Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Em

I opened my eyes as the last menu moved by reading my retinal patterns to detect user preferences. Creating in front of me a wide open field with eight castles at each cardinal direction forming an octagonal pattern. After a few minutes passed and more information was paired with the server the field quickly began morphing terraforming into a confusing mess of a rainforest complete with swamp like terrain that seemed to function like quicksand traps and randomly placed hunting towers for snipers and rangers alike to hide within. 

 

I could feel old instincts that I’d presumed to have faded away quickly reignite as my brain started filling in hundreds of pathways through the forest, some safe and some dangerous that would lead to the bases of my artificial opponents, driven by a time lapse of all my time in tournaments and online matches.

 

 Just as I felt my excitement hit a fever pitch I grimaced as my ears started ringing and my vision grew blurry followed by a strange full body ache similar to muscles after a severe workout. After a minute a final message appeared before the goggles of my virtual reality headset, showing the last step of the process of starting a “Tactical_Respawn” match. Avatar synchronization, though the pain and discomfort really is enough of a sign to not need the message.

 

Outside of the game I could faintly hear the whirring noise of fans kicking into high gear as the cheap VR headset I was borrowing from August struggled to keep up with the intense demand my own custom settings required. Just the same I could feel the gloves and wire clinging to my skull were heating up to begin transmitting the senses of my avatar over to my nervous system tricking my mind into thinking the virtual one body was the real one.

 

I thought back to my conversations with Dr. Bridern, the lead scientist behind the virtual reality devices that Tactical_Respawn needed to function but even now years into playing the game I could only really grasp that all the devices synched together tricked the players brain into thinking the virtual body was the real one. 

 

I couldn’t help but frown, knowing that this level of disconnect from the game, essentially the very ability to still sense things in the “real” world would hurt my game-play ability.

 

“I hope I don’t end up sick…” I muttered within the virtual world as I used a telescope high in my tower above the field to look out at the other players, my virtual opponents, to see how they were preparing to command their forces.

 

I opened my eyes slowly, testing how the movements reacted to my will and how sensations are transferred. At first the world was blurry and it felt like I was looking at it through foggy glass as the headset struggled to match up to my old settings from my esports days. After just a couple of seconds the world went black and I was left with just the simple black and white menu. 

 

“Huh, looks like they finally implemented the safety function.” I muttered quietly to no one as I used the eyeball tracking and blinking to quickly move through the settings, throwing everything to minimal and then gradually increasing it to a comfortable level. After I felt like it was at a tolerable level I selected the button labeled ‘Explore the Dojo.’ 

 

After a moment the black screen changed to an endlessly empty white room and my own model wearing a ‘karategi’ , a martial arts uniform with a white belt. It took a moment but I was able to watch with a bemused expression as the room slowly assembled itself to be a widespread dojo inspired by a certain 90’s movie. 

 

‘When I finish playing, if I dramatically say ‘I know Kung Fu,’ will anyone get the reference?’ I laughed at my own silly joke as I practiced moving around and gradually adjusting the settings to an optimal level. I didn’t want to spend too much time here but I’ve been playing Tactical-Respawn since it’s alpha days which unfortunately meant I’ve also experienced all manner of bugs and faults in both the software and the hardware. 

 

‘I’m also in no hurry to go back to the real world.’ I sighed  as I jogged around the space from one end to the other before going and increasing the movement synchronization and grimaced as the diode on my real world neck heated up to an uncomfortable degree forcing me to bring it back down to where it was.

 

I procrastinated for a moment longer before getting ready to sign off and invite August to join me when I heard a familiar voice from the doorway apologizing to August. Out of refex to avoid an awkward conversation I ‘accidentally’ chose to start a match instead. 

 

The sensation of starting a match is a bit like falling, in fact from the perspective of a player in the world, you literally descend from the sky as a bolt of lightning striking the ‘king’ AI of your respective forces. When the feature was first described I thought it was a silly feature but it actually looks pretty cool from the outside and in the higher ranked matches the couple of seconds of advantage you get from knowing a player joined before it’s officially announced can be the difference between a loss and a win.

