Soulweaver 8: Hello, I’m Greg and I’m an Alien

“You’re an elf!” I said, staring at the platinum-blonde-haired boy’s pointy ears. Falling to just above his neck, his hair was just long enough to partially cover them, but not hide them entirely. His robe was oversized, torn, and he wore no armor. In fact, the only weapon I saw on him was his dagger.

His dirt-smeared face and overall haggard, disheveled appearance made him look older despite his short stature, but with those effeminate elf features hiding underneath, I put his age in the mid-teens.

The elf backed away, suddenly gripping the dagger he’d just stowed.

“So?” he said defensively. “What’s it to you?” The dagger’s leather squeaked as the elf tightened his grip.

“Nothing! Just surprised, is all,” I said, more defensively than I’d intended.

“Why? Surprised to see an elf in a Trial of Dominion? Just because we don’t have any ourselves doesn’t mean we can’t delve like everyone else, you know?”

His eyes flitted from me to the walls, as if searching for an escape.

“Sorry, what?” Dominion, who? Wasn’t that the name of a stat and what the heck was their territory lacking in?

The elf’s eyes narrowed. The dagger’s tip lowered almost imperceptibly. “You’re a delver, yes?” he asked, his voice dripping with suspicion. “What’s your angle?”

“My angle?” My shoulders drooped. Shaking my head, I offered a hand. “Forget angles, I don’t even know where this is! Er, look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m Greg.”

The boy’s eyes flicked from my hand to my face and back as he edged slowly away.

“You speak oddly. Weird dialect. Where are you from?”

It was only then that I noticed I was able to converse with him. Rather, it sounded like he was speaking English, though I was sure he wasn’t. Apparently Cosmo’s translator wasn’t good enough to mimic dialect. Or maybe it was just a dialect the elf wasn’t used to?

“Er, I guess you could say I’m something of a country bumpkin,” I said, raising my hands placatingly. “Home’s a long way from here.”

I didn’t know what he was freaking out about, but I needed to calm him down so I could at least get some answers. With my patron god being as helpful as a rubber duck, this guy was my best bet to learn more about this world.

“I’m not trying to hurt you, alright?” I insisted. “I actually felt like we made a pretty good team back there, don’t you?”

“You’re just like everyone else,” the boy spat, full of loathing.

“I’m not really sure what you mean, but I can assure you that’s not true,” I said, thinking of how unintentionally ironic his words were. Still, I couldn’t just come out and tell him, ‘Hi, I’m Greg and I’m an alien!’

I took a deep breath, drew upon all of my gaming knowledge, and combined it with my meager bullshitting skills.

“I delve this dungeon seeking the power of the gods.”

The boy looked at me flatly. “How is that not the same as everyone else?”

He was right. Alright, Greg, think. He got pissed off when you spoke to him, right? What did you say? What is… oh. Obviously.

“I don’t hate elves, if that’s what you’re worried about,” I said. “But yes, I was surprised to see one here. Especially someone as young as you.”

“Oh,” he said, deflating. “Yes, I suppose you might. Believe me, I wouldn’t be here if I had a choice.”

“Someone’s forcing you here?” I asked.

“Well, no,” he said, biting his lip. “It’s complicated.”

Yeah, for you and me both, buddy.

“Look, the whole reason I returned to fight this… thing,” I said, thumbing at the troll’s body, “was for the armor and sword.”

The boy’s eyes lit up, but then his ears drooped. “I suppose that’s fair. You did come up with that reckless gambit, after all.”

He was after the armor and weapons too? They wouldn’t even fit him. Maybe I can give him the sword?

“I tell you what. How about we split it?” I asked, wondering what sort of world I’d stepped into.

“You would sell it, rather than use it for yourself?”

“Er, I don’t think it’d fetch much even if I tried,” I replied, somewhat confused. “Besides, those things don’t sound mutually exclusive? I can always use it now, and sell it later, right?”

“What are you talking about?” the boy asked, just as confused as I was. His eyes went wide.

“You have a way to split it?”

I opened my mouth, but couldn’t find anything appropriate to say.

“I… feel like we’re not speaking the same language,” I said at last. I somehow doubted it was the translator gizmo’s fault.

“Likewise. Regardless, we’d best not linger. I don’t want to be around when the Dominion goblins return.”

So that’s what they’re called? He’d said Dominion earlier, too. So many questions…

Still, despite the awkwardness my total lack of knowledge would cause, it was good to have someone nearby. Someone I could talk to. Both for the peace of mind of knowing I wasn’t alone in here, and the ability to fill the gaping hole that was my knowledge about this world. And, of course, the security.

