by John Nest
“That my sister told him something about Tlatezin’s teachings,” said Duda. “But the funny thing is… my sister isn’t a follower of Tlatezin! In fact, she hates him.”
“Huh?” said Smoke.
“That means that the Aswang was just making up stories,” said Duda. “Which is why I’m hoping that you could find her for me? And maybe you could help me bring back my sister Alay too?”
+ Quest: The Search for Duda’s Siblings
Search Quest
Level: B
Duda of Nadaya Village has asked you to help her find her two sisters Hinala and Alay. There are no known clues about Hinala, but Alay’s last known whereabouts was on the road to the Thanotl Kingdom.
Accept the Quest? [YES/NO]
“Sure, I’d be happy to,” replied Smoke.
“Great! Then, it’s settled,” said Duda. “You will take all three of us to the Thanotl Kingdom,” she said, pointing to herself, her baby, and Buktot.
“All three of us?” asked Buktot.
“Didn’t you save that money to cure my baby of his hunchback?” Duda asked Buktot.
“Yes! Yes, I did,” said Buktot. “But how did you know?”
“I have my ways,” answered Duda.
“If all of us are going to Thanotl, then we better not bother Sir Ilad with his search for your sisters,” said Buktot. “I’ll contact that Merchant and secure a safe trip.”
“That’s a great idea,” said Smoke. “Why don’t you take this?” he said and gave him a brown bag filled with 500,000 zecs.
Buktot’s eyes grew wide after he saw what was inside the bag. “Sir Ilad, I can’t possibly take this.”
“Yes you can!” said an encouraging Smoke.
“But I must give you something in return,” said Buktot.
“Hm…” said Smoke, thinking. “Maybe you can help me with this,” he said and showed the Aswang tongue he acquired earlier.
“Ooooh!” exclaimed Buktot. “Agimats really do exist!”
“Agimats?” asked Smoke.
“They’re enchanting materials that can strengthen your current items,” explained Buktot. “They say that only a special type of Blacksmith can fuse these agimats.”
“Really? Do you know where I can find one?” asked Smoke, excited.
Buktot shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t. That’s just some of the stories passed down by my grandfather, but maybe you’ll know more about them in his book,” he said and headed inside his home.
After a few seconds, Buktot came out and gave Smoke a worn out book.
+ Acquired book: A Compendium of Aswangs and Agimats
“Thanks!” said Smoke. “I’m sure I’ll find some interesting stuff here.”
“Sure, no problem,” replied Buktot.
“Well, I’ll leave you three to plan your trip for Thanotl,” said Smoke. “I have to some other stuff to do as well.”
“Thanks again, Sir Ilad,” said Buktot and shook his hand.
“I’m sure we’ll see each other again,” added Duda. “And next time with my sisters.”
“I’ll try my best,” replied Smoke and gave her a sincere smile.
In no time at all, Smoke arrived at his temporary house in the village and closed the doors.
“Daga,” called out Smoke.
At once, the little gray mouse jumped out of its hiding place from within his hooded cloak and stood before its master.
“Keep an eye out on Buktot and Duda,” said Smoke. “Make sure that the Sonstwelter taking them to Thanotl isn’t going to swindle them.”
Daga gave him a small bow and scampered out of the log cabin.
With a smile on his face, Smoke was about to begin his Manatl training for the day.
‘Can’t let my guard down, even if I’ve gotten stronger,’ he thought.
Even with his powers increased from becoming a Beggar Evocati, Smoke knew that a daily focus on training his abilities was the fastest way to becoming even stronger.
But as he was settling in to do his training session, an emergency notification popped up.
It was the first time for him to see such a notification.
EMERGENCY! PLEASE LOG OUT NOW!
-Request prompted by
Less than a second later, Smoke was logged out of Zectas.
* * * * * *
Nash stepped out of his game pod and immediately saw his two brothers standing in front of it.
Donny’s eyes were red and was shaking.
