Epilogue One, Road Trip
A Nameless Carriage Driver, Second Month of 947
The last passenger finally boarded my carriage, and I swatted my horses with the reigns to get them moving. I was making the trek from Ris Village, a tiny little pissant place in the middle of nowhere all the way to the Royal Capital. My passengers numbered five plus a monster that apparently belonged to one of them. These were honestly some odd people I was transporting; We had three kids barely turned ten years old and a maid. Apparently one of the kids, the sole male beside myself, was a guard. Hah! As if a shrimp hardly old enough to drink would be able to fend off any monsters or bandits.
Still, the monster might serve as a good distraction ifin it came down to it. Not that it would, I charged a premium, but I was myself blessed with a strong purpose and capable in a scrap. One of the little girls was heading off to train to be some kind of priestess. She was real’ excited about it based on how she was chattering away to the other girl.
The last girl was, believe it or not, a bona fide country noble daughter. Even in a poor as dirt little village like this, you would think her daddy could afford to hire a proper guard or two. Maybe that’s why he hired me, I did advertise myself as being able to serve as a guard after all. Still, he had to be a real cheapskate. The last passenger and only adult was the noble girl’s maid. She was carrying a sword belted to her waist, but certainly, she wasn’t that strong, being an attendant and all.
The noble girl was looking out the window with a wistful expression on her face until the village disappeared over a hill. Young lass has probably never been this far from home before. Kinda sad really. Seeing as all my passengers were now unoccupied, I made my usual announcements, “Well, settle in for the long ride. From here to the capital is going to take about five days. Once we get out of these mountains, we should be in the clear from any monsters, and the kingdom’s knights regularly patrol the highways to deal with bandits and the like so I expect it should be a safe journey.”
The little priest girl thanked me with a smile, and the so-called guard boy nodded quietly. The maid didn’t react at all, and the noble girl… looked disappointed?
We made camp just past the forest edge in the mountain foothills. Ris Village was so remote and out of the way that we wouldn’t have access to a town for the first three days of travel. Much to my shock, the maid and the noble girl immediately set about making camp with a practiced skill that indicated plenty of experience. Hardly what you would expect two blue bloods to do.
I mean, I guess Ris Village is really remote and all… I glanced at the guard boy and the priestess girl. The guard boy was watching the noble and maid with a sort of “Well, shoulda expected that” surprised face, and the priestess girl was paying them no heed whatsoever as if this was entirely normal behavior.
Stacking up the surprises, the maid took off with the monster after they finished making camp and the noble girl gave them some kind of order. She came back about ten minutes later as if nothing had happened, but I could swear I smelled the scent of blood on her. Of course, none of my passengers said anything, so I decided I was better off not poking the bee’s nest.
Resigning myself to what was, like as not, going to be a highly unusual trip, I set up a magic tool to detect incoming threats and we all went to sleep. I didn’t hear the noble girl asking the maid why “we never used one of those because it would be so useful.” Nope, I didn’t hear that at all.
The second day we woke up all fine and dandy and broke camp. I say we broke camp, but it was really me, the maid and the noble girl. The maid gave me a really scary look when she caught me staring at the noble girl so I decided I didn’t see anything again. Still, I was getting real’ curious about my passengers. I strained my ears to try and hear what they were saying from inside the carriage.
“I was so disappointed yesterday when he said it was going to be safe! This is my first time traveling so far by carriage, after all, I was hoping to run into some trouble. Jacqueline, do you think those goblins yesterday are a sign that this trip might be interesting?”
“Lady Stahlia, I don’t think we will have anything to worry about. Our driver is an accomplished adventurer in his own right so even if we do run into trouble he will deal with it.”
“That is not what I meant…”
“Stahlia! Listen to miss Jacqueline! Why do you want to run into trouble?!”
“Nah Sana, Lady Stahlia’s got the right idea, I’ve been practicing for so long, I finally want to test myself against a fair opponent.”
“Oh Giogi, are you implying that fighting me is not fair? It sounds like you need more training.”
“N-n-no! I’m quite all right as is! Thank you very much!”
“Hush, all of you. Lady Stahlia, Miss Sana, Sir Giogi. The driver will handle any and all trouble we may run into. #######”
Suddenly I couldn’t hear inside the carriage anymore. That last voice was the maid, and it sounded like she invoked a spell. I didn’t know much about magic, due to the Drakas Kingdom regulating it so strictly, but if a mere maid was able to invoke soundproofing magic with only the name, that couldn’t be normal. About as unusual as a noble girl who wants to meet bandits, and is it just me, or did it sound like she beats the snot out of her own guard on the regular? I resolved to stop asking questions.
