Gilded Obsession

by Zoey Rivera

  He gritted his teeth and sprinted back to his module. His body running on the adrenalin of rage in its most raw form. He crashed into Chris on his way back to his room. Chris was standing outside of his own hab module’s door. They made eye contact for a split second but that was enough to pass on the message. Chris turned around and raced back into his room as well. Both of their bodies barely landing on their beds before the logging in sequences began.

  Lorcan ran out of the room of the inn and crashed into the Pale Pixel Pub. Everyone seemed to be oblivious to what was happening. Lorcan raced up to Catherine’s room and saw her body. He was too late. He knew he would be too late but it was heart crushing seeing her there. The floor was drenched in blood and her corpse was riddled with wounds. There were stab marks all over her torso from what seemed to be a small dagger-like weapon. Whoever used it clearly wasn’t well trained in its use, wildly stabbing random areas.

  While, yes, just about any stab wound would be effective enough for the killer’s purpose. There was a clear time constraint of not knowing if or when Catherine planned to log back in. The killer would have wanted to do something quick and simple like a throat slice or cutting open her stomach. But they chose to stab anywhere for some reason. The reason became clear as a faint glow appeared from behind the dresser. There was an oculi hovering over her now.

  Entertainment.

  Seeing her brutally murdered and defenseless to protect herself. He wondered if they enjoyed the show. No one around to defend her either. She didn’t have a chance. A loot screen appeared in front of him but it was mostly empty. Whoever came through here got their reward.

  He swiped through the remains of her inventory and clicked on an item.

  It materialized in his hands. The cloth just as ruffled and beaten as it had been when she was playing with it aboard the ship. Its durability looked as if it were going to deteriorate soon.

  Her useless little hat.

  He smiled and pocketed it before leaving the room to inform the patrons that their new owner was deceased.

  “Well, who did she will the pub to?” a barmaid asked.

  “She just recently bought it, I’m sure she hadn’t thought to include it in a will yet,” Lorcan said.

  Chris entered the pub. He made eye contact with Lorcan and scanned around for Catherine. Lorcan shook his head. Chris ignored him and ran upstairs anyway. Lorcan knew what he would find there. But he secretly hoped he could be wrong, just this once.

  He reemerged from the room with tears in his eyes. He looked at Lorcan for a long moment. They lost Anna again. Chris started barking orders to everyone in the pub.

  “Not a soul leaves until we question every last one of you. There was a murder of a logged out player and we’re going to figure out who did it,” Chris slammed the front door shut and guarded it. The patrons looked around at each other.

  “The killer probably left by now. How long ago was it?” a man in the back called out.

  Lorcan walked up to the man. He rolled his eyes at Lorcan.

  “Look, we can all try and he heroes but in the end, death is inevitable in Eden. Just cut your losses and be grateful that you’re alive,” the man spoke softly to Lorcan.

  He stabbed him.

  The man looked down to the knife in shock. Trying to process what just happened. His blood gushing out of his stab wound onto the blade. Lorcan removed his machete from the man’s body slowly, maintaining his glare into the dying man’s eyes. Lorcan stared coldly as he watched the man’s body slump over onto the table and bleed out. He had run out of patience with people and was tired of not getting the answers he needed.

  “We can just talk if you want, but I have nothing to lose. I have no problem getting my answers or not getting answers another way. I will take down all of Eden without batting an eye, if I know that somewhere in the mass of corpses is her killer,” Lorcan’s voice was hollow. Empty. Dead. Just like he was. He failed to protect her again.

  You let us die.

  Now there would be two of them. He had lost so many but these were the voices that would follow him. The ones he let die in front of him. The ones he couldn’t save.

  The whole bar went silent as everyone awaited to see what Lorcan would do next. Chris made no move to stop him. He was on his side for this one.

  Lorcan made his way back into Catherine’s room to inspect the crime scene. They had already removed her body to keep the room from becoming too stale with death. Although, looking around, it probably had already seen more than its fair share over the years.

