Chapter 6: The Wave.

A spark close to my head shook me awake. It was dark and I rubbed at my eyes, but it did not change a thing. With some effort, I sat up while groaning. I had a headache that made me think there were people dancing on top of me. Looking around just told me one thing, that earthquake did damage to the place. There were monitors strewn about all over the place, with sparks lighting up often around the room. A big beam that clearly came from the roof blocked my view of half of the area. A pain lanced in my head again and grabbed hold of my scalp. But, it only made me panic, my hand became wet. There, was no doubt, I was bleeding on top of everything else going on.

Slowly I got up and scanned over the room. Strangely, I could see just one other person in the room slumped in a chair. My heart thudded faster in my chest, I jumped over the beam and glanced around frantically for Eri and Claire, but there was no sight of them.

I ran to the edge of the room to its only door and a person ran into me. Stumbling back, I realized it was Eri.

“Wil! You’re alright?!”

“Yes. Where is everybody? And what happened.”

Eri was nervously looking around.

“When the earthquake hit, Claire and I fell to the floor. Next moment the whole beam came falling down with several roof panels dropping as well. It was too dangerous to stay inside, so we evacuated, it was only when we got outside in the panic that we realized you were not with us. But, the emergency personnel did not want to let us back into the building until everything had settled.”

Before I could ask anything further, a man dressed in yellow and brown with a strong cap came into view.

“Miss, we have to keep moving, this area took some of the worst damage.”

Eri nodded and turned around, but I quickly said,

“Hey, wait! There is someone back there. I’ll go get him.”

I scampered over the debris and got to the chair where the other person sat. I shook him and said,

“Hey, man. We have to get out of here.”

Nothing.

I shook him harder, surprised he wasn’t waking up.

The guy with the cap came in next to us and pressed his fingers against the man’s neck.

“Sorry sir... there is no pulse.”

I scrambled away from the dead man, my heart beating in my throat. I couldn’t believe it. My eyes wide, I turned and ran past Eri.

“Wil?”

Nevertheless, I sped up and ran out of the building. Even in my daze, I somehow realized it was night outside. Hours had passed.

It was not enough as I went up a hill close by. On top, I fell to my knees and shouted out into the night. I had never seen a dead person with my own eyes before... The movies did not add the same weight to the reality.

But, after a few minutes I started to calm down and sat there silently. It was when I turned around that something slammed me. I have never seen a sight like it before.

Out of the one side of the giant dome, there were these huge glowing green crystal structures that was pulsing. Pulsing just like the BeeHive had done.

That was not just an earthquake. Something entirely different had happened in there.

I was still staring open mouth, when I saw a figure running up to me. I got up and shortened the distance.

Claire came into view. Her eyes wide with fear. I couldn’t understand why she would run to me with such fear. There were loads of other people she knew far better already outside.

“Claire?” I asked quite confused.

She stumbled into view.

“We have a problem. I need your help. I... I don’t know where else to go.”

My fists clenched as we jogged back into the dome, it was clear the main support pillars still stood strong. The building was in better shape than I would have thought possible after that earthquake. The section leading to the BeeHive looked entirely different though. The massive green crystals had invaded a whole part of the dome. This made my mind real again, with what Claire had told me. It had caught me completely by surprise. New terror replace my shock from earlier. But, still some part of refused to believe it true.

Yet when we reached the pod rooms my vision started spinning. Every single one of them that had a person logged into the game looked overgrown with green strands of the pulsing crystal. I ran to the closest pod and stared inside.

There was a woman I did not recognize, but regardless of it, where the main connection cable was, she had a crystal stalk there that fused with her neck and veins of the strands enveloped her body. As I watched, the pulse went from in the wall to her neck. And ten seconds later, the crystals grew a tiny amount, covering her in more of the vein like shards.

It was true...

“What is this?” I asked barely able to get the words out of my mouth.

Claire stood next to me. Her face looked grim.

“We don’t know. And to be honest, it scares the heck out of me.”

“This is... What on earth do you need my help for?”

Her face took on nervousness and then fear.

“I... You...” She breathed deeply. “Eri and Nate have told me you were one of the better enforcers of the game. The thing is, we are locked out completely from the game. We can’t contact Darian to tell him to brute force logout every player. We can’t even insert commands to the Triplet AIs’ nor any of the other AIs’ below them. No one in there knows what has happened! All we can do is send a few people in there and somehow get to Darian in time.”

