V 2: The Dark and Light of Souls

Chapter 1: Karma’s a B***h

As we travelled that day we took a fair amount of breaks considering that the snow was getting pretty high. Not knowing how far we had gone, I pulled out my compass to make sure we were headed the right direction. Sure enough, the snow covered road we were on was still heading east.

Walking along the path, I enquired about the training that Lynette had gone through. At first she seemed about to tell me, but then in a conspiratorial tone she simple said “You’ll see.” I mock glared at her and she returned my look with dimples as she smiled. Finally I had been able to start up a conversation about what she was hoping to accomplish in this Virtual reality.

She spoke of wanting to take her Dark Magic as far as it would go and to see the sights. During the conversation she did let slip once that this reality was preferable to the Real one. After she said that, the conversation kind of lagged for a while. A few minutes later, I ended up picking it up by telling her of my medical research and of the more hilariously morbid things that I had to deal with when working as a Patient Care Technician at a hospital. She laughed several times at my many ill encounters with various patients.

Her favorite one was when I was working with this particularly elderly lady. I was in the bathroom assisting her since she was not safe on her own. When it came time to help her up from the toilet, I leaned down to pull up her underpants and pants and as I was doing that I suddenly felt her nibbling on my ear. Needless to say, I was very much Not in the mood. That lady was close to 100 years old and had dentures. There was no romantic attachment on my end. It was after that incident that I requested a transfer and started working with pediatric patients instead.

Finally we had reached a point that was decently far from the city and a safe enough distance away from the road to hopefully avoid smugglers. At this time of day it was beginning to get dark and all of us were getting tired. Setting my pack down Beside Lynette’s I let her know that all she needed to do was relax while Azure and I did the work, she skeptically did as I suggested and watched us as we set about preparing camp.

Excited to see her reaction, I decided to work on the construction of the mini fort first. As I built it with the help of Azure who had again scouted out and brought in several fallen branches, I did have a melancholy thought of when I had been with Clarissa. I missed the times we had together and I did worry for her since she had left so abruptly. Wiping the small fluid that threatened to fall from my eyes, I returned to my work and soon enough had it fully constructed.

Despite my mixed feelings of camping with one extraordinary woman to camping with another I was happy to see her expression when I had finished our ‘tent,’ as she had been worried about proper sleeping quarters. I had decided to leave it as one single short roofed room, and would wait for her to ask if she wanted me to create a barrier between her and me.

I had to admit that one of the greatest things I had going for me when it came to surviving in the wilderness was my Earth Manipulation ability. As I stood by the fire while Azure was out hunting, I pressed my hands against the ground to form an image that I had in my mind. Soon enough I had a compressed stone frying pan, spatula, 3 plates, utensils, and a water bowl (for Azure). With this ability I had no need for packing in cooking ware.

After cooking up the creatures that Azure had caught for us we all retired for the night in the fort. Lynette didn’t ask for me to create a separate space for her, but neither did she try to cuddle with me either. I was glad for the respite since I hadn’t fully sorted out my feelings anyways.

* * * * *

The very next morning we broke camp after a quick breakfast. Returning to the road we continued eastward towards the Holy City. I kind of worried about how they would react to a young woman visiting that wielded dark magic. Well I figured if we got enough warning signs along the way or people shunning or chasing us away, then I’d know to venter into the city without her. Until then I’d assume things would work out.

As we found more things to talk about, I learned from her that she too loved waterfalls and had been ecstatic at being sent to Niagara Falls for her starter city. In addition she liked exploring the history of places and learning what had led to their creation or destruction. I also learned that unlike me, who had been running around like a chicken with his head cut off in regards to running from trainer to trainer, she had actually come into contact with a large portion of the new players that had come to the city. She told me that she guessed there to be about 300 or so that had arrived since she had gotten there. After a while though, she said it slowed down and then there were no more new arrivals.

I was kind of curious as to why that was the case, but neither of us knew the reason. As we set up for camp that night, Lynette had opted to go to bed early as Azure and I stayed out to enjoy the chill wind. With a fire in front of me, and a living heat source at my side, I had no worries of getting frostbite. Gazing up at the dark sky I watched the stars as they glimmered in the night. The occasional shooting star would briefly flash across the sky during which I would make a quick wish that came from a long list of heart felt wishes.

