by Jamie Davis
“Where am I?” Cari’s voice was barely a whisper, meant more for herself than her new companions.
They heard her question nonetheless.
Rodrigo waved his hand around, gesturing to the room. “You’re in the Empress’s Rest Inn, one of the finest establishments in the Merchant’s District of the Crystal City…”
Cari recalled why the city’s name was familiar, and she met Rodrigo’s eyes as he finished his answer.
“…the capital of the Empire of Fantasma.”
Chapter 4
"No, no, no. This can’t be right. This is crazy.”
Cari stood up and stared around the room, looking for anything that might reassure her she wasn’t going insane.
“I must’ve hit my head when I fell at home. I’m dreaming, or hallucinating, or something.”
Merry and Rodrigo shot each other worried glances. Rodrigo extended his hand to her.
“Cari, why don’t you sit back down? If you did hit your head, you shouldn’t be up and wandering about. We’ll find out what happened to you. I’m sure there’s an explanation. Perhaps we can seek out a healing mage to check you over.”
Cari backed away from the extended hand, jostling a few of the tavern patrons in the process. This earned her several annoyed glares.
“No, you keep away. I can’t stay here. This is all wrong. I need to go home.”
Cari turned and pushed her way through the crowd towards the exit at the other side of the tavern. Rodrigo and Merry called out to her, but she didn’t reply or turn to see if they followed her. She had to get out of this tavern and make her way through the Ren Faire back to more familiar territory.
Bursting through the tavern door, Cari stumbled out onto a cobblestone street in the middle of a bustling market district. She turned around, looking everywhere for something familiar: a sign, a streetlight, a holoscreen with a “You Are Here” marker, anything at all to indicate her location. All she saw were horse-drawn carts and wagons, as if someone was making a medieval history holovid, and not a particularly accurate one. For instance, there weren’t usually green-skinned aliens mixed in among the pedestrians on the street in medieval scenes of the real world.
She whirled in place, searching for reassurance she wasn’t insane or hallucinating. She needed to know she hadn’t somehow been taken to the imaginary world of her early childhood. It couldn’t be real. Her parents had told her again and again Fantasma wasn’t real, paying a lot of money to send her to several child psychologists over the years to cure her of her obsession with the fantastical world of her imagination.
If Fantasma wasn’t real, though, why did her father have that program with the same name on his old computer, and how was it still active after all these years?
Cari had too many questions and not enough answers.
If this was a return to an imaginary world of her childhood, it didn’t feel imaginary. Everything she’d seen and experienced so far had been all too real.
Cari still stood in the middle of the cobblestone street when she was jostled from behind and someone grabbed a handful of her right butt cheek through her pants. Spinning in place, Cari landed a solid open-handed slap to the face of a mustached man wearing some sort of green and gold uniform.
“Get your hands off me, pervert!”
She raised her hand again to strike him a second time, but the man blocked the blow and pushed her backward.
“How dare you assault a guardsman of the Duke of Charon? You must’ve decided you wish to die today. I’m sure my companions and I can oblige you.” He stabbed a finger at her chest, pointing at the red ribbon tied there. “It will be especially satisfying to kill a supporter of that hag sitting on the Crystal Throne.”
He reached to his belt and started to draw his sword.
Several other men, all clad in the same green and gold uniforms as the first man, stepped up next to Cari’s assailant. One placed a hand on his arm, halting him with the blade half-drawn.
“Raden, you can’t fight her here, we are right outside the Empress’s Rest. We’ll be swarmed by other supporters. Bring her to the dueling grounds behind the central bazaar. We’ll deal with her there.”
“Deal with me how? Are you all perverts like your friend here?” Cari snapped.
She hated men who assumed, since she was a girl, they could take advantage of her and push her around. The disorientation of trying to find out where she had found herself was lost in the heat of the moment as she confronted these rude men.
“If you all want a fight, I’m more than happy to take it out on you in a duel.”
Quest accepted: Defeat the Duke’s guardsman in a duel.
Cari ignored the message, so angry at the gall of these asshats.
“Tell me where to meet you and I’ll gladly show up to teach you a lesson.”
“You’ll be the one learning the lesson, insolent wench,” the one called Raden snarled. “You’ll learn the hardest lesson of all. Meet us in the dueling grounds. If you don’t know where that is, ask someone to show you to the central bazaar. You’ll find us there behind the building. Waiting for you.”
The man who’d groped her looked up at the sun as if checking for its position.
“We’ll see you there in a few hours at dusk. Don’t be late. You won’t like it if I have to come looking for you.”
“Oh, I’ll be there. It’s time someone taught you what happens when you try to have your way with this particular girl.”
The man fixed Cari with a grin showing a lot of teeth, as if he thought it would intimidate her. She responded in kind as his friends hustled him away through the crowd.
