A/N: At long last a new chapter of the story is available. Some of the content in this chapter was going to be a part of the next one, but I ended up rearranging some of the info since it came together better this way. A couple of additions and deletions of this one changed the whole process around, which is certainly not a bad thing.
And as always, feel free to send me PMs. I get to them within 48 hours, but usually 24.
"The individual is the site of intertextuality. The connotations of virtual and real are becoming blurred. The result involves a stressed interrelationship." -Rick Moore
Chapter 15- P.O.I.
The Real World
Location Unknown
May 26, 2020
Real World Time- 8:17 AM
Terrance crumpled under another blow from his assailant. He tried to move his head along with the punch to cushion the blow, but it was practically impossible to tell when the next strike would arrive since one of his eyes had been swelled shut from the previous beatings a few hours before. He instinctively felt along the inside of his mouth with his tongue and caressed the soft tissue of his damaged gums where a couple of his teeth screamed to fall out. It didn't hurt, probably too much blood buildup. His tongue was numb like he had seared it with an overheated cup of coffee.
The next blow was a blur and he didn't even realize he had been punched until he regained a part of his vision to see the cold gray cement of the floor. He was starting to miss the sensation of just allowing his head to loll back so his eyes could stare at the fluorescent lighting. The netted metal that protected the lights reminded him that he was a prisoner though. If he got punched again he might be able to cancel out the grim colors. Light was good at doing that.
Go ahead. Punch me again asshole, he thought blearily. He spit out a glob of blood as if he had said the words aloud.
His assailant seemed to understand the meaning behind it and gave him another fist to the face that made everything go dark for a few seconds. Or maybe it was minutes. Terrance couldn't be sure.
He fought to remember the details of the car ride after the chase from the bar with his friend Paul. We took fifteen right turns and eighteen left turns, he recalled. He went through the process of putting them back in order and found that each time was the same recollection. He then recalled the finer details now that the important parts were out of the way. He attributed every bit of the drive after the turns with descriptions of the roads. He remembered the bouncing gravel underneath the SUV he was held in after the thirteenth left turn and any other information regarding the roads traveled. The last bit of detail he attributed to the time spent on straightaways. There were too many turns to get this down perfectly, but he felt that his estimations would be accurate enough.
Dammit Paul, Terrance grieved for his dead friend.
He felt a cold sensation flow over his body like his bones had been fitted with blocks of ice. He gasped as the water poured over him and left him shivering in his chair. He reflexively worked at the bindings that clasped his wrists together.
"Ah ah ah. I wouldn't keep doing that if I were you."
Terrance looked up to see a masked individual wagging a finger at him like he was a boy who had been caught stealing. The man in the mask tilted his head to the metal door behind him and another masked individual exited the room. The metal door clanged shut and the clank of a latch could be heard from the other side.
The masked man pulled up a chair in front of Terrance and sat back lazily. He loosened the tie of his sports coat and crossed his legs to assume a more comfortable position.
The man clasped his hands and leaned forward so that he was mere inches from Terrance's tortured face. He cocked his head to the side as if he were considering what hurt Terrance more: the bloated flesh covering his one eye, or perhaps the many holes littering the inside of his bloodied mouth.
The man sighed and spoke in a cheerful voice, "Now listen here Terrance. We've had some good fun. Actually, I'll admit, I've had an absolute blast. But my employer is getting impatient. And so far you haven't given us a damn thing. I commend you for your balls. Many men don't have them nowadays. A damn shame you had to be on the wrong side of the fence with this."
He reached into the inside pocket of his sports coat and fished out a crumpled slip of paper. He unfolded it and flicked the parchment with his finger in Terrance's face. Terrance flinched instinctively.
"Focus mah man. Focus. You know this letter right? Wait, nevermind, you don't. This was meant for your other friend, Carmen I think his name was. We intercepted it before it could get to him. Sorry about that. But you know who it's from right? Takamura. Ring a bell?"
Terrance hacked up another clump of blood as he heard the name. Takamura. Terrance didn't blame him for what was happening. Who would have thought that the people pursuing him would be able to intercept a letter? A letter of all things in this day and age. The organization trailing behind Takamura even had their influence over the goddamm postal system? Did they check every single letter that went through or something? How in the hell did they...
