World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (61 page)

“Wha?” Conrad
quickly stops laughing as he’s beginning to understand what the
older man is planning to do. “What’s going on?” the big man
turns serious now.

“Mark wants me to
join Eternia Gaming Inc. as Vice President of Player Relations,”
Wesley announces. He turns to face Diana. “And Priscilla has agreed
to stay onboard, and report to me.”

“Your sister is
sticking around? Did she say anything to you?” Lucious asks.

Diana looks down on the
table. “We have been avoiding each other in the house, ever since
the Hundred Man Tournament,” she says. “So, I know nothing about
this.”

Wesley reaches out and
touches Diana lightly on her hand. “You should talk to her.
Apparently your sister broke up with Charles,” he says.

Diana shrugs. She still
hasn’t forgiven Priscilla.

“Anyway, since I will
be a full-time employee there is something that I have to do today,”
the ex-Marine continues.

“You’re leaving
us,” Laura realizes.

Conrad puts both hands
on the table forcefully. “You can’t!”

Wesley smiles gently.
“It’s a conflict of interest if I stay in The Strangers. Other
players will look at the group, and wonder what special benefits
you’re getting from me, since I’ll be a big wig in the company,”
he explains.

Lucious nods. “You
are correct,” he admits.

Laura pats Conrad
gently on the back. “Indeed. We don’t want the red bulls’ eye
on our backs to get even bigger. I think it’s the right decision
for Wesley to resign from The Strangers,” she says.

Diana holds Wesley’s
hand and smiles. “Good luck in your new job,” she says.

All four set of eyes
turn toward Conrad.

The big man leans back
on his chair and sighs. “If you really want that job, I can’t
force you to stick around with us peons,” he says dejectedly.

“It’s an important
job. And someone needs to be around to help the new CEO deal with the
merger and to ensure that the servers for the World of Eternia will
continue to stay up,” Wesley replies. “There have been rumors
that Eternia Gaming Inc. will shut down WoE and focus strictly on
becoming a hardware maker. Part of my job as VP of Player Relations
is to convince current WoE players that the new company is committed
to keep the game online, or else players will start canceling their
subscriptions and put WoE in a perilous position financially,” he
explains.

“Well, Mark is a very
lucky guy to have you watching his back,” Conrad replies and
reluctantly holds out his hand. When Wesley reciprocates for a firm
handshake, the big man adds, “Good luck to you. It’s been an
honor having you lead us.”

“It was a pleasure to
spend my time with all of you,” Wesley replies as he looks around
the table one last time. “And now it’s time for me to pass the
torch-to Conrad. He is now the new leader of The Strangers. Don’t
give him a hard time, please.”

“I’ll try,”
Lucious mutters, earning another slap on the arm from Diana.

Conrad begins to open
his mouth to decline the promotion, but the look from Wesley quickly
shuts him down.

“You’re a natural
born leader,” Laura says. “It’s time to step up to the plate.”

Conrad looks into
Wesley’s eyes and makes a promise. “I will.”

Charles slowly enters
the bar and walks over to join Richard’s table at the far corner of
the room.

“Have you come to a
decision to join my company?” Richard asks casually.

Charles holds out his
hand. “I’m in,” he announces.

As Richard seals the deal with a
gentleman’s handshake, the two men grin at each other like sharks.
There are plenty of opportunities in the future to boot the other man
out of the fifty-fifty partnership. And afterwards, those old
backstabbers at Eternia Gaming Inc. will get some payback.

THE
END

Calling himself a
"literary chameleon," the author is an experimental writer
who enjoys the intellectual challenge of writing in a variety of
lengths, from flash fiction stories to short stories to novellas to
full length novels. Fiction genres he has written in include science
fiction, urban, fantasy, romance, and horror. His latest work is a
short story titled, “The Ghost on the Street Corner.” He has been
published on OneFortyFiction.com

Antony W.F. Chow is a
longtime resident in the hometown of the New York Mets MLB team, and
currently recovering from the heartbreak of his team’s recent World
Series loss. He is best known for his
online
article on spotting counterfeit Japanese anime figures
. He is
also known as the author of
Broken
Hearted: A 9/11 Story
. An unauthorized webcomic version is
available on Google Play Store. He may be reached by email at
[email protected]
.
Follow him on Twitter
@PuppyChowNyc