“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I was engulfed in a hug. “You are really hard to get a hold of to thank, you know that.”

“Yeah, just busy.”

“We are having a party. You should take time off and come visit.” I let out a sigh as I was let go from the hug.

“I can’t take time off, everyone is after me in game.”

“Mom really wants to see you to thank you. Heck, the whole family is coming out to celebrate.”

“Do you even understand what I do?”

“You play a game, and some people watch your videos and pay to see them.”

“I put up ‘the’ video. Access file BR dash two one one. Send to contact BigSis. That is how I made my money. Now everyone is after me. Everyone.”

“What do you mean, everyone?”

“I mean EVERYONE!” I shouted. “I had to keep pushing myself to get that video and now every single player in FEAR is out to kill me.”

“Over a video?”

“It is complicated, but yeah. They are all after me. I am stuck in the wilderness with a bug foot, no arm, and it is exhausting.”

“Just take a break like I said.”

“I can’t! If I spend any time away I can’t use my skills, and then I will be found and killed. I am pinged every couple of days with magic searches.”

“So, it is just a game.”

“It is not just a game! AHHHHH!” I walked away for a moment to cool down.

My sister walked over beside me. “Is it really that important?”

“Yes. I have invested so much time and energy that…that I can’t give up now. I have a shot at winning, a small shot, but a very real one.”

“You mean the one percent share?”

“Yes.” My sister looked away.

“I was hoping I could see you, the party isn’t just for mom.”

“What?”

“I have been accepted as one of the first round of colonists out of the system.”

“What?” My mind blanked.

“Omnitrek is starting the colony program after all these years. With cryo-sleep perfected and the advanced ion drive system it is finally happen.”

“Isn’t that going to take hundreds of years or something?”

“Yeah. I will be put in cryo-sleep and stuck on a transport. You are looking at the future second assistant to the xeno-botany research group on ship twelve.”

“Wow, congratulations.” I was stunned. It had always been something that was brought up during school. Especially with the station built on Mars. With the time dilation from capsules and advanced modeling power of their quantum computer, Omnitrek had done it. They would begin shipping off people to systems projected to have habitable worlds.

“Yeah, training starts in two weeks and I launch in a two years. Since mom’s treatment is confirmed to be working, we scheduled a large celebration. We really wanted you to come.”

I was silent. I couldn’t give up now after all the suffering I had been through. “When is the party?”

“Ten days from now.” Three days at a minimum for the trip meant fifteen days in game. I cursed the time dilation. “Isn’t there some game mumbo jumbo you can do to protect yourself while you are gone?”

“No, not against the amount of players after me. I don’t even have a team anymore to watch my back like last time.”

“Maybe hire someone to manage your account?”

“Can’t, it is bio-locked to my brain pattern. So an astronaut?”

“Pfft, I will never be awake in space. I go to sleep here and in a couple hundred years I will wake up on the second planet.”

“I can’t believe that this is really happening, I know you talked about exploring the stars when we were kids.”

“Omnitrek is a lot of things, but they know how to get stuff done.” That was definitely true.

“If I do win the game, would that make me your boss?”

“Hah, you wish. It is a non-paid volunteer position.”

“Send me the exact date and time. I will try and figure something out.”

“I better see you little bro.”

“Yeah, take care big sis.” She left my atrium. “Dammnit!” I yelled. I pulled up the list of info-brokers and sent them a message asking for any way a person could exit the game and remain immune to magical searches. Sending the same request to all of them at the same time meant I would get repeat information and word would go out that I was out of game.

I logged back in. Thankfully no one had teleported to be in my absence. I wouldn’t be able to tell if they pinged me, but the occurrences had dropped off to once every couple of days. There was literally nothing I could do. There was always the option of sending a robot controlled from my atrium for a large rental fee. That would probably be less appreciated than just not going.

I was part way over the mountains from the dungeon. It had been three days and all was quiet. I was at the edge of what was considered Wild Land. There were no cities and almost no civilization of any kind for 620 miles to the west. Zalth was straight south and any trouble would come from there.

To the north was Str and the overly pretentious Mystery Man along with the headquarters of Solid Steel. The main thing was the Durrunian Desert to the south west and beyond that Yaxel where Tor was staying. She still wasn’t responding to messages outside of the game.