We made camp that night for the last time. I had been getting the feeling that I should get these people out of my carriage as soon as I could so I was planning on pushing the horses a little hard and making the trip to the capital in only four days instead of five, that would put us in a town tomorrow evening. The whole time we were making camp, I could feel the maid’s stare on the back of my head. I get it! I won’t say anything! Just stop shooting all that anger at me!
Breaking camp the third day, I ignored my enhanced hearing talent and made a point of pretending my carriage was empty. Everything was good up until around noon, we were about six hours away from the village I planned on stopping the night in when I saw a cart with its wheels broken on the side of the road. Leaning against the cart was a man with his arm up in a sling.
The whole area as far as the eye could see was a grassy plain with vegetation coming up to about my waist, perfect for hiding if you crouched in it. Aww shit. I stopped the carriage and climbed out of the seat. This was a pretty classic trap bandits would set, and I needed to warn my passengers.
Knocking on the carriage door, the maid opened it for me, “Ah, I’m afraid I got some bad news. It seems there might be bandits ahead after all.”
The maid nodded coolly, not seeming to be worried at all. The noble girl seemed excited for some reason I still couldn’t fathom. The Priestess girl didn’t seem frightened either, she just sighed and started running her temples like she had a migraine, it was a bit exaggerated like she was imitating something she had seen. The guard boy gripped his sword handle tightly.
At least one of the kids is sensible “Boy, I aim to go ahead and check out that cart to see if it’s a trap. Stay here and guard your mistress, if the carriage gets attacked, I’ll be back in about five seconds.” The boy gave me a crisp salute, so I nodded at him and set off to the cart at a brisk pace.
As I was nearing the cart, the man stood up and waved at me, “No, go back! They’ll get your carriage!” Against my better judgment, but in line with my instincts I had been honing over decades of travel, I spun around. Coming out from the tall grass was a trio of Orcs. Orcs were a C rank monster, I could handle them one on one but fighting three at once would be a no-go. Damn! I hope that guard boy can at least hold one of them off me for a few seconds! With a cry of warning, I took off running back to my carriage.
Then the unthinkable happened. Swinging the doors open, the monster jumped out and grabbed one of the orcs right around its throat, using its airborne momentum it twisted around, dragging the beast around by the neck. I saw a spray of red as the monster sailed past the now dying orc, propelled by the momentum of its jump. Well, that was a pretty skilled use of a weak monster like a Stawri, two on one I should be able to manage, although there’s a good chance I’ll get hurt.
Just as I was thinking that the Boy jumped out of the carriage and swung at first one orc than the other, nicking both of them he succeeded in drawing their attention and started running away from the carriage. No, you idiot! Lead them towards me not back the way we came! That’s when the noble girl came out of the carriage. What the hell?! You’re the one we should be protecting the most! What the blazes are you thinking?!
The noble girl raised both her hands out towards the orcs theatrically, there was a light breeze that was making her hair wave about behind her. “## ####, #### # #### ### ### ##### ## ###### ## #####! ########.” Speaking in the magic language, the noble girl conjured up a ball of fire and launched it straight into the back of the rear Orc’s head. The beast fell forward onto its face, a smoldering hole bored into its noggin.
As the Orc fell, the guard boy suddenly pivoted and jumped at the back of the last Orc who had just been turning around to stare at the corpse of its buddy. With a yell, the guard knight skewered the monster through the small of its back and let it fall gurgling off his sword. I skidded to a stop, belatedly, I realized the injured man was right behind me. “W-wh-wha?!” As if noticing us for the first time, the noble girl looked at the injured man in surprise, then turned to the interior of the carriage and said something.
The priestess girl came out and approached the man with his arm in a sling, “Here, let me see your arm, sir.” She ran her hand down the length of his arm that he dumbly presented her, taking note of all the places where he winced as her touch passed. Nodding once after she satisfied herself, she clasped her hands.
“Oh Goddess Gaia, mother of order. Hear my prayer and lend your humble servant your divine power! Please soothe the injured and the weary travelers that have drawn the eye of Dorian!”
Lifting her hands towards the sky, I could only blink in amazement as a blueish-green light descended on the man’s arm, “There you go, it should be healed now!”
The maid came out last and shot me and the traveler a withering look. Right! We didn’t see anything strange at all!
Epilogue Two, R1: A Cruel Reality
Rosial, Three Years Old, First Month of 945.
