Civilization

"Interesting. INTERESTING! CASPER! This girl thinks she can bargain with me. HAHAHA!! Interesting. Girl, you say all these things, and you call yourself a player but what value is that to me? Just because I know you are a player, why would I want you with me?" - Horde

"Simple. There is an information network, called the internet, which all players use to communicate and share information. If you allow me to stay with you, I will do my best to relay any information that you might need. Some information will involve movement in the North, whereas other information might include the other 4 territories. There is a lot of information on the internet just waiting to be discovered." - Nina

"Hmm… Casper, look into this girl. I am interested to see what she can bring for us and what kind of information there is on this internet." - Horde

"Yes, my lord. What about the apostle of Ares?" - Casper

"Do what you want with her, I couldn't care less. Just make sure that Ares doesn't do anything to us. I don't want to fight another god anytime soon. Leave now." - Horde

"Yes, my lord. Luke, we will be taking these two to a guest room. Follow me." - Casper

"Of course, Casper." - Luke

Picking Sylvia up, Luke pushes her forward following Casper who strides away quickly. Making sure I don't get left behind, I speed up so that I am right next to Luke. Wanting to make conversation with him, I turn to look at him only to see him place a finger to his lips, signally for me to be quiet. Nodding in acknowledgment, I turn to the front, looking at Casper's back.

We walk through a giant door, and down a corridor, trying to look at the surroundings as much as possible, but it seems there is a veil of some sort blocking every window I walk past. Instead of looking through it and seeing the scenery, I see a spiral of colors, blocking any chance of me gathering information on the location of the Horde.

After a long walk with a couple of twists and turns, we arrive at a small wooden door with a solid metal lock. Casper urges us inside, and I was half expecting a dirty straw bed, but to my surprise, there were two white mattresses with a wooden frame and a small wooden table separating the beds. On top of the wooden table is a clay pot with a bundle of flowers in various colors.

There are also a couple of oil-based torches lighting up the room, with a nice maroon rug in the middle, covering up the stone floor. Blinking at the scene, I turn to Luke who was equally surprised, and then to Casper who was showing a slight side smirk. Sylvia, however, showed only anger as throughout the journey Luke had hit her head whenever she was about to speak.

"Casper, what is with this room?" - Nina

"Is it not to your liking? I would have thought you would prefer to have company during your stay. I have allowed the apostle of Ares to stay with you, but if your preference is to have a room to yourself, I can also make arrangements." - Casper

"No, no, no. I was just confused when I saw how pleasant this room looked. I kind of assumed I was going to be living in a dirty jail cell…" - Nina

"That would have been the case if my lord didn't like you. I wouldn't even hesitate to drop the both of you into a ditch. However, it seems you are lucky, and I have no choice but to follow my orders." - Casper

Pushing us inside, Casper turns around with Luke, about to leave the room when Sylvia stops them by yelling out.

"What do you want with me, Casper? I know, that there is a reason that I am still alive." - Sylvia

"At the moment, I can't tell you, but I bet you can already guess why though. I also want you alive so that Luke doesn't disobey me anymore. Look at him, he is like a goblin now. Unable to harm its master. HAHAHA!" - Casper

Closing the door behind him, Casper leaves the room. His laughter echoes in the corridor behind as a loud click sound resonate through. Sylvia rushes to the door, rattling the handle, only for the door to not budge. Stepping back, her right fist gathers the fire elements in the air, and with a short burst of energy, she pounces forth slamming her fist against the door. The flames burst out to the sides riding along the door frame as a blue coating protects the door.

It ripples out from the impact site of Sylvia's fist. Retracting her fist, she sees that there was no damage done. Shaking in anger, she proceeds to attack the door over and over again. Yelling and shouting out Luke's name as she beats at the wall. Ripples bounce around the room continuously, and shrugging my shoulders I walk over to the bed and jump onto the mattress.

Its soft bedding reminded me of my own bed before I moved to Sam's place. Not too soft and not too hard. It is time to collect my thoughts, after all, so much has happened in such a small amount of time.

Let's start with what happened with the short talk with the Horde. He is interested in players but not the same as Casper. Casper seems to be interested in players as if they were toys, experimenting with their so-called revivability which is just us respawning the next day.  Wait, how do they even know about players in the first place?

Did the people they killed talk about the real world? Or is it their AI progressing further because of all the player interaction? Then how much do they know? Other than what I have said are they hiding information about other things? What about my existence then, won't they kill me the moment I am useless?

No, let's just tell him some random information online. The internet is useful for bad information, plus I can sneak in some useful information every so often about Bones's movement. With them in the North, information about them will always be useful no matter how trivial. I also had my fair share of fights with them and I can use that to tell the potential places where Bones has set up villages.

"Nina." - Sylvia

"I need to make sure I am useful-" - Nina

"NINA!" - Sylvia

"Huh? What? What's wrong, Sylvia?" - Nina

"I've been talking to you the whole time, but you have been lost in your thoughts. You do this all the time, do you think you can listen to what I am saying now?" - Sylvia

"Sorry, yes, what were you saying?" - Nina

"I'm saying we need to get out of here as soon as possible. There is no telling what they are going to do to us, and I don't want to just be stuck here any longer than I have to be. I'm sure they have lots of nasty things in store for us and LUKE! Doesn't seem like he is of any use. That coward has given his life and soul to the very beings that took him away.

I bet if Ian was here we would be attacking them straight away and Luke would be right next to us fighting alongside us, but no. He is with the enemy, and we are trapped in a cell. The door has some sort of magic barrier and no matter how hard I hit it, it doesn't seem to want to break for me. What's more, I feel like we are being watched right now. Something in these walls I can feel a presence. I just don't know what it is." - Sylvia

"Well, in my opinion, I think it is better for us to stay. While it may look like we are trapped in a cell, we are actually better off than most other prisoners. Plus, now you know that Luke is safe." - Nina

"I don't care about him anymore. That guy should have died before if this was how he was going to turn out." - Sylvia

"Don't say that. I know you were worrying about where and what Luke was doing the whole time you were with me. There is no denying your feelings for him." - Nina

"Then, why did he do all that? He left me, hurt me. He was following the orders of Casper and the Horde instead of helping me. In that dark space, I-I-I was so angry. I was screaming, and yelling but no sound came out. Tears were streaming down my face, and I just felt so lost…

Then I came out of that darkness, and my head was pressed to the face by Luke. I was shaking, Nina. I… I don't know what to do. I just want to get out of here." - Sylvia

"Sylvia, Luke is doing his best to protect you. I'm sure there is a reason for his actions. When we were walking to this place, I could see him, slowly moving you away from Casper. It is a subtle movement, but he is doing his best. Plus, there is so much more he can do for us, know that he knows we are near him." - Nina

"She is right you know. Love knows no bounds…" - ???

A voice enters our ears. Above us, in the shadows, a figure descends. I couldn't move, after all, it was someone Ian has told me about. The one who gave him the curse mark. The Queen of Spiders, Selino.