by Alex Mulder
“Please come with us,” said another Arbiter. He suddenly grabbed the knight from behind. The knight swung his blades desperately through the air.
“No! I’m not all in, I swear!”
A murmur went through the crowd as the Arbiters took him into custody. Nobody moved to help.
“I can’t let this happen,” whispered Luke. He grasped his sword hilt, and immediately felt Tess’s hand come down on top of his to keep him from pulling it out.
“Luke, you can’t,” she whispered. “You’ll be killed.”
She stared into his eyes, and Luke gritted his teeth.
I don’t care about what they’ll do to me, but Tess…
“Please, somebody, help!” The knight was a low level player, too low level to do more than struggle weakly against the Arbiters. “They’re going to kill me! Somebody, please-”
The Arbiters stepped onto the rune circle with him, and a flash of blue light instantly transferred them to Kantor. Luke took a deep, angry breath.
“This is why we’re doing what we’re doing, Luke,” whispered Tess. “We’ll put a stop to this. But we have to follow the plan.”
“I know.” Luke squeezed her hand. “Come on, let’s get back to Dunidan’s Rest.”
CHAPTER 11
Everyone was waiting for them back in Dunidan’s Rest. Silverstrike stood next to Kaoru, and Katrina opened the gate for them.
“Looking good, Kato!” called Silverstrike. “About time you got an armor upgrade.”
Luke nodded. It was hard for him to forget about the last time he’d seen Ben, in the outside world.
He’s like a different person in-game. There’s Ben, and then there’s Silverstrike.
“Everything is all set,” said Kaoru. “Silverstrike is going to begin guild negotiations immediately.”
Luke nodded and made his way over to where the two of them stood.
“You never mentioned what you’re part in all of this is going to be,” said Luke. “Other than planning and organizing.”
Kaoru smiled.
“Now that I have another set of Arbiter armor, I can do what I’m good at,” he said. “Infiltrating their ranks, and getting as much intelligence on their weaknesses as possible.”
Luke frowned.
“That’s going to be incredibly dangerous,” he said. “Are you sure that you can pull it off.”
“Of course. And I’ll also be meeting with you on the outside, in the real world, once you’ve located your father.”
Luke suddenly remembered the USB drive and the zip file he’d found on it. He leaned in a little closer to Kaoru, close enough to keep his voice to a whisper.
“I found an archive, Kaoru, in my dad’s old room. I don’t know what it is, but he password protected it. It might be something important.”
“Perfect, I’ll see what I can do. Let’s continue with the rest of the plan in the meantime.”
Katrina walked over to where the four of them were standing.
“What am I going to be doing while the rest of you are off saving the world?” Her voice contained a hint of sarcasm.
Luke reached into his bag and pulled out the rest of the gold that Kaoru had given him. “Here, we need someone in charge of fortification. Use this to upgrade the defenses here in Dunidan’s Rest.”
She nodded, blinking in surprise as she noticed the amount.
“Alright,” said Luke, turning back to the group. “Let’s all set out tonight. We can use the next few hours to make any final preparations that we-”
“This is your transition?”
Luke heard a familiar voice in his ears. He blinked his eyes and looked around. He was back in his room, sitting at his desk. The VR headset had been wrenched from his head and it throbbed with pain.
“Uh… what?” He took a deep breath and tried to collect his thoughts, the abruptness of the forced exit from Yvvaros was difficult to adjust to.
“That’s what you said at the assembly, the last time I saw you.” Sam was standing next to his desk, holding his VR headset and glaring at him. “Humanity is going through a transition, and oh, it’s nothing to be worried about. You’re all so stupid and I’m so smart.”
“Sam, I-”
“Shut up, Luke!” She pushed him back into his chair and he nearly tipped over backward. “Just shut the fuck up!”
He didn’t say anything.
“You’ve lied to me, you’ve treated me like a fool, and you’ve gone behind my back to feed your addiction.” Sam shook her head. “Even… just as a friend, I can’t stand by and watch you do this.”
“Well then maybe…” Luke paused in midsentence.
What am I supposed to tell her? That we’re not friends anymore? That I don’t care about how much she cares?
“You didn’t show up for school today, and I know you’re not planning on going tomorrow. But Luke, please, promise me…” Sam slid an appointment card across his desk, signed and dated by Dr. Meyers’ assistant. “Promise me you’ll go to your appointment.”
“I’ll go,” he said. “I can still make it if I leave right now.”
I have time before Tess and I leave for the first Elemental Well.
Sam nodded slowly, watching him with wary, concerned eyes.
“I’m going to head back to school, Luke,” she said. “Please… don’t let me down. Not this time… please.”
Luke nodded, and watched her leave the room.
A half hour later, he was walking through the doors into the lobby of Dr. Meyers’ building. He took the elevator up to the third floor and made it into the waiting room with only minutes to spare as he checked in with her secretary.
“Luke.” Dr. Meyers stuck her head out from her office. “Come on in.”
Luke walked over to a leather chair and took a seat. Dr. Meyers closed the door and then pulled her chair around from her desk to sit directly in front of him. She smoothed out her skirt as she sat down and crossed your legs.