Terrance shook his head. "I-I don't know-"
Terrance's cheek stung and his head whipped to the side as the masked man backhanded him across the face.
The man sighed heavily as Terrance worked to regain his bearings. Whatever bearings he had left to work with.
"Terrance...Jesus man. Props I tell yah. Mad props. But seriously, you are really starting to piss me off."
Terrance didn't hear him.
A series of low beeps sounded and the masked man's breast pocket vibrated. He reached into the pocket and pulled out his cellphone. When he saw the caller ID he chuckled to himself and put the phone to his ear.
"Better be good. I'm in the middle of something."
The voice on the other end spoke in a calm, professional tone, "It's about that Moore guy."
"Oh my, is that so?" the man answered with a clear lack of interest.
"Seems he was in Seattle in the building for the PADW project. Went under the name of Simon Torman in the IT department. He figured out some things and he might have been poking around."
The masked man chuckled humorlessly. "Well isn't that just grand. What did he figure out pray tell?"
The other man's voice was muffled for a short time as he turned from the phone to address another individual. His voice cleared as he returned his attention back to the call. "For one thing, he figured out someone messed around with that one Player's character selection thing."
"Which Player was that?"
"One of those SSSs. Ray Anderson or something. Our employer said he might be a problem."
The masked man let out a low whistle. "Well damn. Oh well. What can yah do I guess. Try and figure out what our friend Moore was up to over there. I doubt he left empty-handed."
"Got it boss."
The masked man closed the phone and slipped it back into his pocket. He sat back down in his chair and flicked Terrance on the forehead to keep him from drifting off.
"Just got off the phone with one of my boys. Says that your friend Rick has been snooping around and causing some trouble for us. Now we can't have that. Any idea what that's all about?"
Terrance shook his head violently without a word. His throat felt dry and all he could let out was a low croak. His tongue reached to the side of his mouth to retrieve the water that dripped down his face. He really wished he had ordered a glass of water at the bar earlier instead of a beer.
"Greedy aren't yah? We just gave you some water. Ah well. I'll believe you on that one. Rick didn't have many friends after all."
He rose from his seat even though he had recently sat down. He flexed his fingers and eyed Terrance up and down as if he were analyzing some magnificent science experiment.
"Well, think I better let you cool your head a bit. If I jostle your head around too much then it will be impossible for you to think. Only natural I guess. Need to let the brain vibrate on its own to get the cells flowing. Something I read online once. Can't believe everything you read on there though."
He left Terrance with a quick wave as if he were seeing off an old friend and knocked on the metal door. The latch on the other side slid out and opened with a groan to release the man from the room.
When the door closed the lights shut off with it. Terrance sat in the darkness shivering as he went to work on the wire that bound his hands to the chair. He felt his wrists move a little more than they had before.
Just a little more, Terrance thought desperately. Just a little more.
He had to contact Emily and Rick.
The Virtual World
Pirugan Continent, Fluorestris (Outskirts)
In-Game Timer: Day 20
12:23 PM
Ray strode calmly with even steps down the dirt road as the two men on horseback circled around him, their horses kicking up plumes of dirt and rock. The men barked orders for him to halt, but he only acknowledged them with a sideways glance. It wasn't until one of the men blocked his path that he stopped. Ray hadn't even drawn his weapon.
The men wore a scattered disarray of armor consisting of leather and makeshift helms of iron. Their crude outfits only added to their unpleasant appearances. One of the men even looked like he had just finished his morning at the tavern.
The drunken man lowered himself off his horse with the grace of an ogre and stumbled up to Ray while maintaining a safe distance outside of a long sword's reach. As he approached, Ray could pick out several other men hiding in the brush to either side of the road. Some emerged with weapons drawn and crossbows leveled.
The second man, who appeared to be the leader from his dominant tone, stepped up next to the first man with a grin splayed over his face. He ran a hand through his thick, disheveled beard as he analyzed Ray like a fresh kill.
"Well well, what do we have here? A Player with no monster to escort him."
Ray stared at the man expressionless.
The man spit on the ground at Ray's feet. "You Players think you're all tough. But without your monsters, you're just like the rest of us. Human. Word is you Players can't die. You just come back ready to go. Doesn't matter once we have your coin though."
