Chapter 06-03

“What now?” Obsidian asked looking from the spot where the building was missing to where Alex was standing.

“What now? What now?!” What the hell just happened?” Alex said throwing up his arms. He began to pace in small circles on the sidewalk. It was an unrelenting pace at which things were changing around him and it was getting hard for him to keep up. He needed to talk to someone.

“Yeah, what now? We obviously can’t buy gear here.” Obsidian said with a huff and a shrug.

Alex knelt into a squat to examine the empty lot. He scratched his brow in apprehension. There were several thoughts that ran through his mind. The Tailor’s guild was powerful and thus had access to powerful equipment and powerful supers. They could have pulled out of the city because they didn’t appreciate the ratcheting tension in the area, or perhaps someone in control of the city pissed them off. There were, however, other possibilities such as something bigger removed their building from the city, or a super finally powerful enough to tango with them is punishing them. Alex just needed more information.

“You got any ideas?” Obsidian asked after she let the silence go as long as she could.

“Where is the nearest café? I’d like a coffee.” Alex said standing up off of the ground. He turned towards the city and started to walk away from the empty lot.

“This way.” She motioned leading him down the street. With an about face Alex turned to walk in the direction that Obsidian indicated.

While they were walking Alex decided to take out his phone and message Melena. If there was another that could help the figure out what was going on and get them hooked up with a mission giver it would be her. It had been about a day since they had met on the roof so he though it was about time for an update.

Aether: Hey, any new info?

He sent the message and locked his phone. He was about to put his phone back into his pocket when it chimed before he got the chance. Unlocking the phone, he was happy to see that it was indeed message from his friend.

Melena: It’s been rough, but things are developing. Can you meet?

Aether: I have my sidekick with me. I trust her.

Melena: I trust your judgment. Message me when you get to a place we can talk.

Obsidian lead them to a shop called Fresh Snow. The small shop was tucked into a side street between a couple of other shops. In truth Alex really only noticed the other shops because his mind was running a million miles a minute after the disappearance of the Tailor’s Guild. He had rarely done business anywhere else and when he was an admin, he had rarely done business at all. His mind was busy working on contingency plans for their supplies. Between them they only had a couple of health and energy serums.

They walked inside to a comfortable sitting area that was decorated in warm rural décor that made Alex feel like he was visiting his grandmother in some of the southern states back on what was left of Earth in the remnants of the United States. Most of the world’s population had congregated in city states using the existing infrastructure to attempt life as if nothing had happened. Small pockets built from scratch in small settlements living off the land and not accepting the help of the machines to get back on their feet. Alex’s grandmother and grandfather both lived in the south before they died.

“Get us a seat. I’ll get the coffee goodness.” Obsidian said weaving her way through the tables to the counter to get the drinks.

“Order for three. We will have a guest.” Alex called to her. He turned and found and table in the corner of the room. There were four chairs at the table and Alex hated that there was no window, but with the layout of the seating area privacy didn’t come with a window.

“Alrighty?” She said with a questioning conformation.

Alex sat down at the table and messaged Melena that they had found a place. He placed his phone on the table and leaned back in the chair. He sighed a long breath. The world was changing, and it was changing fast. Something huge was coming to pass. When he was an admin, he would have known what was going on, but now he felt like he was the bottom of the pile.

Obsidian returned to the table with three steaming cups of coffee. She bought the large cups. Alex took his cup and gently tasted a sip of the warm beverage. The extremely sweet assault hit his taste buds nearly choking him. It tasted like liquid diabetes.

“What the hell?” He demanded.

“It’s the autumn banquet.” She said with a grin.

“That’s too much sugar.” Alex shook his head.

“Shut up and enjoy it.” She said shaking her head in time with his.

Alex noticed the bathroom door open, but when he looked through it there wasn’t a bathroom on the other side. Instead he could see out into an alleyway. Melena walked into the shop and closed the door behind her. A yellow light filled the cracks around the edge of the door.

When she sat down at the table Obsidian slid the extra coffee to her. She took it and gave it a short sniff.

“Autumn banquet?” She asked.

“Sure is.” Obsidian said with a curt nod.

“Excellent.” Melena said taking a sip, “Melena.” She held her hand out towards Obsidian.

“I’m Obsidian.” She said taking Melena’s hand shaking it firmly.

“Um, Melena is an old friend.” Alex explained.

