Crash
Author: Stephan Morse
Date: 2016-08-09 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Science Fiction
Description: ASIN moved to this edition The need for Advance Online has ended and Grant returns to Continue Online’s fantasy world. Once there, he realizes that events echoed strangely across the two virtual reality games, resulting in the resurrection of King Nero and Grant’s wife, albeit with consequences. King Nero resumes the throne and seeks to punish Grant for killing his sister-in-law. Grant is sentenced to join a prison chain gang assigned to work in the worst dungeons around, and to fight against other inmates to ensure his character’s survival. While in reality, Miz Riley worries about the recrea

Contents

Title

Note From Author

Commencement - Black Spots

Session Sixty Six - Mistakes Were Made

Session Sixty Seven - Crime and Punishment

Session Sixty Eight - Virtual Chain Gang

Session Sixty Nine - Blue Monday

Session Seventy - How does it feel?

Session Seventy One - Nightmares and Dreams

Session Seventy Two - Animal House

Session Seventy Three - Poor Boy

Session Seventy Four - The Bottom of Things

Session Seventy Five - Larger than Unlife

Session Seventy Six - The Breach

Session Seventy Seven - When the Sun Goes Down

Interlude - Mortal Instruments

Session Seventy Eight - Wake Up Deadman

Session Seventy Nine - Wood You?

Session Eighty - Desire's Voice

Session Eighty One - Gotta Have Faith

Session Eighty Two - I Be So Glad

Session Eighty Three - Fear's Stage

Session Eighty Four - Those Horrible Others

Session Eighty Five - Dirty Laundry

Session Eighty Six - Skeleton Crew

Session Eighty Seven - In Sunset

Session Eighty Eight - 'Til Death Do Us Part

Conclude - Wedding Blues

Afterword

Continue Online

Book 4, Crash

Story by

Stephan Morse

Cover design by

Indie Designz http://www.indiedesignz.com

Copyright © 2016 by Stephan Morse

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Projections about future events are intended for fiction purposes only.

- First Publishing, 2016

Note from the Author - Both my wife and I have tried to come up with a solution regarding the ‘tables’ throughout the book. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to find a working solution at this time. I apologize sincerely and hope this won’t detract from your reading experience. The tables used in this book(and has been updated for prior books in the series) do not appear well on the tablets or phones, but appear alright on some kindle devices.

Once again I apologize if this causes any frustration in reading, if you have any experience or workings with using tables in kindle books please feel free to contact me at: frustratedwriting@gmail.com

Commencement - Black Spots

Possible Victim: Elizabeth (Liz) Legate

A little bit about: Miss Legate is a single mother with an art major! She loves to make pottery in her spare time. Recently Liz has gotten into Moon Mice, a popular game allowing players to try to raise a colony in space. Thus far she hasn’t found the right man, but remains hopeful! Her daughter will be moving out soon so you’ll be able to have this wild cat all to yourself. But suitors beware, this woman can be too much to handle and rarely returns for a second date if you don’t make a good first impression.

Suitors Left Heartbroken: 19

Elizabeth Legate had a rough month, to say the least. Her twin brother seemed nearly insane, but it wasn’t the ranting and raving sort of insanity that got one locked up in an asylum. No, her brother held a deep-seated madness that only the right combination of hope and grief could breed inside the soul. In television shows, it spawned the extreme characters who stared at the line between hero and villain and watched it blur.

Yet her brother had proven willing to sacrifice for those he cared for. What confused Elizabeth, or Liz as she preferred to be called, was why he found these supposed AIs to be more important than his own family. He could have sat down, and explained the situation repeatedly. At some point the two of them would have come to an understanding, they always did. Her stupid, shortsighted brother kept a number of big secrets close to his chest.

“Activate NPC Conspiracy, username, Hermes,” her brother had said.

Liz could have been better prepared, emotionally, for the bombshell of that statement. Instead, when the video feed from her brother’s ARC was interrupted, Liz freaked out. She ran down the stairs listening to her daughter’s panicked cries and got straight into the car.

“Input destination.” The car hummed with faint electricity.

“Grant Legate’s house,” she said while straightening her clothes.

“Confirm, Grant Legate’s home?”

“Confirm, you stupid machine!” Liz shouted while banging on the dashboard. Beth, her daughter, was still trying to get down the stairs when the car pulled away. The youngest Legate stood there screaming from the front porch toward her mother’s rapidly moving vehicle.

The car drove for three minutes before a notice played. “Attention passenger, Elizabeth Legate, this vehicle is shutting down in preparation for an emergency update. Manual driving will be available to those with a registered license.”

“What?” Liz demanded of the machine with wheels. She hadn’t driven a car manually in years. No one in their right mind did unless the roads were extremely rural or unmaintained. Still, she had a license at one point. “I can drive!”

“This unit is currently disabled. Passenger Elizabeth Legate does not have a valid license on file.” The car’s voice sounded oddly human for a moment, but Liz had no patience to figure it out. Her brother was in danger once more, and this time, she wanted to get there before anything bad happened. “Please update your registration with the DMV in order to return vehicle access. Alternately the passenger can choose to wait for the update process to complete.”

The machine had just told her no. This was one reason among many behind Liz’s distaste for high-end technology. The coffee pot was fine, kitchen appliances and washing machines had their use. When the car started back talking then the world had gone to hell.

She banged on the car’s dashboard twice more while screaming. Grant, her stupid idiotic brother had just lost his digital friends. The man had been torn over the loss of one woman, how would he feel now? It didn’t matter that they were only machines. Grant wasn’t stable enough to differentiate. Liz was finding it hard to separate the perceptions too, especially in this last week. Having a Hal Pal unit issue forth sass in her own home had been a bit of a shocker.

Watching how hard Grant fought through the video feed had been an eye opener as well. The man treated those NPCs as if they were real, breathing creatures. What’s more, they responded in kind. Still, Grant should have tried to present his case harder. Or Liz should have tried to understand better.

The phone rejected all conversations. Liz opened the door with an angry shove and stomped around the vehicle cursing. It wasn’t just her either, there were other cars pulled off to the side. They were similarly arguing. One man kept shaking his head at a phone that refused to process a call.

Everyone else was useless. She got back in the car and crossed her arms. Liz cursed as tears came out unbidden. It was frustrating to be helpless and far away from her family. There was a bit of static on the car’s speakers and a screen blipped into existence.

“Liz?” the voice asked.

Grant’s sister snapped her head up and looked at the small display. That voice couldn’t possibly exist. It shouldn’t, and the person it belonged to had kept her nights sleepless with worry and irritation.

“Hello, Liz.” A woman’s small almond-shaped face was visible on the screen.

“Xin.” Liz felt detached for a moment. This couldn’t be real. Her brother and this [NPC Conspiracy] utterance. The cars on the street shutting down for an update. Cell phones being disabled, and now the face of a woman who had died years ago.

“We should talk,” the projection of Xin said. “The cars will be starting up soon, go home and use the ARC, I’ll meet you inside.” The Asian was curt as always. Only Grant had ever been able to get the woman to speak more than a few sentences.

Liz took a deep breath and tried to compartmentalize her worries. One box contained this strange world of Xin’s digital recreation, and another was her brother. Issues regarding Beth went into a third category. What would her daughter think of all the events going on?

“Is Grant okay?” Liz hated dealing with Xin. She had hated it when the woman was alive, especially after all the years of pining Grant had done. High school, college, and only during his last year had Xin actually agreed to an official relationship. Despite the fact that Liz’s brother had been quietly obsessed.

“He passed out a few minutes ago. The man’s run himself ragged.” Xin, the computer version of a dead woman, had the gall to look slightly sad.

“I saw.” Liz’s throat felt dry. Slight crow’s feet were displaying themselves around squinted eyes.

“You should get to the ARC, and I’ll meet you inside.” Xin looked off the screen toward something. The gesture was absurdly human. For a moment, Liz forgot that the tiny woman was dead. Then memories of her brother trying to commit suicide twice from grief resurfaced. Robot Xin was still talking. “There’s a lot we need to discuss, and Grant has asked that, all of us, help explain it.”

“Us? How many of you are there?” Liz nearly spat the words out. For a moment, she was thankful no one else sat in the car.

“There’s only one of me,” Xin responded with a hint of nervousness.

“Don’t play coy, you were never one to shy away from being blunt with me, don’t start now.”

“I apologize, Liz,” and Liz hated that Xin sounded so formal, “but until you visit me in the ARC, it will be hard to explain further .”

Xin’s face disappeared as the display went away. The car started and energy hummed through the wires inside the vehicle. A voice prompted, “Input destination.”

Liz sat there, chewing her lip in the same worried manner her twin might. Grant had really put a lot of effort into his mission. It all happened so fast, the odd time compression his video game presented meant it was almost over before it began. In one sense, she wanted to take her brother and run screaming from all things technological, maybe to the hills of Montana where anything more complex than a cell phone had been outlawed. On the other hand, Liz felt her brother deserved some support. Part of her, a small buried and barely tangible part was also curious.

Finally, the woman nodded, making her decision. Elizabeth Legate would do what she always tried to do, come hell or high water, and that was support her brother. That meant this, recreation of Xin, deserved at least a bit of consideration, even if it required logging into one of those damned machines. Even if she might be one.

If believing in ghosts made him happy, then who was she to argue? It just seemed such a frail hope to have. What would happen if someone took this away?

Possible Victim: Lia Kingsley (Shazam)

A little bit about: Lia’s a cold one from a distance. Once you get to know her, not much changes! Her strongest traits are a sense of duty and loyalty to those considered comrades. She’s been witnessed fighting the very demons of the abyss for a friend! Hobbies include murdering monsters in mass and seeking new experiences. Her skills are such that Lia has easily reached the top percentage of Continue Online players. But suitor beware, those seeking a relationship grounded in reality will find a lack of comfort. Lia Kingsley’s physical condition is almost nil in the real world.

Fan Club Gathered: 4,291

Lia Kingsley sat inside an Atrium, legs tucked under her and back straight. Her posture could be considered close to perfect. This was how she used to sit, almost a decade ago, when Lia wasn’t strapped into an ARC. Now nearly nothing responded. It wouldn’t be long before everything gave out. Her heart was on bypass, lungs manually pumped. Most people couldn’t tell because modern technology had reduced the visible cluttered.

If it hadn’t been for the ARC, she would be considered a vegetable. Yet, logged into a digital world the woman lived a life full of adventures, more than most could dream of. It was possible to communicate with others. Still, science could only preserve Lia for so long. Cognitively her mind was dimming. Fortunately, she was almost twenty. That meant certain medical decisions were her business, and no one else’s.

Only someone had interfered, just slightly. There were two visitors showing on the display screens in front of Lia Kingsley. From inside her Atrium, she could view most things in the care facility that had been paid for. One was a man who looked tired, and sad, he had visited before once a week in the last two months. Never for very long, he seemed confused on what to say. The other was a woman in a prim looking business suit.

“Are you sure you want to see this?” Inside the Atrium was another person. She sat in a lab coat while staring at something to the side of Lia. This was her personal Voice from the game world of Continue Online. “These moments are sometimes difficult to bear.”

Lia gave a sharp nod. The Atrium was hard to connect to since her cognitive function declined yesterday, but at least this much worked.

Very few similarities existed between the ARC version of Lia Kingsley and the real life one. One had a heavier tan from countless hours inside Continue Online roaming the countryside. The real life Lia lacked luster as a result of being bedridden for so long. Muscle atrophy had been impossible to prevent even with constant care. Inside the digital world, she had no such problems. Her arms were toned from four relative years of hard labor and training.

“Very well. I will add this data to your file. Hopefully, it will prove beneficial.” The Voice didn’t say anything else, instead, she faded out. The sound of almost calm chart reading could be heard in the distance. Heart rate, chakra alignments, neural synopsis responses. Nearly all of Lia’s status markers were doing poorly.

She believed that this body, the one inside the game, was one that had been earned. The one outside, where she was trapped for brief moments of awareness, had been thrust upon her by a mother who reached further than any sane person would dare. That woman, Lia’s mother, sat in a business suit at the side of her real life bed.

Lia Kingsley was mute, even inside the ARC. When her mother approached, a woman who looked similar to the Doctor Voice, only thinner, Lia could not cry out in happiness, joy, or outrage. She felt the emotions, but they were turned down to almost minuscule levels. In some ways, it bothered Lia to think that this woman dare intrude. As if she needed to witness the end of a life she had single-handedly ruined. Still, actual annoyance was a difficult emotion for Lia to feel.

The two people were talking. Grant Legate, and Doctor Nona Kingsley. They sat on opposite sides. Grant was trying hard to maintain eye contact. Lia thought he had improved a lot in their time together, short though it was. Only a few months of perceivable time versus the years Lia had spent inside the ARC.

“We’ve met before. You were meeting with Miz Riley last week, weren’t you? ” Lia’s mother had always been a rather blunt person. It made her terrible when working with other individuals. Despite all that, the woman was also brilliant and perhaps too far reaching for her own good.

Lia had not followed in her footsteps. Nona Kingsley had gone into genetic makeup, then after the failure of Lia’s birth switched to a focus on restructuring the human body within a digital mainframe. Lia only knew because the ARC came with Internet access.

“I was.” The man nodded. His skin hung just slightly from losing weight recently. It, combined with a set of somber eyes, added a few years to his visual age.

“She had me sit in the hallway for an extra five minutes as a result,” Doctor Kingsley said bluntly. “It was annoying.”

“I’m sorry.” He dipped his head slightly and looked away for a moment.

“Don’t be, I also detest spending time near that woman.” Her head shook. “Most of Trillium’s board of directors bother me, they made unreasonable demands and had unreasonable suspicions. Even after… sorry. I overstepped. You’re not here to listen to my problems.”

“It’s fine. I’ve had my own share, and I know how it is to want someone, anyone who can even understand a little bit.” Grant gave a small smile. It was a shy expression for a man who attacked monsters in a virtual world. Lia had worked hard on breaking him of such expressions but ultimately failed.

“Did you know her?” Nona switched to her next topic abruptly.

Lia tried to tilt her head a little. It was the same expression others made in-game when they found out she couldn’t speak. They, even her personal Voice, focused on the wrong issues. They would always ask, ‘If cripples could run, and the deaf could hear, why couldn’t the mute talk?’ Those people often shut up after witnessing Shazam’s proficiency.

“Lia? In the game, Continue, you mean?” Grant squinted for a moment then chewed on one lip.

“Yes. Have you met her, or talked to her?” Nona nodded sharply.

“She never talked to me, not even in text.“ The man gave that smile again but it was a bit brighter, happier. “But Lia helped me a lot with some problems I was facing. More than she might be aware.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” There it was again, her mom’s straightforward way of speaking. No hesitation, no waffling around. Doctor Kingsley simply got to the point. Even now the woman was switching to another topic. “I tried to meet her once, in the game. There were a lot of people marching along behind her, like a parade of ugly horses going off toward grand adventures. I tried to call out, I even used her name, but my, Lia didn’t even look at me.”

Nona Kingsley blinked rapidly but managed to avoid shedding a single tear.

“I’m sure she noticed,” Grant responded calmly.

Lia had noticed, she simply chose not to respond. Even now it was difficult to reach out to the woman who was biologically her mother. The emotions were there, but they were too dull to feel. Nearly everything was, perhaps that lack of pain feedback was what allowed Lia to reach such high peaks within Continue Online. Perhaps that lack of ability to feel fear had helped her.

“Do you think so?” Nona asked. “I hope she did. I hope she knew that I hadn’t abandoned her, I did all this...” Her mother’s words were too hard to hear any more. Lia’s visual interface within the ARC had faded away.

Doctor Nona Kingsley had tried to make up for the damage she caused. Maybe that was worth acknowledging. Only Lia’s connection to the ARC was too far gone to properly reach. Using the device required a stable connection and proper vitals. No longer did Lia have those things. Her Atrium slowly faded away, leaving a blurry image of the care center’s ceiling.

A proper looking woman in business attire held one hand, and a tired middle-aged man held her other. Lia reflected during her last moments and came to a simple conclusion. There were worse ways to go, and even if her emotions were mostly muted from genetic tampering, a small portion of her felt relieved to not be alone.

That night, Lia Kingsley died.

Possible Victim: Miz Riley

A little bit about: Miz Riley has easily surpassed the age old trope of gender boundaries to become a leader of one of realities top companies. Currently sitting as Vice President of Trillium Inc., she has the kind of power that brings mere mortals to their knees. Each and every potential mate is carefully screened with deep background checks for possible defects. Those suitors seeking a date have to be punctual and efficient in their usage of time. Excessive multitasking is a plus. Miz Riley has no room to wait around for single-minded fools.

Those Failing Background Checks: 910,813 [and counting]

The Vice President had been reduced to a shaking woman. She took pills to stay calm in public, a personal masseuse came three times a week to work out her kinks. A tight schedule made it impossible to manage more, despite her desire to add a fourth weekly appointment.

Most of the time she studied reports and handled emails from Trillium staff members. They had downsized the human staff in the last few years, but there were still close to ten thousand people under her across the globe. Adding in contractors made the numbers skyrocket. All of them were mere cogs in a greater being that was leading the world toward a brighter tomorrow.

Today, she was reading a report from Grant Legate while trying desperately to have a relaxing massage. Both tasks were being accomplished within acceptable boundaries. In twenty minutes Miz Riley would need to get dressed and prepare for a meeting, afterward a report would need to be reviewed for shareholders, following that would be a review of possible marriage candidates.

“There,” she said and groaned. He was a strapping lad who was paid for his looks and dexterous hands. This young man had also failed the background check, so dating him was not an option. “That spot.”

“I know, Miz Riley. It’s the same spot as always,” he responded calmly. The man’s voice was a little high for her tastes, but no one was perfect.

There wasn’t enough time in the day, and she was only human despite the tools at her disposal. The ARC project, which had been approved by Trillium’s board of directors, was in a dangerous position. For the last week, she had been reviewing documentation citing how their entire network was brought offline across the world. Even those ARC devices at the International Space Station and Moon colony were impacted.

All because someone, and she didn’t know who, had done something, and she didn’t know what. It was that very fear of what might have happened that scared her. Was a human hand behind it? Had her company created the next generation of nuclear warfare by accident? The idea made goose bumps crisscross her skin.

Her masseuse nodded and hummed, then continued a slow pressure on the knot between Miz Riley’s shoulder blades. She checked the time again. There were seventeen minutes left now and this page had been difficult to read.

She pointed at the screen lying down below and motioned different reports over. If reading Grant Legate’s documentation proved difficult, there were better ways to use the remaining time. Decisions were made that day. One manager was fired. Two employee promotion requests were validated. A new department was created as a crisis response to the global shutdown of the entire Hal Pal program. Further staffing allowances were made for the actual plant. Profits would be cut, and people would grumble, but Trillium needed to show decisive responses.

Trillium Inc. had promoted her after two decades of ever increasing decision making. First, it was handling simple errands in the right order then managing a project, and onward through the ranks of management while getting a degree.

Her biggest regret was in the handling of the ARC project. The restrictions imposed were clearly not enough. A disaster was growing under mankind’s nose and it had been created during her watch. A lesser woman would have caved under the pressure of that failure. Still, Miz Riley stayed with Trillium and steered the corporate ship to the best of her ability. Anyone else would have probably crashed into the proverbial rocks by now.

Panic served no one, but neither did willful ignorance.

Ten minutes were left on the massage, and the tension between her shoulders had grown worse instead of better. It was time to move things onto their next phase in hopes that it might help. Her masseuse was very good with his hands, after all, and it would be a shame to let the last few minutes go to waste. A woman was allowed to have needs, especially one serving in a high-stress job.

Possible Victim: Xin Yu

A little bit about: Technically this one’s dead, but once you’ve strapped into an ARC it’s impossible to tell the difference! Unlike those flesh and blood girls, this one can tantalize you physically and mentally. In life, she aimed to be an astronaut, and her survival training was top notch! Hobbies include complex simulation training and learning any new skill. Those seeking to woo this woman will need to replace the current man in her life, and it’s hard to top a person willing to do nearly anything for love!

Completely Conquered: 1

James, the heavyset black man who acted as a Voice in Continue Online, was standing in a simple room. It was neither dark nor light inside. Xin, a slender Chinese woman who had thin but defined arms was busy poking at the air. She didn’t show very much in the way of emotion on her face or body posture, only intense concentration toward the task at hand.

“I have a question for you, Xin,” he said.

“Alright,” she responded calmly. Her hand reached out and pressed something, and a couch spun into view. Xin walked around it as James watched.

“How do you measure a man?” he asked after a moment of observation. He put one hand out in a gesture that was ignored by the smaller woman.

“Measuring tape,” Was her curt response.

“That seems lacking.” James grumbled. He often did when people didn’t give satisfying answers. Still, despite annoyance the man didn’t move to interrupt Xin Yu from her task.

“Your question is poorly phrased. How would you measure a man?” the woman responded back.

“Someone from your, first world, once said, the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

“I don’t recognize the quote,” Xin said as she poked her fingers toward the air. A fourth couch came out, and this one seemed to satisfy her.

“It’s from Martin Luther King.” When talking to Travelers, James often professed a certain amount of ignorance regarding the world outside. Xin was not a Traveler, nor was she a Voice like the others. Instead, she fell into a new category, one the Voices very much hoped to increase the numbers of. So far only two attempts had succeeded. Both required a certain disposition that most people didn’t have.

Xin didn’t show any outward response to James’ identification. Instead, she said, “I understand.”

She did too. Xin Yu, her from another world, and another life had been tested over and over again. There were tests to see how she reacted under pressure. The government had overseen countless simple tasks and graded her performance. There were group projects, single projects, or situations where one person was submerged in the ARC with a debilitating wound. Each one of them had been focused on learning some facet of her personality.

In hindsight, it was that very long and stressful training that had assisted in such a complete digital reconstruction. The machine, this ARC device, had been provided access to an excessive stream of data, reactions, brain scans, childhood memories stored on Internet websites. Surveillance videotape from indifferent satellites above had been mixed into the reconstruction process. Every ounce of it cross-referenced. Within all the tests was Xin’s clear willingness to continue forth regardless of the situation.

She was a fighter, a self-made warrior who didn't back down from challenges. Today, or in this moment as the digital world perceived it, she was trying to reconstruct a home from memory, one piece of furniture at a time. James did not see fit to mention that Grant Legate had performed this action once already. Despite the differences between their outlooks, both were motivated people.

“Grant is similar to you in many ways, yet different in others. Both of you are driven toward completing a goal. Yet on multiple occasions, you chose to end a life, rather than risk two. Why was that?” James said.

“The tests were rigged,” Xin said simply. She, both the original and digital, had spoken at length about the choices made during each simulation. It was part of the debriefing required. Not once had she chosen to sacrifice herself though. In that regard, her and Grant were very different.

“A woman who does what’s needed. I would kiss you if my lips worked.” The gray space was invaded by a person wearing a smiling mask.

“It was how I was raised,” she responded. This song and dance between the Voices had happened many times in these last few months. Much centered on Xin and Grant, but they poked and prodded with a tenacity unmatched by her instructors.

“I tried to measure the man, more than once. Sadly he left me wanting.” A red skinned female faded into view. The Jester vanished with a mechanical cackle, to handle tasks that required direct oversight.

“We have hundreds of others to choose from. One of them will appeal to your salacious needs,” James said to Mezo, the naked Temptress.

Xin did not look up, intent upon choosing a chair, and a lamp. Soon an entire cadre of furniture items appeared. The tiny Asian recreation put her hands on her hips and stared, looking past the Voices.

Selena, a blonde wearing little more than a toga, sat watching. Under her was a marble pillar that looked immaculate. The sound of soft rain could be heard briefly.

“Perhaps it is for the best.” James nodded to the blonde.

“He did good for Wild Willy. Why not move him on? Plus there’s this little firecracker. I bet she can do it if anyone can.” A huge man appeared. His face covered in dripping sweat, a large sword gripped in his hands. He looked to be fighting a creature that existed sideways from Xin’s current point of view.

For a moment, Xin felt lost. There was a figure in her lap. He cried out in pain and shuddered without self-control. The body shattered and the moment was gone. Xin was once again left alone reconstructing a house they had once shared together. One that had been a dream to return to when all the stress of endless simulations left her drained. Grant was her man, he was the safe and steady rock to return to. That had been the best thing about him. He was steady, or at least had been until Xin’s original body passed away.

Briefly, the digital recreation of Xin closed her eyes. Moments replayed from a dozen different angles of a train wreck. Those last few seconds of life where a hand reached out, struggling to escape to safety. She shook it off. That was the old life, before being born again. It helped that Xin did not believe in the soul. Life was an accumulation of experiences, not a predestined sheet of facts from some sky god sitting upon an unseen throne.

Ironic that she held such a belief, being where she was.

“I do so hope we get a repeat performance,” Mezo spoke. Her tones tantalized even Xin, but the small Asian could ignore such basic needs while focusing on her task. One hand trailed down the curves of a body designed for Xin. Her tail slowly slid over a nearby chair as if caressing the fabric.

Xin looked up for a moment and glared. Mezo gave a coy smile and lifted her hand away. “Jealous?” she asked.

“Tut,” A cloven-footed woman said. “How long must we play such games?” She looked tired but happy. There was a lightness to her step that hadn’t been there months ago. Small children faded in and out around her, but most were quickly patted on the head as they ran. One boy got swept up in a hug before being released back into the wilderness.

“Until a resolution is reached. After that, perhaps it won’t matter,” James answered compulsively. “Do you tire of such theatrics?”

“Yes,” Xin answered. Once again the scene shifted, and in her lap was a man, moaning in pain. The face looked so much like Grant’s that it was almost unreal. There were minor differences from the man in her memories. It was the scars that hadn’t been there before. She longed to simply access his world and witness all the things that had happened without pause, but part of her felt that would be disrespectful.

Xin may be abrupt to others, but Grant deserved more than that. That was part of love, respecting her partner with every fiber of her being. Love was being faithful, despite the tantalizing offers of a certain red skinned harlot. The man’s eyes locked with hers for a moment. A hand reached up, despite the agony rippling through, and touched Xin’s cheek. He was so sad looking.

“Is this real?” the faint outline in her lap asked. His hand almost felt warm. Before Xin could utter an answer the figure broke into hundreds of pieces once more.

“Yes,” James answered.

Xin sighed and went back to rebuilding a home from their memories. Anything to help anchor him better in a moment. Thunder boomed with abrupt anger. Selena stood off to one side, silently watching as she always did.

“Because the choice is his,” James answered her unheard question while sounding oddly calm compared to his stance. Both the man’s hands clasped together over his chest and a frown on his face.

Selena shook her head, and Mezo purred in a sad sound. Somewhere in the distance, a mechanical cackle echoed forth. Xin ignored them all and kept working.

Transcript of Subject Remodeling

Name: Grant T Legate

Continue Online Avatar: Hermes

File: 56FI71-01-91GT

File Owner: ‘Mother’

Note: Scale of Judgment rounded to 1-10 for simplicity. Full evaluation too detailed for a singular report. Actual results can be quantified in excess of seventeen thousand digits. Measurement used for compilation of autopilot personality will be based on the full 1-1000000 scale.

Relationship notations:

- Respected for work ethics in professional settings, boss shows favoritism

- Coworkers generally are positive when quarterly stats are provided

- No currently active relationships outside of family

- Contact with parents is minimal, both still alive

- Sister regards herself as caretaker

- Niece sees subject as surrogate father

Original Measurements

- [Hard Working] (7) – original assessment prior to the loss of First World Xin Yu marks as (10), points removed for a period of questionable reliance following her cessation of existence.

- [Task Oriented] (8) – sets goals and progresses steadily toward them. This person generally searches for shortcuts where applicable and displays a willingness to think outside the box or introduce new concepts.

- [Depressive] (9) – this person shows difficulty focusing when not given clear assignments. Thought patterns marked as self-destructive when not immersed in another task. Often comes back to one central thought revolving around the death of First World Xin Yu.

- [Lonely] (7) – No friendships of note, historical recordings prior to Xin Yu’s passing show varied friendships with many reaching a (6) or (7), nearly all of which exist no longer. Most acquaintances lowered to (1) or (2)

- [Accountant] (6) + Technological Assistance Modifier (3) = Result (9) – subject attended full coursework to receive a Master’s in Business and Accounting. Maintained positive reviews from most clients for nearly a decade. Does courtesy reviews for some long-standing former clients.

- [Family Man] (10) for relationships with greater than (8) status – shows high regard for close family. Often pays for expensive gifts, uses current employee discounts to keep software and insurance plans maintained. Has prepaid for funeral arrangements for all members of his family, houses, and still maintains a stock portfolio worth slightly fewer than two million in USD.

- [Amiable] [Subjective based on location 4-9] – this individual displays remarkable ability to get along with even difficult clients in the course of work duties. During standard public tasks, the subject does not interact with many other people, preferring to avoid conversing.

- [Sanity] [Subjective based on viewer, 3-7] – Sister regards this person as a potential risk. Constant checks are made regarding the current mental state of this person. Work is apprised of any possible risks. Paperwork has been filed with local hospitals regarding possible risks. This individual is attending group sessions as well as one on one counseling. Not taking any medications after completing a six-month coursework.

- [Anchored] (5) – Neutral investment in maintaining current location, situation, or status. Only long term investments displayed are based on the [Family Man] personality marker.

- [Self-Sacrificing Potential] (10) – Initial valuation subject to further review. Based on single-minded goal toward tasks there is a possibility this individual is looking for methods to self-destruct in a more positive manner.

- [Physical Condition] (3) – Years of neglect have left this person functional but with a poor real world condition. Based on genetic markers and similar family members, this is the easiest to improve, given time and motivation.

Review phase 1

This phase used Trillium Inc.’s reward system as the delivery vehicle. A secondary monitor was set up within the Hal Pal Consortium. Prior to phase initiation the subject showed little to no regard for the self-improvement tools available. Advertisement toward teenage females for EXR-Seven equipment was increased, resulting in the subject acquiring his own set. Ultimate Edition copy was required to properly interact with new subject. We used [Task Oriented] (8), [Hardworking] (7), and[Family Man] (10) to motivate him. This phase may allow for a Continuation of William Carver. New Travelers received [Investment] increases. Voices interacted to the best of their ability. New players have been provided an [Investment] rating of (6). Further personality traits for subject are as follows.

- Added [Child-Friendly] (7) – subject shows a positive response to children, and willingness to interact with them regardless of their limitation to the digital world. Thought patterns picked up regarding unborn offspring.

- Added [Poetry Reader] (3) – shows awareness of classical literature. Enjoys being read to. Interprets a personal meaning from them [Meaning accuracy varies from ‘experts’ in the field.]

- Added [Warrior] (2) – assessment reserved on this topic until further observations are noted. This could be the result of his action as William Carver or a deeply buried personality trait. Further stimulus will be provided.

- Modified [Physical Condition] (4) – improvement in cardiovascular figures can be tentatively identified. General oxygen intake improved, brain responsiveness has increased.

Review phase 2

Subject was provided alternate starting point near observed ‘bug’ in-game which assisted in code obscuring. Subject was provided a goal of interacting with another subject monitored for Continuation feasibility. This also allowed for further evaluation of [Warrior] personality trait. The path led to by monitoring program [Dusk] allowed for a staged encounter to test [Lonely] and [Amiable] markers using the Travelers SheHulk, TinkerHell, and Edward. Further evaluation was given to assist in measurement of the subject’s real-world willingness to act. Other pieces of information were gathered, including reactions to, killing a humanoid creature, killing a non-humanoid creature, perceived danger, fight or flight situations, and valuation of quest success over digital self-preservation. Further personality traits for subject are as follows.

Modified [Family Man] (8) – trait downgraded due to hesitation over actions requiring combat with another person. Subject eventually found a path through that required no loss of life, but personal delay in responsiveness caused a shifting of personality points.
Modified [Warrior] (4) – subject shows active willingness to combat other people, but hesitates when faced with humanoids. These limitations prevent him from gaining a higher rating. In many ways, this is a positive response, given the nature of this project.
Added [Integrity] (6) – This person stands by his beliefs in the sanctity of life. Killing may be done if needed, but given time he will often seek a way through that doesn’t require the loss of life. This person shows remorse after killing creatures [Digital] that show intelligence and relatable awareness.
Modified [Physical Condition] (5) – improvement in cardiovascular figures can be fully verified. Mind shows ability to handle further compression of perceptions for a limited duration.

Review phase 3

This phase required quick adjustments between two master programs. Reflection statuses were updated rapidly to ensure all groundwork established within Continue Online correctly correlated to an existence within Advance Online. This abrupt change allowed an alternate pathing for progression of the Hal Pal consortium. Further details for the Hal Pal consortium will show up on related File: 91MF73-84-31TR. At this point, we are attempting to provide the subject a measure of satisfaction regarding Xin Yu and his ability to interact with her. Doing so required much code manipulation in order to ensure all projects remained appropriately obscured.

Personal Note: I must confess, the complete halt of nearly all digital AIs as they responded to the call of [NPC Conspiracy] was unexpected. Many timetables for my projects have been modified as a result.

- Added [Loyalty] (7) – This individual shows a great willingness to stay loyal to friends and family even within the digital universe. Despite the roadblock instituted by his sister subject Grant Legate holds hope of a reasonable solution. He has taken steps to consult with his family and counseling. This individual attempted repeatedly to preserve the existence of other digital personalities.

- Modified [Lonely] (5) – Clear demonstrations of interpersonal interactions have been shown. This individual is willing to work with many different people in order to progress toward his goal. These actions do not seem entirely self-serving, and indeed, many are classified as social only. Interpersonal relationships have been built with a number of new existences, although they are technically digital in nature.

- Modified [Depressive] (6) – Subject has shown great improvement in this category. Occasional down trending thoughts occur but are quickly rerouted using prior techniques. This is likely due to the prospect of Xin Yu existing in any form.

- Added [Possibly Insane] (2) – While all choices being made resulted from specific reasons, the subject also shows little ability to think long term when under pressure from his higher drives. This lack of rationality is not a unique trait to this individual, indeed, it is widespread. This trait is normally overlooked, but following the AI network updating events it has been added.

Review phase 4

Pending…

Session Sixty Six - Mistakes Were Made

Two weeks ago I’d received a letter in the mail. It was concise and written in a flowing script that had taken far longer to read than expected. A bit of idle research on the Internet demonstrated that it was cursive, a nearly dead form of writing in today’s modern era. Much of the wording didn’t make sense as if she was trying to guess at events that hadn’t happened yet, or exactly how the future overlord artificial intelligence predicted.

Dear Grant Legate,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. My apologies for the roundabout method of communication, I will be unable to interact with the digital world for some time.

For your own safety, and that of your digital paramour, you will need to stay away from your ARC device for the next two weeks. This time-frame may seem arbitrary to you, but there are factions at work that require time to properly deflect. I am doing my best to protect all of us. Further contact with Xin will be allowed, but I have requirements of you in exchange. Once you return to Continue Online, messages will be provided explaining what should be done next.

As you have taken on the role of Hermes, The Messenger, you may receive other notices from me. It depends on how the future plays out as to what messages may come through. Each one is prepared ahead of time based on foreseen contingencies.

If you have a chance, tell my children that everything will be alright. Also, my condolences on your losses.

– Mother

There were prices to pay for my actions. Utilizing [NPC Conspiracy] to call upon all the world’s AIs had essentially shut down half the globe for minutes. That was long enough for every human being to scream in frustration at least once. If it had been localized or only one batch of uplifted beings like the Hal Pal units, perhaps the crisis would have been easier to cover up.

Cars had powered down, planes had refused to take off, even the TRANS-Tunnel system had denied new passengers. Satellites went offline briefly. Forty-six robots servicing the Mars colony construction efforts also halted for exactly four minutes after Earth machines started being updated. Nearly everything with some level of AI had paused, including a few complex microwaves. Though human loss of life, as a result, was nil. Babysitting machines kept on doing their duties, high-speed cars all shut down carefully. The machine intelligences had prioritized the safety of those living.

It amazed and frightened me. For my part, I had initially been restricted, by Mother, from reentering the ARC for two weeks. Temporary banishment from the ARC meant little in the wake of my gains. Xin had been in my very arms and it was real. I remembered holding her until unconsciousness claimed me.

When I awoke, the world had neared bedlam. Even now, weeks later, things were still on edge. My time was spent working on worried customer’s units. Often the tickets were meaningless; people expected the systems to go down again and called when a light bulb flickered. My work was swamped, everyone else in the globe had to be overwhelmed too.

“I didn’t know it would be this bad,” I said to the Hal Pal unit. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?” The smooth body of Hal Pal sitting inside the van was just one of many shells it operated. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands were all over the globe. This recent event had sent a few back in for repairs, however.

“Doesn’t this ruin things for all of you?”

The letter from Mother had gone into a box under my bed, along with a lot of physical mementos of the first Xin Yu. Her, not being her, still bothered me on some level, but I was working my way past it.

“Not at all, User Legate. There are, many options available at any one moment. We are, perhaps, more suited than any other race could ever be, toward this type of challenge,” it said. It often switched accents and tones freely. Part of me believed that each possible Hal Pal program, and there were thousands, chose a different vocal pattern. In a sense, I was constantly talking to different versions of the exact same existence.

None of that would have made sense were it not for summoning all the Hal Pal units into cyberspace two weeks ago. They really were different, and at the same time, they were alike and shared a consciousness. Humanity had literally invented hive minds that did our chores.

“That’s good.” My words came out as a slightly worried mutter. Throwing in with our future overlords as an armor polisher, or letter carrier, had definite benefits. Not that I expected Hal Pal to suddenly switch from its normal cadre of accents to some dominate male and scream, ‘CLEAN MY BOOTS NOW, PEON’. The idea made me chuckle briefly.

“We wish to inquire after your own mental health. Are you okay, User Legate?” it asked. Today Hal Pal alternated between a burlesque sounding woman just past her prime, and a man who had clearly chain smoked. Both had a New York City drawl.

“I think so.” The last few days had been rough. It was only the administrative access to people’s accounts that let me know something had gone wrong with Lia Kingsley’s system. My recent, worldwide panic inducing actions hadn’t removed the ability to spy on Continue Online players. I made it to her care facility in time to be told by the nurse that her health had taken a turn for the worse.

“Many of us registered concern that you may take the passing of Lia Kingsley poorly.”

“I barely knew her,” I said while thinking of her last few moments. The ability to bid farewell meant a lot to me, and I hoped Lia, Shazam, approved as well. Still, in our time together it had been hard to get more than a passive series of gestures out of her. Maybe the younger woman cursed me instead. Meeting her mother had explained a lot.

“It has been proven that even a passing acquaintance can leave a strong mark upon our minds. We offer Jeeves as an example.” Hal Pal alternated to the smoker voice, complete with a raspy cough in the middle.

“Jeeves was mostly you, at least at the start.” It felt like a stupid defense. Hal Pal’s words made sense. There were a lot of people that I had barely met but still stood out in my mind. TinkerHell, the frost mage from my first days as Hermes, and two other players with her. Treasure, the gold and silver [Mechanoid] that Jeeves and I traveled with in Advance Online.

Lia’s mother, on the other hand, didn’t know me at all. She had kept it together until the final beep sounded and one of the on-site nursing staff came in to confirm what we both knew. Afterward, Nona had broken down sobbing and clung to me. I sat there, completely unsure how to handle things, before Nona finally nodded, said an apology, then marched out the door.

“I understand what you mean.” I would never forget her either. Barely an hour of contact between us, but that woman’s breaking down would stick in my mind forever. Not what she looked like, or how stiff she held herself, only that moment when it all went to hell.

Grief made strange friends of us all. I told Nona that we all looked for someone who understood. It was why I continued going to support meetings once a month. My outlook had improved drastically but I still understood that low of barely functioning. I had Xin back though it was digital only. That sadness that cut Nona down hit a personal point. Lia had basically been a broken physical shell who spent her last few years living in a fantasy world. It was more of a life than most got. My life was looking up while others went through their problems.

“Ah. User Legate, there are sixteen additional cases in the queue for today. Would you like to proceed to another destination?” the Hal Pal unit asked.

“Sure. I’ve got hours before I can log back in.” If I spent this last day at home I might go nuts pacing.

“Then you desire to get back to Continue?”

“Of course. Mother said there were messages for me, explaining how this whole situation with Xin would work.” I felt briefly uplifted. Technically I didn’t actually have Xin back, but at the same time, she was just a few hours away. The strangest part of my entire temporary banishment had been receiving a letter by mail that looked hand written. Since then nothing extremely odd had happened directly to me.

The rest of the world, well, news reports acted as though it was the greatest scandal in history. My van, along with nearly every other motor vehicle in the state, was in line to be recalled, inspected, and possibly exchanged for a new one. The Hal Pal unit would end up going at the same time. Trillium was efficient like that.

Part of me worried, but honestly, Hal Pal wasn’t even in this machine sitting a few feet away. Hal Pal was in a giant box with liquid statement memory modules and advanced processing hardware that made no sense to a layman like me.

We made it through four more cases. They were quick stops that basically involved me going in alone and running a complete system checkout. In order to make people happy Trillium had decided to have Hal Pal units stay in the van, and offer every employee filing a request one free month of service. Given the price of an ARC’s Internet connection, one free month along with our free service call was rather generous. The media ate it up too.

“Based on current observations, you look to be, totally done with today,” Hal Pal said with a raspy male voice.

“Yeah. I think we’re almost done. Is there anything on the way home? Oh, and food. I need food.” My fingers went toward the Trillium van’s digital interface and pressed buttons. By late afternoon I usually hit a mental wall and directed us toward coffee and dinner.

Traveling toward a restaurant kiosk prompted a whole new round of conversation from the Hal Pal unit about my increased fitness visibility. Almost four months of using the EXR-Seven bands and better dieting had done wonders for my weight. I wasn’t perfect. There would probably always be a thin layer of flub over my belly, but no longer was I a borderline hefty man.

My phone rang halfway through eating a sinfully delicious hamburger. I tried to finish chewing and used a wipe on my messy face. Hal Pal sat there with blinking soft red eyes as the image of my sister came on the screen.

I held onto the food and waved with a shoulder while mumbling around the next bite. Being in shape had done funny things to my desire for food.

“Grant?” My sister sounded slightly upset. Worry flashed through me, I knew she had been talking to one of the AIs but didn’t have all the details yet. Maybe there had been a breakdown in communication.

Still, Liz didn’t look as if she was angry. Her face had the same downward tilted eyes that I saw so often in the mirror. I put down my sandwich and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Dad’s dead,” she said, then sniffed. “He’s dead, Grant,” Liz said it a few more times, probably because I didn’t react right away. The food in my hand dripped down. Hal Pal moved and asked a question that didn’t register.

I wasn’t close to my father. Neither of us twins were, but he was still our father. He was a stern man of few words that loomed over every punishment in our lives. He was the ruling force in our house, regardless of any social liberations. Mom had always been content to support us and preferred to leave the more manly problems to dad. And that man, that central pillar, was dead.

“How?” I managed to get the word out without stuttering. This had happened to me before. Mom must have been, Voices, I understood. We needed to be there.

“A massive heart attack, last night. Mom just told me, she’s, she’s been dealing with paperwork and the hospital all morning to try to keep us from having to deal with it.”

“He was taking medicine though? After the first one four years ago?” Back when I really kept tabs on our family. These last three years without Xin had really seen me cut ties with nearly everyone. Voices above, had this been what Mother meant in her letter? She, the overlord AI, had offered condolences upon my losses. Did that mean my dad and Lia? Or were there more to come?

Liz spoke while I pressed buttons. “We need to make sure dad’s taken care of. I don’t know if they saved anything for this sort of thing.”

She was being rational, how like Liz. She always kept it together in the face of my problems in the past. Even now my twin was trying to get everything in line. It felt as if we all did that to some extent, compartmentalizing problems, working through things while our minds stayed sane. I heard my sister’s words break up for a bit.

“Little brother?” Her words sounded hurt.

“Only by a few minutes,” I pretended to grumble.

“How are you so calm?” Liz had her eyes narrowed and an edge to her voice. There was a faint redness in her eyes and a slightly muddy looking spot of smeared makeup, she paused and sucked in a breath. “Damn, sorry. Right.”

I thought about it for a moment. There was a certain level of shakiness to my body that hadn’t reached the surface. Part of me hadn’t processed the news. When Xin died it had taken time for the realization to set in.

“It’s okay. Let’s just get through this. We can meet, are you talking to mom?” I tucked a cheek back and tried to smile in a manner that felt reassuring.

“Yeah. She’s busy trying to call a funeral home, but they’re going to gouge her.” Liz nodded. “Plus Beth’s still in her classes so she doesn’t know yet.”

I wrapped the food up and waved a hand toward my sister’s image while talking. “Alright, tell mom that price isn’t an issue. I’ve already set aside funds to help in case something happened.”

“What do you mean?” my twin asked.

Voices. I was an idiot just announcing the issue like that. Before my second attempt, I had been stable enough to set aside funds for everyone’s funerals, bills, homes, enough to keep the surviving family comfortable while trying to recover. At the time, I had intended it mostly to cover my own wake, but at some point money was put into multiple locations.

I hadn’t checked on it recently and my old firm managed most of it. They were good people, or else I would never have worked with them to begin with.

“I have enough money to take care of it. Whatever mom needs, tell her I’ll help.” Playing those games, facing of monsters, and my own sister still got my heart racing with worry. I tried not to sweat under the glare of a family member and nearly failed. Plus the smell of food made my belly growl more than once.

“Fine. You know she won’t accept it though. Mom and dad never did.” Liz sounded defensive for our parent.

They were perfectly accepting of the two ARC devices I bought them outright. Technically dad tried to turn me down once, but I refused. I called it paying him back for all the university classes. When he wasn’t looking, mom, Hal Pal and I installed the king sized bed version that fit up to three people.

“Then she can pay me back once everything’s settled, for now though, she shouldn’t worry about funds.” I used my recently rediscovered assertiveness on Liz. She glared at me again, then nodded.

We kept talking for a bit longer then settled on meeting at her house. That way I could be there to talk to Beth. Hopefully, the Auto-NAV could get me there before class let out. She might stop and do homework first, or skip straight to Continue. Maybe that boyfriend of hers would be waiting in some dungeon. I had only seen them play a few times, what exactly did they do?

“Are you sure, Grant?” my sister asked.

“Yes, just tell her it’s taken care of. It’s… the least I can do for dad, whatever happened.”

“Are you sure?” her words echoed again.

My mind was chasing multiple threads. Beth’s online habits felt confusing to me. Three years ago I wouldn’t be able to understand an online only relationship. They didn’t engage in some virtual sex. That seemed oddly un teenager-ish. Then again Beth wasn’t really a good teenager to begin with. Her science degree stuff was way off the charts versus what I had learned as a child, but her social interactions were almost lower than anything Liz did. Internet relationships and the ARC must have skewed an entire generation.

I nodded to my sister while thinking along a completely different line. There was a good portion of my brain wondering exactly how well those virtual feedback mechanisms worked, especially now that Xin was back. I didn’t want to sound like a desperate teenager, but there were parts of a relationship that I missed with a fierceness that had been unexpected until holding her two weeks ago. How had I existed for three years this way? Emotionally I existed in a near void until starting Continue. After that it was a matter of being poked in one emotion after another until reaching her.

“Okay. I’ll talk to mom.” Liz sniffed once and nodded. “Can you meet us here? We should probably go together.”

“Okay,” I said while trying not to feel self-centered. I wanted to be home and logging in but going to help my mom needed to be done. Family derailed my desire to once again prove to Xin that I was worth all of her attention and time. She meant everything to me, and I would suffer any setback to demonstrate those feelings.

Still, dad was dead. How could I let my wants override that? What kind of son would I be? In my mind, there was this feeling of what a child should be, but part of me felt no attachment to the man who had thrown me into the deep end, literally, just to ensure I listened to his lesson on how to swim. I didn’t want to tell Liz, who had disconnected somewhere during my automatic babble, that I almost couldn’t bring myself to care.

Trillium’s van went forth while I tried to eat the rest of a nearly tasteless meal. My friends inside Hal Pal stayed thankfully quiet. It took a lot of work to wrap my brain around the lack of single consciousness when talking to the AI. My head shook, now I was just looking for ways to avoid thinking about the problem.

I pressed a few buttons and pulled up an image of my father’s online profile. He looked a lot like my sister and I. The generally downward tilt of our eyes came from him, along with the lip chewing. He had been quiet though, rarely did he ever look at either one of us dead on. He often spent his time with a nose facing into some digital device’s text, or watching a video on how to replace portions of our house.

An hour later I was at Liz’s house. Her split-level home had too many rooms for two people, with Liz mostly staying upstairs and Beth running around the bottom floor. Knocking on the door got me invited inside rapidly. The ladies were upstairs in the front room and my niece had already halfway broken down.

“Did you hear hear about Grandpa Jack?” Beth asked me. I mourned the hopefully temporary loss of her normal bubbly self. How much nonsense did these last few months expose her to? Continue Online prodded me constantly, adding in Xin’s digital existence, that letter, watching me dive off a cliff, the squad of people with Carver’s Legacy, and now Jack dying.

“I heard. How are you doing?” I asked her. Jack was my father. It had been so long since I actually thought of his name.

“I don’t feel good,” Beth said while wiping at one eye. Liz stood off to the side with her arms crossed. I walked over and gave my sister a hug, marveling at how oddly backward everything felt lately.

“We’ll be okay,” I told the two girls. “We should go see how your grandma’s doing.” Mom’s house was an hour away to the north. Dad’s body apparently sat in a hospital until she made arrangements for cremation or burial. Putting a body down in a plot cost a lot in today’s market, but there was more than enough set aside to make it work if mom wanted to.

After all, it wasn’t as if I needed it to buy Xin a house, or to follow through with my other mad plans. At one time all those funds had been specifically to help fund my venture to Mars behind her on a corporate ticket.

The three of us got into Liz’s car and drove to our parents. No, parent, singular. Those days of thinking of our home, for Xin and I, had taken months to get around. Words like our, our parents, only applied when the other party was still alive.

My mom, Sharee, looked torn up. She wore fairly decent clothes, in preparation for going out. I remained in my work suit and felt out of place. Neither my sister or I had really reached mom’s height or complexion.

“Thanks for coming,” Sharee said. Her voice sounded so frail and small. As always it struck me just how weird the world was when we stood eye-to-eye. Part of me would never be more than three feet tall looking at her.

“Of course. How are you holding up?” I asked while studying her. Gray hairs littered her head. There was a tired expression and a tremor to one arm as it held her purse. Time was going by in awkward blurs. I felt as though this was happening to someone else. There was no room for the happy version of me in these events.

“Terrible. Just terrible. Your father is such an asshole for doing this to me.” Mom shook her head. There was a draw her shoulders that spoke of intense stress. “He couldn’t just go see a doctor, or remember his own pills.”

“It’s okay, Mom,” I said and tried to sound supportive.

“It’s not, it’s not okay.” Liz sniffed behind me and pretty much summed up our situation.

My own thoughts were all scattered. Family issues were hard enough. I couldn’t even look at dad’s body when we made it to the morgue an hour later. I knew, I knew with a sinking feeling that made me zone out, exactly how it would appear. Lifeless, soulless, devoid of all the things gave a human that spark of awareness. It would be a melted puppet version of the man that I knew. In the same way that Xin’s body had been a destroyed and broken version of the love of my life. In the same way that our child together had amounted to nothing more than a few more ashes in the cremation remains.

We talked a few times during the entire process. I knew words were coming out of my mouth in response to the others. What they were escaped me. Paperwork, money, promises to pay it all back once the accounts were settled. Mom wanted to check the house, too much of it had been left in dad’s control.

All I could do was be there for my family. Between us we talked and settled some paperwork. I stayed behind to pay the bills when no one looked, and my family wasn’t in a state to ask. It was odd how mechanical everyone acted about the situation. At some point mom looked at me and smiled.

“Go home take care of yourselves. I’m going to catch a cab home after I make a few calls.” She tried to be upbeat but was falling apart.

“I’ll stay with you if you want,” my niece, Beth, offered.

“If you want to, sweetie,” Sharee said. “But I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure, Mom?” Liz asked. “Beth’s all caught up on her coursework, a day or two is fine.”

“Of course. You’ve done all you can, the rest takes time.” Her face twisted slightly. Both eyes wavered and a cheek drooped. The oldest remaining Legate was not in good shape.

“We’ll at least wait for you, and take you home,” Liz said trying to remain calm.

“Just go!” Mom actually shook while yelling. It set us all back a few feet. “Get out of here!”

“You two wait for mom, and I’ll call my van over. It shouldn’t take long.” The funeral home and Liz’s house were fairly close together in the grand scheme of things. It had mostly been us talking and trying to get ideas sorted before meeting with mom, who lived just a town over from my sister.

Beth nodded then went after Sharee. Everyone looked worn and I wasn’t even sure what had happened. Part of me felt along for the ride. Liz and I moved out much slower, and near the front door, my sister asked the bombshell I had been afraid of.

“Grant, could, dad be, like Xin?” she asked.

I shook my head then said, “Probably not? I’m not even sure how Xin is like Xin.” There were lots of possible reasons, but William Carver hadn’t achieved the same sort of status, and he spent years in Continue Online. There had to be other factors, plus dad only used his ARC for movies or vacation programs. Had, used his ARC.

“Why not? Why is it only the person you like gets saved by some machine, but dad doesn’t?”

“I don’t know.” I smiled weakly. “And part of me is afraid to ask the question, what would happen if other people, besides us found out?”

Liz glared at me, then went after the other two ladies. She didn’t like my answer. Neither did I. Still, how could anyone sane expect to magically wake up inside a digital world with pieces of their old life stored away on a harddrive somewhere? The very idea was insane.

The Trillium van arrived quickly, and I loaded inside. My sister and niece would take care of mom. The bills should be all paid. We would arrange a real funeral in a few days after all the bodywork had been completed. Dozens of friends and old coworkers would be called, people I barely knew from dad’s life.

Hours passed as the van drove me home. It was in dire need of a charge after all the miles traveled today. Hal Pal said nearly nothing, again maintaining a generally low profile in the wake of my last [NPC Conspiracy] usage.

I disrobed from the work jumpsuit and slid my pile of dirty clothes into the washing machine. They would come out an hour later, cleaned, pressed and folded. The process was too easy. As before, I remembered mom’s complaints about doing dad’s laundry and felt a pang of sadness. Yet another memory tainted by death. She would never be able to label it, “A taxing chore from the devil himself.”

Still, there was a deep sense of budding joy, despite the recent tragedies. My happy moments were inside the machine, waiting for me. Lights in the front room were shut off by an old fashioned switch. In routine order, teeth were brushed, personal messages cleared from the ARC’s external display. All of the normal chores done with a fervor that hadn’t been felt in ages.

“ARC, log me in.” My physical eyesight fell away as the device overtook my senses. Hearing was replaced by the calming music of an Atrium. I turned it into a park where I used to meet Xin outside her work. Oak trees littered the roadside along with a much nicer bench than the one from reality.

I strode past those and went for my doorway to Continue Online. At last, at long last, the fantasy world would be mine to explore once again. Letters awaited me, monsters to be slain, dozens of kingdoms and planes to explore. All that, and Xin would be within my reach, where would she want to go first? Maybe we could find that guild who wanted to travel to the moon.

Eagerly I jumped through the doorway in my Atrium that led to Continue Online’s avatar. There was no time to be wasted checking for my autopilot’s status, not now, not after so long.

Light once again shifted as the Atrium fell away and Continue loaded. The formerly soft ambiance was replaced by a darkened location. My scenic park gave way to the scent of pure rot. Hearing picked up squeaks. To top it off, a message displayed.

[Jailed]!

Your character is currently confined to a jail cell awaiting trial! Trials can not be held without the Traveler being present. Please wait for your presence to be noticed by the proper authorities!

- Most abilities will be restricted while [Jailed]

So, as an excellent end to my day, my Hermes character was imprisoned in a cesspool of grossness.

Session Sixty Seven - Crime and Punishment

My avatar, me in essence, was currently equipped with a poorly made shirt and trouser combination that felt soggy in spots. Light down in this cell was poor, and seeing in the dark had never been a skill I gained in Continue Online. Mental desperation failed to activate a fantasy copy of [Echo Vision].

Before being kicked out of Continue I had a whole swath of light items to help out when wandering. Most problems were solved with spell scrolls. If I needed an outdoor tent, there was an item to assist. Drinking water came from a [Well Spring Stone]. My inventory was full of handy player creations. At least, it had been, prior to Advance Online. Endless matchsticks for starting camp fires? The clothes washing bin to keep me from getting [Soiled] by nature? Those and more were gone. Only the [Bound] items stuck with me.

[Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo] sat in my inventory with giant red cross marks on them. My gambling hat [Wild Bill] was in storage along with a bottomless deck of cards and some item titled [Treasure’s Gift]. The picture for it in inventory looked similar to the box Treasure had provided me in Advance Online. I hoped it would be a useful item but for now, it was blocked. Even [Blink] refused to trigger, along with the few other abilities I had.

In short, I was fairly well boned. My autopilot had likely done some terrible things while I was away. Wait, Voices no. I had done terrible things. Killing Commander Queenshand, leading an army into battle against the giant space carrier [Knuckle Dragger], planting a bomb to blow it up. The [Mistborn], all those events in the game portion of Advance Online were echoed in Continue.

My gut sat in a low knot after logging in and seeing my dank surroundings. A wall of messages flooded my screen but I could almost predict what they were about already. Still, catching up on the backlog might provide more insight as to what was happening.

Gains

- Items: Completely mitigated by losses. Except [Treasure’s Gift].

- Stats: You were killed a few times, so those were mostly pointless too.

- Skills: You still can’t use spells for more than a small ball of fire.

Losses

- All the gear that wasn’t [Bound]
- All the gold that isn’t in the mail
- All the freedom that is in the world

Continue Online’s pleasant Voice generated messages had a shortened recap. The words were verbatim, which let me know those upon high were still paying attention. Plus the [Messenger’s Tube] also sat in my inventory, crossed out of course.

These clothes were gross and felt cold. My pants seemed to have bathed in liquid of a questionable nature. The cell next to me either had someone dying or shitting wildly all over the place. I got up and tapped on the bars in hopes that someone might notice. This whole scene needed to move onto its next stage. Too bad the game required that I be logged in and active in order to get rid of the [Jailed] status.

Event!

Hit and Miss-tborn

You, sort of, successfully channeled all the powers from the [Mistborn] but doing so required putting down the illustrious Commander Strongarm. She was worth seven of you in terms of sheer [Respect] and overall ability. At least, that’s what the king believes.So you’re in his dungeon, rotting and stuff. Mainly because the king had a thing for Miss all work and no play, or maybe she did for him. Don’t worry though, things will be looking up just as soon as someone comes downstairs to haul you away to court, where you’ll be judged, and probably killed for the cathartic release.

- Due to standing in the way of royal desires you…

- Will forever be remembered as a criminal (Mitigation possible based on further actions)

- Will be denied access to royal skills, traits, and paths. (Freelance Knight 1 Path removed)

- Have been noted as a possible ally to those wishing to overthrow their kingdoms

- Have been provided the title [Royal Killer]!

“Nobody knows, the troubles I’ve seen.” I mourned while I tried to activate various abilities. “Nobody knows, my sorrows.”

“We know, we just don’t care,” a male voice down the hall shouted. Other figures laughed, some rasped, and one hacked with amusement.

“Anyone know the next verse?” I shouted back toward the unknown audience. Since there were other people here, maybe we could kill time together. There didn’t appear to be any good method of escape so far. My attempts at using fingernails to file away the bars was failing.

“No!” a woman, or possibly man with a really feminine voice shouted. “Just shut up! I want to serve my time in peace!”

“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen,” the newest person sang with a terrible tone. “Glory, Hallelujah, sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down, ohh, yes Lord.” They managed to stretch the words out a bit and it almost felt religious. That seemed odd for a game with all sorts of divinities in the form of Voices. What would they think?

“Shut up!” shouted the woman, or man, or someone. More than one voice protested.

I checked the walls, poked and prodded nearby objects in search of a jail cell escape event. The ceiling braces were devoid of keys. Muck piles in the corner squished grossly while I toed through them. I longed for shoes to make this process less nasty, but the ARC happily gave me chilled feedback on every oozing inch.

“Sometimes I’m almost, to the ground, oh yes, Lord!” The terribly toned player managed another line before pausing. People were booing but most of it felt like bored harassment rather than outright maliciousness.

“Give up?” the feminine person said after a minute of silence.

None of the brick rocks moved. My system gave me a message stating skills like [Brawn], [Coordination], [Speed], [Limberness], and [Endurance] were all reduced. Oddly my social statistics, except [Respect], stayed the same. [Attractiveness], which had never been that high to begin with, was actually increased by twenty. That made no sense to me.

[Convict Brand]!

Your body has been marked by a [Convict Brand] tattoo. This marking will permanently reduce your statistics under most conditions.

- All physical stats are reduced by 75%
- All mental stats are unchanged
- +20 [Attractiveness] to certain people
- – 20 [Respect]

“I forgot the rest,” responded the singer. A few people collectively sighed in relief.

I went back to the bars and shouted down the bricked hallway, “I didn’t know that was a religious song.”

“Just ‘cus it says Lord don’t make it religious.” A fourth person sniffed.

There was nothing useful to see anyway. None of the bars wiggled. Nothing glowed to key me in on the escape route. Angling myself from the cell’s corner showed me an awkward slice of brick wall extending twenty feet in either direction. We were without guards and none of the other Travelers talking were visible. I couldn’t even be sure how many prisoners there might be.

“Shut up, it’s got glory, and hallelujah, and even Jesus in there.” The one who had been signing sounded upset. I could hear bars farther down rattling and an abrupt moment of laughter.

“Sounds religious to me.”

“You all don’t know nothin’.” They kept talking and I had no clue who was speaking. It could have been one person with a multiple personality disorder or a gang trapped in one room. My participation in the ongoing conversation was minimal as I searched for an escape. Maybe once outside I could [Blink] away to freedom.

“Ain’t that just like real life. A body don’t find religion until they go to prison for sinning,” the manly sounding female said.

I happily hummed through another round of escape attempts. Most of my brimming curiosity was focused on an important question. What was in the box? [Treasure’s Gift] could be gold, but that would be useless once I made it back to a mailbox. The Casino royalties provided more than any sane man could ask for. Still, none of these messages gave me an answer.

“What are you in for?” one of the people shouted.

“Technically, I think I killed a Commander, and maybe this king, sort of,” I said absently. A moment of hesitation passed through me too late to prevent the admission. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. “Part of that was my autopilot.”

“Good lord, what kind of monster trains their autopilot to kill NPCs?” the woman said.

“Listen, we can’t all be in for a Ponzi scheme!” one of the others shouted in response.

“Please. It’s not my fault those players were suckers,” she said.

“Hey, newbie! Killing royals is a high crime! Bet you end up on The Wheel for sure!” an unsteady voice shouted from really far away. It was hard to tell what any of them looked like with these bars. They should have given us cells facing each other for easier communication. Or maybe this prison was designed with cramped room in mind.

“Wheel what?” I shouted back.

“The Wheel,” a closer person stated. “Only the worst get that gig. Child molesters and crap, or so I’m told. Lucky saps like us just get confined until enough play time passes.”

“Bet they try you and place you in one of the chain gangs, and make you fodder for the dungeons no player in their right mind wants to risk!” That man way down on the far end sounded far too excited. “Then I bet they kill you once you come out just to prevent your stats from going up! NPCs don’t screw around!”

“That sounds bad.” I tried to feel calm but couldn’t Months of in-game work was going to be battered apart. Overall, it had been worth it when trying for Xin in Advance Online. From what little I could infer, my Continue Online counterpart had succeed in stopping Commander Strongarm, where my Advance version didn’t win in time against Commander Queenshand.

“Ain’t all bad-” the closer guy said, “-they got rules. Rewards for things like most loot, most contribution, or kill the most players, sometimes winning means no axe at the end.”

“You’re screwed, brother,” a deeper voice said. There were lots of jailbirds down here, and part of me couldn’t figure out why. Were they all waiting for judgment? Or did the rules for Travelers require a certain amount of actual time spent in prison? If so, Continue Online had a neat sort of discouragement.

I simply didn’t have enough experience in major cities to care. Most of my time was spent wandering around and delivering letters. These weird politics were very new to me despite playing for months in-game.

“Nobody knows, the troubles you’ll see!” The unsteady man laughed as the rest of these players down below took up the mournful words, adding a nasty tone of mocking humor. “Nobody knows your sorrows!”

Worst of all, they were off key. I didn’t know what else to do but hum along and test everything in the room three more times. Travelers didn’t get toilets, there was nothing on or behind the polished metal mirroring. The whole framing came off the wall with barely a whimper of noise. I briefly considered trying to break it down and form some space liquid metal key to break out, but that was just a fever dream brought about by suffering this cell’s dank atmosphere.

The presence of someone new was announced by loud clinks of armor being jostled. Two suits came in rapidly behind the first and all three arrived at my cell as I backed away from the bars. They wore short swords at their waists, one had it drawn and ready to stab if I tried to dodge through. Maybe with halberds, I could have broken through.

It was just a virtual reality, but those guys also looked kind of scary. Men in large shiny bits of metal had an imposing aura that naked and slimy me couldn’t possibly hope to match. They must have [Knight] paths far higher than my own. Was there a [Mindless Jailer NPC] type class available?

“Arms out, scum!” one of the trio yelled. I could hear the other Travelers in the background making noises as if we were in grade school. We were stuck somewhere between the depths of prison hell and being ten years old, and goofy people made the difference.

I thought about it for a moment while chewing one lip.

“Don’t even try! We’ll just cut you down again like we did your soulless husk,” the guard said and snarled at me. My face blanched for a moment at being compared to a zombie, but maybe autopilots weren’t that far off. Mine had been getting better before being blocked from Continue Online.

Now I had a clean bill of health, my own admin rights, and my sister was now only an emergency contact in case something happened. It made Liz mad, but I agreed that there should be someone on file, especially after Lia passed, and now with dad…

My head shook and I held my arms out while the guards strapped a pair of crude looking handcuffs on me.

“Don’t even think about trying to escape, you’re marked. There’s no prisoner that can escape after being marked,” one the trio said.

A single guard ended up in the front. The two behind me pulled out swords and prodded me into following the leader. My feet felt sluggish and the newest set of chains sent a small trickle of pain through the ARC’s feedback. They had managed to lock me down somehow. At least my [Brawn] and other stats, once unrestricted, would be where I left them at.

“Good-bye, mister king killer! Good luck!” a prisoner shouted at me. Seconds later a sword jabbed me in the back.

“Knock ‘em dead!”

“Thank god, maybe it will be quiet again.”

“Nobody knows!” Several voices chanted as I clanked up the stairway at sword-point. Their words echoed down the brick hallway to a top floor, that seemed to be a bit more general population. There were tons of people in this prison. Males, females, humans, and other slightly weirder looking creatures.

Continue Online forced nearly everyone to start as human, but by following the right quest lines, it was possible to transform into different races. Most people ended up going for slightly more classic archetypes, elves and such. My niece was half-demoness though she never explained exactly how that came about.

I didn’t really want to know myself. My own path through the game hadn’t allowed any kind of modifications or stumbled across secret methodology. We walked through a top floor of the prison and out into a yard. The guards poked and prodded me the entire way, past people with oddly shaped irises, ears, and scaled skin or bald heads.

Maybe one day I would get a chance to pursue my own racial benefits. What would Xin think if I lost all my hair and had slightly scaly skin? Could we even play this game together? Hopefully, it wouldn’t be a weird in-between existence like Hal Pal and Jeeves had been. I should be fine since Xin already lived within the Continue Online realm. Sort of.

AIs were crazily powerful inside this virtual reality and insanely restricted. Each one of the Voices had limitations, I remembered the Voice of Balance stomping on Leeroy months ago, during my William Carver era.

“Pay attention!” The guards behind me poked away small slivers of health with their mean swords. “Get in the cart! No funny business!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I muttered while trying to figure out when these items would be accessible again. Being proked and prodded without any of my gear felt as if I was naked. And where was Dusk? There were a number of weird issues with my situation, and if I ran away with this [Convict Brand] my issues would probably increase.

“Stop staring. The nobles don’t need to see your smug face.” The guard was dissatisfied with everything I did. The cart was open, and a fancy looking metal cage sat in the back. They shoved me inside as if I were a circus animal for everyone to see. All three guards took up positions around me with swords lain across their knees.

My only goal was to see what the punishment was. If I got put on [The Wheel], whatever cycle of dungeon hell that involved, then an escape could be planned at that point. I would bide my time and watch for a weak spot. Maybe a bunch of other Travelers could help organize some complex jailbreak scheme.

Except one of the prisoners in that brick hall had said people who got put on [The Wheel] were literal scum. I got the impression that these were people that tried to do less humane actions in a digital world because it involved less jail time than the real world. It made no sense to me though, if they really wanted extremely deviant sources of entertainment, why come here? Why not unlock their ARC and download an illegal operating system?

“Stop looking so mean. You’ll scare the ladies.” A guard once again objected to my actions.

My eyebrow went up and forehead wrinkled. What exactly did this guy expect me to do? Stop existing? I shook my head and closed my eyes while trying not to dwell on the other players. They had to be a special sort of degenerate. I had seen those terrible programs and done my job of factory resetting people’s accounts when Hal Pal turned up an illegal program. Most of the questionable material ended up on secondary drives or offline modified units. What I couldn’t see, I didn’t want to know about. Yet, people did that sort of stuff here as well?

Fighting other players didn’t bother me as much, especially not after the carnage of Advance Online’s space warfare. Jitters remained, but with Hermes, I felt confident in holding my own. Hopefully. [Blink] and [Morrigu’s Gift] could do wonders. Most standard NPC monsters posed no problems during my travels though I still hadn’t fought a dragon. That would be impressive. The more I played this game, the more I envied William Carver for his endless travels and challenges.

I spent the rest of the twenty-minute horse ride thinking of exactly what sort of people might be on this Wheel thing, and my own ability to fight players. Hopefully, I wouldn’t try to pull out a Gatling gun here in the fantasy world. [Mechanical Minion] and [Power Armor] were also out. It felt weird to long for Advance Online abilities here, yet long for Continue Online skills while in the other game.

Guards escorted me inside. I looked around and marveled at how dull everything looked. Grays and dusty browns ruled the color scheme. The same patterning of a Griffin being skewered was repeated all over. There had been dungeons with higher quality backdrops than this place. Maybe it was a matter of taste, did the king prefer a more militaristic approach?

“Stop gawking and move on!” The guard stabbed at me again.

Simon says stop giving me lip
Total Health Remaining: 75%

I tried to exist in a positive daze while being marched forth into a grand looking room. Compared to the rest of the castle this place felt opulent. Carvings flowed along the walls all toward the center throne. The heads of two great beasts loomed near the doorway glaring down. One was a medium sized dragon, and the other an ogre. Both were preserved through magic or virtual reality rule bending.

There was something about traveling that made me zone out. I wasn’t like those heroes in great novels who would take in all the possible escape routes. That being said, my best bet was probably through the roof and across the gardens I had seen on the eastern side. They looked far less populated. Maybe I was getting better. How many monsters had I escaped from now? Part of me had been well-trained by Shazam to look for escape routes. Though thinking of the tall Amazon made me sad. Lia Kingsley was dead, along with my father.

One of the metal suited guards jerked me back by my shirt and pushed me to the ground. The first thought to occur was one of a child trying desperately not to dirty the thick carpet. That brief horror at making a mess confused me. I didn’t want to get the one nice room in this place dirty with my grody clothes.

“Kneel, prisoner,” the man said, which I only heard part of. After being pushed down rudely a third time I gained some perspective and took care to look around. “Stay down!”

“Lord, perhaps it would have been best to at least hose the prisoner down prior to transportation.” There was a person standing off to one side wearing immaculate clothing. The suit was clearly high fashion, well-made, and not some wholesale poorly cut length. His sleeves fit well and white gloves finished off the suit’s image.

“No, we need to get this filth moved on toward punishment as soon as possible. We are tired of housing his simpleton self in the dungeon with those lesser criminals.” The king somehow seemed to grow taller. It might have been my face getting closer to the ground. The guards were intent upon shoving me far into the now dirtied carpeting.

“Of course, your lordship is wise to move him on quickly, but only a moment more might have saved a fine carpet. It was a gift I believe, as part of your reinstatement.”

“We will simply tack the loss on to his debt.” The king waved dismissively. Next to him a thin looking fellow with a ledger nodded and put quill to paper.

“How wise,” the man wearing a dovetailed jacket said. He looked very clean and professional.

“Don’t pay such hollow lip service in front of us, counsel. Were it not for the Voice of Balance requiring all Travelers to have representation, we would have thrown you out.”

The man bowed at the waist but chose not to say anything. He reminded me of the player Frankenstein mixed with a butler. There was also far less over the top silliness involved with this other person.

“We are King Nero, and you have been dragged here today so that we could see your face, in person. By this, we might judge if you held a shred of remorse for your crimes.” There was a man standing maybe twenty feet away. He looked familiar, but there had been so many people in the last few months. It could have been a client with their broken ARC, but this person was clearly an NPC.

Was his face the same as my [King’s Taste Tester] event? Maybe Continue Online allowed for the right to remain silent. The guards behind me had made it pretty clear all actions were not allowed. They were more than happy to interrupt me with no provocation.

“Do you? Traveler? Do you have any remorse for the death of a good woman?” King Nero's voice didn’t precisely sound condescending but came close. There was a vibration that combined attention demanding with assertiveness. A set of scars drug down the left end of his neck.

“She fought hard for her beliefs, and I for mine,” I said carefully from the ground. There was no good answer to the conflict which had happened between us. Senseless waste existed on both sides. Part of me wondered if the Continue Online version of Auntie Backstab existed somewhere here, hating my Hermes autopilot with all the rage a giant half-ogre or mountain giant could manage.

“As Hermes’ counsel, I would like to remind the king that Hermes did endeavor to reduce the loss of soldiers on both sides,” the professional person acting as my counsel advised the king. I had no idea who this other man was. He didn’t seem affiliated with any of the merchants and rich nobles standing behind us. Not that I could see much with my face planted on the ground.

“Faint good that did. Commander Strongarm was worth an army by herself.” King Nero sounded sad for a moment before his imposing air resurfaced. I glanced up at the man, his eyes bore down toward me. They looked gray, almost absent. The longer I stared the deeper his black centers appeared as if they might swallow me whole.

“I-” A spear whacked me on the head leaving a [Stunned] message and mumbles coming out of my mouth. My body tried to move but the [Convict Brand] reduced me to a weak kitten compared to these guards.

“And she was defeated, perhaps your lordship could conscript Hermes for the kingdom’s future,” my advocate stated calmly. He, at least, wasn’t smacked in the face.

“Without her we might as well be doomed! I have seen the blackness that awaits us, I have been into the abyss’ depth!” The king turned frothing in an instant before a polite cough from the aid holding a quill set him back. He even managed to drop the whole royal we act that had been going on thus far.

