End Online: Volume 6 (11 page)

“I know this! THIS IS THE
MAGIC OF THAT WRETCHED WOLF THAT GAVE ME THIS SCAR! CUR. BEAST. WHERE?”

Grasping his scarred face
with one hand, Centurion Markus glances at the walls of the room as if he is
looking for something beyond them. It is during his momentary lack of attention
that Fen grabs my hand and drags me out of the room before the centurion can
notice my absence.

While escaping the
Iceridge Military Academy, I can’t help but think that the situation was
strange and ask Fen, “Fen, is it just me, or could they not see you?”

“They couldn’t.”

“What? Why couldn’t they?”

“I did not wish for them
to.”

“Hang on, I think I am
going to need a little more explanation to understand. You can make yourself
invisible?”

We stop running in a quiet
corridor of the academy and Fen looks at me with her intelligent eyes. There
seems to be a chill deep within her irises that feels alien to me and makes me
a little afraid.

“I cannot. I only wish for
them not to notice me, even if looking at me. Only works with some. Invisible,
no.” She says it sternly and I feel like I am speaking to someone other than
Fen.

“Fen?” I cautiously ask.

The wolf girl looks at me
when I call her name, and the alien chill recedes from her eyes. She smiles
slightly before moving to wrap her arms around one of mine, closing the distance
between us. Her warmth spreads into my arm, giving me a pleasant feeling that
makes me absent minded.

‘No, wait. Just WHAT
was that?’

Before I can voice my
thoughts however, the pleasant sensation becomes stronger and my worries start
to fade away. I don’t know why, but it doesn’t seem to be much of a problem
anymore. She is still my Fen after all.

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

“Hollis! Are you awake?!”
Markus angrily bangs on the front door while shouting at the house. If I wasn’t
already awake, it would have been an incredibly rude awakening.

I roll myself through the
house and open the front door while wondering why he is angry. Seeing me ready
to go, he harrumphs and immediately moves to push the wheelchair without my
consent. I intend to object, but before I can gather my thoughts, he is already
helping me into his car.

“Markus, is something
wrong?” I ask cautiously.

“Damn right!” He glares at
me accusingly. “I was speaking with Verity last night and when it came to
talking about you, she started avoiding my questions and became incredibly shy.
First was that fake boyfriend act, and now this! What exactly is going on
between the two of you?!”

I pause in thought as I
also try to figure it out. My memories stop on the unforgettable night in the
game when she climbed into my bed, even pursuing through Fen’s rejection and
anger.

Markus seems to notice
something and asks me in a slow voice, “Well, what is it?”

“I’m… not too sure.”

No matter how I predict
the scenario playing out, there is no way I can possibly tell him about that
event. I have a strange mix of fear and guilt towards telling him that which
holds me back.

Markus seems determined to
find out and repeatedly interrogates me about various things. Even worse, he
seems to get an inclination that Verity and I are closer than he thought.
Despite everything, I am glad that he is my friend no matter what.

‘It’s not what you
think. I, too, am confused about many things.’
 My final thought remains unheard as we arrive at Cambridge
University.

Getting out of the car
with Markus’s help, we find Verity waiting at the gate along with several
female friends she has made. There are several boys lurking in the area,
occasionally sending a longing glance her way, but no one moves to approach her
small group.

Seeing us arrive, Verity
bids farewell to her group and walks up to us. Markus has his usual charming
smile plastered on his face, almost as if his anger back in the car was a work
of fiction.

“Thanks, Markus. I will
help Hollis from here.” She gives us a charming smile that no ordinary man
would be able to refuse.

Markus, however, seems to
be diligent in keeping her away from me and stubbornly refuses. “No, us guys
have to stick together at times. I will help him out today.”

“What kind of girlfriend
would let someone else help her boyfriend when she is around?”

“And what kind of best
friend would want anyone else to help him?”

“How about we let Hollis
decide? Hollis, would prefer if Markus or I, your girlfriend, helps you?”

“Hollis, surely you won’t
put a girl in between our relationship as best friends, right?”

Seeing the banter go back
and forth between the two of them whose motives I cannot fathom, I am at a loss
for words. I decide not to answer them, casually looking away from the two.

Verity eventually wins the
argument, forcing Markus aside and taking control of helping me to my lecture.
Markus, still discontent and suspicious of the two of us, leaves us half way to
go to his own lecture.

With just Verity and I
alone, a tense atmosphere forms that is difficult to break. It isn’t until we
are near my class that Verity breaks the tension with a few words.

We speak about a few
random aspects of our life and awkwardly try to avoid speaking about the events
that happened the other night in the game. Seeing Verity, who is normally a
confident and independent woman, being bashful, I can’t help but think her
nervousness is incredibly adorable.

We reach my class, where
my Aunt Jude is impatiently waiting for all the students to arrive. She turns her
gaze toward me and Verity inquisitively and seems to ponder about something.
However Jude doesn’t say anything nor give any signs as to what may be on her
mind.

‘I’ve never been able
to understand her,’
 I helplessly muse to
myself.

“I’ll see you later,
darling,” Verity charmingly says, bending over and kissing me on the cheek
before rapidly exiting the room.

