Chapter 7 - A Full Fledged Assault (for the good of Valhalla and the other world)
It was nothing short of carnage, a very clean one without blood or death. It was more like a graceful ballet performed by a surreal warrior. From behind her golden armor, while yielding an unbreakable spear and a large roman shield, Cleopatra was teaching me a valuable lesson about trust.
After having had some serious reservations about this overly simplistic plan, a frontal attack on that populous town ruled by the infamous Queen of Valhalla, the Sun warrior, who had incessantly repeated that she couldn't be defeated, demonstrated that she truly was an anomaly within the game.
There was no commonality between Cleo and everybody else, myself included. It didn't matter if the wolf warriors attacked her as a pack, if they attempted to hit her with a sword, tried hand-to-hand combat, or threw spears and arrows at her; she could see everything and countered everything… effortlessly.
I stayed close to her because I didn't have any power or abilities to protect myself. All I knew was how to cut trees and have shameless sex with my AI companions. Without Cleopatra, it would be game over in a flash.
So why?
Why was she so strong? How did this game make sense? My game was supposed to be a solo one, at least that was the setting I had chosen when I launched it, so the devastation my unique character generated in this world would, at the worst, take all the challenges out of the adventure. But if the Sun warrior's birth had occurred in a multiplayer game, how could it have been fair? In the hand of a heartless player, this warrior would have destroyed everybody on its path, ruining the players' experience.
As much as I admired Cleopatra and was in awe every time she performed an amazing move or cast a spell using her golden shield, she was one suspicious lioness.
What was her real purpose?
Slam!
"Yaaargh!"
Another wolf warrior tasted her medicine. That one wouldn't get back to her feet for a while. That shield bash in her face was quite powerful.
"Cleo! Don't kill them!"
"I'm not. But they are… delicate."
"Exactly, so be careful."
"Yes."
And just as she said that, a blinding beam of yellow light came down from the sky, hit Cleo directly, charging her, and then three consecutive sparkling shockwaves emanated from her body, knocking everybody around her off their feet. I remained unaffected as if she had the ability to select her targets.
With all the cute wolf-warriors sitting around us in the snow, moaning because of the beating they had endured for the past thirty minutes, it was time to consider making some progress. We could play with them all day long, but we were here for only one reason…
Aisha…
It was nothing less than a gut feeling, but if there was a chance that she was a real person like me and that she was in trouble, I needed to do something about it. And since I had the best tool at my disposition, our reckless assault was the best way to get some quick answers.
As a matter of fact, while Cleo amorously played with her new friends, I was busy looking around to get ideas for our next steps. There sure were a lot of wolf warriors, but none of them looked like Aisha, even the one who had black skin like hers. Despite her bad attitude, Aisha had way more charisma and more attractive features. Even if our first and only encounter was not a friendly one, I couldn't do anything other than admit that she was one hot chick. And that hotness separating her from the others was just another clue that she might have been different, perhaps real. Maybe she had customized her character to look that way? To look like her real self? Could such beauty with night-like skin exist in the real world?
I let a sigh out. Dive had really messed up with my brain. After spending weeks in this virtual world, I quickly learned to love women. How many times did I have sex with Nam already? Countless times… Every time I could, in fact. It was part of why I loved it so much here. Despite the snow and cold weather, this chance I had to be sexual with the cutest women I ever met was what kept me here the most… It was embarrassing to admit it, but it was the truth.
Why did I change so quickly? Was it because I was, perhaps, a closeted lesbian in real life, and Dive just pushed me in a direction I liked because I was dumb enough to launch that game with random settings. It was plausible. After all, my love life with guys had never been exciting. Maybe I would be happier if I had a girl like Nam in real life. Who knew? At some point, I would have to figure that one out. But one thing was sure; I wouldn't mind exploring this new type of relationship.
All that to say, Aisha wasn't around, not part of the fray, which matched the story that our little deer and mushroom stew-loaded sex slave, Lafia, had told us. Aisha had vanished, possibly being kept prisoner in the dungeon by the evil Queen of Valhalla. And that dungeon would be in the castle's basement.
So, after spanking a collection of wolf butts, our second objective should be to find a way to lift the metal gate separating us from the castle.
Conveniently, one of the wolf warriors, who had just met Cleopatra intimately, landed on her back at my feet, rubbing her bruised forehead. Her small wolf hat had flown away under the impact.
"Oooww!"
"Well… You just had to not attack us."
"Our Queen asked us to."
"Well… Can't you think on your own?"
"I don't think so."
"Well… You should have. So now, how do we open that gate?"
"The gate?"
"Yes, the big and castlely metal door. We need to get in."
"I don't know. Only the Queen can open it."
"Uh? What? What kind of Queen is that? Is she not supposed to sit on her throne and eat grapes or something?"
"…"
"Wait… that might have been the Romans who did that… Nevermind. So, how do we get in, then?"
"You… can't?"
I pinched the bridge of my nose, as I often did after having a useless conversation with Nam. No matter who they worked for, those AI were not very helpful outside their assigned roles. Nam, even though she was the most versatile of my helpers, had trouble holding a rational conversation, Aria, a professional hunter-gatherer, had no issue killing a deer with a rock but was unable to create her own tools, and then Cleopatra, capable of defeating an entire enemy faction and calling upon the Sun to cast some powerful spell, had no idea how to cut a tree. Operating and getting results in this world was certainly challenging.
"Cleo! Come here when you have a second. We have a problem."
"Yes… On my way. They seem to have lost their fighting spirit, somehow."
Indeed. Half of the wolf warriors were now unconscious or pretended to be, while the remaining ones backed off or simply ran away, having depleted their courage reserves after facing the ferocious and undefeatable Sun warrior.
Cleo walked toward me, nonchalantly dragging one of the remaining girls by the ankle, which made me shake my head.
"Cleo. How many times do I have to tell you? They are not toys."
"I may keep this one as a trophy."
"CLEO! No! They aren't trophies either. Let her go and help me figure out how to get in the castle instead. That one over there said that only the Queen could open the gate. She probably locked her warriors out, so she didn't have to face us herself. Coward."
"I don't know anything about gates."
"I don't know either. Can't you use your spear as a lever or something?"
"No. It's a spear, not a lever."
"Arrrr!"
As predicted, it was very clear that Cleo wouldn't be able to help with this. This situation was annoying, though. We were so close to our goal, but this giant stone wall surrounding the big castle was too tall for us to climb, and this gate seemed to be our only hope to get in. But it was closed, heavy, and cold. What was I supposed to do? This obstacle wasn't part of our plan.
I wrapped my fingers around the steel bars and gave them a pointless yank.
"Heeey! Open up! We just want to talk! Well… Kind of…"
To my biggest surprise, the heavy gate trembled and began to rise. I quickly stepped back and hid behind Cleo.
"Congratulations, Evelyn. You opened the gate."
"I… I didn't do anything…"
"Shall we go in?"
"I guess… But let's be careful. If she lets us in, it might be a trap."
Following my human shield, or my lioness shield rather, I passed under the still rising gate, fearing that it would fall back on us. Fortunately, that didn't happen, and we were on our way to the castle's main entrance located at the end of the short path and a few stone steps. At least these two enormous wooden doors were already open. I wasn't too sure if it was a good thing or not to see that the Queen of Valhalla had decided not to fight us anymore, but I much preferred this to the opposite.
Cleo and I entered the castle, and this first giant space was actually the throne room. I couldn't help but think that it would be nice to be the owner of such a nice building. Once I would return to my wooden cabin later, I would probably feel more ambitious.
But for now, we had bigger fish to fry. At the far end of the long red carpet covering the white marble floor, sitting comfortably on the throne with a naked leg over the armrest, was one sexy lady wearing a wolf mask that hid her upper face.
It was clearly the Queen herself, and it was obvious that she didn't fear our presence.