“What’s wrong?” asked Nash, a lump in his throat began to form. “Did something happen to Mima?”
Before he could clear out of his game pod, Donny ran to him and cried out. “Mima’s gone, Nash! She’s gone!” he said while hugging him tightly.
“No, no! Mima can’t be dead,” said Nash in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? She said she was going to recover. I haven’t even made her a dragon kite.”
Seth shook his head and handed him their cordless phone. “No! She’s not dead. Someone took her from the hospital. The Doctors are on the phone now, and they want to talk to you…”
Chapter Three:
Different Perspective
The only thing darker than the looming summer sky was Nash’s thoughts. Dreadful black clouds filled with malice whisked and riled.
Heavy rain covered everything beyond the street across the hospital. He watched outside the window, hoping for a ray of light to shine.
Then, Nash turned around when he heard the most soothing voice.
“Sorry, it took so long,” blurted a drenched Sherry from behind him. “I rushed here as soon as I got your message, but my uber took a while.”
Despite wearing her long brown trench coat, she was still soaked to the bone. “How are you?” she asked softly.
Nash only shook his head and let out a deep sigh in response. “I think I’m about to lose it,” he replied, almost in a whisper. “They told me that some Detectives are running down the staff and the Doctors, but I bet they’ll wipe their hands clean of this. They don’t know crap!”
Sherry was taken aback by Nash’s scream but understood his frustration. “Where are Seth and Donny?” she asked as she tried to put him at ease.
“I had them stay at home,” said Nash. “In case someone called there or something.”
Sherry let out a deep sigh and embraced him. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her.”
Nash hugged her back and said. “What if this is all my fault?”
“Huh? How could it be your fault?” asked Sherry.
“What if someone found out about me being Smoke? Like Macher or Sagen?” asked Nash, trembling.
Sherry shook her head. “No, no, I’m sure it’s nothing like that. You’re just being paranoid.”
“Then why would anyone want to take her?” asked Nash. “We’re not rich, we can’t afford any ransom. Why would they take her?”
Sherry bit her lips as a tear rolled down her cheek. She shrugged and hugged him even tighter.
Then, two men in their early thirties walked up next to Nash and Sherry. One of the men wore a long brown trench coat while the other wore a blue shirt with rolled-up sleeves.
“Ahem, ahem. Excuse me,” said the man in the blue shirt. “I’m Detective Alonzo Faltoso and this is my partner Detective Ray Malear.”
At once, Nash stood up. “Did you find her? Is she alright?” he asked while shaking Detective Faltoso’s hand.
“I’m sorry, but we haven’t found her yet,” replied Detective Faltoso. “Now, can you think of anyone who would want to take your Grandma?”
“No idea,” replied Nash with a blank expression. “She’s the sweetest person on earth.”
“Of course, she is,” said Detective Faltoso. “But are you sure you can’t think of anyone who might want to use her to get at someone else in your family?” he said, scrutinizing Nash’s reaction. “Maybe, as a form of getting back at someone? You, perhaps?”
“Nash is a good person,” a
nswered Sherry. “All of them are, no one would want to do anything like this to them.”
Nash did not respond and stared at the floor instead.
“Alright,” said Detective Faltoso, backing off. “Detective Malear will give you an update on what we have so far.”
Nash turned to face the other Detective, his eyes quivered with anger and despair, lost in his helplessness.
“As of three in the morning, the nurse doing the rounds in your Grandmother’s floor still found her sleeping in her bed,” began Detective Malear. “But when she came back, less than ten minutes later, your Grandmother was already gone.”
“And no one saw anything?” asked Nash, his voice grew louder. “What about the security cameras?”
“Actually, your Grandmother was never seen in any of the camera’s inside the hospital—” replied Detective Malear but was cut short by Nash.
“What? Are you telling me my Mima magically disappeared out of thin air?” sarcastically asked Nash.
“No, I didn’t say that,” replied Detective Malear.
