Act II: Concerning A Knight and His Place in a New World

Chapter Seven: The Medium

It was a beautiful land that my house had been transported to. I could see occasional, tiny patches of a ruby sky through the veil of violet clouds. The sun was obscured—if it was indeed a sun that was the source of this daylight—but the clouds were not thick enough to plunge the area into complete shadow. Rivers flowed through the land, winding off into the distance, as far as the eye could see.

A constant rain fell all throughout the land, as well. It was not a heavy rain; more like a light summer shower. The raindrops were warm to the touch, as well; it felt almost pleasant to stand in the drizzle. When I caught some of the raindrops in my hands, I saw that even the rainwater was tinted a slight violet color, just like the clouds that they fell from.

Hanging in the air above my house was a red object… It was an epicycloid, exactly like one of those patterns that had shown up during the installation sequence of the Sburb beta client, or the symbol emblazoned on top of the cruxtruder. Only this object seemed to glow and hum with its own energy. And further up in the sky, above the glowing red epicycloid…was another glowing red pattern of curves and arcs, exactly like the first. And I could see a third one even higher up in the sky. They did not seem to be doing anything, really…other than just hanging in the air and looking like the trippiest thing I'd seen in the past sixty seconds.

The land was a mixture of forests, hills, and meadows. In the distance, I could see the faint shapes of a mountain range. There were also a couple structures that dotted the landscape, tall brick towers. Clock towers, I think they were.

Oh, right, I forgot to mention one key detail about the rivers. See, they were exactly like any normal rivers…except for the small fact that they flowed through the sky, not the ground. Some of them came close to brushing the treetops, others climbed hundreds of feet into the air—some even extended past the clouds.

There were also earthen, clay-like paths that wound through the forests and hills. At first glance, I thought that those paths were roads, but when I looked really closely I could see that they were not. They were almost like canals, dried-up waterways hewn from the earth. From the looks of them, water had not flowed through them in quite some time.

I turned around to speak with Sis, but found myself looking at an empty balcony. She was gone. I called out for her, but there was no response. I was alone.

I considered heading downstairs and going outside, but quickly perished the thought when I looked back down at the ground. My house had been transported to this strange world, along with most of the yard…but the game seemed to have deposited me on top of a mesa of some sort. A sheer, tall butte—almost like Devil's Tower, only much taller—was what my house was resting on top of.

There was no way in hell I was going to be able to climb down that shit, not without proper climbing equipment.

And so, it was back inside for me.

I headed back into the hallway, only to be greeted by a bright surge of scarlet light. Something screeched, and I felt a sharp object peck at my head, just over my ear. I swore, ducking to the ground, touching a finger to my head, just above my left ear. It came away bloody.

I looked back up and managed to get a quick glimpse of the glowing red entity. I quickly realized that it was the kernelsprite, but it had changed…drastically changed. The humming red energy was no longer flashing like a strobe light. The color remained, but the glow was much softer. As for the actual sprite… It was an eagle ghost, for lack of a better description. The sprite's head and upper body was that of an eagle. It was bristling with red feathers, and two great wings sprouted from its back, though it did not seem to need the wings in order to fly—the sprite was able to float in the air of its own volition.

Somewhere around where the eagle's midsection would be, its feathers grew smaller and smaller until they simply melted into the crimson energy that the sprite's body was composed of. Instead of having feet or tail feathers, however, the sprite's body simply tapered down into a wisp of energy that always left a faint trail in its wake, which is why I called it an eagle ghost.

"Someone feed me shrooms in the hospital?" I was muttering to myself, hurrying downstairs so as to avoid another divebombing. I found my iphone, lying right where I'd dropped it. I picked it up, pressed the power button, turned it back on. I arched an eyebrow in surprise when I saw five bars in the upper corner—I had a signal, here, somehow.

I headed back upstairs, sprinting past the eaglesprite and into my room, slamming the door shut behind me so the sprite could not follow. I allowed myself a moment to breathe. Finding myself in an unknown place, combined with being attacked by a glowing red eagle ghost…I just needed a few moments of peace before deciding what to do next.

As I sat down in front of my computer I noticed that my Roman eagle replica was gone, but I could not find it when I searched the floor. I shook my head once—I'd really liked that eagle statuette, and I probably should have found a new place for it when it kept falling off the shelf, but everything was happening so fast…

I opened up PalHassle and checked to see if Cass was online, which she was.