I did want to go back to the tower and the two dungeon mines that I had run across. I just needed some way to avoid people from coming after me. There was only one sure fire method I could think of, off the top of my head.

I could go back into the dungeon with the Endolgon and have my auto-pilot camp out down there. That option was not appealing. Just that thing speaking made my head ache. If it melted peoples’ brains, prolonged exposure just seemed like a terrible idea.

I was radioactive myself also, just not with brain melt. While I still had contacts outside the game, the few that were reasonably trustworthy had warned me that they couldn’t help me in game. The less trustworthy ones were coy, but indicated they were willing to help me for a price. It didn’t take a genius that the price included a dagger to the back.

It wouldn’t have been so bad, but the freaking Encasement was after me and had portal magic. No one had information on the guy except he was bad news all around. He was a literal killing machine. You served him or died painfully. It was rumored that he had a dungeon of captive players that he used to empower himself.

I pulled out the Cube of Etherion and looked it over for what must have been the thousandth time. “So much trouble for you.” I debated hiding it and then coming back for it if I died. I just knew that the moment I set it down, something would snatch it up.

The blue glow and the numerous carvings on the sides spoke to power. Power that wasn’t being useful at the moment. I slammed it on the ground a couple of times but both the ground the cube weren’t damaged. I sighed and set off.

Everything was uneventful until I came around a boulder and saw a familiar face looking at me.

“There you are.” It was the old man from bug island, whose heart we had lost when the tower went down.

“Hello Haratio Zableck.” I put my hand on the Slice of Life. If anything would kill this old man, that sword would do the trick.

“You remembered my name. I see you have stepped down a dangerous path.”

“Why are you here?”

“I am here for the cube.” I held up my sword, but he didn’t appear concerned.

“I will cut you faster than you can blink. I didn’t give Tafe this cube and I definitely am not giving you this cube.”

“Really? I thought you had been named by Tafe to hold onto it.” I took a moment to check my mind and the security check I had put in place after the previous charisma attacks.

I hate Tafe. True.

I hate Just Han. True.

I hate She-Hulks. True.

I want to give up this cube. False.

I want to die. False.

Two plus two equals chair. False.

Three trues and three falses, which hopefully meant no mental attacks. No weird smells or sounds. The ground isn’t shaking. I don’t hear or sense any movement about me. All of this meant I was safe from obvious attacks, which only made me more concerned.

“I am not giving you the cube. I have suffered too much for it.”

“You will undo everything!”

“Then why don’t you explain to me.”

“I can’t!” He shouted. “You need to trust me.”

“Trust the word of an old man from the top of a mountain.”

“Yes.”

“Even if I gave the cube to you, you couldn’t protect it before. Why should I trust you with it now? If you can talk about it, that is.” I said the last part with a sneer.

“Fine the reason you can’t hand the cube over to Tafe or play into her games is because she-“ The old man completely froze. He was literally frozen in place as if every single atom in his body decided to stop right there and be done with it.

“Hello?” I sheathed my sword and threw a stone at him. A blue field appeared right over his skin and the stone bounced off that. “So Tafe, is this your doing?” There was no response.

“-do you understand?” the old man was suddenly moving again.

“You kind of froze in place there with a blue field around you. Didn’t get any of that.”

“AHHHHHH!” He slammed his head on the ground until his brains were showing. Wow, he was really pissed off. That had to hurt a lot, smashing open your own head. The old man sat down and the wound healed itself. “Whatever. I quit. Just do whatever you want. I don’t care anymore. I am retired.” He let out a long sigh and just sat there looking into the distance.

“Is there anything you can tell me?”

“No. I am just forbidden from telling you anything except that the cube cannot fall into Tafe’s hands.”

“Her bugs had it for a long time.”

“It is not the same thing.” I gave him a look. He shrugged. “It isn’t. Let me try a metaphor. It is the difference between holding a sword in your hand and having a sword in the bank. You would prefer to having it in your hand.”

“So if I understand you, this cube is only dangerous if Tafe gets her hands on it.”

He didn’t say anything. “So I just won’t give it to her.”

“It is not as easy as you think. The hearts of men are weak.”

