PART II
Ana Raknid
When she finally had the wrappings removed and she had been able open her eyes for the first time the light filtering through her window was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Now she hated it, that light fell on fell on her mirror. The mirror was a curse. It wasn’t really the mirror’s fault, it was what the mirror showed. The image she saw was a stranger.
The doctors had all been very self congratulatory as they told Ana how their skill had saved her eye and most of her functions. She was thankful to be alive, thrilled that she could she see. The doctors hadn’t been able to fix a cut nerve that left half her face frozen. The stranger in the mirror, with half a doll's face, was a constant judge and jury finding her guilty of doing something stupid. The stranger was also executioner of the sentence, right now she wasn’t sure she could do the time.She spoke with a women at the hospital, who told her it wasn’t her fault.and though there was a stranger in her mirror, Ana was still there. Both arguments sounded hollow. She signed a rolled towards her wall trying to shut out her window, mirror and her thoughts.
There was a knock on her door.
“Ana?”
It was her Mom.
“Ana, You have a visitor. Jenny’s here. Do you want to see her? I can have her wait downstairs if you need to get ready, clean up maybe?”
“I’m okay Mom, send her up please.”
“Maybe you guys can go to the mall or something.”
“Okay Mom.”
“It’s just you haven’t been out of the house for a while. Why not go for a walk in the park”
“Mom!”
“Alright sweetie, I’ll go get your friend.”
“Love you, Mom.”
Ana got up and made her bed. She ran her fingers through her hair then twisted into a ponytail. When the door opened, They squealed and hugged each other then sat on Ana’s bed. “Did she ask you to get me out of the house?”
“Yeah she told me she would give me fifty dollars to go shopping.”
“Just fifty? I would have thought that she’d be offering more.”
They laughed at this. Then the silence hung.
“I’m sorry Jenny, I’m not good company I’m afraid.”
“No, no, no. You’re fine. I’m just so happy to see you looking so good. So uh, I did take that money from your Mom, so we really should go do something.”
“Look, Jenny, I want to. I just can’t. Please understand?”
“I know you can wear sunglasses and a hoodie, It will be like you’re a celebrity.”
“That’s not it.”
“What do you mean?”
“When they first took off my bandages I was so scared that people would stare at me. They didn’t, no one seemed to notice me at all. It’s creepy, maybe i'm losing my mind. I remember people talking, there was always noise. But when I go out now, it’s so quiet, all I can hear is people breathing. No one even looks at each other, they’re just blank like zombies.”
“Oh no honey, that’s AntruA.”
“What is AntruA?”
Saying the word triggered something in Ana’s memory, Something on TV the day of her accident. She couldn’t remember what it was, she just remembered that it had seemed gross and creepy.
“...so pretty and so blue. There are forest and flowers and rivers. You can’t imagine how big it is. You can do whatever you want, lots of people fight, I mostly explore. There hidden boxes, they have money and other prizes. That’s what we should do. Let’s go get you TAPed, maybe smoothies too. What do you say?”
“I think I saw something on TV about this before my accident. It sounded like a video game. I guess we should go, does it hurt?”
“No it doesn’t hurt. Look how small it is?” Jenny turned her back to Ana and pulled her hair up and to the side. Nestled at the very edge of Jenny’s hairline was a little silver disk smaller than an eraser on a pencil. When she let her hair fall it was completely hidden. “I’m so excited you are just going to love AntruA.”
They never got the smoothies. Jenny’s excitement was bubbly and infectious. Knowing that everyone was playing this game made it easier to go out. The procedure, if you could call it that, was over before Ana thought it started. Once out of the chair Jenny took her by the hand and walked her to a park bench. “Oh Ana, I’m so excited for you. I remember my first time. Close your eyes go straight to AntruA. Don’t worry about anything, I’m setting a proximity alert so if anyone come within twenty meters I can monitor them if they start to come closer I get pulled completely out of the game. Ok?”
“Um, yeah why not.”
“When you finish creating your character, let me know your name and I’ll come find you. I’ll be the fairy named BuTTherKup.” Jenny’s eyes had closed before she had finished speaking.
