Eight hours later Elmer woke up in his bed. He felt well rested and almost expected to be in the tavern, but he was back in his room Gato was tucked under his arm snoring softly. He didn’t even know cats could snore. He gave the cat a loving pat and the ball of black love protested and yawned. “Come on, breakfast time.” He smiled down at the cat who jumped onto his chest and started pressing his forehead into Elmer’s chin. He laughed and scratched under the cat’s chin making it smile and rub his hand. He got up and the cat followed him to the kitchen, yelling for food. He cracked a can and placed it in a dish. Gato ran to it and started scarfing it down. He made coffee and started breakfast for him and Gran. She came out and looked at him a bit startled.
“Are you okay?” He smiled
“Why wouldn’t I be?” She placed her hand on his forehead and neck.
“You just seem a bit more relaxed and alert.”
“I slept well. You have to give it a try. I feel like I slept for twelve hours and feel amazing. I think I may crack into the books after I get breakfast ready.” she gave him an odd look. He actually looked healthier. The poor boy always had trouble sleeping. She knew he worried a lot. She would have to keep an eye on him though. She sat at the table as he buzzed around the kitchen. Soon he had eggs and bacon ready for them and even made her coffee the way she liked it. He had a glass of juice. He always needed the caffeine in the morning and spent the first hour as a zombie. Now he was excitedly talking about the adventure he had been on through out the night. She felt bad for the big blue monster guy and would love to meet him one day. The goblins on the other hand, maybe not. If she ever did get a chance to go in, she would have to talk with this Maggie person as he was clearly smitten with her. After he was done, he went to his room and returned with his shoes.
“Where are you going?” He smiled at her.
“taking a walk around the lake. Did you want to come?” she shook her head and just looked at him. He seemed to have more energy.
“No thank you. I may just sit back for a little.” She was amazed by the change in him. Even after the vacation they had been on, he didn’t look this energized and focused. On his way out the door, he pulled out his phone and started giving his report to the call in number they had set up. He could either do a call or send a video report. He would have to let Gran try as this felt amazing. Elmer even started jogging around the lake with some hard rock song in his ear. Somehow he wanted to become the person he was in the game. A few hours later he came in to get showered and start studying. He smiled to himself as he sat down. In a few hours he would try to talk her into it.
A while later he stretched cracking his back. Gato had fallen asleep on the desk next to him and was snoring softly. He got up and went to see what Gran wanted for lunch. She had passed out in the living room. He remembered the way she had looked at the NARV gear and smiled. “Gran please forgive me, but I know you need this.” He quietly went into his room and unplugged the system. He plugged it back into the chair next to her and carefully slipped the helmet over her head. She just kept on sleeping. He toggled a wheel on the box to set it for an hour. She had signed that paper too so it should be okay. “I hope she can forgive me and that this doesn’t cost me my job. If so the look when she came out would be worth it.”
Gabriela woke in a strange room. She looked around. This was a strange and fun dream. She had only sat down for a nap and now she was here. Maybe all his talk about the game world had influenced her mind. She saw a beautiful angel sitting on the bed. Good lord had she died in her sleep? “Young Miss, am I dead?” The young woman just laughed.
“No and you are not the first person to think that. You are in my world. You can stay as long as you like so long as you play nice.” Gabriela had to be dreaming because this woman sounded like that goddess that her grandson had been talking about. The young woman wore a gown that could have passed for a wedding dress. Thankfully her chest was covered because with a figure like that, the young men would have trouble leaving her alone. “My name is Sirona Goddess of healing springs. What can I call you and please don’t use your name from the other world. You are in my world and should be called what you want to.” Gabriela thought about it for a long while. She smiled when she thought about that nice Mr. Crag and what had brought so much luck and joy into her life lately.
“You can call me Betty.” If she had earned that name doing the right thing than she couldn’t think of a better one to go by. The goddess clapped and smiled.
