Be careful what you wish for.
The thudding in my arms became almost a consistent vibration as my fists spun with punch attacks. I couldn’t have hit this fast without Jax’s incredible skill at the game. He was making sure that the giant lizard death knight didn’t turn around to smash me, and I knew that I would feel a lot better about retiring if I could bring my two best friends to play with me in Ohlavar Quest.
Would Zarra let them play test? Would she pay them the millions that they were already making? Could I give them some of my interest in the company?
Was I actually thinking about this seriously?
The boss fell, and I heard the screams of the crowd penetrate my helmet.
“Hey, you two are pretty good. The five of us missed our best team time by only six seconds. That was when we were with Sonya Sun and Jimmy Tran,” Garf said on the team channel.
Sonya Sun and Jimmy Tran were ringers who we often played with. We didn’t use them this year during our team tournaments because Sonya just had her first child, but they were both good friends and wonderful teammates who I’d played with for five or six years.
“Thank you!” one of the men, Jake I believe, said with exuberance. “We’ve been practicing for the last month. But you three are doing most of the work. Especially the Champ.”
“I couldn’t do all that damage without Jax. He couldn’t do his job without Garf keeping him alive. It’s a team effort,” I said.
“Let’s see if we can beat our best time on the final boss. I think we’ve only got six more groups to pull,” Garf said, and the other two men nodded.
“So Leo, do you think your fiancé will let us play with her game,” Jax asked after we’d plowed through the next group of lizard fighters and lich warlock summoners.
“I can ask her,” I said as I dodged a fireball from one of the monster warlocks. I used to think that the flames in this game looked amazing, but now I saw their tiny pixels, and I knew that I couldn’t feel the heat of the magic as it almost hit me.
“Notice how he didn’t correct fiancé,” Garf remarked to Jax.
“Oh, I noticed,” the Viking man said, and then he started to hum Here Comes the Bride.
“I think I changed my mind about asking her,” I groaned, and my two friends chuckled.
“Okay, last boss fight. This guy is a lizard warlock. He is going to summon giant death knights that are about half as powerful as the first boss. Jax is going to tank them and kind of lead them around the map counterclockwise. Don’t kill any of those death knights. If you do, the warlock boss will hit us all with powerful lightning bolts. Just focus your damage on the big lizard warlock. The area will also fill with lava, and then poison gas, and then slime. There are little safe zones on top of the pillars. Make sure you follow Leo to them. Understand?” Garf asked the two men after he explained the strategy.
“I think we’ve got it,” one of them said, and the other nodded.
“Okay. Jax, ready? Leo, ready?” Garf asked.
“Yep,” we both replied and then we dashed into the boss room.
The big lizard-lich-warlock spawned in the middle of the crypt area and then went to summon his three guardian death knights. Jax and I were already pounding on him before the first one was summoned, and my friend disengaged from the main boss for a few seconds so that he could whack the knight with his mace. Then he returned to hit the boss three more times before he went to hit the second knight that was summoned. Then he was busy keeping the knights from smashing the rest of us, and couldn’t contribute any damage toward the warlock.
That was fine. The secret to this boss was not killing the guards, and as long as a healer could keep the party alive through the light spells that he cast, the damage dealers of the group were free to do their thing.
“Lava coming,” Garf warned after I’d used a bunch of my damage skills and had ripped almost half of the health from the warlock.
“Over here,” I told the two executives, and they ran to me as I jumped on the edge of one of the columns. The lava filled up the area we fought in, and we all took refuge at three different platforms. The real challenge with this part was that Jax couldn’t dodge any of the lizard death knight attacks while the lava was flooding the room. So he had to use all of his defensive skills and rely on Garf’s healing to keep him alive.
The lava wasn’t hot.
The smoke didn’t choke me.
The ground didn’t shake, and the death knights’ screams didn’t deafen me. These were just bigger versions of the enemies we had fought on the way here, and I was suddenly struck by how lazy the game designers were. Everything I saw in Ohlavar Quest was unique, from the road to the sky to the birds to the homes to the clothes the people wore. The NPCs were the most unique of them all, and while I hadn’t really seen any monsters during my brief play time, Kimmel, his three men, and the guards that chased me had all appeared differently.
Astafar Unlimited felt bland and repetitive now.
“Damage back on the boss,” Garf ordered, and the three of us sprinted back to slam our weapons into the warlock.
We repeated the steps two more times when gas and slime filled the room. Then the giant boss let out a final spray of death magic before he died. I had warned the two tagalongs before he shot his final spray, and everyone managed to avoid a last second party member death.
“Ahhh, missed our best boss time by ten seconds. Still a great job,” Garf said.
“If you two ever decide that this whole ‘running Disney’ thing isn’t working out, you might have a career in pro gaming,” I said to the two men. Both of them laughed and then the five of us logged out of the demonstration game.
Assistants helped us all get out of our Omni stations, and then the five of us bowed to the stadium crowd. The dungeon was normally a two-hour run, but we’d been able to finish it in thirty-two minutes. There were already replays starting on the screens, and some people had brought their own helmets so that they could plug into the system and toggle between each of our point of views during the replay.
