Chapter 221: Birthday Boy

“So I said to the guy, listen ter this *hick*,” Tullan shouted from atop a table, mug of ale in his hand as his feet wobbled and he nearly stumbled off of the table. The dining hall of the Castle of Rene was furnished with finely crafted tables, chairs, and decorative tapestries. All of it lit by finely crafted and enchanted glowing iron lanterns bolted to the light gray stone walls of the huge round chamber.

The place was packed full of players of all guilds, with many familiar faces present from the Night Hunters, the Blades of Kalmoore, and Artaphernes guild. Even Keldan and his buddies were present, as well as Eccen and Galanis, and all the members of the council of Rene.

“I said, we don’t make ‘em in that size!” Tullan shouted the punch line to his story, and the crowd burst out into laughter, including Darkshot and Rakkan who sat at a table beside Aegis, Pyri, and Lina. Behind them, in the corner of the room, the golem gryphon Snowflake was being curiously inspected by Darkwing, who hopped around his stony body and eyed it carefully. Snowflake let it happen, but didn’t seem particularly happy about the bird's behavior.

“Hey, that better not be water.” Herilon appeared across the table from Aegis and the others, taking a seat and plopping his mug of ale down.

“Of course it’s water.” Darkshot shrugged.

“I’m still a minor.” Rakkan joined in.

“Yeah, but what about this guy?” Herilon motioned to Aegis. “He’s old enough now, surely, right?” Herilon asked as Aegis nervously looked towards Pyri.

“In some countries, maybe, but not ours.” She gave him a warning stare.

“Yeah. Water only for me.” Aegis forced a reluctant smile to Herilon.

“Pah, that’s no fun.” Herilon chuckled as Sapphire came up behind him with a carrot in one hand, mug of ale in the other.

“Someone should take Tullan off that table before he accidentally tells stories about things he shouldn’t. He lets the virtual alcohol get to his head a bit too much.” Sapphire pointed Tullan out to Herilon, and the group turned their eyes back onto him.

“Oh, wait, you guys will all love *hick* this story.” Tullan waved at the crowd, as the laughter died down and they all stared expectantly at him. “Lemme tell you the story about how we found MITHRAL!” Tullan cheered, and the crowd suddenly roared with excitement save for Aegis and his table. Herilon immediately sighed and stood back up, stomping over to Tullan.

“Alright buddy, time to relax. That’s a bit too much storytelling.” Herilon said while forcefully lifting up the small dwarf in his large berserker arms and plopping him down on the ground next to the table, Sapphire following behind them.

“What? What’d I say?” Tullan grumbled curiously as the crowd began laughing at the drunk dwarf again, Aegis rolling his eyes at the scene. A few moments later, both Quinn and Artaphernes approached their table and took a seat.

“Hey.” Quinn smiled, eying the room around them. “You’re own castle? Not bad.” She gave him an impressed nod.

“Bit too flashy for my tastes.” Artaphernes shrugged.

“You can’t own land in a fantasy game and NOT build a castle.” Darkshot replied, and got several nods in agreement, including Aegis giving a shrug.

“Hey so, I know it’s a big day for you, I heard you’re taking off in a bit, right?” Quinn asked, turning her attention to Aegis.

“Yup.” Aegis replied, while looking at Pyri and seeing her nod back.

“We oughta leave within 5 minutes.” Pyri explained.

“Okay. Will you guys be coming?” Aegis turned to Lina and Darkshot.

“Yup, me and my Dad’ll be there.” Darkshot gave a thumbs up, and Lina shyly nodded along without being able to look Aegis in the eyes.

“I guess I’ll hold down the fort. I got something for you when you get back, though. It’s late notice, but me and Amlie worked on it.” Rakkan replied with a smile.

“I’m looking forward to it.” Aegis smiled politely, then turned to Pyri and she grinned back at him.