“Uh, how’s it going?” He asked the question more to fill the silence than anything. Dr. Meyers hadn’t said anything since summoning him. She was just watching, not actively directing the session in any way.
“It’s been a busy day, but lunch was nice,” she said. “The weather is gorgeous outside.”
“Yeah. I enjoyed the walk over here.”
More silence filled the room.
Is this is a therapist tactic? She probably is trying to trick me into saying what’s on my mind.
Luke sighed, and decided to go along with it.
“I almost didn’t make it to my session today,” he said.
“Oh?” Dr. Meyers perked up slightly. She didn’t have her note pad in her hands, but she reached around to her desk and picked it up along with a pen. “And just why is that?”
“I was playing Yvvaros, doctor,” he admitted. “I’ve been playing a lot of it lately.”
“Why did you decide to come in the end?”
“A friend of mine made a bit of a fuss,” said Luke. “Somebody… close to me.”
It really felt like Dr. Meyers was trying to annoy him by remaining silent. She alternated between looking at her notes and making casual eye contact with him.
“How do you deal with your responsibilities, Dr. Meyers?” asked Luke. “You have your job here, working with people like me. But you must have a home life, too. Kids, a family, people who need you to strike a balance.”
“I do. A lot of it comes down to picking and choosing what your priorities are. Deciding what’s most important for you in your life.”
Luke shrugged.
“You work with people addicted to drugs and video games. How important is that work these days, with the world the way it is?”
Dr. Meyers laughed.
“You’re projecting right now,” she said. “But given how relevant your question is to your current treatment regiment, I’ll answer it honestly. Luke, the world is currently in a state of change.”
“What do you mean by tha
t?”
“All you have to do is turn on the news to see what I mean.” Dr. Meyers pushed a couple strands of hair out of her face. “People are giving themselves over to digital worlds. Governments all around the world are passing laws and regulations to stem what they see as a massive wave of suicides. Fundamentalists protest every new VR game or immersive reality experience released.”
Why is she telling me this?
“What do you think’s going to happen?” Luke found himself being drawn into the conversation as the doctor’s words echoed in his head. “I’ve been getting this feeling lately almost like… like we’re on the verge of something.”
Dr. Meyers shook her head.
“I don’t know, and I don’t feel qualified to make a guess.” She pushed her glasses further up on the bridge of her nose. “What I will say though is that I suspect that the government’s recent hands-on regulation of virtual worlds, your Yvvaros included, has less to do with the suicides and more to do with the implications of people existing only digitally.”
Luke took a deep breath. He was suddenly very glad that he’d let Sam talk him into showing up for therapy.
“You told me in our first meeting that I need to find my own balance between real life and Yvvaros,” said Luke. “What you’re saying… how does it fit with that? What’s stopping me from going all in, if the real world is on the verge of falling apart?”
Dr. Meyers stood up from her chair and slowly walked over to the bookshelf along the wall of the room. She plucked out a volume and then returned to her seat.
“Have you ever heard of the Simulation Argument, Luke?”
Luke shook his head.
“The Simulation Argument states that one of the following categorical propositions is true.” She opened the book, licking her finger and flipping through it to a specific page. “Ah, here we go. One, either advanced civilizations will never reach a point where they can realistically simulate people in virtual worlds…”
She paused, and smiled.
That’s already happened.
“Or two, advanced civilizations will rarely if ever run sentient, self-aware simulations of people.”
Do NPCs count as self-aware? What about people who’ve gone all in.
“Or, as the last proposition posits, we are almost certainly living in a simulation.”
Luke stared at Dr. Meyers, a little taken aback by the direction that the session had gone in.
“Are you… are you saying that we’re already simulations?” He shook his head. “That would make Yvvaros a digital world, within a digital world…”
“I’m just sharing this with you as food for thought, Luke,” said Dr. Meyers. “Don’t read too deeply into it.
It’s kind of hard not to, when it’s coming from my shrink.
“My point is that the difference between a realistic simulation and our ‘physical’ reality is only a matter of our subjective perspectives. Don’t think of Yvvaros as a place to run away to, Luke. Think of it as part of your life, just as connected to what’s happening in the ‘real world’ as anything else.”
“…Okay.” Luke exhaled and rubbed his hands against the fabric of his jeans. “That’s a very… 21st century way of looking at things, I guess.”
“You came to my office for help, Luke,” said Dr. Meyers. “I could write you a prescription for some antidepressants, if you’d prefer.”
“No…” Luke stood up from the couch. “No thanks. This has been helpful, doctor. Thank you.”
Her words continued to echo in his head as he made his way out of her office.
A single reality…
CHAPTER 12
Every step Luke took on his way home felt weighted down. All he wanted to do was get back to his room and VR headset. He wanted to get back into Yvvaros.
Dr. Meyers is right. She’s right, and that’s why I need to go along with this plan.
Even though it hadn’t been more than two hours since Luke had last been in-game, he felt anxious. The abrupt way that Sam had pulled him out of the game hadn’t left him with a chance to say goodbye properly. He worried about Tess, about her feelings and her safety.
