by Mia Archer
“Are you so sure of that?” she asked, pulling back.
I have to admit I was of two minds on the hot goddess pulling back. On the one hand it was kind of nice to be freed from the dizzying effects she had on me when she got close like that, but on the other hand it was a touch disappointing to have the hotness pulling away from me.
“Whatever,” I said, shaking my head and realizing I was being given an out from my current fucked up situation. That was enough for me for the moment. “I think some good old fashioned revenge is going to be reason enough for me to take on Chelsey, so what exactly did you have in mind?”
“I thought you might agree with me,” she said. “You’ve been given an amazing power. You were already charismatic when you were down on the surface of your world, but that’s nothing compared to the gift I’ve given you.”
I thought back to the modified Charisma score I’d seen when I created this new character. And suddenly a bunch of pieces were falling into place. Sure they were the kind of pieces that should’ve been falling into place a hell of a lot earlier, but what the fuck ever.
“So you’re saying people are going to do what I say?” I said. “That I have the ability to mind control people or something? Like what I saw Chelsey doing?”
I thought to that strange power that’d taken over some of the people I’d been trying to convince to do things my way since I created this new character. To the strange flash in their eyes and the way they suddenly seemed willing to do whatever they could to please me. The thought that I was somehow using some of the same power that Chelsey had been using to manipulate people disgusted me.
“If that’s what you plan on having me do then you can go ahead and kick me out of wherever the fuck we are right now, because I’m not interested in dominating someone’s mind or anything like that. I don’t care if you’re splitting hairs and saying they want to do something after your power takes them over. I’m not pulling that kind of involuntary shit with someone.”
The goddess smiled again. It was a beatific smile. There was none of the oozing sexiness that’d been there before. No, she looked like a teacher who was pleased with something a student had just come up with.
I suddenly got the feeling that there’d been a test going on here, and I’d just passed that test with flying colors.
“I knew you were the one to go out into the world and spread my message,” she said. “I should’ve looked into Chelsey’s heart and realized what she was doing, but by the time she perverted my power it was too late for me to do anything about it.”
The goddess took in a deep breath. Let it out in a sigh. I got the feeling shit was about to get real. She sat down on a cushion of clouds that rose up to meet her shapely ass as she sat. I wasn’t sure if I was more impressed with the curve of her backside or with the way those clouds came up to make an impromptu chair as she sat.
“I’m going to be honest with you,” she said, suddenly sounding a lot less like a goddess in control of her domain and a lot more like one of the harried students at the Academy who was doing their best to keep afloat.
“And that honesty is?” I asked.
“That honesty is I’ve completely lost control of this situation,” she said. “There’s no point in me trying to sugarcoat this with you, because if you don’t manage to save me then there’s a good chance I’m going to remain a slave for as long as that damnable woman from your world decides to keep me.”
I moved to sit as well. I did it without thinking, and luckily a cloud came up to meet my ass. That would’ve been a touch embarrassing if there’d been nothing waiting for me.
“Go on,” I said.
“I didn’t know she would use my powers like this,” she said, her mouth turning down in clear distaste. “I agree with you. I’ve always worked with those who could get people to bend to their will, but it was never as blatant or brutish as what the girl from your world has done. She’s taken something that’s supposed to be subtle and turned it into a sledgehammer she wields against all who would oppose her.”
“Yeah, that sounds a lot like the Chelsey I know in the real world,” I muttered under my breath.
“So can you help me?” the goddess asked.
“Y’know I don’t even know your name,” I said. “I’m Deanna, though I get the feeling you probably already know that since the game is letting you go rummaging around in my head.”
The goddess smiled. “I am called Treaia.”
“And what exactly are you the goddess of, Treaia?”
The thin frown was replaced with a thin smile. “There aren’t gods and goddesses of specific concepts like you conceive of them in the mythology of your world. I think the creators of this world wanted to give us a bit more freedom than that. I’ve decided to wield the power of subtle manipulation in order to advance my interests in this world, and I think you would be the perfect candidate to help me advance those interests. All you have to do is take care of your friend.”
I thought about the choice being laid out before me. Though the more I thought about it, the more I realized it really wasn’t much of a choice at all. Sure I could deny the nice goddess who was offering to help me in an intractable situation, but that would mean logging out into a real world where I was at Chelsey’s mercy.
I knew I was grasping at reeds here, but it was better than logging out and waiting around for Chelsey to manipulate the situation and send me back down to the surface where she could take care of me once and for all.
Sure I figured I could always release that picture, but something told me that even if I managed to release it to someone who cared the end result was going to be the same for me. I’d be good and dead whether or not Chelsey was embarrassed and publicly humiliated.
“You could alway set up something that would release that picture if something happens to you,” the goddess helpfully suggested.
