"You're quitting Sigil?" Aaron asked.

  Riley narrowed his eyes. "Of course I'm not quitting!" he said abruptly. "I'd be out on the street in months if I did that. So, the way I figure it, is if I'm really careful about what I'm doing in Sigil, I can… prevent the weird effects."

  "Was the doctor worried that the game might make the tumor worse, or anything?"

  Riley shrugged. "He didn't seem to make that accusation. Just that doing high-intensity stuff, like going through a portal suddenly, would put an abnormal amount of stress on my brain, which agitates that area and gives me the nausea and vertigo in-game. Which, admittedly, is something I don't want to deal with. I knew going through portals was causing it, but now I know why. So… no portals for me."

  "That's rough," Aaron murmured. "But it could be a lot worse. I'm glad it isn't."

  Riley nodded, and finally managed a half smile. "Yeah, it sucks, but you're right."

  "Did he imply anything had caused the tumor?" Aaron asked. "Like, playing with the headset on isn't the cause, is it?"

  Riley shook his head. "I asked him about that, and he said that the headset rigs, no matter which manufacturer they're from, are fully tested and put through a lot of high standards to make sure they don't cause any harm like that. But apparently they all work the same way, which is safe."

  "Yeah, but something's going on, don't you think?" Aaron asked. "At least, maybe as far as Sigil is concerned. Remember how there was that player who died when they implemented the pain patch?"

  "Yeah, I remember. I brought up the whole pain in-game thing, but the doctor was under the impression that it would only work the brain harder, and not actually cause any physical harm… to a healthy person."

  "To a healthy person?" Aaron asked.

  Riley sighed. "Yeah, apparently there's this weird gray area right now, as far as VR is concerned. If you're healthy, with no problems, like degenerative diseases or problems with your nerves, or… you know, problems with your brain, then the headsets are harmless. But there’s apparently some ongoing testing where they're trying to find out if VR is speeding up certain health issues, or working in unison with them, to result in the possibility that it may lead to death.”

  "So doesn't that worry you?" Aaron asked, leaning forward. "It sounds like the doctor doesn't know if the headset might be more of a problem, given your situation. Doesn't having a tumor make you 'not healthy'?"

  Riley shook his head. "I don't know. We spoke for about half an hour, and I was starting to lose my mind with all the stuff we talked about. I guess I could give them a call and try and speak with the doctor again. Or maybe discuss some finer points with him on my next visit in three months."

  "Well, he did tell you to stop playing Sigil, right?"

  Riley nodded. "He told me to 'not use VR hardware, to be on the safe side,' but as I was saying before, they didn't have any concrete evidence that continuing to play would for certain harm me."

  "But it sounds like there's still a bit of a risk, don't you think?" Aaron asked.

  "Sure, I imagine there's some," said Riley. "The pain update might even make the portal thing worse, if more information such as sensory data like touch and feel are being transmitted as well. But I feel fine when I play normally. I'll just… be careful, and keep away from anything that works like a portal or a teleportation."

  "Didn't you tell me that there was a player who used to teleport you around, back when you were Radiance?"

  "Yeah, his name was Teller. He ended up siding with those guys that were trying to PK us when we fought you. But I never felt sick after he teleported me around. But then again, there was a brief delay between where I was and where I ended up. So maybe the problem is that a portal makes it all too quick, and there's just too much data from where I was and where I'm ending up. But when it's a teleport, maybe it's… different somehow? I don't know, I haven't teleported in a while." Riley sighed. He reached up and rubbed at his temples. "I kinda don't want to think about it right now."

  "Sorry," Aaron murmured. "I'm sure it's been tough to deal with."

  "Yeah, along with some other things that have happened."

  "Other things?" Aaron asked.

  "I made a bad call the other day," Riley spoke, his eyes once again staring at the table. "You remember Todd, our earth mover? Could pull up barricades and—"

  "Yeah, I remember him," said Aaron.

