Chapter 4: Chapter 3

Quinton watched in a strange fascination as his friend was set upon by his AI companion. The girl seemed determined to hug and touch every square inch of Rydel’s body and his friend was frozen in place from the sudden attention. Though it was pretty amusing to watch, Quinton really couldn’t blame Rydel for his awkward behavior. Quinton knew that his friend didn’t have anyone special in his life and he suspected that Rydel had never so much as been on a date before.

“Elizabeth could you… maybe… stop for a second…” Rydel’s face was brighter than a tomato as he weakly protested the elvish girl’s undivided attention.

Quinton had to admit that his friend’s companion was beautiful.

They all are actually. Quinton noted the jealous looks all of the other girls gave Elizabeth as she continued to smother Rydel with affection. They’ve got perfect faces, hair, eyes…

Quinton’s eyes fell to the hourglass figures on each of them. 

I see the boob slider is tilted in one direction. Quinton thought with a grin. I really shouldn’t act all high and mighty though. If I were still single I would have probably done the same… I might have even done the same tonight if I managed to hit level ten. Forgive me, Crystal.

Quinton shook his head and called out to his friend. “Hey Rydel. Do you mind if we get back to the whole ‘not being able to log out’ problem?”

“Uh, right.” Rydel cleared his throat and spoke with a clearer and firmer voice. “Elizabeth. Please let me go for a moment.”

The elvish girl immediately stepped away and dipped her head in acknowledgment.

“Understood, master. Please let me know when I can resume expressing my love for you.”

Rydel swallowed loudly and nodded. “Okay… I’ll do that.”

Quinton grinned, thoroughly enjoying his friend’s embarrassment.

“Oh right.” Rydel turned to the remaining five girls. “You can all move as well.”

Quinton immediately knew the end result of this poorly worded instruction, but apparently Rydel didn’t have a clue until five bodies tackled him to the forest floor.

“Master!” The shorter girl Elizabeth had identified as Jade called out softly as she buried her head into Rydel’s right shoulder.

“No fair!” A green tiefling holding an old white wooden flute grabbed onto Rydel’s left arm. The unnamed tiefling wore a dark crop top that showed off her toned midriff and a loose pair of silky pants. She had brown horns that curled gently into her dark green hair and bright lavender eyes.

“Why did you let Elizabeth have you for so long?” A red haired beastwoman demanded as she hugged Rydel tightly from behind. Her wolf-like ears flicked in an annoyed fashion. Though she appeared tall and fearsome, Quinton could tell there was genuine kindness in her sharp brown eyes.

“Ara ara. We’ll have to remind you how to share evenly.” A light blue skinned woman teased gently from where she draped herself across Rydel’s chest.  Her dark blue hair cascaded down her white flowing dress where Quinton noted a religious symbol he was not familiar with hung loosely around her neck. Quinton wasn’t versed enough in all of the playable races to know which one this NPC belonged to, but it had to be related to the gentle air currents that seemed to follow her movements.

“Please.. Me too!” A drow wearing a ninja outfit from the neck down chirped in quietly as she wrapped herself around Rydel’s legs. The black fabric clung to every curve of her body from the neck down and was highlighted by an ornate red sash tied firmly around her waist. Her short silvery hair was tied up behind her head.

Quinton leaned over his friend’s head and grinned down at him.

“Some game you’ve got here. I can tell you’ve put a lot of time into it.”

“This isn’t…” Rydel groaned in frustration. “Could you all please let me stand up.”

Five reluctant NPCs removed themselves from Rydel’s person while a disgruntled Elizabeth stood impatiently to the side.

“Could you all… Scout around?” 

Quinton could see Rydel struggling to come up with instructions.

“Yeah.” Rydel latched on to his own idea like a lifeline. “We need to find out where we are so we should see if there are any towns or cities near here.”

All six of the NPCs gave Rydel a deep bow and responded at once.

“As you wish, master.”

Elizabeth began to walk northward as she called out to the other girls behind her.

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“Everyone on me. We’ll head this way first.”

