Clash of Gods – Chapter0.5 – The Drive Home

I went through my last two days in a daze. Woke up at 4 am because with the alterations we did not need more than 3 hours of sleep.

Go to train physically for five hours, where I halfheartedly got beat up by everyone, in swords, knives, and hand to hand. Then 2 hours on the shooting range, with targets moving at 20 km across a room and we having to shoot them, I missed most of them and the mentor punished me with push-ups for the next hour and a half.

I read the gaddang file all night, and I still could not believe my own luck. My sister’s foster parents had been immersed in a multibillion project called Clash of Gods, it was the first full Virtual Reality Game in which you literally become the avatar of your creation, fight monsters and find treasures. they were not the first with the idea, but are the first to create a mother base that could process the full world and users without overloading, a technologic miracle they called it and they combined it with the full immersion virtual reality game, it was still a limitless game full of future potential, comparable with any governments full database capabilities. They adopted/hired me, not because the feel unsafe, at least the file said so, but they want to make sure their darling daughter has no problem with any less than trustworthy people, not that I had a problem with it.

“2893… 2894… 2895…” I just kept doing push-ups until the end of class, I stopped only when our mentor told me too because the class had ended.

Next was music session, I played the violin and guitar, which helped calm me because I could do it on instinct, but started to fumble on the lute and harp, mumbled through some ballads, and destroyed a set of drums.

Next were the regular classes, math, engineering, literature of different languages, and some others too.

We had a farewell party at 10 at night, with cake and all the kids wishing me well. I started to feel a little homesick even before leaving.

At 12 we all went to sleep and I finally accepted what was happening even if I did not know what act to play in front of my new family.

-It took me by surprise, being adopted. Not that I showed it on my face. The smiling couple were just entering the establishment. So I took my time to study them while hidden in the shadows. I still had trouble believing the situation I was in, or that I was forever leaving this place I’ve come to call home.

The man had a beard that looked a month old, and was let out without proper care. He looked strong and confident, but had an air of kindness that could not be faked. He has, dark brown hair, light honey colored eyes and sharp but asymmetrical features. He seemed to be Spanish, but was really pale.

The woman looked about 30 years of age if not younger. Has a small heart shaped face, baby blue eyes and straight golden hair up to her shoulders, a typical past southern belle, but seemed smarter than the stereotype, if the sharp focus in her eyes were of any indication.

But what was the most obvious of their features and what separated them from anyone else, were the dark bags under their eyes, their disheveled hair, and the wrinkled state of their clothing. Both had the same white robe that a scientist or doctor would use, and gave the feeling that they had come from somewhere or were going somewhere in a weary hurry.

In conclusion they looked good but exhausted.

They both stopped in front of the old lady in the reception. The old lady took some papers and passed them over.

The man simply read over them. Minutes passed without a word. The man seemed satisfied as he started to write on whatever papers he had to sign.

The man, John, looked around as if searching for something.

It took me a moment to realize that that something was most likely me, so I grabbed my luggage and stepped into the light with a light smile as if I just got there.

The night before I had decided to act in a neutral manner, no extreme excitement for me, I wanted to make them think that whatever I showed was a conscious act on my part, so that they come to trust me completely, as a person and in my abilities.

John saw me and with a quick smile made a gesture telling me to follow to their van. I, without hesitation, followed them outside. I heard the voice of my new guardian for the first time, outside of videos of my sister, when we got into their vehicle and already moving.

“Well I’m John Tomaya and this is my wife Gabriela, we have been married for the past 15 years, and are your new Mom and Dad. Now, I know you probably don’t want this or feel awkward about it, but you don’t have to. We know what happens in that place and how good you are or not in various areas, and are ready to accept you.” At the end of this he looks into my eyes from the rear-view mirror as if to measure my reaction which made me realize again just how clear and straight forward the look on his eyes was.

So now Gabriela continues the conversation without a pause, giving the impression that they had rehearsed this conversation more than once.

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“We are ready to love you if you want and give whatever you need to grow up fine, but that is not the only reason we adopted you. Now as John told you we know all about your past except before you got to the orphanage, as whatever file there was, is erased when admitted to the lab for security reasons, we know you have heightened senses, physical abilities, and a lot of other things, and best of all you are good at adapting to any situation. We know of your weakness too, about how you have problems orienting yourself through anywhere and that if given the chance you’ll get lost most of the time. We knew this and it is a part of why we adopted you, as this gives us an excuse for you to be near our daughter which is the most important part that contributed to your adoption. We want you to protect her, love her, and be a real brother to her. Her name is Shamira and what we want from you is to be with her, at home for dinner and help her with her problems, as we can’t be most of the time. You see we work a lot and are not at home in days, sometimes weeks, we do our best to be there for her school events but we can’t always be there, and you can. So do you have any questions?” She said this last thing with a sad look on her face, as if to say that doing their best was not nearly enough, in their opinion.

After hearing all that I let one real smile out, because of the real affection in their voices towards my sister, for the first time I decided to really try to like them too, but that did not negate my curiosity and cautiousness.

I had some questions so I asked “Why are you guys absent from your house so much”

“Because we are mayor players in the construction of the most popular games in the world right now, Clash of Gods, have you heard of it?” It was John who answers me.

“No, I haven’t” I reply truthfully.

John smiles “It’s a revolutionary game, the first of its class, but that’s not what’s important. Gabriela and I are the biggest stockholders and head researchers of the game, the research started with our parents and the military but that’s a story for another day. We have practically all gamers that could afford our prices playing the game and other companies are sinking down because of it, that’s how great a game it is.” John said with pride and a bitter undertone in his voice.

“Honey you are derailing from the original question, let me take over from here” Gabriela said “As you heard we are head researchers, but we must be at the lab or office a lot of the time monitoring for any problem, and search for ways to make the game interesting for at least 40 more years” Gabriela said proudly too. “And to stop any problems with our AI, as they are the most scientifically advanced, to the point that they have achieved a sense of self, it on itself is not a problem, but there could be unknown dangers that only john or I could help with.”

Well I knew most of it, but they truly seem to enjoy their job

“So you guys are simply indispensable at work and can’t get breaks often, but I still don’t get why you guys chose me or what you meant when I heard I HAD to protect her” I put emphasis on HAD as if to say either tell me, or I won’t do it.

Which was a total lie, I would have paid anything for the chance to even interact freely with my little sister, but they did not seem to know that, and I wanted to keep it that way.

What I said seemed to have the desired effect judging by their looks and stiff postures but John still responded “We are targets sometimes. People want the secrets about virtual reality we have now and the technology advancements, instead of trying to get it or find it by normal means which could take them years of research and would be an enormous money drain. So they can sometimes get aggressive it’s not something that is certain to happen, even unlikely given security and the police of today, but there’s a small possibility that they would try to take Shamira to get to our secrets.”

“And does Shamira know that you guys adopted me and the reason why?” I asked my last question with a trace of curiosity on my voice.

At that their looks brightened “Nope, she has no idea” John replied with a smile

Something about their cheery expression made my stomach clench with an ominous feeling.

“And how will she react to the news” I asked in an cautious manner

John started laughing, and with a look that said that Gabriela wasn’t that far behind replied “You’ll see”.

In between their giggling I contemplated my fate with a worried feeling, I had a hunch they were not laughing with me, and that whatever fate awaited me was to be a bumpy one.

Do remember if you guys see something wrong tell me plz.

Everyone knows there are three things never to pick a fight with: the Church, babies, and the weather.”

“I do not fear fear, but I do fear the drink. While I need fear nothing when I sleep, to sleep I fear I need to drink.”

ill somhow add this two to the story.