Yvvaros: The Digital Frontier (6 page)

“Bye!”

Luke sped toward the side exit of the cafeteria and pushed through the double doors. His head ached and his palms felt clammy. He tried to focus on his breathing as he walked through the hallway, toward his locker.

God damn it.

He stopped at his locker, but only to grab his bag. Luke had never ditched school midway through the day before, but he felt as though if he stayed in the building for even a second longer, he was going to explode.

Luke’s first instinct was to walk back to the park and hang around there for the next couple of hours. He began walking in that direction before remembering the type of people who loitered around there during the day, junkies and drug dealers, people that he wasn’t interested in getting on the wrong side of.

He couldn’t head home, either. His dad worked from home about as often as he worked in his office, and if he caught Luke there, it would end badly.

So instead, Luke just walked around town, with no real sense of aim or direction. Ben had the last period of the day free. Luke shot him a quick text, hoping he could meet up with him if he left early. He needed a place to hang out to clear his head.

And maybe get a chance to play Yvvaros without being chewed out for it.

The thought lingered in Luke’s mind. He thought of the game, of the wolf pelts, still sitting in his satchel, waiting to be turned in to the leader of the garrison. He thought about the way the NPCs acted and looked natural, as though they belonged in their world, in a way that he never could in his own. He thought of Tess, the promise he’d made to her, and the way that she felt so real and close.

It took Ben an hour and a half to respond to his text. It had felt like an eternity of waiting. Just as he’d begun his response, Luke saw Ben heading his way.

“Hey, what’s going on with you?” Ben pushed his hand against his friend’s shoulder. Luke could see the look of concern on Ben’s face as he studied the jock's handiwork.

“Nothing man,” said Luke, forcing a smile. “Nothing at all.”

“Dude, your face is a mess,” said Ben. “And the entire school has been buzzing with rumors about a fight, or something?”

Luke shrugged.

“I just had a rough day,” he said. “You know how it is.”

“Yeah, I do!” insisted Ben. “That’s why you need to tell me what’s going on with you.”

Luke walked slowly alongside Ben and gave him a brief rundown of the disastrous day. And since Ben was the only other living soul who knew what his Dad could be like, he filled him in on the events of the night before as well. Ben reacted the way Luke had expected he would. His expression was a mirror of Luke’s own anger and frustration.

“That is bullshit,” said Ben. “And I didn’t know about Sam, either.”

Luke sighed. That, out of all of what had happened, was by far the most painful thing.

“It is what it is. Come on, let’s get to your place and get in-game.”

“Man, you just read my mind,” said Ben. “A little bit of adventuring will get your spirits up.”

They reached Ben’s house and headed in through the front door. It was warmer inside than ir was outside, and the tantalizing smell of cookies in the oven hung on the air.

“Hey Ben, I didn’t expect you to be home so early.”

Ben, much like Luke, lived in what was essentially a single parent household, except with his older sister filling in for the role of his mother and father. Emily was 25 years old and in the midst of taking a year off from graduate school. While Ben’s parents worked corporate jobs that required constant travel, Emily was the one who took care of him and looked out for him.

“I always get out a little early,” said Ben. “I just don’t usually come straight home.”

Luke couldn’t help but admire Emily as she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room to greet them. She was a small woman, with long, beautiful dark brown hair. She was undeniably a drop dead knockout. She definitely had Luke’s attention. Today she was wearing a white short-sleeve T-shirt and black yoga pants. Over that she wore a pink apron with, “Kiss the Cook” embroidered across the front.

Oh, how I wish I could.

“Hey Luke,” said Emily. “I haven’t seen you in a while. How’s school going?”

“It’s been good,” said Luke. “To be honest, I can’t wait to graduate and get it over with.”

“It sounds like you have a case of senioritis,” said Emily. “I felt the same way when I was 18.”

Luke had always felt comfortable around Emily, despite her beauty. He could sit for hours and listen to her talk, about life, school, anything. In so many ways, Emily was the complete opposite of Ben.

