The moment my mind cleared, I found myself lying on the ground in the middle of my room. The fabric of my shirt fanned out all around me. Other than the angle of the light entering the room, nothing else looked different. As I stood up, a prompt blocked my sight, making sure that I read it.
User’s stress levels sufficiently diminished.
Welcome back Kyren Vulpier.
37 minutes have passed since you logged off.
Current in-game time: 9:57:33 AM
Well, if anything, that prompt confirmed the time dilation. It was something I could see as both a blessing and a curse. Imagine if you were working on a timed quest and had to run to the bathroom or had some other emergency in real life. It would be easy to miss the deadline. Then again, the extra time would allow people to turn their weekends into over a week of gaming. At least such time spent in-game didn’t require any extra food. If anything, it would require you to eat less than normal due to some technological trickery the developer created so people didn’t have to log out as often.
Speaking of food. I needed to go find some for myself. The hallway outside my room was different than I remembered it. Likely a result of a tired mind making things up as it was forced to stay running well past the time it should have shut down.
The hall was just as nice as the room. The walls and ceiling were a warm wood while the floor was made of something darker. Though, unlike the room, the only source of light came from points in the ceiling. Those points were bright enough that it was looking into the sun.
Given that the game was based around the use of magic, I doubted the place was lit up with LEDs or anything else powered with electricity. Then again, what if they used magic to produce electricity? Surely there were people who could throw lightning bolts. At that thought, I realized I was stalling. Not wanting to head downstairs and meet the group from yesterday.
Suddenly, I caught a whiff of something. I had never smelled something so delicious before. My mouth watered as my stomach gave the loudest growl I had ever heard.
Like the mindless zombie I was, I followed my nose down the stairs and into the large central room at the bottom. The place was packed with people. Almost more than there had been last night. It also seemed louder, the enchantments seeming to be either running low on mana or simply struggling given how much noise they were letting through.
The noise was a mix of people eating, maintaining their gear, planning something, or simply joking around. Though it’s not like it mattered to me what everyone was doing. What mattered to me was that every chair in the place seemed occupied by a body or some piece of equipment.
“Hey,” someone called out from somewhere to my left. The chance of the person calling for me was none existent but still, I looked in the direction of the voice. To my surprise, a woman waved in my direction. My soul lifted as I thought she might be waving at me only to crash to the ground as I realized she was likely trying to get the attention of someone behind me.
I lowered my head in embarrassment as I moved to the side and out of the way. Not that there wasn’t room to get around me before, but something at the back of my mind squirmed. Telling me to get out of the way or I might die. Like whoever was behind me could squish me as easily as a bug. The feeling had me nearly running, but where would I go?
Joints locked, I stood against a back wall as I carefully looked out at the room, making sure to keep my eyes away from the chick and her group as I looked for somewhere to sit. From what I could see, my only hope to get a chair was if one of the groups left. The smell of the place had my stomach singing its praise to the food gods. It was the only part of me that was happy about the place. The rest of my body was wound tighter than any spring, ready to bolt out of the room at the first sign of trouble.
You know what, fuck the group that was stuck with me. I was going to eat and get out of here before I ran into them. Surely they wouldn’t care. It wasn’t like they wanted to deal with a straggler anyway.
My eyes tracked a tray loaded with steaming hot food as it was carried into the room by a staff member. That was probably why I didn’t notice the woman before she spoke up. “Hello?”
My head whipped around fast enough to give me a bit of vertigo as I turned to look at who had joined me. Her face was so close that our noses practically touched causing me to reflexively jerk back. I smacked into the wall hard enough for it to be just audible over the room's noise. A grimace flashed over her face telling me that she had heard it. “Yes?” I stuttered out as I tried to find a way out of this spot without seeming too rude.
“I thought you were supposed to meet our group today?” Her tone danced between that of a question and something playful. Like a cat deciding whether to play with a toy or leave it be. She tilted her head a little as her eyes slowly blinked. The slow movement caught my attention. Drawing my eyes to hers. The unique hue drew me in, reminding me of a sea churning in a storm. Blues and greens swirling in mesmerizing chaos.