Maybe he wasn’t a fighter, but let’s face it, neither was I.

The elf started muttering to himself, and out of pure curiosity, I knelt pretending like I was tying my laces and retrieved Cosmo’s translation sphere and gently placed it on the rocky ground.

The instant the ball left my hand, his speech changed entirely. His pitch grew higher, and the syllables were all different. I couldn’t really place what it sounded like. Maybe French? But more melodic and far less guttural. It was… beautiful. Like a siren’s song or something.

I picked up the orb and deposited it back into my pocket. As much as I wanted to hear more of his native tongue, I couldn’t let him think I’d suddenly forgotten the language. The boy was suspicious of me as it was.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“…Aerion,” he said hesitatingly. “You said you are… “Grug?”

“Greg,” I corrected. “Well, Gregory. Greg for short. Nice to meet you, Aerion.”

“Odd name,” he said. “You said you’ve journeyed from afar. From whose domain do you hail?”

Oh, shit. How am I gonna fake this one?

“Cosmo’s. I hail from Cosmo’s domain,” I said confidently.

“I’ve not heard of that name.”

“Yeah, well. He’s a pretty unimportant figure. Long way from here. Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“You certainly dress oddly,” Aerion said, looking me over. “I’ve never seen clothes like yours.”

“Yeah, it’s a local thing,” I said, making a mental note to ditch these clothes at the earliest opportunity. Then again, my jeans and t-shirt seemed to put Aerion a bit more at ease. I guess between my speech, name, and clothing, I made a pretty good ‘foreigner’.

“Well, you’d best claim the troll’s soul crystal before someone else does. Lax of you to take your time with that. You’re lucky I didn’t snatch it out from under you. I’d have been well within my rights to, you know?”

“R-right. Um, thanks,” I said, understanding only about half of what he said.

I turned my back on Aerion, thankful to no longer be on the hot seat. If I managed to get through this dungeon without him ditching me for being a weirdo, I’d consider it a resounding success.

Still, any risk I took associating with him was more than offset by all that I’d learn. Plus… I couldn’t just leave him here on his own. Wouldn’t sit right.

I approached the corpse of the obsidian troll—just a mount of rocks, really—looking for this soul crystal Aerion mentioned.

Seeing nothing, I finally kicked at some of the smaller shards the troll had broken down into, hoping to find another weapon I could initialize among the rubble.

Apparently, that triggered something. The whole corpse began to glow.

Don't tell me it’s a bomb, or something?

Games sometimes had monsters that blew up after they died, leaving a nasty surprise for anyone unfortunate enough—or greedy enough—to venture too close.

A blinding flash of light forced me to cover my eyes.

When I opened them, the corpse was gone.

In its place, hovering a foot above the floor, was a jet-black cylindrical crystal, about the size of my index finger.

I initially mistook it for obsidian, but unlike the black volcanic mineral, this thing was see-through.

Soul Crystal (Obsidian Troll) [Uncommon]

Grade: E

Summary: A Soul Crystal from an Obsidian Troll. A valuable trinket! Good luck finding a use for it. May have additional, unknown uses.

Abilities: None

Stats:

— Dominion: + 10

Uh, what?

How could anything that bestowed stat bonuses be a useless trinket? Either the description was lying, or there was more here than met the eye. And that ‘additional, unknown uses’ was just bait.

I glanced at Aerion and caught him gazing longingly at my prize.

Sorry, bud. But if this is as valuable as I think it is, I can’t hand it over.

I wouldn’t use it, either. Not yet. Not until I knew what it did. Or even how to use it—I figured asking Aerion would only give him more reason to suspect me of being not from this world.

I pocketed the crystal, mildly saddened that all of the troll’s obsidian shards had disappeared—I was looking forward to Initializing those. Looking at the boatload of minimized System notifications, however, got me over my slump pretty fast.

Congratulations! [Initializer] has leveled up to Foundation - 4. Max Essence has increased from 40 to 50. Essence Utilization: 14/50.

Congratulations! [Initializer] has leveled up to Foundation - 5. Max Essence has increased from 50 to 60 . Essence Utilization: 14/60.

Congratulations! [Pet Rock]’s ability [Rock Solid] has leveled up to Foundation - 1.

Congratulations! [Pet Rock]’s ability [Rock Solid] has leveled up to Foundation - 1.

Congratulations! [Pet Rock]’s ability [Rock Solid] has leveled up to Foundation - 1.

Congratulations! [Obsidian Bone Club]’s ability [Scarborne] has leveled up to Foundation - 3.

