Goddess Complete

by Michael Anderle

  Hector discussed the latest technologies and inventions in Tesla’s Space X program, and how he and the board were ensuring its continued innovation and success in the realms of space travel.

  Chloe felt herself growing warm as Henry and Henrietta detailed their ongoing battle with Oculus and their efforts to drive up its success and overtake Praxis Ltd. They spoke of their troubles and the surprise success that Praxis had had, appearing overnight and dominating the full-immersion VR market.

  Hilary, Harry, and Harvey all showcased similar successes in their fields, with Harvey discussing how his latest investment in the creation of laboratory-manufactured vegan meats would have him traveling across the world for the next few months.

  And then it was Chloe’s turn.

  Chloe froze in the spotlight, as she always did, feeling that familiar embarrassed warmth as she quailed in the shadows of her siblings. It wasn’t until her father nudged her that she remembered what she had been doing for the last few months.

  But I can’t say, Chloe’s eyes said with a desperate glance at her father for help.

  “It’s okay, Chloe,” Helen said. “It’s time.”

  Chloe looked at the rest of the table, all eyes fixed intensely on her. Her father reached for a remote, clicked a button, and a large logo appeared on the screen—Praxis Ltd.’s logo, followed by the artwork they had chosen to advertise their game.

  The next slide showed an image of Chloe dressed in KieraFreya’s armor, her sword high and magic pulsing from her hands. A counter in the corner showed the number of live viewers during Chloe’s battle at Hammersworth before she’d gone into the rift, as well as the amount she had made in profit from advertising and stocks.

  Henry and Henrietta gasped, shooting glances between Chloe and the screen.

  “What is this?” Hector scoffed. “Why are you showing us a silly children’s game?”

  “Oh, this is so much more than a game,” Hugo said. For the first time Chloe could remember, there was a note of pride in his voice. “This is your youngest sister’s latest investment for the company. Chloe, would you like to tell everyone what you’ve been up to?”

  Chloe slowly nodded and stood up. Even though she was now far removed from Obsidian and all it had to offer, she could still feel the traces of the bravery KieraFreya had instilled in her.

  She took a breath and told them everything.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Chloe was reeling by the time she got back to the doc’s apartment. Never before had she been showered in such adulation by her family. They had questioned her within an inch of her life, asking about the journey, the tech, the stocks, the customer base, everything they could think of until Chloe could physically not handle any more questions.

  When the meeting was over, Henry and Henrietta had cornered her, asking for a piece of Praxis’ action. Chloe told them she’d think about it, reveling in the eagerness of their tones.

  As she had walked back through the city, the sun had shone down on her and warmed her skin. She took her time, listening to the sounds of civilization and appreciating it all for the first time in her life. The revving of the car engines, the call of a businessman hailing a taxi, the chatter of the grocer and his customers, the coos of the pigeons on the lampposts.

  Not only that, the smell of it all. She’d almost forgotten what the city smelled like since her foray into the mystical land of Obsidian. It was as though she’d been plunged into an entirely new world and was just now discovering it for the first time.

  Her smile grew when she walked through the doors of Doc’s apartment and saw the note on the table next to a tall angled glass of Chloe’s favorite drink.

  It read, I thought you’d appreciate a nice, tall something after your meeting. See you tonight.

  Chloe sniffed the sweet red nectar of the cosmopolitan and sipped from the glass. The taste was cool and refreshing. The alcohol had a kick that gave her goosebumps.

  She strode over to the window and looked out over the city. The experiment had worked. Through Obsidian, she had found herself. She had found the confidence to lead. She had created a business both in-game and out of the game that had earned several of her siblings’ envy.

  Yet now, in the open quietness of the doc’s apartment, she had never felt more alone. She looked down in the streets and imagined the roads as running rivers. Imagined the buildings as mountains and cities. A woman riding her bike became an orc straddling a warg.

  She stared at her palms, the place where magic had lived and breathed and pulsed and saw nothing but her skin, with a small scar on her palm where she had fallen over and a shard of glass had made its way in.

