Ritualist Page 2

  “Whaa? Nice, man!” Tim latched onto this good news like a drowning man to a raft. “So it isn’t all bad!” The smile dropped from his face when he saw the sour expression on Joey’s. “Anyway, what now, my friend?”

  “That’s the big question. No love prospects, no way to work, and no money until the first check comes in from the lotto. That will be next month, I hope. The army says they’ll pay for everything, but…”

  “But it’s the army,” Tim finished with him. “I hear you man. Listen, I got out last year… I have a new job. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “Offering me a job?” Joey’s eyes actually lit up for a moment until Tim shook his head.

  “Yes and no. It’s a way out for you,” he said this in such a low tone that Joey had to strain to hear it.

  “Out of what? Life?” Joey shook his head. “No matter how I joke, I could never do that to my mother. Suicide is never the answer. It’s a permanent, terrible solution. You know I’m a religious man.”

  “Not like that, man! C’mon, like I would even say something like that to you?” Tim looked truly offended. “No, I work at a gaming company. We just finished developing a new MMORPG, and it’s…”

  “I’m sorry, a what?” This question elicited a look of pain from Tim.

  “A massively multiplayer online role-playing game,” Tim informed him in a strained tone. “The company finally got the new DIVE-capsules approved, and…” He paused when he got a ‘look’. “A deeply immersive, virtually enhanced reality capsule. DIVE. You get in the pod, and the game becomes reality for you. Cost prohibitive, but doable for a millionaire, huh?”

  “So you knew that she had won before you came here,” Joey inferred flatly.

  Tim nodded sheepishly. “The Company sent me because I know you. Here’s the thing, if you get in the pod with the correct subscription… the kind you have to be invited to,” he looked meaningfully at his prone friend, “You don’t ever leave the game. You actually start a life on a new world. In a new, custom designed body. It’s a new chance, man.”

  Joey was silent as he thought about the implications of this offer. “I could walk again?”

  “And so much more,” Tim promised as genuinely as possible. “The game was developed by the same guy that made paybud, Edison cars, and Space Y. It is beyond realistic. It’s… it's a new life, man.”

  “What’s the game?”

  “It’s called Eternium. It is unique beyond belief, and… we need people we can trust in there. It goes live in two weeks. Most of the people that are going to play are standard VR helmet users; there are about twenty percent DIVE users, but there are no admins. So we need people to play the game and sometimes to play the game in a way that is best for the company.” Tim seemed a bit hesitant about his words, as if he were biting his tongue to stop himself from saying something.

  “No admins? What do you mean? I need to know more, Tim.” Joey locked eyes with his friend. “Help me out, buddy. I’m so excited that I can’t move.”

  “Wow. Alrighty, the game is controlled entirely by an AI. Artificial intelligence. Beyond Turing, buddy. It’s called the ‘Certified Altruistic Lexicon’. This thing is smarter than half the population combined. It creates quests, monsters, and the game world itself. No outside control whatsoever, unless the Certified Altruistic Lexicon allows it to happen. I want to tell you more details, but I can’t unless you agree to join the game.”

  Joey thought about the embarrassment he felt on a daily basis and nodded sharply. Any chance at a mobile life was one that he would willingly take. “How much?”

  “Two hundred fifty thousand.” Tim’s words made Joey’s jaw drop. “That is the ‘at cost’ version. There is a solid reason; this specific version of the technology is custom designed per user and therefore, can only be used once. Normal pods can be used by anyone, but that’s still fifty thousand a year. Then there is the disposal fee…” He winced as the words left his mouth.

  “The what!” Joey barked in shock.

  Tim sighed, “Look, you can’t tell anyone or they will kill you to keep you quiet. Once you are fully synchronized with the game and the mind to machine transfer is complete, they need to destroy your body and the gear that lets it work. All that is left is a little data core that contains you. It gets added to the main core, and you are part of the game forever. Immortal, new life. Permanent addition.”

