I laughed like a mad scientist who got his way. A few days had passed since  the events in TownCity. From what I heard, Jennifer was still staying at the hospital because she had panic  attacks. Her colleagues weren't any better. The corporation for which they did research for folded like a house of cards under the threats of legal actions. 

To avoid  a trial and investigation, they gave in all our demands. Their program was shut down, the people responsible fired, damages paid. I felt vindicated. For the first time in my life, someone paid for what they did to me. It was like a weight got off my chest.

And I did something that I never did, I skipped my way down to breakfast humming a song. When Grandfather and Stephan saw me, they gaped in surprise. I ignored them. 

“What have you so happy?” Stephan's asked puzzled.

“I'm going to finish the quests I started. Of course, I'm happy.” Stephan's face was weird. He looked embarrassed. 

“What?”

“Hmm...huh..you know....about these quests. Me and the guys kinda sorta finished them.”

“Say what?”

“You weren't supposed to start playing again so soon and we wanted to make a surprise for you so that you won't worry.”

“My quests...” I wanted to cry. Wasn't there a rule among gamers not to steal each others quests? I knew that kind of rule didn't exist but it should.

“We took care of the Unas, have them installed not far from the god's tree. We talked to your patron god MorningStar, you won't have any problems as we did it in your name.”

I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.  They talked to my patron god MorningStar? Did I want to know how that came to be? 

*blink*

*blink*

Nope. As long as everyone was okay I shouldn't question things. It would give me a headache.  

“So everything's taking care of in Forgotten Soul?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Stephan looked surprised at my easy acceptance. 

What I couldn't tell him though was that taking care of the Unas wasn't a quest and he couldn't have talked to MorningStar because I was MorningStar. It was easier to go with the flow and agree without saying anything.

His stare was insistent as he tried to guess what I was up to. 

“So what game are you going to do today?” Grandfather's question pleased me to no end. I couldn't prevent myself from smiling.

“I'm starting a new game.”

“Oh? Which one?”

“Draconian Glory. I want to do all the things I haven't done before like exploring dungeons, finishing quests.”

“What the hell have you been doing since you started playing?” Disbelief seemed to be the only emotions Stephan could express today. 

I didn't give him an answer. How did you explain chaos? I had no words. My game play was all over the place. There was no rational explanation on how it ended like that.

The first VR game I ever played was Forgotten Soul. I started playing when the game became compulsory at school a few weeks earlier. Not even a day later, I died, killed by the librarian because I refused to answer his questions. I had absolutely no idea why I refused. At the time, it looked like the thing to do but now, with insight, I know it was stupid. But that could still be excused as normally a player couldn't be killed inside town and even less by a civilian. Lucky me, I got to be the exception.

Well, I said I died but I was actually transformed into a nature spirit. Not my finest moments, I spent weeks in game to gain 2 skills: touch and float. No one could see me nor touch me so everything people normally did when starting a game were out of my reach. I trained alone in a special room at the back of the training center.

One day, out of the blue, I got attacked by a dummy. I think I might be the only guy ever to be attacked by a real freaking dummy. After an arduous fight, I got roped into becoming the training master's apprentice. To tell the truth the training in itself wasn't hard. What made it difficult was the restriction my race put on me and the training master's attitude. He treated me like crap. 

When he scared me out of the town, I decided to never came back and go dungeon diving. It didn't happen. I caught 3 of my classmates torturing wolves. After what they did to me, this scene wasn't to my taste to say the least. In short, I saved the wolves and made them pay but my skill was lacking and it took longer than it should have and it suspiciously looked like torture.

That event triggered several things. I got a new race, a mother, 5 pets and a ban from the game. I know, it's weird how they seemingly had no connection with each other.  

Anyway, I went to another game, Zombie Apocalypse where I learned to control some of the new powers that came with my new race. It went rather well but  my pets got infected by the zombie disease. To heal them, I went to Althasia Online. 

From the main goddess of the game I gained the skill needed to save my pets but I couldn't used it as I didn't have enough faith. It was relatively easy to get the faith I needed. It took me a few days in game. Things moved really fast and I become a god. I started playing only a few weeks ago and I was already a god. Now that I think of it, wasn't I insanely lucky? 

Anyone would be ecstatic about this kind of fast development but having lived it first hand, I had to say that the result didn't make the process easier. Trouble dogged my step and I  had a hard time dealing with it. 

At first, I thought that Althasia lied and that my pets weren't healed but in the end, they got saved. It was a great event but I was still a little perplexed on why it didn't work the first time. 

With my pets' safety out of the way and Stephan and the guys taking care of  the  Unas, most of my troubles went away.  

“I need to gather information first and then, play.” I mumbled.

“Information on what?” Grandfather asked.