  She caught her reflection in the mirror and stared at herself a long while, unable to believe what she was seeing. She looked confident and happier than she’d ever been before. She hadn’t realized her old life had been such a physical weight on her soul.

  But now, liberated and granted new confidence, her time in Obsidian seemed to have manifested in her actual appearance.

  I am Chloe, level 18 battle mage, leader of the KieraSlayers, the most-watched player in Obsidian…

  And the youngest of the rich and famous Lagarde family.

  Two worlds at war inside her. She took a breath and suddenly realized what she needed to do. It wasn’t enough now to live two separate lives. To hide one from the other and live in secrecy. If she was truly to adopt the kind of lifestyle she was considering, she would need to make some changes, and she would need the world to know.

  Chloe found her old cell phone in her bag of personal belongings and dialed the number.

  “Man, a lot can change in a few days,” Demetri said. He kicked back in his armchair and let out a large breath. “I’m telling you, life wasn’t exciting until you came back into it!”

  Mia blushed. It was night outside, the city illuminated by neon and fluorescent lights.

  “Hey, none of this would have been possible without me,” Chloe chided, picking up a Blueballs t-shirt from the pile on the counter and launching it at Demetri.

  “Hey!” He laughed. “You know what I mean. A few months ago, I was in a rut, going to the office, then home, then back to the office. No play, no fun, just work all day.”

  “You realize you were my psychologist, right?” Chloe smirked. “The guy meant to be in charge of my family’s welfare. I’m sorry to hear that I bored you.”

  “You’re determined to turn this into an argument, aren’t you?”

  “What can I say? I’ve missed you.”

  Mia finished mixing Chloe’s cosmopolitan. She carried the drink, along with a gin and tonic for herself and a whiskey for Demetri, to the living room, where they all sat around a glass coffee table. In the corner of the room, a large TV played the news on mute, chyron scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

  “You know you two bicker like siblings?” She placed the drinks down. “Almost makes me glad I never had any brothers and sisters of my own.”

  “Try having six.” Chloe theatrically rolled her eyes. “Nightmare, I tell you.”

  “Although I imagine it’s probably not so bad anymore.” Demetri looked over his glasses with a knowing smile on his face.

  Chloe pretended not to notice and took a large gulp of her cosmo.

  “You know the whole game will have changed, right?” Demetri continued to probe. “That was a ballsy move today. I have to say, I’m proud of you, kid.”

  Mia nodded. “You’re going to be all over headlines tomorrow, Chloe.” She held up her hands in the air as if declaring the news in spotlights. “Chloe Lagarde, the queen of Obsidian. Youngest of the Lagarde family boosts Lagarde Co’s stocks by 3000%.”

  Chloe giggled. “Slight exaggeration.”

  “How did it feel up there in front of all those cameras and journalists?” Demetri loosened his tie. “It must have been intimidating for you.”

  Chloe shrugged. “You know, after spending weeks battling Fukmos’ evil hordes and looking after an
entire city as Therese’s Chief Guardian, it actually wasn’t so bad. Before, I’d have hated public declarations, but now…I don’t know. I guess a lot has changed.”

  “Oh, here we go.” Mia reached for the remote as something on the TV caught her eye. She raised the volume, and they all watched the screen for a few moments.

  The news showed a small segment of Chloe standing behind a podium. On a board behind her was a selection of Obsidian logos. She spoke to the crowd, announcing her secret identity within the game and revealing the truth behind her time AWOL from the eyes of the public.

  Cameras flashed, and journalists scrambled to stretch their microphones forward and ask their desperate questions. Flanking Chloe were her mother and father, as well as the CEO of Praxis Ltd.

  “You look good on TV,” the doc said. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stick around a little while longer and give them some more fuel for their fires? You know how the press likes a good stink. Give it a week, and they will have shrunk you from hero to zero in some gossip article, thanks to some B-lister who claims to have slept with you.”

  Chloe and Mia laughed.

  “No, thanks. I’m pretty set on my way forward. It’s been great to be back, even for a little while, but…” Her voice trailed away as she felt a slight sadness settle in her stomach.