Why such confidence? If I were a mean person, I could simply order Cleo to murder her. That would be a quick way to end the drama. Perhaps getting rid of her would even make me the new Queen of Valhalla? But maybe it was not necessary. Did I really have an interest in obtaining a fully established realm without putting any effort into it? That would pretty much defeat the purpose of the game.
In any case, it wouldn't hurt to speak with the woman who had poisoned my game, if only to understand better what was going on. Cleo and I stopped at a short distance from the throne. There were a few more of those cute female wolf warriors on our left and right, but their swords and shields weren't drawn, so we didn't feel in immediate danger. Anyway, what could they even do to stop us?
"Hey! Are you the Queen of Valhalla?"
So far, she had not looked directly at us, as if we were not important to her, but after my question, she slowly turned her gaze to me and developed a little devious smile as if what I said had flattered her the right way.
"Glad to see that you recognize me as your true ruler. That was effortless."
"Uh? No! Not at all. I don't even know who you are."
"As you so perfectly mentioned, I'm the Queen of Valhalla. Now bow before me."
"As if! We just kicked a ton of small wolf butts. Did you really think I came here to submit?"
"Mmm… That's unfortunate, then. State your business."
"Well, we don't want trouble. We came here to talk to Aisha. Where is she? She wasn't on the battleground outside."
"Aisha? Interesting. I haven't seen her in a while either."
Okay, coming from the ruler of everything and everybody, that was on the weird side. How could she not be aware of Aisha's whereabouts after the failed attack on my camp, her head warrior? It didn't make much sense unless, as per my theory, Aisha was a real person and had logged out of the game without telling anybody. However, from the information I had gathered from Lafia, this last supposition was unlikely.
So I used my infinite social skills to get some answers.
"Don't be an idiot! I'm sure you know where she is! Tell me now!"
As soon as I vomited my insult at the Queen, all the wolf warriors drew their swords and adopted an aggressive stance, ready to slice my head off for having been so rude to their leader.
But, conveniently, Cleopatra was here with me, and when she slammed her big metal shield on the hard floor, making it resonate loudly in the echoey chamber, they all stepped back, fearing to get hurt by something they knew was undefeatable. I sure loved my lioness friend.
The Queen, however, didn't carry the same fear. Instead, she just smiled and got off her seat, making sure to expose her sexy legs as she did so. Did she have the intention of charming me? Because that wasn't quite working.
She walked down the few steps separating her from us and approached me, non-menacingly. I had to admit that this person had quite a charisma, making me wonder if she could be a player too. When she placed her hand on my cheek, Cleo came close to smashing it with her spear, but I put my arm out to prevent her from doing so. I didn't really feel threatened and was curious to learn more about this psychopath Queen. If we were to break her arm before getting any information, she would unlikely cooperate with us.
Her eyes were definitely pretty.
"You are brave…"
"Evelyn. My name is Evelyn."
"You are brave, Evelyn. I admire that."
"I don't care. Can you just tell me where Aisha is so I can talk to her and get out of here without causing you any more trouble?"
"Why do you want to see her?"
"None of your business."
"You come to my village, you attack my soldiers, you force your way into my castle, and demand things without offering anything in return? That is not very polite."
"… You did the same, remember?"
"… You built a village on my land. I was protecting it."
"It's not your land. Valhalla is my world, not yours."
"And how could this be if I were here way before you even arrived?"
"…"
Oh, that was a good question, actually, and I didn't have a good answer. If this Queen was an AI, it was unlikely that she would understand that all of this was just a messed-up virtual reality game. On my side, how was I supposed to know if Dive placed me inside an existing world or if it had created a fresh one with some challenging elements added, like bad weather and an AI faction against which I would have to fight.
Before I could provide a clumsy answer to her tough question, the Queen surprised me with something I had not expected. She turned heels and headed toward one of the side doors.
"Follow me. I will give you what you are looking for. Everybody, sheath your swords."
"…"
As all the wolf warriors noisily returned their weapons to their hips, Cleo and I briefly looked at each other before following our improbable guide. I didn't know about Cleo, but I was pretty nervous on my side. Was the Queen about to show us her… dungeon? Based on my weak knowledge, it was Aisha's probable location.
What would we find in there? A dead body?
I didn't want that. I didn't like dead bodies. They were scary.
We followed a long hallway for a while until we reached an old-looking metal door reinforced with cast iron metal bands and hinges. It was clearly not a bedroom door. Whatever was behind it, this door wasn't designed to let it out.
The Queen slid her finger on her forearm and navigated her menu until we heard a loud metal noise from within the door lock. That was convenient, but it was also a bit frightening. I had no idea I could control access to my buildings that way and limit some rooms to certain people. Thinking that this Queen could be the only one having access to this potential dungeon sent a shiver down my spine.
How many prisoners did she have? As she implied earlier, did she throw them in there and forget about them? I knew that virtual food was a requirement in this game, except for Cleo, but Cleo wasn't normal, so her inmates wouldn't live forever if they weren't well taken care of.
I didn't feel like chatting. I was too distracted wondering what we would find behind that door, and when I saw that it directly led to a narrow stone staircase after the Queen stepped aside, my guts turned into a knot.
"Go right ahead. You'll find Aisha somewhere down there."
"No way. I'm not stupid. You come with us. I don't want to end up locked up in your creepy basement."
"I wouldn't dare."
"Yes, you would. Come on. Go first!"
Seeing this mysterious and graceful lady, dressed elegantly in a long black silk dress and confidently heading down into a dark staircase, was pretty strange. It was as fitting as clashing. One striking thing about Dive was that it was always clean. There was no dust or spiderwebs anywhere. If it had been the case, I would have certainly cringed a bit more while watching the bottom of her fancy robe dragging on the stone steps.
As we made our way down, something made me even more uncomfortable.
"Hey, don't you have a torch or something? I can't see anything…"
"Oh? Can't you see in the dark?"
"… No…"
"How unfortunate for you…"
Clearly, she didn't care and was even happy about it. Was night vision an ability I had not yet acquired?
"Cleo? Can you see in the dark too?"
"Of course."
"Urgh! So, I'm the only one here who can't see in the dark?"
"It appears so."
"Urgh!"
Well, that was just great. How was I supposed to follow my enemy if I couldn't see shit? I grabbed Cleo's arm to make sure I wouldn't get lost. But almost immediately after that, my life suddenly got much easier. A warm golden glow began to illuminate the narrow staircase and the upcoming room at its bottom. Where did this light come from all of a sudden? Even the Queen seemed to wonder the same thing. I looked around but saw no apparent source. No torch, no lightbulbs, no windows…
But then I looked at Cleopatra, and she looked particularly… shiny.
"Uh? Cleo? Are you… emitting… light?"
"I'm the Sun warrior."
"…"
She was! Her entire body and armor shone just for me. That was nice, almost romantic. I didn't ask her to do this, yet, she took upon herself to do this for me, even if it didn't involve kicking someone else's butt.
Even the Queen of the bitches turned around to observe Cleo as if this unplanned action had altered one of her potential plans to counter our undesirable presence. Seeing her, pausing for a moment, made me realize that we might have been in more trouble than we thought. This wolf-lady was undoubtedly in an ongoing quest to concoct a strategy that would prevent us from achieving our goal.
"Your warrior is surprisingly resourceful, Evelyn."
"Cleo is the best. But who cares… Just lead us to Aisha, and don't try anything funny."
"I would remind you that you are the attackers here. Not me."
"You started this fight. Not me."
"You constructed a town on my land."
"It's my land."
"…"
"…"
I was pretty sure she didn't like me. The way she stared at me before turning around and continuing her way down to the dungeon was not very reassuring. Only Cleo seemed not to worry about anything. She even looked bored to some extent. The way she scratched her cheek with the edge of her shield showed that she didn't care about the bigger picture. More than ever, I was glad she was on my side. It was like nothing bad could happen to me as long as I had her around me.
