by Mia Archer
I rolled my eyes. “Come on. It’s time to get this over with.”
Though I was more nervous than before. The presence of that goddess, even in statue form, was troubling. She seemed to be the source of this power I’d so recently developed, and I had no idea what the fuck it meant that Chelsey had a statue to the same goddess.
Maybe it was just the art department in the game being lazy and using some of the same art assets in multiple parts of the game. I could hope that was it, but considering the way my time in game had been going I wasn’t holding my breath.
“Oh look,” Chelsey said when we got close. “The rizon rabble has come, and it looks like you’ve brought some pets. Literally speaking.”
Her eyes flashed and the eyes of all the guards around me glowed with the same light that they did when I’d done the spell, only it was a hell of a lot brighter than anything that’d been there when I was using the spell.
Immediately all the timers that showed me how much longer they were under my thrall disappeared. Their eyes narrowed as they turned on me and raised their weapons. I was suddenly uncomfortably aware of what those other girls had sounded like as these guards took care of them.
“Keep her under guard,” Chelsey said. “But that’s it. You don’t need to kill her. Yet.”
That “yet” seemed to have a hell of a lot of threat to it. I got the feeling if I stepped even a little out of line then she was going to do everything she could to kill my ass, and that wasn’t my idea of a good time.
I licked my lips. Smiled my most ingratiating smile. I wasn’t sure how ingratiating it was, and I doubted it was going to work.
“I don’t suppose we could come to an understanding?” I asked. “Maybe let bygones be bygones?”
“Oh we’re going to do far worse than that,” Chelsey said. “I have every intention of making sure you regret everything you’ve done since logging into this game, and when that’s done I’m going to get you kicked out of the Academy and sent back to the surface where I can have you taken care of for good without getting my hands dirty.”
I licked my lips again. Now we were getting to the part where she could threaten me in the real world as well as in the game world. I can’t say that I liked the idea of being banished back to the surface where she could find some criminal or another who’d be more than willing to kill my ass for the right price.
“Why would you do that?” I asked, stalling for time even though I wasn’t sure how the hell that was going to help me. “I could just delete that screenshot I took and we could part unlikely friends! How’s that sound?”
That smile grew more and more menacing. “Well yes, we could do something like that. The only problem is I have no way of knowing if you’re going to keep your word. If I were you and I only had that small bit of leverage you bet your ass I’d hang onto it, so I’m afraid the only thing I can do to make sure you never cause me trouble again is take you out.”
“Um, so did you ever stop to think that maybe I sent that to someone else I knew?” I asked. I was lying through my teeth, but the thing about a good lie is you have to make sure the person on the other side of that lie doesn’t know you’re lying through your teeth. That’s sort of the definition of a good lie.
For a wonder Chelsey paused and seemed to think that over. Like it genuinely hadn’t occurred to her that I might pull something like that. Fuck these rich fuckers up here were idiots for all that they acted like they ruled the world.
It was enough to make me think that maybe it wouldn’t be all that hard to put all their backs against the wall if the world down on the surface decided to rebel against these assholes, but that was something for later. After I’d survived this.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” she said.
“Yeah, I could sort of tell from the way you were staring at me that you hadn’t thought of that,” I said.
Chelsey moved across the room faster than I could’ve ever imagined. Her hand smacked my face and stars danced in front of my eyes. An unpleasant moment, considering how realistic the pain simulation was in this game.
I put my hand to my cheek. I know that’s cliche, but I couldn’t help myself.
“That fucking hurt!” I said.
“That’s sort of the point,” Chelsey replied. “Why the fuck else would I hit you?”
I glanced to the statue behind her again. It seemed to glow with that same strange magic I’d used to make my escape. It was enough to make me wonder if that was maybe my ticket out of here. Maybe my goddess friend was about to come to my rescue!
Chelsey followed my gaze. The barest hint of a smile played across her face.
“You like my statue?” she asked. Then she grew thoughtful. At least as thoughtful as someone like her could look, considering the very little brain she seemed to possess.
She tapped her finger against a very alluring set of lips. Hey, what can I say? Chelsey looked good. I wouldn’t mind getting to know her better if, say, we were in a situation where she wasn’t a total bitch who seemed hellbent on making me miserable and killing me.
“You know,” she said, still almost thinking to herself. “That seems to present its own solution to me, now that I think about it.”
“I’m amazed that you’re able to think about anything,” I said, my mouth running faster than my brain.
She turned and casually slapped me again. I’d like to say I was stoic in the face of torture, but that fucking hurt. It made me wish that there was some way to turn down the fucking pain on this thing just so I wouldn’t have to worry about her being able to torture me like this, but unfortunately I hadn’t seen anything like that in the options.
“Be quiet while I’m trying to think of ways to kill your ass,” she hissed.
