Kieran

  Kieran sat up straight in his chair when [áine] addressed Caoimhe directly. Without warning, it seemed as though whatever this event was going to be had begun.

  [áine’s] last line, “Very well then. Shall we begin, Speaker? What exactly are you here for?” displayed on his screen in a special text box, in the middle of the screen. It was a dialogue box design he had never seen before, which made the whole thing feel more significant, with the edges of the text box decorated with motifs reminiscent of [áine’s] wings.

  On the lower right portion of his screen, right where they usually appeared, were apparently various response options that he could pick. However, like with [Aine’s] text box, the options were displayed in their own unique pop up window, clearly designed based on Caoimhe’s character design. While they didn’t utilize any of the fully customized parts of Caoimhe’s design, they did make use of the butterfly style wings Kieran had chosen, as well as Caoimhe’s current hair color.

  Kieran considered the options left before him, reading them aloud for the party. “Okay. We have ‘We’re here to discuss returning flight to the fighters of [Mag Mell].’, ‘[Mag Mell] needs your help.’, and ‘The [Dagda] believes you might be willing to help us fight against the Fomorians.’.”

  “I think the first one is the obvious choice here.” Firo said.

  “Agreed.” Ash offered. “I think a nebulous request for help could turn out poorly with the Fae, and name-dropping the Dagda to sidestep our being here feels like a trap.”

  Kieran agreed, but he waited for everyone else to offer their thoughts first. Everyone seemed to agree with Ash, except for Evan and Nyx, who thought that mentioning the [Dagda] might actually be to their credit.

  They were outvoted though, so Kieran took the first option. [áine] narrowed her eyes, and the camera view on Kieran’s screen had zoomed in on the Queen’s face enough that she took up most of the screen. With his distance from his monitor and the size of it, [áine’s] face was basically equivalent to a normal person’s right in front of him.

  “And why should I even consider that?” [áine] asked. “The last time we worked with the [Aes Sídhe] and the humans they treated us as expendable pawns. As far as I’m concerned, they got off lightly when I chose to simply remove their ability to fly, instead of doing worse.” She sneered at the camera as she added, “They’re lucky they’re still alive.”

  When Kieran had the chance to respond and his options popped up, his stomach dropped.

  At the top of the window that displayed his options, there was a bar that was slowly going down. He had no doubt about what it was. And he was suddenly more sure than ever that this wasn’t just a cutscene. He had been thrown into a one-on-one boss fight that was taking place through dialogue alone.

  “Uh, guys, there’s a timer now. And it’s not a long one.” Kieran said, as he quickly read over his options, trying to pick one.

  “Okay, that’s fine. You don’t have to read them to us every time.” Ash said, “We were shown your line of choice, and then saw áine’s response. Since it was fully voiced, there’s plenty of time to consider it.”

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  Kieran watched as the timer ticked down on his screen, and picked the response that he felt was best. If this was to be a ‘boss fight’, he couldn’t play this too passively. He knew he would need to be wary of angering the Queen too much, but he felt like he needed to get her on the back foot and keep her there.

  “We’re not the [Aes Sídhe]. They died hundreds of years ago. We’re not here for them.” Caoimhe responded.

  “We can just talk over her response and you can take what we say into account in your response, Caoimhe.” Marissa said.

  “Yep, we got your back.” Evan said.

  “Don’t just pick whatever is the closest to what we say, though, yeah? Use your best judgement.” Ash said.

  “What Mello said.” Firo agreed.

  “Definitely ignore what Aleister says.” Nyx said. “And maybe Fiona too.”

  “Hey!”

  “Is that so?” [áine] said, seemingly unimpressed. “You say the [Aes Sídhe] died hundreds of years ago, and yet you are here, bearing flightless Fae wings, just like they did. What makes you so different?”

  Kieran quickly looked over his options, considering where to go next. He could take a few different routes, apparently, from changing the subject, to bringing up specific bits of information.

  One of his current options was clearly a lie, though, and that made him unsure of how to proceed. He could apparently try to lie his way through the situation, as the lying option, “Have you not heard? The [Dagda] rebelled, the [Aes Sídhe] no longer exist,” wasn’t quite the truth, but could turn out to be a convenient lie if the [Dagda] cooperated with it.

  However, he wasn’t sure if he could potentially lie their way out of this, picking the convenient options when they appeared, or if a lie would immediately get them caught and killed. At least for the moment, he wanted to keep an eye on the lying options while avoiding them.

  “We are not our ancestors. We don’t bear a grudge against the [Seelie Court].” Seemed to be the best option that Kieran had so he took it.

  [áine] narrowed her eyes at Caoimhe, but didn’t immediately bite back like Kieran had expected. “And, for the moment, the [Seelie Court] doesn’t bear a grudge against you, either, wingless.” There was a beat of silence before she continued, “While the Fae that remain on this side live for thousands of years, we do understand how life on the other side works. I know you are not responsible for your ancestor’s choices.”

  “That’s…not what I expected.” Nyx said.

  “Me either.” Firo agreed.

  Kieran agreed as he read over his options to respond as the party chatted briefly about how they expected the Queen to be much more unforgiving. Unfortunately, he didn’t love any of the options he was being given in this round. They all seemed to be jumping to a resolution too quickly, which he didn’t feel they had earned yet.

  And yet, there was something about the slight smirk and relaxed amusement on [áine’s] face that was rubbing Kieran the wrong way. He was genuinely confused whether he was reading too much into the whole thing, or if he was supposed to.

