“Rayleigh?” Ray said, glancing over.
Rayleigh glanced back at the exact same time, like he’d been waiting for it.
“You say my name like it is strange,” Rayleigh replied.
“It’s not strange,” Ray said. “It’s just… close.”
Alif smirked. “You humans are obsessed with names.”
Ray opened his mouth to argue, then stopped. The moment he did, both Rayleigh and Ray turned their heads at the same time anyway, and Jarl let out a short snort like it was funny even if he didn’t want to admit it. Ray decided to bank that for later. If he survived long enough, it would be worth a stupid comment when the mood was safer.
“Hey, Ilaria, out of curiosity, what was that metallic tasting orb you shoved down my throat?” Ray asked.
“Oh that,” Ilaria said, like she was explaining something to a child. “It was a common orb of language. A large number of skills can be absorbed by swallowing those orbs. It’s not a pretty sight but it’s effective for quickly gaining new abilities.” She stopped for a second and looked ahead, eyes narrowing like she was doing the maths in her head. “To be honest, aside from the System shop orbs, they’re pretty rare.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” she continued. “You owe me one thousand Arkus coins. I had to buy that from the damn shop out of my own cash.”
“Wait, you didn’t just have one lying around?” Ray asked.
“What are you, some kind of idiot?” Ilaria shot back. “Why would I just carry around a skill orb for a language I already speak? No. I bought it from the shop when I realised you couldn’t understand me.”
“You can access the shop from anywhere?” Ray asked. “That seems a little overpowered.”
“Yes, we can access the basic System shop from anywhere. We just have to think the words ‘System shop’ and we’ll gain access.” She didn’t look proud of it. If anything, her tone was annoyed. “Though the System shops only sell the most basic items and they’re extremely overpriced. It’s like the System taxes you for being desperate.”
Ray stopped for a second and tried to access the shop. A system message appeared.
[You are hated. Shop access declined.]
“Damn it,” Ray muttered under his breath, then spoke louder. “Can’t access any shop. System hates me.”
Maethel laughed like it was the best news he’d heard all day.
Ray ignored him and kept going. “Are there any other commands I should know?”
Ilaria exhaled through her nose, like she’d been asked to recite a list she hated. “There are. And before you ask, yes, you will look stupid the first time. You get used to it.”
She started rattling them off, and Ray focused on the ones that sounded useful.
- Shop: brings forth a System shop. Not accessible by Ray. These are run by System merchants.
- Clock: provides the date and time.
- Resistance: provides a listing of resistances. Physical and magical.
- Party: provides a party list. You can add and remove people to your party from this screen.
- Snapshot: provides a snippet of a particular window or item. It allows you to show it to other people. It can be forged with deception skills, so most people don’t treat it as proof.
Ray frowned. “So you can fake system windows?”
“You can fake almost anything if your skills are high enough,” Arj said from ahead, without even turning. “People learn that lesson the hard way.”
Ilaria continued, not missing a beat. “You can also permanently attach certain things to your vision. When you bring up a command, simply think ‘permanent’. It locks to your vision and you can mentally resize and move it.”
“Thanks for the info,” Ray said. “That’ll help in the future.”
He immediately tried to permanently attach the status window to his vision, more out of habit than anything. Another message slapped him down.
[Access restricted.]
Ray’s jaw tightened. “What, that counts as help too?”
Ilaria shook her head. “It’s not ‘help’. It’s a function that doesn’t work for everyone. Some people can anchor overlays, some can’t. Sometimes it’s a permission issue. Sometimes it’s a penalty. Sometimes the System just decides you don’t get the convenience.” Her eyes flicked to him. “Given what Arj saw, I’m not surprised yours is blocked.”
Ray didn’t like how that landed. Permission issue. Penalty. The System deciding. All of it pointed back to the same thing: the System was actively shaping how he could interact with the world.
Luckily the clock worked. He tried it and a simple time prompt snapped into his mind. Around noon. That at least gave him something to work with.
“Oi, dipshit,” Maethel suddenly piped up. “We’re almost there. You’d best be ready. Personally I hope you kark it. It’ll be entertaining to experiment on you.”
Ray immediately didn’t like Maethel. He could tell the elf would rather have shot him and been done with it. He seemed like the kind of individual who would work for a mobster and enjoy the work.
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“No worries mate,” Ray replied. “Anything I need to know before going in?”
“Yeah,” Maethel said. “You’re a worthless arsehole. Never forget that.”
Before Ray could respond, Arj butted in. “Relax Maethel. It’ll all be dealt with. Ray, just remember, you will be under interrogation when you get into the centre. Be polite and honest and just tell the elders what you told us. You should be fine.”
