He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter One Hundred and Nine - Apocolypse Convention

"Yeah," Owen replied. "That would be me." He finally leaned back in his chair, looking relaxed, even though he did not feel it.

They introduced themselves as Sore Boy Scout, Doctor Nobody and most surprising of all, Giant Pain in the $$$! The round boy, Carlos was one of his own online friends. He immediately offered his hand when he realised his.

"One cappuccino," Alexandria said as she placed the beverage.

"Female!" Doctor Nobody or Thomas blurted out. Owen snickered behind his hand as Alexandria looked at them with raised eyebrows.

Henry coughed. "This is Alexandria. Owen and I go to school with her."

"Are you a player too?" Thomas asked, the short boy blushing.

"No," Alexandria said, bluntly.

"Don't mind her," Owen waved his hand in dismissal. "Alex is not really into games is all."

"Oh, by the way," Henry said, dropping a lanyard and attached card onto the table. "You forgot this!" It was the V.I.P I.D for Requiem Knife. Ah he really wasn't going to escape so easily. And worse.. those girls noticed.

"Omigod!" The first girl exclaimed. "Are you really Requiem Knife?!"

"Your avatar is so cool!" The second girl added.

"Ladies, ladies," a passing brunette, who was a couple of years older than they were sighed. She had bright green eyes and wore figure hugging clothes, but they were very stylish making the fan girls feel underdressed. "Switching affiliations so easily. Were you not just making googly eyes at Black Zeus just now?"

Owen recognised her voice and grinned, which became more pronounced as the fan girls swiftly fled. "Hey, wife!" He joked.

"Hubby," the woman laughed in response. The boys and Alexandria stared wide eyed.

"Suffer the Wrath?" Henry asked.

"Woh!" Came a loud whisper from the nearby crowd. "It's Requiem Knife's wife!"

"Wife?" Alexandria clearly had concern over this claim.

"Oh, don't worry about that," the woman reassured her. "There's really no such thing in the game. It's something that started out as a joke and just got out of hand a little. I'm Harmony, by the way. Harmony Williams."

*****

A small gathering had been occurring at the entrance of the venue, all around two men, one who had just been revealed as Black Zeus and the other as Seven Chances. As the faction was very large in game, with more than a thousand members and growing, there were a lot of people wanting to meet their leader. And there were numerous fan girls as well, those who wanted to match a face to their voice that made their knees weak. They were not disappointed.

"Come on guys," Jordan called out in a loud voice that penetrated the noise. "Give the man room to breathe!"

There were a mix of apologies and grumbles. Adam just laughed amicably, causing many girls to feel like this trip was more than worth it!

"Ah, these tickets... you are Requiem Knife?" A voice came from nearby. It was one of the ticket checkers, who were slowly admitting people.

"No, he already went inside," came the reply from a flustered boy.

"We missed him? Can you pass him this? He will need it to enter the competition later. Tell him we will be looking forward to meeting him!"

"Okay!" The small group of boys entered.

Jordan also happened to overhear the exchange as did some of their members from the whispers nearby. "Seems like the old foe has also made it," he pointed out.

"Good," Adam claimed. "Scores can be settled. Let's remove Thirteen Levels from the PK number one spot!"

*****

"Ah, I heard Last Fortress talking smack about us again!" Complained David aka Fortune Favours the Foolish, who just happened to find his Faction Leader and a few comrades gathering in the cafe area. Owen felt a little overwhelmed at first, who knew so many of his Faction members had been looking forward to meeting him in real life. Almost made him feel guilty for not actually wanting to come here... almost.

"They've always had problems with us," Harmony mentioned, "even when One Fine Day was our leader."

"We can not help being the best," Trouble and Strife or Janey said, her arms crossed about her chest. She was one of the few cosplaying, dressed up in something similar to what her avatar wore; a camouflage patterned mini skirt, black turtleneck with a tan jacket covered in buckles. She'd tied her hair in cute bunches and wore a cap upon her head.

"I say we confront them!" David stated. Owen yawned, ugh, he really got up way too early for a Saturday morning.

"You confront," he offered, "I'm going to take a nap."

"No come on!" David whinged, pulling Owen up by his arm. "You got to do it too!"

"Yeah, come on Leader!" Janey said, grabbing his other arm.

"Can't I just leave this to the wife?" This was a phrase he used frequently in game, when he didn't want to do something faction related. There were numerous giggles around him. Harmony just shook her head.

"Will he be alright?" Alexandria said, worriedly as the crowd began to drag Owen towards Last Surviving Fortress.

"Probably," Harmony shrugged as she began to follow, then gave Alexandria a slight smile. "Relax, it's all in good fun. Consider it an extension of the game."

"I guess," the girl said, not really appeased but began chasing after them.

But before she could catch up to Owen, the boy had suddenly turned on his heel and rushed past her with a haunted look upon his face. What on Earth just happened?