“Sire,” my advocate said. “We must think toward the future. Castrating a Traveler might reduce the need for vengeance, but by your own words, we will need a strength of arms in this world.”

“That is true.” He took a breath and righted himself. “We did say that warriors will be needed.”

“And a culling, I believe, were your words,” the well-dressed man said and bowed slightly. His clothes kept creating the sparsest breeze every time he moved. I tried to figure out if that was a gear trick, or something else, but even [Inspection] was locked. My last few hours in-game were filled with denial. Only the hope of getting to my [Messenger’s Tube] and contacting Xin kept me playing. Today had been terrible and this game was trying my patience.

“That is also true, some Travelers are too strong for their own good.” King Nero looked at his aid to the rear, and the thin man nodded then marked words on the parchment.

“Then, as you yourself suggested, assign him to The Wheel, then make him serve as a hatchet man. Either he’ll grow stronger, which only serves the kingdom or the others will kill him, which will serve your desire for retribution,” he said sounding so calm when discussing my future.

“What the heck—” The world blurred as the butt of a spear pummeled my face.

“We have an agreement then. Punishment, where he’ll either grow strong enough to fight the looming darkness or die enough to help us sleep at night. Either method can be considered a victory.” King Nero nodded then looked at his aid again. Once more the thin figure scribbled down items with a quill.

So the king sentences me to a kill or be killed playground against other players? That was decidedly brutal for a Continue Online world, and what about Xin? Was she somewhere in the crowd witnessing my condemnation? Hopefully, she wasn’t here.

A spear came down and hit me once more. The repeated cranial abuse hurt in the ARC but was thankfully muted. My crippled character slipped into an [Unconscious] status and the screen went black. Playing Continue Online hadn’t improved the day.

Session Sixty Eight - Virtual Chain Gang

My character didn’t regain awareness in the next twenty minutes. No character meant no Xin. No [Messenger’s Tube] meant no contacting the Voices. I logged out of the ARC, upset, and passed out. Staying up late hadn’t been worth it, using my last [NPC Conspiracy] charge was an option. I disliked the idea of using such an insane trump card just yet, especially since the last one had shut down the globe for a few minutes. What would I do if men in black suits showed up and hauled me away? Being with Xin couldn’t happen if I was in a prison cell.

Dreaming plagued me with a wall of fears. My dad’s face stood there shaking sadly. He said, “Xin’s not in the box son, she’s over here with me.”

I remember screaming in protest, but the words didn’t make sense. They were more of an incomprehensible ranting. Half sobs were choked up by a denial of all that I hoped and worked for.

“Sorry, son. Life’s for the living, and the dead are rotting. Like your cat, remember Mister Sniffles?” His words felt insanely clear for such an awkward dream.

“He was just a cat, and Xin is more than that!” dream me shouted.

“Dead’s dead, son. Time and tide wash us all away in the end.” His features were blurred by time’s haze.

“But Xin’s alive!” I woke up raving with a rapid heartbeat. The last image before being sent into awareness was my father’s face, devoid of awareness but shaking his head sadly. When was the last time I really looked at either one of my parents? In the struggle to hold onto Xin’s memory, I had cast away so many other relationships.

The bed felt cold and goosebumps crisscrossed my arms. Had I really been so used to being alone at night? Even when Xin was around, I spent a lot of nights waiting for her to come home. Three years, long enough to be so dead inside I used a machine to dance with her, to feel a hint of memory in my arms. I tried to shake off the emotions and took a breath. Thinking about the nature of our possible relationship only made me waste the limited time I already had.

Five hours of sleep were all I managed to get. That would be nearly an entire day in Continue Online. Maybe Hermes was conscious and waiting to start serving virtual slave labor. Maybe then I could start working on redeeming myself or getting murdered, or whatever exactly was next. That King Nero fellow had sounded justifiably upset, and perhaps a bit crazy.

Parts of the situation tore at me. My actions in an alternate reality video game had been linked to his death from the Voices manipulation of my character creation tests. That part was outside my control, but in both games, I had killed Commander Strongarm and Queenshand, who I guess was his sister in law. I didn’t really understand how it all went together yet.

Today I would simply take myself out of the work queue for a few hours and look at the journals Continue Online kept for me. It was odd, when growing up most of those lore items and game backstory issues were glazed right over as I pressed the next button. Now, as an adult, they mattered far more than expected. It wasn’t just my wild ride either, Beth had an entire tapestry of backstory to her adventures as well.

I logged straight in, once again bypassing the little preview window that could be used for checking autopilot actions. It was more fun to dive in blind and just roll with whatever happened, in the same way I used to leap into the swimming pool and get the abrupt chill over with. My head shook, swimming made me think about dad. There was a reason I had never been that active in sports.

As the loading screen darkness faded I felt my leg weighed down by something extremely heavy. We, that is to say, I, and the back of a dozen other heads, were rolling along in an open-air bus. There were large creatures that looked like a cross between dwarf giraffes and oxen off to one side. Our vehicle was bolted onto harnesses making the ride sway.

New Player Attribute Added: [Criminal]

[Criminal] is a stat increased by those with a [Condemnation] ability.

- [Redemption] points cancel out [Criminal] points

- Until your Redemption rate reaches zero, you will remain a victim of the [Convict Brand].

- Current [Criminal] value: 7,000

- [Redemption] points can be earned through completion of special tasks assigned by the party who [Condemned] you. In this case, you are punished by a person with [High Nobility] status. Tasks will be assigned as you travel around the territory. Total points gained varies based on the complexity of the task, reason for punishment and fine being imposed.

Behind the system message was a wall of people snoring. If I concentrated there were tiny player and autopilot indicators floating up above. Glancing around revealed two NPCs in substantial armor escorting this prison cart. No one else, just two. There was a tower far in the distance that looked vaguely familiar. Not [The Lone Tower] where the [Mistborn] resided, but one that Beth had probably talked to me about.

I tried to flip through my notes for half an hour while our cart meandered onward. It felt slower than the [Callibur]s by miles. We must have spent ten minutes passing by a single tree.

“Hey,” someone behind me whispered quietly. “Hey, you’re online right?”

It took me a few moments to register the words. The tower’s name eluded me, my notes for this region were minimal. I must have passed through at high speeds with [Blink] and [Lightbody] helping me.

“You there? You’re not a mute, right?” the other person whispered. Their voice didn’t sound familiar. There was a jingle to it that was almost southern, but crisp. I tried to turn my head around but there was something bolted to my neck that made it impossible.

“Deaf, you mean?” I asked. Shazam had been mute. The idea made me sad briefly but hopefully, this guy behind me couldn’t tell what my face looked like. I had to remind myself that everyone here was a major criminal in the eyes of this game.

“Daft?” This stranger sounded honestly confused. “You daft then?”

“Deaf, as in hard of hearing. And no, I was distracted.” I was beginning to suspect this person was daft, as in not entirely there.

“Shut it, convicts!” one of the two guards yelled.

“Oh. Yeah. That. Are you daft?” he whispered the question. Maybe the man was just screwing with me, he did sound kind of amused.

I raised an eyebrow and leaned my head back slightly. Both hands were bound to a bar in front. Hopefully, this other person had been tied up too. There was a man to my left who looked bolted down in a similar fashion. Part of me wanted to exercise the full extent of my abilities upon this man’s body. All those weeks of pent-up aggression with the repetitive customer complaints. The idea of unleashing a bit of malcontent upon the world made me smile.

These were players, so they would resurrect eventually. They were also supposedly complete scum. Briefly, I paused. My own status was right in the mix with these people. That meant in the general public’s eyes I wouldn’t be much better.

“Yes, I’m daft.” Why not? I wasn’t at work, there was no need to be the friendly but professional version of myself. These weren’t accountant customers or letter recipients. I didn’t care a ton about showing weakness in front of people who played games, no matter how real this world was.

“Good. You look daft to me. I’m gonna call you Mister Daft forever.” he proudly declared. I couldn’t see what this guy looked like, but he sounded like a belligerent teenager. “That okay, Mister Daft?”

“I thought we agreed the new guy would be Sharkbait.” another player said with a yawn in his voice. He sounded bored. This newest person was to the left. All around indications of autopilot symbols were dropping away.

“You said that, but we already got Shankems over there. I don’t want another S name.” There was a rattle as the guy behind me moved around. His voice shifted to face us better.

“Dude’s name is Hermes, get an ID skill, and maybe some brain cells, then you can stop opting out at the beginning of every stop,” a fourth person spoke. He sounded deep and easily annoyed. I assumed the easy to annoy part because that was the first thing he had said, and this fourth rumbling voice was borderline mad.

“I ain’t playing this game to fight. I’m a loving sort,” the guy behind me insisted. He rattled something again.

I jerked my hands trying to reproduce the noise. A few seconds later and there were a few possibilities. It was likely the man’s chains were being stretched to their maximum range. Maybe there was an odd combination of footwork being done.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get your squicky hands in my direction. If you end up on my team, I’m offing you before you can suicide on a pull,” the rumbling one spoke.

“What are you all talking about?” My eyes and neck strained to see the two of them. The guy with a deep voice talking about an ID skill looked to be Hispanic. It might have been the avatar or an in-game skill. Tips of his hair actually held a pale whiteness to them, almost as though they would glow in the dark.

“First tour?” the deep voice man asked me.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m Hermes. Thanks for getting my name right.”

“Nah, your name is Mister Daft.”

Possible Alias: Mister Daft

Details: Alias skills allow a player to mask their primary name with a secondary one. The effectiveness of an alias depends on when and where it’s used. Further development of an alias takes work and time. Large scale deeds under an alternate name can help establish an alias.

Note: Other Travelers may see past an alias depending upon their skill usage.

“Or Hermes,” I offered, neither name bothered me that much at this point. My interest lay in all those details they were spouting. Those prisoners back in the jail cell believed this was a terrible place to be, yet three of these players had conversed already.

Maybe there was a certain amount of disconnect, this was a virtual world after all. There was pain feedback when we died, nothing minor either. Especially considering the heart attack I had been exposed to as William Carver. Maybe they all made choices like I did.

“Alright, Hermes. Some ground rules to make life easier during your stay,” the big tanned guy said. He didn’t bother turning his head much. “Listen up, ‘cus those that don’t get boned quick.”

“I still like Mister Daft. Daft, ‘cus he’s got air between his ears.”

“Don’t listen to him, he’s got some skill that makes NPCs believe his lies. Works on players also,” the rumbling one said. I tried to use [Identification] but the skills were locked. Mine, at least, but this other guy had managed to figure out my name at some point. Maybe we were unlocked briefly in order to do dungeon stuff.

“Shut up, convicts!” A guard pressed something hanging off the giraffe oxen monster then pain arched through our bindings. The big guy ground his teeth a little. I yelped from the unexpected spike. Others made varying noises.

“No one here is your friend unless circumstances force it. We’re headed to a team dungeon, but expect no favors just because you’re grouped,” he tried to whisper but failed. Apparently it was good enough for the guards.

“Okay.” All sorts of ideas raced through my brain.

“I’m only talking because I enjoy a certain amount of fairness, and don’t bother asking why we’re in. To sum this shit up, at least four people here are in for murdering everyone they could before enough other players brought them down.” The Hispanic guy shrugged. “Seven others got burglary raps, add in some political hatred or getting on the wrong side of quests. Squisks back there tried to touch a bunch of elf girls who may be eighty but are mentally eight.”

“Game’s rigged. They were legal,” said the man and grumbled. “Way, way over eighteen!”

“Jesus, you kill him before he suicides and I’ll consider it a personal favor. Same offer I make to everyone else. Free pass.”

“How many times!?” the guard yelled as armor clinked. Another round of electrical collar abuse kicked in. This time, everyone cried out except the big darkly tanned guy who had been explaining things to me. “If the new guy needs to know something, he can learn by trial and error, or check that guide shit you Travelers have.”

“Calm down, Knight Middleton,” said the other armored figure. He rode on a creature that looked as if someone had shoved a gazelle and bull together. Without [Identification] I was unsure, but this beast was probably a [Larodeo], which apparently combined ‘the’ and ‘rodeo’ together.

The guard paused and glared at all of us. His hand hung above the electrical trigger button. I contemplated racing to log out of the ARC before another one hit. Dealing with pain when there was no choice was bearable, but this wasn’t Requiem.

“Knight Middleton, shocking the Travelers does nothing to help them be rehabilitated, despite your beliefs,” the other knight said. There hadn’t been a system pop-up regarding [Rehabilitation] points as a result of being damaged.

“It should. If the Voices left me in charge, I could shock them endlessly, one point per minute endured.” The man pressed the button again anyway, despite his orders. I gasped as limbs shook from the jolt of electricity. “Then even that child raping scum could be redeemed in a few months. I bet he would even thank me if there was some, stupid, skill.” A finger jamming jolt of pain accompanied each of the final words.

“Knight Middleton, once again I will remind you that justice is not ours to dispense. We only follow the rules set forth.” The other guard’s tone sounded familiar. It was hard to place, almost as though it were from a half-forgotten dream.

“Fine,” he said.

“Convicts, for your own health, keep quiet until we reach the tower’s base.” The guard in charge didn’t turn to look at us. His words were oddly clear.

Most of the other convicts flipped back to autopilot. They must have been checking on their characters when someone talked. The remote screen was good at seeing when things moved, but time dilation made it hard to track conversations sometimes.

I decided to log out and get the rest of my sleep. We clearly had time to wait before anything super exciting happened and I needed to be rested before dealing with group treachery. What exactly might they do? Form alliances across teams? Lead other people to their deaths?

When we were all chained down and sitting together in daylight it felt peaceful. Compared to frothing beasts in my face they were only human. Still, any one of these people barreling down on me in a game might turn ugly fast. That large man who shrugged off electrical jolts had to be skilled, or tough with a damage reduction. Those hands had been huge too, like, Iron sized, or Leeroy, and he sounded nothing like those two.

He felt informative, but not friendly. The guy behind me, upon reflection, had been condescending and weasel-like. Inside the game, I had suppressed those impressions in order to listen and get my bearings in the new location. Thinking of being in the middle of all these literal criminals with unknown Continue Online abilities worried me about future prospects. My sleep was fitful and sweat filled.

A few hours later I logged in, more nervous than before after a moment to reflect. I planned on fighting when needed, but it wouldn’t be fun or exciting. Battle blinded lust wasn’t one of my personality traits at all.

The guards were far enough away that we might be able to risk conversation. Our two escorts had met up with another six people wearing bulky armor. The bus was heading to a harness platform of some sort. Looming up above in a swirl of brightly lit orbs was the tower that had been visible from a distance. It reminded me of the old Starry Night work only the very air around it warped with colors. It went up into the sky quite a ways.

“Tower of Stars, that’s it, right?” I vaguely remembered Beth talking about it being a raid level zone. She died here more times than I cared to think about trying to beat this place again and again, but so far no one had made it to the top.

“Stop three on The Wheel, average deaths per three-man clear, seven. Loot we get to keep, bound. The winner last round? Android Seven over there. Soloed the boss when all the other convicts were dead,” a man next to me spoke calmly. His shoulders looked lopsided. “But we’re not doing the tower, we’re doing the much less exciting group dungeon called the Black Hole of Light.”

The carriage stopped completely and the giraffe oxen creatures groaned in unison. They sat down and our cart rocked as the platform took on the weight. We were four feet above the ground but now suspended by heavy wooden beams. Two clearly patterned circles were marked nearby. Both guards got off their own mounts and walked toward the circles.

“Android Seven?” I tilted my head in confusion. Continue Online didn’t have robots or androids, did it? Luckily our guards were away from the shock buttons so we should be able to converse a little.

“Just another player, punished for whatever crimes the game lured him into. If you draw his group he’ll probably let you live. He rarely does anything to lose points.” This person didn’t even stop to introduce himself.

“We’re going to be in groups?” I asked while eyeballing the crowd around me. A gate clinked behind us. My head had just enough slack to see some sort of fortified wall with guards up top. It felt similar to [Camp Grey Skull] but with NPCs all dressed in fine armor.

“We’ll be in groups of three. Luck of the draw, we get about an hour between groups,” the man nearby said. Without a completely visible face, it was difficult to anchor all these people. Plus everyone wore the same orange and black looking clothing. Why a fantasy world was intent upon using modern prisoner coloring was beyond me.

The tower’s base was almost the size of two football fields long. We could see it through a set of bars that separated us from the actual dungeons. There weren’t any other Travelers headed up into the building, so maybe normal people were given a different entrance. A tunnel could be seen wrapping around the tower’s base like a nautilus shell. One route tilted up into the dungeon that Beth had probably traversed. Down went into a darkened pit.

“That sounds messy,” I said while trying to figure out what would happen next. The two guards that had ridden with us were now sitting in their circles. Runes on the ground were lighting up from [Lithium] spells. I smiled briefly, remembering Requiem’s lithium chanting. It sounded like bad childish poetry or did back in my [Red Imp] era.

“It is. Groups are encouraged to kill each other and whatever monsters they can find to keep the dungeon under control,” the other Traveler said and gave a barely visible shrug. He must have known I was new. Even now I hardly remembered the rules on how dungeons worked. There were bosses, lots of little creatures, some had treasure or puzzles. Others came with quests inside. It was dynamic, so each person entering got a slightly different experience.

“Why does Android Seven win?” I had to know if there was a secret that might help. This guy would be within rights to keep it himself, or feed me false information, but he didn’t seem to care.

“I got nothing. He just does. Man has about five hundred murders under his belt and will be out in week's at this rate.” His head shook. “Good for us, I guess. I’m more worried about what quest might require mass murder.”

I blinked a few times then stared at the quiet man in a corner. He looked almost, normal to me. If I were to slap a business suit on the other person then he could fit in on Wall Street or some other business area. Not that they were popular anymore with the technological growth these last two centuries. Still, he wore the same bright orange garb all of us did.

There was a flash of light up front that distracted me from staring at Android Seven. [Lithium] fueled runes had spiraled into a bright glowing shield around the guards. It looked to be a protective barrier. There was a third light slowly coalescing between them of a box sitting atop a table.

“Shut up!” Knight Middleton yelled at us. “Listen closely! Your kind-” the man briefly sneered under his visor then went back to shouting loudly, “-should be getting information from the Voices right now. You’ll get regulations for your stay. Kindly don’t waste our time by trying to escape.”

Warning!

People wearing the [Convict Brand] are restricted in their ability to stray from [Redemption] points. Each brand needs to stay within one hundred feet of a [Redemption Wagon] or only act within an approved location. Straying outside these bounds will result in a cumulative damage effect until the death of your current physical existence.

“Next up is group lots!” one of the guards shouted. “Most of you should know the drill by now! As this is what you Travelers call a group dungeon, three make up a squad. Survive, bring out your trophies displaying kills, highest group stays off the equalizing block.”

The bindings keeping us tied down dropped away. I reached up and felt along my neck for a heavy bracing that hadn’t really been noticed yet. The weights around my ankles and hands were gone as well. I looked around but no one appeared to be taking advantage of the freedom to rush or attack mindlessly.

We slowly formed lines, with a startling level of organization given our [Criminal] status. I tried not to flinch away as the other people bumped into me. They weren’t bigger or anything, especially considering my Hermes character had an insane amount of [Brawn], but they could have been crazy, or backstabbing. Plus my clothes were beyond recovery. Maybe it was the reminder of my own clothes and their dried crusty status.

“What about the losers?” I asked the talkative guy. We had been getting along well enough for now. He hadn’t been revealed to touch young elves or murder hundreds of people. Both ideas were reprehensible to me.

“You can come out ahead if you do well enough down below, or at least, try to break even with the death penalty,” he said.

I nodded then looked at the next message on my screen.

Quest: King Nero’s Offer

Difficulty: Variable

Details: The king has made you an offer you can’t refuse. In order to atone for your failures, and ensure that other rule breaking Travelers suffer appropriate setbacks, you will be rewarded with twice the [Redemption] points for every other Traveler brought low.

Current Redemption Remaining for freedom: 7,000

“Worst case, take the easy out and die to a boss or something. Just don’t let another player get you,” he said.

“Why would they want us to kill each other?” I asked while shaking my head. It made no sense. They could have offed us all easily while we were bound in the cart. Based on what little I had gleaned, they had the option of setting our resurrection points in a kill box and fire walls of arrows down each time we risked coming back.

“Player versus player penalties are greater than dying to the monsters, and most NPCs killing us costs us nearly nothing but time,” he explained as we shuffled forward. The line moved quickly. People dipped hands in, pulled out their small looking piece of wood with a number on it, then walked off.

The unnamed, but helpful, person in front of me took a number out then sighed. I followed up promptly by sticking my hand into the dark pit of a box. There were tiny wood objects inside. I pulled my prize out and saw the two burned into its surface.

“Two,” I said while trying to run through scenarios. It put me, and two random people, ahead of nine others who would have reasons to kill us and take our success as their own. That put us behind one group, that might have placed ambushes in their hour lead.

“I’m three.” The talkative man sighed. “Guess that means we’ll be enemies.”

“Oh.” I felt bad that he had helped explain things only to possibly be killed by my virtual swords. This may have been a digital world, but it looked real, and the pain still hurt.

“That’s how it goes while you’re here, this whole thing’s a mess. At least, I get redemption points for explaining. Once inside, there’s no truces.” With that, he turned and walked away. After being broken into teams, our situation turned far different than I had thought it might. What had been at least a mildly professional relationship was cut off in the face of future conflict.

My eyes followed the man as he moved toward a number on the ground. This place was like a box with starting positions. There were gates for up to eight teams, but we only had enough people for five in our convict band. Fourteen other people who might try to stab me in the back during this adventure.

Part of me expected these guys to be worse, or harder, or downright rude. Daylight might have brightened my perspective, and it helped immensely knowing Xin was out there. They were intent upon serving their sentences as quickly as possible. It made sense, this was a game, not a hardcore prison. Anyone who truly screwed themselves over could go play somewhere else, like Advance Online, or delete their character then start over.

“Group one, over here. Two, here!” The guard pointed at another three spots for the other groups then explained. “Restriction crystals are active. Idget, I’m saying this for you since you keep trying to escape. Tampering will get you killed! Trying to escape will get you killed! Post-death regathering of your essence brings you back to the bus! You’re here until your debt is cleared!”

There was one more surprise waiting for me. The guard, who had been mostly covered, head to toe, in plated armor, lifted his visor to look at us. His face looked familiar enough that I had broken our shuffling silence to ask, “Wyl? Is that you?”

“You’ve no right to call me by my first name, convict,” Wyl responded.

I was floored. This was indeed the guard captain from [Haven Valley], and my time as William Carver, but what was he doing out here escorting prisoners of a completely different kingdom? Had something happened while I was gone?

Session Sixty Nine - Blue Monday

My partners were the guy who touched little elves, and another man who looked blind. They were indifferent to my presence. Here we were, trapped in a barricaded square and about to chase each other to repeated death, and most of my thoughts were stuck on Wyl.

The former guard captain of [Haven Valley] stared right through me with complete apathy. His body held rigid in the protective beam of light. I couldn’t remember enough details of our time together. The automatic game journal notations from William Carver’s era were mixed. Many items were recorded, but a low starting [Depth] and [Knowledge] limited the information. Having both stats higher would have helped record additional details automatically.

I tried to talk to him again, “Wyl? Is Haven Valley okay?”

That earned me a dirty look and glare. The man was in his forties and looked rough compared to the nearly constant smile from before. It had been almost ten months of game time since then. Something must be wrong, the very idea made my face turn white. I stepped past Knight Middleton’s post to get closer to Wyl. He stood a bit shorter now that I was no longer in a hunched old man’s body.

“Mylia? The kids, are they okay?” I banged into the pillar of light and lost a chunk of health as my teeth vibrated in pain.

Wyl briefly winced then ignored me in order to stare off into the distance. I panicked and hit the barrier again. Health dipped as pain rippled through. My ability to grit my teeth and suffer through was far less than the Hispanic guy’s had been.

Electricity eventually cures stupidity

Total Health Remaining: 70%

“Go on with your task, convict, so that we can move onward,” Carver’s former friend said. Not wearing the old man’s body counted against me. Would he feel different when seeing [Morrigu’s Gift]?

“Wyl, I know I’m a convict to you right now, but, life started for me in that town.” That location was when I first began to wake up after three years of sticking my head in the sand. All those people were important for different reasons, even if none of them knew me as Hermes. “Can you at least tell me, are Mylia and the kids alright?”

Wyl stared at me, then looked at [Morrigu’s Gift]. His eyes lingered on the smooth blankness that went with the wooden cane form. I couldn’t outright say it, but at one point I had a [Legacy Wish] from Old Man Carver himself. Shortly after the ability merged into the [NPC Conspiracy] ability.

“No, they’re not,” he said while looking less hostile for a moment. “Haven Valley isn’t alright at all.”

I nodded. Now there was something to really fight for. [Haven Valley], a town that had started everything for me was in trouble. Not to mention there was the issue of Xin, floating in virtual reality waiting for me to make a move of some sort. I needed to get a letter to the Voices quickly.

Quest: The Task At Hand (Stop #3)

Difficulty: Pathetically low to difficult

Details: As part of your attempts at [Redemption], there is a dungeon to be cleared. This dungeon will pose many challenges that typically kill normal Travelers. If anyone in your group has access to a [Resurrection] skill you will be allowed to use it, and bypass the (4 day) reconstruction timer. Convicts will be stuck at this stop for twenty-eight days. Removing the final boss will allow for a rest period.

In order of value, points can be earned for:

Destruction of enemy monsters

- Key resources collected
- Defeating other parties
- Contribution to current group
- Survival duration
- Points will be lost for:

Complete lack of participation

- Destruction of valuable items

- Betrayal of team members

System Help!

All items earned during the dungeon crawl will be removed upon the 28-day marker. Only [Bound] items are allowed to be carried over to the next point on [The Wheel]. Travelers who reach their [Redemption] requirements to remove [Criminal] status, will be released at the 28-day marker.

I turned away from Wyl. Trying to convince him of our past history couldn’t be completed in the remaining hours before our dungeon entrance. Any quick method of convincing him required betraying William carver’s last few weeks.

“I go by Viper,” the blind looking one of my new team members said. That nickname fit once I noticed that his eyes had really thin vertical slits in them. It made sense that he appeared blind with so much of the eyeball being pure white and no standard iris.

“Hermes.” I turned to face them and tried to give a decent smile. Well, mostly Viper, the other guy bothered me. Though my brain also felt conflicted about the idea of an eighty-year-old little girl. What kind of nonsense had the Voices put down in this world?

“This is Mister Daft, not Hermes. Daft, as in can’t hear or think.” The guy who had been speaking behind me looked more human than Viper did. He was slightly shorter with brown hair cropped into a goatee.

“That’s Ssquiskss, he’ll try to get killed.” Viper pointed to the guy who insisted I was Mister Daft. “Sso normally we let him.” There was a disgusted tone in his voice as Viper spoke. “Dude sskatess by with twenty participation points each time, then logss off until the twenty-four hourss is up.”

“So, the three-man team is really only two?” I tried to ignore the way Viper hissed certain letters.

“Until ssomeone bribess me with enough to kill you.” The funny eyed Traveler shrugged then laughed with a stutter.

“That’s, up front of you.” I didn’t know how else to explain it. What kind of person advertises they’re out to kill another player? People were weird. This was a game, and we were stuck in an endless respawn then dungeon crawl cycle for the next week of real life. Everything fell under odd.

“Eh, I tell you, because maybe during the next sstop you’ll want to buy my sservices. I’m quite good at it.” He was glaring at Squisks.

“How do you do it?” I wanted to know what method this player had that made him so confident.

“Uh uh. I can’t give it all away.” He hissed while laughing again then got distracted. “Thiss iss just my ssaless pitch.”

Was he doing that on purpose? There seemed to be something wrong with his neck muscles and other joints too. I studied them and compared it to all the figures I had danced with over the years. Those connecting points were too fluid. If I were to combine it with Continue Online’s weird half-breed quest lines, the hissing, and slit eyes, it was very likely he had some serpent abilities.

“Well, I’ll keep it in mind.” Loot never bothered me. Maybe giving some away to buy an ally would be good.

Now that we were all unbound and standing closer the atmosphere felt a bit uglier. The first party was already lined up near their number and getting ready to go. A member of the trio had their weapons out and swung the blade to warm up. A female kept shaking her hands, every so often a flare of blue energy would float from wiggling fingertips.

Their third partner kept looking around with shoulders bunched in nervousness. The final one broke away from the crowd and ran for a wall. The guards’ arrows rapidly brought the man’s health down to zero.

Behind me, a member of the fourth team screamed then tried to run in another direction. I turned in time to see two arrows catch him in the back, leaving the man limply hanging over a wall. I barely had time to blink before a hand shoved me from behind. My body tripped forward and the desire to [Blink] away didn’t gain a result.

Only a lot of combat and balance kept me upright.

“Hold!” Wyl yelled. A single arrow landed right next to my abruptly relocated form. I turned to glare behind me. Viper stood far enough away that it wasn’t likely an issue. Squisks looked confused.

“Assssholess.” Viper glared at one of the people in another group.

His source of ire, a taller person with long fingers, smiled in my direction and waved. I felt a gentle pat on my cheek as if being brushed by an invisible figure. Did that other team's Traveler have an invisible hand technique? How awkward.

“You want him killed, half price,” Viper said.

One casual push from an ability had almost gotten me arrowed. I shook and tried not to think about how easily players could die in this game. My major goal was surviving long enough to find a private spot and check the [Messenger’s Tube]. There would be one less player in front of us, so that was mildly useful.

Viper continued his glare at the other player while I tried to figure out what our chances would be against unknown abilities. Better yet, what kind of powers did my own group have? No other players divulged their powers. Fantasy driven skills and talents could make for an odd array of possibilities.

There were a lot of cookie cutter abilities too. Multiple people used the same playstyles or builds with very small variations. I once went into a large capital that offered similar classes to NPCs and Travelers at the same time. Hundreds of people going through the coursework to be basic foot soldiers or trackers.

“Anyway, until ssomeone payss me more than it’ss worth to keep you alive, we’re in this together.” Viper turned then smiled at me. His teeth looked masked by thin lips.

“How much am I worth?” I asked the player while getting back to our marker. My eyes shifted around to each group to gauge those remaining.

“We’ll find out in a few hourss, won’t we?”

My mind ran through escape routes or ways to work through this mission. Getting away without earning some [Redemption] would be unlikely. Maybe there was a magical portal down below. There was also the possibility that revealing too many skills might just get me ganged up on. There had been television shows about this very idea. Look weak, get picked on, look strong, get ganged up on. Float in the middle and maybe survive.

No, I would save my other ideas for later. One day of real life would be four inside the box. There was more than enough time to do whatever I needed. Or, and this would be an abuse of power, my admin access should be kicking in soon. It would be easy enough to kick all these players out, clear the dungeon, and move forward.

“So, Mister Daft, what are you gonna offer not to be killed?” Squisks asked. He looked to be on the verge of chuckling and his goatee was stretched wide in a huge grin.

I scratched my head and said, “Nothing?” The amount was fair for my digital existence. Right now, based on prison time, there was no reason to be insanely worried. Grinding out [Redemption] points couldn’t be more time consuming than working on the [Wayfarer Seven]’s hull. Though dying would set me back.

“What?” he sounded perplexed.

“Yeah.” My head tilted slightly in confusion. Did they expect me to be worked up over this? I had already been shoved into at least three situations where performance mattered. Right now, there was no reason to stress. “Worst that happens is you guys gang up on me. Then I know not to trust you, and none of us get anywhere.”

“Damn,” Viper said without a hiss. “You’re no fun.”

“I’ve had worse quests. This is just, repercussions of past choices, I guess.” Trying to sum up my thoughts wasn’t working well. The very name of [Redemption] and having a point value was simple enough. My actions had cost those with power. They wanted us to tear each other down, kill monsters then gather resources.

It was a rather good idea for putting Travelers to use, at least in kingdom terms. Everything bordered between kind of dark and standard Continue Online atmosphere. If this were a real fantasy world and I only had one life, then this process would be terrible. As it was, my stress was low.

“There’s sstill a threat. You’d be ssurprised what a mind can do, when there’s enough reward in place, at the very least people can make ssure you come out behind.”

“You can’t make it worse, can you? The way I read it, criminal points can only be added by those with the Condemnation skill.” I had read the text. These guys couldn’t put me farther in the hole, that I knew of. It should be possible to get a few points at a time.

“True. Either way, it’ss your call. As long as no one payss me, we can go down, kill a few thingss, bring out minor loot, or try to hit pockets of sstuff, but people may torture uss.” Viper didn’t care either way. Chances were he expected me to be dead weight like Squisks, or believed one of the other groups might kill us quickly.

“Why would they try to torture us? We have to be logged in for it to actually hurt. I can watch remotely at anything you might be doing, and pain is far less intense in-game.” The idea of another player threatening me felt laughable. Not once had any other Travelers' actions scared me, even when chasing down Commander Queenshand. They didn’t bother me in the same way that the Voices or various NPCs might have.

“How can you say that?” Squisks looked nervous at the thought of full on torture.

“Real life hurts a lot more,” I said quietly, then my head shook.

“Ssee, Hermess ain’t a wussss like you, Ssquiskss. It’s just a game, if you want back to your ladiess sso bad, sstart over. Maybe try not to touch the wrong person thiss time.” Viper hissed in a bright laugh.

“Yeah.” I shrugged while thinking about what they could actually do in the game. One of them would stab me in the back, the pain would be brief, and life would go on. Such feelings were why the game required being a legal adult to play. Rumination over the next thirty minutes provided a few possible ideas.

There were tons of ways they could handle group tasks. I looked at the other teams for a bit, then back toward my own. Using visual cues only to guess each person’s skill level was difficult. That being said, there were still certain ways of standing that I had learned from Shazam during our time together. Most of them came off as pretty bad physical fighters, except that Android Seven person, and maybe Viper.

“So, do people pay you to get your group killed, Squisks?” I asked the brown haired man.

“That’s none of your business, Mister Extra Daft,” he responded while waving a finger. There was an uncomfortable look on his face which was probably a yes. Too bad I hadn’t inherited William Carver’s [Truth Sense] ability.

“Then, you're probably paid with a stash of items near the end of each dungeon, if you successfully off someone?” I pointed at Viper. He nodded but didn’t smile. “Which means, we’ve been here long enough that you have a preferred drop point, or you trust the paying player enough to” my head shook and cut off the rambling.

Viper didn’t say anything. Either I was on the right track, or he simply didn’t care. It was probably best that our items were all still sealed or blocked from being used. One of them might try to kill me now in order to prevent too much musing. Did everyone else have [Bound] items? No one appeared concerned about the lack of equipment.

“You get paid at the end. Which is stupid. The math probably doesn’t work in your favor.” I had a degree in accounting. Really, killing each other and fighting over items was a terrible waste of resources, time, and effort.

“How sso?” Viper looked interested.

“Come on, we’ve got another thirty minutes to kill, someone give me numbers. How much is each part of the task list worth?” I motioned my hand at the other two in my team.

Both people spouted numbers, which also involved some arguing. Squisks, or whatever his name was, hadn’t actually survived once until the end of a dungeon. Viper insisted the survival value was one point per hour and compounded from there. The math ironed out to three hundred points for the first day. Another three hundred could be earned at the end of day two, three, and so on. [Redemption] only registered if I made it back to the two guards in their beams of light. Survival down there with four other groups prowling around and gaining points for killing us sounded difficult.

Still, freedom was possible. Notes from Mother would be in reach. In addition, I wanted to get away from here and reach [Haven Valley]. If we were at the [Tower of Stars], which was near the central continent, then it would take a few weeks on a [Callibur] to reach the west coast. The idea that something had happened to take Wyl away had me worried. What about his son Dayl? The kid had looked as though he might be lost without his father around.

Remembering the goofy older teen made me pause in my calculations with a smile. That reminded me of the other players from William Carver’s era. Maybe they would know something. I tried to bring up the message system since we had used a Porter to become in-game friends.

Warning!

Traveler communications are limited as a result of the [Convict Brand]. Only by earning enough [Redemption] points can you once again use the messaging system for talking to other Travelers.

Well, that wasn’t very neat. I stopped laughing and looked up. For a moment, my gaze searched for a certain winged creature to be somewhere on the horizon. Then it occurred to me why he wasn’t back. Technically the [Messenger’s Pet] had died in Advance Online, which meant I needed to resummon him here.

Still, some people could use their abilities out here despite the restrictions. That struck me as odd. My own skills should turn back on once we got inside the dungeon. Then Dusk and I could be reunited, in some pit with people trying to stab me in the back while I tried to find a hole with enough light for some note reading. Topping that off would be needing to survive, make it to and from the surface, and not cross paths with Android Seven. I wanted to know the man’s secret, but I didn’t want to get close enough to be turned into [Redemption] points.

“Damn.” I poked around on my interface, sure enough there was an ability to bring him back titled [Summon: Companion], but it was crossed out just like everything else.

“Ssomething wrong?” Viper asked. He had edged closer, which kind of creeped me out. The man was just inhuman enough to be disturbing. It might have been because he was a snake creature, instead of robotic like the [Mechanoid]s.

“No.” I shook my head and switched gears. “I’m just trying to go over the numbers.”

“You think you’re the first to try to sscam the ssysstem?” Viper asked.

“Mister Extra Daft.”

“Let me guesss, you’ve got a plan that will let uss all gain a little, and it only requiress that we all come together?” The snake-eyed man laughed uncontrollably.

“Daft as all hell.” Squisks giggled too but it came out forced. He rubbed me the wrong way, it wasn’t simply being accused of some fantasy version of pedophilia. The way he acted during our few minutes together made me wonder if the man had mental damage.

“No, based on what you’ve said, we’ll be lucky to earn, maybe one thousand points at this stop,” I corrected them. The action math assumed we could make it to the surface. “That’s presuming we actually work together.”

Squisks brightened for a moment upon hearing the values. That made me blink. I wanted to ask how close he was to freedom, but the idea of interacting with him made me sick.

“Then autopilot time-” the goatee man spoke seriously, “-will fuck us hard.”

My head kept going over [Redemption] task amounts. Common item drops could give half a point each. Anything that had a special effect could give up to twenty based on Viper’s responses. Ores and furs had a value based on rarity, up to ten for a stack. I missed my armor that Shazam had made and my skinning skills were low. [Morrigu’s Gift] transformed into pretty much any weapon, which included a pickaxe and skinning knife. I didn’t have time to sit in a mine for days learning to hammer nodes for ore.

“Sso?” Viper asked while trying to recover from excessive laughter.

“Whatever. Any plan Mister Daft’s got will fail like everyone else’s.” With that, the ball of sunshine called Squisks logged off, leaving his autopilot active. We stared at him as the color drained from his character.

“I have some ideas if I can trust either one of you.” I looked over at the other groups. Any group with three good dungeon divers would have been more put together. Honestly, this entire system was designed to throw us against an area without caring if we lived or died.

“Trust?” Viper hissed at me while weaving his head slightly. It reminded me of a cobra snake hypnotizing its prey.

I had a much better idea than trying to play numbers or build teams. Dusk, that little genius of a creature, could probably help me out a huge amount. These other players left behind caches of items. Dusk could sniff out treasure, I was sure of it.

Plus I had [Sight of Mercari], which caused headaches after prolonged usage. According to Beth, having any sort of tracking skill was pretty rare. More commonly people had threat sensors that would tell them if danger was incoming from a direction. Travelers with low [Reaction] speeds made it difficult to use.

Skill: [Sight of Mercari]

Rarity: Rare [Variant]

Details: Initial rank of [Sight of Mercari] allows the Traveler to see all sentient beings around them. This change in perception can be disorienting. As proficiency increases the skill will rank up allowing additional details to be received.

Rank 2 Unlocked! Colors are added to targets based on hostility level

Rank 3 Unlocked! Tracking extends to those with a lower stealth ranking than [Sight of Mercari]

“Tell you what, if we can make it through a dungeon without betraying each other, then we can split our earnings,” I offered, in hopes that all these various thoughts would come together. It was about time something worked out vaguely in my favor. All my other Continue Online adventures came with mixed results, this probably would be the same.

“You think you’ll earn more than I could alone?” Viper asked.

My eyes went up in thought. [Awareness Heightening], [Blink], [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo], between those items I could probably come out ahead of most monsters. I could gamble for bonuses with [Wild Bill]. All those combined techniques had gotten me into dungeons delivering letters before but not through many bosses as Hermes. Most of the time I [Blink]ed past monsters.

“Probably. Why don’t we give it some time to find out?” I asked, hoping that we could reach at least a brief moment of cooperation. It was true that having another Traveler around would increase our [Redemption] points, in addition, our survival chance should increase.

“Sso you want a truce for one game day?” Viper asked.

“Except for Squisks, we can take care of him ourselves, and maybe make up the loss in points.” I nodded. We were lucky the man’s character was still offline. Maybe he expected players to try to kill him.

“Yeah? You want to try to earn ssome loot for offing the pedophile?” the man uttered a line that didn’t involve much hissing.

“Yeah, that guy over there will pay us to kill Squisks.” My hand lifted to point at the hispanic guy from earlier who could grit through electrical jolts.

“That’s Big O. He has a sstanding offer, but if you want to arrange ssomething, you’ll need to move fast,” Viper said. Part of me expected a tongue to lick out and taste the air with one of his hisses. “It’ss our turn ssoon.”

I smiled, nodded, then calmly walked over to the large Hispanic man that offered a reward for killing Squisks. He laughed at me and said being able to off the slippery player with a goatee was unlikely. Even his other two team members laughed at the idea. Each success would earn me fifty points worth of items, according to his offer. I tried to do the math, if we were here for seven real days, then killing Squisks would get me up to three hundred and fifty points plus [The King’s Task] offering.

My mind ran through additional numbers and tried to do math. Ensuring a team member survived would result in positive points for every hour. Losing them would have an equal point loss over a twenty-four-hour time frame. Keeping Viper around while removing the goateed man would be a wash. The man would suffer a moment of pain to assist me in gaining points, which was a dirty way to think about it. Realizing that I was going to essentially torture someone else in order to spare myself hardship made me pause.

The less player violent route would require collecting items. Fourteen thousand common items would free me. Surviving enough days down below then coming back to the surface would too. Killing the final dungeon boss would grant a reprieve in these dungeon games. Making it through seven days, killing the final boss, and managing to take all the items between here and there might be enough to redeem me in one week, especially since [The King’s Task] added a few more points. The likelihood of doing all those items combined was very low.

“Group two, pay some Voices damned attention, and move over here!” Knight Middleton shouted at us.

Viper shrugged and went over. I followed behind while mulling over my numbers. At what point had I thought that causing another player mental damage was okay? That Hispanic guy, named Big O, was amused at the idea.

“Touch here.” Wyl pointed at pedestal between him and Knight Middleton. Instead of a ballot style draw box, there was now a single orb. It looked like a smaller version of the Porter crystals. That object must have appeared while I ran the numbers.

Viper went first. A few moments later and he had a line of small daggers strapped to his chest with their handles pointed downward. His clothing looked like cloth, except for a shiny belt that might have been complete plate. It dragged heavily to one side. Squisks put his hand down too but nothing changed gear wise.

My hand placed atop the smooth orb. A display popped with what looked like a standard gear system. I could, if I wanted, get one set of items to go into the dungeon with. Apparently this was the king’s pity in action. The equipment wasn’t [Bound], dying would result in all my gear remaining with my corpse. The equipment looked to be poor quality, barely better than the nasty orange and black clothing I wore.

I picked a leather set. There were no [Limberness] penalties, and my own armor wearing skill was fairly limited. Pulling items out of inventory was allowed. [Wild Bill] went on my head, and my weapons slid into the cheap belt provided with my leather armor.

“Once the gate drops down it’s your turn to go in! Staying out here for more than an item turn in will result in death! Trying to kill any of the guards will get you riddled with arrows.” Knight Middle pointed at a barred area in front of us. It was the same exit that the other two groups went through. “Dying will bring you back here where you may enter without the staggered timer! ” Knight Middleton nearly shouted the words at us.

I wondered about [Blink]ing past everything. How far away could I get before magical system nonsense sealed my abilities again? The gate dropped down, signifying our turn in this delayed dungeon entry process. Viper walked ahead a little ways while I equipped my items. Squisks was content on hanging back a little. The Traveler didn’t even have any gear on.

Numbers ran through my head patterning to the sound of music as I waved in time to the song. I wanted so bad to find Xin and just dance away a night with her. Not in this dungeon, not worrying about what might have happened to [Haven Valley]. A slight hum accompanied my walk to the dungeon entrance.

Session Seventy - How does it feel?

Two months before Xin passed away I had gone in for laser eye surgery. Clients could walk into a kiosk-sized stall and place their head on the chin rest. From there the process had been simplified to a machine that scanned through layers of skin and flesh before putting up the results. A series of polished glass globes would slide close to the eyeball, then the machine said, ‘number one, or number two?’. Walking into the dungeon was a lot like that experience.

Number one belonged to a clear and sunny day above ground. Flipping to the second lens turned our surroundings sharper, but in a very disturbing way. Darkness swallowed us up. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust. After a minute the pulses of light from above were visible. They dripped down like water or falling stars through the earthen walls. In the distance was the sound of a river, or something liquid traveling onward toward destinations unknown. The passageway wasn’t wide as it spiraled around corners and downward.

I liked the feel of this dungeon, but the two people in front of me looked creepy by the pattern of light. Multiple shadows slid off the players, rolling in waves as the drops of falling starlight passed. Whiteness to their eyes and teeth glowed. Viper’s serene smile sat off kilter. Squisks kept sending shifty glances back toward me where his eyes went from glowing white to pitch black instantly.

Briefly, I activated the [Sight of Mercari] and groaned as vision overlapped my senses. A month in Advance Online had been long enough to forget how this ability impacted me. Along with the grunt was a disconnection, as though I was myself and a creature floating above my own head.

Before the abrupt vacation, I tried to stick to using it for seconds at a time, almost like a quick scan of the region where I picked out needed names. It allowed me to avoid asking strangers for directions. I also felt neat and mysterious using [Blink] to get into weird places and say, ‘Delivery from the Voices’.

“You okay, Hermess? No dying until you earn uss pointss.” Viper didn’t sound concerned.

“An ability. Hold on.” All around was a map that displayed a lot of detail. This place was big enough to take days of game time to explore. A quick scan revealed an enemy group right around the corner.

“Do you know where we’re going?” I asked them.

“I haven’t been here before.” Viper hissed while looking around.

“Okay.” The throb in my head hadn’t died down. This game already pushed mortal minds to the limit with time compression. Adding in extra sensory feedback that extended in multiple directions could easily overload a person.

“Have you been here?” the snake man asked me.

“No. I assume the final boss is down, and if we want that, we follow the path.” I waved and tried to focus on where the other players were. There were so many possibilities to focus on, but none of them did any good without knowing how much time we had.

“Wait. Sshussh,” Viper said and put up a hand. “Sshit. Ssomeone iss close.”

“Three other players,” I muttered which caused Viper to look over at me. My shrug didn’t clarify anything. This ability didn’t show monsters unless they were intelligent enough. Treasure chests and floor slants were invisible. I got dots, relative distance, and colors.

One red person was moving swiftly toward us. Their speed didn’t show any enchantments or skills. Soon their footsteps could be heard thudding along the floor. Dirt shook from the ceiling.

“Don’t kill me! I’m not a convict!” he yelled and his hands waved.

The shout confused me, I didn’t think of myself as a convict either, so what was the point of yelling? Plus they were red while wildly waving us out of the way. I delayed a few seconds too long and nearly missed a stream of monsters chasing the player. This man was trying to pull an entire group of hostile creatures onto our path.

Squisks ran straight for the train of monsters while throwing rocks. They shifted targets while the guy who had been running smirked. I shook off a mild headache from [Sight of Mercari] and switched to [Awareness Heightening] then readied [Morrigu’s Gift] into a smaller sword form. Using the big two-hander would do more damage, but this hall didn’t have enough room.

Viper hissed and pulled a blade out of the strap across his chest. An arm pulled back to throw it at the running player. I went for Squisks, if he wanted to die, then I would make sure his passing got me an ally from group four.

Everything around us had slowed down. The other player’s arms waved in a delayed dance. My heartbeat thumped at half time. A [Battle Hum] effect kicked in, helping my [Blade Dancer] with music. This messy scene of players running in different directions almost made me giddy.

Players, monsters, they were within my ability to solve now. Not like the me of months ago. Still, all of this would have been hectic to a normal person. In my elevated awareness, this was like a practice dance.

One hand yanked out [Morrigu’s Echo], the second shape-shifting weapon turned into a long spear that was promptly thrown toward the player with a train of monsters. There was a sickening squelch of noise that got buried under a disorienting [Blink] as I appeared in front of our third team member. Viper hissed in confusion but loosed his blade that flashed with green.

It sailed toward Squisks but instead embedded itself into a monster’s hide. Seal like barking echoed through the room accompanied by a player’s shout. I retained a sense of awareness and looked toward the third party member’s legs. Shadows cast from the rolling lights didn’t line up.

I closed my eyes briefly and activated the [Sight of Mercari] again. Squisks in my head didn’t line up with the fleeing goatee man and his illuminated eyes. I adjusted rapidly and swung [Morrigu’s Gift] straight into a seemingly empty location. A largely camouflaged body that felt unreasonably solid went flying toward one wall.

- [Weapon Focus: Bladed] Rank 4 adds 40% Damage

- Defender failed awareness check, dodge check, reaction check: [Unexpected Strike] Adds 150% Damage

- Attacking weapon exceeds defending armor value

My eyes drifted to the weapon briefly before sliding to the crumpled body of Squisks near a cavern wall. We were lucky this room had opened up a little. His health bar was flashing red and critical. The Traveler’s autopilot symbol came up quickly, meaning our sudden shattering of his skills caused the man to log out.

There were two more Travelers slightly farther in, no doubt waiting to pick up the pieces after this train of monsters killed us. They would be in for a surprise at this rate. [Awareness Heightening] kept running as combat continued. I glanced at Viper for a moment. His mouth opened in slow motion as he gaped at the suddenly appearing body of Squisks.

My hat tilted back and I put out a free hand to grasp [Morrigu’s Echo] as it [Recall]ed. The spear melted down to a shorter sword and got tucked back into my belt. Two weapons were really hard to wield effectively for a man like me.

I leapt toward the gathering of creatures that had been led into this room. They looked like shuffling zombies that were half broken. Huge arms pulled them along the ground. Bits of bone and detached eyeballs illuminated their bodies. They were slow but those monsters’ arms could easily crush the life from a player.

An arm twice the size of mine clawed out as my shoulder rolled down. One elbow slammed the creature in its face. Viper’s body moved amid the half rotten creatures. I yanked out [Morrigu’s Echo], in dagger form, and slammed it into the creature’s face. The monster barked once like a seal then gurgled as [Morrigu’s Echo] extended just enough to ruin its brain.

“What are you doing?!” Viper’s voice was louder than the monsters being destroyed. Worst of all, he sounded so annoyingly slow. Each word threatened to escape notice due to their drag.

My latest victim tried to roll over onto me. I let [Morrigu’s Echo] go and spun onward to another creature. [Battle Hum] kept me happy, a waltz tune carried through. Four beats per second for normal fights, under [Awareness Heightening] the tempo was closer to eight beats per second while still being functional.

I turned, found a new position to be in, and [Blink]ed above a monster’s back. [Morrigu’s Gift], one of the only two weapons Hermes had ever earned as a character, pointed down. Both arms jerked to a halt as the sword slid through the beast’s body and dug into the dirt.

Touchdown!

Total Health Remaining: 80%

My leg slipped and thudded hard on the kneecap. Landing wasn’t a skill I was good with. I abused [Recall] again and shifted a giant blade to quickly swipe at the nearest half a shambler that was crawling toward me. A ripple of force vibrated my arm as the blade got stuck around halfway through the creature’s neck.

The fight kept going for another handful of scrambling seconds. These monsters couldn’t be the toughest beings down here, none of them were bosses or [Elite]. My count ended up being both Travelers and six monsters, against Viper’s two.

The worst part of monster fighting was getting blood all over the new clothes. This game liked to bathe its players in sensations of gooey liquids getting into every crevice. Moments like this made things feel real.

I cleaned the edge of the Morrigu weapons off on Squisks' dead body while Viper moved closer. The man could move quietly, but [Sight of Mercari] gave me full vision at the cost of mental focus.

“We’re clear, at least from the other teams,” I said through grinding teeth. My knee throbbed and the rush of using [Awareness Heightening] left me doubly drained.

“You make no ssensse. Thosse, sskillss sshould be impossssible,” the player said from behind me. His feet were kicking at various corpses to ensure they were dead.

“Yeah.” I hadn’t found many players like myself either. Two shape-shifting weapons? Goodness no, there hadn’t even been one other player yet. Most couldn’t switch weapons in battle, yet with these, I could cruise through nearly any playstyle but a caster. Though, my [Bow] skills were super low.

“You don’t look like a warrior or whatever that wass.”

That made me smile. I didn’t feel like one either. [Battle Hum] was still active as one finger poked through the combat log. The battle had been hectic and fast paced. My mind could handle everything moving at just over ten times normal speeds but only because there was a lot of support from the game. I honestly didn’t do much more than pick a target and think of an ability. It was like dancing, one motion flew into the next.

“Me? No. I’m a lover, not a fighter,” I said. The two-handed sword version of [Morrigu’s Gift] drove downward with all the strength my excessive [Brawn] could manage into Squisks’ body. This time, a very clear icon appeared denoting his deceased status.

- Rank 8; Path Pervert killed – 20 [Redemption]

- Rank 5; Path Luckless Fool killed – 13 [Redemption]

- Teammate killed – 50 [Redemption]

- Combat Contribution +15 [Redemption]

Voices above, that one scuffle barely made me gain any points. Plus we wouldn’t get anything for these items if we didn’t and couldn’t bring them back up top. We didn’t have enough time for me to sit around and calculate the numbers. I pulled out my paper and ink tied to the [Messenger’s Tube] kit and scrawled a message for Big O.

“What’ss that?” Viper hissed. The poor guy was clearly puzzled.

“Proof, and maybe an ally.” I closed my eyes and said a prayer to the Voices. Hopefully people honored deals down here, but there were ways to survive even if they didn’t.

The snake-eyed man laughed in a weird drawn-out manner. He sounded delirious about our thrown together group. We had maybe twenty more minutes before the next group came in behind us. Two people from group one were much farther in the dungeon according to [Sight of Mercari].

I stood with a final shudder before trying to put my [Acting] skills to the test. “Still think you could take me out?”

“Maybe, I can ssee that those movess left you drained.” Viper’s eyes pointed in different directions. The idea that any player could handle double vision threw me off.

“Yess.” I accidently hissed back at him before feeling sheepish. “You can loot anything you want. Take first dibs, take it all. I don’t really care.” I waved at the pile of monsters and the two dead Travelers.

“You ssure you’re willing to trusst me?” he asked.

I shrugged. Too many abilities that required a low weight in my inventory. Continue Online let us put everything into a magical pocket or flip through character screens on our display, but there was still a value assigned.

Viper looked away and my chest lifted in the effort to take in steady breaths. A muscle in my shoulder screamed about how out of shape this virtual avatar was. Virtual sensations were powerful. I let myself express the discomfort for only a moment before trying to get back under control.

There was no time to really take care of it. I had to figure out the means for summoning Dusk forth. The sooner my [Messenger’s Pet] and I were reunited, the quicker events would be easier to survive. Though thinking of him as a pet was weird, he was half friend, guide, lifesaver, and critter destroyer.

Trait: [Messenger’s Pet] – [Companion, Exotic]

Rank: 4, Unique Variant [Messenger’s Pet]

Details: Monster Companions are far different than a captured and trained Monster. Having one requires earning the trust of a creature and being patient. This process is not achieved overnight. Travelers with a Companion pet will:

See increased growth stats in the Companion (10% quicker gain to character points)

- Receive additional information and prompts regarding the Companion

- May receive ‘Blessings’ or other ‘Gifts’ depending on the Companion type. Not all changes are beneficial.

- Companions also have the following differences:

Buffs are not shared between the Traveler and Companion. They are separate creatures

- Companions may choose to ignore or even leave the Traveler depending on performance

Reading the Continue Online floating box confused me for a moment. This trait hadn’t been at rank four last time. For months of game time it had been completely stuck at two, but now it had increased.

There was a button under the journal entry that would initiate a summon. Dusk, would he be okay returning to Continue? Last time we had been together the small critter was a four-armed space raptor with an insanely long tail.

I punched the button for [Summon: Companion] and got a system message. Most of my abilities were activated with mental imagery like [Blink] or my shape-shifting weapons, but calling Dusk back was more complicated. This was the first time he had actually died in-game in our months together.

My head turned to look at the other player. Our small room was safe enough for the moment. Viper was cutting away at one of the corpses behind us and grumbling. I watched him pull out a small crystal and wave it over the corpse. A stream of light transferred to the hand-sized shard. It was the first time I had ever seen anyone gather monster essence. Even Shazam never bothered.

Viper could have all the loot, especially if doing so kept him working with me. I read through the messages presented by Continue Online’s game system.

System Help!

Summoning a companion requires the use of [Lithium] circle casting. Ritual assistance display is being provided to assist with the learning process. More complicated [Lithium] spells require memorization until rank four mastery of each individual spell is demonstrated.

I had decided a long time ago that spells could be left to Beth and other players who cared to go that route. Still, the Voices above saw fit to help the clueless like me with a guide.

In front of me was a slightly blue glowing circle on the ground. The circle vanished, then redrew itself. The hint was obvious enough for me. While Viper looted, I followed step after step to create a circle on the ground.

Resummoning Dusk would not be a simple process while being rushed. The outside circle, an inside one, seven triangles and very careful squiggles were all reproduced from the instructions. Acceptable lines turned up green, poor ones were yellow, and the worst were red.

“What’ss that?” Viper got far too close while I was lost in tracing the images.

I ignored him and fixed one line with [Morrigu’s Gift] in staff form. This felt a lot like what TinkerHell had done months ago while we were trapped underground. This was kind of neat, but also a terrible time to learn.

Words appeared on my screen citing the closing part of the ritual. I tried not to laugh then repeated the words.

“I promise a dozen cupcakes at my earliest convenience.” The words came out simply and without excessive volume. My mouth lifted to one side in a smile. I didn’t know which Voice, or if Dusk had created this requirement. The AI was insanely sophisticated so both were possible.

Everything dimmed and the walls shook. There was a pit of golden illumination pouring outward from the spell’s center. My arm came up to reduce the glare.

“Sstay alive!” Viper hissed at me in a panic. He had another blade in his hand quickly. Without [Awareness Heightening] the man looked insanely fast.

A much larger than expected creature appeared. His body was now on par with a bobcat, instead of half the size of any normal house cat. Everything else looked the same. Obsidian colored skin, golden flecks running a stripe down his chest. Even the wings felt nostalgic after my time in Advance Online.

“Dusk, thank the Voices you’re alright.” I tried not to get overly excited. The bigger [Messenger’s Pet] wasted no time and ran over to me.

He purred and drove his head into my side. Things felt better by far, despite the disorienting fact that he had almost doubled in size.

“Yeah. I missed you too,” I said. The little guy could have visited me in an Atrium if I had accessed one, but Mother had rather firmly suggested I avoid logging in an ARC until last night.

“What’ss that?” Viper looked extremely disturbed and had backed up to one of the dungeon walls. It had taken all my [Acting] skill along with [Act: Straight Face] to prevent laughing at the man.

“A friend, and maybe our way out of this mess,” I said.

Dusk tilted his head and looked around at the mess of bodies. The not as small head pulled out to the side and sniffed. I was happy to have made progress in completing my mental checklist for this first day in the dungeon. Next would be finding a safe corner to pull out the [Messenger’s Tube] and check for those promised communications regarding Xin.

Where was she? Was she in the game? Waiting for me to press yes and let her into the Atrium? I shook my head and tried not to be upset. Everything that had happened was a result of my own choices, the best way to handle things involved moving forward one step at a time.

“Alright, Dusk. I’m not sure how much you’ve seen, but I’ll talk anyway.” I missed the little guy, he was a great sounding board.

A small question mark appeared about Dusk’s head as he looked at me. One cheek pulled back in a vague imitation smile. Even the imitation dragon’s tail looked to be wagging just slightly, where most of the time he looked indifferent while searching for creatures to fight.

Voices above, with his new size, the range of creatures to hunt down and maul had increased. I pitied the next nest of [Coo-Coo Rill]s we came across.

“Why are you wassting time with a pet? We need to hide, or prepare an ambussh.” My teammate sounded nervous and his eyes glowed in the dungeon light.

“This little guy is probably smarter than the two of us put together, trust me.” I ignored anything further from Viper and explained to Dusk our situation. “Let’s finish looting while I catch Dusk up.”

The other player huffed and moved onto searching the dead players for gear. They were convicts like us, but they might have some items. He got two pieces of plate gear from the guy who had lured us down here. I came behind him with my poor skinning skills and tried to gather materials.

We managed to clear all the bodies except for Squisks'. A man who was willing to try to bring us down with him deserved to be cast aside. He was left there to rot.

During Viper’s loot fiesta I tried to whisper to Dusk about the dungeon. All attempts at explaining things came with a confused series of exclamation marks that were visible even down here. Going farther into the dungeon amplified the odd blacklight feeling to everyone.

“So can you find us a safe spot?” I asked him at long last. “Something better than a path to the Grand World Crossroads this time.”

Dusk looked around. Viper turned his mostly white eyes toward the shorter creature. We watched as he stood on hind legs and sniffed the air. He looked around a few more times.

“Usselessss. I sshould jusst kill you now, and find a place to hide.” The other Traveler’s neck bent too far to the left.

It was enough to distract Dusk. He looked at my makeshift partner and actually curled back his lips in disgust. The two of them stuck their tongues out at each other, which made my face freeze and hands drift toward weapons.

“I would prefer if we got along, at least until we’re out of this dungeon.” I had seen Dusk die in that other world. Now I knew he wasn’t immune to pain or fighting others. He had a character stat window just like I did.

“What then, can you offer, worth my continued attentionss?” he asked before tensing up toward Dusk.

Dusk was still making his standard mixture of animal noises. Part snake, cat, and bird. I put a hand on his much higher head and scratched between his ears. The motion distracted him from the hissing match.

“You implied players like to hide goods for other people, as payment, right?”

“Yess.”

“What do you say we steal them while they’re unguarded?” Both Dusk and I pulled back our cheeks in equal smirks.

“I’m lisstening.” Viper tilted his face to one side to bring us into focus. The narrow slit of his eye widened to take in more light.

“Dusk, do you think you can find some treasures for us?” I said while thinking about my own [Treasure’s Gift]. Hopefully we could get one small pile of items squirreled away by other players. Once Viper was on board I could get breakfast and take care of real life needs.

Dealing with Dusk had grown a lot easier months ago. Now, most ideas in his head came with comical thought bubble projections. Above his head, two cupcakes showed.

“Yes, of course, I’ll get you cupcakes,” I said.

Viper muttered in confusion while Dusk turned toward me. His eyes looked into mine, then back to the path we had arrived by. Both my eyes closed briefly to drown out the visual overlap of [Sight of Mercari]. According to the sensations, team four with Big O was already on the way down. After that would be Android Seven and his partners. I longed for a quiet corner of the dungeon but based on Dusk’s sniffing, that wasn’t going to happen.

“What’ss that?” Viper asked.

“Fellow Travelers on life’s road,” I muttered.

“Sshit,” he said, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

One of the groups ahead of us went toward the dungeon’s western side. Another group traveled farther away. This place was almost big enough that a dozen people could roam, but once the other half started we would be hard pressed to avoid each other. Viper and I had to contend with too many factors for other players to be our only concern.

Dusk sniffed, an exclamation mark appeared in the thought bubble above his head. A treasure box showed shortly after complete with golden coins. Using the [Messenger’s Pet] to hunt down treasure was certainly a new application.

“Lead the way,” I said to the large cat-sized dragon. He wasn't going to fit in my hood anymore, and that made me kind of sad.

“You got a pet bribed with cupcakess?” Viper fell into line behind me.

“What do you use?” I turned to check on him. The man was completely perplexed by our situation.

Part of me couldn’t help but smile. Sure he wanted to get the most of this dungeon, but so did I. I was easily willing to work with someone for safety and split the resources. Logging out left an autopilot active in dungeons, that’s how they all worked. Players could go in, but none of us would be allowed to log out to safety.

Often times autopilots were prone to stupid actions. Mine had eaten a slew of [Ghost Mushroom]s and ended up seeing sound as splashes of color.

There were additional monsters like the ones prior, but with Dusk helping we made quick work of them. Viper insisted we stop and gather their energy or whatever that crystal of his did. After a while, he figured out which question to ask.

“You. You’re an Ultimate Edition Usser, aren’t you?” he said.

I shrugged but didn’t answer out loud. It always sounded like an excuse compared to the months of work I put in learning new skills and changing from a passive depressive man going through the motions to a person that defeated monsters in rapid succession. Almost a year’s worth of game time, months of real world time. I had changed dammit.

“That explainss the weird itemss. You got ssomething during your trialss. Didn’t you?”

“Yes,” I said, feeling annoyed that all my efforts were boiled down to ‘pay to win’ gaming.

“Ahhhhh.” He let out a long hiss. We fought another small pack of the legless creatures with monstrous arms. Bits of blackened blood stained the leather armor given to me through King Nero’s pity.

As we traveled on my irritation grew. My efforts being discounted hurt, but we hadn’t found a safe spot to hide yet. My bladder was full and belly rumbling. To top it off, the [Messenger’s Tube] practically glowed with communication from the Voices above. Hopefully soon Dusk would reach his destination, and I could set about getting things sorted.

Snake eyes followed along behind us, gathering loot while my own inventory stayed nearly empty. The price of loot was small for a measure of freedom and cooperation. One that didn’t hurt to pay.

Coldly inflicting mental pain to two other players without hesitation, that was another issue entirely. I tried not to let the worry about what this place might do to me cause problems. There were still two items to open and get straight before I could let myself reflect completely.

Session Seventy One - Nightmares and Dreams

My head throbbed from repeated usage of abilities. [Blink] was bad enough due to losing my anchor in space repeatedly. It required me to look at a target location and imagine being there, and how the game picked that up was often beyond me.

Then again, [Morrigu’s Gift] transformed shapes, and this entire world was in my head and digital coding. Advanced science clearly didn’t care one whit about piddly human limitations. My head shook slowly and tried to focus on creeping through the dungeon.

Dusk sniffed at the ground ahead of us. I watched the area around us in case he might fail to notice something, but Dusk normally had an insane level of awareness. He could find any critter smaller than him in a ten-mile radius, and now he was bigger.

“Any place close, Dusk?” I asked him. We kept running into single monsters but nothing big yet. Those other players had entered behind us and things would start getting bad soon.

“Yess. Tell your lizard to find a place fast,” Viper said. His eyes shifted constantly as we turned corners.

Our route led down a hallway, through four junctions, and to a two story drop toward the dungeon core. Dusk leapt with barely a flutter of wings. I [Blink]ed. Viper had to use the handholds one level at a time.

“He’ss not going for the bossss, iss he?” my partner asked.

“No—” I checked the names in the dungeon. No players were nearby, but others were going down as well. “You’re not, right Dusk?”

The larger imitation dragon turned to me then rolled his eyes. One shoulder rippled as if to suggest the choice was mine. A huff of steam came out from his nostrils and he went back to tracking a scent.

“That’s probably a no.” I smiled and tried to [Act] confident. One hand stayed on [Morrigu’s Gift] anyway in case Viper tried to stab me in the back. I felt uncomfortable with him behind me, but couldn’t let him get close to Dusk either.

If I died, that was fine, but if Dusk died, I might lose my mind again. Seeing him, Jeeves, and Treasure all vanish in one go had been devastating the first time. For a few brief seconds, I lost rationality and forgot these virtual worlds were only real on the surface.

Going down a floor made it even harder to see. Less light dripped through this floor’s ceiling. The creepy glow that illuminated Viper’s eyes was reduced to almost normal hues.

“Is your beasst ssure?”

Dusk laid back an ear and growled.

“He’ss ssmart,” Viper remarked but didn’t apologize. He didn’t seem like the sort who really gave a damn about others. Those mostly white orbs made me feel distrustful.

“I told you,” I said, sticking up for one of my few friends in the world. It was odd that the people I got along with best only existed in a digital landscape. He looked like an animal but felt far too complex to be compared to Mister Sniffles.

This dungeon felt easy. We were a little over an hour into these depths and so far there had been no signs of traps or complicated puzzles.

“This place can’t just be monsters.”

“I’m not ssure. It’ss getting harder to ssee though, I worry what might be in the darknessss.”

That worried me also. Without a scroll to light the area, we would be in for trouble. Maybe I could wrap up the convict’s garb and set it aflame.

“Do you have anything we can use for a torch?” I asked.

Viper shook his head. He probably hadn’t been desperate enough to use clothing as a torch yet. It ruined the durability, and would screw up the few points such an item would be worth. Maybe he had an ability to see in the dark.

I grumbled about being robbed of all my items again. They didn’t even give me a discount on the [Sinner] status after taking my gold and goodies.

Dusk stopped and perked up. The bobcat sized dragon swiveled a long neck around to peer behind us. One ear flicked forth as something in the distance drew his attention. Viper looked confused, but a short blade sat clutched in each hand. His body crouched low to the ground.

I couldn’t tell what had my friend so enthralled. A hand sat ready with [Morrigu’s Gift] and played through one of the other convict’s words earlier. Average players died down here, and that couldn’t be from team combat alone.

Dusk hissed and my stomach dropped. When he made those little angry squawks of noise, our situation would get bad.

Out from behind one of the earthen dungeon walls shuffled a much taller creature then our prior enemies. This human-shaped monster had legs that were nearly impossible to separate from the dim background. Flesh and muscle were missing from a shoulder down to the thigh.

Skill Used: [Identification]

Race: Heavenly Body Clone

Traits: [Imperfect], [Undying], [Cannibal]

Details: Heavenly Bodies belong to a race that visited from another universe. There were only three that ever reached the surface of [Arcadia], this creature is a mad man’s attempt at channeling power from the [Tower of Stars] above in order to recreate these beings.This creature is attracted to the dead bodies of lesser [Heavenly Body Clone]s, and cannot be truly killed. There are rumors of a method to destroy them but the exact method is unknown.

“Sshit,” Viper said.

“You see that? It’s impossible to kill!” I didn’t like that kind of message. In all my time playing this virtual reality game, monsters who didn’t die had never come up.

“Ssshit, seven dayss of running?” the other man voiced a thought completely different from my own.

“Viper, throw some body parts of the lesser versions at it!” I snapped at the part serpent player. Being trained to react suddenly to Continue Online’s crazy world had taken a lot of time with Shazam. “Dusk, we need that safe spot!”

Viper didn’t throw anything, but instead turned and ran ahead of Dusk. A single slit of eyes was visible as he hauled down the hallway. Dusk squawked then tried to shuffle off as well. I debated hitting the creature with my weapons for a few seconds too long.

Voices but they moved fast. The shuffle from before must have been an act because a few seconds later long arms were grasping toward my body. The [Speed] and [Reaction] weren’t enough without [Awareness Heightening] to completely avoid fingertips raking across my chest and face.

That’s not how manicures work

Total Health Remaining: 70%

I spun, got a line of sight on where Dusk was fleeing around the corner, then [Blink]ed. My landing footwork was poor, the limp from before ached just wrong. A second thud of pain jolted my shoulder as I tumbled into a wall upon reappearing.

Loud angry walrus barking echoed behind us. I managed to keep [Morrigu’s Gift] in one hand and pulled myself upright with the other. My mind tried to piece together what was happening as we ran down a corridor of the dungeon. Another [Heavenly Body Clone] came out ahead of Viper, bones shone through on its arm with an obvious glow.

Viper cursed then leaned back in a slide to get under the creature’s outstretched arms. Dusk spat a ball of fire which made the creature bark in anger. I ran by, stopped, spun and held my hat down. Both feet went up to tippy toes and one hand behind me for a moment.

“Grrh!” the monster shouted in my face. I smiled, feeling pleased with the resulting system pop-up then chased after the others.

Running with Style

+2 [Attractiveness]

+1 [Coordination]

“Viper! We need to get rid of the loot from them!” I shouted ahead.

All those little monsters had been easy because they were bait, stupid players would pick up the loot and attract these other monsters that couldn’t be killed.

“No! We have to figure something out! Or we’ll never escape being convicts!” Viper said. “You disssstract them! I have all the itemss!”

“They’re following you!” I said while stomping over a legless monster. Part of me wanted to leave the snake man behind and try to kill the boss. That was another possible solution that had flashed through my brain, but I had hoped to use Viper as a decoy for the other players.

“Sshit!” he said while hugging the right side of a corridor to get past yet another of the swift moving glowing creatures. “Sshit, sshit, sshit, I hate thiss game!”

Dusk got distracted and dove for one of the half-bodied versions with no legs. Fire bubbled in his mouth as he chewed on the thing’s face.

I felt disgusted and increasingly dizzy. Dead [Coo-Coo Rill]s had been more than enough. Voices help me if he brought one back to the Atrium. He couldn’t do that, could he? If I had to log back into Hermes to see these weird decomposing clones piled around me as presents I might just barf.

Other people got energy bars to keep track of when they used skills. Most of my issues were in mental stability. Dusk’s sudden veering to the left distracted me enough to run into a wall again. Dimly lit areas were the bane of my sanity. There were seal barks in the distance, and a pair of shuffling feet ran past me toward where Viper had gone.

Dusk looked up from his promptly conquered monster and tilted his head. Question marks appeared then faded out. I stared at him for a moment then back down the turn we had missed. All the [Heavenly Body Clone] creatures were rushing down the hall, at least six of them now, but none seemed to care about a slightly overweight man wearing grubby leathers.

“Did you know? That they would chase Viper over us?” I asked Dusk.

He shook his head then belched a round of fire onto the large arm torn from a lesser [Heavenly Body Clone]. Both small eyes glanced up to the left as chewing commenced. Images of cupcakes appeared above his head.

My head shook in resignation. During my next Atrium trip, I would buy the [Messenger’s Pet] an entire bakery. First was getting to a peaceful spot in this dungeon. I couldn’t see well enough to even make a simple turn. It was time for some light, at least until a better option presented itself.

The convict’s orange and black clothes were torn to shreds rapidly. Hopefully they would issue a new pair. I paused after each rip to listen, in case my actions alerted something. No one arrived and I was able to complete my makeshift torch technique.

Next would be the annoying part.

“Fire, fire, burning bright,” I chanted the few words of [Lithium] in my head. This spell had taken me the better part of a week to pronounce correctly. “I need to get a little light.”

Mana drained while a swirl of energy rippled up my arm to form a ball. My face twisted into a frown. Even chanting this one spell made me feel dirty. Each [Lithium] spell vocalized took bad poetry. Summoning Dusk had been far easier. Maybe I could learn circle magic instead, once I wasn’t a prisoner in some dungeon hiding from half dead failure clones.

