“So, my little traitor. What to do with you?"

Maya, busy coughing and gasping for air, didn’t reply.

"You could have been my favourite, you know. Could have been powerful beyond belief. Those who continue on my path for long enough tend to accumulate wealth and power far beyond those who’d consider themselves our equals. But instead, you decide to betray me the first time things don’t go quite your way. One little misfortune, and you’re already running off to my weakling sister?”

Blackness and distant stars surrounded the landing upon which she lay; spiral stairs of matching black marble ascended and descended endlessly to either side.

The Trickster sighed, though his voice remained light. “You may not have the perfect mindset for it. You may not have quite the right temperament. But you’re interesting and you’re creative. I did so enjoy watching, wondering what you might do next. You could be a wonderful trickster. But. . . this?”

He’d somehow gotten his hands on her Diviner’s Orb, because he held it up, eyes narrowed.

Maya shook her head. “It was a mistake, that’s all. I regretted it immediately. Can we just pretend this never happened? Give my class back and. . . I don’t care, I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Your class? Your class? So possessive of something you threw away after a single setback. Why should I give anything to you, diviner? You’ve thrown in your lot with peace and order and boredom. You want things tidy and certain. Why are you even standing here?”

Maya coughed out something, part laugh, part sob. “I’m not standing, I’m lying on the floor half-drowned.”

“More than half, by a long way if you ask me.” The Trickster closed his eyes, pacing the edge of the landing where it dropped off into empty space.

Stars glinted in the darkness.

“Please?” Maya asked faintly. “I promise I won’t. . . betray you again.”

“Hmmm.” The Trickster continued to pace, but didn’t answer.

“I panicked. That’s all. I was just trying anything and everything I had at my disposal. You said you appreciated my creativity. I was just trying to get out of an impossible predicament by any means necessary.”

“Hmmmmm.” He absently tossed the Diviner’s Orb from hand to hand as he walked around, around, around.

Maya sat up and checked her inventory. He hadn’t only taken the Diviner orb, but the Trickster’s Orb as well. She still had the Diviner’s Lens, which looked a bit like a monocle made of golden light, but she got the distinct impression that this would be a very wrong moment to try it on.

Now that the immediate panic was over, now that she was alive and not drowning, adrenaline was fading and her desperation began to abate.

So she’d probably lost her class. It wasn’t the end of the world. She could be a proper Diviner, go about restoring order and combating chaos. It might be less exciting, less challenging, but was that really so important?

“If you were anyone else, I’d have banished you without a second thought,” the Trickster finally said, stopping directly in front of her. He now held the Diviner’s Orb in both hands, one above, one beneath. “But for one thing. You came to me. In your last, desperate, frantic grasping for anything to save you, when it came down to the last moment of your life, you didn’t go running to my sister as you could so easily have done. You asked for me to save you.”

Maya wasn’t sure how to respond. She hadn’t even considered the fact that the Oracle could also bring her into a private realm.

“So, diviner, when I ask you this, think well and answer truthfully.” For the first time, the Trickster’s voice shifted from his light, teasing tone to something cold and threatening. “Are you absolutely sincere in your desire to return to my family? I have only rarely offered anyone a second chance, and I promise you I will never grant a third. Last chance, diviner. Are you mine, or hers?”

Maya felt her hands trembling. She wasn’t in any condition to think rationally, but she had to give this consideration. There was a weight to the atmosphere, a tension, and to act in either direction would have major repercussions.

“Gi. . . give me a minute. I need to be sure.”

The Trickster gave a curt nod.

Now Maya wished she could pace, but the landing was small and there were no railings to prevent her from falling into the endless sky. It made her dizzy just thinking about standing, much less walking. So she sat, and considered.

Honestly. . . she liked the Oracle more. The Oracle aligned with her ideals much more closely than the Trickster. But. . . this was a game. And the idea of spending the rest of her life here playing peacemaker and trying to tidy up after other players was not appealing.

