My mouth hung open in disbelief. My fear and tiredness went out the window.

“You piece of shits! You want peace? You scared me, you attacked me and you put me in a goddamned cage! You think you're the shit. Flashnews! I'll have your ass. When I'm out of here, I'll have every last one of you erased from existence. And you!” I raised my head to the ceiling, “I know you're watching. Who would believe that crap about the game not being monitored? You've already violated several StaViCon laws, when the authorities know that, they'll eat you alive, I'll make sure of it...” 

Grandpa Terry and his cronies looked at me like I was crazy. 

“He's talking to the ceiling.” One of them whispered.

“What do you care? Can't you find another kid to terrorize? Well, f*ck you and your town!”

“Akira!” Grandpa Terry yelled my name. He was red in the face. Anger and vindictiveness filled his eyes.

I wasn't stupid enough to think that my outburst would change something to their plans. It actually proved that I wasn't totally sane. However, it changed something in me. I'd had enough. Whatever I did, nothing changed, I got screwed left and right.

I was too chicken-shit to commit suicide, so screw it. I proceeded to ignore the guys standing in front of my cage. I tuned out everything. They could do whatever they wanted, it was just a game. I would grit my teeth and take their crap but when I logged out, I would make them pay. I needed information and I couldn't trust anything anyone said here. I was god-knew-where, I had no power, Jennifer was nowhere in sight and my captors made some crap about wanting peace. Did everyone take me for an idiot?

As soon as I got out, heads would roll, starting with Grandfather and Stephan's. I didn't know where they got their psychiatrists but they needed to be gone: one turned out to be a stalker and the other was an incompetent liar who got me stuck in a crazy game.

My captors  didn't appreciate that I ignored them. They stroke the cage, yelled and threatened me, I still didn't give them any attention. In my heart, I smirked in delight. I loved pissing people of. It wasn't socially acceptable but I was too damn tired to take everything without retaliation.

In a last resort, they opened the cage. The second oldest put his tools down and dragged me out by my feet. I didn't struggle. I bid my time. When he finally pulled me on my feet, I threw my elbow on his face. The crunch of his breaking nose gave me a joyful rush. Without missing a beat, I went to Grandpa Terry and kicked him in the balls. He doubled over in pain. I punched him in the face. The satisfying crunch on his face resounded in my ears.  He crumbled on the ground like a sack of potatoes. 

The youngest still held that iron bar. He came at me screaming, the bar raised above his head. What an idiot! Like I was going to fight someone with a weapon. I dodged him and ran through the door. 

I dived into the dark forest. I couldn't see anything at first. I just ran in front of me. I fell down on roots and rocks that littered the forest floor. I knew that I should stop to get my bearings or at the least, to accustom my eyes to the darkness of the night but the rush of adrenaline pushed me to keep going. 

I don't know how long I ran. No one came after me. It was one of the perks of having newbies kidnappers, they made easy mistakes. The first one was to leave me untied even though I was in a cage. The second was to get angry because I ignored them. The third was that they didn't follow me as soon as I left the cabin. But the biggest mistake they made was to expect everything to go their way. They made a plan and didn't think of things in case something went wrong.

I kept on running for a while. My sight got better but my attention was still behind me. I feared that my captors would find my trail. 

*bang*  

I fell down on my butt. My front smarted. Disorientated, I squinted to see what I ran into. There was nothing. I  raised my hand in front of me. There was some kind of invisible wall. I got back on my feet. I felt around. The wall seemed to encompass a large area. It sealed off the town and its surroundings.

It took me two hours to go around the wall. The reason why no one pursued me when I ran out of the cabin wasn't because of their stupidity but because I couldn't leave the area even if I wanted. They could come after me anytime they wished. I could either hide in town in one of the building or in the forest. Either choice wasn't viable. I still had 7 hours and a half to wait before I could log out. There was plenty of time for them to find me.

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The light drizzle of the rain made me shiver. My clothes were drenched. My lips were blue. I felt defeated as I had nowhere to go. 

The wind blew in the sleepless night. I whipped my head to the right. Dogs barked excited as they came in my direction. Determined, I ran from them. I got used to the darkness long ago. For several minutes, I dodged trees, I got scrapped by branches and for the second time of the night, I smacked head first into something.  

I fell on my back. Pissed, I raised my head to see what was in front of me. I made sure that I didn't run into the invisible wall so I didn't know what made me fall. A tree darker than the rest stood proud and tall.

I didn't think much of it but when my sight cleared I saw letters engraved in its bark. I passed my hand over them trying to get what word it was.

“Options.” When I said the written word as I passed my hand on the letters a  red window appeared in front of me.

Options

Pain suppressor Yes /No

Map function Yes/ No

StaViCon Avatar disabled Yes/ No

A creepy smile came to my face. I knew it! Jennifer's explanation was fake. The proof of it floated right in front of me. If the menu option was on a tree then there must be a log-out button that worked somewhere. 

A weight got off my chest knowing that I wasn't really trapped. I cracked my knuckles, I moved  my neck left and right. 

I switched all the options. I enabled the use of the StaViCon avatar. White lights flicked around me and I transformed into Everheart Dreamweaver. My black hair grew longer, my eyes turned red. 

A window appeared in front of me.

StaViCon avatar enabled.

I didn't check if the other options worked. 

“Abudabi come.”  I called one of  my wolves. I avoided the rest for the time being as I didn't have the strength of mind to deal with their stupidity times five. She appeared in a ray of light. Her teeth snapped at me as soon as she appeared. Foam came out of her mouth. She lost part of her fur. A twinge of pain and guilt pulled at my heart. I should have checked on them sooner. 

When she saw it was me, she calmed down some but insanity battled for dominance in her eyes. 

I cast a spell to make the ground turn to mud. When her paws dug in the ground, I solidified it, trapping Abudabi where she was.  

Althasia lied to me. The skill she gave me couldn't totally heal the disease from Zombie Apocalypse but it was still my strongest healing skill and it still had an effect even though it wasn't as strong as I wished.  

“Supreme healing.” I whispered with tears on my eyes. The insanity was pushed away but the other signs of the disease were still present. I freed her from the shackles on her paws.

“Ma-Master!” She jumped on me and sniffled in my chest. 

“Abudabi. How do you feel?”

“Better. I tried to resist but it was hard.” Her voice was small like she was ashamed that she had been about to attack me. 

I patted her head. I resisted  calling the other wolves. Even though I wanted to assess their situation, I wasn't in a position to let them roam around. 

I took calming breath. I needed to get my priorities straight. First, I would teach a lesson to the inhabitants of TownCity. Second, I would have a real conversation with Grandfather and Stefan. Afterwards, I would check on the Unas and finally head out to Draconian Glory to find the Holy Dragon to heal my wolves. I needed to do all of that as fast as I could..

However for the time being, I activated my float skill and rose in the sky with Abudabi. The dogs reached the place I had been. They sniffled around as they lost my scent. My face pulled in a humorless smile.

It was payback time, they would regret ever pissing me off.  

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