Ashes of the Fallen

I mean, when your favorite squad member dies in an old-school RPG, you could reset the PlayStation and redo the level. Losing your favorite characters sucked… but you didn't go into a depression for half a week.

This was ridiculous.

And I was taking it out on Katherine, for no reason at all.

Katherine was an NPC too, not a real entity. She wasn't a person that I should be worrying about. Yet, it didn't seem right, to treat her or the other NPCs wrongly.

They were far too real.

Yeah, an apology was necessary.

"Hey Sigurd," messaged Barik out of the blue, right as I was about to catch up to Katherine to apologize. "I saw a stream, a guy fighting with lightnin', that ye mate?"

Keeping the video function off, I kept the communication to voice only but muted it so others couldn't hear us talking. I didn't want Katherine to know.

"Hey man," I replied as I tried to gather myself. "Yeah, that was me on the stream, if it's the one with a guild fight up in the North."

"No shit, it looked like ye," he said without hesitation. "Need some help, hit 'em back? Got a few of the boys ready to go, give the word."

"Nah, don't worry about it," I answered coolly, as my focus had finally returned. "Thanks though, I'll take care of them in short order so, don't worry about it."

"Eh ye sure mate?" he asked succinctly.

"Yeah man, I'm good, appreciate the offer though, maybe when you guys get up and running, we can partake in a little guild war or two."

"Heh you're def' a battler ye' know."

Ending the conversation there, I was glad he messaged me.

Too much time alone thinking to myself, had let my mind go astray.

I was focusing on the negatives far too much.

Jogging up to Katherine, I decided to launch a sneak attack and grabbed her from behind, picking her up off the ground and performing a princess carry.

"Wha-what are you doing!?" she yelled instinctively.

"Carrying you, relax," I answered softly. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, it was selfish of me."

"Put me down, I can walk," she replied while turning away.

"No can do."

She fought, resisted for a little while, but eventually she calmed down and put her arms around my neck while resting her head on my chest. We walked like that for a while, as my inhuman strength and endurance allowed for it.

We talked a little, here and there.

Mostly, I think, she wanted the physical proximity and the comfort of a body.

She was actually depressed.

An Artificial Intelligence, depressed over losing an artificial friend… mind-boggling, but I accepted it for what it was. My reality existed as far as I knew, and they- no, she, was a part of that reality.

That's what bothered me.

Yeah, this was my reality.

And someone fucked with it.

With the sun setting in the distance, we decided to make camp, not wanting to head any further in the dead of night. The last time was dangerous, being caught out and surrounded by deformed rats in the middle of a dense fog.

We weren't going to make that mistake again.

Katherine was glued to me now, completely wrapped around me, but I didn't complain or push her away. My mind was back on track and her presence cheered me up. She would keep me warm at night, and it was a comforting thing.

That's all that mattered now; you only get one life, after all.

As the shadows of the night slowly crept away and disappeared over the horizon, I found myself in a precarious position with Katherine half-naked and on top of me. She had rolled over, somehow, and lost her top in the process.

A young healthy male, in this situation, is what I was.

Magic is what I would like to call the disappearing act of her shirt and leather vest, but maybe it was uncomfortable… who knows. She was a beautiful woman, so it was hard to turn my eyes away… ample curves, really.

More than ample.

Nudging her awake, she immediately blushed and covered up the second she realized what had happened. I could only laugh and smile, as she turned her back towards me and eyed her shirt a few feet away.

Again, how that happened, I didn't know.

All I could say, was I wasn't being all that forthcoming.

A gentleman's lie, was how I termed it.

Well, I now had a Soul Link with Katherine.

Giving her a hug as she tried to get dressed, we rolled playfully about before a hoot from an owl interrupted the atmosphere that we had created. Realizing the fun was over, it was time to set out on our trip. The Rattanorv cave was only an hour or two away by foot, and I had every intention of clearing the place.

I needed the practice, the experience, and whatever rare items might be in there.

They beat me last time with the wave of casters, much like how [FWB] had formed their line of mages as well. If I could beat these rats and their hundred or so [Frost Bolts], I could beat a dozen or so [Fireballs] and [Frost Bolts] from some low-leveled players. This was practical training, in essence.

Yeah, I still had some anger residing, too.

These rats, would have to deal.