Chương 152: B3 Chapter 8 - Frost Mages

A few weeks later, a night before the USA International Masters was about to start, Veyra sat on my couch with her luggage packed into a small duffel bag, ready to depart. She looked at her phone while I checked the last of the clothes I'd bring to Maryland.

"I swear, if we lose to VeilShot…" Veyra was saying.

"I'm fine losing to any other team—I don't care, but if we lose to this guy…"

"Is he running his mouth again?" I asked.

"He's arguing that women can't ever be top archers because of female anatomy and because of how our brains work." She rolled her eyes.

"I would really like to know how his brain works, because what the hell does that even mean?" I snorted a laugh.

"That's a funny argument to make in a game that has by far the most girls playing professionally in all of esports." She sighed again at whatever post she was reading.

"It gets worse. Someone told him he's jealous that none of the 'hot archer baddies' want to make out with him. He took that personally and claims that the one time he visited an archery club, he had, eight different girls chasing him out of there, and he had to turn them all down because he doesn't want, and I quote, 'to spend all his time powerleveling overly emotional unskilled idiots.'""Wow," I said with an amused smile.

"I'm surprised he still has a fan club. I guess that's the perk of being a top player."

"He looks like a villager from Minecraft, though!" Veyra said.

"Like, it's one thing to be openly sexist, but this guy is nowhere near attractive enough to be acting like this!"

"The hawk's beak is required to be a good archer, I guess," I said. That drew a pfft out of her as she covered her face, but smiled at the joke. I zipped my bag shut and tapped my pockets for the phone and wallet check. Veyra seemed to be feeling good today, which was a relief after spending last evening in the bathroom with her. Her condition really had a mind of its own. A morning could start perfectly normally, until out of nowhere, her body decided to ruin the day.

Those nights were exhausting, but I was just happy that Veyra was comfortable in my apartment even if she felt like she was about to pass out.

"We ready?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, placing her phone down.

"I'm feeling decent. Maybe I'll survive without the bucket. Bring it just in case, though."

"Yep." I filled my arms with both of our luggage, having none left for Veyra.

"I'll bring these first."

"I can carry it," Veyra said and placed her duffel bag on her lap.

"I'm not this useless, Aiden."

"Alright," I said with a laugh, and five minutes later, we had the car ready to go. I gave Veyra power over the aux and headed to our hotel in Maryland, paid by the organizers of the competition. They would have also paid for flights, but since this was only a four-hour drive, we decided to avoid the hassle of flying.

"I can't remember the last time I was on a road-trip," Veyra was saying with a happy smile, still amongst the city traffic.

"I'm kind of excited."

"I always just slept through the family trips," I said.

"It's my first time driving on a road trip."

"Nervous?" she asked with a teasing smile. I snorted, smiling with her. I was mostly nervous about Veyra getting dizzy in the middle of the highway, though I didn't say that out loud. Generally, I'd never been a fan of road trips. My Dad's side of the family lived in Ohio, and my family visited them annually, bringing me and Anna with them.

Not only did that mean I had to sit in the back seat for almost a full day with them, it also meant I had to spend a week away from VR with cousins I really didn't get along with. Those memories were still there, making me dislike road trips by association.

Second by second, though, as I turned from the city onto a sunny and relatively empty highway, with Veyra's playlist of some internet classics playing in the background, she herself smiling in a good mood, I could feel those memories being overwritten in real time. Maybe there was some appeal to road trips. The trip hardly took any time at all, and we appeared in Maryland, the city of USA's biggest Wonderwind tournament. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

USA International Masters was hosted in CFG Bank Arena—a recently modernized concert and event arena in downtown Baltimore. The event was less like Worlds with its a huge LAN party and convention going on alongside it, and more like a hockey match, where people came to see individual matches. Veyra and I arrived one day early to a hotel, which was comparable, if not better, than the one we received in Sweden.

Not quite a luxury suite, but the balcony had a beautiful view of the harbor, and all the drinks in the fridge were free. The beds were sadly separate, but we already had experience sleeping in a twin-sized bed, and it wasn't like we used the full space of our queen sized bed at home either. The hotel staff was also kind enough to accommodate Veyra's diet. She'd messaged the organizers, and the restaurant promised to treat her, free of cost.

For all other competitors, a buffet table was open from eight am to eight pm for the duration of the event. So after a few stretches in our room, we headed straight to eat. The first day here was purely to chill out and prepare our minds for tomorrow. Nothing was expected out of us today, and I didn't think we'd have anything interesting going on. But when the elevator opened to take us down, a group of five exited on the same floor. They laughed amongst each other with light intoxication.

