by Edward Brody
Jax paused and looked to Adeelee.
“It’s not far from the Vale…” she muttered.
Jax rubbed his fingers across his chin and looked lost in thought for a moment before he gave a slow, slight nod. “Alright…” he said, so quietly that I almost couldn’t hear. He perked his shoulders up and gave a stronger nod. “I owe you a lot, Gunnar. I’ll give your guild a chance.”
I held my hand out to him for another shake. “You don’t owe me anything, man.”
Jax grabbed my hand and squeezed. I felt a bond with him that was almost as strong as my bond with Aaron. Jax was a true friend—a NPC, but a true friend.
I turned to Adeelee, raised my eyebrows, and held my hands out in a questioning manner. “Adeelee?”
Adeelee smiled and shook her head. She reached out a hand and rubbed her fingers through the side of my hair. “You’re going to have to do a lot more if you intend to recruit a princess, beeyach.”
“Oh, no…” I shook my head in disgust and held up my palm. “Really Adeelee. Elves don’t say ‘beeyach’. And that’s completely wrong usage, anyway.”
“Why the long face?” Aaron said, rushing up behind me and throwing an arm around my shoulder.
I grabbed his arm and quickly pulled it off, then turned and gave him a playful punch to his gut. “You…”
“What?” he asked.
“Are an asshole.” I shook my head, and rolled my eyes, then leaned in close to Aaron’s ear. “We’ve got Jax now.”
Aaron pulled back and grinned. “Hell yes. Let’s do this!”
Ozzy and Gerard moved in closer to our little circle, and Donovan stayed off to the side, just in earshot.
“We need a name first,” I said. “Did you think of anything yet?”
Aaron bit his bottom lip and nodded as if he was about to give away the greatest secret known to man. “I did actually.”
I rattled my head. “Well, what is it?”
Aaron held his palms forward and slowly drew them apart. “The… United Front.”
“Hmm…” I said. I looked around to everyone to get a feel for their reactions. For the most part, everyone was either nodding or shrugging, seeming okay with it. “It’s sounds good, actually.” I shook my head. “But I don’t know… It sounds militaristic or something at the same time.”
“Well then, where’s all your ideas, Gunnar?” Aaron barked.
“Why don’t we tidy it up a bit and make it more neutral, make it simple?” I paused and looked around at everyone. “Unity.”
“Unity?” Aaron asked.
“I like that,” Ozzy said. “I like it a lot.”
Adeelee smiled and even Jax was giving some slight nods of approval.
“It’ll work,” Aaron said, bobbing his head up and down erratically. He held up his two index fingers and pointed them at everyone. “But Slayers? That’s badass, right?” He turned back and forth. “Anyone? Slayers?”
Nothing but silence.
Aaron sighed and shrugged. “Unity it is then.”
“How do we do this?” I asked.
“We just will it to happen, man.” Aaron said, holding his hand out in the center of the group.
Gerard placed his hand on top of Aaron’s and then Jax placed his hand on top of Gerard’s.
Ozzy reached his hand out into the mix. “Like this?”
Aaron nodded.
I looked up to see Donovan leaning against a tree, watching the scene unfold. He was as strong of a fighter as any and would be a solid asset if we could get him. “Anyone opposed to having a dark elf join the guild?” I asked.
No one said anything, but Jax shuffled a bit uncomfortably.
“Donovan,” I called out. “I think we’ve earned each other’s trust. You’re welcome to join the guild as well.”
Donovan lifted his chin high and straightened his shoulders. For a moment, it seemed as if he were considering the proposition, but then his eyes shifted over to Adeelee, and his expression went blank. “I think it might be too early for a dark elf to make such a bold move, but I do appreciate the invitation.”
I shrugged and gave him a slight nod.
“What?!” a voice said from behind me. “Too bold?”
I turned to see the posh, slender frame of Keysia strolling up towards us, a grin etched across her face. Adeelee took a cautious step back as Keysia got closer.
