Chapter 8: Wicked Firestarter
Divus’ small party sprinted through the narrow corridors
of the derelict mine, desperate to save their stranded comrades. With his
higher agility Trevor was a few meters ahead of the rest as they finally
reached the cavern in which the carriage was held. Skidding to a halt he waved
the others to the ground and quickly crept forwards.
He’d
thought it odd they hadn’t encountered the Goblins lounging in the corridor
he’d passed earlier, but the reason was quickly apparent. Surrounding the
carriage were easily two dozen goblins of different shapes and sizes. Almost
twice the number that had previously gathered were now laughing noisily in a
group.
Trevor
quickly ducked behind some crates of the goblins’ previous bounty while his
comrades followed with notably less stealth. Luckily it didn’t matter, as all
their attention was focused on the carriage and its newly discovered occupants.
“What’s
going on, why aren’t they trying to pry open the door?” Divus breathlessly
asked.
“I
don’t know, but they don’t seem to be in a hurry. We need to come up with a
plan.”
Divus
surveyed the cavern from behind the crates. All around the edges loot from
previous fights had been piled up, Binky and the other horse were tied far away
from the carriage and the immediate area around the party of goblins was devoid
of cover. They couldn’t sneak right up to them or even try to rush them. The
numbers were simply too many.
Despite
taking challenges far beyond what he’d thought himself capable since arriving
in New World Divus realised that this was truly a hopeless situation. There was
just no way for 3 people to make up for the sheer difference in numbers.
Yet
still he didn’t give up. There had to be a way to at least salvage something!
But it did not seem likely they could even escape themselves with their lives
intact. Was there a way to distract them, or lead them away? Wait what was
that, it looked familiar…
“What’s in these crates?”
Trevor
and Athena glanced at him, tearing themselves away from the overwhelming force
of enemies. Then they immediately started digging into the box. Woodchips
filled the interior to prevent the goods from smashing into each other, but
they were easily brushed away. Careful not to make any noise they soon
unearthed some unusual merchandise. Lanterns. Dozens of them. On their own they
were useless, but through general trivia Divus was well aware of what would have
to accompany them.
There
was a chance they’d been shipped separately but he needed to check. Nervously
glancing up at their enemies he silently slipped his sword under the lid of the
next crate, cracking it open with exaggerated care. Bingo. Inside were rows of tiny vials of oil, the highly flammable
kind.
However
Trevor remained unimpressed. “How are these supposed to help? It’s not like the
oil has been conveniently spread around beneath our enemies feet now has it?”
That
was indeed the problem. They might have stumbled upon a huge stock of oil, but
it was useless to them bottled up inside a crate. But the first inklings of a
plan began to form in his Divus’ head. It was risky, no it was more just
unlikely to work as he envisioned, but if they succeeded then the goblins would
suddenly be plenty distracted. Well, it was better than nothing.
“Athena,
pass that large jug over, yeah that one.” While she scampered off Divus turned
to explain to his sceptical ally. “OK Trevor, here’s what I need you to do. If
everything goes according to plan then all those goblins out there will get a
good dousing of oil. Then Athena can pop out and light them all up with flame
magic. In the ensuing chaos we’ll escape, so I need you to be ready with the
horses. Can you sneak over to them?”
Trevor
hesitated for a brief second, then quickly nodded in assent. “It will take me a
minute, but they won’t see me. This seems a little crazy, but it’s better than
anything I got. Let’s give it a go.”
“OK,
then go now. We have no idea how long they’ll remain passive.”
As
Trevor crept off, becoming hazy as he activated stealth, Athena padded back
with the large jug. “OK, got it boss man sir! Now what?”
“We
need to decant as much oil as we can into this. Come on, hurry.”
After
his preparations were complete Divus sat back and idly drew his knife as he
waited for Trevor to get in position. The stacks of potentially valuable goods
taunted him from all sides, but he was all too aware they couldn’t afford to
take any with them. Zoning them out, he focused on calming his nerves for the
coming fight. Just as he briefly relaxed a roar came from the goblin force just
meters away. He snapped back into alertness and peered over the tops of the
crates.
They’d
finally grown bored of teasing the carriage’s occupants and the larger goblins
were converging on the back doors. A few of them grabbed a hold of the handles
and tried to push it open, but it seemed tightly reinforced and they quickly
gave up. Then the crowd gave way, allowing a massive goblin easily the size of
a man to pass. It carried a huge and viciously hooked axe and wielded it with
clear intent.
