Chapter 10: Crossroads

“Peter is it true? What is with Tom? I want to see my son.” Susan almost shouted as she approached her husband standing before the door to Tom’s room in the hospital.

“I don’t know. I came from work as soon as the doctor called me.” He said as he hugged her tightly.

Just then the doors on Tom’s room opened and a doctor came out, probably hearing them.

“Mr and Mrs Triman, I’m glad you could come so soon.” They both nodded to him, obviously nervous and frightened from what he has to say. “Come with me please, I don’t want to talk about it in the hallway.” As he said this, he invited them inside, closing the door behind them.

Tom was lying on the bed, looking as if he was just sleeping peacefully. Seeing him like this was obviously painful for both Peter and Susan.

“I called you here because I didn’t want to speak through the phone. The truth is today, in the early morning, Tom had a cardiac arrest. Simply put his heart stopped beating.” As he said this both parents looked devastated, not knowing what to do.

“But why? You previously said that he is stabilised and there is nothing wrong with him.” Peter wanted to know. “That we just need to wait until he wakes up.”

“I know what I told you previously. Other doctors that I consulted with, together with me, are becoming worried, because this isn’t supposed to happen. We did all the examinations and Tom’s body seems to be stabilised, so we can’t find the cause. In the end we only concluded that this can’t be a physiological problem but must be of a neurological character.”

“What do you want to say with all this?” Peter asked, still holding his worried wife.

“Well simply put, we don’t know why his heart stopped.” The doctor had a worried look on his face.

“So what are we supposed to do now? How can we help him?”

“Well today in the morning, after this happened, I called NextGen Software, the developer of the VR machine and also of the RealmWalker game, and asked them if they have met with something similar in the past when they tested the VR machine for its safety. After a short discussion they became very interested in this case and in the end I told them that we have a person who came to harm this way. So I took the liberty of inviting them to consult what would be best to do.” After he said this a light knock on the door could be heard. The doctor went and opened them.

A woman in her mid-thirties showed up with a business-like feeling around her. Wearing an expensive looking suit, a sharp look in her eyes, long, blond hair tied in a simple ponytail and confidence radiating from her face, she looked like someone who is accustomed to wield a lot of power and money. When looking at her you wouldn’t exactly say she was beautiful, like in a perfect kind of beautiful, she had more of a refined beauty of a mature woman.

“Good afternoon, Mr and Mrs Triman, I’m Isana Kataj, the director of NextGen Software.” She introduced herself with a polite smile.

“I’m Peter Triman and this is my wife Susan. I’m sorry, but we aren’t exactly in the mood for pleasantries, so can we get straight to the point?” He asked while shaking her hand.

“Don’t worry, I can understand as I was informed about your situation from the doctor. After we heard about Tom this morning, we couldn’t accept not to take responsibility as it was our VR machine that caused this. As you might know, NextGen Software owns a private hospital which is normally usable exclusively by our employees. After consulting here with the doctor and our own doctors we would like to relocate Tom to our hospital.”

“What will change? I mean, just doing the same tests over and over, only in another place isn’t going to help him and he can lie in the bed the same way as he would there, in here.” Peter wanted to know, not seeing any real benefit from changing hospitals.

“Yes, you can look at it this way, but I can guarantee you that we are better equipped. It never hurts to have opinions from more doctors. Who knows, maybe we will find something that they couldn’t find here. Also, it will be free of charge; we will bill everything as long as it will be needed.”

“You think that I will look at money when my son is in this state?” Peter started to get angry.

“Pete, she is just trying to help.” Susan tried to calm him down.

“I’m sorry, as I said this isn’t really my day.” He apologized, now looking more desperate than angry. “What is your opinion doctor?”

“Well I proposed this meeting because I thought it wasn’t a bad idea to have more heads working on Tom’s case. So I would recommend relocating him.”

Peter briefly looked at Susan and she nodded. “Okay, we agree. Before I forget, I want to ask you not to mention anything about this morning to my daughters.”

“Of course, I understand you don’t want to worry them.” The doctor realized without further explanation. “Now then, I ask you to come with me to fill in the needed papers.” He said as he opened the door.

Seeing Tom’s parents go with the doctor to do all that is needed, Isana also left the room.

“How did it go?” A young woman asked her, after she left the room. It was her secretary, Emily Draug. Wearing a similar suit like Isana, she helped her with her work despite being quite young, just freshly out of college.

“Better than I thought it would go. They were quite rational, I thought they would try to blame everything on us and then milk us for money. I must say I’m quite surprised, positively of course.”

“Ms Kataj, not everybody is a money-grubber.” Emily tried to reprimand her, while writing some quick notes into her tablet.

“My dear Emily, everything, you hear, everything in this world is about money and it would do you good to remember this, the sooner the better.” She tried to enlighten her secretary, with a slight smile showing on her face. “Before I forget, remind me to ask the parents for that damaged machine that caused all this trouble. I want it tested and examined. Also tell to our staff to look at Tom’s login account. I’m interested in what happened to it.” She gave her instructions with a thoughtful look and serious voice. After all, they needed to solve this problem before the media catches a whiff of it and it will grow to something uncontrollable.

