Trapped in a Game Pt. 02

"But-?"

She sighed, then looked away a little.

"Look- being the top gamer? It means a lot to me. But that's not what you signed up for, and I don't want to be responsible for a repeat of today's events. I can contact Kelly and tell you where she is if you want to leave and meet back up with her."

Serra was studying me intently as she spoke.

I sighed, as I considered the matter, my thoughts going back to Kelly.

She'd handled herself pretty well when we played, and I could only imagine that she'd have gotten better with time.

Would she be there too?

I had a vague feeling that if she thought there was any way that this entire ordeal could be resolved she would be there, no matter how dangerous it was.

"I'm coming with you," I muttered.

Those were words that I hardly ever imagined would come from my own mouth.

"Y-you are?" she asked uncertainly, and as I looked over to her and gave a little reluctant nod, she broke into a huge smile.

"Hell yeah!" she cried out excitedly, giving my chest an enthusiastic shove. "Although... it's not like I needed you anyway," she added in her typical 'matter of fact' tone, "But we're definitely going to rock this shindig."

Serra snuggled up to me, facing me this time, and resting her head on my shoulders as she stroked my chest while humming happily.

As Serra settled down in my arms, my thoughts immediately returned to Kelly.

I knew I could ask Serra to find out about her, but I had a feeling that she would want to keep her whereabouts secret from me nonetheless.

Would she really be there?

I had a feeling she would, and as I drifted off to sleep the thought that I might see her again was ever present in my mind.

***

The trip to Ravenloft took about four days; though we spent a bit of time on the way going after a few noteworthy targets that Serra's contact had given her info on.

There was an owlbear nest just outside of a town called Kent, and a Hagraven camped out in a grove near Annwyn.

Along the way Serra also started me on a new training exercise to resist the rend spell.

Apparently the girl had attempted to use it on Serra as well, but Serra had kept her concentration up resisting the horrendous effect that I'd suffered, and followed it up by striking the girl with a good old fashioned smite to the face.

I didn't know all of the details, although it appeared the girl had to be resuscitated as well, and the other two left with her after being single handedly bested by Serra in a second fight.

But Serra's training was as outlandish as everything else about her. It involved her sitting on my back while I was in the plank position, and I had to maintain my shade spell while she cut me at random intervals without warning, with a sharp little dagger.

It was an exercise which would not only improve my ability to deal with rend should it ever be cast on me again, but also improve my general ability to deal with pain in combat.

On the first day I lost concentration on the spell almost immediately every time, but I eventually got a better handle on it, and by the time we got to Ravenloft, I was pretty confident that I would be able to resist rend if it was ever again used.

Ravenloft, unlike Valhalla, was not a veritable bustling city center. Instead it was like a spooky little rustic town, and a lot of the NPCs here were created with that kind of vibe in mind; there was an old hag who ran an apothecary, a fortune teller who spoke with a thick eastern European accent, and a wily old caretaker who'd been looking after an old estate since its occupants died under mysterious circumstances many years ago.

The extent to which the town's aesthetic created an almost tangible aura of intrigue and mystique made me ponder on its choice as the location for the upcoming event.

I mean sure, the attention to detail in everything had been amazing thus far, but the design of this town, coupled with the way in which it created such a distinct atmosphere, made every other place we'd been to feel generic and bland by contrast.

As Serra led us to a tavern in town, I noticed that there seemed to be a distinct buzz amongst the players; the upcoming event was on everyone's mind, and almost every conversation was related in some way to it.

As Serra tried to locate her contact, I paid attention to some snippets of conversation:

"Who do you think will be the first to get an invite?"

"Galvan and the 'Black Hand'; no question about it," answered a young man.

"Hah- you're daft if you think that."

"Why? There's no other group that can match them in strength."

"Match them in numbers you mean."

"They killed a lich-"

"Yeah? Well I heard there's a two man team that killed one."

I glanced over my shoulder at the lean, middle-aged man who had spoken the words.

"Bullshit. Two players couldn't last a minute against one," the young man countered.

