“Because it’s not mine.”
“Who’d you try to give it back to?”
“The son of the guy we took it from.”
“Oh yeah – I think I saw him today. Lord Naughton Junior, right?”
“Yeah,” Daniel muttered, pissed off at how cavalier Eric was. “How’d you see him?”
“Magic,” Eric whispered theatrically. “So, what – you just waltzed right up to the guy and said, ‘Hey, man, by the way, here’s the sword I stole while we home-invaded your place and popped your dad.’”
Daniel frowned. “You killed him, not me.”
“Yeah, but I think you’re what they’d call an accessory. And I don’t think that distinction would matter much to Junior.”
Daniel stood there in silence, a pained look on his face, and watched his friend make a few more swipes through the air.
Then Eric sheathed the sword and held out both the scabbard and the helmet. “Here.”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose up in surprise.
“You already swore not to kill me,” Eric said. “And I know you – you’re a boy scout. You’ll keep your word.”
Daniel took back his belongings. “Your shadowy friend’s going to crap his pants if he finds out.”
“If he had pants to crap. I don’t think there’s anything under those robes, so don’t be surprised if you hear a brick hitting the floor in a second or two.”
Daniel couldn’t keep from chuckling. “You don’t care that he’s not going to like it?”
“That’s exactly why I’m giving it back.”
“Yeah, you two sound like great friends,” Daniel said as he reattached the scabbard to his armor.
“Hey, at least he hasn’t tried to kill me,” Eric joked. “Unlike some other people I know.”
“Did he try to possess you?”
Daniel’s voice sounded humorous on the surface, but there was obvious anger beneath.
Eric sighed. “You’re still mad about that?”
“Yeah. I am.”
“Now that you’ve killed me, I think we’re even.”
“I didn’t kill you; Mira did.”
“Again – accessory to murder. Speaking of which, Junior didn’t try to kill you?”
Daniel paused, then decided to forgo the whole possession topic – for now. “He was leaning that way. He took a little convincing not to.”
“And yet, you’ve still got the sword.”
“He let me keep it.”
“Why?”
Daniel hesitated for the briefest second. “Because it’s not his, either.”
“Whose is it?”
“The dwarves. They made it.”
“Simik must have told you that.”
“Yeah, he did.”
Eric stood there in silence. When he spoke again, he sounded sincere. “I’m sorry about that. About… what happened.”
“Yeah,” Daniel said curtly. “Me too.”
Eric saw he wasn’t going to get anywhere with his apology, so he moved on. “So… it’s not yours, it’s not his, it’s the dwarves’… you going to go give it back to them?”
“Yeah. Actually, I am.”
“In exchange for what?”
“…nothing.”
“Nothing? Really?” Eric laughed. “Not, say… convincing them to help Junior march on Blackstone?”
“His name is Byrel,” Daniel said calmly, though his heart was thumping in his chest.
“Yeah, that’s not really the important piece of information in that last sentence.”
Daniel didn’t say anything.
“Come on, man,” Eric cajoled him. “You don’t think I know this Byrel guy’s going to go recruit every soldier he can get for a rematch?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Dude was the head of an army and he got spanked. Hard. There’s no way he’s going to roll over just like that.”
“If that’s what you think, then why’d you let him go?”
Eric shrugged. “I say bring it on. If he goes out and brings all my potential enemies here, it saves me the trouble of having to go to them. Plus I can beat them all at once instead of one by one.”
Daniel frowned. “You really think you can win,” he said wonderingly.
“I know I can.”
“How?”
“Did you see my army today?”
“I saw them start to crap their pants once Mira and I showed up.”
Eric grinned. “You two did a damn good job, I’ll give you that.”
“And next time we’ll have a ton more soldiers behind us.”
“So you admit you’re going to recruit a bigger army?”
“I thought you said you already knew that.”
“I do.”
“Then it’s not news.”
“True. I just want to hear you say it.”
Daniel sighed and relented. “We’re going to recruit a bigger army.”
“Ah, finally. Honesty.”
“How are you planning to beat us when we outnumber you guys ten to one?”
“Ten to one? Yeah, right,” Eric scoffed.
“Say we do. How are you going to beat us?”
“I can’t go away giving all my secrets,” Eric said in mock indignation. “Especially not to some little narc who was going to let the big bad Wolff listen in on our conversation.”
“She’s not listening.”
“I’m still not telling.” Eric jerked his head back towards the palace. “Hey, you want the nickel tour? You probably won’t get another chance to see inside.”
“You mean until we beat you?” Daniel said good-naturedly.
Eric laughed. “Like I said, you probably won’t get another chance to see inside.”
Daniel grinned. “…sure. Why not.”
74
Daniel
They walked inside the palace. Eric led him through the deserted hallways, past gorgeous paintings and lush tapestries.
“I have to say, I’m sort of surprised,” Daniel said.
“Why?”
“You’re in a really good mood.”
“Hey, I’m king. What more could I want? Plus, I had a ton of fun this afternoon, thanks to you.”
