[Hidden for Now]

Book 2, Chapter 1: Voyage

The wind whipped against Theo’s hair, keeping his hood plastered to his shoulders as he adjusted his position to better intercept the breeze. There was a dull thrum coming from the wooden planks under his feet as waves washed against the hull of the ship, causing the vessel to sway gently. The sails up above rumbled with the sudden change of wind, and Theo frowned despite the picturesque scenery. He didn't have much patience for anything that got in the way of his plans, including the fickle mistress called mother nature.

Nearby, the wayward princess that had recently become his bonded companion for life relaxed against the bannister of the ship with an ever-vigilant apathy. Although it sounded like a fairytale kind of relationship, the truth was far from romantic. She was his slave, though that might have been an understatement given the depth of their bond. Even though he was just a game character right now, and she was merely an artificial intelligence created by said game, as her Slave Master it wasn't an exaggeration to say that Theo truly held complete control over her body and soul. It hadn't occurred to him at the time he gained these powers, but after having experienced some of the ins and outs of his new virtual occupation, he had more questions than answers regarding the origins of the strange class. There were too many mysteries surrounding the true nature of the Slave Master, and seemingly no information to find.

In actuality, Theo had more knowledge of the virtual reality MMORPG, Dream World Online, than any other player, or perhaps person, in the world. This wasn't his first life, but in fact his second. He had once spent six long years slowly reaching the apex of the playerbase, and becoming the feared and influential War God that crushed all opposition under his iron heel. Although he preferred to think of himself as an avid gamer before anything else, his gung-ho attitude had placed him at odds with not only his enemies, but his friends as well. The very people who had supported his meteoric rise in the game had turned on him, and his fall from grace had come all too swiftly.

However that version of reality was meant to play out, Theo would never know, because he had died. It was an accident, or at least it seemed that way, since he was intoxicated at the time. When he came to after his sudden death, he had been returned to the past unmarred by the trials of time, retaining all of his painfully accumulated experience in the process. Although Dream World Online had only been released for a short time in this new life, he had already taken up a tenuous position as highest level player in the game, and had been making waves throughout the blossoming community with every step he took.

Thinking back on his first few weeks in Dream World Online, Theo wondered how they had ended up so eventful. Too many things had happened too quickly, and only now was he able to take a step back and reflect on his choices. His desire for revenge against those who had slighted him in his past life, his ex-best friend and lover who had colluded to put an end to his reign, still flickered like a dull ember in his chest. It was like a wound that refused to close, one that threatened to erupt at any moment and consume him. His desire to take up the mantle of the Slave Master was due in no small part to avoid the mistakes of the past. The slaves were absolutely loyal to him, and he could use them to attain the same heights he had once reached without having to rely on the capricious aid of others.

On the other hand, his life had changed. He had become friends with a person he never truly associated with in his last life, and even had a brief flirtation with a past co-worker that he could have never predicted. Then, there was the call from his sister. Shortly after he left the town of Aleside, a small port city where a bloody battle had erupted between the locals and a group of bandits, exacerbated in no small part by his own actions, she had called him. It was too soon. Prior to his revival, when he had been a young man just starting to get his life together, he hadn’t been in a speaking relationship with his family. A call from his sister was something he must have ignored, or at least forgotten in the obsession that began to rule him as he fell deeper into his virtual escapades.

His sister, Molly, was a girl who spoke from the heart. As he recalled the words she had shared, it was easy to feel the intensity of her emotions. Fear, anxiety, concern… these were normally tools which Theo used to manipulate those who stood against him, but now he was feeling them for himself. Was it guilt over his past decisions that caused him to feel this way? Much as those he harbored a desire for revenge against were completely unaware of their sins, his innocent sister had no concept of the many mistakes and sleights Theo had made against her, but for the man who was living his second life they were all too fresh in his memory.

“I owe this to her… I don't want Molly to go through everything alone again,” this was the decision that Theo arrived at, without needing to give it much thought.

When faced with this decision once before, his father's condition and his mother's judgment were both evils that Theo had originally fled. He might have chosen to do so again if time hadn't already changed him. The anger and frustration he harbored had dimmed greatly over the years, and he knew there was a deep regret left behind by his past actions. Theo wondered if one day his desire for revenge would fade in such a fashion, but he hadn't lived long enough to truly know the answer to that question.

He turned to the girl at his side, whose long black hair was tousled and singed from their previous battles. Her tattered clothes were covered by a heavy cloak which engulfed her petite frame, but even with such a haggard appearance it was impossible to ignore this young woman's unique beauty and charm. Since their destination was the debauched and unruly pirate city of Ravenperch, many of their fellow passengers were of the unsavory variety, but even these rough and weathered sea dogs were cowed by this ex-princess and her silent, lofty demeanor. She was a Soldier, a rare and unexplored class that even Theo hadn't originally understood. That, combined with her experiences in Aleside, seemed to have planted a seed of unshakeable and sturdy authority that the other NPCs appeared to pick up on immediately. All of the men refused to encroach on her territory, and simply admired her from afar as she obsessively guarded her master's person like a faithful hound.

