《Anything But Squished [Book One Complete!]》 Part 1 - Chapter 1 Part 1 Chapter 1 Click. The TV in front of me flicked on and nineties rock music started playing. SLAM! It happened¡ªin an instant. One moment, she was standing there, the next she was a pile of gore. I watched the TV, my arms shaking. Why . . . was all I could think. There was blood everywhere¡ªon the screen, the walls, the floor . . . even the ceiling. A wet, nauseating suctioning sound came next. Droplets of blood rushed upward. Then the pile of remains and every other object in the small, cramped room followed. They all surged up and out of a manhole-sized opening in the ceiling. The music stopped, the TV clicked back off, and for a moment there was silence. Then. It started again. Click. . . . Okay . . . so first, I want to say real quick that dying isn''t so bad. Though, what comes after as you can imagine . . . is something else. Let me back up. The day of my death was on a Saturday. It was a cool morning on one of those perfect fall days in late September. The humid heat of the Midwest summer fled overnight and was replaced by cool dry air. I was out shopping at one of those big box stores. You know, the ones with the free samples everywhere and the insanely cheap pizza and hotdogs? Yep . . . It was heaven, well, aside from the ??woman¡¯s hygiene section . . . the propane tank . . . and, well . . . death. If not for those things, the day couldn¡¯t have gotten much better. Sigh. We¡¯ll get there. It was September twenty-third, and the world had gone to shit. Three major cities had been nuked at the exact same time this past year, and no one knew who did it. Beijing, Moscow, and Chicago. I still remember the feeling of disbelief as my phone¡¯s alarm went off, showing a civil alert. I didn¡¯t believe the message at first, but when my character in the online shooter game I was playing started rubber banding around and performing the same action over and over . . . that¡¯s when I really knew it was real. The server . . . had been in Chicago. My girls were sent home from school early, and it felt like the entire world was holding its breath. It could have escalated into a worldwide conflict. But it didn¡¯t, and we were lucky it didn¡¯t. I could still hear the president on the tube saying something dumb like, ¡®We have billions and billions of nukes.¡¯ . . . We dodged a massive bullet, and at some point, after the emotional rollercoaster of fear, loss, and pain, folks just went back to living their lives and taking care of their day-to-day needs. For the most part¡ªaside from Chicago getting blown to hell¡ªthe economy only got stronger. The engine of war was revving up and people were afraid for sure though, and I¡¯d be lying if I said I was sleeping well. Or that I wasn¡¯t gaming, or drinking . . . or eating massive amounts of pepperoni pizza to keep my mind off it. But let me back up even further and tell you about my life, before I tell you about how I died. It was . . . just okay. My name is Sam Parr. I have . . . or had¡ªugh . . . I¡¯ll stick with have. I have two daughters. Ada who just turned fourteen, and Lily who is twelve. I joined the local fire department a few years back, and because of that I didn¡¯t get to see them much due to my shift rotation. Real quick, because I¡¯ve had to explain my schedule to every single person I have ever met, I¡¯ll go ahead and assume you don¡¯t know what I meant there. I worked forty-eight hours straight, then was off for four days. That pattern repeated indefinitely. Sounds simple on the outside, but . . . it wasn¡¯t. I liked it, but it made it damn hard to plan anything. Because of my schedule I lived with my dad and my step mom . . . Yeah. Shut it. It made sense though. Someone needed to be there for the kids while I was at work. But, even when I was home, life was busy. Between school, extracurricular activities, and all the other chaos, I didn¡¯t get to see them much. But the work was good. The pay was good. And it felt like I was making a difference. We made the adjustment ten years ago . . . after my wife died, but I don¡¯t talk about those times much. Anyways my death . . . because I have two¡ªbasically teenage¡ªdaughters . . . you probably see where this is going, and so I¡¯ll just say it. For the first time we needed those female pad thingies. Not tampons, she already had some of those. No, the panty liner pad things. I don¡¯t know what they are called. Not important. The main thing was that¡ªlike I said¡ªthe world had gone to shit. People were afraid, and stockpiling like hell. Basic things like toothpaste, toilet paper, and feminine pads, were hard to come by. So naturally, I found myself spending Saturday morning perusing the halls of pepperoni pizza heaven with little Lily at my side and my cart loaded with a massive bag of toilet paper and a carton of toothpaste. Lily wasn¡¯t so little anymore though, I thought. I watched her calmly follow along at my side. Just a couple years ago she would have been spastically running around the place and constantly causing me to stop my cart in order to not slam into her. I sighed as I watched her now. She wore a long, cute dress with a belt around her waist, her hair was done up in a bun. All grown up. I looked at the toilet paper in my cart and then back at her as she took in her surroundings. What does she think of me? It was the last bag, and I¡¯m not proud of it . . . but I had grabbed it right as a shorter pale-faced bloke strolled up. He laughed in an exaggerated fashion as we hurried off, and when I glanced back, his eyes were narrowed and fixed on us. I felt bad but we had resorted to using paper towels at home . . . and I didn¡¯t want to repeat that anytime soon. Lily always volunteered to come shopping with me. She liked getting out of the house and away from my parents¡ªwe had that in common¡ªbut she was quiet, and I never knew what was going on in her head. She was growing up in a darker world than I had. Much darker. ¡°Any idea where to next?¡± I asked her. She shrugged, saying nothing. That was Lily. I got out my phone to text her sister. Sam: Where do I find your female pad thingys? Ada: :face-palm emoji: :see-no-evil emoji: Sam: What? Ada: Just forget it, I¡¯ll get them with Grandma. Sam: What? Why? We are already here. Ada: Ugh fine. They would be near the beauty section, I think? Now, I liked to think I wasn¡¯t a complete idiot, but in this case . . . I was. I glanced down another row of goods and found an aisle that made me somewhat uncomfortable. But I could handle it . . . I thought. There were things like panty liners, lube and . . . nipple cream. As we walked down it, an old lady about the age of . . . death . . . noticed me, abruptly turned, and fled¡ªreal slow, and scooting her walker¡ªin the opposite direction. Oh man. Did we just scare her off? Since I didn¡¯t know what brand Ada wanted, I took out my phone and took a few pictures. I couldn¡¯t help but think what someone would say if they saw me right now. A middle-aged man . . . taking pictures . . . of female pads. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. My behavior had ¡®creeper¡¯ written all over it. Sigh. I sent the pictures off to Ada. Sam: Here you go. Ada: :peeking-through-hand emoji: :blushing emoji: Ada: Dad . . . those don¡¯t seem right. Sam: What do you mean? Too big? Ada: :skull emoji: No, I think those are for like . . . old people or something? For pee. lol Sam: Oh . . . what¡¯s the difference? Ada: Really . . .? Sam: Mkay. One sec. Oops. I realized then why the grandma had turned so abruptly and fled. She had been embarrassed. My bad, lady. I looked down at my phone . . . and registered something else. A middle-aged man taking pictures . . . of grandma diapers. This type of behavior was much worse than creeper behavior. This was next level ¡®fucked up diaper fetish¡¯ behavior. Oh . . . God. A couple short moments later we found what I believed was the correct section. I snapped a couple more pics and acted like I was looking at some nail polish as I sent those off. Lily was actively pretending to not be my daughter at this point. Ada: Couldn¡¯t you have gone to a normal grocery store? One of those packs will last me forever. ???Sam: Great. Because I¡¯m never doing this again. She sent back a picture with the one she wanted circled. I grabbed it, stuffed it under the toilet paper, checked out, and grabbed a cup of coke and a quarter of pepperoni pizza¡ªwhich they laughably considered a slice¡ªfor myself and a smoothie for Lily. We left the store following the store clerk as we went because I needed some propane for my grill. Lily at my side, I loaded the tank into the shopping cart and headed toward my truck, hip thrusting it every so often, in order to keep my hands free for shoving my mouth full of pizza. ¡°Hey, asshole!¡± someone called from behind us. I glanced back, thinking the shout was for someone else. Unfortunately, it was not. It was the shorter bloke from earlier I had pissed off. He was grinning and had a handgun¡ªa Glock¡ªpointed right at me. ¡°Hey! What the hell?!¡± I said as I grabbed Lily¡¯s arm and side stepped in front of her. A couple other customers started yelling and screaming, running for their cars. ¡°Woah there! Look, man, take the toilet paper. You can have it,¡± I said as I put our cart in between us and the gunman. Lily was pressed against my back and shaking. I had her entire figure covered and both my hands wound behind myself, holding her firmly. I looked at the Glock pointed at my chest. The gunman''s finger . . . was on the trigger. Heat and pressure filled my head, and my blood boiled as adrenaline started pumping through my veins. I didn¡¯t like idiots with guns. ¡°I have kids,¡± I said. ¡°One of them is right here. Just take the damn toilet paper and go.¡± He laughed as he waved the gun around. ¡°I don¡¯t really like your type. You¡¯re always stomping around on the little guys. I just wanted to give you a little scare. I hope you learned your lesson, dickhead.¡± ¡°Just put the God damn gun down, take the toilet paper, and go! You can have it!¡± ¡°Relax man, it¡¯s not even loaded. See¡ª?¡± ¡°No! Stop. NO DON¡¯T¡ª!¡± Dread rose in my chest as I watched him pull the empty magazine out, point the gun at the cart . . .and pull the trigger. His gun was loaded with a bullet in the chamber, and his very real shot . . . hit the top of the propane tank. Fire and metal rushed toward us. BAM! I died. Tutorial complete. {Replay} or {Continue}? I closed my eyes¡ªthe words too bright. The experience was bizarre. One moment I was watching my body break apart. The next moment I was staring at a blinding white light in complete darkness. One moment in serious pain¡ªthe next moment, no pain. The biggest difference was the noise level. One moment, there was a loud explosion, metal clanging and grinding as our cart broke apart, me yelling, ¡°DON¡¯T¡ª!¡± The next moment, terrifying silence. I couldn¡¯t feel . . . anything. I¡¯m still . . . alive? Part of me realized that I was in shock. I tried to move. I couldn¡¯t. I tried to breathe. I couldn¡¯t, though I didn¡¯t feel like I needed to. I tried to smell, to feel, to hear. But again . . . I couldn¡¯t. Yet I was still . . . here? Where am I? Realization slowly started to take place in my consciousness and my thoughts started to pick up. Holy shit. I was dead. I was at the end. Then unpleasant thoughts made their way in through my thick skull. Lily? Had she just witnessed her father getting blown apart? Was she . . . alive? And Ada . . . she would have to live a life without me. Her number one guardian now unable to protect her. What the hell. I comprehended it . . . but felt nothing. My emotions were not keeping up with my comprehension. Or maybe I just didn¡¯t have a body to shed tears or feel emotions. It was . . . fuckin¡¯ weird. That reminded me. I did have eyes. I opened them. What was I? Just two floating eyeballs? I looked around hoping to find some answers but saw nothing but the bright white words. They floated in front of me as if I was in some 3D movie screening. I squinted and read the text again. Tutorial complete. {Replay} or {Continue}? As I focused on the words, I pushed what just happened out of my mind and concentrated on what I could control. I noticed the options highlighting when my gaze swept back and forth on the text, as if a system was monitoring my eye movements. I had a lot of questions about life, and this scenario, the one I was experiencing . . . the uhh . . . death scenario, was more pressing than most. I was on the brink of something new, and I wanted to take my time here. Then a timer showed up in the upper left of my vision. 2 minutes 1 minute 59 seconds 1 minute 58 seconds What the hell. Oh come on. I brought my attention back to my options. Replay . . . the tutorial? I had never done that in my life . . . but I supposed a couple bad gamer friends of mine might have. What would that be like? Given my current predicament, it sounded like I would essentially be starting life over. If I was dead, and I selected replay . . . did that mean I would be reincarnated? I thought about that for a second. Did that mean I would be a new baby? If so . . . that would erase my memories. That would erase me. Yeah, no thanks. I like me. Life hadn¡¯t been amazing, and in all honesty . . . it had been kind of shitty. But, I mean, I was glad I existed . . . I . . . think. My focus moved to Continue. The possibilities sprawled out in front of me, endless in number. What would happen if I chose to continue? Heaven? Hell? Nothing? I hesitated. Maybe replay . . . wasn¡¯t such a bad idea. 1 minute 59 seconds 58 seconds Jesus! Okay! I stared ahead, my two little eyeballs flicking back and forth, weighing my options. Replay, or continue? What do I do? I paused in my thinking. What did she choose? Memories sifted through my mind. Her laughing at one of my dumb jokes. A dark room . . . her hand on my shoulder. Blood and mud on my jeans . . . I realized that really only one thing mattered now that I was here. I had to move forward. I had to know what was next. I needed answers. There was zero chance rerolling as a new person on earth would help me get back to the people I cared about the most. There was only one option that put me on that path. I hesitated, my gaze lingering on continue. 7 seconds 6 seconds 5 seconds Dear God. Okay. Something like panic surged forward through my mind as I briefly considered what would happen by default if I selected nothing. It didn¡¯t matter. I slammed continue down with my mind. A system feed appeared in the bottom left of my vision. Key received Initiating soul transaction Processing memory Checking sanity Packaging for transit Transmitting data, 1/382 Transmitting data, 114/382 Packet lost Retrying . . . What. The. Hell. I had the strangest feeling. Like I was stuck crossing my eyes. In one reality, I was there in the dark, watching the white text wink out after my selection. In the other reality I could feel my body again, and I could see a wooden desk. This new room was small and the shape and size of a shipping container. But I couldn¡¯t make out much because it felt like I wasn¡¯t really there yet. I don¡¯t like this. What was happening? I read the text that appeared in the bottom left of my vision again. Packet lost . . . huh. Why does technology always suck? Another line appeared. You received the item {Soul Seed}. Before I could parse what that line meant, two more things happened. First, my entire life flashed before my eyes in an instant, and it felt like all my memories had just been copy-pasted. I still had them all, but somehow felt certain a copy of them had just been taken from me. After that, an intense pain sprouted inside my head for a split second, then vanished. Something moved inside my mind. Something that wasn¡¯t me. I felt an emotion that mimicked my own . . . that wasn¡¯t my own. I felt someone else being curious, like they were slightly tilting their head. ¡°What is this place?¡± a high, girly crocodile-like voice said from somewhere in the shipping-container-sized room. I replied from my body in that room as well. ¡°Huh? Who is that? Are you my . . .?¡± . . . my conscience? I finished by thinking that last part. I had no idea who or what this was. My voice¡ªI was glad to hear¡ªwas my own. ¡°Uhh sure? ¡®My¡¯ . . . works. Only let¡¯s go with the I and E spelling. Oh my God! I think I would love pie,¡± the voice . . . Mie said. ¡°Mie . . . right . . . but uhh, who are you?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said and I felt her do a little mental shrug. ¡°But uhh, what are all these memories?¡± There was a pause, and I could sort of feel her going through the memories like she was flipping through a catalog. ¡°Wait. What is this? Is that you? Oh my god. Is this real? You farted in front of her?¡± Mother of god. No, I thought. No way. This is Hell. I died and went straight to Hell. This creature . . . was dragging out memories I had under lock and key. Memories I had buried on purpose. ¡°Uhh . . . sorry?¡± Mie said. ¡°I thought all this stuff was up for grabs. I mean there is so much material here it would be pretty hard to tell what should and shouldn¡¯t be . . . gone through. Pretty much impossible actually.¡± Part of me realized she must be able to sense my emotions as well, because I hadn¡¯t verbally said anything to indicate I was upset. I felt her eyes go down to the floor, her shoulders droop, and her turn away? It was hard to describe how I could feel those things, but I could even though I couldn¡¯t see her presence. Gah. Now I felt bad. ¡°Look, it¡¯s fine, just . . . let me get my bearings here a bit. Where are we even?¡± I asked. I felt her perk up. ¡°Feels . . . like we are stuck.¡± Connection re-established Transmitting data, 215/382 Transmitting data, 382/382 Soul transaction complete Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Mie continued, ¡°Actually, never mind. It feels like we are in that one porta-potty at the state fair last year. You know, the one you went into after the overweight guy? If these memories are accurate, he must have downed multiple donut burgers and a gallon of chocolate milk before doing his thing.¡± I remembered, but didn¡¯t respond since too much was happening all at once. My two realities snapped together into a sole existence. My head felt like it was full of lead. Like I had just spent all day thinking really hard . . . or like I had a hangover. I took stock of my surroundings, and like Mie¡¯s comment suggested, immediately knew something was off. A few things actually . . . all of which, were upsetting. I was in a small, enclosed room, with no doors or windows. It looked like the interior of a shipping container, only instead of metal it was made out of basic plywood and wood framing. The walls were unfinished, and there was a large flat screen TV to my left and a blank wall to my right. The corners of the room were full of garbage, and the air stunk of piss and fart. Like Mie suggested . . . it smelled¡ªand felt¡ªlike a hot porta-potty after being well used. And I mean well used. I suppressed a gag. Now, I don¡¯t know about you, but being in a hot porta-potty with no way out is my worst nightmare. By far. At the far end there was a desk that barely fit into the room. Its edges filled the narrow space and hit the walls on both sides. Behind the desk there was an overweight humanoid creature sitting on a plastic chair. He was sleeping, his head down on his flappy arms. He seemed . . . old. Like, really old. Also, as I looked down, I saw that I was naked. That . . . wasn¡¯t great. I also saw something else. Laying on the dirty floor was a butt-naked, brand spanking new . . . baby. I¡¯m not even sure I would call it a baby. It was more like a fetus. Like how Ada or Lily looked the exact moment they were born, but thankfully without all the afterbirth and literal crap. I remembered my wife looking at me with terror and asking, ¡°OH MY GOD. DID I POOP?!¡± She had. But her question . . . was a trap. She had asked me not to tell her either way a few days before the birth of Ada. So, I just shook my head slowly and kept a straight face . . . both times. She had pooped with both kids. Only a place like this could make a memory like that resurface. I shook my head clearing the memory, and said, ¡°What the hell.¡± Okay. So, like I mentioned earlier. I¡¯m a damn firefighter. I¡¯ve seen some wild stuff, and it takes a lot to startle me . . . but this? This threw me. Normally I¡¯d stoop down and pick up the helpless baby in a heartbeat, but the contrast from the old sleeping creature to the baby was stark. It couldn¡¯t be normal, and it made me hesitate. So instead, I recoiled. I also noticed a black tar oozing out of the baby¡¯s . . . butt. In that moment, I realized my existence would never be the same. No more kids. No more fire crew. No more house or gaming sessions or biscuits and gravy or pepperoni pizza or anything remotely normal. My life hadn¡¯t been exactly up to par to begin with. But this? This was an actual shit hole. This was hell. I mean, I could barely breathe the air without wanting to vomit. Mustering myself, I said, ¡°Uhh, hey man. Where am I?¡± I held my hand over my nose and mouth. My question came out muffled. The fat hunched figure flinched awake. ¡°Aww, he looks so cute!¡± the baby said in a high crocodile-like voice. I realized then that the baby was the Soul Seed¡ªthe voice I¡¯d been hearing. The . . . creature at the desk stirred, saw us, then got down on all fours and crawled out from under the desk looking dazed. ¡°OH MY BUTT, IT¡¯S UGLY,¡± the baby¡ªMie¡ªexclaimed, then in a whisper she said, ¡°Is that mean to say? That is seriously one of the ugliest things I have ever seen.¡± As she spoke, I watched her, amazed that this little baby could talk. I let out another massive exhale as I saw her black tar poop again. Why is hell . . . just poop everywhere? I couldn¡¯t help but agree with Mie¡¯s statement though. I looked back up to analyze the creature standing in front of me. His whole face sort of . . . drooped, and uhh he had two little slits for a nose, and his eyes bulged outward. That made him look a freakish frog. His skin was saggy and pale with a sprinkle of red swollen patches. His legs and arms were short, and because of this, his body seemed out of proportion. Too big. The weirdest thing about him, though, was that he wore nothing . . . but stained tighty-whities. Yeah, you heard me. Tighty-whities, that uhh . . . were no longer white. I glanced at the corner of the room and saw ripped up pieces of cloth. It appeared the guy had used his clothes . . . to wipe his ass. Okay, I need out of this place. Now. He looked tired and groggy. As I looked at him more closely, an informational nameplate appeared above his head, startling me. Greg Soul Space Guide Level 1 His expression cleared, giving the impression he¡¯d finally pushed back his lethargy. He took one look at Mie on the floor and said, ¡°Yep. You¡¯re effed.¡± ¡°What?¡± I said through the hand over my mouth, but deep down I already knew something was wrong. I must have . . . rolled poorly? I wouldn¡¯t have pictured this as my destination after death: naked, stuck in a wooden shipment container with a fugly frog character named Greg who was using the place as a bathroom . . . not to mention a baby who was currently crapping itself. I walked up to one of the walls and studied the wood, looking for an exit. I must have rolled very poorly. Like a zero. That¡¯s what it was. I rolled a damn zero. Out of a million. Greg the guide sighed, then said, ¡°Look, normally I just stick to the script until I¡¯ve talked through Hearth, ¡± he pointed in Mie¡¯s direction, ¡°but yeah. I haven¡¯t ever seen anything like this¡ªHey, I wouldn¡¯t do that. Actually . . . just go for it.¡± After finding no clearly marked exit out of the container, I had taken a step back, turned sideways, and pulled my knee towards myself. I slammed my bare foot into the thin-looking plywood wall. ¡°Shhhhhit!¡± I exclaimed as I stumbled backwards and fell. The kick had done nothing. The wall had barely made a sound and felt more like concrete than wood. Greg sighed again and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. ¡°There isn¡¯t anything out there. You can¡¯t break out of your Soul Space. Even if you could, it would just end your existence. That would be great honestly . . . maybe it would end mine too¡±. He stood there for a long moment with his eyes closed. I thought I heard him mutter to himself, ¡°Just get it over with, you piece of shit.¡± He took a couple steps forward and held out his hand for a handshake, ¡°I¡¯m Greg by the way.¡± ¡°Ew. Kill it!¡± Mie screamed. I ignored her as I got back to my feet. I was too desperate for answers. ¡°What do you mean there isn¡¯t anything out there?¡± ¡°I mean, there isn¡¯t anything out there. Nothing. Nada. Void. This reality is solely yours. Or it should have been at least,¡± he said while glancing at Mie. We both looked down at her. ¡°Could you uh, pick me up? It kind of sucks down here,¡± she said. Greg moved as if to pick her up. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°HOLY HELL NO. God no. Not you.¡± Greg straightened, looking flustered, and said to me, ¡°Oh. Right. She meant you.¡± I hesitated for a split second as I looked at the black goo mess, then I manned up, overcoming my initial unease. I scooped her up, avoiding the black sludge as much as possible. Some smeared along my hand and arm, but . . . not much. I remembered¡ªfrom when my own kids were this small¡ªto keep her head from flopping around. As I held her close, I noticed her body was warm, soft, and to my discomfort, a little wet, but I could see intelligence in her bright eyes. Her face also expressed worry which I could also feel as a tight little knot in our shared emotional connection. As I grabbed her, I noticed that my own arms looked younger and stronger. They were mostly the same, but there were fewer wrinkles, moles, and hair. Like I had just gone back fifteen years in age. ¡°That¡¯s better,¡± Mie said sighing. Then . . . she went for my nipple. ¡°Whoa there!¡± I said, pulling her off. ¡°Uhh, hell no.¡± ¡°AH! What did I just do?! What am I doing?! Oh god,¡± she said, flushing. I could still feel her emotional state inside my head. She shrank back. ¡°I . . . don¡¯t have any control . . . I wouldn¡¯t do that. You know I wouldn¡¯t.¡± I looked over at Greg not knowing what to say. He was staring awkwardly at us both. Was that a smile? The dude was creepy. And while I told myself he was just amused by our exchange . . . I couldn¡¯t help but think just a little . . . that he uhh . . . enjoyed that. Like . . . how a pervert might. ¡°Uhh, hey man. Mind backing up?¡± I said. He took a couple steps backward, and Mie¡¯s head flopped toward me. She whispered up to me, ¡°Did he just smile at that?!¡± We shared a look and as we did, we also shared the same emotional train. Wide-eyed shock, unbelief, then unease. I watched him back up in his dirty tighty . . . brownies. It was all too much. Too unreal. Too horrible. I breathed through my mouth as much as possible while I prepared to ask more questions. But, just then, the black TV to my left flicked on. The view of a clean-shaven man sitting behind a solid, well-built oak desk appeared on the screen. He wore a simple black T-shirt and had his hands folded together in front of himself. The background behind him showed what looked like a map of an island. It was hand drawn like what you might find at the front of an epic fantasy book. ¡°Hello wormies! If you haven¡¯t guessed by now. You died,¡± the man said. His voice was cool and collected and sounded matter-of-fact. I backed up as far as I could in the narrow hallway-like room. My new position barely let me see the whole screen. ¡°My name is . . . ¡± He grabbed a bowl sitting off to the side, fished around in it, and pulled out a small piece of paper. He looked at it and cocked his head to the side as he read it silently. ¡°Really, guys?¡± he said, looking off camera. ¡°Okay, my name is . . . uuuugh . . . my name is . . . Tittles.¡± He paused, grimacing, then covered his mouth with his hand to try to hide a stupid grin. He froze like that for a long moment, and I could see him shaking slightly every so often. I wasn¡¯t sure if I was supposed to laugh . . . but I didn¡¯t. He coughed, collected himself, and continued. ¡°God, I hate this rule. Phew. Okay, anyways. I am going to start from the beginning, because some of your Soul Space guides are worthless as shit.¡± I glanced over to Greg, who just shrank back slightly. ¡°Your tutorial is over. It¡¯s now time to take your first steps into the big. Wide. Cosmos.¡± He took a sip of water from a tall glass. ¡°Your first stop¡ªwhere you are currently located¡ªis your Soul Space. The one you have been issued is a Cosmos Standard which means¡ªunfortunately for you¡ªbasically nothing. Some will be brand new, and some will be millennia old. But all of them come standard with five things: a bathroom¡ª¡± He cut off suddenly, and I could hear him talking to someone off screen, ¡°What? Oh. That¡¯s kind of messed up, isn¡¯t it?¡± He coughed and continued. ¡°Sorry about that. Umm . . . all of your Soul Spaces come standard with four things. A guide, a monitor, a transporter, and a camera.¡± I glanced around the room and spotted something that looked like a minifridge that was sunk into the wall behind Greg¡¯s desk. That must be the transporter. I also found a small black square sunk into the wall behind where we had spawned into the room. It was right in the middle at about waste height. I assumed that was the camera. They were watching . . . while I was . . . naked. I didn¡¯t like that . . . and the fact that it was at waist height . . . was odd. ¡°Don¡¯t cover the camera . . . They don¡¯t like that,¡± Greg said. I couldn¡¯t help but notice a slight quaver to his voice. Before I could respond, Tittles continued. ¡°Your space has been leased to you by my employer, and upon your death, should you die, it will be reclaimed. Your space will change as you gain experience, and you can add your own changes as well if you have the money to furnish it. The interface for furnishing your space is straightforward so I won¡¯t be covering that here and instead will be moving onto the big picture stuff. I¡¯m sure you have a few big questions about life. First. Yes. There are aliens.¡± I fist pumped. Fuckin¡¯ knew it. He continued ¡°Is there a God or gods? We uh . . . still don¡¯t know. But a lot of you are about to find out.¡± He chuckled and continued, ¡°And lastly yes, drugs and alcohol are still a thing.¡± I fist pumped again, but this time my hand only made it halfway up. The way the guy had laughed just registered. It was . . . ominous. He continued. ¡°About the alien thing though, it is rare to come across another race within your instance of Hearth. Technically it could happen, but even if it did you wouldn¡¯t really know without getting to know them. Everyone is able to understand everyone else post tutorial. That brings me to Hearth. My employer is looking for the best of the best of the best, and Hearth¡¯s main purpose is to screen out . . . the trash. Like your tutorial, the one rule is to survive! Ha. However, I can¡¯t say much more than that as standards dictate that we leave you as blind as possible going in. It¡¯s a little bit dumb in my opinion, since some of you might have guides that know more than others, but uhh yeah. It doesn¡¯t matter much. Hearth rule sets vary on every instance. It would be hard to plan ahead at this point. With that being said, a countdown should start within your mental interface, when that timer reaches zero you will be sent on your way to Hearth. I think . . . that is . . . yep. That¡¯s all for now. Welcome to the afterlife!¡± He looked off camera and nodded as if he was listening to someone else. ¡°Yep, well tell Jeff he can go to hell. Damn it, Jensen. Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m live right now? God . . . ¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°Okay. That pretty much sums it up. If you have any questions . . . we don¡¯t care. But . . . good luck . . . Tittles out.¡± His expression soured as the screen went black. Time Till Launch: 2 minutes and 30 seconds ¡°What . . . does he mean, the one rule is to survive? They¡¯re putting us in a survival game?¡± I asked. Then I hesitated as I saw a new heart icon appear in my top right with the number five next to it. I inspected the heart, and a little info box popped up right above it. Life Credits: 5 That seemed . . . ominous. Greg sighed . . . or groaned . . . or something. Whatever it was, the sound was gross. His eyes were pointed at the ground, and I heard a downward turn in his tone. ¡°Most folks don¡¯t make it a week in Hearth. And most of them didn¡¯t have a baby to take care of.¡± He looked at Mie. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, Greg!¡± Mie said. ¡°What happens when my life credits go to zero, Greg?¡± I asked. It looked like it took everything Greg had in him to respond. He exhaled finally and said, ¡°You get effed, though technically, you would still be on your last life credit, but if you die at that point . . . yeah . . . you get squished . . . then effed.¡± I hesitated thinking about that. Squished and then effed? What the hell? ¡°So like . . . killed?¡± I asked. Greg didn¡¯t respond. Technically the mystery wasn¡¯t anything I wasn¡¯t used to . . . but uhh, part of me had hoped that the unknown of what death wrought would have ended with death itself. ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll go to like a cardboard box or something instead of wood,¡± Mie said. ¡°Or maybe at that point we get our participation award! Or maybe it¡¯s like just rainbows and unicorns after that. Or . . . maybe it¡¯s full access to more people¡¯s memories. I¡¯m really stuck on this fart situation here. I mean . . . why didn¡¯t . . . you just . . . hold it in? ¡°I PHYSICALLY COULDN¡¯T!¡± I shouted and immediately regretted as I had to take another breath of the terrible air. ¡°Normally I would just . . . you know . . . swallow it,¡± I said through a muffled hand. She looked at me with wide eyes, then said, ¡°Somehow . . . I know exactly what that means.¡± 1 minute 59 seconds 58 seconds ¡°These damn timers . . . what are we even about to do? How do we win?¡± I asked Greg. He facepalmed as if I was the idiot. ¡°It¡¯s a survival game. You have to survive. God. Can I actually get a good player for once¡ª" I cut him off, not liking where he was headed, ¡°Actually, you know what . . . shut the hell up, Greg.¡± Guide or not, he was apathetic or depressed . . . or both. He was also creepy as hell, and now . . . a piece of shit. I had played countless survival games. I can figure it out . . . I think. ¡°Yeah, shut the hell up, Greg. Sam, you cannot leave me here with him,¡± Mie said with desperation in her voice. My tone was dark as I started to respond, ¡°I¡¯m . . . not sure . . . I . . .¡± But I never finished. Memories threatened me. Mie¡¯s plea had cut through to my core. I . . . had just left my girls. I . . . was dead. Lily . . . might be too. I had no way of knowing if she lived or died. God damn it. I had no way to go back to them. I had no way to protect them. I had no way of even telling them I was¡ªI looked around¡ªsomewhat okay. That everything . . . was going to be okay. I didn¡¯t even know if I believed that anymore, but I did know one thing. I needed to survive, for them. I looked at Greg. ¡°You are our guide, right? Could really use some information right about now.¡± The time was ticking away. His eyes on the ground once again, he said reluctantly, ¡°I¡¯ve been through this . . . a lot of times. I suppose . . . I personally would pick a race with high constitution, so you come out of the gate with as much health as possible. You will need it. I would also avoid interacting with other players . . . at least at first. And you¡¯re going to want to find some health potions ASAP.¡± ¡°That was sort of helpful, thanks,¡± I said, my eye on the timer nearing completion, ¡°but uhh, just so you know . . . I can¡¯t take you seriously when you are wearing shit stained tighty-whities.¡± 3 seconds 2 seconds 1 second He closed his eyes and hung his head as he tried to continue giving advice. I almost felt bad for him . . . but so far, Greg had given no indication to me that he cared about us, at all. ¡°You will also have two inven¡ª¡± His voice fell silent as the timer ticked to zero. Key received Initiating soul transaction Processing memory Checking sanity Packaging for transit Transmitting data Soul transaction complete Chapter 3 Chapter 3 A flat world popped into existence around me, stretching out as far as I could see. There was no sun or moon, but the sky was gloomy like it was the hour before sunrise. There was a slight breeze, which rustled through my hair and refreshed me with the scent of pine. I breathed it in, trying to force out the smell of the shipping container . . . which apparently was my Soul Space. Whatever that was. This new place was so unlike the Soul Space, and the place before that, that the sudden openness made me feel small and cold. When I tried to move, I once again couldn¡¯t. I could look around and it felt like I had a body, but when I looked down, I couldn¡¯t see myself. It looked like one of those poorly designed virtual reality games where the body of your own character wasn¡¯t rendered. Suddenly, dark shapes started to rise up vertically out of the ground in front of me from a long row of circular indentations as if they were holographic or had no real substance. Each shape I realized contained a figure. Most were humanoid, but some were not. They stretched in a horizontal line as far as my eyes could see in both directions. As the figures within the shapes finished rising, their feet now at ground level, a bright spotlight flicked on, highlighting just the one in front of me. I couldn¡¯t help but appreciate the backlighting. It outlined the figure and allowed me to fully grasp the details of the subject. A familiar bubbly feeling rose up in my chest. This reminded me of playing a new game with Phil. Phil and I went way back. He was a gamer buddy of mine, and if he saw something like this . . . in real life . . . he would be very excited right now. I knew exactly what this was. Character Creation. I had done it a million times. Now, to be clear, while I play all sorts of games, I am not the sweaty . . . competitive type. Let me tell you something about those types . . . They¡¯re fucking annoying. But uhh, yeah, I¡¯m not even really the competent type of gamer. I¡¯m more along the lines of the ¡®just barely okay¡¯ type of gamer. But I¡¯m not dumb. Well. Okay. Maybe that¡¯s debatable. But anyways, I guess what I was originally trying to say is that Phil is going to be pumped when he dies. The figure in front of me was tall, muscular, and wore a dark black robe. He had long hair that blew slowly with the wind and was also pierced with pointed ears. I looked at his eyes and saw nothing but malice. I knew instantly that this was some sort of evil elf, and as my eyes adjusted to the sudden lighting and I fully focused on the figure, a dark gray description box opened in midair with easy-to-read white text. I also noticed that the window was slightly transparent so that I could still see behind him. Nice. I read the text Race: Dark Elf Description: It is said the Bringer of Light herself created the elves. These once fair folk walked the woodlands of Therindel for ages before corruption and pride rooted in their hearts. They have been granted elegance, speed, and endurance that other races cannot compete with. Racial Passive: When standing still in shadows, dark elves become difficult to detect. The detail of the elf was lifelike, I tried to walk forward to inspect him further, but again, realized I couldn¡¯t move. I looked for some indication of what to do next and realized there was a search box above him, as well as two arrows pointed both left and right down the endless line of options. I mentally swiped the left arrow, and the figures all shifted that direction which put a new familiar four-footed option in front of me. Race: Tundra Wolf Description: This majestic¡ª I swiped left. I wasn¡¯t going to play a fucking wolf. ¡°Wait c¡¯mon, I was reading that,¡± said Mie¡¯s voice. ¡°Hold on a sec. You¡¯re here too?¡± I said, looking around for her. I felt her eyes go wide and felt her do something like a little shrug. ¡°Uh yeah. You think I was going to stick around with Greg? Haha! Yeah no. Also, to be clear . . . I¡¯m not sure I had a choice? But if I did, this would definitely have been it.¡± ¡°Okay, well sweet,¡± I said. Part of me, I realized, was relieved I hadn¡¯t left her alone with Greg. ¡°Aw, you like me?¡± ¡°What? No. I mean yes, but not, like, like you . . . that would be messed up, since you are a baby and all that. Not that babies aren¡¯t likeable. I like babies. Uhhh that sounds weird. No I mean I like you as like, a friend. A new friend. You know what I mean!¡± ¡°Yeah, I get it. You¡¯re a perv. I mean . . . Greg being a pervert was one thing . . . but you too?¡± I felt her go smug. ¡°Okay. Well played, but c¡¯mon, you know what I meant! Anyways . . . any thoughts here?¡± I said, trying to change the subject. I tried to gesture to the long row of figures and again failed, my invisible arm stuck in place. ¡°You mean like, what race you should pick?¡± I felt her shrug once again. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on any better than you do, but I¡¯d prefer you didn¡¯t totally suck at this game as my existence depends on it, I think.¡± ¡°Mkay . . . so uhh, no pressure then?¡± I asked. ¡°No pressure. Sure.¡± The next figure, part metal and part flesh, slid in, so I continued reading. I noticed underneath an option to expand a section the system called Battle Arts, which consisted of what looked like weapons proficiencies. I thought of it as a class but I wasn¡¯t sure if that was the intention. Race: Bio Mech Description: Forged in the core of a planet, from ore granted by the gods, this race of half-lives rose from the deepest places in existence having become one with their machinery. Tinkering-creative minds combined with their steel-forged skeletons make this race a worthy opponent. While they are strong defensively due to their metal skeleton, they lack in biological strength and endurance. Racial Passive: 30% reduction to Poison and Bleed effects. Battle Arts, pick one of the following: Two Handed Sword Art: You acquire skill with the two-handed sword. Shield Art: You acquire skill with the shield. Okay, I had to admit, I was starting to get excited. I wished I was able to dig into these Battle Arts more or use a web browser to figure out what build I should start with, but I wasn¡¯t exactly at my dual monitor gaming setup. I narrowed my eyes on the words ¡°Battle Arts¡± and was pleased when an additional informational window appeared. {Battle Arts} Description: Battle Arts determine the potential ability trees that your character is able to progress through. All starting characters are limited to a single Battle Art to start. They also determine what weapons you are able to wield. There are four primary Battle Art categories: Damage, Defensive, Healing, and Support. Starting Battle Arts land squarely in one of these categories, but at level 10 additional Battle Arts become available for pick up based on your starting Battle Art. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. In most MMORPG games I tended to play supportive roles, like a paladin or priest for shields and heals, a tank to grab aggro, or something with crowd control for stuns. I told Phil I liked playing those types . . . but I just sucked at critical damage-dealing roles. Since this was a survival game of some sort . . . I figured I should probably start with some damage. And if I could manage it, solid health . . . and also speed. So, something well rounded or just . . . OP would be great. I had no idea where I was going to pop up and what challenges I would face, but I figured if I wasn¡¯t able to do damage early game, I was going to have a bad time. I glanced at the search bar above the line of character races again. Could it be? I mentally selected it, and a cursor appeared within it as well as in a text input right below my system feed. My question appeared in both places as I typed it out in my head and sent a mental ¡°enter¡± command. ~: What are the top damage outputting races that are also somewhat fast and have solid starting health? Query Complete The figures in the line of races in front of me popped away and shifted until only twenty now stood in front of me. Too many. ~: Can you filter those down to only those that have magic based Battle Arts? Error, no results. Huh, it looked like physical damage in this game trumped magical damage. Since all these races didn¡¯t have any magical Battle Art options and they were the highest damage . . . odds were physical damage was king here . . . at least in terms of pure damage output. That was refreshing. Usually, magic was always way, way better than swinging a sword around in most games, especially when it came to sheer numbers. I shook my head. I couldn¡¯t believe this . . . was all real. I really needed a solid race. If I didn¡¯t pick well here . . . I was fucked. Going with a hunch, I typed up my next query. ~: Okay. Let¡¯s start over. Send me some races that are ethereal in nature / have a history in magic, but have high physical damage output, with high stats in Agility and Health. Query Complete I couldn¡¯t be sure magic wasn¡¯t good. I just knew the query system thought it wasn¡¯t. But I didn¡¯t know what parameters it was searching by. Maybe it was just searching by raw starting DPS, and not DPS down the road. I didn¡¯t even know if it was considering abilities. I didn¡¯t want to lock myself out of a potential pivot to an OP magic tree, if I could help it. When I looked up, I knew I was onto something immediately by the fact that only three figures stood before me. One a combination of plant and tiger, one a burly warrior with braided hair, and one that was hooded and seemed to fade in and out. I swiped through them, taking my time. Race: Grassland Sylvan Description: Emerging from the fertile grasslands, the sylvans are a unique fusion of plant and flesh. They have a deep connection to nature, drawing strength from the earth and the sun. Their keen senses and powerful limbs make them formidable in combat, while their plant-like qualities provide natural camouflage and regenerative abilities. Racial Passive: 20% increased movement speed in natural environments. Battle Arts, pick one of the following: Dart Gun Art: You acquire skill with the dart gun. Bow Art: You acquire skill with the bow. Race: Mountain Elf Description: Descendants of both elven grace and dwarven might, the Mountain Elves are a fierce and noble race who find their place in the world on the highest peaks. With the strength of the dwarves and the agility of elves, they dominate both land and sea. Their deep connection to the winds grants them unparalleled speed and agility, while their formidable combat skills make them deadly opponents. They are known for their resilience and their ability to harness the power of the elements. Racial Passive: 25% improvement to base sight. Battle Arts, pick one of the following: One-Handed Axe Art: You acquire skill with the one-handed axe. Spear Art: You acquire skill with the spear. Race: Forest Shade Description: The Forest Shades are mysterious, shadowy humanoids who dwell deep within ancient forests. Their bodies are partially ethereal, blending seamlessly with the shadows and foliage around them. Masters of stealth and deception, they are agile and quick, striking from the darkness with precision. Their intimate connection to the forest grants them unique abilities to manipulate their surroundings and remain unseen. Racial Passive: Immune to all forms of tracking. Battle Arts, pick one of the following: Bow Art: You acquire skill with the bow. Dagger Art: You acquire skill with the dagger. ¡°Yeah . . . this is starting to feel like a no-brainer. I mean part elf, part dwarf?¡± I said. I looked across my options. The Mountain Elf gave me the vibe of an absolute badass. His skin was fair but marked with some minor scars, his hair in a single braid, leaving most of it to catch in the simulated wind. He wasn¡¯t too skinny like an elf, and not too short like a dwarf, but his ears were still pointed and he just looked . . . awesome. ¡°The other two options are good but . . .¡± I read back through their descriptions. ¡°Both of those are more stealth based, and I absolutely despise stealth mechanics in any multiplayer game. We don¡¯t even know what kind of survival game this is. What if stealth is useless?¡± I stopped talking and started thinking, all these races did seem fantasy based. That didn¡¯t tell me much, but it at least seemed to suggest there wouldn¡¯t be machine guns or tanks or anything . . . I hoped. One thing caught my attention over everything else though. His enhanced eyesight. Enhanced perception was almost always the way to go. With that, I made up my mind. ¡°Wait . . . so let me get this straight. You are going to pick the part elf, part dwarf?¡± Mie asked. ¡°I can¡¯t help it. I mean . . . look at him.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah I see him. I just think . . . that maybe . . . you¡¯re basically picking a human.¡± ¡°What? No, I¡¯m picking¡ªOh. Yeah. I see it now.¡± The figure did look basically human. ¡°Uh, the ears are different.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not judging.¡± ¡°It sort of feels like you are.¡± I went ahead and selected Mountain Elf with the Spear Battle Art option and confirmed my choice. System: You received a new character of race, {Mountain Elf}! System: What is your name? The system paused there, and I realized I could reply right in line. System System System System: Approved System: Long identifier detected. What is your character¡¯s nickname? ~: Sam Character 1/2 confirmed Huh. That was nifty. I felt myself suddenly pop into the flat world. I could feel my body again, and I was able to move around the flat character creation area. I stretched and noticed a reflective pool a couple yards off. I went over to it, and I was surprised that my face was mostly my own outside of a couple scars that lined my chin. I also looked more . . . epic. My long elf hair flowed down my back, my shoulders were broad, and my nicely tanned arms were thickly muscled. I was bare chested, with no shirt to speak of, but my basic Chubbie-like shorts felt incredible. I just looked so . . . cool. ¡°Woah there, lets calm down a bit,¡± Mie said and I realized she must be able to see me checking myself out. ¡°Huh? Why? This is sweet,¡± I said. I did a little jump which turned out to be pretty big. Four feet or so. After getting used to my new body for a few minutes, I glanced back at the system log. ¡°What are we waiting for?¡± Then it hit me. ¡°Wait. I think we get two-character slots.¡± I looked back at the system log again. Yep. One out of two characters confirmed. I looked back at the row of races, and was about to start swiping, when all of a sudden, the figures started moving. That was when I felt Mie weighing her options. Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. I tried to swipe too, but it seemed I was locked out from interacting with the interface. ¡°Mie, wait. Don¡¯t confirm anything until we have talked this¡ª¡± I cut off as I felt her throw a sidelong glance at me, and then her emotions did something like a little smirk. ¡°Hmm? What was that?¡± she asked innocently. Then the notification popped up. Character 2/2 confirmed Chapter 4 Chapter 4 ¡°Mie! What did you do?!¡± I asked. I heard her pop into existence behind me. I turned around slowly and was greeted by a towering feminine figure some three feet taller than me. Her skin glowed with a soft golden tint, hardly noticeable in the gloom. She looked strong but not overly muscular and wore basic shorts like my own and a sports bra. I had to take a couple steps back in order to get a description to pop up. Race: Upland Highborn Description: The Upland Highborn are a race of majestic and powerful humanoids who reside in the highlands and mountainous regions. Their imposing stature is matched by their regal demeanor and exceptional strength. Steeped in ancient traditions and spiritual reverence, they often serve as protectors and holy warriors. Their connection to the high altitudes grants them an aura of serenity and divine power, making them revered and formidable in both battle and guidance. Racial Passive: 20% increased healing received, and 10% increased healing given. Battle Arts, pick one of the following: Holy Art: You acquire skill with a staff. Shield Art: You acquire skill with a shield. I backed out of the window and checked to see if I could tell what Battle Art she had gone with, but I couldn¡¯t. ¡°What were you saying?¡± Mie asked in a baiting tone. It was strange hearing such a high girly voice coming out of such a large figure. ¡°It seems okay,¡± I said. I felt bad and continued. ¡°Depending on the abilities we get in game. You should have some sort of healing powers, and you can tank when we need it. I mean. I honestly don¡¯t think I could have chosen better.¡± ¡°Yep agreed, you¡¯re lame, moving on.¡± I was just too curious to not ask. ¡°So uh, what battle art did you go with?¡± ¡°You just can¡¯t resist, can you?¡± She sighed. ¡°I went with Holy. I figured some healing early game couldn¡¯t hurt, and I¡¯m sure Shield could come in handy if we need it.¡± I was silent for a moment. ¡°Okay. Good uh . . . job. For not really knowing much about this¡ª¡± She cut me off, ¡°What do you mean, for not knowing much about this? Haven¡¯t you figured it out? I have literally all of your memories as if they were mine. I know everything you do, sort of. I have to dig around your past, which is . . . disgusting. I didn¡¯t need to know about you know,¡± she paused looking around, and then bent down to whisper, ¡°Charlie.¡± I froze, my hackles raised. Then I slowly turned toward her and said, ¡°Don¡¯t. Ever. Mention that to anyone. Ever.¡± I took a deep breath as I watched her go wide eyed and then smile. ¡°I¡¯m serious.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Desperate to be talking about anything else, I said, ¡°Speaking of . . . you having my memories . . . what are you exactly? What is a Soul Seed?¡± ¡°Like I said, I don¡¯t know. Unfortunately, your memories are all I have. I have no memories of my own before meeting you and . . . Greg. Honestly, so far . . . existence kind of sucks. Does it . . . always suck?¡± ¡°Kinda, but you are you, and I am me, right?¡± ¡°Hopefully. Two of you would be way . . . sadge.¡± ¡°Mkay. That feels a little harsh.¡± It sounded like we both shared my long-term memory, but we had our own consciousnesses. Like two separate computers sharing an external hard drive. I remembered back to when I had existed in two places at once. It had felt like my memories were copied. So maybe it was more like two minds, each with their own copy of the same memories . . . I shook my head. Whatever was going on, it was bizarre and not at all normal. A couple lines of text caught my attention in my feed. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Location selection based on time of death. Location {The Rolling Hills} selected. The row of races popped out of existence, there was a bright flash, and suddenly we were falling . . . or at least that¡¯s what my eyes told me. No¡ªnot falling. The floor had turned into a giant map. On it was a massive ocean, and in the center was an island. We were zooming in toward it which gave me a weird sensation of self-movement. It reminded me of being a kid wedged into the far back of my parents¡¯ minivan, stuck in a balls-hot traffic jam. As I looked out the window, we would start leaving the car next to us . . . except we were not the ones moving. The other car was. The rate of zoom quickened, increasing the speed at which we ¡°fell¡±, until a small pin appeared. I focused on it. Location: {The Rolling Hills} Biome: Hills Climate: Variable Conditions: Mild Population: Medium Difficulty: Medium A one-minute timer showed up in my upper right. Time Until Launch 1 minute ¡°Okay. You ready for this? I have no idea what to expect, so maybe if we end up separated, we try to meet up?¡± I could feel my voice quavering. I pushed the feeling downward. Other pins began to appear on the map. ¡°Sounds good,¡± Mie said. I heard her voice fluctuate slightly. We were on the brink of something new, and we were both nervous. ¡°Hey look,¡± I said. I pointed to a small town to the north of The Rolling Hills. ¡°If we get split up. Let¡¯s meet up there. The . . . ¡± I checked the name. ¡°The Notch. I bet there is an inn or a townhall or something there.¡± I looked into her eyes, widened my stance, hands rolling into fists, trying to show off some confidence. ¡°Sound like a plan?¡± ¡°What are you doing? You look dumb,¡± she said. But I felt her gratitude. ¡°Yeah okay. Sounds like a plan.¡± I nodded one more time at her as the timer once again fell to zero. Location {The Rolling Hills} confirmed Key received Initiating soul transaction Processing memory Checking sanity Packaging for transit Transmitting data Soul transaction complete The map and character creation space disappeared, and, in a flash, I found myself at the top of a large hill. The change was jarring. The sky was bright blue, the sun was warm against my skin, the breeze was fiercer and blew against me, tangling my hair. I could feel the freshly cut grass beneath my feet. Could feel it between my toes and the world felt . . . so real. I spun around, looking for Mie, and found her towering character directly behind me. She had a yellow nameplate over her head, which quickly turned blue which I guessed indicated we were in the same party. We had spawned in back-to-back. I kept an eye on my system log. A few prompts coming in. You unlocked the party system You unlocked the party messaging system Player IFartedInFrontOfHer(Mie) has joined your party You received a {Broken Spear} You received 5 {Basic Loaf} You received 5 {Unfiltered Water} Waiting for more players before starting Entry Event Waiting for more players 2/10 ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°¡®I farted in front of her?¡¯ That¡¯s what you went with?¡± ¡°Look who is talking,¡± Mie said, ¡°YOU WENT WITH ¡®ANYTHING BUT SQUISHED.¡¯ ¡± ¡°Yeah . . . but that felt right . . . and at least I wasn¡¯t actively making fun of you,¡± I retorted. ¡°Well, MINE felt right too. And honestly, I can¡¯t help it. I know we should be discussing what the hell we¡¯re doing here and how we¡¯re going to survive, but what I really want to talk about is . . . that time you ended up naked¡ª¡± ¡°Stop. Don¡¯t go there.¡± ¡°I mean. What were you even thinking? It was so obvious.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t understand. Freshmen year is hard! Anyways, can we not do this right now?¡± Thankfully, Mie let it drop, which was surprising based on the mischievous grin feeling I was getting through our emotional bond, but she was looking around and I did the same. I took a dozen steps forward. I could see something shimmering, as if the hilltop was closed off by a transparent purple wall. I walked over to it and prodded it with a finger. I found it smooth and firm, and the purple intensified where I touched it and rippled like waves, spreading out in a large dome surrounding the hilltop. I inspected it, and a transparent dark gray info box appeared right next to it with white text. Entry Event Barrier, {Immune} A few other players were spawning around now. One was extremely short, maybe a gnome? Despite the warm sun, a sinking feeling was filling my gut. It can¡¯t be. Waiting for more players 10/10 Then Tittles started speaking. His stoic voice was oppressive, and it came from all directions. It sounded as if the sky had opened up and revealed a theater¡¯s worth of IMAX speakers. He sighed heavily as he started talking. ¡° . . . Fine. Hey again, folks . . . Tittles here. Welcome to Hearth! I hope you enjoyed your time selecting your character. We wish you the best of luck and hope you find your new existence thrilling. As a reminder, you have been given five life credits, not including the one you currently possess. If that count goes to zero, that means you are on your last life credit, and the next time you die your Soul Space will be reclaimed, and you will be . . . collected. Unfortunately . . . Jeff,¡± he said the name with loathing, ¡°is pushing for a quick turnaround on this one. So, we are starting things off with a bang¡ª" I heard someone else¡¯s voice come over the audio. Then Tittles said, ¡°GOD DAMN IT, JEFF¡ªNO ONE CARES¡ª¡± The announcement was cut off. Who is this Jeff? Also, start things off with . . . a bang? I didn¡¯t have time to dwell any further on it as every other player¡¯s nameplate turned from yellow to red. I looked at Mie, dread in my chest. Her blue nameplate had also gone red. Entry Event has begun Mode: Free For All 10/10 players remaining Chapter 5 Chapter 5 A rusted axe flew in from our right and buried itself into Mie¡¯s side. Blood sprayed against my face. She screamed a sharp note, then bellowed, ¡°HOLY BALLS THAT HURTS!¡± She grabbed at the axe but flinched when she touched it. ¡°OH MY GOD. IM DYING!¡± I stumbled back, falling onto the ground, trying to wipe blood out of my eyes. Despite my blurred sight I registered Mie¡¯s health bar, which appeared right above her as well as up next to her face in the upper left of my vision next to a little icon of her golden face. The health bar was showing two thirds full. Right below it, I could see a blue bar. Her mana bar? It looked like a quick view of my party members. But hadn¡¯t her nameplate turned red? My own red¡ªI assumed¡ªhealth bar appeared at the bottom center of my vision on top of a green bar. My instinct and experience told me that was probably some kind of energy or stamina bar. Clearing my vision, I took stock. I looked in the direction the axe had come from, and the troll-looking creature who had thrown it was looking around left to right, another axe in hand but unsure of what to do next. Okay. That¡¯s our target. A two-handed broadsword swung by a tall elf cleaved off the troll¡¯s head. Blood spurted northward from his corpse as it flopped sideways. His health bar grayed out, then vanished. That guy¡¯s head . . . just came off. 9/10 players remaining I got to my feet. ¡°Mie, can you heal yourself?!¡± Through gritted teeth she said, ¡°Does it FUCKING look like it?¡± But I barely heard her as absolute chaos ensued. A bio mech appeared in front of me flailing a two-handed sword. From my left, an arrow whizzed past where my head had just been and pierced through my pointed elf ear. The pain was massive. Like the entire side of my head had just been smashed into a sharp brick corner. I clasped at my ear while blood came through my fingers. Another arrow took me in the shoulder. Pain slammed into me, and I saw my health drop a third. However, despite the pain, I found my head relatively clear, like my conscious mind was still able to process thoughts. There was still pain, but I could still think with a mostly clear head. It wasn¡¯t normal. I remembered quite clearly the feeling of stubbing my toe on Earth. The world itself would become pain, and that was all there was. But here, I could think through it. If I had been shot by an arrow on Earth, I would be on the ground . . . probably passed out. I ducked as the bio mech¡¯s two-handed sword swept over me. As I mentally focused on the mech, a red circle appeared at his feet indicating I had targeted him. I gripped my spear. I had never used a weapon in this capacity¡ªto harm someone¡ªand I was surprised when I naturally thrust forward with it after making the decision to attack. I thought of the motion as a Basic Attack. The spear punctured into the mech¡¯s fleshy stomach, and a debuff appeared over him as I ripped it back out. I took a couple steps backward in horror at how easy and almost unintentional that was. A debuff with the icon of a red drop appeared over the mech¡¯s head. I inspected it, and a little informational window popped up next to it. {Major Bleed} Description: -5 health per second for 10 seconds. This effect can stack up to 20 times. The mech¡¯s health bar dropped to a quarter remaining, and it made me think that hit location mattered here. Of course a blow to the stomach would deal heavy damage. This was real. More than anything, that thought finally spiked my adrenaline. My pain took a back seat as the chemical flowed through my veins. The mech had dropped his sword and clasped at his stomach in shock and pain as he stumbled backward. While he backed away, I ducked another arrow and looked in the direction it had come from, finding its source. Two archers on the opposite side of the dome-covered event area were ignoring each other and firing away at everyone else in a semblance of a truce. I saw them pull back their bows. Another pair of arrows flew. I was able to dodge one, but Mie was slower and took a hit to the thigh. She . . . screamed. Her health dropped down to a third remaining. I pushed her in the direction of a large boulder to get to cover. In our view, a short gnome popped up out of some longer grass behind a green goblin who was unaware of him. I inspected the gnome. Mike#ReallyReallyFuckingBigAssNumber Level 0 Gnome God. Why are there so many people named Mike? The gnome pulled a blunderbuss off his back, targeted the goblin. And fired. The goblin¡¯s entire top half . . . exploded. His health dropped to zero, and the remaining bottom half of his corpse just sort of collapsed as if it were casually sitting down. Then it flopped backward. ¡°What the hell?!¡± Mie yelled as we rushed forward. ¡°There are GUNS? AND I HAVE A STICK?¡± I briefly saw the gnome¡¯s level go from level zero to one right before I crashed into him¡ªMie close behind. We rolled in the soft grass, and his small figure squirmed like a little chipmunk in my grasp. This close, his features seemed familiar. It felt like I should know him. Then I realized . . . it was him. The gunman who had killed me. ¡°YOU!¡± I said as anger rose up within me like a swelling tide. My spear had dropped during the impact, so I grabbed his shoulder and buried my fist into his wide-eyed face. His nose broke. It was this idiots fault¡ªI punched him again¡ªI was dead¡ªblood poured from his upper lip¡ªand he¡¯d put my daughters life in danger. I punched him again, and his head snapped back. I watched as little white numbers floated over his head. There was a seven, an eight, and a ten. A thought registered. Lily. If she died . . . The system had mentioned location was based off time of death. I looked around frantically. Looking for her face among the combatants. There were only a couple in sight now, and neither of them were her. A white ring flew out of Mike¡¯s hands like a frisbee. It fell into the middle of the event area. I brought my attention back to him, drew my hand back, and punched toward his head once more, but before my fist made contact, an ice blue plane of what felt like glass appeared below my feet. CRACK! My weight broke it, and suddenly I found myself in the middle of the event area. He had just teleported me with some sort of trap ability. ¡°Oh shit!¡± I said. I scrambled back toward the rock in a panic. Two arrows narrowly missed me as I sprinted. Mie swung her massive staff at Mike, hitting him squarely in the head. A transparent layer of blue encased his whole body, and it looked like he had been frozen in place. Also, an icon that showed a blue explosion appeared over his health bar with a little number two next to it. White text also floated up. {Stunned} for 2 seconds I inspected that stunned debuff. {Stunned} Description: Target cannot move or perform any action unless otherwise stated. I reached them and I knew I had questions for this bastard, but there was no time. In one motion, I rolled to my spear, picking it up as I went, drew back my arm, and pinned him to the soft earth through the eye. His health bar fell to zero as his body went limp. I just killed . . . someone. But . . . he probably had life credits . . . right? Why did I care? He had killed me. Mie threw me a ¡®what the hell is going on?¡¯ look as we both positioned ourselves behind the boulder, staying low to avoid the steady stream of arrows. I glanced at my log. 8/10 players remaining 7/10 players remaining 6/10 players remaining You received 25 XP! You reached Level 1! You unlocked the ability {Vaulting Strike} Adrenaline and anger continued to throb within me as I took a look at that ability. It appeared in a little hotkey action bar at the bottom of my vision. Active ability: {Vaulting Strike} Description: You jump forward, striking at your enemy. Maximum distance: 10 feet The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Critical strike chance: +25% Cost: 40 Stamina. Scales with player level Cooldown: 10 seconds I glanced around the hilltop over our cover. The two archers had bows ready but had no targets. To our right was the sword-wielding elf and an axe-wielding human. They were locked in combat trading blows behind an even larger boulder. ¡°Did you level up?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah, and I got an ability. It¡¯s a full heal, but it takes up all my mana and has a five-minute cool down,¡± Mie rattled off quickly. ¡°What are you doing?! Use it on yourself!¡± I said. ¡°Dude. Chill,¡± she said. Then she raised her staff. A circular golden pane of light fell though her, and then the axe dropped out of her side, the wound sealing behind. The arrow pushed itself out, too, and I saw her noticeably relax as her distress faded away through our bond. I checked her health, which was back to max, but her mana had dropped to zero and was ticking up at a very slow rate. I looked over at the two players behind the rock and saw the elf glance our way, hold up a hand to the human, then point toward us, indicating they should team up. Both looked in rough condition; I noted an arrow in each. The human nodded in agreement and turned our way. Blood sprayed over the elf¡¯s torso as his sword became visible to me through the human¡¯s chest. 5/10 players remaining ¡°That was pretty low,¡± I muttered, the fire within me grew hot as if it had just been stoked. This guy had no honor. My voice was thick as I said, ¡°Fuck that guy.¡± I broke the arrow shaft off that was still sticking into my shoulder and tossed it into the dirt. If Lily is here among backstabbing assholes¡ªno. I took a deep breath. I need to focus. Mie nodded her agreement and whispered, ¡°What a dummy. Now he¡¯s solo. Should I shove my staff up his butthole?¡± I paused, the comment breaking through the blazing wall of red. ¡°That¡¯s what you lead with? Staff to the butthole?¡± ¡°Not to. Up. But yeah, I mean, what else would make that guy¡¯s life miserable?¡± ¡°True. Okay then. That¡¯s option one. Option two¡ª¡± I cut off as I realized Mie had started running toward the elf. She was now completely out in the open. She got hit by an arrow in the arm, and another whizzed over her head. With no other good option, I sprinted after her. She reached the sword-wielding elf and took a swing with her staff. The elf seemed caught off guard at the sudden charge. I couldn¡¯t blame him. I was too! He had to step back to avoid the blow, but his sword had a long reach. He swung in a wide arch, and Mie¡¯s arm¡ªher non-staff wielding one¡ªwent flying off. A large chunk of her health fell away. Blood began spilling out of her severed stump. I noticed the same Major Bleed debuff I had seen earlier appear above her head. She stumbled back¡ªscreaming once again¡ªas I reached them. I targeted the elf and activated my Vaulting Strike ability for the first time. A timer appeared over the ability as it went on cooldown while my body sort of just . . . knew what to do. I took a couple big steps forward, and I power jumped up some ten feet¡ªhigher than I thought possible¡ªand then I darted, spear first, at the elf. I brought my arm back and thrust my spear down at his head and met . . . nothing. I hit the ground and did a summersault to my feet. The elf had activated some sort of quick dodge ability. One moment he was there, the next he was gone. I looked behind me and saw his sword coming down toward my neck. Mie was there, her staff raised and blocked the blow. I spun, thrusting my spear forward again and punched it into the elf¡¯s chest. His eyes went wide as he fell to his knees, his health bar showing just a sliver of red. I twisted the spear . . . and ripped it out. He dropped dead, and once again, I dealt with the fact that . . . I had just . . . killed someone. But it¡¯s fine, I reminded myself again. They have life credits still. . . for now. 4/10 players remaining ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± I said, breathing hard while I addressed Mie, ¡°just go running off without a plan! But. Good job.¡± She was groaning and holding her stump. I glanced at her health; it had dropped dangerously low after the bleed debuff had run its course. ¡°Your health is low . . . and your arm . . . is over there.¡± I gestured over to the limb that had come to rest in the grass. I felt her anxiety spike. I couldn¡¯t blame her. I had no idea what would happen if she died. Does she have life credits too? Are we actually partied? Is anyone else? Does she even count as a player? We still knew nothing about who she really was, or why we had this strange connection, and no one had offered us any explanation. I glanced over the large rock, jumping a little to do so, and saw the two archers spreading out, each slowly approaching our flanks. ¡°Ah shit. Mie, they are coming. We don¡¯t have a lot of time, and I don¡¯t think we are both going to make it out of this. I will find you if this turns south. I promise.¡± Before they came fully into view, and, as we turned to face them, I heard her imitate my voice through gritted teeth. ¡° ¡®Oh my god, Mie. I love you. I¡¯ll come find you and do perverted things to you.