Trapped in a Game

"So, then. Is this everyone?"

As I took a look around, I noticed that Mackenzie, David, and Diego had joined us, but Diego's counterpart, Zephiel, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Zephiel?" I asked, and Diego glanced back, towards the village beyond.

"He's... requested a few days away from the conflict. To think about some things, I think..."

I bit my lip uncertainly, but Sharada quickly shook her head in response.

"No matter. I'm fairly certain our current objectives will require very little fighting," she answered, and I tilted my head at her.

"Really?"

She nodded, studying me with an unnerving smile.

"As I mentioned before, Luka plans on merging the servers into one world. By Dieter's calculations, we have roughly one week before he will be able to accomplish this."

"So how do we stop him?" I asked.

"By winning over more of our kind to our side. There is one of us who is unwaveringly loyal to Luka; but two others appear to be conflicted about their roles. That's where we need to focus."

Serra did a quick count, then frowned.

"There's two of you here. Plus Dieter; that's three. One loyal to Luka, and two others... so that's six. Am I missing someone here, or aren't there supposed to be seven of you?"

"You are correct," Sharada answered, and Alessandria sighed.

"Luka is the seventh," she said. "His biological body is dead, but the seventh artificial lifeform is an exact replica of his consciousness."

"So, these two lifeforms. How do we find them... are they even on our server?" Kelly asked.

"Apart from Dieter and Sharada, the rest of us who're still tied to the game exist on all servers simultaneously," Alessandria replied.

"Then why bother with the merger? Couldn't they act at any time?" David asked, and Alessandria shook her head.

"Our abilities are capped at one seventh of our power, and our situational awareness and responsivity is much less effective, making us a much less formidable force in this state."

"Oh, is that so~?" Serra smirked at Alessandria, who returned the gesture with an annoyed look.

"I would have wiped the floor with you anyway," she shot, and Serra put a finger to her lip.

"Would you? I do wonder~," she sang playfully in response, and Alessandria glared at her.

"Your probability of victory was less than seven percent. Do you want to try it?" she asked, lightning crackling in her eyes, and Serra shrugged, seemingly unafraid by the woman's threat of violence.

"Actually, her victory probability was around eighty-eight percent," Sharada interjected, and Alessandria glared at her incredulously.

"Bullshit! Based on what?"

"I have done a much more in-depth analysis of Serra's combat capabilities," Sharada explained. "If I am correct, you seem to be calculating her combat effectiveness as being on par with the other players of her rank."

"So what? The variance in their skill is less than seven percent. It wouldn't impact the outcome, and definitely not by the ridiculous margin you seem to have come up with."

Sharada smiled, in that strange, unnerving way, at Alessandria.

"I'm willing to share my analysis; if~... you promise to fight for us in the final battle."

Alessandria glared at her.

"Fine. But if I can refute your claim, you're making me a biological body

and

shifting your protective protocols on Paul to high priority."

"Your terms are acceptable," Sharada answered.

She stared at Alessandria for a few moments, and I watched with interest, as Alessandria's eyes went wide.

She turned to Serra; her mouth slightly agape.

"That's impossible. She... she wouldn't have thought of that. Not in the middle of a fight. And the gap between the high tiers shouldn't be that much!" she exclaimed.

"That's just one of eight possible scenarios that I speculate would have resulted in your defeat; would you like me to present them all for your analysis?" Sharada asked, and Alessandria waved a hand dismissively.

"Just, forget it," Alessandria said as she folded her arms, and I snickered a little at the poor job she did of hiding just how annoyed she really was.

"So, who are our targets?" Serra asked.

At this, Sharada gestured to Alessandria, who unfolded her arms, and let out a sigh.

"Penelope, and Heidegger... actually, for now it might just be Heidegger. I've lost contact with Penelope for about four days now."

"So, Heidegger? Where is he hiding out?" Serra asked.

"I'd hardly call it hiding. He's in the city of

Hanamachi

in the Eastern reach."

"You've gotta be kidding," Mackenzie said, and Serra groaned.

"I've never heard of it. What's the big deal?" I asked, and Kelly giggled.

"It's basically the red-light district of our server," Kelly explained, and I tilted my head in confusion.

"What? As in, prostitutes and everything?"

