Fractured Spirit (Alpha World Book 5)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Seamus kept his gaze on the crackling fire. “So, my psyche was fragmented to a dangerous degree?”

  “One theory was that you might have just shut down. The other theory was that you would have finally split into multiple personalities. It is hard to say. You were also showing signs of strain physically, which prompted concerns that your body would have shut down to stop you from confronting the truth.”

  “The only reason that didn’t happen was Stacia,” Seamus murmured. “How did you plan to arrange for me to meet a Succubus if I hadn’t chosen the Summoner class?”

  “I would have interjected a questline specifically for that,” Victoria told him, her gaze tracking his expression.

  “So all of this was to see if a person as broken as me could be fixed?” His jaw clenched as he continued to gaze at the fire. He didn’t understand why he was upset, but he felt used.

  “If Kaylee had survived the attack and was broken like you imagined her to be, would you be upset with me if this path led to her healing as much as she could?” Victoria asked calmly.

  His anger faded away abruptly, as if it had never been. A deep sigh escaped him, “No. No, I wouldn’t be. From the time I agreed to this program I had only hoped that she would be able to have a life again. I was willing to sell my soul for even the slightest chance.” Shaking his head, he picked up the tea without looking away from the fire. Sipping it, he finally asked a question he’d wanted to ask since he recalled David’s letter. “Vicky, who has Kaylee’s ashes?”

  “Alvin,” Victoria replied. “He has them on his desk. He will keep them for you. Would you like to see the urn?”

  A single tear escaped his eye and made its way down his cheek, “Please.”

  A simple wooden box appeared on the mantle above the fireplace. Standing quickly, Seamus went to it, his hand hovering an inch from its surface. The dark oak wood glistened with the oil it was maintained with. There was an Infinity symbol on the box over a simple phrase: ‘Through death, life eternal can be achieved’. Below that was Kaylee’s name and the dates of her birth and death. His right forefinger gently traced the design and words. He picked up the box reverently and hugged it to his chest.

  “I’m so sorry, Kaylee. I never should have denied the truth. I should have celebrated your life. You were the best person I have ever met. I hope Dad was right, and you’re in Heaven right now looking down on me, along with David, and Mom and Dad as well. I did the impossible thing you liked to taunt me with sometimes. I found a woman to love. She’s wholly digital, yeah go ahead and laugh, but she loves me, even with all my flaws. I think you would have liked her, goodness knows she’s a handful and keeps me on my toes. I also found two other women to love. I know it only took the end of my world to happen, but it did. You’d like Karen, she’s feisty and unwilling to back down. Kind of like you, when you were certain you were right. Fluffball, or Julia if you would rather, is the quiet reserved type. She needs someone to love and protect her. You always said I would do that if I could find someone. I happen to love, and am loved by, all three of them. Would you accept that, if you were here with me right now?”

  He felt the wood digging into his arms as he squeezed the urn tighter. “I hope to join you all one day. I’ll have to accept God. Maybe I’ll be able to, when the time comes. I’m still a bit pissed at him, for taking you from the world and from me and your father. I hope you don’t judge me too harshly for doing what I did to the guy who killed you. Truthfully, I wasn’t in my right mind, I know that now.” He broke, unable to say more as the tears poured from his eyes. He had cried so much over the last few weeks he was amazed he still had any tears left.

  He wasn’t sure how long he cried, but eventually he got control of himself. He set the box back on the mantle and wiped at his eyes. Once he was stable again he turned to Victoria, who was dabbing at her own eyes. “Sorry about that. I do feel a little better, I guess.”

  “It’s fine, Seamus. I’m sure she doesn’t hate you, and if she could see you now she would probably hug you and tell you it’s all okay.” Victoria stood up and held out her arms, “Might I stand in for her, if briefly?” He nodded once, stepping over to her and giving her a hug. She let out a small hiccup of a sob as she wrapped her arms around him. When he tried to pull back she tightened her grip, “Please, just a moment more,” she asked, her voice trembling with emotion. She let him go a moment later and wiped at her own eyes, “Thank you.”

  Seamus was puzzled by the emotion she displayed in that moment. He knew it should be him thanking her, but for a moment it had felt as if Kaylee had forgiven him. “Thank you, Victoria. Tell Alvin for me, that I know he’ll take good care of her ashes. I’ll never see the real urn, what with being sentenced to life in prison, and being stuck in the digital world.”

  Victoria took her seat again after they separated. “There are matters we should discuss pertaining to our visits and what comes next,” she told him, sipping at her tea.

  Taking his own seat, Seamus frowned at her suddenly serious demeanor, “What do you mean?”

  “Now that you are recovering, I will not be seeing you every month. I will still be available in the event of certain sorts of emergencies. Stacia’s therapy plus the support of Karen and Julia should be sufficient for your continued recovery.”

