DCO- Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 52

That’s it? James thought to himself as he stood within the mysterious room. Dagger had, as promised, opened the door for him, utilizing a mixture of tools, which did spring from his back, to access a very complicated locking mechanism to gain access. The door had slid open soundlessly, revealing a room of darkness. Only after James and Dagger had stepped inside, and the door had closed, had a light turned on, revealing the contents of the room.

To say the buildup felt anticlimactic was an understatement. The only thing within the room, at the center of it, was a chair. Sure, it was a really fancy chair, but it was still just a chair. It was large, like a recliner, with an overhead portion. If James had to guess, once he sat in the chair, it would recline backwards, and the overhead portion would display a monitor. Still, considering how important this room was supposed to be, the initial impression was… underwhelming.

“Is this it?” James asked, looking down at Dagger. “This is everything?”

Instead of answering in its own voice, Dagger redeployed the holo-projector from deep within its throat. Light beams quickly danced in the sky, and a recording played. It was his dad, a large grin on his face.

“If you’re seeing this message, I’m sure you’ve got some questions.” His dad’s voice began. “And considering you’re my son, I’m going to guess the main one goes something along the lines of ‘really? A freaking chair?”

James couldn’t help but smile. His dad knew him.

“Get on with it,” his mom’s voice said, outside of the range of the camera that was recording his dad. “Until you tell him what’s going on, he’s just going to be standing in that room feeling stupid.”

James’s smile widened. And his mom was just as keen as his dad was. He loved them.

His dad ran a hand sheepishly through his hair, moving some strands away from his eyes. “Right, right,” James saw the dark bags were still under his dad’s eyes, the same ones he’d noticed in their last projector message. “That chair isn’t just a chair. It’s the final level of security for our workshop. Well, okay, it’s also a nifty part of our workshop, and lets us handle ad hoc work when we don’t want to get lost in our work. But, really, it’s mostly the last line of defense.”

“Anyone who isn’t me, your mom, or you, won’t be able to access that chair. Not even DOGE-1 has access to it. Once you sit in that chair, you’ll see what I mean. It’ll take you to our true workshop. And, if you’re seeing this, well, I’m sure we’ll be talking extremely soon. So, I’ll save any other answers to your questions, until you can ask them face to face.” He looked directly at the camera that was recording the message. James knew it was his fathers robotic bird, the one he always had with him. “I love you James.”

“Love you son,” his mom called from behind the bird. Then, the hologram faded away, leaving James once again in the massive, empty room, with just himself, Dagger, and the chair that apparently wasn’t just a chair.

“I guess I’ll go check out the chair,” he said to Dagger, “before we give them a call.” He wanted to call them. Wanted to talk with them, face to face. Everything that had happened, everything that was happening. A part of him just wanted his parents. To confide in them, to have them tell him everything would be okay. To have them solve the problems for him. He’d tried, so hard, to always be mature and act like an adult. But there was still that part of him, that childish part, that longed for the days when his parents could just make everything instantly better.

He sighed as the emotions swirled within and pushed them aside. He was seventeen, close enough to an adult, that wanting his parents to make everything better was childish. Hells, thanks to time dilation and immersion, which he’d been enjoying for years now, mentally he was older than seventeen, even if his brain and body, chemically and physically, hadn’t matured to those levels yet. At one point he’d actually found an interesting study regarding maturity on reddit, a discussion about if experiences and time within immersion aged people faster, and if such factors should be considered regarding the population as a whole, and what denoted an adult. Was it purely based on days lived? And if so, did days lived in immersion count, or not? Was it all purely biological, or was there more to it? It was a rabbit hole a carefree James had delved into for an entire afternoon. Oh, to have that type of freedom again…

James reached the chair, noting the interior of the chair was lined with black leather, and there were various cushioned areas and indicators that the chair would adjust itself to fit the person sitting in it perfectly. Trusting his parents, and curious about what exactly the chair did, James stepped up onto the platform on the side of the chair, and then set himself down within the cradle that was the massive seat.

Immediately, he felt a warmth on the back of his neck. It was brief, no more than a split second, so quick he could have imagined it, and then it was gone. In its place, the seat whirred to life, adjusting and conforming itself, as he’d predicted, to fit him perfectly. The material shifted, adding tension here, loosening its cushioning inflation there, until he was nearly immobile within the chair, as if he were part of the chair itself. Then it leaned backwards, another thing he’d expected, and a holo-screen appeared in the sky above him, projected by a multitude of lights emplaced in the overhead portion of the chair.

Welcome James. The screen read. Then the screen flickered, and a new set of words appeared.

Would you like to access the workshop?

“Er, yes?” James said, caught off guard by the prompts. Up until like three minutes ago, he was pretty sure this was the workshop.

Internal Command Received. Beginning Transport The message said.

Internal command? James thought to himself. Before he could ponder that wording more though, the room went suddenly dark. And a second after that, it felt like the world had dropped out beneath him.