Chapter 2: Sea of Heads and Halos

  The noise hit her before anything else. The Cradle of the Old was at full capacity again—as it always was, as it always would be.

  The underground corridor split into a cavernous commercial stretch, a wide vein carved through the abandoned mobile city of the Ark. High above, the vaulted ceiling vanished behind a chaotic canopy of hanging lanterns and tangled power cables that bathed the stone in a flickering amber haze. It hadn't truly changed since Leticiel first logged onto this world, but then again, the servers had only been live for five days.

  The smells rose through the rowdy crowd to meet her—a thick, humid blend of grilled meat teasing her appetite, the fermented sweetness of honeyed juice, and the wood smoke of a dozen open hearths. Beneath it all lay the hard dampness of stone, ground into a fine dirty grit by the boots of thousands active players. It was stifling enough that Leticiel's skin prickled with sweat beneath her jacket, the air clinging to her like a second skin as she flowed with the bustle.

  Stalls choked the thoroughfare, their owners hawking in a racket of clashing dialects. Leticiel tuned it all out, treating the voices and the stray melodies of buskers as ambient noise. She navigated the traffic on autopilot, her gaze occupied by the sheer volume of active OPHANIM gear. Every person in the crowd had a metallic arm arching from their shoulder blades, extending over their heads to form a ring-like tip that projected a glowing, holographic halo. As she wove through the throng, shoulder-checking her way past strangers, the image of "angels" dining in the ruins of a dead city felt like a glimpse into a bizarre afterlife.

  Off to one side, a cluster of players had bottlenecked near a stall selling cured meat on wooden skewers. Four of them were huddled together, their holographic displays pulled wide for all to see, fingers jabbing at menus that spawned fresh windows with every press. One man groaned audibly, a finger hooked over his chin in deep confusion; another gestured too broadly, accidentally swiping his entire interface into oblivion.

  Leticiel recognized that particular look of frozen panic. It was the unmistakable expression of someone who had skipped the tutorial and was now trying to learn the mechanics on the fly. She offered a wry smile as she passed them; remembering how she had looked nearly identical on Day One; the OPHANIM's haptics were uniquely different from the intuitive holograms of the real world.

  One hand loosely gripped Mochi's arm while his tail draped across her forehead, anchoring him as she shifted his considerable, jelly-like weight. He watched the crowd below with the sovereign indifference of a king being carried through his realm; with the halo floating a few inches above his head, it almost looked like a crown. Leticiel chuckled at the heft of him, especially when the murmurs of the crowd reached her—gasps of "Cat!" and "Meow!" that she knew were directed entirely at her passenger.

  She ruffled the fur beneath his arms, but Mochi remained unbothered, merely licking his lips as if he'd spotted something interesting in the distance.

  Leticiel sighed, her attention flickering to the holographic map hovering in the corner of her vision. It was a round grayscale display of shifting satellite-like imagery, with a bright yellow arrow at the center marking her position. She followed the glowing path lines indicated by the map, lost in navigation—until, with a soft, heavy thump, she walked straight into someone.

  Her vision filled black for a split second before she scrambled to step away. Retreating instinctively as she blurted out, "Oh! Sorry!"

  Tilting her head up, Leticiel felt herself shrink in the figure's shadow. The figure before her was enormous—a panda-avatar, broad-shouldered and dense with black and white fur. They wore segmented plate armor that looked as if it had been stripped from a titan of equal size, the metal visibly scuffed and dirtied from recent ventures.

  A cropped leather jacket hugged his barrel-shaped frame beneath an OPHANIM vest. At their backs, a pair of thick holsters held heavy notched bamboo scabbards, one of which was nearly as long as Leticiel was tall. A tufted tail lashed behind them, twitching with visible irritation.

  Slowly, the giant turned.

  Their face was round, framed by a long, cascading white beard that lent him the weathered dignity of a wise Old Hermit of East Yvresse. If they had been biting a long reed like a cigarette, Leticiel would have sworn they were a direct rip from a classic cartoon movie. Black soulful eyes locked onto hers—reflecting the faint white ring of her halo like a second pupil—before his expression broke into a wide, toothy beam.

  "Ah, sorry! You were—"

  The voice that came out was chirpy and energetic, the unmistakable tone of a young man beneath the skin. It carried none of the wisdom his avatar projected. "Awhh! That is a very cute cat you have there!"

