Gamer God: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure

by P. J. Frost

  “Amazing,” I commented. “All of this is just... beyond belief.”

  “I can't imagine what it must be like for you, actually being inside the game instead of just watching it,” Quorull said. “Honestly, I'm a little jealous.”

  “Trust me, it's not worth being stuck in here,” I replied.

  “Yeah, I guess not. So hey, um,” she went on, lowering her voice, “I couldn't help but notice that earlier, you rushed to heal Erinye first, even though I was wounded too.”

  I frowned, uncertain of what she was getting at. “Her injuries seemed a lot worse than yours. Plus, it was just your avatar who was hurt... she was feeling actual pain.”

  Quorull put a hand on my arm. “Except she wasn't, Sid. Because she can't feel pain, because she's not real. She's a computer program. That's all. And if I didn't know any better, I'd suspect you were starting to develop feelings for her.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, then closed it again.

  She was right.

  I had been trying to pretend otherwise, but it was no use. I was becoming increasingly attracted to Erinye – not just physically (because, well, who wouldn't?), but emotionally as well. I felt guilty for revealing the truth of her existence to her. No, more than that: I felt responsible for her. I'd opened the door to forbidden knowledge that she hadn't wanted or asked for, and now for her, there was no going back.

  “I get what you're saying here, Coral,” I admitted. “I really do. I'll cop to the fact that I've been having some feelings for her, and okay, I know that's kind of weird. And I get that you're trying to look out for me. But here's the thing: Whatever is happening to me, keeping me stuck here in the game? That shouldn't be real either. But it is, despite the overwhelming mountain of logic that indicates it's supposed to be impossible. So who knows? Maybe Erinye is more than just a bunch of code. Maybe she's something beyond that.”

  "Okay," Quorull answered reasonably. "Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you might be right. Where's your evidence? We've seen plenty of proof that she is a program based on the limitations she's displayed up until now. What have you got to refute that?”

  I thought it over for a moment, then snapped my fingers. “What about the fact that she's here with us now? That's a pretty massive clue, right? She should be permanently tethered to the Valley of the Monsters, but instead, she's been able to leave it and accompany us."

  “You're right,” Quorull answered. “Which leads us to another question: Is this just our perception of what's happening? Or did she legit wander off from her own quest?”

  “What do the message boards say about it?”

  “Hmm, let me check.” Quorull paused for a moment... and then her face fell. “Oh. Wow. Holy shit. This is, um. Pretty bizarre, actually.”

  “What?” I demanded. “What are you seeing?”

  “The message boards are flooded with hundreds of comments from gamers who are saying Erinye isn't where she's supposed to be,” she told me. “They're all totally baffled by it, and a lot of them are super pissed off. Apparently, there have been so many complaints submitted that the company's servers almost crashed.”

  “Thank God they didn't.” I wasn't sure what would happen to me if the servers did crash while I was still stuck in the game, but I wasn't in much of a hurry to find out.

  “Everyone seems to think it's a glitch of some kind,” she continued. “So far, there's been no official response from ForeverRealm. And now it's trending on Twitter too.”

  “Friends!” Erinye called out. “The stables are one street over! Let us make haste!”

  “I'm starting to get a real bad feeling about all this,” Quorull muttered. “Like we've got some kind of terminally nasty surprise in our near future.”

  “So what else is new?” I laughed, following Erinye to the livery.

  Again, I had seen the stables plenty of times before.

  But they had never looked so wondrous.

  There were plenty of regular ponies and war horses for sale, but there were lots of magical mounts as well. Among them, I spotted a Pegasus, a couple of ghostly Spirit Steeds, a flame-snorting Knight Mare, and even a Unicorn. I couldn't begin to imagine how many gold coins those mystical creatures would cost... more than any of us had, for sure. And even then, breaking them in would be a lengthy and difficult process – one we didn't have time for.

  No, better to stick with regular horses, I thought. For now, at least. That said... if I actually get a chance to ride a Pegasus or any of those other enchanted critters at some point, that might make this whole “getting trapped in the game” experience worth it.

