Danger [1]

The woman writhed in pain on the floor, clutching her head. It was as if it would burst at any moment and she hoped it would so that the pain would stop. She let out a bloodcurdling scream and almost burst the eardrums of the man who held her down and tried to calm her.

Jarreth was pressing the cloth to Faye's head to stop the bleeding when she let out a scream and broke free from his hold. No matter what he did, it was impossible to get through to her, so he restrained her to stop her from hurting herself further.

The pain was something Faye had never experienced before; being made of computer data, meant that she didn't feel things like normal humans would do. At most, she would be uncomfortable. Especially when the main computer spoke in her head or was close by.

This was a first for the NPC, and it occurred to her that the main computer might have been near the shop and angry. Was this what it meant by consequences, or could this be just the beginning of the punishment?

Outside the shop, Eilran and Rael were still pressed up against the glass, waiting for any changes to the fog inside. And after what seemed like an eternity, and when the party members were getting restless, the fog ebbed and flowed faster to the corner of the shop. It stagnated for a moment, and then it disappeared, leaving the shop in the state it was before the explosion.

At that moment, everything became silent, as if all sound had been turned off, and an uneasy feeling came over the players. Faye quieted down and something caught her eye before she fainted a second time.

A hole opened in the sky above the shop, invisible to anyone except the NPCs who were hiding in the surrounding buildings or wherever they could find that would obscure them from the view of the thing coming out of the hole.

There was a big computer screen for a head with an eyeball that never blinked. It had no body, but tubes with loose wires at the ends, they came out of the screen and swung back and forth in the air. It had no voice. The only sound it made was static and white noise that made anyone who heard it feel uncomfortable. The main computer needed no human appearance: since its creation, it had ruled the world of Archeline in this way.

It descended from the hole and the skies above turned dark. The shop was lit up by the moon's light and became separated from the shops beside it. The Main Computer came to rest on the rooftop and magically sank through the tiles, and then appeared in the shop. Below Jarreth looked up in horror, not sure what he was seeing, but instinctively he held Faye to his chest.

He held his breath as the Main Computer drew nearer and every muscle in his body was screaming at him to move, however, he wasn't able to do so. The MC's eyeball rolled about in the screen and came to a stop on Faye, the white noise became more intense when it saw the female NPC.

Eilron, on the outside, saw Jarreth staring at something above him - something Eilron could not see. He said to Elex behind him, "there's something wrong. We need to get in there now."

"I'm trying." Elex had been pulling at the door handle, with no luck. He was about to give up when the sky darkened and he looked around for signs of danger. Nothing happened so he went back to the door to try again. Fortunately, this time the door made a sound and let Elex open it fully.

The players rushed in and went to the two who were still on the floor, but they were stopped by an invisible barrier. They pushed against it in vain, and instead, a force pulled them backwards, ensuring they could go no further.

They watched as Jarreth held onto the woman and made himself as small as possible. His appearance differed completely from what they were used to; Jarreth always had a big grin on his face, laughing and joking. Now he was fatigued and had lost all his confidence. The carefree smile was more down-turned and filled with pain.

The invisible Main Computer never took its eye off the NPC and moved towards the human/non-human pair. Its tube of wires expanded and once it touched Jarreth's skin, he felt a surge of electricity and had to bite his tongue to keep from crying out.

He had never been in a situation like this before, and it was the first time he had been so at a loss for what to do. But he had to think of something, or he and Faye would be in even more danger than they already were. And he had the feeling that if he let Faye go, she would disappear somewhere where he would never see her again.