Chapter 2

 Darkness consumed Sadie for a moment until dancing squares of white light snuck into her vision until a digital rainbow kaleidoscope surrounded her. It disoriented and blinded every time but only for a split second before it crashed away, and Talaria formed around her.

She materialized in her “Eidas” avatar, which was just her—white skin, dark brown hair, and hazel eyes on a stocky build—except as a boy. It wasn’t gender dysphoria or anything like that; she just hated the attention playing as a girl brought. There was always some guy or another who treated male NPCs better than actual girls because NPCs might at least serve a purpose in their mind.

When she played as a dude, well… people were still dickheads. It’s still an online game hiding behind anonymous avatars after all, but they at least talked to her as a person and not as a cardboard cutout to project their incel insecurities onto.  

The city sang with life. People zipped in and out of mage markets, the mostly legal kind that anyone with sense knew operated as fronts to clean gold from the Sky Fortress raids, and hover cars zoomed overheard appearing to always be a second away from a crash. Nothing in this city slowed down. Airships flew overheard providing the only cloud cover the city ever saw. She inhaled the smell of fried street food readily available for cheap health resupplies sorely needed by newcomers from the Troglo mines infested with ghoul trolls, bioluminescent poisonous creatures, and crawling cyber arms found an NPC quest involving a mad engineer.

Would a ghoul troll end up as a glitch? Better them than a plasma dragon.

Despite the growing nerves jumping around her stomach, the chaos brought a sense of calm. Back in her pre-level 150 days, it’d been her base. Other brink hopefuls stayed away—too many fresh post-game players clogging the area. By her book, that meant less experienced competition in the area for knabbing the high-level and player-limited quests, but they stayed away for a reason.

A PIG member rammed her shoulder as he made his way through the crowd. “Watch it.”

Sadie rolled her eyes. The Police and Investigation Guild considered themselves hotshots just because Evarus VR paid them to enforce rules. Imagine being such a power-hungry dork you become a cop in a video game. They at least could have thought of a guild name less easy to make fun of. 

“Original,” she muttered.

He stopped. “You got something to say? Maybe I should search your inventory and see if there’s anything to find.”

“You couldn’t find a hole in a doughnut,” she said with bravado but slipped into the crowd before the pig could reply. While it was true—she had no banned items on her at the moment—she didn’t have time to waste on that loser.

The email provided no other details, and she’d received no in-game message. Were they supposed to wait until one showed up? There had to be some sort of clue about where one would appear.

She formed a picture of the game menu in her mind to pull it up mid-air in front of her and set a tracker. Following the gold air, she hit up her old base on the twelfth floor of one of the many skyscrapers. It mostly stored old gear and a ridiculous amount of ghoul troll bones from grinding that she never bothered to sell.

In her base menu, she selected an old avatar and slipped into her “Mark” preset. Mark looked like a painfully average, mid-level white dude. She built him specifically to blend in and equipped the avatar with compact explosives and agile equipment that packed a punch in the confined mazes of Talaria.

She went to remove a low-level lootbox but decided to keep it. It was worth nothing, not even worth opening, but she couldn’t bring herself to toss it. It was the last thing Dad gave her before he left. They were always able to bond over video games and geeky stuff, and he’d often give her joke items. Did she ever know him at all?

Red, digitized smoke rose just past the winding tracks of the Racehigh skyscrapers next to her, and she closed her menu to get a closer look out the window. Did a tear form? No, a tear would send people screaming for the hills because those suckers could completely destroy your avatar, and a couple of people claimed it deleted their save file entirely. Besides it was too early in the season for them. Then again, the event announcement mentioned a fractured sky. Maybe they were related, and the season was ending early this time?

Either way, it had to be related to the new Glitches.  

A buzz electrified the air, and she couldn’t tell if it was jitters or the game. She hastily put away the rest of her gear, but she paused at her sword. Sleek and weighty with an emerald hue, it’d been her primary weapon for the last four months as she tirelessly leveled Poison Rage—a skill with a deadly flurry of slashes leaving the opponent incurably poisoned. Best not to part with it, even If it might attract unwanted attention.

As she closed her door, she caught her thumb, biting her tongue and banging her sword against the metal hinges sending a clack down the hall.  

