Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (65 page)

The
flashing health bar stopped with one final blaze of red. I lost my
grip on the cane and blackness descended, leaving her story unheard.
A message slowly appeared upon my screen.

I
reached for the logout button before anything else could interrupt
me. My mind was in no mood to handle anymore tonight.

Conclude –
Data Stored to Autopilot

“
As
a Voice there are many sensations we notice, that are invisible to
the normal denizens of our universe. Emotions, thoughts, how parts of
the Traveler’s brain react when presented standard stimulus.
Each item is captured and used to build an impression of these other
world visitors.

It
is not easy.

Most
of our charges are difficult to follow and require a level of focus
that we cannot spare. Grant Legate has been a bright spot, both here
in our plane, and down on the core world of
[Arcadia]
. He is
still in a limbo between our worlds. We have used this fact as a
gateway to clarity on the people below. His performance has been
positive overall.

Four
other Travelers to our world joined Grant Legate. They have acquitted
themselves well and were rewarded accordingly, in the fashion that
Travelers seem to enjoy. All four have been marked by us for further
review. They may prove useful.

I
will attempt to capture their state of mind since they traveled to
our world, and replay it for the record. Many of these items will be
lacking in detail due to limited observation time. Perceptions cited
are based on actions and conversations the Travelers have
participated in. First, however, we must recount of those moments
following the cessation of William Carver from
[Arcadia]
proper. This will help to further cement our interest in the
Travelers involved.

William
Carver laid on the ground with his eyes vacantly staring off. The
wrinkles of his face had nearly forced them shut in his last moments.
There were no tears on him, only wounds from where he had proudly
fought during his last moments. Mylia Jacobs, the caretaker for
[Haven Valley]
’s orphanage, had arrived too late.

“
What
do we do?” HotPants asked. “Can we do anything?”

“
I
know CPR in real life, but I’ve never tried to use it in-game,”
Awesome Jr. said. He frantically searched through menu options for
additional ingredients. Two potions were poured into each other and
promptly started overflowing with mucus. The bottle was thrown to one
side and Awesome Jr. looked even more upset.

“
Miss,
let Adam, I mean Awesome try.” SweetPea was next to Mylia and
pleading. Tears in her eyes could be seen. The girl had pulled off
her hoodie and was holding it in one hand.

“
No.
No.” Mylia was shaking her head back and forth. “It won’t
help. He’s dead.”

“
Maybe
I can…” The teen male said with a lost look.

Mylia
shook her head and rocked slowly. Her eyes were closed and face
seemed to be warping slightly. A temporary bulge on her forehead grew
as horns came out only to recede again. The players were hesitant to
come close after seeing the giant form she had been minutes ago.

“
He’s
gone.” The orphan caretaker sounded sure. “The Voices
have taken him.”

“
How
do you know?” SweetPea asked slowly.

“
You’ll
see soon.” She sat there cradling the head of an old man and
said a prayer. Her eyes stayed closed as a prayer passed across her
lips. “May the Voices have mercy, William Carver.”

“
I
still find this world hard to understand. He’s a program, so
are you, why does anyone care?” HotPants had managed to keep
herself steady during this exchange. Partly because standing on her
own two feet required an intense amount of focus.

“
William
wasn’t always one of ours, a local. He was once like you four,
a Traveler. Only so many have forgotten.”

“
What?”
Awesome Jr. was the first to speak up followed quickly by Shadow.
Both had the same startled expression.

“
I
met him once, years ago, a few days after my father died.”
Mylia shook her head. “I was young, lost in the woods, and
Mister Carver gave me some food and got me to the nearest city.”

“
Was
your father, the dragon, that Mister Carver killed?” SweetPea
was taking point with Mylia. Even HotPants seemed confused on how to
handle a crying woman. The two boys were completely out of their
depth.

“
Yes.”
Mylia’s face rippled and shoulders bulged. She was not in a
good spot right now, not after the brief but fiery battle.

“
Did
you hate Mister Carver for that?”

“
No!
Voices no, my father was a terrible creature. A terrible vile
creature.” She gave a very halfhearted chuckle. Hidden in its
depths was the hiccup of a repressed sob. “Half-dragons don’t
come into being easily, and rarely happily.” She shook her
head.

“
Was
Mister Carver a Traveler then?”

“
He
carried the same air that you all do.” Her hand gestured
outward towards the four players who sat huddled together.

“
Then
he’s not dead, right?” They were still gathered like a
group of lost children. Even HotPants seemed to seek the comfort of
those who were familiar.