“Cool. We’ll take care of your castle while you’re gone. Shouldn't be anything to worry about though.” Quinn stretched her arms up into the air and panned her eyes around the dining hall. “That Seraxus guy hasn’t been streaming for the last week or so, but the blockade is still up on his island.” She added.

“Yeah…” Artaphernes nodded along. “We’ve got our ears to the ground, so we’ll let you know if anything interesting is happening. You go have fun and enjoy your big day.” Artaphernes patted him on the shoulder.

“Okay.” Aegis nodded back, standing up from the chair. “Should we go now?”

“Yup. See you guys later. Don’t trash the place!” Pyri winked at Artaphernes before logging out of the game world. Aegis, and then Lina and Darkshot followed after, leaving Rakkan to sit and talk with Quinn and Artaphernes within the rowdy dining hall.

As Eli stood up straight in front of his Simbox, Jillian climbed out of hers and eyed him curiously. Eli didn’t notice her watching him at first, and he performed a strange little ritual to shake his nerves off.

“What’re you nervous about?” Jillian asked him with a raised eyebrow.

“Huh? Oh.” He replied somewhat startled that he was being watched. “Nothing. I’m not nervous.” Eli shook his head.

“Riiiight.” She rolled her eyes at him before leaving the living room. “Shower and get dressed quickly, we’re out of here in 15.” She called out as her voice trailed off down the hallway of their house.

Eli had no trouble with the first part of her instructions, showering and cleaning himself up. But when it came to picking out something to wear in his bedroom, he found himself throwing a lot of clothes around, unable to decide. Eventually, his fifteen minutes were up, and Jillian came knocking on his bedroom door.

“C’mon, we’re going to be late.” She called in through the door.

“Right, yeah. One sec.” Eli replied flustered, hurriedly deciding on a plain open black dress shirt over a white t-shirt, and a black set of pants to match. He found himself looking at his outfit in the mirror, adjusting his short blonde hair a few more times desperately as he passed by the bathroom outside of his bedroom on the upstairs floor of the house.

“Let’s move it, bucko!” Jillian called up to him from downstairs once again, finally getting him to leave the bathroom and head down the stairs to meet her. Jillian herself was wearing a simple yellow and blue dress to fit with the hot summer weather outside, and quickly put on a pair of matching slippers while Eli eyed his sneakers and slipped them on.

“Ooh, you’re looking handsome.” Jillian smiled as she watched him make final touches to his outfit. “Normally you’re annoyed by our birthday dinners for you. This time you haven’t complained once - you even dressed up. Hm…” Jillian scratched her chin and eyed him mischievously. “I wonder why…”

“Are we going or what?” Eli grumbled at her.

“Yup. Let’s go.” She smirked before turning to lead him out of the house. The pair climbed into their two seated simple white autopod parked in the garage, and once inside Jillian entered a few commands to tell the autopod where to drive, and it was off.

Hands-free automated driving allowed Jillian to pull down a mirror hanging over the windshield overhead and make some last minute adjustments to her makeup, while Eli curiously watched, briefly checking the smell of his own breath to confirm it was minty like the toothpaste he’d just used to brush his teeth.

Jillian caught this, though, and stopped what she was doing to smile and stare at him with a devilish gaze.

“What?” Eli grumbled at her.

“Nothing.” She shrugged, looking away.

“No seriously, what?” Eli replied frustrated now.

“Nothing!” She replied insistently. From there, the rest of the ride was silent until the pod pulled up into the parking lot of a fairly busy restaurant with a sign depicting spaghetti and meatballs covered in tomato sauce out front. The name of the shop read as Linuaga.

“Italian?” Eli asked as the autopod came to a stop and the doors opened. Simultaneously, a female voice spoke from the dashboard of the pod.

“You have arrived at your destination.” The voice spoke, but both Eli and Jillian paid it no mind and got out, shutting the doors behind them.

“Mhm. I know it’s not mac n cheese but, you’re a sucker for spaghetti too, aren’t you?”

