Poisoned Rationality

Our party met up outside the Guild Building at around noon.

“Today, I wanted to finalize us being a party,” I told everyone. “If you two want to, of course.”

“Yeah, I do,” Tyler said. “We make a good team. Cover each other’s weaknesses.”

“Same,” Sarya added.

After agreeing on that, we went into the Guild and to the party-registration portion of the building.

After handing the Guild Staff our cards, they handled the official formation of our party before returning our cards.

“You’re all set!” The tall man replied. We thanked him before heading out to the main room.

“I had an idea last night,” Nat told us as we found a table to sit at. “There’s a dungeon outside one of the nearby towns. We could go there and get a bunch of experience.”

“I’m up for that,” I said. “But we should probably do a couple more quests here first.” The others nodded in agreement.

“We can do a delivery quest to the town last,” Sarya suggested.

“That works,” Ariana agreed. “What kind of quest should we do now, though?”

“I saw a quest for a wild orc in the woods to the south as we walked in,” Tyler said. “With all five of us, it probably won’t be a problem.”

We all agreed on that and grabbed the quest from the board before heading out. As we walked, I decided to bring up the stuff about me, Ria, Stella, and void.

“So, now that we’re an official party, there are some things that I can tell you guys,” I said to Sarya and Tyler. “It’s really secret though.”

“That’s not a problem,” Tyler told me. “I keep secrets.” Sarya nodded in agreement, and I began.

First, I told them about me and Stella. Tyler seemed a little confused, but Sarya was definitely very surprised.

After that, I explained about being Split of Heart and about Ria. During that, Ria tried taking a turn in our body.

It was very strange, not being in control.

I could see and feel everything that Ria did, but at the same time, I could move a mental body around. I could talk freely to Ria, but no one else heard me, like how no one heard her while I was in our body.

The last thing I explained was the stuff about void. I told Sarya and Tyler what it was and how it worked, and how I was pretty much the only person who could use it.

“That’s pretty much it,” I said. “I can show you guys what my void skills look like, if you want.”

“I’d say wait until you need it,” Tyler suggested. “It sounds pretty dangerous, how you put it.”

“I’ve used two of them before,” I told him. “One of them is pure destruction, and the other has me absorbing something.”

“Absorbing?” Sarya asked.

“It’s weird,” I replied. “The skill is called [Consume], and it turns my body into a weird portal thing that pulls whatever I’m targeting inside.”

“We’ve seen it before,” Ariana said. “That’s pretty much what it looks like, although probably a lot creepier than you’re thinking. Lots of teeth.”

“I can show you [Consume] when we find the orc, if you want,” I told Tyler.

“Sure,” he said. “Maybe we can take some time afterward to show each other our skills? Get a better sense of how we all fight.”

“I like that idea,” Nat grinned. “I got a cool new skill after those goblins.”

“So did I,” Sarya added. “Did we all?”

Ariana, Tyler, and I nodded.

“Mine’s pretty unusual,” I said. “It’s one of my special void-related skills that doesn’t show up under my skill list.”

“There are skills that don’t show up in your status?” Nat asked.

“For me, yeah,” I explained. “I have a weird extra-status that shows them.”

“Oh, like your shapeshifting!” Ariana said.

“You can shapeshift?” Tyler exclaimed.

“Only into things that I’ve used [Consume] on,” I told him. “But yeah. I’ll show you guys afterward.”

Soon enough, we found a tree sapling twisted and torn up strangely.

“That looks like a territory marking,” Nat said. “We’re getting close.”

“Should I use my searching skill?” Sarya asked. I nodded, and she raised her hand in the air, forming her magic as she hummed.

Then the red light burst out again, highlighting large footprints all around the mangled sapling that led away into the forest.

We followed until we heard loud grunting sounds and shuffling around in the woods.

“I’ll go check what’s happening,” Ariana whispered. She shuffled forward quietly, hopping up into a tree and clambering through the branches.

After a minute or two, she came leaping back, landing on the ground softly.

“Bad news,” She whispered. “There’s an orc and an ogre fighting, and the orc is losing.”

“Shit,” I murmured. “That’s bad. I might actually have to use my void skills.”

“I can fence them in with my new skill,” Sarya told us. “I get faster than normal and can run for either ten seconds or thirty meters, leaving a trail of my bone spikes behind me.”

“Do that then,” I said. “Nat, can you get fireballs ready?” She nodded, and I turned to Ariana and Tyler. “I need you two to distract them. Ariana, you go for the orc, and Tyler, the ogre.” They both nodded.

“Let’s do this.”