by Jamie Hawke
Rune Waker
A Rune Wars: Origins Book
Jamie Hawke
Editors
Diane Newton
Tracey Byrnes
RUNE WAKER (this book) is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Complete Book is Copyright (c) 2019 by Jamie Hawke (of Double Down Press).
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Jamie Hawke.
Contents
Welcome
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Author Ramblings
About the Author
Read Next
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WARNING: This book contains gratuitous violence and sexual content.
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Jamie Hawke
https://www.facebook.com/JamieHawkeAuthor
1
“You’re telling me there’s a way to interact with my dead fiancée?” I leaned back, more than skeptical… but also, I hated to admit, somehow hopeful. Damn LivreCorp and their ability to grab a guy by the balls and make him squirm.
At first, I’d considered myself lucky to be selected for the alpha testing, but now that I knew their reason for selecting me, I wasn’t so sure.
The Asian lady—who, under any other circumstance would’ve had me trying to lean back and catch a glimpse of more of those legs that seemed to go on forever—smiled, pushing a holo-pamphlet my way. It floated in the air, a screen of green and blue on the rims, images of me and Katie popping up all over it.
“The system checks all data, cross-references everything you give us with what we can find on the net—and trust me, there’s a damn lot.” She smiled slyly, looking me over as if she had knowledge of some secret I wouldn’t want out. “If you can tell the difference, your money will be refunded. Your satisfaction guaranteed. However,” she leaned forward, uncrossing her legs in a way that certainly would’ve given me the view, if I wanted it, “why obsess over the dead? I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but… I’m familiar with your work, Mr. Fairbanks, or should I call you Ryan?”
I frowned, took a breath, then shook my head. “Sorry, Cynthia, was it? My heart belongs to Katie. If there was any way I could just let her go, believe me, I would.”
“I… see.” She straightened up, pursed her lips, and allowed just a hint of annoyance to show before her smile returned.
“Do you make many sales this way?”
“Sorry?”
“Hitting on your potential customers.” I shook my head. “I mean, I’m flattered, but this can’t be good for business.”
She quickly looked around. “Please, don’t tell anyone. It’s just… I’ve followed your father’s work. His paper on transcendence is, I hear, one of the motivations for creating our program here.”
“Then you also understand how important this is to me.”
She nodded, returning to the holo screen. Clearly, she was hoping I’d let the issue go. I didn’t mean to be a dick but I wanted to get to business, so was glad to let her continue. Her fingers moved in place with a small piece of clear plastic, and Katie appeared on the screen. To see her there was a good reminder of how I could possibly turn down someone like Cynthia. Katie was everything a man like me would want, with her caring eyes staring out from behind red glasses, black hair pulled into a ponytail, and little dimples when she smiled. She was looking at me, smiling, tilting her head as if she was really there, and unsure what to think of my actually being there, too.
“What… what’s this from?” I asked, starting to feel a bit creeped out.
“LivreTech,” Cynthia said, grinning. “This is LivreCorp top tech, right here. What you’re seeing is the result of all I’ve been telling you about. You go into the system, this is the Katie you interact with. And trust me, it’ll all seem just as real as the first time you kissed, the first time you—”
“I get the idea,” I interrupted, guessing where she was going with that by the seductive look in her eyes. Damn, this lady didn’t quit.
“You two can walk along the Nile, relax over champagne on Mars, or run along a field chasing kobolds in your favorite video game. Whatever suits you.”
I leaned back, fingers steepled, and inadvertently got that glimpse I’d been trying to avoid—yup, no panties for this one. She must’ve known I was coming, I thought, then remembered how she’d excused herself to go to the bathroom soon after my arrival. She couldn’t have gone to remove her panties, right? I chuckled, unable to believe what I was turning down.
But hey, if their version of Katie was so real I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, that’d do it for me.
“Thank you, Cynthia,” I said, and she was biting her lip, watching me. Waiting. “I’m sold. But next time, leave the panties on. It’s… a bit much.”
She blushed, hit confirm, and then lowered her voice as she added, “Company discount, just for you.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
I stood, offered her my hand, and then turned, looking around. “Don’t suppose you have a bathroom for me to use before we get started?”
She showed me the way, then lingered at the door. “If you’re… you know, and need help.”
“Thank you, Cynthia. You’ve been more than helpful.”
With a shake of my head, I left her there at the door, wondering if I wasn’t making a mistake. If Katie were alive, would she want me obsessing over her in some virtual game? No, she’d want me to move on. I just couldn’t.
