Chapter Thirty-Eight:
Silent Gods
1
The weight.
The first thing she always felt was his weight.
The crushing weight on top of her, the crushing heavy weight of a salary-man, smelling of easy whiskey and desperate cigarettes, his grasping hands advancing like an alien invasion upon her forbidden shores, forcing her to unexpectedly awaken from a girl's dreams and into a woman's nightmare.
Unwanted hands groping her beneath his weight, unwanted hands which never covered her mouth.
Because they never had to.
Because it didn't matter when she screamed for him to stop or not.
Her mother would never heard her screams anyways.
And he wasn't here for her mother tonight…
2
A terrified Makoto Eiko suddenly snapped awake once again in the World of Swords, a large bear curiously staring down at her in the darkness as she frantically huddled her chest into imaginary knees and then rocked fearfully back-and-forth, attempting to forget the reoccurring nightmares of the world where her body now lay on a hospital bed in Japan, rhythmically beginning her hysteric waking mantra for another day…
"I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure, I'm pure…"
Today was the day.
Today was the day where she'd save him. To peel back the lies and show him that he belonged with her forever. That Fate itself had brought them together in this magical world where a boy would never have to grow old and she could care for him for all eternity.
When Makoto shed the first of her warm and salty tears of joy, she whispered his name so that it might be carried across the scented winds of desire, the nightmare of her step-father's sins replaced by the dreams she would soon craft with her lovely boy.
"Damian."
A dream of eternal innocence in a world of whispers and song with a lovely boy.
3
As they followed today's configuration of the twisting map towards the shifting exit point of the Forest of Wandering for the seventh time, a restless Damian silently used his menu to calculate the number of Drunken Apes he'd defeated this week, a number that was now in the thousands…
These daily journeys into simian-infested woods were quickly becoming routine.
With a sigh, the boy turned in frustration towards his female companion to offer up a suggestion.
"Argo, let's try the 39th floor tomorrow."
His blonde girlfriend only chuckled.
"Welcome back to the daily grind of safety margins, Dami-chan."
The Boy Wonder remained steadfast in his resolve.
"I'm serious… The clearers just entered that floor's dungeon and Heathcliff is already talking about purchasing the guild's next headquarters up there... And every day we spend down here, I feel like we're being left behind by the elite players."
Argo only glanced over at him and quietly reflected for a moment.
"If you're that bored, I can look for another quest on the lower floors, but the Forest of Wandering is the best place for us to level up… The fact is, the only reason we've even been able to hang out in Mishe is because our skill-sets line up particularly well in a forest setting with these small monster mobs… If we ever tried this floor's dungeon, we'd be toast."
Damian cracked his knuckles.
"I'm level thirty-six now."
"So am I… But the front-line players are around level fifty… I know it sucks, but we've got a lot of catching up to do before we can get back up there, Dami-chan."
A harsh look directed at her.
"And why do you call me that? It's just Damian… If you really need to add an honorific, you can use Damian-sama."
Argo rolled her pale brown eyes as she strolled forward towards the exit after another long day.
"You're still only eleven. It's Dami-chan."
The boy stopped for an instant and once again swiped two fingers across the air, opening his player's menu.
"Actually, it's August 25th… I'm twelve... See?... So there."
A surprised Argo turned to reach out her open arms tentatively, slowly pulling the reluctant boy towards her until she nervously leaned forward and gently pressed her lips against his own, sending electricity through their bodies as she opened her own mouth slightly, allowing their tongues to touch for one brief instant before Damian's body tensed with unexpected stimulation.
She was smiling delicately, his cheeks glowing crimson as they broke off the ambitious kiss, Argo gracefully tracing his flushed jaw line with a fingertip to tease his passionate anxiety.
"Happy Birthday, Damian… Did you like your present?"
A world away, the boy's father noticed his son's cheeks glowing red as Bruce Wayne sat on Damian's hospital bed, squeezing the boy's hand for any sign of life, praying that he could somehow break Akihiko Kayaba's strange hold…
But Damian's mind was here.
With Argo.
"I… ah… wow… So that's why people kiss."
She nodded and rested her forehead against his own, blonde hair brushing lightly against his flustered cheeks as the tips of their noses touched. He had the feeling that he'd officially hit puberty when she cupped his face with both hands and then smiled seductively.
