I was finishing the last load of dishes and had already wiped the tables off. Grabbing the broom, I swept the floor and then emptied the garbage. Alaric was sitting at a table nursing a drink. I walked over, sat down, and lit up a smoke. “Busy night, I said.”

Alaric nodded and spoke, “It is and it well be getting busier as winter comes to the city, we bring in a lot of bards and actors to entertain the people. I have been trying to arrange some bookings, but a lot of competition is out there.”

I patted him on the back as I stood up and said, “We will get some good people in, most folks are not that fussy as long as they are entertained. Have to go now, see you tomorrow night.” I left him to grab my cloak from the staff room and then slipped outside the door.

I stood and stared down the street, something was off, just a feeling but my feelings ingame seem stronger and more accurate than ever. I was learning to trust them. I cast my eyes up the street noting all the doorways and side streets I could see. I could see nothing but the uneasy feeling did not go away.

I slowly began to make my way down the street; the fog was coming in heavy and fast. I decided to wait for a few minutes and let it cover the city. Once I felt secure from prying eyes, I ducted into a nearby doorway and cast Shadows.

I quietly began to go down the street again, stopping to listen every few feet. Halfway to the next tier I stopped abruptly. Straining my ears, I could make out a man’s voice. I crept closer to the sound and listened to the conversation.

“What makes you sure he is going to come this way Jack and why are we waiting for him here, we could have just grabbed him at the Pub.”

“I think he is going to come this way because I don’t think he goes up the city to sleep. In addition, we do not just grab people, this is a game, we are not special agents anymore we are players. Do you understand?”

“So what the hell are we doing here then, I am freezing while I wait for someone who may or may not be of interest to us in the chance he may or not walk this way. If he does walk this way what do we do, follow him? I cannot see two feet in front of me in this fog. I mean do you actually have a plan here?”

“Shut up Smith, you volunteered for this, getting paid to play a game, sign me up you said. Well now, we are playing the game and I do not want to hear any more bullshit from you. You read me agent Smith?”

“Yes Captain Jack, I read you and you know what, you can go fuck yourself. We don’t have any legal authority here and any authority you have in the real world ended once we entered the VRP. So fire me, you sob.”

I listened to the two voices, they sounded like a married couple that should have divorced years ago. Bitter and unhappy, like so many people in the real world. I wanted to know what were these agents doing in the game world and why were they looking for me.

I thought for a while as they bickered, I did not learn anything more but the fact that someone was tailing me did not make me happy. I slowly walked over and then drifted around them coming to a stand a couple of feet behind them.

“Gentlemen, I began, why are you spying on me?” It was a simple question, easy and straight to the point. I hoped the answer was the same. Both of the humans jumped about a foot with the short one cursing like a banshee. The tall one, who I assumed was Jack was eyeballing me and then took a step towards me.

Police intimidation technique 101 get into the person’s personal space and make them uncomfortable. I took a step towards him and then grabbed him by the belt and lifted him above my head.

“So you really want to try this shit, I asked.” You two are level one players in this world, that means you are weak and have no real attacks. I was swinging Jack back and forth as I spoke occasionally banging him against the walls.

Smith the shorter Human reached out for me while yelling “Freeze, we are special Homeland security agents, you are under arrest.”

I gave him a taste of lightning, which blew him back to the street where he began to whimper. Lowering the one called Jack I looked at him; he was a little shaken up but responsive. I was not sure where this sudden anger had come from but I still felt it.

I suddenly realized that it was the real world; the thing that I hated the most had now intruded upon me in the game world. Lowering Jack I asked him, “What are you guys doing here?”

Jack looked at me and then shook his head, “You think I am going to answer any questions, think again. You are in a shitload of trouble, starting with assaulting a special agent. I will make the list grow from there.”

“Really,” I said. “Good luck, you have no authority over anyone in a digital realm, I have not seen any possible identification, and what has happened here is what happens when you play online VRP games. So take your threats and shove them you know where.”

I tossed him towards his partner who was getting up and turned to leave. As I stepped around them, I felt a hand grab me and heard “Not so fast, we are not done here.”

