The Devil In White: An AA Online Novel

"How long is this going to take?" Catherine Waide demanded. She was straightening a silver bracelet on her wrist, and also tugging at the hem of her sharp female business suit. She hadn't felt this young and unprepared for decades. She was addressing a young man from Seoul named Hwan. Doctor Hwan at that. He was a genius in his fields of Cellular Biology and Physics.

"Not long. They all hit the logout button prem.a.t.u.r.ely. They are still asleep, but the drugs used to induce coma are barely in their systems." Dr. Hwan replied.

Dr. Baker, a brilliant anaesthesiologist who studied at a prestigious and renowned University in Melbourne, nodded, concurring with Dr. Hwan's assessment. These two incredibly talented and expensive to retain professionals both nodding to her did nothing to alleviate her incredible anxiety and impatience.

Three capsules that sat side-by-side lay in front of her holding the three occupants she had been wanting to meet for a long, long time. State of the art technology was keeping their bodies maintained and fed with both nutrients and oxygen. She was looking at the people responsible for freeing her from the death game all those years ago, and they slumbered still. Catherine was afraid that if they didn't wake up soon she would be a sobbing mess when they did wake up. She was too damn old to cry, and far too damn proud of being a business and industry leader to do so in front of her people.

"Dr. Hwan and I wanted to thank you for this opportunity, Catherine. The research alone from this project has been enormous." Dr. Baker said softly. "The breakthroughs are incredible and... "

"Yes," Catherine replied dryly. "It is rare to be doing research into this kind of thing without breaking some sort of law."

"Without an ethical dilemma as well. This is very good." Dr. Hwan nodded vigorously, eyes shining. Both he and Dr. Baker were sure to get published from this when they were allowed to release their research findings. Catherine had never had a problem with this, though she had always maintained that the anonymity of the 'volunteers' be maintained even after the project ended.

"Ugh." Forsythe was the first to sit. He was wearing very loose hospital pants and a shirt. Attire where if he got up and moved around within the building people might think he was visiting someone from his hospital lunch break. Forsythe sat up, staring groggily around the room and squinting. Noting the two beside him, he pulled his shirt up and began inspecting his sides.

"Hello, Richard," Catherine whispered. Those many years ago when he had been transferred from Bantry General Hospital, she remembered thinking how incredibly reliable his face looked. He had been taller than she thought he would be based on her past experience with him in Last Sojourn, with dark hair and deep eyes.

He cleared his throat several times, and then seemed surprised when he had no difficulty speaking. "Hello, Catherine." He looked to the two beside him and then laid back down, closing his eyes.

"Are you tired?" Catherine asked, honestly surprised. His muscle and respiratory systems had been worked for almost two weeks now and there should have been a minimum of physical fatigue.

"No. I'm pretending. Raven wanted to be first." He opened his mouth slightly and started making slow and loud breathing noises, feigning sleep.

"Extraordinary mental fortitude." Dr. Baker breathed. Catherine could do little but agree with her assessment. Catherine couldn't shut her eyes for a full day after she was rescued from Last Sojourn. She had feared never opening them again.

Luckily for everyone, including the impatient Catherine and the pretending sleeper, Raven was the next to wake. She was wearing a simple white one piece that was little more than a slip around her fragile frame. Catherine had thought it best to dress Raven up a little bit. She didn't know why she just felt that the white one-piece dress that fell to Raven's knees and was light suited her.

"Yes!" Raven didn't seem to be surprised or even worried about her voice. It came out light and strong. "In your face Forsythe!" She turned to her left, noting that Aidan was still sleeping and then grinned in triumph as Forsythe's eyes fluttered, a bit dramatically Catherine thought, and he began to sit up. When he looked over to retort, his mouth opened slightly before he closed it.

"Your arm." He pointed to Raven.

If Forsythe could have been a tall athletic man that spent his off-time scaling tall mountains, then Raven was a petite, black-haired beauty who would have fit in anywhere there was a dance studio nearby. Her face was lit in a brilliant smile as she turned and waved the arm he was referring to at him. What had startled Forsythe was the fact that it ended about four inches above her elbow.

