9

I was too high on adrenaline to get any sleep. I don't even know how long I'd been up. I emailed a long message to Ogden, and I told him everything. Parzival was dead. My cousin was probably next. I needed help. I waited, and waited, and nothing happened. He never got back to me for a whole day.

I was finally calming down a couple hours later, and lying on my bed ready to sleep. Suddenly, out of my speakers, came the voice.

"Hello, Taisei?" the voice called. It was Morrow.

I stood up and put on my haptic gloves and my visor. My avatar appeared in my line of vision sitting on the couch. He looked at me for a while.

"You don't look so good." He explained.

I felt the tears fill my eyes, and I couldn't mute my mic in time as my avatar let out a sob.

"I'm sorry, Taisei." He said softly. "What else has happened?" he asked.

"nothing!" I sobbed. "My cousin is in trouble, and Wade is dead! And there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it! Do you know if we went to the media with this, they would just say it was all a joke? No one would believe us, and there's no evidence! Wade's trailer explosion looked like a meth lab explosion." I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't do a damn thing about it.

I felt a calming hand on my shoulder. Morrow sat next to me in his long wizard's robes. My sobbing calmed down a little bit, and I steadied myself. I had top-of-the-line gear, so I actually felt the wizard's hand on my shoulder as I sat there.

"I hate to be a rude ass." Morrow said bitterly. "But Wade brought that up on himself. I warned everyone who was watching my interview not to say anything to IOI. I warned everyone to just try as hard as they could to stay out of the spot light." He said bitterly. "I'll think of a plan." He said as he stood up to pace.

I felt a lot calmer now that Morrow had reassured me that he knew what had happened, and that he was going to come up with a plan. My breathing returned to normal, and my crying stopped. This was the all-powerful Og. Second in command only to James Halliday himself. Both these men were geniuses. If anyone knew what to do, it was Morrow.

I slept for a long time, and awoke at seven in the evening that Saturday. I had no idea what to expect when I went to look at the news feeds, and the Gunter forums. I wondered if anyone else had cleared the gate?

First thing's first, though. I had to eat something. Or else my mind would not be able to focus on the hunt.

As I ate, I thought about ways to contact my cousin and try to make sure he was safe. But there was no way. He was a total hermit. He would never reply to any of my emails, and he was stubborn as fuck. If he felt he knew what he was doing, he would listen to no one. That's why he left home so early. I sighed as I threw my garbage away, and headed back to my console and computer.

When I logged onto the IOI network, the news was showing the same thing on every channel. Dozens up on dozens of Sixer ships and armies were scattering all over Ludus, trying to find the damn tomb. It was a seriously freaky sight. There were so many of them, it was not even an exaggeration. I had never seen so many air crafts and so many Sixer avatars. When I logged into my OASIS account under my new avatar name, I teleported to Ludus to see the action first hand.

The air was dense with flying ships and other types of vehicles. It was a massive army of Sixers looking for the tomb. But that was all right. The high five had already cleared the first gate, and a lot of other Gunters probably had too. There was no way in Hell the Sixers could reach the top of the score board now. No way at all. I left Ludus, and went back to my strong hold.

I went from console to computer as I did my job with IOI, and attempted to keep up with what was going on in the OASIS. Working with IOI was a seven day a week thing. There was always some hole in the fire walls that I had to patch up to make sure no one hacked us. So I was kept busy.

Sunday around four in the afternoon, was when it happened. I went to check out Ludus, and saw it. The Sixers had found the entrance to the Tomb of Horrors. They had also placed a force field around it, and now had blocked off all Gunter access. I just gaped at it like a dumb fuck with my mouth hanging open. Could they do that? What am I asking! Of course they could do that! They were the God damned Sixers! They didn't play by the rules. Those cheating shits were going to pay.

As I thought of my cousin, I realized I was just angry and getting carried away with myself. None of us, Morrow or I, had a plan. No Gunter had a plan either. They weren't going to pay, and I knew it. I think at the time I mostly just kept telling myself that to make myself feel better. Aech, Daito, Shoto or Art3mis would come up with a plan. They were not that dumb. They found the tomb all by themselves, right? This means they were smart enough to make a plan. I just had to wait and see what the hell was going down. This would prove to be difficult.

I was working on the IOI system updates, when I heard a chime. I switched from my IOI issued computer to my console. I put on my visor, and saw a message icon on my display. It was an email from Ogden. I opened it.

Subject: good news

Message: PARZIVAL IS ALIVE! HE IS ALIVE! HE WAS NOT AT HIS HOUSE WHEN THE SIXERS BLEW IT UP! That is all. OM

I stared at the email and read and reread it for five whole minutes. Then I let out a scream of joy. This means he's probably telling the High Five about the incident! This means the boys, and Art3mis, will probably take more precautions to be safe from now on. I was actually happy again. I felt happier than I had felt in a couple days.

The problem still remained. Gunters couldn't access the tomb because of the force fields. I sighed as I paced my studio once again. I had posted the information on the forums hoping the Gunters knew where to go so they could clear the gates before any of the Sixers could. It didn't work. But the Gunters were now pouring out of every terminal, and headed for the force field. It was going to be an attempt to take it down.

It was so bad, that Ludus was evacuated. The school system was moved to a second Ludus located in the same sector. The first Ludus became residence only to the Sixers and Gunters.

For a while, the Gunter clans and other Gunters threw everything they could at it. They cast every spell they could at it. But nothing was able to penetrate the tomb's force field. It's all right, though. Gunters knew the Sixers now had access to the Copper Key, and the first gate. So this would mean there would be a redoubled effort to try and beat the Sixers. Everything was going to be all right. Right?

The Sixers cleared the gate a couple hours later. Sorrento was the sixth person to clear the gate after Shoto. He probably insisted that it be him who gets the first chance. I sighed. I felt so rotten right now. So fucking defeated. At least my cousin knew about the incident with Wade.

It happened a couple days later. The Sixers' force field had broken, and the Gunters were now crammed into the tomb with whatever they were supposed to fight or do. What had happened was a bunch of Gunters pooled their resources together, and purchased an anti-matter bomb on EBay. Actually, they purchased two. They detonated them in sequence, and the force fields were shattered. The score board filled with new avatar names now. The Gunters had done it. They had taken down the force field, and there was no way the Sixers could put it back up. There were just too many Gunters, and it was a no PVP zone.