A woman in a ponytail stepped out first, her step wobbling a little. She spotted us and paused. Her eyes opened and a beaming smile appeared. I recognized her as well. This was Aurinn.

"No way!" she said.

"Hello," Veyra said with a little wave, slightly taken aback. Three more Zenith Protocol members followed: Henrift, still rocking his signature flannel, CrazyPizzaMan, who looked like your average fresh college graduate wearing a monotone black outfit with sweatpants, only slightly older than me, and Ducky2, an Asian man with round glasses, late twenties, with a face that could make anyone jealous. Aurinn's face lit up.

"Oh my god, Veyra! How are you? Are we on the same floor?"

"I'm good. Looks like we are." She smiled awkwardly.

"Sorry for not chatting lately. I've been busy." An enthusiastic, drunken chuckle escaped Aurinn.

"Not at all. I'm happy to finally meet. Let's have a good competition." She grabbed Veyra's hand, and they held their palms together. I glanced at the three guys, who, one-by-one, shrugged and smiled, clearly drunk themselves. Behind them, a short girl in a black hoodie walked past.

"Oh, sorry," I said as I gave way, letting her into the hallways. Except, she didn't walk past, to her room. She headed straight to Veyra.

"So you think you're the best frost mage?" she said sternly. I took a closer look at her features. Her brown hair and style of clothes—dark leggings and a hoodie that covered her to her knees—didn't offer any clues. The birthmark on her left cheek also threw me off, but the shape of her face was still the same. I put two and two together.

"Eirael, right?" Veyra asked. Eirael stared back as a response. The 25th ranked player in Wonderwind had by far the smallest presence in the room. She was barely taller than Veyra in her wheelchair, having the exact opposite attitude of Aurinn's excitement. The silence was quickly getting uncomfortable. Veyra's eyes started to wander out, then back to Eirael, wondering what she wanted. Until Eirael merely walked past her, scanned her card to enter room 38. Without a word, she closed the door.

The other Zenith Protocol members smiled sheepishly after her.

"She's a bit antisocial," Aurinn said with an awkward laugh.

"She doesn't mean anything bad, though. She's actually a fan."

"She has been studying your replays all trip," Ducky2 said with a smile.

"That's just her way of asking for an autograph." Veyra rubbed her cheek.

"Uh-huh. She seems interesting."

"Terrifying," CrazyPizzaMan corrected.

"Just never underestimate her," Aurinn said.

"She's a machine in-game. People don't realize just how good she is. FireBrand says she'd have god status if she wasn't so… well, stubborn."

"She's only rank twenty-five, though?" I said.

"And you're both below thirty," Aurinn said.

"The ranks aren't always the most accurate indication of skill."

"I'll be excited to meet in the finals, then," I said with a smile. By now, the elevator opened on our floor a second time as a new group entered, pausing as they spotted all of us. That was the cue for Zenith Protocol to keep moving. Aurinn went to the same room as Eirael, with the guys sharing a room.

"See you, Veyra!" We waved, and continued onto the restaurant as had been the plan. The hope for a calm, quiet night was forgotten right away. The restaurant, bustling with people, reminded me of a cruise ship. Its wall curved inward, tables neatly lined up with utensils in place and a buffet table that spanned multiple dividers of the room.

Wonderwind players were spread everywhere, some wearing sponsored shirts, others exhausted as they moved to their rooms or already enjoying themselves and laughing, meeting friends they hadn't seen in real life in ages. I recognized less faces here than in Worlds, but I'd still done research on a majority of players here with notes on how to assassinate them. Veyra received her smoothie straight from the chef, while I picked my dinner from the assortment of dishes.

The food looked good enough that even I picked a healthy, varied meal.

"You've checked the rules again, right?" Veyra asked the first thing after I got back to the table. She stared at her phone.

"Uh, it's a five versus five," I said. She gave me a look.

"It's a public gearset tournament, so people will know our items. I would have liked to hide a few, but I guess we'll have to live with that. Every team will hold an interview before each match, so be prepared for a lot of those. We'll have the group stage tomorrow and the brackets continue with single-elimination best of fives. No losers' bracket. If we fail to qualify, we're out. If we lose one match, we're out."

"That's brutal," I said.

"So if we're unlucky and go against Zenith right away, we're probably just out?"

"Well, if we lose, yeah," Veyra said.

"I guess I'm fine losing to Aurinn. As long as VeilShot doesn't knock us out anything is fine."

"As long as who doesn't what, now?" a new voice said to our left. I turned my head and instantly recognized the frowning face of VeilShot.