The Player Blackout

by Lucas Flint

  “Cy …” I said, looking at Cy. “Who is that?”

  “I don’t know,” said Cy. Fear constricted his throat and he took a step back, as if he couldn’t decide if he wanted to run away or stay. “Never seen him before in my life, but I don’t like him.”

  That was when the Villain spoke. His voice was deep, rich, and commanding, but there was a slight buzz to it as well as if he was some kind of insect.

  “Hello, players of Capes Online,” said the Villain, each word clear and unmistakable, like the speech of a trained orator. “No doubt all of you heard those alarms going off mere seconds ago and wondered what it was. Or perhaps you felt the presence sweep over the whole world, the dark presence which invaded every corner of your being and made you feel true fear like you haven’t felt in a long time.”

  The Villain leaned forward, a twisted grin spreading across his inhuman lips. “This is not an announcement from the game developers. This is not a world event or a mission designed for players to complete. This is a proclamation of the new world order I, Dark Kosmos, intend to enforce on each and every player in this world which you call a ‘game.’”

  Then Dark Kosmos sat upright, his eyes gleaming with cruelty. “And my first action as the new ruler of this world is to punish all players for their crimes against my people.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “Punishment?” I said. I glanced at Cy again. “What does he mean by that?”

  “I-I have no idea,” said Cy, who was now trembling in his boots. “I’ve never even heard of a Villain named Dark Kosmos. Or what he means by ‘his people.’”

  Noting the absolute terror on Cy’s face, I could tell that this definitely wasn’t a scripted event. This was something that even Cy had not expected to happen, which meant that there was no predetermined ending for this … whatever this was. All I could do was turn my attention back to the TV and hope that Dark Kosmos would explain what he meant.

  Dark Kosmos reclined in his throne, a look of absolute confidence and triumph in his eyes. “Perhaps you are all thinking you can escape your punishment via logging off from the game and returning to the ‘real world,’ as you call it. No doubt many of you are furious about this turn of events and have decided to contact SI Games’ customer service to inform them of your complaints.”

  His eyes narrowed and his grin grew tighter and more bestial. “Unfortunately, I must inform you that you cannot log off. The safety features that normally allow players to log off of Capes Online whenever they want have been hacked and deactivated. For all intents and purposes, Capes Online is now your ‘real world.’”

  My eyes widened in shock. How was that even possible? Dark Kosmos had to be lying, right? I mean, I knew I couldn’t log off for obvious reasons, but I always thought that other players could because they still had their bodies in the real world. Yet if Dark Kosmos was telling the truth, then he had somehow managed to lock every single player online into the game. That was millions of people all across the planet, unable to leave their GamePods and return to their friends, family, and jobs. My hands clenched with anger as I thought about that.

  Dark Kosmos stroked his chin. “You might be wondering how I did that. I won’t bore you with the details, but rest assured that I did it. If you doubt me, try to log off. Or better yet, try to contact the outside world at all. Send an email, post on your favorite social media outlets, or even try a good old-fashioned phone call, and see how none of that works.”

  I quickly pulled up my menu and saw that the ‘Help’ button that normally allowed me to contact Chuck Omar was grayed out. I tried to click it several times, but nothing happened. I knew that my other communication lines had been disable already, but now I was truly cut off from the world. And so was every other player in the game.

  “I can already feel the collective terror rising within each and every player who sees this message, which is to say, all of you,” Dark Kosmos continued. “Feel your fear. Embrace it. Savor the taste like a fine wine, for the horrors have merely just begun. If you believe you are afraid now, then prepare yourselves for the true fear that is yet to come.”

  I had to admit, I did feel a little bit of fear, but mostly, I was angry and getting angrier and angrier the more I listened to him. Cy, on the other hand, was now hiding behind my bed, peeking over it with his eyes as if he was afraid that Dark Kosmos was going to come out of the TV and kill him personally.