Being in a good mood, I answered without prompting.

“The game. I don't want to do like I did before. I want to change and for that I need information.” 

“If you want information on games, then you should watch Online News. It's a channel dedicated to VR games. It's on 24/7.” Stephan suggested. 

My interest was picked. I have heard before about this channel but as it was watchable only on the StaViCon, I never could check it out because I didn't have a Stavicon before and after that, I got too caught up in the games to care.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Excited, I thanked Stephan for the advice and rushed to my room where I put my helmet on. 

The scan of you iris has determined that you are a registered user. Which application do you wish to connect to?

“Online News.”

Welcome to Online News. 

We have a large panel of programs available for your pleasure. Please select which one you want to view.  

A huge panel appeared in front of me. Thousands of small screens with the name of each programs written in bold black letters in front of the of the moving pictures floated on air as far as I could see. When my fingers passed over a small screen, it enlarged and a small description of the show was written under the name.

After a simple observation, I understood the system under which they were classed. Each game had its own dedicated shows. Every five lines a new game would be talked about.

At the top, a slightly larger screen scrolled the latest news. In bright bold fire-red engine letters, a sentence stole my breath. 

Flashnews! Zombie invasion in Althasia Online!

Curious, I  clicked on the baiting line. The scenery around me rushed around like I was moving in a very fast car. When it stopped, I sat on a seat in bleachers as 2 people stood on a stage. Others sat next to me but they were shrouded in a black mist hiding  their identity. I extended my arm and touch the one next to me.

"Dude, what?" The black mist disappeared and a guy around my age appeared. 

I opened and closed my mouth in surprise not knowing what to say. I hadn't expected someone to talk.

The boy sneered and the black mist envelopped his figure once again. I shook my head to dispel this embarassing episode and I started paying attention to the people on the stage.

There was a man and a woman. They stood in front of the audience.

“Welcome to Online news. I am Lou Ann Carter.” She turned toward her coworker.

“I am Liam  Dean. “ He  said responding to her cue before they finished together. “Welcome to Online News.”

“The biggest event of the past week was the zombie  invasion in Althasia Online.  Goldman Games refused to make a comment on the situation but nonetheless, we have gathered all the the latest information for you.”  The woman Lou Ann Carter said.

“ Right ! A week ago real time the first zombie appeared in Tion town. Since then, the epidemy had propagated to the surrounding area. “

I tuned out what he said afterward. My mind got stuck on the words Zombie and Tion town.  A sick feeling spread in my chest. It couldn't be my fault, right ? The more I think about it, the more I convinced myself that it was truly my fault.

The events from when the red horned demons attacked Tion Town came back to mid.

*Flashback*

After the attack started , I went to check what was going one in town. After finding my wayward pets, I went back to the Cathedral. The demons advanced steadily and a lot of townspeople hadn't be brought to safety yet.

I was helping an old woman to get inside the Cathedral when an explosion sounded on my left. I turned my head toward the sound. What I saw stopped me in my tracks. The devastation didn't register.  The explosion was forgotten. 

“They can't be that stupid, right?” I knew the answer to that question and it was a resounded “yes”. My pets were helping the women away from the danger. They licked the women's wounds like nothing was the matter. They bit them to drag them away. 

Seeing this spectacle, I could only bemoan my fate. The day I accepted them as my pets I made one of the biggest mistake of my life and there was no way, it was going to change anytime soon. They were my responsibility and I would take care of them to the best of my capabilities even though I wished that I never met them in the first place.

My mana was totally depleted. The demons were just a few feet away. I retreated with them inside the building. 

*End flashback*

I should have done something at the time, I had no excuse. My pets had already been contaminated by the zombie virus when I first set foot in Althasia, it wasn't a stretch to think that anyone they bit would be contaminated too. 

With determination, I listened to the host  and the guests had to say but my lack of knowledge came back to bit  me again in the ass. I didn't get crap from what they said. They talked about towns and people I had no idea about.  

I should apply the same diligence that I apply for schoolwork on information gathering for games. But every time, I looked at the sheer amount of information there were, my brain turned to mush and I went to do something else.

In short, what I gathered from a one hour show was that no one made a connection with Zombie Apocalypse but I still couldn't calm down. If someone guessed my participation in this, I was screwed. And I could already imagine the backlash I would receive.  

A question plagued me though. Why wasn't Althasia and her priests doing something against it? Supreme healing worked on the disease so why did they let it spread?

I burned with curiosity. What was going on in Althasia? Was Saffron okay? Worry about the priestess of Tion Town ate at my resolve. I didn't want to get involve anymore in this mess but I had a responsibility. Saffron became my pet before I brought the Unas to Forgotten Soul. I had to go  save her!