The Queen of Valhalla led us to what appeared to be an underground prison. There were cells on our left and right, some made of steel bars, some had a big wooden door, and all of them were seemingly empty. It looked like a dungeon, but the absence of any evil devices or tortured people reduced the ambiance's creepiness considerably. But at the same time, if Aisha really were around here, then the creepiness level would skyrocket because it would mean that she was all alone here, unable to escape, and without a light source, unless she could see in the dark too, that is. If she were indeed a real player stuck down here, who knew what it could do to her real brain.
"Where is Aisha? There is nobody here."
"We are not there yet. Aisha is precious to me, so I gave her the best room in the castle."
"That sounded an awful lot like sarcasm."
"Because it was… Ah, here… We've arrived."
"Uh? It's a dead end. Where is Aisha?"
"Somewhere… safe."
"…"
Smirking incessantly, as if the truth she knew was greatly entertaining, the Queen placed her hand on a stone wall and pushed lightly on it until it cracked open. I couldn't believe my eyes; a perfectly concealed door leading to another spiral staircase. How much deeper did this basement go? And why? If the dungeon population was zero, what would be the purpose of creating an extra room below it?
Without looking back at us, the wolf Queen walked through the narrow doorway and continued her way down. Even if I wasn't too claustrophobic, I didn't think I would have been able to follow her if Cleopatra had not been with me with her distant look on her face. If she felt safe, I suppose I should too.
That spiral was long… very long. I wondered how deep under the castle we were now. The deeper we got, the more my concerns for Aisha grew. Why would she stay in a room this deep underground? She had to be a prisoner.
We finally reached the bottom of the bottom, another small hallway.
"Where… where are we?"
"A special room for my favorite subjects."
"Stop being cryptic. Where is Aisha?"
"Just over there, in her room."
The Queen pointed her slender finger at a small metal door, not even as tall as my waist. Was this even a door? It was secured with some heavy padlocks.
"What… What is this? Is Aisha in there?"
"Maybe. It's been a while. I think that's where I put her."
"…"
"Would you like to check it out?"
"…"
She slid her hand on her forearm to open her menu and pressed some buttons until the big padlocks clicked open loudly.
"Cleo… Stay with her… Make sure she doesn't try anything funny."
"What if she does?"
"Oh… hum… Knock her unconscious or something… You are good at that."
"I am. I am the Sun warrior."
"Yes… I know that. Alright. I'll go check this thing out. It's creepy."
As I walked away from Cleo and the Queen, it quickly got darker as Cleo's glow got distant. I crouched in front of the small door and placed my hand on it. The heavy metal was quite warm, warmer than it should have been at the bottom of this dungeon. One by one, I opened and removed the big padlocks, put them aside, and then opened the latches.
I pulled the door open, making it squeak.
"…"
What was this? What was I looking at? I really had a hard time figuring it out; skin, limbs, slippery limbs… laborious breathing.
Moans?
Compacted inside the very small room was an undetermined number of women, naked and hooded. There was no space for them to move. What was this? How cruel was this punishment? In a room barely big enough to hold one person, they were at least three. Two had creamy white skin, and the other had satin black skin, dark like the night sky.
And their hands… their fingers… They were buried deep in each other's crotches and squeezed each other's boobs. Were they… pleasuring each other?
The Queen's voice pulled me out of my puzzlement.
"Don't think for one second that they are not enjoying themselves. They've been there for weeks and haven't complained one bit."
I ran my hand on one of the girl's leather-covered heads. How could they have complained? Here, so deep underground, blind and mute, compacted on each other in a small stone room, locked behind a heavy metal door.
The most extreme isolation.
I grabbed one of the girls' sweaty wrists and began pulling on her. She was stuck, entwined in her friend's limbs. She had no idea about what was going on. It took some work to extract her from her predicament. I did the same with the other white girl and made her sit next to her friend. Before I could do anything about it, they both restarted fondling each other's naked boobs, as if this extra room for movement had been something they had been waiting for for a long time. Even though it was an odd feeling to witness that, seeing them well and alive was a relief.
Next, I reached inside the room for the black girl, more than likely Aisha. With a perfect body like hers, I was pretty sure we had the right person.
She crawled out, grabbing onto me to get to her feet. Her hood was tight and only had two holes for her nostrils, barely allowing her to breathe. Her metal panties were hard to miss too, but they were not like mine. Hers looked much more like a chastity belt. Was she stuck in there with two horny girls without being able to get any relief? It was so cruel.
I inspected her hood, but there was no way I could find to take it off.
"Hey! Crazy Queen. How do we take her hood off?"
"Only I can do it. I have full control over Aisha."
"Take it off then! I want to talk to her!"
"Mmm… Interesting…"
"Interesting? Stop acting weird and take off her hood."
"No."
"… uh? What do you mean, no?"
"It appears that you need me for this. So, no."
"Hey! If you don't, I will…"
"Will do what? Killing me won't help anything."
"Cleo will knock you out, and I'll open your arm menu myself!"
"Oh, please. My menu is password protected. You'd never be able to get in."
"… We can do that?"
"Oh, you didn't protect yours?"
Well, I probably spoke too much here. I mistakenly just let her know that my menu was open to everyone. I had my first experience of this problem when Safia and Lafia had fun with me last night. Good thing those two cuties didn't have any ill intentions, or I could have been in big trouble. Why did Nam never tell me about protecting my menu? That assistant was so useless at times.
"So, what now?"
"Let Aisha go!"
"No. I was clear on that."
"Listen, stupid Queen of the bitches! Aisha might be a real player! She needs to log out so she can eat and drink. If you keep her here for too long, she might die for real."
"You speak nonsense, Evelyn. Nobody dies unless I execute them."
At least that confirmed that the Queen was indeed just an AI. The concept of logging out wasn't something she remotely understood. But I was still stuck in a bad situation. I wasn't too sure who got who by the balls at the moment and didn't seem to have a lot of options.
The Queen, whom I had already offended many times since my arrival, seemed to have lost patience with me and my inability to come up with a decent strategy to make things progress, so she frowned and began bossing me around.
"Put these two back in the cell, and let's go upstairs with Aisha. Then we will negotiate."
"… What? NO! I can't put them back in there! It's cruel!"
"Give me a break! Look at them. They love it."
She wasn't entirely wrong about that. They furiously fingered each other in front of us, clearly disinterested in the potential possibility of getting released.
I looked at Cleo, and she just shrugged. She wasn't programmed to overthink as I did. At the moment, she was shielding me against a worse outcome. I would probably be in big trouble if the Queen could reach my menu.
I took a deep breath and rethought this situation and why I was in it. Aisha was the reason for our visit, and it should remain our main objective, for now at least. As for the two horny girls, they were more than likely AIs, so only code and algorithms. Once we got Aisha out of there, we could always come back for them later. If they had been stuck down here for months, a few more days wouldn't change anything.
I grabbed their arms and led them back to the tiny room.
"Come on… We will come back for you. Just be patient, okay?"
It was definitely too small for two people. I had a hard time remembering how they had managed to be three inside this room. It must have been intense.
I closed the heavy door on them and placed the padlocks back on it before standing up and angrily confronting the Queen.
"There! Happy? Let's go now before I ask Cleo to impale you."
"Such temperament. But I agree. We already spent too much time here, ruining my girls' experience. How sad."
"Aaah, let's just go back up, nutcase."
"Very well."
The climb back to the surface was long and tense. While Cleopatra kept a close eye on the Queen to ensure she wouldn't attempt something, I helped Aisha walk around as her hood prevented her from seeing anything. I really wanted to talk to her now and confirm if I was right or wrong about her. Despite spending this much time isolated from the world and deprived of sexual stimulation, she seemed somewhat solid and healthy. She had the same fit warrior body that I had seen in the past. My hand on her naked skin made me have impure thoughts.
