Boran-al gritted his teeth. An ugly expression appeared on his face at the mention of the Stone Raiders. They had destroyed his cult, killed off the demons he had created and assisted the demons who had rebelled against Boran-al and the Dark Lord. Boundless bloodlust passed through the depths of his eyes.
“Once Light and Earth have shown all of their cards, then we will move ahead with our plan.” The Dark Lord’s voice was heavy and filled with excitement at the coming slaughter he envisioned.
Chapter 5: Awake
The server banks of the Datskun looked like chaos as Bob, looking as though he hadn’t slept in weeks and smelling like it, tried to connect a cord into the servers and then to a tablet he was holding.
He had kept the kernel of Anna’s consciousness only on the servers, never connecting to her with his interface, so as to give the Jukal and the other AIs no chance to discover her. He had already made sure that there were no records of him being in the servers and cut off any ability for the Jukal to see what he was doing.
He had compiled and shifted files. These seemed like simple things but it was in fact a code that brought all of Anna’s different information files together and into the kernel. She was distributed over the network, making it so that it was nearly impossible to track her down. If one part of her coding was destroyed, then there were still thousands of other backups and parts of her distributed through Emerilia’s network.
Bob held onto the tablet with unblinking eyes.
A screen popped up; lines of complicated code rushed past before being compiled and completed.
The screen went blank for a few moments.
“Dad, what happened?” Anna’s voice came through, distorted and confused.
“Anna.” Bob fell to the ground, holding the tablet as if it were some heavenly treasure as tears fell down his face.
“Dad, what happened? I can sense memory loss. I think I’ve lost a lot of my backup.” Anna sounded confused and scared.
An alert appeared on the tablet that pulled at Bob’s heart.
“It’s okay, honey. There was just a corrupted bit of information—you’ve lost a bit of it.” Bob bit his lip.
“I see that from all the records of you sneaking in here to watch over me.” Her voice was soft and filled with emotion. “Something big must’ve happened for you to wake me.”
Bob’s heart twisted in his chest as Anna said the same words that she had when he’d woken her up from cold storage.
“Yes, something did happen, but it’s okay now that you’re back,” Bob said. “No matter what, I’ll always be here for you.”
“Dad, why do you sound so sad?” Anna asked.
“You...” Bob’s lower lip quivered and a look of pain flashed across his face before disappearing without a trace. “It’s nothing. Just happy to have you back with me again.”
“Big softie,” Anna teased.
A soft smile appeared on Bob’s lips. His eyes looked to the tablet on his lap.
Memory files corrupted
Memory files corrupted from last start-up. Memory fragments detected and integrated.
All of her memories since she had last woken up were nothing but fragments. Bob didn’t know what this would mean and right now he didn’t want to aggravate these memories. Waking them up might cause unknown problems.
Right at this moment, Emerilia needed Anna where she was. There was no way to upload her to a new body without the other AI or Jukal finding out.
For now, he would need to keep her largely isolated. Once this was all done, then maybe he could start trying to recover her memories and seeing what she remembered. It made him feel as if he were lying to her as he maintained his silence.
I have my daughter back, though how much of her was lost from the last three years, I don’t know.
***
Frank Simmons looked at the flame in his hand. With a thought, it changed shapes, growing taller and smaller. He waved his hand; the flame disappeared and a wind vortex swirled in his hand now.
He looked up to Air with a shocked expression.
“Seems that you’re getting a good handle on magic.” Air smiled.
“I just can’t really believe that this is all real.” Frank had come to understand what was going on. But there was still a part of his mind that expected him to wake up on his couch and he’d have to go back to work at the local supermarket, all of this being nothing more than a dream.
He looked around the room and then back to Air. He had been inside this room and a few others since he had woken up.
“Want to see a bit more than just this room?” Air asked.
“Wouldn’t say no to a little road trip.” Frank smiled.
Air seemed to think for a few minutes before she nodded. “I don’t see that being a problem. You should get to know what we’re doing here.” Air rose from her seat. “Come with me.”
She stepped out of the room, Frank right behind her with an eager expression on his face. As Bob had been making the different bodies for the players, he had increased their base stats to that of a Level 300 right when they woke up. This took some time for them to get used to it, but afterward they were able to do all manner of different activities.
He followed Air through the halls until they reached a large glass window that ran the length of the corridor they were in. Frank moved to the glass, a look of awe on his face as he looked over Ice City. Carts moved through the air in every direction, coming from the mining areas, refineries, factories, as well as transitioning through the portals to Pandora’s Box and the asteroid base.
