Okay now before you read this just know, i looked over this before i posted and realized it has a lot of work needed that /someday/ I'll get to doing and when i do i'll post that... Still its a decent chapter so enjoy!
Chapter 4: The Answers Yet Questioned
The group was sitting on the benches in the middle of town discussing what has been going on.
“It was so weird sleeping in a game,” Kilian says.
“Who’d’ve known? I mean we aren’t exactly humans are we? I mean do we have organs and cells and stuff? That’d explain the whole sleeping and eating thing. I wonder why we still have our abilities if we have become human-like.” Jake says, with calmness that he hadn’t felt since he came into the game. Sleeping seemed to help him out a lot. They had actually slept on the benches and the gamers around them all looked at them strangely. The group didn’t care though because it was the least of their problems.
Shade looks up at the tall clock tower that stands in the middle of town with the benches around it. There was no way into the tower made of tan colored bricks. According to it the time was 8:07 A.M. “Well it makes sense that while we are still in the game we still should be able to use the game’s features, but if we are alive then we’d also have to obey bodily rules too which consist generally of the desire for energy and rest.”
“What do you do in the real world Shade?” Jake asks casually with one leg off the bench and the other one on it. He doesn’t even think of the subject change.
“I’m a student. I get pretty good grades too. I’m basically a teacher’s pet,” He replies casually while still lying on the bench.
The others all mention being in school too and what grades they get. Jake was a little vague though which made the others laugh.
So the day went on with them relaxing. They hardly did anything to further their search for answers. As Lexi put it, “If we’re supposed to do something useful we need to have fun too! Otherwise we’re more like slaves right?” So they decided to relax for the day.
During their day they realized that to them the game’s ‘food’ that can be used to heal also works as normal food to them. They actually managed to get a pepperoni pizza from a person on the street. So they ate that and it actually tasted to them like a real pizza. It felt warm and the cheese was gooey. It left crumbs on the ground and they even felt full. “Wow, I guess this virus makes it so when we come in contact with something, it’s as real as anything on Earth,” Jake says as he finishes off the pizza.
~New York City, Earth~
“Strange occurrences have been reported lately,” The newscaster says into her microphone. She’s wearing a red feminine suit. Her long brown hair sits flat behind her as she continues, “While playing a game called Naflem several children have supposedly gone missing within a 20 mile radius. Rumors suggest they have run off and gathered together for some unknown reason. Parents are very worried about the disappearance of their children with the only lead being that a strange message appeared on the inside of each child’s helmet. Codename-Organic. Any leads on this story are accepted at the missing child hotline of 361-555-3989. In other news…” The TV goes blank as Jake’s friend Josh stares in shock.
He was Jake’s age, 14 and he had short brown hair and tanned skin. He had blue jeans on and a white shirt with the word statical written in electric letters. It didn’t mean anything it was just to look cool. As he turns off the TV he gets off of his couch and runs to his room. He yells to his mom, “I’m connecting now! Write down all my chores and I’ll do them later!” That was his deal with his mom. Because connecting was a full time experience you couldn’t stop every few minutes to do chores so most kids let their chores build up and they did them later.
~Naflem~
When Josh gets on the first thing he does is e-mail Jake, “Meet me in the middle of town. I need to talk to you!”
His avatar looked similar to his real self except for the clothing. He had gauntlets on and steel boots. His body was covered in a thick, black, metallic type of armor and his legs were the same.
Once he’s done e-mailing Jake he runs to the center of town where Jake is already waiting and yells, “It’s on the news! The whole disappearing thing!”
“It’s on the news? That fast? How? We’ve only been gone a few days!” Jake says surprised.
“Well several kids disappearing leaving their helmets with a strange word on it is kind of suspicious. The parents are freaking. I got a call from your mom by the way Jake. I told her I didn’t know anything. I should’ve covered for you somehow though I’m sorry.” Josh explains with a hurried voice.
“It’s ok. We’ve found a few leads but we think they’re kind of empty. No solid facts. Weird events, weird people, but nothing that makes sense.” Jake then continues to tell in detail what’s been going on the past few days.
“Wow. How are you not freaking?” Josh asks with amazement and looks at the others who have been sitting around them.
“I dunno. But it’s kind of cool. We can interact a lot more with the system than anyone else. It’s pretty cool. Not to mention I feel healthier than ever. It’s something that makes me think of Eden, except this is much more dangerous and there’s no way we can stay here forever of course. We have to find a way out. But what do you think about all this?” Jake asks Josh with intrigue.