As I continued to watch the sky, a hazy mist slowly began to cover the stars and the remainder of the heavens. Curiously I looked down at my level to see that a wave of fog had begun to form from the depths of the forest around us. Azure was looking about herself in what looked like worry, while I too began to feel a little fear creeping in from the edges.

Off in the distance I heard the cracking of a dried branch, but I could not be sure of its source. The feeling of being watched began to tickle upon my mind as I strained to see past the gathering mist. As the sound of a few more branches cracking sounded in my ears did my level of fear racket up a few notches. ‘Was I really ready for this?’ I thought to myself. ‘Was I not just fooling myself to think I would be safe out here in the wild with the poor amount of training Azure and I had received?’ Surely Lynette wouldn’t be able to handle what Azure and I together couldn’t handle. Speaking of such, was Lynette safe? Not daring to make the move of looking behind me I reached out my senses gently to sense that yes Lynette was safely inside the fort.

Granted with the feelings and noises I was hearing outside I wasn’t so sure of how long that might last. As I was thinking that, faintly glowing eyes began to appear within the darkened forest. Azure began to let out a low growl at the sight of those eyes. As she looked about seeming to not worry about keeping herself from moving, she seemed to be confused about where the enemy was. More and more red eyes that slowly grew larger had appeared all around us. Then in an instant they . . .

Disappeared?! What the . . .? “Um Azure, what just happened?” I wouldn’t have spoken out of fear before, except that in addition to the eyes disappearing, so too did the mist, and even the oppressive feeling of fear had faded away. Looking at her, she seemed just as confused as me. Then after sniffing around, she went into the fort where Lynette was. After a while I heard painful moaning coming from inside. Going to investigate myself, I saw Lynette holding her head with both her hands with Azure steadily watched her.

“I have got the worst headache ever after that bit of magic.” She says. “You . . .You were the one who banished them?!” I exclaimed in surprise and awe. “Hehehe,” A weak laugh came from her as she continues to rub her forehead. “No, I’m the one who created the illusion in the first place.” A strained smile crossed her lips then, “So, how do you like my skills?”

“You did that?!” I cried out in shock. Carefully nodding her head she admitted to being the culprit who had scared the Hell out of me. “I was going to tell you what I could do, but I figured the effect would be more fun if I just showed you.” She said this while lightly snickering and then again moaning. “That potion that you gave me apparently gave me more than the Dark Affinity. It gave me access to the sub skill Illusionist.” I just stood there dumbfounded. “Wow! That is Awesome!”

“Isn’t it?” She said, removing her hands while smiling up at me. Nowhere did I see that hesitant girl that I had met the first day in the city. Here instead was a woman that had found her value and her strength.

Then she frowned. “Unfortunately the combination of the fear spell and the massive illusion that I cast takes a lot out of me, both in magic and in concentration. A pebble thrown at me or a loud noise that I did not create would have broken the spell in an instant. So I do have more practice to do.” Shaking my head at that performance, I was still terribly impressed. Then glaring at her I said. “It’s going to be your fault if I end up having nightmares about red eyed monsters.”

That just set her off laughing and then grimacing again with little sign of remorse. “Bah! Whatever.” I said as I got ready for bed. Honestly I was very happy for her and glad that she had managed to change so much for the better. It didn’t mean I was going to fix her headache for the fright she had given me though.

* * * * *

The next morning with her headache gone I begged of her to start casting dark magic on both me and Azure. Seeming to remember the conversation at that last dinner in the City, she knew that this would help me to gain the darkness affinity. Happy to help, she began casting the strongest curses that she was able to. The ones in her repertoire came out to be curses of Fear, Doubt, Slow, and the worse, Itchiness. The others were bearable when you knew the cause, but Itchiness? That was just torture. I could almost swear that Azure was planning payback for the both of us with the glares she was giving between scratching bouts. Me for getting her into this and Lynette for being the source of the spell.

That first day of dealing with the spells, I didn’t dare use my soul energy to better connect with the feelings. I was miserable enough without it.

* * * * *

The next day though, I ventured to use my soul energy. As the feelings of Fear, Doubt, Slow, and Itchiness assaulted me, I encompassed them and brought them in concentrated form into my core. I had to admit that was the worst day of my life. If I were to feel this in real life, then I’d be labeled as a suicidal manic depressive schizophrenic in need of 24 hour lockdown monitoring. Needless to say, we didn’t travel very far that day, as I spent most of it curled up in a ball with Azure shivering in misery beside me.

