Kevin the Bored
patreon
11 Mega Lore Dump For Funsies
🕑 Added 2025-10-07 18:32:52 +0000 UTCThankfully, things did calm down after the whole incident. The Noble and his lot kept to their side of the carriage, leaving Kierra some peace to start trying to come up with training exercises that Flamelle can do to improve.
Eventually, enough time passed that even the allure of advanced Magic couldn't keep Flamelle up.
Well, that's not really true. Kierra made the girl get some sleep once it hit midnight.
Unlike Kierra who is used to having the worst sleep schedule, perks of being an obsessive gamer, Flamelle actually has a life to live and things to do. So she should be getting proper sleep.
Which leaves Kierra watching the world fly by through the window. This rail probably moves faster than any train on Earth, but even then it's going to be several hours before they arrive. Free World Online was massive after all. Just the Kingdom of Laptalia alone is probably about the size of Eurasia, maybe a bit thinner, and that's just one of the Human Kingdoms.
There's a good half dozen hours left before they reach the capital, and by now Kierra is the only one still awake. The other half of the room has transformed into a series of small rooms for privacy, while Flamelle and Jorick simply lie out on their respective booths.
Five hours into the ride, and the cold of the northern lands has long been left behind. Forests and plains have come and gone under her watchful gaze, leaving them now passing through a large desert of badlands. The scenery is interesting enough as is passes by, making her think of old western movies.
Something about the sight twinges some difficult to identify feeling of familiarity within her. Kind of like déjà vu, but not quite. It's strange enough for her to have taken note of it, but it is only when she sees a particular rock formation in the distance that the pieces click into place within her mind.
I know that rock, she thinks to herself, staring at the distant mesa.
If Flamelle was awake then Kierra would give a quick geology lesson starting with how a mesa is just an isolated, flat-topped hill with vertical cliffsides. But she is not, and it is hardly an urgent lesson, so the thought is quickly discarded.
Instead, Kierra rises to her feet, feeling some mixture of nostalgia and.. melancholy? Whatever she is feeling, the emotion is heavy, leaving her sombre, not that her body necessarily expresses that much.
First stepping over to the sleeping Flamelle, Kierra observes the girl for a moment, finding some odd sense of peace in the tranquil expression she wears.
Leaning forward, Kierra brushes a strand of Flamelle's hair back so that it doesn't brush against her eyelashes and wake her. Then she pulls the girl's blanket more tightly under her chin and steps back.
With comfort now assured, Kierra raises a palm in Flamelle's direction and starts casting defensive Buffs, not stopping until she is confident that nothing under level 1,800 would be able to so much as bruise her.
Satisfied that Flamelle is now taken care of, Kierra turns to the other booth and approaches the sleeping Jorick.
He wakes himself the moment she is a pace away from him, honed instinct warning him of her approach. Though, his immediate alert expression rapidly falls away once he recognises his surroundings, turning instead into a raised brow and curious look.
Kierra doesn't miss the way he tenses at her presence though, no matter how well he might think he is hiding it.
"Hey?" He greets as the last of his grogginess fades away, leaving him to put on a sly smile. "Wait, I've had dreams just like this, give me a minute to freshen up before you 'eat' me, Lady Dragon" he finishes with a wink.
Kierra does not miss the implication. She isn't dense. She also doesn't think men are cute, hence why she chose to play as a woman in the first place. So her response is mostly instinctive.
Her face crunches up, and only a single word comes out.
"Gross."
Jorick deflates at that, sulking against the table in front of him. "Okay that actually hurts a little. Whaddaya want, Lady Dragon?"
She ignores the comment about her Race, knowing that she isn't a Dragon but that saying as much would technically be a lie and not wanting to explain why. Instead, she just gets to the point.
"I have business elsewhere. I shouldn't be gone long." Noting his confusion at why she is telling him this, Kierra sends a pointed glance in the direction of the sleeping Nobles as she leans close enough to murmur quietly, speaking with a steady, calm certainty all the while staring straight into his eyes.
"If anything happens to Flamelle while I am gone," she begins, noting the way he tenses further at the inherent threat in her steady tone, "I will kill everyone. Starting with you."