“It is nice to meet you Betty. There is a mirror over there that will let you change how you look. If you want help in any way, I’m here.” She got up and was delighted to notice that in this dream her joints didn’t hurt. She walked over to the mirror and looked at her old hunched body.
“Sirona, Can I call you by your name?” the goddess just beamed at her.
“So long as I can call you Betty.”
“Thank you so much deer. Can you make me younger?” Sirona came up to her and waved her arm. Suddenly Betty was back in her late teens. She stood there smiling.
“In my world you can be anything you like.” she spun in place and was suddenly a small child, but child wasn’t right as the hands and feet were larger. Long pointy ears came out to the side of the head. Her voice was high pitched as she smiled up at Betty. “You could be a gnome.” she spun again and changed into a beautiful woman with webbed ears, fingers and toes. Her voice was musical now. “You could be a mermaid.” she spun and changed once more. By this time Betty was clapping and laughing at her. She turned once more and suddenly had antlers and long spade like ears out to the side. Betty could see hooves poking out under the dress. “Beastkin are my personal favorite.” Betty smiled at that as it spoke to the woods and how she loved growing things. The woman before her now looked like a child of some deep magical forest.
“Beautiful. I love those antlers. Can I look like that?” Sirona spun again and was back to normal a huge smile on her face. She waved her hand and turned Betty to the mirror. Betty was smiling back at her with a spattering of freckles, long antlers and long spade like ears. She reached up and could actually feel them. This dream was amazing. She looked down and saw in place of feet were dainty hooves. She was a deer woman. She smiled at Sirona beaming. “Can I change myself.” Sirona just turned her to the mirror and pulled up on a set of her antlers and she watched them grow.”
“Betty, my deer.” she giggled at her own joke. “All you have to do is pull or push on what you like to change how you look.” Betty turned back, a huge smile on her face and stated pulling and pushing on things until she looked like a beautiful deer woman. She now looked like she did in her late twenties and her antlers were modest, but well made. She kept the ears and feet and she was shocked to see as small cute puffy white tail poking out. “Now if you will push here.” the goddess poked a bubble in the mirror and the view shifted slightly. “You can change your starting outfit how ever you like or would you like me to pick something?”
“Can I see what you choose? I get the feeling you may know what would look good on me.” Sirona bowed and waved her hand. Suddenly Betty was in a long dress that looked like it belonged in a dance hall back in Mexico. It fit her nicely and she smiled at the beautiful green that made up most of the dress. It was held to her stomach with a large red band that seemed to stretch with her. On the edge of the dress was a band of colorful ribbon that seemed to bring the dress together. She smiled at it and hugged Sirona who just giggled.
“I take it you like that?” she smiled and poked the side of Betty’s head. “Now it looks right.” she turned Betty to the mirror and a red rose was growing out of the antler on the right, almost like it was tucked behind her ear. She was beautiful and smiled brightly. “Have you given any thought to what you would like to do in this world?” Betty just shook her head smiling at herself in the mirror. “Given how you look and what I know from talking with you, I’d suggest a rare class. Farmer.”
“So would I just be stuck with crops or could I grow flowers too?” Sirona laughed.
“You can grow what ever you like, but yes you can grow flowers. That sounds delightful. Now please look over the settings and move the sliders how you like.” She watched Sirona make a weird hand motion and a screen appeared just like Elmer had said. She had to be dreaming about his game. “That hand gesture will be needed to access your inventory or other functions. Trading or learning new skills is done with a handshake. Betty just smiled and turned to the floating screen
Gore Level *I-----------------*
Nudity *I-----------------*
Light Level *--------I---------*
Pain *I-----------------*
Sound *--------I---------*
Profanity *I-----------------*
Notifications (ON) OFF
Friend Requests (ON) OFF
Random Encounters (ON) OFF
Rest Requirement (ON) OFF
Food Requirement (ON) OFF
HUD display ON (OFF)
PEACEFUL MODE (YES) NO
Betty looked at Sirona, a question on her face. “What is a HUD?” Sirona just shrugged.
