II

Firm, soft, solid. Immobile, degenerative, nutritious. Plantable, extractable, moldable.

"Playing with dirt again?"

It was Azalea. Ivard was sitting with his legs crossed and a handful of dirt in his right palm.

"It's interesting, I wonder how many atoms are in my hand right now."

"If it even works like that."

"Probably not," he dropped the soil from between his fingers. He turned his head to look at her. "That would need a lot of computing power."

"You get too technical." She sat beside him with her legs pressed against her chest and her arms hugging her legs.

Ivard blushed and looked towards the dirt. They were on a cliff's edge, far up with a view filled with countless trees close to one another and huge clouds floating in the distance over the giant blue sky. "You're a guy, right?"

"Yes," she answered in a robotic voice. "Of course, definitely."

"Come on, seriously, tell me."

She giggled. "Why does it matter?"

"You're messin' with my feelings, and I don't like it," he said in a cowboy-ish tone as he got up on his two feet.

She giggled again and got up as well. "Do I look that good?" She made an expression with her face and arms, and looked at the sky, as if she was a model and a picture was being taken. "I'll tell you after we go to Loveroom."

She had wavy long black hair, her bangs were curved to her left above her eyebrow, and her long eyelashes and the color of her eyes, orange, made her dark face stand out. Ivard nervously laughed at the thought, "no thanks."

She frowned while in the same posture. Sighed, "cold heartedly rejected again," then broke the pose.

Ivard liked Azalea, but he was not sure by how much. He quickly changed the subject. "I want to go to the beach and practice deflecting again."

"You're gonna need Vito for that."

Ivard drew his sword with his right hand from the left side of his waist. Held it with both hands and made a stance with his legs spread out as if he were preparing for battle. "We have less than a week before the tournament begins, I need Vito to teach me the basics at least."

"Do you speak of me?" From behind the gigantic stone came Prince Charming. Wearing a lovely heart on his chest and covered in the color pink. He drew his bow and arrow, the arrow's end was covered in pink feathers and the tip of the triangle was pure red and more like the shape of a heart. "What do you both think of this?"

"Are you supposed to be Cupid?" asked Ivard.

"Yes, I think it looks quite flashy!"

"Flashy means standing out," said Azalea. "That's the exact opposite of what we want."

"I know, I know, I won't wear this to the tournament, only the party."

"Hey," she looked at Ivard. "We should get ourselves costumes too then.

"I want to buy the new recon set," said Ivard. "I'm saving up for that."

"You already have a ton of zen," said Azalea, "please, you'd look so cute in the vampire costume!"

Maybe it was the infinite unproved compliments Ivard received from Azalea that made him blush around her so much. "Ok, ok, fine," he said while scratching the back of his head. How easy it was for a woman to manipulate him into doing something he did not want to do, he thought laughably. "I'll get one… BUT FIRST!" he burst out. "I really need to practice with my sword."

"To the beach then!" and off went Vito marching behind the gigantic stone.

Azalea and Ivard followed. It was a steep hill, with each step came the fall of dirt. Around them grew plants and flowers of all different colors and shapes. It was as if the mountain had been left alone for millions of years and they were going down a path which was recently made. The soil they took steps on was dark and nutritious, the plants happy with where they stood as if they did not need anymore than they had already. Something caused Ivard to pause and look behind him. He stared at the top of the cliff, at the gigantic stone, not being able to see behind it. He was reminded of the man in black out of nowhere, and for some reason decided to make sure he was not being followed. He was in the virtual world. How stupid he was, he thought. Could the man in black know of his in-game identity? "No."

"Pardon?" said Azalea.

"Huh?"

"Did you say something?"

"Oh, no, was just thinking."

Vito had taken huge strides to get far below. "You both coming?" he yelled.