Time for some goddamn answers.

-anomalousThespian began hassling certifiedGoddess-

AT: cass?
AT: dear god, please respond to this.
CG: I'm here, I'm here!
CG: You made it in safely, I'm assuming?
AT: safely?
AT: i was two seconds away from getting blown to sunshine by a fucking meteor.
AT: you call that safely?
CG: Well you're still alive, aren't you? You still have all your limbs, don't you?
CG: Considering what's happening to Earth, right now, I would call that safely.
AT: okay, point taken.
AT: enough about that; i need some goddamn answers.
AT: how about we start with…oh, i don't know…
AT: where the flying fuck am I?
AT: i went all jewish on my artifact, and suddenly i'm in a trippy place with floating rivers.
AT: what the fuck.
CG: You're in the Medium. Our Sburb session generated a sort of pocket outside of space/time.
CG: Once you break your artifact, you and your house are transported to the Medium.
CG: Within the Medium are a number of planets, and each individual player gets their own planet.
CG: That is where you are, right now. On your planet.
CG: Sorry, I'm learning all this from my sprite, and he's kind of…difficult to speak with.
CG: Being a dragon and all…
CG: Why don't you talk to your sprite?
AT: what, that glowy orb thing?
AT: yeah, about that. it kinda just…randomly turned into an eagle ghost, and it's kinda freaking me out.
CG: A what? What did you prototype the kernelsprite with?
AT: what did i what the what with?
CG: 'What' ain't no language I ever heard of!
AT: ?
CG: Haha, sorry, I crack myself up.
CG: Alright, how can I explain this…
CG: You've read part of the walkthrough, so you already know what the kernelsprite is.
CG: The thing about the kernelsprite is that you can prototype it!
CG: And by that, I mean you can take an object;
CG: preferably something living, previously living, or a representation of a sentient creature
CG: and you can drop it into the kernel. What will happen is that object will merge with the kernel, becoming a kernelsprite.
CG: After entry to the session, the 'kernel' portion of the kernelsprite will divide in half and vanish
CG: leaving only the prototyped sprite portion.
CG: So you must have prototyped your kernel with some sort of bird. How'd you manage that?
AT: ehm… i think it was my roman eagle statue.
AT: it was always falling from its shelf every time there was a big tremor from the meteors.
AT: it must have fallen right into the kernel while i was outside fucking with the alchemiter…
AT: and these things are supposed to be helpful?
AT: all it's done so far is screech and divebomb me. the fucking thing even drew blood.
CG: Well… I mean, I prototyped my kernel with my Hungarian Horntail sculpture, but a dragon is a bit different than an eagle.
CG: A dragon is sentient, mythical. There is a personality associated with it.
CG: Eagles are birds. Birds are…well, they're birds. You won't get much help from a bird.
AT: okay, i'll just file this info into a folder marked 'shit i wouldn't have minded knowing half an hour ago'.
CG: Don't worry! The nice thing about sprites is that you can prototype them again!
CG: You can take another object and merge it with the eaglesprite, and it'll become…a something-else sprite.
CG: And the next object you choose should be, like I said, something living or previously alive.
CG: Or even a representation of something with a personality. Just try and make sure it's something sentient.
CG: Theo prototyped his Subject Delta figurine. You know, the big diving suit guy from Bioshock 2?
CG: Apparently Deltasprite has been one of the most helpful sprites so far. Go figure.
CG: But yeah, if you prototype something like that, your sprite should be able to communicate with you.
AT: great, so it'll be able to talk to me while it pecks me to death.
AT: what the hell am i even supposed to do here?
AT: i'm stuck on the top of a mountain, here, with no way down.
CG: You need to climb to your first gate. You saw the glowing portals in the sky over your house?
AT: yeah, i did.
CG: There are seven of them. The seven gates. Your server player has to use the Revise tool to build your house up to the first gate, which will transport you down to your world.
AT: well, he's a little occupado at the moment. meteor screaming toward his house, and all.
CG: You need to start getting build grist, anyway. Anything you do with the Revise tool costs build grist.
CG: Even if Cruz tried to build up your house right now, he'd just run out of grist.
AT: okay… where do i get grist, then?
CG: Underlings drop it when you kill them.
AT: underlings?
AT: shit, hold on a sec.
AT: i think i hear someone downstairs.
AT: my sis must be back.
AT: brb
CG: No, wait!

