Yvvaros: The Digital Frontier by Alex Mulder Page B

began to glow. A short, concise message popped up in the bottom of his vision.
    KTSA INHERITS SARCHIA DESERT ZONE 006
    “Zone 006?” asked Tess. “That’s a terrible name for this place.”
    “Let’s just call it, KTSA headquarters,” said Silverstrike. He scratched his head and raised one of his eyebrows at Luke.
    “Dunidan’s Rest,” Arex spoke up, and Luke realized that he’d almost forgotten what the man’s voice sounded like.
    “Dunidan’s Rest,” Luke repeated. “I like that. All in favor?”
    Luke, Arex, Tess, and after a moment, Silverstrike, all raised their hands.
    “Then it’s settled,” said Luke. “Let’s come back out here tomorrow to start thinking about how we’re going build this place up.”
    They all agreed to meet the next morning. After a time was set, Arex looked at Luke and nodded slowly, and then without saying a word turned toward the desert and left.
    “Where is he going?” asked Silverstrike. Luke shrugged his shoulders.
    “Beats me,” he said. “But I know exactly where we should be going.”
    Half an hour later, Luke, Tess, and Silverstrike were sitting at a table in the Stark Town Inn with food and drinks in front of them. Luke felt satisfied, as though the hard work and close calls of the battle had been for a purpose in the end.
    “What did you get as your quest reward?” Luke asked, turning his attention to Tess. She smiled, and pulled a metal tiara out of her bag and put it on her head.
    “This.” She blushed slightly. “It amplifies my healing magic. I figure it will come in handy on our next adventure.”
    Our next adventure… Why does it make me feel so excited to hear her say that?
    Silverstrike was distracted, busy downing ale and testing the limits of how the alcohol in Yvvaros affected players. Luke felt his heart begin to beat faster as Tess reached her hand over and set it on top of his on the table.
    “I really want to thank you for helping me out today. It’s not something I could have done on my own, and I know it’s a little silly to say this, but it meant a lot to me.”
    Luke nodded and smiled back at her.
    “It’s not a problem,” he said. “We made a tidy profit ourselves, and now that we’ve claimed a zone for the guild, we can actually start playing this game the way it was meant to be played.”
    “We can do more than just that!” Silverstrike sounded belligerently drunk. Luke wasn’t sure if it was an act, or if the game designers had coded inebriation into the game. He set his mug of ale down too hard and virtual liquid sloshed on the bar, some flying toward Luke making the hem of his shirt look wet.
    “We control the oasis in that zone! There isn’t any water deeper in the desert, or in the zones around it! We might as well have a gold mine, or a raid dungeon, or, or…”
    “Easy, man,” said Luke. “Do you want to go outside for a bit?”
    “I'm all right,” mumbled Silverstrike.
    “I’d… like to go for a walk, if you wanted to join me?” Tess set her hand on Luke’s shoulder as she spoke. He nodded and felt his heart begin to rattle within his chest.
    “We’ll be back in a little bit, buddy,” said Luke. Silverstrike had his head down on the table but lifted a thumb up in acknowledgment.
    The sun was slowly setting over the horizon outside. One of Yvvaros’ two moons were rising in the distance. It was the larger of the two, enormous and a bright azure blue.The floating city of Kantor had drifted off to the side a bit, but still reflected some of the sun’s light like a giant, white disc in the sky. Luke looked up for a moment and then glanced over at Tess, who was smiling at him.
    “I want to show you something,” she said. “It’s a spot I found by luck while I was playing yesterday, right after I first made my character.”
    She began to skip forward and Luke had to walk at double speed to keep up with her. There were fewer people in-game now. He wondered what time it was in the outside world as he