Collide Gamer

John had no idea what to expect from this. He had heard all about the interest people took in Latebloomers, but so far that interest had been distant. It was, therefore, with no small amount of interest and dread that he followed Rave logging in and joining the server.

Neonlights has entered the channel

Neonlights: Howdy~

“Really? Howdy?” John asked.

“Shaddup I’m the one writing so I get to pick the lines.” Rave stuck out her tongue but kissed him on the cheek afterwards. That did lift his mood considerably.

“Are you the only one on the channel?”

“Nope, he is just blocking my viewing rights right now. They can see what I typed but I can’t see them or their answers.” Just as she said that, she was sent a PM by the admin.

SecretBlonde: Hello. Not to seem rude or anything but I need to confirm your validity to be here. Tell me which of the premium members you are on the Auction site, otherwise I have to ban you for safety reasons.

Neonlights: It’s Rave.

Neonlights Username was changed to Rave.

Rave was granted the ‘member’ status.

Announcer: Welcome to ‘The Gamer Discussion Thread’ Happy to have you, Rave.

GrimPatron: Greetings, Rave.

Princess_of_Steel: Salutations.

SecretBlonde: Hello Properly

~

KingGravity: Ah, another sheep joins the herd.

Minerva: An enlightened day I wish you.

Blood: Greetings, Comrade.

TorchCarrier: What @Minerva said.

Anathema: Omnessiah bless you…I hope anyone got that.

“I did!” John said despite knowing nobody could hear him. He scanned the list of names and what had been written so far. None of that looked too terrible. “Anyone I should know… about…?” John’s voice trailed off when he saw Rave’s frozen expression.

“Yeah…” she mumbled, her voice a tiny fragment of her usual confidence. With her finger, she pointed at the list of members. The name she pointed at belonged to no one that had spoken so far.

“Romulus,” John read out. “The man founded Rome, from the legends?”

“Yeah… the very same… and Apex of the Abyss. The strongest single person there is, leader of the Sons of Rome, the Pax Romana and emperor over most of Europe.”

While he digested that information, another direct message popped in their inbox. The icon made it clear who it was. Slowly, Rave moved over the cursor and then clicked.

Romulus: I am only here to watch, Gamer. Don’t expect any answers from me.

Rave took her shaking hands off the keyboard. “This is…wow….” She exhaled. “Okay, let’s just stick to reading for the moment, I need to get that out of my system. The Apex is looking at us…”

John wanted to ask how he knew it was them, but the usual rules of information being safe likely did not apply to the absolute pinnacle of the Abyss. As the saying went: the law is like a spider’s web, the fly gets caught and the wasp goes free. Any convention could be ignored if one had enough power.

Anathema: You guys think that the Gamer himself is also here?

Princess_of_Steel: A smart person would be. My personal guess is that it is you, Anathema.

Anathema: WOW! Just because I said Omnessiah?

KingGravity: A quick google search reveals that that is some nerd shit – so yeah, you are on the top spot.

Princess_of_Steel: Such language is unbecoming of nobility, Maximillian.

KingGravity: Blurting my identity out just like that?! Are you having a bad day LYDIA AUGUSTA VON HOHENZOLLERN?

Princess_of_Steel: *Lydia Augusta IV von Hohenzollern, do it right. Also, yes. I’d much rather take care of finances right now. Instead, I have to hang out here just to keep track of what you are up to.

KingGravity: You could just marry me and this whole dumb rivalry between us would be done. I’d fuck you right up the arse the way you like it every night. You might be unbearable but you got a nice body.

Princess_of_Steel: A laughable proposal. Don’t waste my time in such a manner.

GrimPatron: HAH, you two are funny. That alone was worth spending the money. Also, everybody knew who you two are, pretty hard not to. :D

“Who are they?” John asked with confusion. He knew the Hohenzollern dynasty and that they were the rulers of Prussia and the second German Empire thanks to videogames but otherwise he had no clue.

“Ehm, I know that Lydia is the Heiress of Brandenburg and the granddaughter of the current ruler of Rex Germaniae so that KingGravity guy is probably Maximillian von Habsburg? They’re the two chief contenders for the throne, if I remember correctly? Dunno, haven’t followed German politics in a tad.”

GrimPatron: Well, even though nobody will be able to witness the truth of this, I am Olaf Strongliver. Just fair to tell you.

John looked at Rave. She shook her head. “No fucking clue who that is.”

Anathema: If I tell you that I am a High Fateweaver you won’t believe me anyway, so why bother…

SecretBlonde: I am afraid you just did, lol. Also, I won’t give away my identity for obvious reasons. ^^

Blood: It doesn’t matter who I am. I am just one of us.

TorchCarrier: And I’d much rather you and your toxic ideology would go away.

Minerva: Indeed.

Blood: Comrades, I am disheartened by your twisted world view. We are only fighting for equality.

Minerva: @TorchCarrier, Let’s just ignore the guy. Arguing with these people never gets us anywhere.

TorchCarrier: I agree, my friend. From your name I take it that you are with the French?

Minerva: Oui. I take it you are Greek? It is great to find another seeker of knowledge in these pits.

TorchCarrier: Indeed.

TorchCarrier: But please tell me you’re not the Rat.

Minerva: I am not the Rat.

Anathema: That’s exactly what the Rat would say!

GrimPatron: What rat?

Blood: Well, if you two cannot see the error of your ways you will be purged when our time comes again. We might be weaker than we were fifty years ago but we are stronger than we were ten years ago. We will never give up, for our cause is the only just cause and our resolve is undying.

Anathema: Yeah, you could say it is a ghost wandering Europe.

Minerva: LOL

TorchCarrier: Nice one!

Princess_of_Steel: Rather tastefully delivered.

KingGravity: Bwahahaha

GrimPatron: I drink to that joke!

Anathema: Thank you, thank you.

John pulled away from the chat as the debate changed into insults and banter. “Okay, so we got the strongest being in the Abyss, nobles from Germany and Austria, a guy with a strong liver, a High Fateweaver, some weird socialist guy and two people who got a hard-on for knowledge as well as the informant.” He concluded that little session. Rave let out a last exasperated breath and nodded.

“Yep, this is all pretty-” Another private chat opened.

SecretBlonde: Tell your BF he can join the chat too, lol. I’ll give him an exception from the naming rule. :-P

Rave: Creepy Stalker!

SecretBlonde: Naw, don’t hurt my feelings I am just running a business here.

SecretBlonde: If you want to stop me, just git gud.

“Unbelievable.” Rave complained, “You gonna take him up on that?”

“Probably…does this program exist for mobile?”

“It’s Discord, literally, just download the App and then a technomancer at the central will recognize that somebody with powers is on the other end and flip you to the Abyss version.”

The explanation left John shaking his head. “Technomancers seem to be the kings of the Abyss.”

“They definitely have an easy time finding jobs.” Rave admitted. “They get rolled over in combat though.”

John downloaded Discord and set up his account. The process was similar to the first time he logged into the Abyss Auction. Thankfully he had upgraded his phone with the necessary bit of hardware to allow aura scanning. It was little more than adding a second SIM card into the device.

Jeehan has joined the chat.

SecretBlonde: Oh wow, you use the same name as on the site. Bold.

Jeehan has been granted ‘member’ status.

There was a flood of welcome messages from the other chatroom participants. John was about to type something sympathetic back when he received a mental call from Aclysia. ‘I require your help with something.’

‘What is it?’ Aclysia told him, causing John to half giggle and half be dumbfounded. To Rave he said. “You are not going to believe this.”