Yvvaros: The Clash of Worlds (26 page)

“Luke…” Kaoru had begun slipping off his Arbiter armor and storing it in his bag. “We still have to get to the server in the real world. I was hoping to find something, anything that would let us get around it, but I couldn’t.”

Tess was silently watching the two of them, and Luke met her eye.

I know what it’s like to lose her. Now I have to save her.

“Alright,” said Luke. “I can do it.”

“Not just you, this time,” said Kaoru. “Send me your address in real life and I’ll fly out tonight and meet up with you.”

“I could always just ask Silverstrike. He lives on the same street as me.”

Kaoru frowned.

“He needs to focus on what he’s doing in-game,” said Kaoru. “And also, I uh, I have to talk to you about him. Later, though.”

Luke nodded, understanding what was going through the man’s head.

Silverstrike has practically gone all in at this point. We can’t rely on him.

“Anyway, we should get back to Dunidan’s rest.” Kaoru started walking away from the caves. “It’s going to be at least a day before we can get everything organized. That will give us time we need to make our move.”

“Alright,” he said. “Here, I’m sending you my address and phone number now.”

He scribbled it on a piece of parchment and handed it to Kaoru. The three of them walked across the desert mostly in silence. Luke stayed close to Tess. She giggled a couple of times, noticing the way that he kept smiling at her, as though it had been years since they’d last seen each other.

Luke hadn’t been back to Dunidan’s Rest since he’d first left to go after the Elemental Wells. It loomed on the horizon like a desert fortress, larger and more imposing than he remembered.

“Have we always had that much space?” he asked.

Tess smiled at him.

“It’s Katrina’s doing,” she said. “She expanded the walls with the money you gave her, and then used some of her own to build a small inn next to the general store.”

“Dunidan’s Rest is turning into a little town,” said Luke. “And to think, it all began with a level one quest and an oasis.”

This is why we have to take the Arbiters down. They could do to my home what they did to Carthac Island. They might already be preparing to.

“Come on, let’s head inside.” Kaoru led them toward the gate. “It’s been a long day, for all of us.”

CHAPTER 28

Luke was taken aback by the activity in Dunidan’s Rest. The changes had been relatively minor, but the addition of the inn had nearly doubled the number of players unrelated to his or Katrina’s guild milling about the desert outpost.

“Hey Kato!” Katrina herself was standing outside of the new building, the Dunidan Inn, with her arms crossed. “What do you think?”

Luke shook his head, his mouth agape.

“I think we’re going to need to start thinking about expanding the farm,” he said. “Do we have someone working in the inn fulltime?”

Katrina nodded.

“It’s Mina, the girl who lost her parents,” said Katrina. “I brought her back here with me.”

Mina… the girl whose mother I killed.

Before Luke’s guilt could tug at his heartstrings, a rough, clumsy hand clapped onto his shoulder.

“Heeeey buddy!” Silverstrike had an oversized grin on his face. “Did you do it?”

Luke opened his mouth to answer and then frowned. Silverstrike was swaying from side to side, and looked at him with unfocused eyes.

I’ve seen him drunk in-game before, but never like this.

“Yeah, I did it,” said Luke. “But there’s more to the plan than just my part.”

“The guilds are fine, Kato!” Silverstrike laughed, and then looked at him seriously. “I got in touch with most of them after the Arbiter attack. No big deal.”

How did the Arbiters find out about the meeting in the first place? Silverstrike was the one organizing it. How careful was he about who he told?

“What’s with the serious face?” asked Silverstrike. “The hard part is over! We can celebrate!”

The rogue walked over to the oasis and took a seat at the edge of it. Luke frowned and looked at Tess. Katrina was asking her about something, and it didn’t look like she’d seen her brother’s sloppy display.

“I have to talk to you about Silverstrike, Kato.” Kaoru spoke in a quiet voice, taking Luke by the arm and pulling him over to the guild hall. He led him inside and then shut the door behind them.

“I know what you’re going to say,” said Luke. “He’s always been like this. It was better for a little while, but I think the stress of organizing all of the guilds has-”

“We can’t rely on him, Kato.” Kaoru frowned. “I know that sounds cruel, but he’s on the verge of a breakdown, or at the very least, his judgement is shot.”

