I hurried to the next guild, checking my work orders. ‘Atrocity’ and ‘Disco’ were the next two players guilds. Unlike the Farseers, whom I was kind of writing off as Venture Reborn cock suckers, these guilds legitimately beat the content and were still pushing a few raid bosses. They would be…I flipped the page to the map…one was next to the lunchroom, the other…was at the Teacher’s break room.
Great. Right in the heart of darkness itself. Figured that the third most successful guild on the server was the one with all the teachers in it. I’d hit that one last-not that I had anything to fear, since I was no longer human. It was just going to be extremely awkward and I wasn’t quite sure the teachers would simply leave me alone.
As I made my way to the lunchroom, I caught a glimpse of the half-giant at the end of the hall, just before he ducked out of sight. I scoffed. Seriously? Had he really skipped his classes to watch me? What a loser. Though I was a little flattered…
“There he is, Master!” An angry voice shouted.
I turned, and found two figures hurrying towards me. They were both the same demonic species and wearing those necromancer robes. I recognized the teacher as the man who had brought the corpse back into a mockery of life. The other…oh! He was the guy I’d saved Danny from.
I sighed and waited.
“You there! Did you let that human go?” The teacher hissed, forked tail flicking beneath his robes.
“Yes. And?” I crossed my arms.
“He admits it!” The student exclaimed, a gleam in his eye. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I’m sorry, little Hitler, but I’m not going to persecute a so-called ‘lesser race’.” I said gruffly.
“That’s-that isn’t-” The younger demon stuttered then glanced at his teacher for help.
“We merely wish to facilitate their transition to a…new form.” The teacher glanced at the pin on my chest. “A Courier…how interesting.”
“Not really. Get out of my way so I can perform my duties.” I said.
“You can’t just let him go! Clearly he’s bugged or something!” The younger demon insisted.
“I don’t know what yer on about.” I shrugged and shouldered past the two, putting my muscles to use.
A hand clamped on my thick shoulder.
“Oh, I don’t think so. You’re going to follow me to the Principal’s office.” The teacher spoke slyly. “Let’s see if you hold up to scrutiny, eh?”
“I don’t have to go anywhere.” I grunted, trying to throw him off.
The demon’s grip tightened, and I saw through my HUD, that he was level 72. The difference in our strength, despite outward appearances, was staggeringly in his favor, even as a necromancer. He escorted me non-too gently down the corridor. I heard sniggers behind me and saw Narjak following us.
Had he set this up? Maybe ‘watch and not interfere’ had a different meaning to half-giants. He gave me a thumbs up and pointed at his cock.
‘Say the word and you can have this.’ He mouthed.
I blushed and found myself being pushed into a giant study. Staircases spiraled around book shelves, butterflies made of pure energy danced around orbs that lit the room. The Principal’s secretary was a mere ball of light that guided us through the maze of books. Apparently, she hadn’t been given the bracelet for free, or bought one herself, so she’d been transformed into a minion, likely a will-o-wisp.
A shudder wracked my body. Whoever was behind all of this was a monster. I’d liked Miss Skiprif, she’d always been kind even when dealing with kids having tantrums. Venture Reborn would pay for what they’d done to her…and likely what was going to be done to my mom. She was in the same boat that Danny and Miss Skiprif were, after all.
We entered a large room, a small zen garden in the center. Archmage Masterson was huddled over a crystal ball, scenes of the hallways of the former school shifting from one classroom to the next. The Principal-former Principal, I supposed-was now a rather handsome Fire Genasi, decked out in some tight end-game mage gear he’d altered to be more fitting to his form. I hadn’t even known you could do that…but with the blurring of reality, I suppose tailoring a Legendary drop from a raid to better suit one’s tastes might make sense. He didn’t even glance up as we entered the room.
“Archmage?”
“Yes, Dmitrov?”
“This…student…was seen helping a human escape the school!” The demonic teacher, Dmitrov, shoved me forward onto the gravel of the zen garden.
I caught myself on calloused hands and stood up, brushing them off on my shorts. Archmage Masterson looked up at me then, fiery eyes narrowed on my pin. I smirked.
“Is this true?” The archmage demanded.
“Aye, true enough.” I shrugged.
“He should be punished!” “That was my student’s kill!”
“Kill?” I wheeled on Dmitrov incredulously. “You disgust me!’
“Fuck you, human lover.” Dmitrov whispered.
“Suck my dick, necrophiliac.” I replied just as quietly
“Silence!” Archmage Masterson slammed his hands onto his granite desk, flaming hair blazing with anger. “You will speak with decorum while you are here. Both of you.”
“Yes sir.” Dmitrov bowed his head.
“Aye.”
“You…” The archmage pulled up his menu. “..Javari, is it?”
“Jeremy.” I said.
“Not according to this. I suppose that’ll sort itself out. Anyways, is it true? Did you fail to transform a human?”
“I have no such orders to do so.” I shrugged.
“But you also don’t have orders to assist them, either.” Masterson pointed out.
“Aye, ‘tis true.”
“So you, a neutral entity, violated your oath to your guild by interfering with PVP?”
“Hmm? What do you mean, violated my oath? First of all, I just received a pin. And second of all, Danny ran into me first. I was speaking with him when the Necromancer rudely interrupted our conversation.”
Masterson looked to his orb and I watched the scene play out. He nodded to himself.