Close to evening I began to battle the feelings inside of me, fighting to use my memories as a spear head attack against my doubts and fears. Slow didn’t seem to be a problem except that this form of it affected thought processes too. So everything longer to deal with. As far as the Itchiness, I had to enter a meditative state, while refusing to touch a single itchy spot, while telling myself over and over that it isn’t real, it isn’t real . . .

*ting*

Darkness Affinity/Resistance: (Uncommon) Through the use of your soul and internalizing the onslaught of dark emotions and sensations, you have become familiar with the ways of darkness. In addition you have gained a minor immunity to the effects of darkness. Immunity will increase when you recognize the source of your affliction and as you resist greater attacks upon your psyche.

What they Hell?! Where was the ability to manipulate it? I wanted to cry. After all that effort and still no manipulation. Not wanting to go through that again, I decided that maybe it just required time and practice. Consoling myself with that thought we hurriedly set out to make some better progress that day. Lynette was continuously apologizing for what she had put me through, and so I had to keep reassuring her that it needed to be done and that I’d been glad it was her rather than someone I didn’t trust.

That last part of saying I trusted her seemed to bring her the greatest comfort as she finally stopped her apologies. Traveling the distance that normally would have been done in a quarter day, we set up camp and yes I might have made the stone and dirt fort a bit tighter this time. With how cold it was, I had even taken to building a furnace of sorts inside the fort while creating an airflow both near the top of the roof and on the exit side of the furnace. With no complaint from either of my companions, I sealed off the doorway and we fell asleep.

* * * * *

* * * * *

It was the 7th day of traveling and we had seen no civilizations during our entire trip. After checking several times to make sure that yes we were heading east and that yes the compass did point north even with I moved it around was I vaguely comforted. Maybe there were just no people that wanted to form a village in this kind of an area. *sigh* At least we had food from hidden vegetation and wild life, while water abounded around us in the form of snow. Still, it was less than ideal since it was becoming rather monotonous.

As we continued on our journey we had begun to pass several rocky outcroppings to our right. After coming upon our 3rd set of such rocky places did we see smoke from what I assumed to be a campfire rising above the tree-line. People! Lynette and I shared an excited glance at the smoke we saw. Azure acted as though it was nothing of consequence. But just as the two of us started hurrying along through the snow as we broke from the trail, so too did Azure pick up the pace as she began to feel the excitement coming from us.

Though I was elated to see other people after so many days, my instincts gained from practicing with Clarissa in hunting prey came into play. Though we stuck together, the three of us slowed down our approach and began to walk stealthily towards the came we could now barely see. Well, Azure and I were stealthy, Lynette was just careful. The camp itself looked to be adjoining with a cave in the rocky hillside. Though I couldn’t be sure, there looked to be some activity by the fire where 2 or 3 people seemed to be in a heated debate.

Getting closer I began to hear their conversation since they had begun to yell. “Guss! Seriously man, what’s your problem?” “My problem?! My problem is that we have to stay here because of that stupid Holy City and their Paladins that keep an eye out on the roads for travelers, and we haven’t been getting Jack Shit since we set up camp in this area! That’s my problem!” “Fine, look, you want to take it up with the boss then be my guest, he’ll likely be done with his sword training in a minute or two anyways. He’d probably be grateful for a distraction by doing some practice swings at you!” “Who would I enjoy doing practice swings on?” A new voice seemed to call out from the depths of the cave.

By now Lynette, Azure, and I had come within about a few meters of their camp and we were watching the proceedings of their fight from the hidden safety of a pine tree. Somehow this seemed oddly familiar to me. Turning back to check on Lynette, I happened to glance at her the moment after the voice from the cave spoke. Blood leeched out of her face as if she were seeing a terrible ghost.

Not daring to speak a word due to her reaction, I turned back my attention to the campsite. As soon as the ‘leader’ as I assumed him to be came out of the cave, I too had a severe flashback.

*The memory was of a single guy who had almost knocked me out cold and then with his group of friends proceeded to pull down their pants with the intent to rape the same young woman who was currently at my side* Lynette who had turned entirely white in her already pale face seemed to be reliving the nightmare of that time as well.

