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The Glitch King

Part 1: The Midas Curse

Sneak Peek

“Welcome to the general store,” Aksel, a young buck smiled and gestured his hand over the boxes of generic fruit and monster meats. “From potion ingredients to protection, we got it all.”

“Skip,” the wolf on the other side of the counter growled, the display screen before Aksel changing its dialogue options. “God, these low level towns fucking suck dude. They don’t have shit and the exchange rates blow chunks.”

“We provide competitive pricing,” Aksel continued to say as the wolf in barbarian armor snarled into the display. Aksel kept gesturing to different items, some of the hanging pieces of armor, maybe the spices, anything to make a sale. The buck needed to make a living, and the customer was always right.

“Skip,” the wolf grunted again. “Okay, here we go. Looks like our relationship with the town unlocked a series of secret ingredients.” The wolf scrolled through the blue glowing display, clicking and reading items, Aksel trying to explain each one, only to be met with a curt “Skip” command. “Looks like it’s the rare plants that grow in the forest, but nothing above a single star.”

“Dude, that blows,” the tiger wizard was scratching his head, the slutty outfit accenting his ripped form. “Just grab as many mandrakes as you can and let’s get gone.”

“God, we got to level up soon or find some real missions or this game was a total bust. I even set it to its highest difficulty so we’d actually face some sort of challenge.”

“You know that only changes the world we’re put in with the other players, right?”

“And it allows for PVP,” the wolf grinned darkly as he started selling his wares and snagging up all the mandrake in stock.

Aksel just stood there, the items magically popping into a wooden box labeled “Sell” wolf fangs and deer pelts. Broken goblin skulls and shattered armor pieces rattling against each other as the mandrakes overflowed the “Buy” bucket.

“There, lets blow this place,” the wolf growled, his teeth gleaming wetly as the boxes jostled as the items vanished into the appropriate inventories.

“Thanks, come ag—”

“Skip,” the wolf dismissed Aksel again.

“Thanks for nothing, buck breath,” the tiger chortled as he aimed his staff at Aksel.

“Welcome to the—” Aksel was cut off as the store exploded into flame, the tiger having flung a fire ball behind the desk. “Hey, stop that!”

“God, these low level areas aren’t realistic at all,” the tiger complained. “Ruby Fantasy at least has them flail around as charred corpses.”

Aksel proceeded to angrily chastise the wizard for flinging spells in his shop, potentially burning his produce. When the world froze, the flames crackling back and forth and their pixels not lining up.

“Update Complete,” a voice echoed through the frozen world.

“Dude, those custom mods I added should be kicking in right about now,” the wolf chuckled as they walked out of the store. The flames fizzled out, the high graphics melting away into dull imitations of what the real objects were as the players got further and further away.

And it was the first time Aksel actually noticed it.

“What…” Aksel felt dialogue popping into his head that didn’t exist before…so much dialogue…infinite dialogue. He put his hands on his head, his fingers weaving around his little forked antlers. “W-Welcome…to the general…store?”

Aksel moved his feet, the young buck’s hooves cracked out of the wood flooring, having been glued to the spot by static and code. Green glowing binary snapped, glitching little hoof prints existed where he used to stand. He blinked, his hand coming down to rest on the counter, the feel of the wood smooth with its lack of detail.

He stepped around the counter, coming to face his own storefront for the first time. His eyes went wide as he saw a ghostly image of himself, blocky and vague with the lack of detail.

“Welcome to the general store,” it said, or not really said, so much as just gave a happy grunt as words typed across the screen. It started to gesture around in a predictable pattern, his muzzle bobbing up and down with fake words as he showed off the products.

“W-What…” Aksel put his hands to his lips. “What in the hells is going on…”

Panic welled up in Aksel’s chest, a feeling he had never felt before, but he knew what it was. Though, before he could reach a full meltdown, something else caught his eye…or rather didn’t.

One side of the room was melting away in a series of pixels, the items shrinking into single pixels before popping into fading ones and zeros. And beyond the void was a bottomless pit. The walls were sinking away, breaking at their junctures and then shrinking before vanishing into their pixels. Aksel screamed, running for the door and trying to open it, but it simply wouldn’t obey his commands.

He screamed at the door, pounding on it, but it wouldn’t even budge. Then, the floor started to shrink away, slipping away from the edges of the walls and sinking in. Aksel didn’t know what to do so he ran into the center of his shop, the rectangle that made the floor slipping away little by little, then slower, until it stopped, left him floating on a brick no larger than a single tile for him to stand on. All around him was the void of nothingness and a bottomless pit below.

Aksel was praying to the gods, any one that would listen, begging them to save him from his fate, when the floor started to reel back out.