"I lost that ages ago." Raven grinned. She moved her shoulder around experimentally and then frowned. "I guess I wasn't expecting to magically have it back. Oh well. Back to tying my shoelaces one-handed." She turned to the man with his eyes closed between them and made a disgusted noise. "At least fake being asleep better."

Aidan sat up slowly, his eyes opening after he got into an upright position. "Obvious?"

"Little." Raven and Forsythe said simultaneously.

It hadn't been obvious to either Dr. Baker or Dr. Hwan, who both cast startled looks at Catherine. She thought she'd detected eye-movement behind his lids but had wondered if it had been her imagination. Aidan, the Devil in White, sat before her wearing the same hospital scrubs Forsythe wore. His brown hair was grown out slightly, and even though he was constantly maintained by professionals since his removal from stasis, he still looked like he needed to shave. His bright eyes looked around the room slowly, and an artificial smile crept it's way onto his face as he did so.

"Sorry, sorry…" He breathed, looking around at the computer consoles and only looking infinitesimally interested in the people in the room.

Catherine slowly moved up to the three and conversation ceased. They all stared back at her, not coldly, but without emotion. Withholding judgment until she spoke. They were like three jaded soldiers presented with an outsider they expected might be dangerous.

"Hello. My name is Catherine Waide. I have waited a very long time, to say thank you." She held out her shaking hand to the three, not sure who she should be addressing.

Aidan reached out first, almost instantly in fact, and shook her hand. "Hey, no problem."

"Don't worry about it," Forsythe replied, shaking her hand next.

Raven started to reach out with the missing arm and caught herself, instead turning her left hand to roughly shake Catherine's. "Oooh. You're welcome. What'd we do?

Catherine was having her hand shaken awkwardly and she just stared. "You beat the game."

"Hey lady, we were going to do that any way you know?" Raven tilted her head quizzically.

"Yes. Thank you just the same, Ms. Cuthbert." Catherine said, wrapping her other hand around Raven's good hand.

"Just Raven. It's not cool to use real names or talk about real life." Raven chastised.

"Yes, but this is the real world," Catherine said, smiling brilliantly. Despite her promise to herself, she felt tears starting to well in her eyes.

"If you say so," Raven said, tilting her head again. She looked unnerved, and her eyes darted around anxiously.

Catherine almost passed out then. Years later and the enormity of the death game felt like it was only now slipping away.

"Uh, disorientation is to be expected I would think." Dr. Baker chimed in, stepping forward. "Do any of you feel groggy? Slow?"

"Heavy," Forsythe answered, raising his arms experimentally and dropping them. Then he grimaced.

"So do they still have sandwiches in the far future?" Aidan asked, neatly side-stepping Raven and Forsythe and smiling.

"I assure you they make the best kind." Catherine replied. "You can eat, but we're going to separate you for a bit and ask you some questions for the curious science types. It shouldn't take more than an hour."

"Checking sanity." Forsythe decided.

"Oh my dear fellow, don't worry about that. I do not believe that even in the future there are tests or scales fine enough to make that determination in your cases." Catherine said sweetly, already getting swept up in their pace.

Raven was still laughing at Forsythe even as the one-armed girl was being led away.

"We're going to be asking you all a brief series of questions. They will be brief we assure you." An examiner told each of them. They were all sequestered away from one another, though they had been promised this wouldn't take long and they could eat their oatmeal and jello and the sandwich if they felt up to it while they answered.

"Good. I'm thinking I want some shoes. The slipper look isn't fashionable in any century." Raven replied. "Unless it is? Are you wearing slippers?"

"You said brief twice." Forsythe pointed out.

Aidan sat at the table and waited, staring at the examiner. After a hesitation the next question came.

