I did my best to breathe through the pain as I ran, while I disliked using the treadmill, running calmed my mind and allowed me to think. I looked at the timer, I had been running for almost thirty minutes and I was drenched in sweat. I closed my eyes to continue when my attention was grabbed by the sudden smack of a shirt slamming into my chest.

It threw me off and I almost fell off the treadmill but managed to recover and glare at Ruby. She gestured at her ears, and I pulled my earbuds out as I hit the button to slow the pace of the treadmill. "What?" she giggled as she eyed me.

"How long have you been running?" I pointed to the timer causing her to shake her head. She pointed to the wall-mounted tv and manipulated the channel bringing up Paramount News Network. "You're the latest and eye-catching news," Ruby called as I listened to the broadcast. 

"Here on PNN, we bring you the latest and greatest news from Paramount's newest VRMMORPG Endless Online. Today we are covering what we are calling an atrocity in the northeast reaches of the continent. Outside the city of Vindomora, a shrine dedicated to the God Pelor was sacked, its clergy killed, and worse the shrine was desecrated." the woman reported while the man shook his head in obvious disgust as a short clip played behind them of the inside of the shrine. 

"From the initial reports, the Traveler Arthur Payne who freed the Black Dragon Queen Kallet from her imprisonment was responsible for this atrocity. From what we have been told by our people in-game, he is a Necromancer which is why so few bodies were recovered and laid to rest after the attack." the man added, I chuckled as the screen zeroed in on the bloody message I had left.

'Remember Napeth!' I looked at the writing, a short message but for those willing to dig would find what I had meant. "We have no idea what this message means at this time. Is it a place, a person, or just the ramblings of a deranged mind?" I shook my head as I chuckled as the speed finally dropped to a walk. 

Then again if PNN was whitewashing it, no way would they reveal what had happened according to the Lore. The good guys didn't slaughter whole nations, they saved people. "What did you mean by that anyway?" Ruby asked and I looked at her for a moment and glanced around.

We were not alone, and I didn't want to exactly give it away since more than one person was watching the tv now. "You should do your research," I told her as the treadmill finally came to a stop and I stepped off, my legs shaky from the long run. 

Ruby grabbed me and pulled me closer, "You know you are going to have to hire someone to help your PR, I am surprised Paramount hasn't already reached out to you." she whispered in my ear. 

I shrugged my shoulders as I stumbled/walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water and took a drink before responding. "Well, it's been three days game time, just over one here in the real world. I am sure they are aware of who I am and if they want to talk to me, they will reach out." I told her. 

After the raid on the shrine, we had fled west, deep into the wilds where there were more monsters than sentients. I am glad we had because two parties had tracked us, and we managed to ambush both killing them all. While the second fight had been a close thing, Ruby had managed to keep everyone alive. On the third day on the road, we had discovered an old road I was hoping that would lead directly to Vamoria. 

"The Magister of Vindomora has issued a warrant for Arthur Payne's capture with a two-thousand gold bounty, the Church of Pelor had doubled it and have dispatched Purifiers to the city to help with the search." the woman reported, and my jaw dropped. Two thousand gold was nothing to sneeze at and if I remember the exchange rate it was about twenty thousand real-world dollars, add in Pelor doubling it and some mercenaries would be frothing at the mouth to get the bounty. "Now for those who don't know, Purifiers are an elite sect of the Church of the Light that specializes in hunting and subduing Dark Classes. It's surprising that within the first two weeks of its release, someone within EO has managed to garner this much attention and the anger of the foremost deity." I looked at Ruby.

"We need to plug the hole with Jarome and Aaron, both are possible leads to Rob and Penny, which leads straight back to us." my cousin winced.

"I trust them, and Jarome seemed alright, but Aaron was already dedicated to Ares, and he was kicked from the clan." I winced at her words, Aaron had no reason to keep his mouth closed and every reason to speak up. 

"Ok, talk to Aunt Candice we need someone on PR, someone with a familiarity with games and is spun up on EO, and we need someone to run background checks on both Rob and Penny, and for future research," I told her as I started stretching. 

"Future research?" Ruby asked as she glanced around making sure people were too engrossed in their workouts or the broadcast. 

"You think Rob and Penny are going to be the last of the people I recruit?" I asked her, really wondering what she had put together with what was going on.

Ruby looked at my face, but I did my best to school my features, but we had known each other a long time. "No, this is just the beginning, isn't it?" she asked me. "Whatever is going on, that shrine was just the first in what's coming. Right?" she prodded.

I smiled as I continued stretching, "Right, stupid question." she commented. 