Ana watched her for a moment, Then taking a deep breath she obeyed the small writing hanging at the edge of her vision, she closed her eyes. Quickly she was able to find the AntruA app and the door in the arch of the R was before her. At first she tried to take in the whole room, but it was too much. She touched the cool marble in aw. Movement caught her eye, she turned and looked at the tapestries. The first figure that stood out was in the top left corner of the Rogues and Rangers tapestry; the Assassin.
Not really having a plan she picked that, using her own image for the template. She then found a picture of herself the day before the accident, without looking at it she uploaded it on to the character. She looked at it. Suddenly she was so angry, like stepping into a cold shower, her rage was so cold it burned. She deleted the photo, still her rage burned. One of the tapestries had many faces on display. most of them were pretty. In her anger Ana didn’t want her character to be pretty, she started to look at non human faces. Quickly she dismissed the humanoid and mammalian races, briefly considered something insectoid but knew her search was over as soon as she saw a spider head.
A spider's head on her body really creeped her out it was perfect. Her rage still burned, but in some sick way looking at her perfect form disfigured was helping. She started to look at clothing options, but thinking about fashion brought her rage back. She flung first one big swath of cloth at the body, then she flung more unleashing her rage at the figure. She only stopped when her arms were tired. Struggling to catch her breath she looked up to discover that the effect was captivating. The cloth was diasporus, dropping alluring hints as to the body it covered. A veil or maybe it was may veils completely covered the spiders face. She loved it.
She quickly picked a simple short sword for her weapon, that she could conceal it at her waist sealed it for her. Now the only choice to make was the name. Looking at the character she had just created, she felt her rage shift from the the character to the world that seemed so hard. Going with the first thing that came to mind she wrote in BrokenBeauty. That wasn't quite right, so she played around with it. She settled on BeAutyBrokEn. Ana wasn’t sure what it meant but it worked for her so she locked it in.
She watch, feeling like an observer as BeAutyBrokEn steps through the tapestry and without ceremony stabbed Ana in the chest. Maybe she should have felt something. However BeAutyBrokEn felt nothing. When the body stood back up, she felt anger. Unlike the rage which had burned hot, this anger was cold. Cold, sharp and deadly. Ana attacked, BeAutyBrokEn found she could only defend, she was struggling to do that. As suddenly as the attack had started it stopped.
“Quickly pick a skill and it better be a good one,” half of Ana’s face was frozen in an angry sneer.
BeAutyBrokEn looked at the scroll before her, she paused. The world seemed bigger, maybe not bigger she could just see more. Two eyes were looking at a blank scroll, two other eyes were looking at Zombie Ana. A few other covered the rest of the room. Eight eyes! Spider eyes, just like that she knew what her skill would be, using her finger she wrote on the scroll. Done she stepped away from the pedestal as it retracted into the floor.
Zombie Ana attacked, viciously hacking with her short sword. With her left hand holding her sword BeAutyBrokEn kept the attack at bay. With right hand she was trying her skill for the first time. From one of the many layers of cloth that made up her clothing she found a thread. Pulling it to gain some slack, she side stepped a wild chop and threw the thread. It struck Zombie Ana in the shoulder and stuck. She threw more, keeping away from Zombie Ana’s sword arm, slowing circling her nemesis. With maybe fifteen threads hanging off her Zombie Ana screeched and tried to leap at BeAutyBrokEn, who had been waiting for this moment. She jerked her hands up and the slack from the threads, most of which was lying twisted on the floor, snapped tight. In an undignified bundle of limbs Zombie Ana crashed to the floor. One leg, the only limb free to move, kicked feebly. BeAutyBrokEn felt the anger flare up, bright, sharp and cold. With the short sword she stabbed once, twice, the leg stopped kicking then the body slowly faded into nothing.
The light in the room had faded, two eyes focused on a bright light behind the torn tapestry. Without hesitation she walked through the light and found herself Outside. She closed her eyes and felt the sun, the light breeze. When she opened her eyes it was almost too much. There were no walls, just trees and grass. The Sun was high in the sky, it was so bright she had never seen anything like it. An eye saw a sign.
AntruA
Nearest Town
She wasn’t sure what she had thought she would see, this wasn’t what she expected. Four clean walls, one door, one desk, no windows. A woman behind the desk smiled and gestured her over. As she moved to the desk three eyes focused on the woman.
