Polynya

--Written in Romanized Thulean

Chapter 1: A Digital Spider in the Land of the Rising Sun

Ryuk rips the NV Visor off, takes a deep breath, and collapses back onto his pillow. His anger does nothing to warm him; even with the blanket up to his chin he’s frigid, his teeth chattering, his blood cold. He closes his eyes, thinks back to the last thing he saw.

He gulps, swallows the thought of Tamana standing over him with her buster sword.

She killed me.

His doppelgänger is an entirely different issue, something he can theorize over later. What matters to him at the moment are Tamana and her terrible actions. As he lies in his bed, he tries to capture the moment that she changed. Was it in Kayi as they were engaging the zombie orcs? It couldn’t have been. Was it after, during their private conversation in the lobby of the Mondegreen?

It seemed authentic, it must have been authentic. But was it?

“Why did you do it?” he whispers.

Something in the upper corner of his bedroom catches his eye but he ignores it. Returning his focus to his iNet screen, Ryuk watches as his three guildmates pace around their room at the Mondegreen hostel trying to come to grips with what has just happened.

A light flashes into the room as Hajime peeks in.

“It’s too bright, Hajime.”

The humandroid reaches a hand up and turns off the headlamp strapped to his forehead.

“You’ve logged out earlier than I thought you would. Are you hungry?”

“I’m fine … ” He swallows his dismay, tries to bottle it as best he can.

“Is everything all right?”

“Why are you wearing a headlamp?” Ryuk asks.

“I was doing my weekly check of our earthquake supply kit.” The heater attached to the wall kicks on – Hajime’s doing. “You never answered my question. Why are you logged out? What happened?”

“It was Tamana.” The words are harder to push out than Ryuk anticipated they would be. “She betrayed me, us. She killed all of us. Just now.” He chokes on the words. “Stabbed each of us in the back.”

And Ryuk realizes then, saying it aloud in the real world, how stupid this sounds. Yet it was exactly what happened, and regardless of the location, real or digital, the act of betrayal cut just as deeply as her ironing board of a sword.

“I see. Was there anything you could have done to stop it?”

“I don’t know.” Again, the image of her standing over him flashes across his mind’s eye. “It happened suddenly, without warning.”

“You need to log back in and join your guildmates. I’m sure they want answers.”

“We all want answers but … ” Ryuk shudders. “But I don’t want to log back in. I don’t want to do anything. I just want to sit here, to … ”

Hajime is silent for a moment. In his silence Ryuk’s attention again floats over to the ceiling at the far corner of his room. Eight glowing red eyes flicker open, and from the shadows he sees two long, hairy legs dip out.

Attla Spider Level 8

HP: 187/187        

ATK: 40          

MATK: 8

DEF: 11

MDF: 26

LUCK: 1     

“Hajime!” The spider is suddenly on Ryuk’s bed, charging him.

He kicks out of the covers, gets tangled, and falls to the floor, scraping his elbow. He scoots backwards and cracks the back of his head against Hajime’s knee.

The Attla spider drops to its haunches, as if its preparing to leap at him.

“It’s a hallucination,” Hajime reminds him in a calm voice. “Apparently, they’re back.”

“A hallucination.” Ryuk clenches his fists together and relaxes them. “A hallucination … ”

Hajime crouches behind him. “Face it. See what the hallucination is actually capable of. In this way, you will emphasize the difference between you and it.”

Taking a deep breath in, Ryuk turns his attention back to the spider on his bed. His vision blurs and refocuses on the creature’s two largest eyes.

“What’s it doing?”

“It’s not doing anything. It’s just … watching me.”

“Good, are you still afraid of it?”

He slowly nods. Ryuk never liked insects all that much and to see one on his bed that is the size of a bear cub has his skin crawling.

“Reach out for it. See what happens.”

“You’re joking.” Ryuk looks up at Hajime.

“No, see what happens.” To make a point, he clicks the button on the front of the headlamp and shines it onto the bed.

After settling his wits, Ryuk peels some of the tangled blanket off his body and scoots towards the bed. He doesn’t want to do it, can’t even imagine what will happen if he actually puts his hand close to the venomous Attla spider. As he presses his hand to the spider, the creature pulls back, displaying its grotesque fangs. Green liquid appears at the tip of its fangs, bubbling as it prepares to attack him.

“This is the worst idea ever,” Ryuk whispers as his hand passes right through the spider’s snapping fangs.

“What’s happening?” Hajime asks.