“I see… so with no other options you brought her here.”

“I couldn’t really think of much else,” Null admitted, “Guards were a no go, and I don’t know anyone else.”

“No, its fine, just a bit… unusual is all, I can’t say I’ve ever been in this situation before.”

Estella leaned back in her desk, hand at her chin. Alice stood by Null’s side, eyes glued to the floor. She gripped Null’s hand and was pretty much glued to his side. He squeezed her hand.

“It’s ok, we can trust her.”

Estella quirked up an eyebrow and smirked, “So you trust me?”

“Yeah,” Null said with a sigh, “I just hope I’m not wrong.”

“Well, you have no reason to doubt me,” she said, “that still does not explain why you brought her to me. As far as I’m aware, the quarters of Awakened Ones are fairly secure facilities.”

“Would you leave a child alone in your apartment, unattended?”

“Fair enough point,” she said, “but what is your plan? Leave her with me and do what?”

“Well that’s the other thing,” Null said, approaching the desk. Alice shifted behind him, eyes still on the ground, “You strike me as someone with connections, and I’m sure that there has been at least some word of suspicious activity amongst the guards.”

“Define ‘suspicious’,” Estella said, “Retissia is home to many secrets. Suspicious or shady activity is the norm here.”

“Guards breaking into someone’s house randomly and arresting them without a warrant?”

“Well that is definitely a little more blatant than most,” she tapped her chin, “I have heard of some strange activity around one of the guardhouses in the Moon District.”

“Strange?”

“Guards that are more… unkempt than the others, patrols at odd times during the day, accompanied by those that are clearly not part of the city’s military.”

“No one’s looked into it before?”

“There have been a few investigations, but they turned up nothing,” she stood up, walking towards the center of the room. Alice looked up at her, catching her eye momentarily. The Celestial smiled at her, causing Alice to press herself closer to Null, but she was no longer looking at the floor anymore.

“If you are looking for a place to start, I would head over there,” Estella said, holding a hand out, “I can mark it for you on your map, if you’d like.”

Null nodded and opened his map from his Smart Box. The map displayed itself as an illusionary reconstruction of Retissia in front of him, giving him a top down view of the city. He flipped the map and pushed it towards Estella, who, after taking a moment to look over it, tapped a building in the Moon Quarter. A red blip appeared where she made contact, pulsing with light as it lingered over the image.

“There we are,” Estella looked up at him, “If I may ask, why are you doing this? People don’t just drop everything to go on rescue missions, you know.”

Null shrugged. “No one else was helping.”

Estella looked at him, her expression showing that she wasn’t entirely convinced, but she didn’t push any further.

Null turned to leave, but Alice never let go of his hand. He stopped, and knelt down in front of her.

“You can’t go with me Alice,” he said.

She shook her head.

“He’s right,” Estella said, “Mr. Null here is going to be very busy. I can take care of you,” she gave the girl a comforting smile.

Alice eyed her warily.

“It’s alright,” Null said, “she may look mean, but she’s a real nice lady.”

Estella frowned at him.

“You’ll come back, right?” Alice asked in a weak voice.

“Yes, definitely,” it wasn’t like he could “die” anyways.

“Promise?” she held her pinky out.

He hooked his pinky around hers and pat her head, “Promise.”

With that, she let go of his hand and went to Estella.

“Be careful Null,” Estella cautioned.

“I’ll be ok,” Null said, giving a dismissive wave, “Be back in a jiff, one rescued mom in tow.”

---

The Moon Quarter was mostly silent by the time Null arrived. There was a faint blue glow coming from the everlamps, marking it as night time. He supposed that he should have felt tired, but technically he’d only been in the game for about 2 hours. There was no stamina gauge to tell him when he would be tired, but even with the “8” hours that he spent in the game, he was very much awake. He couldn’t tell how much of that was genuine energy or how much of that was him not wanting to log off.

He shook his head. There were more important things to be thinking about.

He decided to set up at a cafe that was across from the guard house. It was a small, quaint little place, a rarity among the larger buildings that made up the majority of the quarter. It was as hole in the wall as a place could get in Retissia, but there was still activity within the cafe even at night. It wasn’t much, just a few people enjoying a late night coffee or tea while they looked over some kind of project or work, but it was enough for Null to blend in. He had his stat page open, taking account of his current status, but it was mainly a cover for his real purpose.