"Try the carrot with Jarome, the man is honorable and could be a good recruit if we can bring him into the fold," I told her before Ruby walked off. 

I glanced around and brought up my wrist unit, while the technology was based on cellphones it had far surpassed them. I did a quick search and brought up Paramount's Forums for Endless Online and started reading through them before I started laughing. People were going batshit crazy, the few Travelers that had been part of the two hunting parties were blowing our little dustups out of proportion. 

"What's so funny?" I looked over to see one of the other guys looking at me and what I was reading.

"Oh, just some video game crap. Some of the first-hand accounts point to this guy as a complete monster and psychopath." I told them as I pointed to the holographic display that was lit up. 

"You think it's funny, what happened?" I could hear a little anger in his voice.

I closed the display and turned to face him but sat down. "Well, yes, but you are missing the bigger picture. They are not like priests in our world, the Paladins, Clerics, and Priests that were killed there were devout soldiers that answered to only one being ultimately. Soldiers are not innocent bystanders." I pointed out and the first man that had responded nodded his head as I continued. "More importantly the attack on the shrine tells us two things, one whoever did this holds a grudge against that world's clergy and the Pantheon of the Light because they killed everyone and destroyed the altar." I laid out.

"And the second thing." I smiled as I looked at the woman who had been listening to our discussion.

"The reporters got it right, who or what is Napeth? Whoever did this made a point of mentioning that you might want to figure out what that is before you cast judgment." I told them before heading for the door.  

I smiled, another seed was planted and while it was a small garden even gardens could run rampant if left unchecked. My wrist started ringing with an incoming call, I looked at it and grimaced, I didn't have a choice but to take the call though. I tapped the display, "Hi Aunt Candice, how can I help you?" I unlocked my apartment and went inside.

I tapped the display of the wristband transferring the call to the apartment's systems and securing the apartment from outside eavesdropping. "Seriously, you had to make a statement by killing a whole shrine of people and drawing a message in blood!" I chuckled at her indignation. 

"Well, freeing the dragon was going to make a splash, but I wanted to buy her time to get settled in and assert her control over her people. To do that, I needed to grab the attention of the masses and the gods of EO, so yes, I killed everyone, destroyed the altar, and wrote a message in blood. Understand?" I asked as I stripped off my clothing and jumped into the shower. 

"Ok...but a message in blood? Isn't that over the top?" I chuckled at the confusion in her voice.

"I play as a Dark Magus and Necromancer, that combination is not known for being cute and cuddly Candice but for death and destruction. Now stop imagining me naked and playing with you and get to the point of why you called." I prodded her causing her to sputter.

After a few moments, she regained control of herself, "For the record, I didn't call you for that. I talked to Ruby, I have an agency I trust working on background checks on your two companions and this Jarome. Depending on what they find we will reach out to the mercenary." I nodded my head, if the family was going to be invested into EO as much as I thought they would, they would do everything they could to protect their investments. I.E. Ruby and me. "I also found you a PR and Marketing Agency, send them your feeds and they will start editing everything for when you want to launch." I grimaced at the thought of handing over my raw feed, they could reveal everything about my class and specialization. 

While Paramount released a lot of information about the Classes, they released very little about Specializations except the general descriptions. "Don't forget I retain the right to veto any video feed. The first-time you guys fuck me on this, is the last time I hand over my feeds." I reminded her. 

"I remember, I will email you their contact information so you can send over your feeds and talk to the PR firm. They are already working together to spin the attack on the shrine to provide another point of view, but we got to get onto it now." I grit my teeth, politics, even if it was a game, it still intruded into my life but then again, I had set myself on this road, so I had to take the good with the bad. 

"Ok I will do it, now let me get back to my shower so I can eat and get back to work," I told her, Candice chuckled but I could hear some heat in her throaty laugh as the line was disconnected. "Cleo, Candice should be emailing me two email addresses. One should be a marketing firm. Please forward my EO feeds to them when it comes in." I told the V.I.

"Of course, sir, and may I ask how you are enjoying the new abode?" I smiled, while my family was an arrogant and pretentious group, they knew how to find a good home.

"I like it, Cleo, how are you settling in?" I knew moving the V.I. from one location to another could be disconcerting, for them I was pretty sure it would be like getting your mind moved from one body to another. 

"Much better sir, the systems in this building and apartment are top-notch, not that I am complaining about your previous home sir." Cleo quickly added. 

I chuckled at the V.I. "No offense is taken Cleo, I am just glad you are fine and operating. These apartments are designed with security and privacy in mind, so it's no surprise that the systems are geared towards it." I told her as I finished my shower. Time to eat, then back to the grind we still had a long journey before we made it to Vamoria.