Evarus Falls

“Would you slow down and explain yourself?” Sadie yelled over the rushing wind. Fawkes only stopped for a brief second after the dead zone to let her reorient herself before zipping off again with her wrist in his grip.

“Despite what some people think,” he called back without looking at her, “Those scorpions will venture out of the dead zone if the prey is enticing enough.”

“We’ve been going for ten minutes. Don’t you think that’s far enough?” Her wrist hurt, but more importantly, she hated letting Fawkes lead her anywhere. At least the anger momentarily abated the shakes from nearly being scissored alive.

“Fruit City is close by. That’s a safe zone, so we’ll stop there.”

Sadie grunted and wiggled her wrist in his grasp. “You could at least let me go.”

“And then it would take twice as long.”

Sadie snuck out her tongue, and he cackled.

“Consider it a favor. Focus on actually riding your board and get that skill up. You’ll need it. Plus, your storage, strength, and against should increase too.”

She grumbled, but she had already noticed her strength increasing and the armor weight lighten up a few minutes ago. For now, she’d go along, since it benefited her, not because she was listening to anything he had to say. As soon as they stopped, she’d clobber him. Maybe get some answers out of him too, but clobbering first.

Trying to balance not plummeting into Fawkes’ backside helped time pass quickly, and by the time they reached Fruit City, the cut on her ankle stopped leaking exobits. The health bar on her wrist had recovered a bit too. Good to see health regeneration still applied, but she needed to be more careful.

They unboarded at the edge of town, and Sadie checked the notification that pinged as she was about to be shish-kabobed. It was from Evarus VR.

Glitch Event: Update

Due to demand, we are changing the event to open access as we gather data for the update. It will remain open access for one week. Team up to fight Glitches as they drop near tears and search for the key to conquer this event. Maintenance will occur at the end of open access. Please plan accordingly.

Ben

Was this Ben’s way of reminding her about the deadline? She looked up at the new tear in the sky. It wasn’t the only one. She spotted others in every direction. In the original event posting, he mentioned one Glitch holding the key to the fractured sky. This was probably his way of communicating with all the Brink players.

Or was this his way of luring more of Brink in, so they couldn’t log out either? She doubted she was the only one affected.

Maybe this Ragarav dude could tell her exactly what this key did and more info on the deterioration event Vidar mentioned. Hopefully they could tell her something to figure this out because like Gate said, her body was here. If the game went poof, so did she.

Fawkes nudged her. “Lets’ head to the market for some supplies.”

Instead, she punched him.

“Ow! What was that for?” He rubbed his arm.

“You got me suspended, asshole!”

“Oh. Yeah?”

“Oh yeah? That’s all you have to say?” She glared, and he smiled sheepishly. She pushed past him to Fruit City because she did need some supplies.

But it was suspicious. Fawkes caused her suspension right before Ben did something to her mom. He’s the reason she had to look for a way into the game without the neural gear and was now stuck having to do what Ben said and look for the key. And now he shows up again right as she needed him? After being Nowhereville for two months?

Did Ben send him?

It’s also possible Fawkes has nothing to do with her suspension and was just screwing with her as he always did. Ben was the creator of Evarus VR and didn’t really need a reason to suspend her account.

Maybe it was just a coincidence.

Fawkes followed her into Fruit City, and she intended to ditch him again at the first opportunity. Coincidence or not, he was more trouble than he was worth.

They crossed the pungent spice gardens meant to ward off the EDM Emus to the north from eating Fruit City’s inhabitants. Pineapple people repaired defense spikes and put up signs with a red x over an emu silhouette.

Cinnamon and cardamon aromas faded away as the produce aisle smell took over. Fruit rind buildings lined the streets, mostly out of watermelon in the neighborhood they entered. In the vine laden city market in the center of town, Fawkes purchased a few grilled fruit kebabs from a cart and handed one to her.

“Isn’t this cannibalism?” she asked.

“Probably,” he said with a mouth full of fruit.

She scrunched her nose at the kebab he still held out. “How do I know this isn’t some kind of trick again?” She may not be 100% sure of his involvement in her suspension, but he had pulled for too many stupid pranks.

“Well, for one you just saw it made.” He bit into his second and waved it in front of her. “Two, I’ve already had my fun.”

