Radical-9

CHAPTER 8: A Sad Child

FEBRUARY 23^rd, 2022

4:30 PM

Klein looks straight at me with a look of relief, “Dex! You’re up!” He says, raising his arms. In his right hand I see the Keystone. It glistens gold-yellow, about the size of his thumb. The item window opens and reveals its name, the Heart of Ares.

“Yeah, I'm a little sore, but I'll be fine,” I say.

“That was quite a show you put on, I thought you were a goner for a second there, man. Glad to see you're okay,” He says, walking over. “I went to go show Gregor the Keystone. I wanted to verify if it was the real deal or not. And I assume you've told him?” Klein asks.

“I've told him what you've told me, I still am kind of clueless on those things,” Athena says.

“But Gregor knows what they look like?” I ask.

“He raided with Eldon once or twice in beta if I remember right, he was the only person I could think of who might've seen one of these things. I wanted to make sure,” he explains.

“Do you know what they do, besides the buffs to damage?” I ask.

“I think that they may be what we need to storm the final floor, it would follow the formula of making a game. A certain amount of special collectibles to find to reach a certain goal,” Klein explains.

“I guess that fits with what we thought,”Athena says.

“What happened to the other players, the ones who were going to go onto the second floor?” I ask, turning my head.

“I saw a few of them on my way to the armory, a few wanted me to tell you that they were watching the fight and said that you fought well. Others were a little hot and bothered you won, well, a little bit more than hot and bothered,” Klein says.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“There was this one guy who was hoping for you to lose the fight, he was a little snobby,” Klein says.

“Well, he can go fuck himself,” I say.

“So many people would've died if he lead them up to the second floor,” Athena says.

“Right.”

“So, I'm thinking of beginning to move on to the next floor. Are you okay enough to tag along Dex?” He looks over to me.

“Yeah, I should be fine. My arm will heal in time. I'm not going to let it delay our escape from this stupid place,” I say, sliding my legs out from underneath the sheets. Athena stands, walking around the bed.

“Do you need any help up?” She asks.

“No, I'll be fine, thank you though,” I say, standing up. Klein nods and moves to leave the room. I walk out behind Athena, leaving the room and seeing the next room appear before my eyes. We're on the second story of what looks to be an inn. It’s bright and sunny outside, that must mean it’s sometime in the afternoon in the real world. I open up my menu and see that it is about three in the afternoon. I can see that the armory is a few buildings down from the inn. Klein and I must have passed it on our way to the park last time.

“We're actually going to stop by the armory, I'm going to let Beth and Gregor hold onto this keystone for now,” Klein says.

“Huh, why?” I ask.

He walks out in front of the both of us, stepping down the stairs, “There were those players that saw you win that fight, they saw the loot that dropped from Eldon. You remember how I said that there were players that were a little more than a little pissed?” He asks, lowering his head slightly.

“You phrased it more as a little hot and bothered,” I say.

“Same difference, man. These people saw what you got, and when someone gets a rare drop people take notice. Some are proud, others get jealous,” Klein explains.

“You're saying that other players might want to try and take the Keystone?”

“I can say that I am sure that some people would love to get their hands on something as rare as this, maybe some of them might go so far to kill for it,” he says.

“Why would they kill? Don't people realize now that we actually die when our health goes to zero?” Athena asks.

“You'd be surprised at how desperate people can be to get out of this game, even so far I guess to kill others to get out as fast as possible,” Klein says.

“This thing doubles your damage output, no?” I begin.

“Yeah, I can see something like that being highly sought after,” Athena begins. “And if there are six more of these things out there, imagine the power someone could amass by gathering them all,” she says.

“It's definitely something to keep an eye out for,” I say, following Klein down the steps. We walk over, making our way to the armory and enter the familiar building. We each open our menus and head inside. The armory builds itself around us, Gregor is tinkering with a small machine at the counter and doesn’t seem to notice us. I start to feel a little queasy. I guess I’m not one hundred percent okay. I'm going to need to pace myself before I begin fighting again.

“I’ll be outside, I might be a second and I just need some air,” I say to both of them. I exit the building and anchor my left arm on one of the railings outside, cringing as I move it. I think of how lucky I really was, how close I was to dying. Both of them were right. I was a little in over my head, I realize that. I need to take more caution in the future, or else I might not have one. I feel a tap on my shoulder, I turn to see Athena standing behind me.

“Are you okay out here?”

I sit down, my backside against the railing,“To be honest, it feels like my insides are like churned butter.”

