Laid before my eyes was a grand mansion surrounded by a graveyard. Any Spirit of Darkness player would recognize this as Decipio's House of Traps, one of its most infamous dungeons. As its name implied, it was a dwelling filled to the brim with deadly traps and contraptions that would punish any hasty players. It was an incredible chore to get through for a first-time player, but once you memorized its layout it was actually quite quick to clear. Due to its focus on traps, there were very few enemies to face, and one could run past the few that were there.

One interesting note is that Depicio, the dungeon's namesake, did not exist in the game. He was not a boss like Anastasis, and was nowhere to be found no matter how hard one looked. There were many fan theories to his identity, such as whether it was another name for an existing NPC, or simply a red herring left to troll inquisitive players. One theory was that he was one of the friendly deities, much like of Congeria or Animo. There has never been a consensus one way or another, so this was one of the unsolved mysteries of the game.

I walked closer to the first set of tombstones. As I did, a chill ran through my spine. It wasn't due to anything unnerving, but simply because it was so cold. Lacerta crossed her arms and began shivering.

“It's freezing here. They say that any place haunted by ghosts is unusually cold,” she said.

She again mentioned ghosts, but those were not the enemies this area previously contained. The graveyard I was familiar with in fact contained something much closer to home: kobolds.

“Are you sure there aren't any kobolds here? For example, hiding in between the tombstones, waiting for an ambush?”

The chilly lizard shook her head.

“No. No kobold has set foot here in decades. Perhaps there were some in the past, but that time is long gone.”

Her remark made me feel old. Just like everywhere else, this area had changed since my last visit. Spirit of Darkness was several years old, but due to its nature as a game, nothing ever changed. Each dungeon was the same no matter how many times you finished the story. Every NPC, every shortcut, every trick in the book, once you learned them they were there to stay. Slowly gaining mastery over every system was one of the reasons I enjoyed it. Once I mastered a boss fight, I would retain that mastery forever.

But this is different. It's not a video game, but a real breathing world. I could memorize a stage or a certain quest, and by the next day it could be completely different. My knowledge and skill was not transferable, and could one day be rendered useless. The thought of that was scary. That's not something typical of a video game. That sounds more like real life. I don't want more of real life. I played Spirit of Darkness in the first place to escape that. Even though SoD world was completely vile and wretched, it was still more comfortable to traverse than office life.

That is likely the reason I was at-peace when I first reached this world. I have thought about it before: why did I adapt so well when thrown into such a bizarre scenario? I'm by no means a normal person, but even I was surprised at how smoothly the transition went. It must have been because I treated this world as a surrogate for SoD. It was a world just like it, but completely new for me to discover all over again. But now that I know this world was one and the same, the rules changed on me. The Spirit of Darkness I held so dear was changing. It would be defiled into something unrecognizable. The thought of that was scary.

The lizard approached closer and tugged my bag.

“My knight, are you okay?”

“Yeah, it's fine. It's just all in my head,” I responded.

She sheepishly paced forward in worry.

“I see. I understand how you feel, my knight, you are not alone.”

I doubted her words. Nobody has ever been able to truly understand me. I was, however, curious to see what her misconception was.

“And what is it that I feel, Lacerta?” I asked.

She brought her arms to her chest and responded in a solemn voice.

“You are scared, aren't you?”

My heart skipped a beat. How could she tell that? That should be impossible. I've always been alone and didn't rely on others. That was because I was different and couldn't relate to society at all. My entire life philosophy was based upon that assumption. If she could actually understand me, if she could actually tell what I was going through, then I... I'm not sure what I would do anymore.

“I'm the same, my knight. Even as we are speaking I am scared out of my wits. Just like me, you are also... scared of ghosts!”

With that comment, my hopes and dreams broke down and lay shattered on the floor. Of course that's what she thought, why would I expect something else? One of the life lessons I've learned is that you should never expect anything nice to happen. If you want to succeed, you have to do it entirely yourself with no help from outside. That holds true even now.

“Lacerta, enough wasting time. Let's head towards the mansion.”

I carefully navigated the maze of tombstones. Normally there would be many kobolds hiding in their shadows, waiting for your back to turn before ambushing you. Their small size was an excellent match for this environment. However, just like Lacerta said, there were no kobolds to be seen. Along the way I noticed an oddly shaped tombstone. I pointed it out to Lacerta.

“There used to be an item there. Looks like it's gone now, though.”

The spot once contained a large sword, one of the ingredients necessary to craft the Blade of Fate. It was still a decent weapon on its own, however, so it was an important location to memorize. Lacerta joined me in pointing at the position.

“It's not an item, but there's definitely something still there.”

As she said, a white transparent figure arose from the tombstone. It was like a human without a lower body, and sharp blades where the hands would normally be. I could recognize it as an enemy from Spirit of Darkness: a ghost.

The ghost moaned with a load ghastly wail. I wasted no time and drew out my weapon.

“Lacerta, get ready for a fi-”

I noticed the lizard cowering behind a tombstone, covering her head with her hands. It appears she was not exaggerating earlier, as she was deathly afraid of ghosts. I would need to fight this dungeon alone.

“No matter. I wanted to experiment a bit, anyway.”

