Ingame: Virtual reality enabled

by Kieron Uchee

  Sebastian’s face became concerned and he spoke: “Tor, are you alright, what is wrong?” I could hear the compassion in the little fellow's voice and it brought another wave of sadness welling up within me. “My friend,” I began, “I am just thinking about the future and the fact that in less than a year I will be forced to leave to return to my home realm.”

  Sebastian looked at me and then smiled and grasped my arm. “Worry not Tor, much can happen in a year, besides I have a feeling that you will be around for a long time, heck even if you leave you will be back. Call it demonic intuition but I believe that.” I looked over at Sebastian and nodded giving him a smile. I was feeling better with those few words.

  “I need some info Sebastian and I hope that you can help me with it? I need to find some perfect Dark-Iron with no faults shaped in a perfect sphere. I will need about a dozen with a circumference of about 25 centimeters around. Is there any region in Hell where I could find what I am looking for? The other thing is I do not have any way to pay for them.”

  Looking at me with a smile Sebastian nodded and then laughed. “There is one place I can think of that would have what you want however the spheres are attached to the top of pillars. I was only there once but I remember it well, it is a garden and along the pathways there are these pillars with the spheres on top. It looked very nice back when I saw it, reminded me of Jardins du château de Versailles in France around the time of Louis XIV. A very posh work, however, I do not think you will be able to get what you want.”

  “Let me guess, it is the local rulers private garden and I won’t have a hope in Hell of having it handed to me. Is there any chance of sneaking in and out with what I need?” I asked without much hope in my voice. It is three steps forward and two back, somewhat frustrating but could not be helped. No one said that this would be easy, but it would get done. Sebastian looked at me and nodded, “Yes as a matter of fact it is the local Prince’s garden and no, he will not give you what you want. He will probably enslave you if you were to ask him. What you should do is talk to Ama, she knows him and might be able to give you some insight.”

  “Knows him?” I asked somewhat surprised. How is it that she would know a ruling Prince of Hell?” I asked. Sebastian began to turn a shade of red I had never seen before and looking away he muttered something about previous relationships and then he was walking away. Not sure what that was about but if Ama knows this Prince perhaps we can come to some kind of arrangement, here's to hoping anyway I thought.

  Ama looked up at me with surprise on her face and then looked down. We had gathered for breakfast and I had taken the opportunity to ask Ama about this Prince. Conversation died down at the table as the others began to look at us curiously, as they could clearly see something was bothering Ama. I just shrugged and began to eat; breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all. I knew when Ama had decided to talk she would share with me until then it was time to eat.

  After a few minutes, Ama looked at me and gave me a wry smile. “I do know the Prince, we had been in a relationship for a while. After some time I realized that he was not interested in me as a person but rather as a part of his collection. He collects things, people, art, anything that catches his eye and is unique in some way. I qualified I suppose with the added bonus that he would have sex with me, a trained succubae. When I realized what our relationship was really about I tried to leave him.”

  “What happened?” I asked softly. “He did not let me go; I went from consort to forced subservient concubine. I was too valuable to him, and was a part of his personal collection.” As Ama talked I watched her face change from calm to anger mixed with fear. “And then what occurred?” I asked.

  A dragon showed up one day while I was walking through the garden, he made me an offer I could not refuse, working with my sisters in a place that Raphael could not come to. I took me all of ten seconds to make my choice and then I was at the Trial of Temptations keep. My sisters arrived shortly after I did and that is all I can tell you, except that Prince Raphael presents himself as somewhat weak and foolish. He is not, in fact, he is one of the stronger Demon Princes and is without remorse. His only weakness is his collections.”

  Thanking Ama I asked if anyone had any further information that might be helpful. Sebastian mentioned that he knew Raphael’s comptroller, someone he had been close to. Apparently he was being used as little more than a controller as Raphael preferred to do much of the work himself. It was all very interesting and might come in handy later, but for now, I needed to know the best way to get into the garden and get those spheres.

