Lewd Saga Omnibus: 7 Book Collection: An Epic Digital Fantasy Adventure of Lust, Love and War

by Eden Redd

  Taking a deep breath, Jason felt the night caress his face as lights continued to flow past them. Rachel’s warmth pressed against him as she snuggled closer. The night had gone from awkward to amazing in the short moments after their meeting. They finally met one of their best friends in the real world and the bond between them felt stronger than ever. Jason wanted to bask in the warm feelings but slivers of his virtual life crawled up into his thoughts. The excitement of reaching the end of their quest was somewhat anti-climactic, not having encountered any really difficult enemies. He wanted nothing more than to have a purpose to achieve and feel fulfilled. One of his personal desires was to find love. Looking down at Rachel in his arms and thoughts of Trevor, he felt he’d found what he was looking for in that arena until thoughts of his virtual love, Oksuna also filled his mind. The troll had become more than a simple concubine. She challenged him and loved him all at once. The unknown bonus skill slipped into his wavy thoughts, filling him with new questions on what was in store for the knight and troll. Now that the quest was almost over, he hadn’t thought much beyond that. It all turned into a simple goal of adventuring and fulfilling his duty set by a beautiful frost dragon when he started the game.

  Lewd Saga burned deep in his drunken mind. The game helped him overcome some of his social awkwardness, find love and gave him purpose. Now it seemed some of it was coming to an end and he didn’t know what he was going to do next. It was turning into a bitter pill to swallow and faint questions began to rise on what he would do after reaching the end.

  The warm mental fog enveloped the young man as the cab drove on through lit streets and happy laughter. Time lost all meaning and before he knew it, the cab parked in front of Rachel’s address.

  “Please stay. I’m going to bring her up and I’ll be back down,” Jason said as he opened the door, not waiting for an answer.

  Rachel was nearly dead weight as he pulled her from the cab. Several people walking by looked at the young man pulling a nearly unconscious woman from the yellow cab and eyebrows were raised. Jason hoisted up Rachel and put an arm over his shoulder and neck. Turning, he managed to see the few people eyeing him.

  “She’s a friend,” Jason said with a drunken smile.

  The few people stopped and stared at him, their expressions showing they were not convinced.

  Rachel’s eyes fluttered as Jason held her. She barely heard what he said and looked at the people across the street,

  “He’s….my…knight….in shining…armor…” the woman in the black dress slurred before lifting a hand and patting the side of Jason’s face hard.

  It seemed to be enough because the people watching moved on without a word. Jason grunted a stifled chuckle, turned and moved toward the building entrance. After a fumbling of keys, the longest staircase in the world and another fumbling of keys, Jason managed to make his way in while holding Rachel up. Stumbling in, he guided her limp body to the bedroom.

  Jason lay Rachel onto the bed and began undressing her. It wasn’t that hard, all she wore were shoes and the black dress. The shoes came off easy. The dress required him to turn her onto her stomach. Rachel was like a mannequin doll and Jason did his best to be gentle. When she was down to her bra and underwear, he unhooked her bra and laid her again onto her stomach. Pulling a blanket over her, he kissed her forehead.

  Jason hung the bra on the doorknob, left the bedroom and went to the small kitchen. Getting a glass, he filled it with water before returning to the bedroom. Rachel lay on her stomach; blanket pulled up to her chin and her eyes half open. Jason moved to her side and set the glass of water on the floor by the bed.

  “There’s a glass of water here for you. Stay on your stomach. I’ll call you in the morning,” Jason said as he brushed away a lock of hair from her forehead.

  “You can stay….” Rachel said softly.

  “I really want to but we have a big weekend. Plus, we won’t get much sleep.”

  Rachel looked up into Jason’s soulful eyes, “Is it because it’s different now that we all met?”

  Jason ran his fingers along her smooth cheek, “No, I just don’t want you puking on me.”

  Rachel smiled, “Or you puking on me.”

  “Rest up and we can talk tomorrow in game,” Jason whispered, bent down and kissed her cheek.