Daniel stared at him. “You mean the battle?”
“Yup.”
“You’re not mad?”
“Not at all. It was getting to be like a basketball game where we were winning forty to nothing in the first quarter. And then you guys showed up, and I actually had to work for it.”
“You didn’t seem that happy during the battle.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Oh, I don’t know – when people send flying demons after me, I kinda tend to get that impression.”
“It’s not like I wasn’t going to fight back. And, okay, yeah, maybe I got a little pissed from time to time,” Eric conceded. Then he grinned. “But damn if it wasn’t freaking awesome. The burning tree you threw on the wall? That was good. Knocked out half of my mages in one shot.”
“Thanks.”
“And Mira blowing up the hell spore – that was impressive.”
“I’ll tell her you approve,” Daniel said sardonically.
“Tell her I’m also not forgetting those three arrows in the back and the six in the chest. First it was one in the shoulder – what’s it going to be next time, twenty in the nut sack?”
“Well, to be fair, you were trying to kill us.”
“Not the first time, I wasn’t.”
“You mean that time you possessed me and tried to make me stab her?” Daniel asked coldly.
“Jesus Christ,” Eric snarled, “we’ve already been over this. That was AFTER she shot me, I apologized several times, and oh, by the way, you KILLED me this afternoon – so we’re EVEN now. Are you going to hang on to this forever?”
Daniel was quiet for a moment. Eric was leaving out a dozen betrayals and crimes he’d committed, but on the other hand… his arguments weren’t entirely without meri
t.
And he’d come here to persuade his friend to step away from the dark side, not argue with him relentlessly.
“Promise me you won’t ever do that again to me, no matter what,” Daniel said. “You can kill me – but don’t ever do that.”
Eric looked at him in surprise. All the anger had left his face.
“Alright,” he agreed. “I promise I won’t ever possess you again.”
“Alright. Then we’re even.”
Eric nodded. “Cool.”
They walked a few feet more in silence, then Daniel asked, “What was it like?”
“What?”
“Dying.”
Eric paused and considered. “It was… weird. You would think you’d get taken back to the white room, or logged off or something. Maybe you do, normally… but this time I was just in darkness. I mean, I was fully conscious, and I was aware that time was passing… but there wasn’t anything there. It was just all… black.”
Daniel frowned. “That sounds awful.”
“No, it was kind of peaceful. I mean, at first I was terrified – you actually feel like you’re dying, and it freaked me the hell out – but then once the pain was gone, I didn’t mind. Of course, it didn’t last too long. I might have gotten a little more freaked out if it had gone on for an hour. It only lasted for about a minute, and then suddenly I was back. Anyway, long story short, it’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“I’m not afraid,” Daniel protested, not entirely truthfully. “It’s going to happen sooner or later.”
“You know, if real dying was like the game, I wouldn’t be afraid of it,” Eric mused. “If you just stopped ‘being,’ and went somewhere dark and peaceful, and that was it… that wouldn’t be so bad.” Eric turned to his friend with a grin. “Not that I’m giving you an open invitation to send me packing.”
“I would never kill you,” Daniel said… then the corner of his mouth curled up slightly. “…in the real world.”
Eric laughed. “Come on, I wanna show you something.”
75
Daniel looked around the bedroom. There was a (literally) king-size canopy bed with silk sheets and numerous pillows. A glass window looked out over the lamplit houses of the city. A massive, unused fireplace sat at the other end of the room. There was also a giant bathroom, with smooth stone countertops and a wash basin made of gold.
“Uhhh… why are you showing me this?” he asked.
“Because you wouldn’t believe what I did in there this afternoon,” Eric said as he pointed at the bathroom.
Daniel squinched up his face. “EW.”
“No, dumbass – in the bathtub.”
Daniel walked over and looked closer. There was a huge copper tub set into the stone floor. It looked more like a medieval Jacuzzi than a bath.
“What, jerked off?” Daniel asked sarcastically.
“Ha ha, very funny. Nope – two gorgeous concubines came in, got naked, and… let’s just say, shit got real.”
Daniel stared at him. “…no.”
“Yeah.”
“WHAT?!”
Eric laughed. “Oh my GOD, dude… it was awesome! I guess this means I’m no longer a virgin – at least in the game.”
“You actually had sex – IN the game?”
“Yyyyyup.”
“I thought they had controls against that!” Daniel suddenly winced like he’d thought of something disturbing. “You didn’t…”
“What?”
“…possess them or anything, did you?”
“NO!” Eric shouted, incensed. “They did it willingly! Enthusiastically, even. I’m king, dude. I’m a freakin’ rock star.”
“How’d you get past the game controls, then?”
“I told you, I’ve got friends in high places.”
“That’s how you came back so fast after Mira shot you,” Daniel realized.
“Yeah.”
“How are you even IN the game right now?”
“What do you mean?”
“You need a VR headset and the CPU to play. Where’d you get it?”
“You mean, after you kicked me out of your house?” Eric asked, his smile suddenly forced.