I stared at the pods covered in crystals. This was by far the scariest thing asked of me in my entire life. I could hardly keep the storm in my mind at bay. Moving forward, I gripped the handle of the closest pod, my knuckles turning white. Everything screamed in me not to even think of going into such an uncertain situation. And that was what it was, a situation in which they could not guarantee a single thing for me. I turned to Claire, a small part of me wanted to turn her down. It was so freakishly scary to even begin thinking about going in there. Would a sane person even do such a thing?

Eri stormed into the room and shouted.

“Wil! Carli and Nate is logged in here!!”

My heart sank.

“What? Are you sure?”

“It is true, Carli and Nate came from your studio to oversee the Zones and mechanics you worked on.”

As she spoke, my breathing quickened, so much so, I could hardly get enough oxygen. Eri was quick to pat my back. But as she did, something strung like a steel cable inside me. If I could help, then I had to do it.

I turned to Claire and said,

“I’ll go in, but I need to ask a few things.”

She nodded.

“Sure.”

“What else has changed? Has anybody been able to log out? What would give me the best chance of getting to Darian? And is there any way to get the crystals off of these people.”

Her brow furrowed and she was chewing on her lip, clearly deep in thought.

“We can still see basic diagnostics; of how stable the regions are and what story lines AI Triplets are busy implementing. But, we can’t interact with any of it. The logging out... I can’t give you an answer. We know as much as you do. Though, I’m sorry Wil, it looks bad. However, I can help you with going in with the best chance. The Zealot Pod wasn’t in use when the earthquake hit. It has much faster response times than the normal pods, it might help.” Claire looked at the pods embraced with crystals and shivered. “The crystals are going to be our biggest concern. It is incredibly volatile and takes extreme care to mold and shape. All I can say, is it is going to be a huge challenge and the most time consuming.”

I nodded as she spoke, my mind racing to what I needed to do. We all knew it needed to happen fast. Every minute outside the time inside was rushing by at breakneck speeds. As Claire said the last part, I glanced up.

“How long would it take then?”

Her head dropped and she took a deep breath.

“Going on how long it took for us to shape the BeeHive without it blowing up in our faces? Months.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. Months out here, but that would mean... I shook my head with dread. Carli’s face popped up in my mind. I couldn’t bear the thought of that girl stuck in there. If the brute force logout command somehow alters the surge that was making the crystals grow into the pods, then I would have to do everything in my power to get to the centre.

“Claire, what are the chances Darian would realize something is wrong?”

Somehow, as I asked that question, I knew the answer.

“He was in the middle of BeeHive, Wil. For all we know, he is dead. And if he is, then your knowledge with handling the AI Triplets will be our best hope.”

I could see the desperation in her eyes and it suddenly made sense why she wanted my help in the first place. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. Then I opened them and looked at Claire and Eri.

“Okay, let’s go. But before I log in, I want to take in at least some information about the World Expansion and where I need to go in the game to reach the Heart of the World.”

They both nodded and we hurried out of the room. It was a mad rush, we needed to hurry, but we also needed to prepare.

I stood at a round table busy going over information that Eri procured of the expansion. It would take me days to go over every detail. But, I was prioritizing certain subjects like spire sieges and which ones was the closest to my position to unlock the zones that leaded to the core of the world. It was more than I was hoping for, the amount of events that need to be unlocked overwhelmed me. This game was never meant to be rushed... This was going to be insane without help.

Then I looked at one point in the game and my entire being sank. The Heart of World cannot be reached alone. There were three arms signifying the Triplets, showing that people would have to be unlocking parts of the game from the other side of the world! All the while, while I was busy battling it out with my side. The Emperor Sieges only unlocked when the other corresponding arms activated.

It meant there would have to be three teams going into the game to get to the AIs’. We didn’t know what state the players inside were in after the Surge, so we couldn’t bet on any of them, at least not without knowing.

While I was stumped, a voice said from my side,

“There will be two more enforcers going into the game. It is a long shot, but if you succeed we can save so many people.”

I glanced back at Claire and lifted the side of my mouth in a slight smile.

“I’ll do my best.”

“You are a brave man.”

I huffed and waved her off.

“We are ready for you in about ten minutes.” She said, as she left the room.

I stuffed as much information into my head as I could, but it was just a small pond compared to the great lakes.

The room was crowded. Yet only the two other women in their twenties and I stood in the middle of the room with a lot of empty space around us. We were the three chosen to unlock our respective arms to synchronize and open up the Emperor Sieges that would lead to the Heart of the World.

This was the war room.

And the truth was, I felt like a man in his undies in Antartica the way I was shivering. Oh, I was certainly not cold. But, I sure was scared.

I looked over to the other two women. The one called Mileva had scarlet hair made up into a braid. She looked utterly in control of her emotions. At least one of us was, and it certainly wasn’t me.