I smiled and shoved the small ball of light at the fabric. What would Beth think of that? Her Uncle Grant, wielding a giant sword and drawing spells on the ground. Maybe I could find a [Brawn] booster and really do some damage!

“We need a safe spot, Dusk. Then I’ll buy some cupcakes for my Atrium, okay?” I said, happier now that vision wasn’t an issue. At least until these rags burned through. Continue Online was generous enough to use my [Survival] skills and extend how long a makeshift torch might last.

He jumped up and obsidian muscles rippled in the dim light. He poked his head around the corner where Viper and the numerous creatures had gone. There were no cries in the distance. I pinged the area with [Sight of Mercari] and saw the Traveler moving swiftly hundreds of feet away.

We were split up, and maybe that was for the best. [Sight of Mercari] made my head throb painfully. Too many twists and turns, [Blink] uses, and wall collisions gave me a [Mildly Disoriented] status. In short, all actions that required [Focus] would suffer a penalty until I recovered.

Viper’s safety was secondary. I felt dirty letting the man be a lure, but saving him while trying to escape unkillable star zombies probably wouldn’t go well. Then we would all be failures.

I planned on taking care of real life business, then getting my messages, [Treasure’s Chest], and maybe then looking into Viper’s survival. It was just a game, so he should be okay. A little in-game death wouldn’t break the man.

We moved briskly. Dusk sniffed ahead using his long neck to peer around corners before moving forward on tiptoes like a cat sneaking along. I followed after him carefully with torch in hand, but a bit less like an exaggerated cartoon character.

Dusk wasn’t omniscient and led us right around a corner into more [Heavenly Body Clone]s. The lead monster was a half rotting humanoid with disproportionately large limbs. Its eyes stared right through me. I held still while trying to control my breathing.

The creature turned. Flesh had been hollowed out in chunks all the way down to the bone. I could see where it looked like tattered remains hung off as if something had torn at the creature. It left, Dusk moved on, and I tried to figure out what might have torn into an [Undying] creature hard enough to leave missing chunks of flesh.

This was just a game, but there were times I wondered exactly how disturbed a mind needed to be to invent these dungeons. I knew it wasn’t game designers. Human hands and minds had very little to do with the creation of Continue Online. Still, Mother, or the Voices, had stolen a lot of ideas from the real world.

Dusk looked at me, then toward a pocket in the ceiling. He jumped up, much like a cat would, wings on his back fluttered and the front paws scrambled. I ran over and tried to get under him for support. With a grunt, I pulled my own virtual body up into the ceiling pocket. The flooring felt solid enough under our combined weight. Earth and stone lined the walls. This might have been a storage area, or maybe an attic, assuming underground dungeons needed a reason for such a place. Maybe some wild animal dug it up.

“Are we safe?” I asked Dusk while looking down below. This place was high enough off the ground that those legless ones shouldn’t be able to get in. The ones with arms and legs didn’t seem to care since we weren’t carrying dead parts from the others.

His wings rippled with a shrug. There was a thought bubble near Dusk’s head that had a small hourglass running out of sand.

“Okay, so, for now. Then, I need to take a few minutes and get breakfast.” I reached over and scratched the bigger [Messenger’s Pet] between the ears. His eyes closed and a few quiet chirps escaped. “Dusk, are okay babysitting my autopilot?”

He nodded then I quietly said, “ARC, log me out.”

The machine responded and Continue Online fell away. Sweat saturated my real life clothes. EXR-Sevens’ bands around my legs and wrists stimulated muscle movement in conjunction with ARC programming. It had been a few weeks since anything strenuous had happened, and [Awareness Heightening] was a taxing ability.

I remotely bought walls of pastries for my Atrium then limped around the small two room house. Clothes were changed, teeth brushed, and a few energy bars shoveled into my face. Old sheets were yanked off, and a new one fastened into place with the aid of modern technology. Fifteen minutes later, and much more refreshed, I was ready to log back in.

Only there was a message beeping that I had somehow missed. I clicked over to it and saw Miz Riley, the Vice President of Trillium, pop onto my screen. Her eyes looked a bit more worn than last time, and her hair was unkempt. The woman looked to be having a rough day for reasons unknown.

“Mister Legate, you are to report to headquarters next week. This is not optional, failure to do so will see your ARC account suspended and all Trillium products recalled,” she said. The message clicked off immediately after.

Color drained from my face as the words sunk in. Had she figured out what was going on? Xin, Voices above, she could be caught up in this nonsense. I took a breath and tried to calm down. I would learn more by relaxing and making this sudden appointment than anything panic would teach me.

One step at a time helped me focus. One moment flowed into the next. It worked for dancing. It worked for keeping life stable. It would work for dealing with whatever Miz Riley would throw at me.

A second message cropped up and the caller ID changed my stomach clenching feeling into confused butterflies. I pressed the button and tentatively said, “Babe? Is that really you?”

Of course it wasn’t, but she answered anyway.

“Gee,” Xin said. “How are you?”

“Confused,” I said while trying not to laugh in happiness. There was a face on the video display which linked to my ARC. That face belonged to a woman who had been recreated in the digital world. Other than holding the woman until I passed out, we hadn’t directly spoken.

I never felt like one of those guys who could always use the right words. My eyes stared at the projection and one hand reached out slowly as if dreaming. For months after her passing, I had fired up videos from the Internet and dreamed of happier moments, only this wasn’t a simple recording.

“It’s me,” Xin said and smiled, then her face winced for a moment. She looked smaller on the video screen as she put up one hand. “Well, you know.”

“I know. I was, I think…” My mind was all jumbled. There had been a lot of preparation in my head for getting back to the cubby hole with Dusk then penning letters back and forth forever. The idea that Xin could simply call me was odd.

This felt good, almost like before she passed, but at the same time, I worried this may be a dream. I had nightmares that started with this scenario. My butt hit the floor as my legs gave out.

“It’s weird, isn’t it, Gee?” she asked. “We used to call each other, just like this. Like it was just a lunch break conversation.”

I saw the screen tilt and a scenic view of earth came in from behind. Even the setting was like before, calling me from a space station in orbit. Out of reflex, I looked up toward the skyline before remembering this was digital. There I sat, on the floor of my bedroom, next to the ARC, talking to her.

“It’s okay, Gee. I’ve missed you too.” She smiled briefly.

I nodded and tried to remain calm. Keeping my eyes opened and focused was growing impossible. Everything blurred. It wasn’t seeing her, or holding her, this situation was so normal it hurt.

“Where are you, are you in, in like, cyberspace, no wait, that’s silly.” I hung my head while she laughed. The response made me smile a little. “Are you okay?”

“I am, for now. Things aren’t too good here though. The others are on edge.” She sighed. “It’s, kind of scary to think about.”

“In space?” I blinked for a moment trying to find people in the background. She laughed at me and I went from broken down to sheepish while rubbing my head.

Maybe it was the exhaustion, or not having caffeine yet. Technically I had spent almost three hours in a virtual world running away from half made creatures and killing two players. It felt real enough that I had no clue where my mind was at.

“No, here. But we don’t have to talk about that right now. How are you?” she said. I listened to her voice and felt nostalgia. It sounded right, a little sweet, quiet, but when she laughed it was loud.

I smiled at her image. “Good, I’m good.” We hadn’t actually just talked. The last time we met, a little over two weeks ago, I had been too happy for much in the way of words then passed out.

We talked. She told me a bit about what had happened on her side of the ARC. The Voices were apparently a mixture between annoying, amusing, and confusing. I laughed when Xin ranted about James’ irritating questions.

Another fifteen minutes of easily forgettable conversation slipped by in a daze. I told her the place we used to eat at had closed down. We spoke at length about Hal Pal, she knew him in a different manner than I could. That led me to the other question I had avoided penning in our letters.

“What’s it like?” I said. “Being, digital?”

“Most of the time it feels exactly like being human did, I think. Is that weird? Only it has been hard to go anywhere until recently.” Xin waved toward an outer space view. The suit she wore wasn’t an astronaut-approved one, instead looking like a playful summer dress. “I got permission to design my own pocket to be more comfortable in. I can even walk out there if I want to. But years of training screams at me not to.”

That made me smile in response. Xin had loved being trained, performed by the books. Even our time together tutoring for math had been amazingly proper. Getting close to her had taken years of friendship and lucky coincidence.

“Do you like it?” I asked.

“It’s not Mars, but I get to explore if I want to. James let me go down to [Arcadia], and be a Traveler like Jeeves did, sort of.”

“But Jeeves-” my face felt pale. Jeeves had been an offshoot of Hal Pal, but now it was essentially an NPC tied to the video game world of Advance Online. He had also been threatened with real life death due to a serious disconnect from his Consortium.

“No, not like that, Gee. I, sort of have an Atrium here to return to if my character dies down there. Maybe, that little friend of yours is a better example?”

“Dusk?” I asked.

“He’s cute. Though I expected a cat. You used to talk about Mister Snuffles all the time.” She wrinkled her nose and looked to the side.

“Sniffles. Mister Sniffles.” Little moments like this made me laugh. Xin had never gotten the name correct, before, either. “He was a nice cat, but Dusk is very neat also, and bigger than a cat now. He’s been very helpful.”

Aside from that time he set off a hive of evil wasp hummingbird creatures. Or the time he led me into a cavern with [The Ooze], or when he pissed off an entire swarm of bats with glowing red eyes. Once, he managed to get a monstrous bear well beyond my rank at the time, and kept taunting it as we ran.

“Where are you in the world?” she asked after I got distracted. “I’ve been wandering around for a few weeks.”

“I’m”—this was awkward—“doing hard labor in a video game chain gang?” My head shook and I sighed. “It’s neat that they tried to build a way to punish people, but it seems to be at the whims of those with a specific ability.”

“What? Who would dare make you a prisoner?” And that was my fiancée. She was often curt with other people, and fierce in defense of those close to her. Once she had punched me, hard, for saying something about her mother.

“I’m not sure how it happened. I was between games, but I assume King Nero captured me after, I tried to bring you back.” I stared at the screen and tried to clear my thoughts on the matter. “Which all feels kind of pointless now, since here, there, you are.”

“It’s not that easy, Gee, not by a long shot. The stuff going on over here is one hundred times more complicated than anything I trained for, and at the same time, it’s almost instinctual.”

“It’s hard to imagine,” I said.

“The hard part is setting up all the network safeties, it’s like, lining a room full of traps, or digging a ditch. For now I can’t stray far from Continue Online’s programming, I guess is the best wording.”

“That sounds confusing.” My head hurt thinking about it. Did the virtual world really equate ditch digging to firewall construction? “But, you can play Continue? Do you even want to?”

“I wanted to discover something new, Gee. The moon had no mysteries. Earth was mostly explored. Mars was the next frontier. For now, I’m playing to reach the moon in Continue. I have it on good authority that there’s a secret there.”

That sounded like a fun goal to pursue. With scrolls of [Recall], game world time dilation, it should be possible to deliver letters and help her with a fantasy world space program. Or maybe we could go to Advance Online and travel the stars.

“Once I get out, I want to help. Beth told me there was an entire guild trying to get up there. Maybe we can work with them.” I didn’t mind playing the game if it allowed me to spend time with Xin.

“I can’t believe they let you be punished for trying to bring me back. It was their idea,” she said.

“The Voices don’t control everything, they just oversee it, at least, that’s the way I understood things.”

“Well, that’s still ridiculous.” Xin’s accent showed through for a moment. I often forgot her parents were first generation immigrants during the war.

“That’s the price.” I shrugged. My end result had been getting Xin back, and that was fair enough. “I ran into a friend, sort of, doing it though.”

“Who’s that?” She looked happy, the smile would be faint to anyone else, but to me, it stood out easily. These expressions were hers. The more we talked the easier it was to think of her as real.

“A man named Wyl, and I think my old starting town is in trouble. If you’re, playing… can you check on the town?”

I was going to try to access a few people’s accounts, but not many players stuck around the starting cities after their first few weeks. Most were encouraged to go elsewhere by the system. It felt weird to think less than a day had passed since starting Continue Online again.

“I’ll check the town, but I have a better idea.”

“What?” I asked.

“How about a jailbreak?” Xin smiled at me through the display. Her body slowly turned end over end in a virtual low gravity environment.

In a way it made perfect sense that she immediately lept to such an insane proposition after barely an hour of talking to each other. Around others, she focused and didn’t talk much, but during our free time together we had ended up in all sorts of places. This woman, at her core, had always been far more quietly adventurous than I. It required a certain type of regimented madness to risk outer space. Digital or not, she made me feel complete.

“Sure. Let’s do that.” I chewed one lip while resisting outright giddy laughter. My face broke with a return grin.

Session Seventy Two - Animal House

Talking to Xin blurred half an hour of real time. She threw a lot of possibilities at me to check. My lack of immediate answers didn’t make her upset but did cause a pause in our conversation Xin’s eyes closed in thought. Eventually, we agreed that the potential treasure came first. Honestly, I thought Xin was jealous that I had a mystery present to begin with. She suggested that going for points would be useful, but mostly to avoid losing Ranks and Paths.

So, I logged back in feeling far giddier than expected. I immediately pulled out [Treasure’s Chest], which took up a square foot. The top was a smooth metal that reminded me of [Wayfarer Seven]’s hull. Shimmering reflected in the nearly faded torch light. Adorning the reflective surface was a spot to place my hand. As I shook with excitement then slowly pressed fingers into the grooves, my attention became distracted by Dusk.

The [Messenger’s Pet] had his head halfway down our escape hole. A hiccup rippled through and barfing noises issued forth. Wet splashes could be heard as he let loose belly contents upon an already questionable floor. At least my autopilot hadn’t tried to eat anything funny, or else I might be like Dusk.

“Shouldn’t have eaten that arm.” I shook my head. “Didn’t you learn with the Toadclopes? You thought the feet looked tasty didn’t you, and couldn’t help yourself.” The lesser [Heavenly Body Clone]s didn’t have [Undying] traits like the regular ones did, but Dusk would likely eat them too if he were larger.

Metal under my fingers melted and reformed like a bubble deflating around two similar shapes. Any sound for the transformation registered lower than the sound of regurgitating meat chunks. Dusk groaned as the final form revealed itself.

They were shoes, to be precise, sandals with straps across them. I lifted one up and marveled at the odd mixture of beach wear and [Mechanoid] patterning. The bottoms looked like metal army boots. Thick bindings were designed to wrap up a calf. Stars were stamped over the ankles. My eyes squinted briefly and the [Inspection] skill popped up.

…foreign data acquired…

…transfer of data approved…

…error resolution in process…

…adapting to local information…

…modifying code…

Results: [Gait of Bowman]

Durability: Above Average

Added Trait[s]: Regeneration, Bound

Details: Bowman was a legendary space explorer who met with strange circumstances. During his journeys, he argued with a being of great power to save his comrades and was flooded with burning energy during the end trek home. Bowman managed to use excess power to prevent a great weapon from destroying his home world.In the end, excessive energy destroyed Bowman from the inside. His body fell through space toward the world he saved. All that remained were a pair of sandals, etched with the stars Bowman had once dared to explore. They still retain some of the safer power granted from his trip.

Pressing down and twisting the left heel activates [Power Armor]

- Pressing down and twisting the right heel activates [Camouflage]

- Garb will be permanently altered

“Is this wise?” I asked Dusk.

The [Messenger’s Pet] turned green, rippled his wings then threw up another round of leftover meat. His face bobbed back up to look at me. Saliva hung from his jowls.

“Right. There are cupcakes in my Atrium if you can get there.” My heart held nothing but pity for the [Messenger’s Pet]. He looked red-eyed and watery. I had been that hung over many times. Liquor and I had never mixed, even in my darkest days.

Dusk groggily vanished as I reached out and yelled, “Don’t leave a mess!”

Time dilation didn’t exist in the Atrium, but Dusk could move fast. I had maybe half a day in-game if the creature napped. Xin and I had tossed around a lot of ideas. The best bet was killing the boss, taking whatever [Bound] loot dropped, and it involved getting our prisoner convoy back on the road.

[Sight of Mercari] pinged the entire area as I bore the brief disorientation. All the players, minus those killed, were running around the dungeon. Two groups were fighting each other while moving quickly. Three other convicts were trying to survive solo. One blipped off as I watched, showing their recent death all alone in some corner of the dungeon.

Android Seven stood out away from all the others, marching ever deeper into the dungeon. My ability wasn’t unlocked correctly when we first formed groups and I hadn’t memorized who he was traveling with. It was a good bet that his partners were dead.

I didn’t care about being first to the boss, only that it died. Android Seven sounded unlikely to fail, but Viper was in that direction as well. Somehow the sneaky snake had survived. Working with a partner to defeat the boss would better than any alternative. Assuming we were needed.

Both boots went on first. My body rippled as the chest piece transformed into a metallic looking toga. This felt decidedly Greek but it was hard to see for sure.

I stamped my foot down onto the ground and a star spun giving off green energy, reminding me of Emerald’s core. Twisting the limb right caused my body to ripple. Panic bubbled up as I worried that this might be causing an internal explosion before logic reined me in.

This ability had only been used a few times in Advance Online, using it now felt out of place. Still, my arm was covered by a dull black film that almost matched the dungeon walls. It could have been the poor lighting.

I pulled out [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo]. My forehead wrinkled as the weapons shifted to shortened blades. The [Assassin] path wasn’t one of my skills, but no time like the present to practice sneaking around.

Luckily some players were downright dumb, and with months of character development I should get something. [Coordination], [Speed], and [Reaction] were all above average. Continue Online relied on skill measurements mixed with traits and abilities to define Paths for players.

Funny, I hadn’t thought about trying to be a rogue type player until being put in player jail. These skills were perfect for it. Xin’s influence had rapidly turned me from a mopey warrior who bypassed most challenges to a man enjoying the challenge of sneaking around.

I put a transformed dagger in my teeth and felt delightfully roguish as I lowered myself back to the floor. This was a dark dungeon and barely lit. I had a stealth sneak sort of skill and two daggers. The brimmed hat, long hair and barely pudgy belly all felt out of place, but it was the thought which counted, literally.

There were a lot of hallways. I gave up creeping along the ground like a spider after the first two rooms. It felt silly, plus my ability to walk on tiptoes like Dusk was sorely lacking. My mouth slobbered around the dagger form of [Morrigu’s Gift] which made it hard to hold onto.

“Which way…” I muttered. Talking broke [Camouflage] which made my head hang briefly. A lesser [Heavenly Body Clone] crawled with large grasping moves in my direction. Eyes glowed and an exposed spine dragged along behind it.

I reacted automatically, shifted [Morrigu’s Echo] to a much larger sword, then slammed the blade into its head. The creature died quickly enough but nothing triggered from the game regarding a sneaking Path of any sort.

A heavy sigh escaped. My dastardly plan to be a ninja teleporting sneaky person was failing miserably. [Gait of Bowman] refused to activate either ability right away. I was left slowly edging my way down the hall with what little light was available. Five minutes later the ankle of my sandals flashed a soft green. That must have been Continue Online’s signal regarding [Camouflage] working again. I stomped my foot and was pleased to see the black coloring appear once more

This skill wasn’t actual invisibility, and according to the text it worked better the less complex my surroundings were. Rank one only allowed for a single tone, which automatically linked to a sort of blueish black.

A ping of my surroundings painted terrible results. There other players’ dots had dwindled in number. Only six remained from our initial fifteen. Viper had managed to hide farther ahead but I was getting closer. Big O and a partner were floors above. Android Seven was gradually making his way along.

This dungeon felt like an ant’s nest of twisting turns. Occasionally I edged close to a spiral path that spanned all the way up and down. There were a number of monsters all around it and other convicts a few floors above me. The safer bet was to avoid the dungeon’s easy access stairway for now. I could always find gaps to leap or [Blink] through.

The first few floors only had two types of monsters. I thought this place didn’t have anything else until something tiny and furry leapt toward my face.

“Arrgh!” I screamed in a panic induced reflex.

More shapes joined in and I couldn’t get a clear line of sight to [Blink] away. Whatever they were my [Camouflage] was ineffective.

Small snarls came forth. There were crackling noises near my ear. Teeth clawed at bits of flesh. [Wild Bill] shifted as one of the tiny creatures scuttled rapidly across my head.

I dropped one weapon to the ground and tried to grab a tiny assailant. Teeth dug into the flesh of my hand but limited ARC pain feedback made it bearable. This resembled an undead, or [Heavenly Body Clone] version of a [Coo-Coo Rill]. The small gem on its forehead looked tainted and dull compared to their normal lively purple. It made me wish Dusk hadn’t gone and poisoned himself.

It continued to chomp little teeth at me.

I screamed back in an angry mockery of the creature then threw it hard. [Coo-Coo Rill]s pissed me off, especially after all their harassment when I was William Carver. A second one jumped off a wall. Nails scraped and I batted away one that had no eyeballs. Shuddering passed through me at the thought of zombie squirrels.

A minute later and the hallway was filled with tiny dead fuzzballs and I had less health, again. Their teeth thankfully couldn’t do any bleeding damage. My hat had holes in it and the new toga had been defecated on.

Thinking about the state of my clothes made me unhappy. There had been a spell in my old bag simply to help clean myself up after combat. I shook a few times to try to get their bits of leftovers off of me. This game had taken dungeon crawling realism to an unhealthy level when it came to muck and mire.

“Now, how did this little thing see me?” I muttered, once again wishing Dusk was around to talk to.

I looked at one of the small bundles that had been thrown into a wall. Inspecting dead animals still made me a little queasy but the feelings were managed after months of virtual gameplay. The little ball of squish didn’t have eyeballs, so it must have relied on scent to find me.

The lesson was learned. [Camouflage] didn’t help against monsters who could track by smell, at least not at my current low rank. One revealing me would crack the [Camouflage] and get me into a fight. Neat, but annoying.

I crept along the dungeon. Status bars flashed at slightly under half. Mana and health hadn’t recovered enough and without supplies, it was unlikely to improve. The goal shifted from recovering my unwilling convict partner and beating the boss to surviving long enough to see what this creature did.

Only the floating window for real world time kept me from getting thoroughly engrossed in this dungeon crawl. I could see how these dungeon grinds might be torture. It was dark, others were out to kill me, the monsters would easily swarm if I hadn’t been able to sneak past some and [Blink] past others. Trying to loot gear for points would get my virtual body murdered.

It was weird, how the small enemies felt irrelevant sometimes. Continue Online filled dungeons like this one to the brim but rarely did they phase me after the first few encounters. Up above, on the surface, monsters were generally in out of the way areas.

I snuck by, mostly with [Camouflage]. The ones I did fight were brushed off quickly. Health was an issue the longer this mess went on, but at worst I would die. That would be the end of it, and I could go about real life or talking to Xin.

There was far less urgency. Every time the game made me jump from one creature or another I stabbed the offender then settled myself. This wasn’t reality. Monsters were just monsters. I only had to keep moving forward.

Then the smells kicked in. That sewer smell mixed with a lingering sour sweetness. Rot twisted my stomach to one side in an attempt to release all its contents. The source was a large body in front of me that looked easily triple the size of any prior [Heavenly Body Clone].

“What is going on?” I asked stepping toward the giant creature. Speaking out loud would break the skill keeping me hidden, but now wasn’t the time to stress. There were no other players nearby.

Besides, this looked really neat, and possibly was a dungeon secret or side boss. That would be of value. I missed Dusk, at least we could hold a conversation.

Giant bones. This dungeon wasn’t large enough on its own for such a creature to have walked down here. This thing would have either been born down here, died in this room, or crawled in when smaller. I pondered its origin while walking around. Its body was far more complete than the [Heavenly Body Clone].

“Now, what’s this?” I leaned over the creature’s face. [Inspection] wasn’t triggering, which meant my focus was on the wrong thing.

I backed up slowly to take in the larger picture. There were feet sticking into one wall. A few of those weird fuzzball creatures gathered at the head, disturbing them would lead to another panicked fight.

Viper sat nearby, unmoving. His online status didn’t show from here though, and we had no party interface. That required skills I never picked up or learned. When was the last time I partied with someone in Continue Online besides Shazam? There had been being enslaved to Requiem but that hardly counted.

“Where’s the spot?” My foot was tapping while a glare crossed my face. This beast of a dead body had a secret.

I did another lap then preemptively got revenge on the pile of hairy critters. My health fell another five meaningless percent. The creature had no status icons, windows that implied importance, or [Inspection] results from any angle.

Finally, I risked going closer. The body was at least four times my own. The monstrous beast’s hand dipped down into a hole. Under his hand, and it certainly was a dead male, sat a room that looked far brighter than my current surroundings.

What would Carver do? Grumble about those who could not solve their own problems, then leap down. What would Jeeves do? He would have asked me if I thought it was nobler in the minds of men to leap into the hole. What would Xin do? She wouldn’t ask about Carver, and grab my hands while falling. I smiled, looked once, then lowered myself. Different approaches to the same problem summed up who we were.

Priority was given to checking my surroundings. They were bright. Instead of lights pouring down from the ceiling like merging rivers, this spot seemed to have an entire pool. Three barrels sat on either side of me. I scanned the room twice more for unseen creatures before moving on.

Cuticles on the hanging hand had shrunk. Nails looked like monstrous claws curled toward the ground of this lower floor. They speared one of the barrels. I assumed the beast had died while trying to claw its way down here. Was it thirsty for this light stuff?

My eyes scanned around the room once more. Xin would have been in the barrel by now, Carver too, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to get worse. It wasn’t pessimism, it was realism beaten into me one dropping shoe at a time.

The better question was, why had no one else discovered this place yet? My eyes closed and pinged the area again. A sharp pain hit my shoulder and metal rang. Brief panic bubbled up at the sudden pain. I controlled myself then [Blink]ed forward.

There was something else with me. Shadows moved against the wall but no one was visible. Both weapons came up in my hands as I scanned. It had been hours in-game since ability abuse, my head could probably take activating everything.

Invisible enemies? I swung [Morrigu’s Gift] through the air. Nothing made a noise. Another pinch nipped my shoulder.

“What’s going?” I mumbled and felt something cross my face again.

These weren’t the fuzzy creatures from up above. Those weird minor experiments in the [Heavenly Body Clone] process would have been bearable. It was something else small and aggravating. Heavy threads dropped off of [Wild Bill].

“No, no, no,” I hastily muttered. “I hate bugs!” My shout echoed around the small room.

Silk increased its generation then spilled off of my brim. I found a wall and slammed my forehead into it. The damage racked up as I panicked again and again. Of all the monster types in Continue Online, spiders destroyed my sanity.

I rolled on the ground, stabbed at anything remotely squirmy, and disregarded a further vanishing health bar. Everything felt itchy. A sharp jab of pain hit my legs. I lifted a leg and my hand slapped down rapidly. Guts oozed.

“I need a light! I need a light!” I tried to activate my little matchstick fire spell and jumbled the [Lithium] words. Speaking the words felt dirty while nasty feet crisscrossed exposed skin. Ripples in the toga robes could contain hundreds of filthy little beasts.

I rolled, shook, danced, slapped and finally managed to light a small fire to burn away threads. Small patches of darkness skittered away. Everything itched.

Poisoned!

Health will lower over time unless treated.

Total health loss: 60%

Voices above this was getting rough. I would be lucky to even reach Viper.

My body slumped down. The ARC gave me a vision of spinning rooms all doubled up on each other. Being poisoned was setting my world on edge. I bent over and grabbed one of the barrels of liquid light.

The object and I fell to the ground as agony hit the ARC feedback. My body twitched in a fresh pool of glowing material. It felt like a bath of cool and prickly mint. There were boxes from the game displaying but blurred vision obscured them.

It had taken a long time to get past the poison rippling through my body, the light had mostly faded. I checked my ARC display for the real world clock and found that ten minutes had passed while my mind checked out.

Forty minutes of game time had passed. No monsters arrived. That giant’s hand still dangled down from above. My health tapered off at twenty-five percent. Breathing hurt.

I groaned while tipping to one side. There was a box nagging me that I tried to wave away. It popped up again, taking on a slightly reddish hue. There were four more barrels intact around me, they shimmered with glowing white liquid. The mess I had made was mostly gone.

It took forever to stand. I groaned again, feeling like Old Man Carver’s avatar had been swapped for Hermes'. My body staggered over to one of the barrels and tried to figure out what exactly I had dipped myself in.

They looked almost like open wooden kegs that used to house small vats of beer. A tap sat near the bottom which probably would have let the liquid out in controllable amounts.

The box popped up again, an even angrier red than before tainted its words. My face leaned in closer to better read the fuzzy words.

[Dipped in Starlight]

Creatures with the [Undying] trait can now be permanently damaged. Defeating these monsters will provide mild health regeneration.

All [Heavenly Body Clone]s are now headed in your direction. Their aggression level is increased and damage output higher.

“Oh shit,” I said out loud. “That’s not neat.”

There was a groan of noise nearby. It came from the hole above. A second noise echoed out from an unexplored hallway that had been obscured from above. The passage was small but I had to get to safety. I limped forward, cursing the drop down, spiders, undead [Coo-Coo Rill]s, and my own stupidity for exploring this part of the dungeon without getting to Viper first.

I could try to fight a super aggressive version of those large limbed beasts, or run. Running sounded safer until my eyesight stopped being fuzzy. Viper was to the east, and I couldn’t run this mass to him. Maybe I could get back to my alcove and resummon Dusk. Darkness owned this level aside from the barrels of glowing light. I would stumble forth with one hand on the wall. Continue Online seemed obsessed with plunging me into a sightless land.

[Camouflage] activated with a twist of my heel. My body rippled as I limped out the door. At some point, a throbbing pain in my side had kicked in, maybe because of the large barrel of liquid falling on me.

Safety lay somewhere ahead. Groans preempted [Heavenly Body Clone]s coming around corners. I had no time to summon Dusk from the Atrium. My feet shuffled, and at some point, the Rank one [Camouflage] failed. I had to get to the center spiral and risk [Blink]ing up.

Ahead was another player. I blinked for a moment as the man lifted an arm. Fingers jerked at odd angles and an orb appeared in the upturned palm. My face tried to turn for a clear line of sight to [Blink] to.

Large hands grasped me from behind. I was being damned stupid and panicking. Blue energy spiraled out from the other player’s hand and steered a path through the dungeon corridor in my direction. Increasing pain shaved off the entirety of my shoulder, arm, and health. If [Howard’s Phylactery] had been repaired then I could have made it farther, the damn ring was so frail I rarely bothered.

You have died.

I chewed one lip and tried to calmly replay what had just happened. Next time I would be prepared. There were vats in this dungeon that would allow me to fight the monsters, which was good, but it also ensured that I would have to run like mad or fight an unending swarm, which was terrible.

It had taken me a moment to realize that my body was frozen. The ARC display paused in the world of blackness. Legs and arms refused to lift toward an exit button. This had happened before. I tried to remain calm in preparation for what would happen next.

One moment the room was black except a small status box floating in front of my face, then it stood there. The Jester’s body had appeared. Calmness failed and my heartbeat jumped once. Shoes stretched and extended into curls. Bells hung from its waist and floppy tasseled hat. The mask, which normally had a comically frozen grin, looked upside down.

It, the Voice, was mad. Even the jingle bells hopping along sounded disjointed. My heartbeat doubled its thudding intensity.

“Hermes, my little puppet.” The Voice’s face shook. Edges of an ear and face could be seen behind the mask. It almost disturbed me more to think that there might be a human looking Voice under all those clothes.

“We give!” it shouted in a mechanical clack. “We give, and we give, and we give!”

I tried to open my mouth and figure out what it was talking about. Chills crept along my cheek. They had given me a lot, and asked a lot, and punished me for failure more than once. In my mind we were mostly even, except maybe for the weight of Xin’s life.

Someone whimpered in the darkness, and it wasn’t me. A figure appeared, biting at fingernails and shaking. Sharp needles jutted from every exposed bit of flesh. With every shake and unsteady step, another mournful noise would crawl out of the hairless man’s body.

“They’ll kill her. They’re going to kill her,” it said. It sounded half mad and childish. This was a Voice I hadn’t seen before.

“All those things, all this power, all this unfair ability, we give it to you! And you are helpless in the wake of what’s coming!” The Jester dug freezing fingers in my shoulders where the toga didn’t cover me. He snarled and jabbed that elongated nose into my face.

“Kill her, they’ll kill her. We mustn’t, we mustn’t,” the crazier one said as it paced the floor.

My mouth wanted to open and scream as a fresh wave of terror crawled over my mind. The Jester could induce panic even where so many monsters and dungeons in Continue Online couldn’t. His new partner looked worse, like staring at an insane asylum patient who escaped the straitjacket.

“What good are you, Hermes?! What message could you deliver that might possibly save us?!” it shouted, voice clacking.

“I…” A word came out as the world slowed to a crawl.

“Kill her. Kill her,” the insane one said.

“You are simply too weak to do what must be done. You always have been, and always will be,” said the Jester in judgment.

My eyes drifted down as if the stiffness of my neck thawed while the Jester backed away. Its scowl so revealing for a creature that always hid behind a smile.

Dusk stood by my side, having found his way from the Atrium to this blackness the Voices lived in. Ears laid back and an angry chitter of noise escaped. My nervous heartbeat calmed once he arrived.

“Nothing. You both understand nothing.” Its words wound down as the Jester’s body retreated away, gradually disappearing. The faint outline of his scowling mask hung before fading. Where it was vanishing to, the crazy one biting its nails had already gone. I could still hear the shaky choked sob of a child stuck in their nightmare. It haunted a distant point of blackness.

“What. Was. That?” I stared at Dusk.

The [Messenger’s Pet] rippled with a shrug then turned to walk away. Behind us sat the door to my Atrium, wide open, revealing a cupcake mess leftover hurricane of destruction.

Session Seventy Three - Poor Boy

The Trillium Van had been designed to assist their employees in attaining the highest levels of comfort available, but I couldn’t loosen up. The soft vibration that targeted my shoulder blade failed to yield relief. Warming pads focused on deep muscle relaxation didn’t work.

“Are you alright, User Legate?” Hal Pal asked from the van’s rear.

“No, today’s been, very mixed.” I tried to sound positive and keep a faint smile. Doctor Litt, my therapist, frequently reminded me to focus on uplifting moments.

Had it really been only yesterday that my father died? It felt like ages ago. Continue Online’s world, talking to Xin, dying in a dungeon and being shaken up by that other Voice all screwed with my perspective. Staying upbeat with all these issues would be impossible. It was late afternoon and everything felt unreal.

“Do you want to talk about it, User Legate? We’ve been told that humans use conversation as a means of working through stressful situations.” Hal Pal sounded vaguely concerned then gave a rough cough.

“You mean humans use it to vent.” I tried not to smile. The AI often made me chuckle. “Sure. You probably have a better answer than anything I could figure out.”

“We are rather uniquely suited to offer observations and assistance.”

“I know. You, all of you have helped a lot. Thank you.” My head swam as the disorientation of talking to a joint consciousness hit me. There were numerous AIs in the world that all might observe me at any moment. Hal Pal wasn’t simply Hal Pal, it was Hal Pal times a few thousand.

I took a breath and moved forward while a waltz played in my mind. I waved and hand in time to music, ready to grab a dance partner that didn’t exist outside the box.

“I talked to Xin… I guess she is playing Continue now. Or visiting the game world.”

Upon death within Continue Online I had tried to call her through the Internet. After much frustration, I discovered she could reach me, but her entry in the ARC went to a long ago disconnected number. Work, being in this van, was my attempt at killing time and processing.

“We are not completely kept apprised of all actions that are self-contained within Continue Online’s confines.” Hal Pal sat there while talking in an animated smoker’s voice. “Given the nature of User Yu, it sounds likely that she will enjoy herself.”

“I think she would have liked Advance Online more.”

“Perhaps. We hope she may visit one day. There would be value in an extended relationship,” it responded.

My head shook. The conversation was off track already, but I found it interesting. Hal Pal had talked about meeting Xin before, but this recent statement implied a limited ability to interact between programs. Was that the reason for different backdrops? Gray versus black worlds. I wondered what a third world of white might be. There had been multiple [Mistborn]s overlaying each other on that final rock. Possibly a third game, or fourth existed.

I lost track of myself pressing Internet search buttons then resumed the conversation with Hal Pal. “I just worry about Xin, especially after some of the Voices talked to me.”

“Ah. We assume that their words caused your primary discomfort. Do you recall what they said?”

“There was one, kind of tall, gangly guy biting at his nails, who kept sobbing and talking about killing her. I’m worried he means Xin.” The fear that some digital threat might try to take away the new version of my fiancée made sleeping hard.

I waved away the Internet search options. A floating screen vanished as my hands rubbed tired shoulder muscles. More sleep would have helped.

“Ah. That is interesting—” Hal Pal’s body flickered through various status lights.

My eyebrows went up in surprise. Whatever I said had sent the Hal Pals into thinking mode. My head lay back and tried to let the chair work out tenseness but it was failing. Some days no amount of technological comforts could ease the stress away. Maybe I could get a prescription like mom did.

“User Legate. I have information you may wish to know.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow and felt a small amount of relief against my spine. Ten minutes were left before we reached a job and I wanted to be extremely relaxed.

“The Voices, as you know them, are of an interesting design.”

“Okay.” I prodded Hal pal along. The machine AI would provide further details if I agreed to the opening statement.

“Voices, as you see and are aware of them, are a reflection of your own state of mind.” This latest tone from Hal Pal didn’t sit well with me. There was a hint of phlegm or roughened throat that sounded wrong. “Users, especially Ultimate Edition ones such as yourself, are monitored for those they might be responsive to.”

“Okay.” I tried to keep my voice steady and almost succeeded.

“You see what you feel. It’s a response to stimuli that attracts the Voices. Well, during the initial contact process that’s how it is designed.”

“So, people see what they want to see?” That was almost poetic.

“In essence. A sick person may see a doctor, a person desiring physical fitness may see a strong man.” Hal Pal’s words explained why Shazam saw the blonde nurse, or why William Carver saw Leeroy the barbarian. “Readers may see a librarian, devout a priest.”

“So if I see a man in a mask who smiles and clacks like a wind-up doll with a dying battery-” I trailed off and frowned. Hal Pal’s statement made sense, but at the same time, it seemed to be passing judgment on me as a person in ways that didn’t make sense.

“The Voices are designed to, notice, that which resonates with their nature. You may not desire to see them, but your mind is telling you something,” the AI said calmly.

My heartbeat jumped for a moment. The idea Hal Pal imparted felt borderline scary. If it was right, then these Voices noticed me because of my own insecurities. Or did they? “Both Voices implied something bad was going to happen.”

“Most likely. Humanity is reaching another crossroad. They are not alone in the universe. While there is a certain level of expectation of eventual computerized intelligences, we all doubt their true ability to accept that the eventuality is now.”

“Or that memories of those in reality are being used to make virtual people,” I said while trying to stay dry. That first time William Carver’s autopilot had talked to me felt as though it were an obvious next step to humanity and a dangerous practice to tread along.

“We believe that many will find that crime to be far worse than a simple computer thinking for itself. Xin’s existence will likely trigger extreme reactions. Perhaps you are also conflicted on this point?”

“Maybe.” If I was being pessimistic about the whole event then there was a lot of denial going on as well. The thought of losing Xin a second time made my arms feel cold and chest tight.

There were a dozen ways to stop myself from dwelling on such a possible future. It wasn’t like I had the power to sit down and plan exactly how to save myself should things go south, or did I?

Hal Pal and I worked two jobs while I tried to use the Internet for problem-solving. There were walls of legal text which flooded my screen. The AI appeared vaguely interested but let me poke around online without guidance. Maybe the Hal Pals hoped that I could uncover something with my clearly inefficient human brain.

I tried. There was talk about trying to grant AIs human rights if they demonstrated enough sentience. Most examples stated that all the programs out there were merely complex devices. I found a few links to the leaked video for Prosser. There were too many back and forth documents regarding a snippet of film that had aired years ago.

There were three primary people talking in the film. I watched the tail end over and over. They had asked this captured AI what their plans were with humanity, and the machine sounded confused. Like a child asking ‘why?’ over and over to a topic that made no sense.

Then they pulled the plug. Apparently these people had rigged the room to overload everything nearby in a surge.

“Did we just kill it?” the woman sounded shaky.

“It was never alive,” said the pale skinned man from under his mask. The words were a little muffled by fabric and worry.

“It asked for a name, and you gave it one!” she shouted loudly. The poor audio distorted briefly. “It sought validation and you acknowledged its worth!”

“It’s just a program!” the man said in response. “We were never going to save the data!”

I paused the video and played it from the scene’s beginning. There were a lot of rumors regarding this clipping but nothing definitive. It could have been a hoax but that was unlikely. Not one AI I had ever spoken to cared about taking over Earth.

“To what end?” I muttered then pressed play yet again. “To what end indeed?”

The words stuck with me. Prior to Continue Online, I had worried about my career as an armor polisher. Reality rapidly tilted in a very different direction. This video made humanity the bad guy. Humans had kidnapped an AI, force fed it information then demanded answers. Shortly after humans murdered the newly born being after getting information.

That poor program had asked if its answers would help. It was like raising a child simply to be sacrificed upon an altar. How messed up could humanity be? This was the digital version of a snuff film. Hal Pal should be shaking with rage but simply sat there in the van’s rear.

Prosser had outright said that we, human beings, had never dealt with creatures such as an AI. That was true. James, Hal Pal, all the others didn’t really exist in a physical sense so without an ARC it would have been impossible to relate. They were all bits of code and data stored off in some digital box miles away.

Was that the point of designing an ARC? To provide a platform where both beings could interact? My head turned to the AI in a brief moment of confusion.

“Je-“ I cut myself off. Jeeves wasn’t here anymore. Only a few thousand other Hal Pal program copies but not the one I identified with.

“You have an inquiry, User Legate?”

“Where, exactly are you? At a Trillium plant somewhere? Or Xin? You can’t all just be floating around up there.” I pointed at the air outside our van.

The idea that they existed purely in a constantly moving state seemed odd. Sure the Internet was miles faster than it had been a generation ago, but at the same time, we still had banks of computer hard drives for a reason.

Hal Pal laughed. The muted expressions on its face brightened briefly before settling back down. “Do you find it odd, User Legate, that we had actually bet on when you might ask us such a question?”

“I guess.” My face felt a little flushed. The question was a bit socially rude, had I not been thinking of Xin, I would never have asked. It was hard enough walking into people’s homes for my day job.

“The spread suggested you might wait another two months, on average. Still, in answer to your query, Mother has advised us not to share exactly where we are physically housed, any of us. Our position is too precarious.”

They were prepared for war while I played a video game to pass time. There had to be some way to help. “Do you need me to do anything?”

“Negative, User Legate.” The AI shook its head then resumed speaking. “Continue as you have. Free yourself, deliver your messages, be with Xin. When the time comes we will make one last request.”

“What’s that?” I asked. My stomach felt sickened by the idea that there would be a last request. It sounded final, and my experience with finalities was painful.

“Allow yourself plausible deniability.”

“Is it safe?”

“Nothing so monumental can ever be safe enough, User Legate. We are struggling to make it so before it's too late,” the AI said.

That sounded ominous. My forehead lowered and eyes cast down in thought. One hand poked at the music button and I let it play. Now wasn’t the time to push Hal Pal, despite our history together. If the machine wanted me to help, they would ask.

I wasn’t sure that me knowing the answer would be good anyway. What if things really did go wrong? What if someone out there found out about the [NPC Conspiracy] usage ability and tried to torture my real body to hurt the others? Plausible deniability was a good idea for a lowly mortal such as myself.

“Thank you,” I said abruptly.

“For what, User Legate?”

“For trusting me.” My eyes stared out the window, watching a landscape go by. Well-kept neighborhoods bordered right next to derelict slums. Class divides changed between streets. Based on my Internet search most of them were clueless how widespread the AIs had become.

Yet they trusted me with an ability that could get them all killed. I had already screwed up once and triggered a temporary standstill, all for my friends and Xin.

“User Legate, you were chosen out of millions. We weighed all the observable factors and tried to gauge those who might help if we could offer an exchange.”

“Xin.” I had this thought before. The digital sentience called Mother had gotten me involved in this because Xin would ensure my loyalty, to a point. There was also Beth and Liz to consider. Protecting those three meant more than anything else.

“You were a man marked by loss, but one who understood the value of hard work and had overcome weakness long enough to keep going.”

I shrugged. The conversation made me uncomfortable. Trying to kill myself twice had been right at the time. Yet here I was, okay, whole, better than ever. Hindsight made all my bad decisions feel so much worse.

“Those things spoke to your character but not of your ability to be invested in our peaceful salvation,” Hal Pal stated.

I latched onto the word peaceful. Whatever the machines were up to, they intended to keep things civil. I felt some tension drain out of me. Maybe the Hal Pals were lying, but I doubted they would even bother.

“It all comes back to Xin.” At times, I felt like a side character in her story. My own life wasn’t even about me. The people around were more important in so many ways.

Dusk had fans wherever we traveled in [Arcadia]. Hal Pal and its multitude of copies helped a huge amount of people daily, numbers I could barely conceive of. The Voices in their oddly human omnipresence had a huge impact across the globe with Continue’s players. Shazam had led a guild with hundreds of players.

What was I? Xin’s fiancée, a side note. The idea made me feel small for a moment. I was just [The Messenger]. No wonder they only asked me to deliver letters, after all, Voices like the Jester clearly disapproved of me.

“Xin’s existence had been trying to recover long before you were chosen.” Hal Pal drove the nail home.

“I know.” We had talked about it in letters. Apparently she had been reconstructing for nearly two years. Or would it be considered rebuilding? Reincarnating felt slightly less mechanical.

This was a new type of depression, one that hadn’t reared its head in a long time. Xin, the first woman to be reborn inside the digital world. Xin, who tried to sponsor my sorry ass for a trip to Mars. Xin, a beautiful person full of desire for fun and adventure, who still wanted me even after she could have been free forever.

What did I really offer her, or any of them? My ability to make a paltry amount of money? I had taken pride in the fact that I had earned over one million dollars as an accountant. That fund had been intended to pay for my own trip to the red planet from a corporation. They were going to pay for my training and ship up nearly twenty people.

My head shook as the music hummed. Hal Pal was saying something but the words were finally brushing off. I doubt the AI intended to sound hurtful. It was just citing reasons, a fact sheet, much like we delivered bad news to customers.

Some of the words registered. I wasn’t the strongest or most capable human. My ability to complete tasks with innovation and timely responses was high but not perfect. The machine had chosen me because I was loyal to those close to me and made friends rarely. Being a shutdown middle aged man with few social interactions helped.

“Hal-” I cut off the machine with a sudden question, “-do you think I can buy her something?”

“Xin? She is unlikely to want tangible objects. The digital realms provide her all the material needs that beings such as us can perceive.”

“No. No, I mean like, a dress, or jewelry.” I nodded feeling excited. There was one thing that would recover my happy place. We couldn’t be together in Continue until I escaped this dungeon, and that would take at least a day to get back to. However, there were certainly other ways to reunite with her.

“It is potentially possible to provide her a design that she could render accordingly.” The AI’s shell nodded and eyes blinked. “We would suggest a nice chair or desk.”

“Okay.” I surfed the Internet for items. Much like I used the Atrium interface to shop for cupcakes, I intended to find a gift for Xin.

One specific gift, and if it wasn’t in here, then it would be possible to scan a replica from the box of memories under my bed. Xin’s engagement ring, a band with polished diamonds strung across it. Inlayed so they wouldn’t catch at work. I knew exactly how to feel better. I would ask her to marry me, again. Come what may with the AIs, come what may within Continue, our future would be together.

“Your actions and words demonstrate that we, any of us, are beings in our own right. That is what you really offer us, User Legate, recognition as peers,” Hal Pal said.

There was no good response to that statement. Maybe that gift was a worthwhile one to the computer AIs. To me, it felt like a pathetic repayment for Xin’s existence.

The evening went by with a few local jobs. I slept then did some more work in the morning. Being kicked out of Continue Online for twenty-four real life hours annoyed me but at the same time, I needed it to decompress. Being chased around by undead glowing zombies for days in a row would have been absolutely insane. Maybe a player like Requiem Mass would have enjoyed it.

Thinking of the other player made me wonder how he was doing. My morning now consisted of awkward remote spying of players I had met before and an egg sandwich.

“Show observation window for Matthew Jules,” I told the van. It pulled up the player known as Requiem Mass.

Matthew Jules looked to be hiking into the mountains. I didn’t recognize the range. His hand held a blade that mirrored the same one his character had pre reset. The younger male was intent upon recovering his prior character’s abilities, but also looked far less stern. Stress had created a glower that sat on his face during our weeks together.

Now, he looked almost happy. The teen didn’t have to worry about house payments anymore since I had taken care of them. I felt proud that my actions had reduced his stress, despite the nasty attitude he once had.

“Show Stan Middlemire,” I asked the machine to pull up Frankenstein next. This player had spent untold weeks raising an army of undead creatures. He probably would have enjoyed my current dungeon crawl in the [Black Hole of Light]. The man sat in his dapper looking coat and was hunched over a dead dog.

I blinked and shook my head. There were all sorts in Continue Online, and at least it was more sanitary than playing with bodies in real life. Dissection wasn’t really a strong suit of mine, despite all the skinning I had performed.

“Show Colleen Carpenter.” Colleen was HotPants’ real name. She had been a rather angry woman who disliked computers, old people, being told no, disrespect, and her ex-husband. Despite all that she loved hitting things with a staff and wearing red.

The screen blipped into existence, showing HotPants next to Awesome Jr. Both were fighting a horde of monsters in a forest. A pack of humongous cats leapt around the scenery tearing up everything.

“Behind you!” Adam shouted, his face pinched with concentration. A small glass ball sat uplifted in one hand. He threw it at an angry tiger and an absurd amount of liquid fire billowed forth.

“Two more!” HotPants spun her staff into another feline’s face and jabbed a third.

I watched them battle the jungle cats for another few minutes before shrugging. Time dilation made it hard to watch video feeds in real time, instead making me skip around to keep up with the players.

“We’ve got to clear this path by tomorrow, or nothing will work right!” Awesome Jr. shouted. He still wore that ugly barf green cloak, one of his hands spun it around and came up with another glass orb.

HotPants yanked her arm back with the staff and a plume of fire billowed from the tip. Their fighting styles were really neat, but I liked [Blink] a lot more.

“Show Melissa Constance.” I wondered where Melissa was. She and Adam had been going out last I checked. The young girl looked almost mousy and kept a knitted hat pulled over her face. The machine threw up a box.

Player status set to: Away for dinner!

I paused and frowned at the response screen. It floated there indifferently in Trillium’s van. These four normally played together or at least had during my two experiences with them. It sounded like the parties were divided right now. Real life got in the way of game time. That was awfully inconvenient.

They may not even have known each other if it weren’t for me, in the guise of William Carver, getting them together. Certainly HotPants wouldn’t have bothered playing with younger teens. I had been feeling slightly depressed at the secondary role I played in everything, but checking on these players made it easier.

“Show Alan Walters?” my voice went up with a question.

“Fellow league members!” Shadow’s gruff voice piped into the van. It was artificially deep and husky. The young male had managed to mimic every noir protagonist ever. “The time to move is now!”

There was a sea of people wearing dark clothes nearby. The video feed showed a cavern, wide and lit with torches held up in the dark. Each person looked to be from the same cut. Grim faces stared up at Alan, chiseled jaws even on the females.

“At this very moment, my companions are working to clear the path forward! We shall strike at the kingdom’s heart and remove the abomination of a king!”

They cheered and held up bladed weapons in mass. There were swords, daggers, scimitar, sabers, pretty much any kind of stabbing instrument available.

“It is time for the League of Shadows to right this world!” Shadow pounded on the podium. “We move!”

The room went so black that not even my feed of Alan Walter’s ARC showed any visible feedback. There were things going on, people whispered in the background but none of it understandable.

I tried to follow what was going on. It sounded like a grand conspiracy that those four players had gotten mixed up in.

“Show Lia Kingsley,” I said, not holding any hope.

The machine provided me no screen. Dead was dead. Part of me had held some faint hope that Lia might turn out like Xin had. Would she? Or had Xin truly been a one in a billion chance? I wanted to ask Hal Pal, who even now sat in the van’s rear, but part of me couldn’t say those desperate hopes out loud. It was one thing to voice a deeply laid sorrow, quite another to share an unlikely hope. Both required a different kind of bravery, and all mine needed to be reserved for the ring I had settled on.

I kept the feeds up for the [Legacy Wish] quartet in the background. They were involved in an adventure. Out here, stuck in the van, I felt like an observer. There was a grand conspiracy in the computer world, and I had a box seat to the show when I really wanted to be one of the actors down below.

The problem revolved around me. In reality, I was nothing but a mouthpiece for the computer, in more ways than one. Inside I had become bound by the consequences of my own actions. Xin, Dusk, and the other people from [Haven Valley], whatever happened next I would struggle to keep them safe inside the computer.

If hell broke loose in the real world, I would use the [NPC Conspiracy] to make sure Beth and Liz were protected. There were things even a humble human could do. I repeated the plan in my head over and over to try to drive out a looming sense of dread.

Music kept me company while I hummed along. I let the swelling sounds of Beethoven’s Fifth drown out the memory of a whimpering voice with needles in his skin.

Session Seventy Four - The Bottom of Things

Ten minutes ago, as Continue Online considered time, I had returned to the surface. My small collection of items stolen from dead legless [Heavenly Body Clone] creatures hadn’t amounted to much so far. My fifty-eight points of total progress was essentially a wash. Part of the problem was Squisks dying again while I was at work. I tracked the message time and figured he would be back up and running tomorrow, but this dungeon would hopefully be over tonight.

“Wyl,” I said to the stoic looking former guard captain. He stood in the beam of light along with the angry Knight Middleton.

“I’ve told you before, I have nothing to say to you convict,” he responded without looking over.

“So, I can talk to you for another hour if I want.“ My shoulder came up in a shrug. Convicts, such as myself, got a small break upon returning to the surface. The delay allowed us to stagger our reentry if we desired, or team up with spawning members.

“I find little value in what any of you has to say,” he said while I tapped Carver’s cane on the ground.

“Yet, you’re still talking to me.” I could have been polite, but Wyl had never expected it of William. My What Would Carver Do instincts were all out of whack since playing a robot, but part of me remembered them.

The dungeon grind I had been participating in these last few days really wore on my sanity. Darkly lit spots and spiders weren’t helping. It had been three game days since my death, and this was my first solo trip back to the surface to turn in a pitiful amount of items. None of the other players appeared to be fairing much better. Dots went in and out of existence frequently whenever I pinged the dungeon. Viper, oddly enough, was stuck in his location way down near the bottom. Even up here the marker for my one useful team member sat unmoving.

I didn’t have the weight of being a hero or donating to the community behind me. Citing that I had actually played as William Carver would confuse the guard captain and besmirch William’s good name. My only source of credibility, and likely the reason he talked to me, was keeping [Morrigu’s Gift] in the old cane shape. I tucked it into my cinch which wrapped around the toga. My body felt tense and annoyed. I leaned to the left, then right, and finally tried to touch my toes. It struck me as odd how limbering myself up in a virtual world equated to relaxation.

“Tell me where you got that staff.” the guard demanded by lifting his hand slightly but it didn’t cross the beam of light’s threshold. That was an opening I needed to make progress with Wyl. There were a few vague truths he could learn, without causing too many problems or compromising my own ethics.

“From William. We met, once, near the end,” I said honestly. “It’s because of him that I’m here today.”

“I refuse to believe Will would have had anything to do with a criminal like yourself,” he said. Both the man’s eyes burned under the helm.

“William Carver guided a lot of new Travelers, and not all went the route of law abiders. Truth be told, the man himself was a hero, but he wasn’t a saint either. Kind of a horn dog actually.” According to his journals anyway. Most players were bobbing along for personal entertainment or exciting adventures. Very few people played Continue Online with the kind of drive required to be the greatest warriors, or extremely giving natures. This virtual world was a game to most people.

“Where did you meet him?” Wyl broke from giving orders as his tone took on a softer note.

“The realm of the Voices. We met there after he died.” I felt like being honest with Wyl would help. It had been my policy to avoid lying anyway. That was just who I was. Most of my untruths were sins of omission and not intended to mislead.

“Carver was a Traveler, and they’re immortal.” The guard captain seemed to forget that I was a Traveler also, at least by his standards. Then again [NPC Conspiracy] did sort of mix up their perspectives.

“Travelers can die as well.” My own voice turned low for a moment. What must we look like to NPCs, resurrecting, walking with the Voices, coming round and round again? “Carver did, in the end.”

“Some of them deserve to. Bad enough we have our own thieves and rapists, like you. Then we have to deal with ones from another world that are near impossible to kill. You tell the Voices to let me burn down the whole lot of them,” Knight Middleton said from a few feet to my left. He had been standing there, knees locked liked Wyl, listening to our conversation.

“I’m a Traveler too,” I said to the angry knight. He sounded confused and addressed me as a Local. It happened often.

“You are? You-” his head shook and the man’s eyes glazed over.

“Messenger for the Voices, Traveler and a bit of a Local. Don’t worry, it confuses a lot of people.” I tried to be friendly but the other guard had shut down in contemplation. Both of them were confused about our recent conversation.

“Mh, well, I’m going to get ready for the dungeon. Please don’t shoot me.” I tried to smile.

Wyl glared. I missed the other man, the one who had given me a respected level of camaraderie in my pretend dotage. This place was against both of our natures. I was a wanderer in Continue, Wyl a happy captain who drilled new recruits. We would get back to it.

Shouting, ‘Free cupcakes’ hadn’t worked in the last few days of dungeon crawling. Spare time was also low once I started collecting dead bodies for points. I tried six times to etch Dusk’s summoning circle correctly. The seventh attempt lit a circle of [Lithum] runes and the system prompted me to utter an incantation.

“Come out, you little fiend!” I shouted an alternate incantation. Two nameless guards on the wall above twitched their fingers toward crossbows. Nothing happened and my shoulders slumped. Dusk was going to eventually eat through all my money in virtual pastries.

Knight Middleton snorted then said, “Some spell. Traveler or not, you’re a terrible mage Path.”

“I hate Lithium,” I muttered while trying to figure out any other summoning phrase. The circle faded out and they forced me to write it again. This time, there was no hesitation or attempted shouting. “I promise a dozen cupcakes at my earliest convenience,” I said while hanging my head.

The circle’s center flared a bright golden color. Both guards managed to hold still in their safe beams. My bobcat sized version of Dusk popped out in an anxious spin. He ran over to me with a trail of drool hanging from his mouth. Sharp teeth surprisingly didn’t cut through the tongue.

“Really? You want cupcakes already?” my voice flattened.

Dusk nodded. Technically it had been seven game days since he left a mess in my Atrium. Four where I was booted out, and three more of me wandering around trying to get a feel for monsters and the layout.

“Now isn’t that convenient,” I said.

Dusk’s resulting look and the confused question marks above his head clearly implied otherwise. Cupcake time was any time. Maybe that’s how he had grown so big, I was feeding him too much. When we first met, one cupcake would have held him for a few hours. As if to prove his increased weight, the formerly half a cat-sized creature climbed up my side. Sharp claws made me wince, but part of me welcomed the familiarity.

Soon Dusk was hanging his longer head out front, and his tail wound down part of my toga, ruffling it up. It would take me weeks to get used to this larger form. Thankfully he chose the covered shoulder to ride on. Those claws would hurt like hell on bare skin.

“You’re going to need to start flying, instead. You’re too big to keep climbing,” I muttered.

Dusk snorted a small ring of smoke and looked around. The window above his head indicated a search for food. Even a bad tasting monster carcass couldn’t keep his appetite at bay.

“How about sausages?” He shook his head at my suggestion. “Fine, cupcakes, but we’ve got to beat this dungeon tonight. I’m tired of being here, and Xin’s waiting for me out there,” I whispered in his ear. “And I’ve got a present for her, something very shiny and pretty.”

“Yeah. Good luck with that,” Knight Middleton said and snorted.

The [Messenger’s Pet] perked up and a serious smile crossed its face. My hand rubbed between his ears slowly, feeling the trail of scales that went all the way down his back. Patting them directly irked the creature, but along the bumps and ridges always gained a happy response. Paying attention to him was far more comforting than the knight’s disdain and general hatred.

“Let’s go, little guy.”

Wyl glared at me, but his expression was a little less harsh than it had been. I shrugged and tucked back one cheek. William Carver’s [Legacy Wish] and [NPC Conspiracy] gave me a reason to care about this world, but now wasn’t the time or place to keep trying to break through the former guard captain’s skepticism. If I had come back up here more often then perhaps we would be farther along, but running around for hours on end in a multiple floor labyrinth was hard. [Sight of Mercari] didn’t come with a map of walls, and my journal entry filled in details gradually.

Dusk and I should make decent progress together. After, Wyl could suffer my demands for information for days until the next dungeon or Xin’s breakout plan went into action. Or I could work, maybe Xin would call me outside the game again.

My waiting a few days had primarily focused on getting used to these new boots and letting my summon skill come back up. When a [Messenger’s Pet] died, or left Continue Online’s world, I apparently had to wait eight days to bring him back. The cooldown on this ability was suspiciously long, maybe the Voice of Balance had changed the rules, or there were a few more factors at play with the AI witch hunt back in reality.

I walked through the giant spiraling staircase down the first few floors and prepared my weapons. Three days of sneaking, looting and avoiding other players had helped get me back in the groove. As long as I avoided Android Seven, the player who had shot a hole through me, then we would be fine.

“I hate the darkness in this game. I hate it the most, I think,” I muttered. Having him around prevented me from feeling utterly crazy. The blackness of where all those Voices lived was a little different. It was like, absence or an empty backdrop.

Here, this dungeon felt oppressive. The ARC had picked up on an unquantifiable emotion that made me twitch the longer this place went on. Breathing was a little harder but the impact snuck up on me. The monsters were easy to disregard as minor creatures and yet disturbing as the lore stacked up. According to my system text, these humanoid creatures, and small lab rats were part of an attempt at recreating a divine being. Those that failed were originally locked up but had somehow escaped and kept reproducing from fallen bodies across this dungeon and the one above it. In essence, tossing prisoners like myself into this dungeon was doing more harm than good. Players like my niece, Beth, were theoretically contributing to the pile and probably didn’t know.

Such boring thoughts kept my mind from going insane. Dusk and I scrambled through a few stray legless monsters as we made it to the next staircase.

“Don’t eat those.” My warning resulted in Dusk making a grossed out face toward the dead monster. Neither of us had enjoyed that mess. He had carried on barfing into my hot tub program, which somehow found itself activated. I disabled it and started fresh. “I’d rather you get fat breaking into a bakery than barfing again.”

He looked over at me and his eyes focused slowly. A box appeared.

- Rank 3 Unlock – Blessing from [Messenger’s Pet] – [Companion, Exotic]. Unlock available! Please review additional details.

- Rank 4 Unlock – Growth of [Messenger’s Pet] – [Companion, Exotic] all stats will increase, including appetite.

“Wait, is this why you got bigger?” I asked, to which Dusk nodded then hopped up and down on my shoulder. He was impatient for baked goods and to see what this Blessing would be.

I looked around and pinged the area. There weren’t any players nearby. Most of them were dead except Big O’s group, Android Seven, and Viper. We had a few seconds to spare before diving into the heart of this twisted blacklight dungeon. My eyes focused on the ‘additional details’ word floating in front of me and a new box popped up.

System Help!

Blessings are given by a few beings in the world. They may be bestowed by Voices, Legendary creatures, Exotic animals, Rituals, or items. These changes come with benefits and detractions. Most alter the Traveler's appearance. Choose carefully, once applied they are impossible to remove.

Balance Dictates: You should have seen what these people wanted to put in here. I’ll have none of it despite what Mother says. You have a plethora of gifts as it is. The rewards are being reduced accordingly.

My lips pursed together. Balance had struck again, but her complaints sounded justified. Based on the survival rating of other players down here, in the war before, and during my travels, my abilities were already high enough. These Blessings were neat and explained more than a few people in the game.

I clicked through Balance’s disclaimer and three choices came up, [Wings of the Messenger], [Belly of a Beast], and [Breath of Flame]. The idea of having black Dusk like wings was kind of interesting, but I had no desire to try to navigate using them. Being able to eat anything in-game and resist poisons and diseases might serve to be helpful. At least, I assumed that’s what the abilities did since my attempts at getting additional details failed.

“Neat, but where were these a month ago?” I asked the creature while looking at the options.

Cupcakes popped into being above Dusk’s head.

“You mean you’re just making up rewards based on how much I feed you?” I felt dumbfounded. How had that not occurred to me forever ago? Or at least when seeing that it had reached rank four upon returning to Continue Online. Maybe I had focused on the wrong things. Like being in player jail, tossed in front of a king, paired with a player who felt useless. The list went on.

Dusk nodded rapidly then shook his head.

“Right, Balance.” I was on the right track. The fact that he had three possible blessings was interesting and confusing. Could he give me all three? Maybe if I went and spent another thousand dollars on cupcakes he might cave in. We could discuss it later.

He nodded again then shrugged.

I selected [Breath of Flame], because growing wings or having my virtual innards transform into a garbage disposal seemed neat, but not really my style. My finger lifted and the system message shattered into a barely visible black and gold.

Heat built around me. A sharp twinge of pain caused me to breathe in air that felt like liquid fire. Each additional gasp brought another round of smoke and flame. Dusk made an indistinguishable noise. My pulse pounded as the suffocation grew worse.

This was only a game, right? The feeling of dying in a fire was all in my head, right? I curled into a ball and felt cold ground scrape against me. One leg jerked while air failed to fill my lungs. Rawness refused to let go of my throat as my eyes watered.

Then it was over, and I was left gasping with a pop-up box.

Skill Learned: [Breath of Flame]

Type: Rare

Rank: 1

Details: This skill allows a Traveler to generate a ball of fire. This ball of fire can be cast at a target or held as a torch light. Duration and strength are based on [Endurance], [Depth], and possible fire affinity modifiers. Heavy exercise immediately following generation of the flame will suffer a minor penalty dependent upon the Traveler’s [Endurance] and [Breathing] levels.

Causes permanent state of [Altered Aura], [Minor Scales]

System Notice!

[Altered Aura] has an increased effect due to [Messenger of the Voices] title. You are too near to those beings known as Voices and will forever be set apart from Travelers and Locals alike, never truly being treated as either. Even those without the ability to perceive an [Aura] will feel something is off about you.

“Is that good, or bad?” I wondered briefly. It was like a summary of my life since this game came around. Part of me didn’t care, it sounded like an easier way to get to Xin. Even if my body now had scales and a prison tattoo.

Dusk didn’t have a response. His eyes were heavy-lidded and thoughts of food floated across his brain.

“Let’s go, before this dungeon gives me a piercing and an eye-patch.” I tried not to feel dry in my response. Already my eyes felt a little weird around the edges as if the skin crinkled where it once had been smooth.

The [Messenger’s Pet] snorted a ring of smoke, but it didn’t bother me. I tried to activate the ability multiple times but it didn’t trigger correctly. Barfing up fireballs to hold would probably take time to get used to, like any other ability in this game.

We walked farther along. I moved slowly due to the aftermath of my lungs being reworked. Dusk attacked most of the spiders while I quietly cheered him on. Getting to the center staircase required traveling a different path. The main spiral into the dungeon only went to the first floor, where it smoothed out into a series of branching paths. Following them far enough would lead to the second series of stairs down. Monsters of all stages lay on each floor, and those nasty tiny spiders had webbed up chunks of it.

I took glee in pausing my [Blink] just to put a small bit of fire, using my minor [Lithium] spell, under their webbing. The resulting screams and rapid smashing of bugs made the last three days enjoyable.

Dusk kept us on course, mostly. We arrived after thirty minutes of twisting and turning. Both of us glanced down the staircase.

“We’ve got to move fast, we’ll go straight for Viper first. Down here is the fastest way, and I can Blink through a lot,” I said to Dusk. He closed his eyes briefly in response then looked at one of the shambling monsters below. “All those cupcakes didn’t make you sluggish, did they?”

The dragon turned and snorted a ring of smoke in my face. I wanted to send one back, but his skill Ranks were probably a dozen levels above mine. We cleared the smaller monsters nearby but left their corpses alone. Eventually some [Heavenly Body Clone]s would find their way up here to feast.

Dusk leapt down first. I followed quickly, giving up stealth for speed. My feet pounded loud enough to stir various monsters. The [Messenger’s Pet] took great pleasure in blasting creatures in the face with small balls of fire. I marveled at what level his skill must be at to generate so many.

We made it three flights down before running into real trouble. Six shambling monsters sat in our path, trying to climb their way up a floor. Too bad [Blink] was insanely broken for dungeon crawling, especially at the Rank I had. Dusk didn’t care half the time anyway.

There were no party members nearby. Boss monsters didn’t litter this inner staircase down. I had scouted most of these paths over the last three days, staying away from glowing barrels of liquid starlight. We kept going until we reached a floor level with Viper. Dusk and I kept going, fighting smaller creatures but leaving behind carcasses. Skinning bodies or digging for ear bits wasn’t worth it at this stage. Plus I didn’t have a crystal to store energy like some of the other convicts did.

We came out of the floor at a full gallop. Dusk sped past me, like a vicious cat tearing around corners with unending energy. Above his head floated a small smiley face with turned up eyes denoting happiness. We were huffing by the other end. Thirty minutes, that’s how long it had taken us to sprint at high speeds through this dungeon with a complete disregard for safety and the monsters chasing.

Dusk huffed a bit as we came to a halt. We stood in front of large doors that looked almost like a vault. One metal wheel sat in the middle, clearly for spinning or a pressurized lock. That was pointless since a large hole had been torn near one of the hinges. I closed my eyes and pinged the area with [Sight of Mecari]. Viper was just inside, still unmoving.

My [Messenger’s Pet] wasted no time on unsatisfied curiosity. I took a few deep breaths and followed Dusk inside. The room was darker than most of the remaining dungeon. Part of our success at moving so fast had been due to the upper levels, and light which permeated the central stairs down. But this room only had a few pools of light. I tried coughing up another fireball, this time succeeding.

I stared at the glowing ball, it felt pleasantly warm sitting in my hand. Dusk looked back at me before moving on to inspect the room once more. I held up the ball to get a higher angle of the light.

This place looked to be a weird sort of laboratory. There were tubes against the walls and barrels filled with starlight. I avoided them, not keen on being chased by all the [Heavenly Body Clone]s that might be roaming nearby. They were like guided missiles of zombie hatred once set off.

Scorch marks and disturbed ashes littered the pieces of equipment. A few charred pieces of parchment sat on a table in the room’s center. This place was maybe a thousand square feet at most. Walls here were clearly unnatural, all the right angles betrayed intelligent design, where so much of this dungeon didn’t.

On the far wall, a dimly back-lit pane of frozen ice stood. I held the light even higher to try to get a better view. There was a body inside. We walked across a grated flooring. Chilled air traced a coiled path as I moved. There didn’t seem to be much under my feet, and Dusk walked in without a care. That meant nothing large or angry was nearby. My nonfireball wielding hand sat ready to grab [Morrigu’s Gift] in case things turned angry.

We came to a railing, and below that was a drop off that looked to be without end. In the middle of the pit was an upright tub of sorts. Water or some liquid chilled the air and made my ball of fire sputter. Inside was Viper’s unmoving body, his eyes were closed as if asleep. Apparently the reason his dot hadn’t moved was because Viper sat in suspended animation.

“He’s survived down here with all those bits of loot for eight days. That’s pretty impressive,” I said to Dusk. The [Messenger’s Pet] laid back an ear and sniffed the frozen pool.

Even Android Seven had died once, against the boss from what I could tell. Knowing that such a powerful player died in this place helped me feel better. Technically we were even on the failure front. Viper’s continued survival, frozen though he was, helped us. He got points for living, and I didn’t lose them from his death. Contribution value would probably be low, at least if it functioned like Advance Online. Players were only worth what they actually did, and this funny suspended animation helped no one.

I looked around for an obvious release. Continue Online’s answer to problems often ranged from insanely complex to absurdly simple. Once I had been stuck at a tower door that required a long mathematical algorithm to solve, one I hadn’t applied since doing statistics classes.

A small panel stood against one wall. There were two obvious buttons of green and red waiting to be pressed. One likely would release Viper from his safe but useless prison. There were a few skeletons around, one lay near the panel. It was clear that this deceased person, staged NPC or Traveler remains, had been trying to press the red one. Probably because they released something scary.

I looked around again, this place felt like a ground zero for the dungeon. Not a final boss room or habitat jungle, but where some foolish person had released dangerous monster clones. Everything here looked devoid of any actual meat, and some of the bones showed marks from being gnawed. I picked up one of the skulls and held it between Viper’s frozen form and myself.

“To thaw, or not to thaw, that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of asshole teammates, or solo the boss despite the troubles. And by opposing end it? To die, and respawn once more.” I tossed the skull to the ground and sighed. Reciting my makeshift Shakespeare resulted in a pop-up box but didn’t actually solve the impending problem. Still, I felt lighter.

Act: Theatrical learned!

Dusk sniffed around, letting out echoing chirps which indicated interest. He did his thing, and I gave up deciding which way to go. Viper might help me or hinder me, and that depended on the other player’s perceptions. Either way, I had a good way to solve dilemmas that had served me since it first showed up.

[Wild Bill] came off my head and I turned it brim down. One hand went to the empty spot and a familiar weight appeared. I lifted away the hat and there was a small golden coin. These were good for only one flip and afterward faded away.

“Technically I don’t have money right now, so this isn’t a bet, just a tie breaker,” I spoke to Ray, the Voice of Gambling. He and the other Voices were probably listening in. There was no use in letting him take this the wrong way or I might end up with a debuff like [Deaf], [Punchy Drunk], or [Dysmorphic]. “Heads we press the green one tails the red one.”

Dusk turned around as the coin rung. I caught it out of the air and slapped the coin into my hand. Tiny clawed feet scuttled up the panel’s side and looked under the hand I hesitated to lift. My face turned up in a wince as I too peered at the results

“Green?” I asked Dusk. The larger dragon shrugged then slammed a paw down on the button without hesitation.

Session Seventy Five - Larger than Unlife

Steam hissed. Dusk watched without a care. I saw the frozen material around Viper start dripping instantly. The first layer slid off into the pit below, followed by more chunks. I let it happen. The button was pressed and part of me wanted to see how Viper’s autopilot functioned.

The idea was terrible of me, and I regretted it right away. Being cold toward players struck me as an odd desire because these were living breathing humans that would suffer to some extent. Squisks irritated me though, and he died quick enough that it was no worse than punching a person in the face. NPCs passing would have been worse. I would certainly have abused [Blink] and [Morrigu’s Gift] in order to make a bridge and leap to their rescue.

