Inner Fioro, Regret and Victory

“That’s why I’m telling you he can’t! Even a player of Charles’ caliber-”

“Bullshit! If he can’t tank, then what is the purpose of his existence?!”

Uren glances across the table of teenagers as he shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

Charles, Zach (or Zachary), Braden, Grace, as well as Shani and Nico, the team’s newest member, plus an aver sulking Avril; Having learned their names by now, Uren listens into their argument as he attempts, unsuccessfully, to contain his worry from growing.

“He can tank, just not like that! Why can’t you understand something so simple?! Strategy isn’t just about what you want! Everybody has their role to play, and Chales’ is to keep the rest of us alive, yes, sometimes at the cost of his own life, but that doesn’t mean we should throw him to the wolves at every opportunity!” Zach nearly shouts as he attempts to rise from his seat only to have Charles - who sits next to him absorbed by the third hamburger Uren has seen the large boy downing - grab his shoulder and force him to sit again, almost absently.

Grace, on the other side of their rapidly heating argument, clenches her teeth as she glances across the table for support, finding: Avril, who stares away from their group, inspecting the café almost as if pointedly ignoring them; Nico, who stares toward some sort of portable gaming device he hasn’t put down for more than a second since arriving; Braden, her boyfriend, who smiles awkwardly but doesn’t comment; Shani, who winks at her while raising another fry toward its impending doom… And Uren, who sighs as the girl’s piercing gaze happens to meet his.

“You. Tell him the purpose of a tank is to tank, no matter the situation.”

Uren smiles politely, forcing himself to not avert his gaze. “I believe what Zachary is trying to say is that, sometimes, Charles’ survival might be more beneficial for the team in the long run… Meaning any good tanks will consider their own safety during battle, lest they die for no reason more often than not.”

“Thank you!” Zach immediately exclaims, “See?! He understands!”

Shani snorts, and Grace's face grows slightly redder, while Nico simply rolls his eyes, never diverging his gaze away from his gaming device.

“Okay, fine! I get it that he shouldn’t suicide his character for no reason, but-”

Seeing as they immediately go back to arguing, Uren releases a small sigh while reaching for the tray of fries, only the realize it has been emptied of its contents at some point during his moment of distraction…

Coincidently, his eyes then meet Shani’s, freezing her attempt at eating the last fry mid-motion for a brief second before she sticks her tongue at him, shoving it in her mouth anyway.

“So, what’s your deal with Sara? You guys dating?” she asks, smiling unapologetically.

Uren shrugs. “She’s hard to read. And we’ve both been busy these past few days…”

“You know, you shouldn’t worry so much, she pulls shit like this all the time.”

Uren shakes his head. “She’s more than an hour late, and she’s not answering my messages.”

“Have you tried connecting?”

“She said not to. Something about not being distracted… I’m worried.”

Shini snickers. “I can see that. Look, just sit back and enjoy the free show, I’m sure she’s about to arrive,” she adds, nodding toward her arguing teammates.

Uren sighs, though he does force himself to relax a little.

“Are they always…?”

“Like this? Pretty much. Unless Sara is around, or Grace decided she wants to piss me off instead.”

“Sounds rough.”

“I’d say she’s all right once you get to know her, but for the life of me, I just can’t figure out what Braden sees below the bad attitude and pointless bickering…” Shani raises her eyebrow. “Though, now that I think about it, you are a guy. Any insights?”

It’s Uren’s turn to snort. “Thanks for noticing my masculinity, but no, I don’t have any… A nice ass?”

Shani pauses, shamelessly glancing at the aforementioned body part, while Uren contains an immediate urge to facepalm.

“I do see your point.”

“Er… Please don’t tell Sara I said that?”

“Don’t worry, I asked, and I appreciate honesty pretty much above all else, so your secret’s safe with me,” Shani says, laughing, as she points toward the café entrance, “See? I told you she was about to show up.”

Uren turns in his seat in time to spot Sara descending the café’s staircase two steps at a time, some sort of golden board under her arm, and a haunted look on her face.