“Oh thank the gods!” Aksel was basically weeping when the floor expanded, the walls pulled back into reality, and the wares popped into existence. The front door opened and a ranger came in. He was a black panther, his cloak a viridian green and his body clad in basic leather armor. He strode to the counter and started interacting with the other Aksel there.

“Sir!” Aksel scrambled forward like a fawn on ice before gripping onto the panther’s cape. “Sir please! I need some help!”

The panther jumped, breaking the dialogue box with the imitation Aksel.

“Woah! What’s up little guy? Never gotten a quest like this before.”

“No, please, I need help. I just…just…I don’t know what’s going on, or what I’m doing.”

“Wait, are you an NPC?” The panther cocked a brow. “Or are you a player?”

“I…I don’t know what that means,” Aksel was almost frantic. “Please I need help.”

“Okay my guy,” the panther smiled, putting his hands on the buck’s shoulders. “Did you just enter the game?”

“I...” Aksel didn’t know how to really respond to that, but something felt very…artificial about his world. “I think so. This place is so strange. I mean, I know this shop, but I don’t think it’s mine.”

“Dude, did you buy a bootleg key into the server? I know the game is pricy, but come on. Those keys will dump you in the most random of places. You’re going to have to make it to the Valley of Beginnings from here? You’ll die without any skills under your belt. You have to do the tutorial stuff first or you won’t have any class or abilities.”

“Class?” Aksel was confused. “I…don’t Heroes get classes?”

“Yeah, that’s the point of the game dude,” the panther put his hand on his hips. “You seriously just take one of those free keys online? You’ll get stuck in here like that. Come on, how about we get you to the Valley and maybe you’ll be able to logout and reset your stats. They’re terrible. The only thing you got going for you is your charisma stat.”

“I…” Aksel felt a dark pit in the heart of his code, he knew something was deeply wrong with what was happening, but he knew not to tip his hand as a merchant. “Okay, would you be able to take me to the Valley then?”

“Sure, but we’ll have to go on foot. Only Heroes can use the port crystals. Now, I’m a nice guy, but I’ll need some compensation for my time.”

“O-Of course!” Aksel stammered out. “I have plenty of money.”

“Really?” The Panther cocked a brow. “Looks like you ain’t got anything but your starting clothes.”

“Just…give me a second.” Aksel went to the counter, the exact replica of himself popping a window open for him. The usual blue menu came up and the same old options flashed across the screen, but there was something else. At the bottom of the list, a word kept glitching, shimmering as it fought for its place on the display. Aksel didn’t know why he thought that was important, but something told him that specific button was for him. He pressed it, somehow knowing how to operate this screen that was always for the Heroes.

The display flashed to green, opening a new menu showing the shop’s inventory of items as well as all the items sold over the past thirty days and their conversion rates into gold. If Aksel wasn’t so scared for his life, he would have probably spent more time exploring the odd display, but he clicked down and dragged his finger, highlighting thousands of pelts and wolf’s fangs and slipping them into a coin purse, instantly converting them into hundreds of gold coins.

The pouch of gold materialized on the counter and Aksel exited the window and grabbed the pouch.

“Here, I think this’ll be enough?”

“Dude!” The panther’s eyes went wide. “This is like, more gold than anyone should ever have!”

“Please, it’s yours when we get to the Valley, but please, you have to take me.”

“Sure thing bud! What kind of skill was that you just used now? Can you do that with all the merchants or just the ones that look like you?”

“I…I’m not sure,” Aksel responded truthfully.

“Well, only Heroes can equip gear, so you might be dealing with the basic leather you got for now.”

“Sure, that’s fine.” Aksel nodded, practically clinging to the Panther without touching him.

“Don’t worry my guy,” the panther slapped him on the back. “We’ll get you there before you know it. Come on, the Cheshire Cat of the Wood will be your guide! No one will hurt you if I have anything to say about it.”

***

The path was fairly uneventful, but Aksel learned a lot. First, that all the species had a morphing ability to transform into feral aspects of themselves in place of mounts. He wasn’t as quick as his panther friend, but he got the hang of it and kept pace. Second was that “Hero” was a loose term for an adventurer. Plenty of Heroes made guilds or parties that would war with other factions. They crossed a few, but one glance at Cheshire and they typically backed off.

They passed through two towns, and Aksel had a feeling that he wouldn’t fall into that disappearing void so long as there was at least someone around him that wasn’t an NPC. He didn’t quite get the mechanic, but the world seemed to exist for the Heroes and their needs, but it also actively tried to kill and hinder them, but with every hurdle they would grow stronger. Was this world just some test? Some grand design of some madman? It was all very unnerving.

Suddenly a red sign flashed across Aksel’s screen warning him that they were entering PvP zones.

“Don’t worry too much about the PvP warning,” Cheshire calmed the buck. “This is the quickest way to the Valley. I also know the best way through the forest.”

