by Brent Roth
I kindly obliged.
As we embraced each other and continued to kiss we were eventually interrupted by noises from outside the lodge. The sun had risen and the villagers had found the two dead warriors by the doorway and were murmuring in fear, hesitating to open the door to the lodge.
Selene and I had been using the guest bedroom, the first door that I had kicked open while looking for the Earl. I had every intention of staying put in said bedroom until business was concluded.
But the chatter became incessant and soon too loud to ignore.
The proper thing to do at this point was to go outside and inform the villagers of what had transpired and give them their freedom… but I was battling with the temptation of a woman beside me… I thought they could wait.
I attempted to continue on, unsatisfied with our short-lived moment but was rebuffed by Selene as she whispered, "It would be best if we took care of their business, before we continue on with our business."
It was hard to argue with logic but I wasn't thinking with the logical head, "I'm more of a man who prefers to finish the most satisfying thing first… are you in disagreement?"
Selene laughed a hearty laugh as she pulled me in, "I do not find you disagreeable, no. But there are priorities you fool." And with that she knocked my head with hers and crossed her arms with a smile.
I couldn't win.
Well, I was already winning so I guess that's a lie after all.
I was just being a sore loser.
I quickly snuck in another kiss before she could say anything else and then lay with her for another minute before getting up.
These damn peasants….
Making my way outside I found half of the village gathered with shovels, axes, carving knives and whatever else they could scrounge up to defend themselves. They quickly recognized me as the adventurer and were visibly confused as they hesitated to decide whether I was friend or foe.
Selene in the meantime had snuck up behind me and poked her head out around my arm, speaking first with a confident but soft tone, "I believe everyone here recognizes me as one of the two girls who was a part of the traveling convent a few weeks ago… well, the long story is that Katherine had discovered that the Earl was the one who ordered his warriors to attack our convent and murder the priests in cold blood.
"She sought help by escaping the village and finding this adventurer here, who risked his life to rescue me from a certain death at the hands of the Earl. We took our revenge in order to ensure the safety of everyone going forward, and believe we have done a service by removing the corrupt Earl and his lackeys."
The crowd started murmuring amongst themselves until a few rowdy individuals loudly proclaimed, "That is a lie! The Earl must think us traitors, we won't betray him, we swear it! Please have mercy on us!"
I could sense their fear but it wasn't even necessary as they wore it plain as all on their faces and in their eyes. The Earl had ruled as a tyrant and used fear to control them. I was glad I took this quest even if they aren't real people… even artificial people deserve to be happy.
I raised a hand which was met with a few cowers but continued speaking where Selene had left off, "The Earl is dead along with his wives and all of his men. You may see for yourself. I have no intention of ruling this area. I will only say one thing in regards to your future state of affairs.
"If you must, elect an odd numbered council of your fairest and most knowledgeable elders to monitor the situation at hand and put to a town vote whatever decisions you plan to make. The council leaders will listen to the suggestions and complaints and can vote amongst themselves to settle indifferences. And remember that in the North, honor is law and law is honor."
Having finished talking, I stepped outside with Selene and let the braver young men into the lodge. They didn't even have to enter to see the bodies inside but they wanted to see the Earl's corpse.
Only then would they feel confident in their future.
After standing outside for a few minutes I could feel my stomach grumbling for want of food. I had fallen asleep in-game while thinking about the past and neglected my real life body… not a smart thing to do.
Without much to do I decided to run back to the campsite at the edge of the forest to grab my gear; I was glad to find even the bear jerky had been left undisturbed.
Throwing the bag over my left shoulder elicited some pain from the critical wound in my chest; it was a 48-hour wound if not healed properly. I then tried to grab the bag of bear jerky with my right arm but my broken collarbone roared with an intense sharp pain that radiated throughout my shoulder and chest. The broken collarbone was considered a 168-hour critical wound… it was going to be extremely troublesome.
In a big city I could simply find a high level healer to heal my severe and lingering wounds but out here in the wilderness, there were no such priests.
But then it hit me, "Ah, Kate's a priest!"
I had completely neglected to check Kate's level and couldn't check Selene's yet because she wasn't a companion, at least not until I finish her quest chain by returning to Kate.
Ah there is hope out in the northern wastelands after all!
The return trip to the village took much longer than anticipated, as I lumbered with a bag of gear over my left shoulder that forced a wince in pain with every step and a bag of bear jerky being dragged on the ground by my left hand.
My right arm just dangled there uselessly.
Entering the village was a welcoming sight to behold though as the NPCs were celebrating around a pile of corpses, which included the Earl's body on top. I couldn't help but laugh a little; all of the information about this village was now out-dated. Any future travelers that thought they would get a quest chain from the Earl would be in for a surprise.
My stomach had continued to growl and rumble, of a different order from the in-game hunger that was more muted. There was also a red warning symbol flashing in the corner of my screen alerting me to my body's condition.
