Chapter 112 - A Savior, A Prisoner

"..." Samantha responded to hearing a knocking at the hospital room door. Watching it open, it looked to be a doctor.

"Morning Mrs. Ainsley. How are you feeling?" the man said entering and closing the door.

"Morning doctor. I am feeling fine at the moment."

"That is good to hear...how are you doing?" he asked looking at her younger son.

"Okay," Gene responded giving a head nod.

"Good to hear," he continued then brought up a clipboard that he was holding. "Just reviewing the nurse's notes...seemed that everything is relatively normal in terms of readings. I'll just go over a couple of categories which has various questions. After that, it will just be a final check over and then any questions that you have. Once done and everything is good, I'll have a nurse escort you to the administration desk for discharge."

"Sounds great," she said. Spending a few minutes going through a questionnaire, most of the answers were simple enough. It did also help that her previous hospitalization records were minimal. She never go really sick or injured in the past. After finishing up the remaining category, the doctor marked down the final answers.

"Okay. That sums up this portion of the check-up. Was there anything in there that you wanted to go back and change. Or do you feel that you gave the most accurate answers for all?"

"I feel pretty confident about the answers I gave."

"Good," the medical staffer remarked with a head nod. Moving the clipboard to be held in one hand, he placed his other hand into his lab coat pocket.

"Now. What questions do you have for me? If any."

"Yes. I was wondering about how all the victims are doing from the VR headset crisis," Mrs. Ainsley asked. "Are they all okay?"

"For the patients here...well...on an overall basis, all are stable for the time being. Including your son," he answered and going to a chair. Sitting down, he put the clipboard on his lap.

"As for all the others around the world, I can just assume that they are doing fine as well."

"I see...wait," she spoke a little worried. "Were they not stable yesterday night?"

"To put it bluntly, yes. There was a time frame in which a majority of the patients here gave signs to be not in a calm state of mind," the doctor explained.

"...you mean...like a nightmare?"

"You could put it that way. The most common symptoms for them were shakes, goosebumps, and appearance of being uneased," he informed.

"...but...big brother...was different...right doctor?" Gene asked in a quiet tone. Both mother and son saw the medical person pause a little bit then put his hands together.

"Yes...you are right," the doctor answered then turned to the worried looking woman. "Since his variation of the incident, he was placed in ICU. So far, he has been stable without having other effects."

"...I-ICU?" Samantha repeated with a shock and anxious voice. "W-What happened to him?"

"He was bleeding from his eyes and nose. Strangely, it only lasted for a few minutes before stopping...does he have a medical condition from the other hospital?" he asked.

"Not that I am aware of," she replied and shook her head. "I only saw this happened once before...and that was yesterday prior to being sent to the hospital."

"I see. So the VR helmet is the only factor that has made him have these episodes. Is that correct?"

"Yes. He has never had this before," she answered feeling anxiety building quickly. "After this...may I go see him?"

"Of course," the doctor answered and nodded. "We can do that first before going to administration for discharging. Is there any more questions you had?"

"..." the mother said opening her mouth then closed it. Thinking a little bit, she looked at Gene first.

"My son said that some of the trapped patients were able to remove their helmets on their own...is that true?"

"Yes. Your son is correct. It seems that the company that is trying to solve this situation came up with a solution. Roughly 200 patients around the world have been able to disconnect and wake up."

"Are there really 2,000 people trapped?" she wondered. Seeing him nod without hesitation made the answer believable. Thinking about other topics, none of them really involved medical personnel. Looking back at the doctor, she shook her head.

"...I think that is all I had for questions..."

"Alright. Can you stand for me?" he asked getting up from his chair. Seeing her nod, she shifted herself to get off on the right side of the bed.

Watching the boy come around to the side she was going to get off on, Samantha was able to get up and stand on her own. Being instructed to walk a few laps in the room, she complied. Once completed, the medical staffer felt satisfied. Indicating that they will go to the first floor, he pointed where the elevators would be. Gathering belongings, the three left the room and walked down the hallway. Reaching the lifts, they entered and went down a level.

"Doctor...what would cause someone to bleed from their mouths and noses when in a...virtual reality so to speak?" Samantha asked out loud.

"...well...if the virtual reality provided enough stimuli to cause a physiological and psychological trigger to oneself, then it is possible for that to occur," he explained then gestured with an open hand. "If that were the case, the question then would be what did the individual experience in the past to cause that such a strong reaction. From a medical perspective, that experience would have to be traumatizing or worse for that to occur."

"..." she responded with silence and just thinking.

"Would a horror game do that doctor?" Gene asked.

"It might if all the conditions were right," he began. The elevator slowed down to a stop then dinged open. They stepped out and headed toward the emergency care area.

