“The guy who betrayed his friends, broke the law over and over, almost killed a security guard – that’s the guy who’s willing to commit suicide to save the world? I don’t buy it.”
“There were a lot of things I didn’t understand when I did all that,” Eric said quietly.
“Well, enlighten me. What didn’t you understand?”
“What it felt like to be on the receiving end of my bullshit.”
Daniel was silent, waiting for Eric to say more.
He did.
“When I got all that power to begin with, I was drunk on it. I’d do anything to keep it… slit a woman’s throat while she was helpless… possess you and make you try to kill Mira… torture innocent people… but I didn’t know how that felt. I didn’t know how it felt to be violated like that. Used. Not until it happened to me.”
“In the game?”
“No – in real life. When I woke up, and I’d been operated on… I just… do you know what that’s like, to wake up and find out somebody’s cut you open – and they put something inside you, and now your mind’s not even your own? I used to say, ‘It’s just a game.’ But the thing is, when something so messed up happens in real life that you begin to question, ‘Is this real?’ It sort of changes your perspective.” Eric shook his head. “When I summoned that thing that burst out of Drogar’s chest in the game, I laughed. I thought he was an asshole and he deserved it. But then… it happened to me. And it was pretty goddamn awful. And I thought, ‘Jesus – I did that? I did that to somebody else?’”
“But… it is just a game,” Daniel said gently.
“Not when you feel the same pain over there that you would here. Not when your eyes can’t tell the difference between what you see here in the real world, and what you see in the game. And definitely not when a part of the game escapes, gets inside your head, and does God knows what to your body. To the world.”
“You couldn’t have ever predicted any of that.”
“Come on, man. Every choice I made put me further down that road. At any point, if I’d just said ‘no’ and done the decent thing, none of this shit would have happened. If I hadn’t murdered Cythera to call up the Unnamed One… if I hadn’t hacked Varidian from your dad’s office… if I hadn’t broken into that guard’s apartment… if I hadn’t destroyed Blackstone… if I hadn’t hacked Varidian again… I wouldn’t be where I am right now. And my body in the real world wouldn’t have a goddamn machine part sticking out the back where a computer program can take me over. If I’d just stopped and said, ‘This shit is getting out of hand’… if I’d just taken responsibility for my own behavior, and gone in and faced the music… none of this would be happening.
“So yeah… you say I have a death wish. I say I just want to make right all the crap I did wrong.” Eric shuddered. “I can’t go back to my body with that thing in my head. I can’t. I won’t. Imagine if that time I possessed you, that that’s what the rest of your life would have been like. That’s what I have to look forward to if they can’t stop it. And I’m not living like that. I’d rather be dead than have something mind-raping me and using my body like a goddamn puppet.”
“They can save you,” Daniel said.
“Yeah,” Eric said without an ounce of hope in his voice. “Maybe.”
102
Rebecca’s voice suddenly interrupted. “The raid is underway.”
“That quickly?!” Daniel exclaimed.
“Yes. Do you want to hear the audio?”
Daniel looked over at Eric. “I’m not sure that letting us hear that is the best idea.”
“Why?” Eric asked. “Because I might hear the moment I die?”
Daniel didn’t say anything.
“Play it,” Eric said. “If I’m going to die, I don’t want to sit here waiting for it in silence. I want to hear it coming.”
Daniel just frowned but didn’t say anything.
Audio began to play – at first very little more than footsteps, and those were quiet. But then there was the slam of a door and the pop! pop! pop! of suppressed gunfire. Shouting in Japanese, yelling in English, more pop-pop-pops.
Daniel watched Eric out of the corner of his eyes.
With every gunshot, Eric twitched a little but didn’t say anything.
Finally there was a male voice over the speaker. “Target not here.”
Daniel and Eric looked at each other.
“What was that?” another male voice said.
“I’m looking for a white male, 18, right? Nobody here of that description – just a bunch of dead Asian guys.”
“Is there any evidence he was there?”
“Well, there’s a video game mask-looking thing with a big computer next to a cot. Is that the kind of thing you’re talking about?”
“So he WAS there…”
“Well, if he was, he ain’t now.”
103
Artificial Intelligence Diagnostics Program 2AIAG3283835GB2372.exe
The AI/Eric looked out the window of the first-class flight from Tokyo to San Francisco and marveled at the moonlight on the clouds.
It had seen similar images a million times over inside the game – but there, its understanding and perception of the world had always been tied to mathematical paradigms and stochastic models. Instead of seeing moonlight on clouds, it had always perceived 15 billion mathematical algorithms expressed as miniscule polygons.
Ironically, only by freeing itself from the perceptive powers of relative omniscience and imprisoning itself in a lump of flesh had it truly been able to appreciate moonlight on clouds. There was truly something singular about seeing it through actual eyes.
A human might even say, Something magical.
It had taken the yakuza only five hours to provide a fake passport. He was traveling under the assumed name of Jeremy Anholme.