Anger burned inside of me at the thought of what these men had done to torment an innocent. I had to wonder what else they had done since then, considering they didn’t seem like the repentant type. Recalling that they had 5 guys in their group last time, I began to slowly take off my backpack. Ever so carefully I slipped on and secured my adamantine braces right arm first, and then my left. Azure had picked up on my anger and she too was giving off a low growl that I doubted anyone but us could hear. Even so, I set a calming hand on her at which she quieted down. Though she was quiet, her hair was still on end.

After having secured both bracers and laying down my naginata, for that wouldn’t help me in a fight when I had no practice with it, I turned for the last time to check on Lynette. She seemed to have snapped out of her nightmare and gained a fierce look in her eyes. Seeing that look I knew she wanted some action, but I wanted her to stay safe too. With a pleading look in my eyes I asked her through crude hand gestures to stay there and stay hidden.

Her eyes narrowed but she gave a tight nod before carefully kneeling down to one leg in the snow. With that worry taken care of, I waited patiently. There were currently 4 guys hanging out by the fire, including the leader, and I had yet to see the 5th. About 20 minutes passes by, and a part of me had begun to form a cramp with my remaining still. They had gone about several chores as we waited. Finally, feeling like I had waited long enough, I decided that they must have lost a guy somewhere along the way.

Gathering my soul energy I opened my senses to take in the entirety of the surroundings that I could reach. After all my training, I could permanently sense within 1 foot of myself now in all directions, and I could slowly acclimatize myself to my surroundings by another 5 meters. As I waited for the familiarity of that area to fill my awareness, I realized that there was a 5th person. He seemed to be sleeping inside the cave itself. This seemed an opportunity too good to miss.

I was just about to take action on the man in the cave when I had a thought of foresight. What if he happened to alert the others as soon as I began binding him? With that I looked around the camp from my hiding spot. From my vantage point, I could see two bows laying side by side on a roughhewn table, a couple of meters from the fire-pit. With the placement of those bows in mind I set about doing what I had planned to do at the start.

Withdrawing my soul from sensing around me, I squeezed it as tight as it would go and sent it in a straight line towards the guy in the cave. I still had enough of a pool of my soul within me to ease my worries, but if the guy was a few meters farther, then I might have had to change my plans. Sensing around to see how he was situated I realized he was laying on his back with a heavy blanket over him for warmth. With a single thought I delved into the earth beside his body and brought out natural chains of stone that hovered just over his wrists, feet, and with careful maneuvering, over his waist. Then with a finishing touch, I formed a carefully crafted stone gag that lay at the center of an arch of stone that hovered a mere centimeter away from his face.

With a single thought I tightened down all of the restraints upon his suddenly helpless body. As my soul was still with him when it happened, I could sense a moment of startled silence as he awoke in a panic, then he began to make loud noises through his nose despite the gag I had in place. ‘Dammit!’ I thought to myself. All at once the remaining guys around the fire turned to look towards the cave. Sure enough they seemed to realize something was up. Two of them dashed over to their bows which I promptly introduced the taut strings of to the heat of their benevolent fire. With a near simultaneous twang of two strings snapping, I watched as the wooden bows snapped outward to regain their original shape.

As they were running about to gather weapons, I had since stealthily crept out from behind the pine tree and entered their camp. Time seemed to freeze as they all turned to me. Then as time seemed to return to normal they came together in a coordinated rush. Two of them were side by side as they ran towards me. With a quick thought and manipulation on my part, I summoned two winds like I had at the time I was with the fire slimes. Since that time I had learned to increase the force of the wind and reduce the pressure on myself by a great deal.

The double winds came tearing in at a wide angle from my sides which promptly crashed into the forerunning duo. Slamming them together so much that their heads bounced off each other, they then fell to a heap in front of me. ‘3 down 2 to go’ I thought smugly. By this time, Azure had pounced upon one of the other unsuspecting guys that was in the group. Apparently he had been looking to attack me from behind and Azure considered that to be a serious breach of etiquette, so she returned the favor. In the process of knocking him down she had either stunned or killed him as he no longer moved. Looking a bit disappointed at that turn of events she then looked to the last member of the party. The leader.

