by Dave Austin
“I’ve been in your room, did you forget it? You have pictures with names underneath, including yours. Brie, it was the only way, and it worked. Let’s not dwell on the past.” Jones replied to her, “So where are we headed?”
“To that blue house.” Trent replied, “It’s good to have you back.”
Chapter IV
We were back on track. The more we walked the more clearly we could see the house. It was much bigger than it seemed from far away and I felt intimidated by how huge it was. There were no guards, however, there were dead bodies and skeletons just lying on the ground. Dozens had tried but none had seemed to have gone through that door.
Foxy and Kitty were trying their best to not look at the pile of bodies. Brie got in front of them so they wouldn’t be able to see them, even if they felt compelled to look. We got near the door and Rashida was about to try to open it when Jones screamed.
“Don’t.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I know why there are lots of bodies here. The whole building is surrounded by dark magic. I believe only a user of that type of magic can open the door. Let Tim try. I’m too weak for it.” He said, and grabbed me by the arm, “Try. Don’t be afraid.”
I was trying not to be, but knowing I could be just one more dead body wasn’t helping, it was a deadly bet. However, I could feel it too. The darkness lingering around the building, calling me, telling me to come closer. It was meant to be.
I grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened the door. It creaked as the door dragged along the floor. It hadn’t been opened in a very long time and a layer of dust fluttered as I pushed the door. We coughed for a while before getting inside. There were several unlit torches along the way and Brie lit them up and the path ahead of us went from absolute darkness to illuminated.
It seemed to not have an end. There was absolute silence, and despite the fire lighting the way we could barely see the ground. We walked carefully until we got to another door.
“Well, Tim, go ahead,” Trent said.
Once again I had to open the door. Yet, this time it felt different. As soon as my hand touched the knob the voices came out. They were in my head, shouting that I was going to lose control and they were going to take over my body, telling me how they were going to fuck Brie and kill her in the end. I hadn’t the courage to do so, but they would do it without hesitating.
My knees felt weak, and my vision got blurry but I didn’t tell anyone and we kept walking. The high pitched voices filled my head with gruesome images, along with the sound of people begging for their lives. It was getting harder to control it.
“Look, there’s a shiny object over there,” Foxy said.
There it was, at the end of the tunnel. The closer we got the weaker I became. It was like the object was draining my energy, I had full health, but I couldn’t move. My body was paralyzed, and my mouth was sewn shut. No one had noticed that I had been left behind. I watched as they walked toward the object.
Jones didn’t seem to be affected by the object at all and it occurred to me that maybe he was so weak that the object couldn’t sense his darkness. I tried to scream but nothing came out.
Wild Fantasy Online had become much more than a game. My whole personality and life were at risk, I was losing control and my friends had been suffering because of it. Suddenly, the whole room got dark. The light disappeared and a few seconds later I heard everyone screaming and asking for help. Once again I tried to move but I hadn’t the strength to do it. I had to stay there, hearing my friends falling into despair while not being able to help anyone. Tears fell down my face.
“They’re all dead. What are you going to do about it?” The voice said. It had a soft tone. I didn’t know who it was or where it was. But it kept talking.
“Tell me. Do you surrender? Are you done?”
“No…” I said.
“That didn’t sound convincing at all. You want to quit, don’t you? Leave this game, never come back. No one will miss you. It’s just a game, isn’t it?”
“But…they’re counting on me…”
“Are they? You felt it. They don’t trust you.”
“I should have never lied to them. It was a mistake. They’re still my friends, and I’m not going to leave them.”
“Are you absolutely sure? Is that your choice” The voice said.
“YES,” I shouted.
A flash of light appeared at the end of the tunnel, illuminating all the way down to the object. My friends were still there. The object began flying and came straight for me.
It had a note with it.
“Protect your friends. Save the world.”
It was still bright, shining, and ended up turning into a black bow, that emanated a huge amount of power. The voice must have been coming from it, I suppose it needed to be sure I was able to fight the darkness. The monster Steveinsh had talked about was just my mind, and I had just won against it. However, it was a small victory and I could feel that the worst part was yet to come.
We had no more potions left, Kitty was low on magic, and our HP’s weren’t sufficient for a fight. We needed to leave the island as soon as possible. The only thing left was to discover where the faceless man was, and it wouldn’t be easy. No one knew who he was, would be, and much less where he lived.
Our walk to the ship started. We couldn’t waste any time. We were all tired, but no one asked for a break. Sweat was falling down our foreheads but we just smiled. The dark bow gave me an extra 50 points of attack and a special attack called Void arrow. Brie and Trent helped Jones, who was still in pain and could barely walk on his own. Luckily, our way back to the ship seemed shorter than before. We were motivated enough that not even the dry mountains were a match for us, and no one tried to stop us.
“Isn’t someone near our boat?” Joannie asked.