Ivard had a surge of energy and leaped his way down. Soon the path became narrow and kept getting sharper until there was none left. The tall grass and weeds were brushing against his thighs. He was moving so fast it felt as if the weeds were attacking him and then it all ended abruptly, he entered the tilted forest on the mountainside and lept from one slanted tree to another. The roots of every tree spunk out of the ground as if there was no room under. The ground now looked like a battlefield for territory. Something sharp scrubbed Ivard on the left side of his forehead, he ignored it and kept moving. He knew he was bleeding. He could feel the red tear moving towards his left ear as he flung himself down the hill. He was trying to catch up to Vito, no, he was trying to surpass him. How does he do it? He moved so quietly and would vanish behind a tree only to reappear behind another one far below. He looked back to find Azalea but she was nowhere to be found. He thrust himself down faster and faster, the roots got smaller and smaller, fewer trees and further apart. He ran on grass and the ground leisurely raised to become perpendicular with gravity. There stood Vito at the bottom and Ivard joined him. They waited, looking at the tilted woods, patiently, without a word, stood there. Vito standing up straight. Ivard breathing heavily, his upper half bent ninety degrees with his palms grasping his knees. "Guild?" said Ivard. "Guild," responded Vito. They turned around and started walking towards the large path made of yellow glowing dried dirt. It had enough space for a carriage to ride through.

"You're bleeding," said Vito.

"I know," Ivard put his four fingers where he had felt the red tear. He looked at his hand, the fingers were covered in blood, much more than he had expected. It seemed as if the fingers had been cut and were bleeding. "It's fine, I've got bandages." He put his hand in the small bag he was carrying on his waist right side. He pulled out a semi-transparent square bandage and stuck it on his forehead. The square slowly became fully transparent and completely disappeared along with the cut. The blood on his head, ear, and fingers was still there. "I'll need to take a quick shower to get rid of the red."

"Alright, I'll get to Aza at the beach," said Vito. "She's probably waiting there. Take a fast travel once you get to the city."

Ivard nodded and they both ran off. First three seconds they ran side by side, but after Vito started to go off-path he vanished from sight like he did behind the trees. Completely gone and not to be found. Ivard followed the path, running as fast as he could. He was already tired, but he didn't want to keep his friends waiting. Just then, someone tapped him on his shoulder. The man in black? No, it was Vito.

"Use this," he said.

Ivard took the crystal, "thanks," squished it in his palm and it burst into the air which now sparkled blue. Ivard took a deep inhale from his nostrils and mouth. Vito had said "no problem" before leaving but the destructive beaming noise the crystal made had suppressed it. In the next five seconds, he grew bluer like a gradient and blasted up to the sky. He experienced non-existence while he was being beamed as if he were asleep. When he finally awoke again, the view was filled with many people, large buildings, and a lot of chit-chat yet the birds singing could still be heard. It sounded like the loud noises were coming from afar and were little distractions. In this city, when you would talk, any person in view could hear you, no matter how softly you spoke. In fact, it was easier to know what was being said if it were whispered because the sound waves it produced were easily distinguished from other bickerings. Ivard would focus on one and listen in.

"Twentieth, I said twentieth!"

"If she had a blind, she could have lived through it."

They came in short bursts.

"I'm not ready, I need practice."

He could only catch a sentence of each conversation before another one flew in.

"Five more days until-"

The last tournament. Now that he was in the city, he needed to travel to the beach. He moved about on the smooth solid sidewalks.

"Any new version of-"

Past the library.

"That'll be two zen."

Past the coffee shop.

"Mercury is the easiest metal to-"

Past the Epsilon guild.

"I bet Zeniko would have utterly crushed Mer-"

Past the memorial statue.

Chirp.

Past the healing tree.

"Go take your stupid bath!"

Then he remembered the blood. He was suppose to take a shower. He changed destinations. Good thing he had not jogged past the wash.