“Oh excuse me,” I said. “I’ll just sit here all nice and quiet while you come up with new ways to…”
This time the hit was so hard that I went sliding across the floor. When I picked myself up Chelsey wasn’t even looking at me. No, she was staring at that statue thing and smiling as though something unpleasant had occurred to her.
Something that was going to be very unpleasant for me, that is.
“Oh yes,” she said. “Yes, I think that sounds like just the ticket.”
She whirled on me. That smile didn’t get any more pleasant as she stared at me. It was sort of pleasant watching the sway of her hips in that impossibly sexy outfit as she walked towards me, but only more pleasant in the sense that it was better than her smacking the shit out of me, I guess.
She leaned down over me. That had the added effect of causing the goods to go spilling out of her top. I went ahead and looked at those goods. I figured if she was going to do her best to kill me in the game and in the real world then the least I could do was make sure that I was going out a happy girl.
“Yes,” she said. “I think it’s time for you to learn what I’ve discovered. The thing that will let me take over this world and the real world!”
“You’re going to buy all the real estate over a certain level, melt the polar ice caps, and then charge people a ridiculous fee to live in the buildings you bought up?” I asked. “Won’t work. Ice caps already melted.”
Chelsey blinked a couple of times.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” she asked.
“Clearly you aren’t a fan of some of the animated hits of the latter years of the twentieth century,” I shot back at her.
This time the hit was almost expected. It seemed to be her favorite tool for dealing with a world that annoyed her. I didn’t even bother to put a hand to my cheek. Not when I figured she was going to keep doing this until she either killed me or got tired of tossing me around and wound up tossing me back in the dungeon or something.
“No. I’m going to show you the power of the goddess,” she said.
I rolled my eyes. I knew my mouth was writing checks my cheek wasn’t able to cash, but I couldn’t help but run that mouth. It was one of my weaknesses, and she’d
left me with such a delicious opening that I couldn’t help myself.
“I’ve known a few girls who introduced me to the power of their goddess,” I said. “I never had you pegged for one like that, but I guess after that picture I got of you in that rich people orgy I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re into some kinky shit.”
She thrust a hand out this time. Which I figured was better than a slap, but I also figured it couldn’t mean anything good for me from the way that whole goddess statue thing was glowing with an intense energy that was way more than anything I’d been hit with back when I was in that forest and a similar smaller statue was glowing at me and maybe killing the nice welcome bear that’d been coming at me.
Yeah, maybe this one was more powerful because it was a bigger statue or something. Either way the point was I was well and truly fucked if that thing got off whatever the fuck it was…
Pain wracked my body as the light hit me. I started twitching trying to figure out the best possible way to be in excruciating pain without embarrassing myself too fucking much. The only problem being there really wasn’t any position I could take that didn’t involve a bunch of excruciating fucking pain the way that thing was hitting me.
Motherfucker!
“Fuck you!” I managed to cough out, but just barely.
That didn’t stop Chelsey from glaring at me with the sort of malevolent intent that was usually reserved for villains from animated movies put out by the mouse back before they became the multinational entertainment conglomerate that controlled all entertainment in the world.
“Oh dear,” Chelsey said. “Is the pain too much for you?”
She leaned down over me. It was difficult to see what the fuck she was doing considering the whole world was a blinding bright light surrounding me, but I still managed to get out a middle finger to point at her and let her know exactly what the fuck I thought of what she was doing to me.
Not that I thought it was going to do me a damn bit of good in the long run to give her that last bit of defiance. No, in a moment this whole room was going to disappear around me and I’d be killed. I’d have to log out into the real world where she’d have people waiting for me if I was unlucky.
If I was lucky she’d engineer some way to get me sent back to the surface where I’d have to live out my remaining days wondering when the dagger or bullet was going to land in my brain and take care of me for good.
It didn’t seem like the best of ways to live out my days, but it’s not like the rich and powerful living up in the elevators gave any fucks about what the people down on the surface thought about how they were running things.
Then the digital world disappeared around me. I blinked a couple of times. Wondered if I was going to be treated to the death animation all over again.
Only nothing of the sort happened. No, I was floating among the clouds. Like I was literally floating among the clouds and wondering what had just happened here.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hello there,” a sultry voice said.
Chills ran up and down my spine at that. Then they ran to other parts of my body, and it was tough for me to think of much of anything as that voice moved its tendrils into my brain.
I turned. My mouth fell open. I found myself staring at none other than the very same goddess I’d met in that clearing with the welcome bear. The one who apparently was part of the decor in Chelsey’s chamber.
“Um, hi your worship?” I said, wondering if she was going to kill my ass now that I was in her realm or something. Like maybe that was how this had to work. Chelsey sent me up here to where the goddess was waiting for me, and now she was going to hit me with the sexy just long enough for me to let my guard down and then when that guard was down she’d turn into some bug-eyed monster or something and kill my ass.
“So is this the part where you kill me?” I asked.