Divus
watched transfixed with horror as the goblin brought the weapon high above its
head, then savagely hacked down into the door. It wouldn’t last five seconds.
At
that realisation he received Trevor’s whisper. It was now or never, they’d only
get this one chance to save their trapped friends! With a roar of his own,
which sounded more like a mewling infant in comparison to the chorus of
monsters he faced, Divus rose and threw the jug nearly directly upwards. Nearby
goblins span around in surprise as it steeply arced through the air. In his
very next breath he readied the knife in his hand; eyes locked onto the flying
jug as it reached its peak and slowly began to spiral down.
Measuring
its speed, measuring its distance, measuring its direction Divus threw his
knife. The loud, familiar crash of broken crockery rang out clearly above their
enemies as black fluid rained upon all of the goblins heads.
“Athena!
Now! BURN IT!”
Cackling
with insane mirth, the spirited wizard leapt atop the crates and began to
summon fireballs from her outstretched palms. “Fear the wrath of the world’s
mightiest sorceress!” She cried as fiery doom was rained down gleefully upon
her enemies. This was what she’d been waiting for! Crushing wicked monsters in
a sea of flame! Well it was mostly thanks to the oil, but that wasn’t the
point!!
“Please
try not to hit the carriage!” Divus yelled as he drew his sword and leapt
forward to shield her from the goblins with enough presence of mind to attack.
The
plan seemed to be working, all the enemies had forgotten about the carriage and
were either trying to charge down Athena or rolling around on the floor to put
the fire out. But Trevor still needed to release the horses and hook them up,
while Divus needed to create a path to the carriage.
“Dash,
Beauty!? We could use some help out here!”
As
he desperately fended off the handful of goblins that had reached him the
backdoor burst open and Dash jumped out sword in hand. If he attacked the rear
of Divus’ attackers then they might be able to push through. Yet in spite of
that Dash fearfully looked around the chaotic scene and began hacking into the
goblins writhing on the ground in a panic.
“I’ll
keep these ones down, you guys hurry up!” He yelled.
Another
foe joined the group Divus desperately defended against, meaning now there were
half a dozen clubs, swords and hatchets he needed to parry and avoid. Not only
were they swinging in their usual fast and brutal arcs but most of them were
also still on fire, making it difficult to get close. After only 3 half dodged
glancing hits made it past his guard he saw his health slowly tick down,
already at the halfway mark as he frantically moved his body.
As
he began to lose hope of ever making it through alive Beauty hopped out of the
carriage. She began singing in a stunning melody that truly matched up to her
name. Even the goblins turned their heads at the sound. “Bewitching tune!” She
yelled at the end of her performance, and instantly half the enemies stood
frozen.
Although
he didn’t know it at the time, it was a testimony of Beauty dumping almost all
her stat boost points into charm ever since she’d gained it. For bard songs,
especially those targeting enemies, charm was the main governing stat. And for
her level, Beauty’s was through the roof. With barely a second of pause she
immediately launched into the next song.
Divus
still had another three enemies to contend with however, and was still slowly
being pushed back. His back had almost been pushed up against the stack of
crates when the sound of hooves echoed towards him.
Trevor
was sat riding one horse while leading the other straight towards them,
ploughing through the disorientated goblins in the way.
“Get
on!” He yelled as he brought Binky forwards, the goblins kept at bay as his own
horse reared and kicked out at them.
Divus
scrambled onto Binky’s back as Athena leapt down behind him and grabbed onto
his waist. They turned towards the carriage and sped past the furious goblins
all around. As soon as they’d reached the goal Divus vaulted to the floor and
yelled back up at them.
“Get
the horses hitched. Then Athena, get us out of here!”
He
then faced the goblins once again, who were slowly reorganising and charging
towards the carriage. Dash also saw their target and, cursing under his breath,
finally went to stand beside him.
His
desperate battle of obstructing the goblins while staying alive resumed once
more. Divus ducked beneath a massive cleaver while deflecting a hatchet to the
side. Jumping back to cushion the blow of a large club he sliced forward catch
a goblin across the chest. It staggered back, gaining him precious milliseconds
as more attacks rained down upon him.
Dash
was fairing worse, relying on his much larger health pool and endurance to tank
most blows. But even with his higher level his health was rapidly disappearing.
“WE
ARE LEAVING!” Came a roar from the front of the carriage. In that moment Divus
felt the familiar rush of his willpower kick-in. With a sudden spurt of speed
he managed to push all the goblins back at once. Then, grabbing Dash as he
turned, he sprinted back towards the carriage. Half pulling, half carrying his
team-mate he launched himself through the back door and screamed “GO” to the
duo out front.