Normally, the act on spying on what was essentially a police station would be something that would be considered strange. In Aelios Online, it still was, but since there was very much a video game aspect to the world, Null found it easier to get into the act. It wasn’t like there was much going on outside the guardhouse, save for the presence of a couple of the city watch standing by its doors, attempting to look professional. The guard that was giving a long, open mouthed yawn wasn’t doing them any favors.

The guard house couldn’t have been more than three stories tall, fashioned from the same smooth white stone as the rest of Retissia, though now it appeared to be more of a softer blue from the glow of the everlamps. A large wall extended from the building, tall enough and smooth enough to prevent most people from climbing over it. It surrounded what appeared to be a large open area, but there was no where for Null to get a glimpse at what was inside, from his perspective at least. Looking at the structure from above through his map, he saw that the open space took up a majority of the building’s lot, determining it was most likely a training area of some sort. He imagined that it was full of swords clashing and men shouting during the day, but during the night it was as silent as the rest of the street. The building itself was in a “L” shape that wrapped around the field, with the only entrance that Null could see being the one that the two guards flanked.

He took a sip of his coffee, savoring the smooth, caramel taste of the roast. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a guard walking out from the alleyway next to the guardhouse. He turned to look at him, disguising the motion as a survey of his surroundings. This guard was different from the other two. The most glaring detail was the five o’ clock shadow, but there was also the slouching, almost lazy posture to the man that raised Null’ suspicions. Not every guard in the city was some robot of military perfection, as noted by one of the guards by the door, but they all held themselves with a more upright, professional posture. This man looked like he was about to fall asleep at any second.

He finished his coffee, slowly, keeping an eye towards the alleyway to see if any more “guards” emerged from it. By the time he put his cup down, no one else had emerged. The guards, while seemingly attentive to the street, were not paying much attention to that alleyway, giving Null an idea.

He paid for the coffee using a small kiosk at his table and walked into the street, faking a yawn as he passed by the two guards. When he passed the alleyway he stretched back, eyes glancing towards their direction to ensure that they were not paying attention. When he saw that they weren’t, he slipped into the alley, pulling up his hood as he did so.

There was little in the way of cover within the narrow passage. A singular crate lay to the side of the guard house, large enough to hide behind, but beyond that it was fairly bare. It was abnormally clean, compared to the alleys he’d seen in the real world, but he supposed that was part of the game’s design. There was a door not too far away from the crate, leading into the guard house, and presumably where the man from before came from. Of course, when Null tried the door, it was locked.

“Shit,” he said.

He was aware that there were some skills suited for the more roguish sort, but never thought to pick them up. He wasn’t planning to break into any buildings when he first logged in, and certainly did not intend for this to be a regular thing, but he was debating acquiring some of those skills now. Of course, he’d have to find someone to teach him those skills. He highly doubted there was a Trainer at the Academy that taught you how to break the law, but considering the situation he was in… the notion wasn’t all that unbelievable.

He turned to leave, but stopped once he heard the doorknob twist. Seeing no other option, he shifted to the side of the door so that he was behind it when it opened. A guard emerged from the other side of the door, and while he was carrying himself better than the man previously, the long, flowing hair that poked out from the helmet he was wearing was too out of place compared to the other guards he’d seen.

Null frowned. Show a little effort guys.

The man didn’t close the door behind him, opting to let the weight of the door close itself. Null took advantage of this opening, slipping into the building behind the man, staying as silent as possible.

The door led into a small room that looked more like a storage closet than actual room, with another door that led further inside to the opposite side of him.There was little in the way of furniture in the room, with the standout being what appeared to be two lockers made of stained wood. Around these lockers were an assortment of armor pieces that lay haphazardly across the floor. Sloppy as it was, it was convenient for Null, who quickly snatched up a complete set to use as a disguise. He didn’t pay much attention to their stats, but the armor alone, while not as silent as his hoodie, would probably provide better defense.

To finish up his disguise, he grabbed a full helm from the corner of the room, only to be greeted by a text box when he slid the face plate down.