 

After I ‘fell’ into the role of king I slowly stood up from my kneeling perspective and saw the king's forces be overcome in light from the ground as they are ‘possessed’ by my own forces. ‘It shouldn’t be this easy to slide right back into where I was…’ I couldn’t shake the feeling of discomfort that sat in the pit of my stomach, as I looked around the king's room, listening to my ‘aides’ tell me the situation of our rival forces.

 

“The other royals number eight, all possessing significant power and strategic might. It will be a hard fought battle but with you leading us there is no doubt we will win!” 

‘Esme never really liked how lifelike I made our aides. Said it felt too real. I’d always joke that she watched too much anime but I would mute them and send them back to default to make her feel better anyways. After she left I would move them back to this lifelike world I built for them, detailed backgrounds with family and lore. It’s just chess yea, but chess was always meant to teach kings to fight wars. Only makes sense that to play best you should mimic those kings as much as possible.’ I sighed deeply and waved away my settings and preferences, turning all my people back into their generic forms, and in the process I cleared away the remnants of Hide0us_Replica’s settings on my account. Íf I hadn't been so stubborn back then maybe we would have been happier…

 

I couldn’t help but be a little glad that despite clearing all Hide0us_Replica’s preferences, the castle still retained its shape and my hotkeyed gesture controls were all how I made them. I stepped off the throne and over to the wall where a painting of a stairwell was. A not nearly as clever as they thought joke by the level designers because, if you move the painting aside, it revealed a trick wall and an actual secret passage. Following the secret passage I maneuvered my way through the castle walls and up an absurd amount of stairs to the peak of the castle tower where I left a similarly obvious trick wall and painting. Most people used it as an emergency escape, I might’ve done the same if this was against actual players but against just the AI using it to quickly move out from the throne room was good enough for me.

 

From the tower I moved towards the window and my goal, a simple pair of binoculars with a journal next to it. Using the binoculars I peered out across the field to see my goals, into the castles of the other kings. Forming an octagon there were eight of us total. In between us were three separate ‘boards’ designed to trip up and interfere with our efforts to invade each other’s castles and execute their kings. 

 

That’s the base game setting anyways, at higher levels things get significantly more difficult and immersive, particularly with the ‘randomizer’ setting that I always play with. The setting created a more ‘real world’ environment by playing with just one field but greatly heightening the capacity for the AI and the environment to interfere with gameplay. 

 

One of the most important things was it changed how information flowed by getting rid of the ‘hive mind’ that most games used for their AI, making it so that if one soldier learned something, suddenly everyone in the area knew that same thing without any actual communication happening. 

 

This same limitation applied equally to players as well. Removing the capacity for voice-chats and world chat to communicate with players, even when communicating with your forces you still had to actually physically pass messages. Different classes had different abilities that could assist with this but fundamentally everything forced information to flow much slower, heightening the organic formation of a ‘fog of war.’ 

Using the telescope to look out of my castle and into the neighboring one I wrote down their movements into the journal sitting in front of me. I mumbled quietly “What a shame…” When examining how they haven’t made any major changes to the starting move of the AI I couldn’t help but be disappointed. Same as the years before the king was moving in a predictable manner. 

 

Sitting on a throne listening to his ‘bishops’ playing the role of advisor giving updates on the formations of the battlefield. The standard formation still followed, they sent out a weak scouting party to discover the locations of the other castles and any traps in the field. In the castle they are working to prepare for whatever the battle will call for. Troops to train or siege weapons to bombard with. 

 

“If there isn’t anything new I don’t need to be the one doing this.” I talk aloud to the empty room while moving my right hand through a HUD floating over my vision, scrolling through the menu I select a simple ‘pawn.’ An untrained recruit that is capable of nothing spectacular but able to do simple tasks without any major explanations. 

