Dreamt I was asked to play someone else’s immersive video game through “the boring parts” while they went off and did something more engaging. Before I could decline I was jacked in. One escort quest (ugh) and one Gather All The Things quest later, the game took a sudden turn.
A random encounter made the desert give way under my feet and I fell into an ancient temple. One thing quickly led to another and now I’m battling the Lord of Death. But because of the way I was (illegally) jacked in, it may have been my acquaintance’s character but it was my life on the line!
The boss fight was hard. The bastard cheated like fuck. But I killed him three times as the encounter required. First his possessed priest, then his fleshy manifestation, then his skeletal manifestation. At the last blow his remains feel apart and turned into dust. The chamber rumbled as the temple was raised to the surface and the wall behind the throne collapsed to reveal an easy and quickly taken exit.
I did not loot anything in my exploits. I accepted only what the game required me to accept. Behind me the boss chest was still visible in the dusty darkness.
Just as roughly I had been jacked in, I was ripped out the game. My acquaintance was back and viciously angry. He had been searching for that temple for months. It only spawns once per character and disappears five minutes after the boss (or character) dies. He discovered I had skipped looting and promised all sorts of revenge on me for shortchanging him.
He saw the opening and the chest beyond. Ignoring my warning that he had less than two minutes remaining, he ran in.
I was tempted to jack in to my character so I could pull him out but I knew I would not reach the temple, much less him, in time.
I watched on the screen as he looted the chest. An action that triggered the reformation of the Lord of Death’s bones. He ran to the fallen guards and looted them. The prone body of the Lord of Death gained flesh. I screamed at the mic for him to abandon the loot and get out of the game.
“It’s only a game. I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t fucked up!”
The Lord of Death stood. The temple wall sealed. As it sunk into the desert, the restored Lord of Death addressed the trapped character.
“You are not the one that vanquished me, though you wear the same face. You want the spoils of her work without doing the work yourself? Then you shall have it! All of it! You shall be the priest of my temple. All the coffers will be unlocked to you. But you will never leave until another vanquishes you in turn.”
On the screen a new Priest of Death rose. He had the physical appearance of my acquaintance. The heads up display announced the connection with his headset had been lost.
I ran to the next room where the gear is and found his harness still wrapped around his clothes. His clothes were wrapped around a still settling pillar of fine dust.
“Keri! Help me! This is a glitch right? Unjack me! I’ll deal with the nausea but hurry! Unjack me! Keri?”
I came back to the observer’s screen. “Keri? Can you see me? You fucking bitch! This is all your fault! I’m going to beat your ass for this! Dammit! Answer me!” The new Priest of Death turned to find all the temple servants had been restored. They were surrounding him with baskets of gold, jewels, and fine crafts. He fell to his knees, wailing.
The screen changed to a black information screen. “Connection to player lost. Character deleted.”
The dream ends here.