“Yeah, you spent weeks beating the shit out of me.” I held myself back physically but not verbally. My head tilted, and I bit the bottom lip to stop speaking. Admitting that out loud couldn’t help anything. It just spread poison and unease.
What would my support group think of this? A few had shared stories of abuse cases; they drank to get away or became worse while under the haze. I couldn’t admit to frustration and violent urges over a game. It felt wrong, but Xin would understand. I needed my wife. All my annoyance at dealing with Requiem Mass had been to recover her in some manner. Being back in her presence would help remind me that everything had turned out all right. I twisted the rainbow ring and watched as a bright array of colors zoomed off.
“What was that?” Requiem asked.
“It’s none of your business. All you need to know is I’m willing to pay you for help with a task. That’s all I want from you,” I said while counting the seconds and trying to get some composure before Xin arrived.
“So the deal was true then? You’ll pay top coin for the knowledge?”
He held up the scroll again, which made me sigh. The Voices hadn’t told me about an actual letter, and rarely did I find out what was inside any of them. I wasn’t sure how he’d gotten it, or maybe the notice had come from my autopilot or another Traveler. The parchment and broken wax seal certainly looked like one of mine. It was possible this scenario fit in with one of Mother’s far-reaching schemes. She had worked this out well in advance. I closed my eyes and tried to remember the few details given to me.
I knew that there was another location to get to. The Voices couldn’t tell where because they were blind to where it even was. They only had a whisper of a name that came from one of M. Shell’s journals. The name Yates had been spoken a few times by Requiem, while he was at a location they hadn’t been able to view. Apparently only this Traveler had come close to the spot since release.
“Twenty thousand gold pieces if you tell me everything you know about the Island of Faded Illusions and guide me there.”
“Sixty,” he countered without a second thought.
My eyes rolled. “Forty.”
He wanted gold. What an absolutely stupid request. Continue Online gold meant even less now than a year ago. The game would crash well before he could spend any of it. Any towns with an auction house were days away, and gold prices were a cluster even if he could get in touch with black market contacts.
“Payment up front.” He stepped closer then put out a hand.
I flicked gold coins from my inventory at his face, one at a time. Each thud made me feel better. After the fourth one, he started catching them while complaining.
“That’ll be a penalty for disrespecting me. Forty-five thousand gold.”
More went flying at him. Requiem caught most, but many made it through. He stopped and picked them up anyway. My head shook. Gold meant nothing to me. My casino funds were absolutely insane as people dumped cash into gambling.
“Fifty!” he shouted.
I sighed and gave up. He could triple the price and it wouldn’t matter to me. The gold and money weren’t an issue and never had been. Especially since the entire [Red Imp] scenario had left me with an uncomfortable but advantageous result. I knew his real name, Matthew Jules, and I owned his stupid little trailer home. I’d paid off the debts left behind by his parents.
“I would rethink your stance, Matthew,” my words came out evenly. “I’m willing to give you your stupid request of gold, but don’t push your luck. I may simply decide to figure this out without you, and I wouldn’t lose an ounce of sleep while you’ll probably die due to greed and never make it to Haven Valley. Not that they would let you in after one word from me.”
His head tilted and eyes narrowed. I shrugged.
“Fifty-five thousand,” Requiem said with a straight face.
“Thirty-five.” I flicked another coin at him.
The second rainbow bounced back. Xin’s form touched down, and she nearly glided over to me. I smiled. Seeing a tiny Asian girl wearing a black robe, with a huge bone-topped staff, coming out of a rainbow felt like a backward result. Thankfully she didn’t arrive with glittering butterfly wings. The idea made me laugh, and I felt that much better.
I looked at the teen. His face had frozen upon seeing my wife come over and hug me. He formed words, then looked at his own hand. Maybe he wanted his own wife-summoning rainbow, but the chances of him earning one were slim.
