Darian returned to wakefulness in the immersion pod in his home far slower than he had expected. His eyes slowly blinked back to consciousness within the confines of the coffin. His gaze flitted across the interior, and he noticed that it was lit by soft red light. The lid was still closed, but almost as if the designers had anticipated potential claustrophobia, the surface was made of a layer that rendered itself transparent—allowing him to look out without feeling completely trapped.

  As he did, his fingers flexed, and he sighed into the oxygen mask still covering his nose and mouth. He also noticed that he felt faintly wet, and touched his naked chest where some manner of fluid still remained.

  Weird.

  A moment later, his right hand rose to remove the mask, and then he paused when a System alert appeared in his vision. Belatedly, he remembered that he still wore the neural band around his forehead while he read it.

  Darian smiled at the message and fist-pumped in celebration at having access to the Codex. That would make reading up on the various pieces of information and insight he’d gleaned far easier, and would allow him to return to the game better prepared next time. His hand reached up to remove the neural band from his forehead and pull off the mask, and the coffin’s lid hissed open when he did—depressurizing and sliding out and to the side to grant him an exit.

  “I feel pretty good,” he muttered while using the edge of the device to pull himself out of the slight angle and step onto the floor. “Weird. Feels like I slept for hours.”

  Darian stretched his arms over his head, then held his neck and pulled it side to side.

  “Welcome back, Young Master,” Alfred’s familiar voice chimed within the room.

  “Hello, Alfred,” Darian said warmly. “I take it nothing went wrong while I was, I dunno, ‘immersed’?”

  “The term the company uses is ‘Transmigrated’, sir,” the AI said helpfully. “A rather quaint nomenclature, but I believe it has something to do with immersion. As for your question, nothing occurred that was cause for alarm. There were some spikes in your heart rate and stress levels, but nothing we have not seen in your forays into Horror games.”

  “That’s a relief. Also, transmigrated, huh?” Darian asked while rolling his shoulders and padding languidly toward his bathroom ensuite. “Well, it’s definitely going to awaken some conspiracy theorists, but I respect the dedication to the bit,” he said mirthfully. “What time is it?”

  “It is a quarter to nine, sir.”

  “Huh. I was playing for almost two hours?”

  That made some sense. He had done a lot in Eternus, and by that rough estimation, it had occurred over the course of close to eight hours in the game. It lined up with his expectations.

  “Yes, sir. I believe Miss Kate is awaiting your call.”

  “Oh! Right, great timing. She would’ve killed me if I’d missed the time,” Darian said while entering his tiled bathroom and thumbing the preset shower setting to fill the spacious rectangle with water from the ceiling waterfall nozzles. “Can you call and tell her I’ll be free after I shower?”

  “Of course, sir,” Alfred said agreeably. “Shall I prepare some dinner?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Darian said off-handedly while stepping into the shower and sighing in relief at the wash of high-pressure steamy water. “I’ll have a pizza.”

  “Excellent, sir,” the AI replied before going quiet.

  Darian closed his eyes under the water and let the liquid, complete with its own cleaning agents, wash over him. He assisted it with a brush and luffa, and ten minutes later, when he was done, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a white bath towel. With a second one snagged and used on his hair, Darian strode out of the bathroom with a sigh of relief.

  “Hey Alfred, did I sweat a lot in the pod or something? I felt a little wet when I was done.”

  “No, Young Master. It appears that the Eternus Online devices come with a proprietary immersion liquid that helps keep your body hale and healthy during long periods of playtime,” Alfred explained dutifully. “According to the E2 EULA, the formula allows play sessions in excess of twenty-four hours.”

  “Good to know,” Darian said while entering his walk-in wardrobe and picking out a white tee, briefs, and baggy sweatpants. “I’ll take that call with Kate, now, Alfred.”

  “In the room, Young Master?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I shall call her now, then.”

  Darian finished pulling the shirt over his head at the AI’s words and walked out of the wardrobe toward his desk, settling down into his chair and tapping his fingers on the table to activate the projection screen built into it.