“Well, that’s true enough. If anyone would have a claim to the human, it would be you. But you let him go without transforming him.”
“Ah!” I smiled and held up a finger. “Not true. We hid in the closet next to the gym. He was very different when he left.”
Masterson played with the orb some more, then watched as I hurried Danny into the closet. The werewolves walked past, then a few minutes later, a hulking Wolvar and myself exit the closet. The genasi stared at the screen, a slow smile playing over his features.
“Yes. I suppose you ‘technically’ transformed him. Frenzybrew?”
I nodded.
“Hmm.”
“That’s semantics! He can’t count temporarily changing someone into a Wolvar the same as getting rid of a human!”
“Everything is semantics. And if he regularly dosed himself with it, he’d likely transform into a Wolvar permanently.” Masterson pointed out. “Especially if he buys more for his ‘disguise’. The stuff is made to be addictive to humans and cost them their humanity, after all.”
My eyes widened in horror.
“See! He does care about them! He’s broken!” Dmitrov shouted in triumph.
“I am not broken. You’re all simply genocidal!” I shouted, unable to restrain my anger any longer. “Fucking Nuremberg would hang your asses!”
“Stop!” Masterson shouted. “We know! We know that the world is being transformed. Do you think we’re idiots? Some high schooler supposedly knows better than me about what’s wrong and right? It’s too late now, Javari. You wanted to save the boy? Make him into a dwarf. Give him a nice choice. But it’s over. Where is he going to go now? He’s going to get entrapped by some random monster and transformed into something worse.”
“You’re the ones choosing to do that!” I insisted. “Look at me! I clearly could have done that, and I chose not to.”
“The pin, you think?” Dmitrov spoke as though I wasn’t in the same room.
“Probably. Not meant for players. For something that should enslave him, it’s giving him free will…within certain parameters.”
“We need to report this immediately!”
“I will report it. I’m the one in charge of this server.” Masterson said. “Javari, you may leave. You have work orders to fulfill, no doubt.”
I nodded and left the room, stomping angrily down the hall. The other two continued speaking behind me in hushed, urgent tones. Something about agents…I’d heard that before, when I’d destroyed my bracelet. So I was going to have to dodge agents tomorrow on top of surviving with my mind intact, huh? Great. Just what I needed. With a sigh, I opened the grand doors to the archmage’s chambers and stepped back out into the school.
Had the pin really preserved some of my mind, then? Instanced NPCS didn’t have much code. They appeared, walked to their destinations, delivered things, returned, then disappeared. They were meant to simulate the length of time it would take to actually hand-deliver things. Really, that’s all they were coded to do. I wasn’t even sure if they had any thoughts at all, unlike normal NPCS, who simulated whole lives. Martin, for example, had experienced memories of being a farmer.
Maybe I owed my clarity of mind to that. Instanced NPCs didn’t have minds, they just did their jobs and ceased to exist until the next work order. Narjak waited at the end of the hall and elbowed me playfully as I walked past.
“Whaddya want?” I asked sourly.
“So you got out of it, then?” Narjak asked, hands moving across my back and buttock.
My own hand was squeezing his firm backside. We leaned against each other in the hall. I desperately wanted to kiss him, to feel his big cock slide into me. He was smelling me, nuzzling my neck. My hand roamed over to his crotch, feeling his thick bulge and twitching dick.
“Join us,” He whispered, biting my earlobe gently.
I moaned.
“We can date Sam and Martin and rule this server together.” Narjak said. “They can be whatever we want them to be, whenever we want it.”
“But we can’t give in.” I pulled away. “That’s losing!”
Narjak’s eyes hardened. “You shut your mouth! Embracing a better you is fine!”
“But Venture Reborn is playing a game to. And you and I have lost.” I replied. “Their goal is to change all humans, right? What have you been doing to stop them from winning?”
“I like being a half-giant! You like me as a half-giant!”
“I do.” I nodded.
Narjak’s features softened and he embraced me again. “I like you a lot , Javari.”
“I like you too.” I said, enjoying the embrace. “But I have, like, two boyfriends already. I mean, technically Martin was straight, but he’s gay now and kinda hot so…”
“You can always have a third.” Narjak shrugged. “I don’t mind sharing.”
I kissed him, savoring his taste, then pulled away. “I have to get to the other guilds. You aren’t going to interfere any longer, are you?”
“Hmm.” A smile curled on the edge of his lips. “Maybe, maybe not. Hit up Atrocity first. Disco…you might get lost there.”
“Is the non-interference guy giving me advice?” I grinned.
“Maybe I just want to keep my new favorite piece of ass safe.” Narjak winked.
“Oooh, you donating subs to me, half-simp?” I laughed.
Narjak laughed too.
“Go on.” Narjak indicated the lunchroom. “I’m not good at this stuff. Oh, and tomorrow come straight to the computer la-to the Farseer’s Guild, okay? Don’t go to your locker, don’t do anything else. Got it?”
“Is this…about the agents?” I asked.
“Yes. Unless you wanna got locked up in a lab and examined for the rest of your life as an abnormality, you need to come with me, okay?”
“That’s if I don’t cease to exist at the end of the day, of course.” I pointed out.
“I have good odds that you won’t.” Narjak winked. “See you later.”
I nodded and waved goodbye, then set off to the Atrocity Guild Hall.