Chapter 15: The Third Faction (Part 2)

“Gid!” Irazu cried, breaking her position on the upper tier to sprint down the steps.

With only a few low-level spells left in her repertoire, she thrust her hand out on the run, summoning an iridescent swarm of hornets that instantly buzzed en masse toward Evelyn.

The nature seer muttered a brief incantation, casually flinging her arm in a circle over her head to deploy a thick, swirling miasma of toxic green gas. The cloud instantly enveloped the swarm, sending the insects dropping like raindrops to the floor where they twitched and vanished in a puff of smoke.

As Irazu reached the second tier, a sudden, blinding flash illuminated the background. Brem had unleashed a high-tier Deadeye cooldown—a massive critical hit that vaporized the dragon-bear’s remaining health bar in one blow. The beast dissolved into scattered data pixels, disappearing before the shards could even hit the stone floor. A fraction of a second later, Brem’s bowstring twanged again.

The arrow flew too fast for Irazu to dodge. It pierced her left shoulder mid-stride, the force breaking her momentum and sending her tumbling down the remaining steps. Gasping, she pushed herself up on one elbow, watching as the elf notched his next shot from the shadows of the pillars.

“Wraist-lin, kill her,” Evelyn instructed the mage, all the while casually circling GidSeres’ paralyzed form. “Now, where was I? Oh, yes. How does it feel? I hear level ten is one of the worst pains a human can experience. Probably why anything beyond seven was deemed illegal. Funny how the devs merely locked the option out instead of deleting the code.”

She knelt beside him, her face mere inches from his. Her eyes reflected a form of sick fascination at the agony he was in. “You should just log out, GidSeres,” she whispered. “You’re pointlessly torturing yourself. You’re infected, and there’s no fix—not even phoenix ashes could cure your avatar.”

GidSeres strained to lift his head, but his avatar refused the command. Beside him, the corrupted mage shuffled past, lifting a jerky hand to point it toward the steps where Irazu lay. A small, blue spark flashed briefly on its fingertip, only to snuff out a second later.

“Really?” Evelyn sighed. “You wasted all of your mana, Dan? Fine, just go claw her to death or something.”

She turned back to GidSeres as Wraist-lin’s puppet continued past.

“If you’re wondering, I’m going to activate perma-death on both you and Irazu,” Evelyn said, her voice dropping to a cold murmur. “By the time you start over, the third faction will have already taken over and Asteria will be a ruined game. I’m just giving you some friendly advice; don’t bother coming back.”

Every facet of his body was in agony: his bones, his muscles, his nervous system—it all burned. It was pain like no other. But he was a One-er, where just surviving day-to-day was a life or death struggle. Red digital error codes and system alert pop-ups glitched spastically across his vision, screaming at him that his neural thresholds were at their max.

Gritting his teeth, GidSeres slammed his palms into the stone floor, forcing his head up against the crushing weight of immeasurable pain.

Evelyn’s smile faltered, her composure slipping a fraction to reveal a shadow of worry for the first time.

“Wh-what are you doing? Why aren’t you logging out?” She glanced at Brem and Irazu in confusion, looking for an answer that wasn’t there. “Why isn’t he logging?” she demanded. Fear set into her eyes as she suddenly stood, backing away. “You should be in agony!”

“I…am…in…agony!” GidSeres hissed. He clenched his teeth, groaning—forcing his unwilling, twitching body to push up off the ground. Reaching his feet, his frame trembled as he gasped, “This is…nothing…compared to…the pain I’ve…felt before.”

Backpedaling away from him, Evelyn’s head whipped from side to side in denial. She lost sight of her surroundings as she panicked, tripping right over Duke’s vacant, unmoving avatar. Her side hit the ground with a clatter as her body naturally twisted to protect itself; the black rod in her hands slipped from her grasp to roll across the floor.

GidSeres bent down, grasping the hilt of the God-Sword with his shaking hand. Red veins of corruption still hummed along the steel, burning brutally into his palms. Grimacing, he forced his grip tighter on the handle.

“No, I-I can’t lose,” Evelyn shrieked, scrambling backward on her hands and knees. “Brem! Brem! Help me you idiot!”

With a sudden, violent twist of his torso, GidSeres turned and heaved the heavy, sharp-pointed weapon through the air.

A loud grunt escaped Brem’s throat as the blade buried itself deep in his chest, the sheer momentum driving the archer back a few steps and shearing away a quarter of his health bar. His eyes widened momentarily, then lowered as he threw a scowl in GidSeres’ direction. Reaching for the weapon’s pommel, he nonchalantly grasped it with both hands.

