Trapped in a Game Pt. 01

"Holy shit dude, how are you not dead?" Pete asked.

"I actually have no idea."

Pete's comment however made me remember the mysterious figure who'd stood on the ledge.

Shit.

Maybe this isn't over just yet.

I pulled Karn aside and let him know what I saw.

"You're certain it was real?"

I nodded.

"Had to be a player. So we should be careful."

"Alright. Guys, cut the shit- let's get a move on securing the hoard!"

Ren met up with Pete and Karn and the three headed for the treasure room, which they'd managed to locate while they were in the lair, and I headed up over to where Kelly was.

She dove into my chest when she saw me, sobbing and berating me all at once.

"You could've died- fall damage from that distance! What were you thinking?"

"Looks like I need to learn how to fight, huh," I commented jokingly, but she was not impressed with my humor.

I hugged her tight and held her close, and it wasn't long before she calmed down enough to crack a little relieved smile at me.

I wasted no time in telling her about the strange figure I saw, so we decided to go look for that ledge from the inside of the lair and see if we could find any clues about who it was, and what they wanted.

When we finally got to the ledge, as expected, the person wasn't still around.

"Think I should try a scan?"

"Hmm. We don't have any more fights planned, so sure. Why not?" Kelly responded.

I concentrated on the spell and placed my hand to the floor as the blue glow appeared, and the pulse revealed nothing more, except for a strange simmering white presence that I had not previously noticed in the room where my scan revealed our three comrades were now standing.

What was that?

"Holy shit guys, this necklace is probably worth a fortune!" Pete's voice came over the chat channel.

"Easy Pete, how are we looking on traps Ren?"

"It looks clear, but you might wanna stand back when I snag the necklace just in case."

"Jesus, the diamonds on this thing are shimmering white."

Wait- shimmering white diamonds. In a necromancer's lair? Shit!

I shot Kelly a quick glance then tore off after the chamber they were in.

"Guys don't touch it, it's a-"

"What the fuck?!"

Kelly and I got into the room just in time to see a brilliant white flash emanate from the light before Ren's body began to disintegrate into a million little balls of white light.

"Ren!" Pete cried out, but as he dived into the spot where she stood, a final flash shot out of the necklace before an intimidating figure appeared in her stead.

It had a skeleton for a face, and stood about seven feet tall, holding a giant staff with a skull on its head in its left hand.

Pete collided headfirst with the thing, and out of reflex I marked it just as Pete swung his sword at the monster's feet.

But the sword merely bounced off of his feet with a dull thud, and Pete rolled away as Karn fired a grappling hook at the creature's staff which wrapped around it, then anchored the hook to a notch on the wall.

Kelly fired an arrow, but the creature was now fully formed and aware, and with a swing of the hand it swatted the arrow out of the air like a mere fly.

"Shit," Karn muttered, and as he made a dash for the entrance where we stood, but the monster lifted its right hand which glowed with that tell-tale blue aura, and an icy spike shot out of it, just missing Karn and keeping him from crossing the room.

We needed to escape, and quick.

Pete's sword had barely scratched it and Kelly's shot didn't even land.

The monster turned on Pete, but as it seemed poised to strike, a brilliant flash of light appeared from behind him as a hooded figure in white robes; the one who I'd seen as I was falling, walked through the door on the opposite side of the chamber.

The room was quickly illuminated, and sword-shaped lights began to form in a circle around the creature who seemed frozen in its midst.

"Run, you jackasses!" Her voice revealed that the figure was a woman, and Karn and Pete quickly snapped out of their trance, dashing for the exit behind her while Kelly and I escaped the way we came.

We ran without looking back or stopping, and eventually met back up with the rest of the group, plus the robed woman, outside of the ruins.

At her urging, we continued to hastily retreat from the ruins, until Pete stopped us:

"Guys! What about Ren?"

Everyone exchanged nervous glances, as we paused to catch our virtual breaths.

It didn't burn the lungs the way it would if I ran like this with my soda and chips ridden body, but I could feel my stamina building back up as I took deep breaths at the pause.

"We have to go back-"

"Pete-" Karn started, but our unknown guest cut him off:

"She's dead. There's nothing to go back for."