“I'm going back into the cabin to rest,” Theo said in his usually dismissive voice, “You're free to do as you wish.”

As the man who had once shaken the world of Orpheum as the War God, Theo also commanded an impressive arrogance that seemed all but baked into his bones. It was only those who truly spent time with him who could tell this was merely a side effect of his deep and abiding infatuation with the game, which was all too apparent when he lost himself in the joys of grinding experience and earning loot.

The slave girl, whose full name was the unapologetically wordy Anastasia Theresa Bolevolo XVII, regarded her master in her usual manner. She was ostensibly without an immediately definable personality, and had been that way since Theo acquired her. Although he believed her perfectly capable of the action, she rarely spoke, and her face was normally the picture of absence.

In their short time together, Theo had grown able to decipher a few of her extremely subtle changes in expression, and he could tell that she was worried about him. As opposed to his other slave, the sycophantic Goblin Shaman, Gobthnora, this girl noticed every little change in Theo's demeanor. She was utterly devoted to protecting him, to the point where she had garnered the position of Meatshield in Theo's mind. Her own well being seemed to be the furthest thing from her mind, which thankfully aligned well to her unnaturally high Constitution and HP scores. This young woman was secretly a terrifyingly hard to kill tank!

The Bolevolo princess was cloaked in her own share of mysteries and idiosyncrasies that Theo had yet to fully wrap his head around, but he wasn't in the mood to ponder her hazy origins and lack of personality for the time being. She followed him as far as the stairs, but decided to stay above deck after her master disappeared into the cramped bowels of the vessel. The woman seemed to have a strong distaste for cramped or claustrophobic spaces, perhaps due to the circumstances Theo had rescued her from in their first encounter.

It was actually his second slave, the Goblin Shaman, who had kidnapped the woman and kept her in bondage at a time when she was supposedly just a simple merchant's daughter. The Shaman had since lost her life during the events of the battle in Aleside, but Theo could still feel the sliver of the Goblin tied to him by the magic which enslaved her. It should have been a simple matter to resurrect a fallen slave, but because of the stigmas attached to slavery and Goblins in the civilized world, he had yet to do so. Ravenperch might be a dangerous and chaotic place, but it was without such harsh prejudices.

After lying out on a cot in the damp and musty underbelly of the ship, ignoring what most other would find distasteful, Theo closed his eyes and proceeded to log out of the game. The Lucid Lock Virtual System which took the form of a slick and streamlined helmet, was removed from Rick Nelson's head back in the world of the real. The twenty-five year old man in the body of a nineteen year old stood up from the futon that dominated the floor of his small studio apartment. In many ways, it wasn't much different from the place he had just left. The only light source was the street lamps outside the narrow windows, and the entire place was wrapped in a cold, quiet solitude. On the coffee table was a pile of envelopes, most of which were coupons or catalogues from local grocery stores. The topmost envelope, however, was actually a hospital bill from a few nights ago.

Since his strange time traveling rebirth, he had grown quite fond of a diminutive, martial-arts obsessed foreigner named Bai. The bill was actually for this new friend. After an incident involving a stalker, who had unexpectedly served as the impetus for their friendship, Rick had somehow ended up saddled with the fees. Since he had recently earned a respectable sum of money thanks to one of his more eye-catching stunts in the game world, it wasn’t much of a problem, but looking at the charges filled him with equal parts annoyance and satisfaction. Bai was an intelligent and hardworking young woman, with a personality like a pleasant slap to the face. They were oddly compatible as friends, as both played the game and were fiercely competitive. He smiled slightly and then shook his head.

After paying his rent and the hospital bill, Rick was already more than half-way back to being once again destitute. Now that he had to factor this unexpected family emergency into his plans… Funds were going to be tight for a while. He picked up his phone and thought about sending a text to his only other listed contact, Mary Ann, who was technically a few years his senior and employed at the same minimart as Rick. By some miracle, exchanging numbers with her in this life had led to them growing quite a bit closer, and he didn't hesitate to chat with her whenever he was feeling conflicted. Despite a somewhat rocky start to their relationship, Mary Ann had a solid head on her shoulders when she wasn't elbow deep in liquor, and she had a certain charisma that made her easy to confide in.

Rather than discuss his family issues with her, Rick exchanged a few messages related to his in game attempts to earn money from selling his extra loot. In addition to being wise beyond her years, he had discovered that she had a talent for business, and was well acquainted with any number of arguably unethical strategies to maximize his profits. These kinds of conversations were just the thing the young man needed to get his mind off more depressing issues while his character was locked down on the voyage. Most players would consider it pure idiocy to waste days on long distance travel at this point in the game where every wasted minute was like a knife in the gut, but Rick had different priorities from the burgeoning virgin playerbase.