The
carriage immediately lurched into motion, clattering along through the cavern
and up towards freedom. Through the unclosed backdoor they could see a group of
angry goblins furiously chasing them, but it was too late. They had escaped.
Releasing the pent up air in his lungs Divus exhaustedly lent back against the
back bench, finally able to relax.
***
Only after they’d managed to leave the goblin cave far
behind in the distance did conversation spark back up.
“What
the hell was all that!?” Dash demanded as the carriage slowed to a gentle trot,
“How did you manage to let us get captured!?”
With
Trevor and Athena out front there was only Divus left to try and provide
answers. “W-well uh, we just w-went out hunting for a bit. Th-then there was a
chest, we fell and, and-“
“Chest,
what do you mean chest?”
“Dash…”
Beauty started. She’d logged in moments before the goblins had started trying
to break into the carriage, so if anything was even more disorientated, however
she’d managed to jump into the action as soon as the counter-attack began. As
far as she could tell the others had saved them.
“Don’t
you Dash me, we could have been made mincemeat because of these guys!”
“Calm
down Dash,” Trevor said as he clambered into the back, “We fell into a trap and
almost got wiped out, but we managed to get out of it in the end.”
Sullenly
holding his tongue, Dash turned away from his party and watched the countryside
roll by.
“This
isn’t like you. It’s only a game in the end. Is something wrong?” Beauty asked,
concern etched all over her face.
“No,
it’s nothing. Sorry guys, you must have had it hard too. I mean, only the
thief, healer and a complete noob stuck in a dungeon.”
Trevor
relaxed as he saw his friend calming down. “Haha, don’t worry about that! We
were almost done for quite a few times, but thanks to Divus we made it out in
one piece! You should have seen him fight, he killed a goblin twice his level
single handed!”
“Really?”
Beauty asked, failing to notice the return of Dash’s scowl and turning to the
comrade in question. “How’d you manage that?”
Divus,
who’d previously backed himself into a corner of the carriage, scratched the
back of his head and shakily replied. “Um, well th-they were just a lot simpler
to what I’ve been u-used to.” Which was true, even the rabbits had been less
easy to predict.
Before
there was a chance to question him further Dash broke in. “I’m logging out now,
see ya tomorrow.”
Without
another word his body morphed into stone and the group fell into silence.
“I’m
logging out too, I need to check if anything’s wrong.”
“Yeah
me too, I might as well get some work done.”
Divus
was quickly left alone as the collection of statues in the back of the wagon
grew. After the silence settled in for a moment he clutched at his head in
despair. But it wasn’t loneliness that assailed him. His thoughts immediately
turned to the mountain of loot contained in the goblin cave. Who knows what
kind of items he could have found within, he might even have found something he
could sell online to start earning the rent.
No,
it was too early to give up yet. He called Athena to halt the carriage and
clambered out the back.
“What’cha
up to Divus?” She asked, jumping from the front seat.
“Hey
Athena, I need to a-ask a favour.”
She
looked at him with quizzical eyes, “Sure, shoot.”
“Well,
c-could you come back with me to the g-goblin cave?”
A
thoughtful expression briefly passed through her face, before she excitedly
responded. “That’s a great idea!! What are we gunna do? Round 2? This’ll be
awesome. Ah!” She briefly paused, turning seriously towards him, “We can’t tell
the others!”
No
worries about that, Divus thought to himself. They immediately set about
investigating their surroundings, making sure there were no monster patrols
wondering about who might nick the carriage a second time. When finally
satisfied it was safe they hid the carriage best they could and set off with
Binky back the way they had come.
It
was quite some distance to the old abandoned mine, they’d put a few solid miles
between them after their panicked escape. When the entrance was finally back in
sight it had been a few hours since the fight. A lone sentry sat outside, but
he was fast asleep. It seemed they were still recovering, or perhaps security
had always been that lax. Regardless, without Trevor to scout ahead it was a
godsend for Divus.
After
much insisting he gave in to allow Athena to make the first move, but only
after he’d gotten close enough to finish it off. She gleefully started charging
her fireball as Divus slowly crept closer. When he was within a few meters of
the monster, and too worried to get nearer without a stealth skill, he motioned
for Athena to attack and waited. And waited. Aaaaaaand waited.
Just
as he was about to turn angrily back to his belated comrade a massive wave of
heat swept past. A gargantuan ball of plasma, as large as the target itself,
engulfed the unsuspecting goblin, reducing it to ashes before it even had the
chance to scream. Divus stared at the immolated corpse in amazement as Athena
triumphantly approached.
