Immersion World

by Max Jager

  Zanath quickly dove to the side to get out of the way, narrowly dodging the arrow. But in the time it took him to dodge she had already notched a third arrow and fired again while he was mid-dodge. This arrow, he could not dodge. But it also was not aimed at Zanath, but instead was aimed at the quiver on his back. It struck the strap of his quiver with pinpoint accuracy, cutting through the strap and sending Zanath's quiver along with the rest of his arrows spilling out onto the ground. The move accomplished two things, it prevented him from firing back but also made it very clear that she could have killed him had she aimed for his head instead of his quiver.

  As soon as she saw her arrow hit its mark she spun around and bolted off to the west again. Zanath, being the fastest in the group tried to chase after her, but the girl was far too fast. Zanath, despite being incredibly fast himself, didn't even come close to matching her speed. She was long gone before he could see where she went, and he returned to the group.

  "Daang" Kaden sighed. "She's a really good shot. I can see how she is surviving out here on her own. Where'd she go?"

  "West." Zanath stated. "South west I think. And we don't know for sure she's alone"

  "Should we follow her?" Kaden stated.

  "I would, if we were not in such dire need for an antidote. She and the other humans, if any, may have antidotes with them. But searching in a random south west-ish direction doesn't mean we will find them. We might, we might not, it would be very risky to bet everything on that."

  "It's also risky betting everything on a pharmacy not being looted though." Kaden replied.

  "Why did you shoot her?" Estellese spoke up.

  "Our lives are depending on us getting out of this game, or at the very least finding some supplies so we don't die right here. She was a chance we had to get out of here, or get supplies. I couldn't let her just run off. I was aiming for her leg anyways. Figured it would stop her from fleeing, and we could just give her a potion to fix the wound when we find one. I know, not the best idea, but her fleeing has a very high probability of being the death of us. I had to try." Zanath stated.

  "Oh, I guess it makes sense. But I don't like the idea still." Estellese stated. "Now what?"

  "I'm sorry." Zanath replied.

  "We find a pharmacy." Mendelen stated. "And as a last resort, we follow the girl. It will be easier and quicker to find one pharmacy in a city, then it is to find one girl who could be anywhere in the world." He said. "So let's place our bets on the easy one, but also search for a pharmacy in a south-west-ish direction so if it doesn't work out we are at least a little closer to plan B."

  Zanath nodded "Works for me." he picked up his arrows and the ones the girl had fired at him. The girl's arrows had a very sleek and elegant design to them, he looked them over for a moment before putting them in the quiver with his other ones.

  "Lets go." Mendelen said as he again lead the way.

  - Next Chapter: The Deadline. -

  Chapter 11: The Deadline

  - Chapter 11: The deadline -

  "Anything? Is there any potions left at all?" Mendelen called out to the other side of the pharmacy.

  "Nothing. It has been looted, everything is gone" Zanath called back.

  "Kaden any sign of the goblins? What about the dragon?" Mendelen asked.

  "Nothing. They do not appear to be nocturnal, as long as we continue to travel in the night we should be safe from the hordes." Kaden stated.

  "I wish we could." Mendelen replied. "But after fighting in the dungeon all day, and searching the city all night... We are going to face a serious exhaustion problem if we don't get sleep tomorrow night. Estellese, how are you feeling?"

  "Not good." Estellese choked out. She was just laying on the pharmacy bench, trying to regain her strength. "It's starting to get hard to breathe guys, resting is helping but please tell me this isn't another empty pharmacy."

  Mendelen walked out of the back section and shook his head. "Someone cleaned it out. It's empty."

  "Third one in a row. What do we do?" Zanath asked, and everyone turned to Mendelen, waiting for his solution.

  Mendelen looked around, then shook his head. "Why are you all looking at me? Guys I'm not the leader, I'm only calling the shots because nobody else is. I… I don't know what to do."

  "Logically, you are the best candidate for leader here." Zanath replied.

  "Yeah," Kaden added. "You're the only suitable leader. Estell has leadership qualities and is strong, but she is too hot tempered."

  "Hey!" Estellese coughed out. "I am not"

  "See?" Kaden added, getting a growl from Estellese in response. "Zanath is smart, but he is too quiet and withdrawn to lead. Plus while he makes the most logical decisions, we're often not in agreement with these decisions. Such as shooting the girl. He was right, it was our only chance, but I believe I am the only one in agreement with him that it was the right choice. Mendelen's decisions are more balanced, we can all usually agree at least a little with them." He said.

  Zanath nodded a little in response, and when nobody spoke Kaden continued talking. "And I am not trustworthy, I'm not afraid to admit my faults. I can be rash, I have a bad habit of expecting people to know what I'm planning, such as Me and Estell's earlier encounter with the minotaur. I didn't think she'd stay and fight. I don't make a good leader either." He explained. "We all bring something to the table that nobody else does. Estell is strong, and an incredible fighter. Zanath is highly intelligent, his brain saved us several times. Mendelen, you contribute your leadership skills, nobody else can match that." He stated. "Oh, and I contribute my witty comments, a warped sense of humor, and a promise that I will one day take over the world."