She’d graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a 4.0 GPA from one of the better state schools. Ben had told Luke that she had gone back to pursue a Master’s in philosophy. She also was on the school’s gymnastics team and there was talk about her going national.

Ben cleared his throat and Luke was pulled out of the trance that Emily’s calming green eyes had cast over him. He nodded to his friend and started to follow him up the stairs.

“We’ll be gaming if you need us, sis,” said Ben.

“Alright. I’ll make dinner later tonight.” She smiled one last time at Luke. “Are you going to stay and eat with us, Luke? I don’t mind setting an extra plate at the table.”

Luke glanced over at Ben, who looked like he was starting to get a little impatient.

Well, I’m not exactly planning on leaving immediately…

“Yeah, maybe,” said Luke. “And if not, I’ll take some food for the road.”

The sides of Emily’s mouth turned up slightly into a smile.

I can’t believe she’s Ben’s sister.

Luke followed Ben upstairs and into his room. He shut the door behind them and began pulling his stuff out of his bag. Ben only had one chair in his room, so Luke set his laptop up near his friend’s bed and then leaned back against it.

“We still have to finish up the quest that we were in the middle of last night,” said Luke.

“Thanks again for trying to revive me, by the way,” said Ben. Luke grinned up at his friend just in time to see him pulling out his pipe and clicking his lighter into flame.

“Is that really necessary?” Luke scratched his head and glanced up at the ceiling. “I mean, your sister is downstairs. Aren’t you worried about her smelling it?”

Ben shook his head and exhaled smoke toward the window.

“Emily doesn’t care,” he said. “She’s chill about stuff like this. She kind of has to be these days, after… well, let’s just say that she’s the understanding type.”

Luke resisted the urge to pry further. He wanted to get in-game as soon as possible, but waited for Ben to take another hit and put his pipe away before reaching for his VR headset.

“Hold on, Luke,” said Ben, opening his drawer. “I’ve got a little something else, maybe something that you might be interested in?”

He reached into his desk and pulled out a bottle of vodka, the label and appearance giving away how cheap it was. Wiggling it back in forth in front of Luke’s face, he raised an eyebrow.

I need to talk to Ben about this, eventually. For now, I guess I’ll just keep playing along.

Luke took the bottle from him and tipped it back. The vodka stung his throat and was hard to swallow, but he took a decent sized gulp anyway, mostly by accident.

It was hard for him to pinpoint exactly when Ben’s drug and alcohol use had begun to be a problem, but he knew it had been sometime within the last couple of months.

They had both been disenfranchised by the other students since middle school. It wasn’t clear exactly why, and Luke couldn’t blame his friend for reacting the way that he had. Navigating the social tiers of school was tough enough and with the years of harassment, the constant stream of insults and rumors, high school was a nightmare.

“Are you ready?” asked Ben. Luke passed him back the bottle and nodded as he watched his friend pull on his VR headset.

Is this just more of the same? Another way to dull the pain that we experience in our regular lives?

Luke shook the thought out of his head and then pulled on his VR headset and turned on the game. In an instant, he was transported back to where he’d last been in the game, just outside the Stark Town Inn. There were more people playing than there had been the day before. The streets of Stark Town were crowded with players busily going about their business.

PATCH NOTES: Immersive Mode has been added to the Character Record.

“Immersive mode, huh?” said Luke. He turned toward Ben and took a second to readjust to him as his avatar, Silverstrike.

“Yeah.” Silverstrike was already reaching into his bag and pulling out his journal. “I think it’s meant to cut own on the non-essential notifications.”

Luke shrugged, and took a second to enable it, too.

“Ready?” He looked over at Silverstrike, who nodded to him.

They first headed to the garrison commander. There were several other players who appeared to be just getting started with the quest. Surprisingly, the NPC leader turned to Luke and Silverstrike as they approached, as though he actually recognized them.

