by J D Astra
“Bruno, I am so sorry.” I hadn’t meant for him to die, I had intended to talk him down, to find a common ground. Maybe even to part as friends. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said to him, holding his hand which I had gripped without thinking. His hand was so much larger than mine, but his grasp was gentle.
“I...I know I didn’t do right. By either of you.” His words were slipping now. They were coming slower, his gasps were shallow. “I am sorry, friend.” The last words from the one person I had known my entire life were an apology, as he died. I sat there with him for some time before I was able to come to grips with what had happened. I had killed a man, I had killed my best friend.
Timeline - 3 days before Astraea, 00:21
I buried Bruno in the backyard under the dark of the night. I had cleaned up the floor of the dining room as best as I could, but I was still covered in blood. I hadn’t thought to take the time to clean myself up. I didn’t care, I was exhausted and needed rest. I looked at my watch, which was spattered with dried, flaking blood. I was almost out of time, I needed 72 hours inside VGO to be able to fully transition, and that time was almost up. I kneeled at the shared grave site of my most beloved wife, and my best friend. The shovel fell from my grasp and I sobbed deeply. I could no longer hold it back, and I didn’t even try to stop it. There was literally nothing left for me here. I had killed the only person I still cared about, I should have let Bruno take me back to Viktor. I was broken, I was shattered like a glass that was carelessly tossed away. Everything I had in this life was gone. The emotional trauma was almost too much, I would have rather been tortured by the Mafia. At least that pain would subside, either in my death, or when it was over. This pain, though? I expected it to last forever.
Timeline - 3 days before Astraea, 05:19
I don’t remember how long I laid there, but I remember waking to the rising sun on my skin, the cold of Russia’s morning greeting me with its teeth. I remember panicking, because now I had almost no time left. It would be a near thing, for sure. I brushed myself off, and rushed inside. My pain from the fight last night was screaming at me, everything was agony. My body was nearly in spasms from the effort.
The dew from the morning had made the blood on my hands and clothes fresh again. I left smears on the walls as I stumbled from room to room, heading to the basement. I placed my bloodied palm onto the biometric reader that unlocked the steel blast door I had installed. It beeped and slid open. I trudged in and fell to my knees before I reached the capsule. I dragged myself up the face of it, leaving a trail of blood on the pristine chrome. I punched in a series of numbers on the locking mechanism. There was a whoosh of air as the capsule unsealed. I heard the blast door behind me slam shut, and the three-step locking mechanism kick in. Everything was moving at a feverish pace as I pushed the door to the pod up, so I could get into it. I grabbed the assist handrail and pulled with everything I had. My muscles complained, my lungs burned and ached, and my head felt like it was on fire. I finally worked my way into the pod and watched the pod door close slowly, pressurizing.
“Goodbye, Ina. I will see you in the next life.” It was all I could say before the pod sealed, and the processes within the capsule initiated.
The pitch black surrounded me like a blanket, consuming the last glimpse I had of the light of my workshop, until a “loading...” notice came on-screen. I was being logged into Viridian Gate Online.
An intense realization swept over me, I was starting a new life. It had nearly cost me everything. No, it had cost me everything. But I was still alive, and that was something worth fighting for.
My last memory of Earth was pain in my chest, not from the fight the night before, but from never seeing my home, my wife, my friend, my house, ever again.
<<<>>>
Quest Alert: Continue Reading Vindication
Continue with Vlad to find out what happens next!
Quest Class: Rare, Class-Based
Quest Difficulty: Easy
Success: Read on to continue the adventure!
Reward: 15,000 EXP; Title: Experimental Engineer
Accept: Yes / No?
<<<>>>
Viridian Gate Online: Expanded Universe
Viridian Gate Online: Cataclysm (Book 1)
Viridian Gate Online: Crimson Alliance (Book 2)
Viridian Gate Online: The Jade Lord (Book 3)
Viridian Gate Online: Imperial Legion (Book 4)
Viridian Gate Online: The Lich Priest (Book 5)
Viridian Gate Online: Doom Forge (Book 6)
Viridian Gate Online: Side Quests (Anthology)
Viridian Gate Online: The Artificer (Imperial Initiative 1)
Viridian Gate Online: Nomad Soul (The Illusionist Book 1)
Viridian Gate Online: Dead Man’s Tide (The Illusionist Book 2)
Viridian Gate Online: Firebrand (The Firebrand Book 1)
Viridian Gate Online: Embers of Rebellion (The Firebrand Book 2)
Viridian Gate Online: Vindication (The Alchemic Weaponeer Book 1)
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Copyright
Viridian Gate Online: Embers of Rebellion (The Firebrand Series Book 2) is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by James A. Hunter and Shadow Alley Press, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email the publisher, subject line “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address below.
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About the Author
About me... I'm a baller. Keyboard crawler. 20 inch display, on my ink scrawler. Holler. Getting flayed tonight, all my characters getting splayed tonight! In my spare time I love to cook, hike, play video games, and spend quality time with my people. Three questions people never ask me are; how do I look at myself in the mirror, what's in the box, and what does it take to build a st
ory with likable characters in an interesting setting with important goals? The answer to the last is determination, dedication, and sacrifice. I've been working at being a writer since before I could string more than two sentences together, and it never gets easier, but it does get better. I'm surrounded by people who love and support me, which is the most amazing gift the universe could ever give. I will never give up, never surrender, and hopefully, keep on entertaining for the rest of my life.
Read more at J.D. Astra’s site.
About the Publisher
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Though our stories can be thought provoking at times, our primary goal is to entertain readers with wild stories and interesting characters you can’t walk away from. We want to whisk readers into a different world where the impossible is possible, where monsters lurk around every corner, but so do heroes, always ready to swoop in and fight back the dark.
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