“Bwahaha!
Well? This is the power of the world’s greatest sorceress!!”
He
knew she’d been diligently practising, but this was just ridiculous! “How?
How’d you manage to do so much damage!?”
Athena
smiled proudly and tossed her head back, peering at him down her nose. “Simple!
I just put all my mana into it!”
She
just put all her mana into it. Just all her mana. All her mana. “Wait wait
wait! So you used all your magic power?”
“Yup!”
“You’ve
got none left?”
“Not
a bit!”
“H-how
long does it take to recharge?”
“Fully?
Hmmmmmm…” She looked back to the ground, crossing her legs thoughtfully. “Back
to full, about 20-30 minutes?”
Divus
stood in silence, unsure of where to start. Athena took this for awe, and
struck an even more ostentatious pose.
“Athena,
what would you have done if there were two of them?”
“Um,
lined them up?”
Well
reasoning with her would probably prove fruitless. Heaving a great sigh he led
the way into the cave’s entrance. After
a few seconds his companion realised he’d left and quickly chased after. They
moved in silence for a while, Divus wary of further guards while Athena sulking
at the lack of praise for almighty magic.
It
wasn’t long before they managed to get back to the massive cavern filled with
loot and, last time they saw it, goblins. However as they cautiously
approached, backs pressed to the walls, it became apparent that most the
monsters had left. When Divus glanced through the opening he could only see a
half dozen of them sat around their fire. That said, 6 goblins were more than
enough at his current level. He’d gained some experience from the earlier
fights, but they were still close to twice his level. He wouldn’t survive
against all of them, not with blows raining from all sides. No wait…
The
memories of his training under Peter slowly resurfaced, continuously battling
the hellish hound over the course of hours, he’d not only gotten several level
raises but also permanent stat boosts. Well even so, he wasn’t keen on
repeating that. Constantly being clawed and bitten hadn’t been the most
pleasant experience… No, his resolution amounted to more than that.
“Hey
Divus, there’s quite a few. What do we do?”
He
turned to face his companion, knowing that her cooperation was essential.
“Listen, I’m going to charge them and try and take them out, I need you to stay
near the exit and focus on healing me. If I die, run away. I’ll just respawn at
the carriage, no big deal.”
Athena
did not look convinced. “There’s no way you’ll beat them! You lose a level
every time you die right? And more? It doesn’t seem worth it…”
“No,
it’ll be worth it. But you have to focus on healing me, ok? No fireworks.”
He
half expected her to pout and complain, but to Divus’ surprise it seemed his
seriousness was infectious. With a stern expression he’d never seen on her
before Athena nodded, “You can count on me.”
“Alright,
we’ll wait a bit for your mana to recharge.”
Thanks
to the couple of goblins Dash had finished off in the previous battle Divus had
finally reached level 11, so he decided to allocate his points. Although
strength, endurance and vitality were a warrior’s usual mainstays for this
particular fight he needed all the agility he could get. It was only a couple
of minutes until Athena gave the ready signal, and then he started to move
forwards.
Breaking
into a sprint Divus quickly covered the caverns floor, launching himself at the
unsuspecting group of monsters before they really grasped a hold of what was
happening. His sword bit into the nearest’s neck as it tried to rise, instantly
shaving off almost half its life. He quickly began slashing at it as the goblin
tried to pull itself unsteadily to its feet. Dodging the desperate retaliatory
swing Divus finished it off with a quick stab through the chest, yanking his
sword free and leaping backwards as the rest finally joined the fray.
5
Two clubs and a large
cleaver simultaneously swung towards him. A dextrous flick parried the blade
while he twisted out of the way of the clubs, one barely grazing his ribs.
Goblin has dealt 146 damage
Almost
a quarter of his entire life with just a glancing hit?! The level difference
was still just as deadly as it had been before… However this time it was
different. How many times had these goblins swiped wildly at him? How many
times had he managed to frantically avoid them until now? He had grown so used
to their predictable, over-reaching attacks that, one-on-one, he could avoid
them with his eyes closed.
The
only problem was there were more the double the number he’d managed to defeat
before. If they surrounded him and coordinated there attacks then he wouldn’t
last seconds… But goblins, while they enjoyed grouping together, possessed too
low of a collective intelligence to form anything even slightly reminiscent of
team-work and as long as he kept his eye out they didn’t even try to surround
him.
