Copyright © 2019 by Harmon Cooper
Copyright © 2019 Boycott Books, LLC
Edited by Andi Marlowe (www.andromedaediting.com)
Narrated by Jeff Hays and Annie Ellicott
www.harmoncooper.com
[email protected]
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Facebook Group: https://geni.us/ProximaGalaxy
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HarmonCooperWriter
All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
EverLife
Chapter One: Cash Rules Everything Around Me
Rather than stick around and watch our Proxima bank account dwindle as Iris took over the Dojo remodel, I lifted my finger and logged out.
The tone sounded, the Proxima galaxy disappeared, and I was back in Iris’ studio apartment, my counterpart lying next to me on her bed, her NV Visor still strapped to her face.
I placed my hand on Iris’ arm for a moment, just looking at her.
She was lifeless at the moment, as if she were in a deep sleep, but she’d be herself again once she logged out.
Ignoring some of the messages on my iNet dashboard, I ordered an Uberyota rideshare to my apartment and eventually made it outside, only to be told via a flashing icon that the vehicle would be a few minutes late.
I sighed, looking up at the dark sky, which was blotted out by gray clouds, the moon a blurred orb.
I was disappointed about our discovery in the Steeple of Litur and Industria. Not that I was expecting something big, but to get all the way to the top and find nothing? What a letdown. Then there was the surprise attack on our Dojo from the man named William, who was out to get us for some reason.
I felt more annoyed at this now than I felt angry. Who would do something so petty?
But Iris would at least deal with some of the destruction he caused through the remodel, and we would get William back, eventually.
It was only a matter of time.
I sat on the stoop that led up to Iris’ flat and activated the Monster Hunt app out of sheer boredom.
“Poor pathetic little Chase,” Aya said as her form took shape next to a trashcan. The dragon woman narrowed her orange eyes at me, and took a step forward, her armor clanking against her broadsword. “He needs to lick his wounds a little in his own world.”
“I think it’s cute,” Lady C. said. She was in her warrior get-up, her hair tied tightly into a thick braid that draped over her shoulder. “It’s good to brood sometimes.”
“Of course you do. You probably find Chase’s morning bowel movements cute as well.”
I started to laugh. “You’re just too much sometimes, Aya.”
“Some people think I’m not enough,” she said as her ghost limbs lifted her into the air.
“Don’t mind her.” Lady C. sat next to me and placed her head on my shoulder.
“Chase, I like you, really, I do,” Aya said, still hovering over us. “But if you are going to let that armored buffoon attack our guild and do nothing about it, I may be forced to find a new Alpha.”
“I won’t leave you,” Lady C. said.
“Like I said before I logged out, we’ll figure out what to do with William.”
She shrugged. “Thuleans have a saying about giving someone a taste of their own medicine.”
“Yep, we have the same saying,” I told Aya as she continued to hover.
“So Americans like poisoning people too?” Aya flashed the ‘okay’ sign at me. “Good to know! And you are sure that you’re okay with little Iris fixing the guild? I told her not to dare touch our cabins, aside from repairing them. I hope she doesn’t make the place too girly.”
“Time for bed,” I said as the Uberyota lowered onto the street in front of Iris’ apartment.
“Do not go to sleep without brushing your teeth,” the Thulean reminded me. “I will be there to judge you if you do.”
“I know, I know.”
I felt her ghost limb fall onto my shoulder as I moved past her.
“Promise,” I said as I let Aya and Lady C. get in first, which must have looked strange to the man in the front passenger seat who was getting dropped off somewhere in Bushwick (according to the flashing words on the inside of the vehicle’s windshield).
But the other passenger didn’t say anything, and the trip was relatively quick anyway, especially since I didn’t live so far from Iris.
I just didn’t feel like walking home.
The Uberyota eventually lowered onto the street, Aya commenting on the guy in the front seat and how little he was compared to her.
I was glad he couldn’t hear us.
As usual, my roommate Alex was asleep on the couch, a local magazine open over his chest as he snored.
“There’s a Thulean animal that is like this man,” Aya said as she walked by. She unsheathed her sword and slowly lowered it onto his head. “Too bad,” she said once it passed through.
“Which Thulean animal?” Lady C. asked.
“A fat dragon.”
“So there is a particular Thulean dragon that is fat?”
Aya gave the Metican warrior a snooty look. “Yes, a gunsyakhai. I’m sure you have heard of this.”
“Umm…” Lady C. stopped, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. “Yes! I know what that is. A Unigaean warrior named Oric Rune once slayed one in Tritania.”
“Then he got lucky.”
Once we reached my bedroom, I ignored their conversation and ducked under the pipe in my room, heading straight for my toothbrush.
By the time I finished brushing my teeth, both Aya and Lady C. were in my bed, Lady C. curled up, her eyes shut, and Aya sitting with her legs crossed, her armor now removed and replaced with a tight tank top that showed her nipples and barely covered the green skin of her chest.
“All my other sleep clothes were dirty,” she said with a huff. “No touching.”