Luke sighed.

He’s my best friend. I trust him.

“He’ll be okay,” said Luke. “We all have our vices. I’ll talk to him outside of the game tomorrow, and see if I can get him focused on our mutual goal.”

Kaoru nodded.

“Good. Speaking of which, I have to log out soon. We have to hit the world server as soon as possible. Everything else is in place.”

“Alright,” said Luke. “So I guess we’ll be meeting in the real world next time. It feels a bit… strange.”

Kaoru shrugged.

“Not any stranger than this, I think,” he said. “I’ll get on a plane tonight and be in your town by early tomorrow. From there, we can plan out exactly how it’s going to go down, and then take a bus up to Plattsburgh.”

“We still have to find the exact location, though,” said Luke. Kaoru just smiled.

“Already taken care of. It’s amazing the kind of things you can figure out from looking at a map of a small city’s power grid. I’ve narrowed it down to three possible locations.”

This is really happening. We’re almost there.

“Alright.” Luke gave Kaoru a thumbs up, “I guess I’ll see you soon.”

He turned and walked out of the guild hall. Tess was waiting by the general store and smiled as she saw him walking over.

“Is that all for today?” she asked.

“Yeah, just about,” said Luke. “I have to log off. Please, while I’m gone, don’t…”

Don’t get yourself killed.

Tess rolled her eyes.

“I know, I know,” she said. “Lucky for you I have some work to take care of here in base. Katrina tripled the amount of space we have for farming when she expanded the wall.”

“Thanks.” He pulled Tess into a tight hug, and then kissed her softly on the lips. “I’ll be back as soon as I can be.”

“Don’t rush for me. This is the part of the plan that has to happen in the real world, Luke. I want us to pull this off just as badly as you do.”

Luke forced a confident smile onto his face.

“We are going to pull it off,” he said. “Just you wait and see.”

Luke reached into his bag, pulled out his journal, and then signed off.

He blinked. The headset was still over his eyes. Luke lifted two uncoordinated and fatigued arms to pull it off. He felt tired and sick.

I’m going to have to get used to this. It’s been so long since I’ve had to count on my body in the real world.

It was dark outside. Luke saw a full moon out his window. He stared at it for a moment, grounding himself, adjusting to physical reality.

It took a focused, concerted effort to stand up. The carpet underneath his feet felt strange, a bit too soft and unyielding, not like sand. Luke coughed into the crook of his arm, feeling phlegm congealed in the back of his throat.

He stepped away from his desk and slowly made his way downstairs. The house felt unlived in and empty. Luke took slow, ponderous steps down the hallway, feeling a bit like he had during the visions in the Cave of Exton.

Easy, now. This is my house, my home. I know this place inside and out.

The food that Sam had brought for him was still sitting on the kitchen counter. Luke didn’t feel hungry, but he forced himself to eat, pulling out a granola bar and mechanically munching on it.

He felt tired. It was a strange sensation, different from the way it manifested in Yvvaros. Instead of heading straight to bed, he forced himself into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth, took a shower, and scraped away the stubble that had grown on his face.

Finally, he walked back into his room and collapsed into bed. It only took a couple of minutes for him to fall into a deep, peaceful sleep.

CHAPTER 29

Luke woke to his phone vibrating on the bed next to him. He’d plugged it in the night before and forgotten about it. He blinked, and then reached over and tilted the screen toward him.

Rise and shine. I’m at the motel on Archibald Street. Room 107, get here ASAP.

He didn’t need to double check the number to know who it was from. Luke suddenly felt awake, and climbing out of his bed was easier than it had been in a very long time.

His dresser was already open, and a single glance at it reminded Luke that he didn’t have any clean clothes. He sighed, and picked out the cleanest garments he could find in his dirty clothes bin.

It’s a cycle. Eating, cleaning, sleeping… It’s all part of a rhythm, and it happens even when I’m in Yvvaros.

The house felt oppressive, as though Luke had been sealed off inside of it. He took deep breaths as he hurried downstairs, putting on his shoes and pushing his way outside.