+++

You’re face has been hidden

When your face is hidden, so is your identity. Your Fame will be set to zero, and there will be no gains in Fame unless you establish or have been granted an Alias. Revealing your face will return you to your default Fame status and you will be able to gain Fame once again. To continue to wear a helmet and still show your face, you may choose to make your helmet invisible through the Options menu.

Do you wish to establish an Alias now?

Yes/No

+++

He only took a cursory glance over the information before selecting No. It was something he’d have to save until later. The box closed and he made his way to the door to go further inside, only to have it open right in front of him.

There was a woman in the doorway, shorter than him by a head. Blond hair draped around her face, and her green eyes held a cold, calculated look to them, clashing with a pair of small lips that looked to be always pouting. She was dressed in what looked to be leather armor overlaying black, padded clothing more designed for stealth than taking any direct hits. Were it not for the leather, it would have held a more modern design overall, but the added protective ware gave it a distinct fantasy touch.There was a bow strung around her torso, it's sleek design more evocative of a medieval aesthetic, and she had a few daggers strapped to her chest on a bandolier, but beyond that did not possess any other sort of weaponry. Her Smart Box was strapped to her hip, identifying her as a player.

Null stepped out of the way, letting her into the room. She didn’t utter any greeting of any kind, but began to pick up pieces of some of the scattered gear on the ground and strapping them over her armor.

“I told them to pick this up…” she muttered.

Null turned to leave.

“Hey,” the woman said, stopping Null in his tracks, “Leave the gear here, someone else may need it.”

“Only making a quick stop,” Null replied, “I’ll be out of here soon.”

“Fair enough,” she said, “you happen to find anything out there?”

“Same old, same old,” he said off handedly, “hard to find anything in a city this big.” He had no idea what it was that she was referring to, but he figured if he acted casual that things would work out.

The woman snorted, “Tell me about it. I mean, it can’t be that hard to find one girl, right? Brat’s gotta be crying it out somewhere, wouldn’t be too hard to miss.”

Null frowned, glad that the visor was covering his face.

“To top it all off, some guy decided to go full blown Leroy and attacked our guys at the woman’s house,” She strapped a shin pad on with a little too much force, “Had to take out a newbie to get him to shut up, and the guy had the gall to run away.”

“Sounds like a real asshole.”

“You’re telling me. Next time I see him it’s gonna be, thwip,” she stabbed her finger at her eye, “right through the eye.”

He would have found the sound effect somewhat endearing, if it wasn’t directed at him.

“Well… good luck with that,” Null said, turning to leave once again.”

“Hold on.”

Null resisted the sigh building up in his chest. “Whats up?”

“Your voice sounds kinda familiar,” the woman peered at him, searching for any kind of reaction.

“Frank,” Null said.

She snorted, “Frank? You jump into a game like this and choose the name Frank?”

“You’ll remember it though.”

She laughed, “I guess I will. Well, I’ll let you go Frank, try to be a little more useful than the other grunts, alright?”

“I’ll do my best,” he said, before stepping through the door and into the hallway.

Said hallway was empty, its dark wooden make bare aside from a few tapestries that hung along the walls. He had no idea where to begin, and was half tempted to ask the woman from before about for some directions. That would have been too obvious, however, so he was stuck wandering the building’s halls aimlessly. He could only assume that they would be keeping their prisoner at the most difficult point to escape from, the top floor.

The top floor of the guard house was not much different from the rest, a hallway with doors. What was different about this one, however, was that there were two people stationed in front of the door, dressed in the same gear that the men in Alice’s house wore. It might as well have been a giant neon sign saying PRISONER HERE, for all that Null was concerned, but that suited him just fine.

He walked up to the two men, who regarded him tensely, but didn’t move.

“Boss wants to see you,” Null told them, pointing toward the stairs.

They didn’t respond.

“Both of you, in case you were wondering.”

They still didn’t respond.

He sighed, “Come on guys, you know the Boss doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“What’s the Boss’s name?” One of them asked.

Null paused, “...shit, you guys are smart.”

He struck the guard to his left in the throat, forcing the man to grasp at it as he stumbled back into the door. Before the other guard could get his sword drawn, Null flicked his fingers up, performing the gesture for the Spark spell, before he struck the guard in the jaw. He released the spell on impact, sending sparks of electricity across the guard’s head. The man crumpled to the ground, leaving the one clutching his neck alone. He was looking up at Null, a look of irritation in his eyes. It was a game, no matter how real things felt, so getting punched in the throat was more an annoying status effect rather than a grievous injury. That didn’t stop Null from kneeing the man in the face, turning his struggling into a slump as he lay against the door.