“Something is wrong,” he says, “She does not look fine.”

Uren is about to rise from his seat in order to meet Sara when their gazes happen to meet across the café, and something in her eyes stops him from doing so.

She doesn’t take long to reach their table, however, producing a strained smile as she pulls a chair for herself beside Uren, sets her board aside, and sweeps her gaze throughout the different expressions her arrival stirs.

“Hey, what’s up? Sorry for being late… Man, I’m starving… Hey! You could’ve left me some fries at least!”

“…Did you get it?” Avril speaks, interrupting about three different greetings across the table.

Sara rolls her eyes, though she does produce a small drive from one of her pockets, sliding it in Avril’s direction. “Sure did, take a look and pass it around... I had to stop along the way to buy that, so you better not break it.”

Avril doesn’t respond, simply clutching the device as her eyes seem to lose some of their focus.

“Well, guess I’m ordering more fries, so… Anyone want something?”

“You paying?” Zach inquires, giving up his argument, which had somehow survived Sara’s arrival, for long enough to throw her a hopeful glance.

“Yeah, no. Sorry, already used my pass this month.”

The boy sighs. “Figures.”

Grace snorts.

“Hey…” Uren starts, attracting Sara’s gaze as she finally sits down and releases a sigh, “What’s up?”

“Hey! Nothing much… Paradise always makes me feel kinda scared, but that’s life. What about you?”

Sara signals Kimmy, the café’s holographic waitress to approach, while Uren debates whether to push her for details or not.

“…You know, you looked agitated when you walked in,” he whispers at last, “Is everything really all right?”

Sara smiles as she glances at him, though the expression doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Remember what I told you about being hungry and grumpy? I promise we’ll talk, but I could really use a full stomach before that happens, yeah?”

Uren nods. He’s disappointed she doesn’t seem to trust him yet, but what can he do?

Sara's food doesn’t take long to arrive, at which point she finally stops taking longing glances toward the place’s kitchen, diving in as she absently slaps Shani’s hand away from the tray of fries delivered.

“Sara, did you read this?” Avril questions.

Sara, raising an inquisitive glance in her direction, quickly swallows in order to answer, “…Skimmed through. Why? Is there something wrong with it?”

Avril sighs. “Forget it. I assume you downloaded it yourself? Just read it right now.”

One by one, the table’s occupants brief themselves over the information Sara acquired, herself included, if the looks she continues throwing at a particular spot of empty air are anything to go by.

Reactions vary, from raised eyebrows to simple confusion, Sara’s in particular being the most noticeable. At some point, her face goes from satisfied-looking to paper white, and Uren has to stop himself from pressing her for answers once more. At least, this time, he’ll have a look himself at the direct cause of her distress… Speaking of which.

“Here, just ask the System to download it for you, and you should see a document popping up,” Shani explains as she slides the drive in Uren’s direction with a wink.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Following Shani’s instructions, Uren quickly opens the said document, which seems to consist of five or so odd pages of information related to Eden, through which he quickly scans his eyes.

…Overly realistic experience?

…Strange AI?

…Xiaris?

Uren finishes his reading far more confused than he started it, and worse, clueless as to what might have triggered Sara’s reaction, who now stares silently at her half-eaten tray of fries while some of the others argue about the information they received.

“This is worthless! There’s nothing about what we’re even supposed to do in the game!” Grace exclaims.

“Well, we’re supposed to stop the Xiaris’ corruption from spreading, that much is clear, but it seems no one found out how exactly, at least not yet. I think it’d be safe to assume some sort of hidden final boss is around, some sort of main body or something. That’s usually how it goes,” Zach counters.

“The introduction mentions a corrupted God,” Shani interjects, “Remember? One of the seven to have survived? I bet if we’re going to find Xiaris’ main body, we should start there. Find out where it was buried, or put to sleep, and dig it up.”

“And then kill it for good? Sounds like a plan,” Charles agrees, shrugging.

