Raine VS The End of the World (6 page)

Shopkeepers haggled with potential customers. Marionettes danced on strings without puppeteers, magic-infused equipment glowed with elemental energies, and countless pets jumped about and play-fought each other.

In the midst of this, she spotted him - the cutest thing in the world.

The cat-like fuzz-ball with the tiniest furry wings and a pinwheel tail beamed at her with immediate recognition. His stripes rapidly shifted between the colors of the rainbow, as did his sparkling eyes. He had been waiting for her, and she fell in love immediately.

Raine made a beeline for a place called
Helter Shelter
, oblivious to the crowd of commuters she was cutting through.

“How much is that one?” Raine asked, wide-eyed.

The jaded old pet keeper looked her up and down. “Can’t you read the sign?”

Raine glanced to her left.

“Chance”

Rainbow Cat, Advanced Familiar, Level 50

Resistant to Arcane Magic

(Reserved)

Her heart sank. She felt her knees go weak. “He’s reserved?”

The pet keeper adjusted her glasses and glanced at her personal tablet. “Yes, it says it right here - to one
rainorshine23
.”

Raine couldn’t believe her ears.

The pet keeper jolted upright, suddenly realizing her mistake.

“Oh, I’m sorry, miss! I didn’t know, I…” she fumbled. “I’ll be right back with our selection of collars!”

“Ah, no, it’s quite all right! I don’t--”

Chance interrupted her with a stunningly loud
meow
. Raine suddenly lost her train of thought. The cat had shushed her, quite intentionally.

The older woman returned with a small leather suitcase and opened it up on the counter. The holographic catalog of collars ranged from all shapes and sizes.

“Just point at something if you want to see it.”

Raine gazed intently at the scrolling list of hundreds of items.

“That one!” she exclaimed at a sharp-looking, gem-studded collar with a red bowtie.

The pet keeper gave a hearty chortle. “A premium collar, that is. Allows for unlimited transformation. Fantastic choice. Seventy Gold.”

“Got it.” Raine pulled up the menu screen on her watch.

“No, no, no,” the lady said with a shake of her head. “Word of advice, girl. You’re supposed to bargain me down a bit. Make it interesting, eh?”

“I’d rather pay in full. I don’t even remember reserving this guy, if it was me who did it at all, so this must be my lucky day.”

“Oh, I don’t think you did reserve him. He’s a gift.”

“Huh? From whom?”

“The buyer chose to remain anonymous. But don’t worry - Chance here is a good kitty. He’ll bring you much fortune.”

Curious as to the identity of her benefactor but unable to think of a reason to not take the familiar, Raine thanked the shopkeeper, paid for the collar, and gave Chance a long hug. He was quite affectionate, and his glowing coat and color-changing eyes were mesmerizing. She stroked him until she found his ticklish spots.

“I guess you and I are going to have some adventures together,” she said.

Chance purred. He climbed Raine’s shoulder – he seemed nearly weightless – and curled up around her neck, his body re-shaping into a scarf to provide her with warmth and comfort. She continued down the street towards a large public space paved with precious stones glimmering in the mist from what Raine now recognized as a crystal water fountain the size of two city blocks.

“At this point, I’m pretty sure this is no ordinary bonus level,” Raine told Chance, and one of the flaps of her scarf nodded politely in response. “Yet, I still have no idea what the objective is, or why I’m here.”

Most role-playing games take some time to get started
, she reasoned. But this one seemed to be an advanced virtual reality designed for mass consumption. There could be many millions of players simultaneously sharing the same realm.
What kind of storyline could this game have? Who’s the hero and who’s the villain? Either everyone gets to be a hero, or no one does. Still, how can anything here possibly be as “real” as everyone seems to treat it?

Raine took another bite out of her garden salad, which she’d purchased from a street vendor, and inspected her distorted face in the oversized fountain.

If this is a dream, then how come I still feel very much myself? And normally, once one realizes that one’s dreaming, one can lucidly dream, or transcend it. But if that were the case here, finding Super BlastBoy would have been undoubtedly easier.

There’s one last thing I might try.

She closed her eyes tightly and tried to will her best friend into existence. She imagined strong, stoic, dark-skinned Jordan sitting beside her, clad in armor. Going by dream logic, he’d know something of how this place worked. She opened her eyes; the powers that be failed to hold up their end of the bargain. Well, she wasn’t entirely alone. Chance was with her, at least.

Feeling uncomfortably isolated in a very social world, Raine made an effort to snap out of her shell long enough to enjoy the scenery. A gathering of wizards and blacksmiths synchronized fireworks to the lively orchestral music. In a nearby maid café, a gay elvish couple shared a boxed lunch. Across a marble table, blue men in
Batman
suits argued over a complex holographic card game, where summoned mythical beasts did horrific battle.

A steady stream of folk wandered in and out of the crystal fountain’s elaborate centerpiece. The off chance that Super BlastBoy might be waiting inside pushed Raine onto the stepping-stones.

The waterfall parted, leading her via a vast crystalline tunnel to another realm entirely.

This fountain was certainly bigger on the inside.

Raine was now in the midst of a public park with cobblestone paths and only a few trees interspersed amongst rolling hills of perfectly trimmed grass. Uniquely decorated king-sized beds played host to tens of thousands. Goggles, sunglasses, and visors of every size and make draped over their residents’ languid eyes. Some models resembled the pair packed into her shoulder bag, but Raine was wary of trying the thing out before she saw the results firsthand.

She dared to approach an older man with long hair and a flowing beard looking out from behind circular glasses. A black rectangle hovered above his lenses; their contents must have been visible only to the device’s user. He appeared friendly enough. Raine sat beside him.

