“Has JohnWillStab logged off?” Bonifacius wondered, he was looking at the seemingly empty graveyard.

He walked forwards, seeing several more patched of scorched earth on the ground.

“Bonifacius: JohnWillStab?” he called out.

No reply came.

“Perhaps I should have explained how the private-message system works…” he remarked.

He entered his private message menu.

“/pm JohnWillStab” he wrote into the menu allowing him to communicate with JohnWillStab regardless of the distance.

“Bonifacius: JohnWillStab! Are thou there?” he sent his message getting a reply in under three seconds.

Three messages came from JohnWillStab in rapid succession.

“JohnWillStab: CAN’T TALK!”

“JohnWillStab: CHASED!”

“JohnWillStab: HIGH LEVEL!”

Bonifacius opened his world-map in an instant, a detail chart of Grimwood appeared.

On the top of the map was a small button with a red, blue and green flag.

He clicked on it causing a confirmation message appeared on his screen.

“Are you sure you wish to request team-tracking? You and the other members of your group will be able to see each other on the map.”

Bonifacius clicked yes, after a few seconds he saw a red dot on the map meaning John got the same notification and accepted it as well.

“Let us see… JohnWillStab is in the east? But why…?”

He zoomed the map in with his scroll wheel, seeing the fabric on which it was painted.

“THE PALADIN STRONGHOLD?!” Bonifacius demanded seeing John’s dot running aimlessly, he was presumably being chased by a high-level enemy.

Bonifacius glanced back to the private chat menu.

“Bonifacius: I shall be there in two minutes.” He said calmly.

JohnWillStab was being chased by a cluster of undead mixed with paladins.

The paladins were slowly being killed by the undead; despite being cannibalized, they were still, totally focused on killing John.

He looked down to the private message he just got from Bonifacius.

“Two minutes?! It took me ages to get here!” John thought.

Bonifacius removed his massive armour revealing a plain brown tunic and simple black trousers.

He was still fairly muscular, though the armour definitely made him look larger than he truly was.

He took a deep breath.

“The chestplate, thirty kilograms…”

“The leg-armour, twenty kilograms…”

“The shoulder pads, ten kilograms…”

“The boots, five kilograms…”

“The gloves, five kilograms…”

“The belt, two kilograms…”

The platinum knight armour, a set famous around the world of Binary Progression for its defensive abilities as well as the stress it places on the user.

In order to be able to equip the armour, one must have a strength stat of at least one-hundred.

In order to move around in it, one needs a stat of two-hundred.

In order to run in it, one needs a stat of three-hundred.

Bonifacius’ strength stat was a steel-crushing three-hundred and thirty-two.

Without his armour equipped he was still more than strong enough to defeat any monster in Grimwood as well as any player under level twenty.

With a loud crack, Bonifacius practically rocketed forward, the game took several frames to calculate his effect on the forest as the dirt got dug, trees collapsed and any creature unfortunate enough to be in his way was reduced to blood particles.

Rapidly, he drew towards JohnWillStab who glanced at the map seeing Bonifacius’ dot zooming towards him.

“How the fuck is he moving that fast?!”

“Is he flying?” he looked down to the map and saw a cluster of particularly large trees standing in his way.

They were called: “The steelbark grove”.

JohnWillStab turned his camera, such that he could look at the distant grove of tall, grey-barked trees while running.

He looked to the map and saw Bonifacius move over one of the large trees.

“Yeah, he must be flying-” JohnWillStab’s thoughts were cut off as he heard the distant sound of a towering tree, similar to a skyscraper, begin to fall, snapping near its base and falling to the ground with a massive cloud of dust and a mighty tremor.

JohnWillStab got some XP from being in the group with whoever killed fifteen demon boars, twenty giant spiders and Larry the innkeeper.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” John demanded, slightly disturbing his elderly neighbours.

Moments later, JohnWillStab saw Bonifacius jump up the mountain to the cliffside-base and equip his armour mid-air.