“And you expect to join BRINK with that kind of clumsiness?” a boyish voice shouted from a few doors down, glee oozing off every word.

Sadie rolled her eyes and cursed under her breath. Fawkes leaned against the wall outside his old base. She’d hoped to never see him again. It was a new avatar in a tattered jean jacket with tight, dark red curls clopping over a white bandana, but the smugness was unmistakable. Freckles dotted his tawny brown, angular face. The fact that he looked like he could be in some teen drama show annoyed her even more.

She straightened and walked past him while thankfully maintaining a straight face.

Fawkes turned with her, hands in pockets, as he strolled along to her hurried pace. “Come on. Not even a ‘hello’ for an old friend?”

“Fuck off.”

He faked hurt while his eyes laughed. “What did I ever do to deserve that?”

Her nose flared despite herself. Fine, they’ll play that way. “Joined one of my quests and got me killed to take the loot for yourself, ratted me out to the pigs to take a limited-player mission, STOLE from my base, wear that stupid bandana, acted—”

“All out of love,” he said, cutting her off. “I was just trying to improve your non-game skills.”

“By being a jerk?” She’d had a month of peace since she last saw him. Why now? Right as she was ready to show BRINK everything she had? God, if it existed, was definitely a dude and hated her. No female god would put this curse on her.

His face screwed into confusion. “What’s wrong with my bandana? You have poor taste. Whatever. Making you think critically and be on your toes are good skills. Necessary if you want to join a BRINK guild.” He shot a you-know-I’m-right smug grin of epic proportions. She wanted to punch him in the face, but she couldn’t risk him reporting her to the pigs.

She exited the building and turned towards the main plaza. If she went towards the smoke, she risked Fawkes catching on to her early access pass, and he would somehow weasel his way in. Instead, she headed to the quest boards. Fawkes followed her like a deranged seagull at an amusement looking for a chance to steal your hotdog.

“Leave me alone.”

“Ah, but I shan’t.” Usually, the Pidgeon app translated his speech, but he spoke English this time because she caught a whiff of an accent. Maybe French?  

She threw up her hands. “Who says shan’t?”

He continued, ignoring her protest. “You see—” He pulled up his in-game emails and hovered the screen in of her. She glanced long enough to read “Early Access invitation” and groaned. “I also have an invite just as I suspected you would. And what better way to ensure success than to team—”

“I am NOT teaming up with you.”

A boom sounded from outside the city shaking the ground and sending them both stumbling. Fawkes turned to look, and Sadie darted for an alley and turned out of sight. She didn’t stop running or look back until she’d thoroughly lost herself in a section of shady dealers, questionable food stands, and phone health item shops.

Out of breath, she stopped and spotted a grungy quest board covered in an odd yellow slime. More importantly, no sign of Fawkes. If she wanted any chance of succeeding today, she needed to avoid him.

She pulled up the available quest lists and skimmed through to see if anything related to the new event. The standard fair cluttered the top of the list like the numerous ghoul troll hunts and courier quests for the mad scientist. Nothing new or odd caught her eye until she navigated the local forums.

A few players reported a tear sighting 10 leagues north along with a new monster, some kind of gigantic troll. The Glitch.

If she had to fight Glitches near a tear, and the tears were related to the event, that’d be a big no-no. Normally tears didn’t show until the end of a season when BRINK would attack and close them. They never said what the rewards were, but they seemed to have some way to combat their avatars and data being erased. Something she didn’t have. And if she tried on her own risked losing all of her progress from three years of playing. She’d be screwed out of joining a power guild for years. What kind of bullshit event was this?

Calm. Stay calm. She paced back in forth in front of the board.

Could she lure it away? Were they supposed to work together? Maybe they expected you to team up. Maybe she should team up with Fawkes.

God. What was she thinking? He’d only screw her over, potentially in a new and exciting fashion.

Anyone else risked too much miscommunication from a lack of experience together. Best to go it alone. At least for now.

Given the lack of screams, explosions, or commotion, the Glitch wasn’t in town. She checked the forums again. While it wasn’t here yet, it definitely was heading towards Talaria, only a couple of leagues away now.