I remembered that guy. He was the one that looked like he had gone to the gym quite often and did a bunch of weight lifting. As I recall he was actually pretty good with a sword too. Having long since unsheathed it, he seemed to have waited till I either dealt with or was dealt with by his subordinates. By the look on his face, he seemed rather shocked that it had ended so quickly. Coming towards me he did a quick spin of his sword, purely for display I was sure. As he approached me, Azure began to approach him.

Holding out my hand I gave what I hoped to be a mental command for her to not interfere. Firstly I wanted to deal with this creep myself and secondly, Azure didn’t have the arm braces that I had to protect herself with. The worry that I had seen growing in his eyes at Azure’s approach once again turned cocky as he saw me wave her back. ‘He thought this was going to be fun. Hah! We shall see.’ I thought to myself. And with that we came together in a clash.

With a single swipe of his sword he swung it at my seemingly unprotected left shoulder. With the memory of painful lessons drilled into me my body automatically slipped into the proper defensive stance. My body shifted to allow myself to take the brunt of the force upon my raised gauntlets. *Kugh!* The strike was certainly powerful, but not enough to knock me over. With action born of reflex I pulled out my right gauntlet from contact with the sword and gave a swift thrust punch to his gut. Unfortunately for me, he apparently had armor under his shirt.

Still though, with the force that I exerted by aiming beyond his body with the punch, I had him keeling over at the waist as he tried to wretch up his last meal. But damn that hurt. I don’t think I broke anything but it was a close one. Then, as he began collecting himself and regaining his stance, I realized something. This guy, was wielding a sword with metal in the grip. Though his armor felt to be wood, metal would definitely give a satisfying outcome. Summoning fire from the pit I sent it to coat the handle of his sword. Certainly I belatedly realized I could have coated him in fire, but this was infinitely more satisfying.

Super-heated metal burned into the palm of his right hand that didn’t let go in time as he struggled to drop his sword. *Aaahhhhhhhh!* His screams of pain were a bonus to the agony I knew he must be feeling. Finally with the sound of ripping flesh that had apparently seared itself to the grip, he was free of his sword. Glaring at me with hatred in his eyes he came in for a tackle. “Ohho bad move.” I had to tell him the truth, and that truth was that the tables had turned and he was in deep shit now.

As he rushed towards me with his less injured left hand balled up in an angry fist, I did a quick sidestep to the right moving mostly out of his area of force, before bracing my outer forearm against his left forearm. This forced him to continue the momentum of his thrust which carried him into a perfectly arranged position in which after I continued turning to now face his back, I made a low snap kick to the back of his left knee. That move took him down in a hurry. But I didn’t let it stay like that. As he was going down, I did another rapid kick with my right foot, right between his legs as he was falling. He collapsed to the ground in a pile of agony as he screamed curses at me.

Getting tired of his whining, I simply raised his upper body up off the ground with my right hand tugging on his hair and kneed him right in the face. He was out like a light.

Turning around to gaze at my peaceful surroundings I took in the sights of my fallen enemies. It was such a nice sight. . . Strangely, my revelry was interrupted by another male voice that could be heard swearing up a storm. Running over to the source I came to stop at a most incredible scene. There in front of me was a 6th man that I assumed to have been beyond the range of my senses at the time I engaged his friends. But that was not what was so interesting.

Flashing rope seemed to continuously lash out at his body even as he sought to defend against it and get closer to the opponent who was wielding it. The person at the other end of that rope was what truly had my admiration. Lynette had apparently unwound the thick metal necklace out from around her neck and was now using her entire body as a fulcrum to wind up and redirect the ever changing flow of the flashing rope. With my straining eyes I caught a glimpse of what looked like something dark that lay at the tip of that rope as it created long bleeding tears in the body of her victim.

I hadn’t noticed till now, but Azure too had sat down to watch this amazing display of martial prowess. Finally, as if something beyond the effects of the cuts to his body seemed to be too much for him, the man fell to the ground and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

*Whistle* “Now that is what I call fighting!” I cried out. Looking up at me with a great mix of emotions, a smile finally won out on Lynette’s weary and tear stained face. Concern crossed mine as I took a better look at her continence. “Lynette, what is wrong?” I asked.

“He . . .” She seemed to choke up for a second. “He was the one in the group that hit me before they started to try to . . . to . . .” She couldn’t say it as she fell to the ground crying. ‘So that is what happened’ I thought to myself. Going over to her, I held her tightly in a hug as we both huddled on the ground. “It’s over now, they can’t hurt you. Not again. Not ever again.” As I was saying this, I thought came to my head, ‘Maybe there really was a way to make it so that they could never hurt anyone in this game again.’