As soon as the door
closes, the entire room is overcome with an eerie silence. There isn’t a great
deal of people studying Philology and Semiotics, but the atmosphere given off
is comparable to a full auditorium. I can feel everyone’s surprise,
inquisitiveness, and even some despair and envy. Having a girl as beautiful as
Verity call herself your girlfriend is definitely a pleasant feeling, but it can
be a double-edged sword.

Even Aunt Jude shows a
clear reaction, betraying her usual hidden motives. Aunt Jude’s eyes open wide
in a state of clear shock and surprise. She mumbles something under her breath,
but I am too far away and can’t make out the words.

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

“Lost, I heard something
happened at school today…” Markus, now Sir Laurence back in End Online, looks
at me sternly while trying to get more details on when Verity, currently Verde,
kissed me on the cheek.

I remain silent as Verde,
Sir Laurence, Fen and I head toward the teleportation circle in Iceridge to
return to the Beast Realm. Verde tells the knight in shining armor to mind his
own business, while Fen gives me an inquisitive glance that makes me guiltily
avoid eye contact. Perhaps Fen’s wolf instincts detect something, as the hands
grasping my arm emit a frightening chill that makes me feel a significant
stinging pain.

The pain isn’t enough to
make me cry out, but it does make me cringe. I look at Fen and see a strange
ethereal chill in her irises. It has a sense of familiarity that I can’t quite
put my finger on.

I don’t think about it for
long because the painful coldness in my arm is replaced with a warmth that
makes me feel incredibly pleasant. Any thoughts I held before become irrelevant
at that moment.

“Your mine, and I’m
yours,” Fen says as she brings herself closer to me, mirroring the loving
feelings I have inside of me for her.

Taking pleasure in Fen’s
closeness, I pay little attention to Verde and Sir Laurence, but I do notice
Prince Charming dropping down to one knee in front of Verde and stopping our
group from walking.

“My lady, perhaps if you
could bestow me with the grace of your lips as well,” the Prince speaks with a
noble etiquette I have seen so many times before. This must be his final plea.

Verde looks down on him
with a deadpan face, choosing to completely ignore him and walk around his
kneeling figure. I’m also incredibly embarrassed to see such a sight,
pretending like he is someone I don’t know and walking past him.

We reach the church where
the teleportation circle resides ten minutes later. Prince Charming, after
failing at every attempt to gain Verde’s interest, returns to being her shadow
and sending glares at any players who look toward her.

There is a queue of
players lined up in front of the teleportation portal. We join the end of the
line, and I estimate that it will be our turn in a few minutes at the pace the
players are being processed.

“Where would you like to
go?” A humble middle-aged male NPC presiding over the teleportation portal
politely asks us when we stand at the front of the queue.

“Beast Realm, Kano City.”

“Very well, please step
into the portal.”

The teleportation portal
shines  brightly as we step on it. The winter atmosphere is whisked away
as we are instantaneously brought to Kano City.

“Let’s split up and see if
we can find any information of strange places or ruins. We need to locate those
stone tablets to complete my quest.” I look toward Verde and Sir Laurence, who
will be one team while Fen and I will be the other.

This task would be easier
using our new guild that Mason and Matrix are managing, but we have yet to even
accept any new members.

Verde nods her assent
before asking, “What about if any other quests come up? Should we accept them?”

I think for a while before
replying, “Yes, we should. I need to get more equipment to sell so perhaps
finding a different quest or two will be for the better. It also may lead us
toward the stone tablet.”

Happily deciding our next
move, we part ways in search of information or quests. Verde and Sir Laurence
log off for the time being to look through the End Forums for any information
or quests that have been posted by players.

Only Mason and
CaptainGordon have the skill required to read books, so the library is not
currently an option. I could learn the skill at the local church or a relevant
quest, but it would be level 1 – too low to be of any use other than reading
some simple picture books.

I lead Fen around to
various NPCs, instructing her to find and accept any quests from them as long
as they can lead to obtaining rare equipment or exploring ruins of any sort. It
is extremely difficult to have Fen respond to most NPCs as she has an extreme
lack of interest.

I almost risk the gained
infamy from talking to them myself after many of Fen’s failed attempts. We do
find some quests, but they are only small collection quests and monster
exterminations. Fen lacks the delicacy in talking to NPCs to find any quests more
intricate than those.

Just as I was about to
give up and return to our meeting point, a strange quest is prompted to us by a
library NPC.

Fen turns to look at me
and I give her a massive thumbs up, signaling for her to accept the quest.

I’m not sure on how the
game system values Companions and how much they are capable of, but being able
to accept quests is a massive aid to me.

Fen and I return to a
central area where Verde and Sir Laurence have just logged back on. They both
have troubled expressions as they recount the small and useless amount of
information they found on the internet. There are countless notes on enemies,
hunting grounds, dungeons and any infamous player killers who have made someone
angry enough to post information about, but there is nearly no knowledge
relevant to what we need.

Contrary to that, I
happily invite them back into the party and share the quest Fen accepted for
us. Verde smiles wryly after realizing I had Fen find and accept the quest
because I couldn’t, but we all prepare to set off and complete it.

I go through a small local
market of players selling herbs and other ingredients they have collected,
purchasing items I need for creating meals and replenishing any of my stores
that are running low. I still had a dozen gold coins after handing everything I
could spare over to CaptainGordon, so I have more than enough money for my
shopping.