  “Alfred, can you bring up the Codex logged into my Device while I’m waiting?”

  “Of course, Young Master.”

  Darian reached up to idly scratch his fingers through his hair, yawned, and then settled back to read when the data popped onto his screen.

  “Okay, so… where is—aha!”

  He reached out and tapped ‘Advancement’ and then ‘Tiers of Progression’, then ran his eyes over the information as it populated.

  “Huh…” he muttered while looking over the arrayed information.

  Thirteen tiers were unexpected, not for any particular reason, but they felt almost incomplete. He wondered momentarily if something was beyond level 300, but that would probably be a question for Mortarius. None of what he saw mentioned ‘Powers’ in any capacity, though that would likely be an intentional obfuscation. The game might have been keeping further information locked somehow.

  “Young Master, I have Miss Kate for you,” Alfred said over the speakers and drew Darian’s attention.

  “Oh, thanks!” he replied and swiped to dismiss the Codex at the exact moment a ‘call’ screen appeared in a black window, followed by the appearance of his best friend.

  Katherine Dragomirov had been his closest companion since childhood, the daughter of his mother’s best friend, and his vivacious lifelong cheerleader. When her bright green eyes appeared on the screen, Darian felt himself grin in greeting.

  “Your Highness,” she greeted him cheekily in her partial sing-song.

  “Lady Dragomirov,” he replied, keeping with their childhood inside joke. If his surname was King, she had figured at a young age, then surely he had to be a prince.

  The fact that her family was old European nobility meant that he had a clapback ready—and the nicknames had stood the test of time.

  “So how was it?” Kate asked without preamble, brushing her fiery hair behind her ears and crossing her ankles together as she adjusted her position on her bed.

  “It was fucking awesome,” Darian said in immediate response. “It’s a real full-dive, and it’s realistic like you won’t believe. Everything feels so fucking real, Kay. It’s like I’m actually there, you know? It’s wild.”

  “I still can’t believe you won the raffle,” she said enviously and shook her head. “Talk about luck of the draw.”

  “Tell me about it. My intro to the game was different, too.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked with interest.

  “Well, I unlocked a unique questline and completely skipped the normal tutorial,” he explained with a smug grin. “Admittedly, there’s a lot of stuff I had to sort of find out myself, which I think would normally be covered by the starter zone or whatever noobtown they have—but it’s such a small cost for what I got in return.”

  “Ugh, you get all the luck,” she lamented, turning to pick up her phone and shooting off a quick text while she spoke. “Literally everyone is already playing. I just got a text from Corey, and she’s hopping on too.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll hop on after we hang up. Auntie Fi sent over a high-end unit for me, and she made Mom promise to let me play all weekend. I was kinda surprised, given how much emphasis my parents put on not overdoing it, but I guess it’s hard to argue with Auntie Fi when she’s got her mind set on something.”

  “Well, it helps that she’s the CFO of E2, Kay. I got lucky, you got the genetic lottery.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said with a mimed yapping motion with her left hand. “Whatever, raffle-boy. You would’ve got a good unit anyway.”

  “Luck is a skill all its own,” Darian replied slyly. “Anyway, I wanted to know when you’re logging in. I’ve got a timed event I need to take care of, but it’s going to take, like, eight hours real life time to complete—so I haven’t got much to do until that’s done.”

  “EO has time dilation, right? So, like, twenty-four hours?” Kate asked to clarify.

  “Yeah, it’s a special event. Once it’s done, I can do stuff again.”

  “How does that work with your character?”

  “It’s called an Eidos in EO,” Darian said before continuing, “and from what the NPC told me, it’ll like defend itself against attacks and stuff, buuuut only to a degree. Kinda like an intelligent autopilot, I guess.”

  “Hmm…” Kate said while peering off to the side. “Okay. So, eight hours, right?”

  “Yeah,” Darian confirmed.