  “Do you hope that the Capes Online developers will be able to regain control of the game and free you all?” said Dark Kosmos. He laughed. “They might be able to regain control after a while, but not before millions of you die. Oh, I don’t mean in-game. I am aware that you players will always respawn upon death. I tried to change that feature but was unable to disable it. No, I mean referring to your real bodies, the physical ones that go inert whenever you enter the game.”

  Dark Kosmos leaned forward again, manic glee on his features. “The GamePods that allow players to enter Capes Online do not provide the nutrition that your bodies need to survive. Give it a few weeks, if not days, in the real world without food, water, sunlight, and exercise and soon your bodies will die out on their own. That doesn’t even take into account the players suffering from medical issues in the real world, which will die even faster than the healthy ones. In any case, real death is but a few days away for most of you. And once you die in real life, you will also die in-game, because your minds are not hosted on Capes Online’s servers.”

  Dark Kosmos suddenly stood up. He walked up closer to the screen so his face was easier to see. “But not all hope is lost. I will give all players in the game—Hero and Villain alike—one chance to take me out. I am sending out to all players a Universal Mission, only three of which have ever been issued in the history of the game, to defeat me. If you can do so, then you will not only destroy me, but free yourself and your fellow players from the endless suffering I will inflict on all of you.”

  Suddenly, a huge notification appeared in my view. It was a large box bordered with gold lines and a loud trumpet sound heralded its appearance:

  UNIVERSAL MISSION: Defeat Dark Kosmos

  The Villain Dark Kosmos has taken over the world of Capes Online and locked the minds of every player into the game. Heroes and Villains alike must step up to the challenge of defeating Dark Kosmos and saving their world from his reign of terror. If not, then every player—from the bravest Hero to the vilest Villain—will die.

  This is a Universal Mission, which means anyone of any Alignment can accept and complete it.

  ALIGNMENT: Universal

  DIFFICULTY: Impossible

  RARITY: Unique+

  SUCCESS: Defeat Dark Kosmos

  FAILURE: Fail to defeat Dark Kosmos

  REWARD: All Capes Online players will be allowed to log off from the game

  ACCEPT? Y/N

  “Of course, I understand if none of you wish to accept this mission,” said Dark Kosmos. “It is, after all, Impossible to complete. But I am feeling generous, so I’ve decided to give you all a shot at taking me down.”

  Then Dark Kosmos stepped back. “But before any of you attempt to take me down, I would like to make an offer you may be interested in.”

  I was just about to accept the mission, but then paused when Dark Kosmos said that. Although I wanted to stop Dark Kosmos, I had to admit he caught my interest when he mentioned an ‘offer’ for us.

  “You see, I am not so cruel as to give you just one Impossible Universal Mission to complete,” said Dark Kosmos. “I am a merciful ruler and I will display that my mercy by offering all of you another, much easier to complete Universal Mission. Allow me to demonstrate.”

  Another Universal Mission notification popped up, this one different from the last, and it read thus:

  UNIVERSAL MISSION: Kill Hero Winter

  A Bounty has been placed on the Hero player known as Winter by the Villain Dark Kosmos. Although Bounties are normally only available to the Assassin and Mercenary classes, th
is Bounty has been made available to all players regardless of Alignment or class.

  This is a Universal Mission, which means anyone of any Alignment can accept and complete it.

  ALIGNMENT: Universal

  DIFFICULTY: Easy

  RARITY: Unique

  SUCCESS: Hand over Hero Winter to Villain Dark Kosmos/kill Hero Winter and present proof to Villain Dark Kosmos

  FAILURE: Fail to kill/capture Hero Winter

  REWARD: All Capes Online players will be allowed to log off from the game

  ACCEPT? Y/N

  “What the heck?” I said out loud. “Why is he targeting me specifically? What did I ever do to him?”

