Lost in the Game

by Christopher Keene

  Screw it! I don’t care anymore!

  My Sapphire Edge flashed into my hand, and as though suddenly seeing two Color Blades at once had set them off, the crowd went into a frenzy around us. I ran forward and swung with abandon. She dodged my blow, but I knew where her next was coming from and managed to parry it. She spun and I saw her projection slash at my feet, a move I had seen her use with her scythe. I jumped it and flicked my Sapphire Edge up at her, hoping to catch her with one strike before her Hit Points could hit zero.

  However, she flipped back and grinned, pulling out a Willow Bark and crushing it. Her health bar shot back up, giving her more health and more time in the match. I immediately realized how stupid I was to think I could take her down with one spell and then simply bide my time. This was Siena after all. But it didn’t matter now.

  I ran in, but as she swung at me this time, I didn’t just dodge her projection but slashed back at it. Instead of hitting it, however, I hit her avatar, taking out a chunk of her Hit Points. She parried my second blow, but I retreated and charged in again to repeat this strategy.

  Although her projection struck me multiple times, only my blows landed. Due to her speed, I only needed to attack her projection and my blade would hit her avatar instead soon after. By fighting offensively rather than defensively with the software, I managed to drag her kicking and screaming into the red zone again.

  She was breathing heavily by the time we broke apart. Intending to finish her off, I charged a Plasma Beam behind my back and charged in again. She charged in, too. However, as I unleashed my spell, she caught it on her raised blade and deflected it. Color Blades were unbreakable, and I knew they could negate certain spells, but had no idea Plasma Beam was one of them.

  She ducked in and swung out, cutting me through the midsection to finish me off. At least her projection did. Her real body missed by a hair, for as soon as I saw what she was going to do, I avoided the blow and mimicked her move in my own broad cut across her exposed midriff.

  As I spun, I saw her desperately reach for another Willow Bark, but it was too late. The Toxin spell was still in effect, and as soon as she retrieved one, her health hit zero from it. For a fraction of a second, I saw how crushed she was, her slanted eyebrows, her open mouth, and a look I could only identify as exhaustion spread over her face. And then she was gone.

  For a moment, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Even with the FPS, I still thought Siena would have found some way to defeat me. She was supposed to be unbeatable, but it appeared the advantage the software gave me was even too much for her.

  To my disbelief, I had just defeated Siena_the_Blade.

  Chapter 12: Party of Five

  The others waited for me in the lobby after the crowd had ceased with their gasps, cheering, and whatnot. Like the crowd, my friends’ reactions were mixed. Most of them looked shocked and somewhat at a loss for words. Brock and Chloe, however, looked suspicious, Chloe already knowing I had used the software to win and Brock looking like he knew something fishy had happened within the game’s system.

  Although David looked the most taken aback, he managed to find his voice first. “Ah, what the heck was that?” he asked, as though referring to some grotesque monster and not a match between two friends.

  Chloe narrowed her eyes at me. “I think that’s what Noah looks like when he skips lunch.”

  “Seriously?” Tessa asked, looking utterly baffled. “You managed to beat Siena_the_Blade . . . because you were hangry?”

  This theory lightened the mood a bit and I couldn’t help but force a smile as they all suddenly looked wary of me. It was true that I had skipped lunch and I had overreacted a bit in the fight, but I still thought I had good reasons.

  “I’m pretty sure there was more to this than just hunger.” Brock shook his head and eyed me coldly. “Wasn’t there?”

  I nodded, deciding it was time to come clean. “I was using some new software Windsor asked me to test run for him. Considering I just managed to defeat the toughest Warrior in the game, I think it’s pretty clear that it’s far too overpowered for someone to use and not make the game unbalanced.”

  Frank frowned but her tone sounded hopeful. “So that’s what this was all about? Just pushing a new ability to its absolute limit by trying it against Siena?” She then pulled back. “But you didn’t tell her.”

  Although that hadn’t really been my intention, I did manage to learn the software’s limits by fighting her, so I rolled with this idea. “I don’t think she would’ve fought me for real if I had. Considering she thought she could win, she went all out. All I had to do was wait out the clock.”

