Chapter 30: The Lucky Shut In

His eyelids lifted, exposing his drowsy eye to the waking morning light that sipped into his tent through it's many holes and punctures. He rose from the sleeping bag, body ache a soft reminder that he'd basically slept on the floor but he ignored it as he stretched out his wary limbs with a satisfied groan. He raised the fabric and stepped out of the tent into the open space of the hollowed mountain, he looked up at the opening far up at the top and could see the tinted sky, Clouds passed with ease gently blocking the soft rays and casting soft shadows over them, he took in the air and a gentle smile curved his dry lips. He straightened and looked around the settlement, he'd not been able to properly observe his surroundings yesterday due to his unrelenting exhaustion but after two days of unbothered rest he was well enough, there was no longer the strain of fatigue or worrying if he'd be attacked if he did as much as let go of his control for a mere seconds. People wandered about through the path way that led to the biggest of all the tents, Jakob's probably he thought as he turned and continued his inspection. Tents where arranged in clusters of six that surrounded the space of a fire set up that would be able to accommodate everyone who belonged to the cluster, He could count 23 clusters spread through out the space with larger scattered throughout that were probably used as shops and stores. He closed his eyes and focused the dormant Arkana that surrounded them, it was sparse and gentle, a calm controlled flow that didn't feel natural then he felt the presence of others, One, two, three, six, ten, Nineteen, his eyes shot open…nineteen players, For a month he'd wandered around without coming across a single player and somehow Jakob had been able to gather together nineteen of them. they all stayed at individual makeshift post that clung to the walls surrounding the settlement at various heights like guards, Rylan noted that all of them had wary eyes fixed on him and now that he his mind was no longer numb from exhaustion, he was able to feel the Arkana within them, they were all top class players, a little below Maerik but Maerik could never be used as a bench mark for strength as even he wasn't even close to an average player. He could see why even the homicidal Vrey would think twice about starting a fight here, He couldn't see Vrey losing a fight against this lot but he would leave with regrets that would make the win worthless.

“Good morning.” A soft female voice said from behind him and every alarm in his body went off, he skipped a few steps back and reached for his knife at its hilt, the players on the wall shifted but she stopped them with the slight movement of her palm, A leader? Unimportant he deemed the answer as He stared at the figure before him, soft blonde hair, big grey eyes and soft pink lips. He hadn't sensed her, he'd been so focused on the players that he hadn't felt her physical presence till she spoke, “I'll need to work on that.” He made a mental note as he relaxed and straightened his body, offering an apologetic smile, one she didn’t seem to care about, she didn't seem phased by his suden actions, Infact….She looked a little disappointed.

“Good morning.” Rylan finally greeted back after the pause had stretched too uncomfortably to be ignored but again, she didn't seem bothered.

“The boss wishes to see you.” She said softly.

“Ohk.” He took a step forward but stopped, something felt off. “Where is Peter?” It came out more hostile than he'd wanted it to.

She turned slightly to face him, the look on her face still unbothered but now held a hint of annoyance that was unmistakably directed at him. “He is with the boss. Now let us go, he is waiting.” she responded flatly, completely tired of this interaction.

“Ohk.” He said, unease welling inside him, the formality in which she used to speak was mastered, it didn't feel rehearsed or forced, more like something she had used in her daily life even before the merge. He kept his thoughts to himself as he followed closely behind her, Passing by families with bothered smiles etched across their faces, trying to be happy and content despite living inside a hollow mountain, It was a sad sight really, they had to force a smile on their faces because if they thought of the world outside this cave they may as quickly burst into tears, an assumption on his part that they weren't happy but he doubted that anyone can be truly happy when their whole world had just been quite literally turned upside down a mere month ago.

“You're curious?” She uttered quietly, like she didn’t want him to hear, he heard but remained silent.

She answered for him. “You are.” Not even bothering to look at him.

“I am.” He confirmed as they got closer and closer to the tent.

“The boss is a great man. He isn't like you.”

“In what way?” Rylan asked, knowing full well that the answer was going to be an unwarranted dig at his expense.

“In the way that he didn't need chaos to be A GREAT MAN.” She said, emphasizing the last few words as a reminder to Rylan that he was nothing more than a shut in who happened to play the right game.

“I—” Before he could speak they got to the tent and she stopped him.

“The boss is waiting inside.” she said curtly and walked away without another word. Rylan wanted to reach out, pull her back and say something but no words could leave his mouth because—She was right, He was simply a shut in who luckily bought the right game.