Chapter 17: Chosen, Chapter 18: Way Back Home

Daniel Stewart

Earth

Saturday, March 11th, 2062

Approximately 4:30 AM

The Atlanta metropolis, USA

Daniel woke up hungry once again. He was immersed for a shorter duration this time around, but it was still more than a day since he'd eaten. He methodically unhooked himself from the IVR rig and made his way to his kitchen, where he poured himself some milk and cereal and grabbed an apple. Daniel polished those off quickly, then grabbed another apple and a banana.

While he ate his second course of breakfast, Daniel checked his email. To his disappointment, he hadn't received any more emails from Eve. Oh well, I'll see her in a few hours anyway. Let me just send her an email to let her know when I'll be there.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: Lunch

Hey sis, just letting you know that I'll be at Carmine's around 12:30 or so. I'll grab our usual booth if it's open. Looking forward to catching up with you—and finding out how you're leveling so fast! See you then.

With that done and his stomach somewhat satiated, he took a quick shower. After drying himself off, he took a look at the time—a little after 5:00 AM—and decided to take a nap. While being in Immersion Virtual Reality simulated sleep physically, it wasn't quite the same. The mind was active during IVR in ways that it wasn't while sleeping, even while dreaming. Over long enough periods of time, sleep deprivation would kick in. The tricky part was that he didn't feel tired, and it took him quite a while to fall asleep. Once he did, though, he slept soundly, only waking when the strident sound of his alarm cut through the dreamless fog.

Daniel Stewart

Earth

Saturday, March 11th, 2062

Noon

The Atlanta metropolis, USA

Daniel pulled open the door to the restaurant and stepped into the dim interior. One of the waitresses waved to him and called out, "Hey Dan, your usual booth's open if you're eating in!"

He smiled back and headed to the back corner, sliding onto the bench facing away from the entrance. "Thanks, Nadine. I'll have my usual."

"One usual, coming right up!" She cheerfully responded. "Who's joining you today?"

"Just Eve, and I don't dare order for her. Even if I ordered her favorite, she'd ask for something else just to be difficult." He caught a smirk on the waitress's face and grimaced. "She's right behind me, isn't she?"

"O brother mine, what filthy lies are you telling about me to our favorite waitress?"

Daniel stood up and hugged his sister, who wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him in return. She was shorter than he was by a few inches and weighed half what he did, but her arms still held him tight. She was much more consistent about working out than her brother, and it showed in the lean muscles evident on her gymnast's body. The siblings separated, and Daniel ruffled Eve's hair—his prerogative as the elder brother. "No lies, dear sister, just the honest truth."

"Oh, in that case, say on!" She chirped and plopped down in the booth opposite him. "Pepsi and two slices, pepperoni, sausage, and black olive on both, please, Nadine." She pulled a hand mirror out of her purse and fixed her hair, then stuck her tongue out at Daniel.

"And, of course, now you're ordering your favorite just to spite me for saying you would order something different." Daniel shook his head, ruefully.

"Of course!" Eve agreed with a wide grin. The waitress laughed and left to get their drinks. Eve leaned in over the table and brushed a stray strand of dirty blonde hair out of her eyes. "Sooooo, spill! How're you doing in the game?"

"Not nearly so well as you, judging by that email you sent me. I'm still level 2 and probably about to get creamed in this dungeon I have to clear."

Eve snickered. "Level 2? What, did you die a bunch of times or something? I know you took off from work, so you have to have been playing!"

Daniel shook his head wryly. "No, I haven't died yet. I just haven't had many fights. The one combat I've gotten into so far, the NPC I'm traveling with killed almost everything, and I didn't get much experience. Most of my XP so far has been from leveling skills and making friends. We have one more day of travel before we get to this dungeon, and I really hope the experience from training my skills will be enough to push me to level 3. How did you level so fast, anyway?"

"Hah, me die?" Eve scoffed. "Who do you think you're talking to? I'm way too awesome to get killed." She posed a little, which made Daniel laugh. "Seriously, though, most of my experience has come from quests. Combat gives a good amount, but the quest rewards have been great. I haven't had a chance to make any friends or anything, though, I'm in the middle of nowhere and haven't seen many friendly NPCs so far. Where'd you end up?"