It was one thing to play both sides, dance between opposing quest givers and try to balance it out. That would be fun, challenging, exciting. But to tie herself down to one or the other for good?

Diviner was an unknown. She’d never even equipped the class item, and she couldn’t guess its benefits. If it was anything like the Seer specialization, it could be extremely useful for gathering information. The Oracle had mentioned abilities, and Maya suspected that meant she could get a much more complete view of a character’s sheet by using both the class and associated specialization in conjunction.

Trickster she knew. Knew the ups and, now, the downs. It would be a wild, uncontrolled ride. And as much as she hated the uncertainty, as uncomfortable as the constant shifting luck might be, when she actually thought back. . .

She’d only visited the arena because of a Trickster quest. She’d only gone back because of a Trickster quest. She never would have met Shadow or joined the arena fighting team without that push. She never would have had the necessary impetus to improve her skills to their current speed if she weren't trying so desperately to beat Venix.

She’d only gotten to know the Fire team because of a Trickster quest. Without the mission to capture Standalone’s house, she’d have sat quietly in class, learned what the lecturers taught, and probably only spoken to Desi and Nalana. She’d certainly never have ended up in the middle of a mid-level dungeon raid. Never been the one to bring down a Phoenix.

Without the Trickster, she'd have still been doing noob quests for experience, attending lectures at the mage academy in her free time. She wouldn't be wandering strange streets, wouldn't have strangers breaking into her room, wouldn't be constantly set on an ever-shifting course of unpredictable chaos.

Without the Trickster, she wouldn't have the faintest clue how to rework other people's guesses at how magic worked. Without the Trickster, none of them would have even started their current project.

Diviner would be the safe choice. The reasonable, sensible choice.

Trickster would be insane, annoying, uncertain, and. . .

Powerful.

Fun.

Maya took a long, slow breath, let it out, then nodded. “Trickster.”

“Wonderful! I knew you’d make the right choice." His voice had returned to its usual teasing lilt. "Absolutely certain?”

"I’m sure. I still want to be a trickster."

You are about to soulbind character: Maya Starborn to class: Trickster. This action cannot be undone. Confirm?

“Yes.”

The Trickster grinned, winked, and crushed the Diviner’s Orb between his hands into glittering dust.

Class changed from Diviner to Trickster.

Diviner’s Lens is no longer soulbound.

Item lost: Diviner’s Lens

Soulbound items added: Trickster's Mask. Trickster's Dice. Trickster's Orb.

Your luck stat has been set at -100.

New specialization available: Fate’s Follower.

“Of course,” the Trickster added, “there has to be some penalty. I can’t have people thinking I’m safe to displease.”

You have lost 100 favor with the Trickster.

Debuff added: Trickster’s Curse.

Maya glanced at the debuff window.

Trickster’s Price: -60 luck (3 days 2 hours 29 minutes)

Trickster’s Curse: all luck rolls will be negative (5 days)

“Now, I believe that answers your question. Off you go! Good luck not drowning!”

“Wait, I need to—”

But the stairway was already fading and shifting, watery gloom replacing the starry sky around her.

She rolled her die.

-25. For a total of -90.

She couldn’t keep rolling. Couldn’t. If there was no chance of rolling a positive number for the next five days, then stacking more duration onto her already huge debuff would be absolutely crippling.

-90 was the best she could expect. She had to wait it out, come what may.

At least she wasn’t drowning yet. Her breath meter was back to 27/27 - well, 26/27 now - which gave her at least a minute to get out of this.

She equipped a throwing knife to try cutting her way free of the remaining knots, but her blade immediately slipped, slicing into her leg instead.

-3 health.

You have killed yourself.

If you are attempting to end your existence you must directly contact an Otherworlds database administrator, as in-game actions will have no effect. Please remember, in compliance with interplanetary law prohibiting the duplication or inactive storage of digital persons, consciousness deletion from the Otherworlds database is irreversible.