“So why doesn’t she just blast you away.”

“Tafe is not a fool. No matter what else you may think, never doubt that.”

“So how did you escape the desert?”

“I reformed and began crawling toward the cube. I can sense its presence.” That was worrying. I would need to counter that somehow.

“Is there anyone else?”

“There was a guardian for each one, but I don’t know what happened to the others.”

“Do you know where they are?”

“No, and even if I did I would not say. Gathering them together is the single worst idea in the history of bad ideas.”

“Any chance you can heal my arm with your regeneration?” I asked.

He looked at my stump. “No. I am merely an immortal old man who can’t say anything.”

“That sums it up. The question is now what. You are very tasty from what I remember. That makes me wonder why you just walked up here instead of trying to kill me in my sleep.” He just stared at me and let out another sigh.

“I want to travel with you and stop Tafe.”

“I am her champion, you know that right?”

“Yes.”

“You know the Endolgon gave me this blade. I think it was meant for you.” I looked at the Slice of Life and then at him.

“Possibly. Tafe is like that. Even her gifts have hidden costs.”

“I can’t travel with someone who is this cryptic. I get there is some power stopping you from speaking, but I don’t get you at all. You literally make no sense.”

“I suppose I do. The benefit of old age is to have the benefit of knowing what has happened.”

“Is there a way to block whatever it is so you can speak freely?”

“No. I am bound by rules that cannot be undone.” I stared at him. That was the only thing he had said with passion in the entire conversation. I hated mysteries, especially when they would be really obvious in hindsight.

“If I really wanted to stick it to Tafe, what would be the best way to do that?”

“That…that is actually a good question. I am still looking for that answer. The only thing I have is to hide that cube away, but now…I don’t think that will work anymore.”

We sat there in silence for over an entire minute as he contemplated his response. “Destroy the cubes. If they are destroyed then they will be forever beyond her reach.”

The world shifted to black and white. Tafe was standing to the other side of the rock ledge making a triangle between us. “You are being naughty, very naughty.”

“You-“ Tafe made a small gesture with her hand and Haratio stopped speaking. “Kill him now my champion.”

“Making me your champion was not a bonus. I won’t play your games.” I then held up the Slice of Life and pointed it at her.

“So willful. If you don’t incapacitate this man there will be a…punishment.”

“No reward?”

“A champion needs no rewards. But I could see fit to expending some of my power.” My thoughts drifted to my sister’s request.

“Can you protect me for thirty days?”

“Hmmm, yes. If you offer up him as a sacrifice. Merely call out Tafe Protect Me and it will be so for thirty days.” The silencing broke on the old man.

“No! You must not let her get to you.”

“Then beat her offer.”

“You don’t understand…AHHH.” He let out a yell of frustration that was reflected in his expression. I began advancing on him as Tafe looked on. “I speak your true name!” He began to take a breath.

“Kill him now or else!” Tafe shouted. I was poised. My family versus the game. I cursed to myself as I cut through the old man’s neck, decapitating him.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh………..” I don’t know how he spoke despite having his head cut off and his neck severed. Another weird game mechanic.

“Our deal is complete.” Tafe reached down and picked up the old man’s head. “Troublesome.”

“Who was he?” I asked before she vanished.

“One who was not worthy. Goodbye Blood Rain.” The world snapped back into color. The body still lay there gushing out crimson blood in a never ending stream, but the head was still missing.

I just sat there for half an hour watching the blood keep going and going. It was really impressive how the body didn’t deflate or anything. It suddenly jerked and began feeling about. It was still alive, which was incredibly creepy. So that is what happens when you cut off an immortal’s head with an unhealing blade.

That meant his head was still alive, where ever Tafe was keeping it and I shuddered at the thought. The body kept moving and I debated what to do with it. The fact that it didn’t have a head meant communication would be very difficult. Also the constant stream of blood would be a dead giveaway for anyone tracking.

A large part of me was still tempted to try and bring it along as a pet of some sort. The looks on people’s faces when they were met with a headless corpse constantly gushing blood would be hilarious. The first serious opponent would crush it, but it still would be hilarious.