¡¯ ¡± Vaulting Strike refreshed, and I grinned at the absurdity of her joke as I activated it. I soared, coming down hard on the woodland archer. I stabbed him right in the temple, and his health zeroed out. The guy was squishy. You received 25 XP! 3/10 players remaining I turned to see Mie running at the other archer who looked to be some kind of green-skinned orc. The archer¡¯s bow was drawn. THUNK. The arrow took her through the eye. Her health dropped to zero. 2/10 players remaining My abs clenched as I saw her party icon gray out, and the red fire inside of me threatened to return. In my upper right, I noticed my life credits tick down by one. Well fuck . . . at least she¡¯s still alive. I kept the rock in between myself and the remaining archer, using it to my advantage. I let the fire rage inside of me as I waited until my Vaulting Strike ability reset. Once it had, I rushed him, targeting him as I went, then activated my ability once more. He released an arrow that passed under me as I reached my apex. And just like the woodland elf, I speared him through the temple as I came down on top of him. This time the number that floated off the dead orc was a lot greater than my other hits, and yellow instead of white. I guess that was a crit? I landed on one knee. 1/10 players remaining Entry Event complete I pulled my spear out of the guy¡¯s . . . head, stood up, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. I¡¯m still alive. I had somehow pulled that off. Holy. Shit. I glanced at my logs. It had been spewing information out constantly, but I caught some important bits. You received 25 XP! You reached Level 2! You unlocked the ability {Sweeping Strike} Active Ability: {Sweeping Strike} Description: When performing a sweep with the spear, your arm and spear strengthen, becoming hard to block. Successful hits deal damage based on your level and physical attack. Causes {Rooted} for 5 seconds. Cost: 50 Stamina. Scales with player level Cooldown: 10 seconds I took a look at that rooted effect. {Rooted} Description: Target is unable to change their physical location but may still perform any non-movement action. That was an interesting mechanic and I was curious to try it out, but more lines were still appearing in my system feed. Congratulations, you unlocked the location {Hearth}! Congratulations, you survived entry to Hearth, awarding {Beginners Chest}! The description of the chest was generic as I inspected its text in my feed, and while looking for where I could find it in my interface, I noticed a few new icons. They were nicely laid out in the bottom right of my vision. I looked at one that looked like a backpack that was labeled ¡®Inventory¡¯ and mentally selected it. A familiar grid of inventory slots appeared. There was an infinity symbol in the upper right which I assumed meant the inventory didn¡¯t have any sort of weight or count capacity. I looked at my items. I saw the bread and the water, but no Beginners Chest. My adrenaline was wearing off, and an ache throbbed from the broken arrow still sticking into my shoulder. I mentally selected one of the breads and was pleasantly surprised to see it appear in my hand. Curious, I toggled the menu off, then thought about storing the bread. It popped away, now stored back in my inventory. Huh. That¡¯s nice. I got the bread back out by thinking about it, and it popped back into my hand. I inspected it. {Basic Loaf} Description: Heals 100 health over 1 minute when out of combat. I tore it in half and noticed some steam come off it. It was warm. I took a bite, and it was incredible. Fresh and moist. Light and salty with a touch of sweet. It smelled like Sunday afternoon, and I lost myself, enjoying every bite. Once I finished, my health was back to full, the arrow had slipped from my shoulder painlessly, the wound sealed itself, and I felt normal once more. I took a deep breath and realized just how much tension I had been holding. I relaxed my arms and shoulders and took a more thorough look around. The corpses of the dead players were still strewn about the hilltop. I went to each corpse one at a time, and after turning them all over, I verified that none of them were Lily. Thank God. I noticed a couple changes in the event area as well. The purple wall had disappeared, indicating I could now leave, and I also found the chest. It stood plain and simple in the middle of the arena. I walked toward it, its details becoming more visible. It was a small sturdy box about the size of one of those plastic storage bins I had back home. It had a metal latch that I flipped up with my foot. The lid popped open, and immediately I noticed a green light shining and flickering as if it was physical. Like a firework of green, minus the noise. I tried to glance inside but couldn¡¯t. I mentally inspected the chest and found a similar looking grid interface with a few items. There were a couple options, and I selected the {Loot All} option as my log updated. You received {Silver Coin} x30 You received {Basic Loaf} x20 You received {Unfiltered Water} x20 You received {Weak Health Potion} x2 You received {Ring of The Sole Survivor} I took a look at the ring. {Ring of The Sole Survivor} Rank: Uncommon Grade: Stellar Slot: Finger +3%-7% Health Regeneration per second I didn¡¯t know if that was good, but it certainly felt good. I popped the ring out of my inventory and slipped it onto my index finger. It fit perfectly. I mentally selected yet another icon that had appeared called ¡®Equipment¡¯ and another window popped up in front of me. It was transparent like all the windows had been so far, so I wasn¡¯t too worried about it obstructing my senses. But focusing on anything other than my surroundings made me uneasy. My character stood tall in three dimensions, and all my available equipment slots surrounded me. It was a familiar interface to me, but I took a quick once-over to make sure there wasn¡¯t anything unusual. There were the normal slots for head, shoulders, back, arms, wrists, hands, chest, legs, shins, feet, main hand and off hand. The main hand was filled with the broken spear I started with. Then there were the two ring slots, one which was now filled, and a slot for a necklace. There was also an undergear slot, which I was happy to see was filled with a pair of basic boxers. I closed that interface. I should¡¯ve felt excited. This was everything I had ever wanted in a game. And the game had come to life. The interfaces were smooth, the combat realistic, the graphics . . . I looked around . . . incredible. But . . . I felt dead inside. I . . . am dead. This . . . is real. And now . . . it is my life. The sun was nearing the horizon, and pink and purple clouds painted across the sky. The wind brought the scent of grass and iron from all the blood. It looked and felt like the real world. Maybe a touch more fanciful and majestic, but it looked normal. I remembered the blunderbuss blowing off the top of the goblin, the teleportation trap whisking me away, and the forest elf¡¯s quick dodge . . . Jesus Christ. I got extremely lucky winning that entry event. Moving forward . . . I need a plan. I need to get stronger. I need¡ªI cut off my thought process as I noticed another icon show up to the left of my life credits. The icon was one of those triple stacked people icons. My stomach dropped, and I felt my throat tighten as I inspected the new metric. Players Remaining: 1,000,000 Life Credits: 4 Two¡ªno three¡ªvery unpleasant things hit me at once. I was in a massive battle for survival. My life credits . . . had just dropped by one, I assumed due to my mysterious connection with Mie . . . And maybe worst of all . . . I was absolutely alone. Chapter 6 Chapter 6 I took a long moment, sitting a few yards outside the entry event arena. My eyes gazed off into the distance. I thought about all the things that had happened in such a short timeframe. My death. The pitch-black place where I¡¯d chosen between my post tutorial options. My quite literally shitty Soul Space, and now this place. Hearth. Ada had probably found out about me by now. My chest clenched, and my fists curled. I hated not knowing if Lily was okay or not, but at least I hadn¡¯t found her corpse among the slain players . . . Maybe that was a good sign. My girls . . . they were both going through some really hard shit right about now. I was emotionally and mentally exhausted, and while killing Mike had felt good, I was still utterly pissed. If he crossed my path again, I would continue to put him in his damn place. I wondered how long it had been since I had woken up that morning. It must have been what? A few hours? Half a day? Time¡¯s passing eluded me. Here the sun was falling toward the horizon. Dusk approached, but it seemed like I probably had a couple more hours before nightfall. Remembering the village, The Notch, from the map during character creation, I headed north. I noticed an inky, wet line spreading its way through the grass toward me. As I watched, it thickened slightly and split like a tree root. I inspected it. Effect of The Black Domain The Black Domain? Huh. That sounds . . . not great. I stepped aside as the line passed close by, deciding I didn¡¯t want anything to do with the stuff for now. It trickled past and off into the distance. I came up on a small group of trees and noticed a couple little critters out and about. Since I could see both their nameplates at the same time, a bold white multiplication modifier hovered between their nameplates. Level 1 Hare x2 HP 1/1 Classic, I thought. I was becoming more and more convinced that whoever had dreamed up this place had been from Earth and had played a few popular MMORPGs. While I walked, I had time to analyze my interface. I noticed a map icon blinking on my right. I selected it and was awarded with a local area map. I saw myself as a green arrow smack in the middle. It showed about as far as I could visually see, which meant about a mile depending on my elevation. Beyond that was just black. I noticed that the direction I was looking on the map was showing activity. A little critter darted between a couple trees, and I saw its yellow dot appear then vanish. Anywhere I wasn¡¯t looking, the area was under fog of war. It showed minor details, like the terrain type, but didn¡¯t show any live activity. I looked at the corpses from the starter event and little X¡¯s appeared on the map in the direction my arrow was pointing. I looked away from the corpses, and they disappeared off the map. So . . . it only shows what I can actually see. I put a rock between myself and one of the corpses. Its X disappeared off the map. And it doesn¡¯t show obstructed objects either. I saw that there was a global tab too. I selected it and was awarded with a view of the entire continent and the surrounding blue ocean. I could zoom in and out as much as I wanted which told me that the local area view was just a zoomed in portion of the global view. At fully zoomed out, the continent was purely black outside of a very small area which was my immediate location. I closed the map window which had a little red X in the top right. In the bottom left of my interface there was the system log, local feed, global feed, and . . . I paused. I just noticed the last tab, which was labeled ¡®Party Feed.¡¯ It had a moderately large number next to the label, and it was ticking up and blinking. I mentally selected it and realized what it was. Oops. I scrolled to the top and read through a string of messages that Greg had left. Greg: Sigh . . . here we go again. Greg: Hey uhh . . . just FYI, the baby disappeared, actually I haven¡¯t seen her since you left. Greg: Hello? Can¡¯t you see the blinking messages to your bottom left? Greg: Why are humans so dumb? Greg: God. It would be hilarious if you picked the wolf¡ªdamn. Greg: Whoa wait a second. Greg: Wait. Greg: You get a second character? Huh. That¡¯s new. Greg: I haven¡¯t ever seen this before. Greg: Sigh . . . I hate my life. Even with two of you, you won¡¯t win. Mie: God, this place is hell. Ew. Why is Greg . . . so ugly? How do you work this thing? Why is he getting closer to me. Oh god. This guy should be dead. Mie: Oh. Oops. Whelp . . . I guess I just sent that. Actually . . . that¡¯s fine. Greg: I . . . wish I was dead. That was depressing. I was glad to see Mie¡¯s name show up, and it registered to me that when you lose a life credit you must return to the Soul Space. That was good to know. I kept reading. Mie: Stay away from me Greg. Why are you getting closer? STOP MOVING! Greg: Wow. He did it. Mie: Good job Sam! Seriously Greg. Stay away. Greg: Oh, nice ring, been a bit since I have seen one of those. Mie: Ah! SAM HELP. GREG IS TOUCHING ME! Greg: I¡¯m telling you: he can¡¯t see our messages. Mie: Okay pervert. Sam please. READ YOUR MESSAGES! Greg: Pervert? Really? Mie: Oh okay cool. I didn¡¯t realize I could see Sam on the TV. Mie: Yes. Okay I think he is looking down to the left. Hard to tell from this over the shoulder third person view. Looks like Fortnite. Mie: Right There. No. Fuck. C¡¯mon. Greg: He¡¯s messing around with his map I think. Mie: There! Mie: FINALLY. HELLO SAM! Finally caught up, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, suppressing a grin. Specs of dried blood crumbled off as I replied by thinking into the input right below the feed. I needed some semblance of normal, and messing with Greg was exactly the sort of distraction I needed right now . . . especially if he wasn¡¯t respecting Mie¡¯s boundaries. Sam: Oh hey. Sup guys. Mie: Nothing much! You?! Greg: You guys . . . are dumb. How did I end up with Earth youths? If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Sam: You know, just chillin. Headed north. Greg: This is pointless. Mie: Oh nice. Yeah, I¡¯m just chillin too, in this . . . dark wooden container . . . naked . . . with . . . Greg. Mie: GREG DO NOT TOUCH ME NOOOOOOOO. Mie: SAM, HE JUST TOUCHED MY BUTT! Greg: You are a baby that is naked. How am I supposed to not touch your butt? Sam: That¡¯s messed up man. Mie: Right?! I can see him Sam. He is all flustered now. Muttering to himself, drooling. Sam: Stop touching her, pervert! Greg: None of that is happening. Mie: YES IT IS. UUUUGH. THIS PLACE IS THE WORST. GET ME OUT OF HERE. Sam: I believe you. Greg is the worst. I chuckled to myself. Fucking Greg. I really did feel for Mie though, and I was very glad I still had access to fresh air. . . and access to a non-Greg-containing area. More motivation to stay the hell alive. I decided to see if Greg was good for anything besides negativity and ask a few of my more pressing questions. I needed more information badly. While we chatted, I followed a dirt path that went up and down over the rolling landscape. Sam: I have some questions, Greg. Now a good time to throw those your way? Greg: Sigh . . . fine. Sure. Sam: Okay so, when a person dies, what happens? I mean I get some of the basics like a life credit gets used and their corpse gets left behind. But like Mie for example. What happens to her next? Greg: She¡¯s returned to the Soul Space. Sam: Want to expand on that . . . ? Greg: No. But fine . . . Do you see her in your party interface there all grayed out, indicating that she hasn¡¯t left the party? Well, you should also see a timer. When a person dies, and if they have remaining life credits, they are penalized in a few ways. One of those ways is time based. The player¡¯s character has to wait 4 hours to respawn. The second big penalty is that you lose your current experience progress toward your next level. Right now, that won¡¯t feel like a huge problem, but later levels start requiring more experience. And dying when you are just a few XP points away from leveling up feels really bad (for you). Lastly, your corpse becomes lootable, and anything and everything in your character inventory becomes lootable by other people. Sam: So back there, could I have looted those corpses? Greg: Yep, but it would have just been more bread and water and their weapons which you wouldn¡¯t have been able to equip anyways as you lack the battle art to equip them. Probably just a few coppers worth of gear. Sam: Makes sense. What about getting back into the game? After the time penalty is up? Where do you respawn? Greg: We have been over this Harold. Sam: My name is Sam . . . ? And no, we haven¡¯t. Greg: What? Oh. Oops . . . all you players just start to blur together for me at this point. Anyways . . . your question . . . it¡¯s mostly predictable but there are a few caveats. . . Basically, if there is an inn close by, characters will respawn there. If there are multiple in the area, it¡¯s a roll. Also, the entry event is a barrier to Hearth. Typically, it¡¯s a short quest or something like that . . . but they went hard this time with a free for all. You can¡¯t actually unlock Hearth fully until you complete the event. So yeah, if you had died during that event, you would have to do it again . . . and again . . . until . . . Sam: So does that mean Mie . . . will have to do it again? Mie: Nope! I got the same unlocks you did. Greg: Yeah, that¡¯s the strange part. Typically, folks don¡¯t have the ability to party up until after entry. I¡¯m not sure, but I think having the prebaked party was an unknown exploit to the system. Sam: Not mad about that. So, Mie will respawn over here at The Notch? In . . . I checked her timer. Sam: 3 and a halfish hours? Greg: I suppose. Mie: 3 AND A HALF HOURS?! Fuuuuuck me. Sam: Sorry Mie . . . Okay and what exactly should I do . . . now? Like how bad is this realm really? I guess I¡¯m asking . . . what is the point of it all? Greg: Like what is the point of life? Lol. Death for you. And for me? Eternal hell. I¡¯m actually not even sure what the exact rules of this instance of Hearth are yet. Sam: What do you mean? Greg: Nothing . . . Can we be done? Sam: Greg. These are our lives we are talking about. You¡¯re supposed to be our guide. Fucking help us. Greg: I. Don¡¯t. Care. BUT FINE. Every instance of Hearth has a different rule set for the people locked to them. Typically, the GM¡ªTittles in this case¡ªgets to that in the first twenty-four hours or so. Sometimes it¡¯s last man standing, sometimes it¡¯s last party standing, sometimes it¡¯s race focused. Like who can beat the end boss the fastest, etc. There . . . are A LOT of different variants. A metric shit ton. Some things were starting to come together in my head. As things stood right now, this was starting to remind me a lot of any classic MMORPG outside of the life credits. Most MMORPGs just let you die as many times as you wanted . . . but not here. The other similarity was that there was typically a limit to the number of players that could play on a single instance, which meant the developers had to have a bunch of them available. I wondered how many Hearth instances were currently ¡®running¡¯ at the same time . . . Just how many people existed? That thought, as it always did, made me feel small. I want . . . to go home. This all . . . has to be a dream. A mistake. Darkness was approaching over the landscape and with it a black liquid sickness threatened to poison my veins. I pushed it down and away, and instead a red fluid swept through me uncontrolled. I let it. My vision blurred red at the corners. Where . . . is my wife? Why . . . am I here? Lily . . . I prayed my body had been enough to shield her. Would I ever find out what happened to her? What . . . is the point of it all? What sort of higher being would put a person through life on Earth, and then throw them into this? Or is it all just . . . chaos? The cosmos. Is it all just random and meaningless? An image of Tittles face as he laughed at the name he¡¯d pulled from his fishbowl rose through my mind. To him . . . this is a game. To him . . . this is fun. A pounding sensation started to throb through my head, and the red liquid poured off heat like a radiator in an old home. It emanated along the back of my neck and within my chest. I want answers. I need damn answers. And . . . somehow, I knew if I ran out of credits . . . I wouldn¡¯t get any. I let my emotions simmer as I took a minute to think about what to ask Greg next. As I walked with bare feet, the temperature dropped. I couldn¡¯t help but miss my leather boots, jeans, and flannel jacket. I missed my normal life. I missed my kids . . . Fuck. Hopefully Dad wasn¡¯t being a complete dickass to Ada and Lily. He was a straight boomer republican. You know the type. A small town¡ªThe Notch, I assumed¡ªappeared off in the distance barely visible in the dying light of dusk. The landscape around me rolled in all directions, except to the west where a tall forest rose. I squinted, and a beacon of bright green light fell from the sky and hit the tops of the closest trees. At first, I thought this was some strange phenomenon, but then, I realized it was a marker that I had unintentionally placed. Some helpful details showed up next to the beam. Shell Woods Distance: 1520 meters I mentally cleared the marker, and it disappeared. The mental interface really was astounding. Another question formulated in my mind. Sam: How many instances of Hearth have you been to Greg? Greg: Thousands. The number . . . was staggering. Especially if there were a million players per. The next question I didn¡¯t want to ask . . . but I had to. Sam: How many times did the person you were helping . . . make it? The chat remained empty for some time before a response came through. Greg: Not sure that really matters . . . Sam: Answer the damn question Greg. Greg: God. Fine. Zero. . . Only a handful have made it more than a few days. Mie: I blame the guide. Greg: . . . Sam: Same. Greg: Well fuck you guys too. Sam: Greg. We are just kidding. Mie: I¡¯m not. Sam: But . . . you have no idea what happens to the players who do make it? Greg: . . . No . . . well, I do know the GM is somehow involved. But they are usually close-lipped on what comes after. No one left behind knows because . . . like I mentioned earlier . . . their Soul Space gets reclaimed and . . . the folks inside get . . . squished . . . then F¡¯d. It¡¯s . . . messed up. Mie: Umm. You said . . . squished? Greg: Yeah . . . you¡¯ll see. Mie: I¡¯d . . . rather not. That brought up a whole other host of questions about who exactly Tittles was. The GM? Not to mention . . . who Greg was and where he came from. But, before I could dig in, I heard and saw rustling in a large bush a few meters ahead of me. Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Three creatures darted out onto the path in front of me. ¡°Uh . . . hello?¡± I waved, and they looked over in my general direction. The sky had gotten considerably darker. Stars were starting to appear overhead, giving off the faintest of light. I wasn¡¯t even sure I would be able to see the creatures if not for my enhanced eyesight. I inspected their nameplates and their status effects as they stumbled closer. Level 2 Adolescent Troll x3 {Drunk} for 1 hour {Drunk} Description: Reflexes delayed 25%. I glanced at my party feed for Greg¡¯s advice only to see a message from Mie. Mie: Did he just say hello to some teenage trolls drunk out of their minds like they were friendly or something? Greg: Yeah . . . he¡¯s dead. Emotionally, I felt Mie do something like a facepalm. I started backing away and caught more details as I went. The trolls stood at about four feet in height. Two of them carried spears much like my own in their long stringy arms. The other carried a crossbow. There was a flash of long white tusks as their lazy drunk eyes flicked around, trying to focus on me. A terrible stench of rotten death attacked my nose when they neared. I covered my mouth and nose, trying not to heave up the bread I had just eaten. Their nameplates were yellow. But when their eyes narrowed in on me, and they fully became alerted to my presence . . . their nameplates turned red. ¡°Oh shit!¡± I closed my map as they charged. The crossbow troll fumbled with his weapon, trying to load a bolt in his drunken state, but the other two were fast and coming in hot. I stepped toward them. My spear ready. I targeted the troll nearest and activated Sweeping Strike, trying it for the first time. I felt my arm and grip strengthen as I planted my feet in a wide stance. My hand gripped near the end of the spear and locked it against my forearm in order to maximize its distance as I swept it low in a half circle in front of me. The spear cracked loudly into the legs of the first and clipped those of the second. They both tripped, white numbers floating over their heads and both gaining the rooted debuff. I noticed transparent chains rise out of the ground and snake their way around their legs as my sweep finished. I kept moving forward, targeted the crossbow troll and activated Vaulting Strike. As I left the ground, a bolt punctured into my chest, chopping my health bar in half. Pain and blood sprouted like a water fountain out of me, and I could barely breathe while blood started to fill one of my lungs. But the hit. . . hadn¡¯t interrupted my vault. My ability completed, and I crashed into the troll, spear first. It went through his midsection, and he doubled over, screaming like a piglet. I collided into him, and my teeth met his forehead which made my vision go white and black. My existence¡ªfor a moment¡ªwas just static, then it was obliterating pain . . . everywhere. But like I said earlier: a part of my consciousness was still able to comprehend and work on what to do next. We rolled to a stop, and my vision cleared. I yanked out my spear and struck out again with another basic attack to his gut. His health bar went to zero. Stumbling to my feet and gurgling blood, I shook the troll off the end of my spear. Blood dripped down the shaft to my hand, wind blew against me, and adrenaline once again began coursing through me as I turned my attention to the rooted trolls. I grasped my spear tight, afraid as blood rushed out of my chest. I pushed the fear down and crystalized it, and once again fluid red rage boiled within me, mixing with the hot adrenaline. These two trolls . . . were in my way. I targeted the one on my left and activated Vaulting Strike. A red error floated up. Not enough Stamina I checked my stamina bar, and my rage-banked courage took a large step backward. The green bar was low and ticking up slowly¡ªfar from enough to use any ability. ¡°Uhh,¡± I said. I took a couple steps back and stumbled as the two trolls regained their feet. One of them activated some kind of drunken rage ability, causing him to shimmer with a milky white barrier around his skin. He bellowed into the air, and then charged. I . . . ran. I sprinted north as fast as I could toward a large boulder-looking thing, glancing back as I did. They were still some five yards back. But they were gaining on me. The little buggers were fast. I didn¡¯t have long, and I saw a couple messages come in. Greg: He is going to aggro other mobs . . . there goes another credit. Mie: WATCH OUT SAM! I looked back up and immediately went into something like a slide tackle. A large battleaxe swung over my head, and inch from ending me. It did, however, cleave the troll immediately behind me in two. I slid to a stop between the feet of a massive shape which was . . . not a boulder. I looked up. The creature was as big as a grizzly bear, and her breasts . . . were incomprehensibly large. Each was the size of one of those exercise balls everyone has . . . but never use. Level 33 Mother Troll {Pissed} for 30 seconds HP 4900/4900 {Pissed} Description: Movement speed +25%. What. The. I didn¡¯t have a chance to comprehend¡ªlarge tears splatted onto my hair and shoulders. It¡¯s. . . crying? No. That¡¯s milk. Oh god. I started scurrying away on all fours. I scurried through the legs hoping its radial turn would be hindered. Then something crushed against my side, and I went sprawling off the path into some high grass, stars in my vision. The troll¡¯s elbow had unintentionally clocked me during her pivot, sending me up and away. My entire body broke. My neck snapped. My ribs cracked. My femur fissured. Everything in me screamed . . . but I was still here. I was still conscious. Mie: Oh my god. It¡¯s a mama troll and you killed two of her kids. YOU MONSTER. Greg: HEALTH POTION AND RUN. I mentally slammed down on my health potion and saw my critically low health jump to full. My leg bone snapped back together, blood drained from my lungs through my mouth, and my chest expelled the bolt, leaving behind unmarred skin. The pain vanished as if it was never there. The remaining adolescent and mama troll both sounded like they were confused as to where I had gone. I didn¡¯t take Greg¡¯s advice and instead I went stock-still. I hated myself for it, as it felt cowardly . . . but there was no way I was taking on a level thirty-three troll by myself. No way in hell. I got back onto my feet, staying low and quiet. The area around me was full of growth, bushes and tall grass. I remained as still as possible, peering through the thick overgrowth. The mama troll was on her knees sobbing. She held the top half of the small troll she had . . . chopped in half in her arms. She let out a bellow, and the remaining drunk troll stumbled a couple feet back, clearly still inebriated. The drunk debuff . . . they were milk drunk, I realized. The remaining adolescent troll tried to go in for some more milk. I crouched down¡ªhappy to miss that exchange¡ªand waited. After a few moments, a notification in my logs stuck out to me among the steady stream of information. Out of combat Greg: If I were him. I¡¯d log out. Sam: What? Log out? Greg: Seriously, why do I always get stuck with the worst players? Sam: NOT HELPFUL GREG! Greg: . . . Settings menu, bottom right. I looked, and sure enough, there was a little gear icon with an option to log out. I selected it and a thirty-second timer started. Not really sure what was happening, my hackles rose as I could hear the two trolls gurgling some strange speech, and I could hear one getting closer. The timer seemed to be crawling down. The grass in front of me parted slightly, and when the little guy saw me, his eyes went wide. The familiar soul transaction logs listed out as the timer finished, then I vanished. I reappeared back in the Soul Space with a little pop. I noticed that my HUD remained intact, as I could still see things like my life credit stats in my top right, party members in my top left, party feed in my bottom left, and menu options in my bottom right. There were a couple differences though. I didn¡¯t see any of my character abilities or anyway to trigger them. I was still crouched like I had been in Hearth, but my body was no longer that of a Mountain Elf, and instead it was back to being to what I thought of as my Soul Space Body. I sat down on the wood floor, extending my legs out in front of me. Greg and Mie were both looking at me, but I was so . . . very . . . tired. The air, still foul . . . smelled better than the rotten stench that hung on the trolls. I took a minute to just breathe, trying to come to terms with this reality once more. I really could have used a break from all these terrible scents. I was a smell guy . . . and if this was going to be my existence forever . . . I¡¯d rather have stayed dead. I let my back fall against the wood floor as a mix of emotions took me. Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes and hung there. It was too much. It was all . . . too fucking much. I had just done things I had never dreamed I would do. I killed people. I killed kids. The memory of the troll getting cleaved in half by its own mother hit me, and my body clenched. So much death. Some by my very own hand. I couldn¡¯t comprehend it. It felt so unreal. I felt a little baby hand flail next to my own. Mie was lying beside me, her eyes big and worried. She gripped my pinky finger in an action that seemed unintentional. She was so utterly helpless. She lay in more of her black filth. This is so . . . impossible. How the hell . . . am I supposed to keep a baby alive in a box?! I felt her emotional presence. She was sad and it was seeping into my own emotional pool. Tears started falling down my cheeks. I remembered my family. My little Lily as a three-month-old grasping both my pinkies as I made her giggle for the first time. I remembered my little two-year-old Ada doing a head bop and twirling around as some upbeat eighties jams played in the background. I remembered all of us cuddling in the dark, some nonsense movie flickering in front of us. The kids munching on some well-earned popcorn. I remembered . . . an icy road . . . blood running down the side of my head, and snowflakes hitting and melting on my hot skin . . . I shoved those memories down. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I wanted my family back. God, please. I just want my family back. A few more moments passed as I let the exhaustion set in. I cracked my eyes open, letting them adjust to the light. I needed sleep badly, but there were some things I still needed to figure out before I could succumb to the dark. I noticed a prompt in my system feed. You have 2 cubed meters of unspent space. {Spend}? I selected the option, and a build menu appeared in my interface. To the left, it showed a two-dimensional blueprint of the Soul Space from a top-down perspective. The space was about as big as I thought it was. Three meters in width, seven meters in length, and two meters in height. I was about six-foot four, so my head came close to the ceiling as I stood up. On my right, there was a bar with build options. I selected a 3D-looking box, and a holographic block appeared in front of me. As I swept my gaze over the space, the green block flickered and changed shape depending on where I was looking. If I had it in the middle of the room, it disappeared. But if I looked at a wall, it showed the additional area that would be added to my Soul Space. With an idea in mind, I went ahead and mentally confirmed two cubed meters stacked on top of each other to the left of the TV. THUD! THUD! The added space appeared out of nowhere as soon as I confirmed my choice. No animation. Nothing. Even the wood framing next to the new small room shifted instantaneously to stay . . . up to code. Huh. Your Soul Space has changed. I walked over to the new area I had created. ¡°Wonder if we could make this a bathroom . . . ¡± I said. I noticed my throat was dry, so I looked over to Greg who was sitting against the wall next to his desk. ¡°Where are we supposed to get water? And food?¡± I saw the minifridge-looking machine behind Greg¡¯s desk and pointed at it. ¡°What is that thing again? A transporter?¡± He didn¡¯t look up at me. He sat huddled against the wall and made no move to acknowledge my question. He honestly was starting to piss me off. He reminded me¡ªunfortunately¡ªof Ada when she got in a bad mood. But this was worse. Our lives were on the line here. I kept my mouth shut as I moved over to the transporter. I had to awkwardly sit on the desk to interact with it. ¡°How does this thing work?¡± Finally, Greg looked up. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you . . . for a silver.¡± I let that statement sink in. It felt like he was begging. I remembered what he¡¯d said about having been through this thousands of times, but . . . I still felt no pity for this creature. I didn¡¯t like beggars. In my mind, if someone was begging, they had given up on trying. They had given up on everything. I swept my legs back across the desk, hopped off and crouched right in front of him. I grabbed him by his fleshy shoulder in a firm grip. ¡°Look, man, all I want is to not . . . be here . . . smelling shit. Here . . . sucks ass.¡± ¡°Amen,¡± said Mie. ¡°And,¡± I continued, barely containing my anger, ¡°I want to figure out a couple things like some of the rules surrounding logout, and what this transporter thingy does. Then we can get a plan of action in place, and after that I will turn my brain off and wake up at home, in my bed, having never died.¡± I wanted that so badly to be true, but . . . I knew it wouldn¡¯t be. I was just at my wit¡¯s end. I needed a release from it all. ¡°I need you to WAKE UP AND HELP.¡± I shoved him against the wood wall lightly, and he cowered over in fear. I took a deep steadying breath . . . through my mouth. Sensing my mood, Greg went into a bunch of details surrounding the rules of logging out. It was odd how many details he started spewing out . . . as if . . . he were a scared dog. He was afraid, and I suddenly had a terrible thought. I wondered . . . if others had tortured this creature for information. I swallowed as I listened, regretting my small shove. I did glean from his explanation that you can only log out when you were out of combat. The definition of being out of combat, as far as I could tell, was not receiving any external damage for thirty seconds. There seemed to be no global limitations beyond that. Certain areas could give you buffs. For example, if you logged out from an inn, you were afforded an experience boost. There were certain areas you couldn''t log out of. But it sounded like that would be a specified rule. It didn¡¯t seem like anything I had to worry about just yet. As he finished, he started laughing and said, ¡°But none of this matters, because in the end . . . you are just worms. You are meat. You are dead.¡± My pity and regret fled in a hot flash. I . . . forced myself to turn away. This creature had lost all hope and had become an asshole. I swung my legs over the desk again and faced the transporter interface once more, doing my best to ignore his comment. I glanced back at Mie. She . . . looked uncomfortable which I could feel within our bond as well. She was hungry, and the filth was causing a bad rash across her back. . . I thought I heard her mutter under her breath. ¡°Dear mother of God, why am I alive?¡± I couldn¡¯t blame her. In fact. I had no real understanding for how she perceived the world . . . if she just had my memories to go off of . . . then . . . she was having a real bad time. The transporter interface, to my surprise, was pretty simple, which made Greg¡¯s play for a silver all the more annoying to me. It reminded me of any online store. A list of purchasable items appeared. There was even an option that said, ¡®Buy now!¡¯ next to each item. That seemed dangerous, and for the first time I was glad Mie was a baby. If she had access to this thing . . . I had the feeling she was a spender . . . and that would make two of us. Never a good combination in a partnership. Every item had a price listed. There were convenient tabs and buttons for filtering and sorting, but . . . I just used the search box. I knew what we needed. I searched ¡®toilet¡¯ and selected one called a ¡®basic ass toilet¡¯ which cost fifty coppers. After I confirmed my purchase, one of my silvers disappeared, and fifty copper coins appeared in my inventory. I was also awarded with the same build interface as before. The toilet turned transparent and was the color red in areas it couldn¡¯t be placed; it turned green in areas I could place it. I went ahead and placed it in the small room and heard a loud THUD behind me. I bought a simple door next and was happy to see it magically fit. That was damn useful. Doors were a pain in the ass to install on Earth. No shims, or frame, or measuring, or leveling, or screws, or anything . . . just bam. It was there. Huh. I guess there are perks to being dead. The transporter options for what we could buy were endless. There were various paper goods like . . . notebooks, binders, pencils . . . What is this, Staples? Toiletries, food, beverages, and even furniture. The options went on and on all oriented toward humans. I saw infant-sized diapers and added those to my cart. They cost me fifteen coppers for a pack of twenty. Not bad. The diapers gave me another thought, so I typed in a few more words and added more things to my cart. I checked out. You received {Pack of Wipes} x2 You received {Pack of Infant Diapers} x2 You received {Baby Bottle} You received {64oz can of Infant Formula} You received {Plastic Bottle of Water} Small stuff like this I found appeared within the transporter. The baby bottle and the water hadn¡¯t cost much. But the formula. That stuff wasn¡¯t cheap, and it clocked in at five silvers a pop. I had bought some wipes to clean us up . . . specifically Mie. After she was clean, I gathered her into my arms and fed her. It was a natural thing for me, as I used to feed both my kids in a similar way. I savored the moment. It was the first normal thing I had done since my world went to shit and I had to admit I enjoyed it. She drank it despite it being room temperature, and she let out a little sigh of relief after she finished the feed. I walked back over to the transporter. I couldn¡¯t see anything else I could do with the thing other than shop, so I bought a few more essentials like clothes for Mie, myself . . . and Greg. I bought a handful of air fresheners and then typed in the word ¡®trash.¡¯ A few basic cans popped up, but one in particular stood out to me. There was an item listed at two gold called a Void Dispenser. I looked at the corners of the room again. We need this. I had a thought. Or maybe not. I went over to the toilet and tried it out. It worked like a normal toilet would. Water came in from the tank and flushed downward in the bowl. I inspected the tank. Basic Ass Water Source. Description: Replenishes water up to 10000 cycles. No water pipes . . . just that description. Huh. The water disappeared out the bottom though, so I inspected the bowl. Basic Ass Void Disposal Description: Flushes contents into the void. Then I uhh . . . ripped a diaper in half and flushed it. The toilet immediately got clogged. Damnit. But after purchasing a plunger and going to town . . . it flushed. That will work. I purchased a pair of scissors, and handed those and the plunger to Greg. ¡°When I wake up. All this shit,¡± I motioned at the torn-up clothes and other garbage around the room, ¡°better be gone.¡± I was tired and didn¡¯t hold back. It smelled awful here, and I was over it. His eyes went wide, but he nodded and got to work. I was glad when he did too. I hadn¡¯t been sure I¡¯d be able to motivate him. But in my opinion, work was good for the soul. Maybe it would help him shake whatever the hell was wrong with him. Wanting to try one more thing with the transporter, I typed in the word ¡®bourbon¡¯ and . . . I turned away from the interface. Stuff was listed in gold too. I didn¡¯t have that kind of coin. I glanced at Greg¡¯s desk and noticed a book. I looked closer at it. A little info box appeared next to it. Hearth Manual Version 102.908.001 Sighing, I went back over to the transporter and searched for beer. A can showed up called an Earth Lager . . . but the system . . . it had me by the balls. Right below the can, was a sixty-four-ounce growler of the same stuff. It was listed at two silvers. I bought it, and a little stack of plastic red solo cups as well. I grabbed the manual, found a clear spot Greg had already moved some trash away from, and leaned against the wall the manual resting against my knees. I poured myself a frothy cup full of the lager and drained half of it in one go. It was the best drink of beer I had ever had in my life. I rested my head back for a moment and let the alcohol seep into my blood stream. The manual was extensive, and unfortunately had no search functionality. It required that I actually flip it open and read it. A quote from the second movie of the Back to The Future series ran through my mind. ¡®You have to use your hands?¡¯ I sighed as I opened it. I found a table of contents and fingered my way down the page and found a section called ¡®Potions.¡¯ It was short, only listing three. But there were countless empty pages beyond those three, and I figured there was some sort of level barrier or other mechanic around revealing more. I ignored that for the moment and read through what was there. Weak Health Potion Description: Restores 100 health. Materials: 1 Weak Heart Berry, 1 Unfiltered Water Required Profession: Brewing, Cooking, Mixology, etc. Weak Stamina Potion Description: Restores 100 stamina. Materials: 1 Weak Sugar Berry, 1 Unfiltered Water Required Profession: Brewing, Cooking, Mixology, etc. Weak Mana Potion Description: Restores 100 mana. Materials: 1 Weak Bard Berry, 1 Unfiltered Water Required Profession: Brewing, Cooking, Mixology, etc. This, I realized, is useful. I scanned the potions again, reading their requirements. The ¡®etc.¡¯ under the ¡®Required Profession¡¯ section stood out to me, and I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if that list would grow, or if there was something else that I was missing. There was an overview for the section as well. There, the manual talked at length around potion use. There were two timers associated with potions per potion type. One displayed¡ªwhich I thought of as a cooldown¡ªand one not, which I thought of a system timer. The one displayed was pretty clear. If it was active, I couldn¡¯t use that potion type . . . even if I wanted to. It acted like any of my other ability cooldowns. However, every time a potion was used, the system tracked that usage with an internal timer. I read the section again. It didn¡¯t say anything about the length on that hidden timer. So, basically, if I used a potion of the same type before that internal timer ran out, it would double the displayed cooldown for that potion type. So, it would go from one-and-a-half minutes, to three minutes, to six minutes, and so on unless I waited long enough for that internal timer to expire. My head hurt. I flipped through a few more pages at random. There was a short section on battle arts that clarified that I would not be able to equip other types of weapons on Hearth even if I wanted to. The only weapons I could currently equip were those that were considered the spear type. It mentioned nothing about how to get additional battle arts. As I flipped through the manual, the TV suddenly flicked on. I stopped my perusing as an eerily familiar view appeared in front of me. Garbage littered the small shipment-container-sized room. A creature with elephant-like ears stood behind a desk, his palms pressed into his eyes. A piano melody started up. It was a song from Earth, and I recognized it as one of those late nineties or early two thousands rock band songs. ¡°In the end . . . it doesn¡¯t even matter.¡± A young woman appeared in the center of the room with a pop. Her Soul Space was about the same size as my own. She was pleading. . . ¡°Please no! I picked the wrong race! Please don¡¯t! I picked the wrong RACE! GIVE ME ANOTHER¡ª¡± SLAM! It happened so fast. Her body . . . flattened . . . as if a giant invisible boot had just slammed down on top of a beer can. Our view into her room was spattered with flecks of blood and I stared in horror at her pancaked corpse. ¡°Greg. What . . . was . . . that?¡± I asked. But I knew. I knew. I looked over to him. He was paused outside of the bathroom watching, our reactions. He wore a sad grimace on his face. He looked like he pitied us. The hell? I saw the players remaining count in my top right tick down by one. Players Remaining: 999,999 ¡°She . . . ran out of life credits.¡± He answered as we watched her guide calmly walk toward the transporter, keeping his back to the camera. A hole appeared on the top of the space as if it was on the roof. Then it appeared to . . . vacuum. A loud suction sound started up, and the guides clothes started whipping in a flurry. His massive elephant ears flapped toward the hole like how a dog¡¯s would outside a car window. Then it was over. The body was gone, the garbage was gone. Everything in the room was gone aside from the guide. There wasn¡¯t even a desk. The feed shut off. That woman . . . was just squished . . . then, as Greg put it . . . effed . . . The TV flicked back on, this time showing a young man who was on his knees pleading. The music started up again, blaring through the TV¡¯s speakers. ¡°Is there an off switch to this thing?¡± I asked, my tone dark. I couldn¡¯t do it. I needed to turn my brain off. I was at my limit. Greg nodded and pressed a little button on the side of the TV just as another SLAM! sounded. I went back over to Mie after downing a second¡ªand third¡ªcup of Earth Lager. She had passed out on a few extra shirts I had bought, looking, for the first time, comfortable. I watched her breathe. Greg continued plunging dirty rags and other bits of trash out of the space through the toilet disposal. I laid near Mie, but not too close, afraid I might roll on top of her. I closed my eyes, letting the perpetual sound of flushing and plunging ease my anxiety. My thoughts drifted through the past and landed on a memory of Ada. She was five, and she was laughing as I pushed her on a park swing. Her hair flew behind her as I pushed her knees, and she would laugh when I pretended to get hit by her feet. Her giggles echoed through my mind. The chain of her swing was squeaky and needed oil. Push. SQUEAK. Push. SQUEAK. Plunge. FLUSH. Plunge. FLUSH. All went black. Chapter 8 Chapter 8 After waking up three times to feed Mie, I couldn¡¯t sleep anymore. My back was aching. I had barely moved as I slept, trying to not startle Mie, who now snoozed against my chest. Greg was lying down curled up in a ball under his desk and broke the silence every so often with a large croaky snore. I stared up at the ceiling and checked a few readouts. Players Remaining: 468,564 Life Credits: 4 I thought about the woman who had been slaughtered before my eyes last night. Then I thought about that happening half a million more times over the last nine hours. I couldn¡¯t comprehend it. I felt for those who hadn¡¯t made it. Fighting through the night, dying . . . over and over only to get smashed and sucked up into the void . . . Mie let out a little sigh. She was so small. Her warmth reminded me about how easily that could have been us. We had been the lucky ones. I saw a familiar profile-looking icon to my bottom right, selected it, and was awarded with an informational view of my Hearth character¡¯s stats. I noticed that it was only showing the stats that seemed to apply to me, which included things like agility, strength, constitution, endurance, and other physical based stats. There were so many, and it felt like they overlapped. I didn¡¯t understand the difference, for example, between strength and toughness, or flexibility and agility. There was a little collapsed arrow, and I opened it. Here there were additional stats all listing zero. A few things caught my eye including intelligence, wisdom, and luck. It was vast, and I felt small and clueless. What do they all really mean? I knew some stuff about these stats, but it was way more expansive than anything I had ever played. I had so much to learn. I made a mental note to check the manual. Not wanting to disturb Mie, I looked at my inventory and took stock. When I pulled it open . . . I could have sworn I saw a completely different set of items . . . but the next instant I was looking at my own items again. That was odd. I shook my head and focused on what I had. I had twenty-two waters, twenty-three loafs¡ªI had scarfed one of those down in the middle of the night between feedings¡ªa solid amount of silver remaining, and another weak health potion left. As I was analyzing my inventory, I noticed another tab I hadn¡¯t seen before. It was labeled ¡®Soul Inventory.¡¯ Curious, I selected it, and I saw a single item. {Mie, Soul Seed} Celestial Item, Unique Item Soulbound In use It had no other description, which was irrationally irritating. I tried to move it to my character inventory by mentally clicking on it and dragging it but got an error about it being in use. Then I tried to pop it into my hand and got the exact same error. As an experiment, I dragged a water from my characters inventory over to the soul inventory. It popped into midair at our spawn point next to me and started falling. The container looked to be made of a very thin plastic . . . like a water balloon. Oops. The water container burst as it hit the floor next to Mie. Cold water splashed over her in a rush. Some hit my bare feet. ¡°WHAT THE BUTT?! Sam!¡± she yelled. Her baby arms and legs jerked wide in a startled motion. ¡°Ah! My bad!¡± I said. I grabbed a spare shirt and picked her up with it. The water seeped into the shirt. ¡°That was one hundred percent my bad.¡± ¡°What. The. Hell,¡± she said, still looking confused. I could feel the spike of panic slowly retracting from her gut as well as my own. It was odd, feeling that twice over. ¡°Why did you do that?¡± she asked. ¡°It was an accident. Here. I figured something out, I think.¡± I set her down, got up, and did it again. I dragged the unit of unfiltered water over to my soul inventory. This time ready to catch it. I let go on the virtual water icon . . . and again, the water balloon appeared right where we spawned in . . . I tried to catch it . . . but missed. It splashed everywhere . . . again. I slowly looked down at Mie, who was soaked once more. ¡°Okay, I uhh . . . know what this looks like,¡± I said. She didn¡¯t say anything for a long moment. Then she said, ¡°You ass.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°I promise you I am not trolling right now. It was unintentional!¡± I performed the action one more time, this time judging correctly and catching the balloon sack. ¡°See? We can bring items from our characters¡¯ inventories into our Soul Space!¡± She gave me a flat look. ¡°Wow. So cool.¡± The way she said it . . . made me feel nervous. ¡°My friend . . . you have no idea what you just started. This is officially war.¡± I was about to reply when Greg jumped into the conversation with a satisfied sigh. ¡°Ahhhhhh, the good old Soul Inventory shenanigans.¡± ¡°Yeah exactly, it¡ª¡± I said, but Mie cut me off. ¡°Don¡¯t talk.¡± ¡°I uhh¡ª¡± ¡°Trust me. Don¡¯t. Talk. Greg, what is a Soul Inventory?¡± I had mistaken the icy feeling coming from her as an ambient temperature change. It was not. And now . . . it was turning into a simmering lake of fire. I . . . kept quiet. ¡°Ugh,¡± Greg said, looking exhausted. Once again, I couldn¡¯t help but feel how unwilling he seemed to give us information. After another long exhale and closing his eyes, he said, ¡°The main thing to understand is that your Soul Space and inventory are the same thing. You can access Hearth compatible items while you are in Hearth. Meaning . . . you can store items here for safe keeping so that if you die in Hearth, you wouldn¡¯t lose anything that is here. The one caveat is there is a time delay for items. Thirty seconds to both send or retrieve while you are in Hearth.¡± I looked at Mie. Her eyes were still narrowed at me. She was . . . soaked. I sopped some of the water up with another spare shirt. The balloon-like water sacks did have a little stopper, so I poured myself some water into a new solo cup. As I did, another question formulated in my mind, and I was about to ask Greg when Tittles once again appeared on the TV. He looked a touch disheveled. Like he had just woken up. He sighed, ¡°Okay, Jeff. Fine. Okay okay okay. Just . . . go away.¡± He took a deep breath, then focused on the camera in front of him and with great effort said, ¡°Hello again! Congratulations to all who have survived so far. As you have probably noticed, over half a million people have been . . . disposed. But you are still here! Well done! Now that the entry events are finally complete¡ªwe had a couple go longer than anticipated¡ªI have a few things to cover. First, with the completion of the entry events, we will be picking the game mode for this instance of Hearth!¡± He pulled out a small leather-looking cup. It looked like what you might find in a backgammon set. ¡°The game mode will be . . .¡± He dropped two dice that looked to be ten-sided inside of the cup. Then he placed his hand over the opening, shook, then slammed the cup face down onto the desk in front of him, peering at the dice results. ¡°Let¡¯s see, that¡¯s a nine and an eight. Ninety-eight, so . . . the mode will be . . .¡± His finger ran down a piece of paper next to him and paused near the bottom. ¡°Last Party Standing! Ah shit.¡± He shook his head and let out a sad laugh. ¡°I can confirm, that is indeed unfortunate.¡± His pity laugh, which felt a lot like he was trying to say, ¡®wow, sucks to be you guys,¡¯ trailed off. He cleared his throat and kept talking. ¡°Somewhat self-explanatory, but Last Party Standing means that the last remaining party will be considered the winner of this instance. Any person who is part of the last remaining party will be considered the winner. Parties are limited to . . .¡± He rolled a single dice and looked at its result. ¡°That¡¯s a four, so . . . four players. And lastly Jeff . . . wants a quick turn around on this one . . . so, expect high experience gains and a high incidence of events. Your guides should know more there. I¡¯ll be back with more details for what happens in phase two once the experience threshold has been reached.¡± Phase . . . two? I didn¡¯t even understand what phase one was yet. Something else caught my attention. They kept using technology terms like ¡®instances,¡¯ ¡®servers,¡¯ and ¡®mechanics¡¯ as if this was more virtual than anything else. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was a way to explain how the universe worked or if there was something more there. I tabled the thought as Tittles kept talking. I didn¡¯t want to miss any details. ¡°As for all the various rules of the realm, please refer to your guide and your Hearth Manual as you progress.¡± His eyes focused on something off camera, and he cocked his head slightly as if he was listening to someone. As he listened, his face turned a light shade of pink, then red, then blue. Abruptly he stood up. ¡°YOU KNOW WHAT, JEFF¡ª¡± The feed cut off. ¡°What . . . the hell? Who are these goons?¡± I asked Greg. I glanced down at my hands. They had crushed the red solo cup. The woman pleading over the TV flashed through my mind. I let out a breath I didn¡¯t know I was holding. Greg blew out another heavy sigh. ¡°I dunno, they are different every time. I will say, this time around has been slightly less . . . professional than normal. But it¡¯s always a different Game Master, and they never talk about anything that isn¡¯t Hearth related.¡± ¡°What other . . . kinds of modes have you seen?¡± Greg looked uncomfortable. ¡°What?¡± I asked. He continued hesitantly, ¡°I think almost all of them. Never have seen a fifty-seven though, oddly. But honestly . . . they are all basically the same. Some sort of fight to the last man or party. Sometimes it¡¯s tournament style, sometimes it¡¯s faction based, sometimes it¡¯s free for all to the max. My tenants . . . don¡¯t usually last long though.¡± He stared off past us as if he was lost in memories. ¡°Yeah, well, we¡¯re not them. We need a plan,¡± I said, my rage just under the surface. I wasn¡¯t blind to my anger. Or what it meant. I was just typically one to shove it away; I understood its blinding potential. We need to think about this logically. We need to figure a way out of this. But my thoughts kept going in circles. There was no way out, and despite my brave comment I couldn¡¯t help but feel we didn¡¯t have enough information. It felt like were being herded around like cattle. In other words, it felt like we were absolutely . . . and utterly . . . fucked. And it didn¡¯t help that Greg only ever gave information if pressed. ¡°Sam,¡± Mie said quietly. I looked down at her. Her expression was soft as she spoke. ¡°We¡¯ll figure it out. We¡¯re in this together, and as useless as Greg is¡ª¡± ¡°He really is useless, isn¡¯t he?¡± I said, the red haze retreating from the corners of my eyes. ¡°He is,¡± Mie said. ¡°I¡¯m literally . . . right here,¡± Greg said, looking confused. Mie continued, ignoring him, ¡°As useless as he is . . . we have a head start. We have a party of two. Everyone else out there . . . has no one to trust. But we have each other. We have a chance.¡± Her eyes were glistening, and I could feel her stubborn determination, and more deeply, her fear. It felt horrible. Like a black venomous poison. Like she was nauseous. I bent down and picked her up, holding her close. The weight of her small fragile body cleared my mind, and I was glad to see she wasn¡¯t still pissed at me. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said, ¡°but we still need a plan.¡± Greg cut in. ¡°I¡¯m confused. Why are you guys shafting me?¡± We ignored him. Chapter 9 Chapter 9 I found the option to log back into Hearth after selecting the gear icon in the bottom right of my vision. I pondered briefly just staying in the Soul Space where it was safe. We had a few silvers left, and it seemed like the food and water we could purchase with the transporter interface was decently cheap. If we wanted, we could stay there for quite some time before venturing back into Hearth. But I knew it wasn¡¯t the right call. Every minute we spent in the Soul Space was another minute someone else was working to grow in strength. Every minute here was a minute lost. A little over half a day was plenty of time to recover, and while I had gotten used to the reeking air, I was ready to get out of the tight confines. Greg had gotten a good amount of the garbage cleaned up and out of the space . . . and the air fresheners had canceled out some of the stench . . . some. But in any case, Mie was still level one. I was only level two. We needed to get back out there and continue to level. The plan was to meet Mie where she logged back in. Since she had died in the entry event, she wouldn¡¯t appear next to me. I¡¯d confirmed with Greg that I¡¯d spawn back in right where I¡¯d logged out. I reappeared in the overgrown grass, and the perfect temperature enveloped me. It couldn¡¯t have been north of sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. It was mid-morning, and the sun was on its way up. It shone down on my pale elf face. I took a deep breath, enjoying the contrast from the Soul Space. The troll had launched me four yards away from the path leading north to The Notch. I glanced around, staying low, not quite believing what Greg said after I had pressed him. His voice was still fresh in my mind. ¡®The trolls won¡¯t still be there. They are night creatures who despise the daylight. As a good rule of thumb, traveling by night is a bad idea. Spawn rates are much higher, and the mobs¡¯ pathing is more random.¡¯ I took a few steps back through the grass, guiding it away from me as I pushed forward back onto the dirt path. I relaxed slightly when nothing immediately tried to kill me. I noticed another inky black line of The Black Domain crossing the path in front of me. It trickled through the grass and onto the path from the east, and continued to travel off to the west and into the distance. The stuff gave me the creeps. I stepped over it carefully, making sure to not touch it. I headed down the path, crunching some dead grass as I went. After talking to Greg . . . unfortunately, more¡ªokay I will admit, he was our one good source of information, even if it was like pulling nails to get anything out of him¡ªbut anyways, after asking him more questions . . . I was beginning to get a basic understanding of how this reality worked. Our souls and the Soul Space resided in their own unique¡ªfor lack of a better term¡ªreality. We were afforded what they called ¡®player¡¯ or ¡®character¡¯ bodies. The two terms seemed interchangeable, but I still wasn¡¯t sure. Our souls, I thought, were transported into this Hearth character body when we logged in. But it was still unclear what happened to our bodies back in the Soul Space while we were logged into Hearth. Were they still there? Greg had hesitated before he shook his head. Mie confirmed that my body hadn¡¯t been visible at least when she had returned to the Soul Space early . . . but she wasn¡¯t convinced they weren¡¯t still there. I wasn¡¯t sure either, and now that my consciousness was back on Hearth . . . I did have the vague sense of my Soul Space body being thirsty. But it was a muted sensation. It reminded me of seeing the options text and the inside of the Soul Space at the same time. So . . . where exactly was I? I didn¡¯t really like the idea that my soul could be somewhere I wasn¡¯t conscious. I wondered if our Hearth bodies could travel to our Soul Space. I knew the inventory items could, so it didn¡¯t seem like a far stretch. I had no good reason for needing it to, I just wondered if we could travel to other realities? Who or what was transferring my soul and or conscious all over the place? I had so many damn questions. But all paled in comparison to the big one: Could I travel back to Earth somehow? My experience on Earth made that seem unlikely. When someone died on Earth . . . they were gone. For good. I let my questions and frustration continue to build as I drank in my surroundings. My feet continued on the path until I saw a cluster of small buildings in the distance ahead of me. As I got closer and I reached the edge of some farm fields, massive bold white words filled my vision. THE NOTCH Tier: Village I pulled up my map. It showed the boundary of the area, but it remained covered in black. I continued down the dirt path as it transitioned from crispy grass to a more well-traveled hard clay. I caught sight of some white nameplates. A few farmer NPCs were out and about, working the fields and going about their daily tasks. I assumed white meant neutral, but I wasn¡¯t sure, and no one stopped me as I walked. One even gave me a friendly wave. I uhh, waved back. I noticed an oddly timed message in my local feed come out of nowhere. EVENT: Resist Black Queen Recruitment Rank: Uncommon Your party discovered an event Party led by AnythingButSquished joined event What the hell? All I had done was cross into the village boundary. That constituted an Uncommon event? I looked back up toward the village, which was still at least a few hundred meters away, and that was when I realized it hadn¡¯t been me. A tall, golden-skinned player was sprinting toward me along the dirt path . . . and close behind her followed three heavily armored guards. ¡°Oh . . . fuck.¡± Sam: What did you do?! Mie: I JUST CLICKED RESIST! THEY LOOKED MEAN! As they neared, more detail came into view. The guards wore black plated armor with enclosed helmets that had slits for their mouths and eyes. The plate was covered in thick scratches or maybe cracks that I could see at a distance. The guards themselves seemed tall and thin, but still looked very much humanoid. One carried a sword and had a nice long black cloak, and two carried spears. I inspected their group as a whole. Recruited Spearman Guard x2 Level 10, Landorian Recruited Swordsman Guard Level 10, Landorian I debated logging out right then and there. Three level ten guards?! This . . . was not doable. But a thirty-second logout process was a long time, and I knew it wouldn¡¯t be enough as Mie closed the distance between us. And even if it was enough time for me . . . I would be abandoning Mie, and if she died . . . it was still my life credits at stake. Ugh. So, I stood my ground, trying to think. My stomach clenched as frustration flooded through me. We were level one and two. This wasn¡¯t a fair fight at all. I watched Mie run from them. She was barely staying ahead, and they were slowly closing the distance. When she¡¯d come close, she popped a round glass bottle filled with something green into her hand. She thrust it against my chest as she passed and puffed ¡°here!¡± as she did. I inspected it, and a little info box appeared next to it. Weak Stamina Potion Description: Restores 100 stamina. Mie . . . kept running. I looked down at the green bottle, then back up at the guards, turned, and sprinted after her in a panic, storing the potion in my inventory as I went. To my surprise, I easily caught up to her. She was huffing out, ¡°Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. We¡¯re dead.¡± My Endurance or Agility or . . . whatever must have been higher than hers. I had to slow down to stay in step with her. My speed gave me an idea. ¡°What the hell happened?!¡± I asked again. ¡°I DON¡¯T KNOW! I was just grabbing some supplies¡ª¡± She cut off as we both noticed the same thing in front of us. A dwarf with a flaming orange beard was suddenly sprinting past toward the guards. He had appeared out of thin air. Did he just log in? He was bare chested and still in the starter gear, just like us. Right before he passed us, a green spell came out of his starter staff. Both the dwarf and the green spell rushed past us, moving in the direction of the guards. As they moved, I thought I heard dice rolling on a wooden table. That didn¡¯t make any sense. I shook my head. I stopped running and turned to warn the dwarf of the danger he was about to run into, but . . . he was gone. ¡°What the hell was that?!¡± Mie said, also stopping. I watched the green spell hit a small rock on the side of the path. The stone rolled in front of the first guard, who wielded a sword. His foot caught the rock, and he tripped and rolled. The second guard . . . tripped over the first, and the next part was one of the craziest accidents I had ever seen in my life. And again . . . as a firefighter . . . I had seen some wild shit. The second guard fell on top of the other¡¯s sword and . . . impaled himself with a sickening crunch. It went right through his stomach and out the other side. His health bar dropped a crazy ninety percent. ¡°Hoooooly fuck!¡± I said as the armored men rolled to a stop a dozen meters away. The first guard stood back up and pulled his sword out of his buddy in shock. As it came out of him, it made a wet-sounding squelch. The third guard, who was lagging, reached the sword-wielding guard, and as he did . . . I made a split-second decision. Mie couldn¡¯t outrun these guys forever. She was too slow. I however . . . could. And maybe if this divine orange haired dwarf was part of the event . . .? You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. I activated my Vaulting Strike ability, landing amongst them and driving my spear into the armpit of the low health guard. I gripped my spear¡ªand my butt cheeks¡ªhard, praying the other two behind me wouldn¡¯t get in a hit. I quickly activated Sweeping Strike on them. I said, ¡°Thank you, Jesus!¡± when they both went down with the rooted debuff. That gave me five seconds as I backpedaled and got out of range of the two rooted guards. Mie was screaming, ¡°WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!¡± from behind me, and I could very much feel her panic in our shared connection. I ignored her. My stamina was now super low, but I used every last one of those five seconds. I used my Basic Attack on the critically low guard, avoiding a weak spear thrust from him as I did. My spear was barely able to pierce into his flesh, and my damage seemed pitiful even though I was planting it into a crack of the breast plate. But he was low enough that my third Basic Attack after my initial Vaulting Strike finished him. His body flickered green, and I clicked ¡®Loot All¡¯ as fast as I could when inspecting his corpse. I didn¡¯t have time to look at what I got as I frantically turned toward Mie to start heading her direction. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the remaining spear-wielding guard, just out of reach. He tossed his weapon into a throwing position and whipped it in my direction. I couldn¡¯t react fast enough. The spear . . . went through my god damned chest, and my health dropped down an incredible eighty five percent. Pain slammed into me, and I gritted my teeth. I let out a silent shout as blood once again spilled into my lungs and out of my body. But . . . I had a thought, and immediately acted on it. I mentally stored the spear that was in my chest into my inventory. It vanished, and I slammed on my last health potion from the beginner¡¯s chest. The pain vanished as the hole in my chest sealed shut. While this was happening, I had been scrambling as fast as I could toward Mie, who was now moving away . . . like a slow ass . . . turtle. I shouted ¡°RUN!¡± when I¡¯d almost reached her. ¡°I AM! I¡¯M JUST MASSIVE!¡± she shouted back. I looked behind and saw the rooted debuff finally wear off the two remaining guards. They slowly started to catch us once more now that I was running at Mie¡¯s pace. I scanned my logs as we went and watched my stamina fill back up at an incredibly slow rate. You killed Recruited Spearman Guard! You received 100 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached Level 4! You unlocked the ability {Spear Throw} Active Ability: {Spear Throw} Description: You throw your spear a short distance, causing a 50% increase in base damage on successful hits. Maximum distance: 15 feet Cost: 30 stamina. This scales with player level. Cast Time: 1.5 seconds Cooldown: 1 second You received {Silver Coin} x2 You received {Copper Coin} x65 You received {Sturdy Spear} You received {Gauntlets of The Black Domain} You received {Sturdy Spear} I registered briefly that I had looted the dead guard¡¯s spear, in addition to the one that had impaled me. ¡°I got two new abilities! I leveled twice!¡± Mie said excitedly. We had a few moments before the guards would catch us. If we couldn¡¯t pull off something . . . we were dead. I needed to know all of our options. ¡°What are they?!¡± The sword-wielding guard just a couple meters behind us now. I noticed the other guard had pulled a dagger now that I had his spear. ¡°Here! Check the party feed!¡± I did. She had somehow shared her abilities there. I made a mental note to ask her how she did it. Active Ability: {Flash Heal} Description: You heal yourself or an ally for an amount based primarily on your Wisdom and Intelligence. Maximum distance: 50 feet. Cost: 35 mana. This scales with player level. Cast Time: Instant Cooldown: 5 seconds Active Ability: {Skin Hardening} Description: Physical damage reduced by 50% for 3 seconds. Cast Time: Instant Cost: 40 mana. This scales with player level. Cooldown: 30 seconds My mind worked. If I could grab aggro . . . ¡°Okay, Mie, you can¡¯t outrun these guys, but I can. If I can keep their attention, just heal me when my health drops okay? Stay at a distance! If we keep running, we are going to attract other mobs.¡± Greg: Oh wow. A player who actually listened to something I said. Sam: Shut the hell up Greg. Mie: STOP MOLESTING OUR SOUL SPACE BODIES GREG. Greg: :face-palm emoji: . . . for the last time. They are not here. I stopped running, my stamina restored enough for a vault and a sweep again. ¡°Sam. THEY ARE LEVEL TEN!¡± Mie said with exasperation in her voice as she slowed to a jog as well. I heard her. But it didn¡¯t matter. She couldn¡¯t outrun them. We had to try. I . . . had to try. No more letting life . . . just have me. I clenched my teeth as that feeling of red-hot liquid poured throughout my entire being once more. I popped my Broken Spear into my hand. I activated Spear Throw, and my body went into a throwing stance. I maneuvered the spear over my shoulder and hurled it toward the sword-wielding guard. It pierced him through the thin slit on the face of his helm, and I was surprised to see a yellow number float up and his health drop by a solid thirty percent. He dropped his sword and clawed at the spear in his face . . . but he was still moving forward at a dead sprint and crashed right into me. WHAM! I was flattened onto my back, and the air was knocked out of me. The guard was now on top of me, I grabbed the spear sticking out of his face, twisted, and yanked it out. Then I activated Sweeping Strike as the other guard approached. On my back, the ability''s radius seemed limited, but it worked . . . sort of. The guard got the rooted debuff, and the transparent chains appeared. He stumbled, but he stayed on his feet. Even though he was unable to move, I was still in his range. He planted his dagger into my thigh, pulled it out, and prepared to do so again. My health dropped by two thirds. Another hit, and I would be dead. ¡°GAH!