“Thanks Arj,” Ray said. He didn’t fully believe the “fine” part, but it was better than nothing.
They continued to walk for another ten minutes. When they crossed the threshold into the border of the Aliri Clan centre, Ray could immediately tell. It was like crossing a biome in Minecraft. The air changed. Not in a dramatic way, but in a way his body noticed before his brain did. It felt slightly heavier, like a thin pressure settling over his skin, and for half a second the tree line ahead shimmered faintly as though heat was rising off it. Ray blinked, looked again, and it was gone, but the feeling remained. A boundary. A ward. Something that said you are in someone else’s territory now.
Movement was also immediately noticeable. Other elves scurried about, some carrying bundles, others moving with purpose like they had jobs and schedules. To his left, he noticed a large swathe of farmland, though he couldn’t tell what was being farmed from this distance. To his right was clearly a practice field. Elves were swinging swords and shooting bows at dummy targets. There were even sparring matches happening. One pair moved so fast Ray had trouble tracking the blades, and he realised with a dull heaviness that these people were not playing at war. They were preparing for it.
They approached the clan centre itself. It was nothing too special overall. Just a cluster of houses spreading out from what looked like a marble courthouse in the middle. Ray was disappointed to learn the elven village wasn’t some treetop fairy-tale, but rather a group of wooden and clay houses across a vast strip of land. Still, it wasn’t messy. It was organised, purposeful, and lived-in.
The village was neatly arranged with squared streets. Blocks of houses were no more than a two by eight stretch before intersecting streets criss-crossed. There were clearly marked sections for housing and commercial districts, and Ray could not see anything that resembled electricity poles. He could, however, see magical lanterns floating in the air throughout the town to provide light. They drifted slightly, like they were tethered by invisible strings, and some of them dimmed when someone walked under them, then brightened again, reacting to motion like cheap sensor lights back on Earth.
Overall, it seemed more like a medieval town with modern magical living than anything elves would normally build in his stories. Even though he was disappointed for not getting the immersive fantasy land he had hoped for, Ray was still excited. He could see there were many applications for magic, and he longed to learn some of these for future reference. He could also see that the people here weren’t living in a peaceful fairy-tale. They were living like a society under pressure.
Arj led them through the commercial district toward the town centre. As Ray passed shop after shop, the sights and smells drew him in more and more. Fresh bread. Cooked meat. Something spicy that made his stomach growl even though he felt like he’d been poisoned earlier. A few elves turned their heads as they passed, eyes flicking to Ray, then away like he was something dirty. One younger elf stopped walking entirely and just stared at him until a woman snapped something in a harsh tone and tugged them back.
They passed by one shop that looked particularly rich. It stood out instantly. The wood was polished, the sign looked expensive, and there were guards near the entrance who did not pretend they were relaxed. The store clerk was clearly not an elf but a human. Within the store Ray noticed cages of beasts, and even people. He saw collars. Chains. A man sitting in a cage with his knees to his chest staring at the floor. A creature with too many limbs pacing in circles like it had gone mad. It hit Ray all at once and his excitement vanished, replaced by a cold lump in his gut.
“Fuck,” Ray muttered. “Is that a chained dragon in the back?”
“Yeah,” Ilaria said, her voice flat. “No one likes that shop. Unfortunately, we are a weak clan overall and we’ve been forced to allow slavery wares to be sold here. Most elves stay away from it, but that dragon always draws people in.” She looked away like she didn’t want to see it either. “The owner says if someone manages to bond it, they can keep it. He’s been trying to get rid of it for nearly two years now.”
Ray stared through the doorway as they passed. The dragon was real. Not a statue. Not a painting. Chained, scaled, and breathing. Its eyes were half-lidded like it had learned not to react, but even from a distance Ray could feel something heavy about it, like the air in that shop wasn’t quite normal. Next to it, he caught a glimpse of another cage, smaller, with something inside that looked human but wrong, like it had been twisted by something. The catalogue of horrors just kept going the longer he looked.
“Are you being forced by humans?” Ray asked. “Wait… are we the bad guys on this world?”
“I wouldn’t say humans are the enemy,” Ilaria replied, “but they are definitely morally corrupt. Your race cares about power and is willing to do anything to obtain it, even enslave the noble dragons.” Her eyes tightened. “A large portion of the human population has already fallen to the System.”
Alif poked Ray in the back with two fingers, not hard, but enough to keep him moving. “Keep moving handsome, or else you’ll end up flat on your face again. We’re heading to that building right in front of you.”
Ray almost snapped back, but then he saw where they were heading and his mouth shut on its own.
A male elf with scars running down both eyes stepped out of the building ahead. He moved fast, purposeful, and his gaze locked onto Ray like he’d been waiting. He ran over to their group and ushered them as quickly as possible inside. He clearly didn’t want Ray loitering in the open. Humans obviously weren’t very liked in the Aliri Clan, and Ray was the kind of human who came with rumours attached.