  “We know.” Demetri smiled.

  Mia placed a hand on Chloe’s. “We get it. I can’t say I blame you.”

  Praxis’ latest full-immersion pod was a thing of futuristic beauty.

  Unlike the crude black dragon egg that had been her previous home, this one had all the trimmings and design stylings of a pod from the future.

  Gold edging rimmed the lid and decorated the panels at the side. The majority of the body was painted a gleaming emerald. Along the door panel, written in gold cursive, was the legend The KieraSlayer.

  “Custom-made by the head office,” Mia told her. “A thank you from the company for all you’ve done for them. Without you, who knows where they’d be right now?”

  “Probably stuck in some junkie arcade downtown, immersing people for five minutes at a time, a dollar a ride,” Demetri quipped.

  Mia playfully slapped his arm. “Hey, it wouldn’t be that bad.”

  “It’s beautiful,” Chloe said, eyes brimming with tears. She felt that familiar flutter of excitement in her stomach, already wondering what was on the other side of reality. “And my requests?”

  “All granted.” Mia leaned closer and began pointing to certain elements of the capsule. “Built-in eject sequence to allow you to leave whenever you want, although medical advice now states no more than one week in the pod at a time. A full in-game communication headset that will allow us to talk directly to you should there be any more issues. Oh, and this is cool—a built-in wash sequence to save us from…well, y’know.”

  “Amazing,” Chloe breathed, the smile on her face so wide she couldn’t believe it. “And my special request?”

  Mia rolled her eyes. “I’ve adjusted the receptors so you can still get drunk, yes. You’ll feel all woozy after a good amount of mead.”

  “And the hangover?”

  “Gone.” Mia laughed. “Oh! And thanks to your work with the other players and the developments made for their full-immersion pods, our medical team has enhanced their liquids and IVs to keep the ejection sequence from being so disorienting. You should be right as rain as you step in and out of the worlds—”

  Mia felt the air pushed out of her as Chloe ran and hugged her tight. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me.”

  Mia felt her cheeks burn. She couldn’t think of anything else other than, “Don’t mention it. It’s not like you haven’t helped my career too.”

  Chloe grinned.

  “Oh! Which reminds me,” Mia said. “While we weren’t able to override the initial AI sequence with our secondary AI, we have managed to make a few modifications to the game.”

  “Oh?”

  “You’ll have to wait until you’re back inside.” Mia smirked. “I think you’ll like the surprise…”

  Chloe gave Mia a look, then crossed to Demetri, who waited with his arms wide. They embraced for a long moment, unable to find words to say to each other. When they broke apart, the doc held her shoulders.

  “You’ve done something amazing here, Chloe. Don’t forget that.”

  Chloe wiped a tear away. “I won’t.”

  “No, seriously,” Demetri said, face straightening. “I’ve been contacted by a publisher who wants me to do a case study of the positive effects of virtual gaming on welfare and long-term health.”

  Chloe laughed. “You got it.”

  Demetri smiled. “Now go.”

  Chloe nodded and climbed into the pod. The seat was much more comfortable than the previous one. Mia fiddled with the IVs and wiring, ensuring that Chloe was ready to go. All too soon, she heard the familiar hiss of the hydraulics closing the pod.

  Mia pressed her hand on the glass. “See you soon.”

  “You’re getting fingerprints on my brand-new pod!” Chloe said suddenly, causing Mia’s eyes to widen in alarm. Chloe burst out laughing. “I’m kidding. What do I care? I’ll be long gone from here.”

  Chloe closed her eyes, saw the Obsidian logo appear in the darkness, and felt the world fade.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  “It’s a mirrored river bass.”

  Tag folded his arms, planting his feet in the soft mud. “No, it’s a rainbow trout.”

  Ben rubbed a hand down his face. The fish lay dead on the shore, a perfect find for Ben’s first time using a fishing rod in the game. He had used his Creature Identification and seen the little label appear, proclaiming that he had indeed caught a Mirrored River Bass, but Tag was having none of it.

