Back in the game Jeremy heard thunder rolls very close to him, dropping to a crouch before a spell hit him he scanned the area until he saw the dragon fighting an invisible enemy and rolling around knocking down trees before he realised the creature was laughing.
"You tricked me", accusing the infuriating Player who now owned his incalculable debt couldn't be a good idea but Jeremy was hurt.
AllenP stopped rolling, "you never asked"
"I thought you were cheap", was all he came up with.
"Ha serves you right then" came the laughing reply, "and you wanted ten percent" at which RedFox21 blushed.
"I have to go offline and find a place to stay", he finally said, "can you watch over me too?"
Looking around with a hand over his brow like he was scanning the area the annoying man finally said "can do skipper", after which Jeremy sat down and logged off.
His mother was in the room already packing a suitcase for him, "help me take the rig off" she said when he came back, he could see the telltale of dried tears on her face.
"Don't worry for me mom" trying to reassure her, "I can manage" finding himself in her hug "everything will be alright" choking on the final words.
"Don't go too far" she said after a pause, "we still care", sniffing, "it will blow over after the negotiations are finished" pushingg him away to look at his face "and there is a war going on".
It was then that he remembered, Orella was his mother's role model, gasping when he thought of her memorabilia, and she caught him at it, "what?" Her tone demanding the truth.
"I can't", came out as a whimper.
"Tell me" she almost shook him.
"The woman Julian drained", pausing as he couldnt meet her eyes, her grip tightened, "it was Orella leader of the sea-spring alliance" finally the words came out in a whisper.
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Dragging him across the room she closed and locked the door, "tell me everything that happened today" and he did, finding strength when she didn't dismiss his words for lies.
Shaking her head after thinking for a few minutes "we can't change what was already done", sounding frustrated, "Afriat is no longer your legacy" adding, "we can't push Julian away without losing it forever" his hopes shattered on the walls of reality, "my father's heart will break if he hears how his powers were used" standing up she continued, "you still have to leave but remember I am allways here for you" she finished packing his rig in silence and hugged him goodbye.
"Crying to mama?" Julian's voice grated on his nerves, "do it" he said when Jeremy's knucles turned white in a fist, "you can't do it you coward" laughing at Jeremy's back as he walked away.
Using his cranial implant got him booked in a coffin motel called 'red's trials' uncertain what the name meant and not really caring he followed the instructions to the crumbling ancient offline gym, "you Jeremy?" came a call from somewhere in the back and he thought maybe this was a trap.
Ready to bolt away at a moments notice he entered a cramped little office crammed with physical monitors, relics from ancient hystory, "are you Jeremy?" The question repeated coming from an old monitor he only recognized because they appeared in vintage games, "come closer" seeing himself on another monitor was kinda neat, "well are you?"
"Yes" saying finally overcoming astonishment at the strange setup, "I am Jeremy"
"Welcome to 'Red's Trials' please follow the yellow brick wall", a trail of monitors lit up with yellow bricks leading to an elevator, "going to fifth" the soeaker quacked at him and dinged when they reached the floor.
"You can pick your resting place", the voice filled the hallway, "just follow the light and when you want to rest enter through the gates to heaven", the morbid humor was rubbing him backwards but he walked down the hall until he reached a group of lit cabins and crawled into one with his suitcase, at the head of the cramped space another display showed him how to operate the cabin sanitary and solitary functions and he soon settled down to log back in.
His personal space was a mess with most of his stuff removed by the guild after he got evicted, checking his personal message board filled him with rage when he saw Julian's friends posted r.i.p notes all over the place and bullied his friends when they tried to find out what happened, sighing he entered the 'wanted fo a job' ads and sent an 'available for hire' to a few he knew weren't scammers from friends and associates that had jobs outside the guild, his credit balance only crushed him further thinking about what he had to do to pay back that rich psycho that now owned his life online.
Jeremy had to set some ground rules on his relationship with the dragon, he won't betray his friends or family or the old guild, not even Julian that had Afriat was a possible target for him, he was in debt but that didn't mean they owned him and he could take on random jobs if they didn't go against the free guilds or the strange pair.
Breathing deep after coming up with rules he could live with he logged back in.