Glitching Guard

"Hold! Warrior! Stop your attack this instant!"

It was another guard, coming fast. Not just any guard, but a tougher one, armor looked better, moved like she knew what she was doing. Definitely someone higher up in the guard ranks. She plowed through the crowd, face all set and serious, hand on her sword hilt like she was ready for trouble.

She stomped right in between the player and Barnaby, stopping right there, standing tall and official, like she owned the place.

"Warrior," she said, voice clear and loud, talking right to the big player, "you are ordered to stop attacking. Right now."

The big player did step back this time, sword all the way down now, hanging loose but still in his hand. He turned to face the other guard, looking a little annoyed.

"Guard," the Warrior said, voice calmer but still kinda used to being in charge, "I was just… checking out his fighting skills. Just a test, you know?"

The higher-up guard frowned harder, face all programmed to be serious. "Attacking village guards without village permission is not allowed," she said, all proper and official-sounding, like reading from a script (which, let's face it, she probably was). "Keep it up, and we'll see it as attacking the whole village guard force. Understand?"

The Warrior thought for a second, eyes flicking from Barnaby to the other guard. Probably figuring out if it was worth fighting with all the guards in Oakhaven.

Then he just shrugged a tiny bit. "Yeah, yeah, got it, guard," he said, sounding less tough now, more like… maybe just done with it? Maybe still wondering about Barnaby? Hard to tell. "Just… curious, okay?" He looked at Barnaby one last time, a real long look, like he was trying to read his mind or something. Then, just like that, the geared-out Warrior turned around and walked off, disappearing back into the crowd that was still buzzing, leaving Barnaby standing there, still a bit wobbly, but for sure… not getting sliced in half. At least, not yet.

The higher-up guard just stood there for a second, watching the geared-out Warrior walk off. Then she turned and looked at Barnaby. Not a friendly look. More like a… checking-for-damage look. She walked right up to him, closer than the Warrior had even dared to get.

She looked him up and down, her programmed eyes scanning him from head to toe. "Barnaby, " she said, her voice still sharp and official, using the nickname players had started using, but without any warmth. "Report your status."

Barnaby blinked. Status? He didn't have a status, not really. He was just… standing. Not sliced in half. Not dead. He wasn't sure what she wanted him to say. His script didn't cover "nearly attacked by a high-level player but saved by another guard."

So he just went with the safest thing he could think of. The thing he was always supposed to say. "I'm alright," he mumbled out, pulling the phrase from some dusty corner of his programming. It sounded stiff, weird, even to him.

The higher-up guard just narrowed her eyes even more, face still all stern. "Maintain your post," she said, then turned and stalked off, pushing back through the crowd, heading deeper into Oakhaven, like she had more important guard-captain stuff to deal with. Just like that, she was gone. No thanks, no "good job for not getting killed," just… orders.

Barnaby was left standing there again, alone, except for the huge crowd still buzzing all around him. But now the buzz was different. It wasn't just surprised and curious anymore. Now it was… excited. Like something big had just happened, and they'd all seen it.

The crowd started pushing in closer again, bolder now that the scary high-level Warrior and the bossy guard lady were gone. They were talking to each other, louder now, pointing at Barnaby, gesturing and acting all hyped up.

"Dude, did you see her jump in?" one player yelled, still amazed. "That guard captain, she actually told off a level eighty Warrior!"

"Yeah, and he listened!" another one replied, just as hyped. "He actually backed down! Crazy!"

"But the guard though!" someone else shouted, pointing right at Barnaby. "He dodged! He really dodged that attack! No way that's normal!"

"Maybe it's a new secret?" a player wondered, voice getting all low and conspiratorial. "Like, maybe if you attack the guards, they 'evolve' or something? Unlock hidden skills?"

"Nah, that's dumb," someone else said, but you could tell they were thinking about it. "But… what is going on with him then?"

The crowd was like a pot boiling over. Ideas were flying around, theories were being shouted out, everyone was trying to figure out the puzzle of the glitched guard. And Barnaby was right in the middle of it, the silent, unmoving center of all the noise and excitement.