She was soft, warm, her skin color was nothing I had seen up close before, and frankly, it was so darn attractive. I almost wanted to lick her to see if she tasted as good as she looked. Oh, and a chastity belt and a bondage hood, seriously? It was the kind of kinky gear that had the potential to turn me on.
Clearly, I spent way too much intimate time with sexy girls of all colors recently. It shattered all my landmarks.
After a short moment, we exited the dungeon and returned to the throne room. The Queen lazily returned to her big fur-covered seat and placed her sexy leg over the armrest, the same position she was in when I saw her for the first time.
Cleo, Aisha, and I lined up in front of her on the long red carpet. I wasn't too sure where to go from there, but I needed to find a way to force the Queen to take off Aisha's hood.
"Look, I don't want more trouble. I just want to talk to Aisha."
"What if I refuse?"
"Cleopatra will destroy your castle?"
"I will rebuild it."
"…"
"What is it? Running out of arguments already? I expected more from someone bold enough to build a village on my land without permission."
"What do you want in exchange, then?"
"Oh, now that's an interesting question, Evelyn. What do I want? Give me your Sun warrior, and I'll let you speak to Aisha."
"Ah! Not a chance. I could just force my way out of here and bring Aisha with us. I'll figure out a way to take her hood off eventually."
"I don't think you want to do that."
"Why? What can you do to prevent us from leaving? Your wolf-warriors are adorable but weak."
"This?"
The Queen opened her arm menu and quickly pressed a few buttons. Immediately, Aisha brought her hands to her face, scratching her leather hood. She couldn't breathe anymore. That crazy Queen of the bitches had closed her nose holes, cutting off her only air intake.
"HEY! Stop this!"
"You really are powerless, Evelyn. It's disappointing."
Aisha fell to her knees and hands and began to convulse. I knelt behind her and tried to help.
"STOP! Why are you doing this!"
"Because she loves it."
"What? Are you nuts! Let her breathe! She is going to die!"
"Haha. Very well. This day is getting quite entertaining."
With another click of a button, Aisha could draw fresh air into her lungs and resumed breathing.
I angrily looked at the Queen and sent some more well-deserved hate her way.
"That's what I thought! You are one premium quality psychopath!"
"And why would you say that, when in fact, I'm simply giving her the love she needs."
"LOVE? Are you kidding me? You just tried to kill her."
"Did I?"
"… Well… It sure looked that way… How come you are controlling her like this anyway?"
"Because she wants me too."
"Uh? Come again?"
"Mmm… You are not very smart, Evelyn."
"Obviously not. So why don't you explain what you mean instead of making pointless observations."
"Like a child… Fine. A year ago, Aisha transferred all her powers to me, and I became the new Queen. Is that clear enough?"
"Yeah, that's what I heard."
"I didn't force her to do this. It was her own doing. She never loved to be on top. Can you imagine how liberating it was for her when she didn't have to order people around anymore to get what she wanted the most?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, submission. When you are the ruler of everything, you always have to ask if you want something done to you. It's such a pain. Aisha understood this, and by releasing her controls to me, she gave up on her ability to choose, to decide, to ask… She is much happier now that all she has to do is obey me without thinking and accepting whatever is done to her.
"…"
"Isn't that right, Aisha?"
Another scroll and click on her menu, and the Queen removed Aisha's hood. It vanished into thin air, and her silky hair, released from their constricting prison, fell on each side of her face. She slowly raised her head and looked at her Queen, opening her mouth as if she was going to say something, a hesitation that made me wonder if she was about to contradict her mistress… But after a few seconds of silence…
"Yes, my Queen…"
"Aaaah… See… I told you, Evelyn. Aisha loves her life with me."
Up close like this, Aisha was definitely the prettiest girl in Valhalla. So I wasn't too sure if my shocked state came from witnessing her devotion to her insane Queen or if it was because my stupid corrupted mind had seen something it liked a lot.
But I still had part of my mind functioning well in this distorted world. My next thought was that this stupid Queen of the Bitches may have made a mistake and opened a door that she shouldn't have. If I threaded carefully, perhaps I could accomplish my objective after all. Her misconception that I was a total idiot could play in my favor.
It was time to attempt something risky.
I slowly raised my hand and ran one of my fingers in Aisha's hair, which was undoubtedly the Queen's property. Aisha even turned her head to me and gave me a surprised stare, yet didn't say a word because she didn't know my intention.
"What do you think you are doing, Evelyn? Aisha is not for you to touch! She is mine."
"… A kiss."
"A kiss? And what is that supposed to mean?"
"That's why I'm here today. A kiss. A kiss from Aisha."
"…"
I don't think that suggestion was programmed in her AI brain. The Queen struggled to find her next words while Aisha raised an eyebrow, wondering if I had lost my marbles. More than anybody else, she was well aware of what the Queen was capable of if I dared to displease her and probably wasn't too sure where I was going with this.
This long and awkward silence got interrupted by Cleopatra's yawn.
"Yaaaaaww! Evelyn, can we kill everybody and go home already."
"Cleo! I'm having a discussion here. Be patient. And I said no killing."
"But…"
"Shh… no but…"
As I tried to contain Cleo, who totally broke the dramatic mood and interfered with my foundationless strategy, the Queen walked down the few steps and stood before me, with a stern look on her half-hidden face.
"A kiss from Aisha?"
"Hum… Yes… I've seen her fight when you sent her to kill us, and I fell in love. I couldn't stop thinking about her, so I came here to take her back home. But since that is not possible as she chose to stay with you, I'll be happy with just a kiss, and then I'll be on my way."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes. I'll give you something in exchange."
"Your Sun Warrior?"
"No. Valhalla."
"I already possess Valhalla."
"Not all of it. As long as I have Cleopatra at my side, it's a thorn in your side. You know your warriors will never be able to go through her, so I can keep my village where it is, and it will just grow and grow. It will be very annoying. Yes, very annoying."
"I could kill Aisha right now."
"You could… buuut… my village will still be there… and it will still be very annoying… You know… on your land… It will grow until you can see it every day from your bedroom window."
"…"
Finally, I felt the table turn. The Queen was different from my AI friends but not that much more intelligent in the end. By distracting her with the thing she loved the most, Valhalla, I possibly got her where I wanted.
A kiss…
And hope that Aisha would be smart enough to understand where I was going with this…
"Sooo? Is Valhalla worth a kiss?"
"… Fine."
Yes!
"But I need a guarantee!"
Crap! I had to think quickly.
"Cleo will stay here, leaving me and my village defenseless until I finish dismantling it."
Cleopatra turned to me again with a weird look on her face.
"But, Evelyn, you know that I…"
"Shhh!"
"But, I'm…"
"SHH!"
"But…"
"SHH SHH! Enough, Cleo! I know you are the Sun warrior…"
"Yes, but that's not it… I…"
"SHHH!"
"Fine."
I turned back to the Queen with an exaggerated grin on my face. One day I would have to teach Cleo how to be a better actress. The Queen raised an eyebrow, unsure about what had just happened.
"Heehee… Don't mind her… Cleo always argues too much. So, deal?"
"… Go ahead. Order her to stand down, and then you can have your kiss. Aisha, make sure you give her all you've got as a reward for her foolishness."
Aisha didn't know where to look anymore as we had just exchanged her service for Valhalla. In her position, she didn't really have a choice. In any case, the next move was mine.
"Cleo. Stand down. You cannot protect me anymore until our village is dismantled and I leave Valhalla for good. But if the Queen prevents me from getting my kiss, then you can kill everybody in here."
"I like the killing part, but about the protection part, I…"
"CLEO!"
"What!? I'm just saying that…"
"SHH! Just say yes…"
"Yes, but…"
"SHH!"
"Fine."
Definitely, that Sun warrior lacked imagination.
"So, satisfied?"
