The Devil In White: An AA Online Novel

"Incredible." Aidan murmured, lulling Amelia back from her own musings.

"What?" Amelia wished he would stop what he was doing and talk with her. This was turning into an excruciatingly long and boring march. She had already written about it in her Chronicler book, but there was only so much detail you could write down about plodding forward stabbing giant over-sized insects and rats. Or at least watching other people stab them.

"You can fuse certain spells together when you rename them." Aidan smiled.

"Like what?" Amelia was immediately interested. "Like different schools?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I was editing [Illusion Fog] and noticed after I leveled up to Beginner 3 that there's a separate pane with all the spells. I tried adding like, [Electric Manipulation], but it just rebounded me back to the menu. Then I picked [Illusion Mirage - Duplication] and it asked me if I wanted to make a fused spell." Aidan paused. "Which I just said yes to. I can cast mirror images of myself into my [Illusion Fog]. One cast. Larger mana cost looks like the combined cost. In my graphics window, my mirror images appeared in my fog and I have options to change features and colors on both."

Amelia had stopped in her tracks, and Aidan turned slowly toward her wearing a confused expression when he noticed her not keeping pace. "What?"

"What were you editing fog for?" She blurted out. What she really wanted to ask him was why he wasn't freaking out. Amelia was already excited just hearing about the possibility of fusing spells, but he seemed more interested in the look of it.

"Well fog is boring, isn't it? But if you think about it if you can edit fog it can be something really cool." The excitement started to creep into his voice. "It's a 20-yard spell used to obscure the vision of enemies, but you can change it from dull gray to something else. Like I could make… I don't know, morning mist fog. Or, and this is what I'm doing, you can add in shapes by distorting layers and colors."

"Shapes?" Amelia said doubtfully.

"Yeah. Make it look like a landscape." Aidan grinned. "Now I can add in people. In the fog, the 'other Aidans' look incorporeal or far away. Hey. I bet I can edit my mirror images to look like other people."

"Ah. I wish I could see your window." Amelia complained. "When I log out maybe I'll see if I can do out-of-game mode and try to figure out what you're talking about."

"I don't think so," Aidan said sadly. "None of these options were available in the out-of-game mode. That and I don't think you can do most of the spells. The fog is from the Illusion school."

"How many schools did you keep?" Amelia asked.

"All of them," Aidan replied, turning his back and walking.

"I guess. That makes sense." Amelia frowned. "Is that one of the prerequisites for Order of the White?"

"Yes. I think it's the only prerequisite other than level 100 and defeat of a World Boss." Aidan muttered obviously devoting little attention to her now.

"Oh yes. Just level 100 and a World Boss." Amelia snickered. Fred chose that moment to flitter between them. Probably because she had been moving erratically for the last minute or so. "Oh shut up Fred." Amelia swatted at it, but of course, it moved to allow her it's designed space, looking for all the world like it flitted out of the way benevolently.

"Haha." Aidan laughed at her, though he hadn't turned around. It was like he was all-seeing.

Peevishly Amelia took out her staff and started lazily swatting at Fred. Fred always managed to zip away from the end of her staff. It was a spell designed to stay out of the way and illuminate an area. The game always made sure that when she was close to catching it that it would zip to the best escape route. Her waving her staff around made it look like it was trying incredibly hard to stay near her while avoiding her at the same time. The wings actually beat faster.

Before long Amelia heard snickering behind her, and she realized she had an audience. Several of the healers and tradesman behind her had been watching her vain attempts to capture Fred, and had started nudging each other. "I'll give you 1000 Gold if you can catch that." Amelia retorted at them. Suddenly they were looking at each other. Before long there was a swarm of people around Amelia, and she led the charge. Curses rang out as people actually jumped and leapt trying to catch the luminous ball. It floated gracefully, zoomed speedily, and of course didn't tire. In the end, everyone including Amelia gave up; Fred had defeated them.

One of the players was laughing, still on the ground, and he kept laughing. Finally, he looked up, smiling impishly. "I haven't played in a game in a long time. You know, just to be silly?" He had red hair and a goatee. He quickly stood up and introduced himself as Gabriel. His information showed him as a warrior with a strong emphasis to the shield, "but I'm going to be a Paladin." He explained when she asked about it.

"Going to be? Is it hard to meet the requisites?" Aidan asked, suckered in by the conversation. He had been watching them play.

"No. But I've tried the three known Orders and they're… not for me really. I think I'm getting a nickname with the Residents." He scowled. "The god-jumper or something."

