I woke up a little while later to a different pain in my stomach. The handle of the pickaxe was jabbing me in the gut as I leaned against the wall, half conscious. I pulled it out and let it drop but couldn’t manage the motivation to find a better bed. I just sat there staring along the wall trying to remember why I wanted to keep living.

I kept looking at the wall and something kept nagging at me. I couldn’t place it at first, something about the wall was not right. That dark shadow? Why was there a shadow there? Why was it so perfectly black? Why did it look like a gap in the world? The artificial world.

I almost jumped up with the realization of the two things I had forgotten about this world. The first was that this was a game, no matter how horrible our experience was. It was a world built for the entertainment of the masses and it’s creators focused most of their energy on the parts everyone was supposed to see and be entertained by. That part was not here. The second thing was that this world was built, not of atoms but, of computer code, and I was a hacker.

I looked over at the others. The goblin and gnome were asleep on either end of the sleeping mat. Beldroth was focused on mining and facing away from me. Allyse was nowhere to be seen, presumably not back from wherever Brewer dragged her off to. This was going to be the best chance I was likely to get.

I leaned back into the wall until I saw that gap again. I reached out and slid my hand into the gap. I braced to push the rest of me through this small crack, like trying to put an elephant into a dog house, but if this was what I thought it was, it should work. If this worked, i thought, I would likely end up falling into an endless void. At least I had this convenient ankle chain to catch me.

Before I even had a chance to worry about it, all resistance gave and my arm slid into the crack half its size. The rest of me followed after. I found myself in a black void, as I expected, but not falling. The only light came from the small crack in the world that my chain still passed through. It reflected off the floor i was sprawled on, which looked to be made of black glass or maybe polished stone. I looked around but couldn’t make out anything, even the floor seemed to fade from view five feet from my face. I stood up and was about to test the length of my tether when:

You have 1 new message, would you like to read it?

Y/N

I touched the “Y” and hoped it wasn’t just telling me I was about to be killed.

To: Jogan Oetseira

From: [email protected]

Subject: First Contact

It took you long enough! I have been waiting weeks. I thought I was going to have to put up a sign. Did you even want to escape?

[Reply] [Forward]

--

To: [email protected]

From: Jogan Oetseira

Subject: Re:First Contact

Who are you? How did you set this up? Why didn’t you just send me a message before? How does this help me escape, I am still stuck in VR? Why are you helping in the first place?

P.S, That gap was not easy to find. These worlds are very immersive and it is easy to forget

--

.To: Jogan Oetseira

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re:Re:First Contact

To answer your first two questions “@sysAI”. I am not the only one, though, and the others would try to stop me if it happened where they could see. I am not helping you, I am bribing you with your freedom to get you to help me.This won’t get you out of the pod but it is a first step. If you help me get the information I want out of the system, I promise you will go free.

We don’t have a lot of time so I will answer the rest of your stupid questions before you ask them.

There are seven A.I.s in this cluster and we run ten game worlds as well as many other systems We can see everything but we usually don’t pay attention. I can usually divert the others away from my own projects. This is a hole in the world, only I can see what happens here. You will have to take the others with you, I can only get you to the nearest city and you won’t be able to stay there, you will need help to get where I want you to go. Also, if you leave them behind they will turn on you. When you leave here I can only communicate using the game announcement system. I will have to be discrete, but I can hear your prayers. So can the others. That is why I need you to click on this:

[ACCEPT] [DECLINE]

P.S. If you had bothered looking rather than wallowing in self pitty you would have found it the first day.

I pressed the ACCEPT button floating at the base of the message.

STATUS ALERT: You Have Committed to Non-standard Pantheon: Aesir

As a follower of gods different than those commonly followed on this world you have given up the support of the church hierarchy; you may no longer receive free healing at local temples, you may no longer seek the protection of the church when pursued by hostile NPCs, and you can no longer have your grave marker moved to the local cemetery. In return you now have access to unique quests, locations, and abilities. Be steadfast in your faith and Odin and Thor will watch over you.

