Sulika ignored the weakness in her legs and stomach while passing the threshold of the portal. She’d always hated the feeling that accompanies leaving a dungeon, like a cross between motion sickness and a wicked hangover. It was no wonder most rookies wound up losing their lunch the moment they– her eyes widened in realization, and she quickly told the others to step aside.

“Did you forget to warn the Giant?” Ralocan asked with a note of amusement in his voice.

“This oughta be good.” Zarud chuckled and took a few extra steps back, just to be safe.

The four of them waited for Aldritch to emerge with varied expectations between them. Sulika was concerned for his wellbeing. She’d been a firsty before, and it wasn’t an experience she wished on anyone.

Zarud was excited to see the giant dickbag taken down a few pegs. Just picturing him weakened and hurling his lunch all over his robes had brought a twisted grin to his face.

Ralocan was feeling something similar to Zarud. He wasn’t sure why, but something about the giant’s attitude had rubbed him the wrong way. He planned to cast a weakened healing spell to help Aldritch calm his guts, but not before watching him suffer a bit.

Derrik was also smiling, but not for the same reasons as his comrades. He was smiling in anticipation of his friends’ utter disappointment. Aldritch was a dwarf, a fact the other men seem to have forgotten. Dwarves were experts at drinking enough booze to kill a human, and then going to work the next day. So the odds of him reacting the way they wanted were next to none.

Aldritch emerged from the portal fifteen seconds after Sulika and, like Derrik predicted, he showed no discomfort on his face.

Derrik shot Zarud and Ralocan a cheeky grin and winked at their displeasure. They deserved to be upset after wishing pain on a newcomer… Even one as ‘impressive’ as Aldritch.

Completely unaware of the feelings going through the minds of the others, Aldritch was focused on something he’d never seen before. A bluish green box with a black border appeared in front of his eyes almost as soon as his vision cleared. It wasn’t a large box by any means, merely six inches tall and about a foot wide and was semi-transparent, so Aldritch could even see through it if he tried. But the words being presented to him were so strange, he couldn’t help but ignore everything else in favor of reading them.

“Did you already get a message from the system Admin?” Sulika asked as she approached from Aldritch’s left.

“Is that what this is?” Aldritch inspected the box from corner to corner. But he saw nothing besides the strange words- no hidden messages, no remarkable symbols, nothing. It was an utter disappointment. The so-called “gods” of this world had developed an impressive tracking and messaging system, but apparently didn’t care enough to mark it with the symbol of its creator? What kind of message did that send to the recipients?

“Don’t judge them by the standards of our world.”

“I’m not. I’m judging them by my standards. If you don’t mark your creation, how can you expect to be contacted if someone has an issue with your creation? The creator’s mark is how we receive feedback, or if our product fails, learn about it and either refund the purchase or make adjustments. Not marking it is no different than washing your hands of the issues that are sure to follow with something of this complexity.”

“Maybe that’s the idea? Not everyone can be as serious about the exchange of gold as the dwarves were.”

“Is customer satisfaction really a dwarven preference?”

“Not in my experience. Dwarves are simply more serious about it.”

“Of course we’re serious about it. A single gold coin is a matter of life and death for a dwarf. It’s how the common folk ensured they could feed their families and the nobles protected their lands by paying soldiers, issuing bribes, and reinvested into the communities. If a dwarf tried releasing something without a creator mark, they would be branded a swindler and excommunicated from the community. And if someone outside the community tried this shit, the king would have them blacklisted and no dwarf could do business with them again, without risking excommunication.”

“Are you okay?” Sulika asked, drawing his attention away from his inner turmoil and back to reality. “You seem upset? Did the portal make you feel sick? Do you need a potion?”

“I apologize for making you worry, but no, I’m physically fine. I’m merely concerned over the administrators’ lack of forethought and care regarding the system message.”

Sulika’s mouth dropped slightly out of shock. She stared at Aldritch like he’d just grown a second head or proclaimed himself a god-king. He was criticizing the admins? What kind of lunatic did she bring back with her? “I see…” She scrambled for anything to say, but her mind had emptied when she needed it most. “I’m sorry?” She muttered, for lack of anything else to say.