Of course, she’d read my mind. I wanted it out of my system, so I made for a stall, ensured the place was empty, and then quickly tugged one out. The last thing I needed while in the system was to be thinking about the image I’d seen of her shaved pussy, and feel guilty about it. So instead I pulled up an image on my cell, one I had of Katie holding my dick in her mouth and giving a peace sign. It was stored several layers down to avoid people randomly finding it, and saved for this exact purpose.
I still remembered that day, the way she’d gone down on me right before my big job interview. And hey, I’d gotten the job as a dispatcher. We had joked for the rest of the year that it had all been thanks to that blowjob, and every time after that when one of us had gone down on the other, we’d pondered on what good luck the day would bring.
At the moment I flashed back to that glorious time, her tongue tantalizing me, her hand stroking my cock. And in less than a minute, it was done. Good timing, too, because the door opened as I was cleaning it up, Cynthia calling out, “Ryan, is everything okay in here?”
For fuck’s sake, I thought. “All good, thank you.”
“Well, your payment went through. We’ll have you all set up whenever you’re ready to head home.”
“Home?” I flushed and stepped out of there.
“Oh, yes. We will be able to process all of the information from the privacy of your living room. You simply put on the gear and nerve sensors, and the system does the rest.”
I’d been expecting to be plugged in here, to have it be this big deal. Apparently, there’d been no need for the self-quickie after all.
But at least it put me at ease, leaving any temptation toward this woman gone as I walked out, nodded my gratitude, and followed her to finish the process.
That night I was going to be back with Katie. Not the real Katie, of course. She was gone, buried in El Cerrito, California on the hill overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. But this was as close as I’d ever get again, and I’d take what I could get.
2
The fact that I’d spent nearly half my savings to have this chance to see Katie again made me pause at the floor-to-ceiling window of my San Francisco apartment, wondering how much longer I’d be able to afford the place. It didn’t matter, though. If there was one thing I’d learned from her death, it was that life was fleeting and stuff didn’t matter. Why collect trinkets and dollars in a bank account when you could one day simply cease to exist?
What came after death was beyond my comprehension, but I was pretty sure money wasn’t part of it.
Staring out at the hyperloop trains and holographic billboards of the city, crowds walking around under fluorescent signs and all staring at floating screens as if that was their lives, it was clear the majority of people didn’t get this. A humorous thought, I realized, considering that what I’d really just spent a small fortune on was yet another ‘thing,’ a game to some degree… and something that I couldn’t take with me.
But if they could really make me believe I was with Katie again? Fuck it. Money should be spent on experiences. Or maybe it should be spent on helping those in need, but at that moment and ever since her death, I certainly had felt in need.
The system sat in its own room of my flat. A chair with surrounding equipment and haptic suit, gloves—the whole shebang. I’d loaded the LivreCorp sim already, but sitting in the chair, feeling my chest constrict and my left eye twitching, I figured I’d get some light gaming in first. If this was going to be as real as they said, I needed to unwind. And if it was some corporate bullshit set up to take advantage of suckers like me, well, I needed to get my mind ready for that.
And if that was the case, I’d be walking right into LivreCorp the next day ready to knock their CEO the fuck out. In my younger days I’d actually considered going pro in MMA, gotten real serious about it, too, until Katie came along. She didn’t exactly have a problem with me fighting, but she talked about a life together, about having children, growing old.
While that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be able to fight, I had no intention of quitting until a young guy named Ruiz knocked me out in a fight and it gave her such a scare. When I came around I saw she’d been sobbing. The look in her eyes—I just couldn’t do it to her anymore. That had been the last time I’d fought, and since then I’d dived into my work, taking on any extra shift I could. Like I was looking for a distraction.
And then she was gone.
Dead.
Leaving me with nothing but my anger and a desire to punch something. So, I got back into training, and even started looking for virtual reality games that would allow for an escape. My boy, Brad, was online, already logged into our favorite MMO. It was called Gods End, and was about the old gods challenging the modern rise of angels and demons. You could play on either side, and he had a Death Servant while I had a level fifty-one Angelic Host. It was badass, and had been taking up a lot of my time since Katie’s passing.
I found myself in a dome of golden light, wings sprouting from my avatar’s back as I stretched, and then I pulled forth my golden, flaming sword and took up a defensive stance as I scanned the minimap and joined Brad’s party.
“What’re you doing in here, DbagSlayer69?” Brad asked.
“Fuck you. That’s not my name.”
He laughed. “Point being… thought you had other plans.”
“I do.”
