End Online: Volume 3

by D Wolfin

  “I understand. There is no point debating this further. Let us spread out the net and find this boy!”

  Almost like a declaration of war, we all stand up and start to head off.

  “Umm, Lost?” Verde speaks quietly into my ear when she is near me. “Is it possible to have a few words later. After all of this… There is just something I want to talk to you about.”

  She whispers it quietly enough that nobody else near me should hear, even Fen who is standing on my other side.

  “Ok?” My heartbeat is certainly accelerated and I feel nervous, but I don’t know exactly what it is she wants to talk with me in private about.

  Verde almost skips away to catch up with the prince and start looking in their designated area.

  Meanwhile, I take Fen and head towards the second floor.

  There are a few rope ladders that head up to the second story of Grenton, but what I want is one of the ramps that climb up.

  About five minutes of searching, I finally find one hiding in between two buildings.

  The light brown wooden path up is wide enough for four people to walk abreast. The railing of the ramp is made of the same dark wood as the buildings of Grenton.

  Once Fen and I reach the second floor, we both stop. I know at least I’m dumbstruck. The entire area is completely upper class from the ground floor. Each and every building is immensely larger than the ones below.

  Even the wood itself seems to be intricately carved, seamlessly flowing from one piece to the next. This area must definitely be where the upper echelon reside.

  I spot a few guild buildings here. Each and every one of them must have invested a fortune to have their base here.

  With me leading the way, Fen and I start exploring the area in a search for the mysterious boy. I walk past a few high level players and some people that could either be players dressed in fancy clothes or NPC aristocrats. I would not be surprised to find them here.

  ‘Now that I think about it, didn’t Icebreak have a castle? The place where the king of the country resides. Shouldn’t Grenton have something similar?’

  I look across the city and the other platforms only to have something catch my interest. It is not the sight of the stunning city, with its patches of greenery showing through. instead, the sight of one of the few third tier platforms on one of the many enormous tree trunks stretching up into the sky.

  It is around the world tree in the center of the city, the biggest tree of them all. On the third story is an enormous palace of wood and stone seven stories tall. The structure was built directly onto the world tree, stretching around and behind it.

  ‘Of course I never noticed it before. When I arrived here, the building would have been behind the world tree. Now that I have moved around a bit, I can see it!’

  Bringing my attention back to the platform I am currently on, I realize this is not going to be an easy task. I have about forty platforms throughout the city that I need to search, and the other teams each have an enormous area of approximately three square miles.

  “Unfortunately,” I look down at Fen next to me, “you don’t know what this boy looks like. So you just look for any suspicious children.”

  She nods to me as we head off in a manhunt for one person in a population of a hundred thousand players and NPCs.

  As I finish searching my third platform, I see a familiar face looking back at me. The person immediately runs up to me upon recognizing me. Not that I would be hard to miss with the large white fur hood that I wear.

  “Lost! Funny running into you here! What are you doing here? I still see you have that lady with you, are you two dating?” The man gives me a sly wink.

  “Haha, no, we are not, Mouse. But I could ask you the same thing. Should you not be minding your stall? It is still day after all.”

  “I need a day off sometimes too you know.” He shrugs his shoulders, “I am level one hundred and fifty, remember? I didn’t get to it by standing around at my stall all the time.”

  “True enough. Are you just out to explore the city then?”

  “Something like that.” Mouse puts on a smile that I couldn’t label as anything other than sly.

  ‘Well, he is a businessman after all. Being sly would only be natural.’

  “Say, Lost. You are doing a quest right now, am I right?”

  “That I am. Speaking of which, I should possibly get back to.”

  “May I join you?”

  “Wait, what? Why do you ask that?”

  “Just being a merchant is somewhat boring. I do get to go out and procure goods to make half of my goods that I sell, but I still miss out on all the adventure. I thought if I join you, then maybe I would get to have that for a bit.”

  “Mmm… Unfortunately, I don’t think this quest is exactly what you want though. We are basically searching all of Grenton in hopes of finding this one particular child. It doesn’t have much in regards to adventure.”

  “I’m sure there is some there. I would have fun being a part of it regardless.”

  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this guy seems rather earnest to join me.

  “Well, look up ‘The Mysterious Boy’ on the End Forums. There is a post under that name with an image of the boy I am looking for.”

  “That sounds great. Add me to your contact list so I can contact you if I happen to find him.”

  With that our conversation comes to an end, and I gain one more person in my friends list. I only worry a little bit about how I would split the reward. If there is a reward, that is.

  For two full hours, I searched. Not only did I not find any children that even remotely looked like the boy in question, but I noticed there is a surprising lack of kids in Grenton. There are still kids, but they only number about one in every hundred people.

  Throughout my search, I covered seven platforms, and neither of the other teams covered even a quarter of their areas as well. As soon as the sun started to fall below the horizon, we all decided to meet back at the inn.