I knew Three had developed the ability Blood Drain. It allowed one to take power from blood to replenish HP, MP, and SP at the cost of SP. Drinking blood and other strange stuff had gotten me into enough trouble already. I wiggled my tri-pronged foot. It still felt weird after all this time.

Based on what Three had said, he wasn’t getting that much regen from the old man. We had discussed this in our blimp ride and the common consensus had been his low level. His stats were most likely always at peak value, but they weren’t high to begin with.

I could take the body for food, but it would be messy. The constantly generating blood would be a pain to handle. I didn’t have a jar to seal the heart in and a sack would just overflow in time.

What was really concerning was how everything lined up perfectly for Tafe. I could understand the sword, since the Endolgon was her pet or something. What was concerning was that this situation had occurred exactly when I needed a way to protect myself while out of the game.

I didn’t believe in coincidences, on the other hand I had asked Tafe for that boon and she really wanted to shut the old man up. I wondered what her real name was if not Tafe. Maybe I could bind her to me unlike the demon. Next time she showed up I was going to try and use Observe on her.

The headless body was flopping about and making a complete mess. I walked over and lifted it up by its pants, making sure to keep the severed neck pointed away. I walked for ten minutes and then chucked the body done a steep rocky incline. It went tumbling down the rocks, leaving a trail of blood everywhere.

“Good bye old man. Maybe I will see your head again when I pay Tafe a visit. You here that Tafe, I am coming for you.”

I shook my head. That was the problem when gods were real. I would just speak randomly to the air and expect a response. They were the very definition of trouble. I set up towards the south west. I spent the next month working on my skills. The MP focused skills I spent time on were Burst Speed and Conceal Movement.

Despite the time and effort I put, neither of them leveled. I probably had to use them in more combat situations, which were lacking at the moment. With monsters staying away from me and being stuck in the middle of the wilderness, meant it was uneventful.

I had reached the base of the mountains and a lake. The last water I would probably see in a long time, since over the mountains laid the desert. There was a small village next to the lake. It was a simple matter of stealing enough food during the night from their store houses.

I spent a day searching and found a small overhang surrounded by a number of boulders. “Tafe protect me.” A blue glow surrounded me and I was unable to move. I was completely frozen in place. I logged out and back in, but the effect was still there. My skills wouldn’t activate either when I tried.

Getting up out of the capsule was always an experience. I pulled myself up and let out a gasp. I got cleaned and put on fresh set of clothes. The full service agreement was excellent with the personal care provided while one was hooked up. I couldn’t even begin to imagine having to do all the little things constantly, like cutting my hair and nails.

The timing from the auto-cab was perfect and I was zipped through the deserted streets. I rubbed my hands over my eyes to wipe out the gunk. Now that was one thing I didn’t miss in the real world, eye gunk. The cab was completely silent since it was just me and the auto-pilot.

I arrived at the airport and it was remarkably quick to get to my plane. I climbed in and looked to see who I would be sitting with. There was just one other person in a suit on the plane. She was older if the creases around her eyes were any indication. I took my seat and buckled in. Minutes later the plane took off.

“Business?” I asked her as the plane leveled out.

“Indeed. Pleasure if I have to guess?”

“My sister was selected as part of the colony program and my mom got over an illness.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you. So why are you traveling?”

“Business, I handle accounts for Omnitrek.” She didn’t elaborate further

“Right…well I hope it goes well.” She nodded and then unbuckled herself from the seat and stood up. Next she reached up and pulled one of the very long pins from her hair bun. The plane suddenly hit a massive bout of turbulence. The lady was thrown from her standing position and the needle she had been holding had gone straight into her eye.

I was in shock. Her body shook once on the floor and was still. I pressed the call button and a flight attendant appeared from the front of the plane. “The turbulence, she had taken out a hair pin.” I stammered out. Blood was already spreading out on the pristine carpet.

“Please remain calm.” The flight attendant said as she checked the corpse. Based on how deep the needle was driven up into her brain through her eye, she was definitely dead. Once the attendant confirmed that was the case she stood back up and looked at me.

“Please remain seated. I will notify flight control.” She was surprisingly calm for just seeing a dead person. I just waited there next to the cooling corpse. An hour later we finally arrived at our destination and the flight attendant asked me to follow her off.

