Chapter 8

Game Start

The road back was quiet. No words came from Rex since his benefactor did not bother to come with him on his way back. In the limousine, there was only him, the driver, and the holographic TV stuck on a channel that showed only news about current events.

He stretched out his hand and a panel popped out on the tip of his finger. His hands moved, skipping channel after channel after finally, he saw the channel he was looking for.

It was a channel solely dedicated to Terroa.

In actuality, there are almost five to eight channels like this one but if other channels that solely dedicates itself on other game titles were to be included, the numbers of channels that talks about the VRMMORPG genre would easily reach 30.

That said, he chose this channel not because it was the most popular one amongst the list of channels for Terroa, but it was actually because this one is directly under the same company that developed the game.

His parents often watched here, monitoring the few developments of the players. They were proud of their work, but the feelings never reached Rex…until now.

In the screen, a player was being interviewed by a male host and beside him was his partner, Kathleen Brew. The player boldly revealed his face and name, for there was no sense on hiding it from everyone else.

Rex knew why.

He’s one of the pioneers.

The interview was about the incoming war of two guilds. He belonged to the aggressive TGG and basing on the smile on his lips he thinks he belonged to the circle of the strong.

He was called Gats by the anchors and Rex watched and studied him. It was a habit he inherited since he is a person who never once trusted anyone else aside from the people he grew up knowing. His reason for such is because it may come to a point where he might meet the man and become his competition.

The man, with his face and shoulder the only shown part in the TV, explained why they are attacking the other guild and from there, even Rex sympathized with him.

But when the interview was about to reach a point to the climax, the speaker from the driver’s seat made a sound and his attention was snatched by the voice.

“Master Kingsley, we‘re here.”

Rex looked outside and saw that they were inside a private subdivision. Rows of monotoned colored gates lined 4 to 6 meters apart. Some of the houses are taller than the rest, with colorful gates different from the unit beside them. In short, this is a townhouse subdivision and they stopped in front of one unit.

Onlookers and curious residents gathered not too far from them and Rex got off in a slow pace.

He can hear the sounds of whispers in the people gathered around them and all the while, he carried the package that was given to him with difficulty. Then he turned towards the driver and asked:

“Are these people also part of your group?”

“No.” The driver got off and helped him. They entered the house. Rex saw that aside from basic living equipments, a TV, and a phone unit, there was nothing else inside the townhouse unit.

At least there was a fridge…

“Up here.” The driver spoke.

Rex followed the man upstairs and confirmed that the house was prepared specifically for a single person.

A boring looking bed, a side table, a lampshade, a balcony, a dresser, a cabinet on the left side, and the all important e-plug for specific electronic gadgets, the only room upstairs is a simple living quarters designed for a single person. Even the bathroom, as he glanced over it just a few steps before the door to the room, was big enough to be considered a bedroom.

He remembered the refrigerator below and wished that there was food. If he was going to be doing his job here in this house, living alone, then food is one of the most important things that must never be forgotten.

As soon as he entered the room, the driver spoke in a low solid tone again.

“Food stock is not a problem. You are expected to stay in this house for as long as the deal is active. Aside from your personal hygiene, the house itself is maintained by another person so you don‘t have anything to worry about but the job itself. Do you have questions?”

“Can I go back to the hospital?”

At that question, Rex saw the stern killer expression on the driver’s face. “No. From the moment you agreed to the conditions of the job, you are immediately under our care. The only time you can leave this house is when you have completed the deal‘s conditions. But do not worry, we already arranged your personal doctors.”

“Wait! What about my brother? My medication?”

“It‘s already being taken care of.”

At that moment, the driver gave Rex an old model hand held phone. On its screen was an active call and so he put the unit to his ear.

“Hello?”

[Rex? Rex is that you?]

“Doctor Faust! What’s happening?”

[I don‘t know. I suddenly got a call from the top and they said that your brother is going to be transferred to a different hospital. Then military men came and tried to take him. They have signed papers and they said they’re only following their orders. What‘s going on? Where the hell are you right now?]

Rex brought down the phone and glared at the driver, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist. “Where are you taking my brother?”

At that moment, a large hologram panel appeared on the driver’s right shoulder and Augustus‘s masked face was smiling there. It was a feat of the latest video-phone technology. The phone unit downstairs is a unit capable of such thing, meaning, once a call is received, if the house is equipped with the link package, the whole house is instantly converted into a large phone.

