by R M Mulder
@cosmic_reactor21: We've traced your avatar’s IP address. Sit tight. We're almost there.
Several minutes passed, and the two heat signatures began to head his direction. He pressed the right side of his head against the headrest again, powering off his microchip.
James’ avatar approached the car, accompanied by a tall figure in a long black cloak. Just the presence of the cloaked individual made his blood run cold. Goosebumps prickled on his forearms, and a familiar voice entered his mind. A feeling of horror overwhelmed him as he recognized the voice as the same that he had heard while playing DarkForce when the first Voidspawn he encountered nearly ripped his bare flesh to shreds.
Yield thy soul unto the Leviathan. You shall gain immense power!
Matt shuddered from the echoing voice, and blood drained from his face. Though he couldn’t see a face under the dark hood, he felt the creature’s evil eyes boring into his soul. Matt began to hyperventilate, and couldn’t control his panic.
This can’t be real!
The hooded figure raised its arm, and Matt felt a strange tug at his chest. He glanced down, and saw a glowing red object slowly extracting from his chest. He suddenly recognized the pulsing object as his heart!
His eyes rolled back, and his world went dark.
***
Matt flew through a passage of swirling blue, gold, and white streams of cloudy light. He innately knew it was some kind of meridian between time and space.
Am I dead?
He was struck in awe at the splendor and beauty of the tunnel. The many colors danced like a nebula in space, irrigated by shooting particles of light. The particles of light accelerated in brightness and velocity until his entire vision was encompassed by a blinding flash of light.
Matt felt disoriented as he took in his surroundings. He was surrounded by music stands and teenagers chatting in a foreign chirpy tongue. It wasn’t until he saw a teenager briskly walk backwards from across the room that he realized the scene was akin to rewinding a movie. The fast paced movement and chatter slowed as the movement through time came closer to a stop. Above Matt’s head the ceiling swirled with the same purple clouds as the tunnel that he had just been flying through. As the movement of the teenagers slowed, the colorful swirls on the roof faded away. Soon he was staring at a tiled ceiling.
“…using this method, I hope we can learn to sound better.” A woman at the front of the room was speaking.
Matt looked around him in confusion, “What the…”
“Excuse me young man?” the woman reacted, “Is there something you’d like to share with the class, Jack?”
Her eyes bore into his with intense scrutiny. Matt turned to look behind him, and then back at her.
“Who, me?”
“Yes, Jack.” she seethed, “What was so important that you felt you needed to rudely interrupt my lecture?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, woman. And stop calling me Jack.” he retorted indignantly, “Now, where am I?”
“Get out!” she shrieked, “Get out of my class! I refuse to tolerate such disrespect!”
“Calm down lady.”
That did it. The woman stormed over, grabbed him by the ear and lifted him off the chair. The pain was excruciating.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Matt was surprised by her strength as she dragged him out to the hall.
“Heather?” she released his ear and called back into the room, “Please escort Mr. Timberland to the Principal’s Office.”
“Ma’am!” Matt rubbed his sore ear with one hand and reached for his belt with the other, “You’re under arrest for assaulting an officer. You have the right…”
He looked down, surprised that his cuffs were missing. And his gun. And his uniform…
What am I wearing?!
Then he saw his hands. They were… young.
“Holy!” he stammered.
“Young man!” the woman huffed, “Enough playing around. I insist you report to Mr. Tremblay’s office immediately!”
Am I going crazy?! What’s going on here?!
Matt stumbled forward and bolted down the hallway, ignoring the woman’s angry shouts. He nearly stumbled several times with his strangely lanky legs, and he clambered down a wide stairway and out one of the many glass front doors. He ran across the large parking lot, stopping briefly on the opposite end to catch his breath.
Why am I so out of shape?
He glanced back at the building, and the words J. Sterling Morton East High School were emblazoned above the large archway.
My old high school. What am I doing here?
Staring at his foreign hands and lanky arms, he convinced himself that this must be a really strange dream. He glanced at the street sign on the corner and recognized the cross streets. In his youth he had ridden his bicycle down this road a million times. Only a few blocks away was his old home.
I must be dreaming about my childhood.
The dream was so vivid.
He suddenly remembered what had happened just prior to his blackout, and the creeping dread returned.
The cloaked creature…
The voices whispered as an echo in the back of his mind, and they were growing louder and louder. He realized this must be his way of coping with his current situation. As the dread grew ever burdensome and threatened to consume him entirely, a glimmer of hope flickered in his mind.
Mom…
He didn’t care if the dream was real or not. His mother had died over ten years ago. This was his chance to see her again…
The flicker grew, warming his soul. The dark voices quieted, and he felt a burning desire to see her one last time before the surreal dream ended.
He took off at a sprint.
I’m coming home, mom.
Chapter Seventeen
Homebound
Matt reached his childhood home in short time. He felt another strange sense of déjà vu overwhelm him.
It looks the same as it did yesterday.