  Keri clasped her hands behind her back. “It seems like Siena took it pretty hard, though. Maybe we should see if she’s alright.”

  My anger flared up again when hearing sympathy in Keri’s voice. “Any pain she felt for losing is her own fault for riding her whole ego on this fight. She put herself on a pedestal over everyone else, not caring that we had our own problems to deal with if it meant satisfying her desire to be the best.”

  They looked at me then, expressions disapproving, as though finally understanding my own agenda when it came to the fight.

  “Even so . . .” Keri sighed

  David grabbed my shoulder and shook me. It wasn’t hard with his Heavy avatar being over a head higher than mine. “So . . . spill the beans. What’s this new software you’re talking about?”

  I grinned. “You really want to know, huh?”

  He nodded. “Ah-duh.”

  “Then join up with Cipher.” I shook him off. “I can’t tell anyone outside the company, but I’m sure I’ll be able to get Windsor to let me tell my teammates. If you’re good enough to join, that is.”

  David peered up, considering this.

  Brock nudged him. “Well, if you did join, it would help us afford our tickets.”

  Chloe clapped her hands. “Oh, that’s right. Keri, I’ll pay for yours if you want to come with us. I really don’t want to be the only girl on this trip.”

  “Okay . . .” Keri peered over her shoulder. “Still, I-I think I’m going to check on Siena.”

  She ran off to the nearest Gateway. I had always known Keri was far more empathic than our other friends, but at the same time I was frustrated that she couldn’t see there were more important things to worry about.

  At her lead, Frank gave me a stern look. “Us too.”

  Tessa looked confused by her tone but walked off with her.

  I nodded at the four of us remaining: my closest friends and my girlfriend. “Alright, the four of us can arrange for the tickets, then. I want to leave as soon as possible. David, I assume Brock’s filled you in on everything?”

  David nodded and beamed at me. “Just got some holiday pay as well, so I’m ready to go when you guys are.”

  “Perfect.” I turned to Chloe. “You sort out Keri and yourself and I’ll get tickets for these guys.” I eyed them. “I’m sure you’ll pay me back. I just want to be on a plane heading to East Timor as soon as possible.”

  Chapter 13: Loser

  He didn’t win! That son of a cheetah cheated me!

  Siena hiked through the Rising Hills, a Basetier dungeon south of Toena, striking down every tree in her path. Having returned to the game menu after being defeated, she had picked one of the least popular dungeons to blow off steam. One couldn’t honestly call the endless forest and hillside a dungeon, but it was the best place to swing her blade where people were less likely to find her.

  Siena thrashed about, hacking down the surrounding trees, only needing to strike them twice with her Ruby Edge. At least the Coliseum hadn’t been a Tertiatier dungeon, so she hadn’t lost her favorite weapon, but this was only a vague silver lining to the storm cloud of frustrations growing inside her.

  Smug little prick. I’ll show him! Argh, if I’d known the prick had the Toxin spell, I could have bought an antidote. That spell is broken, and he never used
it when we fought on the same side!

  She saw a Ravager, a large, long-beaked bird, flying from one of the trees and threw her Color Blade at it. It spun end over end before hitting the bird with a puff of feathers and a satisfying squawk. She then used the Weapon Retrieval, an ability she had hunted down after seeing Vega use it, and the weapon flew back into her hand.

  Just thinking of how he had beaten her with a cheap move was salt in the wound. That was twice now that she had been forced to end a PvP match not on her own terms. She was slipping and she knew it.

  It’s this stupid insomnia. I haven’t had regular sleep for weeks now, only the light dozing that comes with the DSD trance. I just need a good night’s sleep, and then I can challenge that wannabe champion to a rematch.

  There was a flash of light behind her and she turned to see Keri standing among the stumps of trees she had left in her wake. She gritted her teeth, wondering how the girl could have followed her, but then remembered she had shared her E4 teleporting hack with the people on her team. As always, Keri looked concerned, and when Siena realized that it was for her sake, it only made her angrier.