The goddess cocked her head to the side. Regarded me as though I was a particularly curious puzzle for her to figure out. Then she laughed, and it was the sort of sound that went straight to those other parts I was talking about earlier.
“Kill you?” she asked. “Why would I go and do something like that when I have so many more interesting things in mind to do with you?”
Oh hell yes. I wasn’t sure where the hell this was going, but I did know that I liked where the fuck it was going if it was going where I thought it was going.
“Um, so what exactly did you have in mind?” I asked, wondering if I was about to have a heavenly encounter with this goddess.
32
New Champion
The goddess moved forward. Her skin seemed to shimmer and shine as she moved, and I was struck with something that seemed just a little odd about her as she moved. Like we’re talking there was something that almost seemed to cover her as she made her way around the clouds, but at the same time it was the sort of shimmering and shining that also left very little to the imagination.
She reached out and ran a finger along the length of my shoulder as she passed. Her touch was electric. Like I’m talking it was literally electric wherever she touched me. It sent little charges of energy flowing through me, and I wasn’t sure what the fuck to think of that.
“You’ve been very busy in the game,” the goddess said.
I blinked again. I was pretty sure there shouldn’t be any characters within this game who knew this was a game.
“That’s right,” she said with a smirk. “I know all about my prison.”
Her mouth turned down as she said that. Clearly she didn’t like the idea of being trapped in a prison.
“Um, so what are you going to do with me?” I asked.
The goddess threw her head back and laughed. It was a sound that rolled over me. It was the kind of sound that had me wondering if we couldn’t maybe have some of that fun I’d been thinking about earlier, but she didn’t seem all that interested in that sort of thing at the moment.
“Of course you’d want to know what I’m going to do with you,” she said. “You see there are many of my kind in the game who are looking to take over this world. It just so happens that you happened upon my statue first.”
“Um, pardon me,” I said, holding a finger up. “But it seems to me that Chelsey was actually the first one to happen upon your statue.”
The goddess frowned again. Even when she was frowning and glowering at me she had the kind of look that made me want to jump on her and see what kind of fun we could have. I knew I shouldn’t be thinking that sort of thing, not about a supposedly powerful creature in this game who knew she was a powerful creature in this game, but I couldn’t help myself. There was something about her that made me want to jump her.
“Your friend did find me first,” she said. “That is true. And at first I thought she might have what it took to go forth and conquer in my name. But it turns out she’s far more content to sit in her small corner of this new world thinking small thoughts about what she wants to do with the power I’ve given her.”
“So from the way you’ve been griping I’m guessing there’s something else you have in mind for trying to take over the game world now that your first servant has kinda shit the bed?” I asked.
Again the goddess looked at me. Again the barest hint of a smile played across her face.
“I knew you were going to be the right choice,” she said. “I had a feeling from the first time I laid eyes on you running from that bear and doing everything you could to kill it even though you knew you weren’t going to survive that encounter.”
“So glad my quiet desperation could impress you,” I said.
“I was nice enough to kill the bear for you,” she said.
“Yeah, and then when I logged back in I was hit with the death animation anyway,” I said. “You’ll forgive me if I’m not all that happy about that.”
“You’re the one who made the mistake of leaving my world in a spot where you could’ve been preyed upon by some of the many unpleasant creatures that wande
r that world,” she said with a shrug that told me it was no concern of hers if I was stupid enough to get myself killed. “I killed one bear for you. It’s not my fault another one came along while you were re-entering my world.”
“Right,” I said. “So you want me to take care of Chelsey and then try to take over the world? Anything else while you’re making tall orders?”
The goddess smiled and leaned in closer. Close enough that I could smell a faint perfume wafting off of her. It was the kind of perfume that was mildly intoxicating, and it was made all the more intoxicating by the way she was spilling out of the wisps of white fabric that were barely there when she leaned forward.
“I think you can think of a few of your own reasons for fulfilling my desires,” she said, so close that her lips were almost brushing against mine. “I saw that in you. That’s part of the reason I was interested in you becoming my champion. Your world is as broken as this one, and there is a path to fixing both if you serve me.”
I decided to ignore, for the moment, the fact that she was talking about rummaging around in my brain like it ain’t no thang. It was yet another reminder that this video game was getting access to all my secret wants and desires, and I wasn’t sure what to think of that.
I also wasn’t sure what to think of a goddess in a game telling me she could help me fulfill some of the revolutionary ideas that’d been occurring to me since well before I got into Orbital Academy.
I was sure I was going to have to stop and take a good long look at whatever end user license agreement they were running for this thing, though, because I didn’t like the idea of them rummaging around in my head like that thank you very much.
“It’s sounding to me like there are a lot of reasons why you’re interested in me being your champion,” I said.
“Is that so bad, considering it will give you power and money and fame the likes of which you’ve never imagined before?”
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “You’ll forgive me if I have trouble believing I’m going to be getting any of that from a video game. This might be realistic and everything, but it’s not like anything that happens here is going to translate into the real world.”
