We all celebrate for a short time, just sitting on our rear ends and being happy that it’s all over with. Starlight is ours, and the Starlight Roses have been born. To commemorate our new beginnings, the four of us huddle in the center of town and work on designing a coat of arms for the guild while the NPC’s work on putting out the last of the fires and securing what’s left of the outer wall. A good quarter of it was reduced to ash and charcoal. When we all agree on the symbol to represent the guild, a single red rose that changes from thorny stem to sword hilt atop a silver shield with stars circling it, we talk shop and decide what repairs are the most vital. Of course, we are interrupted when a small squad of our troops march up to us.

Lenard, the bearded, overweight druid accomplice of Alloy, walks among a rag-tag group of the surviving members of the River Raiders. Alongside him are the two rangers from earlier, a monk, a bishop and another druid, none of which I recognize. A squad of our troops usher them forward like how dogs herd sheep, presenting our prisoners to us.

“I suppose it’s time we figure out what we’re going to do with you guys, huh?” I ask. “Take your gear or set you free… What a debate.” I snicker to try to appear menacing, but I really don’t intend to relinquish them of their belongings or kill them. I get the reaction I was looking for: disbelief and a dash of concern.

A hand rests on my shoulder. Looking, I see it’s Felix glancing down at me and shaking his head in disapproval. “No, we won’t be setting them free and we won’t be taking their gear unless they try to stir something up. There’s a better option here, gentlemen. One far less painful, even less than going home with your tails tucked between your legs for surrendering. I’m aware of what it’s like to be in the River Raiders. Being the most powerful guild in Anticore has its advantages and is fun. Most members are true players who devote themselves to getting the most out of the game, in all its aspects. PvP, PvE, crafting, building, you name it.

“The connections and benefits your membership in the River Raiders gives you makes leveling to 20 easy and the dungeons stress-free, but the River Raiders do little for its members’ advancement. Focusing primarily on this starting nation, they never give a genuine push to set up settlements in other nations. Leadership prefers to stranglehold this nation, picking up new players to the game by threat of force. You know I’m telling the truth.

“Having just been formed, the Starlight Roses cannot fulfill anything meaningful today, but I want to offer you a promise. All members will be recognized for their contributions to the guild. Lenard, when was the last time you received a promotion? An important task that reaches beyond Alloy’s ramblings and fancies? A duty and responsibility that mattered, for the guild and yourself. Were you rewarded justly?”

Lenard thinks for a moment, his sweaty brows creasing in heavy lines until he shrugs.

“That’s what I thought,” Felix says. “It’s been over a year since you’ve joined them, yet you’ve only completed one character cycle, and that required you to go out on your own, beyond the River Raider’s territory and into the other nations. Not an easy task. So, let me be clear: I envision a guild that extends beyond this starting nation, one that is just to all its members and forges a path for them to follow through the game. Therefore, here is my promise: I will uphold these values and offer you a place in our ranks. Starting off, the five of you will be given the rank of Captains until my trust in you can grow. From there, it’s possible you can rise to General, or even Commander and Co-Leader should one of us decide to step down. Think on it. A new guild does not form every day. This is an opportunity to show the rest of Libertas what you’re made of. Become a founding member of our alliance, even if only for a month, and I promise it will be worth it. What do you say?”

The River Raiders turn to one another, silently examining expressions for a length of time that seems too long until I realize they must be having private conversations with one another. I figure that’s a good idea, and send a message to the party:

Aiden Rockwell: Are you sure you want Lenard to be a part of us? He could spy on us for the Raiders…

Felix Brandt: Then we work hard enough to give him no reason to spy. Make Starlight a place he can be proud to be a part of and he won’t go back to the River Raiders.

Rubble Miller: That speech… Felix, you almost made me cry xD I’d join if I wasn’t already signed up lol

Lenard turns to Felix, holding his bearded chin as high as his stature allows. He says, “We’ve decided… That we’ll join up with ya. I know you’ve had a beef with Alloy, Aiden, and by extension me and Finn, but I hope we can repair the damage of our conflicts. You know Alloy’s a selfish jerk, but imagine what it’s like being around him all the time. He’s a Co-Leader in the River Raiders, mind you. He says jump, you ask how high. A real manipulative ayy hole for a long time. And trust me, he’s not even the biggest ayy hole in the River Raiders. There’s bigger players who’ll wipe you with a smile on their face. Psychos, I’d wager, But the point is he’s manipulative. I’d be glad to be away from him, even if just for awhile.”

