Chapter 2

Carmen looked around nervously at the people sitting around him. His family was a known quantity; at least he hoped they were. He honestly had no idea what was on that tape, but it couldn't be pretty. It looked as if Biff and the Bifflets had been run several times across a cheese grater and then run over with a large truck. If the tape was too bad he may be on his own, well except for Maggie.

He wasn't sure how he knew that come hell or high water she would stand by him but he knew it as surely as he new his own name. Come to think of it, he was pretty sure his sister couldn't be shaken either, but he still didn't know what was on that tape.

"Go ahead, Officer," Max motioned to the VCR.

"Fortunately Mr. Davidson had already made a copy since the tape he used was part of his work," Officer Jenny commented as she slid the tape in, "There is the possibility of this reaching the news. I feel I should warn you of that since there were a few reporters there by the time we finished up."

Without further ado, she pressed play and sat down on the couch again.

The first part of the tape was an interview with a local politician, and Max pushed the FF button on the remote. A few moments later, the screen went blue. Max hit play just as the camera began a bobbing journey through a living room, presumably Mr. Davidson's, and up to a window.

"This is James Davidson," his tense voice came over the TVs speakers, "There looks like some kind of gang violence about to take place outside my window. The police have been notified and are on their way. This video is to document the faces of the attackers for evidence at such time as it is needed.

"There are seven assailants harassing one of the neighborhood boys. I think his name is Carmen. I'm going to turn off the camera now and go to his assis- Oh my god!"

James startled exclamation had come at about the same time that things had gone dark for Carmen. There was a small flash of red light on Carmen's chest just as the seven thugs had moved to attack. Carmen had seemingly floated to one side, reaching over his shoulder to catch a hand swinging a pipe at his head. With a twist of the wrist and his body, he placed his attacker in line with most of the incoming barrage shielding himself in the process. Applying a bit more pressure he snapped the wrist and elbow, then followed up with a solid kick to the base of the spine.

Following behind his human shield's stumbling fall, he made it inside a chain wielding punks guard. A kick to the side of the knee, a knee to the groin, and a head butt to the nose sent this one stumbling backwards minus his chain. Whirling around Carmen snapped the chain like a whip, catching Biff himself right in the forehead. Not slowing for a minute the chain arced around in a blur catching three more in the knees, groin, and across the back respectively.

Spinning the chain twice around his body Carmen launched himself into the air. As he was coming down he whipped the only uninjured punk across both shoulders, neatly snapping his collar bones, then once across the face, then three more times in rapid succession across his back as he was falling. Without even looking, Carmen whipped the chain around behind his back wrapping it around the neck of one of the Bifflets that hadn't quite grasped the concept that not getting up meant less broken bones. With a step and a heave, he launched them bodily into a tree, the sound of bones breaking was loud even as far away as the camera was.

The tape captured in horrifying detail the smooth competence with which Carmen systematically disassembled his attackers. The only sounds were the camera man's gasping breath, the whistle of the chain, the sickening crunch of the damage it made on contact, and the cries and moans of pain the would be ambushers let out with every breath while they remained conscious.

In a shockingly short amount of time, considering the amount of action that had taken place, Carmen stood alone amidst the human wreckage. His face was totally blank, no fear, no anger, nothing. It was as if he were an automaton, merely doing as he was programmed to do without a care for what it was he was doing. When it was obvious that his ambushers would not rise again to attack him, Carmen took two steps and dropped like a felled tree. Moments later the first police car and ambulance pulled up and Mr. Davidson, suddenly coming to himself, turned off the camera.

Max stopped the tape, and for several moments, the room was silent. Tina's face held an expression of surprised awe as she gazed at her brother, whose expression was one of profound confusion. Max sat quietly as the emotions of pride, anger, and just a little fear warred for dominance in his mind. Officer Jenny was looking a pointed question at Carmen. Lastly, Maggie, the only one seemingly unaffected by what she had seen, merely sat and waited.

"Can you tell me anything about this, Carmen?" Jenny queried, after the silence had dragged on for several moments.

"I should think it's fairly obvious," Maggie interjected as Carmen just stared helplessly at the officer, "He was attacked by people who quite obviously meant to do him a great amount of harm, possibly even kill him, and he lost it."

