Ashes of the Fallen

I knew the day would come, it was bound to.

So it was hard to really stay mad at the girl. She was doing her job, introducing areas and going over the details of how territories in The Dragon's Wrath were developing. The game designers needed feedback, especially on why some areas were seen as incredibly lackluster. I understood that, I truly did.

It would have been nice if she didn't single me out with that photo, putting a target on my back. After that meeting, I had lost all interest in returning to future meetings. I never really liked going in the first place, but felt some responsibility to attend as an Alpha tester. Plus, information was always important.

Well, their query was a pointless one in my mind. They wanted to gauge popularity and categorize it. Popularity was a strange thing to explain though, often times the most popular thing was far from the best in its category… there was something at work, something that couldn't always be explained.

The masses could clamor for change, for improvement, for something to evolve from the stale state it is currently in, but then when cookie-cutter copies come out, they flock to it and buy it up en masse. Their preconceived notions taking over, they ignore the faults and love it for what it embodies, for its similarity to the stuff that came before it. All of the complaints that had been made would be forgotten for the time being. Well, only until the doldrums finally become apparent once again. Then complaints anew about the repetition and the poor state of the industry would arise once more.

It was a cyclical nature, and one that couldn't really be explained.

What made something popular was often random, and once it was engrained in current thought, breaking the mold could prove difficult if not disastrous.

The developers wanted to figure out how to sway public opinion, to advertise the remaining open territories in the game, to popularize areas that weren't favorites.

I thought it was all a waste of time.

Those who appreciate it, will find it.

It may take some time, but given the right circumstances, it will happen.

Attempting to figure it all out was truly pointless.

Oh well, there wasn't much I could do about it here and now. I had my territory, that small village… all alone up there that everyone now knew of. They might not have known the owner was the lone guy sitting at the bar, eating some potato stew and drinking a dark beer, but they knew my village.

What bothered me, was that these random people had heard, no, read about this information on a blog. Releasing information within the meeting was one thing, but there were rules on confidentiality and not reporting it to the general public. Leaks always happened though. Some individual sharing everything for the good of the people, breaking rules and regulations so as to get popular while pretending to be Robin Hood.

Truth was, he or she wouldn't get punished for it. The offense wasn't that bad, at least not to the company.

Having nearly finished my meal, I started to think about my plans going forward. I had my cattle in tow, a couple of kittens too, and my dungeon questing was nearly complete. The only thing left, was to return home… to see Selene and Katherine again.

As I was thinking of the girls, a woman entered the tavern wearing a heavy robe that covered her from head to toe. All I could see were the black leather boots and the tips of her dark brown hair poking out from the hood covering her face.

Normally, I wouldn't bother looking.

Well, I might glance… once or twice.

Something was off though, with her walk.

And that's when I noticed that she had a cane, though she didn't seem to be relying on it much. A cane was a bit peculiar, but if she was a caster it was a suitable weapon if not a bit rare and out of place at the moment. Most casters didn't bother with weapons as it slowed them down, especially since enchanted weaponry wasn't really available yet. Yeah, she was odd… odd enough to catch my eye.

Continuing to eat what little was left on my plate, I could see out of my peripheral vision that she was looking for a place to sit. She ended up settling on the bar a few stools away, at the end far from the rest of us. A few minutes had passed, as I played with my food and wondered if there was anything interesting to do while waiting for Barik and the others. The girl ordered some food, but I stopped paying attention after that.

She was interesting for a minute.

After a few seconds though, it was creepy on my part.

That was, until I heard some laughter coming from her direction. The table behind her got me to turn my head, only to witness what was possibly the oddest thing I had ever seen when it came to someone eating at a bar. The girl was touching her food, hovering her hand over the plate and gently feeling each ingredient with the tip of her index finger, as if she had no clue as to what she was looking at.

She was interesting again.