The yard was just as haphazard, the paint was peeling in the same manner, the mailbox was stuffed full…
Wait a minute…
Matt grabbed one of the letters near the top. It was dated from last week.
Dang it. This isn’t my childhood at all!
His stomach fell at the sudden realization that his desire to see his deceased mother would go unanswered. Disappointed, he gathered the mail for his elderly father and carried it to the door. After a brief knock, he let himself in.
“Hey dad?”
His voice sounded weird. Younger even.
“Dad?” he called again, “Are you home?”
Silence.
He must be out bowling again.
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light to his immediate right. He shielded his eyes, and in a blur of colors a man appeared out of thin air.
“What the…” Matt stammered.
They locked eyes. Matt immediately recognized him as one of the three men who had escaped from the precinct’s jail cells.
“You!”
He took off at a sprint. Matt pursued, and chased him up the stairs and down the hall. The ladder to the attic was extended, and Matt could see another of the three men peeking out of the attic hole.
“Hey!” the man yelled from the attic, “Who invited the kid?”
Kid? He’s likely my same age!
The man he’d been chasing clambered up the ladder and tried to pull it up behind him. Matt was too quick however, grabbing on to the last rung of the ladder and yanking it back down. Matt absently reached for his gun again, forgetting that it was missing.
Dang it!
“What are you doing up there?!” He yelled through the hole.
Another bright flash of light erupted from the hole, temporarily blinding him. Matt blinked rapidly, and squinted. The attic was dark again.
“Hello?”
Silence.
“I know you’re up there!” he bellowed, “You’ve got nowhere to escape!”
More silence.
He eyed the ladder nervously. He felt vulnerable without his gun. They could easily jump him if he climbed up. Then a thought struck him.
Dad’s gun safe. Duh!
He walked backwards toward his dad’s bedroom, eyeing the ladder cautiously. He reached the door, and quickly ran to the closet. He slid open the door, revealing the tall gun safe. Having memorized the combination lock, he was able to get it open quickly. He grabbed his father’s Mossberg Silver Series shotgun and a handful of shells, quickly loading all five with one of them in the barrel. He bolted back into the hallway, and the ladder remained unmoved.
With two distinctive clicks, the shotgun was primed.
“All right,” he yelled back into the hole, “I suggest you come out of there before I fill you full of buckshot!”
Still silence.
“You asked for it!”
He pointed the barrel into the air as he cautiously ascended each rung. He carefully poked his head through the opening and looked around.
It was empty.
He climbed up the remaining steps in a hurry and jumped into the opening. To his dismay, this activated the ladder’s spring recoil, and it pulled itself up. He turned the barrel in every direction, but there was nobody there in the dim light coming in from the rafters.
Where did they go?!
The air was stale and warm, and he kicked the ladder several times. Unfortunately, the ladder’s trap door barely opened a crack, and retracted with each attempt.
Great. Just great.
He lowered the shotgun and stared at the open trunk. There were several old manila folders strewn about from his father’s old case files. They were laid out exactly the same way they did the day he found the boy Jack Timberland in this very attic.
But I collected all of these files already and turned them in as evidence…
Something very strange was going on. As he set the shotgun down on the floor, he saw his hand again and remembered how young it appeared.
But this isn’t my childhood…
A disturbing thought entered his mind. He stared at a tall object covered in a sheet.
Mom’s vanity mirror.
He reached up and grasped the sheet, hesitating for a moment. Then, with a quick yank the reflection in the old mirror confirmed his fears.
Jack Timberland?! I’m in his body?!
He heard the screech of the springs as the trap door opened suddenly and light erupted into the attic, but it was too late. His eyes were locked on the reflection, and the image began to swirl before his eyes. With a flash of light, he was back in the colorful tunnel. Hundreds of meteor-like particles of light blasted at him, consuming him. They accumulated in quantity and accelerated in speed until he was enveloped in another blinding flash of light!
Matt groaned and blinked his eyes, and he quickly recognized that he was back in the cage of the police cruiser. Officer Price was driving, and the hooded figure sat in the passenger seat. A feeling of dread overwhelmed him again, and the dark voice returned.
Yield thy soul up for consumption! The Leviathan doth await thee!
“Shut up!” he screamed “SHUT UP!”
James’ avatar turned to face him, “What’s going on back there?”
“The voice!” Matt moaned, “Make it stop!”
“Timur,” the avatar turned to the cloaked individual, “Please. Not now.”
“If you insist. But don’t you forget who’s in charge here!” the hooded man exhaled loudly in contempt, and the voice finally ceased.
Chapter Eighteen
Unexpected Rescue
Despite the significant amount of jostling around as they drove the squad car down the dirt road, Matt paid little attention as he was consumed in his thoughts. He was now back at square one with this baffling case, and didn't have a clue who could possibly have stolen the files from his father's attic. His mind reeled as he contemplated the fact that his primary suspect was clearly innocent, considering all of his actions in the attic had been entirely out of the boy's control. All of his claims of innocence and his insistence of memory loss now made sense. Somehow Jack Timberland was rendered unconscious while Matt took full control of his body.
