Being a Fallen Angel definitely has its perks.
For one, we have a pretty sweet headquarters in Eden. The mansion we all congregate to in order to get our assignments, socialize (I prefer to call it networking, cuz who needs friends?), get free food, and buy new equipment and spells is located in the middle of an oasis. It’s surrounded by desert and sand, but there’s no boiling heat and glaring sun that will cause us discomfort and scare us into hiding in the frozen tundras of the North.
I’m kidding. In Eden, there’s no such thing as hot or cold. We all exist at room temperature.
The location’s a beaut. There are some nice gardens, hot springs, and beaches for us to relax in during our free time.
That’s not why I’m here though. I’m here for only one reason and that is to make money.
I enter the lobby of Heaven’s Gate (cliched name, but accurate), and head towards the Requests Office. There’s already a long line of 20 something Fallen Angels, all anxious to get the richest client and easiest assignment. There’s a trade off though, of course. The client with the richest reward most often has the hardest and most dangerous request.
But I’m not afraid of danger. I like to live life on the edge.
I go to one of the many kiosks in the office, inserting my ID badge into the badge slot. My name pops up on the touch screen, and I hold my hand to the scanner so the system can identify my fingerprints and match it to the data it has stored. A menu pops up, and I tap into the requests board to see the list of clientele.
Ah. The client offering the most money is a guy called Belial. Smells like a demon. Rather not get into that, if you ask me.
I look at the second top most client. A guy called Gabriela. Or maybe a woman. Sounds less suspicious. I click on their post and a description pops up.
Apparently she’s asking for someone to track down some rival guild members who stole her rare weapon. Something called the Ex-
Wait what?
Excalibur? Holy —
I double check the details, making sure I read right. Yep, the client’s asking me to return Excalibur for her.
Some background context. Excalibur is the rarest sword in WOE. You can only get it if you beat the Dragon in Camelot. And you have to be VIP status to get access to Camelot. The game creator, Sai Tanaka, has to invite you in order for you to be able to play in Camelot. I think only about 15 people out of the 162 million people who play WOE got invited to join.
I’m sure I’ll be able to score an invite from him some day, since my internship is starting soon. In approximately 20 hours.
But I’ll think about that later. Right now, I need to accept this quest and get some cash in my system. She’s offering $10,000 if I complete this for her. That would solve all of my money issues and then some.
Way more worth my time than doing calculus homework, if you ask me.
I accept the quest.
First things first. I need to meet with the Gabriela girl who really needs to specify her/his personal pronouns in her job specifications. Like, Gabriela could be a guy’s name too? And maybe s/he made a typo and added the last letter to her name because she was a cis transgender or something.
Anyway. I go on her profile and see that she’s logged on. I send her a message.
Hey! I accepted your job request, I have a couple of questions, can we meet soon before I start on your request? Thanks!
I don’t expect her to answer, so I’m surprised when she immediately replies back to me.
Hey Eva, I’d be happy to. Please meet me at the Tavern in 5 minutes. Thanks.
Wow. She sounds rich. Not complaining.
I check my inventory to see if I need to buy anything at the General Store, which I’m going to be heading to after the meeting at the Tavern. Then I go to a portal and teleport to the Tavern.
The Tavern is essentially an elitist pub. When I mean “elitist”, I mean that the bartenders at the Tavern don’t serve your ordinary jug of ale or beer. The bartenders at the Tavern serve stuff like sake or soju, because WOE has its origins in shogunate-era Japan. Meaning, the bartenders are always Japanese, always good-looking, and always speak English with a British accent.
I’m kidding about the drinks by the way. People don’t actually go to the Tavern to drink carefully concocted drinks. What would virtual alcohol taste like anyway?
The Tavern is just a meeting place for players around the World. Each server has its own Tavern, where they can meet with friends and talk to potential clients and trade gear. Also, a lot of meet cutes happen here, so if you’re looking for love off a dating app, please come here at your earliest convenience.
Anyway, back to business. I’m a bit late to my appointment, which is out of the ordinary for me, but I couldn’t resist counting the number of swords I have in my toolbox. I wander around the first floor, which kind of looks like the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria, and take note of each player’s tags. I can’t spot anyone named Gabriela though.
I don’t have a good feeling about this. I hate wasting time, and I still have to finish my physics homework. So this Gabriela bitch better be on her way or else.
I hop on the elevator to the second floor. The second floor has a ton of private rooms, not bedrooms, but conference rooms. Get your mind out of the gutter, you two.
Each room has a green or red sock around the door knob to show if the room is occupied or not. Technically, not a sock, but you know what I mean.
I check all the rooms, which show the names of the players occupying them. No Gabriela.
One more floor to go. Then I’ll just quit and look for another request tomorrow. Need to keep my grades up, amigos.