“You’re really going through with it?” Brad’s death character charged past me, ripping into the Colossus with his scythe, setting me up for a heavenly fire spell.
I cast it, then charged in with my blazing sword. “Think I shouldn’t?”
Silence followed as we hacked away at the massive fucker. His character pulled back, casting a wall of souls, then did a dance.
“Really?” I asked, unable to get to the Colossus until it beat through, or Brad dismissed, the wall.
“Here’s the thing,” the voice came through, strained. “I’ve known you since we were, what… twelve?”
“Eleven.”
“Fuck that’s a long time. We’re getting old man—I mean, not so old… but lately, you might as well be dead yourself.”
“Thanks, ass.”
“You asked, so I’m getting real.” His character stopped dancing, then turned to me so it was almost like Death himself was telling me this last part. “I don’t get it, but if this is what you need for closure, then fucking do it. Because I want my boy back.”
His words stung. I almost took off my rig, but then chuckled. “Good. I’m glad you’re on board. So, let’s kill this son of a bitch, huh?”
“All yours, bud. I… I fucking need a beer. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He clicked off and his avatar vanished before I could even counter. Shit, this was affecting him more than I’d realized. But at the moment, I had a Colossus charging toward me, massive bloody hooks swinging.
At least I’d get some satisfaction from this game. Still pissed at Brad for signing off like that, I started swinging like a madman, taking more hits than I should’ve. But then the Colossus overextended and I came in with my sword, lighting him the fuck up.
He staggered back, fell, and then exploded into piles of loot.
For a moment I stared at the loot spewing forth, my sword glimmering with angelic light as stats popped up from my latest kill. Level fifty-two, not bad. The most important part read:
Level: 52
Class: Angelic Host
New Skill: Fire and Brimstone
I grinned, having been wanting that skill for some time. Fire and Brimstone meant blasts from the sky that easily took out hordes of enemies, and I looked forward to using it. That would have to come another day though, because at the moment it was time to finally see Katie.
Or, almost. First, I pulled off my gear, went to the fridge for a beer and a chunk of some good ninety-percent cocoa chocolate, and closed my eyes. As much as I knew it wasn’t going to be the real Katie, my insides were stirring like a tiny beast trying to claw its way out. The last time I’d felt this way was when she’d taken me to meet her parents.
This wasn’t the time to dwell on the past, though. Well, not in the sad, drinking-a-beer way. A fancy, new high-tech way? No problem.
I chugged the rest of the beer down and finished the chocolate, checking my breath as I headed back to my VR equipment. A stutter step, and I laughed at myself. Who checks their breath before logging into a simulation? This guy, apparently.
Enough procrastination. It was time.
I settled into my rig, including the nerve sensors, and put on the haptic gloves before pulling down the headpiece. Selecting LivreCorp’s logo, I then opened the simulation. My surroundings warped from black on the edges and their logo in the middle, to the green of the grass, with trees here and there to provide fake shade, and a gentle breeze thanks to my super-expensive system. Not everyone had that, but I wanted full immersion. This sim even had the scent built in, although I’d have to get replacements for my system if I used it too often.
My first thought was that they’d fucked up. There was no sight of Katie anywhere. One vast, open field, and me. Nothing else.
Then a form appeared in the distance, looking my way. She was a silhouette, only a
shadow. But then I was running, sprinting, and she was there, that lovely smile with the dimples I remembered so well spreading wide across her face. She ran when I was close, leaping up into my arms and wrapping hers around me with a laugh. Her eyes took me in with a moment of confused excitement, but she didn’t say anything yet, simply leaning in and kissing me.
Hot damn, her lips felt good. Exactly as I’d remembered. Not perfect, like when one imagines, but slightly too wet in her over-eager way. The little things were what made it feel real though, and this was perfection.
When she pulled back to look at me, she shook her head, eyes roaming over my body and then back to my face. “Ryan…”
“It’s good to see you.” I took her hand and nodded, then led her along the grass toward one of the hills nearby. “Let’s just… walk.”
She nodded, biting her lip, and then laughed. “I can’t believe you’re here. This is so—wow, just wow.”
“I know.”
We reached the top and I stood there, staring at her as she watched the breeze move over the grass, toying with it and sending gentle waves toward us. She leaned into me, burying her face in my neck, breathing me in. For a long time we stood like that, then walked until we found a stream where we could sit and dip our feet into the cool water. While I knew I wasn’t really getting wet back home, the sensors and neurological nodes sure made it feel like water was moving around my feet.
