Radical-9

CHAPTER 4: Invictus

February 21^st, 2022

1:39 am

The crowd has dispersed. I’m still on the ground out of sheer shock at what had just happened. My eyes are darting back and forth. I don't know how long has passed. Klein stands off to the side, leaning against the town fountain, spouting its water as if it were normal.

“Hey Dex, I...I don't know what to say man, I'm not good with this emotional shit, but we can't sit here. We just can't or we'll end up like...” Klein says, offering his hand to me. I didn’t even notice it before, but his face hasn’t really changed at all. This was his real face. His hair is no longer a vibrant red, but a sort of reddish-brown. His changes were more subtle. He still has his armor and headband equipped. I take his arm in mine and get to my feet.

“There you go. You okay man? You look a little different,” Klein asks.

“Those pythons…we killed them.”

“Yeah.”

“No, we killed them. Because of us they are dead. Do you understand that?!” I am shouting now.

Klein’s face turns from concern to discontent and then he looks away. His voice is nothing but a whisper.

“I understand it.”

“How does this not bother you?” I ask, my voice nothing more than a whisper.

“Man, I've been on the internet. I was fourteen, about a year before all this shit with the government, when I visited this place called 4Chan...there was some fucked up shit on there. Things I can't even think back on because I repressed them, so I guess I'm sort of desensitized to the immediate reactions. I'm not saying I don't feel like shit, because trust me, I do, but sitting here and moping about it isn’t going to solve anything,” he says, placing his other hand on my shoulder.

“What do you suppose we do then?” I ask, trying to keep my heart still.

I can feel my voice growing hoarse.

Klein looks around for a few moments and then finally back at me, “I say we go look for the way to the second floor. Somebody around here has got to know where it is. And if we can somehow catch up to some of the other players maybe we can join up with them? Strength in numbers, right?”

I take a deep breath and realize that he is right. We need to beat this game to get back to our real world, our real lives. Images of my Mom and Jen flash up in my mind, my hand shakes.

“Let’s go.”

“That’s the spirit,” Klein smiles back. “I say we should head to the information center. That seems like the best course of action,” Klein remarks.

“The Information Center? How is that going to help? Shouldn't we go where everyone else went?”

“The one thing you learn about exploring places you have never been to, Dex...” Klein begins, wagging his finger at me, “...is you always find a map as soon as you can. Those people are going to be kicking themselves in the leg when they end up in a dead end and have no clue where to go,” he says.

I nod in agreement and we begin walking.

“You have anybody waiting for you on the other side?” His tone is quiet and somewhat pitiable.

“Yeah, my mom and my sister,” I say.

Klein stops walking. I too, stop and turn around and look at him. He is looking down at the ground, holding his arms behind his back.

“Maybe after this is all over you could introduce me?” He says in a hushed but hopeful tone. He then turns to face me, his toothy grin showing.

“No,” is all I say and continue walking.

Klein runs around and kneels down in a begging stance, a little lower and it'd be like he was proposing.

“C’mon! Bros are supposed to do things like this!" His hands are clasped firmly together. I can start to see tears welling up in his eyes, I have yet to tell if he is this desperate or if they're just fake.

"She's my sister, no," I begin walking, he follows.

"Stop being such a cock block!"

“No.”

He stamps his foot, “Why not, man? Give me one good reason.”

“She's fourteen.”

He sighs a long and audible groan, “Damn it, every time...”

I push past him and he pulls me back by the collar. The wind is knocked out of me for a second or two. Before I can let out a cry of pain I see that Klein is pointing towards the building next to us. He lets me go and I fall to the ground, gasping for air.

“I don't recall you remembering where we're going, so why are you leading, again?” He asks, his question laced with sarcasm.

A poison oh so familiar to me, and I know what he's doing. He's using humor to take my mind off of...well, that.

“I know we're looking for the Information Center, which should clearly be labeled by a sign.

“Oh, you think?” He retorts, crossing his arms and smirking. He begins walking alongside, his head turned towards me.

“Yeah, in fact, I'll be able to lead you there and to then along the way we can talk about how you were asking me if you could fuck my underage sister,” I chide.

“Dude, that happened like so long ago, I can't believe you keep bringing that up! I don't even recall if it even happened as you said it, I think you might have been hitting on my sister!” He says, elbowing me in the side, chuckling.