“Hey, Kid, you don’t have to snap at us,” interjected Detective Faltoso. “We’re already working our butts off here. We haven’t even gone home yet!”
“Al, that’s enough,” said Detective Malear.
Seth and Donny arrived with hot cups of coffee, startled by the raised voices of their brother and the Detectives.
“Nash? What’s going on?” asked Donny, confused.
“What are you two doing here?” asked an angry Nash. “Didn’t I tell you to stay at home?”
“I had the calls in the house forwarded to my phone,” calmly replied Seth, offering him a cup of coffee.
Nash gave him a wry smile and accepted the cup, ashamed for snapping at his brothers. “Anyway, it seems like the police have no idea how Mima got taken,” he explained, peeved. “And apparently, they want me to be calm about it!”
“Yes, please do, that would be the best,” said Detective Malear. “Like I was saying, the cameras didn’t see anything, but I found something strange,” added the Detective quickly before Nash could interrupt him again. “There’s a gap of three minutes missing in the footage from the hallway outside your Grandmother’s door.”
“What does that mean?” asked Sherry.
“It means that someone tampered with the hospital’s security cameras,” answered Seth.
“That’s right,” said Detective Malear, surprised. “I’m having one of our tech-guys come in to take a look, but it’s most likely that the hospital has been hacked.”
“Detective, can you also take a look at the street cameras outside the hospital?” asked Seth. “Maybe we’ll spot something there?”
“Of course, we’re going to do that,” replied Detective Malear. “But that’ll take some time. I’ll have to issue a warrant for the other cameras besides the ones on the traffic lights.”
“I don’t care how long that takes,” said an irate Nash. “Just give us the answers.”
Detective Faltoso looked like he was about to have a heated argument with Nash, but was stopped by his partner.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find her,” said Detective Malear, pulling Detective Faltoso away from Nash and his family.
After the Detectives left, Sherry turned to Nash. “So, what are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know,” replied Nash. “But I’ve already spoken with Mr. Kohle and explained the situation. I told him that I won’t be logging into Zectas anytime soon.”
“What now?” asked Sherry, confused. “And who is Mr. Kohle?”
“He’s the manager in the game center I used to work in,” explained Nash. “He’s the one who gave me my game pod.”
“I see,” replied Sherry. She paused before continuing. “Um, Nash, is it okay if I tell everyone back in Verbrannt about your situation?”
Nash eyebrows met when he faced her. “Why? What for?”
Sherry lowered her head and broke away from his gaze. “Well, I was hoping they could help me pray. I know you’re not into that stuff, but I am. So, please, can I—”
Nash stopped Sherry mid-sentence, shaking his head. “No! I don’t want anyone else to know about this. Just tell them that I won’t be coming back for a while. I’m on a different continent from you guys anyway.”
Sherry’s mouth fell open, speechless.
“But I’d like you to continue praying for her,” quickly added Nash, grabbing Sherry’s hand.
“Don’t worry about it, Sherry, I’m sure we’ll find her soon,” said Donny. “And then Nash can go back to Zectas then.”
“Zectas?” said Nash, incredulous. “Honestly, my mind is far away from that world right now.”
* * * * * *
“What’s up with this rain?” said Sherry out loud. She removed her soaked jacket as soon as she entered her house.
She offered to stay together with Nash in the hospital, but he told her to go home and go back to Zectas. Apparently, Nash was going to the police station after the Detectives were done questioning the hospital staff.
Sherry turned on her television while she prepared a quick dinner. She needed the energy to tide her over for a marathon of gaming.
As she was chopping the lettuce for her sandwich, she suddenly stopped as news about a Zectas player was on the television.
“Vierge Canaille, a level 150 HighElf with a Job of Paladin Lord, has been permanently banned from Zectas as of this morning,” said an alluring Newscaster. She flipped her blonde hair as the screen zoomed in on her face. “Now, as you may all know, Zectas has boasted that their system is impregnable, but this man is the first one to do it. They say he hacked his game pod and added new source code into it, giving him maxed out stats and maxed out abilities.”