  "Yeah, well… he's dead." Riley's brow furrowed as he spoke, then looked up to Aaron. "And it's my fault."

  Aaron shook his head. "Come on now, you can't blame yourself for someone losing their character. Sigil is a lot easier to get back into than it used to be. Sure, it sucks when your character is wiped. You know that as well as anyone, but you can't—"

  "No, not his character, him," said Riley. His hands had moved to his lap as he began to fidget. "He died in the game because I trusted Shadow Witch not to turn on us. But she did. And we got trapped between her, Shade, and some hellions. Todd ended up getting killed. But… I found out yesterday that he also passed away. According to Seth, who spoke to Erica, Todd had some health issues. Seth couldn't remember what Erica said he had, but it had to do with his nervous system. Apparently it wasn't a major detriment to him, but it prevented him from moving around a lot, or something. I'm not sure. All I know is that it was just enough, and combined with the pain update and being killed in the game, it was too much. Now he's dead. Just like that girl we saw on the news the other day, and the several others that have popped up since then."

  Aaron's gaze lowered to the table.

  "So I can't help but wonder if maybe the same thing might not happen to me, if I end up dying in Sigil. Will the experience be too much for my brain to take? The sick feeling has only gotten worse, and now with pain and all the extra information from that… What’s going to happen if I die in Sigil again? But like I said, I can't quit. I don't think I'd ever be able to do anything else. So I figure… I might as well keep playing, despite the risk. Maybe this tumor isn't that bad, and maybe it's not enough to really harm me, you know? Surely the doctors would've said something if it had a higher chance of happening, right?"

  Aaron looked across the table at his friend. "I don't want you to die, Riley. Sigil or not. I don't want to lose my best friend, just to play some game."

  "I'm going to be careful," said Riley. "I'll be as careful as I can, I promise. Which… kind of leads me to the next thing I wanted to talk to you about."

  "There's more?" Aaron asked, with raised brows. "I'm not sure I can take much more news from you at this point."

  "Well, the only other bad news is that our guild is slowly falling into shambles from people who haven't been online, to people who deserted us, like Shell. And then Erica is apparently taking a break from the game, because of Todd. I can only imagine that she doesn't want to see me ever again. But I don't blame her."

  "You can't think like that," Aaron spoke up.

  "I know… but it's easier said than done," Riley countered. "But that's all the bad stuff. So, let's move on to the one good thing I can tell you."

  "That sounds good," said Aaron.

  Riley then recounted the events of the fight from the other day in the hellion's subterranean lair. He told his friend everything from the moment he'd left Neon Nest, to the moments leading up to him crossing the threshold through the portal and passing out.

  "I thought you said there was good news?" Aaron finally interrupted, after listening for several minutes.

  "There is," said Riley, a bit more anxiously as he was nearing the end of his drawn-out story. "When I got back into the game and checked my character, I found out that… well, for one, an hour had passed. My two gloves were gone, including the one you'd just made for me, which was really upsetting at the time. But more importantly," Riley then lowered his voice. "The tier-three sphere was gone."

  "Gone? What happened?" Aaron sat up a bit more in his seat.

  "I don't really know, but now I'm tier-three," he said as his lips curled into a big grin.

  "What?" Aaron gasped, but he kept his voice low as well. "Really? You can't be serious!"

  Riley nodded with a big grin on his face. "And instead of shooting those spikes out of my hands, I can actually steal other people's powers, but only up to two, and in a more limited capacity, but still… I can essentially steal powers for real now."

  "Man, I bet that's going to be so much fun. Probably a bit hectic, but fun. So…" Aaron trailed off, glancing away, seemingly thinking on something. "My crafter friends and I thought that the sphere might help us permanently hit tier-three… but wow, I had no idea that something like that could happen. That's amazing!" he said in an excited but hushed tone. "Wow, I'm going to have to tell the others."

  "You're not going to tell them that it happened to me specifically, right?" Riley asked. "This is still something I want to keep secret… well, as much as I can. Everyone in my guild is going to know, since my powers are going to be all different now."