-anomalousThespian is no longer hassling certifiedGoddess-

I pushed away from the computer and headed over to my door. I opened it slowly, peering cautiously out into the hallway, waiting for the red eagle ghost to come screaming at me. The sprite was gone, however, so I moved down the hall to the stairs with little threat of attack.

I could still hear someone moving around downstairs, in the kitchen. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I peered through the kitchen doorway, but the lights were out and I couldn't see. I reached around the doorframe and flicked on the lights…and nearly shouted in surprise.

Perched on the kitchen counter, tearing into the bread cupboard, was a smaller creature—about as tall as my shoulders—with glistening sharp teeth, claws, and white eyes. Its flesh was shiny and black…almost like the carapace of the Prospitians, only ebony in color. It gave a sharp growl, whipping around to face me as I turned on the lights. We stared at each other for half a second before the imp-like creature gave a sudden screeching howl and pounced at me.

"Fuckshit," I swore, backpedaling to avoid the imp. The creature's claws missed me by inches, swiping through empty air.

Years of strifing with my Sis came back to me, then, and I closed my eyes, mentally accessing my strife specibus. As I clenched my right hand into a fist, my fingers curled around the familiar handle of my Bowie knife. I sidestepped the imp's next lunge, slashing the creature across the back. The imp screeched again, stumbling past me.

This time, I lunged forward, holding my knife out in front of me and bringing it slashing across the imp's throat in a single, lightning-fast stroke. The creature pitched forward onto the floor without a single word. Its body shimmered and vanished—all that was left were a few blue objects that kind of looked like giant gushers. This must have been the build grist Cass had mentioned.

I bent down to pick them up, but they vanished the moment I touched them.

"Okay… Okay, just keep breathing…" I murmured softly to myself, slowly heading back upstairs to my room. I closed the door and sat down in my rolley-chair, staring at the door for the longest time. I had no idea what the fuck had just happened, but…well, okay, no. I did have an idea of what had just happened. And that was the problem.

I turned back to my computer, remembering that I had cut short my latest conversation with Cass.

-anomalousThespian began hassling certifiedGoddess-

AT: …
CG: It was an underling, wasn't it?
CG: Are you alright?
AT: i'm fine…
AT: um
AT: okay, so…
CG: Your planet is filled with underlings. They exist to oppose you in your quest. There are many kinds of them, as well.
CG: Some of them fly, some breathe fire, some are giants.
CG: Killing bigger underlings yields a higher reward of grist.
AT: i didn't get any from that small little shit i just killed, though.
AT: i touched it and it just disappeared.
CG: It went into your grist cache.
CG: All grist you pick up goes to your grist cache, where Cruz can use it to build up your house.
CG: Kill enough imps, ogres, and what have you, and you'll be able to pass through your first gate.
CG: Then the real adventure begins.
AT: i think i can hear more of them outside…
AT: i think i'm gonna have to break out my throwing knives…
CG: The bladekind specibus encompasses more than just knives, you know.
CG: You'll probably be better off with a sword—you aren't going to last very long on just a knife.
AT: i like knives. lighter and faster than full swords. and this isn't just any knife; it's a bowie. besides, i don't feel like ha
AT: FUCK

I actually let out a yelp of surprise when I turned around to see what had caused the loud THUMP. Something had dropped onto the ground, that much was obvious, but when I actually saw what it was…

I was looking at a corpse. Someone or something had opened my window and dumped a corpse into my bedroom. It was wearing what looked like extremely fancy golden-yellow pajamas, with the symbol of a golden crescent moon on the chest. The corpse's top was stained a sanguine red with blood, as well as the neck and shoulders. Its throat had been slit. But the reason for my scream was when I saw its face.

Short, wavy black hair, straight nose…eyes with red irises.

I was looking at myself.

My stomach twisted itself into a knot, and I stumbled out of my bedroom and into the bathroom…only to come face-to-face with two more of the imp creatures. This was bad; I had a stomach full of bile on the way, and two bloodthirsty creatures in the same room as the toilet. I'd just have to take care of them quickly.

I sprinted forward, tackling the first imp by launching myself into its midsection football-style. I quickly thrust my knife into its torso three consecutive times, causing it to burst apart into a pile of blue build grist, which I 'absorbed' into my grist cache.

