The pair of them spent a while going over Sarah’s character sheet and then headed outside at Erik’s suggestion that they track down Marcus. Really, he just wanted a break from the menus and the numbers. The sudden flare of pain had thrown him off, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to help Sarah make the best decisions in his current frame of mind. So together, they walked along one of the sidewalks that passed in front of the adobe building, door after door that presumably led to the headquarters of other players. Some doors were open, and talking, yelling, and laughter could be heard—the sounds of people relaxing and having a good time.
As they walked down the winding sidewalk of this virtual space, a million stars twinkling in hundreds of colors above their heads, the edge of the galaxy visible to the naked eye, the sensation of a warm summer night's air wound its lazy way along the green field on their left. Erik thought he understood why this part of the game was important. Part of him had already become impatient with the 8-hour downtime between the 16 hours of being in-game, but he could feel the events of the previous day becoming more distant as he soaked in the atmosphere, and he knew that was important.
“So, what are your plans for your share of the 5 million?” Sarah asked him as they walked. Erik tried to ignore people poking their heads out of their HQs, watching them pass. Watching Sarah, specifically. “Assuming we win,” she added.
“I’ll probably give most of it to my parents,” Erik told her. “They deserve it.”
Sarah glanced at him but didn’t ask why he didn’t plan to use the money. They both knew, and neither wanted to talk about it.
“Oh my god,” she said, stopping and pointing down the path.
Marcus’s avatar, tall and broad-shouldered, was stopped just off the sidewalk where he was speaking with Sheep Girl—Rokell. Erik saw the name floating in the air above her head when he focused.
“That man has no shame,” Sarah said, shaking her head. Erik smiled and shook his head.
Marcus turned at the sound of Sarah’s voice and waved them over. He introduced Rokell first, who gave Erik only a cursory wave before fixating on Sarah.
“So you’re actually that WhiteRabbit? Battle Arena Champion and all.”
“That’s me,” Sarah said, shaking Rokell’s hand. “You can call me Sarah.”
From there, Rokell introduced her two teammates. One was a large rock-man avatar, taller even than Marcus’s cowboy persona, named Butter, and the other was a humanoid with deep blue skin and pointy ears who called himself SilverWolf.
“This is my little brother,” Rokell said, her smile fixed as she made his introduction. “My parents kind of insisted he be on my team.”
SilverWolf crossed his arms and turned a glare on his sister. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but Butter cut him off.
“So, you guys have fought the Kaprosuchus too?” he asked them.
Erik had expected his voice to be all deep and gravelly. Most people took some effort to filter their voices in a way that suited their avatars, but Butter had not. He sounded just like any human might, with a vague hint of an Australian accent—which was only weird because he was a 2-meter rock monster that looked to weigh several hundred kilos.
“Is that what Marcus has been saying?” Sarah asked, the eyebrows on her rabbit face jumping high on her forehead.
“No,” Marcus jumped in, defensive. “I just said we ran into it ourselves.”
“We didn’t fight it so much as run from it and almost kill ourselves in the process,” Erik said.
“Damn thing got me,” Rokell said with a grimace, and Erik had the distinct impression she was about to add baahhh to the end of her sentence and was glad when she didn’t.
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“We spent half our points just to get you back in the game,” SilverWolf mumbled from behind her.
When all five people turned their attention to him, he looked as if he would’ve blushed if his dark blue skin would have allowed it.
“Anyway,” Rokell said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the meeting, “thanks for stopping to chat, but we really need to get going.”
She smiled at Marcus, gave Erik a polite nod, and shook Sarah’s hand again before grabbing her brother by the upper arm and towing him away.
“It was nice meeting you lot. Good luck out there,” Butter said, waving his large stony hand at them before turning to join his teammates. Erik noted he moved on his knuckles, not unlike a gorilla, and was impressed by the detail. It was always fun to see people trying interesting things with their avatars. Now if only he’d do something about the voice…
“She seems nice,” Sarah said, once they were out of earshot, giving Marcus a significant look, which he ignored.
“What did you guys figure out?” he asked, looking at Erik.
“Sarah’s not going to try anything fancy yet. This early in the game, her speed and agility might be our strongest asset,” Erik said, as the three of them resumed walking, following the path that curved gently away from the living area and its large field.
“Hey, I’m a Juvenile Rex now,” Marcus said, emphasizing the word, “when we get back out there, you’ll really be able to see what I can do. Then we’ll see who’s the strongest asset.”
“It’ll still be me,” Sarah said, and Marcus laughed.
The three of them walked together, leaving the player housing behind, and around the bend of a hill found themselves approaching some kind of market district. At the center was a large, open square with numerous stalls, like the sales floor of a convention. The square was open on the side from which they were approaching, but the other three were backed by buildings, more shops, and, judging from the mass of players laughing and yelling in the distance, social clubs of some kind.
“I hope there’s a bar,” Marcus said, standing on his tiptoes, trying to get a better view.
“You can’t get drunk in here,” Erik informed him as they entered the open part of the market, where various dino-person-themed merchants were hawking their wares. “It was in the packet they sent.”
“I can’t drink beer?” Marcus asked, horrified. “For a whole month?”
“You want beer, my friend?” chirped a merchant from nearby, who Erik suspected was based on a Stegosaurus but ended up looking more like a person-sized Godzilla standing upright with large plates emerging from its back. Only the shape of its head and its flat, horse-like teeth disrupted the otherwise Godzilla-esque appearance.
“I’ve got the best variety of beers,” he gestured a scaly green hand at the table in front of him, which Erik realized were coolers that opened from the top, and inside were stacked six-packs of brown glass bottles.
“So I can get drunk?” Marcus asked, sounding hopeful.
Note:
While alcohol is purchasable by those of legal age within E.L.E Online, and its flavor is simulated authentically, the effects of inebriation are not. Thank you for your understanding.
—Primarch
While the note had appeared in response to Marcus’s question, it seemed that the system AI recognized the need for them all to have context. Which was fortunate, because without it, Marcus suddenly falling to his knees and proclaiming “Whyyyyyy?” dramatically to the starry sky above would’ve been a lot more concerning.
Afterward, Marcus still inquired about the price and, only after finding out that a single six-pack cost six meteorite fragments—of which they only had seven—he gave up on the dream. After visiting a few more stalls that sold other things, including furniture for the HQ, it became apparent that they did not yet have enough currency.
“We’ll have to do more objectives,” Sarah said as they left the little market behind, heading back to their home base. “Can you believe a couch costs 30?” She turned her gaze back over her shoulder to give the market as a whole a glare. “We almost died for the seven we did get.”
Erik wouldn’t soon forget their desperate struggle to stay ahead of the death wall, and he had to suppress a shudder that threatened to overtake him.
Yeah, these little breaks from the game is definitely a good thing.
Still, when they arrived back at their temporary home with only twenty minutes left of their rest period, he was excited. His virtual heart thumped in his chest as he paced back and forth in front of the table. Neither Sarah nor Marcus asked him to settle down. They didn’t say anything during the last minutes, all of them focused on getting back into the mental space needed to win this game.
When the general announcement finally came, they moved to stand side by side, arranging themselves in relation to each other as they had been before they were pulled into the Hub.
When the countdown hit three seconds, Marcus stretched his neck with an audible crack and said, “Let’s get ’er done.”
This was followed immediately by darkness and the pop sound of the world vanishing around them into the void.