I stare up at the sky as the train begins to start moving behind me. The clouds are scattered around in curvy, wispy lines. Back in the real world staring up at the clouds was one of my favorite pastimes, but now it seems like a stupid idea.
I let out a long, shaky breath as I look around at the village ahead of me. The thatch roofed cottages that're painted in bright colors make this place seem almost welcoming, even though I'm probably about to get into a fight. If Will has heard anything about what happened between Ed and I, he'd slaughter me.
I begin walking towards the center of town with a bit less confidence now that I put hat thought in my head, and look around at the place. Every player in the village seems to be a lot more cheerful than when I was last here. Back then, most people where either panicking, too focused on survival to relax, or were grieving their losses. Now it seems like everybody has a friend or two, and are eagerly chatting away with them, laughing and chatting along. It reminds me of how life was before this game. Ed and I were inseparable back then. If there was something to do, we'd be doing it together. I can't help but wish those days could've lasted, but I messed it up for both of us when I let Matt die.
I ball my left hand up in a fist and try to focus on something besides the past. Eventually I see the bar we first went in to after everybody found out that we were trapped in this world. If Ed feels the same way I do about our fight this morning, that's where he'll be.
I take a second for my eyes to adjust to the lighting before I look around the bar. The first thing I notice is the huge difference in player attitude around the place. The area is filled with a bunch of people who're either dealing with an addiction, or trying to get over something that's depressed them. Almost everybody is hanging their head, staring at whatever table they're sitting on, or just trying to keep tears from streaming down their face as they try to force the image of lost loved ones out of their head.
The dim lighting and overpowering stench of alcohol almost makes me cough (I never was a fan of the stuff) as I start to look around at the name tags, until I find the person I'm looking for.
"I'm such a waste of space," I stand on the other side of the table that Ed's sitting at, and listen as he mumbles to himself. "How could I even hope to bring back my oldest friend if I'm too stupid to let him state his own thoughts. I'm not even worth his apology." He lifts his head and stares at his mug, not noticing me at all.
"Well," I say as I sit down across from him, "that's where you're wrong." He looks up at me in surprise, and almost sputters as he tries to make himself look presentable. I lift my hand and signal him to stop, which he does, and let out a small sigh. "I think we should apologize to each other. I didn't realize how much telling you I wanted to stay would hurt you. But the truth is, Neverland was actually a really nice guild. They helped me forget about how I let Matt d-"
"-you didn't let Matt die. Jake told me that he had accepted his death since the dragon fight. He just saw that everybody else was paralyzed, besides you, and decided to go out in what seemed like a blaze of glory, when it was really an assisted suicide."
This time I'm the one looking at him in shock. This whole time, I've been thinking that Matt's death was my fault, when Matt was just going in with the plan to kill himself. I rest my head on my hand and let out a long sigh, both relief and a new sense of grief filling my soul.
"I still want to apologize for my unacceptable behavior in Appleloosa. I shouldn't have acted like such an asshole."
"No. You just told me that the members of Neverland treated you nicely. I was the one who lashed out at you. If it weren't for my stupidity, you'd still be with us, as a member of the Celestial Crusaders."
"If it weren't for your stupidity," I give him a small smile as I attempt to lighten the mood. "we wouldn't have become as close as we are." He gives a small chuckle as he recalls that day.
"Yeah, that Kool-Aid incident was probably the best time in home-ec. I've had." I let out a small laugh as well, remembering the practically sugar powder that was supposed to be our Kool-Aid pitcher after we just poured the majority of the bag of sugar in the pitcher to see what would happen.
"That was such a dumb idea." I look up at the ceiling, reminiscing on our times together. "Though I don't think any memory will beat the time when you took me to senior prom just to make me happy. You really made my year that night." Ed looks up at me with a large smile on his face and tears in his eyes, threatening to go down his face.
"Well, cheering me up at a time like this just returned the favor. Thank you." He reaches across the table to give me a hug. I pat his back as he begins sniffling over my shoulder, going entirely into a catharsis as he buries his face in my shoulder. I let out some tears too, but not nearly to the same amount as Ed, since most of my tears were shed the night he evicted me from the group.
Before we're able to let everything out, a small notification appears in front of Ed, and he tries to wipe away his tears as he opens up his menu and reads a message. His eyes go wide with fear, and he hurriedly gets up to go and run to wherever it is he needs to go.
"I gotta get back to Jake and all them." he starts to run out the door shouting back at me. "Let's finish this chat when I'm done."
I just sit there with a puzzled look, wondering what could be so urgent that it'd turn Ed from a sappy, crying mess into a person completely focused on something in a matter of seconds. My question is almost immediately answered as a message notification pops up in front of everybody. I open mine and begin reading. As I do though, my eyes go wide with the same fear that Ed probably has right now.
As some of you (namely the Celestial Crusaders) know, a recent plague status effect has been spread by the changelings in Canterlot, our newest major dungeon. As these people also know, the plague effect puts people into realism mode until the status effect expires. There's nothing you can do to heal it without the cure.
Now it would be too simple to assume the cure is at the end of the major dungeon, that is the structure of a game after all. You would be both correct and incorrect in thinking this. The cure will, in fact, be at the end of the major dungeon, but there's a catch. The cure will only appear in two days. Failure to finish the major dungeon in that day will result in the death of anybody and everybody who has the plague status effect.
since it's only three hundred or so of you who're infected that may not be the biggest problem. At least, it wouldn't be if I hadn't decided to let some of the changeling swarms roam free in multiple areas. So, anybody who wants to go farming for loot, have fun with that risk.
-Despair, Don't shoot the messenger
P.S. The armored, more beefy changelings may or may not be able to attack people in safe zones. ;)
I quickly stumble out of the chair and run towards the train station, hoping to get to the old castle to make sure none of my friends are infected. Despair's cruel game has just taken an even bigger turn for the worst, and the only thought running through my head is whether or not I'll even be able to help, or if I'll just freeze up again when it really matters.