"Yeah? Well maybe that's all they needed."

"Hah. Is he on about the 'shadow stalkers' again? That's a fairy tale, Marth. Aren't you a bit too old to believe in fairytales?" added a young girl, who took a seat next to the younger guy.

Serra shot me a cheeky grin, before whispering: "See? I told you they'd be talking about us in every tavern in this kingdom," and I rolled my eyes at her, as she made her way over to her contact.

"Fairy tale? I heard they took out the Hagraven by Annwyn on their way here," the man continued, and the two younger players laughed a bit, before a player from another table joined in on the conversation:

"The Hagraven is dead though. I checked it myself. And the trader from Annwyn said that only a couple of players had passed through that day."

The girl quieted down as the boy spoke again:

"So what? Does that automatically mean that it's the same two? I can buy two players taking down a Hagraven, but a Lich? Not without cheating."

"It's easy- Rogue/monk. If they're skilled they could evade hits forever and just whittle away at it," the old man added, with a self-righteous smile.

"Yeah- but one solid hit and one of them dies. Who's taking that risk in a death game?"

"What do you think?"

I jumped as the question came quite suddenly from a girl standing right behind me.

"Uh- I dunno," I responded uncertainly.

She wore a simple green robe, and her face was shrouded behind a hood, but as I glanced at her I got the suspicious feeling that there was something unsettlingly familiar about her that I couldn't quite place.

Had I met her before?

"I'm thinking one of them has to be a tempest," she muttered softly, and I studied her with renewed interest. "But the other- I dunno. Wizard or sorcerer could compliment tempest well, but that might be way too squishy for a two man team."

"Hah- a tempest? In a two man team? That's crazy. They're useless in small groups," the older man responded.

"They're useless in general, Marth," someone else added, and he chuckled before continuing:

"Maybe a wizard and a rogue? Illusion magic and stealth. That'd do it."

As the older man spoke I looked over to the girl to see what she'd have to say, and I noticed she'd already slipped away, and was heading over to a table on the far side of the room.

"Well... I don't know about the Lich," continued another player, "but three players came in from Valhalla yesterday. Said two players poached a hill giant from them, then beat them to pulp a few times over."

"Hey, I saw that giant's corpse! It wrecked a starter village- that was the big one from Kalm," added an older woman from the second table.

I was about to settle down at a table when suddenly someone came barging in to the Tavern in a huff.

"They're here!" he called, out of breath. "Galvan and Auriel are here!"

Auriel?

That's Kelly's gamer tag.

I gulped anxiously, and Serra, who had been chatting with her contact, suddenly paused what she was doing and was studying me with a pretty worried expression.

"Finish up here," I muttered to her softly, "I'll go check it out."

"Josh- wait," she called, and as I looked back I could see her hesitating to say something.

"I'll be right outside," I reassured her. "Just come meet me when you're done."

She nodded blankly, but she still seemed strangely harried by the news and I wasn't exactly sure why.

I went outside to see that there was a large group of players walking into Ravenloft, and a huge crowd was assembling just to see them walk in.

"What's going on?" I asked a player to my left, and he chuckled a little.

"The Black Hand," the man replied. "People are a little fanatical about them these days."

The younger players I'd overheard in the tavern before were standing nearby.

"Is that Auriel?" the boy asked, "I heard she's pretty hot."

"It's a game avatar, idiot. I could design myself to look like that if I wanted," the girl responded.

"It's not just her looks- she absolutely rocks with a bow," he answered defensively, and the girl put her hands on her hips in annoyance.

"Whatever- not like if you have a shot. She and Galvan are pretty much a thing. I hear they've been sharing a tent since day one."

I felt my heart beat two paces off track, and blinked a few times as my mind gave a little twirl making my head spin.

"Well- I can still admire from afar," he retorted cheekily to the girl's increased annoyance.

As the group neared us, I found my desire to see Kelly wavering.

I'd resolved to turn her down, hadn't I?

I should be glad, right? She's found someone that she can have a normal relationship with.

Wasn't this what I wanted?

