Pieces of Sonder

Freya began to type in her destination into the fast-travel system. Halfway through, she noticed a suggested location appeared.

[Corrin Town Square]

[City: Corrin]

[Country: Sybil]

[Continent: Vansyl]

She clicked on the suggestion, and another prompt came up.

[Would you like to fast-travel?]

[Daily fast-travel limit: 0/2]

[Yes] [No]

Taking a deep breath, she selected [Yes].

After a moment of complete darkness, she flinched as something hit her skin. A loud pounding sound filled the air. It took her a few seconds to realize the sensation and noise was from a heavy downpour of rain.

Running to take cover, she splashed through several puddles until she reached a large awning. Despite only being in the rain for less than a minute, she could already feel the water seeping through her clothes. A cold gust of wind made her shiver and cower away from the edge of the shelter. 

Damn, already starting on the wrong foot, Freya thought as she watched the heavy rainfall on the cold, empty square. 

Glancing up at the corner of her vision gave her a small sense of comfort. At least her new identity was still holding.

[Frey Evenkey]

[Lvl 16 Shaman Apprentice]

[390/390 HP] [135/135 MP]

Despite leveling up her Misidentify to level 3, she still couldn’t change the perception of her overall level. Still, she felt more confident about maintaining her new image. Along with the boost she got from Yina’s outfit, it would take someone with at least seven points in perception to see through her persona. Hopefully, no demoniclast would bother to put that many points into perception. 

Freya glanced around the square one more time, then opened up her map. She had never been to Corrin before, but she heard lots of stories about it. Corrin was called the City of Iron. This was partly due to the abundance of sword-carrying demoniclasts, as well as the rich metalwork of the city. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see anything but the rainy square at the moment. 

Scrolling around the map, she saw the large Lake Kel to the west. Based on rumors, the demoniclast apprentice trials were held close to the lake. If she wanted to register for a spot, that seemed like a good place to start.

The lake’s not far from here, but when’s this rain going to stop?

She hesitated to leave the awning. Even if she pulled out her water-protective shaman cloak, she doubted she’d stay dry for long. She was no stranger to downpours, but she’d never seen one that lasted this long. The steady deluge had gone on for at least ten minutes and showed no signs of stopping.

Hugging close to the wall, she explored the length of the awning. Turning a corner, she was surprised to find the covering stretched for another street. She passed a few shops and even some people hurrying from one building to another. 

Then, one of the shop windows caught her attention. Behind a thick pane of enchanted glass, several swords laid displayed on ornate wooden racks. 

[Standard Demoniclast Sword]

[Item Class: Uncommon]

[A carefully crafted weapon made to slaughter demons. Forged by a demoniclast blacksmith]

[+0.5 Dex, +0.5 Strength]

Many of these textboxes popped up as Freya looked between the different swords. Although the textboxes didn’t mention it, all the blades were a bit different. Their scabbards had various patterns and colors, and some swords were shorter than others. 

At the center of the display case, a sword with a pure black scabbard made Freya’s eyes bulge.

[Black Heart Demoniclast Sword]

[Item Class: Epic]

[Forged from the core of an iron dragon by a master demoniclast blacksmith, this weapon imbues the proper wielder with more than power]

[+3 Dex, +1 Strength, +1 Vitality]

“Wow,” Freya said out loud. Apparently, Yina wasn’t the only NPC that could create extrordinary things that had in-game bonuses.

“Impressive isn’t.”

Freya jumped. 

A man taller than her stood just behind her, looking at the same weapon. Despite the cold, rainy weather, he was dressed thinly, showing off his thin, muscular appearance. 

“Yes, it looks amazing,” she responded. Even without the textboxes, the sword did look cool. 

“Are you hoping to wield one, one day?” the man asked.

“Yes,” Freya said as earnestly as she could. Right now, she was a hopeful young boy, trying to make his dreams come true. “I’m hoping to pass the demoniclast trials.”

“Well, the best of luck to you then. I’ll keep an eye out for you. I think I see some promise in you.”

Startled, Freya turned to look at him closer. She stepped back from him in surprise but quickly tried to only stare at the sword at his waist.

“Are you a demoniclast?” she asked, faking naivety.

The man patted his sword and smiled. It was of a similar design to the standard demoniclast swords in the shop window. 

The sword is cool, Freya thought frantically to herself. I’m ecstatic to meet a real demoniclast. I’m surprised but not frightened. 

Her pounding heart told otherwise. But she managed a wide-eyed, wondrous look of admiration. The man continued to smile. He reached forward to ruffle her hair.

“I’ll see you soon then, bye.”

He quickly vanished into the city streets. Freya finally noticed it had stopped raining. She quickly glanced at her ID screen.

[Frey Evenkey]

[Lvl 16 Shaman Apprentice]

[390/390 HP] [135/135 MP]

Good, it didn’t break.

She let out a shaky breath. It didn’t surprise her that she had already run into a demoniclast; Corrin was their home base after all. But she didn’t expect to find one with a green-colored textbox so easily. She had only seen it for a second, but the memory of the game player’s textbox haunted her memory.

[Daveth Cest]

[Lvl 18 Samurai]