“I think it helps you see things in the world. Things like health, stamina or mana. It also helps you with a map and something called a hot bar. I’m not sure what that is, but it sounds useful. If you don’t like it, just make the gesture again and it will go away.” she turned it off and closed the screen. Sirona smiled at her. “Are you ready to start your adventure?” Betty just nodded and smiled. “I see you are using the same access point as Edwardo. You you like to send him a friend request?” Betty just looked puzzled.
“I don’t think I know an Edwardo. I could always use a friend though. Yes please tell Edwardo I’d be happy to be his friend.” Sirona just smiled and pointed to her door. It opened and Betty walked to it and into the light. If she was dying, she was going to be upset.
She stepped into a lively town full of insane looking people. She saw a tall green woman wearing a pink apron. She was covered in mussels like some crazy body builder. She saw a goat man who only had one eye. He had huge forearms and looked a bit mean. He would more than likely be a good friend if given the chance. He actually blushed at her when he noticed her looking at him. This was so real. She wished she could fly. A smell came to her, it was cooking bread. It smelled so real. She wondered if Elmer was cooking in the kitchen. It wasn’t like her to stay asleep when he cooked. She followed the smell and saw beautiful bird woman. She had long white feathers that covered the back of her head. Her face was dark, but the feathers seemed to somehow draw focus to her face like a pool drawing the eye. Her arms were long and had the same beautiful feathers making them look like strange wings. Betty walked up to her and smiled. “Hello there. You are wanting some of my bread. Yep yep. You can have some tasty bread for some tasty coins.” Betty tilted her head
“I’m not sure if I have anything as this dress doesn’t have pockets.?” The bird woman smiled sweetly down at her.
“You must be a new hero. If you move your hand like this.” she waved her hand in the same way that Sirona had. Betty clapped and did the same movement.
INVENTORY 3 SILVER.
“Thank you, kindly young miss. How much is the bread?” the bird woman made a strange trill as a laugh.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“You can call me Maggie, Maggie the Magpie.” Betty giggled at her name. It was silly and wonderful. “The bread is three copper.”
“You can call me Betty. I only have silver. Is that okay?” Maggie made that wonderful laugh again. It reminded Betty of the birds back home.
“There are ten copper in a silver so you have more than enough.” she held out a long fingered hand to Betty who took it and jumped slightly as a new window popped up between them.
MAGGIE THE MAGPIE IS OFFERING YOU 1 BREAD FOR 3 COPPER ACCEPT (YES) NO
She pressed yes and smiled as a large chunk of bread appeared in her own hands. It smelled fresh and amazing. Maggie just smiled down at her. “If you like that, feel free to stop by and have more or anything else you may want. Yep yep. I could always use more coins.” Betty nodded and beamed up at Maggie.
“I was told by Sirona that I could build a garden somewhere. Do you know where I can go to do that?” Maggie just cocked her head to the side and smiled.
“You really are new. Yep yep. If you go to the town center you can find Mayor Herris. She can send you down the right path. That she can. She is a woman with short blonde hair and a green dress.”
“Thank you so very much Ms. Magpie.” She trilled again.
“Just call me Maggie. I have the feeling we are going to be birds of a feather. Yep yep” she trilled at her own joke and Betty joined her with her own laugh. Maggie turned to her and pointed.
“Just head that way.” Betty followed the road and delighted at everything around her. She didn’t notice the sound of her own hooves clapping the cobblestone street. The donkey woman holding a strange guitar did though and started strumming it to match the beat Betty was making. She stopped, her ear tilting to the sound. The music stopped and she smiled at the donkey woman. Betty started stomping her hoof on the ground and the donkey woman smiled and started strumming again. She was wearing shorts that were a little too short and a white tank top. A long sleeveless red coat covered her back. She had long black hair that turned into gray to match her long floppy ears, a long tail swayed behind her and she moved her large hooves to the ground. Betty beamed at the other woman who smiled back. Betty had taken dance when she was younger and started clapping as she moved her feet delighting in the change in the music. The other woman stood and clopped her own much larger hooves to make a counter to Betty’s beat. Betty just beamed and danced to the other woman and both started spinning in the middle of the street dancing together. This was the best dream she had ever had. The other woman kept going until both were tired and beaming with delight. The donkey woman strummed out a Spanish flare and both clopped at the same time ending the song. The donkey woman turned to Betty and beamed.
