Fantasy Online_Hyperborea

by Harmon Cooper

  Ryuk seats himself in the circular booth. He spots two of Kodai’s security detail hovering near the bar, each nursing a bottle of designer water. One says something to Hitomi, looks to Ryuk, and laughs.

  “Why are you late?” Kodai checks the Ice Blue Rolex Cosmograph Daytona that he always wears. Ryuk knows it well; it was given to him by their late father. “One hour and thirty-two minutes late, to be exact.”

  “I was busy,” he says a bit too fiercely.

  “Playing your stupid games again?”

  “Like I said, I was busy. Isogashii desu.”

  Kodai jerks forward with a cocked fist and stops just in time. Ryuk flinches as his older brother bellows with laughter, long and loud and hard, just barely holding onto his whiskey. “Don’t be such a little bitch, Ryuk, I was just joking with you. I’m not going to hit you. The hour you left me waiting gave me time to see how the business was running and to check on a few things over iNet. Water under the bridge, as they say in America. Hey, are you paying attention to me?”

  Ryuk blinks rapidly, feels anger and fear rise and quickly settle. “Yes, sorry.”

  There hasn’t been a moment in Ryuk’s life that he wasn’t connected to iNet, the retina-based internet service so necessary and ubiquitous that it has become a basic human right.

  Even as they speak, he is viewing his avatar auto-level through the Proxima in-game view, which allows him to watch his avatar battle in the lower left hand corner of his field of vision. It is quite common for just about everyone to have multiple real-life occurrences directly in front of them and some iNet feed streaming in their field of vision. The Internet of Things and the human brain were laced together in the middle of the century. Now they’ve become stitched and soon, they’ll become an amalgam.

  “What’s the matter?” Kodai asks his little brother. “Did I say something wrong?”

  Ryuk clenches his fists together under the table. “A lot has happened today,” he finally says. Tamana. He gets the urge to tell his brother what he witnessed but bites his lip instead. He knows Kodai won’t care, he’s that heartless.

  His brother takes another sip from his whiskey. “Let’s discuss what I called you here to discuss.”

  Hitomi the hostess returns and sets a glass down on the table. She opens a Tundra water bottle, quickly fills the glass, and quietly retreats.

  An obese patron at the dimly lit table across from Kodai laughs drunkenly and lays a ten thousand Yen note on the table. The hostess sitting next to him nods and obediently removes her top. He presses his face to her remarkably oversized breasts, and with a snort of appreciation, snuffles and slobbers as she gathers up the price of her self-respect. Ryuk’s stomach churns; Kodai hardly notices.

  “You haven’t enrolled for fall classes yet.”

  “It isn’t even February yet.” Ryuk glances down at his hands. “And besides, I told you, I don’t want to go there. There’s a Proxima-based technical school … ”

  Again, Kodai laughs long and hard. “A Proxima-based school? Fuck me if you aren’t just about the biggest loser I’ve met all day!”

  “You called me here to tell me that? You could have just told me over iNet and saved us both the trouble.”

  Ryuk steels himself not to react when Kodai grinds his heel into his foot. Kodai grins, bears down, and suddenly releases the pressure as he turns to watch the patron slobbering on the topless shōjo.

  “Mother isn’t happy.”

  Ryuk grimaces at the pain radiating off his toes. “And when is she ever happy?”

  “Aren’t you going to eat something?” Kodai asks. “Come on, we own the place; sit back and have whatever you’d like, including one of the girls.” He scoots closer to his brother and nudges him. “We have a gaijin now, from Australia. Sarah, she’s fierce. At first I didn’t like her, but she’s growing on me.”

  “Can I go?” Ryuk asks. “I have other shit to do.”

  “Like play in your little fantasy world with Tamana? That is what you were doing right?”

  Ryuk bares his teeth at his brother. “Damare!”

  Kodai’s eye twitches. “You should know better than to speak to me like that in my club!” He points a finger at Ryuk and spittle flies from his lips as he shouts, “I will NOT be disrespected!”

  The club comes to a halt.

