The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Cael leafed through his quest log. He saw that he had completed most of the standard MMO quests for new players: kill 20 rats, deliver a potion to the Alchemist's Store, kill the rat boss, kill the chicken that is not a chicken and is rather - wait, he hadn't completed that quest. In the lowest tier of quests, there was a quest with the following task: 'Kill the chicken that is not a chicken.' It was marked incomplete.

A strange task. However, before he took to questing, he sought new equipment and spells in Kruxol. Cael entered the Alchemist's Store. Looking around, he could see some tightly locked containers, probably containing high-level scrolls or equipment. He wasn't going to be looking through those just yet, however. He asked the shopkeeper what basic staffs were available, and was told, "Two are available that you may wield. One is the [Minor Arcane Staff], which boosts INT by 240 but cannot block attacks. It costs 2300 gold. The other is the [Adept Combat Staff], which has two slots for gems, can block enemy attacks based on your agility, and permits you to use a special ability that strikes the opponent from afar. This costs 2800 gold, the extra cost is mostly due to it having gem slots."

As he said this, the shopkeeper drew out two staffs. The [Minor Arcane Staff] was a finely carved length of coarse wood, cylindrical and smooth on its sides. The [Adept Combat Staff] was more rough and uneven, with a slightly haphazard carving process. However, it contained two open slits for gems. The gems weren't an option for Cael yet, but the chance to block attacks was still quite valuable along with an extra ability. While he was tempted to purchase this staff, the 240 INT from the other staff would almost double his current INT, as well as being boosted by his Spellcaster Trait, and based on his recent experience this could make him much more powerful. Besides, his Agility was on the lower end, so the ability to block attacks would be limited for him. Slightly hesitantly, he decided to forgo the defensive option and purchase the [Minor Arcane Staff].

This left him some gold remaining for spells. Most spells available to him were still the same, as INT from equipment didn't unlock further spell options. However, he had gained 25 stat points to invest by levelling to 21, and invested 20 of those into INT with the rest in the Constitution stat. This was enough to make two additional spell scrolls available: Flare, and Mana Beam. He was slightly pleased that they were both offensive options, although this meant that their cost was higher. They gave him an alternative to his Spark spell.

As he purchased them both for 1200 gold, the shopkeeper warned him that Flare was an elemental spell, and using any more powerful versions of the spell would require a Pyromancer subclass. Since Flare was one of the most basic elemental spells, it was available without the subclass, but if players got into the habit of using it then they might have to leave it behind if they did not choose the Pyromancer subclass. Cael wasn't yet sure which subclass he would opt for, but he felt that the need for extra alternative spells was enough to justify getting Flare. Besides, he was feeling slightly daredevil after leaving aside the staff which could block attacks. So he simply thanked the shopkeeper for the warning, and then set off to memorise the spells.

He could see why the Flare spell was considered a low-tier fire spell, as its scroll specified that it was different from a usual fireball because it only drew on thin, unstable, smoky wisps of fire. This could easily burn out or disappear as it made its way towards the opponent, but was still quite damaging at this level.

[New spell! Flare. 70 MP.]

[New spell! Mana Beam. 65 MP.]

Leaving the Alchemist's Store, he walked to the outskirts of the town and began thinking about how to solve the quest of the chicken that is not a chicken.

Thinking back, he had received the quest from an old NPC lady named Ruby Rubi who was standing by a road to the West of town. She said that she had been working at a farm to the West, but the owner had been attacked by a chicken that was out of the ordinary. While she did not say specifically that it was 'not a chicken,' the quest log apparently expects players to have understood this intuitively.

He had searched the farm briefly earlier, but encountered no chicken that was relevant to the quest. He figured that he should complete this quest, as lower-tier quests tended to be quick and the EXP reward might raise him to the next level, but he wasn't sure where to begin looking. He saw a nearby group of experienced players, decked in impressive and rare armour, talking amongst themselves. They all seemed to be members of the same Guild, named [GildedKnights]. One of them named [Jarius] was wearing a title, that showed above his name in glittering red text, saying 'Leader.' Cael cautiously walked up to him, and asked if he was familiar with the quest for the chicken that is not a chicken.