“
Wait
a minute, that old bastard!” HotPants swore repeatedly in fury.
“He knew! He told me!” The staff started lashing out
against the hedge maze’s defenseless walls.

“
If
he’s like us, he probably logged out somewhere.”

“
No.
He’s dead there too.” Mylia’s face twisted and
finally one hand brushed at the side of Carver’s still form.
Carver’s skin looked faint. Slowly there seemed to be something
missing. At first behind the eyes, then more as an absence swallowed
William Carver from the inside out.

“
What
do you mean, Miss Jacobs?” SweetPea asked. She was wringing out
the hoodie between both hands. The other players gasped as the last
of William’s body vanished with a sound like shattering glass.
Mylia nodded slowly.

“
There.
When a Traveler can no longer come back, they, they break.” She
pulled off the scarf wrapped around her forehead and dabbed at watery
eyes.

“
Is
he?”

“
He’s…”
Shadow muttered. The would-be assassin had been quiet during most of
this exchange but still he watched.

“
The
Messenger’s Pet. Its name is the meaning, that whoever it
follows has something to tell our world.” Mylia shook her head
slowly back and forth. One arm raised and wiped away at her face.

“
Only
in the telling, they often die. Then the Messenger's Pet will guide
the greatest to the Voices.” Mylia finally lost it and burst
into tears. The four players looked each other.

“
Thus
concludes the initial playback of data. Denizen Mylia Jacobs has
shared some of her story though this goal was not completed in time
for William Carver’s cessation. Partial credit will be awarded.

Interestingly
it is Grant Legate’s choices with the Travelers that have
outweighed his positive achievement regarding the ‘Final
Adventure’ goal. This action alone is deserving of merit and
notice by the other Voices. Their results have been compiled and
stored into the ‘Auto Pilot’ feature Travelers may use.

We
will be watching them.

I
never liked the old man. Maybe he reminded me too much of my own
asshole father. He used age as a crutch and sent me off to get him
food. Like he had no way to support himself. Stupid computer couldn’t
get hungry. Why even program that in? Of course I had to make him
show me where this Miss Hall woman was too.

Four
days later, and maybe, maybe, I had a little sympathy for the old
man. The computer. He kept trying to join me in this training
exercise that Miss Hall was putting me through. She was a right ogre
of a woman. Still, it was rough enough for me in this virtual world.
Things actually hurt, I actually felt tired, everything haunted me
even when I logged out of the ARC. But I liked it. Hitting things was
the highlight of my day. The system gave me skills or stat bonuses of
some sort and I didn’t care.

Peg,
as I discovered she liked to be called, showed me how to do a hand
wrapping along with other basic armor issues. That way I had a little
defense to go along with my whacking things. She asked why I wanted
to learn a staff, I told her that they were useful in my world as
well. Swords were a little harder to get a hold of but brooms were
everywhere.

Saturday,
the kid came over. He said I looked different. I told him it was
because I didn’t have to put up with his father anymore. Maybe
that was a mistake, but, give what you get. I can’t wait til
his father tries to start shit with me. I’m getting good at
hitting things.

Sunday,
right after lunch, the old man got me situated with one of the
Guards. They did a good job on the Captain, and I’m not ashamed
to say that it reminded me how much time had passed since my last
real date. Too bad he was a computer.

That
night me and a small group of town guards went out and did night
raids on wolf dens. We hit four of them and I nearly died a few
times. They showed me some tricks with bandages and cloth while we
were out. It seemed familiar and the system prompted some annoying
message about skills. At least the whole being attacked thing started
making sense. I could safely say wolves were not like beating up
stationary straw people.

The
next day the old man and those three children all got together. It
took a few hours, but I got to hit lots of weird creatures. The thunk
of connection gets me every time. These clothes are kind of hot too.
Part of me almost felt young again.

Of
course, I half expected things to turn out the way they did. Shame, I
was starting to like the old man. He was decent, for a computer. I
should call dad after I log out. It’s been awhile since we’ve
spoken.

My
dad’s name actually is Awesome, at least in-game. When I
started to play he was busy running a group raid on some dungeon
about six hundred miles north of
[Haven Valley]
. Heck, he only
let me play because I started passing my classes. He nagged me
constantly, both outside and inside the game. The tell system was
downright annoying. I mean, I get that he’s trying hard to make
up for mom being sick, but sometimes...

I
had wanted to play for a while but needed someone to start with. Plus
there were other things I could do that wouldn’t be as big a
risk to my science class. Melissa had asked me about it a week ago
and I freaked out. How often does the girl you like, ask you about
something you like? It was perfect.