  A shiver traced down Leticiel's spine. She felt her face tighten into a forced awkward smile. "Thanks."

  The mountain of fur swiveled fully toward her. He reached out with massive padded paws, his thick fingers twitching inches away from the "sovereign" perched on her head. Mochi let out a low, warning trill as the giant leaned in.

  "By any chance," the Panda's voice dropped into a loud whisper, "did you get that cat from the 'Title Quest'?"

  Leticiel didn't answer immediately. She took a deliberate half-step back, her narrow eyes thinning open to sharp slits of teal. "How would you know about that?"

  The panda finally pulled his paws away from Mochi and began massaging his chin, his expression shifting back into that look of a wise hermit. "Well, you see, every tutorial sequence ends with the Title Quest; it usually marks your first real encounter with an anomaly. Most people you see with normal-looking animals are just players like you who've cleared their final trial."

  He shrugged his massive armored shoulders. The halo above his head bobbed high, showering light over his black and white fur gently. "If you don't mind a spoiler, I can tell you what that 'Unknown Reward' might actually give. I assure you. It's information worth hearing."

  She let out a long, considering hum. Her eyes swept over him; the mountainous panda avatar and that segmented armor weren't things she saw every day.

  She tilted her head. "But I'll find out what the reward is as soon as I turn the quest in, anyway."

  The panda tried to snap his fingers, but there was only a soft floof of fur against fur. "You could," he countered, "but that cat might disappear. And worse, your avatar's race could forcibly evolve into something you never wanted."

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Leticiel's head jerked back, her narrow-slit eyes opening wide to reveal luminous teal pupils. "Come again?"

  The panda visibly recoiled, taking a sudden step back as he stared into her glowing teal pupils. His mouth fell open—

  "BAOBAO!"

  A booming yell cut through the noise of the flowing traffic. The shout was so loud and directed, Leticiel unconsciously snapped her head toward the sound.

  Through the shifting crowd, a woman emerged, striding through the sea of heads and halos like a titan through waves. She nearly matched the panda’s towering stature; it was as if both of them had pushed their avatars to the absolute scaling limits of the game.

  Two short, curved horns swept back from her temples, lacquered a deep arterial red that caught the white halo light. They were framed by a shock of short black hair, while her skin carried the mottled texture of thick hide. Creases and cracks of her skin bled bright crimson, and a single gold ring pierced her left ear, swaying with every heavy gait.

  'An Oni?' Leticiel wondered for a moment before her gaze caught the other players drifting by. Most still held onto their basic human forms, yet nearly everyone possessed some kind of vanity kit that set them apart. One player sported twitching canine ears; another had the slit pupils of a cat and ears. Further down the thoroughfare, a player with the scaled emerald skin of a reptile shouldered through the throng as they carried a bamboo basket above their heads.

  "Ah. Liandrite!" the panda exclaimed, raising his paws. "I finally found you!"

  Unlike the panda, the Oni’s equipment was built for mobility—light, leather-segmented armor layered over multiple garments, worn with a comfortable ease despite the humid air. She wore an indigo haori that was far too short for her frame, pulled over a chest rig in the same weathered shade.

  Aside from the radio, pistol, and spare magazines strapped to her kit, no primary weapon was visible except for a long, bandage-wrapped handle jutting behind her shoulder. A belt strap sat low on her hips, loaded with several frag grenades and holding up an oversized, draping leggings that pooled around her heavy boots.

  Even as she cut through the flow of the crowd with a brisk pace, she was already talking. "I have been standing at that stall for twenty minutes—" her hand shot out, closing around the panda's armored shoulder and giving it a rattling shake that seemed to vibrate his entire massive frame. "—and you told me five."

  "It was supposed to be," the panda protested, trying to pry her hand away. It didn’t budge. "But I got held up!"

  "You always get held—" Her words trailed off as her eyes dropped to Leticiel, then snagged on Mochi. There was a pause so brief it was almost imperceptible, followed by a sharp hitch in her breath. Then came a decisive switch, the scowl on her face cleared abruptly, her eyes brightening with a sudden, expectant spark.

  She nudged the panda, her face breaking into a beaming smile. "Is this her? Oh, it's definitely her!"

  "Is this who?" Leticiel repeated, her brows knitting.

  "This is not—" Baobao blurted out, paws waving frantically.