“You don't have a sister,” I say, smirking alongside him.

“And how exactly do you know that?” he asks, turning to face me again.

“Because, you would've mentioned something about your little code there about bros, and don't even say that you were worried she was underage, because that line was crossed long ago, my friend.” I say, pointing at him.

“Well, geez. Okay Mr. Lawyer-Man, I plead guilty. Fuck, remind me not to borrow any money from you,” he says, laughing.

I shrug my shoulders, “I was co-captain of the debate team at my school, what can I say?”

“Oh, you are such a nerd, why not captain?” Klein sneers.

“I would've been, but the guys who started it were upperclassmen. They had charm and charisma that I didn't. They're graduated now, I didn't really have their drive to keep the group going, so it kind of dissolved. And really, you're about as much of a nerd as I am.”

“I'm a geek, thank you very much. There's a very clear difference,” he puffs out his chest.

“No there isn't!” I say.

“Sure there is! A nerd is someone who gets shoved in his locker because he can't shut up about chemistry. A geek is someone who takes pride in...you know! Geeky stuff!”

“Dude, you are so full of it,” I say.

“Oh, we're here,” Klein says.

“Oh, of course we are, just in time for you to avoid explaining-” I'm cut off by him walking ahead. I can see a large white-stone building to our right up a few, so far it is the largest building I've seen in this town. It's about three stories high, compared to the normal two or one. I jog up to catch up to him, he knocks on the door, bringing up a prompt in front of him.

I cannot read what it says, but I assume it is asking if he wants entry to the center. He presses “Yes” and a light envelops him. In a matter of seconds he is gone.

Following his lead, I do the same. The scenery changes and I’m inside a somewhat large room. It is almost completely filled with other players, others who decided it was smart to come here as Klein had. I notice they're all in high level-looking armor, so they must all be beta testers and know that a map would be helpful.

Just what could be so confusing up ahead? And...where is Klein? I scope out the group, there's only like fifteen to twenty different players, but the armor all looks so similar it is hard to tell. I find my answer as I look closer to the counter in the front. I spot Klein speaking to a woman behind the counter in the corner of the room. I shake my head and let out a small chuckle. I weave my way through the other players as I make my way to the corner of the room.

“C’mon, wouldn’t you say this armor is a sweet piece? You have to admit that.” Klein finishes with a wave of his hair and leans on the counter. The woman looks over to me, her long brown hair falling over her shoulder-piece.

“Are you with him?” She points to Klein.

I nod my head tersely, she nods and sighs. “Just as well. She opens her menu.

“I’ll give you the beginners’ manual for free if you take him away from here, he’s quite annoying.”

My menu opens automatically, with a request for a trade.

“Uh, okay.”

Klein looks visibly hurt for a moment, but only for a moment. His goofy grin returns like a boomerang tossed aside. I press the accept button and now in my inventory is ‘Beginner Guide to Elysium”.

“Thank you so much ma’am. Now Klein, let’s get going.”

I grab him by the arm and he doesn’t even put up any resistance, his feet drag across the floor like a sad dog, but his face is looks like it is about to burst into laughter.

“C'mon, that's all I want, Dex! Just give me the ladies and I'll be set for life!”

“You're out of your mind.”

I can feel his fingers twitching in my grasp, I almost lose my grip as I head out. I open up the command prompt and drag him beside me.

“We have to go, stick whatever fantasies you have in your pants for now,” I say, pressing “Yes” on the question to leave.

Once we’re outside of the information center, I re-open my inventory. I select the guide and Klein looks over my shoulder as I open it up.

“Go to the table of contents, we don’t have any time to waste actually reading through this thing, the map should be in the back,” Klein says, about ready to rip the guide out of my hands.

I flash him a look of annoyance, but ultimately comply. There is one section on dungeon crawling that seems like it could help, so I flip to that first.

“Dex...” Klein begins.

“Wait, I'm looking,” I say, reading. “Hey look at this. It seems that there are recruitments going down to scour the higher floors.” I read out to him.

“Yeah? Do you even know how many floors there are? Is there a map like I asked you to find?”

“I don't know about the map, it doesn't say in here, it mentions a “Mysterious amount of floors within the Castle Elysium,” I read off the page.