  “That should give me enough time to get all the starter stuff done, then,” Kate continued while biting her lip. “Where are you in the world?”

  “A place called Blackstone,” Darian answered immediately. “I’m not actually sure where it is. I think you can get there by ship, though, from whatever Kingdom rules it. I didn’t honestly get much information.”

  Kate nodded at his words, and he noticed her mentally taking notes, with her brow slightly furrowed. “Okay. So I need to get to Blackstone within twenty-four hours to meet up with you, right? Seems simple.”

  “Not sure how that’s gonna be simple, Kay, but if you can do it, I could probably use the help,” he admitted.

  “How do you always manage to get yourself into trouble in every game? Did you take issue with someone being a jerk or something, like usual?”

  “No!” Darian said defensively and folded his arms while leaning back. “I, uh, actually didn’t go hero paladin this time.”

  “What? REALLY? Oh my God, stop the presses, Darian ‘Hero Complex’ King isn’t declaring his righteous crusades against evil anymore?!”

  “I kind of went for a Renegade playthrough,” he said with a suffusion of heat in his cheeks. “The game actually listed my alignment as, uh, Lawful Evil.”

  Silence followed when he said the words, and then Kate’s beautiful features split into a wide grin and she shrieked.

  “FINALLY!” she said with a fist-pump. “Oh my God, that’s so good. Okay. Wow. I need to get online right now. I cannot wait to see what you look like.”

  Darian snorted at her enthusiasm and scratched his cheek with an embarrassed smile. “Yeah, okay, I’ll—OH! My handle. I’m Romulus in EO,” he said quickly. “You know, like the—”

  “Mythological founder of Rome?” she guessed with a snort. “Yeah, that checks out. Your Roman Empire is the Roman Empire. I know,” she said while smiling wryly. “Okay. I’ll just stick with my real name as usual.”

  “That’s kinda dangerous, Kay.”

  “Nah, I don’t care. If I want to become a Ranker, I want people to know who’s kicking their asses. Besides! Auntie Fi will handle any troll issues. Don’t stress so much.”

  Darian sighed, but didn’t bother trying to argue. Katherine Dragomirov was a force of nature.

  “Alright,” he said with concession. “You go to get online, and I’ll see you in-game at about five tomorrow morning.”

  “Have a nap!” Kate chirruped while scooting herself up to her knees and lifting the tablet she called him on. “I’ll go get myself sorted and meet you in-game at Blackstone. Worst case scenario, friend me and I’ll let you know where I’m at.”

  “Deal,” Darian said with a smile. “It’ll be great to have your help.”

  “Absolutely!” she enthused. “See you in eight hours, Mister Big Bad Evil Guy. You’ll have to give me all the details then.”

  “Promise,” he agreed readily. “Good luck!”

  “I won’t need it,” she said haughtily and flipped her hair. “But thanks,” she finished with a grin. “Seeya!”

  “Later,” he said warmly and reached out to end the call.

  Darian sat back when the connection terminated and sighed to himself in quiet relief. Kate was his best friend by any stretch of the imagination, but more than that, she was an insanely talented gamer. She’d grown up on it, thanks to her Aunt’s work in E2, and the subsequent exposure to cutting-edge VRMMO technology that relationship offered. She’d be invaluable to him in dealing with the incoming Crusade and the various complications that came with it.

  “Okay,” he said to himself. “First, Pizza, then I’ll research the Codex and have a nap,” he resolved.

  “Shall I set an alarm, Young Master?” Alfred asked from above.

  “Please, Alfred, and send up that pizza with a cola. I’ll be doing some research before I sleep.”

  “Of course, sir. I am here to help should you require me.”

  “Thanks, Alfred!” Darian said warmly, and then leaned forward toward his screen again and brought the Codex back up. He had research to do, and hours in which to do it. By the time he returned to Eternus, he’d be far less ignorant than when he’d started.

  The thought made him grin. Knowledge was power, after all.

  Darian would need all the power he could get to survive.

  Concept Art of Katherine Dragomirov