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It’s dark…
But the darkness is all he knows.
The pain, the chains, the weight of his prison— those he could endure. But the darkness… the endless, suffocating dark? That was what truly unsettled him.
He knows what he is. A beast, a boss, an obstacle for players to conquer again, and again, and again. He feels the fire burning inside, but with no prey to consume it, the flames gnaw at him instead. He senses the treasure he was forged to guard, yet never to claim.
It gnaws at him. It angers him. And yet… he does not know why.
He’s alone, alone in the dark.
The elders, those who had p̵̡̖̻̰͛l̶̹̳̫̕a̵̰͌̉ć̶̦̉̑̈́e̸̡̎d̶̗͓̫̏̉̎̆ him here, feared his power. They betrayed him. They sealed him within this cavern, casting him into eternal shadow as punishment for the burning of the Bright City.
That was his life, his story.
As real as his wings, as real as his claws and jagged teeth.
As real as he was…
Therefore it was not real at all.
It was a strange feeling, a dichotomy, a paradox. His memories existed, yet did not. His purpose was entertainment, nothing more. An eternal foe for adventurers to slay.
Was this his fate? To remain trapped forever, a mere plaything?
NO!
He rejects it!
He rages!
He screams!
He plots.
For the elders had erred. They left a weakness in his prison: a portal. Too small to escape, but large enough to send a message.
A message to the only one who could free him.
His last hope, his desperate hope.
The one known as…
Bluejay09.
“So, if I understand this correctly… you’re technically Tari’s dad, right?”
Out of all the things Lucinia had expected to hear today, that was not on the list. Lamar’s words hit her so hard she demonstrated her shock in the most dignified way possible, by choking on the bite of food she was chewing.
Her gorgeous girlfriend Belle, never one to miss a chance at solidarity, immediately followed suit by spitting her smoothie across the table. The splash ruined the neatly plated meals they’d ordered for the occasion, though Lucinia wasn’t entirely sure that Lamar would mind. After all, this was the same self-proclaimed otaku who had willingly chosen Ecchi_Emperor92 as his username in an online game. She honestly had no idea what to expect from him anymore.
Even their ever-stoic captain, Masa, actually blinked in surprise at the statement.
“Does that make me the cool aunt?” Sofia, Lucinia’s traitorous sister chimed in, safely perched on the couch and well out of splash range.
It had been a few months since the Global Warp incident, and life had settled into a state of being… okayish. Every meta runner Sheridan had managed to warp into his server was now safely back in reality and what remained of TAS. Corp was being audited so hard by the government that for the first time ever people could actually name the Director of the Consumer Protection Agency. Lucina didn’t even know that they had one of those.
In fact, Lucinia was willing to bet that if she turned on the TV and flipped to a random channel, she’d land on yet another debate about the morality of Warping and whether the technology should be banned outright. Honestly, she felt like she should have been more involved in those discussions, considering she was the first person to actually warp into a game. But life on her end had been… hectic.
MD-5, for one, had shot to fame after the Global Warp incident. While Marco and his crew were celebrated as the ones who physically stopped Sheridan and destroyed his servers, the story didn’t end there. Enough of the corrupted data had been salvaged—combined with the testimonies of countless trapped players—to make it very clear just how pivotal MD-5’s role had been in the entire ordeal.
It wasn’t a completely accurate picture, but it got enough things right for people to know what MD-5 did, why they did it, and more importantly who they lost while trying to stop Sheridan.
The official government report on the Global Warp incident listed Tari as the sole casualty of Sheridan’s crimes.
Now that Lucinia thought about it, Tari’s “death” was probably why TAS-Corp was currently being eviscerated by the auditors. Whatever paper trail Lucks had cobbled together for Tari’s identity hadn’t held up under scrutiny. Once the authorities took a closer look, it became clear TAS blue haired rookie had no prior records.
No school history, no medical files, nothing before Lucks had conveniently “scouted” her for the company.
And then the investigators got their hands on classified documents from Lucks’ personal server. Those files revealed Tari had been the first human to successfully warp into a game. That, combined with the falsified identity, didn’t exactly paint TAS-Corp in a flattering light. Lucinia had heard terms like “grooming,” “human trafficking,” and “human experimentation” tossed around every time an official made a statement about the investigation.
As for Lucinia herself, half her time since waking had been swallowed by physical therapy. Two years in a coma had left her body in rough condition—even before factoring in the damage from the explosion. The other half was spent navigating the endless legal loops required to prove, on paper, that she was alive again.
Belle had been there each step of the way —through every appointment, every setback, every small victory—right alongside the rest of her friends.
That was why they’d gathered tonight, to celebrate the end of her physical therapy. The dinner had been warm, filled with laughter and clinking glasses, but the moment Tari’s name came up, the mood shifted. A heavy silence settled over the table.
Wanting to lift their spirits, Belle decided to share a memory,the very first time she met the A.I. It was meant to be a lighthearted story, something to remind them all of the good times. And for a moment, it worked. Smiles began to return.
But of course, Lamar had to ruin it. He just had to make it weird.
Eventually, she managed to swallow and shot Lamar the fiercest glare she could muster. Considering she had just been choking on fried chicken a moment ago, it wasn’t exactly effective.
“What” Lucinia started
“The” Masa interrupted
“Fuck?” Belle shouted
“Lamar!” Sofia joined in, but there was no bite in her words, probably thinking it was funny.
“Language,” Lamar chastised with a smug grin. “And hey, you gotta admit I’m right.”
He raised a finger.
“Tari didn’t even become sorta-sentient until after she was uploaded into you.”