He looked down at the two men, who were unmoving, but hadn’t faded into light like a typical player death. They were certainly unconscious, or just really good actors, but he considered the former unlikely. Taking note of that, he moved to open the door, only for another text box to pop up in front of him.

+++

Combat Skill: Precision Strike

Sometimes it just takes one punch.

Proficiency in the Precision Strike skill grants extra damage when attacking an enemy’s weak points. The location of such points will differ depending on the enemy’s anatomy.

Level 1 Proficiency:

10% increase to damage when landing a blow in an enemy’s weakpoint.

Will you accept this skill?

Yes/No

+++

Again, he only took a cursory glance at the window, but saw enough to immediately accept the skill. Precision was what he was all about, and if something was going to buff that, accepting that was a no brainer.

Smirking to himself at the newly acquired skill, he opened the door, only to get immediately struck by a chair.

The blow caught him in the chest, sinking his health bar by about a fourth as the wind got knocked out of him. He looked around, catching sight of a woman next to the door, chair raised back and about to swing again.

“Wait,” he coughed.

She didn’t listen, and brought the chair down towards his head. He shuffled back out the door to avoid the blow, having gained some of his breath back.

“I’m here to help dammit!” he growled.

The woman was at the doorway now, chair still in hand. She had brown hair, tied into a ponytail that hung off of her shoulders, with eyes that were the same blue as Alice’s. She was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Her chest heaved as she breathed deeply, but she was no longer trying to assault him, for the moment at least.

“I’m here because Alice asked me to help.”

The woman’s eyes widened, and she lowered the chair back to the ground.

“Alice… is she alright?” she asked. Her tone was concerned, like she forgot entirely about her situation and was focusing only on her daughter.

“She’s fine, I can take you to her,” he held his hands up to calm her, “but I can’t do a thing unless you let me help you.”

She looked at him with a wary expression, which he understood. It was going to be hard to trust some random nobody, but she didn’t have any other choice. She put the chair down, and sighed.

“Yeah, fine, don’t have many other options anyway,” she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“I don’t know, couple swings with that chair and I’m sure you’d knock a dragon out,” he said, mainly to lighten the mood.

Her lack of a response told him that didn’t work.

“We gotta get going,” he said, “There’s a side door we can use to get out, relatively unguarded, but we gotta be quick.”

She nodded and followed him, “Who are you?” she asked in a hushed tone.

“Null,” he said, “But we’ll have plenty of time for introductions later,” he grabbed her hand to get her to follow, but she resisted.

“Wait,” she said, “tell me where Alice is.”

“I have her with someone at the Academy, the quicker we move the faster you’ll see her.”

That was enough to convince her, and she followed him willingly.

They moved through the halls silently. It was easy for Alice’s mother to do so, given her lack of shoes, but Null had to move slower due to the armor he was wearing. Luckily, since it was night time, everyone was asleep. The halls remained empty as a result, and they made it to the bottom floor with relative ease. They approached the door to the side room, but as Null approached to open it, he was struck in the shoulder by an arrow, bringing his life gauge down to half.

“Oooooh Frank,” he heard a familiar voice say, “You didn’t th-”

He ignored the voice, quickly opening the door and pushing Alice’s mother through. They stumbled into the small changing room, charging towards the exit, until they realized that there was someone standing in front of it.

It was the hulking figure of a man, seemingly Human, by the features on his face, but he easily stood a foot taller than Null, and was a foot wider. He held no pretense of disguise, and was garbed in what appeared to be heavy furs draped across his torso. He was entirely out of place, looking like he belonged in some post apocalyptic scenario rather than the high fantasy setting they were in now. His hair was red, grown long, down to his ears, and his yellow eyes glinted with glee in the dim light. A large grin spread across his face, but Null could only feel menace coming from it.

“Hello there, wh-”

Null squatted low, springing off of his hunched legs and driving his shoulder into the man’s abdomen. He hit the man with enough force to press him into the door, but it wasn’t enough to knock it open. It got him within range of the door handle, which he immediately grabbed and twisted. The two of them tumbled through the door, with Null managing to find himself on top of the man.

