Chapter 1: Wedding Bells & Missle Shells

<- Chapter 13: Died and Gone to the Heavens


One day, while playing Planet of Narcrast, I recieved a whisper from Glowtharius that there was something interesting going on at the Dwarven stronghold. The Dwarven stronghold is easily the busiest city of our faction. Curious, I navigate there with my Druid. When I get there, I find that Glowtharius has unequipped his usual armor and replaced it with tailored formal wear. He's in the busiest area of the city, in the financial sector. As I walk up to him, I have my character ask "What's the occasion?"

He responds when I reach him with "You are, my dear." As he says that, he emotes to a kneeling position, opens a trade window with me, and places a Ring of Cosmic Life in the item slot. This ring's stats would increase my defensive magic and recharge my magic abilities more quickly. He then asks, "Will you marry me?"

I turn to him in real life, as we're both on computers in the same room, and smile as I type "OMG! Yes!"

So we arrange to have an in-game wedding at one of the Elven temples. The whole guild is there in suits & dresses that don't provide much armor stat, but they look more formal. Our guild leader, a holy-specialized Elven cleric named Moonlite875, acts as the priestess. After we say "I do", the guild's inventors launch fireworks in the air, and there is much dance emoting. Some of the Dwarven guild members pass around cheaper ale and more expensive wine. Drinking in the game increases attack power, but decreases magic power and blurrs the screen a bit.

After the online festivities are over, we begin planning the real wedding. One problem is that I'd like my father to be there, but the whole world, including Keith, thinks he's dead. I can't let them know otherwise. So I decide to have my dad come to the wedding, but say that he's my uncle. Now, I'm not really Christian, but Keith is so we decide to have a Christian wedding.

Another problem, I quickly realize, is that I have no ID. How can we get a marriage licence if, according to legal records, I don't exist? I quickly fix that problem by hacking into the government's various ID databases, and having copies of everything from my birth certificate to my driver's licence sent to me.

On the day of the wedding, my parents are there, as is Keith's family. Maybe a dozen people in total. Certainly not as big as the online celebration, but certainly more real. While my physical body is walking down the aisle, I see something very disturbing elsewhere, on the internet. War has just been declared and messages are being sent out to rally allies on both sides. I see every message that passes the vast electronic network that spans the globe. I know something has to be done to stop it, but I'm sure my dad can take care of it. I simply send him an e-mail that he will get when he returns home. Despite my worries, I continue on with the wedding, reception and honeymoon like nothing happened.


It's been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me lately. After dying and being resurrected in a robotic body by my daughter, her boyfriend proposes to her. On the one hand, I'm happy for them, but on the other, I always feel like she's too young to be in a relationship. She grew up so fast though. I know she's mature enough, it just never seemed like she had enough of a childhood.

Then, on top of all that, after the wedding I find an e-mail from Lunie about a war that could be starting soon. I happen to have been working on a defensive system that uses portals to re-route troops back home, and redirect missles to the sun. Unfortunately, I could never let anyone else use it, as it's far too dangerous in the wrong hands.

Sure enough, World War Three is confirmed. This time, there aren't many countries staying neutral. There are always a few, like Switzerland, but the countries involved take up over half of the Earth's land mass and are fairly evenly matched. I'm sure that if my new experiment fails, that the world's large animal population will be decimated, leaving the world mostly to the insects. I set up my systems from my starship and link up with the satellites around the planet to amplify my signals.

It's not long before missles start getting launched on the surface. I have no time to test first, I need to hope it just works, and that I haven't made any mistakes. For once, I luck out, and the first missle launched is warped through folded space to wind up on a collision course with the sun. A nuclear missle to the sun is like a drop of water to the ocean. It wouldn't have much effect. And this was just a napalm missle that was fired, not a nuke. My invention works. But who knows how long this war will last? I need to outlast the war at these controls. I can't slip up. I just can't!


With my daughter and Keith getting married, I think about my relationship with Rick. We never got married in any formal way, despite the fact that we both know that we're a perfect pair. It's too late now, with his exile from the planet. They don't appreciate him. He's done nothing but good for them, and he secretly always will.

I barely see him anymore. Ever since he found out about that war, he's been determined not to let a single person get hurt from it. All these people that ridiculed and hunted him, and he still endeavors to protect them. I know I wouldn't. Anyone who listens to that lying zealot SeBright deserves what they get for it! I wasn't always this cynical. Ever since I was used as bait, I began contemplating what people are really like. Rick says that people are just often misguided, and that most people really just want to do good. I don't buy that. They make up all sorts of rules as to what good is, and even those who make such rules break them! People are hypocrites. Especially people with power.

Still, I like to see Rick succeed at whatever he tries to do, so when I occasionally take over the controls for the defense system, I still don't let anything get by.


War has a tendency to get people to think about their mortality. They open up at wartime. It's much easier to help people see the light. I will use this war to get people to listen to reason. They will know morality as I know it. They will give up that which corrupts them, like computers and pornography. We will go into a golden age. And when that mad scientist comes back with his evil mutations and weapons, he will get no welcome party. The good of the people will repel him.


Chapter 2: Pop Goes the Weasel ->

 

Copyright 2007 Sean Breslin