The Virtual Realm

by Daniel Perusko

  It was to his great dismay then that he discovered she had a few male friends who she was still very close to. She had kept it hidden from him all this time, but now that they lived together, she couldn’t keep it obscured in a veil of secrecy any longer.

  One was even an ex-boyfriend that she talked to quite often. He had brought it up with her, voicing his disapproval. She had of course assured him that she had eyes for him and him alone. Why then, could he not let it go? He used society’s guidelines for relationships to show him the truth—asking questions on message boards and the like. The majority of the replies united into one single message. In their eyes, she had to be cheating. This only made his distrust in her grow more and more. The connection they shared began to weaken and sour until one day he presented an ultimatum to her.

  He told her that she would either rid herself of that ex-boyfriend of hers or the relationship that they shared would cease to be any longer. Kevlar had hoped this ultimatum would finally cause her to wake up, but instead it did the opposite. She lashed out in defense upon him, and promptly closed herself completely, enclosing herself in an impenetrable wall. This drove him absolutely insane, causing the vestiges of his sanity to unravel. Their connection was merely hanging by a thread at that point. That was the last time they would speak. Three days later, Karla had vanished without a word. The tether that held them together had finally been snapped in two. Kevlar had never felt so alone or miserable. He felt as though he had just been stabbed in the heart.

  Before he could wallow in his own self-pity anymore, he heard a beeping noise on the map screen which had been hovering in front of his face the entire time. He welcomed anything that would distract him from his thoughts. He had been waiting there for when his targets would inevitably surface. He had been sitting in this archipelago for two hours now. In the center of this small island resided a stairway which led underground. His quarry had to come here eventually. After all, beneath that stairway a bustling hub of activity lay dormant, buried deep down in the watery depths.

  Directly below him lay the capital city of Necrobia, home of the Pollusks. The beeping increased in frequency, until he noticed a disturbance in the waves. Three humanoid forms emerged from the deep, making their way onto the shore.

  These creatures held a very distinct look. The colors they chose to adorn themselves with differed wildly. One was clad in gray, while the other two were covered in red and blue, respectively. The color intensity varied on each creature, being at its lightest in the front, and the darkest on the backs of these fishmen. Yes, they were fishmen, or sharkmen to be more precise. Unlike the Harians, their teeth jutted into sharp and deadly fangs. Protruding from their bodies were several spikes that looked exactly like shark fins: the outside of their legs and arms, their back, and even the top of their heads had a shark fin attached. Aside from the pupils and bipedal nature, these creatures didn’t resemble Harians in the slightest. They were more like walking sharks. Any one of these sharp protrusions could kill a man.

  Kevlar had been sitting on a log not even twenty feet from the shore, lying in wait for these dwellers of the deep.

  Each one of them looked as if they had just seen a U.F.O. when they spotted his form.

  “What is this? I’ve never seen a Pollusk who looks like that before.” The gray one was scratching his head.

  “I don’t think he’s one of us,” the blue one chimed in.

  “That’s rright. He’s a land dwellerrr,” the red one informed his comrades as their eyes shot open in surprise.

  “A land dwellerrr? Out herre? What rreason could he possibly have forrr venturring to this land?”

  “I’ve come for the Elemental Stone of Water.” Kevlar spoke fearlessly, even knowing what this would mean to them.

  The sharkmens’ postures immediately switched from curious to hostile upon hearing his greedy demand.

  “Is this how all peach skinned land dwellerrrs behave? This elemental stone belongs to Necrrobia. Get yourrr own!” the red one seethed in rage.

  “We will procure all the elemental stones, with or without your permission,” Kevlar informed them. “You have two choices. You either give me the stone and run, or you fight and die and I get the stone anyways, the choice is up to you,” he declared boldly.

  The three sharkmen shared a fit of laughter that was struck by their disbelief.