  “Help you folks with something?” Ibexus, the Goat-Man NPC who owned the livery, walked up to us.

  “We need to buy three horses,” I said. “The fastest ones you have available.”

  He nodded his horned head, leading me to a specific stable. “I can help you with that, sure. Here we've got Dandelion, Thunderhoof, and Windracer. They're the speediest steeds in all of Menageria... out of the ones that are for sale, at least. Fifty gold pieces each, and they're all yours.”

  I looked at Erinye, who gave me an embarrassed smile. “I... am not accustomed to carrying currency when I travel. Come to think of it, I'm not accustomed to traveling at all.”

  I nodded. “That makes sense. Quorull and I can cover the cost of yours.”

  "Great," Quorull mumbled under her breath, fishing the coins out of her Bag. "Thanks for that, Sid."

  As we led our new horses out of the livery, I noticed that a lot of the gamers' avatars were peering at us suspiciously. “Hey, um, Coral? Does something seem a little... off to you?”

  “You mean aside from the fact that my Cherishing Bag suddenly feels a lot lighter?” She followed my gaze, then nodded. “Oh. Yeah. Okay. I see what you mean.”

  “You might want to hit 'Refresh' on the message board page,” I suggested.

  She paused again, and her jaw dropped. “Kolbe Tacker just uploaded a link to a video. It looks like Tacker recorded it himself. It seems to be, um, causing quite a stir. Should I click on it?”

  “I think you'd better, yeah.”

  Erinye tilted her head at us curiously. “What is it, friends? Are we in some sort of peril?”

  “Not sure yet,” Quorull told her. “Here, I'm going to hit play and then hold my headset mic up to my speakers so you can hear what he's saying.”

  A few seconds passed, and then something surreal happened: Quorull opened her mouth, and the voice of Kolbe Tacker emanated from it. She wasn't moving her lips – it was as though she was picking up a radio station with her fillings or something equally peculiar.

  But even that wasn't nearly as surprising as what followed.

  "Greetings, warriors! My name is Kolbe Tacker, and I'm the creator of WarriorWorld. As you know, a short while ago, I introduced a new quest: 'The Valley of the Monsters,' featuring Empress Erinye."

  Erinye's eyes widened at the mention of her name. She appeared deeply disturbed by it, and I couldn't exactly blame her.

  “At first glance,” Tacker went on, “this may have seemed like just another mission – one that followed the same rules and structures as the previous ones we've designed for you. Erinye's kingdom of freaks is under attack from a grave outside threat, she's tasked you with aiding her and promised you a reward if you succeed, blah blah blah. However, we've been paying attention to your comments on Twitter and the message boards, and we've become well aware of the fact that some of you are finding these formats we use repetitive. In fact, I think it's even fair to say there's a percentage among you who are starting to get bored with WarriorWorld! And we can't have that, now can we?”

  I was getting a sinking feeling in terms of where this was headed. Based on the expression on Quorull's face, so was she. Erinye had a kind of dazed and awestruck look, as though she was receiving a transmission from God Himself.

  “So it's my great pleasure,” Tacker said, “to inform you all that you've fallen for a classic bi
t of misdirection... because the mysterious disappearance of Empress Erinye is all part of this quest's main event! That's right, Erinye might be disguised and hiding in any of the realms of WarriorWorld, traveling alone or with bodyguards. Your mission is to find her! Any player who manages to locate and overpower her will earn untold in-game riches and be honored as the game's greatest champion!"

  “I was afraid of that,” I commented. The crowd around us was beginning to close in.

  “Keep your eyes open for those clues, warriors,” Tacker signed off, “and remember: Erinye is the most adaptive and cunning NPC our studio has ever developed, making her one dangerous lady. So make sure you're armed to the teeth and ready for anything! Above all, happy hunting!”

