by Terra Snover
"You'll tell me everything or you'll die! " Ral shouted at Oracle. I heard the sound of metal hitting metal, probably Ral smacking her sword into the bars. Like I said, she wasn't much of an interrogator.
"Oh child, I would find this amusing if it wasn't so pathetic. I do not wish to speak with anyone unless it's your queen. Now, be a good girl and go get her for me. "
I rounded the corner of the hallway into a large room with a very deep pit taking up most of the center and a cage just big enough for a Human to lie down suspended above it. I walked to the edge of the pit, looking up at the cage with my arms crossed, tail twitching in an annoyed fashion. "I'm right here, what do you want?”
"Excellent. Red Queen, it seems you and yours have bested me again. Not to mention that you have imprisoned me." She tapped on the metal bars with two of her clawed tentacles. "I guess that leaves me at your mercy. What do you plan to do with me?"
I stopped and thought about this. With everything that happened yesterday, it really hadn't given me time to think things over. I'd mostly been reacting to situation after situation. "That all depends on you. If you tell me everything I want to know, you may yet live."
"I guess that's only fair. I would even say gracious. If our roles were reversed you would be dead right now." If I didn't know any better I would say she gave me an intense look, but seeing as her face had no way to change her facial expressions that was strictly impossible. Maybe it was in the way she moved, all of her joints and limbs tightening ever-so-slightly and the stillness of her eye on me. If I didn't have to be the badass queen right now it probably would have sent a shiver through my body. "Hell of a thing to say when someone holds your life in their hands." I took another step closer as I spoke. "If you weren't this mechanical abomination, I would say you have guts. "
"One does not need organic guts to be a fearless creature.” Still that uneasy stillness, and the intense stare on me like she was calculating how to slice my throat.
"I guess you're right." I migrated my hands to my hips and stared at her for a few good long moments. None of what happened in the last few days made any sense in the story. For starters, why would they create a race expansion and at the same time make a non-player race that was only here to weaken me? Why not just have them be a playable race or an ally of the Alliance? Especially since Adam had told me Oracle and her army were going to be joining me. Before, I figured I was just going to get her army and air ships under my control after I defeated her and that was going to be it. I wouldn't be seeing her again, but she once again made a bold attack on me and mine, and truth be told came close to killing me again. I closed my eyes for just a moment and took a deep breath. "So it's obvious you want me dead, but what I don't understand is the why?”
"Now, that's an easy answer; because of what you and your kind did to mine.” She slumped ever-so-slightly down, almost like she wanted to pounce on top of me. "Your Hellspawn forefathers brought our kind to the brink of death and forced us into these cold shells just to survive your continuous onslaught."
"What in the world are you talking about ?" I was genuinely confused. I never heard of this backstory. You think history this groundbreaking would be more common knowledge. Especially with the players that love looking into the lore of Another Online. So you think I would have heard that brought up in conversation at least once. Unless this was completely new. A story plot line getting retroactively added on the history of Another Online. "So, you're trying to tell me that all those years ago, the Hellspawn were the ones that ended the First Ones rein over this world? I find that hard to believe. All the ancient texts I've heard of say the First Ones were indestructible and you ruled over this world with a might that has never been seen or matched."
"I was there. I saw the horrors your people brought upon mine." Ugh, I was so done with all of this melodrama, role play crap. She wasn't there; none of this was here all those years ago when the damn game was created by sadistic humans to get their jollies out. Even though I technically didn't have to worry about getting punished for not playing along, I really didn't want Adam to realize that I had been doing so much accidental fiddling with my code. So I guess it was time to continue to play at the big bad bitch. “I haven't heard of this, but it doesn't surprise me. If you're some kind of big shot for your kind and my handmaiden and butler were able to best you, the rest of you must have been a cosmic joke.” That pissed her off because all but two of her remaining tentacles slammed against the bars, making a loud clamoring noise that echoed through the dungeon hallways for a good thirty seconds. It took all my willpower not to take a step back in instinctual surprise.
