by E A Hooper
Vincent continued circling around the inside of the skybox in a downward spiral, stopping to throw more Void Bombs whenever his game clock indicated that half a day had passed since the last. With the time dilation feeling so strange out there, the days seemed to go by like minutes to him. Before nearing the divide, he would sometimes leave a Checkpoint Crystal floating in the air on the off chance the angel finally killed him. When he looked at the top of the skybox, he saw his original damage had already spread, covering almost a fifth of its surface.
“Look at what you’re doing!” Rosaria screamed the next time he saw her. Her voice sounded more fatigued since he’d last heard her. “You’ll destroy this world. Is that what you want? Do you hate me so much you’d bring ruin to everyone living here?”
“ARKUS can reboot the game after the crash—after my people are free,” Vincent replied. He started retreating again, but then paused. “I want you to know that I don’t hate you, despite everything you’ve done.”
“Don’t lie!” she shouted as he fled once more. “You do hate me. You want me to suffer. Why else would you leave me here alone?”
Vincent withdrew, fighting his own heart not to turn back. “ARKUS, please,” he mumbled under his breath. “If you care about your creations—about her—please make a copy of me after this is over. I know you’ve done all this because you think you’re helping the people trapped here, but what about the NPCs and monsters here? You’ve ignored them and let us torture them as much as they’ve tortured us. You can’t keep us here forever, but they can never leave. It’s not right to treat them like that.”
Only the silence of space answered, and Vincent continued with a sigh. He took an arcing path, flying closer to the World-Tree so he could hit a spot far from the spreading darkness. It took days of flying—although it felt much shorter—and during that time he only heard fragmented messages from his friends when he flew closer to the World-Tree. He tried to explain the situation as best he could during that time, but he wasn’t sure how much they understood.
The black sections continued to spread until they reached each other, creating a patch of darkness that covered more than half the skybox. Even at night, when the sky was a near-black blue, he could see the dark sea spreading and devouring the sky. Vincent questioned if he even needed to continue, since the whole skybox would be completely black in another week or two, but he didn’t want to take the risk and stop.
I’ll relax when the game is over, he assured himself.
He saw the darkness catching up to him as he continued flying through space for a few more days. Vincent realized at the rate it was going it would reach the base of the World-Tree before he could launch more attacks, so he took the risk of moving toward the skybox.
The Ranger could feel the skybox beckoning and pulling him closer because of the Ark Halo’s power, and he used that attractive force to slingshot himself downward so fast it felt like a never-ending ride between Jump Gates. Every time he glanced at his game clock, it looked like another day or two had gone by in minutes.
Rosaria skimmed between him and the skybox, intercepting his attacks as he followed the egg-shaped divide toward the bottom. The angel had lost more of her strength and could barely throw attacks back at him. She focused all of her energy on intercepting Void Bombs with daisteel lances. Explosion after explosion, the scattered flames spread more fractures, engulfing the skybox in darkness.
When Vincent glanced at the World-Tree, he saw the black squares had wrapped around to the other side. The only light he saw came from around the base of the World-Tree, where the tree sprouted out of the skybox, and the faint glimmer of a thousand worlds reflecting that dim light.
A perpetual night had overtaken the World-Tree.
The angel continued to plead and scream at Vincent. Her voice had grown hoarse from yelling at him, and she hadn’t tried to attack him in days. Rosaria’s indestructible body had withered, shrinking into more human proportions. Even her hair had returned to normal, making her look like a crystallized Monika.
Despite his final enemy growing weaker day after day, Vincent didn’t take any risks. He dropped his last Checkpoint Crystal in case she made one last-ditch effort to kill him. No matter how desperately she pleaded, or how weak she appeared, he still knew Rosaria might rip out his heart if she had the chance.
Vincent passed the lowest worlds, and he’d even spotted Teramor in the distance. He continued downward, undoing his centuries of traveling upward in the game. The base of the World-Tree looked thickest at the bottom, and almost a fourth of its length had no branches. As he reached the curvature at the bottom of the skybox and flew toward the base of the World-Tree, he spotted Trunk Wyrms from miles away. There must’ve been thousands of them covering the base of the tree, likely to prevent any players from going below the starter worlds and reaching the skybox there.
Vincent tried to ignore the worlds, the tree’s base, and the wyrms. He focused on the few hundred miles of undamaged skybox. He could feel the gravity of the World-Tree drawing him in as he flew toward it, giving him the sensation of falling headfirst. Rosaria flew below him, keeping eye level as she intercepted Void Bombs with spears.
“Vincent, please stop and talk to me,” Rosaria begged, weakly throwing another lance. Her weapon barely reached the Void Bombs in time, and the scattered flames knocked out huge sections of the skybox. “I just want one last chance to talk to you.”
“I’m not falling for your tricks anymore,” he replied, staying focused on his objective. “I’ve almost done it—almost beat this game.”
“You’ve already done it,” she cried. “It’s over, Vincent. ARKUS is straining—it’s burning out its network trying to keep the game going a little longer. Just to give the people—to give us—a little more time. You’ve already won, and I don’t want to fight anymore. I just want to spend one last moment with you.”
