《Battle Pass》


 One

    I looked at the impossible door and hesitated to go through it. Once I did, my life would change forever. Glancing to my left and right, I noticed the others were also staring in awe, not quite ready to make the final step.


    The door in question was about the size of a wide-open garage door. Around its edge were black and yellow stripes and thick stenciled letters painted on the floor reading, ¡°Warning! Do not cross.¡± The door itself was in an underground bunker a dozen floors beneath the earth''s surface, built in an aging bomb shelter turned government research lab. I could only marvel at how ridiculous it sounded, but there I was, staring right at it.


    Even more ridiculous, on the other side of the garage door, was an open field of knee-high grass waving in a gentle breeze. In the distance stood a corpse of trees and a glittering orange sun suspended in a bright blue sky. Thin wisps of clouds marred an otherwise perfectly clear sky. Birds could be heard merrily chirping somewhere.


    Slade, always cocky, asked, ¡°So, this is the game?¡±


    Colonel Kane stood, looking very stoic in his military fatigues. His pinched face always looked either angry or constipated. I hadn¡¯t decided which yet. He nodded his bald head and said nothing.


    I glanced at the others around me, trying to read their reactions.


    Tiny Emma looked nervous. She was my age but a head shorter. While she claimed to know video games, it was apparent in any conversation with her that she¡¯d only played single-player collection games. Fear was written easily across every feature.


    Intense as always, Max stared. He tilted his head this way and that, trying to get a good look at the grass on the other side. He studied every detail, probably wondering if his eyes were deceiving him or how to reverse engineer the graphic fidelity.


    And then there was Slade. Wide of chest and thick of thought. In the short time I¡¯d known him, which thankfully counted in days, he¡¯d bragged about playing in just about every game imaginable. Add every sport imaginable and endless hints that he¡¯d seduced every girl imaginable, and that about summed him up. He was nothing more than an infinite flow of braggadocio mounted on perfect pectoral muscles.


    I wanted to ask anything to delay taking a step forward, but Slade ruined the moment by exclaiming, ¡°Hell to the yes! I¡¯m going in!¡±


    He then sauntered across the warning messages and into the grassy field.


    Colonel Kane yelled after him, ¡°Don¡¯t forget your one item.¡±


    Slade hooted wildly. A guitar, all angles and vibrant colors, was now in his arms. He lifted a hand high in the sky and brought it down across the strings in one motion. I had to admit, something was soothing, downright calming, about that sound that could only have come from an electric guitar. It drew me towards Slade, who still hadn¡¯t turned around.


    Max rushed past, eager to cross the threshold. Once on the grass, he knelt, peering at individual blades.


    ¡°One item!¡± Kane yelled out.


    Jumping back up to his feet, Max held a wicked-looking katana. He whipped it from its sheath and marveled at it for a moment. The blade was so dark it swallowed all light that touched it. Max nearly pressed an eyeball to the thing, inspecting it from every angle.


    I signed up for this. I walked to the door, looking at the Colonel, who held up one finger. I was tempted to return the gesture with another finger, but he was paying really good money for me to play this game, so I spared him. I crossed the boundary and felt grass at my feet. Wind caressed a cheek, and warm sunlight touched my face. The air felt and smelled cleaner somehow.


    As Emma joined me, I heard Kane call out, ¡°One item!¡±


    I looked back and saw Emma, but there was no door. Instead, grassy fields stretched as far as I could see, occasionally interrupted by clusters of trees. The door had vanished once we were all through it. We were now in The Game.


    Looking back at Emma, I saw that she was wearing a baggy beige sweater that she hadn¡¯t had a moment before. It was easily several sizes too large. She crossed her arms and hugged herself, looking around at our new landscape.


