New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Back in Nebraska, Godrick was now constantly being questioned by the local police. Since he had been seen going to the woods with his three friends, and they now had been found dead in the woods, amongst a plethora of weird green creatures, fingers were pointing at him.

He was currently being let loose for the fifth time already, all thanks to a certain cop always taking his side. Even though he hated the situation he was in, he was somewhat happy that Officer Grant was defending him.

As he walked out of the station again, the officer stopped him next to his truck.

“Listen, Godrick. Be honest with me. Did you know about what was found in the woods? I don’t care if you were there or not. I just want to know if you knew.”

“Max. You found shells to four of my guns in those woods. What do you think? I’m not the one who killed them, but I am the one who brought them out in the woods. We were looking for my sister…”

“How is she, by the way?”

Godrick took a moment before answering.

He had been glad when they found his sister, still alive in the camp, along with half a dozen other women. But Laura wasn’t the same since she came back.

She would wake up in the middle of the night, screaming in pain and fear, yelling that they would find her again. When Godrick tried calming her, he would always end up having to restrain her before she hurt herself.

It was painful for him to see his sister, who was a symbol of strength for him growing up, be broken this way.

“She’s getting better,” he lied.

“Good, good. Tell her hi for me. And Godrick. Stay away from the god-damned woods next time, will ya?”

Godrick nodded weakly. Getting into his truck, he drove back home, where his mother was watching over his sister.

He lived just outside of the main part of town, and the drive there wasn’t very long. But he still needed to pass through the main part of it, where everyone was looking at him strangely, as of late. 𝑜𝘷𝑙.𝘰𝑟𝑔

He had become a pariah in his hometown. He wasn’t disconnected enough to not hear the rumours going around.

Some people called him a murderer, blaming him for the death of his friends. Others called him a psycho, claiming he was the one who kidnaped all those women, raping them and psychologically scarring them.

To him, the worst rumour was the one about him doing that to his own sister. His flesh and blood.

But he kept to himself, holding back the anger bubbling inside him, that made him want to do nothing more than fight these idiots. He kept it inside, promising himself to find a better way to channel it.

Reaching his house, Godrick parked the truck in his driveway. As he stopped the engine, he saw his sister bolting out of the front door, like death was on her heels.

He hurriedly jumped out of his truck, jumping to get in her way.

“Stop, Laura! Laura! You’re safe now, Laura!”

“Let me go! Let me go! They’re gonna find me! They’ll kill everyone! We have to run away from here!”

Godrick grabbed her arms, hugging her tight, making sure she couldn’t break free from his hold. He blessed the heavens that he had no neighbour to see this happen.

Bringing his sister to the ground, in a semi-seated position, Godrick held on to her as best he could, waiting for her episode to stop. He knew it wouldn’t last too long, as it had every time before.

His mother sprinted out of the house, noticing Godrick had already caught Laura. Godrick’s mother knew her son wasn’t responsible for how Laura was.

But seeing her daughter like this, battered, broken, and unable to think rationally, hurt her very much. She crumbled on the balcony, weeping loudly.

Godrick couldn’t stand to see this happen. Had his father still been alive, he could have helped settle everyone, and found a way to make everything go back to normal.

Godrick’s father had been this family’s rock. Ever since he was dead, Godrick had been trying to fill those shoes, but it was no small task.

He could only try to do his best.

After screaming and trying to wiggle free for about twenty minutes, Laura finally calmed down. She went back to not speaking, her eyes glazed over like she was insanely high.

He picked her up, carrying her inside the house. As he passed his mother, he whispered to her.

“I’m sorry, Ma, I let this happen to her. I’ll find a way to make her right again.”

His mother kept weeping, not responding.

Godrick felt a pang of pain in his heart. He was sure his mother blamed him for his sister’s situation.

Even though the woman did not blame him in the slightest, her pain was too strong for her to put into words, for him to understand. And the misunderstanding remained.

Days went by, with the situation never getting better. Godrick still did not know how to make his sister better.

One morning, he received an email from an anonymous sender. Godrick was paranoid at first, not wanting to open it.

But the subject of the email kept him from deleting it outright.

*You can fix your sister.*

After staring at the title for several long minutes, Godrick flinched and opened it.

The email contained only a few sentences.

*To fix your sister’s mental condition, there is a way. Play New Eden. Reach a certain level of power inside New Eden, and you will be capable of helping her. Ideally, play a healing class, or a psychic class. Trust my words. Astaroth*

To Godrick, the claims were absolute madness. How could a game ever make him capable of helping his sister?

Worst yet, how could a game change anything in the real world?

Wanting nothing more than to delete this stupid email, Godrick clicked it and dragged it toward his trash icon. But his mind refused to let go, eventually putting the email back inside the inbox.

Godrick opened up the internet, going against all his logic, and purchasing a gaming helmet for New Eden.

‘If there is a chance, I should take it. I hope you aren’t a liar, Astaroth, whoever you are.’

***

On the east coast of Canada, in a nice penthouse in downtown Montreal, Alexander closed his email app.

‘I hope you find it in you to try anything possible to help your sister, Godrick.’

“Alex! The game is going back online in thirty minutes! What are you doing?”

“Coming!”

Alex got up from his outside table, getting back inside.

It was time to re-enter New Eden.