Orc Wars 2 : Lazarus

Chapter 6 - Hope

Later that day, Ash was lounging on a mattress in Jace's small studio apartment. Jace had finally managed to get a cheap place that was near enough to walk to class. The one room affair had a bathroom, a tiny open kitchen area and a small living space. It was empty of anything remotely resembling furniture.

The thick comfortable mattress was in a corner along with Jace's duffel bags and a bag pack, where all his worldly possessions were stuffed in. Next to it, sat the VR gear from Simtrixx. His lap top was on an overturned crate, a make shift table. Jace was surfing the net checking something out.

"You know, you don't have to live like this."

"Like what?"

"Like this." Ash waved his arms around indicating the tiny empty studio apartment. "You don't have to rent this shoebox."

"It's cheap and convenient. You were the one bugging me to get my own place."

"I know, it's just that ... you know."

"No, I don't know. It is better than being a charity case at Lady Jayne's or sleeping in parks. It's all I can afford at the moment with the money from the Game. I'm saving most for the future and emergencies."

"At least get a proper bed and some furniture." Ash sighed. "Jace, seriously, you can just buy the whole goddamn building. Cash."

Ash was referring to Jace's accumulating allowance and trust fund. The generous monthly allowance that Jace wouldn't touch because it would be an admittance of needing his estranged father's financial help, of needing a family he wanted to forget. A family that had never been there for him when he had needed them the most. Ash had never met anyone as stubborn as his best friend.

Jace clenched his jaw and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't need the whole building. All I need is a place to sleep. This is good enough." His tone said that the discussion was over.

Ash rolled over onto his stomach. "You can't change who you are however hard you try."

"Don't go there Ash."

"Fine."

After a while, Jace muttered, "Simtrixx should really fix this loophole."

"What loophole?"

"The orb trials, Simtrixx should make it so that only the Hero requesting it should be able to do it, not his whole team. It makes things messy."

Now, one person could request their trial but the Hero could either solo it or try to complete it with a team, as long as members of the team were also eligible (level 50 and above). Those not eligible were automatically excluded.

"If a Hero who tagged along completed the Trial and got the Orb, not the Hero who requested it, then what?"

Ash shrugged. "I don't know. Guess Simtrixx will have to figure it out. What did you mean earlier when you said it was on the other side of the Portal?"

"Hmm ...?" Jace asked distractedly, tapping on the keyboard.

"You started to say something was on the other side of the Portal then you changed your mind and said something else."

"Well, you can't be too careful, don't want to give anything away."

"Okay, yeah, I get it. What's on the other side? ... besides the orcs and the Life Stone."

Jace stopped scrolling on his lap top to turn fully to Ash. The intense look was back on his face.

"The cure Ash, the cure to Lazarus's poison is on the other side."