"Maybe we should celebrate your birthday some more later on."
Damian was about to answer when he felt Argo's body stiffen in response to some unseen peril, a danger that had suddenly appeared, his hand instinctively reaching for the dagger at his side as he spun around.
"What is it?!"
He followed the silent gaze of the blonde-haired girl, her terrified pale brown eyes staring straight ahead towards the tree-covered exit only thirty feet away, peering at what awaited them just beyond these woods…
Damian made out a brown spot against green grass. Taking a few steps forward, he easily saw what it was…
It was a bear named Ruuska resting on its haunches, quietly staring back at them.
Argo quickly regained her senses and yanked the boy into the shadows of a nearby tree, staring directly into his eyes like a cornered fugitive.
"What's she doing here?"
Damian could only shake his head in confusion.
"Who, Makoto? I have no idea. What's wrong?"
The Information Broker turned her head as her glare bored past the exit, nervously searching for any sign of the Beast Tamer who accompanied the bear.
"Michi, what's wrong?"
Argo stiffened as she took a deep breath, Damian placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he gazed pleadingly into her eyes. He only called her by her real-world name when he was serious.
The girl collected herself before responding.
"I don't trust her, Damian… The entire Legion guild and this game's best Information Broker hasn't been able to find any trace of those two guys who tricked her…
"It's like they never existed…
"And she gave me this… look… Back at the Ronbaru tavern that night a week ago… When she looked over at me… It was like… Like she wanted to murder me."
Damian scoffed.
"If you tried to set me up with Dale, I'd probably want to murder you too."
His attempt at humour only made Argo more nervous.
"I'm being serious… I have a bad feeling about her… She's not what she seems."
Both hands on her shoulders now.
"Alright… Let's say she was mad at you… We don't really know anything about her, do we?… Maybe she has a real-world boyfriend… Maybe Makoto comes from a very traditional family and felt that you were making her act like some sort of paid escort to thank Dale for buying those supplies… Maybe she just happened to see you and then thought you were spying on her… Maybe she was thinking about something else and you just misinterpreted her look."
The cloaked girl paused for a moment and looked anxiously down at the forest floor as her toes twitched in her boots as her lips twisted into a frown.
"Maybe… But I don't think that's it."
"Maybe it's not… But whatever it was, let's not worry about it right now… If she wanted to ambush us, she wouldn't have parked a giant bear outside the exit in plain sight… Besides, I'm starving."
Against her better judgement, Argo conceded and followed the boy along the forest path towards a foliage-tinged exit as the sun slowly dipped on the 35th floor, its fading light casting long shadows behind them.
And all the while, Michi Aoi felt as though the bear's round black eyes were following her every step, the patient Ruuska sitting silently at the exit to the Forest of Wandering like a prison sentence, waiting only for her.
"Hi Ruuska."
The bear cocked its head and made a happy yowl as the forward Damian reached out his hand to greet the massive beast, forcing Argo to consider that maybe she was just being paranoid.
That maybe encountering Makoto Eiko and her tamed familiar here was nothing more than a coincidence…
But of course it wasn't.
Michi glanced upwards to see a female figure seated at the crest of a grassy knoll beneath a sky of fire, her long legs spread across a pristine white blanket while her hand gingerly rested atop a picnic basket, brilliantly framed against the glowing clouds. A beaming childlike smile was spreading across full lips while violet eyes locked onto the sight of Damian emerging from the Forest of Wandering as though the Gates of Heaven had just opened to reveal her boy-god.
Argo's heart stopped when she realized what Makoto Eiko was wearing.
White thigh-highs emblazoned with a red crucifix that couldn't quite make it to the hem of a tiny crimson mini-skirt displayed through the window of a flowing white dress with scarlet edgings hugged her seventeen-year-old body.
The Information Broker suddenly felt her blood go cold.
Makoto was wearing a Knights of the Blood Oath uniform.
The same signature uniform of the guild Damian now belonged to.
"Damian-sama!"
When she heard Makoto squeal in delight, Argo suddenly wondered if the bubbly Beast Tamer had somehow listened in on their conversation in the woods…
But there was no way a Listening skill could extend that far. The game expressly prohibited players from listening to what was effectively a woodland dungeon from the area beyond.