Vincent slowed as he neared the base of the World-Tree. He landed a few meters from the divide. When he looked around, he couldn’t see the World-Tree anymore. It had been completely engulfed in darkness. However, when he looked at the skybox itself he could barely make out the cracks still spreading across the infinite darkness. There was a pressure building there—one far more powerful than Rosaria’s presence—and he could tell it was just about to burst. When he looked down, he saw the bark melting below his feet. The World-Tree looked like it was barely holding itself together. Even the frequencies in the air started to feel wrong. He could feel them twisting, breaking, and dissolving into nothing.
The game is unraveling, he realized. I really did do it.
Rosaria—or rather Monika—landed in front of Vincent. Her body had converted back into her NPC form. She was flesh and blood instead of indestructible daisteel. If Vincent wanted, he could’ve killed her in an instant, but when he saw the tears on her worn face, he hesitated.
Monika stumbled toward him, crying, and then wrapped her arms around him. “I love you so much. I just wish I could’ve been more like your Monika. You could’ve stayed here with me forever.”
Vincent’s body lost its strength, and tears streamed down his face. “In another life, that would’ve been nice,” he replied. “But she was my life’s great adventure. It would’ve been wonderful for us to keep going on forever. Sadly, though, that adventure is over.”
Vincent raised his hand past Monika and cast Void Bomb.
Epilogue
A black screen fell over Vincent’s face, and he could already feel his old body again, gripping the sides of his gaming chair in a rush of adrenaline. His brain felt scrambled by the flood of information. All those adventures, defeats, victories, and memories both painful and joyous rushed through him so fast it was almost a blur. Before he could gather his thoughts, text appeared in the darkness.
Due to network damage, World-Tree Online has rebooted in restricted mode. Candidates that are extremely ill, near-death, or over the age of one hundred can log back in and continue playing at one-hundr
ed-times real world speed. However, due to NPC irregularities, they will be restricted to a handful of protected worlds.
You do not meet the qualifications to rejoin the World-Tree. We are sorry for this inconvenience. Thank you for playing.
The old man stared at the text, slowly reading it over. “That’s it?” he muttered. “All that, and ARKUS just gives me the old thanks for playing?”
Before Vincent could remove the headset, more text appeared with an adventurous melody playing over it.
Congratulations on beating World-Tree Online. Here is your playthrough summary:
Visited 321 Worlds
Defeated 1,089 Bosses
Defeated 56 World Bosses
Discovered 16 Unique Tokens
Collected 33 Soulbound Items
Completed 423 Dungeons
Completed 6,321 Quests
Defeated 2,028 Players in PvP
Received Mark of the Honorable
Received Mark of Heroes
Received 6 out of 6 Elder God Blessings
Congratulations on defeating the Final Boss. You have been awarded the Mark of Legends.
Once again—thanks for playing, Vincent.
The old man smiled to himself as he pulled off the headset. The nanomachines he’d ingested before playing had helped his brain work through all the new memories while he’d been reading the text, and the excitement in his old bones started to settle.
He wiped away the tears on his cheeks, thinking over old and new memories. Adventuring with his friends. Dancing with Monika. The wars he’d fought on the World-Tree. His wedding. Each seemed as real as the other, but they all felt old already, like things that had happened in a past life.
The last two years alone became more vivid and real, but some of those final years in the game were still fresh in his mind. He could remember that last party with his friends as if it’d only happened weeks ago.
Vincent sat in his gaming chair for a few minutes, trying to process it all—make all those new and old memories fit together in a way that made sense. It didn’t, really, no matter how hard he tried, but all the important events in his life—both real and virtual—were still there. They felt every bit as part of him as his flesh and bone.
When he thought about Xan and Quinn, he still knew them as two of the best friends he’d ever had, even though he’d technically only met them a half hour ago. When he thought about Jim, he remembered their D&D days in college and their partying days in Teramor as though they had happened side by side.
What a life I’ve lived, he thought. Several lifetimes, I suppose. But I weirdly feel younger now in my old body in the real world. I’ve only lived for seventy years. That doesn’t seem that long now. With new health technology on the rise, I might even reach a hundred twenty or older. I guess I still have plenty of adventures left in me.
The old man stood from his chair, and his body felt so thin and weak, yet comforting in a way.
This is me—the real me. God, it’ll take a while to get used to this again. It’d probably help if I got out of my chair once in a while and got back into shape. I’ve been too lazy the last two years, sitting around and not taking care of myself. I spend so much time talking about challenging myself, but I haven’t lived up to that when it comes to my physical and mental health.
Vincent raised his hands, bringing up an augmented-reality screen he could see projected on his contact lenses. He went to his house controls, commanding his drones to dispose of most of the alcohol and unhealthy food. With quick hand motions he ordered basic exercise equipment and three sets of jogging pants. All the while he ignored the unfathomably long stream of messages and requests in the corner of his eye.
Today’s the first day of the rest of my life. I’m getting myself back on track. Monika would’ve hated to see me wither away all alone. I guess I should cut back on gaming… just a little. He paused a moment to think. There’s something else I’ve been meaning to do too. I guess now is as good a time as ever.
