Trapped in a Game Pt. 04

"Shit," Kelly muttered, drawing my attention. "That's Trevor."

Dana's hands were caressing his head, and though the details were a bit difficult to make out, it seemed to calm him a bit.

"Relax. We'll figure this out. You'll get out of here and back to her, right?" she asked, a little sarcasm in her voice, and he sighed.

"You know that's not what I..."

"Shh," she muttered, bringing his face to hers. They kissed for a bit, but he eventually pulled away from her before hanging his head in shame.

"Come on- we've discussed this. This isn't real. It's just a game. We're just pushing buttons, and having our brain's tricked into thinking that we're feeling real things."

"You don't get it, kid. You never did."

"Shh," she cooed once again, before lifting his face by the chin, and leaning into him again.

They kissed, and this time he returned her kisses, and as they did Dana seemed to pause to interact a bit with her character interface.

"Ohh," Trevor muttered appreciatively, as he reached into her dark hooded robe, and Kelly shifted uncomfortably by my side.

Dana began to moan softly as his hands seemed to probe her chest beneath the robe, and he began to plant soft kisses along her neck. She crawled up from between his legs, before standing up, and in a deliberately sexy manner, she took a seat on top of him, placing her legs on either side of him as she straddled him.

I gulped, as her long slender legs spilled out on either side of the robe, and as the cotton garment came loose at the center, a pair of milky white breasts stood out proudly from her chest.

Trevor began to kiss her along her neck and down to her chest, and as Dana rocked her hips seductively grinding against him, Kelly again squirmed against me.

"Uh-uh," I chastised her, as her fingers dug suggestively into my hand, and she pouted a little before returning her attention to the two.

"One of them is in love," I noted, as Trevor continued to lovingly kiss and caress Dana's naked body, but Kelly smiled at me while shaking her head.

"More than one," she countered, and I returned my attention just as Trevor got undressed, and Dana leapt onto him.

She pressed him, her desire hungry and tinged with a near panic level of urgency. His back hit the wall hard, but she didn't even pause for him to catch her breath, as she positioned herself against his rigid member, and sank him as far in as she could manage while he held her in place in his arms.

Her legs were wrapped about him, and supporting her by the ass, he easily hoisted her up, and began to thrust into her.

"Josh-human. The enemies seem vulnerable right now. Should we strike?" Caliban's voice spoke into my head, but he was nowhere nearby so I quickly cast message to respond.

"Not yet- they might lead us to the rest of their party."

"Should I contact the Serra-human then?"

"She needs to rest. I'll let Mackenzie- uh, the scout-human, know instead."

As I sent a message to Mackenzie, letting her know of the situation, satisfied moans, which seemed a bit exaggerated to me, were now coming from Dana with each thrust, and as Trevor's rhythm faltered between trying to fuck her while holding her against him, she quickly dug her heels into his perfectly sculpted ass, and helped him to penetrate her more deeply and steadily.

One of Dana's hands were wrapped tightly about his neck, while the other rested against his avatar's firm, toned abdomen, and they quickly picked up the pace as Dana leaned back, trying to coax Trevor's length deeper and deeper inside of her.

The obscene sound of their bodies slapping fervently against each other was punctuated only by their combined moans and cries of pleasure, and it wasn't long before Dana tensed, crying out one final time as Trevor held her firmly against him, and after a moment or two, she slid from him and down to her knees.

She took one breath before devouring the still firm cock from which she'd just extricated herself, and Trevor caressed her head affectionately as she sucked on it with carnal lust.

Her intense sucking and bobbing quickly rewarded her, as Trevor's body tensed, and a sizeable load of cum shot out of his rigid cock, coating her face a bit before she took it into her mouth, eager to consume what was left of his seed.

As Trevor offered her a rag to clean up, there was a naughty smile on her face.

"I don't suppose your wife does it like that," she asked with a tone of mock sweetness, and he groaned at the retort.

"If this were real life you wouldn't do it like that either."

"Oh? And do you think that's how Morrigan would do it?" she asked, still putting on that unnaturally cute innocent tone, and he sighed before responding.