“As you wish Ms Kataj.”

***

Sahodariya was walking through the long corridor, which was highly decorated with expensive statues, paintings and other pieces of art, full of confidence. The soldiers guarding it were full of respectful gazes as she walked before them and not even one would ever dream about obstructing her path. After all, for them, she was a symbol of power and courage which they secretly aspired to.

Today she was invited to an audience with the king of the Khaitus Empire, the empire where her guild, Soaring Wings, was stationed and operated most. In the morning a messenger came to Abhedia fortress with a letter that summoned her as soon as it was possible for her. It was unexpected for the king to behave this way, but she wasn’t really nervous from this meeting, as she had a chance to meet with the king a few times in the past and one could say they were acquaintances.

From the time she started to explore the world of RealmWalker, she has already had a few opportunities to take the quests directly from the king. This created a strong friendship between her guild and the Khaitus Empire and allowed both of them to prosper.

When she finally arrived at the end of the corridor the massive decorated double doors slowly opened, revealing the throne room behind them. It was a large hall with a marble floor and tall onyx pillars. In the perimeter stood many guards like statues, not moving, only carefully observing everybody inside. The path to the throne was surrounded on both sides by nobles of the empire. When Sahodariya entered, everybody focused on her, some of them showing friendly smiles, some ugly glares. She passed along them, finally coming before the king. He was seated on the throne, which was on an elevated podium.

The throne itself was carved from wooden material and decorated with expensive silk, brocade and other exotic fabrics to provide more comfort. The king seated on it, a man in his mid-forties, was in a visibly good mood showing a pleasant smile on his face. Right next to him was seated his wife, the current queen, on a seat very similar to the throne, only smaller. Behind them was standing a young girl, maybe eighteen years old, the sole princess and daughter of both of them.

Sahodariya, coming before the royal family, kneeled before them, shoving her respect to the monarch.

“I greet his majesty, the king Norius and his family.” She said still kneeling with a firm voice so that everybody present could hear her.

“We also welcome you Sahodariya. We are pleased that you could come so quickly after our selfish summons.” Norius welcomed her with a bright mood.

“I’m honoured to hear that your majesty.”

“You are surely curious as to why we summoned you.” The king signalled her, with his hand, to stand up. “Actually, we have some good news. The elves from Ballahan forest in the south informed us about the death of the most powerful lich-lord, Korpus the Smiling Death.”

“That is indeed very good news your majesty. I remember Korpus from the Demon War and he was a threat even for us realm walkers. If he is really dead, the demons won’t be able to attack as easily as before.” She commented, already speculating about the impact of Korpus’s death on the world.

“We want to use this situation, so we prepared a quest for you and your Soaring Wings. As you know, in the last few months, goblins and orcs started to populate our lands near the borders with demon territories. Till now we tolerated it because there were only small villages in those parts and lich-lords were there as goblins’ reinforcements until they build their fortifications. But with Korpus’s death everything changes. Our spies already reported that lich-lords are being called back by the demon queen. Without their protection it should be easy to kill and push the goblins back to the Abandoned plains. This way we want to officially ask you to take up this quest.”

When the king stopped talking a blue window, which only she could see, popped up before Sahodariya.

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Quest

King Norius sees the death of the lich-lord Korpus as a big opportunity and he wants help from you and your guild. Kill or chase away the goblin and orc armies that started to settle in Khaitus lands, near the Abandoned plains.

Reward: - experience points based on amount of activity

- reputation with Khaitus Empire

Penalty: - not accepting the quest will result in loss of reputation and trust with Khaitus Empire and king Norius.

ACCEPT REFUSE

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“I will accept this quest your majesty.” She said while trying to hide her troubled face.

“Good,” Norius was pleased with her quick answer. “Now that we have this official business wrapped up I request for everybody to leave. You stay Sahodariya. We still have some urgent matters to attend to.” She was stopped by him when she also prepared to leave the throne room.

“I said everybody else will leave.” Norius repeated himself seeing only guards stayed in the room.

“But your majesty we…” the soldiers tried to protest, that leaving him alone was against their duties.

“I will not repeat myself anymore.” He warned them, this time with a cold voice.

When the last soldier left the room and the royal family with Sahodariya was the only one left, Norius sighted heavily.

“Finally, I hate these official audiences, especially when I’m dealing with my friends.”

“Norius you know you need to behave like a king at least sometimes. Not everybody will be as understanding as Sahodariya.” The queen tried to reprimand him.

“Don’t worry about it Lenna, I also prefer this kind of conversation.” Sahodariya smiled at her, not minding the king’s manners.

“I missed you so much Sahodariya, why don’t you come see us more often?” The young princess said, now coming out from behind the throne and giving her a hug. One could think they were sisters when looking at them now.

“I missed you too Anabell.” Sahodariya hugged her back and smiled again. “I’m sorry, recently I’m very busy, but I promise you I will try to find more time for the visit.”

“You can’t fool me Sahodariya, I know you too well, tell me what happened.” Norius wanted to know, seeing Sahodariya is hiding something from them. “C’mon out with it.”