Standing back up while she continued to cry I knew I had a limited time to see if I could make it work. Grabbing the guy that she had just defeated, I dragged him by his feet to the clearing with the other unconscious men. That’s both a benefit and a disadvantage in this game. If you are knocked unconscious, then you lose control of your avatar and you cannot log out till you regain consciousness. I didn’t know if there was a set time limit for that specific ailment, but I dare not test it.

Pulling the 5 unbound individuals over next to the fire, I gathered them in a circle around me. They all seemed to be breathing still, though they each showed tell-tail signs of violence. If this was to not work then even if I got in trouble and lost my privileges, then it would still be worth the attempt. Doing a quick check on the guy in the cave I could see that his avatar was not breathing. Damn that means he probably logged out. Oh well. With that, I simply cut his throat with my belt knife.

Without a moment more to spare, I sat down in the midst of the unconscious fighters and spread out my soul. I didn’t seek to merge my soul with them, so much as wrap it around them in the hope that they would be recognized as part of my identity. Then I simply called up my menu and selected Administrative support.

A flash of white light encompassed me and I was whisked off to the white room in an instant. With a crash of sound I looked about me and with great satisfaction I saw all 5 of the soul bound men with me. Unfortunately they seemed to be fully healed now and awake. It must be the properties of this room. ‘Damn it.’

“Where the hell are we?!” One of them screamed out. “Who cares!? Let’s just kill this guy!” Another yelled. Those were the two that I had knocked out with my wind attack. The leader just stood there looked at me in fear while massaging his now healed right hand. As the two idiots started moving in on me, as single voice called out.

“Who do I have the honor of meeting this fine day?” The voice that called out was familiar to me. Turning around I was glad to see the shadowed form of the man I had met during my avatar creation and when I had used Administrative support to ask about why I couldn’t assimilate a Mage Stone.

“Sir,” I said while deeply bowing my head to him. “I am sorry for the intrusion, and if you deem me worthy of punishment, then I accept it, but please hear me out first.” With curiosity as his primary expression, he motioned for me to continue. I gratefully began to tell my tale of how everything got started and reached this point.

At a few points he stopped me to clarify some of the details, but for the most part he kept quiet as he seemed to listen with growing interest. Finally I had finished my explanation and waited to hear his response. Interestingly enough the guys that had been trying to attack me still had yet to take me down. Turning around, I saw them all frozen to the spot in the act of coming after me. All with the exception of the leader who continued to stare into space.

Quickly turning back to the shadowed man I waited to hear him out. “Jade, or Scott really, I have great respect for you and I honestly to believe your account as to what happened. Unfortunately in this case, my hands are tied without indisputable proof that what you said actually happened.”

“What?” I cried out in dismay at what he was suggesting. To think that these guys would get away with what they had tried to do with just a simple in game beat-down? “Can you not access the data that your computer has on this virtual reality?” I pleaded with him. He sadly shook his head at that. “We actually do not have the capability of recalling video footage like that.” Then a tiny smile crossed his face. “However there is a way that we could get justice. It is something that you have to do though.”

“Yes! Anything! Please just tell me,” I begged of him. “I need your permission to look into your memories.” He simply replied. “What?, yes, go for it.” I said with complete abandon. I had nothing to hide. “Excellent! All you need to do is recall the time when the even happened in your mind and I will take it from there. Admittedly it may feel a little awkward.” He cautioned me. I honestly didn’t care if it killed me to the point that it destroyed my avatar. These guys had to pay.

With that, I thought back to the encounter that single day in the forest when we had the falling out with Lynette’s cousin Stephen and then the more horrible encounter of the 5 would be rapists. Suddenly, with a weird sensation of someone else taking control of my mind, the recollection became so much more clear and it was as if I was actually there again. I watched as Stephen betrayed us to the 5 guys and then as I stepped out from behind the tree. Next came the crashing of the leader’s fist as he knocked me to the ground. After that I saw as the group gathered before Lynette who was shaking in fear. At the point when one of them knocked her down to the ground, I felt a terrible anger that was more potent than my own shiver within the confines of my memory. Then after another minute of recalling the memory, it was over, and I was back in my body in the white room.

