Private Isulus Bring out yer Dead

[Jin]

The events of the previous night were fresh in his mind.

By the combined efforts of a multitude, they had brought low the foul creature that threatened to unravel their minds and allow its young to feast on their flesh. He recalled the madness that gripped him, and the way that he felt with each tick of the condition. Burning hot passion, disdain, heights of joy, and volcanic rage. All things that he had come to accept were beyond him, unlocked by circumstance. If this world could give him that experience, there was so much more waiting for him.

He knew it. Jin ambled along the path through the Tangleweaves back toward Astorea, far ahead of the caravan. Ahead of him was the sanctuary where those who fell in combat would rise once more, and there he would find the man he sought. When it came into view, Jin strained for a moment to discern if there were others nearby, or if he was alone. Only once he was satisfied did he make his approach.

Jin breached the hallowed hall and glanced toward the altar, the spawning point. It had been long enough since the death for the timer to tick away and the body to rematerialize and bind with the spirit once more. He leaned against the frame of the doorway and peered in, raising his voice to call out for @Yugam.

"The way you snuck around I was beginning to think you had no intention of meeting up with me in game at all," he spoke, for the first time dropping the pretense of the Bloodsworn. With anyone who he didn't know outside of this world, he would never bother showing them what hid behind the mask. This was one of the token exceptions. "But not only did you not even say hi, you went and died in the boss fight. If we had coordinated, that probably could have been avoided," he shook his head.

The reality of it was that neither man was much worried about death, or the ramifications. It still presented something of an inconvenience to Jin at this point, though. Nonetheless, he was curious. "...are you going to at least tell me what it felt like?"

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

Yu had awoken, or rather respawned, a while ago. And while others had been quick to leave the hallowed grounds of the temple, Yu had chosen to stay behind, seating himself in a pew and staring up at the chapel's statues, icons and stained glass windows. The man was strangely spiritual for someone who hated his existence so much. Even still, he had never been one to allow the tenants and ideals of religion to bind or constrain his own beliefs. No. The man may believe in a God, but it was a God as he saw fit.

"The way you snuck around I was beginning to think you had no intention of meeting up with me in game at all," a familiar voice said from behind Yu, startling him as he turned in his seat to look at he who had spoken. "Yeah, sorry about that," Ari apologized as he turned back around and settled in his seat, figuring that Theo, or whatever he was going by in this game, would take a seat beside him.

"...are you going to at least tell me what it felt like?"

Ari let out a long exhale as he ran a hand through his hair, the coarse strands oddly familiar for a body that wasn't even technically real. "It was...cold. Extremely cold," Ari reported allowing his head to hang back as he stared blindly up at the domed ceiling. "Although, I'm that might've been due to the fact I fucking drained every ounce of blood out my body." The man almost shivered at the memory. The strange sensation of his vital liquids seeping out of the gashes along his arm, now bound by a clean white cloth, still fresh in his mind.

"The rest of it though?" the man sighed as he sought out the right words. "Nothing," he finally said. A lie. Well, only partially. It had been like nothing. Just, not at first. What Ari had seen at the moment of his death was more akin to...a vision. Or perhaps a dream. A woman, someone familiar, long dark hair. For some reason, he can't remember her face. They're sitting down for lunch at his old high school. Talking. What's being said, Ari can't remember. Or maybe it just wasn't important. Suddenly she goes stiff, pale. Her eyes wide as she stares at something behind Ari. He turns to look, but nothing's there. He asks her what's wrong, and she says that its nothing. Everything's fine. They go back to eating, but she seems different. Skittish. On high alert. Suddenly she excuses herself, runs out of the cafeteria. Ari follows, looks for her. But she's gone.

Why the game would be showing him dreams of his old school, Ari couldn't imagine. It didn't really fit the theme of a fantasy world if you asked him. And so, Ari kept up with the lie, "Not like 'nothing,' like it didn't feel like anything in particular. I mean 'nothing' as in devoid of everything." That might've been the best way to put. "Just darkness. No light, sound. I couldn't even feel the breath in my lungs." If that was what real death was like, Yu was actually quite keen on avoiding it. Such monotony would only bore him. "Coming back? That was...an experience..."

@Jin

 

[Jin]

Jin nodded sagely as he made his way into the foyer, an ink stain on otherwise perfect parchment as light filtered into the room from above. When he alighted on the altar opposite Yu, he sat faced away as the man reflected on his demise and the events that followed.