“Nice to meet you.” Obsidian said with a friendly smile.

Melena looked to Alex to still be exhausted. Her super suit was battle warn and filthy. She leaned forward on her elbows taking a few sips of her drink.

“So, what’s the skinny?” Alex asked taking a long sip of his own coffee.

“Utter chaos.” She said. She seemed better put together than the last time that they had met, which wasn’t that long ago, but she still had an air of exhaustion about her.

“Alright. Any more info on what has happened to the account page?” Alex asked with a push.

“Right, um… yeah.” She said fidgeting.

“Out with it!” Alex said loudly but repeated himself more softly.

“Alright, but look, calm down.” She said while she sighed.

“Promise.” Alex said putting up his hand leaned back in his chair pretending to be cool.

“From what I’ve been able to gather, the world that we are ‘playing’ in,” she said throwing up air quotes with her fingers, “isn’t a game anymore. Something took over for the highest-level AIs that ran the game and turned everything into a real actual place. The NPCs are real people now not just information on a server.” She explained. Alex’s eyes shifted to Obsidian who was listening just as intently as he was.

“What exactly does that mean for players?” Alex asked.

“I was told that our souls were permanently shifted into the bodies that we have in this world. We don’t know for sure what happened to the bodies that got left behind, but I’m sure it wasn’t pretty. I’m guessing death.” Melena said miming a throat slit.

“You’re telling me,” Alex bit his knuckle in excitement, “That I am a real life Super Powered Person, not just playing in a game anymore? Why the hell couldn’t this have happened a month ago when I was an admin at my prime.” He asked. His mind began to race with the possibilites that could have been if it had happened only a couple of days earlier.

“That seems to be the gist of it.” She said with a nod.

Alex couldn’t contain himself. He whooped loudly and punched the air.

“Calm down.” Melena said holding out her hand to stop him, “Not the freaking out that I was expecting, but still.”

“Sorry.” Alex said a little lightheaded.

“Some of the admins have gathered and kind of started our own city. You’re welcome if you need haven.” Melena said rolling her eyes at his reaction.

“Are things that bad?” Alex asked. He hadn’t felt like things were too out of control, but at the same time he was living in an area that had almost zero players beyond himself.

“In some places. High player population areas. Aether there are some players that are awful people.” She said shaking her head.

“That’s horrible.” Alex said crossing his arms over his chest. Obsidian nodded in agreement.

“It hasn’t helped that the NPCs seem to be getting more powerful. I heard another admin talking about one that figured out how to get multiple abilities.” Melena explained in a hushed tone.

“Oh, wow.” Alex said.

“Really?” Obsidian said pipping up for the first time during the whole conversation.

“Yeah, I don’t know how true it is, but at this point I don’t know what not to believe. I mean if we’ve come to this new world and everyone is essentially the same, why couldn’t everyone have multiple powers?” Melena suggested.

The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes and sipped on their coffees. Alex was rolling this new information over in his head. He was more than excited about what was unfolding, but he could see the potential for tragedy and complication.

“What about in game deaths? I’ve died since this all started, I came back.” Alex asked.

“Not enough information.” She said shaking her head, “I would be careful though. On one hand since we are all basically the same maybe the NPCs were given the ability to respawn too, maybe you got lucky and next time you might not be. It’s not a theory that I would be keen to test.” She said.

“Noted.” Alex said with a nod.

“Look, I’ve got to get going. I’ve already been out too long, I think. Is there anything else that you need?” She asked looking down into her empty mug. She stood up from the table.

“I’m out of mission givers here, is there any help you can offer?” Alex asked.

“Go see Function. He’s an AI that could offer you some help.” She asked. A notification appeared on Alex’s HUD that showed him how to get to a building on the east side of the city. He accepted the route and minimized the window for the moment.

“Thanks.” Alex said with a smile.

“No problem.” She said returning the smile though hers was wary.

“You take care of yourself, ok?” Alex said standing. For the first time in as long as he could remember he felt the desire to hug someone. When he leaned over to do just that she hugged him back.

“You do the same.” She said in his ear.

Melena walked to the back of the shop. She tapped a small device to the door frame, and it lit up brightly with pink and purple light. When she opened the door, she did not walk into the bathroom, instead she walked into another part of the world.

“How about we go see this Function guy.” Alex suggested looking over at Obsidian.

“I’m in. I’m itching for a mission.” She said with a nod.