by Edward Brody
“Thanks bro,” I said. I adjusted the baby in my arm and used my free hand to flip my satchel up and place the recipe inside. I slid the ring—a plain, thin gold ring—over my bare finger before extending my knuckle out for a fist bump.
Sung smiled as our digits touched.
“Been pretty cool adventuring with you,” I said. “First time we’ve really hung out alone.”
“Yeah man. It’s been awesome.” Sung shrugged. “I mean, I wouldn’t exactly agree with your um…” He looked down to the baby, “… radical decision making, but it’s been fun so far.”
I chuckled. “You’re a bit different than the others. Aaron is awesome, but he doesn’t like to go out, and he thinks with his dick rather than his head sometimes.”
“That’s for sure,” Sung said.
“Jeremy’s cool too, but maybe has a little too much of the Sizzler in him for his own good.” I smirked. “Do you know he tried to rob us and attacked the guild before we let him join?”
“Yeah, I heard the story,” Sung said. “You killed him in front of the guild.”
“He turned out okay, though,” I said, tilting my head. “And Ozzy… the big oaf. I guess he’s probably the closest thing to normal we had before you joined.”
“If any of us are normal…” Sung chuckled. “We’re all weird in our own ways.”
“That’s true,” I said. “We’re all weird as hell. How are you liking Unity so far?”
Sung smiled. “It’s great. I love it…” His eyebrows lowered, and he looked away for a quick moment, almost as if he was doubting what he was saying. “Yeah, it’s been pretty awesome so far.”
“Different than your old guild?” I asked. “What was it called again?”
“Crylight,” Sung said. “And yeah, it’s way different. I mean, Crylight started as a fun thing, but the last several years were mostly just practicing, grinding, and trying to be the best. Sometimes I think we were so caught up in competition that we forgot to have fun and just enjoy the games we played.” Sung shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved the guys in Crylight. It’s just when you’re competing at that level, games become nothing but a job at some point. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“I’ve never been a pro, but I think I know what you mean,” I said.
Sung smiled. “Unity has helped me remember what I liked about MMOs… I mean, we quest, we spar, we just hang out and smoke joojak and talk sometimes. We’re not trying to be number one so much as we’re just being ourselves.” Sung looked to the ground. “And damn, this game is so realistic. The NPCs in the guild are so real too.”
“That’s an understatement,” I said. “Dr. Winston really outdid himself.”
Sung’s eyes darted to me and froze a moment. “Yeah… Dr. Winston.” He tapped his fingers on the table and raised them a little. “You know a lot about him, huh?”
“Met him a few times now,” I said. “Aaron and I have actually been to his castle in the Mastalands.”
Sung swallowed and looked like he was concerned about something.
“Oh, don’t worry… It’s not as bad as it sounds. At least not inside of the castle. I don’t know about the outside.”
“Can you go there again?” Sung asked.
I shook my head. “Nah… not easily. There was a portal, but I think it’s closed already, so I don’t think we’ll be visiting his home anytime soon.” I raised my eyebrows. “But he did give me and Aaron the ability to summon him at will. Sort of a special contact button to report bugs.”
“What?” Sung jerked his head, and his mouth fell open. “You can summon Dr. Winston? Anytime?”
“Yeah,” I said with a shrug. “I’ve only used it once though.”
Sung raised his knuckle up to his chin. “Okay, okay… And if there’s a system to report bugs, then there must be some sort of computer system that allows him to edit the code and control the game, right?”
“He’s got some sort of virtual laptop,” I said and tilted my head in curiosity. “Hey, how’d you know that?”
“Ummm…” Sung scratched the side of his head and smirked. “Just an educated guess. I mean, if there’s a bug, he’s got to fix it somehow. We have patches, right?”
Something felt off about Sung’s answer, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Everything he was saying was logical, but he seemed anxious about something. But like he mentioned earlier, we were all kind of weird, and sometimes he just seemed like a shy, awkward guy or someone with social anxiety.
“Yeah…” I said with a nod. “Makes sense.”
Sung suddenly seemed to lose his shyness and leaned forward, smiling. “So, if I find a big bug, I’ll tell you, and if you ever summon Dr. Winston again, maybe I can be there? I’d really like to meet him in person.” His eyes widened, and he beamed as he held his arms out to his sides. “I mean, look what the dude created.”
“Yeah, alright… if I can remember.”
Sung’s brow furrowed, and his nostrils flared. He sniffed a little, frowned, then looked to the bodies that had been slowly sizzling from the acid Mylynzen had poured on them earlier. “Is that smell coming from the corpses?”
I sniffed, and immediately regretted it when I got a heavy whiff of a pungent smell. I turned to the bodies and sniffed again, but quickly realized the smell was coming from a much closer source.
I looked down to the baby orc who was looking up at me, wiggling its arms around and smiling. I put my face closer to the baby and sniffed again but jerked back when the inside of my nostrils burned. “Oh, shit…”
“What is it?” Sung asked.
“Shit…” I spoke. “Like, literally shit, I think.”
“Shit?” Sung leaned in, sniffed again, and jerked back hard. “Oh, god! That’s horrendous!”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered.
