End Online: Volume 6

by D Wolfin

  “So why don’t you have a girlfriend now?” I glare at him and he awkwardly turns his head to look elsewhere. “No way… You’re unbelievable. You treat all of them equally, meaning you treat other girls just like your girlfriend, don’t you?”

  Markus remains silent and avoids discussing the topic any further. My anger dissipates with the sense of victory, and I am in a good mood by the time we arrive at my house.

  Markus helps me out, also having forgotten about the discussion earlier. We bid each other farewell, and he says he will pick me up Wednesday around the same time as today before leaving for his house.

  Once he is gone, I send a message to Mason and CaptainGordon, letting them know I will be logging on now and that Sir Laurence and Verde will do the same within the hour. Without waiting for a reply, I lie down on my bed with the V-Link on my head and log into End Online.

  ***************************************************

  ***************************************************

  -Sydney Lee-

  “Dear, Verity needs her own personal space. This is going too far,” my wife, Sarah, says to me disapprovingly.

  “She is my daughter. This sort of measure is absolutely necessary. If she wants to keep playing her game with her friends, this is needed.”

  This discussion concerns a certain electronic microchip I had installed into my daughter’s V-Link while she was attending the first day of university. I had some specialists look at a duplicate of the device some time ago and design this chip. My daughter lost her memory from a malfunction of this device, and even if those memories have returned, I will not allow her to continue using it if there is even an inkling of danger.

  I don’t want to force her, so instead I had this unique chip designed. It is a sort of physical limiter on the device. My wife doesn’t disapprove of that part, and in fact strongly supports it. I learned the benefits of her approval through her affection late last night.

  What she does not like is the second feature of this chip. Not only does it protect her as a limiter, it replicates and transmits exactly what she is seeing to any mobile device I link it to. Call it fatherly instinct, but I want to watch over her and see her being happy. Sarah is extremely angry about this, the proof displayed in the form of the broken phone on the table in front of me.

  ***************************************************

  ***************************************************

  -Lost-

  Arriving on top of the Forgotten Ruminu Temple’s roof where I logged off, I find that it is currently night time in the game. CaptainGordon, Mason and Matrix are lying down stargazing while Fen is quietly standing near me. To this day, I can’t figure out how she logs in faster than I do. I saw her in my locker mere moments ago, yet here she is waiting.

  It will still be about half an hour before the final two people log in, so I join the others in star gazing. In real life the sky is full of light pollution, so only the most prominent stars can be seen shining in the sky. Above this temple however, the sky is an ocean of stars, each one vibrantly full of life.

  By the time Sir Laurence and Verde log in, the sun is beginning to rise over the eastern horizon and the night sky is rapidly being overtaken by dawn.

  “I have been doing some thinking recently,” I say to everyone on top of the temple, scratching the side of my head awkwardly. “Now that three of us are attending university, we will have a little less time to play End Online. I plan to make up for this with hard effort, but there are still times we won’t be on.”

  “I want you all to consider what you want to do in the future. I think we should officially form our guild first. I have already thought of the perfect location to set as our base; we can head over there after formally creating our guild.”

  “Where is this place?” Mason asks, confused.

  I grin mysteriously at Mason and say, “It is a surprise. I guarantee it’s a good place.”

  He looks at me suspiciously, but doesn’t question me any further. If anything, there is a hint of regret and worry in his eyes that attracts my attention. I wonder if something is going on with him that is causing him to be nervous.

  “Well, we still need to go back to Kano City first.”

  I grab the rope that is hanging inside of the temple and consider pulling it out, but leave it alone after deciding that we are so high up that the rope won’t reach the ground. Looking inside one last time, I notice that the boss has not returned and probably won’t. I’m a little curious as to how the other party descended through the temple, but it shouldn’t have been too difficult.

  The final vestiges of night are erased as the sun fully rises above the horizon. The other party members are also looking for a path descending from the top of the temple.

