Anna was floored. The statements made by Ken Masters were just mind-shattering. Somehow, Damian of the Blue Lotus guild had known something about it. Anna immediately tried to reach out to her contacts in Blue Lotus, but none of them was online.

When she finally managed to get ahold of Andrea she was met with bad news. “Sorry, that asshole Damian made us sign magical contracts. I can’t answer your questions.”

‘Damnation,’ Anna thought as she tried to find Damian, but he was not online yet. Neither were the other guild officers. So instead she logged off into her virtual workspace, which provided the same time dilation as the game.

Her room looked like a dusty old library in a mansion. A large one. A fireplace was the only source of light, casting the room in dim light, yet she was able to see perfectly. The shelves were filled with scrolls and leather bound tomes. Her desk had paper, inkwells, and quills lying on it.

In front of the fireplace, there was a big comfy red leather chair, with small round side tables on each side. On the right one, there was a platter of fruits, a glass, and a crystal decanter that was filled with whatever she wanted it to be.

On the left one, there was the skeleton of a human head. As soon as she materialised in the space, the skeleton head turned around and floated a few centimetres above the table. “Mistress, you’re back. You seem agitated, is there anything this servant can do for you?”

“Thank you, Jeeves, but no,” she replied and walked over to the chair, before throwing herself in it. Almost bumping into the manifestation of her personal AI, Jeeves. She sat in her chair for what felt like hours, but might have been a lot shorter, and brooded. Brooded a lot over the enigma that was Damian.

It was undeniable that he had knowledge that no one else should have. He had hinted that he knew about Aragoth trying to blackmail her into sleeping with him. Yet, he had said someone named Marcus had been behind it.

Not long after that, a new source contacted her. Giving her juicy stuff on Dawnguard, inside stuff that only the inner council and Aragoth could know about. When he had requested a meeting in person to hand over the really juicy stuff, she had asked for a name. The source had provided the name Marcus, and because of Damian’s warning, she broke off all communication with the source.

The messages afterwards had been less than pleasant. There had even been a break-in and fire in her apartment, luckily it had been after she had moved into one of the pod-hotels. When she was about to provide the messages from ‘Marcus’ to the police, they vanished. The police investigated her claims but eventually told her that no one named Marcus, either as a name, handle, or nickname in Dawnguard could have done it. All of them had alibis.

It confounded her, she was not sure what was going on any longer. Damian might be the one to hold the answers. She was even more convinced than ever after the press briefing that Masters had just held. Damian had known about that already. She could feel it in her very core. How he knew, was the big question she could not answer.

“Jeeves, make a call to Officer Kinky, it’s time to call in that chit. I want all the information he can dig up on Damian. He was falsely arrested, they must have something,” she finally said with a determined look. Years ago, while doing an investigative piece on underground game hubs, she had stumbled into a BIS officer who did not want his activities in the hubs made public. His wife and boss would not take kindly to his penchant for animals. He kept it virtual though, as far as she knew. She definitely hoped.

“Yes, Mistress,” the skeletal head replied. A second or two later. “Request made, informing Officer Kinky that he owes us.”

“Thank you, Jeeves,” she said and stood up with a stretch. It was time to try and contact Damian again.

When she had logged into Carn, she saw that he was finally online. Using her reporter avatar, the game did not port her to his location at once. Instead, she received a prompt.

This user has flagged his or her account as ‘No Media’, all contact from the media has been directed to the user Mia Morning-Glory.

That was new. She tried some of the others in the guild, but all of them were the same. Even Andrea. Irritated, she finally tried to contact Mia, Damian’s assistant. Instead of being ported to her, she was giving a vid screen call. After thirty seconds, Mia’s face appeared on the screen in front of her.

“Yes?” she asked as a greeting.

“Hey Mia, it’s me, Hannah, I was wondering if Damian was available for an interview—” Hannah started.

Mia immediately interrupted her. “Damian is not interested in giving any interviews. We’re tired of the media's portrayal of us, so no one is allowed to talk with reporters.”

Hannah was flummoxed. She had always been fair in her coverage of them. More than fair, she had been supportive. “Please, Mia. I really need to speak with Damian.”

“He doesn’t want to speak with you, you’ve been ferreting secret information out of our members. Especially Andrea, but that’s over now,” Mia said with a hard look and hung up.

Hannah was left speechless. Sure she had asked the members for some information, but she had never reported anything sensitive they might have told her. She could not understand why they would react like that. Her coverage of the guild had always been positive. Even back when everyone else was accusing them of cheating.

It made no sense.

A few days went by, and she tried repeatedly to get in contact with Damian, or anyone else in the guild. However, she got transferred to Mia at every opportunity. She even went incognito and hung out in Blackport, but the No Media status prevented her from approaching the members. It was all futile.