"Yes. You can kiss Aisha. And you, Aisha, enjoy it because you are going back to this little room right after… for a long long time. I think I will seal this door for good."
"… Y… yes, my Queen."
Obediently, Aisha turned to me. She was so naked except for her chastity belt. She looked me in the eyes, and I did the same.
When I first logged in to Dive, I didn't plan for my virtual life to turn into this; a freezing world and a big mess full of lesbian sex and death threats. Who the hell designed such a game? It was all over the place and totally out of control.
But for now, I had a kiss to receive. And even if I was doing it for a very practical reason, hey, Aisha was one of a kind, so I wouldn't complain too much here. I've had plenty of fun kissing all those perfect-looking AI characters so far, so I was pretty sure this black warrior would provide me with some nice memories.
I just hoped to get just that tiny bit more I needed from her, though. Hopefully, she would understand what I tried to do here.
I placed my hands on her thin waist, and she put hers on my shoulders. When our belly touched, I was already satisfied. Gosh, she was pretty. So pretty. And when her lips touched mine, I was in heaven, almost forgetting why I was doing this. Her Queen had demanded that she give me a run for my money, and she was.
Aisha wasn't an AI, I knew that now. Nobody had ever kissed me like this. She had the skills of someone who had spent more than a year in this game, kissing and kissing and kissing. Nam, Aria, and Cleo were all excellent kissers, but what Aisha was giving me at the moment was beyond anything I had experienced before.
It was something I now wanted for myself.
My body was hot, and sexual thoughts filled my head. I had regrets. I should have exchanged Valhalla for a night of sex with Aisha instead of just a kiss.
Ah well… Perhaps… Perhaps I would end up with more than a single night of sex if I didn't miscalculate my things too much…
"That's enough! You got your kiss. Stop it, Aisha."
Aisha, still obedient, detached her lips from mine and gave me a big hug, pressing her soft boobs on my chest and rubbing her warm cheek on mine.
A warm and gentle wind reached my ear.
But this hug wasn't part of the deal, and it irritated the Queen.
"I said ENOUGH!"
Before we could even react, a full leather sleepsack enveloped Aisha from head to toe, and she fell heavily on the floor. Her fun was definitely over. I could hear the leather tightening more and more around her helpless body, and she groaned out of her nose holes, the only remaining connection she had with the outside world.
"Evelyn! Do I need to remind you that without your warrior's protection, you are nothing?"
"Nope! No need to remind me of that. I'm helpless without Cleo."
"Then I don't even need you to fulfill your promise. You got your kiss, and now, your warrior is standing down."
"That sounds about right."
"I don't need you to dismantle your village. You'll be executed on the spot for defying me, and your village will be destroyed by my warriors today."
"Sure!"
"…"
"Go ahead… Kill me."
"…"
"Come on, Queen of the bitches. What are you waiting for?"
I was a bit nervous when I saw her frowning at my insolence. I was worried that she had seen through my plan and would come up with a way to counter it.
But no…
"Warriors! KILL HER!"
That made me smile.
Two brave wolf-warriors rushed at me with swords in their hands, but as they were about to strike me, one got the edge of a golden shield in the stomach, and the other got hit in the forehead by a strong hairy fist clenched tightly around a metal spear.
Under the puzzled gaze of the Queen of Valhalla, and before the wolf-girl's weapons could even fall onto the floor, Cleo, my savior, and I ran toward the exit.
"Type, Unique Hero…"
"Class, Warrior…
"Allegiance, Evelyn…"
"Allegiance type, unbreakable…"
I was very glad I remembered those words that were pronounced when Bethany had exploded and transformed into Cleopatra. My unique character, Cleopatra the Sun warrior, would never break her allegiance to me, no matter what. It was part of her DNA. As the words had described so precisely, her allegiance was unbreakable. So it didn't matter what kind of order I would give her, no matter how hard I would ask her to stand down, she would never ever allow me to get harmed by anyone. It took some effort to prevent Cleo from spilling the beans in front of the Queen, but in the end, it miraculously worked. Making the Queen believe that she could get Valhalla back and that I would give away my precious village and friends for a mere kiss, a very good one should I say, was such a ridiculous gamble that she never saw it coming. Even her, she probably never heard of an unbreakable allegiance before. There was no one else like Cleo in the entire Valhalla.
"They are chasing us. And there are more of them ahead of us. Were you serious? Can I really kill them all?"
"No! Cleo. This was just for the show. You can't kill them."
"That's not very interesting, then."
"Just keep them off our back. I need to go back to my cabin as soon as possible and log out."
"You want to cut down trees?"
"Uh… What? NO! Cleo! Log out as in going back home. Not like a wood log."
"I'm the Sun warrior."
"You sure are. Alright, let's get out of this village."
The next few minutes were dedicated to a majestic dance offered by my Sun warrior. The Queen was obviously furious for having been duped, and she sent all she had at us. Archers, infantry, horses, nothing even came close to stopping Cleo. We made slow progress because I was holding her back due to my inability to fight and walk in the snow, but that gave me time to memorize the critical information I had received a moment ago.
If I were to forget, it would be disastrous. Even if the kiss alone was to die for, the purpose of my action was so much more important.
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it out of the medieval village, but waves of wolf-warriors kept rushing at us, the same ones we gave concussions to earlier. I was starting to wonder if the Queen had a special ability to heal her warriors and give them their stamina back. If they couldn't defeat Cleo, maybe they would end up killing me by exhaustion. A quick look at my health bar confirmed that I wouldn't be able to keep going for much longer. If at least I had some food with me. Even this deer and mushroom stew could help me stay awake for a bit longer, even if it turned my uterus into a sexual engine.
"Cleo! I will need to rest soon."
"It's fine. You can rest. I will try to be quiet while fighting them."
"At that rhythm, it will take forever to go back home. If I have to sleep on top of that… Raaah! I need to log out!"
As I watched Cleo knock another wolf-warrior off her feet, I noticed that her wolf hat flew a bit farther than usual.
"… wind?"
I looked upon the horizon, and another factor I had not considered was menacingly rolling toward us. A very bad factor…
"Are you shitting me!? Not NOW! Why does it have to be NOW out of all times! STUPID VALHALLA! I HATE YOU!"
A massive snowstorm headed straight toward us at a virtual speed. In real life, storms didn't develop this quickly.
"CLEO! We must hurry! There is a big storm coming."
"I see that."
"I have no cold protection."
"I do."
"That's not helping!"
"Sorry."
That was too much; being attacked, being tired, and now being rolled over by a nasty cold storm. Cleo was invincible, but I wasn't. I needed to log out now anyway. Even if I were to survive all of this, it would be problematic if it took days to return to my cabin. I had something important to do in real life, and it couldn't wait. I couldn't afford delays.
A big gust of wind almost knocked me over, and the freezing snow began to hit me like a million needles. It didn't feel good. Cleo came to me and tried to shield me from this unpleasant precipitation but was also very busy blocking the enemy. As I thought, Cleo was very strong, but if she were kept this occupied, it would be hard for her to babysit me at the same time. She couldn't afford to sit down under a tree with me and keep me warm in her arms.
This storm awfully reminded me of the first one I encountered with Nam soon after starting my game. I couldn't clearly remember what Nam had said back then, but it was along the line of "We cannot survive this." So if we were about to withstand the same kind of weather, I could hardly see what Cleo could do to save me, Sun warrior or not.
As the freezing blizzard enveloped us, as the snow got deeper and deeper, making everything harder, we kept going as much as we could. The weather had slowed down the attackers as well, so I could use Cleo's shield as… as shield. But it could only do so much for me. It was so freezing.
But then, she stopped.
"Evelyn. Look."
"Aaah! Cleo, don't stop, or I'll die of cold."
"No… Look, over there?"
I lifted my head just enough so I could see over her shield. But it was only a glacial veil of white. I didn't know if she knew where she was, but I sure didn't.
