CHAPTER 5: THE GAME

Darkness everywhere. So heavy, I couldn't feel the form of my body. Amidst that nothingness, something in liquid form seemed to flow down what I could sense as my cheeks. Was I crying? That was the only logical explanation. But still, that state of uneasiness seemed to push me to continually question my surroundings. Looking for something to touch, hold or feel. The concept of having a body seemed to have evaded my mind. The first thing that crossed my mind was death. Was it the feeling all the others described? Suddenly I felt sucked. Sucked towards nowhere. The pulling felt mighty as I struggled to escape its grasp. I don't know if I can say I lost consciousness but, I just opened my eyes. I was crying from my left eye (that explains the liquid) and the pod was dark. Maybe the suction pull I felt was my soul being reinstated in my body? Meaning, as I died in the game the metaphysical link that connects my digital self to my body was lost. It had to be recreated and myself forcefully reinstated in my body? Well, knowing that wouldn't change anything. I opened the pod left the chamber and fell on my bed. I didn't care to look at the time or check any WhatsApp message. I just felt like dosing off and contemplating into what adventure I was pulled in and how to face Dazna tomorrow.

And tomorrow came in a flash. What woke me up was the smell of freshly fried eggs, the sweet fragrance of NDU Tea, and the gentle aroma of freshly baked bread. Someone was using my kitchen. When I tried to sit up, the pain I fell was beyond description. That forced a little groan from me, making that person leave the kitchen and coming to myside.

"Don't push yourself too much."

Despite being in pains, I couldn't help wondering what she was doing in my room.

"What are you doing here, Dazna?"

"I was worried."

"About?"

"Your health of course. You weren't online and I knew you had forgotten the backlash of this our training sessions. KK had warned us about that."

"Oh…"

"Right on the bat."

KK had indeed warned us on how the repercussions on our real bodies shall be, depending on what we do in that virtual world. The pain, the impact on the brain, even the impact on one's conscience. It wasn't a simple experiment.

"Since we would no more be having those magic candies, I had to make sure my partner was fit."

"What a nice soul." I painfully mouthed.

"Don't sweat it. It is for the training. I don't want our team to lag behind the others due to your recklessness."

"I thought so." I sat better, leaving her go check what was in the kitchen. She came back with a tray, loaded with my breakfast. All that smell mixed into one cocktail that pleasured the olfactory cells of my nostrils. The immediate response was me salivating like a dog that had seen a large piece of meat. I didn't waste time and wiped the tray clean. She then brought a cup of water to better wash down what I had eaten. She kept looking at me during the whole time I ate. From time to time, I will peek at her face. Her expression was so comforting, compared to what I saw during our 'bonding' session.

"How come, you are kicking?"

"What a dull a question. Shows how you are not prepared for this." She scornfully answered. She wasn't faking her gentleness anymore.

"Well, Lady Dazna, Miss President, would you mind enlightening this humble person."

"What a pitiful manner of being polite." She laughed.

"Come on Dazna. That's not cool." I laughed back. That session of yesterday might have brought us closer than I imagined.

"Ok ok partner. Did you read the brochure that was given to us at the beginning of the training?"

"I think, you can guess the answer."

"Stop being lazy and fetch for it." She ordered, knowing well that my body was aching like hell.

"It's in my android tablet." I spoke, pointing to it on the reading table.

"What's your password?" She asked.

"Wait, come again?" I wondered

"I said, what was your password? Or you are scared I will fall on certain X-rated stuffs." She provoked, and I fell for that.

"220897. That's it. Knock yourself up." I resigned.

"Good boy." She unlocked, came and sat near me and immediately went for the WhatsApp group. She opened the pdf and scrolled to the part of colours. We began reading each line together and exchanging our thoughts. The idea of the training was the reshaping of the human mind. But this mind is shrouded in noise, both internal and external. If the noise could be canalized or maybe even eliminated, then one could imagine how prolific one would be. The only way to work on the mind is to train the conscience. Hence, they materialized the strength of the conscience with respect to certain colours.  Each colours gave you a certain ability during the training session. The colours were separated into three grades;

Grade 2: The Originals. The seven colours; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. Their basic properties or tags were stated as follows;

Red: Anger, love, joy, passion, sacrifice, danger, courage

Orange: Arrogance, pride, optimism, confidence, enthusiasm, warmth, agreeableness

Yellow: Illness, jealousy, joy, energy, friendship

Green: Life, fertility, renewal, resurrection

Blue: serenity, stability, inspiration, wisdom

Indigo: intuition, insight, calmness

Violet: Luxury, ambition, power, grandeur, mystery, magic

Grade 1: The Hybrids. Here was the mixture of the original colours. All the colours I saw in chemistry such as bluish-green, blue-black, bluish-red and so on were listed. At the bottom of the list of hybrids was the rainbow (that was indeed to be expected).

Grade 0: The Primordials. Here only three colours were listed; Black, White and Gold. They had the following tags.

White: purity

Black: sophistication, mystery

Gold: Wealth, prosperity.

