A World That Never Was

At first Eddie had thought that it was just some kind of fluke in the system and that he had just gotten unlucky but thing began to make him wonder as he tried to sleep that night. Things like why was it that Aliyah hadn't felt any uncomfortableness when she first signed in or why hadn't Eddie gone through the character creation part of becoming a new player. Aliyah told him that when she first logged in, she was able to pick her race, class, physical attributes and other little things whereas Eddie had just been spat out into the world of Chasm with a preset appearance, race, and class. Mark had told him not to worry about it, that it was just probably something that happened from time to time but Eddie wasn't so sure about that.

Eddie woke up early the next morning so that he could welcome Aliyah back over to play the game with him again. Taking a quick shower and running through his normal morning routine, Eddie made his way downstairs for breakfast to which Aliyah had been invited to have with them.

He could already smell his mothers cooking as he began down the steps, his nose being filled with the delicious aroma of nalesniki(which are essentially just polish pancakes) and kielbasa(traditional polish sausage). Obviously, Eddie's mother was big on tradition, especially when it came to food.

"Touch it and I'll send you back to your room and you can eat after everyone else." Mrs. Zagorac could be heard from the kitchen; she was probably talking to Alex.

The family always ate together and since Aliyah was invited they were to wait on her arrival as well before they ate. Alex appeared to be getting restless and was losing his patience for Aliyah.

"Call and tell your girlfriend to hurry up." He said to Eddie as he walked through the breakfast room.

Eddie just rolled his eyes and continued through to the kitchen, fetching him a glass, and pouring himself some orange juice.

"Pour one for your friend as well while you’re in here." His mother told him.

Eddie nodded his head. The family knew that Eddie and Aliyah weren't anything more than friends. Alex knew this as well but he liked to poke fun at Eddie whenever he could about anything possible; he wouldn't understand friendship between the opposite sex for a couple of more years or so; sooner than later, Eddie hoped.

Pouring a second glass for Aliyah, he walked back into the breakfast room and set the glasses down next to one another at the table as he looked to his father who was turned around slightly in his chair looking out the large window behind him that faced the front yard. He was likely pondering how the grass looked.

"How's it going, vecchio?" Eddie spoke to his father with a grin.

"This 'old man' will still beat you down." He responded as he turned to look at him just as the doorbell rang.

"Oh yeah? Name a time, rughe." Eddie spoke back as he opened the door for Aliyah.

"Lotta al mio tavolo e la prima colazione potrete avere a che fare sia con me." Mrs. Zagorac warned the both of them.

Eddie grinned and stepped aside to let Aliyah in the house. It was about nine in the morning and therefore she had come over in her pajamas which didn't bother Eddie at all, not only because he had seen her in them before, but because he too was in his. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she carried a small black bag in her hand.

"Hey, Eddie."

"Morning."

Eddie closed the door behind her and they made their way into the breakfast room.
"Good Morning, Mr. Zagorac."

"Good Morning, Aliyah. You're just in time to see Eddie get his butt kicked by his so called 'wrinkly old man'."

"What did I say?" Mrs. Zagorac came in with the last plate of nalesniki and set them down in the center of the table "Good morning, Aliyah." She spoke kindly and with a smile.

"Good Morning."

Eddie seated himself in his usual seat and Aliyah sat next to him. Alex looked over at the two of them.

"Took you long enough." Alex said to Aliyah before Mrs. Zagorac smacked him in the back of his head as she walked back into the kitchen "Morning, Aliyah." He grumbled lightly.
Aliyah just smiled "Morning."

Once everybody had been seated, a small prayer was said to bless the food and they began to eat their breakfast. Sasha was not accounted for because she had stayed over her friend’s house the night before.

Small conversation was held, mostly focused on Aliyah whom they asked what she had planned for college and where she was going and other such related things. Eddie remained relatively silent the whole meal, he would give a comment here and there but he preferred to eat without much talking and because of this little fact he ate much faster than the rest of his family and he now sat at the table, with a clean plate, waiting for Aliyah to finish with her food so that they could begin playing Chasm.

It took a few hard glances and nudging Aliyah a few times before she finished up her food and they both excused themselves from the table. Eddie took their plates into the kitchen and told her to just head up to his room and start up Chasm along with signing his account in.

"How is that game, by the way?" His father questioned.

"It's good. We're still trying to figure some things out but it's real good." Eddie said, leaving out the strange parts.

"A lot of money came out our pockets for that game...." He paused like he had more to say but Eddie interrupted.

"And money well spent, pops. I'm going to go play right now." He said before leaving without another word.

He headed upstairs and into his room to find Aliyah just getting seated and holding her Chasm Helmet in her hand. Eddie made a few last minute checks on connection and such and then he too sat down and slipped his helmet on his head. The Chasm logo appeared and then the light came

Everything went smoothly this time. Both Eddie and Aliyah appeared in the exact spots that they had left off yesterday. It had been decided that first they should work on getting some money to get Eddie some gear. Even Brawlers had weapons, items like brass or spiked knuckles, or gauntlets, or bladed or spiked footwear.

Earning money appeared to be just like earning money in the real world. Many people in Chasm had their own businesses and ran a variety of shop, restaurants, inns, and other services. It turned out that Chasm was literally a number of people’s second lives and they spent days at a time online.

“Maybe we should just get temporary jobs in one of the stores around here.” Aliyah suggested after they stopped near a large water fountain.

Eddie shook his head “No way. If I wanted to do boring work I’d go do it in the real world. There’s got to be somebody who has something a little more…adventurous to do for some gold. Come on.”