"What about them didn't you like?" Amelia asked.

"Well, they're all city-centric for one thing. The tasks aren't for wandering or exploring, and what some of the tenets of faith describe as loyalty and bravery I don't agree with. If a Resident city appears and is threatened by a Dragon, the Brack Kingdom will send knights and paladins. But it's really the fault of the new village for locating to an area with a dragon isn't it?" He shook his head.

He now had Aidan's total interest. It was almost like Aidan had appeared between them. Amelia knew that evil smile. "Really?"

"Yeah. There are some other things. I want to be a shield for my allies, but a Paladin must abstain from violence whenever possible. It seems disingenuous to agree to that and then go look for conflict. The Residents don't really get it. Most Transients too I guess." Gabriel added.

"Perhaps you should pray." Aidan offered.

"I'm not following," Gabriel said. "If you pray to a chosen deity they may grace you with a quest or a benefit. Maybe even status or reputation if you've done enough and you pray enough or donate enough. I've just said I have no d.e.s.i.r.e to venerate them."

"Pray to someone else then." Aidan was grinning that child smile again. Amelia was hiding her own. Aidan was playing with Gabriel in the way he played with people he liked. It could come off as really obnoxious, but it was Aidan poking at your sore spots to see what you would do, and to see if you noticed you had sore spots.

"Dear someone else? I pray that you entreat me with some idea of where you are and if you're for me?" Gabriel asked crossly. He was starting to lose his mirth.

"Residents pray to gods that they know exist in the game. Couldn't it be said that there are innumerable hidden gods?" Aidan pressed smoothly.

"Sure, but if I was a Hidden God I'd want some applicant to know my name or.. something." Gabriel said, getting fl.u.s.tered.

"But you don't care about his name." Aidan persisted. "You want to follow your own brand of justice. Shouldn't your god also care about your values if they are his values? Or her values? Who cares if you offend or get ignored by all those other jerks."

Gabriel stared at Aidan, and then slowly turned to Amelia. "I don't know if your friend is gifted or touched in the head."

"Sometimes I think it's both." Amelia offered.

"Rude." Aidan sighed.

"Well, I must be touched too. It makes me feel like I have an idea of what to do, even if nothing comes of it. I'm going to LOOK touched, kneeling and praying toward someone I don't know." Gabriel was smiling though, and after a moment he was lost in thought and had drifted back toward his friends.

"Was that alright?" Amelia asked Aidan. "He could just talk to empty air for a whole year. Maybe there isn't any deity that will respond to his values, and even if there is it might just ignore him until it's land or temple is unlocked."

"What do you think about this game?" Aidan asked her in response.

"Uhh. In what way? Gods?" Amelia asked.

"Sure. Though I guess I could tell you what I'm thinking." Aidan turned toward her and spread his hands outward. "When I think of this game I think of a world generated by an AI that is desperate. Desperate to play with us, create, interact, help, challenge, destroy, renew. A child that continually evolves based on our feedback. This new content could destroy this world. Truly destroy it. Residents and cities could disappear, the visage could wash players all the way to the starter zone and camp them. That is a very real possibility." Aidan said solemnly with a single raised finger.

Amelia's stomach was doing flip flops. "I think everyone is starting to realize that, at different levels. When the spider was reeling us in, I was thinking about all the beautiful places I've been that will be destroyed. Even the monsters will be turned into visage won't they?" Aidan had nodded, eyes darting around them. When he was sure that no one had overheard that part he looked relieved. He also seemed to be surprised that Amelia had thought of it. The moment passed.

"I don't think like that though. I think that the game, the AI, the true god of this world or however you want to describe it doesn't denigrate us." Aidan said, and he smiled. "Don't look down on humanity! We think it all the time don't we in some way? People like me tell you something can't be done and you get churlish and defy me. People like you who think they're ordinary rise above at crucial moments. If anything, I think the AI understands something really important about players."

"I don't know," Amelia argued. "Most people want to win. They will avoid things that are hard. So if the game is too hard won't the game be unplayable?"

"Not at all. I think you're looking down on humans." Aidan reached out with his staff and lightly touched her shoulder. "I think the game thinks, 'don't underestimate those humans'."

"...and what of the god of Last Sojourn? What do you think it meant?" Amelia asked carefully.

"I think the god of Last Sojourn, or the engine, was simply a corrupted one." Aidan said at last. "People aren't opponents or enemies, but in that place the only solution to any problem was death."

