Trapped Body and Soul part 3 (Trapped in a game story)

Chapter 2 – Levels 4,5,6 – Help in Times of War

            A knock at the door wakes me up. I look at the clock and it’s eight thirty in the morning. In any other scenario, I would’ve gone back to sleep until eleven so I get up, get changed back into my armor, and answer the door. It’s Angel who’s in a purple nightgown.

            “Ooooh this must be a dream,” I say.

            “This isn’t what you’re thinking it is! A squad of ten people came into the game and they said they were with the government.”

            “Really?”

            “They already beat the bottom floor and the first three floors.”

            “Damn. How’d they do that so easily?”

            “A part of their group is going to be in each city soon to explain themselves. So let’s go.”

            “Right, but why didn’t you change before you came here?”

            “Because as soon as learned about it as soon as I woke up and you aren’t too far from my room.”

            “But it only takes a few thoughts of the menu. What? Do you have trouble thinking?”

            She takes out her axes and hits me on the head.

            “Feel better?”

            “No.”

            “Good. Let’s go then.”

            We go to the town square with Kerano and see the group of supposed people from the government. Their group is composed of many different kinds of combination classes like knight mages, tank thieves, archer healers, etc.

            One of them step forward and says, “We are military soldiers and professional cops hired from the combined efforts of your and our countries.”

            Oh really?

            “At first, we were sent here to see if you were all were really going to complete this game in one go. After seeing that wasn’t true, we’ve been dedicated to helping you beat this game and give you the freedom you deserve. We were given permanent XP and currency boosts thanks to our connections to the creators of this game who unknowingly sealed their fate. You can rest assured that you will see reality again.”

            The crowd cheers, but I still want that prize at the top. They might take it if they’re going to be speed running the game at this rate.

            “Kerano, Temere. Let’s go.”

            “What is it Cazzuto?” Kerano says, “We can just lay back and relax now that we have real soldiers fighting for us.”

            “Do you really think the creators of this game will actually let them get away with this after they publicly announced their intentions?”

            “What?”

            “The creators of the game probably thought these guys just wanted to play the game.”

            “But they aren’t listening in, are they?” Angel asks.

            “I think they are and they’re probably going to find a way to get rid of them. We shouldn’t get too comfortable and keep going up.”

            “But what if they aren’t and we just get killed again?” asks Kerano.

            “It’s just to be certain Kerano. Trust me.”

            Kerano sighs.

            “Alright, but don’t forget that we’re going to be extra careful to avoid any unneeded challenges.”

            “I didn’t forget.”

            Ok so they still trust me. That’s great. Maybe I’ll split the money with them.

            We teleport to the next floor and it appears to be war torn with NPC humans against each other. The lore states that people couldn’t stand being this close to each other (no big surprise) and starting fighting each other because they disagreed on too many different things like distribution of power, continued worship of God, and the magical arts. It appears that some of those government soldiers are already fighting and exploring the area. I can’t let them get ahead of me and yet I can’t make Kerano and Angel speed up. Having them trust me is more important I know, but still. We kill enemies as usual and find as many items and secrets as we can. Kerano’s ability to read Latin also helps us find hidden secrets in the world which leads me to a new armor and weapon set in one of the many castles. You can pay to have these translated by the way though you’re given an extra XP and money if you find the secrets and solve the puzzles without the translation.

            We finally make it to the boss room and manage to see a few government soldiers enter the room. Damn. We’re going to have to wait a bit. The player limit to each boss fight is three, but in the beta, certain boss fights can be fought with four people. In the meantime, we watch the boss fight through the fog, watching how the boss moves and what attacks it uses. These soldiers are pretty well trained in this game despite being here for only a short while. I guess they saw how other people played it and/or the government or the creators told them certain tricks to the game. Either way, they beat the boss and let us have a go.

            This boss is one of the warlords who started the in-game war because he believed violence was the only way to counter the violence others started. As such, he switches from an aggressive mode with two axes when we attack him enough and a more subdued katana and shield when left alone. We take advantage of the moments when he switches between attitudes to get hits in or heal and defeat him without too much trouble. I swear this game is meant for more aggressive players since the last few boss fights were pretty easy for us. We should just speed along, but again, I don’t think I can convince Kerano and Angel that.

            We teleport to town to rest and recover and that’s when one of the government soldiers approach us.

            She says to us, “I’ve seen that you kids were the ones leading the charge to beat this game.”

            “We were and now you’re stealing our title,” I say.

            “Is that what you’re worried about? Being recognized as heroes?”

            “This dumbass doesn’t always think before he speaks. Forgive him, please,” Angel says.

            Thanks for the save Angel. She was about to figure me out.

            “Alright, but don’t try so hard. We’ve got this.”

            “Yes ma’am.”

            Tch. Calling me a try hard. Ha! I’ll show them. Though my chances aren’t looking too well at this rate. Maybe I should just hang back and - oh yeah! Ten million dollars and what I said to Angel and Kerano earlier move me forward so we teleport to the next floor.

            This floor is war torn like the previous, but this is between demons and corrupted humans. I guess evil can’t exist with itself. There are canons and the castles are more heavily defended than the previous, which gives this place a real war experience. I probably would’ve loved this if my actual life wasn’t a stake. Those real soldiers are probably more relaxed than the rest of us when it comes to this floor. Despite that disadvantage on our part we make it to the boss room. I swear they really put more Latin riddles here. Don’t they know Latin is a dead language? Thank God we have Kerano.

