As Kary fell asleep in the game, her pod waked her up. She had set it that so she wouldn't always be inside the game. She also had a life outside of it she needed to take care of. As she got out of her pod, she looked at the time. It was close to midnight. It was harder to tell time in-game, there was no clock, to augment the sense of authenticity. Therefore you had to rely on your senses, and that wasn't always reliable.
Kary walked up to her fridge, pulled ou some left-over Chinese she had ordered the night before and heated it up. As she was eating, Kary looked at her bland apartment and thought " I wish I could go out more " The people here weren't keeping her here, but she was often told that for her security, she couldn't leave the premises. So all she could see was the small yard around the building. There weren't many people in the yard either. Mostly guards patrolling, with sometimes, some old dude sitting in a corner. He creeped her out, so she wouldn't go down there often.
Kary quietly browsed the net. She found nothing interesting for her so she closed it. As she got off, her door knocked. Before she even got to the door, an envelope was slid under the door and into her hallway. She picked it up, wondering what it was. She opened the door, hoping to see who gave her the envelope. All she saw was a room service maid walking around the corner.
" Excuse me! " Kary said to the maid.
" Yes ma'am? " the maid answered, looking up from her trolley.
" Have you seen someone pass by you? " Kary asked.
" No ma'am " the maid politely said.
" Ohh... Okay, Thank you miss " Kary said, a bit disappointed.
" No problem ma'am " The maid answered, going back to her job.
Kary got back into her apartment and went back to the kitchen to sit down. On the envelope, there were the words ' Read with back to the wall. They are watching! ' written. "Who's watching ?" she thought. Nonetheless, Kary switched chairs to get her back against a wall. After which she opened the envelope. In it, was a pile of paper with 'Earth United Federation' written on top. She was curious so she started going through the pile, sheet by sheet. Most of it she couldn't even understand, half the rest was redacted, with only a few words every sentence still readable. It was the last sheet that threw her off. On it was simply a handwritten message, with the same handwriting. On it, Kary could read 'They could have prevented it. She could be alive. Choose your side'
She automatically thought about the explosion. But she refused to believe it. How could she, they had saved her, had they not? She wanted to get to the bottom of this so badly. Unfortunately, she was stuck here. And to make it worse, she was in a complex handled by the accused party.
" It doesn't make sense " She thought. Why would they have bothered to save her if it was their fault, to begin with? Wouldn't they be better off if no one lived? Not being able to make sense of any of this, Kary just sat there all night, thinking. She had lost track of time altogether and what brought her back from this pool of quicksand in her head, was the alarm she had set for herself. The one that told her to go back into the pod. Morning was rising.
So Kary put aside all her conspiracy theories, thinking she'd never know the truth anyway, and got into her pod. She logged back in and woke up in the little clearing.
" Morning Carol " Kary said, hazily, still lost in her thoughts.
" Good morning to you too Kary. Wow, you look like shit. Sorry. Did you have a bad dream? " Carol said, noticing her deathly gaze.
" No, just some real-world matters troubling my mind. Nothing you should worry about " Kary answered, trying to smile.
Unusual as it was, both men were already up. They were coming back from the woods, a pair of small birds in each of their hands.
" Ladies! Breakfast! " Marc hollered, lifting the birds.
" Marc, prepare those for me. Anthony, can I talk to you for a second? In private " Carol said, a strange look on her face.
Marc caught on right away and started preparing the birds for breakfast, without uttering a word.
" What's going on with them? " Kary said to Marc.
" Ohh them? Ahh, nothing you have to worry about love. Here why don't you help me prepare those, aye? "
" Yeah. Sure " Kary answered, un-convinced.
*** In the woods near the makeshift camp ***
" Anthony, I think the message was delivered. Should we push the plan to the next step? " Carol said in a hushed tone.
" We don't even know if she'll respond well to it Carol. Shouldn't we take it slow? They have to wait for my signal anyway outside don't they? We shouldn't push her too strongly, it might back-fire " Anthony worriedly said. He refused to push too strong on Kary, by fear of hurting her.
" Listen, Anthony, I know how you feel about all this, but we have to be decisive, otherwise, they might not make it in time to her in the real world " Carol strongly said.
" You're right, as always. Okay, but let's be gentle about it, okay? " Anthony conceded.
" Fine by me " Carol agreed. After which, they walked back to camp, smiling as nothing ever happened.
*** At the same time, in the same dark room with screens as before ***
The big man was staring at the screens again, a glass of scotch in his hand. The screens showed multiple angles of a familiar apartment. Kary's apartment. And there he saw the envelope on the kitchen table with papers flipped downwards beside it. He panicked.
" Ludwig!! " The big man yelled. As he did the slim butler entered the room.
" Yes, Prime Minister! " Bowed the butler, Ludwig.
" It's time. Isolate her into the game. I don't want her out of there!" the prime minister said.
" What changed Sir? " Ludwig asked.
" Look! Here! These papers changed! She knows " the prime minister almost yelled.
" Can we be sure Sir? " The butler reticently asked.
" I'm sure! Now go do what I asked. Unless you want to refuse, in which case, I'll have someone else do it. Someone more, careless " The big man threatened
" No need Sir. I'm on it " Ludwig said, startled. To think his master would go to such lengths, Ludwig wondered what made him feel that way. Was it the fear of being discovered? He would never know. He left the manor and went to gather men for the mission. He would need to act fast. If the Prime Minister was right, he was in a race against the clock.