  “Funny thing,” an all-too-familiar voice behind me sneered, “but I think I might have some idea of where she happens to be.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “Donal,” I replied sourly, turning to face him. “I probably shouldn't be surprised to see you here. Guess I just sort of assumed that after I made you look like a total failure and a fraud with the whole Bograh thing, you'd be too ashamed to show your face for a while.”

  Donal gritted his teeth. “I'm still convinced that you cheated. I don't know how, or how you're suddenly doing a road movie with Erinye, or why you tried to make me think you had somehow been sucked into the game. But honestly? I don't really give a shit. Right now, all I care about is that you're standing between me and the Monster Queen... and capturing her will give me all my cred back, and then some. So hand her over.”

  “I am not some prize to be demanded!” Erinye roared. “I am an Empress and a creature of free will, and none shall choose my destiny for me!”

  I understood where she was coming from with that rant, given the doubt that had been cast on her existence lately. Even so, I wished she were doing a better job of staying incognito. We'd already had enough attention on us, and her outburst had drawn even more.

  Donal laughed, clapping sarcastically. “Wow. She is good. The coders really outdid themselves this time, huh? Can't wait to get that stupid cloak off her, though, so I can get one more good look at those awesome emerald tits before claiming my reward.”

  “Go ahead and try it,” Quorull dared him. “There's three of us and only one of you. Even with all your mods and crap, I still kind of like those odds.”

  “You're about to like 'em a whole lot less, hon.” Donal raised his voice, addressing the other gamers around us: “Hey everyone! Screw the green bitch... I'll pay a thousand real-world bucks to whoever kills the Wizard and the Night Elf for me!”

  That did it. The dam broke.

  Hobgoblins, Elves, Humans, Halflings, Orcs, Dwarves. Thieves, Bards, Barbarians, Knights, Hunters, Paladins, Wizards.

  They all rushed toward us, howling war cries and yelling out their account info for PayPal and Venmo.

  “Let's get the hell out of here!” I hollered.

  All three of us hopped onto our horses, breaking through the angry mob and galloping toward the town's gate as fast as we could.

  There was just one problem.

  The gate's massive iron doors were slowly closing ahead of us.

  “They're trying to trap us in!” Quorull said. “Faster! Faster!”

  I pushed my steed Thunderhoof as fast as he could go (presuming it was a "he," of course), watching with dismay as the shaft of sunlight between the metal doors got thinner with each passing second. I wasn't sure if we'd make it, but I was sure that if we hit the doors trying, we'd be flat on our backs, and the gamers behind us would tear us to pieces.

  Still, we had to try. We had no choice.

  Quorull made it through the gate first, then Erinye. I uttered a prayer to whoever would listen, then put on a final burst of speed, feeling the doors graze my shoulders as I passed through them.

  “We did it!” Erinye exclaimed.

  "We're not out of the woods yet," Quorull chided grimly. "We still have to put as much distance between ourselves and Menageria as possible before they have time to mount up and close the gap."

  Erinye cackled. “Come now, Night Elf! Surely you can allow yourself the briefest moment of pleasure following such a triumph as that?”

  I found myself smiling. I couldn't help it – Erinye's boisterous and warlike nature was infectious, not to mention a huge turn-on. The more time I spent with her, the more I felt like I could live up to being a real wizard instead of just pretending to be one in a silly game.

  Our horses raced across the Howling Hills just outside the city. The territory got its name from the packs of wolves that roamed the valleys, and from a popular werewolf-themed quest that had been among the first to be uploaded as game expansions.

  But we didn't have time for confrontations with wolves or monsters. We rode on, to the Silver Plains and beyond, until night began to fall, and Quorull and I could no longer ignore our flagging Rest Meters.

  “What do we think?” I asked, pulling my horse to a stop. “Have we put enough space between us and them to be able to make camp for a few hours?”

  “This should work, yeah.” Quorull dismounted, and Erinye and I followed suit. The horses immediately started munching placidly on the pale grass.

  “Well, that was a close one,” I chuckled.