Ray reached behind him slowly and drew his katana from its sheath. After the work Sophie had put into his equipment, it drew forth silently and with a blade like a cold, biting wind. The smiles vanished from the faces of the men as they eyed the blade warily. Their expressions showed they were unsure of just how human these Players really were.
Ray made a few quick glances to the surrounding forest and the foliage that provided cover. He tapped into his inlaid talent for perception and the area in a small radius around him sharpened. He could now pick out the most minuscule details in the terrain. He also noted some slight motions from a number of individuals hiding in the forest. There were more of them.
The past days since the departure from Sarkast were filled with nothing but dungeon crawling and fighting off enemies to attain more power. During this time he had also found that his awareness for his surroundings could be tapped into and controlled specifically by his choice with the correct organization of his stats.
After a few seconds his heightened perception faded, but he had already memorized the locations of the hidden enemies. There were eight within his vicinity altogether.
One of the other men spoke up, "Hey, I recognize this guy. Isn't he the one with the bounty?"
The leader of the bandits squinted his eyes at Ray. He reached into an inside pocket of his leather vest and pulled out a folded sheet of parchment. He opened it and scanned the individual displayed. He grinned.
"Oh yes. Looks like we got ourselves a catch here fellas." He turned the parchment in Ray's direction. Ray looked back at a picture of himself. "Depths Legion has a sizable bounty on this one. Looks like it's our lucky day."
The rest of the bandits readied their melee weapons and closed in as those with ranged weapons waited for the cue of their leader. Their confidence grew as they saw Ray take a step back. What they mistook for fear clouded their judgment and made them too relaxed. The step Ray took was to prepare his fighting stance. The stance's purpose did not include retreat.
Ray waited for the presence in the forest that he was expecting. He made a quick glance to his right with the hint of another movement that did not include the eight enemies that cautiously approached him. The disturbance halted and Ray bent his knees.
"Solomondi!"
At Ray's shout a large white streak erupted from the forest and drove itself into the nearest bandit. The bandit with the crossbow turned to fire a bolt at the attacker and it glanced harmlessly off the armor attached to the beast's thick legs. The white tiger bit down around the bandit's chest with its great maw and flung him to the side, tearing through his leather armor easily. The rest of the bandits stared stunned at the massive Bengal tiger that drove itself into their midst, causing chaos and confusion that demanded their attention.
Ray took advantage of the distraction and rushed forward with his blade leading to strike the bandit leader. The bandit returned his attention to Ray far too late and felt the bite of Ray's sword carve itself through his breastplate. The breastplate might as well have been as thin as the parchment in his hand. Blood sprayed from the wound and he stared down at Ray in disbelief. A split-second later Ray had disappeared from his sight and moved to the drunken bandit next to him and subdued this second target easily. The drunken criminal made a sloppy swing in his intoxicated stupor and found himself in a forward somersault from his own uncontrolled momentum and Ray's sword whipping his legs out from underneath him. He didn't even have time to let out a cry as his face impacted on the ground.
Another crossbowman leveled his ranged weapon at Ray, but the bolt launched harmlessly past Ray's shoulder as Solomondi drove his head into the enemy's side. It was like being hit by a truck. The bandit's pelvis made a sharp crack and his hips bent awkwardly to the side as his upper body went in the opposite direction of his legs. He somersaulted through the air and landed flat on his back in a heap, the wind knocked out of him enough to rend him unconscious.
A small hail of arrows erupted from the forest with most embedding in the ground at Ray's feet and glancing off of Solomondi's armor. A stray bolt managed to streak in Ray's direction, but he parried it easily with his katana and made his way forward to use the horses of the fallen bandits as cover. Ray saw Solomondi rawr and leap into the foliage to take down the hidden enemies.
Only two bandits remained on the road and they backed away fearfully from Ray, clearly shaken up by how quick this Player had taken down their leader The ferocious attacks from the tiger fresh in their minds fed the fear. One of them found the courage to make a quick thrust forward with his scimitar which also fueled the confidence of the bandit beside him.
After an internal debate, the two bandits rushed forward together. One swung his sword in a downward arc while the second struck out with a horizontal swipe of his double-edged axe in the hopes that deflecting one attack would leave their enemy open for the second.