"W-what? S-she can't be. All she did was touch some stupid necklace... s-she's still- back there somewhere, right?"

I shot Kelly a worried glance, and sure enough she was tearing up a bit.

"I'm going back- we can't leave all that treasure. Ren- Ren earned that with us. She's waiting there for us to come get it, right? When that monster disappears, Ren will come back- won't she?"

"Pete, I'm sorry..." Karn muttered.

Pete looked at us, hopelessly.

"Stop looking like that! Stop looking so sad. She's not! She's not dead, she's just waiting for us- hey, let's just kill that thing. Ren will come back, let's just-"

"It's useless," the hooded woman replied. "Your friend was consumed by that thing- and you all couldn't kill it even if you tried. It's a lich."

"No way- who would put a lich in a low level dungeon..." he replied.

"This isn't that kind of game, kid..." the woman muttered.

She seemed a bit less harsh now, but the reality was only just sinking in for Pete.

"Bullshit! This is complete fucking bullshit!"

"Pete, we need to-" I started.

"No, fuck you. This is your fault! You brought us here. You killed Ren!" His sword was drawn and he was advancing on me, and in a flash Kelly had her dagger out and was standing in front of me.

But I put a hand on her shoulder, and with my other hand, I lowered her blade.

He's not dangerous, just hurt...

His sword clattered to the ground as he put his hands over his face, tears falling as he sobbed.

Despite the somber mood, we eventually had to move as sunset was quickly approaching.

Thanks to my mark we were able to keep an eye on the lich from afar, and loot the goblin camps around the lair. There was probably some stuff inside of the lair that we could get to without disturbing the lich, but after Ren's death no one was particularly eager to tempt fate.

The combined wealth we made from the outing was still considerably good, but at the cost of Ren's life it left us with a bitter aftertaste, and no one could smile much less celebrate.

The robed woman was a priestess named Serra.

She was a solo player and a bit of a loner, so she didn't reveal much else about herself despite continuing to accompany us in the aftermath of our ordeal.

As we retreated from the valley in search of a safer place to make camp, Pete was pretty silent even though Karn tried his best to indulge him, and Kelly and I tried to keep our distance since he'd already lashed out at us once already.

"That was a phylactery, wasn't it?" I asked Serra, as we trudged on through the hills.

"Oh? So you're the brains in this little gang, huh?"

Almost everything that came out of this girl's mouth had a hint of sarcasm to it, even though she didn't seem ill natured.

"I think I owe you a thank you," I muttered quietly to Serra, even though I knew Kelly was trying her hardest to listen in.

"Is that so?"

"Feather fall, wasn't it?" I replayed the words she mouthed over and over in my mind, trying to think of all of the various spells from popular RPGs that I was aware of.

Feather fall was a spell which when cast on a falling object or target, slowed their fall speed allowing them to escape the possible deadly damage that came from a fall from height.

She nodded.

"So you caught that, huh? You're pretty sharp," she added, and I was taken aback by what sounded oddly like a genuine, if uncharacteristic compliment.

Kelly shot me a sharp look, then stalked ahead a bit.

"If you keep whispering to me, your girlfriend is going to get jealous," Serra whispered, and I looked away with a hint of a blush.

"That's not it," I responded a little defensively. "She's my sister- and she's just pissed at me for almost dying."

We ended up setting up camp in a remote little nook in a hilly stretch, some way away from the necromancer's lair.

Having walked for a bit into the night, it was late and everyone was pretty beat by the time we started setting up, so everyone ate quickly before retiring into their respective tents for the night.

Although Serra didn't offer to share a tent with Kelly, Pete shot us a nasty look as we went off to bed, and he mouthed something that looked like 'fuckin' weirdos' in our direction before retiring to his and Karn's tent.

Kelly had been mostly quiet all evening, but as we got ready for bed, she spoke up:

"Hey- I know we slept without the sleep function yesterday, so I thought you'd want to know that there's a way to put on a wake up alarm without activating the sleep function. Here, let me show you."

I followed her instructions and found that it was possible to set a daily alarm, and there were a few other options.

"It was different," she muttered, "sleeping without the sleep function. It was like I could feel your presence there, next to me, all night while I slept. It was- comforting," she added, as she cozied up in my arms resting her head on my chest.

