Gilded Obsession

by Zoey Rivera

  Contents

  Title

  Zoey Rivera

  The Permadeath Legacy

  Intro

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Newsletter

  Special Thanks

  Books

  About the Author

  Gilded Obsession

  The Permadeath Legacy

  Book 2

  Zoey Rivera

  Text Copyright © 2016 Zoey Rivera

  All Rights Reserved.

  This book may not be reproduced in any form or medium without the express written consent of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and places either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

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  The Permadeath Legacy:

  Blacksalt Slayer

  (Click Here)

  Crimson Nightmare

  (Click Here)

  Killing Pawns

  (Click Here)

  Gilded Obsession

  (Click Here)

  Manmade Monsters

  (Click Here)

  Eden was built as the perfect fantasy reality. Instead of being a means of entertainment for its players, it became a world where the rich extort the poor to fight and die for their own amusement.

  As a pawn, your life is your own. But death in the game doesn't mean you reload and start over. When you die in Eden, you die in the real world. Sometimes survival comes at the cost of another's life.

  What will you leave behind when the only certainty in life is your death?

  Chapter 1

  A storm brewed in the skies of the Blacksalt sea as The Wandering Willow set its course. The waves crashed relentlessly against the stern of the ship. A steady wind filled the sails. The pungent scent of fish and the sea filled the crew’s lungs as they set about their duties on the Willow. A brutish-looking man with long, wavy blond hair and stormy blue eyes stood prominently at the bow, looking out onto the sea ahead.

  “Lorcan!” a voice bellowed across the deck.

  Lorcan turned back to see who was calling out to him. A short, rugged man with spiky black hair and sun-kissed skin stomped over to him.

  “What, Chris?”

  “Don’t you, ‘what, Chris,’ me! Get over here and do your job. What am I paying you for?” the tiny man barked at him.

  Lorcan shook his head and smirked.

  “Are you paying me? Why wasn’t I informed about this?” Lorcan said wryly.

  “I won’t be soon, if you keep that attitude,” Chris scolded.

  Lorcan walked past him, plopped down onto a barrel by the cannons, and started sifting through the powder keg to keep it dry. As the master gunner of the ship, his duties were to maintain and operate the weaponry on The Wandering Willow. This meant most of his days were wasted away on noting durabilities of the cannons and ensuring that each crew member was well armed for any emergency that may occur.

  “Setting sail for Crithm,” Chris barked to the Sailing Master, who was navigating the ship.

  “Aye, Crithm!”

  Lorcan had gone to the town of Crithm a few times in his fourteen years in Eden. When his character was first established at eighteen, he immediately searched for his family in-game. They hadn’t set up a system to find each other, knowing that there was no real way of tracking where in Eden your character would first materialize.

  Generally though, people who were brought to Eden from the same habitation module were brought to Eden in roughly the same area. Two short years of searching, travelling, coordinating during meals in the habitation facility, and saving finally united Lorcan with his family briefly. That is, until they were torn from him during an elite’s event. Short lived as it was, those were the years of Eden that he cherished the most.

  The ship’s cabin boy popped his head out of the bunker. Lorcan grunted in disapproval of the boy’s existence. He was too chipper to be living in Eden. He was too happy to be aboard the ship. He took life too simply.

  “Oi, did he say Crithm? I thought we were sailing to Sorin?” the boy questioned.

  “Aye,” Lorcan’s response was hardly more than a grunt.

  “Oi, Lorc. Lorc. Lorcan,” the boy was practically beaming as he pestered the man. Lorcan mused that the boy would probably get sponsored quite easily for how much tormenting him seemed to please the boy.

  “What, you incessant pest?” Lorcan acknowledged the boy for once and actually turned to look at him. He was a tall, scrawny, gangly thing. Nearly as big, height-wise anyway, as Lorcan, despite the age gap between the two of them. His dirty blond hair was long for a young man, and his skin was pale as parchment. What was most notable about the boy was his beaming green eyes, full as a forest with life.

  “Why are we stopping in Crithm?” the boy asked.

  “Picking up cargo,”Lorcan answered bluntly.

  Contrary to his inner monologue rambling on and the sometimes excessively cynical remarks he’d retort in his mind, Lorcan was never really one to offer up conversation with the younger crewmen. His curtness generally killed conversations more oft than not.

  “Cargo? What kind of cargo? Can we stop for food? I feel like I haven’t eaten in ages,” the boy laid out on the deck and rubbed at his stomach. Lorcan knew full well that the boy had just eaten in the mess hall only a few minutes prior, so there was no way he could still be hungry unless he was being spoiled.

  “Just cargo and no,” Lorcan said as he went back to his duties.

  The boy sat back up and knowingly grinned at Lorcan.

  “Well, I heard that it is a woman we are picking up at Crithm. And not just any woman, an elite chick who was dim-witted enough to willingly enter Eden. A lass that dumb can hang with me any night,” the boy started howling and teasing with his fantasy.

  Lorcan raised a brow at the boy, “Oh? When in the two seconds since you learned we’re going to Crithm, did you manage to pull that information?”