  The music keeps playing, but everyone cuts eyes to Kodai’s booth, even the inebriated moistener of schoolgirl funbags in the booth across the way. Kodai immediately notices and immediately reasserts control. “Where were we? School. Yes, you need to enroll. I’ve told you before, my four years at NYU were difficult, but look at me now.”

  You’re a Yakuza crime lord. Is there a major for that?

  “Well?”

  “I’m looking,” Ryuk says.

  “You know what,” Kodai finishes his drink and squeezes his glass for a moment. “I actually have something I want to show you. Something mother told me to give you, to remind you of family and tradition.” He sets the glass down. “Please, join me in the back. That’s why I called you here.”

  (0)__(x)

  Ryuk steps out into the bitter January night, and stuffs his hands in the front of his black hoodie. The fragrance of grilled chicken skewers from the back-alley izakaya behind the hostess bar hits his nostrils. His mouth waters as he tries to remember the last time that he ate.

  “Where are you taking me?” he asks his brother.

  “I thought you might be hungry.” Kodai turns to Ryuk and smiles. Several meters past the izakaya stands Gorira, one of Kodai’s most massive security escorts, whose bulk effectively blocks the alley from that direction. Gorira’s parka is too tight across his shoulders; it forces him to hunch over and hold his arms slightly away from his body.

  Mmmm … that smell.

  Ryuk considers ordering yakatori when Kodai’s fist flattens his nose.

  His vision pane jump-cuts and he sees stars and planets. His head snaps back, he stumbles into the back wall of the hostess club and slides down.

  Hands on hips, Kodai looks down at him, shaking his head in disgust as he waits for Ryuk to stand. Once he does, Kodai feints with a right and Ryuk flinches into a solid left that throws him flat. His older brother then steps in with a series of short, punishing kicks.

  He pulls Ryuk up by the back of his hair. “Fight back, pussy-boy!” Kodai screams in his face. “You dishonor yourself and our family with your cowardice! Stand and fight!” He drops his younger sibling to the ground and gives him another kick.

  “Stop,” Ryuk sobs, “please stop hitting me!”

  “DEFEND YOURSELF!”

  Ryuk closes his eyes, wraps his arms around his head and turtles up as he braces for Kodai’s next kick. MedStar warnings flash across his iNet screen and catalog his injuries; he is advised to seek immediate medical assistance.

  He winces as he hears several thuds in rapid succession, a violent whoof of forcefully expelled breath and the sound of a slab of beef hitting the pavement.

  “Hey!” Kodai shouts. “You aren’t supposed to do that!”

  Ryuk opens his eyes to the most beautiful sight in the world – Hajime, stands over the gasping, twitching form of Gorira the bodyguard.

  “A wise man would stay down,” Hajime advises the fallen man-mountain. He turns to Kodai and bows. “With respect, your organization hired me to protect Ryuk, and my contract is surprisingly non-specific. If you cease and desist now, I need not provide any further protection and the matter ends here.”

  “Like hell I will!” Kodai reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls a small, black handgun. “I’ll shoot you.” Confidence returns as he flips the safety off.

  “Don’t shoot him!” Ryuk tastes blood as soon as he opens his mouth.

  Hajime keeps his eyes trained on Kodai’s weapon as he says, “If that is your response then I suggest you do it now.”

  Kodai glances left and right. After a quick breath, he slowly lowers his weapon. “Get your shit together,” he tells his y
ounger brother, “I expect you to be enrolled by the next time we meet and you … ” He points a shaky finger at Hajime. “I’ll see to your contract.”

  Kodai returns his weapon to the inside of his jacket, huffs, and leaves his battered bodyguard in the alley as he steps back into the hostess bar.

  Chapter 7: Is this the real life, or is itファンタシー?

  Tokyo stretches in every direction. The lights of the endless city bear down upon its inhabitants, driving away the shadows. No matter how much light humanity shines upon itself, the shadows of the past always find a way to infiltrate the present. The sounds, the ever present traffic of humans and their mechanical counterparts, the claustrophobic bustle – the Vertical City has a good chance of reaching heaven by the century’s end.

