CHAPTER XVII: STORY TIME

SUGAR

Sugar was dreaming... It was nighttime, she was sitting on her bed watching her husband get dressed in front of their wall-length mirror. He winked at her. She quivered, she could never get over how god DAMN sexy he was. Corded muscles, a charming smile, and his hair, his hair always seemed to be perfect. She frowned at her hair in the mirror, it was black. ‘I haven’t had it this color since... her husband finally put on his underwear. She pouted.

He was her shining knight. He danced with her, he traveled with her, and he made love to her better than any person could ever imagine. She smiled at him seductively as she bit her bottom lip quivering again.

Stuntmen were all in good shape, but her man, her man was the guy who trained the stuntmen, and he was incredible at it.

Coming from a father who was a strict military master chief petty officer, she really thought she would end up with a military type. But she was drawn to the magic of this artist, her mother’s influence of course, and he stole her heart the first time she saw his drill instructor laser focus training regiment.

The way he inspired people, subordinates, peers, and even his own mentors. She saw it immediately, he didn’t know, it just came naturally to him. He played it off with cockiness. But that was just bravado on the surface. He needed her. Not just any someone, it had to be her. She knew that because she was his rock.

She ached for him, but of course, couldn’t have him right now. He had to have his energy for the fifteen-hour workday ahead. It was dangerous work even with all of the JTF charter safety rules in place. People still wanted realism, they craved it more now than ever, and it didn’t get any more real than her rock.

“Mom.” A young voice of a toddler froze her in place. ‘What is going on? I can’t be here. What is going on?’ But as soon as a blue-haired, tan-skinned, Asian mix five-year-old walked into the room rubbing the sleep from his eyes, all thoughts fled Sugar’s mind. “Victor!” The name carried the weight of her heart.

“Hey, champ,” Jeremy said she still couldn't see his face since it was in unnatural shadows.

“Daddy!” Victor said to his father. Running to him and jumping into his arms as Jeremy was trying to pull his pants up.

“Oof, whoa there big fella.” Jeremy fell over Victor rolling with him chuckling.

Sugar remembered this day vividly, tomorrow was Victor’s first day of school. She looked back at him, his shoulder-length hair was as black as hers and Jeremy’s. Tomorrow was the day Victor became a Duster.

If there was any justice in the world with the pandemic, it was that children under the age of thirteen who were exposed to Dust never OD, or withdrawal. Unfortunately, they did not show symptoms until thirteen so you had a limited time to figure out treatments.

Victor would be one of the most famous cases of all of the kids. Not only was he the sole survivor of a mini explosion, but he was also the first child to show symptoms below thirteen.

His symptom, blue hair, that's it. He was vilified and called a blue-haired demon. “He was fucking five!” Sugar yelled.

“Mommy used a bad word.” Victor chuckled his black hair needing a brush after the tussle with his dad.

Sugar looked back to them her cheeks heating up. Tears welled up in her eyes. Jeremy noticed, grabbing Victor’s face. “Hey champ it's story time go grab a book, and I’ll read two chapters for you before I go to work.”

Victor’s eyes lit up, and he hugged his Dad. Then he ran out of the room. Only to return right away, and tackle Sugar. “I love you, mommy.” He kissed her a bunch of times. “That’s why I came in for in the first place. Daddy distracted me.” He sticks his tongue out at Jeremy.

“Yes, I did. Now get the books, son.”

“Oh right story time, I almost forgot about that. Mommy is distracting me now.” He wiped her tears with his sleeve and then kissed her one last time. It was her last time physically touching him. For the next seven years, he was always behind some kind of protective barrier. She hadn’t touched him in seven years... and he was turning thirteen this year.

She was about to spiral again when Jeremy spoke. “Hey Bubba, you are carrying a lot there girl. I know work has been stressful, pro gamer life while acting doesn’t leave a ton of room for reflection. You know you got me to lean on right? You are my rock, but if only one of us were a rock then one little push and we just roll over. Two rocks leaning on each other are much harder to move. But then you add Victor, and we got a pyramid. We are each other rocks. So after story time... I’ll call the day off, stay home, and you can tell me everything that’s been going on.” Jeremy smiled as he started to fade away, Sugar tried to hold onto the moment for as long as she could.