"You almost died today," she muttered timidly.

"Yeah- I'm sorry. I did something pretty stupid, huh."

"That girl saved you, didn't she?" She looked up into my eyes, and I gave a little nod.

"It's so easy to die- all Ren did was touch that thing, and that was it..." she continued.

"We just need to be careful. Maybe go for easier fights. We made a lot off of the goblin camps."

"I love you, Josh. I don't want to die without telling you how much-"

"Easy, Kel. I love you too, and no one is dying, okay? We'll be more careful..."

Kelly looked like she was on the verge of saying something very difficult, but eventually changed her mind, nestling back into her spot in my arms.

I was about to settle in to sleep, when I caught her looking up at me again with that look in her eyes, as if there was something she just couldn't sleep without getting off of her chest.

I was about to ask her what was up, when she quickly brought her face up to mines, and kissed me, a quick peck on the cheek.

She blushed a little, as if the move had embarrassed her, so I returned the favor and gave her a little peck of my own on her cute little blushing cheek.

But as I withdrew, I noticed something different about her eyes.

Her breathing was tense, and her fists were balled tight; and if I didn't know better I would have thought that-

My heart thumped in my chest, and I froze, as Kelly leaned into me, closing her eyes as she pressed her lips to mine for just a second.

Her eyes fluttered open and she held my gaze for just a second more, before quickly withdrawing back into her little nook in my arms.

"Good night, Josh," she muttered shyly, and I was worried that she might hear my heart beat through my chest as it thumped away nervously.

I lifted my hand to my face, and with two fingers trailed the spot where Kelly's lips had pressed against me, and as I drifted off to sleep I found myself absently reliving the sensation over and over again.

Now I'm not going to pretend that I've been ignorant of my sister's infatuation with me.

Ever since we were kids, Kelly practically idolized me, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't relish in her doting and adoration back then. But she was much older now, and I'm certain she wasn't still blind to my extensive list of failures and faults.

I wasn't sure if she was going to pursue it, but I silently resolved to let her down easy if it came to that.

When we woke up the next morning, Kelly was skittish as I'd expected; whenever she was idle I could almost sense her eyes on me, and every time I caught her gaze she would quickly look away with a little blush.

Things with Pete were still tense.

He trudged about with a vacant look on his face, and even Karn seemed on edge.

Serra kept more or less to herself as usual, but as we set out for town I began to wonder what the fate of our group would be once we returned.

As things stood, it seemed to be best if we went our separate ways, so Kelly and I would probably have to set out looking for a new team.

I wondered silently if Serra would be interested in joining us.

A priest was a pretty solid addition to any group, though our party's makeup was one that worked reasonably well without it.

We were almost back to the starting town when Karn finally started questioning her a bit:

"So, what were you doing at those ruins?" Karn asked.

"Investigating," she muttered, with an absent looking smile.

Karn shot me a confused look, and I shrugged, as she didn't even bother elaborating.

"Are you with another group?" Kelly asked, and she shook her head before giving a tired sigh:

"Look- spare me the inquisition. I'm not trying to take your share of the loot or anything- I just wanna do what I came here to do, which is play!"

Pete's fists were clenched, and if Serra noticed she didn't say a thing about it.

"Would you like to join up with us?" Karn asked, but she shook her head.

"You kidding? I play alone. You all would never keep up. Although- I do have need for someone with a certain range of skills..." she glanced suggestively in my direction to my surprise.

"Huh?"

"I know you have no clue how to really use that class- but I could teach you. You have the aptitude for it. I can tell."

"And that's based on... what exactly?" Kelly asked sarcastically.

"Call it- a woman's intuition," she replied, giving Kelly a little wink.

"So what are you proposing then?" I asked, trying to keep Kelly from taking the bait.

"Its simple- join me. You probably won't ever die, and unlike everyone else around here you just might enjoy playing the best fucking game ever made."

"You're s-rank, aren't you?" Karn muttered.

"Hey now, you can't just go around asking a girl such intimate questions!"

She advanced on me now as she spoke:

"So- how about it? Your skillset is crap, but I don't mind paying up to re-assign your skill points. In two weeks' time they'll be talking about us at every inn, lodge and tavern in this continent! Come with me- and I promise you. You'll experience living like you've probably never fucking lived before!"

