What is a wishmaster?
They were… very strange beings.
Naturally as their name implied, they granted a wish… however such power was never without a price. Genies tended to grant a limited number of wishes or even twist them. Fairies treated a wish as a favour. Sphinxes would demand a riddle in exchange, and other creatures all had their own odd ‘reason’ to grant a wish. The price was set to prevent abuse of the wish or maybe instil ‘regret’. It was unheard of for a person to make a wish, get what they want and live happily. A wish meant either living with the consequence of that wish or wishing it away.
A wish master was a little different. They tended to grant ‘exactly’ what the person asked for as long as they were specific enough… in fact the entire universe would change to accommodate the wish… but that was where the twist existed.
It was not possible to make a specific wish. The only wish they granted, were those made without intent. Their interactions were ‘erased’ from the memories of the subject, until their wish was granted. As a result, it was always going to be a wish that was said in jest, or unintentional. The person never knew their wish would be granted to the full extent. Of course, there were still subject to a few rules such as no killing or interfering with free will… the wish master could ‘choose’ which wish it will grant.
Their motives were unclear… with no fate of their own, they undid the threads of mortals, changing what something was to be from inception. An alluring prospect of hope, to unshackle the binding chains of a future… but equally terrifying to find oneself down a path not of their own making. Many considered such beings as chaos incarnate, going against the natural order. They delighted in games, often placing worlds against worlds… a person against another to score a ‘point’ that appeared to have value to them.
Now, Brian had entered this game, all with the idea of making the world a little more magical then it was before.
Brian’s day in school continued as to be expected… but…
It felt like he was forgetting something.
He ‘vaguely’ thought something important happened but… he couldn’t quite recall what…. someone he met? No… that couldn’t be it. He didn’t have any friends… He was focused on his own issues, his life and problems, rather than whatever odd paper was inside his pocket. The focus of his problems was that student Bruce…
The ‘new kid’, Bruce the mouse-boy was… just a nice guy. Eloquent, charismatic and so damn charming…
People liked him… he had become very popular in just a single day and Brian didn’t know how! The mouse-boy socialised with other students, as if he had ‘always’ been friends with them. He was being invited to join all sorts of clubs and activities. He didn’t have to work on winning anyone… he didn’t need to earn their trust, love, or respect… he was even considered ‘handsome’ by girls… when he gave them a charming smile or cliché look with lowering his sunglasses- it made no sense! He was just an animal! A… half animal… why did they treat him so nicely? They treated him- an animal like a person… something they never… did to him.
Brian fumed at the unfairness of it. Why couldn’t people like him? Why wouldn’t they think he was of any value to know at all? Why did the universe decide ‘that’? When? As much as he tried so hard to be noticed or liked, it was impossible.
He had walked back home at the end of school, wondering what to do now… As always, the wind was his only companion, blowing gently behind him… not to mention the ears of the universe itself, waiting for what he might say… were he to say, ‘I wish’.
Brian opened the door to his home and left his backpack on the sofa, closing the door behind him with a sigh of finality. The weight of books on his back already making him feel slightly more at ease. He stretched his arms a bit, debating what to do next? He had some time… his parents wouldn’t be home for a while. “Guess I could play a game…” The teenager decided, hoping to take his mind off things.
Brian’s home life was as lonely as his school life. His parents were often working, sometimes fighting each other with noisy arguments…. Mostly about chores, money, maybe even him. He tried to drown most of it out, escaping reality. He walked upstairs getting into more casual clothes towards his bedroom.
The room itself was as to be expected of a nerdy young teenager. It had a few posters, some stickers of long forgotten animated characters on his wardrobe, a few books on a messy desk, stashed with a few comics. In the corner was his pride and joy, having built it himself; a computer that was a gateway to another world for him… It was mostly made from salvaged parts. It was here, in his bedroom, that he spent most of his time escaping his life. The computer could only barely run some old online games and not much else. He couldn’t run ‘any’ of the latest top games though that everyone talked about, so tended to find much older forgotten games that most people had moved on from.
The game was cruel and harsh, with a death system that meant a character was generally lost for good. Brian didn’t mind it because it made his own character that much more precious.