  “You land dwellerrrs cerrtainly have some nerrrve. Coming into ourrr home saying things like that. Did you rreally think we would just hand you the elemental stone? Land dwellerrs cerrtainly arrre stupid! Send this fool to the depths of the deep sea!” the red one commanded as they readied themselves for the kill.

  Kevlar took out his great white blade, intending to make fish fillets out of these opponents. He couldn’t help but sigh though. Why did they always have to make things difficult?

  “I really didn’t want to have to kill you all, you know. But you leave me no choice.”

  “Enough talk land dwellerrr, accept yourrr fate.”

  The red one lunged forward, with a blue blade gripped in each hand, ready to slice Kevlar into bits. Kevlar did a swift sidestep, evading the creature’s lethal blow. Before the red sharkman could recover from the shock, Kevlar plunged the large sharktooth in his hand into the shark in front of him, causing blue blood to ooze all over the blade as his two comrades cried out in horror.

  “Bahn!” the gray one yelled as his body became a shaking avatar of fury.

  Normally he was a friendly, easygoing guy, but right now he wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into this peachskin’s flesh. He could not be allowed to live. An ear piercing growl of rage boomed as the gray one also charged forward with his fists flying, only to be swiftly dispatched in a matter of two slices, falling to the ground to join his dying red friend.

  The only one left was the blue one, who was also shaking uncontrollably like his gray friend was moments earlier. The only difference was he shook in pure terror. He couldn’t move a single muscle beneath that sharkskin of his. He was cowering in fear before a wimpy looking peachskin.

  Kevlar walked up to the beast, socking him in the stomach with such force that a mixture of spit and blood splattered out of his mouth. He heaved desperately as he forced his head up to look at the murderer looming over him.

  “Which one of you has the stone?” Kevlar asked. “Is it you? Or one of your friends?”

  The blue sharkman was stricken speechless with fear. A violent punch across his face sent him plummeting into the sand, his mouth getting a taste of the gritty substance.

  “Whatever, I’ll get the stone one way or the other.”

  “Don’t tell him anything,” the red one ordered his blue friend from his deathbed.

  “You’re a dead man, stop talking,” Kevlar scoffed.

  “I’ll see you in hell, peachskin!” the red sharkman snarled before dissipating into several particles of light as his body ceased to be.

  Upon the red one’s death, Kevlar’s inventory became filled with all of the creature’s items. Among his key items he noticed the object he was after—that tear shaped sapphire. The elemental stone was now his.

  He looked at the only remaining sharkman with grim seriousness.

  “If you want to live, tell your leaders what happened here today. Tell them that the Elemental Stone of Water belongs to the Harians now. But it won’t end here. Every stone will soon be ours. Everything belongs to Bermia.”

  “Oh God, what have you done to my friends? Why arrre you doing this, land dwellerrr? We had no quarrrel with you. Why?” the blue one asked desperately as tears of anguish stung his face.

  “In order for the Harians to be free of this prison, we must procure all of the stones. It’s nothing personal.”

  “But why? All of the rrraces could’ve worked togetherrr!”

  “That would take too long. Besides, I have my own reasons beyond that for doing this.”

  “What rrreasons?”

  Kevlar merely stared at the brok
en beast that was practically groveling at his feet. He felt terrible about what he had done; more innocent lives to add to the funeral pyre. Undoubtedly, he had crossed over into dark territory some time ago. But it was all necessary. Kevlar would traverse through hell and back to achieve his goal. Now, he was one step closer. Soon he would be reunited with his lost love—very soon.

  “Remember what I said, sharkman. Tell your leaders about what happened today. Then there will be meaning in keeping you alive,”

  Kevlar declared as he stepped into the darkness he had summoned, leaving the archipelago behind.

  With those final words, Kevlar left the sharkman alone to suffer in solitude. He left him to deal with a level of misery which was now on par with his own: a misery that reeked of déjà vu. Almost three months ago, he had left a fellow Harian in a world of endless agony as he killed his friends in front of him, only leaving him alive. Now he had done the same thing again to a Pollusk.