  “...You’re serious,” Joey breathed through flared nostrils.

  “Yes. I shouldn't have even said that much before you sign the NDA. Are you in?” Tim held his breath as his friend deliberated. There would only be one offer.

  Joey fought with himself for several moments. The answer that had to be given, finally was, “When do we start? I need to say goodbye to my mother.”

  Tim let out an explosive breath. “We can start the first scans today; I brought the equipment. You can’t go into the game till it is paid off though.”

  “So the game will have been running for at least a half a month? Is that going to be bad?” Joey wondered as more medical equipment was wheeled into the room.

  “Two to one time compression. One hour out here is two in there. So you’ll be about a month late to the party.”

  ~ Chapter Three~

  The scans had been very invasive, including MRI’s, blood draws, and tests he didn’t have a medical name for. Tim later told him those tests were to determine the best way to destroy his body, making Joey shudder. His mother had paid off the DIVE-capsule no questions asked and invested a million dollars into an in-game account. That was the absolute maximum, but at a ten-to-one ratio, that still only gave him one hundred thousand gold. This was–potentially–a huge amount of money, but as he would theoretically live forever in the game, he would still need to become strong and make wise decisions with his finances. He looked at all the zeros in his account and rolled his eyes in disbelief.

  Joey left everything else to his mother–any property, his pension, everything that was transferrable–and they parted with a tearful goodbye. He had tried to get her a pod, but she refused the opportunity; she was planning a perpetual vacation and didn’t want to get bogged down playing games. Luckily for Joey, there was an in-game system where he could make calls to the real world. They would be able to stay in contact for all of her remaining years.

  Finally, a black van rolled up the driveway, and he was manhandled into it like a cargo crate. The driver drove quickly–blatantly speeding–and within a few hours, Joe was in the sub-basement of a massive corporation staring at the monstrous machine that would be the final resting place of his body.

  “Good luck, buddy,” Tim called out, a sad smile on his face. “See you in game!”

  Joey was startled. “You have a pod?”

  “Nope. I’ll be playing standard, mental keyboard and headset style. I’ll add you to my friends list when I log in, but it might be a couple weeks. Pretty busy out here right now. My in-game name is ‘tSnake’,” Tim promised with a thumbs up.

  “See ya, trouser snake.” Joey laughed at the horrified look on Tim’s face. “tSnake. Couldn’t pick something normal, could you?”

  “I’m gonna miss you man!” Tim paused, looking at the nearest employee before leaning in, “Joe… beat the game. If you do, there is a chance that you… I shouldn’t be telling you this… This is more than a game. You could come back. Here. The real world.” He stopped talking and hurried away as footsteps closed in.

  A very confused Joey was brought to the pod, and they arranged his limbs meticulously. The doctor overseeing this process was thrilled that he stayed so still, earning him a sour condescending glare from Joey. The lid started to close, and second thoughts filled his mind with numbing horror. A shining gem that looked like a diamond was lowered to his head and rested gently above the bridge of his nose.

  A small line of text appeared in his vision. No blue screens, huh? He rolled his eyes. Guess all those books from Royal Road turned out to be useless in
the end. Why did he waste time reading those stories in the last couple weeks? Alrighty then, he would adapt. The message read:

  Do you want power*? Yes / No

  Well, yes. That sounded quite pleasant actually. He selected ‘Yes’ with his eyes. Wait, was that a link on ‘power’? Too late.

  Do you know what is about to happen? Have you read the terms and conditions*?

  There was a link on the word ‘conditions’, and he selected it and read carefully through the contractual agreement and obligations. There was plenty he didn’t understand, but now he at least knew a baseline of what was expected from him. He went back to the question and selected ‘Yes’.

  The words flashed red.