The male elf looked at Ray with disgust, like he was three-day old rotting food. “Greetings Ray. The elders will see you now. Please enter through that door.”
Ray looked at the elf group that had escorted him through the forest and forced a smile. “Wish me luck,” he said as he started walking towards the door.
“Hold on,” the scarred elf said. “Ilaria, you’re in charge of this human. You need to go in there as well. It will be your job to make sure he is honest.”
“Yes, elder,” Ilaria said sullenly.
Ray caught it. The way her shoulders dipped. The way she didn’t even argue. She wasn’t just annoyed. She was tense in a way that made his earlier leery distraction feel suddenly stupid. Whatever happened in there wasn’t just about him. It would land on her too.
The elder turned and opened the door for Ilaria and Ray. They looked at each other, nodded, and walked through.
Ray was dumbfounded at what he saw. From the street, the building looked no bigger than a two or three-storey apartment. When he walked in though, the only way he could describe it was overly luxurious. The inside was still wooden, but the wood was dark and polished, and there were intricate carvings and artworks all throughout. It wasn’t decoration for the sake of it either. It felt like everything had meaning, like the carvings were reminders of victories or warnings about losses. The air smelled faintly of oil, incense, and something sharp that made his nose itch.
The ceiling was at least five storeys high. Runes were carved into the beams overhead, and Ray realised he could read them. Not perfectly, but enough to understand the basics. The dark elves must use a runic language rather than letters. Some of the runes looked older than the rest, like the building had been expanded over time and each generation had left its mark.
Ilaria and Ray were directed to turn and walk through a corridor. The corridor wasn’t long, but it was deliberately narrow, with smooth wooden walls that felt like they were closing in. Ray couldn’t help noticing how sound behaved in there. Their footsteps didn’t echo properly. It was muffled, swallowed, like the building didn’t want noise travelling. It made him feel watched even when no one was visible.
It was clear Ilaria was uncomfortable being here. She kept her chin up, but Ray noticed her fingers flexing slightly like she wanted to hold a weapon that wasn’t there. As they passed through, the corridor opened into a giant auditorium.
Ray and Ilaria were at the bottom, near a large lectern with two highchairs. The room rose up in tiered rows that could seat a large crowd. The space felt built to intimidate. Not just with size, but with layout. Anyone standing at the lectern would be seen by everyone, and anyone speaking would have nowhere to hide. High above, more runes were carved into the beams, and Ray noticed some of them pulsed faintly, like they were active, like the room itself was listening.
They sat down and waited for the elders to arrive.
There were twelve elders of the Aliri Clan. These elders were split between roles. Some handled the military aspects of the clan, others finance, others farming and civil duties. Deliberations of all twelve elders only occurred in events of utmost security. Ray being an off-worlder was one of those potential national security threats.
Ray turned to Ilaria. He spent some time looking at her face and taking in her emotional state. She was clearly not happy to be here, but Ray could see some fire in her eyes. There was a determination there he hadn’t spotted before. Ray knew Ilaria was young for a dark elf but didn’t even know much more than her name at this point.
“Is something wrong?” Ray asked hesitantly.
Ilaria contemplated for a moment before answering. “Well… truth be told, I’m nervous. I’m the one who has been charged with your responsibility. If this interrogation goes poorly, I could be demoted or even face similar punishments which may be inflicted on you.” She hesitated, then said it anyway. “Up to and including the death penalty.”
Ray frowned. “Why would any legal system punish someone for the actions done by another individual? That seems barbaric to me.”
“You don’t understand,” Ilaria said, and her voice sharpened slightly. “I broke the elders’ command by vouching for you. Arj ordered me to kill you when we watched you wake up by the stream. Honestly, I saved your life back there.” She looked away for half a second, then back at him. “I would do it again too. I think some of our customs need to change. Our clan is already on the verge of collapse and yet we’re too scared to do anything about it.”
Ray didn’t have a clean response for that. He wanted to joke, to cut the tension, but it felt wrong. She wasn’t flirting now. She was putting herself in the firing line because she’d decided his existence mattered more than her comfort. That sobered him, even if only for a moment.
Before Ray could respond, a procession of twelve elves along with attendants entered the auditorium from the upper decks. All were garbed in what looked to be battle gear, swords, bows and all. One even had something that resembled an early musket, held like it was both a weapon and a warning. They took their positions with the confidence of people who were used to being obeyed, and the room seemed to tighten around them.
“Well,” Ray said, looking up at the clear attempt at intimidation by the elders, “I guess it’s judgement day.” He laughed.