  “This is going to take far too long!” Prince Charming complains to everyone. “There is no way we are going to be able to do this. By tomorrow the boy could be in an area we have already searched!”

  “I hate to admit it, but he is right. Even if we split into six I’m not entirely sure we would be able to cover the entire area. He could also be spending the time in a residence as well.” Mason frowns while Matrix nods his head next to him.

  “I understand.” A long sigh escapes me. “But there has to be some method to finish this quest. Is it simply reliant on luck?”

  “I’m sorry. If only I wasn’t caught back then. That way we would know where the boy would be at any morning.” Verde hangs her head.

  “It’s not your fault my lady. That innkeeper is simply being unreasonable.”

  A short pause comes over our group, no one knowing what to say next. The first person to speak up, strangely, was the quietest of the group, Matrix.

  “Umm. I kind of thought it was the obvious answer… But, umm, could he perhaps live outside the city walls? I mean, could he live in that forest where he would meet the i-innkeeper’s daughter?”

  “Sorry, brother, but there are no NPCs that live anywhere near the city that are not already in it. There are a few small communities around, but none close enough that a small boy would be able to walk here alone.” Mason instantly rejects it.

  “Could they, umm, perhaps just be a group of bandits or something living in the forest… Like, Robin Hood or something?”

  Matrix has a childish gleam in his eyes, clearly infatuated with the fictional character. But his idea does give me a thought.

  “You could actually be onto something Matrix! There are people that usually tend to live outside city walls. Like various hunters, farmers, or even just recluses.”

  “I suppose that could be it, if you put it that way.” Mason gives in to the new thought.

  “After all,” I continue on, “they were meeting outside of t
he city. It could be that for some reason he can’t come inside.”

  “Why not just ask the girl. She would surely know something,” the prince interjects, bringing up the most obvious point. Except he isn’t the only one who thought of it.

  “I have already tried that.” Mason seems to recount the incident, “Rix, her father, would have nothing to do with it. He even started screaming at me in front of everyone in the inn. I was utterly humiliated.”

  “We can look in the forest tomorrow then. There is no point going out after dark. Is there anything about the location we don’t know?” I look at Mason as I ask the question, directing it at the leader of the two residents of Grenton.

  “Not much,” he replies. “I do know it is not only full of low level monsters but also incredibly easy to get lost in, to the point where everyone ends up coming out of the forest right where they started. But before you think it, it isn’t an illusion spell or anything of the kind. There have been plenty of people who have tried various dispels and ‘clearsight potions’ with similar thoughts. But there is apparently no magic at work in that forest.”

  “Well, we will head off tomorrow. I will sleep in game at the inn. It is up to all of you what you want to do, but shall we meet here again in three hours?”

  Everyone nods and we slowly disband. Only Verde remains at the end as she approaches me quietly.

  “Mm, Lost. Do you have a minute?”

  “Oh I’m sorry, I forgot! Yes! What can I do for you?”

  “I wanted to know what you were doing next weekend? If you were interested. Did you want to meet up in real life!?” She is a bit frantic towards the end, almost fumbling her words.

  I am shocked at her question, yet somewhat sad that there is no way I could possibly go see her. Especially not with my legs the way they are. Nobody in the game knows my situation in real life, and I plan to keep it that way, for now at least.

  “I am sorry,” my words come out softer than a whisper. “But I can’t.”

  “Haha, it’s okay. It’s okay. I don’t know how I was going to get out of my house unseen anyway. For now, I will be logging off till morning so I will see you then.”

  She waved me off as she leaves the inn. I didn’t even have a chance to say anything back to her before she was gone. Well, tomorrow I will apologize and tell her that there are some circumstances that prevent me from meeting up outside virtual reality. Surely, I can tell her the truth some day. But that day is not today.

  Now that everyone has gone, I walk over to the innkeeper and ask for a room.

  “Evening lad. Will that be just for you?” Rix asks me.

  “No, it is for me and my co-“

  I break off mid sentence as I realize Fen is no longer next to me. It is strange because she usually never leaves my side.

  “Just give me a room with two beds, please.”

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

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

  -????-

  I meet with the shadowy figure behind an unidentifiable house as we had earlier arranged.

  “So, what do you have to report? Surely you must have something. You have been following the man for god knows how long.”

  “Sorry, guild leader. Up until he arrived here in Grenton, he had completely disappeared off the map. Every time I thought I was getting close, he would all of a sudden appear somewhere else.”

  “Go on. It sounds like there’s more.”

  “Indeed, there is. I found him here in Grenton once he arrived. He currently has five other party members, two locals, two from Glace, and one unidentified. He is also carrying out a quest that involves him trying to locate some child. I heard there is apparently a picture under the name ‘The Mysterious Boy’ on the End Forums.”

  “Interesting! Very interesting!” The guild leader bellows with a cruel laughter.

  “Excuse me. Was there anything else you needed, Chronix?” the first shadow said to the second.

  “No, nothing at all! I am going to make that man pay for humiliating me so!”