Not sure if it’s ok to tell them about her personal problems she hesitated again. Knowing he was right he urged her again: “If I can help you I will.”

Seeing she couldn’t hide her problems before them, she told them the truth.

“It’s about my brother. You remember, I once told you I have a younger brother and sister. He tried to become a realm walker, but it didn’t go well and now he is in a coma.”

“What’s coma?” Lenna wanted to know, not understanding the word.

“He is heavily injured and his injuries are not healing.” Sahodariya knew it was strictly forbidden to talk about the world outside of the game, but as she didn’t say anything really important, she didn’t think it was against the rules this time. Also the warning window, which appeared to every player once he broke the rules, didn’t appear this time, so this amount of talking was probably fine.

“I see. I wouldn’t worry if I were you, if he is your brother he is bound to be powerful, so I bet he will heal soon.” Norius tried to cheer her up, fully convinced about what he said.

“Yes, I bet father is right. You must introduce me to him once he becomes a realm walker.” Anabell told her with pleading eyes.

“Don’t worry I surely will.” Sahodariya said, now with a small smile on her lips. “Now I want to ask about Korpus again. How trustworthy is that information about his death?”

“It should be the truth as the High Elf Council was the one who spread it. They also told me that a lot of elves died in the attack. The one who killed him was the realm walker Malthazar from Black Money guild.”

If Sahodariya remembered well, Black Money was a mercenary guild. They were famous for being able to solve some hard quests and they are willing to be hired for any kind of work for the right amount of money, be it simple guard missions or big military expedition. Simply told if somebody lacks the muscles for some work they turn to Black Money guild.

“Yes, I know a little about them and their policies. What happened with Malthazar?” She wanted to know.

“He went back to the demon queen’s palace saying he has some unfinished business there. All of this is a secret of course. I didn’t tell this information to anybody except you. If the demon queen finds out he is the spy, he won’t be able to show up near her ever again and we will lose a great source of information.”

“Don’t worry Norius. I will be quiet about it.” She promised, thinking Malthazar must go back to finish his quest. “I’m more interested in what were the undead doing in elven territories? If I remember correctly, they should be very weakened if they aren’t on corrupted soil.”

“That’s the most terrifying thing of all. They were trying to corrupt the land there. If they were successful the elves would be probably finished and after that they could pincer-attack us together with the goblins.”

“Interesting, the demon queen hasn’t been so aggressive in a long time, the last time being the previous war. What happened, what could provoke her to be so bold?” Sahodariya wanted to know, thinking the developers were probably preparing some kind of big event in the game. Last time, around 2 years back in real time, that’s 14 years in RealmWalker timeline, the already mentioned Demon War started. It was the biggest event that happened so far in the game and it was very popular with every player.

The demon king of that time, the husband of the current ruling demon queen, tried to conquer the lands in the north which are territories of beast-men and barbaric tribes. At first it seemed like a minor conflict which everybody thought will end with a few battles near the borders. But it escalated to a bloody war, which lasted for 3 years in the game time. Beast-men, loosing and being desperate, asked for the help of other countries and realm walkers and only then they started to slowly take back their territories. The realm walkers were successful in killing the demon king and vanquishing his armies, but the price paid in lives of beast-men was huge.

Sahodariya thought something similar is maybe going to happen soon. If that is true, she and her guild must start preparing for it. After all every realm walker thought that fighting in the war is fun. The expi they earned was huge, they levelled up faster and the loot they could gain was also very good, especially with powerful monsters frequently appearing on the battlefield. She couldn’t help herself and smiled unconsciously.

“I know that smile.” Norius said while shaking his head slightly. “You show that smile only when you are preparing for a battle. This is why I will never fully understand you, the realm walkers. I know that you are warriors, but every one of you loves battles and fighting more than anything. You are like crazed dragons when you are in the heat of battle, destroying everything that comes into your path, not looking at consequences. And when you don’t have a suitable conflict at hand, you just create one.”

“Not everyone from us is like that.” She tried to defend herself. “A lot of us are like me and are trying to help other nations to prosper.”

“I know and I’m really thankful for your help Sahodariya. I don’t know what I would do if you decided to attack us one day. It would be genocide.” Norius told her with a worried look in his eyes.

After an awkward silence Lenna tried to end this unpleasant theme: “Enough about such things Norius. You know Sahodariya well enough to tell she wouldn’t do such a horrible thing. You trust her the same way I do so let’s stop with this nonsense.”

“You are right my wife, as always. I’m sorry Sahodariya. I let my cowardice speak for me.” He apologized with a bow.

“You don’t need to apologize for it. Being a coward and being cautious are two different things Norius. I can understand where your worries come from. After all, you have a kingdom to look after.”

“As I said, enough with this unpleasant theme you two.” Lenna tried to brighten the mood. She clapped two times and the doors to throne room opened with maids coming in.

“Go and start to prepare early lunch. Sahodariya will eat with us today.” As she gave her orders she slowly left to change her clothes with Anabell in her back.

“I just can’t say NO to Lenna.” Sahodariya chuckled as she looked at the leaving queen.

“Tell me something about it. Sometimes I think she runs the nation and I’m just a decoration in that uncomfortable chair called throne.”