Before Daniel could answer, their server appeared bearing their drinks. "Here you go. Food'll be out in about ten minutes."

"Thanks, Nadine!" Daniel and Eve said at the same time.

"Jinx!" Eve called out. Daniel gave her an exasperated look, then shrugged and took a long sip of his sweet tea.

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"Oh, pooh." Eve pouted. "I didn't think that through, did I? Okay, Daniel, you can talk again."

"I'm pretty sure that'll be the name of your biography. 'Oh, Pooh; I didn't Think that Through: The Eve Stewart Story.' Hey, at least it rhymes, you have that going for you!"

Eve stuck her tongue out at him, then took a drink of her own. Daniel took pity on her and answered the dangling question. "I chose the Mistvale Highlands as my starting zone. It's basically fantasy Scotland, and the landscape is awe-inspiring."

Eve brightened up and cut in, "I did too! Isn't it beautiful? It's just like Mum and Dad's stories! And everything looks and feels and sounds so real!" Then she grimaced. "Including combat. I haven't taken a bad wound yet, but they have those pain settings tuned awfully high."

Daniel rubbed his hand absently. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I had a dire rat gnaw its way through my hand in that fight I mentioned; it hurt like nothing I've ever felt before. Thank goodness for the healing potions in the starter kit."

Eve blinked rapidly at him. "You got healing potions?! How? I didn't start with anything but the clothes I was wearing, a backpack with a little food and an instruction manual, some light armor, and my weapons."

He frowned. "You got an instruction manual? I had a cranky old guy give me some super basic instruction and then vanish before I could ask any questions. Also, no weapons or armor. But yeah, I did get a couple healing potions in my backpack."

"Iiiiiinteresting," Eve mused. "So, despite both starting in the same area, we had different tutorial experiences. And it sounds like you started in a different part of the zone, too, if you ran into friendly NPCs right away. The first NPCs I encountered were bandits."

"I wouldn't say they were friendly NPCs," Daniel demurred. "They actually took me captive and force-marched me to their village. Turns out, I spawned in their territory, and they do not approve of trespassers. That's where I got the quest I'm on; it's either clear out this dungeon or be executed for trespassing."

Eve raised her eyebrows. "Damn, bro, did you pick super hard mode or something? Not that there were any difficulty sliders that I saw. That's also a longer quest than I've gotten; all of mine have been quick, short-term stuff. Find shelter. Clear out the bandit camp, with a bonus for doing it without raising the alarm, which I accomplished, thank you. Hunt my own food. Cook my own food, which I did under protest."

Daniel had to laugh at that. "There's the sister I know. Mom had to practically tie you to the furniture to keep you in the kitchen when she taught you to cook. I never understood that; you're the best cook I know, even better than Mom, and I know you mostly cook your own meals, but you raise such a hellacious fuss when anyone suggests that you cook anything..."

"Oh, that's easy. It's because I'm the spoiled baby sister of the family. Everyone's supposed to do everything for me and pay attention to me at all times. That's why I refused to learn cooking unless you learned too. I got to torment my big brother and make sure he learned how to feed me properly, all at the same time."

Daniel stared at his little sister, eyes narrowing as he rummaged through his memories. "Why, you little minx! All that time, I thought you genuinely liked the food I made for you, but you were just lazy!"

Eve smirked. "Oh, my poor brother. So sweet, and yet so dense. Did you never notice that it was always your turn to cook whenever you asked whose turn it was?"

Daniel covered his face with his hands and groaned. Eve continued, "There, there, it'll be alright. There are lots of wonderful things that are both sweet and dense, like brownies. You could be a lot worse than being a brownie, O brother mine."

He lowered his face to the table and started to slowly bang his forehead against the wooden surface. He was never going to live this down. Fortunately, the arrival of their meal saved him from further embarrassment. Nadine placed a large platter with two giant slices of pizza in front of Eve, then a plate with a fried chicken, ham, and cheese panini (a "chicken cordon bleu") in front of him. "Enjoy! Give me a wave if you need anything."