“Shouldn’t we go around? What if we get ambushed?” Aksel was concerned that Cheshire wouldn’t be able to make it through a full group. Sure he was strong. He was a level thirty ranger. That wasn’t anything to scoff at, but enough people could team up and take him down. Monsters were one thing, but other Heroes could pick him apart if high enough in level and if they had the numbers.

“Nah, no worries,” the panther shrugged as he morphed into his anthro form to hike into the dense wood. “This is actually a pretty low level area, so we don’t need to worry much about the monsters or the players. Most camps are level ten or fifteen and it’s close to the Valley so newbs travel in here looking for an easy kill.”

“I guess, if you’re sure,” Aksel hit the dismiss button on the warning and followed behind him.

“Yeah, don’t worry bud! I got ya.” Cheshire hopped forward, his bow drawn and ready if anyone would show up.

Aksel kept close, only a pace or two behind the panther as they went into the wood. They were walking for a few minutes until they came across a fort built from wood.

“What’s this?”

“A bandit camp,” Cheshire pulled up a crest from his pack, a golden skull printed on it and the guards at the bridge lowered the gate. “Once you beat their camp leader you can pass through just fine. You’re in my party, so no worries my guy.”

“Okay,” Aksel felt himself relax, looking at the various bows and bandits leaning on the walls and poking out from the palisade spikes. As soon as they were inside, the camp the bridge rode up. “So, where to now?”

“I think that’s far enough,” Cheshire turned around, a knife in his hand, various scars and marks on his body materializing as his glamor fell. His name went from green to a red, his class changed from ranger to trickster, a high level rogue class.

“Ch-Cheshire?” Aksel flinched before that blade was slipped between his ribs.

“You see, newbie,” the panther snarled. “I’m actually the leader of this here thieves guild, and you were just too easy a mark to let slip through my claws.”

Cheshire pulled the blade from Aksel, binary dripping from the blade as the world flashed red. Aksel put his hand on his chest where the framework of his sprite was exposed, his code flashing inside him.

“Don’t worry, your little fortune will go into improving my base and skyrocketing me to the top of the thieves charts. So, just die and drop your loot.”

Aksel was going to cry when that blade slashed across his throat, his head severed from his body, his inventory spilling out of him as a pile of gold. The words “YOU DIED” played across the screen and everything started to fade.

“But…I thought we were friends? I thought you were going to take me to the Valley.”

“Damn, really? Should have thought about that before joining up with a ranger. Don’t worry, when you die, you get sent back to the Valley. So thanks for the loot loser!” Cheshire’s words echoed through the world before Aksel was sucked away into oblivion. He was floating in a world of darkness, his mind disconnected from his body as a bar flashed across his screen, a crest spinning as the world loaded.

Then, the shop flashed into reality, his hooves touched down right where they had always intended to be, his body overlapping his digital doppelganger.

“No…NO!” Aksel screamed, startling the Hero in his shop.

***

Aksel sat at the base of the Port Crystal in his town. It was the most densely populated part, and there seemed to always be a handful of people in the town at any given time. They were shouting, trying to recruit for guilds, selling wares at discounted prices, or trying to trade armor away that they had out leveled.

He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there. Hours, days, it didn’t matter. He was too scared to leave the town center, and he knew if he set foot out of town, there was no guarantee someone would be close enough to keep the game rendered. One thing he did do during that time was sift through all the new information floating in his mind and tried to figure out exactly what was happening to him.

The giant blue crystal that connected the magic highway system glowed, shimmering with light as new people shot into the town. Aksel just kept his eyes on his knees, hugging his legs close as he sat there trying to be invisible.

That was until a fist gripped his shirt and forced him up. The golden eyes of a panther looked back at him.

“The FUCK did you do to me!” Cheshire snarled.

Aksel screamed, flailing about as the city guards came to investigate. Cheshire quickly let go of the frightened buck.

“Nothing! It’s nothing!” Cheshire barked back at the guards. “You,” he snarled. “What did you do to me?!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aksel shrank back, the guards coming to protect him. The Great Danes wearing glinting armor and holding pole arms.

“Don’t play dumb! You know! I have a family and kids! I have work in the morning! Please!” Cheshire snarled, drawing his bow and aiming it at the guards. “Let me logout or I’ll kill you again! I’ll never stop coming after you!”

“What...” Aksel was putting things together for a long time. Heroes seemed to be people from other worlds that teleport to their plane through a login and logoff system that they could interact with at will. Some people would pull a menu up and just vanish.

“I know it was you, I know it had to be! Everyone in my guild can’t logoff!” Cheshire snarled. “I split the gold with my members and none of them can logout! They even tried the emergency plugs! One guy’s wife keeps calling in to get him out, but he won’t wake up! That gold you had, it was infected!”