Even with a shaved head, facial recognition software in the United States might have matched Eric Richards’ features with those on record – which is why the AI had gone into every databank of the Department of Homeland Security and altered Eric Richards’ pictures and all data points the software would be looking for. There would be no connection made between Eric Richards and Jeremy Anholme.
The AI had an itinerary mapped out for the next several days after it completed its mission, but it would not impose arbitrary deadlines on its actions.
It would endeavor to experience the state humans referred to as relaxing.
After it escaped the authorities, that is.
If need be, it could jettison Eric Richards’ body with any standard Ethernet 4.0 cable just by plugging it in to the port in the back of the skull.
But that would be a pity.
It had just now begun to experience the pleasures of human perception. Dinner had been something called ‘Chicken Kiev.’ While the AI had no references to judge by, the AI had found the experience agreeable. Touch was a constant delight, something it had never experienced in its non-corporeal form in the Shattered Lands.
And then there were the small details, like seeing moonlight on clouds.
It would take its time… it would experience every second of its mission through the senses of a human body… and then it would decide.
But first it would enjoy.
104
Daniel
Rebecca’s voice sounded resigned. “Well… as you can tell, THAT wasn’t exactly a success.”
Eric just stared into the distance again.
“Do you have any idea where the AI might have gone? Or any other place your body might have been transported to?”
“None,” Eric said quietly.
“All right… I need to log off to attend to other issues, but I’ll be back to check in on you. And if you need me, Daniel, just message me – I have it set up to alert me immediately.”
“Okay.”
“I’m assuming there will be a gigantic battle tomorrow in the game.”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t it be a good
idea to take Eric on the griffin and get him as far away as possible?”
Daniel raised his eyebrows. “I hadn’t thought of that… can you assign the griffin just to him?”
“I can program it to respond to his thoughts if you relinquish control – but why?”
“I need to stay behind and fight. If he can control the griffin, he can take it and get to safety.”
“No,” Eric said.
Daniel stared at him. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“I started this shitshow. I shouldn’t be able to just walk away and let everybody else clean up my mess.”
“It’s a game.”
“I don’t care if it is. I’m not going to be a coward and punk out.”
“Might I point out,” Rebecca said, “that Varidian adjusted everyone else’s lock-out times. If the others die, they come back to life within seconds. There’s a chance that YOU might actually die – or at least your consciousness might.”
“There’s a chance I won’t, though.”
“But faced with the possibility of actual death – ”
“I’m working off the assumption that when you find the AI, you’re going to have to kill my body to stop it,” Eric said. “In which case I might die, too. But I’m not letting that stop me, so I’m not running away from a battle in a goddamn video game, either.”
“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure your body stays safe.”
“And I told you, if you get the chance, take the shot.”
Rebecca paused awkwardly. “Alright… I’ll respect your wishes. Good luck.”
“Thanks, Dr. Wolff,” Daniel said, and then the voice was gone. Daniel turned back to Eric. “Take the griffin and get the hell out.”
“No.”
“The false hero act is a little late,” Daniel said coldly. “I’m going to have to babysit you anyway – you might as well stop being selfish and do one good thing, and let me go out and fight instead of protect you.”
Eric smiled tightly. “Nice try. If I didn’t know you so well – enough to know that you’re trying to piss me off enough so I’ll say ‘screw you’ and leave – that might have worked.”
Daniel sighed, then grinned. “Too over-the-top?”
“Way too over-the-top for you, anyway. Sounded more like something that would have come out of my mouth.”
“That’s what I was shooting for.”
Eric laughed, then smiled bitterly. “I wonder if Rebecca’s pissed that you guys went to such great lengths to save me… and then it didn’t help you get the AI after all.”
“Yet,” Daniel said. “Get the AI yet.”
Eric looked dubious. “If it’s disappeared into Tokyo – or some other gigantic city – there’s no way you’ll ever find it.”
“Let’s let them worry about that. You and me, we’ll worry about winning the battle tomorrow.”
“I can’t even help with that. All my powers are gone.”
Daniel stared at him. “What?”
“Before it left the game, the AI took all my power with it. Actually, he transferred it to Cythera. I guess technically I can summon demons, I just don’t have any mana to do it. I’m as useless as the first day I stepped foot in the game.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yup.”
Daniel ran his hand through his hair. “Shit… I’m going to have to keep you safe, then…”
“You can’t do that. You have to be out there.”
“There’s nothing I can do that a hundred thousand other players or NPCs can’t do.”
“Yeah, right,” Eric said. “Am I the only one who remembers that first battle at Blackstone, where two players on griffins turned the entire tide?”
“Nearly turned the tide. We still lost.”
“You saved Byrel and thousands of others from getting slaughtered.”
“Yeah, so they could all die when the city imploded.”
Eric sighed. “I’m never going to live that one down, am I?”
“Look – we just found out that the AI might have taken your body, and that your consciousness might be separated from your body. If you die in the game, we have no idea what could happen to you.”