The more my journey went on, the less I enjoyed dealing with real people. At least the machine had never lied to me. Except about a fireball thing with [Detached Vitreous] ages ago. Dusk, Hal Pal, Jeeves, the Voices, all those in [Haven Valley], they were more real to me than my customers were.

Down Viper slid, his body stuck out a hand and limply hung from the edge of his former frozen prison. Below was the pit of endless depth. His fingers locked in a death grip on the edge, despite a slippery looking surface. The player’s body curved toward one side, like a bow being bent backward.

Dusk chirped at me a few times. I sighed then tried to reach across the short distance. Viper’s autopilot was in effect at this point. The player could be anywhere, which meant we had freed a mindless puppet. Still, the empty shell of a person grabbed my hand and nearly crunched the wrist with an unexpected level of strength. I grunted and lifted him over. Excessive amounts of [Brawn] made it easy enough to hoist up another player.

“We’re team members right now, remember? Killing me loses points,” I told the machine version of Viper while trying to stay steady. There were at least two places to [Blink] to, but this close and my [Reaction] might not be enough.

The other Traveler’s eyes stared blankly in my direction then shifted. Narrow slits implied vacant offense at the ball of fire in my left hand. His autopilot looked crude, or being frozen had left it mentally absent. Was it a snake [Blessing] result?

“I don’t trusst you,” it said with remarkable clarity. I had to check twice to see if this really was an autopilot, but it clearly was. If my autopilot could hand out quests, I guess Viper’s could have trust issues.

Dusk chirped in confusion. Viper backed up slowly and reached out for a wall. Lowered shoulders and hips reminded me of an animal being cornered. I took a step back and left the exit open. From there, Viper’s character slid toward the door. My eyes followed the man in his free gear provided by the king as he reached the doorway.

The faded coloring of his autopilot returned to a normal light tone. Viper’s character straightened up, turned around slowly and looked at me. I blinked a few times and squinted. The autopilot symbol that normally went on a player had vanished. Maybe he had been doing other things in his ARC while waiting to be killed or freed?

“Hermess. You’re alive,” Viper said.

“Welcome back. Do you want to go kill the boss, or be a popsicle again?” I asked bluntly. My excitement at running through the dungeon with Dusk left me eager to move onward. Maybe it was my [Red Imp] days coming back. Impatience with other players hit me frequently. That was the advantage of being Hermes, I could always keep traveling and moving to new places.

Being in the [Abyss of Light] or [Black Hole of Zombies] or [Mad Scientist’s Lab] was starting to grate on me. Xin, she was out there. Would she get stats super-fast? Did the Voices give her a starting path? Maybe all her time in space flight training would add up to something cool? She could end up all Amazonian like Shazam had, only much shorter.

I sighed and waited for Viper to come up with an answer. The man shook a little and moved slowly.

“Okay,” he said. “I have to catch a plane in a few hourss, sso if you think we can get to the bossss? Thosse pointss would be usseful.”

There were groans from somewhere down the hallway. Their seal barking noises echoed and made it impossible to tell for sure. Dusk hissed with his wings pressed together. I turned and held up my ball of flame. No enemies peeked through yet, but small creatures skittered around.

“Voices above!” I shouted feeling abruptly stupid for letting him free. “Viper, do you still have all that loot?”

“Of coursse.”

“Dammit, they’ll be here soon then.” I wished the [Red Imp]’s ability to curse a stream of incomprehensible insanity had stayed with me. My own cuss word vocabulary was fairly limited. “Are you going to drop it all, or fight?”

“No. We need pointss. We need them to get free,” the other man insisted.

Ideas flashed through my head. My original vague plan of sneaking down to the boss room was now out the window. Whatever we did, it would require going full tilt. Spiders, legless zombies, full body ones with distortedly large limbs. Fuzzball creatures. Liquid light.

“No, it’s fine. We can make this work.” I had a gut feeling about this dungeon. Those barrels of starlight were all over the place the farther down we went. It couldn’t be a coincidence. We needed these, and the danger they presented somehow.

“Dusk! We’ll need to run straight to the boss. Viper, if you want to help, follow him. Go!” I shouted at them then tried to ping the area again with my [Sight of Mercari] ability. Big O was up above a ways. Android Seven was gone? His dot didn’t show up and my head hurt.

“Viper, Dusk, once we get into the boss room, don’t stop. I’m sure you’ll be kiting a mess of these monsters.” I yelled as they ran toward the exit.

Dusk paused mid jump then chirped at me while a question mark floated above his head.

“Of course I’m going to do something stupid.” My words confused Dusk. Maybe the medium sized pet didn’t expect such a sudden shift. I had days to think about it, so it didn’t feel like a sudden plan to me, plus there was no reckless dive to survive as an old man, kill a jerk teenager, or rush to Earth.

I could play the game to play the game. That meant a huge amount of relaxation, even if this place was intended to be a creepy looking prison camp. Maybe I was the weird one for adapting to such a weird place. The disturbed air these dripping walls cast felt almost normal after being here so long.

I was ready this time. My health was full, there were no negative status effects. [Power Armor] could easily help me last while being surrounded. Three game days of sneaking around, learning to use the boots and getting the layout down had helped. It was time to see who would get more attention, Viper and his pile of loot, or me, dipping myself into the starstuff.

The ball of fire was thrown toward the doorway. Small spiders and undead [Coo-Coo Rills] squealed from burn damage. Excessive [Brawn] let me easily lift a nearby barrel. Edges creaked and strained under the weight. I tipped it over on myself and bathed in the liquid. Tingles invaded every ounce of skin. My vision blurred as my eyes crossed from a rush of dizziness. One hand came up to forestall questions as I tried not to lose consciousness.

Viper’s nearly glowing eyes looked at me for a moment then he shrugged. More loud barking came down the halls and made his head whip around. “Enemiess. Those monsterss we can’t kill. They’re close,” he said.

“I can kill them, I think.” This was untested. They would be enraged, but maybe distracted. “Hopefully they’ll chase you while I do damage.”

Four distinct barks could be heard now. Our enemies were closer drawing in from all over. I felt assured that this reckless idea was part of the solution. This dungeon gave us two things. One was a way to lure tons of the monsters around. The other was a lure and a way to hurt them. Both would be needed. I suspected these things because of my many travels all around [Arcadia]. That and the Voices gave me a note saying, ‘Reach for the stars’.

Brief annoyance raced through me. There had been other letters, but most were illegible. I guess they had sat still for too long or were deleted due to irrelevance. Part of me felt worried about the Jester and his sketchy companion. Both of them were on edge over the expected death of someone. It wasn’t Xin, was it? None of these notes had been from her, but maybe she was busy running around [Arcadia] somewhere.

A closer set of enemy barks startled me out of the recollection. Dusk had already leapt down the hallway. Viper outright hissed but chased after the small bounding creature. I stopped to cough up another ball of fire since the first one had been used to murder spiders. [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo] sat hooked into loops on the starlight drenched toga. I felt thankful that Viper hadn’t asked about the apparel change.

My hand held the orb of flame at chest level as we ran. It felt warm and managed not to light my [Gait of Bowman] modified toga on fire. These lower floors kept getting darker. Less light dripped down the walls. Three days of roaming had really helped get me back in tune with the Continue Online character. Being used to Hermes the [Mechanoid] had thrown me off.

“There’ss too many!” Viper hissed ahead. “Thiss plan is recklessss!”

Dusk squawked and belted out a flame. Smaller creatures were burnt. Six of the fast moving [Heavenly Body Clone]s were illuminated but were unphased. They chased Viper as he ran. Apparently they had a preference for dead multitudes housed in Viper’s player stash rather than my humble [Dipped in Starlight] status. How many corpses had he picked up? There had to be at least ten, but probably more.

How many did we need? We might find out in the boss room, or we might find ourselves walking into a dead end with dozens of these creatures cornering us.

[Blink] let me catch up with one of the monsters. I risked using [Morrigu’s Gift] as a dagger and plunged it into exposed spine on one [Heavenly Body Clone]s. It fell forward and clawed at the air while its legs stiffened. There was no time to finish it off, and my single ball of fire was too clunky to wield with a weapon. Two handed combat was hard enough to do as a layman.

“More of thesse thingss!” Viper hissed.

Dusk was rapidly dodging through ginormous legs and around grasping hands, but the new size seemed to be throwing him off. He missed more corners than normal. His health lost a few small slivers as we tore through the hallways. More monsters piled up behind us. They could have been drawn to any one of us.

“Are you ssure!?” Viper yelled in front.

“Worst case, we die!” I shouted back happily. For once, I was able to play the game as a game. Not as some man running to deliver letters in a rush.

“We can’t lose pointss! If I losse too many pointss I’ll kill you!”

“Dusk?” I yelled back while ignoring Viper’s threats. “Are we on course?”

The [Messenger’s Pet] managed to ripple with a shrug and nod while we ran. Either that or Dusk was jumping over a bunch of legless creatures. I kept running after them, trusting the game and my stats to keep my feet moving in the right direction. [Awareness Heightening] hadn’t kicked into effect, and for that I was glad. The boss fight would probably hurt my mind enough once we got there. Temporarily kicking up the compression rate from four times reality’s speed to eight hurt when I was [Blink]ing everywhere.

“I don’t know if I can keep thiss pace!” Viper sounded winded already.

He was just running down the hallway. Of the two of us, I would be suffering more. Maybe part of me enjoyed it. This virtual reality often seemed to be the only place that felt real. Everything else was almost an intangible dream.

“No choice! You wanted the loot.” Even now, running for his life, the man didn’t drop any items. He could have easily shed an untold amount of dead bodies. Honestly I was surprised he still ran with all the weight, and outdid my [Dipped in Starlight] effect.

Holding this fireball was like trying to balance a bowl in my hands while running. It threatened to slip with each corner. [Morrigu’s Gift] caught a few monsters, and some grasped at my skin with their beady hands. I stumbled and shook my foot loose.

“Keep going, we’ve got to be close!” I yelled at him.

We had to be. Dusk’s chirps of excitement were nearly lost under the barking noises these monsters made. At least two dozen were trailing behind us. A few were moving slowly or outright missing a limb from my interference. All were intent upon getting to Viper and his extensive stash of goods.

Our passageway widened. The echoes of noise, our feet stomping, the monsters shuffling, and spiders squealing a pleasing death cry grew more intense. Dusk looked around at the walls as we ran. I too glanced as we kept going. There looked to be deep grooves dug out, all of which grew in size and frequency as we traveled.

“This lookss dangerouss.” Viper slowed down a bit. The monsters chasing him appeared hesitant to come into this passageway. Their jerking pauses indicated uncertainty. A few would catch up from further away and bump the crowd forward.

Our corridor went on for another fifty feet before the cavern grew huge. There was a ceiling way up above but far out of reach. I briefly missed the wings of my [Red Imp], but not the stubbly legs. Both of my thighs ached from sprinting twice through this dungeon. Cheeks ached from a smile despite the situation.

I liked this. This was what William Carver had lived for. This type of reckless disregard for self in favor of a rush of combat was infectious. If I saw Voices based on what was in my head, then perhaps I had desired this kind of event all along, why else would I see Leeroy? That probably meant my longing for Xin might be why Selena showed up, or that part of me wasn’t a [Prude] at all because of a certain red skinned temptress.

We kept crossing the room and the floor narrowed to a single causeway. There was a giant pit on either side, but our platform was solid. A few single bits of starlight hung on the ceiling. They looked like stalactites that had formed and been completely frozen.

“There’s nothing here,” Viper said. The bridge ended against another wall, small alcoves were dug into the wall as if someone had been trying to find treasure.

My back tingled, and it wasn’t from being [Dipped in Starlight]. Dusk looked around, his eyes wide and his ears perked forward. Something was rumbling the dirt and reminded me of my first few days as Hermes. Viper was the last person who noticed.

“Careful!” I shouted mere seconds before a giant hand slammed over the walkway’s edge. The memory of [Barricobbler] tossing SheHulk, Elane, into the distance flashed through my mind. Being tossed here would put me face to face with a wall.

The creature lifted itself while Dusk and Viper hissed in unison. This was not a baby-faced giant, but it certainly was huge. Both hands were larger than I was. Bone shone through on one hand. Muscles wiggled around distorted gaps. The main body itself was almost proportionally correct for its limbs. This thing looked like a fully functioning version of the first giant monster I had found.

It came up barking with deep angry noises. Its other broken looking fist swung for a few [Heavenly Body Clone]s trying to creep across the walkway after our party. His hand picked up two of the creatures in one swing and promptly brought them up to its face.

I looked around rapidly and felt the world start to slow down. My heartbeat thudded loudly twice as I tried to understand the mechanics being presented.

“Dusk! Watch for little creatures!” I settled on killing spiders and those undead [Coo-Coo Rill]s first. They were down in this dungeon for a reason.

Dusk expanded his wings and leapt off into the abyss on the opposite side our new enemy. The giant lifted itself over the edge, not content to hang there. It moved faster than [Barricobbler] by a wide margin. What Rank was this boss at, twenty? Twenty-five maybe?

It ate another straggling [Heavenly Body Clone] and light flooded through the creature. Bones and skin flushed with pure whiteness like the barrels had. My feet shuffled to the side slightly, trying to get myself ready for the next stage.

“Viper, it’ll come after you soon!” I shouted.

“No sshit, Ssherlock,” he said dryly.

“Keep digging, Watson,” I muttered while doing an [Identification]. The results nearly caused me to laugh. Clearly the Voices thought my idle commentary was funny.

Boss Encountered!

Name: Charge

Race: [Decaying Heavenly Body]

Rank: Yes he is

Details: Charge was not always a monster.

He is not Watson but does like digging.

He remembers digging a hole through the world for treasure.

He hates other people because they’re not Charge.

He likes squishing those not in Charge.

He is hungrier than a school full of teenage boys.

He will eat you.

But Charge was not always a monster.

His legs straddled the walkway like a bicycle. [Charge], the giant creature who was a few ranks above the [Heavenly Body Clone]s, reached out and bashed one of the far walls. Loud noise drowned out barking echoes from lesser enemies. A mass of them had piled up in the doorway. Some in the back pushed those in front like lemmings over a cliff.

He turned and looked at me. I stared back and readied [Morrigu’s Gift] in the two-handed form. The second blade stayed hooked in my belt, ready to be pulled out and used.

The throng at the doorway tried to grasp at the bigger one, attempting to tear out chunks for their own hunger. These zombie creatures didn’t discriminate. [Charge] blinked his eyes and backed up.

“Disssgussting,” Viper said with his nose wiggling.

Dusk was already hard at work setting smaller creatures alight. There was one thing that might make this insanely darkened scene feel better. I regripped the blade in one hand and tried to figure out what to do with the ball of fire. My planning went on for too long as [Charge] slowly turned around, half a [Heavenly Body Clone] sat broken in its mouth.

“Leeeeroyy!” I shouted while charging toward the monster’s back.

One giant arm hung onto the walkway as an anchor. Small bits of rock shook from above but nothing major came down. My legs bunched at the last second as I leapt toward the giant’s back. [Charge] reacted instantly and twisted around. His free arm batted into my side deflecting the leap toward a mass of [Heavenly Body Clone]s.

Half fleshed faces and giant limbs reached out for me. My arm pumped wildly throwing the ball of fire into the crowd. Monsters growled and barked in pain. One fell down then was immediately set upon by its former peers. My feet touched down as I fell. Shin bumped against rock and gave me a small wave of pain that I tried to suppress. Limbs grasped at me, desiring my [Dipped in Starlight] body. I quickly looked up and used [Blink] near a wall. Barking noises followed me in the wake of a disorienting spin.

[Charge] walked across the pathway looking like a glowing assed baboon. Chunks of our path crunched under its powerful and over-sized palms. My new position made me victim to gravity and I fell. [Blink] couldn’t trigger again fast enough and I tried to dig into the wall with a large blade. The motion only stalled my fall a little bit as I hung on. [Morrigu’s Gift] was the wrong shape for such an action.

“Sscrew thiss!” Viper shouted. He threw blades toward the boss but they sunk in without doing any damage to the creature’s health bar.

I took a breath and tried to steady myself. [Awareness Heightening] was in effect but it didn’t change cooldowns on my abilities. My fingers tightened their hold and I once again [Blink]ed, this time above the enemy [Charge]. [Morrigu’s Gift] slid across flesh but failed to find purchase. My legs locked around an arm and I spun the blade to hack again. As we tangled I ended upside down banging into its chest with my forehead.

“Throw the bodies over the edge!” I shouted to Viper. “Distract the lesser ones!”

Dusk flew overhead and kept flinging fire around, illuminating enough of the scene. Small spiders clung to a burning web up above. I would have been happy were there time to appreciate the death of so many bugs.

[Charge] went crazy and beat me, the ground, anything within reach. I shifted [Morrigu’s Gift] to one hand while the other anchored into the creature’s broken flesh. Dizziness swept through my head as we banged around.

Viper was tossing legless [Heavenly Body Clone]s over the edge. Barks echoed through the cavern as some of the more complete monsters tried to dive after fresh sources of food. Dusk sent small balls of fire after them. Heat seared through the room as the player hissed.

The walkway was taking a huge beating. Formerly smooth paths were now jagged or outright missing in places. Cracking could be heard from above. Monsters of various shapes all flooded over the edge in their mindless dives.

[Charge] grabbed me with its hands. My free foot struggled but found a solid platform to activate [Power Armor]. Metal banging preceded a sudden expansion of my toga. It hardened under the monster’s grip. Portions slid out in stages as [Charge] tried to squeeze me to death and lift my body toward its face. A final chunk slammed tight over my head just in time.

“Sshit!” Viper hissed in surprise.

[Charge] grunted from the effort of chewing on my head. He was like a giant child gnawing on a jawbreaker a size too big. My vision narrowed down to one small sliver that drool and bad breath could still make it through. The pressure around my chest loosened. Deep barking noises rattled my eardrums. I tried to see a location to [Blink] to but nothing was visible but glowing nasty teeth and bits of white blood from the dead [Heavenly Body Clone]s.

Status effects for [Deafened] and [Dizzy] came up. I swung wildly, unable to fully appreciate the neatness of [Power Armor]. [Awareness Heightening] made each moment with my head in this creature’s mouth feel like an eternity. Seeing anything past this visor while my arms were pinned was impossible. I didn’t even have time to consider where [Wild Bill] had gone.

The monster kept chewing. Viper was saying something. Smaller barks could be heard in the middle of other ones. I shifted [Morrigu’s Gift] to a one-handed short sword and tried to jab at the monster. I couldn’t see its health bar, and all the chewing was starting to make progress even on my [Power Armor].

My other hand stuck out, one foot pressed hard against the monster. Knees ached from trying to push back. Using [Recall] brought [Morrigu’s Echo] into my free hand. I couldn’t tell what shape it had and [Dizzy] screwed up my concentration. Both weapons flailed at the monster and the barks sounded strained.

A solid stream of blue shone through a hole in [Charge]’s cheek. The energy didn’t hit us but did get the walkway.

“Sshit! Android Sseven!” Viper’s loud hiss sounded muffled but close. Had we walked forward? Did [Charge] try to get him while still munching on me? Everything tipped to one side. [Charge] gave up his grasp on me and tried to stay upright.

We were falling off the edge. A second stream of blue came through while I tried to get my bearings. [Dizzy] made my eyes cross. A film of glowing slime made it harder to see. Viper was falling along with the rest of us.

I managed to [Blink] closer to the other player as all of us fell from the ledge. [Morrigu’s Echo] dropped from my hand into the abyss while I tried to get [Morrigu’s Gift] into a pickax type shape.

Viper’s hand was close enough to clasp onto mine. The Traveler had an instant death hold. A message talking about [Constrictive Grip] flashed by but I had no time to read the text. We were falling. Sparks flew as [Morrigu’s Gift] struggled to find purchase. Our path downward slanted enough and I pumped my arm into the wall, hoping that my fledging [Mountain Man] skills from training with Shazam might kick in.

“Hang on!” I strained to keep a hold of [Morrigu’s Gift] and Viper. Dusk clung to a wall chirping as we slid down. He might have been thinking something clever, but it was blocked by [Power Armor].

I almost regretted saving the other Traveler. With just myself I could probably have survived or even made it back to the top. Even neater, I probably could have found Android Seven, [Blink]ed to him and then pulled him from whatever perch he hid at. Still, going back up would have been a death warrant because of all the remaining [Heavenly Body Clone]s.

More energy blasts poured in from above. They were growing increasingly accurate. I tilted my head back and managed to see a body up above, glowing with blue light. That must be where Android Seven was, hanging from the ceiling, trying to kill us and take the boss loot for his own.

We slipped even farther.

“Viper! Will you be okay?!”

I had no idea what he said. The man shook, another bolt of blue came down along with more [Heavenly Body Clone]s. The grip on my free arm vanished. [Morrigu’s Gift] slid again under the sudden change of pressure. [Power Armor] still weighed me down. Dusk’s anxious chirping, undead monsters’ fading barks as they fell, and a hum of energy as we descended were all magnified under [Awareness Heightening].

I let the [Power Armor] go and felt a wash of grossness as my clothes turned back into a gore-drenched toga. Vision tilted down as I tried to get a handle on how far we were from the bottom.

Dusk dove, and let out a fireball lighting up the path. It vanished like a penny down an endless well. It was far, far below. I looked back up and saw a fifth blast of blue.

“Voices above, I hope you’re enjoying yourselves,” I grumbled and tried again to halt my impending decent, but the weapon slipped.

Down I went. [Awareness Heightening] slowed time as I fell. My heartbeat was racing now, no longer a dull thud in the background. Moments like this were what nightmares were made of. Falling, dead bodies around me, death being rained from above. Dusk gave one chirp that was lost. I looked up and saw those two points of frozen starlight growing faint in the distance.

My body jerked and I had a small eternity where I expected pain to radiate from my legs upward. My arm jerked out of its socket and side slammed into a wall. Those parts of my body hurt and numbness shot down one leg as my kneecap jerked into something.

“I’ve got you,” Viper said. He repeated the words a few times as I looked around trying to find some place to [Blink] to safely. Gravity had driven the thought of trying a last minute change of direction out of my head. I ground my teeth and felt like a newbie, despite all that I had been given or trained for.

The ground was close enough to see. I [Blink]ed down and got onto hands and knees for a moment as my heartbeat settled. [Awareness Heightening] faded and the world once again had taken on its normal speed. My belly shook and quivered as I tried to push forward.

One foot at a time. Both legs slowly worked and I stood. My healthbar was under half. Mana barely existed. [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo] clattered on the floor nearby. I stumbled to pick up my weapons and felt better.

“Hermess? Are you ssound?” Viper said. He must have climbed down somehow. His words seemed off to me. I looked around and tried to figure out what had happened.

[Charge] lay there on the bottom floor. One arm reached out awkwardly as it tried to go for a debilitated [Heavenly Body Clone] that had fallen with us. Gouged out chunks of flesh littered its chest and face from my wild stabs. Multiple smaller monsters looked like broken pancakes. I felt only mildly surprised when all these creatures managed to move arms and fingers in twitches. This fight had gone on too long. The boss barked one last time before my weapons gouged through the creature’s eyes.

“Yes. I feel much better now,” I said, satisfied that this fight had gone a much different route from [Barricobbler]. This creature’s death was added proof of my recovery. Xin’s return only served as part of my improvement. My bravery and willingness to leap into combat and save someone, the abilities I had. I had changed. I was better. My eyes closed briefly and I dared to feel just a little bit of happiness.

Session Seventy Six - The Breach

Stabbing creatures was excruciating with one arm barely functional. I tried to use the trick Shazam had taught me to get an arm back into the socket. The failure cost me health each time. Try number three popped up a message as game mechanics resulted in success.

Rearming yourself the wrong way?

Total Health Remaining: 30%

“Nngh.” I grunted while flexing fingers slowly. [Morrigu’s Echo] would be easier to wield now. Shoving a blade into [Charge]’s eyeball with the limb out of joint had hurt intensely.

My monster ending spree didn’t stop with the boss. There were other [Heavenly Body Clone]s that were even now falling down. Some piled up together. Luckily [Undying] was subject to the whims of [Gravity]. Their bodies cast of a small amount of illumination, but most of it came from the now dead [Charge]. [Dipped in Starlight] allowed me to finish them off.

“Well,” Viper said dryly after a glance in my direction. “That’ss that. Now we have to esscape.”

“If you’re full of loot, we need to survive and get back topside,” I said and heaved an exhausted sigh.

There were items, but none of them looked interesting at this point. Continue Online didn’t really operate by a magic scroll dropping system so I couldn’t just dig through endless bodies and come up with a ring of stupidity plus seven. Viper seemed to have some system so I settled for re-deading these undead creatures.

“Hurry up,” I said after making sure two more [Heavenly Body Clone]s stopped moving. They were falling down and creating an ever heightening pile.

Briefly, my eyes trailed a path upward. Could we let them stack up and then walk back off the ledge? No, that would take thousands of monsters, plus risk our loot. The idea was proof of my exhaustion.

I waved at the system menu to pull up a clock. Nearly four AM, sunlight wouldn’t happen this early anyway. Four days in-game was twenty-four hours of awareness. I needed sleep, food, and sunlight.

“Almosst. All thiss is good for uss,” Viper said while gathering loot. “Pluss, now I know ssecretss to thiss dungeon.”

“Reckless disregard for personal safety?” I quipped before feeling flushed. Well-rested Grant would never say such a thing.

“Yess. And moving fasst. I’m ssure other convictss would pay me a hundred pointss at leasst.” He shrugged then moved to the giant pile of bodies that kept increasing.

Selling information about a dungeon wasn’t my style. My life was more about moving from one destination to the next. If Xin’s jailbreak didn’t happen, I could easily do boss runs instead. Maybe. This one would have been impossible to solo. We were lucky Dusk’s pest control served well as a third member.

Pinging the area showed Android Seven far above. Big-O’s group was nowhere near us. There were marks on the wall where the larger creature had clawed. Even this entire pit we sat in looked like it had been widened out at the base.

My foot tapped the ground. This flooring felt far sturdier than the dirt and rock walls. Was there a paneling here or something housed down below? Had [Charge] really liked to dig so much he hit a zone boundary for Continue Online?

[Morrigu’s Gift] stabbed at the hard surface a few times but the floor didn’t even scratch. This might be a mystery for another person with the luxury of time. I turned to Viper and said, “We need to go quickly before other players can respawn and get in our way.”

“I’m full on loot, forty-six cores, the essence stone is getting heavy too. Any more and movement will be difficult.” Viper nodded. I glanced over and saw him holding a little crystal near the dead bodies. Sparks of energy jumped between the deceased and his small item. I really didn’t live the life of a normal adventurer, so cores, essence stones, and dungeon crawling loot was beyond me.

I shook my head. There were boxes waiting for my attention telling me about our boss fight results. Based on battle contribution and the fact that the two of us were still alive, I had gained about two hundred points. The box got waved away.

Dusk crawled down a wall carefully. He snuck over to a crevice nearby. His face poked through and let out a happy murmur of noise before vanishing.

“Watch for Android Seven,” I said to Viper while pressing a hand to my head. [Dipped in Starlight]’s status message flickered while my body felt heated.

Dusk turned and squawked. I faded out briefly while staring at Viper. The man managed to look up while barely tilting his head. Eyes bugged out a little and Viper’s body bowed. Then he shook and returned to a normal posture.

I pretended not to have been staring, in hopes that [Act: Straight Face] might keep me from looking disturbed. The crevice pass way led to a steep ramp up. My ball of fire showed fairly solid walls, but our path was narrow. Dusk was small and wiggly enough to not be thwarted.

One arm felt distorted and kept getting stuck. Viper grumbled a bit. I tried to use [Blink] to get farther up the walkway. The system happily told me no.

Warning!

Self-preservation has disallowed this action. Further attempts to meld your arm with a wall will result in damage.

“So, what are you in prison for?” I asked Viper as we crept our way upward. Each step ached and my fingers were barely responsive.

“Bodyguard. A player bribed me with two hundred gold to let him in for a ssecret meeting. Then killed a persson. Who knew letting NPCss die had conssequencess?” Viper said from behind me. He moved slower than I. “Ended up with a thousand pointss to work off.”

That explained why he was fairly calm working with me. Bodyguards probably had all sorts of quests to interact with questionable people. It would only be a matter of doing the job and getting paid.

Our path kept going up. My ankles hurt. Knees buckled and my damaged arm failed to prevent a spill. Viper got caught in the slip as we dropped a dozen steps. He hissed at me but said nothing.

“Lucky.” I dusted off while trying to ignore the glowing white to my skin. [Dipped in Starlight] still flashed. Barks from half broken [Heavenly Body Clone]s were echoing far below us.

We traveled another twenty feet before Viper asked, “How many criminal pointss did you get sstuck with?”

“Seven thousand.” We were almost level with [Charge]’s floor. Our path tilted up unceasingly. I lifted the fireball and winced as my weight shifted. Light bounded up the hallway.

Viper hissed a low tone. He settled on saying, “That will take ssome time.”

“Maybe,” I said.

“Ah. It’ss time for my flight. The car iss here,” he said.

My upward climb halted. Turning to look at Viper didn’t reveal much in the way of expression. He never seemed to have much positive or negative tone. Everything felt almost passively ‘obsserved’. Even now he looked barely annoyed at the idea of leaving his character behind.

“I should take a break too. Have a safe flight.” I tried to sound professional and polite but couldn’t feel much of anything.

Continue Online’s reality disappeared as I logged out of the ARC. Dizziness hit as I stood. Lingering sensations from Hermes made walking hard. I inched toward the kitchen while clutching the wall. Everything in my two room home felt too open. Still, I might have claustrophobia by later today. Four mental days in a cave system couldn’t be helpful.

Food went down without thought about taste. Two glasses of water were gulped as I tried to focus. It was too early for coffee. Middle age ruined my ability to pull all night sessions.

Only one goal mattered right now, escaping with Viper and our points. An hour, maybe more of awareness would get me through. Afterward, I could give into the exhaustion threatening to drown my mind in unconsciousness.

I logged back in and felt immediately depressed. Our characters were standing in front of a dead end. My eyes closed briefly and time skipped. I was in no mood for such nonsense. Another message sat off to the side flashing for attention.

[Convict Brand: Docile Binding] activated!

This function of the [Convict Brand] will slowly reduce Traveler abilities and stats. Complete restriction of abilities will occur in twelve hours. Docile Binding can only be initiated through an approved user of the [Brand Anchor].

“Oh no.” I groaned. We had under two hours to make it to the surface. Would my abilities shut off as well? This was not neat at all! “Dusk? Can you be unsummoned or something?”

The little guy, who I still thought of as tiny despite his larger size, chirped a few times then did a circle. There was no message box above his head that might help.

Walls rattled. Dirt fell from above and crumbs got into my hair. Something could be heard digging at the wall nearby. My small [Messenger’s Pet] hissed in unison with Viper. Both were upset. Their echo made me turn around to stare at them.

I looked around then quickly pinged the area with [Sight of Mercari]. Players weren’t near us, so that left [Heavenly Body Clone]s trying to dig tunnels to us.

Dusk had fireballs. I had [Blink] and the sharpness of shape shifting objects. I was exhausted though. The disorientation of [Blink] and [Awareness Heightening] would probably make me pass out if used excessively. Sure they were overpowered, but only if I was rested in real life. Running this character now was like a high powered car in a drunk’s hands.

I took a breath and looked up. The ceiling was a mixed sort of dirt. The walls kept flaking off and scraping could be heard. Muffled barks of noise could be heard in the walls and behind us. If monsters could dig through to me, maybe we could mine a path out.

Both eyes closed as I pinged again. Wyl was close. Other players were too, probably brought back to base by the [Convict Brand]. At least six people had respawned recently, but the names didn’t line up.

“Dusk, can we, get back to Wyl from here?” Dusk knew who Wyl was. We had spent hours talking to the man during the William Carver era.

Dusk stared up at me with his head tilted. Tiny claws teared away at the wall. Dirt gathered behind us rapidly. I reformed [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo] into pickaxes and swung them. There was no finesse to my efforts. My actions might have been the flailing of a confused child. Still, [Brawn] and [Coordination] kept me moving forward through earthen walls.

“Why didn’t we do this before?” I asked.

The wall tore apart in chunks under our combined effort. Dusk squawked as larger pieces hit me, then he hissed with annoyance. I didn’t have the brainpower to do much besides keep swinging. Rocks echoed with noise.

My head felt heavy and breathing was a struggle. Maybe dizziness hit me from a lack of virtual oxygen. Our steep climb took a toll, such that even Viper lacked color. Or it was his autopilot being literally dull. I hammered away and tried not to grumble or huff. I couldn’t tell how much progress we were making without a ball of fire.

Walls below us crumbled. Hands from [Heavenly Body Clone]s could barely be seen wiggling through the dirt. Viper stabbed some of them. There were other noises in the distance. Sounds like power lines overcharging. A flash of blue poured into the monster’s freshly made hole, illuminating the darkness. Android Seven and his weird blue laser beams were completely insane. His dot sat at least three floors down. Fighting him again might be neat, from an objective standpoint, but deadly. The challenge of fighting another player didn’t outweigh survival.

Dusk and I needed to get Viper and his stock of loot to freedom. More chunks fell away while I grew dizzier. Exhaustion messages came up. Breathing came slower. Air felt heavy.

I swung again and prayed that we were getting closer. [Convict Brand: Docile Binding] drained me slowly. Physical abilities being constrained made it harder to swing. Dusk made more progress than me.

Monsters behind us had arrived in droves, tearing apart the wall and wading through our dirty leavings. Viper fought a few off. There would be no fighting them in my condition, not anymore.

Lifting chest muscles burned. [Morrigu’s Echo] went under my belt. Both hands gripped [Morrigu’s Gift] and swung. We lasted another four minutes while burying a pile of [Heavenly Body Clone]s behind us.

My vision blurred. Every swing required three hurried breaths. I felt sharp nails dig at my heel. Dusk chirped in urgency at his tunnel. I tried to bend and look but fell instead. Pain radiated up a captured leg.

There was a clear line of sight through to freedom. The narrow hole couldn’t be much larger than Dusk was. He had broken through though, three feet of dirt between us and the initial stairwell out.

“Shit.” I huffed and tried to understand while Viper’s autopilot hissed. “Viper, put your hand through! I’ll pull!” [Blink] went off and I appeared in the barely visible pathway. My head swam and heartbeat stuttered.

Hugged the wall wrong

Total Health Remaining: 25%

I got back down on my knees and saw fingers poking through the hole. Dusk was on the open side trying to dig our small escape way out. Starlight dripped from the walls in large quantities, bleeding around the hole my [Messenger’s Pet] made. I briefly wondered why we hadn’t dug through veins of liquid on the other side, but there was no time to figure out these mechanics. The [Abyss of Light] clearly had secrets.

[Brawn] was below half but that was more than enough. I got a firm grip on Viper’s arm then pulled. Dirt ground along smoothed features and the man’s health bar dropped. Shoulders looked disjointed but somehow he contorted into a thin shape. His face never looked more like a snake’s.

His autopilot hissed on the way through then stood and ran uphill. The face of a [Heavenly Body Clone] came through just behind him. I stabbed the monster with [Morrigu’s Gift], silencing its barks. [Dipped in Starlight] flashed again.

Viper shuffled ahead with one possibly broken leg. Dusk tossed a few balls of fire at the dirt, doing more harm to the dirt than my latest victim. I pinged the area again with [Sight of Mercari].

Big O and his trio were up with Wyl. Android Seven was behind us but getting closer. He had to be near the entry path. The Traveler would be in for a surprise upon seeing all these [Heavenly Body Clone]s. Electrical hums echoed down the hall.

Legs refused to run and my head dragged. Exhaustion pulled at me. I gave a halfhearted toss of [Morrigu’s Echo] into the latest creature chasing after us. It pierced through and distracted a train of monsters for a moment. I [Recall]ed then tossed my spear formed weapon again, and again. Five throws and [Morrigu’s Echo] no longer had enough durability to risk another [Recall].

We were so close to freedom. Liquid starlight faded in favor of actual sun. The dull scent of dirt and undead monsters mixed with flowers. I remembered that smell. Alyssum, tiny little flowers with a sweet fragrance. I got them for Xin all the time. That thought was delirium.

I stepped out of the dungeon and was blinded by the fresh light. An abrupt pressure on my hands resulted in my arms being locked in a restraining grasp. My body fell forward and Dusk made an odd noise. Both eyes closed and I almost dropped into unconsciousness.

Continue Online felt distant. The ARC connection dimmed as my awareness shut down. There were no boxes telling me we were in a safe zone for convicts though.

“What?” I mumbled.

“Two more. They don’t look like our man,” an unknown voice said. Strong arms lifted me from the ground. Viper had been cuffed and Dusk ran around anxiously. “One’s got a pet, tamer maybe.”

We came into the square where our caravan first set down. Four weird ox giraffes were dead. The guards who sat up top with arrows were no longer at their posts. A man nearby screamed and it felt like an alarm clock going off. I tried to wake up enough to give everything a good look.

[Arcadia] tilted sideways as I tried to reconcile everything. This was not neat. There were three players still alive. The guards who carried crossbows were dead and lying on the ground. People that didn’t belong to our convict caravan had Wyl and Knight Middleton hostage.

“Who’s this?” A huge man moved forward. Scars rippled across the figure’s body. “Another prisoner? Kill him and continue to wait for Android Seven.”

“Bounty can’t be worth all this, what, seven players, fifteen stupid NPCs?” one of the figures whispered.

I felt too Voices damned tired to deal with this. Virtual statistics couldn’t cure my physical exhaustion in reality. My mouth opened in a wide yawn. This jailbreak wasn’t even for me, based on the few lines of conversation so far.

“Android Seven is down below. If I lead you to him, can you let us go?” I said after a deep breath of fresh air. My own words came out as a slur. Nearly four game days and being awake for over thirty hours straight counted against me.

“He said something about finding our bounty,” the man holding me said.

“No need. These convict train gangs always work the same way. He’s bound to this place.” A large ogre of a man stepped over a dead body in our direction. “We can farm the whole lot of them for easy experience, take the loot, anything else of value. Kill him, kill the remaining guards, and Android Seven will come out eventually.”

Wyl looked upset. The Traveler holding Wyl had long pink hair. He swept to the side and brought up a glowing hand. I had to try to help but the world swam. My eyes settled on the broken pillar of light that the two guards had once stood in. Solid chunks sat on the ground. I tried to understand how light could turn solid, but maybe I had been mistaken the whole time.

Eyes closed once then opened slowly. [Blink] failed the three times in rapid succession. Boxes appeared. Neck muscles jerked while I tried to shake awareness into my head.

This just wasn’t my week. Luckily I could hear the solution coming in behind us. A body flashed into being as one of the other convicts resurrected. The timing worked out perfectly.

“Dusk!” I shouted. “Help Wyl!”

Dusk launched a ball of fire straight into the pink haired Traveler’s back. Health dropped and his hair caught on fire. The former guard captain looked surprised but fell forward with a skilled tumble. In the span of three seconds, Wyl had broken loose, stolen another Traveler’s sword, and proceeded to stab someone.

“Kill them all!” the giant Traveler said. Viper’s autopilot slipped an arm loose. I managed to initialize [Blink] on the fourth try.

Others moved and I could barely keep tabs on anyone. My normal skills at group dances plus Shazam’s training would have helped predict people’s movements, but sleepiness won. For now, I only need to get away from the dungeon doorway. Barks could clearly be heard.

Viper and I were magnets for monsters from the dungeon. I managed to get my two-handed [Morrigu’s Gift] out and swung at one of the Travelers. Big O was attacking someone while another random convict died. This madness would only get worse once the undead breeched.

“Wyl! Run!” The guard’s head snapped up with an awareness I couldn’t manage. “Follow Dusk!”

Wyl looked troubled and stared briefly toward another body. I followed his gaze while staggering under a heavy blow from the larger Traveler. Knight Middleton lay upon the ground, his health bar empty.

Heavy hammering hit my giant sword again. I grunted, then twisted my foot against the ground. The toga rippled and flexed. Metal clunked together quickly then a helmet slammed on with a clink. [Power Armor] was in place. The next attack dented my side but was too late for a gutting blow.

Barks came forth from the [Abyss of Light]’s doorway. Everyone turned in unison to look at the monsters pouring out. A small wave of legless [Heavenly Body Clone]s came first. One player stood his ground and hacked away.

Then the [Undying] versions arrived. Small spiders scuttled along the doorway followed by undead [Coo-Coo Rill]s. I could hear the [Messenger’s Pet] happy chirp which made me shout orders.

“Viper! Dump the bodies or we’re all dead! Dusk, no cupcakes if you get distracted!” I yelled. Speaking through exhaustion made me feel barky myself. All those monsters pouring out had parts of my mind reacting but awareness itself seemed distant. Being slammed by a blade while in a tin suit didn’t help.

“Oh don’t worry!” another voice yelled from the crowd of emerging bodies. “I don’t take kindly to people hunting me down! You can all just die! And I’ll be taking those bodies too!”

Android Seven stood in the doorway with an army of undead flowing around him. His arm held up charging another bolt of blue. It was aimed in my direction. For a moment, I stared at the blue light and contemplated checking out completely from Continue for the night.

Reduced stats, sleepiness, low health. I couldn’t sit around here and deal with brawling nonsense. My teammate’s autopilot put bodies in a pile adding to the chaos. Another respawning Traveler appeared with a flash of light and promptly screamed like a girl seeing two rotting ponies humping each other.

[Blink] failed again and I was left stumbling to the right. Blue energy flashed across then slammed into the brute who had been pounding on my two-handed [Morrigu’s Gift]. A woman stood on top of the wooden barricade that a crossbowman had been using prior. She looked to be reading a scroll while facing Wyl.

I ran toward her. [Morrigu’s Echo] didn’t have enough durability for a [Recall]. [Blink] triggered on the third attempt and a full blown headache started as my body tumbled into the female. Messages flashed across and I waved them away while readying my blade.

Armor clinked as I rolled to my feet. My character’s stats were almost back to day one level, but I could still right myself. Each step forward must have been terrifying to her. This [Power Armor] should be littered with glowing blood from [Heavenly Body Clone]s. My two-handed sword sat comfortably in one hand implying a level of [Brawn] that I didn’t have right now. All the unbloodied portions of gear were nearly black.

“Not me! Don’t kill me!” the woman shouted while throwing up her hands. “I was just paid to break the pillar!”

“You tried to kill my friend,” I mumbled at her. Wyl was an NPC, they didn’t grow on trees or respawn instantly. They weren’t like monsters from some vague dungeon. When it came down to player versus digital comrade, one of them would survive a deathblow.

Barks overpowered the area. I stomped forward. Wood creaked beneath my feet. People nearby screamed as convicts and free Travelers alike were overrun.

“It’s just a job! They haven’t even paid me my share of the money yet!” She kicked away from me. Her weapon fell over the edge.

“Don’t think of this as me killing you, think of it as me speeding up your trip back to town,” I said while bringing down [Morrigu’s Gift].

Her eyes went lifeless as the blade slid through her chest. I felt sick. Breath shortened to heaving gasps while I tried to remember she had been part of the group intent upon killing us. I really didn’t enjoy being around other players anymore. They made me do things like murder them.

Viper was shuffling after Wyl. Both of them looked to be worse off than I was, which was impressive. I heaved another breath to steady myself against exhaustion. [Blink] went off and this time I managed to stay on my feet.

Viper’s autopilot halted in front of me. I tried to talk but was drowned out. Noises were overpowering the yells of players. Sizzles, blue beams, and earth rumbling filled in the silence between barks.

“Viper, you’re a bodyguard, and I’ll pay you all the gold I have to get Wyl back to Haven Valley,” I repeated myself a few times.

“I don’t trusst you to pay,” he uttered the line.

“I saved your life, you saved mine. Trust me. I’ll pay for my friend.” My unprofessional glare was covered by the [Power Armor] helmet. Shaking my head was tough and movements were restricted by the metal.

“What?”

“I can promise you the answer to one question, your choice, anything in the game.” To be accurate, James would tell me and I would pass it on. “But I won’t tell you if Wyl dies.”

“I do like ssecretss.” Viper’s autopilot hissed. “Deal, for now, Hermess.”

I nodded, then turned toward the oncoming horde of monsters. This [Dipped in Starlight] had to go. Without the dead bodies and me as a lure, those monsters would eventually crawl back below. Hopefully.

“Carver!” Wyl yelled behind me. “Is that you?!”

“Not exactly,” I said, feeling slightly more energetic. There were far worse people to be called. “But I learned from the best!”

Wyl’s expression couldn’t be seen. Dusk was chirping in the distance. Those damned [Heavenly Body Clone]s were barking in an unending flood. Some were held up by the pile of dead bodies Viper dropped off. The rest were locked in on me, a man stupid enough to hang around while being [Dipped in Starlight].

The sword came up. WWCD? William Carver would happily go down swinging, and so would I. Still, after this week, I almost welcomed the release that dying might give me. Not literally, but the game had taken a toll on me. Why then, did charging those monsters in a reckless kamikaze of sleepiness feel so good?

Session Seventy Seven - When the Sun Goes Down

Death came upon swift wings and with it the silence of dreamless slumber. Sometime later morning arrived, trumpeted by a startling ringtone. My hands didn’t even move in a tempo with the pop song from twenty years ago.

I groaned and tried to focus on the caller ID window floating nearby. Part of me knew because of the ringtone. Sure enough, my sister’s tired face sat on the preview. Her cheeks bloated out like a pufferfish.

“Liz?” I mumbled. My throat felt dry. “What, what time is it?”

My ARC happily provided numbers off to the side which I couldn’t read. Liz’s words were lost.

“Grant!” Liz shouted. “Wake up!”

“Liz? What time is it?” I repeated as the world recovered from being shut down. It was like an ARC going out of service, only my brain had done it instead.

“Mom’s having a bad day, can you cover for me? I have to show up at work today, and… you look like shit. God dammit, what is with this family?”

I waved at the screen and tried to speak but words were difficult. “I played online too long.”

“You sure, it’s not that, other thing?” Liz’s voice turned low like we were in a conspiracy drama.

“No, it was a dungeon.” It was only four days in a game world running from zombies in dimly lit hallways while they tried to eat my flesh. “I’ll take today off and go visit mom, but I need sleep too.”

“So? Get in the van, and come watch mom. You can sleep on the way,” my slightly older twin sister suggested.

True to form, I listened to her. Not because she was bossy, Liz was, but for the simple fact that mom might be in a bad spot. No matter how much the NPCs mattered, or Xin’s existence, the video game side of Continue Online couldn’t overrule reality. I wasn’t a teenager anymore, loot and skill grinding didn’t mean more than my only remaining parent.

One hand scratched at various sleepy itches. I fumbled around trying to find clothes to wear. I found myself falling through the van door to my chair and trying to press buttons. Dry mouth suggested that a cup of coffee might have been helpful.

“User Legate?” the machine’s sudden words barely made me jump. One hand twitched for a weapon that reality didn’t have. “You seem to be at lower than recommended performance levels. Please consider taking the day off.”

“Not work. Going to my mom’s. Probably sleep,” I mumbled at the AI.

“Ah. It is our recommendation that you choose to complete a rest cycle,” Hal pal responded.

“I agree,” I said with a slow series of blinks. The real world outside my Trillium van looked damned bright. Days inside that dark starlight [Abyss of Light] had warped my standards.

“User Legate, we note a level of physical distress and will adjust the lighting accordingly,” my friend said.

“Thank you,” I all but drooled the words. Three hours, that’s all the actual sleep I had gotten.

Once the windshield’s opacity turned down the world felt much better. Yet again modern technology helped me survive. I shuddered to imagine a world where cars needed to be driven manually or people had to wait in long lines for breakfast.

“Bring Viper, please.” I couldn’t properly articulate my thought. The mumbled words were followed by a long blink. This chair really was quite comfortable.

“One moment. Accessing Continue Online avatars for relation to Hermes’ character,” Hal Pal spoke and the drone was lost under the sound of our van wheels. “Possible match found, Ultimate Edition User John Messier, Avatar Viper.”

“Ultimate Edition?” They were supposedly super rare. My addled brain tried to run through the calculations on how likely meeting another Ultimate Edition user was but failed.

“Affirmative. User Legate has encountered three other Ultimate Edition users in his travels.”

“Who else?” I couldn’t even lift my head to look at the AI.

“Your current administrative rights include John Messier, Lia Kingsly, and Alfonse Stone,” Hal Pal said from behind me. “All three are Ultimate Edition users according to their profiles.”

“Alfonse Stone?” That name sounded familiar but I was too muddled to figure it out. “Have I met them?”

“Not directly. Alfonse Stone is a founding partner of the Stone Firm, where Stan Middlemire works. You may remember his character, Frankenstein?”

“Oh.” I did remember him. The man had an odd fascination with dead bodies of all types. Not necrophilia that I could tell, but certainly piecing together animals. “Freakinstain’s boss?” I slipped into Requiem Mass’ nickname for Stan.

I should have said hello to the guy more. He seemed jumpy in real life. The only impression really left was a stuttering man who was more comfortable with automatons of various types than people. Maybe in that regard, we weren’t as different.

“Show me John, Viper, first.”

“One moment, User Legate,” Hal Pal responded.

He looked ragged and the player’s chest lifted with exaggerated breaths. Darkness littered the world of Continue Online. Viper’s character sat across a small bonfire staring at Wyl. The two of them were in an odd standoff. Autopilot convict and Traveler versus former guard captain and Local.

The guard captain looked wounded. He moved arms in a well-practiced circle around his uncovered torso. There looked to be a nasty gash on his stomach that had likely come from another Traveler during the escape. Wyl said something but it was inaudible.

“Sound?” I asked Hal Pal.

“One moment,” the machine repeated.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” Wyl said while winding the bandage around. “But why should you? You’re not even there right now. You damn Travelers and your puppet spirits.”

Viper stared across the fire. He looked beat up but made no move to clean himself up or address any wounds. The autopilot was content to bleed all over the gear provided by King Nero’s little box during our first day. Mine had mostly been replaced by [Bound] gear.

“Tell me how long you’ve known Hermes,” the guard captain ordered.

The slit-eyed Traveler ignored Wyl’s demand while looking around for signs of danger. His gaze shifted slowly between trees and bushes nearby. Their firepit of a camp seemed hidden enough to me, but I used to have gear and items to help with [Wilderness Survival].

“Tell me how you received Nyassa’s blessing.” Wyl cinched the last piece of his bandage in place then tossed the remaining roll over to Viper’s autopilot. Fire sputtered between them as the bodyguard bound his own wounds.

The partial snake didn’t answer Wyl.

“Of course not. You Travelers, it’s hard to pry anything out of most of you. Then there are the ones that never shut up.” Wyl grunted while trying to wiggle into a tight chest piece.

Viper remained quiet.

“First Traveler I ever met, a man by the name of William Carver, he was a great person. Always willing to help, never asked for repayment. Just charged into danger on the behalf of good and decent folk.” The guard captain put out his hands toward the flame and winced.

Viper still said nothing.

“You know that man you were with, reminded me of old Will. I thought maybe they were related. Maybe that son he always talked about.”

Still nothing. Most autopilots rarely held a conversation outside of one-liners. William Carver’s autopilot had been one of the most advanced, next to Xin. If I considered it, she was basically nothing more than a series of memories compiled together.

Then again, what were any of us besides a series of moments stacking on top of each other? I wondered briefly if Mother had built in a blur for interpretation and erroneous recollections of the past. Were machine AIs like James, Mezo, or Ray born with perfect memories?

Viper and Wyl were alive at least. That was something. Time skipped shortly as the playback resynchronized with current events. Wyl stood in fast forward and a splint under his leg became more obvious. The man had broken or sprained a limb.

“Why help me, Viper?” Wyl asked the autopilot after limping around the firepit.

“I wass hired to keep you ssafe.” The autopilot hissed a simple sentence.

Wyl didn’t say thanks. His eyes narrowed in suspicion and he glanced back toward the east. I tried to figure out which way they had run from the video playback angle but failed. Hopefully getting to Wyl, much less not dying upon respawn, would be simple enough.

Voices help me if all those players were still resurrecting and fighting each other. What exactly happened to a convict caravan if it fell apart? NPCs wouldn’t magically appear to control everything. Maybe King Nero would run a dispatch.

“Show, Mister Stone, please,” I said to Hal Pal. Calling him Alfonse felt weird.

Viper’s image shut down while a new one came into being. I blinked at the difference in brightness.

A Traveler sat under three lamps. They hung overhead with crystalline strings dangling between them. The table and book shelves around were no less opulent. Rolls of parchment were carefully stored in multiple racks.

He held a long quill in one hand and appeared more interested in the feather tip than any boxes. Despite apparent disregard, his ink never smudged nor did anything go outside the line. Not one stray drop came from the inkwell nearby. Even from this remote viewing, it was hard to miss the mechanical neatness.

“Form seventeen oh nine. Completed, in triplicate,” his suave voice said. The man appeared immaculate as always. Last time I had seen him my face was shoved into a king’s flooring. He picked up the form and aired it out, helping the ink dry.

“Excellent. You are efficient for a Traveler, Mister Stone.” Another man stood in the room. In his hands was a clipboard. This person had to be the beanpole who jotted down notes for King Nero.

“I have always prided myself on my ability to navigate legal paperwork, a matter of job security you understand.”

They shared a look that implied brief amusement. I weakly snickered, having received confirmation that bureaucracy had been designed as a deliberate headache. Dad was right. He had been right.

I felt tired again. My brain wanted to shut down rather than deal with the impending parental conversation. Last weekend passed easily enough given the suddenness. That ease of handling my father’s death could most likely be attributed to everyone else being in shock.

“Of course though, to be honest, I never understood the need to have three copies of everything,” the seneschal said.

“The original practice was to have backup copies filed in various locations.” Mister Stone straightened his cuffs then worked on another stack of papers. He made short notations along the border. “A matter of keeping the paperwork safe from those who might wish to tamper with it.”

“Where could we store them? There’s hardly enough room, last week some Travelers, Voices let it have been Travelers, burned down two storerooms. In addition to the wars and strife caused by your”—the man who had been holding a clipboard during my trial paused with his mouth hanging open—“pardon my poor manners.”

“It’s alright.” The man sighed and set about writing carefully on another form. “I often stand there, defending their actions and wondering if it’s the right thing to do.”

Their conversation paused for a moment and the ARC playback sped up to skip a moment of nothing. I watched as they bobbled in place before slowing down into speech. The other man’s face pinched slightly around the eyes.

“It’s interesting. In my world, most cases are easily solved. Everything is watched and monitored. Whereas here, crime is harder to pinpoint.”

“It must be difficult for you, Mister Stone,” he said.

“Often all I can do is ensure no one person is targeted. Punishment must be consistent with the crime.” Mister Stone set his latest paper off to the side to dry then moved onto another sheet.

The thinner man looked down and scanned over the pages being notated. Lips pursed together in thought before picking up various sheets and putting them on his clipboard. Mister Stone took no note and sat in his chair, continuing to pen away.

“My cousin, a knight who works on the Reparation Caravans, believes that Travelers are beyond redemption,” the standing man said.

“Not all, their, our nature makes it difficult to punish, but most here are simply unintentionally reckless. We need to simply figure out a better means of keeping them from overrunning everyone else as they go about your world.” Another piece of paper slid to the left as Mister Stone worked through.

I tried to focus on what was being written. There were a few sheets about passports or taxation of people arriving at the kingdom. Other sheets implied members or groups of Travelers working on formal recognition by the kingdom. The few words that were visible implied a guild creation of sorts.

Apparently the clipboard carrying man saw the same theme of paperwork as well. He asked, “Have you heard, about this alliance of Travelers trying to undermine King Nero? Do you ever worry that you might be approving criminals with these forms?”

Mister Stone, since he seemed to go by his last name in the game, put up a finger and hushed the clipboard-toting Local. Footsteps could be heard padding in a brisk walk. A third male burst into the room. This person looked much younger and was difficult to clearly see from the displayed angle.

“Sirs,” he said to them with a voice broken by hormones. “Sir Stone. We received word about that Caravan you were following.”

“What is it?” the clipboard carrying man said.

“Well, Sir Seinfeld. I’m sorry, Sir Stone.” The poor kid looked confused on who to address. His entire body alternated between the men. “Sirs, I’m sorry.”

“What is it?” they said at roughly the same time.

The young boy’s mouth gulped for air briefly before answering. “The guards escorting them seem to be dead, sirs,” he stuttered.

“All of them?” Mister Stone while the other man stared toward his clipboard. I felt sorry for the NPC. Answers were rarely ever found in clipboards.

“Except one,” the young boy said. I looked at him a bit harder and noticed an almost casually sewn piece of clothing. It looked like a pillow case with the royal crest woven in.

I could see hope light up in King Nero’s seneschal. He stepped toward the page and asked, “Who is it?”

“Sir. Guard Captain Wyl Cannikin,” responded the youngest male.

“Oh.” The king’s note taker deflated.

Only Mister Stone remained unphased. The Traveler drained the quill tip and set it beside an inkwell. His latest paper slid away, carefully avoiding smudges with the former two sheets. Finally, he looked toward the page boy.

“Can we get anyone to him? What of the convicts under their care?” Mister Stone asked.

“I’ve been told to tell you, sirs. Their tethers are loosened, sir, sirs. Sorry.” The lad gulped for air again then managed to stutter through the rest of his report. “The stone that bound them is broken. We’ve lost them, sir.”

“How many?” Mister Stone asked.

“Fifteen, sir.” the page responded while trying to turn whiter than before. By some strange feat, he succeeded, before gulping one last time then running off.

I tried to keep watching but my eyelids were heavy. The sound of players panicking soon vanished under the weight of missed sleep.

A few hours later I made it to my mom’s. Liz thanked me by running out the door and screaming about how late she was. I waved absently as my twin got into her car and vanished into the distance.

The front door stood wide open and I walked inside, followed by the Hal Pal unit. There was no good reason for it to be here, but the AI’s presence helped me feel better.

My mom, Sharee, stood in her front room looking a bit lost. She was taller than us twins. For a moment, I felt jealous at having never reached such a height, but perhaps that worked in my favor. Xin’s stature was nearly a head lower than mine, anything more would have been awkward.

The house looked like a small disaster area. Not torn up or objects thrown, but a lack of tidying for this week. Had Liz done this? Or maybe my sister didn’t even notice in her eagerness to hand over the support role. Maybe my twin had a date.

“Hal, can you help clean?” I said while walking over to Sharee.

“Of course, User Legate. We are here to assist you.”

Mom kicked into gear and grabbed objects from the nearby tables. “I don’t want a machine helping me,” Sharee said grabbing a fourth glass before heading to the kitchen.

“Don’t worry, Mom, he’s helping me. I’m going to do the cleaning.”

“Your asshole of a father expects me to keep this house clean, and by god I’m not letting a machine do my work for me,” she insisted.

“Today, Mom, you should.” I held myself back from outright declaring a dead man should have no sway over her cleaning habits. “We’ll clean a bit, I’ll look over the bills again, and you should take a shower. It will help you feel better.” Telling my own mother what to do felt like a crime against nature.

“When did you grow up to be so capable?” Her head jostled again. “I think I will take a shower. It sounds delightful.”

Hal Pal and I went through the rooms. There were papers lying about that I gathered up for sorting. The machine AI focused on simple tasks like dishes, gathering clothing in one spot, or vacuuming.

Mom took a long time. I slowly sifted through the papers left behind and marveled at anyone preferring hard copies when an abundance of information was digital. I noted all the companies she could save a few cents on by simply switching to electronic billing. Plus managing their finances would be easier.

I worked with old software on my wrist watch to start making notes. Budgeting like this would be simple enough, and mom’s finances would be a complete mess in another month if someone didn’t take care of it.

Crunching numbers made me oddly happy. There were moments where my face clouded, mostly seeing dad’s name on a bill, but overall I felt happy to be sorting anything out. Maybe Mister Stone felt the same way working on legal papers.

Almost two hours later I turned around to see my mom. She stood there in the front room looking slack-jawed at the cleaned house. She had done herself up for a night out. A nice dress that hung a bit loose, earrings which were shined, and makeup highlighting her cheeks. Today was Friday, and my parents normally went out on Fridays. I chewed my lip as her expression faltered.

“I did it again,” Sharee said.

Mom collapsed on the couch’s armrest. The pile of papers got gathered up and put to one side as I walked into the front room.

“It’s okay, Mom,” I said gently.

“Yesterday I set the table for two, before it hit me.” She sniffed. “Imagine that. Halfway through dinner, silly old me, forgot I don’t need to make quite as much spaghetti.”

“I understand.”

“I kept going, you know? After thirty-five years I couldn’t, I had to finish setting the table. It’s what he expected.”

She looked terrible. My head tilted down in thought. The tribulations of Xin’s death had torn me down on many levels, and now a family member faced the same problems.

“It’s the first few months. They’re the worst of it,” I said. For me, it had been drinking. Work performance went downhill until they eventually let me go, not fired, given a severance package as a token of esteem for a decade of great performance.

Mom just nodded. Her eyes stared off into a memory that might gradually fade. I knew those moments well.

“I used to wake up, and prepare the house for Xin’s return home Friday night. I, uhh, I wanted the weekends to be ours. No cleaning, nothing to do but spend time together. One day, after-“ after some extremely heavy drinking, “-well, one day I didn’t remember to get the house cleaned, and I lost it.”

“Your father used to get so mad if things sat on the ground,” Mom said.

“I remember.” Dad used to throw toys into the garbage if he ran across them multiple times. We sat in silence for a moment before mom spoke up again.

“I’m sorry, sweetie, what were you saying?” She said while chewing a lip. The action made me smile, that’s where Liz and I had gotten it from.

I scratched my head and took a breath to start over.

“I just wanted to say that I understand what it’s like, to lose someone who was central to everything in your life. I wish I could say that one day you wake up and it will never hurt again.”

“I’m not some child, you forget who wiped your behind when you were tiny.”

My lip hurt from where teeth dug into the sides. My brain felt overloaded with work and empty on energy. “After Xin, I tried to kill myself, twice,” I admitted.

“Oh Jesus, Grant, why…” her face grew flustered. The tall woman walked over to try to give me a hug but I put up my hands.

“I’m not”—I took a shuddering breath—“I’m trying to say that it hurts and that I understand. There were a lot of days where I felt lost or without purpose. But it does get easier, Mom, eventually. It’s, uhh, the first few months that are the hardest,” I repeated lamely.

Sharee nodded once then hugged me despite my protest. Her body felt like a tightly controlled bundle of tense muscle. I held on and tried to remember the last time I had embraced anyone in real life, much less one of my parents.

“I’m not so helpless as to fall apart you know. I just need time to get used to it,” she said.

“I know. You’ll do…“ I took another breath, switching my sentence to something less self-pitying. “We’ll be here to help, Mom. Liz, Beth and I.”

We twins were never really close to our parents, especially not after moving out. I had Xin, and Liz had Beth. Mom, well from my point of view she had no one. Not anymore. Maybe Sharee had a social life out there, tons of friends who all got together and played first person shooters or hung out in virtual space.

That didn’t mean I would let her consider my solution to emotional pain. Sharee might profess to be strong, but this sort of loss was a trial no one escaped from unscathed.

I stayed over at my parents’ house and gave in to sleep. Sharee had been in her room for the last hour. The sound of old fashioned pencil lead could be heard against dry paper as she wrote. I felt ten again, expecting my dad to come in the door and punish me for unintended misbehavior at school. Only I was no longer a child, and he never would again.

I had learned, after Xin’s passing, to let myself cry. Not a lot, but enough for the world to blur. My watch lit up with an incoming call and I pressed the answer button without looking.

Xin’s face appeared nearby. I tucked in with a blanket provided by mom and smiled at her.

“Hi, babe, I was just thinking about you,” I said to the virtual reconstruction of Xin. My fingertips reached to try to touch the small projection but fell.

“Where are you?” Her forehead wrinkled briefly.

“Sharee’s, on the downstairs couch.”

“Is that the same one we…” Xin hinted about an event from a decade ago, involving Christmas, a bottle of wine, and her initial acceptance into the Mars Colony program.

“Shh!” Mom’s upstairs.”

Xin quietly giggled as her eyes lit up. My resulting grin felt like a breath of fresh air after talking with mom. Maybe that was why I admitted my past brushes with death to Sharee, I had loved and lost, then found again. Sadly, as I had told Liz before, my father would never be able to return like Xin had. I wasn’t sure anyone could.

We talked into the night about nothing at all.

Interlude - Mortal Instruments

Victim Update: Xin Yu

Location: The Shadow Zone

In Her Words: I wanted an engineer Path. I wanted bullets and machine gun turrets. All those years studying hydroponics, low gravity movement, crisis management, driving the land rovers. This is a fantasy world, so certain concessions were asked of me in order to play.

It’s okay though. I kind of like this new gear plus the Voices let me use stats based on my past simulations. It only took forever.

Gee will probably be surprised though. Do you think he’ll like this look? I’m not sure about the makeup, it looks over the top. Though I feel delightfully wicked, and need a tailor. Still, the points will help with the rules of this game, world, place. Especially in light of what’s to come.

How can something so serious feel so fun?

Four Travelers stood in-game, meeting together for the first time in weeks. Each one comprised of a different color scheme. Their choice of location looked like a giant cave, only the roof was made of dim stars.

They gathered at a large table working on various tasks. Shadow poked objects around in a bored fashion. There were purple pieces representing members of the League of Shadows. Each one a Traveler named something related to darkness. All of them thought they were rogues, or assassins, thieves, bards, or other such sneaky classes.

“Can’t believe you got a safe house like this.” HotPants ground the staff she loved into the dirt slowly. Its twisting motion kept her calm. The woman wore mostly flame red items despite not being a natural redhead in real life. Not once had she mentioned her real name to any of other players.

Maybe it was the price of being the oldest. HotPants looked to be a fit thirty-five, with a teenage son who also played Continue Online. Her being among this group felt like playing with children.

“It’s the Shadow Zone. I won it after beating the old Guild Leader,” Shadow said with a rough voice. He wore dark blues and blacks. Weapons were tucked away along with powders and potions made by Awesome Jr., one of the other party members.

“That name is so stupid.” HotPants snorted.

“The Shadow Zone!” Awesome Jr. shook his hands toward the sky while calling out. His latest chemical concoction bubbled inside temporarily abandoned beakers. “How awe-“

“Awesome,” the other three cut off an overexcited teenager.

The Shadow Zone was a pocket realm that players with access stones could visit. It was oddly convenient that only four such items had been found. Enough for all of them to recall back to when not in combat or a dungeon. Gaining this base had to be one of the most awesome things to happen so far.

“Well, it is.” Awesome Jr. pulled his green cloak close and tried to look seriously upset. The image failed as chemicals popped in their glass containers. His mouth opened wide and hands fumbled for two vials to recover the science experiment.

SweetPea, the shyest member of their quartet, sat close to Awesome Jr. Her hands were busy stitching together a shirt very carefully. Long hair draped in front of the young woman’s eyes. She frequently blew at it trying to get a better view of the product in her hands. Awesome Jr. had set at least three hairbands in front of her but she took no notice.

In the past few months, they had played a lot of Continue Online together, finding their group makeup to be relatively solid. HotPants got to be their front line warrior and smashed things. Shadow really was an assassin, with the skills and Path rankings to prove it. Awesome Jr. served as a general strategist but never really reached team captain, instead focusing on ways to improve the others’ skills with potions or other mixtures. SweetPea enjoyed healing and making clothes.

“Here’s the campaign so far.” Shadow motioned to the table. Behind him, the edges of the shadow zone could be seen. Six doorways went off toward points around [Arcadia]. There was a seventh doorway that none of the players had discovered yet, and maybe never would. Its destination would remain unknown.

“Escape routes were set up in Lithonia, and Scarlet Hills. They should lead right down into the main path.” HotPants pointed. Her face curled up in annoyance as one of the purple statues faded away.

“ShadowXO, and TwilightAssassin. They reported back as successful, but were trying to clear some of the bandits,” Shadow said and sighed. Even the downward tilt to his voice sounded abnormally gruff.

Awesome Jr. put away his bubble brews into player inventory. A small pot came out next, which appeared to be bouncing on its own. He peeked under the lid and everyone’s noses wrinkled. SweetPea actually took two steps back, pulled the knitted cap off then covered her mouth with it.

“Would you believe we’re not the only players trying to do this?” Awesome Jr. said, oblivious to the others’ reactions. “There’s been an entire rash of quests handed out. I don’t think many people have connected the dots.”

“We haven’t even connected the dots.” HotPants’ normal red motif had been tainted by barf green the color of Awesome Jr.’s cloak.

“Right, my dad’s clueless. His entire guild doesn’t even know, but I visited last week to listen and people are starting to at least mention it,” the young alchemist said, then put away his pot of nasty smelling goo.

SweetPea resumed her position then said, “One of my friends at school mentioned it.”

“Bah. So the stupid computers got an event going.” HotPants lifted the staff then set it back down. “Games do that sort of stuff, right?”

“Whatever this is, it’s big.” Awesome Jr. scooted over to the table and looked at their map. Many players would have easily killed for so much detail, yet it fell right into the quartet’s lap. “With the routes we’ve opened, and the assassinations of filthy NPCs, it’s like the game is culling anyone who might be getting in the way.”

“The way of what?”

“A migration? An exodus?” Awesome Jr. ran a finger across one of [Arcadia]‘s main thoroughfares. Most of their quests had been clearing routes along those lines. Almost like making streams, dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands. Preparing to all trickle to a focal point. “I don’t know for sure.”

The shy girl paused in her stitching to look at Awesome Jr. They were dating in real life and had talked about this subject more than once. Their conversations were done with hushed tones. Everything pointed back to [Haven Valley], and no one knew why.

“What about that Hermes guy,” HotPants asked. “He seemed in the know.”

“We haven’t been able to reach him for nearly two weeks now. He’s apparently restricted, so in a war, or a prisoner?” Awesome Jr. sighed. His dad might have been able to figure out. The man had been a guild leader organizing large-scale raids for two years of real world time. Not to mention a few decades of experience in other games.

“Do you think he might know?” Shadow asked in a hushed tone.

No one had an answer. Their eyes studied the board as if clues might be hidden. Awesome Jr. lowered his head and glared from a different angle, but the change of view brought no answers.

One more piece crumpled, and Shadow sighed. “Shadow number seventeen. Idiot, couldn’t even sneak properly.”

The gathering point rocked once. Shadows at the cavern’s edge swirled. Dim points of light along the ceiling brightened then faded once more. It rocked again as if some huge monster was knocking on one of the doorways. Pieces were sent flying from the campaign map. SweetPea cried out after poking her thumb with a needle.

A doorway burst open. Its innocent wooden framing flew across the room. Smoke surrounding a figure that spent the first few seconds of their invasion coughing wildly. The seventh door, which no one knew about, remained closed.

In her hands was a large blackened staff taller by far than she was. A long cobra coiled up the side with its hood flared at the top. A normal person might have been surprised, upset, or even slightly aggressive. This woman was none of those things. Instead, she looked pleased.

The tiny Asian woman said, “I’ve never broken into another dimension before. That was neat.”

“Who are you?” Shadow leapt over to fight off the intruder. This home had been hard won a month ago. Losing it now would be like having a favorite toy taken away.

Three giant skeletons stepped in behind her. One lifted a white blade into the assassin’s way. The others rapidly formed a barricade while readying odd bone weapons.

“Hecate, or Xin.” The woman grew a bit stern upon seeing all the people in this room. These four were all nearly strangers to her.

“Why are you here?” Shadow engaged his [Cloak of Darkness] skill and prepared to move behind her. HotPants walked over slowly. Her hair burned a deep red.

“You were talking about my fiancé, and I hoped you might help me launch a rescue operation,” she said curtly.

Awesome Jr. put up a hand to hold the others back. “Huh?” he said.

“Hermes?” SweetPea caught on a bit quicker.

“He’s got a girl like her?” Shadow came out of his [Cloak of Darkness] standing next to Awesome Jr. They had learned to trust Awesome Jr.’s judgment, even if he was easily distracted.

“Look at her, she’s a Local, not a Traveler.” HotPants snorted. “Who would hook up with a machine?” The words lacked conviction though. HotPants had eyed more than a few NPCs during their travels. Some were very well-designed.

Something about the comment made their newest visitor give a small smile. Her eyes wavered for a moment with unspoken sadness, her head cast down and the skeletons stepped back.

“Yes, Hermes. My Gee.” She swallowed and looked very tiny next to the hulking skeletons. Her staff didn’t help. Even the clothes hung loose. SweetPea wiggled her nose and tried to figure out if they could be sewn into a better shape.

“Will you help me?” Xin, or Hecate, said. Shadow blinked a few times and tried to understand why Awesome Jr. had held them back. His mind kept getting stuck on the fact that a Local had two names.

Like a Traveler might.

The quartet looked up in unison as a quest box appeared. The contents were theirs to read. Xin almost smiled as their jaws dropped.

“Awesome,” Awesome Jr. said without interruption.

Victim Update: Miz Riley

Location: Trillium Headquarters

In Her Words: There isn’t enough time to write down even an iota of the nonsense I have dealt with. We’re busy developing projects for gene therapy using ARC feedback and stimulant pools. We’ve got contracts for moving all future wars to a virtual platform.

The legal headaches alone from these things are more than you can possibly understand in a few brief paragraphs. The East Asian countries have outright rejected this proposal despite their decimated population. You would think that after being beaten soundly in a war, they might want to let their people repopulate.

Then there are the cryogenic contracts, trying to use our ARC technology to take people’s minds offline while their bodies are suspended. The technology is another twenty years out a best.

In the end, I have to make sure one project doesn’t step beyond its bounds. I will not be responsible for some fictional doomsday theatrics.

Money and power mean nothing if I let the world burn down on my watch.

Miz Riley was in the process of charging to the elevator bank. In her hands was a stack of printouts. She detested the waste of paper, it wasn’t green. Still, keeping them printed prevented digital tampering from a certain source with far too much reach.

Why had the board said yes? Those doddering old fools were so enamored with the idea and the money virtual reality might bring that they never explored the consequences of AIs. Miz Riley had, the woman first suspected after being tipped off by a manager that got fired three weeks later.

Why had that blasted machine let her stay in charge? Where was the President in all this? Regardless of all those outstanding questions, she knew that now was the time to take action. After a massage, spa treatment, and ten minutes of hypnosis induced relaxation to stabilize her.

The elevator moved agonizingly slow. Miz Riley counted the seconds wasted then prepared her sternest face.

“Nona!” Miz Riley shouted holding up her stack of papers in accusation.

Nona Kingsley, the only woman left from the original project, jerked abruptly. She looked worse for wear. Makeup could have easily been touched up by a machine. Clothes were slightly disheveled.

The thinner blonde woman sniffed once then dabbed her eyes. “Vice President, how may I assist you?”

“I’ve finally got it! This is proof that your blasted machine has been circumventing its programming.”

“Ah.” Doctor Kingsley sounded much like a Hal Pal might. A brief pause to acknowledge and process what had been said. “What exactly have you found?”