“No need to apologize. It wasn’t your fuck up that concerned me, and the blame does not land at your feet. Rather, whoever designed this ‘system’ needs to beg for forgiveness from everyone who’s been forced to use it.”

“I think that’s a bit of an overreaction, no? What’s so wrong with the message that you think they need to beg for forgiveness?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the message itself. It completed its function wonderfully. It’s the lack of a maker’s mark that concerns me.”

“I don’t follow. Is that a dwarf thing?”

“No, it’s an artisan thing. Anyone who can create such a marvel of magic engineering as this is clearly a master of their craft, who’s, without any doubt, devoted their lives to the art. But the lack of a maker’s mark shows they didn’t care about the creation. Which, to me, shows there are undoubtedly several errors involved in its make-up that inhibit the efficiency of the system’s functions. This contradiction shouldn’t be allowed to stand. If the creator didn’t care about the creation, then why allow others to be forced to use it?”

Sulika frowned at him. His words were making a strange kind of sense that she didn’t know what to think of. “Maybe they just forgot?”

“It was definitely intentional.” Aldritch said without hesitation.

“Now, hang on. You don’t know that. Everyone forgets things all the time. Why attribute malice to something that could’ve been done out of ignorance or just plain forgetfulness?”

“Ah, sorry, I wasn’t clear. I attribute no malice to the creator, as I know they didn’t do this to harm anyone, since the system performed its function without issue. However, the lack of a maker’s mark seems to mean they didn’t want their name attributed to it – which is strange for something that’s forcibly installed on everyone. You’d think the creator would be more desperate to improve the system if it was mandatory, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

Sulika’s mouth twitched out of sheer incredulity, and she had to look away… Her eyes landed on the rest of her team, who were standing nearby and watching the conversation with equal parts amusement and annoyance on their faces. It surprised Sulika to find Oladi standing next to Zarud. The druid’s eyes were locked onto Aldritch’s imposing stature and she seemed to be inspecting him from head to boot.

An idea occurred to Sulika at that moment, and she knew how to switch topics without potentially upsetting the giant. She overtly waved to Oladi and beckoned her over with a fake smile on her face. “Aldritch, allow me to introduce you to the final member of my team: Oladi Aspenspark.”

Oladi approached Aldritch with an awkward smile on her face and tentatively offered her hand for him to shake. “How do you do?”

“A pleasure to meet you, madam druid. You stand before Aldritch of clan Blackshield.”

“Well, ‘Aldritch of clan Blackshield’. That’s certainly an interesting way to introduce yourself. Did you spend a lot of time in the courts?”

“Oladi!” Sulika said before Aldritch could respond. “Aldritch is a returnee who’s just made it back after two-hundred years inside a dungeon. He needs to rest before we interrogate him for his life’s story.” She said this purely for Aldritch’s benefit. But Oladi could read between the lines: She knew the real reason for the interruption was because Sulika wanted to spend as little time with the giant as possible… Oladi wasn’t sure why her normally kind boss seemed so wary of the giant, but she made a mental note to find out before the night was over.

“You’re absolutely right. Sorry captain. And sorry to you too, Aldritch. That was insensitive of me.” Oladi replied in what she hoped was a sincere voice. She was never good at sounding sincere, even if she meant it. With the way she normally spoke, sincerity usually came across as sarcasm or her patronizing whoever she was speaking with.

“No harm done, madam druid.” Aldritch nodded to show he truly meant it and she shouldn’t take it to heart. He didn’t care if they asked him about his past, and he had no intention of lying to them, or anyone else, if they did. Oakairo was the Dragon God of Pride. And as his high priest, Aldritch had sworn to uphold his values above all else. We considered speaking untruths an unholy act in the temple of Oakairo… However, as Oakairo liked to say, he was a dragon long before he was a god. And dragons enjoyed wordplay almost as much as they loved gold. So long as it didn’t go directly against the truth, Aldritch could say whatever he liked with impunity.

“Has he checked out his status board yet?” Oladi asked. She directed her question at Sulika, despite her eyes remaining fixed on Aldritch’s eyes. They were so odd. Almost alien, like Aldritch was from some other realm or he was merely hiding his true appearance behind a thin veil of normality.

“Ah, I knew I was forgetting something.” Sulika said and slapped her fist against her palm for emphasis. “Aldritch, you don’t have to say it out loud, but please speak the command ‘open status board’.”