We were done here; they just did not know it. I grabbed the hand and began to squeeze it. Once I heard the cursing begin, I let the hand go. Looking at the two special agents, I could feel my anger growing. It was time to send them to their respawn points.

They must have seen something in my face as agent Smith began to scramble backwards but agent Jack just stood there. Lowering my voice I said, “Do you really want to die in this game. I can make that happen, over and over, it is called corpse camping. Not a lot of fun for the people being continually killed.”

Jack’s voice held steady as he spoke, “No I don’t want to be killed over and over again, but by God I will if that is what it takes.”

I spoke, “What it takes, what the hell does that mean. Does it mean that you follow random players and harass them? All the while pretending to have authority here that you do not have. Well my heart breaks for you. Go back to the real world where you can be a bully and get away with it. Here that is not going to happen. Do you understand me?”

Jack looked shocked, maybe no one had ever called him out on what he did. I did not really care I was done here. Turning around I began to walk into the fog.

“Wait,” Jack called out, “Let’s talk. Give me five minutes of you time and we can settle this. I know that you are not just a normal player.”

I did not believe I could trust him but was curious about what he had to say. “All right, start speaking Jack you have five minutes, I answered.”

He looked at me for a few seconds then began to speak. “We are aware that this game in particular is a focal point for a number of reasons. A number of people in the real world have entered this game. These are important people who may not be at the center of attention any longer but who still command respect both politically and financially on the world stage.”

He was talking about the Old Bastards, I nodded to show him I was listening while keeping an eye on his partner who was trying to sneak through the fog and get behind me. I once again cast lightning on him and then smiled at Jack. “If he does that sneak shit again, I will fry you both.”

Jack swore and then continued. “We became aware of this and began to monitor it for reasons of National Security; it is not considered a safe policy to allow all these people to be together like this. We, meaning the government want to know what these people are doing and why. In addition, there is the question of the AI within the game have illegal interactions with players.”

“They are called the Old Bastards and why they are here is simple, they want to live forever or as long as they can. The time dilation effect is why they are in the game. Two months real world is a year here, and when you are as old as they are that time dilation makes a difference.”

Jack looked at me and said, “You seem to know a bit about these Old Bastards, could you explain your information.”

“I have run into them upon occasion, and that is all you need to know, now tell me why you were waiting for me? As a rule I do not like being watched or followed.”

We flagged you once we saw you working in that Pub; you stick out like a sore thumb, a player working for an NPC. I ran a trace on you and it turns out that you are a ghost, a hacker into the system most likely; your name is not a part of the registered player database. So right there you are breaking the law, and subject to my authority.”

This fellow just could not get over his power trip and I was tired of him, the government, and all the other special agents they might have in the game. I now knew all that I needed. Looking at Jack I reiterated what I had said earlier, “You have no authority here, you guys do not have a clue. This is a game for people to retreat to and have fun. Why the fuck are you bringing the real world bullshit here?”

“Listen up," Jack said. "All that you have is the real world, you think this is real or more important than National Security, you think that you can hide in here. Is this what you want? This shit is not real, and you better be thinking about what is, this is not your Homeland. That is outside the VRP where the real world is, not this digitized fantasy game.”

I turned around and began to walk into the fog, when he called out; “Listen this fantasy shit is beginning to intrude into the real world. We have captured an AI virus attempting to infiltrate Gnet. We have it sandboxed but if this Eldest virus AI is from this game then we will shut this down. Then where will you go and hide, you think about that.”

What the hell, the Eldest had tried to leave the game and enter Gnet. That did not bode well for the future of the real world. I had to do some hard thinking about what I had learned. Ignoring Jack I continued my way down the city slipping through the gates like a shadow in the mist. Once I reached the docks, I began to walk towards the section that held the homes of the merchants that had decided to live down here.

Putting all that I had learned into a corner of my mind I began to concentrate on the job at hand. That was to find a nice house, break into it and steal what I could. After walking several blocks, I came upon a house that was well lit up with lights. There seemed to be a party taking place. I stood across the street, lit a smoke, and observed what was happening.

