End Online: Volume 2 (5 page)

‘It is all your fault! If you weren’t
here things would be different, I didn’t want you to come in the first place! I
can see your level, and you act like you can’t defend yourself against
these weak creatures! I am all he needs, so leave!’

I will make this woman
pay. Using my original skill, ‘Origin of Ice’, I will make her pay for
deceiving my Lost!

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

-Lost-

Fen and I
 
explore the
second level of ‘Unknown Goblin Lair’ and take on countless more groups of
goblins with the warriors mixed in. We are a lot more careful now that it is
the two of us, doing as much damage from a distance as possible.

Without being in a party I
am getting one hundred percent of all the experience dropped too. Only Fen all
of a sudden started standing in front of me, fighting every enemy that tried to
attack me with a ferocity that scared me to tell her to stop.

It did not take long until
we decided to leave due to a shortage in healing herbs, we got lost back on the
first floor but the ordinary goblins that wandered around there were weak and
we dealt with them easily.

By the time we returned to
the surface I had nearly recovered all my agility that I lost from my previous
death. I had also gained a large growth in dexterity, but the progress was
exponentially slowing down, to the point where if I was to play eighteen hours
every day I doubt my skill would reach 100.

Luckily the shrink spell
on Fen didn’t wear off until we were outside of the dungeon. If she grew to
full size inside she would not have been able to get through the opening
to leave.

Under the dark night sky
the air was incredibly refreshing. I had forgotten what fresh air was like
underground, every breath seeming to fill me with new life.

The new skill
‘Intimidating Aura’ was extremely strange in some ways. It seemed to have no
growth, sure the level of the skill went up, but none of the bonuses went up
and the area of monsters it affected didn’t seem to increase. The border around
the skill was green too making it a rare unique skill, so it should have some
significant purpose or growth.

I open the menu to log off
for the night, bidding Fen farewell for a while, outside the time should be
well after midnight.

Before I press the menu
option however a large multi layered message summons itself in front of my game
menu.

I am completely
speechless, a class skill. Judging by the prerequisites an incredibly high
levelled one at that!

But once again the options
are bugged! No doubt ‘Aggravation’ is still having its effects through the
upgraded skill!

I should be able to choose
this class skill later anyway so I try dismissing the message by placing my
hand next to it and swiping it off the screen. Only the window doesn’t move, it
shakes a little, but it’s firmly stuck in position!

‘Come on! It’s right in front of the
log out button! Is this game mocking me?’

I don’t have that much of
a problem choosing a class skill. It should give me an advantage in battle
after all.

Naturally,
I press 
‘Yes’.

-Lost-

Once I left virtual
reality, my clock showed that it was well into the early morning hours. A growl
originating from my stomach along with a dull ache in my body informs me that I
need to stretch and eat something. I was in virtual reality for quite some time
after all.

My hand immediately
went to my lips, even now I could still feel the kiss.

It has been months
since I started playing End Online. As a result I have grown used to the
condition of my body, but there are still moments where bitterness settles in
my stomach, just like now.

I try to move my legs
over the edge of my bed without physically picking them and swivelling them
over. I don’t feel any trauma pain when I relearn just how impossible it is for
me to use them, but it is emotionally crushing every time I make the attempt
without thinking and fail.

I gradually shuffle
across to the edge of my bed where my wheelchair is, no matter how many times I
do this it never gets any easier.

Maybe that is why I
enjoy the virtual world so much, one piece of equipment on my head and for a
monthly subscription I can have my legs back. I have Fen who always keeps me
company. Despite the spiteful and sour side to her, she was the first and only companion
to come to my side.

Verde and Prince
Charming seemed to have ulterior motives, removing them from my personal list
of comrades, but that is more often the case with other players. Other players
are always in it for themselves, not that I’m much different.

Rolling myself to the
kitchen I pass Joelle and Shari’s room, a painful knot in my stomach
forming about them being gone.

‘I
understand that things are difficult right now, maybe I was a little lacking in
money and my capability to look after you, but how can they just take you away
like that?’

There was no more
government bodies that provided funding to those in need, but they surely can’t
simply take the girls away, not when I am of age to be considered an adult. The
more I think about it the more something seems not quite right.

‘As a
matter of fact, they should NOT be able to simply take them away like that, I
will have to find out exactly what has happened.’

While reheating some
leftover food from the fridge I vow that in twelve month I shall have them back
here.