For some reason, reaching out and shaking hands with the stout druid seems like the right thing to do. He takes my hand in his and locks gazes with me. I say, “We’d be happy to have you.”

Lenard grins. “It feels like a new start to me. I’ll see if I can get Finn out here, too. Normally, I’d say we’re attached at the hip, but you guys killed him back there, ha, so it’ll take a while for him to get to Starlight.”

Lenard has joined The Starlight Roses! Welcome!

Dustin has joined The Starlight Roses! Welcome!

Francisco has joined The Starlight Roses! Welcome!

Donovan has joined The Starlight Roses! Welcome!

Al has joined The Starlight Roses! Welcome!

In a few minutes, we all come up with a general method of defense. We split up, taking on various tasks and areas of focus. Mine is the tavern, as I had wanted. Training up our first spies takes priority to me, so I quickly open up my menus and see what the process looks like, only to remember that the Tavern where spies are recruited is damaged from the fire. Several thousand resources later and a construction timer appears.

Tavern (LV. 8)

Status: Repairing (00:04:53:12)

Jeeze… Five hours before I can even start training… I start to worry, and really hope that this doesn’t set me back too far, but a quick sigh and a self-reminder that there’s only so much I can do helps put my mind back at ease. All I can do is my best, here and now. The future that worries me is only a possibility in my imagination, so why would I let it bother me in the present?

The fatigue gnawing at me finally gets the better of me and I start scoping out a place to lay out my bedroll for a quick snooze under the star-lit sky. By the time I do find a spot, I notice that the remainder of our NPC troops, all 23 of them, have been placed on guard duty for the night. I don’t know how much they’ll be able to help if the River Raiders decide to come back with a full-force attack, but I’m glad they’re there for now.

Thinking of the River Raiders gets my mind going. I can’t help but wonder if it’s more than a coincidence that almost every time I’ve come to it new village the Raiders have owned it—with the exception of Gormsay, Birch Castle, and Tiengen— and I’ve ran into Alloy. I can’t help but wonder if he still knows where I am. I mean, he did cast that Life Sigil spell on me when we first met. Even though I can’t see the hazy green symbol on the back of my hand, I wonder if he can still sense where I am and he’s just been toying with me this entire time.

I guess I’ll never know for sure. I’m just glad I put dark lord of the dead six feet deep. I don’t have to worry about dying so much any more, too. The guild will always exist, and as long as we hold a town I won’t have to run through character creation again. I’ll still lose some xp, which is annoying, but not nearly as devastating as it was before.

#

When the morning sunlight finally hits my sleeping bag, I jolt awake and I throw myself to my feet. I have to check on the tavern! Glancing through my HUD, I see that it’s repaired and idle.

“Time to get to work,” I say to myself with a smile.

Tavern (LV. 8)

Status: Idle

Troops available for recruitment and training:

(LV. 1) Thief

(LV. 5) Spy

Building Requirement Not Met:

(LV. 10) Cutthroat

(LV. 15) ???

How many (LV. 5) Spy do you want to train?

Pausing, I run it over in my mind. I want a lot of spies, but time is of the essence. I have to hit the ground running and get the spying started as soon as possible.

Confirmed. 1 Spy will be recruited and trained. Total time: 00:00:59:59

Now I just have to remember to come back and figure out how to assign the spy in an hour. With nothing but time to burn, I look through the Settlement Management screen with a bit more thoroughly. I’m about to tap “Notable NPC’s”, when a small chime fills my ears. I check my logs and see I’ve received a private message.

April Conway: Hello, Aiden. I’m sorry if I’m interrupting something, and I’m sorry to ask this of you because it’s not going to be fun, but there’s something I need to tell you. In person. Could you please log out? It won’t take long, I promise.

It must be something pretty serious if my doctor is sending me a private message. I don’t think I’ve gotten one of those… ever. I do as she asks and log out of Libertas Online, but not before sending a private message off to the others in the Guild. I don’t want them wondering where I am, or worrying about me. In my personal hab with little more than a couch and a TV, I hit “Request to Exit Stasis” and my vision fades to black.

