Warning: This chapter is rated R18 for violence.
***
Apophis and Antanria left the hospital.
Deciding that it would be a good opportunity for them to get to know each other better, Apophis led her on a walk for a good hour. Eventually, they came across a first group of players, two sentinels belonging to "Gold is good."
The sentinels approached Apophis and Antanria, noticing that they looked like father and daughter. After all, Apophis was a Zetark-Human hybrid now.
They at first thought the pair were NPCs, but when one consulted Apophis's information, he was surprised.
The lower-level player recognized Apophis by name—after all, he'd become one of "Horus's" first celebrities—and eagerly asked him for techniques to progress faster.
The exchange ended well, and the sentinels even parted with the words, "Enjoy our city, and have a nice day!"
Antanria was surprised. "Tell me, why did they show you such respect?"
"They're the same kind of people as me," said Apophis. "The Tyotting call us the 'Eternals' because every time we die, we come back to life." Of course, this was a massive simplification.
Apophis and Antanria then visited the biggest shopping mall in Omeya. Most of the stores were closed because of the total collapse of the planet's economy, but he finally found a clothing store that was still open.
Antanria wanted to visit it, since all she had was the suit she had worn in the stasis pod, so Apophis accompanied her Unsurprisingly, the store was empty of customers, and the manager was almost surprised to see anyone at all.
Since the prices were currently at rock-bottom because of the current political crisis, Apophis took the opportunity to buy several dresses for Antanria. This seemed to make her rather happy.
On the way out of the mall, they passed a still-functioning ice cream shop. Antanria, surprised, asked what it was.
"It's a wonderful, sweet dessert!" Apophis replied.
The Zetark princess looked at him with a deep expression and beautiful purple eyes. She was still a little girl, after all, with simple desires. At that moment, she looked like any human child, except for her great beauty and Zetark-white hair.
Apophis quickly realized the best thing to do was to buy two ice creams, which they ate in a nearby park. Despite himself, Apophis enjoyed this moment with the girl he had saved.
They continued to walk around the city for several hours, observing the scenery, until they came upon a strange gathering.
There were about a hundred people—mostly NPCs, it seemed—around a raised stage. In the center stood three players and one Tyotting, who had been forced to his knees.
One player on the stage spoke up. "Well, you Tyotting, it is truly too bad that you misunderstood your obligations. You'll have to pay up right now for the protection that our guild grants you."
He turned to the crowd. "Dear resident of Omeya! This kneeling person is four days late in paying his protection tax! The glorious guild leaders have had no choice but to sentence him to death!"
Antanria stared intently at this display. After all, as a princess, her ordinary life was very far from that of the common people.
The spokesman on the stage pulled a gun from his pocket and ordered Tyotting to open his mouth.
Apophis was surprised and raised his hand to hide the sight from Antanria.
The player shoved his revolver into the Tyotting's mouth and squeezed the trigger.
It fired.
A deafening silence of several seconds fell after the shot.
It was only broken when the executioner shouted with joy, "Fuck yeah! I hit lvl 5!"
The players on the scene congratulated their friend for his level up.,
The Tyotting NPCs, of course, could not believe what they'd just seen.
It was a vision of horror, a display of horrific violence made infinitely worse by the explosion of joy from the executioner, whose clothing was still soiled by their countryman's brains.
Despite his callousness and ambition, which didn't allow him much room for sympathy for NPCs, Apophis was disgusted.
The 21st century was a terrible century as humanity was forced to take refuge in huge domed metropolises. Life under these domes was accentuated by great inequality and violence.
The mental health of the average human declined significantly, and mental health professionals made it known that both psychopathy and sociopathy had become far more common in the generations who grew up in this new environment.
In fact, Apophis knew that some players only played Horus because of its incredibly realistic violence.
After seeing this scene of horror, Apophis accompanied Antanria to a hotel and rented the very best suite available.
It was time to rest. The day had been long for both of them, and Apophis had played for almost forty-eight hours without pause.
He put Antanria to bed, then disconnected.
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