“Forty.” He nodded. “I was headed there anyway, before people got in my way.” Requiem frowned at me for a moment, then sighed. His face was wide open and easy to read now that I knew what kind of person the teen was—a greedy brat who had been forced to become so by his family circumstances. “And if you are somehow tied to Spite, don’t expect an apology.”
Xin turned away from me with a false smile. Two fingers jabbed upward, and a thick white pillar slammed out of the ground right into Requiem’s crotch. He hung there with a wide-open mouth and crossed eyes. I felt my own mouth gape.
“That’s for hurting my husband,” she said. “And I won’t apologize either.”
“Husband?” Wraith chuckled harder. Between gulps of air, he choked out words. “Amazing! My brother, married! From a nervous little coward to a warrior! Hah!”
Xin looked at the giant, and her face blanched. The shorter woman might be experiencing a worse vertigo than I ever had. From her slanted eyes, she was seriously considering slamming Wraith in the same manner as Requiem’s recent groin shot.
In a way, Wraith was dead-on with his assessment, were it not for the brother statement. Defeating Requiem on my own reminded me just how far I had come. The demon didn’t care and kept on laughing.
Session Ninety-Nine — The Far Shore
I found myself hating the young man more as time went by. His hair was a mess from the wilds and the clothes were worn down. Still, he knew how to play, and once we made the choice to move forward, there was no hesitation. Requiem acted decisively and kept training other skills while walking around.
After an hour of work, the four of us stood in a large pool of water that was near freezing. Wraith looked the most uncomfortable. A heavy moon hung overhead. Requiem sent little waves through the water. Its surface rippled with a hypnotic movement.
“This is stupid.” My teeth chattered. Being waist-deep in this chill sucked. “We should have brought swimsuits. Do we have swimsuits?”
Xin shook her head.
“No can do. This shortcut requires suffering anyway,” Requiem sounded matter-of-fact.
Briefly, I recalled the room that Shadow and the others used. There had been a certain level of mental suffering required as we played out our nightmares. Hopefully, this shortcut wouldn’t require the same.
I didn’t completely buy his explanation. He’d convinced us that we could access a shortcut by traveling through a swimming-pool-like location to the castle. This used to be Frankenstein’s location. Part of me wondered where the man was now. His character had been offline for days.
“Still, why do we have to freeze to death?” Xin asked.
“It’s this”—Requiem’s face softened a bit when Xin asked the questions—“or go the long way. Based on what you’re both saying, that way isn’t fast enough.”
“I didn’t know there were portals in this place.” My wife stared at the water. “Is it a doorway?”
“Him I would charge for the knowledge, but you I’ll tell for free.” He shrugged, then smiled toward Xin. “No, and it’s not really a normal portal so much as a beacon.”
Wraith kept chuckling. Apparently he found my displeasure with Requiem a source of amusement. Every five minutes, I felt the desire to [Blink] Requiem off a cliff, then get Xin through her beam of light in [Haven Valley]. Afterward, I could watch the world fall apart from a safe distance. Only then, hundreds of other NPCs might be deleted.
My teeth clacked together as the game increased our feedback response. Both legs felt stiff,
and my arms refused to form a complete fist. Requiem didn’t look any better. Xin leaned in next to me while Wraith simply stood there waiting.
“We’re almost ready,” Requiem managed to say through chattering teeth. He looked worn down with chilled skin. His thinner body and low weight were working against him.
I needed more than a toga. Chill caused my virtual balls to shrink.
Xin’s hand squeezed mine.
Our health bars were starting to drain. It wasn’t just Xin and me; Requiem also looked worse for wear. I seriously debated the wisdom of this path. We had one strike against us after fighting a round of player killers on our honeymoon. Requiem hadn’t yet died during the event.
“It will be okay, brother. Requiem may be a mad human who inspires loathing in every Traveler who meets him, but this path isn’t a lie.”
Wraith’s deep voice made me shiver again. That sense of infesting amusement lingered in the back of my skull. I had no idea what level of feedback in the ARC caused such a specific notion. Combining that feeling with the numbness of this pool confused me.
