Cardinal

Chapter 5 "Could you read this?"

"Hey Mallie?" Harrison said as we prepared to walk back inside, still holding onto the Coke slushies we were drinking.

"Yeah?" I asked, feeling the cool air of the afternoon. His eyes had lost their red tint from earlier, and it seemed as though the depressing aura around him had slightly disappeared.

"Can I have your number? If it's okay with you, I'd like to talk outside of work." HE ASKED FOR MY NUMBER!!!! I felt my face becoming flushed again as I was freaking out. Such a question had hardly ever been asked to me before, mostly perverted guys wanted my number for their own strange reasons, but it was different with Harrison because I wanted to talk to him. I didn't even know how to respond, I mean, what do I do and say?

"Oh, yeah sure," I stated, trying to act cool in this situation. I pulled out my phone and he proceeded to write my number into a conversation starter.

"Done," he said, and a few seconds later I felt my phone vibrate. I looked down to see that Harrison had sent me, "That chicken butt joke from earlier was kind of funny," and placed a laughing emoticon. I smiled slightly before thanking him. "What's your email?"

"My email?" I asked, and he nodded his head.

"I want to send you a pdf of my story so that you could read and critique it. It's only if you want to though," he explained.

"Oh, okay, I'll text it to you then." From there, I typed down before sending it to him.

"Thanks, I'll send it to you later tonight," he stated with a smile. I smiled back at him before we started walking back inside. From there, we proceeded with our shift...

***

I lied alone in my bed, thinking about work and my life. "She never realized how much I loved her. I always wanted to help her through anything, and I wanted to do everything I could to make her feel a semblance of joy." His words ran through my head, words of his pain and suffering that no one else seemed to know about. Suddenly, I noticed the ceiling to my room light up slightly, giving it a light blue tint.

I looked over to see that my phone had a new notification. I double clicked on it, revealing a dark red heart with a black line running through it. Surrounding it was a black background, and in the middle was the symbol of a small envelope. I clicked on it, revealing that it was a pdf with the title "One Above All, Chap 1" from Harrison. I unlocked my screen, revealing the message he sent.

"Thanks for being there for me today, it means a lot. Tell me if you have any thoughts or critiques on this." I smiled at the message before downloading the pdf. It took a second, but once it was completed, I opened the document and began reading it...

Chapter 1

I slowly zipped up the Void Power Suit, a motion sensory suit that you wore in order to play the game Warlord Strategies. The company, Empire Productions, created Warlord Strategies due to a revelation. They found that people became addicted to games that revolved around power and control, and that people would do anything to reach such power. Empire was able to take that addiction and make it worth millions by making it to where you could do almost anything in Warlord Strategies. If you wanted to, you could be a farmer or a merchant and sell your goods to others.

If you were in deeper search of an adrenaline rush, you could enlist in your clan's army and fight for your Warlord. The more your body adapts to this life, the more your suit will pick up the muscle memory and record it into a stat base. This stat base can raise or lower based on how much time and energy you spend on the game. Depending on how strong you are, you may move up the ranks to first an Admiral, then Commander, and finally becoming a General. However, there is one title that many people want but are too nervous to obtain. That title is Warlord.

The leader of your own clan! The reason, however, people are nervous to obtain that title is because if you were to die as a Warlord, you lose everything you worked for. Money, fame, power, gone at the snap of a finger. If you are a merchant or soldier, when you die, you will be respawned the next day with a decrease in your stats and a loss of your rarer items. Being a Warlord brings special perks, as you can control your clans' actions and decide who is an ally and an enemy.

I, Kyle Bergama, am a Warlord of the clan Derthen. Alongside me are the generals Rebecca and Tyler, my two closest online friends. I don't know either of them in real life, but over the months we have grown close as companions. Tyler always wore a yukata, keeping his clean katana by his side. Alongside this, he had dark blue hair that spiked up a little, giving him the anime esc look that, in all honesty, he was going for.

I, however, found the knights of medieval Europe to be more intriguing, and so my character reflects that. I wore basic chain mail armor alongside some standard armor plating around my body. I had an arming sword sheathed to my side, prepared for any sort of conflict that would come my way. My avatar reflected that of a heroic knight, long blonde hair with a charming face. I was your standard Medieval knight.

Rebecca, much like Tyler, found similar interests to oriental history. She wore a black ninja outfit with purple cloth wrapped around her wrists and ankles. It appeared she had unlimited Kunai and Shuriken's, but if she ever needed to, she would occasionally use a Ninjato. For all of us to fight as one unit, we have had multiple fights and countless hours of practice. Usually, I would be the one that was in the front, providing direct attacks to people.

Rebecca would offer support by throwing shuriken or kunai at the enemy, causing them to take damage without the ability to block because I was preventing the action. If at any point I get knocked back or put into a position in which I'll take damage without the ability to block, Tyler was there to help. He acted as a defensive blocker, with his innate skill with the katana as well as his speed. As I picked up the Void headset, I saw the loading screen for Warlord strategies lighten up on the visors. Before I could put it on, however, I heard the buzzing of my phone.

I turned my head, noticing the name Alby written across it with the green and red symbols below it. I walked a few feet towards my phone before answering it, raising the phone to my ear.

"Hey Al-"

"Kyle, Hurry quick to Toko! My clan is under attack!" he yelled frantically, in which I could hear the clashing of swords from my end.

"What?! Okay, I'm on my way!" I stated loudly, before hanging up and putting the headset on. From there, I proceeded to log into the game. It was like a dream, all the warping colors and images surrounding your eyes. As if jumping into hyperspace, all the colorful spheres stretched out into long lines before you were thrown into the world...

***

I suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion as I glanced at the words. My eye lids were like heavy bricks, trying to close. With a few simple gestures, I closed my phone and placed it on my nightstand before gently falling asleep. In my dreams, however, I knew that I would be dreaming of the world Harrison had written.