Vin let the guild’s heavy stone doors grind to a close behind him. The guild hall offered shelter from all the stares, all the whispering and mumbling.
Shill and Cecilia were waiting for him inside, but Vin couldn't bear to face them. He had abandoned the expedition and dragged Shill back just to get humiliated.
"No matter what you say, you're right." Vin put his sword away. "I'm sorry."
Shill walked up to him. For some reason, Vin braced himself for a slap. Perhaps because he deserved one. Shill grasped his shoulders instead. "Look at me," he said. "This isn't like you. Just because you lost a bout doesn't mean you're inferior."
"He humiliated me." The words hurt as he spoke them. "He was holding back the whole time."
"He held back because he didn't want to expose his strength," Cecilia said. "No one had seen that power before, and you forced him to use it."
Shill nodded. "Exactly. Now that you know about it, you can prepare for the real battle. Focus on winning that one. The guild's reputation hinges on it."
"In three days?" Vin laughed dryly. "Even three years wouldn't be enough."
Cecilia crossed her arms. "So you're gonna give up?"
The question gave him pause. Perhaps it would be for the best. Bad publicity meant less sponsors, which in turn meant he couldn’t pay for Sophia's treatment. Despite the danger, something inside him urged him onward.
Vin was caught between opposing needs. He knew Sophia’s recovery was what mattered the most, but treacherous thoughts kept turning in his head. Thoughts of cleansing the bitter taste this battle had left in his mouth.
"I need time,” he said, “to think.”
"Take all the time you need," Cecilia got closer. "You can come to my place if you'd like," she whispered into his ear.
Vin gave her a faint smile. "Go help the guild explore," he said and brought forth an interface.
"Don't worry," Shill said. "I'll lead them well in your absence."
The pulling sensation returned and when Vince blinked next he was on his bed.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
It was amazing what two small implants could accomplish. Vince's white, barren room could turn into a colorful world of magic and wonder. If he could, move, see, and feel in that world, wasn't it just as real? His stomach growled in rebuke.
Vince got off the bed with a grunt. There was a lot to do. He sat on his desk and booted up his computer. Most people had switched to a projection by now, but Vince had stuck with his old one. It still worked fine, so he saw no reason to replace it. Plus, it was easier on the eyes after a Twilight-filled day, less nauseating. He found a new Chinese restaurant and decided to munch the pain away. No matter how shit a day was, Chinese food was always an improvement.
Next, he decided to search for the information on the curse afflicting him. Searching for ‘Cursewright’ yielded no results related to Twilight, but the name Araesh certainly did.
“Araesh,” Vince mumbled to himself as he read. “The third dark god, creator of curses, destroyer of Surmia…” He skimmed through the information for some time, but nothing seemed relevant. There were some quests for the god’s followers, but none of them rewarded players with a skill.
There was a ding at the door. It was a drone carrying his food. Thank god for technology, allowing introverts like himself to survive without human contact for so long. He swiped his credit card on the scanner on its back and got his bag. He plopped down on the couch and debated whether he should turn on the TV. Chances were he’d see himself getting destroyed in slow motion and on repeat. No matter how much he hated the prospect, he had to watch the duel again, just in case he decided to fight. Perhaps then he’d understand what had happened.
Much to his surprise, someone else had the spotlight of all Twilight related channels.
“Earlier today, Xua Yu announced his retirement from Twilight after more than twenty years as its lead developer. Here’s his farewell message to his friends and co-workers.”
The video showed a smiling middle-aged man in a suit, with dark circles under his eyes. “It’s with great sadness that I have decided to leave the Twilight development team. It has been an amazing twenty two years, and I’d like to thank all of you. As for you gamers out there, worry not. The Kosmos A.I. has been completed, and you won’t notice a difference. In fact, I think its newest narrative is the best one yet, so be sure not to miss it.”
Vince wrestled a carrot with his chopsticks. He only knew the basics of how the server side of the game worked. As for Xua Yu, he’d never heard the name before.
The broadcast cut back to the newscaster. “Shortly after Xua Yu’s retirement, the game’s Esports Operations announced policy changes. The twitter feed reads as follows: PvP has always been a high risk, high reward game mode, and we want to keep it as fair and balanced as possible. With the emergence of new video analysis technology, players can obtain an unfair advantage by analyzing the skills and patterns of each individual player. This information gain would not be possible in a real battle scenario, and so in the interest of fairness and realism, the record function will be unavailable in PvP areas until we find a better solution. What does this mean for you? Most players don’t use...”
Vince wasn’t interested in recording the Dawn or Dusk battles, but he knew several members of the guild did it anyway. He saw sponsorship as a necessary evil. Thankfully, Shill always took care of the contracts and broadcasts, so Vince could at the very least play PvP in peace. Still, it seemed he couldn’t avoid them forever.
His phone buzzed. Tommy had sent him a message.
‘Sponsor meeting, ASAP.’