Chapter 14:

The Party Grows!

Control My Life!


“Ray!” I heard the distant echo of a familiar voice in my ear… Was it Rose? “Ray, wake up! Ray!”

My hand lifted up into the void above me. A flicker of light appeared the further my arm stretched into the dark, like a star waiting to be grabbed. If only I could have stood up, maybe I could have reached it, but it was too far away.

That light started to brighten the longer I desired to hold it. It expanded until its glow finally touched my fingers.

I felt calm, more calm than ever before. All my worries were gone.

Another glow grew out from the core of this star, but it had color and shapes within it. The strange sudden change in the star's pure white glow forced the anxiety to return back.

Quickly it started to overtake everything, even the void, all the way up until I was gazing at the blurry shape of another human.

My hand was pressed against the cheek of this person, as if they were the star I’d been wanting to touch this whole time.

“Rose…?” I uttered in a muddled voice. “Is that you…?”

The blur began to clear and I could see more details. Medium length hair, soft skin, and a thin shape… A precious smile…

But, when did she get such a well groomed mustache?

My face contorted with confusion like a record suddenly being pulled from the table. I blinked until all the water in my eyes was gone, then found myself laying in the lap of some random guy who looked like a 13th century Spaniard ready to sail for the new world.

It was very awkward for me, but he was all graceful as he blankly gazed down at me with sharp eyes and a pleased grin.

“Uh…” My eyes glanced around to see if maybe there was something I was missing here. Did I die and go to heaven? Was this my guardian angel comforting me?

No, I still saw all those blasted 2d grass textures around, so I was still alive.

It might not have been as awkward if I didn’t have my hand pressed against his face. I really hoped nobody was watching this, because it probably looked very suspicious.

“Hey, I don’t mean to be rude…” I spoke up, “but, can you tell me what’s going on here?”

The man just continued to stare at me, only blinking to prove he was animated at all.

Well, this wasn’t good. I still couldn’t move any part of my body, bar my hand feeling this fairly handsome guy’s face up for some reason.

The events prior to this were starting to come back to mind. We’d just beat a raid boss and I passed out at the very end for some reason I couldn’t explain.

“Rose! Tensei!” I shouted as I remembered them both. “Guy’s where are you?”

I couldn’t see the chat, and Tensei wasn’t responding.

Well, thankfully I didn’t die, because I wasn’t stuck in a death loop. Did this guy save me from whatever happened? Darn, it would have been great if he actually talked to me…

What was his deal anyways? From the looks of it he didn’t seem like an NPC, especially since he wasn’t responding to me. This might have been a player, but he might have been AFK.

“Great…” I grumbled as I looked up to the sky. The guy’s head was blocking the sun, so he kind of looked a tad majestic.

Finally I sat up. Rose must have been moving me!

My head twisted toward the guy though, and his gaze followed me the whole time. I think that was just his character locking on to me as a point of interest, but I couldn’t be sure.

“Rose! If you’re there, turn me toward your screen!” I shouted.

My head tilted again to face forward and I saw the chat had been lighting up with messages this whole time.

The_Zorro: -AHA! That’s a funny story, miss! You really have been through a lot with him, eh?-

-Yes! He and I met really early in high school, so that’s not even the best story I’ve got. One time, he and I got accidentally locked in the gym closet together after swimming class and BOY was that hard to explain to the teachers XD-

The_Zorro: -So he’s your highschool sweetheart? How lovely!-

-Well, actually, we had lunch together in Jr. high, but he was the shy kid in the corner reading gamer magazines, so we never talked.-

The_Zorro: -That’s okay! He was becoming interesting so when you actually did meet, he’d have so much to talk about!-

-Hah! That’s a good way of looking at it.-

The_Zorro: -It looks like he’s waking up! He has beautiful eyes.-

-Wait, WHAT!? Oh! He sure does! And those eyes are all mine! (◕‿◕) Thank God he’s awake-

The_Zorro: -Our prayers have been answered! It seems like he’s…-

The_Zorro: -Uhm, why is he touching my face? lol-

-Wht the…? Ray, what are you doing? How is he doing that???-

The_Zorro: -Okay, I know I said he had good eyes, but I think he’s taking it the wrong way.-

-RAY THAT”S HOW YOU”RE SUPPOSED TO TOUCH MY FACE, NOT HIS! (╯°□°)╯-

Great, so they saw all of that? And the whole time they were actually here and I made a fool of myself.

The_Zorro: -Now he’s just staring at me. Did I offend him?-

-Oh, he actually can’t move on his own without my help. One sec. I had to charge my controller, so I’ll move him in a sec.-

Like she promised, I started moving now and stood to my feet. My head was splitting with a migraine, but I felt fairly well otherwise. It seemed like my health was back up halfway, so I wasn’t almost dead anymore.

“Rose, can you tell me what’s going on?” I asked. “Is everything okay?”

-Ray-

That’s all she said for a second there, so I encouraged her to chat some more.

-Ray-

-RAY!-

She just kept typing my name. What was that all about?

“Rose, what happened? You were fine just a…”

-I thought you were dead-

Oh.

-But you’re not. And that’s a very good thing :’) -

She wasn’t showing it in her chats, but she was absolutely worried sick I bet. I felt like a jerk for not realizing that right away.

“Rose, I’m so sorry I freaked you out…” I said in as soft a voice I could muster. “I don’t know what happened, but I hate to think how worried it made you.”

-No, it wasn’t your fault. Don’t feel bad at all. That snake bite poisoned you. And since you were over level 5 after the fight, it almost… Well, you know.-

So that was what almost did me in. Taking that bite was what allowed us to kill the monster at all though, so it was a really bitter sweet situation.

-Lucky for us, Tensei found a player who logged in nearby and got him to give you an antidote potion. He’s been here watching over you ever since. We kinda’ owe him big for that.-

Rose turned me back around to see the man stand up and perform a very cordial bow of respect.

The_Zorro: -How do you do, Ray? You may call me Zorro, and I am at your service.-

“It’s a pleasure, Zorro.” I smiled and Rose had me do a co-op handshake emote with him. “Like Rose said, I owe you big for saving my life.”

The_Zorro: -Think nothing of it, amigo. I’m just here to help out where I can.-

With that charming chat, I felt he was pretty trustworthy. Rose and Tensei probably already filled him in on the situation by how he was reacting to all this.

“So, did they tell you what’s going on?”

The_Zorro: -I must confess it is unbelievable to think you are a real person trapped in your own game, but I’ve lived long enough to never take things at face value.-

He might have been one of the older playtesters if he was talking with that kind of experience. Some maturity was pretty welcome in the gaming world in my book.

-Ray, he says he wants to help us fix the world! I already sent him a party invite, so I hope you don’t mind…-

“I don’t mind at all.” I said with a grin. “Welcome to the bug fix team. Sorry we don’t have jackets or a cool name yet.”

The_Zorro: -I’m honored to be aboard! I’m sure you’ll find my services quite useful.-

“Speaking of which, mind telling me what you’re build is?”

I figured it was a good idea to learn what he was good at so we could attempt to specialize the team a bit. He looked like a stealth build from the dark colored clothing he was wearing and the rapier at his belt, but looks could be deceiving in a game.

The_Zorro: -Allow me to impress you.-

Rose turned me around to see he had his finger pressed to my back. The weird part was that he was still in front of me too!

“You cloned yourself…” I guessed. “ And you got behind me without making a peep.”

Like I assumed, he was a stealth build, and he seemed pretty darn good at it.

-The_Zorro: Like I said. You’ll find my services quiet useful >:)-

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