As they watched, a soul gem building was being made. Mages circled the building; their hands moved, while some chanted as spell formations appeared around different materials. The materials came together and seemed to transform into a living being. They sunk deep into the ice planet’s ground, connecting to a massive metal plate that had been created to secure all of the buildings within the city. Then they started to grow upward, interconnecting and merging together to make the superstructure of the building. As they rose, a soul gem construct grew with it, covering the superstructure and forming the rooms and interior of the tower.
“Welcome to Ice City. Most of the people from the Pandora’s Box Initiative live here with their families. We’ve got a number of research and development areas here. We’ve also got the biggest refinery within the Initiative, though it seems that will be quickly changing with the dwarves working on the refinery asteroid. Here we mine out the ice in the surrounding areas to grow the city and to also supply us with a number of chemicals and materials we can use for various products.”
Frank was shocked by what he saw. A sense of excitement built within him as he looked at this magical scene.
For a while, they were silent. Frank’s face turned thoughtful as he glanced at Air.
“Something on your mind?” Air asked.
“I know that my body is a lot more powerful than it was and I can see that while you’ve got all of this, there’s not too many people walking around. Even this facility is nearly completely empty. I know that you feel a sense of duty in waking up all of us players who are stuck in the Earth simulation, but what do you want to gain from this?”
Air tapped her lips with a finger. “Most will say that we’re doing it because you are humans and in a way, you’re the brothers and sisters of the other players on Emerilia. Dave, the leader of this all, is a player who was able to get past the simulation and find out the reality of Emerilia. He would want to be woken up to know what was really going on and be allowed to make his own decisions. Now, while we are doing it for that reason, we’re also doing it for another that you’ve touched on.” Air looked out over the city and rested her hands on the banister of the corridor.
“Emerilia is in the midst of a massive war. The people and players of Emerilia are all wrapped up in that—there’s little that they can do to help us. All of this would take a lot more explaining than we’re able to do right now. Also, revealing it to
others leads to a greater chance of the Jukal finding out that we know what’s going on and we’re taking steps to gain our freedom back again.
“What we need is people, people who are motivated to work with the Pandora’s Box Initiative. We’ve got automatons all over the place but we’ve only got a few hundred researchers and helpers. A few hundred people to run all of this and push us forward. With waking up the players, we hope that you can help to push the Initiative forward. We know not everyone will be willing, but there are millions of you. If even only a small percentage helps out, then maybe we can be ready for the Jukal and whatever they send at us.”
Air’s words resounded in Frank’s soul. He wasn’t a mean man nor was he easily driven to anger, but when someone did incite his fury, he would hunt them down. He wasn’t able to do this within Earth’s simulation and had always been frustrated within the military when they didn’t seem to be doing anything but getting into constant fights over the same piece of land over and over again. The only thing that seemed to come from it was losing those he cared for, deepening his depression.
He thought of the people he had lost, the AI programs that had run the world to make him feel helpless, to feel as if he couldn’t control anything in his life. But when he stepped into the world of video games, he could. When he was gaming, then there was nothing that could stand in his way. If someone wanted to try to kill him for his loot, then he’d gain more strength than them or better allies to tear them apart.
Those who crossed him quickly regretted their actions.
Here, within reality, he had once again regained the ability for him to act, to push his life forward in a meaningful way. Right now, that meaningful way was driving him toward tearing down the Jukal Empire.
He took a breath and stood straighter. The excitement and wonder in his eyes were still there but now there was determination. His fighting spirit filled him, much like how it had done when he had been first called a marine and passed his basic training. He felt a kinship with the people of Emerilia, seeing them much as he did his fellow marines.
“I might not be that good with the research stuff, but I can fight,” Frank said, his voice deeper and stronger.
A smile spread across Air’s face. “Well, then seems that we best get you started on training with magic.”
***
Within a large laboratory, there were nearly fifty different beds; on all of these there were different runic lines carved into them and different machines hooked up to the people’s bodies.
They looked like corpses, completely lifeless and no sense of movement coming from them.
One of the tables’ runes flashed. The person on the table took massive gulps of air, as if they were surfacing from the depths of the ocean, as they sat up, a look of shock and panic on their face. They looked at the person at the end of the bed.
“Hello, Diana. Welcome to reality,” the person wearing neutral clothing said with a smile.
Other people sucked in air as they awoke on their tables.
Diana looked around as she stared at the others on tables like hers.
“They’re...” Diana’s words trailed off as she saw the same mix of emotions in the others’ eyes: shock, fear, confusion, excitement.
“Players. Just like you, they were stuck in the Earth simulation.” The woman at the end of her bed checked different items on screens that appeared in front of her. “You’re going to feel a bit different from how you were in the simulation. All of your stats have been greatly increased. You’ll be stronger, faster, need less sleep and food. This is normal,” the woman reassured Diana.