There was silence for a few minutes as both siblings turned their attention to eating. Carmine's was a small pub and restaurant, hardly fine dining. Still, they served large portions of tasty food at reasonable prices, and it took them several minutes of eating before they started to slow down and consider conversation again.

Daniel seized the initiative and, waiting until his sister had just taken a large bite of her pizza, asked, "Putting the game aside for a moment, how's life been treating you?"

Eve mock-glared at him, chewing rapidly. Once she swallowed, she answered, "So-so. It's nice to be able to work in my PJs, but opportunities run hot and cold. I had a big job a couple months back that filled up my bank account, but only the occasional little time-waster since. And before you ask, I kicked Sally to the curb three weeks ago; I found a used condom in the trash, and it sure wasn't mine."

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not, really. I never liked her, and you don't seem too broken up by it."

Eve shrugged. "I'm not. Sally was fun to look at and knew what she was doing in bed, but she never really engaged on an emotional level. She didn't even get mad when I kicked her out. How about you? Ready to get back on the horse yet?"

Well, about that... Daniel thought wryly to himself. Now that would freak out my family. "Oh, I want to introduce you to my girlfriend, but she only exists in virtual reality. Also, she's half-horse." Might even prompt a parental intervention. Daniel edged around the truth by saying, "I'm open to someone new, but you know how much of a hermit I am. Not much chance to meet new people when you avoid bars and clubs."

Eve frowned and gave him a look. "If this goes on too much longer, I'm going to have to get involved. You're too good of a guy to waste away in solitude, and don't even try to tell me that you're fine being alone." Her eyes sharpened as she got serious. "I may joke around and make fun of you, but I've known you literally all of my life. I know how badly that bitch hurt you when she left. I also know that you like to play the loner, but you have never fooled me. You need human interaction just as much as everyone else does, Daniel. Avoiding it just to save yourself heartache isn't healthy."

He tried not to let it show, but Eve's vehemence surprised him. She rarely swore, preferring to use funny euphemisms instead. "I'm not sure how much of your relationship advice I should follow, squirt," Daniel said with a small smile. "You know I set up a spreadsheet just to make sure I was able to keep track of your girlfriends and boyfriends?"

"You did not!" Eve squawked indignantly, red blooming on her cheeks. She recovered quickly, though, declaring, "And I can't help it if I'm so awesomely irresistible. All shall love me and despair!" Then she wagged her finger at him and admonished, "You're not going to dodge this by turning it around on me, either. Start taking an active interest in finding a new girlfriend or so help me, I'll set up a dating profile for you." Her face softened as Daniel opened his mouth to object, but she didn't give him a chance to get a word in edgewise. "Just look, okay? None of this passive 'I'm open to it' bull plop, you're too smart not to know that's self-defeating. You're my brother and my best friend, and I don't want to see you hurting like this."

Daniel raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'll look, but I'll do it at my own pace."

Eve frowned at him. "That sounds pretty passive still, but I'll take it—for now. I reserve the right to enact plan B at any point, though, if I feel you're not holding up your end of the deal."

He chuckled. "Like I have any control over that. I've never been able to stop you once you have your mind set on something. Heck, it's all I can do to slow you down, most times. I swear your only speed settings are 'off' and 'off the charts.'"

Eve snickered in response. "You know it!" She agreed, then pulled out her phone to check the time. With a sigh, she said, "As much as I've enjoyed this, I need to get going soon. Some of us don't get to take time off for every hot new game that comes along. Freelance work giveth and it taketh away. I've got drafts to make before I can get back to the game, and they're not going to will themselves into existence." Her fingers tapped rapidly at her phone as she paid her bill digitally, then she slid out of the booth.

Daniel stood up and hugged her tightly again. "Stay safe, sis. I love you." 

"Love ya too, bro. Later!" Daniel watched her stride out of the pub, then slid back into the booth to finish off his own meal. He pulled out his own phone and paid his bill, leaving a generous tip as always, then waved goodbye to Nadine and left. 

A short drive later, he was back home. He puttered around for a few minutes, cleaning dishes and doing other minor chores, but before long, he was back in his office, preparing to dive back into The Realms.

Zurai

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