Everything met with expectation. "Death experience is relative to how the victim is terminated." He took notes like a robot, repeating back information as if it carried no deeper context or emotional weight. Ari was use to this side of him by now.

That one oddball friend who seemed just a little unsympathetic.

"That tracks, though," he shrugged. Humanity knew so little about death, it seemed realistic that they would struggle to emulate it in a game setting. The sensation of losing blood robbed the warmth from one's body- his own Hemomancy had allowed him to learn that from experience. He imagined the numbness that followed would be a pretext to cold, unfeeling emptiness.

Physical, mental, and emotional.

"Your lungs require blood to pump the oxygen," he chided the other Hemomancer for not realizing that fact. A basic and working knowledge of the cardiovascular system should have been a prerequisite. Or at least, he had previously assumed that. Apparently, that was not the case. "You took the same health classes I did, right?" Jin asked incredulously.

"Nevermind that. Without blood moving through your veins, basic bodily functions like brain activity, synapses linked to that involved in motor function, and breathing become impossible. Exsanguination is an action that will almost certainly result in immediate death. Your blood is a resource, but like any other resource, it should be treated as a finite one. You can't create and replenish it as quickly as you can expend it."

He knew that the other man was unfazed by death. In this world, he sought adventure and answers, and if one or more of his lives could buy him either of those things... well, at the very least, Jin could share in what the other man learned from his rashness. If wisdom on how to use his powers more frugally was one such gain, well, at least Yugam would know better for the future.

It did surprise him to know that Yugam was still able to feel all of that in his last moments.

That must have been agonizing.

Jin licked his chops subconsciously before he spoke again. "How did that feel?" Jin asked of the process of the man's body rematerializing and the soul entering it for habitation once more.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

It wasn't the cold analytical tone that Theo used, or the almost patronizing way the man chose to explain things, Ari had known him long enough to know that was just Theo's way, for better or for worse (usually worse). And besides, this was just a game. An analytical look at the game's death mechanics wasn't going to hurt anyone. What did bother Ari though, and made him shoot the other man a disapproving look, was the fact that he'd chosen to sit on the altar. Regardless of how religious someone was, or if the religion was even real, there was something to be said about showing a certain amount of respect. But, then again, Ari had really come to expect this sort of thing from the man.

"You took the same health classes I did, right?"

"Yeah, I did, and if you recall I almost failed it," Ari pointed out, crossing his arms. "And need I remind you, this is a game. If the devs wanted us to feel certain things while we were dead, they most certainly could have, regardless of whether or not it made sense in a real world setting...not that...you get what I'm saying."

Theo went on. Blah, blah, blah. Don't bleed yourself out, kid. "Well yeah. If I'd known that was a mechanic, I probably would've been a little more conservative with spells but," Ari shrugged, and leaned back into the pew, draping his arms across the backing, "it worked, didn't it?" Seemed like it was a worthwhile sacrifice to him.

"Hate to break it to you," Ari said, knowing full well the sadistic tendencies Theo had. "It really wasn't as bad as you're hoping. Weird, but not bad. You just kinda get your sense back slowly. Smell, first, weirdly enough. About the same time you get hearing. Then touch and sight. I assume taste is in there somewhere too, but it's not like I woke up eating an apple." It didn't sound that interesting, Ari had to admit, but actually having it occur to him was bizarre. Sensing absolutely nothing to then sensing everything in mere moments. It was jarring, to say the least.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

"At times I find it humorous that I was the one who ended up dropping out of school," he grinned. Up until that time, he had been studious and took his lessons seriously. One day, he just stopped wanting to put the effort in. He wanted to start enjoying life. A series of near unbelievable events that ultimately led them to the point they were at right now, in this world.

His brow furrowed at what Yu said next, though. The devs could have programmed certain things into the game, sensory experiences that persisted death. Yet, they had chosen not to. They could have made it feel like a game, but they had not done so. A vexing thought.

"You died," Jin shrugged. He was never the type to sugar coat anything. "We don't know what the blowback from that loss is just yet. Other than what we've established about UI locks, there's been a lot of whispers among other Travelers about what happens when you die."

He quirked an eyebrow. "You haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary?" he asked. It came with the territory. Neither man knew the full extent of what was real, or what wasn't or what felt real, and what was just a sensory experience imparted by the virtual reality. At this point, everything was subjective. That alone was unnerving enough.

Jin wanted to learn more and quickly, before that knowledge could be levied against him, and before it could inflict actual harm.