He only took just enough time to shut the front door behind him and kick off his shoes before rushing upstairs. Within a minute, his VR headset was strapped on, and Luke was back in Dunidan’s Rest.
“Hello?” Luke felt panicked. It was midafternoon in game, and the settlement was empty. He rushed over to The Consulate’s guild hall and threw open the door. Nobody was inside.
“Tess? Kaoru?” Luke called out as he hurried toward the gate. “Silverstrike?”
He pushed his way into the dunes of the Sarchia Desert, scanning the horizon with paranoid desperation.
“Luke!”
A female voice came from around the corner of the outside wall. Luke turned and watched as Katrina came into view.
“Hey,” he said. “What’s going on?”
“We’re thought we saw a lone Arbiter scouting around the edge of the zone.” Katrina scratched her head. “What happened to you before? You logged off in midsentence.”
“It’s, uh, a long story,” said Luke. “But I’m back now and I’m good to go.”
The two of them walked off to the west together, climbing the highest dunes to get a better view.
“Why did all of you head out to look?” asked Luke. “You could have just let Silverstrike, or Kaoru check it out.”
“We were being careful,” said Katrina. “Or at least we thought we were…”
Being careful means letting Tess go after an Arbiter?
“Hey.” Kaoru poked his head out from a nearby dune, startling them. “I don’t think it’s around here, we should head back to the compound.”
Silverstrike was following behind him. Seeing only the two of them together heightened Luke’s fear and anxiety.
“Where’s Tess? Was she with you?”
“She should be looping back around,” said Silverstrike. “She’ll be fine, relax.”
Luke couldn’t relax. He stood in place as the others began walking back to Dunidan’s Rest.
“Tess?” It felt a bit ridiculous, but Luke couldn’t stop himself, and he began shouting louder “Tess!”
There was no response, at least not for a moment.
“Aw, you missed me.” Tess was bounding out of a small sand gully and into a stretch of desert flats to the east. “Good to have you back, Kato.”
Luke breathed a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, sorry about before.” He shook his head and grabbed onto her shoulder as she stepped in close to him. “What are you thinking, though? It’s not safe for you to go after an Arbiter.”
“Luke, relax,” she said. “I’m the highest level player of everyone in The Consulate or Athena’s Wrath. I’m not going to get myself killed.”
A memory came rushing back into Luke’s mind, unbidden and unwelcome. Tess, or rather, Emily’s body was on the floor of her room. Her VR headset was still over her eyes, and her skin was pale white, only marred by the blood pooling underneath it.
“Tess…” He closed his eyes.
“Luke, it’s okay,” she said. “I’m fine.”
An even older memory, piggybacking on top of the first one, pushed its way into his thoughts. Luke remembered the car crash that had taken his mother. He’d been pestering her about buying him a video game, distracting her from the road without meaning to.
The car that struck them had been driving way above the speed limit. The crash was over before anyone knew what had happened. The crunching sounds of the metal, the tearing of the driver’s side door, and especially what his mother had said to him were forever burned into his mind.
“Luke, it’s okay,” she’d said. “I’m fine.”
What the hell am I doing?
“Hey, Luke…” Tess was against him, cupping his cheek with one hand. “It’s okay…”
“Sorry.” Luke forced a smile and pulled her into a hug, reassuring himself that sh
e was still there. “Come on… let’s go catch up with the others.”
I’m not going to let it happen again.
Luke could tell that something was wrong before they’d even gotten completely through the gates. Katrina was on her knees in the courtyard, and a body was lying in front of her, not far from the oasis. Kaoru and Silverstrike both had their weapons drawn.
“Oh my god…” said Tess. “That’s Anna!”
The two of them rushed over. Luke realized that he’d balled his hands tightly into fists, unconsciously digging his virtual fingernails into his virtual hands.
“I let her come out with us to look for the Arbiter. It’s my fault.” Kaoru’s eyes were full of remorse. “We found her body a little way outside the compound, half covered with sand.”
“She went all in!” Katrina was almost too distraught to be intelligible. “I… She asked me if I thought it was a good idea.”
“Hey, hey,” said Silverstrike, hurrying to her side. “This isn’t anyone’s fault but the-”
“I said yes!” Katrina sobbed and slapped the ground with an open hand. “I told her that she should do it if she really wanted to.”
Luke felt his emotions shift as he watched the scene. Numbness turned to frustration, and then to anger, and then to rage.
“This is why we have to stop them!” He yelled the words, followed by a string of obscenities. “God fucking damn it!”
“I’ve seen this happen too many times now,” said Kaoru. “The Arbiters haven’t been in control long, but this is what they do.”
“Why…?” Katrina wiped away tears with a dirty, sand covered hand. “They usually take players that have gone all in alive… Why her?”
“I don’t know.” Kaoru frowned and looked back toward the gate.
“We can’t let this go on.” Luke walked over toward Anna’s body, forcing himself to stare into her lifeless eyes. “We’re leaving immediately. I have to get started.”
“Don’t let your grief and anger affect your judgement.” Kaoru set a hand on Luke’s shoulder and turned him to meet his gaze. “It’s fine if you leave immediately, but you need to think clearly, and act carefully.”