“What is next?” I asked Sal as he led the three of us off the stage and through the tunnel toward the locker room.
“You’ve all got some interviews, and then we are heading to one of the parks for some photo ops. They want to get you with all the characters,” Sal explained to the three of us.
“And then we are leaving tomorrow?” I asked.
“Day after. Another day of park hopping. Then we are heading to the Caribbean. Gonna be great, boys!”
“I’m looking forward to it,” I said.
We walked into the locker room, and the four of us stopped short. A well-dressed man sat on one of the benches. He was flanked by two military-looking gorillas dressed in suits, and he smiled at us as soon as we walked in through the doors.
“President Arensto?” The four of us asked at the same time.
“Hey, gang. I just saw the demo. You three looked great,” the President of Astafar Unlimited LLC said with a smile. His skin was a dark coffee color, and he wore a brown suit with a mustard bow tie. He was always a snappy dresser, and I felt an incredible respect for the man that had built my favorite video game.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here, Arnie. Why didn’t you say something?” Sal asked.
“It was kind of a last-second thing, Sal. Sorry for surprising you. I know you hate that kind of stuff. Hey, I know you all have an interview waiting in the lobby once you get changed. Any chance I can take a walk with the champ for a few minutes while you all handle some interview questions?” Arensto looked at me and unleashed his perfect smile.
“Yeah. I guess that is okay.”
“I’ll walk with you both,” my manager said.
“Sal, I just need a few minutes alone with the champ. We aren’t going to be talking any numbers or anything. I just need his advice. Cool?”
“I guess… Just for a few minutes?” Sal obviously wasn’t okay with this, but Arensto was a powerful man,
and while he couldn’t end my career with a command, he controlled all aspects of the game I made my living off of.
Not that Arensto would ever want to end my career. I’d known the man as an uncle for ten years. He seemed almost as committed as Sal was to making sure I flourished as a competitor. If I did good and continued to win, the game got more subscribers and made more money. Garf, Jax, and I were practically the multi-racial poster boys for the electronic sport.
“Yeah. No worries, Sal. Let’s take a walk, Leo,” President Arensto nodded to his bodyguards.
There was another door on the side of the locker rooms that led to the shower and secondary equipment rooms. We walked through the narrow hallways for half a minute, and I waited for the man to speak.
“Listen, Leo, I know you are bored,” he finally said as he gestured to a bench.
“No sir, I’m not bored.”
“Oh, come on Leo. You haven’t called me ‘sir’ in like eight years, and I know you are bored.”
“Haha. Okay, Arnie,” I sighed as I sat down next to him. “Maybe I am a little bored. But it doesn’t matter. I’m still in it to win. This is my job, and I’m not going to be that guy that is ungrateful for the opportunities I’ve been afforded by you and your game.”
“Hmmm,” he nodded and looked at me with his polished smile. “So you wouldn’t ever think about retiring?”
“I ahhh. Where is this coming from?” I asked as my heart began to pick up pace.
“Leo, I know about this Arnacript company.”
“I’ve play tested a lot of games Arnie,” I said with a shrug, and I tried to keep my poker face. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but the man had never talked to me before about play testing other games. He wasn’t a fool. If anything, he was a genius, and he understood gamers and the virtual reality game market better than anyone else alive.
Was he afraid of Arnacript’s game?
He probably should be.
“We’ve got some stuff coming down the road with Astafar Unlimited. You are going to love it, Leo. We are making another huge improvement to the graphics, and we are working with the Omni stations so that they give better tactical feedback. The game is going to get some new dungeons, difficulty levels, and a few extra classes.”
“Sounds great,” I said, but I didn’t really feel any excitement.
“I’ve never really brought you in at a development level. This was my mistake, and I want to change that moving forward. No one knows this game like you; well Garf and Jax also. I want to bring them into the fold as well, but I want to make sure that you are on board.”
“I’m not sure what that means.”
“I’d like to give you a piece of my empire. I told Sal I wouldn’t talk money, so I won’t right now. I just want to know if the idea interests you. I don’t think that you’ll lose your title for another five, maybe six years, but who knows? It could be shorter, could be longer. Do you really want to be the champion for twenty more years? Let me tell you about age. It sucks. I can only play for a few hours before I just get too tired of all the running around.” Arnie laughed, and I found myself chuckling with him.
“So here is the thing, Leo,” his face turned suddenly serious. “I don’t know what they offered you, but I’ll do my best to beat it. I just want you on my team, for a long time. Please tell me you will consider it?”
“I will, Arnie,” I said with a nod.
“Great! I’ll send some stuff over to Sal. Let’s talk after your vacation. I’m probably going to swing by the island for a couple of days, but I didn’t want to talk business then. I want you to take time off and not think about anything. Then we can start fresh when you get back. I really want to show you all the stuff we are working on. You are going to love it.”
“I’m sure I will,” I smiled at him and tried to keep my heart from racing. How the fuck did Arensto know about my trip? How did he know it was competition?