  With the conversation over and Chronix now gone, I stealthily leave the alley and return straight to my bed at the Barker Inn.

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

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

  -Verde-

  It took a lot of courage to finally ask Lost to meet up in real life. My heart was pounding in my chest at every moment. Although I honestly had no clue how I was going to get around my father and out of the house to meet him. But it was the only method I could think of to get a little closer to him without that meddling wolf girl interfering.

  Then he said he couldn’t. The moment that seemed to drag on forever suddenly became rocks crushing my chest.

  The emotional control I have always been so fond over started to become undone. I only invited him to meet in real life, but it had meant slightly more than that to me. I really like him, and I wanted him to know.

  I hastily leave the inn and enter the cool night air. Paper lanterns illuminate the entire surroundings in a pretty array of golden yellow hues.

  There are quite a lot of players strolling along the main streets, a few breaking off into the smaller paths as they travel towards inns, or even their personal house if they are wealthy enough.

  I walk down the road outside of the inn and into a few side streets as well. I pass a few stalls selling fried food and a couple of other delicious night time snacks, but food is the last thing on my mind at the moment.

  I can’t possibly give up on the guy after he said no to meeting up one time. I simply have no idea on what to do next.

  I feel a shiver run up my spine and glance over my shoulder. A short “Yeep!” comes from me as I get frightened by the person standing barely three feet behind me.

  They are standing there in a red halter dress, the frills on the dress swaying in the night wind around the long slender legs extending from it. The girl wearing the dress has snow white hair and crystal blue eyes that give off an incredibly intimidating aura.

  “Fen!” I gasp, “Why are you-“

  Before I can finish what I am saying the girl suddenly appears in front of me, her eyes almost glowing.

  “I told you… again and… again… Stay away.”

  “Y-you are completely unreasonable! I like him you know! How could I possibly stay away?!”

  This girl, as frightening as she can be is once again threatening me. Although after having my hopes crushed by Lost, her intimidation is slightly less effective.

  My words seem to cause her to be taken aback, shock showing in her eyes. She raises one of her hands in a motion that seems slow but is actually incredibly fast, grasping the top on my head.

  “You have… no… right.” Each word Fen spoke seemed to carry an enormous weight behind it. I only had a moment to think before a splitting pain ran between my ears, burning everything it touched.

  WARNING!

  Device functionality has breached operational standards.

  Safety procedure is currently non responsive.

  Emergency release is currently non responsive.

  Emergency shutdown of all device hardware commencing...Failed

  The wolf girl disappears from my sight as a warning message appears in front of me. It runs through a long list of commands. It comes so quickly that I barely have any time to read what it says.

  My knees wobble and give out, causing me to collapse onto the hard packed dirt. I can feel a few tufts of grass pressing against my ear as reality around me appears to distort, crack, and then shatter.

  Everything finally goes black and I feel like I am swimming in oblivion. There is absolutely nothing around me, yet this nothingness feels like it is made of mud. I struggle to move my arms and legs, only to feel my consciousness fading with my strength.

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

  I open my eyes and feel that there is some
thing strange on my head, something like a jet helmet with a large clear visor covering my face at the front. Raising my head, I grab it with two hands and yank it off. Holding it in front of me, I don’t recognize what it is at all.

  In my hands is a helmet made out of some kind of pink synthetic material. It appears to be a fairly advanced piece of technology but as to what its function is, I do not know. Placing it on the the bed, I pay more attention to my surroundings.

  The room is finely decorated, from the royal purple curtains draped over half the windows to the sparse. but expensive mahogany furniture. There is only a single desk, with a computer, a wardrobe, a few upright chests of draws but nothing out of the ordinary.

  I can’t spot anything that would strike me as odd, but I still back up into the corner of the bed with my knees tightly pulled against my chest. I feel my bottom lips trembling as the words come out of my mouth almost unintentionally.

  “W-w-where am I?!”

  Chapter 17 – Eldenweiss

  -Lost-

  I pay for Fen’s and my room upstairs, ensuring with the innkeeper that the room is indeed two separate beds and not one double bed. Waiting in the lobby afterwards, I am considerably confused by Fen’s absence.

  ‘She is normally always around me, so where did she go?’

  About ten minutes later, the wolf girl in question enters through the front doors. Walking straight towards me, it is as if she already knew where I was before entering the room.

  “Where did you go?” I ask as she arrives in front of me.

  “Outside…” She answers in her usual tone with a small smile on her face.

  “Why?”

  “No… reason.”

  I try not to press any further. It isn’t like she can’t go outside or anywhere without me. Contrary to that, I feel somewhat more at peace when she isn’t around. Almost like something that has been constricting my chest suddenly loosens its grip.

  It simply feels rather odd right now her disappearing. Even if the smile on her face doesn’t falter or shows any signs of deceit. Something inside of me feels uncomfortable when I wonder about where she went.

  “Well, it is night time now so let’s head upstairs to our room.”