Gestation by John Gold (love books to read .txt) 📗

he turned furious. And there was that odd little bit she’d noticed in person. The boy was afraid, but he wasn’t looking at her; he was looking at the cameras. Then, his gaze fell on an empty area with a small black spot.

“Enlarge that area.”

ArtIn Moro obediently enlarged the wall with the black spot.

“You damn bastard!”

Eliza could curse with the best of the loaders on the lower levels. When she checked the other areas Anji had glanced at, she found other hidden cameras.

“Moro, create a personal virtual space for me and Anji Ganet. I don’t want anyone to have access except for us. You can say it’s because the boy needs a series of consultations for social adaptation.”

“Understood, Miss Elizabeth.”

∞ ∞ ∞

My eyes are awash with tears. Watching your heart getting pierced by a dagger isn’t the most pleasant of sights, especially when it is being pierced by the only friend you have in the world… “You have to die here.” It hurts. My heart hurts, my nose is running, my head is throbbing - a brief moment of despair.

∞ ∞ ∞

You were sacrificed during a ritual.

Your soul was sent to Hell.

There is no respawn point. If you die in Hell, your soul will be held in a soul crystal belonging to the Lord of the Domain and used as an energy source.

New world structure: 5th level

Demonification: 0.01%

Your soul is tied to this world, and your flesh is restructuring to match the new world order.

Fifth Sequence Limiter activated

Damage taken: 500 (ignored: 421)

121/200

Tears pour from my eyes and drip onto the ashes. Rage, fury, terror, fear. I’m afraid. The betrayal hurts, my whole body hurts.

∞ ∞ ∞

Damage taken: 500 (ignored: 421)

42/200

Weak healing! Weak healing! Weak healing!

Survivability: +1

Damage taken: 500 (ignored: 421)

84/200

That’s odd. My survivability is improving, and I was already at the max level. If I don’t heal, I’m going to die in three seconds. Where am I?

Damage taken: 500 (ignored: 421)

52/200

Wondering about my survivability distracts me from my mental anguish. Weak healing! Weak healing! I’m in the Fields of Ash, there are rivers and lakes of lava around me, and some trees even scatter the area. Mini map!

∞ ∞ ∞

Current location: First Circle of Hell. Limbo.

Fields of Ash

“Well, how’s that for a quick trip to grab a book?” I can’t tell if I want to laugh or cry. No people… There aren’t any people here. Exactly what I wanted… Hahaha…

I laugh through the tears.

Forced transfer to personal virtual space

Initiator: Eliza Donovan

Transfer in: 10… 9… 8… 7… 3… 2… 1 second

∞ ∞ ∞

Eliza was waiting for Anji in the virtual space she’d created, though his arrival turned out to be…unexpected. As soon as he arrived, Anji collapsed in a fit of hysterics. He cried, he laughed, he rolled up into the fetal position. There he was, helpless, and any attempt to interact with him would have been taken as open aggression.

The space Eliza created looked like the room she’d lived in when she was little. With the flowers and stuffed animals scattered around, patients felt comfortable and at ease, ready to talk. All she had to do was attract Anji’s attention, and her parents’ piano was perfect for that.

She sat down and started playing a melody. The boy needed to relax, though his reaction, once again, was unexpected.

“I despise you women. I despise you with everything that I am.” The boy stood up and stared daggers at her. “You’re weak, stupid, devious, cruel, ruthless, ready to betray everything to get what you want. I will never work with you, be friends with you, or love you ever again. I despise you.”

“I think there’s been an unfortunate misunderstanding,” Eliza started to reply, though the boy had already turned off the sound and was leaving the virtual space.

How could he spout that and walk away? she thought angrily. But it was fine. She’d created the space, and, as a doctor, she had the right to keep people from leaving it for up to two hours a day (no more than thirty hours a month). At least, the boy had said something to her. That was a start.

When Anji arrived the second time, he turned off the sound immediately and sat down in the corner looking away from her. For two hours, he didn’t respond to anything. He didn’t even get tired. That could only mean that he was online via his capsule interface, so Eliza turned off his access to the infonet.

Eliza knew somebody had been watching them, and she assumed it was Vaalsie with his intrigues.

Anji didn’t react to the infonet being turned off, giving Eliza time to think. The boy had come here from the game, complete with that odd conclusion about women. She hadn’t noticed anything like that from him previously. Could he have been abused? Probably not. Psychological trauma? What was it? With the infonet turned off, she wasn’t able to see what he’d been doing. But the problem definitely lay in Project Chrysalis.

Two hours later, he left the personal room.

“Moro, set another one up with Anji Ganet tomorrow for the same time. You can use the same reason.”

“Got it.”

∞ ∞ ∞

Rachel looked at the sacrificial floor where Anji had been lying just a second before. There were no tears; just a light fear of facing the future. He would delete his character and come back to avenge himself, but she wouldn’t be there.

“Hurry, hurry, everyone into the circle. Rachel, the center. Pour the blood of the high priest over the altar.”

Everyone Bernard had hidden under a canopy of invisibility formed two circles around the altar and took each other’s hands.

“Let’s begin.” Bernard started tracing a complex magical sign in the blood. For an NPC, he wasn’t that talkative and had a nasty personality.

“Rachel, place your hand on the stone. We’re beginning the next part of the plan.”

The girl’s real father stood behind her, the responsibility for executing the next part on his shoulders.

Everyone in the room began singing magic songs, and as they did, the stone glowed, and Rachel was bathed in