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
The next morning came faster than I would have liked. Aya was snoring, her hair a mess, her tank top hiked up and exposing her midriff. I moved to the right hoping to find Lady C., and when I couldn’t, I slowly moved to the edge of the bed.
The Metican warrior now sat on the floor, The History of Mortem and Chrono Magic open in her lap. She wore a dark blue blouse that I’d never seen her wear before, and her hair was down for once, her bangs nicely framing her face.
“Morning,” she said as I slowly moved away from Aya, careful not to wake the beast.
My iNet screen came alive as messages from Iris and a weather update popped up.
This was followed by advertisements, McStarbucks and Krunkin’ Kronuts both having some sort of fall special that involved pumpkin spice in some shape or form.
I mentally swiped away all the clutter, focusing on the video message from Iris.
“Chase, I’ve redesigned the place, so, um, I hope you like it.” She looked away for a moment. “Also! One more thing, and don’t hate me, but I just want you to know now that I spent all the money on repairing the place. But even so, the architects hooked it up. Check the bill. We can do some hunting to recoup some cash.”
“All the money, huh?” I whispered. I focused on the Monster Hunt app until my bank account information appeared.
Proxima Dollars: 1,845,000,000
Spent: $167,670
Loan: 0
A bill from Miles, Yards and Peter Meter popped up, replacing my bank account numbers in an instant.
In a way, Iris had fleeced them with her 22k discount. I still didn’t know what RCD meant, but after working through a couple of iterations, I figured it meant Repeat Cus
tomer Discount.
Either way, I was interested to see the dojo, but didn’t quite feel like logging in at the moment.
“Wait,” I said aloud, my blurry mind mentally swiping the bill aside and moving back to our Dojo’s bank account:
Proxima Dollars: 184,500,000
Spent: $167,670
Loan: 0
Nearly two-hundred-million Proxima Dollars?
It had to be some sort of mistake; there was no way, no way, we had that much money.
Thinking of the exchange rate changed the Proxima Dollars into USD almost instantly.
“Fifteen million dollars?” I asked aloud.
“Shut up or I kill you,” said Aya, who still rested next to me.
It has to be some sort of mistake, I thought, my hands suddenly shaking.
I dropped down next to Lady C., firing off searches about sudden deposits in someone’s Proxima bank account.
There wasn’t much, just a few random stories about someone forgetting they’d traded gear for dollars the night before, or that they’d lost money after they were robbed in EverLife, which was apparently something that happens in Kingdom Ignis.
“Why the troubled look?” Lady C. asked, cocking her head to the left.
“Not troubled. It’s just so much… no way. There’s no way.”
“What are you talking about?”
I went for my glasses on the nightstand, took a deep breath, and checked the numbers again. “We’re rich? Yes. I believe we’re rich.”
“In that case,” Lady C. said as she shut her book, “We’re still going shopping today, right?” Her book disappeared, leaving behind a small cloud of sparkles.
I recalled then that Dalton the ink shadow had gotten us a gig in Kingdom Sana, and there was a big shopping district there as well...
“What do you think, Mr. Rich Guy?”
“Quiet…” Aya growled from the bed.
“I don’t know if it’s our money or not,” I started to tell the Metican warrior, my voice raising in volume.
“Shhh, you’ll wake Lady Aya. It’s just you and me right now, which it should have been last night. Why did you call both of us?” the Metican warrior asked, giving me a pouty face.
I ran my hand through my hair. “I don’t know, I guess I just needed some company.”
“Am I not enough?”
“You know that’s not the case.”
Iris’ face appeared in the bottom left-hand corner of my pane of vision. “Chase, I’m at your place now. Did you get my message? Are you awake? I have coffee!”
“Iris is here,” I announced.
“Can’t she wait outside just a little bit longer,” Lady C. asked, sighing miserably.
I stepped out of the room, noticing that Alex was now gone. “It’s cold out there,” I called back to the Metican warrior.
The digital weatherman was right. As soon as I opened the front door, a breeze slipped in, kicking a few brown leaves into the living room.
“It’s so windy today.” Iris was in a turtleneck sweater, a bomber jacket, cut-off jean shorts, leggings and a pair of old DisNikes. “One latte for Chase…”
“Iris, have you looked at our Dojo’s bank account recently,” I asked her, still mentally refreshing the numbers just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.
“I told you I spent it all. You got my message, right?”
“Iris… just take a look.”
She nearly dropped the latte she was handing me, but managed to save it just in time. “How did… whose money is that? Wow!”
“No idea…” I started going through the messages I had ignored last night and found one was from someone I didn't recognize.
“Ray Steampunk? Does that name ring a bell?” I asked Iris.
She nearly shoved me. “Why would Ray Steampunk... Wait, you really don't know who that is?”
“How am I supposed to know who this guy is?”
“What are you two going on about?” Aya asked as she entered the living room, her orange hair a mess. “And where is your fat roommate? I was going to tickle him. Or kick him. Maybe kick him.”
“The message is from Ray Steampunk,” I told Iris. “It says... No, this is impossible. I'm forwarding this to you. It can't be true.”
Iris’ eyes flashed for a moment as she read the message that I’d just received.