"Kill him?" Tina and Jenny protested the theory immediately, though for different reasons.

"Come on," Max pointed out, "You saw the weapons they were carrying. Who ambushes somebody half their size, with that many people, and weapons like that, and isn't trying to kill them?"

"But why are they trying to kill Carmen?" Tina demanded in a terrified voice.

"Have you ever had a problem with these boys before?" Jenny asked after a moment's pause.

"Only every day I'm at school," Carmen sighed bitterly, "I and my parents have complained several times, in writing, about it."

"I see," Jenny nodded as she took some notes, "What seems to be the basis of their antagonism?"

"They seem to be convinced that I'm somehow trying get with their girlfriends," Carmen shrugged, "I've told them, repeatedly, that I'm not, but it makes no difference."

"You'd think they'd take the matter up with their girlfriends," Tina snapped in irritation, her green eyes flashing as her fear for her brother gave way to the more primal emotions of rage and familial preservation.

"Are they going to be charged?" Carmen asked, "You know this isn't going to be the end of it, right?"

"I don't think many folks have thought of it considering the condition those boys are in," Jenny commented, "but I think your father, and you tutor, are right. They'll be charged with attempted murder. You said this wouldn't be the end of it, how so?"

"First of all, they were all on the football team," Carmen explained, "that is going to cause its own problems. Secondly, this is the winningest team our school has ever had. They were, up until now, undefeated, which will cause its own set of problems."

"He has a point," Max injected, "We're fairly certain that is the reason almost nothing was done to stop the bullying in the first place."

"Okay, we can make this a part of our investigation," Jenny was taking copious notes, only glancing up occasionally, "If there has been a history of confrontations reported to administration with little or no action, the proper authorities will be notified in the school district's hierarchy. I will check, there may even been criminal liability here. Thank you for you time, Carmen, Mr. Bralley, I or another officer will be in touch with you later."

After Max had seen the police officer to the door he returned to sit quietly on the couch for a few moments, then he turned to Maggie.

"I didn't want to ask this while the officer was here, but who are you?"

"My name is Maggie Longshadow," she smiled in greeting, "I am your son's tutor."

"I didn't know your mother had hired a tutor," Max glanced at his son.

"She didn't," Carmen answered absently, "I made the arrangements myself."

This answer, while true, didn't explain anything. Carmen knew that the less his parents knew about Maggie, at least at the beginning, the better. He also knew that very soon he and Maggie were going to have to get together and get their cover story straight. With the police investigation, possibly digging into their relationship, it would be best if they could do it tonight.

"Do you feel up to some studying?" Maggie seemed to read his mind.

"Yeah, it ought to help me get my mind off of things," he nodded.

"Would you like to stay for supper?" Tina asked as she moved toward the kitchen once again.

"Sure I'd love to," Maggie smiled in response.

"Okay, it should be ready around the time mom gets home," Tina called over her shoulder, "In an hour or so."

"Alright," Carmen said, "We won't get buried too deep."

"What happened?" Carmen asked as soon as they were alone in his room.

"The jewel I gave you let your character out into the real world," Maggie informed him, as she settled herself on the chair at his desk, "I honestly didn't think you would be capable of that for a while at least. You weren't prepared for it though which is why you don't remember anything and passed out after it was over."

"It was supposed to do that?" Carmen demanded incredulously, flopping down onto his bed.

"Not exactly. It is capable of doing it," she admitted, "but for a newbie like you it should have just given you a sense of foreboding when you were in danger, and possibly hidden you from other active players. Not that I doubted it before, but you are definitely who I was looking for."

"What is going on?" Carmen inquired leaning toward her, "You said that you would explain later, well, it's later. Though what happened today was obviously dangerous enough, I get the feeling that that was not the danger you mentioned earlier."

"Hmm," Maggie crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, "Where to start... at the beginning I guess. Are you familiar with the Bible at all?"

"Not as much as I could be I suppose," Carmen shrugged, "but I'm familiar with the more common parts. Why?"

"You're familiar with the Flood described in Genesis and the events following it?"

"Yes, I think so," Carmen's brow wrinkled in confusion, "The Tower of Babel and all that, right? What does that have to do with anything?"