He had created a female character called Lilabeth… in his mind she was an arch demon from a faraway universe and… ‘everything he wasn’t.
While Brian was boring, without any friends, lacking in any social skills and purpose… Lilabeth was smart, cunning, powerful and everyone would ‘want’ to be her friend in some manner or other. At least that was the fantasy. She was perfect, with fiery red hair, emblematic of her nature with power. Magic might not be that important in ‘this’ game but… it was an intrinsic part of Lilabeth’s nature. He felt ‘in sync’ with her when playing the game, knowing who she was and what she would do. He didn’t know where she came from, but her form was just ‘perfect’, even with the horns extending out at a slight angle…
Of course, this led to the greatest irony of all; that Lilabeth ended up just as lonely as Brian in the game world by having near useless skills. It appeared that opposing personality didn’t necessarily mean opposite outcomes. The character had skills that were not in demand and was seen as a burden due to her constant need of healing potions and extremely limited fighting abilities. She was shunned by other groups who embraced the meta of a difficult harsh world favouring swords and armour.
Brian ‘could’ make someone else of course… he could make a perfectly viable character but... it wouldn’t Lilabeth. He liked to take care of her as long as he could. Protecting her in this world that was a literal hell… struggling for every inch he could where survival for one day was an accomplishment.
It gave him a sense of purpose in its own strange way… as pathetic as that sounded.
Most of the time Brian had her grinding on the easiest quests possible, gathering a few herbs in safe areas… when he was hit with a slight spike of lag.
Players!
Actual players had entered the area! Brian immediately checked on the radar system and couldn’t believe it… His screen lit up with local messages, in dizzying display of rare roleplaying.
‘Where did the goblins go? They caused a fire! Hey! Look It’s a demon-girl! Is she in league with them?!’ A dwarf on his screen demanded answers brandishing an axe… but PvP had to be granted by both parties so Brian felt his character was not in any danger. He smiled a bit giddy from the encounter. More importantly, it was a chance to join a party and gain some experience points. “No, I’m not, but I would gladly help you find them! I am Lilabeth, known through 5 universes!”
Something like this happened only once in a blue moon. He was thrilled… there was a GM running an event and they happened to run into him! He started to think on what his character would say, and typed as fast as he could-
…and they left without him. Their avatars rippling away going to the ‘event’ section. Wait- was that an accident? Did he not party with them fast enough?
Brian sent a message. “Um… I’m feeling a bit kicked out here, can’t I join?”
The DM responded: “Yeah, you were kicked out. I’m busy.” That was all he sent.
Brian stood there in stunned silence. This was not… the first time this sort of thing happened. It was… just the way it was, right?
“Well back to the herbs- huh?” He was too distracted to notice some wolves attack his character! Where did they come from! “Oh crap!” He quickly tried to use some demon-fire magic on them, but it was no use and quickly ran out. The sprites were already in melee range! This was a death sentence for a magic user… the cemetery was filled with them, at least those characters that had a value enough to get written down in the game… which unfortunately would not be Lilabeth.
“No No NO!”
He tried to run, to get to another transition screen as soon as possible, hoping they wouldn’t transition with him… the agonising wait took about ten seconds- but the wolves loaded up ‘before’ him due to the age of his computer. “Ah fricken’ hell!” Lilabeth was about to die!
The dice rolls began… somehow Lilabeth defied the odds and was still alive but now unconscious. The wolves circled her body.
It was a no-win scenario… even if Lilabeth got up, she would die immediately on first hit from the wolves. He had no more magic… all he could do was stare at the screen with a sigh of defeat as his character was to die a lonely, forgotten death like so many others in this hell. The last dice roll came… and the loading screen flickered, as his character went to the ‘death’ area… which was basically a prison with no escape until you simply turned off the game and made a new character.
Brian wondered what else could go wrong today… the whole day had been a waste. If Lilabeth were exactly as he envisioned they would treat her better… he would show them… but now she was gone.
“Sorry Lilabeth… I wish… you were alive.”
There was a sudden bright flash of light… “DONE!”
There was a sudden blinding flash of light as reality itself unravelled… slowly re-stitching itself into a new order. A wishmaster was capable of granting life to the lifeless…
