End Online: Volume 6 (8 page)

My next big shock arrives
in the form of my teacher. The teacher is none other than my aunt who
completely loathes me: Aunt Jude. She is equally shocked to see me here, her
lower jaw becoming unhinged in the process of recognizing me.

It doesn’t take long for
her to regain her composure. Jude stares daggers at me as she stands behind the
teacher’s podium at the front of the classroom.

“Good morning class. I
will be your instructor for first year Philology and Semiotics. You may refer
to me as Miss Sylvester. The university board of directors requested that I
come teach you so I will do so to the best of my ability.”

“Today will be an
introduction into Philology and Semiotics. I will discuss the meaning of the
two and how they relate. Make sure to write as much down as you can and study
it again later.”

I feel like Jude is
speaking to everyone except me, but regardless I still take out a notebook and
diligently start writing down as much as possible. This is a subject that makes
my blood boil and I can’t seem to calm myself.

“Philology is the study of
ancient languages. They are forgotten languages with no known way to decipher
them. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols in the process of communication.
The two are related in that a language is merely a compilation of signs and
symbols. You all take your knowledge of communication for granted, but you will
soon understand the difficulty of communication when you try to decipher an
ancient language.”

“Here is one example of an
ancient language from primitive times. They say a picture is worth a thousand
words, and that is indeed true.”

Jude places the photograph
down on the podium and it is reflected upon the white board. The picture is of
a cave wall with various drawings scratched into the stone and overlaid with
some sort of paint or pigment.

“This form of
communication cannot be directly translated into our language, which makes it
all the more difficult. In fact, most forgotten languages can’t be translated
solely because they are far too different in origin. However, we can summarize
the intent, the meaning within the picture, in words that others can
understand.”

The picture is removed
from the podium and another one replaces it. The new photo is of a torn
manuscript of unknown origin. It is covered with countless small symbols,
nearly every single one of them different from another.

“This is the language of a
forgotten civilization that was far more advanced than we are today. It has a more
precise meaning than a picture on a wall and can be used to store information
on a much higher level. However, it also cannot be translated back into our
language directly. Can anyone tell me why?”

One of the students at the
back of the class, a pretty girl with glossy black hair and appears to be fresh
out of high school, raises her hand and answers, “Miss Sylvester, is it because
their method of communication was too different from ours?”

The girl’s answer appears
to be the general consensus, but I had a different thought as to why. As I
raise my own hand and am about to speak, Jude ignores me and starts talking
herself. Ironically, the conclusion I had come to was indeed the correct one.

“That is incorrect.” Jude
glares at me as if to say don’t speak in her class and just listen. “There are
already tens of languages with different dialects within our world, yet they
can all be directly translated even if they are structured a little
differently. The reason the forgotten languages cannot be translated is because
they had words for things and techniques that we have never encountered before.
How can you translate a concept that does not exist in our current language?

“To be able to understand
it, you must understand what it is that the word or symbol is used for. Even if
you cannot transcribe the name into our current language, as least we can
comprehend it.

“Translation follows
comprehension. Forget about translating each and every symbol or word as you
go. Read and understand the sentence in the language that it is written in.
Once you know what is being expressed, you can begin translating it into
English or any other modern language. This is the basis of Philology and
Semiotics.”

Several more questions are
asked by the students and Jude quickly and concisely answers each and every
one. I have to admire her efficiency as a teacher, but I still cannot bring
myself to like her.

The entire morning is
spent discussing theory and philosophy of the study. There is no bell for
lunch, but Jude packs her belongings up at half past twelve and bids the
students farewell. Some of the other students seem tired and weary from trying
to understand the intent behind her explanations, but I am wide awake and
feeling enlightened.

Just as everyone starts to
leave the classroom, Verity arrives at the door with a smile that entrances
both male and female students alike. Only briefly greeting the other students,
she quickly moves over to me, calling me “darling” before pushing me out
of the room. Everyone stares in disbelief, especially Aunt Jude.

Classes for all three of
us are finished for the day, so we have no plans to stay at school any longer.
CaptainGordon, Mason, Matrix and Fen are waiting for us after all. As Verity
and I are heading toward the front gate where Markus is waiting, I can’t help
but recall my thoughts from this morning.

“Oh, Verity, I almost
forgot. Why not just ask Markus to be your fake boyfriend? Surely he suits you
better than I do. Could it be that you-”

Before I can finish
speaking, Verity hits me on top of my head from behind. She didn’t hit me hard
enough to actually hurt, but I wasn’t expecting it so I flinch in surprise.

“You have no tact, do you?
Hmph, encouraging that idiot will only cause more problems. Besides, aren’t you
happy to have me as a fake girlfriend?”

She tenderly rubs the top
of my head where she hit me, and I forget to reply in the moment of bliss.
Before I realize it, we are already outside the university and Markus is
helping me into the car. Verity waves goodbye before heading off to where
another car is waiting to pick her up.

After Markus follows me
into the limousine, he gives me a reproachful stare.

“W-what?” I ask him warily
despite already knowing it is about Verity.

“I told you that she was
mine and you still went after her. What a horrible friend.”

“I didn’t do anything and
you know it! She just went and did that on her own…”

“But you didn’t refute it,
did you? Happily playing along despite knowing how much I like her.” Markus
gives me a glare that is full of enmity.