"I can't see shit, Cleo."
"There!"
Again, she pointed her spear in a specific direction. With my eyes squinting like this, I couldn't figure out what she was trying to show me.
I fell to my knees.
"Cleo! I'm tired! What is it?"
"Nam."
"What? That's not possible. Nam is useless and stayed home anyway…"
"It's her."
"…"
I tried to look again.
A dark shadow. A tree? No… a person? With the storm raging and the night falling, it was almost impossible to tell.
But then, some long hair flagged violently sideways under the relentless force of the wind, and a cape doing the same… or was it just another of my warm blankets?
"Cleo… Give me some light? Can you?"
"Yes. I'm the Sun warrior. But it will betray our position if I do that."
"I don't care. Give me some light."
"Alright."
A silent flash of light followed by a warm glow turned the night around us into the day.
And then… A blue aura around the shadow.
"NAM! NAM! IT'S YOU!"
"I told you already it was her. Why are you so surprised?"
"Shut up, Cleo! It didn't make sense."
"It did to me."
I got back to my feet and tried to jog toward Nam, who was equally struggling to make her way through the deep snow. I hurried and joined her under her warm blanket.
"Nam! I'm so happy to see you! What are you doing here? Did something happen to our village?"
"No, but hurry. Follow me this way. You need to log out."
"… Uh? Hey! How do you know that?"
"I don't."
"You just said you did."
"It doesn't matter. Hurry before you run out of energy. Your health is very low."
"And how do you know that too? You didn't even check my status."
"I didn't."
"Raaah! You and I need to talk at some point. You are saying strange things."
"We will… eventually."
"Where are we going?"
"I built a cabin just over there."
"You built a… NEVERMIND! That's the best news I got all day. Lead the way. Cleo, Nam built a cabin for us."
"I know. I heard."
"Don't be so excited."
"I don't need a cabin."
If there was something I loved about my friends, there was never a dull moment around them. Whether it was because of all the shit we went through together or their inability to act like ordinary people; they always found ways to keep me entertained.
For the next few minutes, we dug our way to a small wood nearby, and soon enough, we reached the smallest cabin available in the catalog. Nam certainly didn't put a lot of effort into this one. It didn't matter. It would be a warm place for Nam and me to dodge that nasty storm while Cleopatra would have fun running around in the fluffy snow, hunting whatever wolf-warriors that were brave enough to attack us.
When we reached the door, I kicked it open and rushed inside. My first strategic move was to jump on the small straw bed and wrap myself in a blanket.
"Brrr! That was close."
As frozen, Nam walked in and sat next to the little stove, followed by Cleopatra, who thought it was more important to check the sharpness of her spear rather than seeking warmth. Being immune to cold must be fun.
"Evelyn. You must log out."
"Hey! That's enough, Nam. I know you are not supposed to know that, so spill the beans already."
"Not now. Later."
"And how am I supposed to log out anyway? We are very far from our village.. And… Wait… Are you suggesting I can log out from this cabin too?"
"I don't know. I'm just an assistant."
"Bullshit! You've never been this straightforward. You are hiding something."
"There is no time. Please leave."
"…"
That was almost harsh. Only now, I started to see through her. I wasn't a complete idiot; her presence here, this cabin, her knowledge about my intentions. I stood up from the bed and walked to the door to double-tap on it. When the cabin status screen opened, there was indeed a red logout button waiting for me.
I looked at Cleo one last time and gave her some basic instructions.
"Cleo, I'll be gone for a while. Go back to our village and protect it at all costs until I come back. It may take a very long time."
"Alright."
"What, is that it? No questions?"
"No. Your request is simple and easy."
"Right… Anyway, I'm counting on you. And you, Nam, I'm sure you won't stick around for too long, right?"
"I'm just an assistant."
"Right… I'm starting to understand what it means."
She briefly looked at me with some shameful eyes and returned her chin to her blanket. I got the feeling that I would hear back from her very soon.
I pressed the Logout button.
"Oooy!"
That was intense. I cracked my crusty eyes open and removed the Dive helmet from my head. My bed was comfy and warm, the absolute opposite of Valhalla. I stretched my limbs, but before I could finish that exercise, I sat straight up.
"AISHA! Shit!"
The first thing I did was grab my phone and start the stopwatch. I needed to know exactly how much time I would spend out of the game so I can use it as a reference to know how much time would elapse inside Dive. An hour here would be the equivalent of a week in the game.
I then grabbed my laptop and went to my map page.
After my memorable kiss with the very delicious Aisha, she hugged me and whispered something in my ear. I needed to remember.
Fortunately, just by closing my eyes and remembering this pleasant moment, I heard her words loud and clear in my memory, which was good because I just couldn't screw that up.
"112 Merton Street…"
I punched the text in the search bar, and it didn't leave room for doubts.
"What!? Are you kidding me? That's in Montreal! It's over five hours from here. Raaaah!"
I liked emitting strange animal noises when I got irritated. But in this case, my irritation wouldn't be enough to make me stop caring. I couldn't afford to have second thoughts about this.
I went for a quick pee, brewed myself a quick coffee, and grabbed my car keys. This road trip I was about to go on wasn't mandatory, I could have called the cops instead, but I was pretty sure everybody tried to avoid that. Due to my involvement in this story, traveling sounded like a good plan, even if it was a terrible one at the same time.
As I stepped outside my house and locked my door, I had a particular thought for a very specific person.
"That blue-haired assistant, she will have a LOT of explaining to do!"
It was the most uneventful drive I had ever done. I stopped to refuel and grab a sandwich, but I didn't waste any time. I looked at my stopwatch, and five hours had elapsed so far, which meant over a month in Dive already.
"Haaa… Stupid Dive and its crawling time."
It took me another twenty minutes to reach my destination, a nice quiet area in a big ass city. The last time I was here was when I went to see a hockey game with friends and swore that I would never come back. If my team had won, perhaps I would have had a better experience. Ah well, at least the poutine was good.
After exiting the highway, I zigzagged in some residential streets, following my trusty GPS. I quickly located the house I was looking for. It was a small single home surrounded by a lot of big trees.
"Ah. That one. Good. It's concealed enough."
I parked in the driveway and turned off my headlights. There was no car, but there was a garage, so there might have been a vehicle hidden in it. My first logical move would be to go to the front door and ring. After all, I really didn't have much information regarding this place and who lived here. It was better to adopt a more conservative approach.
Looking around was reassuring. There was nobody anywhere, and all the houses seemed dead; a typical residential area late in the evening, I suppose.
I went to the door and rang the bell.
No answer, so I rang again. If a big angry guy tried to sleep, that would mean trouble for me. Maybe I should have brought my ax or a big stick. That usually was what we kept behind our front door in my remote village. I doubted that it was a common practice over here, though.
Still no answer. The house was unsurprisingly quiet.
I tried to look through the front window, nothing. The house seemed completely dark. I tried to open the door, but it was obviously locked.
"Here you go… Evelyn, the criminal. I'm going to get in trouble for this. I should just call the cops instead."
But that was unappealing for so many reasons. Explaining to them that I played a game and had a lot of sex with virtual girls wasn't something I was ready to admit considering that I've been an erotic lesbian for only a few hours. If I were to even mention the word Queen, or even a lioness warrior, I would end up in a mental hospital in a flash.
It was more stupid and logical to go around the house and find a way in. Using this moonless night to my advantage could yield results.
I jumped over the fence and tried the windows in the backyard. Everything was carefully locked. Looking inside didn't help either. But as I was about to give up, I noticed something on the fridge door; a photo of a cute black girl holding a giant fish, a souvenir from a recent fishing trip perhaps.
But yeah… A cute black girl who reminded me awfully of a certain someone.
"Mmm… Shit… I guess I have no choice then."
