Five minutes later I wrenched the sweaty helmet off my head and slumped back into the dive chair. Groaning I dug my thumbs into my eyes and muttered, “What the fuck am I doing?”
Lydia spoke up immediately, “Hon? You aren’t gonna fall asleep in the dive chair again are you?”
Blinking and rubbing my eyes I swung my feet out of the chair. My jaw clicked as I yawned and staggered toward the stairs.
Somewhere distant I heard Lydia say, “The envelope…”
Waving a dismissive hand, I growled, “No! I’m going to sleep!”
Going upstairs and falling into my bed were barely a memory.
Waking with a start and a groan an indeterminate amount of time later I recoiled at the bright light hitting my eyes through the blinds on my window.
Quickly turning to avoid the hateful sun I noted that I had slept in my dive suit. Sighing I stood and stripped the smelly skin tight clothing off, “And you are getting cleaned today.”
“Lydia, what time is it? Also, start the coffee maker,” I asked with a yawn.
“It’s one pm sweetheart.”
Groaning, I trudged out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to start my day.
I resolved that today would be my day off from the game. A disconnect was definitely needed to consider my situation. Tossing my divesuit and other clothes into the wash, I had a meal, and dressed to go out.
“Lydia, has Cassie mentioned anything about the real estate agent?”
“No, hon.”
“Call her?”
After a moment she said, “No response.”
“Try calling the real estate people?”
“No response.”
Frowning at my image in the floor length mirror I adjusted my thick brown hair, once again checking to assure my shave hadn’t missed anything, “Send their address in town to my Patch and order me a rideshare to their office.”
There was a long pause.
After a moment I turned and asked, “Lydia?”
“Sorry Mal. The request has been made.”
The sunlight was blistering to my eyes. The street outside the house was almost empty as usual. A driverless car glided up to the curb and I climbed in. I hated these things. A few times I had them blow through stop signs without noticing. When they weren’t performing blatantly illegal actions they were driving five to ten kph under the speed limit.
The small town where I grew up was bustling with cars and people out and about. Checking my Patch I noted that it was Saturday. Entirely too much time later the vehicle came to a stop in the small tree lined strip mall where the office was located. A screen in the backseat asked, “Would you like to tip?”
Groaning, I ignored it, climbed out and breezed my way in through the front door of the office. It was office chic at its best with a desk out front occupied by a smiling well dressed woman with long curly dark hair. For some reason she seemed familiar. There were doors to two other offices and standees and ads in one corner alongside a line of chairs. She beamed at me and asked, “Afternoon sir, how can I help you?”
Manifesting my best winning smile I said, “My name is Malcolm Voss. You guys have been conferring with my lawyer Cassie…”
She cut me off with a smile as she said, “Oh yes Cassie, we have gotten to know each other pretty well over the last few weeks. I talked to her yesterday.”
Grinning, I spread my hands, “Excellent. I was kind of hoping for a status report and I couldn’t get in touch with Cassie. I figured I would stop in and check with you guys directly.”
“No problem sir. I’m familiar with your case. Let me get your file,” she said with an affirming nod.
As she huddled over her computer and started typing, I turned away to look out the front windows of the office.
The parking lot had a few dotted cars but was otherwise empty. It was… empty. Unnaturally empty.
As I watched the sky darkened. The world became darkness. A dome of black seamless brick formed over the expanse of the parking lot like it was fading into reality. Spikes of black iron shot up from the ground and formed a garden of chaotic steel spears that twisted and curved upward like lightning reaching for a non-existent sky. The silence was oppressive and I staggered away from the windows. Before my eyes, humanoid forms fell from the ceiling tumbling downward until the ropes around their necks snapped taut. There was an instant and overwhelming snapping sound that was likely equal parts rope and fragile breaking necks.
In the center of the parking lot a man in a black robe was holding a figure down and brandishing a length of black iron. I could hear the pleading screams of a familiar child-like voice. Figures around them started to stand in jerky rapid movements, children's voices howled like hunting animals as the shadow silhouettes of the creatures turned and started to sprint toward the doors to the real estate office.
“Malcolm?”
