Ultima™: The Party

2: Two Worlds

Mira attacked Subodai first, instantly knocking the demon off balance. I was about to attack it as well, but he recovered and knocked me back with his katana. I quickly got back up and joined Mira's barrage of attacks on the boss, our attacks barely did any damage to it. He eventually roared before knocking us both back with another attack. I got up easily but noticed Mira was struggling to get up. 

"Mira, you okay?!" I yelled. 

"Ugh. Nearly out pal, try to hold it off." Mira replied exhausted. 

"I'll try my best." I said focused on the boss. 

I charged at him hitting it with everything I had in me. The boss roared out before attacking me again. I dodged it this time and destroyed its katana before stabbing the demon in the heart. It disappeared into a cloud of dust once I did. The boss was defeated. 

Mira got up and smiled at my accomplishment. "That was amazing, who knew you could beat a dungeon first day."

"It's nothing really, I was just used to this kind of stuff." I said embarrassed. 

"But defeating a boss on your first day in-game, that's a rare accomplishment." Mira explained. "Let's get that bounty shall we?" 

I smiled back and went back to the tavern. On the way we saw a group of players arguing and I decided to eavesdrop on them. 

"Why didn't you listen to the plan! You costed us the raid!" One of them yelled. 

"Why didn't you follow through?!" Another player yelled. 

"Your plan was doomed to fail already, I took action and improvised." A third player replied. 

"It would help if your improve worked!" The second player yelled. "Lets go." 

They both left leaving the one player behind, I decided to step in and cheer him up. 

"Hey, you okay?" I asked him. 

"I'm fine, but thank you." He replied. "I'm used to it actually." 

I looked above his head to see his username. Lionel. 

"Hey, if you want you can come with us?" I asked. "It may be easier for you." 

Lionel smiled a bit. 

"I'd appreciate Alexia, thank you." Lionel replied, seeing my username.

We then continued towards the tavern.

Me, Mira, and Lionel arrived at the tavern to return the bounty. Maxim saw the three of us immediately. 

"Ah, I see you found yourself a group." Maxim said. "So, the demon?" 

"Done and over with." I replied. 

"Excellent, I'll go get the payment from the back and inform the employer. Nice work." Maxim explained. 

He instantly went to the taverns back room while we waited. 

"So, what now team?" Mira asked. 

"Well, I should probably rest up for tonight." I replied. 

"I think that's a good idea, considering the day we probably had." Lionel explained. 

"Okay, will see everyone again tomorrow." Mira said smiling.

Maxim soon returned with some gold that he gave the three of us. 

"By the way, if you need some rest I have rooms upstairs." Maxim explained, probably overhearing us earlier. 

"Thanks Maxim." I said smiling. 

"It's no problem, las." He said. "Have a nice night." 

We instantly went to the spare rooms upstairs to log off, Mira instantly jumped onto the closest bed before logging off. 

"Okay see ya." Mira said. "User, log off!" 

Mira's character instantly disappeared, I sat down on the other bed before doing the same hesitantly. 

"You seem like you don't want to go." Lionel said worried. 

"No, I do." I stuttered. "It's just hard at home." 

"I'm sure whatever it is, you'll get past it. Just don't worry." He explained. 

I felt better and decided to log off. 

"Okay, thanks." I said smiling. "User, log off!" 

I saw everything fade to white before I saw the powering down message in my view and removed the VR headset from my head.

I saw it was at least 7:00 PM at home, I didn't want to do much and just grabbed some homemade soup from the fridge. I instantly heard a knock on the door and answered it, it was my landlord as usual. 

"Alexia, finally back from that junk aren't you." He said disgusted by me. 

"What is it, Germane?" I asked annoyed. 

"You know why I'm here, your pay is overdue again and if you don't pay up this time, I'm evicting you like I should have months ago." Germane explained, smirking. 

"I know you won't do it, you dirty moneybag!" I yelled. "Not unless you want to lose your only client!" 

"I will if it will get the point across for you, my business is important!" Germane yelled. "Important to you, so get!" I yelled slamming the door on him. 

"You won't get away little girl, I promise!" He yelled leaving.

I decided not to deal with him and ate my soup before logging back in to Ultima™ to calm down.

I instantly returned to the room to see Lionel still there. 

"Your back already? Are you okay?" Lionel asked concerned.

I just started crying upset about earlier. 

"No, why must my real life be so hard!" I yelled, crying.

I noticed Lionel got up and sat next to me. 

"It will be okay, you still have us to help you." He said, calming me down. "You could sleep in this world if you like?" 

I smiled wiping my eyes and lying down. 

"I could. You know, your really nice Lionel." I said closing my eyes. 

"You could just call me Li, Alexia." He said. "Okay. Goodnight Li." I said falling asleep.

I eventually woke up, still logged in to the game. As I got up, I saw Mira looking at me with a mischievous smirk, it startled me instantly. 

"Ah! Mira!" I yelled scared. 

"So, you decided to sleep with the new guy didn't ya?" Mira asked smirking. 

"Wah! No, I didn't even do that!" I yelled embarrassed. 

"Sure you didn't." She said smirking more. "You like him." 

"Don't get the wrong idea!" I yelled embarrassed more. 

"Speaking of, we should probably find him." Mira explained. 

"True, let's go." I said leaving to find Li. 

Only for Maxim to be waiting outside the room. 

"Oh your up, need to tell you something." He explained. "The guard captain, Zavala, is requesting your group." 

"Would help if Lionel was with us." I said. 

"He's already their waiting for you, go on quickly." Maxim said rushing us. We instantly started heading to The Iron Tower, homebase to the Ultima Guard and rumored location of a powerful item, The Admin Shard...

Next: Black Hood's