  Mendelen and Zanath chuckled lightly, taking the brief moment to relax while trying to think of something. "And how will you do that?" Mendelen asked.

  Kaden smirked. "Once we return to the real world. I will secure a mind control chip, and a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. I will put said mind control chip in the cookie and then offer the next person i meet a free, warm, gooey, freshly baked, amazing, chocolate chip cookie. When they eat it I will control their mind via the chip that would now be implanted in the back of their throat. I will have them then begin producing more mind control chips, and cookies. They will pass them out to other people, who will eat them and come under my control then join the production of more chips and cookies. Nobody can resist a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. The people who say no the first few times, will eventually find themselves in hell. Everywhere they look, people will be handing out cookies. Imagine, your entire day being spent with the scent of warm, gooey, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies haunting you everywhere you go. Seeing the cookies everywhere, having people wave the cookies under your nose. Resistance will be futile, nobody can resist that scent for long. Nobody."

  "That is surprisingly well thought out." Zanath noted. "Not that it'd work, such mind control chips are impossible. But well thought out."

  "Of course. I am an evil genius after all. I said that when we first met." Kaden replied. he was about to continue talking when he suddenly looked out into the street and shushed everyone. He stood in the open doorway of the pharmacy, watching the street. After two seconds he became invisible due to the enchantment on his necklace.

  The others watched silently as two goblins walked past the store windows. They turned to walk through the door Kaden was standing in and as soon as they got near Kaden he lashed out at them. He suddenly reappeared with his sword mid-slash at the first goblin's neck, before the goblins even had time to register that something just appeared in front of them the first goblin was decapitated. The second goblin shrieked in surprise and jumped backwards, but it was too late. Kaden followed up his swing by lunging forwards, shouting out in pain as every broken bone in his body suddenly felt like they had just been hit with a sledgehammer, he stabbed his sword through the second goblin's chest, killing it. Kaden then stepped back into the doorway, resuming his position as the door guard. His
necklace made guarding the location pretty easy, even in his wounded condition.

  "You okay?" Mendelen asked.

  "I hurt like hell. But I'm fine." Kaden replied. "It didn't hurt this bad while I was fighting the snake, what gives?"

  "Adrenaline." Zanath answered. "While fighting the snake your body was in fight, flight, or freeze mode. Or what most people call fight or flight, whatever. Either way, your brain knew your life was at stake, that and the massive adrenaline rush drastically dulled the pain so you could fight, or flee."

  Kaden looked up just a little "Hey brain, I'm kinda still in danger can you turn that back on? Just for a…" He paused. His eyes fixated on something down the street and up high, something nobody else could see from inside the building. "The heck? Is that…" He squinted, trying to get a clearer view.

  "What is it?" Mendelen asked.

  "That's her! The girl!" Kaden said quickly. "I see a female silhouette, long hair, bow, quiver on the waist. It is watching us, and… It looks like the figure has a notebook or something and is writing something down." He held still and turned invisible again, so the figure would not notice him watching it when whoever it was finished their writing. He didn't want the figure to know he had spotted it.

  "We have been traveling south west since we spotted her, but maybe we haven't seen any sign of her because she has been following us." Mendelen thought out loud. "Why would she be following us and taking notes?"

  "Is she a scout for some other group?" Zanath asked. "If we set up a base somewhere, I could easily see myself scouting out the area and tracking people in the same way."

  "Weren't we the only Alpha testers?" Mendelen asked.

  "We don't know that." Zanath replied. "Although, the chances of other people surviving this hell would be pretty slim. There is, however, the other question."

  "Which is?" Estellese asked.

  "Is she human?" Zanath stated. "She is humanoid, for sure. But she could be an AI, or even a non-human race that just looks human. She did seem pretty confused when we mentioned being humans."

  "That confusion could have been from not knowing other humans got into this world. We were surprised to see her aswell. But you are right, we shouldn't overlook the possibility that she is not human. Or not from the real world if she is. We still need to make contact regardless"

  "She doesn't know we saw her right?" Zanath asked. "What roof is she on? While she is watching Kaden, I can sneak out the back door and climb up to her roof." He stated.

  Mendelen nodded. "That may be our only bet. If she escapes don't waste too much time chasing her, we do not have time to spare we need to get a cure for this poison. We escape this game together or not at all, we need to make sure Estell lives before we look for an exit."

  Zanath nodded "Agreed."

  "She is on our side of the street, third building down. On the roof. I'll turn visible and pretend to be doing stuff." Kaden answered. And with that Zanath nodded and slipped out the back door.

  "Estell." Mendelen started. When she looked up at him he continued. "If your condition worsens at all, you must tell us immediately so we can abandon this and move on. I know you prefer to be tough and act okay, but now is not the time."

