Chapter 2: A Couple

Suddenly the white room was replaced by billowing clouds of white fog that slowly creeped up his body. Looking down it was so foggy he could barely even see his hands. The newly christened Dark tried moving through the fog, in order to find an end to it.

He had heard about virtual reality before, but it was so realistic he could even feel the moisture of the fog passing through him.

Passing through him.

He looked down again and tried finding his torso.

He couldn't.

He could however see gravestones lining the ground.

R.I.P.

Dark was in a graveyard haunted by fog.

“How cliché…”

What wasn't cliché though was the fact that he was apparently lacking his body. When he put his hand down he could feel himself but as he walked forwards he could also feel things moving through him.

He was a ghost.

In a graveyard.

In the fog.

“Yep. Totally cliché…”

He kept walking ignoring the gravestones that he discovered he could walk through. Dark followed a path to the edge of the graveyard and then exited by simply travelling through the wall. The gate was right next to it, but since he couldn't open it anyways he figured he would just have to go through it.

It felt a bit strange, feeling things pass through you. It felt like what you would expect it to feel had you ever expected such a thing… which he hadn't.

Immediately outside of the cemetery the fog was completely gone, looking back he saw it clouding over the graveyard in an unnatural way.

“How eerie… (but still cliché…)”

Even the cliché is starting to get cliché.

Dark turned around to see where he had landed. It was a road of what looked like a big town in the middle of its morning bustle. He was about to head down the road that most people were following when he felt the strangest thing.

Someone passed through him.

He felt sick to his stomach. Dark felt like throwing up but couldn't. It was a horrible experience. Even when he had food poisoning years back and had to be hospitalized, he had never imagined he could feel so sick. It was absolutely horrendous.

Dark backed away from the middle of the street, not wanting that sensation to happen again. In fact, he backed so far off that he landed in the graveyard again.

Immediately, he felt much better.

“Fuck. What the hell was that!?”

A person had gone through him.

“How did he not see me?... Well… I guess the same way I can barely see myself… “

Wanting to get out of the cliché… but still eerie fog Dark traveled through the graveyard wall again, this time slowly. He peeked his head out before the rest of his body, and after ascertaining himself that the coast was clear he inched the rest of his body out as well, taking care to stay glued to the graveyard wall.

Dark started to look around, observing the environment. Across the street from him he could see a marble church with stained glass. People were milling about and cautiously exiting the church. While the church itself was in good repair, the rest of the neighborhood seemed very rough by comparison.

Windows were mostly broken, and boards were nailed over entrances and holes in the walls. Dark realized he was in the bad part of town, the church though… seemed nice, and without realizing it Dark had floated across the street to the church’s entrance.

He realized where he was when the door suddenly swung open and through him. He stepped back instinctively trying to get away from the door. It was obviously too late for that, but his step also prevented him from being passed through by another person. He sighed in relief as the person narrowly avoided making contact with his body.

As he skirted the rest of the church he wondered why he had even bothered with the door. As a ghost he could have just gone through stuff… old habits die hard, so Dark forced himself to go through the wall.

Inside the church, he continued to skirt the walls, afraid of passing through a person again. From the sidelines he observed as new people were resurrected every couple of minutes or so. Having played some video games in his youth, he realized that the Church was the resurrection spot.

All the people he saw appear out of thin air... were players… probably Korean players. After all, the game wasn't released anywhere else yet. Curious, Dark left the security of the walls and approached the spot where the players spawned.

“...die like that!? That was embarrassing… even for you!”

-”Nice of you to say… Where exactly are you!?... Exactly!”

A man and a woman were arguing. Dark would have ignored them were it not for the fact that he could understand them perfectly… in English. Well… that… but also because the girl was hot. He had no idea what the guy looked like because all his attention was riveted on the girl.

The thing that stood out most were her violet almond shaped eyes. Her features were soft but still harsh somehow. The lines of her face were perhaps a little too sharp but Dark thought it just added to her exotic features. Her cupid bow cherry red lips moved in a seductive way as she spoke.

“But this is the third time you died.... Give it a break already!”

She was feisty. He liked that in a girl.

-”Might I remind you that you died too… every one of those times!?”

’What a douchebag.’

“Yeah but you died first!”

’Yeah. You get ‘im girl!

-”Oh don’t give me that sh-”

The door swung behind the bickering couple as they left the church.

It kind of pained Dark to think of them as a ‘couple’.

’A couple… They are just a couple of people… like I have a couple of bananas on my kitchen table… yeah… maybe they aren't really a couple...’

Dark realized he was reasoning himself in circles and decided to follow them out of the church… just to see if they really were a couple... for curiosity’s sake.

