As I’m sitting here on the couch in this ramshackle tower, I watch myself in the mirror. My hair deforms around the horns but if I try to touch them with my hands it’s like they’re not there.

  Hey, wait. Isn’t the base the same place that tingles when I get an [EF+]? Is this where I store my [Entropic Force]? I wonder if they change depending on how much [EF] I have.

  Well, whatever. Let’s find out what I can learn from the detailed descriptions.

  I want to sigh in relief but isn’t being mistaken for a demon even worse than being a demon? Whatever, that explains why I only took two damage from the tiger’s swipe and why I have [Willforce] instead of [Health].

  Moving on.

  I like that I don’t have any penalties to my talents but without bonuses I’ll have to be careful when determining what type of challenges I can handle. Like, if a rogue on the forums says you can beat the yeti by staying behind it, I might fail because I can’t keep up with their innate bonus to dodge.

  Hey, wait a second! Why have I never heard of [Entropic Daemon], [Fateweaver], or [Daemon]? Like, at all. I can’t be the only one. The game’s been out for more than two years. Oh, no. No. People are buying and selling information aren’t they? Everything on the forums is like common knowledge and half of it probably disinformation to boot. Fuck, now I feel like an idiot for spending so much time there. No wonder there’s nothing about crafting. All the crafters are protecting their IP.

  “Gah!” I have a magic-crafting class, both IP expensive, and I’m two years behind. Should I just start a new character? I’ve only been playing for about two hours.

  I look at myself in the mirror as if expecting myself to answer. So, I do.

  “Wasn’t it really fun and satisfying watching that tiger jump out the hole?” Yes, me, it was.

  Satisfied with my class and race, I check out my skills (except [Dodge] and [Kick] because what kind of idiot needs those explained?).

  This seems to go up when I get an [EF+]. So, magic includes not only spells and abilities (I know of these from the forums) but also actions taken by the system (this was NOT in the forums). I wonder if I should sell my knowledge to get some early game capital. Ahh, but how do I know what it’s worth and where would I find an information broker? Whatever, newb problems, amirite?

  This is another weird one I didn’t see on the forums. Everyone else was talking about [Magic Enactment] and [Magic Fortification] as the base skills for magic.

  [Formulation - Ability to impart form and function into objects you shape]

  Well, that’s vague. Maybe that’s the crafting half of my class’s base skills. There was nothing helpful about crafting on the forums so I don’t even know if that’s the normal kind of crafting.

  So, that’s why the tiger jumped out the hole just when I needed him to. That wording is kind of weird though. Like, what’s ‘my domain’ versus someone else’s domain. How would two [Fateweavers] fight? A battle over domain until one of them trips and skewers themselves on their own blade by ‘chance’?

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  I’ll have to check the forums for any reference to “domain”. Now, onto the traits.

  “There’s no more ignoring it.”

  Oh good, they meant that kind of ego. My ego sighs in relief.

  “Shut up, self!”

  Hmm, but maybe my domain is the self and other? Like, if I can identify where in that dichotomy something exists I gain a measure of control over it. I’ll have to experiment. Geh, how do you experiment with that? Whatever, that’s a future-self problem.

  WTF!? How do I have an ego that’s not attached to my body, soul, or mind? I mean sure, I never define my self as any of those things… but. Damnit, what is ‘domain’?

  “Grr, this game is frustrating. Where’s the manual? I don’t care that games don’t have manuals anymore. Gimme the manual.”

  Haaah. My little freak out over I move onto my last trait.

  They’re talking about my game character with these traits, right? I sure hope so.

  Whatever. Time to go, adventuring? Time to go anyway.

  I take a look out the hole down on the town below. People seem to be gathering at the base of the tower where the tiger plummeted.

  “Guess I’ll go say ‘Hi’.”

  I haven’t been in a lot of dark caves so I can’t say for sure if the light really behaves this way but it took me a second of adjustment between the dark interior and bright exterior of the base of the tower to be able to see. And, boy do I wish I had been able to see sooner.

  “It’s the demon. Grab it!” Pitchforks, check. Rolling pins, check. Angry villagers, check. Yep, it’s a mob. Fuck you, game devs.

  People grab both my arms quite easily and I do my best to keep my lantern from breaking against my leg. Just what this day would need, roasted daemon. My dagger is, of course, in my bag since I didn’t want to frighten the villagers. Naive.

  “What should we do with it?” Oi! That’s ‘she’ not ‘it’.

  “Lock it in the Tower!”

  “Throw it in the river with chains!”

  “Cut off its head!”

  “I heard they’re allergic to sand!”

  I try to stop this before it goes to far.

  “Actually, I’m not a demon. I’m actually not evil. Entirely neutral. It’s a common mi-”

  “It’s trying to trick us!”

  “Get the Treasurer, he’s a Priest!”

  “Yeah!”

  I open my mouth to try again but before I say anything the man holding my left arm shakes me roughly.

  “Oi! Don’t be trying any of your demons’ curses on us. Keep quiet and let the Priest take care of you and we won’t have to break such a pretty face.”

  Hurk! What a gross line. And what does he mean “take care of you”. However, “break such a pretty face” sounds undesirable enough to keep my mouth shut.

  I see the crowd part and when it gets to me a boy (no I think that’s a man with a boyish face) is before me. He has, well, resplendent robes and many fine trinkets and adornments. He comes a bit closer then looks like he’s praying or something. I can’t hear the words he’s mumbling until the last.

  “[Bind Demon]”

  A pillar of light shines down on me.

  “There, she is contained now. Please, everyone, return to your work.” I don’t disabuse them of their delusions. Instead, I just stand there, watching him as the mob disperses.

  “Thank you, Treasurer.”

  “Nice work, Priest.”

  “I’ll buy you an ale tonight.”

  I have a hard time not smirking as the player shakes hands with a few of the last villagers to leave.

  “Now, demon, I order you to follow me.” What a dick. But I follow anyway. May as well see where this goes.