“Why would he put that in the game?” Sung asked.
I shook my head as I held the baby at arm’s length and sat him gently on the table. “Dr. Winston has this saying… With pleasure comes pain, or pain is part of pleasure or something like that.” I couldn’t think straight with the wicked, overpowering smell emanating from the lower half of the child.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Sung said.
“It does when he says it.”
“There’s no pleasure in that,” Sung said, pointing his finger at the baby’s bottom.
“This is the pain part,” I alleged as I started unwrapping the blanket covering the baby, nervous to see what was inside the cloth diaper underneath. “There’s something out there that balances this out… something that smells good, something fun. I don’t know what it is, but it’s out there, for sure.”
Chapter Nineteen
2/19/0001
I peeked my head out the door, and no one was nearby. It was dark, and only cricket sounds could be heard. “I think it’s about time.”
“Let’s do this,” Sung said. “I’m getting cabin fever in here.”
Sora… I projected as I closed the door.
Sora raised her head up from where she was napping and yawned. Yes, father?
Let’s go. I reached into my bag and pulled out one of the grey-colored pellets.
Sora got up and paced closer to me, and when I tossed the pellet towards her, she caught it in her mouth and started chomping. After she had fully consumed it, her body shrunk to the small kitten size that she was when I first found her. Without instruction, she ran up to me, jumped on my robe and positioned herself in my pocket.
“That’s so cool,” Sung said. “I really need to find that damn truffle so I can get one.”
I scooped the baby orc up in my hands and gave it a couple of light bounces.
It smiled and giggled, just like a human baby would.
“You stay quiet now, okay?” I said in a childish voice. I turned to Sung. “You ready?”
Sung nodded.
I raised my hand and cast a round of Divine Sight on Sung and myself.
&nbs
p; You ready? I asked Sora.
Of course, Gunnar.
“Here we go,” I warned.
I focused on casting a Fire Curtain in the far corner of the house, and the fire immediately lit the oil that Jenzyn had doused there. I cancelled the curtain of fire, but the oil kept burning and spreading slowly across the walls. I kneeled down to the trail of oil that Jenzyn had run to the bodies, placed my hand over it, and started to cast a Fireblast. As the magic grew in my hands, I stopped the cast, but the fire that momentarily formed was enough to light the oil.
Like something out of a movie thriller, fire snaked slowly down the trail of oil, and I knew we had very little time before it reached the bodies and potions lying across the room.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” I said as I stood up quickly and slapped Sung on the shoulder.
Sung ran to the door, popped it open, and glanced both ways before stepping out. I followed right behind him, holding the child close to my body.
It was incredibly dark in the Barbaros’ city, the unpaved paths between its structures brightened only by the light shining out of cracks and windows. There was virtually no one outside, so it seemed that if we could avoid drawing attention or a confrontation with the guards, we could easily escape the city unnoticed.
“That way,” I said pointing in the direction of the gates.
“Hey…” a voice said from somewhere as soon as I closed the door.
I sighed when I heard the voice, deflated that we had been noticed so soon. I turned to see a female Barbaros walking from around a corner. She wore an apron, carried a basket of clothes, and was quite a bit more out-of-shape than most of the other Barbaros I had seen.
My instinct was to run, but that would’ve likely caused the woman to speak louder or yell, and even if we had escaped, there would be a witness which could potentially cause us problems, so I held my hand out to Sung and stepped closer to the lady.
“Hello there,” I said smiling.
“Where’s Jenzyn?” the Barbaros asked. “Why are you coming out of her house so suspiciously?”
“She’s inside,” I said.
The lady’s brow creased.
Knowing we were running out of time, I stepped to the door and motioned towards it. “Go ahead. Check for yourself.”
The lady gazed at me with doubt in her eyes before stepping up to the door.
When she turned and knocked, I looked to Sung and mouthed, “Backstab.”
Sung placed his hand on his dagger, and when the woman knocked a second time, I leaned in front of her and pushed the door open hard. Sung strafed up behind the lady and thrust his dagger in her spine, and the woman dropped the basket and cried out. I kicked the woman in the rump, forcing her inside the home, and as she stumbled forward moaning in agony, I cast a Fireblast blast on her. Her fur burst into flames, and when she fell into the fire engulfing the inner walls, her cries turned into horrifying screams.
My eyes widened at the sight of the innocent Barbaros woman flailing around, consumed by fire and pain, but I didn’t have the leisure to think about it; we had wasted a lot of time and her screams would likely attract more attention.
We ran as hard as we could away from Jenzyn’s home, the moans of the lady growing fainter, and four or five seconds into the run, Mylynzen’s explosion potion detonated, followed by subsequent booms from the other potions he had placed around it.
You have gained 900 XP!
The loud sound startled the baby, and it immediately started wailing.
Alarmed by the child, we slipped into a small alley between a row of wooden tented buildings and ducked behind a tall metal barrel.
“Hush, hush,” I said to the baby. I bobbled it up and down, trying to comfort it.
“What the hell was that boom?!” someone in the building beside us yell out.
