by Mia Archer
I dug in my pack. Pulled out my trusty set of plastic Alternate Realms glasses. I plugged them into the audio jack on my phone and immediately little LEDs that looked for all the world like the display on one of those lame LED handhelds my brother still had lying around the bottom of his toy box when we were kids.
“Um, Anna? Isn’t that going to give us away?”
“Probably, but it doesn’t matter. They can’t touch us.”
The car pulled up next to ours. A guy in the passenger seat who looked like he was entirely too young to be going to the Gathering looked over and blinked when he saw me sitting there with my glasses on. They were distinctive enough, looking like slightly oversized safety goggles that glowed slightly from the LED overlay. I leaned past Colin and waved at them with a huge grin on my face that I hoped was sufficiently predatory, but from the way the guy flipped us off and started tapping on his phone he didn’t get the message.
Another fireball leapt out from their car towards ours. Though of course in the real world there was no indication that anything was going on. Well, aside from their car staying next to ours instead of passing. In the virtual world of Alternate Realms, though, everything happened fast. The display on my glasses told me a fireball was incoming and lines tracked as it came for me and went harmlessly right through. Down on my phone’s screen it showed the fireball moving from one side of the grid, through us, and to the other side.
I tapped a quick message into the local grid chat. Usually characters just spoke face to face, but the developers had helpfully put this feature in for the rare occasion, like driving, when face to face contact wasn’t possible.
“My turn! ;)”
I took a moment to decide what spell would work the best. There were so many to choose from. Ultimately I decided a nice jumping lightning spell would do the trick. There were three in the car, all of them flagged, and since they’d entered combat they couldn’t log out even if they could see their doom staring them down. I tapped the spell button on my phone and lightning shot out to their car, instantly killing all three of their characters.
The reaction was immediate. They started screaming and the guy slammed on his brakes, very nearly causing an accident with a massive pickup truck behind him that had been riding his ass because he was staying even with us instead of passing. They recovered without an accident, but I found my adrenaline pumping for a very different reason for a moment.
Okay, so maybe some of those stories about Alternate Realms causing accidents were true. Still, it would be that asshole’s fault for slamming on the brakes over a video game of all things.
“You nearly caused an accident,” Colin said.
“Correction. The prick in that car nearly caused an accident. I’m just playing a game in the passenger seat of a car being all responsible.”
“You’re cold, Anna.”
My stomach grumbled just as he said that. “Yeah, I might be cold, but I could do with a hot meal right about now.”
The car filled with now-deceased players drove past us again flipping us off. I looked up for a moment to return the gesture then looked back down. I couldn’t really make out much in the way of detail in their car, but I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t be able to recognize me when we got to the Gathering. No, if I was showing up at this thing then I didn’t want people to know how high level my character was. All the more fun when I did a big reveal.
“Making friends,” Colin said, his voice level.
“Hey, they deserved it. Now how about that food?”
Luckily there was a huge combination truck stop and diner at the next exit. The kind that can be found dotting the landscape on interstates all over the country. Trucks pulled in and out on one side while cars parked on the other side.
“A truck stop diner?” Colin asked, disdain dripping off his voice.
“What’s wrong with that? It’s good old fashioned Americana you’re eating!”
“How about we just get a soda and some chips and wait for a fast food joint down the road?”
I sighed and my stomach grumbled again. I could really go for some real food, but chips and a soda would do the trick and tide me over until we could find something more substantial.
“I’m not going to convince you to eat there?”
“And get a side of botulism or salmonella with my burger and fries? No thank you,” Colin said.
I sighed. Colin really could be fussy sometimes, and when he got like this there was no convincing him.
“You’re really going to be in for a shock when we’re roughing it at the Gathering,” I said. “Unless you think cooking around a campfire is as healthy as a restaurant that has health inspectors coming through on the regular.”
“I’ll take my chances until we get to the Gathering, thank you very much,” Colin said.
The rest area was pretty big. It was one of those massive deals that had showers and a whole section dedicated to the sort of things truckers would need on the road. Movies, radio equipment, mud flaps featuring scantily clad women. I gave that section a miss and headed for the chips. I was looking over a large selection of salty fattening deliciousness when I felt a buzz in my pocket.
I pulled my phone out, glanced down, and was immediately on guard. It was flashing red. Someone in this truck stop was logged in, and it definitely wasn’t Colin because I’d specifically flagged him as a friendly when I set up the ward. We might go at each other in the office, but for this trip we were the staunchest of allies.
The chips were forgotten. I pulled up a detect spell and the phone brought up a grid pointing off towards the diner. Okay, maybe it was a good thing we didn’t go in there after all. We might have been walking right into a trap. I watched the local map grid for a moment, but whoever was in there was staying still. They didn’t know someone was out here hunting them.
I grinned. Nice to know the precautions I’d taken were actually working.