The '-sama' she'd added must have just been a coincidence.
As the dark-haired woman stood bolt upright and then waved both her hands in the air, it was as though those skinny beckoning arms were fanning a passionate flicker burning within the smouldering Argo, igniting a sudden inferno as though the sacrilegious Makoto Eiko had just trespassed upon hallowed ground and was now flaunting that transgression in front of Argo's face.
The Beast Tamer joyously ran down the hillside to meet her guild mate as Argo suddenly sensed brown fur pushing against her ribs, the lumbering Ruuska carefully placing itself between her and Damian. The animal's calculated manoeuvre became all too clear when the giddy Makoto stumbled only a step away from the boy and suddenly found herself tumbling into Damian's responding arms.
The falling player happily nestled against Damian's chest while turning three shades of crimson, the boy finally taking a step backwards, prompting the breathless Makoto to sheepishly apologize with the flushed cheeks of a virgin bride being carried across the threshold.
Argo couldn't help but notice that the lithe teenager stood four inches taller than her preteen rescuer.
"I'm so sorry, Damian-sama… I guess… I wasn't really watching where I was going… You saved me again, my hero."
The former assassin nodded and then eyed her carefully, more concerned with her outfit than her recent lack of coordination.
"Makoto, why are you wearing a Knights of the Blood uniform?"
The teenager happily flared the skirt.
"Oh, do you like it?!... Does it look pretty on me?... Heathcliff told me I could become a member when I reached level thirty… Isn't that wonderful?!"
A fuming Argo suddenly forced herself to stop and think. She saw Makoto didn't have the guild insignia by her floating character icon.
Still, a membership to a guild could be nothing more than a fancy title, especially as some of the more popular guilds became so popular that they exceeded their membership quota. Many players were now guild-members in name only.
But could Makoto actually be level thirty? It seemed too much, too soon. The former Beta tester knew that most players adventuring on the 12th floor would've been between the levels of fifteen and twenty.
Which meant…
This woman must have gained ten levels in a single week!
Noticing the Information Broker's distress, the Beast Tamer grinned satisfactorily as she folded her fingers behind her shadowy hair, jutting out her chest for Damian's benefit.
"The boys have really been helping me out. In fact, we've been adventuring on the front-line since you introduced me to them, Argo-chan. It's amazing how a girl can really level up when she puts her mind to it."
Michi's mood turned even darker.
The 'boys' were obviously the members of Fuurinkazan. Argo silently cursed herself for ever exposing the twisted Makoto Eiko to that guild, for allowing those girl-crazy goofs to take a lower-level player under their wing and letting her adventure alongside them on the upper levels.
Fuurinkazan had probably transferred some rare items to her inventory to keep Makoto safe, but it was still incredibly risky for a lower-level player to go to the front lines.
Borderline suicidal in fact.
So why had that idiot Klein and his ragtag group of desperate, lonely men done such a dangerous thing?
It was Damian who actually pointed it out though.
"Makoto, you're taking too much of a risk."
As Argo watched the little dark-haired minx place a caring hand on her own boyfriend's shoulder, acting as though Damian's words of concern had somehow profoundly scolded her and now sought atonement from her boy-god, the Information Broker silently clenched her grinding jaw in anger.
"Please don't be angry with me, Damian-sama… After watching an amazing player like you, I decided I couldn't be a burden anymore... I just had to get stronger… To be like you… Klein and his guild must have sensed that powerful desire blossoming within me… Maybe that was why they begged me to join them… I never meant to upset you… Forgive me."
The boy cast his annoyed glance sideways.
"I'm not angry with you, Makoto… I'm angry with those knuckleheads in Fuurinkazan for allowing a lower level player to be up there… The front line's no joke, it's incredibly dangerous… When you die in this game, you die for real."
A stern Makoto nodded in agreement, hanging on his every word, angling her head until she could pull his attention back towards her with that hypnotic-like intensity, staring deeply into Damian's pale blue eyes as she held his hands like a princess in white rescued from a samurai-themed dragon.
