Chapter 20: Meron Trius
1005 Words
Scott grunted as the alarm clock announced ten in the morning. By the time he had turned to smash it silent, however, an equally sleepy Carol had already taken care of it. He fought to keep his eyes open just so he could stare at those lovely golden curls before drifting back to sleep.
“You had plans for a Saturday morning?” she asked him, grunting.
“I was going to play with Joey, but he can wait,” he would have made a move, but he still lacked energy spent in all the previous moves. Besides, he was not ready to surrender the warmth of the sheets.
“Oh, excuse me, mister I-have-a-friend-in-the-Top-500,” she made a poor emulation of his voice.
“I will let you know, miss Bennet,” he poked the tip of her nose, “that I have now many friends in the Top 500.”
“Oooh! Bet you have tons of juicy gossip!”
“Way less than I’d like, really. In the rare occasions when I see Snorri, Joey’s T-500, I only get more confused about what happens up there.”
“Can you at least tell me their names?” she proceeded to pout and do googly eyes. “Please?”
“It’s only the folks from my guild, and I only know Joey’s real name.”
“Then tell me their character names!”
“Joey is Snorri Gian, then there is Doctor Belle Sloth, who helped me with teleportation, and Meron Trius. Anyone else I only know by name.”
Carol faced the ceiling, reflective.
“Meron,” she sibilated. “I’ve never heard of the other two, but Meron Trius is not an unfamiliar name.”
Quickly, Scott pushed his back against the wall, sitting up and letting the sheets slide from his bare chest, which was not nearly as impressive as Logans, albeit real. He starred at her, mind racing back to the Chimera conspiracy that surrounded Meron, threatened the guild and the Solar League, and about which only he knew.
“What have you heard about Meron?” he asked.
“That he is the leader of one of the biggest guilds out there,” she said, then giggled. “Why? What got you so scared?”
He blinked erratically.
“Nothing.”
“We’re keeping secrets now?” she arched an eyebrow. “What’s wrong? Is he planning to destroy the Solar League?”
Carol laughed.
Scott didn’t laugh.
“Oh, my God,” Carol felt her face go cold. “He is?!”
“You can’t tell anyone!” Scott blurted out.
“What the flip, Scott?” she pushed herself up, holding the sheets over her body. “We have to tell everybody!”
“No! We can’t!” he appealed. “I shouldn’t know! I mean, I don’t even know if that’s what’s going on, I could be mistaken.”
“How can you not be sure? That’s not something you can be unsure about!”
“Look, you can’t tell Joey any of this…”
“Any of what? You’re confusing me, Scott!”
“Okay, listen,” he grabbed her hands. “I did something I shouldn’t have done. I played as Joey’s best character without him knowing and overheard a meeting…”
“A meeting?”
“Yeah, of a secret group of T-500…”
“A secret group?!” she looked like she would faint.
“Yes! And from what I heard they are conspiring to change the game as we know it, destroy the Solar League, and Meron is one of them!” he spit the words as fast as they came to him.
Carol froze, her eyes running up and down his face, cogs turning behind them. Then she scrambled and sat up fully straight, legs crossed and a determined look on her eyes.
“I had never heard about anything like this,” she said, gaze lost out the window and into the rainy cityscape. “Does Joey know?”
“About the organization, probably, but I can’t ask him. About Meron, probably not. He wouldn’t stay put and do nothing if he knew.”
“Scott, you have to tell him!” this time she was the one grabbing his hands. “He is the only one of us strong enough to stand up to Meron!”
“Absolutely not!” he jumped from the bed.
“Then we will confront Meron ourselves!” she said. “Together, we might stand a chance!”
“I would be called a traitor by the whole guild!”
“You won’t have a guild if he is really who you say he is!” she blurted out, then stopped where she stood. “Scott, listen… I won’t make you do anything you don’t feel comfortable doing,” she stepped closer to him, both still in only underwear bottoms but paying no mind to that fact, “but what you know could change the game forever. If the Solar League fell, Fantasy Stars as we know it would no longer exist. One way or another, even if you’re still at level 72, the most important choice of the game might be in your hands.”
Scott turned his back to her, gazing at the downpour outside. After a brief reflection, he turned around again and stormed right past Carol.
“I’ll shower on this,” he said heading straight to the bathroom. “We’ll see what we do when I’m out.”
Carol watched him lock the bathroom door behind him. She felt like offering to join him, but that was not the right moment.
Inside the steamy shower, thoughts ran over Scott’s head. On one hand, he could compromise his friendship with Joey. On the other, Carol was right, and the universe he had learned to call home for the last months, along with all the friends he made in there, could be in danger. That would not be an easy choice to make.
Once he left the bathroom, still dressed in a white towel, he was surprised by Joey sitting right next to Carol in his living room. At first, Scott assumed Joey had come to check if their game session was up despite Scott not showing up, but that was not the case. Joey rested his chin on his clenched hands, and his elbows over his knees. One of the knees bounced rapidly. Joey only did that when he was excessively tense.
Scott stared daggers at Carol (now fortunately dressed), silently accusing her of betraying his trust, but she simply shook her head as to dismiss that hypothesis.
“Joe?” Scott called feeling his heart accelerate.
His old friend turned to him, his brown skin looking sickly pale.
“Megafleet has been attacked, Scotty,” he said. “Meron Trius has been killed.
“Permakilled.
“I’m the new leader of the Katana.”
- Writer
