VR WARS Volume II - Coalition Army

MAKING AN IMPRESSION

Another set of stairs was present just a few steps from where we were, but now we could see an end to them. At the end of the stairwell, a big luxurious brown door opened all the way to the back, with a series of roses neatly sculpted along its edges, granting us further passage. As we climbed those stairs, various sounds reached our ears alongside some loud laughter between the multiple voices. This is it! I took Vera's hand and looked at her; she understood my body language and reassured me with a nod.

We were the last pair. At the front, leading us, was Pedro, and in the middle were Rui and Mariam, but something was missing. The butler and the maids, where did they go?

Glancing back, I spotted them to our rear, motionless, waiting. I tried to ask something, but Wilhelm seemed to know already what I was going to say and answered my question prematurely, “Don’t look back young master, and don’t show any signs of weakness, for you are about to enter a ring filled with ferocious beasts. Your names will be announced as you enter; may the goddess' blessings be with you.”

And sure enough, a mature feminine voice, as if reading from a script, began counting down our names to the rest of the guests gathered there. By order, it should have been Vera and me, but Pedro thought it would be better for us to be the last pair to enter, to make a more “powerful impression,” in his words. Vera really nailed them with her aphrodisiacal spell.

“May I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen. Presenting now, the Portuguese coalition.”

As each pair was announced and entered the room, my dormant anxiety seemed to awake all of a sudden, locking my legs to the point of paralyzation where it was taking everything I had just to stand there. The familiar sensation of receiving a critical wound that rendered the body useless in that place was unlikely, not to mention impossible, yet my body didn’t respond to any commands. f**k, I thought I had overcome my fear of crowds. The leader of hundreds afraid to stand out—pathetic! Millions had watched me before, but in the heat of battle, I had forgotten about it. Now, with no arrows or bullets flying in the air, my consciousness was fully aware that this event was being streamed through the media. A critical moment for Virtual Reality as it stood and for the competition that could save us all, so how could I not tremble under pressure? These thoughts weren't helping at all. I breathed deeply and felt the warm sensation of Vera’s hand pressing against mine, an encouragement to move forward.

“Let’s go.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Our names, at last, were called out, and we entered the room.

Walking side by side with my companion gave me a boost of confidence, something I desperately needed to calm my nerves. But as we journeyed across the crowded room, the anxiety from before turned into a bundle of emotion when my eyes wandered to my left, towards Vera. Her beauty spread like a virus to every person, intoxicating them with its deadly allure. All the noise that had been hearable down the stairs vanished as everyone gazed their eyes on what seemed to be an angel bathed in the most radiant starlight in the galaxy. The floor made of the most beautiful tiles reflected our images throughout the entire room as if we were stepping on glass. A small heartfelt smile made of nothing but gratitude, something I hardly felt, gave my devilish self another face. All that we had been through in the past, our disagreements, manipulations, and physical abuse now made no sense. She was helping me to enjoy the moment, more than I thought I would, while, at the same time, establishing a position in that snake pit, a position of power. Whether it’ll be Shaun ‘The Devourer,’‘ Blitzkrieg Schneider,’ ‘Vlad Dracula,’ or any other, I will stand above them all. It will be my face and my name engraved on those frames. The man to conquer this competition and this world will be me. Of this, I am sure.

With this swirling hurricane of ambition, my thoughts swayed back and forth in the lust for power. Realizing that I had overlooked her completely, my partner pinched me slightly in the arm that held her hand to bring me back to the ‘here and now.’

Once more, my selfish thoughts blinded my eyes to something far greater than myself. Still feeling the warmth of my companion's hand, I slowly turned to face her when I was stunned by the intensity of the mirage everyone else in the room was absorbed in.

Stillness reigned in the room for a moment, to the point where everything short of time itself stopped.

Her expression conveyed absolute serenity. With her eyes shut, withholding neverending trust solely in me and not in the rest of the world around her, Vera walked down the painted-white tiled floor blinded to everyone, with nothing to guide her but my hand. Has she been walking all along like that??! I had been in such a deep introspective trance that I neglected her sturdy commitment. Worst of all, her self-portrait of inner peace brought me envy.

One could live for a thousand years and never achieve that level of harmony; it made me and everyone else speechless. Trying to find the right words to describe the multitude of feelings overflowing within me seemed like a pointless task. Instead, I applied her methods and shut away from everything happening, like they were never there. My attention diverted exclusively to her, the anchor that, throughout the night, had been holding me steady in the storm.

The ideal female body may vary from person to person, but to me, the sight of Vera crossing the hall in her astonishing white dress is what peak performance looks like.

“Wow, she’s beautiful!” “Are they together?” “How did he land a hottie like that?!”

Soon, after we walked past our colleagues, I slowed down and made a right turn before stopping, ending our display to allow Vera to open her eyes at last. Convinced that she had left the impression she dreamed of achieving, she willfully let a small giggle fly out of her mouth, absorbing the noise with her left hand, making her persona that I’d never met before even more adorable.

“How was I?”

I was so in awe of her brilliant display I could barely think of a response, so the only words to come out were the way I was truly feeling, “…Breathtaking.”

She looked at me as if caught off guard by my compliment with her glistening eyes that drew me in as no other trap had done before. We stared at each other for so long that it felt like it could go on forever.

No words. Not a sound.

All the hate that amplified our dire relationship was gone. I felt happy to have her with me there and that we could finally move forward without any more fights or opposition; a united front had finally been solidified. That moment vanished once we heard the sound of voices chattering; it seemed like our big impression had come to an end. No. She had merely set in place the sparks for the fire that was to come.

“Let’s mingle, and then we’ll meet back here before the end.”

Their plan: identify the smaller threats, approach them, and find any information on the bigger fishes.

My plan: enjoy myself.

People may call me exceedingly hypocritical at times, but even though the idea was mine, to begin with, I never said I would follow it.

We hadn’t noticed at first when we got into the room, but now, music was in the air, and we could even see some people dancing. Some of them weren’t even with their own partners, according to their pins. I guess I hadn't been the only one to come up with the plan of having fun; either that or people were really enjoying the moment. Which made more sense than that pretext for a scheme to get any sort of intelligence we all had cooked up.

Still…if we don’t find something, I’m sure I’ll never hear the end of it when we get back… I really didn’t want to work today…

Eventually, we spotted a group of lonely Czechs on a corner that, like us, seemed out of place in that whole situation. The Czech Republic had two universities participating in the competition; however, they only numbered five thousand. Nearly two thousand students fewer than us, but despite the numerical difference, to our surprise, they were rather friendly, as we found out only minutes after the talks began with the exchange of a few comments and praises. Their laid-back attitude came from their country's stable economy, which had been one of the first in Europe to respond by closing borders and securing its assets. Henceforth, they didn’t feel the need to be cautious about the whole thing; their futures were not at risk, nor was winning feasible.

Philip and Yustaf were of the same age, friendly and gamers like myself, so we immediately bonded, yet running on a tight schedule as we were, Vera urged me for us to move on, so the entire interaction took less time than I’d hoped. Still, thanks to Vera's subtle speech techniques and ways to steer the conversation to where she wanted, we managed to extract information on one of the most troublesome countries that had evaded our target list, along with the traits and favorite tactics used by its Commander.

Led by Justin Carter, England ranked second in numbers, matching that of Germania; they were among the strongest coalitions in the VR Wars, numbering fifteen thousand strong. We couldn’t be sure of how reliable this intel was, but at least it was better than what we had before, which was nothing.