I stepped back a bit and looked up. There was a second floor balcony that I had noticed earlier. It was… reachable. I wasn't an expert climber by any means, but it looked doable. So I pulled a garden chair, climbed on it, and grabbed the railing.
"I'm so going to break my neck. Nam, I hate you!"
I was more and more convinced that my blue-haired companion had a big role to play in this mess, and I sure hoped to find out what it was one day. If I got in trouble because of her, I would track her down to the edge of the Earth.
"Mmmph!"
At least I was fit, thanks to being an outdoor girl. Climbing on that balcony wasn't that hard after all. Perhaps I could recycle myself into a burglar one day if I were to lose my day job.
Once over the railing, I pulled on the doorknob… and the door opened. My heart skipped a beat. Was I really about to do this? Breaking into a stranger's house simply because an in-game character gave me an address. It was beyond ridiculous.
But I was so curious.
"Hello!?"
Silence… No answer?
I turned on my smartphone flashlight and looked around. I was in a cute little study, but what I needed to find would probably be in the bedroom. At least, that was how I was doing it.
"Hello!? My name is Evelyn. I just want to talk! Anybody home?"
More silence.
As soon as I entered the hallway, I saw a bedroom door open, and there were some faint flashing lights glowing on the wall. Familiar lights… Blinking lights… Like on my Dive helmet.
That was it. No more doubts. I put my smartphone back into my pocket and turned on the bedroom light.
"Ah! CRAP!"
On the bed, deeply asleep and under the influence of Dive, a very pretty black girl, and the wrinkles on her lips showed that she had been there for quite a while.
"Owww! My head!"
"Would you stay in bed, Aisha! You need to rest more."
"Nah… I'm fine. I'm hungry."
"No shit. How many days did you spend connected to that thing? You could have died."
"Hehe. I'm used to long sessions… But yes… I thought I would be the end of me this time. Thanks for rescuing me."
Aaah! She looked me in the eyes again. That was enough for my face to turn all red and make me look sideways. Why was she so darn pretty? Aisha was super attractive in the game, so I thought her real self wouldn't be as hot, but no. She had to be even cuter in person. And why was I so sensitive to her presence anyway?
I found Aisha, the real one, lying on her bed yesterday. She was dehydrated and starving. I disconnected her, and as soon as she opened her eyes, she tried to say my name using her dry vocal cords. She knew exactly who I was without even having to introduce myself. She remembered having asked for my help. From her perspective, it took a month and a half for me to come rescue her, but she still remembered our kiss, and having whispered her home address in my ear. She was very grateful that I had come.
I gave her water and food, and she recovered surprisingly quickly after a good night of real sleep. She was still on the weak side, but she didn't look too sick. She slept all morning and was now coming back for more food. I told her I would stick around for the weekend just in case she needed my help.
"So, what happened during that month and a half? I was a bit scared that the Queen of Valhalla would kill you or something."
"Nah, she wouldn't have done that. But I think she had enough of me and kept me a prisoner of that restrictive sleepsack since the day you left."
"WHAT? You were tied up in that sack for a month and a half?"
"Oh yes. She was furious and even buried me in a stone coffin in front of the castle. It was so extreme."
"And… you kept your sanity?"
"I loved it."
"Seriously?"
"Hehe. Yes. I love Dive. When I created Valhalla, I wanted it to be my perfect BDSM world. I worked hard to build this world."
"Uh? Valhalla is my world… So how can it be your world too?"
"That, I have no idea. I was as surprised as you were to find a non-AI player in it. But I'm very glad you came because I was in serious trouble. One day, I decided to give all my controls to one of my AI, and it went down from there. She turned into a ruthless ruler."
"Yeah, that crazy Queen was something."
"I loved her so much… Nobody ever pushed me to the extremes the way she did. But when she hid my logout button and sent me to the dungeon for the first time, I knew I was in serious trouble."
"Well, I managed to save you. It wasn't easy, but I did it."
Out of nowhere, Aisha, a bagel in her hand, came to me and sat on my lap, placing her nose just an inch away from mine and wrapping her delicate arms around my neck.
"Uh… What are you…"
"My savior! Haha!"
"Aisha… Stooop!"
"My name is not really Aisha, but you can keep calling me that. And why are you so red?"
"Stooop! It's embarrassing! "
"I loved our kiss."
"Aaaah! Nooo!"
"Kiss me again!"
"This is real life! We are not in the game. I… I never kissed a girl before and…"
"Even better…"
Oh my God! Why was she so pretty? Why did I feel this way about her? I just met her. Why did I have this insane crush on her? Was it because Dive had unlocked a secret desire buried inside my brain?
While I was too busy thinking, she pressed her lips on mine and made me melt like a nut of butter in a hot pan. Was she not supposed to be weakened? Or angry about Dive or something? Where did she find all that energy all of a sudden?
But her tongue was very soft and wet, and her personality was as attractive as her body. She was so gentle, unlike when I met her for the first time in Dive. My lower belly wanted more of this.
But then, my phone rang, which was a good enough excuse to end this craziness. When I saw the number on the screen, one that I didn't know, I had a very good idea about who was calling me.
I answered with my best guess in mind, which wasn't really a guess.
"NAM!"
"ACK! Don't be mad, Evelyn!"
"Where are you, blue-haired idiot?"
"I'm sorryyy! Did you rescue her?"
"Yes, I did. She is with me right now. And actually, she needs to hear this conversation too. I'm putting you on speakerphone."
"Nooo, she will hear everything…"
"I know! That's the point, silly."
I pressed the speaker button and placed the phone between me and Aisha, who was still sitting on me. It was a good time to threaten my interlocutor.
"There, tell us everything, now!"
"Aaah! Don't be mad! How did you know I was the one calling?"
"How should I NOT know? You've been suspicious since the beginning. I've been so blind. I should have understood earlier."
"Aww…"
"Now, tell us everything, or I swear, I'll find you and kick your blue butt."
"Aww… Okay, okay!"
Aisha wasn't too sure who that person I called Nam was, but she was about to find out. I was very curious to learn about the true reason for this total Dive fiasco. On my side, I should have been shocked to have received a call from Nam, but I wasn't, and for some reason, even if her voicetone was slightly different than I expected, she spoke the exact same way she was in the game. It made me feel like I could treat her the same way I did in Valhalla, as if she was still my clueless assistant. But this time, she had nowhere to run and needed to start talking.
"I'm one of the multiple Dive developers."
"AH! I knew it! Little blue rat!"
"Evelyyyn! Give me a chance to explain myself."
"Oh, I am! I'm just happy I was right. Keep going."
"Pfff… So, Aisha is one of our best players. So involved, and she spends most of her free time in the Dive. Valhalla is not her first world, but it was the most challenging one. Because of her role-playing skills and ability to interact with AIs believably, I decided to send my latest AI build to her town to see how it would go."
"The Queen of Valhalla?"
"Yes. But it wasn't her name at first. Aisha will remember this. The new character was different, smarter, more believable, more autonomous, and because of Aisha's… hum… particular tastes in entertainment… that new character provided her with an incredible experience."
As Nam told me that, I saw Aisha looking at the floor, silent, as if she remembered her first encounter with this new character. A smile also appeared on her lips, one of happiness, as if she had had a genuinely good time with that person.
"So, Nam. What happened then?"
"Well, what the Queen explained to you. Aisha loved the new character so much that she decided to hand over all her controls to it. She wanted her to decide everything in her stead. Hunger, clothes, freedom of movement, what to do, how and when to have sex…"
"I see… and then things went sideways?"
"Well… yes. I mean, my new AI template went through all the quality controls at Dive, but nobody had tested THAT. We didn't expect someone to abandon their whole virtual life to an AI character. When the Queen took away Aisha's ability to log out of the game, that's when I really started to worry. I had not built a safeguard in my template to prevent this from happening."
"What did you do then?"