There is currently a 1 month waiting period for persons seeking deletion.

Character Maya Starborn has been locked for two minutes.

Available characters:

Myna Seasworn, Level 1 Merla, World 1891.

Mayon Windheart, Level 1 Sprite, World 5656.

Her breath may have recovered to full while visiting the Trickster, but nothing else had, so her little misfortune had killed her.

And now the game thought she was suicidal. How many ways could she find to make her life utterly miserable in one night? Apparently a lot.

Maya didn’t want to deal with character creation at the moment, so she didn't switch to another character. Instead she swiped away all the alerts and info boxes, returning to the overview of the universe.

The Trickster’s starry sky had nothing on this. The Otherworlds database was vast beyond imagination. She zoomed out, and out, and out, and always there were more galaxies, more worlds, more everything.

She selected a star at random, bringing her view in, and found eight planets circling it. Three were labeled with world ID numbers, selectable to play on. One had an ID, but was greyed out. The others couldn’t be selected. Decoration, she supposed. These worlds all had IDs in the high 30,000s.

Over thirty thousand worlds. Hundreds of players for each of them. She hadn't reached the end of the Otherworlds universe either, the numbers could go much higher. And that wasn’t even counting private worlds.

She couldn’t even imagine how much effort must have gone into creating this game. It was so far beyond the little RPGs she and Drew had imagined making, so far beyond even their most ambitious implausible dreams.

She stared out at the endless cosmos and wept silently. There were no tears, for she had no physical form in this place, but her heart filled with sorrow.

Even if Drew wanted to bring her to World 01, how would he know where to look? They were worlds, galaxies apart.

No. She had to stop dwelling on this. Had to stop her mind circling back around to the same hopeless conundrum.

They were separated, end of story. Forget it and move on.

But though she knew intellectually that would be for the best, her emotions rebelled. Forget? She’d forgotten far too much already. Even now, she couldn’t bring to mind a single fact about her parents. They had existed at some point. That much could be inferred from her existence. But strain as she might, there was simply no memory of anyone specific there.

She’d lost more than she would ever know. She couldn't force herself to throw away what little she had left.

But it did no good to worry over it.

Things went wrong. Things always went wrong. Get up and press on.

The character selection menu reappeared in front of her at a thought. The countdown had eighteen seconds left, so she watched them tick down one after the other, and then she could get back to living.

Maya chose to respawn in her room at the mage academy, as usual. And because she was feeling reckless and depressed and useless, she decided now would be the perfect time to try some drastic experiments she never would have dared attempt under ordinary circumstances.

“Save game: 8 or something I don’t care right now.”

Save 8 or something I don’t care right now created.

“Load game 4 new specialization.”

The world froze, shifted to greyscale, then reformed. Everything looked very red, unnnaturally so.

Maya looked through her messages trying to find the Diviner option, but it didn't seem to exist. Next she checked her inventory, and was relieved to see the Diviner’s Orb still present. She may have lost access to the class, but she could still play as a Seer, and as long as she could still communicate with the Oracle she could still get her quests.

She went to her character sheet, which currently read ‘Specialization: None’ and selected it. Path of Life and Seer were the only options. So, whatever had happened, it had happened in game time, not in some meta space. That ought to mean that her class could still be changed too, but she wasn’t sure how soulbinding a class was different from soulbinding an item. Not that she knew what that meant either.

The real question, then. She switched to the debuffs menu.

Trickster’s Price: -60 luck (3 days 18 hours 6 minutes)

Trickster’s Curse: all luck rolls will be negative (5 days)

So. The duration and quantity of the debuffs remained, but the elapsed time reset when she loaded. She could make things worse for herself by loading, but not better. At least as far as luck and time went. The ability to regain lost items by loading was almost good enough to make up for it.