“Yup.” Eli shrugged. Just as they were walking up across the parking lot, Eli spotted Derrick’s autopod pulling up with him and his dad inside, so they waited for it to park and his friend to come out.

“Yo! You’re looking sharp!” Derrick called out to Eli with a grin.

“Not so bad yourself.” Eli eyed him up and down, seeing him wearing a dress shirt as well, but his shirt was buttoned up.

“Yeah, Dad made me.” Derrick motioned to his dad who was dressed similarly, and he chuckled.

“You’re looking older.” Derrick’s father grinned, walking forward and giving Eli a hug, followed by Derrick doing the same with him and Jillian until all had exchanged greetings.

“You’re gonna love what we got you. We’ll give it after, it’s in the autopod.”

“Good. Food first, gifts after.” Jillian nodded. “How have things been at work?” She turned to Derrick’s dad, and the two began engaging in small talk. Eli and Derrick exchanged a few words as well before Eli noticed another autopod pulling up into the parking lot. He followed it with his eyes intently, his heart skipping a beat as he caught a glimpse of Selena sitting in it. Once he had, he tried his best to pretend he hadn’t seen it and engaged Derrick in random pointless talk about the castle he’d just built in Rene.

The sounds of Selena’s autopod doors opening and shutting was enough to get Jillian’s attention off of her conversation to turn and look, though.

“Oh, she’s really pretty.” Jillian commented, drawing all eyes towards Selena as she began walking towards them, her head tilted downwards.

“Whoa, that’s Selena?” Derrick said with wide eyes of disbelief. Eli as well had his jaw dropped as they watched her approach. She, like Jillian, wore a simple cotton dress with a light purple color and small frills at the bottom around her knees. She wore white flats that tapped on the asphalt as she approached, but her body was much thinner and more fit than it’d been when they’d last seen each other at the start of summer.

They all went silent as she approached, until she got a few meters away and looked up shyly at the group.

“Hi… sorry, I hope I am not late.” Selena spoke first.

“Nope, you’re on time, we were just about to head in and get our seats.” Jillian replied with a smile. “I really like your dress.” She added.

“Thank you. I like yours too.” Selena blushed. Eli and Derrick on the other hand remained speechless and just continued to stare at her with jaws dropped until Derrick’s dad aggressively nudged Derrick.

“Come on, let’s head inside.” He said, and Derrick nodded. With that, Jillian, Derrick, and his dad all turned to head into the restaurant, but Eli stayed with Selena for a moment.

“Hi…” Eli said awkwardly, waving his hand as he managed to close his jaw finally. “You uh, you got your braces removed already?” He asked.

“Mhm.” She nodded back, her head tilted downwards towards her feet. Seeing this, he too felt nervous for a moment until he recalled this exact same behavior from her in-game character, and something about that calmed him down.

“Hehe.” Eli laughed suddenly, but stopped himself.

“What?” Selena asked him anxiously.

“Oh, nothing, sorry. It’s just… you’re just like you are in-game, but prettier.” Eli shrugged, but realized after he’d said it outloud that it might’ve been a bit too much.

“Thanks…” She managed to get the words out, keeping her head down. Eli turned to see the others already entering the doors of the restaurant, then turned back to Selena. Like in-game, he recalled how he needed to behave around her, and took a deep breath to muster up his courage.

“Come on, let’s get a seat,” He held his hand out for her to take.

“Okay.” She nodded, then slowly reached out and took his hand. The pair then walked together across the parking lot to reach the restaurant, holding hands the whole way without speaking until they stepped inside to find themselves standing behind the others. The group was then led by a waiter to a reserved table in the relatively crowded restaurant, with menus set out in front of them already.

“Oh I love me some italian.” Derrick rubbed his hands together excitedly as he picked up the menu.

“So, Selena, you’re a new face to these parties. Are you a classmate of Derrick and Eli’s?” He asked curiously.

