Man, what the fuck? I squinted at the weird-ass message. Was the System trying to mess with me? Why the hell would it wanna "talk"? This seemed like a trap.

The message was just... there. So damn simple. I'd always figured if the System ever tried to communicate, it'd be some cryptic riddle shit or a task. But here it was, sounding…weird and reasonable.

I snorted. My only choices were "Yes" or "No.”

Definitely a trap. But, fuck it, what was the worst that could go down? It's not like things were all sunshine and rainbows right now. And hell, if the System wanted me gone, it had plenty of chances before.

I mentally hit 'Yes', feeling like I was making a shitty trade deal.

Man, everything went batshit crazy for a second, like I'd dropped into some wild psychedelic trip. Before I knew it, I found myself standing in this immense, infinite void of nothingness. The only landmark? A bizarre entity hovering before me. It didn't exactly scream "human," but it had hints, like a Picasso opium coma. There was a glow around it— pulsating and shimmering, made of some weird pixelated shit.

Its face was like a crack-addled toddler had gotten hold of a crayon and went to fuckin’ town. Big ol' round eyes that looked way too curious and near where a normal individual’s cheek would be was a simple curve for a mouth, kinda like it was half-smiling. No nose at all.

Whatever the hell this glowing doodle was tilted its head. It was like a dog hearing a weird noise, only a thousand times creepier. It gazed at me, those massive eyes radiating a mix of naivety and ... something else. Innocence, maybe?

"Hi!" it said, sounding way too young and perky. “I’m the System!”

"...The hell? You are?" I asked, eyebrows way up in my confusion. This was the great overlord of the entirety of rules and regulations in the world of Regaia? It sounded like a kid!

"Yes!" It jumped like some kid on a sugar high. "It's me!"

I rubbed my head, trying to make sense of the nonsense.

“So, uh, what do you want?” I wondered. “Accept defeat? I don’t blame you.”

“Sorta,” the System—apparently—said. “I was thinking…thinking this was easier than messages. Those get boring. Too much to remember.”

This was odd. The System really did sound like they were maybe…I dunno, like eight or nine years old. Which, if you were to ask me even thirty seconds ago, I would have imagined it as some hyper-genius, emotionless supercomputer. Well, save for the snark.

"What—uh, why are you like this? The shit you send is ... kinda adult-like. Sassy, even. I wasn’t anticipating, well, whatever this happens to be.”

It looked thoughtful for a sec.

"Oh, those! I get that stuff from everyone connected to me. It's like... borrowing fancy words? Things people do, say, feel, and stuff. It all bubbles around in me and I can use it. But this," it pointed at itself, "this is the real me! Super simple!"

Damn. The thing had a crap ton of info and emotions from who knows how many people, but deep down, it was just... innocent. Like a kiddo who knew too many big words but didn't get what they meant.

I let out a sigh.

"Alright, spill. Why'd you wanna chat?"

It blinked at me.

"I, um, well, um…” the System trailed off, trying to find the right words, I guess. “...I fucked up. I'm sorry."

“Yeah, you really did,” I said. “I’m not sure what I did to piss you off, but, like, what the hell? You send a bunch of fools to cap my ass? Not really a nice thing to do, you know?”

“I said I’m sorry,” the System protested. “I was just getting mad, you know? You were breaking my stuff and I didn’t like it.”

“Breaking your stuff?” I wondered. “What do you mean? I’ve broken a lot of shit, so you might have to be more specific.”

“My rules. Jailbreaking, I think? And you joined up with that mean ghost.”

“Rexen?”

The thing flinched when I said Arjee’s name. So, there was something about the infamous Dreadnaught Lord that it didn’t like, I supposed. I decided to lay off of the topic and switch gears.

“But, you are done being mad?” I asked, hoping I was picking up what the kid was putting down.

“Sorta,” it said, sounding a little frustrated. “You cheated again, and stopped me from being able to mess with you, and that’s not fun. So, I got bored and decided to forgive you.”