"Why do you think about her so much? Besides, you know I hate it when you imitate her like that."

"Those little fucking... ugh! I do not talk like that!"

Kelly was livid, and I stifled a wince as her grip on my arm tightened with murderous intent.

I was about to offer my sympathy when two figures suddenly emerged from the dimension door, immediately drawing our focus back to the situation at hand.

Trevor and Dana quickly got dressed in an embarrassed fluster, but the two figures, hidden behind their hooded cloaks, didn't seem to care all that much.

"Does she have the invite?" one of the voices asked, his voice seemingly masculine, and Trevor began to stutter in response.

"No she doesn't- but they're still here, I'm sure she can-"

"Kill her," the second voice muttered, and Kelly's eyes went wide as the second man struck out at Dana, sending her flying into the nearby wall.

She crashed into it hard, and began to cough uncontrollably as she struggled to regain her breath.

"Shit," I muttered, and Kelly and I exchanged a quick glance before dashing from our hiding place and down the stairwell.

"Dissonant whispers!" I chanted in a huff, and an eerie aura of whispers engulfed the area beneath us just as we charged in from the stairwell.

"Fuck! Collapse!" whispered the first man, and the dimension door suddenly imploded on itself, leaving a tempestuous rift in space where the door should have stood.

"Heat metal!" Kelly cried out, and the second man immediately fell to the ground with a clang, screaming out in agony as a searing pain shot through his body as the very armor he wore began to burn white hot.

Caliban materialized next to the man on the floor and began to snap at him as he wrestled with his suit of armor, and Trevor, who had dashed initially to Dana's side, drew his sword and charged at me.

I ducked under his first swing, and dived out of the way as he slashed again, but as I was about to cast shade, a scream drew both of our gazes to the left.

The first hooded figure, who had cast the collapse spell, was now holding a still coughing Dana by the hair, and before anyone could even react, he kicked out at her, and sent her cascading through the rift left by the collapsed dimension door.

Her eyes flew open in panic, but no sound came from her throat as she fell, and without even realizing what I was doing I dove past Trevor and leapt through the rift after her.

"Feather fall!" I heard Kelly's voice desperately cry out, and I immediately felt my descent slow down; but this only put Dana that much further out of my reach.

I reached out for her, but the space like void about us quickly gave way to a rough rocky chasm, and she crashed hard against one of the rocky protrusions about us.

Shit! I thought, she's falling too fast and the bottom of this pit is nowhere in sight.

"Illusion!" I shouted, creating a platform and immediately giving it physical form, and Dana winced as she crashed painfully through the stone sheet I put across the chasm.

I repeated the process a few more times before-

"Transfer effect!" I cried out as my outstretched hand just barely touched her's, and not a moment too soon as she landed on the floor with a thud just mere seconds before I did.

*Cough cough cough!

"Shi-!" I rolled over, breaking into a fit of coughs as I tried to speak.

Thanks to Kelly's spell I had lived, but the impact knocked the wind out of me.

My mind reeled from the overwhelming burst of pain, and I rolled about in agony, trying to catch my breath as every muscle in my body cried out in retaliation.

I looked over at Dana for any indication that she had survived the terrifying fall, but as I staggered over to her, my legs gave out and I crumpled onto the floor beside her.

My vision was hazy, and I made one final attempt to crawl over to her before I finally slumped to the floor, everything fading into darkness.

***

"Heal."

I felt the familiar sensation of energy flowing into me, and as I came to I tried to move, and grimaced as pain immediately wracked my body.

"Don't try to move, idiot!" a voice scolded me.

As the waves of energy coursed through me, my senses slowly came back to me, and I noted that the scowling face of my attendee was every bit as unpleasant as her scolding voice.

"Ugh," I groaned.

I'm starting to make a habit of this, aren't I? I thought, as my thoughts flashed back to the panicked look on Serra's face when she had brought me back from the brink of death.

She was a major pain in the ass back then, but I couldn't help but notice how much nicer it was to come back from harm's way to the face of someone who really cared whether you lived or not.

Which face would be Tracey's?

Serra's? Or Dana's?

