Characters: Queen Isabella, Tony, Robin Hobb, Little John, Gena, Roxanne, Aisha, Mundo, Narsis, Cara
It wasn’t long before all the Men found themselves on the floor, facing Queen Isabella. They were separated into two groups—the ‘mastermind’ group, consisting of all the Men accused of interfering with the tournament (Grandpa, Mundo, Isaac, Quentin, Robin Hobb, Little John, and Tony), and the ‘naked’ group, consisting of all the naked Men who were destined to die that day (unimportant, unnamed characters). Isabella had her chair pulled out and she gently rocked her crystal slippers back and forth over their heads like a swaying guillotine as she studied their perspiring faces.
“…You really ruined my fun today,” she said at last, staring down at the mastermind group. “My favorite part of the Tournament of Champions is watching the Men die in the most terrible of fashions.”
“This isn’t about your fun,” Robin Hobb stated, his chest wide and proud with the courage of a warrior.
Isabella’s fist came down on the arm of her chair. “That’s exactly what this is about!” She eyed him. “Say…aren’t you that vagrant who plays dress-up in the forest with the rest of your merry men?”
“So, Her Highness recognizes me.”
Without warning, the pointed heel of Isabella’s slipper crashed down and impaled Robin Hobb through his open mouth. He didn’t even have time to choke or react as the heel tore through his lungs and his eyes, bleeding with terror, burst from their sockets. In less than a second, he was nothing more than a red stain on the floor.
“I don’t anymore,” Isabella said.
Mundo threw his head to the side and barfed. So did the rest of the Men—all except the frozen Little John, who just stood, shaking, trembling, his eyes locked on the mangled corpse of his dear friend and companion.
“How could you…?” he started to say, but Isabella’s slipper turned his words, and his body, to mush with her other slipper.
“Now they match,” she said with childlike joy as she admired the red stains on her heels. “Simply darling, don’t you think?” Then she looked down at the smushed bodies and put her fingers to her lips as if she was trying to suppress a gasp. “Oh, my, it looks like the poor won’t be receiving any curry this winter. I guess we’ll have to give it all to the rich.”
“You sick pig,” Isaac said. He tried to sound brave, but his words came out weak, dying, so much that Isabella didn’t even hear him. And that was probably for the best.
“Please, you don’t have to do this!” Aisha sobbed. She was standing next to Gena and Roxanne, both who were holding her back, and Cara, who was trying to keep her knees from shaking. But they could all hear it, the clanging of her metal greaves as they pounded against each other. Clink-clank, clink-clank, clink-clank…
“I really do grow tired of this,” Isabella yawned. “Now, who wants to begin telling me what’s going on here? Because really—I have to tell you—I’m simply dying to hear why everybody is out to make my day miserable.”
“This can all be explained very easily,” Tony explained, stepping forth. “This is a game called Neverquest that I helped to invent. It was supposed to put the user’s mind into a virtual reality dimension, but due to an unexpected virus that has managed to infiltrate our systems, the game is beginning to take over our thoughts. Escaping has been made impossible. Obviously the Men here used the tournament to attract the attention of the Game Masters—namely, me and the rest of the company back at CNN—in order to find a way back to the real world. I came, as expected, and now we’re standing before you because you have the power to get us get back home.”
Isabella stared down at him, trying to hold a straight face, and then rolled over in a fit of laughter.
Stunned, Tony only watched her feet kick wildly in front of him. “Um… That wasn’t a joke.”
“Dude, are you really a GM?” Mundo asked.
“Yeah. You don’t need to worry anymore. We’re looking into the problem now.”
“Oh, great. The GMs are ‘looking into the problem now.’ We all know what that means.”
“Hey, kid!” Tony shoved him. “I’ll ban you.”
“So go ahead and ban me! I don’t give a damn.”
“Well, I can’t right now.”
“Why not?”
Tony fidgeted. “I…lost contact with headquarters. They’re not answering my distress signals.”
“…Great. So you’re trapped here too.” He looked over his shoulder at Gena and Roxanne, who had never looked happier. Or more evil. “…I suppose you know that they’re the ones who planted the virus here.”
“I do now. When I get back to headquarters, I’ll tell Sophia everything. Don’t worry.”
“Well, I do worry, you know? You’re an idiot. All of you GMs—you’re idiots. It’s a wonder this game even works.”
There was a soft whimper from nearby. They turned around to see Narsis, hunched over, slowly creep out from under Isabella’s chair. He was in pretty bad shape, with scraps and dry blood across his back and face, and his horns drooped over his snout in the saddest fashion.