“I have no idea,” another voice said. “Did someone’s Great Beast get out?”
There was stirring in several other houses around us, and I heard people opening doors and shuffling their feet outside.
Sung breathed hard. “I’m surprised you acted so quickly to kill her. You’re usually a softy.”
I’m surprised as well, Sora projected.
“It’s not like I wanted to,” I whispered.
“Save orcs, kill Barbaros,” Sung said with a grin. “Sometimes you’re hard to understand.”
I knew he was just pulling my strings. Sung knew just as well as I did why I killed the Barbaros—there was no viable way I could’ve let her live without us ending up dead or wanted. But it did get my mind spinning. There I was, running around with a baby orc that I worked so hard to save, but we had essentially just killed an innocent Barbaros out of need. I didn’t feel too great about it at all.
“Fire!” someone yelled from afar.
“There’s a fire! Find some water!” someone else yelled from closer, and I saw a group of three Barbaros running towards Jenzyn’s home.
The baby tensed its arms, and its crying intensified to a point that I was really worried it was going to draw someone’s attention. “Come on…” I said, moving its body up and down. “Don’t do this.”
“He’s hungry again,” Sung said.
“Well, we’re out of food,” I said. “Nothing we can do.”
I heard more feet coming down the path and nearing us, so in desperation, I instinctively placed my hand over the baby’s mouth, then covered my hand with its blanket to muffle its cries even more.
The baby’s cries were muted, but I knew I couldn’t cover the baby like that for long. It was too small, fragile, and I’d probably end up suffocating it if I did.
After a couple seconds of intense anxiety and using my hand to cover the baby, I felt a slight sucking sensation on the inside of my palm, and I couldn’t hear the baby crying anymore. I adjusted my hand, and as it slid down the child’s face, its strong sucking power drew the tip of my index finger into its mouth.
The baby sucked on my finger and nibbled like it was teething—its teeth not nearly as developed as an adult orc but still quite sharp, especially the two longest fangs. The pressure hurt a bit, but at least it was being quiet.
“Nice,” Sung said. “You got it to shut up.”
I smiled. “Let’s g—”
My eyes jolted open, and I jerked my hand back from the baby. Blood dripped down my finger from a hard, shocking bite that it had given me. I glanced up to see that 1% of my health had been depleted.
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
The baby immediately started crying again.
“You can’t be serious…” I groaned. “How can its jaws be so strong?”
“Everyone bring water!” I heard someone scream. “Fast before it spreads!”
“Oh shit,” Sung hissed. “More are coming by.”
I bit my lip, panicked, and stuck my bleeding finger back into the baby’s mouth and thankfully, it instantly went silent. It closed its eyes and suckled on my finger, essentially teething and drinking my blood at the same time. It was a foul act, but at least it worked.
I felt another hard bite, but I didn’t jerk this time. I just winced and tilted my head to the side, trying to ignore the pain. I stood up and looked down to Sung. “Come on… Let’s go while it’s quiet. Act as normal as possible.”
Sung stood, and we exited the hiding place.
More lights had lit up from the windows of various homes and structures around us. While Jenzyn’s house was no longer in sight, I could see tons of smoke and light from the fire rising into the night sky. The fire was huge, and as we moved forward, distinct, unintelligible chatter could be heard coming from its direction.
We walked slowly towards the exit of the city, and while various Barbaros ran past us, none of them gave us a second glance as they were all focused on addressing the massive blaze that threatened the city.
When we finally reached the entrance of Barbarosia, the same two guards who were there previou
sly were standing with their arms crossed. They were glaring in towards the center of town, curious about the fire, rather than the outside of the town as they normally would.
I grabbed Sung by the shoulder and pulled him behind a building before they could see us. “They watched us come in with Trynzen. Don’t you think it’ll look a little suspicious if the same guards see us leaving without him, right when the fire is breaking out?”
Sung pursed his lips and squinted as if he were thinking. “Yeah, you might be right. That one guard seemed particularly interested in Trynzen. Actually, he might have been the one who told Trynzen’s brother he was alive… How else did he find out?”
I nodded. “Let’s find another way out.”
“Bro, there’s no other way out of here. It’s surrounded by walls.”
“We could check the other side of the city, or maybe we can find a way to climb the walls.”
“With the baby?” Sung asked, shaking his head. “Nah, dude… We’ve got to get out of here fast.”
“So, you just want to chance walking by the guards?”
“We gotta distract ‘em somehow…”
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
I winced at the bleeding, then winced again when I felt the baby’s teeth piercing into my finger a second time.
My nostrils flared from the pain, but I held it all in. Sung was right though, it was risky to walk across the city and climb walls, and even riskier with the baby bleeding me out.
“Maybe we can find a rock and throw it near them…” Sung said. “That’s a pretty typical tactic to distract guards in video games.”
I shook my head. “That might get them to move away for a few seconds, but the valley outside is flat and wide. They’ll see us leaving for sure. We need something that’ll keep them distracted long enough that we can get out of their sights.”
“Like what?” Sung asked.
I pulled my aching finger out of the baby’s mouth, and the baby started crying again. “Here, take him… Use your finger.”