  After several minutes of discussion, Ama spoke and said “Once we arrive and he sees that I am there, he will attempt to take me away from you, Tor. That will be the opening we need, we are bound together, and the only way he can take me from you is to defeat you in a duel to the death. Once you defeat him you will take his title, in Hell you keep what you kill by announcing it publicly. All you must say is I take the title of Prince of Hell and all are below me, and then it is done.”

  “It sounds good but this guy is a Prince of Hell, and is fast, smart and tricky, what makes you think I can defeat him?” The question sounded reasonable and I thought it deserved an answer. I know I am several times stronger than a normal human, and I do have some abilities but without a doubt so would this Prince. I was not scared but I did not want to die Ingame and idea of losing to this Demon prince sounded like a real possibility.

  “You will not lose.” Raik sounded confident as he spoke. “I have the utmost confidence in your abilities, and besides no Demon can defeat a dragon. It has never happened and I don’t think it will happen here. But this is all besides the point, what the real issue here is why do you need those Dark-Iron balls and what well you do with them?” I stared at Raik and the others, all looking at me, willing and ready to follow me to a place where they might not return from. They deserved to know.

  “I Intend to hollow out the spheres and then making use of one of my rather OP spells trans-locate the Gods one by one into the spheres. Since they are Dark-Iron and will be perfect, without any faults in the structure the Gods will be trapped within due to the nature of Dark-Iron.” As I finished my explanation there was silence for a moment and then Gluzzie spoke up. “That would work, they would be in those spheres forever until the sphere breaks or they are let out. Ha, I guess you could say you would have the Gods by the balls.”

  We all started to laugh for a minute and then I spoke up, “Ama is our link strong enough that if you focus on the palace I can see enough to portal us there.” Looking over Ama graced me with a smile and said, “It should work, our connection is strong.” She began to concentrate and I opened myself to her thoughts, feelings, and emotions that all were a part of her memories.

  I felt the place, first and then I saw it, it really did look like one of those old French kings palaces. I gathered the group together and we all huddled up with arms around each other like a football team about to go into action. I hit the cast button on my interface for the T-loci spell and suddenly what looked like a golden mist arose from the ground. It began to cover us from the feet to the tops of our heads, taking less than a second to do so and then suddenly we were elsewhere.

  I glanced around as we all shifted to give ourselves some space. In the distance was a huge palace with gardens that stretched for kilometers around its circumference. Ama took me by the hand and whispered, “Welcome to Hell.”

  Chapter thirty eight: Arena

  Hell, it looked pretty nice all things considered. A huge palace was visible not too far off with fantastic gardens all circling it, and pathways meandering all around. I stood gazing at the sight, it was not what I had expected, and words did not do it justice. I nodded at the palace and said, “Let’s make our way to the entrance and get this done.”

  I was feeling nervous but I wanted to finish what I needed to do here and then get to Topland. It had been too long since I had seen Twink, and I wanted to know wha
t was happening with the Old Bastards and the Jackass and his guild. We began to walk towards the palace, eventually arriving at the entrance. I looked over at Ama and gave her a smile, she looked nervous but determined.

  Knocking on the huge doors we waited until a minor Demon dressed in the livery of the palace opened the doors. The doorkeeper stood aside and announced, “The master is waiting, follow me.” As we entered the palace I was struck by the many works of art on display. The whole palace seemed more like the Louvre museum, full of priceless works of art. We made our way along several passageways until we came to an open area.

  This open area had a large desk situated in the middle and sitting behind the desk was a fairly nondescript Demon, he was average appearing with the exception of his eyes, they were cold and cunning. I observed as he looked up and then smiled at Ama and licked his lips. He was paying no attention to the rest of us, but rather focusing all his attention on my wife.

  “I am so glad you have returned to me Ama,” he spoke with a slight drawl. He then reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a thin color made out of a gold like substance. “This is for you, and I guarantee that you will not leave me a second time.” He then began to walk over to Ama with the intent to fasten the collar around her neck.