  Tamana. Thinking the name makes him choke up again. He wishes he’d said something smarter to her before she logged out that final time. Instead, like a total loser, he asked her on a date. It feels so petty now, so stupid to be concerned about such a thing after witnessing her jump in front of the train. Still, the thought is there, swirling with a host of other thoughts about their last encounter.

  Ryuk’s aeros taxi flies in a lower airlane at about ten stories height above ground. Private vehicles and public transport aeros move all around him, their cabins filled with the swirling chaos of life. It is utter pandemonium to the uninitiated; natives know that it is just the way things are.

  The humiliation from his encounter with his older brother still burns, and he hasn’t said anything in the way of thanks to Hajime for saving his ass, not a word. He sits quietly in the backseat of the aeros taxi, monitoring his avatar’s progress on his iNet screen. Slightly hungry, he’s already had a Rakuten droid drop off a yakatori protein plus bar at his flat just to put something in his stomach.

  A long night ahead, Ryuk plans to use a technically illegal Somnium skip box he special ordered from Alibamazon Blaq. The Somnium skip box overrides the NV visor’s RW game-time governor, which is usually six to eight hours. This allows him to remain in the REM state necessary for digital dreamworld diving and still derive the benefits of a normal sleep cycle.

  Leveling up all night is one of the best ways to grind.

  “You should let me teach you how to defend yourself.” Hajime’s voice takes Ryuk off guard. The humandroid has been completely silent since they left the back alley.

  Ryuk glances down at the wad of bloodied tissues clenched tightly in his hand. He wipes his nose again and says, “He’ll still win.”

  Lights from the city flash across Hajime’s face revealing a look of contemplation. “Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not. During my daily recharge, I peruse the annals of human history for knowledge and entertainment. The theme of David and Goliath ... ”

  “Who?”

  “I’m sorry, I forget that most Japanese aren’t familiar with Judeao-Christian instructional parables. The ‘underdog archetype’ is a common theme which runs throughout humanity’s shared narrative. It is present in your stories and often times, it plays out in real life. The underdog archetype can revolve around a single entity or a collective who are expected to lose. Against all odds, the entity or entities win, but it is usually through careful planning and knowledge of its own limitations that it does so.”

  “So you’re saying?”

  “Is my meaning unclear? I’m saying you should let me teach you how to defend yourself in real life so your brother doesn’t commit fratricide.”

  Ryuk scoffs at this suggestion. “He’s not going to kill me; he just gets a little too rough. Always has.”

  “You must always be prepared. History is rife with stories of ambushes that could have been prevented. Knowing Kodai, he will modify my contract and I will no longer be able to protect you from him. This will not be particularly beneficial to him, however. MercSecure, the company that licenses out my services, has adjusted my violence-decision governor to a point where I’m able to make all my own choices, which is illegal in most countries.”

  Ryuk still tastes blood in his mouth. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

  “Almost no one does. It would be best if you kept this to yourself. However, you cannot presume that I will always be there to protect you.” Hajime is quiet for a moment. As the taxi descends into another airlane he continues, “Kodai’s fearlessness is something I noted after he drew his weapon. I’ve never seen anyone’s vitals go from one extreme to the other so quickly. He was not afraid of me in the least bit, when any rational entity should have been. I fear that this seriously discounts your unfounded belief that he will not kill or seriously injure you.”

  “He’s not that bad … ” Not that good either, Ryuk thinks of adding.

  “He aimed his weapon at the right side of my chest, a few centimeters from my underarm, actually.” Hajime touches the point he is referring to. “This is my auto-disable point; a bullet strike there would have incapacitated me. As you know, we don’t experience pain the way you do. Disabling my legs or emptying his weapon into my face wouldn’t necessarily disable me.”

  Ryuk looks at Hajime with wonder. “Are you saying that you can be shot in the face and still operate?”

  “I am.”

  “What about your ocular feed?”

  Hajime places his hand over his eyes. “I want you to put your pointer finger somewhere in the space in front of you.”