But what Yu described was just jarring. It wasn't actually dangerous. At least, everything he had described so far.

Perhaps there is more that he is unaware of?

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

Despite Ari's slight annoyance with Theo, the man couldn't help but snicker at his comment. "Honestly man, me neither." To be completely honest, Yu's grades were fairly decent. Nothing below a B, all AP classes. He just chose to not use more than three of his braincells at a time usually.

"You died," Theo then shrugged.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock."

"We don't know what the blowback from that loss is just yet. Other than what we've established about UI locks, there's been a lot of whispers among other Travelers about what happens when you die."

"UI-Locks? Whispers? Dude, what the fuck are you talking about?" All of those terms. Entirely foreign to Yu. Well, he knew what they meant, obviously, but within the context of the game, they might as well be gibberish to him.

"You haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary?"

Ari narrowed his eyes at Theo, as if to ask him if he was losing his mind. "Uh, you mean other than you? No, not a thing."

@Jin

 

[Jin]

"Wait," Jin stopped, turned and looked over his shoulder at Yu with the most amused expression on his face. "Do you really not know?" he asked rhetorically.

"Oh that's amazing, Ari," he commented on the man's brazen foolishness. "You know about how the VRSA covered this whole game up, and even managed to get it firewalled off for four years, right? You remember how that girl you told me about used to play? How you told me that she warned you not to get into it?"

The Bloodsworn stood, turning on his heel atop the altar, and looked down at Yu expectantly and held up three fingers. "Three strikes. That's all you get. I figured with how willing you were to part with a life, you'd at least weighed the options and decided it was worth the risk, but this? This is so much funnier than I could have imagined." Granted, he was being a bit more of a dick than was absolutely necessary, but Yu and Theo were old friends. This? Definitely not out of character. "When you die in the game three times, you get locked in. Your character loses access to the User Interface. You can't log out. You're a glorified Lander. Forever."

Jin put a finger down.

"And you're down to two." The red-eyed man hopped down and took a few steps past Yu, glancing out at the Tangleweaves. In an hour or two, the Caravan would start shipping people back to Finweald. They had a bit of time left to discuss this privately. He continued to speak after he was certain they were not being eavesdropped upon.

"As for the whispers, I can't say for sure because I've never died myself," he explained, "but there have been reports of strange things happening to people who have died inside the game. Night terrors. Weird psychological trauma. That kind of thing." Jin glanced back toward Yu. "If you haven't experienced anything like that, it might just be an isolated event."

He shrugged, then turned to lean against the wall next to the door to the chapel. "So I guess... welcome to Terrasphere," he greeted, not at all warmly.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

"Wait, do you really not know?"

Ari narrowed his eyes again at Theo, "Know what? Care to elaborate?"

Oh, who in the fuck was Ari kidding. Of course Theo cared to elaborate. All he fucking ever did was elaborate! Ari let the man drone on and on, his patience wearing increasingly thin with every word. The quiet tapping of his foot slowly sped up, soon joined by the rhythmic thumping of his fingers against the pew's polished wood.

"So I guess... welcome to Terrasphere," Theo finished, leaning against the chapel wall.

Ari got up from the pew, the wood creaking slightly as it was released from carrying the man's weight. Ari walked over to Theo his hands in his pockets, not stopping until he was mere inches away, staring into the the cold, gleeful eyes of Theo's. Strange...Ari could never recall glee in Theo's life before.

In one smooth motion, Ari reared his head back and launched it forward, slamming the front of his forehead into Jin's nose, a sickening crack echoing through the stone room as Ari took a step back.

Ari rubbed his forehead gently with the palm of his hand. "You're a real fucking ass-" Yu trailed off as blood began to leak from Jin's nose, a steady stream where in the reflection

Spoiler: Warning: Abuse

Drip... drip.. drip...

His head throbbed and he clutched it tight, fighting off the rush of adrenaline and pain that flooded his vision. All at once, it went red, then black, and finally, pure white. Heat blazed through his consciousness as he realized that he was not where he had been before.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

He could hear his heart beating in his ears. His eyes darted one way, then the other, and he realized that he was in a narrow hallway, and it smelled like urine and alcohol. The stench was so strong, he felt like gagging. "Get the fuck over here, you little shit," a voice he did not know, but somehow, it felt familiar. Strong. Angry. For some reason, he felt terrified.

