New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

The first of their food soon came in as they discussed the finer details of the contest Damien wanted to hold, and they paused to enjoy the appetizers. Soft groans of pleasure replaced the serious talk as the food hit their palates.

Kary couldn't have been happier about her choice as she looked at the appetizer Louis had ordered and found it looked way too fancy for her. On the other hand, Alex's salsa and chips looked good as he shovelled each bite into his mouth.

Alex glanced in Kary's entrée's direction once, and after she growled at him almost animalistically, he stared at his food instead.

Stealing a bite wasn't worth losing a limb to her bite.

The server returned a few minutes later when he heard the talking restart to take the order for the main dish, and all the options tempted Alex and Kary.

They finally settled on something not too filling since they would be here for a while, and if they overate, they would feel drowsy.

The conversation lasted two hours until Alexander eventually decided they had discussed enough.

He and Kary had to log into New Eden early today. They had something to do.

Something important.

Louis couldn't hold them long and only insisted they sign the draft contracts he had come up with following their discussions before they left. Once they did, he bid them farewell and let them bolt out of the restaurant, saying he would cover the tab as a thank you.

Alex and Kary didn't hesitate to use the limo to return home, letting the man deal with his own transport situation alone. They were already close to being late.

Alex even rushed the driver, saying they were in a hurry, which caused him great displeasure, as he ran yellow lights and only slowed down at stop signs. But his job was accommodating his passengers, even if he was slightly bending the traffic laws.

They made it home in just under ten minutes, a better time than the twenty they had taken to get to the restaurant, and quickly thanked the driver before running inside.

The man shook his head in annoyance but was already paid, so there was no real trouble. But he had hoped to do his usual spiel, offering them preferred rates if they called him directly.

"Bah. Who cares? They are probably nouveau rich and won't have money long, spending it like this. Or worse, they are spending daddy's money. Who cares? They can pay full price next time, too," the man complained as he pulled away from the building.

If he had known they had just signed a contract that gave them twenty-five million US dollars up front, the man would have chewed his shoes.

As Alex and Kary reached the penthouse, they rushed up the stairs for a quick shower before shoving themselves into the gaming pod for at least fourteen hours.

They had to open one of the patio doors so the little drone from EG could resupply the IV bags while they played. Alex finally got the service when he noticed they played well over ten hours per day.

The hassle of getting out and changing the pouches, only to go back in, was annoying.

For the price he paid, at least he had the peace of mind of not getting interrupted if he was in the middle of something important.

Of course, he could have turned the notifications off and let himself go past those ten hours without changing the pouches. He was never in there long enough to cause severe problems.

But he pulled out of the pods feeling parched, and his mouth tasted like a handful of coins. It wasn't enjoyable.

He'd rather pay than feel like that every morning.

Once they were both in their pods, they logged in simultaneously.

"Log In."

*Launching New Eden*

*Logging in*

*Welcome back player Astaroth/Phoenix*

Opening their eyes to the familiar brown ceiling of their royal room, Astaroth and Phoenix quickly rushed up and grabbed the clothes left for them on their dressers.

They practically jumped into the clothes before rushing out of the room and upstairs to the holding cells.

There, they found a dishevelled and heavily wounded diplomat whose once defiant eyes now showed an emptiness. All his false bravado from the previous day was gone.

"Sheesh. I don't even want to know what he went through. Even though he deserved every second of it, I'm surprised how far they went," Astaroth commented.

He had expected to find him broken, but not to this point.

Then again, he was surprised the man was still alive.

"At least they respected our one request. He's still alive," Phoenix said, shrugging.

Astaroth shrugged his shoulders as well in response. It no longer mattered, since they were allowed to deal with him how they wanted.

Now, they had to decide how they would do the deed. It was already decided in their minds that his life was forfeit.

But picking a death sentence wasn't as easy as saying, 'Alright, death by hanging.'

Even though the man deserved no respect, taking a life was a serious matter.

"Let's convene a meeting, and we can take the input from the people concerned. I think that's only fair," Phoenix said, turning around.

"Sounds fair indeed," Astaroth replied, glancing one last time at the prisoner.

All the while they discussed, he didn't even look at them. He was gone far inside his own mind, probably trying to protect the last bits of his sanity.

Astaroth and Phoenix didn't know that Commander Alena and her son, Castien, had been torturing the man nonstop, on a rotation, for the last day. He hadn't had even a minute of reprieve.

This was enough to drive anyone on the precipice of despair. It was a testament to his mental fortitude that he was only silent and not a blabbering mess.

Astaroth walked to the throne room with Phoenix by his side as they stopped at the head servant Chele's little office, asking him to convene a meeting with the people from the incident present.

The Lizardman inquired if all the people had to be there, alluding to Coral, but Astaroth repeated that everyone concerned should be there. Chele nodded his head before the monarchs left.

He could only hope that speaking about this wouldn't further traumatize the girl. But it wasn't his place to call out the monarchs on their decisions.