  “Yeah, and it still managed to pretty well screw us,” Quorull pointed out. “I'm running low on arrows. I was going to buy more in town, just like I imagine you were planning to pick up a few more bottles of Magic Potion. But...”

  "Ugh." I looked at the staff. "Now, instead of slinging spells, I'm just a man with a glorified javelin."

  “Have faith, my comrades,” Erinye told us encouragingly. Her breath came out in icy clouds as she talked, making me realize how cold these plains were now that it was getting dark. “The odds may be stacked against us, yes, but they are far from insurmountable. We three are mighty warriors! We are equal to any challenge! And look... we're only a short distance from the Mountains of Mortiis! By this time tomorrow, we shall be within sight of our goal. So take heart!”

  "Wow. Great speech, Coach. Thanks." Quorull rolled her eyes, then turned to me. "Look, Sid... I am so sorry to do this, but I really need to step away from the game and lie down for an hour or two. I really thought I could push through until we saw this to the end, but my blood sugar is plummeting, and I can barely see straight. Unless I get some snacks and some shut-eye, I won't be much good to you for the rest of the mission."

  I felt a pang of fear at the thought of her stepping out of the game for even a short period of time – having her with me through all of this had anchored me, made me feel less like I was alone and going crazy.

  But she'd shown me so much support, I couldn't ask her to push herself more than she already had. “Of course, Coral. Get some rest.”

  She gave me a grateful smile. “Thanks for understanding. And don't worry. I'm setting an alarm, I'll be back before you know it, and we will find a way out of this for you. I promise.”

  Coral logged out, and Quorull disappeared from the plain. Erinye's eyebrows went up, but she said nothing.

  I was startled to find that I wasn't just aware of the cold – I was feeling it and starting to shiver. I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised. If my avatar could feel pain, obviously it could feel other things too, right?

  Looking at Erinye – her dark eyes twinkling with the last few crimson rays of the sunset – I couldn't help but wonder how far these physical sensations might go.

  “The lower temperature is making you uncomfortable,” the Empress observed.

  I nodded. “Little bit, yeah.”

  “I am chilled as well,” she said, sitting on the ground near me. “Perhaps we should... draw closer together, in order to share in each other's warmth?”

  “Worth a try, right?” I was relieved by the invitation, even though I wasn't sure it would technically work. We were both clearly programmed to feel the cold (since it was a category of damage that could be sustained during th
e game), but we weren't coded to project a baseline body heat.

  Were we?

  I didn't know, but I was freezing and eager to find out.

  I sat down next to Erinye. She unfurled her wings, then wrapped them around me along with her muscular arms. Her breasts pushed against my chest firmly enough to momentarily crush the breath out of me...

  But she was warm.

  And her embrace was comforting, and made my heart beat, wow... so much faster.

  “It was... unsettling,” she whispered. Her voice was trembling.

  “What was?”

  “Hearing what came from Quorull's mouth earlier. That... other voice.” It seemed like she was having difficulty finding the right words for the concepts she was trying to articulate – maybe because they hadn't initially been coded into her. “It was the storyteller, was it not? The one whose... fiction... I exist within.”

  “That is one way of putting it, yes,” I conceded.

  “What is his name?”

  “Kolbe Tacker,” I told her.

  “Kol-bee Tack-cker,” she repeated slowly. “Is he a god in your world as well?”

  “Not really. He's just a very smart man who had a very good idea that made him very, very rich.”

  Erinye seemed disappointed. I couldn't blame her. “Tell me, Sydnar, if this truth is yours to know: Why did he create me the way I am? What is my... purpose?”

  I struggled to find an answer that would comfort and satisfy her. Finally, I said, “He made you... alluring and mysterious and dangerous, because he wanted you to attract as many people as possible to play his game. And he made you powerful and willful so that you could be, um, a fierce and worthy opponent to the gamers who chose to fight you.”

  I guess I assumed my words would flatter her. Instead, they seemed to make her even sadder. “Then I was designed to be an object for these 'players' to lust after and kill. What a hollow and pathetic existence I was cursed with.”