Yet
even if he had grown accustomed to their movements, taking on 5 at once while
avoiding damage was impossible, especially as he needed to counter with his own
attacks to have any hope of winning, although he could only get weak pot shots
in. He’d barely dealt five hits when his life dropped below halfway. Though
just as it fell beneath that threshold a missile of healing energy collided
with his back, restoring him to almost full. He distantly remembered that
Athena was a much higher level, so keeping his health should be easy.
Bolstered
by the reassurance that his companion had his back Divus threw himself back
into the fight. From an objective standpoint this battle had become a lot more
like a traditional MMO encounter. He was hacking at the monsters while they
were hacking at him; the first one whose life bar finally dropped to zero was
the loser. With his White mage in support he just had to avoid dying in-between
healing and he’d win!
Of
course that was a rather over-simplistic way of looking at it. A single solid
hit and Divus would immediately be in a critical condition. Even if he was
constantly restoring his physical strength, the toll taken on his psyche was
definitely no joke. After only 5 minutes into the fight the goblins were only
marginally worn down and the mental fatigue was really building up.
There
were three normal goblins and two scouts. Avoiding the clumsy assault of the
clubs was simple, but the slicing cleavers of the scouts were a lot more
dangerous so Divus prioritised taking them out. At long last one fell into a
critical state and the opportunity came to finish it off! He immediately
stepped forward with a savage lunge, eager to finally reduce the numbers. It
was a mistake.
4
The scout nosily perished as
Divus hastily tried to extract his blade, but he’d well over-extended himself.
As he successfully pulled it free a club collided heavily with his left arm. SNAP. The unexpected sound quickly drew
his attention. He stared at the bizarrely positioned hanging limb in shock for
a full second before the pain hit him.
“GRAAAAAAH!”
It
took all the self-control he could muster to avoid dropping his weapon as he
screamed at the sudden agony. Even with the massive reduction of pain compared
to real life it hurt like nothing he’d felt before. Not even the clawing of the
hellhound justly compared. It hurts it
HURTS, was there really a need for this game to include pain?!
Players Left Arm
has been broken.
Health has been
capped at 450 until an additional 750 health has been recovered.
|
The
unexpected message snapped his attention back to the battle and he rolled
backwards, out of the way of a fresh barrage of goblin attacks. Jarring his arm
as he rose to his feet sent another spasm of pain through his body.
“Athena!”
He half screamed, immediately feeling another wave of healing hit his body. But
the health bar did not rise past 500 and his arm remained broken and useless.
Seemingly
sensing his weakness the goblins charged in once more and he continued his
desperate dance of avoidance. With only a single hand he could use parrying
became almost useless so he focused on avoiding them, ducking under blades and
jumping away from clubs while he waited for Athena to charge up her next magic wave.
It would be done almost instantly if he could get close enough for her to use
healing hands but doing so would just end up getting them both killed.
As
he side stepped another murderous swing the second healing bullet struck him
and his arm mended in spectacular speed. Barely having time to flex his appendage
the four goblins pushed him into the offense once more. However this time Divus
was quite content to take his time, not in any rush to repeat his mistake.
After
another minute the last scout fell back, almost dead. Instead of rushing in
recklessly like his previous time he continued his battle with the others
without a second glance. To his surprise the scout eventually got back up,
having regained a little health. It seemed that if you left wounded enemies
alone they’d eventually recover a bit, but not past 10% of their initial
health.
Tucking
that piece of handy information away into the back of his head Divus continued
to wear his enemies down. It took him quite a while, but eventually they were
all on their last legs. To be safe he needed to finish it in one sweep.
“Athena!
Can you stop healing me?” He shouted over his shoulder.
“What?!
Why?”
“Don’t
worry, just do it! You can start throwing fireballs!”
A
quick glance revealed his small companions face torn in indecision. She was worried
about Divus’ reckless fight, yet the idea of letting lose an inferno, as
miniscule as it would be, never ceased to appeal to her.
“I’ll
be fine!”
At
the further prompting she made her decision. “Fireball!!” She cried, gleefully
releasing fist sized bolts of flame at the goblins.
Divus
started taking a few glancing hits on purpose. In actuality his plan was no
less dangerous than how he’d taken them out earlier, but he’d unconsciously decided
this was more exciting. Not that he’d ever consciously admit it.
Goblin has dealt 130 damage
Just one more.
Goblin has dealt 134 damage
With
that message his health fell slightly below 10%. Just one more hit would of
finished him off, but the ecstatic goblins hit nothing but air. Fuelled by the
rush of willpower Divus easily avoided all four of their weapons and struck
with boosted strength. With just one hit each the goblins were instantaneously
wiped out by his lightning assault.