These were the preliminary ranking of the game. It seemed the grade 0 colours were of course the strongest and grade 2 were at the bottom. But that was a gullible trap though.

"Looking at it that way is forgetting something crucial." She said.

"And what was that?"

"The mind. It is all about the mind. You can be a grade 0 colour bearer but do nothing with it. The one with the most flexible mind will definitely win even if he or she is just a grade 2 colour bearer."

"I see. But still, you can't refuse that grade 0 has a greater advantage compared to grade 2."

"Well, if you speak of advantage, then the hybrids should be strongest."

"Not completely. I am 50% tilt on this matter."

"How so?"

"The hybrid nature shows either a disturbance in the mind or a shrewd multitasker. But in both cases is the existent of several sources of noise. Hence the mind should be more feeble than normal. The hybrids might have several quirks that might help them evolve in the game, but the draw back isn't negligeable." I answered.

"That's a far astute analysis. I am shocked."

"So, you still haven't placed me at your level?"

  "And I will never."

"Only tomorrow will tell."

"Well, whatever." She answered, placing the tablet back on the reading desk. "Now that we are on the same page, we can address the next indiscretion."

"I agree. How you got into a guy's room and are bossing him around."

"Wait. What? It isn't about that." She frowned.

"And what could it possibly be?" I faked ignorance. I had smelled this from far.

"So, you want to pretend?" She said climbing to my bed and sitting on my laps. It was so painful. My muscles pained as though they would tear apart.

"Dazna, please." I groaned lowly.

"No. I won't. During the session you played me around, am I wrong? I was a game for you. Isn't it?" She answered, pressing me to the bed with her hands as I tried to sit up.

"That's not it Dazna. Please hear me out." I groaned again.

"I won't. I may have won against you yesterday but you were the actual winner. It all occurred to me after the session. You coerced me to react in that way. It was all a game for you right? Seeing me break down and all that." She said, with her eyes changing from fury to sorrow and coming back to fury. Instead of I asking for excuses, I pushed the game further.

"If that is the impression you got, who am I to contradict her highness." I sarcastically answered. She didn't see where I was going to. If we were going to be partners, she had to free herself completely from what is haunting her. And since the day we met, I felt I had to raise her higher. But of course, that would depend on how susceptible she is. And during the previous session I saw that.

"You still want me to force the answer out of you right?"

"I couldn't have said better." I hesitantly answered, fearing the worse. But instead, she stopped pressing me on the bed. She instead lay on my torso, with her head on my left chest. Her hands were fidgeting round my upper body, caressing them gently. These caresses escalated from being gently random to gently sensual. Her hands roamed around my chest, gently gripping my nipples and stimulating them. As remarked, my body responded positively. My third member began inflating. She was the one leading the game and not me. I had to control myself. It shouldn't inflate to max size or else she will feel it, I thought to myself. I began counting numbers backwards. I started from 1 billion. Doing that was a technique I had seen online; redirecting blood flow to the brain hence lesser blood goes to the smaller man down there. Conclusion, the small man won't go bonkers. For a minute, I felt the method working but it didn't last long. Her hands left my chest and rushed towards the small man. She didn't do much, except for her finger nails gently touching the small man through my dresses. That was enough of a stimulation for the man to go wildly stiff. And with his stiffness came a series of rhythmic pain on my hold body.

"Still don't want to talk?"

"Do your worst."

"Thank you very much for such strength." She whispered in my left ear followed by a gentle lick. She then rushed her lip across my face before exploring my mouth with her tongue. She began kissing me deeply. It would seem like she was eating me off. I felt a slight amount of relief from all her kisses but still, my body didn't dislike that. What my body disliked was the pain caused by the haphazard excitatory twitching of the small man now a big guy. With each kiss, my body got tensed and a string of pain like an electric current crossed my skin. That was what she was aiming for. Inflicting me pain while pleasuring herself. She had a side of her that she wanted to hide but her actions were revealing that little by little. She was begging to have the upper hand. Begging to be in control. Begging not to lose the one thing that comforted her; her fake personality. And I gave it to her. The more she kissed, the more my brain began going south. And before I knew it, I was sitting up with her in my hands, my tongue buried deep in her mouth. I didn't understand where it was all going. My body, brain and heart were so at ease with what was happening. My hands found solace in her bosom and her tush. Moving here and there though out her body as if it was mine. It wasn't a game anymore. We seemed not to be able to stop. Kissing, licking, followed by sweating. The feeling was genuine and then we stopped. Looked at each other, heavily breathing in each other's face.

"You still will shoulder all my sins?" She asked.

"If you are willing to let me help a little, then I will gladly accept." I manly answered, swallowing the supplement of pain that coursed my body. That moment marked the beginning of our relation. She sealed my answer with another kiss. A childish one, with our lips barely touching themselves. She then left me and entered the kitchen. Did some cleaning and left my room. I lay on the bed, smiling at my body grievously aching. Smiling at an achievement of something better.