Orc Wars 2 : Lazarus

Chapter 28 - Despair

A whole week passed by. There were no answering texts or calls from Rose. Jace became more and more depressed. So he tried ingame.

He searched for her, got her coordinates and checked her status.

Althea, Healer Level 16

Lazarus sent her some resources for building. She had no choice but to accept them. She did not have the same capacity to send them back. Her few carts with lower capacity would have to take numerous time consuming trips if she were to do that. So she had allowed his long line of fully laden carts into her village. It wasn't her problem if he wanted to send precious Resources to her. His loss, she thought vehemently. What a fool! Did he really think he could win her back that way? It was shameless daylight bribery!

He remembered how badly they needed resources at that building stage to ensure a steady growth. All the buildings and mines needed to be levelled up. Training soldiers too needed huge amounts of Resources. So he had sent her 1,000,000 of each basic resource, food, ore, stone, wood and silver. At his level, his City was producing at an amazing rate.

Then he had tried going to her place. Her small growing village was still vulnerable. She could not afford a Shield yet. But he got no further than the main gates. Her guards denied him entry; politely at first, then with force. It was the Lady's implicit orders. Lord Lazarus was not to be allowed in at all costs.

Although he could have easily forced his way in with some of his army and demanded an audience with their Lady, it was not what he wanted. So he had left after sending her a message.

Please, talk to me. Just give me a chance to explain. It can't end like this. Please.

No response.

He had waited patiently in front of her village for several days. Every time he logged on, he would loiter at the Healer's village. He ignored her NPC's peeking at him from the main gates and windows. Her guards had doubled, then tripled and were extra vigilant, they knew full well if this ghost lord retaliated, they would be dead in a second. He was powerful but so far he kept to the social rules.

The week dragged on. Time seemed to crawl. He tried again and again.

In the end, he had taken one last look and turned dejectedly away. He was aware of her gaze on him. He had detected her hiding behind a building near the entrance. Well, that was that.

Please, I'm asking you for the very last time. I will not bother you again, if I don't hear from you soon.

The response was not what he wanted. She blocked him, sending a clear message without actually answering him.

Jace was devastated.

After that, he passed the time in Virtual keeping himself busy. He levelled up steadily, playing like a madman, spending almost all his waking hours ingame. He concentrated on running dungeons and upgrading his city. He Researched his Hero's tree, City's Enhancement tree and Army's tree. Now he could train more types of soldiers, both for offense and defense.

Sometimes he played alone, sometimes with Valentine. The Thief wanted to level up too. Valentine's promised team disappeared when he revealed Althea was in it. Lazarus just shrugged, his face going blank at the mention of her name. He talked less and less.

Ash was worried. In class, Jace became almost invisible. Spacing out, holding his hand phone at the back of the class, only coming to life briefly when addressed directly. He skipped meals and sometimes wore the same clothes consecutively for several days. He lost weight and rarely smiled anymore.