She walks over and sits beside me, “Then you should’ve stayed put in the inn, idiot.”

I shake my head, “The thing is...I can’t waste any more time. I need to get out of here. I understand I need to be careful, and I'm definitely going to try to be, but at the same time I need to be fast,” I say.

She looks at me with curiosity, “Someone waiting for you out there?”

I look down at my hands, “Yeah, my mom and sister,” I say.

Athena looks at me and then down at the ground, “By the way, I guess I didn’t get a chance to thank you for sticking up for me earlier on, so thanks for that.”

She turns to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. I’m totally surprised by it and blush, my eyes go wide.

“There, now we’re even. You tell anybody and I’ll cut you open,” she says, although it isn’t with as much discontent as there was when I first had met her.

“I won't tell a soul,” I say, still kind of shocked.

“One more thing...” she begins.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Is...is it okay if I stay with you two for the other floors?” She asks.

“Sure, of course,” I say.

She looks to me and smiles a bit, it's a half-smirk, “I was planning on splitting off with my brother, helping him end this as quickly as possible so we could go back...”

“But he didn't want to go back,” I say.

“No, it seems he didn't,” she says, letting out a breath.

“Do you know why he might've wanted to stay? Was there something that made him stressed in the real world?”

“I...I, no, I don't know,” she says. I hear a sense of discord in her voice, just like before. She isn't telling the whole story, but it isn't my place, so I don't push.

“I'm going to go check on Klein,” She says, standing up abrupt. Damn, I went too far. She walks back and opens the window to enter the armory. I remain where I sit, taking in everything. I know I should rest until I'm at my full strength, but every day spent here is another day lost in the real world. I know it is ironic thinking this, I mean, in a sense it is kind of what I wanted. I wanted an escape from reality, but not having the option to go back makes me miss it more than I ever had, appreciate it more than I ever had. Before I know it, Klein and Athena are right in front of me.

“Athena told me. Just take this,” Klein says, opening his window. Two red potions enter my inventory. I look up at him. “I can tell you aren’t one for sitting in a bed all day, so this should give you some of your strength back.”

I use a potion and the relief is amazing. I feel a cold air brush through my entire body, slowly I begin to regain feeling in my arm and hand. It's gradual, but it is definitely better than nothing. I stand up.

“Okay, the crystal is safe in Gregor’s safe, only he can open it. The perks of being a store-owner, you get shit that other players cannot touch. What do you say we go for a change in scenery?”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“We’re heading for the second floor, of course. It should be a cakewalk without the boss there, am I right? Just strolling on through with only the local mobs to deal with,” he begins to chuckle, then immediately realizes his mistake. “Ah…I mean it’d be a shame…and…stuff…”

Athena sighs, “It’s okay Klein, we can’t change the past. Let’s just move on and escape this game.”

I nod my head, “I agree…but one thing. Do we actually know how to get to the second floor? I thought only Eldon knew?”

Klein smiles, “Oh, it's not like I didn't know how to get to the second floor, that's not why I recommended we go to the park, I thought we could use some manpower with the other players. If we had Eldon on our side we were guaranteed an easy floor, to change floors we need to find a large pedestal. It's sort of like this stone that is embedded into the ground, and all we have to do is use an item called a Teleport Crystal to warp to the next floor,” Klein says.

“Where would this pedestal be, then?”

“This here is where detective Klein comes in,” He begins, faking an accent. “While I was out doing my investigation on the Keystone I found said large pedestal east of the armory, just past Glory Park. The method is the same as it was in the beta, but Adata seemed to have just moved it to a completely different location,” Klein explains.

“Ah, I see. Nice work Klein. Lead the way, Mr. Detective,” Athena says, stifling a laugh.

“Okay then, I wi-that was sarcasm, wasn't it?” He asks, putting his arms down.

Athena nods her head once.

Klein shrugs his shoulders and takes the lead, marching off with either rage or pride, I cannot tell. Athena tries to hold back another laugh, but it comes out in short bursts. We begin chasing after Klein. The buildings pass us by, as do the other players. Some I see are heading past us to the armory, I can see some players in armor just as thick as Klein's. The park passes us on our right, a slight wind begins blowing all around us. I see the pedestal in the distance, it’s small and gray. It has various markings draping it as if it were heavily tattooed, they sort of remind me of the markings that were on Jack Adata's robes.