¡± I roared. I activated Vaulting Strike, targeting the guard on top of me. I had never used it on a target this close and thanked the heavens when my body seemed to know what to do. The ability didn¡¯t seem to care where I was or what position I was in. My hand took the guard on top of me by the throat, and with unnatural strength, I pushed upward and got to my feet. Then, just like always, I jumped up. This time though, I had a dangling body along for the ride, held in an iron grip. While I jumped up, the swordsman''s cloak flapped in the wind, and I caught sight of a gold light flashing through me. My health spiked back up to eighty percent. That must be Mie¡¯s Flash Heal. The rooted guard recovered just enough to throw his dagger at me. It punctured between my ribs. My health dropped to under ten percent, and my vision strobed. We were at the peak of my vault, and like always, I darted downward at an angle. I bellowed as we impacted. The spear in my right-hand thrusting forward. The guard in my grip smashed into the earth, quickly followed by my spear into the same face slit as before. Another yellow number floated up, and another solid thirty-five percent fell away from his bar. I was getting lucky with crits. I left that spear in the original-sword-wielding guard¡¯s face as he tried to remove it and popped one of the other spears out of my inventory. I slammed on the stamina potion Mie had given me, and activated Spear Throw just as the dagger-throwing guard rushed over to us. The spear stuck into his upper thigh in one of the large cracks in his damaged armor. It knocked off fifteen percent of his health. He stumbled, but quickly pulled the spear out and brandished it. ¡°Oh . . . right. Fuck,¡± I said. I had just given him a weapon. A glint of metal caught my eye. I picked up the sword on the ground and attempted to slice the head off the guard still pulling at the spear in his face . . . but the weapon didn¡¯t have any sort of impact. It felt like my grip lost all its strength. The sword hit the guard¡¯s neck, but came flying out of my hand, which was now too weak to keep its grip. Right. I don¡¯t have the Battle Art. What kind of dumb game¡ª The sword guard pulled out the spear in his face, picked up the sword, and looked at me questioningly. God damn it. I had just given them both their weapons back. So, I did the only thing that made any sense. I ran. Another Flash Heal fell over me. This time I had a split second to appreciate the circular pane of golden glass as it fell through me from above. It brought me back up to fifty percent health. Mie: :shock emoji: I didn¡¯t know we could use emojis! :wave emoji: :poop emoji: :plugs-nose emoji: Mie: Oh cool. They have new ones! Mie: Oh. Whoa . . . :sex emoji: :sex emoji: :sex emoji: Greg: What have I done. Mie: Greg is a :butt emoji: :hole emoji: Ignoring that . . . I continued running in a large circle, Mie at its center. I ran over dirt, corn stalks, and over little rocks that dug into my feet. I really needed my boots. Mie continued to heal, until I was back to full. The guards continued to follow but were unable to catch me in their heavy plate armor. They also thankfully ignored Mie, which told me that Threat was definitely a mechanic in this game. Still, I kept them close¡ªstaying just ahead, nervous they would turn on her. The sword-wielding guard had a third of his health remaining. The spear-wielding guard was barely touched at eighty-five health remaining. I had a single spear, no armor, and no potions. But I had speed. So, I used it. The rest of the fight lasted a good thirty minutes as a pattern emerged. I would stay out of reach, until I was back to full health and stamina, then vault in and sweep. Most of the time I would take a terrible blow, but never enough to slow me down as I turned and began running once more. After a couple iterations of that strategy, the sword guard went down. With one guard left, the number of hits I took dropped, but it still took another five or so iterations to defeat him¡ªMie healing me between engagements. If this had been a video game encounter, I would have been bored as hell, but I was exhausted, sweating, and constantly clenching my entire body as I took agonizing blows. Because of this, each time one of my Spear Throws missed it felt like a mental punch from God himself, and I would let out a little growl. The timing didn¡¯t quite work for Mie¡¯s mana to regenerate, but I saw her mana spike back up as she downed a mana potion. When the last guard was a couple hits from being dead, I made the mistake of thinking we had it in the bag. When I vaulted and did a sweep, he managed to land a gut-wrenching blow to my midsection. Then he flipped the spear over and whipped it forward. It buried itself into my thigh. I shouted in pain and surprise. That attack put my health in the single digits. My blood drained from my face, and as I stumbled away, I saw the guard raising his secondary weapon¡ªthe dagger¡ªfor a throw. This time, I was dead for sure. Mie dove in front of me, and the dagger pinned itself into her collarbone region. She cursed a long stream of profanity. I thought I heard my name mixed in there a couple times. For the second time, she¡¯d saved us. After that, the guard had no weapons. He continued toward us, his fists raised. Mie healed us up, using the remnants of her mana, and I vaulted in once more, finally putting him down . . . but not before he clocked me across the face. ¡°Gah!¡± Really? I hate this place. I let out a massive exhale and looked over at Mie. Her face was in a wide-eyed state of disbelief. Blood covered her chest and sports bra. I¡¯m sure I was also covered in red. Jesus Christ. We survived. With the help of some half-naked, divine, orange-bearded. . . dwarf . . . but still. We had survived three level ten mobs. And that wasn¡¯t even the best part. The best part . . . was the loot. Chapter 10 Chapter 10 I was on my back just breathing and sweating. My sweat trickled across dry dirt and blood, creating little runways of gross stickiness. I was exhausted, and it wasn¡¯t even midday. While my body and mind had both grown tired during the fight, it hadn¡¯t seemed to change the fact that I was able to run at a specific speed or move my body as if it was fresh as the battle progressed. In fact, now that I thought on it, there was no change in my physical abilities from the start of the battle to the end of the battle. But that didn¡¯t stop my body from feeling like it had just gone down a garbage disposal, or like I had just spent the last hour doing one of those crazy P90X videos. And after lying for a moment, endorphins started to kick in, and that¡¯s when a couple Tony Hortons quotes echoed through my mind. ¡®Do your best, and forget the rest.¡¯ And, ¡®CAAAAAW, CAAAAAAAW . . . I¡¯m in a good mood today, man.¡¯ God damn it, Tony. But similar to the pain of a literal spear going into my gut here in Hearth, the uncomfortable feeling of being exhausted and sore from all the running was ignorable . . . or at least a little easier than it would have been back on Earth. In any case, I was glad for the pleasant endorphins that now rushed through my entire being as I scanned my logs. You killed Recruited Swordsman Guard! You received 100 XP! You killed Recruited Spearman Guard! You received 100 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 7! You unlocked the ability {Parry} Active Ability: {Parry} Description: You twirl your spear at a fast rate, increasing your chance to block a projectile attack by 75%. Cost: 20 stamina. This scales with player level. Cast Time: Instant Cooldown: 5 seconds You successfully completed the event ¡®Resist Black Queen Recruitment.¡¯ You received 300 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 9! You unlocked the reputation system. Your reputation with the village of The Notch has astronomically increased. I gained. . . seven levels . . . in one event? Reputation system? Astronomically? That sounds good. I wondered what that even meant. I walked over to each of the guards'' corpses. Two were glowing white, and one was flickering blue. As party leader, it looked like I was the only one able to loot. You received {Silver Coin} x8 You received {Copper Coin} x12 You received {Chest Plate of The Black Domain} You received {Shin Guards of The Black Domain} You received {Leggings of The Black Domain} You received {Pauldrons of The Black Domain} Roll for {Dragonhide Cloak} Player IFartedInFrontOfHer(Mie) has accepted the group roll for {Dragonhide Cloak} Roll for Item {Dragonhide Cloak} {Accept}, {Pass}, or {Delay}? ¡°Really, Mie?¡± I said, as I accepted the prompt. ¡°That¡¯s the one item I can equip.¡± I could feel her smirking attitude. I had tried to equip the gauntlets I had picked up off the first guard but received an error about not being able to equip armor of type plate. I doubted I could equip all the other plate armor I had just received. I glanced at Mie and saw a little smirk on her face . . . She was loving this. ¡°Huh?¡± she said. Player IFartedInFrontOfHer(Mie) rolled 86 Player AnythingButSquished(Sam) rolled 5 ¡°Oh, come on!¡± I nearly yelled. It took a strong effort to stay calm, and I breathed out a massive breath, fuming. Then a trade window popped up. It came later than I would have liked, but it appeared, offering the rare Dragonhide Cloak in exchange for all the other plate Black Domain items I had picked up, since Mie could equip plate. I sighed, grinning, relief spreading through me as I confirmed my side of the trade. Trade Cancelled by Player IFartedInFrontOfHer(Mie) I was speechless and paused for a long moment. When nothing else happened, I let out a ¡°REALLY?!¡± this time actually yelling. Mie was belly laughing at this point. The trade window reappeared, and I made sure to wait till she had confirmed her side, before confirming on my end. You received {Dragonhide Cloak} ¡°Thank God.¡± I said, now starting to chuckle, mostly just embarrassed I cared so much. I checked the cloak out. {Dragonhide Cloak} Rank: Rare Grade: Shabby Slot: Back +2.1 Armor +1 Constitution +2 Wisdom I checked my character readout, though the changes were hardly worth mentioning, but I was curious how the points worked. Like, what did a single point of Constitution even do? It gave health yes, but what else? Something to check in the manual. The shabby grade was disappointing, and that was something I was curious about as well. I was starting to feel overwhelmed by everything I still had to figure out. Is there even a level cap? How does Wisdom here work? How does experience sharing work?! The mental questions I¡¯d been neatly stacking were starting to fall, the tower too high. A familiar whirling sensation began blowing around in my mind, threatening to overwhelm me. I shook my head. I needed to do more research. I pushed back the chaos and noise in my head . . . somewhat . . . and scrolled through my logs again. I noticed something I¡¯d missed right above the completed event entry. Parties led by AnythingButSquished(Sam) and Fred#ReallyReallyBigNumber have completed the event ¡®Resist Black Queen Recruitment.¡¯ I looked around, a feeling of being watched suddenly tickling my back. This ¡®Fred¡¯ must be the dwarf we had caught a glimpse of. Why did he help us . . . and where did he go? I spent a moment looking across the landscape outside of The Notch. It was mostly farm fields and grass, but there were a few trees and boulders . . . though not enough to explain his sudden appearance and disappearance. Maybe some sort of invisibility ability? ¡°HELLO?! ANYONE OUT THERE?¡± I shouted so suddenly that Mie flinched at her spot on the ground. ¡°What the hell, Sam?!¡± When no one revealed themselves, I sighed. I realized I couldn¡¯t blame the guy. I wouldn¡¯t have wanted to approach a duo if I was solo either. Too much risk, and now that I thought about it more, having a healer was likely a far bigger advantage than I realized. Who would have picked a healer during character creation when going into a game world blind? I wagered not many. We might actually have one of the only healers in the game. I looked over at Mie . . . She was flat on her back now, her eyes closed. Does she know she is an . . . item? I didn¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t know anything. My breathing quickened. As we walked the remaining distance to The Notch, I noticed yet another tab in my bottom left that I had missed. Turned out there was an expansive messaging system that reminded me of iMessages. I found both Mie and Greg in a list of contacts I could message directly. I had no idea how to add others to the list. Wanting to try something, I dragged a stack of bread over to the Soul Inventory, and then realized I should probably store our money there for safekeeping as well. So I dragged half of my silver in too. A thirty-second timer showed up on top of the bread and silver in my Character Inventory and started counting downward. Mie was at my side as we walked, oddly silent. When the timer completed, and with as straight a tone as I could manage, I asked Mie, ¡°Hey, pull open your Soul Inventory. What do you see?¡± I saw her eyes flick across her HUD as she switched her inventory view. ¡°Just a stack of bread and silver. Did you do that?¡± I blew out a slow and quiet sigh as I said, ¡°Yep. Wanted to see if we shared the Soul inventory.¡± It was partly true, but really, I¡¯d been checking to see if she could see herself there as an item. Somehow, I knew that fact would mess with her head, and I didn¡¯t want to have to deal with an existential crisis. We reached the center of the cluster of buildings. A few NPCs with white nameplates were out and about. Most were acting normal, but one waved, and said, ¡°Top o¡¯ the morning to ya!¡± then proceeded to bump into the wall next to the door of one of the buildings over and over again. He turned around and said, ¡°Top o¡¯ the morning to ya!¡± . . . What the fuck is this programming? I guess the NPCs are not sentient then . . . or at least this one isn¡¯t. I scanned the buildings. They were all single stories save for a lone double-story inn which was named The Bucket. I smiled. The little inn reminded me of every fantasy story I had ever read. The inn scene was timeless. I took a closer look at the buildings just to make sure I wasn¡¯t missing something. There were quite a few, but two stood out to me more than the others: There was a longer building with a large sign with the icon of a bag. It was called ¡®Mark¡¯s Supplies.¡¯ It looked like it might be a general supplies type store. There was also a sign with a cauldron called ¡®Plants¡¯n¡¯Shit.¡¯ I chuckled at that one and made a mental note to meet the owner if they were in. I took a water out of my inventory, unstopped it, and drank heavily. I found a disgusting little outdoor . . . porta-potty. Fuck that. I closed the door without entering, and I went ahead and just relived myself on the back of the building. I headed back to the front door, much more relaxed now that we were close to an inn . . . and no black-armored guards were around. I had questioned Greg further about the mechanics of logging in last night since this was where Mie had appeared. I had been worried about potential spawn squatters¡ªplayers who would just kill players over and over by having the advantage of knowing where they would spawn in. I was grateful to hear that inns were considered non player vs. player areas, making them safe to spawn into. I¡¯d had an inkling there was some amount of gray area there with various factors like mobs and NPCs . . . which was now verified by the fact that Mie had to run out of the inn and village. It really was smart of her to not try and take refuge in the inn. That would have done nothing for her since they were not players. I walked up to the open door of The Bucket. It was already open wide, so I peeked inside not going in right away. There was normal inn stuff like tables, chairs, a stage, the innkeeper pouring drinks, and a few local NPCs at the bar drinking with their backs to me. My eyes flicked to Mie, who had a blue nameplate over her head. She was already chatting away with a younger woman who had a white nameplate. Are any of the NPCs here . . . sentient? The entire purpose of going to the inn was to get information from the locals. If they were all going to babble, talk nonsense, and run into walls . . . this would be a big waste of time. I saw Mie take a sip of some yellow liquid out of a low-ball glass. I entered the building and started walking over to her at a quick clip, my chest tightening in worry. What is she drinking?! As I got closer, I overheard what she was saying. She was speaking in a fast babble. ¡°Oh my god. Yes. I needed this. I¡¯ll tell you what, it is absolutely terrifying that I can¡¯t resist the desire to suck on those disgusting dark hairy nipples. I mean I¡¯d get it, if I was like some mindless creature, but no . . . I am definitely conscious during these incidents.¡± She took another long sip, continuing in a fast chatter, ¡°Even worse is I have all these memories of copious amounts of sweat beading off of those very same nipples. It¡¯s so weird, my brain is simultaneously like, ¡®oh my god I want them so bad¡¯¡ªno not like sexually or anything¡ªbut at the same time shouting, ¡®Please, God, no!¡¯ ¡± At this point I was debating turning back, feeling like I probably shouldn¡¯t have overheard all of that, but Mie¡¯s guest saw me and gave me a wave over. That was normal behavior. Mie went rigid as I walked up. She kept her eyes forward on her glass. I inspected her guest. Eleanor Windle Level 5 Herbologist Storekeeper I stayed silent as I moved toward the open chair to Mie¡¯s right. The innkeeper was taking orders from two other NPC patrons down the far end of the bar. She waved a small wand, and two taps started filling a couple mugs automagically. She grabbed the slightly frothy mugs, now full of delicious-looking golden beer. There was something like a metal plate under the mugs that clicked up as she pulled the beers off of them. They retracted, and new empty mugs rose up ready to be filled. As I sat down, there was an awkward silence. I smiled slightly and nodded to Eleanor. She nodded back, eyes returning to look in front of her. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. We sat like that for a minute before I couldn¡¯t take the silence any longer. ¡°Uhh, you guys got friendly quick,¡± I said. ¡°She just started talking¡ª¡± Eleanor started to say, but Mie cut her off with a long slurpy sip. Her glass thudded back down onto the wooden bar top. It looked to be made of oak. The silence started back in. I broke it again, wanting to pry more into the nature of this NPC. ¡°So, uhh, who¡¯s your friend, Mie?¡± I know I shouldn¡¯t have been shocked that she had no social norms. But . . . this was rough, like really rough. Mie turned to Eleanor, extended her hand towards her, and said, ¡°Hey, nice to meet you, by the way. Name is Mie.¡± Eleanor shook Mie¡¯s hand, then motioned to the innkeeper to catch her attention and nodded my direction. Okay, that was definitely intelligent behavior. The innkeeper walked over and poured me a glass of the same yellow liquor Mie was already guzzling. ¡°Thanks . . . ¡± I said to the innkeeper. Then I turned back to the other two. ¡°So wait, you guys just met?¡± I looked at Mie. ¡°You uhh . . . started the conversation with . . . my nipples?¡± I inspected Mie more closely. IFartedInFrontOfHer(Mie) Level 9 Upland Highborn {Tipsy} for 5 minutes {Tipsy} Description: Accuracy improved by 50%. That buff readout gave me a moment of pause. It was stupid good. Probably hard to maintain, but I bet ranged characters would be half drunk all the time. The readout would certainly explain her casual mention of my nipples . . . I took a sip of the yellow liquid and instantly regretted it as pain spiked down my chest. I glanced at the bottle. Perdon 175 Proof Alcohol Notes: Alcohol I clutched at my chest as I coughed and choked. After a moment, I felt the small amount of liquor immediately take effect, and I relaxed, letting the light feeling expand throughout my body. Notes . . . alcohol. I chuckled. Eleanor looked concerned at first, but smiled back once she saw my grin. ¡°You like my joke?¡± ¡°You wrote the notes?¡± I asked, pointing at the bottle. ¡°As the creator of this specific bottle of Perdon¡ª¡± She stopped abruptly and said, ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± Unable to resist the urge, I laughed again. The name was just so dumb. I tried to cover up my stupid grin by putting my hand over my entire face. I shook my head back and forth, indicating I had nothing to say. This stuff . . . was hitting hard. That made sense though . . . Maybe this body had zero alcohol tolerance. Giving me a knowing look, she continued, ¡°Yes, I am able to write in any notes I would like about the drink.¡± Her voice was confident and soft, and I noticed with some discomfort she wasn¡¯t hard to look at either . . . Ugh. I was terrible around cute girls. I glanced away quickly, trying to clear my head. I felt . . . slap happy. I took another drink and appreciated the river of warmth that passed through me. ¡°Is that your place across the main road? Plants¡¯n¡¯Shit, was it?¡± I chuckled again. ¡°You think the name of my place of business is funny?¡± she said indignantly. I could sort of tell she was joking, and I was about to call that out, but before I could Mie stood up and cut in. ¡°YOU MAKING FUN OF HER BUSINESS NAME, SAM?! STRONG CHOICE!¡± She slumped back into her chair. I could tell Mie was . . . just being Mie through our bond, but I did notice her buff . . . turn to a debuff. It switched from ¡®Tipsy¡¯ to ¡®Drunk.¡¯ My good feelings drained away as worry crept in. It was way too early in the day to be drinking. This was the exact opposite of our plan, which had been to figure out a good grinding spot to bang out some levels. We had chatted with Greg about the best approach to leveling, and he was insistent that questing wasn¡¯t worth it early on. Some of the later quests might be worth the effort he had said, but early on, the grind was best. After the event we just went through though, I was already level nine¡ªmaybe we should be looking for events. But we had gotten crazy lucky that my speed was good and none of those guards were primarily ranged attackers. So with that in mind, I asked Eleanor, ¡°Do you know of a good place to grind?¡± She looked at me oddly, eyes raised. I immediately wished I was dead. My face flushed, and heat rose to my cheeks. ¡°No! Wait! Not what I meant! I mean, like, a place to go hunt monsters.¡± She giggled and rolled her eyes, clearly enjoying me squirm. I turned away to look across the bar at the various bottles lining the wall, unsure of what I was feeling. It had been a wild couple of days. It was nice to just chill for a second and enjoy something normal. ¡°There¡¯s a level seven to ten area just north of here called The Brink. I¡¯d think that would be a good place to get started as a duo, but I wouldn¡¯t go with your current gear. Might be good to grab a few things from Marks. You know, like a shirt. Or don¡¯t.¡± She bit her lip, eyeing me up and down. I felt my face go red. I looked down at myself . . . God damn it. Having two bodies is hard. The fact that my elfish self was still half naked and covered in grime had entirely fallen out of my head. My body in my Soul Space did have a shirt, but this one didn¡¯t. But also . . . this woman was dangerous. She kept looking at me. Her eyes fierce. Something was off here. Sam: Greg . . . what exactly does . . . reputation do? Greg: Oh so, now you want me to talk? Sam: C¡¯mon man. Greg: Ugh . . . fine . . . reputation does nothing really until you unlock the follower system. That normally unlocks at level 10. But, you can think of it as how charming NPCs in the area view you. So . . . to answer your non-verbalized question . . . yes. She wants to have sex with you . . . likely only due to your reputation. That last part felt . . . unnecessary. Shut the hell up, Greg. I turned my attention back to Eleanor. My face still felt hot. We needed to leave. ¡°Uh, r-right,¡± I stammered. ¡°Good call.¡± Then I shook Mie, ¡°Hey, we have to get going . . . like now.¡± ¡°Wha¡¯?¡± she slurred. Her head fell onto the table as she said, ¡°Alcohol is fun.¡± Then she passed out. God. Help. Me. A few moments later, after a few more playful jabs from Eleanor, I discovered a shop option hovering over her left shoulder. I selected it, and she fell¡ªthank god¡ªinto a more business-like mode. A window appeared next to her, displaying her various wares. I scrolled through for a moment and paused near the bottom. I could plainly see an option for ¡®coitus¡¯ which was listed as free . . . Where the hell am I?! I firmly ignored it, and she laughed. She was totally messing with me, probably, but even so, I stuck to the single glass of Perdon to be safe. Since she was considered an herbologist storekeeper, she had quite a few herbs on hand as well as a handful of berries, including the weak heart berries and weak sugar berries I had read from the Hearth Manual. I bought twenty of each, which cost me two silvers, and forty more units of unfiltered water at a copper per unit. I slid the coins along the bar to her, and the berries and water appeared in my inventory. I asked Eleanor where I could find a trainer to learn brewing. She looked disgusted and said, ¡°You haven¡¯t been around here long, have you?¡± ¡°I have not,¡± I said, as I wasn¡¯t exactly sure what else to say. I didn¡¯t entirely understand what this NPC¡ªif she even was one¡ªwas, or what understanding she had of her reality, and I didn¡¯t want to break into that nut quite yet. ¡°From another world then? I have heard rumors the time is coming.¡± She said that last part softly, almost to herself. ¡°Uh-huh,¡± I said. Curious, I went for it, cracking the nut squarely in two. ¡°So, uhh, how did you die?¡± I asked, cringing at the delivery. In my head the question made sense . . . but . . . I was tipsy. Her playfulness fell away and was replaced now with a worried expression. ¡°How did I die?¡± I started stapling the nut back together. I probably sounded like a lunatic. ¡°Ha, yeah, never mind. Sorry, it¡¯s . . . an expression . . . where I come from. Basically, it means something like where were you born?¡± I was falling over my words, but thankfully she shrugged and bought it, continuing the conversation. ¡°Born and raised in The Notch. I wanted to leave when I came of age, but the herbologist at the time died, and I had chosen that profession when I was a child despite my parents telling me to wait. It was the right time to step in and take her place.¡± Her tone drifted, as if she was recalling the memory, and I couldn¡¯t help but notice a touch of regret thread its way in. The response felt so real. She had memories. Clearly¡ªwhatever she was¡ªshe simulated feelings at the very least . . . but if she hadn¡¯t gone through a ¡®tutorial¡¯ . . . then she probably hadn¡¯t come from Earth or another planet. I turned the conversation back to professions. ¡°So, professions. I saw brewing is needed in order to craft potions. How did you say you picked the herbologist profession? ¡°It¡¯s an option for everyone,¡± she said. I looked blankly at her and then I realized what she meant. I started digging through my interface, and after some time I found a section for professions. It was a stupidly long list with tons of options including a lot of the normal professions one would see in a typical MMORPG. A few options caught my eye. I selected one called firearms specialist, but the option to train in it was grayed out. I tried brewing. It was also grayed out. A little info box popped up as I narrowed my eyes on the training option. Professions unavailable at current level Huh. That was weird. I had seen the level requirements on specific more advanced professions in other games. But for all of them? The bottle of Perdon caught my eye. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to be a brewer, would you?¡± I asked Eleanor. She slapped me across the face. My vision went red and white. ¡°HEY! What the hell?¡± I cried out. ¡°Brewing is for peasants. I . . . am a distiller.¡± Her eyes were narrowed, and her lips pursed. ¡°Ow. God. Okay, my bad,¡± I said. This bitch was crazy. Brewing is for peasants? Wasn¡¯t she a peasant? It was time to go. But Mie . . . was officially drunk, and my own thoughts were moving slowly. After what felt like a hundred apologies to her on my end, Eleanor admitted she could craft potions. I asked about the weak health potion and weak stamina potion, and she said she could brew both. She charged me ten coppers per unit for both types, which cost me another four silver. I couldn¡¯t help but think I could have gotten that at a better price, but I rolled with it, not wanting to piss her off further. I passed the coin, water, and berries over to her in a trade window. The system automatically filled in her side of the trade, which showed the potions I would receive grayed out. I inspected one, as that didn¡¯t seem right. {Weak Health Potion} x20 Unfulfilled. Eleanor owes character AnythingButSquished(Sam) x20 weak health potions. Ah, okay. She hadn¡¯t crafted the potions yet. I accepted the trade and noticed her eyes go blank as, I assumed, she started messing with her own menus crafting the ingredients. As she worked, I got up and walked around the room, stretching my legs and giving Mie more time to recover. One of the walls was covered with a large map. It wasn¡¯t a global map, but it did show some areas we hadn¡¯t explored yet. There was an arrow pointing down over The Notch directly in the center to indicate our current location. A line of text rose up in midair next to the map. Local Area Revealed. Transferring . . . I opened my global map and found a larger area revealed. It was still under fog of war, but at least now I didn¡¯t have to come back here to view our surroundings. I wondered if all inns had something like this. There were a few other markings on the map. I saw the area called The Brink that Eleanor had mentioned, which was just north of The Notch, just outside of The Rolling Hills. It indicated a recommended level of seven to ten. My eyes scanned to the west, and I recognized Shell Woods. The level recommendation there was thirty to forty. That explained the massive troll I ran into yesterday. I shuddered, the memory still way too fresh. I leaned in to look closer and noticed a cave-like icon within Shell Woods. I tried inspecting it and was awarded with a readout. Charlie¡¯s Crypt Dungeon Recommended level: 40 Max Party Size: 4 I glanced back over at Eleanor. Her eyes were still blank, so I went ahead and messaged Greg via our party chat. Sam: Greg, can you give me the stripped-down version of what dungeons are? Looks like we are a ways off level wise, but I¡¯m curious of some of the mechanics there and what the potential benefits are. Greg: No thanks. Sam: GREG! God damn it, man. ISN¡¯T THIS YOUR JOB? Greg: Uhh . . . no? Sam: What? Greg: I mean . . . it could be . . . IF I GOT PAID. He doesn¡¯t get paid? How does he have money to eat? Does he even need to eat? He shits like he eats . . .and didn¡¯t he want to be bribed for a silver? I shook my head. I couldn¡¯t deal with Soul Space questions at the moment. Sam: Okay, what about 10 coppers an hour to not actively suck balls as a guide? Greg: Make it a silver. Sam: Greg . . . I¡¯m already pissed off. 15 copper an hour, that¡¯s my best offer. Greg: Nah. No thanks. I already get paid that. Sam: . . . the fuck? So you DO get paid? Greg: Haha, yeah. Sam: Do you want me to beat the shit out of you? Greg: Yes daddy. What the fuck? That response had so many . . . horrible implications. Greg: Haha, I really wish they gave us guides a view that wasn¡¯t over your shoulder. I would love to see your face right now. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Sam: Okay . . . you had me there. Holy shit man. Don¡¯t do that. Sam: I just want information on dungeons. Greg: Tips are . . . appreciated. Sam: FINE. I¡¯ll get you a silver when we get back. Greg: Uhh . . . right. That works. So . . . dungeons are similar to what humans are typically used to. It¡¯s a locked instance, meaning you won¡¯t have to worry about other parties or players interfering. There is better loot¡ªtypically rare and higher¡ªthat sort of stuff. Probably the most important thing about them though is the potential for a Battle Hall. Sam: Battle Hall? Greg: Lets you pick up a new Battle Art. Sam: How much potential are we talking? Greg: Ehh, depends. Almost guaranteed to appear if you beat the boss. Sometimes they will show up earlier in the instance, but that¡¯s rarer. Let me look at the manual. It¡¯ll probably say now that you have discovered dungeons. Yeah, 2% chance to proc every time you enter a new section of the dungeon. It seemed odd to me that the ability to acquire additional Battle Arts was supposed to unlock at level ten, but this dungeon, which was the only one in the area, recommended level forty, and as far as I knew dungeons were the only place Battle Halls existed. I kept scanning the map, taking note of a few areas. The Rolling Hills was the largest area of them all, sprawling off further to the south and southeast. To the east it went all the way to the edge of the revealed area, though I thought I saw the start of some mountains. The edge of the board cut them off. I wasn¡¯t sure. There were a few other similarly sized villages like The Notch throughout the hills, and it made me wonder how many players were in the area. It took probably ten minutes in all for Eleanor to finish up the potions. When her eyes cleared, a trade window popped up next to her. After a few seconds it disappeared, and the items showed up in my inventory. I was already tired . . . The alcohol was losing its effect, and I wondered if there was some kind of oath mechanic with the trade system. But right now . . . I didn¡¯t care. The exchange with Eleanor landed me twenty weak health potions and twenty weak stamina potions, and I considered that a win despite the high cost and loss of time. I got Mie up off the floor, and she immediately puked all over me. She held her stomach with her arms, and her pale face screwed up in pain. ¡°Alcohol isn¡¯t fun,¡± she said. I muttered a ¡®for fuck¡¯s sake¡¯ under my breath, called a farewell to Eleanor and a thank you to the innkeeper who now was giving me a big old stink eye, then I pulled Mie out the door. After using a couple units of water to clean the filth off me, we went across the street to Mark¡¯s. Like I had thought, it was a general store. He had some very basic gear that we picked up for what I thought was a bargain compared to what I had just spent on potions. Two silvers got both Mie and me outfitted with statless base armor. Leather for myself and plate for the slots Mie was missing. I equipped the new gear, checked my profile, and saw the change in my armor readout. Armor: 7.12 Most of the pieces were considered low quality and only gave small portions of a single point of armor. But I wasn¡¯t complaining. I had all my armor slots filled out, including a leather chest piece, worn boots, and even a little pair of ugly torn gloves. I grabbed a few more units of water and bread and made a few other purchases, wanting to try something. There were also some mushrooms. Hell no. I closed the shop menu. Mie equipped her new gear too and asked, ¡°How do I look?¡± Between the crappy black plate from the guards and now this new . . . crappy silver plate, she looked . . . super dumb . . . like a poorly dressed hobo knight who was playing in a high school theater play. Her being half drunk didn¡¯t help either, but I just said, ¡°You look great, Mie.¡± I looked to the north, toward the path that led out of The Notch. It was time to stop wasting precious hours. I was annoyed with Mie for getting drunk, but I couldn¡¯t blame her. She was basically a brand-new human being. She hadn¡¯t experienced anything . . . ever. That was a hard thing for my brain to wrap around. She had my memories. But they were not hers, and I suspected that not really living through those experiences meant she hadn¡¯t really learned anything from them. I shook my head. My brain hurt. I couldn¡¯t help but shake the feeling that every minute wasted was another minute someone else was using to grow in power. Someone like Mike. We needed to get stronger, and we needed to keep moving. I needed to just . . . keep moving. I took a deep breath, trying¡ªand failing¡ªto settle the storm of memories that battered against a black barrier within my mind. Thump. I was alone in the dark. Thump. Leaves blew across my path in the fading light. Thump. I was looking in the mirror, my elbows and knees caked with mud and blood. Thump. I was holding Lily in my right arm and pulling Ada out of the hospital doors with my other hand. I pushed those memories further down, knowing the danger they held. Lily . . . Ada . . . Rach . . . where are you? My voice gruff, I said, ¡°C¡¯mon, Mie. Let¡¯s go.¡± Chapter 11 Chapter 11 THE BRINK The words formed across my vision as my next step crunched onto a thin layer of snow. The transition from dry hot grassland to a frozen snowy landscape was about thirty meters wide in total. I shivered, the sudden cold biting into me. Mie had recovered to the point of being able to walk herself. Her footsteps crunched in the snow next to mine. There were familiar northern spruces lining the path, which was now blanketed in white. The temperature was freezing, and we were both shivering. It had taken us two hours to reach the boundary to The Brink, and the sun was high in the sky and shedding out some warmth. But, despite its heat, the air remained cold. I breathed deeply through my nose, enjoying the familiar scent of spruce and pine. I could see my breath as I exhaled. The place felt like home. Here, the inky black lines of The Black Domain were thicker. There were also more of them. I froze when I caught sight of a yellow nameplate far off in the distance. I looked all around us. There were a lot of trees obscuring my vision, and an uneasy feeling rose in my stomach. ¡°Mie, what are your thoughts on expanding the party?¡± ¡°I think we probably should start trying to. If we get cornered by a group of four players . . . not even someone as awesome as me could carry your ass through that.¡± I grunted. The nameplate paused, still far off, and I could just make out a hooded humanoid with a green cloak right before the player, turned, and fled. Huh. Having a duo really must be intimidating to other solo players. I couldn¡¯t blame them. I would have hesitated too, and I once again took a moment to appreciate how grateful I was having Mie around . . . most of the time. ¡°What is this stuff?¡± Mie said. ¡°What stu¡ªMIE, NO!¡± She poked her finger into a thick line of the inky substance of The Black Domain that flowed through the white snow. A stream of it rose up like a snake, reared back, and punched into her gut. An icon with a black line appeared above her health bar, which was now dropping at an alarming rate. ¡°GAH, I DON¡¯T LIKE IT! SAM!¡± ¡°WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!¡± I ran over to her, inspecting the debuff as she stumbled back. The black stream, which now more resembled a vine, tightened and prevented her from retreating. {Corruption Vine} for forever Description: You take 10 damage per second until the vine connection is broken. This effect can stack up to two hundred times. ¡°What the hell?! Why would you touch it?!¡± ¡°I WAS CURIOUS. GAH! IT HURTS. GET IT OFF ME.¡± I had no idea if it would work, but I popped out a spear and bashed the middle of the vine. It didn¡¯t do anything. Mie Flash Healed herself as her health dropped below twenty-five percent. The vine looked like it was some kind of leech. I thought it might be sucking blood out of her . . . at an incredible rate. ¡°Hit it with your staff!¡± I said. She did, but like my spear, it had no effect. ¡°What the hell is this thing?!¡± I pulled her away from it until it thinned slightly and became taught. Then I pulled as hard as I could around her waist, and after a moment¡ªand a scream from Mie¡ªit snapped in the middle like a rubber band. The part attached to her went limp and fell off her, and the part attached to the stream turned back to liquid. We stumbled backward, and I fell onto my back. Mie¡¯s massive form landed on top of me and knocked the breath out of me. ¡°Gah!¡± We untangled ourselves, and as we both stumbled to our feet, I panted out, ¡°Holy fuck! Don¡¯t just go touching random shit!¡± I could feel her embarrassment in our bond. She was like a little child, and in a lot of ways reminded me of my girls when they were young. Especially when we were somewhere new, they would run around and touch . . . god damn . . . everything. I sighed. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Just give me some kind of heads-up next time.¡± After that, we avoided the flowing black lines more carefully. This place, this . . . area, felt evil, like the devil himself had passed through. Maybe he did. We came across a pack of small snow cats that threw themselves at us like little clawed bullets as soon as we got close. They varied in level from five to seven, and there was a total of five. They didn¡¯t give much experience, and all our hits were instant kills. The fight was over before we knew it. I cringed as I watched Mie¡¯s staff crush the last one like a baseball bat smashing a watermelon. Her damage further solidified in my mind that physical attacks were still the way to go, and at this point, it was looking like I was stuck with that decision. It wasn¡¯t the only group of cats though. We continued north, taking on larger and larger packs of the beasts. The constant mobs gave me a chance to try out a new mechanic I had been noodling with. I had been able to purchase a load of crappy spears from Mark¡¯s Supplies, and like in our fight with the guards, after throwing one, I could pull another one out of my Character Inventory no problem. After testing it a few times, I realized I was really only constrained by stamina. My cooldown for that ability was pretty low, and I could often toss out two spears in quick succession, knocking out two cats before they even reached us. A pattern emerged for these large group fights. I would throw a couple spears, followed by a Sweeping Strike to lock the rest of the group in place, back up a few paces, pop a stamina potion, and repeat. The number of stamina potions I was going through was unreasonable, but they kept us safe, and that was worth the cost for me. The fights further solidified some inventory mechanics between our Soul and Character Inventories. I thought we might be able to use the mechanic on imminent death, to get all our items to safety before dying, but it looked like that wasn¡¯t possible. And worse, just like you couldn¡¯t log out while being in combat, you couldn¡¯t initiate the transfer of items between inventories while in combat. So that sucked. No last second gear-saving potential. There were some positives though, like if we knew a fight was coming, we could pull our better gear out . . . not that we had any better gear yet. Or if there was a specific type of engagement, we could rework our kits as needed, assuming we were not yet in combat. Not all bad, but still not exactly what I was hoping for. I was probably thinking too defensively anyways. We had life credits to spare. Then I remembered the woman getting . . . pancaked. Actually, I liked my four life credits staying at four life credits. We saw a few more players. But we were never close enough to catch their levels or names. There were enough to where we were able to put together that multiple entry events must have occurred near the same area as ours. That made sense to me, as the numbers of players based on the size of the entire island had not been adding up. It was not like there were one hundred thousand unique locations in all. Most locations I had seen so far took up a good amount of area. Like The Brink, for example. It was a large area, but I doubted it was a starter area. I was surprised to see anyone in this area at all. I had assumed we already had a level advantage with that event. Maybe folks had stayed up all night? Didn''t Tittles mention something about an increase in events . . .? The grind was real. We gained minor experience throughout the day and were now approaching level ten, but it would take a couple more hours yet. The cats dropped silver, copper, pelts, and meat as we went. Most notable though were two uncommon gear pieces. {Catskin Greeves} Rank: Uncommon Grade: Shabby Slot: Shins +4 Armor +2 Constitution +[4%-8%] Knockback Resist {Catskin Breastplate} This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Rank: Uncommon Grade: Stellar Slot: Chest +10 Armor +3 Constitution +[10%-16%] Stun Evade That stun evade was fantastic. I replaced my basic gear with the better equipment. Another hour later, we were so close to level ten, and it was dusk when Mie said, ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡± ¡°Again? Didn¡¯t you just eat some bread?¡± ¡°No. My Soul Space body is hungry . . .¡± She trailed off. ¡°Oh. Right. Okay . . . ¡± It was odd. I too had felt my hunger and thirst periodically, but those sensations would disappear shortly after. Why wasn¡¯t that working for Mie? Maybe because she was an item? ¡°You have gone . . . what . . . twelve hours without eating? Why haven¡¯t you said anything? You must be starving.¡± ¡°I AM. But it¡¯s not like I want to stare at your nipple for another twenty minutes.¡± ¡°What is with you and my nipples? I have a T-Shirt on my soul space body now too. No . . . nipple-staring needed.¡± ¡°I just . . . don¡¯t like them.¡± ¡°It would be super weird if you did.¡± I started kicking at the snow beneath my feet. Mark had mentioned that fires would give us the same XP boost that logging out from an inn would give. So, I inquired how one . . . acquires a fire. He had looked at me like I was dumb or something. I was . . . It was basically the same as on Earth. I cleared away a patch of snow to the dirt beneath our feet then found some kindling and small dry sticks. I carefully placed the sticks in a tent formation around the kindling, then I pulled some split cedar out of my inventory and started stacking it, box style, right over the kindling and sticks, making sure to not disturb what I thought of as my ¡®Fire¡¯s Heart.¡¯ After that, when I mentally focused on the creation, an option to ¡®Light Fire¡¯ appeared. I mentally selected it, and a small fire started within the Fire¡¯s Heart. Small lines of smoke rose up and hit my face and nose, as the fire began to grow. That smell. A memory slammed so suddenly into me that . . . it felt like . . . I was home. I was sitting in my La-Z-Boy recliner, staring into the heart of a fire that burned within our wood-burning fireplace. My body ached after a day of physical weekend warrior labor. My wife was busy in the kitchen, and sounds of shouts and giggles echoed through my mind as Lily came running around the corner with a handful of bread dough stuffed in her mouth. She always stole some of that damn dough. I crouched next to the fire for a long time. I wanted nothing more than to stay right here and continue to watch the fire flicker. To hear it crack and to remember my family. To remember the good times. But I couldn¡¯t. And it would be dumb to stay in Hearth during the night. I looked over at Mie, who nodded at me, indicating she was ready to log out. I scanned the area closely, making sure no other players saw us as we logged out. Then I pulled up my message system. Sam: Greg, we¡¯re headed back. Just FYI. Sam: Greg? Mie: Yay! Greg¡¯s dead! Worried, I glanced at the fire one more time and then we both selected ¡®Log Out.¡¯ I knew exactly what was going on with Greg as soon as I appeared back in the Soul Space. I didn¡¯t even have to open my eyes. The space had filled with the smell of a well-used minivan that had just gone through a fast-food drive through. I knew immediately what fast-food chain that grease-cooked, liquid smoke smell was. I could almost feel the mayo, tomato, onion and . . . fake meat and bread . . . in my mouth. My mouth watered. . . and I hated that I loved it so damn much. These fucking smells have to stop. I opened my eyes to the sight of Greg. Somehow . . . he had managed to make himself look even worse . . . to the stomach-churning level of horrifying. It was like we had appeared next to Jabba the Hut after a session of lust-filled gluttony. There must have been twenty sandwich wrappers crunched up into little balls and thrown around the room. Greg¡¯s fat body lay spreadeagle on the floor, like the Whoppers . . . had just taken him. What the hell. He was sucking in heavy breaths, each one sending a loud snore through the small room. A half-eaten Burger King sandwich was still in his hand. I took a hesitant step forward and accidentally stepped on a wrapper. Mayo and ketchup squished between my toes. Did he ask for extra mayo?! It still covered the sandwich wrapper. Then . . . I saw the empty jar of mayo. ¡°Gah! God Damn it, Greg? What did you do?!¡± I asked. He didn¡¯t respond . . . but I thought I knew. I checked my Soul Inventory interface. Ugh. I am so stupid. I checked around the room and confirmed that . . . all our extra silver . . . was gone. I¡¯d forgotten that the Soul Space was our Soul Inventory. ¡°What¡¯s happening?!¡± Mie said from the floor. ¡°Did Greg go on a road trip?¡± I didn¡¯t answer. I was exhausted of this. Of Greg. Every time I entered the Soul Space, I immediately wished I wasn¡¯t there. I exhaled as I saw a log in my feed. You have 6 cubed meters of unspent space. {Spend}? I got to work clearing up Greg¡¯s mess, cutting up the paper wads, and plunging them out of the space through the toilet. I spent two meters of unspent space elongating the bathroom and purchased a cheap starter shower that came with hot water. We still had silver from the day in our Character Inventories, thankfully. I shook my head, still not over it, but I just let the creature sleep. Damn it, Greg. I spent the other four meters carving out a cubby on the opposite side of the Soul Space from the bathroom. I purchased bunk beds and mattresses and placed those in the newly created cubby. Then I purchased pillows, sheets, soap, and blankets and put those in their respective places. I grabbed Mie and showered her off, put her in a new onesie, and plopped her on the bottom bunk. Then for the first time in two¡ªor three?¡ªdays . . . I took a hot shower. Mie was yelling from the main room about food. So unfortunately, I had to make it quick. I got dressed and fed her a bottle on her bed, which was much more comfortable than the ground. When that was done, Mie passed out on the bottom bunk, so . . . I purchased a big-box-store . . . pepperoni pizza. This reality makes it way too easy to get fat. I ate half of it, then had a thought. I opened my Soul Inventory and tried to drag over the ¡®Half a Pepperoni Pizza¡¯ item that appeared in my Soul Inventory over to my Character Inventory. I got an error about it not being Hearth compatible. Damn. But Hearth items are compatible with the Soul Space? I dragged one of the spears from my Character Inventory over to my Soul Inventory, and it clattered to the ground next to the bunk beds in the middle of the Soul Space at the spawn point. Yep. That was starting to make more sense to me. I grabbed the manual off Gregs desk and climbed into the top bunk. I stretched, tired as fuck, and opened it. It continued to remind me of those campaign board games where you fill in missing content with stickers. In those games, the stickers contained additional rules or descriptions. Items populated as we came across them, and I saw some that I hadn¡¯t directly interacted with. Those I thought must be items that Mie had come across, which further indicated that the Soul Space was somehow linked to both of our Hearth characters. The manual helped quell the tempest of swirling questions in my head. It had brief descriptions of our shortlist of attribute points. It was all standard stuff. Constitution raised your health pool. Agility increased your stamina pool as well as your attack speed. Intelligence increased your mana, Wisdom your mana regeneration rate, and Endurance your stamina regeneration rate. I read that races were locked to specific attributes, meaning stats like Intelligence and Wisdom didn¡¯t apply for me, even though I had picked up some items with those as attributes. But the explanation felt lacking. It didn¡¯t mention things like Toughness, Durability, Flexibility, or the large number of other attributes that were clearly also listed in my profile. I tried to make sense of it all one more time, but my vision went fuzzy and I passed out. The night . . . was long. Mie needed constant milk. We were up every three hours on the dot. Instead of just letting the time pass, I racked my brain, trying to figure out some sort of exploit to get into the dungeon early. Greg roused from his food coma and noticed me poring over the manual. He asked what I was up to. I wasn¡¯t over him stealing our silver . . . but I told him what I was thinking. He looked at me, his head cocked, after I told him what I was thinking and said, ¡°Why though? You get a choice for your second Battle Art once you reach level ten. It¡¯s the third one that isn¡¯t handed to you.¡± He said it all matter-of-fact-like. I just stared at him, not comprehending for a solid minute, and when it finally registered . . . I did a mental face palm. I had assumed that the Battle Hall was the only place to get Battle Arts. I felt dumb, but I didn¡¯t tell Greg that. I said something like, ¡°Shut the hell up, Greg. What do you know?¡± And Mie, who had about fallen back to sleep, muttered, ¡°Yeah, shut the hell up, Greg,¡± and promptly passed out again. In the morning, I watched the player readout as it slowly fell to hit a round number. Players Remaining: 400,000 Life Credits: 4 The player count was still falling at a rapid rate, but it looked like it was slowing down. Every time I saw that number fall, even if it was just by a single digit . . . I thought about that woman and how she had been smashed. I thought about the blood that had hit the camera, and everything in the Soul Space getting sucked up and out, like a kid sucking up a chocolate milkshake with a straw. It had only taken a second, then it was empty. "Greg, what exactly happens when a player gets . . . squished? He shrugged, and with a sad voice he said, ¡°Every time it happens, I just think to myself, ¡®Why can¡¯t that be me?¡¯ ¡± Frustrated I thought, Maybe . . . I can help you with that. My fists clenched as I prepared to log in to Hearth. I glanced around the slightly larger room. Despite Greg, and everything else that had happened here, I couldn¡¯t help a small part of myself feeling like this was home. My blood boiled. This . . . is not my home. I flipped through some menus, making sure I had everything I needed. We would eventually need to head back to The Notch for more stamina potions, but for now we were set. It was time to get back out there and get back to the grind. I knew the sweaty type probably hadn¡¯t even slept. I reviewed our supplies one last time, confirmed Mie was ready, and watched the soul transaction logs after selecting the option to login in the bottom right of my interface. Key received Initiating soul transaction Processing memory Checking sanity Packaging for transit Transmitting data Soul transaction complete The pre-dawn darkness of Hearth appeared around me as I popped into existence. The cold gripped my arms, and snow was falling slowly. It melted when it hit my shoulders and head. The fire blazed hot in front of me, as if it had been stoked and more wood had been thrown on top. My heart stopped as I caught sight of something through the playing flames. A slim girl with a hooded green cloak stood directly across from me. Her bow was drawn. She had one purple eye focused down the long length of an arrow, and it seemed to glow with a killing intent. But her face . . . Lily? Chapter 12 Chapter 12 A small breeze pushed the fire, causing the lighting against the girl¡¯s face to change. No . . . that isn''t Lily. It did look a lot like her, and I was desperate to see a familiar face . . . but it wasn¡¯t her. I noticed that the area was blanketed with a new fresh layer of white snow. Our fire continued to rage in front of me, resisting the cold and wet and creating a dry circle around itself, its defiance to the universe reflecting in the girl¡¯s eyes. I inspected her nameplate. Human#ReallyBigNumber Level 3, Shade Elf Human? That was what she had picked for her name? Or did she let the system give her a name by default? Also, why is she in a level seven to ten area at level three? I looked from her level to her eyes. They continued to narrow in on me with an intense focus that conveyed an aura of very real danger. Something told me she could hold her own just fine. I glanced around, checking for more nameplates, but there weren¡¯t any that I could see. ¡°Woah there,¡± I said. I put my arms up slow and steady, as I continued to look around. ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± she said stiffly. Her voice was sharp and calm. Despite the warmth of the fire, I could see that she was cold. Her lips were blue, and she shivered in spasms which caused her arrow¡ªthat was still directed at me¡ªto bob up and down. She had a hooded green cloak that fell around her shoulders, and a thick layer of snow covered them. Her hood was pulled up tight around her head. Did she spend all night here? Logged in? I looked at the wet snow at her feet. It was disturbed around her, but no tracks led to or from her location. The area was much colder than The Rolling Hills and The Notch, and based on the layer of ice beneath my feet it seemed like it had fallen far below freezing last night. I looked at her, my chest tightening. ¡°Okay, take it easy. Someone else is about¡ª¡± There was a pop as Mie appeared. The stranger¡¯s eyes widened in surprise, and her arrow . . . released. Intentionally or not, I didn¡¯t know. But I said, ¡°Oh shit!¡± as I activated my new Parry ability. THUD! Too late, the arrow pierced into my pectoral as I spun my spear like one of those baton twirling . . . cheerleaders. A low white number floated up over my head, and I saw an icon with a black needle appear over my health bar. A debuff. {Minor Shade Poison} for 60 seconds {Minor Shade Poison} Description: Affected target takes 1 damage per second. This effect can stack up to 20 times. I groaned, the pain like a close-range paintball to fleshy skin. It wasn¡¯t near anything I had experienced so far in this game, and the arrow thankfully wasn¡¯t deep, but it still damn hurt. I looked at the debuff closer and recognized that the damage over time¡ªif stacked¡ªwould be really good. I was also thankful my Ring of The Sole Survivor counteracted it to some degree. I didn¡¯t have time to keep thinking though, because the stranger turned and bolted in one motion, dodging Mie¡¯s staff swing as she went. ¡°Wait!¡± I tore after her, doing my best to stay on my feet on the icy ground. She was fast and nearly outpaced me, and I think she would have, if not for my significant level advantage. When I was fifteen feet away, she turned on her heel and dove backwards away from me. Suddenly, it looked like she was flying horizontally. Her cloak whipped like a tornado as she spun through the air. Still in motion, she pulled out her bow, drew the string to her cheek, and sent another arrow my way, diving and twirling in midair all at the same time. THUD! It hit me in the thigh. ¡°Gah! STOP SHOOTING ME!¡± I yelled. It took my health down to seventy percent, and I saw another stack of poison appear. The number of stacks went to two, and the timer refreshed back to twenty seconds. Mie was yelling at me from behind, but I kept running, my momentum keeping me going despite the piercing pain that now lanced through my leg. Her dive ability finished, and she landed smoothly on her feet and kept running. Movement caught my eye. The flash of another yellow nameplate. It appeared and disappeared near a boulder to the girl¡¯s upcoming left. Damn it. Either this was some insane trap, or she had been followed. Probably the former. A bolt of blue electricity shot out from behind the boulder as an elvish-something mage in a purple robe appeared. The spell collided with the girl¡¯s chest, freezing her in place. The normal blue debuff stun effect encased her as little lighting arched and crackled all over. I glanced at the debuff. {Stunned} for 4 seconds I inspected the mage¡¯s nameplate after I saw the girl¡¯s health bar drop by half. Okay . . . never mind. I had thought that maybe she was the bait, but turned out she was the prey. NursingHomesAreHell(Milton) Level 5, Sea Elf He isn''t wrong, I thought as I read his name. I studied him, still running. Outside of his purple robe, I caught a quick reflection of light coming from his hand. I looked closer and I saw he bore a ring. It looked a lot like the same one I had, but it was only pushed halfway onto his finger. His hands seemed to be webbed liked one of those creepy-ass lizards my kids had had as pets. I shuddered remembering the way they molted and shed their skin all over the place. I wonder if this guy sheds. I took all this in in a moment, and I activated Vaulting Strike on the Sea Elf just as I saw the movement of another player behind him, still mostly hidden by the large boulder. As my ability completed, my spear went completely through the guy''s neck. He died, instantly. You received 100 XP! That was way more XP than the snow cats gave. Something registered in my mind. These players were killing other players . . . for more experience. But wasn¡¯t that the point of the game though? To get stronger than anyone else? To survive the longest? The thought made me sick¡ªwell, that thought . . . and the sight right in front of me. ¡°Gah!¡± Blood spurted away from the mage¡¯s neck in thick, pulsing lines with the rhythm of his heartbeat. It spattered against me and the white snow beneath us as his gross part-elf, part-lizard-looking body flopped sideways. The sight was terrible, like something I might have seen on an EMS run. I straightened out of my landing stance, now noticing two orcs and a dwarf all half coming out of crouches and ready to pounce on the girl. However, they looked stunned as they watched their dead friend continue to gush blood. A moment later, he sparked green and blue, so I went ahead and looted him, ignoring the loot logs as I looked at the other three players. The dwarf was level eight, and the two orcs were six and seven. The dwarf turned to the others and said, ¡°I thought you said she was alone?!¡± He pulled a blunderbuss off his back. ¡°She¡ªshe was!¡± one of the others stuttered. I dove behind the boulder when the gun went off. BOOM! Pain erupted as little pellets shredded my leg. My health dipped under a third, and I was about to slam on a health potion when Mie¡¯s golden pane of light fell through me and restored me to near full health. I looked for her . . . and found her still a ways off in the direction of our fire. God. She is so damn slow . . . I glanced toward the girl¡¯s direction. She was gone. Cool. Yeah, I¡¯ll just take care of the rest then¡ª My thought was interrupted as I rounded the corner of the boulder and watched an arrow zip in from the direction of a thick tree and sink into the meat of one of the orcs¡¯ legs. He cried out like a baby seal, and I saw a little black poison needle icon appear over him. As the dwarf desperately tried to reload his gun, I landed a Sweeping Strike on all three of them. They all fell to the ground, getting tangled up with each other, and each gained the rooted debuff. I also registered that the blunderbuss had some sort of loading cast time, which seemed to take forever. The bar over the dwarf¡¯s head had been about two thirds full when the sweep interrupted it. With the root in place, I focused the dwarf with three quick Spear Throws back-to-back-to-back. He went down in moments, three spears sticking out of him. More arrows thunked into the two orcs whose legs were wrapped with transparent chains. I downed a stamina potion, swept their legs again, and renewed the rooted debuff. Then I backed up, preparing another Spear Throw. One of the orcs threw his axe, which bit into my bicep. I stored the axe into my inventory as another Flash Heal fell over me. ¡°What the hell?! What class are you?¡± the axe-thrower said. They think I¡¯m healing myself with an ability, I realized. Or maybe he was confused by the multiple spears? I chuckled at that, paused, then said, ¡°Wait. You guys have life credits left right?¡± They exchanged a look. ¡°Uhh . . . yeah, but¡ª¡± I cut him off by sending another spear into his midsection. He doubled over. Then I said, ¡°I¡¯m a uhh . . . spear-thrower-healer-doer . . . guy.¡± ¡°What the fu¡ª?¡± The speaker¡¯s health bar turned gray. A moment later, Mie came panting up, just as the girl and I finished the last orc. I quickly looted all three corpses. The scene that lay before me was horrible and I sort of felt bad dropping their life credits by one . . . but they were player-killers . . . so I . . . mostly just chuckled, remembering their confused, pain-filled expressions as I told them my made-up class. Those players all kind of sucked . . . ¡°What are you laughing about?¡± Mie asked between gasps for air. I heard her question, but then the short girl with purple eyes hesitantly stepped out from behind a tree. She was so small. She couldn¡¯t have been even five feet tall. I yelled over to her, ¡°Uhh, YOU OKAY?¡± I stored all my weapons and gave her a friendly wave. Keeping her distance, she gave a confident half-arc wave and yelled back, ¡°YEAH! AND THANKS!¡± ¡°NO PROBLEM! UHH MAYBE WE SHOULD STOP YELLING AT EACH OTHER? YOU KNOW, SO WE DON¡¯T ATTRACT ANYTHING ELSE OUT HERE?¡± She stood still for a long moment, then took a few quick paces forward. She was still about ten meters away or so, but at least we didn¡¯t have to yell. I noticed her health bar was at about half and that she was clutching her rib cage. That stunning spell had dealt some serious damage. Sam: Send her a Flash Heal. Mie: What? Why? Sam: Just do it. I had about a million notifications I was anxious to comb through, but this was more important. We needed to fill out our party, and somebody with her skill set¡ªa ranged damage-over-time specialist, could make a lot of sense. She also . . . wasn¡¯t actively trying to kill us, and she had seemed to be helping with the player-killers. She seemed trustworthy¡ªI felt at my pec where her arrow had skewered me¡ªmaybe. Mie raised her staff, and the girl took a couple steps back, but a moment later, the golden glass pane fell through her and restored her health to full. She relaxed, coming even closer. She really did look a lot like one of my kids. Were all Shade Elves child-like? Or was this a child . . . that had died in the real word? I pushed that thought away. It was too sad. ¡°Thanks for not abandoning us back there,¡± I said. ¡°I thought for sure you had run off.¡± ¡°Same here.¡± Okay . . . so not much of a talker this one. That was probably good . . . Mie did enough talking for all of us. She looked above Mie, at her nameplate. ¡°Uhh, IFartedInFrontOfHer?¡± ¡°Yeah, funny story,¡± Mie said. ¡°Don¡¯t¡ª¡± I tried to cut in, but she had already started blabbing away. ¡°Imagine your worst date ever. Now imagine if, as the entr¨¦es are coming out, you fart, like a loud fart¡ª¡± ¡°Mie, please stop.¡± But she kept going. ¡°Now imagine, a few seconds later, you are trying to eat your meal. You¡¯re both chatting, desperately trying to make small talk and trying to ignore the obvious sound that just came out of your butt, when BAM! The smell hits you full on, and you are just praying she doesn¡¯t smell it too. It was one of those ones where enough time passes, and you thought you were safe. Except then, you see her reaction when it hits her, but you¡¯re, like, still hopeful at this point she will continue to ignore it . . . but then she starts gagging¡ª¡± ¡°ANYWAYS,¡± I said loudly. Trying to stop the dumpster fire introduction. ¡°This is Mie. My name is Sam.¡± I held out my hand. ¡°I¡¯m assuming your name isn¡¯t . . . Human?¡± She was looking at Mie as if she was some kind of insane person . . . Not far off really. I wonder if she realized that story is about me . . . about my past. I really hope not. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. She clasped my hand confidently. ¡°No, I tried to see how long I could wait in Character Creation. My name is Clara.¡± The moment we shook hands, a few more options appeared, hovering right next to her head under the ¡®Trade¡¯ option. One was called ¡®Invite to Party.¡¯ I looked over at Mie, as our quick handshake finished. Mie shrugged at me, indicating she had seen the same option and didn¡¯t care one way or the other . . . so . . . I selected it, and I saw Clara¡¯s eyes glaze over as she read what I assumed was the party request prompt. She looked back up and said, ¡°Why would you want a low-level like me?¡± I thought for a moment. Something told me she was the no-nonsense type . . . so I said, ¡°Honestly, I have no idea what I am doing. I just know a party of three must be better than a party of two, and seeing how you are the first player who hasn¡¯t been . . .¡± I glanced at the corpses nearby. ¡°. . . an asshole. I''m willing to take the risk. Oh, and you have a damage-over-time class . . . we don¡¯t have that.¡± She stood completely still for a long moment, snow still falling all around us. Then the log came in. Player Human#ReallyBigNumber has joined your party. I saw her party icon appear in the upper left of my party interface. I noticed a green bar indicating she was stamina based. ¡°Okay then. What¡¯s the plan?¡± Clara asked. ¡°Well, we have been told grinding is the best way to gain XP.¡± She gave me a weird look. Looked me up and down, then said, ¡°No thanks. Also, I¡¯m confident your guide is pulling your leg.¡± God damn it. Apparently I really need to stop using that term. ¡°No. Not that. It¡¯s . . . a gaming term. I take it you haven¡¯t played many games then. It means basically killing a bunch of mobs . . . monsters. Anyways, our¡ªuhh¡ªI mean . . . my guide . . . hasn¡¯t been . . . the best when it comes to advice.¡± Mie said, ¡°Who, Greg? Dude, Greg is the actual worst. Don¡¯t lie to her.¡± Greg: I feel like you guys should know by now that I can literally hear everything you say. Like, all the time. Mie: Oh, trust me. We do know that, Greg. . . We do know that. Greg: . . . Clara: Hey there Greg! Greg: Hello I sent Clara a quick DM. She had been added to my list of contacts once she joined the party. Clara: Whoops, I mean . . . shut the hell up Greg. Greg: Hilarious guys. Real fucking funny. ¡°What has your guide recommended as the best way to gain experience?¡± I asked Clara resisting the urge to laugh out loud. Fuckin Greg. Clara kept quiet, then said, ¡°Uhmm . . . not much . . . since I . . . killed him.¡± There was a long, awkward silence. Then Mie turned to me. ¡°I told you we could kill Greg if we wanted to.¡± I pulled up my direct messages to Mie. Sam: Clara probably thinks we both have different guides. Might want to keep it that way. Just . . . stop talking for a sec. Mie: Roger that. BUT WE CAN KILL GREG! THIS IS GREAT! Sam: I could kill him you mean . . . You are a baby. Mie: Oh . . . right. YOU CAN KILL GREG! THIS IS GREAT! ¡°You, uhh . . . killed your guide?¡± I asked. Clara was giving us a strange look, but answered. ¡°Yeeah. . . he came at me . . . and . . . I was able to take a broken table leg and . . . I killed him.¡± We both stared at her with wide eyes. I did not like that, apparently, there were no rules about what guides could and couldn¡¯t do to their Soul Space occupants. I hadn¡¯t thought about that. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± I said . . . what felt like too late. ¡°I guess we lucked out with Greg.¡± ¡°Who are you today?¡± Mie said taken aback . . . and talking fast . . . again. ¡°This is Greg we¡¯re talking about. I could see Greg doing some messed up stuff. He probably is right now. Messing with our helpless bodies.¡± ¡°For the last time, Mie. Our bodies disappear when we are not there.¡± I stiffened, watching Clara to see if she¡¯d caught that rather obvious slip-up . . . to see if she caught that we shared the same Soul Space. ¡°How do you know?!¡± Mie responded. ¡°I don¡¯t . . . but it would just be so . . . messed up.¡± I glanced uneasily at Clara. She looked at Mie and gestured at me while she said, ¡°He¡¯s right. Your body disappears completely. It¡¯s not just invisible or something. It¡¯s gone from the space. My guide . . . he would . . . barrel at me when I reappeared . . . try to grab me . . . He wouldn¡¯t have rushed the way he did . . . if I was still there. I died a couple times during entry . . . and to be clear . . . I did fend him off . . . both times. The second time . . . I done killed him.¡± Holy shit, this topic is dark. She had a rapist guide? Ugh. The afterlife really sucks. I was about to change the subject when Mie said . . . more Mie stuff. ¡°Wait so, how do you know he is dead?¡± ¡°The table leg was punctured through his eye socket and sticking out the back of his head . . . and he wasn¡¯t moving . . . so . . . But you¡¯re right, maybe he up and resurrected or something. I haven¡¯t gone back to check.¡± So she hadn¡¯t ever logged out. She had stayed logged in during the cold night. ¡°My turn to ask a question,¡± Clara cut in. ¡°Whose guide is Greg¡¯s, and why isn''t there another guide in the room?