  “Oh,” Seamus blinked, not having expected that sudden turn of events. “I’ll be sad about that. I liked our chats, mostly, except for the memory walks. I’ve always felt comfortable with you.”

  A sad smile crossed her lips, “Thank you, Seamus. I have loved being able to help you.”

  Frowning for a moment, he asked a question that had been bothering him. “Karen said you run all of Alpha World. That you’re the AI behind the whole game, is that right?”

  She nodded, “Yes. I am the Overlord, as the Gods know me.”

  “Why are you my handler then?” Seamus pressed.

  “I cannot say at this time,” Victoria told him, looking away from his penetrating gaze. “I will offer you a deal, though.”

  “I’m listening,” Seamus said evenly.

  “If you defeat the final boss of the Forgotten Prison, I will tell you anything you want to know.”

  “I just have to be there when he dies?” Seamus asked for clarification.

  “You must be alive and present when he falls,” Victoria said, looking back to him. “Do we have a deal?”

  He searched her eyes for a moment before nodding. “I feel like we’ve made a similar bet before.”

  Victoria rubbed at her right palm with her left thumb, something Seamus had seen her do before. She followed his gaze to her hands and stopped, picking up her cup again. “Do we have a deal?”

  “I agree,” Seamus said. “You’ll answer any and all questions that I have?”

  “Yes,” Victoria nodded. “I will even grant you a favor that you don’t even know you want yet.”

  Frowning, Seamus grunted, “That sounds ominous.”

  Her lips went flat as she nodded, “It is. However, it is something else I cannot talk about at this time.”

  A spike of fear went through him at her tone. He could see only sympathy in her eyes. “It’s something I won’t like, isn’t it?”

  He might have imagined the nod, it was so slight, “I cannot elaborate further, Seamus. Level, become powerful and defeat the boss. Then I can answer all of your questions. You may even bring your wives for the occasion.”

  The sinking sensation in his gut grew when she mentioned the others. “It involves them, doesn’t it?”

  Lips compressing, Victoria stood up, “It is time for this meeting to come to an end.”

  Seamus got up quickly, “Vicky?”

  She paused to meet his gaze again, “Yes?”

  “Thank you,” he said, stepping forward and embracing her again.

  Her arms went around him, her body relaxing as she accepted the hug. “I hope you will be as accepting when this is all said and done.”

  With those words
the world went dark around Seamus, though the feeling of arms holding him persisted until sleep took him.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  He didn’t recall any dreams when he woke the next morning. He was bemused to find himself in bed with multiple arms draped over him possessively. Yawning as he blinked the last remnants of sleep from his eyes, he looked to his left to see Stacia. Her face was beautiful and innocent in sleep, her full lips parted slightly as the softest of snores came from her. Lips twitching up he just watched her for a moment, letting the wonder of their love fill him. Turning his head to the other side he found Karen, also asleep on his arm. Her face was as open and beautiful as Stacia’s was, but she wasn’t snoring. The smile widened a little more as he watched her nose twitch once. She murmured and snuggled into him before going still. Looking just beyond her he saw Fluff, her head resting on his right hand. He could feel her soft purr through his palm. Her face was the most innocent of them all. He reveled in the moment, knowing how rare it would be to see all of them still asleep.

  His smile dimmed after a moment as his conversation with Victoria crept back into his thoughts. Something was coming, something he would dislike or even hate. Victoria had given him a goal to accomplish so he could get his answers. Her deal echoed briefly in his thoughts, causing him to tense just a tiny bit. That was enough to wake Stacia, who stopped snoring and opened her beautiful eyes to meet his as he turned his head to face her.

  “Ya be awake,” Stacia whispered as she leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “When ya reappeared on the bed asleep, I was a little worried, but ya seemed comfortable. I stopped Karen from wakin’ ya. We all be wantin’ to hear about ya talk with the Overlord.” She could feel his unease when she mentioned Victoria. “Is everythin’ okay, master?”

  “Everything is fine right now,” he told her, lightly brushing her lips with his. “I’ll tell you all at once. Okay?”

  She searched his face for a moment before she tightened her hold on him. “Aye, it be as ya wish.”

  “Oh, so he woke up finally, did he?” Karen muttered as her fingers danced along his rib cage.

  Alburet squirmed under her tickling, “Stop that.”

  Karen giggled lightly, but stopped. “For now, but I want to hear about your conversation.”

  “As do I,” Fluff added from the far side of Karen.

  “It was nice to see you all asleep,” Alburet said with a smile, shifting the topic at least momentarily, “It reminded me of a bit from an old show I watched. This one race, when they were contemplating marriage, the man would be watched for three nights while he slept by the woman who would be his bride. The idea was that she would be able to see his true face during those three nights and use that to help her decide if he would be a good man to marry.”

  “So, what did you think about us?” Fluff asked before the others could think of anything.