  He wondered how they would dispose of her body in the real world. Being that she was Elite, they couldn’t just toss her corpse with the rest of those who had died in Eden today, could they? She would finally be like one of them. Just a corpse among corpses. No different from the rest.

  There was no clues as far as who the killer could have been in the room. He knew there wouldn’t be. No one was that stupid. Yet he still tried to scan the room again and again thinking something would change. A weapon would appear. Something. Anything.

  Nothing.

  Of course there was nothing.

  Except.

  He noticed something on the bed that he hasn’t seen before. There was a scuff mark on the mattress since there was no sheets on it. Catherine couldn’t have made a mark like that.

  “The killer was on the bed,” Lorcan stood in front of the bed, behind where the killer would have been kneeling on. He mimed the stab wounds one after another. Sickened by the scene coming together. It was personal. Someone got up close with her and stabbed her.

  Chris burst into the room, “Robert. The boy. He’s in town. He’s supposed to be by the ship with Erik but I just saw him.”

  “What do I care about a damn cabin boy right now?” Lorcan snapped.

  Chris let him to put together the pieces and chased after the boy. It took a moment but Lorcan remembered, there were two of them. The boy had a brother. The fight between Robert and Catherine on the ship flashing back in his mind. The kid had motive.

  He followed after Chris, dual wielding his blades. His kill count was high already. He could help this boy have his family reunion.

  “The hell are you doing here, kid?” Chris called out to Robert.

  Robert jumped at Chris’s voice. He turned to look and saw Lorcan rushing up with blades. He ran. He didn’t plan where he was running to. But he knew that Lorcan’s swords were meant for him. That was the only thing that mattered. He continued his retreat but Lorcan maintained his advance. He ran into a shop and took the first sword he could reach.

  Lorcan lunged at him. Their blades meeting with a piercing clank. Robert struggled to deflect the big man’s clear superior strength. A shower of sparks lighting up the room around them. Lorcan smashes his blades into Robert’s.

  He slashed the twin machetes at Robert’s head. Robert ducked and came up wide-eyed and terrified. Robert began to fight more desperately. This was a fight for his life. Lorcan clearly wasn’t going to talk with him or explain what was happening. He was in a rage. He was out for blood. And he wasn’t going to stop until he got it.

  Robert scanned desperately for an escape route. There had to be a way to get to the Captain. He was a decent fighter but he could clearly tell that he would be no match against Lorcan. As Lorcan lifted his blades again, Robert slipped underneath him and ran out of the shop towards Chris.

  “Captain, what the hell is wrong with him?” Robert asked, trying to regain his breath. He jogged up closer to Chris to talk to him and hopefully get an explanation for all of this.

  “Nothing,” Chris said.

  He yanked the boy's arm and drew him into his sword. Chris stabbed him repeatedly in the torso as the boy helplessly stood there. Lorcan stopped at this scene. Robert coughed up blood as his health points drained to nothing. Chris finished the job and that was all that mattered. They got him. Relief washed over him.

  Lorcan panted and tried to gather his breath. He nodded to his friend
and Chris nodded back. He dropped Robert’s corpse onto the floor and let it lay there, lifeless.

  The men were contacted by the Caldwell family. They gave the men enough riches to last them for a while and even offered to have a ship entirely made of the finest materials crafted for Chris. They took the gold but refused the offer. The Caldwell’s seemed more thankful for the entertainment than sorrowful over the loss of their child.

  Elite scum.

  The two men worked mindlessly in Hallifax. Lorcan attempted to run the pub but quickly realized his patience for people wasn’t nearly what was needed to run a pub. He was meant for war not for waiting tables. He was still startled when he learned that the pub was willed to him in Catherine’s will.

  He shook his head thinking about it. Looking around the bar he saw writing etched into the wood. Crudely sketched in with a blade, for sure.

  I believe in every pale pixelated inch of this world.