“Are you not the guy that was enchanted with Lance’s tail last night?” She teased, pulling my attention back to the moment. I didn’t know this person, yet she was apparently tied to that damn horny wolf’s group. Given that I didn’t want to join them, I was happy to hear her practically giving me an out, even if she didn’t know it. Hell, even if she did, I didn’t care. Before I could take advantage, she continued, “Because Patric was quite-” she paused, as if looking for the right word before settling on one, “-animated this morning when he started to describe you. Almost as if he was trying to describe a lover. Shame Lance cut him off before I could ask him any questions. Instead, they forced me to wait until I saw you for myself.”
Her eyes gave me a once over, an appreciative hum coming from her. My eyes widened as I gave up on being nice and instead started to slide in the direction of the stairs. She followed me. “I so sorry, not right person,” I said, trying to fake not being good with English in the vein hope that she would go away. That she would leave me alone. Her eyes had lost their playful look and now she looked like she wanted to eat me. Who in their right mind would give such a look to any other human being?
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My back slid a little further as I worked my way into the stairwell. Her body followed mine step for step. Making sure that I was never more than two feet from her as she stalked me. “No, I don’t think so.” Her smile widened as she looked at something behind me. “In fact, why don’t we ask Victor here?”
The flicker of a glance caused me to turn around, slowly. I ignored the tingling feeling on the back of my neck from having her behind me as I looked up at a skinny man standing on the landing just a few steps above me. He looked down on the two of us with an indifferent expression. “What’s up, Linda?” His voice was just as neutral as his expression. Even his words were devoid of emotion.
“Oh, just trying to bring our guest here back to the table.” She replied.
I tried to go around him. Hoping that his presence would stop her from stalking me. He stepped into my path. “And?”
I growled a little, though the two of them either didn’t notice or just didn’t care. “He says that he isn’t the guy that pulled on Lance’s tail last night.” She made sure to emphasize the pronoun as if to tell me that she had been told about Lance’s mistake.
The guy looked me over once as he answered, “He is.” I had never liked anyone looking me over like that, especially other men. It felt like they were stripping me of my clothes as they tried to see everything beneath. In this case, he was probably trying to look past the new, thicker clothes and figure out what I would look like in the thin clothes all newbies wore upon entering the game.
Still, the look gave me goosebumps and I wanted to get as far from him as I could. With the creepy ass chick behind me, I flattened myself against a wall while watching him. While it was subtle, I could swear I saw confusion pass over his features as he said, “though he wasn’t wearing the skirt at the time.” My face went beat red as he mentioned that stupid piece of cloth. What I wouldn’t give for a pair of jeans. Someone just kill me now.
“Yeah, figured someone would have said something about that if he had been.” She said causing me to facepalm. Apparently, the group had even gone so far as to tell her what I had been wearing.
Finally I worked up the courage and will to interrupt, I said, “Can you just let me go? You don’t have to worry about dealing with me today. I am fairly sure neither party will care anyway.”
They both looked at me. A single eyebrow was raised on his face while hers were furrowed. She was the one to answer my question though. “Why would we do that? You are the team's responsibility. If anything happened to you today, we would be responsible. Plus, don’t you want to learn more about the game than an NPC can tell you?”
She had my full and undivided attention, though Victor did a good job pulling my attention back to him. “Of course, you could run, but then you would have to deal with Ginny and the Guildmaster.”
“Why? The issue is between your group and me. Why would they need to get involved.” I asked as I looked directly at her. She simply looked at me like she thought I was slow and that she pitied me.
“The deal includes the guild as the guarantor for both sides. If either breaks it, they get to decide the punishment. While I, personally, have never seen it happen, I have heard stories.” Even out of the corner of my eye, I was able to see the shiver that ran up his body. His voice quivered a tiny bit as he recalled something. The sight made me curious. Whatever those stories were, they must be pretty bad for this kind of reaction. “Let's just say neither of us want that.” He stepped past me and the chick. As he stepped off the last stair, his voice reached me. “Now, let us go get some breakfast and find out what Michael has for us today.”