The sudden increase in his weight caused Bonifacius to fall down like a meteor, smashing into the massive cluster of buildings.

Coincidentally, the impact also killed most of the undead and paladins.

“Bonifacius: I have arrived!” he announced, turning back to the panicking crowd.

Not only the paladins but also the surviving undead were covering their heads in fear as they ran around terrified.

“Bonifacius: Ah yes, the presence of the mighty warrior puts your corrupted souls into unrest!” he announced proudly.

“JohnWillStab: Bonifacius…” John said, trying to get his attention.

“Bonifacius: Ah, of course! I meant warriors, the presence of us mighty warriors put your corrupted souls into unrest!” he repeated.

“JohnWillStab: THAT’S NOT THE F#*KING PROBLEM HERE!” John exclaimed, he was pointing to the collapsing buildings around them, the entire paladin base was now sliding off the cliff and into the dark abyss.

Bonifacius’ impact was too much for the building of stone and iron to handle.

“JohnWillStab: YOU BROKE THE PALADIN’S BASE!” he cried.

In an instant, JohnWillStab was picked up by Bonifacius, he removed his armour and jumped off the swiftly crumbling fortress and onto the distant ground.

As the two began to fall, JohnWillStab breathed a sigh of relief.

“Bonifacius: …”

“Bonifacius: I may have forgotten about the fall damage…” he admitted moments before hitting the ground with a wet slap as particles flew out, covering the nearby trees and bushes in a wet, sticky mess.

JohnWillStab, Bonifacius and Edgarf stood suspended in a massive blob of slime, it was dropped in the last frame before their death by JohnWillStab.

It took John a solid ten seconds to fend off the incoming heart attack created as a result of his last-moment slime-trick.

“Bonifacius: Nice save, JohnWillStab!” he exclaimed stepping out of the slime and collapsing into a drunken slumber on the ground.

JohnWillStab stepped out of the slime next, he began putting it back into his bags with Edgarf over his shoulder.

Edgarf was also passed-out drunk.

The earth shook as the building collapsed behind JohnWillStab and Bonifacius, sliding into the cold abyss below.

It looked like a waterfall of dust, rock and screaming soldiers.

“JohnWillStab: That… was the scariest thing in my life…” John admitted. If he wasn’t undead, he would have surely been gasping for air from holding his breath.

“Bonifacius: Fear not, friend! The building shall respawn in a few days!” he said with his face still buried in the grass below.

“Archbishop Gabriel: YOU WRETCHES!” a voice called out from the rubble.

A man clad in golden armour above the waist and in blue robes below appeared.

His gold-coloured hair flowed in the wind as his angelic wings fluttered, each wing was about four times larger than Bonifacius.

In his hand was a single blade made from what looked like pure, pulsating light.

JohnWillStab hovered his mouse over the NPC, his level was one-hundred.

He landed on the ground near the edge of the cliff and slowly stepped towards JohnWillStab.

“SHIT!” he glanced over to Bonifacius and immediately knew he wouldn’t be able to fight for at least a few more minutes.

“At his level, he’d be able to wipe me off the surface of this map!” he realised opening his bag and seeing a tiny fraction of what was once a great reserve of slime.

JohnWillStab drew his daggers, seeing as the horde of undead was gone, he placed Edgarf down on the ground beside Bonifacius and turned to face the archbishop who drew ever closer.

The air around him sparkled with holy light as the well-built man closed the distance between JohnWillStab and himself in a flash.

A trail of twisting light lingered behind him as if to show John his exact trajectory.

JohnWillStab narrowly dodged a strike from his blade by jumping back and rolling to the side.

A golden slash appeared in the air and flew forward like a projectile.

“Bonifacius: Tis bad! Thou need to run to a town, perhaps thou will lose his interest by then!”

“Bonifacius: I would help thee if I could, but I am not able to move…”

“Bonifacius: If only I thought things through earlier…”

“JohnWillStab: Don’t worry!”