He is clearly smart enough to get what she is alluding to, sparing only a brief glance to her student before his eyes return to her.
"Y'know," he lets the word hang for a second, sporting a wry smile. "Usually when I get hired to babysit I get paid in Gold, not death threats."
She just wanted to make sure he took Flamelle's protection seriously, so at his words, Kierra shrugs and pulls five Platinum out and lays them on the table. That leaves her with only two remaining, plus change. But she assumes that that will be enough, since she only needs it to last until she can talk to some people at the capital.
Jorick raises a brow at the money, but accepts it with a nod, untensing slightly now that she is being more reasonable.
"Must be one hell of a kid," he mentions, glancing again at Flamelle and back, "Makes me wonder what's so special about her that'd make a Dragon like you care so much about her."
"She might be able to kill me one day," Kierra answers without really thinking about it, her own eyes finding the girl's sleeping form.
Jorick clicks his tongue and shakes his head. "Tsk, combat mages," he says with a roll of his eyes, as if those words alone explain everything.
Kierra ignores him.
Confident now that Flamelle will be perfectly safe without her, even with [Advanced Luck Glow], Kierra's attention once more falls to the window outside and she does not hesitate.
[Blink]
The controlled temperature and ambient silence of the carriage immediately disappears, replaced by the roar of a thousand wheels thundering down the track. Kierra is barely fast enough to turn around before the rail has already passed her ad become little more than a dot on the horizon, thunderous noise falling away with it.
It is fast indeed.
With the rail gone, silence returns. Only, this silence is more natural, broken only by the faint sounds of distant insects.
It's not like she expects to find much life here out in the badlands. With a complete lack of vegetation, the only life that survives here is that of insects and a small ecosystem of magical animals that can eat minerals and their natural predators.
Looking up at the night sky, Kierra honestly finds the sight more familiar than she would the sky of Earth. Because really, even if she was born in a world where this was all just a game, Kierra can't deny that this world feels more like home than her last.
Then again, it could also have something to do with how she's barely seen the sky back on Earth, since there was always a cloud of smog in the way. Her grandparents used to talk about how there would always be clear skies back in their day, but that simply isn't the world that she grew up in.
Or maybe she's just bias because she has Magic here, who knows?
Shaking the thought away, Kierra returns her attention to the mesa in the distance.
Deciding that she'd rather enjoy the sights, Kierra casts [Fly] instead of teleporting, and soon she is shooting through the sky, enjoying the midnight flight.
The feel of the cool night air parting around her, of rapid winds brushing against her as she moves freely through the sky, guided solely by her own will fills her. It is an incredibly invigorating experience, and if not for her body remaining so impassive, she is sure she would be whooping with joy.
Even through her aloof body, a wide smile lights up on her face as she lets herself let loose.
Farther and farther she flies, and yet even after a while she does not arrive. The mesa just continues to grow larger in her sight. Larger and larger until she can no longer see its peak.
Without slowing down, Kierra continues to fly straight towards the cliff-face, waiting until only the very last moment to pivot her flight at a hard ninety-degree angle, shooting straight up less than a foot away from the rocky crag.
For longer than one would expect considering her speed of flight, Kierra continues to climb until eventually cresting the peak where she reigns in her flight, sending herself into a slow forward backflip with her momentum.
That weightless moment in the sky before gravity reasserts itself is worth more to her than she could describe with words alone.
A moment later and she touches down, bursting her flight only briefly at the last second to allow a smooth touchdown with only a small ring of displaced dust as any indication.
Standing there, thousands of metres above the ground, Kierra looks out at the vast world around her. The badlands all around, full of towers of rock and valleys of stone. Distant greens far to the north and south, showing only the beginnings of life reclaiming the land. She can barely manage to see firelight from a small tribal settlement out there, looking so insignificant from so high up.
A deep, satisfied breath leaves her upwards turned lips.
"I love Magic," Kierra whispers softly, a sombre admittance made all the more significant for where she stands. "I love this world."
She doesn't know how long she spent simply enjoying the view, but eventually she returns to herself and turns on her heel. It takes a few minutes at a casual walk for her to reach the opposite side of the mesa, but it's not like she's in a hurry.
