The Lost Vampire System Chapter 50 - Join or Die
"You want to be free?" Apollo questioned. "Of what?"
Arden collapsed to the floor as tears started to run down her face.
"I was only a child," she whimpered. "I created NYXIS with minimum help from my dad and released it. That's when the faction leaders came for me. They forced me to sign contracts, giving up most of my rights, and now I'm mostly at their beck and call. Yes, I take a percentage of real money and in-game currency, so I'm rich. I was nine, so this was awesome until they threatened our family. I…I…I'm scared…of what they will do if I say no or fail."
She fully collapsed on the ground, curling up like a baby.
"Again," Apollo said sternly. "Why are you after my avatar?"
She wiped her tears away before speaking.
"After my dad died of natural causes, their demands got more and more aggressive until…until I needed to find a way out. First that was CopyLord, but he just wouldn't listen, saying that I was a stain on the system. I kept trying, but I didn't want to lose my chance, so I let him be and tried to steer him toward the in-game faction. Then Madison, but her power wasn't that strong until I saw you with her entering her vault."
She briefly looked up at Apollo, who was still staring down at her.
"After scanning your NYXIS body after you fought me, I discovered that there is something off about you, why your evolved power didn't match the number on the screen. You're at least a power of 2, and your healing is impeccable. When I bought the artifact from demonicMadison1, I considered using it on her or CopyLord, but you were my best candidate, so I did."
She looked up at Jareth, and his eyes were no longer glowing. Apollo had decided that she truly meant no harm to Jareth, so he chose to go back to just watching. His time taking over Jareth was almost over as well, so he didn't really have a choice. Now Jareth was just listening to her as she let her emotions out.
"I couldn't express how excited I was after I left the game and found out, or at least suspected, that you were my age. I decided that since you were new, you would want to participate in something big, so I hosted my own artifact battle royale. I placed a bounty for your whereabouts, and I came looking for you. That's when CopyLord arrived, and I ran."
She sat up from the floor, looking at Jareth with what he suspected were pleading eyes.
"Sorry for placing the collar around your neck," she apologized as she officially stopped crying. "You've probably gotten some crazy reactions like that."
"I think everyone else took it well," Jareth replied as he scratched his head.
Arden frowned as she looked at him. "Your voice is back to normal. Was I imagining that you were a god."
"No," Jareth answered. "Apollo liked your answer, and I hope that the fact I have a god in my head can stay between you and me."
Arden quickly nodded as she stood up.
"I do want to apologize again for… well, everything. Can we please start again?"
She took a step closer to Jareth and held out her hand as what looked like a genuine smile appeared on her face.
"Hello, my name is Arden, creator of NYXIS. You may or most likely not know me as CyberGirl. I am a level 10 technopathy. I'm sorry that my social skills are looked down upon."
Jareth looked at her hand with doubt before he decided to grasp it. The first thing he thought was that her hands were soft, like she never did anything that would rough them up. Trying to have her as an ally would be significantly better than having her as an enemy.
"Hello Arden," Jareth smiled like they were roleplaying meeting. "My name is Jareth Nightshade. I am the avatar to the god Apollo."
Apollo snickered at this as Jareth continued.
"I am known in your game as CrimsonDawn. I am almost a vampire, and my evolved power is Jack of all Trades."
"You're not supposed to tell her that, you idiot!" Apollo said as he tried to shake his head but couldn't.
Arden hesitated before she let go of his hand.
"Jack of all Trades?" she asked.
"You didn't hear that," Jareth said. "We're just meeting."
"Right," she replied. "May I ask, did you get some sort of implant in your head?"
"No," he replied.
"When I shook your hand, I felt something in your head."
"She can probably sense the system," Apollo said. "Just tell her that what she is feeling is me."
"You're feeling Apollo," Jareth casually said, hoping that she would buy it, but unfortunately, she didn't as she shook her head.
"My senses didn't feel it," she stated as she very slowly reached out. "My technopath power did."
Jareth took a step back. Arden's eyes squinted as she looked at Jareth.
"I am a technopath," she stated. "Whatever is out there, if it's in the world, I already know about it."
"Yeah," Jareth said as he rubbed his head. "Even if there was something in my head, I am sure not going to let a technopath go through it."
"Let her," Apollo stated.
What?" Jareth thought to the god. I thought we were trying to hide it from her?
"She's a very curious technopath," he spoke. "Lead her on. Let her in enough to get curious and then stop. I highly doubt she's ever seen a system before. Besides, this system took centuries to make, and I doubt the creator didn't let a technopath from that time period make tweaks."
Jareth had a confused expression on his face, which made Arden pause her movement.
"Can you…talk to him?" she asked.
Jareth looked up at her, then looked at the floor again as he was still pondering. Arden was about to give up when Jareth finally responded.
"You have ten seconds," Jareth said.
She smiled as she quickly moved her hands to his head before he changed his mind. She slowly started to rub his temple as her eyes glowed.
"Warning, warning," the Draven system activated. "The Draven System detects that a powerful technopath is trying to mess with the system. Defenses online. If the technopath is your friend, would you like to partially lower your defenses to let them look around? Yes/No."
"What is this?" Arden muttered as she was looking into Jareth's eyes, but her eyes didn't look alive. "I've never seen this before."
Her right hand grabbed the back of his head like she was afraid that Jareth was going to back away.
"It's fighting me," she said as her eyes squinted like she was struggling. "This is more advanced than what I created for NYXIS."
Her eyes glowed brighter as she pressed on.
"Jareth," Apollo said. "That's enough for now."
Jareth agreed as he was about to force Arden off of him when the system chimed in.
"The system has deemed that the technopath knows too much," the system said. "Initializing emergency protocol. Join or die."
"Join or die?" Jareth muttered out loud. "What does that mean?"
"It's doing something," Arden said. "I'm done."
As she was about to let go of Jareth, one final message activated.
"Attempting Inner Circle loyalty," it said.
Arden was starting to let go when Jareth's head felt a single pang.
"Ow!" Arden yelled as she was sent back, crashing into the wall, as Jareth fell on the floor.
Arden clutched her head as something was invading her mind.
"Attempting inner circle loyalty commencing," the Draven System said. "Protocol and the user's wish to stay hidden have determined that the technopath must join or be dealt with. If the new member refuses the inner circle benefit, the user must decide what to do."
"Agh!" Arden cried as she clutched her head, her eyes turning green as she attempted to fight it. "It hurts."
*****
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