sending shivers down Kaine’s spine as he stormed off.

I’m gonna kill that fucking snake…

Kaine mused as he walked out of the jungle just in time to see Jedd, who was reaching into the monster’s stomach…pull out a large sack of cloth.

“Wait…really?” Jedd said as each of them stared at the stomach fluid drenched sack, “I think they took the meaning of loot bag too fucking seriously…”

“Whatever…just…pull that damn thing out so I can stop being here!” Rey said, gagging throughout as she glanced at and away from the carved open stomach.

Lara sat completely still, eyes wide and watching as Jedd and Farvo pulled the sack out, bubbling liquid and guts in full view as she lay frozen still and paper pale.

They dragged the sack off the corpse, Rey having to pull Lara down to make her snap out of her disturbed daze.

“Loot~” Jedd still humming that same tune as she undid the rope which held the sack close, throwing the rope aside before opening the bag wide with excitement. “Wha-” Her excitement then ending there, as all she saw within was darkness.

“Put your hand in, you’ll receive something depending on what you did during the fight.” Kaine explained as he and Roy walked up to them.

“Ah…haha.” Relief showing on her face then, “For a moment I thought it was empty…” Jedd said, diving her right hand in first. She watched as her hand sunk into the darkness, feeling nothing at first, before searching about the inside where her fingers found perch around a grip.

Pulling her hand out, Jedd also retrieved a large maul. With a shaft of hard wood and a top made of iron in the shape of two hammer heads, the weapon looked like it was made to cause destruction.

Jedd whistled at the size as well, the iron top itself was three times the size of her own fist and just as heavy as it looked. The wooden shaft was also longer than her own arm, allowing her to wield it two handed.

“Ooh, my turn!” Rey exclaimed, sounding like a child on christmas as she dove both hands into the sack’s darkness. Feeling her way through, until she grabbed onto something herself, grinning as she pulled out two small crossbows strapped around a belt with one hand and a small side satchel full of bolts with the other. “Ohhhohoho~ Finally actual weapons!” She exclaimed with glee.

“Pfft, I could’ve made those with the right resources and tools…” Farvo mused, pushing them aside as he reached into the sack himself. “Oh…Well, so much for making it.” He mused out loud, pulling out with both hands a short thick staff-like object with an iron trigger, a grip to the side and a thick metal barrel at the other end. “Now that’s a hand-cannon if I’ve ever seen one!” He said, glancing the weapon over before his eyes fell on a small cloth bag hanging to its side. “Powder too!”

“Alright…” Roy sighed as he and Lara glanced at one another, “Guess we’ll see what we get?” He said, quickly reaching in then with one hand, feeling two objects, he reached in with the other hand as well to pull them both out. In one hand Roy now held a long smooth grey wooden bow almost twice the size of his make-shift one, while in the other hand he held a hard-leather quiver full of iron tipped arrows.

“Right, fine, throw my crap away and use that fancy shit I guess.” The dwarf mused as he threw aside his own old construct.

“I wonder what I’ll get then…” Lara mused as she lit a quick flame into her palm, snuffing it out before reaching in.

“A wand?” Rey guessed.

“Nah, probably a staff.” Farvo said.

“Or an enchanted dagger?” Roy said with a shrug.

Lara pulled out a book…

“A grimoire.” Kaine said to her confusion, “A book of spells, wielding it also reduces the arcana points required to cast a spell. Look inside, you should find your current known spells alongside two others.”

Lara opened the ornate book, spreading its dark leather black back over which illegible characters lay inscribed, flipping through its darkened light brown pages to find the first one over which three spells where written down.

Neither of them could read what was written within, just as illegible as the title.

All but Lara, who could clearly read the words as if they were just common English. “Fire bolt, a fire-based multi target attack spell. Rejuvenate, a low level heal per tick spell and Entangle, a nature-based rooting spell.”

“Damage, healing and CC. Not bad.” Jedd mused before turning to look at Kaine, “Your turn mr. suicidal.” She said with a smirk.

Kaine rolled his eyes, he knew she wasn’t about to let that go anytime soon, then stepping to the sack he glanced into its dark depths. “Honestly I’d do with just any weapon, sword, axe, dagger…” He said before reaching down with both hands, grasping around something with either.

Something that felt…familiar as he grabbed on.

Kaine pulled his reward out, his eyes widening as the sack suddenly collapsed into ash before him.

The weapon's information appeared into his UI right then...

“No…That’s-” His entire expression then turning to horror as he dropped them both, taking a step back Kaine stared down at the weapons…water rushing past and over them as they lay in the river.

Two short shafts of thick wood acting as a handle for the wide curved blades built divergent to them at one end, these were Sickles, and built into the opposite end of the shafts were long metal chains taking to a spiked iron sphere at their ends.

“C-Chain sickles…” Kaine thought out loud, staring down at the unorthodox weapon with wide eyes and a nauseated gaze. “Impossible…that’s impossible.”

“What’s impossible about it? Sure it’s a player custom weapon from the old game as far as I know but, I don’t see the problem with the devs putting it in with the findable weapon list?” Farvo mused as each of them then saw the horror in his expression. “Err, you alright there?” He asked, watching as Kaine shakily kneeled down before the weapons.

Slowly, he approached them with trembling hands, treating them as if they’d explode. “These aren’t just any c-custom weapon…My-Seven years ago…” Kaine couldn’t get himself to handle them though, instead, he lay with his hands hovering over the water.

He inspected them once more.

[Iron Kusarigama]

Make: Average

Creator: Hel

Material: Iron, Wood, Leather, Glue, Copper

Durability: 100%

Sharpness: 100%

“My sister…made these for me.”