“Don‘t worry Mister Kingsley, your brother is in the hands of the best military doctors in my contact list.”

“Military?!”

“Yes. You can rest assured that he is going to get the best medical attention he can. In the meantime, you can start working.”

Rex controlled his temper and he spoke with as much restraint as he can.

“Where are you taking him?”

Augustus’s image paused before he opened his mouth. “Fort Magsaysay.”

“That‘s…”

“Mister Kingsley, I think you are forgetting what we have talked about just a few hours ago.” Even though it was just a synthetic rendering of the real person’s voice, the tone and diction was enough to put Rex silent. “I’m a person of my word, Mister Kingsley. In the business world, once you break your promise, your enterprise is the one who will suffer the rift. So when I say that he’ll be safe, he‘ll be safe. And so as I had done my part in our deal, I think it‘s time now that you do yours.”

Augustus had made his move. Rex had been given everything else that he needs. The generosity of the advanced payment and a private working place was all too expensive enough for him.

This job was not as he thinks it is. Whatever was his plans that he had showed Rex, there was still something else hidden beneath it.

Rex’s intuition told him so.

“Three months, Mister Kingsley. Starting today, 92 days will be counted. Graham here will be the one that will answer to all your other questions.”

At that, Augustus’s image vanished.

Graham, the driver, took out the package and spoke, “Mister Kingsley, I will set up the machine and leave immediately after that. You will have to prepare your own food but don’t worry about supplies. The caretaker is scheduled to visit everyday at 6 A.M. to cleanup. She will clean your room, do your laundry and leave as soon as she is done. You can also use the vid-link in anyways you want, even calling the police is alright. In this place, you are just a person who had an accident and are spending your rehabilitation playing games. We are not liable to anything else you will do but I suggest that you do not tell anyone about your real identity.”

“Why?”

“Because it‘s for your own good.”

Rex implanted all the things he heard on his mind and dedicated a certain amount of his memory logs to the rules and conditions that was given to him.

In short, in this place, he is a nobody. He can’t leave -won’t leave. While he did thought of calling for the police, it was a pointless idea. This was his doing. What good is calling the police on a trouble that he brought to himself?

But then, Fort Magsaysay?

It was a place that he can’t visit in a whim. Starting today, he would be spending his time entirely in this house. This is his workplace. For the next three months, his brother’s life is in his hands.

He would have to work for his brother’s freedom.

The price for Baron’s cure wasn’t his life, but his brother’s own. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that he is going out of this mess unscathed. One way or the other, he knew that at some point, he will definitely change.

This price, it was a price higher than his own. But even so, though his plan had failed miserably, his initial goal was still achieved. Now, all he had to work on is taking his brother back to his care.

“Can I see him?”

Graham considered the thought. He looked at Rex’s expression and only saw a defeated man asking for redemption. A sweat flowed in his temple and this did not escape Rex’s sight. He looked at him straight in the eyes then he checked the phone that he gave him earlier.

“No. I‘m sorry. Even if I say once a week, I‘d be lying to you so it would be better for you to know.”

“Dammit.” Rex clenched his fists.

Baron is young. He thought frustratingly.

At three years old, he can be swayed into becoming another person’s son. Or maybe forget about him, or brainwash him into becoming a slave. These thoughts was destroying his composure.

He shook his head and went downstairs.

After he prepared his dinner, a simple rice meal with bacon and egg, he checked for the robotic support on his leg and adjusted it.

“The battery is still good for the next two weeks.”

After eating, he surveyed the house. Two bathrooms on both floors, a balcony, and then a garage turned into a small lawn with a small garden.

His assessment, it was a bachelor’s house.

Though tempted to check outside, he did not dare to do so. He just stayed in the mini lawn and sat down on the bench there. The orchids, the plants, the grass, the stone steps and the few flowers on the side all added up a soothing atmosphere.

He failed to bring any personal things from the hospital. Even the maintenance kit for the robotic legs he’d been wearing.

All of a sudden, his contact on the outside world had been cut. If he was to get out of this deal, he’d have to give them what they want. And Augustus wants five H-class secrets. According to his memory, that is going to be either an item, an equipment material, a weapon, a very useful pet, an armor set, or a MOD that belonged to either Legendary or Unique class.

But in three months’ time…

Rex couldn’t think clearly. His mind was in shock of the things that had happened. No matter how much he spend himself thinking of the things that should have happened, there is no turning back the hands of time.

