Chapter 6: Game Night Rules Part One

From a slight distance, I saw it—Guitar Slasher, a fusion of music, rhythm, and zombie games. I loved this VR game. I considered playing it a part of my wizardry training.

It was no secret. Even novice magic users would tell you perfecting timing was crucial to spellcasting. It required the alignment of words, thoughts, willpower, and hand movements—the more in sync, the more charged the spell.

And this game was all about being in sync with the body and mind.

I grabbed the AXE from its station and slung its strap over my shoulder. The game’s guitar was in the shape of an actual axe.

Nice nod by the game designers.

I fitted on the VR headset, selected Continue, and sank into a zone.

Zombies, blood, and music flooded my perception. A selection of thirty subgenres of rock and metal—each with unique killing powers—were at my disposal.

The game’s isekai storyline made me feel like I had transformed from a low-level human into a god. Just my AXE and I, staving off a large hellish invasion. Everyone worshipped me and prayed for me to save them. It felt like my destiny was to be their savior.

The NPCs’ reverence emboldened my determination to execute with accuracy. It steeled my focus, and I crushed through the next-to-last stage.

After the stats of the previous battle scrolled off the screen, I entered the final stage.

Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I felt carpal tunnel pains biting at my wrist. Surprisingly, I found myself unable to access the metal or rock songs. Then a gentle introduction from a neoclassical metal song played.

Frak!

I had unlocked the neoclassical subgenre, and it was the only music playable! The intricacies of these guitar riffs had to be performed with god-tier precision. The limits of my accuracy were scratching the surface.

Can I keep up? Oh, God, I think I’m going to crash.

Before I knew it, I had become one with my AXE.

“Holy shit, Billy! You made Assy Jana’s timeline.”

And with Gene’s boisterous interruption, my virtual avatar was eaten alive.

I coolly removed the VR helmet as the whole crew surrounded me. Their facial expressions were twisted like thirsty emojis. “Assy Jana? Who?”

Myles laughed. He said, “The girl who ruined your street trick this morning.”

“Myles, I told you that was authentic magic.”

Gene pushed his phone into my hands and pointed at the image on the screen.

“Look at this. This is authentic magic.”

It was the first time I got a good look at her. Jana. Her inviting smile instantly pulled me into the snap. She was in bed on her elbows and knees, looking directly into the camera. One hand held a sheet covering only the lower half of her bare breasts. And the body part that earned her the nickname “Assy” was tipped into the air. Its apple shape popped out of her tiny white-and-teal-striped v-string panties.

Underneath the photo read: Who can help me find Billy Bramwell-Gates? I owe him an apology. Love, Jana xoxo #magicfail #sorry #letsmeet.

After I read the caption, Nate swiftly snatched the phone from my hands.

“No way. Gene’s right. Holy effing shit, Billy. You have the number one ‘creative’ sex worker on campus seeking you out.”

Jammer nudged her way in to see the fuss. “Damn, Billy. She is fine. And look at the cute stuffed unicorns surrounding her.”

“She! She messed up my spell. Do you know how hard it is to materialize fire? I get that movies and cartoons make it look basic, but I’ll have to recharge for two full moons until I can try it again.”

“And… sent. I just gave Jana Billy’s address. And I may have texted, ‘Come on over.'”

Remember what I said about Nate being a troublemaker? At that moment, I had become the subject of his “Let’s get shit started.”

“Don’t look at me like that, Billy. It’s not like I left the message in the comments. I’m one of her platinum members. It went straight to her private DMs.”

“Sounds like you arranged a meetup more for you than for him.”

Weird Nikki had finally joined us. Amused, she instantly inserted herself into the Jana drama. She had an uncanny talent for not being present when something happened, but once she had entered, it was like she had been there the whole time. Crazy!

“Which of you is not excited to get her here in the flesh?” Nate’s body language was like that of a motivational guru, pumping the crowd to invest in the next level of his program. And it appeared that all my friends were eager to buy.

“Weird Nikki, you are one of Jana’s platinum members. I’ve seen your username, détenuediabolique, in her live chats. So don’t act like you don’t love this opportunity.”

Jammer passed the phone to Weird Nikki. She glanced and handed the phone back to its owner, Gene.

“Nice post. Yeah, Nate, I see you in chat every once in a while. You are very loose with your money.”

Gene hid behind me and chuckled as Weird Nikki continued: “And sure, I’m excited. Did I ever tell you how I made a little effigy doll of her? I used to pleasure it occasionally and imagine her feeling what I was doing. But as much as I would like to meet her, I’ve heard meeting your fantasies is not a good idea.”

Imagine those words spoken with a mellow Belgian accent. Now add a tinge of dark delight, because that is exactly how she delivered it.

Are you getting an idea why she has the endearing title of weird?

Weird Nikki looked over at me, smiling. I could tell she wanted to continue the conversation about Jana, but she knew I felt awkward. So she did what she was good at: she saved me from the situation.

“Are we ready to fucking game or what?”

***

Everyone regrouped in the gaming area.

Besides a few snide remarks and laughs about Jana possibly showing up, the topic died.

There was no way in hell a girl like that would show up. Not for me.

My interest in the latest discussion waned, and I started slipping back into my thoughts. Disappointment, anger, and shame from the day beat at me. And, yeah, why would Jana want to meet me? It perplexed the crap out of me.

The glumness started to take over, so I forced myself out of my head. I didn’t feel like talking, so I glanced around to see what the others were doing.

Nate, Gene, and I busied ourselves in setting up the game.

Stationed at the head of the gaming table, Weird Nikki both supervised and set up her GM throne. Everything could’ve already been set up if she wasn’t so neurotic about overseeing game prep. But no. We’d waited.