“JohnWillStab: I have a plan!”

John grinned before breaking into a sprint away from the archbishop.

“Archbishop Gabriel: There is no escape for your kind, undead!”

Again, Gabriel moved towards John in an instant, upon closer inspection the archbishop was seemingly transforming into a ball of light for a few seconds at a time as he blinked closer and closer towards JohnWillStab before returning to his human form.

John turned back towards Gabriel with a smug look.

“JohnWillStab: I HAPPEN TO BE A MASTER AT RUNNING FROM MY PROBLEMS!” he said proudly before realizing what he just said.

He could only hope he was far enough for his message not to be seen by Bonifacius for the sake of his reputation.

“Archbishop Gabriel: YOUR CORRUPTION MUST BE CLEANSED!”

JohnWillStab sprinted west, he jumped over bushes and fallen trees alike as his pursuer simply blinked over them.

Every time the archbishop would make it close enough to hit him, John would be forced to dodge an attack or two before forcing Gabriel to take a second to regain his stamina.

JohnWillStab ran past the burned town, graveyard and past a few slimes that boldly patrolled the surrounding area.

The slimes were immediately alarmed by John’s presence and promptly squashed by the archbishop in his unending pursuit.

JohnWillStab sprinted down the hill and past several patches of newly grown mushrooms.

That’s when he reached the river.

“Come on…”

He held his breath as he jumped into the water.

“COME ON…!”

The paladin walked into the water next, the shimmering lights that followed him now touched the water, purifying it and turning the demon fish to regular, less aggressive fish.

“DAMN IT! I HOPE THIS WORKS!”

Suddenly a wet, sloshing noise could be heard as a grin spread across John’s face.

Several years ago…

“Do you think five is enough?” asked the red-haired man sitting at the computer in the small, dirty office.

Piles upon piles of papers lay around them, diagrams of machines, human anatomy and several other symbols not typically associated with programming.

He wore a snow-white lab coat and held a cup of coffee mixed with vodka and other substances in his hand.

“Five quest endings?” asked the other man, he had short black hair and glasses, he also wore a lab coat though he didn’t beat around the bush and just held a bottle of smirmoff in his hand.

It was a knock-off brand, being a game developer didn’t pay very well.

The first man nodded.

“So, one teleportation one, the dancing one, the one where you kill it, the spaghetti ending and the one where you get possessed?” he asked.

Again, the red-haired man nodded.

“Hmm… I’d say five is the bare minimum…” the black-haired man replied taking a swig of his beverage.

The red-haired man leaned back in his chair; he took a sip of his coffee.

“Ya’ think? I can’t imagine the players would do anything else…”

“I mean I already wrote dialogue for all the different deaths and stuff…” he breathed a sigh.

The black-haired man shrugged.

“Maybe make the water elemental wander around and say hi if the player was nice to them and let them escape!” suggested the black-haired man.

After a few seconds of contemplation, the red-haired man nodded.

“Good idea!”

The black-haired man crossed his arms as he listed off more ideas.

“Maybe if a light-magic user purifies the water spirit will get stronger!”

Presently…

From the water between John and the archbishop manifested a humanoid shape made entirely from water.

It was the corrupted water spirit.

Unlike before, the water within it was light blue and clean, it looked bigger and its shape had more detail like hair and the vague shape of eyes.

“Purified Water Spirit: Greetings, JohnWillStab!”

“Purified Water Spirit: Thanks to you I have become pure once again!” the spirit remarked turning to face the archbishop.

“JohnWillStab: Water spirit!”

“Archbishop Gabriel: Enough talk!” he exclaimed, slashing his blade at JohnWillStab, instantly the water spirit moved in to block the strike which did little more than send ripples down its body.

Again and again, a dozen strikes were blocked by the spirit as the archbishop unleashed an endless barrage of strikes which failed to even scratch JohnWillStab.

JohnWillStab right-clicked the water-spirit, noticing he could talk to it.

