New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Outside New Eden, in the private facility owned by Jack Boudreau, a nurse had been assigned to make sure their 2 VIPs were taken care of, as long as they stayed inside the game.

The woman had replaced their bodies a few times, making sure they wouldn’t get bedsores. She had also changed their clothes, and the IVs that had been plugged into their arms soon after they logged in.

The woman had brought heart-rate monitors, as well as brainwave scanners, so she could do her job with ease. After setting herself up, she had a chair brought to her, as well as a small rolling trolley filled with supplies, so she could sit and take notes.

She had other duties to attend to, but had most of them dumped on another nurse. Mr. Boudreau himself had asked her to monitor them, and she would die before letting anything happen to them.

The nurse took notes of their vitals every half hour, making sure everything stayed within acceptable ranges, and for now, everything was rosy.

As she was checking the files of other patients she had, a monitor started beeping wildly. Lifting her eyes swiftly, she noticed the heart-rate monitor on Alexander Leduc’s arm was spiking dangerously.

Soon after, the brainwave monitor did the same. Immediately after that happened, Alexander’s body started convulsing like it was being electrocuted.

The nurse quickly jumped up, grabbed a rubber mouthpiece from her trolley, and shoved it inside the young man’s mouth before he bit off his own tongue.

“I’ll need help over here!”

Nurses and doctors came rushing to her side, some of the male nurses quickly grabbing onto Alexander’s body and keeping it in place. If the young man dropped off the bed and got hurt, their heads would probably roll.

The nurse pinning the young man’s shoulders on the bed yelped out in pain.

“What happened?!” another one asked.

“His back! It’s burning up like metal under the sun!” the hurt nurse said, caressing his reddened hands.

The nurse that had been charged with monitoring him and Kary, frowned.

“Flip him over!” she ordered.

The men holding his body pinned to the bed swiftly complied. Once he was on his stomach, the woman grabbed a pair of scissors from her trolley.

“Keep him steady while I cut the gown.”

The men nodded, but no one was willing to push on the young man’s back. The nurse clicked her tongue at them before grabbing the hem of the gown around the neck and shoving the scissors down in a swift motion.

The fabric made way with a crisp cutting sound, revealing Alexander’s back. What they all saw on it made them gasp in shock.

“When did that happen?! He was fine when he laid down!” the nurse asked, bewildered.

On Alexander’s back, a burn mark covered his skin. The shape of it was quite distinctive, looking like a lion’s head.

But that wasn’t the issue. It hadn’t been there at all, at the beginning of the day when he put the helmet on.

The woman would have noticed such a big and bad burn when she changed the young man. But his skin had been pristine.

‘How am I going to explain that to Mr. Boudreau?!’

“Quick! Cover him with cooling blankets!” a doctor yelled.

The doctors that came rushing took over the situation, their expertise being more useful than a nurse’s in this situation.

This situation went on for about thirty minutes, with Alexander’s heart rate going on a rollercoaster ride all the while.

Inside New Eden, the situation was very similar.

Leon’s hand was apposed to Astaroth’s back, with a steady stream of vivid red Aether pouring out of it, and inside the Ash Elf’s back. Astaroth was screaming bloody murder, his face contorted in a mask of pain.

He felt like his back was being seared by a giant, burning iron brand. Phoenix came rushing into the room after she heard her boyfriend’s screams.

Seeing his pained face, as well as Leon’s worried look, questions filled her mind.

“What are you doing?!”

Leon’s eyes met hers.

“I’m branding him. He chose this as a medium for my power. I told him it would be painful.”

Phoenix looked at Astaroth, who wasn’t defending himself, and could deduce he was at least a willing participant in this torture. But she still wanted to help him.

“Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe I can call a healer to soothe his pain?”

“A healer won’t be able to soothe his pain. He isn’t taking actual damage. Only the pain from it.”

“Then what?! I can’t just let him suffer like this for however long this will take!”

Leon looked at her insistent eyes and thought of something.

“There might be something. But it won’t be pleasant for you, either.”

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“You have a high attunement to the fire element. You might be capable of absorbing a part of the heat, reducing his pain. But it will transfer to you.”

“Just tell me how!” she shouted, throwing herself in front of Astaroth.

Leon told her to form as much contact with Astaroth as she could, and focus on the feeling of heat coming from his body. If she could lock on to the heat, she should be able to pull it toward herself, reducing the burden on Astaroth’s body.

But as soon as she did, her body temperature suddenly rose many degrees. Her body ignited on its own, sending her into her Avatar of Flames form, as she started groaning in pain, too.

Astaroth’s screams assuaged, allowing him to gain a bit of a sense of what was happening around him. When he saw the burning Phoenix holding onto him tightly and grunting in pain, he panicked.

“What are you doing?! Let go! You don’t need to suffer too!”

But the women refused to let go. She hugged him tighter, siphoning even more heat into herself.

Soon, her form went from bright orange flames to an intense blue fire. Tears of liquid fire started falling out of her eyes as she grit her teeth to keep herself from screaming.

Leon’s eyes widened. An idea crossed his mind, and he acted on it without consulting them.

“Both of you better hold on to your consciousness. This is going to hurt!”