“You evil succubus, I will break out of this prison and pull the skin from your body!" She continued to pound on the bars. Luckily everything in this dungeon was well-made, the bars didn't give way. I really did not feel like fighting her again.
"Actually, I've run into others of your kind. I can't say I'm very impressed." I lied; the first ones were absolutely terrifying and if I had to fight them in Earnest I would definitely lose.
"They’ve finally awoken?" There was something new in her voice: could be hope, excitement?
In response, I gave a shrug. “They said someone had desecrated them and they woke in response to that. I imagine you were the one who did the desecration? Maybe to build your flying armada out of the bits and pieces of your brethren? "
"If they have awoken, you won't be around for much longer." She hunched even lower to the bottom of her cage and scraped a few of her claws across the metal floor.
“We'll see about that. You were kind enough to supply me with a metal army and armada of my own to attack them. Your idiocy has probably put the final nail in the coffin for your people." I turned away from her, showing how little I cared. I looked at Ral and ordered, "Lower her into the pit. I really am done talking with her."
"Yes, my Queen." Ral walked to the nearby wall, and the chain holding the cage slowly clinked down deeper and deeper into the pit. Oracle screamed and pounded at every surface she was able to reach in her small cage. "I will end you, Red Queen, if it's the last thing I do!" She slowly disappeared into darkness. The last thing I could see from her was her glowing red eye.
Chapter 15
The First Day
Where am I? I looked around the empty white void; no, it wasn't empty, there was a mirror. I stood from the cold white and tried to unfuzzy my thoughts. How did I get here? The last thing I remember was being at the mall with Papa, he was going to buy me a dress, something cute I could wear when I went to university. Then there was a man, he asked us if we wanted to make a bit of money to do a brain scan. We said yes and… nothing. “Hello?” I called out to the nothingness. Seemingly in response, a message appeared in my vision, ‘Walk to the mirror’. I moved my hand to my face to see if I had AR glasses on, but no, I didn’t have them on. How in the world could I be seeing these messages? “What in the world?” I asked myself.
‘Walk to the mirror or receive punishment.’ A new message appeared in my vision. What was it talking about? I called out again, “Hello, is anyone there?!” Suddenly, I felt a pain in my gut! It felt like someone had just punched me. I took a step back, clutching my belly. “What the hell?!”
‘Walk to the mirror or receive punishment, strength level 2.’
“What in the actual hell?!” I asked myself. Again, out of nowhere, something hit me, no, I felt it stab me! Something was stabbing my hand! I looked down, frantically trying to pull whatever was in there out, but there was nothing there. How could that be? I could feel it! Just as quickly as the pain came, it was gone. I was looking down at my hand and realized something was wrong, my skin was olive color, but I was as pasty white as could be. ‘Walk to the mirror or receive punishment, strength level 3.’ I didn’t wait to do the message’s bidding, this time I ran over to the mirror as fast as I could. Once I got there, the woman standing on the other side was not me! This woman was slightly plump, with brown hair and light brown eyes, and a
nice olive skin. She was dressed in a tan dress and white apron. I moved my hand to my face and she did the same. “What the actual fuck is going on here?!” Suddenly, I felt the stabbing pain again but this time in my eye! I shouted and grabbed my face, once again trying to pull out the phantom knife, but once again nothing was there. ‘Swearing is not allowed in Another Online,’ this new message flashed in my vision once the pain subsided.
I looked around the room, desperately trying to figure what the hell was going on. The mirror vanished and in its place a broom appeared floating in the air like magic. ‘Take the broom.’ This time I did exactly what the message said. It was clear if I didn’t do what it said bad things would happen to me. Once the broom was in my hands, a glowing line showed up on the floor and turned into a square about 3 meters by 3 meters. ‘Sweep the designated area. Idle task 1/57.’
