This Prison

Silver sat alone in Dragon's Roost Inn. The rest of her team had already left to accomplish their tasks. Layla set out to meet up with the fifth captain, while Kora, Divine, and Tora set out to acquire the remaining gold sum. Silver remained in the tavern, her face hardened. A few of her items were on the table: A sigil, given to her by Azuna, which would allow her access to the Eclipse Realm. It was red, and on one side, it had a darkened crescent moon, the other side was blank. A vial of blood named, 'Blood of the Sixth Progenitor' it laid beside a vial of werewolf blood.

Silver ran her hands over the items. The sigil disappeared as did the werewolf blood, she had stored them. What remained was the progenitor blood. Silver knew what it was, or at the very least, what it implied. It was the blood of a very strong creature. She considered drinking it right there. A part of her was curious. Truthfully, Silver was fairly certain this would be her final day in the game. She was planning her escape, and that would likely impede her chances of playing the game again. With that final thought, Silver shrugged. She downed the vial and opened her menu.

Her menu closed immediately as her head was lit with pain. Something profound was being realized within herself. Her body shuddered as she stumbled back to her room. The pain didn't stop until she closed the door behind her and fell onto the ground. Multiple simultaneous *DINGS* went off in her head before she lost consciousness.

When she awoke, her head no longer ached at all, and her body felt much better than it should. She opened her menu.

*DING* *You have consumed the blood of the 'Sixth Progenitor, The Rogue One'. As a result, all rank-up options have been changed.*

*DING* *You are the first player to consume an artifact, would you like to announce it to the world?*

*DING* Realm Quest activated: "Travel to Haven, High Seat of the Vampires to gain information and claim the seat of Progenitor." Rewards: ???

Silver quickly declined the system's request to announce her artifact possession. Normally, she didn't care about such things. However, if some massive named vampire came after her, she wanted to be sure she could escape.

As for the realm quest? She didn't care about it a whole lot. Sometime in the future, she would have to travel to the Eclipse Realm anyways. The quest had no time limit, and it didn't move her plans up at all.

Silver decided to log out for the day. She pulled up her menu, scrolled to the logout command, and clicked it.

She waited, but nothing happened.

She spoke the verbal command and waited.

Nothing happened.

She performed the emergency logout maneuver, but nothing happened.

Her mind began to panic, and her very slow heartbeat began to rapidly increase. The system flashed multiple warnings about logging her out forcefully, but the sensation never came.

"Fuck. Fuck. Is this their plan? Trap me in the game? How the hell do I get out of this?! Agh Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! Goddamnit, I should have rotted in the fucking prison!" She was yelling now, her anger rising to a critical point

..... (Layla POV)

"What do you mean you won't join? I thought you were all for it?" Layla was currently speaking to her "eccentric friend."

"Mmmm.....Layla, I have things I'm doing." The voice sounded strange and distant.

Layla almost burst a blood vessel. "I. You. Urgh! Fine. Whatever. I'll find someone else." She stormed off, separating herself from this annoying person.

'I'm exceedingly frustrated, but perhaps it's a good thing. Virus is unreliable at best, and wouldn't fit the position of captain very well. anyways. Perhaps I should talk to Silver about finding someone else.'

She nodded to herself and quickly sent a message to her.

Layla: Hey, My friend bailed at the last second, any ideas?

Silver: Meet me in Dragon's Roost. I have a new idea.

.....

Silver stood in the room, which was utterly destroyed. Furniture was thrown around the room and windows were smashed. The door was untouched, but the wood floorboards were all splintered. A tornado, in the form of an extremely pissed-off Silver, had destroyed the room.

She exited the room, taking care to allow no one to see the destruction. She was going to have to pay for the damages, for sure. What was her new plan? Well, she had to calm down first. Layla had messaged her as she exited. She hastily replied and began waiting in the inn's lobby.

It didn't take long for Layla to arrive, but Silver seemed beyond angry, even at a glance. Layla sat down in front of Silver and filled a glass of wine. "So, you alright?"

Silver waved her hand dismissively. "We should try and get a priest, or some kind of healer. I'm heading out to blow off some steam, but I'll keep an eye out. Let the others know to look as well."

Layla nodded, but she didn't speak at all.

Silver left her there without another word.

.....

Silver angrily walked through the streets of Starhelm. She wasn't truly angry, she was frustrated. What could she even do to get out of this situation? She was now trapped in this game, unable to log out.

Her revenge, her family, all of it was pretty much gone now. She wasn't in control of the game, so she struggled to come up with even the hint of a solution.

Silver realized something. For once, she couldn't do this part alone. Her knowledge of games and how they functioned was too limited. She would have researched it if she even remotely expected anything like this.

Alas, she was too short-sighted in her endeavors. The game had done what they wanted it to. It had lowered her guard too much. She faintly smiled as she looked around. 'This prison...is at least better than the last two...'