Anomaly
Now that his armor was gone, Siegmund's true appearance was revealed.
He looked like a tall old man who must have been nearly seventy, with olive-colored skin and an extremely long, gray beard which was rolled up and tied into a bundle on his chin. Despite his age, Siegmund's muscles were very defined, and he wielded the huge claymore with ease.
"I hope you know what you're doing, friend," said the Onion Knight doubtfully. Now that his voice wasn't booming from inside his helmet, it sounded much thinner and older.
"I do," said Ignatius. "Trust me."
Then they returned to the main road, where all the conversations were repeating as the NPCs tried to give Ignatius hints as to where he should go.
"...the festival… delayed…"
"...the Grand Master… important news… strange sights in the heavens…"
Ignatius sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm going. Now that I'm done wasting time following a random NPC."
But there was one more explanation for the strange presence of the figure who did 'not' belong to this tutorial mission.
It was possible that Ignatius had just experienced one of Path of the Immortal's very first Anomalies.
And if that were true, if he'd experienced one here before they'd started appearing in his first life…
…No. Ignatius didn't want to think about it.
The idea that the anomalous fragments of rogue AI might be in some way connected to his returning to the past was too disturbing to think about.
It was disturbing no matter whether his time travel had 'caused' the Anomalies in the first place…
…Or whether they simply knew who and 'what' he was in this new life, a ghost in the game's code, a body-less mind which did not belong.
Well, Ignatius would keep an eye out for more events that might be Anomalies as he spent his first hours in Path of the Immortal. But for the moment, he chose to believe that the figure who had fled from him was just a random NPC who was giving the illusion of a side quest, an NPC who would soon be patched out of the game.
At last, Ignatius came to the end of the main road of the City of Stomrus. It led to a huge open market with colorful cloths flapping in the dry wind to mark the different kinds of vendors. However, all the merchant NPCs were, rather than serving their usual purpose, instead standing beside their stalls and carts, staring in awe at the pyramid of solid gold bricks which had been erected in the center of the marketplace.
At the top of this three-meter-high pyramid, a throne, also of solid gold, held an obscenely fat man wrapped in robes of impossible colors.
They were "literally" impossible colors, ones which couldn't be seen by human eyes in the real world.
The NeuroVR tech which the game ran on simulated colors so vibrant and patterns so complex that they made some new players weep. They made players realize that there was a depth to this new game world which went beyond what was possible in the real world, filling them with a sense of almost religious awe.
Ignatius, of course, had seen "super-real" colors millions of times before in his first life. Even still, the sight of the Grand Master of Stomrus sitting on his throne of gold, wrapped in impossible colors, always made him smile with appreciation.
Compared to this inhuman cloth, the gold and silver armor worn by the Grand Master's dozen halberd-wielding bodyguards seemed like worthless scrap metal.
Ignatius's approach triggered a quest flag which made it seem as though he'd arrived at just the right moment to hear the beginning of the Grand Master's speech.
The Grand Master had Immortal blood in him, and this was apparent by the glowing eyes which he used to send a loving gaze over all his gathered subjects. He made a dramatic gesture with ham-like hands, and a swirl of rainbow energy manifested around his fingers.
"Greetings, loyal subjects!" his voice boomed. "As you all know, I, the Grand Master of the City of Stomrus, am not the rightful emperor… alas, he died long ago, and a true Immortal has not appeared in our midst who might prove himself worthy to rule the nation.
"However, perhaps there is hope! For all of us saw the strange phenomena in the heavens recently, which came from the mountains… My astrologers say that this foretells the rising of a true Immortal in our midst!"
Ignatius rolled his eyes at this speech. The scripted NPC dialogue for the Monk storyline was pretty cheesy. But at least it wasn't as bad as the edginess of the Necromancer storyline…
A notification popped up, notifying Ignatius of the next step in his quest.
GAME: Announce Brightlord Temporix's return to the Grand Master.
Ignatius stepped forward. "Hey, Grand Master. The stuff in the sky was Brightlord Temporix. He escaped. Yaaay."
He said all this in a flat tone of voice. Ignatius always found it funny how story mission NPCs would react dramatically even when players delivered their quest lines in tones of voice which didn't at all match the scenario.
As predicted, the NPCs in the crowd around Ignatius gasped in shock and horror.
"What? Temporix, who betrayed all the other Brightlords and tried to eat the soul of every Immortal? I thought that was only a children's tale!"
"You fool! Haven't you paid attention in church!? Brightlord Temporix is just as real as you and me! And if this pious Monk says he escaped, then he escaped!"
"Oh, gods, who can save us now!?"
While the NPCs were saying all these overly dramatic voice lines, the Grand Master's face went pale. "What!? Explain yourself, Monk! Explain this bold claim you bring to my court! It's nothing but madness!"
Just then, six NPCs threw off their civilian disguises and revealed themselves to be wearing pure white leather armor. White ceramic masks in the styles of different animals magically appeared to cover their faces.
"The Heavenly Executioners!" the Grand Master squeaked. "No, this cannot be! Protect me, somebody, anybody!"
Ignatius sighed and opened his character menu. This would be a bit tricky.
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EldritchBlade
EldritchBlade Thank you, friends, for getting this story to 10K views! It's not a ton by this site's standards, but it feels incredible to me :-}
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