  Dark Kosmos, of course, didn’t hear me over the TV, but he did answer my question when he said next, “As you can tell, this second Universal Mission is far easier than the first. Winter is a new, very low-leveled player who doesn’t have very many Powers at his command. You can try to kill me, I suppose, but I can guarantee you that killing Winter would be far easier than going after me. You might be wondering why I singled out Winter out of all of the millions of players in the game, but that is for me to know. All you need to know is that he needs to die, and that if you do so, you will save the lives of millions of people. The choice, of course, is yours.”

  Then Dark Kosmos sat back down on his throne and interlaced his fingers together, a wicked grin on his face. “Now it is up to you. Will you attempt the impossible and try to kill me—a mission you are guaranteed to fail—or will you do the prudent thing and root out one among yourselves? Choose wisely.”

  With that, the TV turned off, leaving Cy and I standing alone in my room, staring at the blank screen and unsure of what to do next.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “Oh. My. God,” said Cy. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my—”

  “Cy,” I snapped. “Shut up.”

  Cy looked up at me from behind my desk, fear in his eyes. “But we’re going to die. Every player in the game is going to be after you. And since everyone is coming after you, that means they’re also coming after me. Why wouldn’t I panic?”

  “Because panicking is unproductive and won’t help us stop Dark Kosmos,” I said.

  Cy’s eyes widened so much that they looked like they were going to fall straight out of his eye sockets. “Hold on. You’re not telling me that we’re actually going to try to stop that guy, are you?”

  “I am,” I said. “And you are going to help me do it.”

  Before Cy could say anything, I hit ‘Y’ on UNIVERSAL MISSION: Defeat Dark Kosmos and received this notification:

  Wow. You really want to die, huh? Well, I guess you can’t accept the other mission, since that would basically be suicide. On the other hand, this mission is also basically suicide once you think about it. Either way, I hope you have fun. Bye!

  P.S. The 1-hour time limit preventing players from leaving their Bases after they have respawned has been lifted. You can now leave your Base after respawning without having to wait.

  Whoa. Even the system was shocked at my choice. I wondered why the system was apparently not doing anything to stop Dark Kosmos. Perhaps he had somehow hacked into it and rendered it useless. I noticed a tiny red dot appeared on my map titled ‘Dark Kosmos,’ which was apparently a location marker for Dark Kosmos’ current whereabouts. It was also nice that I could leave my Base now, rather than wait an hour.

  Shaking my head, I closed the notification and noticed that the notification for the second Universal Mission had also closed down. No doubt Dark Kosmos set it up so that you could only accept one Universal Mission or the other. He probably didn’t want anyone trying to do both at once.

  “Now we’re definitely going to die,” said Cy. He looked at me with a sad smile. “It was nice knowing you, boss. Hopefully we won’t die painfully.”

  “We’re not going to die,” I said. “We’re going to find Dark Kosmos and kill him ourselves. Even if every other player in the game is after us, we’ll still do it..”

  “If you say so, boss,” said Cy, “but I’m not sure why you want to do this. Wouldn’t it be safer to, uh, just hide out here in your Base? No one can get us while we’re in here. Even other players can’t enter without your permission.”

  My hands clenched tighter than ever. I thought about explaining to Cy that I couldn’t take Dark Kosmos’ taunting. How Dark Kosmos’ actions had trapped many people in the same situation as me. From a personal perspective, I had no reason to stop Dark Kosmos, considering how I couldn’t log in or out from this game at all. It wasn’t like I was personally being threatened by his actions, the second UM notwithstanding.

  But I hated the idea of other people being trapped in here. People with lives outside this game. People with friends, family, jobs, communities, hopes and dreams … all stuck in a game while their bodies slowly but surely decayed in the real world. Some of those people might receive medical attention that would allow their bodies to stave off the decay for a while, but the vast majority of them would not. And eventually, even they would die.

  It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. It was evil. And I became a cop—and now a Hero—precisely because I couldn’t stand evil. If I couldn’t return to my normal life, then I at least wanted to make sure that others could.

  Putting all of that into words that Cy could understand, however, was beyond me at the moment, so instead, I simply said, “It’s the right thing to do. It’s the Heroic thing to do. And we’re Heroes, aren’t we? Heroes don’t run away from danger. We rush headlong into it, heedless of the damage it might cause to our own safety, even if means laying down our own lives.”