“Your highness,” Keysia said with a bow and quickly fell to one knee. She didn’t wait for Adeelee to tell her to rise. She just stood back up and continued talking. “Donovan might not be so bold, but I am.”
I turned to the others. “She’s an incredible fighter, and she’s stood up for us more than once. I trust her.”
The others gave their nods of acceptance.
“Welcome aboard, Keysia,” I said.
Keysia squeezed in beside me and placed her hand on top of Ozzy’s. She looked up at me and took a deep breath. It was like her eyes were piercing my soul. I had to admit, there was something about her that tugged at me ever so subtly, and did so a little stronger each time I saw her. Seeing her and Adeelee together, I wasn’t sure who was more beautiful, though they were both beautiful in their own way.
I focused back to the center of the group, and Aaron mouthed—but didn’t verbalize—It’s a trap. I wanted to shoot an Arcane Missile over there to teach him a lesson.
I shook my head at him in disapproval and placed my hand on top of Keysia’s. “I guess we’re ‘Unity’ then.”
“Unity,” Aaron said.
The others nodded. “Unity.”
Congratulations! You have formed the rogue guild, Unity! To register your guild, visit any guild hall and speak with the magistrate. Details about your guild can be found on your Manifest screen.
Congratulations! You are now guildmaster of Unity!
Manifest screen? I wondered. We all removed our hands from the circle, and I tried to will my manifest screen to appear.
It was nice to have an overview, and I was pretty sure that Shal, the dark elf that we had hired to guard our homes, was the “Non-Guilded Military” that the manifest screen was showing, but I wasn’t sure why the trade details had no information. I’d have to figure that out later.
“Gunnar?” Adeelee said from behind me.
I closed the manifest screen and turned around.
“Thanks again,” she said. “I should head back to the Vale. If there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.”
Anything? I thought. “Hmmm… Hold on a sec.”
I pulled up my stats menu and dumped 2 points from my last level-up into charisma. I would’ve put all three into the stat, but I didn’t want to feel like an idiot if it got me nowhere, so I put the third point into willpower. I quickly slid my level point into inscription.
“So, umm… anything?” I queried after closing my stats.
“Within reason, of course,” Adeelee replied.
“How about a date?” I asked. I could feel my stomach tensing at the fear of rejection, which was odd considering I was talking to an NPC.
“A date?”
“You know?” I said shyly. “We could share some elven pie, have an adventure around the Vale, kill some more Psy Demons or whatever.” I looked at the trees around me. “Or you could come back out here and spend some time with me in Edgewood.”
Adeelee smiled and she almost looked a little shy herself as she took a deep breath and gave a slight nod. “I think I can manage that.”
I raised my eyebrows and grinned, “Great! I guess we’ll see each other soon, then.”
“Oh,” Adeelee said and suddenly reached for her bag. She rustled her hand inside and pulled out a runestone, handing it out to me. The rune on top of the stone had a pattern that was much more intricate than the other runes I had seen thus far. “I wanted to give this to you before I leave.”
You’ve Received: A Marked Runestone. Location: Unknown. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Great. Rarity: Uncommon. Weight: 0.1 kg
�
��It’s a runestone for Mist Vale. I picked it up at the library after you found your Recall scroll. Once you’re able to use the spell, you can target it to quickly teleport inside the Vale.”
“Wow, thanks,” I said. “I—“
“Our ambassador needs it,” she interrupted.
“Yeah…” I nodded and smiled.
“Good luck, Gunnar,” Adeelee said. She sauntered away and said her goodbyes to everyone before disappearing between the trees.
I felt a weird tingle in my stomach when I saw all the guildmates chatting. Keysia was introducing herself to everyone who hadn’t met her yet, and everyone—even Jax—was all smiles. The feeling of excitement, the feeling of ‘what’s next’ was in the air.
I had learned a lot and accomplished a lot since coming to Edgewood, and I felt like I was one step closer to making something of myself in Eden’s Gate. More than that, I hadn’t just gained friends; I had a family now… at least the beginnings of one.
And I was their leader.
Unity.
I couldn’t think of anyone or anything that could set me off my path. Well… except Adeelee… maybe.