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

The following morning
my alarm makes an odd sound. It let off a vaguely familiar jingle of bells.

My eyes fly open, rays
of sunshine falling across my bed through the partially open curtains. I turn
off my alarm clock and move into the wheel chair, rolling myself over to the
window.

‘How
could I have forgotten!’ 
Looking out the window I see a fresh blanket of
snow covering everything from the roads to the rooves.

Magic really does
exist, for the yearly snow to come down at the very last moment, on Christmas
Day. I think about going outside, but considering my wheelchair would probably
get bogged in the snow it may not be such a good idea. I will have to go
outside for food shopping soon enough anyway, but I will with hold for a
while.

I also didn’t have my
‘White Wolf Winter Cloak’ on me, so the thought of venturing in the icy air
without it made me was to stay inside even more.

I may as well go back
into the game now, the apple sales have helped a lot, but my bank is still on a
slow decline so I need to somehow make more money.

Placing the VL on my
head I entered End Online on Christmas day.

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

The moment I log on
this lengthy message appears in front of me! It is certainly a Christmas
surprise!

I take a minute to take
in the information about the satiety levels, I wonder if one becoming zero
leads to instant death or your health deteriorating? Remembering the rumours
about there being an update to fix the endless stamina players have this must
be it.

Not only will you get
tired and exhausted the lower your health with, but low satiety levels will
also leave you with less energy and slower movements.

Dismissing the message,
I take notice of Fen, who is sitting next to me back to full size. Naturally,
she is looking down on me, literally.

“I take it this means I
will have to feed you too now? Or can you hunt yourself?” I ask Fen who happily
wags her tail at me.

‘Of
course, I have to feed you don’t I.’

Wondering what this
gift was that is supposedly in my inventory I open it and inspect the goods I
have stored there. Blinking twice at the new items, they were not there when I
logged off.

There were fifty candy
canes in my inventory and a few other various sweets. Idea Imagine Corp gave us
plenty of food that would cause thirst and not a drop of water! Is this how
they teach us to adapt to the situation?

Fen started nudging me,
in a playful mood. Smiling back at her I removed the Santa hat from my
inventory and beckoning her to bring her face closer, stuck it over one of her
large ears.

She pulled her head
back but it was too late, with the hat crookedly sitting on her head.

I gave a laugh at the
sight, not a short laugh at a humorous situation, but an honest laugh from my
heart at seeing Fen shaking her head with the Christmas hat on. She doesn’t try
very hard to take it off, it seems she quite enjoys having it on.

She gets very playful
with me, jumping up and down around me, occasionally sending a swipe of her paw
to knock me around. I play fight back with her trying to catch her paws that
come my way but she is incredibly quick, almost more so than when we trained
together.

For an hour we had our
bout, before I was mentally exhausted with trying to keep up with her speed and
had to stop, a good thirty percent of my hunger had dropped and twenty percent
of my thirst level too.

I pull out a couple of
the candy canes from my inventory and share them between Fen and myself.

“Incredible! They taste
exactly like the real thing!” I exclaim in pure amazement.

It’s strange Fen being
a wolf considering how much she seem to be enjoying the sugar filled lollies,
hopefully she isn’t going to have too much energy left over afterwards and want
to play again.

“It’s nice to see you
enjoying them Fen, but we will need to find some proper food later. By the way,
I’ve been wondering for a while. What do you do when I log off, do you just
wander around or?”

The wolf’s tail flicks
back and forth, playing coy with my question as if she was refusing to answer.
I give out a sigh, although I still have a warm smile painted on my face.

“Anyway Fen, I have to
go for a bit to get some actual food. I will be back shortly.”

Opening the menu I
press the log out button and move out to my locker. I was about to leave there
as well when I heard a knock in the kitchen.

Walking over to inspect
the odd noise, I spot a little white wolf, looking exactly like Fen, only
1/10th the size. The noise came from the wolf walking into a wall thanks to the
Santa hat on its head sinking down and blinding it.

“Fen! What are you
doing here??”

The wolf stops moving,
turning towards my voice and slowly begins to back up, walking into the wall
now behind it. The Santa hat falling back on its head, letting it see again
from under the fluffy rim of the hat.

“Have you seriously
been logging out into my VL every time I leave End Online?! Is that even
possible?!”

Fen just looks up at
me, no noise or movement. The Santa hat falling forward again, covering her
eyes.