It feels like only seconds have passed when realize I’ve begun to wake up. The fluorescent lighting, metal grated floor, my old wobbly legs and the slow burn in the back of my head. The tank is drained and I’m placed down into the wheelchair. I notice April is sitting on a rolling chair next to me, taking my blood pressure. I’m dizzy, and my vision blurs out, only for it to come back together after what feels like a short nap. It seems to take longer than usual for me to fully wake up, and I wonder if it means that I’m sleeping harder than usual, but that doesn’t seem right. Stasis is stasis. It shouldn’t matter. Should it? It’s also harder to breathe than I remember.

April’s standing over me in her white lab coat, a small, concerned smile on her face. There are two other doctors behind her that I don’t recognize. All of a sudden, the lights seem to flare up brighter, making my head hurt worse, but I squint through it and wait for my eyes to clear.

“Welcome back, Aiden,” April says.

“Hey,” I croak. “What’s going on?”

April bites her tongue. “Well, there are some things you need to know. When you awoke last time, what, a week ago, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to go over your data again. See if there was anything unusual that we might not have noticed before. So I pulled up your file… and I noticed something. I drew your blood and compared microbial levels in your blood from last week to samples from last year.”

April gets up and walks across the room to a wall, plugs a data chip into a screen, and pulls up my file. Inside, a small video clip begins to play on loop from a microscope’s camera. I see what looks like my cells, little circular discs just floating around and doing their thing, but there’s also something else. Tiny, wormlike things that are wriggling inside my cells.

Dr. Conway crosses her arms with a sigh. “Previous data suggested that you had some kind of allergic reaction to Culicidae blood and DNA that caused your body to form that big tumor, but now we’ve come to realize there’s something else going on, too. You’re the host of some alien parasites.”

I gulp, and instinctively touch my side where the hard knot is.

“Hey, take it easy. Don’t pass out. It’s not so scary. Consider this: Mosquitoes, ticks, lots of insects carry around tiny parasites. That how we catch things like lyme disease, malaria, other parasites, and that’s what happened to you. The Culicidae who fed off you was infected, and due to stasis your immune system lost its kick. Unfortunately, while you have been sleeping the parasites haven’t been hindered much. Even though we can add hundreds of years to your life by stasis, it isn’t a perfect technology. This isn’t a sci-fi where you’re frozen in ice. Your heart still beats and your blood still flows, albeit very slowly, and that’s how the parasites are continuing to spread.

“I spent the last week trying to come up with a time frame and options for surgery to remove the tumor and a method of chemotherapy to kill off weakened cells that are infected, but these parasites are taking off faster than ever before. I’m sure you can tell that the infection has moved up into your lungs. Some of us, both on the Shield and in other ships, are thinking you’re going to die. Some of us are afraid that your host body is gestating the parasites until they are bigger. Hey, take it easy. It’s ridiculous, I told them so. Don’t worry, there’ll be no chest-poppers here.”

I fell like I’m getting sick, but I swallow it down and ask, “So, what are you saying we’re going to do? Give me some Frontline Tick and Flea Protection or just put me down?” I half laugh, but inside I’m terrified.

She shakes her head. “Oh, heavens no. At least, not unless we have to, and we don’t have any evidence to suggest it’s necessary. I just wanted you to know that,” she looks away for a second, “your body might not have a whole lot of time.”

“How much time are we talking?”

April shrugs. “This thing is like an avalanche. It seems that these creatures didn’t show up in your original screenings on Earth, which makes me believe that these parasites have adapted to their new conditions. What might’ve been a small rolling pebble back then, is now huge, tumbling boulder. Based on the rates in this past week, I’d say you maybe have a month, in stasis, unless we can figure something out.”

“And what’s the likelihood you’ll be able to find a cure?”

“Reasonable.” April says. “But not in the timeframe we're talking. We will continue to test vaccines, steroids, and inhibitors on your body while you remain in stasis. During that time, I will keep you updated and let you know if any specific drug seems to have more of an effect than the others, but here’s where your choice comes in. There is another option. A backup plan that we’re pretty sure will save you. The catch is that it’s a new experimental procedure, and for classification reasons I can’t tell you about it.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You’re pretty sure it will work… But you can’t tell me about it because it’s an experiment… So you don’t actually know for sure if it will work.”