“So you knew I’d get suspended!” She threw the kebab at his face and stalked off calling over her shoulder, “What’s your problem, man?”

“It was just a joke.” He held his hands up in apology and handed the kebab back to her. “Besides, looks like you still got the Brink invite you were gunning for. Which guild sent it?”

She side-eyed him and resisted telling him to shove it. Being here wasn’t about this petty feud with him—a feud that was entirely his fault. She had a mission, but maybe she could use him for once.

He cocked his head at her. “You look way better than that dud of an avatar you liked—”

She elbowed him in the gut before he finished his sentence.

“I meant it as a compliment,” he wheezed.

She elbowed him again.

“Make a comment about my appearance one more time, and it’s your balls next. Bet that hurts just as much here as in the real world.” This was exactly why she chose to play as a guy. She needed to figure out how to change her avatar asap and made a mental note to ask Gate about it later. “How’d you find me anyway?”

“I figured you’d get an invite with the way you handled the Glitch and wanted to come over to congratulate you,” he said matter-of-factly and un-Fawkes-like.

“And somehow I don’t believe you.”

“As soon as I saw a newbie still alive in the dead zone, I knew it had to be you. Only player stup—”

“Watch it.” She gestured a threat to elbow him again. He held up his hands in surrender, and she ate the kebab. In the game, the neural gear simulated flavor, but it was never quite the same. This tasted like real food and made her wrist tingle as her health went up. Guess it replenished herself—her data—just like games too.

They stopped at another cart to off load the scavenged extra gear, but the funds were barely enough to cover some basic health items like the pineapple juice refill that auto-applied at 20% health.

She lowered her voice as they headed out the city. “And thanks.”

“Hm? What was that?” A stupid grin spread across his face.

She wanted to elbow him again rather than repeat it. “Thanks for saving me. I guess.” She added, hastily, “But it doesn’t mean I owe you anything.”

“Of course not, just a blood debt and complete loyalty to me until your end days.” At her glare, he said, “Kidding, kidding. So where’s your guide anyway?”

Guide? She almost asked out loud then realized the Brink guilds probably sent someone to explain what Gate did and actually force you to listen instead of getting yourself killed right off the bat. “Had to head out. Got called on a mission and told me to meet him there.”

“Seems odd.”

“Wait.” It finally clicked that Fawkes knew to come back to Rudi Flats to find her, knew about leveling in Evarus without the game training wheels. She pushed him in the arm. “You have the gate app too!”

“Yes. I thought you figured that out already?”

“Why were you at the Glitch event acting like you were trying to get an invite?” Didn’t he have better things to occupy his time with in his new guild than to constantly annoy her?

“Life is about simple pleasures.” He put on an innocent smile, but she knew a snake lurked underneath.

Warmth spread to her cheeks, probably from wanting to whack him with her board, and she wondered if this was his real self. Last time she saw him before today, he wore a 70’s punk avatar complete with green spikes and before that was a power ranger getup.

Now he looked about her age, maybe a little older, which made his smugness all the more infuriating. She wondered if he disappeared for that time because he got his invite a while ago, but she didn’t want to ask and risk him talking more.

Gate buzzed her phone, and Sadie peeked at the text. Seemed Fawkes annoyed them as much as he did her. He was distracting as hell to boot. Time to get back on track. To reach Hicto in a reasonable time frame, she needed more loons to buy boosters for her board. Or an airship, but that was unrealistic. They passed a quest board, and she pulled up the lists with one already in mind.

The quest menu pulled up like normal except it missed any acceptance buttons. She scanned down the list with growing excitement remembering why she wanted to join BRINK in the first place. Full unfettered freedom to make the life she wanted. At the time, she didn’t realize at the time it applied in game too. Her imagination ignited at the potential Sky Fortress raids and the streams, fame, money that would follow. Could smell the jet fuel taking her to NY or LA or anywhere in the world. And she could get started on all that once she saved Mom.

Though she could do without the potential death part. But first, accept a quest, earn some more loons, and on the way figure out a way to ditch Fawkes and make him stop following her like a lost puppy. Saving her life didn’t suddenly make her want to hang out with him, and she doubted a second team up today would be any better than the first.