She pulled out the Diviner’s Orb just to be sure, held it and ran a hand over its smooth glassy surface, watched the impenetrable mist that also looked like shoddy paint as it slowly shifted.

“Have I made a terrible mistake?” she whispered.

The Oracle has invited you to visit Seer’s Glade.

“Accept.”

She couldn’t help feeling nervous, like she was breaking some secret truce or ancient law. She was a soulbound trickster now, and her other copy of this item had been smashed to powder by her patron deity. Yet here she was, visiting the Oracle like nothing had changed.

This time, the woman made of stars made no pretense of hiding her presence, no mysterious voice echoing from the moonlit trees. She stood openly in the center of the glade, hands folded in front of her.

“So you have chosen chaos,” the Oracle said, quietly, her voice sad.

“I suppose I have.”

“When we last spoke, you gave me the impression that you understood how untrustworthy my brother was. You claimed you had no true allegiance to him.”

“And that’s still true. But I need his class. Luck is insanely powerful, and that's what I need. I’m sorry, but my goals aren’t ones that can be advanced simply by seeing and knowing. ”

“I would normally argue the point, but it serves no purpose now. The choice is made, and cannot be unmade. You are his, and I must accept that. If I can ask one final favor, please return my orb to where you found it. I would give others the chance to accept what you could not.”

“Hey, don’t act defeated like that! This isn’t over. I told you I’d find a new Diviner candidate for you, and I meant it. I accepted your missions to make things right and everything.”

“Yes, you did. But that was before.”

Maya brought up her mission log, intending to read out the descriptions aloud and prove her point, but fell silent as she scanned the list. Gone. She had yesterday’s and today’s trickster quests - one to capture Standalone’s house, the other to go to a high-level zone and defeat a stronger foe. Nothing else.

Maya released the window to zip back to its fellows.“So. . . that’s it? You’re giving up on me?”

“I am the Oracle. I do not lie to myself, nor do I imagine unrealities simply because they would be more pleasant to believe. You have chosen your path, and it is utterly incompatible with mine. Therefore, our business is concluded.”

“No.” Maya was tired of the world messing with her. This time, she was going to fight back. "It's not like that."

“You cannot deny reality forever. Sooner or later, truth will find you.”

“No. I don’t accept this. I can be a good person and a trickster. I can help ensure order while also using the power of chaos. If you won’t give me official missions, then just give me verbal instructions. I’ll write it in my journal and do it unofficially.”

“I cannot reward you.”

“Fine. I don’t need rewards. That’s what the Trickster is for. With his luck on my side, I can do anything.”

The Oracle didn’t answer, didn’t move, only stood and watched her in silence.

“You’ll see," Maya insisted. "I can do this.”

“The answer,” said the Oracle softly, “to your question, is yes. Goodbye, trickster.”

And the world shifted and changed, Seer’s Glade fading away.

Character Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Level: 8 Affinities: Magical Physical Tier: 1 Class: Trickster Specialization: Path of Life Base Equipment Modifiers Total Strength: 8 0 0 8 Momentum: 11 2 3 16 Agility: 8 2 1 11 Control: 8 19 0 27 Attunement: 17 0 1 18 Focus: 8 0 1 9 Intelligence: 15 0 2 17 Flexibility: 8 0 1 9 Luck: -25 - -45 -70 Unassigned: 2 Health: 144 of 144 Will: 18 of 18 Stamina: 108 of 108 Energy: 88 of 88 Speed: 1.31 Switch penalty: -33%, 8.3 secs Stealth: 0.71 Chain bonus: +5% Awareness: 0.9 Cooldown: 95.5% Max abilities: 4 Abilities Abilities: [5 of 4] Wind Whisper

[5 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then push the air toward the target.

Creates a light breeze, a quick gust, or a damaging slash.