A few members of the crowd around the disturbance shouted jeers after the Duke’s guards while others shouted words of encouragement to them. Cari saw those who were on her side wore red ribbons or sashes while those on the side of the green-clad guardsmen sported green badges of one sort or another.
After some more yelling and insults hurled back and forth, the crowd dispersed as people returned to their business of the day.
“You sure know how to make friends fast,” a voice behind her said.
Turning, Cari saw Rodrigo standing in the street behind her. Merry stood next to him.
“You know those guardsmen mean what they say,” Merry said. “If you don’t show up at the dueling grounds this evening, they’ll turn this city upside down looking for you.”
“I don’t back down from bullies. I’ve found it’s a bad habit to get into.”
“These aren’t just bullies,” Rodrigo said. “They’re members of the Duke of Charon’s personal guard. Since the bulk of the Imperial Dragoons were sent east to fight in the war, the Duke’s men have the run of the city. They’re supposed to be keeping the peace, but what they really do is harass supporters of the Empress and find excuses to lock them up, or worse.”
Cari’s hand rose to touch the red ribbon tied to the buckle of her sword belt across her chest.
“And this marks me as a supporter of the Empress, and the green badges and ribbons I’ve seen in the crowd represent the interests of this Duke of Charon?”
Merry nodded. “Things have gotten much worse since the Duke and the rest of the Privy Council voted to commit the dragoons to the war effort. The Empress couldn’t argue against it, or they’d claim she was playing favorites with her household troops over the common soldiers from elsewhere in the Empire. Charon has been stirring up unrest in the countryside against her, saying she was bleeding their sons and daughters dry to fight her petty war while her pet troops remained safe and sound in the Crystal City.”
“Merry,” Rodrigo said. “You don’t know for sure it’s the Duke who’s sowing the seeds of rebellion in the outer provinces.”
“Who else could it be, Rod?” Merry asked. “He’s got the most to gain from a revolt against the Empress. He’s tried to get her to step down from the Crystal Throne on several occasions now. She refuses to do so, knowing she only has one heir left to her name. T
he rest of her family has died off in one freak accident after another. I’m convinced Empress Kareena is holding on long enough to ensure her last remaining grandson, Timron, is safeguarded from the mysterious accidents that befell the others in her family.”
“Kareena? Princess Kareena?” Cari asked. She knew that name from the games she used to play as a little girl. It was one more link of familiarity to this place, reminding her that Mom and Dad must have deceived her about this imaginary childhood world.
“She used to be a princess once upon a time, according to the old stories,” Merry said. “Her family was deposed from the throne when she was a child. When she grew older, she was joined by the mythical Opponent of legend who helped her regain her throne.”
“Those aren’t just stories, Merry,” Rodrigo corrected. “My uncle is a captain in the Empress’s Dragoons. Those stories about the Opponent really happened, at least the regimental histories of the dragoons say so.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Merry replied. “You’re telling me Bloody Hal did all the things the stories claim he could do? The tales don’t make sense. They can’t make up their minds about who or what he was. Some say he was a master thief or assassin, others claim he was a warrior and a general of great renown, and still more claim he could control more magic than anyone who ever lived. Which is it?”
“The regimental histories claim they are all true. Each tale has a basis in fact. They claim that Hal Dix came from another world, and because of that, he could do things no one else could do and taught himself things nobody else could learn.”
“Excuse me,” Cari said, interrupting the discussion. “What was that name again?” She couldn’t believe her ears. It sounded like they’d claimed her dork of a father was some sort of superhero or something.
“Hal Dix,” Rodrigo and Merry said in unison. The two of them laughed at the look on her face.
Cari wasn’t amused. None of this made any sense. She had too many questions and no way to find the answers she needed.
“Cari, you must know the stories,” Merry said. “After all, your parents named you after Bloody Hal’s daughter, Princess Cari.”
That was it for Cari. Everything started to spin, and she felt like she was going to fall down again. She walked back toward the Empress’s Rest and sat down beside the building on a ledge at the base of the inn’s stone foundation.
Her new friends followed and sat down beside her.
“What’s wrong, Cari?” Rodrigo asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I think I figured out what is going on.” She said it more to herself than to her companions. Things lined up in her mind, and she started ticking them off one by one: her father’s position as the senior developmental executive at a software giant that made the world’s premier virtual reality gear; his claim that games represented more than just a diversion for entertainment, that they could create real-life skills if used in the proper way; the presence of the Fantasma program in his old computer; and now her presence inside that world, somehow transported or living simultaneously inside it and at home.
Cari considered the list. Everything added up for her. Somehow, this was all real. She had been here before as a child, and her parents had taken her away from it, claiming it was all just a figment of her imagination, instructing her to stop thinking she lived in an imaginary world.
Despite everything they’d told her, Cari had always believed deep down it was all real. It was why she took up the sword. It was why she became active in cosplay and in the Ren Faire community. She wanted to prove to her parents she’d been right all along.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She clenched her fists. Mom and Dad had hidden this whole wonderful place from her. They knew it existed and how she felt about it, but they’d hidden it from her just the same.