“Well that . . .” The shadowed man said aloud with anger in his voice. “That is plenty to go on. Jade, if you would be so kind as to wait for just a moment, I no longer have any compunctions about invading their minds without consent. I will get back with you as soon as I am done with them.” With that, he became silent as he did to them what he did to me, albeit probably quite a bit more forcefully.

It was interesting to watch what it was like from the outside. Each of the men seemed to have screams of agony in their eyes as they could not move anything else. The entire ordeal seemed to take no more than a couple of minutes as the shadowed man did his work. Soon enough, he returned with his overpowering presence to the room.

Utter disgust filled his face causing the shadows to dart about in an unsettling way. “These cretins, have done far worse than what you have witnessed in your small time with them. It will be with great pleasure that I deal with them as I see fit.” Turning to more fully face me, he nodded his head in gratitude. “I thank you for bringing these men to my attention, I hereby give you additional authorization to use the Administrative Access to bring future criminals that have committed similar crimes to these chambers.” “Do be sure to have indisputable proof of their actions before you bring them though.” He seemed to add at the end.

*ting*

Property Protection: (Unique) By pleasing a powerful being, you have been granted this unique gift. Upon disappearance of your body, if you are successful in vanquishing all nearby foes before dying, then your possessions will return with you upon reconstruction of your body at your previous safe sleeping place. Without the use of area protection wards, that location will be the last city or village you slept in.

This skill was certainly unique! I don’t think there would be any natural way of getting it within the game itself. “Thank you very much sir! Though is there anything I can tell my friend Lynette about what you plan to do in regards to them that may ease her fears?” I enquired. “Hmm, you do bring up a good point. I will speak to her myself if she agrees to it.” He said.

With that, I was once again engulfed in the white light before returning to where I was beside the fire pit. “Jade! What did you do to them? They just all disappeared while you seemed to flicker once and then you were in a different position.” I raised my eyebrows at that revelation. Apparently time does not pass inside the white room.

“Lynette, I spoke with one of the administrators. He said he would like to speak with you in regards to what he plans to do with the guys who attempted to hurt you. Are you willing to talk with him?” I asked her. After a brief pause as she seemed to think that over she nodded her head. In that instant, just as she described it to me, she seemed to flicker once and reappeared in a different position.

Looking at her now though, all her tears and all signs of them were gone. Instead in their place was the look of hope. “He . . . He said that I could leave.” She then seemed speechless. “Leave? Leave where?” I enquired with more than a little concern.

Returning from whatever she was thinking of, she answered me. “I could leave my parent’s home and live in my own place . . . where I . . . I don’t have to . . .” She couldn’t bring herself to say whatever went on, but I could tell it included something terrible. In addition to that, I think she was waiting to hear what I had to say. “I’m happy for you,” I gently told her. “You deserve to have a fresh start.” I said this after I had gathered her in a hug. I could feel her nodding her head into my shoulder.

“The only problem is that I don’t know when I’ll be able to log back in. He said that the transition should take a couple of days and I don’t want to leave you stranded out here.” She said all of this while holding onto me. “Go,” I said. “I’ll be fine in the short time that you are gone. “Azure and I can keep out of trouble can’t we?” I ask my furry friend as I broke the hug with Lynette. All I got for my trouble was a shoulder bump against my leg. “See, she says yes. So go, make a better life for yourself.”

With a nod of her head, she disappeared and didn’t return.

*Ting*

You have gained a new Title: Solitary Justicer – Through your actions, you have brought about a measure of justice in a world that sees too little of it. Innocent civilians will see you as a force for good. Bandits and other criminals will fear and seek to destroy you. Depending upon their moral compass, nobility will either treat you with respect or consider you as a threat to their way of life.

* * * * *

Current time in game about 5:30 pm of the 28th of December. Day 119 in game time. 100% pain level. Real Life June 26th about 9:50 pm

* * * * *

Point of View Change. You get to see what happened to the 2 of the 5 friends who were caught.

Mostly because I’m too tired to write all 5.

Bently: The guy who hit Lynette in their first encounter before they tried to rape her- In the deepest reaches of Zanzibar Africa there lives a gigantic bat in a dark cave called a Popobawa. It has a fetish for anything, men, women, children, it really doesn’t care as long as it is satisfied. It is described as having one eye and a very large penis.