A smile spread across his face as he noticed one of the more interesting options.

“JohnWillStab: Water spirit! Can you possess that person’s body?” John asked.

“Purified Water Spirit: Of course!”

Much like it did to John before, the spirit crawled into the archbishop’s mouth.

“Archbishop Gabriel: WHAT… IS THIS?!” demanded the archbishop.

His head hung low as the internal struggle for control became evident.

“Archbishop Gabriel: I… I… can… move…”

“Archbishop Gabriel: Thought its hard… to… resist…”

“JohnWillStab: ALRIGHT!”

JohnWillStab sprinted up to the archbishop and picked him up.

Immediately he began running towards the graveyard.

“Archbishop Gabriel: WHERE… ARE… YOU TAKING… ME?!” he demanded.

JohnWillStab didn’t reply.

“Archbishop Gabriel: IF YOU’RE… RELYING ON THE UNDEAD… TO DEFEAT… ME…-”

“Archbishop Gabriel: THAN YOU SHOULD KNOW… IT’LL NEVER WORK!”

The archbishop burst into laughter as a puff of green smoke flew directly into his mouth.

“Archbishop Gabriel: WHAT T-… What… the…-”

Slowly his vision began to blur.

That’s when the archbishop Gabriel noticed it, JohnWillStab was standing on a light-green patch of hair-like grass on a mound of moss.

They were just sprayed with knock-out gas, though John’s undeath made him immune to the poison’s effect.

“Archbishop Gabriel: Curse… you… undead…”

Those were the final words of the paladin as the water spirit left through his mouth.

Moments later JohnWillStab dropped him into the large pit filled with tooth-like spikes, the bones remaining from the moss’ past prey as well as the acid.

In mere moments JohnWillStab could see the archbishop’s armour burn off leaving him nude and pixelated over the private bits.

In less than a minute the body completely disappeared leaving only bones behind.

From within the hole appeared a cloud of black dust which flew up into the sky leaving a putrid trail before flying off east.

John erupted into bright light as he gained another achievement.

“Achievement Complete: Unleashed an Ancient Evil!”

“…Oh no…” he thought.

JohnWillStab sat down on the moss and breathed a sigh as the water elemental beside him began to shrink.

“Purified Water Spirit: Looks like we strayed quite the distance from the river, you know where to find me if you ever need my help again, JohnWillStab!”

JohnWillStab waved the water spirit an exhausted goodbye.

“JohnWillStab: Yeah, I’ll see you around…”

After a few more seconds and half a can of energy drink JohnWillStab received a private message from Bonifacius.

“Bonifacius: JohnWillStab! Something strange has happened! The one we must guard; he is under attack!”

“JohnWillStab: I’m on my way!” John exclaimed looking at the map and sprinting towards Bonifacius’ location.

Bonifacius barely stood on his feet, the passed-out Edgarf lay behind him as from all around appeared more undead, this time they were all shrouded in a black mist, the same kind that left the archnishop.

Barely able to stand, Bonifacius was more than certainly able to survive this encounter if he put in even the slightest amount of effort in but protecting an NPC was far more difficult.

He cast two spells in rapid succession.

[Threatening Battle Cry]

Bonifacius let out a roar loud enough to shake the earth as several creatures around the forest were inflicted with the fear debuff causing them to run around in a panic.

[Aura of Intimidation]

Suddenly, dark wisps of otherworldly smoke appeared behind Bonifacius causing all NPC to consider him to be a major threat, by far the biggest one in all of Grimwood at this moment.

Both spells were intended to build up ‘threat’ on the undead.

Simply put, threat is the number NPCs use to pick who they will attack, typically a tank such a Bonifacius would be able to amass enough treat to be the focus of the enemy’s attention, unfortunately for him these NPCs were artificially attracted to Edgar thanks to the quest code.

As the NPCs dew nearer, Bonifacius double-tapped “W” to roll forward, his heavy armour and high level caused the crushed NPCs to be reduced to red stains on the ground.