The other one had straight black hair. She was one of the natives. A Japanese girl that looked like she had practised in the dojo far more than me. Her eyes were sharp and ready. My shoulders dropped, I really felt deflated in being so aware of what we were stepping into when my counterparts looked so ready to go save their colleagues.

But, I knew I had to go. I’ve been trying to trick the AI triplets for so long, I really knew how get past their defences. At least I hope that would count in the game.

An older Japanese gentleman stood up next to Claire and said,

“This is a day... a day that has shook our people. We were beat down at our heart. However! United we can overcome anything, we have done so in the past and we shall do so again. Now we send into danger these young ones, let us support them in their trials and pray to God for their safe passage, to bring back to us what we have lost. Let us begin.”

Everyone roared to life in the room. They cheered loudly and I suddenly didn’t feel so alone anymore. My counterparts and I threw our arms around each other and smiled sheepily together. I said to the other two women,

“Let’s do this.”

“For the others.”

“We fight together.”

After that, everything happened fast. I had to put on a sleek grey suit that would make the Maelstrom Support Liquid(MSL) even more efficient in well keeping me stable in my time in the game.

Then I got led to the Zealot Pod. As I walked, my stepsister came up to me, her eyes were teary and she looked uncertain.

“Wil, I don’t think this is a good idea anymore... You can still say no.”

I paused and shook my head before I grabbed her in a hug.

“I am scared, but I have to do this, I see that.”

“What will I tell Mom and Dad?!”

“Tell them I love them, always had. And I love you too my crazy lil sis. Take care of them for me.”

She started crying in my arms. Her shoulders shook and then she looked up at me with tears streaming from her eyes.

“What if something happens to you?!!”

I breathed in deeply and said,

“I’ll not have you think like that. I want you to be strong out here. To be the awesome person you are. I need you to be.”

“You can wrestle all the bears you like! Just stay...”

I chuckled and flicked her nose.

“What fun would that be if you stopped nagging me about it.”

I wiped a tear but she didn’t say anything for a while. After a minute, she stepped away and looked me in the eye.

“Love you big brother. Come back safe, okay?”

We smiled at each other, even with her tears and then I walked towards the pod area.

The two women similarly dressed in the sleek grey suits came to middle ground point between our pods, we bumped fists and I said,

“Okay, so as soon as any of us hit a City in game we start sending invites and mail to each other, it might take a while, but we need to be able to be able to have some form of ability to communicate in game.”

Mileva nodded and said,

“Agreed, the zone I am currently in is the Great Mountains, the closest city to me would take some time. How about you Hayami-chan?”

The Japanese girl straightened and said,

“I am in the Whispering Forest, it would take a few days as well. Though, I do agree as well. What is your name?”

“Wilnox Goodchild. I’m sorry for not introducing myself earlier in the conference room.”

She shook my hand and said,

“Good to me you, Goodchild-san.”

I shook my hands wildly.

“Call me Wil. No need to call me by my surname.”

She smiled shyly and nodded. I was about to say more, when Claire called to me from the Zealot Pod.

It was time.

“Okay,” I said while looking at the two. “All of us know this is not going to happen overnight. But, keep strong and stay patient, and above all trust that even if things go sideways at times, we are not alone.”

We grasped hands and I understood then, that the three of us were going on huge adventures. Separate, but united.

I turned and hurried to the pod. It was already prepped, shining with a golden sheen. No matter what had been said, I still felt trepidation as I stepped into the Zealot Full Dive Pod. Though, there was no going back now. The clamps locked me in place and felt the connection unit pressing gently but firmly against my neck.

I looked to Claire and smiled as best as I could, though, she was completely aware what I was risking here. She typed in a set of commands into the brand spanking new and cutting-edge pod.

“Good hunting, Wil. And God willing, I will see you on the other side.”

“God willing. Um, Claire...?”

“Yes?”

“Take care of my sister will you?”

She smiled softly and said,

“You can count on me.”

The hatch closed me off from the real world. As the Maelstrom Support Liquid started flowing into the pod, I looked to where Eri was busy helping Mileva and Hayami into their respective pods.

I was about to close my eyes, when I glanced across the room to the secondary pod room. I frowned as I saw three people readying more pods. It was just as the MSL reached my shoulders and I was seconds away from being logged in that I saw with clarity how Tai looked back to me grinning back at me like before. He closed Melia and Shiro into their pods and climbed into his own!

I shouted out, but couldn’t be heard through the glass of my pod. As I thrashed, nobody noticed them going in. Just me.

I struggled and struggled, but then my senses started numbing and then went blank.