This was not the case. The katana in Ray's right hand intercepted the scimitar and at the same time a hidden blade appeared under Ray's wrist. The reinforced, armored contraption (courtesy of Sophie) deflected the great axe of the large bandit. The two bandits' pairs of eyes barely had time to widen in surprise at this display. Ray twisted the wrist wielding his katana to force the enemy's scimitar aside, leaving the bandit's chest wide open. At the same time he tucked his wrist under the crude blade of the axe and lifted it up to shoulder level. He lowered his body beneath the axe and stabbed the defenseless bandit in the stomach. As the bandit fell, Ray shrugged the falling body of his fallen foe forward to fall into his comrade who already stood awkwardly with his scimitar extended far to the side. The rest of Ray's strategy was easy. He whirled about with his scimitar and twisted his feet to stand behind the bandit, and the blade of his katana ate hungrily through the flimsy armor and sliced the bandit's back straight down his spine. The bandit arched his back and fell to his knees with his fingers clutching desperately in front of him at nothing in particular.
The remaining bandits fell to the ferocity that was Solomondi. The tiger emerged from the forest dragging one of the bandits by a bloodied leg and tossed him forward on his side next to Ray. The bandit craned his neck to look up at the face of the Player and the tiger that had torn he and his comrades apart with little effort.
Ray rested his boot against the bandit's chest and rolled him over. The bandit squinted in pain as the open wound on his leg pressed against the dirt and rock of the road.
"You freak," the bandit growled through gritted teeth.
Solomondi pressed his paw on another wound exposed in his side and the bandit screamed out a stream of curses.
Ray raised his hand to Solomondi and the tiger obeyed by removing its paw reluctantly from the bandit's exposed flesh.
Ray knelt down next to the bandit. "Solomondi doesn't like that kind of talk," he said. He turned his head towards the other bandits that lay strewn out across the road. "They probably won't die." He then added as an afterthought, "But it looks like you'll all have to find another occupation."
The bandit let out a short stream of air from between his teeth and gripped his side. He rocked back and forth groaning from the intense pain and with the realization that he probably would never walk normally again.
As Ray rose from his squat he turned his attention back the way he had come and saw a small group of Players and monsters approach. Solomondi also noticed them and padded over to them and expecting a pet on the head from his master.
The female Player of the group with red hair and a katana holstered on her back placed the flat of her foot on the bandit leader that attempted to settle his hands underneath him. He fell back to the ground and placed one hand underneath him once again but stopped himself as the tip of a blade settled underneath his chin. He shivered as he stared up at the grim female Player that stood over him.
"Seriously. Don't," she said in a simple warning.
The bandit leader tucked his arms to his side obediently as if he were playing dead.
The hint of a grin appeared on Yukiko's face as Ray approached her. A few days earlier it would have seemed unnatural, but lately her pretty features had gotten used to the idea of smiling.
"Not bad," she said.
Kurt was more enthusiastic as he jumped forward and slapped Ray hard enough on the back for him to stumble forward. "That was sick! Made short work of them real quick! Think you beat everyone's record!"
Bastet stepped forward with her arms crossed and pouting. "Not fair. You got more enemies than I did. I get the next group."
"We all agreed to take turns Bastet," Kurt pointed out. "Quit acting like a child."
"The hell did you say!" Bastet stood up on her toes to reach Kurt's height and shoved her forehead against his.
Kurt pushed back with his own but Bastet stood her ground. "You heard me catgirl! Childish, demeaning feline!"
"Stupid, clumsy oaf!" Bastet shot back as she pressed her forehead harder.
Ray and Yukiko stared at them and shook their heads at the comedic duo. Last to arrive were Leilan and Parvati who also stared at Bastet and Parvati at a loss.
Solomondi nuzzled underneath Parvati's arm and she scratched him behind the ears as a reward for helping Ray.
"It looks like Solomondi has taken a liking to you," she said with an approving laugh. "I've never seen him plan so patiently and react to a command with anyone else. You compliment each other well."
Ray grinned. "We just compromised on our plan of approach is all. He's pretty damn clever."
Solomondi sat back on his hind legs and let out a low rumble of agreement and eyed Ray appreciatively.