The second imp actually managed to score a hit, swiping me across the back with its claws. I sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, but did not give any other reaction to the pain. I've been getting sliced and diced by my Sis for years—a little scratch from an imp wasn't very much in comparison. Still…there was something about the sudden pain that triggered a strange feeling within me…

I spun around and raised my hand, thrusting forward. The imp went flying across the room and slammed into the wall hard enough to leave a sizeable dent. The impact alone was enough to reduce it to a pile of grist. That was when I looked down and realized that after I had raised my hand, I had not moved a muscle. The imp flew into the wall with enough force to kill it, but I hadn't even actually touched it.

Before I could wonder how the hell I'd managed to do that, my stomach started its little rebellion. I ripped open the toilet and sank to my knees, heaving my guts out into the toilet bowl. I hadn't eaten much, lately, so there was not a lot of puke. Mostly bile, and such, and lots of dry heaving.

Once I'd thrown up just about everything except my pancreas, I straightened up and pulled myself over to the sink, taking a mouthful of water and swishing it around, cleaning out my mouth. I then brushed my teeth, subconsciously wondering to myself how my house still had plumbing and electricity, but certainly not complaining about it.

Unpleasant as throwing up may be, I usually always felt right as rain afterwards. However, the grisly sight of my murdered…I don't even know what…kept on coming back to me. I took several deep breaths, sinking down to the floor, resting my back against the closed bathroom door. Without looking down, I fumbled through my pockets for my iphone.

I logged into PalHassle, bringing up my unfinished conversation with Cass.

CG: What?
CG: Hello?
CG: What happened?
CG: Are you alright?
AT: alright, i'm back…
AT: um…
CG: What the hell was that?
AT: there's a dead body in my room.
AT: there is a dead
AT: fucking
AT: body
AT: in my room.
CG: ?
AT: there is a dead body lying on my floor.
AT: and i'm the corpse.
AT: it's me.
AT: i'm kinda freaking the fuck out right now.
CG: I'm still kind of lost, here.
AT: just…
AT: okay hold on, i'll send you a pic from my phone…
AT: …okay, i sent you a pix message…
AT: i'm sorry, i just…
AT: i really don't like looking at it.
CG: I just saw the pic…
CG: Um…
CG: Someone's killed your dream self.
AT: really? what gave it away?
AT: for me, it was the sliced-open throat that gave it the fuck away.
CG: I'm sorry.
CG: I don't exactly see dead bodies every day. Seeing a dead version of you is kind of unnerving, okay?
AT: you're preaching to the choir…
CG: Alright, uh…
CG: Look, I have to go for a little while.
CG: Need to start gathering some grist of my own so you can build up my house.
CG: So make sure you prototype your sprite again.
CG: I'll text you when I have enough grist for you to build me up to my first gate.
AT: okay…
AT: okay, i'll just drag my own corpse downstairs, then…
AT: don't mind me.
CG: I'll talk to you later!
AT: yeah.

-certifiedGoddess is no longer hassling anomalousThespian-

I slipped my iphone into my pocket, taking a moment to rub my forehead. My bedroom was starting to smell like blood, now. This was unacceptable—I would have to get my dream self's corpse outside. If I had the chance, I'd probably grab a shovel from the garage and bury it.

"Oh, fuck…" I started swearing quietly to myself as I stepped over to the dead body. Trying to avoid looking at the corpse, I grasped it under the arms, lifting its upper body up and dragging it out of my room. I backed out into the hallway, making my way towards the stairs. It probably would have been easier to throw the body over my shoulder…but, I mean… I just couldn't handle it.

First my school gets blown up by a meteor, then my hometown and possibly the rest of the fucking world gets destroyed, then I barely escape getting atomized, only to have to share a room with my own dead body. Okay, not my dead body, it was my dream self…but my dream self and I are, for all intents and purposes, the same person.

Hell, now I'm rambling. Too much shit. There's just been too much shit…and I can't deal with it. I haven't had the chance to really think about everything that's been happening. I've just been swinging like fucking Tarzan from one problem to the next, one vine to the next, with no time in between. This was for the best, I suppose…

I shook my head once, dragging my mind back to the present. I reached the stairs and took one step down…right into a waiting imp. I let out a startled yell as I felt claws tear into my back. There was a sharp screech from somewhere downstairs. My sprite had no doubt heard all the ruckus, and wanted to see what was happening. That was all I needed…

I retrieved my Bowie knife from my strife specibus and tried to take the imp down right there, but I was in an incredibly awkward position—striking downwards, behind myself, while holding up a dead body. To make matters worse, the imp managed to dodge my strike and lunge forward, sinking its sharp teeth into one of my legs.