  Rachel snuggled in her blankets as Jason saw himself out. With the door locked behind him, he made his way downstairs and out onto the sidewalk. Astonishingly, the cab was still parked and waiting. Jason moved to the door, wretched it open, slid in and slammed it shut.

  The ride home was smooth as Jason stared out into the dark night. When the cab pulled up to his apartment building, he was sure to leave a healthy tip and stumbled out of the cab before closing the door behind him. Taking in a deep breath, the cab behind him sped off into the night. Images of his bed filled his hazy mind and the young man took a step forward and then another. He wanted nothing more than to lay down and pass out for a hundred years. The moment his foot touched the first step to his apartment building, a shadow moved behind him.

  Jason took another step; ignoring the feeling he was being watched. Picking up the pace, he climbed a few more steps to the front door when someone behind them cleared their throat.

  “Jason Booth?” said a feminine voice.

  Jason froze with his hand on the door handle. He turned his head to see a woman standing at the bottom of the steps. She was wearing a light jacket, black jeans, and black hair with one pink stripe tied back in a ponytail, eyes filled with a nervous energy.

  “Do I know you?” Jason asked while a familiar feeling flowed over his addled senses.

  The woman took a step up, “You might. Can we go someplace to talk?”

  Two

  Jason stared down at the mysterious stranger at the bottom of the steps. Adrenalin spiked and he managed to fight through the haze clouding his mind. Turning his entire body, he faced the woman but remained at the top.

  “I…don’t know you. What is this about?” Jason asked simply.

  The woman kept eye contact as she spoke, “You’re right, you don’t know me, the real me. I can better explain but we should go somewhere to talk.”

  Jason didn’t move, “I’m sorry but it’s been kind of a wild night and I should get some sleep.”

  The woman’s lips tightened for a moment, “It’s about Oksuna,” She blurted out.

  Jason’s mind woke up as he stared down with wide eyes, “What is this about?”

  “Can we go someplace?”

  Jason couldn’t believe he was considering going with a stranger somewhere. Mind working, he tried to come up with something to make sure he was safe.

  “There’s a diner around the corner,” Jason said in a low voice.

  The woman smiled, “Perfect.”

  Jason stepped down the stone steps and began walking. The strange woman followed close behind. The alcohol swam in Jason’s blood stream but he managed to keep it at bay. Senses dialed up, he glanced back to the woman every few seconds. He wasn’t sure what to expect but he imagined a gun or a knife being pulled. The scenario played out over and over until they stood in front of the diner’s neon sign. Jason looked up in relief. They knew him there and if he ran into any trouble, there would be plenty of witnesses.

  Stepping in through the door, the place looked like a 1950’s joint with cushioned red seats and small jukeboxes on the tables. A waitress behind the counter pointed to any of the empty tables. Jason knew it would be full with hungry party people in an hour. Making his way to a table, he sat down. The woman followed and sat across from him, her body giving off an uncomfortable vibe. The waitress came over and Jason ordered a coffee, black. The woman ordered a green tea. When the waitress walked off, Jason simply looked across the table to the stranger.

  “Okay, we’re here. Now can you tell me what this is about?”

  The woman shifted in her seat, “This is going to be a little weird but I had to meet you in person. My name is Andrea
and I was on the Lewd Saga design team and now I’m a GM.”

  “You’re one of the Game Masters?”

  Andrea nodded, “I spend most of my time fixing game errors, item glitches and such, pretty normal MMO stuff. Sorry, I’m getting away from the point. I flew in to NYC because I had to talk to you about something very sensitive.”

  Jason sat with his back to the cushioned seat, drinking in Andrea’s words and to a greater extent, her appearance. She seemed too familiar and yet he knew they had never met before. Her facial structure caused his heart to swell but he couldn’t pin down exactly what it was.

  “You could have e-mailed me,” Jason said as he continued to scrutinize her.

  Andrea shook her head, “No way, too many people watching. I had to do this in person.”