He didn't understand half of what they were saying. "Levels," "skills," "evolve," "secret boss"… it was all player talk, game talk, stuff that didn't really make sense to his NPC brain, even now. But he understood the main thing: they were talking about him. He was the thing they were all interested in. He was the reason they were all crowded around the West Gate, forgetting about the boar monsters and everything else.

And that… that was a weird feeling. A confusing feeling. But not entirely… bad. Not entirely scary. Maybe… just maybe… it was something else too. Something… like… attention. Like being seen. Like being… noticed. For something other than just standing guard and saying his lines.

The wind blew again, colder now, carrying the smell of rain, and the distant roars of the Grimshark beasts. Oakhaven was still under attack. The game was still going on. But for Barnaby, standing there at the West Gate, surrounded by a crowd of buzzing, curious players, something new was starting.

The crowd stayed thick around him, like he was some kind of statue they'd all come to see. But it wasn't just staring anymore. Now players were starting to do things.

Some were pulling out their weapons, low-level starter weapons mostly, and starting to… well, copy the geared-out Warrior, kind of. They'd swing their swords near Barnaby, or shoot arrows around him, not at him exactly, but close. Testing. Seeing if he'd dodge again. Seeing if he'd react at all.

Others were trying to talk to him, pushing right up close and yelling questions in his face again. But now the questions were different. Less "secret boss" stuff, more… serious. "Hey Barnaby, you hear me?!" "Guard, can you understand us?!" "Are you… different now?!"

A few players, the sneaky Rogue types probably, even started trying to pickpocket him. Reaching into his pockets, trying to grab his spear, seeing if they could get anything off him. Like he was a loot pinata now, just because he'd moved a bit.

Barnaby just kept standing guard, going through the motions. "Halt! State your business." "Pass through, traveler." The lines felt even weirder now, saying them while everyone was poking and prodding and yelling. Like he was a broken record, stuck on repeat in the middle of a party.

But inside, things were still buzzing. All that attention… it was doing something to him. He was noticing more, taking in more. The faces of the players, up close, weren't just blurry anymore. He could see details. Wrinkles around their eyes (on the avatars, anyway), the way their mouths moved when they shouted, the different kinds of armor and weapons they carried. They were all different, each one. Not just copies of each other.

And he was noticing himself too. How he felt standing there, in the middle of it all. It was… tiring, in a way he'd never felt before. All that processing, all that new awareness, it took energy, even code-energy. But it wasn't just tiring. It was also… something else. A tiny spark of… well, maybe not enjoyment. But… interest. Yes, interest. Being interesting to these players, these primaries, it was… interesting.

Suddenly, the higher-up guard pushed her way back through the crowd again. She looked even more annoyed this time, her face even more set in that programmed frown. She clearly wasn't happy about the mob still being there, still bothering her West Gate.

She stopped right in front of the crowd, her voice cutting through the noise, sharp and loud again. "Alright! That's enough!" she yelled at the players, like they were a bunch of misbehaving kids. "The attack is still active! Gnarlspine Boars are still attacking! What are you all doing crowding around here?!"

The players actually flinched back a bit. Even the higher-level ones. NPC authority, even in a low-level starter village, still meant something in Grimshark. They grumbled a bit, but they started to break up, to drift away, back towards the direction of the boar fight, or back into Oakhaven itself.

"Event's that way, people!" the guard yelled, pointing with her sword towards the village center. "Go defend Oakhaven, or go loot some boar hides, or whatever it is you players do! Just… clear out of the West Gate area! Now!"

Slowly, grumbling and still whispering to each other about the "glitched guard," the crowd started to thin out. Within a few minutes, the West Gate was mostly clear again. Just a few stragglers hanging back, watching from a distance, still curious, still keeping an eye on Barnaby.

The higher-up guard turned to Barnaby one last time, her face softening… well, slightly. NPC softening, which wasn't saying much. "Maintain your post, Barnaby," she said, less sharp now, almost… neutral. Then she turned and walked away again, heading back towards whatever guard duties higher-up guards did in Oakhaven.