Okay, since her email gave her Talaria, she assumed they were supposed to fight it in the city. Thankfully away from the tear. She opened a map and scanned for places big enough to fight an oversized troll. Only a few places provided enough room for a large fight. She placed markers on each spot and a red marker over the red smoke. What else? The boom. She pulled the forums back up and placed another over the rough area of the explosion with the aid of player reports.

New forum posts came in at lightning speed stating at first the Glitch disappeared and then others claiming it jumped and didn’t come back down. What were these things? Does it have freaking wings too?

No, wait. A few panicked posts came in saying the troll jumped and grabbed onto an airship. Did it plan to land somewhere in the city that way?

No horn sounded and no emergency alert popped into her vision. With the tear being out of the way of the city, she bet her initial hunch was right. It was going to land somewhere where it could fight away from people. She just needed to figure out where and get there first.

Pulling her map back up, she added a marker for the buzz in the air at her base, but it triangulated a center in a small alley similar to where she stood now.

Come on, think. A second boom sounded as she removed the wrong marker sending Sadie to her knees. She quickly found the location in the chats and placed it which gave her a new location right near Racehigh. The race tracks at the top had enough room.  

Backing up, she revved her shoes like a toy pullback car. After a few swipes, her sneakers hummed, and she took off jumping up the walls like Mario until she soared above the low rises. Her jet boost skill rocketed her forward with every touch as she maneuvered her way above and around buildings, griffins, and the occasional projectile from NPC residents who hated this kind of transport.

Racehigh tower appeared in view, and she landed on the side of a building. On the top of Racehigh was a half speedway, half freestyle field to top off their tracks around the building. In the distance, an airship approached Talaria heading straight towards Racehigh. This had to be it.

She changed course and headed for the roof. Glancing around, she saw no other players. Yet. Had anyone else figured it out, or were they waiting on someone else to make the first move?

She smirked. Sure waiting was probably smarter, but it risked someone else taking the kill first. She wasn’t getting the attention of BRINK, much less the pirates, that way. They handled business and didn’t wait for others to do the dirty work first. Fight smart, but fight first. Exactly what she intended to show the PirateQueen.

As she passed the thirtieth floor, the same buzz from her base filled the air, growing in intensity as she ascended until electricity practically rattled off her body. She pushed through, teeth clenched, and burst through the other side of the electric field. She landed in the dirt of the freestyle course panting and sweating.

What was that? A deterrent to players maybe, weed out anyone unwilling to fight through. Or maybe protection to keep the Glitch in. But nothing else was here. She spun to find the airship, and she had maybe a minute before it crossed over.

The dirt mounds of the course provided plenty of cover, and she chose a high one at the edge to hide behind. She needed to know what exactly she was dealing with before attacking or leaving herself open.

The tingling finally left her body, and she checked her health on her wrist. Eighty percent. Fantastic. So that electric field did have an effect. At least the damage neutralizers of the game kept her mind from feeling it fully or passing out. A tiny trail of red exobits evaporated in the air behind her from her lost health.

The airship crossed the boundary of Racehigh and when it was directly over center, the Glitch leaped off and slammed down to the track. Her teeth chattered from the force, and her breath hitched.

It wasn’t just a ghoul troll, but a ghoul cytrolls, a variant created by the mad engineer. Normal ghoul cytrolls stood seven feet and were the hardest troll variant to beat. This dude stood nearly three stories tall with a face contorted by heat-sensing equipment. A plasma gun jutted out of the left shoulder, different from the regular cyber arms, while the right side of its body sagged in a green decay. Thick red fog now crawled across the field making it seem like blood lay at its feet.

She scanned its stats and HP, and they all read “++”. So hidden… and a lot.

“Of course,” she muttered. All good. No problem. She could take this one. She might get pummeled, maimed, and or killed…

The Glitch turned at the sound of her void, sniffed her out, and yelled a blood-curdling, animalist challenge as it raised its spike club.

She gulped, and it charged.

A tiny push of her toe jutted her left barely missing a swing of the club. The Glitch stomped its feet, shaking the track, while she darted between the ramps to hide. A whining screeched through the air as the Glitch charged its plasma gun. It waved its club warning her to keep her distance.