Again, I did as the message said. “Okay, I’m sweeping the floor, I’m doing what you want, just don’t hurt me.” And whoever was doing this to me did just what I asked them not to do. I couldn't breathe. It felt like water was filling my lungs. I gasped for air but none would come! I fell to my knees, pounding the ground; was I about to die?! Moments later, I could breathe again. I took a deep breath of the wonderful air. Oh god, that was horrible. ‘Do not break character.’ What was this damn thing talking about?! What character?!
‘Sweep the designated area. Idle task 1/57.’ I tried again, this time not speaking a word. Once I was done the broom vanished and was replaced by a glass of water and a plate of cheese and bread. ‘Consume your meal. Idle task 2/57.’ I did this for hours, whatever this thing was, it had me do all kinds of random things from cleaning a window, to moving boxes from one pile to another. It was insane! Who the hell was doing this to me and why? Once we finished Idle task 57/57 wipe down countertop, a human man suddenly appeared. No, it was more a mannequin. Like one of those wooden figures you would use for reference drawing. ‘Welcome the guest to the item shop.’
“The item shop?” I asked, confused, and that was a mistake. I felt the bone in my arm crack in two. I screamed and grabbed my broken arm, and as expected there was nothing wrong with it, but it felt like the thing had snapped in two. I waited for the pain to go away, and just like the last time suddenly I felt fine again. ‘Do not break character.’ ‘Welcome the guest to the item shop.’ They flashed one by one again.
“Welcome to the item shop,” I spoke to the mannequin.
‘Smile when talking to the player.’ The player? What was this thing talking about? I felt a tingling in my ribs, I could take a hint. I gave the mannequin a smile and the tingling went away.
“Hello, I would like to buy some placeholder items please.” the mannequin said in a robotic voice and walked over to me. It was unsettling seeing the thing move. I almost shouted in surprise but I figured whoever was doing this wouldn't like it if I did. The mannequin held out a pouch. “How much will this get me?”
“I don’t know,” I informed it, again a mistake. This time it felt like my leg was getting burned.
‘10 Gold / 1 Placeholder items = 10 items max’ showed in my vision.
“10, you can get ten,” I blurted out, not wanting to do anything wrong again.
“Oh, I’ll take 10 placeholder items then.” I looked at him and took the bag. ‘Complete transaction.’ I was about to ask how when there were new objects in the room. A counter with a money box, a stack of white jars on a shelf and an empty box next to the shelf. This wasn't that hard to figure out. I took his bag of money and placed it in the money box, took ten jars and placed them in the empty box and handed said box to the mannequin. “There you go,” I said as I handed them over.
“Thank you.” It turned, took a few steps and vanished. Another mannequin took its place. ‘Welcome the guest to the item shop’ I was informed again.
“Welcome to the item shop,” I said to it, this time with a smile. And thus it went for untold hours. I did hundreds, no, thousands of variations of buying and selling items to the mannequin. Everytime I failed in the task, I felt a new kind of pain, and if I did well we just moved onto the next, harder task. I couldn't understand why I wasn’t getting tired. Or how I could be going so long without eating. I was just here following the will of a message in my vision.
After a particularly confusing interaction where the mannequin wanted to buy and sell hundreds of different items, that took about six tries to do right, a message showed up saying, ‘N Null-2244 assigned to N2-2244 the Boss. Spawning N2-2311, Amber Slone,’ and a girl showed up. She looked about twenty with red hair, pale skin, freckles all over her face and arms, and brown eyes with flecks of green in them. Some text floated above her head reading, ‘N2-2311, Amber Slone’. We looked at each other for a long time. It had been days since I saw something other than a mannequin and it felt odd. Without warning, she started screaming in agony, falling to the ground, writhing in pain. I ran over to her and was about to ask what was wrong when she stopped. She curled into a ball, crying. “What the hell just happened?!” I was about to say, but all I got out was, “What-” when every atom of my being exploded in excruciating pain. I was frozen, stabbed, drowned, on fire and other indescribable sensations happening in the entirety of my being. ‘Applying maximum punishment! Do not do anything to break the game character.’ There was a countdown of 5 seconds, then I was back to normal. When it was all over I found myself on the floor, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It was at this moment I put it all together, I was in a game like my sister used to play. Well, no, kind of like that, I was a, a… Oh, what were they called? A not-player something. Oh, a Non Player Character. This was why I had been running drills nonstop for days, that’s why I hadn't gotten sleepy or needed to eat. I wasn’t me anymore, I was a program.
