World of Fantasy

First Night Together

JANE

By the time they turned in their last quest, the sun had fully set. The streetlamps glowed with soft, yellow light. It was much, much darker than a modern city, the shadows deeper. But something absolutely marvellous? The sky above.

Jane had her head all the way back and stared upwards. She was moved nearly to tears. It was breathtaking. Stars, mostly white but with a speckling of blue and pink and red, filled the entire clear sky. More stars than she'd ever seen before. And a galaxy or nebula of brighter light and twinkling bursts stretched across the darkness just over the horizon. "It's so beautiful," she softly breathed. It felt magical, like something out of a childhood dream made real.

Quill looked a touch sad. "Imagine. For two million years, every human and other animal ever born looked up at a sky like this every single night of their lives. Imagine how humbling that must have been."

She nodded. "And how arrogant we've become thanks to modern lights." She sighed. "This is so much prettier than watching satellites streak across a sky made orange from city lights. Which are the only 'stars' we see anymore."

They ambled along the street in no rush, enjoying the starry sky, tired from a long day that had been both physically and emotionally taxing.

Quill nudged Jane's arm with his elbow as they walked down a street. "See that?" He nodded towards an unlit alley.

An unsavoury figure slouched against the wall in the darkness, eyes watching them go by. It was a man dressed in dark clothes that looked dirty and ragged. He was unshaven, his eyes haunting. A small knife twinkled in the light as he spun it in his fingers.

A shiver ran through her. "Think they introduced thief NPCs into the game?" Jane asked. "Or worse?" She did not want it to be worse. Weren't cities supposed to be safe zones? Cities never had dangerous NPCs in MMOs.

"Might be. We'll need to be careful with our stuff." He didn't look as nervous as she suddenly felt, but he continued to look back at the figure, wary. "And maybe not give anyone a chance to stab us."

"The, um..." Jane struggled for words. She looked away. "The NPCs aren't the only ones we should worry about."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She hesitated. But they were a team now, and she needed to be clear. "Remember what the kings said at the beginning? No mods here, so no oversight. And basically no rules. Which makes sense, I suppose, because how are you going to program NPC guards to monitor unpredicatable human behaviour? But like they said, players can pretty much do what they want to each other. Even in the city."

Quill was quiet at that, perhaps unsure how to respond. Finally, he glanced at her. "Something happen earlier?"

She shrugged, still not meeting his eyes. "I dealt with it."

"Right. Then let's see about a room at an inn," he said decisively. "We might be vulnerable on the street, but I'll bet inns have protections against that sort of thing, even against players."

They found a cheap-looking inn on a quiet street. The innkeeper greeted them from behind a wooden desk just inside the front door. "Welcome! Are you looking for a room?"

"We are," Quill answered.

"That will be 25 copper."

He and Jane both paled.

Quill looked questioningly at her.

She simply shook her head. There was nowhere near that amount of coin in the sack.

"Thanks anyway," Quill told the innkeeper and then opened the door for her.

She stood in the street and looked around, feeling disappointed. "What now?"