The others stared at her in horrified silence. Likely, to these people, those great figures memorialized in stone were legendary, untouchable, perfect and supreme beings.
But to Melia, all she could see were her friends. And all the imperfections that came with them.
To be fair, more than half of the statues lining the Walk of Remembrance were figures from game lore. People Melia expected to see, as they had been present in the Walk in the game.
But the small crevice leading toward Horizon inside of the game had been maybe 100 yards, nothing more, with a total of 8 statues.
Not a mile long boulevard with dozens of memorials.
It started, the same as it had in the game, with the original kings and queens of Humanity.
That is to say: the dwarven king, the human king, the elven queen, and the representative from the beastkin tribes. They had names, histories, and lore of their own, which Melia knew and cherished, but to her, they weren’t real people. People she never met and talked to, had real interactions with. They were stories on a page, perhaps pixels on a screen.
What surprised her, stunned her speechless, was the addition of so many players.
At least 10 of the nearly 3 dozen statues Melia recognized instantly as the avatars of people she played with on a daily basis, some of those she had met in real life.
She did not, could not, see them as anything other than normal people.
Brandy Meredith.
Hank McCoy.
Wallace Thorne.
Ezekiel Zelenskyy.
Miguel Perez.
To Melia, they were her friends.
An inseparable playmate since childhood, Brandy made Melia whole.
A tired office worker that simply wanted to destress, Hank chose possibly the worst avenue to do so with managing a guild in an mmo.
A prodigy of mathematics, and most likely a whole lot more than he let on, all Melia really knew of Wallace was his kind, patient nature and distinctly highbrow British accent.
A natural drama queen, Zeke had more broody angst than a teenager’s secret journal written in middle school.
A dedicated stay at home dad, Miguel watched over his twin daughters while his wife went to work at her successful law firm.
They had their flaws, just as they had so many cherished, beloved quirks.
Miguel could only log on when the girls went down for a nap and his wife was running late. In a couple of years, he wouldn’t be able to log on much at all as his life got busier and busier.
It was only a matter of time before Wallace completed college, most likely with more than one masters. Probably in engineering. Melia secretly imagined him as some hidden, secret child of nobility, which was mostly defunct in her last world, but she always wondered if he would be able to do what he really wanted, and not simply what he was being told. She suspected his gaming sessions were a small act of rebellion on their own.
Hank would be depressing. Not because he was a depressing person, but because he was woefully overworked. He was always tired, always in need of some sort of rest, but he never got it, certainly not while playing this video game. The group used to joke darkly, perpetuated by Hank himself, that if he someday failed to log in after several days, somebody needed to check his cubicle to see if he died from exhaustion.
Brandy…Melia had a hard time thinking of Brandy, because it made her heart ache. There was so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to do. But now she couldn’t.
And Zeke…well, Melia would be lying if she said she didn’t care what happened to Zeke, but he was a grating individual. Everything with him was so extreme, so total or so final, oftentimes hopeless, oppressive, or insurmountable. Just talking to him was exhausting. Even something as simple and pointless as “which daily quest to do first” became a whole thing. And yet, maybe that was part of his charm? How he could make a mountain out of any molehill.
Melia glanced at every one of her new friends. They couldn’t believe, couldn’t process the utter disrespect somebody dared to show to these heroes worthy of praise.
“What do you mean?” Ellesea eventually asked.
“See his horns?” Melia asked, pointing toward the statue of a demon with bangs covering one eye and two lightning bolt shaped protrusions jutting from his forehead. The statue itself was probably 20 or 30 feet tall, easily seen by any travelers on the road, so her teammates nodded.
“They’re the same size.”
Demons in lore had many different types of horns. Different shapes, sizes, patterns…it was incredibly rare to find two sets of horns that were exactly alike. That being said, most horns fell into one of only a handful of styles. There was the ram horn style, antler or branching horn style, gentle curve (like a dragon) style, or rigidly straight style. They also only came in pairs, at least when attached to the side of a person’s head, or sometimes a single horn if it jutted out from their forehead. And, in 99 percent of the cases, horns grew symmetrically. With the exception of breaking a horn, which was seen as incredibly taboo or disrespectful to do in demon culture, finding a set of horns that were asymmetrical was incredibly rare.
It would be closer to say that it was impossible.
Zeke, like every other player that participated in the beta, did not play a demon from day one. They could not, because they were not a starting race, only released after the “demon lord” saga during the first expansion. From the second expansion onward, they were playable, and some old players, like Zeke, took the time required to recreate a brand new character…usually by paying money for a race change through the real money shop.
Zeke spent hours trying to get his emo edgelord just right. So long that it consumed him for every waking moment in the game for a full day, making him miss a weekly raid. Everything from how the hair of his pitch black bangs obscured his right eye as it fell across his face, his pale, certainly not white but also not granite ashen color skin, to the exact placement of every facial feature, such as the angle of the bridge of his nose to the thickness of his eyebrows.