"If the conditions were right...such as?" Mrs. Ainsley asked.

"This might sound science fiction. If a VR helmet neurologically simulated the same effects of the digital world, such as a video game, to when that individual became conscious, that would be dangerous. I would imagine if that were true, many people would suffer from who knows what mental, emotional, and physical ills it causes them. It be like a delayed reaction to what occurred in that digital realm. If you get hurt in the virtual reality, then the person being conscious would feel it too."

'...ever since Jin has been playing with that VR death trap...' she thought continuing to follow. '...he looks weaker and sicker...what he says makes sense.'

'The first thing I am going to do when he gets that thing off his head is burn it to ashes.'

Passing intersections, they passed the through to get to the other side of the building. Reaching the emergency care area, the doctor lead the two to the ICU room that Jin was held in. Once at the door, he looked in and saw that no one was inside. Sliding his card through, the door unlocked. Opening it, the medical person went in first followed by the others.

Approaching the hospital bed, the sophomore was on top of it and strapped in. More IVs were inserted into him and sensor pads were placed to monitor his body. Seeing that his readings looked fine, the VR helmet was still on his head. Samantha approached the bed and immediately held his hand. The doctor immediately saw her look startled then let go.

"...what..." Mrs. Ainsley spoke then slowly touched Jin's hand again. Feeling it to be the same, goosebumps started developing on her right arm. She looked at the medical person alarmed.

"Why does his skin feel like this?"

"To be honest Mrs. Ainsley, I have no idea. There is nothing physiologically wrong with him. His readings are fine and he does not have any illnesses or ailments. The room is at a relatively warm temperature, but not cold. Why his skin is cold and, as others have stated, clammy, we are still trying to figure that out. All of our assumptions point to the VR headset and what is going on in that digital world."

"..." Samantha responded with a blink. Still feeling worried and anxious, she turned back to her son. Fighting the urge to just rip off the helmet, she bypassed how his skin felt and firmly held his hand. Taking a deep breath in and out, she placed her other hand on the male teen's chest.

"...hey mom..." Gene asked with a curious tone.

"...yes sweetie?"

"The interior lights of the VR helmet for big brother's version is a blue color...right?"

"...?" the mother replied blinking. Letting go of her son's hand, she turned toward her younger one.

"...I think so...why?"

"Well...when the crazy virus spoke, the headset turned red," he began. Walking closer to be at the bedside, he leaned closer to the helmet. Both Samantha and the doctor looked closer at what he was looking at.

"The interior lights," he continued then slowly put his hand toward the underside of the head gear. The adults saw that the boy's fingers then palm darken despite the lights in the room.

"Look to be glowing like a shadow or something."

"..." both adults commented not too sure if the discovery meant something or not.


"..." Adam said waking up at his home.

After the same tussle at HQ, he decided to do small amount of work prior to leaving. That also included with filing a complaint to security of the verbal and physical threats made by his lead programmer. Once that was done, he went straight home to sleep after seeing the program being initiated. Sitting up from his bed, he got off it. Putting on his slippers, headed for his work desktop that he had at home.

Entering his study room, there was a large amount of desktop towers connected to each other. Beside them was four monitors with two beside and one on top of the other. Turning all of them on, he looked at the third device that was on the desk. It was a heavily modified VR headset. Connected to the desktop towers and screens, he pressed the power button. Hearing it whirl to life, many lights flickered before becoming a solid color.

Leaving to go make himself something to drink, his colossial computer warmed up. By the time he came back, the screen was waiting for an access name and passcode. Entering both, the machine quickly went to the main window screen. Moving the mouse cursor and clicking on three programs, they opened up immediately. Gaining access and data, he smirked from seeing that his program was not tampered with.

'Let's see...well...from the slow down, more of the virus infection got corrected,' Adam thought and took a sip of his drink. 'I think that is enough to end the program...but first.'

"Got to see what has happened so far," he muttered to himself.

Pulling out the roster list that Rodger's team made, 10 percent of the trapped players had escaped. Curious at how that number was possible given the program code he entered as an administration protocol shortly after the incident, he tried to see if there was an active individual. Scrolling through all the players, none of them showed active. Each one had a small time clock icon next to their name. In the midst of searching, a notification appeared.

[RadicalRazz has logged out]

"...how...is that possible?" he asked surprised.

Accessing more administration commands, one of the monitors went to a live feed of Stratnum in E.D.E. Finding the house that had the portal, the programmer opened up a history record. Placing the new window on another screen, he stopped the live feed on it. While the other monitor had the same visual going, he started rewinding the footage for the one with the other. Staring at the screen, the time when that 201st player logged out was coming up.

"...okay...here," Adam stated.