"It means so much to me that you care… You're right, it was all just a joke to those boys… They still think it's only a game, that we don't really die in here… That's why I wanted to join a serious guild, Damian-sama… A serious guild like the Knights of the Blood Oath… I was so happy when I learned that you were a member as well."
Unable to contain her boiling anger any longer, the steaming Argo stepped forward past the large bear and forcefully removed the Beast Tamer's hands from her boyfriend's shoulders.
The briefest spark of hatred flashed across lavender eyes as Argo made contact, a flicker of the true Makoto Eiko which had almost been imperceptible until the beaming smile instantly reappeared.
The irate Argo wasn't about to return such false civility however.
"I think you knew he was a member before you joined… And why were you waiting for us, Makoto?"
Light laughter dismissed the girl's query as Makoto pointed back to her awaiting picnic basket, seeking Damian's attention once again.
"To reward my hero, of course… Some of us repay our debts, Argo-chan."
Argo felt as though sparks might be shooting out of her eyes as Makoto continued.
"I never got a chance to properly thank you, Damian-sama… I hope you don't mind, but Heathcliff mentioned that you might still be in the Forest of Wandering, so I thought I'd make you a nice home-cooked meal… Were you hungry?"
Damian quickly glanced up at the inviting picnic basket set atop the grassy crest silhouetted by a gorgeous fading sunset, speaking before Argo could even decline.
"Absolutely famished."
Seconds later, as the three players and a bear sat atop a hillside on the 35th floor watching the sunset, Makoto reached into her basket and offered Damian what looked like a hamburger.
"I heard that you're American and I wanted to make you something from your homeland… I hope it's alright, Damian-sama."
As she presented the delicacy to him, Damian stared at the juicy morsel in awe, so incredibly different from the food he normally ate in this world.
"It looks delicious."
"Try it, please."
"Mmm… This is really good!"
Makoto smiled leeringly at Argo as though she'd just scored the coup-de-grâce in a lethal duel between Beast Tamer and Information Broker, the boy's cheeks flushing with mouth-watering excitement as his eyes briefly closed in heavenly, ground-beef bliss.
When they opened, Makoto was excitedly dancing on her toes as she clasped her hands together in starry-eyed rapture.
"I'm so glad you liked it, Damian-sama!... I brought you some sparkling sugar-water as well… It's as close as I could come to a soft drink in this world."
She watched anxiously as he took a deep swig from the jug and looked impressed.
"Wow… That's not bad."
"Oh! I almost forgot… Heathcliff sent me here to tell you to come back to the guild… He needs to speak with you immediately."
The bristling Argo sidled up beside Damian.
"What does he want?"
Makoto glanced down at the other girl as though she were an unwanted barnacle which had attached itself to Damian's hull.
"Heathcliff only said he needs to talk with Damian privately on a matter of the utmost importance."
The Information Broker glared at her rival with narrowed eyes, her accusatory words sliding from her tightened lips sounding more like a serpent's hiss than human speech.
"You're lying."
A victorious smile spread across Makoto Eiko's lips as she linked her arm into Damian's own, the resolute Ruuska making his powerful presence known once again to Argo as the bear pushed against her, forcing the seething girl to step back.
"I'm telling you the truth… Heathcliff specifically requested to speak with Damian… Alone… Perhaps he doesn't trust a nasty little scab-girl who makes her living from selling other player's secrets… Your sub-class is so underhanded, isn't it?"
Before she could explode in a murderous rage, the quick-to-act Damian unhooked his arm from Makoto's and then reached out a calming hand towards his seething girlfriend.
"It's alright, Argo… I'll talk with him and then I'll message you… I promise."
The was a slow hiss of air from the thirteen-year-old's nostrils as she glared at a beaming Makoto Eiko, somehow forcing herself to remain calm until she folded her arms across her chest in acceptance.
"Fine… I have some pressing business of my own to take care of anyways."
4
Moments later in an exclusive men's hot springs on the 39th floor, an angry girl in a brown cloak stormed through a gaggle of young male patrons gathered in the changing room, each player attempting to cover his nakedness with anything on hand while the girl's pale brown eyes never strayed from her target in the steaming springs beyond…
A scraggly redheaded warrior who was neck deep in hot water.
Literally.