“Many militia fighters have been killed by the Yvva Wolves in the past few days,” said the commander. “I hope the two of you didn’t have too much trouble out there.”

Luke pulled the fur trophies from his inventory bag and handed them over. Silverstrike did the same rolling his eyes at the melodrama.

QUEST COMPLETED

“No, of course not,” said Luke. “Is there anything else we can help with?”

The garrison commander shook his head.

“Not just yet,” he said. “There is much work to do to secure Stark Town and our position here in the Inner Plains. Many of these troupes are too green, I can only entrust the work to more experienced men. Come back once you’ve spent some time exploring on your own.”

LEVEL REQUIRED: 5

The commander nodded to Luke and Silverstrike, and they knew that the conversation was over without being told.

I guess we have to spend a bit of time training up, first.

Back outside the garrison, Luke noticed a blinking red envelope icon in the lower left-hand corner of his vision. He fumbled around in his satchel for a second, finding a letter that hadn’t been there before.

“I’m going to grab some food, I’m almost out of stamina,” said Silverstrike. “Do you want something?”

“Sure, just uh…” Luke distractedly began to read the front of the letter. “Just get me some bread, or a sandwich or something.”

It’s from Tess… Why does that make me feel so excited?

“Alright man, hang out here for a sec.” Silverstrike jogged down the road toward the food stalls in the center of the market. At a glance, Luke thought they looked somewhat similar to the food trucks that occasionally parked at the festivals in his hometown, except much more medieval and rustic.

He walked over to a rough cut wood bench and sat down on it as he pulled the folded parchment out of the envelope. The writing on it was very feminine and very cute. Luke could hear Tess’s voice in his head as he read it.

Dear Kato,

I just logged into the game. I’m hanging out a little to the south of Stark Town right now, trying to figure out how to use my magic. Hopefully, this letter doesn’t take as long to reach you as letters do in real life. Come find me when you get a chance, you still owe me 50 gold!

Tess

“What’s with the grin?” Silverstrike had arrived back with the food and handed a large, crusty chunk of bread to Luke. He took it from him and brought it up to his mouth, watching as it faded into nothingness and his stamina bar refilled.

“Nothing,” he said. “Well, I mean, the girl from yesterday, Tess, sent me a message. She’s south of Stark Town, practicing the basics. I think I’m going to head over that way.”

“Since when were you such a people person?” asked Silverstrike. “Though she is cute, or rather, her avatar is.”

“Whatever man.” Luke stood up and put the letter back into his satchel.“I’ll meet back up with you later, and we can find something new to explore.”

Silverstrike sighed and waved him away dismissively.

“Sure thing, man,” he said. “Just don’t go getting too involved.”

The area immediately south of Stark Town was similar to the landscape Luke and Silverstrike had explored the day before. However, further off in the distance, Luke could see a large, menacing expanse of reddish gold desert sands.

The Sarchia Desert.

He’d seen a map of the continent of Yvvaros in the inn and knew that the main cities, Kantor and Stark Town, were located at the nexus of several diverse regions. The region immediately surrounding Stark Town was called the Inner Plains. It was a vast expanse of gentle rolling hills and grasslands.

The Blue Void lay to the north. The grass gave way to cold, snowy tundra. It was a harsh frozen land of ice and mountains, nearly devoid of life save for rumors of high level, savage monsters.

To the west, lay a vast ocean studded with pockets of unexplored islands forming an extensive archipelago only a few kilometers from the shore. The Western Sea, as it was known, was the western most expanse of claimable territory in Yvvaros. The islands themselves were full of dense deciduous forests and the sea teamed with an enormous diversity of aquatic life.

The eastern front was made nearly impenetrable by an ancient jungle. Beyond the lush forest lay the Msitu Wilds. Only the highest level players dared to venture within. The Msitu Wilds were ringed by volcanic mountains thaterupted without warning, turning everything in the resulting lava flow into a hellish inferno.