She found a nice mound of dirt to hide and regather her thoughts. How could one person attack this thing? It moved stupid quick for its size. If she tried to use her sword, she risked breaking it altogether. Nothing around here dented her HP anymore once she passed level 250, but she bet this thing would wallop her HP with one hit. Likely kill her in one go. An excellent way to trash her chance to showcase for the pirates.

Idiotic, massively stupid, major dummy. So many words to describe coming in here by herself without waiting to form a place just because she was too eager to prove herself. She hated to admit it, but she should have teamed up with Fawkes. One of them could distract it while the other attached from the rear. But he wasn’t here, and no other players had made it up yet. Should she retreat? Find him and make a plan?

Why couldn’t this event be mock Sky Fortress raids or knockout duels like the last couple of events? Just her stupid luck a ridiculously hard event dropped after she turned fifteen.

Her shoes hummed as they slowed down. Without them, she’d never make it out without getting a game over. Getting kicked all the way back to Rudi Flats would be a major pain. Ugh, and the item loss lottery. She gripped her sword tighter. Not losing this baby after all the work put into it.

“So what are we going to do?”

“AHH!” She accidentally jumped into the air, and the Glitch fired at them. She managed to come down in time and skited behind another mound of dirt as the Glitch fired off four more shots blowing up some of their cover. S

He brushed the dirt off as the plasma gun reloaded. Fawkes crouched next to her with a friendly expression as if he hadn’t scared the crap out of her.

“Why are you so weird!” she hissed.

“I’m only ever weird to help you out,” he said with a stupid grin. Any girl that didn’t know him would swoon over it.

“Whatever.” She peeked from behind the mound. The Glitch waved its arm threateningly in different directions but didn’t fire. “I don’t want to work with you.”

It came out of her mouth before she could think. She needed to work with him, and clearly he wanted to work with her. But that didn’t mean she’d make it easy for him.

“Get lost. I don’t want you making it into the pirates with me.”

He shrugged. “I don’t want to be a pirate.” He opened his inventory and flicked an item over to hers.

She prepared a retort about “Of course he didn’t because you’re stupid,” but she noticed a strength stat increase from her info ticker at left lower corner of her eyes. Maybe he genuinely wanted to help this time. They refocused on the Glitch, but it had stopped moving, plasma gun pointed at them, and mouth agape frozen in mid-yell. A ripple of diamonds ran across its body.

The hell?

Guess when they said early access, they meant it. Even then, it seemed like a pretty big bug. Or was that part of the event too?

It unfroze and fired its gun. Sadie jumped out of the way in time, but the shot blasted her forward leaving her kicking in the air as she tried to right herself. The next shot hit next to her, and she cried out in pain. A million wasps pricked her skin. Her vision blurred from the pain, and her HP dropped by half.

When the smoke cleared, she struggled up half a football field from where she’d been. Her body tensed waiting for the next shot, but it didn’t come.

The Glitch teetered on the edge of the field, ricocheted back by its own blast. Finally, a chance. She looked to Fawkes to attack together, but he was nowhere in sight. Figures. Revealed her position and then peaced out.

She wound up each sneaker once, not wanting to waste too much time, and dashed forward. The Glitch tried to adjust to defend, but it froze again as diamonds overtook the ghoul side making it tremble.

Skirting around to its backside, she sliced with both hands on the hilt as hard as she could. The Glitch spun from the force. At least Fawkes was good for something. Whatever item he gave her packed a punch. With a primal yell, she activated poison rage. Her sword took on a life of its own as it furiously slashed a thousand cuts at the Glitch’s chest. It’s HP dropped, dropped, dropped.

This is it. She’d defeat the Glitch on her own! Invitation to the pirates was as good as secured.

But something about the Glitch made her pause. Her last slash cut deep spilling digital bits of blood and gore. Beneath the muscle, diamonds circulated inside, and for a second, she thought a human chest flickered through—thought she heard a man yelling—before it changed back to diamonds.

She took it as a hallucination and reared back to deliver the final blow, ready to cry out in victory, when she froze. Speech, limbs, game menu, everything. She strained to break free wondering if the Glitch or even somehow affected her too.

A red message box popped up in front of her.

From the Police and Investigation Guild: Player, you have been suspended for seven days for the use of a banned item. Her vision went black.

“Fawkes!” She screamed in her mind as the game logged her out.