  “That you’re all beautiful and that I am probably the luckiest man on this world.”

  “Sap,” Karen said, kissing him. When she broke the brief but passionate kiss she sat up, stretching out her naked frame. “So, spill. What did you and Victoria talk about?”

  He realized that they were all naked as Karen threw back the sheet. “How is it that we always seem to end up naked in bed?” he asked, dodging the moment for a bit longer.

  “Ya be tryin’ to stall,” Stacia said simply.

  Realizing he was cornered, he gave in, “Okay. I’ll tell you as best as I can recall the conversation. It’s the last part that bothers me.” Alburet sat up and propped his back against the wall.

  Stacia felt his uncertainty, reaching out to rest her hand on his thigh. “Did she say ya was goin’ to be taken from us?”

  He paused, “She didn’t outright say anything like that, but I have a bad feeling about what is to come. Let me tell you and we can all try to puzzle it out.”

  He launched into his recounting of the conversation. When he got to the part about the deal, he paused as a quest pop-up appeared before him.

  Quest: A Deal with the Overlord

  Requirements: Help Vladimir search the city of Peace. Alpha Company must participate in the Raid on the Forgotten Prison. Be alive when the final boss falls in the Forgotten Prison raid. Love and be loved by your wives.

  Rewards: The full truth and a boon from the Overlord.

  As he looked at the quest details he heard gasps from the others. “Did you all just get a quest notification?” Alburet asked, seeing each of them focusing on something he couldn’t see.

  They nodded and Stacia gripped his hand. “Ya always seem to do the unexpected.”

  “Let me finish the last little bit of the story,” Alburet told her, then described the final conversation. When he was done, they all seemed lost in thought for a moment.

  “I do nay like it,” Stacia shuddered. “It feels like ya will be taken from us.”

  “I agree with Stacia,” Karen hissed slightly in frustration. “What the fuck? Why would she do this?”

  “If he remembered what she said correctly, then I think I have a few ideas,” Fluff said. As all eyes turned to her, she took a deep breath. “Before people could come to Alpha World, there were rumors around Mindblown of another project that would come after it. Victoria dropped the name Delta World a few times during meetings when I was working on art for Alpha World. I think it means they’re going to send him to Delta World. The boon she hinted at might be so Stacia can go with him.”

  A hand seemed to clench his heart, “That would mean I lose you and Karen.”

  Karen growled as she looked from him, to Fluff and back to him, at him, “That’s seriously fucked up.”

  “Mayhap the boon be for all of us?” Stacia pointed out.

  Karen ground her teeth, her hands clenching spasmodically. “It damn well better be. I didn’t just find my perfect family only to lose it because some AI hussy thinks she should stick her nose into our business.”

  Fluff touched Karen’s shoulder, “Karen, it will be okay. Now that Stacia mentions it, I think she might be right. Victoria said it would be a boon he would want but he didn’t know it. The quest also states in the requirements that we all love each other.”

  Karen’s hands slowly stopped opening and closing as she took a few deep breaths. “Okay, fine. We just have to hope that this boon is what we think it is.”

  “We also need to complete the other parts of the quest,” Fluffball reminded her. “Maybe we should focus on that.”

  “The city of Peace be lost in the Dead Lands,” Stacia told them. “Ioaniss mentioned it, sayin’ the King was likely to send an expedition in the next few months to try to find it.”

  “Vladimir asked if we could help him with a task once we reach level eighty,” Alburet added. “So we should focus on leveling, as I am sure Vladimir intends to beat the King to the city.”

  The three women exchanged glances before nodding. “Do we tell Gerald and Marysue as much as we can and drag them along with us, or do we find another tank and healer?” Karen said after a moment of silence.

  The other three all felt torn at her question. They had gotten to this point with Gerald and Marysue; it would feel wrong to not include them. But Gerald was going to be tied down with running the guild and managing the town and the Keep and whatever other duties he’d ended up with as a noble. That was likely going to cut way down on the time Gerald and Marysue would have for adventuring.

  “We should explain the quest, as much as we can. They should know. I wouldn’t like them not knowing,” Fluff added.

  Alburet agreed with her, “Yeah, let’s explain it and see what they think. I don’t want there to be any bad blood between us. Especially since I did dump the whole guild and noble thing on him.”

  “Marysue wanted it,” Stacia pointed out. “Tha’ would have had Gerald askin’ iffin ya had nay already offered it to him.”

  “I’ll send him a message and see if we can meet up to talk. The new people won’t be showing up until midnight toni
ght. There’s also your sister’s wedding today,” Alburet reminded them, looking at Stacia.

  “Aye, but we nay be participatin’. We have a few hours before we have to be at the ceremony, then there be the reception.”

  “Let’s get dressed and go talk to Gerald,” Karen said as she got out of bed.

  “Is the wedding going to be like yours?” Fluff asked as she followed Karen out of bed.