People were arriving for the party and I saw many hired servants in white smocks carrying trays and boxes. The smell of good food freshly prepared assailed my nose just as a voice assailed me ears.

“Hey pointy ears, I am not paying you to stand around and smoke, get your ass in here and put on the smock. I want you to be serving drinks inside, and remember, it is yes sir or yes madam or how may I help you, do not speak anything else. Now grab that tray of drinks and start to mingle with the guests.”

Not quite believing my good luck I grabbed the white smock and put it on. Grabbing the tray of drinks, I entered the house. Milling around the main floor I saw plenty of guests and glancing up I could see a balcony that also had guests spread out and visiting each other.

I was busy for the next hour passing out drinks and vending off invitations from some of the single women.

Going back outside for another tray of drinks, I saw the house owner talking to the manager. He was asking about the babysitter who had not shown up. The manager upon seeing my waved his hand at me so I walked over and asked what he needed.

“I want you to go with the master of the house here, he will lead you upstairs to the third floor where there are several children, you will keep them occupied and entertained while the parents are enjoying the party.”

I nodded and put my tray down, “Sir, if you will show me the way, I said.” Carefully examining me the master of the house said, “You will do, you will have to I suppose. Here follow me, I want you to keep the kids busy, tell them a story or sing the kids some songs, whatever, just as long as they are happy.”

We went up some back stairs to the third level of the house, here the master said, “None of the guests will be up here, these first two rooms are my quarters, the next room is the privy and the last one is where the kids are. I have sent up snacks and drinks so in about two bells they will be tired and can lay down on the mats and sleep.”

“Yes sir, I said as we entered the kids’ room. There were four kids all under the age of six. Two of them had already curled up on the mats with blankets pulled over them. I looked at the others two girls and smiled at them. “Hi girls my name is Torn and I am here to tell you some stories, I said.” I moved into the room and sat down.

I began with some of the stories I had told to the kids when I was growing up in the orphanage. The old ones like Hansel and Gretel, Humpty Dumpty, the three bears and Goldilocks were the stories I told. In about an hour, I was fighting to stay awake, as the kids were all asleep. Being near sleeping kids always has made me feel sleepy. I covered the girls up and made sure that the other kids were still covered and warm. It was a chilly night and the top floor was not that warm.

Leaving the kids, I made my way to the private suite of the owner. In seconds, I had the door unlocked and made my way into the room. The desk was covered in papers and the rest of the room was full of miscellaneous items. I looked at the pictures on the walls and checked them all for a hidden safe.

It was behind the third picture, a lovely seascape with a ship sinking in the background. Removing the picture I went to work, it took about 4 minutes to open the safe and the reward was seeing several heavy bags full of gold coins. I took five gold coins from each of the four bags and then closed and locked the safe. Replacing the picture, I then left the room and locked it.

Once back in the kids’ room I observed that the only window faced the side street. Searching the room, I pulled a small cloth from a table and knotted the coins within the cloth then opening the window I dropped the cloth and coins straight down.

The next hour passed slowly but finally the master returned, looking at the sleeping kids he said, “Good work, here take this for your troubles,” and he passed me a silver coin. I thanked him and then followed him down to the main floor. Once he left me, I made my way out back and ran into the manager.

“Here there,” he began, “I suppose you done now, well here is your pay plus a bonus for watching the kids. If you need more work come to the Misty Inn on the fourth tier, I am always looking for good workers.”

Thanking him, I left the yard and strolled down the street. Once I was lost in the fog, I made my way back to the side street and located what I had dropped. I took my time and slowly walked undetected back to my Inn.

I could see Micha was at the bar so I walked over and greeted him. We sat and talked for an hour and then when he rose to leave I passed him the gold coins I had liberated from the merchant earlier this evening. He looked at the coins then stared at me, “My thanks Torn, he said.” I nodded, it was nothing to me to give him the gold and I was glad I could contribute to the orphanage.

I made my way up to my room and fell asleep. I then spent the next few days working at the pub on the third tier and hanging out with Micha when I was done my shift whenever when he would come in for a drink. I also noticed a bill board that spoke of how Kamasut the thief was captured and her upcoming execution, and the rest is history as they say.