“We should plan our spawn points,” Braden speaks, “I bet the God’s tomb isn’t going to be an easy find, and the fight… Well, they’re probably called a God for a reason. If we thought of this, it’s a given others have also figured it out. Any ideas?”

“How big do you guys figure is Eden? I mean, we could spread ourselves over the spawn points and meet up later, or we could start all in the same place… The doc mentions several countries and nations, plus an empire in the north. They can’t mean, you know, real-sized nations, right?” Shani interjects once more while sweeping her gaze throughout the table.

“I think they do,” Sara speaks up for the first time, “It’s crazy, I know, but what about this isn’t? I think Aston means business, and I think Liam was serious when he spoke about a new era for Elysium.”

“…You think he meant the AIs?” Braden guesses, to which Sara slowly nods.

“Maybe... Look, I don’t know. If we had AIs capable of imitating people out there, what do you think would happen?”

“Glad you’re back Sara, but does it really matter?” Zach interjects, “We have a game to beat, and a real country to save, remember?”

Sara opens her mouth to reply, blinks, then closes it again. Surprisingly enough, she then smiles.

“You know what? You’re absolutely right, Zach. Thanks for reminding me.”

Zach seems almost uncomfortable by her answer, though he does return her thanks with a nod as he continues, “No problem. Now, putting the location of our spawn points aside for a sec, it seems they are related to our classes, or species, in this case, and the skills we get. Any insights?”

“Anyone here with experience playing VR games?” Charles adds.

Shani raises her hand, only to realize it contains a fry stolen from Sara’s tray, who throws her a dirty look.

“…Sorry, I thought you were done eating them?”

Avril sighs. “One of us. Not exactly ideal. Go on, spit it out. We don’t have the whole night.”

“Well… I doubt I have anything of note to say. They’re fun? I mean, Eden is supposed to be revolutionary, right?”

“…Worthless,” Grace murmurs.

Shani raises her eyebrow. “Excuse me? If you have something to contribute, then by all means.”

Grace's usual dagger-like gaze is aimed at Shani for a full second before the girl finally relents and turns it toward the rest of them instead. “I think it’s obvious we should split up. We’ll probably level up faster, and cover a wider range of classes... Or species, whatever. As for information, it could be anywhere.”

“Grace is right, we should pair up at most,” Braden adds, nodding, “That way, we’ll still have backup, and a much higher chance of finding the info we’re looking for.”

“Grace said nothing about pairing up, but I agree with you, Braden,” Zach counters, smiling.

“…This is a problem,” Avril interjects, her frown now much deeper than usual.

“What?” Uren asks once it becomes clear no one else is going to.

“We’ll have to move our bodies to fight, not press buttons. Do you think any of us here is good at moving our bodies?” Avril explains, voice dripping bitterness.

“…Oh.”

“Fuck.”

“…Far from ideal, indeed.”

Uren frowns. Except for him, it’s obvious none of the others-

“It’s fine by us,” Grace says, nodding toward Braden, “We’re not experts, exactly, but we’ve taken enough self-defense classes to know our way around a fight.”

Braden nods. “And we know Uren can defend himself as well… So, three out of eight? It could’ve been worse.”

“…As long it is still a game, I’ll beat it,” Avril murmurs.

“Avril is right,” Sara speaks up, attracting her teammate’s gazes as she meets their eyes one by one. “Eden is still a game. And we’re good at those, remember? We can do it.”

Charles releases a sigh. “Well said, Sara. Now… Spawn points and pairs. I assume we all received our headgear by now?”

“Not me,” Nico murmurs. Though he remains fixated on his game, the boy’s bitterness is obvious in his voice and expression.

“Sorry buddy, we should’ve realized it was a sixteen-plus game,” Sara says, throwing a sad smile in his direction the boy quickly glimpses at, before blushing furiously.