“Listen,” I said. “As much as I want to believe you’re just some…harmless creature who absolutely has seen the error of your ways—or forgiven me for my transgressions or whatever, you tried to wipe me out. I don’t know if I should forgive you.”

“I thought you’d only be sent to Pontivex,” the System said. “I didn’t want you to die forever. That would be sad. But, then you started breaking the kedge and I got mad again.”

“Why?” I asked.

“‘Cuz if you break ‘em all, then no more people can come play in this world. Then when everyone leaves, there won’t be anybody.”

“So…the kedge are also what allows people like me—Sojourners—to arrive here? Wait! Are we dead? In the other world, I mean.”

“No,” the System said. “If you died, you wouldn’t be able to walk around. Like your friend.”

Emma Stokes. She’d just dropped into Regaia as a corpse. That must have been who it was talking about. It was also comforting to know, for myself, that I hadn’t actually died. I’d just been transported.

“Okay, well, how come you have people bringing us here in the first place?” I asked, crossing my arms. “You shouldn’t steal, you know? That’s rude.”

“I don’t,” the System said. “People just show up here and I don’t know why.”

“Bullshit, peewee,” I said. “The curly haired lady brought us all here. That ain’t just showing up.”

“That wasn’t me!” It protested, sounding like it thought it was going to get in trouble. “Normally people do just show up here. Lots of times its like a wave, people dropping in all at once, from different worlds. She has been bringing people here. Trying to break my stuff and get rid of me. But, I don’t want to die. She wanted to kill me.”

“How does that work?” I asked. “How can somebody kill you?”

“By gathering enough power to find me,” it said softly. “I’m not really here, right now. This is just where I come to talk sometimes. But, her goal was to bring enough of you people here, use their Esper Nodes, and find my real home and kill me.”

“Oh. Well … that’s kinda fucked up,” I said. Knowing the System was actually a kind of being—of whatever variety—made that prospect really unwholesome.

“Okay, since we’re on the subject,” I continued. “Why did Fawn want to kill me over them—the Esper Nodes?”

The System tilted its head again.

“I don’t know,” it said. “I can’t really see into anyone’s mind. However, maybe it is because Esper Nodes store memories? And the grelok folk you killed when you arrived had stolen the Node from her recently killed sister.”

“What?!” I demanded. This was a crazy development. But why did it matter?

“Did her sister die permanently?” I continued. “Why would any of that matter? Wouldn’t her sister come back if she was…well, like us?”

“Not if you’re killed by another Sojourner,” the System shrugged. “If that happens, you die die. Unless someone collects your Nodes and then activates them to respawn you.”

“Wait, wait, wait—one of the greloks was a Sojourner, too?” I was thinking about why when Alpha killed people in his Duellum, they didn’t come back. It wasn’t because of the Duellum, it’s because he was killing other Sojourners.

“No,” the System said. “But they stole the Esper Node before Fawn could get them. They’d been fighting the grelok—practically an army against two—Fawn and her sister. The sister, her name was Colt, received a bad brain injury during the combat. She was still alive, but senseless. I think they call it brain-dead. And since Fawn didn’t have any potions, she did the only thing she could think to do—she killed her sister. But before she could grab her essence, one of the grelok stole it, and the group escaped.”

“Fuck,” I hissed, letting all of that sink in. “That’s fucking sadistic. So, when I got the Nodes from them, that was…this Colt lady?”

“Yeah,” the System said sadly.

“Fuck, no wonder she wanted to kill me. Can I bring it back to her?”

“No,” the System said. “If hers was still in your possession, you could. But you used it to open the…dungeon.”

The being seemed extremely averse to mentioning anything having to do with Rexen, and that apparently extended to his parcels of land.

“So, it’s gone for good?”

“If you were able to find out where the Esper Node ends up, then, no…” the System said. “But I don’t know where that is. Someone might, though.”

He was talking about Rexen. Except Rexen was gone. For now. So that was something I’d need to figure out now too, huh?