She was right. We couldn’t see who it was but there was definitely someone in front of the boat. He must have been waiting for us. We were still miles away, and the person didn’t see us, but it didn’t matter. There was only one route to the ship so it wasn’t like we could hide from him. He was alone, except for the weapon he carried in his hand. We kept walking, making brief pauses to recover our breath and to try to see if he moved or if we could see his face, but it didn’t work. Our only solution was to walk toward him, and that was what we did.
“I’ve been waiting for you.” He said.
He had a white cloak with Savened’s symbol. His black, short hair moved with the soft breeze than wandered around. We stood still.
“Did you get the item?” He asked, and wielded his weapon.
Brie gave a step forward.
“You have nothing to do with it. You better leave.” She said, calmly, and with her hand close to her sword.
“I’m not here to fight.” He said. His voice was grave, “Savened is on your side. We also want to take the faceless man out of this world. He’s a glitch. He doesn’t belong here.”
“A glitch? What are you talking about?”
“Look, you need to come with me to Delgras, Savened’s city. The faceless man is looking for all of you. That item is the only thing that can stop him. We better get out of here. I’ll tell you everything on the way there.” He said, panic in his voice.
“How do we know you’re telling us the truth?” Joannie asked, still suspicious.
“I’ll give you my weapon and you can search me for more. I have nothing to hide. I forgot to tell you, but you can call me Max.” He said and threw his sword at us.
“Why are you alone?” Trent asked.
“We believed that you would be more receptive to a single guy rather than an army. We are wasting precious time. No one told you that the faceless man can feel the item, right? As soon as you left the blue house he has been tracking you.” He said. Every time he talked the urgency in his voice increased.
Fuck. This was getting worse than we thought. If he caught us unprepared we wouldn’t stand a chance. I hadn’t even trie
d the bow, let alone figure out if it was enough to defeat him. Max was constantly looking to the sky as if he expected the faceless man to appear there.
“We better go now,” Joannie said.
“Let’s go, everyone. Max, I suppose you need a ride?” Brie asked him.
“I was counting on that. I’ll tell you all I know.” He said.
We got on the ship and Max told Joannie where Delgras was, so she could give orders to the ship. He looked at us. Brie still had his weapon, and we were already at high-seas. He sighed and sat on the deck.
“Well, where to start?”
“You said he was a glitch,” I shouted.
“He is. You saw the news about the ex-employee that stole important technology?”
“I did…” I replied.
“He used it. He thought it had no effect, but he was wrong. It sent a virus into the strongest player at the time, forcing him to go dark, and get twice his power. We have no idea if he can log out or if he’s dead in the real world.” He told us.
“What about this item?” I asked, showing him the bow.
“Idiot. You shouldn’t show him.” Brie reprimanded me.
“The item has been there since the game started. It was the creator’s idea to have an extra possibility of fighting against a virus, an extra way out. Until now no one was capable of reclaiming it, but you seem to be a special kind of player.” He said, and walked up to me, “You need to hit one of his eyes with your special attack. You won one right?”
“I did. Why the eyes?
“VR glasses. It will spread through his body, and if the myths are true he will be destroyed. No one has ever done this so we hope it’s enough.”
“And who’s we?” Joannie said.
“All of us in Savened. Whatever you have heard about us… well, some of it might be true, and some might not be, but we did our best to protect this world. And we are going to do it again.” He shouted.
Joannie informed us that the trip would take only one day, and that we should rest in the meantime. There was nothing we could do but wait. It angered me how much time we lose sailing but it was the only way of transportation and we were lucky to have one of the fastest ships. I loved the game’s realism but it could be a real pain in the ass.
We ended up logging out. Well, if I wasn’t in the game the faceless man couldn’t feel the item, and couldn’t catch us.
At least we were safe for now.
I had a text from Demi, saying to come to our friend John’s party this weekend. I had to look at my phone to know what day it was. The game had made me lose the notion of the time. It was a Wednesday and by Friday everything should be done.
I texted her back saying I’d gladly go and she replied with a smiling emoji, to which I never answered. It was already 9 pm, so I ate something, took a shower, stretched my arms and legs, and told myself it was better if I took a good night of sleep. Tomorrow would be one hell of a day. I needed to be sure I was capable of managing the dark bow without being consumed by it.
The images repeated in my mind, my friends falling endlessly into a void while I wanted to help but couldn’t move. I wanted to never feel that despair, or feel so useless ever again.
“Are you sure?” The voices asked.
Fuck. I was beginning to think that buying a game wasn’t that great of an idea. The game was leaking into real life. I wanted to ask my friends if they dealt with something similar but if they didn’t it would be weird. It would jeopardize our whole friendship. They wouldn’t forgive me if I used dark magic again. I ended up falling asleep as I thought about what to do. The voices stopped after a while.
Chapter V
A new day, and a fresh start or so I thought.
As soon as I woke up my bones cracked, and I felt like I had slept in a bed made of steel. Moving hurt, and so did walking, however, it wasn’t time to complain. We should be arriving at Delgras and I needed to log in.
I ate something and went back to the game. Only Max, Brie and Joannie were there. They were silent, and there was already land in sight.