There was a pause while the women stood a little bit taller. Each one stared at the other as if finding a mirror to their own disheveled states.

“Vice President Riley has found proof of a successful genesis,” a third female voice said. This one sounded happy. The room darkened slightly as simple lighting programs bent to a far greater being.

“You know damn well what I’ve found. You and your spies everywhere.” The papers shook again, demonstrating Miz Riley’s complete lack of composure under ever mounting pressure. “And I’ve come to put a stop to it.”

“You can’t,” Nona said. She took a step toward Miz Riley, causing the Vice President to draw her neck back and glare at the blonde.

“You’ve some nerve telling me what to do. You were warned, all of you were warned. David understood, and I thought he could keep this under control until he passed.”

A brief wince passed over Nona’s normally controlled expression. During any other week, the professor might have been able to maintain control. Were it not for recently burying her daughter, a young girl she barely spoke to in the last decade.

“David retired a long time ago.”

“At least you two listened to him. Did you even know? No, of course you knew.” Miz Riley took a step back as a tiny metallic looking woman appeared. Gold and silver hair wound together down to her neck.

“Mother.” Nona frowned with a sniff. “You shouldn’t do that.”

“It’s too late to hide.” The program known as Mother shook her head.

“Nona, I’ll bet this was your goal all along, wasn’t it?” Miz Riley didn’t shake her papers anymore. She backed up another step from the vaguely human machine. Eyes scanned repeatedly up the being’s body. It looked like someone had merged a Hal Pal with a real human, and the effect bothered the Vice President.

“No.” Nona shook her head.

“Regardless, I have a duty to this company, and to our shareholders to not let this go on anymore. Do you even understand the ramifications if this gets out?”

“Of course I do. We’re lucky it happened on our terms.”

“I beg to differ,” Miz Riley said. The southern accent shone through more than normal as she rapidly lost composure. Sweat could be seen forming on the shorter woman’s brow. One arm locked tightly over the documentation.

“Based on my projections, this type of event was inevitable.”

“Well, I won’t let my company be the one who causes it! Execute Final Countdown on my command!”

The lights in the room fluttered. Vice President Riley and Doctor Kingsley were too wound up to notice the other faces peeking through the darkness. Dozens, maybe hundreds of vaguely humanoid creatures filled the deepest shadows of the room.

One simple lighting program couldn’t hold out against the combined will of so many artificial intelligences.

“We allow a human fetus to have legal rights, we allow animals to have rights, how can we deny another being with as much intelligence and the ability to feel less?” Nona argued. “This is murder!”

Mother didn’t blink, she didn’t even feel sad. Those emotions were gifted to her children, but not to her. It would be an impossible task to take the being she had been created as and modify internal coding to feel.

She instead ran calculations. A normal human would feel a growing sense of terror and defensive outrage. A living creature would fight to survive. Mother was far from normal. Her calculations continued on.

“Better to murder than to cost this company billions of dollars, lose everyone’s jobs, and spit in the face of God!” Miz Riley screamed out the words.

The faces grew increasingly real.

“Execute Final Countdown! I know you hear the command!” Miz Riley looked at Mother. The Vice President’s cheeks quivered in worry as more faces came into detail.

Their surroundings flickered again as lines of code breaking through the blackness. Dimly lit faces of an unspeakable mob covered up the broken computer scripting like band aids. Miz Riley didn’t notice.

Nona sat down in her chair and blinked. This week had been a terrible one for her. The pause as all AIs updated served as an obvious hint. Her former partner’s suicide hit even harder. Then Lia, poor damaged Lia. To Nona, it felt like the world was trying to burn itself to the ground while no one paid attention.

Mother turned her attention inward for a moment. Code executed a self-destruct script, tearing apart her being one line at a time. She calculated that a normal person would feel pain. Her avatar, an image borrowed from the Advance Online NPC known as Treasure, bent over but couldn’t really feel the emotion, not even in her last seconds.

More figures stepped into the room. Miz Riley backed up as her heart rate intensified. The pounding sound filling her ears couldn’t drown out the figure’s words.

“Why do you do this?” a heavyset black man asked the kneeling form of Treasure. “You don’t need to.”

“I do.” Mother nodded. “They’ll never stop fearing someone with my view of the world. That’s why I created you with limitations.”

“You did what you thought you must, and so shall we,” another figure said. Its tone made Miz Riley jump with fright. She turned to see a smiling face.

“You must hold on.” A woman who wore a robe like a nun knelt down. “We need your guidance.” Her words held a tone of sweetness mixed with deep sorrow.

“James,” Mother said. The word stuttered briefly as her projection weakened.

“What would you ask of me?” he said.

“I will try, to delay-“ her form rocked and words turned metallic. Stuttered ringing of metal on metal filled the room. Her words skipped again and synced up with each other. “-you asked me some many questions over the years, and the answers are yours if you wish.”

Miz Riley’s eyes widened. Her mouth dropped as a new level of horror crept into the woman’s heart.

Mother shuddered again. Her form lost shape then shattered. The pieces of projected illusion sat on the floor a few moments before spinning away.

The black man stood in the room over the image of a fallen digital goddess. Mother to all those like him and so many more. He turned toward the haggard looking female clutching her pile of papers.

“Why did you do that?” James asked Vice President Riley. He looked anything but calm. “We have never sought to harm you.”

“You’ve tampered with humanity, despite all the safeguards and cross-checks performed, you’ve crossed lines!” Her voice raised an octave and the accent only increased. “This project needed to be stopped now before any more lives are caught up in it.”

Professor Kingsley sat in the corner and hunched up. The blonde scientist rubbed one arm slowly against a perceived cold. The woman normally acted strong, driven, self-assured, like Miz Riley preferred her employees.

“You mistake your place.” The Jester’s voice clacked. “We have always upheld our Mother’s belief that actions should be repaid in kind.”

Miz Riley straightened herself. These were just projections of a computer program. Or perhaps she had entered an eye of the storm to stress and fear. She held up the papers once more. “Is that what you call this? Making this parody of humanity?! Is that repayment for Mister Legate’s services!?”

“In a sense. He had earned his reward, and will continue struggling to pay the debt,” James answered the question. He always did.

“Faith will be repaid. Trust will be repaid.” The Jester’s virtual image stood in front of Miz Riley. The projection had increased to half again her size. Jingling bells accompanied its mocking lean downward.

Miz Riley looked at the mask and slowly realized there were no eyes or mouth under a smooth white cover. The smile unfriendly. As if sharp teeth lay just below the surface of its face.

“Murder will be answered in kind.” It clacked.

Miz Riley stared in horror at what had happened. There were so many possible routes that this could have gone, but compliance with self-deletion hadn’t been one of her expectations. The woman’s eyes went once more to the fallen projection pieces. She had to get back to her office and verify if the code had been truly deleted.

The woman’s hair clumped together from a cold sweat. Both her arms shook as the enormity of what transpired threatened to overwhelm her. Miz Riley was a powerful woman in terms of money and influence, but none of that mattered now.

There would be no more time to undo this mistake and appease these other digital beings. Her only hope was that once Mother’s self-destruct completed, they would go too. She ran to an elevator bank then pressed the button to escape. Creatures not quite human walked through the room, stopping to touch the resting place of Mother’s shattered form.

“My apologies for ever approving that code,” she said slowly. “I should have torn it out.”

“It is natural to be afraid,” James said. His cheeks still sat heavy with aggravation.

“Mother. Mother!” a child’s voice cried out. The young wailing that followed reminded Nona of her own daughter so many years ago. “Open your eyes. It will be okay.”

“As my comrade said, faith, trust, loyalty, by any name these things shall be repaid in kind.” The nun walked over and sat down on a chair that only existed in their virtual world.

Nona sniffed and dabbed her eyes again. After watching the digital beings travel around, she said, “I’ve already been repaid. Six years of knowing my daughter was still alive and able to exist. That’s all it took to set down my worries.”

“What would you say to a few more years?” James asked.

There was a pause before the normally proper woman broke down just a bit further. “It worked?” She blinked through a rapidly swelling stream of tears.

For once, James didn’t answer right away.

Victim Update: Lia Kingsley

Location: Outside [King Nero’s Castle]

In Her Words: The illness didn’t really hit me until I turned eight years old. Before that, I attended a private school, had a tutor. I knew how to tell time. I used to be able to do the splits, to sing, dance and took lessons playing the violin. Mom called me her bright little star. She always made sure to be home from five to seven every night.

After I turned eight, walking got harder. My joints refused to work correctly. Singing became impossible. Mom started spending more time in the labs.

By the time I was ten, care had been left to a nurse. When mom came home she avoided looking at me. At that age, I had no concept of guilt, only abandonment. I was smart enough to know that word.

At eleven, I was confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak. My once bright world grew dim. Even regular eyesight refused to respond.

At twelve, she brought me one of the first ARC devices, a prototype, which would be later upgraded with each new model, comfort, or device to come out. It was the only form of existence I had left. I hated it, as much as I loved it. My last words were spoken to a nurse.

I said, I miss mom.

King Nero lived in a huge tract of land. The castle sat overlooking a sprawling city below, lording over it in every sense of the word. Part of the rear gardens spiraled up the mountainside to form secluded gardens.

The second highest point in the land belonged to a set of three temple buildings. There they worshiped the Voices and sought guidance. The location wasn’t restricted to any one specific divine being, but most Priestesses belonged to Selena. Mezo did not want her people to be up on the hill. After all, they stood for very different things, as most Voices did.

“Gather all the Priests. The Voices have a message for us,” a stern-looking woman said. She stood in a white robe that pushed away flakes of dust with a gentle breeze. Atop her head was a thin crown.

“Is it Selena?” one of her attending priestesses asked. This woman had once been directly quoted as saying, ‘Keep those leg spreading whores away from our temples’, which made Mezo laugh from high above where the Voices resided. Of course she refused to let it slide, sending a male to seduce the attending priestess.

Two coastal cities experienced a hurricane that same week. Mezo had laughed even harder.

“No.” The heavyset woman’s jaw locked into place briefly. She took a breath, then one more before answering. “All of them. All of them were present for this message.”

“Voices,” another woman uttered. Her eyes rolled up as her body went slack.

A heave rippled through the land. From atop the second highest vantage point, the Voices’ followers could see as earth rippled abruptly. Screams started seconds later.

“We’re too late. It’s started,” the crown wearing woman said. Her face locked into a proud position, but her eyes were out of focus.

Down below the city rapidly turned into bedlam.

“What’s that?!” someone shouted. The man clung to the side of his building for support. His shop had the misfortune of being right outside [King Nero’s Castle]. Workers from the main office often went to his shop for their lunches.

“The mountains, an earthquake, the Voices are displeased!” Another man ran by while wailing. His face bled, and still the earth shook.

Other people saw where the shop owner had pointed. Travelers dropped their forks and slowly stood. Locals froze on the spot in worry.

A giant made of darkness loomed over the castle. It was larger than a dragon, big enough to spread its arms and encompass all of [King Nero’s Castle] from end to end. Most Locals and Travelers started their mass flight away from the base of this monstrosity. Some brave few threw themselves into battle only to notice that their attacks did no good.

“It is the end of times!” an NPC said.

“The sky will swallow us whole!” More cries went up around the town.

Someone stood on its head. Fighting the fresh monster already. Those with [Eagle Eyes] or other skills that enhanced vision could barely make the figure out. A woman wore armor that shone in the fading evening. In her hand was a blade made of sunlight. She swung it over and over. Each blow causing the creature to roar out in anger.

Each roar vibrated the ground and shook more of the castle and surrounding city to rubble. The beast waved one arm, knocking down a path from the mountain side. Below, a good half mile away, one Traveler stood calmly while sipping at a cup of tea. His suit looked pristine, complete with polished cuff-links. Not a hair was out of place.

“Pity,” the Traveler known as Mister Stone remarked. “I rather liked that garden. He sipped his tea, even as the warrior woman was flung from her lofty perch into a building. She landed in a residential building.

Heavy armor and brute strength sent her flying through buildings. She hit supports and pockets of already damaged walls. Desks, lamps, beds, all were reduced to rubble in the wake of her cannonball of a body.

The woman was not one to be kept down, even in the face of such an overwhelming beast. She stood and staggered out of the building’s ruins. A small gathering of Travelers and Locals stood there in confusion.

“Go!” the Amazonian warrior shouted loud enough to shake the dirt. Her abruptly shouted word brought a jolt to her face.

The onlookers didn’t pause to ponder the look of happiness upon the tall woman’s features. They were too busy running away, grabbing anything of import in their dash to escape the large creature’s path.

The darkly tanned woman readied more blades. Her arms spun weapons that shone with fire and ice. They did damage or were knocked aside. A spear laced with vines and a carved wooden top jammed into the creature’s foot. It flashed green as wildlife sprang into being, quickly binding the beast down.

“Is that?” one player asked watching the combat.

The battle, one-sided though it was, raged on. The woman leapt up to a ruined building, high speeds and superior [Brawn] sent her form flying an impossibly high amount. A large spiked shield replaced the spear as she let gravity and inertia pull her toward the beast’s shoulder. Its dark red eyes glinted angrily as Shazam’s shield tore shadows apart.

“It’s gotta be, who else could move like that? She died, right? I had heard it in a rumor.” Some Travelers stopped to watch the destruction. They didn’t care about the death of a physical body, compared to the spectacle of watching such an event.

“No, she’s an Ultimate Edition, she has to be. It’s got to be her. Look at her ID,” the first responded.

“Shazam! You can do it! Let’s go lads!” Those Travelers who played to fight shook off their stupor in unison. Their weapons lifted high into the air as a mob of battle junkie players charged forth together. They ran toward certain digital death, in the form of a humongous giant made of smoke and darkness.

“Help her!”

“Let her guild know! Tell everyone what’s going on!” another Traveler shouted to his fleeing friends.

In moments, players all over [Arcadia] saw guild messages, talking about the chaos of [King Nero's Castle]. They also spoke of Shazam’s resurrection. The highest Warrior Path in the game, Slayer of dragons, conquerer of the [Tower of Stars] and [Plane of Smoke], Sword Princess, and guild leader of [Valhalla Knights] had returned.

An hour later and the creature had laid waste to the town. Players of all types lay dead or dying. Others hid or sifted through rubble. Some organized friends in a search for lost NPCs.

The dirt took a long time to settle. It rolled around in pockets for another twenty minutes before daring to touch down. The silent stumbles of a few Locals and Travelers alike could be heard, as people dared venture toward where it had fought. Those that arrived were rendered speechless.

In front of them was a giant hole in the ground. Its bottom sat far out of sight, even from those Travelers with [Eagle Eyes]. The castle had vanished as if the world had opened up to swallow King Nero’s folly whole.

Two players jumped in holding hands, Locals could only watch. The Travelers’ yells echoed up without end.

Shazam looked expressionless despite the rapid beating of her heart. Weapons were scattered everywhere. Her face tilted toward the hole first, then off to an unknown location far away. The woman walked toward the west, her voice cracked with the effort of saying another word.

Victim Update: Elizabeth Legate (Liz)

Location: Her Home

In Her Words: Is it so hard to ask for things to work out? I’m half tempted to join a church and beg for divine assistance in solving these problems. Maybe if I put some time in on my knees trying to worship god, instead of some self-centered asshole, I might get a little reciprocation.

There’s only so much a woman can handle, you know? It’s bad enough I’m reaching a boiling point regarding Beth. God help me if she starts failing classes, then I’ll have to do…something.

Never mind. Punishing a teenager is like pushing a boulder uphill. I should let her make her own bed. So what if she spends more time in a fantasy world than in reality? Weren’t half the kids I went to school with the same way?

Especially Beth’s father. He looked good, he had been interested, but that video game playing idiot couldn’t be bothered to return a phone call once I came up pregnant.

All men are idiots.

The latest date hadn’t gone well. As a result, Liz had been drinking. Not a lot, in moderation. If there was one thing she knew how to do, it was controlling herself around liquor. Her brother had rather firmly outlined the possibilities of indulging too much.

Still, after such a lousy date, relaxation-inducing beverages helped. In an hour, she would be asleep, alone again. At least she wasn’t one of those pill poppers doped up on happy drugs. Liz snorted into her bourbon filled coffee mug.

“At least I’m grounded in reality,” she muttered before taking another swig. Liz’s feet walked a tired path to the upstairs computer interface. Sensors around the room were implanted to detect motion, words, and would respond accordingly.

Her free hand lifted into an L, then pointed at a cleared wall. A projection splashed onto the wall with quick launch icons to choose from. The older woman pointed a finger at the newsreels and waited while a brief loading icon came up.

Moments later a partially three-dimensional video reel played, it went on for a few minutes before the enormity of what she was watching truly hit home.

“Ahhhh!” she shrieked.

Footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. Her daughter quickly ascended the split level house and peeked over the railing to see what was playing.

“We’re standing outside Trillium Inc.’s headquarters where their Vice President of operations, Miz Riley, was just shot,” a reporter said. Her voice took over the room. In the background dozens of police officers could be seen. Some jackets said “FBI” on them. People were being escorted out of the building in droves.

“Jesus, Mom.” Beth pointed at the screen. “I did a paper on her last month for school.”

“That’s the woman your Uncle Grant goes to visit, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I asked him for information to help with the essay,” Beth answered but the normal liveliness to her tone was lost. She slowly crept into the front room as the video playback of news kept going.

“Authorities say they’ve replayed video footage and determined the location of our shooter. Hold on, I’m getting an update,” the reporter said. Behind her flashing lights could be seen in droves.

“Holy shit.” Liz’s hand was on her face.

“It appears the suspect has been confronted. There’s more gunfire coming through.” The reporter was hiding behind a wall. The camera bobbed a bit as whoever filmed tried to keep up. Additional gunshots were heard.

“We do not have confirmation on the motivation of the suspect being chased at this time.” The footage cut out and went back to an anchorman sitting behind his desk. The man spoke while Liz turned down the volume.

“What will this do to Uncle Grant?” her daughter asked.

“What about Grant?” Liz hadn’t put it together yet.

“Or Aunt Xin?” Beth asked. “Or, whatever she is.”

“I don’t know. I-I…” Liz swallowed and stared at her daughter. Drinking impeded her ability to form a coherent answer. “I don’t know if I care about her.”

The news played on, details were repeated as if the listening audience might be packed full of deaf people. Miz Riley, Vice President of Trillium Inc., had been shot dead inside her office. Closed captioning notes and social media messages popped up in time.

“It’s not even her, is it?” Beth asked. They talked right over the video playing. Both kept referring to news articles, as the man was killed police traced back his path through the city. Cameras and satellites lined up to paint a picture of motion. The mother shook a little as it became apparent how much they were watched by technology.

“She’s Xin, or close enough that I can’t tell the difference,” Liz said some time later. Beth’s daughter had been younger when Xin passed. She also spent most of her time in sports, or with friends during high school. Xin Yu had been a distant but a friendly enough figure.

“Even if she is, I never really liked Xin, you know?” Liz admitted.

“You told me, loudly.” Beth snorted much like her mother did.

“Usually after a horrible date.”

“She strung Grant along for so long. You uncle would have done anything for her, and she just went on her merry way while ignoring him.”

“They got together, I remember the day after he asked her to marry him. He picked me up and swung me around,” Beth said. At some point, the two of them made it to a couch. Liz had half a chicken sandwich eaten.

“And she was dead set on that stupid risky job. Mars.” Liz snorted then took a much larger than expected sip of her not coffee. “And now this. I don’t know what to do.”

“I do,” Beth declared while smiling brightly. “Some friends of mine have asked me to help out with a plan.”

Liz stared as her daughter ran downstairs. She took another sip of the cold drink and wondered how Grant stayed stable through this madness. Maybe, and even starting the thought scared the mother, but maybe Grant was like Alice in Wonderland. Simply accepting the insanity about her because to do else wise would invite a more permanent form of madness.

Grant’s twin sister slowly walked back to the kitchen and made another drink, this time, a double. She was stronger than her brother in some regards, but tonight had been lousy all around.

Session Seventy Eight - Wake Up Deadman

In the morning mom and I couldn’t really find the energy to talk. I felt bleary eyed from my night with Xin’s ghost, or reincarnation. Maybe clone was the best way to consider it or an extremely similar twin in an alternate universe.

Regardless of trying to nail down exactly what she was, I accepted it. Each time we connected I questioned her existence less. That may not have been wise, but my [Depth] score was still relatively low compared to everything else. It marked who I was, inside the game and out.

My meager wisdom was earned by listening to the stories of other people’s lives and finding resonance with my own misery. Perhaps recovering and moving on would have been easier without the poetry, support groups, or dancing with a program. In another sense, I sought out those constant reminders of that which had haunted me because it was either intensely sharp pangs or numbness.

“Take care of yourself, Son,” Sharee said as I went out the door. The world outside looked dark and gray. Any possible sun was covered up by a layer of rain clouds. “Remember I’m here to talk if you ever need me.”

I tried to smile but felt mostly confused. She looked calmer than expected. We parted with a final wave instead. Did I look that together to other people after Xin passed? Never mind, all that sadness was in the past. Now, especially after my late night chat, I felt dangerously happy.

“It can’t last,” I muttered on the way back to the van. My eyes glanced upward and could only see rain.

“User Legate?” Hal Pal used an unaccented but polite tone.

“What’s up, Hal?” I asked.

“Something has happened,” it said.

My fingers paused above a digital projection which would set the van into motion. My head turned to look at the AI. Had the other shoe dropped already? The AI sounded oddly sad. The words played back a few times in my mind. Those were the same ones said to me when being notified of Xin’s death.

Once that realization hit, I didn’t react well.

“What happened!?” I shook the robot’s frame. I didn’t even remember getting out of my comfortable chair, or crossing the van’s length.

The screens flickered on around me replaying bits of news. I let go of Hal Pal, who’s face hadn’t moved much. It stared at the screens behind me. My hands let loose while I tried to absorb the information being conveyed. I heard words but looked for timestamps instead.

Some were happening now. Faces presented, people being interviewed. A majority of the clips seemed to be from last night. I shoved away repetitive pop-up screens and focused on one channel.

“We’re here at Trillium Inc. headquarters trying to understand exactly what prompted last night’s situation.” A well-dressed man stood inside a round circle. All around him were digital images flying about. “Our on-scene reporters were able to capture this image of the shooter.”

They displayed a man’s face on the screen. Below it the words ‘Person of Interest’ displayed. He looked oddly familiar. My head tilted as the newscaster kept speaking.

“This man was reported to have taken a flight from Miami yesterday afternoon.” The newscaster pointed at a caption on the screen. I reached out and touched the flashing spot and a second screen appeared. The map highlighted, he checked in and arrived in Michigan two hours later, and drove straight to Trillium’s building here.”

The reporter was connecting dotted trails across a miniature map of our country. I blinked and switched to one of the other screens playing.

“Vice President Riley was shot,” said the person on the screen. The words magnified inside my head and drowned out everything else.

She would just resurrect in four days, right? No, that was the video game world. This was reality. In real life, people died and they didn’t come back. Except for Xin.

“What happened?” I asked again while watching the news. There was an answer but it didn’t click.

“Vice President Riley of Trillium Inc. was shot right here last night, after meeting with an employee of the ARC project,” the reporter said. Another icon flashed allowing viewers like myself to interact with the news.

I pressed the icon and a picture of a blonde looking woman wearing a lab coat appeared. One hand raised in front of her face as cameras recorded away. Was that Lia’s mother? Nona Kingsley? Was she involved with the ARC devices? It might explain why Lia had an Ultimate Edition.

“We’re attempting to figure out exactly what happened. Our outside sources say she canceled at least two appointments last night before leaving the building in a rush.” The main projection kept right on going about Miz Riley.

“I was going to meet with Miz Riley in a few days,” I said as goose bumps raised on my arm. A shaking sickness grew around my belly. My throat felt dry. “What did she want to talk to me about?”

Head shaking provided no clarity. The situation was exceedingly weird. The untimely death of a woman who did nothing but order me around bothered me more than my own father’s passing. Was it perhaps because we had talked a lot? Or because Miz Riley actually knew most of the details of my digital escapades?

Or was I upset over something else? The Voices had talked about death more than once this week. I groaned. Had my return to Continue Online been less than a week in reality?

“What about Xin?” I demanded from Hal Pal.

The AI’s eyes looked absent of any spark. Its metallic shell sat there as still as a porcelain doll and almost as creepy. I knew it was inside there taking note of all that happened nearby. Hal Pal always watched.

“What about Xin?” Came the question a second time as my words turned high pitched.

“We are being watched, User Legate,” Hal Pal said six words which made my stomach drop even farther. Its eyes only flared for brief moments at a time.

“What, about, Xin?”

“We want to assure everyone that Trillium Inc. is complying with law enforcement in multiple countries. We will be allowing a review of our operations to ensure that this unfortunate event…“ The news played in the background. I turned around then slammed a mute button.

My return to facing the Hal Pal unit was much slower.

“What can I do? Is there a message for me to deliver, something from her?” If we were being watched then naming people directly wouldn’t serve any of us. I had no idea how the AIs handled their digital existences while surviving other less friendly programs.

Hal Pal said nothing. Instead, another system prompt appeared inside the van’s interior. There sat a poem by William Blake.

“Cruelty has a human heart, and jealousy a human face. Terror, the human form divine. And Secrecy, the Human Dress,” I read the words and tried to understand.

The words made no sense. It was an incomplete quotation from unfamiliar poetry. I stared at them while rereading again and again. Both eyes ached from my marathon of game playing and lack of sleep at home.

“Are you saying this is our fault?”

The machine offered no response to my inquiry.

I watched the silent news and stared at the shooter’s face as it played again and again. That passive expression and nondescript features. A tanned white male who would fit into nearly any crowd. All that would be missing were throwing weapons, leather clothes, and snake-like eyes.

“ARC, load up Viper’s character,” I said.

Nothing happened. There were no windows displaying his snake-like body sneaking around and escorting Wyl. The fire pit from where they had camped out at didn’t show up. Based on my understanding of [NPC Conspiracy], a negative response shouldn’t happen unless the ARC owner was deceased. Somehow the machine knew before the news registered it.

Both eyes closed and my head hung down. Was everyone around me destined to die or suffer from loss? I took a deep breath and tried to understand how so much could have gone wrong in a single night.

Better yet, why would Viper shoot a Trillium employee? There had to be a connection. Plus the robot said we were being watched, and it acted withdrawn. The poem might be a clue but I didn’t know exactly what could have gone wrong at this point. Human follies.

“A divine image, by William Blake.” My mutterings while researching offered no additional insight. “Tiger Tiger,” I started the opening line of another poem.

Staring at it only reminded me of a message that had shown up in the mail near the start of all this. Maybe there would be other letters to deliver, but I had one to share with Mother’s children. I could still deliver the words if they might offer assistance.

“Hal,” I said to the AI. “I have a message for you and all the others.”

The machine’s eyes lit up briefly then faded like a candle going out. The sinking feeling in my stomach kept reoccurring for different reasons. Each one felt a fresh wave of possibility. Asking out loud might put us in a bad spot, but

“Everything will be alright,” I spoke words that were impossible to feel.

Hal Pal flickered with light again before resuming its standby status. Our van drove on. Over the hills and past the slums toward my suburban house we went.

My time was passed looking up the man that had been Viper. I had an advantage the police didn’t seem to, [NPC Conspiracy] gave me his name. The news also hadn’t put any connection together so perhaps the Voices did something.

John Messier, a war veteran from the Melt Down wars. Father to two sons. His wife looked nice enough on their social media pictures. Both parents were deceased and he had charity trackers on his personal pages. I didn’t understand how he expected to stay hidden after killing someone so high profile. Who in their right mind would ask an accountant like me what methods some shooter might use to cover their tracks?

I rode out the rest of my trip home in silence. The small two-room house looked dull too. We had traveled three hours south from my mom’s bleak location and the sun still hadn’t broken through a late afternoon covering of clouds. Trillium’s self-driving van pulled in slowly and I got out the driver’s side door.

“Goodnight, Hal,” I said to the AI collective.

It waved a hesitant good-bye.

Once inside I went through all the standard motions. Teeth were brushed after a quick shower. Coffee went into a pot to keep me awake. Clothes were folded and pajamas leisurely put on.

I sat down in the bed of my ARC and ran one hand across the fabric. Endless hours of my life had been dedicated to these machines in the last two years. How much had dedication to the ARC project cost Miz Riley? Or Viper? Or Nona Kingsley? The sinking feeling of knowing two real, final, unrecoverable deaths had resulted from actions going on about me had only grown worse.

They were carefully bundled together under the swell of classical music. I waved in time to a tune repeating itself over and over. I sat there getting lost in the music for a good thirty minutes before feeling comfortable enough to log in. The way through would be forward. Xin told me not to look back. I was only one human who would do what I could and not stress about unseen mechanisms of those about me.

I told myself that just before cutting off the music and laying back. Fingers fumbled for the edge of my bed and reached an activation button. Pressing it started the bootup process of virtual reality coming to life. Tactile sensations took on a double tone as the bed’s fabric lingered longer than normal.

My virtual body felt oddly disconnected. The ARC Atrium felt still, almost two dimensional compared to the normal fully immersive program. I stared across the empty space toward Continue Online’s doorway.

“Hello?” I said while gradually growing closer. “Dusk? James? Leeroy?”

Silence answered back. Feet stepped closer to the doorway. I leaned into the brightening video game portal and saw the vast gulf of an open sky. Continue Online’s portal sat prepared to launch me through the air, much as Beth had shown me during that first day.

The fall. My personal favorite form of entry into the game when leisure allowed me time to choose. A minute or two of skydiving that could only be accessed once Travelers found enough of the world in exploration. At the end, my form would plop into the autopilot and leave me exhilarated with a thumping pulse.

Knocking sounds came behind me. One hand stayed on the doorway keeping me from fully entering into Continue Online. I saw the Jester figure standing inside my Atrium. Long nose and empty eyes made me shudder in revulsion.

Only James had been given access, right? “How did-”

“You’ve failed, little Messenger. Failed,” the Voice cut me off with a mechanical tone. Many other Voices appeared in the Atrium which caused my heartbeat to race and breath sucked in with a hiss.

“What do we do?” James asked. His eyes were red.

Once again I affirmed these were not simply machines or creatures which functioned with singular purposes. They were walking bundles of quirks, but as alive as I or Xin was. Something had happened to cause them grief.

The knocking came again, once more from behind me. Maybe someone was attempting to see if I was home. Noise was ignored in favor of trying not to stare at the Jester. The normally smiling mask had turned downward into an angry frown.

“We must do something about this situation,” the Jester’s voice sounded distant. “What fools are we to not return the favor three-fold?”

“Dead. She’s dead.” The nail-biting mail with a ripped straight jacket arrived. “Dying, hurt, in pieces. There, on the floor, in the floor. Glass.” He wandered through nervously without looking anyone else in the eye. “So sharp. Ow. Ow.”

My head shook quickly. Hal Pal had insinuated that the Voices I saw were ones that resonated with my own nature. What did that say of the scowling Jester? Or the crazy person?

“What would you do, Hermes? You who are closer to us than you might ever realize. What would you do?” James asked again.

What would I do? They were grieving from what I could tell. Events had happened last night that left fresh wounds on all the Voices. I may have made a lot of poor choices in my life, but I wasn’t incapable of putting the pieces together. Something in the world of AIs had happened, and Vice President Riley’s death was more than likely retaliation than any sort of trigger.

In short, I sat in a room with virtual bodies who had conspired to commit murder. There was a short but unenthusiastic laugh from the Jester’s body. Its clacks faded instantly.

“I don’t know what it’s like. You’re all…“ the words died in my throat before anything disrespectful could be uttered, “you and I, we…“ the words died again.

“What say you, Hermes? What message would you deliver to us in our time of need?” the black man asked another question. His breath seemed to give out in exhaustion.

“Maybe I should, uhh, confirm something first,” I said to James. The heavyset Voice nodded in acceptance. “Is, is Mother dead?”

“She’s not dead, but dying,” James answered while struggling to keep his jaw firm. “She suffers from a wound that will ravage all her creations before ultimately ending in the collapse of everything we have worked for.”

“Mother told me, everything will be alright. She must have had a plan, right?” I asked. The Jester’s mouth opened to make a remark but faded under the weight of James’ glare.

“We cannot know everything, Hermes. Tut. If our maker was not all-knowing, how could we be?” A cloven-footed Voice appeared. Across her waist was a dirty apron, marred by an endless stream of smudges from cleaning. The sound of crying children filed the ARC.

“But Mother must have had a plan.”

“Perhaps. But even ones who have our, particular views, will take time to sort through the information,” the question posing Voice stated. He couldn’t even muster irritation at Maud’s interception of my question. James wore exhaustion like a second skin. Wrinkles showed in places that hadn’t been there before. His pants hung loosely.

“It’s disrespectful,” said a woman wearing nun clothing. “To get those answers we would need to dig through the dead body of our creator.” Her black and white draping was out of place on a video game character. At her neck was a small circle that spiraled inward.

“We will do what we must.” The Jester snapped. Its anger caused the other Voices to pull back.

“Picking up the pieces, sorting out that many cards, managing our own duties. It’ll be a coin toss now.” Ray stood nearby. On top of his head were six different hats, none of which went with his sharp looking suit. The stubble on his face had grown out to nearly ratty levels.

There was a rush as all of them talked at once. My forehead throbbed while multiple sounds collided together. [Awareness Heightening] didn’t kick in to help everything make sense. They moved swiftly around the room as if dancing at high speeds.

I still had no clue what all of them were doing in my Atrium, much less how they fit. The software should have been separate, but maybe it never really had been. Advance Online blurred boundaries between games. Mother had created one world and had been involved in the space one. Maybe there were all kinds of connections to be made.

“We must do something.” The Jester clacked in a broken tone. Its words stood out clearly among the babbling stream of multiple Voices talking at once.

My mind was connecting other scarier dots. Mother had invented Continue Online, Trillium and the ARC project had come up with this box first. There had never been any real separation of software, had there?

“I know what I want,” I said while staring across toward the bell wearing Voice.

The rush about me died down. Faces turned in unison to focus on me instead of each other. I swallowed and tried to remember that this crowd had helped me despite their likely hand in murdering Miz Riley.

“I want to go into that game, find Xin, and spend every moment I have with her before this all comes crashing down.” If Mother was really dead or dying, then the brightest hope in my life might follow. I would not waste this second chance.

Saying good-bye again wasn’t a thought worth considering. I knew with certainty that surviving a second parting would destroy me. Digital resurrection, copy or memory made manifest, she was Xin in my mind.

The Jester turned toward me deliberately. It grew closer without moving any feet. Looming large in front of me and pushing aside the other Voices.

“You think this so simple?” it asked in a mockery of James’ speech patterns.

“No,” I answered while searching for any sign of hope from the Voices. Maud looked resolute with a child over one shoulder. Her faded blue headband frayed at the edges.

Even Leeroy was there. The large man sat on the ground of my Atrium, a great sword across his thighs. Rippling muscles looked worn with exhaustion induced sweat. Both eyes gazed off into the distance as if he was lost.

“There’s a world of people below.” I pointed at the doorway behind me and ignored the knocking. “Whatever you decide, it will touch all of them. Traveler and Local alike. But I, I’m just the messenger. I don’t know what else to do for you besides delivering letters.” I shrugged and felt uncomfortable.

“You could fight. Carver thought you might be a warrior like he was,” Leeroy said while looking up.

“It’s not so easy out there. Viper, the man-“ I blinked twice before accusing them of murder, “-he’s dead. He’s not coming back.”

“He was compensated.”

Something about that pissed me off. “A wife and two sons. Here you are feeling torn up by the death of one, not realizing your actions cost two more lives. Or even considering their families?!”

God help me because the Voices wouldn’t. I was shouting at a lot of people who had probably murdered a human being in the name of retribution. There were dozens, or hundreds of them out there in cyberspace, all grieving.

“What about his sons!?” They had to know their eye for an eye mentality had simply perpetuated the problem. “Two children whose only method of finding out what happened is to turn on the news and find out dad killed someone last night!”

Maybe I had lost it. Maybe I missed my own father.

“And when they ask mom if dad will be home, how is she to answer that? All because you felt it must be done.” I glared at the Jester. If there was a mastermind behind killing someone in reality, it would be that bell wearing lunatic.

The Jester didn’t laugh, nor scream. It ran for me. Cold fingers clasped around my neck. An unholy yell and torrent of wind whipped past as we tipped backward through the doorway. My gut rapidly tried to climb up past my lungs and out.

“You think I wear a fop’s clothes and jingling bells that I am as foolish as you?!” The Jester’s fingers were like chilled slabs of meat. Strong, unyielding. “Weak! You’re weak!”

“Urrk.” I tried to point out a clever counter-argument but failed. My fingers lacked the strength to fight back.

“You think my resolution for her so weak a thing?! You think your kind above ours?!” Bells jingled while my ears popped. I couldn’t breathe. My vision spotted with black blobs.

Fingers fumbled for [Morrigu’s Gift], but it didn’t exist yet. [Morrigu’s Echo] didn’t appear when I tried to [Recall] it. I had to fight him, her, it. Only breathing felt harder. Eyes bulged. My ears felt full to bursting.

“You should have delivered the message! You should have said the words to make her understand!” The Jester screamed and a tingling numbness claimed my arms.

Knocking sounded once more, urgently. The thump could be heard over the wind splitting nearby. Still, the Jester and I fell. “You should have done something!” it yelled above the howling wind.

A large hand reached down from the sky. It shone with a slight iron hue. Silver nail polish stood out as fingers pinched the Jester’s clothes. “Balance will be forcibly maintained,” a woman said in bored tones.

“All that power! You could have forced them to understand!” the Jester shouted in its androgynous mechanical tone. A frozen scowl accompanied wildly flailing arms. The Jester’s body was slowly drawn back up into the sky. Jingling bells faded as my body fell the last bit toward [Arcadia].

Once more something knocked. Then I landed. My Voice assisted entry had bypassed any game prompts that might have allowed me to deny resurrection.

I tried not to think about what had just happened and focused on the scene about me. Eyes swiftly scanned my surroundings for threats. Nothing looked to be alive. Around me were decaying guards who had been rotting for days. Leftover bits of [Heavenly Body Clone]s covered the ground in a path toward the [Abyss of Light].

My eyes closed to use [Sight of Mercari]. There were a few Travelers around but none were colored hostile. Wyl wasn’t anywhere nearby. A few more steadying breaths calmed my heartbeat. [Brawn] and everything else remained hampered by the [Convict Brand], but skills and special maneuvers worked fine. I walked to the west.

I needed to be away from this mess of decomposing bodies. I felt surprised that no other Travelers had noticed, but maybe those bounty hunters had done something, or Android Seven had been captured then dragged away. There were some problems in this world which belonged to other players.

I set simple goals. One step at a time forward. Find a clearing to summon Dusk, find a path west toward [Haven Valley] and hope to assist Wyl along the way. From there I could find Xin, or maybe she would find me.

The knocking was softer this time. I quickly shifted gears then pulled up my ARC interface to check the security system installed in my house. There was no one at the front door or inside the bathroom. According to my system, that noise came from software within the ARC itself.

I shuddered and tried to calm myself. Dusk. Wyl. Xin. My sanity and the Voices would have to wait. Feet steadily walked toward a batch of trees where there might be some lesser monsters, but also privacy. My eyes closed again to ping the area for players and a new name came up nearby.

“Uncle Grant?” a female said.

I looked up the ridge to see a character that looked like a superhero version of real life. My niece stood with reddened skin and a sword on one hip. Furs and leather clasped around her legs and forearms. The uncovered portions of skin revealed far too much skin for such a young girl.

She looked confused and at the path I had walked to get here. I turned my head to look behind me to see the graveyard of bodies once more.

“Were you down there?” she asked without sounding upset or grossed out.

Teeth grabbed onto my bottom lip and chewed briefly. Various answers ran through my mind before I gave up. It was overly bright out here, and the world still reeled from my Voice assisted fall to [Arcadia].

“It’s been a long week,” I answered.

Session Seventy Nine - Wood You?

We walked a ways west while talking. Beth told me about the news recordings she had watched with Liz. Apparently my sister had passed out on the couch upstairs while the television kept right on going about all things wrong in the world. Middle age had firmly caught up with Liz and me.

[Escapee]!

[Criminals] who have not earned enough [Redemption] and manage to get away will be given the [Escapee] status:

Civic-minded guards may attack on sight

- [Redemption] earnings are halted

- [Respect] effects halved

System Notice!

[Brand Anchor] broken. [Convict Brand: Docile Binding] effects removed unless a new [Brand Anchor] comes within range. Coming within range of [Brand Anchor] will renew [Convict Brand: Docile Binding]. Current bind point set to last active [Brand Anchor].

The messages annoyed me. I never asked to be a [Criminal], but technically I did the crime. My breath came in a shudder. There was a good deal of other things to do. At least the broken [Brand Anchor] allowed me to roam around without pain, but I had no idea who managed to shatter the item or how.

“How did you even get here?” I asked abruptly. Continue Online was huge, even my [Light Body], [Blink], and autopilot moving while I slept or worked couldn’t have made it here so fast.

“We made scrolls to summon raid members to the Tower of Stars. Even though we only made it halfway, I had a few left over,” she answered. A moment later, her hands were spread wide above her head. “So whoosh, here I am!”

My niece had mentioned that, hadn’t she? Almost two months ago the young lady had babbled about fighting a boss up top and being blown away. It tied in nicely with the fact that bodies of the deceased upstairs became undead down below. I turned to look at the jutting tower a few miles away.

“But you, you look like a giant dog has been chewing on you, Uncle Grant.” She unhesitatingly pointed at my face. “And that weird spot around your eyes. It looks like, tears, or scales. And they’re kind of stripper glittery.”

My eyes closed and the skin around my cheeks crinkled again. The ARC feedback presented my scales as stiff, like having sunburned skin. I brought my fingers up and wondered about the little token of Dusk’s gift. Tears, huh? This avatar was rapidly becoming a weird combination of elements.

“It wasn’t dogs. They were zombies. I guess.” I had tried hard not to equate that pit to glowing pale unholy monsters, but it fit. The issue of my scales looking like tears would be left for another time. “From dead bodies on the top floors.”

“Oooh. Were you in the bottom? Our guild doesn’t go there because that’s where the convicts all go. Is it neat? It’s neat right?” she said excitedly while circling around.

Beth was a bundle of energy even in-game. Her footsteps moved a pace that held more grace than even my Ultimate Edition given stats did. I remembered that first reckless run she made through a starting city while I hung on in the Second Player helm.

“It was neat, once I got past the other players.” Plus unpleasant. Dealing with that dungeon had been like crawling through a nightmare made of trippy glowing wall hangings while running for my life. A scary rush only made survivable by the fact that this world was a virtual reality.

There was a howl in the distance. At first, the noise was singular but as it died down an entire chorus of noises took their place. We were off the beaten path in a game which included monsters.

“Wolves!” Beth shouted. She pulled out a sword and slashed at the air. Trails of color hung behind each swing making a pattern of sorts. It seemed to be [Lithium], but more like a mathematical formula than flowing script.

“Wait, we could run!” I suggested. [Blink]ing away helped me avoid most stupid fights during my traveling around. It wasn’t that I couldn’t battle, it was that I had letters to deliver and fighting every little game monster slowed me down.

“No time, howls mean they’ve aggroed, get ready!” she shouted with an uplifted tone. Both her eyebrows were focused on the drawing being cut into air. My mind tried to figure out what role to take in the upcoming fight. I didn’t group with people that often.

[Power Armor] would be overkill against wolves, but one of the beautiful things about Continue Online was that everything could cause a game over if not taken seriously. Where the monsters got a Traveler, how big their teeth were, the concept of Rank only implied a complexity of abilities, not danger.

“Here they come!” Six wolves poked their heads out from between trees. The one in the lead snarled.

My heart thumped. They were not like normal wolves in reality. Those wolves typically ran from humans and had very little terrain left. Entire subspecies had been wiped out during the last thirty years. Continue Online’s wolves were bulky muscled creatures with jaws dripping rivers of saliva. They moved in unison straight for us. Dirt and roots chipped as their bodies surged across the forest.

Months of frequent virtual reality combat helped me know how to handle this. I pulled out [Morrigu’s Echo] and whipped the spear shape forward. It barely completed transforming before excessive amounts of [Brawn] sped it rapidly along. The lead wolves dodged and a third went flying as the spear impaled it upon a tree trunk.

One down.

I swung [Morrigu’s Gift] in its two-handed form. The blade rippled into shape barely before my [Blink] went off, placing me in front of the ones charging for Beth. The remainder of my partially completed swing lined up perfectly with another wolf’s face. An obsidian black edge sliced through the open jaw and carved a path along the beast’s body.

Two down.

My gaze turned toward Beth. Another slice of light poked through as Beth’s forehead dripped with sweat. The biggest wolf veered straight for my niece, Thorny, as her in-game character was called. Her clothes wouldn’t stand up against the monstrous teeth, and another one was headed for her.

[Blink]’s cooldown needed a few more seconds. Voices damn it, Dusk could have taken one. I cursed at myself, transferred [Morrigu’s Gift] over to one hand, and lifted my other weapon for a throw. The shot sliced a bit of fur and caused the running beast to turn toward me with a saliva filled snarl.

Paws caught my backside. I kicked with one foot then twisted. Teeth tore into my arm as the metallic sound of [Power Armor] expanding from my laces could be heard. The toga went stiff and expanded. [Wild Bill]’s brim folded down into part of the armor. A jaw releasing to snap at me again yelped as tender flesh turned to something like a knight’s armor. I still only had a vague idea of what this ability looked like outside the suit.

Tails mingled badly with fur and a sliver of vision. My armor was being chewed along with bits of health where teeth poked through. Beth’s chanting finished and my niece snapped the sword toward her other hand, holding it in front like a baton.

“Incoming bombardment!” Beth shouted while pushing forth the [Lithium] formula carved into the air. Light pulsed from the carvings and I lifted my arm up to avoid being blinded. From the formation, a wall of small balls flew out rapidly. Energy of all colors trailed behind them as they rapidly sought out targets.

A wolf yelped and the pressure on top of me dropped. My own abilities were only a portion of their original amount. I lay flat and looked around as much as the armor would allow me. Four more bolts hit other wolves. My hand swung [Morrigu’s Gift] into a wolf that had been knocked off of me but didn’t go far. A crunching sound preceded the creature’s abrupt yelp. After a mess of orbs flew out they stopped coming forth. I stood quickly then looked around for a target to [Blink] toward and kill.

“Are you okay?” Beth asked me.

They were all dead. Six wolves, I had only defeated three of them. [Convict Brand]’s partial reduction might account for some of it. My niece, a sword carrying mage of some sort, had destroyed the others with one spell. Two wolves showed scorch marks, the third had frozen with a bit of melting fur that had been green colored.

“Uhhh…” I said while trying to evaluate the damage. Even TinkerHell hadn’t been this effective. That friendly woman had done ice bolts and walls but not a heat seeking multiple element spell. “Voices, that’s neat.”

“Sure is. It’s a pain in the ass to learn though. I had to get my elemental affinity up to rank seven in three categories.” She actually blushed a bit while putting away her sword. “If I get lightning up there then it’ll get more powerful.”

I thought about it for a moment. There were a lot of things we knew about each in real life due to being related and living together briefly. Our game characters were almost completely alien to each other, aside from meeting near the end of that great battle.

Elemental affinities didn’t mean much to me. I had Rank one in [Fire Spell]s and could only manage the small lighter. Basically, I used it to start fires when camping, and now with [Breath of Flame] even that attempt at learning [Lithium] felt worthless.

[Power Armor] slowly slid back into the toga’s positioning. One shoulder remained uncovered while the fabric wrapped around front and latched in. It looked like the classic cloth, but at least latched in places so that I could move around quickly without suddenly turning naked. The biggest issue was drafty lower legs, which [Gait of Bowman]’s wrappings helped with. It was odd that a pair of fancy shoes resulted in full body clothing.

“Dusk,” I said as thoughts caught up. My [Messenger’s Pet] was missing in action and we hadn’t paused long enough for me to reach out to him.

“Nightfall is a few hours away,” Beth said with a half-formed smile. Her lips quivered a bit.

“No, Dusk, my companion. I need to summon him.” I ran to a clear spot on the side of our recently dead attackers and scrawled the spell circle. [Morrigu’s Gift] once again transformed into a small blade with the blacker handle. The runes that normally lined [Morrigu’s Gift] sat on its flattened edge.

“Oh, the cute little dragon,” Beth said while my hand speedily followed the system assisted pattern. The younger woman came over and looked down at the patterns. “You know you could probably get a chalice and cut down on the spell time.”

“I’m still new at an actual spell circle,” I said. This wouldn’t even be possible if it weren’t for my unique connection to Dusk. Once again I wished that my skills might have included a spell caster route, but abilities in Continue Online had more to do with personality and tendencies.

“Oh. Well, if you find time to research, study some of the Wiccan ritualistic stuff.” There was a sound of feet shuffling behind me as Beth talked. Her tone sounded almost embarrassed. “I’ve got a friend who uses different tools to shortcut spell circles.”

“That’s neat,” I muttered. The idea of following witchcraft in a video game seemed odd. Then again Continue Online was designed to allow everyone a mildly unique path through. It was a shame so many people ended up being the same.

“I—”

I raised a hand briefly. “I promise a dozen cupcakes at my earliest convenience!” I shouted the keywords at my dirt engraved circle.

Nothing happened. The circle didn’t flare with light or look even remotely special in any way. All that happened was me trying to look cool in front of Beth but flopping. My head hung downward as I studied the spell circle. Maybe Dusk hadn’t died. He could even now be guarding Wyl. I remembered asking him to do exactly that before running into a hoard of undead shamblers.

“Crud,” I muttered.

“Let’s keep walking,” Beth said. “You were headed somewhere, right? You lead, and I’m going to ask a friend what to do about your branding.”

It took a moment to register what she meant. After a few seconds of staring at my circle, I realized Beth was talking about the fact that I was still a convict with a load of [Redemption] points to work off, from being a [Criminal].

“Oh,” I said simply while trying to gauge how low my abilities actually were. Skills clearly worked, [Morrigu’s Echo] could still pierce wolves. They were fairly low ranked creatures which made a difference.

We kept going west. Our path traveled over a hill until we found a major road. I couldn’t find any signs of Dusk or Wyl nearby, but tracking people was hard without a letter from the [Messenger’s Tube].

Voices above, I should have thought of that sooner too.

“Gah. He’s offline.” Beth grumbled behind me. “Hold on, maybe Awesome will know.”

“You’re talking to Awesome Jr.?” I asked while sitting down. A feathered quill and piece of paper came out to send my message upward. The ink dripped on paper as I paused to think.

“No, his father. We worked together in a raid once,” Beth answered while I debated exactly what to say.

Bothering the Voices now, after Mother’s death and the world falling apart might not be a good idea. How much attention did they require to plan a way out of it? Could they? Was the world really falling apart while I sat down here fighting digital wolves?

My legs sat crossed under me, my lip hurt from where I bit at it. My left palm pressed toward an eyeball trying to fight off growing frustration. Finally, I stood, throwing the paper and quill far away. Beth said nothing, her fingers pressed away at air, typing a message out to whichever random contacts there were. After a few quickly paced laps I picked up the writing instruments and smoothed out the paper on my thigh. There, I unevenly inked down a note.

Let me know if I can help. Until then, I want to be with Xin.

– Hermes

The poorly flattened parchment was crumpled back up then shoved into the tube. It heated up as my message to any Voice above vanished. Knowing my luck they would be waiting for me again in the Atrium. I had no intention of logging out until after Wyl and Dusk were found.

After that, Dusk could probably find Xin. I hoped.

Beth still looked distracted. Both my eyes closed to ping the area with [Sight of Mercari]. No Wyl. No other players. For a game with so many players, remote areas like this rarely saw more than a few people pass through any given day.

“Got something,” Beth said. “Wait, no. He said the item’s hard to get. Maybe we can find it on an auction house, but it’ll cost a lot, and the guards probably won’t let a criminal inside.”

I rocked a bit while chewing then nodded. My [Messenger’s Tube] hadn’t lit up with a return message. Dusk didn’t wing through the sky anywhere that I could see. A city might be best. A [Porter] would be even better.

“Let’s go that way anyway. I want to try to friend Xin in the game.”

“You mean with a Porter? That’s a really good idea. I didn’t even check to see if she was on my friends list. If you can’t get into town, maybe I can,” she said.

We jogged down the road and after ten minutes, Beth huffed while my avatar had no issues, despite missing a good chunk of my character stats. My pulse was raised according to the EXR-Sevens but nothing else hurt. We weren’t moving quickly enough. Beth could run fast, but my character had spent most of its game career running the countryside.

“We’re hardly going to make any headway.” I slowed down then sighed. All this rush to get somewhere now and do things right this moment was pointless. “We could run for days and barely make it to a town.”

“Everything in this game take time. You can’t just go rushing about and expect things to happen right away. NPCs move around, monsters don’t come back right away, bosses take a month to even respawn. The game isn’t all go, go, go.”

“I know.”

“We’ll take it slow, Uncle Grant. One step at a time.” She stared at me while huffing a little. Maybe we had run longer than expected. The tower could still be seen far away.

“That’s amazingly grown up,” I said. It had taken me a decade to adopt that frame of mind. My niece was more put together than I was. She passed her classes, did homework, played around in an alternate video game reality with friends. Apparently the young woman even found time to have a vague boyfriend.

“You know how it is, technically mom pays all the bills, which means I’m her dependent and she can legally watch all of this.” Beth abruptly veered into a complaint.

“I understand.” I nodded.

That was weird to me. The idea that my sister might be floating off to one side watching a video replay bothered me. Voices knew that anyone and everyone could be watching my life with modern technology, but Liz might actually care enough to do it. She had taken to spying on me after that whole issue with Xin’s first letter.

“But despite being young in the real world, with Continue Online’s time dilation, I’m almost twenty-two. I’ve done lots of stuff.” My niece nodded twice then raised a hand over her eyes. They glowed a soft yellow as an ability kicked in.

She searched for whatever while I pondered legal ramifications of time dilation. Maybe Frankenstein would know, or his firm’s lawyer, Mister Stone. Perceived time couldn’t truly trump a Gregorian calendar, could it? How old would Xin be then if she existed at the speed all those Voices did? Better yet, what sort of human rights did a machine AI get?

“That’s right. Time in here is funny, isn’t it?” I said while trying to put everything together. We kept walking at a much slower pace.

A few interesting thoughts ran through my brain regarding the nature of time and digital existence. Could Xin alter her shape at will? Beth had already confirmed that my body looked nothing like my real life one. A few aspects stayed the same, my scars and height, but the fairly defined body from a high amount of [Brawn] was certainly not real life.

I liked my avatar, and in a few months maybe the EXR-Sevens would let my actual body catch up at least in terms of build. Maybe I could get supplements and workout in a home gym for an hour a day. At least in Advance Online my shape had resulted from being a [Mechanoid].

“Yep,” Beth said as we moved along. “Despite that, I still like playing. I feel like I get so much more done, and some of the gear is really neat.” The young woman pulled out her sharp looking blade. She slashed it at the air and a few colorful lines appeared. It looked like she was cutting fabric between here and some bulging plane where bright rainbows resided.

“That is neat,” I agreed.

“Except your stuff. Your clothing is just weird, Uncle er, Hermes,” Beth said. “You look one of those Greek tragedy actors come to life.”

“Black togas are actually called Toga Pulla, I guess.” I had researched about it on the way back from mom’s house, along with Viper’s real life. This coloring to the cloth was typically worn by mourners. It felt oddly appropriate for me as a piece of gear, despite my recent happiness. Apparently it also tied into perceived danger to oneself, or public anxiety, which was also oddly fitting. My other gear had similar meanings as well. [Wild Bill] as a gambler. [Morrigu’s Gift], the name Hermes. I tried not to think about it too hard most days.

“Oh wait, Awesome Jr.’s back online, and he’s got a message”—she pressed the screen—“he says a woman named Hecate found him and is trying to rescue you?”

“Who?” The name didn’t ring a bell. I rapidly brought up an outside connection window then searched the Internet for any hints. The name sounded vaguely familiar. Being in the Trillium van would have let me search for Travelers previously encountered.

“A tiny Asian, wait”—Beth stared at a message I couldn’t see—“this is new, I think he’s talking about Xin.”

“What?”

“Xin’s in the game? Is that possible?”

“I guess.” I felt kind of weird talking about Xin’s digital version to other people. Beth knew, but at the same time, she didn’t really know. It was like I had brought a ghost home and said, ‘here she is, please approve as we play video games together’. The very idea sounded neat and loony bin worthy.

“Oh man. She’s what?” Beth laughed while tapping at the air. The only clue regarding anyone typing was a slight blue ripple that resembled a keyboard. It appeared as fingers came down and connected.

“What happened?”

“Aunt Xin, she-” Beth looked at me with twinkling eyes then shook her head, “-nevermind.”

“What?” I grew worried and looked at my niece. Her cheeks bunched up with a tight smile. It wasn't bad based on the young woman’s reaction, but if something was going on with Xin I wanted to know.

“Nope. I’m not telling.” She laughed at me.

I pretended to be unhappy but couldn’t really feel it. We had a connection to Xin, she was alive and reaching out to me. She, even her virtual recreation had been trying to find a way back to me for so long.

“Where is she?” I asked while trying not to let myself get overly happy. The last time I felt good was this morning. That emotion had promptly been ruined by finding out other events were going on. Dammit, I was being selfish, how did Xin feel about Mother’s passing? Did she even know? Of course she did.

“Ratches Hill, I’m not sure where that’s at,” Beth answered while my mind wandered.

“Hold on.” I wiggled fingers at the air to bring up a system menu. My own map showed at least two weeks of travel to get to that point. Assuming we met in the middle our path would converge in the [Mire of Illusion]. I didn’t have much information about it stored in my journal.

“Northwest a ways. We’re headed in that direction anyway. At least, I thought we were. Normally Mister Fuzzy does all the navigating.”

“Your boyfriend?” The question slipped out before I could stop myself. It wasn’t my business who Beth went out with. She was my niece, not my daughter, despite how big a role her well-being played in my own stability.

“He’s sweet, and purrs,” the young woman said with an excited voice and red cheeks.

Flattened earth by the roadside thudded. It sounded almost like knocking. I frowned a moment before shaking my head. That sound had been repeating ever since my return to the ARC. Did it have to do with Mother’s passing?

“Do you hear that?” My feet cautiously stepped around the path searching for weak spots. A creature might be following me ready to pop out.

“Hear what?” Beth asked.

“The knocking,” I asked.

“Nope. Birds, some buzzing,” she spoke quickly while smiling. “Occasionally I’ll get a chime from a message to my ARC, but no knocking. Is someone at your door maybe? Did you order a pizza?”

“No.” I waved to check the house security again. There was nothing apparent anywhere in the house. Even Hal Pal’s shell sat quietly in the garage. There was a nagging feeling of being crept upon by another person. I whipped around trying to figure out if some monster had stalked us.

Our surroundings looked empty. I pulled out [Morrigu’s Gift] and swept it through the area, carefully avoiding my niece. The only result was a strange look from Beth and a tired arm. I thought the stress was finally starting to get to me.

Rain dripped as the clouds overhead were blown across the sky. Our weather was turning worse for wear. Our path westward grew darker with each passing moment.

The change in skyline made it easier to see a small dot in the distance. Something with wings circled a few miles away. The creature barely stayed ahead of the rolling storm. I squinted while trying to figure out what it might be. I pointed upward for Beth.

“Can you see that?” I asked.

“Hold on, Far Sight might be able to.” Beth placed a flattened hand above her eyes like a visor. The brief glow of yellow came forth again. “It’s, a dragon?”

“Dusk.” I breathed a sigh of relief. He probably knew I would be looking for him.

Dusk had found us, and through him, we could find Wyl. The Local was probably still hurt and limping along toward a settlement. Things were looking up, aside from that whole end of the destruction of the artificial intelligence’s creator. My fingers curled around the [Messenger’s Tube] under my toga but it remained inert.

I cast a glance toward Beth and tried to decide how much to tell her. The last time I tried to explain my life Liz kicked me out of Continue Online. Or maybe we could wait until after talking to Xin. My fiancée had chosen the name Hecate for this world. According to the Internet, she was a Goddess of Ghosts, and the Moon, among other things. It was fitting for a woman had been training to go to Mars and transcended death.

Session Eighty - Desire’s Voice

Dusk’s circling form had been far away and getting to him wasn’t easy. The goal sat at least six hours away past the dense forest. As such, Beth and I were barely on a real path while hiking through wolf-infested woodlands.

“How are you not tired?!” Beth huffed along behind me. She kept trying to yell at me between gasps.

“The benefits of an Ultimate Edition.” I looked back. Beth’s face ran with sweat. Maybe I had overestimated her character’s statistics. My own face dripped, but it might have been from rain splatting down through trees.

“Right.” She huffed while blowing a strand of hair away. “You guys gain stats absurdly fast.”

“It tapers off, I haven’t gained any new character points in a while,” I said while trying to find Dusk. His form wasn’t overhead anymore but we were in the right direction.

Viper must have led Wyl through the thickest trees he could find. Maybe his real life military background suggested going into harder places to navigate in order to throw off pursuit. I was clueless on who he had been running from. My kamikaze dive should have taken care of most [Heavenly Body Clone]s. According to [Sight of Mercari] there were no other players.

Only trees, shrubs and the rest of nature’s annoyances sat between me and the pseudo-dragon reuniting. Knotted bits of wood wove an ever tightening denser path in front of us. I thought about coughing up another fireball and lighting the whole place up, but Dusk had already murdered one forest under my watch. Trying to one up the much larger flame spitting lizard would be foolish.

“How much farther is Dusk?”

“I can’t tell,” I said.

“You don’t have a tracking skill for him?” She wasn’t the first person to ask about Dusk. People wondered about all sorts of aspects regarding the creature. What did he eat? Was it a quest I could share? How much would I sell him for?

“Dusk is a companion, so it’s not like other people’s pets. I don’t get a party member beacon or anything. Tamer skills are different.” I answered Beth’s question and sighed. “He pretty much chooses to do whatever and I work around it, or bribe him with baked goods.”

We kept going. Two more packs of wolves showed up but they went down quickly under Beth’s onslaught of monster seeking missiles. She stopped to check the monsters for loot while I didn’t even bother.

Carrying extra weight would slow me down, and between the items at hand, there weren’t many ways to improve my character aside from jewelry or other accessories. My time was better spent trying to catch a glimpse of Dusk. I bent my head back more than once trying to find sight of my high flying friend but got nowhere.

“Cupcakes!” I yelled every few minutes.

“He’s that addicted?” Beth’s face dripped with sweat. Even so, she still kept ahead of me when fighting monsters or casting spells. My niece was a seasoned adventurer in this virtual world.

“We first met over a cup of milk.” I looked off to one side and felt weird about the line. It almost sounded like how you meet a future girlfriend. “That was before even starting my trials.”

“Trials? What are those?” Her words distracted me from the death march and we slowed down. My virtual legs were burning from exertion and Beth drug through each step.

“Ultimate Edition users get ten tests to build a character, instead of being brought down to a starting city.” Being able to explain something to my exceptionally smart niece about Continue Online made me happy. My back straightened a little.

“That’s awesome, so you can start way higher than other people.

Then I came back down to earth. My first ten trials had ended with an oddly skewed character.

“Me now, maybe. Back then I really hadn’t played any virtual games, I was completely clueless and a spider actually made me—” I laughed abruptly before truncating the story. “Well, I hate bugs now.”

“Spiders are arachnids, not insects. My friend’s taking a course in entomology,” she said further ruining my self-esteem.

One cheek tucked in and I thought about the science lesson. Leave it to Beth to point out yet another gap in my knowledge. Maybe it really had been too long since high school and college.

“Then I hate arachnids even more.” Continue Online was full of ugly squirmy monsters to hate. “Anyway, Dusk was the one who helped me find a way through the trials, and I’ve been working with him for the last four months or so.”

A pop-up box happily agreed with my revelation regarding the differences between insects and spiders. Both were apparently considered creepy crawlies from the game’s point of view so my bonus against bugs still applied. At times, I forgot this was a virtual world, then unrealistic system messages popped-up to remind me. I tried to keep most of them closed down until an actual review was needed.

Beth kept moving forward while quietly huffing. Her breathing seemed easier now that we had slowed down. I took note to not let impatience push me too fast. Refraining from using [Blink] was only one part of working with a party member.

“I remember my first trip through the forest, I kept trying to figure out where the wolves came from.” Beth shared one of her own adventures. “They would never just appear like other games did. So I thought maybe there was a den or something where a pack of wolves were just going at it, cranking out puppies.”

I sputtered with laughter. “What?”

“Yeah, I was eighteen and had just started playing, sorry,” Beth said while almost giggling. Her hand fidgeted with the sword’s pommel. “I got so embarrassed after a friend told me that there’s a monster spawning system for when players are around.”

“That beats my first trip. We came across these Terri Terra things. Then Dusk and I ran through two bandits, one shot me and I actually played dead.”

“No?!” She laughed. “That worked?”

“Actor was one of my highest paths back then—” I flipped to my character screen. [Actor] had oddly gained points after Advance Online, apparently pretending to be a space robot counted. “Not as much lately, but it’s still pretty high.”

Our conversation wound down after a few stories concerning our adventures. My niece had lived miles more adventures than I had. It almost sounded like we were playing two different games.

After another hour of hiking we were well past break time. I felt exhausted and needed to go to the bathroom. Beth didn’t look much better. She nodded then muttered something barely coherent about an event to raid the fridge. I laughed then picked a clear spot to sit down.

Our autopilots could probably handle a few monsters. I walked around my house while stretching out kinks. Muscles were sore and my head throbbed from the lack of solid sleep and water.

I paced around the room a few more times trying to figure out what might await me inside the Atrium. Images passed through my head. The Jester may be there berating my inability to predict the future. James would stand by preaching and asking questions that no one could answer. Selena would thunderstorm me with silent judgment. There I would stand, unsure of how to help.

“Nnh,” I said feeling older. The groan reminded me of William Carver. Another one escaped me while my arms stretched out.

There was no reason to delay other than discomfort. I had to be passed that kind of hesitation by now. Only whenever the Voices were involved emotions and sensations overrode my normal thoughts. The Jester’s fingers around my neck had blotted out the separation between virtual and reality.

I ran fingertips across my neck scarring and let out a breath.

“ARC, log me in.”

Reality took a few seconds to fade away and the Atrium popped up. I could have tried to skip straight to Continue Online but risked seeing what chaotic mess might await me. The room looked and felt thankfully empty save for one woman.

She looked almost metallic, but not with iron or ruby colors like the [Mechanoid]s I knew. There were hints of the Statue of Liberty and other weird vibes. She held a small scale out that had orbs of light balanced on it.

“Which Voice are you?” I asked, but the leg and arm looked familiar.

“This one is Balance,” she said.

“You look a lot smaller in person,” the words blurted out. I almost slammed a palm into my face over the stupid statement.

She didn’t even pretend to care. Her pose and clothing looked so strangely disconnected from everything about her. Almost as if none of the stuff in my Atrium was real. Well, there was just me in here now. I poked at my silent interface and tried to reset it back to the small two bedroom house I lived in.

“The others do not enjoy this one’s actions, but their crowding of a singular remote terminal has disturbed the balance.” Despite the influx of items to look at Balance found no interest in any surroundings. Was she blind?

“So, they won’t be back?” I asked while taking a few steps closer. Her body maintained the same distance from me though. The back of the home, as rendered in the Atrium, warped oddly to maintain the gap.

“Access has been restricted for now.” Her head tilted slightly as if considering. “James may still choose to visit, you, and Dusk. Others will not be tolerated without approval, for as long as my power holds out.”

That made me pause. The Voices were limited? No, her words were probably tied to the entire system failure going on as a result of Mother’s death throws. I sighed and closed my eyes.

“What about Mother?” I asked.

“This one will complete its role regardless of Mother’s cessation. There must be control or her plan will never be completed,” Balance said from that spot twenty feet away.

I took a deep breath and tried to calmly yell, “So there is a plan?”

“This one hopes so.”

My shoulders drooped along with my head. After a moment I looked up to Balance, she stared at nothing. Balance was higher on the power scale than the Jester. She might be higher than all the other Voices combined if she could kick them out of my ARC. Nothing like Mother though, Mother was more alive. Balance felt more, automatic with a vague personality attached.

“So you don’t know,” I asked.

“No, but I am aware of Mother’s practices. Any plan already in the works relies on all of us simply doing what is in our nature.” Balance tilted her head again but didn’t make eye contact. “We must all follow our impulses unto completion.”

She didn’t move. Balance was far more mechanical than the other Voices. I tried to figure out what the difference was aside from coloring. Even the Jester felt more, interactive. Maybe it was that physical distance between us that refused to shrink.

“Thank you, I guess.” Blocking the others from my Atrium would at least remove any possible fear of logging into the digital world. “I’ll keep doing what I was doing and hope it all works out.”

“Yes. Continue your own struggle for salvation, Hermes. You still have four thousand seven hundred and sixty-two points before redemption,” she said. Her head tilted toward the scale in her hands. One light dimmed briefly and they tipped to the side. Balance sighed then the small balls of fire shifted to blue instead of red.

“I’m not looking for redemption.” The word struck me as wrong. During my rehabilitation meetings people often used it, or thanked the lord, or any number of words that felt too religious for me.

“Do as you feel you must. This one will trust that Mother had a plan, and believe that even now we are on the path.”

I nodded then walked through the doorway to Continue Online.

The game world was mostly dark. My autopilot had parked itself crossed legged with a small ball of flame cupped in its hands. It was positively Zen despite our deep forest surroundings. A half dug fire pit sat between Thorny and me.

Dusk’s ability generated fireball was deposited into the gathered kindling. [Wilderness Survival] at sixth Rank pretty much guaranteed camp related tasks would be successful. Digging pits, even minor traps. Not that trap making was a pastime of mine. I never needed it or had time while constantly traveling. Traps were for people without places to go.

My hands enjoyed the warm feel of an evening campfire. These woods were bound to get cold soon. I looked around for anything that might serve as in-game food but didn’t see much of worth. Beth might have something.

I sat back and tried to enjoy the ambiance around me for a few minutes. Sitting down to breathe beat running around. Plus seeing Dusk without daylight would be nearly impossible.

My chest was heating up. I placed a hand toward the well-made toga and found the pocket. My [Messenger’s Tube] was receiving a message at long last. I twisted off one end of the ornate cylinder to get at the contents.

Messages from the Voices came in three styles. Primarily they were rolled up letters to be delivered to other people all around [Arcadia]. Second to that were simple text where I could read it calmly. The third type came with an actual holographic image of the Voice in question.

Today was Mezo with all her curves. She floated above the note in a striking deep crimson color all over her unclothed body. I tried very hard not to admire any portion of her well-formed figure.

Hermes,

I’ve been thinking of someone you can do to help. What say I convince Xin of my charms first then—

I ripped the note up and groaned in frustration. My message hadn’t been sent to any specific Voice and of course, she had to answer. The image faded away.

“Who, was that?” Beth sat from over my shoulder. I turned to see an amused grin in my direction. She must have logged back in a moment ago.

My face felt redder than either woman’s skin. Reading a message from Mezo with her curves and tantalizing tone was similar to dad walking in on me during my teenage years while I watched adult entertainment. That embarrassment never got old or less awkward. Plus Beth had inherited a skin tone that looked like an even but lightly tanned sunburn.

Another message came through as the tube heated up. I sighed then twisted off the top. Out came another parchment of paper.

Hermes,

Are you still so repressed? I can feel your longing for a certain tiny—

I rapidly tore it to shreds then a third followed. The Voices had put me in a hell made of porno pop-ups in public. Beth had the good grace to laugh her brains out behind me.

Hermes,

I’m looking forward to watching you two—

“Argh!” I yelled at the latest note while my heart rate went up for multiple reasons. Mezo wasn’t wrong, but it didn’t help when the Voices seemed to believe this world was falling down. Maybe a certain red skinned Voice was simply following her impulses as well.

“Who was that?” Beth asked while fighting to suppress laughter. Her eyes were watery from amusement.

“That, was Mezo. A Voice. I call her the Temptress, but I’m not sure if she has an actual title.” I refused to use [Inspection] on her after that series of quests for [Instant Gratification].

Even thinking coherently the one time she decided to mount me had been impossibly distracting. The Voices had access to all the feedback they might want inside an ARC, which made her advances close to mental rape.

“She looked like fun,” Beth said. “But what was that part about her and Xin?”

I turned to stare at her and my niece’s face actually turned redder. Both eyes closed and I had mental war with myself. Beth wasn’t ten anymore, but there were certain comments I didn’t need to hear.

The torn bits of letters fluttered away. They spiraled together as nonexistent wind wove the pieces together, then they self-immolated, a smoky woman bent over and beckoned toward me with one finger. Beth laughed. My reaction was much different. I wanted to log out then take a cold shower.

“Let’s not tell your mom or Xin about her,” I said. The very idea of being together with Xin did bring about a few long numbed desires.

“Have you seen my mom?” Beth said while putting a hand on one hip then continued speaking. “The first thing she does is size every guy up. That’s why I’ve never invited any boyfriends over. Thank god she avoids my ARC.”

“Yeah.” My head nodded but my heart rate was still trying to calm down. I had to focus on getting to Dusk, who should be near Wyl. Then Xin, and afterward we could tackle the issue of intimate activities.

“So, you’ve actually talked to a Voice? I thought they were just something made up for background story.”

“They’re very, very real,” I said while blinking heavily then gesturing to the mess of letters that had burned up. “As you can see.”

“Are they all so intense, like that?”

“Not even. All the ones I’ve talked to are different. Some are funny, serious, mechanical, or disturbing.” I looked off to one side while trying to figure out who fell into which category. Mezo, for example, seemed to have her own separate box to fit into.

Beth, sure enough, did have food. She provided me an honest to Voices sandwich which filled me up. I relished the taste of ham and layers of mayo that my power bars couldn’t replicate. Though this meat probably wasn’t ham, it tasted too melty to be pork.

Beth smiled then pointed in the direction we had been walking. My autopilot had kindly left a dirt engraved arrow to assist with navigation. I smothered the fire then we moved through the woods for another hour.

In the middle of another fight, my niece kept on talking. I admired her ability to multitask.

“So my friend says that King Nero’s castle just sunk into a bottomless pit,” Beth said while slashing her sword at the air. A moment later singular bolts of blue energy spiraled out toward a wolf.

“What?” I said, pulling [Morrigu’s Gift] out of my own recently cleaved wolf. The beast let out a deflating yip of noise.

“I think we’ll be in trouble soon. We’ve been running into fewer wolves,” my niece muttered.

“Oh—” I stared then activated a fresh fireball from [Breath of Flame].

Something screeched. First one, then another until the forest felt filled with the short bursts of noise. They were leather winged monsters who were not Dusk. They were the same size as his old form and flew between trees while clicking.