  “Hey, umm, we could get down here, I think,” Matrix nervously calls out from the rear of the temple.

  I walk over and furrow my brow when I see where he is pointing.

  “How, exactly, are we supposed to get down here?”

  “Well we could, umm, jump down to there, then there, umm… and then that spot-”

  “No, there is no way we could do that. Fen, would you be able to create some ice steps or something on the side of the temple we can use to get down?”

  “I… can.”

  “Excellent, please do. Everyone, we will get down from here!”

  Once everyone arrives, Fen extends her hand and a frosty blue light emanates from her fingertips. The lights seem to weave together before creating a ramp of ice leading all the way to the ground. It is quite steep, but we can safely slide down.

  “You’re the leader, you can go down first…” Verde looks at the slide and suffers a severe case of vertigo.

  I look at her as she leans over the edge and get a sinister idea.

  “You’ve been pushing me around all day Verde, allow me to return the favor,” I whisper in her ear as I wrap my hands around her, push forward and jump onto the deadly looking ramp.

  Verde screams as we quickly slide down, descending nine floors of the temple before the ramp tapers off, curving up from the ground to prevent any crashes and sends us flying toward one of the buildings. The landing is much rougher than I expected, with both of us crashing through the roof of one of the little buildings and losing a quarter of our health.

  The fact that there are no ‘Stone Guardians’ in this house is the only bit of relief I get. It isn’t long until Mason, Matrix, Sir Laurence, CaptainGordon, and finally a grumpy Fen come falling in through the roof to land on top of us. Acting as cushions for the falling people, Verde and I are nearly killed, with ten percent of our health remaining. I bring out some of my best homemade health potions, but she adamantly refuses them, pulling out her own instead.

  Fen grabs onto my arm and pulls me away from Verde, her nails digging into my arm in the process. It stings and I lose some health, but there is no actual physical pain. However, she gives me a frigid stare that sends a shiver up my spine.

  I feel like I should apologize to Fen for making her mad. At the same time, after what happened between Verde and I at school with the fake relationship, I can’t seem to apologize to Fen in front of her. I have come to realize the true meaning of ‘stuck between a rock and a hard place’.

  Haphazardly trying to change the focus of everyone’s attention, I quickly say, “We still need to check all the buildings in these ruins for a mysterious stone tablet. I don’t think that there is one here, but missing it because we didn’t search properly would be depressing.”

  I lead the party through the ruins to search every building for a mysterious stone tablet, or even just some hint of it. By the time we finish searching, the sun is already sinking into the western horizon. Just as I suspected, we find no traces of such a tablet, but at least I can leave the ruins with confidence that it is not here.

  We don’t leave immediately, but set up camp in an abandoned building without any ‘Stone Guardians’ in it instead. A small fire crac
kles in the rear room, a pot of boiling broth resting over the top. I grind up some herbs with a mortar and pestle and throw it in the pot with some meat to cook. Half the roof of this building has collapsed, so the smoke from the fire is properly vented.

  Behind me, I hear Mason talking to Sir Laurence and Verde. “That’s no good. Have you heard about the sighting of the lost girl in the Potolmy Woods Reserve?”

  “I have never heard of such a thing. Some cheap ghost story isn’t going to scare me,” Verde nonchalantly responds.

  “I would like to accept that challenge, but this isn’t some ghost story.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s a true event that has happened several times, each with eyewitnesses.”

  “…Of course.”

  “No, listen. Mav, a young girl only sixteen, went into the Potolmy Woods Reserve with three of her friends one late Friday near midnight as a test of courage. They were two girls and a boy. The male friend, Lux, from the same class as her, took the lead. One of the other girls, Laurie, used a pocket knife to etch into the trees as they went along so they wouldn’t get lost.”

  “Boring.”

  “Don’t cut in. Just after the clock struck midnight, a faint mist began to rise from the ground. It wasn’t very thick, so it was still easy to see, but it brought a chill that they could feel deep in their bonesmade all their bones creak.”