The four of us stood around the reflected moon and waited. Nothing else stood out in the darkness. Even Xin’s face started blurring into the background. Wraith’s fog-covered face wove in and out. Requiem’s shivering form reflected along with everything else. I stared at the white wiggling mirror.
“It’s here.” Requiem’s words came from far away.
“What?” Xin said.
“Listen carefully, and don’t do anything quickly,” the teen said. “Take a breath, then let out all the air. Without taking another breath, you need to look slowly from the moon in the water, straight up to the moon overhead.”
“What will happen?” I asked.
The young man glared at me through the water’s rippling surface. Wraith was the first to fade. His towering form existed in one blink, then vanished so quickly I worried he might have teleported away.
[Sight of Mercari] showed nothing. Xin’s face tilted back to look overhead. I watched her body fade out. The pressure at my hand vanished. Requiem’s unpleasant smile faded next.
I swallowed and wondered why jumping into the unknown still made me hesitate. This was only a game. The method Requiem suggested would be a built-in secret or shortcut, simply like Requiem had said.
Breath came in, then went out completely. I stared at the moon’s rippling form for a few seconds and admired the serenity. My head tilted backward gently. Dizziness swept across my senses as the moon’s shape fell downward. I felt as if nothing existed but both large white spheres, pulling at my form.
My body saw both moons until I had no clue which one was the reflection and which might be original. Then it didn’t matter. I fell backward and landed on a bed of gentle sand. The grains rubbing between my outstretched fingers was the first sensation to return. I heard Xin’s delightfully quiet laughter before she tried to restrain herself.
Wraith chuckled too.
Even Requiem sounded pleased when he started talking. “Don’t look up until I tell you. If you do, you may end up being teleported to a random spot, or end up in one of the areas that World Eaters have destroyed.”
He’d probably over explained for my wife’s sake. Xin’s hand reached down to grab mine. I stood and looked at the ground under my feet. Sand was everywhere, pure white grains only broken up by small puddles of water which had a planet reflected upon them.
“Every time I think I’ve seen a lot in this game, there’s always something new,” I said.
“Where is this?” my wife asked.
“The Moon’s Shore,” Requiem answered while stepping carefully around the puddles.
“How did you find this place?”
The teen ignored me.
“How did you discover a place like this?” Xin asked instead.
That he answered. “It’s only visible when you’re near death and near the moon’s reflection. I… died a lot during the beta and found this place.”
“So we use this to get to the island?”
“Almost. We’ll use this to get to a place where we can see the island.”
My wife kept Requiem answering questions while we progressed. I had no clue how far we needed to go. Our path traveled a good half mile while they talked about all kinds of beta secrets. All of which were nearly useless now that the game was coming to a close. I hated that Xin’s questions got more results than mine. Then again, Requiem and I had a terrible history. My eyes nearly rolled every time the young man blurted out an answer at high speeds. Despite being pummeled in the package by a pillar of bone, he seemed infatuated.
Requiem shuffled his feet, then peeked at Xin. “Figuring this out took me two months to grind out and was one of the last things I did before the beta closed.”
“Stop your useless attempts at impressing another man’s woman,” Wraith said.
“That’s not it,” the younger man muttered.
I shook my head. There was no doubt in my mind that Xin would stay loyal. She had always been forthright in her feelings to everyone. It had taken me years to even get close to her. Such a hard-won person wouldn’t be fickle no matter how longingly Requiem gazed.
“There’s no need to worry, Wraith. I can hate someone and respect their hard work,” Xin summed up her point of view.
Voices help me, but I snickered loudly. Requiem’s glare caught me in one of the pools. In a completely separate pool, I caught a reflection of the space under Xin’s robe. The sight was startling enough to make me double-take. All thoughts of Requiem were gone as I realized she had nothing on under the thick black robe. I almost laughed even harder. My wife was a keeper in every single way.
