Honestly I’m more annoyed by the fact that they destroyed one of my cushions than the fact that they tried to kill me. Sure, that also annoys me, but now I have to sleep on a single cushion, which is slightly too small to lie my entirety on.
I have slept so much better ever since I got this body, barring a few interruptions, so I’m not so eager to sleep without anything soft. Hence I ordered a bed from the nearest delivery service. Hopefully they deliver in a timely manner and don't mess up my order.
Now onto the question of why they attacked me and if they will continue to do so. She claimed it was because I’m a vampire, but I’m not. Maybe it’s because I have red eyes like all the vampires had in the game, but not everything with red eyes is a vampire.
If I sound too calm after the fight, it’s simply because I already rampaged for a bit, destroying nearby trees and kicking the dead elves around for a bit and now I’m sitting on my single remaining cushion waiting and watching the sunrise.
As I’m starting to get hungry, I take out a piece of the stag that started this mess and eat it raw. The slightly larger than meal sized piece comes from the upper thigh i think, but I don’t really care to figure it out for sure.
While I’m chewing on my food and contemplating my next move, a familiarly eerie voice sounds out from behind me, before Danievil saunters around to my front.
“Seems you have figured out the attitude of the elves.”
“What do you mean? Will all elves attack me on sight?” I say with a small amount of confusion.
“For the most part, yes. The same goes for humans and dwarves.” she answers with a small smile.
That is kinda bad as I would have to avoid society at large. I realize she didn’t mention beastkins and as I’m about to speak, she continues.
“Beastkins are an interesting case since you would think they would accept a humanoid monster like you, but turns out that they would have a stronger negative reaction. It’s like you have stepped into the uncanny valley and you just register as dangerous in their mind.”
That is bad. That confirms that I have to avoid society, lest I’ll be treated as a monster. Wait, she referred to me as a monster. Does that mean that I am a monster? I droop my ears and look up at her with a questioning look in the hope that she’ll give me the answers to the questions I have yet to ask.
She looks at me with a sad smile and states “You really are cute, you know that?”
That came out of left field and I immediately perk up “Of course I know that! I made this body!”
She chuckles and picks me up into a hug. “Yes, you are a monster. Both in looks and behavior. You just casually killed four elves, when you could easily have subdued them and explained the situation.”
I even stunned them before I executed them. I had every opportunity to talk with them, even if they didn’t want to. That kinda stings, I sabotaged my own chances at cooperation. But then again, they attacked me and deserved to die. I’m not sure how to feel about this. Would I have acted differently if I’d known ahead of time? Probably not.
I reach around her neck and embrace the hug.
After a bit she puts me down and continues her explanation “Don’t worry too much about your actions. This village has had humanoid monsters sneak into the village under peaceful pretenses before and would have attacked you again. You did the right thing, but probably not for the right reason.”
“So what do I do now? Do I just live in the wilderness forever?”
She chuckles a bit while shaking her head. “No, there are other societies than the ‘human’ ones” She made no less than four air quotes while she said human.
She continued with “You remember the main enemy faction from the game, the demons, right? They don’t judge based on body plan since they come in a wide variety. They do judge based on actions though. The current demon emperor is a nice guy.”
“Aren’t they barbaric?”
“Well, yes, but so are you. I think you would enjoy them more than the ‘human’ society.”
As she continued to explain some of the details of demon society, a tear in reality opened up next to her, revealing a starry night sky. The tear then expanded to the shape of a woman and hair like the aurora appeared on her head. A pair of eyes emerged in the correct place in the night sky and as soon as they looked at me, I felt a shiver go down my spine.
“So this is what you were hiding Danielle.” The entity said with an ethereal voice dark as the blackest of night and sparking like the light of stars.
“Hello Jane.” answered Danievil, but as she said the name, I could feel reality disagreeing.
“I have told you to call me Stellarite, or just Stella. I am no longer Jane.” the entity known as Stella replied.
“Then repay the favor by calling me Danievil.”
“Agreed. So, how did you hide this player? We never wrote Anana into the lore, so how did she even get here?” Stella redirected the conversation to me.
“She appeared moderately deep into the endlands and since the endlands are my domain, hiding her wasn’t really necessary. You could have just looked, but none of you did since you don’t care about the endlands.” Danievil answered almost smugly. She continued with “As for how she got into the lore, she can answer herself.”
Turns out having multiple deities looking at you while expecting an answer is VERY unnerving. So I answered with as much confidence as I could muster.
“I… I made a lot of the items that were accepted into the game. And most of those had references to Anana as the creator.”
“That makes sense. I apologize for the mirror incident. This is news to me and raises multiple questions, though the major one is if there are other players pulled in than the ones we are monitoring. I will investigate.” With those final words, the tear in reality named Stella disappeared and the existential pressure lessened down to normal levels. I sighed with relief.
“Stella can be intense, but don’t worry, she means well. Now I have to go, both because I need to tell her to not inform the others of you, at least for a while, and because an elf is approaching.”
With that final warning, Danievil disappeared into flames and once again I stand alone with a half eaten piece of flesh in my hand.
That whole conversation was a lot to digest, so I sit back down on the cushion and finish my meal.
After a while of waiting and contemplating the implications the deities threw at me, a familiar elf runs into the clearing.
Getting a bed from the village was not that difficult, conveying what happened during the fight was though.
Having to talk to the rest of the elders was difficult, but at least they believed me when I stated how urgently I needed to provide a bed for the monster. It was considered that I picked up Ares’ bed, but in the end, someone else offered their bed since it was of higher quality and that would likely appease the beast.
In the end, I spent probably half an hour back in the village and half my mana on putting the bed in my inventory. Retracing the trail after leaving was tiring, but I had a deep seated urge to move quickly.
By the time I entered the clearing with the monster, the sun had fully risen. The clearing had been trashed while I was away, with broken and burned trees. Ares, Gulme and Kortni, or at least their corpses have been battered around. At least they are still in one piece, even though they are a bit singed.
In the middle of the clearing, it sits on the undamaged cushion and stares at me. I urgently and carefully walk in front of it and silently take the bed out from my inventory.
As it walks around the bed, inspecting it, I stand as still as possible. After a bit, it jumps into the bed and soon afterwards I hear it say “leave” in conjunction with the crackle of electricity. No need to tell me twice, so I leave the clearing without taking my eyes off it, before turning around and running back home.