Getting a little angry at
his stubbornness, I coldly respond, “If you care for her so much, why don’t you
stop flirting with every girl you see? Of course she ignores you.”

“Hmph, have you even had a
girlfriend before? No? How unsurprising. I have had plenty and it is because I
treat all women equally. How can I be nice to one and not another?”

“So why don’t you have a
girlfriend now?” I glare at him and he awkwardly turns his head to look
elsewhere. “No way… You’re unbelievable. You treat all of them equally, meaning
you treat other girls just like your girlfriend, don’t you?”

Markus remains silent and
avoids discussing the topic any further. My anger dissipates with the sense of
victory, and I am in a good mood by the time we arrive at my house.

Markus helps me out, also
having forgotten about the discussion earlier. We bid each other farewell, and
he says he will pick me up Wednesday around the same time as today before
leaving for his house.

Once he is gone, I send a
message to Mason and CaptainGordon, letting them know I will be logging on now
and that Sir Laurence and Verde will do the same within the hour. Without
waiting for a reply, I lie down on my bed with the V-Link on my head and log
into End Online.

***************************************************
***************************************************

-Sydney Lee-

“Dear, Verity needs her
own personal space. This is going too far,” my wife, Sarah, says to me
disapprovingly.

“She is my daughter. This
sort of measure is absolutely necessary. If she wants to keep playing her game
with her friends, this is needed.”

This discussion concerns a
certain electronic microchip I had installed into my daughter’s V-Link while
she was attending the first day of university. I had some specialists look at a
duplicate of the device some time ago and design this chip. My daughter lost
her memory from a malfunction of this device, and even if those memories have
returned, I will not allow her to continue using it if there is even an inkling
of danger.

I don’t want to force her,
so instead I had this unique chip designed. It is a sort of physical limiter on
the device. My wife doesn’t disapprove of that part, and in fact strongly
supports it. I learned the benefits of her approval through her affection late
last night.

What she does not like is
the second feature of this chip. Not only does it protect her as a limiter, it
replicates and transmits exactly what she is seeing to any mobile device I link
it to. Call it fatherly instinct, but I want to watch over her and see her being
happy. Sarah is extremely angry about this, the proof displayed in the form of
the broken phone on the table in front of me.

***************************************************
***************************************************

-Lost-

Arriving on top of the
Forgotten Ruminu Temple’s roof where I logged off, I find that it is currently
night time in the game. CaptainGordon, Mason and Matrix are lying down
stargazing while Fen is quietly standing near me. To this day, I can’t figure
out how she logs in faster than I do. I saw her in my locker mere moments ago,
yet here she is waiting.

It will still be about
half an hour before the final two people log in, so I join the others in star
gazing. In real life the sky is full of light pollution, so only the most
prominent stars can be seen shining in the sky. Above this temple however, the
sky is an ocean of stars, each one vibrantly full of life.

By the time Sir Laurence
and Verde log in, the sun is beginning to rise over the eastern horizon and the
night sky is rapidly being overtaken by dawn.

“I have been doing some
thinking recently,” I say to everyone on top of the temple, scratching the side
of my head awkwardly. “Now that three of us are attending university, we will
have a little less time to play End Online. I plan to make up for this with
hard effort, but there are still times we won’t be on.”

“I want you all to
consider what you want to do in the future. I think we should officially form
our guild first. I have already thought of the perfect location to set as our
base; we can head over there after formally creating our guild.”

“Where is this place?”
Mason asks, confused.

I grin mysteriously at
Mason and say, “It is a surprise. I guarantee it’s a good place.”

He looks at me
suspiciously, but doesn’t question me any further. If anything, there is a hint
of regret and worry in his eyes that attracts my attention. I wonder if
something is going on with him that is causing him to be nervous.

“Well, we still need to go
back to Kano City first.”

I grab the rope that is
hanging inside of the temple and consider pulling it out, but leave it alone
after deciding that we are so high up that the rope won’t reach the ground.
Looking inside one last time, I notice that the boss has not returned and
probably won’t. I’m a little curious as to how the other party descended
through the temple, but it shouldn’t have been too difficult.

The final vestiges of
night are erased as the sun fully rises above the horizon. The other party
members are also looking for a path descending from the top of the temple.

“Hey, umm, we could get
down here, I think,” Matrix nervously calls out from the rear of the temple.

I walk over and furrow my
brow when I see where he is pointing.

“How, exactly, are we
supposed to get down here?”

“Well we could, umm, jump
down to there, then there, umm… and then that spot-”

“No, there is no way we
could do that. Fen, would you be able to create some ice steps or something on
the side of the temple we can use to get down?”

“I… can.”

“Excellent, please do. Everyone,
we will get down from here!”

Once everyone arrives, Fen
extends her hand and a frosty blue light emanates from her fingertips. The
lights seem to weave together before creating a ramp of ice leading all the way
to the ground. It is quite steep, but we can safely slide down.

“You’re the leader, you
can go down first…” Verde looks at the slide and suffers a severe case of
vertigo.

I look at her as she leans
over the edge and get a sinister idea.

“You’ve been pushing me
around all day Verde, allow me to return the favor,” I whisper in her ear as I
wrap my hands around her, push forward and jump onto the deadly looking ramp.