  "Oh no, of course not," said Aaron. "I'll keep your identity a secret. I'll just… hmm, I'll have to think of a way of letting them know about the possibility, without revealing that I gave you a sphere and let you into our secret tier-three club. Even though you already went and exceeded what we were doing." Aaron laughed.

  Riley was definitely feeling a bit better after their bleaker talk earlier, but he got to thinking back to the attack on their city. "So yeah, that's pretty much all the news I wanted to let you in on, but I did want to ask, how is your city doing? We had that huge attack I was telling you about, but I was wondering if other cities were having the same problem as us. I've heard about attacks on the news, but nothing as big as what happened in Gargantuan."

  "Things have been pretty good, all things considered," said Aaron. "We still have hellion roamers, but most of what I hear happening is actually over in your city and a couple of the others. We don't have nearly the trouble in my city that you guys seem to have in yours. But then again, we have a lot more active clans, which patrol the city and head down into the underground pretty often. There's not much hellion clan activity at all. Unfortunately, I think you're getting the worst of it."

  "Sure feels that way lately," Riley mused with a sigh. "Maybe the heroes from your city will pop over and help us out a little. What do you think?" he asked with a half smile.

  Aaron laughed and shook his head. "I don't think so, not unless there's a solid benefit to them, but who knows? Only takes one attack on our city from some big hellion clan. Then, they'd all rally against that clan and try to destroy them if they could find them."

  "Wish our city's guilds had that sort of cohesion." Riley scratched at the side of his head. "But yeah, that's about it. Tier-three… who'da thought, right?"

  "That's so crazy," Aaron admitted, shaking his head. "I don't know of anyone who has a permanent tier-three status. It was permanent, right? There wasn't some sort of timed effect?"

  Riley nodded. "I checked. There wasn't any sort of timer on any of it. I'm permanently tier-three powered. I gotta say, between the whole tumor thing, and then the whole ability to steal two people's powers, I've had a lot on my mind. I haven't been able to sleep too well. Been a stressful couple of days."

  "I imagine so," said Aaron.

  A brief silence fell between the two, and Aaron pulled out his cellphone. He checked the time and slid it back into his pocket. "Well, I was planning on doing some stuff, but I'm in no rush to leave. Did you want to talk some more? Even if you just wanna vent about… whatever?"

  Riley shook his head. "No, it's alright. I think I should head back and just think about things for a bit, then I'll probably head online and go see Warcry. Haven't spoke to her in a while. Figure I could let her know what's going on and I guess see what she's been up to."

  Aaron smiled, and slowly stood up. "Well, thanks for letting me know, and seriously… be careful. Listen to the doctors if they really think you shouldn't be playing Sigil. I'm sure you can find something, I dunno. Or, hell, why not be more of a crafter and less of a fighter?" Aaron said, letting his lips curl at the obvious joke.

  Riley smiled at Aaron's humor. "I'll see you later," was his only response.

  "See you later," Aaron said before turning and heading off.

  Chapter 22: Rookbane

  'Building' in Sigil Online was a relatively simple matter. Players could go into the rooms they owned and bring up a building tab, letting them move furniture around or place items that were in their inventory. If they had the materials and the schematics to make a piece of furniture, they could even craft certain things inside the room. Some pieces of furniture would require a workshop. Others did not.

  Riley had moved the few pieces of furniture in his room from time to time. But there wasn't a huge reason to do so. A piece of furniture like a bed, or a lamp or cabinet, would either serve an aesthetic purpose or a practical one. A shelf could display a trophy. A bed, when used to log out, would give a 'well rested' buff to the player when they returned to the game after so many hours.

  For Riley, there wasn't a whole lot for him to do with his room. He had the simple items, but never attempted to delve further into crafting, workbenches, or anything of that sort.