"Ah, yeah, I remember that one," replied Jarius, "That one is a toughie, not gonna lie. Like, it's a weird thing for a quest to ask for, right? Anyway, the chicken boi is on the farm, but you need to inflict bleeding on another chicken and wait for around half a minute before it is summoned."

"Oh, I didn't realise that. Thanks a lot."

"I didn't, either, a few people from our Guild did some research and discovered that it had been killed a few times, it would be a pain to find out about otherwise. It's a bit of a weird fight, but my team didn't have that much difficulty. Tell us if you get the kill."

"Alright, see you later," said Cael, smiling.

While he prepared to head West, he hesitated for a moment because his mage abilities so far didn't include the ability to cast the bleeding status effect. However, he recalled the sharp teeth of the sable, and decided that if he could find something sharp, it might be sufficient to bleed the sacrificial chicken. Getting a melee weapon with bleeding abilities would be expensive, and generally useless because his weapon skills weren't high enough to use many skills. However, there was a store that he had heard of on the game's forums, where players went to find buffs and debuffs that they couldn't normally use. He walked into the building in Kruxol marked 'Trinket Store,' and looked around for anything that looked sharp and may induce bleeding.

He found a string necklace that seemed to be adorned with a gathering of sharp spikes. Asking the shopkeeper what it was, he was told that it was a necklace made with the crushed claws of a ferocious beast, and if triggered it would allow the wearer's next ability to inflict bleeding on creatures that it affected. It had a cooldown time of two hours. He purchased this necklace with 500 gold, and looked around the store quickly. He saw many items, and noticed that a few inflicted poison or increased speed, among other effects. He decided that he should get some speed-boosting items soon, but at present he probably couldn't afford them. At least he should be able to complete his current quest.

He walked down a path leading to the West of town, with grass tilting lightly in the breeze on either side of the dusty path. He could see a few old trees as he reached the farm, with the barks of these trees leaning so far towards the ground that they seemed to almost be cowering beneath their dark, green-grey leaves. The farm area was quiet, but he remembered where he had seen chickens waiting during his last visit and made his way there.

Arriving in front of a few makeshift, wooden chicken coups, he noticed that they seemed to be mostly disused. He ran carefully through the advice that Jarius had given, and looked through the doors of the coops to see where chickens were currently wandering. In the leftmost coop, he saw a chicken quietly strutting around. Triggering his necklace's skill, he used [Mana Push] to lightly flip the chicken onto the ground. Next to its HP bar, he saw a symbol indicating that the bleeding status had been inflicted. He then walked away from the building, to give the quest's boss time to appear.

Eventually, he heard a loud tearing sound from the place where he had left the bleeding chicken, and quickly walked to the coop. Peering into the dark building, he could dimly see that another chicken had appeared and was pecking at the unfurled intestines of the bleeding chicken. As he watched, the chicken paused and threw up its head to survey the rest of the dead chicken. It gave a sinister cluck into the air, and then resumed by pecking at the chicken's bleeding wings.

Cael was slightly taken aback at this cannibalistic chicken, that seemed, indeed, to behave more like a demon than a chicken. As he slowly crept into the building with it, he saw it turn up its head and look him in the eyes. The chicken's eyes had an aggressive, almost crazed look. Cael was contemplating a hasty retreat, but decided that running back to town without completing the quest would subject him to mockery by Jarius' Guild. Instead, he quickly cast [Meditate], to increase his ability to cast spells. Seeing this, the chicken stood up and faced him, preparing for a fight and letting out a deep hiss. Nervous, Cael decided to begin by casting Flare.

As a few strings of fire began to dance around his fingers, the chicken mockingly cackled at him. He released the spell at the chicken, and it reduced the chicken's HP to 90%. Cackling again, the chicken took a large bite out of the bleeding chicken intestines on the floor, and its HP increased back to 100%. It then used an ability of its own. As it was a boss, its skills had names that displayed when they were used. The chicken screeched loudly at Cael, and the game helpfully denoted this the [Chicken Alarm] skill. Cael suddenly became paralysed, and the chicken rushed towards him, grabbing his legs with a claw-like foot, and tossed him flat against the wall using the [Chicken Attack!] ability. Cael was now at 70% HP, slumped against the floor. He quickly aimed a [Mana Beam] at the chicken, and concentrated his mana into a beam aiming straight at the chicken. However, the chicken responded by opening its mouth and releasing a powerful ray of energy, with its [Chicken Ray] ability, and this collided with Cael's Mana Beam. Cael felt himself thrown back slightly by the impact, but the two attacks had cancelled each other out.