Snapping out of the vision I shook my head. The parking lot was back and filled with sunlight. Turning sharply I saw the clerk offering a concerned smile, “I… I found your file…”
Taking a deep breath I nodded as I tried to smile, “Yeah… I’m sorry. I just got lost in my own… world.”
She gave me a concerned nod and stood, “Sorry we didn’t get back to you about the status of your home. It appears that most of the interest has backed out so far. We do have one potential buyer but they are going to get back to us in a couple of days.”
Bad news. At least bad news is some news. Taking it in stride I centered myself as I said, “Good. Good. I’m sorry I took up some of your time today.”
She shook her head and handed me a copy of my report, “It’s fine Mr. Voss. I’m always glad to help.”
Taking the file, I nodded, “Thanks again.”
I left the office with my eyes down, my hands still shaking and my thoughts whirling. Were these things happening in the daylight now? Should I tell the Doc about this? Would they throw me into an asylum? Could the drinking be doing this?
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
If I told the Doc about this Cassie would freak the fuck out. There was always the possibility that the media would find out and start passing around rumors that ‘VossHallVox’ had snapped. Maybe he snapped a long time ago?
Maybe he wasn’t just bullying people?
Maybe he wasn’t JUST a killer?
Maybe he really is a murderer.
Unconsciously I started to wring the folder of papers in my hands.. Reaching up toward my Patch to make a call, my hand hovered for a long moment. Finally I let it drop and turned to start walking.
My thoughts overwhelmed me as I walked and I became oblivious to the world around me.
My mind strayed from my own sanity to the events of the game. Reaching up, I tapped a finger on my Patch after I’d walked for a fair amount of time. My voice was raspy and lacked confidence as I asked, “Lyd, has Larry from Catacomb gotten back to you about the hacking attempt?”
She answered promptly, “Their latest update indicates they have further narrowed their focus on an area in the southeastern US. They believe the hacker does not have access to the system anymore. Larry claims that the corrupted information has been removed from the NPCs code. She should still recognize you and make references to your previous encounters but will no longer reference your personal life.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, I said, “That’s… that’s good news. Thank you Lydia.”
“No problem, hun.”
When I finally looked I found myself outside a park. The trees blotted out the sun with excessive tree cover. The park was cut through by a gravel trail. There was a tennis court on the far side where a pair of women in their forties or fifties tapped a ball back and forth with a recurring snapping sound. I made my way in and settled in on a bench, laying my head back. Breathing in deeply, I closed my eyes.
I must have fallen asleep because I started awake to someone calling my name, “Mr. Voss, is that you?”
Lifting my head I gave Olivia a warning look as the dark skinned young woman made her way up the path as I rasped, “What did I say about my name?”
She looked sheepish, “Sorry! Malcolm, how are you?”
She was wearing short shorts and a tight tank top adorned with a familiar bat shaped logo. What were they up to these days? The twelfth reboot? I caught myself looking a bit too hard and shook my head as I looked away and said, “I’m ok. I’m enjoying some time at a park like you suggested.”
Squaring my shoulders I put on my confident smile as I said, “What brings you out here?”
She shrugged, “Same. My house gets really loud sometimes. Can I sit with you?”
Chuckling, I nodded as I looked off toward the tennis court where the two women were wrapping up their game, “Sure.”
We sat in silence for about five minutes before she said, “You look like shit you know?”
My veil of control broke and I started laughing as I looked over to see her smiling at me, “I’m your boss you know?”
“I’m pretty sure you hired me because of my honesty.”
“I hired you because I’m kind of a slob.”
She started laughing at that and I gave her a big smile as I said, “Yeah, it's really funny.”
Sighing, I shook my head and finally gave a real answer, “I’ve been struggling a little. I’m starting to feel like I’m falling into the game a little too hard to escape my real world problems.”
Her smile faded to concern.
After a long moment she reached out and put her hand on mine giving me a confident look, “I know it's hard and I guess I only really know your online persona but I know you’re smart and tough. If anyone can handle all this cancellation nonsense it’s you.”
“I mean it is more than…”
She cut me off smiling as she said, “I have faith in you Malcolm. You’ve got this.”
Studying the young girl for a long moment I finally smiled as I said, “Well, if you say so.”