Then came an unpleasant surprise. The hotel informed her that a BIS officer had arrived with a warrant granting him an interview, which would be held on the premises of the hotel. With some trepidation, she took a quick shower to freshen up and collected herself.

When she arrived at the meeting capsule, she was a nervous wreck. Did her reaching out to Officer Kinky constitute a felony? That would not be good. The man in the meeting room had surprisingly not donned his balaclava. He was a young man, looked well-groomed and to Anna, he looked familiar. Like she had seen him somewhere before.

“Ah, Miss Fern, or do you prefer Vixen?” the officer said as soon as she entered the room.

“Just uhm—just call me Hannah,” she stammered. It had been years since she had last stumbled over words. “May I ask what this is about? Do I need a lawyer.”

“Of course, Miss Hannah. For propriety’s sake, I should mention that my name is Officer Svensson and this interview is not being recorded. Except by a low-level security AI that’ll ensure your safety,” the officer explained. “If you do want your lawyer present, it’ll become a matter of record. Not an unofficial chat like this is.”

She was relieved hearing that. His handsome face exuded calm, friendliness, and trustworthiness. Nevertheless, she wanted to feel like she had some control, so she said, “Okay, but I’d like to remind you that I’m a member of the media, and protected by the statutes afforded all journalists.”

“Come now, Miss Hannah, no need to get snippy and hostile,” Svensson said, his face losing some of his friendliness. “You’re not protected by the statutes since your little one-woman show, despite the professionalism and popularity, not recognized as a journalistic entity. Yet. Your license has not been accepted yet. In fact, it has been rejected seven times already.”

She did not like that the officer knew such information offhand. That meant that she might really be the target of this interview and not Officer Kinky. “You’re right. So what do you want to know?”

“Does the name Marcus mean anything to you?” the officer asked, looking intently at her face.

She tried to school her face, but she knew she showed a bit of fear. She did not know who Marcus was, but Damian had made her fear this elusive man. “Someone told me he might be behind the break-in and arson at my place. Well, more precisely I was warned about this Marcus and that he was dangerous. That was why I moved into the hotel.”

“Seems like you made the smart move,” Officer Svensson commented.

He was about to ask his next question, when Anna interrupted him, “Why do you seem familiar?”

“I wondered when you were going to ask about that,” he said with a wry smile. “I’m Rose’s brother, Josh.”

“Rose?”

“You know her as Petals in the game.”

“Oh,” Anna whispered. She took a new look at him with that knowledge and could see some similarities around the eyes. “Who told you about Marcus?”

“If the information you wanted from my colleague is any indication, the same person who told you,” Josh said with a smile. A handsome smile, but one that did not reach his eyes. His eyes were inquisitive and seemed to search every inch of her face for any facial tics that might give him a piece of insight into her.

“Damian,” she stated without hesitation.

“Indeed. Now, why do you want real-life and personal information about someone who has been good for your ratings?”

“I would rather not say,” she mumbled.

“I see,” Josh drawled. “Let me take a guess. My family suddenly came into a lot of credits, because of the Challenges announced by Ken Masters. Your request comes shortly after the press briefing. You attended what should be a very boring press briefing, for the first time, I might add. So in conclusion, you knew that something was special about the press briefing, which should have been revealed to you by Damian, or one of the guild members.”

Anna tried to keep her facial expression under control. Josh just stared at her for a moment, before asking, “How am I doing?”

“You already know, so why this interview?” Anna replied with a huff.

“I don’t know. I’m deducing,” Josh answered. “The new contract that everyone in the guild has signed will be a bit of hindrance for you, won’t it?”

“If you’re looking for confirmation on what you already think, then go find it elsewhere,” Anna said angrily. She felt like she was naked in front of Josh. It felt as if he was reaching into her soul and dragging

“Ah, but why go elsewhere, when I got you right here?” Josh asked with an infuriating smirk. “Anyway, now that I got a handle on the situation, we can get to the crux of this interview.”

“Which is?”

So far Josh’s attitude had been feigned laidback, trying to hide an intensity. It changed entirely, he sat up straighter, his eyes turned from inquisitive to fierce determination. Even his voice had changed from playful to deadly serious. “Me informing you what’s going on. Everything is off the record, otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to arrest you for blackmailing a BIS officer.”

“I did not, I repeat did not, blackmail anyone. I simply asked an acquaintance to look into some information,” Anna said quickly, sitting up straight and trying to stare down Josh.

“Oh, we already have him for unlawfully accessing information. We’ve known about his little hobby longer than you have,” Josh said with a chuckle. “He’s been under regular review for years. He’s never done anything wrong, but his predilections for quadrupeds made him a potential weak link. Unfortunately for him, you wanted him to research someone who was flagged. Two someones.”

“What’s going to happen to me?”