“Xin’s not so easy to sway,” I said.
It was unlikely that Requiem’s personality would work for her anyway. She was high speed, adventurous, and sneaky with her fierceness. Even now, Xin’s free hand was typing in the air and sending a message. The box popped up. I wasn’t sure if now would be a good time to read it.
Hecate: Ever wanted to have sex on an alien planet?
Hermes: I think it’s on the list.
Hecate: What else is on the list?
Hermes: A lot of things. But you saw Shazam’s message. Time’s running out.
Hecate: Pick one then. If you had one day left to make the best memory ever, what would you do?
Her last question made me shiver. I nearly looked up but froze at the last moment. Xin’s hand squeezed mine.
“You don’t have to answer,” she said.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to freeze,” I whispered while closing my eyes. The question struck far too close to home. It was the sort of inquiry I had spent many nights contemplating.
“We can only take it one day at a time.” My wife’s hands rubbed my bare arm.
We weren’t in chilled water. This place felt neither warm nor cold. Sand squished unevenly with each step. Behind us, our footsteps faded away as if they had never been.
“What are you two talking about?” Wraith rumbled nearby. “Lovers’ talk perhaps?” Giant horns bobbed up and down while he rambled. “I know a fabulous demon of lust who might be able to provide tips if your wife has already grown bored of you.”
“What?” I asked.
Xin’s hand tightened while her head tilted. She glanced at the demon, then cast her eyes down. We were both having a hard time preventing ourselves from looking up.
“Her name is Katrina,” the large demon said with a rumble to his words. “She’s excellent at telling men tricks to better pleasure women and keep them coming back.”
“No, thank you,” I said. Wraith meant well, I thought, but dealing with a demon of lust scared me after having to suffer the Voice herself. “I’ve had enough help from Mezo.”
The greater demon paused. I turned to look at him, and the giant’s body almost vibrated with excitement. His wings fluttered and his head tilted to one side. Other parts of him also looked excited. I shook my head, and Xin closed her eyes slowl
y. The image of a towering demon being excited in all the wrong aspects seared its way into my brain. There might not be enough virtual reality bleach left on [Arcadia].
“Truly? You know the Voice of Lust herself?” Wraith asked.
“Jesus, really? What is wrong with you all?” Requiem turned and looked back at us. I couldn’t see his expression completely because we were trying not to look up, but the tilt of his head showed clear interest.
“Yeah. I’ll put in a good word for you.”
We walked after Requiem. The young teen kept grumbling and moving farther away. I noticed that some of the puddles displayed sickly versions of [Arcadia]. Or had holes. Almost like the planet below was made of Swiss cheese.
“You are the best brother!” Wraith cared not for my disturbing discovery and laughed in a boom.
I swore his giant bull horns curved into a second grin while Xin shook her head. “I wish you luck. I have Xin, and that’s all I’ll ever need.”
“Ah, the Voice. To stand in her presence would be welcome enough.” The demon’s tail wiggled. “Not to downplay the attractiveness of your wife, brother, but Mezo, she is a Voice that can speak to my soul any day.”
“To each their own,” I muttered, then looked at Xin.
She was visibly upset by the conversation. Maybe because of that past near-violation that Mezo had visited upon me. That scene had been disturbing to live through but also reaffirmed where I stood on relationships. It was Xin or no one at all.
“Would you like to dance?” I asked.
My wife nodded as I put out both hands. A slow smile crossed her features as we joined together. We didn’t need to look up to dance. I hummed while my wife rested her head close to me. There, upon the surface of [The Moon’s Shore], we swayed to music no one else could completely hear.
Our pace went fast enough. When Requiem got too far ahead, we [Blink]ed another ten yards in the right direction. Our feet barely avoided puddles. Having her next to me felt great. Lists, our insane quest, and jealous teens aside, dancing with her put me in another place where nothing else mattered. It was just us.
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