Klein opens his window and selects open his inventory, “I bought a crystal off of Gregor, we're lucky he still had one. I wasn't in the mood of haggling with some shopkeeper or whatever,” he says.

“So, this pedestal will bring us to the second floor?” I ask, tapping the pedestal with my foot.

“Yeah, since we're in a party we only need one crystal for the teleport,” He explains. He steps onto the pedestal and the teleport crystal appears in his hand. A window pops up, asking “Would you like to teleport party?” Klein selects his answer and I see the both of them begin to shimmer white. It takes a few seconds, but soon we’re all enveloped by light and my vision is filled with all different shapes and colors. Greens and yellows fill the world around me and they meld to form a lush jungle. Trees sprout up. The deep blues return to the sky, but the sun is absent. Athena and Klein appear at my side and we all look around us, we’re right in what seems to be the heart of the jungle. Even Klein looks to be amazed, but a hint of confusion is splotched in his face.

“What’s up? You’ve been here, right?” I ask.

He shakes his head, “No, this was different…The second floor was a desert temple the last time I was here,” He explains.

“Well, this shouldn’t be too hard. We just need to find the exit. It's like you said, a cakewalk,” I reply.

“Yeah, I know I said that, but that was when I had an idea of what the floor was going to bring us. With the first floor being largely the same I was under the impression that the rest might have been too. Something about it doesn't sit right with me,” he says.

“Don’t let your guards down, no matter the situation. We don’t want anyone getting offed by some low level monster,” Athena says.

I nod my head in response. A blood chilling scream sounds out through the jungle, we all stop, looking around. It seems to come from every direction.

“What was that?” I ask.

“It seems to be another player, they must be in trouble.” Athena says.

“What’re we doing here? We have to move!” Klein yells as he begins running.

Athena and I follow, running blindly through the dense jungle in search for the player. We narrowly dodge the incoming trees as they swiftly pop into view. If we weren’t in such a rush, I’d stop to gaze at the scenery just a bit more, but this isn’t the time to think about that. We break the final lining of trees and stop running as we enter a clearing, the whole world seems to open up. There are a pack of enemy wolves surrounding a small child with short, blonde hair. He looks really young for his age, the wolves have him encircled. “Guys! We need to save him!” I yell, ripping Elcor from its sheathe. Klein and Athena nod in silent agreement, they take out their swords and join me. I get a quick glance at Athena’s katana, Wo Dao is it's name. I take my place between them, “I’ll get the kid out of here, you two get the wolves on my way out, okay?”

“Are you sure?” Athena asks.

“Yes, just follow my lead,” I call out. I start running, opening my menu. I select my Shroud of Darkness and use its secondary effect. I can see my hand vanish into the shadows before my very eyes. Just what I wanted. I look behind me and Klein is grinning while Athena looks shocked. I jump over one of the wolves, it doesn't notice me. I guess a sense of smell wasn't programmed into these things.

I grab the child in my arms, he's wearing the default clothes that I had on when I first joined up in this game, albeit they're really small to fit his build. He begins freaking out, His big blue eyes crying out as loud as his mouth. I can’t let him go now or he’s wolf food. The screaming and kicking alerts the wolves, they bend down, ready to attack. I look behind me, there are about ten. I see two on the ends being vaporized, Klein and Athena beginning their attack. I kick off the ground and begin running, still carrying the child. I get a better look at him, his face is smooth, not taut. The one thing on my mind is why he is even here.

My shroud’s effect wears off and I am visible once more. The child looks up at me and slows his crying. “It’s okay, I’m going to keep you safe.” I smile at him. I look back, four of the wolves have been taken care of and three of the remaining ones have stopped chasing me in favor of Athena and Klein. I place the kid down behind me, I need to stop these wolves and quick. Elcor once more unsheathed, I slice the air at the wolves, which seem to slow down and form a half circle around the kid and Me.

I can feel him gripping my leg for support. I raise Elcor to the sky and charge up my Dual Wield skill. I transfer the energy to my other hand and the energy sword forms. The kid lets go and I start charging at the wolves. I rip through the first two wolves, keeping my eye on the third and final wolf. A look of pain washes over its face and then it shatters. I can see a smaller light fall from the bodies of the wolves, a material, no doubt. It seems to be the wolves' hides. I look up and Athena is sheathing Wo Dao.

“Thanks,” I say in-between breaths, she responds by nodding her head.

Klein rejoins us, he had to split up to fend off the other wolves. We all look at the young kid, just what the hell is he doing in a game like this?