  “What?!”

  Keri opened her mouth, closed it again, and then she finally spoke. “I’m worried about you.”

  “Worried about me?” Siena burst out. “I’m not the one who cheated. No, you should be worried about what I’m going to do to Noah!”

  She went to move on, but Keri followed her up the hill.

  “So you know about the software President Wona gave him?” she asked.

  Siena stopped and frowned. “Software? Are you saying that cheat used some illegal new admin ability to finally beat me?”

  Keri’s eyes widened as though she had said something she shouldn’t have.

  So I was right. That little sneak got the president of the game to bypass the system somehow.

  “Did he tell you what it was?”

  Keri shook her head. She looked down, as though disappointed she wasn’t of any use, but she had been, and Siena bared her teeth in a grin at her, clearly startling Keri. She faltered.

  Maybe that grin was creepier than I meant to be. But it makes sense. That’s why Noah didn’t want anyone to know his identity when he entered the Battle Royal.

  “That proves that the match wasn’t legitimate. If I can just prove that and then beat him in a rematch, no one will consider his victory to mean anything.” Her smile widened. “In fact, when they find out he cheated, they’ll despise him for playing unfairly.”

  Siena laughed and swung her Color Blade about, already feeling better about the fact that people thought she had lost. It would only make reclaiming the title all the more of a comeback when they realized she was unseated in a fixed match.

  Keri took a step back, raising her hand to her chest. “Siena?”

  “Tell everyone that there’s going to be a rematch.” Siena nodded as she set her plan in stone. “Now I just need to find a way to hack Noah’s system and disable his new ability. It shouldn’t be too hard if I can get my hands on his Dream Eng . . .”

  She trailed off as she noticed Keri holding her hand up, like a student wanting to ask a question in school.

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t think you’ll be able to do that.” Keri lowered her hand timidly. “Noah, Chloe, David, Brock, and I are all going on a trip to find Chloe’s brother.”

  “Are you serious?” She ground her teeth. “When?”

  “Within the next few days, I think.”

  “Crud!” She ran forward and cut down the nearest tree. “Crud, crud!”

  “Siena?”

  “What?!” She stopped but then something dawned on her. She didn’t have to be the one to tamper with Noah’s Dream Engine after all. “You . . . you can do it for me.”

  Keri’s eyes widened and she shook her head.

  “Why not?” She advanced on her. “Don’t you think it was wrong that Noah won the championship by cheating?”

  The small girl nodded but then shook her head. “That’s not why. I have to focus on helping Chloe find her brother. That’s what Noah and the others are doing too, and—”

  “Keri, please!” Siena pleaded. “I need this! And if you two are going on the trip together, you’ll have all manner of opportunity to get your hands on his system! You’re the only one I can trust with this!”

  Keri looked down and remained silent. Siena, on the other hand, knew how agreeable a person Keri was, particularly when it came to helping her friends when they were suffering. She could play that card too.

  “Listen, Keri,” she said, lowering her tone. “I’ve been seeing a psychiatrist for insomnia lately.”

  Keri’s eyes lit up again.

  Just a little more.

  “I was having this recurring dream, you see, about losing a soccer game. It was so painful that I stopped sleeping to avoid it.” She bit her lip. “The psychiatrist seems to think it was my fear of losing that’s been keeping me up. So, if I lose against Noah again . . .”

  Keri raised her hand as though wanting to comfort her but then lowered it. “Can I think about it?”

  Got her!

  Siena’s smile crept up her face. “Of course.”

  Keri turned and looked away. “I’m going AFB.”

  “Okay. Night, sweetie,” Siena called, watching as Keri walked down the hill to the nearest Gateway.

  If Keri tampered with Noah’s Dream Engine, she could challenge him to rematch and get to see the look on his face when he attempted to use his new ability and it failed him. Feeling victory within arm’s reach again, she turned and continued up the hill, the trees no longer seeming as offensive to her.

