008 Desperation

James's situation became quite the spectacle. He has been frozen in place for nearly an hour and a half.

Many players within the city came to view James as if it was a show. All sorts of things happened during those ninety minutes. Players tried to push him around but he could not be moved from his current location while under the protection of the game system. They gave him the nickname of Excalibur since no one could move him.

Some took pictures and selfies with his frozen character. Most of them were posted on the forums. One of the most viewed forum posts was about a player who was frozen in place.

Some speculated that he was trying to see if there was an achievement for standing in one place for a long time. Others thought he was attempting a world record. There were many rumors and jokes about him.

All James could do is keep his eyes closed and ignore the people around him.

He was desperately trying to move. While his mood was at its worse he did not give up. He was heartbroken, he felt shattered, and he felt helpless.

The world that he was supposed to escape to failed him. Even in the game he could not be a normal person. Now he felt like he was at the main attraction for a freak show. He always wanted to put on theater shows but this is not want he meant.

*****************

Doug and the other GMs were disgusted about what they saw happening around James. Between the in-game actions and the actions of those posting on the forums the GMs found it hard to stomach.

"Isn't there anything we can do for him? He is try so hard to overcome his situation."

"We can't, the system is fully automated. Very few things are set up to let us interfere with the game."

"He is right; we would have to deploy a full game update to patch in the ability to move him to a new location."

Doug sighed, "It is unfortunate what he has to go through. However, I am impressed about his willpower to continue his attempts. Even though the monitors show that his mood is at such a low point he still fights. What this young man has gone though in his life is beyond our imagination."

"We could force a logout."

Many in the viewing room showed signs of anger at the statement they just heard.

This included Doug, "Are you kidding me? He has worked so hard and it appears he will continue to do so. This very well might be the largest hurdle of his life and you want to force him to stop? I would not be able to live with myself knowing I had part in it."

The GM who mentioned a logout felt ashamed. "You're right.., I am sorry. But what can we do? If he is successful and gains the ability to move around the system's protection features will be disabled."

Doug frowned.

The protection features prevents the players from being vulnerable to other players when they first arrive on Amerish. The system hides their display name from view. This allows new players the ability to have their identity hidden for a half an hour once they join. Everyone has enemies, especially competitive guilds. These guilds would have been able to hunt down members of their rival guilds and prevent them from progressing at the start of their game.

Doug was disgruntled, "It was a godsend that the system did not display his user name after the half hour mark. The developers notified me that as soon as he is able to move the protection would end instantly and his identity would be exposed to the public eye. The developers forgot they programmed a check for movement before it completely deactivates."

All the GMs became quiet and started to think.

"We could use the GM Item Delivery System to give him a [Mask of Illusion]."

Everyone turned to look at the man who spoke up.

One of the other GMs stated their concerns, "Keith that is a good idea. The issue is that the GM Item Delivery System only transfers items to characters that have administrator rights."

Another GM spoke out, "There is that but also the issue of the mask itself. It allows us, the GMs, to hide our identities while in game. The ability to change our appearances and names at will allows us to be untraceable. Giving that ability to a player seems reckless."

Doug had a spark of inspiration. "We could the system give him admin rights, give him a modified mask, then take away his admin rights. We can have the system process all the commands instantly so there is no chance for Blaise to abuse the system."

"Modify the mask? How can that be possible?"

A man walked through the door way and took over the conversation, "That is an excellent idea. As for how the mask can be modified, the item given would be a discontinued item that was a prototype to the [Mask of Illusion] and was a guinea pig for creating degradable items."

"Tom, what brings you away from your computer? Did you change the [Voice]'s name to [Herald] yet?"

"I did. I came to check out the player who got to rename one of the largest systems of our game. I did not expect him to be in such a situation."

Doug was excited, "When can it be done?"

"It is already in the works, I just sent an email to the developer in charge of the admin systems."

They all looked at the screen that had James's character on it.

Ten minutes later Tom got a reply, "The item has been placed in the player's inventory. He also was given a notification about his situation. The mask only allows one appearance change and will only hide his name for two weeks. After that the mask becomes an unusable item. It is, of course, bound to his character. All we need to do is wait and see."

*****************

James was still ignoring the people around him. His internal thoughts became quieter and quieter. [It is so frustrating! Am I really so pathetic that I am fated to be a cripple for life? I... I cannot believe it... All the effort... They died for no reason... I am the cause for their deaths. If I was not around they would still be alive. My life has been worthless..]

While in the game James was able to hold back the tears, his body in the capsule was not. Tears could be seen running down his cheeks. The sight made Sebastian and Sarah's hearts bleed. The most painful aspect is that they are helpless to help James.

While James was in despair and insulting himself voices and images started to appear in his mind.

James stopped his moping and focused on the voices. They were the voices of his family!

Scenes started playing in his mind. He could see memories from back when his family was still alive.

He saw memories of each family member telling him stories of their travels. He saw their smiles, their love, and their hidden desire to help him.