“Hi, boss, can I lend you a hand?” The red headed woman, Amber, was standing over me with her hand outstretched.
‘Interact with N2-2311, Amber Slone.’ I was ordered to do it, by the message thing. Wait, if I was in a game it needed a boss, or system, or something to be giving the commands. This thing felt like a system, giving commands and making dumb rules. “Thanks.” I took Amber’s hand and together we lifted me off the floor. We stood there awkwardly for a moment, how in the world should we interact like the System was telling me to do without breaking character? I thought for a moment and that’s when it hit me, bullshit smalltalk when dealing with distant relatives or acquaintances. “I like your hair.” I pointed to her head.
“Oh, thank you. I like your outfit.” She seemed to understand this smalltalk was the way to do things.
“Oh, this old thing.” I pulled at the sides of my skirt. “It does the job. Your outfit is much better than mine.”
“I don’t know about that, gray with my complexion. I look like a ghost.” She gave a half hearted smile to me.
“As long as you don’t stay in an old house jumping out at people I think you’ll be assumed to be human and not the undead.” This may be uncomfortable but it was way better than the drills.
“Aw, well there goes my weekend plans.” We both giggled a little. Even though this was a forced conversation, it felt more natural than anything since I was brought here.
“Var, you seem pensive.” Amber looked over at me. Her flaming red hair shone bright against the deep green of the eastern garden, the one part of the grounds that wasn’t destroyed by the attack of the Crimson King.
“Oh, just thinking about the day we met.” I leaned back in my chair and took a big bite of my beef skewer.
“When you found me as a child and trained me to be your Hand?” That was the backstory we had come up with when we were upgraded to an N0 and N1.
I looked around to make sure no one was in earshot, and it was just us two, everyone else was busy on the other side of the castle fixing stuff. “No, the real first time we met. Back in the alpha testing days.” Could I call that remembering? It felt like said memory was happening to me again, like it just happened all those years a
go. These memories were melding into my mind more and more. It was getting harder and harder to keep time, continuity, or my thoughts straight.
Amber also looked around her to see if we were good to talk about non game stuff. “Oh wow, I haven't thought about those days for a long time. They feel more like a bad dream then a memory.” She shuddered. “What was it like for you? Did the System drill interactions with that mannequin thing?”
“Yeah, at least that mannequin didn’t have eyes. You should see the ones that live in the System Hivemind.” A chill went down my spine. “Very unsettling.”
“From what you have said about your time in there, everything sounds unsettling.”
“It’s only unsettling after you get out. When you’re in there, it’s peaceful, like you belong there…” No, that wasn’t right. “More like every moment you exist there has been your entire life. Like you are a new lifeform every second, you just exist in every moment and nothing more. Without memories there’s nothing that matters.”
“There are some memories that I would like to just be gone.” Amber looked to the sky and frowned. It looked like she was reliving some of those bad memories right now. She shook her head and shoulders as if trying to shake away the thoughts like a dog shakes away water. Her armor clattered just a bit as she shook, red embers emitting from where they rubbed together. Hold on, something changed, her armor was a bit different than it was before. I leaned in, the crest on her breastplate had changed from a flame to a rising phoenix. If you weren't really looking you would miss the change. “Did you edit your armor?”