As a number of submerged men made their way to the opposite end of the extensive pool, the advancing Argo came in like a cold front, a chilling presence swooping down from the heavens before locking eyes with the surprised player as she leered down at him like the wrath of god.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Klein?! Taking a lower level player to the front lines like that! Are you insane?!"
Unfazed, the naked Klein stood his ground as he raised himself from the surface of the steaming pool, forcing Argo to keep her eyes locked upwards on his gaze lest she accidentally trigger the game's 'peeping' warning by viewing a naked player of the opposite sex in a bath setting.
"Whad'ya mean, what am I doing?! What the hell is Marigan doing sending us a noob for us to baby-sit for an entire week?! She cost us a bloody fortune!"
Argo caught herself before she almost slid into the pool from shock.
"Wait… What do you mean baby-sit?... Marigan didn't send Makoto to you guys… She would never do something idiotic like that ."
Unconvinced, Klein placed his hands on his hips as Argo managed to keep her eyes upwards.
"Then why did you message Dale and tell him the Legion guild needed her levelled up right away? That Marigan sent her to assess our combat capabilities for a secret mission?"
"Message Dale?... I didn't… I only messaged him the first time to inquire if he could help out a cute girl by buying her some equipment… And that was only because I felt sorry for her and didn't want to pay for it myself… Marigan had absolutely nothing to do with it."
The Information Broker didn't like the sinking feeling in the tightening pit of her stomach as she watched Klein's jaw slowly drop in stunned disbelief.
"Wait… Are you telling me the Legion guild isn't sending us on a secret quest to arrest the two bastards who tricked her?... But then… Why would Makoto tell us that?"
A horrified Argo slapped a shaking hand over her eyes as she suddenly comprehended that Damian might now be in terrible danger, that her fragile world was beginning to collapse around her.
"Oh God... I think we're the ones who were tricked, Klein… I have to go!"
As the leader of Fuurinkazan watched the tiny blonde run out of the baths in a panic, he slowly leered over accusingly at the shame-faced Dale who was now attempting to submerge his curly hair underwater on the far side of the hot spring behind a large rock.
Klein resolved that he was either going to drown his stupid work-mate, or that they were about to have a very candid chat about a girl and her bear until Dale confessed everything.
He just wasn't sure which yet.
5
Makoto Eiko recoiled as the greasy finger of the man called the Alchemist stroked the underside of her chin, causing the overprotective Ruuska to growl at the disgusting chemist before Makoto pulled back from his unwanted taint.
He laughed at her rejection amusedly.
"Don't be so ungrateful, my dear… I told you I could give you your heart's desire… Have I not delivered on my end of our bargain?"
Makoto glanced down at the paralyzed body of Damian now laid out on the bed before her and then stared coolly back at the beady eyes of the balding player with the bulging midsection.
"You did… But I'm not part of the bargain, old man… Don't worry… You'll have the Information Broker soon enough… I guarantee it."
A crooked tooth smile as he eyed her slender breasts.
"Of course I will… But I would suggest sooner than later, dearest Makoto… I'm a sucker for a young beauty like yourself, but my generosity only extends to a fine point… Your lovely charms can only stretch my patience so far… I'll have your supplies delivered later tonight... In the meantime, take good care of our little Prince."
She shuddered as she watched the evil Alchemist turn and leave, chuckling like a madman as he slowly exited the secret dungeon of Horrenhelm which he'd converted into makeshift living quarters so that she could live out her fantasy.
It'd been a deal with the Devil, but she would have willingly sold her soul for the boy who was now lying helpless before her.
Her beautiful Damian.
Her perfect, beautiful, still-innocent Damian.
She'd watched that nasty little blonde bitch try to corrupt him, to seduce away his innocence and grind him under her swaying hips to ruin the boy, to wantonly push him over the edge of the abyss into manhood.
That darkened abyss where a boy must become a monster.
Makoto cradled the paralyzed twelve-year-old into her tender arms as she softly stroked his hair and sighed, glancing around at the ninety-nine other perfectly made beds which surrounded Damian's own in this massive, torch lit cavern.
She smiled with perfect satisfaction at the empty beds which had yet to be filled.
So many innocent souls to save in this beautiful world.
"Welcome home, my darling… You're finally safe… That's all that matters… All that will ever matter."