The sun was shining and Luke’s eyes were not used to the intensity of it. He squinted as he walked, feeling a bit like a vampire stepping out of his coffin.

The address Kaoru had given him was on the other side of town. Luke headed toward the bus stop, only realizing once he was halfway there that he hadn’t stopped to grab his wallet on the way out of house.

I’m so used to the way money works in-game. It feels weird to have to keep track of things.

He decided to keep going and just walk the rest of the way instead. It was a couple of miles, but it would be quicker than doubling back to the house and then waiting to catch a bus.

A group of men walked toward Luke on the sidewalk. His first reaction was to reach for his sword. He shook off the impulse as they passed wordlessly by.

Luke was surprised by how out of shape and uncomfortable his body felt. He was just walking but by the time he was halfway there, a thin layer of sweat had formed on his forehead. His feet chafed against his socks and shoes, and everything felt heavy.

“This… is kind of embarrassing,” he muttered.

He did eventually make it to the motel complex.  Room 107 was on the first floor, and Luke found it easily enough. He walked up to the door and knocked on it softly.

The door opened. A girl was standing behind it, about the same age as Luke, with short black hair and a petite frame. Luke frowned, and looked over her shoulder.

“Uh, hey?” said Luke. “Kaoru told me to meet him here.”

“Kaoru told you to meet her here.” The girl smiled. “You look almost the same as your in-game character, Kato.”

…What?

“Are you serious?” Luke shook his head in disbelief. “No way…”

Kaoru took a step back and gestured for him to come into the motel room.

“It’s not really that weird if you think about it, Kato,” she said. “I don’t always make my in-game avatars male, but I find a lot of the time that other players take me more seriously when I do.”

“But still…” Luke continued to shake his head and gawk at her. “I just can’t believe it.”

Kaoru walked over to him and pinched his shoulder roughly.

“There,” she said. “You’re clearly not dreaming. Now, let’s quit wasting time.”

She took a seat on the bed in the center of room, which had a laptop and a VR headset sitting on it, along with a notebook.

“Since we last spoke, I figured out exactly which of the locations was the datacenter.” Kaoru opened the notebook and began flipping through pages. “It will take me another day or so to take care of the night guards, but once I’ve done that, our route forward will be clear.”

“Take care of the guards?” Luke frowned. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“Relax, Kato,” said Kaoru. “By the way, what’s your name in real life?”

Why does she want to know?

“…It’s Luke,” he said. “Luke Smith.”

Kaoru raised one of her eyebrows, but said nothing.

“And what about you?” continued Luke. “Is Kaoru your real name?”

Kaoru nodded, though Luke wasn’t entirely sure if he believed her.

“To answer your original question, I will be bribing each of the guards,” she said. “It’s amazing what you can manage with a few thousand dollars.”

“A few thousand dollars?” Luke blinked. “Where are we going to get that kind of money?”

“My father is the head of the Ishikawa Corporation,” said Kaoru. “I have more money than I could spend in a hundred lifetimes.”

Ishikawa Corporation… isn’t that the company that owns Gamesoft?

Luke sighed and took a second to take in everything she was telling him. The plan to raid the now government controlled Yvvaros world state server had never seemed real to him. Their actions in-game were direct and straightforward. What Kaoru was presenting to him as their next move in the real world sounded like the ultimate longshot.

“So, we get into the facility, and reach the server,” said Luke. “But then what? We can’t just make a copy of something that big on a flashdrive.”

And what would happen to Tess and the other players that have gone all in if we did?

“Oh, ye of little faith.” Kaoru smiled. “I’ve had this planned out for over a week, Luke. I’ve designed a hardware hack that will let us copy the state information to a new, player controlled Yvvaros server.”

“A player controlled Yvvaros server?” asked Luke. “What?”

Rather than being frustrated by his questions, Kaoru looked amused. She slid a little closer to him on the bed and laced her fingers together.

“This is where things get interesting,” she said. “I had an exact replica of the Yvvaros server created using some of my father’s money. It’s underground on our private estate in the mountains of Japan, connected to the grid by fiber wire.”