"The Lord said," Maggie quoted, "'If as one people they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan will be impossible for them. Come let Us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.' That's from Genesis 11:6-7."

"Okay," Carmen was clearly confused, "I'm still not seeing what this has to do with anything."

"That is your point of reference for the beginning of this story," Maggie shrugged.

"So what you're saying is that the Bible is true?" Carmen demanded in an annoyed tone, "I don't believe in that stuff."

"Not believing in something doesn't make it any less true," Maggie shrugged once again, "You can disbelieve in gravity all you want to, but if you jump off of a chair you're going to land on the floor. Besides, I don't care one way or the other whether you believe it right now or not, that's where the story starts."

"But what about magic, witches, aliens, and psychics?"

"What about them?"

"My parent's pastor says that they don't exist," Carmen stated defiantly.

"So?" Maggie looked him directly in the eye, "Their pastor is wrong. In fact, the Bible confirms the existence of several of those things. That's why you need to read it for yourself and not listen to what this or that 'holy person' says about it.

"This was supposed to be a lesson on The Game, not on the Bible. After the flood, before the Tower of Babel there was a group of wizards who separated themselves from the great city that was being built. Ham, the youngest son of Noah had brought onto the ark much of the knowledge from before the flood among these books were many tomes of magic. These wizards enacted a spell, an awesome and magnificent spell, and also a terrible one.

"The Game was created at the cost of the lives of its creators. There are reasons certain things are forbidden to humans. The effects of creating The Game were two fold. First, every person living on the earth at that time was instantaneously put into the game. Secondly, the game would be self-generating. What that means is that every child born of parents in the game is automatically in the game."

"So what is the point of this game?" Carmen asked in a subdued tone.

"For most people, there is no point," Maggie told him flatly, "Approximately 5% of the world's population are active players. For the 5% that are active players most of them only play for fun, or as an escape from their reality. You can't win per se, and you can't loose, as long as you and your character are still alive."

"I take it that's the point where my being in danger comes in," Carmen sighed.

"Exactly right," Maggie nodded, "It has come to our attention, those of the Shadarim, that someone has concluded that they can actually win The Game. They believe that there is a prize for them to receive if they do. Although we are certain there isn't a way for them to win, the way that they think they can win is unacceptable."

"They want to kill me," Carmen concluded.

"Or compromise you," she nodded, "Or possibly corrupt you. We're not sure, but none of those options are acceptable. So I was sent to make sure it doesn't happen."

"Are all Shadarim women?"

"No. Why?"

"So why did they send you?"

"To protect you," she glanced nervously away from his penetrating stare.

"No. Why did they send you specifically?"

"Because I had the best chance of getting close to you and getting you to believe us," she blushed slightly.

"Why?"

"Because I love you," she whispered, "and in The Game you love me."

"What are our names in The Game?" Carmen was still hesitant to go along with the information he'd been given, it all just seemed too unreal.

"My name was Kiera," she started, "but you changed it and called me Mink. To all in The Game you are Kill Zone, the highest level Shadarim Master there has ever been. To me you are something far more. You are my Jahxa."

"Master, lover, teacher, friend, and soul mate," Carmen let his hesitation flow away from him like grass on the surface of a river, "What do I need to do?"

"You must learn to open yourself to The Game," she smiled warmly in encouragement, "By combining your two personas both will be greatly strengthened."

"How?"

"There is no reaction," the man at the head of the table announced, "Nothing we have done here has shown the slightest ripple in The Game."

"Maybe they are just hiding them," a woman from the side of the table suggested.

"The only way we could be sure would be to terminate the subject," the man beside her pointed out, "Are we ready to take that step? There are still 14 others for us to observe."

"I move that we insert a kill switch and let him go until we have checked on the others," a man from up the table put forward.

"Second?" the man at the head looked around calmly.

"Seconded," the man at the end of the table spoke for the first time.

"All in favor?" every hand at the table raised, "Good. Make it so."

Carmen ate slowly his mind wandering over what Maggie had told him. The conversation buzzed quietly around him, though he paid it little attention. His sister's question caught his attention though.

"So what exactly is Applied Gameology?" she turned to glance at Carmen as she waited for Maggie's response.