I was escorted off the plane and there was a man in a suit waiting for me. “I am with Omnitrek Security. I apologize for the incident. We have reviewed the footage and you have been cleared of any wrong doing. We have arranged another flight to take you to your final destination.”

“Thanks, who was she?”

“That information is part of an ongoing investigation and is classified.”

“Oh, I never knew anyone who died like that. I don’t even know her name….”

“Please do not worry about anything. Omnitrek will handle the incident in a professional manner. I will make sure to include a note about your condolences in the official report.”

“Um, thanks.” The suit turned and I followed partway down the tarmac to another waiting plane.

“Thank you for flying with us.” He said as I boarded the plane.

“Yeah no problem.” I got on board and the plane took off. I was all by myself as the plane made its way towards my home. I resolved never to take off my seatbelt on a plane or use sharp pointy objects while moving. Now that was a life lesson to take to heart.

***

My vacation was just what I needed. I stumbled about in the yard when walking. It was weird having two proper feet again and my left arm. My changed body state was really throwing me off. My speed and reaction times were a lot lower as well.

We had a bonfire one night and I stuck my feet in to let them be massaged. I pulled them back quick enough, but that just reinforced I was regular old me out here in the real world. I got up to walk and cool off my feet.

My mom intercepted me as I walked on the cool grass. “Thank you.” She gave me a big hug.

“No problem.” I awkwardly gave her a hug back.

She let me go. “The doctor told me I could use a capsule now. Maybe your mom should see what trouble you are getting up to. Your sister won’t say anything.”

“It is complicated….” I trailed off.

“It can’t be that bad.” I was glad the only light was the bonfire so she didn’t see my blush. “I worry about you. You need to find a nice girl to settle down with.”

“Ummm.” I didn’t know what to say.

“Your sister is leaving, and I worry I won’t see any grand kids.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. “Yeah, just need to win FEAR.”

“Is that the VR game you are playing?”

“Yes. It is how I make a living.”

“Playing games isn’t a proper kind of job. You should go to school and be a doctor.”

“I am not that smart. I only have one skill. Playing VR games.” My mom let out a small sigh.

“What about those rockets you built as a kid?”

“It was fun, but it doesn’t make it a career.”

“It is your life. So tell me about it.”

“What?”

“Well, you make a living playing a game. How does that work?”

“I first started posting videos online a while ago, when I got my first capsule. They took off and I got more subscribers. Now I put up….interesting videos for people to pay to watch.”

“It isn’t porn is it?” I wish I had Conceal Movement to escape this conversation.

“No, not porn.”

“Well that is good. I would love you regardless, but that would be hard to understand. I just want you to succeed. So what are your videos about?”

“….” I mumbled.

“Speak up.”

“My nickname in game is Rain of Blood or Blood Rain. The video that paid for your treatment has been named the Blood Rain Wedding.”

“People pay for this?”

“Yeah, it was a huge deal.”

“So what exactly happened?”

“You sure?”

“You did this to pay for my treatment. I want to know.”

“Well it all started when the game launched and I was in Breckley.” I continued on for the rest of the night explaining about everything I had done.

***

UltimataSecret: Blood Rain is out of the game, GO GO GO

6996: You are a troll, he is still blocked from searches

GambleMan: New odds now that blood rain is AFC

GODHAXLOL: BLOOD RAINYYYYYYY!!!!!!

Worm: It is a trap

TheWinzKid: Lure you in and then blood will rain everywhere

BurnBaby: I miss the regular videos

UltimataSecret: His location is the most precious thing for him at the moment

Killashard: I found you, hehehe

SRUP: Use the power of sparkles to defeat his evil

***

Author’s Note: Yes the main character has a loving mother who embarrasses him. Yes, a random woman died on the plane he was on. The old man returns, only to be left a headless, blood gushing body.

Don’t worry, that is the end of the mother get well arc. Now we start getting to the gut ripping, pulse pounding chapters. I did want to showcase how weird it was for him to have a proper foot and an arm again.

The main issue I have is that I need another character to generate dialogue with the MC. I have heard your cries and Tor will return.

I want to say a big thank you for everyone for coming back to this story. Your support really means a lot. Please review on the main page. I do take the advice to become a better author.

YEAH, 1 week of constant updates!