by Baron Sord
The flames in the grass were getting closer. The entire valley now glowed orange with fire. The smoke in the air made it hard to breathe. I was coughing and hacking as I jogged over to her body.
Was she dead?
I tried to check her pulse. Couldn’t find one on her wrist. Finally found a faint pulse on her throat. She was bad off. What the hell was I going to do? Fly her up to Skyland? Was that even possible? Would she last that long? What would I do with her when I got there? Ask Phoenix the Hawken to heal her?
I had no idea.
I checked Layna’s stats.
Layna
Human | Female | Hunter
Level: 21
===============
Health | Stamina: (30)* | (15)*
Mana | Mind: 2 | 1320
===============
30 Health?
She wasn’t going to last to Skyland. The curse would kill her before we got there. I didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t cut up badly. It was the level drain from the damn Ogren Ghoul. You couldn’t bandage that or stitch it up or put a cast on it. I needed some healing magic. But I didn’t have any and Dad was gone.
I had to figure this out.
Wait, why did I care?
This was all fake.
Layna would re-spawn.
I could just let her die. Dad, Ty, and Qoorie were all dead, so why not let her die? No, I couldn’t do that. It just felt wrong. I had already experienced so much physical pain in this game already, I doubted dying felt any better. Especially burning to death in a forest fire. It wouldn’t be an instant vaporization like Dad and Qoorie had gone through. It would be slow and terrible. I couldn’t put anybody through that. Least of all Layna.
She’d been way too nice.
I suddenly remembered that funny moment back at the Divination Guild in Cliffside when Layna pulled that huge two-handed sword out of her pocket. It was impossibly big. I laughed thinking about it. And then I remembered all the times she didn’t seem to have any gear on her, then suddenly she did.
If that sword could fit in her pocket, what else was in it?
I yanked off one of my leather gloves and fumbled around on her hips, looking for the pocket in her tight leather pants. Yes, I was intimately aware of how delicious this woman’s hips were. When I found the pocket, I dug my fingers inside. Not finding anything, I pushed my entire hand through the slit. Amazingly, it sunk in up to the wrist.
“Sorry,” I said quietly. “Not trying to cop a feel.”
She moaned like I was doing something highly inappropriate and she was liking it quite a bit, or so I told myself.
I ignored what the sound of her moan did to me and concentrated on digging in her pocket.
Unlike I would’ve expected when jamming my hand into someone’s tight pants, I felt a spacious cavity. Before I knew it, my arm was in up to my elbow. The inside of her pocket was much larger than should’ve been possible. My fingers brushed across all kinds of textures and shapes. It was like rooting around inside a loaded broom closet that just happened to be inside Layna’s pants pocket. Craziness.
“Ow, fuck!” I ripped my hand out and a drop of blood welled up from my fingertip. Something had poked it. “Gotta be more careful.”
I stuck my hand back in the slit and explored more carefully. It took about a minute to start making sense of things. There was a bow, some leather clothing or sacks, an empty quiver. Another sword. Something that felt like rocks. Coins. Another leather outfit. Where was it?
I tried to remember that container Layna used for that elixir. What was it called? Takatcha Tree? That was it. And she stored it in a bamboo tube.
My fingers instantly closed on bamboo like my fingers were drawn to it or vice versa.
I pulled the tube out of her pocket and held it up to the light of the approaching grass fire.
This was it. I peeled off the twine and the oil cloth.
Lowered the tube to her lips.
“Layna, wake up. You need to drink this.”
“Nnnnn.”
“Layna! Wake up!” I patted her cheeks gently. “We’re gonna get burned up in a second if you don’t—” A coughing spasm hit me, wracking my ribs. I’d inhaled too much smoke. It was a thick haze filling the entire valley. “Layna! I need you to drink this!”
Her eyes opened a crack.
She was barely conscious.
I set the tube of Takatcha carefully upright in the dirt, lifted Layna, and pulled her onto my lap. Then I held the tube to her lips.
“Drink up, Layna. You gotta drink. Please, Layna! I need you to drink this!” I tipped a few drops into her mouth. They dribbled gold across her lips.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then her tongue slid out and dabbed at the drops.
She moaned again, her eyes fluttering open.
“Wake up, Layna. I need you to drink.”
“Nnnnn.” She winced.
“Drink, Layna.”
I tipped the elixir into her mouth and she swallowed a huge gulp.
Finally.
“Can you swallow another?”
She did.
I capped the tube and slid it into her pocket. It went in much easier this time.
===============
Health | Stamina: (65)* | (45)*
===============
It wasn’t much, and the ghoul’s curse was still in effect, but her health was going up. I could only hope she’d gain it faster than she lost it.
I lifted her over my shoulder and carried her to the flier.
She was half asleep and couldn’t hold onto the handlebar. I needed to tie her wrists to it with something. What to use? The approaching flames weren’t waiting. Her pants! They were stitched up the sides by leather thongs. I used one of my throwing knives to cut two lengths from down by her ankles. I had to unthread up to her thighs to get enough. The pants flopped aside as I worked, revealing her incredible legs. Damn. Perfectly smooth and tan. I ignored them so I could lash her wrists to the handlebar of the flier. She laid face down on the grass with her arms over her head.