Stopping the footage, he bookmarked the time. It was the exact time the gamer left E.D.E. Continuing the rewind but at half speed, he continued to observed. Seeing the portal begin to flicker, something in his peripheral was seen on the live feed monitor. Glancing at it, it just showed the basement.

Ignoring it and looking back at the history record feed, Adam saw an avatar slowly coming out of the warp gate. Trying to see how did the player break free, the position and movement of the monster tamer indicated she was still as a statue. Wondering if another force was at play, he went to the first screen. Accessing the viruses status, he was surprised at seeing two were eliminated.

"Eve and Haurette were killed!?" the programmer said out loud in shock. "But...those two are relatively the strongest ones compared to the others."

"But...who would have that much power to do so?"

Contemplating, he faintly remembered the experience points allocated for defeating one of the viruses. Going to the player database, he filtered everything to be just the last experience points jump each had. Going through the list of 2,000, he stopped to think. Narrowing the players to only gunslingers, there was one that at the 45 level cap. Blinking in surprise, he opened the profile with anticipation.

'That means the two did get the kid into the local branch and put on the VR helmet,' he stated in his head. Smirking, the screen loaded and showed the the character stats and avatar. His smirk dropped immediately at what he saw. Leanibg forward toward the screen, he stared hard at it.

"...that's not...him," Adam whispered to see a female gunslinger. The design of the character was too disturbingly similar to one of the creator's sketches that he remembered at the creation of E.D.E.

"This can't be...SELBITH!?" he stated out loud in shock. "...no...that...that can't be."

'Something is not right. There are too many factors that I am just assuming are true...and I am not putting any in doubt due from not knowing for fact they are true,' the programmer thought looking to the side. Trying to figure something out quickly, he heard the sound of a notification. Turning back to the first screen, he read what it stated.

[TheSweeper19 has logged out]

"What!?" Adam questioned bewildered.

Turning to the live feed, he jumped out of his chair and fell to the floor. Ignoring the pain, he started breathing quicker and felt goosebumps on his limbs. A pale dead looking male teen was standing as if he was in front of the camera feed. Ignoring the black protruding veins at his temples, it was the two large black-frost white eyes boring back at him that made him shake. Standing their motionless, the eyes kept getting closer to the screen slowly. After a few seconds of eerie silence, the figure suddenly vanished in a blink.

"..." the man responded with feeling spooked. Slowly getting up, he turned off the main feed monitor. Feeling somewhat stabilized, he started at the data filled screen.

"...what the hell was that...?" he asked out loud to know one.

'I don't recall anyone creating a character that could bypass my codes...I never gave them to anyone...not in the team...and definitely not the viruses...or the other creators for that matter.'

'The only character in the game that I imbedded that bypass was Eve's partner Adam.'

"...did the viruses corrupt him?" Adam asked. Sitting back in his chair, he pulled up the E.D.E. character list. Typing specifically the individual's name and type, he found the character he was looking for. Becoming alarmed again, he was staring at the deceased status.

"...god damn it..."


"..." Jin spoke going through a rift.

Seeing the end of it, he went through and ended up back in Hubtron. Looking down the curved streets, most of the players that were here he already gathered. One by one, he sent them through the abstract portal back in Stratnum. Thinking back on how he started the exodus mission several hours ago, it was after he escaped from Sage County. Reaching an unknown location at the time, strangely everything lost color.

Blinking and watching everything just become shades of grey, all movement around him stopped. Like they were frozen in place, he seemed able to move still. Checking his menu screen, it wasn't the nightmare glitch setting. Instead, it was just black and white with some shadowing. Noticing one thing that indicated something, the game clock stopped.

Confused and exiting, he felt oddly better and calmer. Realizing that none of the voices were speaking, his perception of what he was seeing wasn't altered either. Trying to see if the dark goddess was aware of what was going on, he tried calling mentally and verbally out loud. Getting no response, Jin felt relief. About to rest, his "Stalker" skill opened up.

Reading what it said, he immediately opened a rift. Leaving the land and appearing in Stratnum, the environment and settings were the same conditions. Ignoring that and going to the house that was mentioned, he found the white warp gate in the basement. Seeing it being the only thing that was active and moving, there was a gamer that was in mid step to leap into it. Deciding to see what happens, the male teen pushed the person into the portal.

When the player vanished into it, the "Stalker" skill indicated who left. Realizing what this was, he searched every building for people. above each person's head, they were identified as "NPC", "AI", or a gamer's profile name. Finding and getting out players that wete in Stratnum, he traveled to the next town. Blinking back to the present, he continued with the exodus plan.


"..." Rodger woke up from sleeping in an office.