  The boy smiled menacingly,”I was eavesdropping earlier today. You and the captain shouldn’t talk so loud. Never know who’s listening!”

  It wasn’t so much an issue of speaking loudly as much as the both of their low voices carrying further than he thought. He gestured to pull up his inventory tapped at his choices. He settled on a dagger and allowed it to materialize into his fist. He calmly stood from his barrel, brushing off any soot he may have accumulated on his pants.

  Thud.

  He slammed the lanky boy into a nearby wall with the dagger to his throat. Lorcan’s face expressionless as he stared dead into his eyes. He could feel a shiver run up the boy as he struggled to breathe. His chest was heaving against Lorcan’s tensed arm pressed up against his bony physique.

  “Listen here, lad. I won't have this crew’s life put at risk as some bored musing of yours, you understand? You don’t eavesdrop on your superiors. Even if we had been shouting,” Lorcan hissed.

  The boy struggled with the blade lightly scratching against his flesh when he breathed. His eyes were wide with terror as they shifted between Lorcan’s cold gaze and the blade’s.

  “I understand. I understand. I won't eavesdrop anymore, Lorcan. Let me go!”

  Lorcan slit the boy’s throat and let the body fall limp onto the floor.

  “Can't take your word for that,” L
orcan told the corpse. He tapped at the loot screen that projected over the dead body and pilfered anything that may be of value to the crew. After he was finished looting, he lifted the boy’s body and tossed him overboard.

  “Swab!” Lorcan’s voice boomed across the ship and another young man appeared from the bunker with a mop. He began cleaning the remains of his crewmate off the deck.

  “Lorcan,” Chris called from across the deck. He had been watching the incident but he had no intention of stopping nature from taking its course.

  “What, Chris?” Lorcan said. His voice was noticeably more impatient than it had been before.

  “Get me a new cabin boy in Crithm while you're docked,” Chris said.

  “Aye, Captain,” he replied.

  The Wandering Willow arrived in the ports of Crithm just past noon. The sun was high over the city and the world seemed almost vibrant. Lorcan scoffed. He climbed off the vessel and looked around for the meet-up point he was supposed to be at. He checked the listing again to verify he was in the correct place once more.

  *** PLAYER ESCORT NEEDED ***

  Twenty Thousand Gold

  And One Thousand Credits

  Guardsman needed to escort an esteemed player who is entering Eden. She is eighteen years of age and trying to travel to Hallifax in Central Yonta. She will be handed over in the city of Crithm at half past noon in two weeks from the event listing date.

  The reward for completing this task will be 20,000g and 1000 credits. A third paid up front in gold and the rest paid in full upon arrival in Hallifax.

  The player who accepts this listing will also be highly monitored for the safety assurance of the child. If any foul play is detected within radius of the girl, it will be deemed as an act of revolt and is warranted for your immediate termination.

  He gestured to close the listing and waited around, taking in the city sights. The town was just as crowded and busy as he remembered it from his previous visits. Players scurrying in and out of shops, always intensely focused on their status displays, trying to boost everything they could to survive. Suddenly a shrill screech came from behind him.

  Lorcan turned around to see a short, stout little girl with ruffled brown hair and hazel eyes beaming up at him. He backed off a bit from her and looked for anyone else who may be with her. There was no one but a single oculi hovering around her like a pet.

  “Hi, my name is Catherine Caldwell, you can call me Cat. It’s really great to meet you. You look like you’ve lived in Eden for a while. What’s the most interesting creature you’ve come across? Do you actually hear the music that plays in scene transitions for the displays or do they add that in later on? What’s the closest to death you’ve ever come?”

  Lorcan groaned. Caldwell. She said Caldwell. That meant that this was the kid he was going to be stuck with. He let out a heavy sigh. He managed a smile and half-heartedly attempted to be pleasant with the young girl.

  “Hello Catherine, welcome to Eden. You might not want to go shouting your name everywhere. There’s a lot of power in a name. Just introduce yourself as Catherine from now on,” Lorcan lectured her.

  “Oh right, I read about that. Noted,” she said.

  The girl gave Lorcan a cheesy thumbs up. It made him cringe. He’s had his fair share of difficult clients to protect but he had a very strong feeling that this one was going to be especially exhausting to keep track of. The only positive thing was that she was a very tiny little girl, so if worst came to worst, he could just pick her up and carry her wherever he needed.

  He mused with the idea of just carrying her to the ship and putting her in a tall place so she would be stuck the entire trip and wouldn’t be a hassle. He shook his head of the idea and sighed, knowing that it couldn’t and wouldn’t be that easy.

  “Oh here, I was told I was supposed to give you this. It is a map of Central Yonta to Hallifax. I have one as well but I made mine,” she said proudly.

  “You made a map of an area you’ve never been to?” Lorcan asked in a concerned tone.

  “Well, kind of. I have seen it enough times on the viewing monitor though. So I feel already like I know it like a second home. You have that with any shows you watch?” She smiled.

  “I don’t watch shows,” Lorcan said bluntly.