            Like the previous floor, this boss is one of the original warlords except he’s a large demon who supposedly tempted humans to fight each other. He spawns replicas of us that fight him some of the time and go after us most of the time. They look exactly like us, use the same skills, and even talk too. We have to actively talk to each other to make sure we’re who we say we are especially since we can do damage to each other.

            “I’m always the one that doesn’t crack jokes like you guys do,” Kerano will say.

            “I’m the asshole,” I say.

            “I’m the bitch in the group that isn’t Kaylen,” Angel the cagna will say.

            This constant communication helps us defeat the boss who only uses long range bows as his weapons while only moving around on occasion while he lets his mirrors of us fight for him. After achieving victory, we head back to town to do the usual, but for some reason, the government soldiers get paralyzed then fall over and disappear into embers as if they died.

            A loud voice, which is probably the one of the creators, says that, “We apologize for this inconvenience. The government soldiers that have entered the game will no longer help you.”

            I’m partly distressed but mostly pleased by this as I don’t need to worry about them getting in my way.

            “These soldiers are not dead and are in comas. They will be released when someone or people defeat the game like the rest of you when that happens. We will not allow further government associated players in the game anymore, but be rest assured as you can see, there are thousands of players here who can help you get through this. Ut felix sit in te.”

            I see Kerano begin to freak out, but I grab his shoulders.

            “Calm down Kerano! This isn’t over yet. Remember what I told you before? We planned for this so this shouldn’t affect us that much,” I say to him.

            “Thanks man. I was going to have a panic attack.”

            “You alright Temere?”

            “I’m good. Let’s just defeat this last boss then eat and sleep.”

            “You got that right.”

            Now there’s almost nothing stopping us from reaching the top. We were one of the only groups heading to the top while the others rested and relaxed so we have a two floor head start on everyone.

            This next war torn floor is the aftermath of all the battles we’ve been through on the two lower floors with bodies littering the fields with destroyed castles and scorched land.

            “I wonder if anyone is as far as us,” Kerano says.

            I say to him what I already thought.

            “But what about all those new players that joined?” Angel asks.

            “So? There’s like fifty-three thousand new players.”

            “That’s just more people who are at risk here,” Kerano says while clenching his fists in anger.

            “And it should motivate us to keep moving so let’s go.”

            “Right!” they say in unison.

            Now there two have a pep in their step so we move faster through this floor. Though we don’t really need it as most of the enemies are basically half dead and most of the secrets and items are barren as if people took them during the battle and fled with them. We make it to the boss room in no time and this boss is multiple enemies. They’re supposed to be soldiers who have grown too used to fighting that they couldn’t go a day without fighting after the war. They’re aggressive and can be dangerous in packs, but Angel’s and Kerano’s builds are well equipped to deal with this situation. They defeat the boss for me so without them I probably would’ve been gang raped by this boss. They seemed really determined leading up to and during the fight, probably because of what happened to those soldiers and the unaware players that come into the game.

            We’re actually the first people to beat this boss so we actually are ahead of everyone. Good. So good in fact that a few groups of fellow players congratulate us when we return back to town and hold a small party for the party that’s “full of courage and fearless”. Maybe I can use that as our group tagline. People crowd around us to ask us about our strategies and how we’re able to keep moving forward. Kerano tries to impress a few chicks with his sword skills and tales of how he’s one of the key members of the group. Angel shows off her skills and duels some people, who she wins against, though she doesn’t get any male admirers. Figures. I try to do both with a little style and succeed in getting people to know that I’m the leader of the group. As the party starts to settle down, I see Angel sitting on a bench by herself away from everyone.

            I sit next to her and say, “What’s up? Done showing off to the crowds of men you couldn’t attract?”

            “Yes.”

            “Well that was an unexpected answer.”

            “I thought being strong and cool would get people to like me.”

            “This is a video game. You can’t get real relationships from it unless you talk to them enough and meet them irl where you see that they’re just assholes when they aren’t playing.”

            “But you’re just an asshole. So does that mean you’re nic- no that can’t be.”

            We both laugh at the idea of me being nice.

            “Yeah I’m an asshole everywhere so I’m always honest.”

            Angel looks at the sky.

            “Even though it’s fake, the setting sun here looks nice.”

            “Well that’s what millions of dollars can do in a game.”

            “Can we just enjoy this together?”

            “Sure.”

            Attempting to make a move…I move closer to her and put my hand on hers. She jolts a bit in surprise, but lays her hand back down.

            “What? You said you wanted to enjoy it.”

            “I uh…yeah.”

            She lays her head on my shoulder. Attempt successful!

            “Wait, I think the game is glitching,” she says.

            “What? What’s happening?” I say with concern.

            “You’re actually being nice.”

            “Well I am good with the ladies if you haven’t noticed cutie.”

            After laughing and enjoying our time together, we go to the hotel to rest for a few hours before going out again. I wonder if Angel actually likes me now. We’re probably not the first ones to fall in love because of this situation, but what I said earlier makes me worry about how she is irl. I’ll just take this one step at a time. We’ll get out of this game and she’ll definitely love me when I get the prize money. Two of the best prizes a man could get in one go. Love and money to set us for life. This game is better than I thought.

* As always, The actual published version of the book will have pictures, thoughts when making this book, and other goodies. If you offer your thoughts that are helpful to the book, I will include your name in the back.