*** Back in the game ***
Kary and her three friends were having breakfast. They got up after eating and started packing. They would need to work in teams of two after, to herd the cows back to the main camp. As they finished packing, all four of them got a system notification.
" World Notification. Due to more and more players joining 'Sword of Fantasy', people are having trouble making time for the game. To fix this, it has been decided that at midnight tonight, a system update will be applied, switching day time to night time in-game. This will permit all gamers to enjoy as much game time as they wish during the night without affecting their daily lives. Thank you for playing 'Sword of Fantasy' "
Kary and her friends were stunned, this was a huge game-changer. Kary was a little less excited than her counterparts, as for her, it would change nothing to her routine. Nonetheless, she would feel more normal, living a day life. As they finally were ready to leave, they established the teams for the herding. Kary would be with Anthony and Marc would go with Carol. And so they set off.
On the way, Kary noticed Anthony being weird. He kept giving her side looks like he had something to tell her but couldn't. So she acted first. Looking at him with a big smile, she said " Spit it out already, big oaf, before it drives you mad. What's wrong? "
" Is it that obvious? " Anthony guiltily asked.
" You're like an open book my friend " Laughed Kary.
" Okay then. I looked up your name by curiosity, 2 months ago when you told us " He started
" You're stalking me now? Pervert " Kary laughed.
" I'm serious here Kary, stop laughing " Anthony scolded.
" I'm sorry Anthony. Keep going " She apologized.
" I found only one Kary Laflamme in the regional data. It says you're dead " Anthony finally said, dropping it like a bomb.
Kary didn't if she should laugh or cry. " It must be a mistake " She said.
" No Kary, I was in the national data bank. It says you died in that horrible explosion, two months ago. I don't want to believe it, so I'm asking. Did you give us a fake name? " Anthony solemnly asked.
" Of course not! Why would I do that? " Kary started worrying.
" Then why does it say dead in your records then? " Anthony kept prying.
" How should I know Anthony. I just know I'm alive and well out there " She answered, almost getting mad.
Anthony then took a few moments of silence. Kary could see he had more to say, but she wondered if she wanted to hear it. She was starting to connect some dots, and she hoped she was wrong.
" What if I told you I know why? " He finally said. " What if I told you I know what happened to you? " He added.
" I'd say you're full of it, Anthony " Kary simply answered. Only Anthony wasn't done.
" Kary Laflamme, 26 years old. Residing in Montreal city, Canada. Your house was blown to ash with you and your mother in it " Anthony said. He was so serious, Kary was getting scared.
" Did you know you were the only one in a 50km radius of the blast that was found alive? " Anthony kept going.
" Wasn't anyone else in a pod when it happened, it can't be that all the pods malfunctioned except mine?" Kary said, growing warier of Anthony by the second. How could he know all that?
" Only a single pod malfunctioned. But it wouldn't have mattered. People were found burnt inside their pods, cooked by the intense heat of the blast. Only one pod was found with a survivor. Yours! " Anthony said, looking at her straight in the eyes.
" Why are you telling me all this all of a sudden. Are you the one who slipped a note under my door? " Kary asked.
" No. I am not. But I do work for the man who did " Anthony admitted.
" But still, what does it matter to you, Anthony. To you or the man behind you. Why are you so informed on me? I'm just a normal girl, why would you look me up so much? " Kary asked, close to tears. Anthony had utterly scared her. All her confidence in combat couldn't do here any good in a situation like this. So she fell apart like a house of cards. But Anthony went on.
" I'm telling you all this because its time to pick a side. If you come to us, we'll protect you. If you choose to doubt us and go with the Federation, who lied to you and declared you dead before hiding you away, you might never see the light of day again, Kary " Anthony told her, grabbing her arm gently. Kary couldn't look away. As she stared into his deep blue eyes, she felt all his honesty and sincerity.
" I choose to go with you. I refuse to stay locked away forever " Kary resolutely said, finally regaining her senses.
" Perfect. In that case, your pod will soon enter lockdown. Don't panic, it's our guys securing you " Anthony said, letting go of her arm. A few seconds later, her pod indeed went into lockdown.
*** A few moments ago, Real world, a few kilometers away from the complex Kary is in ***
" Captain, we've received the signal. The mission is a go! " a man in combat attire said.
" You heard the man. Let's go go go! " The captain said to all his men.
*** At the same time, inside the complex, first floor ***
" Get going men, we need to get that pod fast, the rebels probably aren't far now! " Ludwig said to the squad going into the elevator. As they reached the 23rd floor and the doors opened, all of them jogged out of the elevator, running towards the fork in the hallway. Once there, they turned left and ran to the end of the hallway. Before making it to the end, they heard an explosion and the building shook.
" It's them! Men hurry up, blow that door down! We can't let them have that pod! " Ludwig yelled. he was starting to stress. If he failed this task, he didn't know what his master would do.
" YES, SIR! " The squadron replied.
As soon as they reached the door they wanted, they just smashed it open. Unfortunately for them, the pod was already flying out from the giant hole in the wall. They were too late. Ludwig was desperate.
" What happens now? " Ludwig thought. He then called the Prime Minister.
" Sir? We lost her. The rebels got to her before us " Ludwig said into his phone.
" You BUFOON!!! " The big man yelled on the other side of the phone.