 

“Sit here. Use the telescope to observe the enemy forces. Write everything down and pass it along to your superior.” I shout out the order to the pawn who nods silently moving to the telescope and taking over my own job. 

 

I moved over to the center of the room where my own map was already laid out. Despite the nature of the random battle I was able to use my experiences to write out several loose maps. They used the octagon formation of the map and the tendency for even separation of the castles to illustrate the most likely locations of their locations. From there I used the enemy scouts locations visible from the telescope to mark where traps are located. 

 

Summoning another soldier, this one a ‘knight’ that moved quickly and in unexpected ways. “Knight, take my maps here and go out with a troop of your men and some of the new guys. Eliminate the enemy scouts in the region and fill in the map details.”

 

The knight knelt down to one knee and praised me before swiping the maps off the table and running out the door as fast as possible.

 

As I readied my next move a cacophonous boom shook out across the field and a merry voice spoke. 

 

“Player: Fuel0sity_Rager has joined the war-front taking over for an AI opponent. World difficulty preference settings of ‘Merciless’ prioritize eliminating weakest AI opponents. The AI forces of King Eight have usurped them, Fuel0sity_Rager now leads their forces.”

 

Moments later a second blast just as loud and obnoxious rang out giving an almost identical message, this time indicating the player, ‘Oxymoronic_Cappuccino’ had joined, replacing King Seven. 

 

I scowled at the castles opposite my own currently raising flags of rebellion to signify their new rulers. 

 

“Fuel0sity, that’s definitely James and considering everything I can only assume Oxymoronic would be Leo? Setting aside the… interesting choice for usernames, who do they think they are intruding on my game?!” I started to walk over to the desk sitting in the corner with a pen and quill next to a white and black raven to message the men who’d intruded but I felt something angry and dark inside of me make me pause.

 

Each of them, in their own way, were ignoring what I really wanted and trying to tell me what to do ‘for myself.’ They always thought their way was the best way but in here… in here I was King… I might as well treat my guests to a good show. 

 

I leaned back over the map and used the interface to summon a raven with a missive to the other castles.

 

For most of the game's development the AI would never accept attempts to converse with players but in the ‘Living Worlds’ expansion the developers allowed rudimentary conversation with artificial forces in order to allow the ‘rebel forces’ path to victory a higher chance of success. 

 

The other Kings wouldn’t be able to do much but I could at least stop them from interfering. As long as they believe the deal is most beneficial to them they’ll never make the choice to fight.

 

‘Dear King, as the ruler who brought us all here  I find it distasteful to ally with usurpers. With a contribution of a thousand gold perhaps I could convince you to share this point of view as well until such a time we resume the course of battle that has brought us here?’ I signed the letter with my username, “Hide0us_Replica” and sent it off before ordering my roguish knights to stop interfering with the AI forces and focus only on laying traps on the pathway between my own castle and those of Leo and James.

 

As I finished writing the letter I saw a fiery red bird fly into the castle window. I huffed out an angry breath at James for his immersion breaking tendencies and shooed the bird away. I half expected something from Leo but it seemed he understood that if they wanted to talk to me then they should beat me in game.

 

I used a piece of string to tie the note to the leg of the white raven on my desk and used a pop up screen to copy it to four other ravens of the same color. With a gesture I sent them out of the tower window to the other kings. A few minutes later five white pigeons returned, carrying the responses to my request. I knew that the fact they replied at all meant aggreence to my request but double checked each letter anyways just in case. 

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I refused to lose because of laziness.

 

The letters were simple notes, stating as I predicted, agreement. 

 

“Ruler Hide0us_Replica, I find your offer of a thousand gold pieces more than acceptable. Upon payment my forces will stay within the walls of our castle until such time that either the usurper kings are eliminated, you yourself are eliminated, or some-one foolishly attacks us.”

 

I checked each of their castles and saw them flying white flags. 