“Okay then, where are they being held? The recruitments, I mean.” He asks, crossing his arms.

“It says…Glory Park.”

Klein looks around, “They changed a few things about this town since the beta, but this town layout is basically the same. I don’t know where everything is, but last time I was in here Glory Park was just a bit south from the information center,” he explains, his hand stroking his chin.

“Well okay then, we’ll start looking south,” I say closing the guide. It dissipates into pixels and flows into me.

“That...I don't think I'll get used to that,” I say, laughing.

Klein nods his head in agreement, “Yeah, it's weird. I dunno what the devs were thinking, if it were me in charge of this game I would've just made it straight up blood,” he says, grinning.

“I wouldn't expect anything else,” I say, chuckling.

“What does that mean? Why is that funny?”

“Thinking of you in charge of a game, that's actual responsibility,” I laugh.

“Hurtful,” He says.

We begin walking south, the sun in this world has almost set. It's about two in the morning where I live, so I can assume that the in-game world began asynchronous to the real world's time. It takes us a few minutes, but we find our way to the park. There is a crowd, a little smaller than the one at the town center. There is also a bit more players that are wearing the normal default outfits.

There are some others who have customized there look to defer from the norm. I see a few players in long coats and others in barely anything at all. I wonder why the developers decided to censor the blood when they chose to add in some of these more...revealing outfits. Some of them I wonder if it is even practical to fight in.

“It seems this park was unchanged,” Klein mutters.

“So, about those changes…is that why you don’t know where the ways to the other floors are?” I ask.

Klein nods his head.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go sign up.” I say.

We walk into the entrance of the park and join ourselves in with the crowd, there seems to be a speech or something going on. I take a peek and there is a single player standing on what looks to be some sort of podium.

His hair is dirty blonde, not as bright as the snob I'd met before, that kind of look is almost asylum-white. He is wearing a heavy set of a deep blue armor, it looks to even be bigger than Klein’s. He looks to be about a year or two older than me, but way more experienced. “I propose that we all form parties and make our way to end this game!” He unsheathes a shimmering golden sword and raising it skyward.

The crowd cheers.

I whisper over to Klein, “You know this guy?”

He nods his head, “He was in the beta. His username is Eldon. I heard he was the highest level beta tester. He's got quite the street cred here.”

I look back over towards Eldon, I tune everything else out as I stare at his deep blue eyes.

“We’ve uncovered the entrance to the second floor and our reconnaissance teams have discovered it is a dungeon. That means that at the end of the dungeon is a boss. If any of you wish to participate in the scouring of this dungeon, then form a party of at least three players and meet back here before the break of dawn,” he pauses. “I sincerely hope you all can make it along with us, because we're going to beat this boss down together!”

Time begins to slow, my heartbeat pounds through my ears, and there's a voice screaming inside my head, but I cannot understand what it is saying. His faintest of movements, everything else I tune out. Everything returns to normal, everything but my curiosity.

What the hell happened?

The crowd begins to shift as they look for players to join their party. A window pops up in front of me and I see it as a party invite from Klein. I look over at him confused. “Might as well get it out of the way early, huh?” He laughs. “Go ahead, accept it, it just means we’ll travel together through the dungeon.”

I'm still confused about everything slowing down there, but I shake it off. “Okay.” I respond and hit the accept button.

“There, now we need just one more party member. Let’s split up and find one. I mean, there’s no harm if we both find one, right? Four's better than two anyhow,” Klein suggests.

“Right,” I agree.

He begins walking away, but then walks back, “Oh, and do try to get a chick that, oh, I don't know, might be interested if you tell her I have this really sick armor, okay?” He asks, practically begs.

“You are desperate,” I say, shaking my head.

“Desperate for lovin' baby!” He sings horribly off key.

“You're so weird,” I laugh.

“Weird for-”

“Okay, please don't do that again,” I say.

He laughs, “Remember, hot sexy chick who loves dudes in armor!” He yells as he runs off.

I’m walking my way through the hectic crowd, weaving my way out of the congestion. Where to begin? I pick a direction and start walking. It isn't like I know my way around this place, so getting lost isn't really a problem. I can't be any more lost than I already am. I turn a corner on one of the side roads beside the park. I see a large building made out of a smooth marble down the way, the sign on the front reads “Artist's Guild.”