“That was amazing. You got some moves there little deer.” Betty giggled.
“That was so much fun. I haven’t danced like that since I was a young woman.” the Donkey woman clapped
“You must be a player too. My name is Jean. I’m the (Error) with the (Error) at eleven.” She didn’t want to know what the (Error) thing was about but was sure the younger woman had just tried to use bad language and she was happy the dream had made it to where she didn’t have to hear it.
“You can call me Betty. I loved your music.” Jean tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled.
“Thanks. I chose the bard class because I use to play in high school but had to stop. I still love music and this class lets me gain money from playing. I can also use songs to buff my party. What class are you?” Betty placed her hands on her hips and smiled brightly.
“Farmer.” Jean looked stunned. “I want to have a nice house with beautiful flowers.”
“I thought that was a joke class, but you are the second farmer I’ve met.” She laughed. “Would you like to be friends. You seem like someone I’d love to interview some time?” Jean held out her hand to Betty who took it.
“I could always use more friends. Thank you Jean. let’s dance again some time.” A shadow flew over head and Jean held up her hand.
“Sorry my ride is here.” A huge black bird talon grabbed her arm as she flew into the sky. “It was nice talking with you Betty. I hope you like it here.”
As Jean flew off in Crow’s talon she had to ask herself. Could that be the same Betty? If so Keven was going to go nuts. She shook her head. No way that was the same Betty. It has to be a common name and they met online. It couldn’t be her, could it?
Betty walked through the town back on her path as she found the town square. She saw the woman who had to be Mayor Herris. She walked up to the stall and smiled at the other woman who was sitting on a large green tarp. “Hello, are you Mayor Herris?” The other woman looked at her and smiled brightly.
“You must be a new hero. Have you come for a quest?” Betty shrugged and smiled.
“Not sure. I was told you could help me build a garden.” Herris just looked at her, her eyes going unfocused for a little.
“You are a farmer.” She shook her head. “Let’s hope you are far less trouble than the other one we have.” Betty just shook her head frowning slightly.
“I just want to grow beautiful flowers and have fun.” Herris smiled brightly at her.
“Follow me and I should be able to help you in my office.” Betty looked in wonder as the woman rose to more than seven feet tall. What she thought was a tarp turned out to be the body of a horse. She was a horse person. Betty just clapped and beamed up at her making Herris smile with pride. “First time seeing a centaur?”
“Good lord yes. You are beautiful.” This was a dream so Betty didn’t have to try to wonder as to how this woman’s body worked. Herris stood with pride, her head held high.
“I can already tell that I’ll like you more than Steven.” she led Betty to a small building close by. She held the door open and Betty noticed an office that was small tidy and held a stack of papers. On the wall behind the desk was a leaf symbol with a golden tree inside. Herris frowned at the leaf. “That is a “gift” from Steven.” she put quotes around the word gift. “He got drunk with the elf king and now this town is under his protection. I should be upset, but it is nice to know bandits won’t be an issue and Hawthorn is nice to have around.” the slight smile and the look in her eye made Betty grin. Young love was such a beautiful thing. Herris sat on the floor behind the table and started sifting through papers. “Normally I’d have you go pick herbs, but Heinz is done for the day and says it will be a few days until the fields are ready. So I’ll just offer you this farm.”
SILVER STREAM VALLEY. THREE ACRES, ONE TWO BEDROOM/ ONE BATHROOM IN OKAY SHAPE.