The third floor is reserved for VIP players like yours truly. It’s kind of like a mix between a Korean karaoke lounge and a Japanese host club. Lots of pretty female NPCs dressed in bunny costumes and maid costumes. Only rich businessmen with an itch they need to scratch can afford to come here.
Seriously though. Only the most covert business deals are made on the Third Floor. Think, CIA, FBI, Interpol. Think international espionage and drug cartels.
I’ve never come in here, honestly. But my ID badge got updated with permissions to enter the Third Floor, so I might as well leverage my new position with the pride of Mufasa.
First thing I think of entering here. A lot of Russians. And I mean, a lot.
The Russian players are surrounded by a sound proof invisible barrier so I can’t hear their conversations. Everyone’s avatar is edited with image-altering software, so I won’t be able to tell who’s who if I do meet a shady Russian spy in real life. I can see their avatar names on top, which are all pretty esoteric if you ask me. Like, whose real name is actually PutinHere?
Seriously, bro. No more sexual innuendos from you.
I do a quick scan around the floor. Most of the people are congregated around the holographic TVs, of which I can’t see a thing on. But I do see a lone figure standing by the window. I can’t see the avatar name from here so I walk closer.
Shit. It’s her. Gabriela.
She’s wearing a cloak with a hood hiding her hair. Going closer, I see that she has a stuffed ferret slung around her shoulder as if it was a Chanel bag. Interesting.
I enter the force field surrounding her and greet her, two fingers up.
“Hey. It’s Eva. You requested something?”
Gabriela looks up at me (because I’m really tall in this game, practically a modern Fae or Elf), and she smiles slowly. Her intent gaze scours me up and down, which is kinda creepy if you ask me. Overall, her creepiness is S-ranked, if you apply the Japanese ninja class system.
S-ranked, like this quest I’m about to embark on.
She hands me an envelope, without saying anything. Wordlessly, I open it and see two slips of paper. I hold up the first slip. It says:
Find Excalibur
The mages have stolen it.
I roll my eyes. Yeah I already know this, Sherlock. Stop being so dramatic or I’ll call the police.
I hold up the second slip.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
At the End of the Beginning
You will be home.
I squint at the words. A reference to Wizard of Oz, how interesting. But I have absolutely no clue what the yellow brick road refers to in the Eden context. And I’m a WOE veteran, unless the brick road refers to the under construction sites in the Hell arena. Which no one goes to unless they’re demons.
Wait.
I think that’s exactly what this old woman is asking for. For me to go to Hell.
Whoa. This is a game changer. I’m going to have to go to Hell. How am I supposed to do that, retrieve the sword, and return to Eden unscathed?
Hell if I know.
I squint at the old woman and ask her, raising an eyebrow,
“You want me to go to Hell?”
Her face shrouded in shadows, the woman nodded her head. Then she turns and with a whisk of her cloak, she disappears without a trace.
Like I haven’t seen that before.
I check the time. It’s getting late. I need to ruminate on this a bit more before going to sleep. I log out of the game.
I need to figure this out. What I usually do when I’m trying to solve a difficult problem, whether it’s coding or math or interpersonal related, is play with my Rubik’s cube. It’s a special cube, one that my dad gave me for my seventh birthday. It lights up when you solve it, something that I really enjoy seeing during night time.
Tinkering with the cube deftly, I let my mind wander. I don’t have much to go on from the message the hag gave me. I thought Gabriela would be descriptive about the mission, but she’s not making this easy for me. The pay out is huge though, so what do I have to lose from doing this mission?
Hell’s ridden with demons and monsters. More advanced players head there to level up quickly. But if you die in Hell seven times in the duration of one playthrough, it’s literally Game Over for you. You lose your avatar, you lose your items and equipment, and your money.
I’m pretty confident in my abilities, but I haven’t ventured out to Hell in a while, as I was busy with making my game. Whenever I go to Hell, it takes me ages to demolish the demons. Probably because I’m a perfectionist and I need to KO all the demons in all the levels of Hell before I leave satisfied.
Whatever. I’ll just go during the weekend when I have more time. I play WOE at nights to relieve my stress but I’m going to have to save this quest for the weekend. It’s going to take a while to find Excalibur and get past all the Hellish creatures.
Pro tip. To prevent the demons from respawning, you gotta use Holy Fire.
Don’t know what that is?
LOOK IT UP.
Anyway, I just about finished solving my cube. I put the last piece in place and …
Voila.
I gaze at the lights emanating from the cube as they dance around my room. Like watching the Aurora Borealis but in the safety of my own home.
I wish my dad was here. I’ve spent many autumn nights tinkering with my cube, going through my memories with him, piece by piece. I wish I could save those memories on a hard drive so I would never forget.
Someone needs to invent something like that. Like a modern day Pensieve, straight out of Harry Potter into the new age of tech.
Who knows, maybe it’ll be me.
After all, who said magic wasn’t real?
I spin the cube in my hand one last time and place it in my drawer. Closing it, I close my eyes and take a deep sigh.
Time for homework.