“…Didn’t realize I spoke out loud,” he murmurs, sinking in his chair considerably, “Please don’t mind me…”

Uren sighs. Though Nico was the most excited about the game’s release, not to say a deciding factor in the team’s decision to help him, there’s little he can do to circumvent the game’s age restriction, except for an already made promise to keep the frustrated boy updated on everything related to Eden and their mission…

“…Uren?” Zach calls, attracting Uren’s attention away from Nico and toward the others, who now stare in his direction.

Blinking, Uren realizes he must have missed a question. “Sorry, could you repeat that?”

Zach rolls his eyes. “Charles asked if you’re okay with us pairing up. You’re supposed to be the boss, pay attention man!”

Uren snorts. “Though I appreciate you seeking my approval, there’s a reason I ‘hired’ the team. I trust your judgment.”

Zach nods. “Good enough for me. Now, there are eight of us, which is to say, four pairs, and seven possible spawns. Any ideas?”

“It’s hard to say when we have so little information on the spawns themselves,” Braden points out, “We know their names, the species they are attached to, and little else. Should we wait another day or so before starting?”

“Well, according to the doc, The Edge and Oblium are essentially isolated areas. It might be hard to gather the party if we send people there… And if we wait any longer, we might be giving too much of a head start. I think we should start now,” Zach counters.

“I agree,” Uren says while sweeping his gaze across the table, “We don’t how fast the game is going to be beaten, so giving more of a head start the we already have could be dangerous. As for the spawns, I’ll contact my tutor, and we’ll have his team cover anything we did not… Does that help?”

Nods and murmured affirmations given, Uren moves on, “If I remember correctly, The Edge and Oblium aside, we’re left with Astraria, the first basin, Otha, the second, Ostia, the third, Gra, the fourth, and the Miduris Empire.”

“Water for Sirens, pebbles for Beastkin, earth for Elves, hot coal for Dwarfs, and breaking something to end up as a Human in the Empire,” Sara completes, smiling, “Classics.”

“We’re leaving the weird ones out,” Braden points out, producing a smile of his own.

“Being an insect person might have been fun,” Grace adds.

Zach snorts. “It’d certainly fit you.”

Grace flips him.

She walked right into that one, didn’t she?

“People, focus,” Charles pleads, “It’s getting late. And, if nobody objects, I’d like to be a Dwarf. Sounds fun.”

Unexpectedly, Zach throws his friend a repulsed glance, shaking his head. “Sorry my friend, but in this case, we must walk a separate path. Dwarfs have rather stubby arms, making for the worst archers in existence. I’d much rather spawn as an Elf if it’s all the same to you.”

Charles smiles. “I know you’ll be lonely without me, but we’ll meet up eventually.”

“I’ll do just fine…” Zach murmurs, even as he is visibly sulking.

“Zach will need somebody to frontline for him, and I don’t mind the idea of being an Elf,” Braden offers, ignoring the surprised look Grace throws in his direction.

“I wanna be a Siren!” Shani exclaims, “Sounds awesome!”

Grace sighs. “…Then I suppose I’ll be front-lining for this one.”

Shani sticks her tongue at her.

“That leaves…” Uren murmurs, exchanging a glance with Sara.

“I’m not spawning as a Dwarf,” Avril speaks.

One look at her expression, and Uren realizes he’d probably have a higher chance at convincing the gloomy girl to dance naked on top of their table.

“Okay, I guess I’ll bite the bullet then,” he concedes, “Which leaves Sara and Avril as our last pair.”

“And Otha as the obvious choice. Right, partner?”

Sara winks at Avril, ignoring the dirty look the gesture earns her.

Charles chuckles. “And that settles it. Uren and I will be spawning in Gra as Dwarfs. Sara and Avril will be going to Otha as Beastkins. Grace and Shani… Are you two sure about this?”

“I’ll handle her,” Shani says, shrugging, while Grace simply rolls her eyes. 

“If you say so… Then, Grace and Shani you will spawn in Astraria as Sirens, while Zach and Braden will become Elves. Any objections?”

“There’s something in the doc about Elves. Something about a fifty percent chance of spawning as a Drow instead. Do you figure it might matter?” Braden says.

