With this, she suddenly stopped and faced him. Her eyes locked on his as though measuring him. “Stag, I let you go and yet you still persist?”
“I never lie to a pretty girl,” D_Light said with the best smile he could muster. “I said I’d help you if you let me live, and I am.”
He thought about his throwing discs. She was only about five meters away, easily within range. She had no armor on, so he knew he could have two discs in her before she could get to him with that knife. He knew this, but he did not move. There is a much better opportunity here-to match wits with the Divine Authority itself! This would be a contest to remember… It was madness of course, but in the past it had always been his craziest ideas that led to the biggest payoffs.
Lily stared into the eyes of the strange human. She was confused. Seconds before, she had been a motion away from killing him, and yet he wanted to prolong their engagement, indeed, even help her escape? And for what? Because of a pledge he had just made under duress? She was not aware of humans being particularly duty-bound. And if he had honor, was he not bound to his own kind?
On the other hand, she knew about the technologies of the ones who hunted her, or at least Todget had whispered of these things many times. He spoke of their speed, their invulnerability, and their cunning. And he spoke of their eyes-eyes everywhere, even in the darkness of space above. She would be a fool to trust any human, and yet this was their world. This man was most likely lying, but what were her chances alone?
“The angel certainly heard you yell out for your friend. It will come for you. Follow me now!”
She ran at him with sudden ferocity. His eyes widened in surprise, and he took a step back, putting his palm up as though to calm her, as though suggesting peace.
Her knife still drawn, Lily stopped less than a meter from him. He is either very brave or an imbecile, she thought. But she supposed that if he wanted her caught he would have just let her run and then called upon one of those “angels” to take care of her. None of this made sense. She sheathed her knife in the fold of her cloak.
D_Light smiled genuinely and bowed. “Let’s get inside fast! They can see you when you’re outside.” He then jogged off and waved for her to follow.
He led her to the first mound entrance he could find. As usual, he could not get a map of the mound area he was in. Nanosites coated every surface area within the mound, so technically a map could be drawn using software. However, this was not an option here thanks to local spanker-imposed mapping restrictions.
Once inside a hall tube, D_Light asked, “Okay, do you have a chip?”
She looked at him quizzically.
“An MIC-you know, a mind interface chip? Back here?” D_Light tapped the back of his head.
Lily nodded slowly.
A demon with a chip? Interesting, D_Light thought. This was a stroke of luck. D_Light wanted to log her into a spanker game, but without an MIC he would have had to make Smorgeous attempt to beam sensory input directly into her eyes and ears, essentially turning the familiar into primitive virtual reality hardware. It was much better for a computer like Smorgeous to work though an MIC, a chip that was properly hooked up to the subject’s nervous system.
“Great, open a blink channel to me now,” he said.
Master, subject Cave_Girl_123432 has opened a port, Smorgeous informed him.
Connect to her, D_Light commanded.
D_Light heard a ping as he connected to her profile. He skipped her introduction. Maybe he would have time to watch it later.
“Okay, Cave Girl,” he said, suppressing a smile. “I’m going to log us both into a spank game. Just follow me and try to stay alive.” D_Light would have preferred to communicate telepathically, but he was uncertain of her chip’s capabilities.
“Please, call me Lily,” she said. It was not her real name anyway, and although she thought “Cave Girl” was amusing at the time she filled out her profile, she did not want this human calling her by that name.
“I’m Deelight,” he said with a roguish grin. Lily gave him a strange look but said nothing in return.
Another prolonged ring echoed in D_Light’s mind as he began to slide gently into NeverWorld. As usual, his sight momentarily went dark. Then the darkness was replaced by blurs of objects that quickly came into focus. The ringing sound faded, giving way to the game’s audio.
Now inside the game, the hall tube was transformed. The walls were no longer covered with the swirl-patterned exoskeleton of dro-vine. Instead, it was now a wet rock passageway. It would have been pitch-black here if it were not for the fact that Ascara-the name of the witch character D_Light chose to play-carried a wand with a magical light emanating from the tip. The only sounds were those of water dripping on rock.
Lily stood a few meters away. She wore brightly polished armor, fitted perfectly to her body’s curves. As was typical in these games, her breasts were exaggerated in size, made even more pronounced by the armor. It was an unspoken rule in visual game design to make women look the way men wanted to see them.
The warrior that Lily was playing was a randomly generated guest character named Boobooma of Sanadas, which, for whatever reason, was the first thing that jumped into D_Light’s head as he initiated the guest account. D_Light created a guest account for Lily because she did not have a game account of her own. Trial-basis guest accounts were allowed in NeverWorld because it was a good way to introduce new customers to the game and, from the perspective of the Seriah family that ran NeverWorld, lure new subscribers.
Lily blinked at the bright light emanating from D_Light’s wand. He whispered a curt command to the wand to dim the light. He did not want to attract any unwanted attention just yet. As the light dimmed, allowing her to see clearly, she focused on D_Light’s face, and her eyes widened.
“Who?” She looked at him with a start and then turned all around like one desperately searching.
If D_Light had not been in such a hurry, he would have relished this moment with the NeverWorld nOOb, perhaps messed with her mind, or at least teased her a bit. Unfortunately, there was no time. Soul, she’s such an adorable nOOblet, though, he couldn’t help thinking with a chuckle.
“My lady, it is I, the man you made a fool of earlier. Thou art a damsel in distress, but fear not, for I…”
It was evident from Lily’s stare that telling her not be afraid in fantaspeech was having the opposite effect. D_Light decided to drop that part of NeverWorld role-playing for now. He would just have to endure the point penalties.
“Look, it’s me, okay? I’m D_Light, the guy who’s helping you,” D_Light whispered urgently.
“You look like a woman…and you sound like one.” She looked at him hard as her jaw clenched.
D_Light would have picked his male wizard character, Hygelac, to make things simpler, but that character had gotten his throat ripped out by a hellhound earlier.
“You’re in the game, remember?” D_Light asked.
“Everything looks different. Everything is going to sound different too. Soul, you might even smell things that aren’t there. Look, I’m the guy who ran after you and then you stuck a knife halfway into my throat.” He pointed at his now long, sexy neck. “I’m not really a woman; it’s only an illusion.”
Lily was breathing hard, almost panting. Her head shot around in all directions. She looked like she was going to bolt.
D_Light put out his hand, now a smaller, more feminine version of his own, in a gesture that he hoped would calm her. Damn, I should have warned her that I would look different.
D_Light rarely considered what he looked like in the game, as it usually made little difference in typical play. He tried to reassure her. “Everything is fine. You’re doing great. Just take a moment to look around.” Sounding even more effeminate than he’d like, D_Light felt self-conscious of his voice. He remembered how it had taken him hours to choose that voice when he first created this witch. He usually played women characters because he tended to get more aid and cooperation from other players who, at least in NeverWorld, tended to be men. As an added bonus, whenever he chanced to look in the mirror or into a reflective pool, the scenery was nice.