Though it was a helpful suggestion that creeped me out just a touch since it was also another reminder that she could very much read my thoughts.
“Right,” I said. “I guess I accept your offer. It’s not like I have much choice.”
“You always have a choice,” the goddess said. “That’s one of the things that separates you from Chelsey. You recognize that people should always have a choice, and she’s willing to do whatever she can to make sure nobody has that sort of choice. Again, that’s one of the reasons why I’ve come to you. I can see much in you.”
“Is there any way for you to turn off the whole rummaging around in my head thing you’re doing?” I asked.
She smiled. It was a smile that lit up her face, and I got the feeling she was turning on some of the old goddess charm again. It was surprising to see this much realism from the woman. Like I got the feeling she was way more realistic than anything I’d ever seen before in a video game.
Though I guess that made sense if they had a system that was able to get into people’s brains like this. Etherea probably had a better idea than just about any company that’d ever come along about what made a person’s brain tick, and I was sure that gave them a hell of an advantage when it came to making AI that was smarter than the average bear.
“Okay, so where do we go from here Treaia?” I asked. “Because the last I checked I was getting my ass handed to me by Chelsey using some of your powers.”
“Yes, that is a problem,” she said. “Every person who has ever come under the sway of my magic like that has become a thrall to this Chelsey girl. Of course you are my champion and so it won’t work the same with you, but I will have to leave it to you to figure out exactly how you want to use that information.”
And with that there was a sudden sinking sensation that hit me. Like we’re talking it was literally a sinking sensation as I started to move down into the clouds that had, thus far, been holding me up in defiance of all knowledge about how clouds were supposed to work outside of ancient entertainments about fluffy bears teaching children of the 1980s and 1990s how to get in touch with thei
r feelings.
“Go forth and conquer in my name,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll do amazing.”
I almost smiled, but then she finished her thought.
“Or you’ll be destroyed and I’ll have no chance to break free. I suppose when you think of it like that you need to succeed no matter what. Otherwise we’re both fucked.”
I’m not sure if it was how serious the situation was, or if it was the thought of this perfect goddess creature cursing like that, but I couldn’t help but let out a little snort. It was pretty funny seeing that kind of potty language coming out of the mouth of a creature that was otherwise so perfect.
Then the clouds were wrapping around me and I was surrounded by a blinding light that was pleasant as it bathed me.
At least it was pleasant right up to the moment that the blinding light turned to blinding pain.
Son of a bitch.
33
Back in the Frying Pan
“This really fucking hurts! What the fuck is the big idea!”
“Well it’s supposed to hurt,” a voice said. “And it’s about to hurt a lot more since you’re refusing to bend to my will, little rizon.”
Oh. I looked around as the blinding light subsided. I wasn’t sure if that moment with Treaia had been so much bullshit my mind was making up while I was having a near death experience, but it looked like I was right back to having that near death experience.
There was Chelsey standing next to me, her red tail twitching and her body looking amazing as always as she stood there hitting me with magic that was designed to kick my ass and, I knew now, to get me to bend to her will.
I gritted my teeth as she turned up the power. The light wasn’t blinding any longer, but the pain was so intense that it was threatening to send me over the edge into… Something.
I wasn’t sure what. All I knew was that in the face of that blinding pain I found myself wondering if maybe having a little character death situation wouldn’t be preferable to what she was doing to me.
“You will bend to my will, rizon,” she said. “Maybe when you do I’ll have some fun with you before I have you killed, even. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
She licked her lips as she looked me over. On the one hand I was surprised that Chelsey of all people would be interested in me like that. On the other hand I found myself thinking about how interesting it might be to have a little bit of fun with the ultimate bad girl before she sent me on to my eternal reward.
Hey, like I said, it’d been awhile. Any port in a storm and all that. Besides, I figured if this mind control thing she was trying on me actually worked and she managed to bend me to her will then there were worse ways to go than in the arms of a hottie like her.
I still didn’t want to go, but that didn’t change the fact that death by snu-snu wouldn’t exactly be the worst of those ways to go.
The pain grew even more intense. I cried out in pain. I fell to the ground and my body twitched under the power she was hitting me with. It wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences, and I just wanted it to be over.
“Still not working?” she muttered. “Well we’ve never gone this high before, but I suppose there’s a first time for everything…”
I didn’t like the sound of that. Like that sounded like the kind of thing someone said before they did something that accidentally killed someone or something.
I thought the pain was blinding before, but that was nothing compared to what she was hitting me with now. I couldn’t stand it, and so I did the only honorable thing I could think of.
I keeled over and passed out like the shivering bitch I was. Hey, I’d like to see anyone else hold up under that level of pure physical torture.