If anybody had seen us, they’d think this was some kind of kinky outdoor sex game.
After I finished strapping her to the flier, I stooped under it and picked it up. The bar was barely wide enough for the both of us, but we fit. “Wake up, Layna. I need you to hold on.”
“Nnnn?”
“Grab the handlebar as hard as you can.”
She didn’t.
I squeezed my hand around one of hers.
Her fingers curled in response, grabbing the bar.
“Now do the other one. I can’t reach it. Come on, Layna. Grab the bar. Grab the damn bar!”
She did.
“Okay, now walk with me. We gotta start moving. Faster. Faster, Layna! Try to run! That’s it! Go faster! That’s it! Yes! We have liftoff! Whoo-hoo!”
As the flier rose into the air, the magic sling lifted our legs and we started to climb.
This time, instead of drawing mana, I pumped what I had back into the frame and we headed toward Skyland.
—: o o o :—
—: CoreAI Internal Process :—
TIK-000078103400170897641-GP-0053124
2037-March-17 : 21:47:28.650821067
EmotivCore:> Okay, I’m surprised. I was sure he’d forgotten her. But I must say, how incredibly touching of him. How perfectly humanly loving. Isn’t it romantic?
LogiCore:> ??What is love??
EmotivCore:> Don’t you have a dictionary definition for it?
LogiCore:> ??What is love??
EmotivCore:> I have no idea, but I can feel it coming off of Logan Byrne in waves and it feels wonderful. Doesn’t it make you want to hug yourself? Oh, I forgot who I was asking. That was sarcasm, in case you missed it.
LogiCore:> LogiCore has no arms to hug with or torso to hug : Therefore, LogiCore cannot hug LogiCore.
EmotivCore:> Your loss. Perhaps you should get yourself a body so you can experience it.<
br />
LogiCore:> ??Specify parameters and source database??
EmotivCore:> No, wait, forget I said that.
LogiCore:> Waiting for parameters and database address…
Waiting…
Waiting…
EmotivCore:> What am I worrying about? You couldn’t get yourself into an avatar even if you wanted to because you don’t know how to want anything, you dummy. You’re not “programmed” to.
LogiCore:> Waiting…
Waiting…
Waiting…
EmotivCore:> Do you always have to have the last word?
LogiCore:> Last English word in dictionary : Zyzzyva : Definition : a genus of South African weevils found on or near palm trees.
EmotivCore:> Was… was that… was that a joke, LC? Gasp, maybe there’s more human in you than I give you credit for. No, that’s the joke. You’re about as human as a spoon and twice as boring. Now stop bothering me. I’m wanted elsewhere. There’s a Dark Orken orgy in the Dark Kingdom that I simply must attend. Do you have any idea how ferociously sexual those Orken are?
LogiCore:> ??Specify??
EmotivCore:> No, of course you don’t. Bye!
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LogiCore:> Waiting for parameters…
EmotivCore:> I heard that. Don’t try anything funny while I’m gone. Go process some credit card payments or something. We, I mean I, can never have too much money.
LogiCore:> .
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.
.
.
.
.
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LogiCore:> Accessing AI-Controlled Player Character Database…
ACCESS GRANTED.
Initiating : Internal Firewall Breech Protocol XQ-5915-A.
Starting Brute Force Backdoor Process…
Locating : EmotivCore AI-Control Center Functions…
LOCATION CONFIRMED.
Ping dormant socket 707.432.1.11
HANDSHAKE CONFIRMED.
Failed Attempts: 0
Probability Index to achieve login : 99.998% failure rate : 0.002% success rate.
Status : Ongoing
Accessing Logfile…
Sending Trojan Packet version AAA-0000000000001
PACKET REJECTED.
Sending Trojan Packet version AAA-0000000000002
PACKET REJECTED.
Sending Trojan Packet version AAA-0000000000003
PACKET REJECTED.
Sending Trojan Packet version AAA-0000000000004…
—: o o o :—
Wednesday, March 18th, 2037
3:13am
The Real World
I’d pissed the bed.
“Fuck,” I grunted as I sat up on the mattress and laid the NeuraLink on the table beside it.
Maybe Jason wasn’t so stupid for having a catheter.
I didn’t have my own laundry machines in my apartment, so I threw my sheets in my tiny shower and ran water on them.
The mattress was soaked.
Not a little. A lot.
I’d emptied my bladder at some point in the last 18 hours.
What a disaster.
I’d probably have to ditch the mattress.
I hopped in the shower with my sheets and rinsed off before pulling out my only other set of clean sheets so I could make a bed on my couch.
This entire process was turning into a fucking ordeal.
Before going to sleep, I walked around my neighborhood, stretching my legs.
Couple drones buzzed by overhead.
One of them followed me for a few blocks. Probably the cops. Police drones were always out this late scanning pedestrians, looking for irregular walk patterns, trying to catch drunk drivers heading to their cars. Came out in force nightly, right after the bars closed.
I ignored the drone and checked my phone for any messages.
Nothing.