That was the monitoring system at work to prevent people from ignoring their bodies while playing… too many stupid people had played games until they died from dehydration.
Before logging out I wanted to trade off all of the goods that had been collected, including the goods that I had gotten from ransacking the Earl's home. He was a rather poor Earl despite his flaunting, and though his warriors ate well they weren't particularly well off either.
The weapons were of the lowest quality, the armor was simply fur clothing, they had very little coin, and the jewelry was just fashioned animal bones. In the end I just kept a few of the crafted utensils, wooden bowls, wooden plates, an iron cauldron for cooking, and the black bear hide.
I sold the rest for what amounted to a small fortune of 837 copper coins.
And then I logged out.
Chapter 23: Alpha n' Beta Meeting #2
(Saturday, January 23rd Real Day)
Glancing at the clock as I made my way out of The Cube, it was already nearly 11:00. The second meeting was in fifteen minutes and there simply wasn't any way I could make it short of taking a helicopter. Since I didn't have a helicopter, I opted to eat out instead. It was a bit of a shame, seeing how I would miss out on running into that brunette girl, but it couldn't be helped.
Staring at my face in the mirror, my beard had become a bit unsightly. Plainly put, I didn't have good genetics when it came to facial hair. I barely had any upper body hair as it were, and my beard certainly was lacking…volume.
Oh well.
Shaving it off seemed to have taken a few years off of me, as I wondered how old I would look to a stranger.
Approaching my twenty-seven birthday in two months meant I was still young but I felt as if my physical age was much, much older. My dark brown hair that nearly seemed black at times was peppered at the front with white hairs from the stress. The bags under my eyes weren't terrible but they certainly didn't help the look.
Without my multi-colored beard that
was a strange mix of red, light brown, and dark brown I appeared at a minimum five years younger than before. It was a good sign at least, that some people mistook me as being around twenty when I was cleanly shaven and dressed appropriately.
The alternative was certainly worse.
Having just arrived at the restaurant I was pleasantly surprised to find that the lunch hour crowds had yet to appear. Crowds were never much fun, plus I had no interest in waiting for an extended period of time just to eat.
Walking through the door I was soon approached by the hostess while she leaned behind the counter to grab a few menus, "Hi how's it goin', for how many?"
Staying cordial I replied politely, "Hey there, just one."
The hostess quickly looked up and was a bit puzzled, like they always seem to be when I dine by myself. I couldn't help but wonder if it was really such an odd thing that a person would go to a restaurant by himself… they had single tables and a bar counter for a reason.
She looked confused as she placed the extra menus back on the stand.
"Oh, this way then."
She had intended to put me in the worst corner table the restaurant had, but I maneuvered myself to a slightly better one by the window. I used to be a regular here, even if she was new and was unaware, I wasn't going to take the worst seat in the house.
After ordering I had little do but watch one of the many televisions on the wall. Most of the channels were sports related but one was covering current news, none of it of any real interest. But, I continued to watch anyways less my gaze started to wander.
Though it wouldn't hurt anyone to look around, I had an issue with it myself.
The problem was that I was hyper-attentive and couldn't really stop it unless I forced myself to look away. I had always been an excessively attentive person; it was never a thing of choice really.
Sitting here at this restaurant for barely two minutes, I had already taken mental note of the people that had crossed my vision.
The guy that was getting ready to leave with the black slacks and black suede shoes, with yellow socks and a silver belt-buckle that had a symbol I was unfamiliar with. The wrist watch on his off-hand was flipped backwards, which I never could quite understand and the necklace to match that was barely visible beneath his button-up white shirt.
He wore a white tank-top underneath which seemed a little unprofessional as it showed through, but it was none of my concern. I could see he wasn't very athletic but had some size to him, and despite his best attempts to maintain his image, his hair was slightly disheveled.
The problem though wasn't that I just noticed the guy that passed in front of me, as in that moment I also caught sight of the girl directly behind him. She wasn't very attractive but that was a matter of taste and opinion.
With white tennis shoes and black stockings, a plain black skirt with an oversized belt tilted at an angle, the two charm bracelets on her left wrist and the bangle on her right. The phone closest to her on the table with the blue protective case was most likely hers as well.
Looking up I couldn't help but notice the lack of a necklace where her white blouse was opened up, with a black lacey bra beneath slightly showing through. It was a fashion faux pas if someone asked me, but no one did.
Her gold earrings that looked like crosses from here were an interesting touch, as was the black broach that was barely visible but clearly held her hair up.
All of that information was taken in within a split second before I could even think about it.
I didn't want to think about it.
Of course the real problem wasn't that I just noticed all the extraneous details about two random people directly in front of my eyesight, the real problem was that I also noticed the girl in the red dress at the window directly behind her.