  When would he finally be able to be happy? How many others did he have to make suffer in order to achieve his objective?

  ~~~~~

  Dusk found himself in the stretch of infinite light for the second time. He had visited this place once before, in the dream world. The memories of his last stay here were fuzzy, too distant for him to grab on to. The only recollection that was clear to him was five words.

  It is not yet time.

  Those words had come from a voiceless existence, speaking in riddles and mysteries. Dusk, remembering his former visitor, called out to the endless nothingness, seeking an answer.

  “Is anyone here? Where is this place?”

  His words traveled through the luminescence, becoming lost completely within the endless brilliance. The query was met with a tranquil silence, until a few minutes later when a soundless response came back.

  This is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Time does not exist here.

  The being that made no noise let silence pervade the air momentarily before continuing.

  It is not yet time for you to become one with the timelessness.

  It took Dusk a moment to recall just what the meaning was behind those cryptic words, but then the answer came back to him.

  “Why do you say it is not yet time?”

  You haven’t accepted yourself. You deny who you are.

  “Are you talking about Drexel? You want me to accept a genocidal maniac as a part of myself? You’re right, I can’t accept that.”

  If you cannot accept yourself, past and present, then you cannot hope to help a single person. If you cannot accept yourself, humanity will face extinction.

  “What the hell does me accepting myself have to do with humanity facing extinction?”

  The question went unanswered, thrown into the wind. The world of light crumbled instantly as Dusk opened his eyes.

  “No matter what you say, I’m not going to be okay with what I did,” Dusk whispered to himself in despondence.

  “About damn time you woke up.”

  Dusk turned his head, instantly locking eyes on the source of those words which carried an air of berating about them. It was the member of Phoenix he least expected to see in the room alone with him. There was Scarlet, the soldier who had hair of fire, with a personality to match it. She was sitting on the sofa, staring him down as if he were a target. She was enjoying a cigarette that was placed firmly in her mouth. She removed the cig moments later, blowing the cloud of decaying air straight at Dusk, stifling his breathing. He never did understand the allure of cigarettes and nicotine.

  “What are you doing here, Scarlet?”

  “I was talking to Karla earlier, she had to step out. She’s been sitting next to you as if she was attached at the hip, living in this room like it was her damn jail cell.”

  “All this time? How long was I out for?”

  “A week... you’re a real sleeping beauty, except without the beauty part.”

  Dusk chuckled softly at the joke, though he was astonished he had been asleep for a full week. His mouth perked into a heartfelt smile. The fact that Tsuki cared about him that much caused his inner realm to glow as if the sun was shining inside him.

  This other woman in the room, however, was a different story. Even months later, Dusk felt no more comfortable around Scarlet than he did on the first day. He got the impression that she had finally accepted him as an ally, but that was as far as their relations went. Aside from that, it felt like there was an ocean separating the two from one another. He figured that was the way she wanted it.

  “If it weren’t for Jed and Karla, I might have killed you already.” Her eyes, which had become ice cold, certainly conveyed the message that she was easily capable of what she said.

  What the hell? Scarlet may have said some irritating things to me, but she’s never spoken of killing me before. She’s kidding, right?

  Dusk had to get to the bottom of this right now.

  “Is that a joke, Scarlet? Because it’s not funny.”

  “No, I’m completely serious.”

  “Why would you say something like that?”

  “Do you even remember what happened?” Scarlet’s voice had taken on a tone that Dusk had never heard. Her voice was softer than usual, but it packed an intense gravity behind it.

  Fragments of memories began to reattach, as if time itself had rewound on a broken mirror, the pieces of shattered glass reuniting into a whole. He remembered everything. Almost everything: Raven being Noah, himself being Drexel, Tsuki being Kaya in the distant past... the Zaxin Empire. The Great Freezing. Drexel’s genocidal rampage. The only memory that evaded him was how he blacked out in the first place. Scarlet answered the question he had been wondering to himself, as if she had tapped into his mind directly.