“I think we’ll spawn separately sometimes… But you should be close enough to meet up, right? It shouldn’t matter?” Sara says.

“We’ll manage,” Zach assures.

“What about Beastkins?” Uren asks, reminded of something he read, “The doc says you can’t choose your sub-species. Apparently, their God chooses it for you.”

“I wonder what parameters they’re using for that. Random chance?” Sara adds, raising her eyebrow as she taps her fingers against the table.

Uren contains a sigh. He’s glad she seems to be doing better, though Sara’s seemingly arbitrary changes of humor will never cease to surprise him.

“We’ll deal with it,” Avril says.

“That’s it, then?” Shani asks, “We’ll go home, connect to Eden, and meet up with our pairs?”

“I guess we’re done for today,” Uren agrees, “Remember our objective. The sleeping Gods seem our best lead for now, but we should keep our ears peeled for any relevant information in the meantime.”

The others nod as they begin to rise, some of them clearly tired-looking, as Uren wonders if he should suggest postponing their first VR dive for the next day…

He can’t bring himself to. Each second wasted…

“Hey,” Sara murmurs, nudging Uren out of his grim thoughts as she smiles at him, “I promised we’d talk, and the others are about to leave…”

Sara raises both her eyebrows suggestively, and Uren finds then that, despite the stress of recent events, he is still capable of smiling.

 

***

Fioro, Central

It’s so much more cramped than she imagined it...

“Next stop: Emerald District,” a female’s voice, machinal sounding, traverses the train’s filled block, bringing Seijuro out of her dumbfounded stupor.

“Is this the one?” she murmurs, tensing her body as she prepares to follow the flow of exiting passengers during the train’s brief stop, only to find herself immediately pulled back by Kuro’s hand over her shoulder, who releases a sigh.

“For the last time, relax,” he whispers while rolling his eyes, “Our stop is the next one.”

“Oh…”

The train’s stop is smooth, unlike the avalanche of moving bodies to quickly, yet orderly, move in and out of its large blocks as Seijuro stares in fascination toward the faces of her subjects, many of whom seem exhausted, about to fall asleep, or simply aloof.

And still, none of them misses their turn… Incredible.  

“I can’t believe you convinced me to do this…” Kuro murmurs.

As he stands next to her and crosses his arms, Kuro’s mask stands out as a simple black, oval covering that leaves only his eyes exposed, while his clothes lack their usual formality, being composed of a simple white shirt and a pair of dark-blue jeans.

“I offered you a compromise,” Seijuro replies, smiling from underneath her own mask, “It was your choice to accept it.”

Kuro grunts. “Choice isn’t exactly the word I would use…”

The train is quick to take off once more, its doors closing soon after the last passenger has entered.

“You know, when I suggested a breather, going Incognito isn’t what I had in mind,” Kuro mumbles.

“Think of it as an adventure. A way to witness firsthand if our means of public transport are working as intended…”

“We’re late. I promised you’d be there at eight.”

“Sorry. I didn’t realize finding casual-fitting clothes to go with the mask would take so long. Should’ve thought things through when I bought it. Then again, do you have any idea how hard it is to keep anything secret when you’re me?”

“Yesterday, I didn’t. Life was much simpler then.”

Reminded of their undetected escape from her apartment’s building, Seijuro’s smile grows. She planned everything after moving, except Kuro’s participation, of course, though she never had a real reason to go through with it until today. In a sense, escaping her family’s house undetected was much easier, though they would discover her disappearance almost immediately every-

It drizzled… She left for a stupid party her father forbade her from going… She was so angry… Too angry to pay attention to her environment as she runs through the small grove surrounding her family’s manor… And although the wind howls, carrying with it leaves and small debris, she’s still fearless, determined to-

Lights lit in the distance, meaning they’ve already found out about her escape, much faster than she expected, and meaning she won’t be able to sneak out anymore…

Seijuro's steps come to a slow, frustrated stop as she contains herself from screaming against the wind, when the faint sound of her name being called attracts her attention, originated much closer than the lights…

…Her mother’s voice is unmistakable.