When she does reach the far cliffside, Kierra doesn't stop her casual pace at all. Simply stepping forward into the air and off of the mountain, rapidly entering a freefall.
It is a uniquely different sensation, falling through the sky without any personal direction. Just the forces of gravity and nothing else. It's different, but not necessarily a bad thing.
Despite being slower, the fall is actually not as long as the rise, as she doesn't even make it halfway down before kicking her flight back into gear and halting her momentum.
Twisting around as to be upright once more, Kierra stands in the air facing the mountain wall. More specifically a hole in the cliff face, about two metres tall and a little less across. Exactly as she remembers it.
The moment feels significant, somehow, as she slowly floats forward, disabling her flighty to land gently into a steady walk.
Light soon disappears as she descends into the mountain, though with all of her advanced senses, it matters little to her if there is light. The only sound reaching her ears is the echo of her boots on the stone underfoot.
The first change occurs after over a minute of walking. A slight, faint light ahead. One that continues to grow as she descends farther and farther within this stone tomb until eventually the tunnel finally reaches its end.
The darkness opens up into an expansive cavern, lit up clearly by beautiful sparkling crystals shining white from the ceiling and reflecting against the pool of perfectly clear water below.
The floor is a large pool of water except for an extending path leading straight from the tunnel entrance to a small island in the centre. A stone podium sits in the middle of said island, untouched save the accumulated dust.
Kierra ignores that for now, turning instead to her left. A path extends a perfect ring around the pool along the edge of the cavern, and it is this path that she walks.
This is not the first time that she has walked this path, yet it feels no less impactful for of it. Because on these stone walls, there is history.
Vast, delicate carvings and paintings cover the wall. Telling a story. The greatest story ever told in this world.
Her story.
The story of Kierra- no. The story of Kette, and all of the names she has worn since.
Her hand reaches out to brush against the wall as she takes the first step. Observing the mural with a quiet sort of reverence. Nostalgia and melancholy don't even begin to describe it.
The scene depicts a golden-haired Elf, dressed in a simple toga style robe with minimal adornments, towering over civilisations under glowing light, her arms spread in benediction. Revered by an endless crowd of bowed heads, each praying their own dedication to the [Origin of Magic].
Kierra's hand trails along the smooth stone as as she continues her walk. Steps slow and methodical; unhurried in her gait as she takes her time to absorb the paintings. Her mind awhirl with memories. Highs and lows, though mostly highs.
She remembers the closed alpha well. The Magic system at the time was so unpolished, she really could get away with anything. Yet the Devs never tried to stop her. Whenever she found a glitch or a bug, they would just make whatever she found be part of the game. Either writing it into the code or into the Lore.
She is the one who invented the concept of reabsorbing unused mana, a bug she found by complete accident. It gave her a massive advantage over all of the other Players for a while until the Devs added the skill to the game properly and everyone started learning it.
She remembers how fun it was, creating Magic.
There was no framework at the time. The Devs basically just outsourced the designing of the Magic system to the play testers, and no one played as much as she did. Half the Spells between Tier 0 and 10 were put into the game by her. By Kette.
It was so much fun.
Maybe the most fun she had ever felt in her life until then. Maybe that's why she got so obsessed with Free World Online.
Maybe that's why this world feels more like home than anywhere else ever did.
Kierra moves forward, her hand trailing behind her as the scene on the wall goes through a significant change in tone.
If the first depicted the 'Mythical Era,' as Lynsil described it to her in the Guild, then this second mural would be the one for the 'Age of Darkness'.
Front and centre, overwhelming the scene as Kette did previously is a man. Rather, the skeleton of a man.
Dressed in dark, regal robes and wielding a staff of bone-white wood, empty eyes stare down at a scene of destruction. Of broken and burning cities and lifeless corpses strewn about by walking skeletons.
The Original Cataclysm, Menethas Lietzsche.
Further along the wall, that same figure stands opposed to a grand army. All Races united together against the horde of Undeath and the mastermind behind it all.
Kierra remembers that battle fondly. It was her idea to introduce a Lich Boss to the alpha in the first place. Give the Players something to fight.
That battle was truly wonderful. It was there that she met Grognak, the dumb idiot. She found it so charming at the time how gleefully he went about crushing swathes of skeletons with a giant club. It's a shame he's such a muscle-head. Not cute at all.