Vincent stepped outside, his door locking itself behind him. He ordered a self-driving cab, and one pulled up from where it’d been parked down the street. Once inside, he set the destination, and the vehicle started up the road.
Knowing the ride would be a few minutes, he finally brought his attention to his interconnected social media accounts. The numbers had frozen at 9,999+ on everything from messages to friend requests to emails to tagged images and videos. Luckily for him, World-Tree Online had connected to his social media, and he simply added all his friends from the game to his other friend lists. He saw right away that Jim had already invited everyone in the Jiminy World Crickets to various messaging groups, and their members flooded those groups with congratulations on their victory.
The old man almost teared up seeing so many in-game friends in real life. A few he recognized in an instant, but he had to check the names of some people because they looked so different from their characters. He didn’t skim long before everyone started posting news articles that had blown up the internet about people being trapped in World-Tree Online for three hundred sixty years.
Vincent took a long breath and flipped his augment-reality screen to the news section. The car filled with a dozen screens, showing various articles and live broadcasts. It looked like hundreds of thousands of players with AI Assistants had already uploaded footage that showed the outside world what had happened in the game. Before the players had even escaped, countless people had scoured over footage of major events that had transpired in World-Tree Online.
He saw articles about Sheriff Lucas had already come and gone, including live news coverage of his arrest. Politicians, lawyers, and philosophers alike were still in heavy debate about the severity of his virtual crimes and what kind of punishment he should face. However, the news quickly shifted gears to Isaac Bell. Just like he’d told Vincent, the developer had quickly set lawyers to work defending ARKUS while he took the blame upon himself. The hate against him had grown like a wildfire across the world, but many people were still fearful of ARKUS.
Keith Lockman, who surprisingly looked taller and more handsome than his in-game avatar, had taken control of the Ark Foundation. Their army of lawyers had already defended ARKUS from being shut down by the US Government. They explained that thousands of near-death patients had already logged back into the game, but also that many of the game’s NPCs fulfilled UN requirements for AI to be counted as legal individuals. Any attempts to destroy ARKUS might be considered genocide. The legal and philosophical battle over their rights looked like it was only beginning, but Vincent was happy to see the US Government release an official statement that they wouldn’t do anything to ARKUS just yet.
Finally, Vincent searched for the articles about himself. There were hundreds of them already, and more pouring in every second. Thousands of players had filmed him with their AI Assistants, and he smiled seeing pictures and footage of his younger self fighting hundreds of battles across so many worlds. He’d never really imagined what he looked like to other people during all his heroics, but seeing the flood of wonderful comments about him almost made the old man cry.
His tears were cut short by a strange article that seemed to be gaining steam online, however. Police departments, government officials, and even various world leaders had tried to contact him in the minutes following the game’s crash. He hadn’t noticed because of the never-ending flood of messages, but they’d already sent police drones to his house to check on him. A few sites known for gossip had quickly spread rumors that he was supposedly still trapped.
Vincent laughed it off as ridiculous, but then he saw a video surfacing from the AI Assistant of a critically ill player that had gone back into the game. The video only lasted thirty seconds, but it clearly showed Vincent’s younger avatar sitting on a pillar outside of a city. That younger Vincent had a shocked expression as he looked down at himself and then the surrounding world. However, Monika sat beside him and took his hand to comfort him through the initi
al confusion.
Vincent watched the short video replay over and over again.
ARKUS went ahead and made a copy of me like I asked, he realized. A smile slowly crossed his face as he closed the video. I hope they’ll be happy together.
Vincent wiped away the tears when he saw the incoming video call from Jim. The augmented-reality screen connected to the camera in the back of the car to record him after he accepted the call. A screen of Jim’s old face appeared, but Vincent hadn’t noticed the other two people included in the call. Two more screens appeared with Xan and Quinn’s faces—their real faces. Xan looked very similar, only with ruffled hair, slightly crooked teeth, and acne. Quinn was a few years older and in worse shape, but still clearly recognizable from her in-game avatar.
“Vince!” Xan cheered when she saw him.
“We thought we should check in on you,” Quinn said. “The news said you might still be in the game.”
“No, I wouldn’t go back after all that trouble,” Vincent replied with a smile.
“I told them that,” Jim said. “Although I will admit I got a little nervous seeing that video of you with Monika. Have you watched it?”
“I told ARKUS to make a copy of me,” Vincent explained. “You know, so computer Monika would have someone.”
“Aw, that was nice of you,” Xan said.
Athena jumped into view on Xan’s screen. “Is that Vince and Jim! Oh my god, they’re so old. Hi, guys!”
“Sorry about that,” Xan said, pushing her sister away. “I should go, though. My family is freaking out right now, and I want to see my sisters.”
“Yeah, Ritchie and Gabriel are pulling in the driveway right now,” Quinn said excitedly. “They didn’t even know what was going on until I called them. How about us three talk again tonight when things have calmed down?”
“I will if I’m not talking to Devon,” Xan said. “We already messaged each other, but I want to video chat him. There’s like a ninety-percent chance we’ll stay up all night talking and figuring out our living situation. It’s about time I moved out of my dad’s house, anyway.”
