The Eternal Sleep

Teleportation is useful to not be Squished

    Luca activated the teleportation talisman attached to his wrist and teleported to the top of the building next to him, leaving Jay to accept the list of things to find from the Non-Player Character disguised as a child.

    The teleportation charm was a simple totem that he’d earned on one of his first quests as a sniper. It was easy to work with, the user just had to brace themselves as though they were going to jump and look at the space they wanted to appear, it was usually accompanied with a flash of blue and a sound of a wind chime knocking.

    He swiftly glimpsed the roof-top’s layout before giving Jay a thumbs up, he placed the gun in one hand and pulled up his screen again, accepting the permission for a two-way communication line, a map and the list that had appeared in his inventory.

    A small earpiece materialized in his ear; the list remained a floating screen to his left side for reference, the small map of the area floating to the right . “I’m ready, you remember anything on this list?”

    “Yea, but I’m certain they’re not in the same place as before.”

    “I forgot to ask, how much time to we have?”

    “Uhhh… a half hour.” Jay grinned at him in defiance to the curse Luca returned in response. “Less chatting, more searching, these things move every five minutes.”

    Luca nodded, running to the edge of the building, scope already by his eye, searching for any items on the list. He set his gun to flare, a special charm that came with his weapons, a single shot lit up an area on his map like a marking, anyone who he linked with his map could see it.

    “I have one!” He fired a shot, watching the area light up red on his map before teleporting to another building. He could hear Jay running to the marked area immediately, the item disappearing on the list as he retrieved it.

    He swept the area as quickly as he could with the scope, teleporting back and forth on buildings. “There’s another one here!” He fired two more shots, waiting for Jay to keep up.

    “I can’t reach fast enough; the first five minutes are almost up!” Jay panted; a player could feel breathless in the game, it was a natural reaction to running rather than a part of the coding for player’s avatars.    

    Luca teleported to a building next to where Jay was standing, searching for anything that could help him. “There’s a motorbike half a block that way.” He jumped back to the building above where he’d last seen it and fired a shot.

    “Thanks, Luc!”

    “I don’t plan on losing any coins today!” Luca shouted back with humor in his voice, already teleporting to a building a few blocks away. He watched items on the list disappear as Jay followed the marks on his map.

    “The best motivation.”

    Luca aimed for a small mug that was floating on a table outside a café. As he fired, it abruptly disappeared with a flash of blue light. “Don’t follow that one, it’s gone, the first five minutes are up!”

    “We have fifteen more things on the list.”

    “How much things does this kid need?” Luca rolled his eyes.

    “Stop complaining and look for the stuff, I’m gonna search for anything on the ground.” Jay’s bike rushed past him on the street below as he teleported to another building.

    “There’s a toy train on this side!” They moved from block to block, trying to find items on the list as fast as they could. Several times they argued good-naturedly at every five-minute interval when they lost the items that were marked out.

    The final five minutes were approaching, and there was one more item they were struggling to find. “Why would a kid need a locket anyway?” Luca asked as he rapidly teleporting from building to building, ignoring the scope for now as he searched for the item in a panic.

    “It’s one of the things I couldn’t find either last time!” Jay frantically searched through the streets.

    A thunderous howl echoed through the empty streets. Startled, Luca landed roughly on the roof of a building, rolling a few times before pulling himself to his feet. “Jay… what the holy heck… is that?”

    “I did say you don’t wanna see what they turn into when you’re running out of time.” Jay said woefully.

    “For real? I expected a child throwing a tantrum, not becoming a tantrum!” Luca screeched on the device in his ear. He teleported a couple buildings back as the beast smashed its hand through the building that he was standing on just moments before. It resembled an ogre-like giant, almost fifty metres tall, with green and grey spotted skin, claws on its hands and spikes on its head. Its golden eyes swept the streets like a flashlight.

    “Clever placing of words.” Jay calmly stated as he pulled to the side, watching at him on the building.

    “I’m guessing you didn’t defeat it?”

