The Dark Room

~

(In a room somewhere in New York City)

"My lady? Would you like the daily report?" A female voice asked.

"Yes, read it to me please." The other woman in the room answered.

The room the two were standing in was relatively dark other than the light of the woman's computer screen and the lamp sitting on her desk.

It was only around 5 pm, so it's not as if it was dark outside or anything, but the woman behind the desk liked to keep her curtains drawn.

Standing in front of her desk was her personal secretary. The secretary was a petite lady with long blonde hair, dark brown eyes, and tanned skin.

The woman behind the desk was almost the complete opposite of her secretary in every way. She had long black hair that cascaded down her shoulders and stopped at the small of her back. Her blue eyes were pale and looked like they contained many icicles within them. She had extremely pale skin, which was probably because of her lack of daily sun exposure. She stood around 6' feet (1.83 m) tall, so she was very tall for a woman. She wore a pants suit that fit her seductive body very well and didn't hide any of her curves. Many would have assumed she was in her late 20's, but would be surprised to find out she was actually in her early 50's!

The secretary sorted through the PDF on the tablet she carried in her hands before starting to read her report to the woman behind the desk, who continued typing on her computer.

"Okay, number 1 is on track. He is only a few levels away from what he needs to be to complete the dungeon. Number 731 is also near the dungeon, but we have put a few obstacles in his way which he died to. Number 34 has exceeded expectations. We originally were going to allow number 82 to take it, but 34 has shown a lot more promise so we have allowed her to get the advantage…"

The secretary continued on like this for over an hour before finally the woman behind the desk spoke.

"How about number 841?" She asked.

The secretary immediately responded, "He also has exceeded expectations. He has set a few records and made decent money already as well. However, we are worried he may not accept the situation. He is too smart, so we believe number 7 would be the better candidate as they would be more willing to accept it."

The woman behind the desk suddenly stopped typing and looked up from her computer screen.

Bam!

She slammed her open palm on the desk.

"What did I tell you about him!? 841 will be the candidate, not number 7! I have told you all multiple times that I do not care what you or Rhea thinks, he is the right one. I will only say this one last time, if you mess with him or put unnecessary obstacles in his way I will fire each and every last one of you!" She yelled.

The secretary ignored the outburst as she expected it to come anyway.

"What should we do with the candidates of bloodline 17 then?" The secretary asked.

"Just leave them alone, do not interfere. In fact, I am now implementing a new rule. Do not interfere with bloodlines 1 through 10 and 16 through 20. The others you can do whatever you want with, but those bloodlines need to come naturally and go to the best candidate. I don't care how hard they are to deal with, I will handle it when it is time."

"Are you sure? Some of them may see it as favoritism."

"Yes, I am sure. If they want to complain about favoritism then tell them they can take it up with me personally."

"Yes ma'am. I will inform the team." The secretary said with a bow.

As she was leaving the woman behind the desk called out, "Katherine, make sure they don't get out of line, and prepare for the next update soon."

The secretary, Katherine, turned around, "I thought you were going to wait a month?"

"I was, but I think this will increase the player base even further."

"Okay, I will inform the team of that as well." Katherine responded.

Katherine finally left the dark room, and the woman behind the desk returned to typing on her computer.

She then paused for a second to look at a family picture that sat on her desk before returning her attention to her computer.

~

(Back in the apartment in California)

Enzo took his helmet off and tried to go through his usual routine to get his body acclimated to itself again, but this time it was different.

Enzo stood up slowly, but almost immediately fell down to the ground.

Thump!

Not even a few seconds later, a sound came from the room across from his.

Thump!

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Hehehehehe!"

Enzo bursted out in laughter, and he could hear Ivan's laughter coming through the door as well.

The two quickly realized what happened to themselves, and couldn't help but find it hilarious.

Enzo wasn't feeling as uncomfortable in his body as he usually would, but this time his body felt extremely sore. It felt as if he had just come back from doing a triathlon as there weren't many parts of his body that didn't feel sore. Even his eyelids hurt slightly when he opened and closed them.

"You good buddy?" Enzo yelled.

"Yeah, I'm alright. You?" Ivan called back.

"Yeah, I'm good."

Enzo stayed on the floor for 15 minutes before he was able to force himself to stand up and take off the game suit. Once he was standing on his feet, it was much easier, but moving around was slightly taxing as well.

Ivan and Enzo moved like turtles as they went to wash themselves and brush their teeth before making their way to the couch and turning on the TV.