  Riley found himself thinking about the building feature in the game as he sat on his virtual bed. The hellions seemed to be able to build wherever they wanted, and generally chose underground areas, which had been expanded upon by the developers. From what he'd read, hellions could technically build anywhere, as long as they had the materials. Hero players could only 'build' inside buildings they owned, unless their powers allowed for makeshift construction, like Todd's.

  A tinge of sadness ran through him as he remembered Todd.

  Todd was one of the players that had been in Seth's party when he'd returned to the game. One of the first few people to give him a chance. Now Todd was gone, and Erica had fled the game.

  And if he wasn't careful, maybe he too would end up like Todd.

  Riley shook his head, trying to pull his thoughts away from such depressing matters.

  He was about to head over to see Warcry today. He'd already queued up a taxi from the lounge terminal. Due to the lower populace of NPCs, and the turmoil their city was in, the wait time was a lot longer than usual. Taxis from other cities wouldn't enter Gargantuan due to its threat status.

  With a quick gesture, he checked the time on his user interface. The taxi would be available in just a couple minutes. So it was best to go ahead and head out to wait for it.

  It didn't take long to leave his room, head up the stairs, and go through the lounge. There were familiar faces standing around, conversing, but none of them were guildmates, or even close to being considered a friend.

  He pushed open the door to Bunker 7 and walked out. He looked across the street, then up into the sky. There weren't any explosions as far as he could hear. No flying fortresses. No giant monsters. The buildings looked… well, they looked a little banged up, since their NPC population had taken a hit, and couldn't easily go out to repair all of them from the normal wear-and-tear of heroes and hellions.

  "Where you off to?" came an all too familiar female voice.

  Riley whipped around and found himself face to face with Glint. She'd been standing against the wall, just behind the opening door.

  "What are you doing here?" Riley countered, startled by her presence.

  "Just waiting on a taxi. You?" Glint asked, lifting a brow at him. She tilted her head, allowing her almost glimmering hair to fall from her shoulder.

  "Same," Riley replied. "Long wait?"

  Glint nodded. "Yeah, it should be here any minute though."

  "Yeah, mine too," Riley replied. "Wait, are you going to Colossal City?"

  "Sure am," Glint confirmed. "You?"

  "Yeah, actually. I guess the taxi is gonna take both of us?"

  "If it gets here," Glint said with a sigh. "This is the spot it queued me up to arrive at. Been standing around for about ten minutes already."

  Riley nodded. "What're your plans?" he asked curiously.

  Glint shrugged, and finally took the opportunity to step forward "I was gonna hit the market district. See if there's anything worth getting. You?"

  "Was going to visit a friend," Riley answered, feeling that divulging such a fact wouldn't put him in any danger. Not that he felt Glint would turn on him… but after Shadow Witch the other day, and everything that ensued from that, he wasn't sure if he should really trust anyone outside of the guild at this point.

  "I heard there was a big fight down in one of the hellion lairs a few days ago," said Glint. "Were you down there? The news said that some paragons got taken out, but so did a bunch hellions. But they caused some serious NPC damage?"

  Riley's lips parted. He thought about what he was going to say, and took a moment before speaking. "Yeah, I was." He looked away, then back to Glint. "Ran into Shadow. And Shade."

  Glint instantaneously grimaced at the mention of Shadow Witch. "Eugh. Really? I bet that wasn't fun. Let me guess, they popped out of nowhere when you were fighting some hellions?"

  Riley rolled his shoulders. "Worse," he murmured. "She was by herself, and seemed to run into us on accident. I kinda figured it might be best if we let her tag along with us. We had no idea what was going on with the NPCs or anything. I thought it was the best solution, at the time, but all I ended up doing was getting a friend killed… for real."

  Glint's brow furrowed. "What? What are you talking about?"

  Riley explained what happened to Todd, and the fight that had killed him. He left out the majority of what had happened afterward, other than that they managed to get away.

  "Damn, that's… that's terrible." Glint shook her head. "Wish I could've been there. I can see invisible players, you know."

 

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