"Prostitutes, drugs. If you've got a vice, Hanamachi has a way to indulge it."

"Is that even allowed in this game?" I asked, and Serra eyed me with a look of incredulity.

"This has been a death game since day one. No one is regulating shit."

I frowned.

"So how far away is it?"

"Three days by Caravan," Alessandria answered, and Serra groaned again.

"Ugh. I do

not

want to spend three days in a caravan."

"It's either that or crossing by foot and dealing with multiple danger beasts along the way. The crossing to the Eastern Reach is one of the least cleared zones in the game."

"There might be another way, I think," Diego finally cut in, seemingly just dismissing his character interface, as he joined the discussion. "If we go through Karach, we can get to Muziris. It's a flourishing port city; I'm sure we could hire a ship to take us to Hanamachi across the Eastern Sea."

"Hmm. By ship, you could make the trip in a few hours, and Karach is less than half a day from here. You could be in Hanamachi by tomorrow," Sharada ventured, and I shot her a questioning look.

"Don't you mean we? Aren't you coming with us?"

Sharada shook her head.

"We'll be splitting up. Alessandria and I need to locate Penelope as soon as possible; besides, these lifeforms are currently fixated on expanding their understanding of the human condition. I'm not sure we'd be much help in that department."

"I've got leads on a ship," Mackenzie cut in, and Serra grabbed the girl, and pulled her into a headlock.

"You never let me down!" she declared, as the girl smiled uncomfortably. "So, what are we waiting for? Let's head back to Karach!"

Kelly's group headed over to pack up their caravans, as I began to help dismantling and packing up the tents.

"Hey. Where's Cali? I haven't seen him since yesterday," Serra said, as she came over to me.

"He was playing with Maia and Kaia. Maybe check with them?" I offered, and she frowned.

As she headed off, Dana stole to my side.

"Is it just me, or are things a bit awkward between you two."

"It's not just you," I replied, as I watched her head down to the village below.

As we finished packing up the tents, Kelly came over to join me.

"I'm gonna check on Diego," Dana said, shooting me a suggestive glance and nodding towards Kelly, and I nodded.

"Hey, uh- is everything alright? With Serra?" I asked, and she frowned, as we walked away from the group.

"I think she's about as alright as she can be right now. That simulated life she shared with you... when it ended, she was pretty relieved because it meant you were okay... but, I think she's also coping with losing something that had become a big part of her life... whether she wanted it to, or not."

I nodded.

"What do you think I should do? Give her some space?"

"Yeah. I think that might be for the best. I kind of asked her last night if she'd prefer to have you two keep your relationship going at least until the game ends, but... I think she's trying to figure out what she wants to be in your life, when this is all done."

"When this is all done? We didn't even know each other," I said, and Kelly frowned at me.

"Before this incident, she actually planned on trying to be a part of our lives. Visiting us, keeping in contact; all that."

"Oh. I didn't realize," I said.

"Yeah... well now I think she's trying to evaluate if she can handle that... or if she needs to just make a clean break."

I frowned.

"What about you?" I asked, and Kelly tilted her head at me, questioningly.

"What about me? What do you mean?"

"Wouldn't it bother you? Serra and me being friends, or keeping in contact..."

She shook her head.

"If you were mine, you could be fuck buddies for all I cared," she teased, and I frowned.

"Sometimes I think you don't take this seriously," I answered, and she put her hands on her hips.

"Or~, maybe I'm just not as insecure as you seem to think I should be," she replied, shrugging.

"Even after I basically married Serra?" I asked, and she sighed.

"Obviously I felt a little jealous. I

am

human, you know? But that whole situation couldn't really be helped, could it? I just don't see the need to punish you for something we had no control over. Besides, in case you don't realize, I'd rather let you marry Serra, even in real life, than have you end up permanently brain damaged, or dead..."

I bit my lip, as that definitely put things into perspective.

After all, I'd do the same for her... wouldn't I?

As we finished gathering up our things, I spotted Serra in the distance, but as she approached, I noticed that someone else was walking with her.

She shot me a weird look as she got near, and as she gestured subtly to the person beside her, I blinked several times, trying to figure out why something about the man seemed oddly familiar.

"Master! Can you teach me how to prepare the tasty meats?" the man asked, and I gasped.