…I had done my part in our deal, I think it‘s time now that you do yours.

As he recalled Augustus’s words, he also recalled that night when he carried Baron on his shoulders and actually felt his baby brother’s embrace. As he sat down on the wooden bench with one hand still covered in the white dirty cast, his able hand was covering his eyes.

He was ashamed of anyone seeing the tears he was shedding. But still, the fact remained, there’s only him and baron left now.

Because no matter how much strength he exerts as he brave all these things, the fact that he was away from the only family he had left was enough to put him to tears. A real man may be the wall that the people around him can lean on, but at times when he was alone, he himself also needed a shoulder to cry on.

His sobs were silent but the moans, at first, was too painful to suppress. Still, when he had cried enough, he stood up and went inside. And there, he met Graham.

The driver gave him a piece of paper and Rex took a second to read what was in there.

“A web address?” He asked in honest curiosity.

“I am not as hard as you think I am. I, too, have a brother just like you.” Then he walked towards the door and leaned his head sideward, “You never got anything from me. I am just a delivery man.” And he was gone.

As he heard the almost silent hum of the e-engine of the limousine becoming further and further, Rex finally felt the reality of his situation.

He was alone now. He took a few seconds standing in the sala, though there were only the sofa, the TV, and the dining table with two chairs in there. And then the fridge gave a hum that woke Rex’s thoughts. He went upstairs into the room and saw that everything else was already set up.

The Neurolink Device’s CPU, the wireless head set, the first edition information manual about RPG: Terroa, and a note on top of it, were all in the bed.

He held the manual first and then the note.

[Angel Café, City of Loire. It‘s somewhere in the Kingdom of Thrall, in the continent of Espada. Once there, look for Dante. And one more thing, work alone. Don’t ask why. -Ag.]

“Ag…Augustus.”

He crumbled the note and took the other paper he had received earlier. The web address. Somehow, it gave Rex a sense of foreboding conflict. Graham gave it to him on his own volition and so he knew that this is something of a help, in a stern and secret way.

Immediately, he went downstairs and registered his voice in the vid-phone’s data base. Then, he went back upstairs picking up the manual.

“Browser.” He spoke in thin air and a holographic panel emerged in front of him. “Activate manual sync overriding sequence. Set manual input control to active. Set all communications link to manual control…”

For every word he said, a change in the settings in the panel happened. Then, he made a hand gesture with his right hand like a square and a holographic keyboard materialized right on his fingertips. It was the manual synchronization overriding sequence protocol. And as soon as he accessed it, he smiled to see the expected things to see.

In the phone system, there were lines and control settings that was not usually there in a typical vid-phone package. What more, what he saw there were tracking programs with four layers of firewalls set to function as a hidden program.

In short, it was there to monitor his phone calls and his internet activities.

Using his able hand, his speed in manually changing the controls and removing unwanted bugs and programs in the system were in the expert level, enough to make a computer course student envious.

With every press of enter, a green light blinked on the hologram panel. He tested the connection and redid another scan, detected a few bugs, and corrected it. He deleted five other programs more that has nothing to do with the vid-phone settings and even connecting to the internet has been set with four programs designed to do the same things as the other phone trackers.

“And you said it was okay to call the police?”

After a few minutes, he wiped the formed sweat in his head and rechecked if he had missed anything. And when he saw that it was finally alright, he moved on to the second phase of cleaning.

Standing up, he looked around in the room and with sharp keen senses paired with intuition and instinct, did a thorough check on corners and dark areas.

“Bingo.”

In one of the buttons on the cabinet’s button design, a single button detached itself and a hidden camera was stuck in there. A wireless type, the latest model. He checked again on other places, door locks, ceiling, vase, screws, in the glasses, the dresser, his bed, the CR, and even the small details in the lighting systems, inside his room alone, he gathered 11 hidden cameras.

“Privacy is not an option huh…”

He went downstairs and did the same inspection. He never cared if Graham would come back and beat him up but he hated the fact that he was alone in the house yet everybody else was watching him.

26 hidden cameras, 15 mini microphones, and 10 bugspies, all in all, were found all around the house.

But he left one that he couldn’t get into no matter how much he tried. It’s because he didn’t have tools to remove it inside the Hologram TV modulator. Although it was obviously there, it was as if he put it there as a test as to what he would do with it. And so as a reply to that man’s test, he left it alone.