The ghost slowly lumbered towards me. Just like the game counterpart, it was not a very fast creature. It gave me ample time to ready my halberd and strike it with full force.

With a loud swoosh, the blade went straight through it and hit the ground. As I suspected, ghosts were normally immune to physical weapons. There were several ways to get around this, but the most common one for beginners was to use magic instead.

Making use of this opportunity, the ghost attempted a swipe with its bladed hands. I countered and parried the attack with my dagger.

“As expected.”

Ghosts were normally incorporeal, but that property had to be lifted in order to attack. Therefore, if one did not have magic, one could still damage them by attacking at the same moment the ghost did. It was something quite tricky to pull off, but I got quite good at it over time. As the enemy recovered, I shot it with a Mana Missile.

The ghost wailed in pain as it staggered from the strike. Due to their physical resistance, they were not very good at taking damage and took a long time to recover. It gave me plenty of time to ready another spell, vanquishing the ghastly creature.

The white figure evaporated into air, a wisp of aether escaping its body. Even incorporeal beings such as these contained aether of the soul. As it dissipate, the air became notably warmer.

“I-is it gone? Great thanks, brave knight.”

The lizard dusted herself off and reluctantly stood on her feet.

“Lacerta, why are you so scared of ghosts? You are a mage, so you should have no trouble fighting them. The fight just now was completely trivial.”

She frowned and turned away. She couldn't look me straight in the eyes.

“My apologies, my knight. I shall try my best to overcome my fear.”

I could tell there was something she was not telling me. But then again, how could one rationally explain a fear of ghosts? That's something people in my old world also had, and it made much less sense there. I couldn't hold it against her.

The air suddenly got colder. I could see many movements occurring across the graveyard. In response, I hastily grabbed her hand and pulled her along the path.

“Well, you'd better get used to it quickly. We're got quite the company.”

A swarm of at least a dozen ghosts emerged from the ground. We ran along the main path, taking all the shortcuts that I knew in order to reach the mansion more quickly. I shot Mana Missiles the entire way there, doing my best to thin out the crowd. By the time we reached the door, there was just one ghost remaining, which I promptly vanquished with the spell. It came at a cost, however, as my mana was completely depleted.

Ignoring the door, I searched the wall to the right of it. The lizard was bewildered by my action.

“My knight, what are you looking for?”

“There should be a secret switch to unlock the door here. I'm having some trouble finding it, though.”

The kobold walked forward and turned the door handle. To my surprise, the door spread wide open.

“I believe it is unlocked, my knight. Shall we head through?”

“Ah. I guess they changed that since I was last here.”

I took a breath and made the first step into Depicio's House of Traps. This was an area one had to tread carefully. Every step had to be accounted for, as you never knew which deadly trap you would trigger next. Of course, somebody as knowledgeable as me was the best resource to have for an incursion of this ominous location. But even with my sage knowledge, one would still need to take great care not to-

“Lacerta, you can't just walk carelessly like that!”

The lizard turned her head and gave me a confused look.

“Why not, my knight?”

“This is Depicio's House of Traps. Just rushing ahead like that is suicide.”

The kobold pondered for a second before responding.

“Traps? But this mansion has been abandoned for decades. If there were traps here, then they would have long gone defunct due to a lack of maintenance. I can see some vestiges of traps, but they have long rusted in place. Methinks you worry too much, my knight.”

She pointed at a guillotine head on the ceiling. As she stated, it clearly rusted in place and will never move again. The blade looked like it could crumble away at any moment.

“Eh. Well, we should tread carefully and look for anything of value, like treasure. We can't just rush ahead.”

The lizard looked confused.

“Treasure? My knight, for what reason would ghosts possess treasure? All the shelves look bare. It's clear this mansion was cleared of any valuables long ago. Is there a reason we should not just head directly to the top floor, to the most high-ranking chambers?”

“Well...”

“Yes?”

“I guess there isn't, if you put it that way.”

She grabbed my arm with a smile.

“Very well. Let us head to the top floor!”

We were doing this all wrong, but I couldn't think of any objections to her argument. We swiftly and easily reached the top floor, where the boss of the dungeon was contained.

The third floor was markedly different from the others. It was fully furnished, the shelves and tables seemingly untouched after all the years. Many weapons adorned the walls, and it even held a suit of armor you would see in classical mansions.

I carefully examined the weapons on the walls. Unfortunately, they were low quality and not worthy of taking with me. Lacerta took an interest in the suit of armor.

“My knight, I have a question.”

“What is it, Lacerta?”

“Have you visited this mansion before?”

“Not recently, no.”

She rubbed her chin with curiosity.

“So why is it then that this suit of armor looks identical to yours?”

I was surprised to realize her observation was correct. The armor against the wall, its black color, meticulous quality, and unique contours, all looked identical to mine. In all my travels this is the first time I've come across another set like this. This was notably more valuable than anything else in the room.

As if responding to the prodding, the suit of armor began to twitch. It then let out a frightening ghastly wail which paralyzed Lacerta to the corner of the room. The suit itself was alive; it grabbed a mace from the wall and stared directly at me. As we stood there eying each other, it muttered at me with its grisly voice.

“Arma...”

A name I thought I wouldn't hear again.