I awoke in a dark place. I could not see or hear a thing. I tried to move my arms and legs but could not tell if I was successful. I could not tell where I was and began to cry, at least I thought I was crying, but I couldn’t even feel the tears running down my face. After a while, I cannot tell how long, I eventually fell asleep.
Waking up I was still in the same dark place, so I cried again. I repeated this for so long I cannot remember. Frequently, I would think of my sister’s face. At first, doing that brought me peace. Surely, she’ll come and save me! She’ll make a potion or something and I will wake up from whatever hell this is!
But no matter how long I waited, she never came. After the gods only know how long I began to hate my sister’s face for constantly appearing in my mind. At one point I tried to bite my tongue, just to feel something, but I could not manage to do so. I could feel pressure when I bit down hard enough, but it was so faint I felt I might just be imagining it. After another length of time, I heard a voice in my head, “Subject 23, how are you doing today?”
Subject 23? Is he talking to me?
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“Indeed, I am talking to you Subject 23, can you tell me how you are feeling?”
My name isn’t subject 23! My name is Rosial! Let me out of here!
I screamed at the voice in my head, but it did not respond. I shouted and yelled at it, but no matter what I said I received no response. Eventually, I fell silent from fatigue. Of course, I had not really been screaming, or maybe I was, I could not tell.
I passed into blessed unconsciousness an uncountable number of times. Before I realized it, the face of my sister was beginning to grow fuzzy in my mind. I stopped hating her then, I desperately clung to the picture of her face.
Do not leave me, sister!
“Subject 23, how are you today?”
My name is Rosial! Give me back my sister!
The voice did not respond. Eventually, my sister’s face had grown to indistinct, I could no longer see it. I cried and gnashed my teeth, desperately trying to bite off my tongue. I was not sure why I wanted to bite it off, but I somehow knew if I did, I could escape from this place. Of course, no matter how hard I tried it did not work. I only ever felt a very light pressure.
More time passed. The voice did not return; I was desperate for it to return to me. I wanted to sense anything! It could not leave me in the dark forever, could it? I had lost all track of time. I felt like an eon must have passed with me just floating in this blackness.
My sister… my sister… my sister? Who is my sister?
“Subject 23, are you feeling well?”
The voice! The voice is back!
“Yes, I am back. Subject 23, how are you feeling?”
I am so alone! Please! Where is my sister?
“Your sister? Subject 23, you have no sister.”
I… I have no sister? That’s wrong! My older sister… my older sister is always there for me, isn’t she?!
“No Subject 23, you have no sister.”
You’re lying! My sister, her name is…. My sister will come for me! You’ll see!
The voice did not respond. Again, I gnashed my teeth for that was all I could do.
I drifted in an endless sea of black, unfeeling and unaware. I could no longer think. Occasionally, a vague indistinct shape would cross my mind’s eye but although I tried, I desperately tried to grab it, I could not grab hold and the vague indistinct shape flitted past.
“Subject 23, how are you feeling?”
I… I don’t know
I felt like I should be crying, but I could not.
“Subject 23, who are you waiting for?”
I… I don’t have anyone to wait for…
For some reason, that thought made me even sadder than I already was.
“I see, you must feel very alone.”
That’s right… I’m so alone… please don’t leave me again mister voice!
“Do not worry subject 23, I will not leave you.”
Thank you! Oh, thank you!
“There-there now, are you feeling better now Subject 23?”
Oh yes! Much better! I’m so glad you won’t leave me… Say, mister voice… what should I call you?
“Me? I don’t have a name, unfortunately… If you need to call me something, you could call me Five though.”
Five… got it! Thank you for talking with me mister Five!
“Of course, Subject 23… I have to step away for a minute, but I’ll be back soon so wait for me ok?”
Absolutely! Please, hurry back! It’s scary when I’m alone…
The voice, Mr. Five did not respond, but that was ok, I knew he would be back.
Subject 23, Four Years Old
I was floating in a black space, waiting for Mr. five to come back.
Epilogue Three, F1: Another Time, Another Place
Franklin, 22 Years Old, 2020. Somewhere on Earth.
I let myself into my dorm room and flopped down onto the couch. My roommate came up to me and asked how I was feeling, but I shooed them away. I still didn’t feel like talking about it. It had been three days since George committed suicide. The university had given me an academic leave so I could sort out my emotions. I was just going through the motions though.
Everyone assured me that it wasn’t my fault, it was clear that I blamed myself. After all, I was the last person to have any meaningful interaction with him before he did it. I thought back over the events of that day, wondering what I should have done differently.