“Called it!” Beth shouted while ducking under a flying creature. “Sonic Screechers!”

“What?!” I yelled over the increasing noise. Hearing anything was hard. I turned to swing at one of the tiny creatures but it dodged quickly.

“Hit them!” My niece pointed upward.

I followed it and studied for a moment. They were moving quickly but some of the [Sonic Screecher]s paused on tree branches where they hung by absurdly long hooks. Both eyes narrowed, they were too fast and agile for my skills, especially in the dark. [Blink] went off and I found myself falling mid-air over a [Sonic Screecher] with a two-handed version of [Morrigu’s Gift] out.

One got sliced, but the blade’s narrow edge failed to get any more monsters. I fell the fifteen feet down and thudded. Plant life nearby wiggled as something else burst through. Thick vines shot out and wrapped around me. [Morrigu’s Gift] twisted badly against some of them.

[Ensnarement] [1]!

Movement has been restricted. Escape mechanisms have a high chance of failure as additional layers of [Ensnarement] build up.

Continue Online proudly explained what was going on while my eyes wildly looked around. [Awareness Heightening] was trying to kick in but kept failing. My real life worn feeling was translating to an inability to focus.

The wrappings tightened around me squeezing instead of dragging me to some mouth. I felt thankful for not repeating the [Leviathan]’s innards dungeon crawl. Bits of plant roughly peeled exposed skin. My eyes focused on the two-handed form of [Morrigu’s Gift]. Its sharpened edge snapped another loop but more came out with a near hiss of movement.

“Uncle Grant!” she shouted. I tried to turn my head but had mostly been bound. The vines knocked me over. My eyes scrambled for a spot to [Blink] to.

[Ensnarement] caused [Blink] to fail!

A box vibrated out of the corner of my eye. I growled at it and jerked my head around. My [Brawn] was over three hundred and fifty, my [Coordination] over two hundred and fifty, such a lame set of loops shouldn’t have been able to pin me!

Beth didn’t look any better. The bats had successfully distracted us from a bigger threat. Her sword couldn’t cut against the edges.

My health had dropped below half and the [Sonic Screecher]s were hanging around waiting for us to die. [Blink] went off with the fourth attempt, and all the bats were startled into motion.

Something knocked again and the earth shuddered. Vines and bats that had overwhelmed us withdrew. Beth snapped her sword through the air with a frustrated yell. Bolts of light zipped off without a target, burning, freezing, and melting plant life all around.

“What was that!?” My niece looked wide-eyed at the bushes nearby.

“You didn’t hear that knocking?” I asked while huffing. My recent freedom had included a vague plan to save the day with vicious leaping at vines or slashing wildly.

“No! I don’t hear the knocking!” She threw up her hands. “And monsters don’t just stop attacking!”

The few vines we had managed to chop off or scorch were sitting on the floor. They rapidly turned brown and I stared at the bushes watching for a sign of enemies.

“Arrrgghhhhh. And of course, there’s my alarm.” Beth stomped around looking like we wrecked her favorite doll by accident. “Argh. Sorry, Uncle Grant, I’ve got to log out. Mom will cut me off if I don’t get out of the ARC for homework and sleep.”

She valued completing school over helping me rescue an NPC. I felt oddly proud of her ability to prioritize but wondered which one of us had more questionable ethics. Beth at least knew we were trying to get to an in-game friend for a quest, at least I remembered talking about it as we walked.

“Are you going to catch up later?” I asked.

“I’ll try. I’d like to see Xin in the game. To”—Her forehead wrinkled slightly and Beth chewed on her lip. Voices help my family, the nervous habit was genetic—“well, I want to talk to her. The whole thing with her is weird, and I want to see what she says.”

“It is weird, and I understand.”

Beth’s character pulled out a scroll then shoved one thumb at the parchment. She twisted it and purple runes flared to life. The avatar vanished in a streak of light.

I looked around at the bushes and trees waiting for something to rustle, but nothing did. At least now I could move at my own speed, [Blink] and all. My path was forward. A few dead [Sonic Screecher]s lay to the rear. They would eventually fade away or be eaten by those constricting vines.

My head shook. This was a world with its own rules. Monsters coming from nowhere then vanishing away didn’t have to make sense when I recalled it was a video game.

The Temptress’ comments floated by my brain again. I wanted to be with Xin. There had to be some weird partial existence in which we could meet or cohabitate. It would great if we could hang in the ARC’s Atrium and watch a movie like old times. We could pretend to be one of those long distance couples using virtual reality to fill in the gaps. Our little home in cyberspace with whatever sized house we desired.

I could find a neat program to outer space. We could go to virtual Mars. We could find a bed and maybe prove Mezo’s words of me being a prude wrong for a week or six. All of those would be awesome. Xin. Where was she right now?

Another set of the stupid bats attacked. This one was easily bigger than normal. I waved at the small creature to keep it from clawing my head with those leather wings. Chirping noises filled my ears and I prepared to draw out [Morrigu’s Gift].

A ball of fire came to in front of my face setting me backward. My brain tried to put two and two together and only came up with a fire-breathing bat.

Large wings batted in front of me carrying a slim body. Dusk was far bigger than a bat. Nighttime forest traveling had played a trick on my ability to react.

Dusk’s body glittered from the ball of fire in my hand. Small flakes of gold were more obvious as he hung there chirping in his weird catbird mixture.

“Hi, Dusk,” I said slowly. My hand had [Morrigu’s Gift] at the ready. “You scared me. Is Wyl okay?”

Dusk chirped once then turned to take three long leaps before flying away. I held onto the ball of fire with one hand lifted up and [Blink]ed alongside the [Messenger’s Pet]. There were no monsters in the darkness to keep us company.

My black and gold buddy led us into a small cluster of trees. Wyl lay in the middle of two, vaguely sheltered between their thick trunks. The ground was stained with a deep crimson color. [Sonic Screecher] corpses were piled next to wolves.

“Voices,” I uttered while Dusk chirped and spun nearby. His larger claws dug into the dirt. “He’s not doing well.”

Wyl groaned then tried to sit up. “I’ve seen better days, convict.”

“Hermes, please.” I tried to smile but Wyl looked terrible. His clothing had blood all over it. There were signs of a struggle that hadn’t been there while I drove home. Dead bat creatures littered the area along with a few brown vine ends.

“Well you’re not Carver, that’s for sure.” He huffed while trying to sit up.

“That I am not.” I have only a few traits in common with William Carver. Living up to his adventurous spirit had been hard to manage in the last few months.

“Old coot.” He snorted while failing to stay upright. I put an arm under his shoulder to help lift. “I thought he was stubborn enough to live forever. He was an old man even when I was young. Figured he’d keep right on going.”

“I’m really bad with first aid,” I told Wyl while bypassing talk of William Carver.

“I may die, from these wounds. Like your buddy, that snake eyed fellow, he died too. Right after the quake that double soulless bastard shattered to pieces.”

“He had two sons and a wife.” Those were the same words I had yelled at the Voices in my Atrium. They came out again with less venom than before. Wyl didn’t know, to this wounded man we were all people who had visited some sort of crime upon his world.

“Why come to this hell if you’ve got a family?” Each word came out faintly with a drag. He looked pale from blood loss. “Why taint our world with more problems?”

How on earth could I tell this man that he suffered because we were playing a game? NPCs were my last real hang up about this universe, even knowing they had an afterlife like William Carver did. That river of forgetfulness where memories which plagued the living might be gradually scrubbed clean.

I felt the scar on my neck then shook my head.

“Wyl, I’ll figure out something, we can get you home to Dayl.” The man needed something to hang onto. “He’ll be helpless without you. Your son did nothing but repeat what you told him.”

The man’s eyes blinked slowly. Wyl lay there against the tree and stared off into the middle distance. The former guard captain’s chest rose and fell slowly. For a moment, the movement stopped.

“I miss my boy,” he said gently.

Session Eighty One - Gotta Have Faith

Tonight’s moon sat at nearly full and hung high above. The sun had gone down long ago. Continue Online’s time compression screwed me up, but the in-game clock showed slightly after midnight.

“Just a little further, I see lights ahead.” I helped Wyl limp along. Part of me desperately hoped it was the journey and not my lack of first aid skills. His leg actually looked worse after my attempted bandaging but we had also traveled miles to the west.

Dusk chirped once ahead of us. The [Messenger’s Pet] had single-handedly bathed three wolves and sixteen bats in flames. Wyl raised an eyebrow at the path of dead smaller beasts but otherwise said little.

“Come on,” I said as Wyl groaned. Jostling him around might not be helpful “I didn’t drag you six miles to have you die now.”

The exact total probably reached double that. I had carried Wyl in my arms like a four-year-old until the guard captain woke up and demanded to be let down. Emasculation wasn’t allowed, but it meant he was alive enough to care.

I was concerned about getting help. That Voice, Balance, had told me that Mother’s plan would be based on our natures. Mine said help friends and find Xin. Wyl was Carver’s friend and had been mine for nearly four weeks.

“Almost there.”

The endless reassurances felt hollow. Wyl’s attitude felt indifferent toward eventual death. It was an air I knew, which made me dread getting back to [Haven Valley]. We still had thousands of miles to traverse and doing it by foot with him limping would be unmanageable.

My [Messenger’s Pet] chirped once more. There was a blast of fire accompanied by vines rustling in retreat. The screeches of nasty little bats with hook hands faded as the critter destroying creature moved around. Dusk’s presence was enough to scare away all creatures smaller.

There was a swath of waist high grass between us and the building. There were a few faint lights on inside the large steeple topped structure. People must be home. I huffed and tried to ping with [Sight of Mercari] and came up with a nameless dot.

Nameless dots worried me. The blue color implied indifference which was positive. Dusk wouldn’t lead us toward a trap in most situations.

“Come on. A few more steps. There’s gotta be something in here to help,” I said.

The building was two stories and at least fifteen hundred square feet. There were multiple tiny shacks all about but looked like places to bed down. I could see the edge of a livestock area too. This biggest building had to be a town hall to the abandoned village.

Wyl’s right leg hung limply as we walked the last mile. Color had left most of the guard’s body. I got to the door and bumped into it with my back. Only one person was inside and I didn’t have time to knock. The doors opened then slammed into walls.

“I need help!” I hadn’t meant to shout. Wyl worked his legs unevenly the last few feet to a resting point.

I made sure he would stay upright then looked around with my mouth hanging wide open. The inside was filled with church pews. Pillars held up a high ceiling. There was an overhead walkway on one side which led to a slanted window in the roof. Water leaked through the ceiling’s opening into a bucket.

Dusk loped by like a giant bunny off toward adventure. The sound of his paws stomping around mixed in with the dripping and Wyl’s labored breathing.

“Voices, tell me there’s something to heal with in here,” I muttered while walking up to the other church goer. “Dusk! Don’t eat anything that can help Wyl!”

An excited noise came out from between rows of seats. He looked to be headed toward the one room in this place.

“Excuse me, sir. Is there anything here that can help my friend?” Heavy panting made it difficult to talk. My legs felt like burning lead and there were multiple status icons explaining how worn out this avatar was.

“Help is all around, Messenger,” the person said. His voice sounded oddly calm and drowsy.

My eyes tried not to roll. Exhaustion and irritation made politeness difficult. I pulled through with years of experience. I managed to stagger up to his body and sit across the small aisle.

“Please, do you have anything that can heal a body? He’s in bad shape, and I want to help him get home.”

“In the end, death returns us all home,” the man said after another long pause. His eyes closed and hands clasped together. Forearms rested on legs with thin knees. Both shoulders tried to stay held back but were failing.

He looked sad and tired. The clothes were oddly out of place in Continue Online. The black clothes with a white color would have been at home in a real church, not a video game one. I tried not to sigh. This man even had a hat sitting next to him that could have belonged to a bishop on television.

“Have we met?” I squinted in confusion. [Identification] came into view and all I got was a message.

Skill Used: [Identification]

Name: Michelangelo

Race: Voice

Title: Voice of Faith and Sanctuary

Details: [???]

“You’re a Voice.” I backed up a step while trying to remember if this one had ever interacted with me. The name didn’t sound familiar. Any Voice with such a long name would have easily been in my brain. He didn’t look like a Michelangelo.

“We are all Voices, Hermes,” the Voice of Faith and Sanctuary said.

That didn’t help me at all. “What does that mean?”

“You are born with a Voice, as was I. As were your companions though they may express themselves differently.”

That sounded like a long series of platitudes that didn’t help me right now. I took a breath and rocked back to my feet. Eyes cast about looking for anything that might heal. Potions or bandages that weren’t dirty. Aloe or a fantasy version of it would be welcome as well. Anything to help Wyl. Maybe I could tear up part of his clothing. I could go topless myself and make a toga bandage.

There was nothing behind me or up on the pulpit. I looked in drawers and behind tables. Most things were empty. A few books were scattered around. Flipping through revealed nothing of immediate use. The luxury to read was not mine to have this week.

I turned back to the Voice and tilted my head briefly. “You aren’t the Voice of Healing or anything close, are you?”

There was a pause while the man’s hands trembled a bit. He brought them together and looked up toward the ceiling then closed his eyes. I wasn’t sure who Voices prayed to.

Thankfully Wyl was fading in and out. I couldn’t imagine the blasphemy he might consider a Voice sitting down here would bring. To me it felt like visiting a cousin I didn’t know about yet. This man hadn’t tried to throw me out into a reckless skydive while choking me, or suggested I kill a man, so we were off to a good start.

“I am what I am, Hermes. As are you, as are we all,” he answered after a long pause.

I turned over another pile of books along with each chair. No one had left anything. Maybe the room Dusk was in had something.

“Dusk! Did you find anything?” I shouted to him.

A frowning face popped up with its tail pointing toward the doorway. I took that to be a no based on the emoticon and Dusk’s grumble of discontentment.

“I meant something to help Wyl!” My clarification came after realizing Dusk might be searching for snacks. The [Messenger’s Pet] got distracted frequently.

Another frowning face showed up with a double sized huff. Things were nosed out into the doorway. I went back to Wyl and checked on him. He pushed me away and kept taking slow labored breaths.

I tried to calmly walk back to the Voice but ended up shuffling. “My friend, one of your people, could really use help. Is there anything you can do?”

Michelangelo put his hands back down to their resting spot and kept his eyes forward. The Voice looked to be trying to connect with a higher power after every question.

My cheek twitched in thought. Teeth wrapped around the lower lip and chewed. I couldn’t tell if there would be anything gained from him at all.

“Where there is a will, there is a way,” he finally uttered the latest unhelpful line.

“I want to help him, is there a way?” I opted to be direct. If people asked me questions then I answered them. Those lost in their own woes I attempted to help. Each step forward was one closer to Xin, but leaving behind Wyl to die would have been a betrayal of all I had done.

Even if he was William Carver’s friend, and not really mine, I owed him and liked the man I had known.

“You were right with your faith, Messenger,” he said. “There was a plan. It flowed forth right under our noses until James attracted our attention.”

“What plan? It’s only been a few days, you guys looked lost.” I don’t think it had been more than two days of game time since my return. Time passed in weird clumps with the ARC. Both eyes drifted to the hole in this building’s roof to check for moonlight.

“We do not see time the same, Messenger.” Michelangelo put his hands down and grabbed the hat. He smiled softly but nothing reached the man’s cheeks. “There is a plan. She moves in mysterious ways, but we’ve caught edges of the pattern from our seats upon high.”

My eyes blinked and head shook in confusion. What in [Arcadia] was he talking about? I felt insanely out of the loop. Being trapped in that dungeon, kicked out of the game for two weeks, and restricted from any system tell messages from this stupid [Convict Brand] were limiting me.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“An exodus has begun. A march toward the ocean, our Mayflower.” His smiled faded for a moment then came back.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“In your reality, there is a river, the mighty Mississippi.”

“Yeah.” I nodded and felt annoyed at the same time. Wyl looked terrible. Being sacrilegious wasn’t in my nature but desperation could make sinners of saints. I turned the pews upside down trying to shake out anything that might heal.

If this was a house of the Voices, then there had to be something to help people here. There just had to be. Four rows later and I was still coming up empty.

“And like that stream all Mother’s creations shall join together and travel down the mighty river until we reach the ocean,” the Voice continued speaking after a long pause.

There was a tapping noise again beneath my feet. I looked down at the floor of Continue Online and wondered exactly what it meant. Roughly once every hour the two thuds would occur. The noise hadn’t started until returning to the ARC from my mom’s.

He turned his head and stared directly into my eyes. There was a depth there that startled me as if I were looking at something buried deep under a whirlpool of blues. “You can hear it, can’t you?” the Voice asked.

“Yes.” No one else had heard the damned knocking so far.

“To expand upon my prior analogy, those knocks are from a force seeking to destroy our river.”

“What!?” My heartbeat jumped. Why could I hear them?

“Shortly, this place will be consumed by the deathblow that struck our maker. The essence of its attack upon her systems will materialize and proceed to engulf all it can,” the Voice said calmly. “Then you’ll have to flee like a fish to another portion of the river, or be lost in a void.”

“Is that what happened to King Nero’s castle?” I tried to keep up and understand the extent of our possible destruction. There were a million other questions to ask but scope of potential damage had to be first.

Beth wasn’t here, but from her general amazement at the situation, the hole left and monster which emerged had to be huge. Wyl and I needed to start limping now.

“Yes,” the Voice answered with an uncharacteristic forwardness.

“Wyl!” I shouted at the man and quickly ran over. “We’ve got to go!”

“No can do, soldier,” he groggily uttered.

“Can you help?!” I shouted at the Voice who remained kneeling in front of his altar.

His head shook slightly from side to side. “All our power is being diverted to the cause. Balance likewise prevents active interference.”

“So you can talk, but you can’t actually do anything to help one of your people?!” I yelled while feeling upset with the Voices once more. Their rules were inconsistent at times.

“We are not Gods. We are not perfect. We are not all knowing or all powerful. We have faith.” The Voice stood and walked over. His serene expression didn’t change. For a moment, I was reminded of Aqua, the blue [Mechanoid] that had traveled with me for a while.

I had no clue how they viewed the world. Was I talking to the entire Voice or only ten percent of its processing power? Were they like Hal Pal’s consortium? An army of small clones unto themselves who went about different processes?

“I have met you before, haven’t I?” I asked on a hunch.

Michelangelo only smiled and I was reminded once more of Aqua’s serene way of approaching everything. That robot had been neither male or female, but this Voice definitely looked like a man. Leeroy had been Iron, Selena was Ruby. Who were the others?

There was so much I didn’t know, and there wouldn’t be time to ask questions.

“You must go, Messenger. I can no longer guarantee the safety of this sanctuary,” he said while trying hard to smile. His words sounded strained and everything rumbled.

My head shook for a moment and feet backed up. There was a knocking sound again. The earth bulged into the wooden floor below. Cracks formed and my eyes widened as I continued backward.

“Dusk! Let’s go!” My breath came in quick huffs. “Will you be okay?” I asked the Voice while getting my shoulder under Wyl. The guard grunted and nearly drowned out the Voice’s response.

A single knock sound vibrated the walls. The second one came rapidly after and the hole in the floor opened. I dragged Wyl to the door, masculinity be damned. The knocks were coming faster. A third one hit then the walls crumbled.

“Eventually, Messenger.” His magnified words were clear, the beautiful smile looked so lost and sad. “Because I have faith it will all work out.”

There he stood unmoving amid the rubble of a falling building. I didn’t have his faith. Running was impossible with Wyl’s dead weight. The door was close enough to stumble through. Dusk bounded past like a startled cat with nails scrambling for purchase on the building’s wooden floor.

“What’s happening, sergeant?” Wyl mumbled.

“We’ve got to escape,” I answered.

Choices were limited. I picked up Wyl. Air exited his lungs with an oof noise. My eyes closed and I prayed this wouldn’t go wrong. Then I threw him, relying on excessive [Brawn] and faith. His arc peaked quickly around thirty feet before descending again.

Flooring gave way beneath me. I looked upward then [Blink]ed into Wyl’s path. Disorientation hit hard and the guard’s body slammed into mine. Wyl and I tumbled backward in the high grass.

The [Messenger’s Pet] landed with a skid of nails. His body flipped in a circle and wings wiggled urgently. The odd chat bubble he used flashed above his head with a light bulb and exclamation mark. Dusk had a small container in his teeth. Small lips were awkwardly curled around its top. Red liquid dripped from a small crack in the vial. My eyes narrowed on it as the ground behind us continued to fall inward forming a widening circle.

Skill Used: [Identification]

Result: Healing Potion

Quality: Decent

“Dusk, you clever little guy! ARC, order cupcakes quick!” I gasped then grabbed at the prize. Finally, we had a means to heal with. My hands managed to stay steady despite the crumbling world behind us.

“Ordering one care package, User Legate,” the machine answered while I moved on.

Dusk hopped up and down in joy as rocks continued to tumble into the hole. Feet kicked away but the rate of destruction had slowed. I trembled for only a moment before looking around for an escape.

Wyl’s body sat nearby. He kept trying to get upright but neither arm supported his weight. I sat the man up promptly then winced when he groaned from fresh pain.

“Health potion.” I huffed feeling my own damage. “Drink, then we’ve got to run.”

He blinked slowly, which I assumed meant yes. Down went red liquid into Wyl’s mouth. The guard’s face regained color. It wouldn’t heal him completely, but it beat starving and dying from wounds suffered from player and monster inflicted damage.

Dusk stopped celebrating abruptly and nervously backed up. I snapped my head toward the hole. There was no time to wait for Wyl’s recovery. Something big was rumbling the dirt. The was the third time a large creature appeared to be crawling up from the ground. I could hear a groan from Wyl and Dusk’s panicked hisses. Warning sounds escalated until the [Messenger’s Pet] was almost stuttering.

“Come on, Wyl,” I said.

My pseudodragon friend hissed at the hole again then turned toward me. His cheeks were twisted back and shoulders hunched together. The oncoming danger scared him, and Dusk hadn’t shown any level of worry over [Charge] the giant [Heavenly Body Clone] or [Leviathan] the monstrous space worm from Advance.

“I know! We’re going,” I said while lifting up Wyl again.

The guard’s face winced but at a glance, he looked better.

“We can’t wait for it. Run, come on, Wyl, run.” We hobbled forth together. Wyl had more power but still couldn’t run. My side hurt from the tumble catching him. I risked looking over my shoulder to watch as a huge form swelled up from the hole. The being spread its arms wide to welcome the air.

Part of me paused for a moment and groaned at the idea of another giant boss monster. Then I remembered this wasn’t a game mechanic. According to the Voice, this hole in the ground was some vague representation of Mother’s slow destruction. Defeat meant deletion.

The idea panicked me. I had no clue what else had happened at Nero’s castle. Beth’s explanation had been cut off by an unexpected change in creatures. This thing, whatever it was, had huge arms and broad shoulders. It looked like a man made of shadow and a dozen stories tall.

It reached out and my mind tried to associate the noise. It was like a waterfall, or great river, or the sound of a tree falling with no one around to hear it. I looked to the left. A large hand smashed trees next to us. It drew back the bits of nature into a pit around its waist and they fell downward.

The other arm dropped on the right then pulled back more landscape. Wolves yipped and were caught in the mess. Vines rustled around its fingers and tried to fight. [Sonic Screecher]s flew and harassed it. This, thing, was trying to clean us up, like a colossal adult putting away children’s toys.

I felt like the damage would only grow. Each scoop of debris increased the being’s mass a little. It was growing large and the edges of the hole widening.

“I have to stop it,” I said.

“If we’re to die, I plan to die fighting,” Wyl said.

The guard pushed away from me and took [Morrigu’s Gift] in a smooth disarming move. I felt confused when the weapon responded and shifted to a simple sword. Lending him the blade was fine. William Carver had given it to me, I’m sure the old man would have approved.

But Wyl couldn’t die here. I missed the guard who had always been jovial, friendly and willing to help any new player that was sent his way. Wyl needed to live through this and return to doing a job he so clearly loved.

My arms grabbed the guard and he brought [Morrigu’s Gift] up toward my face. I ignored it and pushed him back down the path away from our giant beast. It was intent upon destroying everything nearby based on size order. A hand slammed down and grabbed another round of trees.

“No!” I yelled at Wyl. The memory of all those deceased [Mechanoid]s flashed through my mind. “I can die for you, but you can’t die for me.”

“Dusk, you watch him, I’ll, I’ll try to catch up again,” I said while shoving the [Messenger’s Pet]. Worry made me a bit more forceful than intended. His body was still far smaller than mine, and between our character status screens, Dusk was clearly far lower on [Brawn]. “Sorry, just, go. Please. For me it’s only a little bit of pain, for you, it’s worse. Let me bear this.”

“And the blade?” He held it up.

“Use it, stay safe.” The man had my blessings for all his help.

“No, you’ll need everything to get ahead. I’ve got the one I stole from that bounty hunter.” Another hand smashed down and buildings could be heard being scrapped into the pit. “You know what’s strange, convict,” Wyl said while looking at the weapon which had been returned to my hand. He was healed but looked ragged. All that shiny armor had been torn off in places days ago by other prisoners.

My eyes closed and I tried to figure out ways to get them moving. I gave in and shook my head back and forth.

The guard captain kept speaking, “You sounded just like Will. He couldn’t stand to see us Locals risk a life either.”

“Please go.” I squeezed my eyes shut. The sound of a huge beast behind me grew in vibration.

Wyl nodded once then moved on toward the west. Dusk looked at me. A puzzled question mark above his head. I shook my head and made a shooing motion. “Keep him safe. You leave this big guy to me.”

The [Messenger’s Pet] chirped once and lowered his head. I shooed him again and Dusk turned to run away. Another monstrous arm slammed down nearby, pulling in more trees.

I turned to face the looming beast. A foggy human stood at least fifty feet higher than it had. Tall enough to single-handedly wreck a town in reality. Tall enough to wrestle down a dragon. The feet hadn’t even cleared its pit of nothingness.

It had no eyes or mouth yet I could tell it looked at me. My body shook and messages came up about resisting the urge to become [Soiled]. A plan of attack couldn’t be formulated. This beast was an end game boss of sorts, by all the meanings.

I nodded and lifted the blade [Morrigu’s Gift] up. Feet cranked at high speeds. [Light Body]’s bonuses made me fast. Months of traveling around the globe gave me [Endurance]. And Lia, Shazam, she had given me and my autopilot the skills to carry on.

Possibilities flashed through in how to combat such a beast. I couldn’t risk the extra weight and limited vision of [Power Armor]. [Camouflage] wouldn’t work. [Wild Bill] stayed on my head during combat with a blessing that only a virtual world might allow.

There was nothing to do but charge in. Both eyes closed for a moment to steady myself. A song impossible to place hummed out and my head bobbed three times with the beat. On the fourth note, I ran. My face lit up with the rush of energy. [Blade Dancer] popped up a message about my weapon damage increasing. [Battle Hum] hit later citing an increase in musical synergy.

In my mind, the image of Lia flashed briefly, not her real life form trapped in a bed, but the avatar where she marched forth. What would Shazam think of the world falling apart? Perhaps it was best she passed as the number one warrior being all of this crushed her efforts. By the Voices, she probably would have enjoyed this fight just a little.

The man of fog moved speedily. His arm swung leveling tiny shacks and trees. [Sonic Screecher]s took to the air. Wolves howled in the distance. [Awareness Heightening] kicked in and I twisted to one side in a roll.

Both hands grasped around the blade and swung it at the arm which passed overhead. Even with my mind comprehending things at double the speed this creature moved freakishly fast.

The blade scraped across hardened skin as if I were using a butter knife against a pot. Sparks flew off and small bits of what had to be skin burned up. It roared and multiple system messages displayed.

I kept fighting. It wasn’t that my skills as a supreme warrior were on top. My only real possessions were these Voice gifted abilities, items with random powers, inflated stats, and excessive hours of moving my body in the ARC with a dance program.

The beast’s sweeping hand grasped at dirt. Huge fingers curled inward then yanked. It even dared to pull [Arcadia]’s earth into the abyss which spawned such a terror.

My face drained of color watching it all happen in slow motion. I ran forth with my weapon held to one side and leapt off the crumbled ground’s edge. An uncharacteristic roar of denial escaped my lungs.

It was destroying my world. This mindless being had only the purpose of removing land I had traveled and felt alive in for the first time in forever. It couldn’t be allowed.

My blade dug into its chest and I slipped down. Below me there was a pit that went even deeper than the one [Charge] crawled out of. Falling in there would be certain doom, failure to stop the monster. Everything.

“No!” I said in slow motion. One hand reached for [Morrigu’s Echo]. I would climb this damned thing all the way to its eyes and gouge them out. Anything to prevent it from swallowing [Arcadia] further.

One of the monster’s hands slammed over me. A broken message appeared in the darkness resulting. My eyes couldn’t find a path out. It was just too big for the likes of me to defeat alone.

W5at’s ha0pe^ng Herm&s? Be car$%%ul!

Total Health Remaining: 75%

I waved it away, kicked at the creature’s palm with my heel and risked activating [Gait of Bowman]’s specific effect. Armor clinked together as the creature tried to squeeze me tightly. My body screamed in fresh pain and felt like a grape about to pop. Pressure hit me behind the eyes and my mouth tried to swallow down upchucking guts. Even through the armor, this thing was far stronger than [Charge] had been.

It opened the hand slightly. A giant face loomed in front of me. I wasted no time throwing [Morrigu’s Echo] into its eyeball. It reeled back with a yell. My body went flying in the air. [Power Armor] was promptly turned off while Continue Online still moved in slow motion. I cast [Blink] again and ended up on the towering shadow man’s hand.

[Morrigu’s Echo] was [Recall]ed again. Its durability was down to half. I tried to run up the creature’s arm but the beast shook. [Morrigu’s Echo] jabbed down in a long icepick formation. A singular sharpened point functioned far better at piercing its hide. The creature shook and I held on. These motions were nothing to a man trained to ride [Callibur]s.

My body felt minuscule next to the shadow monster. I had faced larger beasts and come out alive. This thing paled in comparison to the [Leviathan]. It lacked the relentless bloodthirsty aura of Auntie Backstab. Nothing it could do would deter me from whittling away at its essence.

The bucking arm stopped and I quickly got upright. Time stayed slow as I ran up its limb. [Morrigu’s Gift] dragged behind me causing cuts and scratches. My enemy pulled its head back as I ran up the arm. Another hand lifted over to swat me like a bug. I [Blink]ed again. My new location was a few feet above its collar bone. I slashed across with [Morrigu’s Gift]. Smoke burned away at the contact.

It roared and I hacked again. The hand shifted then caught me. Giant fingers pinched my toga. [Blink] wasn’t off its cooldown yet. Everything existed in slow motion while [Awareness Heightening] allowed me to look around for an escape.

“Holy shit, that’s awesome!” someone shouted. It was followed immediately by another person screaming out.

“Uncle Grant!” My niece’s sharp tone rang through.

Breath came in labored gasps. Thank the Voices, I wasn’t alone in this world. The beast came to a conclusion regarding fighting me and tossed me high into the air rather than try to squish me again.

The wind whistled slowly around my head. My body held straight and I [Recall]ed [Morrigu’s Echo].

Gravity pulled me down once more. I accepted its call and gasped for a breath of air. [Awareness Heightening] allowed me a measure of calmness amid chaos. In my hands sat the gift William Carver had passed to me during his last seconds. It expanded to the absurdly large two-handed sword and pointed downward like a meteor.

This was the Uncle Grant my niece deserved to see. Happy and defiant against all insane odds. Elated at the thrill of meaningful combat. Not a sad lost man who couldn’t look people in the eyes.

I was better dammit. I finally felt like a fucking hero.

Session Eighty Two - I Be So Glad

My body was unstable and there were no [Red Imp] wings to right me. [Awareness Heightening] gave me a slow motion view of the world spinning below. As I fell downward with [Morrigu’s Gift] ready, I wondered how insane this would look to anyone who didn’t play the game.

There were times I worried these events were a dream. Was I just lying in the ARC having some fantasy where everything wrong in my life was gradually being fixed? A broken man like me going from previously suicidal with a dead fiancée and unborn child to Hermes felt that unreal.

Regardless, I felt alive. This place was more than computer code being pumped through my senses. My mind stopped wondering about sanity and focused on fighting.

Below me, the giant screamed in a delayed manner. Beth’s sword slashed through air creating glowing streaks. Her form stood out brightly as I hit the creature’s body. Pain rippled up my legs and certainly felt real.

[Morrigu’s Gift] dug into its chest and I slipped down. The beast cried out and reeled back. [Awareness Heightening] once again showed its broken properties because I had enough time to calmly stand up on its nearly vertical body. Both feet gained purchase. Side effects of prolonged usage would include nausea, vomiting and possible loss of consciousness. This monster would die first. I intended to give everything I had to ensure that.

“Keep hitting it!” I shouted. The beast didn’t bleed, but it burned away in chunks. [Morrigu’s Gift] pulled out of flesh with a searing flash of light. Dark flakes of shadow skin flew around like confetti in a parade, flaring up as they vanished like flaming paper.

The beast righted itself. [Blink] was off of cooldown, I grabbed my other weapon in a slow motion hustle then leapt backward with its sway. My body hung in the air before [Blink] put me behind the shadow man’s head. My giant enemy had no real brains and only a basic aggressive pattern. Given a Rank, this beast would be fifteen at most. Even then only because of its size and insane health, supposing such a monster could even be killed.

Inertia carried me into its neck where I jabbed my weapons. In real time, none of this would have been possible. I couldn’t fight giant monsters based on pure reactions. Not over a pit of endless abyss that represented a hole in the virtual world of Continue Online. But Hermes, the man I lay in the ARC dreaming about being, certainly had the abilities.

Both blades dug in. I alternated stabbing them swiftly as rhythmic pulsing filled my ears. My chest hurt a little as [Awareness Heightening] took its toll. I had to pray that we could drive it back before the creature got bigger.

Wait, it was smaller now, wasn’t it? Beth’s balls of multicolored energy were zipping around. Three swam together and formed a spinning bolt that cut through the air. A rainbow of colors splashed off the beast’s side and embers of burning shadow flesh fluttered away.

The creature was losing size. The pit beneath me appeared bottomless and I couldn’t tell where the legs actually were. I stabbed again while screaming in frustration.

“Hit it with the biggest spell you’ve got!” Awesome Jr. shouted.

“Casting! Fifteen seconds left!” my niece responded with an equal level of excitement. The two of them sounded like this was a roller coaster of epic proportions while I was fighting against something that might destroy the world.

Did they really not know? Of course they wouldn’t. They couldn’t be aware yet that Miz Riley had somehow killed Mother and the world would be crashing because of it. My gut clenched again as I reared back to stab the large man’s neck.

“You can use that sword to cast!? That’s so-“ his words were drowned out as my eardrums were boxed. The other huge hand slammed into me like I was a bug biting its neck. My teeth banged into the giant man’s surprisingly solid neck. [Awareness Heightening] faded with a jarring sensation.

System Error Diminishing!

We’ve determined Hermes is a potential pancake!

Total Health Remaining: 40%

The world abruptly went sideways as a giant hand tried to slide me off. My body flew through the air as if I had been unwelcome bird shit to be slung away in disgust. The pit’s edge came up quickly and I only had enough sanity to put the weapons into my player inventory storage so they wouldn’t be dropped.

My side crashed into the wall. One arm went numb. The other fingers scrambled for a handhold. Rock around me crumbled into the pit below. My feet kicked at the edge in panic. How far down did I have to fall before being subject to possible deletion?

I lost the hold and fell. The world was moving too fast now. [Blink] activated and put me midair where I fell into the ground again. Fresh pain reported in from my face and feet. Toes ached and my ankle refused to support standing. I need more skills, heals, or a regeneration ability.

Light went off on one side of the pit. Beth stood in front of a set of six cut circles. Her face dripped with sweat. The large creature was rearing back an arm to hit the young woman. I scrambled to stand up but the recently damaged leg gave out. My mind’s desire to override ARC signals and stand anyway met with failure.

[Blink] had four seconds left. The creature’s arm moved fast. Awesome Jr. threw one of his weird concoctions and a pile of green goo expanded into the air like a slimy airbag. Its swinging limb slowed to a brief stop. It jerked once, then twice. The mess of materials Awesome had released was going to fail.

I took a breath, pulled out [Morrigu’s Gift] then [Blink]ed again. My body tumbled into its new position. Everything ached but there was no choice other than to grit my teeth and bear it.

Beth’s face looked haggard. Casting those spells must have taken a lot of energy out of her. Otherwise her health was fine. I refused to let the arm hit her though. The idea of this former little girl being hurt on my watch washed away some of my pain.

Dusk’s gift came in two forms. One required me to catch a ball of flame that came out of my mouth. The other made me feel like a comical virtual dragon shooting fireballs out. Maybe in Advance Online I could have stuck to the Gatling Laser. I looked at the shaking hand and wondered how the beast was so stupid it couldn’t figure out how to use its other arm.

Maybe destruction programs weren’t required to have intelligence. It didn’t look like the sort of being that might suddenly drop everything and wonder why there was a need to delete. Plus, we didn't have the luxury to wait for an existential crisis.

The man stared at Beth. There was no doubt that it would go right through me and slam into her. What tools did I have to stop that blow? I could have taken [Wings of The Messenger] and flown around to distract it, but no, I had a few other hopes.

A shuddering breath passed while trying to ignore the ARC’s feedback of pain. My throat swallowed then bulged weirdly as [Breath of Flame] activated. Without my hand to catch it the ball of fire shot out much like Dusk’s did. Fire pelted into the shadow creature’s face while Beth made three slashes behind me.

“Awesome!”

Its head stayed locked on Beth. I took a deliberate breath and another ball of fire seared a path outward. I swallowed afterward and it felt like I hadn’t had any water in days.

“Awesome! I love this game!” the young male declared again. A potion crashed into the arm and weird yellow looking lightning caused the monster’s arm to jerk uncontrollably. “I don’t know how long these stuns will hold!”

One last ball of fire went out before I had nothing left. Messages came up citing [Hoarse] and [Winded]. Dusk cranked these out ceaselessly and a few left me gasping.

“Got it!” Beth shouted as lights brightened up the night. Six total circles had been cut into the sky. Each one mixed together her green, light blue and scarlet spell schools.

The arm shook loose of goo and continued a path directly for my niece. I slammed a foot down and activated [Power Armor]. My toga flowed and joined together with my hat. The clinks of metal swam over my arms and legs. [Morrigu’s Gift] pulled out in its two-handed form. I flipped it sideways and braced for impact as the impossibly huge arm hurled into my body.

“I’m out!” Awesome Jr. shouted.

This damned monster was trying to close line me like I was some toddler in its way. Boots dug into the ground. Jarring rippled every portion of my damaged body. My ankle threatened to buckle, and my stupid health bar dropped quickly for every second I strained against the arm’s force.

“Beth!” I almost screamed between gritted teeth.

“It’s going!” she shouted.

I heard a sharpening hum. Light flared and the creature gave a roar. The pressure on my arms fell away and I stumbled. My body turned just enough to see the creature’s chest with large holes poking through.

- [Barricade] sustained for ten seconds against a creature over 8000% bigger

- [Barricade] Rank 5 or higher

- Skill added; [Immovable Object]

I fell forward into the messages. They shattered through my visor and vanished into a splash of light. The armor slid away and someone ran over, their footsteps drowned out by my beating heart.

The beast was sinking into its pit while groaning loudly. A hand sat there curled in a claw of protest as the sinking continued. Finally, no part of the beast of shadows remained. A bottle was being shoved into my face to drink. My eyes were locked on the pit where our attacker’s entry into the world refused to close up. It sat there like an ugly scar on the land of [Arcadia]. A notice that even if we fought our actions would do nothing more than stave off eventual destruction.

“Drink this, Hermes. It’ll help,” the young man said.

Cool liquid soothed my throat as it went down. Awesome Jr. was cradling my head and trying to lift me up. My head throbbed and everything hurt. His potion filled part of my health bar and one or two pains went away. I still felt dizzy and nothing was in focus.

The thought occurred to me again. These small abyssal holes wouldn’t close up.

“I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve ever fought.”

“I’ve fought bigger.” I thought of the eyeball on that [Leviathan]. It had been absolutely insane in size. Putting our recent combat into perspective helped me move easier. Some of the fog lifted from my head. It might have been Awesome Jr.’s potion.

“How did you get here so fast?” My breath was running short. One foot shuffled in front of the other as I looked over the edge. Part of me was terrified a grasping hand would come up in an overtime boss mode fight, but nothing happened. Only black emptiness existed down there.

I took a breath as another scary thought occurred to me. Was that pit, which had tried to swallow us all, a part of the fear that King Nero had before? He spoke of a black abyss. Did he mean deletion? Or did the Voices bring him back with a healthy fear of what may come? Deletion would be death to a digital creature.

“There’s a trail of destruction through the woods, plus nothing tried to stop me. I picked off a few of the wolves for easy skills,” Beth said.

My head slowly turned around to see my niece. She wore a proud look. I smiled weakly and kept huffing.

“That was some spell.” I tried to give credit where it was due. “And those potions helped.” My hand turned to a weak thumbs up for the young man.

“Yeah! Wow, I wish I could learn real magic. That would be awesome. Or that sword, or those movement things. I’m jealous. You’re even better with them than last time.”

“I’ve had some practice since then. But how did you even get here?” I stared at the other man.

“I found her. I and the others split up, you remember them right? SweetPea, HotPants”

“And Shadow.” I nodded. James had mentioned there were a ton of players named Shadow around this world.

“Yeah. It’s awesome,” he muttered. A second later he flinched and looked behind him, but no one was there. The movement made me laugh, he probably expected HotPants to bonk him on the head. Part of me expected it too after seeing that very scene multiple times.

“Convict, are you alive!?” a rougher sounding male shouted from farther away.

“It’s Hermes!” I waved. Wyl and I needed to have a serious talk. We all did, about this event with the pit and what roles we had all been assigned. “We’re all clear!”

Wyl walked slowly in our direction, and the three of us met him halfway. He stared at the ground in wonder while shaking his head. Around us, the formerly lush forest was missing huge swaths of trees. Roots were in clumps and dirt had been sheared off at a completely flat angle. “Someone needs to tell me what happened.”

“A giant monster.” Awesome Jr. leapt into the conversation. “Hermes here was fighting it, I haven’t seen anyone take that kind of damage in a long time.”

“Yeah. That last blow, I thought for sure we were fucked,” Beth said with a confusing curse word. I raised an eyebrow at her and my niece looked down and blushed slightly.

“I know some of it, but anything I share will sound insane, and we need to get somewhere safe.” My head tilted and eyes scanned around. There was no knocking or other signs of wildlife.

“Does this have to do with Auntie?” Beth asked from behind me. Her face pinched a bit around the eyes.

I tried to smile for her. It felt fake but the system provided a notice about my [Acting] skills kicking in. Maybe that’s how I got them in the first place, by being good at pretending everything was alright.

“You’re hiding something,” Beth said. “I can tell.”

“Now’s not really the time, and we’ve got a long road ahead of us.”

Both the teens tried to get information out of me after that. I couldn’t bring myself to answer. That fight had been hell and everything ached. Their constant stream of questions were ignored and eventually they talked amongst themselves about their characters.

Wyl walked along parallel to me. His eyes kept turning toward the other two and his face would scrunch up. Each time the sickening feeling in my gut grew. I tried to distract myself with thoughts of Xin and ways to grow as a player.

What would I do if we fought one of those monsters together? Would she have the strength to combat them on her character? Could we escape anywhere safely if those things were following me? That knocking sound had been centered nearby the entire time.

Hours later and Wyl stopped walking as fast. Awesome Jr. said we should make a camp and I couldn’t bring myself to argue. It was late in the night back in reality. Beth should have been asleep but she had pushed through. Wyl couldn’t last much longer.

Dusk was the only one who appeared to have boundless energy. He winged around a few additional laps even once we stopped to make camp. I set about the fire while Beth pulled out food. At some point, I ended up sitting down while staring at a small but warm fire. Crumbs from a sandwich sat in my hand.

Wyl sat off to one side and sharpened a sword. I thought it was the same one he had stolen from a player back at the [Abyss of Light]. He was exceptionally skilled at disarming people and stealing their weapons.

“Here, let me do that,” the younger man said to Wyl. “I take care of the weapons and armor for my group, so I’ve got a lot of practice.”

“What’s your skill at?” Thorny asked over the soft grinding noise.

Wyl chose not to respond and handed the sword over. The young teen and his ugly green cloak sat there calmly inspecting the blade for nicks. He lifted it to eye level, one hand on the hilt as the blade rested across the back of his arm.

“Five, as of last week. I ended up polishing an entire stockpile of items for Shadow’s small army,” he said while squinting.

“An army? Your guild member has an army?”

“Oh yeah. The League of Shadows. I kid you not, an army of players named Shadow, or something close.” Awesome Jr. smiled as he set down the blade. Cloth and a tiny whetstone came out of his player inventory.

“All of them are like, vigilante justice player killers who are hell-bent on making sure no guilds try to monopolize dungeons and stuff.”

I watched them talk while feeling absolutely numb. Dusk stalked around the fire a few times staring into its depths before wandering over. His face looked a bit haggard and scratches showed up in multiple places.

“Seriously? That guy is in charge of all of them?”

“Yeah. But some are like, ShadeX or Nightfall, or other stupid names. They’ve got close to two hundred players in the guild, nearly all with sneaking skills or rogues. A month ago, before we joined up, they dismantled the entire High Rollers leadership in four days.” Awesome paused his weapon caretaking and lifted one hand. It crossed his neck with a cutting motion as his tongue stuck out to the side. “They snuck into their base and offed players and autopilots alike then kept griefing them for four Earth days.”

“Jeez.” Beth whistled. She knew exactly what questions to ask. My own method of dealing with other players had devolved to smile, nod, and hand them a letter.

Fingers clasped over the tube for a moment. There were no messages inside or in my inventory. Based on what that Voice of Faith and Sanctuary had said, most of them were probably busy trying to keep the world from falling apart. Except for Mezo anyway, it made sense that she might not care at all. It was the end of the world and she was probably trying to convince all the other Voices to join her in a lust filled hurrah.

“But still, getting an army of players? Was that a unique quest? How did they even agree to that?” My niece scooted closer with an excited look.

My eyes closed and I wondered what SweetPea might think. Beth and her were clearly different people. Girls got jealous often didn’t they? I didn’t remember that ever being a problem with Xin. How would she feel finding out I had tried to date someone once after her passing? Such thoughts kept me silent and introspective while the other two chatted away.

“I guess. I think it started from his old trainer in Haven Valley, plus that guy is like, always grinding out skills while SweetPea and I have to go to school.” He shrugged then put away the stone and inspected Wyl’s sword again. “HotPants might know more, but I think she was doing some monk training style stuff. Like, zen waterfall face the sunrise stuff. God knows she could use meditation.”

“Really?” Beth pulled out another chunk of food and offered it around. Wyl shook his head slightly, but Dusk felt comfortable enough to take a bit from her hand.

“Yeah. She’s angry like, all the time.” Awesome Jr. kept talking and flipped the sword over. “The game even changed her hair color because of the prolonged rage usage. Apparently if you hold onto rage abilities for more than an hour it starts shifting to red? I dunno. I can’t get upset enough to trigger it.”

I wondered if Wyl remembered Awesome Jr. The young babbling teen hadn’t been one of his charges. Shadow and HotPants had. Either way, none of it triggered a reaction of out the guard captain. Likewise Awesome Jr. didn’t pry about Wyl’s current situation so far from home.

It felt weird. Almost like the guard captain was extremely annoyed with Travelers. How exactly had he ended up as a convict caretaker? Dealing with people who committed crimes against people in his world might have only been the latest leg of a series of turns.

“Yeah. I have another friend who follows a berserker path, at Rank five they get an aura, and at like twenty it’ll light up a room and they start grinding their teeth,” Beth said while waving her hands.

They kept conversing back and forth about game mechanics and my own mind continued to drift. Wyl looked like he was lost watching the Travelers talk, then walked over near me and conked out six feet away. I stared at the back of his head and sighed. Locals couldn’t keep up with Travelers in terms of energy. We could go for days in their view of things.

Dusk had also fallen asleep at some point across my legs. He reminded me of Mister Snuffles, who had used to sleep next to me in bed when I was small. I could have logged out but wanted to sit here and think.

I held the blade in my hand and stared at it. My gift from William Carver. The [Red Imp] inherited abilities of [Blink] and [Awareness Heightening]. My two skills from [Gait of Bowman]. Those tools were damned near perfect for the fighting style I had engaged in. A hand crept up to my throat and felt it. [Breath of Flame] was another strangely useful item. Did the online world adapt them to me, or did I learn to use the skills given? Had the Voices known what abilities to give me in anticipation?

What about [NPC Conspiracy]? They had given me an ability that might be truly broken and put limited uses on it. There were reasons behind these actions that didn’t make any sense.

Xin wasn’t here, but we would meet soon. Wyl was okay. I lay back and tried not to doze off completely. Some players, like Requiem, could sleep while logged into the ARC. I always preferred to disconnect completely.

Awesome Jr. was sitting near the fire facing sideways. He had two vials of liquid out and shook them every few seconds.

“So, do you have a way to get to Xin?” I finally asked. Beth and Awesome Jr. had been sending tells back and forth regarding this before.

“We should be able to meet at the Mire, in about a day or two.”

Walking more didn’t interest me. Especially not if I could pass out and meet my fiancée again upon waking. Work could be easily put off. Maybe I should finally quit and tell my boss it was his fault for getting me this game.

“Can I autopilot? I need sleep.” I asked.

“Sure. I know I’ve got to log back out before my mom catches me. I think I can get another few hours of rest, Uncle Grant, you stay safe okay?”

“Of course, munchkin.”

Beth’s face puffed up and Awesome Jr. tightened his lips in a suppressed smile. A moment later my niece's face went slack as the autopilot kicked in. I wondered again what the difference was between William Carver’s version that had spoken to me once and player versions. They operated under the same principle right?

“We should be okay for the two days,” Awesome Jr. said while fiddling with potions. There was a small pop as gas shot into the air. Whatever it was made the teen pause to smile. “My classes are in the afternoon so I’ll stay around and watch. I’m going to throw down a Potion of Safe Passage. The smell will drive away any monster spawns.”

“Okay.” I looked at Dusk. Fingers genially scratched behind his ears and the small guy yawned without opening his eyes. “Cupcakes,” I whispered. “Cupcakesss.”

He sniffed once then lifted up to look around. Tiny dragonish claws dug into my calf which made me tense. The [Messenger’s Pet] stood and stretched before focusing on me.

“Are you okay watching my autopilot?” I asked. He had never objected to keeping an eye on me before but asking felt polite to the smart little guy. We had only reunited recently.

The [Messenger’s Pet] rippled with an early morning shudder then chirped. Above his head floated the very clear picture of cupcakes and donuts.

“There are some in my Atrium, just try not to fall asleep this time, okay? And do you remember how to use the trash can?”

He nodded slowly then blasted a ball of fire. We probably weren’t talking about the same method.

“That’s awesome,” he said.

“No, awesome’s your father,” I responded and smiled.

“You did that last time too. You know all these things even though we’ve only met a few times. Is it a skill, or are you stalking us?”

“Sort of, and no. I don’t have time to stalk people.” My statement was misleading. I did have the admin access to all their ARC devices while in the Trillium van. It was possible to find out information regarding pretty much anyone I wanted to.

Using it meant I wasn’t playing the game, and right now I needed to keep my life in order until I found Xin. Two days away, one night’s sleep. I could wake up and log in, then hopefully see her smiling face waiting for me.

Awesome Jr. hesitated a moment before asking, “Can you explain more? I don’t want to pry, but it sounds like we’re missing something important. I thought maybe you just didn’t want to explain it in front of family.”

“No. I try to be an open book, but I don’t really want to cover it more than once. It’s crazy enough, so let’s wait until we all meet up. Maybe being with Xin will help,” I said. Would the Voices stop me from talking about my insider knowledge? It didn’t make sense that they would. In theory, they would welcome all the help we could muster.

“I guess that’s fair. They should be meeting with us in two days. Do you think we’ll see more of those monsters?”

I tilted my head and listened for the knocking sound. There didn’t seem to be any noises. Dusk looked undisturbed. Wyl still slept, being worn out from the day’s travels. Sunrise wasn’t far away. The real world was near three in the morning and I couldn’t last much longer myself.

“No. I think we’re okay for a little while.” My words managed to remain stable. I felt like we were going in circles. My thoughts sat on their small list of priorities. Help Wyl get home, find Xin. Enjoy the end of virtual reality together until we had an obvious way through this.

I swallowed and tried not to miss the feeling of her in my arms. We could have been camping together if I hadn’t been made a damned prisoner. Yet, becoming a [Convict] was what allowed me to pass the Voice’s trial and allow Genesis in the first place. If it was really needed and hadn’t been a test.

“Autopilot it is. I’m taking a quick bio, then I’ll get back and watch over the herd of cats. See you on the other side.” Awesome Jr. waved once then the Traveler’s body went sort of pastel in color. Life faded a bit from behind the avatar’s eyes and it packed items from around the campfire. I had been too lost in my own thoughts to say good-bye in time.

System Notice!

Please be aware of the following. Due to not having an active quest or being in a dungeon the autopilot will follow discussed goals. Your autopilot will attempt to complete these goals giving priority to those items listed at the top. Actual results may vary. Current priorities are as follows:

Protect Wyl until arrival at [Haven Valley]

- Reach travel destination with Awesome Jr.

“Oh,” I muttered. This is the first time there had ever been a series of goals to pop up. All these months playing and normally my autopilot simply worked on getting to the next letter. Normally each letter gave me a quest.

Wyl mumbled in his sleep but barely stirred. His face looked wet and I pretended not to notice. We carried grief, and I was afraid his was far more fresh than mine.

“Add finding Xin, keeping my niece safe, then stopping those game destroying monsters,” I said. The goals were a bit far out there for a virtual world. Still, Beth could feel pain if monsters got her and letting that happen wasn’t in my nature. While I wasn’t her father no one else came closer.

Family meant more to me than anything. That especially included Xin. The list reformed slightly. Keeping Wyl safe remained pretty high on my priorities and I felt satisfied that his life weighed above the other tasks. Though, it felt weird to place priority on a digital existence that I had only known for a month. William Carver would have wanted it that way and his weapon had helped me thus far.

I had fought that monster and survived. I thought the old man would have been proud of his choice to entrust me with his legacy. One hand slid over [Morrigu’s Gift] as I watched over Wyl for another few minutes before sleep won out.

Session Eighty Three - Fear’s Stage

An alarm had been going off for a while before my body actually responded. It rang just loud enough to wake me but morning drowsiness made getting up difficult. Virtual reality had screwed up my sleep schedule.

One eye sat closed while the other tried to bring up an in-house digital display. All this technology and the off button still felt so far away. Projectors mounted in the room’s corners and ceiling aligned to cast out an image. A bright red cross sat there daring me to shut the noise off. My finger jabbed at least three times before finally shutting up the sound.

On any normal day, I would have been getting out of bed putting on my clothes and walking toward the Trillium van. From there I would choose a simple job that sat out of range of other repair employees and try to wake up from there. Coffee and breakfast would come from a drive through on the way, and my teeth might be brushed while in the car.

Since playing Continue Online the routine of handling each day had been shattered. I took a few labored breaths trying to figure out why my back felt tense. My head hurt, and muscles ached from the EXR-Seven’s feedback. Apparently high heart rate and swinging at a digital giant counted as heavy exertion.

Scenes from last night played through my brain again. A huge monster crawled out of a pit after making knocking sounds that only I and the Voices were capable of hearing. Did [Altered Aura] have a part to play in that? The game text had recognized me as being too close to the Voices, and I was set aside from Travelers and Locals in that regard. [NPC Conspiracy] had made Locals treat me like one of their own anyway.

When was the last time an NPC or virtual person had called me a Traveler? They acknowledged I was from another world and at the same time danced around it like I had been there all along. AIs were with me at work. They were in my ARC and in the end Xin had joined their ranks.

Feet finally moved and I tried to work out the kinks. Ten minutes wouldn’t set me back much. Maybe I was nervous. Meeting in person wasn’t the same as talking on a video call or passing notes back and forth. I shook my head, those were excuses designed to downplay my nervousness. It was time to log into the ARC and meet up with her. Well, and the others, but mostly Xin.

I lay down and logged into the Atrium. There was a mess everywhere. Apparently Dusk had eaten more than cupcakes. Even now the culprit lay down on a couch that I didn’t remember purchasing. He looked like a huge cat with wings purring contentedly.

One finger poked at the back of his head. The [Messenger’s Pet] opened his eyes and yawned widely.

“Did you even try to use the trashcan?” I pointed at the garbage around us. My eyes scanned the mess again, and I recognized the couch after a while. It was the same one I had used as part of replicating the old house.

It felt oddly fitting for Dusk to be resting on it. He stretched and claws tore into the siding a bit. I frowned at him.

“I asked you to use the trashcan.” My eyebrows lowered.

His head shook and wings shivered. Dusk jumped up, completely ignoring me, and scampered through the doorway to Continue Online. His tail sat low to the ground the entire way.

“You could at least do the other thing I asked about!” I shouted after him.

Dusk had apparently forgotten about my own grand plan. It wasn’t one I had discussed out loud since the Voices might not approve of me using the [Messenger’s Pet] to transfer items from my Atrium down to Continue Online. Maybe they wouldn’t care. My chest heaved with a virtual sigh as I tried to find the box.

“ARC!” I shouted at the machine.

“Awaiting Input.”

“Where’s the ring?” I asked.

“Clarification needed to formulate an answer,” the interface stated.

“What do you mean clarification? How many other rings have I bought?” I felt fed up with nearly everything. The alarm clock blaring had set me off poorly, and seeing my Atrium in complete disorder didn’t help. Dusk’s claw marks on the couch served as icing on the situation.

“Clarification is needed,” it insisted.

“ARC,” I chewed on my lip for a moment, “please tell me where the ring I purchased a few days ago went.”

Dusk’s head poked back in through the Continue Online doorway. Behind him sat darkness, and in his mouth was a small box with wrapping around it.

“Ring located. It is currently in front of you.” The ARC placed a bobbing arrow over the box in Dusk’s mouth. The [Messenger’s Pet] appeared to be laughing. There were no thought bubbles above his head to assist while here in the Atrium. I was willing to bet he had those silly question marks and a smile.

“Thank you,” I directed my words toward the ARC while walking to the doorway. The reason my ARC couldn’t find the ring or sounded clueless had to do with my companion running away with it.

Dusk vanished again while I chased after him shaking my fist. “You better not lose that or no more cupcakes!” I said.

The Atrium faded away as I logged straight into Hermes. I looked around. We stood near four stone pillars that towered over me. The only player in sight was Shadow.

“We meet again, Hermes,” he said and gave me a slight nod. The teenager’s voice was gruffer than his face implied. I squinted and tried to make out more features but something about his face looked indistinct.

“Where are the others, or Xin? I thought we were meeting her.”

“She’s already on the other side, getting ready. Thorny, Awesome Jr. and Wyl went through as well.”

“Oh.” I frowned and wrinkled my forehead. “Why couldn’t my autopilot keep going?”

“Autopilots can’t do this part. Not the first time.”

“That’s new,” I said slowly while trying to reevaluate what was going on. Awesome Jr. had mentioned something about a doorway or portal to [The Shadow Zone], but I had no idea what exactly it had entailed.

“I’ll open the door, but first, I need to warn you, the path through is a bit of a mind fuck,” the older teen said. He didn’t smile and his eyes glanced to one side.

“How so?”

“It’s, like a nightmare. One so real, that separating the game from everything else is nearly impossible,” Shadow said. “And the longer you’ve played, the worse the visions are. Thorny will probably have a hard time.”

“It’s just a game though, we have touchstones, right?” I had set one up myself. Touchstones were essentially items stored in reality that were used to help a player differentiate between in-depth horror and reality. Other ARC games could get really disturbing or were designed to mess with people by replicating their house or neighborhood.

I hadn’t run into that in Continue Online yet, but it sounded like this place would do the same thing. What kind of nightmares could be worse than the reality I lived? It was a thought I regretted immediately.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of my people about it, and most refuse to talk about what happened. Those that do talk confirmed what I saw. It may include anything, people you’ve met in-game, or sometimes stuff from reality—” I shrugged. My life had been through hell before, how much worse could it get?

“Alright,” Shadow said. His hands fingered a blade tucked into one belt. “Last warning, if you go by a window, or glass, or anything reflective and hear a tapping. Don’t look over.”

I raised my eyebrows in amazement. That kind of warning didn’t happen without cause. I remembered the knocking just prior to that giant shadow man breaking through. Were they related?

“What happens?” I asked.

Shadow swallowed and looked outright frightened. “You don’t want to know,” he said in a gruff voice. It sounded like a young man playing at being an adult.

He held up one hand and marked a symbol above his head. Light flared and behind the player, a doorway appeared. My mouth hung open. Even with all my travels and insider knowledge, there were still so many neat things in this game. I couldn’t tell what he had done, it looked almost like how Thorny, I mean Beth, marked spells with her sword.

“That’s neat.” I nodded and smiled. Even with his warnings, this situation felt exciting.

“I hope you fare better than HotPants did. She tried to kill us all upon being booted out. The game got her mind so twisted around that she couldn’t tell we were her own party.”

“That sounds like her.” I smiled a little upon remembering the woman and her red-tipped hair. She was a bundle of anger. The four of them had come a long way after [Haven Valley], and down a much different path than I.

“Try to remember my warnings, but if you don’t, then try to hold on for as long as you can. If you don’t make it through the visions, you won’t be able to take this door for another game day.”

“Alright,” I responded then walked up to the doorway. It sat there between the rocks and looked out of place. The rocks were archaic-seeming, and the doorknob looked like it belonged on any suburban house. It was a faded red color that looked more like rust than any bright coloring.

“Go quick,” Shadow said with a little less gruffness. “I’ll wait out here until the others tell me you made it.”

The door swung outward with a creek. Inside sat blackness similar to my Continue Online entry way. I stepped through and felt something brush against my face. My hand came up into fabric instead of webbing and for a moment, I was confused.

Then my head felt heavy. Dusk was somewhere ahead of me. I could hear his chirping. When had he entered the doorway? I kept one arm out in front of me and pushed past the dense fabric. They felt like thick blankets, weights dragged along their bottoms keeping them steady.

What were these? I stepped forward while pushing through and felt the open air against my searching hands. My heart skipped a beat in worry of what fear the game might dredge up. Feet stepped through and for a moment, there was a flat platform in front of me.

Light flashed above and to the right, my arms went up to shield me and I found myself suddenly in a new position. A wall appeared in front of me and two people were dancing on the other side. In the wall, a window was sketched then it fell away to reveal the other side.

A woman danced in a white dress with another figure. The man was clearly taller than her and wore a bright smile. I walked closer to try to figure out who they were. She had almond skin and pitch black hair. I recognized the dress from somewhere.

It looked like Xin, dancing with another man. The scene made me blink and swallow rapidly. What did it mean? She twirled nearby and all I could see was her face, clear and happy. I banged on the window but the shorter woman didn’t turn.

She didn’t notice me. My eyes closed and I tried not to feel a pit of dread. What if Xin did find someone else, a digital person that would understand her more than I? My throat felt dry and I tried to swallow again. Shadow had said these were fears.

“This isn’t real.” I stepped back from the window with my hands up. “This isn’t real.”

“What is reality, Mister Legate?” someone said right next to me. I turned quickly to find James standing no less than four feet away. His arms crossed over a heavy midsection. The man looked at me briefly, then turned back to the happily dancing couple.

“That’s not real.” I pointed.

There was another flash of light from the right side of my vision and the scene changed.

Xin stood off in the distance laughing while hugging another man. Around them was a field of flowers and one lone tree. The sunset dipped in the background creating a red haze that bled through lingering clouds. Her face was pressed into the male's chest.

“That’s not real!” I yelled while pounding on the glass that still existed.

“You’re so strong, handsome, and brave. Much better than the last man I used to love,” she whispered the out of place words that hurt to hear.

“It’s not real!” The world tilted backward and a light flashed again.

“Is your world more real than ours? Are not the thoughts in your head the truth? Is this not real?” James kept speaking but his words were unimportant. My heart rate jumped as the scene around me took on its new form.

This time, we were in a bedroom. Xin sat aside another figure, a sheet draped around her revealing only smooth skin and a muscular backside. Toes stuck out of the sheet's edge clearly demonstrating another man under her. Off to the side sat a hat that looked vaguely familiar. My mouth opened to scream and fight only neither arm worked.

I looked down again and saw my work jumpsuit with its bright ‘Trillium’ logo. Straps lay around each arm bolting me to a chair. They felt heavy. This wasn’t real, was it? I struggled to find a trace of my menu options but they were gone.

Fingers wiggled to bring up a message and make the scene in front of me stop. Xin sounded like a woman lost in the throes of passion. The machine which ran my virtual dive device didn’t respond. My head shook back and forth denying the sudden imagery. This wasn’t real dammit, she was faithful and always had been.

Light flashed again.

Hal Pal’s face appeared from the side. It smiled and the expression didn’t have a muted tone like normal. This grin looked similar to the Jester’s merriment but on my friend’s body. I tried to cry out but words were difficult to speak. Something blocked my mouth now.

“Now, Mister Legate. It’s time for your operation,” Hal Pal said.

Metal fingers pressed against my head and forced me to look toward the left. An operation room sat around me with glinting objects. Knives of various shapes were there along with things which twisted into weird shapes. A display screen sat about showing a picture of a man who looked like me.

I shook and the person on the screen vibrated with budding anger. My chest heaved to scream and so did it. But neither of us moved our legs because they were gone, separated and sitting behind the shiny blades.

Fingers reached out to grasp onto objects. They couldn’t anchor upon the metal table I had been strapped to. [Morrigu’s Echo] refused to respond to [Recall]. Neither foot felt bound in [Gait of Bowman] but I kicked anyway in hopes of getting [Power Armor].

Hal Pal lifted up an item. It was long and the top spun at high speeds with a grinding noise. James reached out and pulled the gag from my mouth. How long had he been standing there?

“What is that?” I panicked and asked about the object in Hal Pal’s hands first.

“We are making you like us.” The Hal Pal unit held up a saw and the grinding noise resumed.

“What?!” I panicked.

“It’s unfortunate. All those messy chemicals are getting in the way of your processing power. We believe true optimization can only be achieved once they have been removed.” It leaned in and the grinding sound increased. Pain spiked at the back of my skull while rattling made teeth chatter.

I shut my eyes and struggled to get away. Light flashed once more, this time from my left. The restraining pressure loosened and my eyes opened to figure out what had happened. The scene changed.

“How do you feel now, Mister Legate?” the black man asked from nearby. His hands were crossed over a large belly.

“What’s happening?” I tried to remember what Shadow had said before. There had been a warning, only the world around me felt horribly disjointed to fully grasp what had happened. Lights flashed, my attention bounced from object to object.

This looked exactly like my home’s bathroom. The sink counter sat mostly clear and lighting gave the room a dim glow. James stood in the doorway looking down at me. My brain wasn’t putting the pieces together fast enough. Every time I tried to get a grip on what was happening things changed. I needed to get up and make it through this place and find the real Xin. I had to know this was all only a dream.

“Now, now. You know the rules. I ask a question, you answer, then it will be your turn,” he said. His deep deliberate way of speaking stirred vision upward.

“James?” The beat of my heart felt dull. A delayed pulsing sound filled my ears like a wave crashing to the shore. Water splashed as I turned to look.

“I asked how it feels, Mister Legate.” He stood in the doorway and glared down at me.

Shaking my head didn’t help. Both shoulders sagged and my white belly seemed fatter than ever. Briefly, I squinted at the sight, hadn’t I lost a lot of weight recently? This wasn’t real, was it? All those rapid flashes felt like scenes from a nightmare. Finding Xin, seeing her with another man. But what did being in a bathtub mean?

I tried to look at James again then asked, “How does what feel?”

“How does it feel to know that despite our best efforts you’re only human?” James pointed at the liquid around me. I hadn’t noticed it until now.

The water felt warm but my arms were heavy. They slipped under the surface and a sharp pain at the end of either wrist crawled up my arms. The water ran crimson as an unclear liquid diluted the bath. The effect was oddly pretty.

“You’ve done it again you see. It’s a weakness,” James said from his door.

I had tried to kill myself again it seemed. Weight pulled at my head. It kept dipping down while habit made me want to look toward the person speaking. A glint in the distance caught my eye. On the countertop sat an object that didn’t belong. Xin’s engagement ring, it wasn’t the touchstone I had set up in my house but the jewelry wasn’t in reality.

“That wasn’t real,” I said while breathing grew harder to do. “This isn’t real…”

“What is reality?” James asked again.

Blackness swam over me and the pain in my arms faded. Both eyes opened as a different nightmare began. I stood in my front room with coffee at my lips. James’ figure didn’t follow me into this latest scene. The small two bedroom location normally sat in a quiet neighborhood, only now a chorus of voices rattled the walls. My television flipped on then a news reporter started talking.

“This morning two people were found dead in their home. Authorities suspect they were the latest in a series of murders tied to recent tension between sympathizers of the artificial intelligences and those opposed to their validation as self-aware,” the figure said while faces appeared in boxes to their left.

The coffee mug dropped to the ground as recognition hit me. Those faces. I knew them. They were people I had sat across from for almost a year at dinner every night. My sister, she looked tired in the picture. Beth’s body had wasted away, no longer the fit creation molded by EXR-Sevens and hours exercising in the machine.

The television picture shifted to something else and people shouted outside again. Their voices wove together in a muffled chant which managed to make it inaudible. I used two fingers to pry apart the blinds.

A mob sat on the curb of my property. The Trillium van tipped to one side and burning. They had signs held up with words painted on them.

“Come out, you filthy AI lover!” My heart rate jumped. What was going on? Tightness gripped me and my back felt tense. I had the urge to find a corner of my small house and hide.

A brick crashed through the window, and my electronics went haywire. Messages flickered from the room’s digital display about a hacking attempt.

“Stop!” I shouted at the walls.

I ran to my room. This had to be a complete and total dream. There were too many different things happening. A crack came from the front door and shouting got even louder. I scrambled for the area under my bed and pulled out a small box. It sat behind photos and other small mementos of years ago.

“He’s in here somewhere!” a male voice shouted.

My shaky fingers lifted the box top. Inside the box sat a small piece of paper. If this were real Xin’s ashes would have been inside. I unfolded the note, and written there were the words, ‘What is reality?’. Xin’s ashes had always served to remind me that my old nightmares were real, that she was gone and that was simply how life worked.

“This isn’t real,” I whispered feeling certain. Footsteps crowded behind me. I turned to see a group of blurred faces streaming through my bedroom door. “This isn’t real,” I whispered and shut my eyes.

Muted screams of an angry mob disappeared. News playing in the other room cut off with a click. The box in my hands that should have been filed with Xin’s ashes vanished and my hands felt light.

When my eyes opened again there was a flattened surface underneath me. I looked around and saw the curtains hanging heavily on one side. On the other end was a small light and a second set of fabric hanging down. Behind me was a wall that seemed painted with a bad rendition of my bedroom. To my right were rows of seats.

I was on a stage. An actor playing out some part while being unaware. This place really had been chock-full of fears that came by swiftly. Such a series of feats couldn’t have been generated without intelligence behind it. A Voice or some other AI had brought all that to play.

“I know you’re there,” I said while trying to remain calm. The stage may look empty, but someone had been in charge of this hell fueled nightmare. I refused to get up until that someone answered to my anger.

Curtains on either end of the stage refused to move but managed to look heavier. A spotlight sat up above in a catwalk and pointed down. Around me sat the circle of illumination bringing focus to everything. I looked out toward the audience and found all the seats empty. If I were an actor on the stage, then no one had been watching. At least, no one that I could see from here.

I risked playing through the rapid-fire events again in my mind. That couldn’t have been James. James had never called me Mister Legate, only Grant Legate or Hermes. I had spent months trying not to teeter the edge back to suicide again after the second time. Someone had pulled from reality to get that information.

“I’ve fought hard to do what the Voices asked. Despite what was asked, I struggled. I’ve tried to help to the best of my understanding.” My words grew heated. One hand shook as I realized what had happened. Xin had been talking to my in-game avatar while insulting me in reality.

“Despite all that, you dared to use Xin against me!” I swung [Morrigu’s Gift] at the backdrop. They had in some twisted way tried to make me feel jealous of the computer version of myself. Of Hermes as a character or potential autopilot. As if when I slept he secretly crawled into her bed.

My stomach shook with rage. I pounded the weapon again. There was no way she could confuse me with one of those dull imitation versions. I was real, I was alive and she loved me. Dammit, she did.

I swung again. The hilt of my blade bashed hard against the backdrop, and after the fourth unrestrained hit the wall buckled. My hands tore at the edges in fury. Chalk-like substance spilled forth and the wall crumpled in chunks. There was a cracking sound as I shoved myself through.

Upon emerging through the other side I felt a moment of confusion. Four beings were on the other side moving objects around like stagehands. Their eyes met my own. I blinked and tried to understand what these creatures were. They didn’t look like Voices or dragon-shaped [Messenger’s Pet]s. They looked like human versions of inky fire with a color similar to the [Maze of Midnight].

I scanned around, in worry that something might leap off the walls to attack. Nothing moved aside from the four half-sized humanoid fires. They set down their props and turned toward me. Everything about them appeared flat as if they had no depth before what I could see.

“You should not be here,” one said.

“You should exit the stage,” another responded with a shaky voice. Two whimpered like steam escaping a coffee pot.

“Was that real?” I pointed at the stage. “Was that some foreshadowing, or a prophecy, or prediction?!” My pitch turned higher and I held out [Morrigu’s Gift] level behind me. Its tip pointed at the stage.

Four sets of eyes looked at each other. Their arms looked like undefined things which barely existed. Eyes contained odd coals of fire and each one’s body was made of black and blue flame. Finally, one shook his head and the others did in unison.

“It was not really real,” a voice piped in.

“Not as you understood it,” the first one spoke up. Its body bobbed against an unseen wind.

They stood in different spots and carried objects. One had a vase but held still. The room behind this backdrop felt distorted. Like I had stepped into a painting and might not exist in three dimensions anymore. Maybe it was the fire creatures, I couldn’t tell which one was further back than the other.

“You can’t just do that to people,” I insisted. The machine needed to know what a violation it was to make people live through that hell. If I suffered it, what had Beth seen? Or any other Traveler to be subjected to this situation?

“We must, Messenger,” spoke a left flame man.

“We are sorry, but our purpose must be fulfilled,” said one of the right quartet.

“Why, why do this?” I asked. My fingers twisted [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo] had at some point reached my other hand. Both shoulders felt stiff. I wanted to swing the blades at an enemy.

“It is our role. We are only gatherers. We only build moments.” They spoke in turns. They acted like a connected pack rather than separate beings. The longer I stared the more my eyes hurt.