Though after that stunt, getting up was once again a problem.

Bonifacius tried his best, but his stamina was low, if he was to cast another spell, he would most likely collapse to the ground and need to log-off for an hour to regenerate.

Bonifacius rolled to the side depleting another pixel of his stamina.

He crushed an undead, popping their skull open like a watermelon under the weight of a tire.

As Bonifacius got back up to his feet, he saw his stamina finally hit zero.

He collapsed to the ground, unless he found a potion of stamina, bed or a proper meal, he would have to wait at least an hour before he would regain his strength.

That was when a different spirit manifested, it was the mysterious ghost that spoke to John earlier.

“Mysterious Ghost: Thanks for taking such good care of the cleric until now!” he announced with a wide grin, despite his smile, a hint of sadness lingered around him.

The mysterious ghost lost his transparency as for just a moment he regained his human look, he seemed tangible like the other undead.

It was thanks to his mastery of energy manipulation.

“Mysterious Ghost: It’s time I clear up this mess!”

He extended an arm towards the incoming undead as in his palm appeared a spiral of lights and shapes that morphed and flowed with the movement of his arms.

Immediately the black smoke that clung to the others was pulled in towards him.

Something Bonifacius couldn’t see due to his inability to wield magic was all the mana being drained from the surrounding areas.

In mere seconds, a swirling vortex of black smoke surrounded the spirit, slowly the dark vapour was entering his body as his skin turned a deathly pale and his eyes became filled with flames.

All over his body, bulging veins of fire tightened as the spirit fell to his knees, turning to ethereal versions of their past forms before fading away.

“JohnWillStab: I’M HERE!” he exclaimed, hopping over a small bush and running towards Bonifacius.

John couldn’t recognise the now unfamiliar ghost, turned and twisted by the foul energies he absorbed from the others.

Seeing the black smoke, John put two and two together and noticed it was four; the spirit possessing the archbishop must have rushed here for some reason.

“Bonifacius: JohnWillStab! Watch out! That spirit has somehow absorbed something from the other spirits!” he warned unable to do anything but type.

JohnWillStab turned towards the ghost who’s features became more recognisable to John after having a better look.

“Mysterious Ghost: Yo…”

JohnWillStab eyed the ghost uncertainly, his daggers were drawn.

“Mysterious Ghost: Don’t be such a stick in the mud… I’m dead anyway…” he shrugged with a sarcastic smile.

John didn’t reply.

The ghost gestured to the gloomy woods surrounding them.

“Mysterious Ghost: This whole land is cursed!”

He lifted his hands up in surrender.

“Mysterious Ghost: I-… We freed the souls of the dead villagers… I don’t really mind taking the bullet…”

He took a step towards JohnWillStab.

“Mysterious Ghost: It just so happens my last spell took out most of my mana, so I won’t be able to defend myself.” He spread his arms showing no sign of a weapon.

“Bonifacius: There must be another way!” Bonifacius exclaimed.

The ghost nodded.

“Mysterious Ghost: Probably, but I’m a simple - not to mention dead man, and time is short! Did you ever try keeping this many pissed-off spirits in your body?”

“Mysterious Ghost: It’s like having an army of angry ants in your socks…” he shuddered.

The ghost stepped forwards.

“Mysterious Ghost: It looks like your companion is all out of stamina, guess the kill belongs to you!” he remarked looking John in the eyes.

JohnWillStab’s finger trembled over the “1” key on his keyboard, it would definitely kill the ghost.

“There has to be another solution…”

“What if we defeat the big evil thing in this forest?”

“Or find someone who can remove the evil from him!”

The mysterious ghost stepped so close to JohnWillStab his dagger almost pricked his skin.

JohnWillStab tried clicking on the NPC to initiate any more dialogue but nothing happened, there was nothing more the ghost had to say.

“Bonifacius: Thou need not complete this quest if thou doesn’t wish to!” he offered.