The woman with the black heels, black leather bag, and the sizeable diamond ring sitting pretty on her ring finger as she quietly eats a salad while fidgeting with her phone.
I'll notice the condensation ring on the counter from where a glass was placed moments before as it screams out at me to look at it. The fact that there are four servers but only one is checking on the customers while the other three wander around pretending to look busy. The people at the bar enjoying their food while looking like the epitome of loners, something I was entirely familiar with.
All of these things were noticed and memorized in a matter of moments and I couldn't help it. I couldn't quite forget it either. Days or weeks or months later, I would still remember all of those useless details that I couldn't get out of my mind while I struggled with any attempt to succeed in school.
It didn't make any sense.
That my hyper-attentiveness could trigger my long term memory for the most mundane of things yet I couldn't remember the Chinese or German vocabulary I had been studying every day for hours.
The fact my memory seemed to work for such idiotic things while I had nearly completely lost higher level functioning from the last concussion bothered me.
I could read and understand the problems put before me, but I couldn't make that logical leap as I worked them out. My mind had hit some sort of mental block that would not allow me to progress. For a period of time I was completely unable to do even the most minor of mathematical equations, getting stuck on simple things like seven times six.
All of these issues a result of the latest concussion that decided to grace me with its presence. All of these lingering side effects conveniently listed underneath what they term Post-Concussion Syndrome, or PCS. Something they say most people recover from quite quickly, but depending on severity could take years or may linger forever.
I hated it.
I struggled with it.
Whatever I had learned previously worked as long as it was outside of the critical thinking areas, but my ability to learn going forward had been severely impacted.
I was stuck in the past.
Yet, here I sat with an uncanny ability to recognize things that were out of place. I often found it an annoyance, but it had served as a gift as well. It was that same hyper-attentiveness that had me tracing the lightning strikes during the storm and leaving a mental map of all the previous strikes.
That same mental map that later reassured me that I had indeed witnessed something special.
In reality, I wasn't the only player in that region on that day.
Since it was during the Alpha, we had been given free rein to explore the world as much as we wanted, up to a certain border. All of the starter zones and the surrounding areas were open, but all higher level content was locked to keep things secret.
On that day with the lightning storms, that March the third, I was one of at least a hundred players in the area that witnessed the event.
I was the only one who noticed.
Finishing my meal, I left my standard tip of around $3 for a $12 meal as the service wasn't lacking and headed out.
I was eager to return to the virtual world.
I was eager, to return to Selene and Katherine.
I now had two attractive women at my beck and call, with some romantic progression already occurring. That was something the real world certainly did not offer me.
Chapter 24: The Journey back to Camp
(Tuesday, March 9th Game Day / Saturday, January 23rd Real Day)
After enjoying a decent meal out in the city, I took a short break from the game to manage my household affairs and basic duties. It wasn't a long break though, and within two hours I was freshly showered with a change of clothes and ready to log back in.
As I strapped into the chair the lights started to dim and the room went black.
The log in process had started and I couldn't help but think that I might be sleeping too much in-game with the mini-naps of 3-4 hours multiple times a day, but it didn't seem to be bothering me yet.
In fact I could say I was sleeping better, since the game almost put you in a dream-state to begin with, it was like falling immediately into REM-cycle o
r the fifth stage, skipping right past the first four stages.
Yeah, if anything I could say that my sleeping had improved significantly compared to logging-out and sleeping in the real world.
Logging back in I soon found myself where I had left, sitting on a log bench near the town square. The moon was shining brightly and the townsfolk had already burned the bodies of the deceased and continued on with their daily lives; some electing to remodel the lodge as the new tavern and gathering place.
They were pressing on and moving forward without delay; it was an encouraging sight.
Selene had been helping the villagers organize when she noticed me in the distance and came over. As she walked, her hips swayed slightly from side to side, it wasn't exaggerated nor was it really seductive; she didn't really have wide hips to speak of. She wasn't nearly as physically attractive as Katherine, but she had her own charm to her.
In all honesty, her personality was what made her more attractive. She was confident and intelligent yet remained grounded and without ego, she didn't overreact to situations and knew how to play along with my little flirtatious acts.
If anything, I was surprised she willingly kissed me.
We had only known each other for maybe three days in-game, but maybe she felt comfortable with me since I sort of saved her life.
Chemistry is what some people might call it.
All the while though she was still an NPC and I was having conflicting emotions and feelings about the subject. To a degree, I kind of don't care if she's an NPC with an Artificial Intelligence or a Player in the game. At the end of the line the fact remains that she's a moderately physically attractive female with an attractive personality… as long as I remain inside the game there is no difference with the end result.
But in saying that I also realize that it's an NPC… well, as long as I don't delude myself into thinking it's some sort of relationship in the future and continue on with the idea that I'm just enjoying that part of the game like a dating-simulator or something, I should be fine.