  Excellent. Prepare to die. Yes / Yes

  That was way too ominous! As he opened his mouth to shout for help, a roiling liquid poured onto his face and into his mouth, cutting off his complaints. Joey reflexively coughed but couldn’t free his head from the fluid. He tried to hold what little breath he had remaining, but was entirely covered with no access to air. When his lungs felt like they were beginning to explode, he finally breathed in.

  Air rushed into his lungs, and he blinked at the suddenly bright pod. Wait, he wasn’t looking at the pod! He was standing, breathing heavily as he read the words hovering in front of him.

  Welcome To Eternium! There is no saved data for your profile. Would you like to make a new character? Selecting ‘no’ will lead to true death. Yes / No

  Easy answer. Joey selected ‘yes’.

  Great! This will be the only time you will ever be able to create a character as your status is about to legally become [Dead]. Ouch, sorry about that! Make sure to make wise decisions! Would you like to select an available starting class or undergo tests and trials to see what the right choice is for you? These tests may unlock different or even unique classes based on your ability, but be warned! Taking the tests and showing low aptitudes may reduce the amount of available classes! You can exit these tests at any time! Start Game / Take Tests

  Well, if he was going to be here for a long time, he didn’t want to be a boring archetype. Thank goodness he had studied video game theory for the last few weeks. Joey reached out and pressed… wait! He looked at his hand, moving on its own, under his own power! He jumped and smiled. His body was working again! He reached out and selected the ‘take tests’ option.

  The air around him shimmered, and suddenly, he was standing in an unending hallway. A prompt appeared in front of him just as something screamed the only word that had been on the prompt. RUN! If his time in the army had taught him anything, it was to never hesitate when there were clear signs of danger. He sprang forward, running down the hallway as fast as possible. Behind him, he heard a massive *wham*. He chanced a glance over his shoulder in time to see a massive boulder crash through the roof where he had been standing. It must have weighed tons, possibly multiple tons if it wasn’t hollow, and it started rolling down the slightly sloped hallway toward him. He ran faster; he had just gotten the use of his legs back, and there was no way in heck he was letting them get crushed!

  As he ran, the rock behind him slowly gained speed. The further he ran the more the hallway sloped until it was at a forty-five degree angle. At this point, even Joey’s intense desire to run couldn’t save him. The rock caught up to him. No! As soon as it brushed the back of his body, he found himself in another area. He looked over and saw he was in the desert, next to the Humvees and helicopter that had so drastically changed his life. He was confused; had he been dreaming? Was that all a… premonition?

  He shook himself out of his doubt. The screams of pain were slightly different this time, but he still rushed over and began working as fast as he could, doing everything he could to stabilize the men so they could be transported. The first four he quickly bound and had taken to the chopper. The fifth though… he was a bleeder. Joey worked as hard as he could, continuously moving and having the others bring IV’s, bandages, and assorted tools. The man’s heart stopped, and Joey worked on chest compressions until it was beating again. This happened over and over, fixing him, losing him, fixing him. Blood coated Joey, but he never gave up on the man. After several hours, during another round of compressions, Joe suddenly found himself in another room.

  “What the…? This game is sick.” That was not a compliment. Joe looked around for the men but found only a glowing prompt. That had been… so, so real. He looked nervously at this prompt, which simply said SURVIVE. A low growl came from behind him, and a quick look revealed a massive tiger poised to launch at him. Joey squealed in far too high a pitch and lunged forward into a roll, making it out the doorway as the tiger sailed over him. He stood and started running again, gasping as the last few hours were catching up to him. His body felt fine, but his mind was beginning to waver.

  He ran, pumping his legs in perfect rhythm and never looking back until he reached a small pond. He looked over and saw small humanoid creatures talking by the edge of the water. They were standing over the body of a man, laughing as they poked the body with spears. His eyes narrowed as he thought. The tiger was coming up behind him with no pretense at stealth, so he ran directly at the small… Imps maybe? They certainly looked a bit like the devilish creatures of legend.