I took a wavering step towards the commotion, before pausing, and turning back, suddenly finding myself face to face with Serra.

"You're not going to see her?" she asked, and I glanced away, feeling a strange sense of guilt; as if I'd been caught doing something I shouldn't have.

"It's better this way," I muttered softly, and she chuckled bitterly, before responding:

"Easier maybe... but better?"

I sighed.

"She has no future with me."

"That's something you two should decide together, Josh."

I tried to walk past Serra but she stopped me.

"If I asked you to run away with me right now- would you?" she asked, her tone surprisingly somber.

"What?"

"Forget about Kelly, the event? We'll hole up somewhere until this whole thing is settled, kill some easier stuff and just enjoy playing. Then when the game ends- maybe I could come find you, meet up in person? You've been nice to me so far... we could- go on a date or two, and see where it goes from there?"

I gasped, but as I studied Serra with absolute shock, I noticed that she looked more serious than I'd ever seen her look.

"Could you do that Josh? Could you forget about Kelly, and devote yourself to making me happy? Could you pretend you're not lonely, when I hold your hand and smile? Could you make love to me and make me feel like I'm your whole world? Could you hold me every night when the nightmares come, and help me keep the loneliness at bay?"

I blinked at her uncertainly.

She was offering me every single thing that I'd missed since the day Tracey left, and I marveled at how easy it would be to just say yes right now.

But what would we be? Two broken people trying to fill the voids in our hearts with nothing but our desire to not be alone.

I finally understood- Serra was as broken as I was, but she was trying to find meaning in that emptiness while I was trying to throw myself into that void.

"No," I muttered with a smile, and though she returned my smile genuinely I didn't miss the subtle hint of sadness in her eyes.

"The Josh who I first met would have walked away- but the Josh who's with me right now wouldn't give her up without a fight."

"You're right," I replied with a sigh, and as I spun around Serra offered me her hand, and together we made our way through the gathering crowd.

I scanned the faces about us anxiously, until we neared the center of the commotion; and there she was- the very image of perfection.

Her silvery hair was blowing in the wind, she had an arm linked with Galvan's and wore radiant smile on her face as she waved at the crowd with the affectation of someone of royalty. Her fair skin seemed to shimmer in the afternoon sunlight, and the tribal tattoos on her face, and long her arms and legs seemed to almost glow with radiance.

I looked over to Serra and shot her a huge smile, before I broke out into a stupid laugh- because even though it was the splitting image of my sister's character, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it wasn't Kelly.

"Uh, Josh- are you alright?" Serra asked, bewildered and concerned.

"That's not her," I asserted amusedly, and Serra studied me with a smile that was equal parts amusement and confusion as I laughed at myself.

"Are you sure? I mean it looks like her- even if she's acting weird. So... she's not here then?" she asked, and I shook my head at her as I took off.

"No. She's here- and I'm stupid," I called back to her with a grin as I rushed back to the tavern.

I entered and confirmed that the girl in the hooded robe was indeed still sitting at the table across the room, and I snuck down a corridor that led to some stock rooms before putting my impromptu plan into action.

"Minor illusion," I muttered, and I studied the image I brought to life.

I needed it to be perfect, so I cast the spell a few times, making small changes before I was satisfied.

I finished up my plan by using the make corporeal spell to give it physical form, and had the image I'd created head over to a table and order a drink.

I wasn't sure if it could really drink, but it didn't take long for the girl to take notice of the image, and as she walked over to it I had the figure get up, and head quickly to the corridor where I hid, and to my delight she quickly gave chase.

The image I'd created was that of my own; not my character's, but that of my actual real-life self, poorly disguised and dressed up in some typical fantasy rags.

As she rounded the corridor in pursuit, I had the image dash straight at me, vanishing just as we would have collided, and the girl paused; her mouth agape as she stood uncertainly a few feet away from me.

I walked up to her with a big grin on my face, and in one fluid motion, I lifted her chin up to my face and kissed her full on the lips.

She gasped, and I looked down at her affectionately as I added:

"Found you," with a satisfied smile.