Deck of Souls: Fateseal [SAMPLE]

Chapter Two: Are you serious?

"Oh man, smells good Cery!" Ryan exclaimed as he pushed his way through the door and into my apartment. Alice shot me an apologetic look and followed him, hefting a stuffed backpack over her shoulder. "Sweet! Fried eggs, too?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know you don't like scrambled and Alice doesn't like poached," I muttered with a grimace. "Grab whatever you want to drink out of the fridge.

"How's work going for you two?"

"Awful," they answered in unison, with Alice continuing, "We've got some real creeps stopping by lately, but Damien still refuses to change the bar's name."

"Place has been around how long now, and people still think it's a strip club?" I rolled my eyes and plopped down in my seat. "Well, whatever. What's this about a new game to play? And why does your backpack look ready to explode?"

"She's obsessed, that's why," Ryan groaned, slumping back in his seat. "The game is just called—"

"Jeriskyr!" Alice interrupted, ripping her backpack open to dump a pile of collectibles on the table, including books, posters, several plushes, and a single flash drive. "That's the name of the world the game takes place in, by the way. We're not really supposed to say much since it's still in alpha testing—but the devs want to meet you."

"Wait, you're all in the alpha test?" I frowned at her. "Why would the devs want to meet me, exactly?"

"Because you're our guild leader, duh! Ebonwing is quite famous, you know," Ryan pointed out with a broad grin. "Alice called them on our way here. They want to meet you in person and give you a demo at their office downtown to see if you like it. Until then, they said Alice and I can show you this stuff."

"They're going all out!" Alice continued excitedly, picking up a poster and shoving it in my face. Encased between two slabs of clear plastic was a lifelike illustration of some sort of demon-man with unruly dark blue hair and crimson eyes. He held a full plate helm under one arm and looked entirely displeased about something.

"That isn't what the game actually looks like is it?" I lifted the poster out of her hands and turned it in the light, double-checking the proportions and shading. It looked more like a photo than an illustration. "Even Bengllor Online looks nowhere near this realistic, and that supposedly uses the newest VR technologies on the market."

"It is that real!" Alice replied brightly. "Of course, there's some problems that come with how real they're trying to make the game. Like, it's basically a life simulator. You can eat, drink, get drunk, have sex, do in-game drugs, and so on. Some players are already starting player-run brothels to compete with the NPC ones.

"They've had to get a crazy amount of licenses and shit from the government but somehow they've gotten everything they wanted. You have to be over eighteen to play the game, and registering account uses your government ID."