“No! You are my rock..." The lights go out and the room is plunged into darkness. Her words echo throughout the dark. "my rock, my rock...” The echo continued as her vision came back into clarity. She saw someone standing over her reaching a hand out to her. She looked up at the dark-skinned man smiling down at her confused. Her throat was feeling raw...

Bour smiled at Sugar. “That's my name miss at least that's what my name means in the old language. But my friends call me Bour. You got an odd name Sugar, but I like it.” Bour offered his hand, and a potion bottle “You should drink this.”

***

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{04:18 LOCAL TIME 13TH MAY 1ME}

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LONG BEACH

PRIME

“I only specialize in killing them.” Adia shrugged as Colonel and Soto tensed. “Oh relax, we are here as mentors. So we won’t hurt any of you...much” She smirked.

“Rock! Rock! Rock! ROCK!” Sugar suddenly started to scream the word at the top of her lungs, she kept repeating the word over, and over, and over again. Adia leaped away just as an arrow flew by the space she was just standing.

She put her hands up. “Not doing anything.” Any playfulness was gone from her face, replaced with genuine concern.

“Rock!” She continued to scream.

Colonel looked to Soto, their minds racing trying to figure out what they were supposed to do.

“Rock!”

They both grimace as they hear her voice crack as she screams at a higher-than-normal pitch.

“Rock!”

Suddenly Bour was by her side, not fazed by her screaming at all, he tapped her on the head.

She screamed one last time. “Rock...” Slowly waking up lost and confused.

Bour smiled down at Sugar. “That's my name miss at least that's what my name means in the old language. But my friends call me Bour. You got an odd name Sugar, but I like it.” Bour offered his hand.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Sugar looked up at Bour’s wide nose, striking brown eyes, and wider smile, pearly white teeth that stood out with his dark skin and darker beard. She couldn’t help but feel like she was safe in his arms. Whatever he was, it gave her confidence he wouldn’t hurt her.

Sugar was a great evaluator of people on first glance, it was a gift and a curse. Because while she knew someone wasn’t good for her, she always tried to see the best in them. But this person in front of her had a favorite uncle feeling. The kind of uncle that when you heard he was coming to visit, you were so excited you couldn’t sleep the night before, so you fell asleep late, and woke up to his smiling face looking down at you like Santa Claus.

A black Santa Clause, she chuckled beside herself. Her dad had always served with people like that. Men who put duty above everything. Women that were hard as nails, but could flip a switch, and become a cool auntie when they were around the kids.

“I am Britt... uh Sugar, it is a pleasure to meet you Bour.” She said with a smile taking his hand. Much to her surprise the powerful arm pulled her up like she was a piece of notebook paper, but when she was standing, she finally realized that she was at least a full foot taller than him.

Now looking down at Bour, Sugar looked between him, and the potion bottle he had handed her. The bottle was more of a vial than a bottle. The liquid inside was clear, but it had an inner glow to it.

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{Item Name: Desert Water

Item Type: Consumable/Ingredient}

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After reading the prompt Colonel had sent her, Sugar drank the refreshing water in one gulp, her sore throat healing quickly, and her body feeling lighter, and more hydrated than ever before. “Wow.” She absently thought about how she shouldn’t be taking drinks from strangers, but she went to college which was all of freshman year.

“You do not understand the significance of that gesture young one. I do, and I see great things in your future.” A melodic female voice said from right next to Sugar.

She spun around to see... the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life.

She had dark mocha smooth skin, a slightly upturned nose, soft brown eyes, and a smile that lit up the dark night like a beacon of peace, but with an undercurrent of controlled violence. She was the very woman that men feared, and the kind of woman she had strived to be. To Sugar she was perfect. Her black studded leader armor didn’t hide her hourglass figure, and her thin flowing dreadlocks made her look fierce, leaving no doubt that she was a warrior. All in all, she was putting the fear of GOD in her enemies with her visage.

Sugar bowed slightly to the stunning woman in front of her. “Hi Sugar I am, meet you nicely.” She spat out. Before turning pale with embarrassment.