"We wouldn't be surprised to see some disorientation. You spent a long time in a virtual environment, and this real world might be very confusing. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Can I go pee after this? I remember this feeling, and I think I have to use the restroom." Raven said, munching on her sandwich. "98% certain I am going to pee myself."

"No." Forsythe said easily.

"I suppose it would depend on your definition of 'real'. You see everything we can know, comprises the 'real' world. Even virtual environments are mere extensions of the real world. When I logged on the game they were making groundbreaking advancements. They were, for instance, developing AI that didn't know it was AI. They gave it processing power and advanced decision making. A set of definitions that made it refute its own artificialness to an alarming degree. I believe I have re-entered the world I came from when I logged into Last Sojourn, but I'm not sure. If I haven't then this space is incredibly well designed." Aidan said, spreading out his hands on the table.

"We removed your Gen 3 ch.i.p.s, do you feel any discomfiture?" The next question came for Raven and Forsythe.

"No. My scalp itches but I don't think it's because of that. Wait. Is it because of that?" Raven began to nervously reach to the back of her head and began probing.

"No." Forsythe answered.

"...well that's not fair Tom. You could die in Last Sojourn so you can't really qualify that as being an indication of 'real' world. If you died there you died here, but I think we're getting off topic. Perception is the reaction to stimuli on senses, and frankly, I don't think it's fair to ask me when I just got here whether or not I'm in the real world. The VR system generates responses based on electrical impulses, reads your counter-responses, and acts accordingly. I could be a program that is refuting my artificiality just like you could. I remember my family, and my friends before I went into Last Sojourn. Do you have a family Tom?" Aidan asked sympathetically.

"How would you state your current level of happiness?" The next question came for Forsythe and Raven.

"I would say that on a scale from a frowny face plant to a sun with cool glasses and a grin I'm a pickled plum," Raven replied seriously, her eyes going big as she fussed with the back of her head. "I have to pee. I'm certain now. 100%."

"Alright," Forsythe answered. He was poking the remnants of his sandwich wrapping looking thoughtful.

"No. I'm sure it's perfectly normal to be a driven man Tom. I mean not having a family at your age, what, 30? Oh, 45. But you have the wife right?" Aidan paused. "Well, you have degrees and specialized knowledge in your field at least. How… how would you rate your knowledge? Exceptional? Thorough? Encyclopedic? Hierarchal?"

"What are your plans for the future after your release?" The last question.

"I'm going to go see Amelia. She makes the best faces when I tell jokes." Raven replied, and then she pointed to her head. "I'm really starting to wonder if you actually got that chip or if I have dry scalp. Did you wash my hair? I really don't like that sulfite stuff. I'm going to pee on you if you don't let me out."

"I'm going to become the best Chef in Awakened Aspirations Online," Forsythe answered, and after a moment. "First I'm going to America to see Amelia."

"Gosh Tom, I'm sure you're a real person. I really didn't mean to imply that. When we get out of here go call your mom and ask her questions about your birth. Questions you don't know the answers to, and I'm sure you'll be fine." Aidan ran his right hand through his hair, looking consternated. "If it's any consolation you seem like a real person to me."

"Thanks a lot!" Raven and Forsythe exited rooms into the hallway at about the same time being lead by their examiners. Catherine was waiting for them, and she motioned to the door that had yet to open.

Aidan was the one to open the door, and he exited the room alone. "Hey Tom, hang in there!" He shut the door behind him and turned to Catherine, Raven, and Forsythe with a wave. "That Tom guy, what a prankster."

"I found a shirt that says, 'look out, I'm armed'," Raven said excitedly.

"I don't get the reference." Amelia finally admitted. She was surprised that they had logged back on a few hours after they had logged off. They had since informed her that while they would have preferred a flight that took them directly to Illinois, they were afraid that they were going to miss the castle dungeon spelunking.

"Raven only has one arm." Forsythe supplied.

"You only have one arm?" Amelia replied stupidly. She immediately regretted it and then tried to think of a way to delicately ask about missing limbs. "What happened?"