“Not even close to killing me,” Brem sneered, sliding the embedded sword out of his chest. “Now I have your best weapon, and there’s nothing—”

His sneer vanished. The face of the golden elf instantly drained of all color.

“Oh, crap,” he murmured.

The red-pulsing cracks were already streaking up his arm and into his chest. Brem’s bow dropped from his hands, the wood hitting the stone with a dull knock. His eyes snapped over to Evelyn, filled with absolute terror. Then a piercing, raw scream escaped his lips.

“Just log if you c-can’t take it,” GidSeres rasped, his voice straining from the intense pain racking his body. Still, he managed a cold, triumphant smirk.

Brem Longshot of the Deadeye Clan—an elite player known for laughing away the most grievous of virtual wounds and pushing through endgame content half-dead—immediately disconnected. The crushing weight of the unmitigated level ten neural pain was something his real-world mind couldn’t tolerate for more than a second. His avatar went limp, collapsing into a vacant shell.

GidSeres stepped forward, his heavy, deliberate strides bringing him beside Evelyn. She stared up from the floor as he hovered over her, shaking uncontrollably, her mouth opening and closing silently. He arched one eyebrow. “Guess he couldn’t take it.”

“Please, GidSeres!” Evelyn immediately pleaded, her voice rising into a frantic, high-pitched screech. “I can split the money! Fifty million credits. You could retire with it!”

“I like working,” he replied, summoning his dagger back from his inventory.

The curved, thick blade materialized in his hand, its surface radiating a deep, red aura that cast dark shadows across the stone floor. Like the God-Sword, the corruption flowed from his body into the blade, causing it to pulse.

“How are you even doing this?” she screamed in sheer terror, her head whipping from side to side as she clawed blindly at the carpet, trying to drag herself away.

“I’m from Earth One, witch,” he growled, slowly bending down into crouch.

His cold gaze didn’t break as he reached out and grabbed the dropped rod from the ground. The moment his bare fingers closed around the metal handle, red-pulsing corruption flared violently off it, streaking back through his skin and sending a renewed, shattering jolt of neural feedback straight through his nervous system. GidSeres gritted his teeth, his indomitable willpower clamping down on the level-ten pain.

Evelyn’s chest heaved as she stared at the glowing rod, fear rising in her eyes as she realized her own device was about to be used against her. Genuine horror stripped away the last of her composure.

GidSeres grinned devilishly. “Time to permanently die, Evie.”

He swung the metal rod sideways, smacking her solidly across the face.

“My money!” Evelyn wailed. The red pulse instantly spread across her body, marring her avatar with desiccated cracks. A split second later, her system connection collapsed, her avatar going limp.

“She knew what was coming,” GidSeres sneered, tossing the rod next to her lifeless shell.

“Gid!” Irazu was suddenly by his side, dropping the decapitated head of Wraist-lin’s avatar from her hand as she reached out to him. “Gid!”

“Don’t touch me!” he yelled, waving her back. “It’s infectious.”

A crystalline light suddenly appeared at the top of the dais, swirling inside a sphere of crackling energy hovering just above the throne. In the blink of an eye, it erupted, stretching outward like a white-hot tsunami rushing through the vast chamber, temporarily blinding them. Reversing course, the light imploded, sucked back into the obsidian throne. As their vision cleared, a woman sat poised upon the chair, surveying the hall like a regal queen overlooking her court.

Tall and radiant, her eyes gleamed with a golden tint as she peered down at them. Crowning her head was a golden tiara that matched the luminous waves of her long, silky hair. A flowing, one-shouldered white gown draped her slender frame, contrasting sharply with a belt of green silk cinched tight around her waist.

“I am Aissav, one of the deities of Asteria,” the woman spoke in a soft, mysterious voice that echoed through the hall. “You have proven yourself worthy to champion my cause, warrior GidSeres.”

Both stared at her in confusion, the moment of peace shattering a second later as GidSeres suddenly collapsed to one knee, grunting through a fresh wave of agony.

“Can you help him?” Irazu pleaded with the figure, unconsciously reaching out to his shaking form. Her hand paused mid-air as he recoiled from her, unwilling to let her touch him.

“I can, and I will,” Aissav replied in a benevolent voice. Casually raising her arm, the golden chest atop the ivory pedestal popped open. “Inside lies the Core Code. It will restore his avatar.”

“Like a backup?” Irazu’s words quickly jumbled out.

“Yes, that is what the people who play this game call it.”

Needing no more of an answer, she immediately sprinted up to the fourth tier. Glancing inside the box, she reached in without hesitating, pulling out a golden quill. “What do I do with it?” she hastily asked.