6ig6a6y
Level 2
Wallet-5AU
She was big, with thick legs and wide shoulders. Framed in raven black hair, her face, olive skin, pretty was dominated by a prodigious nose. Her smile was beautiful and warm. “Hello, welcome to AntruA. You can call me Baby.”
“Thanks Baby.” BeAutyBrokEn said trying out her voice for the first time. She was pleased, it was soft and sultry, with a few faint clicks. “Call me Beauty, can I ask you a question?”
“Oh Yes! Ask me anything. That’s what I’m here for. It is my job to help you get started in this incredible world. So please ask your question,” 6ig6a6y said smiling.
That smile again, so open and trustworthy, it was starting to creep BeAutyBrokEn out. “Ok, Thanks. What is a wallet, I mean why is it so important that its listed with your name and level?”
“That’s a good question. The AUs in your wallet can be looted off your body if you’re defeated. The more money in your wallet the bigger the target you are. It’s mostly a way for you to show how good you think you are.”
“Why are AUs so important?”
“It’s real money! at first it was pegged to USD, now it’s a one AU is equal to a dollar and a quarter. I caution you, don’t get cocky after a few fights and put more money in your wallet than you can afford to lose. You can make pretty good money, either by taking it or by crafting and selling equipment. Here take this brochure, It will set up your accounts, do that and you’ll be ready to go! Please let me know if you have any other questions.”
“Here I am!” BuTTherKup was striding across the room, Wrapped around her hips was a skirt made of reeds woven with red, black, and yellow threads. The patterns the threads created were complex, holding the reeds together keeping her modest, below the threads the reeds swung with the rhythm of her walk. Her shirt was a simple cotton sleeveless T shirt, Three beaded necklaces, of red, black, and yellow hung from her neck. Exaggerated dimples brightened her smile under a shiny shaved head. Across her shoulders she carried a massive war hammer the three colors once again represented in the form of ribbons wrapped around and hanging off of the long handle. “Hurry up and finish with your accounts, I am so ready to get out there!” She said as she reached them.
Quickly skimming the brochure, BeAutyBrokEn did just that and handed it back to 6ig6a6y. “Thanks,” she said.
“Sure, no problem.” 6ig6a6y said, she paused, then continued when they started to turn away. “Wait one moment, there is one last thing I feel I should tell you, seeing as you’re both level one.” She turned to BuTTherKup, “You’ve been here before right? Have you heard of Tokens?”
“I think so,” BuTTherKup thought for a moment, “I heard some people talking about Tokening.”
“They’re connected. The first time you level up you get a Token. Like a coin, it contains all your information. Remember I told you that anything you put in your wallet can be looted?” This was directed at BeAutyBrokEn, “your Token can also be looted, and this is bad. Very Bad, you do not want someone to do it to you. I don’t think you should do it, actually I think it could be the evilest thing you can do in this game. A Tokened character is deleted, removed from AntruA completely. The problem is the only to gain experience is if you have your Token in your wallet when you defeat someone. You can tell if someone has Tokened anyone, which can help you avoid fighting them. They will all have a Trophy. it could be a nose necklace, or an ear belt, it could be anything like that. I like you guys I hope you have fun out there. Good Luck!”
BeAutyBrokEn was about to say something in reply when she saw the necklace hanging around 6ig6a6y’s neck. It was the small bauble that hung on a thin chain that scared her. The bauble was a small jar holding a lock of brown hair. 6ig6a6y, seeing the look on her face burst out laughing. “Don’t worry sweetheart, now you know. I won't attack you if you don’t attack me.”
BuTTherKup seemed like she was about to say something, BeAutyBrokEn didn’t want that. Grabbing her friend by the arm, with a word of thanks thrown over her shoulder they exited out into the street overflowing with vibrant characters. Seeing the Trophy had given BeAutyBrokEn a jolt, now she knew that couldn’t just explore with her friend. She felt called to mission, she must get strong, then she would hide in the shadows and go after those who pick on the weak, Token those who Token other. This was what the anger wanted. She couldn’t fix the injustice of one mistake, she would take that out on those who chose to hurt others. Really, she acknowledged she just wanted to hurt someone.