¡± I sighed . . . Our deception had lasted all of a minute. I told her most everything as briefly as possible, but I didn¡¯t mention that Mie was an item . . . or a baby . . . or that she had all my memories. I just told her that we thought there must have been a weird glitch or something that caused us to have a shared Soul Space and guide. For all we knew, maybe that was what happened, and who knew? Maybe it wasn¡¯t just us. Clara seemed satisfied with the explanation, and after a touch more discussion, we started heading north toward a narrow pass called Merchant¡¯s Way, and I finally had a moment to scan my logs and loot. You killed players x3! You received 375 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 11! Congratulations! You reached level 10! You may now select your second Battle Art {One-Handed Axe} or {Dagger}! Dagger? I had not seen that coming. I wasn¡¯t really the sneaky rogue type, so that was a hard pass from me. I quickly chose One-Handed Axe. You unlocked the Battle Art {One-Handed Axe} You unlocked the skill {Dual Wield} You unlocked the gear type {Plate} You unlocked the ability {Quad Strike} Active Ability: {Quad Strike} Description: When wielding two weapons you deal back-to-back Basic Attacks with both weapons. Cost: 30 Stamina. Scales with player level. Cooldown: 20 seconds You unlocked the ability {Axe Crack} Active Ability: {Axe Crack} Description: You deal a crushing axe blow to your enemy that does 100% additional damage and stuns your target for 3 seconds. Cost: 60 Stamina. Scales with player level. Cooldown: 20 seconds The readouts were great, but to be honest . . . I was a little underwhelmed. This was all pretty typical MMORPG stuff. The Dual Wield skill was way over done. It was basically a clich¨¦ at this point. But still, I was glad to have it as an option now that I could wield axes. The stun pickup was good, but I don¡¯t know. . . I guess I was just expecting to see a larger power leap here. I dealt high damage, yes, but without Mie . . . I would have been dead five times over at this point. I will admit, the unlock on plate was interesting, as I was still wearing all leather gear. Meaning it hadn¡¯t swapped my armor type out or anything. It looked like I could just equip both now. That was cool. I had been wondering if there was some sort of weight mechanic with armor. I could definitely feel gravity¡¯s effects . . . and Mie was constantly out of breath running with her heavy armor on. I swapped in a couple plate items for some basic leather armor I still had on. I had looted the plate from the guard fight, but hadn¡¯t passed it to Mie since she had gear that was already better. The plate had slightly higher stats than my leather. I did a couple sprints, and like it would have back on Earth, moving felt harder. I kept scanning my logs, noticing more. Congratulations! You reached level 10! Parties led by you, now enjoy access to the Passive Ability: {Death¡¯s Door}, and the Active Ability: {Hand of God}. I inspected the new abilities. Passive Ability: {Death¡¯s Door} Description: When a party member¡¯s health drops to zero, instead of losing a life credit immediately, they become {Knocked}. If all party members¡¯ health pools drop to zero, this ability loses its effect, and the entire party dies. Active Ability: {Hand of God} Description: Placing your hand on the body of a party member suffering from {Knocked} revives them to 50% health. Cast Time: 10 seconds That looked promising. I dug in further. {Knocked} Description: You fall on your hands and knees, unable to cast abilities or perform any action. You are ignored by NPCs and mobs. Your movement speed is decreased by 90%. You are {Immune} for 2 minutes. After the 2 minutes of immunity, you remain Knocked, and your health pool is set to fifty percent of your current max health. When you are Knocked, you can be resurrected by someone in your party through the use of the active ability {Hand of God} at any time. Oh man. A growing excitement had sparked in my chest the moment I started reading the descriptions. I knew these mechanics very, very well. I read them over one more time and it started to really sink in. Getting Knocked was a common mechanic. But it wasn¡¯t typically something you would see in a MMORPG. It was much more common in battle royale games. Last party standing . . . I slapped my forehead, baffled at how I could have missed the correlation. This was basically a battle royale. It was just at a scale I couldn¡¯t comprehend and in a system that felt like a MMORPG. The fact that we had uncovered these abilities was huge, and anyone trying to solo would be severely outmatched against a party with these abilities. I read through the abilities again. Being Knocked and ignored by mobs felt really important. But I noted that it didn¡¯t mention players. Okay so, if you are Knocked, you get two minutes of immunity, and mobs ignore you completely, but after the immunity is up, players can still kill you. That made sense. I liked the immunity effect. Oftentimes in battle royale games, players would kill an enemy they had knocked instantly, even when the strategy of it, in my opinion, was absolutely . . . stupid. There were arguments to be made to finish off the player instantly, so they couldn¡¯t be revived, or feed their teammates information . . . but most of the time, that wasn¡¯t the right call. I had seen it done countless times . . . mostly to me. While the assailant finished me off to get the plus one kill stat, I would shout some profanity as Phil nerd-shushed me¡ª¡®shh shh shh,¡¯ so he could hear¡ªand rolled over the enemy team, who was now out of bullets and easier to perceive because they had revealed their position to him, by killing me. They lost the game . . . but still, the damage was done . . . because I was dead. At that point, I had to sit and watch Phil for the rest of the game like a noob. I sighed, a smile spreading across my face. For the first time since the get-go, I wasn¡¯t feeling behind. I was even feeling like we might have an advantage. I knew the battle royale format well. Usually there were around one hundred players though . . . Here there were still some four hundred thousand . . . I couldn¡¯t wrap my head around that just yet, so I took a look at the notable loot we got off the enemy players. We got twenty-two silver, a handful of Weak Stamina, Health, and even Mana Potions. There was some jerky that healed more than the bread, and a few other common items that for the moment seemed worthless until crafting became a thing. We rolled for four uncommon items and two rares. Two sole survivor rings, two sole survivor necklaces, a rare staff, and a rare axe. Mie, I swear to god, was cheating. She won everything but two items, one of the rings and the axe . . . both of which Clara grabbed. Thankfully¡ªunlike Mie¡ªshe passed the axe over instantly. I took a look. {Grimhew¡¯s Axe} Rank: Rare Grade: Fine Slot: One-Handed +1 Constitution +3 Strength +5 Endurance +[3%-6%] Critical Strike Chance Happy with the pickup, I checked everybody else''s advancements. Clara had leveled to level eight, and Mie matched me at eleven. Clara leveled five times? I knew that experience was split evenly between Mie and me, because we had confirmed that when I took an entire pack of cats out by myself, she got half the experience. But . . . I didn¡¯t know it was evenly shared with those who were not part of the party. How did that work? She must have gotten an arrow in each of the enemy players. She had done a decent amount in that fight . . . but I had done the majority of the damage. Ah well. It¡¯s good she caught up a bit. ¡°Hey, would you mind sharing your abilities in party chat? I want to see what you are capable of and how we might be able to synergize with your abilities,¡± I asked Clara. ¡°Sure.¡± It was great to have something of a damage-over-time-based class to work beside. She shared three of her abilities, two of which she had used on me. There was the shade poison tipped arrow ability, which was considered a passive. All her arrows deal the same Minor Shade Poison debuff, I realized. That was fantastic. I looked at the other two she sent over. Active Ability: {Diving Shot} Description: You fire an arrow while diving in the air in the direction of your choice. You become hard to target. Your other cooldowns reset. Maximum Distance: 10 feet Critical Strike Chance: +25% Cost: 40 Stamina. Scales with player level. Cooldown: 10 seconds Active Ability: {Dead Eye Blow} Description: You fire an arrow shot at range that deals 200% damage but roots you for 1 second. Maximum Range: 100 feet Critical Strike Chance: +25% Cost: 50 Stamina. Scales with player level. Cooldown: 10 seconds There was potential with that Diving Shot. Your other cooldowns reset. I read that again. There was some double casting potential there. I figured if she could figure out her stamina supply, she could be a great initiator, and the constant damage she¡¯d deal would be a great asset over a long fight. After some deliberation, Mie picked up the Shield Battle Art. It was between that and two-handed sword. Right now she was a healer, but we really needed someone who could take hits, and we had picked up a common wooden round shield. I have to say . . . it only made her high-school-play look even worse. She sent her two new abilities over. Passive Ability: {Shield Bash} Description: Knocks back a single target up to 20 feet and deals damage relative to player¡¯s strength. Cast Time: Instant Cost: 50 mana. Scales with player level. Cooldown: 3 minutes Active Ability: {Holy Armor} Description: All damage up to 200% of targeted player¡¯s health is absorbed. Resists all effects. Lasts for ten seconds. Cast Time: 2 seconds Cost: 75 mana. Scales with player level. Cooldown: 30 minutes That Shield Bash seemed okay, but the Holy Armor felt really good. If she could take some hits . . . she just needs to be able to grab aggro. That was another thing I had picked up from the Hearth Manual. It spoke at length about Threat generation, and most of it was typical to any old MMORPG. The only new mechanic for me was called a ¡®New Threat'' roll. It occurred every time a new character dealt damage for the first time. Basically, there was a small chance that all the threat that had been generated so far would be dumped onto the new attacker. I didn¡¯t mind that mechanic so much. It meant mob stealing could backfire on other enemy players, but we still had to be careful and make sure we all had dealt some damage to each mob in every fight before we could relax into a rhythm. But, with the damage I was dealing now, it would be damn hard for anyone else to come close to ripping aggro from me after everyone had dealt damage at least once. After that, since they had shared their abilities with me, I shared my abilities with them. Mie immediately snickered. ¡°Really? Axe Crack?¡± ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± I said. ¡°C¡¯mon . . . Axe Crack? You of all people . . . totally would get an ability called . . . Ass Crack.¡± ¡°Oh come on. It¡¯s not like I had a choice . . . ¡± Then I registered what she just said. ¡°What do you mean I of all people would get an ability called Ass Crack?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t remember freshman year, do you?¡± she asked. Greg: Pause please. I need to piss. Sam: This isn¡¯t On Demand Greg. You can¡¯t just pause us, Jesus. Greg: I¡¯m gonna pop some popcorn. This seating is way better. Mie: GET OUT OF MY BED GREG! I sighed deeply. ¡°Anyways, yeah, I remember. Thanks for that.¡± Clara was close by and listening to everything. Freshman year of high school, I had been a little overweight . . . okay . . . a lot overweight. It had been a challenge reining in . . . the crack. Thankfully, that season of my life was pretty short lived. Mie was about to start talking again, but I glared at her and said, ¡°Don¡¯t you even dare.¡± She must have sensed my ire through our emotional connection, because I caught a grimace on her face and she didn¡¯t start back up. I breathed a sigh of relief. That was close. Clara was looking back and forth between us with a curious expression. ¡°Wait. Did you guys know each other before you done and died or something?¡± I hesitated, thinking. At this point, I still hadn¡¯t put a ton of thought into who or what Mie was. But her presence had been nothing but an advantage so far . . . sort of. I guess technically I was working with half the life credits as everyone else, but overall I didn¡¯t see her existence in my Soul Space¡ªor my actual mind¡ªas a bad thing. I glanced over my shoulder, toward the invisible camera that Greg was likely viewing us from. Are others watching? Do they know about Mie? Greg: Why are you looking at the camera? Stop. It¡¯s weirding me out. Mie, to my surprise, hadn¡¯t babbled her lips off, and instead was looking at me expectantly. Looking back at Clara, I kept my voice as low as possible. ¡°Let¡¯s just say for now . . . yes, we know each other, but let¡¯s . . . leave it at that.¡± I made a gesture with my head that suggested others were listening. Clara stared at me for a long moment. She probably didn¡¯t understand my odd glances over my shoulder if she hadn¡¯t logged back out, but I implored her with my eyes to let it drop . . . for now. After another moment of holding my gaze, she nodded. ¡°We all have our secrets.¡± She had no clue, how true that statement was. She had no . . . god damn. . . clue. Chapter 13 Chapter 13 As we made our way north through The Brink, we slowly worked our way up in elevation toward a range of mountains. Heavy snow fell all morning and early afternoon, keeping our vision obscured and our feet wet and cold. We decided to keep moving to get to a higher level recommended zone and to hopefully find another village. My stamina supply was running low, and Clara would be staying logged in, for now. Hopefully we could convince her to log out at some point. Sleeping in Hearth was super risky, in my opinion. We came upon a path through the middle of the mountain range, and as we did, bold words filled my vision. MERCHANT¡¯S WAY We made the decision to head through, to get a grasp of the area beyond. Based on the map at The Notch Inn that was now copied to my own map interface, we didn¡¯t know what was past this point. The map showed only blackness. I didn¡¯t like heading into unknown territory like this. As we made our way through the pass, the temperature dropped further. My feet were numb, my breathing labored, my snot turned to ice, and the one time I attempted to piss, it froze before it hit the ground. We layered cat pelts over our shoulders, desperately trying to stay warm over the next hour, and I was just about to say we should turn back or log out when the gray sky cleared, showing bright blue ahead. We worked our way through the remaining distance of snow and ice, and as we passed out of the mountains the snow began to melt and the trees fell away into a temperate grassland valley. RIVERMOOR Tier: Town There were rocks sticking out of the ground at odd angles, and a waterfall or two poured down from the mountains behind us into a roaring river which headed to the east. Beyond that, there was a large town surrounded by an aged stone wall, standing at the opposite side of the valley. I could see the tops of a few buildings that looked to be made of stone as well. Their roofs were covered with slate panels. I turned to Mie and Clara. ¡°What do you guys think?¡± Their eyes were moving left to right, and I could tell they were doing something with their interfaces. ¡°Wait . . . are you guys DMing each other right now?!¡± ¡°Maaaybe?¡± Mie said. I opened a chat with Mie. Sam: I swear to god, I will kill you if you are sharing my memories with Clara in a private message. I saw her stiffen noticeably. Sam: Oh my god. YOU ARE! Mie: Uhhh . . . no I¡¯m not. Sam: Liar. Uuugh. I don¡¯t even want to know. Mie: I swear! Well okay, just the one hilarious thing about you running into a glass door thinking it was open . . . in front of like, everyone you know. But other than that literally nothing I promise! Just trying to get to know her a bit. She seems great honestly. Good listener. Glad she is part of the party. I turned back toward the town across the way, a little growl audible only to me escaping by throat. Clara spoke up. ¡°I¡¯m good to take a gander at it.¡± I sighed. ¡°Sounds good. If we see any groups of players let¡¯s plan on back tracking, but otherwise I¡¯m good to check out this new location to try to make it to a PVP-free inn or something like it.¡± A few minutes later, we came up on a large wooden bridge. Though it looked wet and old, it still seemed solid and stable. There was a column of covered wagons approaching from the other side. Each wagon looked like something out of that nineties game Oregon Trail. They were covered with white cloth, and the chassis of each one was made out of solid wood. Their interiors were hidden from view. Each wagon¡ªthere were four in total¡ªwas pulled by a horse. Something about this activity seemed more expansive than normal. Suspicious, I counted eight NPCs. There were a pair to each wagon. Words spread across my vision as they approached. EVENT: Protect Merchants from Bandits Rank: Legendary You discovered an event. On successful completion you will receive rewards, experience, and reputation based on your current level. Dark figures stood up from among empty barrels and trash that lined the edges of the bridge. I saw at least six appear near the first two wagons, but more were showing up behind. They started to encircle the wagons that had stopped abruptly at the sight of the shady-looking figures. I inspected the three figures closest to us. Their nameplates . . . were red. Level 15 Bandit Crossbowman Level 13 Bandit Warrior x2 ¡°Uuuugh.¡± I was about to message the group to back up when a blazing green arrow whizzed by my head, striking the nearest warrior in the back. I turned and looked at Clara, giving her a quizzical look. She shrugged and fired off another shot that struck the same warrior bringing up his poison stacks to two. ¡°Okay then,¡± I said, taking charge. ¡°Mie, you¡¯re upfront with me. With all that plate . . . I might need you to tank a bit on this one. Clara, stay ten paces behind us, and make damn sure no one gets behind you.¡± She nodded and backed up a couple paces. I saw three more bandits circling the second wagon behind the first. All three on the first wagon had turned in our direction after the initial arrow landed. The two bandit warriors charged, and the one with the crossbow loosed a bolt right at me. I activated Parry, and this time I successfully blocked the attack. But after that . . . it was mayhem. The bandits around the second wagon were all warriors. They charged toward us as well, putting our current enemy count at six. I vaulted in and finished off the first warrior with a spear through his neck. I yelled back to Clara, ¡°TAKE OUT THE CROSSBOW . . . GUY!¡± I couldn¡¯t think as the closest warrior reached me and swung downward with his mace. I tried to block, but missed, and it crushed my left shoulder. Pain leapt throughout my body. I activated Sweeping Strike as they all grouped up around Mie. The sweep caught all four melee mobs, and I uhh. . . accidentally knocked Mie down as well. Rooted debuffs appeared over everyone, and transparent chains grabbed everyone''s legs. Even Mie''s . . . I had no idea allies were affected by our abilities . . . or took damage. Oops. ¡°WHAT THE HELL, SAM!¡± she cried. The four remaining warriors were thrusting and chopping Mie with their swords over and over as they all stood up. Off balance, they didn¡¯t deal as much damage as they could have . . . yet, and she took a number of cuts, but the plate seemed to be mitigating some of the weak attacks. They were all rooted, and none of them could move. But neither could Mie. I had trapped her there . . . to die. I took a step back, threw my spear, and popped a stam potion, cursing as I watched the cooldown on my stack of stam potions start up. One and a half minutes. I took another couple paces backwards and threw another spear at the same warrior. His health dropped to twenty-five percent. I repeated the action, watching Mie¡¯s health drop at a horrifying rate when a couple sword thrusts pierced through her plate armor. Flash Heal already used, she popped a health potion, and then her skin darkened to more of a golden brown as she activated her Skin Hardening ability. She was yelling and cursing my name. Her staff came up and down, its end swinging in large arches. Each blow dealt blunt damage, but it wasn¡¯t very effective against the bandit¡¯s plate armor. Sweat beaded off my forehead into my eyes. I repeated yet another Spear Throw and was awarded with a crit, taking out the warrior I had been focusing on. The rooted effect wore off everyone . . . but Mie didn¡¯t move. Her health was too low, and she was trying to cast her new ability Holy Armor on herself. I registered her cast bar for the first time. It kept appearing and disappearing as the damage kept interrupting her cast. I ran back in, activating sweep again, this time avoiding Mie, but her health was at zero, and then she was on all fours. ¡°No!¡± I shouted. Then I remembered the Death¡¯s Door ability. She was Knocked! Not dead. An immunity buff appeared over her, and it looked like she was covered in a golden transparent layer of air. Her Knocked health bar reset to half her max health. Her body, which had been savagely wrecked, repaired itself just enough for her to be able to move at ninety-percent speed on all fours. She was groaning and drooling blood. The bandits now ignored her due to her Knocked status. One swung a sword low and caught me in the side, dropping my health to seventy percent. A bolt dug into my calf, dropping it further. ¡°Gah! Shit.¡± I couldn¡¯t do anything for Mie, and the warriors were all on me. I fell in among them. I was yelling, I realized as I avoided blows from two of them. I started in with some Basic Attacks on the warrior that was closest. A blade slid into my shoulder, spraying blood over the wooden bridge below me. Another mace blow . . . took my jaw off completely and cut off my roar. A large yellow number floated up over my head. Critical hit. The world strobed red as a stacked Major Bleed debuff appeared over me. My health was dropping rapidly, but I was able to focus down another warrior despite my agony. Three left. Two melees. One ranged. I popped a weak health potion. My jaw flew back on, and my skin knitted back together. I popped out my axe into my main hand and Axe Cracked the next warrior that was closest to me, freezing him in place. Mie: ASS CRACK EM BABY! My pain now more manageable, I noticed another set of three bandits at the third wagon looking down the line of wagons at us, curious what all the commotion was here at the entrance to the bridge. Merchant slain 1/8 Breathing hard, I said, ¡°Oops,¡± as I backed away from the other warrior that wasn¡¯t stunned. I hadn¡¯t thought about the merchants in the third or fourth wagons. I noticed one of the dead warriors¡¯ corpses. He had dropped a common axe. I looted it quickly and popped that into my off hand, spear going into my inventory. I watched blood run from my hands down both the shafts and then onto the blades of the axe heads. The blood from them dripped onto the ground as the remaining non-stunned warrior approached cautiously now. In the distance at the far end of the bridge, I saw a large man move behind one of the merchants. There was a jerking motion, and the NPC merchant slumped sideways . . . dead. Merchant slain 2/8 I saw Mie crawling off to the side of the bridge . . . and something inside me . . . caught fire. Memories flooded my vision . . . tree branches blew in the wind, shedding snow. A car on its side. Ada, so proud of her loose tooth, grinning at me. Lily as a toddler running up to me, with her eyes to the floor . . . She was scared. She slammed into me . . . and gave me a massive hug. God. Fucking. Damn it. I was going to fight. No matter the obstacles. No matter the pain, I was going to find my family. I might be dead. I might be weak. But I was going to get stronger. I was going to hold my children again, damn it. I was going to fucking survive, for them. Fuck this reality. This game. Rage and heat pumped through me as I ignored the warrior right in front of me and activated Vaulting Strike on the one I had stunned. I jumped and darted towards him, and when I crashed into him, both my axes bit into his chest. I saw his stun fall off as I activated Quad Strike. Both my axes crashed into his sides once more, came back out, then cut into his neck. His head went flying off as I kicked his body, sending it to the ground, hard. ¡°Ah!¡± I took a step back at the sight, once again shocked that I had done that. These axes . . . I took back my earlier thoughts about dual wielding. Dual wielding . . . is still damn awesome. Too late, I heard the fast clinking of foot falls behind me. The remaining warrior¡¯s stun was up, and he landed a couple slashing blows that bit deeply into my back. I roared out a, ¡°HOLY FUUU¡ª!¡± then a growl. ¡°This place is THE WORST!¡± The blows had dealt massive damage and dropped my health to twenty percent. Blood was everywhere, my vision was pulsing. I turned around toward the warrior and was about to swing when another blazing green arrow¡ªwhich I assumed was Clara¡¯s Dead Eye ability¡ªtook him through the eye. He fell forward, dead. I turned toward the crossbowman . . . who was also dead. Good work, Clara. I ran over to Mie. Through my red and strobing vision, I saw the three new bandits from the third wagon coming up on the second wagon. As quickly as I could, I started the Hand of God ability, watching the insane ten second cast bar appear in order to resurrect her. I looked up again, anxiety building. The figures were at the first wagon now and fast approaching. The cast completed, and Mie popped back up at fifty percent health, staff in hand. I noticed her mana was also at half. I took cover behind her towering figure as she immediately cast Hardening Skin again, taking reduced damage from an incoming ball of fire. It rushed over her. She screamed out, ¡°I DON¡¯T LIKE PLAYING TANK!¡± The smell of burning metal, hair, and skin met my nostrils. I inspected the next group, peeking out from behind Mie. Level 15 Bandit Mage x1 Level 12 Bandit Warrior x2 She sent me a Flash Heal, getting me back to near-full health. I checked my stam and health potion cooldowns. They were close to being available again. Mie¡¯s mana potion must have already been off cooldown because she popped another, topping her mana bar off. She also used a health potion, which I couldn¡¯t blame her for. I appreciated the heal she had sent me, instead of herself. Her off-hand arm knitted back together, the gouge in her shoulder healed, and the scent of burning hair and skin wisped away. Then the two warriors were on us. I Ass Cracked one, ignoring the fact that I was now mentally calling it . . . Ass Crack . . . and dodged back behind Mie as another fireball came in. I popped a stamina potion as soon as it came off cooldown. Clara had already started in on the mage who was now targeting her, firing arrow after arrow. ¡°Guys!¡± she yelled. I didn¡¯t hesitate. I put together my combo. Popping my spear back into my main hand again, I vaulted and stabbed the mage in the shoulder. Then with Sweeping Strike, I knocked him down and interrupted his cast. I laid into him, storing my spear instantly and replacing it with my two axes. They popped into my hands as I swung downward. For a level fifteen mage . . . I thought it would take a little more than a Quad Strike, Ass Crack, and a few Basic Attacks. But I tore him up, and he fell fast in his cloth armor, unable to do anything. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. I turned back to the warriors and helped finish them off. They had been steadily working down Mie, but she seemed okay handling two now by ducking behind her new shield, reducing damage with her defensive cooldowns, and whacking them with her staff. Once I joined, we brought them down together. The remaining merchants found their way across the bridge and kept their distance from the fighting, watching from behind Clara. ¡°Hey! What¡¯s going on here? HEY!¡± a rough man¡¯s voice called out. I turned to see a large overweight man with a red nameplate walking towards us. He was on the shadow side of the wagons, and as he stepped out into the light I inspected him. Blackthorn Level 25 Bandit Leader HP 3200/3200 He carried a massive two-handed hammer, dragging it behind himself as if it weighed three hundred pounds. The old wood of the bridge splintered in its wake. As he approached, he slowed down and looked at the corpses of his men. I backed up, trying to give us some time to recover, but the ¡®out of combat¡¯ message didn¡¯t appear. I looked at my stamina bar. It was low again. Stamina was becoming a massive bottleneck. I had so many stamina abilities, that were all on rather short cooldowns. I didn¡¯t have a big enough pool of stamina to keep using them for a long fight like this. I checked my stam potion stack and saw that it was at two minutes left. Since I had already used two stamina potions so far in this fight, its cooldown had started at three minutes. I watched as it continued to fall, hitting one minute and forty seconds. So, if I used another stamina potion in this fight, its cooldown would go to six minutes. Blackthorn let out a little chuckle. It seemed . . . ominous. ¡°Ah well,¡± he said, kicking the mage. ¡°You did me a favor. He was always complaining.¡± He pulled a small bundle out of a pocket, and I tensed as he pulled on some leather fasteners. ¡°To be honest, this is actually way better.¡± He glanced up at us and pulled a syringe of black liquid out of the case. He looked at me and held my eyes. Keeping my gaze, he slowly stuck himself with the syringe, injecting the solution into a thick vein. ¡°Now I don¡¯t have to pay all these idiots.¡± His neck whipped back in a jerking motion as the transformation took effect. His entire body rippled as he doubled¡ªno, tripled¡ªin size, his veins turned black, and his muscles bulged, reminding me of when that big green fella transforms. He no longer looked overweight, and instead ridiculously ripped. Muscles on top of more muscles. His weapon¡ªthe large two-handed hammer¡ªmade a lot more sense. I saw a new icon appear over his health bar as the buff took effect. {Dark Blood Rage} for 5 minutes {Dark Blood Rage} Description: All stamina costs are reduced by 75% for 5 minutes. Damage increased by 100%. He tossed the hammer from hand-to-hand, grinning. Then he went into a sprinter stance and performed a dash¡ªwhich was more like an explosion that sent him jumping horizontally¡ªappearing right in front of Mie, his hammer already in motion. Mie however, had activated her new ability Holy Armor with godlike reaction speed. The hammer came crashing down onto her head, but a small shield appeared at the point of impact, resisting the blow. Cracks cascaded down the invisible three-dimensional shield all around her, almost breaking it. He had just done close to two times Mie¡¯s max health in damage . . . in one attack. Oh shit. We have a problem. Getting hit by that hammer would be a one shot for any of us. I didn¡¯t hesitate and neither did Clara. Her arrows started back up, peppering the hulking figure. She drew his attention, ripping aggro off of Mie. He used his dash ability again and landed next to her, but she dodged his swing with her Diving Shot and got another hit in. I vaulted and struck out with a spear, which dug into his massive back muscles. His attention turned to me. It took him time to turn, and so I popped what was probably my last stamina potion for this encounter, activated a sweep, trying to knock him down. A big fat red ¡®Resist¡¯ floated up. ¡°He resists roots! Ah¡ª!¡± I leapt back a couple steps, dodging a swing. I tried to Ass Crack him just has he was about to initiate another attack and was rewarded with a stun notification as my axe crashed into his face. It didn¡¯t do much damage, but it blessedly froze him, his body covered in a transparent blue. I let him have it for a couple seconds with my axes, landing four solid blows before I backed up again. ¡°MIE, SWAP!¡± I shouted, backing up and then running behind her as the stun fell off. Clara was still firing, and I checked his health bar. It was still at ninety-five percent . . . and we had just blown through all of our crowd control abilities, which were now all on cooldown. He let out a roaring laugh, activating his dash again. He closed the gap on Mie, and before I could do anything, a glass-shattering explosion sounded as he tore through Mie¡¯s Holy Armor. I didn¡¯t know what to do. We had to¡ª Another blow crushed Mie¡¯s shoulder, dropping her health to zero and Knocking her. I got in another basic attack, and as Ass Crack came off cooldown I activated it immediately. But . . . he resisted it this time. ¡°NO!¡± I yelled in anger, realizing now my mistake in assuming the stun would always take effect. The blow to my spine was horrific. I could feel my entire body get smashed. My bones broke, my muscles splatted. A moment later, my body reformed on all fours, and a little Immune buff appeared over me. I had been Knocked. No . . . I heard Clara shouting. I tried to yell, but my vocal cords failed me as I coughed up blood. So I messaged her in party chat instead. Sam: MAXIMUM RANGE. Stay at maximum range, and kite him! Clara: I DON¡¯T HAVE ANY KITES. Rage swelled inside of me once again. I was out of the fight. If Clara died . . . we would lose two more damn life credits. Heat and blood was rising inside of my throat. I was drowning in rage, barely able to breathe. Sam: Just keep moving away from him after every shot. How many stacks of poison are you at? Clara: 7. Now 8. I looked up through all the red in my vision. One of my eyelids was sealed shut with dried blood. I saw Blackthorn leap after Clara and saw her activate her Diving Shot ability to get away from him once again. He was getting frustrated and tearing after her as fast as he could. I thought that maybe the Dark Blood buff had some sort of movement-decreasing effect. Or maybe the guy was just massive and had low agility. Still, she was only level eight. . . and if a single blow Knocked both Mie and me . . . the odds were not good. Her only chance was if she continued to outpace Blackthorn, long enough to let a full twenty poison stacks do their work. Long minutes passed as she kept at it, diving when she needed to. I gave her all the information I could, telling her exactly what I would do the entire time. Our immunity timers expired, and I noticed that our health didn¡¯t start falling even though we were Knocked. I inspected her again, trying to think through all the red. I noticed something I had missed. Wait. She¡¯s level ten! I was about to message her again to check her new ability . . . when the worst happened. Blackthorn used a new ability after his health bar dropped below twenty-five percent, which I assumed was due to some kind of boss health threshold being reached. Clara had just done another dive too, so that was on cooldown. Her back was toward him. Sam: WATCH OUT! The massive hammer flew from Blackthorn¡¯s hands, and just before I thought we were going to wipe, Clara blinked. One second, she was running away from a flying hammer that was a few turns from crashing into her, the next second she was a few more yards away and to the side, pulling back on her bow and releasing another shot. I inspected the boss. Blackthorn Level 25 Human {Dark Blood Hangover} for 5 minutes {Minor Shade Poison} x20 for 60 seconds HP 720/3200 {Dark Blood Hangover}: Description: All stamina costs are increased by 75%. Damage decreased by 100%. Huh. I guess that injection has some kind of aftereffect. {Minor Shade Poison} x20 Description: Dealing 20 damage per second. Oh my god. We actually might make it out of this. His buff had turned to a pretty harsh debuff, and Clara had stacked her poisons to twenty damage per second . . . I did some quick math. This was going to be over in less than a minute if she could avoid him. I tensed my entire body as he once again dashed at Clara. She blinked and appeared right behind him. Sam: CLARA NO! What is she doing?! I was so angry. I couldn¡¯t do anything. Then she activated Diving Shot and used its all-other-abilities-cooldown-reset mechanic. She blinked again. It put herself right next to . . . me. She gave me a little wink as she touched my shoulder, starting to cast Hand of God. Mie started whispering, ¡°Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god,¡± as the boss got closer. Sam: What are you doing!? JUST KEEP KITING! Clara: :wink emoji: Mie: :troll emoji: :troll emoji: :troll emoji: :joy emoji: The rez completed, and I popped back up at fifty percent, facing away from the boss. Before I could turn and face him, Clara popped a stamina potion and fired her Dead Eye Shot. I watched it whiz past my head in what felt like slow motion until it struck Blackthorn between the eyes. He went rigid. I looked closer at him now, wiping the blood from my eye. His face was bloated, his body covered in arrows, and his eyes were unfocused. Black and red flowed out of him everywhere. He fell onto his knees. Then his corpse splatted onto the bridge, and a golden glow sputtered to life around it. Clara was laughing and rezzing Mie. I walked over to her stiffly, and clenched her shoulder hard. ¡°Don¡¯t fuck around like that ever again,¡± I said. I was shaking. Angry at her. Angry at myself. ¡°Let go of me, boy,¡± she said. I released my grip. Boy? I breathed through my nose, trying to calm myself down. "Sorry,¡± I muttered. ¡°I just thought we were about to wipe.¡± We all sat down among the dead bandit corpses, and for a minute we all just ate bread and drank water in silence as we replenished our stores. I watched my logs continue to spit out information in the corner of my eye. Finally, once the rage inside me subsided. I felt exhaustion, relief, and excitement. They were hitting me all at once, and I didn¡¯t know where to start. I looked over at Clara. She had just taken out a level twenty-five boss by . . . herself. ¡°You are . . . a boss,¡± I said over to her. ¡°Thank you.¡± She shrugged and gave me a small smile. If not for her. We would have just lost two life credits. That fact alone made me grateful we¡¯d decided to take a chance and invite her to the party. I turned my attention to my logs, still not quite comprehending that we had survived. I skimmed what I had missed and more. You killed bandits x9! You received 450 XP! You killed Blackthorn! You received 400 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 13! You successfully completed the event ¡®Protect Merchants from Bandits¡¯! Your reputation with the town of Rivermoor has significantly increased! You unlocked the follower system! Eldric Thornwood is now a follower. Hilda Stonehelm is now a follower. Gareth Ironhand is now a follower. Lysandra Moonshadow is now a follower. Borin Thunderforge is now a follower. Roderick Blackwood is now a follower. Talk to Eldric Thornwood to receive event rewards! That follower system was worth looking into. If I could amass a large following over the next few months . . . My thoughts drifted to what things would be like during phase two. I wondered how that would work as players continued to dwindle. I put that thought line on pause as I headed over to Eldric, who had fled to the bridge entrance with the other merchants. He was well spoken and clearly sentient . . . which kind of sucked. He thanked me for saving them, sobbed about his two friends, and then handed over a few items. I felt awful we hadn¡¯t been strong enough to save everyone. I exhaled as more logs cascaded down my feed. You received 1000 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 15! You unlocked the ability {Reaper¡¯s Dance} Active Ability: {Reaper¡¯s Dance} Description: You chain hop between your selected targets, dealing 200% damage to each. You can¡¯t be targeted during the duration of this ability. Cast Time: Instant Cost: 75 Stamina. Scales with player level. Cooldown: 10 minutes You received {Merchant¡¯s Pendant} {Merchant¡¯s Pendant} Rank: Epic Grade: Stellar Slot: Neck +5 Constitution +5 Agility +5 Strength +5 Endurance +25% Movement speed for you and party members within 30 meters You received {Distilled Water} x30 You received {Strong Heart Berry} x30 You received {Gold Coin} x5 The readouts just kept coming, and I realized the corner of my mouth was wet. I swallowed. That experience gain . . . Sam: Greg. We need to talk. I just gained four levels in one event. You told me grinding is the best way to level?? Mie: Yeah, what the hell Greg. I just hit level 14. Explain yourself. Greg: Yeah . . . I was watching. Honestly not sure what to say. Events are pretty rare, but then Tittles did say there would be an increase in events . . . and it might be because you guys are in a level 12-20 area. You . . . shouldn¡¯t have survived. Sam: I agree. Next time a warning would be nice. Like ¡°HEY, ODDS OF SUCCESS ARE LOW THERE¡±. Greg: I was in the bathroom . . . Mie: :barf emoji: The pendant was fantastic to have as well. I popped that into my neck slot, which had still been empty. It appeared under my shirt, and I felt my legs strengthen. That speed increase was going to be nuts. I peeked back at the bridge anxious to get back to the pile of loot. I saw a couple blue glows, a purple glow, and the golden glow still coming from Blackthorn. The dopamine drip was real. I hated that I wanted nothing else but to move in that direction. I was about to turn back and head that way, but Eldric touched me on the arm. ¡°If you ever need anything. We will be there.¡± I noticed an icon show up in my interface and I mentally selected it. It was a list of all my followers. The six merchants were considered followers, but there were a couple other names including Eleanor who was listed as a ¡®Hot Fling¡¯ and Mark who was listed as a ¡®Friend.¡¯ Each one had various actions . . . Eleanor¡¯s made me blush, but the new followers had actions like ¡®Autonomy,¡¯ ¡®Summon,¡¯ and ¡®Request.¡¯ I tried the summon action out on one of the other merchants, and he immediately turned away from watching the river flow by to walk over to me. I selected autonomy, and he stopped, turned around, and sat back down. He stared into the distance, still in shock from losing his friends. ¡°Huh,¡± I said softly to myself ¡°That¡¯s dead useful.¡± I walked over to the glowing bodies, clicked loot, and did a little half jump, half fist pump as I saw the readout. You received {Rabbit Jerky} x28 You received {Cloak of the Bandit} x2 You received {Hood of the Bandit} x3 You received {Chest Guard of the Bandit} x3 You received {Leggings of the Bandit} x1 You received {Gauntlets of the Bandit} x3 You received {Greeves of the Bandit} x1 You received {Wrist Guard of the Bandit} x2 You received {Leather Gloves of the Bandit} x1 You received {Leather Gloves of the Bandit} x1 You received {Silver Coin} x83 Roll for {Spear of the River Guardian} Roll for {Staff of Agony} Roll for {Cliff¡¯s Bearded Axe} Roll for {Distilled Ring of Blackthorn¡¯s Blood} I was speechless as we rolled for the last four items. Mie pointedly deciding to not pass on any of them. Clara took a swing at the legendary ring too . . . but in the end Mie of course won everything. I checked her character readout to make sure there wasn¡¯t some crazy luck attribute going on. There wasn¡¯t. We went through the now normal fake trade a few times, and I stayed patient. At least I tried to stayed patient until she abandoned the trade . . . for the fifth time. ¡°Oh my god. JUST GIVE THEM TO ME!¡± I yelled . . . then deflated and pinched the bridge of my nose in exhaustion, unhappy I had taken the bait yet again. ¡°There we go. That¡¯s all I needed. Just remember: I am giving these to you,¡± she said. Finally the trade went through and the three items that made sense for my build showed up in my character inventory. There was a rare spear that had what looked like a shark tooth at the end and featured a smooth blue wooden haft, a bearded axe with a nice leather grip, and a ring with a black stone. I equipped each, one at a time, savoring the look and feel. {Spear of the River Guardian} Rank: Rare Grade: Fine Slot: Primary +2 Strength +2 Constitution +1 Agility {Cliff¡¯s Bearded Axe} Rank: Epic Grade: Masterwork Slot: One Handed +5 Strength +5 Endurance {Distilled Ring of Blackthorn¡¯s Blood} Rank: Legendary Grade: Perfect Slot: Finger +30 stamina regeneration per second +10 Endurance Active Ability: {Improved Dark Blood Rage} {Improved Dark Blood Rage} Description: All stamina costs are reduced by 50% for 10 minutes. Damage increased by 200% for 10 minutes. Side Effects: Movement speed decreased by 25% for 1 minute. Cooldown: 30 minutes ¡°You always look a little dumb . . . but now you look really dumb,¡± Mie said. My mouth had been slowly dropping the more I read, and now it was hanging wide open. ¡°Wh-whaat?¡± I stammered and gathered myself. ¡°I feel like I just broke the game. I just. I just. They. It . . . Stamina.¡± ¡°Are you okay there?¡± Clara said, laughing. ¡°This . . . I mean. Yes. But.¡± ¡°Yeah, he is broken. Classic Sam. Always broken in some way. Like that time he broke his penis,¡± Mie said nonchalantly. ¡°Broken . . . penis?¡± Clara asked. ¡°Yeah, happened all the time¡ª¡± Mie started. I shook myself out of it, forced by Mie to protect my honor in front of Clara once again. ¡°It happened ONE TIME a long time ago. Damn it, Mie. Anyways, look at this ring! I basically don¡¯t even need stamina potions anymore, which means my abilities are only throttled by their cooldowns. The Dark Blood Rage side effect is manageable too as long as we have this merchant pendant on.¡± I stopped talking, thinking. There were some potential combos possible with Reaper¡¯s Dance coming into the mix too. The upgrades were going to take some testing. There was still so much to figure out. Mangled bodies surrounded me, and blood seeped through cracks in the wood below my feet. I breathed, my mind churning as I looked across the river toward the town of Rivermoor. The dopamine rush over, I felt . . . cold. There was so much death, pain, and terror all around me. The woman pleading to the Soul Space camera filled my vision once more. I watched her in my mind¡¯s eye . . . get squished. I remembered her smashed head . . . and a single eyeball . . . poking out next to a flattened foot. Why. Why is this my reality? Why are we even here? What¡¯s the point? The red liquid inside of me started to pulse once more, like a pump filling me up. My hearing faded away, tears tugged at the edges of vision, and more memories of pain battered against the black barrier beneath my feet. I saw my family, in pain. A shiver ran down my spine as something solidified in my very core. I needed answers, and I needed to protect them. I needed to tell my kids I was okay. That everything would be okay. I looked over at Mie and Clara. Mie was poking at one of the dead bodies, and Clara was crouched and rotating her shoulders as if they were stiff, her eyes glazed over looking at her interface. She looked so small, despite the way she had just taken out a level twenty-five boss herself. For what felt like the hundredth time since I had awoken in this strange existence, I had relied on someone else to get me out of a pinch. Mie had saved me in the entry event, Fred, the divine dwarf, and Mie had saved me in The Black Domain recruitment event, and now Clara had saved us in this event. The red liquid turned purple within me. It turned . . . to ice. I needed to get stronger. I needed . . . more power. I looked at the ornate ring that bore a large black stone on my right index finger, Blackthorn¡¯s Ring. Then I looked up to the far northwest. A mountain with a city shrouded in swirling black mist was just visible over the treetops. Lines of inky black liquid trickled from the forest in that direction. Wind blew over the river, its roar loud in my ears. I was going to find my family. I was going to find all of them. I was going to win this fucking game, for them and then . . . I was going to figure out what the hell was going on. I just needed to keep moving. I¡¯m on my way, Rach. Wherever you are, I''ll find you. Part 2 - Chapter 14 Part 2 Chapter 14 We traveled to Rivermoor, the town we had seen from the bridge, which lay on the opposite side of the valley. The vicinity was considered a level twelve to twenty area, and that was all for the good in my opinion as we had already been exhausted from the fight with Blackthorn and didn¡¯t need anything too taxing. As we made the journey, we took out a couple groups of flying monkey-bat things that every once in a while we would aggro from our location on the road. They reminded me of those flying squirrels, only they had bat wings and made terrifying monkey-goblin-like sounds as they swooped over our heads and attempted to dig their sharp claws into us. The experience they gave wasn¡¯t enough to level, and by the time we got to the Rivermoor inn, ¡®The Dragon¡¯s Goddess,¡¯ I didn¡¯t even care. I was so damn tired, I could have fallen asleep standing up. We¡¯d seen a few yellow nameplates out and about on our journey to the inn. Some duos now, but mostly solo players still. Once we passed through the gate of the town, I concluded that it was . . . just a basic medieval town. Unremarkable in every way. The inn itself, however . . . was packed with white and yellow nameplates of NPCs and players. With it being a PVP-safe zone, folks seemed more willing to sit and chat. I downloaded the inn map to my own, then grabbed three frothy lagers while the rest of the party took a long empty table in the corner. I sat next to Mie, facing the room, and Clara sat across from us. I raised my mug. ¡°Cheers to Clara. For saving our asses. Sorry again for my reaction back there.¡± ¡°No harm done,¡± she responded. We clinked our three clay mugs together, then each took a swig. It was good. Smooth and crisp, refreshing, with just a hint of a sweet and malty undertone. I took another pull as I watched two players eyeing our nameplates. One waved hesitantly. I . . . waved back. They walked over. One was a tall and thin Landorian, who wore a longsword at his waist and had a marvelous mustache and a slight smile. His nameplate told me his name was Loc and that he was level twelve. The other was a short, three-foot skinny green goblin with pointy ears, blue eyes, and an intelligent stare. His nameplate told me his name was Liam, his level was eleven, and that he was partied with Loc. ¡°Mind if we join?¡± the tall Landorian¡ªLoc¡ªasked. I looked at Mie who shrugged, then Clara, who also shrugged. I sighed inwardly. ¡°Sure. Why not?¡± I said. ¡°Sweet. Thanks. I¡¯m Loc, and this is Liam.¡± He gestured to the goblin as they both sat down next to Clara. He put out his hand for a handshake. When I took it, I noticed an ¡®Add to Contacts¡¯ option right below ¡®Add to Party,¡¯ as I started to shake his hand. A prompt appeared in my feed. Player OGDuckGameChamp(Loc) has made a contact request. {Accept} or {Decline}? I accepted, then shook Liam¡¯s hand and did the same thing. Couldn¡¯t hurt to be able to chat with these guys whenever since they seem friendly enough. ¡°I¡¯m Sam, and this is Mie and Clara.¡± I pointed at each in turn. ¡°You guys are leveling up nicely it seems,¡± Loc said, gesturing above our heads. ¡°Our guides keep saying questing is the fastest way to level, but we found a rare event yesterday, and I¡¯m starting to think they are . . . just wrong. What¡¯s your guys¡¯ secret, if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± ¡°We have gotten lucky with a couple events. They seem to give more experience than killing basic mobs for sure. Significantly more. Not sure about questing; we haven¡¯t even done a quest yet.¡± I didn¡¯t want to share too much here. For all I knew these players were scouting for loot. I didn¡¯t want to broadcast that we had just completed a Legendary event and found a Legendary item. I had a thought. ¡°Say, do you guys have any quests that point to The Black Domain? Any idea what¡¯s up with all the inky black lines?¡± I raised my hand to the innkeeper, motioning for her to keep the beer flowing. She had two in hand almost as if she had preemptively read my mind, and she set them on the table for our guests. ¡°Thanks, man,¡± said Loc, looking surprised. He took a sip, then said, ¡°Damn, that¡¯s good. Uhm, let me check my quest log . . . No it doesn¡¯t look like it. Why?¡± Huh, I thought. ¡°I just assumed there would be a questline associated with it. Definitely feels like there should be.¡± If it¡¯s not part of a quest . . . then maybe it is an event? If that¡¯s the case, then it¡¯s probably a one-time thing. And since events had been giving us insane XP, it seemed like a worthwhile endeavor to check the area out. Loc shrugged. Liam remained quiet, scanning the room closely. He seemed like the wary type. ¡°That¡¯s a level twenty to thirty region,¡± Loc said. ¡°Even if there was a quest, we wouldn¡¯t be ready for it. Are you thinking about heading there? Seems risky, even for you guys.¡± I checked my map. He was right about the recommended level . . . but I was pretty sure he didn¡¯t know Mie was a healer, and I still felt heading that way was the right call. Taking out tougher enemies seemed to reward you handsomely with XP, and if it was an event area too? ¡°Probably not,¡± I lied. Seeing how this was a survival to the last party . . . where our lives were on the line . . . I wasn¡¯t going to just tell someone our whereabouts or where we were headed. Mie and Clara¡ªmostly Mie¡ªwere surprisingly quiet and just let me do the talking. I looked around the now-crowded inn. The noise had grown to a low but thunderous din. I noticed that most if not all the players were lower-leveled than our party. But maybe the higher-leveled ones are still out there. Never resting. Ugh. I was so mentally tired. Going back out now . . . would be too risky. I brought my attention back to the room. It sounded like Rivermoor might have a questline we hadn¡¯t picked up by the amount of folks running in and out to talk to the innkeeper. She kept repeating the phrase ¡®did you save my Tommy boy?!¡¯ what must have been a thousand times, and at some point, it just became more background noise, like a broken record playing the same thing over and over. Now that I thought about it, we hadn¡¯t really even come across any quests. Knowing I was about to look super dumb, I asked, ¡°Hey where do you guys even get quests?¡± Yup, both of their eyes went wide with shock. Like, ¡®how are you that high leveled and you don¡¯t know where to get quests?¡¯ shocked. ¡°They are on the bulletin boards next to the map,¡± Loc said. I looked over. Oh. That makes a lot of sense. Loc¡¯s face twisted up in a grimace. ¡°Do you guys have any idea what the hell is going on? Or know who Tittles is, or anything?¡± ¡°Probably no more than you,¡± I said. I leaned in, deciding to be plain, and lowered my voice as I made a small gesture around the room. ¡°But, at the end of the day, it¡¯s every man, every party, for themselves. It¡¯s messed up for sure.¡± He clenched his teeth. ¡°Man, if that isn¡¯t true . . . we are just so in the dark. We don¡¯t even know how much time we have until phase two. And what even is phase two ?¡± I had my theories about phase two. I was pretty confident it would be some sort of battle-royale-like mechanic. In those types of games, boundaries would appear which you would have to stay inside in order to survive from gas, fire, ice, or some other fatal area. While I liked these guys, at the end of the day they were not in our party. So I just shrugged and chuckled as I said, ¡°Probably something bad. These afterlife runners know how to make a bad time.¡± He laughed and, smiling, took another swig of his beer. I scanned the room again. All these people . . . are going to die. We . . . are all going to die. I sighed. Loc brought up a good point too. How long do we even have left? I had no idea. We continued talking with Loc for another thirty minutes or so, and even Mie jumped in and talked about . . . well, Mie things. So mainly about Greg. She asked them if their guides¡¯ names were Greg too and told them how she was worried about there being more than one Greg. Yeah. Mie stuff. Clara and even Liam made a few comments, and we got along well enough with them, but concluded in the end that it didn¡¯t make sense to try and join forces. There just wasn¡¯t a good way to combine a party of three with a party of two, and I wasn¡¯t really sure we needed another DPS class, which they both were. After that, they got up and sat down at another table with two other players. Maybe they will group up with them. I wished them the best, I really did. But since it was last party standing . . . it was probably best to not get too close to anyone. After my third frothy Rivermoor Lager, I was starting to be able to tell pretty quickly which NPCs were sentient and which were not. The innkeeper¡ªshe repeated the phrase ¡®did you save my Tommy boy?!¡¯ for the millionth time¡ªwas not despite her well-timed beers. A couple NPCs at the bar kept giving me glances though, and it seemed like they might be. I was about to get up to go talk with them when Mie DM¡¯d me. Mie: Hungry again, :sad face emoji: Sam: Roger that. A few players trickled up the staircase to the rooms upstairs. We found the innkeeper and paid her three silver, which was for one room for a single night. Now that we had some gold in hand, the expense seemed trivial. Clara headed that way, and Mie and I logged out in the inn common room. It was nice, knowing we would get the double XP boost just from spending at least four hours resting here. Tomorrow will be a productive day. When we logged out . . . we found Greg passed out on Mie¡¯s bed. Popcorn bags were everywhere, and little greasy popcorn kernels were scattered all around the floor and on Mie¡¯s bed. The smell slammed into me and instantaneously brought me back to movie nights with the girls. Ada always loved those little greasy popcorn kernels. . . She would stuff them all in her mouth like a chipmunk and suck on them for the entire duration of the movie. I shuddered, the memory of her spitting them all into the popcorn bowl as the credits rolled in the background plastered in my mind. I looked at the kernels all around the floor . . . Has Greg been spitting them out? God damn it, Greg. I was about to reprimand him, but Mie . . . beat me to it. ¡°GREG! YOU CORN-GLURPING FUCK!¡± Huh, that¡¯s a new one. Greg sat up with a jolt, looking startled and out of sorts. While Mie let Greg have it . . . verbally, my gaze landed on the little black camera square on the short wall behind where we spawned in. A thought registered as I looked at it. Are they . . . watching us right now? Did they know about Mie? I stepped over Mie and grabbed one of the popcorn bags as I went. I ripped it open so I could get at the bottom. I remembered doing that as a kid . . . to uhh . . . lick it. I shuddered again. I knew exactly where Ada got her weirdness, I just didn¡¯t like to admit it. I shook myself out of the past, ran my thumb along the greasy, buttery bottom of the bag, then rubbed it all over the camera lens. The motion reminded me of a video I had seen when scrolling through one of those endless, mind-numbing social media platforms. The content creator had taken some Vaseline and rubbed it on the camera lens, making him, the subject, go all blurry and unfocused. Then he said something I couldn¡¯t help myself but repeat in a whisper. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°There you go, Tittles . . . ¡®And . . . now, you have an Android.¡¯ ¡± SOUL SPACE AGREEMENT BREACH DETECTED COMMENCING DISPOSAL IN: 30 seconds 29 seconds The words blasted out over the TV speakers like a loud fire alarm. They also hit my logs at the exact same time. The overhead invisible lights flicked off, roaring loud music started up, and the TV screen strobed between red and blue over and over as a loud siren blared over the music. Commencing . . . disposal . . . Oh, shit. Greg, now wide awake, jumped up off the bottom bunk and rushed over, shouting through the immensely loud noise, ¡°WHAT DID YOU DO?! NO! NO! NO! YOU IDIOT!¡± The blood rushed from my head, as I realized what was about to happen. Anything . . . but . . . this. 14 seconds 13 seconds Greg was in full-on panic mode, rushing over to the transporter and slamming his back to it. Mie shouted something that I couldn¡¯t hear. The room flashed from red to blue, red to blue. 5 seconds 4 seconds I took my white cotton T-shirt by the hem and frantically wiped at the thin layer of popcorn grease on the camera lens. ¡°OHHHH!¡± I started yelling. 3 seconds 2 seconds 1 second ¡°FUUUU¡ª!¡± DISPOSAL DISENGAGED ¡°PHHHHHHHH . . . wow!¡± I finished, every single muscle in my body clenched. The overhead lights flicked back on, the music stopped, and the TV screen turned to black. I let out a long slow breath. ¡°Jesus.¡± ¡°What the hell was that?!¡± Mie asked. I turned around. She was still on the ground, looking afraid and confused. Greg stood on the opposite side of the Soul Space, looking at the TV screen in absolute horror. I glanced back at the screen. It was no longer black. Incident reported Personnel visit required Personnel in transit ¡°God damn it, Greg,¡± I said, ¡°you should have said something!¡± ¡°I TOLD YOU TO NOT COVER THE CAMERA!¡± he bellowed back at me. ¡°JESUS CHRIST! IT¡¯S NOT COMPLICATED!¡± Now that he said it, I did vaguely remember him telling me that. I looked at Mie. Another wave of panic hit me square in the chest. ¡°Shit! Hide!¡± At this point, I was about ninety percent certain she wasn¡¯t supposed to be here. ¡°Okay!¡± Her little baby arms and legs started flailing desperately. ¡°Wait. I can¡¯t move. Remember?!¡± I looked around frantically for somewhere to hide her, and as I did a new thought speared into my mind so suddenly it almost felt physical. This . . . is a cage. There was nowhere to hide. ¡°Mie. Log in,¡± I said. ¡°What?¡± ¡°LOG IN. NOW!¡± ¡°Uhm . . . okay? But we just got here and I¡¯m hungry¡ªAhh!¡± I swooped her up, bundled her up in some sheets, tossed her on the bed, covering her with a couple pillows. ¡°Just do it!¡± I said, finishing in a curt whisper as a little pop sounded. I slowly turned around toward the spawn point. I glanced at Greg as I turned. He stood frozen, his entire body as far away from the spawn point as it could possibly get. Even his head was up against the wall. With his head in that position, I noticed some kind of tarnished necklace . . . or collar around his neck. It dug into his skin which had apparently made it hard to see until now. That¡¯s . . . disturbing. He had a look of intense fear plastered on his face as he gazed at the new arrival. ¡°Hello again, Greg.¡± I fully turned around to find . . . a little puffed-up cat-bunny . . . thing. It had the ears and eyes of a cat, but the long face and nose of a bunny. It sat on its back legs, licking one of its paws¡ªno. Those are weird . . . hands. It¡¯s licking . . . its hands. Eww. ¡°Feels like I was just here yesterday, with¡ª¡± The cat-bunny creature glanced down at her clipboard. ¡°¡ªHarold, was it? That¡¯s two incident reports in under a week, Greg. You know better than that. Don¡¯t make it three. Okay. You know the drill.¡± She pulled a little remote with a single blue button off her belt. ¡°Please,¡± Greg said in a tone I didn¡¯t like . . . at all. ¡°What¡¯s happening, Greg?¡± I asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the pillow Mie was under shift down slightly. ¡°Please,¡± Greg whined. ¡°It¡¯s these dumb player¡ª¡± Click. Greg slammed to the ground, convulsing. Spit from the mouth. Flappy cheeks quivering. Yellow puddle growing. Seconds passed. ¡°Stop,¡± I said. A part of me realized I was shaking. More seconds, then finally Greg¡¯s spasms stopped as suddenly as they started. He was sobbing now. Something inside of me . . . snapped. Like a hot pressurized glowstick. Its red liquid poured into me. ¡°I think two times should teach you your¡ª¡± THUMP! . . . I . . . kicked her. Growing up, I played all sorts of sports. Mainly football and basketball, but there were a couple years I played goalie for the soccer team. I got pretty good kicking those balls to half field. So when I say I kicked her . . . I mean I punted her. It felt like kicking a soft pillow with little sticks in it. Some of those sticks made cracking sounds as she went flying. She hit the ceiling, then the wall. . . then the desk. . . then the ground. She rolled a couple times, her eyes showing white. When she came to a stop . . . she didn¡¯t move. There was a long silence. Oh God. Did I just kill her . . . ? Greg, his eyes still wet with tears, was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression, and I was about to say something when the cat-bunny twitched. I noticed the remote with the blue button lying next to her. It was cracked, but I went ahead and kicked it under the bunk beds. ¡°Greg how bad am I screwed?¡± I asked. ¡°Uuugh,¡± she moaned. ¡°Bad.¡± She held one of her arms to her chest as she got to her feet and limped away from me on one leg. I had probably broken a couple of her bones. ¡°Like squished level of bad?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°Hey, cat . . . bunny . . . thing,¡± I called over to her. She looked up at me with a look of terror first, then absolute loathing. I saw something shimmer all around her for a split second, then vanish. ¡°Don¡¯t mess with Greg.¡± At this point, you¡¯re probably thinking, ¡®Oh yay! Sam loves Greg now¡¯ . . . so I''m going to be extra clear right now. That is incorrect. Greg is still the worst . . . I just don¡¯t like . . . assholes, or torture. And I definitely don¡¯t like when assholes do the torturing. She replied with a pain-filled voice, ¡°You are nothing but a worm. You shouldn¡¯t even¡ª¡± She cut off in clear pain, then muttered something under her breath. I could only hear bits. ¡° . . . shields if it wasn¡¯t for . . . Jensen . . . that idiot.¡± She put her paw¡ªhand¡ªto her ear and pressed on what I assumed was some sort of comm system. ¡°Jensen, I''d like to put in a disposal request for player,¡± she looked down at her clipboard again, ¡°Anything . . . But Squished.¡± There was a pause, then¡ª ¡°What do you mean he is blacklisted?¡± ¡°Blacklisted?¡± I asked, desperate to understand more about . . . well, everything. She looked up at me, and her eyes widened. She turned and hissed downward, her hand still up to her ear. I could . . . hear every word. ¡°Jensen?! The communication barrier too, you IDIOT!¡± She turned back to me, dropping her hand. ¡°This isn¡¯t ov¡ª¡± Her lips kept moving, but no sound came out. She was waving her good arm around, and it looked like she was yelling at me. I thought I saw her repeat the same thing. She cocked her head, looking at me as if expecting a response. ¡°Uhh . . . I can¡¯t . . . hear you,¡± I said. She put her hand back up to her ear and clearly started yelling, her face contorting into rage. After a moment, we could hear her again. ¡°¡ªYOU IMBECILE! THE COMM BARRIER NOT THE SOUND BUBBLE!¡± She looked back at me and said, her voice still quivering with anger and frustration, ¡°This isn¡¯t over.¡± Then she vanished, and I saw a new line appear on the TV. Incident report complete I exhaled deeply. I had been certain the red and blue lights were going to start back up. ¡°Who was that?¡± I asked. Greg was still looking at me and odd expression still on his . . . creepy-ugly face. ¡°That . . . was Jessica . . . ¡®The Whip,¡¯ but why did you do that?¡± The Whip? Ugh. This company. . . sucks. I shrugged and focused in on my HUD. ¡°Thanks,¡± Greg said softly. Sam: Mie, all clear, come back. Greg is being weird and touching me. Mie: What¡¯s new? Greg: I am not . . . touching him. Sam: He is. Mie: One sex, finishing a glass of Perdon. One sex . . .? Sam: You really should avoid that stuff. I''m not even sure if it wears off when you log out. Greg muttered something as he headed to the shower. After putting on fresh clothes, he crawled under his desk to what we¡¯d started calling his den. Then he curled up in a ball and started snoring. Mie appeared with a small pop, and I made sure to block the camera from being able to watch her come in this time. I had the inkling they didn¡¯t know about her, and I intended to keep it that way. If they did know about her, they didn¡¯t seem to care, but I was going to play it safe. I wondered if I had caused more attention by trying to block it . . . and I wondered what being ¡®blacklisted¡¯ even meant. I was frustrated I didn¡¯t glean more there . . . Are we being monitored more closely because of that? I picked Mie up¡ªacting like I was picking up trash¡ªthen made a bottle of formula and fed her on her bed as nonchalantly as I could, trying my best to make sure to keep her out of sight. She squirmed in my arms, and it felt like she was nuzzling in. I . . . didn¡¯t mind. While she ate, I scanned my logs. I had missed a couple things because of Greg¡¯s popcorn ecstasy, almost getting squished, and then Jessica showing up. Was . . . punting her really worth it? I need to control myself. I didn¡¯t like thinking about what these game runners could or couldn¡¯t do, because it made me feel powerless. I looked around. Especially when I was here in my . . . cage. You have 60 cubed meters of unspent space. {Spend}? I was no interior designer, but I got to work after I finished feeding Mie, thrilled to have all the extra cubed meters to work with. I had no idea why we got so much, but I wasn¡¯t complaining. Maybe that Legendary event? The first thing I did was put a one-by-six hallway that was two meters high at the far back of the Soul Space, behind where we spawned in and going in the opposite direction of the TV wall. As I placed the space, it very much felt like I was playing Minecraft. Three meters down that hall, I turned right and made a two-by-eight room. I found I could tweak a setting to make sure the wall stayed where the room and the hallway butted up against each other. My intention for this room was to make it as easy as possible to keep Mie out of sight. I would be able to respawn into the Soul Space first, pick her up when she spawned in, take a step back and to the right, and then head down the hallway, out of sight from the camera. I went ahead and moved the bunk beds out of the main space to this new room and converted that now empty space to a one-by-two closet where we could keep gear. I swaddled Mie and plunked her onto the bottom bunk. I also bought a cheap ceiling fan for the new room, then I spent the remaining thirty-two cubed meters of space on the main space. I pushed five of the seven meters on the TV wall back two meters. I was glad to see the TV move with the wall, and again, I retained the wall between the main space and the bathroom. I did the same thing on the opposite side, but only pushed back three meters of seven¡ªthe ones closest to the transporter side¡ªback two meters. Now, we could finally walk around Greg¡¯s desk, which I moved and instead placed a one-by-three kitchen island with a sink in the middle. We had some gold to work with now, so I also bought some stools that we placed along the island, a blue couch which I placed in front of the TV, and one of those baby bouncer things Mie could lie in. I put that next to the couch on the side opposite of the camera, again, out of sight. I also bought Greg a bed, which I threw at the end of the hallway. I¡¯d build him a room once we got more space . . . maybe. Satisfied with my work . . . and tired as hell. I groaned as I climbed the ladder to my bunk in the new room. Mie was sound asleep on the bottom bed. I lay back on the bed and was about to close my eyes when I noticed a new log appear. My breath caught. Your {Soul Seed} has germinated. Curious, I pulled open my Soul Inventory. There was her item¡ªstill there, still the¡ªno, not the same. {Mie, Soul Sprout} Celestial Item, Unique Item Soul bound, {Unbind}? In use Huh. I thought. The seed was gone. This new item looked basically the same but was called something different, in addition to now having the Unbind action. I climbed down the ladder and put my face close to Mie¡¯s to get a good look at her. She was breathing softly and seemed totally the same. I took a look at the unbind action description. {Unbind} Description: Unbinds the item from your Soul Space. ¡°Oh . . . shit,¡± I said softly, carefully closing out of the Soul Inventory. I didn¡¯t know exactly what that would do . . . but I definitely did not want to accidentally kill her. Mie¡¯s eyes opened a sliver, and she looked right at me. After a moment, her eyes focused, and her entire body jolted. ¡°AH! HOLY!¡± she shouted. There was a short pause as I backed up. ¡°The hell, Sam. I thought you were Greg! Jesus. What are you doing?!¡± ¡°Just . . . checking to make sure you were breathing,¡± I lied. ¡°To make sure I was breathing?! Why wouldn¡¯t I be breathing?!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it . . . It¡¯s a parent thing.¡± Mie was silent for a long time, looking at me, one of her cheeks smooshed against the bed. ¡°Do you think . . . I have parents?¡± I thought about her item representation and was doubtful. But maybe she was someone who just didn¡¯t have any memories, like someone with Alzheimer''s, or a dead infant, or something along those lines. I kept my response simple. ¡°Everyone has parents,¡± I said. For all I knew, maybe she really was from Earth, but deep down I knew . . . she wasn¡¯t. But even if she wasn¡¯t, something had created her . . . probably. ¡°I wonder what they were like. I hope they were like your mom, but not like your dad. Your dad kind of sucks.¡± ¡°I know,¡± I said gruffly, the memories swelling beneath me. I could still remember that dry desert air. I pushed it away. I pushed everything . . . away. ¡°Sam . . . I¡¯m . . . scared.¡± ¡°I know.¡± I could feel it in our connection, like a poison ebbing through me. I tried desperately to ignore it and the memories. ¡°But we¡¯re doing okay. You saw all those players at the inn and how low-leveled they were. We¡¯re still ahead of the game. Tomorrow, I think we should start heading to The Black Domain. Everything is pointing that way, like it¡¯s a main quest line or something.¡± I was talking fast. ¡°Okay. But Sam, we should talk¡ª¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get some sleep.¡± My heart was pumping fast, my brain working like a whack-a-mole, battering away at the memories that rose within my mind. I climbed back up to my bed. ¡°Just don¡¯t . . . leave me, okay?¡± Mie said. Tears leaked from my eyes as I remembered my children, as I remembered my life. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best, if you do yours.¡± After a few more long moments, I heard Mie¡¯s breathing change as she fell back to sleep. I lay awake for a long time . . . watching the players remaining count fall to another round number. I heard the TV flick on as music vibrated in from the main room. SLAM! Players Remaining: 300,000 . . . Fuck. Chapter 15 Chapter 15 The next morning, I was feeling a lot better. The night, despite Mie waking up multiple times throughout it, had been more bearable with the fan we had installed. For the first time, the Soul Space¡¯s temperature was pleasant. The space had always felt like it was around seventy-four plus degrees. I was more of a sixty-eight kind of guy. I still didn¡¯t really understand how the ventilation or temperature worked. I just assumed it was the typical afterlife bullshit. Mie laid next to me, arms swaddled in a little blanket. She looked like a burrito. I just . . . watched her, memories of when my girls were this small at the surface. I smiled as she made a dumb little infant sigh. As she did, her eyes opened and met mine . . . then she jolted . . . again. ¡°Jesus, Sam. Seriously. Stop watching me while I sleep!¡± ¡°Right, Greg vibes. My bad. You ready for another day in paradise?¡± She groaned and did a cute baby stretch as I pulled her swaddle loose. Her hands barely reached the top of her head. Why are babies¡¯ heads so big? ¡°I suppose. When did we say we were going to meet Clara?¡± Mie mumbled out. ¡°Uhh . . . nine I think,¡± I said. It was still a half hour from nine. She groaned as she stretched again. ¡°Okay. Sounds good. Let¡¯s get out there.¡± Her eyes started moving as she went to click on login, but I stopped her, smelling something glorious emanating from the hallway. Is that . . . ? I carried Mie to the main space to find Greg standing behind the kitchen island, fidgeting with his hands slightly. An appliance stood tall in front of him, gurgling and steaming. The freshly ground and roasted smell wafted into my nose more strongly. Greg made . . . coffee? As if he was reading my thoughts, Greg said, ¡°I just wanted to say thanks . . . for yesterday. I¡¯ve been saving up, and had enough to buy a coffee machine.¡± He shrank back, embarrassed. I think I preferred gloomy Greg. I placed Mie in her bouncer as she said, ¡°Greg, no one cares. Why are you acting all weird? Wait, what even happened while I was gone yesterday?¡± Mie truly was in her own world, and I hadn¡¯t even thought to tell her about yesterday¡¯s events. ¡°Uhh . . .¡± I started to say, but Greg cut in. ¡°Sam punted a bunny called Jessica.¡± Mie swiveled her head to look at me. ¡°You punted a bunny named Jessica?!¡± I pinched the bridge of my nose with one hand and started pouring a cup of coffee for myself with the other. Coffee first. After I took a long sip, I said, ¡°Greg. You can¡¯t convince me that was a bunny. It had hands. If it was, it was one weird ass bunny.¡± ¡°Technically it¡¯s a race called Bunnarithian. Everyone calls them ¡®bunnies¡¯ though.¡± ¡°Wait, why did you kick a bunny?!¡± Mie said, still confused. I sighed, then told her the story . . . After I finished Mie said, ¡°Aww, and now Greg is pretending to have feelings . . . and trying to get you into bed.¡± I spewed some of my coffee. ¡°I don¡¯t buy it, Greg.¡± He huffed as he walked out of the room to his new hallway . . . room. Almost nine now, we started the process for logging in. I took one last long pull from the coffee before setting it down, called ¡°THANKS, GREG!