  The tiny humanoids looked up at his charge, raising their spears defensively. Seeing an unarmed human, they cackled and jeered… right until he threw himself flat and a tiger came sailing at them. They raised their spears, but the tiger bowled into the unprepared creatures. Knocked flat, they still managed to spear the cat in its side while they were mauled. Soon, all three were bleeding. They stared each other down and prepared to leap into combat again. Unbeknownst to them, the blood dripping from them had reached the edge of the water. As the tiger leapt, tentacles shot out of the water and yanked all three combatants in. After a small amount of thrashing, the water was deathly still and seemingly clear again.

  Joey found himself shivering in a comfy chair, looking at a prompt on a piece of paper. ‘Do your best!’ was all that was written on the paper. He frowned, and words began appearing on the paper. Concepts of mathematics, nuances of astronomy, and even world politics and religion appeared in front of him. After he read a section, it vanished from the paper. Every time he got to a break in the page, a question would form. Without a writing utensil, he answered aloud and a new section would appear. Once or twice his mind wandered, causing him to read a section without really seeing it. The section would vanish, and he just knew he got the answer wrong. He bent his mind to the task, focusing hard and answering questions for the better part of a day. He blinked, then startled himself awake, noticing he had been drooling on the paper.

  A new prompt appeared, Time is up! Select ‘proceed’ to begin the next test. Well, that was handy; it didn’t penalize him for having fallen asleep. He hit the button and was pulled into the next area.

  Dozens of trials tested every aspect of who he was, forcing him to come to know himself better every step of the way. His morality, his sense of family, his ability to handle money, more knowledge tests, and different versions of combat that left him bent and broken before repairing him and moving on. Realistically, he felt that he had never been so self-aware, and it was a hard truth when he found that in many ways, he simply didn’t measure up. After days of work, there were finally no more tests to take. A notification appeared in the air in front of him.

  Ding-ding-ding! World’s First! Congratulations, not only have you finished the trials, you are also the first of 1,256,572 players in the system to take all of them! Plus, you actually read the terms and conditions! Wow! +1 intelligence, if you know what I mean. Thanks to your forethought, you gain a title with a special single-use ability! Based on the results of your trials, new starting classes have been unlocked! Your basic stats will be adjusted based on the results of each test after you choose a class!

  Title unlocked: Try me with Trials! This title will increase how favorably others view your work ethic! Effect: Charism
a is 10% more effective when interacting with non-player characters.

  Title unlocked: Terms and conditions. This title gives you the single-use ability to break a magically-binding contract without any contract-based repercussions! After usage, this title will vanish.

  Please note that all title effects are active at the same time, but the title you have equipped will be the only one others can see without analysis abilities. The maximum number of titles you can have at any given time is ten.

  Nice! All of the blood, sweat, self-doubt, and tears had been worth it! Mostly. Actually, there were a couple things that… he shook his head to clear it. Happy thought time! Two favorable titles right away, extra classes, and–maybe–good starting stats! He eagerly awaited the chance to see the starting classes he had unlocked.

  Joe was transported to a new room, but before his view of his surroundings solidified, the world turned to a muted color, almost like an old-school pause screen. He looked around in mild consternation and turned a squeal into a snort when he saw a man standing right next to him.

  “Um. Hello. Are you real?” Joey carefully questioned the slightly glowing, larger-than-life man.

  The man spoke, a smile in his voice but not on his face, “Hello, Joey. Yes, I am very real.”

  ~ Chapter Four ~

  “I was hoping to ask you a favor.” The unknown man informed Joey. “I am a deity in this world known as the Hidden God.”

  Joey looked at the self-proclaimed god very nervously. He would be here for a very long time, and angering a god on the first day of game play was not high on his to-do list. “Um. Well, what can I do for you? ...Sir?” He added the last bit a little late.

  The deity nodded at the respect in Joey’s voice. “I know that you are coming into the game with the intention to become a perma. A permanent player that is. Before anyone else gets a chance, I want to make you an offer. I want you to become my follower.”