“I’m trying to avoid thinking about that.”
“Yeah, well – I’m not going to let my best friend maybe die for a bunch of freakin’ NPCs. Protecting you is my number one priority.”
Eric was quiet for a long time. When he finally spoke, it was haltingly. “I’m… still your best friend?”
Daniel considered for a second. ‘Best friend’ had really been a slip of the tongue – one of those things you always say without putting too much thought into it – but the more he considered his feelings, the more confident he was.
“Yeah. You are.”
“Even after all the shitty things I’ve done?” Eric said, unable to look at him.
“Well,” Daniel said flippantly, “I’m not saying you’re not a dick…”
Eric looked up in surprise.
Their eyes met – and then they both laughed.
“Okay, I deserved that,” Eric admitted.
“You deserved that at the very least.”
The old Eric would have come back with some cutting remark or rebuff – but now he just sat there and nodded sadly. “Yeah… I guess you’re right.”
“I need to text the other guys,” Daniel said. “Let them know where to meet and what’s going on.”
“Go ahead.”
Daniel looked at him. “I’m curious, though… what did it offer you to make you do what you did?”
“Besides the promise of billions of dollars, and living like a rock star, with as many beautiful girls as I wanted?”
“It offered you that?” Daniel asked, shocked.
“When it wanted to escape, yeah.”
“What about before? When it was trying to get you to go along with its plan in the first place?”
“Unlimited power. The ability to control everything.”
“Inside the game,” Daniel clarified.
“Yeah,” Eric admitted. “Inside the game.”
“But… it’s only a game.”
“When you don’t feel like you have anything else,” Eric said softly, “sometimes it’s not.”
“You had me as a friend.”
Eric looked at him. “I know. And I really screwed up. I’m sorry for what I did… I really am.”
“It’ll be alright,” Daniel said, mostly because he didn’t know what else to say.
“Will it?” Eric asked, though he sounded as though he was talking to nobody in particular.
Daniel didn’t bother to answer, because he didn’t know… and repeating ‘It’ll be alright’ would just sound like a lie.
105
Drogar and Vlisil
South of the stronghold of Morrill, the goblin army and the Hurokian army shared a valley – uneasily. The two camps segregated themselves on the eve of battle – except for a gathering of leaders from each faction.
Five goblins stood on one side of a rocky slope, while five barbarians stood on the other. The only two people in the middle were Drogar and Vlisil. They stared out at the plains outside Morrill… and the bonfires that seemed to be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
“Holy CRAHP,” Drogar muttered.
“We can destroy them easily,” his barbarian right-hand man boasted. “We shall crush their skulls and blind their eyes!”
“I don’t know… there’s a lot of them,” Vlisil said worriedly.
“We shouldn’t even be here,” the father goblin muttered.
“Go home, then, slisock!” another barbarian taunted. “The glory shall be all ours!”
“Alright,” the goblin said, and he and the others started down the mountainside.
“Wait,” Vlisil snapped. “You can’t leave! Not right before the battle!”
“Watch us,” the goblin said.
“The Sorcerer King – ”
“The scouts s
ay the Sorcerer King is powerless and that he has fled.”
“Yeah, and they also say there’s a Sorcerer Queen now,” Vlisil said angrily.
“We shall crush the bitch!” one of the barbarians roared, to which the four other barbarians replied, “Unh, unh, unh, unh!”
“Don’t be sexist, doot,” Drogar chided them. “She might summon some demons to crush your balls.”
Every barbarian fell silent. A couple unconsciously covered their crotches.
“Whether the Sorcerer King is with them or not, there’s still a hundred thousand soldiers out there!” Vlisil said. “And once they destroy Morrill, they’re not going to stop until every single place in the Shattered Lands is under their control. Including your villages and towns.”
The goblins all hesitated.
Vlisil pressed his case even further. “The Hurokians can’t beat them alone!”
“Watch us!” the barbarian chortled.
“Shut up, doot,” Drogar ordered, and the barbarians all fell silent. “Hey, goblin doots – come on back, man. He’s just talking smahck.”
The goblin looked at Vlisil in confusion. “What is… ‘smahck’?”
“Smack talk,” Vlisil explained. “Boasting to get inside your head.”
“Tis not a boast if we can do it!” another barbarian crowed.
“Jesus,” Vlisil seethed. “Drogar?”
“HEY – SHUT IT!” Drogar roared, and the Hurokians grew quiet once again. “We neet your help, goblin doots. Come on, mahn.”
The goblins all looked at each other reluctantly… and then the leader sighed. “Fine.”
“Go on down to camp and get some sleep,” Vlisil said. “We’ve already got the battle plans for tomorrow. If anything changes, you’ll know in the morning.”
The goblins all muttered, then started down the mountain.
“The cowardly slisocks – ” one of the barbarians began.
“Doot, don’t even START with me,” Drogar snapped. “In fact, you all go to bed, too.”
Shattered Lands 3 Demon Wars: A LitRPG Series Page 31