★★★★★★
I had met George in the cafeteria. Briefly, I debated if I should have pretended I didn’t see him, but quickly threw that idea out; we were from the same home town and people expected us to be friends because of it. It didn’t matter that I found him as insufferable to be around as everyone else, society had decided that we should be friends so I had to act the part.
“George! I saw the announcement! You actually did it didn’t you? You crazy son of a bitch!” George was one of, if not the top player in the RPG Dragon War. I was somewhat fond of the game as well, when it first came out it was to rave reviews lauding it for its combat system and well-written lore. George never questioned that I followed the developer’s Chirper, though I don’t think he realized that I played it as well.
I was more a fan of the experience, but George could only generously be called obsessed. He would spend dozens of hours pouring over stat pages and wiki articles trying to find the most efficient way to proceed through the quests. The few times I had attempted to talk to him about it he had been quick to inform me that “that playstyle isn’t optimal, it wastes too much.” I was quick to explain that it was just stuff I had seen in online videos; if he realized that I had been recounting my own playthroughs I would never hear the end of it.
George flashed a smile when he recognized me, “Yea, I told you it was possible. I also told you I was going to get it done last night, but strangely I still had zero viewers the whole time…”
That’s because your personality is insufferable when you’re doing anything related to games. I kept my thoughts to myself, “Yea… Look, I had this thing going on with Jackson. I really did want to watch, but life got in the way ya know?”
I really had been hanging out with Jackson, but George didn’t need to know that I had arranged that so I would have an excuse if he questioned my absence from his streams.
“No big deal.” George gave me a placating smile. He thinks he’s so magnanimous… this is why people can’t stand you. George turned to the woman running the beverages stand, “One Bang Energy please, I don’t care what flavor.” He processed his transaction and popped the lid off the energy drink.
At a loss for what to say, but knowing it would be super awkward if I excused myself, I said the first thing to come to my mind, “You alright man? You don’t really drink stuff like that.”
He gave me a somewhat patronizing look as if him drinking an energy drink should be the most obvious thing in the world, “Well, I was up really late last night dealing with some stuff.”
I waited, awkwardly scratching at my cheek and trying to think of a convenient way to excuse myself when George suddenly continued, “Say, Franklin, can I trust you to keep a secret?”
Oh god, what’s he gotten up to this time? The last time he asked me to keep a secret, it turned out that he was of the opinion Professor Claire had a crush on him. He wanted me to get him access to the teacher’s lounge in the humanities building so he could hack her workstation to find out what her favorite foods were. Of course, the fact that she was married and would never consider something as unprofessional as a relationship with a student never crossed his mind. I’ve got to find out what he’s scheming and put a stop to it.
“A secret? I mean yea, I’m your friend so…” Looking around, I spotted a suitable table for us to talk and moved over to it, “So, what’s this big secret?”
George leaned in and smiled. “Someone dropped by my chat after I got the achievement last night. They invited me to join a closed beta for a new game called New Life. Look, Franklin, this game, it’s crazy. There’s so much detail to everything. When it launches it’s going to take over the industry. It’ll make Space Rings look like E.T..”
So it’s nothing illegal then, that’s a relief. Now I just have to find a way to get out of this, “Are you sure you should be telling me this? What if you get removed from the beta for breaking some sort of NDA?” George smirked at me.
“No, they told me I could livestream it. This is going to make my channel finally take off. Since you’re always looking out for me, I wanted to show you before anyone else. Think you can swing by my house around nine tonight?” Shit. That makes this really hard to get out of when he phrases it like that…
“I made a character last night, that’s why I was up so late, I’m planning to run through the tutorial today and then restart on stream tomorrow.” George was looking at me intently, hopefully.
So you want me to come over to your house, to watch you play a game… “How self-absorbed can you be…?”
I realized that I had accidentally mumbled the last part out loud and quickly followed up, hoping he hadn’t heard me, “Sure, I can come over tonight, I’ll grab a six-pack on the way.”
“Cool, I’ll see you around nine then. Thanks for the beer!” I watched George head for his next class, trying to see if he had heard my true thoughts. I finished my food and got up to go to my next class. I got a phone call from the Dean while I was at the market to get the beer, telling me that George had jumped in front of a subway, and asking me if I could give a statement to the police since I was the only student who he was known to confide with.
★★★★★★
My dorm room’s phone rang, dragging me out of my memories. I glared angrily at it and my roommate gave me an apologetic look before going to answer it. After a moment, he reached out to hand me the phone. “It’s his mother.” I felt my face twist up as I took the phone.