  “Look,” Tag continued, animatedly using his hands. “Me and my dad used to go fishing all the time. Altino Park. They have a lake there—a huge thing—in the shape of an old-fashioned key. I’ve caught hundreds of these in my life, and I know that they’re rainbow trout.”

  “I’m just telling you what’s on my screen.” Ben sighed. He grabbed the fish from the ground and held its slippery body in his hands. “Can’t argue with the game.”

  “Maybe the AI got confused and mixed up the fish and the names?” Veronica called to them from where she was warming her hands by the campfire. The rest of the KieraSlayers sat on logs around the flames. Blueballs was already snoring in a ball near Leonie.

  “So, I’m right,” Ben and Tag said at the same time.

  “Who cares?” Huk grumbled. “Just bring the damn things over and let’s get some food in our bellies.”

  “I bet it’s tasty,” Gan’gor said, eyes fixed on the fish. Over the last few days, he’d really come out of his shell and now sat beside Ben by the water’s edge. He licked his lips. “Yep…tasty, tasty, tasty.”

  Talbot performed some quick mental arithmetic. “I don’t mean to be the one to tell you, but one fish isn’t going to feed eight of us.”

  “Yeah.” Therese chuckled. “He’s not Jesus.”

  “Or am I?”

  “Nine,” Leonie corrected.

  “Blueballs is asleep,” Talbot said.

  “Oh, so he doesn’t deserve food when he wakes up?”

  “I can catch more fish,” Ben said. “I’m enjoying practicing the skill. Who knows, soon I may be able to catch a great white shark.”

  Gideon smirked. “In a river?”

  “Or maybe you’ll just call it a humpback whale.” Tag frowned. “I’m telling you, it’s a rainbow trout.”

  “It is not!”

  “Why am I not surprised that you two are still arguing?” Chloe called from the shadows at the edge of the campfire’s light. “I leave you for a week, and you can’t settle your differences and learn to get along?”

  Chloe beamed, looking elegant as ever in her Champion’s Armor. Beside her stood Bolt, his dark coat blending with the shadows, just his face and dark eyes b
etraying his presence.

  The party jumped up as one and sprinted over to Chloe, taking it in turns to hug her and welcome her back into the game. The only person to stay behind was Gideon, who watched with a fond smile from his seat at the campfire.

  “Welcome back!” Veronica beamed.

  Huk laughed. “We didn’t know how long you’d be gone.”

  Even Blueballs had woken up and now sprinted to Chloe, wrapping her in his powerful arms.

  “Guys, guys! Enough. Give me some room to breathe,” Chloe said fondly. “We’ve got all the time in the world to catch up, okay? Just give me a minute to readjust to all this and maybe eat some mirrored river bass.” She glanced at Tag, who had begun shaking.

  They sat around the campfire and regaled Chloe with tales of the time they’d spent without her. About their hunts across the plains for adventure, the people they’d met, and the dungeons they’d looted.

  “But you’ve got a lot to tell us, don’t you?” Ben grinned. “Miss Lagarde…”

  Chloe let out an audible gasp. She hadn’t expected the news to travel that fast.

  “How do you…”

  Ben nodded at Talbot. “Pipsqueak there logged out last night for a short while.”

  “I had to deal with my mother.” He held up his hand and mimed the chugging of a bottle. “Three hours of holding her hair back over the toilet. Nice. Anyway, before I logged back in, I checked Obsidian news, and you were all over it.”

  Tag laughed. “Who knew we were playing a game with royalty?”

  “I’m not royalty,” Chloe said, eyes cast down to the fire. “I’m just like the rest of you. Here we are equals, and that’s all I care about.”

  They spent some time quizzing Chloe about her life, wanting to dive deeper into her past and what it must be like to be under the spotlight in the big city. How it must’ve been to have grown up around siblings who were so successful.

  Chloe answered all their questions as honestly as she could, feeling an enormous weight lift off her as she told them everything. It felt good to be real in both worlds, to peel away the secrecy and the hiding and just be honest. Be the Chloe she knew she was meant to be.