I peered into the diner and my breath caught. I figured I’d find some players sitting in there enjoying a late lunch, but I hadn’t expected to see the queen herself sitting in there laughing with her friends. Holy shit!
And she was even more gorgeous in person than in those pictures. No, it was obvious watching her chatting with her friends that she had an easy grace about her that complimented her beauty. I felt weak in the knees as I stared, and then I caught myself. Staring was never a good thing, and it was a recipe for a quick death in Alternate Realms if they realized I was scoping them out. I leaned against the wall and struggled to catch my breath, and as I brought my breathing under control I realized I could hear their conversation.
“So how many confirmed kills is that?” a male voice asked.
“At least a dozen,” a second voice, female, said. I wondered if that was her majesty.
“Well they don’t really have a chance when her majesty is out throwing around the spells, do they?” a third female voice said. That meant the second one belonged to the queen. To Erin.
So. It seemed that her majesty was doing the same thing I was on the open road. It also seemed that her majesty was having one hell of a good time. Blood pumped behind my ears and I felt lightheaded. Both because this was the gorgeous Erin I’d been fantasizing about for most of the week sitting in there doing the mundane business of eating lunch at a greasy diner and because this was the queen of Alternate Realms sitting in there like a sitting duck just waiting for some opportunistic and powerful sorceress to have a little fun.
And it just so happened that I knew a friendly powerful sorceress who was willing to do something stupid in the name of a virtual dick measuring contest. Not that either of us had dicks, but the metaphor still worked well enough.
I pulled up my phone and quickly glanced through my list of spells trying to decide which one would be best for this situation. I had to move fast. At any moment I expected to hear the telltale beeping sound from one of their warding spells warning them that someone was looking through their spell list nearby and
might mean them harm. The game was set to flag anybody who was a potential unfriendly.
The beeping never came. Could they really be sitting in there with no protections at all? Especially after they were bragging about all the people they’d taken out on the road? Were they really that overconfident?
There was also the possibility that they were just that good. That they didn’t need any warding spells because their characters were so powerful that they’d be able to knock out anything I threw at them. Only one way to find out though.
I decided on a fireball. Nice. Simple. Elegant. High enough level that it had a good chance of doing some serious damage even if it wasn’t going to take them out. I just wanted them to know there were some serious players in the room and then get the hell out of here. I didn’t want to start a war or anything.
I peered around the entrance to the diner again. Sure it wasn’t strictly necessary that I have line of sight in the real world as long as I had line of sight in the virtual world, but I wanted to see this. I wanted to see the first real challenge I was going to face on my way to the Gathering. I hit the fire button and my phone switched to the local grid.
The fireball flew out and my phone made the telltale sound at full volume, the game was set to override every mute setting short of ripping the speaker out of your phone. Their reaction was immediate and comical. The guy actually ducked under their table, as though that would do him any good. The reaction was also too late. On screen my fireball slammed into the dots representing their characters. It landed with a spectacular animation that showed splash damage being done to all three.
“What the hell!” the guy screamed from his hiding spot under the table.
The death notification rang out across the diner. I blinked. Did I really just take out the queen? Did that mean I was queen too now, or did the assassination have to be done at the Gathering to be legally binding? The dude and the girl, not Erin the queen, looked down at their phones and started swearing up a storm. The few other people in the diner were looking around as though they expected an attack to come from somewhere, though they looked more the trucker type and less the Alternate Realms type so they were probably okay.
Erin merely looked down at her phone, calm as could be, and then looked up. Straight at me. We locked eyes and I was paralyzed. That gaze. Those eyes. That face. I was under a spell that was setting me on fire and it had nothing to do with any of the spells in Alternate Realms.
“What’s going on? I thought I heard AR death sounds over here,” Colin said, ripping me away from Erin and her hypnotic gaze.
That question brought me back to reality. Or back to Alternate Reality. I’d just thrown a fireball at the queen of Alternate Realms and killed two of her friends in the offing. Sure it was their fault for not being prepared, but I had a feeling that retribution was going to be swift and messy. I grabbed Colin by the arm and yanked him towards the exit.
“What are you doing? I haven’t paid for this stuff yet!”
I batted the chips and soda out of his hand. “No time for that. We need to get the hell out of here. Now!”
We reached the door and I turned to look towards the diner one last time. She was standing there. The queen. Erin. Staring at me. I expected my character’s imminent death, but instead a small smile played across her face and she nodded ever so slightly. A gesture of respect.
“What the… holy shit!” Colin said, his eyes finally falling on the queen and probably putting together at least part of what had just happened. “What did you do Anna?”
There’d be plenty of time to explain later. For now I grabbed him again and pulled him out of the diner, thankful that I was going to survive this encounter with the queen and not incur her wrath. Disappointed that I didn’t actually get to meet her, talk with her, and maybe explore some strong feelings on the other end of the emotional spectrum.