  The gimmick with Rising Hills was that one side of dungeon was set at night and the other side was set at day. When the player reached the top of the hill, they were greeted with a beautiful sunrise or sunset, depending on what direction they were going, and of course, the boss.

  When she reached the hill’s sun-setting summit, however, instead of a boss waiting for her, she saw a familiar dog rushing up the hill. As she reached where it was running to and came out of the trees, she saw another even more familiar avatar sitting on what appeared to be a large, dead, sabretooth-fanged Mountain Lion.

  “Efty!” she said, feeling a lot more jovial than before meeting Keri, and then looked to her friend. “And . . . ah, you!”

  “Tessa!” the gnome-size Range Niche shouted.

  “Right.” Siena had remembered her name, but she also enjoyed how worked up the little girl became whenever she pretended to forget it. “So, how did you enjoy the match?”

  Frank frowned at her. “Are you alright?” she asked, as though confused by how joyous she was acting.

  Siena beamed at them. “Never better.”

  Frank didn’t look convinced. “I just thought I would check up on you, considering how the match went.”

  “Noah cheated!” Tessa blurted.

  Siena was beginning to think maybe she had been giving this girl too little credit. “I know, and that’s why I’m not too upset about it. What I am upset about is that you killed the boss without waiting for me.”

  Frank smiled as though thinking Siena was back to her old self. “It wasn’t really much of a challenge. It took us about five minutes while we waited for you to reach the top. You would have just one-shot the thing.”

  Siena shrugged. “I guess that’s what you get for a first era Basetier boss. Alright, let’s head back down. I’m eager to try one of Toena’s new Tertiatier dungeons.”

  She turned and entered back into the forest. They followed after her.

  “I gotta say, I’m really surprised you’re taking this so well,” Tessa called as she chased her down the hill. “I mean, if I got my butt handed to me in public like that, even if my opponent cheated, I’d still be livid about it.”

  Siena sighed. “Well, I was the one to challenge him in public and invite everyone
to watch. Kind of shot myself in the foot there.”

  Frank stared, eyes narrowed at her. “Alright, who are you and what have you done with Siena?”

  Siena smiled. “I’m serious. I dug my own grave as soon as I challenged an admin who I knew worked under the game’s creator. It should have been obvious that he had something up his sleeve.”

  But won’t have for long.

  There weren’t many monsters on the way down, and they eventually made their way out of the Rising Hills and into the Toena field, Frank and Tessa probing her all the while. They were just about to head up the hill to the Toena province when, from out of nowhere, the dark, rotating cloud of a Chaos Engine appeared.

  Preparing for a random monster encounter, Frank and Tessa equipped their weapons. However, Siena just furrowed her brow and looked around. It was highly unusual for a Chaos Engine to appear out in Basetier, let alone in the middle of a field. Yet as two armored forms emerged from the dark cloud, one equipped with a sheathed rapier at their waist and the other holding a black wand, she knew this wasn’t just a random monster generator.

  “Screamers,” Frank muttered and equipped her Amethyst Edge.

  However, instead of running out and wailing to try and force them to log out like Screamers usually did, one of the armored forms raised a hand and stepped forward. They were the taller of the pair, and as they advanced, their helmet flickered once and then vanished.

  Siena gasped when seeing the long blonde hair fall down the silver breastplate. “K-Kristie?”

  Kristie lifted one hand. “Siena_the_Blade.”

  She used to call her “Sen.”

  “Malcolm wants to speak with you,” she continued, sounding like a robot. “Please come with me and I will take you to him.”

  Siena suppressed a grin at the idea of a ghost wanting to talk to her.

  “Why?” Tessa shouted with her crossbow raised. “I mean, considering what you guys are, it’s not a very tantalizing offer, right?”

  Kristie ignored her, continuing to stare at Siena, and Siena couldn’t help but stare back. She had been surprised when seeing Kristie on Jossi Island, but with her just standing here now, it didn’t seem real. Eventually, she nodded. The mystery of what had happened to her friend was too much for her refuse. She stepped forward into the range where the Screamer’s wail could have forcefully logged her out, but Kristie didn’t attack.