"C-Caliban?"

He smiled happily, as I studied him.

"You don't need to worry," he said, as he shifted out of reality, and appeared on the other side of Serra. "My combat efficiency and abilities are more or less the same in this form."

Serra however, appeared to be quite perturbed by the development.

"He was supposed to be my puppy," she whined, and I snickered at her.

"Puppy?" Caliban asked.

"Uh, yeah. As in a dog? It's a-"

"Oh, yes. The animal companion of humans," he said, nodding enthusiastically. "While I do serve a master as such a creature would, surely my masters never imagined me to be anything like those mindless beasts?"

Serra frowned, making a whinnying kind of sound, and I chuckled again.

"Obviously not," I said, and Caliban smiled happily.

"Hey, who's your new friend," Kelly began, as she came over to join the conversation, and Caliban seemed suddenly flustered.

"The pretty wizard! Perhaps you could teach me the basics of preparing the tasty meats. Then Josh-human will be more inclined to teach me his more advanced techniques."

"More advanced? My cooking is

much

more advanced than his!" Kelly replied angrily, before doing a double take. "Wait, you're Caliban?"

Kelly moved closer to inspect him, and Caliban began to blush uncontrollably, which prompted Serra to stare daggers at him.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" she muttered angrily.

She stormed off, and Caliban turned, and took off after her.

"Priest-human. Wait!" he called, seemingly confused by her reaction, and I shrugged as he shot me a pleading look.

"Well that is... interesting. Do you think you have competition?" Kelly asked, and I frowned.

"Seriously? She thinks of him as a dog," I replied, and she shrugged.

"Clearly, he doesn't see himself like that. Wait a minute... are you jealous?" she asked, as she suddenly realized her suggestion had somewhat irked me, and I shook my head defensively.

"What? No. Why would I be?" I asked, and as I turned away from her, she wrapped her arms around me, poking at my cheeks playfully as I frowned.

Why would I be jealous.

He's... a fucking dog!

I shook the whole thing from my mind.

"Are we ready to leave or not?" I asked, and she giggled, releasing me as she turned to look at the group.

"Yep. Dana and Diego are just saying their goodbyes to Zephiel."

"He's really not coming?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"No... he's actually taking his role as 'papa' to those girls seriously. I think he needed this break as much as they did."

"Well, I guess Tsun and the other player killers have stepped back since the whole invite fiasco is over; and Alessandria seems to think we won't be relying on conflict to resolve things anyway."

"Yep. Besides; we have the 'gloom stalker' and the 'twilight princess' now. I think we'll be fine," she added, with a wink.

I smiled, suddenly remembering just how much I'd missed Kelly being by my side all this time, and she began to blush as she suddenly caught the look on my face.

"What?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Nothing... I'm just glad we're finally getting to go on an adventure together."

"Oh~. And on the high seas, no doubt. Do you think we'll encounter pirates? Or sea monsters?"

"I hope not," I chided, and she snickered.

"Kill joy," she shot back, and I smiled.

The group had begun to gather just outside of town, so we headed over to join them, and I noticed Serra was still wearing an expression of extreme annoyance, while Caliban, seemingly unaffected by her abysmal mood, was talking excitedly to her.

Kelly shot me a teasing look, and I quickly directed my attention away from the two, toward Mackenzie and David, who appeared to be in deep discussion about something.

"Hey. Are we ready to head out?" I asked.

"In a few minutes," David answered, but as I took a look around, everyone seemed to be accounted for, and more or less ready to leave, so I shot him a questioning look.

"What's the holdup?" I asked, and he smiled.

"We're trying out a travel system... Mackenzie here developed it herself."

"I might have come up with the idea; but the implementation is mostly yours," the girl answered, and I tilted my head at them.

"Travel system?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

"Yeah. Alessandria is going to open a dimension door, two kilometers that way," David explained. "We've already mapped out the safest pathway back to Karach. Right now, teams are gathered along that route, and are clearing all of the bothersome monsters along the way."

"Wow. So, we can just sprint over there at full speed?"

"If it works, then yep; and we can be in Muziris before midday."

As we spoke, Mackenzie seemed to be answering a message on her character interface, and as she did, she gave David a thumbs up, and he nodded.