Adia’s eyebrow rose at the words. Her smile getting bigger. “I am Adia, the pleasure is all mine.” She smiled motherly at her. Which for some reason made her even more nervous.

“Umm, you okay Sugar?” Soto said picking her jaw up and closing her mouth. “You need a...second? Or a cigarette?” He teased her snapping her out of her stupor.

“No, no I am fine. Umm... W-what happened?” She asked looking around the area. The only other movement was a nervous-looking homeless guy who was standing awkwardly by the tents about fifty yards away. He looked like he building up the courage to come talk to them.

“Oh right, it's story time,” Soto said looking at Sugar with a smile.

Sugar frowned at his choice of words, but nodded anyway. It was only after a longer than acceptable pause that she looked back at a smiling ninja wanna be, that she realized, that he was talking about her. She wasn’t going to tell her life story to strangers no matter how safe they made her feel. She had done that before to a therapist, and she felt like they never understood. ‘But the reality is, I didn’t want them to understand, I just wanted to be in my own world, my own personal pain. Because it was easier than being happy when Victor was locked away.’

A hand settles on her shoulder. She turned to Colonel looking into his eyes. His eyes were filled with genuine worry for her. The tears started to come unbidden. He brought her into a hug. She was not a fan of physical touch outside of Jeremy since that day. But after what she had been through, she couldn’t help but let go and embrace the hug.

“Take your time.” Colonel said, “Soto get that loot point, and we can hear her story, then she can specialize.” He said rubbing her back. Sugar stopped his hands from doing that, Colonel obliged, so he just held her.

She was grateful for his understanding without the need for verbal communication.

“Roger that Colonel.” Soto’s eyes flick over to the Desert folk. “Them?”

“Well we should add them to our party,” Colonel said looking at Bour and Adia.

“Not yet, it will mess up your EXP gain in the Dungeon. We can wait until we leave.” Bour said.

“Bour is right we only got into this Dungeon at the same time as you because the Dungeon boss left it unguarded, one, and it's a rouge Dungeon. We cannot enter a non-rouge one at our level. They will call for backup. But the Dungeon boss was running from something, I can’t imagine what, nothing in here was a threat to him before us.” Adia said.

“Go over your loot and the rest of your prompts we can start with the stories after all of that. We will keep guard. Rest assured there is nothing in here that can do us any harm.” Bour said confidently.

“Word, I don’t doubt that,” Soto said.

[Do we trust them?] He said to the team speak.

[No doubt. Adia is hella dope.] Sugar said.

[Of course, you would say that you practically orgasmed over her at first sight.] Soto chuckled at Sugar’s look at him still in the embrace with Colonel.

[I don’t see a choice here, if they wanted to kill us, we would be dead. There is a pressure from them that feels like a mountain.] Colonel said they both had it, Adia, more noticeable than Bour

“Okay, I’ll go get the loot,” Soto said out loud.

[I thought it was just me.]

[Read the prompts on them Sugar.] Colonel said.

[Desert Elf and Dwarf that's awesome, and makes so much sense.] Sugar said nodding at the prompt.

Soto looked at the Loot point and started to walk to it. “Can I get an analyze battle? We sure missed that when you were gone.”

Colonel looked down at Sugar who had started to pull away from him having composed herself. “Okay.”

“You have a tooltip as well right?” Sugar asked.

“Yep, here you go.”

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< ANALYZE >

{LOOT POINT FOUND}

< TOOL TIP >

{You have found a Loot point. Loot points are zones where combatants are killed in a large-scale battle and are then secured. Once the area is secured all Loot Globes are absorbed by the highest ranked Loot Globe often upgrading said Loot Globe. The rank order of Loot Points and globes are as follows: COMMON(Tier 1) GREY Globe. UNCOMMON(T2) WHITE Globe. RARE(T3) BROWN Globe. PLATINUM(T4) PINK Globe. DIAMOND(T5) RED Globe. EPIC(T6) ORANGE Globe. LEGENDARY(T7) GOLD Globe. RUNIC(T8) GREEN Globe. MYSTIC(T9) SILVER Globe. ANCIENT(T10) OCEAN BLUE Globe. ETERNAL(T11) SKY BLUE Globe. ASCENDENT(T12) PURPLE&BLACK Globe. TRANSCENDENT(T13) BLACK&GOLD Globe.

