World Online

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

The sound of the clock ticking was the only thing that was constant in the house that seemed dead.

It was dark, all the lights turned off even though it was the middle of the day. The curtains were all drawn up, and there was only one person who was up in the entire house of four people.

Jake took a glass of juice, downing it in one go, and went up the stairs.

Looking at the nearest room to the stairs, he shook his head. His parents were in there, and he had no idea where they were right now.

It was a little different than last time, because they were in a different place, and too many things had happened that changed everything. Jake had no idea what his parents were up to right now.

But he did have some control on what was happening in the next room. He stopped at Michael's room.

A wooden placard, hand carved and roughly decorated, was the only sign that this was Michael's room. The one thing that he brought here along with his clothes was this placard, something that had donned his room's entrance for most of his short life.

Jake did not even bother knocking, because his brother was definitely in the game at this time. His mother made sure that Michael was getting all the schooling he needed virtually.

The room was a little different than Jake's. It was smaller, but that was not Jake's decision. It was Michael's own. Michael chose this room.

Michael was nowhere to be seen though. His pod was in the center of the room, and it was opened. There was no-one in it, and Jake already knew that there was no one in the bathroom outside.

Michael seemed to have disappeared.

Jake took a step forward. He knew the dimensions of the house when he bought it. Every room was supposed to be around the same size.

But Jake knew that the room wasn't supposed to be this small. He looked around, and saw a few chips on the wall. It looked like someone forced the closet doors off, and had moved the bookshelves there, covering the closet space up.

"The things that this boy does." He shook his head and stepped to the book shelves.

He looked down at the skid marks.

"If he asked me, I could have arranged for a slightly better secret door. He tries to hide too much these days." Jake sighed and pulled on the book shelf.

"Brother! What are you doing!" A scream came from inside.

"What do you think that you are doing?" Jake chided.

"But this is the only thing that I can do here. Everyone is in that game, and I don't know anyone here. Mom said that I am not allowed to go outside." Michael's face was crestfallen.

"Don't worry. I am not going to tell mom. What did I tell you always? Snitches.."

"Get stitches!" Michael joyfully completed that mantra.

"Good. You remember. So then, I am sure that school is becoming a little boring right?" Jake smiled.

"Yes! I don't understand! We are supposed to play a game! Not go to school!" Michael said.

"That's right. So then, do you want to go play a game?" Jake smiled.

"Yes!" Michael nodded feverently. The chance of playing instead of studying was something that he was willing to take in a heartbeat.

"Then how about this. You are still a boy, so you need supervision, or you might say something wrong in front of someone that will get angered too easily. I will send you to someone I know." Jake smiled.

"What? I escape one teacher and run into someone else supervising me? How is that fair?" Michael whined.

"Remember. This is a very important person, and I am risking a lot sending you there. So if you want to have fun, you have to follow some ground rules. And you should never follow any ground rules or I will tell mom that you are skipping school." Jake said.

"But you-"

"Remember. Snitches get stitches. You don't tell mom and I won't as well. This will be our little secret." Jake said.

"Fine. What are the rules you want me to follow?" Michael asked.

"First, no matter how many times people ask you, even if it is the person that I am sending you to, do not tell him who you are in real life. Details of the real life are out of bounds. Use your in game name. What is your game name by the way?"

"King Holton. Sounds good right?" Michael smiled.

Jake slapped his own forehead with frustration.

"How can you be so stupid as to put your real name as a part of your game name? You stupid… Fine. I will give you the money to change it to something else." Jake sighed.

"Why? It sounds good!" Michael protested.

"Because it is not safe. Do you really want to tell random people your name? Remember, everyone in the world can see your user name!" Jake reminded.

"Fine." Michael said. "But isn't that going to cost one gold coin? That is one hundred dollars! I think it is going to cost even more because they are so rare. Mom really is going to kill me. Right when the going is tough," a few tears appeared in Michael's eyes.

"What do you think I am here for? Remember. Don't tell mom and I won't. Don't worry too much. Once you do what I tell you to, and you are done with the apprenticeship below the person that I am sending you to, you are going to have a good time in the future." Jake smiled.

"Now then. Onto the second rule. Whatever you do, when you are next to me, you will address me as Shadow King. You will not tell anyone my real name."

"The third rule. You will never tell mom what is happening. If she finds you skipping school, you will tell her that you bunked class and went out with your friends. I will take care of the aftermath. But the teacher shouldn't be a problem. I will take care of the teacher after all."

"The fourth rule…"

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