He felt nothing but fear. The pain intensified as a firm grip settled around his hair, and he was turned around to face the man. An adult. Someone who he felt he should have known. Someone he felt like... was important, somehow.

The fist hit his face, again.

"You're a lot of trouble for a shitstain who doesn't pay rent and eats the food I put on the table," the man said. "You listening to me, Theo? You hear what I'm saying? Eh?"

His head bobbed once. The sound of a lighter came, a plume of smoke hit his face. He started coughing. A sigh of relief, then-
"That's right. Good kid. You learn fast. You might just be my son." His father glanced toward his mother, standing with her head down behind him. "You hear that, Maureen? He might just be mine! Maybe you really can keep your legs closed."

He felt his heart sink, then go wild again. The searing pain of a cigarette put out on his arm caused Theo to cry out in agony. "Now don't you go showing that shit around, you hear me?" He pulled Theo close and lowered his voice. "You only have a place to live because I'm too nice of a guy to throw you and your whore mother out on the street. You wanna keep living in my house, don't you?"

Theo nodded again. His eyes swept across the floor now, and the memory began to darken. "That's a good kid..."

he did not see himself. Just shapes, moving in the crimson liquid. Ari's head began to throb in pain, searing, the nerves in his skull threatening to tear themselves apart as he clutched at his head and stumbled backwards, falling back into the pew again. "F-fuck," the man swore, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Heh, yeah, what were you saying about 'out of the ordinary?'" Ari asked, an ironic grin on his face.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

"...!" Before he had time to form words, Yugam was already in motion. Jin's eyes widened in surprise and excitement as the man drew closer, and when he got cold-cocked, Jin hit the floor. Surprisingly, he was not angry, or disappointed. That was exactly the kind of response he had expected.

And the pain?

Well, the pain was absolutely sublime. "If you wanted a kiss, you could have just asked," the Bloodsworn retorted balefully as he recovered from having his bell rung. He smeared the blood from his nose across his face, leaving a fat line from nostril down his cheek. "We'll call it even at that," he said with a wink, entirely unaware of what was transpiring in the pool of blood Yu stared deeply into.

What he did notice was the man's sudden, inordinate response to the blood. Hadn't he chosen Hemomancy as one of his starting Masteries? It made no sense for him to react so suddenly and violently to the gushing blood. And then, Yu asked.

"Heh, yeah, what were you saying about 'out of the ordinary?'"

"What happened?" he asked suddenly, completely disregarding the blood that still dripped from his nose. He stared at the man, fascinated, observing his pain, his subtle movements, every miniscule detail. "What did you see?"

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

If Ari's head didn't feel like it was about to burst open, spilling whatever approximation of a brain Terrasphere had dumped into his skull all over the floor, he would have sneered at Theo. He knew the man well enough to recognize why exactly it was he was showing so much sudden interest in Ari's wellbeing, or lack thereof. And Ari did not take any pleasure from being a source of Theo's enjoyment.

Images continued to flicker in and out of the man's sight. His periphery filled with the silhouettes and shadows of people he thought he knew. Like his skull was just a movie theater.

"I- I'm not sure," Ari said through gritted teeth. "Just- fuck- people. Hurting." At least that wasn't a total lie. But he couldn't tell Theo the truth. Not the whole truth, anyways. They'd never spoken about his father before. And Ari figured now he knew the reason.

Still wincing, Ari slowly moved his hand away from his head and sharply inhaled, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, willing the specters of life to leave him be. Slowly exhaling, they faded back into the darkness of his closed eyelids. God, he could only hope that worked every time.

His head still fucking hurt though. Opening his eyes again, Ari looked up at Theo, squinting against the painful light. "Any other macabre questions I can answer for you, or can I log out and go to sleep now?"

@Jin

 

[Jin]

"Mmm... not just now," he replied. From what little he knew about death in Terrasphere, it never came without consequence. Whatever that may be, it was possible the traumatic experience of actual death in virtual reality had left the other man at a loss. It was a good stopping point, and Theo wasn't going to put more pressure on him.

Not yet, at least.

"Get some rest." Theo spoke more dismissively than he did concerned, but it was just as good given the circumstances. "Once you've recovered some, we can talk more about it. What I know, and what you don't."

And perhaps if we're lucky, what I don't know and what you do.

"I'm going to head back to Astorea. It should let you choose to log in there next time, so don't worry about making it back right now." Jin turned without another word and headed for the door, raising a hand in farewell.

"See you soon, 'Yugam.'"

@Yugam