The conversation took a more serious tone as Leilan spoke. "Verche will have arrived at the coastal city of Fairton by now. We should arrive in Fluorestris by early evening to settle ourselves in."
"We also need to locate the guild hall of the Grand Hunters," Yukiko added.
"There might even be some Guardian monsters there," Ray concurred.
"Alright then," Parvati agreed as she mounted Solomondi's back. "I'm looking forward to seeing the city. I hear that everything functions on thousands of magic stones."
They turned to continue their journey to the capital city and stopped for a moment as they observed Kurt and Bastet with a mixed fascination. They were still going at it. Their stamina for argument was astounding. Ray wondered how they weren't completely fed up with each other by now. Maybe it was their own way of showing affection.
Yeah right, he thought with a wry grin.
"Flat-chested, impulsive midget!" Kurt shouted.
Bastet gasped at the first bit. "Take that back brainless, stinking waste of space!" Bastet blurted still pushing her straining forehead against his.
"Uh, other synonyms for flat-chested," Kurt said lamely.
Bastet jumped back and pointed victoriously at him with a hysterical laugh. "Ha! I win! You couldn't think of another insult!"
"How is that winning?" Kurt grabbed behind his head in frustration.
"Thought you were supposed to be smart!" Bastet continued laughing at him.
"This has nothing to do with-gah! Whatever!" Kurt waved her off and went to join Ray and the rest of the group as Bastet walked next to him sticking her tongue out.
Ray and the others continued on ahead.
"They are so..." Leilan started.
"...Immature," Yukiko finished for her.
As Ray began to pass the prone form of the bandit leader he squatted down to pick up the poster that displayed his face with the bounty. He hadn't noticed what the price was on his head and he was naturally curious about it. He unfolded the paper and let out a whistle as he saw a six-digit number posted in gold coins.
One hundred thousand already. Geez.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed another piece of paper sticking out of the pocket of the bandit's leather vest and he fished it from the unmoving body.
He swallowed hard as he beheld the face of the individual that smiled back at him.
The girl was a female around his age with a mocking and somehow uplifting smile on her face. Her cute face and deep blue eyes were features that he could never possibly forget. Her short brunette hair was mussed up compared to the careful grooming she put into it when last he saw her in his world. It looked like the image was taken after a rough battle.
Then there were the two monsters to the right of her portrait.
One was an enthusiastic female with long black hair and fins protruding from the sides of her head. An armored hand was raised with her fingers forming a horizontal peace sign over one eye. She stuck her tongue out along with the silly expression.
The second monster had a more calm and neutral expression on her beautiful face that was refreshing to look at. Her hair was tied back in a long braid with two short braids to either side of her head. She stood straight and stared down at an angle to observe a wide golden sword in a hand covered by a heavy gauntlet that extended the length of her forearm.
Ray's awe turned to a feeling of elation at seeing this Player with two monsters. He knew the names of these monsters from the first game: Karin and Valkyrie.
Looks like Lucy is up to her own mischief, Ray thought.
Mooresville, North Carolina
United States
May 26, 2020
Real World Time- 8:35 AM
Edward Andylon guided his black Hyundai Elantra up the steep slope of his driveway and settled himself between the two other cars: one that belonged to his daughter and the other to his wife. He was surprised that his daughter had decided to not sleep over her friend's house like she originally planned. It was a welcome surprise since he didn't get to see her often with his commute to the city and her living several hours away at the college she attended.
He sat back in his seat and let his hands brush slowly off the steering wheel. The previous night had been a long one. He was never a good sleeper and he had managed to get a few miraculous hours in when his cellphone went off. Being a senior investigator at a police department in a major city was turning out to be more than he bargained for. And the commute certainly didn't help his exhaustion once his work was finished. Maxing the volume of the speakers in the car as he listened to the Four Seasons could only do so much to keep him focused.
Why did he even bother with this job when he had a decent pension set up? He guessed it was because it was the closest thing that connected him to his past life, one he had given up when he had started up his family and when his eldest son Ray was born. He had thought moving ever further away from his well-off years would finally quench his cravings for the potential excitement that was abundant in his past. Even if someone became a family man, if he were a man who had seen violence in the past, it stuck with him forever. His body always reminded him of it.