“Excuse me, sir,” she began. The man was silent, and his lazy eyes wandered about the hidden display for some time.

“Hmm?” he asked at last. The (!) icon over his head turned into a smiley face.

“I’m curious as to what you all are doing,” Raine said, a little embarrassed.

“Can’t speak for no one else, but I’s chatting with friends,” he said bemusedly.

Raine was puzzled. “How is that possible? There’s no one here.”

He held back a laugh.

“Well, of course
you
can’t see ‘em, li’l miss. I see ‘em on my visor, through the Network.” the man replied.

“What’s the Network?”

“You serious, darlin’?”

The girl was silent.

“I can see that you’re new here. Didn’t you go through the training program?”

“Sorry, sir,” she replied. “I didn’t. Or if I did, I don’t remember.”

“Shucks. Well, I guess that’s common enough. I’m in a game of poker, but I don’t suppose a little demo could hurt my luck any more than ol’ Jimmy here. Worst dealer in the realm – your wife’s words, Jim, not mine. Oh, quit your yappin’, boys. She’s just a kid.”

“Wow, so it’s like a video phone?” Raine was blown away.

“Phone?”

“Er… yes.”

“Um. Here, have a look-see.”

To demonstrate, the old-timer rolled his eyes to a corner and blinked. He spoke to the machine across his eyes as if it were a person.

“Expand and share.”

A multi-layered holographic projection emanated from the device, taking the place of the black rectangle. Icons and menu screens interspersed with faces of the other players, a news channel playing on one corner of the screen, live feed from a dance party on the opposite corner, and the poker game on a lower window. She couldn’t hear their words, but the man showed her how he could expand and select different windows by looking at them and varying his blinking patterns, focal points, and eye movements. It was quite intimidating.

“That’s wild. Tell me more about this Network thing.”

“You certainly ask a lot of questions, young lady. It’s a series of tubes, an electric window through time and space, and we’re living in it. Jimmy reckons the Net created this place.”

Tubes? What?
The enticing smell of delicious food from a large public kitchen distracted her.

“I don’t see how that would be possible. Where are we, exactly?”

“Come on, girl. Don’tcha know where you are?
Avidya
.”

Her scarf meowed in assent, as if to mock her lack of knowledge on the matter.

“Yes, I know that much, but… do you think you could you be more specific?”

“It is where it is. We’re here, we’re in it.”

“But… where
is
it? Are we on Earth?”

“Earth?” the old man shot back, quizzically. “Why does that name… no, no, I have the definite feeling that’s something I’m not supposed to know… please, let’s… not mention it. Nice weather lately, yes?”

Raine nearly exploded.

“Hold up! You can’t
not
know about the Earth! It’s big, it’s blue, and it’s where we all live - the third planet in our solar system. Six billion humans. Please tell me this is ringing a bell.”

The man shook his head.

“Sorry, miss, but I… I think I’m not supposed to rightly understand what you’re saying.”

“What does that even mean? D-don’t you know where Earth is? Aren’t you at least curious? I was just there, no more than an hour ago.”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. And I don’t really think it matters,” the elderly man replied coldly, beginning to get uncomfortable. He returned to his visor. “Sorry, miss. My turn to deal.”

Just as a virtual deck appeared in his hands, an explosion rang out from a nearby portal. Raine spun around in terror and gasped, the shock she was barely holding in finally coming out in full force.

It’s just a dream, Raine
, she told herself.
It’s a dream and you’re going to enjoy the heck out of it, because when you wake up, it’s back to the same old song and dance.

“Oh, never you mind those folk, trainin’ for some blasted war what’s mostly for their entertainment. Hmm? Oh, Ol’ Georgie says hello to the pretty girl. He wants ya to know the war economy keeps the banks and blacksmiths running. Says we can’t complain about a little noise once in a while. See, this here’s a Peace zone; no safer place is there. I say let ‘em play their games so long as I can play mine.”

There was a long, cold silence, but Raine didn’t want to leave.

Not while she still had questions.

She waited for the man to calm down a bit. He didn’t seem to mind her continued presence, so she pressed on.

“So it’s like a game. Does it ever end?”

“Fold,” he grumbled. When he turned to Raine, his voice betrayed a tinge of annoyance. “You make it end. As many times as you want. Wipe your memories and return with a new identity. Everyone does it. Rumor goes, you stick around long enough without doing a memory wipe, they recruit ya. Turn y’all into one of those blasted Templars.”

Templars.
The old man had said the word with such a mixture of fear and anger that Raine thought she knew who they must be.

Fifty yards away stood an armored knight
,
identical to many others she’d seen elsewhere in the city. The towering figure with multiple weapons and a large “T” on its shield loomed two heads over the tallest person she’d seen and absolutely exuded authority; from empty eye sockets in its helmet, the warrior swept a small section of the park. Its red laser moved across the area so quickly that one would only have noticed if one were explicitly looking for it.

And then, the Templar returned her gaze, sizing Raine up with blood-red eyes.

Chance uncurled himself, propped up on his master’s shoulder, and hissed at the hulking knight. Raine promptly yanked him off and set him on the ground.

“Quiet, Chance. Be a good boy.”

The Templar was definitely scanning her for much longer than a second. Whatever eyes could possibly be under that helm, she didn’t look forward to meeting them.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I think I should get going,” she said to the man, standing to give him a kind farewell. “Th-thank you so much for answering my questions. Name’s Raine, by the way. And this is Chance.”

“Charles Hayter,” he replied, his attention already turned back to his visor. “T’was a pleasure.”