Daniel got angry. “Let’s not forget you hacked my dad’s computer – ”
“After YOU locked me out!”
“When you’d ALREADY broken into my house!” Daniel yelled.
Eric closed his eyes and put up his hands as though to stop everything. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. We were having a good time, I screwed up… my bad. Let’s just not talk about it right now.”
Daniel grumbled, but relented.
Sort of.
“You still didn’t tell me how you’re in the game right now.”
“Yeah, I did. I got friends in high places.”
“That shadow guy?”
“Yeah.”
Daniel figured now was as good a time as ever. “Do you know what he is?”
Eric shrugged. “Some hacker who got access to higher level settings. God Mode, basically.”
“Is that what he told you?”
Eric laughed. “What else would he be?”
“An artificial intelligence program.”
“What, like Siri or some computer that plays chess?”
“No. A sentient, self-aware computer program.”
Eric’s smile stayed fixed in place. It looked rubbery… fake. “Yeah, right.”
“I saw the video, Eric. The one where it told you what it is.”
Eric’s smile stayed fixed in place like a mask – but his brows knit together. “What video are you talking about?”
“They have footage of you meeting the thing for the first time.”
“Uh-huh… and what did it say, exactly?”
Daniel grimaced. He didn’t want to have to admit that the video had cut out and that he’d only seen a short portion of it – but he could only describe so much.
“It said you were in a video simulation.”
“…and…?”
“And it talked about the internet portal you used, and how it was the Shattered Lands.”
“…aaaaaand?”
Daniel grimaced. “That’s where the video cut off.”
Eric laughed. “So I guess you missed the part where the guy said he was a hacker.”
“I’m not kidding. It’s a computer program, and it’s manipulating you.”
“Uhhh… no.”
Daniel was 99% sure that Eric was bullshitting him – but how to catch him in his lie?
“I know you hacked my dad’s computer.”
“Yeah?”
“And I know you hacked Varidian.”
“…so?”
“So that thing is an AI, Eric. And you helping it is really goddamn dangerous.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just hacked Varidian’s servers to make myself stronger. The guy helped me, and that’s it.”
“What’s his name?”
“He goes by the Unnamed One.”
“Cute,” Daniel said sarcastically.
“Isn’t it?”
“It’s an AI, and it’s using you, and if it gets out of this?” Daniel said, gesturing to the room, the palace, the Shattered Lands. “It’s game over for everybody.”
“That was really, really cheesy, man. How long have you been waiting to say that?”
Daniel just glared at him.
Eric rolled his eyes. “Okay, so what you’re telling me is, basically, that after a century of trying to come up with artificial intelligence in scientific labs – on purpose – they finally created it by accident… in a video game.”
“Dr. Wolff doesn’t know how it happened, but it did.”
“What’s Dr. Wolff got to do with it?”
“She created it.”
“Huh,” Eric muttered. “Well, to be honest, buddy, I think she’s been feeding you a bunch of bullshit.”
“No she’s not. That thing is manipulating you.”
�
��To do what?” Eric asked in exasperation.
“I don’t why – why don’t you tell me? What did you do for it when you hacked Varidian?”
“Nothing! I changed some things around on the servers that gave me more power. That’s it.”
“That’s funny, because Dr. Wolff said you gave it the ability to replicate itself and make changes to its own code.”
Eric hesitated just an instant too long. “I don’t where she’s getting that, but I didn’t do anything.”
“You know what happens if it gets out, right?”
“It’s a hacker – it’s probably some 400-pound dude in Brazil or something.”
“Stop bullshitting me. You know what happens if it escapes the game, right?”
“Is this where you start trying to scare me with Terminator and Skynet shit?”
“Is this where you admit what it actually is, and what you’re doing for it?” Daniel snapped.
Silence.
Eric stared at him for a moment, then said, “I’m hungry… you want dinner? Let’s go talk about this over dinner.”
76
Daniel and Eric sat at the dining table in the now-deserted banquet hall, eating from platters of roasted meat and fowl.
The tension from earlier hadn’t exactly passed.
“So, is it just you and the AI?” Daniel asked as he tore apart a Cornish hen.
“It’s not an AI,” Eric said as though he was tired of discussing it.
“Whatever. Is it just you and him?”
“No, I’ve got this witch who taught me everything. Problem is, she’s trying to jump my bones,” Eric said morosely.
“That’s a problem? Is she green and warty or something?”
“No, not exactly… the thing is, she’s healed now, but when I first met her, she looked like Freddy Kreuger.”
“Oh,” Daniel said, taken aback.
“Yeah. So kind of a boner-killer.”
“Did she find out about the two concubines?”
“…yeah,” Eric muttered.
Daniel laughed. “No wonder you’ve got problems.”
Eric rolled his eyes. “I know. Oh my god. And then there’s frickin’ Merridack…”
“Merridack?! I thought you killed him!”
“I did. Then I brought him back to life.”
“What?! How?!”
Shattered Lands 2 The Fall Of Blackstone: A LitRPG Series Page 17