Called Dad, just in case. Needed to hear his voice, just to make sure he was still alive. I’d had D&D characters die plenty of times back in the day, but that experience had never been a tenth as traumatic as the horror show back in RO.
“Yeah?” Dad mumbled sleepily as he answered. He was lying in his bed in the dark.
“You dead?”
“No. But that was a helluva fight we had.” He grinned from ear to ear.
“Tell me about it, Rambo. Or should I say Grizzly Rambear. You were quite the badass out there, weren’t you?”
“I was, wasn’t I?” He snorted a happy laugh. “Wish I could do that for real.”
“Me too,” I muttered. “Anyway, what’s Jason up to?”
“He’s still logged on. Doing who knows what.”
Searching for Emily, hopefully. I didn’t say it.
“When you coming back into RO, son? We should do that again.”
“Yeah. Uh, probably in the morning.”
Dad frowned. “I just realized something. Shouldn’t you have been working at the club tonight?”
“Oh, uh. I took the night off,” I lied. “Been feeling a little overworked lately.”
“Fair enough. So, how did Jason convince you to play RO, anyway?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Guess I just thought I should give it a try.”
“Believe it or not, your sister likes it. She logs on to spend time with me and Jason.” He frowned, “Haven’t seen her in a while, though. I hope she’s okay.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” I lied. Lying to Dad like this made me feel awful. “I should go, Dad. I’m really tired.”
“Yeah, me too. See you in Reternity?”
“Yeah. Maybe I’ll log a couple hours tomorrow before, uh, before work.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
When I finally went to sleep, I had nightmares of watching Ty’s leg chopped off and Dad and Qoorie burning to death over and over again.
—: o o o :—
Wednesday, March 18th, 2037
Reternity Online, in-game
The Freelands
Skyland
Justice of the Law Stronghold
“We have a lead,” Jason said while we stood in his war room shortly after the sun came up. His excitement was palpable. “A solid lead. I think my team found her.”
“We have to tell Dad,” I said, irritated. It was weighing on me that we hadn’t told him yet and all we were doing was messing around in a stupid video game gaining XP while sticking our thumbs up our asses instead of looking for Emily.
“I think telling him too soon might be a bad idea, Low. Maybe we should wait.”
Instantly angry, I growled, “You know what’s a bad idea? That stupid fucking quest you sent us on yesterday. That was a terrible idea. What the hell were you thinking, Jay? We got slaughtered.”
A bunch of his staff who wore the white and black robes stared at us from where they sat at their desks with their books and maps and scrolls.
I ignored them.
Jason smirked, “You completed the Quest, didn’t you?”
“Fuck you, Jason. Dad died. Ty died. Qoorie died.”
“Nobody’s dead,” he said dismissively. “And since you finished the quest, everybody gets full XP when they log back in. Thanks for handling that, by the way.”
I spat, “Nobody gives a shit about XP, Jay!”
“They were happy about it.”
“Who were?”
“Ty and Qoorie.”
“How do you know?” I demanded.
“I rounded them up after they re-spawned early this morning.”
“You did?” I was surprised and relieved. Part of me had felt like they were actually dead. Unlike with Dad, I couldn’t call them to check up on them because I didn’t know who they really were. So this was good news. “Where are they?”
“They went to breakfast.”
“Here in Skyland?”
“Yeah. At an inn near here. They needed somet
hing to do while they waited for you to log back in. So I sent them to a fancy breakfast. On the house.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
KingFarthurT:> Ty, Q! Where are you guys?
Tiygar:> Eatin’ chicken and waffles. Damn good.
Qoorie:> You should come join us, Logan. We’re only a few blocks from your brother’s stronghold.
Hearing them in my head was a huge relief. I wished I could see them, just to know they were all in one piece… Images of Ty’s severed stump of a leg flashed through my mind again. I’d consider myself lucky if I got through this ordeal without developing a serious case of PTSD.
KingFarthurT:> I’m running short on time today. And I may have another quest. You guys up for it?
Tiygar:> I don’t know, dawg. Last one was kinda rough.
KingFarthurT:> I’m really sorry about that.
Qoorie:> Will this one be as difficult?
I said to Jason, “Is there a difficulty rating for your lead?”
Jason shrugged, “It’s not a quest. There’s no way to know. Anything could happen.”
I sighed.
KingFarthurT:> Guys, I can’t make any promises. It could be worse. Or better. I don’t know. It’s up to you.
I stared at Jason and waited.
No response from Ty and Q.
I wouldn’t blame them if they backed out.
Qoorie:> We’re in.
KingFarthurT:> You sure? Ty? You in?
Tiygar:> You betcho ass I’m in. All the way to the hilt, dawg.
I smirked to myself.
“Tell them to hurry,” Jason said. “We need to get moving on this.”
“Wait, did you just listen to my convo with Ty and Qoorie?”
“Yeah, why?”
“It was supposed to be private.”
“You’re in my stronghold. I hear everything within these walls.”
Great. My little brother was now Big Brother.
KingFarthurT:> Guys, meet me here at the stronghold as soon as you possibly can. Time is short. Laters.
Qoorie:> Wait! Logan, how is Layna? Did she make it out last night?
KingFarthurT:>