Myles, like always, had wiggled his way out of any duties. His OCD clashed with Weird Nikki’s pickiness. So instead of helping, he sat in the adjoining area with Jammer, adjusting his rogue wristbands.

I noticed Jammer had loaded Aura of the Titans. Its title sequence flashed across the TV screen.

It was funny; Jammer never missed a game night, but she definitely was not there to game with us. She only tagged along to get access to my PC RPG games.

In the past, after the high school purges, we offered her a spot at the table.

This is what she said: “That’s too hardcore for me. I’ll be right here in front of the widescreen. See these splendid graphics? They are perfect for my kind of adventuring. See this controller in my hand? It’s the simplest and easiest way to play a real RPG. Have fun with your archaic pen-and-paper game. Your miniatures are cute, though.”

Pen-and-paper! She said that just to get under my skin. But she knew The Lords of Omni took us beyond that.

Its gaming system revolutionized the tabletop gaming industry. It opened players to using virtual reality, augmented reality, and holographic visuals as part of their gaming mechanics. All of our adventures were played on a state-of-the-art holographic table with AR glasses and automated cDecks—digitized character sheets.

I’ll admit, the first edition’s graphics were rudimentary, but setting that aside, Jammer dismissed The Lords of Omni as too dense. Instead, she chose to stay with her stale and repetitive PC games.

Later in the evening, she would shout, “I’m feeling an epic drop tonight!” Happened every game night.

As for Myles, Gene, Nate, Weird Nikki, and myself, we were traditional role-players for life. Each game night, we created a unique story together. The outcomes always surprised us, and we loved it.

Weird Nikki redirected our actions when she flagged us to begin transforming the game table. It was the centerpiece of our gaming experience and, not to brag, one of my designs.

The finished product was not my original sketch. I’m a massive fan of retro sci-fi aesthetics. But everyone else wanted gothic, so I gave them gothic.

I designed a black oak revival table laced with scrolling acanthus. The sweet extras were the carvings of medieval demons on each corner.

But I snuck in a game-changing surprise underneath the surface.

Almost in the vein of a religious ceremony, Gene and Nate removed two large planks from the tabletop to reveal an inlaid holographic screen, the ultimate accessory for The Lords of Omni.

Once powered on, our characters, environments, and monsters virtually came to life. Paired with our AR glasses, we watched our decisions play out in real time. And in the fifth edition, the AI graphics simulated an anime style.

I walked to each player’s station and prepped them.

First, I placed the dice in the dice scanner trays. Although we embraced technology, we all agreed on the more opulent and vintage physical dice option.

Next, I unlocked ten-inch touch screens called cDecks from the underside of the table and flipped them into position. Each deck held our character sheets.

Weird Nikki barked a few commands at Nate and Gene, then shot a sharp look at me. Looking back at her, it dawned on me that she took that song about painting it black as law. Her nails, lips, eye shadow, and clothes were all a perfect black. Only the purple in her braided hair and a tinge of gunmetal on her accessories broke the monotony.

I really had no place to talk, because most of my hoodie outfits tended to be black.

She giggled to herself. It made me wonder if she had heard my thoughts. But in a matter of seconds, she re-busied herself at her post.

Based on her lack of words, I guess I passed the inspection. So I moved on to the final act before the game: getting into character.

I adjusted my hoodie and rifled through my magic bag. It was remarkable that the AR gave us the likeness of our characters sitting at the table. But we were geeks, and we all liked to sport some of our fineries to enhance the role-play.

When Weird Nikki unloaded a stack of The Lords of Omni rule books onto the table, I immediately thought of Rules of the Black Arts for Advanced Users.

A wave of fright washed over me.

Where did I stash my backpack? I haven’t gone upstairs.

My eyes darted across the game room, but I didn’t see it. Oddly panic-stricken, I frantically started a search for the book.

An unwelcome emotion increased my heart rate. Why was I suddenly so invested in finding a book that wasn’t mine?

For some reason, asking my friends if they had seen my backpack seemed like an interruption. Besides, I had a nagging suspicion that one of them may have taken it.

I am a creature of habit. I always put my bag in the same space, but it’s not there.

I quickly narrowed my probe to the entryway, anteroom, and gaming areas. I nixed everywhere else because I knew I hadn’t roamed with my backpack.

I tried to retrace my steps, but it was murky. All I could see were mental images of me gossiping.

The backpack was not in the role-playing area. Not by the snack bar. I checked several other spots. Nix. Nope. No.

I casually walked into the adjoining PC gaming space. I took a few nonchalant glances around the entertainment center, couches, and love seats.

Urgh.

Jammer had her headphones on and was deeply into her game, but Myles, sprawled out on one of the love seats, took notice of my movements.

“Looking for something, Billy?”

“Naw, just doing a little stretching before the game.”

I did some weird jogging emote and pushed into the anteroom.

Why did I lie?

I hurriedly checked by a few tables, but still no backpack. Closets, no.

Did I leave it by the door? Nooooo! Come on! Come on! Where is it?

I moved to a central point where I could see into most of the rooms. Unfortunately, my backpack was nowhere in sight. At that point, negative thoughts hit me.

Had I dropped it somewhere on campus grounds? Which one of my friends would have taken it? I have to question them, shit!

As the words almost fell from my mouth, I remembered—the restroom. I had gone to the toilet after I had spoken with Gene and Myles.

I swiftly moved there. Upon entry, I didn’t see anything. Then it hit me; a whisper. My inner voice—at least, that’s what I thought—directed me to close the door.

There it was, slumped in the corner.

Is this where I left it?

I snatched it off the floor and examined it. The zipper was loose.

Has someone been rifling through my bag? Oh no, it’s gone.

ZIP.