  Verde, still unimpressed, cuts him off once again and says, “They got scared and turned around to leave, but surprise surprise, the cuts in the trees marking their path are gone.”

  “Damn it, would you cut it out! And no, that’s not what happens. Argh, why do I even bother?”

  “Mason, I want to hear it,” CaptainGordon says enthusiastically.

  “Fine, but you,” Mason points at a smug Verde, “keep your mouth shut.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Verde makes a hand gesture of zipping her mouth shut.

  “Okay… Now, where was I? Right. After the mist rose, the trees in front of them had cuts on them exactly like the ones behind them. Confused at first, they turned around and saw that the markings on the trees detailing the way back were still there. Back in front of them, the fake cuts in the trees had vanished, but all of a sudden, so had the ones behind them.”

  Trying to create a dramatic atmosphere, Mason lowers his voice and begins to speak each word clearly and slowly.

  “Frightened, Mav and her three friends quickly go back toward where they came from. The mist had other ideas, however, twisting and swirling, sending illusions at the four people and causing them to become lost.

  “At the height of their fear, the markings on the trees came back, signalling their path. But the markings pointed in the direction behind them as well. Lux, putting on a brave face, suggested that they should split into two groups of two, explore both paths and meet back there in an hour. That should have been enough time to reach the edge of the woods and return.

  “One of the girls, Laurie, cried that they shouldn’t split up, but Lux ignored her, dragging Mav off to travel down one path. Laurie tried to follow after them, tears in her eyes, but the other girl, Kate, held her back. No one knows what happened to Laurie and Kate after that. Some say they are still there, lost in the woods, but others say that they died already. Mav’s story is the only one that ever left those woods, however.

  “Mav followed behind Lux closely, practically hanging off his arm in fear. She keeps talking to him, ‘Lux, when are we going to get out?’ ‘Lux, I’m scared, please tell me everything is going to be alright,’ ‘Lux, please… take me away from here’. Seeing him not replying at all, she brushes up against him one more time and glances at his face before letting out a shrill scream that the residents of the nearest town, Potl, could hear.”

  Dipping his fingers in some black ink he had prepared, Mason paints his face with the ink to replicate his words.

  “Lux had blood, as black as the night, pouring out his eyes… nose… mouth… and ears. Mav fell backwards, curling into a ball screaming in terror, but Lux didn’t notice, continuing to walk through the trees as if he was possessed by something. Mav, hyperventilating, hears some short, quick footsteps. Someone, or something, is about twenty feet away.

  “Mav instinctively ran away, constantly collapsing as her legs kept giving way beneath her. She still moved quickly, but the footsteps followed a strange rhythm. They kept walking the same pace, but never got any further away from Mav than when she started. In fact, the footsteps gradually got closer.

  “Fifteen feet…… ten feet…… five feet… four feet… three feet, two feet… one foot away…” Mason gets closer and closer to Verde as he says this, practically speaking into her ear by the end of it.

  “In a panic, Mav turned around and swung her hand at whoever was behind her. Alas the culprit was a little girl, so Mav’s arm passed well over her head.

  “The little girl was the epitome of horror. Her eyes mere hollow holes in her face with small pools of black blood inside. Hair that was knotted and falling out adorned the top of her head. She wore a pure white dress that was once pristine, but by then was smeared with large amounts of dried blood.

  “Mav’s legs completely gave way at that point and she collapsed on the ground with no strength to even move. The little girl reached out and opened her mouth as if to say something, but only blood poured out, staining her dress even more. Her outstretched hand was placed on Mav’s jaw, like a mother to a child.”

  Mason places two fingers on Verde’s jaw, imitating the girl’s actions. I doubt anyone else notices, but I spot Matrix sneakily leaving the room for some reason. I pay him no heed and continue listening to Mason’s tale while cooking dinner.