“Well yeah, but, she’s also Eli’s girlfriend.” Derrick shrugged, which immediately caused the seated Selena and Eli to blush, and Jillian smirked at their reactions. “I mean, you guys are, right? Outside of the game too?” Derrick tried to confirm once he didn’t get a reply. Selena and Eli briefly glanced at each other before Eli turned back to his friend.

“Yeah.” Eli replied, followed by Selena nodding along with a big red smile.

“Oh. Well that’s nice. I promise not to share too many embarrassing stories about you, then.” Derrick’s dad chuckled at Eli.

“Thanks.” Eli rolled his eyes. One by one they picked up their menus to order food and began browsing through the options, but once Eli had finished picking first, he set the menu down and began panning his eyes around the establishment. On the far side of the restaurant was a bar, with several floating screens displaying various broadcasts. Some were news, one was a sports match, and one was of a VGN broadcast which caught Eli’s eye. There was no sound, but he watched the visual displays and read the text on the screen for a bit.

At first, nothing jumped out at him, but just as Jillian was finishing picking out what she wanted and a waitress approached their table, Eli spotted subtext on the broadcast that read ‘Makaroth’s Break!’.

“Hello everyone, welcome to Liguano’s. Are you ready to order yet?” The waitress replied, but Eli suddenly leaned forward in his chair with a serious expression, processing something. His change in expression startled the waitress and caused the others to look at him curiously.

“Something wrong?” Jillian asked him curiously. Eli didn’t reply, he quickly hit his wrist implant to open up a live streaming viewing program in his eye implant, which began broadcasting the same VGN broadcast that was on the screen in the restaurant, only this time he had audio being fed into his ear implant so he could hear what the broadcaster was saying.

“Eli, really?” Jillian raised her eyebrows at him, seeing his implants light up in his ear and beside his eye to allow other people nearby to let him know he was preoccupied. He didn’t reply, so she rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll order first, just give him a second.” She said dismissively, turning to the waitress. Selena and Derrick on the other hand continued to stare intently at him.

“We’re coming up on the 7th day now of Makaroth’s week-long vacation. The top streamer has been taking a break in order to ‘visit friends and family’, but promises to be back streaming sometime in the next 24 hours. So, fear not, fan’s of Makaroth, the wait is almost over, and his adventures will continue shortly! It’s understandab-”

Eli closed the broadcast quickly and stood up from the table, interrupting Jillian in the middle of the order.

“7 days ago. Exactly how long ago Seraxus stopped streaming.” Eli looked down at the others with a serious expression on his face. “He knows it’s my birthday. They’re planning something. We’ve got to get back to Rene, right now.” Eli said with urgency in his voice.

“Huh?” Derrick’s dad replied confused.

“Who’s planning something?” Jillian asked.

“David. I think he’s doing something with Seraxus. They’re going to attack Kalmoore together, I bet.” Eli replied, which prompted both Derrick and Selena to stand up as well.

“Shit, dad, you gotta get us home.” Derrick said.

“Wait, hold on.” Jillain said in an aggressive tone, standing up as well. “Why would your father team up with a top PvPer to attack our island? I mean, I know he’s petty, but he’s not that petty.” Jillian put her arms on her waist. Eli didn’t reply, but anxiously glanced between Selena and Derrick who nervously looked back at him. “Unless of course, there’s something going on with your father that you’re not telling me?” Jillian asked. Once again, Eli didn’t reply. Being his mother was enough for Jillian to be able to read it on his face though - she could tell he was hiding something.

“What did you do?” Jillian asked forcefully, now in an angry tone.

“There’s no time to explain right now, we’ve got to get back. Rakkan won-” Eli froze as he eyed the VGN broadcast across the restaurant, and his eyes went wide at what was being shown. The audio was missing, but the subtext read ‘Seraxus arrives in Kalmoore!’. The others followed Eli’s eyes to see what he was looking at.

“Ok, let’s go.” Jillian saw it, and without any hesitation the group began rushing out of the restaurant, save for Derrick’s dad.

“Ah, sorry. Guess we’re canceling.” He said apologetically to the waitress before rushing out after them.