But how was that even possible?
Just then, a theory slapped him in the face. He knew from his experiences at the arena that it was possible to assume control of somebody else's body using CyberBolt's sleep mode function. And considering Jack was from a wealthy family and likely had gotten everything he wanted growing up, it didn't seem too far-fetched that Jack's parents may have condoned the surgery required to obtain CyberBolt's most advanced gaming platform technology on the market.
That's gotta be it!
Matt's eyes went wide as he considered all of the possible ramifications of this theory. There were still large chunks of information that didn't make any sense. The most blatant of them being the fact that Matt had just barely endured this out-of-body experience, but he knew for a fact that the events he just witnessed had actually occurred earlier in the week.
Did I just travel back in time through the game server?!
The only thing even close to that type of concept in the game was the recently-acquired skills that he had obtained after activating the Temporal Artifact.
How is this even possible?
The squad car suddenly lurched forward, breaking him out of his thoughts. Matt looked around in alarm, and then saw a familiar red pickup closing in close behind them.
“I think this guy is trying to run us off the road!” James' avatar spoke a little bit too late as another lurch caused Matt to smack his head on the steel cage.
The squad car skidded slightly to the right and then the driver regained control. Seconds later Matt could hear the roar of the truck's engine as it pulled up on their left side. He caught a glimpse of the driver's face just seconds before the next impact.
Derek?!
The squad car careened out of control as James' avatar whiplashed in the driver's seat. Moments later James opened his eyes groggily.
“What? Huh?!” James stammered as he applied immediate pressure to the breaks, causing Matt to smack his forehead on the steel cage again.
The instant the car came to a full stop, James already had his gun trained on the cloaked individual.
“Who are you?! How did I get here?” he spun around and his eyes locked with Matt, “What's going on here?!”
The cloaked man threw the door open. Before James could react, he was gone as if it had passed through a shadow.
“You have some serious explaining to do!” James now trained the gun on Matt.
“Drop your weapon!” Derek's voice boomed, “FBI! Get out of the car, and get down on your knees!”
James immediately complied, while Matt's face twisted in confusion.
Since when does Derek work for the FBI?!
“Now release your suspect and remove the handcuffs.”
A disturbed look fell across Officer Price's face, but he walked around the corner and opened the backseat that served as Matt's cage.
As James proceeded to remove the cuffs he whispered in Matt's ear, “Do you think this guy is really with the FBI?”
Matt whispered back, “I don't know. We've been friends since I was a kid but he's never mentioned anything about it.”
“Wait a minute. You're saying you know this guy?!”
“Yeah he's the guy that I stayed with a few nights ago.” Matt confirmed under his breath.
“Can we trust him?”
“Yes.” Matt didn’t hesitate as he rubbed his sore wrists, “I would trust him with my life.”
Derek’s voice boomed again as he waved the pistol at James, “Now go ahead and put the cuffs on yourself.”
“Excuse me?!”
“You heard me correctly.” Derek insisted. “I can't risk you going into another episode.”
James turned to Matt again, “Episode? What is he talking about?”
“Y
ou drove us here and it turned into a high-speed chase.” This time Matt didn’t whisper.
“No I didn't.” James insisted.
“You didn't, but your avatar did.” Derek corrected.
“That's impossible! We aren’t in the arena. There are safety protocols that prevent…”
Matt cut him off, “Clearly someone has figured out a way to bypass those protocols. That's what I was trying to explain to you last night.”
“What do you mean?”
Derek chimed in again, “Where were you just before you regained consciousness?”
“I was asleep.”
“Yes, but where?” Derek sought clarification, “Were you asleep in your bed, or at the arena?”
“At the arena, of course.” James looked annoyed, “I’ve got to keep leveling up my character. All I can figure is somehow I got knocked unconscious, and you guys dragged me out here.”
“No, James.” Matt sighed, “You have to listen to me. Neither of us brought you out here. You broke me out of jail - just like how my avatar broke those drug runners out of jail the other night.”
James eyes went wide. “But that means... Wow…”
Derek waved his gun at James again, “So as you can see, I must insist you place those cuffs on yourself.”
James looked hesitant, but nodded in agreement. After putting on the first cuff, he swung the other against his second wrist and it quickly clicked into place. He then tossed the keys over to Derek.
“There. Done.”
Derek lowered his gun. “Clearly someone has figured out how to exploit the Sleep Mode function of the game and has been using players as mules for their various crimes. My team is trying to get to the bottom of all this.”
Matt paused and considered his thoughts, and an epiphany hit him. “I think I know how they did it. They must be using the Temporal Artifact! There must be more than one out there!”
“The Temporal... what?” James raised an eyebrow.
“The Temporal Artifact.” Matt clarified, “Do you remember how a few days ago before I got my armor, I looted a player and obtained a funny looking hourglass?”
“Yes, I remember.” James nodded, “I also remember that I told you to get rid of it because dark magic is really quite messy.”