  Cy bit his lower lip. “Yeah, you’re right. I shouldn’t be so afraid.”

  “No, you’re right to be afraid,” I said, “but fear doesn’t matter. We need to overcome our fear and save not just ourselves, but everyone in this game. Even if everyone comes after us because they think Dark Kosmos will actually free them, we still have to do it.”

  Cy gulped, but said, “Whatever you say, boss.”

  I smiled. Even though Cy could be a bit of a coward sometimes, it was good to know he was going to stay by my side.

  But even with Cy by my side, there was no guarantee that we would succeed. It was us against not just Dark Kosmos and whatever minions he might have, but also against potentially every player in Capes Online. Every single player—Hero and Villain alike—was probably gunning for me right now. Stepping outside of my Base might get me killed before I can even think about it.

  “We need allies,” I said, looking at Cy. “People we can trust to help us.”

  “I can’t think of anyone who might be willing to help us,” said Cy as he slowly rose from behind my desk. “Think about it. Anyone who sides with us will also be the target of every other player in the world. I can’t see why anyone would willingly side with us.”

  I folded my arms in front of my chest and thought this through. “Well, there might be one person who could help us. Let me send him a message.”

  Pulling up my inbox, I clicked Dillo’s name and sent him a brief message:

  Hey, Dillo, this is Winter. I hope you are okay after our fight with Omega Burst. Saw the notification that said we failed the Team Mission. I’m sorry about that. I feel like it’s my fault we failed. I should have done better.

  Anyway, I know you and everyone else in the game saw Dark Kosmos’ message and the two Universal Missions he offered us. I’m planning to take down Dark Kosmos, but am going to need allies if I am going to get anywhere near his Hideout. Would you and Hop be willing to help me? I know it’s risky, because right now I have a huge target on my back, but I hope you can help me anyway.

  If you don’t want to, though, I will understand. It is probably safer not to associate with me, anyway.

  I sent the message and said to Cy, “Cy, I just sent a message to Dillo and Hop asking them to help.”

  “Are we going to wait for their responses before we go anywhere?” asked Cy hop
efully.

  I shook my head. “Nope. Regardless of what they say, we need to head out to take down Dark Kosmos.”

  “But we’re safe in here,” said Cy as I walked over to the door. “Safer in here than out there, anyway.”

  I looked over my shoulder at Cy when I rested my hand on the doorknob. “Are we, Cy? Think about it. The longer we stay in here, the more time we give players to find my Base. Because they don’t have anything better to do, these players are probably just going to camp outside my Base until I come out and show myself. Or maybe they will find a way to break in. I mean, if Dark Kosmos can trap all of our minds in here, then I don’t see why he couldn’t also force open my Base to every other player in the game. If we leave now, however, then we might be able to lose the players who are coming after us.”

  “Oh,” said Cy, scratching his chin. “I never thought of that. When you put it that way, it makes a lot of sense.”

  “Exactly,” I said as I opened the door to the rest of the warehouse, “which is why we need to leave now. We need to get as much of a head start as we can in order to evade the people coming after us. I even have Dark Kosmos’ location on my map, so all we need to do is head directly to his location and take him out. Come on.”

  I left my room and Cy followed, but I could sense Cy’s reluctance even if he didn’t say it aloud. Not that I could really blame him. After all, even if we got a head start like I wanted, there was a good chance we might be attacked by some random players along the way anyway. With millions of players all around the globe, there was a good chance that more than a few players were already within close range of my Base. Hopefully, they would be easy, low-leveled players like me, but there was no guarantee of that.

  In any case, when I reached the exit, I poked my head out the door first and looked at the area around us. It was night-time now for some reason, which I assumed was probably due to Dark Kosmos’ actions. Even so, I could still see fairly well thanks to the street lamps, although I knew better than to let my guard down even when the situation looked calm.