“Well… what you said of that hacker woman, she seems weird to me. I’d try to find more of those broken people you saw, we should call them fragments. To me it sounded like they might actually know something if you can find one that’s more stable.” Josh thinks for a minute, “What about the anti-virus? You didn’t tell me much about it.”
“That’s because it’s an insane theory. Seraph wants us to gather rare items so she can make an anti-virus that can be installed into our weapons. Those items have existed for a long time. There is no way they could hold any sort of data that could influence the virus,” Shade pulls something out of his bag as he says this. “I already have one of the books. I saw on one of her tables was a list of what she needed us to get her. This is one of them. It’s the book of armor, an illegal item that supposedly boosts your armor’s abilities greatly. It doesn’t work but I keep it anyways. The moderators won’t harm me for owning it if I don’t try and use it for any reason.”
“So that leaves us to the recurring question, what now? Where should we go next?” Kilian asks quietly.
“We go on our favorite lead. Chasing the wind. The fragments aren’t going to be easy to track down.” Trina says as Lexi appears beside her.
“I know where a fragment is. I was told that all it says to everyone is that
“You are incomplete. Bring me life!” and it’s at the end of a heavy boss dungeon. (Heavy Boss Dungeon’s usually contain only one enemy that is super powerful) We should be able to take down the boss.”
“Good job Lexi. You’re way ahead of us.” Jake says. “What’s the dungeon name?”
“Heavy Iron Dagger,” Lexi says as she begins to run to the portal house with the others close behind.
The portals for heavy bosses are red and they have spikes all around them except for the evil looking metallic figures at the tops. As the group walks through they appear in the middle of a huge round chamber. The walls are made of crumbling brick and the ground is of dirt. There are fake skeletons and blood everywhere but the real looker is the main attraction. It was a dragon covered with iron armor.
The dragon was the type that looks more like a stegosaurus. With a long spiky body and tail melee skills have little effect on the monster. The trademark dragon fire is more a ball of fire that seems to maneuver instead of just going straight making it lethal.
“Get ready!” Lexi yells and pulls out magic scrolls, the melee-ing person’s alternative form of magic.
“Jake you said you have some good healing spells! Keep our health up while we fight!” Kilian shouts and begins casting a spell. Shade was the only one willing to actually fight melee. With his speed it was much easier for him to get close without getting hit much so he tried to distract the dragon.
“Las Vane!” Kilian, Lexi, and Trina yell together according to their whispered plan. Each of them used the spell at once making a giant meteor that looks like a skull covered in dark aura crush down on the dragon causing a huge explosion.
“Good job girls!” Jake yells as he rolls to the side to dodge one of the fireballs that the dragon refuses to stop flinging. The stagger effect doesn’t matter to the dragon as he flails around at Shade and shoots fire at the rest of us.
Shade sees a weak point in the dragon. The dark attack earlier left a crack in the armor and Shade stabs one of his blades into it. The armor shatters off small section of the dragon revealing weaker scales.
“Ora Kanvan!” Kilian shouts causing small blades to fly steadily at the dragon’s back.
The dragon makes a roaring scream and he seems to have developed a mobility that he didn’t have earlier. He charges at Kilian and dives awkwardly with his remaining spikes aimed straight at Kilian. She runs towards the dragon and attempts to jump it. Though her legs hit the dragon as she jumps she still makes it over and the dragon crashes into the wall. Lexi and Trina cast two more spells causing light beams and good sized rocks to be hurled at the dragon. Shade goes in for the kill as he stabs the dragon and drains the last of its health. The dragon fades away into dust and a door at the other side of the arena opens up.
“That was a pretty short fight. Fun though. Too bad it didn’t last longer.” Shade says with a grin on his face.
Jake heals them all and they proceed to the next room. The room was white. Not like the walls were white, but like it was just an un-ending emptiness. In the middle was a man. The same man from before except with no static.
“I am Naflem’s creator. This game has become unstable. I am glad you have found me now because I fear this fragment is fading as well. Seraph is not on your side, she doesn’t know half of what this virus is. It is spreading quickly. Not only does it destroy but there are areas… I don’t know where, but there are area’s it has created. It’s like a chop shop. It takes the game apart and uses what it gets as spare parts. It’s not long before it…” The static interrupts him. “Over…” He disappears completely in a flash of static.
In his place is a portal and the group instinctively walks through it. They appear in the middle of town once more and look at each other. “He… He seems believable.” Jake says and the others just nod.
“Seraph’s too mysterious, it seems like she’s using us,” Shade adds.
“So it’s settled. We’re all for Fragment,” Kilian looks at the others and they all agree.