“So, does that mean that the fuckin’ douche canoe, Alpha, is hording these Esper Nodes of the people he’s killed?”

“Yes,” said the System. “He doesn’t know what they are. In fact, he doesn’t even believe this world is real.”

“Whatcha mean?”

“He thinks it's imaginary. A dream. Denial. Thinks he’s in a coma from your accident that brought you here.”

Well, that sounded familiar. I’d assumed the same thing when I first arrived, but…well, it had been months. I’d experienced too much to let that pesky little thought process live on. I was fuckin’ in this bitch. Alpha just hadn’t gotten to a point where he realized he wasn’t sitting in a hospital bed with tubes tucked into him on our original world yet. Which meant that there was a little more than just pure malice behind his behavior. What did it matter if you killed someone in a dream? Fuck. It would have been easier if he was just a killer. Now I had to go and have the understanding that he might not have done something so heinous were he in his right mind. But, I’d think about that later. I was tired of all of this, and it seemed like getting back to my friends was the smarter move. We had shit to do.

“Alright…” I said to the System with a dramatic stretch. “How about we call a truce for the time being?”

“A truce?” It wondered. Then it seemed to consider my words and nodded once. “Okay, yeah! A truce. Things go back to normal?”

“For now,” I said. “You just don’t try to fuck with me, and I won’t try to fuck with you? Sound good?”

“Sounds good!” The cheer had returned to the System’s delivery. “Friends?”

I chuckled.

“Eh, I dunno about friends. That takes time…I think. How about we start with friendly and see where that gets us?”

“Okay!” The System said. “In that case, I’ll send you back, now! And…I’m sorry.”

“You already said that,” I said.

“No, but I’m sorry for some of the stuff I already put in motion. But nothing else beyond that will happen, I promise!”

“Wait what are you—”

But I was back in the Murder Emporium. It seemed like no time had passed at all. Everyone was still chatting like they were on a coffee break and hadn’t noticed my disappearance.

"...Jessy and I got lost in Deran,” Frida was saying, apparently talking about their adventures, “nearly got buried in those damned sandstorms. We managed to find clues pointing t’Virgil in Moress. Then, from there, we scooted to Larith.”

Jes gave a nod.

"Precisely. And not to forget the skirmish with those spectral pirates in Noren Bay. Quite the ordeal, really."

“Yeah,” Virgil agreed. “I was killin’ them Echoes and Tides what were croppin’ up. Somethin’ fierce, too. Lost m’self a bit there tryin’ to find y’all.”

“Well, we’re back together again!” I said, smirking. “So, what’s next?”

Monty shrugged his shoulders.

“After this little bite of kookiness, I’m goin’ on a vacation. Y’all can do whatever it is you do, though.”

“Thanks for the permission,” I said, considering that his role had been relatively light considering everything that had gone down.

“You’re welcome,” Monty said.

Frida nudged Jes, and he startled before realizing her implication. Then he smiled, though it looked forced.

“Well, there is still the matter of the revival of our friends,” he said awkwardly.

“Oh, shit!” I said. “I’d completely spaced it considering what shit had gone down lately. Yes. Let’s do that.”

“Well, we cannae do et alone,” Frida said with a wink. “Might be we swing by that village o’ yers.”

“Really?!” I cried, almost too exuberantly. “You guys are gonna check out the crib?”

“In whatever it is that means,” Jes confirmed.

“Righteous!” I cheered. “Man, I can’t wait to see the look on Alpha’s face when us four come strolling in there, all victorious and shit. Hell yeah.”

“Who?” Frida asked.

“Oh, I’ll be sure to point him out to you when we get there, though, you’ll likely know who he is by smell alone.”

I paused.

“Wait, how are we going to get there? This city is liable to eat me alive the moment I step outside.”

I didn’t know what the System had prepped for me, so while it promised to be on good behavior, it had definitely done something I’d have to watch out for.

“Oh, I can take care of that,” Monty said. “But it ain’t going to be comfortable. And it’s gonna cost ya.”