Sherry brought her finished sandwich in front of the screen to listen better and nestled into the couch.
“Of course, the Zectas Moderators instantly found him out,” added the Newscaster. “But the player himself was happy with what he did, and we have him here right now.”
The camera then zoomed in on a strapping young man in his mid-twenties, who was sitting next to the Newscaster. “So, Vierge, what do you have to say for yourself? Now, that you can no longer access Zectas,” she said.
“To be honest, I do have some regrets,” began Vierge. “I would love to play Zectas for as long as I live, but my time left here on earth is really limited. You see, I have stage four bladder cancer.”
Vierge then gave her a bright smile, his face shone his contentment. “So, at least I got to experience what it would have been like if I could have played for the rest of my life.”
The screen then turned to the dumbfounded Newscaster. “Uh, um… I’m really sorry, Vierge, I pegged you for something else,” she stammered. “I didn’t know it was something like that.”
Vierge shook his head and smiled. “I don’t mind what you or what the rest of the world thinks of me. I just wanted to express my love for the game and my character, but I would like to apologize to the developers and the creators for my selfish actions,” he said, turning to face the camera.
“What about a second opinion?” blurted out the Newscaster. “Have you already gotten one?”
“Of course, that’s what the first thing my parents had me do when we found out,” replied Vierge. “I think the only other option would have been to get into one of those capsules in Dream Life,” he paused and let out a regretful sigh. “But I’m afraid my family can’t even afford the initial payment, let alone the monthly maintenance fees.”
“I see,” said the Newscaster. “Well, at least you were able to live your life without any regrets.”
The Newscaster then turned to the camera. “There you have it folks, the first player who dared to hack the Zectas game. Even though he was caught less than a few minutes from hacking, the smile on his face still conveys the pride in his decisio—”
Then, the Newscaster was stopped by a man with papers, who rushed to the stage and whispere
d something to her. Her head shifted backward and her face lit up after she heard what the man had to say.
“Looks like we have a special call on the line right now,” she said with a wide grin. Her nose expanded to the sides whereas her eyes became wider, which turned her pleasant face to something comical.
“You’re live on air, Dr. Lisa Zuckerman,” said the Newscaster.
“Oh, am I on? Alright, then,” said Lisa over the phone. “Your name is Vierge right?”
“Yes?” replied a confused Vierge.
“Do you know who I am?” asked Lisa.
Vierge shook his head. “Um, sorry, am I supposed to know you?”
“Hahahahaha,” chuckled Lisa. “No, of course not.”
“Vierge, Dr. Lisa Zuckerman is the CEO of Zectas,” explained the Newscaster to him.
“Oh, oh! I’m so sorry, Dr. Zuckerman,” apologized Vierge. “Sorry, I’m not really caught up with the current events.”
“That’s alright,” said Lisa. “No problem. Anyway, I called because I’d like to tell you how wrong it was of you to hack our system.”
“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble,” said Vierge.
“That’s okay, Vierge, as long as you won’t do it again,” said Lisa.
“Of course! I promise that was just a one-time thing,” said Vierge.
“Good. Now, that that’s settled, I’d like to tell you the second reason why I called,” said Lisa.
The Newscaster and Vierge tilted their heads as they waited for the Zectas CEO to continue.
“I’d like to offer you a complete Dream Life package absolutely free,” said Lisa.
“What? Is this for real?” said Vierge out loud, his eyes grew wide and watery.
The Newscaster herself lost all composure and broke down in tears as she hugged Vierge.
“Thank you so much! Thank you so much! I can’t believe this! Woohoo!” screamed Vierge, as tears dripped down his cheeks.
“You’re welcome, Vierge,” said Lisa. “Now, before you get settled into your Dream Life capsule, I’d like you to visit me in our Zectas main office. I’d like to hear more about how you hacked our system.”
