Yvvaros: The Clash of Worlds Read online

  Yvvaros: The Clash of Worlds

  Alex Mulder

  This digital book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this title with another person, please purchase an additional copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. All other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 by Alex Mulder

  Kindle Edition

  CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE

  WORLD MAP

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  AFTERWARD

  CHAPTER 1

  “It’s just a game. The first step in your treatment plan is accepting that fact and coming to terms with it, however difficult it might be.”

  Luke shrugged. Dr. Meyers sat across from him. She leaned forward in her black leather chair, her eyes harboring a mixture of genuine and practiced compassion. She held a small notepad in one hand and a pencil in the other, though as far as Luke could tell, she hadn’t actually written anything yet.

  “Have you ever had another case like this, Dr. Meyers?” asked Luke. The question came out in a slightly more accusatory tone than what he’d intended. Dr. Meyers continued smiling at him.

  “A few,” she said. “I’ve successfully treated patients with suicidal tendencies, video game addictions, and ones like you. People that struggle with both, through no fault of their own.”

  Is that why I’m here? Because I’m a suicidal video game addict?

  Luke shifted his hand onto his stomach. The stitches there were still raw, a reminder of what had happened only a week before. Dr. Meyers watched him carefully, waiting for his reaction.

  “Your treatment isn’t really necessary in my case, doctor.” Luke glanced up at the ceiling of the room, shifting a bit on the leather couch.

  “I’ve read your file, Luke,” said Dr. Meyers. “I know that you were trying to ‘go all in’.”

  Luke nodded.

  “Yes. I was.” He smiled at her. “And the only thing I regret about it is that I didn’t choose a method that worked.”

  Dr. Meyers laced her fingers together and leaned back in her chair. She was attractive, in her mid-thirties, tall and slender, with dark chestnut hair. She wore glasses that fit her face so well it was hard for Luke to imagine her without them.

  “Luke, you’re 18 years old.” She paused and set her notebook aside, as though she wanted to speak from memory instead of a file. “You’re a high school senior. All of the teachers I’ve talked to have described you as a brilliant, albeit slightly lazy, student.”

  Where is she going with this?

  “You live with your father in a single parent household,” said Dr. Meyers. “And one of your friends was so concerned about you that she called me before this meeting to give me as much information about the incident as she could,

  Sam… Why can’t she just leave me alone?

  “Dr. Meyers, would you please quit beating around the bush and get to your point?” Luke tried to hide the frustration in his voice. It had been hard for him to go into the therapy session with an open mind, even though attending it had been a part of his psychiatric release agreement and not his own idea.

  “Why haven’t you tried to ‘go all in’ again since the incident last week?” Dr. Meyers picked up her notebook again and began tapping the pages with her pencil. “You’ve been home for the past three days. If you were as serious about going ‘all in’ as you say you are, why haven’t you gone through with it?”

  Why haven’t I? How am I supposed to answer that?

  “If you’ll allow me to speculate, I think I know why.” Dr. Meyers paused, and when it became clear that Luke wasn’t going to interrupt, she continued. “I think you realize that you still have responsibilities in the real world, responsibilities that you can’t abandon.”

  “I have responsibilities in Yvvaros, too,” said Luke. “Now more than ever. It’s not just a game! It’s not like I just play it for fun.”

  The words felt stupid and hollow as they left his mouth, even though he knew they were true. The doctor’s smile was tinged with the slightest hint of condescension, but Luke forced himself to ignore it.

  I can’t risk getting kicked out of here, not until she’s given me a clean bill of health.

  “I believe you, Luke,” said Dr. Meyers. “Listen, I can see how much stress you are under. I’m going to give you an assignment this week. I want you to pay attention to the way that you are feeling and try to figure out the source of your stress.”

  Luke sighed and shook his head. Dr. Meyers glanced at the clock in the corner of the room and then back at him.

  “We’re out of time for today,” she said. “Think about what we talked about, Luke.”

  “Sure.”

  “I’m not going to tell you not to play Yvvaros.” Dr. Meyers finally began scribbling in her notebook. “What I am going to say is that you have to learn to balance the game with your responsibilities in the real world.”

  She has it backwards. It’s the real world that I need to learn to balance.

  Luke stood up and shook Dr. Meyers’s hand before leaving her office. Her secretary handed him an appointment card for later in the week as he walked by.

  It was a nice day, but the weather didn’t matter much to Luke. In fact, he had only one thing on his mind as he made his way home. He walked fast enough to cause his stitches to hurt, reminding him of what had happened and threatening to punish him for his impatience.

  I have to get in-game.

  His dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway when he arrived home. Luke wasn’t surprised. Chris Smith had disappeared after Luke tried to go all in. He hadn’t seen his father in person since then. The last time he’d seen him, they’d fought in-game. It was the battle that had changed everything.