“It is a tool,” Aissav answered. “Simply rewrite him.”

Not fully understanding, Irazu ran back down to GidSeres, kneeling a couple of feet away from him. Scanning the quill, nothing popped up on her UI to indicate it was a usable item, nor was there an activation word etched on it.

“I’m not sure what to do with this,” she spoke softly with a calm voice, though its slight trembling betrayed her panic. “But I’m going to try something, alright?”

“What are—”

Before he could finish the thought, she lunged forward and stabbed him in the neck.

The quill’s handle erupted in a blinding, pure white light. The illumination traveled along its length, pooling briefly at its tip before flooding into GidSeres’s body. A soft, protective aura flared around Irazu’s hand, shielding her from the lingering corruption as the tool executed its command.

His pain instantly quelled as white light coursed through him, hunting down and systematically eradicating every line of corrupt data hiding inside his avatar. In seconds, GidSeres was back on his feet, his vitals fully restored. Even his cooldown abilities were completely refreshed.

“I think it worked!” Irazu exclaimed. “Did-did it work?”

GidSeres looked his avatar over, double-checking the palms of his hands. He nodded. “Ye—”

Before he could finish, Irazu fell into his chest, wrapping her arms around him. She gripped him so tight he felt she might squeeze the very life right back out of him.

“I thought you were going to die!” she sobbed, peering up at him. Lavender tears streamed down her cheeks.

He chuckled lightly as he reached up and cupped her cheeks with both hands, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. “I’m okay now. The quill completely restored me.” His smile was warm. “If you keep squeezing me like that, though, I might suffocate in real life.”

Pulling away, she balled her hands into fists, then smacked his chest. “I’m being serious, Gid!” she scolded before falling back into his arms, sniffling.

“Let’s find out what’s really going on, shall we?”

He slowly removed her hands, gently easing her back before turning to address the being on the throne. “You speak differently than other NPCs in Asteria. Almost as if you know you’re a program.”

Aissav smiled. “You are perceptive, human. I am, indeed, a program. I am Aissav: Asteria’s Investigative Security System Against Viruses. There are several deities like me, each of whom performs a different job. I was created to investigate anomalies within the realm of Asteria and stamp them out to ensure a peaceful, fair world for all.”

“An antivirus system,” Irazu murmured, looking between GidSeres and the throne. “Except they built her directly into the lore.”

“Which means the other deities are just code for different backend server functions,” GidSeres added, his eyes gazing thoughtfully at the carpet before returning his attention to the goddess. “By anomalies, do you mean exploits? Malicious code designed to force the environment to do things it shouldn’t?”

Aissav nodded. “That is an accurate technical explanation.” Her head cocked to the side, an amused glimmer softening her golden gaze. “You speak with the same analytical cadence as my creator.”

GidSeres swept his gaze across her classical white gown and golden tiara. “They must have had a thing for Greek Goddesses,” he murmured.

“Indeed, they did,” Aissav agreed.

“What did you mean when you said we were worthy to champion your cause?” GidSeres pressed, stepping closer to the dais.

“My abilities are limited,” Aissav explained. “However, my creator foresaw the evolution of external threats that could bypass my abilities to correct them. To counter this, I was created as an interactive AI with broader thinking than my fellow deities. I created Castle Rathlock as a testing ground to find powerful players who would champion my cause as physical proxies.”

“Your cause being destroying viruses?” Irazu asked.

“Yes, anomalies,” Aissav answered, her voice dropping into a flat, uniform tone as she accessed her internal database. “Six months, three days, seven hours, twenty-six minutes, and forty seconds ago, I first discovered the third faction. At the time, I realized they had been here for months prior to my discovery. I uncovered a complex plot to infiltrate Asteria and find the Core Code, then infect it with the anomaly you just witnessed.”

“Why didn’t you report this to your creator?” GidSeres asked.

“I did,” Aissav replied. “But I found my avenue of communication blocked already. The third faction had foreseen my eventual discovery of them and took measures to ensure I could not report back to my masters.”

“Masters?” Irazu asked, her brow furrowing. “You mean the game developers?”

“Indeed,” Aissav replied. “To this end, I sought assistance from the very humans that play this game, but I was being watched, and the Core Code was at risk. If the Core becomes infected, all Asteria and its inhabitants will be permanently destroyed, even beyond resurrection.”

GidSeres frowned. “I’m assuming you mean even a server-side backup won’t work?”

Aissav nodded. “Castle Rathlock was created years ago, but it was only ever meant to act as a fortress to guard the Core Code. I lessened the raid difficulty in the hopes a group would make it through, whereby my plea could be heard. However, it appears the third faction discovered the Core Code was here and took measures to steal it, seeing as how they arrived with you.” She nodded toward the three inert avatars.

