Chapter 5: Introspection
Going through his messages Jason saw his wife sending an angrier message with every text she sent and call he missed.
'Well looks like I'm sleeping on the couch again tonight. I wonder if there's some way I can salvage the situation. I really don't want to sleep on the couch…'
Jason had bought the Platinum Editions specifically so that his family could train longer and gain more strength than others in the world without the Platinum Edition could.
There was no price too high that Jason wouldn't pay in order to protect his family. To him, spending all of his savings so that his family could have a higher chance of surviving the apocalypse was money well spent. Not to mention he could earn back more than triple that amount in just a couple of days.
However, he couldn't exactly tell his wife those prior reasons. To her and everyone else in the world, at the moment this was just a game.
Jason sighed and shrugged. What's been done is done. He'll just have to wing it when the situation comes.
Maybe he'll have to give her a bit of information from the future, claiming that it came from a reliable source.
Jason replied to his wife over text,
{I'll explain everything when I get home} Jason
A moment later…
{I'll be waiting} Beth
'I haven't even been back to this time period for more than 6 hours and I've already made Beth upset several times. This isn't good. I hope my time as a General, leading humanities meager forces, hasn't changed me from the man that Beth once loved.'
Memories of coming home to blood-stained hallways and the mangled corpses of his family forced its way in his head once again. His face turned stoic as he remembered everything that had happened after that fateful day.
After burying his wife and three children he had gone on a slaughtering rampage, killing every demon that crossed his path. Once he had found the Blood Orcs responsible for his families miserable fate, he slowly tortured the b*sta*ds to death. He made sure that every moment was as excruciating as possible for them before he sent them back to hell.
Any demon that arrived to give back-up to the orcs were slaughtered, and after he had finished making the orcs wish they had never existed, he left to go hunt the other demons of that first invasion day.
He eventually would save one group of humans after another and established the Last Refuge with them. That was when one of the users he had saved brought forth the mythical fortress treasure which protected them until the end.
Jason had been a firm and fair leader that was loved by those he had saved. They may have all looked up to him, loved him, and obeyed his word as if he was a god; but no-one was able to fill the void in his heart that his family had left behind. His capacity to empathize and feel emotions had seemed to disappear.
This had even affected his ability to lead at the beginning, until he learned how to fake emotions for those around him. This way he could be the leader they had all needed.
Even so, he had truly felt nothing since the death of his loved ones that day.
'Now I have to jump back into life, acting as if nothing had ever happened.'
Jason had felt nothing but emptiness since that invasion day, but now he would have to force himself to feel again, to love again; something that wouldn't be too difficult since his family was everything to him. Nonetheless he would have to start making decisions with his wife again.
He may have made every major decision for himself and others for the past year, but now he has his wife who is his partner and equal in all things. Someone who married him to stand by his side through every trial in life.
Jason decided that he would tell her everything that happened in his past life, eventually. Definitely not today. He would have to find the right time to do so.
After Jason's vehicle pulled into the driveway, he stepped out, walked up to his house and entered through the front door.
Opening the door into the family room he saw Beth sitting on the couch surfing through her phone. A moment later she put her phone to sleep, set it on the seat next to her, and gestured at the couch in front of her.
Flashing a sweet smile that Jason could tell was very forced she said "Come have a seat babe, we need to talk"
'The dreaded 'we need to talk' phrase!' Jason knew he was in for an earful and an uncomfortable night on the couch if he couldn't smooth things over.
"Sweetie," Jason started as he went to go sit elegantly on the sofa, "I'm sorry I didn't consult with you before I spent that much money." Jason paused, trying to find the right words to continue.
Beth sat there stoically, waiting for Jason to finish.
With a sigh, Jason continued. "I'll be honest Beth, this game is going to change the world in ways that we can't imagine. I bought the best quality items for our family because our family should have the best possible future that we can have."
Beth interrupted Jason at this point, "That money was our savings! All the hard work and deployments you put into the military have now gone down the drain to fund your videogame habit! I want you to return those headsets immediately and get our money back!"
Jason could tell she was furious. He knew she had sacrificed a lot through the years, especially during his deployments. Due to the nature of his missions being top secret he wasn't allowed to contact his family back home, leading to his wife always wondering if he was even alive.
"There is a lot of potential in this game. To say the least, there is a huge financial opportunity in here that we can take advantage of. You can think of this as an investment."
"An investment?" Her voice quickly began to rise. "If we are going to invest, we should invest properly by buying stocks in the game! In addition to that, when are you even going to have time to play this game? Your job at the office starts tomorrow!" She spread her hands wide, as if daring Jason to refute her.
Jason paused for a moment, waiting to see if she was going to say anything else. When she didn't, he continued. "Beth, I need you to trust me. I don't plan on starting that job tomorrow."
"Now your quitting your job to play a video game?" Beth was practically yelling at this point.
"I've received good intel that this game is a mine of gold waiting to be harvested. This is the opportunity you and I have dreamed of! With this I can finally give you and the kids the life that you deserve. We can build that dream house we've been talking about, even get the kids the best education possible. We can even start vacationing wherever we'd like to in the world!"
Jason spoke with passion, trying to get her caught up in their dream lifestyle choices that they would talk about to each other for hours on end. 'Hopefully this will work!'
"How about we make a deal Beth? If I can't triple the money we invested in three days, I'll return the headsets. There's a five day trial attached to them so they will still accept them if we decide to return the headsets."