Qwerty Wash

Displayed the giant shiny silver letters. He pushed his way in through the rotating doors. There were ten touchscreens, he went up to one. There were two options. Two zen for two minute wash, four zen for five minute wash. He paid two zen and the closest door to him opened upward. He went in, it closed behind him. There was a circular button on the wall. It was glowing blue and it read "Wash and Store Clothing." He pushed the button, the sword and the sheath slowly disappeared, the warm gray vest and the black shirt under vanished, along with his dark pants with pockets and the small bag on his right. He was completely naked. The room was filled with light blue tiles. He went to the end, pressed the small circular button, tiny enough to be pressed from the tip of his finger. It had a little rectangle drawn on it, like a soap bar. Down came fluid from the top. He soaked every inch of his body in it, and then pressed the tiny button next to the soap bar which had a little droplet drawn on it. The fluid coming down stopped, and then water poured down. The red on his head easily fell down. Detached from his body and down the drain. Two minutes passed, the water stopped pouring. He made his way to the corner of the room, there stood a pod. It opened automatically and he stepped in. The door closed, and warm air started to fill the pod. Wooooosh. It was soothing and then it was over. He came out dry. He made his way to the front of the room, the "Wash and Store Clothing" button now glowed green. He pressed it, he was clothed again, the door opened and he left. Back out through the rotating doors, back into the city. He felt refreshed and the buildings and people seemed to bluster with more beautiful colors. All the structures here, even the ones built for mundane stuff like food or a wash were works of art. Ivard knew the developers had put a lot of time and consideration in designing this world to be as gorgeous as possible. He took strides and watched the many moving objects around him. People pointing at the leaderboard, in half an hour was another match. The current board displayed the top ten. Giarena was first place, they were new to the leaderboards, and had consecutively won first place in previous tournaments. There's no way his team would win, Ivard thought. Giarena and Arthros were to be in one of next week's match, without need to mention the other giants. Even if they won the match that's coming in five days, they would be up against one of the colossi in any of the next few matches. Though, it really wasn't about winning, it was more about fun. If they lost their match, it'd be a bummer but he'd still have enjoyed it. He always enjoyed it. Here was where everyone went to become lively. It's rare to come across a smile in reality. Ivard could not remember the last time it happened, if it ever did happen. Look around, everyone was truly living in this world.

"Where to?" asked the girl. Vito had set up a telepod, Ivard could easily get to the beach with it.

"My party's telepod, please."

"Right, sir."

The door to his left opened, he went in. Just like before he glew blue and fell asleep. He opened his eyes, Vito and Azalea were talking as they noticed him. "Whatcha babbling about?"

"You," said Vito. There was someone else with them.

"Treq?" the stranger said.

"Yeah," said Ivard. "And you?"

"Jurvian. First tournament, eh?"

"Yes, excited and nervous."

"I'm more nervous than you. Today is our match, in less than thirty minutes."

"Oh, what team?"

"Heredity." Not a popular team, but had been in some previous tournaments. "I gotta go get ready, you'll see me in-game."

Farewell and good luck. Everyone went in position. Vito aimed with his bow and arrow. Ivard was ready, stanced with his sword. Vito let loose, the arrow traveled, Ivard ready as ever. One-hundred meters, seventy-meters, two-meters. Parry, no, deflection failed, he missed. "Ah! Why'd you? I woulda landed that!"

Giggled, "ok, ok, I won't teleport it closer," said Azalea.

They readied again. Shot, one-hundred meters, seventy meters, forty meters, ten meters, parry, fifty meters! "You!" He quickly recovered from the failed parry, twenty meters, hm, seven meters, parry, HIT! "YES! I still got it!" Ow! Impressive! They both cheered.

"If only you could pull that off in a game!" joked Vito.

But Ivard wasn't sure. He could never do it in-game. Never in a real setting. Too nervous perhaps? He's surely getting better, but how much luck was involved in this? If Azalea had not teleported it further away, would he have landed the parry?

Twenty minutes passed, Azalea had stopped interfering and watched quietly. Ivard was exhausted. The tournament was going to begin, they went back to the city and got washed up. All now filled with energy.

They took seats next to each other. It was five minutes before the match was to start. Getting here a minute earlier was not enough, it would be filled by then. So, they took their seats to watch with the crowd. Everyone already knew the results. Arthos first place, Tidenium second, Rebaou third. Maybe Rebaou would be second and Tidenium third, but Arthos was always first. Their team of three were unbeatable.

