World Boss: Break the Narrative

“Let’s just hit pause on the whole world thing for a second,” he said. The storm stopped instantly. Not like the weather cleared. No. Every individual flake of snow stopped midair. The bite of the cold dulled to nothing. It was odd I seemed to be immune to the cold, but now that it faded to a manageable temperature, I felt relief that I hadn’t realized I craved. Comfort is something we take for granted often. For example, you should probably drink some water, right now.

“Please sit down,” Wilson said with a sweeping gesture to the office table and chairs that appeared behind us.

Angelica sat down two chairs from me and Wilson sat down opposite us. He frowned for a minute. Then, he leaned forward. “So, Doug, what kind of story are you trying to craft? I am digging the huge mountain man thing. I like the snow lion pelt armor. I think we can work with stuff like that.”

I don’t know what I expected from these narrators. That said, having one of them ask me questions like my desperate attempts of survival were some sort of motivation a character might have, wasn’t on the list. I wanted to not die. There weren’t subtle undertones to it.

“Leave him alone, Wilson,” Angelica said. “I called you because we had an agreement. I was going to have a solo story, and go after the Demon of Frost.”

“Yep, we agreed to do that. Those were the terms,” Wilson said, not looking away from me.

“Then what the hell is this guy doing here?” she demanded.

“Well Angel,” Wilson started

“Angelica,” she corrected.

“Of course, the short answer is while you are a valued collaborator with our narrative and the audience has been highly engaged with your arcs, there are other players on this world’s stage. Some of them have been strong performers for centuries. So, in deference to that they are allowed to pitch ideas to our organization. In this case despite my objections. It was decided to bring Douglas here into the goblin waste. No, offense, kid. You look like you have a lot of story in you, but I have been working with Angel here for six years now. This lone warrior in the wastes story is going to be our biggest yet, and having some rookie stumble in is upsetting.”

“…I’m sorry,” I said after a long moment.

“Don’t worry about it,” Wilson said magnanimously. “I can’t blame you for existing. Plus, your circumstances make me being your narrator quite the novel challenge for me. Getting to be responsible for the two of you is quite the opportunity. So then let’s talk through this. What sort of plot thread can we weave into this for you?”

“I don’t need a partner,” Angelica said. “I gave up a lot to get your hooks… I gave up a lot to work with you alone.”

“Like I said out of my hand, Angel,” Wilson said dismissively, “I think the obvious thing is a love story. You are two people, in constant danger relying on each other in this wasteland. Perhaps feelings could grow from that. Audiences always eat that shit up.”

“No,” Angelica said. “Never again!”

“Don’t worry Angel, no one is going to remember Hector. That was three years ago. No one is going to care about him anymore.” Wilson didn’t even look at her as he waved the idea away. His gaze was fixed on me.

“I am not sure I’m okay with that idea either. I am not convinced I can pretend to have feelings for someone while fighting monsters. I am not really good at acting in general, or relationships.” I added.

Wilson leaned back in his chair, “Don’t worry, no one is asking for acting chops kid. We can arrange for the chemistry to be completely real. As I said the whole cocktail of life and death situation, and relying on each other that really does make the sparks fly. Plus, a will-they, won’t-they plot can work better. I also like the vague allusions you keep making to your past. Keep teasing people with that, audiences will love it. We haven’t explored that type of story in nearly thirty years.”

“No, Wilson, listen to me, we have a good thing going with this lone wolf stuff,” Angelica cut in. “Let me just ditch this guy at the last outpost. He can’t even navigate through the snow. He is just going to slow me down.”

“I mean parting ways at the next town sounds good to me,” I agreed.

“That would require six days of backtracking, it would bore the audience. I would have to do something to spice that trip up, and then again on your way here. Something like that snow lion pack would need to happen each day and maybe some sort of escalation each week.” Wilson shook his head. “I would hate to see the story end that way.”

“What would you have us do?” I asked.

Wilson gave me that lupine grin again, “Now, that is a very smart question. I would keep traveling together. Head toward the Demon of Frost’s castle and fight with everything you have. You are probably going to have to engage in some grinding. Doug here seems to be running a plot like that, between the stakes and the comedy potential he has turned that into, it is hard to ignore or change.”

The carrot and stick summary he laid out was pretty obvious. It was kind of impressive that he was able to make it sound like he was the good guy in all of this. It almost made me look past the whole telling me where I could go, and basically saying that Angelica and I were his dolls to make kiss. The prompt I got when I considered taking a swing put me off my guard.

There is no audience watching Doug. Attack me and I will beat you down and make the next few arcs very upsetting for you. So, sit down, play nice, and get with the program.

Play nice? Yes/no

I selected yes. Nadia’s warning was beginning to make more sense. It sounded like these guys had at the very least limited control over monster spawning. I suspect they had pretty strong control if not complete control over any nonplayer characters. It also sounded like there was some sort of group of people they were trying to appease.

“Who is the audience?” I asked.

Wilson’s smile faded. “Let's not focus on them too much. The short answer is they are the multitudes of people watching this beautiful story playing out. It is their approval Narrators like me try to court by working with you players. They don’t particularly like it when players talk about them or Narrators so it would be best to not talk about us directly outside of these tete-a-tetes of ours.”

“What should I focus on?” I asked.

“What you can add to the plot of this great world.” Wilson said. “Someone like you is going to have a serious impact, so do me and most narrators a favor, and only kill characters when it is climatic. Also, try not to form too large of a group. It is hell keeping track of all the personalities. Not everyone is a showrunner you know. But for the short term, I can be really lenient. Tell me what goal you were given and I will give you a strong foundation.”

“Do not do that!” Angelica shouted. “If you give him that information he will have his hooks in you forever.”

“Quiet Angel,” Wilson said with a cutting edge to his voice.

Angelica tried to say something else but no sound came out.

Wilson turned his attention back to me, “Are you the white knight type Doug? Would hearing that I have something on little Angelica over there make you more likely to do something to save her? Because I am in my heart a businessman. If you tell me your purpose, I promise nothing but kid gloves for the sweet angel for as long as you live, which if you stick to the story will be a very long time. “

I looked to Angelica. She stared into my eyes for a moment then shook her head.

“It looks like she doesn’t want me acting on her behalf,” I said. “So sorry, but my goal is my little secret for now.”

The cold grin stretched his face. “You two are already bonding. I can work with this. You two stick together and I promise you something special. You will thank me in the end. Either way, I think it is time you two kids hit the road. I bet you have a lot to talk about.” He waggled his eyebrows. I blinked and he was gone.

The storm was slower now, and I could see a path leading further into the snow drifts.

Angelica looked at me for a moment, then shrugged, “I guess we are stuck together for the time being then.” There was a despondence in her voice. She sighed, “let’s get going.”

I am not the smartest person in this or any other world for that matter, but I knew now was not the time to press Angelica for information. I have learned that it is best to give people their space. Especially when those people can crit through most of your health bar in a single hit. Their delicate feelings got special deference.

We walked for another two and a half hours with only minimal snow lion encounters. Hell, we didn’t even encounter a snow lion alpha. Maybe this whole following-the-narrative thing had its perks. I doubted that immensely, but it was something to consider.