BUILDING DISABLED UNTIL LAND IS PAID FOR
LAND EXPANSION DISABLED UNTIL LAND IS PAID FOR
ANIMALS DISABLED UNTIL LAND IS PAID FOR
HOME IMPROVEMENTS DISABLED UNTIL LAND IS PAID FOR
HOME EXPANSION DISABLED UNTIL LAND IS PAID FOR
FARMING FIELDS ARE ALLOWED EVEN WHEN LEASING
PAYMENTS ARE 3 SILVER A MONTH
BUY THIS PROPERTY IN FULL FOR 3 GOLD
ACCEPT (YES) NO
“I’m not sure how I will be able to make money.” Herris laughed at her.
“You are a farmer. You can make money by growing crops and flowers as you said. Flowers are useful and can be used in coloring dyes, medicine or even just sold as they are. I know Maggie may buy some of those for her tables and rooms. Yes they may not sell for as much, but shouldn’t take as long to grow.” Betty clapped her hands and smiled.
“Thank you so much. Is there anything else you can think of that I would need?” Herris just crossed her arms and looked smug.
“You can buy a basic set of tools from Tina next door and some seeds from either Heinz or Lusinda. She is in the shop that has a potion bottle on the sign.”
“Thank you. You have been most helpful.”
“Finally a farmer who is a delight to be around.” She went next door and saw a goat woman standing behind the counter. She had brown hair and long goat horns. She looked at Betty with silver eyes that seemed a bit cold.
“Can I help you?”
“I’d like some basic farming tools so I can work on my garden.” She smiled coldly and held out her hand.
TINA WRATHOOF IS OFFERING YOU BASIC WOODEN TOOLS FOR 1 SILVER 9 COPPER. ACCEPT (YES) NO
That would only leave Betty with eight copper if her math was right. Well one must start somewhere. She accepted and looked into those cold eyes. “You may get the attention of boys if you smile more.” she left before the young woman could be outraged. Her look of shock was enough to make Betty burst into laughter as she walked to the potion shop. She had known women like Tina her whole life and disliked each and every one of them. Women like that just always seemed to give off a too good for the world attitude. That is one young lady she would not want around her grandson. Betty laughed to herself and went into the potion shop. It was brightly lit and full of wonderful smelling things. An older woman stood behind the counter grinding some plant into paste. She wore a purple robe with a tall witches hat. The smile on her face seemed to be grow as she turned to Betty.
“Hello there. Welcome, come on in.” Betty moved to the counter and smiled down at the much older woman. Her bones must hurt all the time given her age. “What can I do for you?”
“I was hoping to buy some flower seeds.” the older woman beamed.
“You’ve come to the right place. I take it you are planning on fixing up your house? How much do you have to spend?” Betty frowned
“Only eight copper.”
“That isn’t very much. Do you know the proper names of flowers?” Betty just shook her head. “That’s okay. I’ve just been a little spoiled by my Heinz.” she smiled. “We can use the common names. I can offer you the following...” she held out her hand and Betty took it and jumped when a another screen popped up. She was not use to screens popping up in front of her.
LAVENDER (ANY) GROW TIME (2 DAYS) LEVEL (1) 1 COPPER PER 3 SEEDS
LOTUS (ANY) GROW TIME (7 DAYS) LEVEL (1) 5 COPPER PER 1 SEED NEEDS POUND.
CHRYSANTHEMUMS (AN) GROW TIME (2 DAYS) LEVEL (1) 2 COPPER PER 5 SEEDS
CLOVER (ANY) GROW TIME (3 DAYS) LEVEL (1) 3 COPPER PER 2 SEEDS
Betty took some time to think. This would leave her almost broke but she settled on one clover, one chrysanthemum and two lavender. This would leave her with one copper, but she didn’t want to be broke. So long as you have a penny you aren’t poor as her dad would say. The older woman smiled. Betty left and went to her new house. On the way out of town she felt tired and found a tree that looked nice. It looked like a nice place for a nap. She sat under it and closed her eyes. It was a pleasant and peaceful afternoon. The last thing she remembered was the warm breeze blowing the sent of flowers to her.
