Gamers and Gods: AES

by Matthew Kennedy

FLASH.

  Darla and Rita stood by the cave opening. Aes was nowhere in sight.

  “Well, where is he?” Rita demanded. She let go of Darla's hand and put both hands to her mouth in a makeshift megaphone. “Here, god! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

  “Show some respect,” said Darla, feeling her temper rise. “You're talking about the god of healing.”

  “I don't think so,” said Rita. “Just some loser who swiped his name for a clever back story.”

  Darla spun to face her. “I told you I liked him! Have I ever made fun of any of your boyfriends?” she growled. “Name one.”

  Rita searched her gaze. “Wow, drama. You really mean it,” she commented. She looked down and straightened her pampla for a second. “These togas are cute.”

  “Togas were Roman,” Darla informed her. “We're wearing the chiton, pampla and himation the Greek women wore. This is Hellas, their word for Greece, in the Realm of Legends.”

  “Don't lose yourself in the roleplay,” Rita warned her. She sighed. “Look, I'm sorry I made fun of him. I guess I'm getting...overprotective. You've got to admit, though, it's a hard story to believe. Still friends?”

  Darla's anger melted away. She hugged Rita. “Of course. But you have to promise not to hurt his feelings. He's a really nice guy.”

  “Don't ever tell him that,” Rita advised, when they unclinched. “Men are sure that 'nice guy' is girl code for 'you're okay, but I'll never sleep with you' – they'd rather be considered bad boys, to think they have a chance.”

  “Well, he knows better,” said Darla, feeling her face warming.

  “Girl, you're actually blushing!” Rita grinned. “He must have been good. How do you get your avatar to do that?”

  “I've no idea,” Darla confessed. “I must have picked it up from him. His avatar does things you would not believe. I'll try to get him to show you when we find him.”

  Rita raised an eyebrow. “I thought you didn't feel like sharing him,” she teased.

  “Not those things, you slut,” she growled in mock anger, but couldn't help smiling at the memory of Aes, which ruined the effect. “Pull your mind out of the gutter for a moment and help me look for him.”

  “I believe you'll find him in Realm of Heroes,” said a familiar voice behind them.

  Darla whirled. “Cheiron! This is my friend Rita.”

  The centaur executed a formal centaur bow, bending one foreleg and sweeping a hand in, up, toward them, then down and back as he leaned his torso over a fraction. “Pleased to meet you, Rita,” he said, straightening again.

  “So you're supposed to be Aes's mentor,” Rita commented.

  “Ah, you've heard of me!” But he frowned. “Supposed to be?”

  “She's not a big believer in mythology,” Darla told him.

  “She'll change,” the centaur predicted. “We all do. Tà pánta rheî kaì oudèn ménei. 'All things flow, nothing stands still'. Heraclitus.”

  “Wasn't he after your time?” smiled Rita.

  “Certainly. But it applies to me as well. I move with the times.”

  “How do you do that, appear without a transition flash?” Rita asked him. “Is it some kind of expansion add-on?

  “Oh, I never leave this Realm,” he said, “although I can conceal myself when extending or withdrawing my awareness from it.”

  “Are you saying you're a ghost in the machine, like Aes?” Rita queried. Her face didn't believe it.

  “Not exactly like Aes, but yes. But enough of me,” he said briskly. “You two need to go to Realm of Heroes right now. Sherman is in danger.”

  “How do you know Sherman?” Rita began.

  Darla shushed her. “Why is he in danger?”

  “Because Am-heh's there. He's learned how to move about the Realms without a guide. Go!” he urged them. “It may already be too late. Am-heh is picking a new power.”

  Darla grabbed Rita's hand. “Finder, take us to Sherman at the Trainer in Heroes!” she cried.

  FLASH.

  They stood in the crowd at the base of the plinth. “That was smart,” Rita said. “Using Sherman's name, I mean. We could have ended up at the wrong Trainer station.”

  Darla didn't reply. She was scanning the crowd.

  The Trainers were facing away from her and Rita. Three avatars stood on the platform facing three Trainers. There was some history freak in old-fashioned clothing on her right. He was wearing some kind of blue coat with high collar and a laced white shirt underneath it, a dark vest and light brown trousers down to buckled shoes. His slightly conical hat looked ridiculous to Darla.

  To his left, the center avatar was a woman in swashbuckler outfit. Her face sported an eye patch; her red coat and lace shirt were almost as bad as the guy in the hat, but Darla liked her folded-over pirate boots and the glistening cutlass.

  On the far left was Sherman in his Cyberpunk armor. The bulky suit bulged with metal padding etched in glowing circuitry with ornamental readouts. She could have recognized him without it, just by looking at his size 20 boots; they were clumsy, durable...and the largest in the Realm.

  Crap, she realized. He's in the Training dialog. No way to contact him until he's finished.

  “Hey, Sherm!” Rita was waving.

  “He can't hear you,” Darla reminded her. “We'll have to wait until he picks a power. He must have leveled again.”

  “Oh, right. The Training dialog. Well, where's the danger?”

  “I don't see him,” Darla admitted, even more worried, rather than reassured. “He might not look the same now. If he came here, reformatting might have altered him. He could be anyone.”

  “Who could?”

  “I'd tell you, but you'll just laugh and not believe me again,” Darla snapped. “He used to have this ugly dog head. Hideous.”

  “Why wouldn't I believe you?” Rita asked. Then she rolled her eyes. “Oh. He's not supposed to be another god, is he?”

  “Don't make me bitch-slap you,” Darla warned her half-seriously. “He's another ghost in the machine, a bad one. He's from ancient Egypt, and his name is Am-heh, the Devourer of Millions.”

  “Cool name,” Rita commented.

  Darla shook her head, exasperated. “Definitely not cool! His name says it all. He's eaten several avatars already that I know of, and their users can't wake up. This is NOT roleplay,” she warned, before Rita could say anything. “I heard it from Farker, CIO of PanGames, and I saw it happen, in Realm of Egypt.”

  The ground shook. “Hi, Darla, Rita!” boomed Sherman, who had jumped down from the platform to greet them. “How are my Teamies? Ready for another mission?”

  Tzing! The feel of her trusty blades gave some reassurance, but not nearly enough. “We're on one,” she told him. “Rescuing you. You're in danger.”

  Sherman laughed, a confident sound that echoed off nearby buildings. “In danger, at the Trainers? From what?”

  An angry black cloud materialized behind him. “From me,” said Am-heh, his new British face morphing back into the old dog head as it distorted impossibly. He devoured Sherman as casually as a chicken eats an earthworm: bite, straighten, tilt back, swallow, straighten. The last they saw of Sherman was his huge boots tumbling down the naked singularity of Am-heh's gullet. Am-heh lowered his head and laughed...then sniffed the air and howled excitedly.

  Shit! Darla's mind screamed in horror. He's picked Stygian Darkness. Probably Claws or Dark Melee...Stalker. We need a plan. She dropped a gladius, grabbed Rita's hand and her mind shouted: Finder, take us to Realm of Legends!

  FLASH.

  Chapter 60: Aes: latecomer to the Aftermath