  Luke walked into the empty house. He’d grown accustomed to the silence over the past few days. He wasn’t really expecting his father to return, but a tiny part of him still worried about him coming home and catching him with his head set on. Before he’d left, any little thing could send him into a violent rage, but Luke’s interest in Yvvaros, the game that his father had designed, set him off the most. Luke wondered what he would do to him now if he found him playing.

  Dad… Where did you go? Do I even want you to come back?

  It was early afternoon, but the house felt dark. Luke did a lap around the first floor cleaning up the piles of dishes and clothes he’d left scattered behind him over the last couple of days. Finally, h
e walked upstairs to his room and settled in at his desk.

  His laptop and VR headset were right where he’d left them earlier that morning. He turned on his computer, booted up the Yvvaros game client, and when prompted, slowly pulled on the headset.

  In an instant his room was gone. In its place was a crystal clear sky, hot dry desert air, and a sea of sand all around him. The transition no longer caught Luke by surprise. It felt like walking through a door, or slipping into a dream. He accepted the new world in front of him without any skepticism.

  This is where I belong.

  Luke stood just outside the settlement that he had helped to found. He was Kato, the level 15 Sword Saint. Dunidan’s Rest was a small desert outpost, built up around an oasis that provided his group with water. It was the only zone with a significant water source in the area, and it provided them with a means of thriving in a barren land.

  “Kato! About time!”

  Silverstrike, or as Luke’s best friend was known in real life, Ben, was standing high up on the wall surrounding his guild’s compound. Silverstrike waved and Luke made his way over to the heavy iron-gate.

  “Yeah, sorry,” said Luke. “I got caught up in some business in the outside world.”

  Silverstrike opened the gate for him, and Luke stepped inside. Over the past couple of days, his guild, The Consulate, along with Athena’s Wrath, another guild they’d welcomed into the zone, had been expanding.

  In addition to the two necessary guild halls and the outer wall, Dunidan’s Rest now had a small general store, run by a member of Athena’s Wrath. He smiled as he walked by it, noticing the tiny little outdoor refreshment stall that had been recently added.

  A training ring had been added as well. Two members of Athena’s Wrath practiced with swords while another yelled out encouragement and the occasional pointer. Luke could see that one of them had gained a level since the day before.

  “Well I’m glad that you’re back.” Silverstrike frowned at him. “Seriously.”

  Luke nodded and walked forward with his friend, slowing as they neared the shade of the palm trees that grew along the edge of the oasis.

  “Did the Arbiters make any new moves?” Luke asked the question quietly, afraid of what the answer might be. His fear was justified. In the chaos that had followed the Battle of Kantor, the rules of play in Yvvaros had changed drastically.

  “They’ve been scouting further out from Kantor and Stark Town, Luke,” said Silverstrike. “We still aren’t sure what they’re looking for, but it’s not hard to take a guess.”

  They’re tracking down the players that have ‘gone all in’.

  Luke frowned. The Battle of Kantor had been a major media event. News of suicide by players ‘going all in’ came from all over the globe. The death toll had been the top story on every media outlet for a week. Every pundit on both sides of the political divide had added their own brand of moralistic panic to the media frenzy. Finally the cries of outrage became too loud to be ignored.

  In the United States, hearings were held on Capitol Hill, and the United Nations had convened an unprecedented emergency meeting. The world leaders acted much faster than anyone had expected, ousting the developers from the control seat and installing their own overseers within Yvvaros, the “Arbiters”.

  “It feels like Yvvaros has been occupied by an enemy force,” said Luke. “The game was like the wild west before, few rules and no law.” “But what are they doing here? What’s their end game?” asked Silverstrike.

  “They’re here because nothing like this has ever happened before,” said Luke. “They have to do something, even if it’s just for show.”

  “That’s probably why they left permadeath on.”

  Luke’s hand clenched into a fist, and he dug the tip of his foot into the ground.

  They disabled guild chat and kept permadeath on to keep people from wanting to go all in. Has it worked?

  “It’s not the same game we started out playing,” said Luke. “They’ve changed it.”

  Silverstrike didn’t say anything back. He set a hand on Luke’s shoulder. It felt just as reassuring as it would have in the real world.

  “Kato!”

  Luke turned to the guild hall and saw Tess running toward him. Silverstrike’s hand tightened on his shoulder, and Luke raised an eyebrow at him.

  Tess is Emily, Ben’s older sister. But she’s also…

  Tess wrapped her arms around Luke and he held her tight to his chest in a loving embrace.

  “Hey,” he said. “Sorry it took me so long to get back in. My appointment was pushed back to the afternoon.”

  “It’s fine,” said Tess. “I kept myself busy enough, but I was starting to get bored.”