"I observed. For a full day, I kept an eye on Aisha and hoped she would find a way out. But she loved it too much and kind of gave up, probably thinking that Dive itself would eventually save her. The problem was that it wasn't going to."
Despite her night sky skin, I could tell Aisha was blushing. Nam had inadvertently exposed her desire to be controlled and live an extreme BDSM life in a fantastic world. Yet, she seemed comfortable with her life choices, and if I were to ask her if she would do it again, she would undoubtedly say yes.
How could she be so cute?
But for now, what about me? How did I end up in HER game? Well, asking the question was the answer to it. It was obvious that Nam had something to do with all of this.
"So, you used me to save her."
"…"
"NAM!"
"Aaah! Yes! I diiid."
"Why me?"
"Because… you were a bit… I mean…"
"A bit what?"
"Well, let's put it that way… You just selected random settings for everything when you started your first game… Who does that?"
"Hey! I don't know technology! I'm not a nerd like you!"
"Anywayyy! Because of your recklessness and geographical location, you were a good match to discreetly help me fix my mistake. So I made you join Aisha's world."
"And I almost died!"
"Yes, because you knew nothing and joined a super hard game. I had to teach you everything without making you feel suspicious."
"We had tons of sex in the game."
"Well, yes. That was Aisha's game. We had to follow the rules she had set. You needed points to make progress. Anway, you liked it a lot, Evelyn."
"HEY! I didn't! Well… whatever… Just keep talking."
Yeah, I did like it a lot. I had the fun of my life in Dive and discovered so much about who I was and what I liked. It was not enough reason to admit it in front of her, though.
"So, then the Queen discovered you. Because you were a terrible player, you were doomed."
"Nam! I was new! I never played Dive before."
"I know. But you were still terrible at it. Just cutting a tree took you forever!"
"Aarrr!"
"So, when Aisha and her friends attacked you, I had to cheat to keep you alive."
"Cleopatra?"
"Exactly. We occasionally integrate unique characters to spice things up for the players. We used Cleopatra once last year and decided to retire her because she was too much of a game-changer. She is just too strong. But she was very limited too. She can fight, and that's about it. So when I needed a quick solution to save you, she popped into my mind immediately. She was going to keep you alive for sure."
"Well, she is a good kisser too… I like Cleo."
"I didn't expect you would have sex with her. It was odd."
"Urgh!"
So embarrassing. All of this felt like a bad dream or a good one. So much had happened in less than one day. Hearing Nam describing what felt like weeks of my life in a matter of seconds made me feel strange.
"So, anyway. After that, you were exceptional."
"Uh? Come again!? You just said I was a terrible player, and now you are sending me flowers?"
"Well, yes. Once you realized how much trouble you were in and that Aisha might have been a real player, you took care of everything else. You saved Aisha and prevented me from having to interrupt the game."
"Nam! It would have been so much simpler! Do you realize all the shit I went through? I even had to break into Aisha's home. I wasn't ready for this kind of adventure."
"No, game interruptions are flagged, and my boss would have asked me questions. They are regarded as failures, and it's not a good thing. I love my job. It was much better to role-play our way out."
"YOUR way out! I'm at Aisha's place in real life, and she just kissed me. This is not roleplaying anymore."
"Oh? She kissed you?"
Crap! Why did I tell her that? Aisha was now laughing at me, trying to keep quiet with her hand over her mouth. But then she took my phone off my hand and talked into it.
"Hey, Nam. Don't delete Valhalla, okay? I worked hard on it."
"Aisha? Well, the Queen is a problem for me. We must get rid of her."
"If Cleopatra kills her, all the controls will be returned to me, right?"
"No. It will go to Evelyn because Cleo belongs to her. Evelyn will become the new Queen."
"Perfect. We will do that, then."
"Okay. But I must remove Cleopatra too. She will ruin your experience. I will stage a solar eclipse, and Cleo will vanish. I think that's a good way."
"Right. I like that idea."
Wait, what? Killing the Queen? Removing Cleopatra? Me becoming the new Queen and controlling Aisha? Why were these two so excited about returning to Valhalla and continuing playing as if nothing happened?
"Wait a minute! I don't even like Valhalla. It's cold and dangerous. Why would I return there?"
"For sex?"
"And adventures?"
"…"
Sex and adventures? Aisha and Nam, two obvious nerds, definitely had a positive outlook on things… a very compelling one. Dive provided me with sensations I had never hoped to experience. And right now, I was sitting on a chair with the most beautiful girl I've seen on my lap, and she pressed her boobs on me as if she really wanted us to have a romantic relationship.
Was this too quick? Was this normal?
"Say yes, Evelyn!"
"… I… I don't know about that."
The pretty girl with satin night sky skin kissed me again.
"I'll be your sex slave. As the new Queen, you would be able to do everything you want to me."
"Urgh! You are not supposed to say things like that, Aisha!"
"I hope you'll keep me a prisoner in the dungeon for a long long time!"
"Aishaaa… I dunno about that…"
"Pleaaase? I'll be your sex slave in real life toooo!"
"Aarrgh!"
And she kissed me again.
Could I really say no?
Three months in-game later…
"Aaah! Evelyyyn! No mooore! I want to eat something else."
"Absolutely not, Nam. I'm your Queen, and you must do as I say."
"But, that's all you made me eat for the past three months. I can't take it anymore!"
"What are you talking about? This deer and mushroom stew is delicious. Aria made loads of it just for you."
"It makes me so hornyyy! I can only think about sex now, even in real life."
"Well, that's your punishment for having hacked my game. And because of you, Cleopatra is gone. I miss her so much."
"Awww. But she was so happy that you finally let her kill the Queen."
"Pfff… She whined because it was too easy. Consider yourself lucky. I could have done the same thing to you as I did to Aisha."
"Aaah! No! That's not my thing! I just want normal sex."
"Then, eat your stew and give me a hot night again."
"Aww… okay."
"Hum!"
"Aww… Yes, my Queen."
"Haha! Better."
That would teach her a lesson.
I really liked this new black dress I got when I became Queen, and this little wolf mask made me feel badass. I got off my comfy throne while Nam was chewing on her stew and headed to my new favorite place. My dungeon.
I reached the heavy door and headed downstairs.
My cells were full of cute and dedicated slave girls, including Safia and Lafia. These were all AIs, so I didn't feel guilty for keeping them there and playing with them whenever I wanted to. The number of scorching orgies I had during the past three months was just to die for. This new role as the Queen of Valhalla suited me better than I could ever have imagined. It was what I always wanted, controlling my world and building cool things.
And I also had my favorite girl locked up in a very special place. Last week, I finally rescued Aisha from her stone tomb in front of the castle but quickly found a new way to entertain her. After all, she was also responsible for what happened to my Dive game. If she had not messed up with her AIs, Nam wouldn't have connected me to her world.
At least, that was my excuse for playing with her.
I headed one floor below the dungeon to the secret room.
I replaced this small cramped room and the steel door with a thick glass window. That way, I could watch what happened to its occupant.
Aisha was there, behind the thick glass, kneeling with her legs apart, wearing leather panties that kept this big dildo deep inside her, that studded leather bra constantly biting in her perfect boobs, that blackout hood she loved too much, the one that kept her quiet and only allowed her to breathe through her nostrils, that tight armbinder that made her elbows touch.
It was nice to see her struggling so much. Good thing that those steel shackles, waistband, and collar chained to the wall prevented her from moving around too much.
She was very safe here.
And horny.
The juice overflowing from her panties betrayed her happiness.
I would disconnect and check on her in a few Dive weeks, but she will be okay as usual.
I will try not to release her too early this time. Maybe I should even tie her up while she is asleep and playing.
She would probably love it.
Nam, Aisha and I were already talking about starting a fresh game one day. Perhaps in a warmer place.
But if we were to do this, I would always keep Valhalla in my heart, as the most inhospitable world that had changed my life for the better.
I loved it!