[Overcharge: +5 energy, +0.2 sec cast time, +50% force/duration/dmg] 1.9 sec

5 dmg

(wind) Throw Knife

[5 stamina] Throw a knife at a target with high accuracy. Requires a knife. 0.8 sec

3 dmg

(physical) Windborne Blade

[45 energy, 5 stamina] Cast Wind Whisper in a loop up and behind, aligning with throwing arm.

Throw knife straight at target with wind as augment. 4.3 sec

33 dmg

{physical} Spark

[5 energy] Draw magic into palm and snap fingers to ignite into a spark of fire.

Can be used as a light or thrown at a target. 1.1 sec

3 dmg

(fire) Sense Balance Discern if an area is lacking in or has an excess of any materials, creatures, etc. Perks: Quick Strike Decrease one ability’s activation time by 30%.

Lasts 3.5 minutes.

1-hour cooldown. Inventory Item Name Slot Str Mom Agi Con Att Foc Int Flx Minor Chestpiece of the Dancer Body 1 1 Ordinary Gloves of Control Hands 13 Minor Waistwrap of the Dancer Legs 1 1 Footwraps of the Acrobat Feet 2 Lesser Bracelet of Control Arm 1 4 Trickster's Mask (Mage) Special Money: 70 Gold, 6 Silver, 12 Copper Quality Item name Details Flimsy Newcomer Tunic Flimsy Newcomer Leggings Soulbound Trickster's Dice Soulbound Trickster's Orb 2/5 uses remaining Flimsy Orchard Map Normal Apple x2 Rare Diviner's Orb 1/3 uses remaining Normal Throwing Knife x9 3 damage (physical) Special Key - Arrival Plaza Apartment Expires in 27 days Special Key - Room 6, Sapphire Hall Special Arena Equipment Token Registered to Maya Starborn Uncommon Juggernaut’s Collar Level 29, +12 mom, +11 str Uncommon Boots of Fluidity Level 29, +6 mom, +6 con, +6 flx, +5 foc Uncommon Deceitful Sickle Level 29, +8 str +8 agi +4 con +3 foc Rare Crimson Flame Token Level 30, +12 agi, +12 foc, +6 mom Rare Crimson Flame Charm Level 30, +12 att, +12 foc, +6 int Legendary Ring of Concentration Level 29, +24 Int, +12 Con Legendary Necklace of Acuity Level 29, +18 Flx, +18 Foc Legendary Circlet of Acuity Level 29, +18 Flx, +18 Foc Missions Mission Description

Time Reward Trickster Day 5 Visit a higher-level zone and defeat an enemy more powerful than yourself. 20h 8m Trickster's Reward

??? A Private Grudge Claim Standalone's house in Conquest and hold it for at least 10 hours. Personal House Trickster Day 4 Claim in Conquest the home of the next player you see.

Once claimed, hold it for 24 hours. 5d 20h 8m Trickster's Reward

??? Arena (Shadow) Spend at least one day every week fighting in the Arena Ongoing Variable Trickster Day 3 Lose a fight to another player in the Arena DONE Ordinary Gloves of Control

+5 reputation with The Trickster Gazebo Construction Construct a new gazebo for Maylon the Poet

[Optional] Also varnish the entire structure once built DONE 3 silver 50 copper

+5 reputation with Maylon the Poet Trickster Day 2 Lose a fight to another player in PVP DONE Lesser Bracelet of Control

+5 reputation with The Trickster Windy Creek reconstruction Locate the missing workers' tools

Construct a new dam by Windy Creek

Help clear the wreckage of the old Windy Creek Dam

Help construct a new bridge over Windy Creek DONE 5 silver, 80 copper

+25 reputation with Windy Creek village Trickster Day 1 Side with a person who is losing an argument or disagreement. FAILED -5 reputation with The Trickster Help Shary the Produce Merchant Find the missing apple delivery boy. Ensure his safety and the successful delivery of apples to Shary's Produce Stand. DONE 5 copper

3 apples

+10 reputation with Shary and Elaph