"A little elective surgery," Raven replied, obviously not discomfited by the conversation. "I had sorta forgot about it, but I started wrapping the end with these cute little ribbons with little bows near the bottom."

"You forgot you were a one-armed, small, dancer type?" Aidan asked with more sarcasm than Amelia had ever heard him use.

"Oooh. Listen to the man who told me that the world I was haunting was the real world so I should suck it up. Did I forget, yes, okay? It never really bothered me that I was missing an arm. You get used to it. Other than trying to shave your armpits. You ever tried to shave an armpit you can't reach because it's under that arm? It's not pretty you know." Raven informed them.

"How do you-" Forsythe began asking before Amelia interrupted.

"Raven." Amelia asked, her voice warning that dodging wasn't an option.

"I had an infection. The arm had to come off." Raven said heatedly. "It wasn't a big deal. I got to wear little cute kerchiefs around it. I'm doing it again. I was thinking something pink when I see Amelia for the first time." She said brightly.

"Maybe you could find one with colours," Amelia said dryly.

"Colors?" Raven asked, her voice strained over the party chat.

"She is referring to cross-bones and skull. Like a pirate flag." Forsythe supplied.

"Oh my god! That would be adorable." Raven gushed.

"When did Aidan tell you to suck it up?" Amelia asked belatedly. She was heading down into the crypts with several hundred other Residents and Transients. She had always known this game was inhabited by a few million other players, but she hadn't ever really seen any indication that they were around in any number. She supposed that they lived in different parts of the world and played at different times, but it was still startling to see how many Transients had appeared for the clearing of the lower castle dungeon. The appropriations and incentives offered by the King's treaty meant she wasn't walking or traveling with conventional adventurers. Several of the people ahead of her were obviously career player tradesmen. She spied blacksmith hammers on belts, packs that were mobile forges, quills, canvas, woodcrafting tools… They kept pace with the Residents who were all members of Brack's army, and volunteer Residents who had decided they wanted to see the Far North Continent. Everyone was excited to explore the first floor of the new dungeon.

Aidan gave her a little finger wave when he saw her and fell into stride with her even as he responded to the question over the party chat. "In Last Sojourn, there was a town called Benning."

"Oh shut up Aidan. No one wants to hear about that." Raven interjected. She sounded, Amelia thought with surprise, embarrassed.

"I do." Forsythe offered.

"It was before you Forsythe. So this is for you too. Benning was a player town in the level 100 area. It was mountainous. You would say mountainous right Raven?"

"God. Just tell them what cup size I am while you're at it!" Raven complained.

"No one wonders. You're not very big." Forsythe offered. "Mountainous." He offered, inciting Aidan to continue.

"I want to know too." Elisha offered. Amelia had forgotten that Hunter and Elisha were online and going toward their respective dungeons too. She had told them everything, and they had logged out to mull it over. When they logged in they hadn't talked about it, but it seemed that they were both curious. Before they had logged on Amelia had admitted that she had told Hunter and Elisha about Last Sojourn. Aidan had made a noncommittal noise, Raven had started talking about pirates, Forsythe hadn't seemed to care, and Amelia had heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well, I guess I can't not tell Elisha." Raven retreated.

"So on the mountain that overlooked Benning, there was a cave. From this cave, infrequently a special class of monster would spawn and go down and attack the city. It was about 20 levels higher than the Residents, or NPC's, and most of the players who stopped in that town didn't go much higher either." Aidan continued delightedly. "This special humanoid boss monster suddenly stopped appearing in the town."

"Raven is a special humanoid boss monster!" Forsythe gasped, grasping to understand. He seemed to guess that if the monster stopped coming down it had gained sentience and become Raven.

"There are no swear words strong enough." Raven threatened.

"So, curious, I went up this mountain and in front of this cave there was this… bedraggled girl." Aidan was smiling next to her, obviously enjoying the memory. He completely ignored the interruptions.

"Bedraggled my a-" Raven started before she was cut off.