I'm not a connoisseur of the arts myself, there's something about how people explain themselves through art which is a little...well, bullshit to be frank. Oh, I made this square blue because it demonstrates the human fight for survival! Please, you made that square blue because you ran out of purple on the triangle. Even if I don't understand it, maybe I can find someone here that will want to join in our raid, I mean, stranger things have happened. I walk up to the building, it is taller than I thought from far away. It's about three times the size of the information center in both height and length. Inside there are statues and busts that rest on podiums and stands in front of me, the whole place emanates a calming vibe. I see a sole player behind one of the statues, she stands tall, her hands behind her back as she looks up at a painting hanging on the wall.

“It's quite a show, isn't it?” She says without turning.

“You mean out there? Yeah, I guess you could call it that,” I say, walking closer.

“Stop.”

I do.

She turns slowly, her figure is lean, her auburn hair fit snug on her skull. Her face is a little rough, but there seems to be something else about her eyes, they're calculating, they seem to be analyzing everything around her. Stripping everything down with a glance before moving on, they set straight on me, “You're not here to join the Artist's Guild. You're much too antsy, too little focus.”

I move to speak, but she continues.

“If you aren't here for art, maybe you're here because you're lost? That could be it, your clothes paint you as a newbie, probably fresh into the game, maybe an hour or two? You look sweaty, maybe it's the big announcement that's got you so worked up?”

“Listen, I came in here to see-”

“To see if I would maybe partake in some sort of adventure, to go higher in this castle? No thank you, I'm quite busy here,” she says.

“How did you know I was going to ask that?” I ask.

She looks me up and down once more, “You're practically dripping with it. Plus, you're not the first. I don't do fighting anyway, it's not all that this game has to offer,” She says.

I pace around the room, “So, you just do this?” I ask, looking at the statues of different people.

“No, these were here when the game began, developers coded them in, there's no way I could have created them all in this short time. No, but I am planning on adding onto it.”

“How do you plan to do that?” I ask.

“This game isn't all about the fighting, there's a huge library of things to work with in the arts here. The devs thought I was doing good with their materials, and so they made me head of the Art Guild.”

“I don't really see anybody else here,” I say.

“People are too upset with the current circumstances, art isn't the thing that is on their mind right now,” She says.

“And what about you, how are you handling this situation?” I ask.

She shrugs her shoulders, “I was planning on staying in this town anyway, if people go out then they deserve whatever happens to them.”

“That's...horrible. People are dead, dying even right now in fact,” I say.

She clasps her hands together and shuffles around the room, “People die all the time. It'd be no different if they were traveling through no-man's land during a time of war. People live and people die. The ones who live simply chose not to interact with the obviously deadly,” She says.

I feel like I'm arguing with a wall. I'm not going to be convincing her of anything anytime soon. She's obviously wrong, there is a need for us to continue playing this game. I'm not going to let everybody die here, I want to save as many as I can. Without another word I turn to walk out, but right before I can leave I feel her grab my arm.

“You know...you could stop.” I am silent.

“You could stop now and say that you'd join up here, join the guild. If you go up to try and beat this thing it is going to kill you,” She says.

“I couldn't stay here. I'm much too antsy for stuff like this, it's as you said. This whole thing isn't right, and so I want to fix it,” I say.

She looks at me and lets go of my arm. She nods her head slowly, I return one and leave the building. I don't know what I'm going to do now, just keep on walking and see if I can find somewhere else. Somewhere like a guild set up for combat or something. Maybe I can find-

My thoughts are interrupted as I trip over something hard. I'm falling before I even know it, I tripped over someone’s foot as I was turning a corner. I hit the ground, my vision goes a little hazy, although, since we are in a town my health bar did not drop any.

“Ow! Watch where you’re going-” A somewhat high pitched voice begins to yell at me.

I look up and there’s a girl standing right above me giving me an evil look. She’s wearing what looks to be like some sort of swordsman’s garb. It’s like a coat that parts into two near the bottom, it looks thinner than a coat though, white with red outlines. She has shoulder length dark hair and serene blue eyes. Even with her staring holes into my head I can think of no other word than calm.

