The Core: The First Guest

50. Body of the storm.

Had I heard Sela's last words I probably wouldn't have felt so bad when I reached the lobby of the Haoolla Defender. I wasn't deceived though, Sela had always been so carefree and fun with me that the thought of her intentionally being mean never cemented.

I did, however, have some burning questions as to what the heck just happened. I went over in front of the Xeath and stared down at the short leprechaun. The little eyes burned up at me over the lower part of its face that was made up of octopus tentacles. There was a mouth of sorts under there, as proof of Cavii talking, it just wasn't readily apparent. The hands were four-fingered and attached to short stubby arms. Nothing screamed out that this little alien species was overly special at first glance. Evil, yes, special... not so much.

I turned on my Prime Speed Control key a second after I brought up all of the data available on the Xeath race in front of me. I had some intense reading to do this time around. Normally I believed that players, myself included, just skimmed over the abbreviated info on what made an alien species different from other species. This, in reality, only touched on the massive differences that species could exhibit, both in physical abilities, like my Blidda's amazing healing ability, and mental abilities like the Tela's ability to control multiple limbs.

I was beginning to see how Cavii had grown powerful inside the game, she had done her research on how to stack the deck in her favor.

Yes, I knew that I could concede this game to Cavii and play another one if I wanted... I wasn't here to beat up on an obsessed youngling.

"Invicta. Does Cavii play every game of Haoolla Defender?" I asked as I thought of that option.

-Indeed Kevin-

Crap... that left either always avoiding her and playing a stunted game of cat and mouse or simply standing up to her and showing her that I wouldn't be hazed or bullied by her. I liked the second option the best. Regardless of how many times she killed me, I would always get better and come back for more. Besides, she seemed to take everything personally like someone else getting First Blood. She went way out of her way to come after me to get those back... which in and of itself was odd.

"Invicta... would you like to have an Avatar made for yourself?" I asked as I refocused my vision after getting lost in my thoughts for a moment. I was still staring at the words always needing to be created in front of me by Invicta so she could talk to me. I returned time to normal for this to happen, I wanted to be able to see how she picked out her avatar.

-Yes please. Very much so.-

"Ok, what species would you like to have one resemble?" I asked as I looked around at the abundant selection that she would have to pick from.

"This." A smooth voice like a hollow wind in a cave said behind me, causing chills to run down my spine.

I turned around and mentally had to take a moment to translate what I was seeing. Invicta had chosen a humanoid and female body to represent the outline of her avatar. That was where the realm of normal and possible seemed to end. Her body was an active dark shifting storm cloud. Her skin texture was always rolling and winds seemed to be moving the shades of the gray and black clouds continually around the contours of her female body. Her eyes were black, the darkest depth of blackness framed in a smoother sections and shades of the storm that made up the subtle textures of her face. I didn't see any loss of cloud vapor until I noticed her hair extending down her back, it seemed like her hair was always and continually turning to vapor and flowing away behind her.

"Wow. Ok... first question... Why a human body?" I asked as I was actually a bit happy that she picked a human form. It would be rather odd if I always had to look down at the ground if she had picked a Tela or a Xeath.