Even his hidden eye was done thematically, to obscure the fact that he had given his character heterochromia, with the normal eye crimson red standard to demons, while the hidden eye was a gradient of silver to black, with a pentagram pattern for his pupil.
Functionally, it was pointless and useless, of course, but he wrote several pages of backstory regarding “hidden power” and keeping his “inner demon in check”.
More than a single dungeon had failed because the rest of the team muted Zeke on voice chat thanks to his penchant for theatrical rambling.
But his horns.
The statue showed Zeke as having two normal (albeit jagged and edgy), lighting bolt shaped horns. They were symmetrical, as demon horns were, despite the hours Zeke spent fiddling with the character creator to finally allow him to make them asymmetrical.
Originally, Zeke wanted to create two horns that initially had symmetry, but the left horn would be broken in half, giving him a more rugged appearance (or something), but that wasn’t an option. Either he could have two full horns, or a single horn. Nothing in between.
After many, many frustrating hours, he finally found a way to bend the rules of the game to his will and give him his desired asymmetry…and the left horn was only about a quarter smaller than the right. After all that work, he barely had anything to show for it. Everyone in the guild teased him mercilessly for it, because unless somebody was really studying his horns, they looked exactly the same.
And so they did on the statue, too.
Only Melia, already keen to what the original was supposed to look like, knew to look closer. It was clear that, either from laziness, lack of time, or some other creative license, statue-Zeke’s horns were created symmetrical.
“His horns are both the same size,” Melia smiled nostalgically. “They weren’t. The left horn was verrry slightly smaller than the right.”
The group looked very awkward, but it was Y’cennia who put their thoughts to words.
“Should you really be making fun of a demon’s horns like that? They can’t control how they grow.”
“Oh!” Melia snapped up on surprise. “You misunderstand. He was incredibly proud of the fact they weren’t symmetrical and he used to point it out all the time. It got so annoying to listen to, especially since you couldn’t tell unless you were standing directly in front of him staring at his face. We only started giving him grief because he was so full of himself.”
The others all stared out the window, peering back at the statue as it rolled passed behind them. When they pulled themselves back in, they had thoughtful looks on their faces.
Melia wondered if they were seeing their “heroes” in a new light.
“They were just normal people, like all of you,” she said gently, not wanting to look any of them in the eye. She lowered her voice, likely so nobody else could hear, “Like me.”
Melia’s mind was busy burning the image of her friends as they appeared to the game world into her brain.
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Eluna Brandywine, the elven [Cleric], tall, graceful, with a loving, gentle smile. Practically a [Saint], and if that was an evolved class here in this world, maybe they would honor her with it.
Hank “the tank” Steelbraid. Dwarven protection [Warrior]. Stoic and silent, he embodied “speak softly and carry a big stick”.
Wallace Thornehide, wolfkin [Druid]. He was one of the most skilled [Druids], able to master three entire disciplines: restoration, protection, and damage. He never let anybody’s background dictate how he treated them, commoner and nobility alike.
(Ezekiel) Thanatos Sorrowgrave. Pompous and self righteous demon [Warlock]. The foremost expert in extra-planar Summonology.
Not much was known about the enigmatic Miguel. Only that he was a human [Red Mage] who stood out as a generalist in a world where specialists reigned supreme.
Melia’s friends were not the only players that became immortalized in statue form along with the heroes of this world. Several big names from other big guilds made it too, such as the leader of the biggest pvp guild “[Victorious Secret]” (whose name Melia found immensely amusing), an elven [Rogue], and several members of the top progression and raiding guild “[Exodus]”. Its leader, Fabre (a dwarf [Paladin]), was one of the few close friends she made outside of [Daybreakers], and she had earned his respect enough to be invited to several of his raids.
She was so lost in thought, reminiscing over old adventures in the game, that she didn’t notice the carriage enter the city proper. She was only shaken from her recollections when Jessica lifted her physically from her seat and carried her off the carriage.
“We’re here,” Jessica said with a slight smile. Melia blinked once or twice and wiggled, the universal sign to be put down. She wasn’t going to fight her friends if she was in their arms, but she wanted to experience her first visit to the big city from her own viewpoint.
Horizon was vast in the game and the translation to real life had not shrunk it in the slightest. It was a city that could only exist inside a video game…or fantasy world. For as large as it was- several miles in each direction -, and for as many people as it housed, there were far too many layers.
The city was built into and upon the cliffs, jutting out into the bay to create a thriving port and harbor. Not only did it sprawl out to fill the entire harbor valley, but it rose into the sky with many layers billowing out of towering spires of rock, connected by a maze of twisting and confusing, but elegant, stone highways.