Gabriela woke in her chair remembering everything from the dream she had just had. Her vision looked off and she reached up to feel something weird on her head. She lifted it off and saw the helmet. He had put it on her as she was taking a nap. He was a cheeky little one. The game world was nice and she very much wanted to go back, but this was his job. She smiled at the memory of dancing and how lively the town was. She looked at the clock and jumped. She had been out for an hour and a half. It wasn’t like her to take a long nap in the middle of the day. She jumped up and looked around. Somehow she felt sharper than she had been in years. Some how she felt like she had rested for a full night in the time of a movie. She looked around the house and found him sitting at the desk in his room, headphones on and a book propped open. His head bobbed and Gato sleeping in the window next to him. That cat had taken a sine to her grandson. Like the two were lost souls bound together. She watched as he reached over to scratch the sleeping cat who stretched and went back to sleep. She walked up and hugged her grandson. He jumped and pulled off the headphones. “You had a good nap, Gran?” she smiled and kissed the top of his head.
“Cheeky boy. You know I did that gaming thing.” he turned to her a look of wonder and an apology in his eyes.
“What did you think?”
“It was amazing and wonderful.” he got up and pulled her to the kitchen table.
“Tell me everything.” she chuckled and did so. He listened and loved every moment. Suddenly both froze at the doorbell rang. He went to answer and smiled at the delivery man.
“Dude. I have a special order. The message just says open the laptop and answer the call.” Elmer just nodded and took the package. He opened it and saw a new high end laptop. He plugged it in and opened it. It powered on and a video call started. He clicked the green phone icon and the screen flickered. A well dressed man in a suit sat behind a desk.
“Hello there Elmer and Ms Perez. I see you enjoyed the game.” Elmer’s heart sank. He had lost his job on the first day. Gran just nodded and smiled at the strange man. “Allow me to properly introduce myself, I am the current President of DevCat. My name is Val Wolfwood.” Elmer felt a lump in his throat as he forced himself to ask.
“Sir, am I fired?” Mr. Wolfwood just leaned back and laughed.
“Young man, you just saved us a boat load of money. Why would I ever fire you?” Elmer just looked at the screen blankly.
“How did I do that?”
“You pointed out a huge flaw in our system. We never thought of the idea of someone placing the system on a sleeping person. You did this with good intentions. Now picture if we had let this into the world without fixing this problem.”
“I still don’t understand.” Val just rubbed his nose.
“Look someone could put that on a sleeping person and do whatever they want. This is a HUGE issue that you pointed out to us. Billions of dollars saved by you being a good grandson. Like hell I’d toss you aside for that. I’d be the biggest fool in history for that. Now Gabriela, Ms. Perez, Betty would you like to join him as a Beta tester?” She smiled and jumped up and down trying not to hug her grandson. “I will take that as a yes. Also, this laptop is a gift as a personal thank you. I hope it helps you with you school. Keep up the good work kid.”
Three years later, Willam Hall unlocked the door. His girlfriend had just broken up with him. She would pay for that in the best way he could think of. In his hand was the NARV helmet. It had a five hour charge so he would have all the time he needed to make the best revenge porn he could. He would do things to her that she would have never allowed him to do when they were together. He had tested it out and knew that she would be out and in deep once he put the two thousand dollar system was on her head. She would have taken a sleeping pill because she was upset about the fight. He made his way slowly into her room and saw her sleeping there. She would pay for dumping him. He gave an evil smile as he tiptoed to the bed. He lifted her head and tried not to laugh. She was sleeping deep. This was going to be the best night of his life. He slipped the helmet over her head. Suddenly a light was blinding him, she woke up and an alarm was blaring from the helmet and he just turned and ran out of her room. He was picked up by police and about an hour later.
He tried to lie, but the video of him fleeing, fear in his eyes, his fingerprints and login recorded in the helmet. The court case was open and shut. He served seven years for attempted rape. The final insult was that she was allowed to use the keep the NARV gear. She would never know that what could have been the worst night of her life was avoided because a nineteen year old kid years ago wanted to be nice to his grandmother.