"So I asked her what she was doing, and she just looks at me like I'm the idiot and says to me she's waiting for the monster." Aidan laughed. "She had been killing it for weeks, and when I asked her why, she said that it had murdered her favorite chocolate vendor."

"A chocolate vendor?" Elisha was giggling helplessly over the open chat.

"An egregious crime," Hunter supplied solemnly.

"Yes!" Raven said with feeling, almost grateful that Hunter had interceded.

"How does an avatar look bedraggled?" Amelia wanted to know.

"In that game, if your equipment hadn't been serviced it didn't lose statistics or durability or anything vital to the game, instead it was a cosmetic effect. Tearing would appear at the fringes of clothing, holes would begin to form, evidence of long battle and hard living." Forsythe replied dutifully. "You looked like a hobo."

"So I watched her kill it," Aidan continued, returning to his story, "and I realized there was a discrepancy in my knowledge. This monster was 10 levels higher than her, and she finished the battle with over 90% of her health. You see, it wasn't a matter of skills, abilities, or even equipment. Raven just didn't let him hit her. She moved out of the range of his abilities that were distance specific, she side-stepped his vertical attacks, and she ducked his horizontal ones." Aidan laughed. "It was the most ridiculously one-sided fight I had ever seen. Like she knew all his scripted moves and just, avoided them."

"That would be the third way to measure strength," Amelia muttered.

"Pardon?" Aidan said with surprise.

"That's the third part of strength. Experience. Not the reward for winning, but the… I don't know, side-effect from fighting. In this game, and I guess Last Sojourn, the experience is the third type when you're measuring strength. It's different here than when you play console games. Monsters are swinging swords at you, biting at you, screaming in your face. It takes some getting used to for everybody. There is even that smell when a gigantic class monster leans in and roars in your face." Amelia explained.

"Ah." Aidan and Forsythe uttered aloud through the channel.

"What do you mean?" Hunter asked.

"Well, you can be high stats, high level, and probably not lose to an enemy below you even if you stood and took their highest abilities. Most people don't bother to move when they don't think they are in any real danger. It's laziness. In this game, though people sometimes move because the threat coming at them is literally coming at them. It's a reflex and survival response. Still, even then most people get used to swords threading close to their faces and monster teeth and don't bother to dodge. They stop trying to avoid attacks they know aren't all that harmful." Amelia continued.

"That's what I think when I'm raid leading," Hunter admitted grudgingly. "They take all that extra damage and make the fight longer than it needs to be."

"No. I think it's just… life. You do something and you do something, and then after a while, people give up. I don't need to do my best, we'll win. It doesn't matter if we lose, we'll get it the second time. I should just focus on hitting the enemy, that's my only job." Aidan supplied softly.

Amelia wanted to ask about that, but it didn't seem the time. Aidan had sounded so resigned when he said that people gave up. She wondered how many he had seen give up. It seemed impossible to live with the knowledge these three had, but they never complained.

"So Raven is kind of amazing." Elisha hedged, obviously uncomfortable with the somber tone the conversation had adopted.

"That's right! Raven is amazing." Raven said, gloating, oblivious to the heavy overtones. "You can move faster or slower based on stats but I can sense, it's a superpower I bet when I need to move!"

"Good reflexes aren't a superpower." Forsythe sighed.

"Always on my case!" Raven griped.

"Your ego doesn't need help," Forsythe said dryly. "You're already good, don't claim to be amazing."

"I'm good? Praise me more!" Raven said happily, obviously delighted at the sudden indirect praise offered to her from Forsythe.

Still, Amelia thought, it wasn't something that was very common in the world. Avoidance fighting wasn't a matter of statistical superiority in this game. Your avatar moved at speeds determined by strength and agility, but you were still responsible for dodging. Just because you were fast enough to dodge an attack didn't mean you would be able to dodge it.

"Amelia and I are approaching the entrance and are going to shift our attention. I'm going to leave the group channel for a while." Aidan announced.