More and more memories played in his head. He stopped feeling depressed. His disgust for himself grew.

[Am I really throwing away all the effort of my family? Is it that my body cannot move or is it my subconscious fear of being able to move? If I can move that means I could live a normal life. It also means people will come in and out of my life. I do not want to lose anyone important to me again.]

James scoffed at himself. [I really am a loser aren't I? I've been given a second chance at life but am too scared to grasp it even after all the sacrifices that were made. I cannot be afraid anymore. I must follow my family's desire. I must not be scared. All I have to do is follow what my family wished for me and protect those who are important to be. I'll be damned if I let anything happen to those I love and befriend.]

****************

The monitors in both the laboratory and the GM viewing area started lighting up once again. His heart rate returned to that of an average person and the activity of his brain sky rocketed.

James had thrown away his fears and finally decided to start his life.

Inside the capsule while still floating in the gel was James. If you were to look closely at his shoulders, you would see they were ever so slightly twitching.

Sebastian, Sarah, and all of the GMs who were watching their monitors held their breath. They all know that if he was going to be successful it would have to be now.

*****************

James was determined now. He fully focused on attempting to move on his own. He always felt like he was chained down and unable to move. Slowly he felt those chains move and lift the restrictions he felt his whole life. He was so close! It felt as if the chains were stretched as far as they could. Just one last pull would break the chains and he would be free!

He was about to take the last step when he finally realized that there was an annoying beeping going off in his head. He paused to find out what was going on.

*****************

"Noooo! Why did he stop!?"

Those words where the only ones that Sebastian, Sarah, and all of the GMs thought or said. They could tell that he was nearly there. He was almost free of the chains that bound him. What caused him to stop and give up?

*****************

James finally had read the system prompt that was going off for a while now.

-------------------------------

Notice to player,

Due to your unprecedented situation you were given extra new player protection. By default every new player is granted thirty minutes of identity disguise where their display name is hidden from other players.

You have been idle for nearly two hours; fortunately the system did not turn off the player protection after the first thirty minutes. You hit a special check of the system that temporarily extended the protection. The downside is that the moment you move your name will be displayed to the world.

You may not fully be aware of everything that happened thus far. Many players viewed you as a spectacle for their own entertainment. Screen shots and pictures of you have ended up on the forums and there are many rumors about what you are going through have appeared.

Thus, you have been granted an item called [Mask of Illusion]. You cannot find the item in your inventory. Equipping items requires the player to physically equip them on their own. To save you the trouble you can agree to this prompt and the mask will automatically be equipped to your person.

Equip the mask now?

[Yes] [No]

-------------------------------

James was sweating. He knew that the players that currently surround him knew about what was going on but he did not expect the forum posts. He was grateful that his name was not currently being displayed. If it was he would have never been able to play the game freely; he would have been badgered left and right about what happened.

[I need to time this well, if I have the mask equipped to early it could cause the players around me to figure out that something is about to happen. I fear they would try to stop me from leaving.]

James took some time to think of his plan. He must escape and hide. Only when he loses any followers can he relax.

*****************

At this point Doug was pissed. "Someone, anyone one, tell me what the hell happened. Jim! Did your medial department find anything about what just happened?! Did anyone find about his real life identity yet!"

Jim had returned a few minutes ago, "Nothing overly strange happened. His medical charts are all normal there is no problem medically."

His assistant ran into the room in a panic, "We can't find his true identity!"

Doug was getting more and more annoyed, "What do you mean you can't? EVERYONE who logs-in with our capsule must be registered and verified!"

The assistant felt his mouth dry up, "Well sir, this player's network and firewalls are hiding his identity, his IP address, and home address. His network security is so strong we cannot even find out the serial number of his capsule."

Doug could only sigh. "When someone finds out what happened report it to me as soon as possible.."

Tom returned to the viewing area and gave chuckled. "Doug, being so stressed is not good for your health. I found out what happened."

Doug sprinted over to Tom and grabbed him by his collar. "Tell me right now! What happened?"

Tom was not surprised at Doug's reaction. While everyone saw Doug as an indifferent person with a weird personality he knew he was a very caring person. He knew that Doug secretly donates over half of his annual salary to various charities every year. He has been Doug's best friend since middle school.

Tom could only respond sheepishly. "We are the cause. I was notified that Blaise finally saw and read the notification. I would bet that he paused what he was doing once he noticed he had a system prompt."

Doug released his grip on Tom and slumped into a chair nearby. "I guess it was for the best. Since he as read the prompt why has he not had the mask equipped and finally moved?"

"If I were to guess, he is formulating a plan. He has to be very careful on his next moves. Let's just watch and see what happened."

*****************

James finally formulated his plan. He took some time to look at the mini-map to plan his escape route. He accounted for the fact he was several hours behind other players. Thus, his ended location was the class instructor for the [Fire Mages].

James started a countdown in his mind, when it reached zero he would start his plan.

[3]

[2]

[1]

He took a deep breath.

[0] He then had the system equip the mask for him.