  I stood in front of her and spoke. “Hold up there, you are not putting anything on the neck of my wife, in fact if you try I am going to shove that so far up your ass it will clamp on your tonsils.” I watched his face turn to shock and rage, and then it became clear. He was very good at masking what he felt but I knew I had his number; he was unable to accept the fact he was not going to get what he wanted.

  “And who are you worm to address a Prince of Hell, I think I will have you enslaved and tortured for the next ten thousand years,” the Prince sneered. ‘I am the ruler and the power here, and you are nothing. I will have you bound and delivered to the dungeons before this day is done. Hell is about to become your worst nightmare.”

  I stared at him, he was a talker but let’s see if he had the stones to back up his talk. “Sure you will as you hide here in this office. That is my wife you were talking to and the only way you will have her is to kill me. I challenge you to a duel to the death, which I see is coming for you. O worm, come don’t delay I wish to step away from your corpse and take your place as the Prince of this realm. Stand forth or run and hide,” I spoke in a mocking voice, my hope was to enrage him to the point of loss of control.

  “You dare to challenge me; I will gnaw on your marrow from your bones as you lie broken on the sand of the arena. I will drink your blood and use your skull as the cup.” The Princes face was red with fury and he was starting to shake, clearly my words were having an effect. He began to yell out more threats involving my private parts when I interrupted him. I knew I needed him to go over the edge and to look at me with hatred.

  If I could get the rational part of his brain overcome then I would have a chance. “Look,” I said pointing to Raphael, what did this foolish little fellow have that would have interested you Ama?” I asked with a polite look on my face. “I see nothing but a proud and vain fool. I would not think a woman like you would find someone like him of interest?”

  Ama gave me a fast smile and nodded, then spoke, “I was young and foolish and listened to empty words that were really just hot air. Once I realized how lacking Raphael is I left. I am a strong woman and need a strong man beside me, not someone who finds achievements sitting behind a desk.” As Ama spoke I watched the Prince and saw that her words were hitting home, he was actually beginning to foam at the mouth as he tried to roar and curse.

  I did not think that we would accomplish anymore by insulting the Prince, but I could not resist and asked him if he needed a nappy as he was starting to drool. Looking at me with a glint of insanity in his eyes he screamed out, “I accept this duel to the death as dictated by the laws of Hell. We will meet in half an hour at the arena. Summon all the greater and lesser nobles from the region, in fact, open the arena to all. It is time that my serfs see who their Lord really is.”

  As the servant led us out I gave Raphael a wink and told him to say his goodbyes, it was not necessary but something about the guy really pissed me off. I looked at Ama and asked her if she was all right, she had been the one who had really twisted it in and I knew if I lost she would be paying the price for eternity, all my friends would.

  “What is it about that guy that really grits on me?” I wondered as we were led into a comfortable room. “Wait here, I will be back to take you to the arena in a few minutes.” The servant said with a bow. “He is pretty polite,” I stated.

  Ama looked at me and then smiled, “Think of it as job security, if you defeat the Demon Prince you will be in charge. All of the servants and guests will be unfailingly polite to you as no one knows anything about you. Word of what has happened is spreading as we speak, and everyone will be very interested to see who and what you are if you defeat the master of this realm, they will all bow the knee before you.”

  “I see, makes sense that you would not want to irritate the new boss. I hope that I am not as big a jerk as the Prince is when I win.” I was really thinking out loud but Ama answered me, “It is a buff that all Princes in Hell have, they use it to cause discord with all who come against them. Fortunately, your strategy did the same thing but on a much stronger scale. I have never seen him so crazed.”

  “I want him crazy, so crazy he will not be rational for this duel. If I can keep him from subjectively fighting I have a chance. I think it may be my only chance, I could not see any of his buffs or abilities, and he is so far above my level that I cannot get a read on him at all.” Everyone was looking at me and then Raik spoke, “I have never really thought about it, but your level is not displayed, just what level are you Tor?”