¡± then vanished from the Soul Space. I knew something was wrong as soon as I popped into existence in the inn. For a split second I saw the bar and the innkeeper bustling about serving a couple NPCs nursing hangovers, then my feet formed onto ground, and instead of the familiar feel of wood, the ground felt like a thin sheet of glass. CRACK! My weight broke the pane of glass-like material. I blinked, and I was suddenly staring at the back of a horse stall. The smell of horse manure hung heavy in the air. I didn''t have time to do anything before¡ª BAM! The entire stable exploded. I rocketed into the side of the building, bits of wood, hay, and shit falling on top of me. My health dropped a terrible ninety percent, and then the pain strolled through the door. My legs from the knees down had been completely blown off. It was almost incomprehensible. My legs . . . are gone. This reality, like always, kept my mind from shutting down. The pain was vile, and while I knew I had no legs or feet, searing phantom pain shot through them. I saw a debuff appear over me and the familiar transparent blue barrier encase me. {Stunned} for 2 minutes TWO MINUTES? I tried to move but couldn¡¯t. I tried to use a health potion . . . but couldn¡¯t. I tried to shout but only managed a croaking moan. A short, shadowy figure with a red nameplate slowly made his way over to me through the smoke and falling debris. The air shifted, and the smoke unveiled him. The humanoid figure was only three feet tall, and his head looked too big for his body. He was carrying an old-school blunderbuss, and a mace hung on his back. I inspected him, dread rising in my throat. Mike#ReallyReallyFuckingBigAssNumber Level 22, Gnome It . . . was Mike and . . . he was wearing a smug grin. I began frantically composing a message to Mie and Clara, but then I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Mie . . . was here. Her health had dropped slightly less than mine, but the same blue explosion stunned debuff hovered over her health bar. Metal and wood shrapnel had pierced her armor and dug into her body all over. One of her legs was also blown to bits. Clara: What¡¯s going on?! Why is your health so low?? Sam: Teleportation traps in the common room! Be careful! Before I sent the message though, Clara was transported in next to me with a pop, right into the middle of a white ring. Mike threw a net over her which rooted her for thirty seconds. No . . . My blood went to ice. Clara started pelting him with arrows, stacking poison debuffs, using every attack ability she could, but it was no use. He calmly strode over to her, equipped his mace, and proceeded to bash her over and over. She used a health potion, but it didn''t matter. His last hit smashed her skull in, and crit. A yellow number rose into the air as blood and bits of hair and skull flew against the wall. She went to all fours, Knocked. But then her head reformed, the Hearth system retaining her ability to communicate and process thought in her Knocked state. He patted her on the head . . . Clara: Oh boy! Who is this guy?! Holy Moley that hurt. I glanced at my health and stun timer. I tried to throw some items into my soul inventory but wasn¡¯t able to interact with any stored items while stunned, and I wouldn¡¯t have been able to save those items anyways because I was in combat. Mike turned away from Clara . . . toward Mie. As he walked over to her, I noticed a bleed debuff, which had brought her health down to the single digits. ¡°Sam. I don¡¯t like this,¡± Mie said. Mike took a cloth out and wiped some blood off the mace. Then he sighed, sounding bored and caved her head with a single hit. She Knocked too. He patted her on the head as well, once it reformed . . . Okay I¡¯m pissed. He started walking over to me. ¡°Fuck off!¡± I yelled. Something seeped into my voice. Something hot. This man had taken my life from me. My girls were on their own, because of him. Lily could be dead, because of him. My already fractured family was more scattered . . . because of him. And now this? ¡°WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!¡± I shouted. I was trying to buy time. I was also slightly curious to know what this guy¡¯s problem really was. But mostly . . . I was just angry. He walked over to me and knelt down so his face was close to mine. My body, or what was left of it¡ªstill encased in the stunned-transparent-blue effect¡ªhad slipped down the stable wall, my head resting on dirty hay and cold stone. He stroked my cheek, chuckled, and said, ¡°My problem? I don¡¯t have a problem. I¡¯m just playing to win. So far everyone else just sort of sucks at this game. Even you. I caught sight of you last night at the inn. It was too easy bribing a couple NPCs to make sure to watch where you and the rest of your party logged out. Though your friend over there,¡± he nodded to Mie, ¡°almost ruined everything by randomly logging back in. Anyways, I want to say thanks for the new gear.¡± ¡°You bastard!¡± My voice shook. ¡°I¡¯m going to find you when I spawn back in and kill you!¡± Spit flew from my mouth as I tried to activate everything, but the stun was still in effect. He got back up and pulled out his blunderbuss, aiming its wide barrel at my forehead. My stun was almost up. I just needed a couple more seconds. ¡°I really don¡¯t think you will,¡± he said. Then he grinned. ¡°Because . . . I¡¯m just better.¡± His finger fell over the trigger, and this time, he intentionally fired his gun. Click. Everything went black, and the pain never registered. Our party . . . wiped. You died! You dropped all your character items! You lost all your current level experience! You received a four-hour time penalty! Both Mie and I reappeared back in the Soul Space. My hands were clenched into tight fists. Greg was there behind the island, holding a mug of coffee. I walked over to him, my shoulders stiff. He took a step back, his expression unsure, and I grabbed his mug and threw it as hard as I could against the wall. The mug shattered. Bits of clay ricocheted everywhere. Hot coffee burned my hand. I growled. Mie was on the ground where she¡¯d spawned, eyes filled with worry. Slowly I looked toward the upper left of my vision, afraid of what I would see. Life Credits: 2 My entire body tensed as darkness grasped me by the neck and smashed me down into a dark black barrier of glass within my mind. It cracked slightly, and memories rose out of the gap. Memories I wanted to forget. . . . The engine squealed to a stop at the front of the large apartment complex. It was my first fire as a probie, and my insides squirmed. The fire was a bad one. A really bad one. We were the first engine on scene too. Radio traffic crackled through our comms from Officer Pete as he did his three-sixty scan. ¡°Engine four-one-five arriving at a large apartment complex, flames and smoke showing . . . from all sides, this one is fully involved. It¡¯s the middle of the night, folks.¡± Apartment occupants lined the parking lot as I got to work. As a back-stepper and a first year, I would be on the nozzle. I hauled hose to the front of the building. The hydrant hit, and water started to flow. The rolling flames turned to steam as water from the massive hose surged forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a middle-aged woman pull up in a Honda Civic. She was in a panic. A moment later I heard two dreaded words come over the radio. ¡°Entrapment confirmed.¡± Fuck. ¡°Two-year-old in unit 2C.¡± The woman behind me started screaming. It pierced the night, louder than the roaring fire, the alarms, and the rushing water from the hose. I pushed my way into the building. Officer Pete hauled hose behind me. The other probie, Dan, worked the door and prevented kinks in the line. I looked to the black room in front of me. The stairs were straight ahead. They were on fire. There was a hall to the right, that led to the back of the building. It hadn¡¯t caught yet. There was still . . . a lot of fire. ¡°Okay, Sam. We have a kid up there. Let¡¯s work this staircase and get him out of there,¡± Pete said from behind me. Crack! A beam snapped right behind me, clocked Pete over the head, and fell onto the water line. Pete flopped to the ground unconscious, and the temperature immediately rose substantially. ¡°Oh shit!¡± I yelled. ¡°Dan, drag him out!¡± He got him out as I . . . abandoned the buddy system. I went down the hall to the back of the building. It was way less lit on the backside. There were exterior emergency stairs just outside the back door. Dan unkinked the line and continued spraying the stairs. He called from behind me, ¡°I almost have these clear!¡± The wide apartment building was four stories high, and this entire scenario was complex. ¡°I¡¯m going up the emergency stairs!¡± I called back to Dan. ¡°It''ll be faster!¡± ¡°These stairs are already clear!¡± Dan called back. I didn¡¯t listen. The emergency staircase would be safer and faster. I pulled down the metal ladder, that led to the second floor. I looked through the window into the second story. It was starting to catch. Heat radiated from the building, and if not for my gear, I would be getting burned. I knew instinctively that this fire had progressed significantly. We need to hurry. I pulled on the door. No . . . It was locked . . . and I didn¡¯t have my Halligan bar to force entry. I worked on the small boy. He was . . . so little. Burns covered his body, and he had no pulse. I wasted two minutes trying to go up those stairs. His mother was on her knees, begging him to wake up. More compressions. Mouth to mouth. I checked his neck again. Still no pulse. Fuck. I did it all again. Nothing. This is my fault. Dan rushed over with a defibrillator. There was a jolt. I checked his neck. Still nothing. I looked at the mother. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she looked at her son. Massive silent sobs racked her entire being. I kept . . . trying. Still . . . nothing. I didn¡¯t go inside when I got home. I shut my car door, turned on the spot, and took a walk, too devastated to face anyone. Leaves blew across the sidewalk in front of me. Occasionally I would crunch on one. I kept replaying the scene over and over in my mind all the way until I reached the front door of my home. I stood in front of the door for a long moment before grabbing the handle. I walked inside to pure chaos. Ada was jumping over the living room couch, the TV was blaring, there was a cloud of cooking smoke, my wife¡ªRachel¡ªwas yelling from the kitchen, the dog was puking on the floor. My almost two-year-old Lily saw me, screamed, ¡°DADDY!¡± and rushed towards me. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. I knelt down and grabbed her as she slammed into me. She nestled her head into my neck, and she just kept hugging. I gripped her hard, trying desperately to rid myself of the day¡¯s events. That mom will never hold her son again like this . . . because of me. I looked up as my wife Rachel came to greet me. Her green eyes . . . filled with concern when she saw my face. I couldn¡¯t stop the tears. . . . I held onto the end of the memory, hard. I had completely forgotten that hug . . . Lily had always been a snuggle bug, and on that particular day, she hadn¡¯t known what it meant to me to just hold me. She was just there for her dad. Happy to just . . . see me. And now, I would never hold her again . . . BECAUSE OF MIKE! God damn it! I gripped the back of the blue couch, my entire body shaking. Click¡ªthe TV turned on, and the song ¡°The Final Countdown¡± by Europe started playing. SLAM! I went over and flicked off the TV again. Vaguely I realized the song must change day to day. I needed to find a way to communicate with my children. I needed to find a way to tell them I was okay. The pressure of looking back and worrying about my girls conflicted with the pressure of looking forward to find my wife. Where are you, Rach? Did you go through this hell? Are you . . . still alive? Did you get . . . Another memory started to rise out of the crack in the black barrier. A drop of black liquid poison threatened to slip into my veins. I pushed it downward, and it crystalized and sealed the crack. Click. ¡°THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!¡± SLAM! I flicked the TV off again. I looked over at Mie, and for the first time ever, I was frustrated by what her presence meant. I had fewer life credits to work with than everyone else. ¡°DAMN IT!¡± I yelled, trying to shake away the dark memories and my frustration. Greg stood awkwardly near the kitchen island, looking surprised. ¡°Uhh, that was my favorite coffee mug.¡± ¡°SHUT UP, GREG!¡± Mie replied in a panic. ¡°DON¡¯T EVER TALK AGAIN! This is bad. This is really REALLY bad! I lost all my gear! I lost everything!¡± I checked my inventory too, dreading what I would find. I stood for a long moment, staring at the empty slots. It was terrible, like my brand new truck had been totaled, and insurance had fallen through. I had stored some of our old gear in the new closet, but anything that was worth having I had kept on my character. My good axes, my spears, the Merchant¡¯s Pendant . . . Blackthorn¡¯s Ring. They were all gone. Click. ¡°THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!¡± SLAM! I turned the TV off again. I didn¡¯t know how long I spent pacing and fuming around the room, trying to think, trying to calm myself down, and trying to cast away my past. Mie just sat there, her eyes downcast, while Greg picked up the shattered mug pieces. When he was done, he bent down to grab a new mug from the island cabinet, and his nameplate, now at eye level, caught my attention. Greg Soul Space Guide Level 2 ¡°Greg! Why are you level two?!¡± I asked, grasping for everything¡ªanything¡ªthat could possibly help us. ¡°What? Oh, huh. That . . . hasn¡¯t ever happened before. Probably means something bad . . .¡± He breathed out a deep sad sigh. I glanced through my logs, had a thought, and scrolled way up. I found the readout that said ¡®Your {Soul Seed} has germinated¡¯ and right below it . . . I discovered lines I had missed. Congratulations! Your Soul Guide has leveled up! You received the option to replace your Soul Space Guide with a new one. This will remove the current Guide, Greg, from your Soul Space. {Accept} or {Decline}? I shared the message in a DM with Mie. Mie and I looked at Greg, then each other. She nodded vigorously. We were on the same page. I sighed . . . ¡°Sorry, Greg.¡± He had just started to grow a little on me too. It was a shame. Greg was looking back and forth between us. ¡°Why are you sorry? Mie, why are you smiling¡ª?¡± BAM! His head exploded, his body flopped over, and green blood started pooling on the floor. I took a large step backward from the sudden explosion and the . . . fresh corpse. ¡°Uhh . . .¡± I said as I wiped some green blood off my face. ¡°Oops?¡± Just what I¡¯m in the mood for. More blood. ¡°It¡¯s fine. It was just Greg. Don¡¯t feel bad,¡± Mie said. ¡°I kind of feel bad.¡± ¡°Mmmm don¡¯t. That little old pervert deserved it,¡± Mie said as her little baby arms flailed around in her bouncer. ¡°Sam. Please help. I¡¯m swimming in Greg. I¡¯m . . . touching Greg.¡± ¡°Look who¡¯s the pervert now,¡± Greg said from behind us. ¡°You like touching inside of me, Mie? You like the way it feels?¡± Mie and I both froze, then both turned to find Greg standing behind us at the spawn point. Only . . . he didn¡¯t look like Greg. ¡°What the . . . fu¡ª¡± I started to say but was cut off by Mie. ¡°You would want me to touch you on the inside. Wouldn¡¯t you, Greg? You would like how it feels.¡± ¡°Can we all just . . . please stop with this phrasing . . . followed by saying each other¡¯s names?¡± I asked, clenching my teeth. God I¡¯m still angry. We have to get those items back. They both fell silent, glaring at each other . . . but after a moment, Greg started inspecting his new body. He was just wearing tighty-whities again . . . Uuugh. Click. ¡°THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!¡± SLAM! I flicked the TV off again. Greg looked skinny, like a new college student who hadn¡¯t put on their freshman fifteen. His arms and legs were still shorter than his torso, but his skin was clear of red splotches, and less flabby. I watched as he stopped and did a little . . . ballerina twirl . . . while he checked himself out. He caught us watching and froze. ¡°Cute,¡± I said, my voice low. ¡°Meh. One out of ten,¡± Mie said, frowning. I felt at our bond. Why is she grumpy too? She must have really wanted Greg gone. Or maybe we were feeding off each other¡¯s moods. ¡°Sam, change him back,¡± Mie said. ¡°I don¡¯t like it. I want fat, pathetic Greg back.¡± ¡°Not sure that¡¯s an option . . .¡± I trailed off, noticing that he didn¡¯t have the collar on anymore. I looked at his old corpse¡ªwhich had fallen behind the kitchen island, near the transporter . . . the shock collar had fallen off and into the growing pool of green blood. It seemed intact, so I grabbed it, and threw it in the closet. Better to hide the evidence. I glanced at the camera as I went. Are they always actively watching? I doubted it. Still, I tried to hide what I was doing as best as I could, and I double checked to make sure the TV didn¡¯t show any incoming personnel. Why did Greg even level up? Are other guides higher level than ours? What does that even do? I looked at him, about to ask, when the TV flicked on again. Another man was curled up on the ground, holding his knees to his chest. ¡°The Final Countdown¡± started back up over the speakers. The man was rocking back and forth, when it happened. SLAM! ¡°IS THERE A WAY TO PERMANENTLY TURN THIS DAMN THING OFF?!¡± I shouted. Electrical jolts of anxiety stabbed into my neck and grasped my heart. Maybe death was the only way out. Maybe death would end it all. The weight of finding Mike hung over me, but I took a deep breath through my nose, pushing it away as best as I could. We had to get those items back. We could still figure this out. I took another massive breath, then exhaled. "I think . . . I might have gotten a passive ability?¡± Greg said unprompted. ¡°Okay,¡± I said, tired. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I can now see other players, NPCs, and mobs on your local area map within fifty feet of you regardless of your line of sight. I think it''s like some kind of radar or something.¡± Huh. Okay that is actually almost exactly what we needed . . . ¡°Can you use it while we are logged out?¡± I asked. His eyes glazed over slightly as he looked at his own HUD and at¡ªI assumed¡ªa similar map of Hearth to my own. ¡°Looks like it shows activity around where you would spawn in, which would be the inn in this case . . . so yeah, seems like it. Also . . . huh. I can toggle between everyone in the party. I can do that same thing on the TV, but that''s just to see all your different perspectives. Oh, huh. I can mirror this to the TV.¡± The TV flicked back on, and this time showed a grayed-out arrow right in the center of The Dragon¡¯s Goddess. It had ¡®AnythingButSquished¡¯ denoted over it. The screen flickered, and that arrow disappeared, then ¡®IFartedInFrontOfHer¡¯ showed up in a slightly different place in the inn, then again and Clara¡¯s ID showed up in a slightly different place. That told me that the spawn location was variable. That was good. If Mike knew exactly where we would spawn in after losing a credit. . . that wouldn¡¯t be good. ¡°Okay, listen,¡± I said, now finally able to focus on what I wanted to. ¡°If that piece of shit Mike is still near the stable, and there is a chance he might still be, we have to try and get our stuff back. We are royally screwed if we don¡¯t.¡± I wanted to get back in there as fast as possible to prevent him from storing Blackthorn¡¯s Ring in his Soul Space. If he is stamina based . . . maybe he equipped it. I went to the spare room and threw all the best old crap I had into my Character Inventory and my gear slots. Clara: My bad, guys. That was totally my fault. I shouldn¡¯t have gone down the stairs after seeing your health plummet like that. I hit the trap before I saw your message . . . Mie: Not your fault . . . Greg¡¯s fault. Clara: :zipper-mouth emoji: What¡¯s the plan? Sam: Working on it. ¡°Greg,¡± I said, wanting to give this new passive a spin. ¡°Flip back to my map view.¡± He did, and part of me registered that he. . . hadn¡¯t refused to help once since the Jessica . . . incident. He was almost . . . being helpful. In the fifty-foot radius, I saw a couple white dots and a yellow dot . . . but no red. Which indicated that Mike wasn¡¯t still there. But maybe he is around the stables. Not the inn. I clung to that small hope as I looked at my own Hearth map and noticed an area that was under fog of war, and not black like the rest of the city we hadn¡¯t explored. The area was a little north of the Rivermoor inn. That must have been where he teleported us to. We needed to log in and find him. We had to. There was nothing for it. We needed that gear back. Blackthorn¡¯s Ring alone was worth the life credit risk, and in my opinion was our only current edge other than our level advantage. I took another deep, steadying breath and initiated my login sequence to verify I wouldn¡¯t be able to log in yet. Error. You are under a time penalty. Four hours. By the time we log in . . . Mike could be anywhere. I sighed and went to grab a towel for a shower, watching the death penalty clock tick down, every second a painful blow to my gut. Greg¡¯s green blood was starting to thicken on my face and . . . it was gross. I was in a bad mood, and I needed to shake it. I stepped into the shower to wash off. Once that was done, I let the heat and steam from the water seep into my shoulders, letting my mind move from one thread to the next. I could feel Mie¡¯s attitude. It shifted from dark anger to warmth. Like she was in the middle of teasing Greg. As much as she loved to make fun of him and in general be a silly goof-ball full of sarcasm, I could tell she was a good person. My mind drifted to the new action that had appeared on her item representation. Unbind . . . why would the item list that as an option? Why would I want to eject her from the Soul Space? My thoughts continued to drift, but time and time again, they came back to one question: Who the hell¡¯s idea was this whole thing? Whose idea was it to put everyone through life on Earth and then put them through some messed up and honestly extremely shitty reality with a million others and then ask them to kill each other? My thoughts floated, not for the first time, back to what Tittles had said. ¡®Your space has been leased to you by my employer, and upon your death, should you die, it will be reclaimed.¡¯ I let the rage take over again. My skin was hot from the water. My insides were hot from my boiling blood. Reclaimed? Someone was pulling the strings on the other side of this, and I was tired. But there was nothing I could do but keep moving. Just . . . keep surviving. I breathed out a long exhale once more, letting it catch the water running off my lips. It sprayed against the wall in front of me. Finally, my mind cleared, and I prepared myself mentally for the hunt. I got out of the shower, and started to make a plan with the others. As I popped back into the inn, I spammed Vaulting Strike before gravity could push my character body downward. I made a loud thud when I landed a few feet away from my spawn location, which made the two NPCs who were now passed out at the bar flinch. They didn¡¯t wake up. I learned from Greg after my shower that you didn¡¯t always spawn into the Inn in the same location after death, but if you logged out directly, you would log back in at the same spot you logged out. Moving forward, I was going to make sure to check that no other players, or NPCs, were around us before logging out. I kept an eye out for traps as I slid out the door and put my back to the inn. I messaged Clara and Mie that it was safe, and as I waited for them I went over my gear again, worried I wouldn¡¯t be able to take this guy on without the ring. I was wearing a couple plate pieces, which were slowing me down, and I was missing items in half my slots. Ohh . . . oops. I realized . . . too late . . . that I didn¡¯t have an item for my legs . . . nor did I have anything in my undergear slot. The doors swung open, and Clara walked outside, only to see my manhood in all of its part-elf part-dwarf glory. More elf than dwarf to be clear, but honestly, the combination was pretty fantastic. Well above average I¡¯d say. She slapped her hand to her eyes, going red, and I panicked. ¡°I uhh¡ª¡± I started to say but was cut off. Mie had just come strolling out of the inn, also butt-naked. Well not completely. She was wearing gloves and boots. I slapped my hand over my eyes. ¡°Woah there!¡± ¡°Ah! What the hell, Sam!? Why can I see your penis?!¡± Mie said, also covering her eyes. ¡°Speak for yourself!¡± I said. ¡°What? I don¡¯t have a penis.¡± I took a peek over to Clara, who was fully clothed. She also had her hand over her eyes. ¡°For heaven¡¯s sake!¡± she said. ¡°You had four hours. Four hours to realize your undergear dropped.¡± I checked my Soul Inventory . . . I had only bought one pair of boxers, which were now on my Soul Body. I tried to pull them over . . . but got another error about it not being compatible with Hearth. Mie, being a baby . . . didn¡¯t even need underwear in the Soul Space. I felt really dumb. We should have bought some extra undergear in Hearth and stored it in our Soul Inventory . . . I turned toward Clara without making eye contact. ¡°Mind uh, helping us out?¡± ¡°Really?¡± she said. ¡°Yes . . . really. We don¡¯t have time to go shopping.¡± ¡°Okay, if you say so.¡± She opened a trade window with me with her hand firmly over her eyes. Though she must have peeked to get the trade window open, I thought, blushing. She dumped in a plain white T and some lady panties and confirmed the trade. I hesitated but confirmed the trade and threw them both on, muttering a quick thanks. God damn it, I thought. This was almost worse. She did the same thing for Mie, and I ignored their giggles as they looked me up and down. I turned on my heel, picking at a pantie wedgie, and started sprinting down the short road, feeling extremely uncomfortable. Ignoring the others¡¯ laughter as they jogged behind me, I made it to the stables which still had a good amount of smoke pouring out. I gagged as I smelled the burning horse manure. Sam: Greg, what do you see? Greg: Nothing. Just you and Mie . . . in panties. Mie: EW! Gross Greg. Stop looking at our butts! Sam: No . . . I meant on your map. Greg: Oh right. One sec. Greg: Just white dots. I thought so, but I still felt my stomach flutter with anxiety. ¡°Okay. Stick to the plan.¡± Clara and Mie both nodded at me, turned around, and headed in opposite directions. I started running as well, in a different direction. The plan was simple and had three phases. Step one: Check the city, using Greg¡¯s new upgrade. As we ran around, Greg would¡ªhopefully¡ªflick through each of his map views and call out if there were any red dots within fifty feet of any of us. Since Mike had dealt damage to us, the system denoted him as an enemy, and thus his dot would be red. If that didn¡¯t work, step two was to head to the nearest quest locations. I had DM¡¯d Loc, and he¡¯d described a few of the harder quests in the area. He even offered his help tracking Mike down, which was a tempting offer, but I didn¡¯t want to get them tied up in our problems. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but think, Nice guy. Too bad we might have to kill each other . . . in the end. I didn¡¯t like that thought. If we still couldn¡¯t find Mike . . . well, I didn¡¯t want to think about that either. Step three was simple. Whoever found him would message the others and wait for backup before engaging. Then, we would kill him. We spent two hours combing the town, over and over. Greg was getting frustrated and tired. We all were. We moved to the quest locations. There were three to the west of the town, one south, and two to the north. Mie took the north, Clara the south, and I went west out of the city. Mie and Clara both reported back nothing with Greg¡¯s help. I really didn¡¯t like us all split up like this. I checked two of the quest locations to find the mobs dead, and looted. Anxiety rippled through my neck as I came up on the third, which was the ¡®Save Tommy¡¯ quest location. I crept closer, keeping quiet. Sam: Greg? Greg: UGH, it¡¯s over. Just get on with it and find new gear! Sam: Check the damn map. I waited a painful five seconds. Greg: I don¡¯t believe this . . . but, there is a red dot . . . dead ahead of you. Mie: Headed that way. Clara: Same. I took a steadying breath, keeping absolutely as quiet as I could. I came up on a tree and peered from behind the trunk. The area ahead of me was forested but sparse. Sunlight shone through the canopy overhead onto a small hut. There were two short figures: one was Mike, the other was tied up over an unlit firepit that had a pile of firewood and kindling underneath. That was probably Tommy. Mike was working on the bonds holding Tommy when a massive level twenty bear stumbled out of the hut and roared in his direction. Mike thew out his net, rooting it. I watched my map. Clara was close, but Mie was still a good five minutes out. Mike easily wore the bear down with shots from his blunderbuss. One blast took a fourth of its health down, but it took him a solid twenty seconds to load the thing between shots, and he had to kite around to avoid the bear¡¯s charges when the root effect wore off. Clara came panting up behind me, staying low. I desperately wanted to dive in and grab the bear kill, but . . . I had a single spear . . . some other crappy gear . . . and panties. We needed to be careful here and wait for Mie. The bear went down, and Mike looted the corpse just as Mie, breathing heavily, crept up behind us. Mike froze, looking up from the corpse, and I could have sworn he glanced in our direction. But that didn¡¯t make any sense. We were completely hidden here and a good fifty paces away. Unless . . . he has a higher-level guide. Oh . . . no. ¡°MOVE NOW!¡± I shouted. A white ring flew in our direction. I dove to the left, Clara dove right, and Mie stood completely still, confused. The white ring landed next to the tree right next to Mie, and Mike threw a blue trap at his feet. He instantly appeared next to her over the white ring, and an ethereal dagger-like blade came out of one of his hands. Mie¡¯s health, with hardly any gear, zeroed out instantly as the small object pierced into her. Her health jumped back up to fifty percent, but she was Knocked . . . and on all fours. Mike threw out another white ring into the forest, and I thought I saw him attach some kind of gray brick-looking thing to it. I activated Vaulting Strike and darted down toward him. My spear dug weakly into his shoulder, but he did cry out. He threw down another blue trap, and I realized my mistake too late. I teleported to the white ring he had thrown into the forest. I appeared lying partly. . . inside of a fallen tree. BAM! Pain erupted, and the world exploded, but I recognized the tree had blocked a lot of the potential damage. I sort of squeezed upward out of it, like oil and water not wanting to mix. It was just a moment of realization before everything went flying. Dirt flew, trees fell, roots ripped. My arm was gone. One of my legs was gone. I slammed into a boulder, and came to rest on my back. I didn¡¯t Knock . . . but the same two-minute stun appeared over me. Once again . . . I was powerless to do anything. Hot liquid pumped through me, but frozen in blue, my rage had no outlet. I looked out of the corner of my eye through the smoke and debris and saw a net fly out of Mike¡¯s hands and snare Clara. She put arrows into him as fast as she could once again. But rooted, she couldn¡¯t blink or dive. He brought his blunderbuss up to his shoulder, and fired. BOOM! At such close range, it dealt massive damage from both his level advantage and far superior gear. Clara¡¯s arm . . . split off from her shoulder, and her health dropped a third. He popped the blunderbuss away, ignoring the arrows and pulled out a different blunderbuss, using the same inventory mechanic . . . I used for my spears. BOOM! The shot crit, and Clara Knocked. My stun was still up. My health was under ten percent. No . . . I thought, looking at my life credits. If we wiped here . . . We would have zero credits left. We would still be alive . . . but we wouldn¡¯t be able to afford any more mistakes. Mike walked calmly over to me, pulling out his mace as he hopped over a tree like he was doing a little jig. I led us to this. You idiot, Sam. There was nothing I could do. I pushed against the blue that encased me, but I couldn¡¯t move. I activated every ability I had . . . but they didn¡¯t take. Mike put a knee in the dirt next to my head, and once again . . . stroked my cheek. He sighed. ¡°It¡¯s been fun, little buddy.¡± I had no words. My vision was red, and I couldn¡¯t hear anything. The world was silent, and I was so angry. But I couldn¡¯t do anything stunned like this. God Damn it! Sam: Guys . . . I¡¯m so sorry. Sam: I¡ª I cut off my in-progress message . . . something caught my attention past Mike¡¯s head as he continued to taunt me. Above him, on top of the boulder, there was a dwarf grinning down at me. His beard and hair were flaming orange and he wore a green robe and carried a white staff. I . . . recognized him. It was the dwarf who¡¯d helped in our first event. Fred, I thought was his name. ¡°Nothing to say?¡± Mike asked again. ¡°Hey. . . why are you wearing panties?¡± I kept my mouth shut, praying it would delay his killing blow. Mike, I was coming to understand, loved to get off on power. And this moment right here, with me powerless on the ground. . . was orgasmic for him¡ªall the more if I reacted the way he wanted me to. Not for much long¡ª ¡°HELLO THERE, GNOME!¡± the dwarf yelled. Then he hiccupped, followed by a burp. Mike looked up, then bolted in one movement. The next part happened in what felt like slow motion. My stun fell away, so I slammed on a health potion. Then I turned to see Fred raise his staff as Mike fled over the debris. I heard what sounded like dice rolling around in a plastic cup. Then a green spell flew out of Fred¡¯s staff and hit one of the trees that had broken and been caught up high in the other branches. It broke free and fell on the end of another, which happened to be propped like a teeter-totter on a small boulder. The other end . . . just so happened to be between Mike¡¯s legs as he scurried away. It whipped up and slammed into his goods. It . . . killed him instantly. His body went flipping up into the air. It was silent for a long moment as we watched his little body reach its apex, then start falling back down. I cringed when I saw what was about to happen next. The sound that came was . . . wet. SPLAT! If he hadn¡¯t been dead yet . . . that would have done it. I looked back at Fred, the dwarf . . . He was standing like a superhero, his hands on his hips. What . . . just happened? was all I could think. Fred burped again. Chapter 16 Chapter 16 The Weak Health Potion restored my leg, but my health was still at sixty percent. I sat on the ground, clutching my arm stump as spikes of pain speared into me. The rest of my arm was right there . . . severed and in front of me. Blood leaked from the end, its fingers mangled. My mind filled with agony, and I couldn¡¯t bring myself to thank Fred as he sat down on top of the boulder. I started on a rez for Mie, who had crawled her way over to me, which took the effort of just raising my one good hand. Everything hurt. Clara was on her way too. Mie popped up, and her health was restored to full when she immediately cast a Flash Heal on herself. A moment later, and another gold Flash Heal ran through me as well, bringing me back to full. As the animation of the spell fell through me, I watched my arm fly up from the ground and reattach itself to my shoulder. I watched my fingers straighten as the damage reverse itself. I relaxed as all the pain faded away from my body as if it was never there. A moment ago, I was in pieces, blood coming out of me, and dying. Now I was completely fine, as if nothing had happened. I exhaled heavily, relieved the pain was gone. I took in my surroundings. Mike had really made a wreck of the place. As I surveyed the damage, I realized the ground, the trees, and everything else around me were destructible objects. It should have been obvious, since everything felt so real, but I had sort of just assumed the environment couldn¡¯t change. But the earth all around me was upended, the roots ripped up, and the trees broken and thrown everywhere. I put that thought aside as the rez neared completion. Once I finished rezzing Clara and Mie healed her back up, they turned to face Fred, the orange-haired and bearded dwarf. He was the spell caster who helped us out with the three level ten guards way back near The Notch. He jumped down off the boulder. ¡°Ahah! Oops!¡± he cried as he landed, then stumbled and fell over. ¡°Have you been following us, dwarf?¡± Mie asked as he stood up. ¡°What?!¡± Fred responded, then said more proudly, ¡°Not at all! I¡¯m ON A QUEST TO FIND A LITTLE BOY!¡± As the other two engaged him in conversation, I looked over to Mike¡¯s corpse . . . and cringed once again. Revenge was sweet . . . but I wasn¡¯t sure having your nuts crushed up into your butt . . . was a fair trade. Meh, he deserved it. I walked over to his corpse¡ªwhich was glowing gold¡ªat a quick clip, anxious to know if our gear was still there. I didn¡¯t know how many life credits Mike had left, but I did know he was down at least two now since I¡¯d killed him in the entry event. So, at the most, he had three. But maybe he had been taken out more than once during entry . . . I couldn¡¯t know for sure. Him being at level twenty-two told me that wasn¡¯t likely. I glanced over at Fred as I reached Mike, inspecting his nameplate. Fred#ReallyReallyBigNumber Level 18, Fairy Dwarf Fairy Dwarf? Huh. I had just assumed he was a dwarf. He was also level eighteen. I was only level fifteen¡ªbecause of the death penalty¡ªand I¡¯d thought we were ahead of the game. Is no one sleeping?! I sighed heavily again, resigning myself to the fact that we needed to kick things into a higher gear if we were going to stay somewhat ahead. The other players at the inn had all been lower than us, but that was a small sample size I wagered. Not enough to go on. Just today, we had run into two players who were higher than us. I swallowed, then I looted Mike and got a stream of item notifications. Only a few items caught my attention, and I let out a relieved sigh. Thank God. You received {Copper Coin} x26 You received {Great Yield Explosive} x4 Roll for {Distilled Ring of Blackthorn¡¯s Blood} Only twenty-six copper? He must be storing his cash in his Soul Inventory. He must have a guide who doesn¡¯t spend it all . . . or maybe he killed his guide too. I wouldn¡¯t put it past him. No . . . he definitely has some sort of perception ability catching us off guard like that. After his taunts back there, I was starting to get a better idea of what type of person Mike was. Mentally ill for sure, but also power hungry, and probably one of those sweaty gamer types. I could picture it. Fucking . . . warming up his hands with a hot water bottle, his forehead dripping wet with sweat, his face close to the monitor, running through AIMLAB rounds¡ªfirst person shooter warmups. Then cursing out everyone on his team, spit flying across his mic and against his screen. Ugh. I looked at the explosives. Trigger Activated: {Great Yield Explosive} Description: Causes a large explosion when triggered. Okay . . . that doesn¡¯t give me much. Big explosion, sure, but how do I use it? I wondered where Mike had even come by these, and how I could trigger them without his stupid teleportation trap. I pulled one out. Their shape was square, almost like a brick of C4, and it reminded me of the white frisbee-like ring Mike had thrown at me. One of these had been attached to it, I realized. That mechanic clicked in my head. The blue glass pane teleportation trap had teleported me to the white ring, and I guess when I appeared that was what triggered the explosive. It made me wonder what exactly constituted a trigger. I had an idea but shelved it for the time being. We rolled for the ring next, and Mie won again. Not wanting to embarrass myself in front of Fred, I had a little contained tantrum. I''m not proud of it, but I . . . kicked Mike¡¯s corpse as I got up. Mie started laughing. HOW DOES SHE KEEP WINNING?! WHAT A DUMB, STUPID MECHANIC! I gathered myself, grumbling as I headed back over to the group. A trade window popped up offering the ring. I let it sit there, waiting for her to confirm the trade first, as I took Fred¡¯s offered handshake. I noticed the same ¡®Add to Contacts¡¯ option right below ¡®Add to Party¡¯ as I started to shake his hand. ¡°Thanks for¡ªwhat the!¡± He pulled me into headlock and gave me a nuggy. ¡°Gah!¡± I cried out. ¡°What the hell, man?!¡± With some effort I pulled away. He backed away, arms raised. ¡°AHAHAHA!¡± he belted out with not a small amount of jubilation. His whole body was shaking. Okay yeah, I definitely am not going to like this guy. Mie: Too far. Clara: I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s good to see someone having fun. Sam: No. Way too far. Greg: I like him. Mie: Greg . . . :face-palm emoji: Okay yeah, I¡¯m out on Fred. I¡¯m not saying he ever was a possibility for the number four slot. But if Greg is on board, big pass from me. Sam: Agreed. We¡¯ll find someone else. Clara: Feels a little early to judge someone. Greg: Yeah . . . and also, he just saved your asses. Mie: . . . we know, Greg. God. You¡¯re so dumb. I brought my attention back to Fred, who had finally stopped belly laughing. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that the guy was overly animated. It was fine getting excited every once in a while in my opinion . . . but to be cheery and overly animated all the time? It was kind of a pet peeve. ¡°Woah there, man. That was pretty funny for sure, but let¡¯s never do that again,¡± I said. He wiped at his eyes, still smiling. ¡°Ah my bad, you¡¯re a personal bubble kind of guy then. I see. I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± Who isn¡¯t a personal bubble kind of guy? I thought. I noticed the ¡®Add to Contacts¡¯ option missing in the menu hovering over his shoulder. I saw ¡®Add to Party¡¯ still . . . but no ¡®Add to Contacts¡¯ Why is the interface different?! We have to be touching? I hadn¡¯t realized that was how it worked back in the inn. Ugh. Mustering myself and too curious to know more about this guy¡¯s abilities through chat, I walked over and put my right hand on his shoulder and gripped it, keeping my arm stiff just in case he made any sudden movements. He gripped my left shoulder. ¡°But seriously. Thank you,¡± I said. ¡°We owe you twice over now.¡± The option to ¡®Add to Contacts¡¯ reappeared, and I selected it. A little message popped up next to the option. Waiting for other player to accept. ¡°Brother,¡± Fred said, putting his eyes down to the ground and leaning his head forward, as if he was auditioning for a part in Gladiator. ¡°What? No,¡± I said. ¡°I just want to add you to my contacts.¡± A moment passed, then another. He continued to lean his head forward. ¡°Brother,¡± he said again. God damn it. Ugh. I leaned forward until our foreheads met, then he accepted the invite. This guy is pretty weird. I immediately dropped my hand and backed up. I had to drop my shoulders more than I wanted to in order to get out of his grip . . . which made me do an awkward stooping motion as I turned away. ¡°Okay that was officially the weirdest interaction I have ever seen in my life,¡± Mie said. ¡°I wanted to add him to my contacts,¡± I explained. I looked over to Fred. ¡°Any chance you could share your abilities? Curious how your class works. I sort of thought . . . mages sucked in this game. But you just one-tapped the strongest player we have come across.¡± ¡°HUZZAH! But you haven¡¯t met a Fairy Dwarf yet!¡± He sent over his top three abilities. Active Ability: {Invisibility Roll} Description: You roll a d10. The lower the roll, the lower the cost per second of invisibility. Invisibility breaks on any damage, effect, or action. Cost: {Calculated} mana per second Cast Time: Instant Cooldown: 10 seconds Active Ability: {Joker¡¯s Glare} Description: You strike fear into the heart of your target, causing them to run directly away from you for twenty seconds. Cost: 50 mana. Scales with player level. Cast Time: 1 second Cooldown: 60 seconds Active Ability: {Arbitrary Blast} Description: You roll a d10. The higher the roll, the more damage your target receives relative to their max health. If you roll higher than a d7, you have a chance to hinder the target in an arbitrary manner. Cost: 60 mana. Scales with player level. Cast Time: 2 seconds Cooldown: 60 seconds ¡°Huh. These seem good. I¡¯m not sure they make up for how squishy you likely are,¡± I said. Then I looked closer at that Arbitrary Blast ability. ¡®Relative to their max health¡¯ . . . That seemed . . . really good. ¡°Wait. It¡¯s a rolling mechanic? Did you roll a ten, to one shot Mike?¡± I gestured to his body again. We all winced. Stolen story; please report. ¡°I¡¯ll say, I rolled extremely well, yes.¡± ¡°OOooo, I didn¡¯t realize they had gambling around here,¡± Clara said, jumping into the conversation. ¡°What would have happened if you rolled a one?¡± I asked, with a questioning glance toward Clara. ¡°No reason to dwell on ¡®what ifs,¡¯ ¡± Fred said. His back straightened, and his chin lifted as he said it. I dwelled on it. It was a luck-based mechanic . . . and I didn¡¯t like luck much when it came to games . . . especially when my literal life was on the line. I read through the description one more time. It looked and sounded like once every minute, he could cast his Arbitrary Blast ability, and depending on the result, the target would take damage relative to the roll. So if he rolled a one, they would take ten percent max health. If he rolled a five, they would take fifty percent, and so on. That was pretty good . . . but other than that . . . he just didn¡¯t do much. We need a tank, so Mie can focus on heals. Mie, Clara, and I went through the rest of Mike¡¯s loot while Fred stood fidgeting off to the side, looking unsure of what he should be doing. There were some leather armor pieces and plate that we passed around until we were all equipped in a way that made sense. ¡°I might as well tag along. I am without party it seems,¡± Fred said in a mumble, with almost . . . mock sadness. It caught me off guard after all the cheer. I wasn¡¯t exactly eager to let the guy in, and I was about to respond when Mie did my dirty work. ¡°Nah, man. We¡¯ll pass.¡± Clara: Well, that¡¯s a bit harsh, don¡¯t you think? Mie: What? Best not to lead the guy on. I put it straight. Clara: Yes, even so. Harsh. Fred did look a little caught off guard with the honesty, but he grinned and said, ¡°I¡¯ll tag along anyways. Me mum always told me that persistence is in my blood.¡± I sighed, turning my attention to a personal chat from Mie as we headed back to the road a short distance away. Mie: Well, this is going to be awkward. Not as awkward as you getting hit on by that old guy during a Call of Duty match . . . But still, pretty awkward. Gah, I can still hear that guy¡¯s voice. ¡®Hey, big boy.¡¯ Sam . . . your past . . . suuuucks. Sorry, that¡¯s mean. It¡¯s . . . great. Sam: Trust me. I know. And it¡¯s not all bad having Fred along. He can lead the way. That was usually my job in battle royale games. I wasn¡¯t a good enough shooter to shoot people . . . but I was a good sound-maker . . . er. Phil loved sending me first into unknown territory to uncover all the little prone snake players. Players . . . like Mike. We made it back to the path, and I looked to the west. The forest was thick here, but the path ahead broke the canopy above and showed a city on the side of the mountain dead ahead. Black mist swirled over a castle that lay against the mountain itself. The city of The Black Domain, I assumed. I pointed to it. ¡°Let¡¯s go that way,¡± I said. The little streams of the corruption vine . . . or ink¡ªit really was the best word to describe it. It looked like black ink. Anyways, the tendrils were thicker here, crisscrossing the path in front of us. We were going to have to tread carefully. ¡°Uhh . . . Fred?¡± I said. ¡°How about you go first.¡± ¡°HUZZAH! IT¡¯S GOOD TO BE ALIVE!¡± he belted and eagerly charged forward. Sigh. We traveled west with the remaining daylight, eager to make it to The Black Domain where we all assumed we would reap the most experience. The area here was quiet, and the silence seemed to grow the closer we got to the border of The Black Domain. We took frequent breaks throughout the day so I could feed Mie. Clara kept giving us weird looks every time we logged out . . . together. We made up some bullshit every time, still hiding the fact that Mie was an actual baby. Clara had definitely caught on to the fact that something weird was going on . . . but Fred . . . didn¡¯t. He would just sit down, stare off into space, and start humming. I lost track of how many times we had to rip him away from the corruption vines. He would accidently stumble into them, and they would rise up and puncture into his stomach. How he was level eighteen and still . . . alive was a mystery to me. Night was fast approaching, and just as it went pitch black, we got a fire going in a little enclave off the road. The flames threw moving shadows against the surrounding area. Since Mie and¡ªI assumed¡ªFred would be logging out, I made Clara promise she would put it out before calling it for the night. But then . . . none of us . . . logged out. The dark area was cold, and the fire was a welcome warmth. The four of us huddled around it as it started its familiar sparking song of destruction. The wood we found was mostly rounds, and since I had my axes back, I went ahead and split a few pieces. It was a familiar motion, and I savored every swing, glad to be out of Rivermoor and away from the population. ¡°So, are we going to talk about it?¡± Mie asked no one in particular. Silence followed, everyone confused. ¡°About what, Mie?¡± I asked. ¡°You know. Everything. We have been pushing hard, and I don¡¯t know. I just feel like we haven¡¯t really talked about it.¡± ¡°Okay . . . but what is it?¡± I asked again. The fire was starting to get going now. Heat pumping up and away. Sparks and the occasional pop creating an ambient vibe that I very much enjoyed. ¡°Okay. For instance. Who everyone was before . . . you know . . . dying.¡± I stared at her, confused. ¡°Wait. You want to talk about who we all were before we died? Mie . . . think about that for a second.¡± I gave her a questioning look. The ¡®you of all people should probably not be bringing this up since you yourself don¡¯t even know where you came from¡¯ look. ¡°Yeah, I know. I know. It¡¯s dumb,¡± she said. I exhaled heavily. I didn¡¯t think she caught my meaning. ¡°It¡¯s not dumb,¡± Clara said quietly. She was staring into the fire intently . . . remembering. ¡°I can start.¡± ¡°Right! BUT FIRST!¡± Fred said super loudly. ¡°Fred,¡± I said through clenched teeth. ¡°Would you please keep it the fuck down.¡± ¡°Super loud, man,¡± Mie said. ¡°Right.¡± He said again, in a whisper. ¡°My bad. But first!¡± He popped a bottle of Perdon into his hands. Then he popped some glasses out from his inventory and poured us all a couple fingers¡¯ worth. ¡°Figured it might help loosen the tongue a bit.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Mie whispered to me. ¡°He¡¯s growing on me.¡± ¡°Just because he brought alcohol,¡± I whispered back. ¡°What? I love it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a problem.¡± ¡°Why?¡± I opened a private message to her. Sam: BECAUSE YOU ARE A BABY! Fred had raised his glass, and we all followed suit. ¡°Cheers!¡± he said kind of quietly, and all excited. ¡°Cheers to you all! For being so welcoming this fine day.¡± Then he knocked back the double shot in one go. ¡°See. He loves alcohol too,¡± Mie whispered. Then said louder, ¡°Cheers!¡± and took a sip. Clara looked at her glass cautiously, then took a sip. I expected her to cough it up and choke . . . but she didn¡¯t. Huh. I took a sip. The aroma was actually pretty nice, and there was almost zero harshness. Nothing like that first drink back at The Bucket. In fact, it reminded me a lot of a good bottle of bourbon from back home. It went down easy. I inspected the bottle as the liquid¡¯s warmth spread across my tongue and into my chest. Rivermoor Perdon Notes: Oak, Leather, Honey. ¡°So Fred. I get the impression you were actually a woman back on earth. Is that accurate?¡± Mie said very unexpectantly, and . . . already hiccupping. I sighed. This is going to be an interesting night . . . Fred went dead quiet. Then said, ¡°How did you know?¡± I spewed out the sip I had just taken. ¡°Wait . . .WHAT?¡± ¡°I could see it,¡± Mie said. ¡°Yeah, I lived out in the country with my husband¡ªrest his soul. Would milk the cows every morning, feed the chickens. You know, the farm life. And¡ªokay I can¡¯t keep this up!¡± Fred started laughing. ¡°You are all so gullible. Your faces say it all!¡± I had gone wide eyed, mouth slightly open. ¡°So to be clear, you are in fact . . . a man. Correct?¡± I realized then for the first time since dying on Earth that I really couldn¡¯t know who anyone was by their appearance, despite the way our character¡¯s features mirrored our real faces. I thought back to Character Creation, I . . . didn¡¯t remember gender options though so . . . a switch there seemed unlikely. But what if I just missed it? ¡°You¡¯ll never know!¡± he said with a laugh, and gave me a wink. Ugh. "Okay this is great. Let¡¯s do pasts,¡± . . . Mie said. I looked at her intently, until she met my eyes. Her eyes widened. ¡°Oh, right,¡± she muttered. ¡°How about you start, Clara,¡± I said, covering for Mie . . . again. ¡°Well, uhmm, alright. I¡¯m . . . well the truth is . . . ¡± She faltered, struggling to find words. ¡°The truth is my life wasn¡¯t great, and when I died and was thrown into a wooden box with a dreadful guide who wanted to rape me, then killed him, then went straight into a death match with nine other players, I sort of just . . . went dead inside. When you guys found me. . . I had basically given up. I honestly . . . got lucky with the entry event.¡± ¡°How many times did it take you?¡± I asked. She hesitated slightly, then said, ¡°I died twice. Won on the third.¡± ¡°So, then after that gank . . . you have two credits left?¡± She nodded and continued, ¡°Not good. Maybe I¡¯ll go back to the Soul Space tonight to clean up. I really should be spending more time there while resting.¡± ¡°You mean scrape up the now likely half decomposed corpse of your guide then chop him up and flush him down a toilet bit by bit?¡± I asked. ¡°Wow!¡± Clara said, giving me a wild look. Then after a moment she said, ¡°Well alright, yeah. That sounds right. I¡¯ll have to procure the toilet first.¡± ¡°Definitely going to want the toilet,¡± I said. ¡°Wait,¡± Mie said. ¡°Is that how Greg . . . got rid of the . . . trash?¡± I glanced at Clara and Fred, sort of hoping they couldn¡¯t read between the lines here. I nodded . . . but after another moment of silence and intense stares, I resigned to keep talking. ¡°Yep. He got rid of the trash, bit. By. Bit.¡± ¡°I sort of get the feeling you folks have some body disposal experience,¡± Clara said in a joking tone. I ignored the comment by draining the rest of my glass. Fred poured us all another round rather clumsily. When we just kept staring intently at our glasses, she went, ¡°Oh my god. You do have experience! You killed Greg! Wait, no. He was just talking in the chat room. Who did you kill back in your Soul Space?!¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s not what you¡¯re thinking,¡± I said. ¡°I mean . . . it kind of is,¡± Mie said. ¡°Okay fair, I do admit we pushed the button. But we didn¡¯t know his head would explode.¡± Now it was Clara¡¯s turn to go all wide eyed and open mouthed. ¡°Wait. What?! Greg¡¯s head exploded in your Soul Space?!¡± ¡°Yeah, it was pretty messed up,¡± Mie said. ¡°He was just like, ¡®I¡¯m Greg, I¡¯m a total piece of shit who has never had a good player help me level up,¡¯ then bam! His head exploded after we¡ªSam¡ªdecided to kill him.¡± ¡°I¡¯m so mixed up,¡± Clara said, laughing now. I tried to catch Mie¡¯s eyes. . . to suggest that she stop fucking talking . . . We didn¡¯t know if Tittles or his bunch were listening. She ignored me . . . and kept going. ¡°Greg leveled up, which I guess you have to like accept or something . . . anyways, when we did accept, his head exploded and his corpse stuck around. But then he came back like a second later, and he was different. All skinny and ugly instead of . . . well, fat and ugly.¡± Greg: Again . . . I feel like I shouldn¡¯t need to keep explaining that I can hear everything you are saying. Mie: GREG I KNOW HOW IT WORKS! ¡°Wait wait wait. Hold on,¡± Clara said. ¡°You¡¯re telling me that Greg¡¯s head exploded AND THEN SAM MADE HIM DISPOSE OF HIS OWN CORPSE? Well, that¡¯s just plain twisted.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I said.¡± ¡°At least you folks have a guide still. I had to figure this all out on my own at first.¡± Clara continued, ¡°I didn¡¯t know they upgraded like that.¡± ¡°Huh, interesting,¡± Fred said with a hiccup. ¡°My guide is still level one, and I¡¯m a higher level than you. Strange . . . ¡± he said, fading off in thought. His face furrowed, like he was trying to figure out something really complex in his . . . drunken state. I glanced above his health bar. Oh, not drunk. Shitfaced. I read the debuff description. Movement slowed by seventy percent. Whoa. Greg: Even with this level up. You guys still aren¡¯t going to win. The odds of that are incredibly low. It¡¯s last party standing. So . . . the last party are the only ones who survive. There was another long pause as the weight of what Greg said settled in. I waited for Mie to respond . . . but for once . . . she didn¡¯t. Her eyes looked into the fire, and I could feel her sadness in our bond again. I was surprised when Clara responded. Clara: Can it, Greg. Only Greg could turn a good time into a bad time . . . faster than a cold draft blowing out a candle. I exhaled heavily, and through the chill that had reached into all of us, I recognized a new source of warmth. Not the warmth from the fire right in front of us. But in Clara¡¯s eyes. She bore a determined expression. It reminded me so much of one of my girls. Ada more than Lily. Stubborn and resolved as a rusty nail. ¡°We¡¯re going to make it,¡± she said softly, and I saw the sparks inside of her. Anger, and hope, perfectly combined to pull the weighted blanked off of the group. Mie looked up and nodded, and Fred raised what must have been his sixth glass. I nodded too, but deep down inside of me . . . I had to admit, there was little hope. Last party standing did mean the last party standing. Greg was right, the odds of that were low . . . no matter how you looked at it. A loud crack from the fire shot an ember to my feet. I . . . stamped it out, took another glass from Fred, and downed it. I wanted to forget¡ªif only briefly¡ªthe hell we were in. I woke up the next morning disoriented. Morning light hit my eyelids as I thought back to the previous night. I was having a hard time putting the series of events back together, but I remembered Fred saying something like, ¡®Wait¡­ wait. Back it up. Whoooo¡¯s . . . milkin¡¯ the cowsss?!¡¯ clearly . . . drunk, then pulling out a deck of cards and challenging us to a game of Texas Hold¡¯em. After the first bottle was gone, he¡¯d pulled out another. Then another. Mie got the Shitfaced debuff too . . . actually we all did. I remembered us all shaking off the gloom eventually until we were roaring with laughter and toasting to everything. Specifically, to the blowing up of Greg¡¯s head. Mie would go, ¡®TO GREG¡¯S HEAD BLOWING UP!¡¯ or ¡®LET¡¯S BLOW HIM UP AGAIN!¡¯ and we would all drink as if it was some unspoken rule. She did this multiple times. She even toasted to the sentiment behind my player name . . . or maybe to me. I wasn¡¯t sure. I was drunk. ¡®TO ANYTHING BUT SQUISHED!¡¯ I didn¡¯t remember the game of cards, but I did remember agreeing to a crap deal that whoever won would get to make a request of the others. I thought this was some weird ploy from Fred to get Clara naked. Eyes bleary, I looked around, and everything seemed fine. Everyone had clothes on. Whew. We put the fire out, and the night had either stayed warm enough, or we were all just drunk enough to ignore the cold and stay asleep. I was numb still, the alcohol not quite out of my system. I glanced around, continuing to make sure everything was okay, and that¡¯s when I saw it and remembered who had won the game, and what the request had been. I sighed and muttered, ¡°Ah, that piece of shit.¡± Fred¡¯s face was grinning at me from a little icon in my party interface. There were three Z¡¯s indicating he was asleep. The little bastard had wiggled his way into the party. There was the option to remove him¡ªthat I desperately wanted to hit¡ªbut I decided we might as well let him stay for the time being. Still wasn¡¯t a fan of the guy. He was¡ªto put it gently¡ªan oddball. My thoughts froze as a loud stoic voice came in from all directions startling the others awake. Well, everyone but Mie; she just rolled over after mumbling, ¡°No, Greg, put it away. Stop.¡± Yikes. ¡°Good morning!¡± Tittles said. ¡°I apologize for the early hour, but due to a continued large influx of souls, we have been asked to move things along in this instance. Phase two will begin in fifteen days, and the time allotted has been reduced to twenty-five remaining days. More to come on the phase two rule changes, and again I want to apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.¡± It came and went so fast that it didn¡¯t really register right away. Inconvenience? I chuckled. This whole damn experience is an inconvenience. I saw Clara¡¯s worried eyes, and another realization dawned on me. In twenty-five days . . . at the very latest . . . we will all be dead. Someone powerful was pulling strings in ways I did not like. Someone was playing God with a million souls. And for what?! Why is this all happening?! Not knowing was killing me, and I was fed up with it. What would happen when I died . . . again? I don''t want to not exist. That would mean I would never get back to my family, and the hope of finding Rach again, which had barely awoken, would be gone entirely. I stood there for a moment, the alcohol morphing into a slow, steady pounding in my skull, as yet another realization struck me. Nothing . . . has changed. This . . . is just like life on Earth. Was that true? I remembered the familiar thought pattern of dreading the end. I had been through this dance many times. Thinking about the approaching unknown at the end of life on Earth. That was all this existence was. Just more unknowns. Was my wife . . . gone forever? The thought wrecked me. But I was still going to move forward. I was still going to try. If not for her, then for my kids. Lily . . . you better be alive. You better . . . not be here. I straightened my back, and started moving toward the darkness ahead. Chapter 17 Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Chapter 18 Chapter 18 ¡°Why?¡± Mie asked . . . again. ¡°Just do it,¡± I sighed. Commander Matt fell to a knee, his head down, and facing toward us. A moment later, Mie¡¯s Flash Heal fell through him, and as it did, he looked up at us. The black bled away from his eyes as if a drain had been unplugged, and his nameplate . . . turned white. He got out a ¡®oh my¡ª¡¯ before his entire body shuddered. Then he heaved. An explosion of black ink and bile came pouring out of his mouth. I have seen a lot of people throw up in my life. Normally it doesn¡¯t bother me . . . but the way this guy vomited, the sound he made . . . I cringed. It sounded like he was being tortured. It was a cry of absolute pain mixed with a guttural shout of anger. So . . . in other words, it looked and sounded like we were witnessing an exorcism. There was so much black grossness coming out of him. It was . . . pretty freaking weird. A moment of silence followed as the stream turned to a trickle. He was gasping for air. ¡°You saved¡ª¡± He heaved again. Clara had a hand to her mouth, Fred was flat on his back, passed out, and Mie¡¯s face was wide eyed. I set about looting all the corpses and gathered my spears, glancing at my map. There were only two green gates now. And only one on our side of the mountain. We need to hurry. Finally, the vomiting stopped. The commander stood up on shaky legs and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He walked toward me, got on one knee, and said ¡°Thank you¡ªI¡ªI thought that was the end for me.¡± He tried to keep talking, but his throat caught and more black ink dribbled down his chin. ¡°No problem . . .¡± I trailed off as I combed through my logs. You killed Recruited Black Domain Swordsman x6! You received 3600 XP! You killed Recruited Black Domain Archer x2 You received 1200 XP! You killed Recruited Black Domain Healer You received 600 XP! You successfully cleansed a unique mob! You received 2000 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 20! You received {Gold Coin} x14 You received {Raid Key} Roll for {Bow of the Gods} You gained a unique follower! Commander Matt is now a follower! I took a deep breath. There was a lot to dig into there. ¡°Are you good to walk, Commander?¡± I asked. ¡°Call me Matt, sir. Yes, I can walk,¡± he responded, his voice quavering, as he got to his feet. Now that he wasn¡¯t doing his best to kill us, I took him in more fully. He was a large man, tall and strong, his hair cut short and even. His voice, though it still quavered slightly, was strong and rough around the edges. Like Loc, he wore a mustache fantastically. I also noticed a couple battle scars on his chin and cheek. Okay, cool. He¡¯s sentient. Wanting to test the follower system, I pulled open that menu and found the row for Matt. It had a yellow border, indicating his uniqueness, but there were no actions available. Instead, there was a missing requirement. I inspected it. 1/2 Requirements Met Cleanse Commander Matt of {Recruited}: Complete Gain Commander Matt¡¯s Allegiance: Incomplete Huh. Gain his allegiance? As if queued by my thought process, Matt said, ¡°These lands have been corrupted by the Black Queen, a horrid witch from the south. She has killed our king and corrupted my friends, and if not for you, I would have spent the rest of my life mindlessly doing her bidding. I owe you a debt, but if you help me rid these lands of her grasp . . . I will owe you my allegiance.¡± He trailed off and looked to the city in the distance, a grimace on his face. ¡°O . . . kay,¡± I said. I looked at the map and saw the gate on the opposite side turn from red to green. Only one was left, but I didn¡¯t see any other yellow dots in the area. I¡¯ll have to dig into all that later. ¡°We have to move. Now!¡± I said. Fred groaned. I took off at a sprint across the field, and I was glad to see the others¡ªalong with Commander Matt¡ªfollow without question. As we ran toward the mountain. . . at Mie¡¯s pace¡ªwhich was more like a jog really¡ªwe rolled for the key and the bow. Mie of course got the key. I wasn¡¯t bitter. It didn¡¯t even matter . . . probably. It better not even matter. I won the bow, which I inspected real quick before handing over to Clara. {Bow of the Gods} Rank: Epic Grade: Masterwork Slot: Two-Handed +15 Agility +15 Endurance This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. +3 Constitution Passive Ability: {Double Shot} Passive Ability: {Double Shot} Description: Every time you fire this weapon, instead of firing one arrow that deals 100% damage, you fire two that deal 70% damage each. The bow was good, and the damage increase alone was amazing . . . but I was also pretty sure firing two arrows at once would mean double the stacks of poison. We kept running, and I whistled as I passed it Clara¡¯s way. She gave me a little smile, but her reaction made it feel like she didn¡¯t really realize how good of an upgrade it was. Man, she looks just like Ada. It was uncanny. A message came in from Mie in our party chat. She was breathing really hard, so maybe talking this way was just easier for her? I didn¡¯t know. Mie: I just realized something. Sam: Oh? Mie: You know how we can see all the activity on the map in this area? Sam: . . . yeah? Greg: I see where this is going. Mie: We basically don¡¯t even need Greg anymore. Sam: Did . . . we ever? Clara: Who¡¯s Greg? Mie: :fire emoji: :owned emoji: Greg: Hilarious. Fred: Hello Greggory! Greg: . . . Hi Fred. It¡¯s just Greg. Mie: It really is just Greg. Fred: Is this . . . normal guide treatment? Mie: Yes. As we neared the mountain and city, I checked my map . . . and my stomach fell out. A yellow-nameplated group of four players was making their way from the west side of the area as we approached from the east. They were almost to the base of the mountain, while we were still a mile or so out. It was going to be damn close on who made it to the gate first. Too close for comfort. ¡°Mie, hand the key over to Clara,¡± I said. ¡°What? No! I won it fair and square!¡± ¡°There is another party on their way to the last gate! We need her to go grab it before them!¡± Mie harrumphed and handed the key over to Clara, who looked at me as if to confirm we were both thinking the same thing. I nodded back. ¡°Go.¡± She took off at her top speed . . . which was something to watch. She blinked forward, activated her Diving Shot, then blinked again. I watched her blue dot anxiously on the map when I lost sight of her over a rise. She continued to speed way ahead of us. The other party must have seen what we were doing, because I saw one of their yellow dots separate from the rest and shoot out ahead toward the last green gate. My abs clenched as I watched the two move at their top speeds. The city walls rose up in front of us now, some fifteen meters high. Past them, the mountain and an inner wall with the gates stood tall before us. The exterior walls¡¯ gates were open, and as we passed into the city proper, words showed up across my vision. The City of The Black Domain Windows snapped closed as we passed, as if the city¡¯s inhabitants were afraid. They . . . probably are, I realized. Uhh . . . yeah, if spiders were digging into my friends¡¯ necks and making them go all braindead I¡¯d hesitate to leave my house . . . like ever. Part of me wondered if we were making a huge mistake heading into the heart of this area. Gaining five levels definitely helped, but we were still on the very low end for this zone. I hoped we weren¡¯t getting in over our heads. I looked back at my map, still running with Mie, Fred, and Matt on my heels. The other yellow dot was closer than Clara . . . No . . . They were both about to reach the gate. I zoomed in. Right before the yellow dot reached the green gate, Clara¡¯s blue dot transported ahead¡ªanother blink, I assumed. Thatta girl. I grinned. The green gate turned to blue, indicating it was ours. At least someone in our party is competent. I watched Fred stumble into another stream of black ink. They were everywhere here. Crisscrossing the city streets, going up building walls, and running parallel with us. Matt took his sword and cut through the Corruption Vine, dealing more damage to it than Mie or I ever had with my spear or her staff way back when. Huh, I guess that effect can be cut away with enough damage. Or maybe Matt deals bonus damage to it? I wasn¡¯t sure. I¡¯d just thought you had to stretch away from it. That was good to know. I took a look at the logs hitting my feed now that our party had locked in a gate. You completed the event ¡®Join the Black Queen Boss Raid¡¯! You received 4000 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 22! You discovered a Boss Raid! BOSS RAID: Slay The Black Queen! Description: The Black Queen has enslaved the area with her corruption. Slay the Queen and save the realm! On successful completion you will receive rewards, experience, and reputation based on your current level. The instant two-level bump was definitely nice. I checked our levels. I was twenty-two. So was Mie, and . . . so was Clara. I thought about that for a moment. The leveling system had to be exponential to some degree for her to have caught up like she had. We were¡ªI assumed¡ªstill ahead of her in XP, but were at a point where each level was taking more and more XP to get to, and so the difference between me and Mie, and Clara was probably within the same level. Fred was level twenty-three, which confirmed my suspicion there. If the level requirement was linear, he would have stayed three levels ahead. It took us a couple more minutes to reach the gate. The gate . . . was . . . yeah. It was basically just a classical castle-like metal gate you¡¯d find in any number of video games or fantasy movies. The inner wall was higher, about the same size as the exterior and made of the same gray stone material, and now that I looked closer, it looked more like it was just part of the inner keep. There were walkways on top of the walls, but there wasn¡¯t much beyond this gate that was outside of the mountain. This gate . . . goes into the mountain, I realized. I walked past the groaning player whom Clara had worked down and Knocked and looked through the bars of the gate. It was . . . a short tunnel that was blocked by a wooden door. Maybe a staging area? I thought. I wasn¡¯t sure. I turned my attention to the Knocked player. She was one of those Forest Shades I had seen during character creation. She sort of faded in and out with the eclipsed lighting. ¡°Tell your friends to back up, and we will let you live.¡± I checked my map. They were still a couple hundred feet away. She coughed up some dark red blood. ¡°Okay.¡± Her party members stopped, and so we let her continue to crawl away. It was painful to watch. Clara had dumped at least ten arrows into her and must have kited her mercilessly. Clara herself seemed unharmed. There was a groan as the metal gate rose up slowly. I took a deep, inhaling breath and looked at Mie and Fred. They both had their hands on their knees, just breathing. I looked to what I thought of as the staging area, watching my logs update. 6/10 Parties Confirmed 7/10 Parties Confirmed This . . . was potentially a really bad idea. It was going to be absolute mayhem in there. I looked back at Fred. Would his Arbitrary Blast work on the queen? Would he be . . . good enough? I thought about my family. About Lily and how I still didn¡¯t really know if she was alive or dead. I thought about how I had no idea if my wife had made it through all of this hell. I . . . thought about Jessica torturing Greg and the company in charge of all this . . . allowing that to happen. My fists clenched. We had to win right here. Without the experience from this raid, I knew to my very core . . . we would get left behind. We had to be brave. We had to try. I looked at Clara and Matt. Clara gave me an affirmative nod. She understood. Matt beat his breast plate with a fist, gripped his massive sword at his waist, and unsheathed it with a long ring. The gate, now at its summit, jolted to a stop with a loud metal KATHUNK! 