He signaled to the group, and everyone quickly gathered around as he began to call out instructions.

"Mackenzie's on point. Karn will bring up the rear. Diego; you and Dana will stick with me at the center. The rest of you can spread out around us."

I nodded, as the instructions were simple enough, and it allowed me to stay with Kelly, but as we started moving, I quickly realized that the pace was way too quick for even rudimentary amounts of conversation.

We ran for what seemed like half an hour, when a signal flare went up in the distance, and we came to a halt.

"Trouble?" I asked, and Kelly shook her head.

"Not exactly; I think that's the signal to redirect."

I glanced ahead at Mackenzie, who seemed to be on her character interface, and nodded.

"Redirect from what?"

Kelly pulled up her character interface, and checked her messages.

"Remorhaz," she replied.

Mackenzie raised a hand, and David nodded.

"We're going around those hills; to the left," he called.

It was a minor diversion, but as we made our way around the hills and across the plains that lead toward the mountain pass under Karach, I cast a longing look back toward the place where the monster we'd circled around, had been.

"Is it okay to leave something as big as a Remorhaz unchecked?" I asked, and Serra snickered.

"Boy, you really don't change, do you?"

I frowned, and Kelly giggled at me.

"No, but that's why we love him, isn't it?" she said.

Serra scowled, and walked away as Kelly continued to beam at me.

"As for the Remorhaz; I think it'll be fine. Mackenzie's team has expanded with our new recruits, and they've more or less mapped out the entire realm around Karach; every monster, every threat. We made the information public, and since then, more players have begun gathering here, offering to join up."

"In no small part thanks to the 'crimson phoenix'," Dana said, gesturing at Kelly, who began to blush a little.

"I doubt I had anything to do with it," Kelly replied modestly, and Dana scoffed.

"We had her fly over the mountains for a few days in a row, and recruitment nearly doubled. Imagine how well we'll do when they learn the 'gloom stalker' and the 'twilight princess' are back in action, and part of the team."

I ruffled Kelly's hair playfully, as I shot her an admiring look, and she blushed.

Dana let out a sigh as she studied the interaction, shaking her head disapprovingly before heading off.

As we entered the lair under Karach, however, I stared with amazement at the radical change the place seemed to have underwent in the time since I was last here... during that fateful battle.

"Wow," I breathed, and Kelly smiled happily.

"Love what we've done with the place?" she asked, and I nodded in appreciation.

There were people busily moving about all along the corridors, which had now lost their dusty look, and seemed more like the corridors of some kind of castle, or fort.

Torches had been placed all along the lengths of the rooms and corridors, giving a better lighting to the whole place, and there were groups of players having meals, sitting around wooden tables, and talking happily, while the main chamber where the fight had taken place seemed to have been turned into a situation room.

There were maps up on boards all around, and tables strewn with writing materials and scrolls, with groups of players engaged in deep discussion all around.

"Everyone's working hard to end this game... and to make it safer for everyone else," Kelly explained.

It was an inspirational sight, to say the least, and I was still taking it in when I noticed that Caliban and Serra seemed to be getting into a pretty heated argument.

"Hey," I said, as I walked over to them. "Is everything alright?"

"No, master-with-the-tasty-meats! You must help! The priest-master wishes me to stay here while she goes into danger alone," Caliban explained, as he quickly moved to my side.

"What?" Serra asked defensively, as I shot her a questioning look. "If he dies, he doesn't respawn."

"Neither do we," I replied, and she frowned.

"Caliban... could you give us a sec? To talk alone, I mean," I clarified, and as he made a whinnying sound, I turned back to Kelly. "Tell you what," I continued, "I think this might be the perfect time to ask the pretty wizard about her cooking."

His eyes lit up at this, and Serra sighed as he headed off towards Kelly.

"Do I have to lose everything to the same fucking girl?" she muttered, and I shot her a questioning look.

"Am I included in that list?" I asked, and she frowned.

She began to walk towards the corridor, that led to the great waterfall beyond the main hallway, and I followed her.

"Are you really that worried about Caliban? I mean, he's been remarkably good at handling himself," I began, and she frowned.

"It's different... with him looking like that. Puppy Caliban was simpler to handle."

"So, are you chasing him off because you don't want to deal with him then?" I probed, and she frowned.