“Holy shit…”
“Shit cannot be holy,” Aya told Iris. “And I am disappointed in your use of colorful language. Now someone tell me what is going on?”
The message from Ray Steampunk congratulated me for discovering the secret of the Steeple of Litur and Industria, that it was related to chakras and music. For being the first to discover the secret, I was awarded the equivalent of fifteen million bucks in Proxima dollars, I would also be given real estate, which would be discussed as soon as I met with Steampunk’s lawyer.
There were no strings attached.
I was free to do with the money what I wanted, and only I, or people I approved, would have access to the steeple. The last line also caught my attention:
Perhaps it would be a great place to form a Dojo, or perhaps you would like to sell it.
“Chase, I don't think… no, I do think you understand. Don't you? Do you understand what this means!?” Iris asked, her voice suddenly shrill.
“I get it, I get it.” I gulped. “I’m… rich.”
“Yes, you are rich!” Iris jumped forward and gave me a hug.
“Ooo, how cute, better not let Lady Cassandra see that,” Aya muttered.
“What should I do with this money?” I asked Iris, a weird feeling in my stomach.
“I really don't know what you should do about it. Maybe cash half of it out? I'm assuming you're going to get a letter from Ray Steampunk's lawyer relatively soon. And I don’t know about the property part.”
“What am I supposed to do with this much money?” I asked, suddenly feeling confused. “What about taxes?”
“Maybe you can start by getting a nicer apartment,” Aya suggested. “And only a fool would pay taxes. There are good accountants in Ultima Thule who can make sure you don’t pay a dime.”
“Chase is getting a new apartment?” Lady C. stepped out of my bedroom and plopped down on the couch. “I'm so glad your roommate is gone; he was snoring way too much last night. Why does he always sleep on the couch? Doesn't he have a bed?”
“Wait, are you advocating tax evasion through a digital accountant?” Iris asked Aya.
“Of course I am! What the government doesn’t know won’t hurt them…”
“Yeah, no,” Iris said, “you’ll have to save some of that for taxes. Shit. It’s New York State.”
“So half?” I asked, still looking at the number on my pane of vision. “I have no fucking idea.”
Iris placed her coffee on the table. She sat next to Lady C. and massaged her forehead. “Damn, this is crazy.”
“Chase is rich now,” Lady C. told her. “Cool, right?”
“And the first thing you are talking about is taxes?” Aya laughed so hard she nearly fell over. “Chase, worry about taxes next year, you fool! Spoil yourself, spoil us. No… spoil me!”
“She really is the devil on your shoulder, isn’t she?” Iris asked.
“And I’m the angel,” Lady C. chimed in with a sweet smile on her face.
Aya rolled her eyes. “Please, Lady Cassandra, you are making me sick over here.”
“I guess… I guess we could start by getting all the gear we want. We could also get your Juno-60 repaired,” I finally said.
Iris started to laugh. “You get fifteen million dollars deposited into your bank account and the first thing you worry about is music?”
“I…” I shrugged.
Taking my first sip of caffeine helped, but I was still under the impression that someone would take the money away from me sooner than later.
Aya stepped over to me. “Chase, you worry too much. I’ll make this simple for you. First, you spoil yo
urself in this world; second, you spoil us in ours; and third, we use the money to make William’s life hell.”
“Plus you have a tournament to get ready for,” Iris said.
“About that…”
“What’s that look supposed to mean? You’re still going to take part in the tournament, right?” Iris asked me. “I mean, that’s kind of why we went through all the trials and tribulations to begin with.”
“Does it really matter anymore if we’re the toughest Level Four players in EverLife?” I asked honestly. “The main reason we were doing this was for money and now…”
Iris’ eyes darted away from me.
“I’m just saying, that’s sort of why we were doing all this in the first place, you know, for funds. And now we have funds.”
“And we’re not having fun with our funds,” Aya pouted. “Look, Iris, sweet nerd musician. How do you musicians say it? Ah, I remember—let’s play it by ear. We can start with spoiling ourselves, and then go from there.”
“I’m surprised you aren’t more interested in the tournament,” Iris told her.
“I’m interested, but I’m also interested in going to a spa in Kingdom Sana and getting pampered. Thuleans love being pampered. We may have rough edges, but they can be smoothed out,” she said, with a little wiggle of her ass.
“And there are some pretty good bookstores there,” Lady C. added. “Also, Chase probably wants us to get some different outfits. We always wear the same things.”
“I’ve noticed,” said Aya, looking down at her armor.
“We shouldn’t start spending any of the money until we get confirmation from Steampunk’s lawyer,” I said. “And I don’t care what you wear.”
“Okay,” Lady C. said, starting to take off her clothes.
“Wait,” I said, Iris’ laughter meeting my ears. “You know what I mean.”
As if the famous game developer’s lawyer was listening, a message came to me from a man named Thomas Baker, who just so happened to have an office in Midtown, not far from Bryant Park.
“Well, it looks like we’re going on a ride,” I told the three. “Steampunk’s lawyer just contacted me.”
Monster Hunt NYC 3 Page 1