“Nothing, either you’ll choose to be in the dark, and will remain there, or you can come into the fold so to speak,” he answered with a wry grin. “There are a lot of irregularities going on with Damian Pryce, and I want to find out what’s going on. My family is in his orbit. This Marcus character is quite the enigma as well. Apparently he’s behind Damian’s arrest, the murder of an unemployed secretary, the framing of one of my colleagues, and the arson at your apartment.”

“You want me to assist?” Anna asked full of disbelief.

“Indeed, this is off the books. Only my boss, my boyfriend, and I know about this investigation. Because it involves Ken Masters as well.”

Anna was shocked at hearing that. “Ken Masters?”

“Indeed. He personally, if by remote link, interfered with the unlawful arrest of Damian. Now it was an unlawful one, accusations involving Masters’ company, yet why would he personally take action?” Josh mused loudly.

“When you put it like that,” Anna mumbled. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Josh said with a glint in his eyes. “Start from the top.”

It had been an illuminating conversation with Josh and over the next few days, Anna spent time trying to cultivate contacts inside of Dawnguard. Since Marcus was connected to Dawnguard, according to Damian, then it would behove her to have some sources on the inside. She also tried to get through to Damian but kept being blocked by Mia.

The most exciting thing, at least initially, that she got out of her cooperation with Josh was access to Damian’s file. At first, she had been absolutely giddy, thinking he would be the illicit love child of the childless Ken Masters. Ridiculous, but at least it would explain things. However, nothing of the sort was the truth.

From what she could gather from the files on Damian, he had no connection with Perennial. All connections were superficial and in the periphery. No connection rising to the level of someone being willing to spill company secrets. Sure he might have taught more than a few people who worked for Perennial, however, their positions would not allow for that kind of access to information as Damian possessed.

He had not been a famous gamer, he had no connection with any of the alpha or beta-testers. How Josh had gotten his hands on that list, she was not certain. However, she looked up every one of those players. Not one of them played Carn Online.

When she followed up on the story, it turned out that the testers were paid millions of credits upon participation in the tests. However, they had to sign documents that prohibited them from speaking about the game and they could not play the game upon release. The NDA’s around the agreements had lapsed the same day as Ken Masters had announced the Challenges. The NDA about content would last for ten years.

All of the information she uncovered frustrated her. It just deepened the mystery but did not answer any questions of importance. She tried to contact Damian once more.

To her surprise, Mia put her through to him. She found herself in a virtual office. The office looked—ostentatious was the word that sprang to mind. The office was placed in a tall building, the view towering over the other skyscrapers. The dark mahogany desk was polished to a gleam and enormous.

The walls had pictures of him shaking hands with Ken Masters, and pictures of Damian with the different guild members. There was a group of couches with expensive-looking crystal carafes of different liquids standing on the tables next to them.

Moments after she had arrived, so did Damian. He gave her a cold look. “What do you want? I thought Mia had made it clear that I was not interested in talking with you.”

Anna was taken back by the cold tone of his voice. She had interacted a lot with Damian, and he had never been like this. Not even when he had been met with ridicule and adversity. Anna gulped once, before saying, “Damian, it’s good to see you.”

“Wish I could say the same,” he sneered. “What the fuck do you want? Why are you pestering us?”

“Excuse me?” she asked incredulously.

“You’re excused, you can see yourself out. I’ll say this just once. Stop bothering us,” he growled the last bit and the meeting was cancelled.

Anna was left feeling confused, to say the least. Never in her life had she thought Damian would treat anyone like that, much less her. It was not because he was a pushover, but because he was a generally nice guy. At least she thought so.

When she told Josh about it, he agreed that it sounded a bit weird. He did offer a suggestion though. “Talk to him inside the game.”

“I can’t, his account is blocked from me to appear next to, unless he invites me.”

Josh had looked thoughtful. “They’re building a village at the moment, it’ll probably take a few days. However, I heard that some of their unofficial allies are making their way there soon. Maybe you could convince one of them to let you tag along?”

It had been a good idea, and that was what she did. She hooked up with the Otter Pirates, they were making their way there to commission their first real ship. When they got within sight of the village they were met by a group of Blue Lotus players. Robin and Lady Marion’s group.

“Hey guys, glad you could make it,” Robin said with a huge grin. “The Phils are itching to get started on your new ship. Wait, is that Hannah? Hey girl, it’s been a long time. Where have you been?”

“Uhm, busy,” Anna replied, a bit taken aback. Was it only Damian that was mad at her? What was going on? “Congratulations on your new village.”

“Thanks, though to be honest, we were a bit disappointed that you didn’t reach out to do a piece on it,” Robin said with a frown. “Nevertheless, we can’t expect you to focus on us. You’re a one-woman show now. I’m sure you’re busy. Anyway, come along, we were just heading back when Tracking picked up some humanoids were approaching.”

Anna was getting more and more confused, but she approached the village, hoping to get some answers. When Damian looked up and saw her, he flashed her a wide grin and waved at her. So different from her last interaction with him. All she could think was, ‘What’s going on?’