chapter 3

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Your pov

The next morning I woke up from a message on my VR set. I grabbed it and looked at the ID.

Art3mis

Its been a long a long time since she last contacted me. I opened the chat on my VR.

~~
Art3mis: Hey (G/T), it's been a while since we last hangout. do you want to meet at the racetrack?

(G/T): Yeah, I'll be there.

~~
i put my headset down again. i stood up walked towards the kitchen grapped some food and started to prepare myself to join Arty in the OASIS. i put on my headset and logged in and started making my way to the racetrack. i approached the portal that leads to the track and jumped through it, appearing at the sidelines. i started walking around looking for Arty. until a familiar voice called my gamertag.

"(G/T), over here!"

i looked to my right and saw Arty walking towards me with a smile. me did a high five and continued to find 2 open spots. in the end we found 2 open spaces at the back. we walked to it quickly and placed our vehicles on it. Arty mounted her bike and i got in my car and started the engine. to my right, Parzival got into his delorean. I roll down the window of my car and smirked at him.

"Back again so soon? Careful not to lose your shit." he glanced in my direction for a moment before looking forward again "you figured something out. Parzival, tell me."

He said nothing and I closed the window again, after a few seconds the countdown started, finally the light was green and the fireworks went off. like a few others Arty and I started the race for the umpteenth time. but when I looked in one of the mirrors in the car, I saw that Parzival was still in the same spot.

"What's he doing?" I asked Arty through the call we both watched until he put the car in reverse, started backing up and disappeared off the track.

**Timeskip**

After the race we walked through the portal again.

Parzival was in 1st place on the scoreboard.

"(G/T), shall we meet again tonight at the track and try the reverse as well?""Okay, I need to set a timer so I don't forget." i answered.when I said that we both started laughing. Arty knew full well that sometimes I forget things in the stupidest ways ever.when we stopped laughing we said our goodbyes and logged out. I detached myself from the headset and gear for the OASIS and took off my gloves. I walked out of the room and was greeted by (D/N)."hey, do you want to go outside." I asked the happy dog who then started running around.I took her harness and leash and put them on her/him. I grabbed my coat and walked out the door followed by (D/N).I put her/him on a leash and went for a nice walk. What struck me more and more is that there are fewer and fewer people outside. this started when the OASIS came out. people stayed inside and lived alone in the OASIS. (D/N) brought me out of my thoughts when she/he started barking. we had arrived at a sort of graveyard for cars. a boy about my age climbed out of a car hidden in the middle. he apparently heard (D/N) because he was looking our way. I waved at him and he waved back quickly before walking away.

**Timeskip**

after a walk of about an hour and a half (D/N) and I were back at our "House." When I looked at the time I saw that the race started in fifteen minutes. I fed (D/N) her/his food and walked to the room to log into the OASIS. my avatar appeared in the game and I got a call from Arty right away. "Hey, you didn't forget, well done" she said with a touch of humor in her voice

"yes, I walked outside the OASIS for about an hour and a half. Just be glad I got back in time." I said with an eye roll. "Okay, but I'm already on the track. Are you almost there, it will start soon." "I'm almost there" I said and she nodded and hung up.I approached the portal and jumped through it.

this time I saw Arty right away.I walked over to her. she had a seat in the back so we wouldn't get run over by others."I saved a spot for you." she said "thanks, are you ready?" I asked "of course I'm ready"

she sat on the saddle of her motorcycle with her helmet on, only the visor was still up. I opened my inventory, grabbed the small version of KITT and threw it to the ground. when it hit the floor it grew to its actual size and I was able to open the door. I got in and closed the door and looked at Arty. she lowered her visor normally you wouldn't be able to talk to each other then, but we had another call open so we could still understand each other.

after 2 minutes, the race countdown begins. when the light was green I put the car in reverse. Arty did the same to her motorcycle. I pushed hard on the accelerator and backed off at high speed. just before I hit the wall a hatch opened and I went underground. a few seconds later, Arty appeared too. we could see the whole race underground and see a lot of people fail, mainly sixers. eventually we came to the t-rex that was being lift up. then another hatch opened and we drove up again, towards the finish. when we drove into central park in new york, music started playing. I got out of my car and Arty got off her motorcycle.Halliday's avatar Anorak appeared and held 2 keys.Arty and I picked them up and our names appeared on the scoreboard. my name was in second and Arty came next.Anorak pointed us to a scroll that has a clue to the next challenge.

Arty grapped it for the both of us and opened it.

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"A creator who hates his own creation.

"A hidden key, a leap not taken. Retrace your steps, escape your past."

"And the key of jade will be yours at last."

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