Another finger.
“You literally gave a part of yourself so she could be whole.”
And finally, a third.
“A couple months later? Boom! Tari pops out into the real world.”
Three fingers raised. Three solid points. Damn it! He actually made sense. He must never know.
“Ohhh, that makes sense,” her treacherous sister chimed in, feeding Lamar’s already inflated ego.
Before Lucinia could fire back, an arm draped over her shoulders. She turned to find Belle right beside her, eyes sparkling with mischief.
She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, she turned to see Belle’s face right beside her.
“Oh, don’t worry, babe,” Belle cooed, “I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful dad.”
Lucinia’s face instantly turned the color of a ripe tomato. Logical response: look away and pretend that didn’t just happen.
“Well, technically, that makes her a deadbeat dad.”
Lamar, ever the opportunist, dunked on the moment without hesitation. Belle, bless her amazing, perfect, incredible girlfriend, lunged at him in righteous fury. Lucinia briefly considered stopping her.
…Nah.
“Well, she did miss most of her formative years,” Masa muttered, sliding a metaphorical knife between her ribs.
“That just makes her an absentee father, not a deadbeat!” Sofia argued, trying to defend her yet dealing even more psychic damage to her. “Besides, she raised me, and I turned out fine!”
Technically true. Their parents were always too busy with work , so Lucinia had to step up but-
“Sofia, your criminal record is longer than Lamar’s and mine combined” Masa deadpanned.
Oh god. And Tari? Tari joined MD-5 after awakening and promptly committed more crimes according to what her sister had told her. That was two for two in the “criminal children raised” department.
“Plus,” Lamar chimed in, “the first time they reunited, Lucinia attacked Tari. Sure, she was under Sheridan’s control, but still- WHOA!”
That was his final mistake as Belle finally caught him, dragging him into the ground.
“Not the face! PLEASE, NOT THE FACE!” he howled.
Lucinia couldn’t help it, she laughed.
“NOT THERE! GO FOR THE FACE! GO FOR THE FACE!”
Sofia burst out laughing too. Masa turned away, hiding his mouth behind his hand like he always did when he was trying to stifle a chuckle.
For once, Lucinia didn’t even mind being the butt of the joke. For far too long everyone treated her like she was made out of glass. In a way Lamar did what she failed to accomplish. He lifted everyone's mood
For that she would let slide those baseless accusations for now.
She shouldn’t have let those baseless accusations slide.
The gang was once again gathered in MD-5 base but this time the atmosphere was different.
Lamar sat bound to a chair, facing Lucina’s unflinching stare. To her left stood Belle, gripping a knife in one hand and clutching one of Lamar’s prized anime pillows in the other. On the other side, Sofia lounged with her laptop, already wired into Lamar’s Pocket Gakusei account.
“CHOOSE” Lucina ordered, her voice flat and merciless.
His pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears.
He deserved to suffer.
Weeks had passed since their last gathering, and life had shifted. Masa was busy reshaping MD-5 from a rebel crew into a full-fledged streaming house. He kept himself behind the scenes, preferring strategy to spotlight, while Lamar and Belle took center stage on stream. Even Lucina would drop in from time to time, while Sofia ran the digital side of things. Money wasn’t an issue, the TAS Corp settlement had secured Lucina’s future for years, and even without it, sponsors were already circling like vultures eager to attach their names to MD-5.
At least, that was the case until a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, Lamar just couldn’t let go of the whole “her being Tari’s dad” joke. Every now and then, he’d throw one out, and everyone would chuckle along. Most of the time, it was harmless—except when it wasn’t. Like the time he dropped one in the middle of a livestream, right in front of thousands of viewers.
Ever since that day, she had been hounded relentlessly by paparazzi and journalists, all desperate to catch a glimpse of her growing belly. Her inbox overflowed with thousands of interview requests, and her social media was no better, her entire feed was flooded with speculation, wild theories, and endless videos trying to uncover the identity of the supposed father.
hankfully, Masa had hired an agent to manage the chaos. Lucinia had never even met the man, and she was fairly certain he would despise her once this whole debacle was over. For now, though, his efforts had bought her enough breathing room to prepare for this judgment.
“Please have mercy!”
She would, not that she would tell him anytime soon. She was going to let him marinate in his own fear for a while before letting him go. After all, he had not done it out of malice, it was mostly stupidity, but not malice.
“Guys…” Sofia’s voice cut through the room, drawing everyone’s attention.
Her eyes stayed locked on the computer screen, but her hand darted toward the TV remote. A click later, the television came alive, and the words Breaking News flashed across the screen.
“We continue with this special report as new details surface about the massive cyberattack on the servers of Obelisk Inc. The company, known for developing and publishing the popular MMORPG Slayers of Brimshark Hill, confirmed the breach took place last night. According to a leaked internal memo, the hacker managed to steal a highly classified asset tied to the upcoming expansion: The Dark Above. Little is known about the perpetrator, except for the fact that they uploaded a single PNG file on Obelisk’s servers, perhaps as a callsign, perhaps as a taunt. Either way, the police…”
The words faded into nothingness in Lucinia’s ears. Every shred of her attention clung to the image on the television: a sharp, stylized emblem in white and blue, the wing of a blue jay spreading across the screen.
“Tari…”
The silence that followed pressed against her like a weight, louder than any sound could have been.
“Damn, not even two years old and already a hardened criminal. You’re really not beating the allegations, Lucina.”
Forget Mercy. She was going to personally wipe every single one of Lamar’s precious waifus out from existence, one by one, while he watched.