  “Where the hand touched Mav, her skin became festered, bubbles of pus forming before exploding and leaving bloody, concave holes of red and yellow in her skin. The agony was like being set on fire while having her skin torn off of her face at the same time. The little girl’s hand continued around her face, a bloody grin forming as Mav’s beautiful looks were destroyed, inch by inch.”

  Verde tilts away from Mason’s hand in disgust, a hint of her being flustered showing on her face.

  “Mav’s wails echoed throughout the night, and half of the townsfolk from Potl were woken up. A small group of townsmen grabbed their rifles in a fury and stalked into the woods. They found Mav lying in a pool of her own blood and pus, wailing has her hands continued to claw at her own face. It wasn’t until one of the hunters saw the mysterious girl that they hurriedly grabbed Mav and dragged her out of the woods.

  “A search party was formed the next day for the other three kids, but nothing was found of them – not even corpses.”

  Verde, her voice faltering slightly says, “Is that it? That story’s fake and not particularly scary.”

  It isn’t until Verde looks over at the entrance to the room that she notices the figure of a little girl covered in blood, and she squeals and covers her eyes, her shoulders shaking. I follow where she is looking and see Matrix hiding behind and holding a doll shaped like a little girl and covered in black ink. The doll isn’t even well made, but he is hiding within a shadow with it so it is difficult to see details.

  “Okay, that’s enough, dinner is ready,” I sigh resignedly as I hand out the now cooked food.

  Later on, we all camp out in different sections of the house. Fen and I have the rear room where the ghost story was told to ourselves, the moonlight shining in through the broken roof. I’m not sure about the others, but they appear to have separated into three or four of the remaining rooms.

  The humidity is bad here in the jungle, so Fen and I sleep in a tent with one side fully open to allow cool night air in. Late at night, to my complete surprise, someone comes crawling into the tent. I initially think it is Fen, but she is already wrapped around my left arm so it can’t be her.

  “V-Verde?” I stammer when her features are revealed under the moonlight.

  Gone are the cloak and thick clothes,
and instead she is wearing the thin shirt and shorts that she usually sleeps in. Her cleavage is presented in full as she crawls toward me on all fours. Her swaying mounds threaten to fully reveal themselves at any moment through the loose collar of her shirt.

  Of greater concern though is Fen, glaring murder at Verde. Verde notices and visibly falters, but continues moving until she is next to me. I notice that her face is a little pale and I can’t help but ask.

  “Scared?”

  Her eyes seem to be on the verge of tearing up as she curtly nods her head. I’m surprised at how timid and girlish she can actually be, unlike how she normally acts in front of me. Of course, Mason and Matrix tormenting her from the depths of the shadows so much that it can actually get to her is going too far.

  “Not alone. Just for tonight,” She whispers to me, a small amount of color returning to her face as she blushes in embarrassment.

  Fen obviously has no intention of letting her stay, as the temperature in the tent drops dramatically and an ice dagger forms in her hand. Fen reaches past me to stab at Verde.

  I hastily catch her hand before she her attack connects. I don’t know what to say to mediate the situation and feel terrible inside. I understand she must be scared, but I can’t understand why Verde came in here. She had to know it would provoke Fen. And as for Fen… I guess I could say that I’m in love with her. I can’t do anything but look helplessly toward Fen whose eyes can’t seem to express enough anger.

  Seeing my look, Fen averts her eyes, snorting onto my shoulder and causing a small area to become covered in frost. At least she doesn’t continue trying to attack Verde.

  Verde grabs onto my other arm tightly, and I feel a heavenly pleasure as the figure of her body is pressed against me. With a beautiful girl on either side of me, I am in a situation that most men would envy. Despite this, inside I am crying.

  ***************************************************

  The next morning there is only one person clinging onto me: Fen. The wolf girl is half sprawled out on top of me with one leg extended, pushing Verde half a meter away.