3, 2, 1 and 0!
3, 2, 1 and 0!
Level up
Level up
Despite being
outnumbered and even suffering a broken arm, you have successfully defeated
several enemies much stronger than yourself!
Endurance has
increased by 4
Vitality has
increased by 3
Strength has
increased by 2
Willpower has
increased by 1
|
Hah,
this was exactly what he’d been aiming for! While the boost wasn’t too massive,
permanent stat increases would still be a huge advantage in the long run.
“Bwahaha!
Take that goblin scum! No one messes with this mighty sorceress and gets away!”
Unable
to muster a response Divus collapsed where he was, laughing aloud. Whether from
Athena’s haughty proclamation or just sheer exhaustion he did not know.
He
turned at the tapping of his companion running towards him and gave a weary
smile.
“That
was awesome Divus! We sure showed them! What did you do at the end though? You
were all like whoosh. Well, it was mainly thanks to me!”
“Yes,
it was very nicely done. Thanks.” He managed when he found a lull in the
torrent.
Athena
looked at him, her excitement washing away as she plopped to the ground before
him. “Hey Divus?”
“Yeah?”
“Why
did you do that?”
He’d
already been caught off guard by her change in atmosphere but he could do
nothing but stare at the sudden question. “What do you mean?” He eventually
managed.
“Why
did you come back here? Why did you take on all those goblins? And why, after
having your arm broken and screaming in pain, did you not give in?”
When
Athena had readily agreed to accompany him Divus had not thought she’d been
interested in what he was doing, just in the adventure she could have. Certainly
his actions were a bit unreasonable, but he never thought she of all people
would point them out.
“Haha,
what do you mean? It was just an adventure right? We were only out for some
fun!”
With
a loud sigh Athena crossed her arms. “No one in their right mind would subject
themselves to… that… just for fun.”
Whoa
whoa, this was still the same girl that jumped around exuberantly when they’d
spotted a moose right? It did not seem like she was going to let this go. With
a sigh of his own, Divus spilled the beans. He hesitated for a second to
collect his thoughts, then began
“Well
I’ve got a sister, about the same age as you, and we’re pretty much all alone. I’ve
got to provide a living for us, bring in the dough as it were. But I can’t get
a job anywhere else; I have no qualifications and have barely left the flat for
the past few years. This is pretty much the only place I can earn enough to keep
us afloat.” He was silent for a moment, and then suddenly remembered who he was
talking to. “Ah yeah, you can earn money by selling items in MMOs.”
Athena
was still unconvinced. “Even so, why do you try so hard?”
“It’s
because-“ It’s my fault. No, he couldn’t just say that. What was he even doing,
telling her all that? “I’m the older brother, and this is the only way I can
look out for her.”
They
sat facing each other in silence for a moment longer, and then Athena abruptly
jumped to her feet.
“Well
let’s go check out the loot!” She decided, scampering off to the piles of
chests. She stopped briefly, turning back to him. “You know, you’re a lot
cooler when you don’t stutter.”
He
watched her dash off again, at last completely lost for all words. Despite
having sat down for a while now, he felt no better rested after that
conversation. Divus chuckled to himself as he stood, there was just no use
trying to match her pace.
***
Clair collapsed on her bed, thoroughly exhausted. After
she’d returned home her brother had quickly rushed up to her trying to make up
excuses. If she wasn’t so furious she probably would have laughed when it
turned out he thought she assumed he was watching porn. He had assured her he
was on a game website and was a bit embarrassed about what she’d thought of it.
But
Clair knew the truth. Even if the clumsily hidden headgear was only a suspiciously
shaped lump under Nevil’s covers the open box which she knew he stored it in had
been lying on the floor in plain view. It would have been hard to make it less
obvious what he’d been up to.
Although
the doctors, and her brother himself, had assured her that the game had nothing
to do with the brief coma, Clair was quite convinced over wise. Sure Nevil was
rather unhealthy and didn’t go out much and didn’t eat properly and- no that
wasn’t the point. The point was that had never happened before, no matter how
many days he shut himself up playing computer games. There was no way it was
unrelated.
But
it wasn’t just him she was angry at. She thought back to the hospital. Clair
knew why her brother would push his unhealthy body to extremes to make money
online. She knew why he’d gotten into that state in the first place. Why couldn’t
she say it? Just 4 simple words. Why couldn’t she tell him, it’s not his fault?