  Jason leaned forward, “This is a lot of trouble just to see me. I don’t understand all the cloak and dagger stuff and I don’t understand what this has to do with Oksuna.”

  Andrea nodded and let out a deep exhale, “I’m sorry. I never did anything like this before in my life. I don’t mean to sound mysterious but I’m trying to be careful. There have been a few strange things happening in the game and I had to warn you.”

  Jason waited in silence.

  Andrea continued, “Have you noticed anything odd about Oksuna? Like she has been acting different each time you interact with her?”

  Jason said nothing as flashes of memories filled his mind’s eye. Images bloomed of the sensual troll wanting to learn how to fight. How she never left the keep, as if she was afraid. How she would look at him, confused and a little lost before she would fall back onto love making. Jason couldn’t get those strange quirky things out of his head and then he looked up at the woman across from him and it hit him like a tidal wave.

  “You look like her…..Oksuna.”

  Andrea’s cheeks glowed pink as she tilted her head forward, “I don’t know how much you know of the inner workings of the game. Many of the initial NPC’s were designed from real people. I volunteered to model for one of the Rose Seers. They obviously made some changes since I’m not as tall or have blue skin.”

  Andrea looked down at her chest, “And clearly not as big as her.”

  Jason leaned forward with a hard stare, “Can you just tell me all if it?”

  The waitress came over and placed a hot coffee in front of Jason and a hot green tea in front of Andrea. Jason was quick to pick it up and take a sip, burning his tongue. He needed something to help focus and took another burning sip. The waitress smiled and walked off.

  Andrea held the cup in her hands as her gaze fell to the yellowish tea, “Okay, as I said, I was part of the initial design team for Lewd Knights before it upgraded to Lewd Saga. They brought in a bigger team to handle the influx of players. We knew it would be big but we didn’t think it would become a global phenomenon. The servers could barely keep up with the demand. We spent weeks barely sleeping just to make sure everyone was having a smooth experience.”

  Andrea took a sip and put the cup down on the table, “Not many people know how sophisticated the programs and algorithms really are. We were using state of the art AI programs and it worked out better than we thought but we were still coming up short. Manufacturing an AI from the ground up would have taken another five years at best.”

  The strange woman leaned forward, a seriousness bleeding into her eyes, “What I tell you next must be kept a secret. Don’t tell your friends or family any of it or real and digital people could be affected. The design team I was working on couldn’t build AI’s in time for our game release. We wouldn’t have had enough funding if it took another five years before the game was ready. The team leader found a shortcut.

  “The NPC programs needed gaps filled, to help them become more lifelike. We all volunteered during the Beta to have our brains scanned. The data was translated to code and programmed into the Non-Player Character programs. It worked and the NPC’s began behaving like real people. I was the model for Oksuna and a number of other NPC’s in the game. They took to Lukken and followed their routines perfectly.”

  Jason eyed her, trying to keep everything objective. The whole thing felt a little too sci-fi but there had to be a reason Andrea tracked him down to talk to him. He wasn’t sure he believed any of it but he couldn’t fight his own curiosity.

  Andrea continued, “After the beta, Lewd Knights was upgraded to Lewd Saga. The team grew bigger and I helped with design and being a GM in the game. Like anything you create, I kept track of Oksuna’s adventures.”

  Jason raised an eyebrow.

  Andrea noticed it, pink filling her cheeks, “Long story short, she is in love with you. I know it from how she acts with you. I know because it’s the same way I act when I’m in love.”

  “You have been watching me?” Jason asked with a hiss. In the back of his mind, he knew there wasn’t one hundred percent privacy but now that it was confirmed, he did feel a little exposed.

  “I try not to watch when you’re with her, most of the time I watch her when she wanders your keep. She’s afraid to leave and she has good reason.”

  Andrea shifted again, eyes looking around and over her shoulder before turning back to Jason.

  “About a month ago, I was examining an alert. A player was complaining about a blue dragon that was going off script. The dragon is a quest giver. Instead of following his routines, the NPC dragon tried to leave his kingdom.”