He smirked at his pointless, brooding thoughts, thrust the car door open with a shrug, and pulled his bag from the passenger seat. He halted in his tracks on the way to the back door of the house when he realized that his handgun was still hidden under the driver's seat. He frowned at this. It was a first.
After retrieving his weapon he ascended the stairs of the back porch and entered the house that was more awake than he expected.
Olivia Andylon, the wife of the house, stood at the center island of the kitchen unpacking an ice bag full of groceries. She smiled at him with relief as he crossed the kitchen to embrace her and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"How are you sweetheart?" she asked as she returned to the groceries.
Edward shrugged. "As well as can be. Starting to get used to not sleeping."
He turned his attention to the living room and observed the two young females who lounged on the rug watching the television.
The girl lying on her stomach with the long, dirty blonde hair rolled to her side to greet her father.
"Hey dad. Beat anyone up today?" she said jokingly.
Edward smiled. "Wasn't expecting to see you here Kathryn. And no, not this time."
A few days earlier, he had gotten a call while he was in the office about a fight that had broken out at the nearby hospital only a few blocks away. The fighting was supposed to have subsided upon his arrival, but it had only escalated. Needless to say, Edward surprised everyone when he entered the fray and took down a couple of the violent men. Everyone saw an older man with a desk job come out not with fists, but with a variety of submissions and choke holds that subdued the men in short time.
The other girl sat up straight and regarded him with a quick wave and cheerful voice. "Hi Mr. Andylon! How are you?"
Andylon returned the wave. "No complaints," he said. "Good to see you Rachel. How's school?"
"It's school," she replied with a playful shrug.
The two girls returned to the TV and Edward frowned at what was depicted on the screen. A group of rough looking men were making their way through some sort of forest near a dirt road where two others rushed ahead on horseback. Their appearance didn't seem right to him. At first he thought it was some sort of movie with that weird computer-generated CGI he saw nowadays. But they seemed more animated and cartoonish with an unnatural black outline around the contours of their bodies. However, discarding this one irregularity, their appearances were so real: the dirt that kicked up and stuck to their perspirating bodies, the stressing of the muscles, and the twist of a sneer on their faces.
Kathryn Andylon sat at her laptop which was connected with an hdmi cord to the television and scrolled through an unseen list. A familiar symbol appeared that Edward had seen yesterday when he was at the bar with officer Terry.
Edward fell back onto the couch in the living room and rubbed his eyes as if the images of the screen were just a hallucination from the lack of sleep.
"I don't believe this. Kathryn, I thought you were on my side with this."
She answered him without turning from the screen, "I just wanted to see what Ray was up to with this stuff. I thought it was going to be some stupid game but, well, I dunno..." She trailed off as she attempted to find the right words to explain.
Rachel spoke up, "I read up on it. They have this intrinsic scan thing where they scan a person's body and figure out what kinds of things they can do. Like their abilities and all. I think that's about right."
"Yeah things they can possibly do in the real world," Kathryn added for clarity.
Andylon was still unconvinced as he watched the screen out of simple curiosity. The couch just felt so comfortable now and he figured he might as well watch to reaffirm his opinion against the world he thought was a game.
He leaned forward as a familiar figure appeared on the dirt road just a short ways from the men on horseback. The young man wore a full set of black armor and a Japanese-style sword in a scabbard on his back. There was no mistaking that disheveled hair and that straight posture as he strode towards the men who would be his enemies.
Edward found himself holding his breath briefly as the men took up positions on either side of the road with the other two dismounting to meet Ray on even ground.
"Well well, what do we have here? A Player with no monster to escort him," one of the men said with a cocky attitude. The man next to him let out a dry snicker.
Ray stood unmoving as he eyed the men that moved to surround him.
The man spit on the ground at Ray's feet. "You Players think you're all tough. But without your monsters, you're just like the rest of us. Human..."
Edward Andylon found himself resting his arms on his legs as the man spoke.
What in the world?
The conversation flowed so naturally. There was emotion in this man's voice and his gestures coordinated so believably as he spoke. Even the man next to him reacted to his speech and Ray's passiveness. He was curious to see how they would respond when Ray addressed them.
Ray did something unexpected. He did not meet them through dialogue, but through a straightforward action, and it was a movement that took Kathryn, Rachel, and Edward by surprise. He simply reached for his sword and the men reacted like any would to an opponent who was preparing himself for a fight.