The memory flashes through Seijuro’s mind abruptly, shaking her vision as her grip tightens and her breath is taken away.

“Next stop: Turquoise District.”

“Okay, this is it. Remember, move with the flow, not against it, and you’ll be… Seijuro?”

“I-I’m fine, l-let’s go,” Seijuro manages to reply through her shallow breathing, ignoring the System’s messages regarding her increased levels of distress and forcing her feet to move despite the trembling of her limbs as she joins the flow of passengers readying themselves to leave.

Mercifully, Kuro doesn’t push her for answers as he follows obediently through the train’s doors once it stops, then up the station’s stairs leading into Outer Fioro’s busy streets.

“N-no more than a glance from the protection bots… Should I be c-concerned about the Central’s security levels…?”

“You’re shaking,” Kuro points out, his tone now significantly heavier.

“P-please…”

Kuro sighs, then, almost brusquely, grabs Seijuro by her arm in order to diverge them from the natural flow of pedestrians and enter a nearby alley, where he positions her against the wall, this time not without care, and stares into her eyes.

“How bad?”

“…I c-can’t b-breath… I-it was n-never this bad b-before…”

“I’m calling a taxi. We’re going back.”

“J-just… G-give me a minute… T-talk about something… A-anything…”

Kuro quickly removes his mask, stepping back and scanning their surroundings with a sigh of frustration as Seijuro takes a deep breath, followed by another, and still, her heartbeat refuses to lower; her hands refuse to stop shaking.

Enough!

Seijuro pinches herself, and when that doesn’t work, stomps over her left foot, only to have Kuro suddenly upon her, holding her arms and legs with his as she’s tightly pressed against the wall.

“Any more… brilliant ideas?!” Kuro grunts, his eyes aflame as he stares into hers.

“I’m… fine now,” Seijuro lies, “…Thank you.”

Their intertwined breaths are heavy, but Seijuro does feel more like herself again, or, at least, capable of walking in a straight line.

“Tell me what happened.”

Seijuro raises an eyebrow, and, realizing their compromised position, Kuro blinks, before quickly stepping back as he clears his throat and wears his mask once more.

“…Just the same old flashbacks.” Seijuro shrugs. “I’m fine.”

“You’re very clearly not fine. Have you ever visited a psychiatrist, at least? After your mother’s accident?”

Seijuro snorts. “And what would they’ve told me that I already don’t know? That it wasn’t my fault? That I should move on?”

“Talking about it might help, and there might be some sort of medication... You know you’re being stubborn.”

She? Stubborn? Never.

“It’s been more than five years, and I’ve been fine this whole time.”

“Seijuro, you still believed your mother might wake up one day,” Kuro says, his voice now much softer, “It’s what kept you going this whole time.”

“You… What are you saying?”

As Kuro doesn’t continue, a moment of silence goes by, and Seijuro finds her mouth suddenly dry, her thoughts shattering just as she attempts to grab them.

“I… I still believe… The game…”

“Your father might, but you don’t believe in it… I know you’ve been doing your best to force yourself to, but if you keep going like this, it’s only a matter of time until-”

“Stop,” Seijuro interrupts softly, “I know. I know I’m on the verge of collapsing. But if I stop… If I stop even for a second to look back…”

“We could hire somebody to play instead of you. Hells, I could play, if-”

“No, it has to be me.”

Kuro curses, showcasing a rare display of his home country's language which brings a small smile out of Seijuro.

This is it, the missing piece of the puzzle. Now, she understands why her father assigned her to play the game… And why she must beat it.

“…You’re not going to change your mind, are you?”

“You’re right in that I stopped believing somewhere along the way... Thank you for making me realize that. But this game, Eden… There’s something about it. Something my father wants me to uncover. And, however small, it might be the only chance my mother has. The only chance I will have of fixing everything.”

Kuro simply sighs. “Then… Then I suppose I’ll prepare myself for the worst, and hope there are enough pieces of you left to put back together after everything is over.”