The chicken skipped around the building, occasionally letting out the stray 'bawk bawk.' As Cael crawled to his feet, he saw an ability name appear next to the chicken, [Massively Forced]. The chicken seemed to gather the power of the air around it, and turned it into a series of fine, sharp spikes like shattered glass, which it then flung at Cael. Cael collapsed straight to the ground at the impact, now at only 35% HP. He could barely get up, and his arms hurt as he tried to lift himself from the ground. The chicken danced around him, skipping merrily over the weakened body of its adversary and occasionally stepping on him when he tried to get up.

Cael tried another [Flare], but the chicken mockingly dispelled the wisps of flame by aiming a [Chicken Ray] at them. He knew that the chicken could have just killed him while he was down, but it seemed to be toying with him instead. This reminded him of the quest log, which spoke of a chicken that was not a chicken. He could clearly see that this chicken did not act like a chicken at all, and more like a malignant spirit that, as a poet may say, 'never wert' a bird. As he considered the failure of his new spells to do much at all to this chicken, the chicken wandered the room clucking busily as if unimpressed with Cael's performance. It occasionally eyed him, with eyes that seemed to him now hollow and vicious. As if impatient for something, it cast [Chicken Alarm] on his fallen body as he tried to get up, then walked up to him and kicked him down to the ground.

As the paralysis ended, he saw the chicken start to charge towards him. As it approached, he fell slowly to his right side and used [Mana Push] to divert its path. Due to his higher INT, the push clearly repelled the chicken away from him, and due to its trajectory it ran into the wall. This reduced it to 80% HP. However, he turned towards it to see it nonchalantly collect itself and cluck amusedly. It then looked towards him, and used [Chicken Attack!] to lightly slam him facefirst into the ground.

Cael was at 20% HP now, and had enough MP for only one or two spells. The chicken was taking its time, which helped him to regain mana due to the Meditate spell. However, he knew that another Flare or Mana Beam would probably just be deflected with a Chicken Ray. He looked in the direction of this terrifying malignance in the form of a chicken, and it looked back expectantly. Knowing that he had no other choice, he gave up on his new spells and cast [Spark] on the chicken that was not a chicken.

The sound of clucking stopped, and he saw the shape of a chicken stand still, then gradually wither onto the ground under the mana's suppression, eventually falling limp to the floor. Cael was tired, and felt almost excited to see his foe slump to the ground. It felt as if the exhaustion and torment of the battle was a black hole, and his target had fallen in first and now lay dead on the ground.

However, when he went up to the corpse of the chicken he had just downed, he saw that he was near the bright entrance to the building, facing the same chicken corpse that he had left to bleed for the sake of summoning the boss. He looked around, but saw no sign of the chicken that was not a chicken. Lightly touching the bleeding corpse of the original chicken, he could feel the sense of constriction where he had used [Spark], but none of the other furore or attacks of the battle were reflected on this chicken's body. He checked his quest log, and saw that the quest had registered as completed and the EXP from it had raised him to level 22. However, he hadn't received any additional EXP for killing the boss. For a moment, he stood still at the entrance to the makeshift coop, and looked around quizzically, overwhelmed by the mystery of the chicken that is not a chicken.

As he stepped outside and prepared to leave the farm, he heard a loud, wicked chicken cackle from inside the coop he had just left. He quickened his pace away from the building.

As he found his way - too slowly, it felt - onto the brown, dusty path towards Kruxol, he prepared to meet up with Jarius and the GildedKnights Guild, to tell them that the quest was done. He figured that he would omit the story of his encounter with the chicken that was not a chicken. But you, dear reader, have heard it, and hopefully agree that this Chicken with a Thousand Faces is the central figure of not only all storytelling, but also of all serious political philosophy.