Did she even care anymore- if I lived or died?

I sighed, and I suddenly noticed that Dana's expression had shifted from pure disdain to guarded curiosity.

"What?" I asked, noticing that her hands had lingered on my shoulder even though she was no longer actively casting any healing magic.

My quick fluttering glances drew her attention to the lapse and she quickly pulled away from me, scooting several feet away for safe measure, and I groaned again.

I didn't want you touching me either, but you didn't have to recoil as if I were infected with some kind of contagious disease!

Some thanks I get for saving her life!

I sat up, rubbing my head gingerly as I tried to get my grip on the situation at hand.

We appeared to be at the bottom of a deep precipice, as on either side of us were rough rugged walls of stone that seemed ascend to a wicked, sharp peak.

Climbing the walls seemed nigh impossible, so the only options were to travel in either direction along the winding path shaped by the rocky walls.

As I surveyed the scene, a sudden sensation of dread filled me, and I glanced back just as a sharp object poked me suggestively in the hip.

Dana's face was now concealed by the hood of the dark shady robe that she had donned when she left the camp, and I gulped as I eyed the dagger which was being pressed against the vulnerable place which my leather armor did not protect.

"What spell scrolls do you have?"

"Huh?"

"I said- What spell scrolls do you have?!" she asked again, her voice tense with agitation.

"Uh- identify, sense death, alarm-"

"Quit fucking with me!" she spat threateningly, pressing the dagger into the thin cotton shirt that offered no protection over the vulnerable skin beneath, "I'm talking about spells like fly, dimension door, major teleportation. So spit it out, what've you got?"

I wrinkled my brow in confusion.

None of those spells were supposed to be on scrolls, and I suddenly remembered the spellcaster we'd faced earlier. She'd cast a spell that she shouldn't have been capable of casting, hadn't she?

Was it done using a spell scroll?

"I don't have any spell scrolls like that," I replied in earnest, but the answer didn't seem to satisfy her one bit.

"Oh come on. I'm not stupid! I've heard the stories of what you and that girl have done. The gloom stalker and the twilight princess? Killing a lich without using powered spell scrolls is impossible. So what do you have?"

I cracked a wry smile at her as she spoke, and she jabbed her dagger angrily into me in response; but I was ready for her.

"Repelling force!" I yelled, just as the point of the blade pricked my skin, and as I stomped my feet a bit of stone erupted from the floor beneath us and Dana went flying backwards away from me as I leapt off of the ground.

She landed on her back, but as she placed her hands on the floor, trying to get up, I pointed my finger at her:

"Grasp from the abyss," I muttered, and she shrieked as two tendrils snaked out from the stone floor beneath her, grasping her hands firmly and keeping her pinned to the floor on her back.

She screamed and writhed about as she tried in vain to free herself, and as I advanced on her a wide-eyed expression of fear took her face.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I muttered, crouching down just out of range of her kicking feet, but she struggled away nonetheless.

"Ugh- let me, go!" she screamed, and I left her to it for a few minutes until her stamina ran out.

"You were the one who started this," I commented, and she huffed in response.

She pulled at her wrists one last time, before relenting with a sigh.

"Fine- what do you want?" she asked, still making sure to keep her gaze aimed deliberately away from me.

"What were you and Trevor talking about?" I asked, and her face suddenly went white.

"Y-you were spying on us? H-how long were you-"

"Look- I really don't care about your relationship, alright? Did you betray your party?"

"No!"

"Then why were you meeting with someone who did?"

"I didn't think he was really going to do it," she muttered, her voice barely audible.

She had a glum expression on her face, and as she tried to sit up, her restraints kept her from moving and she shifted uncomfortably in front of me.

I sighed, then released the spell, and she gasped, rubbing her wrists instinctively as the tendrils sank back into the floor and disappeared.

She eyed me uncertainly, then with a sigh, she fiddled with her character interface, removing the black robes that she'd worn and reverting to her typical priest's robes, before pulling her knees into her chest, and wrapping her arms around them, a saddened expression on her face.

"What was that?" I asked, and she studied me uncertainly.