It felt too crowded. If the person to Ivard's right gave a little more room, he wouldn't feel so squished. Worst of all, he was being pushed into Azalea and he was trying not to make her feel uncomfortable. It was a game of tug-of-war except no one wanted the rope. When finally someone logged out, there was more room and the pressure ceased. It felt weird being in the middle of the crowd, but it had the best view. Ten… the countdown begun. Nine… Eight… Seven… people leaning in and getting comfortable. Six… Five… Four… Three… everyone grew silent. Two… One… on came the cameras, the teams were at their starting locations. The camera focused on each team one at a time. The crowd cheered for all, but mostly for the three elite teams. Arthos was placed in the freezing arctic. Tidenium in the dry desert. Rebaou in the crowded jungle. It was a massive battlefield specially designed for ninety players. All together there were thirty teams of three battling it out for at least the top ten placement.

Arthos started by making their way over the enormous mountain with ropes attached to hooks. The arctic was up north and they started behind the mountain. This map always concluded at the center. Slowly each unique place grew into a massive storm, a blizzard in case of the arctic, so it's best not to stay too long. The map was a circular island that contained all climates, weathers, and seasons.

Tidenium were crossing the desert. It's a lengthy flat plain with small hills, and they had two snipers.

Rebaou were already up in the trees. They hopped from one tree trunk to another, prefering to use their powerful sticky boots instead of swinging to be faster. Every team was headed to the biggest bushy tree of them all at the center of the map.

One person in Arthos climbed to the nearest edge of the snowy mountain. One watched with binoculars and the other with the aim of his sniper. One person would always climb while two others watched. Steadily they would reach the top.

Tidenium were in a formation of all three covering each others blind spots. They made a small triangle and watched for any enemies nearby.

Rebaou were heard. Another team close by caught the sound of their boots. The team called themselves Uvoi. New team, Ivard never heard of them. One of their members was using an audio enhancer. When she would touch anything with her fingers, she could hear the vibrations and pick them out more easily. This time, the air around her was the only thing she needed to hear the whips of their feet against the wood.

A single player in Rebaou was using heat sensitive goggles. This made detecting enemies hidden in the jungle far easier to see. The team also had a pinpoint system, anyone could add a marker to the world around them and the entire team could see it. Ivard had seen this combination before. When the player with the goggles would spot an enemy, that player would pinpoint the location of the enemy for the rest of their team.

Arthos were still climbing up. Another team was near.

Tidenium had spotted an enemy team far away. The enemy had spotted Tidenium. None of them fired at each other, they calmly kept to their directions, parallel to one another. They both knew they wanted to be out of the desert.

Between the cross paths of the jungle and arctic was a swamp. Two teams were there. One was cautiously scanning their surroundings to pick up anything made of metal. The small device beamed waves out in a 160 degree direction and came back to report what it had found. They had only one, they scanned front a couple times, and then behind.

The other team had sunk themselves in the thick swampy water. Using snorkels to breathe, and had a band around their head that would feed them data about the physical world around them. The waves would ignore water and only bounce back off of solid objects. There wasn't any large hard obstacles in the swamp, so they could use that information to detect any enemies. The two teams in the swamp were pathing across closer and closer to each other.

Arthos had spotted an enemy team climbing up to their right, a little higher than them. They were far away, but could land shots with the sniper. Huin crouched and aimed. He was the sniper of Arthos. The enemy were using sticky gloves and boots to climb up in a vertical line one below the other, completely oblivious of their surroundings. Huin took one shot, it hit the lowest enemy's center spine. He dropped straight down and was dead. The other two enemies let go of the mountain and began dropping while Huin had loaded the next bullet, there was ground not too far below the enemy. Huin took another shot while they dropped, right through the head of the highest. The crowd roared loudly, a very impressive shot. Ivard could not tell if any luck was involved. Only one member of the enemy remained. Click. Meriah pulled the trigger and unloaded an entire clip. He was a member of Arthos. He had spotted another team below the edge they stood on.