Outside of the church the streets were still somewhat crowded, but not as crowded as Dark remembered them being. It was easy enough avoiding walking into people (literally). He started following the… pair and soon got back into hearing range.

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“... go there now.”

The girl was saying.

-”But… Again!? Nothing is different. We are just going to die again! We should at least look for another team mate!”

“And share the loot? No, thanks.”

Dark spoke up without thinking.

“I’ll go… and I don’t even need any loot!”

As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them, knowing he would come across as a peeping Tom.

“Well… it beats us dying and having to wait another day to re-spawn. I think I have spent more time out of game since the game was released than I have in it. We are what? Level nine? I have friends who are level twenty already. Why do you insist on getting into that graveyard anyways?”

The girl swiveled her head towards the man.

-”Because.”

Dark was barely paying attention to what they were saying as he was still shocked they couldn't hear him. He tried speaking up again, waving his hands in front of their faces while trying to avoid touching them.

“Blahbibluh! I banged your mother last night!”

He shouted at the man.

Nothing.

Dark was kind of freaked out by that… though it was perfect for the stalking activities he was currently undertaking… it also meant that he could never talk to the girl.

-”You know. ‘Because’ is not an answer… the beginning to one… maybe... but not an answer.”

The girl glared at the man.

Dark really did like feisty girls, but there was nothing he could do about it.

In real life he wasn't a ‘player’ in the boy-toy sense of the word… but he wasn't shy either. When he liked what he saw he usually went after it and it was stressing him out that he couldn't do that now.

He continued to follow the pair as they continued to argue with one another. They walked into a tavern of some sort and sat down at the bar. They were ordering food when Dark started feeling lightheaded. Everything started to get blurrier and blurrier until a notification popped up.

Your satiety level has fallen below its minimum threshold. You are starving.

Dark was momentarily freaked out until he saw the food that the two had ordered arrive. Greedily, he tried to attack it. He figured he couldn't get beat up anyways so it should all turn out fine.

Instead of grabbing it and running off with it though, his hand passed through the food like it did everything else.

Unless you eat something soon, you will die.

Dark wanted to eat he really did. In a last ditch attempt he tried to open his inventory. He figured since he was a ghost the game would have at least given him some ghost food.

“Inventory”

There was nothing there. Absolutely nothing. Dark was starting to really freak out now… and then he figured it didn’t matter if he died… since it was only a game. Then, he looked at the girl one more time. He wanted to at least get her phone number… or register her as a friend. Somehow, he needed to see her again. He was starting to feel like a playboy.

Dark had run out of options, he did not know what kind of food he needed to eat and there was no clue as to what kinds of foods he could eat.

Then.

He remembered.

The graveyard!

Without further thought he started running towards the graveyard, the place where he had felt the best. The place where he had miraculously recovered after feeling sick to his stomach. He figured that had something to do with everything… maybe he couldn't veer too far away from the graveyard for too long.

You are about to die.

10 Seconds left until starvation.

Dark picked up the pace throwing himself into the fog covered graveyard. Everything still remained just as he remembered and immediately he felt better. All the blurriness in his vision was gone and the countdown that had just started also vanished. The only thing that was different this time was…. he wasn't alone.

Standing in front of him stood a man… a man that looked like more of a skeleton than anything else. His skin was shriveled against his gaunt frame, his clothes were ragged robes that had seen better days. Needless to say, there was nothing attractive about the old man.

The strangest thing though, was the way that he was looking straight at Dark. He had gotten so used to no one being able to see him that he was a little freaked out.

“Come home have you, young Walker?”

-”You can see me!?”

Dark exclaimed.

The old man’s rattling laughter filled the graveyard.

“Of course. Who do you think keeps all of these wandering souls safe? …. God!?”

The man’s ancient laughter morphed into a guffaw.

He wiped some tears that appeared at the sides of his face, and said.

“Well… it’s not God… I’ll tell you that much. So. You need guidance young one? Heh. Have you run into some u problems?”

He voiced it as a question but somehow it was clear that it was a statement, so Dark did not reply but merely waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The old man had fallen asleep… standing up. He was leaning into a staff that he carried with his eyes open. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was loudly snoring Dark would not have been able to tell the man slept.

Impatient, and wanting to know the knowledge that the man seemingly possessed, Dark tried poking the man cautiously. He did not want to end up going through the man and feeling sick again but he figured since the man was different than the rest of the people in the fact that he could see and hear him… he might be able to also touch him.

That was not necessarily the case, as something unexpected happened.

Would you like to possess the Graveyard Geezer?

Yes|No

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Credit for this chapter goes to Snowmelts for without her there would have been no chapter.