  "Got it." Estellese replied. "Thank you."

  Kaden was unsure of what to do, so he just started making a random tower of whatever trash and objects he found on the street around his feet. he figured that would confuse the girl and keep her attention focused on him. He smirked a little as he thought about how this would likely also lead to her jotting down some amusing notes in her confusion. The next few minutes felt like forever as he waited for Zanath to make contact.

  Zanath was moving very slowly to ensure that he did not make a sound as he climbed up the building. Finally reaching the top he peeked his head over the edge to see the girl looking down at Kaden. It definitely was the same girl. He quietly climbed onto the roof and moved a little closer, keeping about fifteen feet of space between them. He then raised his hands above his head to not appear threatening and spoke. "Hey." He started. "We come in peace." Getting out the most important statement first.

  The girl yelped and jumped in surprise, spinning around to face Zanath and grabbing her bow in a flash. This time, Zanath did not touch his bow and instead spoke again "I do not want to fight. Just talk. None of us want to fight." He said. "I am sorry, for what I did last time."

  The girl stared at him for a moment, she did not move and kept her bow in hand, but she did not grab for an arrow just yet. It was at this moment that Zanath realized something. It was very possible the girl did not speak English. "I am a Friend. Friendly. Nice." He said as he slowly sat down, trying to show that he was not here to fight. But still no response, she did not budge. "I am not a monster. No monster. I am human."

  As he claimed to not be a monster she frowned, and glared back at him. "What are you trying to pull?" She questioned.

  "You speak English!" Zanath let out a sigh of relief. "We are not trying to pull anything, we just want to talk to you."

  "You are lying." The girl countered.

  "No we are not. We only want to talk." Zanath replied. "I promise."

  "You said you are not a monster. You lied." The girl shot back. "Get out of here."

  "We are not monsters! We are human, we are all human." Zanath countered.

  The girl glared at him, in a mocking tone and with her voice dripping in sarcasm said "I'm not a monster, I'm just the freaking boogy man. We come in peace! We only slaughtered every living thing we encountered since we arrived!" She then frowned and turned dead serious. "Your friend said it pretty clearly, can't say you come in peace when you're covered in the blood of all the creatures you killed."

  "Whoa, wait. That was self defense, we only killed them because we had to." Zanath answered. "And we are NOT monsters, we are human. Humans are not monsters. I get the feeling you are not human, are you?"

  "Not all of those were self defense. You invaded the home of several creatures, killed them all and took their treasures. I watched" The girl stated. "And humans are monsters, you are no different from the goblins you just killed moments ago. Goblins which were not even attacking you. And no, I am not human, you have proven to be barbaric and uncivilized, I would be ashamed to be one of your kind."

  "We needed that stuff to survive. And humans are civilized, we are from the real world and we are the most civilized species on the planet." Zanath replied. "How long have you been watching us?"

  "So humans are willing to kill other creatures, who had done them no harm, in order to further the survival of their own species? Such a selfish race." The girl stated, letting go of her bow to jot down more notes. "So you come from another world? I guess I was mistaken in calling you monsters."

  "We didn't want to kill them, really, we had to. And yes, we come from the real world. Thank you. You did not answer my question though." Zanath said.

  "You never have to kill." Her words were sharper and more firm than ever. "If you really do come from another world, then you are not monsters, you are aliens. Then again, aliens could also be monsters… But I guess alien is more technically correct for documentation sake" She crossed out something near the top of the first page in her notebook and wrote in something else, no doubt exchanging 'monster' for 'alien'. She then resumed talking "I've been tailing you since the moment you appeared, I noticed a strange flash of light inside a building and went to check it out. I saw your black haired friend in there, through a window. Then the rest of you appeared. I have followed you since."

  "We are not aliens either, we are human. But I give up call us whatever you like." Zanath stated. "What race are you? And where can we find a human city? Or, rather…" He looked around "A human city with living humans in it, not this place."

  "The race 'human' is an alien race. As per your own description. You came from another planet, which you have apparently named 'the real world' which I must say is a stupid name for a planet considering there are many planets in exi
stence and they are all real. But regardless, that is your own description of yourself and that makes you an alien." She stated.

  "Okay. I will admit, that makes sense. But that implies that humans do not exist in this world." Zanath interrupted.

  "I was about to say that." The girl spoke. "If you want a human civilization go back to your home planet. I am an elf, we have lived on this world for thousands of years and we have explored the entire planet. Up until you guys spotted me yesterday you were identified as short-eared elves. I only refer to you as humans because that is what you called yourselves. Nobody on this world knows what a human is. This notebook, I am filling out information to add humans to the monster encyclopedia. But… You say this city is a human city?" She asked, looking very curious.

  "Okay, that explains everything." Zanath stated. "Yes this city is a human city, it is an exact copy of Oline city, a city from the real world. Only, in the real world there is other cities on its borders not an open field. And, the issue of returning to the real world to go back to human civilization, that is why we needed to talk to you. We don't know how."