With that they decided to exit the city of Lykeria and explore around a bit to see if any help was needed outside the secure walls of the city but Eddie stopped for a moment as his attention seemed to be pulled by a smell that he could have sworn he recognized. It was strange to him that he could pick up scents like that but he supposed it was due to being a demon. Aliyah questioned him about it but Eddie just shook his head and decided to ignore it and they continued on.

The land around Lykeria was flat and mostly treeless for a few miles or so; hills were scattered here and there and you could see a few farms were around. Eddie had to admit he was slightly disappointed because he wanted to fight something and it seemed that there were no monsters or enemies for miles out since the Lykeria Patrol kept the area safe for the farmers and other players that might have business just outside the city walls.

Walking along further and further away from the city, they came upon what seemed like it used to be a small shop. The shop looked abandoned, the door was half off the hinges, windows smashed and there didn’t appear to be any type of inventory inside. Rummaging could be heard from within as Eddie and Aliyah drew closer and peaking through the nearly fallen door they could see a man inside.

Eddie reached a hand up to tap on the door an alert the man that they were there. As soon as he made contact with the door it fell off its last hinge and hit the ground with a loud thud. The man turned quickly to face them.

“Sorry about that…um…” Eddie began to slowly pick the door up and try to place it back but the man stopped him with a wave of his hand.

“Don’t…just leave it.” He said, he seemed to be in a rather glum mood.

“Do you own this place?” Aliyah questioned and the man nodded his head lightly.

“I know. It’s a mess.” He sighed “Damned thieves must’ve ransacked the place in the night. I knew I should have just paid for night guards.” He groaned.

Eddie smiled rather widely “Sounds like you need some help. We’ll gladly take care of those thieves for ya.”

“I don’t want this to happen again which means you will likely have to kill them to get a message across.”

“Well…” Aliyah was much less enthusiastic than Eddie was.

“How much are you willing to pay us for this service?” Eddie questioned.

“I cannot give you any money because I must use it to restock but any of the items you find you can keep.”

Just as this was said a noise came from behind them and you would see a person running off away from the building. Eddie snarled.

“That may be one of them right there!” He turned and ran out of the wrecked shop and began chasing after the male player who had ran away.

Either the guy wasn’t very fast or Eddie was a lot faster than he remembered being because he gained on him in a short amount of time and dove at the guy, tackling him in the back and to the ground.

“Where are the rest of you bandit buddies!?”

The guy struggled “I’m no bandit! Get off me, fool!”

Eddie punched him in the back of his head and continued to hold him down with his body weight before Aliyah and the shop owner caught up.

“I got one but he won’t tell me where the others are.”

“What? That’s no thief. He’s a customer of mine. Stop harassing him.”

Eddie looked back at the shop owner then slowly got up and he looked down at the guy “I don’t know…the way he ran off like that is suspicious. I bet he helped them.”

“Eddie, stop being paranoid of everything…”

“Yeah, Eddie, stop being an idiot. Maybe you should get facts before you just start ambushing people on the streets.” The guy said with a grumble as he rose and began to dust himself off. He appeared to be around the same age as Eddie and Aliyah. He had short dirty blond hair and appeared to be a human character.

“I don’t have to take your crap. I’ll tackle you again right now if you keep asking for it.” Eddie growled but Aliyah gave him a look.

“Eddie, stop….” She said simply before turning to the guy “What were you doing by the shop and running off like that for then?” She asked.

“I figured I’d go and find the thieves and take all the armor for myself before you could get to it.” He said flatly.

Aliyah frowned and gave a light ‘oh’ and Eddie scowled “Told you he was a thief. A damn quest thief.”

“You can’t ‘steal’ quests, skin head.”

“You would know, wouldn’t you?”

The two glared at each other and it appeared they were about to start fighting again but Aliyah stepped in between them and put her hand on Eddie’s chest, holding him back somewhat “Why don’t we just do it together, Eddie, we might need the help. Plus, we don’t even know where the thieves are or even how strong they are.”

Eddie still glared at the guy behind Aliyah and he growled lightly “I’m not working with HIM.”

The boy seemed much more ready to adopt the idea as he stopped glaring and began to ponder for a moment “Yes, Eddie, you should listen to your civilized friend. We could always split the armor.” He smiled lightly and stood up straight.

Eddie looked at Aliyah for a moment and then stood up straight and nodded his head “You’re lucky you’re my friend.” He said to her then he looked to the guy “This doesn’t mean I trust you. I’ll be watching you.”

He gave a light chuckle “Do as you will. By the way, the name’s Ian.” He said more directed towards Aliyah. He took her hand and kissed it lightly before having to dodge back quickly as Eddie tired to punch him in the face. Aliyah just blushed lightly.

Eddie didn’t care about guys hitting on Aliyah normally but he just didn’t like this guy and he didn’t approve.

Together, with Ian leading, the three of them began in the direction in which the bandits hide out was. It was apparent that Ian knew a bit about these bandits and was familiar with dealing with their law breaking and criminal behavior. Obscurity was the name of their syndicate and they had pretty much been around since Chasm started, usually operating in small groups and targeting businesses or convoys along the road.

As they made their way, he began to smell that familiar smell again and was really beginning to wonder what it was but his attention was pulled when Ian started to talk again.

“Don’t worry, dear, I handle these kinds of people all the time. Just let me handle everything.” He said towards Aliyah while smiling.

“She doesn’t need your protection, you pompous ass. She can handle herself.” Eddie glared.

“If I’m not mistaken, I was talking to the lady.”

“Well do something about it then!”

And yet again the two of them were standing inches from each other, Ian’s hand on the handle of his knife and Eddie’s fists raised for a fight. Ian’s knife was drawn from its sheath and then the first swing was made.

“Stop!” Aliyah cried out.