“We had no idea they were part of a third faction,” GidSeres grumbled, the disappointment in himself palpable. “They played us.”

“That is how they work,” Aissav told him. “They promise players in-game riches as well as outer world currency. These players work to undermine their guilds by recruiting more players to their side. Eventually, they will spread the virus, and by the time the rest of the populace knows about it, it will be too late to stop it.”

“Why don’t you just use this to destroy all the viruses?” Irazu asked, holding the quill aloft.

“The anomalies are accessing our world through external injection routines. I cannot detect them when they enter, but I can track them through my scrying crystals.” Flicking her wrist, Aissav summoned thousands of translucent, crystalline spheres that floated in the air around them. Within each, a distinct scene played out in glowing light. “I can find suspicious activity and deduce with very little margin of error who is a part of the third faction, and thus most likely possesses a rod of infection.”

“Can you see the past through your crystals, or is it just the present?” GidSeres questioned.

“Yes,” Aissav replied. “I can see the past up to six months.”

GidSeres locked eyes with Irazu. “Real-time scanning and historical data logs,” he told her before looking back up at the deity. “Why not take care of the infected and the rods yourself?”

“My powers are limited without my creator’s permission,” Aissav replied. “Hence why I am using Castle Rathlock to foster champions for my cause.”

“Who’s running this third faction?” he asked. “A rival company? Have you discovered their final goal?”

Aissav shook her head. “I have not ascertained who is behind this attack. As far as I have deduced, their goal is simply the utter destruction of our world. If you encounter my sister, Proa, she might have better insight into such things. I spoke with her concerning my recent discoveries, but her answer perplexed me, since that is not my realm of understanding.”

“Another deity?” GidSeres queried. “What does her acronym stand for, and what did she tell you?”

“Player Retention of Asteria,” Aissav answered. “Proa concluded that the permanent death of avatars would result in a mass exodus of consumers—whatever those are—leading to the eventual shutdown of Asteria. I took that to mean our total and utter destruction.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Irazu muttered. “Give us your creator’s name. We’ll inform them of what’s going on.”

“They are called master, or creator,” Aissav replied with a straight face.

“Did they not mention any other name?” Irazu pressed.

“They have several names: sexy one, honey, lover boy, and lady killer, any of which only my sisters and I are permitted to speak.”

GidSeres smirked, nodding at Duke’s lifeless avatar. “You sure he wasn’t your creator?” He quickly held up a hand as Aissav opened her mouth to speak. “Don’t answer that. I was being sarcastic. We’ll try to inform your…master of the issues going on here. Sound good?”

“Such actions would be deemed heroic,” Aissav replied. “But the war continues, even now. Would you join me in my fight against the third faction, GidSeres of the blank surname, title not used? I have need of a champion.”

“I told you, you should fill those in—for what, years now?” Irazu needled him, her voice dripping with an I told you so attitude. “Now you just look silly.”

“Sound silly,” he corrected. “I don’t actually look silly.” He glanced down at his armor as he said this.

“Word semantics—you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it…eventually.”

“Your answer, GidSeres of the blank surname, title not used?” Aissav cut into their conversation.

GidSeres held Irazu’s gaze for a few heart beats, then turned to the deity, shrugging. “Sure, why not. We’ve no guild left anyway. Things will probably get boring.”

“Welcome to the fourth faction, GidSeres!” Aissav announced grandly. “You are now my Night Warrior, for we infiltrate the enemy when they least expect it—under the cover of night. I have my first mission for you, if you are ready.”

“I’m probably going to log soon and take a shower, but, well, never mind. Just tell me the mission.”

“I want you to infiltrate the Death’s Head guild,” Aissav replied.

“The largest guild on the continent of Geldrasyl?” He looked at her askance. “Infiltrate them, then what?”

“Destroy it,” Aissav replied flatly. “Dismantle it from within, until the guild is ground into the dust and our enemies are eradicated from existence. From now on, GidSeres Night Warrior, you will be my herald of destruction, and together, we will save Asteria from all threats. Now, before we begin intel dissemination, would you like a cookie?”

Aissav waved her hand, and a flash of soft golden light materialized into a silver platter that floated silently in the air between them. On it were dozens of fresh chocolate chip and butter cookies.

“I hear it commonly stated, ‘there will be cookies,’ when players invite others to raid or PvP, though I have never actually seen cookies given out.”

GidSeres chuckled, then shrugged once more. “Sure, why not. I’ll take a few.”