He must have heard the talk between Garf, Jax, and I.
I almost put my hand on my face. I should have known that the chat channel wouldn’t have been entirely private. All that stuff flows through their servers. I guess it didn’t make that much of a difference. If anything, there was more money and development work on the table now. Maybe I could have Sal play both sides off of each other.
The situation still felt a little weird to me, and I wondered if Arensto had spies in Zarra’s company. Maybe he knew how great her game was.
“I’ll let you get back to your inter did Arensto know about my views, and I’ll see you on vacation.” The man held out his hand, and I shook it. “I’m glad we had this talk. It makes me feel a lot better about your future.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said as I forced a smile to my lips.
The smile dropped from my face as soon as I turned my back to the man and walked toward the locker room. His choice of saying “your future” wasn’t exactly comforting, and I suddenly wished that Sal had walked with us.
My decision just got a bit more complicated.
Chapter 9
The two days in Orlando crawled by at a snail’s pace. I felt as if I was just going through the motions of the interviews, appearances, and signing events. My mood further angered and depressed me. I should be thankful for everything that I had been given by Astafar Unlimited. There wasn’t a man on Earth who wouldn’t have changed places with me, except for maybe Garf and Jax. But they were my two best friends, and I knew that they had struggled to stand in my shadow for the first year when we all became famous.
Instead, I just thought about quitting.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Ohlavar Quest and my NPC friend Artus. Thoughts about Zarra, her offer, and what it would mean for my future enticed my imagination. I puzzled over the strange note warning me about the purple eyes. Granted, Jacob was probably still sick with his mental illness, but the writing made me think that Zarra was up to something diabolical, even if the woman hadn't given me any reason to think that way.
I also thought a bunch about my parents. It had been a year since I'd been able to have a real conversation with them. I missed them so much, but I had been terrified to visit them after the last episode when my mother had thought I wasn't her son and had tried to attack me. Could Zarra deliver on her treatment? Other than Jacob, the patients I had spoken to had seemed to have made a happy recovery from their illness. They spoke about seeing their families and had plans for the future. Would my parents be able to recover? The idea kept me awake at night, and my dreams had been filled with childhood memories of their love.
I also couldn’t stop thinking about President Arensto’s strange threat. Well, maybe it wasn’t a threat, but the more I thought about his words, the more I believed that the man would not be happy with me if I decided to work on a new game.
In some ways, I was looking forward to Sal’s island vacation. I needed to relax and lie on the beach for a week. In other ways, I wasn’t looking forward to the trip. Sal had some high-powered foreign dignitaries scheduled to ‘party’ with me every day while I was there. He said he was going to do a good job of making sure I still got some rest, but I didn’t know how I would be able to relax with a bunch of diplomats and their trophy wives buzzing in my ear all day.
More than anything else, I wanted to log back into Ohlavar Quest and find out what was happening to Artus.
“Alright, Champ! Just a quick drive to the airport, then we’ll be on the plane to the island!” Sal’s words jarred me out of my reverie as he sat on the leather seat next to me.
Garf, Jax, Chip, and Dale, slid into the limo after my manager. The four men were arguing about one of the latest Astafar Unlimited dungeons. Garf, Chip, and Dale were trying to convince Jax about a build they all preferred with the team makeup, but my Viking friend wouldn’t have any of it.
“It won’t have enough DPS, it is a bad idea.”
“It will be okay, it is safer because the second boss has that area of effect attack. If we use your build we’ll
all wipe at that part and--”
My cell phone buzzed in my pocket, and I fished it free of my jeans. I got random text messages, phone calls, and requests to connect from people all day long. I had wanted to get a new number, but I just hadn’t found the time since the championships, so I just ignored the phone. My friends’ conversation didn’t interest me, though, so I decided to check and see if any of the messages were more engaging.
-Champ. This is Ky. Sorry, I’m texting you. I got your number in the company database. It is about Artus. Can you text me back?-
The message made my breath catch, and the voices of my friends seemed to fade into the background noise of the limo’s movement across the road.
-Hey Ky, what’s going on?-
I messaged him back.
-So I kind of did something bad, and I could get fired, but I thought you would want to know. You can’t tell Ms. Zerne, okay?- He wrote.
-What’s up? Why would you get fired? For talking to me?-
-Well, that too. She’s worried that you won’t work with us. She doesn’t want anyone reaching out to you. It is about your fenia friend. I asked one of the patients to go to Cutno, which was kind of a big deal since she was eight hours of travel away.- He wrote quickly and then there was nothing for what felt like a few minutes.
I almost replied to him to make sure he was okay, but then another message popped up on my phone.
-They are still looking for you, but no one has heard anything or seen you since you killed the lord’s son on the street. They offered a reward, but of course you aren’t there to catch. They are going to execute Artus in four days when the sun sets. Sorry champ, I remembered you said you liked him.-
I closed my eyes and leaned back into the leather seat of the limo for half a minute. Then I looked at my phone and typed a message.
Lion's Quest: Undefeated: A LitRPG Saga Page 14