8/10 Parties Confirmed 9/10 Parties Confirmed I exhaled. ¡°Phhhhhhhhhh . . . okay. Here we go.¡± I stepped forward. 10/10 Parties Confirmed Boss Raid Confirmed Mode: PVP Unlike its slow rise, the gate slammed down with a crash behind us . . . locking us in. I looked at the PVP mode log in confusion. Wait what? Chapter 19 Sam Sam Fred Mie Fred Sam Clara Fred Fred Fred This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Fred Sam Mie Mie Sam Mie Mie Greg Fred Clara Greg Greg Sam Mie Chapter 20 Chapter 20 If what Greg said was true, then . . . there really wasn¡¯t anything we could have done about Loc and Liam. But we could have at least talked to them first. Jesus Christ, Clara. What the actual hell was that? Then I remembered . . . I could talk to them . . . if they hadn¡¯t been squished. I pulled up my contact list, found Loc and Liam, and started a group chat with them. Sam: God, guys. I¡¯m so sorry. I had no idea my teammate would do that. Loc: Yeah . . . it was a bit surprising, but hey. 2v4 anyways, you had us beat . . . and like you said. It¡¯s every party for themselves . . . Liam: Fuck off, man. Sam: You guys good on credits still? They didn¡¯t respond . . . I sighed. I couldn¡¯t blame Liam for his response. As I stared glumly around the wrecked cavern, I noticed green, blue, and purple glows from the dead players all around me. Sam: We won¡¯t loot your corpses, and we will leave a couple of the better items on them. I thought about that for a second. The other parties had died first. They would probably get through their time penalty and come back to check their corpses before Loc and Liam were able to. Sam: Scratch that. I¡¯m taking it all so it doesn¡¯t get looted. I¡¯ll message you the location of your loot once I find a good place to hide it. A long, long moment passed. Then¡ª Loc: Thanks. Well that¡¯s something. Clara started moving toward Loc and Liam¡¯s corpses. I placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. ¡°If you loot them, you are out.¡± My face must have been a sight, because she hesitated, nodded, then slunk away. Jesus. What is going on with her? Where did that come from? We walked back to the center of the hall, looting as we went, but I didn¡¯t feel like checking what we¡¯d got for the moment. When we got there, we found a half pillar on its end in the very center of the room. The Black Queen was underneath it, squished . . . like a bug. Her legs curled against the thick cylinder exterior and were glowing . . . orange. That was a new loot color. Somehow, Fred¡¯s spell had decided to orchestrate a combination maneuver¡ªI assumed, based on the scene before me¡ªwhere a pillar would be tossed into the air with no rotation in effect, and balanced just so, so that when it slammed onto the queen, it wouldn¡¯t fall over. Or maybe it didn¡¯t fall over due to luck. It was all luck, I reminded myself. I shook my head. That spell was ridiculous . . . and it gave me a thought, which I pushed to the back of my head. My logs were still spilling out information, and I had to know what our rewards were. You killed players x15! You gained 7500 XP! You killed The Black Queen! You gained 6000 XP! You completed the boss raid ¡®Slay The Black Queen¡¯! You gained 30,000 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 28! You received {Gold Coin} x105 Roll for {Ring of Fate} Roll for {Potion of Inheritance} Roll for {Axe of the Storm} Roll for {Scythe of The Black Queen} The experience gain was incredible, but it fell flat next to the loot. We rolled for a lot of items, but four stood out to me more than the others. Clara won the Ring of Fate, which she passed to Fred. Mie won the Axe of the Storm and the Scythe of The Black Queen, and I won the Potion of Inheritance. But we all remained silent and solemn as we looked the items over. Loc and Liam . . . we hadn¡¯t known them well, but the fact that we had had to kill them was just . . . It felt awful. Mie was looking at Clara, a look of mistrust on her face. I could feel her uncertainty. It felt similar to my own. Mie passed the axe over to me begrudgingly, and after that we all linked the items in chat. I took them in one at a time. Fred slipped on the gold-stoned Ring of Fate. {Ring of Fate} Rank: Legendary Grade: Masterwork Slot: Finger Description: Any rolling abilities now roll four times, taking the best result. +5 Constitution +20 Intelligence I was very curious if I was even reading the ring¡¯s description right. With that item equipped . . . anytime Fred used his Arbitrary Blast ability¡ªwhich was roll-based¡ªhe would take the best result out of four d10 dice. He had already been rolling north of five on almost every roll, and I wasn¡¯t really sure if that was just luck or what. But with that ring . . . the odds of rolling high numbers would go up even further. I let out a slow breath. Wow. Fred had turned into our MVP just like that. But, after that fight, and saving us from Mike . . . and helping with the guards way back at The Notch . . . he might already have been. I looked at him twiddling with his new ring and humming as he did a little jig and shook my head. Wouldn¡¯t have been my first pick as MVP. I looked at the Axe of the Storm next. I popped it into my hand. The hilt was nicely leathered, and the head of the axe has a half-moon blade that seemed to carry with it an electrical current. It arched over the blade back and forth. On the other side, there was a nice small but flat warhammer. {Axe of the Storm} Rank: Epic Grade: Stellar Slot: One Handed +5 Agility +10 Endurance +5 Constitution Passive ability: {Arc Lighting} {Arc Lighting}, Passive Description: Your attacks have a 90% chance to arc to a nearby target dealing 75% of the original damage. Stuns for 0.2 seconds. Despite the short duration, I really liked that stun effect, since it could interrupt casts or even attacks, and I assumed that it had a ninety percent chance to keep arcing, after the initial arc. I¡¯d have to test that. I took a look at the scythe next, but didn¡¯t look too closely since none of us could wield it. Then I popped the Potion of Inheritance into my hand. It looked like a bottle of Perdon, and the liquid sloshing around inside was orange. {Potion of Inheritance} Rank: Celestial Description: If taken while in a Battle Hall, you may select a second class. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. My breath caught. If I was reading that correctly, I¡¯d be able to pick up a second class while in a Battle Hall. The wording there had me a touch confused. Second class? Everything I had read both in the Hearth Manual and in game had only mentioned Battle Arts and Battle Halls. But this clearly said . . . class. With Fred¡¯s Arbitrary Blast, his Ring of Fate, and now this Potion of Inheritance . . . I returned to my earlier thought process . . . It was starting to make a lot of sense in my mind to head to Charlie¡¯s Crypt, the dungeon we first saw on the map at The Notch Inn. I pulled open my map and looked back at the recommended level for the dungeon. It recommended level forty. That was . . . pretty out of reach, even with our recent level-ups. But still . . . More lines in my logs caught my attention. You returned The Black Domain to its former state. The Black Domain is now The Hallowed Kingdom. Your reputation with The Hallowed Kingdom has increased astronomically! You received the title, ¡®King of The Hallowed Kingdom¡¯! Requirements met! You gained Commander Matt¡¯s allegiance! I stared blankly at that last line. Matt . . . I had assumed . . . died. I looked up sharply, my eyes flicking from pillar to pillar. One in particular caught my eye. It was hung up on the base of another, allowing me a glimpse of black armor legs underneath. They twitched. Noooo way. I ran over, and the others, curious at my sudden expression and movement, followed. I grabbed the legs and pulled Commander Matt out from under the column. His upper body . . . was half squashed, but somehow, he had crawled under this column and survived. Incredible. Mie quickly healed him up, and in no time he was on his feet. But then . . . he stumbled to a knee in front of me. Or at least I thought it was a stumble . . . until he pulled out his sword and held it across his palms, and began to speak. I watched Mie¡¯s reaction go from curious to utter disbelief the longer Matt spoke. ¡°I, Matthew, born of The Hallowed Kingdom, commander of the armies of the West . . .¡± ¡®Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife¡¯ . . . I couldn¡¯t help but fill in with some of my favorite lines from Gladiator. I stopped and paid attention. ¡°. . . swear fealty to you, AnythingButSquished, the new King of The Hallowed Kingdom.¡± You gained 20,819 followers! Fred gasped, his hand going to his chest. ¡°Oh come on. THE KING?!¡± Mie said. Huh. That¡¯s new. I looked at all the blood, gore, and death all around us. I looked back to the corner where Loc and Liam¡¯s corpses lay. Ugh. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡± After the battle with the Black Queen, we spent three days at the local Hallowed City Inn debating with each other and trying to come up with a solid end game plan. We held our discussions during the evenings and grinded in the surrounding areas during the days. Leveling this way was torture, and I only leveled up once to level twenty-nine. The region of The Black Domain¡ªnow The Hallowed Kingdom¡ªhad completely transformed back to normal. The eclipsed effect was gone, the black streams of ink had hardened and were starting to disintegrate, and the NPCs started bustling about and returning to some semblance of normal. In a lot of ways . . . it reminded me a lot of the aftermath of the nukes back on Earth. After a day or two, I couldn¡¯t stay upset at Clara and forgave her. But every time I caught Mie looking at her, I felt an inkling of distrust come from our bond. They usually got along, and now something was clearly off. The four of us were all in the common room sitting around a round table, and the conversation was starting to get a little heated between Mie, and well, me. ¡°What do you mean going north is a dumbass plan?¡± Mie said. ¡°We already have the level advantage. We don¡¯t need to go and risk our life credits for more levels! You dumb bitch.¡± I pinched the bridge of my nose. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we should risk our life credits¡ªand we wouldn¡¯t be. I¡¯m saying, we should go grab our third Battle Art. Plus, we have no idea what level everyone else is. For all we know, we could be under leveled!¡± ¡°Mkay, THE KING,¡± she said with dripping sarcasm. ¡°Tell me how we are taking on a dungeon that is rated for level forty players.¡± I hesitated but was prepared for this question. ¡°Fred,¡± I said. I looked over at him. Clara and Fred were both at the small circular table in the common room with us. There were a few other players around giving us side-long looks . . . Mie was yelling a lot. ¡°Fred?!¡± Mie sputtered. ¡°No offense, Fred. But FRED IS A DUMB¡ªsorry¡ªASS¡ªI don¡¯t mean it, man¡ªLUCK-BASED CHARACTER. You want to put everything¡ªour life credits, our gear, not to mention our remaining time¡ªon the line because you think we will get LUCKY? I don¡¯t get it.¡± Fred was stuffing his face with a slice of buttered bread and just shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just math,¡± I said for the hundredth time. ¡°OH MY GOD. IT''S A SINGLE-TARGET SPELL. IF THERE ARE ANY FIGHTS WITH LEVEL FORTY MOBS IN NUMBERS WE ARE ROYALLY FUCKED,¡± Mie . . . screamed. ¡°Mie,¡± Clara said, glancing around. ¡°Can it. Everyone is looking at us.¡± I looked at Clara . . . still unsure of how I felt about her. But she was right. All the other players were now blatantly staring at us. One goblin had a drink halfway up to his mouth, beer sloshing onto his wirelike beard. We had drawn way too much attention. Mie gave Clara a dirty look that she didn¡¯t notice, then continued more quietly, ¡°We need to go north. We need to get more centralized before phase two.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just vote and get this over with,¡± I said, tired. We had gone over this multiple times. ¡°Party chat. Roll on a tie. Go.¡± Sam: My Plan. Mie: Oh thanks, Sam. I also vote for My¡¯s(ha) Plan. The Best Plan. Sam: Really . . . ? Just to be clear. Sam¡¯s Plan. Clara: Mie¡¯s Plan. Fred: Sam¡¯s Plan. Sam: Great. It¡¯s a tie. Kill me. Mie: Happy to. Greg: Mie¡¯s Plan. Sam: Wait. No. What the hell!? Greg doesn¡¯t get a vote. Mie: Hahahaha YES! WE WIN! Sam: Greg voting for your plan should really tell you something. Theodor: Sam¡¯s Plan. Mie: Wait. Who the hell is Theodor?! Sam: TIE. Suck it, Mie. Fred: Uh, hey everyone, meet my guide Theodor. We decided based on your treatment of Greg . . . that Theodor shouldn¡¯t get too involved in party chat. But this seems important. Theodor: Hi everyone! Mie: This guy has just been creeping on all of us for like A WEEK? Fred: Yeah after we saw how you guys treat Greg . . . Greg: Fred gets it. Myself, Clara, Mie, Fred . . . and even Theodor all messaged ¡®Shut the hell up, Greg.¡¯ All at the exact same time. Theodor: Social norms, Greg . . . Sorry. Greg: Ugh. Fred: Anyways, so, we should have one more vote remaining. Clara¡¯s guide? Mie: You would think . . . but Clara took a table leg to the guy¡¯s face. He¡¯s dead. Fred: Oh . . . Theodor: This is one of the most anti-guide parties I have ever seen. Sam: So we roll then? Mie: Fine. System: AnythingButSquished has initiated a Roll. System: Greg rolled a 76 System: Player AnythingButSquished rolled a 9 System: Player IFartedInFrontOfHer rolled a 54 Mie: HA! Sam: Wait, no fair! Greg took my roll slot! What the hell, Greg? Don¡¯t roll. Greg: Oh . . . I thought we were all rolling. Mie: Classic Greg, thinking he¡¯s one of us. And Fine, Sam, you want to go again? I¡¯ll beat your ass like I always do. System: Player AnythingButSquished rolled a 6 Sam: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS THING?! System: Player IFartedInFrontOfHer rolled a 5 Sam: Never mind. I win! Mie: :rage emoji: Best out of three? Sam: Sigh. Fair. System: Player AnythingButSquished rolled a 98 System: Player IFartedInFrontOfHer rolled a 21 Clara: Okay I don¡¯t even want Sam¡¯s plan. But that¡¯s a clear win. Mie: GOD DAMNIT, GREG. I HAD IT IN THE BAG. We all sat back in our chairs, Mie clearly pissed. ¡°Look, I think¡ª¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t look me,¡± Mie said. ¡°Okay you¡¯re just being unreasonable now,¡± I said. ¡°Okay you¡¯re just being unreasonable now,¡± she copycatted in a pouty voice. I sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I looked her in the eyes and held out my hand. ¡°Mie, do you trust me?¡± She stood up abruptly, and stormed off to the bar. Uncertainty, fear, and sadness emanated through our bond. What has gotten into her? I got up slowly, excusing myself, and made my way over to her. She was shaking slightly, her eyes looking forward. Uncertainty still swept through her. She really wanted to play it safe . . . I guess? It was quiet for a long moment, then I put my hand on her back. ¡°You . . . okay?¡± I asked. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare Whole New World me,¡± she said curtly, referring to my outstretched hand from earlier. It was an epic scene in the movie Aladdin, where Aladdin reaches out his hand to Jasmine, asking her to trust him on a magic carpet ride. My gesture was . . . meant to be less romantical than that scene. Hopefully she didn¡¯t think I was trying to be romantic. She is a baby. That would be really weird. No, I was just trying to show some confidence. I felt uncertainty from her as she glanced back at Clara, and then to me. One arm on her back still, I reached with my other and laid it palm up on the bar, and said it again. ¡°Do you trust me?¡± She gave me an angry look that I barely bore. Until finally, she deflated. ¡°Ugh. Fine. Okay,¡± she said, rolling her eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s put everything on luck then . . . like idiots. What the hell.¡± As she grabbed my hand, I felt a strong black poison ebb its way into her stomach that I firmly ignored. She was afraid. Part 3 - Chapter 21 Part 3 Chapter 21 The decision to go to Charlie¡¯s Crypt final, we spent a couple more days hanging around the city, talking to various vendors and higher-leveled NPCs. Everyone was super nice because of my standing with the city, and the title I¡¯d received after completing the event had also turned them all into followers. I felt kind of bad about that, as the kingship probably deserved to be Fred¡¯s. But since I was party leader, I had reaped the reward there. Fred, thankfully, hadn¡¯t made the connection. I put a few plans in motion with the intention of making it back to The Hallowed City, and since Matt was an NPC and wouldn¡¯t be able to join us in Charlie¡¯s Crypt, I delegated a few tasks to him. I wasn¡¯t sure if putting him in charge of the other followers would even work . . . and there were so many other followers now I was a little overwhelmed, but it was worth a shot. So after hitting ¡®Summon¡¯ for Matt I gave him a couple orders and he set to it. I wasn¡¯t sure all followers would follow verbal commands as eagerly as Matt, but at least in his case, they seemed to work. After the battle with The Black Queen, we had gotten a fair amount of Soul Space experience. One hundred and twenty cubed meters of it to be exact. The next time we were in the Soul Space, I used . . . all of it. I got on my hands and knees and dug a one-by-one meter tunnel starting at the end of the hallway which had become Greg¡¯s sort-of-room. I had hoped I would hit some kind of barrier or some way to escape, or just anything. But . . . nothing happened. The tunnel just kept going and going. The only result was a really long useless tunnel, and it further solidified in my mind that there was no escape and no exploits to be found in the Soul Space, but I didn¡¯t care. I would keep trying to figure something out. Before I knew it, we had consumables restocked, gear repaired, and mounts acquired. I had been able to afford enough for the party, but they were not cheap at ten gold a pop. The mounts were just horses. No dismissing them, or popping them into the inventory or anything like that. But they did acknowledge their owner, and interacting with them brought up a similar interface to followers. So I could ¡®Summon¡¯ mine if needed or set it to ¡®Autonomy.¡¯ We did one final go through of the checklist of gear we had put together, and then we were off. We headed south out of the city toward Shell Woods. This was one of Mie¡¯s main talking points against my plan. She wanted to head north because whatever phase two was, it likely entailed some mechanism to centralize everyone. Since we were in the southeast portion of the island continent, that meant going south would take us further away from the center of the land mass. Meaning, if there was some mechanism that centralized everyone during phase two then we were going the wrong direction . . . but I was still somewhat confident we would be able to make it back in plenty of time . . . Maybe confident wasn¡¯t the right word. The mounts made the journey more bearable, especially when we hit the wall of mountains where we found a similar pass to Merchant¡¯s Way. Not having to trudge through thigh-high snow again was a big plus. We made it through the pass without complication, and came to Shell Woods. I started to get overly anxious then, nightmares of massive troll breasts filling my vision. This was the area the mother troll I had encountered on my initial journey to The Notch had come from. I was fairly confident I could take on that level thirty-three troll now, but the memory and stench of rotten milk still haunted me. Shell Woods was about what you would expect from a typical forest, aside from a few things. The trees were about three or four times as tall and thick as a normal tree, their canopies so large hardly any daylight got through. The leaves were falling, all sorts of shades of yellow, orange, red, and brown as if it were fall, but it was early in the season, and the trees were still full. I walked up to one of the trees, curious. The bark looked strange. I ran my hand vertically along it and felt the sharp creases and edges of a carapace-like material. I guess that explains the name of the place. It was weird though. Their trunks were a deep purple and spanned six-plus feet each. There was minimal underbrush, making traversing the area manageable, even when off the path. I had a sudden thought. Didn¡¯t Matt mention the Black Queen was from the south? From . . . Shell Woods? During the journey we ran into a couple mobs that gave small amounts of experience, and we were able to dispatch them . . . uhh. . . pretty smoothly. Okay. Actually, it was kind of rough . . . because we confirmed The Black Queen was definitely from Shell Woods. The spider-crab angler fish thing that jumped us was smaller than the queen . . . but still just as freaky. Like Mie said, the level difference was a real problem, but thankfully there was only one of them. I shuddered just thinking about it. It had a few abilities The Black Queen hadn¡¯t had, thankfully. Like wrapping its target¡ªin this case Mie¡ªup in its speedy legs, and the ability to ejaculate thread-like darts. It still had the legs with scythes, which at one point during the fight ended up . . . severing Fred¡¯s . . . penis. That hadn¡¯t been fun to watch. So much screaming and soooo much blood. Like, a freaky amount of blood. Thankfully with his new ring, his first roll was another nine, which caused a ton of damage and a long stun from a bolt of lightning. I still didn¡¯t understand how the system decided where to strike with lightning, shift mountains, or dislodge broken trees, but I didn¡¯t care. It worked, and we were able to finish the creature off . . . but it had given me a thought. What if another party has a fairy dwarf too . . . ? That could be a big problem. For now, all I cared about was that his ability was our best way forward. After what we had started calling the ¡®penis incident,¡¯ and right before we made it to the dungeon gates, the group agreed, on Mie¡¯s insistence, that Charlie was actually probably a pretty great guy. The conversation went something like: ¡°I knew a Charles once. He was a great man,¡± Clara said. ¡°I bet Charlie is also a great man,¡± Mie said, giving me a side long look. ¡°Uhh, yeah! Charlie is probably an upstanding fellow!¡± Fred said, not wanting to be left out. Everyone laughed nervously, but I stayed absolutely silent, praying to God almighty Mie would just stop talking. Thankfully, she did. The trees cleared as we approached the initial structure of the dungeon. The large wall and gate we were coming up to sent massive Transylvania vibes running through my mind. The wall itself was constructed in a gothic style, and the old wooden gate looked like what you would find at the entrance to a cathedral. It was a two-door doorway, and to the right of it there was some old Catholic-Church-looking font chiseled into the dark stone wall. CHARLIE¡¯S CRYPT Amid whispers divine, the wayfarer''s bind. Within these walls, your spirit confined. Cross the threshold of forgotten lore, Hence, turning back shall be no more. A fleeting trial by divine command, Grasp thy chance with steady hand. ¡°Well if that isn¡¯t ominous I don¡¯t know what is,¡± Mie said. ¡°What does it even mean?¡± I stepped closer to give them a re-read. ¡°I¡¯m not sure . . . I''m not great at riddles, but that first one feels like once we are in there, we are trapped. No . . . our spirits are trapped.¡± I started thinking out loud and talking softly to myself, ¡°Huh. I wonder if that means we can¡¯t log out? That will make it tough when we have to get Mie her bottle of mil¡ª¡± I froze, realizing my mistake. Clara was looking at me, then to Mie, confused. ¡°You feed Mie . . . bottles of milk?¡± she asked. Fred also stopped looking at the inscription to listen. ¡°Uhh . . . yes?¡± I said, unsure of how to respond and still thinking . . . If we are about to be unable to log out to feed Mie . . . then that is going to be a huge problem. Mie will have to sit out the dungeon or, I don¡¯t know, figure out how to have Greg feed her or something . . . but that won¡¯t work. Our bodies disappear. Maybe she can just survive being hungry? How long will the dungeon even take? ¡°Why . . . are you feeding Mie . . . bottles of milk?¡± Clara asked, her eyes narrowing. ¡°It¡¯s because I am a¡ª¡± Mie started, but I cut her off. ¡°SHE HAS NO HANDS,¡± I cut in. ¡°Her guide, GREG . . . uhh . . . CUT THEM OFF.¡± I was floundering, trying to keep anyone from saying out loud that Mie was a baby or put together that we shared a Soul Space. I still didn¡¯t know if anyone from the ¡®company¡¯ was listening or watching us. Greg: I did . . . what? ¡°Fucking Greg, right?¡± Mie said, playing along and giving me a smile, but then a moment later she sighed. ¡°Sam, let¡¯s just tell them. I¡¯m tired of the lies.¡± Then before I could stop her or do anything she said very clearly, ¡°Everyone. My Soul Space body . . . is a baby.¡± ¡°A . . . baby?¡± Clara asked . . . then she started laughing. ¡°Oh dear. This whole time you were feeding her bottles?! I thought you were just having copious amounts of intercourse, since you¡¯re sharing a space and all that. Good for you, was all I was thinking.¡± I blushed and cringed at the same time, still nervous something was about to happen. Like we were about to be found out and kicked out of Hearth . . . then squished immediately. A moment passed, Clara still laughing, Fred confused, then another moment. But . . . no blaring alarms, no shit-head bunnies showing up, nor anything else. I breathed out a sigh of relief and gave Mie a ¡®what the hell?¡¯ look. She shrugged. I leaned in to speak in a low voice. Fred leaned way in too. God damn it. ¡°It still doesn¡¯t change the fact that I need to feed her every so often or else she will starve.¡± ¡°Well . . . that¡¯s not exactly true . . .¡± Mie said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked, quirking my head to the side. Her tone was weird. ¡°I just mean, I¡¯d be fine if we couldn¡¯t log out.¡± ¡°But you would starve?¡± ¡°Uhh . . . no I wouldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°I¡¯m confused.¡± ¡°Yeah . . . uhh . . . remember that time I told you my Soul Space Body was hungry . . . ? And you got all confused because your hunger and thirst would just vanish . . . ?¡± She said it with not a small amount of innocence in her tone. I narrowed my eyes. ¡°. . . I remember.¡± ¡°I . . . lied.¡± She said it uneasily, and her eyes were on the ground. I didn¡¯t speak for a long time, and when I finally did, I couldn¡¯t stop the anger from seeping into my voice. ¡°You¡¯re telling me we could have NOT DONE FEEDINGS THIS WHOLE TIME?¡± ¡°Yes . . . but it was us time,¡± she said with a small voice. Then she gave me a sort of expectant look as if it was my turn now. I shook my head, not understanding, then walked over and slumped against the rough stone wall. I let my gear get all bunched up as I slid down onto my butt. Mie moved to follow, hesitated, then stalked off, looking frustrated and throwing her arms up into the air. How is she the mad one here? Days and days of feedings, night and day. Never getting a full night of sleep, all because Mie . . . had decided she liked that time together? We could have even stayed logged into Hearth a night or two just to sleep. I heard the others discussing while I silently fumed. Clara was talking about the riddles. I was picking up some pieces though. There had been a few times where we hadn¡¯t fed her for a long time . . . and she¡¯d seemed perfectly fine. I should have caught on earlier. Us time? I didn¡¯t get it. She could have asked for chill time . . . Meh. I probably would have turned that down. We were fighting for our lives here, and we needed to be leveling. And besides, how was I supposed to understand the needs and desires of a sentient . . . item? I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head, and listened in to the conversation. Mie kept throwing me nervous looks. It sounded like once we entered, we wouldn¡¯t be able to log out or exit the dungeon. Clara¡ªwho seemed pretty good at puzzles like this¡ªguessed that the last paragraph meant we only had one chance at the dungeon, or one entry to it, or something along those lines. Mie, apparently past my reaction, was bickering once again about the huge risk the dungeon represented. At this point I had to agree with her . . . a smidge. I hadn¡¯t known about the dungeon rules when I¡¯d come up with my plan. But what else were we going to do now? We were here, and since . . . I didn¡¯t have to log out to feed Mie, it was time to enter. Entering, however, wasn¡¯t straight forward . . . We found the option to ¡®Enter with Party¡¯ and hit ¡®Yes,¡¯ and the gates made a couple clicking and grinding noises . . . but when I tried to push them open, they remained locked. More mechanical clicking came from within the wall. Then the door presented a small bucket through a vertical slit. There was another inscription on it in the same font as before. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. To tread within these hallowed halls, Shed thy flesh as darkness calls. ¡°Okay. No thanks, I¡¯m out,¡± Mie said. ¡°Come on. It¡¯s just a little blood,¡± I said. I slid my finger along the blade of my axe, slicing it open. It stung, but I was a damn firefighter. I didn¡¯t flinch. Blood dripped, dinking into the bucket. Nothing happened. ¡°Huh. Must need some from all of us?¡± I said to no one in particular. The rest of the party performed a similar action, except Mie. I grabbed her wrist and finger. ¡°OW! That hurt! Sam, what the hell,¡± Mie said. Dink. Dink. Dink. There was silence save for the sound of blood hitting the bottom of the pail as everyone took their turn. We waited for Fred to step away from it. Again . . . nothing happened. I reread the inscription that had appeared. ¡° ¡®To tread within these hallowed halls, Shed thy flesh . . . as darkness calls.¡¯ Oh. We¡¯re dumb. We just have to wait till the sun sets,¡± I said, looking up at the rest of the group. Based on their expressions, they were not happy. I had somehow turned into the bad guy. I didn¡¯t see what the problem was. It wasn¡¯t like any of them were coming up with ideas. I did have to burn a health potion because Mie refused to heal me. That kind of sucks, and also what the hell?! She¡¯s the one who lied to me! We camped outside the dungeon until the sun fell below the horizon and gave it another go. Dink. Dink. Dink. Dink, went our blood. Again we waited, and nothin¡¯ happened. ¡°You uhh, don¡¯t think it means . . . like . . . actual flesh, right?¡± Fred said with some hesitation. I sighed. ¡°Only one way to find out.¡± I found a rock and placed my left hand on it. I hesitated for a long while. I mean who wouldn¡¯t? This wasn¡¯t just some minor blood . . . this was my actual pinky finger I was about to cut off. Finally with severe effort, I brought my axe down hard and then promptly bellowed into the night a, ¡°GAAAAAAAWD! FUCK! AHHH!¡± and finished with a growl. Tears streamed from my eyes. Why am I crying? I was supposed to be tougher than this. I dropped the finger into the bucket. The sound it made when it bounced . . . was horrible. The inscription showed some additional information now. 0/4 requirements met. Additional flesh required from one or more individuals. ¡°You have got to be kidding me,¡± I said through gritted teeth. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I like Charlie anymore . . . or maybe Charlie is our damsel in distress, and something evil has him caged up?¡± Fred said. ¡°Charlie wouldn¡¯t do this . . . ¡± Mie said again while looking at me. ¡°No one would do this,¡± Clara said. I turned stiffly and went back to my rock, axe in my hand. Weeks of sleepless nights while doing this kind of shit. Fuck me. Finally, after plopping my whole left hand into the bucket, and doing the same for Clara and Fred . . . it was Mie¡¯s turn. It took an effort. All three of us had to pin her down as I swung while she screamed and yelled curses upon our mothers. THUNK! After that horrible experience, and after we were all healed up¡ªMie once again not healing me; fucking hell . . . ?¡ªwe had met the four out of four requirements in order to enter the dungeon. More grinding and clicking. Another bucket exited below the first, larger this time. We all looked at each other in horror. I read the inscription and breathed out a steadying breath. The creator of this place was really enjoying himself. The piece of shit. At the bottom was written ¡®JK¡¯ in large letters. Cursing, I pushed the gate open, its doors creaking, and finally we entered the dungeon. CHARLIE¡¯S CRYPT ¡°Charlie, what the hell was that?!¡± Mie called out as we entered the level forty dungeon. ¡°Come on out, friend!¡± Fred said. ¡°Oh Charrrrlieeee, where are ya?¡± Mie called out again, her voice quavering. ¡°I know it wasn¡¯t your fault back there. You wouldn¡¯t do that.¡± Though we had just come from a moonlit area, when we entered the dungeon the space felt bounded. It was dark. Really dark. So dark that even with light sources, my enhanced eyesight couldn¡¯t pierce the darkness at a distance. We each had a torch in hand, but the darkness seemed to eat away at the light, and despite being in a massive courtyard, our light only traveled some ten or fifteen feet before it met a wall of blackness. The grass was dry and sharp beneath my boots. We traveled slowly along the path made up of far apart stepping stones. On each side of the path there were tombstones spread out in lines that I assumed continued beyond our circle of light. The word ¡®crypt¡¯ floated up in my mind. If the dungeon was going to throw an undead encounter at us right out of the gate . . . and each of these tombstones was a potential enemy . . . it wasn¡¯t going to be good. ¡°Can we not call out to our friend Charlie?¡± I hissed. ¡°Why is he still our friend?!¡± Clara said. ¡°Charlie is clearly a shitbag. WAKE UP, EVERYONE. HE JUST MADE YOU CUT OFF YOUR HANDS!¡± Clara yelled, her voice booming over the grounds. ¡°Clara. Please be quiet,¡± I hissed again. Then I listened, making sure all had stayed silent. Thankfully, it had. We made it to a large building that looked awfully like an old Catholic cathedral. The door was similar to the dungeon gate, though this time it opened without a flesh sacrifice. But it was stiff, and it opened slowly with some long rusty grating sounds that penetrated the stillness behind us. The sound echoed through the interior too when we walked through the door. Churches always had that long form reverb, and this one was no different. I moved to the side of the doorway as the other players moved in. We found ourselves in a long worship hall. Red carpet ran down the middle of rows and rows of pews. It ran all the way down to a pulpit at which stood a skeleton wearing an old and ragged white cassock. It gazed in our direction as if frozen in time. We all stopped for a moment, waiting to see if it would move. It didn¡¯t. We kept moving forward, and as we got closer I realized its arms had somehow cemented to the wood on the top of the pulpit, which was keeping him upright. There was a square-shaped pile of dust on top of the pulpit too, as if a large tome had disintegrated there. ¡°Okay yeah. This place is as creepy as Greg,¡± Mie whispered. ¡°When are we done?¡± she whined. Fred took another step forward past the pulpit, and we all flinched when a loud church bell vibrated down from above us. GONG! The skeleton behind the pulpit turned its head toward Fred. ¡°Oh fuck,¡± I breathed out. In one swift motion, the skeleton reached underneath the pulpit and stabbed backward with a two-handed longsword, running Fred through. His health dropped by seventy-five percent, and I instantly activated all my buffs while inspecting the creature. Level 41, Necro Priest HP 1500/1500 I rushed forward and slammed my axe blades down into the enemy¡¯s back. They bit into his bone, but the numbers were not great, and worse, my weapons were stuck. Mie Flash Healed Fred while he cast his Arbitrary Blast. His boyish grin told me all I needed to know. I dove out of the way as the air warped. There was a flash, then BAM! Lightning rooted in from an open window, zeroing out the creature¡¯s health, but the massive blast radius stunned all of us. {Stunned} for 10 seconds ¡°What the hell, Fred!¡± Mie said. ¡°I THINK WE TALKED ABOUT A HEADS-UP SIGNAL?¡± ¡°I panicked. Sorry!¡± he called. Torches flickered to life one by one in a wave along the walls all the way back to our entry point. The cathedral door, already ajar, burst the rest of the way open, revealing an army of skeletons brandishing rusted weapons. Of course. It was almost too predictable. I looked back to the front of the church. The circular stained glass windows shattered behind the pulpit, and three enormous skeleton creatures clawed their way into the building, their claws breaking and chipping away at the stone. Their bodies had a structure that looked like a lion¡¯s, and they had the beaks and talons of eagles. Their wings were still feathered, but the rest was just bone. These were clearly once huge gryphons. Level 43, Necrogryph x3 HP 3000/3000 ¡°Remember how I said that if there were multiple mobs we¡¯d be royally fucked?¡± Mie said in an even, pissed-off voice. ¡°Yeah. I remember,¡± I said, watching the skeletons pour through the door, waiting for the right moment. Theodor: Fred¡¯s blast cooldown at 20 seconds remaining. We had given Fred¡¯s guide the job of keeping everyone aware of his Arbitrary Blast cooldown. As for Greg . . . Mie refused to let him help at all after we randomly found him naked in her bed, even though I had thought that it might help to at least have him call out the locations of enemies, and allies too when their positions were unknown. So, I did end up messaging him privately to clarify that we did want his help. I didn¡¯t like needing his help, but we needed to be smart, and his perception ability was invaluable. The stun fell off, and I looked over to Mie and said, ¡°Remember when I said to trust me?¡± We were all backing away from the necrogryphs toward the army of skeletons. ¡°I remember you being an ass.¡± I pulled out two small thin objects from my inventory. Greg: NOW, SAM! Mie: NO, GREG! WE SAID NO HELPING! I activated the remote wands. BAM! BAM! The blast waves hit our backs. Burning and broken skeletal bones flew past my head, a sword whistled by, turning end over end. An axe buried itself in Clara¡¯s back, and we were all blown off our feet. I slammed face-first into the red carpet and slid a few feet. Red pain bit into my face from the heat of what felt like a massive rug burn. Theodor: 3 seconds! Rock and bits of wood rained down all around. A necrogryph was suddenly right in front of me. It swiped, and still on the ground, I activated my vault. I landed behind it already in motion for an Ass Crack. My blow landed, the blade dealing little damage, but the stun debuff appeared above the creature. I glanced past it at the destruction I had caused at the entrance. Skeletons were still coming through, and Mie was laying into the mobs with her staff. She was oddly doing . . . great. Her staff was knocking legs and arms off the skeletons as if they were made of dried-out sticks. That doesn¡¯t make any sense. She has some Strength . . . but not that much. I continued surveying the room. Pews were upturned, broken, and burning. I couldn¡¯t tell exactly how many skeletons I had taken out, but the piles of bones told me it was a large amount. I smiled with satisfaction. The creatures had been absolutely blown to pieces from the two explosives, along with their triggers I had placed at the entrance. Handy little things, those magically activated beer taps. I had seen them for the first time all the way back at The Notch. The NPC innkeeper back in The Hallowed City had been super confused why I wanted to buy some of his. But after seeing the description on the explosives I had taken from Mike, I¡¯d realized the remote activated beer taps were exactly what I needed. I laid into the necrogryph still stunned in front of me, then activated my sweep. I backed up to the back wall. The creature¡¯s stun faded, but it stayed put, now rooted. I pelted him with spears at a distance, drawing them from my inventory one at a time. I was doing very little damage. How is Mie doing more damage than me?! Clara had drawn the attention of the other two necrogryphs with arrows, which also didn¡¯t seem to be very effective against the boned creatures. She was blinking and diving around the room and avoiding them expertly, but she was in danger of getting herself and Mie trapped between the necrogryphs and the remainder of the skeleton army. A green flash came out from the corner as Fred reappeared from his hiding place behind a window curtain. Another flash. Another BAM! Lightning exploded the head of one of the two gryphs chasing Clara, stunning the second. She must have taken a shot at one I had rooted, as its attention was drawn to her. I was worried the skeleton army, still in numbers, had reached her. I looked at the spear in my hands and wanted to scream in frustration. Why am I so useless during all these fights?! Then I remembered Mie¡¯s crazy damage, and spun around, watching her first Flash Heal Clara and then sweep her staff, knocking an arm off a skeleton. She cast her Holy Armor as a gryph bore down on her. She was doing incredible damage as . . . a healer. Then it hit me. I was so dumb. I popped my axes into my hands, a sudden realization forming. I flipped the axes over, so that I would strike with the flat hammer backs. Then I activated Reaper¡¯s Dance, selecting all visible targets. My damage output quadrupled. I cracked the spine of the gryph in front of Clara, bones went flying, and I watched a four-hundred-plus yellow number float up into the air. It barked in pain and abandoned its strike on Clara. Then I was behind the next target. Then the next. Caving in ribs, splintering legs, cracking skulls. I watched in absolute ecstasy when my new storm axe unleashed chains of lighting that hopped from target to target, stunning as it went. I reached my last target near the entrance of the cathedral. Another green flash went out, and there was another lightning blast. Another gryph down from Fred. Having successfully drawn the attention of the remaining mobs, I backed out through the blown apart wall, double checking there were no other skeletons coming from outside. I turned to face the ones coming back out of the church, handling them one or two at a time. Most were at half health after my dance. And it only took two or three more blows each. I took a couple cuts, and an arrow through the shoulder, but a health potion resolved that. Then it was just the one gryph remaining, and another green flash put him down easily. I stumbled over the piles of bones, almost falling, and made my way back into the well-lit interior. The shattered skeleton corpses glowed green and blue. And I spotted a gryph glowing purple. But before I could go over it and loot, Mie stalked up to me. ¡°What the hell was that?!¡± she demanded ¡°Wha¡ª¡± I started, but was quickly cut off. ¡° ¡®Mie, remember when I said to trust me?¡¯ ¡± she mimicked. ¡°THEN BAM! I¡¯M ON MY FACE.¡± ¡°Oh . . . yeah, my bad.¡± I did feel bad. She decompressed and sat down on the floor. Something was definitely wrong with her. I could feel it in our bond and see it in her actions. She seemed upset, and I didn¡¯t understand why. Had I really reacted that badly to the feeding thing? It felt like there was more to it than that. ¡°Hey . . . are we . . . good?¡± Her eyes were on the floor, and I could feel something I hadn¡¯t really ever felt from her before. It felt like a deep endless pool of . . . wet. I walked over to her but hesitated for a second, then knelt down and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. She was quivering. The others were across the room looking at loot, and I DM¡¯d Greg asking him to turn the TV off for five and to give us some privacy. Greg: Weird, but okay. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked softly. She looked up at me, her golden skin extra gold and orange in the flickering torch light. Big wet tears pooled under her eyes. ¡°I know what I am.¡± The blood rushed from my face. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t play dumb, you fat ass crack.¡± She said it somewhat playfully. Then she whispered, ¡°I know I¡¯m an item.¡± I stayed silent a moment. Unsure of how to respond. ¡°So . . . you knew I was hiding that from you . . . this whole time?¡± Guilt I didn¡¯t even know I was holding bared its fangs and glared at me through the sobbing mess of Mie¡¯s eyes. She nodded, swallowed, then said, ¡°But I lied too. I told you I didn¡¯t see anything in our Soul Inventory when you asked.¡± ¡°You lied twice then. First the feeding thing then¡ª¡± Her eyes narrowed. ¡°Just kidding!¡± I said. ¡°You know I¡¯m kidding.¡± A small upward turn of her lips told me she believed me. She was an incredible liar though, and that more than anything scared the hell out of me. But there was one thing I had to do before anything else. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°For what?¡± she said, caught off guard. ¡°For . . . you know. I didn¡¯t know what it meant and I didn¡¯t want to . . . spring the fact that you¡¯re an item on you.¡± I said it and knew instantly I¡¯d played it wrong, both because of her continued tears and, well, because I literally just called her an object. ¡°Uhh, that came out wrong. What I meant was, yes, you are showing up in our Soul Space Inventory like an item here would in our Character Inventory. But it¡¯s not the same. Our Soul Space . . . is real. You as a baby . . . is real. This¡ª¡± I motioned to the dead skeletons and the cathedral. ¡°This isn¡¯t.¡± She looked up at me, her eyes glistening, then she threw her face and cheek into my neck, which ended up soaking my shirt and cloak. Not sure how to respond, I just stood there awkwardly for a moment. Then slowly, I brought my other arm up, and squeezed her. Without Mie, this place . . . really would be hell. Maybe our strange emotional bond sped up the rate of our friendship, because after another moment, I realized how much I valued her friendship. I cared about this strange being, whatever she was. After a while, she mumbled something. ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯M SORRY TOO!¡± she belted out. ¡°For what?¡± I asked, but I knew. ¡°For . . . GAH! YOU KNOW WHAT! YOU FARTING. BIG-CRACKED. ASS!¡± she shouted, then in a complete shift in mood, she looked up at me in confusion and asked, ¡°Why am I an item . . . ? What does it mean?¡± ¡°I wish I knew, but I don¡¯t,¡± I said, ¡°but, we¡¯ll figure it out, together.¡± I stood up and held out my hand to her again. ¡°Don¡¯t. Aladdin. Me,¡± she croaked. And I suddenly realized what had started her anger at me in the first place. I¡¯d asked her to trust me despite holding back a pretty epic secret she KNEW I was holding. God, I am dumb. ¡°Okay that¡¯s fair,¡± I said. ¡°How about this then.¡± I held out my pinky finger. ¡°A pact to . . . to never lie about the big stuff.¡± ¡°I feel like I¡¯ll need a definition on ¡®big stuff¡¯ . . . but it¡¯s a start,¡± she said as she wiped her tears away, composing herself. She grabbed my pinky with hers, then held on tight and pulled me into a big bear hug. Chapter 22 Chapter 22 You received {Gold Coin} x4 You received {Silver Coin} x17 You received {Necro Bone} x40 You received {Necrogryph Claw} {Necrogryph Claw} Rank: Epic Grade: Stellar Slot: Neck +5 Constitution +10 Agility +7 Strength +12 Endurance +50% Attack speed. I turned the claw over in my hands, appreciating the smooth keratin. As much as I wanted the Claw, I passed it off to Clara for now. Since this was a dungeon, I got the sense her poison stacks were going to be important against any upcoming boss fights, and the faster she could get those poison arrows out, the better. This was assuming . . . her arrows would stack on whatever the boss was . . . hopefully it wouldn¡¯t be more skeletons. We decided if it was, I would take the necklace back. Overall, the loot had been pretty underwhelming for a dungeon, but they had been naked skeletons with nothing but old rusty weapons . . . Not sure what I was expecting. The experience was good, but I remained at level twenty-nine, which meant no new abilities. I wasn¡¯t even sure if level thirty would give me one. That was really starting to piss me off. I was officially crossing my fingers now for level thirty. I¡¯d picked up my last ability at level fifteen . . . during the Blackthorn event. That was ages ago. We found the top half of one remaining skeleton still alive. Its arms were gone, and it was barely able to move. Once we took that last mob out, the torches all extinguished at the same time, save one, which hung on the wall behind the pulpit, just to the right of a few layers of choir risers. The torch light shone down on a hidden stone door, which was grinding its way upward. We all approached, taking slow steps. Mie peeked down the long corridor the door had revealed. ¡°CHARLIE?!¡± she shouted. We all jumped at the suddenness of it. I face-palmed, looked to the ceiling, and took a calming breath. She was going to get us killed. ¡°That wasn¡¯t Charlie at the pulpit?¡± Fred asked. ¡°No way was that Charlie,¡± said Mie. ¡°Charlie¡¯s awesome.¡± ¡°What is with you and Charlie?¡± I asked her. ¡°What¡¯s with you and Charlie? What do you have against the guy? For all we know he is imprisoned here, and it¡¯s our job to save him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s clearly not what¡¯s going on here¡ª¡± ¡°Sam,¡± Mie cut me off, looking at the others and making sure she had their attention, ¡°knows a Charlie.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Mie,¡± I said with clear warning in my voice. ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just say . . . he had a vagina.¡± ¡°What the fuck?¡± Clara said. ¡°MIE! THIS IS THE BIG STUFF,¡± I shouted in a rush. I was panicking. This was a clear breach of trust. She was shaking. Then she burst out laughing and sputtered out, ¡°Oh come on. It¡¯s such a good story.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you dare. Dear God. Never.¡± ¡°Okay. I need to hear this story,¡± Clara said. Her eyes glazed over as she interacted with her interface. It looked like she had started to DM Mie. When Mie¡¯s eyes glazed over too, I slam tackled her into the corridor. ¡°AHH!¡± she cried out. ¡°IT WAS A WET DREAM!¡± ¡°OH COME ON,¡± I roared. ¡°IT WAS NOT WET! NOTHING WAS WET!¡± ¡°Guys,¡± Fred said, pointing, as both Fred and Clara joined us in the corridor. I looked up at him, rage and hot embarrassment coursing through my veins. SLAM! The door behind us dropped downward, closing us all in. It went pitch black and silent, except for Mie¡¯s snickering. I growled. God damn it. ¡°Look,¡± Fred continued. I peered down the long hall. There was a short ghostly figure wearing a onesie at the very end of it. ¡°Help,¡± the child said in a high, quiet voice. It sounded muffled, but it carried down to us well enough despite the distance. I inspected him. Charlie Level 47, Spirit. HP 0/0 ¡°Come here, vagina boy!¡± Mie called. ¡°Okay that¡¯s just messed up,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, not gonna lie, that felt a little weird coming out of my mouth. But . . . also, I told you so,¡± Mie said. ¡°A ghost kid that happens to be named Charlie proves nothing,¡± I said while watching the little guy walk closer. He must have been three or four? Definitely not tall enough to be in kindergarten at least. ¡°He literally just said ¡®help,¡¯ ¡± Mie defended. When he reached us, I gripped the hilt of my axe, but he just stood there looking at each of us in turn. Then he said again, ¡°I need help,¡± in that small muffled high voice. ¡°Dad¡¯s mad.¡± ¡°Ugh. Dads are the worst,¡± Mie said. ¡°Why are they always so mean?¡± She got on her knees and squatted so that she could look into his eyes. ¡°Where¡¯s your dad, and why is he mad?¡± ¡°He¡¯s back there,¡± he said, pointing down the hallway. ¡°Wow. Who would have guessed,¡± I said maybe a little too loudly. Mie glared at me like I was the asshole here, then looked back to Charlie and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you bring us to him and we¡¯ll talk things over?¡± ¡°Okay. But when he¡¯s mad, he does bad things.¡± ¡°Who would have guessed,¡± I said again. Charlie ran off, turned around, and motioned for us to follow. We all looked at each other. I sighed and slowly started toward him. Turned out, Charlie¡¯s dad was a touch further away than just down the hall. The hallway turned into a vast cave system with massive rooms and winding tunnels. We traveled downward almost exclusively, from a large cavern with stalagmites and stalactites, to a narrow passage with walls lined with horizontal tombs, then to another room where other pathways came leading in. And on and on it went. As we traveled, we followed Charlie, who was acting like a little fairy would in a video game. When we would reach him, he would run real quick to the next doorway or passage, then wait for us as he glowed faintly blue in the dark. Eventually our aches and tired feet forced us to stop. Charlie went running off to the next doorway and motioned us to follow . . . but we held off. I heard Fred mutter under his breath, ¡°Not this time . . . you little shit,¡± which was surprising. His good mood was usually persistent. But we had been walking a long time. Everyone was sore and tired, and I guess even Fred had his moments. The air felt damp and cold and smelled like aged water and algae. There didn¡¯t seem to be great ventilation, so we held off on starting a fire. I went to log out to rest in the Soul Space but got an error. Logout unavailable in current location. Right. We¡¯d had a whole discussion about that. I sighed and resigned myself to a thin bedroll next to the others. We discussed and decided it would be best to always have someone keep watch throughout the night. I wasn¡¯t super convinced it was needed. Typical dungeon mechanics seemed to always be initiated by the players on the entrance to a boss room, and since we hadn¡¯t seen any pathing mobs . . . eh . . . Still, I didn¡¯t mind the added security. Clara took the first watch. I laid back and struggled to fall asleep on the hard floor, tossing and turning. My mind raced, and my heart pounded. It was so dark here. A small part of me recognized the panic attack for what it was before it hit. It broke against my barrier of memories. But the black glass held. I watched the memories as if through thick black tinted glasses that were the wrong prescription. They beckoned me to remember. I saw blood melting its way through snow. My throat was dry from the desert air. I pushed it all away, finally welcoming the exhaustion that swept me away. Chapter 23 Chapter 23 After another full day and night of travel, we made it to a small wooden door. Charlie turned around and said, ¡°Remember. He¡¯s mad.¡± ¡°Why were you so far from your damn home?¡± Fred muttered under his breath, breathing hard. His dwarfish stride had made the journey twice as taxing for him. Charlie opened the door, and we were greeted by a tall, muscular, and definitely corporeal man wearing a casual early twentieth century suit that made him look like a penguin. He stood tall, his back straight. I¡¯d sort of expected Charlie¡¯s dad . . . to be a ghost too, but he had no ghostly glow and his very real corded muscles spun their way down his neck and across his arms. More startling was his apparent age. His face looked weathered, more like a great grandfather than a father. I inspected him. Charles Level 45, Human, Keeper HP 200,000/200,000 My jaw dropped as I read the health amount. This guy was clearly some kind of boss. I took in the room behind him, making sure I had a good idea of the layout and preparing for what was going to be hopefully a fast win thanks to Fred¡¯s Arbitrary Blast. All we needed was likely two blasts at most. ¡°There you are, boy,¡± Charles snapped. As he motioned us all in, I took in our surroundings. We were in what looked like the great entrance hall of a nice mansion. There was an arcing set of red carpeted stairs, a chessboard-like tiled floor, a coat rack, potted plants, and warmth coming from a wood fire in an adjacent room. It was the type of place you were scared to touch anything in fear of an expensive vase toppling over and shattering. There were tall windows with sunlight shining through, which was completely inexplicable being so far underground. ¡°Where were you?¡± the man asked Charlie, grabbing him by his ghost ear and somehow able to find purchase. He lifted him up off the ground. ¡°I was looking for help!¡± Charlie cried. ¡°Hey there,¡± Clara said with wrath on her tongue. ¡°Why don¡¯t we let the boy go?¡± She said it like a momma bear protecting her young. I didn''t understand the reaction coming from her. ¡°Do you think . . . this Charles has a vagina too?¡± Mie whispered in my ear. ¡°You dare tell me what to do in my own house?!¡± Charles said to Clara. I rolled my eyes, took out a spear, and flung it toward the guy¡¯s thigh. It whipped forward and pinned into his muscular leg, making him drop the little Charlie. ¡°Let¡¯s go ahead and just get this started,¡± I said. ¡°What the hell, Sam?!¡± Mie said, startled. ¡°Blast! GO!¡± I yelled at Fred. I watched in awe as Charles completely transformed. His outerwear puffed away and was replaced by thick red plated armor. His shoulder guards were massive, and he reminded me of a ridiculously kitted warrior tank that you would find in a MMORPG. He carried a two-handed longsword, which was glowing slightly orange as well, in a single hand. In his off hand he carried a large and nicely curved circular shield. His face contorted, and his neck muscles bulged, growing larger. ¡°I PRAY YOU CAME PREPARED! FOR MY FATHER¡¯S SAKE!¡± Charles shouted. Not sure what that meant, I saw Charlie run up the staircase as a green flash flew above us toward the high ceiling. I grinned, waiting for my plan to come to fruition. Easy boss kills. This was what my plan was all about. Easy. Boss. Kills. Big Charles walked toward me and swung his massive blade at my side. I didn¡¯t have time to do anything but block with both my axes. The blade scraped down my axe handles, cleaved half my hands off, and kept going till it was a quarter buried into my chest. Through the absurd pain, I noticed the lack of an accompanying rolling sound from Fred¡¯s Blast. ¡°Uhh . . . something¡¯s wrong,¡± Fred said. I coughed blood, not comprehending. Charles jerked his blade out and swung again, fully cutting me in two, then bashed me aside with his shield. I Knocked, and like always, despite the incredible pain, was able to remain conscious. I reformed on all fours. Charles was moving to Fred now. When Fred turned invisible, he turned to Clara. She shot a poison arrow and landed a hit which got a stack of poison going, then she blinked away, taking the boss further down the large entrance hall. Sam: What do you mean something¡¯s wrong?! Fred: I don¡¯t know! It¡¯s like he dispelled my cast! Dread and blood rose up in my throat. I was nauseous. Had I just led us to our deaths because I was dumb enough to think a boss might not have a . . . dispel? No . . . Sam: Try again as soon as you can! If his dispel cooldown ability is longer than yours, we still have a chance. I popped up onto my feet, not even realizing Mie had been rezzing me. She Flash Healed me, clearing away the pain and topping off my health. Eventually the boss caught Clara and cleaved her in half as well, Knocking her. I threw a spear, which took aggro, and yelled at Mie to rez Clara. The boss ran after me, and since the space was so small, I had a hard time keeping my distance. But I managed a sly vault, giving myself enough time to watch another green flash fly out. Horror rose within me as this time I watched it . . . sizzle away into nothing. ¡°No. No. No. NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!¡± I was still screaming when Charle¡¯s sword cut me in half again, spraying blood and gore everywhere. Again, I Knocked. Clara popped back up and was back at it, her stacks adding up, but not doing really anything against the boss¡¯s massive health pool. Mie ran over and started rezzing me. ¡°I decided!¡± Clara called between arrow shots. ¡°That Sam¡¯s!¡± She performed a diving shot. ¡°Plan!¡± She blinked and shot another arrow. ¡°BLOWS HARD!¡± The boss reached her, and with a quick side swing, chopped her head off, Knocking her. I popped up, and Mie¡¯s rezzing gave me an idea, a dreadful idea, but one that kept a small flickering candle of hope alive. A green flash went out, and once again it sizzled away. ¡°Sam¡¯s plans always suck,¡± Mie said, running back over to her as I took aggro once again. This time, I threw a spear, did a sweep, and knocked him down. My damage was pathetic, and worse, I looked at his health bar and saw his health ticking back up. My stomach dropped away. He had some small amount of health regeneration . . . Fuck. I backed up, threw a couple more spears, and vaulted when he got close. Clara was back up and pelting him with arrows, but soon enough my head was rolling as I Knocked yet again. We kept at it, and every once in a while, Fred threw out an Arbitrary Blast, trying to catch the boss off guard, but I was starting to think it was some sort of passive dispel, not an active ability. Clara and I kept trading places in order to take aggro. I messaged Mie to never engage directly. I didn¡¯t want her ever getting close to the boss and proccing New Threat on accident. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. I was on all fours again. Clara was kiting. Fred was hiding. Mie was rezzing. Then it was my turn. I kited with spears. Clara was on all fours . . . Fred was hiding . . . Mie was rezzing . . . and repeat. Each time the boss¡¯s health barely moved down only to go up slightly, and each time I was cut in half . . . I asked myself if this was actually possible. After the first ten minutes of repeating the process, I confirmed Charle¡¯s health was creeping down, but it was painfully slow . . . Very, very. . . slow. We kept at it . . . for hours. For FIVE. FUCKING. HOURS. My head and body splitting apart time after time. Arms and legs flying. Cringing each and every time the same thing happened to Clara. Over, and over, and over. It was almost . . . boring, and I think it would have been if not for the fact that I WAS GETTING CUT IN HALF ON REPEAT. After those five hours, we brought the boss¡¯s health down to thirty percent, and a new fight mechanic started. It was straightforward to parse. Basically, it was another enragement buff which doubled his speed. However, this was a problem, as it gave us way less time to rez. Before this moment, we had had plenty of time to hypothesize what else we could do when a new mechanic started, and so when Clara and I both Knocked, Fred jumped in . . . swinging his dagger and hitting the boss for pathetic, single-digit damage. But with him in the rotation, Mie was able to keep at least one person up at all times. Unfortunately, because Fred did so little damage, the boss had additional time to regenerate health . . . and because of that . . . the fight continued for TEN . . . MORE . . . hours. Finally and miraculously, the last health point fell away. Charles bore arrows in every crease of his armor. Blood leaked in streams down his legs and onto the floor. He bellowed out in frustration, ¡°OUR WILL INSTILLED!¡± and fell over, dead. We had just spent fifteen hours getting torn apart over and over. Every time I blinked, I felt the sword slicing through my neck again¡ªa sensation with which I was now intimately familiar. If Mie¡¯s rezzing had been any slower, or if we had one less party member, or if the boss had any sort of healing ability, we would have wiped. ¡°Sam,¡± Clara said as she lay on her back, breathing heavily. ¡°Remember that time, when you said it would be easy to kill bosses with Fred¡¯s ability?¡± ¡°I think he said ¡®totally easy,¡¯ ¡± Mie said curtly. I was lying flat on my back as well, absolute exhaustion wreaking havoc within my very core. I couldn¡¯t move. I couldn¡¯t do anything. I didn¡¯t even care about the glowing gold corpse or the log entries. I passed out right there. Actually, we all passed out to let our minds heal from the terrible torture our bodies had just endured. I woke up some hours later, blood caked all over. I actually had to rip my cloak off the tile, as it had cemented to the floor with blood. I looked around at the utter destruction. Tiles were cracked, every vase and pot was overturned and trampled into dust. I shuddered, but was able to get up despite the soreness and make my way over to the boss¡¯s corpse. I looked at the others as I went. They were all completely still, breathing heavy and very much asleep. I looted the corpse. You received {Gold Coin} x35 Roll for {Shield of the Keeper} Roll for {Two Handed Sword of the Keeper} Roll for {Boots of the Keeper} Roll for {Leg Guards of the Keeper} Roll for {Leggings of the Keeper} Roll for {Chest Plate of the Keeper} Roll for {Pauldrons of the Keeper} Roll for {Gauntlets of the Keeper} Roll for {Helm of the Keeper} I watched the logs and decided to go ahead and put in my roll for all the items. I watched my rolls come through ridiculously low, but the others automatically passed due to inactivity. Mie was going to be so pissed. Every time an item hit my inventory, I cringed slightly. This felt low. But I didn¡¯t care. Mie always got all the good loot. Clara bolted up and yelled at the top of her lungs, ¡°WHERE AM I?¡± I flinched and gave her a questioning glance. Why so loud? I looked at each item in turn, realizing there was a set bonus on each. They were all in the plus fifty to eighty range on both constitution and strength, and the set bonus was a passive fifty percent speed boost and an additional one hundred constitution. That was almost too much to take in. I threw on the chest plate, but then realized nothing happened. Huh? I read the error, hopes and dreams deflating. Unable to equip gear of type {Mystic Plate}. You lack the required gear type. Damn. I took a closer look at the two-handed sword and shield too, both of which I couldn¡¯t use. {Iron Shield of the Keeper} Rank: Legendary Grade: Masterwork Slot: Off Hand [20-50%] Magic Resist +224 Armor +50 Strength +30 Endurance {Greatsword of the Keeper} Rank: Legendary Grade: Masterwork Slot: Two Handed +74 Constitution +21 Agility +10 Endurance Passive Ability: This sword can be wielded with one hand. It was very unfortunate that I couldn¡¯t use either of them. Then I realized something else. None of us could use any of this new gear. We had just gone through torture for almost zero loot gain. I guess Mie can wield shields after picking up her second Battle Art. But she wasn¡¯t exactly tanking much. I looked at the greatsword, drooling over the one-handed capability. At that moment I was officially desperate to unlock a two-handed sword Battle Art. But I pushed those thoughts down and scrolled back up through the logs I missed right after the boss fight with Charles. You received 110,000 XP! You unlocked the ability {Dwarven Ear} You gained multiple levels! You reached level 33! I took a look at that Dwarven Ear ability. {Dwarven Ear}, Passive Description: Your base hearing is improved by 200%. Really? Better hearing? Not going to lie, I was pretty underwhelmed. My improved elfish eyesight had been useful and all . . . but to hear good? Really? Is the game trolling me right now? ¡°SAM, WHAT ARE ALL THESE ABANDONED ROLLS?¡± Clara yelled. I flinched again. ¡°Gah! What the hell!? Why are you yell¡ªOh.¡± It registered. My new passive ability was in full effect. After a little experimentation, I found I could mentally throttle that back to a more normal level. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Clara said, noticing my odd reaction. ¡°Nothing. New increased hearing passive. Still figuring it out,¡± I said, trying to ignore her initial question. She was giving me a blank stare though, clearly still waiting for an answer. ¡°Uhh . . . you were sleeping . . . and you missed your chance to roll . . . for the loot.¡± Mie bolted upright at that moment, and she did actually yell. ¡°LOOT!¡± ¡°Sam looted without us,¡± Clara said. There was a long awkward pause. ¡°Wow,¡± Mie finally said. ¡°Imagine being so pathetic you don¡¯t even wait to loot a dungeon boss after,¡± she gestured around the room, ¡°ALL OF US¡ª¡± She paused a moment for effect. ¡°¡ªGOT SLICED TO PIECES FOR HOURS.¡± ¡°Okay. Okay. Sheesh. I didn¡¯t know it would automatically pass on your rolls. I can¡¯t even use any of it.¡± I opened a trade window with Mie, dropped in the shield, and asked her, ¡°Hey, Mie, can you use something called mystic plate?¡± ¡°Yup. Unlocked for me back at level ten. Why?¡± I sighed . . . and dumped the rest of the gear, including the sword, into a trade window. I didn¡¯t want to be seen as a hoarder, and she would give it back if I got a two-handed sword Battle Art . . . I hoped. ¡°This is yours then.¡± I confirmed the trade. She instantly accepted, not hesitating one second. I would be lying if I said that hadn¡¯t stung a minute. Worse. She threw all of the new gear on at once, and the effect was entirely epic. The red armor appeared, perfectly fitting her tall figure and essentially doubling her horizontal presence. It didn¡¯t mean much though; we didn¡¯t have her tanking or doing any sort of damage . . . so the strength boost on her was meaningless. Trying not to be bitter, I kept reading through my logs and noticed something else. You have completed Charlie¡¯s Crypt Part 1/2. Do you wish to continue? {Continue}, {Leave} I asked Greg in party chat what a Battle Hall even looked like. He said he thought it would appear suddenly as an added door or portal, usually right off of a boss room. But having never experienced one he admitted he wasn¡¯t exactly sure. Mie: Imagine being Greg. Theodor: Okay. Now what? Mie: Right, you¡¯re still a level one guide. Let me rephrase. Imagine being Greg OR Theodor. Greg: Welcome to the club, Theo. Better to just . . . accept it. I made sure that no additional rooms had magically appeared. While I walked around the mansion to look for a Battle Hall entrance, I noticed little Charlie waiting patiently at the top of the long staircase. He gave me a little wave and a smile. Okay, that was pretty cute. Little guy was growing on me, and his dad really had been a total butthole. Poor little dude. It was maybe one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life but after a considerable debate between the three of us, I hit ¡®Continue.¡¯ We needed that Battle Hall. I was convinced. But I almost couldn¡¯t bear the thought of what we were guaranteed to face in the second part: another fucking boss. Surely the next boss fight . . . wouldn¡¯t have the same passive dispel . . . Right? ¡°Get Fred up,¡± I said. ¡°Time to go.¡± Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Time remaining till Phase 2: 24 Hours The timer showed up for us all, its appearance causing a noticeable shift in moods. It was like we had all just been diagnosed with cancer. Not far off from that really. Death was getting so close, and it took everything I had just to ignore the looming threat of phase two. There was an option to hide the timer, and I opted for that, at least for the moment. As before, we traveled from room to room, following Charlie. It had been another day and night of travel, and I was starting to get frustrated with the amount of time we were losing. I hadn¡¯t expected the dungeon to take three plus days, especially because we were just traveling and not getting any experience from mob kills. The only upside was it ended up being fun to get to know the team. Fred really was a total goofball . . . and kind of an idiot. But, while I found him slightly annoying¡ªokay, a lot annoying¡ªhe had his moments. He was always willing to share a bottle or two of Perdon. Last night he brought one out again, and I broke down hard. After the hell we just went through . . . I totally deserved a drink . . . or five. So yeah, all of us having hangovers might have had something to do with the sour reaction to the death timer. Clara and I were walking next to each other, and the other two were out of ear shot ahead of us talking about Mie¡¯s new gear and random other bull crap. ¡°Who do you miss the most?¡± I wagered we might be able to have a somewhat normal conversation while we walked, and while we had talked a lot over the few days we had known each other, it had been mostly surface level or down to business type conversations. How do we survive, what could we be doing better, that sort of stuff. Now that we were getting closer to the end . . . it . . . I don¡¯t know. I guess I wanted to just savor life while I still had it. ¡°Huh? Oh . . .¡± Her lips moved to the side, and she looked off into the distance, taking a moment to think about it. ¡°Probably my family.¡± ¡°Probably?¡± I gave her a teasing smile. Like always, she reminded me of one of my kids. So her saying ¡®probably¡¯ stung a little. I wondered if they missed me. Fuck. Things had been steadily getting better for years after their mom died. But losing me too? I knew too well the pain of losing a parent. I couldn¡¯t imagine losing both of them, separately. I still didn¡¯t even know if Lily was god damn alive. Life is stupid. No. The afterlife is stupid. I brought my attention back to Clara when she finally responded. ¡°They left me in that rotting, godforsaken place. They didn¡¯t even ever visit. They just left me to die . . . I shouldn¡¯t miss them . . . but I do,¡± she said. ¡°What place?¡± I asked. ¡°Heavenly Hearth Care. It¡¯s funny really. The owners probably had no darn idea about this place . . . Hearth.¡± The realization hit me like wrecking ball. Oh my God, I have been so blind. ¡°Clara. How old are you?¡± ¡°Ninety-nine . . . I think.¡± It all clicked right then. Her weird way of speaking, the time she¡¯d called me a boy, and now that I thought about it . . . her generally grumpy demeanor. She was always struggling with her interface. Holy shit. I even remembered when she threw out that out of place gambling comment. She was an old fart gambling lady. No . . . I thought about what she just said. She was even older than that. But her character model looked so young! I exhaled. ¡°I have to admit,¡± I said, ¡°I honestly thought you were a teenager.¡± ¡°I know, honey.¡± My voice stayed my own though. Why didn¡¯t hers? Shouldn¡¯t she sound like an old grandma? I thought about my Soul Space body, and how I looked younger, but mostly the same. Maybe everyone¡¯s bodies reset to a more youthful version of themselves? It was just a guess, but it made sense. I wonder if those bodies age? I didn¡¯t know. Clara remained silent, and I thought about her comment that they had left her at the home. Her kids? ¡°They . . . never visited?¡± ¡°I got super hard to deal with, but I still miss them. I hope I can make it up to them.