  He smiled at the sentiment. Feeling something vaguely familiar about the phrase. He couldn’t quite remember where it was from. But it was clear that it was where she got the inspiration for the name. He grabbed a nail and hung her hat next to the quote.

  Chris slammed open the front door and smiled.

  “I got us work,” he grinned.

  “I have work. It’s called run a bar and try not to kill everyone in this town who stops in,” Lorcan said.

  Chris waved off Lorcan’s remark, “No, we’re going to work for the guard.”

  Lorcan tilted his head. The guard? The reason they became mercenaries was because they hated working under establishments like that. Why would he bother working for the guards now?

  “Look, you can either sit around and play barmaid all day or you can help me establish a defense for this town. It’s smaller than Aeston here, so they hardly have any support or weaponry to work with. It’s only a matter of time before the assault from Lamia finally approaches. We’re this town’s best shot at protecting itself. We have the skills, knowledge, and now even finances to run it. Let’s save them,” Chris smiled.

  Save them.

  Lorcan nodded. He knew that Chris was right. They were the best change that this town had at organizing a militaristic defense against Lamia’s impending assault. This town seemed to be better equipped as far as manpower than Lamia anyway.

  He may not be able to save them all. But he can save who he can.

  Chapter 7

  Hallifax was more than familiar with bloodshed across its streets. Too many battles fought and lost on this soil, it was a wonder that they even allowed people to spawn into the city. They seldom bothered attempting to organize an army because of this. It was a futile attempt to stop the inevitable. Lorcan didn’t mind those odds though. If he was going to die, it might as well be for a good reason. He owed that much to the people he slaughtered and the lives he couldn’t save. A good death worthy of their lives.

  The two approached the makeshift team they were calling an army to train them. There was enough of them to at least hold their ground, counting in at about fifty men. Taking that they could manage to hold a weapon, they could potentially stand a chance.

  Lorcan and Chris weren’t too concerned about raw ability. Anyone could be taught to kill. Especially if their lives depended on it. And in Eden, it always did. They didn’t know how long they had until Lamia attacked so they would have to work quickly and efficiently. There would be no time for any nonsense.

  Unfortunately, since there was no time to spare, there would also be no time to replace men. Chris and Lorcan had to keep an eye on each other when moments were getting too heated so that they wouldn’t kill whoever upset them. It may have been a faster solution on The Willow but here the men weren’t as easily replaceable. They had used their sponsorship with the Caldwell family to obtain swords and magics strong enough to give them a good upper hand in a battle or two.

  They didn’t, however, give them enough weaponry to allow them too strong of an advantage. They clearly were more concerned about getting a show than supporting the troops. They had no reason to anyway. With Catherine out of the picture there was no need for any heightened protection measures. This was once again a game of pawns for the Elite.

  Lorcan brushed off their stupidity. They were as Elite as Elite came. They didn’t and couldn’t understand the people who lived in this town and in every town in Eden were real. No, to them, they were all just characters in a show on their viewing monitors.

  Nothing bad could happen.

  Not really.

  Their faith wouldn’t allow it.

  The auburn rays of the sun burned into the streets of the city. Crimson was slathered across the streets as Hallifax was once more drowned in bloodshed from their attackers. Loot screens appearing across the city over unnamed corpses with their faint glow lighting up the town through the nights. It wasn’t just allied loot screens though. It was theirs as well. They may have not been as strong as they had hoped with holding them back at the first assault but the tides would be turning soon. Lorcan could feel it.

  Lorcan was drenched in sweat, looking around the cityscape and all the men fighting by his side. They had no reason to fight but their own lives. They hadn’t asked for a war but they knew, regardless of whether or not it was because of Catherine, the elite would have found some excuse to lay waste to their city.

  Chaos and screams filled the air, accompanied quickly by bloodshed.

  He had been out in the battlefield fighting for so long, he hadn’t been able to eat for nearly three days already. Chris was looking in bad shape as well. The shadows beneath his eyes becoming darker than soot on his skin. A deeper black than even the hair on his head. He was bruised and beaten. Covered in every kind of filth. But he was still fighting. And that was all that mattered to Lorcan.