 

I’m not certain of Leo’s knowledge of this political and strategic game play but I knew at least that James would most likely fall for my trap. 

 

Ignoring his message would be taken as an insult and when he sees a strategy forming around him, in this case each of the AI castles appearing to uniformly surrender when such action is unheard of, he will want to lash out immediately and disrupt it.

 

Burning each of the letters with candle fire, I saw a new letter appear before me signifying the removal of six thousand gold coins from my treasury leaving me with a measly hundred gold to purchase soldiers and upgrade the castle's defense. 

 

“Don’t disappoint me with maturity and patience James.” I mutter as my scouts begin pulling back from the forest and a squire pounds heavily on my chamber door. 

 

I turn a knob on the table and the door swings open revealing a panting young boy holding a hastily written letter out for me to receive. 

 

“Read.” I shout the one word command as I stay glued to one spot looking out at Leo’s castle, watching for any clue to his actions.

 

“Yes Sire. First Rogue Knights Commander Alpha reports movement from Usurper Fuel0sity_Rager. A squadron of knights guarding a trebuchet being led by some squires and engineers. They appear to be moving on the castle of King Six and ignoring the forest entirely.”

 

I smiled at Jame’s predictable behavior. “Any report on Usurper Oxymor-” I shook my head at the mouthful of a gamer tag before giving up and choosing to break the immersion. “Seriously Leo not everything needs to be a coffee reference. 

 

I looked back and saw the squire pull out another bundle of paper, this one written with flowing carefully formed calligraphy. “Her Majesty the queen's seer forces have been watching the castle but report only that it appears to have been entirely abandoned.”

 

I crinkled my brow and started to question the computer before reminding myself that it was impossible for the squire to report anything but the displayed text. Outside of the immersion efforts and their use as pawns, squires were essentially just a mobile ‘text to speech’ program. 

 

What do I know about what’s happening? I took a breath and analyzed the facts known to me.

 

The roguish knights infiltrated the forest and layed out traps and obstacles while acting as my eyes and ears on the ground if there was any movement from either castle. Following their infiltration of the forest I formed a pact of non-intervention with the remaining AI Kings with the payment of, collectively, six thousand gold. This pact has for all intents and purposes turned into a treaty with the attack of James’s forces as I planned. Throughout all of this Leo’s castle has seen no movement. 

 

Oh.

 

I stared down at my rib-cage that had a silver dagger jutting out of it as my squire reached up and pulled a mask down from it, revealing a player about my height but with black eyes and a toothy grin no AI creature would ever make. 

 

“Checkmate, Em.”

 

Refusing to accept reality I leaned into the dagger and grabbed a hold of my assassin, before murmuring my last command, “Castle.”

 

Together we teleported into a pike pit dug into the edges of  my territory, the same spot that is supposed to be the emergency exit for a King whose castle has been taken over, inspired by the classical move of the same name. I had a chance to take one deep breath before we both plummeted into the pit. The death is thankfully a quick experience, accented by a feeling of being shocked as the VR equipment heats up unnaturally hot for just a moment before your screen goes to black. For a few minutes I was staring at blackness contemplating just taking the headset off before I found myself standing in a lounge-like space with four large screens playing out the last of the battle. Now, outside the game and immersive environment I could hear James swearing up a storm at me. 

 

“Fucking hell Replica, you finally log on for the first time in years and you get offed by an assassin? Jesus Christ this is embarressing and now I gotta deal with these fucking machines before we can even talk. Fuck I might as well just concede…” 

 

I reached into my real world pocket to call him and threaten him if he even thinks about conceding but his avatar had already raised his hand. “Stop. I know what you're doing right now and don’t bother. I know the rules. We don’t ever concede. I’ve never given up Replica. You don’t have to worry about me starting now…” He paused for a moment before laughing and raising a blindingly white spear to the sky to rally his soldiers. “Besides, If you think I’m the same person as back then you're mistaken.” 