"Woah this is intense," Kathryn breathed as she watched with fascination at her brother's collectedness. The reactions of the men were also incredibly realistic.
"Hey, I recognize this guy. Isn't he the one with the bounty?" one of the men ventured.
The leader of the bandits squinted his eyes at Ray. He reached into an inside pocket of his leather tunic and pulled out a folded sheet of parchment. He opened it and scanned the individual displayed. He grinned.
"Oh yes. Looks like we got ourselves a catch here fellas." He turned the parchment in Ray's direction. "Depths Legion has a sizable bounty on this one. Looks like it's our lucky day."
Ray readied himself in his stance and the bandits recoiled. Edward flinched along with them as he waited expectantly for one side to make the first move.
Ray surprised him again.
"Solomondi!" he shouted.
Right on cue a massive tiger charged out of the forest and attacked a nearby bandit with a ranged weapon. The men screamed at each other incoherently as the tiger drove through with its large, armored body.
Ray took advantage of the chaos and moved in on the two bandits before him and made short work of his opponents with swift attacks that laid waste to them in mere seconds. He then dodged through a hail of arrows and crossbow bolts and positioned himself behind the pair of horses.
The whole display was unreal. There was so much going on: screams of men as they shouted warnings to each other, the ferocity of the tiger midst its pounces, and the actions and reactions of the combatants as a whole.
The battle ended in no more than two minutes and the bodies of the wounded men lay scattered around Ray and the tiger. Ray patted the tiger on the head and thanked it for the support like a true comrade.
Everyone watching the display from the living room at the Andylon household became engrossed with the other individuals who approached Ray to the side of the TV screen. They all appeared to be human save for the two females that tread behind the group. One of the females had rainbow wings on her back while another seemed like a crossbreed between human and cat judging from her paws and ears. It was questionable with the third female who wore a light blue, silk dress and an assortment of jewelry.
They all congratulated Ray on his success until the other male in the group and the cat female began bickering off to the side. The rest of the group became engrossed in deep discussion about future plans.
But it was Ray that Edward was focused on. He seemed...lively. Almost cheerful. Not only that, but the way he held himself in the battle and amongst his comrades was something Edward had never seen before. He was fully engaged with them, and there was a confidence there that he rarely saw from Ray.
"That was awesome!" Rachel cheered. "I knew Ray was pretty tough but wow that was crazy! Guess all that wrestling paid off. I think I saw him throw a russian hold on that guy at the end."
Edward stared at Rachel and shook his head as she displayed the admiration for Ray that she had for most of her high school life. Four years she had spent as one of the wrestling managers on Ray's team. That dense son of his never even noticed the way she looked at him all the time in earnest. Everyone saw it accept for Ray.
He had always been in his own little fantasy world. His mind was not grounded in the one he was born in. Always jumping between multiple places in the real and fake. Had he now found that world that he was always retreating to? The thought made Edward nervous for his son. This virtual world felt wrong.
Edward was startled by a tap on his shoulder and he turned to see his wife Olivia holding a folded envelope that was already torn open.
"Sorry, I need to talk to you about this. Some private bank called and said that an account was made under your name."
Edward took the envelope from her and skimmed its contents. "I made no such account."
"Obviously."
"Did you call them?"
His wife nodded. "Of course. But they said they could only speak to you about it."
"Shit." He tossed the paper onto the coffee table in front of him and rested his chin in his hands. More and more problems just seemed to be piling up and he just couldn't shovel it all away fast enough.
"I can't deal with this right now. I'm too tired to argue with these people. I'll take care of it later."
He brought his attention back to the scene with Ray and his allies. They now seemed to have agreed on a course of action and were beginning to make their way down the road. The male and the female cat monster were still in the midst of their arguing.
Edward concluded that the male was just like Ray. A participant in this virtual world. The female he squabbled with must have been from that virtual world since she seemed more monster than human.
Their argument was so authentic. How could something created in a game possibly form such dialogue from an infinite number of conversation possibilities? Was this what technology was capable of?
It was a pertinent question, but another thought nagged at the back of Edward's brain that he suppressed as soon as he considered it.
It's so disturbingly real.