{You have found a calculating... }

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Soto stopped. “I guess it's not done.”

“You shouldn’t wait the GREAT GAME is an old game so things move slowly, and dramatically. It is a game made to entertain the Elder races, and they are all immortal, and immortals have zero concept of time. As you are very much aware of Colonel.” Bour said looking at Soto, and then to Colonel. “Don’t hesitate to always touch the loot point before it finishes as long as there are no more loot globes.” He advised.

“Bour is right in practice.” Adia cut in, “But research says that your percentage of getting higher tier gear is maximized by waiting until full completion.” She shrugged at Bour’s frown. “That is just speculation though.”

Soto was frozen in place with indecision. On one hand, he wanted to get the loot, on the other, he wanted to get the best loot, even if there was a small chance of getting something more powerful, the extra bonus could be a game changer.

“Another thing.” Adia interrupted Soto’s thoughts. “If you have gotten a ton of EXP from something, the less likely you will get higher level gear. There is balance, and while the GREAT GAME isn’t fair, it is somewhat balanced... for the most part.” She said with less confidence, then looked at Colonel with a curious eye.

“What?” Colonel said looking back at her.

“What my cunning friend means to say is Legacies are not balanced at all, and most of their direct teammates gain those benefits which in turn makes them unbalanced. But who doesn’t want to be OP? Am I right?” Bour coughed a smirk. Sugar and Soto nodded their agreement.

“Soto just touch it, Sugar tell us your story so we can complete our quest.”

“Soto wait,” Adia said stopping his fingers inches from the forming loot point.

Soto looked at Adia then Colonel who gave him a quick nod. He pulled his hands back.

“Explain, please,” Colonel said not wanting to lose control of his team, but at the same time not wanting to not take advice from someone he believed could be a priceless ally. It was always a tightrope you walked in joint exercises, and this was just the beginning, he loved this shit.

“Adia is right always finish your quest before you get loot points. We don’t know why, but the game will often give you gear that was based on the enemy you are fighting. But also based on the average level of the team or party.”

“Completing a quest before you take the spoils of battle significantly increases the chance of getting complementary, gear,” Adia said. “Which is why academically at least it behooves you to wait until the loot point forms.”

Soto took a step back from the loot point.

Colonel looked to Sugar. She was still a little out of it. He sighed knowing what he had to do. The burden of leadership was always twofold in this case. Safety and growth. Should they stand around waiting for the loot point, and was Sugar even ready to tell her story? The telltale signs of post-traumatic stress were written over her face.

He could tell she was caught between the game world and the real one. He sighed again. Clyde couldn’t escape making these decisions. Even as the youngest in his family his older siblings looked to him in major moments of family indecision. He had a knack for making the best decision at the time. In hindsight, some of the decisions weren’t the best. But a decent plan today, was better than a perfect plan tomorrow because tomorrow was not guaranteed.

Soto was content to let his team lead think about things, and even their mentors could see him struggling, but they were also content to give information and allow them the choices. Soto liked that a lot. He was an order executor, not an order giver. The colonel had instincts that were honed in the crucible of life, fire, combat, and now the corporate ladder. “Orders sir?” He asked in his best Sergeant Major voice.

“Stand by Sergeant Major.” Colonel had made his decision he wasn’t one to dwell. “Sugar take your time. We will wait for the Loot point to form.” He looked to Bour and then Adia. “Thank you for your advice.” He said with a slight bow.

“We wouldn’t be very good mentors if we didn’t advise you would we?” Adia said with playful brown eyes looking back at him.

“Soto let's have an after-action report.” Sugar nodded her agreement. Which had Clyde again reevaluating the extraordinary woman. She seemed to know military nomenclature at first glance.

“Roger that let's do a quick AAR, then we can loot, then we can talk to that homeless guy who looks even more terrified now that we got two new races in our world.” Soto looked at the homeless man eavesdropping.

The man scrambled away from Soto’s gaze. Colonel frowned. “Ugh, right that guy, great job, let's just have our story time.”