 

For a moment I felt a deeper meaning in his words but I shook my head and looked over to Leo with his monster-esk avatar with his permanent big toothy grin and blacked out eyes. Now that we stood a bit apart from each other I could see even more details of it. It was very… Manly. 

 

No longer disguised as a squire it seemed like some of his avatar's original characteristics came through. He stood at almost seven feet tall and had comic book levels of bulging muscles. It was so extreme it moved past simply being unattractive to being comical all over again. On top of that his avatar had pitch black eyes and a permanent grin full of shark like teeth.

 

I couldn’t help but laugh though, as ridiculous and disturbing as the figure was, he still seemed to have that same awkward look he always seemed to have around me. It was just hidden in his eyes instead of his body language. 

 

“What’s with the get-up?” I finally asked between well meaning laughter.

 

He scowled at me but I could see there really wasn’t any heat in it. “I’m not the one with a bag-head.” He shot back, reminding me that my own avatar was still the same bag-head disguise I wore back in my tournament days. I shrugged uncaring, happy that the mask was hiding my expressions that probably would betray my thoughts here. “I’m not a pro-gamer like you guys.” He gestured back at me. “I just made an avatar I liked and that’s all there is to it.  It makes me feel… genuine.” 

 

I let that sit in the air for a minute before walking over to him and playfully slapping him on the back. “I like it. That assassin was a cheap move though! Does not count as a loss!”

 

He laughed at my petty anger and shrugged his shoulders. “You expect me to go up against two of the best e-sports players in the world and not use a cheap trick like that? I saw my chance for victory and I took it. I thought you would appreciate it.” 

 

I couldn’t help my own scowl turning into a smile slowly as I slightly bitterly admitted my actual feelings on the matter. “I didn’t hate it.”

 

His smile transformed into something real and genuine for a moment before warping back into the monstrous toothy look. “Hey Em…” 

 

I frowned, sensing the mood getting darker, and walked away to stare out at the battlefield where Leo was leading a troop of pawns in an assault on the king's castles going in a clockwise pattern from weakest to strongest while his queen led an assault on the other end. It was a very basic full frontal attack model, it’d never work in a tournament or against another player who invested even the slightest in strategy but here against AI where his only goal was to end the game quickly it worked well enough.

 

I could feel Leo walking up behind me keeping a respectful distance. “Em… I’m sorry.”

 

I raised an eyebrow at his comment and stared out at the screen still. “What for?”

 

One of the Kings, number six who had been the first assaulted by Leo fell to his assault at last as his forces spread out into the forest running from the fight. “I pried into your private life and I shouldn’t have done that. I… I don’t know you well enough to act like that.” In the forest I saw a queen of Jame’s faction speaking to the left-over forces of the various factions and rallying them to her side, going directly against Jame’s orders. ‘That’s new’ I thought as the Rebel Queen’s Army suddenly became the largest military faction on the board.

 

Taking my silence as agreement Leo continued on. “I don’t know James and I don’t know the kind of friendship you guys have. I thought his behavior was strange but… I guess- no, I know that wasn’t my place to say.”

 

I couldn’t help shaking my head as James ignored the queen’s actions, even as his pawns tried to reach him on the battlefield to warn him. “He lost.” I muttered in disappointment, as the Rebel Queen marched her soldiers to rally with the remaining kings and lead an assault on the last Usurper. 

 

“You're right. You don’t know what kind of friendship we have. You don’t even really know me.” I turned around seeing Leo with a hurt expression as he tried to reply but seemed at a loss for words. Feeling a bit pitiful for him I threw him a lifeline, reaching out and taking his hands. “But that’s alright. You were concerned for me, and you acted out of concern. I didn’t really try and hear you out anyways. Being controlling isn’t ever alright,” I gripped his hands tightly to emphasize what I was saying, “But, owning up to your behavior and apologizing for it… well ya know,  there are few things more attractive than emotional maturity.” I tried to convey my smile as best as I could through my voice, while promising to disable the disguise if I ever log on again.

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