Quinton could see a small amount of surprise in the other NPCs faces as several of them had already turned in different directions, but they all fell in line without any verbal protests.

“Are there logout points in towns or something?” Quinton asked Rydel as they watched the NPCs disappear into the woods.

“Um… Not exactly.” Rydel ran his hands through his black hair and sighed. “I… Don’t think we’re in a game anymore.”

Quinton blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I think we’ve been, I don’t know man, transported or something to a new reality.”

“Transported to an-” Quinton scoffed and felt his blood pressure rising. “Look. I agreed to stay up with you tonight for one last farewell to this game you love so much. That’s it. I don’t have the time nor energy to go questing until the sun rises. I had fun. Let's leave it at that. Just tell me how I can log out and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“That’s what I’m trying to explain, Quinton.” Rydel lifted his hands and gestured at the nature around them. “We’ve already tried to log out. It doesn’t work. We can’t even get a menu to show up. Does this still feel like a game to you?”

“We don’t look like this!” Quinton thrust his finger into Rydel’s face. “Come on man. We’re still our avatars. Those girls fawning all over you are you and your guild’s companions. NPCs. AI controlled characters. You know that! Wake up!”

“I’m not some starstruck otaku trapped in his own fantasy!” Rydel’s hands clenched into fists. “I know the difference between games and reality Quinton! Apparently I know it better than you do!”

“Screw you dude! Tell me how to leave!” Quinton stepped forward and shoved Rydel as hard as he could.

Much to Quinton’s surprise, his friend didn’t budge an inch. Rydel’s face twisted angrily at the act of aggression and he responded in kind. Nothing could have prepared Quinton for the impact. Quinton was tossed twenty feet back before he even touched the ground. His body rag dolled through several bushes and came abruptly to a stop when his back smacked squarely into the base of a thick oak tree. The breath was driven from his lungs and Quinton felt himself almost lose consciousness from the impact.

“Quinton!” Rydel’s panicked shout caused Quinton to shakily lift his head up.

He’s fast. Really fast. 

Rydel covered the distance over to Quinton in an inhumanly short amount of time. Quinton didn’t really have to consider the implication of his friend’s movement as that was the moment when he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t… Health potion. You need a health potion.” Rydel swiped his hand around trying to open his inventory.

Quinton groaned as the full weight of his injuries pushed past the adrenaline in his blood. Rydel cursed.

“Not working. What should I do? Magic. I have a healing spell. Hold on, let me try something.”
Rydel placed his hands gently on Quinton’s shoulder and after a moment uttered the words. “Cure wounds.”

Soft green light emanated from Rydel’s hands and relief coursed through Quinton’s system. It didn’t take long for the relief to run throughout his entire body. Quinton sat up, surprised, but happy that he was no longer in any pain.

“You’re a real dick you know that.” Quinton huffed as he stretched out his back.

Rydel was too preoccupied staring at his hands to notice Quinton’s insult. “I think I cast that at tenth level.”

“That’s as high as it goes, yeah? I’d say I appreciate it but you’re the one at fault so I deserve it.”

The corner of Rydel’s mouth turned upwards, but he shook his head. “I don’t know how to choose what level to cast the spell at. I just wanted you to be healthy again and I guess that translated to max level casting. I’m glad you’re okay, but I probably healed you three times over your maximum hit points.”

Quinton dusted himself off and frowned. “I’m starting to believe you now. Being tossed around like a toy certainly didn’t feel like a game, but I have to ask you one thing. What would have happened if my HP hit zero?”

“Well your character would die and either get revived by an ally or show back up at a resurrection shrine in the closest town… but if this isn’t the same game anymore…” Rydel trailed off.

“I guess I’m lucky to be with a max level party then eh?” Quinton tried to brush off the frightening implications of his friend’s statement.

Rydel nodded and gave him a small smile. Quinton watched his friend’s eyes drift over his shoulder and freeze in an instant. Feeling an immediate chill run down his spin, Quinton whipped around and spotted five hooded figures watching them from afar.