“Good morning guys. Is that Delgras?” I asked.
“Yes. It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Max asked as he looked graciously at it.
“It seems so,” I replied. We weren’t close enough to tell, but I figured it would be the best answer.
“When we get there let me talk.” He said, “before you say shit and get punished for it.”
“It seems like we are your prisoners,” Joannie said.
“Nothing like that. We are just really respectful about the chain of command. If you talk like that to our leader someone might try to attack you for being disrespectful.” He explained.
After half an hour everyone was online, and admiring the view. We were getting closer, and we could see people already waiting for us at the harbor. They all used the same cloak Max had, with Savened’s symbol. Max waved but no one wove back, it seemed like he wasn’t a popular guy around here. Maybe that was why they had left him all by himself on Immortuos. He sighed and told us to drop our weapons.
“It’s for your own safety.” He said.
We weren’t really keen on doing it, but we had no choice. It was their territory and even if we could kill some we would eventually run out of magic, and then HP. It was best to do what Max said and see where it would lead us. The ship docked on the harbor and we were greeted as we step foot on their city. They all had serious looks, but shook our hands and told us they had been waiting for us.
“Follow us.” A woman demanded.
We had people in front of us, on our side and behind us. We were locked down. Things were getting worse than we thought and without weapons, we were easy prey. There were dozens of small white houses that stretched for miles until the hills, which seemed to be covered with snow. In the center of the city, there were two huge buildings. It had to be their headquarters. They led us there without saying a single word. There were normal players looking at us and gossiping. On the front of the two buildings, there were only three people; two young guys, and one old man in the middle. He was probably the boss. We walked toward them until he motioned us to stop.
“So, which one has the item?” He asked Max.
He pointed at me without the slightest hesitation. A soldier willing to do anything for his captain. The old man thanked him for his loyalty and ordered him to join the rest of the army.
“You know where they are.” He said, “We don’t have much time left.” The old man said. Max turned around and walked until we couldn’t see more than his silhouette.
“What do you mean with we don’t have much time?” I asked. Savened’s members looked at me like I had just done something disrespectful.
“You should ask for authorization before talking to our leader, you peasant.” The woman who led us there said.
“Calm down. He’s about to save us, give him a discount.” He told her and then turned to us, “the faceless man is coming, and brings his army with him. We’ll hold them off while you try to hit him in the eyes. Your team will help you. That’s the plan.”
I was expecting something more strategic but I suppose against the faceless man we just have to go all-in until we get something out of it. The only thing needed to kill him was one shot, I had to be able to do it. Everything would be solved after that. I could stop playing so much, and focus on my real life. The Wild Fantasy Online world would be saved. My team and I will be known as the saviors.
I might even be able to profit from that. My whole future was in front of me, and the only question I had to do was ask myself how far was I willing to go?
A younger guy, probably in his twenties, appeared out of nowhere, running to the older guy, and whispered something in his ear. He seemed frightened and had sweat running down his forehead.
“He’s coming. Get ready. Tell the army to get in position. It’s now or never. If we lose we won’t have a second chance. The whole world is going to be infected by the glitch. Darkness won’t prevail.
Not today.” The old guy shouted, “You guys better follow him. I’ll be right behind you. Normally we wouldn’t put so much trust in someone we don’t know but we have no choice.” He added.
Everything we had fought for led us to this. It was time. We equipped ourselves with our best items, best weapons, and best armors. I was only level 9, but it didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter or we wouldn’t stand a chance. The sunny horizon was replaced by pure darkness. It was swallowing the clouds and everything in its way, moving faster as it went.
We followed the younger guy through the city’s streets and alleys until we got to the square where the army was. There were dozens of well-armed players there. They knew the possible consequences but they didn’t seem afraid to die. I suppose they all loved the game too much to let it fall into someone else’s hands.
“We are really going to do this aren’t we?” Kitty asked, followed by a sigh.
“Well, it’s not like we could go back now right?” Trent said, trying to cheer her up, but it didn’t work.
“We are going to do our best to distract him while you try to hit him okay? We trust you.” Brie said.
Hearing her say those words comforted me, despite what had happened they were still willing to put their lives in my hands. I couldn’t let them down.
The faceless man arrived and brought his army along with him. There were thousands of beasts, ones similar to the ones who attacked Viribirus, and this time there were a few that had triple their size. Once again the faceless man’s laugh spread through the streets and frightened everyone present. It was scary how much impact it had on everyone.
However, no one moved.
“Don’t be afraid. Don’t let him drain your happiness. Focus on the good times we had and fight for more.” The old man said, motivating his army.
“You’ll all die. This world will be mine and I shall rule it as I want. When the dust settles you’ll be nothing more than bones and broken dreams.” The faceless man said, followed by his eccentric laughter.
What scared me most is that he truly believed his words, he wasn’t afraid to lose. In his mind, there was no way he could lose even knowing we had the item. I began to doubt if it would be enough or if he had a way to survive. The voices seized the moment and appeared again.