  “Eat,” Chris shoved a half eaten loaf at him.

  “We’re not going to win this way,” Lorcan noted.

  “Food. Mouth. Now. I’ll strategize,” Chris scolded.

  Chris looked along the field of fighters. It was looking like the army of Lamia was beginning to dwindle down. He squinted his eyes as he mentally noted the amount of fighters available. It had been a rough battle and there were so many allied men lost. Lorcan huffed and tried to regain his normal breathing as he ate his loaf of bread.

  “I wonder if... maybe…could it be that it was only a mercenary group and a few fighters looking to start trouble rather than an actual army looking to instigate a war?” Chris speculated.

  “We can only hope. Although, for the force of that initial front, I doubt that these guys are any less of a threat than a trained army. Could even be worse, depending on who we are actually fighting,” Lorcan noted.

  He was right, the initial battle had been fierce. Lorcan was proud of the Hallifax force for holding out as strongly as it had, despite the clear quantity advantage that the assailants from Lamia had. However, they were lucky enough to have quality. Quality swords. Quality shields. Quality magics. Quality fighters. Usually they would have to work with what they had, but for just this once they had the resources to get what they could work with.

  “Strategy plan?” Chris’s voice seemed to question instead of making a statement as Lorcan had expected it to. There was a long pause. Chris was staring at him as if he were waiting for a response. It was a question.

  “I thought you were the one with the plan, Captain. I’m just the guy eating a loaf of bread right now, remember?” Lorcan lifted the loaf and took a bite out of it as theatrically as he could manage. Chris lifted a brow in annoyance, his facial expression was completely unamused at Lorcan’s jesting.

  “But you’re the one people are rallying behind,” Chris said.

  It was true. Over the course of this battle, for some reason Lorcan had taken lead in these townspeople’s eyes. It wasn’t that he was the biggest or the strongest but he knew, compared to most, he was the one with experience. That was what drew people to follow his lead.

  “Not much us
e for rallying if we don’t have a plan,” Lorcan said.

  They needed to come up with something. Lamia’s forced were clearly shrinking along with their will to fight. Perhaps Hallifax hadn’t fought back in so long that they weren’t expecting a revolt. Let alone an organized one.

  “Alright so it seems like they are mainly flooding in from the northwest treeline right now. If we focus our strongest there and spread out the rest there and there we should be able to slow the few left coming in,” Chris pointed to the areas and Lorcan followed along.

  “How many we got left to move?”

  “You, me, and maybe ten others?” Chris guessed.

  “Should be fine, sounds like we only need three to me,” Lorcan said.

  “Yeah, I got you up front. I’m over on the west. The other ten got the back,” Chris joked.

  They crawled to pass on their strategy to the other men. They split into three groups of four and defended each front. The three men that Lorcan had with him were young. Too young. Young like Catherine. No one under the age of eighteen was permitted access to Eden but sometimes the faces of these kids made them look like they were barely over puberty.

  The youngest looking one was a lanky boy with auburn hair and green eyes named Braydon. He was so pale, he looked as if he had just spawned into Eden and hadn’t done a day of field work in his life. Yet here he was in the trenches with the rest of them, covered in mud and grime. Fighting for his life.

  Braydon looked over at Lorcan and gave him a nod, as if to tell him he was okay. Had his face looked concerned? He couldn’t tell anymore. He didn’t care anymore. He returned his gaze toward the Mir and saw figures rustling out of the shadows. This was it.

  Two cloaked men emerged from the woods. They were both wielding staffs. Mages. The teams of four that Chris and Lorcan had made were organized strategically to give each group a fighting chance against any type of attack. Rounding out the group with different classes to best work together. Lorcan’s group had himself (a dual wielding ranger), Braydon (their mage), Ryan (a former thief turned rogue), and Paul (a cleric).