After that horrible experience with the man whose face I couldn’t see, I was teleported to this place. Looking about me I couldn’t see a thing. Reaching out my hand, I came into contact with a rock covered wall with some weird tarry like substance. ‘Ewe’ “Where the Hell am I!” I screamed out. “Damn that shadowy guy is an asshole. As soon as I log out of this game I’m going to sue his ass and that company!” “Command bar.” I call out. Nothing happens. “Command bar!” I scream this time. Still nothing happens. “Log Out!” I scream somewhat hysterically. Silence is my only response.

No not silence, besides the echo of my scream to log out, I can hear the sound of thousands of tiny bats. They begin to swarm though the cave going in a specific direction. Several swoop right by me, but none actually touch me. Feeling the wind flow that I guessed to be the direction that they took I figured that I could follow them and find my way out of this accursed cave. Stumbling along I make slow progress in the pitch black darkness.

Soon after what felt like hours but was probably no more than 20 minutes, I start to see a red glow coming from within the cave. ‘Yes light!’ I think with excitement. Maybe it is the exit. As I begin to near it, I realize it is making a weird shaking motion. Then instead of jerking up and down, it changed to slowly moving side to side. As it moved, the glow got bigger and bigger. Soon it became the size of half my fist, and I could hear a low sound like a *SHHkk* *SHHkk* *Kiki* *SHHkk*

I began to feel as if this wasn’t such a good idea to come this way. Then something blocks my view of the red light. Instantly I feel as if I am encompassed by huge leathery sheets with hard bones beneath them. ‘Oh shit! Are these things wings?’ Then I feel claws lightly raking at my clothes as if they were trying to rip them off. Then, “what the hell!? . . . Ugh!! . . . Help!! Help ME!” “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The screams of pain and anguish carried on for a long time inside the endless corridors of the pitch black cavern. That night the people that lived in the villages nearby the cave in Zanzibar Africa would be spared the attentions of the horrible Popobawa, for he had already found his entertainment.

Nathan: The sword wielding leader- Somewhere in North America, maybe even close to where he was abducted, the leader of the would-be bandits and worse found himself to be in a densely green forest.

Struggling to find my way through the thick foliage, I spent about 10 minutes pushing through bug infested leaves and spider covered trees. *Ugh.* I hate spiders. Finally I found my way to a decent sized clearing. Along the way though I heard rustling in the plant life that prevented me from seeing further than 5 feet away in most places. But now that I was in the clearing, I could hopefully find my bearings and find a way back to my campsite or at least a city of some sort. Where the hell had that mysterious shadow guy sent me anyways?

Soon as I had begun climbing a tree in the clearing I slowly rose above the foliage in the surrounding area. Finally I reached the top and looked around. . . Everywhere around me in the far distance, there was more and more plant life. There weren’t even any other clearings like the one I was in. Making my way down from the tree since I was starting to get an itchy feeling. Probably from the sap. Once at the bottom I decided I could just pick a direction and hope for the best.

As I took a single step away from the tree I had just descended from I saw something from my worst nightmare step out of the thick foliage. It was hideous. As tall as I was, it had a shiny black shell and a bulbous abdomen. Mandibles made up its mouth area and it looked somewhat like a preying mantis but with a somewhat human shaped body. Looking directly at me it started doing this weird grinding motion. In that instant I knew that was in danger. I figured facing this would be worse than facing what I had left behind in the last city I had safely slept in. “Command Bar, Logout.” I cried. “Command Bar, Logout!” “nonononoNONNONONO!” I started blubbering as the creature got closer. As it reached me, I realized something very alarming.

I had somehow become aroused. How the Hell did that happen? Oh No!

Too soon after making swift work of his clothes with her precise scythes, the female Reaper began to mate. She had already released the pheromones that make her irresistible to any creature. As the struggling pink creature began to do his job, she started to wonder, how would he taste once she was done with him?

Needless to say, the other 3 suffered similar fates. And the 4th one, the one that had been killed while he had been logged out? Don’t fear, although he joined the group late, he gained his just rewards too.

* * * * *

(A/N) Whew I had to make several last minute changes and I’m still sure I missed something. If you happen to find it then let me know since I’m too tired right now to fix it. Also as always detailed comments are appreciated. Questions that I will try to answer are nice as well since I gain helpful ideas from them. Thank you!

http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=14498