He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter One Hundred and Seven - Deadly Dinners of the Fifth Dimension

"Henry," the short youth looked up from where he sat in the library as he heard his name being called. He gulped. He hadn't expected it to be Owen Miller, one of the current flavours of the month. To him; an unpopular nobody, who only came to this school because of excellent grades and a small windfall that had almost dried up due to his parents extravagant spending. Admittedly his only friend in school was Alexandria, who just happened to be old friends with Owen, but Alexandria was friendly to everyone and liked his seriousness when it came to studying.

"Hey," he responded nervously. "Do you need something?"

"You're going to the Apocalypse Convention right?" he said as he approached. Henry looked startled. Alexandria, who happened to be studying across from him looked at them both questioningly. What on Earth was that?

"How did you know?" The boy asked with wide eyes.

Owen sat beside him and said; "I heard you talking on the phone to someone during free period the other day, you mentioned you were going."

"Actually, I left it too late to get a ticket," Henry confessed.  "I'm just meeting some in game friends outside of the convention that day.  All, but me and one other guy got tickets, but we decided to make the trip anyway and meet them for lunch."

"What if I told you I have spare tickets?" Owen told him.  "I would be willing to trade if you can help me get down there."

"For real?" Henry looked completely shocked.

"Ignoring the fact that final exams are just around the corner, Owen," Alexandria mentioned.  "Why can't you get to this Zombie Con thing with your driver?"

"It's the Apocalypse Convention and he'll be ferrying around someone else this weekend," Owen said, purposely being vague.

"Who?" Alexandria asked, not willing to drop it.

"Just someone who I don't feel like entertaining, which is why I've decided to leave town for a bit," Owen answered, then turned to Henry.  "Well?  I have enough spare tickets for your friend as well."

"It's not a problem with me," Henry replied nearly squealing with excitement.  "Just... are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Owen replied.  "What am I going to do with five tickets?  You want to come too, Alex?" 

She found herself blushing and had to remind herself that he was not exactly asking her out on a date, he just had more money than sense!  Who buys five tickets and doesn't use them?  "I'll think about it," she ended up saying.

"Why do you have so many tickets?" Henry asked, curiously.

"Ah, they were sent to me free by the sponsors," Owen replied.  "They want me to join in some event they've set up."

"Sponsors... wasn't that Pure Technologies?  Wait do you play Our Final Hour?" Henry asked, his eyes widening.

"Yeah, I do," Owen gave him a slight smile.

"Really?  Which character? I mean you must be well known if the sponsors want you there!"  Henry reasoned, then added; "My character is Infinite Sky.  You probably don't know me, I'm not that powerful in the game... though the faction I joined a little while ago is."

"Oh?" Owen smirked slightly, his pale eyes sparkling like two aquamarine gems.  "I'm Requiem Knife, your faction leader."  And with that, he left the library for his next class, leaving Henry to gape open mouthed.

*****

As Henry could not quite believe it and as Alexandria had taken it upon herself to ensure both boys studied and did not play around to much, Owen found he had guests after school ended.