Going through that door was like a beam of light passing through a prism. I was split into a spectrum of Yoricks some visible to the naked eye, some not. Flesh, muscles, nerves, bones, thought, my soul, and many things I have no words for were separated, and traveled through the universe each on their own journey.
If enlightenment was about becoming one with the world, then this was unenlightnment. I saw that my life was just a blip on a world that had existed for a very long time. That world was just spec swimming in a sea of similar specs, each with their own people, rich histories, each thinking themselves center of the universe. Each world themselves just a shard of what had been a great universal whole. A whole which had not been so grand and perfect that it could not fracture, and have itself scattered to the winds.
I passed through a hundred worlds at the speed of life. I was born, I lived, I triumphed, I suffered and I died. I had a daughter named Ophelia. I was a bone begger on the tomb world of Charnel. I reigned for a thousand years as one of The Thought-Sovereigns of Nirvan ad Scala.
All of this was just a moment for my soul, which stepped past the threshold. The unnumbered versions of myself all came together once more as a single data point called me. Everything ripped and merged, and burned away until I once more something that resembled the Yorick that had opened the door.
"Congratulations Player Yorick!" A screen popped up in front of me. A hundred lives balked at the unfamiliar name, but they were beginning to fade. My old self was coming back into focus, but he was not as I had left him. A few moments ago I would have found this floating screen pretty concerning, now it was a matter of course. The universe i knew was a facade, and this was it's true face. It's hard to explain. How would the frog describe land to a tadpole?
"Your referral has been successfully processed! You are now a player in the great game of Light and Dark to decide the fate of all worlds! Your sponsor has no membership with any faction or organization. No faction specific classes will be available. It's time to pick a class, pick from the following list of Neutral Archetypes:"
A list of RPG classes appeared on the screen before me. Things like Wanderer, Monk, Ronin, Peasant, Farmer. Before I could select any of them a notification box appeared.
"Congratulations! You've been gifted the Class: Clown. Do you accept? Yes. No. More Info."
I reached out and touched 'more info' on the screen.
"Clown is a class of The Trickster Archetype. Tricksters are attuned to neither the Light nor Dark domains, and instead seek to achieve their own goals. Tricksters are jacks of all trades who begin with 1 Offensive skill slot, 1 Defensive skill slot, 1 Magic skill slot, 1 Healing skill slot, and 1 Utility skill slot. The Clown Class specializes in powerful but random effects, and performing for a crowd."
"What am I even looking at?" My moment of cosmic insight didn't make any of those terms clear. Whatever I needed to get through this as fast as possible. Andie needed me, "Fine. Sounds good. I didn't see Slacker on this list so clown is probably as close as I'll get anyway."
"Class confirmed! Your five starting skills will now be randomly selected from a pool of available class skills, good luck!"
Five panels appeared be for me, each had a color matching it's title. Attack was red, Defense was green, Magic was Blue, Healing was white, and Utility was Grey. These were the skills the info panel had described previously. Beneath the title of each Panel was an empty box where a skill would soon go, and beneath that box was a single star.
I reached out and touched the first panel, Attack. The empty box suddenly filled with a slot machine which spun through a parade of brightly colored images before landing on an image of a box with a question mark over it.
Weapon Roulette
Rank: 1 Star
Type: Active
Effect: Summon a random 1 Star Magical Weapon. Additional activations rerolls the weapon type rolled.
Neat.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
I clicked on the next panel, and let the dice roll there as well.
Dumb Luck
Rank: 1 Star
Type: Passive
Effect: If an amount of damage would cause you to go from full health to no health, you instead survive with 1 health.
This one caused a flash of recognition in my mind. This is how Ian survived Cyrus' attack back on The Twilight Islands. I'm not sure how interested I was in getting into any kind of fight in the near future, but not perishing was a nice effect.
Onto the next.
Fun Sphere
Rank: 1 Star
Type: Active
Effect: Manifests a glowing multicolored ball that can provide light!
Oooookay?
Laughter is The Best Medicine
Rank: 1 Star
Type: Passive
Effect: Heal a small amount to allies each time you make them laugh.
Cute.
"Last one." Come on big money. I pressed my finger to the last panel to activate it.
Singing for Supper
Rank: 1 Star
Type: Passive
Effect: Public performances will always provide enough income to keep you fed, clothed, and housed.
That was everything.
"Skill selection complete! Compiling Character..."
Name: Yorick
Rank: 1 Star
Class: Clown
Heritage: Human
Backstory: With his hometown lost to The Sea of Darkness, Yorick is lost between worlds, scared, confused, and in search of answers.
I'd like to think there was a bit more to me, but yup that just about summed it up.
I took a deep breath, it seemed to be done. Done tossing me about the tides of the universe. Then I looked down at the Jester who'd been patiently waiting on the floor. He was sat there like a child, knowing who knows what, for who knows how long. "Do you finally have an answer?" He looked up at me from behind his grinning mask.
Yesterday he'd asked me if I'd figured it out yet. What a thing to ask a college student.
"My world..." I started cautiously, barley able to believe I was about to say the words on my lips. Yet after everything I'd just been forced to see, there was no avoiding it. "The world, I knew wasn't real. And..." I took a deep breath. "The universe is all just some kind of game."
"Bingo!" He shot me a finger gun. "That's the type of answer that will get you off the island." He clapped his hands on his thighs and jumped to a standing position, awfully spry. "The universe is separated into two types of people. Those who know the truth, and those who don't. Those who don't get to live in blissful ignorance on their worlds. Those who know the truth, get to decide what to do with what they know."
It was a ridiculous thing to say, or even think. What could have made my life on The Twilight Islands any less real, than anywhere else. And yet, if I just reached out my hand a screen would appear, as if that was just a natural function of existence. How did that not speak to some deeper truth. Besides that I'd just lived a thousand lives on a thousand worlds, none of them felt very important to me now.
None but one.
"That's all well and good, but I need you to open that door back up. I need to go back and get Andie."
The Jester just shrugged. "The die has been cast, there is no saving her. Not with her bad luck, we gave her a chance, didn't we?"
"That's not good enough." I growled. "Give her my spot, I'll go back. I just..."
He shook his head. "She's gone. You made a decision, and you're going to have to live with it. I'm sorry to say, but it comes with all of this." He gestured his hands around to the absolute nothing that surrounded us.
"I don't want this."
He turned on me suddenly. His eyes stern behind his mask. "No one wants to have their home, and all their friends die. But it happened, didn't it Yorick?" He said this with the utter conviction of a man who'd seen it happen before. This was all a part of the game to him, whatever this game was. I was a part of it too, just some piece of a board. Maybe he'd saved me, but the only thing I could feel was contempt for this man and his stupid hat.
"You let it happen." I growled.
The jester sighed. "You think it's so simple do you? People, worlds, live and die by my say alone, eh?" He waved his hand, and a door appeared before me. "Fine, there's still time. Try."
"Try what?" The door opened up before me.
"Try to save the world." He shoved me, and I fell through the door and back into the void. "Failing that, observe!"