5: Digital Destruction
I stared at the girl for a moment. There was just something about her that drew my attention. She had the whole cute girl next door thing going for her with a dusting of freckles on her cheeks that I just wanted to kiss.
There was no doubt in my mind she was the one who’d just attacked us. I didn’t even need to look at the local map grid on my phone or pull out my glasses, a custom set given to me by the development team at ARealms, to know that she was flagged and logged into the game.
No, the panicked way she was bolting for the door and tossing food out of her friend’s hands made it obvious enough who she was. Someone who didn’t want to get caught. Someone who was in a hurry to get the hell out of Dodge.
Someone who set my pulse racing when she turned to look at me and bit her lip.
Damn.
Then she was gone. The door to the gas station portion of the rest stop chimed as they stepped through.
“Did you see who did it?” Danielle asked. “I was tracking someone logged in on the local grid, but it wasn’t giving me a lock on them because my character was dead.”
“No,” I lied. “Didn’t see anyone.”
I’m not sure why I lied. It’s not like it would be a big deal to let them know there was a stunningly beautiful girl out there who was obviously a pretty high level magic user with some skill in using that magic. That was the sort of thing that gave you an edge at the Gathering.
But no. I wanted to save that moment, that sexy look while she was biting her lip, just for me. Besides, having a shark like that swimming amongst the minnows when they didn’t even realize it had the potential to make things interesting at this year’s Gathering.
I desperately needed something to keep things interesting. Taking potshots at people driving to the Gathering was boring no matter how much I acted like it was a good time around Danielle and Trevor. It was just an indication that I could look forward to more of the same old same old this year.
“So who do you think it was?” Danielle asked. She was peering at a trucker whose T-shirt was doing a completely inadequate job of containing his massive gut. It was a wonder the guy could get behind the wheel of his truck with a stomach of that size. As though any of those guys would be playing Alternate Realms.
Something told me the interstate system was probably pretty devoid of Alternate Realms players at any other time of the year.
It suddenly occurred to me that I could have some fun with this though. Maybe try and keep Danielle and Trevor on their toes while at the same time getting the rumor mill going when we reached the Gathering. I wasn’t above stirring the pot occasionally. Especially since stirring the pot was the only fun left to me considering that before ten minutes ago it had been years since someone had attacked me.
“Finding us in the diner like that was too convenient,” I said. “People know what city I live in and they know the likeliest route I’m going to take to get to the Gathering. It’s obvious someone out there in one of the factions is trying to move against us.”
Danielle blinked. “Seriously? You think that was deliberate?”
I didn’t think anything of the sort, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. I almost felt bad about using my friend like this, but I knew there was no better way to get a rumor started than by letting a detail drop to Trevor or Danielle. They enjoyed having inside knowledge, one of the perks of being best friends with the queen, and what better way to show off that insider knowledge than by spreading the good gossip their positions afforded them?
“It does make sense,” Daniele said.
“Of course it makes sense. A fireball aimed right at me? That screams assassin!”
The girl I saw seemed like anything but. She had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye that I recognized. I felt a kinship with that girl even though I hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to her. I recognized the look of someone who was stirring the pot just because the pot was there and it looked like fun.
No, what happened here is there was a new player traveling to the Gathering. A very powerful and crafty player who knew her business and
managed to get the drop on my friends even if I’d been prepared. A player who might provide a challenge once we got to the Gathering, and I found myself looking forward to that almost as much as I was looking forward to the opportunity to spend more time with that beauty.
Assuming I could find her in the thousands of people who were attending. I wasn’t too worried, though. If she was audacious enough to try and take me on in a rest stop diner then I had a good feeling we’d be seeing each other again at the Gathering.
“Whoever it was, they managed to get both of us,” Danielle said.
“Oh I know. I heard the notification right after the fireball went off. Sloppy.”
“Tell me about it. Sending out a fireball like that? I mean what were they thinking?”
“I was referring to you and Trevor when I said it was sloppy. You both got yourselves killed. I don’t know why you’re going on about what a bad player the person who got the drop on you was.”
“Hey!”
Danielle sounded insulted, but there wasn’t much heat to her voice. I turned to her and she was blushing. Obviously it embarrassed her that someone got the drop on her and now she was compensating, but I wasn’t going to put up with that crap. If someone took you out then you owned it and learned from it.
The problem was that Danielle and Trevor had spent so much time enjoying the ride on my metaphorical coattails that they’d forgotten how to play the game. That was assuming they ever really knew how to play it in the first place. The jury was still out on that one.
“So are you going to resurrect me?” Danielle asked.
I turned and arched an eyebrow. No words were necessary. Danielle sighed and put her hands on her hips.
“Come on. You’re not going to get pissy now of all times, are you? You need us to protect you!”
“Protect me? I’m the only one who’s done anything on this trip, and the one time we come under a real attack the two of you get killed leaving me to fend for myself!”