“I just—this is real?” Diana moved her eyes to the woman at the end of the table. The others on the tables all looked to one another and asked the same questions. Even though Diana hadn’t talked to them before, she felt a sort of relationship with them due to their circumstances and similar situation.
The woman dismissed her screens and looked to Diana. “I will never lie to you in this orientation and yes, all of this is real—as shocking as that is.” The woman smiled. “I didn’t even know that this was possible until a few days ago.”
Diana didn’t sense any signs that the woman was trying to deceive her. Her head started to spin as she thought things over. Connections that she had never made before started to be made, her higher Intelligence at work as she thought through it all.
“Wow,” Diana said. The wealth of information was like a puzzle where she had picked up the first piece and the others had just started to fall into place with ease.
She looked over her body. Her weight gain had disappeared and she looked like she had when she was in her mid-twenties. “Not bad. Looks like this upgrade came with some good features.” Diana glanced underneath her shirt and nodded with appreciation.
The woman at the end of her table laughed at Diana’s actions.
Diana paused and then laughed as well.
After a few moments, it calmed down.
“Interface,” Diana said. A frame of different icons appeared around her vision. “All right, well, seems that I’m about thirty years late, mentally, to this game. Time that I started to run through the tutorial and figure out how it works.” With a determined expression on her face, she started to work through the interface.
“How did you get those screens?” one of the other players asked.
“Just say interface and it should work,” Diana said.
“Ah crap!” Someone getting off the bed flew five feet before coming to rest on the ground. The minders at the end of the tables moved to help them.
“Well, tell you what—the control interface is a bit touchy!” the player on the ground complained.
The other players grinned at their words.
“Hey, looks like we can create party chats, nice,” one player said.
“Found stat sheets! You can just call out character sheet, or go to your profile on the left side and find it in there,” another said.
“I found forums with information on Emerilia. Got a whole bunch of videos on the basics of fighting, magic and stuff like that.” Diana frowned.
“The hell is magical coding?” another asked.
“I don’t know—check the forums?” another player said.
All of them were on their interfaces. In just a few minutes, they were all discussing what they knew, sharing tips and tricks they’d already figured out.
The minders all looked at one another, a confused and shocked look passing between them before they looked back to the players.
Their initial shock had dissipated. All of them were treating this just as they would when starting up a new game, working through the basics and helping one another out. They laughed and joked together, drawing attention to different things that they had found out.
“So how do I access my inventory?” one asked.
“From what I’m reading, you need some kind of bag of holding to gain an inventory. It’ll be added to your profile sheet. Check out the equip tab so that you can see what’s on your body—just got standard clothing right now,” Diana said as she read through the forums.
And so it went: the players tried moving, talking to one another and figuring out the best way to get used to their new bodies together; then they grouped together, discussing what they had found out when the minders led them to a shared living area.
A few of the minders remained, getting bombarded with questions from the players grouped together in the main living area, lounging in chairs, on tables or even on the floor.
The shock was still coming in but right now they were wrapped up in a dream and quickly using what they knew as gamers to get to know the new reality that they had been thrust into.
Chapter 6: Reclaim
“As you all know, the race that is coming through the portal are called Uoue. They’re melee-based types with high Agility and speed that allows them to hit targets and then run away. Right now, the DCA and a number of elven forces have been holding them down, using all of the
ir tricks to try to stop the Uoue from escaping the citadel’s containment. They only hold one citadel but they are masters of disguise. There are an estimated two to three times their numbers within the citadel and hiding in the area around it. We’re being sent in to clear the Uoue out. With the sensing abilities of the citadels, we will be able to find and push them back. The forces on the ground are already advancing from their citadels. We will be dropping down behind them to provide support. We don’t expect that we will have many long-ranged attacks by the Uoue on landing. However, the Uoue and their abilities are not well known so don’t take anything for granted.” The commander of the Goblin Mountain’s flying citadel’s first wing’s voice was broadcasted to all of those within the flying citadels under his command.
Party Zero looked to one another. They were once again waiting next to a drop chute. Everyone was seated as the citadels advanced on the portal location and moved between the Terra Alliance-controlled citadels.
“Prepare for drop!”
The two seated groups stood and turned, forming a line that faced the drop chute and its red light.
“Check drop packs!”
They checked the person in front of them, making sure that the drop pack was secured. There were no mistakes or issues.
“Ready!” the drop master said, listening to their party chat where the different drop masters were talking.
The chute opened and wind pulled at those waiting to drop inside. The light beside the chute snapped over to green.
“Drop, drop, drop!” Before they had said the second drop, the first person jumped down the chute, crossing their arms as the chute guided them out of the flying citadel and toward the ground below.
The line moved forward swiftly. Soon it was Dave’s turn. He jumped down the chute. An overlay showed him different way points he needed to hit in order to make it down to the ground with Party Zero.
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