It was either a miracle of engineering or magic was at play to keep the stone highways supported without crumbling. Melia suspected it might be both.
The carriage let them off at one of the many “main” squares. Horizon didn’t have one official main square in the game or in real life, but there was generally a large square, circle, or plaza in each district that showcased statues, fountains, or other art that might be significant to the area.
They were in an affluent merchant’s district called “Inn and Stable Lane”, which was perhaps a poor name for the district since most of the stables moved away long ago so the smell from horses and other animals didn’t offend any upper crust sensibilities. It was not a nobles’ district, since they would either have huge manors with private stables on their grounds, or very fancy, very premium stables with enchantments to block or eliminate odors.
Melia found herself on the sidewalk of a broad stone highway, paved with massive stones keenly set together so there were hardly any cracks or gaps. There were so many more people out and about compared to Hammerfall or Abbyton that Melia felt overwhelmed. She was almost trampled several times by unobservant citizens hurrying about their day, barely paying attention to where they were going. She was quickly scooped up by Jessica once again, but this time she didn’t fight it.
And from her newfound perspective, she could see so much more of the crowd.
Horizon may have been the capital of the human lands, but it was not a human-only city. At a glance, Melia could see representatives from every race mingling about inside this melting pot, which brought a smile to her face.
Even if the only elf to pass by took one look at her and scowled.
Melia watched them disappear into what might have been a clothing store and she had an interesting thought.
The difference between the real world and the game world once again reared its head. There wasn’t one singular place for somebody to pop into, buy all their things, replace their potions and consumables, and head back out. That store likely only sold clothing, or clothing adjacent accessories. When this was a game, she wouldn’t really ever have a reason to go into a side shop in a far away location such as this, even if it was still considered part of the main thoroughfare.
In the beginning, the devs had tried to force the world to adapt to realism by having certain vendors at certain points on the map, but players complained. Nobody wanted to do virtual chores with shopping; they wanted to buy their junk and head back to the auction house to afk or get back out into the wilds and hunt monsters or tackle dungeons. Wandering around town to find unique vendors with special goods or limited offerings was more work than it was worth.
But real life was not so simple.
Without the Amazons and Walmarts of corporate kingdoms, there wasn’t a single one-stop destination or big box store a person could visit to buy everything they needed. Instead, streets and entire districts were devoted to the minutiae of mom and pop establishments catering to every whim in every social class.
Even in the heyday of brick and mortar stores on earth, which had mostly vanished before Melia was born, they likely could not have competed with Ebonvale’s quaint commercialism.
Not with whatever skills and classes the system provided to help individual store owners and workers.
Melia already knew this real world differed from the video game in the sense that combat classes weren't the majority of classes everybody chose, and killing monsters wasn’t the primary way to level. Other professions existed, though never to the same lofty heights in levels as an adventurer.
Part of Melia wondered if those corporate giants could even exist here, if the appeal of mass market, cheap goods could compete with the supreme quality a system enhanced personal touch provided.
Or would those select few crafters, tradesmen, and possibly retail clerks simply be absorbed into a weird, wild amalgamation of a high-level corporate retail guild?
Melia couldn’t say. Maybe something like that already existed. If it did, it wasn’t inside Horizon, which being the capital human city, told Melia it was unlikely to exist at all.
The group left Inn and Stable Lane and started working their way through the confusing highways rising from surface level toward outcroppings and bridges connecting more spires. Melia glanced multiple times through her system options to see if a map had traveled with her, but there was no such thing. She thought she knew Horizon like the back of her hand…but like the actual back of her real hand, she didn’t actually spend all day staring at it and couldn’t recite from memory what it really looked like. She waved away the temporary inconvenience and smiled, determined to simply learn again.
Despite the confusing and seemingly impossible layout of the fantasy capital, there were several things to remain consistent. Districts, for one, were mostly the same in content if not in exact layout or size. Melia could see several towering buildings perched upon the tops of several towering tables of rock, their own communities built up around them. There was the Cathedral District, which housed Celestara’s followers’ main temple, the Bastion of Light. The Academic District, with the many spires dedicated to multiple branches of education and enlightenment sprouting out of the academy grounds. And, of course, the castle itself, to the far west, built upon the cliffs overlooking the waters and ports below. In the game, the castle took up a solid chunk of the city map, at least a fifth, and while that was clearly not the case here, it was certainly massive. Melia had never seen a structure so huge and imposing, and she assumed it took up the space of a normal district all on its own.
But they were not headed toward any of those, at least Melia wasn’t. Ellesea was, which reminded Melia that they came to Horizon to drop their party member off at school first and foremost, and her errand to the bank was secondary. They hopped aboard a small inter-city trolley that took them up a rising highway to a hub outside of the academy gates, which left Melia gaping in wonder. She didn’t have time to take in many details and barely had the presence of mind to wave goodbye to her new teammate before they were off again.