    “Nope, squished me like a bug.” Jay shrugged his shoulders, immediately shifting his focus as Luca appeared right next to him. “Got any ideas?”

    “Not yet, we have under five minutes.” Luca turned himself in a circle, trying to figure out where a kid could lose a locket, or at least find one. There was still a large portion of the city they hadn’t checked but they didn’t have the time now. “Where would you keep a locket?”

    “Usually, I’d say in a store or at home,” Jay revved the engine as he pulled out of the way of flying debris, Luca teleporting a block away, next to an empty bookstore. “But if it were important to me…”

    “I’d keep it as close as possible; I have an idea.” Luca jumped onto a building roof, watching the beast. “What if, the reason why we can’t find it in the city, is because-“

    “It wasn’t lost in the city,” Jay pulled up as much as he safely could to the beast without getting hit by debris. “It was always near the kid, but he’d forgotten about it or something.”

    “My thought’s exactly,” Luca spotted a shining circlet on the beast’s neck, “And I think I just found your prize.”

    “Can you get it?”

    “No, I’d get swatted away easily, I need a distraction.” Luca jumped from building to building, trying to stay out of sight of the beast while keeping an eye on the locket.

    “Understood.” Jay didn’t hesitate to start waving his arms and start screaming at it. He drove off in a rush as the beast roared in response and chased him, leaving a trail of destruction behind.    

    Luca genuinely chuckled, Jay had such a determined look on his face despite knowingly being bait. He jumped from building to building, waiting for his chance to land on the beast safely. The ruins left behind by the creature’s path gave him shelter to hide from its searching eyes.

    He took his chance, landing on its shoulder. The beast roared in anger and swiped at him, he teleported mid-air for a moment before landing on its fist, then on its head. It was actively trying to protect the locket. “I can’t get through to it, it knows I’m after the locket.”

    “Heavy artillery then?” Jay pulled the motorbike to the side as Luca teleported from building to building, distracting it for him. Jay swiftly swiped and tapped away on his screen before materializing a bazooka.

    “Since when did you have that?” Luca barely missed the claws that swiped at him.

    “Does anyone ever tell you that you freak out a lot.” Jay chuckled as he aimed the weapon at the beast. “I doubt this can do any real damage; you’ll have a few seconds.”

    “Ready when you are.” As the bazooka hit the beast in the stomach, Luca teleported on his chest, grabbing the locket and teleporting into mid-air above it.

    The smoke blinded his visions, he couldn’t teleport if he couldn’t see where he was going, it was the one downfalls of the charm. He could hear Jay call his name, claws were coming straight at him, he closed his eyes and braced for impact.

    The beast exploded into golden sand before it could touch him, thinning out the smoke. Luca teleported behind Jay, landing hard on the ground, he pushed himself up to see the golden sand land on the ground in a wave. The pair stayed quiet, waiting for any more surprises.

    When the ‘You Win’ screen appeared, they screamed in joy like a pair of excited toddlers. The world dissolved into code, dropping back into the actual game world. A small child was sitting on the edge of the fountain with an innocent smile on her face.

    “Looks like the locket is more than a toy.” Luca nudged Jay, showing him the opened locket, inside was a small picture of the child and an older woman behind her, both had bright smiles on their faces.

    “Guess if I lost something like that, I’d be pretty devastated to.” Jay took the locket, closing it and keeling down near the young child. He placed the locket in her hand and placed his own over it, not moving until the child giggled and faded away completely.

    It was always in the back of his mind, but it was times like these, Luca was reminded that Jay had lost him mother two years ago to illness. He never showed misery or anger over it, honoring her wish of living an eventful life.

    “I really thought I was a goner though, coming down to the end.” Luca prodded Jay, trying to lighten the mood. It worked like a charm, their minds still high off the adrenaline from the fight.

    “Yea, that was really cool though!” Jay swung his arms back and forth to recreate the scene, “You were like this, and it was like this, and then it turned to sand!”

    “Yea, I definitely do not want to be a part of that again.” Luca scrubbed a hand over his face. “Come one, let’s find Rena, maybe the others are here to.”