  She pulled back slightly in his arms and her eyes met his. Luke gazed back into her beautiful eyes and delicate face. He cupped her cheek in his hand and leaned his forehead against hers.

  “Please, no PDA around me,” said Silverstrike.

  “Relax, little brother,” said Tess. “I just missed Luke, that’s all.”

  Tess took Luke’s hand into her own and gave it a squeeze.

  “Come on!” She pulled him forward toward the oasis. “Some of the plants in my garden are starting to get really big”

  Luke followed after her to a small garden she’d begun to cultivate. The soil was imported from Stark Town, and the oasis provided the water for the irrigation system. The patch was carefully maintained in uniform rows. There were no common weeds in Yvvaros, which made gardening exponentially easier than in the real world and several of the rows looked almost ripe.

  “Everything grows faster in Yvvaros,” said Tess. “In a day or two, some of the carrots will be ready for harvest.”

  “Awesome,” said Luke. “We can sell them in the general store and bring in a little extra money.”

  “As if!” Tess poked him teasingly. “We’re going to eat them. This is our own private garden. I’m not going to let some stranger buy it out from under us.”

  Luke laughed, and then bent over to inspect the crops. Carrots, lettuce, turnips, green beans, a small apple tree, and some other fruits that Luke couldn’t identify were all growing in the garden plot. Luke was impressed by how much work Tess had put into it.

  I wish we could live here without having to worry about permadeath or real world politics.

  “Luke?” asked Tess. “So what do you think?”

  “I think you’ve done an amazing job,” he said. “I’m guessing all the work you’ve put in has raised your farming skill by at least a couple of ranks.”

  Tess nodded.

  “We’ll get a boost to our cooking skills, too, once we start harvesting. It will be great to eat something else besides bread.”

  Luke stood with her for another few minutes by the garden. Being around Tess was its own therapy. He felt more relaxed when he was with her than he did anywhere else in or out of game.

  “You’re back.” Katrina, the leader of Athena’s Wrath, was walking out of her guild hall and over to Luke. She was smiling, and her long platinum hair blew slightly as a gentle gust of wind passed through Dunidan’s Rest.

  “Yeah, I just got back a couple of minutes ago,” said Luke. “What’s up?”

  The alliance formed between The Consulate and Athena’s Wrath had originally been one of convenience. A large guild had threatened uniting their interests. They had joined forces in order to protect themselves from the much larger more aggressive group. It had worked, Luke had killed the leader and his traitorous second, and together they had run off the rest of the guild.

  Now, the two guilds served almost as a single unit, pooling their resources to trade and to develop Dunidan’s Rest. Luke was happy to have Athena’s Wrath around, especially with a new threat looming on the horizon.

  “If it’s alright with you, I want to expand the settlement a bit.” Katrina scratched her head and then gestured over to an empty corner of the walled enclave. “One of my guild members has been training
her smithing skills and wants to set up shop.”

  Luke nodded.

  “That would come in handy,” he said. “I was planning on heading into Stark Town this afternoon anyway. I’ll pick up some iron ore and building supplies while I’m there.”

  “Thanks.” Katrina walked back over to a group of her guild mates, and Luke moved toward the gate. Tess followed him with her arms crossed, an expectant look on her face.

  “So… Can I go with you?”

  Luke frowned. Tess leaned her face in close to his and batted her eyelashes at him.

  “Tess…” He sighed, and shook his head. “I know being cooped up in here isn’t fun, but I can’t bring you into Stark Town. There are too many Arbiters around.”

  “Oh, come on!” said Tess. “I’ve been stuck in Dunidan’s Rest for the past week. I’ve been training, you don’t have to worry about me.”

  Tess doesn’t have a real world body to go back to.

  “Not this time,” said Luke. “Get Katrina or one of her guild mates to hang out with you in the meantime. We can’t risk it until we know more about the threat, you agreed to that.”

  Tess stomped her foot and rolled her eyes.

  “Kato, I can’t hide forever.” She looked at him seriously for a second. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

  Luke sighed.

  “I don’t want to have to worry about you, Tess. But I do.”

  He pulled her back in close to him and gave her another hug. “Yvvaros is not the way it was, it’s too dangerous right now. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

  Luke turned toward the gate before she had a chance to argue further.

  CHAPTER 2

  The expanse of the Sarchia Desert in between Stark Town and Dunidan’s Rest was a sandy stretch of rocks and dunes. Luke made his way across more slowly than usual, taking the extra time as a chance to clear his thoughts.

  I still don’t feel like I can protect Tess against everything. Yvvaros was never a safe place, and it’s more dangerous than ever now.

  The Battle of Kantor was still fresh in his mind. Luke remembered just how close Tess had come to dying. He’d been able to save her, but only because he’d been granted a temporary skill upgrade that he still hadn’t been able to explain.