He was about to accept Bonifacius’ offer, JohnWillStab was the kind of person who re-loaded a saved game because he accidentally made an NPC he liked upset.

John’s uneasy expression was met the calm, smiling face of the mysterious ghost.

Seeing the borderline serene look on the dead man’s face, John smile back.

“Mysterious Ghost: I’ll see you around, buddy!”

JohnWillStab ran his dagger through the ghost splashing blood onto the grassy ground.

The smile never left his face, even as the mysterious ghost fell to the ground.

With a soft sound akin to twinkling gems the ghost began to burn in small patches all over his body.

Both white and black particles flew up into the dark sky above.

“Mysterious Ghost: Thanks, man.”

“Mysterious Ghost: You’re a real life-saver!” he laughed.

As his body and soul crumbled away a few tears rolled down his pale cheeks.

JohnWillStab watched the man fade away as Edgarf slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes widened seeing the smiling face of his brother being reduced to particles and scattered by the wind.

“Edgarf: Brother!”

Edgarf rushed over to his brother’s side where he fell to his knees, unable to do anything other than look at his rapidly disappearing brother.

Tears began to well up in the eyes of both brothers.

“Mysterious Ghost: Oh cool, you woke up…” he said with a smile.

“Edgarf: What are you doing here?! What’s happening?!”

“Mysterious Ghost: Come on… no point being sad over the same person dying twice!” he laughed as raspy laugh.

A sombre smile spread onto Edgarf’s face.

“Edgarf: …”

“Edgarf: You’re going to disappear…”

The mysterious ghost glanced down to his mostly missing body.

“Mysterious Ghost: Probably.”

JohnWillStab and Bonifacius could only watch the short-lived reunion.

“Mysterious Ghost: Hey, Edgarf… Do you think you could do me a solid and not cause any more problems for the adventurers?” he began.

His expression became more serious.

“Mysterious Ghost: If you even consider seeking revenge in the old dig site I will personally come down and kick you a$$!” he warned pointing an accusatory finger at his brother.

A smug smile spread over his face again.

“Mysterious Ghost: After all, revenge for the sake of revenge is a pretty shi#*y motive…” he said glancing over to John.

Moments before he disappeared, he extended a closed fist towards Edgarf.

With one final fist bump the spirit of Edgarf’s brother was gone.

The mysterious ghost was gone.

Bonifacius and JohnWillStab completed the quest, after eventually sitting through Edgarf’s backstory which he so desperately tried to tell them earlier as they waited for Bonifacius’ stamina to regenerate enough to travel back to town.

John couldn’t bring himself to smash Edgarf’s head into a tree to knock him out again, though, not for Edgarf’s sake.

Bonifacius completed the quest earning JohnWillStab two levels bringing him up to level five.

JohnWillStab’s stats were the following.

“Strength: 8”

“Athletics: 7”

“Dexterity: 6”

“Magic: 2”

“Intelligence: 3”

“Luck: 3”

“Stamina: 4”

“Perception: 4”

“Charisma: 2”

“Weapon Skills: 7”

After escorting Edgarf to the local inn, Bonifacius met JohnWillStab outside the town.

“Bonifacius: I have returned!”

JohnWillStab sat cross-legged on a fallen tree trunk.

“JohnWillStab: So it would seem!”

JohnWillStab was grinning ear-to-ear upon seeing his increased stats.

“Bonifacius: I think perhaps I should log off and get some rest for today.” he laughed.

John nodded.

“JohnWillStab: Yeah, I might go hit up a shop and go to bed too,” he replied holding back a yawn in real life.

Bonifacius opened his friend-menu seeing about twenty names, most were red but a few remained green or grey; grey meaning the player was not online.

He selected JohnWillStab and clicked “add friend” in the menu.

JohnWillStab saw a new notification stating Bonifacius was inviting him to his friend-list.

John accepted.

“Bonifacius: I shall see thee tomorrow!”

“JohnWillStab: Yup!”

They both logged-off in unison.