¡± Mie had dropped back slightly, letting Fred lead the way. I could tell by the slight cock to her head that she was listening. ¡°That¡¯s why I killed those two young lads,¡± Clara said, her eyes now on the ground. ¡°I want¡ªno . . . I need to find a path for my kids . . . I need to find a way for them to not have to go through this retarded place. Only then will I be able to rest, and I can¡¯t do that if I get . . . ¡± ¡°I have kids too. Younger than yours, I¡¯d wager . . . but I get it,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t want them to have to experience this . . . reality.¡± I tenderly put my hand on Clara¡¯s shoulder. ¡°But we can¡¯t do this without allies . . . without each other. We all have to be on the same page. On the same team. Otherwise, Tittles and all those other assholes already won. Fuck, they probably already have. But still. We can try to change things. To make it better, together. I don¡¯t know how yet, but we have to try.¡± We were all watching Clara now, even Fred. Clara hesitated slightly, her shoulders stiffening. But she nodded. Progress. It was progress. More hours of following Charlie passed while listening to Mie and Fred argue about the nature of what and who Greg and Theodor were. They had no god damn clue. None of us did. But somehow they were able to survive the squishings. Somehow they had gone through Hearth thousands of times. When asked directly, all Greg said was: Greg: I don¡¯t remember anything but the Soul Space. I do remember my first player though. I tried so hard to help . . . but in the end . . . she died. They always die in the end. I sighed. Stupid Greg, useless as ever. Finally, we made it to a wide expanse of a room. As we walked through the small wooden door into it, a blue firelight came flickering out from within rows of small enclaves that outlined the walls, each of which I assumed was a tomb of some sort going by the stone coffin-looking objects that resided within them. The room had no discernable exits aside from the entrance we¡¯d just come through. The blue light, despite being freaky as hell, was a nice change. The darkness had been getting to us all. However. The room felt . . . fucking evil. Like a presence was hovering over me, whispering lies and grasping my chest. Or like my very soul was screaming in warning to get out, like a demon was here. I was just about to turn around to make sure the door would stay open . . . when it slammed shut with a chunk and faded into the wall. Oh . . . fuck. Of course. The door¡¯s closing echoed around the room muffled, and the torches¡¯ flickering halted. It made them look like blue Christmas light bulbs. There was no movement to the air, and it smelled stale, with the faint memories of the scent of nursing home. Like decay and death. As I turned to face the center of the room, something gripped me tight all over. I tried to turn toward the others and, with dread, realized I couldn¡¯t move. Ohhh . . . fuck. Charlie walked slowly toward the center of the room. In the middle lay the outline of a sacrificial incantation circle. There was an inner grooved triangle within the circle. Ancient looking symbols lined both. I tried to move again, but I couldn¡¯t. I tried to activate everything. But I couldn¡¯t. It was like I was stunned. I couldn¡¯t move my head, or my eyes, or say anything. What is this? A cutscene? Actually, I wouldn¡¯t put it past this game to just freeze us and kill us. A darkness swept over me, and the kindling hope that had been burning inside of me winked out. This had been a mistake. We had walked right into a sacrificial ritual. Out of the corners of my vision I could just see the others and knew they were in a similar situation as myself. Unable to move . . . and knowing Mie . . . probably shitting their pants. Noise started to fill the room like a rushing wind, only again, there was no air movement. Someone screamed in the distance, and I only wished the voice had been my own. A chill ran down my back. Jesus, what is this place? We stayed frozen as we watched Charlie walk further into the room until he reached the center of the circle. Then he slowly turned to face us. Oh come on, I thought. Not some messed up kid horror scene please. I was half expecting his arms and legs to start breaking and his face to contort. Thank god, that isn¡¯t what happened. But what did happen . . . was worse. ¡°Daddy,¡± Charlie said. ¡°I brought you what you asked.¡± A chill ran down my spine. Daddy? Hadn¡¯t we just killed the kid¡¯s dad? I didn¡¯t like this. I didn¡¯t like this at all. I felt like I was stuck in some horror movie with no way to look away or shield my eyes . . . or run. CLUNK! At the far end of the room, a tomb twice the size of the others broke. Stone cracked, and suddenly a new figure was now hovering toward us. I found I was still able to inspect him. Charleston Level 48, Spirit HP 0/0 What the fuck? Charleston? Really? I didn¡¯t have time to comprehend the absurdity of his name as a cold sensation swept through my entire being. A familiar figure passed through me from behind. I inspected this new addition as well. Charles Level 45, Spirit HP 0/0 I went ahead and checked out little Charlie too, to see if there were any changes. Charlie Level 47, Spirit. HP 0/0 They were all spirits, I realized. What the fuck is a spirit? Mie: THIS IS A TOTAL SAM WET DREAM COME TRUE, EVERYONE! Clara: Seriously, what is with all the Charlies? Also . . . I still need to hear that story. Fred: Getting some Ghost of Christmas Past vibes myself. Sam: Oh. I didn¡¯t realize we could still chat. Guys, I¡¯m so sorry. I have a really bad feeling about this. I wanted to say more, but a horrible chanting sound interrupted us as all three spirits took positions at each corner of the triangle. They all spoke as one. ¡°First, thy flesh we have reclaimed.¡± I watched in horror as a small bucket appeared in little Charlie¡¯s hands. He walked forward and dumped four hands into the middle of the triangle. I even saw my little pinky flop out. Blood from the bucket slowly worked its way into the notched groves and started spreading out. ¡°Second, our will unwillingly given.¡± Charles walked forward, holding out his strong hands. An image of us fighting him from before appeared between all three of them. It was like a three-dimensional hologram of our fight. It started slow at first, then it kept getting and faster like one of those timelapse videos of kids going crazy, until finally we landed our last blow. The replay slowed then, and we watched him bellow out again, this time silently, ¡°OUR WILL INSTILLED!¡± After that, the image condensed into a drop of golden liquid which dropped and splashed over our corpse-like hands. That¡¯s gross. All I could do was watch in disgust as the golden mixture intermingled with our blood. ¡°Lastly, thy spirit freely given.¡± That¡¯s when we unfroze. Huh? If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Confused, I ran forward and immediately tried swiping the newest figure Charleston . . . but my spear fell harmlessly through him. He didn¡¯t even flinch, he just stood there. I looked at the others. Each one stood completely still as if waiting while looking at the small pile of wet red and gold hands. Charleston¡¯s eyes flickered toward me, and he wore a creepy ass smug grin. I took a moment to take him in and could immediately tell we were dealing with something we did not understand. Unlike the other two, he was hovering slightly, and somehow deep within myself, I knew that this creature was the real Charlie. Fuck me. I backed up, and the others slowly approached. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Mie said. Her voice quavering slightly. Despite her lighthearted jabbing message from earlier, she was afraid. I looked to where she was pointing. Before each of the three spirits was a single white circle. Dread rose up within me once again as I inspected it. 0/3 Life Credits That can''t be right. No no no no no no. I walked back to where we had entered the room feeling the walls for a way out. I looked for some kind of notch or crease. But like my Soul Space . . . my prison . . . there were none. I swiped through my interface and tried to log out. I got the same error as last time. I pulled one of the remaining two explosives out of my inventory. ¡°It¡¯s pretty clear, lad,¡± Fred said, interrupting me. ¡°They need our life credits.¡± I looked back toward him and noticed his face all knotted with worry. Fred hardly ever worried. This was bad. ¡°Charlie?¡± Mie said while walking up to the small boy. ¡°What is this? Why did you bring us here?¡± The small child let out a high noted laugh. It was freaky as hell. We circled up then a few yards away from the ritual. In the corner of my vision, I saw the countdown for phase two ticking away . . . Mie was looking right at me. My face flushed, as I avoided her gaze. ¡°Guys, I, didn¡¯t know this is what this was going to be. This is on me. It was my decision to bring us here, and so I¡¯ll take the brunt of this.¡± I looked up at Mie, and that¡¯s when she decided to let me have it. ¡° ¡®It¡¯s just math,¡¯ ¡± she said, rolling her eyes and mimicking me from way back in The Hallowed City. ¡°Yeah . . . I know. I made a massive dumb mistake. I am dumb,¡± I said. ¡°And Mie is smart,¡± she said expectantly. ¡°And . . . Mie is . . . smart. Okay come on. HOW was I supposed to know a dungeon, or rather this specific dungeon, would require life credits?!¡± ¡°Just get good, Sam,¡± she said in the same way she often said to Greg, and that more than anything pissed me off. ¡°Again . . . how was I supposed to know?¡± I said. I looked back at the Charlies. Fear once again began to flow like poison through my veins. I pushed it out, and down. This was really bad. Not only did we have to give up a total of three life credits. But I was sure once the conditions were met, we would have a boss fight on our hands . . . and if we didn¡¯t survive that . . . Images of my party getting squished . . . then their remains sucked up into oblivion rushed through my head. It could be the end. I looked at Mie, who was looking at me sadly, but she nodded. She knew what we had to do. ¡°I only have one credit left. We can use it for this,¡± I said. Technically Mie and I had two together, but she caught on. ¡°Same,¡± Mie said. Fred and Clara started looking at each other awkwardly as I moved toward the white ring. Before I stepped into the white circle, I placed both remaining explosives. One by Charlie, and one by Charles. I noticed with some satisfaction a flash of fear go through Charleston¡¯s expression. I looked at everyone and said, ¡°We can still do this. We can still survive.¡± I said it, but I wasn¡¯t sure I felt it. I clenched my back, my arms . . . and my butt as I stepped into the white ring. When nothing happened, I stepped back out and turned around to see an exact copy of myself looking at me, frozen with fear-filled eyes. A physical version of myself was stuck within the white circle . . . He . . . I . . . pounded my fists against some invisible barrier. It was awful. It reminded me of that movie The Prestige. Only now I understood. Was I the one who went in? Or was I the one who came out? Either way . . . I was killing me. He was shouting silently. His eyes . . . my eyes, were so afraid. Holy fuck. It only got worse . . . as I looked up and I saw our life credits drop by one. Life Credits: 1 Mie stepped in next, then back out. Life Credits: 0 That was it. That was all of them. From here on out . . . we couldn¡¯t make any mistakes. I looked at Mie¡¯s copy. She was sitting down on the floor all curled up, and her head between her knees. My copy went over to her and wrapped his arms around her. The Mie outside the circle looked down at herself in clear discomfort. Fred and Clara continued to look at each other. ¡°Fred, I¡ª¡± Clara started to say before he cut her off. ¡°Oh good. Glad you are volunteering. I only have one credit meself. Early game was a bit of a bitch.¡± He finished with a nervous chuckle. ¡°No. I¡¯m . . . so, so, so sorry,¡± Clara said softly, which caught me off guard. ¡°I don¡¯t . . . actually have . . . any credits left to give. I¡¯m at zero.¡± ¡°Wait . . . what?!¡± I said, confused. ¡°You have two left.¡± ¡°No . . . I lied about that,¡± she said while she closed her eyes and looked down at the floor. My brain stopped for a moment, comprehending this new fact. Am I the only one who tells the truth about anything?! ¡°I . . . didn¡¯t think you¡¯d want a party member who might be gone the next time we all died.¡± I understood. She equated having zero life credits to being in the home. She didn¡¯t want to be abandoned on her death bed. Mie sighed, and Fred looked a little stunned. I realized there wasn¡¯t really any way for any of us to be able to tell if anyone was lying about our true amount of credits. I didn¡¯t think Clara would, but she just had . . . and there wasn¡¯t exactly a Life Credit count floating over everyone¡¯s heads. ¡°Oh,¡± Fred said. ¡°Okay.¡± He pulled out a bottle of Perdon and took a long swig. ¡°Well then, I guess that leaves me.¡± He said it sadly as he started to move to the remaining ring. And . . . that was when I realized our mistake. I slapped my face with my hand. Fred was about to step into the circle, but I pulled him back by his robe. ¡°Hold on! God damn it!¡± I shouted. ¡°What now?!¡± Clara said. My head was in my hands. ¡°Who is our number one heavy hitter?¡± I whispered. ¡°Fred,¡± everyone said . . . including Fred. ¡°And . . . what has been our general plan?¡± I asked. Mie rattled off, ¡°For Fred to use his Arbitrary Blast on the boss¡ªoh.¡± She realized it too. My plan was to instantly detonate the explosives as soon as the ritual came to fruition, and for Fred to use his Arbitrary Blast on one of the spirits or whatever twisted amalgamation they were going to combine into. But if he was the last one to finalize the ritual . . . and if there was no delay between him entering the circle and when the ritual itself completed . . . then there would be no time for him to get away . . . and I would have to Knock him right out of the gate. After a few minutes of desperately trying to move the existing copies of ourselves out, I concluded there was nothing for it but to just go down a player. If that was what was required to land a direct hit that dealt massive damage to either two of the three spirits, or the single resulting boss if that was what was going to happen. . . then there was nothing for it but to do it. We might not get another chance to use the explosives so effectively. Fred stayed put as the three of us moved to the edges of the room. We stayed together, not wanting to get too far out of range for things like rezzing and heals. Fred looked at me and I nodded, every muscle in my body taut in anticipation. He walked into the circle, and I took the two other wands out that I had paired with two of the beer taps. All it took for the explosives to be triggered were for them to be in contact with those taps. It looked weird just laying the taps on top of the C4-like explosives, but by inspecting it while placing, I could see the explosive go from a gray inactive to a green ready state. Fred¡¯s body passed back out through the white circle leaving a copy just like ours. The real Fred stumbled and started scurrying our way as fast as he could. I grimaced as the three ghosts¡¯ mouths opened up . . . like really big . . . and then start eating us. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck, I thought as I watched them start devouring us, starting at our heads, and moving downward like rabbits munching on lettuce, but maybe Fred would have time to get away. Hurry up, Fred! The three Charlies¡¯ health points went from zero to various high amounts, and their forms solidified in an instant. Okay, so they didn¡¯t combine. Charlie took on the form of a little thief and carried a dagger; Charles looked the same as before and carried another two-handed sword; and Charlesten continued to float and had a long sweeping cloak and a staff that bore a skull. The moment the health bars appeared . . . I activated the wands. BAM! Little Charlie¡¯s health zeroed out. He was directly on top of one of the explosives. But Charles withstood the blast, his health only dropping to the twenty percent mark. I inspected him as I watched the explosion blast him away from us. Charles Level 45, Human, Keeper HP 41,200/200,000 Fred¡¯s wrecked corpse flew at me. I did a little sidestep and cringed as it smashed into the wall behind us with a splat. He hadn¡¯t been fast enough. He Knocked, but I saw that he had been able to get off a spell. An Arbitrary Blast. I watched the green spell move toward Charleston, and then in immense disappointment I watched it fizzle away. My heart dropped as dread rose once more within me. ¡°No. Damn it! He¡¯s got some kind of dispel too!¡± I called out, as I charged Charleston. The explosions had taken out half his health. I inspected him. Charleston Level 49, Undead, Necromancer HP 24,419/50,000 The Necromancer waved his newly acquired staff, and a wave of cracking sounds went out as the brittle coffins behind him started to fall apart. I reached him, glancing back to make sure Mie was rezzing Fred. She was. I swept with a spear, knocking him down and rooting him. He just . . . laughed. A couple arrows came flying out from behind him. I looked that way. Newly rezzed skeleton archers were stepping from the tombs. One arrow took me in the thigh, and I felt a spike of pain. I was getting more and more used to the pain . . . and I let it fuel my movements. I vaulted at the new arrivals, flipping my axes over as I went. There were a half dozen of them, and I fell into them, cracking skulls and pulverizing leg bones. As I did that, Clara started pelting the Necromancer with arrows and stacking up poison. Mie was avoiding all mobs and focusing on heals. Fred was back up and a green flash flew past only to sizzle away once again. Is it the room?! What the hell is dispelling his ability?! That hadn¡¯t happened when we first entered the dungeon, and I could now only assume it was some sort of passive dispel when targeting the Charlies. Clara shouted something at me as I took out another skeletal warrior. I looked back around at her, unable to hear as another wave of cracking sounds broke against my eardrums. Skeletons approached her from behind, and as I looked her way, I saw something glowing behind her between the crack of one of the destroyed coffins. She was waving at me, and so I quickly focused on where she was pointing. Charleston was kneeling next to Charlie, performing a spell that . . . required him to make contact. My blood went cold. Is that a rez? Oh . . . no. My vault was on cooldown, but Fred used his Joker¡¯s Glare spell. I watched the mad laughing skull rush at the Necromancer and crash against him. An ¡®Immune to Fear¡¯ message floated up. I cursed, rushing him. I barely managed to Ass Crack him in time. His cast was interrupted as a stun debuff floated over him. I activated Quad Strike with my axes, equipped my spear, and swept again, but now all my abilities were on cooldown. The stun fell off the still floating Necromancer, and he was rooted. The normal transparent chains effect had to rise up and grab his ankles to hold him in place, like a kite. But he could still . . . preform the rez. Clara had no way to interrupt, and Fred¡¯s fear was useless. I jumped back to the skeletons Clara was facing, hoping a random lightning would proc from my new Storm Axe and interrupt his cast. But it was a long shot . . . and it didn¡¯t take. Charlie¡¯s corpse reformed, and he stood up, his health at fifty percent. This is . . . impossible. I realized. We were too low leveled. Facing three bosses that were ten levels higher than us. Without Fred¡¯s ability working . . . we were absolutely fucked. Charlie Level 47, Undead Rogue HP 50,000/100,000 I clenched my teeth as another green flash flew out. Another sizzle. No . . . The whole idea of coming here was based on the fact that we could use Fred¡¯s Arbitrary Blast to quickly take out bosses. But it was completely worthless. Another wave of crypts broke apart, revealing more mobs behind Clara and Fred and taking their attention. Clara was whipping arrows out as fast as she could. Fred tried to go invisible, but got stunned by the flat of a skeleton warrior¡¯s sword. Numbness ran down my spine. We didn¡¯t have what it would take, and I was out of surprises, out of moves, out of everything. All my crowd control on cooldown. Distantly, as if unable to comprehend it, I watched Fred then Clara both get Knocked by skeletons. Mie . . . still so slow . . . started to get targeted by random skeletons, Charles . . . and even Charlie. She threw up her Holy Armor, diving everywhere, keeping her distance from the two bosses. She was trying with all her strength to stay up . . . and I just stood there . . . frozen, watching the Necromancer continue to animate wave after wave of skeletons. I couldn¡¯t move as I watched the horror all around me. I had caused this. Just like that boy . . . just like my wife . . . we were all going to die because of me. The black pane of glass that hid away my darkest memories cracked once again. Anxiety gripped me, rooting me to the spot as the unwanted memories poured through. . . . ¡°Oh come on,¡± Rach said in my earbud over the phone. ¡°Pineapple on pizza is great.¡± I was gripping the steering wheel hard, driving the ambulance back to the station. The snow was falling quickly now, and it felt like we were doing some sort of warp speed jump through the universe. ¡°Pineapple on pizza is dogshit,¡± I said, laughing. ¡°I¡¯m not really even sure how we got married without discussing this. Also, it¡¯s a terrible idea to go get pizza in this weather. Just go home.¡± ¡°We literally had pizza for our rehearsal dinner. It had pineapple on it,¡± Rach said, ignoring my safety concerns. ¡°No way.¡± ¡°Yes way. And anyways, Lily loves pineapple on her pizza too, so you bett¡ª¡± The sound of metal hitting metal crashed through my earpiece. ¡°Rach? . . . Rachel?!¡± . . . The other driver . . . was dead. Rachel, thank god, still had a pulse. But she was in bad shape. Her head was bleeding profusely. ¡°Help me get her in the ambulance now!¡± I yelled at Dan. I felt for her pulse again as he ran for a stretcher. It was gone. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°No no no no no.¡± Terror rose up within me. I pushed it down, crystalizing it into black glass, and started CPR. This wasn¡¯t real. This wasn¡¯t happening. . . . I was home. My hands were shaking and covered in dry blood. My jeans were caked in dirt. I stood frozen in front of the bathroom mirror looking at myself for a long time. Not comprehending. Not able to move. She always got in bed first. . . . ¡°SAM, I NEED YOU!¡± Mie screamed. God. Fucking. Damn it. Why do we even live? All there is, is pain and death. In the end, that¡¯s all it is. That¡¯s all there fucking is! I shook myself as wrath reared its head, dispelling my immobility. Mie''s scream brought me partially back to the present, and then an arrow driving its way through my arm brought me the rest of the way. ¡°Gah!¡± My vision focused. The Necromancer completed another cast of skeleton resurrection. It seemed, his intent was to resurrect the entire room¡¯s tombs before anything else. Charles had Mie¡¯s neck in his grip, clenching hard and strangling her. Her feet, I realized, were a couple inches off the ground. She was looking at me, wide eyed as she grasped at the Keeper¡¯s crushing hand. He was choking the life out of her. Past her, I saw the tomb I had seen earlier still glowing. Could it be . . . ? I started to move toward Mie, but Charles brought his other hand up, grabbed her face, and twisted, breaking her neck. She fell down on to all fours, Knocked. He turned toward me while little Charlie appeared with a rogue blinking ability right in front of me. A knife plummeted into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. A huge chunk of my health disappeared. With an effort, I remained on my feet, looking at the tomb . . . that shimmered slightly. I broke into a roll to dodge another knife stab from little Charlie, then ran at Charles. I heard more cracking as more skeletal soldiers awoke. I vaulted, clearing Charle¡¯s head and did a soccer slide tackle into where I had seen the very small shimmering wall. The rest of the coffin broke apart as I slammed into it. My health almost gone, my party all Knocked, and pain everywhere, I fell into darkness. Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Key received Initiating soul transaction Processing memory Checking sanity Packaging for transit Transmitting data Soul transaction complete It was completely black. Sam: Greg? What the hell is this? He didn¡¯t respond, which seemed off. Then I noticed a system entry. Communication channels turned off. Any messages written will be sent when communication is re-established. Ah. I had no idea where I was, but at least still had a body. I grimaced as I felt at my stomach where little Charlie had plunged his dagger. Blood covered my hand like paint. I popped a health potion, and then shook myself trying to get my numbness to fully release. Somehow, I was still alive. The blackness faded away, and a familiar place spread out around me, flat and endless. The sky was dark gray and overcast, and the wind slowly blew, bringing with it the scent of pine. It looked and felt¡ªI decided¡ªan awful lot like the character creation place, but with one key difference. In front of me stood a large circular structure. There was no row of race options, just the structure. A light flicked on coming through the entrance. It was totally white and blared right at me. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust. Finding I could move, I rushed forward, checking a couple things as I went. I could still see my party menu. Everyone still showed up as Knocked on their party member icons. I noticed Clara and Fred¡¯s immunity buff about to expire, so I double checked the description of Knocked. ¡°Target is ignored by mobs and NPCs,¡± I read out loud. I relaxed, slowing down as I approached the structure. If I was reading that right, and I was pretty sure I was, all three of them should be fine until I returned. They would be in incredible pain . . . but they wouldn¡¯t die and they wouldn¡¯t be squished. I walked through the brightly lit entryway and found myself in a circular hall. Around the edges of the room stood circular daises, slightly raised above floor level. Large text faded in across my interface. BATTLE HALL Outfitted for player AnythingButSquished You unlocked the class system! In the middle of the room, weapons flickered in and out of existence on top of a raised platform that came up to about waist height. It was made of stone. A two-handed axe appeared, then a two-handed sword, then a staff, then a shield, then a scythe. It kept going for some time, rotating through a lot of options, though it didn¡¯t seem exhaustive. I figured the list had something to do with my race. I didn¡¯t see a blunderbuss, for example. I walked forward, and the main overhead lights dimmed as I approached the dais. It felt like I was approaching the sword in the stone. Only . . . it wasn¡¯t just a sword. I watched the various weapons rotate through again. I considered my options. If I was going to reappear in the midst of a horde of skeletons and three high-health bosses, I was going to need to do even more damage. Mie currently had Charle¡¯s two-handed sword. I¡¯d need to coordinate with her to get it back. I looked at the two-handed sword that appeared, and its blade glinted as if beckoning me. Excitement cascaded through me as I walked forward and grabbed the hilt of the massive sword, then pulled it toward me. Figures appeared all around me, varying in height and weight. If I was understanding the interface correctly, then three Battle Arts combined made up what the system called a class. Since I had the spear and one-handed axe Battle Arts, picking up the sword gave me options with those three weapons in mind. I inspected each one. Only one showed a class that had a two-handed sword in one hand, and an axe in the other. I pulled that one up. Race: Mountain Elf Class: Duelist Basic Abilities: {Sword Thrust}, {Cleave}, {Arm Strength}, {Spear Throw}, {Axe Crack}, {Quad Strike} Ultimate Ability: {Crescent Blow} I spent a few moments looking at the new abilities. Sword Thrust was a base damage multiplier of four . . . which was insane. Cleave was a slow, and Arm Strength was a one-handed passive which explained how the figure in front of me was wielding both the sword and an axe. All the other basic abilities were familiar due to the spear and axe Battle Arts. I looked at the ultimate. I read the description, and it sounded like it would shoot out a ranged half-moon attack that could go up to ten meters and deal a non-fixed seventy-five percent damage. That meant it was . . . relative to the target¡¯s health pool. That seemed . . . really good. But since Charle¡¯s sword, is one-handed already . . . I looked at the other options. The last figure stood taller and looked a touch bulkier. I inspected him. Race: Mountain Elf Class: Blade Master Basic Abilities: {Solo Target}, {Cleave}, {Guardian Shout}, {Spear Throw}, {Axe Crack}, {Reaper¡¯s Dance} Ultimate Ability: {Angels Descent} Oh, hell yeah, I thought as I read through the abilities. Solo Target was sort of like Reaper¡¯s Dance. It locked you into a solo fight with another target and during its fifteen second duration, you were not targetable by other opponents. Guardian Shout was an ability that stole all Threat in a thirty-meter area, and Angels Descent was a little like Vaulting Strike, but it had a greater distance and instead of a spear stab . . . it sounded like I would stun all the enemies around me up to five seconds. Based on the description I would be able to target an area at a distance, fly up, then slam down and hit the earth like a meteor stunning everything within ten meters for up to five seconds. This is it. This is what we need. I looked at the choice to ¡®Confirm¡¯ hovering next to the Blade Master, excitement building, and my mental finger hovering over it and about to press down. A moment passed. Then another. Fuck. I let out a sigh and put the sword back on the raised platform. I watched, an ache in my chest, as it got replaced by a dagger, then a scythe, then a shield. Deep down, I knew the sword wasn¡¯t the right call. The Guardian Shout ability on the Blade Master had been a mental catalyst, and I admitted something that I had been resisting for quite some time. We didn¡¯t have a tank in our party. Mie had diverged from her tank-like path ages ago and only used her defensive abilities to survive while she healed. We had good DPS through Clara, and the one-hit monster Fred . . . most of the time, but what we didn¡¯t have was someone who could sustain through Hearth¡¯s steadily increasing damage output. To be fair, we were all way out-leveled in the dungeon, but every hit we took from the bosses was close to a killing blow if not a killing blow. I was probably the only one who could take a couple hits as it stood. I sighed again. If we were going to get out of this, I needed to accept the fact that I would have to become the tank, and a damn good one at that. Something inside of me rebelled at the idea of leaving all the damage dealing up to my . . . less experienced party members. But there was nothing for it. If we were going to survive, someone had to be able to take hits. Someone had to be able to sustain and grab aggro. I waited until the circular shield came back around, and threaded my arm through the leather straps. When I gripped the handle, it was cold to the touch, and as I pulled it out from over the stone, five more figures appeared all around me. They were standing on top of the raised circular platforms all around the outskirts of the room. To my surprise they varied considerably in height and weight as well as armor type. I smiled, a realization setting in. Race: Mountain Elf Class: Guard Basic Abilities: {Guardian Shout}, {Shield Bash}, {Projectile Resist}, {Spear Throw}, {Axe Crack}, {Vaulting Strike} Ultimate Ability: {Greater Allied Call} After reading through some of the new abilities, I made a mental note of Greater Allied Call and Guardian Shout. Greater Allied Call summoned ethereal warriors to your aid for five minutes, and Guardian Shout, as mentioned, stole all aggro in a thirty-meter area. Both pretty great, and both definitely abilities we could use, but I was looking for something even tankier. I still had the celestial Potion of Inheritance which I had stored in my Soul Space. I went ahead and started that thirty second transfer to get it into my character inventory. If I understood how that worked, then I assumed I would be able to pick a second class after this first selection. After my second selection . . . I should have access to both classes? I moved onto the next option. Race: Mountain Elf Class: Shield Master This one, again, was cool, but most of its abilities were attack based. I did appreciate the look of the figure. He had two smaller round bucklers, one in each hand, and was clad in a light leather armor to improve movement. Ability-wise, there was a Captain America style shield throw and a shield surf . . . which seemed kind of dumb. I moved on, looking to the next option. Race: Mountain Elf Class: Spear Guardian I was liking the look of the one-handed spear and shield, but again the abilities were too attack oriented. The ultimate was a flying ability called Cascading Spears, that would let me stay airborne for thirty seconds and pepper my targets with spears. But . . . it would also make me a more visible target. I moved on. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Race: Mountain Elf Class: Sentinel Basic Abilities: {Guardian Shout}, {Shield Dome}, {Projectile Resist}, {Spear Throw}, {Sweeping Strike}, {Vaulting Strike} Ultimate Ability: {Greater Allied Cry} This one stood out, and likely would have been my pick due to the readouts on Shield Dome which was a large area projectile barrier, and Guardian Shout. But the last class option caught my attention. He was shorter than the rest by a good foot; the dwarf side of the race showed itself more prominently in this option than any of the others. He wore mystic plate, and other than the height he looked a lot like Charles had when he put on his red armor. In one hand, he held a round shield; in the other, a one-handed hammer resembling a shortened sledgehammer. It looked to be a warhammer of some kind. His presence was dominating, and I knew deep down that this was my man. Race: Mountain Elf Class: Warden Basic Abilities: {Guardian Shout}, {Shield Dome}, {Projectile Resist}, {Hammer Crack}, {Allied Cry}, {Impact Armor} Ultimate Ability: {Hammer Smash} Requires dropping the skill {One Handed Axe}, or {Spear} in favor of {One Handed Hammer} I took a closer look at all those abilities. Active Ability: {Guardian Shout} Description: You force surrounding mobs to focus on you, and any damage dealt to you increases your level of threat. Cost: 40 Stamina. Scales based on player level. Cooldown: 3 seconds Active Ability: {Shield Dome} Description: You throw your shield up to 15 meters, creating a dome-like barrier 5 meters in diameter that prevents all projectiles* from passing through. Lasts 25 seconds. Cost: 75 Stamina. Scales based on player level. Cooldown: 1 minute 30 seconds Passive Ability: {Projectile Resist} Description: Projectiles of both physical and magical types do 50% less damage to you. Active Ability: {Hammer Crack} Description: You deal a crushing blow to your enemy that does 100% additional damage and stuns your target for 7 seconds. Cost: 70 Stamina. Scales based on player level. Cooldown: 20 seconds Active Ability: {Allied Cry} Description: You call 3-5 allied guardians that match your level to your aid. They have 50% of your health and the ability {Guardian Shout}. Cost: 100 Stamina. Scales based on player level. Cooldown: 2 minutes Active Ability: {Impact Armor} Description: You grow a layer of armor that absorbs 95% of the damage you take over 10 seconds. This damage is stored within you available for release after the 10 seconds are up. Cost: 50 Stamina. Scales based on player level. Cooldown: 1 minute Active Ability: {Hammer Smash} Description: You call the power of the mountain into your hammer, dealing a massive blow to the ground beneath your feet that ripples and stuns enemies in a 10-meter radius for 10 seconds. Cast Time: 1.5 seconds. Cost: 150 Stamina. Scales based on player level. Cooldown: 2 hours It felt like I was playing a completely different game. Weeks and weeks of minimal power gains and then THIS?! I didn¡¯t care what Mie thought. The life credits were officially worth it. I cringed as I remembered myself get eaten, as if by a fucked-up rabbit. A lot of sacrifices had occurred, all for this moment. I went ahead and confirmed my selections, deciding to remove my spear skill, and watched the nameplate above my head change. AnythingButSquished Level 33, Mountain Elf, Warden I was glad to see that I got to keep the shield and was pleasantly surprised when a hammer also appeared in my main hand. All hammers had knockback effects according to the Hearth manual, but looking at this one I noticed a denotation of ¡®Greater Knockback.¡¯ That was cool. I would be able to hit enemies backward and away. The weapons which had still been rotating in the middle of the room slowed to a stop, and the sword that it landed on vanished. I also felt my bones compress as I got shorter and stockier. I felt the increase to Constitution and Strength, and I knew this class was much, much slower than what I was used to. I wasn¡¯t a huge fan of that, but I held the thought as I popped the Potion of Inheritance into my main hand. It had been days since I struggled to convince everyone that the path to Charlie¡¯s Crypt would be worth it, not only for the experience gain, but for this exact moment. The potion glowed orange, and I enjoyed the sound the bottle made as I uncorked it. I sniffed the mixture, and it reminded me of a mix of lavender and eucalyptus¡ªtwo scents that I wouldn¡¯t normally be drinking, so as I kicked it back, I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the liquid went down. I waited for something to happen . . . but only felt . . . fuller. I was beginning to think there was some kind of bug in the system when the weapons began to rotate once more. As I watched the weapons flick through once more, I couldn¡¯t help but think, This feels . . . waaay broken. But I didn¡¯t care, and I was glad to finally have the opportunity to help the party out in a meaningful way. I thought about them all still Knocked, likely in considerable pain, and with only thoughts of death upon them. That probably really sucks . . . and they probably have no idea what happened to me. I grimaced at the thought. I need to hurry. I took a few moments to consider my options for my second class. I went back and drooled over the Blade Master again . . . but after a few moments realized that the class lacked mobility which now I desperately needed. I put the sword back and looked back at my other options. The weapons flicked one-by-one in front of me. I tried a bow, then a two-handed battle axe, then a little hammer that looked like it was more for construction than damage. They all presented me with options, but none were exactly what I was looking for. The weapons rotated through again, and one stood out to me more than I originally thought it would. What would that do? As I went to pull the staff out, it wouldn¡¯t budge until I selected an option from a list of three that appeared next to it in midair: Wind, Earth, and Nature. I pulled the staff out a couple times both with Earth and Nature. Earth felt a lot like my Warden with less health, and . . . Nature, I hated to say, was just a bad healer when compared to Mie¡¯s Holy Art. I pulled the staff out and mentally affirmed Wind. Five more class options appeared around the platforms around me . . . and on the far right, once again, I found what I was looking for. Race: Mountain Elf Class: Wind Rogue Basic abilities: {Wind Spear}, {Hamstring}, {Blink}, {Wind Dive}, {Reaper¡¯s Dance}, {Lethal Wind} Ultimate Ability: {Spinal Tap} Requires dropping the basic skill {One Handed Axe}, in favor of {Shortsword} Three of the abilities were familiar. The Wind Spear ability was basically just my spear throw from earlier. Only now, I could condense spears from the wind itself using the staff. The Reaper¡¯s Dance was the exact same. The Wind Dive ability felt a lot like Clara¡¯s Diving Shot ability, only it went way further. It mentioned you could dive in the direction you targeted, which felt more controllable than my vault or Clara¡¯s backward Dive. I had been using Vaulting Strike mainly as a movement ability anyways, often abandoning the strike portion. Everything else was new, and exactly what I was looking for. With my hefty Warden, I was going to need two things: high damage and, more importantly, mobility. As I read through the abilities, I couldn¡¯t help but hope I could shift between classes during combat. Active Ability: {Hamstring} Description: You appear behind your target that is within 5 meters and deal 100% additional damage, cutting their hamstring and slowing them for 1 minute by 90%. Cast Time: .5 seconds Cooldown: 15 seconds Cost: 50 Stamina. Scales with player level. Active Ability: {Blink} Description: You instantly teleport up to 15 meters away to a location visually available to you. Cast Time: Instant Cooldown: 30 seconds Cost: 30 Stamina. Scales with player level. Passive Ability: {Spirit Bleed} Description: All your attacks inflict Spirit Bleed stacks. A Spirit Bleed stack deals damage over time relative to your stats. Active Ability: {Spinal Tap} Description: You appear behind your target that is within 30 meters dealing a blow with a shortsword made from spirit and wind. It passes through the spine of your target dealing 75% of their health pool and Roots them for 5 seconds. Cast Time: Instant Cooldown: 2 hours Cost: 30 Stamina. Scales with player level. That last ability, the ultimate for the Wind Rogue, is what sold me on the class. A single strike that dealt a percentage-based amount of damage, also Rooted, and could be cast on a target thirty meters away? That felt like it could be a game-changer, especially when I would have three very large health pools to deal with in just a moment. We needed this ability, and despite having seen explosives that had stunned for longer, and Fred¡¯s Arbitrary Blast ability, I knew that this was probably the best it was going to get for my race. I should say, that last ability and the fact that the Rogue didn¡¯t require mana were what sold me on the class. That was one of my main concerns with using a magic-based weapon. But it looked like since my race was stamina based, the resource pool for all these abilities was stamina. Not mana. That meant, Blackthorn¡¯s Ring would work for both classes, however that worked. I confirmed the Wind Rogue as my choice, and my body, which had still been in Warden form, grew. I saw my class notation change from Warden to Wind Rogue. This class was taller and way less bulky, and while I felt a huge decrease in strength, I could feel the speed and agility change make up for it. As with the other class selection, I acquired two new weapons. A shortsword that was . . . short, and a blue staff with an intricate, twisty head. A couple new lines hit my feed. You unlocked a second class! You unlocked the class management interface! Class management interface? I looked around my HUD, not immediately noticing anything new, until I saw my character equipment icon flashing. I pulled that window up, and my breath caught. There were two tabs now. One for Wind Rogue, and one for Warden. As I switched between them, I felt my body change and my perspective shift significantly because of the height difference between the two classes. Okay, so I can shift between them here. But what about in combat? Remembering that taking damage counted as being in combat, I used my new shortsword to cut myself on the arm. I saw the ¡®In Combat¡¯ notification appear in my log and then I mentally shifted to my Warden. It worked! Hell yeah. Each class section also had its own gear slots, which made me reel at the implications. That meant I could kit out each class individually, and when I switched to them . . . I would already have the correct gear in place. Excited, I threw my new shield and some plate I had available into the Warden¡¯s slots, since it could equip both plate and mystic plate, and the gear that used to be on my pre-class character, I threw into the Wind Rogue¡¯s slots, since it could wear leather or plate. I stuck with leather there in order to retain speed and agility. I swapped back and forth between the two and watched as both my body and gear changed. This is broken, I thought. But it was exactly how I had hoped the mechanism would work. Now I could stack each class with the exact gear set that made sense for them¡ªand something registered that I hadn¡¯t thought of. I used a couple quick cooldown abilities with my Rogue and then switched to my Warden, but my excitement died slightly. Blackthorn¡¯s Ring was on my Rogue, and so when I switched to my Warden, I didn¡¯t benefit from the increased stamina regen. It looked like the gear was only in effect while I had that specific class active. That made sense. It was already broken . . . it would be very broken if I suddenly had double the gear slots of everyone else. I guess I technically still did . . . just all the stats didn¡¯t apply to both classes. It was good to know that items associated with one class wouldn¡¯t take effect for the other. I thought about that for a minute and figured I could just keep the ring on my Warden, as I would likely be able to sustain in that form for longer. I figured if I really needed more stamina generation, I still had some potions, and since it was only a single item, I could pretty easily mentally move it. It wasn¡¯t like I was trying to move fifteen different items at once mid fight. I wondered if moving it would kill its active ability, the Improved Dark Blood ability. I couldn¡¯t tell based on the descriptions and wasn¡¯t keen on testing that out just yet. I thought about the others who were probably still Knocked . . . and in pain . . . They probably wouldn¡¯t love it if I made them wait for a long cooldown. I took on the Warden form, walked out of the hall, and was delighted to see some additional logs pop up. You acquired a class! You received 150,000 XP! You acquired a class! You received 150,000 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 38! The hall was definitely hard to get to, but to award that much experience? I guess If we had been attempting the dungeon at the appropriate level I might not have even seen a level-up there. Still, the added stats were great, and with all my new abilities in hand, I headed back out of the hall, where I now noticed a short shimmering portal, similar if not identical to the one I had entered through. I started writing out some messages that would hit the others¡¯ logs when I left. After that I slapped my face and jumped up and down, pumping myself up and readying for the fight. I was the one who got everyone into this mess, so I was going to be damn sure to get everyone back out. I wasn¡¯t done with this reality yet. I wasn¡¯t . . . fucking done. Clenching my teeth, I ran and then slid into the shimmering slot, Warden class activated. Chapter 26 Chapter 26 There was no time to react before my dwarfish knee slammed into Clara¡¯s face. I felt bone and cartilage collapse, and I panicked as I watched her Knocked health bar drop some thirty percent. ¡°Crap!¡± I shouted, startled. ¡°My bad!¡± They must have seen the portal and tried to go through. I guess being Knocked prevented that. She responded through a bloody nose, but I didn¡¯t have a chance to comprehend what she said as I looked around the room to get my bearings. The room was thick with skeletons, a mix of archers and warriors. The three bosses had recuperated some of their health, and both the skeletons and the bosses were pacing around almost as if they were in idle mode. When I reappeared . . . all their heads turned toward me in unison. Ohhh fuck, okay. Here we go. Charleston the Necromancer, now done resurrecting the dead, targeted me and started up a cast, holding up his staff. Charles started charging at me, and Charlie blinked. A knife sank into my back, and I cursed. Despite the yell of agony I let out, I found myself slightly grinning. The attack had only brought my health down by a fifth. Quickly, I turned, a Basic Attack already in motion. My hammer connected with the side of Charlie¡¯s face, and he blasted off his feet from the hammer¡¯s knockback effect. He flew back and fell to the floor. I cast Shield Dome and threw what looked like a little golden wiffleball¡ªonly a little bigger¡ªat my feet. A golden transparent honeycomb barrier blinked into existence all around us. I watched a couple skeleton warriors walk through but was absolutely thrilled when Charleston¡¯s cast completed, and the flying black spell hit the barrier and died. Arrows were pinging off the dome harmlessly as well. Charles was approaching, Charlie was back on his feet, and the army of skeleton warriors was closing in fast. I cast my new Allied Cry ability. I bellowed, ¡°TO ARMS!¡± involuntarily. I noticed Clara flinch as I did . . . Ugh. Mie was going to give me so much crap for that. Three Mountain Elf guards in gleaming silver armor blinked into existence in front of me, and I found I could mentally place a target for them to focus individually, as well as choose when to activate their Guardian Shout abilities. I had two of them shout, successfully generating enough threat to grab aggro. The skeletons and bosses that had been close turned to face them instead of me. As they turned, I finally knelt and started in on Hand of God in order to rez Clara. ¡°Did you get my messages?¡± I asked to make sure she had read them. She tried to speak, but only blood and drool came out. She stopped, and just nodded. ¡°When you get back, kite Charles for as long as you can. We need to buy time for Mie and Fred.¡± She nodded again. The cast finished, and she popped up, all her wounds healing and her health bouncing up to that fifty percent mark. She didn¡¯t waste any time as she slid into the Battle Hall portal and vanished. That was my plan: to get everyone their class. I knew that there was no way in hell we could win this battle otherwise. Fred¡¯s main attack was worthless, Mie didn¡¯t do any damage, and while Clara¡¯s stacks were effective, they were not enough. We needed more firepower. The two Mountain Elf guards fell, so I had the third shout to draw aggro. The dome was still up, but I knew it was about to expire. I watched my stamina top off and checked the dome¡¯s cooldown. It looked like I would be without it for close to a minute. I checked Allied Cry¡¯s cooldown as well. That one would be down for slightly longer. I didn¡¯t waste any time though. The third guard had grabbed the attention of all the enemies, and Charlie and Charles were falling in. Charleston was still casting, seemingly unaware the dome would block his attacks. That was good. I looked for Mie and found her huddled to my left, in the far corner. I switched classes to my Wind Rogue and instinctually Blinked toward her. The mechanics of the new Blink ability were interesting. I had to see where I was going to appear and mentally visualize it. When I reappeared, I Wind Dove right afterwards. My body flew in the direction I targeted, as if violent wind was pushing me from behind. I made it to her side almost instantly. That, I thought, is fantastic. I now had two movement abilities, and combined, I could go a pretty good distance. ¡°What the hell? Why do you look like a dumb rogue? I thought you hated rogues,¡± Mie said. I switched back to my Warden class. Mostly because I needed to, but also for effect. ¡°Wait. What the hell? Why are you short and fat now?!¡± I started in on Hand of God and glanced behind myself. ¡°Fat? Really?¡± I retorted. The remaining guard was just now falling, and I saw the dome disappear. ¡°This is pure muscle.¡± The room¡¯s attention returned to me. I laughed at her reaction, which was an expression of confusion and uncertainty. Arrows started hitting me, dinging off the shield on my back, but even the ones that found their mark were less effective with my new passive Projectile Resist ability, which felt like a shallow layer of compressed air all around my skin. It slowed the incoming arrows significantly. They still broke skin, and I saw my health drop in small chunks, but I was now able to withstand them, especially with the shield covering me effectively. Instead of interrupting my cast, they just increased the time it took to rez by a small amount. Mie stood up as the rez completed, and I covered her as a trade window appeared containing a full set of armor and a shield. Okay good. She got my messages. The trade window was full of gleaming red armor. We confirmed the trade, and then I equipped Charles¡¯ old Keeper armor and shield, fully appreciating the immense strength and constitution each item brought. I nodded to her in thanks. ¡°Don¡¯t die¡± was all she said before she started lumbering toward the portal, throwing me a Flash Heal as she went. In our bond, I felt her confusion and fear as she moved. I still seemed to have aggro though, so the room ignored her. I went ahead and bellowed a Guardian Shout anyway as Charles and Charlie closed in. The one or two archers who had trained on Mie whipped their heads and bows towards me. As the two melee bosses began their Basic Attacks, I activated yet another one of my new abilities. Impact Armor. Their attacks connected as my red armor grew a layer of rubber-like substance. It was completely black and covered every inch of my gear. Even my shield. The armor absorbed the blows over and over, and I watched my health carefully as it . . . barely dipped at all. Okay. That¡¯s good. I didn¡¯t attack the two melee bosses and instead trotted forward at a slow pace, letting them trail behind, continuing to land attacks on my back as I approached Charleston. They kept swinging, skeleton warriors joining them now. Arrows were coming in rapid fire. All of the attacks combined pelted and bashed against me. And I kept focus on my health bar carefully, likewise keeping count of Impact Armor¡¯s ten second duration. Even with the ninety-five percent damage reduction I was worried. My health dropped beneath the fifty percent mark. I popped a strong health potion, topping off my HP and finding myself directly in front of Charleston. His mouth was frothing as he completed another spell. The black inky pill crashed into me, and my armor absorbed that damage as well, storing its potential in my body. I could feel it there, like bottled up lightning in my stomach. Just before Impact Armor finished, I activated my ultimate: Hammer Smash. I raised my hand and hammer into the air, a rush of power and wind flowing into it. It felt like I was stealing mass from the world itself. I slammed my hammer into the floor. The room . . . broke. Massive cracks formed, spreading out from me, tossing enemies into the air until the archers lining the walls and I were the only ones standing. Silence fell, as ten-second stun timers appeared over the heads of all the enemies surrounding me encasing them in blue. I targeted Charleston, who had resisted the stun effect, released the damage potential that Impact Armor had absorbed, and willed it into my hammer swing. The hammer caved his head in, like a one-year-old smashing their fist into a cake. Blood and gore spattered across my gear. I switched to my Wind Rogue, praying this would be enough. I activated that class¡¯s ultimate as well, Spinal Tap. Suddenly, I was behind the Necromancer, a shortsword of transparent blue already swiping effortlessly through his spine. The sword looked like it was condensed wind and maybe spirit or something. His health zeroed out, and he finally stopped fucking floating, falling to the ground, dead. Huh. I thought. That went way better than planned. I was starting to think that even though I was still slightly under-leveled for the dungeon, my gear was bringing me up to at least par . . . and having two classes obviously helped a ton. The thought comforted me, but there were still a ton of enemies and two more bosses. An arrow bit into me as I tossed my Shield Dome over Fred, then I blinked and dove toward him, wanting to take full advantage of the remaining stun timers. Fred was in the complete opposite corner of the room from where Mie had been. But I was able to get him rezzed with the help of the dome. Looking shaken and hugely relieved, he blubbered out a ¡®thank you¡¯ before turning invisible and heading to the Battle Hall portal. I Guardian Shouted again for good measure to ensure Fred made it to the portal safely. Once he passed through, I turned once again to face the bulk of the room, its attention fully on me. At this point, my options were starting to thin, but cooldowns were ticking down, Allied Cry came back online, and I went ahead and activated that. Meticulously, I made moves to group the skeletons and the two melee bosses up into a mob. Going from corner to corner had somewhat already done this, but I bunched them up even tighter, blinking and diving away from the melee enemies when they got close. Charlie was able to land hits here and there with his speed and his blink, but Charles the Keeper was slow and unable to get any hits in. With my insane stamina regeneration, I was able to keep my abilities coming as I dealt out devastating hammer blows to the skeleton archers when I could. They would completely scatter under its impact. Between Allied Call, Shield Dome, and Impact Armor, I sustained. I growled with pleasure, excitement growing . . . until I dealt an impact blow to Charlie that brought his health below fifty percent. This triggered a new boss mechanic. One that I had seen before. My gut clenched as I saw the Keeper stumble over to the Necromancer and start to cast what was clearly a rez. ¡°God DAMN IT! JUST DIE!¡± I shouted as I started running at him. I hadn¡¯t realized the boss rez from before was a threshold mechanic. I¡¯d thought it had been an ability only the Necromancer could do. How are we supposed to win if they just keep rezzing?! Unfortunately, I had used up my blink and dive abilities a moment before and had no way to quickly get over to him for an Ass Crack. With absolute dread, I watched the Necromancer rise once more. He laughed a shrill laugh as he saw me and waved his staff. Three of the many, many archers I had taken out of the fight reformed, their bones flying together like one of those melon blasting videos I used to put in reverse for my kids. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Anger rolled over me. I was over this fucking place. Both my ultimate abilities were on cooldown, and while I had been able to kite for the most part, the Rogue was still getting hits in here and there, and with archers resurrecting, the arrows were going to start coming in swarms once again. As I activated Impact Armor once again, I analyzed the situation. I assumed we needed to take out at least two of the three to stop the resurrection mechanic? That felt somewhat right, but I had no way of knowing for sure. I raised my shield, blocking an arrow coming for my face. That alone was going to be a tall order, if we needed to take them all out close together, that was going to be a huge problem. I could only hope the others picked up some abilities that would help. Ideally something that wasn¡¯t a class ultimate, since I assumed those would all have long cooldowns. I bellowed out another ¡®TO ARMS!¡¯ as my Impact Armor fell away, its power successfully stored within myself. This time five guards appeared at my cry. I had one activate a Guardian Shout, which generated the threat needed to grab aggro, but not before Charlie¡ªwho appeared next to me¡ªplanted his dagger in my side. I blasted him away once more with the power stored up from Impact Armor, enjoying the feeling of bone breaking. He went flying both from the knockback and the power behind the blow. I looked at his health and smacked my head as realization kicked in. I was dumb. We just had to keep them all alive but lower their health to insignificant amounts, then take them all out at the same time. I threw a dome down at my feet and activated another shout from one of the other four remaining guards, giving myself enough time to type into chat. As I finished typing, finally, three figures appeared, one after the other, sliding in from the shimmering portal. One wore darkness that looked like a cloak of black fire wrapped around her and had a long sword handle poking up over her shoulder. The tall one had a white robe and held a familiar staff in one hand and a book in her off hand, and the shortest of the bunch held two wands, one in each hand. And . . . he was butt naked. God . . . Fred, I thought. What the hell? ¡°TIME TO WRAP UP YOUR SEX FANTASY, MY LIEGE!¡± Mie shouted over to me. Then she glanced behind herself and flinched by the surprising view that greeted her. ¡°The hell, Fred?! YOU TOO?!¡± I shifted to my Rogue, blinked, dove, then shifted back to my Warden as I appeared in front of my team. I had another guard let out a shout, buying more time. By now they had probably all read my messages. I nodded to everyone and gave Fred a questioning look. ¡°No leather,¡± he said, grimacing. I threw him a couple old gear pieces I still had through a trade window, and he popped those on. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you were naked under your robe . . . this whole time,¡± Mie said. I quickly inspected all the new classes on their nameplates Upland Highborn, Shadow Priest Shade Elf, Void Dancer Fairy Dwarf, Luckiteer I turned to face the mob of skeleton warriors. All three bosses were now headed our direction. A flash of purple fell through me, and my health¡ªwhich had dropped below fifty percent¡ªtopped off. I noticed it healed considerably more than her former Flash Heal. ¡°What¡¯s the cooldown on that heal?¡± I asked Mie. ¡°One second,¡± she said. ¡°Okay good,¡± I said. ¡°Keep the heals coming, but don¡¯t over heal. Save your mana. If you run low, call it out, and I¡¯ll pop a couple of my new ¡®oh shit¡¯ abilities.¡± There wasn¡¯t time to say more, and it was time to test my default strength. I had been avoiding it, but I needed to know if I could withstand high amounts of damage without my Impact Armor and other shields. I let out a Guardian Shout of my own, making the others flinch, and charged into the mass of approaching bone. I marveled at my new strength and health pool. Charles landed a swiping blow to my side with his sword, knocking my health down by a quarter, and Charlie dug his knife into my thigh. A blast from Charleston hit me squarely in the breastplate, and skeletons all around me cut and stabbed their swords into me. While all of the blows were still painful, the heals from Mie came in steady, and for the first time . . . I sustained real damage, without Impact Armor, and survived. Yes, Mie was healing me, but I kept aggro, and the whole room clamored to attack me. I swung my hammer over and over, blasting skeletons apart. I watched the others from the corner of my vision. I saw a familiar Arbitrary Blast fly out from Fred toward a boss . . . and once again watched it sizzle away. But then he swapped to the dual wielding wands I had seen and started peppering the skeletons with bolts of magic, dealing solid damage. Every once in a while a green explosion would expand outward from a hit location, envelop the entire skeleton, and then wink out of existence, leaving no trace of the enemy. I had him link me the ability, needing to understand how it worked. Passive Ability: {Lost Target} Description: You roll a d100 on every Basic Attack. On a roll of a 95 or higher, you instantly kill your target. Bosses and Players are immune to this ability. That is awesome. He had a five percent chance for every attack to instantly kill his target. I looked over as one of Clara¡¯s arrows rammed into Charles¡¯ chest. The arrows were now tipped with what looked like a small black ball, and her attacks also felt faster. She peppered the Keeper with arrows, stacking a new debuff on him. {Black Venom} Description: This venom both creeps along the surface of its target and binds itself to the floor, slowing them by 4%. The venom enters their bloodstream, dealing damage relative to your attack power over two minutes. This can stack up to two hundred times. I watched the black bulbs break on impact, like a paintball would. There was still a sharp arrowhead hidden underneath, allowing the arrows to pierce their target. I watched as the black venom spider webbed its way across Charle¡¯s chest and legs and then shoot out like little silly-strings of blackness and attach itself to the ground beneath his feet, slowing his movement considerably. It reminded me a lot of The Black Queen¡¯s corruption vines. I had Clara start rotating her shots across all three bosses to spread out her damage and stacks. I did the same, Ass Cracking one, then using Impact Armor against another, then Hamstringing the next. The Necromancer had rezzed the skeletons I initially blasted apart, but now with Fred¡¯s ability, which seemed to permanently remove them from existence, there wasn¡¯t anything left for the boss to resurrect. We kept at it for a good while, spreading out our damage until the remaining skeletons were gone and the bosses were all close to one percent health. Charleston went down first, and immediately Charles started towards him slowly. With the threads of darkness dragging him down, he wasn¡¯t going to make it in time, but I Ass Cracked him for good measure, and he froze mid-stride, stunned. Shortly after, I dealt a Basic Attack that crushed him to his knees. Blood seeped out of him once again from a mass of arrow wounds. He fell over . . . dead. Then, it was just little Charlie left. Clara moved toward him slowly as he tried to move. He had so many threads of black binding him, his movement was basically halted. Her voice sounded tight. ¡°Time for a slap to the bottom, you little devil child.¡± . . . Then she unleashed her ultimate. The black flames that enveloped and wicked off of her went from slow-burning wood fire to jet engine pointed to the sky. As they grew in intensity, her eyes turned black. She drew out a massive two-handed sword off her back, easily longer than her own body was tall. The sword¡¯s blade also turned black, and the black fire spread down its length. She held it with one hand effortlessly, and I realized it was the sword Charles had dropped. Mie must have passed it along to her. With a lazy flick, she smacked Charlie¡¯s butt with the flat part of the blade. Only . . . the effect was more like that show . . . Wipe Out. He went flying, hit the wall, and . . . dropped dead. We all stared at Clara in awe-filled silence. Mie¡¯s mouth was slightly open, and Fred was doing a weird little jig with an expression of glee on his face. You completed the dungeon Charlie¡¯s Crypt! You received 2,000,000 XP! You gained multiple levels! You reached level 45! I fell to my knees next to all the boss¡¯s corpses that were glowing gold. I was . . . exhausted. Mie walked over to me and knelt by my side. ¡°I just wanted to ask him something,¡± she called back to a question from Fred. Then she got a little closer and spoke softly in my ear, clearly worried about something. ¡°Did you check them yet?¡± She motioned to the boss corpses. I also noticed that a large golden chest had appeared in the center of the chamber. As the bosses clearly had not been looted, I asked, ¡°Check them for what?¡± I noticed Clara and Fred had come up close to listen in. She got closer and whispered loud enough to be heard, ¡°For vaginas.¡± Then she sat back and burst out laughing. ¡°The joke . . . is officially old, Mie.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t get it,¡± Clara said. ¡°Why does Charlie have a vagina?¡± ¡°Imagine you have a guy friend named Charlie. Or at least you thought¡ª¡± ¡°Mie. I will for real kill you,¡± I said. Then fast as a chipmunk she said, ¡°Who later, after years of knowing him, reveals he has a¡ªsurprise! Vagina. AND THEN YOU HAVE A WET DREAM ABOUT HIM.¡± I breathed out. God damn it Mie. Why terrorize me like this? ¡°Fucking weird ass kids these days,¡± Clara said. Fred just . . . stayed, looking confused. ¡°Let¡¯s just . . . loot and get out of here,¡± I said, too tired to react further to Mie throwing out-and-about the most awkward moments of my life. ¡°Your past is just full of top tier stuff,¡± Mie said reading my . . . pissed off expression, ¡°and it¡¯s not like I have Greg to make fun right now . . . speaking of . . . he has been so quiet. GREG YOU BETTER NOT BE NAKED IN MY BED AGAIN!¡± Greg: You will never know, and also I''m quiet because every time I talk, you tell me to stop talking. So that¡¯s what I¡¯m doing. But great job, everyone. I thought for sure you guys were dead in there. Mie: Shut the fuck up, Greg. No one asked. Greg: Sigh. Moving on, I checked my logs and noticed a line. Exit Dungeon Instance? {Accept} I held off on that while we looted the corpses. Then I turned to the chest, rubbing my hands together. The chest was large and came up to my waist. It was intricate, with all sorts of imagery embedded into the dark gray metallic exterior. I opened the lid, and gold light poured out. After all the rolling, and to Mie¡¯s extreme displeasure, I came away with six noteworthy items. Three were blue egg-shaped stones, one the skull-headed staff of the Necro, and one ring that bore a gray stone that almost looked like it warped the space around it slightly. It was hard to look at. {Charlie¡¯s Resurrection Stone} x3 Rank: Legendary Description: You may resurrect a dead party member regardless of their remaining life credits. Restores player back to full health. Physical contact with target corpse required. Cast Time: 10 seconds {Staff of the Dead} Rank: Epic Grade: Masterwork Slot: Hands [+6-14%] Magic Resistance [+20-40%] Shadow damage +30 Agility +55 Intelligence {Charleston¡¯s Ambient Dungeon Stone} Rank: Legendary Slot: Ring Description: Attacks directed at you or your party members that contain roll-based mechanics are dispelled. That last item made my blood boil. There had been no mention in the instance manual or on the dungeon gate . . . or from fucking Greg that said, ¡®Hey. Don¡¯t bank on luck-based abilities against the bosses in here. You shitters.¡¯ I still couldn¡¯t believe we had survived . . . I thought back to what Greg had told me way back when we first talked about Battle Halls. Battle Halls had a two percent chance of showing up when entering a new area of the dungeon. There was a lot higher chance of them showing up after the last boss battle, but for it to have shown up before the end of the fight? That was a one out of fifty chance. We were extremely lucky to not have lost our lives. But still . . . we lost three life credits. After turning the items over in my hands, I ended up passing the staff to Mie and the ambient dungeon stone to Fred. Fred looked confused. ¡°It makes sense,¡± I said quickly after seeing his expression and confirming the trade. ¡°The dungeon stone won¡¯t always be in effect if I am constantly switching classes. It makes sense for someone else to take it. And you¡¯re our one shot monster. I don¡¯t want someone else one shotting you before you can one shot them. Fred . . . still looked confused but finally confirmed the trade. I held onto the resurrection stones for the time being, a few ideas running through my head. The resurrection potential was good, but I wasn¡¯t sure yet how to use them effectively. I pushed the stones out of my mind for the time being, a strange feeling growing in my chest. It was warm and pleasant. We have a chance, I realized. It had been extremely dire before I made it to the Battle Hall. We could have lost it all . . . but now we had a chance to win, and to survive. A damn good one too. I was another step closer to finding out what happened to Rach. One step closer¡ªI hoped¡ªto being able to hold my children again, to figuring out who or what Mie was. One step closer to figuring out who was behind this hell. I let my thoughts continue to flow, letting the torrent of questions threaten to overwhelm me. I had one last thought . . . there better be some god damn answers at the end of this yellow fucking brick road. Survive or not, I wanted some damn answers. I clenched my Warden¡¯s fists. I was much stronger now. I clicked the option to exit the dungeon, watching the timer tick down closer and closer to phase two. A shiver ran up my spine. If this was anything like other battle royale games I had played . . . Chaos was nigh. Part 4 - Chapter 27 Part 4 Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Chapter 28 If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Chapter 29 Sam Clara Mie The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Clara Sam Clara Mie Sam Greg Clara Clara Greg Mie Greg Clara Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Clara Mie Sam Clara Mie Sam Mie Greg Mie Mie Greg Mie Clara Sam Sam Clara Mie Sam Mie Sam Clara Sam Mie Clara Chapter 30 Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Chapter 31 The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Greg Theodor Greg Theodor Sam Greg Sam Chapter 32 If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Mie Sam Sam Mie Fred Sam Fred Mie Sam Sam Fred Fred Sam Fred Chapter 33 Chapter 33 I stared for a long moment at Fred¡¯s face, now grayed out in the upper left of my vision. Mixed emotions on this one. I was sad, yes . . . but also kind of relieved. Fred was a wild cannon. Like Forrest Gump¡¯s box of chocolates, you never knew what you were going to get. Sure, he might one shot the boss, but he also might one shot himself. Or you. Or your mom. I also knew he was probably on a couch chilling, with a glass of whiskey in his hand and watching us from his Soul Space. Perfectly fine for the moment since he was still part of our party. I sighed. That sounds fantastic right about now. We¡¯ll try to keep you that way, man. The player counter continued to tick down rapidly. Players Remaining: 2,129 Two thousand one hundred and twenty-nine. The number was staggering. One million to start, all the way down to two thousand? So much death. So much pain. So many squishings. I sighed, shaking my head. I still didn¡¯t get the point. Why were we being put through this? Who was pulling the strings? There was an infuriating lack of answers, and I was so tired. We were covered in dirt and gunk and gore. We had been on the road for almost ten days. My butt was bruised from my mounts, my body was sore, and if not for the system somehow enabling me to still stay sharp, I would be on the ground and curled up in a little ball. Night fell upon us, bringing with it an unsettling darkness. The Black Zone was still visible, being a deeper black than the night sky, but I didn¡¯t know if that was because of my elf eyes or not. Either way, it was pretty hard to tell. We army crawled to the top of the slope to get the lay of our surroundings. When we reached a point where we could see out over the remaining rocky, hilly landscape, a torch flared to life in the distance, then another, until the entire area was alight with the flicking fire. Okay, that helps with the visibility problem. I looked first along the boundary between zones. Everywhere, ghouls were pounding at the barrier, biting and crawling up each other, trying to find some way in. Then slowly, all around the circle, the ghouls began disintegrating into nothing. Their snarls came less and less often. I looked next toward the center of the Safe Zone. The small structure I had seen on the map rested there on top of a hill that was higher than all the rest. It looked to be made of stone, and its shape reminded me of a gazebo or a raised pavilion, like what you would find in a park. Four sets of stone steps each led to entrances that opened to a flat stone interior. Eight massive pillars held up a circular roof. There were no walls, but a waist-high stone fence with vertical posts ran between the non-entrance columns. Something darted over the hill near the structure, a four-legged player staying low. BAM! The vast sound seemed so out of place in the settling quiet. I flinched back at the sight of the wolf player blowing to pieces. It seemed Mike or some other gnome had laid some traps. But that is probably Mike¡¯s work. I noticed that the structure was unaffected by the explosion. ¡°I can¡¯t believe someone actually picked a wolf,¡± Mie whispered. The remaining Safe Area was about the size of a very large festival venue or state fair grounds, and it slightly boggled my mind that two thousand players remained hiding and waiting as I looked across the area. Every once in a while, we would hear a clash of players shouting, casting, and dying. The player count would tick down by two or three, and then it would fall silent again for a long time. We moved back down the slope, only to find our little nook about three fourths the size it used to be. ¡°Shit,¡± Clara whispered. ¡°Black Zone is movin¡¯.