Alastair left them at the base of the highway leading up to the Bastion. Melia watched him trudge slowly up the stone highway as they continued toward the Financial District and wondered why he didn’t ride all the way to the top. Apparently it was something of a mini-pilgrimage for devouts that hadn’t visited for a while to make the trek from the base of the spire. Even though Alastair visited often, he made it a tradition to remember his roots, lest he become arrogant. Melia didn’t think he had anything to worry about on that front, but she respected his commitment.
That left Melia, Jessica, and Y’cennia riding the trolley toward a massive fountain in a beautiful square, which was overshadowed by the magnificent castle in the background. Had Melia torn her eyes away from the skyline earlier, she would have seen the tip of a massive crystal jutting from the ground, which the fountain was built around, much earlier. As it was, she gasped.
Standing easily the same height as all the single story buildings in the plaza around it, Melia was intimately familiar with this particular pointy rock. Of course, calling it a simple rock was grievously offensive, as any museum or geologist in her previous world would have bankrupted themselves for just a chance to touch it, let alone own even a portion of it. Something like this simply wasn’t possible in her old world, because the crystal was made of solidified mana, or manastone, which only formed along leylines and could not be easily broken, shaped, or even moved. Essentially, this fountain, and the plaza, and perhaps the entire city, was built around the crystal, not the other way around.
And for good reason.
Besides being a beautiful sky blue crystal with intricate formations, glistening in the water-dappled sunlight, it was intensely magical. In the game, this crystal could be used to fast travel between destinations, and Melia was both surprised and fascinated to watch a magical formation write itself into the fabric of reality in the empty air, only for a moment later to shine a flash of blinding light and suddenly a person was standing there, dusting off their finely tailored suit and hurrying about their day.
That answered the question if warping was still possible, since Melia had tried once or twice but all of her discovered locations were mysteriously missing. She supposed that in this life, in reality, she had not actually attuned herself to any. Or maybe they somehow expired, if this body really did exist before she woke up? Jessica filled her line of sight, tracking the person who just warped into town, and decided to add her own commentary.
“Rich stiffs,” she grumbled, and Melia tilted her head in confusion.
“What?” Jessica scoffed. “You think just anybody can ride the aetherlines?”
“Yes?” Melia responded hopefully. She didn’t mind walking around the kingdom (nevermind the fact she was currently being carried), but she couldn’t discount the convenience of instant transportation.
“Well, okay, yeah,” Jessica grumbled, “But do you think everyone can afford it? I only have Hammerfall registered, which is the closest connected crystal, and that’s 28 gold for a one way trip!”
Melia digested that tidbit as Jessica continued to grumble. Yes, she could understand why they only saw a handful of people warping in compared to the hundreds of people busy about their day in the busy plaza. To her, 28 gold was insignificant. Not even a fraction of a percent of her savings. In the game, once a player was past the 20s or 30s in level, earning gold was easy, if sometimes time consuming. A solid dungeon run at that level would net a player 2 to 3 gold in vendor trash items alone, not to mention actual coin drops or if they were willing to sell anything else. And that wasn’t saying anything about max level characters doing max level things. 300 gold was obtainable in minutes, let alone hours, and her bank account had more digits than an international phone number.
From what Jessica was saying, though, 28 gold was far, far out of reach for any of her new team. Perhaps they would earn that in a few months, maybe half a year at their rate. Of course, Ellesea had her own funds, which mostly went toward her own schooling, and a good portion of the team’s earnings did go toward their [Alchemist], so it wasn’t an exact indicator of their finances, but Melia understood.
And that was only if they wanted to travel quickly back to Hammerfall.
Who knows where these people were porting in from?
Melia did find it curious that none of them seemed to be adventurers, or at least they were not dressed in armor, carrying weapons. They looked like they were traveling in to work at offices, if Melia was honest, which was slightly messing with her brain. But why wouldn’t wealthy businessmen take the most convenient option when traveling to work? They did it all the time in her last world, owning expensive cars and wearing designer suits. Maybe this was the equivalent of taking a private jet?
Melia couldn’t help but smile. If she wanted, she could not only take that jet, but she owned the entire airline. Sort of. Something like that. And she was already subconsciously wondering how she could share that wealth with her new team. It wasn’t like they always wanted to take carriages back and forth from areas they could level in back to Horizon so Ellesea and Alastair could live their lives outside of battle. And it wouldn’t even take away from the experience of exploring the world, since they first had to attune to crystals in order to warp to them. Melia was already mentally reviewing the recipe for a miniature leycrystal, which she could put in player housing, and wondered if she could adapt it to the abbey.
But all of that would have to wait, because Jessica jostled her in her arms, setting the small gnome down onto the ground proper at the top of a set of beautiful marble steps leading into a striking marble building. The Bank of Horizon.
“We’re here.”
