“Yet, one does not believe,” the being said.
“Wait, I—” But before Sang could finish her sentence, she gasped again and realized that she was lying in the tube. She had been logged out. She tried to push the pod open, but it was sealed shut.
“Vitals check!” the AI unit said, showing her a display of all of her body’s vitals. Her heart rate was healthy and her oxygen intake was fine. Everything that had been warning her earlier was gone. She was perfectly healthy. She glanced at the chart in confusion and put her hands on the tube, to push her way out of the pod, but in a split second, she was standing back inside of the steel chamber she’d occupied a moment before.
Sang screamed, reacting viscerally to the sudden jump.
“Now do you believe?” Yvgo said.
“You… you healed me?” Sang gasped.
“You would be worthless dead, and you would be worthless if you did not believe that Draco comes from another land,” it said.
“I… I get you. Okay, wow. That was crazy. I can’t believe it!” she said, stretching her arms and enjoying the feeling of freedom. She hadn’t felt this healthy in a long time. She wondered if whatever miracle cure she had been sprayed with had fixed issues that hadn’t even been related to the pod poisoning.
“You express joy. That is good,” Yvgo said, placing its hand on her shoulder. “Now we must discuss your future.”
Sang quickly went to check the creature’s level, but only question marks greeted her. She frowned. Could she kill this thing and escape? She hoped so.
“You carry information that we need,” Yvgo said. “Draco wishes to harvest it from your mind, but such a task would leave you catatonic and braindead. You are skilled with manipulating computer data and you have a connection to the American government. You have value to us alive. Where, then, do your loyalties lie?”
“Well, what’s in it for me if I help you guys?” Sang asked. Even as she spoke, she wasn’t sure why she was delaying right now. Whatever this creature was, it probably wasn’t in Trefor’s apartment, so stalling didn’t do any good.
“We shall allow you to serve as Trefor does. A high-ranking member, there will be money for you, as well, as much as you desire. When the New World comes, you will be like a god among men.”
“Sounds amazing,” Sang said. “Sign me up.”
“There is deception in your words,” the being said. Sang frowned, realizing that since it was communicating with her telepathically, it was probably also reading her mind. “You must realize that you have only two choices. Serve us or become nothing more than an empty vessel.”
“But if you can read my mind, then you know that there’s no way I’d ever serve you guys!” Sang said. “So why give me the choice?”
“Humans are curious,” Yvgo said as he turned to face the stars. “You seem to be so convinced in your own minds that you are resolute. That nothing can change your minds... but we see a great many people change their opinions on a near daily basis. The reason why you refuse us isn’t because you are so noble, heroic, or good, Sang. The reason you refuse us is because you do not have what you want from us yet.
“There was a man who was in seminary, preparing to become a pastor. He was drawn into this game and we liked his ability to lead. So, we offered him a job with us; we told him the truth. He was indignant—he screamed, shouted, and threatened. Said he would never join us. And do you know what happened?”
“You killed him?” Sang asked.
“No. He joined us. He joined us because we learned a long time ago that we don’t have to force humans to do anything. We just have to offer them the right things. His family and children’s safety secured, he was happy to join us. And, to this day, he serves us very well.”
“That sounds like blackmail to me,” Sang said. “It sounds like you’re threatening some poor guy’s family and making him go against everything he believes.”
“That’s the curious part about humans,” Yvgo said. “It starts that way, but after a while, they really start to believe in what they’re selling. You might think you would never do what we are going to ask of you, that you will never believe like us, but I promise that if you join us, you will change. And it will be glorious.”
“I’m never going to join you! Never!” Sang said, gritting her teeth. She knew she was going to have to fight her way out, but really, she had no idea what she was up against here.
“So many say that. Yet, what they mean is that they will never join us without first knowing what’s in it for them. Money doesn’t move you... So, tell us, what do you desire? Anything that you wish, we can offer you.”
“Anything?” Sang asked.
“Anything,” Yvgo repeated.
Sang sighed heavily, pausing for drama. “What I’ve always wanted, more than anything, is to go home. So, if you let me go home, I’ll join you.”
This elicited a narrow-eyed response from Yvgo. It shook its long head back and forth. “You play with us. You have been afforded such luxury, such freedom of choice, and yet you choose to mock? Draco is not one to toy with.”
“Well, neither is the CIA!” Sang shouted as she leapt forward and punched the creature right in the throat. It fell down to its knees, making a horrible flute-like sound as it wheezed.
“Ha!” Sang cheered herself as she ran to the door and pulled it open with her bare hands. She was strong enough to pry it open, and she ran out into the main room. She could see the floating desks and dozens of people working on them. No one seemed to pay any attention to her. She tried to move forward then, but felt a strange pressure stop her immediately.
“Nice try,” Yvgo said. “But you must realize that this world you are in does not belong to you. It belongs to Draco. You have chosen to become nothing more than an empty vessel.”
“Come on, I was just kidding!” Sang said, trying to break free of whatever strange grasp held onto her. It was as if Yvgo had some kind of telekinetic grip on her.
“You will not laugh during the collection process,” Yvgo said. “You will weep.”
“Great,” Sang said through gritted teeth. “Just great.”
Van sighed as he glanced at the busy market. Verrata was full of two different types of vendors—there were player-run stores that were bought by players who wanted to turn a profit in selling all of the items they didn’t want, and there were stores run by NPCs. The NPC shops tended to have crappy gear and they were always on a fixed price system.
Van glanced at his shopping list and took a deep breath. The challenge he faced was far too dangerous for him to act without being clever. In his times of being a player in Dragon Kings of the New World, he’d learned a great deal about exploitable resources, weapons that only ‘kind of’ broke the rules, and bugs that had existed since the beginning of the game. A lot of these exploitable items were banned from the game and weren’t in production anymore, but a few players had still figured out a way to hide them in the shops. Using these exploit items was essentially cheating, so if a player were to use them in the game, they could expect a ban to be coming their way. Van wasn’t particularly worried about getting kicked out of the game at this point, so he set about moving from player run shop to player run shop, looking for the old, exploitable items that were for sale.
Trefor was a very powerful man, and there wasn’t much that Van could do in terms of fighting against the guy. His Health would be far too high, and his armor was insanely kitted out. The only chance Van had was in the items game. In a way, if used properly, items could be the great equalizer... as long as Van had the advantage of acting first.
Van approached the first vendor and took a look at the list of supplies that he had drafted up. He had the coinage to purchase just about everything on the list—everything other than the stone of teleportation, anyway. That was going to be a tricky item to find, but if he could find it, he could snag it without a problem. Somewhere in this market, in this massive sea of players and NPCs, there was the stone that he needed. There just had to be.