  “Oh right,” Catherine looked off awkwardly as they walked away from the sign. Lorcan pocketed the map and walked up next to her to lead her in the right direction.

  They make their way back to the boat. Several young men had gathered around the outside in hopes to stow away on the ship. Each of them wishing for an escape from their lives here in Crithm for one reason or another.

  Lorcan scanned the crowd and noticed two young men in the far back of the crowd. From what Lorcan could see, they appeared to either be two close friends or brothers with how closely they stuck together as they tried to sneak on through an exposed window on the ship.

  One of them seemed to be keeping an eye out toward the rest of the crowd. Making sure that no one else had noticed their attempt at infiltrating the ship. Lorcan watched through his peripheral vision as he pretended to consider the other contenders pleading at his boots.

  “Robert. Robert, give me a hand. I think I can reach it,” the younger of the two brothers hissed.

  “Alright, but we gotta be quick. I think the big guy is onto us. And keep your face covered, I don’t want him recognizing us once we’re stuck in the middle of the ocean with him.”

  “Whatever, just give me a boost already,” the boy whispered to his brother.

  Robert shot one last glance across the crowd. Allowing his eyes to linger on Lorcan for a few moments before rushing over to the boy and propping him up to the window.

  Lorcan lifted an eyebrow. He would have to train the boys on surveillance but they seemed like a well enough team to add to the crew. Crafty. Self-motivated. Just what he and Chris needed. He figured that the older boy was the brains of the operation but he would be interested in what the younger brought to the table.

  “Samuel,” Robert called out in a loud whisper. “Sam!”

  Robert’s eyes scanned the crowd once more to ensure nobody was taking notice, once again not noticing Lorcan. A rope flung out of the window. Robert just barely managed to catch it before it could make a loud thud against the ship’s exterior. He felt a huge shiver shoot up his spine as he tensed up. Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, he walked backwards towards the ship with the rope behind his back.

  Despite how painfully obvious it was, Lorcan appreciated the attempt at stealth. It proved their initiatives. Catherine pulled at Lorcan’s shirt.

  “You know there are two boys trying to climb onto your ship, right?” She asked.

  “Yes,” Lorcan said as he glanced over at Robert shimmying into the window. “They’re our cabin boys.”

  Lorcan moved past Catherine as he boarded the ship. Her lips scrunched to the right and she tilted her head at the spectacle. She didn’t understand why, of all the boys avaliable, he chose the two intruders. She stood there for a minute slightly confused. Her gaze shifted from Lorcan to the window and then back to Lorcan as he boarded the ship.

  “Okay…” Catherine said, mostly to herself, then followed him onto The Wandering Willow.

  The crew didn’t like Catherine. That much he could tell instantly. Snarls and glares bombarded the duo as they boarded. Instinctively Catherine shifted to slightly hide behind Lorcan. Maybe she wouldn’t be as much of a hassle to protect as he thought.

  “Oi!” Chris’s voice boomed across the deck. “I asked for a cabin boy but a lass will do as well!”

  His belly-laugh rang gleefully into the sky. Lorcan’s brow furrowed. Chris sounded like he was selling arena tickets with how fun-loving and whimsical his voice was as it carried to Lorcan and Catherine. Catherine’s face instantly lit up and she came out from behind him a bit.

  “Hi, I’m Cat. How do you do?” she greeted the small man. She extended her hand out to shake his.

/>   “How do you do, Cat? I am Chris but you can call me Captain, okay?” Chris said playfully to her.

  She was beaming with excitement at this point. Lorcan stood watching his friend, slightly nauseous. Why was he acting so strange all of a sudden? Oculi weren’t something that was foreign to the crew of the willow.

  Chris’s eyes looked panicked despite his forced smile. He offered the little girl his hand as he toured her around the main deck of their vessel.

  So that was it. He was scared.

  Lorcan calmed the few crew members on deck and warned them of the threats of termination if the girl was harmed by any of the crew. You could hear quiet protest of her being on board but they all knew better than to challenge Lorcan so no one openly opposed the girl being on the ship.

  “Alright, but she stays far away from us, clear?” a freckle-faced man with a thick black beard said as he stabbed a meaty finger into Lorcan’s chest.

  “Crystal, Erik.”

  “Did you get me a new assistant since you slaughtered the last one?” Erik asked impatiently. This hadn’t been the first time that Lorcan had literally cut down someone from his team.

  “Yeah, two this time. They climbed into the bilge window on the starboard side. No idea where they made it to now but they should be somewhere on board. Two brunette boys. Looked like brothers.”

  Erik huffed, “Boy, you sure narrowed down that search. Wherever will I find two brunette boys on my giant ship of scrawny young brunette boys.”

  Lorcan allowed himself a grin, “That sounds like a personal problem.”

  Erik grunted feigning amusement.

  “Please don’t,” Catherine’s voice squeaked.

  Lorcan looked over toward the sound to see Catherine completely surrounded by several young men with wry smiles plastered across their faces. Their twisted lips mouthing things to her that seemed to be upsetting her. He walked over to the group of young men and put his hands on two of their shoulders. The boys tensed beneath his palms but the others seemed calm and set in their plan.