Ozymandias Academy

Part 7

Elle had no time to react to the pain of her sudden death before she was back in the game again, standing next to her own dead body. Although the body didn't look like hers, a fact she was abjectly grateful for. It would have been too weird to see what would have been an incredibly realistic version of her lying on the desk. It did still make her stomach turn to see the body of her avatar, but luckily the simulation wasn't programmed to include blood. She looked down at herself and saw that she was able to move, and that she had gone back to looking the way she did in real life - motion tracking suit and all. This reminded her that she had someone else next to her in reality.

"Malia, what the heck just happened?" Elle asked indignantly, hoping that Malia at least had the decency to feel bad about not telling her that she ran the risk of actually dying.

She had no such luck. Malia was rather dismissive. "I did tell you to not consider pain a factor. It didn't really hurt, did it?"

"I guess not," Elle grumbled reluctantly. "It was more surprising than anything else."

"See? So you're fine. And obviously you're not really dead. But this does mean you lost this round. We put you back into the simulation so you can keep following your team and trying to solve the puzzle, that way you can learn and make the most of each Quest you're a part of, whether you personally complete it or not." Malia paused, and when Elle didn't move she said, "Well? The rest of your team is down the hall, go follow them!"

"Okay, okay, jeez." Elle took a deep breath, cast one last look of revulsion at her body, and ran out of the room. It was easier for her to run, somehow; it felt like the walls were gliding past her faster than normal. She also realized very quickly that she couldn't interact with her environment anymore when she tried to grab a pen she noticed in the next room.

K was talking to J about the box that Elle had gotten for them. "It's got that pattern on it that L mentioned, Fib-whatever. I already tried tracing it and nothing happened, I don't know how to open it."

"Maybe we need another item?" M suggested.

"Probably," J agreed. "Okay, guys, spread out. M, don't bother with that pen, I already tried it and it's nothing."

"I hate decoys," K complained.

"Is there another list we could use in this room?" Elle asked. Nobody replied to her query. "Hello?"

"Oh, they can't hear you," Malia said in Elle's ear.

"Sure, now you tell me." Elle rolled her eyes. She was beginning to resent Malia for seeming to not ever be giving her the right information. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind from here on out."

"You're meant to be an observer. Since you died, you lost your right to play, but that doesn't mean you can't still learn the way the game is played and pick up on other things," Malia said, seeming to be unaware of Elle's bad attitude.

"What other things?" Elle asked suspiciously.

"You'll see," was all Malia would give her. Elle rolled her eyes again, beginning to feel very annoyed and agitated. She hated not being able to interact with the environment, though she understood that because of the rules she wouldn't be able to play anymore. She just wished there was something she could do besides stand around, especially once she spotted an odd cloth tucked into a corner. It took K a couple minutes longer before she too found the cloth and used it with the box.

The next few minutes were pretty boring for Elle. The cloth once applied to the box revealed a new pattern that had to be unraveled, which the team did relatively quickly compared to the last puzzle. The other team caught up and eliminated K, which was unfortunate since she had the box in her inventory, but they'd already gotten all the information they could out of it. Elle jumped horribly when the shots went off and K slumped to the ground, eyes closed. It was horrifying, what she had to watch, and she left the body there as fast as she could.