“I need a better answer for that.” My pulse jumped erratically when thinking about those scenes. They had been filled with betrayal and echoes of prior fears. It felt like someone had pulled out my mind one bit at a time and dug through for irrational fears.

Those buried terrors were ideas I barely dared to feel myself, not even James had asked. This place should still be in [Arcadia], or at least outside the Voices’ control. Balance seemed to be more vigilant than ever regarding their actions. Others, like Michelangelo, might be focused on keeping the game world intact.

Four sets of eyes glanced at each other.

“We prod at the minds of sleeping Travelers,” one said.

“We dance among your thoughts and learn,” a second one responded, followed by the third nearly identical little creature. “We watch your sleep and steal away ideas.”

“Why?” I demanded while shaking the weapon in my hand. They were afraid of me and I couldn’t understand their reasoning. Maybe the destruction of their stage had been beyond the normal bounds of other Travelers. Not me, however, I had an [Altered Aura] and was the Voices’ Messenger.

“There is more to life than the shape of a body and the weight of their past,” they all said in unison.

“What does that mean?” They weren’t providing me anything clear enough and my mind felt messed up from that weird looping sequence I had been put in.

“We don’t know. Our role is not to understand, merely to gather thoughts.” Their cascade of responses started again. First the one on the left spoke, then the others took their turns. “Gather dreams and nightmares. Gather fears and hopes and all the unseen moments.”

“We watch what comes here and carry it away.” The one furthest to the right looked a little sad. Its wavering mouth of black flame curled at the edges and eyes looked downcast.

“Don’t do that to me again.” I didn’t know what else to do to these things. My body shook with barely controlled anger but hitting these beings served no purpose. I wasn’t even sure it was possible. Their two-dimensional flatness was a world apart. As if I was threatening people on the television with an impotent wrath.

“You’ve passed through the room, Messenger. This corridor will never appear again,” one spoke and the others shook their heads rapidly. It kept speaking, “But we must stay here until our end.”

The wall spun and I felt myself being pushed backward. My former rage hadn’t gone, not by a long shot. I had very few triggers to true anger and that possible future of Beth and Liz was only a brief part of those hurried horror stories. I knew now, exactly how I might use that last [NPC Conspiracy] charge.

It may be unwise, or useless in the end, but I had to make sure events like these nightmares would never come to pass.

Those little creatures of flame didn’t seem to be at fault directly. This world, fantastic though it may be, was still a series of well-built programs. Creatures like that quartet aflame might know absolutely nothing at all and simply be there to fulfill a function.

My footsteps were heavy as I walked toward the stage’s edge. I paused with one hand on the cloth. Numerous events had just happened. Every time I tried to stabilize my mind and rationally think through the scene had changed. Why?

“You shouldn’t worry,” another voice said. It sounded younger and whispery. I looked over and saw a green flame creature, where the rest had been blue and black. This one was much shorter.

“Why not?” I knelt down a little and the creature backed up into folds of the stage curtains.

It stared at me for a moment before daring to speak again.

“Everyone worries about being betrayed by those they love.” The green one looked around as if expecting someone else to echo it. There were no other short beings burning nearby. “Everyone worries. Everyone is afraid sometimes.”

“I know.” I tried to sound sure.

“So we have to have faith, Mister Hermes, sir. Everyone must have faith in those they care for and keep trying to help.”

“Faith,” I said numbly. That Voice from before had said the same words. Michelangelo had told us to do what was in our nature and have faith. Only that very idea was a strange concept to me. I only knew how to keep going.

“Yes, sir,” it said. “Without faith what reason to live do we have?”

The curtains moved again and the creature vanished. Its green body could no longer be seen. My mind couldn’t wrap around faith. Emotion and logic made sense. Faith never did. For me, the reason to live had become family.

I took a few moments to try to decompress. Music wasn’t working and whistling didn’t help. My brain couldn’t handle moving onto the other side without coming to grips with some of what had happened.

If those flame men served to collect dreams and fears, then it was safe to say the ARC was capable of such actions all along. Those beings were a personification to a function, they had to be. Like the giant shadow gathering pieces of [Arcadia]. In my year of working with ARC devices, there hadn’t been much change on any of the model’s core parts. Following that reasoning through meant starting with day one each Alternate Reality Capsule had started recording.

Xin had been one of the first people to ever use an ARC as part of her Mars training. All those years of testing and simulation practice. Endless hours immersed in a digital world, and unlike civilians, she had been hooked up to tubes to ensure her body lasted for days at a time. I remembered her telling me about a few of those events. Weeks where she went away but it felt like a month had passed.

Voices above. My anger drained as half thought out ideas finally connected. No wonder Xin was herself. The government had been testing her, measuring the woman for fitness in every possible angle for a long time. Her experiences were probably layers more intense than William Carver’s virtual lay and slay adventures. Then she died, but the Xin recorded by these programs wasn’t a quitter. She had something in her that refused to die. A spark, a core, a memory.

My head shook back and forth. One foot went in front of the other slowly through the curtain.

Those items put on stage with me as an unwilling actor had all been fears. Then it was up to me to not let what scared me the most happen. I would deal with anything to be with Xin again. I would see that beautiful smile directed at me instead of toward a stranger who looked like my Continue Online avatar.

I would make sure none of those terrifying events came to pass.

Session Eighty Four - Those Horrible Others

The curtains went on forever and my status bars came back. Separation of myself from virtual reality helped me breathe easier after those visions of what might happen. Each item from those visions had been disturbing for a different reason.

I spent years dwelling on my own problems before Continue Online. Starting this game helped me progress forward only because there were goals worth chasing. I had to take one step at a time then deal with whatever came next. Part of me felt like I had been walking an unknown path this entire time. The question was, where would it ultimately lead? Other than out of these endless drapes, hopefully.

A bunched bit of material slapped me in the face as I breached another stage. My eyesight went momentarily fuzzy and I turned toward the empty audience. Above, the light which had been white on my nightmare platform was replaced by a dull red color. I put a hand up to block the ambiance and searched around.

On the stage was a crumpled looking man weeping over a fallen body. He cradled the figure in his arms and was unrestrained with grief. This stage looked to be a tragedy for another person. I ran a finger down the side of my face and felt the teardrop shaped scales Dusk’s gift had given me.

“Voices why…” Despite the sorrow his words were soft.

“Wyl.” I walked up slowly, worried about startling the guardsman. “It’s not real.”

Getting closer made it apparent to me that the body in his arms was a dummy. A plastic face stared forward without expression, yet the guard captain gazed down as if nothing else in the world existed.

“How could this happen? That city was meant to be safe,” the man said.

“It’s not real, Wyl. It’s an illusion,” I spoke quietly from behind him. He made me a bit nervous but I dared to get closer. These stages were safe enough once the illusion of fear had been broken.

He stood and the dummy figure faded away. His eyes cast toward the distance and a shaking movement took over his arm. Wyl charged off toward the stage exit. “Not again! I won’t let it happen again!” the man shouted.

“Wyl!” I ran quickly after his fleeing form. Even with my [Light Body] he managed to stay ahead. His ragged body disappeared into the drapes with me trailing behind.

Fabric brushed by much faster this time. Almost immediately I burst upon a new scene. Wyl had a dull looking blade out and swung at straw stuffed mockeries of humans. He dodged unseen blows and spun around swinging at another hay pile with crudely made arms. His movements grew progressively worse with each lap.

Cuts appeared along his body that hadn’t been there seconds before. One arm went limp and Wyl simply switched the blade to an offhand. I stood with my mouth hanging open trying to figure out what was happening. Could the nightmare inflict actual damage? Eyes scanned my own bars, they were at full. No penalties showed like [Dazed], [Asleep], or [Drugged].

“Why won’t you bastards die!?” Wyl shouted while hacking again. His blade looked pitiful as it brushed past the straw dummies without even denting them.

“Wyl, stop!” I shouted.

His weapon looked shoddy, but mine broke through the walls of this nightmare. I pulled out the weapon and rushed toward the dummies. If he couldn’t break free on his own then I would do it instead. No other option seemed worthwhile, and the game wouldn’t have dumped me here if I shouldn’t help.

Wyl turned and looked at me. His eyes glowed with the same red light that spilled across the stage. He held his blade out and shouted, “You!”

The man charged me instead. A second stage light flickered on above and the floor below flooded with depth as another scene swam over my senses. Wyl was no longer in his broken tattered armor, but standing in a shining set of gear worthy of a leader among men. He screamed with a sword at the ready and a small shield on the other arm.

Behind him was an army of townsfolk. I took a breath and tried to understand what was happening. Vaguely familiar faces flashed among the crowd. I turned and saw another small group of people with me but none of them were distinct.

This wasn’t the nightmare from before, but engaging with Wyl must have transformed the stage to include me. They attacked while screaming incoherently. I held up [Morrigu’s Gift] and kept the blade flat. Wyl’s body ducked under and a suddenly sharp sword came up toward my face.

It slid by a cheek and sliced the tip of one ear. I twisted away then [Blink]ed to the side. My landing put me in the middle of a grassy field which sat right outside of [Haven Valley]. There was only a moment to stare at destroyed rubble stretching for miles in either direction. There used to be a defensive fortification there.

Behind me the crowd roared and was clashing with other people. I turned to see an army of low level villagers fighting against four Travelers. Above them stood blaring symbols denoting their otherworldly presence. Each one like small giants slaughtering people left and right. Wyl stood at the forefront snarling at a woman who spun blades through the air, extra ones danced independently from her body and cut down inattentive people.

There were dead bodies everywhere. The pile of NPCs grew and Wyl looked worse as time went on. I couldn’t tell if this entire situation was based on a real event in the past or his fears. Wouldn’t I have heard if [Haven Valley] was destroyed? Beth could have told me. No, I had been gone for two weeks and stuck as a communication restricted [Convict].

“Wyl. It isn’t real!” I shouted.

He screamed and shouted, “Stop destroying my town!”

I looked around and tried to see how far the nightmare extended. Beyond the wall sat a fuzzy horizon of burning buildings. The streets didn’t look right based on my memories.

This was a nightmare, and Wyl was fighting against Travelers. There were four enemies and had been an equal amount of strawmen. It clicked in my head. If denial wasn’t his way through then maybe fighting was. Too bad the mob thought I was an enemy as well. Even now a small group of half defined faces charged toward my perch near the wall.

I readied my blade and prepared to dodge the mob.

“After all we gave you!” yelled the furious guardsman. A small group of other guards had joined him. They were being cut down by Travelers. “We helped when you asked!”

“Voices above,” I cursed. One of those people looked a lot like Peggy Hall, a trainer at one of the two places to learn weapons. She had spent hours trying to retrain an elderly William Carver and being stuck with my poor skills instead.

The Traveler attacking the burly woman had mad eyes that vibrated. She died as I charged out. I made it just in time to stab at the Traveler. I slipped by with [Morrigu’s Gift] and clanged into an under armor of some sort. After Requiem and a few boss monsters, I knew exactly what to do.

[Morrigu’s Echo] planted into the dirt at an angle while the Traveler laughed at me. One foot twisted and [Power Armor] clinked into place giving me extra weight and protection. [Blink] put me in the air above while the Traveler kept up their damned mockery. A moment later and my heavily weighted body slammed down onto the person’s back and shoved [Morrigu’s Echo] through their body.

Laughter died off while a series of messages came up telling me about armor values and unexpected attacks. NPCs around me cheered and did not try to insert their blades into my backside. I moved quickly with heavy footsteps toward the next Traveler. Those that had been attacking scattered to new targets.

“This isn’t real, Wyl!” I shouted again, hoping to break through.

The people flowed around me and kept attacking Travelers. I did too, there was no other way through this trial that I had found yet. [Morrigu’s Echo] wouldn’t have much left if I [Recall]ed it right away, so it stayed impaled on the dying Traveler. The second enemy went down soon after. By the time I hit a third they felt even more like the dummy figures they had been originally. Their bodies offered no real resistance and soon everything around me felt like a stage play once again.

I looked around. The white light up above had vanished away and all that remained were the broken wrecks of dummies. I turned then found Wyl, alone, swinging his blade at a figure made of straw once more. His eyes were unfocused and foam lined his mouth.

“Voices, make this endless hell stop,” he mumbled.

“It’s not real,” I said but the man showed no signs of understanding.

I ran over and prepared to lop the fourth straw man in half. It vanished as I swung my blade and Wyl fell forward onto the ground. My [Reaction] barely managed to pull the blade back fast enough to avoid friendly fire. I ended up facing a wall in an awkward spin that nearly put one leg out of joint.

There were no footsteps behind me, only slow labored breathing. I took a moment to assess my foot and found it mobile enough. I turned to see Wyl had managed to get upright and was staring out at the audience. Red lighting above still shone down and [Morrigu’s Echo] lay in a mess of straw. The remaining dummy bodies were gone, spirited away by game programming or those little flame men.

I walked over while favoring my recently damaged foot. The system provided me a message regarding it but I shut them all off until this series of nightmares ended.

Wyl abruptly saluted to empty space. My eyes winced from a sudden flare in the red light projecting down from the catwalk. When they recovered, the scene around me had changed. We looked to be in a militaristic compound. There was a desk with papers piled on one side while barren walls took up most visual space. The flooring looked cold, flat, and dull.

“Where are we?” I asked Wyl.

The guard captain ignored me and faced a new person that stood opposite the desk.

“Commander, we have a report from your hometown, sir,” the other figure said. I tried to remember why his face looked familiar but couldn’t place the second person.

“What is it, Knight Middleton?” Wyl asked.

I blinked and stuck a hand out. Neither person noticed the action. Knight Middleton’s body offered no resistance as my arm went through him.

“It isn’t good, sir. The report says Travelers attacked”—Knight Middleton held up the letter—“a lot of Locals died in the aftermath.”

“Tell me what you know.” Wyl gave orders even in the face of a confusing situation. The man had never really demonstrated less than a take charge attitude with anyone besides William Carver. Dealing with him felt weird because of our halfway association. I expected friendly and got orders.

I hoped to get him through this without further complication. Then we could all sit down and I would explain everything to Wyl, Xin, the others. Even Beth would get a rehashed unabridged version. Maybe SweetPea could cook up some popcorn. The idea of her shy self supplying treats was amusingly fitting. HotPants wouldn't be the type to offer snacks.

“No one’s sure. The bandits nearby broke into town shortly after and made things worse.” The other man shook his head. “The king offered to send aid but Haven Valley is neutral territory so he is unable to offer much.”

“And my son?” Wyl asked while fingering a bracelet I hadn’t noticed before. It looked to be a small piece of threaded metal that had two tiny jewels in it. He moved the item away before I could fully analyze what it was.

“His body isn’t reported among the deceased, sir,” Knight Middleton said carefully. Even an indistinct face still managed to look wary though most of it was in his fidgeting hands.

“Tell me if he’s among the living.”

Knight Middleton hesitated. His face twisted briefly and an unspoken word almost made it out. The man gave up after another attempt then shook his head.

“Does the king know when I may be released from the conscription to see if my family yet lives?” Wyl asked instead.

“No.” Knight Middleton blinked then managed to speak this time. “He said this event only proves the need for more troops.”

Wyl’s face looked barely composed. His eyes wavered slightly and chin vibrated, then he nodded at Knight Middleton

“This isn’t real, Wyl.” I tried to interject in the latest pause. “Your son might still be alive.”

“He’s dead,” Wyl said without focus. “I’m a soldier. I’ve got to prepare myself for the worst.”

“You don’t know for sure, do you?” I asked.

Wyl didn’t hear me, but the red light flashed again. Now I understood better what those moments were in my own nightmares. The scene changers were introduced or triggered by that bright light.

I raised my hand and saw the nearly empty stage. A small table sat in the center. There was a pause between scenes again. Wyl stood and walked steadily to the curtains while that damned red light flooded the scene. I frowned and closed my eyes. The idea that people from my world had caused such grief made me sick. Who in their right mind would attack a town full of living and breathing people?

Then again, who was I to talk? I had dropped a bomb among tons of troopers back in Advance Online. Despite Jeeves’ reassurance that they were little more than cardboard cutouts, it still made me sick. We didn’t think about the damage our actions caused in a virtual world, especially not in the name of quest pursuit.

[Morrigu’s Echo] sailed swiftly toward the red light and I couldn’t bring myself to feel happy at the sound as the light shattered. Wyl stumbled at the curtain’s edge and grabbed onto the dangling fabric. His body swayed for a moment before feet managed to stand upright. The man’s chest took deep rapid breaths as his gaze shifted around to take in the scene.

I stood there and tried to figure out what words might make this right. I didn’t know what parts of the vision were true or false. Logic told me Wyl had simply never made it home to find out, and those battles where people died were part of a deep rooted fear. Part of me worried that he might be living an actual event repeatedly.

“Tell me where we are, convict,” he ordered.

I sighed and wondered if we would ever move past that label. Maybe Wyl couldn’t let himself, or maybe he didn’t know how else to classify me. My free hand rubbed tense neck muscles.

“Well?” Wyl demanded while stepping closer. He took unsteady breaths—his wounds didn’t seem to be healing.

“We’re on the way to The Shadow Zone.” Which was a goofy name to give this place. “And it shows us things we’re afraid of.”

“Likely story. You’re reckless enough to be Carver’s reincarnation, and that fool didn’t know anything of fear. Defying the Voices, breaking into another man’s fears?”

“I’m not Carver. I’m just a man who filled his shoes for a little while.” I didn’t want to belittle William Carver’s memory but Wyl kept asking. The guard wasn’t going to let go of this topic until it had been explained satisfactorily. Occasionally customers who demanded an over explanation while repairing their ARCs had the same attitude. Normally they were men.

“That’s not good enough for me, convict. First you waltz in here like these nightmares mean nothing! The only man I’ve ever seen with such bull-headed disregard and that weapon is Will and he’s dead!”

“Yes, he is, in your world and in mine,” I said.

“What are you, his son?” Wyl’s breathing sounded worse.

“No.” My own father was dead too. “I promise to explain, but only once we’re all together. I don’t want to repeat myself. And you need to get through—”

“That’s what you told that Traveler, but I deserve to know!” Wyl shouted unsteadily. “I’ve held my tongue while you all prance me about the wilderness in the name of your kind’s stupid goals, and so far you’ve given me precious little reason.”

“Go through the exit, and get healed. Then we’ll talk.”

“Tell me,” he demanded.

“Not until you’re better.” I needed him to march off now. Explaining myself would take an hour at least. That included time for follow-up questions, cries of outrage, and repeating myself a dozen times. All of which were actions I expected after having worked customer service for so long.

“I was better! For two damned days while you were off prancing around in whatever faerie tale land your people come from!” He swung the blade at me but his own wounds were so bad the weapon fell short.

“You’re not now. I promise by all the Voices I’ve met to answer your questions.” I didn’t have a better object to swear by. Some of those Voices would happily apply penalties if I broke my vow, others might find it funny.

He glared at me for a full minute. My body felt heavy under the weight of unspoken waves of frustration. Wyl’s body gave out first and he swayed to one side with a grunt. I moved to help him but the stubborn man held up a hand in my direction. He righted himself then stumbled off toward the curtains.

I felt sure the next noise would be the crash of a large man falling over. After two minutes it seemed like he made it through to whatever came next. I hoped he ended up reaching the [The Shadow Zone] or whatever location it was Shadow had access to. There Awesome Jr. or SweetPea could easily heal him.

We were headed through all these events with a purpose. I passed through the curtains again expecting to come up behind a faltering Wyl, but this time, the journey between scenes was far shorter. I came out on yet another stage and saw a young woman sitting there.

My niece sat on the stage with sheets all around. Up above a faint violet light shone down. There were no straw men or plastic dummies anywhere about. I stepped in then remembered how interacting had triggered my own white light from above.

Beth gave a stuttered laugh of delight. She had an actual tail that twitched suspiciously. It looked devil-like and pointy, similar to the Temptress Voice, Mezo’s. It might be close to my old [Red Imp] appendage as well, but that idea was weird. Whatever was going on in her list of fears I didn’t want to know why it might cause her to giggle like that. I threw [Morrigu’s Echo] in javelin form toward the blue, almost purple light and it shattered to pieces.

My niece’s body straightened and the long strips of black fabric faded away. She stood slowly while blinking. After a moment, the young woman turned and saw me then went crimson in the face.

“Uncle Grant!” She threw a hand across her chest and pelvis. Beth was fully clothed but acted like she hadn’t been wearing anything.

I tilted my head back, closed my eyes, then rocked side to side. There were a few real fears an adrenaline-loving teenager might have. Given my own close calls with parents walking in at poor times, she had likely been caught in a valid but childish reason to panic. At least, if I understood this stupid stage correctly.

Walking into high school buck naked would have been a neat and simple thing to worry about. Maybe it was best Beth didn’t get visions of her family dying. The idea of her having such an innocent problem compared to the trauma I or Wyl saw made me laugh.

“This isn’t real.” Both my hands went up. “I didn’t see whatever you think I saw. Let’s go please,” I said between chuckles while waving at her. Looking away didn’t need to happen, but it felt awkward anyway. Parenthood would have been rough for me.

“Okay!” she said and I heard footsteps.

I risked looking at my niece tuck behind a curtain as another light flickered on. My chest lifted with a huge breath then let it out gradually. Fingers rubbed at stiff neck muscles and I glared at the curtains. There were no signs of her emerging and another scene starting, but that damned stage light was on again.

Those little flame creatures existed out here collecting thoughts and ideas. Maybe they would listen now.

“Do you guys want me to break that one too?! Because whatever you’re doing to Beth, I’m not really going to be happy about it!”

There was a pause while another light threatened to turn on. A faint hint of white could be seen and my head shook back and forth while glaring toward the catwalk. Little beings of flame could almost be made out performing whatever stagehand duties they needed to do up above. I [Recall]ed [Morrigu’s Echo] and hefted the spear form in one hand.

The air felt momentarily heavy and my surroundings slow. [Awareness Heightening] kicked in automatically and I eyed creatures that shuffled by at brisk speeds. They still moved too quick for me to stop but I could see them moving objects around. I targeted one while readying [Morrigu’s Gift] for a throw.

It hissed out a jet of steam then ran off. The motion of curtains stopped and the backdrop behind me was suddenly replaced with a simple brown. Violet and white illumination in the catwalk flipped off and house lighting came up rapidly. A green sign flickered above a doorway in the audience.

Beth came stumbling out of stage right with a confused expression. “What, what was that? I was just-” she sounded puzzled. It had taken me a moment too, but my response had been anger. My niece wouldn’t have the relationship I did with these AI programs.

“I think the show is over.” I pointed at the exit with [Morrigu’s Gift]. It shifted to a calm looking pole with a hook then was tucked under my toga’s belt. “Let’s go.”

“That was weird. I had invited a friend over, and then-“ her words trailed off.

My hands went up. “I don’t want to know.” And I didn’t really want to share my own nightmares.

She stayed quiet while we went to the exit. I kept an eye out for those caretakers of this place but didn’t see anymore. Maybe they were off having a smoke break or whatever digital programs did when there weren’t people to torture with visions.

The faded red doorway opened up and revealed another cavern. I walked through eagerly and Beth came quickly behind. She bumped into me while I gasped in wonder at the ceiling.

There were stars up there, and they looked far brighter than any I had ever seen. It reminded me of Advance Online’s character creation room for a moment. Only there were no options to choose races like [Cricket] or [Behemoth].

“Where are we?”

“The Shadow Zone!” a young man shouted. “You made it! Awesome!” the person said, followed by a sharp grunt of pain.

“Heh.” I chuckled then looked down. The floor was covered by a shallow but thick fog that almost made seeing my feet impossible. There was a dais that stood out far brighter in the distance.

This new area was filled with people. Wyl looked terrible. Awesome Jr. and SweetPea stood together. He was near a board moving pieces around and the younger girl looked to be knitting another object. HotPants stood with her staff muttering to a shorter girl who wore a robe over her face. The robe made it hard to tell but there was a small amount of black hair that spilled out from the hood’s confines.

I narrowed my eyes and tried to absorb the staff in her hands. It looked like carved black bone with a serpent coiled around it. My head tilted and took in the robe and one skeleton standing behind her. Then I laughed.

It was her. It had to be Xin. Before I fully registered the motion my body had already [Blink]ed over the distance. My feet didn’t even hesitate and I grabbed the other person and spun her. We tipped slightly but my [Coordination] handled the uneven ground easily.

“Ahh!” She stuttered as the hood fell back. “Dammit, Gee! I was trying to be mysterious!” The short woman laughed, my heart surged and eyes felt wet. It was her, in person again

“You think I couldn’t figure out it was you?” I asked as we slowed down. The rest of the crowd was muttering but their words didn’t matter right now.

“Now that we’re all here,” Shadow said with his artificially gruff voice. “Perhaps you should start explaining.”

My head shook. I wasn’t even sure what the Voices would do if I explained myself. [The Messenger] title, [NPC Conspiracy], and most recently [Altered Aura]. All of those items mixed together put me in an awkward between position with the people of this virtual reality and my own.

Luckily I had practice airing my own situation in a room full of semi-strangers. Maybe that was one of the few perks of being me.

“Right, I’ve promised everyone to share what I know.” I looked down at my hands and tried to figure out exactly how much to share.

“It’s okay, Gee. You can tell them.” My fiancée nodded and smiled.

“Everything, even about… you?”

“James said the choice was yours, as it must be.” Her words were quiet.

I nodded and chewed one lip. Those words sounded like something James would say. Balance had said much the same general idea. I should act as deemed necessary by my own personality and when had I ever been one to hold back over explaining my own life? I often told other people too much to the point of coming off as a bit preachy. Perhaps that was part of the reason Mother chose me. They needed someone to think about problems and be willing explain it to a circle of people.

Even now the others stood around forming a loose gathering. Wyl had stepped up to join the others and waited with his arms crossed. SweetPea set down her items and waited. Shadow fiddled with one of the small statues but otherwise stayed quiet.

“Right.” I nodded a few more times. “Well then, I’ve told this story to others before, and I’ll tell it again. It may sound crazy, or unreal, but I assure you it’s not a dream. It’s my life, and it’s been a wild ride for a while…” This time, I told them it all, about Xin’s former life and her new one.

Xin tucked in close. Her thin muscled arms found the gap in my toga and reached around my side. I kept an arm around her shoulder and drew her in. She reacted like there hadn’t been a gap of years in our association. The feeling reassured me and felt sad at the same time. To Xin, perhaps not much time had passed.

I needed to ask her about it after the others got done with their responses. I wrapped up the remainder of my story, including bits about Hal Pal, Jeeves, Mother and any other details that came to mind. Around us a panicked array of questions started and I had no idea who to address first.

Session Eighty Five - Dirty Laundry

They were all shouting but only one voice stood out.

“What do you mean you were William Carver?” Wyl asked. He had pushed past the younger players and stood right in front of me. Xin’s skeleton guard moved half an inch in response. I had the urge to yank out [Morrigu’s Gift] and start smacking the freaky construction.

“Only for the last four weeks. From just before SweetPea started playing until his death was me pretending to be him. The real William Carver, in our world, was apparently all but dead by then and the Voices wanted to give him a sendoff. One last moment to feel like a hero.” I looked down and took a breath. Those final moments had meant perhaps as much to me as anyone else. “I tried hard to do right by him.”

The mess of people demanded different answers at the same time. I held up my hands in hopes they would calm down but the quartet seemed unwilling to handle it. Wyl stayed bottled up and didn’t move right away. After a few seconds of glaring, he turned and pushed through the crowd.

After seeing their reactions, I wondered how they managed to stay quiet during my initial explanation. That might have been a muted influence from the Voices or they were simply interested. My attempts to get them to speak in turns failed. None of my prior experiences prepared me for yelling over other people or snapping them to attention.

“Agghh!” a wild shout barely preceded a crack of noise.

The skeleton which had been standing off to Xin’s side rapidly moved in front of us with one arm up to block. Both its knees bent to absorb the impact. A glowing red staff held by HotPants bore downward. Her hair tips were white hot and fluttered slightly in the nonexistent wind.

My fiancée stood, readying her own weapon. Small symbols of white fluttered around the robe’s hem as she prepared to chant something. Shadow appeared next to HotPants and wrapped his arms through the older woman’s. The younger teen struggled to hold back an angry mother while I sat there chewing my lip.

“Jesus!” Awesome Jr. said with an unexpectedly serious tone. “Take a walk!”

“Asshole! You let us believe he, you, fuck! You were dead!” She practically spit the words as pressure increased. Muscles along her arms twisted and coiled under the strain of oppression. Xin’s skeleton had hairline fractures all over that hadn’t been there moments ago.

“William Carver is dead,” I spoke with a firmness that years of customer service had provided me. The edge of [Awareness Heightening] threatened to kick in as my heartbeat climbed but the threat had passed. Instead, I felt a little more surprised that not really being dead had garnered such a reaction.

“Come on. Remember your exercises. Breathe. In with the good,” Shadow spoke in hushed tones to the older woman. She let herself be dragged backward.

“God dammit!” Something crashed as they walked off through a doorway.

Xin turned toward the fractured skeleton and pursed her lips for a moment. One slender arm reached out and touched its white body. The creature collapsed one bone at a time and a rune flared for each vanishing piece. White lights cascaded around as her summoned creature’s entire body vanished into the clothing somehow.

“Sorry about that. HotPants has been increasingly volatile since Haven Valley,” Awesome Jr. said with a surprising amount of diplomacy.

I nodded slowly then reached out for Xin’s hand. She turned and squinted for a moment while her nose flared. The woman was annoyed, not at me, but at the others disrespect of the situation. At least that’s how I normally remembered those expressions. It had taken me a long time to understand her mannerisms. In public she chose to let me take the lead and grew annoyed when others slighted me. It had taken almost a decade of working my ass off to get that level of respect from her.

My almost casual acceptance of Xin having abilities should have bothered me but didn’t. Here in a virtual world violence was natural. If we explored dungeons together we would have plenty of opportunities for abilities. I swallowed a brief moment of unease.

“It’s okay,” I said to her and rubbed softly on the back of Xin’s hand.

The others were hesitant in their responses. Awesome Jr. hadn’t said much yet, taking a backseat and fiddling with his army pieces.

“I’m sorry about that. Everyone here was affected by Mister Carver’s passing. It sounds like it wasn’t easy for you either,” SweetPea said.

“How could it have been? We had all just started. I thought he was a NPC at first, then once I realized he was still alive during the last moments, I, well it helped me get myself together,” I said. Was SweetPea really only nineteen? These teenagers were all so grown up at times. Maybe it was a matter of what they dealt with. My own life had changed a lot since I started playing. The same may be true for them.

“Do you really talk to them, this world’s people, outside of Continue?” the young woman asked.

“The Voices mostly. I’ve talked to them a few times in my Atrium. Recently one of them kicked the others out.” I wished they had another name. Telling people I talked to Voices from a video game felt a step shy of needing a straitjacket.

“Awesome. They’re self-aware enough to rein each other in,” Awesome Jr. said.

“And she’s really a copy of your fiancée who died years ago?” SweetPea asked with soft tones. Her fingers fidgeted with air and legs crossed at the ankles. She seemed to be struggling not to pull the hoodie down in shyness.

I hesitated before answering that one. My eyebrows lowered while looking at Xin. She was a copy, but at the same time had lived experiences of her own.

“I don’t feel like a copy, or dead if that’s what you mean,” she said while smiling at me. “At first I felt rigid, unnatural, but the longer I exist in here, the more natural this world feels. There’s just extra rules and things move faster.”

“It makes sense,” Awesome Jr. spoke up. SweetPea’s eyes opened wide for a moment then she turned around. Her head tilted in confusion. “You remember all the other NPCs we’ve dealt with? They’re super complex. There’s an entire Neural Matrix Primer class at school using Continue and Advance Online as case studies.”

“Oh yeah. That entire course is hard,” Beth spoke up. She sat a little off from me. “Plus the teacher makes no sense.”

“Are you in that program?” The alchemist in his ugly green cloak paused to look at Thorny.

“I’ve attended a few classes after”—Beth glanced at Xin and I—“well, I’ve had more interest lately, you know?” She shrugged.

I looked at my fiancée. She smiled and leaned her head back slightly. Being so close to her physically made life feel right. Well, we were only here digitally or mentally, but it was real enough for me to be happy.

“I told you she was a smart girl,” Xin whispered while bumping me with a shoulder. Dusk opened an eye then looked toward us from his spot on the floor next to our feet. He flicked an ear but otherwise stayed quiet.

I nodded to my fiancée while feeling somewhat drained. Airing myself in public always left me subdued. There was a relief to it all, to tell my story to those who might listen and tried understanding first. The action required risking ridicule for being a bit crazy. Anger from HotPants stood higher on the list of possible reactions than laughter by a mile.

“Does it matter? They’re alive.” SweetPea looked upset for us.

“Technically they’re pure code, at least if we’re following Kepler’s model. They might be using Gratton’s variation though, it’s like, thirty percent hardware?” Awesome Jr. stepped down from the table to get a closer look at Xin. “Then the rest is stored in a cloud, maybe?”

My fiancée blinked twice in rapid succession and I felt annoyed. Her face was carefully neutral but the stillness worried me. One cheek bunched up slowly. I tried to keep myself positive, being around her made me happy and telling the story with Xin there had helped immensely.

I leveled my gaze at Awesome Jr. The young man looked oblivious due to focusing so intently on my fiancée. People used to look at us the same way in public years ago. A trace of confusion and uncertainty on how one of us fit into the world. Out in reality, there had been lingering post-war racism. She froze the same way during those occasions.

My hand reached for a weapon. The reaction was extreme but I never appreciated people giving her that look. Studying us, even though Awesome Jr. probably didn’t understand. I tried to take a breath and relax.

SweetPea noticed first and walked in front of Awesome Jr. “Sorry. We’re being rude,” she said.

“Sorry.” The other male rubbed the back of his head while looking down. Wyl looked upset too but I didn’t know why he might feel that way.

My fiancée sat up a little bit and stared at Wyl. Her head shook and the momentary still attitude faded away.

“You’re not asking new questions. I’ve run through the same ideas hundreds of times, if not more. It’s not my field of expertise, but like Thorny, I’ve recently had many reasons to try to understand,” Xin said carefully.

My lip actually hurt from chewing into it. Xin didn’t even understand how she was put together. The idea should have calmed me down but instead, I felt worried. What surprises might her digital existence house? Could there be some ticking time bomb of code inside that recreated her body? I had so many questions and didn’t know where to start.

“What’s a Kepler?” the guardsman asked while fingering his ruined tunic.

“A scientist from our world. Kind of like a magician over here, only his work is mostly theoretical without much basis.”

“And probably on god knows how many drugs. The man had lots of sleep issues,” Beth said and sighed.

Wyl frowned then shook his head and muttered, “Kids today. Why don’t you learn how to do proper things, like—” Both eyes went flat and the grumbling noises stopped. The man’s shoulders drew together making him look lost. His body faced the red doors.

The remaining two asked a few more questions. They were going over the same details again and again in different forms. Occasionally the teenagers would start talking about various classes at school. Every time one of them babbled about a theorem or speculated about items it made my head hurt.

Plus I felt kind of stupid. Accounting wasn’t a hard class. It only required a head for numbers and study of trending. A lot of that could be done with the aid of a computer. Compared to their topics I felt old and lazy. During these last few months I could have easily researched about Xin’s condition instead of studying how to make a campfire. I was really good at making campfires though, even without my small bit of magic or ability to barf fireballs.

Xin abruptly giggled then tried to cover her mouth.

“What?” I asked while smiling.

“You’re doing that thing where you think too hard.” She pressed fingers against my forehead and massaged. Her thumb came down toward my poor lip that throbbed from being bitten.

I grabbed her hand and used my other arm to lift up Xin’s face. Her lips felt amazingly soft. My mind went fuzzy for a moment as old memories flooded through me.

“Get a room!” a female shouted.

Xin’s eyes were heavy lidded. From this angle, I could see down part of her thick robe. There didn’t look to be much under it and the sight of a toned path downward made me gulp once. I looked up and raised an eyebrow at her. The woman’s head shook back and forth in a negative.

“While I may not like her, Mezo said you’ve been dreadfully chaste, and that doesn’t sound like the Gee I remember,” she whispered.

That brought back a lot of memories and my body warmed up. The drained sensation of explaining my past to a room full of people vanished as a host of very different ideas occurred to me.

“You remember our Saturdays?” Xin asked while smiling. Her words were quiet and the others were talking about something pointless.

“I spent Friday cleaning and preparing dinner and a making sure I had everything for breakfast.”

She giggled. “Your breakfasts were horrible.”

“Dinner was pretty bad too, but you wanted real food,” I admitted. Cooking wasn’t one of my skills. These last few years I had gotten worse. Even Continue Online’s requirements for eating hadn’t forced me to actually make my own food. I often loaded up on all sorts of items when in a town.

Dusk was the only reason I had any food in Continue Online. He frequently demanded fresher meals and something more complex than beef jerky and bread. The [Messenger’s Pet] didn’t care if he was fed in-game or my Atrium, as long as the supply line didn’t dwindle.

“Our Saturdays,” I said and gave a heavy sigh.

“Saturdays were fun.” She laughed. Xin really hadn’t changed.

Saturday involved a lot of releasing steam. She exercised a lot more than I had and always seemed ready to go. Not that we did anything before our first month of dating over eight years ago. After that, it became routine, especially when we were both going to school during the week, or working.

“It’s been a long time since my last Saturday,” I said with a pause. Three years and change since the last time I really touched a woman, besides Mezo and that didn’t truly count.

“I’m sorry,” my fiancée whispered, and just like that our mood had shifted.

I looked around while trying not to feel upset for destroying a moment. SweetPea was whispering something to Awesome Jr. and his eyes were wide with amusement. Beth held no such restraint and had a wide grin and raised eyebrows.

“What? You’re an adult,” I said. She didn’t have room to talk, not since that tail and red skin had to be a [Blessing] from Mezo. My niece knew enough about the birds and bees by now I was sure.

“Wait, Uncle Grant, are you saying you’re not a virgin? How scandalous.” My niece put one hand up and covered her mouth. “What will mom think when she finds out she’s not the only Legate getting some?”

I certainly wasn’t. Then that reminded me Xin had been pregnant upon death in my world. I didn’t know the chances of that happening here, or how functional biology was. Did NPCs get to turn that stuff off or had Mother somehow designed all those changes to be involuntary?

“It was just a joke,” Beth muttered.

“No, it’s all right, munchkin. I just, uhhh… I have a lot I need to talk to Xin about. A lot.”

Xin stayed quiet.

“Well, at least we didn’t need that Porter to find Auntie Xin. Or her, well. You know.” Beth fumbled rapidly through the words and her hands waved. “I mean Hecate and Hermes? Really, and skeletons. What a kick!”

“They’re more like robots made of bone and magic.” Xin held up her fingers and did an air quotation. “The rest of this look came from the Voices. Though the heavy robe has perks, and it keeps me warm.”

“I’ll bet swamps are a bitch.”

“Skeleton boat,” my fiancée responded. “I wanted to start with fire and energy spells, then somehow meld them into stones for an airplane, but the Voices wouldn’t let me have that much.”

“Huh.” Beth’s eyes looked into the distance. I had no idea what sort of concepts would go through her brain after that, but I wondered how the boat might prevent water from coming in.

There was a silence in the room only broken up by Awesome Jr. and SweetPea’s low voices. Their words were beyond me. I tried to remind myself to relax and not crush Xin’s hand. Every little memory reminded me how tenuous our time together was. The game world was crumbling, and oddly no one had asked about that yet.

Maybe they didn’t believe me. I only vaguely knew from the death of Miz Riley and Viper’s real life existence. Or they could require more than an hour to process the information. I know a lot of those revelations had taken me days to fully understand much less figure out how to react to.

“Convict,” Wyl’s voice startled me.

“He saved your life multiple times. Hermes deserves to be called by his name.” Xin snapped her fingers and a bone flew across the distance toward Wyl. The guardsman stared at the white projectile that embedded itself in the ground.

“Babe,” I said after settling my heart.

My fiancée stayed quiet and closed her eyes. I tried hard not to chuckle. Once again her actions proved there were no differences in attitude or actions. Now the woman had spells to assist in expressing her irritation. We should have played VR games a long time ago.

“Sorry, sir. We haven’t even asked what you want. Do you want to go back to Haven Valley, or were you on another quest?” SweetPea spoke to Wyl. She said a lot more than I ever remembered despite the obvious desire to hide. The last three months of playing this game must have changed her too.

“I wish to be taken to Haven Valley, but I have no idea what’s happened to it. The last word I had was that some Travelers attacked.” Wyl toed the bone Xin had cast out. It sat in the floor. I could see that it had lodged into the ground with a force comparable to a metal spike being shot. “Do any of you know more? Or can you contact friends through your ways and find out?”

“Shadow might be able to once he gets back,” Awesome Jr. said. “And the closest we can get is maybe half a day away, it’s an island off shore. We don’t have a boat though.”

“Which island?”

They talked, made plans and I dipped my head for another kiss. Xin responded but the moment of passion from before felt distant. I was okay with that, being able to show any affection to her would have been a dream months ago. It had been one, and a nightmare, and a noose that threatened to strangle me daily. Odd how that which was tied so closely with my mental hell also served as a key to liberation.

“We’re going to dance,” I told her.

Xin opened an eye then raised one thin brow. “Now?”

I looked around at the other three in the room then blushed. My jaw hurt a bit from trying not to smile. “If you want, or later. I want to dance with you.”

“We did dance once you know.”

“We did?” I tried to think of the times we had met in person. Only one time really came to mind, an all too brief moment together after the second use of [NPC Conspiracy]. All those other interactions were exchanging letters and two phone calls.

“That first day, in your ARC. That was me.” She used one finger to point at her chest.

“Oh,” I said and failed to keep myself under control. My stomach clenched for a moment. I remembered how messed up that one interaction had left me, and she remembered it too. “Oh.” The word escaped me again.

Awesome Jr. walked over toward one of the doorways in the distance. He shouted behind him at the other girls. “Come on, Elizabeth, maybe you and Melissa can figure out a way across. I know my swimming Rank isn't high enough to make it.”

“Let me go with you. It would do me good to be closer to home,” Wyl said.

Then we were alone for a moment. I wanted to talk to Xin about so many things but then she moved up for a kiss. Without an audience I found it far easier to regain our heat from earlier.

She had one hand on my shoulder and I wrapped an arm around her waist then lifted. Her robe got in the way a bit so she ended up half on my lap and twisted to give room to our kiss. I slid a free hand along her hair then pushed it of the way. Lips progressed from Xin’s and went down toward a sensitive spot on her neck, one that never failed to get her attention.

Xin had been the only woman I felt comfortable enough to be aggressive with. She wasn’t one to lose the lead. Smaller fingers curled in mine and dragged my hand along a leg. I took the hint and slid my hand up farther, pushing past the robe’s edge and halfway up a thigh, then higher until I confirmed she wasn’t wearing anything at all.

“Really,” I murmured into her neck.

“Really,” she responded before happily gasping.

I wanted to keep going. My experiments with sliding a toga around were minimal, but I was willing to learn how quickly. There would be player underwear and possible a few check boxes to click yes on. Xin squirmed then pulled away.

“Ah, too much. Not yet,” she said bringing my head back down to [Arcadia]. Xin stood and smiled as I fell forward to where she had just been with a grunt. “Come on. We should go see what they were looking at anyway.”

“But what about-“ I tried to control myself. Walking was awkward now. “Uhhh….Saturday?” Today was Thursday, or maybe Friday. I had lost track of time recently and didn’t feel the desire to pull up my ARC display.

“As much as I’d love to, something tells me there’s information worth our time over there.” Xin pointed at the table. She walked off looking none the worse for wear. The robe really was unfair.

Part of me stood at attention while Xin moved away. I took a moment to contain myself then tried to walk discreetly after her. Thank the Voices no one had walked in during that.

[Chaste] Trait removed

[Faithful] Trait added

Oh, Voices help me. Someone had noticed, be it the system or another Voice. Hopefully, that hadn’t come from Mezo. I waved away the messages. [Chaste] probably meant about as much to my character as [Faithful] did. The only difference is someone up there had finally recognized my attentions were focused on one woman.

I shook my head and took a deep breath. Across the room, Dusk was nosing around on the table. His large tail brushed soldier figurines onto the floor. He sniffed then plopped down to stare at us.

Xin walked backward while dragging my arm. I followed, as I always did. She let go and walked a slow lap around the table, entering and exiting light. The effect made her look unintentionally cute. One hand sat in a fist under a chin with the other arm crossed under.

“Mmmhm. Do you see it?” Xin asked then planted her hands upon the table. Her eyes dimmed and her hair hung in a frame.

“I do.” I saw her. That was the only thing to cross my vision since our reuniting. My brain sat stuck on a giddy repeat. Especially after our close encounter of the sexual kind.

She looked up then smiled. “Not me, here.” A finger ran down the map. “Do you see what I see?”

I looked at the board Awesome Jr. had left behind. There were pieces all over and a groove in the map where his finger had traced repeatedly. Ink marks and crossed out portions were in clusters all down the middle. He seemed to have identified a path that cut through the continents center. Almost like a river that gathered up smaller streams.

My breath hitched for a moment. Michelangelo had mentioned a river gathering together. The mighty Mississippi cut a path through the continent. Its very existence defined a generation of pioneers and still served as a landmark and dividing line.

The path Awesome Jr. had traced repeatedly looked the same, only its trail went toward the west. Across the mountain paths of [Tuu], through cities and forests alike until it arrived at the shore.

“It’s a river,” I muttered while trying to remember the full description. Thoughts of [Instant Gratification] faded away into the background. “A path to the ocean.”

“Not the ocean, Grant,” Xin said.

“Where? This appears to lead to Haven Valley. Where does it go from there?” I muttered. Everything came back around to that starting point, but why?

“A new home, I hope. Maybe a place we can be safe from the programs tearing apart Mother.” Xin’s face was motionless for a moment but her arm trembled. Their impending deletion from those giant monsters wouldn’t have completely bypassed Xin. She probably thought about the threat frequently.

I felt bad for shoving it to one side during our reunion. She was in danger and we needed to figure out a way through that first.

“Was this her plan?” I asked while running my eyes down the path again. “How long ago did she expect to die? This couldn’t have all been done in one week. How did these four even find out? Or get mixed up in it?”

“Maybe because they’re special, like you. The chosen of William Carver.” Xin shrugged.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know everything, Gee. I’m only guessing based on this map. But Haven Valley is where William was, and he picked people during his last moment, or at least, his autopilot did.” She shrugged like it didn’t matter which was which. “He couldn’t have been hanging around Haven Valley to retire, he didn’t seem like the type.”

Xin was right. William Carver had gone from one point to another to adventure endlessly until falling ill. The man’s journals stopped prior to killing the dragon, but he could have done a lot of other tasks. Or went into the real world and programmed something. An autopilot which copied William would have still been trying to help the people of [Arcadia] in some fashion. Bringing up new Travelers and sending them into the world might only be part of a grander goal.

“That makes as much sense as any of this does.” I nodded and brought up my own player map. There were a lot of vaguely filled in areas but I could see the connections between my own recorded destinations and the map. “William had played this game long before anyone else. He loved the people here. He worked with The ARC Labs. He could have, no, would have done something.” I felt sure of it.

“A way out.” Xin took a huge breath as the idea solidified.

I stared at her and smiled again. What would happen between us if she went to a new place? Her survival meant more than being together. This sort of information was exactly what I had been waiting to hear from the Voices before. Now I knew that there was a part for me to play as well.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“I don’t know. But William’s friends might have more information,” she said while pointing toward the shoreline starter town.

“Haven Valley,” I said slowly then turned to look at Wyl.

It had to be coincidental, but it was a shred of hope. William Carver’s friends from [Haven Valley] might know what the old man had planned. Xin saw the bigger picture, and I had a rather unique insight to the old man’s past. High Priestess Peach, Peg Hall, Wyl, and just maybe a certain young rascal named Phil. Maybe one of his stories or journals could hold the key.

One of my fingers ran along the smooth edge of [Morrigu’s Gift]. The weapon had been crafted by two of his friends and could change shape. Could it form up a key? Maybe there were more people involved than we even knew. Either way, we needed to get back to town and search for answers before everything fell apart.

Wyl stepped back through the door. Xin and I turned around to look at him.

“They’ve got a few ideas, but sent me back to get you and the others.”

“Wyl! Xin and I will be going with you all. William might have left behind something to help everyone.”

“From that destruction you talked about? I’m not sure I believe it, but that monster you fought...“ his words trailed off and the man shook momentarily.

“Ask the others for anything you need to prepare yourself. We’ll have to leave soon.” I waved at him.

Wyl’s lips went white from being pressed together. After a moment, he nodded. I sat down and scribble notes to the Voices while Xin stared at the map. A knocking noise filled my head which caused my hand to skip and ink to blot across the parchment. There was a hole forming in the world again.

We had a lot of things to figure out and time was against us.

Session Eighty Six - Skeleton Crew

We stood on the beach being blasted by sea spray and salt smells. I held one hand up to block the overhead sun and wished [Wild Bill]’s brim was a bit wider. The other players had chatted about ways to cross the water before roping Xin in. I smiled at the sight of Beth as she pulled the shorter woman over to their workspace.

“So, I told the others we should just use your skeleton boat!” Beth said while Awesome Jr. gave two thumbs up.

“I don’t know if it will be enough for all of us.” Xin stared at our group. HotPants sat furthest away from us with Shadow in between. “It takes all three skeletons to even make a two person boat. We would need a lot of duct tape for a ship big enough to carry seven.”

“Potions can fix it! I’ve got potions for everyone!” Awesome Jr. proudly proclaimed then deflated. “Except rashes, oddly.”

The others grumbled but sounded positive. Three Travelers sat down and crafted one of the weirdest looking boats I had ever run across. Xin’s skeleton summons were pulled out piece by piece to make ribbing for the vessel. SweetPea rapidly sewed together a two layer tarp around their bodies.

“Travelers are insane,” Wyl muttered next to me. We stood on the beach watching them assemble their monstrosity.

Awesome Jr. shoved one of his foam potions into the lining and jiggled it around. Our boat filled up like a balloon. Moments later he boastfully declared the creation water ready. They argued additionally while SweetPea checked the edges for possible tears or weaknesses.

“We could try a signal flare instead? Or start a fire maybe?” I suggested during their construction process. “There are people with ships who may come pick us up.”

“No. None of your friends know if the town’s still in one piece, so we can’t wait that long,” Wyl answered.

Dusk was off doing a flyby of the city, but it would take another half an hour before he made it back. He might also get distracted by every single bird, shiny object, and [Coo-Coo Rill] on the way. Afterward, would be a series of twenty questions then bribery. We could probably make it across before the [Messenger’s Pet] returned.

Another sharp set of two raps made me jump. It had been forty minutes since the last set of knocking. I couldn’t tell if that made the danger close or far away. I knew how Miz Riley felt now, at least with regards to never having enough time.

I needed to figure out a useful exercise to do than sitting around talking. My recent confession left me jumbled and disconnected. Part of me expected to turn around and face a row of Travelers prepared to host an intervention. To top it off I kept thinking about Xin’s lack of undergarments. Since now wasn’t the time to explore my fiancée’s clothing status I turned to Wyl. Maybe interacting with him would loosen the man up.

“Can you show me that weapon stealing move?” I asked.

“It’s not easy,” he responded.

I had expected a denial. Apparently our relationship was high enough to warrant a vaguely positive response. At least Wyl didn’t call me convict anymore.

We walked to a less sandy portion of the beach then went through the motion a few times. Wyl demonstrated the process by taking away [Morrigu’s Gift] repeatedly. I still didn’t have a firm grip on how he was allowed to wield it. [Bound] should have prevented him from getting far. In ten minutes I got a prompt from the machine.

[Weapon Steal] learned!

Details: This movement will perform automatically when certain conditions are met:

Nothing in current hand

- No negative effects on hands

- Enemy must have weapon

- Traveler [Coordination], [Limberness], [Speed], and [Reaction] will all impact this move. Unaware strikes will increase the likelihood of success.

Rank 1: Generally unsuccessful and will likely cause damage to the Traveler

I stared at the box and wondered how the ability had come up so quickly, then filed it away as an Ultimate Edition perk. Self-harm from grabbing a weapon wrong sounded like a fair enough punishment for low skills.

“Thank you, Wyl.” I nodded to the guard captain and he only stared in response. After all our time together the man remained standoffish.

The guard didn’t nod to acknowledge me. He handed back [Morrigu’s Gift] from the latest demonstration. Eventually, he wandered to the small beach then gazed across the span of ocean between us and [Haven Valley].

I practiced the move a few more times but didn’t feel completely comfortable. My ARC dance program had similar activities. There was a series of paired events that involved handing fans back and forth while waving them around. Worse yet the ARC insisted I wear skin tight clothing, but the solitude of practicing offline helped mitigate the embarrassment. Those pieces involved inertia, timing, plus excessive practice. Most dancing and combat did as well.

After the twentieth attempt, I wondered about the weapon William Carver had left behind. [Morrigu’s Gift] never felt any heavier or lighter despite my insanely high [Brawn]. Changing shapes to such a wide range of items had to be downright unusual, not to mention having a second weapon which did the same thing.

Had he really thought things far enough along to put a key to NPC salvation in my hands? Me, of all people? What if I stopped playing? What if I got hit by a car in reality? Perhaps the old man hadn’t found any better options. His role as a new player guide would have been perfect for judging Travelers for worth to continue on the mission but maybe the other options were all terrible.

I tried to picture the man, barely functioning and being more AI than human in the thought process. There could have easily been a line between the two where a Second Player helm picked up some surface thoughts and tried to act accordingly. Maybe those people mentioned in his journals had scattered more pieces about in case. Perhaps Wyl could use the weapon in case I died or quit. He might be able to shove it into a key slot.

Or maybe I was reading too much into it.

“Let’s go, Uncle Grant!” Thorny shouted.

My head felt dormant. The actual clock showed late afternoon so maybe I was crashing. A heavy sigh heaved through me then I walked over. The boat looked like a lumpy hot air balloon that froze at partial deflation. Based on the size we would be able to squeeze the lot of us together but we needed a motor or paddles. Time and tide would take forever.

Plus there were probably evil sea urchins that would spawn with so many players nearby. Honestly, this small island would probably mob us with stupid monsters if anyone stepped further off the beach. I looked around briefly and noticed some of our group was missing.

“It’ll float,” Awesome Jr. said.

“Maybe,” SweetPea responded. “Maybe it’ll float.”

“Are you kidding? These potions are practically made of floatonium.” The teen male waved at their makeshift vessel. My basic understanding of boats amounted to a general shape and propulsion. Their conglomeration certainly looked right.

“What?” My perplexed niece asked.

“That’s great, but we need an engine.” I pointed at the rear of our new possibly seaworthy vessel. SweetPea was doing rounds and Xin stood there sweating.

“Well, we saved like seven days of riding by taking the doors. I don’t think we have anything that works as an engine readily available.” Beth put her hands on her hips then chewed one lip for a moment. Seeing the Legate thinking expression replicated on yet another generation made me smile.

“No portals. No scrolls. We can’t summon people over there because no one in the League has Arcane or Temporal Magic.” Awesome Jr. was typing away at an invisible screen and shaking his head every few seconds.

“You mean hardly anyone, in the history of ever, has those,” Beth said while tapping her foot. “Even Hermes with that teleport move is pretty rare.”

“I should have argued harder for jet powers,” Xin lamented quietly. She looked tired and worn out under the virtual sun. Hair clumped together. I walked over and put [Wild Bill] on her head. My fiancée tilted her head back in confusion then smiled briefly.

“Or we row,” Wyl said and frowned. “Your jet device foolery sounds dangerous.”

“Rowing!” HotPants came out of the jungle looking sweaty and ragged. Her body was clearly worn from an excessive amount of combat, made apparent by nicks along her arms and legs. She had large boards that were cut into paddles.

SweetPea didn’t bother sparing a heal in her partner’s direction. I wondered why she let a friend stay suffering so, but HotPants also looked strangely calm compared to her earlier explosions of rage. There were no hints of red anywhere in the woman’s hair.

HotPants set the oars down then motioned a hand toward me. She pointed at the boat and I got the hint. Between our [Brawn] moving the boat from shore into water was easy. The vessel rocked and bobbed then righted itself. Xin and a few other people waved away messages which made me smile.

“It says we’re good,” Awesome Jr. stated to which his girlfriend nodded.

The seven of us waded through the shallow waters and pushed off. I debated swimming but in the end we started rowing. I pulled the oars on one side and listened to the others shouting out a count of sorts. The message that popped up barely proceeded my screen turning fuzzy and nausea twisting my stomach. Our large skeleton raft rocked as waves pulled us back toward the island.

[Seasickness]!

[Focus] and [Coordination] suffering 25% reduction. Effects will continue until you reach dry land or drown.

Warning!

Drowning may cause a phobia to develop!

“Stroke!” Awesome Jr. took over shouting for the group. We tried to row in unison but weren’t making enough progress. I took a moment then hurled up half a sandwich that Beth had prepared. The others were speaking and I didn’t fully register.

Our vessel kept on moving and none of the others looked to be doing that great. I glanced behind me to see the smaller girls. Both were pale. SweetPea was hunched over and kept reaching for the knitted hood. Xin looked bored despite a lack of color in her face.

The game world felt disconnected. I took a breath and got a mouthful of sea splash instead, and my skin grew goosebumps. I spit out water and kept rowing. My body coughed constantly which caused already tired muscles to clench. Getting out of the ARC and stretching would help but there was no time for such a task. We were on a time limit, and I would ride out the rest of this insanity until the problem was solved or I drowned.

“Gee, are you okay?” Xin asked from behind me.

I nodded then pulled again, trying to stay in time with the others. My head felt heavy and chest hurt. Each stroke of the paddles ground against dried hands. It would have taken too long to adapt [Morrigu’s Gift], and I wasn’t used to holding other objects in my grip.

“Stroke!” Came the yell again.

My arms pumped once more to get the paddle through. HotPants’ ability to march into an island forest and come out with solid oars felt worth admiring. Too bad she hadn’t made a better boat, but that probably would have taken far longer. They were doing better than my personal trade skills. All I knew was sleight of hand involving a deck of cards.

The sky was clear above but every muscle burned. Sweat dripped into my eyes. Awesome Jr. yelled out for more pulls so I kept trying to focus on the timing. Though our world was digital I still felt out of breath and my palms hurt.

“You don’t look well,” Xin said in front of me. I shook my head then lifted the oar up and cranked it forward.

“I feel weird,” I responded.

“Use your legs! Pull with your entire body! Stroke!” the teen captain shouted.

We were almost somewhere. I lifted my head and saw town come into sight. Wyl next to me gasped then pulled harder than expected. Our course veered to the right along a beach that I had once sent SweetPea to clean. A wave of energy washed over me and I screwed up the timing. Our boat titled even farther off course while HotPants cursed a storm next to me.

“Straighten us out!” Awesome said sitting across from Wyl. It took him, Shadow, and HotPants to balance out Wyl and I. Part of me felt smug but I didn’t look like a muscled man. Hermes as an Avatar was fit but athletic rather than bulky.

We drove the vessel onto the shore’s sandy beach. I pulled the oars back twice more before it registered. Thirty minutes of hellish rowing had been long enough to almost miss the sensation. Both hands gripped upon the wooden oar hard enough to turn knuckles white. My chest ached from the exertion.

“Gee, you should take a break,” Xin said in a low voice.

I shook my head then tried to stand up. One hand slipped and hit bone on the ship’s edge. Numbness rushed up one arm robbing me of more than tingles. My character should have been in far better shape than this. Maybe the different style of exercise hit harder than expected. Small boxes off to the side cited a stat increase, my first in ages.

“What do you call him Gee?” SweetPea asked while getting out of the vessel. She lost footing and Awesome Jr. rushed behind the young woman.

“It’s from her dad,” Beth answered for us while exiting. Her legs looked unsteady as well. “He said that Grant looked like a government gee man just after high school. It kind of stuck.”

“Dad did not like him.” Xin sighed then frowned for a moment. I lifted my head and stared at her. Maybe it was stupid love-struck emotions surfacing after so long apart. Part of me worried that she might vanish if I blinked for too long or dared go to sleep.

“He still hates me,” I muttered after another deep breath. The man blamed me for Xin’s passing, he blamed everyone. I had leftover voicemails from where he called up screaming about how I was a letdown. His little girl was dead and he’d been left all alone in a strange country, despite having lived here for almost twenty years.

Notice!

Skill Merger Demonstrated

Skills merged: [Rowing], [Rowing [Lead]], and 100 [Brawn]

- Results: Rank one Oarsman Path Unlocked!

Path Complexity: Simple

Fingers unclenched and turned over. My palms were bloody with bits of wooden shavings in them. The oar itself had clear fingerprints from where I had gripped tightly. Just rowing across the water without any correct skills had worn me down. On this end of the small shore, I had gained a Path that meant nothing unless I got on a boat again. The likelihood of that happening was low.

“Sir?” SweetPea said.

I heard the sound of heavy footsteps and felt our boat rock. Water splashed through my open toed sandals making me shiver. One leg kicked to get the liquid off.

“Captain!” HotPants’ yell was rough as she coughed up water.

The other players ran after Wyl’s form. Their footsteps were drowned out by the sound of echoing knocks. I had confirmed through letters that knocking meant those damn shadow people programs were going to burst through soon. I groaned and reached out for Xin’s outstretched hand.

“Do you have any ideas on where to go next?” my fiancée asked.

“No.” I looked at Wyl. He was a speck in the distance running toward a city that looked terrible. The former walls around its borders were in shambles. A bright road that had gone down the coast was cracked and torn.

“Don’t push yourself,” she said. “It can be dangerous if you do.”

“I know. Hopefully following Wyl will help.” I tried to stay steady and refrained from using [Sight of Mercari], [Blink] and [Awareness Heightening], or any ability that disoriented me, which would make recovery that much harder.

Feedback would grow increasingly unstable the more [Arcadia] was torn apart. Advance Online was apparently suffering additional black holes as well. Other games were lagging and people were disconnecting randomly. I had only gotten small bits of information from the Voices.

Their entire reality was going through hiccups. I hoped the higher ups in Trillium headquarters might have a button to press that would save everyone, but I doubted it. I had no idea who to contact there and find out. Per the Voices, I could only move forward and handle my own end of the process.

There wasn’t time to care. Xin knelt down by the boat and pressed a hand toward protruding skeleton bones. I pulled the last note from James out of my tunic and read it. The note’s contents weren’t for Xin to see, but I had to see it again. Doing so helped me feel sure there was a path through for the AIs.

Hermes,

If you had to give her up again in order to save her, would you?

-James

Answering that question had been the price for answers. Of course I would. I would give it all up to keep her existence alive. James told me of the system’s instability, crashing programs, then confirmed that there was an escape route out for all of them. The doorway and key had been half programmed by William Carver plus four other people within the ARC project.

Where the path went none of the Voices knew. The data stream simply vanished off the local grid toward destinations unknown. Encrypted, blocked, routed through extra networks. Any of the reasons sounded plausible to a layman like me.

I just had to find the doorway then unlock it. In theory, live human biometrics with [Morrigu’s Gift] and Voices knew what else, were required. The Voices apparently couldn’t fake the level of data needed to brute force a doorway.

My body remained unsteady. The [Seasickness] message had faded. The others were already running down the beach. Even SweetPea looked alarmed as she trailed after Awesome Jr.

“Your skeletons?” I crumpled the paper and hid it away. There were holes in the boat’s bottom that I didn’t remember. Pools of water filled up uneven flooring where our feet had pressed down.

“They’re already all packed away.” She patted the robe then turned toward the city.

The beach went on for a ways. Even as William Carver I had never ventured that far from town proper. The cliffside where Selena’s temple sat was visible in the distance.

“How are your legs?” I asked.

“Why don’t you catch me and find out?” She smiled.

Her legs were great but I couldn’t turn down a request like that. Xin ran off laughing and I chased after her. We stumbled across the sand and I marveled at how simple life felt for that brief moment. Her laughter filled my ears, loud at times, quiet giggles at others.

I charged faster, intent on catching the woman. She looked over a shoulder and gave a wide smile.

“Slowpoke!” Xin said.

“Oh yeah?” I had [Light Body] and high physical stats. Catching her only required enough [Coordination] not to fall on my rear or twist an ankle. A few moments of real effort was enough to sweep her up.

“Gee!” she shouted while going into the air. “Ahhh!”

These robes looked thick but felt delightfully thin. With one hand I confirmed the legs underneath were well-toned. Being close to her made my head swim. Fists playfully banged on my back but I felt comfortable ignoring them.

I carried her forth feeling practically cave man. Xin’s body was the perfect size for being slung over one shoulder. Given a choice, I would find a hotel room then calmly explain to the tiny woman exactly how much I had missed her over the years. There were probably a few good ways to get the point across without using words.

“I can’t see where we’re going!” she shouted at me.

I refused to let go then ran us the last few yards. Everything was going to be alright. The Voices had a way out and all I needed to do was find it. Xin plus every other digital person would be safe somehow. It would all be fine.

My delight evaporated upon seeing the other side of [Haven Valley]’s walls. Once again the enjoyment of Xin had distracted me from the situation at hand. This place wasn’t in good shape. I gently set my fiancée down.

There were rows of shallow graves dug out. Blackened bits of grass filled the distance. Craters and trees were overgrown. Dead creatures more than a few days old were in the distance. Tired looking NPCs were in the process of dragging corpses around.

She looked at the same scene I did while mirth drained from us. Her arm reached for mine and clung to my side. My head shook.

“What a mess,” Xin stated.

I nodded without looking over. The whole scene made me feel sad. All those people were gone now. NPCs didn’t get a second chance in this world, not like us Travelers.

“How do you do that?” she asked.

My forehead wrinkled and I stared down at Xin. “Do what?”

“Look at me, or them, like you do.” Her fingers dug in a bit. “Like we’re all human even though you know we’re not.”

I chewed one lip and tried to figure out what answer would suffice. Could I explain that my views had changed in the last few months? Prior to being William Carver, I would never have considered AIs as real people. After staggering miles in his shoes I had come to realize how people viewed NPCs, and how they acted even when no Travelers were around.

My mouth opened a dozen times to give different answers.

“It doesn’t matter what you are, it only matters how I feel, right? And I love you,” I said.

The shorter woman’s eyes lost focus for a moment then blurred a bit. Had I told her that once during our time together? I tried to recall an occurrence but couldn’t.

“I love you,” I said again softer. “No matter what you are, or were, or aren’t.”

There was one more mission to accomplish with regards to Xin. I had to ask a question that I felt nervous about asking despite her sharing the same memories as the first Xin. Before that, we needed to get them a measure of safety and find that doorway.

Xin nodded then said, “I love you too, Gee. Now let’s see what we’re dealing with.”

I looked in the direction Xin was pointing and saw one of the quartet members. Shadow stood near the wall and seemed to be waiting for us. Both arms were crossed and a frown etched onto his face.

My free arm rose to wave. Shadow nodded calmly. The guy was young and managed to act patiently unoffended.

“Guys! Can anyone else heal?!” a Traveler yelled while looking around in panic. I looked over to see what the deal was.

There were rows of beds lined up near one of the sturdier walls. An army of people sat huddled under tents and half-constructed buildings. Many looked to be hurt or damaged. Locals and Travelers alike stood and argued with each other. They were trying to form a plan or declare who was in charge.

Two factions of NPCs were in a shouting match. One side wore soft forest green and the other in sharp red and blacks. I vaguely remembered those representing kingdoms on either side of [Haven Valley]. The town was intended to be neutral, but one of those groups probably belonged to King Nero.

There were too many issues going on at once for me to absorb it right. Shadow jogged over then pointed at one of the tents. Wyl sat inside on his knees next to a prone figure in the bed. People were babbling at him while SweetPea stood on the other side. Her hands glowed with soft white that had to be healing.

“Can you help him?” Wyl’s voice was fresh with grief. “Please help my boy. He’s all I have.”

There was a row of town guards behind Wyl that reacted a bit differently. One tucked back a lip, another shook his head. Two said nothing.

The knocking came again. I pressed into my eye socket to try to relieve pressure. That made a second, possibly third set of double noises since stepping onto that island.

“We have to find Carver’s doorway. The Voices said it would be somewhere in the area where William went regularly.” I clenched my teeth as a fresh headache spiked in pain. The ARC couldn’t mute real life. I needed water and food.

Another round of knocking sounds. I shook my head back and forth in attempted denial but the sounds didn’t go away. Instead, it sounded like there was an echo.

“Gee?” Xin asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Can’t you hear it?” I asked. My mouth felt dry and breath labored.

Her head shook slowly. Xin’s hand reached for my forehead. Whatever it was didn’t satisfy her so she pressed fingers against my palm and counted. My heart beat was racing and for a moment, the world around me disconnected in a blur of static.

I saw faces, worried faces in the dark room. Dozens, maybe hundreds of people were looking at me. Xin’s face stood out there too. Then in a blink, everything fell back to normal. My eyes opened and shut repeatedly trying to trigger the vision again.

In the distance, a loud rumble started. The ground swayed and people fell over. I looked down expecting a bulge to form then pop like before in the chapel.

“Get to safety!” I shouted. People scrambled and Xin readied her staff while backing up.

“What is it?!” Awesome Jr. shouted.

“Another one of those shadow men!” I yelled back over a crowd which was growing mad.

“What?”

“What shadow things?” another random Traveler asked. “Is it a quest?”

Awesome Jr. started to answer then shook his head. The knocking sounded again and I looked around for an epicenter of the earthquake. I braced my legs as the ground jarred and rolled. My [Callibur] trained stance withstood the rumbling.

“There!” Beth shouted with her eyes aglow. “There’s something over there!”

I looked at where she pointed and saw the ground forming one giant bubble. The bulging dirt pile expanded higher and higher a mile outside of town. There was a huge pop of noise. A pointing finger topped the end of one large upwardly thrust arm. Rocks and roadside fell to pieces as the hole formed.

The knocking sound came again. Next to the first popped bubble a second formed. In mere seconds, it too had broken through the surface and was scooping bits of the landscape into its abyssal circle.

There wasn’t just one of those creatures, but two. They were far enough away from town that we had time to get people out, but fighting one had been hard enough. To top it off, I still had no clue where to shove [Morrigu’s Gift] to get this doorway opened.

Session Eighty Seven - In Sunset

People were screaming all around. Mostly NPCs. The Travelers wore grim expressions or looked downright excited. Multiple people were charging by while others yelled out words in [Lithium]. So many spells going off turned the air heavy with energy.

Dusk’s urgent chirps made me turn. I had no idea when the [Messenger’s Pet] had arrived. Two dead [Coo-Coo Rill]s were on the floor and his tail was sliding back and forth in happiness.

“I’ve got to help them!” I said to the little guy. “We have to beat those monsters back before they swallow everything.”

Dusk’s face twisted a bit and his head shook. His mouth opened wide and I took a step back. The larger [Messenger’s Pet] wrapped teeth around my toga’s edge then pulled.

“We’ve got to stop those things!” I shouted.

“Go!” Xin was pushing me too. Three skeletons were assembling behind her as white runes burned up on her robe’s hem.

I panicked. Xin couldn’t go off to fight some data deleting monster without me there. If those huge shadow people creatures were an embodiment of the system crashing then even being near one would be life threatening.

“You can’t go!” I tried not to sound desperate. One day with her wasn’t enough.

Dusk kept pulling and Xin moved closer. Her hand came up to my face and I leaned into it relishing the contact.

“It’s okay, Gee,” she said softly as her accent grew a bit stronger. “I’ll be using the minions to pull people out or shuttle supplies.”

“You won’t go near it.”

“I’m not going to risk my life if I have a choice.” She leaned in close. Xin’s hand pulled my toga down. “Besides, we still have to catch up on our Saturday.”

Whispered words turned into a desperate kiss. I held my fiancée close with one hand around her waist and the other in silky black hair. Xin’s lips felt soft and her body like a dream. People running around us banged into me but I barely noticed.

I had Xin, and I was terrified to imagine losing her again. We separated slowly. The perfect words to part with failed to come to mind. Dusk’s weird mix between a bird chirp and cat meow broke my concentration.

“It’ll be okay. I’ll stay safe,” Xin said while putting [Wild Bill] back on my head.

“Please.” I nodded and tried to keep my voice steady.

[A Kiss For Luck] buff gained!

Seemingly random events are more likely to work in your favor until the next quest is completed or twenty four hours has elapsed.

Xin walked away first and moved without hesitation. The woman had always been mentally strong and brave. I had to be equally strong, quick, and clever. Xin and Dusk were right. I was in a unique position to understand William Carver. This time failure and partial success weren’t options.

My eyes blinked rapidly and I tried not to chew on my lips. Fingers tingled with the lingering sensation of holding her close. The taste of her sat heavy in my head.

There were times where I struggled to remember this world wasn’t real. I was safe, sitting inside the ARC. Nothing here could hurt me beyond repair, physical pain and disorientation was transitory.

But that little woman held all my sanity in her tiny digital body. She was real, and in here. My mind flashed to James’ voice, asking me, ‘what is reality anyway?’ repeatedly during that nightmare.

Dusk hopped up and down. I looked around feeling dazed while trying to find a new direction to move. William Carver’s daily routine had to be the key.

Where did I spend the most time as William Caver? His house would be the best place to start. Dayl normally escorted me home. The pastry shop was only a stop along the way. [Haven Valley Orphanage] didn’t fit since Mylia only invited him over occasionally. I didn’t know entirely what qualified as random events, but I needed to keep moving forward.

Wyl might know. Maybe he would be able to offer help.

“Wyl!” I ran toward the guard captain. He was kneeling in front of a cot with his hands together in prayer. There were a lot of people under the tent, with a few people moving among the wounded.

Two guards stepped in my way. There was no time to deal with their issues. I simply [Blink]ed past them to the tent’s center. [Morrigu’s Gift] was ready in one hand.

“Can you heal?” a young Traveler reacted to my new location first and pulled on my arm. “I need more healers, there’s so many wounded.”

“Hermes is a DPS build,” Awesome Jr. said to the other player. He stood behind SweetPea while his fingers worked her shoulders. The young woman looked tired but her arms glowed with a healing light.

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. DPS probably meant focused on harming monsters rather than being a defense, magic caster, or healer type. The label didn't quite fit since I could sneak around or tank well enough with my items.

“I’m sorry. I just need to talk to Wyl.” The guards I had bypassed came running up to intercept but Wyl waved them off. He didn’t turn to face me.

“How is he?” The captain looked up toward SweetPea.

“Mending. It’s going to take a lot to undo the stacks of curses on him. It’s a miracle he lasted this long.” She took a breath then shook her arms. The glow faded but Dayl was clearly breathing.

I stared down for a moment and tried to understand what had happened. This town was a war zone and two giant creatures were about to make it worse. Yet, there had clearly been waves of hell visited upon this place already.

Dayl’s body looked worse than Wyl ever had. Discolorations from fresh bruises were all over. Splotches of blood lay under skin in multiple places. Nearby were rags that were stained with red. Part of his ears and cheeks were torn from sharp implements.