“This is my fault…” he said through another whimper. “I helped Gena and Roxanne. I obtained the virus and put it into your systems. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for me.”
“What else is new?” Mundo muttered. “You got what you deserved.”
“I know, but you didn’t. You shouldn’t be here.”
Mundo sighed and put his hand on Narsis’ muzzle, petting him lightly. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Let’s just…go home, okay?”
“It’s not the easy. The virus can’t just be yanked out of the game as if it were a thing. It’s more like a chemical that, once spilled into the system, will only continue to spread until it completely alters the infrastructure of all the databases. At that point, there is no going back.”
“And our minds are wired to these databases, aren’t they?”
“Yes… Yes. We’re dependent on this game to survive. If we shut off the game, we shut off our minds. If we stay, we become part of the game permanently.”
“I never knew game addiction could be so deadly,” Tony said.
“There’s still hope,” Mundo said. “Narsis, Adam was telling us that he has a girlfriend back in the real world. A miracle, I know, but he claims that you might know of a way that we can contact her. Maybe the same way Tony contacted us.”
Narsis thought, staring up Isabella’s leg to clear his mind. “…In the market square, there is a doorway that leads to the NQIM room. That’s where players can go to talk to people offline or on a different messenger service. You may be able to contact the outside world from there.”
“He’s right,” Tony said. “There are still some bugs in the program, but there should be enough juice to allow for a few messages through cyberspace. We can use it to contact Sophia back at headquarters.”
“Or we can use it to contact Adam’s girlfriend,” Mundo said. “No offense, but I’m not about to put my fate into the hands of another GM. Look where you got us.”
“Look, kid, I may be ugly and fat and slow, but I know my way around a computer and I built this game. You’ll need me if you hope to survive.”
Suddenly, Isabella reached down and grabbed Tony under the armpits, lifting him up to eye-level. Piece by piece, she peeled away at his armor until he was left dangling in his undershirt.
“Gena says that you were the head of the operation,” Isabella said, flicking his ear.
“That’s a lie,” Tony said. “Isabella, you pretty thing, I created you. I know everything about you because I customized you. I even know…your sizes.”
Isabella was not amused. “Know what I think?”
“What’s that?”
“I think she’s right. And I think you’re really disgusting.”
“Maybe, but I have the power to delete you from this game if I want.”
“Oh, but so do I,” Isabella said sweetly, puckering her lips. But they soon turned sour. “…Do you love me?”
“What?”
Isabella leaned back in her chair and held Tony above her. “I asked if you loved me. I do deserve to be loved, you know. Loved and adored and worshiped.” She smiled and closed her eyes. “Tell me that you love me.”
“Uh, okay… I love you.”
“Liar!” Isabella barked, jumping up. “You’ll have to show me that you love me!”
Tony panicked. His chubby feet thrashed about in the air and he found himself staring up Isabella’s nostrils. “I…uh…how do I do that?”
“Like this…” Isabella held him at the level of her neck, grabbed his right hand in her own, and then, whispering sweet nothings into his ear, she snapped his whole arm off. “He loves me.” She reached for his other arm and ripped that one off too. “He loves me not.”
“My arms!” he screamed as two geysers of blood sprayed out on either side of him. He began to get dizzy.
“He loves me,” Isabella said softly as she tore his right leg from his body.
“Stop it!” Aisha screamed. “Stop it, you’re hurting him!”
Tony’s head rolled backwards. With another sickening plop, his left leg was stripped from his body and Isabella flicked it to the floor.
“He loves me not,” Isabella frowned. Blood covered her hands. “He doesn’t love me…” She cocked her head to the side and stared at the hemorrhaging head and torso in her hands. “Why don’t you love me?”
“I… … pain… …” Tony gasped.
Getting an idea, Isabella slipped the nail of her thumb under Tony’s chin and gently lifted it up until they were looking at each other in their eyes. Then she smiled and, with a flick of her finger, popped his whole head off. Just like a dandelion.
“He loves me!” she squealed in delight. She clapped her hands together, smashing together the last of Tony’s remains, and bounced on her toes. “Aw, I love you too! I love you all.”
“Aw, we love you too,” Gena said, hugging Isabella. Roxanne did the same.
Mundo and the rest of the Men just stared down at the severed head of Tony that had fallen from the sky. The goddesses had indeed given up their sacrifice.
And they weren’t pleased.
Giantess World