"I don't know Jason; this is really risky." Beth paused and frowned. 'He seems pretty confident he can do this, if he can really triple the money…' She began thinking about the possibilities.
"But most importantly Beth, the functions of these headsets will also allow us to spend more time as a family due to the 'play while you sleep' function. We'll be able to easily make up for all the lost time that came about because of my choice to work for the military."
At the mention of this, Beth's eyes glittered. Her whole demeanor seemed to relax, and Jason could tell that the danger had passed.
"You should've started by mentioning that!" Beth exclaimed. Standing up she walked and sat down across Jason's lap.
"I forgive you Jason." She smiled lovingly while staring into his eyes. She then gave him a stern glare. "But if you can't triple the investment within three days, you're returning the headsets."
Jason could feel his heart almost stop. She felt so soft, smelt so good, looked absolutely stunning, and her lips were so close to his. He began to lean forward to taste the sweet nectar of her lips.
"It's a deal." He whispered.
Beth smiled deviously and leaned back, placing her index finger on his lips.
"Just because I forgive you doesn't mean your off the hook! I need to punish you somehow." She gripped her chin and looked up, putting on a show as if she was pondering.
Jason decided to take a gamble after looking at the clock and seeing the kids wouldn't be home from school for several hours. He picked up Beth and looked longingly into her eyes.
"You can punish me however you like." He started carrying her to the bedroom, "I am yours to command my love."
After several hours the doorbell rang. A few minutes later two, eleven-year-old boys and an eleven-year-old girl came walking through the door with multiple packages in their arms.
The two boys looked exactly the same; as if someone had 'copy and pasted' one of them. The girl was similar in height to the other two, and while carrying 2 boxes she yelled out,"MOM! DAD! YOU GUYS GOT SOME PACKAGES!"
After a moment Jason and Beth walked out of their room. Their clothes were rumpled and Jasons shirt was on backwards.
Once Jason saw the kids, a huge smile spread over his face and he ran towards them. "Clark! Bryan! Jessy! I missed you guys so much!" He laughed, scooping each of them up and spinning around with them, causing the boxes to tumble to the floor.
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad" The three children cried harmoniously. "Your squeezing us to hard!"
After a few more spins, he set them down laughing. Beth was just standing by the hallway with her over her mouth, suppressing a giggle. Pure joy could be seen radiating out of her eyes.
"We only had school this morning, its not like we didn't see you last night?" grumbled Clark, the oldest of the three by 2 whole minutes.
Jason laughed and said "It's cause I got you guys presents!"
Of course, Jason wasn't going to tell them that he hadn't seen them for a year and that last he saw them, they were dead.
"Presents?" Jessy squealed with joy, "Where! I want it! I want it!"
Bryan bent down to pick up the boxes he dropped and asked, "Are these it? We got off the bus and saw these drones fly to the house with these boxes."
"Of course!" Jason said with bravado. He handed a box to each member of his family, keeping one for himself.
Everyone, including Beth, then tore into the packaging. After they got through the generic brown box, bright LED light came shining out of the boxes. The kids and Beth's eyes lit up, and they all started talking at once.
"You got us the Platinum Edition Headsets for --Might, Magic, Mayhem-- online!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"I can't wait to play this game! Look! Mom and Dad got one too!"
"I can't wait to play with all my friends!"
As the kids were talking at a thousand miles an hour, Jason cleared his throat saying.
"Yes, I got you guys this. It comes with rules and conditions for you guys though."
"One, you always have to listen to mom and dad. Two, treat everyone in game with respect, that includes the NPC's. Three, no joining any guilds. Your daddy is going to create one eventually, and all of you will be the first ones in it." Jason took a breathe and continued.
"Lastly, the three of you have to stick together at all times. If I find out you don't stick together, then I'll take away your headsets. Am I clear on these 4 rules?" Jason looked around at this point, staring down his children with the air of a commander.
In unison they said yes and nodded their heads.
Jason was beaming at this point. His children were so obedient and were the best kids ever.
He started walking towards their rooms, calling over his shoulder. "Now let me help all of you get your headsets set up. You all can call in sick to school tomorrow so you can get a head start."
"YAY!"
"WOHOO!"
"YIPPE!"
At 8am the game would go online, and everyone could enter. Jason wanted to be completely ready and have his family prepared for everything.
After spending some quality time with his family through the evening, Jason and Beth put them to bed and had some more quality time with each other.
They all woke up early the next day, had a good breakfast, talked about plans they had for once they entered the game then went into their rooms to put their headsets on 5 minutes before the game started.
Jason snuggled up next to his wife, put his headset on and waited. Eventually the timer came up.
[System Message – Time remaining until game start 1 minute.]
…
…
…
[System Message – Time remaining until 5 seconds]
[System Message – Time remaining until 4 seconds]
[System Message – Time remaining until 3 seconds]
[System Message – Time remaining until 2 seconds]
[System Message – Time remaining until 1 seconds]
[System Message – Welcome to --Might, Magic, Mayhem--]
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
dav3676
dav3676 Big shout-out to Lonnie_Barrar for the power stone yesterday!
I put a bit more length into this chapter, and rushed the character development of the kids a bit so that we can finally start getting into the game!
Lets keep sending those power stones and get some reviews rolling once the book finishes its reveiew period!
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