After establishing a method to get gamers out, his team split up into two groups. A skeleton crew lead by John would stay up and do an overnight. The remaining would sleep in the office spaces to sleep and recover. Thinking his co-workers would complain, all didn't create too much of a fuss. Reason for them staying was so if something happened, the team was still here to help.

Feeling groggy and tired still, he sat up and rubbed his face. Getting up and stretching, he headed to the open workspace. Upon getting there, a couple of the overnight employees were still there. Looking ready to fall asleep with their face hitting their keyboards, they would be replaced with other workers soon. Yawning again and rubbing his eyes, he went toward John.

"...morning John..."

"..." the coder responded looking half-awake despite staying up all night and early morning. "...morning Rodger..."

"How were things?"

"..." the man said adjusting his glasses. Looking back at his screen, the monitor's illumination showed the dark circles around his eyes.

"...If I had betted against Bill's conspiracy assumptions...I would have lost."

"..." Rodger responded with feeling more awake. "What do you mean?"

"After we opened the exit portal and got a couple of players out, the entire E.D.E. world went into a time stop."

"...time stop...you mean...someone casted that spell over the entire game?"

"...yes...and it was not someone in the game...it was an administration override code."

"You have got to be shitting me," he reacted with getting angry. His face broke from seeing the coder raise his hand.

"I feel the same. Because of that, everything in E.D.E. has been at a stand still for the pass eight hours and continuing."

"...okay...so that means getting players out have been stopped. Right?"

"Logically, yes...but something very bizarre has been going on during that time period," John mentioned then motioned him to his workstation.

The lead programmer came around and leaned forward a little to look at his screen. There was a data list of players that were trapped. The two thousand list had reduced be more than 200. The sight made Rodger veer back with a confused look on his face. Seeing the coder slowly turn his head, the deadpan look just amplified how tired he looked.

"Players were able to log out?"

"Yes...but not from them escaping alone...there is...something helping them."

"...what do you mean by...something?"

Watching the worker type something on his computer, a notification of another player logged out came on the screen. Continuing with what he was doing, John brought up the live feed program. Waiting for that to load, he glanced at the lead programmer. Seeing him look fully awake, he was focusing on the screen with wonder. Once the live feed came up, it just showed an empty basement. It was the one with the active white warp gate.

"...given that the notification was a few seconds ago, we should be able to see what happened..." he stated. Opening up the record history program, the live feed broke into a second pop up window. Adjusting to have them side by side with the live feed continuing, he began to rewind slowly on the second feed. After several seconds, something appeared on the screen.

"Jesus!?" Rodger stated out loud from being startled.

Taking a step back from the jump scare, the individual was staring at them as if in front of the live feed. As the rewind continue, it slowly went backwards in a creepy manner. As it continued, it rapidly shifted to being in front of the portal. Seeing its movement of pushing something, an avatar came out of the warp gate. A couple seconds went by as the person held onto the player while walking backwards. Materializing behind him, he and the other player slowly backed into a black swirling rift.

"...what...the hell...is that?" the lead programmer asked both spooked and curious.

"That...has been the thing that is individually gathering and pushing players through the portal since the "Time Stop" command."

"For eight hours straight?"

"Yes."

"Is it a program?"

"No."

"Is it one of the viruses?"

"No."

"...there is no way it can be a gamer...unless it is a hacker."

"...do you remember the avatar that Bill was monitoring?...the one the system labeled as a monster tamer with a floating silver ball?"

"...faintly...why?"

"You might remember him as the person of interest that Adam was trying to recruit."

"...no way...that is him!?" Rodger asked in surprise. "But how? His profile and character were deleted."

"Yes...he does not have a profile yet a character was created," John mentioned. Opening up the data window and going to a saved profile, he opened it up. Showing the character stats, just viewing the menu setting was making him feel less groggy.

"...what...is this John...?" the lead programmer asked looking at the black, white, and red profile alarmed. The amount of glitching and visual augmentations that were occurring did not mean that cheats or hacking were involved.

"To explain this simply, this is not a created game character for players...this does not even exist in E.D.E. program capabilities. Though the glitching of one's character is a sign of codes in use, it should only be on the avatar and not on the entire menu. In digging further into the coding of what this avatar was...all of it was new inputted code."

"...you mean that...his character was altered into something else?"

"...sort of...the virus that verbally spoke to all of us on the monitor and towards Adam after Surreality went down...corrupted his profile and our coding of what an avatar should have for gamers," he explained then turned to him with a grave face. "Point being...this is not a gamer profile anymore...but a complex A.I. individual...equivalent to someone we label as a townsfolk person in a city."

"...!?" Rodger reacted blinking several times. Opening and closing his mouth a couple of times, John's face changed to a small frown.

"Which means...unless we figure out how to change his coding without corrupting him even further...there is no way he can escape E.D.E."