I almost tripped, retreating backwards away from her, until I bumped into Kelly.

"Sorry, I can't leave my-"

"He'll get back to you," Kelly muttered, to my shock.

"Eh? Well don't take too long. When I leave this town tomorrow you probably won't see me again. Bye now!"

Karn studied her as she headed off.

"She didn't even ask for a split of the loot."

"Why would she?" Pete asked angrily.

"Because- if she didn't suspend that lich we would be corpses in that lair right now," Karn replied with a sigh.

We started splitting up the loot, when Pete muttered something about it feeling wrong to use money made off of Ren's life, and stalked off.

I asked Karn to hold onto his share as well as Ren's, before parting ways with him.

Kelly's eyes were on me again, but this time, they were filled with worry.

After everything that had happened over the last few days, we decided it would be best to take the rest of the day off to relax, so I suggested that we visit the little village where I started out.

We made the trip in about twenty minutes.

It was completely deserted and we had the place to ourselves, so we found a nice little spot by the edge of village, on a hill overlooking a gentle stream and a rustic looking wooden bridge.

It made for quite the scene; the sun was peeking out over the hills, bathing it in a warm, orange glow, and the wind was just gently blowing across the hill face, making little ripples in the gently flowing pool below us, and giving the branches of the nearby trees a subtle yet steady hypnotic sway.

"I think you should team up with Serra."

We had barely even settled down when Kelly uttered these words bluntly, before continuing: "I know her- she's not just an S-rank player, she's top ten. She's a league of legends player from Europe- when the game was in the beta test, they made it a priority to get her signed up to play."

"Then she's out of our league anyway."

"Doesn't matter, besides it's you she wants. You adapt quickly- she saw that, and I think this might be a really good thing for you."

I blinked twice as I studied her for some indication that maybe I was missing the context of what she'd said. My first instinct after all was maybe this was a joke, or a test.

But she was as serious as I'd ever seen her in my life, so I gazed out at the stream pondering the statement.

"Weren't you making me promise not to leave you just the other day? Where is this coming from?"

Her eyes were suddenly watery, and she looked at me directly for the first time since we'd settled down on the scenic hillside.

"You already broke that promise, Josh."

I blinked at her, the confusion in my eyes surely apparent.

"I'm still-"

"You smiled- when that goblin grabbed you by the ankle and pulled you from that ledge... I was more scared than I'd ever been in my life, but as I looked over at you, just as you went over- you smiled..."

"Kelly, you can't not serious. You're just over-thinking things."

She shook her head, a tear running down her cheek now.

"How long now have you been thinking about killing yourself?"

The words weighed heavily in the air.

I'm not sure I could feel more ashamed of myself, even if I tried.

Kelly was the last person I wanted to disappoint, but I had the feeling I wouldn't be able to pacify her with a lie this time.

"I'm not sure... it isn't something I actively think about."

She gulped, then nodded.

"You love me, don't you Josh?"

"Of course! Why would you even ask that?"

"Because being around me hasn't helped you heal- and I don't know how I feel about that..."

Her tears ran down her cheek, and she wiped them away with a little smile.

I wanted to go to her, but for some reason I couldn't.

I looked down for a while, before Kelly wiped her tears away again, before creeping over to my side.

She lifted my face to meet hers, her watery eyes flickering between my own eyes, and my lips.

Her lips quivered a little, before she leaned in, eyes closed, pressing her lips to mine.

I felt her hands searching for mine, and she intertwined her fingers with mine, giving them a little squeeze as she continued to press her lips into me, kissing me deeply.

She opened her eyes as she broke the kiss to climb over and onto me, but I was having trouble keeping my heart from exploding in my chest.

"Kelly, I don't think we should-"

She put a finger to my lips, cutting me off.

"Josh- just indulge me? Just this once?"

I was speechless.

There was no telling my sister no, and as she leaned in to kiss me again I returned the kiss, slowly but surely matching her intensity and fervor.

Her lips were soft and warm, and as I closed my eyes she was no longer that avatar that was a stranger to my eyes, but the beautiful little sister that I knew and loved.