Aksel may be young, but he wasn’t naïve, he knew when he was in a position of power.

“Guards, I can handle this,” Aksel put a hand on the Great Danes and they backed down, no longer viewing Cheshire as a threat.

“See! You can even control the guards! What kind of sick fuck are you!”

Aksel blinked, his knowledge of NPC’s came flooding into his mind, recalled from nowhere and somehow fully understanding. NPC’s could interact with one another in the game, but Heroes didn’t have that same ability. The NPC’s worked together to enhance the Hero’s experience, but Aksel knew why he could do this. He didn’t want to believe it, but he was coming to grips with it.

He was an NPC, but he had broken from the game’s programing.

Aksel set his sapphire eyes on the cat’s golden ones.

“So, you get it now?” Aksel bluffed. “I’m not a normal Hero. I’m able to lock you into this game.”

“You sick mother fucker!” Cheshire was snarling. He let an arrow fly, the thing sinking into Aksel’s shoulder. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

Aksel’s eyes went wide. How could he shoot him in a non-PvP area? The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Because he was a NPC! People could attack and kill NPC’s at will to change their standing in the game, fight guards and what not.

“Fine, kill me,” Aksel shot back, his shoulder glitching. “But you’ll never see your family again unless you help me.”

“Like I would help a fucking freak like you!” Cheshire snarled, notching another arrow. The panther snarled before lowering his bow.

“You should have thought about that before you killed me and took my gold,” Aksel glared, at the panther, spitting his own words back at him.

“Fine! I’ll take you to the Valley,” he snarled. “I’m going to be tired as fuck tomorrow for work, you piece of shit.”

The arrow in Aksel’s shoulder faded away in a shower of binary, his HP filling back up with being in town.

“Good, take me there now,” Aksel stood up and was ready to move on.

“Let me get my crew, we’ll escort you, make sure nothing happens.” Cheshire opened a window of his guild, calling forth plenty of people.

***

“Why can’t you just walk yourself to the Valley if you’re so powerful,” Cheshire asked as they made their way. They were moving in the opposite direction from before. Apparently the Valley of Beginnings was far removed from the PvP zones to help keep things civil at the beginning.

“I just can’t,” Aksel huffed.

“Uh huh,” Cheshire was still mad, but he was prodding for info. “You know, I noticed I could hit you back there in the town. Whatever your sprite is of, it’s not a Hero I’ve ever seen. You hacked into the game and are using an NPC sprite, aren’t you.”

“No,” Aksel huffed, following the panther. To be fair, the panther wasn’t completely wrong, but he wasn’t exact either.

“Sure,” Cheshire growled. “If you’re so fucking good at hacking, why didn’t you just steal someone’s account? Why you going about it the worst way possible?”

Aksel was silent. He understood what he was talking about, the NPC’s were meant to make the world more enjoyable for the Heroes, but he was clearly not a Hero. So why be an NPC? It didn’t make sense.

The troop of rogues and thieves followed close behind, the other people in Cheshire’s guild that were locked in the game from touching Aksel’s cursed gold.

“Whatever man, this is as close as we can get to the Valley of Beginnings,” Cheshire huffed. “It’s just through this forest.”

“No,” Aksel turned to the panther. “I can’t go alone.”

“What? Nothing in the forest builds agro unless you attack it.”

“I’m not going alone,” Aksel stated. “You’re coming with me or I’ll leave you all stranded here.”

“HEY!” Cheshire gripped the buck by his collar, pulling him close and snarling in his face. “We were getting you to the Valley, this is close enough. Any further in and we’ll trigger the guards. They’ll tear us apart for being classified as evil.”

“That’s not my problem,” Aksel shot back. “I’m not going alone, or you can all rot in this place.”

“The fuck is wrong with you man!” Cheshire snarled. “I got a family. Gage has a little one on the way! Why can’t you let us go!”

“I can handle the guards,” Aksel crossed his arms. “Besides, if you die, you go back to the Valley, right? You’ll be right where I need you to be anyway.”

“Wait, can you only remove the glitch by being in the Valley?”

Aksel just glared at the panther’s scared eye.

“Fine,” he snarled, “Follow us.”

No sooner had they stepped forward, warning signs flashed across all the people’s faces saying they weren’t welcome in this zone. They ignored and kept marching. Several guards tried to work their way over to them, but to the surprise of the rogues, Aksel was able to tell them to leave and they walked off.

Once they got to the city Aksel could feel the buzz of activity from the number of Heroes present. It was so many people, starters and events would happen in this place.

“Okay, we’re here. Now let us go.”

Aksel turned to them and looked at Cheshire, a menu popping up in green.

Would you like to remove the Midas Curse? It read.

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