Chapter Thirty
Day 14 (Earth)
“It’s hot as balls here!” Marcello whined, positioning himself under a cheap fan.
“We’re on an island in Southeast Asia,” Gustov said. “What did you expect?”
Sung and Sar were sitting in front of their laptops at the edges of the small room, and Kevin, a six-footer with a death metal t-shirt and dark beard, was watching on anxiously with his arms crossed.
“I think we’re ready to go,” Sung said.
Sar slid her chair across the room and flipped on a large, 50-inch monitor that was sitting near the crew. At the center of it all was a small, raised hospital bed with the Nexicon headset that Kevin had gotten for beta testing.
The whole plane ride over, the Crylight team studied the Nexicon blueprints, and in particular, the way that the Nexicon motherboard interacted with Eden’s Gate. The blueprint was robust, giving full instructions of how to create a headset from scratch, but starting from scratch would’ve taken the team months to put one together.
With the beta headset, the team was able to quickly reprogram the motherboard to connect to the live Eden’s Gate blockchain, and over the past few days they had made some of their own modifications.
“You sure you want to do this?” Gustov asked.
Kevin nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been in there, man. It’s amazing. If I hadn’t been banned for leaking data, I would’ve bought the game on launch day.”
Gusto took a deep breath and picked up the headset. Several cables had been attached to the headset at various places, and from within the center of a headset, two flat, sticky sensors hung down by thin wires. “So what we know is that the Nexicon fully transfers your consciousness into the game, and the moment a full transfer occurs, the headset executes a hidden code and shuts down, leaving your body dead here on Earth. When we remove the hidden code, the headset can’t connect to the servers, but the data sequence suggests that there’s a millisecond of time where the Nexicon transfers your consciousness and hasn’t executed the code.”
Sung swung his chair around and started checking additional sensors that were laying on the bed. “The switch we added should trigger at that exact moment, tricking the Nexicon into waiting for the code, and tricking the game into think that the code has already executed.”
“Right,” Gustov said. “If it works the way we hope, you’ll essentially be conscious in the game, but your body and subconscious will still be alive here on Earth.”
“If—” Marcello stressed, “it works.”
Kevin shrugged. “Worst that could happen is I’d be stuck in the game, right?”
Gustov nodded. “And best case scenario is that there will be an open communication between your brain and Eden’s Gate, allowing our sensors to pick up on everything that you see and hear.”
Kevin slapped his hands together. “Alright, let’s do this.”
The team reached out and fist bumped each other right before Kevin hopped up on the small bed. As Gustov attached the sensors to Kevin’s head and slid the headset on, Sung placed sensors on Kevin’s chest to monitor his heart.
When the headset was in place, Sar walked up to Gustov and spoke low enough that no one else could hear. “You sure you want to do this? We’re good at what we do, but this is one of Dr. Winston’s creations. I feel like we’re messing with the Ark of the Covenant or something.”
“We’re not hurting anything,” Gustov said. “A little circumvention isn’t a big deal.”
“Battery is at full charge!” Marcello yelled.
Sar still had a look of concern on her face, but she rushed back to her laptop.
“You ready, Kevin?” Gustov asked.
Kevin rubbed his hands together. “Ready!”
Sung began the countdown. “In three, two, one…”
Gusto powered on the headset, and a small light blinked on the side. Unlike the production headsets that had colorful lights and gold etching, the beta headsets were rather plain with a single LED.
The heart monitor started beeping quickly, and the whole crew held their breath as they waited to see if it would work. The fifty-inch screen flashed several times as if it was trying to pick up a signal, and finally a slightly fuzzy image appeared before them.
Welcome to your new life.
Welcome to Eden’s Gate.
“Holy shit!” Sung yelled.
Sar checked Kevin’s vitals. “He’s still alive!”
Marcello slapped Gustov on the shoulder. “It worked! It fucking worked!”
Kevin’s view of the cobblestone in the tutorial came into view, and then of husky man walking down the steps of a temple.