But what made that fight so much fun was not just the simple enjoyment of ploughing through thousands of Undead with AoE Spells.
No, what made it fun was that the Devs are the worst. They truly seem to have always enjoyed their stupid jokes that have never been funny.
In this case, the 'joke' was that Menethas was way too overpowered.
There is a reason he got called a Cataclysm. He was never intended to be beaten. In fact, a Dev actually confided in her that there were some talks of having Menethas be a recurring villain throughout the plot.
Kierra keeps walking, and she is soon rewarded with the final scene of this Age. The scene that the Devs never expected.
It depicts a barren field, covered end to end in corpses. The fallen men and women lying in the same blooded dirt as the Undead they once faced.
In the centre of this, Menethas stands, paused in the motion of falling back, his staff wielding hand knocked wide.
On one side, at his front, Grognak is in the air, both arms holding a greatsword in a two-handed grip above his head, ready to swing down with the full weight of his body and gravity combined.
At the same time, behind Menethas is a tall, black-haired Human Witch. Crouched slightly with her open palm facing the Lich's lower back while producing an explosion of light.
The two Legendary [World Saviours] who together slew the Original Cataclysm.
Kierra moves forward, the memories continuing to flow through her mind like a gentle stream. Of triumphs and laughs and of the deep, unfathomable joy that she felt as Menethas drew his final breath. The sheer satisfaction she felt after winning that fight carried her mood for months.
It's not like it was an instance dungeon they could run over and over again, they only got one chance. The entire server versus one Boss. But Grog and her clicked together perfectly. Even though they'd just met, their teamwork was without fault, like they were of one mind.
It was so much fun that it hurts, and Kierra does nothing to wipe away the tears as they begin to fall. Mourning for what she has lost.
Kierra moves forward.
The next mural is not too unlike the first. This would be the 'Age of Enlightenment'.
The scene starts in a broken land. Death and destruction rampant, only dregs of humanity left to pick up the pieces.
As Kierra continues to walk through the cave, the scene changes and grows. People gather in crowds to bury and honour the dead. They clear the rubble and clean the streets. And then, they start to rebuild
With the memory of Menethas and the grand alliance his presence forced into being, the world entered an era of peace and prosperity. It is within this world that a figure seems to rise.
Another Human woman.
The mural depicts this woman as she helps her fellows rise. As she pulls them to their feet, always offering a hand to those beneath her, pulling all up so they may rise with her.
The mural ends depicting a grand throne room. Silk banners and crystal chandeliers and lines of Knights in golden ceremonial armours.
In the centre of this scene, that same woman sits regal on her throne of gold and obsidian, dressed in robes as red as her long hair and wearing extravagant accessories of gold embedded with various gemstones.
By her side, a man stands half a step behind her throne. Standing tall and powerful in black armour of the highest possible quality inlaid with gold. He has a pair of large horns jutting up and forward from his temples and a thick sword on his hip with a red grip.
Before her, dozens of Noble men and women kneel. Not the Nobility of inherited wealth, but those few men and women of exceptional character that rise only when the world around them needs them to.
These Noble men and women depicted are the architects of the Age of Enlightenment. The great men and women who reforged a broken world into a land of prosperity.
And at the head of it all, the only woman they all willingly lowered their heads to, the Legendary [Queen of Malakiga].
The closed beta was a departure from her usual playstyle. She doesn't usually play RTS games, but she had fun regardless.
She doesn't know if it would have been possible for her to ever have managed not to enjoy herself, not if she was playing Free World Online.
Kierra moves forward.
The fourth and penultimate mural mirrors the second in much the same way that the third mirrored the first.
The scene opens with a young black-haired Human woman on the floor, her arm stretched out in a desperate attempt to reach the coattails of a departing robed figure.
The next, that same woman stands with her hands cupped in front of her, reverently waiting to catch a staff of bone-white wood. Her face twisted into some rictus of grief and rage and loss.
The last scene is much like with Menethas. The cyclical nature of life proving itself.