They both walked away, giving me the ability to choose. Though he had made it perfectly clear that neither group had a choice. I would be going with them for the day and there was nothing we could do about it. But still, my feet stayed firmly in place even as they got further away. My body screamed at me to run. Only when they got halfway across the room and started to turn were my feet willing to listen to my commands.
I fought with my instincts as I forced one foot in front of another. I was so focused on moving that I didn’t realize how far I had walked until I was standing next to Victor. The three sitting at the table were quiet as they watched me. As I returned the stares, I realized that I knew them all. Well, okay, not really. I recognized them as the group from last night. The only one that was missing was the large guy that had agreed to this deal.
Lance sneered from where he sat across from where I stood. He looked just as happy to see me as I felt to be here. It was awkward standing there, no one speaking or moving. Almost as if everyone was trying to see who would break first. Well, it wasn’t going to be me. Not because I was choosing not to speak or anything. The lump of fear lodged in my throat simply prevented anything more than breathing.
No one spoke until the large guy from last night lumbered up to the table. I hadn’t seen him move the night before but now I could see why the wolf and the rest of the group had listened to him. Every move he made looked like it was full of power.
A soft squeal came from my right followed by a blur as something shot by me to get to him. The blur jumped and wrapped itself around him. As the blur resolved into a body, I got an eyeful. Scary as fuck Linda looked like she was trying to eat his face off and he looked like he was all for it. Fairly embarrassed from witnessing such a thing, I quickly turned my superheated face away. The look on everyone else's face told me that this wasn’t the first time the two of them had done this.
A loud cough from Victor a minute later did nothing to stop the two. Hell, the sounds seemed to get louder. Moans and groans joined in the cacophony of noise. Victor coughed louder this time. Loud enough that everyone around us could hear it based on the number of conversations that stopped. Chairs scraped as they turned to look at the person trying to get attention. Something about that must have finally caught the big guy's attention because he pulled his face away from Linda’s. Face aflame, I looked down at the table. I was too embarrassed at what I had seen and heard.
A deep baritone rumbled over the table, catching my attention. “Now that we are all here. Let’s eat and discuss the plans for the day.” Behind me, one of the chairs creaked a bit as something heavy settled into it. In front of me, Victor gestured for me to take the chair next to him as he sat.
As if our sitting down was a signal for someone, servers walked up to the table. They deposited dish after dish into the center followed by a pitcher of some golden liquid. Empty plates, silverware, and cups appeared next. I didn’t see who had dropped any of it off as my eyes were firmly riveted on the food. Mounds of various items filled each plate. Things I had never seen except for on television and in video games. None of which could have prepared me for the smell.
The smell was heavenly. Steam wafted off each plate as it worked to fill the space around us. I had to swallow a couple of times to keep from drooling. Thank god no one else noticed. Instead, they were fighting each other as they tried to fill their plates.
I sat there, frozen, as I watched the mounds of food disappear while I tried to figure out if it was okay for me to take some for myself. It wasn’t like anyone had said I could, but they also hadn’t said not to. Then again, did I want to risk a hand in the meat grinder that was the fight for portions of each plate?
Suddenly, my plate disappeared from in front of me. Appearing in Victor’s hand. Portions of each item appeared on it as his other hand blurred. His movements were so smooth and controlled that the food didn’t so much as slide or wiggle as he piled the plate full of a bit of everything.
Looking across the table, I caught Lance looking at me. His gaze fixed as he ate his food. From the way he was looking at me, I couldn’t tell if he wanted to kill me or what. My gaze quickly shifted away from the damned wolf and onto the plate as Victor set it down in front of me. “Eat.” Was his simple command. I didn’t argue. The speed, control, and power each of them had just displayed had me shuddering as I tried to figure out what they could need me for.