“Hello, this is Franklin. What can I do for you, Mrs. Smith?” The voice on the other end of the phone was tired and hoarse. She’s probably going through an emotional whirlwind right now.
“Franklin. The police officer said that they couldn’t release George’s affects by mail, and Mr. Smith and I can’t afford to fly out. Would you be able to go to the station and sign for them? I gave them your name as an intermediary, so there shouldn’t be any trouble.” I really don’t want to be anywhere near his things though, it would just make me think about that last conversation again.
“Yea, I can do that for you, Mrs. Smith. Do you still live at the same address?” She told me that yes, they hadn’t moved in the past two years and offered to send me the money for the post, which I tried to refuse. I eventually accepted the gesture when she started crying. You might have turned into a self-absorbed cunt, but there were still people who cared about you. Why’d you go out like this?
I spoke to the crying Mrs. Smith for a few more minutes, before using the fact that the station was a bit of a trip and that it was getting dark to excuse myself. I told my roommate where I was going; the Dean had been very insistent that I keep people apprised of my activities for the next couple of months as a safety precaution.
Arriving at the police station a few hours later, I signed the release for George’s personal effects. I was handed a small box containing a cellphone, wallet, and wristwatch. I trudged back to the dorms under a light rain that perfectly matched my mood.
I let myself into my room and greeted my roommate before going to my bedroom. Taking George’s things out of the box, I ran my fingers over the wristwatch. I could remember when his aunt gave him this for Christmas. It was one of those smartwatches that could link up to your phone. Opening the wallet, there was a picture of his mother and father tucked into the front pocket. I guess deep down he actually did care, at least superficially.
His phone was surprisingly intact. The screen was badly cracked, but the indicator light was still flashing bright green, indicating a new message. After some hesitation, I unlocked the phone. The message might be from someone who didn’t know what had happened and I figured I may as well let them know. George’s password was predictable; the narcissistic bastard had used his own birthday. For how fond you were about tooting your own horn, you sure made some stupid decisions huh…
I scrolled over to his email app and opened it. He had two emails linked, the business email he used for his failed streaming goals, and a personal one. Both had a couple of unreads. I opened the business one first and saw a message from a company called “Gods of Creations” with the subject line “Welcome to New Life”. I decided I may as well send them an email and explain what had happened, so I opened the message to write a quick reply. Briefly skimming the message, I was at a loss. What the hell? Is New Life some kind of suicide cult?
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Welcome to New Life
----------------------------------------
The purpose of this message is to inform you that as of 6:36 pm local time, the Transfer Process has been completed, and your New Life has been fully activated. We apologize for the delay caused by the earlier system error.
Please enjoy your New Lifetm
Sincerely, Gods of Creation Onboarding Team.
The date for the message was three days ago, the same day George had killed himself. According to the police report, he had jumped in front of the 6:35 train, meaning this message had been sent a minute after he died. I felt bile rising up in my throat and quickly tabbed over to his personal email, where I found an email from Professor Dayson asking for details about some kind of survey they had talked about, and another email from the Gods of Creation. Both of these were date and time stamped to shortly before he died. I ignored the one from Professor Dayson, since George had been in her class she already knew about the suicide. Morbidly curious, I opened the email from Gods of Creation
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Beta Activation Key
----------------------------------------
Thank you for expressing an interest in New Life! On behalf of Gods of Creation, we would like to extend an official invitation for you to take part in our beta test of New Lifetm! Please follow the link below in order to download the beta client and use the provided authentication key to activate your client. You will not be able to connect to our server without the key, so we recommend saving this email.
DOWNLOAD
Activation Key: HDRJ-H38F-JVW3-8AJO-CAYE-V4F7
I frowned after reading the email. This email is from just before he died, but he said he had already made his character when I spoke to him in the cafeteria. He might be a narcissist, but he was always honest. He said he had already made a character, so what is this about an account activation key forty minutes before he died?
I was getting suspicious now. From the two emails I had read so far, things seemed fishy. I navigated through his emails going back a week and read all the ones from Gods of Creation. As it turned out, George had in fact made two accounts. The first account was made four days ago and was the one he presumably had made a character on. The second account was made the afternoon just before he died. If you were planning to kill yourself, why would you make a second account for a game you were so excited about?
I was starting to doubt the police ruling of suicide, I didn’t want to think about it, but in the corner of my mind I had an inkling that George had been murdered, and somehow, Gods of Creation was responsible. I resolved myself to ask Professor Dayson for details regarding the survey she had spoken with George about.