April shrugs. “Well, yes and no. It’s never been done before, but the team you see before you is pretty confident in their abilities, Aiden. You can either wait and hope that we find an antibody that works, or you can take a reasonably safe chance. Besides, you’ll know the details of the procedure when it’s successfully finished. Unfortunately, in agreeing with the experimental procedure, your body will be moved into isolation until the Fleet Marshall gives the all clear. And I have to be honest, because of what we’re going to be doing, he might not.”

Geez, this must be something serious. Something so crazy they don’t want anyone to see it.

“So, I have to live by myself? Can I just… Stay in Libertas?”

April nods. “You’ll be able to go into stasis, if you choose. But, all of this hinges on if this experimental procedure works out or not. You could die anyways so I don’t want to promise anything, but you’ll be able to go back to Libertas if all goes well.”

It doesn’t take me much more thought. “All right, let’s do it. Like you said, there’s a good possibility I’m going to die anyways. I just hope this will buy me some more time.”

April nods. “It’s a brave thing, I’m told, going in for this procedure. I’ll give you the details of scheduling, and what you can and cannot do during that time, here later today. We’ll try to move and get the procedure scheduled as soon as possible. You’d better get back into stasis, though. The longer you're outside the faster your metabolism, your heart, your lungs everything is working. That’ll just give the doctors less and less time to work on you.”

I shake my head. “If this could be the last time I went to be alive, like really alive alive in the real world, I’m going to take a walk around first.”

April bites her lip as she considers it, but it’s not long before she gives in and begins to push my wheelchair for me. It’s hard to deny a kid’s final wishes. We head out into the Shield’s main hall, and I’m reminded just how dark certain parts of the ship are. Lights are sparsely spaced outside of rooms, and all the flooring and walls are either white, or silver, to try to make it seem brighter and to conserve energy. Someone keeps the thermostat at 50 degrees, too.

April gives me the full tour without a word. I head into the cafeteria, which is mostly empty other than two other people who sit in separate corners of the room. For a moment, think about heading up a vending machine and eating some chips or a pop, anything that I can’t find in Libertas, but my stomach’s an anxious knot. I don’t think I could hold anything down.

She takes me past the door to the bridge, where the captain and pilots are. I get taken through a small, cramped room with nothing but seats and computer monitors they call the library. There are engineering and fabrication rooms, an armory, and other places we aren’t allowed in. Even with the terribly dull scenery, I try and make the best of it.

We finally come back around the entire ship and back into the stasis room. It’s a massive antechamber that’s got at least 200 pods in it. People are lined up like soldiers. All the cables, cords and medical equipment goes up to the ceiling that branches out to terminals along all four walls. I ask April to push me pass all of the pods. And even though I know it’s a lot of walking for her, she still agrees. I want to see their faces, and I want to remember the people I can.

There are men, women, and children, even if there’s only a few. Most everyone doesn’t look sad, but also doesn’t look happy. They're mindless, and I suppose in the state of the stasis that is entirely true. They are barely in their bodies right now, and seeing all these people lined up like this makes me wonder if it really is better.

In the last row, near the back of the room, in almost the very last pod, I see a face that I did not expect. His hair isn’t the same. It’s brown and shaggy, but he’s just as tall and his face is shaped exactly like how he is in Libertas. I tell April to stop walking. Felix Brandt is floating in the pod directly in front of me. And next to him, is a different version of Alloy with more flush and pink skin, and a bit more muscle on his bones. His hair, his jawline and his nose are all too similar for this not to be him.

Then it hits me. A dread far deeper than anything I’ve felt before. How could I be so stupid? Why didn’t I think of it before? If someone was plotting to take over the Shield, they would have to physically be on the ship. I should have asked the captain, or somebody to sift through the people who are on the Shield and play Libertas. Then get ahold of the developers of Libertas and ask them to pin down who was all in Cutter’s Cry that night.

Rin said she was meeting someone at Cutter’s Cry. She led me there. Who was she meeting with? Felix, Alloy, Rin, they’re all connected to the River Raiders. Alloy and Felix are on my ship. Which one of them is involved in this? And does Rin know the truth?

My heart is racing and I feel like I’m about to have a different kind of chest-popper. I feel faint, and my breath escapes me. April smacks me on my cheek but I barely feel it; can’t even hear her. Someone has been playing me this whole time.