When he had finally finished, it was already night.

As a last activity before he went upstairs, he pressed his thumb on the vid-phone hand held unit and went upstairs just like that.

In there, he sat down on his bed.

“Browser.” He called out and moved his hand to dial a contact number. After awhile, a ringing sound was heard and a man’s voice answered panting.

[Hello?]

“Doctor Faust.”

[Rex! What in the heavens is happening…where are you?!]

“I don‘t know myself. Where is Baron?”

[They took him! They said they were taking him to Fort Magsaysay! Just what kind of mess did you put yourself into?]

He did not answer immediately. Instead, Rex put his back on the bed and felt exhaustion hugging him from his back to his neck.

“I made a deal with the devil.”

[I knew this would happen! I warned you! But more importantly, why did they take him?!]

“I failed to consider the fact that I am nothing to him even if I‘m in my best condition…I…” Rex could not stop the sobs coming out. And even though he had cried earlier, at this moment, talking to the only man he could trust made the loneliness and the loss unbearable.

[It‘s…I don‘t know what happened but those people said that they are the ones who will take care of him from now on. Did you…get your goal?]

“Yes…and…and the price…Baron was the price.”

A pause that came from the other line took the next six seconds. And after the calm of the storm, when Rex had finally calmed, Doctor Faust’s voice spoke.

[Everything has a price, Rex. I don‘t know what had happened but I know that even if it sounded absurd or in an impossible manner, when Augustus gave his word for his safety, he will keep it. And so, whatever deal you had struck with him, you had no choice but to buy the part where you bargained.]

“I know. I know…”

[So…you‘re not coming back…?]

“They forbade me. Plus, I‘m checking in with other doctors for my rehab.”

[Then I‘ll do my part. Technically, I‘m your legal guardian and I also happen to know someone in the high ladder in the Military. I‘ll be staying with Baron until you can see him again.]

“They said it was once a week but I doubt it.”

[You should.]

Rex stared outside the window. In a tropical country such as the Philippines, when the days hit beyond May, rain and storms tend to enter the country. It can bring in lots of solemnity, paired with the fact that activities outdoor is limited.

Right now, it was raining.

“I got a job along with Baron‘s cure.”

[A job? What kind? Is it dangerous?]

“It will be. And death is just the beginning of the problems.”

[You seem to imply that I can‘t know of it. Where are you right now?]

“Doctor, no, Uncle Faust…starting today, everything about my activities will be hidden from you. If I tell you of the deal, they will know it since you are going to be staying with him. So to avoid compromises, I‘ll be on this alone. Please understand.”

[Alright. I understand. And also, it seems that this number is secured. You‘re using an unknown number.]

“I made it that way.”

[Then you do what you have to do. I will try my best to keep Baron company.]

“I‘ll call you again.”

And he cut the line. As soon as he did, an MMS popped up on the browser panel and he opened it. What he saw as the opening were two words. “Good work.”

He scrolled down and a video was attached. He did a swipe and played it on another window. It was Ag.

[Simply genius. You‘re really worth the investment Mister Kingsley. But time is ticking. You may be a kid but I underestimated you. Leaving the TV‘s camera…I never imagined…anyways, tic tock tic tock…]

After watching it, Rex deleted the file.

He stared at the head set that is the sole equipment in connecting in that world.

A dream like universe, using the human’s senses to create an alternate reality, everything inside that world is real. Senses, emotions, people…in the blink of an eye you’re on Earth and at the next, you’re in Terroa where all you see are data from a computer directly manifested inside the brain as the reality.

He was going inside that world not to play and enjoy the game but to work on a job.

Augustus was right.

“Time is running.”

He already knew what was inside the manual. He’d read it many times before during the time of its first release. And so, putting it in the shelf above the bed’s head side, he put on the head set; a mask similar to the one he wore in the underground dome, only, it has an overhead elastic lock that keeps it in place.

After he had fixed it in a comfortable manner, he did a last glance inside the room and laid down on the bed.

He closed his eyes and breathed. In his vision, was a digital clock, the (100%) battery life, the e-plug status, and the ROM Drive connection that says [Connected].

All is well. The only thing left to do was to enter that world. And so, he wasted no more time and closed his eyes after inhaling deep. As he let it out in a single blow, he spoke the words that caught the whole world in a trans.

“Game Start.”