Blessing [Initializer] has reached Foundation - 5. Blessing Ability gained: [Armor Bestowal].

Would you like to reclaim Initialized equipment?

Well, now. That was a lot to take in. While the gains were nice—my Essence had jumped to 60—it was this ability that really piqued my interest.

Armor Bestowal

Now you can enchantify armor too! Maybe now you won’t have to run for your life like a hysterical baby!

I was not hysterical. Well, maybe only slightly. But this was fortuitous timing, because I’d just found some metal armor that looked like the perfect candidate to test my new ability on.

It told me something else, too, though. While I still didn’t know how high the levels counted up for each letter, it did mean that the boundaries likely had perks. I doubted it was a coincidence that [Initializer] gained a significant upgrade at the level five mark. Level ten would likely bring another.

I made my way to the bone pile under the watchful eye of Aerion, who followed, intently scrutinizing my every move.

Is he taking notes, or…

Picking my way through the rubble, I finally made it to the skeleton with the armor and the sword.

What I found was… Underwhelming. In my haste, it’d been hard to determine the state of the gear. To say it wasn’t good was putting it mildly.

The cuirass had turned brown from rust, and the sword wasn’t much better. The helmet had cracked into three, rendering it unusable.

“Please don’t tell me you’re planning on wearing that?” Aerion said, scrunching his nose at me.

“Believe me, I hate this as much as the next guy, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

“The next guy?” Aerion asked, frowning in confusion. “Do you mean me, by any chance?”

“Just a saying,” I replied, gingerly lifting the armor off the bones on which it sat. I’d never been this close to a real human skeleton before, let alone interact with one.

“‘Tis true, though,” Aerion said. “Beggars are indeed unable to choose.”

I corrected myself—it could have been an elf. Or another humanoid race I wasn’t aware of.

What a strange world this was. Despite resembling a fantasy game, it still freaked me out. Or maybe it was precisely because it resembled a game world so much.

Real gods? HUDs with health displays and leveling? Elves? Dwarves? This completely threw humanity’s understanding of the universe out altogether. Forget extraterrestrial life, this meant we weren’t alone! Extraterrestrial intelligence! Hell, was this even in the same universe?

“Are you well?” Aerion asked, peeking at me from outside the obsidian bones. “You’ve gone stiff.”

“Oh, er, right. Nothing. Just a little spooked,” I replied, secretly thanking him for canceling my impending mental breakdown.

Aerion giggled. “If you’re scared of some old bones, you’re not likely to see the light of day again!”

His mannerisms reminded me of how people talked in old movies. It was more formal than modern speech. More… elegant. It was pretty.

“So I’m guessing you’re headed out, now?” I asked as I slid the cuirass off, broaching the topic that neither of us wanted to discuss—what to do next?

“N-no,” Aerion said. “What’s it to you?”

“Oh, just wondering. Y’know, maybe we’re headed the same direction.” I shrugged, looking over the armor in both hands.

“And if we are?”

“Well, I… I dunno, I just thought…”

“I’m not leaving.”

“Sorry?”

“The Trial World. I came for power. I can’t leave until I have it. Besides…”

“Yeah?” I asked when he trailed off.

“No, it’s nothing,” Aerion replied, looking away.

I shrugged again. If he didn’t want to say, it certainly wasn’t my place to pry.

Finally liberating the disgusting rusted cuirass from the skeleton, I picked up the sword and its worn leather sheath and left the skeletons—both human and obsidian—behind.

I now had two brand new pieces of gear to Initialize. I glanced at the sword, then at Aerion, then back at the sword.

“Do, er, do you want the sword?” I asked. I’d already hogged the crystal for myself. Keeping the sword just didn’t feel right.

Aerion gave me a look of pure disgust. “Are you truly asking me if I want that rusted piece of junk you’re holding?”

“I… right. Nevermind. So, uh… you’re not leaving,” I said, awkwardly trying to change the subject.

Aerion crossed his arms.  “And you are,” he said, though I wasn’t sure if he meant it as a statement or a question.

“I was looking for a way out,” I said before I could catch myself.

“What do you mean you were looking? Did you hit your head?”

I gave him an embarrassed smile. “Something like that.”

Aerion let out a breath. “Look, if you don’t want to come with me, that’s fine. I’ll point you to the nearest exit. Just… I think we’d have better chances if we stick together.”

Sounds from the tunnel interrupted our conversation.

“How about we have this conversation somewhere else?”

“The Sanctuary Chamber,” Aerion said with a nod.

“Right. But first, let me see if I can get us an edge.”

I looked at my hard-won gear. 

Initialize!

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