I heard a noise, but my eyes wouldn't open, and my body didn't want to move. It felt like I worked a double shift and only got a few hours of sleep. My body just refused to wake up. Was that noise my alarm? I rolled my head to the other side and kept sleeping. Some time must have passed before I woke up again to the same noise. What the hell was that? This time, my eyelids obeyed me and opened. Jay was standing over me and yelling. The noise finally took shape.
"Max! You're awake!" she said.
I yawned and went to rub the weariness from my face, but my arms lay limp. I went to talk, but it came out garbled.
"Jayoosoo…" I sputtered. "Whafuckaa?"
"You're still regenerating, Max, but you need to bring Church and Patti back!" Jay said in a hurry.
My head rolled around to see I was still in Church's house, just without my party members. That's right, I had sent them away! I managed to pull up my inventory and find the "Get Into Jail Free". It appeared in my hand. Luckily, my hands still seemed to work. I flicked the card to activate it. Church and Patti suddenly appeared next to me. Patti was on her back, legs up in the air, as Church was kneeling beside her, scratching her tummy. As soon as they popped into existence, they both immediately looked at me.
"Max! Holy shit, dude! You're alive!" said Church. Patti began barking, and they both got up to come to me. Patti was furiously licking my face and barking in between licks. Church stood where Jay was, and before Jay could move in time, the two overlapped briefly. That reminded me of something. What was it? Othryn! That fucking monster! Where was he? I tried to sit up, but fell backwards.
"Othhh" I got out. "Othhhhryyyy."
Church looked confused as Jay said, "Do you still have those rotten health potions? Take one of those. It will heal you in this form."
That's right, I was still an angel zombie. I did as she said and pulled the concoction from my inventory. It was in a bulbous glass jar with a cork on top. It was a red liquid, but also chunky-looking. Jesus, this was going to be awful, wasn't it? I tried to uncork the bottle, but I was too weak. Church grabbed the bottle from my hands and opened it. He then lifted my head with his hand and slowly poured the drink into my mouth. It lived up to its name. It was awful. I choked it down, and the effect was instantaneous. I sat straight up and felt great, but I had to know what happened.
"Where's Othryn?" I asked. Everybody looked at me, and I looked back. All the crazy information I was seeing earlier was back floating over everything, but I ignored it.
"Is that who attacked us?" Church asked. I took the next few moments to go over what had happened. I explained how Jessica, the real one and not the recording, had come to me and told me some stuff before giving me a piece of her hair to eat. Jay gasped at that, and Church made a disgusted face. We then went over how this was a trap set up by a game master named Othryn. Jay had been given a command by, I assumed, Othryn and was to make sure I entered the house. Church helped me to my feet, brushing off my jacket.
"I used my resurrection spell when time was slowed, and then I woke up with Jay standing over me. So, what did I miss while I was unconscious?" I asked. Church and Patti looked at each other and back at me.
"Dude, we were really worried. We woke up in the cell pretty beat up and were there for a while. We ate and took a nap. Jessica came by and asked if you were okay. I said I didn't know, and she stormed off. Oh, the old couple finally talked to us! The old man is Richard Kelly, and get this, the wife's name is Shelley Kelly! Isn't that wild! " Church said.
"How long were you two in there?" I asked.
"Almost twenty hours," Church replied.
Twenty hours? I nearly fell back down. They were stuck in there for so long! Wait, that meant…
"That means... You can't go back in for twenty hours. That's bad," I said. Church nodded glumly. I looked at Jay and asked, "Any ideas on what to do if we get attacked?" Jay didn't reply. She looked sad. That's when I saw the wound from her tentacle being ripped off. She had several tentacles lining her face, but it was still noticeable. How the hell did it do that? She was digital. "Are you okay?" I asked.
Jay shook her head no. "I almost led you to your death, Max. I didn't know what I was doing, but I remember feeling so frantic. I just had to get you inside the house to help Church. I thought I was doing the right thing, and I almost got you all killed."
I listened as she talked and laughed. "You're forgetting something. I'm alive because of you! You told me to use my spell! I would be dead if you didn't."
Jay looked at me, confused. "I did? I don't remember that."
I was about to say yes when my eyes were drawn to the information all around her. It looked like there was more this time. Specifically, there was a floating button that read: Settings. I clicked it, and a huge list of settings came up. There was stuff to change her colour, height, and so much. I was drawn to this; I couldn't explain why. I heard Church say something to me.
"Hey, something doesn't make sense," he said.
"Yeah? What's that?" I replied while still scrolling. What was I looking for?
"Back at your house, we were sitting for like an hour before we had to move. Remember? It flashed red outside because they were going to spawn monsters, right? It's been almost a whole day, so uh, why aren't there monsters?"
"Jay, why aren't there monsters?" I mumbled to her. There were so many settings, and I kept looking. I didn't know for what or why, but there was something. I just knew it. But what?
"Oh, there were," she said matter-of-factly. "A new wave of enemies every hour."
"Wait, what?" I said. I stopped looking at the settings for a moment to look at Jay. "So what, are there a bunch of monsters outside right now waiting to kill me?"
"No," Jay replied. I let go of my tension and went back to her settings.
"Oh, okay. So what happened then?" I asked. I stopped scrolling through her settings. The list was huge, but eventually I found what I was looking for. The setting read:
Visible Display: Token User Only
I clicked it, and there was a dropdown menu with a few options. I read them, and the last was what I wanted.
"Someone has been killing them as they spawned," Jay said. The world outside flashed red, indicating a new wave was incoming. I was too focused to be pulled away from what I was doing.
I switched the setting to the final option and closed it. It asked me to save. I clicked yes, and it asked "Game Master Override?" To my surprise, I had the option to click yes.
"Uh-huh, who's doing that? Joey?" I asked. I was barely listening anymore. Before Jay could answer, I clicked yes on the prompt. Jay flickered on and off several times rapidly before stopping. I heard Church gasp behind me. He was covering his mouth while Patti wagged her tail and went up to sniff Jay.
"Dude… are you Jay?" Church squeaked out while pointing at her.
Before I could reply, the front door was kicked open. Standing there, hair blowing in the wind, was Laura Vale, the Hexarchist from earlier. She was backing inside the door quickly while looking outside. She held a clear bottle filled with a purple liquid up in the air before pocketing it. She quickly shut the door and pressed her back against it. She looked at all of us.
"Oh, good, you're awake, Max!" Laura Vale said. "Good to see you're back too, Church. Hey, Patti." Patti barked a hello back. Laura looked at Jay and tilted her head to the side. "Is that an octopus woman?"