Chapter 15: Arianna

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Arianna Moore woke up to the sound of notifications and bells from her screens, so many in fact, that they sounded like alarm bells.

“What in the ever-loving name of—” the young woman groaned, rolling her way out of bed and checking the time. Already nearing midday. Oh yeah, the ruin of last night, including an empty bottle of sparkling wine and carton of drone-delivered takeout sat on her flat table.

She’d been annoyed, angry, and hurt – and she had enough money to do something about it, now.

Connor is such an idiot, she thought, once again feeling her resentment at the guy who had treated her like trash, even though she was only trying to help him.

What was up with people? She had offered him a way out of that crummy Tokyo flat, working with her as one of the new ‘Experience Testers’ for Tir’Nan’Og. Maybe the money wasn’t as great as some contract from a gamer wannabe, but it would be legal and safe. There wouldn’t be any Feds on his tail for doing it, and he would be able to build something, maybe…

“Ugh,” she groaned, instantly feeling foolish for even believing that she could have given Connor a better life. Why did she care so much anyway? He had, after all, always been the same.

Ever since he got diagnosed, anyway, Arianna had to admit, coughing as she shook her head.

She got out of bed and wandered about her flat, getting ready for the day ahead. She ignored the chimes and pings still coming from her screens, concentrating more on her brand spanking new BodyBox, powering it up, making sure it had all of its cords plugged in properly.

Today was to be her first new day as an Experience Tester which meant that she got to jump into Legends of the Six Realms, and basically do whatever she wanted to. And she would get paid to do it. All she had to do is submit a report every week on her experience and allow her play to be observed. Yeah, a bit creepy, but Arianna didn’t mind that. It sure as hell beat jumping every time there was a knock on the door, expecting it to be the Cyber Crime Division.

Arianna put herself together, loaded up on coffee and breakfast—not that she really needed to, because the BodyBox could keep her sustained for a week or more—and finally sat down at her screens.

The first message she saw, other than the tide of spam that never seemed to slow down, no matter how much she unsubscribed from everything, was one from GhostEffect, Connor.

Yeah, sorry I guess – we’ll see who gets Legendary first! :)

“He’s found a way in, hasn’t he?” Arianna groaned. Normally, if this had been a message from anyone else, she might even have been excited to connect up, go adventuring with or even battle her friend in a new game.

But not Connor. The only reason that he would have gone in, was if someone was paying him to grind out experience for them, fixing the League Tables, earning the credits…

“Seriously, Con?!” she snapped, glaring at the message. It was literally her job to report on problems and weaknesses in the game. She was sure that one of the bits of small print had told her to report any signs of cheating.

“What am I supposed to do? Report you to the Feds as soon as I lay eyes on you?” Arianna groaned, suddenly realizing how difficult this could be. Her bosses could observe her gameplay whenever they wanted. If she did encounter Connor in the game, she would have to pretend that she didn’t know what he was doing in there and keep him from explicitly stating it for the whole world to hear.

Or maybe I just won’t let anyone know I know him at all… she grumbled to herself.

Yeah, that would serve him right. He just wanted something to crow about, didn’t he? She would simply ignore him. Her mind made up, Arianna moved on to the rest of her notifications

WARNING!

IMMEDIATE RELEASE!

ALERT!

IMMEDIATE DANGER!

“Uhm, what now?” Arianna looked at the slew of troublesome looking subject headers on dozens of messages. They came from everywhere from the Game-World Alliance, the Digital Enthusiast, and numerous other fan boards dedicated to playing games online. There was even a system-wide message sent from her wi-fi provider

What the…?

She scanned the top lines of multiple messages and saw that each and every one of them was talking about a problem with none other than her present employer. The Tir’Nan’Og server, and, more specifically, with the Legends game-world.

“No, no, no…” she was muttering, as she started to open the messages in order and read all the details. She followed the disaster that had played out while she slept, and it appeared to be a true disaster.

‘The first case was tracked to approximately 10:43 PM, local time (Asia). A young man, one of the first adopters of the new Legends of the Six Realms remained in the game long past the safety cut-off in-built into every Vision 500 Headset. Worried, a friend called the emergency line, to find that this was happening to others all around the world…’

This can’t be happening, Arianna shook her head.

‘By the time dawn came to East Coast of the United States, there were already several hundred reported cases . . .’

‘Players around the world have seemingly become trapped in the Legends game-world, even past the point where their headsets should have automatically disconnected from the game-world…’

Arianna shivered at the thought that she had been just about to log in herself.

‘Emergency Services have been scrambled in every major country and region where Legends of the Six Realms is being played. Some countries are opting to treat the “lock-in’s” in their own homes, while others have set up treatment centers…’

‘It is a rush to get those who have been in the game longest transferred to better medical treatment facilities, before their bodies start to fail…’

‘Tir’Nan’Og has claimed that it is a server-wide glitch that has removed the logout function of the game. They are working around the clock to restore it…’

‘How long before the first person starves to death, locked-in to Legends?’

Connor, Arianna thought, her eyes flying to his first message. He had gone in, hadn’t he? He had to be one of those trapped inside the game as well.

“But he lives alone!” She said, quickly pulling up a screen to find the emergency contacts for the greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area. She could alert them directly, and maybe they would break into his flat and take him to a hospital or something.

‘There is speculation about what might happen to those locked into the game who experience character death, as there is no way for them to leave the game. Already, we have seen three cases where players suddenly fell into a vegetative coma for no apparent reason. Could this be that their characters were killed inside the game?’

Arianna felt a shiver of fear run through her at one of the most alarming pieces of articles in her inbox.

What was going to happen to Connor, in there, if he died? He was a game-hacker. His whole modus operandi was chucking himself into dangerous situations.

Arianna Moore looked from her screen to the waiting BodyBox beside her.

Someone had to warn Connor. Someone had to keep him from getting himself killed.