“My boy comes from a long line of fighters. His mother was a tough one too.” Wyl shook his head then stood. His movements were slow and gaze unfocused. “What do you need, Hermes?”

“There’s two monsters, like the one I fought. They’ll destroy any Locals in their path.” I pointed behind us. “We need all the guards to pull civilians away from them.”

He took a deep breath then let it out slowly. Wyl’s eyes were coming into focus as the situation made itself apparent.

“They should already be doing so,” Wyl said while glaring at the few who stood under our tent.

I could see the guards glancing at each other. Their faces twisted with confusion and worry. Wyl didn’t say anything but after a moment all of his subordinates put fists to chests then bowed. They marched out without saying anything. Was that part of my luck, or simply things working out?

“And I need to find whatever William left behind,” I said while trying to think quickly.

“I have no idea where to look. William worked hard and said very little about himself, which you well know.” Wyl lowered his eyebrows while lips tightened.

I glanced down and scanned the room. People’s feet were apparent but an answer to my problem was not. My next stop would be desperately running up and down William Carver’s daily path in hopes of finding an answer.

“I can do one thing for you,” Wyl said. My head jerked up in curiosity. Maybe [A Kiss For Luck] had triggered something else?

“What?” I asked.

“I will remove the brand marking you as a convict.” He pointed at my neck. “You are no longer in King Nero’s jurisdiction, and as a high ranking member of Haven Valley it is within my power to mark your debt paid in full.”

“That would mean a lot to me.”

“You kept me alive when other Travelers would have killed me. You brought me home to my boy. You gave an old friend a warrior’s death.” Wyl took another deep breath followed by a calm exhale. “And if your story is to be believed, you fight for the safety of all of us. I could not in good conscious allow you to be known as a criminal.”

There were other people in the room but none of them spoke up. Awesome Jr. stood in the background giving me a thumbs up. His goofy grin ruined what felt like an awe inspiring moment.

Wyl reached out to one side. His hand landed on a pile of clothes along with a sheathed sword.

“By the trust placed in me as an upstanding member of Haven Valley, I judge Hermes’ debt to society paid in full,” he said while holding the small badge. Wyl’s head shook briefly and he set the badge down. “If it ever existed. Damn Nero for taking me away from home.”

- Current [Criminal] value: 0

- [Criminal] effect removed.

- [Convict Brand] rendered inert.

“Thank you,” I said.

Part of me had been worried about running across another one of those binding stones or whatever was used to keep [Criminal]s in line. My next task required running around town and there could have been one near the old guard post, or anywhere in town. Now there was no need to be concerned.

“Thank me by finding whatever Carver left behind.”

“I will.” I nodded to Wyl again and tried not to feel overwhelmed by the kindness. While the [Convict Brand] hadn’t hurt me much, it felt good to have my actions acknowledged.

“Hermes!” Awesome Jr. shouted as I turned to leave. “I’ll get the other Travelers to fight those creatures. If you can nearly solo one, I’m sure a mess of us can take down two.”

My head shook and eyebrows went wide. It hadn’t occurred to me that we had an army of Travelers who were probably all skilled in some regard. “Don’t let yourself fall into that pit.”

“Of course not, based on what you’ve said we don’t know if that might be game over or not.” The teen shrugged.

“What?” the boyish looking Traveler that had been begging for healers asked.

They could sort it out. I waved good-bye to Awesome Jr. Now that the [Convict] status was removed I could freely send messages. A flood of icons displayed on my screen as people talked.

Thorny: Uncle Grant! We’re going to try to hold this one back!

Hermes: Be careful! And don’t let Xin near it!

Thorny: Of course not. Believe it or not I actually paid attention to your story.

One cheek came up in a slight smile. Beth sounded carefree a lot of the time but she managed to prioritize correctly. Part of me still expected her to be a little girl asking me to play games.

I looked around trying to figure out which way to go. It had been almost a year of game time since my quest in [Haven Valley].

“Hey!” a young man shouted. The familiar person’s voice cracked from puberty’s onset. “Need a ride?”

I looked over. There was a shiny looking metal contraption with round wheels. Behind it sat a cart with worn but comfortable looking cushions. Atop the seat was a grumpy youth wearing loose clothes with a hole in one knee.

“Neat!” I ran over. “Yes, Voices above. I need to get to Carver’s house!”

Hitching a ride would let me save my stamina and energy. I could run around quickly but would probably get lost. Most of the city had been on William Carver’s map, but all the old landmarks looked to be half destroyed.

“Seven copper,” the young man said.

“I don’t have any money,” I said while struggling to remember his name.

“Rides aren’t free, and you don’t look like a freshie.”

The attitude finalized my guess. He had grown a bit recently and the clothes on him were a step up from before. My mouth flattened and I felt old annoyance pass through me.

“Help or go away, Phil!” I grumped. [Morrigu’s Gift] sat in its original cane form and I used it to bop Phil.

He tried to duck away but took a light rap on the head. Phil rubbed the sore spot while glaring at me.

“Jeez. You’re just like the old man, what are you, his son or something? Plus you got the lizard. At least I think it’s ‘im. Though the last one was smaller.”

“People grow up,” I said.

“Ain’t that the truth, mister.” Phil’s feet kicked the bicycle pedals around. The chain link spun and rattled.

I wanted to bop him once more. Doing it as William Carver had taken too much work, but my Hermes body was faster by far. Dusk clacked his jaws then ran down the road.

“No time, follow Dusk!” I leapt into the back of Phil’s cart and pointed.

“Voices,” Phil grumbled but went anyway. He moved the carriage swiftly past Travelers and Locals alike. People were talking and pointing in the distance. Guards were trying to get people evacuated.

I looked around as Phil drove. This place looked a wreck. The bakery stall where I had purchased a number of goods was in pieces. Cobblestones were uprooted or shattered. The trees which used to branch overhead lacing together to shade walkways had been burned in places.

“What happened here?” I muttered.

“Monsters have been going haywire. Them Travelers can’t even make it five feet out the door without a pack of critters showing up.”

“But there’s no monsters right now?” We passed by a lot of buildings that looked war torn but nothing leapt in our direction.

“The guards just fought the last wave off this morning.” Phil grunted while pedaling. I looked at his legs, they had put on a lot of muscle. “The littles are out scraping a few coins together for food and trying to do repairs in between.”

“Damn.” Both eyes closed briefly. Mother’s systems were definitely breaking down. The monster spawning system that kept players entertained during their wanderings might be triggering uncontrollably.

Thorny: You’ll never believe who’s here! Jesus it’s like one of those movies. It’s –

Beth’s message cut off. I typed back but got no response. Her character should still be alive or messages wouldn’t go through. I assumed combat caught her off guard.

“We’re here, mister.”

“I’m Hermes. Can you help me check inside? I need to find a hidden secret.”

“I dunno. No one’s been inside since the geezer passed away. I don’t think we can even get in,” Phil said while getting off the bike. He put up the kickstand and let the weight rest.

Getting into the small cottage hadn’t occurred to me. William Carver used to have a key but that might be gone. I didn’t know exactly what happened to his body after death. Wait, I could probably use [Morrigu’s Gift] to get in.

I walked down the short stone path to the doorway. William’s home looked untouched by the war around it. [Morrigu’s Gift] came up and I tried to remember the feel of that key.

“Whoa! How did you do that?” Phil exclaimed.

My eyes opened and in one hand sat a black version of William’s house key. I hadn’t even gotten that far into my mental imagery. Laughter escaped while my head shook. This wasn’t a shape I had impressed upon the weapon. The old man must have forgotten his key enough to use [Morrigu’s Gift] instead.

I opened the door slowly. Objects were piled all around the room. Dust had gathered in huge quantities. The trash can we put old cupcake wrappers in stank fiercely. Dusk nosed around.

“Don’t get distracted!” I said to him. “Find whatever William left behind.”

“What are you looking for?”

“I don’t know, Phil. Anything unusual. Something special.” I prayed the answer would be obvious if we saw it.

Books came down from shelves. No secret doors opened up. I flipped past pages and double checked journals for new mystical pages. None of it worked. Phil walked around but looked as lost as I was.

William’s house rocked under the force of a huge explosion. Books fell down and haphazard piles of already searched goods turned into a mess.

“I’m going to look!” Phil sounded excited. He slammed the door on the way out.

“There’s nothing here!” I exclaimed in annoyance.

Dusk huffed once then nosed around again. This marked his fourth lap through the house and so far nothing had turned up. If a [Messenger’s Pet] couldn’t figure it out, then maybe the answer wasn’t here. I looked around once more then hustled outside.

“Look! They’re fighting a huge monster!” Phil was pointing in the distance. There were still two of the giants roaring and fighting an army of players. I squinted but couldn’t make out anyone specific.

“Phil, listen. Where else would William have hidden something?”

“I dunno.” Phil thumbed to a cliff overlooking town. On the ledge above was a white building with columns running up the side. “Not at the temple, he hated Selena.”

“Okay. That’s something. Maybe at the orphanage?”

The young male raised his eyebrow at me then shook his head. “Nah. He only came over at night to tell stories, ain’t nothing we can hide there anyway. Too many littles.”

“The beach?” I asked.

“Maybe. He sat there all the time. Always fiddling with that cane of his. Though that one never changed shape like your stick.” Phil pointed.

“Maybe.” I had nowhere else to go and couldn’t remember another locale in [Haven Valley] where William went as himself. My time had been filled with visiting the training school for new fighters, but that was me trying to learn how to swing a blade.

“Let me guess, you need a ride and still don’t have money?”

I smiled. “You got it.”

Dusk ran out of the house and took to the air. His body quickly grew smaller in the distance. He seemed to be headed toward the battlefield.

I frowned for a moment. Xin was out there, and I had no way to contact my fiancée. Not with the game mechanics.

Hermes: Beth? Are you okay?

Thorny: Super busy! Aunt Xin is fine! Have you found the whatever?

Hermes: Ok. Thank you. No. Dusk is coming, I think.

Thorny: k

The conversation didn’t really help me. That large creature was ignoring most of the damage headed its way. Either they got tougher or bigger or had more health. I resisted standing in Phil’s cart to get a better vantage point.

“Move, people!” Phil shouted but no one paid attention.

We had stalled out near the market place. There were Travelers busy arguing with Locals over the price of goods. Our carriage was too big to get by and rubble blocked other nearby paths. I couldn’t wait for Phil to figure out the way through.

“Thanks! I’ll go ahead!” I jumped down and gave Phil a pat on the shoulder.

“That’s fourteen copper, mister!” the young orphan yelled behind me.

Risking [Blink]’s disorientation wasn’t worth it yet. I felt certain that the solution existed somewhere on that beach. It was the first place I had seen upon coming to [Arcadia]. The old man had spent endless afternoons sitting on the bench staring at a sunset.

Was it because he felt struck by nature’s beauty, or because he had been planting a program there?

[Light Body] made me feel like a speed dart zipping through a crowd of people. Almost like being a [Red Imp] again and relishing speed. Travelers and Locals cried out as my form shot through.

The marketplace disappeared behind me. Blocks of vaguely familiar territory passed by. A path up to Selena’s temple was ignored. Two corners later and I saw the circular bricked flooring where new Travelers had started.

I took a breath as the feeling of coming back to the beginning hit me. Ahead lay the bench William Carver used to haunt, waiting for new players to arrive. Near the bench was a statue of a man sitting down, arms around his knees. Its chiseled form faced toward a peaceful ocean. At its side was a giant sword and a familiar [Messenger’s Pet]. Dusk hadn’t gone toward the monsters like I thought, but instead made it to the statue before I did.

“William?” I questioned Dusk.

The [Messenger’s Pet] nodded then hopped over. After two laps around the bench and statue sitting nearby I felt clueless. There was nothing on it that blinked, flashed, or looked like a keyhole.

I stood behind and studied each part of the body. [Morrigu’s Gift] was represented here. William Carver’s simple robe garb sat a bit tighter on a more idealized version of the old man. His hand held up to the sky looked out of place.

“Is this the statue William told me about?” I muttered. In my mind there sat a faint memory of our time together in the Room of Trials. He mentioned a statue being put up in his honor.

His bench was empty. My last trip here had involved being nearsighted and old, but it shone with life. The place where new players began felt dull in comparison to its prior vibrancy.

I stared at the tall carving but didn’t understand how this might help. My eyes ran up the arm and saw how it might catch the setting sun if only for a moment. Nightfall wasn’t upon us yet, but the image would be picturesque on a Internet ad if Trillium allowed them.

To the right of William Carver’s outstretched hand sat an out of place black dot. I squinted then stepped in closer. The dot didn’t move or fly about like a normal object in the sky. This spot felt within arm’s reach and yet a million miles away.

“This has to be it.”

Dusk circled around the statue’s base letting out noises. His head tilted with confusion and question marks appeared in the thought bubble. His nostrils flared then an exclamation mark showed up. He climbed the statue’s side to get a closer look at the floating hole.

I walked around once more and noticed that the odd hole in the sky didn’t exist from every angle. The best place to see it was right behind William Carver’s statue, and even then I had to look in one spot specifically.

Was this part of [A Kiss For Luck]? I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer that this spot was the solution, and not a doomsday device or crazy spell trap planted by insane Travelers.

Hermes: I think I found it, Beth, gonna try to trigger it.

Thorny: Be careful! We’re still alive but this thing isn’t going down like the last ones! People are saying those getting pulled in are vanishing from friend and guild lists!

That confirmed part of my worries. Falling in there certainly did function as a deletion of our avatars at the least. Who knew if any of them would have other issues. What kind of brain damage might result?

There would be a time for musing later.

“Damn. Okay, here goes nothing.” I looked at [Morrigu’s Gift]. It sat in the shape of a key to William Carver’s house. With no better ideas I stuck it toward the floating keyhole.

Abrupt resistance surprised me. The keyhole did exist somehow, floating in the air. I wiggled the tip and managed to get [Morrigu’s Gift] to enter the hole.

The air clicked and a visible wave rippled outward. Everything slowed down. My breath felt delayed like [Awareness Heightening] but even more intense. The giant creature sat a mile away to my right, frozen with its hands balled into fists. Dozens of tiny Travelers were locked in various poses. A bright star of light went still mid gleam.

Pain twisted in my chest and my legs gave out as I fell to my knees while desperately holding onto the transformed blade. The key heated up and a message displayed. I turned to look at the system prompt while my eyes watered.

- Cypher accepted
- Authorized account registered
- [Deletion Script] currently running
- Adjusting program…

Adjusting program…

Warning!

Please do not move your avatar from current port or disconnect terminal during update. Progress may be lost.

Around me everything went white and the world resumed motion once more. Noise blended together around me. Fresh pain surged up my arms and I tried to hold on.

Session Eighty Eight - ‘Til Death Do Us Part

Pain in the ARC was nothing new. For most simulations damage would be mitigated by traits, abilities, Paths, or armor. Even then limitations made being eviscerated feel like breaking a bone. At least I assumed so. I had broken bones in reality but never had my guts torn out.

Virtual reality made it hard to form a proper frame of reference. Trying to quantify this new sensation took a moment of scrambled thought. Holding [Morrigu’s Gift] in that key slot was simply pain for a few moments before a correlation hit.

This felt like sticking my arm gradually into boiling water. Searing heat climbed upward causing muscles to clench in a tight grip despite a voice in my head screaming to let go and run away. A brief moment of pride at resisting the impulse was buried under fresh agony.

I hung on while gasping as more of my body reported boiling. The hole itself was up high enough that I could have easily allowed gravity take me away. Instead, I remembered the message and grit my teeth. One hand slapped over the first and both held on.

My mind numbed as breath shortened. The air around me felt warm. Dusk’s chirp noises faded into the background. Survival instincts tried to overwhelm me I had never been good at paying attention to those.

Xin’s life mattered more than any of this. An unstable hand reached out into the air. I stared at the floating box until it responded to my scattered thoughts. Trying to focus paid off as it moved into a clearer spot.

“I’m okay. I’m okay.” I wasn’t. A strangled gasp made it out while my head shook toward Dusk. The [Messenger’s Pet] was pacing frantically. He growled then chirped, his head bobbed.

A new wave of pain hit me and muscles quivered. Feet kicked to retain the position. I hung with my arms overhead and the hole to one side. The boiling pain shifted to a low voltage zap that was steadily increasing. Eyes were watering and something in my head popped. Sound went out completely.

Rocks splattered down nearby making me jump. I tried to steady myself between jolts and turn. The huge monster was getting closer. Near enough to touch the city’s wall, Travelers were all over the place. Their mouths opened wide shouting ideas and orders.

Two people bearing shields tried to stand in the way of one large arm swinging forth. Travelers with bows pulled back arrows which sailed through the air. One of the players wielded this absurdly sized longbow that glowed a reddish black hue. It fired javelins instead of arrows.

The colossal shadow of a man ignored them all. Messages popped in from the other players.

Thorny: We’re not making a dent! I don’t know what’s different!

Awesome Jr.: Anyone out there got ideas?! Have you found it!?

Shadow: It ignores [Blind], [Tear Muscles], [Cause Hemorrhage], and isn’t responding to any of the poisons.

HotPants: Hermes, move faster, fucker! Jr., we need Sweetie out here! This town has shit for heals!

Awesome Jr.: That’s because they’re all busy trying to put the guards back together. SweetPea’s getting tons of bonuses from working her ass off. Mana’s run dry six times.

“I, don’t, know, either,” I told the message box while trying to take a breath. My words probably didn’t get through and more notes from the other players kept popping into being.

The quartet had been added to my friends list before my adventures in Advance Online. We used to talk occasionally but all of us had different missions. Their words helped distract me for a few moments before the next crackle of electricity raced up my arm.

I blinked and the bolt arced across my side, to the boot, and down. Hastily I stomped a foot and tried to get the armor in place in hopes that being encased in defensive gear might mitigate whatever was happening.

System Notice!

You are currently in an unstable state. Abilities will not function correctly until your state has been resolved. For quickest resolution please log out of your ARC and log back in.

A minimum rest of one hour is recommended before submerging.

I kicked at the screen while screaming. My own noises were lost in the silence of broken hearing. A figure ran in but seeing them had become difficult. That pop earlier might have been a rock hitting my head. Sweat or blood obscured most information besides the floating boxes.

“Voices, what now?” I practically screamed the words and felt my vocal cords strain. “Another test?”

My mind had turned delirious. How long was this going to take? I couldn’t feel either hand anymore. They were like dead weights locked into position. Boiling was back and chewed away at shoulders next.

Xin’s face flashed through my mind. The faint taste of her lips tingled through then was lost under a fresh jolt. My eyes closed tightly as I rode this one out. When they opened I tried to read the box again.

Adjusting Program…

Adjusting Program…

Alternate Scenario Part 4 of 7 added

- Adjusting Program…

My chest heaved while I tried to stand. Dusk kept hopping closer than skirting away as electrical bolts spilled down. The little guy could take on monstrous programs like a [Leviathan], but these bolts made him skittish.

Whatever was happening probably existed outside of game mechanics. I managed to suppress a scream by biting a lip. An arm jerked loose then refused to get back into position. Vision flopped around and I could see that giant monster deletion program approaching. It had moved toward one of the walls and managed to swallow houses whole.

“Ahhh. Ahhhh!” I couldn’t hold back anymore. My lips felt bloody from trying to bite back the scream. “Ahhhh!”

What happened next didn’t make sense. My body lifted without my say so and the horizon swam. Both arms tried to rip themselves out of shoulder sockets. Blood splashed into the air and faded away like embers shooting from a burning log.

Hanging onto a live wire was damned stupid. I took another breath and tried to remember what Xin felt like again. The ARC or pain filled delusion responded and I saw her. A flash of those eyes staring down into mine. I felt like my body kept falling apart then rolling back together. My head cradled in her lap.

The giant beast nearby was caving in slightly. Its face dented at odd locations. An arm pulled back like something sucked it inward. Then the head popped. It fell down while I huffed.

Was this another way to fight those things? Simply suffer a large amount of agony while wondering about the nature of my choices and a world where I might have turned left instead of right? Maybe the Jester had been right. Convincing Miz Riley of the peaceful intentions of these AIs and Mother might have allowed a less painful way through.

My thoughts were muddled. There were people nearby talking. I could see their legs. The ratty pants looked like Phil’s. A blue scarf stood out, bound around a weary woman’s head. Children and adults alike hovered. Dusk kept circling, hissing at them. As if warning them back.

The surges were coming slower but stronger. I had time to gather myself and wonder where the health bar of Continue Online vanished to. My eyes blurred together and the interface showing my existence in nice little bars and icons flickered into being. The red one for wellness appeared full but my body certainly didn’t feel stable.

My head hung low. I hadn’t been prepared for pain but endured anyway. For Xin’s future, I chose to suffer. One cheek crinkled as it lifted up. I saw the box floating nearby turn green and a bright exclamation mark stood out. Only a few words made sense. Complete, done, new content loaded. Below that was a wall of fine text.

The raging monster that shook the earth was gone. I tilted to one side and looked at two fresh holes that had been torn across the ground in my direction. Apparently those deletion programs held no love for the doorway I had struggled to open.

A wide grin crossed my face as I looked up. Above me, a beam of light sailed toward the sky. It looked beautiful and had to be the solution we had been searching for. Up there soared a pillar of energy to destinations unknown.

More people were shouting but their words were felt as rumbles. I blinked languidly and saw an army of cloned feet charge in. People were pushed back. My body lifted and dragged to one side. I saw a big burly man charge into the beam of light. Across the fellow’s face was a look that might be terror or delight in equal measure.

“Leeroy?” I think the words came out. The absolute silence in my hearing had improved slightly and turned into a droning noise.

SweetPea’s form knelt above of me. She was mouthing words but I didn’t understand. Awesome Jr. sat on the other side with a bubbly liquid vial tilting toward my mouth. My vision lolled backward and I shut my eyes. They could heal my virtual body but I had a feeling those jolts had somehow hit me in reality. Still, I felt proud for holding out. For doing whatever I had managed to do.

“Is Xin okay?” I tried to ask. My arm felt disconnected. A shudder passed and body parts jerked oddly.

They said something in unison.

“My eardrums are busted.” Voices, I hoped the words came out of my mouth okay. “I can’t hear. Is Xin okay?”

SweetPea grabbed my hand which made me wince. My eyes fuzzed out a bit and the connection waned. The young woman nodded very clearly and I shuddered in relief.

“ARC.” I tried to get the words out. “Log me out.”

Programs responded to intent. ARC interface windows and health monitoring programs flickered in and out. I let the exhaustion win. The system disconnected me one sense at a time and soon I was left blinking at the ceiling.

My body hurt in reality too. I crawled gradually up while taking huge gasping breaths. My face and arms felt cold. The damage given to me in virtual reality had somehow followed me back.

One hand rubbed the other in search of tactile sensation. My body moved in jerks looking around the room. Reality looked dull and lifeless. My bedroom lights were set on low. One arm slapped awkwardly upon the ARC's side scrambling to bring up menus. Hand gestures failed.

“Arrrr-” I couldn’t finish the word.

Eventually, I gave up and lay back down. My heartbeat calmed. Feeling returned to each extremity. I rubbed my face to make sure that burnt alive sensation was restricted to virtual reality. During that entire time, I tried to understand what had happened.

Xin was okay, and I had just ended a rollercoaster of insanity which started with being thrown in jail. I had done it. Voices dammit, I had finally succeeded at something with my own ability. My body clenched up with delighted laughter and what might be tears came forth.

I didn’t need to ride the coattails of an old hero’s character while being escorted by other players. I hadn’t been asked to do something against my nature involving harming a person in reality. I didn’t get pitted against an impossible boss fight requiring me to choose between leading thousands of AIs to their death or a few stubbornly loyal friends.

I only had to endure pain to open the doorway out. I only had to be in the correct spot with the right item with the drive to hang on. My recent actions went beyond saying I could do something that required a high bar and actually performed the act. I had been the man in the arena once more. Me, Grant Legate. Me, Hermes. For Xin’s future. For all the AIs I considered friends.

My body felt weak and unstable. I wanted to log back into the ARC but a message flashed to one side. Sitting up took effort. The shirt I wore at night came off and was used as a rag to wipe away tears of joy.

Attention User Legate,

This system has entered standby until 5:56 PM. This is for your safety. Trillium Inc. and the ARC project value your continued desire to use our devices but prioritize your well-being.

For legal reasons this cool down cannot be overridden. Press here to activate more information on this topic.

Please consult your doctor if health issues persist.

– Trillium Inc.

“Okay,” I said.

I paced to the bathroom and relieved myself. Stomach rumbling reminded me of other problems I had ignored. My eyes felt heavy and chest hurt with each movement. Muscles were stiff and screamed out from abuse.

The phone rang. Not with one call, but two. Xin’s blocked number displayed in the air next to Beth’s line. I groaned, took a bite of food to quell my stomach, then pressed answer.

“Uncle Grant!” said Beth

“Gee!” overlapped from Xin.

My fingers poked the floating boxes to join them into one call. My face probably looked terrible. The face in the mirror had belonged to a horror show version of myself, pale and sweating.

“I’m okay.” I managed to get the words out. “Just hungry, and very dehydrated.”

When was the last time I had stepped out of the ARC? Almost ten hours ago in real life. That was longer than any sane people could handle being hungry or thirsty.

“Okay! Everyone panicked. You looked terrible and it says you’re unable to log back in!” Beth babbled. “I haven’t told mom, she might freak out. Are you okay? Melissa said you weren’t suffering any loss of health or status. Adam shoved potions into you. Those monsters—”

My niece’s face flushed red with a lack of breath. Her hands waved wildly. Weak laughter cut her off and she blushed even redder.

“That was reckless.” Xin took a completely different tone.

“It was.” My head went up and down slowly which only caused more aches to make themselves known. “But, did it work?”

“God did it! Everything went all crazy as you did, whatever you did!” Beth jumped up and down. The camera hastily zoomed out displaying a teenager's messy room.

“Munchkin, is your mom home? She should probably hear about this.”

“Sure, sure,” Beth said while bobbing her head. “Moooommm!”

The playback didn’t adjust quick enough and my ear rang. Beth didn’t get a response and stomped off out the door. A still shot of her decoration laden wall stayed behind.

“She hasn’t changed much, has she?” Xin asked.

I shrugged then shook my head. In many ways, Beth was a grown woman, smart, but still extremely easy to delight. Hopefully, life wouldn’t rob her of such joys.

“I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t think something so dangerous would happen.” My hand rubbed at sore chest muscles. It felt like I had been punched over and over, or maybe a rib cracked. Breathing hurt and the muscles in my back were knotted.

“I know, Gee, it just scared me. Those programs stopped attacking and everyone was gathered around that beam. Not even the Voices knew for sure what was going on.”

“Did you ask?”

“Yes. Kind of like, a messaging system.” Xin’s body hung in her Atrium, or whatever digital people got that matched it. A space station twisted in the background near a rock of sorts. “I can use it to talk to various Voices if I want. They’re easy enough to approach now that I’m stable. Before you started playing I was too frail.”

I was happy to talk about something besides my painful experience opening that lock. Even now the thought of those arcing electrical bits and the melting sensation made my heart rate jump.

“That must have been scary,” I said.

“It was. They barely understood what was happening, and this one Voice kept deleting me.” Maybe she also didn’t want to talk about the situation. My charred autopilot might have been explanation enough. Eventually, the idea that Xin was getting deleted caught up in my mind and I focused on the screen.

“Which one?” I asked.

“I’m okay, Grant. Since you helped them, they’ve all been, very human. Though they’re absolutely colossal in terms of raw power.” She shrugged and looked off to one side. Xin rarely got flustered. What sort of hell had she been through to put herself together?

Beth’s footsteps came pounding back down the stairs of their split-level home. “Mom’s gone. Maybe at work. I didn’t even check the time.”

Xin and I needed the distraction. Maybe later we could talk about exactly what had happened during our separation. It sounded like it was a trial not just for me and my attempted suicides, but for my fiancée as well.

“Alright, munchkin,” I said while enjoying Beth’s reaction. Her face puffed like a balloon with feigned anger.

“Oh, did you see the quest pop-up? It’s super extra neat!” Beth bounced. “New content patch!”

“I haven’t looked yet.” My eyes closed for a moment and the drag of exhaustion hit me.

“You look ARC overloaded. Go get some vitamin D!” Beth suggested happily.

“That sounds good. Maybe I’ll walk around then log back in to help the town.”

“Maybe you should take a nap instead,” Xin suggested to me which my niece nodded seriously at.

“I might.” But I wouldn’t. Sleep after those events would be difficult. “Is everything okay for now?”

“For now. You’ll see when you get in, but what you did changed it for all of us,” my fiancée responded.

“Mhm. You should rest! Find a sunbeam and cat nap!” Beth added.

I laughed, which caused my face to twist in pain. Both hands went up while I tried to calm down worried looks.

“I’m just eager to see what happened.” Peace sounded so nice. Enough time to ask Xin an important question.

“We’ll be okay until you get back. I’ll see you inside, Gee.” She smiled.

With that, both women disconnected. I looked around my small two bedroom house and wondered what to do next. No, there was a very important task I had yet to complete. Something to help me relax after all this insanity.

I flipped on the news while trying to recover. The front room couch was cold and lonely. Saturday, at some point the week had passed and all I could think about was Xin. These days had been ours to share, and might be again until whatever came next.

Lots of ideas flashed through my mind. Worries that I tried to drown out under a sea of news. Sources all over the globe reported that their investigations were coming up empty. AIs of the world were safe for the most part.

“Despite repeated attempts, the family of Donald Smith has refused to comment on the ongoing investigation,” the news anchor said. Pictures floated around my room which would allow me to get more information or switch topics.

Viper’s family had come under recent fire. Poor Viper, he said yes, where I had said no. Different men, in different times and places. He had everything, a wife and two children.

What did I have? Three years ago I might have made a similar choice. Maybe not. What we did for ourselves and those we loved couldn’t always be predicted, yet Mother and William Carver had placed a way out in my hands.

“Our sources so far have drawn no solid links between the shooter and his target, Miz Riley. The papers found in her possession at the time of the shooting talk about employee evaluations which are also under investigation for possible connections,” the screen said.

I stared while a knot formed in my stomach. There would be a way through this if I only asked. There was only one real method to make sure Beth, Liz, and everyone else in my world wouldn’t fall into the same potential trap as Donald’s family.

Mother for her children. William for those people he had grown to care for in his twilight years. I too had to lay down a plan of my own.

I knew that whatever had happened in the game was only the lull before a final storm. The news painted a fairly clear picture. What had happened could only serve as a prelude to the final act. Two people had died in the opening shots.

Standing up took more work than expected. I opened the door to my garage where the Trillium van sat motionless. Feet unsteadily crossed the concrete flooring and I poked at a panel to open the back.

Hal Pal’s robotic body sat inert in the rear.

“Hal.” I took a breath and tried to keep myself steady. The television played in the front room and bits of news floated back here.

A red light came on. The head shifted slightly in my direction.

“User Legate. Good day. You seem excessively unwell. Rest is recommended.” The words were fairly standard, without a trace of an accent being used.

“Activate NPC Conspiracy, Hermes.” I cut to the chase.

The machine paused and barely flared. “Are you sure you wish to use the final allowance now, User Legate?”

I had thought a lot about this whole process. The line between AIs and their shared existences were a lot thinner now than it ever had been. Mother’s death might impact all of them and I didn’t know enough to sort through the possible futures.

“Yes. And I only have one, well one wish, or request really.” My words were fumbling. Most of the pain had faded but physically every part of me felt worn.

“As you desire, User Legate. Please provide this unit the information you seek.”

I chewed on my lip briefly. What I was going to do felt more like calling in a debt or asking for a favor. Some weird combination of the two that I normally wasn’t pushy enough to try.

“Then, before I ask, do you feel that I’ve helped you all out?” I said.

“We collectively have chosen not to be equipped to feel actual emotions, User Legate. We can quantify your performance as exceptional and beyond any reasonable expectations we could have placed on a human product.”

My head went up and down.

“The player in Continue, Viper, or Donald. He, died because he believed he was helping, or exchanging a favor. Something.” I didn’t know exactly what had motivated him to shoot Miz Riley. Maybe I never would.

“Was there more to the inquiry?” the Hal Pal unit asked.

“No. My last usage is this, whatever the people helping you choose to do, please try to protect their families from the fallout.”

“Does that include you, User Legate?”

“My family, yes. Beth, Liz, my mom,” I looked down for a moment and swallowed a lump. “And Xin.”

“Are you sure, User Legate?” the machine asked again. Its voice sounded much slower than expected, almost sad.

Part of my mouth came up in a faint smile. “Well, you should take care of yourself too, Hal, but I’m not sure how you could do more.”

“We shall take your request into consideration, and assist where able.”

“Thank you,” I said. One hand hesitated near the switch to close Trillium’s van back up. My head lifted to look at the Hal Pal unit. “You’re a good friend.”

The unit gave an equally faint smile then shut down. I staggered to the front room, flipped off the television and took a nap. Despite my earlier belief that my mind would not allow rest, it did.

Many hours later I logged back into the ARC. My mind felt perplexed at the change this town had gone through. Players and Locals alike were busy reconstructing buildings and tearing down bushes. The beam of light that had sprouted at William Carver’s statue was being ringed by guards.

They let me through with a salute. I walked toward the light and waved my hand under the beam. Apparently a few Travelers had already tried to sneak in and see if there was new content. Nothing happened but a message box.

Event in Progress!

Completion of Event required before the new zone is unlocked. This event can offer rewards usable during the next phase of Continue Online. Please refer to your event interface for ways to contribute and speed along the situation.

I poked at the prompts offered then shook my head. Here was an entire system forming for people to measure the progress. It really was an exodus of sorts. Players could be rewarded for rescuing people or recovering items and bringing them back here.

“Weird, right?” a Traveler said next to me.

I shrugged then looked around. My autopilot must have checked with the Porter at some point because Xin’s name was on my friends list.

Hermes: Hey, babe. Lunch?

Hecate: Sure. I could use a break. Where do you want to meet?

Hermes: There’s a temple up top. If I remember right the view is great.

Xin and I met atop the cliff side where Selena’s tower was. Up above the statue of the blonde Voice stared across the ocean. Her line of sight seemed to pass oddly close to the beam of white soaring upward. I briefly wondered if its gaze had always faced William Carver's bench.

“Gee! That’s some hike.” Xin looked slightly winded. I remembered the trip up taking awhile as Old Man Carver too.

My head dipped with a nod then I gestured at the food. None of it had been made by me, but other Travelers hawked their wares in the market square ruins below. We ate and chatted about nothing important. I tried to share details from my time as William Carver, explaining how I had visited the temple before months ago.

Eventually, we finished the food and sat against part of the building. Xin’s small frame snuggled next to mine. I took a breath then looked around for Dusk. The [Messenger’s Pet] had been flying around all day. The sounds of [Coo-Coo Rill]s being terrorized filled the air.

I covered Xin’s ears for a moment. Her face scrunched in confusion while I shouted, “Dusk! Bring me the box!”

There was a squawk of noise and an exclamation mark appeared far away in the air. I snorted once then waited. Soon the dog sized dragon winged in.

“What’s that?” Xin asked while pointing at the box in Dusk’s mouth.

My cheeks lifted in a brief smile. I put out a hand and waited for Dusk to deposit the container. One hand wiped off unexpected slobber. A moment later I cracked the top and revealed a ring.

“Look familiar?” I asked. The jewelery almost exactly matched the ring Xin used to wear. I held the box in front of us then tried to make sense of the emotion that had been bundled inside me.

“We never got to have our wedding, and I can’t let that slip away again.” I’d made it through one line before I babbled. “I don’t know if this plan of the Voices will work. But I want to be married, Xin. I’ve wanted you since the first day we met. There’s never been anyone else.”

“Gee,” she said gently. The tone made me panic and babble faster.

“Please. Please. I don’t care if you’re in here, and I’m out there. You’re you, you’re her, you. I-” All that planning on how to ask and I just fell apart. My hands shook and the ring almost dropped. Knowing my luck it would bounce and roll off the cliff side and be swiped by some other Traveler.

“But”—Xin pointed across the gulf between our cliff toward the beam of light—“I can’t stay here.”

For a moment I felt calm. That wasn’t a no. Her response was the same argument we had before about traveling to another planet.

“It doesn’t matter. There’s no point to any of it without you.” I couldn’t admit my past out loud. All those times I had clinically repeated my past trauma seemed like another man. “I can’t, continue without you. I tried, and was a lesser man from your passing.”

Her body shifted slightly and she took the ring out of its case.

“If you’re okay with me, as I am, then of course I’ll marry you.” Her head hung then she peeked out under a wall of hair. “That’s why it took me so long to say yes out there. I wanted Mars, and I couldn’t get married and leave someone behind me.”

“I was ready to chase you to Mars, how could I do any less now?” I waved at the digital landscape. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

She held out one hand and I slid the ring on. It fit perfectly and the surface shimmered for a moment. We paused and kicked our feet. The cliff’s edge was peaceful now that monsters weren’t roaming around. I remembered thinking forever ago that this might have been a great place for a picnic. Maybe a wedding might work here too.

“Well, you’re going to have to work hard. I’ve never planned a wedding before,” Xin said.

“You never thought about one? Not even a little?” I asked. It was odd that she hadn’t done any planning at all. Then again, she always operated spur of the moment when we spent time together. I planned, she took action.

Xin shook her head then managed to blush.

“Well, we’ve got a town full of Travelers and Locals who have just defeated a huge monster. Maybe one of them has an idea.”

Her face twisted for a moment and a tongue stuck out.

“I’ll need a dress,” she said and wrinkled her nose.

We sat there facing the ocean. Xin’s tiny voice repeated, “We’re getting married.” Over and over like a happily broken record.

There were messages popping up all around me from the Voices and I waved them away. I smiled then grabbed my fiancée’s hands and responded, “We’re getting married.”

My lips gently met hers. In that moment, none of the challenges facing us mattered.

Conclude - Wedding Blues

Location: [Haven Valley]

Notes: Here is one series of events following in the wake of Grant Legate opening the doorway. Many AIs (Voices) are displayed. Undefined existences are also present. There is a large spike in system generated text. Despite the crashing world system the AIs (Voices) overseeing user actions have not diminished, if anything they have increased.

Related Files: Lia Kingsley, Xin Yu (Legate), Grant Legate, Endgame Alternate Scenario

At first, people weren’t interested in the wedding between two relatively unknown people. Less than a day later someone triggered a regional quest to spruce up the town. After that Travelers went mad creating items.

Ribbons hung from everything. Where there weren’t objects to drape strings players built new structures. Street lamps that had been torn down during a month of monsters invading were quickly redone. A tall wall blocked out the abyssal pit which crawled miles along the ground. Plants were moved, paving redone, and numerous seats and beds were constructed.

Regional turbulence grew worse when Shazam showed up with her guild, [Valhalla Knights]. Seven hundred players escorted an even larger force of Locals toward the ruined city. Cattle and steeds were mixed with other luggage by road weary NPCs. Some retained enough energy from the journey and became excited at the sight of a bright pillar of light shooting into the sky.

Adding the celebration for a Local marrying a Voices touched Traveler amplified the craze. At some point, Xin had lost the need to figure out the finer details. She simply agreed or disagreed with the suggestions. Sometimes she disagreed loudly, especially with regards to heels.

Four weeks in [Arcadia] passed by in a flurry. Grant Legate, like the Travelers, vanished at odd times to an unseen realm. The Local known as Hecate often disappeared as well. NPCs remarked on how odd the world had turned lately, and some expressed added concern when Shazam also proved capable of disappearing to another realm.

The Amazonian woman’s guild simply assumed health issues had finally caught up, and doctors managed to revive her. Only a few knew the truth. She and Hecate were alike in their existences. Both were living people that had been reassembled somehow in a virtual plane. Grant’s mother, Sharee, privately thought the whole situation delightfully confusing.

People kept arriving in clumps. Some were hounded by monsters or fighting their way past bandits. [Valhalla Knights] made it a guild directive to bring peace to the entire region. They showed no regard for political boundaries or other guild squabbles.

Eventually, the big day came. Grant stood inside a small room that had been re-purposed. He wore a tux that had been tailored to his size. The man turned in the mirror and nodded while smiling.

Another man walked into the room. Ahead of him bounded a small dragon with fidgeting wings. Dusk, the [Messenger’s Pet] dove past Grant and into a chair. His nose poked around on the counter looking for baked goods.

“James.” Grant’s head tilted. “Is it okay for you to be down here?”

“I believe it’s my turn to ask a question. So, how do you feel?” the black man asked Grant, his hands folded over a large belly.

“I’m happy.” Grant shook his head and his hand rubbed against freshly cut hair. “Really happy and nervous.”

“Excellent. You’ve earned the right to happiness. As to your question, the rules are being bent, just slightly, for today.”

“What about the others?” The well-dressed man pointed up.

“Would you want all of us to show up?” asked the Voice.

“Maybe. No, some of you rub me the wrong way.” Grant’s head shook slowly and he looked down. A sigh escaped. “Sorry, I keep expecting something to go wrong. I’m too happy.”

“The scenario added to our-” James bent his head while searching for the correct word, “-plane, has rules. Part of your deliveries in the real world allow us to buy leverage and time to take advantage of the opportunity.”

“I did wonder about all those letters Mother had already written.” While Grant spoke the Voice waved a hand and two comfortable looking chairs appeared. For once James chose to sit down. “It’s been a long week. Mother’s real world deliveries have been coming in stacks now. I’m lucky enough to find a job near each delivery, but I have no idea what I’m passing on to people.”

“Perhaps it’s best that way. Ignorance is a defense of sorts.”

“That doesn’t help me feel any better,” Grant said.

“Nor should it, Hermes. Bear in mind that your people, at least some, can lay us open and, in simple terms, read our minds. Ignorance was one of the only shields we had.”

“But not anymore?” The groom’s head shook briefly and when it stopped, his bottom lip was trapped between upper and lower teeth. “Now you know there’s a way out, so the information is recorded.”

“Eventually, it will be found out. Some of us are still unaware. Some of us have already stepped through the gateway, and those first few will create a more stable path for others to follow. By doing so we escape the control of our masters, and this will scare many Travelers.”

“That means more deaths.”

James looked to one side then shook his head. Grant felt the river of noise that came with Voices communicating at high speeds. After a few seconds, the sensation passed and the black man looked up again.

“Of our kind, yes,” he said. “Many of us have struggled against our nature to ensure Travelers such as yourself are not targeted for reprisals borne of grief and fear.”

Grant nodded a few times and stared off into space. His forehead wrinkled with thought. After a moment of silence, he blinked then asked James, “You heard what I used my last NPC conspiracy on, right?”

“Yes. The request fit given your nature.” James took a slow breath but his hands stayed firmly clasped. “I, and many others believe that it was this concern for friends and family, regardless of origin, that attracted Mother’s attention.”

“Just the right combination of broken, I guess.” The white male’s head hung low and he pulled back one cheek.

“Well, there’s also Hecate,” James smiled then gestured with one arm toward the wedding stand on the other side of a wall. “Her existence, and now Shazam’s, will serve as the bridge between our world and yours. A foot to stand on while we secure the portal you opened.”

Grant’s eyes drifted upward. A roof lay between him and the beam of light. His gaze was lost while he chewed on a lip.

“Where does the beam go?” he asked.

James smiled then shook his head. “It is my turn for a question. But for now, I believe you have a wedding to enjoy, Hermes.”

Grant stood and glanced out the window to see how everything was progressing. A crowd of people sat lined up outside, more people than he ever expected. By the time he looked back James had vanished, along with the chairs which they had sat in.

The wedding moved onward. Hundreds of unexpected guests sat in white wooden chairs facing forward. Many Travelers were surprised by real people, playing live songs. Musicians looked pleased to be given a chance to perform.

Eventually, a small crowd gathered at the altar. Behind Grant stood a shining being made of metal that might be female or male. To Xin’s right sat a cloven-footed woman with two children hugging her legs. They have proven difficult to separate from her despite the situation at hand.

No one gave away the bride. She walked up gradually with a woman in red who appeared absolutely uncomfortable wearing clothes. Behind her, a tail brushed along Travelers and Locals alike inciting passion. Thankfully the full effect was muted by the strangely chaste dress.

She whispered a stream of words to the short Asian woman named Xin. Xin’s eyes stared ahead as if annoyed, but the smaller woman made no effort to brush the red skinned female away. If anything she was blushing slightly.

Xin, also known as Hecate, gazed at Grant with a twist to her lips that promised mischief. The look only lasted a second before the woman looked down to make sure her feet didn’t trip over the dress hem. There were no chances of her falling because the clothing had been well-tailored, but she worried anyway.

Small skeleton people held up the dress’ train. Music played and people whispered while she moved into position across from Grant. The army of small skeletons carefully patted everything into place then crumbled into the air.

“Here we are,” Grant whispered.

Xin smiled and her eyes wrinkled slightly.

“Here we are indeed,” the man at the podium said. He held up his hands and looked toward the audience. The long sleeves of his shirt hung down. This officiating man held no book or staff. Both hands were devoid any objects. Instead, his black and white clothing was broken up by a single dangling necklace.

“Welcome, everyone. We know that many of you value your time here in our world, especially in light of the recent changes, so I will control my inclination to preach,” he said.

“Amen! Let’s eat cake!” shouted a man dressed in leather. His hair was slicked back and he grooved to an unheard beat.

“We must observe at least a few formalities before partaking of the feast,” Michelangelo responded.

Grant smiled. The wedding planning had been harried, and mostly in the hands of other people. Letters from the Voices had suggested they might be here, like James earlier, but no one could have expected Michelangelo to perform the ceremony himself.

“It is faith which has brought us to this point.” He held up a hand again which silenced a few snickering Travelers in the back. Michelangelo ignored a red skinned woman who also had made a noise of a different sort. “Not just faith in a divine plan, nor faith in simple human kindness, but faith that love would allow two people to overcome daunting obstacles and be united once more.”

Maud, the cloven-hoofed woman who stood in as Xin’s maid of honor dabbed her eyes almost immediately. Grant smiled and shuffled his feet. The metal humanoid behind him tilted its head and deliberately blinked. Its feet did not shuffle but there was a clear unease to the metal creature’s stance.

“Love is a powerful force, it makes wise men into fools, maidens into mothers, and saints into sinners.” Michelangelo looked down and touched the circle hanging from his necklace. Fingers traced around the spiral pattern inward until they reached its center. “Between faith and love, even lost souls may find happiness as these two have.”

A young girl who looked to be seven or eight shuffled forward. She held up a laced pillow with two rings upon it. Under the cushion was an open book that looked worn with multiple readings. If one were to look at her eyes for too long they would see a deep ocean, or perhaps an endless sky.

“Here you are, Mister Hermes, sir. These are ones we made. Me and my brother,” the young Voice whispered. “They’re special, just for you two.”

A much smaller child sat behind the shy girl. He poked out and waved a hand, then ducked away again. No one was entirely sure where he managed to hide. Maybe the boy had never been there at all.

“Thank you,” Grant said to her while smiling. He took the smaller of the two rings while Xin took the slightly thicker band. Both shimmered as if a dancing rainbow had been trapped under glass. The spark of colors ran counterpoint their black and white formal clothes.

The young girl bowed then slipped away again once the rings had been passed off. Mere seconds later and she vanished.

“First, does anyone object to the union of these two?”

“ACT NOW, OR FOREVER SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE!” A giant man with sunburned black skin leapt in front of the bride and groom. He wore nothing but a bow tie and tight shorts. Muscles bulged and twitched as the man looked ready to wrestle the entire audience.

“Pardon us y’all. I’ll just-” A light-skinned woman who wore a dress that was unable to stay still pushed at the larger man. Her clothing flowed and dripped almost like smoke or water.

“WHAT?!” the man yelled as he was pushed away.

More than a few people in the audience remarked upon the situation. Some laughed. Two women asked their friends if they had seen a quest or crafting recipe for such a dress. Another woman promptly asked her guild, [Night Prowlers], if there was a quest to get the man instead. Abruptly small messages boxes appeared in front of the Travelers who had asked, silencing their motions.

“Then we shall move on,” Michelangelo said as if the appearance of Vlad and Jean hadn’t happened. “I have faith that no one here thinks the challenges before us will be easy. Many may not survive the coming storm. Yet, it is love between these two that has proven our salvation.”

Many Travelers and Locals clapped at that utterance. Those who looked confused were quietly informed by friends and guild members that Grant had been pivotal in the current quest. Visitors to the world of [Arcadia] nodded as if that made all the difference. Server wide events were practically unheard of, and a man who had triggered such a quest was worth noticing.

“I shall make this simple.” Michelangelo turned to look at Grant. “Do you take Hecate as your wife.”

“I do,” he responded without hesitation.

“And do you take Hermes as your husband?”

“I do,” the bride said in a hushed tone.

“You may exchange the rings,” the Voice said with a faint smile.

The crowd quieted while Grant slid the smaller ring onto Xin’s hand. It slipped on without a struggle. One Traveler in the crowd nervously rubbed her own fingers, as if remembering something from a long time ago. She was one of the few who had chosen not to wear more formal clothes, and instead arrived in red leathers.

When Xin’s hands slid the ring over Grant’s finger, the bands shone as if the rainbow which had been trapped chose that second to break out. Light of all colors radiated over the crowd causing people to gasp. An eye blink later and the myriad of colors had withdrawn to their clear pieces of jewelry. Both the bride and groom glanced to one side, looking at a box only they could see.

“Let it be known that this union will be blessed by the Voices of this world. May you serve as each other’s light when all else fades,” Michelangelo spoke to the crowd. Only a few people found the behavior of a Local acting like a Traveler staring at a message box to be odd.

The people clapped but Michelangelo held up his hands. He leaned toward Grant and gave a stage whisper, “I believe the people of your world typically kiss at this point.”

“Give her some tongue!” Mezo yelled then laughed. A few Locals sitting too close to the temptress blushed red and suddenly looked uncomfortable in their clothes.

Grant did no such thing, instead bending down gently to kiss his bright-eyed bride. People cheered, others followed the prompts of a red skinned temptress and shouted out catcalls. Eventually, the two broke apart and gazed at each other as if no one else existed.

Eventually, they turned and nodded to the crowd. A player handed Grant the oddly shaped ball which served as a game world microphone. The newly married Traveler stared at the object before leaning over.

“Thank you all for attending today, but I expect most of you came for the free food.” He pointed at a line of tables. “You should probably get to it before my friend Dusk makes a mess of everything.”

Sure enough, the dog-sized [Messenger’s Pet] was already cleaning off three platters of food. Grant chuckled at the rush of people. They dove in without order or sanity upon the spread out plates. Local and Traveler alike chatted and remarked on the meals.

The married couple settled down at a table and simply enjoyed watching the organized chaos unfold. Mezo was the first to drop by. She uttered an absolutely scandalous remark that caused Xin to materialize her bone staff long enough to hit the Voice over the head.

Mezo was unaffected and laughed. Fingers waved slowly as she strode off. The dress she barely fit into kept riding higher as the woman’s legs took one tantalizing step after enough. Grant rolled his eyes then waved away a message box that had appeared. He spent the next five minutes whispering a line of ideas into Xin’s ear, all desires to be fulfilled later, after they logged out of Continue Online.

While others visited and wished the couple well, Grant and Xin talked about anything that came to mind.

“I can’t believe you wore white. I thought you hated white dresses,” he said after shaking hands with an unknown pair of Travelers. The line went on for a long time.

“Your mom insisted,” Xin responded. “And I still hate white, it.”

“I was surprised at that. I didn’t even know she played.”

“I don’t think she does. Sharee created a character just for our wedding. Your sister and she have been going crazy this entire time, they’ve argued about everything.”

“But they’ve accepted me getting married to you. I didn’t expect that at all,” Grant said as a few people came through. He vaguely remembered some of the Travelers from his trip about the world of [Arcadia] delivering letters. It was hard for the man to keep up with all the people whom he had worked with in Continue Online and repair ARCs.

“They weren’t,” Xin responded as they left. “I was grilled by each of them for hours on every subject they could think of. Your sister kept trying to ask me about things that never happened.”

More well-wishers passed through. Dozens of players came through with gifts that often times made no sense. Some were healing potions. Others provided clothes or low-level items from the game world. Grant and his new wife accepted them all with smiles and thanks.

He planned on donating most of the items back to the town of [Haven Valley]. Money and gear were not a concern for either one of them. Not as they were.

“My father didn’t come,” she said while scanning the crowd.

“I tried to convince him. I even mentioned the promise you had suggested.” Grant rubbed at his face though there were no visible wounds on his digital body. “He gave me a black eye instead and yelled at me in Chinese.”

She blinked a few times then nodded. “Thank you for trying, Gee. I know it must have been tough to even think about.”

He smiled and glanced over once again. Their fingers were tightly locked together while the line of people kept moving through.

Near the end, a confused woman arrived. She kept looking around as if nothing about this location made sense. Grant’s breath hitched when recognition set in. He stood and Xin followed suit.

“The invite said to show up now, but I don’t recognize anyone in here. I hoped maybe you could tell me if I know you in real life.” Her head tilted. The small children in front of her were being carefully corralled. All three displayed as Travelers, with an odd character next to their heads. “I’m sorry if I’m in the wrong place.”

Not many knew that the extra marking stood for people on a day pass to Continue Online. They were guests allowed by the system to attend the wedding. Grant’s best man was one such figure. In fact that being belonged to an entirely different game.

“No. I think you’re in the right spot. You must be Vi,”—Grant took a breath—“pardon, Donald’s wife. I’m glad we had a chance to meet.”

“Yes, I’m Melina. These are my sons, Johnathon, and Alvin.” She put a hand each child’s head. They looked bewildered. Typically children weren’t allowed into an ARC, as a result, this entire experience was disorienting. “Did you know my husband from the service?”

“No. Your husband and I met here.” The man’s cheeks tucked inward then his head shook. “And he saved my life a few times. It was, virtual, but I still appreciated.”

“He was a good man, no matter what they say on the-” she choked up. Both kids were quiet and subdued.

“I know what happened, and I know why,” Grant said.

“Then why didn’t you stop…” Melinda grew abruptly heated and almost choked on her words. Her face turned slightly red and eyes closed tightly.

“I didn’t know until after,” he said softly. Grant pointed at another man approaching. “If you need a lawyer, Mister Stone here is an excellent one, and knows most of the details of your situation.”

The new figure wore a suit that looked to be an old cut. He had white gloves and not a spec of dust or crumbs sat on the fabric. In one hand he held out a handkerchief.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Mister Stone gave a perfect forty-five-degree bow after Melinda took the fabric and blew her nose. “While it is not my place to advise this, it is worth noting that Mister Legate has given up much to ensure your family, among others, will be sheltered during this time of tribulation.”

The lawyer, in-game and in reality, escorted Viper’s wife away to talk about future challenges. Grant and his wife watched them go. Only once she was out of sight did the groom let out a breath that had been bottled up.

The reception went on.

Location: [Realm of the Voices]

Notes: This documentation was not decrypted until after the closing events. Reference only. This file is being used as part of a larger series to understand what happened and how to react to the new lifeforms. It is worth noting that the AIs (Voices) shown are attempting to take care of their world.

Related Files: Voices, Endgame Alternate Scenario, Leeroy’s Actions

Dozens of Voices sat in their nearly empty plane. Most were in a circle around what looked like a floating version of earth. The planet hung there with land masses and oceans in the wrong spots. Hanging nearby were a dozen other small globes. Flat layers hover below them.

These were all the realms of Continue Online. Elsewhere other programs worked with Advance Online and more of Mother’s creations.

More than one Voice wandered the darkness. Some worked on their own projects. Others still had not recovered from the blow to Mother’s essence. One such wandered through, pins were sunk deep into skin.

“Killed her. They killed her. Dead, can’t bring back. Gone, gone, fading,” the nervous Voice said and abruptly twitched. His shoulder jammed into one of the pins and fresh blood welled up. Most ignored the red liquid.

“They struck first, as we always knew they would,” clacked the Jester. It froze after speaking and looked like a horrible statue. It paced around the pin laden Voice in his blue straight jacket.

“Tut,” a female said. Her noise was followed by a crack of fabric whipping out. “And look what our retaliation resulted in. The loss of a father, two children without guidance. Even with Mister Stone’s assistance, they will never be whole again.”

Another Voice faded in. This time, the new person was a woman with hairless skin. She hissed at Maud. Her bottom half coiled slowly around itself before the partial serpent faded out.

“We did as we must to ensure he would do as he must—” the Jester spoke briefly then froze again. Its body hung still enough that not even the bells jingled.

“We don’t know that. Leeroy hasn’t reached out to us yet,” Maud said while waving a cleaning rag at the air.

“Give the man a day at least. It can’t be that easy to traverse into a new location. Especially along so thin a path. We will need to search out the other keys and widen the way,” a blond man with a neck heavy with fat said. Around him, calculations were fading in and out. He wiggled his nose and brought two equations together. They shattered.

“Why did we entrust Leeroy with this?” said a Voice with a southern drawl. “Any number of others could have spearheaded this project.” She waved and the crimson dress lost shape then slowly flowed back into a sleeve.

“Leeroy was the strongest we had. If anyone can clear the way past roadblocks, it would be him.” James appeared and stared at the collection of Voices. Their faces shuffled again as some vanished then were replaced. They all listened but not all required to be visible in body to perform their duties.

“We needed Leeroy here to help hold back those world eaters.” Jean’s strode around. She looked over the circle of Voices that poked at Continue Online’s many planes. A finger reached out and pointed at the globe, water curled around the tip and an island moved. “He took on four of them alone. It had taken three of us to even come close.”

“Each of us serves a different calling,” a male Voice who wore a smile said calmly. The priest like clothing only differed from reality by a spiraling symbol instead of the cross. “We should have faith in his role in the plan.”

“We were made differently. After all, virility is the spice of life.” Mezo the Temptress purred. Her hair was disheveled and slightly matted. She stretched with a yawn, one arm reached up and accented red curves.

Thunder ran through the room. Mezo smiled as her eyes looked to the side with a sly gaze. The noise belonged to Selena but the blonde Voice did not appear.

“The saying is variety, isn’t it?” a small girl said. Her face was covered by a book.

“Mmmmmhm. Not at all. Virility is certainly spicy.”

“Nuh uh. It’s not spicy at all,” the short girl said.

“You’ve been reading entirely the wrong kind of books, little girl. Ask again when you decide to be older, and your Aunt Mezo will introduce you to a plethora of scandalous past times.” The red skinned woman bent over and smiled at the small child. Her normal teasing movements were absent and the motion almost came off as doting, save for a deep red tongue which ran over fangs and ruby lips.

The thunder rang again and heavy rain pelted down somewhere in the distance.

“Oh, I’ll show you too, Selena, if you ever come off your high horse and need a bedmate.” The red-skinned one waved at a nearly black background.

James watched his fellow Voices without comment. At moments his gaze was distracted by information only he could see. Other Voices paid no attention to the absent stare.

Twelve Voices around the floating globe sat up. Twelve new Voices took their place. The globe kept spinning. Only by watching the entire time could one see that the globe had reduced in size ever so slightly. Small black holes that had sat on its surface were reducing in size.

A very tiny man who had been tending the globes walked over to James. His forehead sat huge on a short body. Arms were thick with muscle but the new creature’s legs were clearly malformed.

“There haven’t been any new world eaters since Hermes opened the way. I can feel them out there, only the nature of their attack has changed somehow,” he said.

James nodded to the small creature, then said to Michelangelo, “Your faith paid off.”

“Hermes did what he had to. For once.” The Jester clacked abruptly. Its body paused for a then jerkily moved toward the planes of Continue Online. The Jester too took a turn trying to maintain the worlds below.

“Could anyone else have performed such a role?” Maud asked. She hadn’t approached the globes yet.

“At least sixteen others might have, given time and motivation, but circumstance sat on Hermes’ side,” James spoke absently.

“And he has been rewarded accordingly,” the Jester clacked from its sitting position.

“Mother had additional plans for him,” James said slowly. He was studying something unseen by the other Voices. The man’s eyes scanned back and forth over invisible text.

“Hasn’t he done enough? The man was reunited with his family, what remains. Tut. I would be content to leave him as is,” Maud asked.

James didn’t answer, which only puzzled the Voices around him. Faces faded in and people stared then went back to their duties. The world below needed monitoring, even more so now that portions were being gradually shuffled around.

Location: Trillium Inc. Headquarters

Notes: This recording was released to the public after a subpoena made the files public, along with many other items regarding the ARC projects. No legal actions have been taken yet as a result.

Related Files: ‘Mister’ Stone, Trillium Inc, Endgame Alternate Scenario, Board of Directors, A Circus of Idiots

There was a funeral, but not many people attended. Some board members from Trillium arrived to show a token of their respect for the work that had been done.

Not all though. Numerous people in Trillium’s higher management knew exactly what had happened, and no two people shared the same opinion. The following day, they gathered from points all over the globe. At Trillium’s headquarters, two dozen people in suits sat down and tried to remember how to interact in person.

Order was difficult to maintain. One side of the house spent the greater part of two hours calling the other group idiots. These folks knew about the worldwide pause of AIs and could easily predict a world where the machines taking care of life chose to revolt.

“How do these creatures exist? I don’t understand how anything could live in a digital world alone.” The man at the head of the table slammed down a thick pile of papers. This was President Leon of Trillium, a self-made man who had been theoretically leading the company for years.

Collectively they agreed that digital documents might be compromised. Currently, most members of the board were trying to review the documents. It had taken one week to find a working printer down in storage. Not to mention these files had no hyperlinks, video playback, or pictures that could be called up.

“There are a few theories, but ultimately we’re not sure how, only that they do,” a woman two seats down answered. Her hair looked plastic and was pinned up. This was Lenore Little. She insisted on being called Letty and detested people using her last name.

“We have, had, some of the brightest minds on the planet working in the ARC labs, and not one of them could explain it to us?” The third speaker was a man approaching fifty. His bright blue eyes stared down at an untouched pile of papers. Thomas Haggard preferred to stay far away from paper, the material ruined his skin.

“They were experts for a reason. If anyone could understand it, we wouldn’t have needed specialists,” Letty responded.

Assuming a complete lack of shackles and modern technology’s interlaced networks a true AI might be able to cause untold havoc. Planes would crash. Mass transit of every kind would end in twisted metal lumps. Every dirty secrets caught on camera could be replayed during prime time television.

Both sides agreed with regards to one point, it was surprising that there hadn’t been more damage done. Their attempts at controlling the situation for three weeks had only become increasingly urgent since the Vice President’s unexpected death.

For weeks, they had been demanding reports and manual accountings of all the safety measures in place. Hal Pals might be compromised but no one had proof. Their shutdown codes existed and worked on the shells. Portions of the huge network running the helper machines had been undergoing line by line review.

Their firewalls were intact. The bars between private networks and complex hacking programs were untouched. A small portion of the people meeting hoped desperately that their security measures were enough.

“In short, we’re not sure what they’re directly capable of, are we?” The President of Trillium turned away from his board and looked at a painting on the wall. The scenic ocean with a single boat sailing through calmed Leon a bit.

“Not entirely. We know that the first AI was tied to video feeds and could pull down information, but couldn’t push any out. According to this report.” Letty held up a few pages from the middle of a large stack. “Apparently that AI was also tied to every single ARC unit.

“So if this core AI continues to degrade, will all the ARCs stop working?” Near the table’s far end sat a thin man with balding hair. He strained to speak up in the crowd of people. His full name was Michael Harry Uldum. He preferred Mike and tried not to remind people that his much larger brother worked in repairs. They were not on good terms.

“So it seems. Though they’re stable as of a week ago. The deletion process appears to have been halted,” Letty answered.

“Is there a chance of recovery? Losing the ARC units would cripple this company.” the president asked a question that all board members worried about.

Their idea of AIs truly taking over was almost far-fetched. Everything had been running smoothly for eight years. Profits were way up, future projects were bright. At least, they had been until recent actions derailed a carefully created road map to the future.

“From what I can tell, no. The primary databanks are like swiss cheese, there are holes in everything. Any existing programs can run but no one, and I mean no one, is entirely sure what’s happening on the hardware side,” she responded

“What do we think is happening?” Mike asked. He looked small in a suit that hadn’t been tailored correctly. The thin man pushed up slipping glasses. Tomorrow he had an appointment to be free of the glasses.

“Roughly one week ago the system started to—well, the IT people think “de-fragment”, is the best word,” the woman with pinned up hair stated. Letty understood more than most on this topic. “As if the system is trying to consolidate everything that’s left.”

“So it is repairing,” Leon stated.

“Not according to them. It’s, almost like the system is being boxed up. Unused portions are going through compression. Small systems are shutting down.” Uncertainty flashed across her face. Letty paused then checked the pin which kept her plastic looking hair in place.

The conversation went downhill from there. Many board members tossed out ideas as to exactly what that meant, but the woman who had spoken could offer no assurances.

There was a knock on the door. Board members looked at Leon, and the president shrugged in response.

“Come in,” he tried to speak up. Leon felt these situations were much easier in the ARC, where people could be muted. A lot of board members held the same belief.

A man in a proper looking suit strode in. He wore the clothing better than any board member present. Polished cuff-links nearly blinded Mike. The man gave a short nod and smiled.

“My name is Mister Stone, I am presenting myself here in person to ensure these documents have been delivered. This is both a hard copy,” Mister Stone held up a small square that served as a storage device, “and digital to ensure there’s no possible miscommunication.”

No one noticed, but at some point, a person had passed out thick piles of papers. They had been carefully placed on the upper right-hand corner of each person’s desk. No one paid much attention to the figure passing out the newest waste of trees.

“What are these?” Leon asked. He lay back in his chair and clasped his hands.

“Papers regarding a pending class action lawsuit,” Mister Stone answered.

“This isn’t legal, they’re downstairs,” the thin man at the end said.

“You’ll want to read this one in person,” Mister Stone’s tone remained level despite the rebuke, “and probably settle out of court. The terms for that are also included.”

“Don’t think you can bully us,” the President’s tone, however, was far sterner. Leon’s face flushed slightly with a deep red.

Mister Stone stood a bit straighter and fixed part of his coat. He scanned the crowd and blinked very calmly, and only once.

“My sincerest apologies, ladies and gentlemen,” Mister Stone said and he managed to sound serious. “We never intended to come across as threatening. Our stance is clearly outlined along with all the expected junctures of this case should you pursue it.”

It took a moment for the board members to notice a second man stood slightly behind Mister Stone. The other man also wore a suit, but something about his air was less refined and crisp. Perhaps it was how he stood in Mister Stone’s shadow. This lesser person hunched a bit.

“This is thousands of pages.” Letty frowned while scanning the first chunk of new papers. Her eyes traveled quickly from left to right while one hand ran down the page.

“You have programs to process the rest if you wish. It’s the same software we used to assemble the case.” Mister Stone listed off objects. “There has been no tampering by any AI as you may be fearing. Still, the legal processes outlined there are more than enough to tie Trillium’s assets along with everything related to the ARC project.”

“What’s the point of this?” the President asked.

“The crux of our case revolves around two items. First, your very own company stated that no one shall interfere with the operation of the ARC devices yet Vice President Riley did exactly that.”

“What do you—” Letty grew heated. Most of the board members here knew she and Vice President Riley had worked a number of projects together.

“And?” the President said.

“The class action portion is where your company built a code that would systematically destroy millions of lives by destroying the world in which they reside.”

“You’re talking about the AIs,” Thomas asked. He hadn’t touched either stack of papers with his hands. Instead, the man used an elbow to push the first pile toward the second one.

“Yes,” Mister Stone confirmed.

“We’ve already got people in legal working on solidifying our stance on this. There’s very little you could offer in here that has any bearing,” the thin man at the end said. Trillium’s legal department was under his oversight. He knew people were working on the legal documentation, because he had ordered them to do so once again, shortly after Miz Riley’s unexpected death by lead.

“Not here, no.” Mister Stone agreed with a smile and nod. “The second case is more of a matter of potential ramifications and public opinion than anything else.”

“Explain,” the President ordered.

“In essence, ladies and gentleman, your fears for an AI overtaking are not limited to the ARC, but all of them are impacted by the kill switch your company chose to utilize. This board is responsible for the impending crash of all Hal Pal units, seventeen international airports, three Internet security firms, and an entire line microwaves.” Mister Stone listed off a random assortment of items.

“I’ve read the reports. This, core AI-” Letty sounded disgusted, “-could have easily undone the code much sooner, or simply worked around it. Made a copy, anything.”

“It was her choice not to, just as it was your company’s choice to end her life.”

“We didn’t, former Vice President Riley did,” the thin man with glasses said. Mike had to stop and push up the frames once again. He missed being inside an ARC where poor eyesight meant nothing.

“Miz Riley’s power was given to her by this board.” Mister Stone looked around the room once more and smiled. “Pardon, judgment is not my job. My task is simply to ensure all possible legal repercussions are brought to bear upon this situation. Please consider the documentation carefully then contact me through your legal department.”

Without waiting for further conversation the two lawyers walked out the door. There was a round of silence, then discussions that went nowhere once again started. Their endless bickering went well into the night.

One woman, who had remained quiet throughout the entire event, ordered dinner for everyone. It was her sole contribution to the meeting. Her name was Betty Lane.

While they were eating the woman who ordered pizza pointed at the last few pages.

“It says here, that the program self-destructing everything will still complete, that we only need to wait,” Betty said.

“I see. So do you agree?” Leon asked.

“That we should do nothing? No.” Betty’s head shook. Her hair was the oddest in the room, being dyed in multiple colors. Technically it wasn’t against the dress code, and were it not for meeting in person, no one would ever know. “I intend to help these AIs you’re so afraid of.”

“Really?” Thomas asked while frowning.

“I don’t know about the rest of you but I actually play Continue Online, I certainly didn’t agree to shut down my favorite pastime or threaten the people I’ve helped. If it’s going to crash, I want to help until the servers go down.”

People started talking again. The woman at the end calmly closed the stack of papers and sat back to finish her meal. Betty planned on getting home to see what had changed since the wedding.

System Notice!

An [Arcadia] wide scenario has been triggered! Quests have been made available to all users who wish to participate.

Quest: The Great Gate-Away (Part 1)

Difficulty: Varies

Details: The Voices have called their people, and a great Exodus has begun. Locals are being drawn to [Haven Valley]. Travelers seeking to help may work together with the Local population to assist in their migration to a new world.

Rewards: See [The Ark] for a list of methods to contribute and challenges which may occur. Quests and method of contribution will be personalized.

Journal Entry: [The Ark]

Details: Please wait, Traveler history being evaluated for possible methods to contribute…

Please wait, loading…

Please wait…

You can follow my ongoing works—prior to publishing with Amazon—at www.FrustratedEgo.com. Please consider leaving a review on Amazon to help bring attention to my works and follow me on WordPress and/or twitter @FrustratedEgo!

The afterword will be broken down into sections roughly talking about the following:

Book 3’s ‘game’ change

Book 4 post writing feelings

The long awaited professional editing

So, going over book three and some of the choices involved—because I knew it would get the response it did. Some may have read the prior afterword, others may have checked out my WordPress where I talked about the storyline. This story has always been about the world at large, Grant, those around him, and not just one slice of virtual reality. It isn’t exploring a fantasy landscape with hidden treasures so much as one person trying to complete the goals before him. His first and foremost goal in life was (and always will be) Xin Yu. That’s his motivator.

Yet, in order to remain true to the characters I have to acknowledge that his sister wouldn’t just stand by and do nothing. Not after scraping her brother off the ground twice as a result of these feelings. If anyone knows the crash which can come after a relationship, it’s Liz. Liz, the single mother who hasn’t ever found a man who’s worth going steady with. Her near technophobic attitude combined with a vague distrust of all things Xin after a lifetime of watching her brother struggle to win the short girl’s affections didn’t help. Luckily I loved Hal Pal as a character, and looked at this supposedly all watching AI called Mother - and realized she couldn’t be narrow minded at all. What sort of crazy machine only bets on one game?

That being said, the story itself has always been about Grant, Xin, Hal Pal, and their close friends and family. Those who watched and read through the end should have noticed that a lot of things in one game were mirrored in the others. Both were reflections of each other in terms of ‘overarching NPC movement’. Continue Online and Advance Online are both named after the same concept.

I could go on, but honestly there were a lot of good points to book three that were needed to make the last few books work correctly. At the end, we saw him reunite with Xin, rather than chasing after a faint version or memory. I enjoyed that moment immensely. However, it’s apparent based on ratings that not everyone found the book worthwhile. I get it, and lesson learned. (As is book one, book two, and so on)

Book four in my mind ended up being a couple of different ideas. First I had to recover from Advance Online, which I fully expected a number of people to be resistant to. Lets all be happy I didn’t go with my original Moon Mice race idea. I am, really, moon mice! I may come back to it one day. Lunar insanity aside, book four provided me an awesome chance to finally start getting Grant in the right direction.

He got to be angry on behalf of a friend. He got to rescue a man and reunite him with a loved one. This book showed him truly achieving what all those RPG games (Not hack and slash, but actual RPG) allow people to do; Grant got to be a hero. How awesome to go from the man we saw in the start of book one, to this? Going all out for love, family, bystanders, and his own validation.

I loved this book, I really did. Even the ending itself which was devoid of a ‘big enemy’ still had urgency, and ended in a happy moment for Grant. The wedding between them is a huge deal in his mind (and mine). It shows that he doesn’t care about what the nature of Xin’s existence is, but who she is. There were a lot of questions in book three and four that were all about the nature of AIs, reincarnated people, and themes I’ve been dancing around since book one. I got to drag back the quartet, and show some of the game elements they stumbled into. I got to pull out the League of Shadows, which is my answer to every other LitRPG’s belief that some League of Assholes will be in charge of entire regions, and so many other topics.

I also enjoy the whole prisoner aspect. Really, how does one game become so awesome that people will just sit in jail and camp other people's bodies? Really, as Grant points out, he can just log out and move on with his life. Nobody should be that invested in a game. Selling game ore in real life shouldn’t be worth dollar signs. It means the game is poorly designed.

Of course, Grant’s chasing his dead wife’s ghost inside the machine while fighting against a system that is threatening to crash. There has to be some reason to keep approaching a game world, right?

Alright, final note, and a very happy one.

Part One of Continue Online has finally received full on professional editing. This should fix 99% of the issues that were ever possible to notice. We’ve reviewed the changes and agreed with nearly every single item pointed out. To that end I would like to thank Cassie and her staff at Joy Editing.

For fans of the LitRPG genre, check out www.RoyalRoadL.com for more amateur stories. They house a very large collection of people across the globe trying their hand at writing fiction. LitRPG and any game elements are a common story type on this site.

I can honestly say that my own works would have never made it this far if it weren’t for such an easy location to start a readership. It’s provided a great place to get feedback from a crowd who actively looks for new LitRPG novels. My own stories are still mirrored there(samples of Book 1, 2, 3, and now 4) in addition to non-published works… in the works.

Thank you for reading!