“What? Are you going to just sit there?” She asks, stepping back.

“Wh-What?” I ask, snapping out of my trance.

“What me? What you! What are you staring at?!” She barks.

I stand up, “I-I’m sorry. I was just walking and-”

“And you just so happen to trip over me,” she interrupts.

I start to go red in the face, “N-No! I seriously didn’t mean anything of it!”

“Uh-huh, I saw you over there, back with the large crowd. You just so happen to trip accidentally,” she says.

“What? N-No, that isn't it at all, I...why were you watching me?” I ask, my own humility starting to fade.

She looks at me a second, and then notices her mistake, “Watching you? I didn't say that,” she says. There's something...something in her voice, a sort of discord.

“You just said that you were watching me, I'm not deaf, nor am I dumb...but there is one thing I am,” I begin. It's time I take control of the conversation.

“W-What is that?” She asks.

“I'm curious,” I say, letting my confidence build back up, “...if you'd be interested in accompanying my friend and I to the second floor? We're looking for a way out of this game.”

“Are...are you trying to ask me out?” She asks, her face hardens.

“I asked what I asked, and what I asked is rather simple, actually. We need a third person to go with us, can I assume that you don't want to be trapped in here?” I ask.

She takes me in, not sure of what to say, “You don’t seem to be a beta tester, or even a player that looks like they have any skill. You look fresh out of the oven, and yet you think you're going to win this game? What's so special about you?” She says in a condescending tone.

I lean against the side of a building, and I throw on a smirk, “I'd like to think I can be pretty special. I'm going to be getting out of this game, no matter what. That isn't the issue at hand,” I begin. “I'm giving you an option to speed up that process.”

She gives off a sarcastic laugh and walks by me, turning around, “I don't think attitude is going to be enough to win it, I'm sorry.”

I take a moment to think about everything I’m working for, everything I need to get back to. “You have family out there?” I ask.

This seems to catch her off guard, “Y-Yeah.”

“I do too. And so does everyone else in here, and do you know what? There are some families that have lost people they love tonight. I'm not letting my family find me croaking in my bed. I’m not staying in this game for much longer, fuck that.”

She takes another moment and looks at me, she's scanning me up and down again.

“Fine. I'll join you,” She says as a matter-of-fact. She opens up the window and sends the invite. “But don’t be mistaken, I’ve got my own reasons for getting ahead in this game. This is just for this one floor,” She adds.

I accept her invitation and let loose a grin, “In that case, I guess it’ll be a pleasure to work with you. I’m Dex,” I extend my hand.

“Athena,” She says, her arms folded.

“Like the Greek goddess?” I ask, letting my hand drop slowly. I’m met with a stare that seems to say “What else would it be of?”

“You still have your default sword,” she says, looking around me to my sheath. “Passion and attitude can only get you so far. You're going to need to go outfit yourself at the armory. There's one in this town, just follow the road down from here and go passed the pub. I don't want you dying on me right when we start because of a default sword.”

“Where and when should we meet up after?” I ask.

“I have some errands to run myself. You know the big fountain in the park? It should've been near where you were,” she says.

“So...you were watching me,” I say, a grin plastered on my face.

“Not now,” she begins. “I''ll be there in a few hours, I'll only stay until seven. If you're not there, I'm gone, got it?” She has her hands on her hips, looking me dead in the eyes.

“I can do that,” I say.

“Good, now hurry up, I'll get what I need done and I expect you do the same,” she says and then walks off. I watch her coattails trail behind her, she turns a corner and then she's gone. I wait another ten seconds and then I can feel my whole body go nearly limp, the adrenaline is still rushing through my veins. I'm pretty sure it was the only thing keeping me talking.

“Athena…” I say quietly to myself.

It's just the adrenaline from this whole ordeal, nothing more, nothing less. It's going to be just as she says, we're going to team up for this next floor and then part ways, no attachments.

A notification pops open in front of me, alerting me I have a message. It's from Klein, “OMG, DUDE, I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D ACTUALLY GET US A CHICK, I GOT THE NOTIFICATION THAT 'ATHENA' JOINED OUR PARTY. IS SHE HOT? :)”

I take a look at the sky and laugh, letting the humility and insecurity return, letting the adrenaline fade.

Yes.