“Run!” He yelled over his shoulder, striking the man in the face. He winced as he did, and pulled his hand back. His hand felt sore, like he just punched a rock.

He didn’t see what Alice’s mother was doing, but he heard footsteps go by as he struggled to hold the larger man down.

The man shoved Null off and stood up, cracking his knuckles as he twisted his neck.

“I’ll admit, that one surprised me,” he said in a rough, deep voice.

He held his hands wide, and open, taking a grappler’s stance as he hunched low to the ground. Null drew his shortsword and dagger.

“Aw, playing unfair now? Here I thought you were an honorable man,” the man sneered.

Null performed the gesture for Stalagmite, cupping his hand and pushing up. A spike of rock jutted out from below the large man, almost catching him in the chest. The man was far quicker than his size suggested, and far stronger. He twisted, avoiding the jutting rock and slammed his palm into the base of it. The rock cracked, then broke, and the man took the now snapped off spike in his hands like a club.

“Thanks for the weapon,” he said, giving Null another grin.

Null paused, then dropped his stance, “Well that’s just not normal.”

“It’s a video game, you just summoned a spike from the ground,” the man said.

“Right,” he shrugged, “let’s just get this over with.”

“I agree.”

The man leapt at him, makeshift club held over his head. Null stepped to the side, letting the attack hit the ground. The ground cracked on impact, and a small puff of dust kicked up into the air. Null struck at the man’s open ribs, driving his short sword between them. The blade only scratched the surface, scraping across the man’s skin like it was metal. There was a thin red line from where the blade passed over his skin, but the man looked relatively unphased. Null shuffled away from his opponent, weapons still up. The man stood up, grinning once again.

“Good move,” he said, “shame it lacked power. Might have actually done something.”

Before Null could say anything, the woman from before burst from the door in a rush, bow in hand. Her attention focused on Alice’s mother.

“Get the woman, I’ll handle this guy,” the man said, readying the mass of earth in his hands.

She nodded, and ran after Alice’s mother. Null moved to intercept, only for the man to place himself between them. He didn’t stop moving, ducking as the man swung at his head. Null flipped his shortsword and slammed the hilt into the man’s chin. He stumbled back, creating enough of an opening to Null to slip through, though he had no hope of catching up. He may have been fast in this new body of his, but the woman was much faster. Streaks of green light trailed behind her as she sprinted down the alley, increasing the distance between them with ease. At the rate she was running, she would easily catch up to Alice’s mother.

Null stopped, flipping the dagger in his hand and gripping the blade. He wasn’t fast enough, but he didn’t need to be. He threw the dagger and followed it with a cast of Firebolt. The blade struck true, piercing the woman in her shoulder blade and causing her to stumble. The firebolt hit soon after, bursting into flames with enough force to knock her off of her unsteady feet. She hit the ground in a roll, but couldn’t recover and tumbled into the ground.

Before he could turn around, the larger man was already on him, his club aiming for Null’s head. He raised his arms to his head to block the blow, catching the club with his shortsword. The blade shattered, doing little to stop the attack from hitting his arm. It struck with far more force than Null expected, knocking him to the side and into the alley wall. His visioned blurred as he struck the stone, and his arm was limp at his side, a buzzing feeling traveling up it and to his shoulder.

+++

Shortsword has been broken!

It has been unequipped from you and stored in your inventory automatically. Broken items cannot be used until they are repaired

+++

Before he could recover the man was on him, backhanding him with enough strength to fling him into the sole crate in the Alley. He landed in a cloud of splinters and dust, darkness now encroaching on his field of view as his health bar drained to a sliver. The man loomed over him, soon joined by the woman, who, judging from the look on her face, was furious.

“She got away,” the woman said, voice hollow to Null’s ears. She readied an arrow and aimed it at Null’s face.

The man held a hand in front of her, “Wait. I’ve got a better idea.”

She looked at him quizzically, then gave a vicious smiled, “Oh yeah, we still need to find someone for that.”

“Exactly,” he said, “I say he qualifies.”

“Oh, definitely,” she stared down at Null, eyes bright with mischief, “See you around, Frank.”

The man struck him in the face, then everything went black.