The waves went out and back. The two teams at the swamp had detected each other simultaneously. A red marker on the device, and a large moving object returned the band. Without hesitation, both teams rained a flurry of bullets.

Heat! Yui had detected an enemy with the goggles. He was a member of Rebaou. Instantly he pinpointed the location. Right after, they zipped past the three enemies. It was a spectacle of despair and confusion as the opposing team fired chromatic shells flying skyward. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Rebaou had thrown a grenade as they went by. It exploded killing every member of Uvoi. The crowd howled while pushing back in their seats.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Ferud's suit was blinking orange. A member of Tidenium. The ensemble detected metal within a hundred meters radius, excluding the first ten meters so it wouldn't detect itself and his team. No enemy was in sight except the one far away, much further than a hundred meters. The obvious conclusion was: "beneath the sand." Redrow scoped the enemy far away. A sniper of Tidenium. All three enemies were there. That meant it was safe to assume the far away opponent did not set up the surprise attack. It was another triplet.

All the bullets Meriah rained upon the enemy hit their deployable shield. Huin did not have a silencer on his sniper, other teams had heard it and seen the spark at ignition. The enemy below had wore all-white camouflage which allowed them to get near without being discovered. Arthos now had a rectangular safeguard between themselves and a team named Sculler. All of Arthos was cornered at the cliff. A member of Sculler took out a weapon from his bag. Oh no! Arthos had not seen it but they knew to get the hell out. A crushing noise, then the air sparkled blue. In the wind, "look out!" A grenade was headed toward the edge from below. Sculler were using a grenade launcher. Meriah jumped off into the airborne bomb. The crowd collectively yelled "no!" An explosion with dark smoke lasted long enough to cover his team for the remaining seconds. The duo of Arthos blasted into the sky. They were sent further up the mountain. Now they stood on another edge. Sculler knew where they had been set because the blue beam arced across the sky to its destination like a rainbow. They hurried to grab Meriah's weapon and other equipment. Huin was scoping the cliff they just came from, it was covering Sculler.

Rebaou had kept at their speed. They came out of the forest and into a field of grass and weeds. They decided to take a different approach. All three split and walked straight ahead. Their distance to one another stayed still while they slowly reached the end.

At the swamp, the flurry had ceased. The team, Wry, stopped receiving data from their bands. The other team, Desmo, had activated an EMP. Their radar also no longer worked. Wry's leading man had been shot multiple times and killed. His body sunk because of the heavy equipment. Desmo's had been shot thrice separately in both legs and one in his chest. He sat in the swamp, water at his upward tilted chin, unable to get up. Both teams were blind. Wry knew if they got up, the enemy would have the first reaction. It would take a second for the water to clear from their eyes before the opponent would be seen. So, they remained crouching, under the water, not moving so the snorkels wouldn't expose their position.

Arthos faster than ever, climbing higher and higher. Quickly, faster, faster! Before they catch up, they have to be the first up! The crowd doesn't look too happy, how many had betted on Arthos winning? Too many.

Xilver. All three, in there suits. Simultaneously, jumped out of the sand. It's over, Tidenium was done. Almost. A spark, then blinded, everyone, but no, they knew where they hopped out from. The snipers! Two of them, they had to land the shots! "OH!" The scream from the people, was it good news?

Rebaou was at the roots of the center tree. The trunk was massive, a thousand meters high, and four-hundred meters wide. The branches and leaves spread out even more, eight-hundred meters.

Ping. "Forced Rest in five minutes," the notification said. "Shit, I have to log out, I didn't have a rest yesterday," he told Azalea.

"What were you doing up?"

"I messed around with a bunch of weapons in the Armory, stayed longer than I had expected."

"Alright, see you tomorrow then." A charming smile.

He didn't want to leave, but he's got to sleep, otherwise he'd drop dead.