"Will you tell me about that last fight?" Amelia asked.

"No." Aidan said. "But I will show you my new spell!"

Amelia stopped, realizing that the group had decided to take a break. Several hundred Transients and Residents had stopped and were engaged in small talk, or breaking out cooking equipment or mobile forges for armor repair. "Seems to be a good time."

"Right. Follow me." Aidan led her to the rear of the group toward the part of the hallway that had been cleared, and when they were far enough away not to interfere with those conversations but not out of eyesight, he cast his spell. "[Starry Knight]."

The illusion spell crept out at a rapid pace, 20 yards in length and width, though the cavern was much smaller than that. It gave the hallway the appearance of a room. Amelia gasped. Aidan had managed to capture Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. A great dark tower rose in the background of the illusion magic, and even though everything was blurred and created a cover against enemies each layer had been colored and littered with stars. There was no town, but there were thousands of more stars than in the painting. Mixed between these layers by distance, were images of Aidan. It looked like people were walking along this long road toward a tower far in the distance, even if most of them were Aidan. A few, she realized after staring, were not Aidan. Near the front toward the Tower was Aidan of course, and there looking over her shoulder with a grin and one hand on her sword was Raven. Forsythe was not looking back but stood on his right. Near the rear of the party Amelia recognized the back profile of herself, hood drawn, one hand resting on her book. "My god Aidan…" Amelia was breathless, and if she could have cried in the game she might have. It was one thing to see the portrait on the wall, and another thing to be able to walk through it. In addition to all of that, the textures and colours made it look abnormal. The usual crystal clear resolution was thrown to the wind, and blurring and distortions gave it an otherworldly feel.

"Hah! I leveled up from casting it. Err, the Graphics job not my actual level." He explained quickly. "Not bad huh?"

"I thought you didn't paint?" Amelia whispered.

"Well, this isn't painting. It's just shapes and layers of color. As you advance through it you lose certain colors and pass certain stars and it just becomes a blanket of blue at some point with a huge black that goes up to the ceiling." He explained.

"You did this from memory? In the game?" She demanded.

"Well sure, but I don't know how many stars were actually in that painting so I added as many as I possibly could at different sizes and at different layers. It's actually more starry than Starry Night." Aidan said, critiquing himself.

"What is this?"

"Holy crap."

"Is that a Van Gogh?"

"That's a lot of people in there."

People from the rear of the group had noticed the illusion magic and were wandering back, all of them beginning to wander through the various layers. Amazement hung in the air and people began questioning Aidan about what he did. He explained modestly and apologized for not being able to show them his graphics window, which was really not something most of them cared about as much as he did. He did his best to describe what he had done. All the while Amelia simply stared at the group near the tower, feeling her heart lift. "Examine."

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[Starry Knight] - Fused spell with Illusion magic FOG and IMAGES.

The specialist that created this combined illusion spell captured a starry night sky and a long journey to a dark tower. It is littered with his likeness, but most notably, with a brave group of adventurers at the rear who have been painstakingly rendered. Enemies encountering [Starry Knight] are likely to attack the images, and enemies attempting to cast or shoot through it are far more likely to miss.

Exceptional Quality.

Created by Aidan.

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"I can't give this to you," Aidan complained, breaking Amelia's train of thought. "It's personal. I can give you the field generally though, on a template. But it will be your images. I can't have you all running around with my face everywhere you go."

Aidan was now fighting a growing and impatient crowd who all wanted this spell and its graphics, as well as Fred! Some had not forgotten about Fred, and when it was pointed out everyone insisted that he make them one. Aidan was looking like he was ready to escape.

Amelia passed through the throng and everyone quieted after she asked him the question. "You did this while we were walking?"

"Well, yeah. I've only had the job for one day you know. Less than a day." Aidan looked grateful for the interruption.

"When we get to the city he'll be there. You can bribe him then. He is easily winnable by story's about you, and perhaps small trinkets." Amelia turned and began addressing the crowd. "He's an asshole, and a jerk, but he's a good person so please bear that in mind when he insults you. He doesn't ACTUALLY mean it, even though he does. If you have a good idea for a spell or a graphic he'll probably do it because he's compelled to, he's kind of stupid."

"What the hell Amelia?" Aidan sputtered. "I'm not a chimp and not a holiday card company!"

"See?" The laughter started to spread, and before long the crowd began dispersing.

A few people in the crowd lingered, their gaze slow to turn away from either Amelia and Aidan as they talked, a speculative gleam in their eyes.