Cari pounded her fist into her hand, clenching it until her fingernails dug into her palm.
“Cari, I know you’re angry about what happened in the street with the Duke’s guards,” Rodrigo said, misinterpreting the cause of her angry gesture. “Maybe I can help get you out of the duel with the guardsman. I can go to my uncle and see if he can pass orders to break up the fight before it starts this evening. We could tell the Duke and his men you’re under the protection of the dragoons and they have to leave you alone.”
“I don’t need anyone’s protection. I’m not some little girl in need of a hero. I’m my own hero and I plan on going to this little duel. I’m going to teach this guy a lesson he’ll never forget.”
“Cari, that guard is one of the Duke’s best,” Merry said. “He’s an accomplished swordsman and duelist. Let Rodrigo help you. His uncle can keep anyone from getting hurt or worse.”
Cari shrugged off the sympathetic tone from her new friends. They didn’t know how skilled she was with a blade. Besides, she was surprised at how concerned they were. They acted as if someone was going to die in this little sparring match with the Duke’s guard. Cari stood and turned to face the other two.
“I think you’re both overreacting. I’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll see you later after I deal with this situation. For now, I’m going to explore the city a little before I head to the dueling grounds. I need to make up for lost time.”
Quest accepted: Explore the Crystal City.
Cari spun in place and hurried off into the crowd, ignoring the new message for the moment. She didn’t want to hear any more protests about her plans to participate in the duel later. She also needed some time to figure out why she kept seeing these text alerts. The way they acted, it was like she was in some sort of game.
Chapter 5
Despite her bravado, part of Cari wanted to stay with the only two friends she’d made so far in this strange place. The other side of her, the part that was burning with anger at her parents, needed to break away for some time to walk and collect her thoughts. Cari also needed to figure out why these game-like messages kept appearing in her vision. The way they appeared without any headgear or visor made this all seem like the best virtual reality game simulation ever.
Cari slowed her pace after she’d put some distance between herself and the inn, allowing her to blend into the jostling crowds. While she walked, Cari tried to make the messages appear again. If they acted like a real VR game, they should respond to voice commands.
“Game Menu,” Cari whispered so no one around her could hear.
She was rewarded with a visual display of common game menu items.
System Menu:
Character Stats
Inventory
Quest Status
Curious about what she saw, Cari decided to try something else. Rather than speaking the menu items aloud, she focused on one and tried to open the “Character Stats” item from the menu.
The system menu cleared, and a new set of displays popped up: her personal character stats.
Name: Cari Dix
Class: Duelist
Level: 1
Attributes:
Brawn: 8
Wisdom: 8
Luck: 8
Speed: 8
Charm: 8
Health: 10/10
Skills: none
Experience: 200/300
Attribute points: 10
Entry-level attribute points still need to be allotted. Points may be placed in any slot. Once allotted and accepted, they may not be changed. Extra attribute and skill points awarded with each new level.
Cari examined the different attributes, realizing she had a basic character layout and could build up the scores to focus on whatever skills she considered most important. She scoffed at the idea of spending anything on luck. She agreed with her father’s view on luck and thought people who relied on it were idiots.
Speed was an attribute which served a swordswoman well in sparring and competition. Men might focus on pure strength and increase their brawn, but she knew it usually slowed them down in the long run. Flexibility and quick reflexes were far more
valuable to a duelist.
She decided to dump six points into her speed attribute. On a whim, because it was so silly that these random stats had anything to do with her actual abilities, Cari put all four remaining points into her “Charm” — as if that changed her appearance in any way. After spending her attribute points, she considered the blank space next to the “Skills” area. Focusing her attention on it brought up a new message.
Skill points may be used to learn new skills or advance existing skills based on your class or social position. Some skills may be earned by completing quests or accomplishing tasks within the world. One new skill point is acquired with each new level. Once spent, they cannot be changed.
She assumed she’d need to level up while getting new experience points from some random quests. She remembered receiving two hundred experience points for exploring the inn. She only needed a hundred more to ascend to the next level. Her current quest to explore the city might be enough to knock her to level two, and then she’d see what kind of skills she could learn as a duelist.
Cari dismissed the display and stepped out into the flow of the crowd once again. She continued strolling along the thoroughfare while trying to decide if this was a game simulation as the menus suggested. It must be some sort of new VR tech her father was working on, or maybe it was all a real fantasy world from her childhood. She hoped it was more like the latter. That would be the best option in her mind because she thought this was the kind of place where she really belonged. If this world was real, it was as though she’d trained for it her whole life. Cari smiled to herself as she walked. Whether this was real or a game, she was going to make the most of it. She explored the rest of the afternoon, walking down the broad avenues, taking in the Crystal City’s sights and sounds.