  He opted for what he felt was the most neutral of his options; “You’re not withholding the ability to fly out of spite, then.”

  “Not really, no.” [áine] replied. “While you may not be responsible for the suffering of the [Seelie Court] in the [First War], you are led by those who are. And they have yet to even attempt to bridge this gap in any meaningful way. Other than the [Dagda], at least.”

  “You mean the [Tuatha Dé Danann],” was the only option that Kieran could pick that made any sense at all.

  “Yes,” [áine] said. “Most of [Mag Mell] is united under their banner. And while the [Dagda] has spent a millennium trying to convince me they aren’t so bad, I simply cannot forgive the rest.”

  “We were told that the magic you used to seal flight was part of an agreement with the [Dagda].”

  “It was. Still is.” [áine] said, her slight grin slowly growing. “He was quite the negotiator, that one. Tricky bastard. I was impressed with him when we made that contract.”

  Something about the way she mentioned the [Dagda] pulled at Kieran’s mind. A Fae calling someone tricky and complimenting their negotiating skills was not something they would do lightly. That made him curious, and it seemed like one of his options would let him pursue that.

  “The [Dagda] was tricky? He seemed like nothing more than a wise old man to us.”

  [áine] scoffed at that. “He would. That man is simultaneously one of the smartest and dumbest men I’ve ever met. I’ve had to deal with him calling on me regularly for a thousand years thanks to our little agreement, and he is…chatty.”

  The next list of responses made Kieran pause. There were the ones he expected, but there was also one that mentioned [Fae Contracts]. While it wasn’t a term that was mentioned much within the main story, its inclusion here made him consider what he knew of the game’s lore.

  [Fae Contracts] were incredibly powerful magic, according to the game’s lore. They were incredibly rare because of how binding they were, and because people - Human and Fae alike - were wary of being bound by magic in that way. Or worse, being maliciously tricked into it.

  But the way the dots connected made sense for Kieran, and if it turned out to be correct, it was too good to pass up. Not to mention, [áine] had even used the word ‘contract’ earlier. “The [Aes Sídhe] can’t fly because of a [Fae Contract]. That’s it, isn’t it?”

  Kieran swore he noticed [áine’s] eyes shine as she responded, as if he was on to something. “Well. Such a [Contract] would be more than powerful enough to create that effect, but no. Affecting large groups of people like that are typically the domain of [Curses]. As I’m sure you’re aware.”

  He was, indeed, aware. There were multiple [Curses] floating around the game that affected whole races at a time - including their descendants. Such a [Curse] could, conceivably, be responsible for the current situation.

  But there was something in [áine’s] expression that made Kieran second guess believing her. They had been warned multiple times that the Fae might try to trick them, and Kieran kept telling himself that he needed to be wary of them. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that mentioning the [Fae Contract] had been the right move.

  As he was going over his current options for a response, one of the options was “You’re lying. There is a [Contract].” and while Kieran was hesitant to outright call the Queen a liar, he felt like the game was really pushing him toward it.

  Kieran closed his eyes for a moment, wrestling with himself over the options. He really wanted to push that red button.

  Kieran had other options that clearly were leading toward other potential routes. One was a clear attempt to bridge the gap between the [Seelie Court] and the [Tuatha Dé Danann], but he honestly felt that was a losing battle. [áine] seemed pretty clear on her stance against them.

  Second was to make use of some of the lies that kept coming up, though he didn’t trust them to carry them through this situation safely. And even then, the options that were currently coming up weren’t all that attractive as lies to begin with, nor did they feel useful. He suspected that they were simply red herring choices, or actual ‘bad endings’.

  The third option was the one that appeared the most attractive. “If you truly refuse to help us, help yourselves. If we fall, the Fomorians will be coming for you next.”

  It was the reason that both the [Dagda] and [Scathach] had offered as a likely solution to convince [áine] to help them. Kieran felt like the game was purposefully pulling him in the two directions. The [Dagda] and [Scathach] option was clear, while [áine’s] reactions clearly wanted him to call her out. Or at least pursue the [Contract] angle.

  “Do you guys trust me?”

  “Say what now?” Jazz shot back.

  “I have an option here that I want to press, but it might get us in trouble.” Kieran said, eyeing the countdown warily. He probably had fifteen or twenty seconds to decide, max.

  “I trust you.” Evan said, although he didn’t sound like he was taking this too seriously.

  “I do too,” Firo said, “Although, I also trust that the devs wouldn’t actively do anything too punishing to the players.”

  “I’m with Firo. We have two levels of safety net here. I think it’s fine if you go for it.” Marissa said.

  “Yup, just do it.” Evie said, and Ash agreed after she did.

  “Push the button, bro.” Jazz said finally.

  So Kieran did. “You’re lying, aren’t you? There is a [Fae Contract].”

  Once again, [áine] looked almost proud, despite denying it once again. “There is no [Fae Contract] involved. As I said, there is [Curse] magic at work that forbids those living in [Mag Mell] access to the magic necessary for flight.”

  She paused as she grinned wickedly at the camera, then threw her arms up and opened them wide dramatically as she declared, “[Curses] are great! They can cause widespread effects, and are air tight spells that are difficult to break. They can help a race of water folk permanently breathe outside the water, or turn a group of crows into people. They can even seal someone’s ability to speak, if so desired.”

  When Kieran saw his next group of options, he laughed with relief when one of them aligned with his thoughts exactly.

  “I think we’re in the clear, guys. I’m pretty sure I understand what’s going on here, now.”