  "Finally!" The Oni woman's hand slipped from the panda's shoulder and landed squarely on Leticiel's. The abruptness made Leticiel jolt, her breath catching as she was suddenly swept along, steered forward into the thick of the crowd. "Come on, the others have been waiting foreever. Baobao, pay the drinks."

  "Wait, what? Why am I paying?"

  The Oni ignored the baffled panda entirely. She kept her hand heavy on Leticiel's shoulder, ushering her along with pats. "Come on, let's go. Let's go!"

  "Eh?" Stunned, Leticiel stumbled. Her legs took several forced steps before she dug her heels into the stone, gritting her teeth and bracing with all her might. She snapped her head toward the Oni, only to find herself eye-to-eye with Mochi, whose own head was swiveling frantically.

  "Wait—wait!" she shouted, her free hand shot up to steady the cat on her head. "I think there's been a massive misunderstanding here!"

  The Oni finally slowed, shifting her attention with a raised brow. "What is?"

  "I'm not the 'her' you're looking for," Leticiel clarified. "I think you've mistaken me for someone else."

  The Oni woman blinked. "Oh," she let out a thoughtful hum, followed by a booming. "Oohhh! Why didn't you say so?"

  'You shoved me before I could finish!' Leticiel screamed inwardly, pursing her lips into a thin tight smile.

  She gave Leticiel another series of playful slaps on the shoulders. "But then… What are you?"

  Leticiel tilted her head, her mind blanking as she struggled to follow the logic of the woman's words. "Just… nobody? A player?"

  "A player?" The Oni repeated the words, her confusion so thick it was almost visible as a physical question mark above her head. Her gaze narrowed, sweeping over Leticiel’s fit and her gear—the ring projecting her halo, the meager loadout she carried—before finally ending on Mochi.

  The beaming smile fell from her face, leaving only a flat, weary confusion as she turned to the panda. "Baobao? The new recruit?"

  The panda's ears flattened. "What about them?"

  The Oni sighed, slumping forward and leaning her full weight across Leticiel’s shoulders like a heavy cloak. "They’re not coming, are they?"

  Leticiel muffled a groan, more confused than she had been a moment ago as she caught the stray, curious gazes of the flowing crowd. Her face flushed, and she tapped tentatively at the Oni’s arm to get her to move, but the giant woman didn't respond.

  Silence fell between them as Baobao looked away, reaching out to give the Oni’s head a consoling pat. "They sent me a message a minute ago. Their morning class got rescheduled, so they had to log off early."

  The Oni's eyes slid shut, a deep frown creasing her brow. "Ah, so that's how it is," she muttered, Leticiel felt the vibrations of a resigned nod against her shoulder as the woman's jaw worked in silence. Then, a long, grumbling exhale brushed right against Leticiel's ear, followed by the Oni's fingers beginning to knead her shoulder in a distracted heavy-hand massage that shaped her inside muscles.

  When those eyes finally snapped open, Leticiel tried to steal a glance—only to find herself staring at a pair of black pupils. Suddenly, a furry orange tail slapped across her cheeks, and Mochi slumped his paws further down Leticiel's brow, blinkering much of her vision.

  "You," the Oni muttered, her voice cutting through the noise as she abruptly tightened her grip and twissted her around. "You just finished your Title Quest, didn't you?"

  Leticiel pried the paws away from her eyes, shoving them to the side. "I was about to… until—" She jabbed a finger toward the panda. "That guy showed up and started yapping out of nowhere." Then her gaze flicked to the giant woman before her, her voice fuming. "And then you showed up and started pushing me around."

  The Oni froze for a second before she let out a loud snort. She grinned, giving Leticiel a hearty, rattling pat on the back. "Sorry, sorry! I like you. Wanna run with us? We’ll teach you the ropes—the real ins and outs of this place."

  "I’m a casual player," Leticiel emphasized, firmly tapping the heavy hand away from her shoulder. "I move at a very leisurely pace." She paused, her gaze shifting between the two giants as she weighed her options. "But… I am interested."

  The Oni clapped her hands together once. "Perfect! Then it's settled."

  "Good." Baobao let out a heavy breath, adding: "And don't worry about the pace, we're also taking it leisurely—for the most part. We're currently planning on venturing the northern ruins of the Sava Settlements after we exist. Nothing aggressive."

  He paused, his gaze drifting toward the traffic before returning to her. "If you have any quests flagged around that area, we can take detours."

  "I might," Leticiel said. It wasn't a 'no,' but she found herself eyeing them with renewed suspicion.