Breaker of Iniquity

Chapter 2: The Start of Something Beautiful

The party reappeared in Pollux where they had set their respawn point.

"Easy ass quest,' huh?" Mars said scornful.

Maybe if you gave us a better battle plan than 'Don't die!' Edward strained to keep his manners. "We need a healer," he said.

"No, we just need to dodge the attacks more effectively," Mars scolded. Frito Pie and Planet Breaker exchanged a glance. They both looked at Mars and said, "We need a healer."

"Fine I'll- oh," Mars paused.

Frito Pie's player, Matthew, raised a brow. "What?"

Mars smirked. "One just logged on, hang on." He switched to a private chat and turned so the others couldn't read his lips.

Planet Breaker looked to Frito Pie. "Do you think the cultists sacrificed her?" Matthew said nothing. "I mean, I bet that's what they came to do, but maybe she escapes and goes and forms like a resistance, or maybe she becomes this Batman sort of character...are you even listening?"

Edward heard shuffling just before Frito looked at his character. "Sorry, I was talking to my mom, what'd you say?"

"Just thinking out loud. Don't worry about it," said Edward.

Mars turned to face them again. "Alright. Healer's on the way."

Instantly, Matthew was skeptical. "Is he good?"

Mars turned to start heading out of Pollux again. "It's a girl, and she's alright."

The other two followed. Before long, they were back to their original meeting spot under the tree on the outskirts of the small forest.

"Your friend hot?" Matt asked.

Edward rolled his eyes. He knew his friend would ask something stupid like that. Odds were it wasn't even a girl at all. He pictured a greasy fat man with acne and a long ponytail taking advantage of the automatic voice changer for characters with genders opposite of their players. 'Hi, I'm Tits McGee!' The thought of a giggly innocent voice from the paired image made Edward shudder. His character mirrored Edward's motion.

"She is." Mars smirked knowingly.

"Send me a picture," said Matt. "Of her, not her character."

"Give me your email." Mars sat against the tree.

"What do you need my email for?" Matt had Frito fold his arms.

"I can't send you files through the game."

Edward lifted both brows. "When did they change that?"

Mars looked between them both. "You didn't hear about the whole child porn thing a year ago?"

Frito's head moved in surprise. "Well, that escalated quickly!"

"There was this big thing about people sending nudes through the game," Mars began. "A bunch of idiots were trying to hold Vizox responsible for it."

Edward's brows furrowed. Again, his avatar mirrored him. "Well that's dumb," he said. "That's like trying to hold the whole internet responsible because your kid saw a boob!"

"Right?" said Matthew.

"I know. Thankfully it didn't work, but the company removed the ability to import and send pics in the game because of it," said Mars.

Footsteps approached. Each of them turned to see a nice looking slender girl with pointy ears come from behind a tree. She picked a twig from her bright crimson hair and greeted the group with a wide toothed grin. "Hi!"