  “I don’t understand. The NPC just wanted to leave, like walk away?”

  Andrea nodded, “He simply stood up from his throne during a conversation and began walking toward the doors. The players followed, trying to get to the next stage of the quest but the dragon ignored them. After a little while, the dragon said he had to find his love to the west. After it was reported, I followed the NPC. The farther he walked away from the kingdom, the more he spoke of his true love. He travelled for the entire day and into the night. He would have kept going but part of the quest is that he will always be attacked by assassins once part of the quest was completed.

  “It was then I checked his interaction files. That quest giver had often tried to break his scripted routines. Last count I had, he tried 49 times to do something different. I began checking other NPCs and for every fifty programs, one would try to break from their scripts.”

  Jason’s eyes narrowed, “So you’re telling me that NPCs are waking up? This sounds a little farfetched and doesn’t completely tell me why you made a trip to see me.”

  Andrea nodded, “I had to come because I had to warn you. Oksuna is a piece of me and you can understand why I would be interested in her survival. The longer she remains alive, the more her AI will mature. I checked the logs on the blue dragon, he is destined to die and resurrect over and over again but with each death, his awareness takes a step back. He falls back to his normal routines for a while before something in his program tries to wake him up. But Oksuna hasn’t died and she started at the beginning of the beta. She has been with you from day one. She is becoming more aware and she’s scared.”

  Jason gazed into Andrea’s eyes. He sensed she was telling the truth but it just seemed so out there. He did notice the strange happenings with Oksuna but he couldn’t put his finger on it. If what she was saying was true, then that just opened a whole new set of problems.

  Andrea continued, “There is a small group of GM’s watching over the NPC’s that have awakened. We are keeping it from the bigger teams because we don’t know what is truly happening. It might be enough for them to close down the game or try to wipe the affected programs. Many of us had ourselves scanned because we really wanted to pour our soul into the game. We just didn’t know we were actually putting a piece of ourselves in there.”

  Jason took another sip of his coffee, mulling over the information for a moment before speaking, “This sounds really interesting, like a sci-fi novel but do you have any proof that this is actually going on? I mean, we just met and you spilled your guts about AI’s
waking up in a sex fantasy game. You can understand why I’m a bit skeptical.”

  Andrea fished in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Tapping at the screen a few times, light glowed and she turned the phone to Jason. The young man looked down to see his avatar in bed and Oksuna lying next to him. Her fingers were running through his hair while he snuggled into her voluptuous chest. The scene was serene, playing out how he and Oksuna behaved every time they finished making love. A blanket barely covered them as they lay. Then she sat up and clutched the blanket to her chest. Dark eyes widened as if something startled her and she looked around confused before laying back down and snuggling close to Jayson’s digital body.

  “The only other way to get a recording like this is if you did it yourself. You can see she is not acting normal.” Andrea said simply.

  Jason stared at the phone. He knew you could record your lovemaking but the game wouldn’t allow you to export it for fear of exploitation. The safeguards would ensure everyone to privacy but the player also knew he never made a recording in the game. Now here he was, watching his digital self on a stranger’s cell phone and worrying about the pink haired troll.

  Jason sighed, “Okay, let’s say everything you just told me is true; what am I supposed to do? I’m just a player in a fantasy game.”

  “You’re a player who has almost reached the western coast of Lukken. Scripted events are going to play out because you have made it this far, events that could have repercussions across the virtual continent. Oksuna will be directly affected by those events so you have to keep going to keep her safe.”

  “Shouldn’t I just stay with her and make sure she’s safe until you figure out what to do next? By the way, what are you going to do next?”

  Andrea’s gaze lowered, “We’re not sure. We have a private testing environment that we may be able to import those NPC’s that have awakened. Other than that, we are trying to come up with ideas. As for staying with her, she can’t stay in the keep forever. Sooner or later a script will activate. She is a Rose Seer and needed for the storyline you’re currently on. When will you log on again?”