  Ryuk lifts his finger, moves it around and settles in a place near the window. With one hand still covering his eyes, Hajime raises his pinky finger and lightly presses it into the side of Ryuk’s pointer finger.

  “My ocular feed helps with recording and judging color; I have one hundred and eight thermal scanners and lidar sensors strategically located on my body. This is how I obtain most of my data about the external environment.”

  “Interesting,” Ryuk says.

  “That’s one way to put it.”

  The two are quiet for another minute or so as Ryuk monitor’s his avatar’s progress. He suddenly can’t wait to log back in, to escape the real world. Finally, Hajime speaks, “We will begin your training tomorrow morning. You should get good rest tonight; fortunately for you, the Somnium skip box promises a full night’s sleep.”

  “How did you know I was going to use that?” Ryuk asks. “Can you read my thoughts too?”

  The humandroid laughs, which always strikes Ryuk as a little strange. “No, although I am an entity of many talents, that is not one of them. Statistical probability indicates that you would Proxima dive all night tonight, just as you have after every other meeting with your brother.”

  (0)__(0)

  Ryuk scarfs down his yakatori protein plus bar once he arrives home. His room’s a bit nippy, so he keeps his black hooded sweatshirt on rather than cranking up the heater. He’s done that before while diving and the results can be icky.

  Anything to escape, he thinks as he seats himself and the haptic chair comes alive. He fixes the NV Visor over his head; the sine wave starts up and prompts him to choose his login point.

  As soon as he spawns, he’s greeted by the potty-mouthed goblin.

  “Fick me that’s the good stuff!” Hiccup pounds the healing potion given to him by FeeTwix. The rips and tears in his clothing repair themselves; the scratches, bruises and contusions on his hairy goblin arms quickly fade away.

  Ryuk quickly checks the guilds stats and swipes them away:

  Ryuk Matsuzaki Level 3 Ballistics Mage

  HP: 133/151

  ATK: 43

  MATK: 65

  DEF: 10

  MDF: 19

  LUCK: 3

  FeeTwix Fajer Level 9 Berserker Mystic

  HP: 187/255

  ATK: 71

  MATK: 24

  DEF: 44

  MDF: 28

  LUCK: 12

  Hiccup Level 9 Shield Thief

  HP: 350/350

  ATK: 65

  MATK: 24

  DEF: 83

  MDF: 47

  LUCK: 8

/>   Tritania is different from other VRMMORPG dreamworlds, which allow for extreme stat customization. The Proxima developers who originated this world wanted everyone – from the newest noob to the Proxima lifer – to be able to immerse themselves completely, and their surprising way to accomplish this was to keep the stats incredibly simple.

  To do so, the developers based Tritania’s base mechanics off JRPGs from the 1980s and 1990s, where a player didn’t have a say in their deciding their attributes. They then merged this with newer MMORPG concepts, with their tailored skills based on character choices.

  The early test results were stunning.

  An ode to simplicity, Tritania’s mechanics quickly became something that was truly life-like for the end user. Just like in the real world, one couldn’t simply add points to a certain stat, yet they could get good at something and they could, through practice and repetition and chance, develop new skills. Tritania’s original mechanics also mirrored JRPGs with a turn-based battle system, which was something that was nixed through the reboot in the 2060s.

  “Anything interesting happen out there in your other world?” Hiccup drops the empty vial on the ground and lets out a belch that rattles the chainmail vest he’s recently acquired.

  “Nothing.” Ryuk swallows his recent humiliation. “Nothing at all. Just had some dinner. What’s the status on the dream armor? Any leads?”

  “Trust me,” Hiccup assures him, “if either Twixy or me got some dream armor, we’d be fickin’ wearing it by now, ain’t that right, Twixster?”

  “You are fickin’ correct.”

  “It’s catching on!” Hiccup pumps his fists in the air. “Finally!”

  Ryuk shakes his head.

  Hiccup’s usage of ‘fick’ is the last thing he hopes will catch on. The damn Mind Mage that cast this spell on the entire goblin population really didn’t think it through. Better to just stop them from even conceptualizing the idea of cursing altogether, but knowing goblins, they’d figure something else out pretty quickly.