It depicts a distant city, radiant and prosperous. Shadowed only by an endless army of Undeath in the foreground. That same woman, unrecognisable now as her features have all disappeared in place of lifeless bone. Only the staff of bone-white wood hinting at her identity; the [Witch of Catastrophe].
It's honestly a tough call in Kierra's mind as to whether is was more fun to play kingdom-builder or to play the villain. Well, maybe that isn't true. Because for as satisfying as playing the bad guy was at the time, most of that enjoyment jut stems from her situation at the time in real life.
To put a whole lot of information simple, she was not in a good headspace at the time. Those were probably her most depressive days ever, and wiping out an entire Kingdom, one that she built up in the first place...
Well, it was cathartic at the time, but that kind of senseless violence isn't really in her character. She doesn't see the point in fighting people who either cannot fight back or do not deserve to die.
Regardless, Kierra moves forward. Coming to a stop at the final, and most simple mural of them all.
It simply depicts a small Demon child with small horns and short white hair, the [Living Death] hugging herself as she sits and stares at seven distant shadows.
From there, the rest of the remaining wall is blank.
Kierra stares at that empty space, and thousands of memories rush through her mind like an unstoppable tide.
Memories of her friends. Her most dear companions. Of their laughter, their arguments, their games and every second they spent together. The peaceful silences and boisterous yelling. The triumphant accomplishment they all felt every time they beat the next Boss or the next difficulty.
She remembers it all.
And so she paints.
With a wave of her hand, Kierra's mana flows over the blank stone. Carving and colouring the vast empty canvas.
She fills it with everything. All of her feelings over nine long years compressed into a single mural.
She draws their meetings. The circumstance of their introductions. The formation of their Guild. The six of them seated on logs around a campfire as they argued about what to name the Guild.
She draws their triumphs. The scenes she remembers oh so perfectly of every first kill they got on each Cataclysm, ending with Vielduine.
And then, the final scene of this saga, the end to this story.
She draws Kierra Kalashnikova. Seated alone around that same campfire, now snuffed out and smouldering. Only swords and staffs and helmets remaining in place of where her friends once sat.
Leaving only her in this world.
Alone.
Kierra closes her eyes, uncaring of their dampness, and lets out a shuddering breath.
Then, she opens them, and instead of looking only at that final scene, she casts her gaze backward. Observing the times before, her entire history in this world, at least the most significant parts from each server version anyway. As she does, a far more recent memory play through her mind.
Would you rather forget them?
Despite the tears, Kierra smiles.
She truly does mourn how this story ends, but she would not have traded it for anything.
She has lived a good life, here, in this world.
"I won't forget you," she whispers into the silent cave. "You deserve at least that much."
Turning away from the wall, Kierra moves to the land bridge that connects the small centre island to the entrance tunnel.
She walks the path, not for the first time, until she comes to a stop before the lone podium.
Looking down at the smooth stone, Kierra brushes a hand over the lightly dusted surface, revealing what lies beneath. A small paragraph carved into the stone, and she reads it, even though she already knows every word.
Here lies the greatest story never told. Of the heights that Magic can reach when wielded by only the most dedicated Mage of them all. [The First Mage].
I know you are probably the only one that will ever read this, K. So I just wanted to personally say this. Thank you. For enjoying our world so deeply. It is an honour we cannot repay. So we made you this instead. I know you love your Lore. We left the end empty though. Hopefully, once the full release comes out you will create even more memories and be able to finish it yourself. I am sure you will.
–Regards, D
Kierra feels numb.
Her hands snap out either side of the podium to catch her as her prestigious strength fails her.
Lacking the energy to fight it, Kierra manoeuvrers herself forward and down, twisting around until she can sit with her back against the podium.
Here, isolated and alone in a place that no one but her even knows exists, Kierra allows herself to vent out all of her emotions. Here, where no one will ever see it, she lets herself cry for what she has lost.
And sitting there, with her knees held against her chest, Kierra looks through blurry eyes at that final mural. At the image of the small Demon girl sitting in the exact same position.
Through the haze of grief, a laugh manages to bubble through, thick with emotion as some distant memory hits her. A quote she never learned the origin of.
"The more things change," she whispers into the silent cavern, "The more they stay the same, huh? Even after everything, I'm still that same grieving little Demon."