"You're serious, aren't you," she muttered, and I tilted my head in confusion before nodding.

She sighed, then leaned back, stretching her feet out a little.

"It's a robe of concealment," she finally answered; "it obscures everything about your identity- your gamer tag, your unique player ID, your in-game location, even your voice if you wanted. It conceals everything identifiable about you both in game and out."

"Out of the game?" I asked uncertainly.

Why would you need to...?

"Oh shit..." I muttered, running my hands through my hair as it finally clicked.

The attacks at vampire lairs.

The dramatic increase in player deaths.

A few hours after the initial drama at the games' launch, some official notices were passed around to let the players know that killing another player in game would effectively be ruled as murder, and that sooner or later, when the game finally came to an end, you would have to answer for any crimes you committed.

Player fights were rare, and player killing almost non-existent.

Yet despite this, we'd on multiple occasions encountered players who gave off PK feedback.

Did they simply not care about the repercussions?

Sure that was possible.

A lot of people reasoned that there was no way you could prosecute someone for virtual murder, or that you could argue insanity given the psychological stress involved in our current predicament.

But if there was a way to mask ones identity completely.

A tool that could guarantee that you'd never have to answer for your actions...

I shuddered to think of what people might do.

There is a notion that if you give someone a mask, they will show you their true selves, but as a long time gamer I was well aware that anonymity had a tendency to bring out the absolute worst in people. You could be as cruel as you wanted; and nothing was there to hold you accountable.

It allowed people to be the worst possible version of themselves.

Who knows, maybe that was always their true nature? But whatever the case, there was nothing good that could possibly come from the existence of such an item.

I sighed.

Growing up, I was obsessed with video games because they allowed me to be something other than what I was.

In those fantasy worlds I was the hero; loved, adored, appreciated.

It was the only place where I felt like if I could be someone special.

But... that wasn't exactly true. I was always special in Kelly's eyes, wasn't I?

I sighed, as I recalled the tense situation in which I'd left her.

I pulled up my character interface and tried sending a message to her, but it immediately failed.

"Communication barrier," Dana noted, and I ran my hands through my hair again as I began to pace nervously.

Caliban hadn't teleported down here as yet.

While it might be possible that he couldn't shift through the alternate space created by the dimension door; I began to worry that the fight up there had gone badly.

What if Kelly...

No.

She was a good player, right?

She could handle a few idiots... even if they had cheat items that allowed them to cast high tier spells at will.

I trotted away, down the pathway created between the stone walls, and after coming to a corner which turned sharply, I noticed that the path led off to several more corridors that trailed off from the main path and going off in several differing directions.

I peeked down one of the routes, and found to my surprise that this corridor also had several openings that veered off in different directions on either side of it, and as I peeked down another to find the same, I turned away with a sigh.

This was a labyrinth, and one that I didn't possess a map of.

Getting lost would be pretty easy if I wasn't careful.

As I returned to the place where I'd just woken up, I pulled up my character interface and Dana rolled her eyes at me.

"I already told you, that isn't going to..."

Her words trailed off as the message 'Hi,' popped up on her character interface.

Interesting, I thought.

We could send messages to each other within the area, but messages to anyone on the outside bounced back almost immediately.

As I paced about nervously, I noticed Dana studying me curiously again.

"You're really worried about her, aren't you..." she muttered, before adding: "You two sure seem... close."

I rolled my eyes at her, ignoring the comment as I continued pacing.

"You'd better pray that she doesn't get hurt," I retorted, but she appeared unfazed by my threatening words.

"Right... like if I'd believe that the kind of moron that would dive through a collapsing dimension door has the capacity to do anything to hurt me."

I sighed, before glaring at her again.

"Can't you do anything- useful?" I asked sarcastically, and she merely shrugged at me with feigned indifference.

"Not much to do, idiot. Just sit back and relax until they find a way to get us out of here."

She plopped down next to the far wall, and made a show of getting comfortable against the rough stone surface before shooting me a shrug.

As annoyed as I was, she was partially right.

There was not a whole lot that we could do right now, but I needed to be prepared regardless.