Sighing I tapped my Patch, “Lyd get me a car back to the house.”
“Sure thing, Mal.”
Turning to Olivia, I asked, “You wanna ride with me?”
She shook her head and stood, “I’ve gotta go get some stuff downtown.”
She gave my shoulder a squeeze and said, “You got this.”
Nodding, I said, “Stay safe, kid. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She gave me a little wave as she walked off toward downtown.
Watching her go I shook my head as I looked away, “I’m gonna get dragged online for hiring this kid. I fucking know it.”
Less than ten minutes later I was back in the car, with a living driver this time, and headed back toward the house. I didn’t engage with the older woman behind the wheel. I leaned back and closed my eyes.
Now I just needed to wrap all this up. Tapping my patch phone quietly I muttered, “Lydia, send our game data to Catacomb and boot up the system when we are five minutes out.”
When I was back to the darkened house I made my way to the kitchen and quickly made a meal, downed a glass of whiskey and then grabbed my now clean divesuit.
Before long I was descending back into the blood red light of the dive room with purpose.
-
Olivia watched him enter his house again from her driveway and her shoulders slumped. She turned and made her way up to her front door. She wrenched it open and made her way into the nearly empty home. She dropped her backpack off her back and strode into the kitchen.
A woman stood at the sink in a conservative dress and wearing a stained apron. In many ways she looked like a clone of the young woman but easily in her late thirties.
The older woman studied her for a long moment and asked, “Is everything ok?”
Olivia jumped up and sat on the kitchen counter with a slow shake of her head, “Barely holding on. This was a terrible idea.”
The woman set the sponge she had been using to clean dishes aside and walked up beside her as she looked up at a huge television screen.
On the screen a short slender young man with pale lilac skin was just starting to stand up from the rocky ground and brush himself off. He stepped up to the edge of a cliff and looked out over a dark world with the lights of a city in the distance.
Olivia sighed and looked to the woman beside her, “We can only hope that he makes it through.”
After a moment the older woman sighed and said, “How would he be any different than the others?”
–
I appeared back in the world outside the gates of Braithe and got accustomed to the feel of the VR again. I scanned my surroundings and walked to the nearby cliff to look out over the open country I needed to cross. My mind briefly went to Valerie and where she might be. Cursing, I shook my head.
Before I set out I muttered, “Lyd, could you give me a run down on my level up notifications?”
Lydia started to read out my level up statistics with her characteristic chipper tone. I’d gotten three whole levels from the fight at the fortress and the traversal of the tunnel. At level twenty four I got another pair of two point increases to stats which I invested into Agility and Vitality this time. There were a host of skill increases but none of them got anywhere near the next tier after Expert. In addition I got a host of new resistance skills because of my idiotic gamble with the Explosive Wards, gaining points in Fire, Cold, Electrical and Acid.
At level twenty five I got the choice of the same two skills I had been offered before, Sanguine Song and Blood Berserk. While Blood Berserk was a tempting choice, the newest skill won me over.
“Dance of the Rose Hurricane: Expend 50% of your Essence pool. Every droplet of Essence cast off by one of your slashes becomes a deadly projectile. A five meter vortex of Essence shards surrounds you and tears into any target within. When Dance of the Rose Hurricane ends, you consume all Essence that is part of and spilled by the Hurricane.”
I locked in the choice and checked my statistics. My Health was at ok levels but my Essence was low. It was a significant hike back toward the Necropolis. It couldn’t hurt to stop off there to find other players and extend my invitation to the meeting with Valerie’s people.
Staring back up the slope to the dark walls of Braithe I turned and started back down the slope toward the open rolling Hills, and eventually Vert Collin hamlet.
The land blurred around me as I rushed back across the land from the empty city toward the ancient Necropolis where I had begun my journey. I paused from time to time to drain the Essence from several simple beasts. My Blooded buff didn’t proc but I didn’t think there was much chance of that with such small creatures. When I had crossed half the distance I found an old house that was half burned and chose to take refuge there.
Searching it for signs of habitation, I found none. Lydia informed me I had gotten a message from Sakurai and I knelt down in the ruins of the old building to read it.