Granted, in her Lore, it was a vastly different circumstance that made her character cry. Plus, that history isn't one she lived, for all that she knows it all by heart.
But even with that, the more that she thinks about it, the more that she realises how the phrase resonates with her Lore.
In her Lore, she condemned Menethas for his extreme actions, only to wind up making the exact same choices for the exact same reason.
It's ironic, she thinks. Or perhaps that isn't the right word. She doesn't care to think on it right now.
She is someone who considers herself well educated. She spent a lot of time inside of libraries in FWO and just as much time educating herself on the internet. All for the sake of her character's aesthetic.
An ancient, powerful Witch must be knowledgeable after all, so she made sure to educate herself on everything she could think of to ensure that she could always roleplay properly, no matter the subject.
Yet, despite all of that. Despite her understanding of psychology and history and sociology...
She isn't sure if she wouldn't have made the same mistakes as this body did oh so long ago.
A ping in her brain distracts her from her deep thoughts, and when she closes her eyes and extends her senses afield, she can only shake her head wryly at what she sees.
A sigh leaves her. "Protagonist indeed."
Seeing that Flamelle isn't in any immediate danger, Kierra doesn't rush ahead. She feels to wrung out right now to just bounce back as if nothing happened.
So instead, she sits there for a while, simply watching the situation around Flamelle unfold and allowing it to pull her mind back to even keel.
Eventually though, her composure is regained, and Kierra pushes herself back to her feet.
A quick whirl of Magic washes over her, erasing any tear stains or dust or really just any evidence of the minor emotional breakdown she just had. She's hate for her student to see her looking so pathetic, even if there is nothing shameful about it. It's more just that she doesn't want to ruin the aesthetic she's been building up at a mysterious and wise Mage.
It's good to cry every now and then after all. There were plenty of studies done on how crying is basically just the most simple biological stress relief. At least for certain emotions anyway, sex is a better stress relief for things like stress, but that isn't relevant, nor is it something she is going to be teaching Flamelle about.
On the bright side, now that she has had this cry, Kierra feels a lot more grounded. Which is actually really good, because without having this moment, she might have had a reaction to seeing her home in person.
That she is only thinking about that now is proof enough to her that she had some emotional backlog built up.
Letting out another sigh, this one more satisfied, Kierra stretches her back, feeling a lot more comfortable in her skin now than an hour ago. A knot she didn't even notice unwinding within her.
[Blink]
Standing on the top of the mesa, Kierra looks out into the far distance. Not able to see Flamelle over the curvature of this world, but knowing which way to look.
She could teleport to the girl thanks to the Spells already in place, even if she can't use [Warp], since that needs a [Warp Point] which can't be set on a moving rail. It's also way to far for [Blink], which is supposed to be a short distance teleport.
Because of this, she would have to use a much higher Tier Spell in order to teleport. She could do that.
But.
Kierra wants to fly.
Not like the casual jaunt that brought her here, she'd never make it in time at that speed.
No, she wants to go all out. To push her movement speed as high as she can without causing a massive scene. She wants to know how it feels to fly that fast in truth.
After that, it will just be a matter of annihilating the monsters assailing her student.
"Now then," Kierra smiles slightly as she takes to the air, feeling in a good mood now. "What Spell should I use?"
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Gosh I love lore. This chap might seem like it's revealing enough that there won't be any more depths to Kierra's Lore, but that is dead wrong lmao. She has so much Lore it's crazy lol.
Anywho, I'm ready to start posting, I just need to decide on what to call this, cuz I don't like the placeholder.
Idk what to call it tho. "Teaching Records of the Living Grimoire" is an option, both because it's accurate and because it's a shout to Serie my beloved.
I could also just rename the game from Free World Online, which was the first thing that came to mind even if it is pretty fitting for a game designed around just putting you in a world and giving you complete freedom for what to do from there.
But I could rename it to something catchier and then have that as the title. Like what World of Leadale did. Or hell, I could just keep some variation of what I've already got.
Idk, if you have any suggestions, please do not hesitate to share them. I am absolutely terrible at coming up with titles lmao
Comments
Kz3838
Thank you for the great chapter, stay safe out there and keep up the good work!
The Cancer Fox
really liking everything so far