That did it. My legs folded up and I pitched backward, landing on the lower steps with my shoulder, tumbling head-over-heels along with the imp down towards the bottom of the stairs. I hit the bottom first, slamming into the wall on the other side of the landing. The imp leaped into the air after me, teeth dripping with saliva, claws outstretched. I was already retrieving my Bowie knife from its strife specibus, holding it ready.

I held out my free hand and, timing everything very carefully, managed to grab the imp by the throat as it landed on top of me, plunging the blade once into the creature's chest, and then through its neck. The creature dissolved into a shower of build grist, which was instantly transported into my grist cache.

What happened next seemed to occur in slow motion. I'd dropped the corpse of my dream self at the top of the stairs when the imp had bitten me, and it had been resting precariously at the edge of the top step. When I slammed into the wall, it was enough to send the dead body tumbling down the stairs after me. I dropped my knife and raised my arms to protect my face...but the impact never came.

With one last screech, the eagle-prototyped sprite reached the stairs, swooping right in front of me just as my dream self's corpse hit the bottom. The corpse and the sprite collided, and there was a sudden flash of blindingly bright reddish-white light. I screwed my eyes shut, pressing my hands to my face. If I'd known how bright the flash of light would have been, I'd have looked away.

When the light subsided, I opened my eyes slowly, picking myself up off the floor. My dead dream self had vanished, but the sprite…

The Sprite opened his eyes as well, a look of utter and absolute horror twisting his face as he looked down at himself. "No…" the Sprite muttered.

I stared at the Sprite with a mixture of fascination and discomfort. From the chest-up…the Sprite was me, despite being composed of glowing red energy. It had my face, my neck, shoulders, arms…but then it all morphed into the feathered body of an eagle, and then into the bottom wisp of the Sprite, composed entirely of energy. I could see glowing red wings bristling from the Sprite's back.

"Uh…" I didn't really know what to say to my sprite-ified dream self. But even before I got the chance to think of anything, the Sprite screamed at me.

"Shut up!" the Sprite shouted. "Don't you dare tell me those memories aren't mine! I'm a real person, you hear me? I'm a real fucking person! I have a name!"

"Dude…you're me," I said to the Sprite. "You're just my dream self-"

The only warning I had was a twitch in the Sprite's right hand before the softly-glowing, red, eagle-fied, undead Dream Me lunged. In its grasp was a large bowie knife—an identical clone of the knife I owned, only it, too, was composed of the same energy that formed the Sprite's body.

Just because it was composed of energy, however, did not make it any less solid—I raised my own knife in defense and was surprised when the red, light-like blade clashed with my own, knocking my knife aside. I gasped as the Sprite's knife sliced across my cheek.

The Sprite struck at me several more times, and I found myself fighting quite desperately to block its attacks. The attacks were fueled by such a fiery rage…despite the fact that the Sprite seemed to be trying to kill me, it was very disconcerting to see that rage coming…well, from me. I don't think I've ever felt that angry in all my life.

Finally, the Sprite let out another yell and flew past me, across the front hall, through the living room, and crashing out through the living room's bay windows. I picked myself back up off the floor and staggered into the living room. I looked out through the shattered window, watching the Sprite soar up and away, vanishing into the violet clouds.

I moved over to the sofa and sat down, resting my head all the way back and taking several deep breaths. I could chalk this up as just another thing that's blown up in my face. Eagle sculpture falls into sprite, I have an unhelpful guide. A version of me falls into the sprite, you'd think I'd get the most helpful guide in the universe?

Of course not.

I did not get the chance to rest. After about half a minute, I heard another window shatter, followed by the skittering of a handful of imps. Then there was a much louder crash…and much louder, heavier footsteps. Something was growling, and it definitely wasn't an imp.

I sprang up from the couch and sprinted back upstairs, returning to my bedroom. There was something bigger coming my way, and I was beginning to think Cass had been right, earlier. I was not going to switch to a sword…but if I'd have to make some improvements if I wanted to continue using my knife.

It was time to pay a visit to the alchemiter.