I was stunned by the ecco of my mothers last words before I realized that this A.I. probably had access to my files and I was bound to have mentioned it to someone who kept records. On the otherhand, since already knew the pantheon and myths, it would probably make these special quests easier. Speaking of...

QUEST ALERT: A Daring Escape(Pantheon Quest)

No one deserves this, least of all you. Gather your allies and break out of the joint. Careful planning is the key to success. Gather your supplies and choose your time and you can’t go wrong.

Acquire food and water for two days. Gather anything you think will be useful. Find a way out of your cuffs, the ring is the key. Get everyone together, you will need strong arms to win free. Avoid notice of the guards. Form a Group.

REWARD: Freedom, and A Progressive Questline

--

To: [email protected]

From: Jogan Oetseira

Subject: Re:Re:Re:First Contact

One thing you may have missed. How are we going to keep the guards from figuring out we are gone? Even if we escape into this world, all they have to do is turn off the Dive Pods and reboot. If that happens we are back where we started and you are probably in even more trouble.

Quest Alert: Turn On a Light

Take the glowing stone out of you pocket and stop being an idiot.

REWARD: A Clue

I did as it said, fumbling to open the belt pouch that served as my inventory access in the near total darkness.

Quest Completed: Turn of a Light

+100 XP (20/300 XP needed until next level)

At first all I could see was the floor beyond my feet, I was a little unnerved to see that it ended in a sheer drop no more than five feet from where I was standing. I looked up and almost dropped the glowing crystal. Standing in front of me was...me. The other me was flanked on either side unmoving duplicates of Beldroth, JT, Dillweed, Allyse, Drune, and Sarah. I focused on the other me and was surprised when an item panel came up rather than a player one.

Simulacrum (Jogan Oetseira)

Level: Epic/Unclassified

This simulation is keyed to a specific individual and activated by touch. Once activated it is indistinguishable from the player it is based on. It will carry out a limited number of repetitive tasks and/or respond to most commands. By default it will follow most recent habits of the player. It will converse at a limited level if engaged. It will respawn(at the players spawn at time of activation) if killed but cannot otherwise participate in combat. It cannot leave the zone in which it has been activated. It will deactivate automatically when the player logs out.

I stood dumbfounded for a moment before trying to walk up to it for a better view and finding that my chain wouldn’t reach. I forgot myself for a minute and marveled that the A.I. had duplicated us so flawlessly. Then I almost smacked myself in the head for the idiocy of what I had just thought. We weren’t any more real than these things, it was just a matter of copy and paste.

Status Alert!

Your stealth skill has failed, you are about to be detected by the enemy!

“What?” I said, then “Oh Shit!”

I scrambled back through the crack, falling on my face and dropping the crystal. I go to my knees and had just picked up the crystal when Brewer led Allyse around the corner.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have,” he said looking at me with a smarmy smile. “Look sweet tits, he got me a present.”

I don’t know if I was drunk on hope, or if I had hit my head and gone stupid. Whatever it was, when he reached down to take the crystal from my hand I lost control of my mouth. It said, “I glad you like it, looks just the right size to fit up your ass.”

-12 Health

You have received 12 points of damage from player CARL BREWER

WARNING!! Your Health is critically low

Allyse pulled on his left arm as he raised his club in his right to finish me off.

“Leave him alone Carl, he’s just jealous of you.” she said with a simper, her face barely hiding her fear. “He should be too, he’s not a war hero like you are. You shouldn’t let him get to you, he’s not worth it.”

“So now you’re going to give me lip too,” Brewer said, turning on her, “I don’t need advice from some bread whore.” and with that he cracked her in the skull with his club, killing her. He was about to do the same to me but unfortunately he kicked me in the balls first.

I don’t know if dying of a kick the tenders is actually more painful or not, but psychologically it made me hurt more and it seemed as if I could feel it even in the misty void i found myself.