I woke up feeling more than a little groggy and confused. I think the first thing that tipped me off there was something weird going down was I was waking up and not seeing the top of my little cozy dorm room.
I say “cozy” only because that’s the only way I kept myself from getting pissed off about the massive suites all my fellow students at the Academy got to enjoy while I was stuck in something way smaller than even the ancient cinderblock dorms that had long since become the stuff of legend among students bettering themselves via higher education.
The second thought that occurred to me was I wasn’t in the room with the Etherea crystal. That really made it feel like there was something going wrong here.
I sat up, a little groggy and wondering what the hell an Etherea crystal even was and what the hell it had to do with my studies. I had the feeling whatever it was, it wasn’t something that was good for my long term ability to maintain my grades.
Then everything started hitting me all at once. Like we’re talking I was getting seriously overwhelmed by everything that’d happened to me today. Up to and including all the craziness where Chelsey seemed to be doing her best to kill my ass.
“That fucking bitch,” I muttered to myself.
“Are you talking about in the real world or in the game world?” a familiar voice asked.
I jumped. Wheeled around. Stared at the source of that voice. Though it would be more accurate to say I glared at the source of that voice.
“What the fuck are you doing in here Caitee?”
I glanced around at my surroundings. It looked like I was back in the dungeon. Fucking great. The place looked like a hybrid between a dank cave and the traditional dungeon most people thought of when they thought “dungeon.”
“Do you have any idea how fucking difficult it is to get deliberately captured and brought down to this place?” Caitee asked.
“I have no idea and I don’t give a fuck,” I said.
“You might give a fuck,” she said. “You’re going to have to rely on my help if you want to get out of here.”
I moved over to the bars between our cells. For a moment I was tempted to use some of the same magic that’d been used against some of the people up in El’huinn to tell her to take the chamber bucket in the corner of her cell and dump it over her head. From the smells wafting through the dungeon that seemed like one part of the simulation that’d been lovingly rendered like the real world, for all that I’d not actually had to use the restroom since playing the game.
“I don’t know why I should believe a word you say,” I said. “You’ve been working with Chelsey this entire time, after all.”
“Would I really be here in this cell if I’ve been working with Chelsey this entire time?” she asked.
“I mean yeah?” I said. “Getting yourself thrown into the cell next to mine with a sob story about how you had to get yourself captured to make me think you’re on my side again? That sounds like exactly the sort of tactic someone would try when they want to get back in my good graces.”
Caitee blinked a couple of times. “Huh. I hadn’t thought of it like that, but you’re right.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”
“You’re still going to need my help to get out of this.”
I stopped in the process of walking over to the entrance. I fully intended to get a guard over here and see what I could do with my new ability. I just hoped the guard was an NPC. I wasn't a fan of using this magic in the way Chelsey had been abusing it, but at the same time if that's what it took to save my ass then that's what it took, damn it.
“Why am I going to need your help to get out of this?” I said. “Assuming for a moment that we lived in a world where I was going to trust you again.”
“Because you have a problem in the real world,” she said. “A problem with someone who clearly wants to kill you because of that screenshot. A problem that might be able to go away if, say, you had someone powerful on your side who might want to do something about it.”
I frowned. Wheeled around again. Approached her at her bars. She smiled through those bars, and I was suddenly aware of how close we were for all that we were separated by those bars.
“What could you possibly know about what Chelsey is trying
to do to me in the real world?”
“I know she’s the kind of person who would just as soon have someone conveniently killed off if she thought they had something that could embarrass her, and if you really do have that screenshot then you have a hell of a piece of embarrassment you can use against her.”
I frowned. If anything hearing another one of the super rich from the Academy talking so casually about another one of the super rich casually having someone killed was enough to drive home just how deep I was in the shit.
“What could you possibly do to help me?” I asked.
“A lot more than you think,” she said. “My father is the Director. That means I have connections. That means he occasionally tasks me with looking into things, and the fact that I’m his daughter means I’m usually pretty safe.”
My grip tightened on the bars. I hated that she was talking about this like she was untouchable because she was the equivalent of some medieval princess or something who was inviolate because she was related to the king.
Or, to go with a more recent historical example, she was no better than the daughter of some tinpot wannabe fascist dictator trying to set themselves up as king or something. Which was something that’d happened in more than a few countries in the first half of the twenty-first, and there were places where the world was still dealing with the fallout from that.
Still, if she was willing to help me then that might be my only option. I was still in a place where I was grasping at anything I could find that might save my ass.
“I’m listening,” I said.
“For now all you need to know is I’m here to help you,” she said.
“Okay,” I said. “So if you’re here to help me then why don’t you help me. Figuring out how to get the fuck out of here would be a nice start, for example.”
Caitee looked around the cell. Then she looked back at me and seemed just a touch embarrassed.