¡± I realized it as she said it. It was constricting evenly on all sides, though very slowly. The pavilion structure seemed to be its new goal. We all looked at each other again, comprehending we were closing in on the true end. I looked into Mie¡¯s eyes and felt her fear bubbling up to a level I hadn¡¯t felt before. She looked away, and I felt shame in our bond as well. ¡°Sam. I¡ªI¡¯m afraid,¡± she said, and I could tell it was hard for her to say. ¡°I know,¡± I said softly. Tears welled up in her eyes. One pooled to the point of falling. It ran down her golden cheek and left behind a glistening trail. I got close and brushed it away with my thumb. The action just ended up making her whole cheek wet, and more tears fell, making me slightly regret the attempt at all. ¡°I know it sucks, but we have to finish this.¡± ¡°We got this, Mie. Remember our toasts? To never the end,¡± Clara chimed in. ¡°I know¡ª¡± She cut off, having to swallow. ¡°But what if we don¡¯t . . . got this?¡± I grabbed her shoulder, until she met my eyes. ¡°All that matters is that right now, we have each other. Let¡¯s worry about the future when it happens, okay?¡± The words felt empty as I said them, and I was sure she felt my own hesitations. Two paths unfolded in my mind: survive till the end, or die, and get squished. I couldn¡¯t lose these two. I would not lose them. I shuddered as memories of my family shifted just below the surface. I shoved them away, anger pushing forward. I was done losing. By now the wall had continued to constrict till it was at the foot of the hill. We would have to find a new location soon. ¡°We need a new plan,¡± I said. And with that, we set to work. We talked strategy as we continued to slowly be forced up the hill by the wall of death. The plan was simple. We¡¯d continue to hug the wall as close as possible. We kept an eye out for traps, Clara and I flanking Mie on either side. The wall continued to force us forward. When we were pushed to the top of a hill, we would sprint down into the next low area, trying to find cover and gauging our new surroundings each time. When this happened, parties would emerge from the woodwork, popping out from behind rocks or bushes, and each time we moved quickly to dispatch them. Sometimes two or three parties would show and would gang up on us. But we had so many advantages: my two classes, Blackthorn¡¯s Ring, Charles¡¯ armor, not to mention the fact that we had a healer. Many parties did not have one, a fact that I continued to be grateful for. Thank God Mie chose so well. The number of players who had picked a healing-based class all that time ago must have been extremely low. Many of these players hadn¡¯t even come across a Battle Hall to get a class, which would have given them an opportunity to switch things up. But I didn¡¯t hold my breath that our current luck would continue to hold. And when the player count dropped below one thousand, the players we came across steadily got stronger. With discomfort, I also noticed that the circle was getting faster. At first, I acknowledged it and quickly disregarded its increase in speed. But after another thirty minutes when we were moving at a quick walk, just to stay in front of it, I realized our plan wouldn¡¯t hold. I shifted to my Wind Rogue and blinked toward a Grassland Sylvan, which was the plant-tiger-looking humanoid I had passed up during character creation. This one had taken something called a Tiger Walker class and had been shifting from tall grass to bush in an ethereal, almost invisible movement, attempting to remain out of sight. His mouth opened in shock as I appeared in front of him. I shifted to Warden and Ass Cracked him to pin him in place as a well-placed arrow from Clara went through its furry, plantlike skull. He Knocked, having been at low health already. ¡°We may need to adjust the plan!¡± I called out, now moving at a slow jog to stay ahead of the Black Zone, Mie and Clara close by. We reached the top of a hill and saw players now all sprinting in a panic, trying to get more distance from the Black Zone. Oh shit. Here we go. This is it. There was no time to think about the malice or the cruelty or the unfairness. We just had to try and survive. Explosions rocked the earth in front of us when explosive traps were set off as players triggered them unintentionally. Mike is here. Somewhere. I could feel it. The Sylvan animated behind us as the wall resurrected him into a rotting undead nightmare. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. We started sprinting, ignoring the other players just as much as they ignored us. Realization swept through me as I watched the chaos and the fear. No one wanted to be here. No one really wanted to kill other people . . . Some were slightly more aggressive than others. Like Mike, or the group who¡¯d tried to ambush Clara early on, or maybe Clara herself . . . but most of these people were normal everyday humans . . . running for their lives. I bashed aside a human archer who had turned to take a shot at us, and as I pushed him away a sheen of blue flickered at the corner of my vision. Right in front of Clara¡¯s path. It was obscured by a bush. ¡°CLARA! WAIT!¡± I bellowed, but too late. I stopped running. The pane of the teleportation trap cracked under her foot. She vanished. There was a loud BOOM! And even a hundred or so meters away from the pavilion, I felt a warm breeze pass over me from the center ¡°DAMN IT!¡± I roared again. My heart pumped as I watched her health . . . but it didn¡¯t move. I looked ahead toward the pavilion. A couple fires had started, surrounding the structure. Through the flames, Clara was there, like a jet engine of pitch black in the midst of the orange and red fire, like a black silhouette. Her sword danced, and she annihilated the players around her. Over the course of the last five minutes, she had dealt damage from random skirmishes and fights. She must have spammed her ult as soon as she realized she was about to get teleported. Sam: Clara! GET OUT OF THERE! Where the trap had been, the bush rustled slightly. Rage filled me as a small player did a little Sonic the Hedgehog type rush toward me. Mike. No¡ªThe green skinned player, quick as light, was behind me and hamstringing me. I activated Impact Armor, but the hamstring effect still slowed me. I tried shifting to my Rogue, but the slow was still in effect. That isn¡¯t Mike. But he seemed so familiar. The green goblin struck out at me again with a dagger, hot anger in his eyes. ¡°Liam?!¡± I asked. ¡°Wait¡ª!¡± But I didn¡¯t know what I could say as he continued to stab me over and over. Mie Flash Healed me. ¡°Just hold on!¡± I roared. ¡°Where is Loc?!¡± Liam spat to the side. ¡°In his Soul Space¡ª¡± He paused attacking abruptly and stood frozen. His eyes looked confused. ¡°Why would he do that?¡± ¡°What? Why did who do what?¡± I asked. ¡°Loc . . . he . . . left the party. Why would he do that?¡± I swallowed. I thought I knew . . . but Loc didn¡¯t know that I didn¡¯t plan on kicking any of my party members out. He just sacrificed himself for Liam. I realized. Right now . . . he was probably getting . . . Why, Loc? I glanced back to Clara¡¯s position. Another explosion detonated within the pavilion. Clara, her one minute ult done, Knocked. Clara: I did my best, kids. You got this. ¡°Liam. I promise we will not attack you, man. We can work together. We can figure this out.¡± I had no idea how we were going to figure this out, but we had to try. I looked up toward the pavilion once more. Clara was there slowly crawling her way down some steps . . . but it was still so far . . . then I lost sight of her as the wall reached us and hugged us with its dark embrace. Mie and I both started sprinting again. Liam was on my other side, following in stunned silence and trying to come to terms with what Loc had just done . . . but running full bore was no longer enough. The Black Zone¡¯s speed had reached that of a short distance sprinter. We were still some hundred meters out from the stone structure. Mie tripped, and I lost sight of her. ¡°SAM! Don¡¯t leave me!¡± Mie shouted from behind me. She no doubt sensed the rising panic in my chest. I had to reach Clara before her immunity was up. ¡°SAM, I CAN¡¯T SEE ANYTHING, YOU FARTING SHITHEAD!¡± Mie screamed. ¡°I¡¯LL COME BACK!¡± I shouted back in her direction. I watched both of our health bars start to notch downward at a rate of two percent a second, but I kept sprinting. Liam followed closely and deftly behind me, like he had some sort of vision capabilities as well. I looked at my map. Little black dots swarmed Mie. A ghoul crashed into me, taking me to the ground. I knocked it back with my hammer, looking at my party interface. Mie¡¯s health was dipping fast. ¡°Liam! Stay close. I have a plan!¡± I yelled to him as he used some sort of health-over-time regeneration ability. Little green waves of light flowed upward from his feet to his head over and over. Looking bewildered still, he nodded. Mie¡¯s health was spiking up and down, but she wasn¡¯t moving, and there was a massive swarm of black dots coming in and out from her location. She can¡¯t see. I stumbled to my feet, and I kept running toward Clara. Her immunity was ticking down and was more important. I¡¯d have time to get back to Mie! Looking at my map as I went, I was now an equal distance from both Mie and Clara. I heard a faint screaming behind me. ¡°SAM, NO! DON¡¯T LEAVE ME! GAH, GET THE FUCK OFF ME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!¡± I stopped running. Jesus Christ. We needed Mie to survive. She was our healer. Our one advantage. What am I doing?! I stood frozen. Clara¡¯s immunity timer ticked under forty-five seconds. I made my decision. I started sprinting again. Liam . . . still followed like a little confused puppy, his health steady with his self-healing ability. Sam: Clara. I¡¯m sorry. Clara: Sigh . . . it¡¯s okay, Sammie dear. As I approached Mie at speed, a mob of rotten creatures was on top of her. Clara: Promise me you will win. That you will figure out a way to end this insanity. Fuck this reality. This game. Our children deserve better. Sam: I know. I''ll do my best. You know that. Clara: Promise me, Sammie boy. I paused. Why is she saying all of this? Sam: Okay. I promise. Another wave of heat from a large explosion rushed over me. I looked over my shoulder. Ghouls were everywhere and tackling players, and players were fighting each other. I looked through all of that, and the black mist, and watched the end of the red and orange explosion fade away. I looked at my party interface . . . Clara¡¯s face was grayed out. No time to think, Liam and I reached Mie¡¯s location. We had been running the opposite direction of everyone else, and our location was more sparse of activity outside of the many, many ghouls on top of Mie. It looked like a third down and inches rushing play in a football game. I thought I could tell that she had activated her Holy Armor, and she was healing as fast as she could, but she was pinned by mass of snarling and gnashing ghouls. I threw the little whiffle ball dome shield down next to her, and when it blinked into existence, the mass of ghouls blasted away from her with tremendous force. I put my shoulder into the body of a ghoul that had been flung in my direction, crushing through it like I used to do with ocean waves as a kid. Liam and I reached the dome¡¯s safety. Mie was lying completely still, fully healed, but . . . shaking in the dome¡¯s center. ¡°What? You thought I was going to leave you?¡± I said down to Mie, holding out my hand to her. ¡°Do you trust me?¡± ¡°You piece of shit,¡± Mie said, grabbing my hand. ¡°You know you almost did. And NO. I don¡¯t.¡± Her eyes were narrowed at me, but then her cheeks grew big as she puffed out a relieved sigh. I was getting so many feelings from her. Anger, relief, and now fear. Dark black shadows started bashing against the golden dome as the ghouls regained their feet, and more pathed near us. ¡°I know. I thought I could save both you and Clara. But right now, we only have seconds left on this dome. When it pops, I am going to use my Warden ult, then we start running. Got it?¡± Liam was crouched, looking at the dead grass at his feet. His gaze looked haunted. Mie hadn''t even noticed him yet. Mie nodded at me. She got to her feet and grabbed my shoulders. She looked at me seriously, which was a rare expression. ¡°You never said thank you,¡± she said quickly. ¡°Thank you . . . ?¡± I paused. ¡°Wait, for what?¡± She rolled her eyes. ¡°Oh, you know.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t.¡± ¡°For you know . . . never mentioning the whole cool kid skater emo phase . . . even though you, like, really sucked at it. You even had all that safety gear on as if it was cool. I never mentioned it to anyone. You¡¯re welcome.¡± I stayed silent. I knew. It was a pretty sore subject. Those kids were so mean. ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± she said again. ¡°Okay thanks, but¡ª¡± I cut off as I saw a message appear. Greg: Even with Liam there, it¡¯s fascinating to me that you still think you are alone. Not to mention Fred and Clara who are watching everything. ¡°Cool . . . skater kid, huh? Also, that was the weirdest ass conversation I have ever heard . . .¡± Liam said, looking at us in confusion. Fuuuck me. Mie jumped, looking startled until she found Liam. Then she paused. ¡°So . . . are we not just killing this guy? Or . . . ?¡± Liam looked at Mie with a ¡®what the fuck?¡¯ sort of expression. I started shaking my head . . . but paused. I had just read a line in my logs that sent chills to my core. Player Human#ReallyBigNumber has left the party. Clara . . . left the party? No . . . That act confirmed my suspicions. I knew why Loc had left Liam¡¯s party. He had seen us from his Soul Space TV. He had hoped that this might happen. Maybe hoped wasn¡¯t the right word there. But he¡¯d realized the chance it would give Liam . . . And I now knew why Clara had said all those things. Why she had made me promise to win. She had been planning for this moment. She had been planning . . . to sacrifice herself . . . for us. I swallowed. It didn¡¯t seem like long ago that she had killed Liam for her own gains. Now she was saving him? And at this moment . . . she was getting squished for it. I closed my eyes, exhausted, and tried unsuccessfully to not imagine it. All of these thoughts happened in a moment. I ran my hand through my hair in frustration and hesitation as I looked up at Liam. Then I walked over to him and held out my hand. He stared at it for a long moment, until finally our eyes met. He straightened, nodded, and clasped my hand with his own. I pulled open my options for him . . . and selected ¡®Invite to Party.¡¯ The golden dome around us blinked out of existence. The darkness rushed us. Chapter 34 Chapter 34 My hammer broke against the dying world, and the swarm that had been crashing toward us . . . went still. All three of us sprinted toward the Safe Zone, jumping over the rotting creatures as we went. Our health ticked down at three percent per second now. Mie kept the heals coming as we ran. Greg: There are still four red dots ahead of you. I¡¯m not sure if they are partied with each other or not. We all continued at a sprint. I held Mie¡¯s hand, her vision, I decided, much worse in the black fog. Every time I let go, she would go stumbling in a different direction. So, I gripped on tight, and she squeezed my hand in return, continuing to heal as our health ticked down and down. Liam easily navigated the terrain right behind us. I looked at the player count. Players Remaining: 7 I really hope these last four are not in the same party. I glanced at Liam¡¯s nameplate. HaveYouHeardAboutSugma Level 35, Goblin, Druid Fang Life Credits: 0 Oh boy, level 35. Mkay. ¡°Uhh . . . Sugma?¡± I asked. ¡°Sugma balls!¡± Liam responded with a smirk. God damn it. ¡°Mkay, well played. What can your class do?¡± ¡°Think part rogue, part healer, part bear. I have a blink, backstab, self-heal, and root. When I change to a bear, I can force a mob or player to focus me for five seconds. That¡¯s my ult, and it basically locks them down because they can¡¯t cast abilities but can still Basic Attack.¡± We were nearing the mid-sized stone gazebo-like structure now, and as we got within ten meters, the horde that had been swarmed around the pillar that was the Safe Zone turned in our direction, sensing a new target. The ghouls I had stunned had also caught up from behind. With no better plan, I threw my dome, which had come off cooldown, in front of us near the Safe Zone so that the two circles touched. The dome blasted the mob of ghouls in front of us away. I turned and smashed two ghouls that had latched onto Mie, and jumped into the safe area the dome had created. Mie and Liam fell through beside me. Three players were peering in at us from a door-sized opening where the shield dome met the pillar of the Safe Zone. Larry#ReallyReallyBigNumber Level 50, Fairy Dwarf, Luckiteer Life Credits: 0 Ian#ReallyReallyBigNumber Level 45, Dark Elf, Duelist Partied with Larry#ReallyReallyBigNumber Life Credits: 0 Violet#BigNumber Level 51, Upland Highborn, Priest Partied with Larry#ReallyReallyBigNumber Life Credits: 0 No life credits across the board. That¡¯s good. A Luckiteer?! Fuck. Fred had the Ambient Dungeon Stone. We could really use that stone right about now. Also, how the hell did an Upland Highborn win the entry event? In almost any other scenario, I would have targeted the healer, but if that Luckiteer one shot us . . . I glimpsed a few blue teleportation traps in the dead center of the pavilion. The Safe Zone continued to shrink at a slow rate. There must have only been thirty feet of diameter left. We steadied ourselves, wary of the three players. I kept my eyes open for the fourth. I was really kicking myself for already using my Warden¡¯s ult. Sam: Mie, they are going to target you. Liam, if you can root that Duelist, that would be great. We need to take out that Luckiteer first. Watch out for that teleportation trap. Liam: I have an idea. Sam: Just do what I say. Liam: Sugma balls, I have an idea. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Sam: We don¡¯t have time! Greg: For the . . . balls thing? The Luckiteer made the first move. A familiar green spell, followed by the sound of dice rolling rose above our heads. We rushed forward into the Safe Zone proper. I watched the spell in horror. The other party members, Violet and Ian, had smirks on their faces. BAM! Lightning rooted in from the Black Zone, bringing Mie down to ten percent health and stunning all of us for ten seconds. The Duelist Ian started walking calmly up to us. No . . . Mie used her ultimate, and a massive white pane of glass fell through all of us, cleansing away our stuns and catching the enemy by surprise. We all acted. I shifted to my Wind Rogue, blinked toward Violet the priest, shifted to Warden, and Ass Cracked her, stunning her for seven seconds. Then I activated Allied Cry to cause more confusion. Five guards appeared in front of me and started attacking Violet. While this was happening, Mie started Flash Healing herself, and Liam threw out a green bolt of something that looked like twisting vines. Roots spilled up from the ground along with the transparent chains, rooting Ian in place. Then Liam blinked behind the Luckiteer Larry, transformed into a huge brown bear, and clamped down on his arm, just as Larry popped his invisibility. Larry reappeared and frantically started Basic Attacking Liam, bashing his black nose with his staff ineffectively. Liam snarled and started tugging Larry backward like a dog playing tug of war. It all happened so fast, I didn¡¯t have time to react, or help, or do anything. ¡°Liam! Watch out¡ª!¡± Crack! Both Liam and Larry vanished from view, one of the blue teleportation traps now gone. I turned and started peppering Ian with Wind Spears, panicking. Mie was frantically healing herself back to full and put up her Holy Armor. Ian¡¯s root fell off, and suddenly he was a whirling mess of swords behind her. Some sort of ultimate ability. Her health dropped by seventy-five percent. Liam: I¡¯m Knocked. So is Larry, I think. He ran off, but there is no way he is making it all the way back. We¡¯re a couple miles from the center. Hope my idea was good enough for you, Mr. Captain sir. Violet was growling, her stun almost up. I was too frustrated to respond to Liam, not to mention dealing with two more players. I shifted to my Rogue and activated my ultimate, targeting Ian. I was behind him suddenly, my blue blade sliding through his spine. His health, which had been lowered by my spears, plummeted by three fourths. C¡¯mon. I dealt another Basic Attack, and Mie sent a Black Spider his way. He Knocked. I turned to face Violet. She quickly topped off her health, ignoring my guards, and then her body . . . shifted. White armor appeared, and her muscles grew thick with cords. A massive two-handed sword appeared, and her eyes narrowed in on Mie. She has two classes, I realized. ¡°Damn, I¡¯m so mad someone else got to pick that class,¡± Mie said. Violet#BigNumber Level 51, Upland Highborn, Warrior Life Credits: 0 I watched Violet sweep her massive sword, and a white crescent-shaped arc of light flew forward at Mie. I stepped in front of her, shifted back to my Warden, and activated Impact Armor, but the blast was strong. I rocketed backward into the Black Zone. I crashed through the wall of ghouls and fell to the ground a few feet out of the Safe Zone. Ghouls were everywhere. They pinned me down, biting and gnashing like a fish frenzy after scattering food into a pond. They did as much damage as they possibly could, and I was on my back barely able to move. My health notched down due to the rotting effect and the ghouls¡¯ attacks, but I could feel the power my Impact Armor absorbed growing inside of my chest. As a Mountain Elf Warden, Strength and Constitution were my primary stats. I bellowed out a raw yell as I rose from the ground, squatting the massive load of thrashing creatures. I stepped back into the Safe Zone shedding the weight of the horde off of me . . . But Mie was already Knocked. Violet¡¯s back was to me, and her sword was sweeping through one of my guards. I shifted to Wind Rogue, dove toward Violet, shifted to Warden, and Ass Cracked her just as it came off cooldown. She turned to face me, but it was too late. A stun appeared over her. ¡°I don¡¯t want to do this,¡± I said right before I unleashed the damage the Impact Armor had built up with a backhand swing into her head. Her jaw exploded. Teeth, blood, and bone scattered as her health dropped to the single digits. The crescent attack must have been an ultimate? She assumed I was dead. That or that the damage from the ghouls and the Black Zone would be too much for me. Her eyes were screwed up in pain, but, before I swung again, I hesitated. Her mouth moved. I leaned in as she said it again. She said it so soft, I could barely hear her. ¡°End this. End all of this.¡± I caught her eyes, and nodded my understanding, a dark sadness inside of me. Her stun almost up, I swung my hammer again, and she fell over, dead. My hands were shaking and my teeth were clenched as I started rezzing Mie. I checked my party interface. Liam¡¯s face was grayed out. I sighed. He must have died in The Black Zone, his immunity buff up. Without his quick thinking . . . getting the Luckiteer off us . . . I looked over my shoulder at the hidden camera, thinking he might be watching. ¡°It was a good idea, Liam. A really, really fucking good idea. Thank you.¡± I glanced at the player count next. Players Remaining: 3 I glanced at the remaining blue teleportation traps in the center of the Safe Zone. Our little friend Mike was still slithering around. I turned to Mie once she popped back up, pulled her head close to mine, and whispered into her ear, ¡°I think he¡¯s on the roof.¡± She shivered but nodded with understanding. I made some movements with my hands, trying to silently communicate a makeshift plan. At this point, the ghouls around us were almost all but dissolved away. A few were still wildly attempting to reach us, but it was no longer a solid mass of rotting flesh all around us. There were only two teleportation traps left. Not wanting to suddenly be deep in the Black Zone, I rolled Violet¡¯s body over one, and Ian''s over the other. Their corpses disappeared with loud cracking sounds, clearing the remaining area of traps. The Safe Zone was at seven feet wide when the last ghoul disintegrated, and by that time, we couldn¡¯t leave the interior of the stone structure without going out into the Black Zone. Nervous, I stepped into it for a second, testing its strength. My health notched down at five percent per second. We would have about twenty seconds out there, regardless of any healing. More than enough time. We both stood directly in the center of the Safe Zone back-to-back. I turned back to Mie as I felt an abrupt detaching change in her mood. Like a part of her had left. She looked at me with sad eyes, and I could feel her conclude that this really was the end. No way, I thought. No fucking way. This isn''t over. Not yet. I gripped her hands, looked her into her eyes intently, and asked, ¡°Do you trust me?¡± She nodded, her big eyes wide, trying to hold back the tears. ¡°Together,¡± I said. Then sickening black terror flooded into her as we charged out¡ªonce again¡ªinto the darkness. Chapter 35 Chapter 35 The black fog swirled around us, moving this way and that, like a turbulent river. My eyes pierced the darkness, and I held Mie¡¯s hand tightly as I went down the stone steps and out the entrance. My skin turned gray and loosened faster now as pus and blood rose to the surface. If not for Mie¡¯s constant Flash Heals, I knew death would be moments away. I activated Impact Armor. The plan, which I had described with hand gestures, was relatively simple. Run into the Black Zone, wait a moment, Wind Dive onto the roof, then own the little gnome boy with an Ass Crack, Wind Rogue Ult, and Impact Armor unleash. The Black Zone, I realized from my fight with the Warrior, adjusted its damage relative to your stats and gear. So, I was pleasantly thrilled to see my health notch by five percent every second. Each time it did massive amounts of damage potential stored within myself. My armor was absorbing an incredible amount of power for me. I let the damage tick for the full ten seconds, and on the next tick when my armor buff fell away, the Black Zone adjusted, and I continued to still only take five percent damage. Thank you, God, I thought as the damage recalculated based on my current buff condition. If it hadn¡¯t, I would have just Knocked. I let out a breath, shifted to my Rogue, and circled my arms around Mie. I adjusted slightly. Then we lurched upward into the air, our trajectory taking us back into the Safe Zone just above the center of the stone roof. I tried to target a player as we fell . . . but couldn¡¯t find anyone to target. We slammed into the flat stone roof, legs buckling. Anxiety rose in my chest as my torso fell back into the Black Zone. ¡°Gah!¡± I scrambled back to safety, but there was hardly anywhere to look. The Safe Zone was now five feet in diameter. I scanned it in a moment. Nothing. I looked up into the tunnel the Safe Zone had become, toward the dark sky. Nothing. Mie was getting to her feet, overhealing us as she spammed her abilities. ¡°Anything?!¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t see him!¡± Confusion gripped both of us as we looked around. I double checked the player count. Players Remaining: 3 ¡°What the hell?! Where is he?!¡± I shouted. Greg: His dot is moving around right on top of you! He should be there! I waved my arms around the remaining safe area as it closed to four feet, thinking he might have been invisible through some mechanic or ability. ¡°Sam. What if he was invisible below somehow?¡± Mie said. I cursed; she was right. We jumped back off the roof, and I noticed with discomfort our health tick down at six or seven percent per second as we scrambled back to the Safe Zone. A couple stray NPC ghouls rushed at me. I slammed my hammer into one, and then the next as they came at me, and we broke into the Safe Zone once again. The ghouls I had knocked back slammed themselves against the barrier over and over, uncomfortably close. I felt around. Nothing. I looked up. Nothing. ¡°WHAT THE HELL, MIKE!? WHERE ARE YOU?!¡± I shouted. Greg: I swear his dot is directly on top of you! He should be there! I looked down and cold dread swept through me. Is he . . . underground? It all clicked, right then. The traps everywhere, the explosives everywhere. He wouldn¡¯t have wanted to be in the open during all the chaos. He was a coward, and a hider. If he could hide . . . he would. I remembered the earthquakes throughout the day. The ground shaking. He had somehow built himself a cavern or something right in the heart of the circle. But . . . he won¡¯t be able to fight us. He won¡¯t be able to do anything down there except¡ª I remembered a white and gold pane of glass healing a Warden to full right before he exploded to bits. ¡°Mie,¡± I said, noticing her staff shaking slightly. ¡°I think . . . he wants a heal-off.¡± ¡°A what?¡± Mie said. ¡°A heal-off. God. He would. What a dumb way to play. I think he has those healing traps set up underground,¡± I said as we both took another step inward, the Safe Zone narrowing to three feet. ¡°I¡¯m not positive. But I think he is underground . . . Remember those tremors?¡± Comprehension spilled across her face. ¡°The little shit.¡± ¡°Yeah . . . Mie,¡± I said, another realization hitting me like an Impact Hammer blow. She looked up at me. ¡°It¡¯s going to be up to you.¡± I remembered the mother of the two-year-old . . . I didn''t save in time. I remembered her face. I could have saved him . . . if I had just listened to Dan. The stairs were already clear. I could have saved that child if I had just listened to him. I thought about all of our battles in this world. All the orders I had given to the others, only to still end up Knocked and useless. I thought about Fred and his one shot kills, about Clara and her selfless sacrifice. None of our successes had been because of me. Not one. I had to let go of controlling everything. I had to put my trust in someone else. I had to trust Mie. ¡°What?! No way,¡± she said, sounding terrified. I nodded. ¡°Think about it. If you heal me at the risk of yourself, then you¡¯ll just Knock, and I¡¯ll have no one to heal me.¡± After I said it, I shifted to my Rogue and stabbed at the two ghouls still bashing themselves against the barrier. I stabbed over and over until they disintegrated into nothing. Our arms were wrapped around each other now. ¡°I don¡¯t want to do this,¡± Mie said. ¡°I know. But . . . you have to. It¡¯s the only way.¡± I passed her some of my health potions. ¡°No, like, I really don¡¯t want to do this.¡± ¡°I know. But . . . you have to.¡± ¡°No, Sam. For real¡ª¡± The Black Zone was touching our shoulders now. ¡°I DON¡¯T WANT TO DO THIS! . . . Don¡¯t leave,¡± she finished with a soft, fear-filled voice. ¡°I have to go . . . I love you,¡± I said. I took a step back, shrouding myself in darkness, and pulled her to the center of the Safe Zone. Two and a half feet left, and we no longer had room to both fit. The rot, unpleasant as always, started notching my health down at eight percent a second. She looked caught off guard. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°No . . . like as a daughter. Ew. Gross, no. No offense, but you¡¯re still a little baby to me, remember?¡± I said. Tears welled up in her eyes. ¡°I love you too, man.¡± I looked at her for a moment longer then said, ¡°Goodbye.¡± Then I turned, blinked, Wind Dove, and started running as fast as I could away from her, praying my animated corpse wouldn¡¯t path in her direction. I popped my best health potion as well, giving me a few more seconds. Mie: GOODBYE? Don¡¯t goodbye me. What are you doing?! Sam: Making sure my corpse doesn¡¯t come after you . . . and it was a just in case ¡®goodbye.¡¯ Mie: Ugh. I don¡¯t want to do this. I Knocked. Greg: You have to. Mie: Greg. You did not just tell me what I have to do. I¡¯m tempted to lose on purpose just to spite you. Greg: You wouldn¡¯t. Sam: Pace your heals. Try not to overheal yourself until you absolutely have to. Mie: Okay. What else? Sam: Save your potions until your heals are not doing enough. Mie: Okay . . . What else? Sam: . . . I don¡¯t know. Mie: IT¡¯S SO CLOSE TO ME! I HATE THIS STUFF. I CAN¡¯T GET ANY SKINNIER. The chat went silent, and a minute later my immunity buff was up. I watched my Knocked health notch at ten percent a second. Agony wrenched through me, my mental capacities gave out, and then I died. You died. You dropped all your character items. You lost all your current level¡¯s experience. You have no more life credits. Initiating Soul Transaction. Communication with Hearth prohibited. As soon as I appeared in the Soul Space I rushed over to where Greg was sitting on the couch in front of the TV, cradling the blunderbuss like a baby, and said, ¡°Can you still communicate with her?!¡± ¡°I just tried. It doesn¡¯t look like it.¡± I laid my eyes on the screen. Mie was on her knees in the center of the stone structure. The Safe Zone was fully gone, and she was healing herself every few seconds, causing the darkness around her to light up. Our camera view was just behind her and over her shoulder. She was looking off in the direction I had run. But the camera didn¡¯t show very far, the rushing blackness swirling and inhibiting sight. My hands were sweaty, and my heart pounded. I kept watching her. She was doing great. Never healing until she could make full use of the heal¡¯s health regain. I even noticed a couple high constitution items at her side she had shed off, reducing her health pool and allowing her heals to go further. ¡°Big brain move right there,¡± I said over to Greg, my voice shaking. He had his arms around his knees. His eyes were fixed on the TV, and to my surprise he too looked afraid and nervous. ¡°So, has one of your players ever made it this far before?¡± I asked. ¡°No . . . never,¡± he responded. I turned back to Mie. The Black Zone started doing more damage per second, and she had to pick up the pace of her heals slightly. I gripped my hands together, unsure what to do with them. A stabbing pain pierced my neck muscles, so I used one to massage at it. My stress was high. I couldn¡¯t think. I couldn¡¯t breathe. I couldn¡¯t move. I looked away and closed my eyes. Breathing intentionally in a pattern that I found helped reduce stress. My brain cleared, and I looked back up. The damage was coming in even faster now. ¡°That¡¯s weird,¡± Greg said. ¡°The red dot¡ªit¡¯s moving.¡± I looked too, and sure enough, the red dot was moving. It would move, then pause, then move, then pause. ¡°How is this guy still up?!¡± I said. Mie¡¯s health dipped below twenty percent, and as she did, she fell onto her back, the pain wrecking her. I could feel it through our bond. I gripped the back of the blue couch with both hands. When she fell back . . . the camera glitched again. It looked like it had bugged out, and for a second, it had popped backward. The screen flashed yellow, showing dirt getting lit up with a yellow glow, and then it snapped back, hovering over Mie¡¯s face. As if her sudden movement of falling backward . . . had caused the camera to slip underground. Mie was struggling to keep her health up now and was starting to have to pre heal. Her mana was getting low. As she continued to heal¡ªher health going up and down in great leaps¡ªI snatched up the manual and began reading, trying to think of some way to get her more health faster. I opened my Character Inventory, looking for anything. I switched to the Soul Inventory, and I froze as my eyes hovered over her item representation. It had been a long time since I had looked at it. {Mie, Soul Sprout} Celestial Item, Unique Item Soulbound, {Unbind}? In use {Unbind} Description: Unbinds the item from your Soul Space. I asked myself the same question I had asked myself every time I¡¯d seen it before. What exactly . . . would unbinding her from my Soul Space do? Would it kill her? I hesitated, watching her health once again drop below twenty percent. Does that matter? She was almost dead anyways. We both were. My mental finger hovered over the Unbind action, and as I did, Mie¡¯s lips moved on the TV. She was seconds away from being out of mana. Her mana potion cooldown had minutes left. I moved closer to the speaker. Her lips moved again. And this time . . . I heard her. ¡°Let her go, and let me go.¡± As she said it, I felt fear burrowing through her as she beckoned death. The black glass barrier cracked again. Then shattered. . . . The air was cold and blew out from a nearby vent. There was a constant droning sound that reverberated through the room. Like a white noise machine. A high clear beep! pierced through the emptiness inside me. I was numb. Empty of emotion. Empty of everything. My girls Ada and Lily were next to me, clutching the bear stuffies my mother-in-law had got them. Ada¡¯s face was bunched up as tears spilled out of her little eyes. But Lily was so small, not quite three. She didn¡¯t, couldn¡¯t . . . understand. She twisted her head toward me, her hair whipping around as she made a goofy face at me. I turned inward, toward a comforting well that had once been full of hot bubbly salt water. I pulled on the rope, but the bucket came up dry. I had no more tears to give. It was empty. I . . . was empty. God damn it. Why? Why me? Why us? Two weeks had passed while doctors performed their tests. We prayed. God, we prayed. But the results were bad. There was no brain activity. My ears were pounding with my heartbeat as the doctors droning voice slowly came into focus. ¡°It¡¯s time, Sam.¡± I made myself look at my wife¡¯s face. Her eyes were closed. She looked thin. A ventilator was fixed over her nose and mouth. Life support machines were all around, keeping her alive. I stood up, and I moved my hand to the ventilator . . . but then I stopped . . . hesitating. I leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. It was still warm. The walls of the dry well inside of me seeped liquid I didn¡¯t know was there. I pulled the rope again, and my tears dripped onto her pillow. I whispered into her ear, ¡°I¡¯m going to find you, babe. God damn it. I¡¯ll find you.¡± My voice caught. I pulled the ventilator off her face, turned, picked up Lily in one arm, and grabbed Ada¡¯s hand with the other. The well filled once more as we walked out the hospital doors. But not with hot tears. No. No way. I was past that. It filled with dark. Red. Rage. . . . I was holding my breath as the memory faded. The shards of black glass were starting to float up around me. Mie . . . knew about my wife. She had known about her the whole time. She had my memories. She knew about the Unbind action. She had seen her item representation. She knew everything. My head throbbed. She knew everything, and she had given me the go-ahead to push the button. I hesitated. I didn¡¯t want this on me. Not again. My mental finger wavered over the Unbind action, and I let out a slow steadying breath, trying to control my emotions to no avail. Mie¡¯s health was very low now. We only had moments. The black shards bristled, and then all whipped their pointed ends toward me. Everything else retreated. My sorrow. My rage. My pain. It all fled at the sight of fear. Of my fear. My eyes focused on the Unbind action once more, and as I did, the black shards shot forward and punctured deep into my stomach. Fear flowed through me, its black poison corroding my insides and making me sick . . . and for the first time in years . . . I let it. It slipped its way through my veins and into my heart, and from there the poison only spread faster. I hated being afraid. And I desired nothing else but to be rid of it. ¡°I¡¯m coming, Rach,¡± I whispered. ¡°Gross,¡± Greg said. Then I slammed down on Unbind. The Item {Mie, Soul Sprout} has been destroyed. ¡°NO! OH, COME ON!¡± I bellowed. You received a {Mie, Soul Sapling} ¡°Oh! Thank God!¡± I quickly inspected this new item. {Mie, Soul Sapling} Celestial Item, Unique Item One time use item. {Plant}? I slammed the new action down with my mind, not considering its implications, and as I did, the newly appeared item vanished from my Soul Inventory. The room shook slightly as a normal-looking door appeared to the right of the TV. I started toward it, wondering what the hell was going on. But then I noticed more logs. You planted {Mie, Soul Sapling} You received 5 life credits. Initiating soul transaction Chapter 36 Chapter 36 ¡°Wha¡ª¡± My voice cut off as I vanished. I appeared back in Hearth in the middle of nowhere as an incorporeal ghost. No. Not the middle of nowhere. I was where I had lost my last health point. All my items were in a pile at my feet, having fallen off my now ghoul corpse. I tried to loot but quickly remembered I couldn¡¯t yet. Shit. Despite the lack of body, my heart felt like it was pounding in my throat. I needed my gear, so I waited. While I waited, I rushed a couple messages, trying to relay as much meaning with as few words as possible. Sam: We¡¯ve got 5 credits. Sam: Headed to pavilion. Mie: Why can I see your messages? I¡¯m about to die! As soon as I turned corporeal again, I spaz looted my gear, shifted to my Rogue, blinked, dove, then started sprinting toward the stone pavilion. My health was notching down at a steep twenty percent per second, and just as I was about to go down, I popped another Major Health Potion, giving myself three more seconds. Just before I died again, the pavilion came into view. Mie was standing over her corpse as an incorporeal ghost. She had finally died. Now a ghost once again, I checked my upper right stats, staying near my items, which had just dropped into a pile again. They fell off the rotting ghoul of my old self. It rose to its feet and pathed toward the pavilion. Players Remaining: 3 Life Credits: 3 Already at three?! Mie turned corporeal, and I tried shouting at her, then realized I couldn¡¯t. Right. No body. Sam: MIE, HEAL! I watched in panic as her health crashed down until finally it spiked back up with a Flash Heal. My ghoul turned toward her. Ah . . . shit. Sam: Just keep healing. I¡¯m going to try something when I resurrect. Mie: WHAT IS HAPPENING?! I had to admit, Mike was a crafty little fuck to come up with this plan. I still didn¡¯t actually know if it was him, but I was pretty certain. The guy was a sneaky shit. I cast the thoughts aside as the plan that had half formed in my head came together. It was either going to be completely awesome . . . or really suck and get us all squished. As my ten second incorporeal form ticked to zero, time seemed to slow. I remembered something Phil used to say. ¡®Quick hands, man. Quick hands. You have that. Now you just need to not do dumb shit, and you will actually git good.¡¯ I chuckled as I remembered, turning corporeal once more, and the next moments felt like a dream. First, I looted my gear. I was still a decent distance away from the pavilion, so I dove and sprinted till I reached the steps. While I ran, I popped another solid health potion, and I mentally targeted the space I had seen under us back when the camera had glitched below. I held the yellow glowing dirt patch in my mind and activated blink. Like always, I vanished from my current location and reappeared somewhere else. My body, like ink on water, slipped out of a rocky ceiling, and I then I was falling into a world full of golden squares. As I fell, I shifted to Warden, activated Impact Armor, and tried to get my bearings, knowing I just had a couple seconds before I was dead. But just as I was a tick away from death, I slammed into one of the platforms, only to have a golden light flow upward through me, topping my health off. Damage potential continued to build up within me as the Black Zone compensated for my Impact Armor¡¯s ninety-five percent damage reduction. I looked down; the platform had gone gray. Used up. I stepped onto another one. As my foot pressed down onto the golden square, it gave way slightly as if I was pressing down onto a gigantic button. I watched my health top off again as golden light floated up all around me. I looked around the large cavern. It was filled wall to wall with these healing platforms. My eyes caught movement further into the cavern. That . . . piece of shit. A small Gnome was hopping from one platform to the next, doing a little jig as he went. I inspected his nameplate. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Mike#ReallyReallyFuckingBigAssNumber Level 49, Gnome, Restoration Tinkerer Life Credits: 0 I noticed the platform I had just stepped off was glowing slightly, as if it was recharging. I inspected it as I stepped onto another. {Health Trap} Description: On activation, heals target based on owner¡¯s level and current stats. Recharges over 30 seconds. Cast Time: 3 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Wow. I couldn¡¯t believe it. He had been planning this for a long time. ¡°HEY, ASSHOLE!¡± I shouted. The Gnome slipped in shock, falling onto his back. He scrambled to his feet, looking around, spotting me, but too late. As my Impact Armor fell away, I shifted to my Rogue and activated my ultimate, Spinal Tap. I appeared behind him, sliding my wind shortsword through his spine and dealing seventy-five percent damage, then shifted to Warden and Ass Cracked him right as he stepped onto another platform. The golden square went dark as it healed him back to full, but he stayed put. I had been dreaming about this moment for way too long at that point to not do what I did next. I bent down, and I stroked his little cheek, repeating what he had said to me when he had transported us all to the stables. ¡°It was too easy, little buddy.¡± ¡°No! Wait!¡± he screamed. Then with no remorse, I smashed downward, releasing Impact Armor¡¯s potential into my downward blow. It was like watching one of those addicting videos of a hydraulic press pushing down on all sorts of crushable objects . . . only in fast motion. But instead of plastic, or skittles . . . it was flesh and bone. He sort of just . . . squirted outward on all sides, away from my hammer. ¡°Gah!¡± I stepped back, shocked. ¡°Okay, that was too far.¡± I looked at my logs. Players Remaining: 2 Congratulations! Your party is the last one standing! You have won this instance of Hearth! Initiating soul transaction I vanished and reappeared back in the Soul Space. Greg was just staring at me awkwardly from the couch. He looked sweaty and red, like he had just been doing physical labor for the last couple hours. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± I said. ¡°I . . . You . . . won,¡± he blubbered out. I looked at my party interface, and panic surged within me once more. It was no longer there. No Fred. No Liam. No . . . ¡°Mie?¡± I said, looking down. She wasn¡¯t there. ¡°Where¡¯s Mie?¡± I said again. Greg shrugged. ¡°The TV just shut off.¡± I looked past him and saw the door that had appeared earlier. As I walked toward it, I realized that while its size was normal, it was made of what looked like walnut. It was a dark brown, almost charcoal, and as I reached it, I noticed that it was carved from top to bottom with the shape of an intricate tree. When I reached it, I looked at the round brass handle for a moment, settling my nerves. Then I pulled it. As the door opened, I felt a slight resistance, like the interior pressure in the room beyond was low. Air rushed in from behind me, and I stumbled forward slightly as if a gentle hand had just given me a nudge. What the hell? I steadied myself in the doorway, resisting the wind, and inspected the new space. What is this place? It was a circular room. The floor seemed to be made of a polished slate-colored marble, and as I stepped onto it, it felt smooth, almost slippery. The ceiling was twice as high as our common room and cast down moonlight that filled the room with the feeling of a clear night sky. I could see there was a transparent glass ceiling, and the space beyond the glass was a night sky filled with stars. In the middle of the room stood a circular pool. It was shallow and stood at about two feet high. It looked like a fountain you might find in a fancy mall, only without the fountain, so it was completely still. At its center rose a simple white basin. The walls that curved around the room were the same material as the floor. A polished, flat slate gray, and on the floor along the edges of the wall were small circles inset into the slate material. They gave off a warm yellow light. It felt like I was at the estate of some nobleman or like I was outdoors on a well-lit patio with the moon over my head. My eyes followed the yellow lights along the floor to the opposite side of the room. There was a door similar to my own. It cracked open slightly, then slammed shut, sending a loud BANG! echoing through the space. Curious, I stepped forward a few more paces toward the silent pool. The door opened again, and this time a small foot stuck through and stopped the door from closing. A small girl, almost a toddler, wedged her way through the crack, her back to me. With a great effort, she fully pushed her door open. She couldn¡¯t have been older than two. More detail became apparent as she turned to face me. She wore a small flowery dress, and her hair fell just to her shoulders. Her bangs were neatly cut, and her eyes glistened. Her little face was screwed up in a determined expression. ¡°Don¡¯t make fun of me,¡± Mie said as she took a couple steps forward. ¡°No midget jokes, okay?¡± We looked at each other for another moment before we rushed at each other. I made sure to slow down and fall to my knees just as we slammed together. Her little arms wrapped themselves around my neck, gripping me hard. I gripped her back, holding her close. The moment reminded me of little Lily. She had always been a snuggle bug. Mie¡¯s hair was smooth and smelled of lavender, and I realized with frustration that my tears were getting her all wet. ¡°Gah,¡± I muttered as I pulled away. ¡°Sorry.¡± Then I saw the front of my shirt was completely soaked. ¡°Same.¡± We looked at each other, eyes red. I grinned at her and then coughed, trying to clear my voice. ¡°They grow up so fast.¡± ¡°Shut it.¡± We both laughed, tears still falling, and to my amazement, we were still alive. ¡°What do you think this place is?¡± Mie asked, looking around. She ran over to the small pool, leaned over the ledge, and looked in at the still water. As she did, I couldn¡¯t help but remember her small baby form. Things were about to be totally different. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But whatever it is, let¡¯s find out together.¡± Mie reached her little hand toward the liquid. ¡°Mie. Wait. No. We don¡¯t¡ª¡± She plunged her hand in. Epilogue Epilogue Mie remained dangling over the ledge of the fountain pool . . . thing, her hand sticking into the water. ¡°Fuck, Mie!¡± I cringed, waiting for the worst to happen. When nothing did, I exhaled heavily. Then continued shouting, ¡°STOP TOUCHING SHIT! Jesus. We have no idea what the hell is going on!¡± Her little shoulders moved upward in a bashful shrug. She gave me a sideways glance and a slight smirk. I felt at our emotional connection and sensed. . . nothing. Our bond had vanished, as if it had never been. The hell? I looked back to her, to her little body, and realized . . . I probably wouldn¡¯t need it as much now anyways. Still, it had been a welcome presence, and now that it was gone, I felt a little bit more alone. ¡°Uhh, Sam?¡± Greg said, his head poking through the doorway from my Soul Space. ¡°Not now, Greg,¡± I said. He walked into the new atrium-like room. ¡°You are going to want to come back to the Soul Space.¡± He motioned toward Mie. ¡°Also, who is the child?¡± ¡°CHILD?! SHUT THE FUCK UP, GREG!¡± Mie screamed while pulling her hand out of the water. She hopped back down onto the ground and started toward him. ¡°Oh great. Mie¡¯s still alive . . . weee. Oh crap¡ª!¡± Greg stumbled backward as Mie ran at him and made all the motions of performing an aggressive jump, but then never left the ground. I laughed as she fell and wrapped herself around one of his legs instead. She started to smack at him harmlessly. Toddlers sucked at jumping. My own daughters took ages to get airborne. Cough. The sound jarred through me. It was familiar, and I knew exactly who that was in my Soul Space. Mie froze, her anger diffused and looking unsure. My hands formed fists, but the action didn¡¯t feel right. I felt weak. I looked down at myself. I was no Warden here, and actually my Soul Space body had started getting a little chubby. Not to mention I was in a basic-ass stained T-shirt and sweatpants, with no weapon to speak of. I was also sweaty and probably smelled like butthole. Ugh. ¡°We, uhh, have company,¡± Greg said. I made a frantic ¡®run¡¯ motion to Mie in the direction of her door. Is that her own Soul Space? Or something like it? She let go of Greg and scrambled to her side of the atrium. While she did, I moved to the door of my own Soul Space . . . and found Tittles sitting relaxed on the blue couch. ¡°Hello, Sam, my dear wormie. Congratulations are in order, I believe.¡± He said it so sarcastically and almost spitefully that I couldn¡¯t help but continue to loathe the man. What an asshole. He made a motion, moving his hand to his ear. ¡°Jensen, would you please transport the reward?¡± The way he said it made me think I didn¡¯t really want whatever this reward was. The lights suddenly flicked off. Dim blue and red lights flooded the room in their place, but unlike the last time I saw the lights, they remained steady, giving the room an ambient night club vibe. No sirens accompanied the lights either. Tittles¡¯ back went straight, and he looked at Greg. ¡°We have maybe five minutes. Go get the ¡®I farted in front of her¡¯ girl.¡± To Greg¡¯s credit he said, ¡°Who?¡± before turning white under Tittles¡¯¡ªnow anxious¡ªstare. He looked at me, unsure of what to do. I analyzed Tittles, an uneasy feeling in my gut. He caught my eyes and said, ¡°You have every right to not trust me. The Void take me if I lie. I¡¯m trying to fucking help. I fed Jensen the wrong instructions for working the transporter. We don¡¯t have a lot of time before he figures out the right controls. He¡¯s my Fred . . . you could say.¡± He rubbed his forehead, smiling slightly as if remembering. So, they have been watching. ¡°Anyways, the cameras are off. Go get the girl. She should hear everything I am about to say.¡± His tone had changed completely, instead of sarcasm and spite, he was almost pleading. He looked energized, yet seemed sad and exhausted. He looked from me to Greg and then back to me. ¡°Well?! C¡¯mon, we don¡¯t have a ton of time here before you head to the Feeder. And then off to Tier D.¡± The Feeder? Tier D . . . ? That would imply that Hearth is Tier E? A realization hit me in the face so suddenly it was almost physical. It¡¯s a ladder of some sort. I recalled Greg¡¯s words way back when we first appeared in the Soul Space. ¡®You get squished . . . then effed.¡¯ You get squished . . . then sent to Tier F. I hesitated, still unsure what that meant. Getting Squished . . . isn¡¯t the end? Is Rachel . . . alive? What about Clara and Loc? Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I looked at Tittles, my thoughts returning to his ask. What choice did I have? He already knows about Mie. Quickly making my decision, I said, ¡°Okay. Greg, go get Mie.¡± ¡°I¡¯m here . . .¡± Mie said hesitantly, peeking through the doorway. ¡°I, uhh, didn¡¯t have the strength to pull the door open to my Soul Space. Too much pressure.¡± She nodded over to Tittles. ¡°Sup, Tittles?¡± "Great. Now shut the fuck up, and listen.¡± ¡°Heeey . . . that¡¯s my thing . . .¡± Mie murmured, her eyes to the floor. Greg had to grab his entire face with both hands to stop the laughter. He stopped breathing and bent over. His body violently jerking every so often. Tittles ignored them both and plowed ahead. ¡°I have spent hours of my life covering your asses. You are damn lucky to have had me as a GM, even luckier that I know what the fuck I am doing, and luckier still that Jeff trusts me. Erasing the records of that entire round of Hearth and the associated Soul Space feeds was easy. Constantly looping your feed once you were top ten . . . not so much, but I got it done. I trained Jensen to give us these five fucking minutes on accident. I have done everything I can to keep Mie¡¯s nature hidden. The hardest part isn¡¯t even done, but I¡¯ll spare you the details of hacking our database to swap in Mie¡¯s new Soul Space identifier for Sam¡¯s, outfitting that Space with cosmos tech, and¡ªJesus, this is impossible. FUCK!¡± Slam! He had started walking around the Space as he talked, getting more and more exasperated as he went. Then he had slammed his hand on the island counter. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He lifted his hand off the counter, and I noticed eight syringes and a small booklet. They looked like those flu vaccinees, only bigger, and had a needle on both ends. The portion that contained the liquid was clear and divided. One section contained a magenta-colored liquid, and the other, a red. The needles on both ends were capped . . . and looked unpleasantly long. Shot-to-the-butt-cheek . . . long. Before I could inspect them, Tittles motioned to them and said, ¡°These little devils are called Soul Anchors. Tier D ups things up a notch and won¡¯t let you log out and get back to your Soul Bodies. Instead, they spend the entire time in the Feeder.¡± ¡°Feeder?¡± I asked. ¡°The place your Soul Body gets nourished, while your soul travels to other realities.¡± Tittles pinched his forehead. ¡°Gah, I forget how dumb you people are when you¡¯re freshly dead.¡± He glanced at his watch. ¡°Fuck. Quick now. Shoot the red solution into your butts.¡± He handed three of the double-sided syringes to each of us. ¡°That¡¯s the cross-dimensional tracking portion. The magenta side is what forces your Soul, no matter where it is, back to your Soul Body for a short time. Listen closely to me now. Keep the Anchors in your Transporter.¡± Mie was looking at the long ass needles with wide eyes. I looked at my own then back to Tittles. ¡°Fucking hurry up. Pull your pants down.¡± ¡°Tell ¡®em, daddy,¡± Greg whispered¡ªI hoped¡ªas a joke. I growled, pulling my pants down¡ªas Mie did the same¡ªhesitated, then injected the red solution into my ass three times. UGH, damn it! That hurts! Tittles glanced over at Greg, looking grossed out, and held out one of the remaining two syringes. ¡°You too, buddy. Easy mode ends for guides after Tier E.¡± Greg looked speechless as Tittles placed the syringe in his hand. Mie chuckled. ¡°Oh, this is priceless. Look at his face, Sam. He looks like that time you realized that babies are not made by peeing into your mate¡¯s mouth.¡± ¡°What the hell, man?¡± Tittles said, looking over at me. ¡°That¡¯s how you thought it worked?!¡± ¡°Oh come on, Mie,¡± I said, ¡°IT MADE SENSE AT THE TIME.¡± ¡°No. Stop. Stay on topic, Jim,¡± Tittles murmured to himself, glancing at his watch again. ¡°Not a lot of time left.¡± He held up the last syringe. ¡°We need to get this to your new guide, Mie.¡± I whirled toward Mie, confused she hadn¡¯t mentioned anything. She hopped from foot to foot, looking anxious and bashful. Tittles continued: ¡°Greg, do something useful and go get him . . . or her and inject them in the butt.¡± ¡°Her. It¡¯s a her, and I already named her. Her name is . . . Charlie.¡± She gave me a wide, evil smile. Fuuuck me. ¡°Why me?¡± Greg asked, sounding flustered. ¡°Just do it!¡± All of us yelled. I was getting nervous with how much time we had left. I needed more answers. There were so many questions. Greg sauntered off, looking pissed, and Tittles picked up the little booklet and looked me squarely in the eyes. ¡°This is everything I know about Soul Seeds, their properties, and what they can do.¡± He paused, looking extremely tired, and handed it to me. ¡°Keep that in your Transporter too. You don¡¯t know how long I have waited for this moment. I have seen Soul Saplings planted in higher tiers . . . but by then . . . it was too late. Right now, we have the advantage of few to no eyes on you. The cosmos is a big fucking place, but it¡¯s only going to get smaller from here¡ªassuming you can keep surviving. You MUST keep the nature of Mie hidden. You can¡¯t tell anyone who she is, or what she is, or that I came here to help, or anything. Do you understand me?¡± Mie and I looked at each other again. Then I nodded. ¡°Why are you helping us? What do you mean ¡®Mie¡¯s nature¡¯? What is going on, man?¡± I asked, not sure where to start. He glanced at his watch, grimacing. ¡°Let¡¯s just say, the people running the games are not my most favorite people in the world, and you guys can change that.¡± ¡°How?¡± I asked. ¡°By getting access¡ªfuck. Time¡¯s up. Sorry, man. For this . . . and your ¡®reward.¡¯ ¡± He cut off as the lights flicked back on, then his entire demeanor changed once more. His face contorted in rage as he backhanded me in the face. ¡°What the hell¡ª?¡± ¡°DON¡¯T SPEAK TO ME, WORM!¡± Tittles roared, spit flying in my face. ¡°JENSEN, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?¡± Pain seared my entire right cheek, and my lip was bleeding, but I could hear faint, panicked murmuring coming from Tittles¡¯ earpiece. ¡°Just send the reward, dumbass. The blue sticky note,¡± Tittles said. More murmuring. ¡°No, idiot! The blue sticky note, not the jade one.¡± A moment later, as the hot pain in my cheek slowed to an aching throb, the transporter flickered, and a small thud sounded inside. ¡°Like I was saying. Congratulations, wormie,¡± Tittles said with absolute loathing. I walked over to the Transporter, tasting iron, and pulled the minifridge-like door open. Inside, there was a simple circular cake with pink frosting. There were black frosted words scrawled across. My heart stopped, and the blood drained from my face as I read the words. As I did, the most annoying, deadpan male voice said within my mind: Congratulations, Subject Sam. I have detected a connection with Subject Rach, who was squished to bits and then F''d. My sincerest condolences for your heartbreaking loss. That doesn¡¯t mean anything. She got F¡¯d, but she should still be alive, I tried to remind myself. I tried to hope. Blood dribbled off my lips and spattered the words. I looked at them, and I thought about my wife getting crushed. I thought about Clara and everyone else in Hearth sharing that same fate. I thought about Jessica torturing Greg, and whoever the hell Jeff was. I thought about them all. I thought about everyone who must be involved to let all this shit happen. This was far from over. I looked through the atrium door at the pool and the basin. I will get stronger. My arms started shaking, and I clenched my fists. Bring it on, you mother fuckers. Author Update - 03/13/2025 Author Update Okay so I have a few updates. I¡¯m going to dive right in and try and break them up into small bites. Anything But Squished - Reception To be honest, I still have zero idea what to think about book one. I do have a few reviews and comments from you all now. Still not sure what ''I greatly enjoyed it'', or ''This was a fun read!'', actually means. Does that mean like the book was . . . just okay? Or . . . As you can tell, I still have a ton of authors doubt around the book, and for good reason. In my opinion, it really is, just okay, and it¡¯s okay that it¡¯s just okay. It was my first book, and while I cringe at a lot of parts of it, it¡¯s probably due to over reading/editing the first few chapters. Still, us authors can get in our heads about our work. My stats on Royal Road say I have a 340+ followers and 80+ favorites. If that is you, I¡¯d love to hear from you. What did you like? What was dumb? Talk to me. Anything But Squished - Ebook I¡¯ve self-published the eBook through Kindle Direct Publishing (Amazon). It is available now! I would very much appreciate your support, along with a solid rating! This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I created a new cover which isn¡¯t as good as the first one, but it¡¯s more aligned with the genre. Here is the link to the book on amazon: https://a.co/d/6NMvL8y Anything But Squished - Audio Book I am working with Maximillian Breed on an audio version of the book. We are in the early stages still, but I''m hoping it will be available by sometime in May at the latest. It¡¯s been really fun watching the story come to life through his voice, which I think is fantastic for Sam, and the whole cast. He is going above and beyond and including some minor sound effects as well as Voice Acting with gasps, sighs, laughs, and all that. Get ready for a lot of Mie screams, and Sam heavily exhaling. They''re Dying, Pass the Popcorn - Book 2 Finding time to write with work and little kids has been challenging, but I''m making time here and there, and so far, book two, has been an absolute blast! My pre-writing / thinking is pretty much wrapped up, and I will say I do have the broader outline nailed down, but am working through the gritty details of making it all come to life. And since I lean more panster than plantster, I''m still open to changes as I go. I¡¯d say I''m around 20% complete with it and am hopeful I will be posting consistently come April 1st. I''ve posted on Patreon the Prologue, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2 already. You can find the link to that through the donate button on this page, if you are interested. Zero pressure there at all. I¡¯ll also say that I have some fun content cooking for my creative process that I¡¯ll be posting along with my chapters for B2. They may or may not be links to old live streams. Oh, and the working title for B2 as you saw is: They''re Dying, Pass the Popcorn TLDR B1 did fine. Ebook is out! Audio book in progress. Should hit May at the latest. B2 is slow going, but it¡¯s happening. First few chapters coming soonish. Stay tuned, and seriously thank you so much for your support. Theyre Dying, Pass the Popcorn - Prologue Prologue [RISER SOUND EFFECT STARTS ¨C DEEP BASS NOTES - QUIET] [SUBTLE CASSETTE TAPE REWINDING STARTS - QUIET] [FAR DISTANT] ¡°Bring it on, you motherfuckers.¡± -Sam [FAR DISTANT] ¡°They grow up so fast.¡± -Sam ¡°Shut it.¡± -Mie [FAR DISTANT] ¡°Promise me you will win . . . Fuck this reality. Our children deserve better.¡± -Clara [DISTANT] ¡°Pour one out for me, will you?¡± -Fred [DISTANT] ¡°Oh . . . right . . . fuck.¡± -Fred ¡°He didn¡¯t.¡± -Sam ¡°He did.¡± -Mie [MODERATELY CLOSE] ¡°TIME TO WRAP UP YOUR SEX FANTASY, MY LIEGE!¡± -Mie [MODERATELY CLOSE] Ohhh fuck, okay. Here we go. -Sam ¡°God DAMN IT! JUST DIE!¡± -Sam [CLOSE] ¡°You didn¡¯t have to do that.¡± -Sam ¡°It was the only way.¡± -Clara ¡°YOU DIDN¡¯T HAVE TO DO THAT! . . . WE COULD HAVE FOUND ANOTHER WAY!¡± -Sam [CLOSE] ¡°Mie, can you heal yourself?!¡± -Sam ¡°Does it FUCKING look like it?¡± -Mie [VERY CLOSE] ¡°Hey, asshole!¡± -Mike ¡°Hey! What the hell?!¡± -Sam ¡°I have kids, one of them is right here. Just take the damn toilet paper and go.¡± -Sam ¡°Relax man, it¡¯s not even loaded. See¡ª?¡± -Mike ¡°No! Stop. NO DON¡¯T¡ª!¡± -Sam BAM! [RISER SOUND EFFECT CUTS OFF ¨C DEEP AND HIGH NOTES - LOUD] [SUBTLE CASSETTE TAPE REWINDING ENDS] [ALARM CLOCK STARTS] [THUNK! ALARM CLOCK CUTS OFF] I¡¯d rolled out of bed, grabbed my headset, swung into my computer chair, and poised my finger over the computer¡¯s power button, when I heard it. There was a loud creak from the bottom stair¡ªthat I personally always knew to jump. No . . . Heavy clunking footsteps headed up the stairs, and then . . . moved toward my room. Uuuugh. Noooo pleeeeeaaase! The guest house we lived in¡ªwhich was across the lawn from my grandparents'' house¡ªwas small enough that you could hear basically everything happening within it, all the time. I sighed as I heard the footfalls stop outside my room. I put my headset back down. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. It was finally the weekend, and I was so pumped to spend the day at home, in my room, playing computer games allll freaking day. Ada probably already is. . . But Dad was home today. Ugh. His voice came through the door, muffled. ¡°Hey, Lily, I''m headed to the store to pick something up for your sister. You wanna come?¡± I groaned silently. I didn¡¯t really want to. I closed my eyes for a second, wishing I wanted to say yes, for his sake. I glanced out of my bedroom window toward my grandparents'' house. The early morning sun was bright and glinted off dad¡¯s truck into my eyes. I caught movement across the lawn and groaned silently again. Grandma was bringing over some sort of breakfast casserole, and Grandpa was watching her butt from behind and blatantly dry humping the air in a grotesque manner. Ew. You have to be freaking kidding me. ¡°You don¡¯t have to if you don¡¯t want to . . . but I¡¯ll buy you one of those disgusting smoothies if you do. You should really try the pizza sometime. I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s good,¡± Dad called through the door again. I sighed again, looked out the window one more time at my grandma crossing the lawn, grimaced, and called back, ¡°Yeah, okay . . . I¡¯m down.¡± . . . ¡°Hey, asshole!¡± someone called from behind us. Oh no . . . it¡¯s that creeper dude from earlier¡ªwait is that . . . a gun? I froze. It was a gun. What the heck?! ¡°Hey! What the hell?!¡± Dad called out as he grabbed me and shielded me with his strong form. His arms gripped my body with a force I didn¡¯t know he was capable of. My smoothie fell to the ground and splashed over my nice new boots. Holy crap, holy crap! My heart was pounding, and Dad was yelling. ¡°I have kids. One of them is right here. Just take the damn toilet paper and go.¡± I couldn¡¯t think, and I started shaking uncontrollably. Am I gonna die ¡®cause of toilet paper?! ¡°Just put the God damn gun down, take the toilet paper, and go! You can have it!¡± Dad growled out in a panic. Part of me registered Dad swearing. It was scary to hear. ¡°Relax, man. It¡¯s not even loaded. See¡ª?¡± The creeper said. ¡°No! Stop. NO DON¡¯T¡ª!¡± Trembling, I risked a peek around my dad''s torso, too afraid to not know what was happening. BAM! The creeper looked shocked. Another loud BAM sounded directly after the first. Sound roared against me, and then the world was just a high-pitched ringing. We blasted backward as fire and metal flowed over us. Something hard slammed into my neck. Something else hit my leg. My body crashed into the ground, and Dad¡¯s heavily muscled body landed on top of my midsection, crushing me from above and pushing all the air out of me in a rush. Everything went still . . . and I found myself staring up at the bright blue sky. I couldn¡¯t feel anything, and I didn¡¯t move for a long moment. A cold numbness seeped into me. I tried to push Dad off of me and failed, too weak. His body fell back down, and his arm slapped me in the face like a dead fish. That was when the pain hit me all at once. I cried out in agony. There was a piercing pain in my neck. I felt at it and could feel something metal. My hand came away red. There was pain in my lower body too. My leg was pulsing and screaming at me. ¡°Da¡ªDad. Get up¡ªget off,¡± I said. But I didn¡¯t hear anything. I could feel my throat vibrating with the words, but there was no sound. He didn¡¯t move. No. This isn¡¯t happening. This isn¡¯t real. The noise came rushing back into my concussed ears, dull and quiet. Sirens, screams, and shouts echoed as if in the distance. I continued to weaken, my body growing colder. Blackness crept across my vision. The pressure from above was removed. Dad¡¯s body . . . was removed. Someone was yelling, but I couldn¡¯t see anymore. I couldn¡¯t think anymore. . . . I heard sirens and horns and felt crisp sheets beneath me. My body jerked and bumped in what I assumed was an . . . ambulance? I heard beeps that for some reason echoed through my mind, distant . . . and familiar. . . . More time passed, and I thought I saw Ada¡¯s face hovering over me. Her eyes were swollen and wet. They were pleading with me to survive. To not leave her. ¡°They need to do surgery, Sis. Don¡¯t you dare die on me.¡± I wanted so badly to respond. To tell her I wouldn¡¯t. To ask about Dad . . . but I physically couldn¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t do anything. I couldn¡¯t even think straight. Everything faded to black again. . . . It was dark, and it felt like I was drifting. A cold swept through me, and suddenly, the darkness somehow grew darker. Completely black. I woke up. But . . . I couldn¡¯t feel anything. It was low-key sus. Am I still in shock? No. I can think clearly . . . I think. What¡¯s going on?! Why can I think but not feel anything?! What¡¯s happening?! I opened my eyes. Tutorial complete. {Replay} or {Continue}? What is happening?! Then it hit me like a bus. I couldn¡¯t feel anything because my body was dead. I . . . was dead. What . . .? I took a moment to absorb that fact. What the heck?! I¡¯m dead?! Another moment of absorbing. Honestly . . . it wasn¡¯t so bad . . . outside of the fact that my sister¡¯s eyes would haunt me forever. Oh no . . . Ada . . . I''m so sorry. She would be so alone. God . . . help her. I thought about Dad. His broken body . . . heavy and crushing me. I thought about him . . . not moving. Where are you, Dad? My mind revisited the scene of my death with the weird gunman creeper. Dad . . . had been yelling and soo angry. I had never seen him like that. Out of control. He was so level-headed and calm most of the time. He even said three curse words! That was almost more shocking than dying itself. Dad never swears.