“Look lively!” yelled the husky man.
Gustov squeezed his lips together and made a tight fist as he looked into one of the biggest breakthroughs of mankind. Kevin was in a true VR. He was clearly in the game experiencing a new life just as if he were on Earth.
The team watched for hours as Kevin completed the tutorial and spawned beside a rocky mountain where he met a group of NPC dwarves that were mining for ore. The NPCs were all so lifelike, so real.
He set off on a quest to find a medicinal herb for the diseased child of one of the dwarves, and on the way, he gained three levels and enough gold that he was able to buy a nice set of starter armor.
“Fuck! I want in!” Sung said loudly. “It looks like a movie.”
“Me too!” Sar said. “This is amazing.”
Gustov smiled. “You’ll get your chance. Let’s see what else he gets into.”
Kevin journeyed into a thick forest while looking for the herbs, and after several minutes of walking, he seemed to have lost his direction.
“What’s he doing?” Marcello grunted. “Can’t he tell that’s the wrong way?”
Through the speakers came a loud roar and the hard patter of footsteps making their way towards Kevin. Kevin turned to see a massive bear charging in his direction.
The crew were holding their breath as Kevin ran as fast as he could, but each time the monitor showed Kevin turning around, the bear was gaining ground.
The sound of arrows whizzing through the air and the bear moaning loudly caused Kevin to turn again. The bear had stopped and was pawing at a shaft sticking out of its side. More arrows flew, piercing the bear’s flesh, one by one until he gave one final moan and fell to the ground.
“Someone saved him…” Sar whispered.
“Oh, thank god,” Kevin said, leaning forward, trying to catch his breath. When he looked up again, he saw a group of six humans approaching, all wearing studded leather armor and two of them on horseback. He raised his palm to them and spoke loudly. “Thank you so much!”
All of the humans were males, save for one who was walking in the front. She had the hilt of two long swords jutting up from her back in opposite directions, a shortbow, and t
wo daggers sheathed on each hip. Loose, sandy-blonde hair fell to her shoulders, and her eyes were a dangerously pale blue.
“What’s your name?” the woman asked rudely.
“Kevin Robinson.” He turned his head to the side. “Where am I exactly?”
“Blackwater Deep,” the woman said. “West of Scotia and east of the Serpent Sea.”
Kevin sighed. “Well that doesn’t mean anything to me.” He twisted his lips. “How can I get back to the dwarves? Or if you don’t mind, I’ll tag along with you wherever you’re going.”
The woman frowned and her brow furrowed.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kevin apologized. “I didn’t even ask your name.”
“Ray Ray,” the woman said.
“Ray Ray?” Kevin laughed and held out his hand to shake. “Did your mom name you that?”
“How much gold do you have on you?” Ray Ray questioned, ignoring the hand extended to her.
“Gold?” Kevin asked.
“How much gold?” she asked again.
Kevin shook his head. “About 50 or 60, I suppose. Why?”
Ray Ray reached out and grabbed Kevin’s hand, yanked him forward, and in one fluid motion pulled the dagger from her hip and drove it deep into Kevin’s gut. Blood surged from Kevin’s mouth as she leaned in close and whispered in his ear. “My grandmother always called me Ray Ray, but my mother named me Rachel.”
Kevin gripped at his stomach, and Ray Ray took a step back, grabbed Kevin’s hair, and slid her dagger across his throat. Kevin fell to the ground spasming and gagging on blood.
“Grab his loot and gold!” Ray Ray yelled. She quickly stepped to the side, and her guild mates swarmed in on the dying man.
The heart monitor inside the room was beating rapidly, and Kevin’s body shook erratically on top of the small hospital bed. Sung grabbed on to the bed and held it, trying to prevent the whole thing from tipping over. Sar turned to her computer and then back to the monitor, unsure of what to do.
“What the fuck!” Marcello yelled.
Gustov reached for his laptop, and watched as code swam across the screen. For a few seconds after Kevin’s health reached zero, the Nexicon VR was still communicating with Eden’s Gate. And then a final message appeared.