  I took a glance at my interface and saw that the character level was grayed out; opening the interface to the level tab I stopped and read what I saw. Fatal exception error, fatal system error, critical error. There were more but I understood the message. Something was wrong with my character and the Ingame server, probably the Vrp was messed up too.

  I suspected it might have something to do with the fact I was playing a non-playable class. Looking around at my friends I thought for a minute and then told them, “I think I am cursed, I have been stuck at level one for as long as I have been in the realm.”

  I wondered how the NPC characters could accept levels and quests and all the other mechanics of game play yet still be alive. Heck, I wondered how the hell I have ended up in Hell; none of this had been mentioned in the forums. Still I would not want to change anything, except being tortured blinded and abandoned. That had sucked and payback was coming. Looking at the others I saw them nod and smile at me, cursed or not they would stand with me.

  The servant returned, and looking at me introduced himself. “I am the major-domo for the Prince and if you are victorious I hope to fulfill the same role under you, sir. Now if you would follow me,” and with that he led us off. Directing me to stand in front of a door, he told me to go through the door when I heard the trumpets. He also stated that he would take the others to a viewing area and then began to lead them away, Ama grabbed me and gave me a kiss and whispered, “You will win for you and me.”

  As I stood there I began to stretch and do some basic warm up moves, I was not sure how Judo would work out for me but it was all I had. After several minutes, I heard the trumpets sounding and then the door opened. I walked out into the arena, looking around I realized that the palace was in the shape of a rectangle with the arena placed in the middle.

  There were thousands of Demons sitting in the stands that surrounded the open area. On the far side was Raphael the Demon Prince. Surrounding him were several bodies, clearly his idea of a warm up was not the same as mine. Once he saw me he let out a yell of rage and then spoke to the crowd his voice amplified somehow. “Here now is the puny mortal who has challenged me to the death duel. I will rend his flesh a
nd send his soul back to the universe. I will claim all that is his in this realm and any other under the Laws of Hell.

  The crowd began to chant his name over and over in a pulse-pounding mantra. I looked at him as he slowly began to walk towards me. Suddenly, I saw him rush at me, moving faster than any man could move. As he came up to me with his arm raised to strike I grabbed him and put him down with a body drop using Tai Otoshi. I knew he landed hard as his health bar shrunk by a couple of percents points.

  Springing up Raphael screamed at me in Demonic and launched himself once again at me, this time, I reached out and grabbing him, I tossed him using an Ippon Seoinage movement. Once again he landed heavily and his health went down another 3 percent. As he climbed to his feet I rushed over towards him and used an Ouchi Gari movement, which put him on his back, once he was down I began to kick him in the head. Three times I kicked him then suddenly there was a Ding and Critical Hit flashed across my interface. He was down to 77 percent of his life bar, and was clearly having a moment of insanity, all I heard were growls coming from him.

  As we continued to fight I began to taunt him in the hopes that he would not recover from his rage. I knew that rage was a powerful weapon and could severely hamper the ability of a fighter to be able to think clearly. Suddenly Raphael spun around and grabbed my arm; he began to exert tremendous pressure on it slowly forcing me to the ground. I reached out and grabbed his neck with my left arm and jumped against his chest, wrapping my legs around his. I kicked my heels against the back of his knees catching him by surprise, and as his legs collapsed I dug my thumb under his chin.

  As he flailed outwards his right hand connected with my head with enough force to throw me to the side several feet. We both stood up at the same time and prepared to attack again. I noticed that his life was down to 55 percent. Suddenly he began to change to his true demonic form. He now stood at least 8 feet tall with two ebony horns at least 24 centimeters long protruding from his forehead. His hands now ended in talons that were at least 10 centimeters long and unfurling from his back were wings that as they opened must have stretched out 5 meters on each side.