He was already level 16, with the nearest competition still a bit behind. Even the most diehard of players, those who didn’t care to reveal themselves, were just now reaching 15. He had time to waste, and was probably the only player in the game who could take on significantly higher level opponents. Once he reached Ravenperch and the bountiful hunting grounds in its surrounding area, there was no doubt in his mind that the gap would only grow wider. In many ways, the events in Aleside served as both a blessing and curse. On one hand, his progress had been accelerated thanks to the nonstop battles, but on the other, he had let the thorn called Castle dig deeper into his skin. Even if they thought he was dead for the time being, Theo would go right back to being public enemy number one as soon as the international, in-game crime syndicate discovered he was still alive.

Thankfully, Ravenperch was ruled over by the Pirate Familia, who was in direct conflict with this powerful enemy. Castle had weak ties there, and the Familia would step in to interrupt their plans on principle, regardless of who they were targeting. Theo also had some information from his past life regarding the current leader of the Familia that he could put to his use, though that was only in the event of an emergency. He was currently trying to avoid attracting anymore attention from the game developers with his seemingly impossible actions, and causing a huge uproar in Ravenperch wasn't on the agenda. If anything, Rick hoped to pass through the city silently and without incident.

The rest of the evening was spent packing and managing his affairs. Rick had already booked a train ticket back to his hometown with the last of his funds, and contacted his landlord to set up an early payment for this and his next month’s rent. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be gone for, but it was better to be safe than sorry. It was painful seeing his once plentiful bank account drained down to a few measly dollars, but it only reaffirmed his resolve to excel in the game. After he had successfully finished all of his arrangements for the following day, he picked up his phone again. Even though it was the middle of the night, he knew that the person he had to call would still be awake.

“She's never asleep… like mother, like son, I guess?” Rick mused a bit apprehensively.

The ringtone was like a series of funeral bells as it slowly chimed off, one by one. Rick couldn't suppress the nervousness that built up inside if him as he patiently waited. Although he could confidently confront demons and dragons without batting an eye, there were certain things in life that no amount of bravado would help against. When it came to this woman, the sense of dread was enough to cause his palms to sweat.

“Linda Nelson's office, this is Linda speaking,” crisp, professional, and a bit grim, his mother's voice was exactly as Rick remembered it.

How she could manage to maintain this kind of tone given the circumstances was beyond Rick's ability to understand. Maybe he was a lot like this when dealing with his fellow Guild members in the past, utterly unflappable.

“Mom,” was all he could say.

“Rick? I'm…” she paused for a moment, and Rick could hear her reposition the phone, “I heard from Molly that she managed to get ahold of you, I'm sorry if she interrupted anything important.”

The words stung worse than Rick could have anticipated, but it was easier to handle they felt so deserved. He repressed his knee-jerk reaction to retaliate.

“No, it's fine,” he said simply.

His mother took a few seconds, as if evaluating her son's response before she replied, “Did you need some money? You're still working at a corner store, right?”

The conflict in Rick’s heart ran deep, but for his mother, the events that would lead up to their eventual falling out had yet to happen in this timeline. He had to constantly remind himself of this fact as he listened to her speak. In her mind, she was embroiled in little more than a petty spat with her irresponsible son, the college dropout.

Rick frowned, “No, I took care of it myself,” he immediately placed himself an arm's distance away from his own emotions, “How is dad?”

“Worse than usual,” the reply was equally distant, but Rick could hear a hint of sadness in the woman's words.

“And Molly?” he asked.

“You know your sister better than I do,” she said, “You two were always close.”

Rick felt a bit taken aback, wondering, “Was that really the case?”

“But you're going to be here, that's all that really matters, Rick,” as opposed to her earlier words, his mother seemed to be forcing herself to show something akin to approval, “I’m…well, anyway, it's going to be hard on everyone for a while.”

“Yeah…” Rick wasn't sure what else to say.

“I'll be working tomorrow when you get here, but I'll leave some money for you and your sister. I know you'll probably be tired after the trip, but you should take her out to eat somewhere.”

Rick parroted himself, “Yeah.”

As if satisfied with the conversation, Rick could hear his mother's tone stiffen before she responded to someone he couldn’t hear, “Huh? Oh, okay. I have to go Rick, I'll see you tomorrow.”

The goodbyes were all too brief before the woman disconnected, and Rick was left alone with his thoughts. He felt a seething contempt well up from somewhere in his chest, but couldn't exactly place where it was directed. He felt drained after the short exchange and collapsed on to his futon. The Lucid Lock was still blinking enticingly next to his head, and rather than think to too much, he reached out to pick it up.

“You could at least try to sound like you care,” he said to nobody in particular.