Aldritch slightly moved one shoulder before following along with her request. He blinked, and an entirely new box replaced the previous message. This box was almost a perfect square and was about a foot in length and width.

“Well? Do you see your status board?” Sulika asked impatiently. The exhaustion was getting to her and all she wanted to do was head home and sleep for about a week. Instead, she was stuck giving Aldritch a tutorial. When Aldritch didn’t immediately answer her, her irritation spiked through the roof, and she began tapping her foot.

“I see it,” Aldritch said after another few moments. As before, he didn’t see any maker’s marks on this iteration of the system either.

“Good. Now, look near the bottom of the status board. Do you see the words ‘status, skills, and spells’?”

“I do.”

“Ignore the ‘status’ word, since that’s the ‘page’ you’re already on. Instead, using either your finger or your mind, I want you to ‘tap’ one of the other two words and let me know if anything changes.”

Aldritch did as she asked and mentally selected the skills tab. He felt a tingling sensation travel throughout his body before yet another box replaced the status board, this one was a ‘skill’ board with the condensed versions of Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma in flashing tabs near the top. Otherwise, the page appears blank.

“Alright. I’m looking at what I assume is the skill section. But the bottom half of the box is blank, why is that?”

“Do you see the flashing words?”

Aldritch didn’t wait for her to finish speaking before he mentally clicked on the strength tab. In response to his choice, the box morphed before his eyes into something much more useful.

Aldritch observed the box for a few more seconds before he glanced over at Sulika and nodded. “I’m not sure what half of this means, but none of the information displayed seems incorrect.”

“That’s great!” Sulika exclaimed and shot him a genuine smile. “I think that’s enough for now. You can figure out the rest as you get used to the way things work back in the real world. You said you’d never been to Azuris island before, right?”

“Never.” Aldritch said while splitting his attention between the skill board and Sulika’s words. "How do you make it go away?"

“Then we’ll need to stop by the guild before the rest of us can return home for the night. The Azuris hunter’s guild has a dormitory on the grounds that you can rent on a weekly basis. I’ll put you up for now and you can pay me back later, alright?”

“Seeing as I lack any funds to pay for myself… Unfortunately, I’ll have to impose on you for the time being. My apologies.”

Sulika waved him off with a grin and beckoned for everyone to follow her out of the alley.

As they moved through the narrow streets and back alleys of Auris: the capital city of Azuris Island. Sulika, Oladi, Derrik, and Ralocan chatted amongst themselves while Zarud and Aldritch followed after them without a word spoken between them.

Zarud was still peeved about how easily Aldritch man-handled him earlier, and Aldritch… Well, Aldritch just had nothing to say and no interest in participating in meaningless small talk with a stranger.

Eventually the members of the closing team said their goodbyes and broke off one by one until only Sulika and Aldritch remained.

Auris was a small city compared to some of the ones Aldritch has seen in his youth. But it was one of the more impressive ones, regardless of how he measured it.

Sulika mentioned it had a population of around 71,000 people living inside the three-hundred-foot-tall stone walls that protected the city. Aldritch didn’t understand why the city needed walls that tall… until Sulika explained the whole situation.

Azuris Island wasn’t like anything Aldritch had ever witnessed before. He would need to observe the situation with his own eyes to be sure, but for now, he would just have to trust Sulika’s words.

The entire island was floating through the sky like some kind of bird. Sulika said she wasn’t sure how it worked, but the island had been floating for the last several hundred years. Not only that, but it was also in constant motion as the planet beneath it rotated around the sun. This phenomenon led to the creation of the ‘aerial dock’ which served as the lifeblood of the city. It was what allowed them to trade with other floating islands as they approached one another.

While Aldritch was attempting to wrap his head around the fact that the entire island beneath him was actually floating some 20,000 feet through the sky, he and Sulika walked side by side in companionable silence until they reached the front stoop of the Hunters Guild.

Aldritch glanced at the three-story building with the gigantic dragon’s head on the roof and wondered at the story behind it.

“Coming?” Sulika asked from a few steps above Aldritch, which meant they were now eye to eye with each other.

“Yeah,” He took one final glance at the dragon head then began moving again. “I’m right behind you.”

ReWight

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