The venue was large and mostly open plan. It often catered to events like job fairs for nearby colleges and universities, but it had also been rented out for fashion shows, art displays and even a wedding or two. It was bright and white inside with large metal columns rising upward to hold a mixed angle roof made of steel girders and glass. Not that anyone was gazing at its architecture at that point.
The convention had been neatly organised into sections; movies, books, games and other. Most of the 'other' portion had been taken up by the square stage and large screen ready for Our Final Hour's grand competition between Factions. The remaining part of this area had become a seating area with coffee, cake and hot sandwiches available at above average prices.
The crowds were already thick around the various stalls and for every five in civilian clothes, there was one in costume. It was probably unnecessary to say that the majority of those were in varying zombie costumes. A few were in camouflage style clothes with fake weapons made out of polystyrene and odd ones could be seen wearing similar costumes to those in a recent post apocalyptic movie.
After the five of them had arrived at the venue, they had split up, with Jack and girlfriend Lily heading straight for the Zombie Fest; the place where most of the zombified masses lurked. Owen was all for avoiding this area completely and Alexandria stayed with him as she was completely out of her element to begin with. Henry chose to linger at the entrance of the venue, waiting for his friends, all of which happened to be in Thirteen Levels of Purgatory. This amused Owen, but not enough to linger with him. In fact, now he was here, he was all for leaving!
Owen and Alexandria went to the quietest area, the cafe, for it was too early in the day for lunch and people were too busy enjoying the displays and stalls to hang out in this very plain place. Owen slumped over the table. "I'll get you a coffee," Alexandria said, thinking that the boy was just tired. He just grunted in acknowledgement. He wasn't really tired, he just felt out of place.
Was that strange? He wondered. When he was hanging out with friends in the game, it was fun. He could relax, mess around, there was no need for image, there was no need to be perfect. He didn't feel alone in a house that was way too big for one person. When he was at school, he maintained a facade, an amicable smile that offered no promises and did not provoke. Here... he had come to realise that he did not like crowds; the noise, the smells, the heat of too many bodies.. and then there was the other issues...
"Omigod! Did you see?" A girl squealed.
"I know right, his face is as dreamy as his voice!" A second girl replied.
"What are you talking about?" Asked another girlfriend.
"Black Zeus, the faction leader of Last Surviving Fortress just arrived!" Ugh, what a headache!
"Huh? Are you talking about that game again?" The third girl sighed. "And besides, how do you know it is him?"
"Well, he just picked up his V.I.P pass from the organisers," the first girl said. "So he can play in the competition later."
Ugh... even bigger headache. Owen had avoided the organisers, had managed to get past them by handing over his ticket to someone distracted, who let him through without checking who he was. Why did he attend this event again? Oh yes, because there was something worse than a headache waiting for him back home and he was delaying the confrontation.
"There you are!" Henry called out loudly. He was with three friends, all about their age. Owen glanced up, but didn't make any other effort to move.
"Are you really our Faction Leader?" One of the boys, a very round youth with black framed glasses asked. He was wearing an Our Final Hour slogan Tshirt over designer jeans. In fact all of the boys seemed to be wearing clothing that would not look out of place amongst the kids in his school.
"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?