  “The Eon Blade was in the last room. You walked right at it as if the damn thing was pulling you in. None of us could stop you from grabbing the blade. It repelled you though. That’s how you blacked out and ended up here.”

  “The Eon Blade...” Dusk repeated as if chanting a curse. As far as he was concerned, the Eon Blade was indeed a curse. A jolt of realization surged through him. He felt as if he was now seeing into Scarlet’s thoughts.

  “Hey, Scarlet. When Drexel slaughtered all those people, you know I wouldn’t do that, right?” Dusk leaned forward, as if that would help him convey his desperation and sincerity to her.

  “I don’t think you’d do it willfully. Drexel was sane at the start, until the Eon Blade drove him batshit.”

  “I won’t touch the Eon Blade, ever!”

  “You don’t get to choose whether you touch the Eon Blade or not! When we entered that room, it was like it was calling out to you. You were under the complete control of that damned sword. The Eon Blade chooses who it wants, not the other way around. Do you understand now? If that blade possesses you again, and you join Raven, we might not be able to stop both of you. Do you understand how many people will die if that happens?”

  Those words stung like a thousand hornets.

  How will I deal with the people around me now that they see me as a living weapon that could go on a bloody rampage at any time? What must Karla think of me? How could I have done such a thing back then? It sickens me to the core. What if Scarlet’s right? How can I even refute what she said after what they saw? I would have to prove I won’t do such a thing again, but I don’t want to be anywhere close to the Eon Blade. Even so, it sounds like that doesn’t even matter in the end if it wants to claim me.

  His words had filled with weakness; Scarlet had pushed his words down into a low timbre.

  “You said if not for Jed and Karla you would’ve killed me. What did you mean?”

  “Jed said it would be wrong to kill you when you haven’t done anything wrong yet. And Karla defended you to the end. She swore you wouldn’t do anything like that again. For some reason she has faith in you. I didn’t understand months ago, and I still don’t understand now why she’s willing to go so far for your ass.”

  �
��She killed me back then.”

  “I don’t blame her.”

  For Scarlet, Jed and Karla were the most important people in the world to her. Jed was a constant source of strength which she drew from, augmenting him with her own strength in return. He was like no one else she had met or would ever meet again in her life. He was someone who she never wanted to be without, even though the circumstances that surrounded them sometimes called for it. Even so, she always thought of him.

  As for Karla, Scarlet saw her as a sister, a fellow soldier. Being a soldier herself, she mostly hung around men. She had distaste for most women, not liking the way they brought drama with them, like it was their own personal pet.

  Not to mention they couldn’t understand her, having never been on a battlefield. Karla was different. There was no bullshit with her. Even though Scarlet had mostly men in her life, she welcomed the company of another female that was surfing her wavelength. Despite how tough she was there were things that Scarlet wanted to talk about that only another woman could truly understand. On top of that, Karla knew several people who were in the military, so she understood her lifestyle and her past on some level. After a few conversations, their hearts resonated with one another as if they were kindred spirits.

  Scarlet would take a bullet for either of them in a heartbeat. Dusk on the other hand, reminded her of all the women she had tried to avoid in her life. In her eyes, he was weak and had a flare for the dramatic. Even after what she saw a week ago, she still found it hard to believe the Eon Blade had chosen him. If she was the one wielding it, that genocide never would have happened. To her, Drexel and Dusk both succumbed to the blade because they were fragile beings.

  Not wanting to be in the company of this walking nuke any longer, Scarlet rose up from the plush gray recliner, preparing to leave Dusk alone with his thoughts.

  “Wait!” Dusk called out to her.

  “What?” Scarlet responded, her irritation taking over. She didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

  “I have a question I need to ask you.”

  “Spit it out.”

  “How do you get over killing people?”