    She saw me watching her empty-handed and reminded me, ¡°Victoria, don¡¯t forget to think about the one thing you love most.¡±


    ¡°Ack!¡± I replied, desperately trying to think of the one thing I loved most. Here¡¯s where the gamey starts. I had been thinking about this for a few days. I could game the system and imagine something incredibly useful, like a battle axe or bag of gems. Truth was, I didn¡¯t really have any one thing in life that I truly loved. Things were things; they came, and they went. And honestly, to take this gig, playing a video game for the next few months, I had to give up everything. I had no home, no possessions, and not even any money until the job paid out in the end. Things were not my thing.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Something I did love, however, was my dog Ron. It broke my heart to leave him with my parents. Oh, they had a million questions: where was I going, how much did it pay, how can you trust these people? Truth be told, I didn¡¯t have a lot of good, solid answers. I was promised a lot of money to play a video game on-site for a few months. I couldn¡¯t afford rent without a job, so I had nowhere to keep a dog. And more importantly, I couldn¡¯t think of anyone but my parents to care for him. Thoughts of just abandoning Ron made my chest tighten, so I took a deep breath and cleared my mind.


    It was about then that I noticed something in my hands. At first, I thought it was a football, but it was hard, not leathery. On closer inspection, it looked more like an egg than anything else¡ªa really big one.


    ¡°Oh, my freaking gawd!¡± Slade exclaimed. ¡°Given a chance to have anything, you two are useless. An ugly sweater and a big bird egg. Totally useless.¡±


    ¡°Shut up. They¡¯re not useless. They¡¯re the things we love.¡± I spat at Slade while looking over to Emma. Okay, maybe a giant sweater was useless, but I had¡­ an egg. If nothing else, we had the makings for a really big omelet.


    ¡°Even beanpole here,¡± Slade jabbed a thumb at Max, ¡°brought something of value. What are you going to do with a sweater? Smother enemies to death with it?¡±


    We all knew there would be enemies to defeat. Kane had very specifically spelled out that it was that type of game. Our pay at the end of the game would also be doubled if we managed to make it to the end without dying. A sweater could keep one person warm if it got cold, but what could an egg do?


    I was struggling to find a snappy comeback other than telling Slade what a jerk he was, when Colonel Kane saved me. His disembodied voice called from the air above us, ¡°Testing¡­ Can you hear me?¡±


    ¡°Loud and clear,¡± Slade called back.


    ¡°Good. I¡¯ll be your guide when possible. Just yell out Operator, and I¡¯ll reply if I can.¡±


    ¡°If you can?¡± I asked. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you be able to answer?¡±


    Kane said, ¡°The Game is about exploration. As much as possible, you need to solve problems on your own. I see that you all have your one item, that¡¯s a good start. Let¡¯s test out the systems real quick. Open your inventories.¡±


    Just like the three days of training we had, I blinked my eyes and imagined my inventory opening before me. As I did, a glowing square appeared in front of me. I lifted the egg and dropped it inside, where it remained. I blinked again, and the glowing box with my egg faded away. Another blink and the box returned with the egg sitting there waiting to be taken.


    ¡°Good¡­ Victoria, Max, excellent. Emma¡­ there you go. And Slade¡­ there it is. Outstanding, inventory is working. All the other systems work the same way. Blink, think about them, and they will appear. If you get the wrong thing, swipe your hand in front of you to switch to the system page you need.¡±


    I had to try it out. I blinked and thought of stats. A glowing page appeared. A long list of statistics floated on the page: Total Kills: 0, Experience Earned: 0, Leagues Travelled: 0, Creatures Encountered: 0. The list was incredibly long, so long in fact that I got bored scrolling through it, which I found I could do by waving my hand up and down.


    ¡°Okay, what do we do next?¡± Slade asked.


    ¡°What would you do in any other game?¡± Kane said.


    ¡°Play the tutorial,¡± Max said. We all looked at him. His words were so simple, and he was right.


    ¡°That¡¯s how I can help. I can answer any questions you have until you level up. At that point, I¡¯ll only be available to report bugs or other serious issues.¡±


    ¡°Do we have an immediate goal?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes. Find resources and make weapons.¡± Kane replied.


    ¡°Where do we find that?¡± Slade said.


    Max pointed to the cluster of trees in the distance. ¡°We can probably gather wood and make spears over there.¡±


    As Max spoke, glowing words appeared at the top of my vision, Find resources, make weapons. They faded away after a moment, but I found I could make them return by blinking and consciously thinking about goals.


    ¡°Someone is coming,¡± Emma said.


    We all turned to follow her gaze. Four figures approached, still distant, maybe a football field or two away. They were squat, almost pyramid-shaped, and bouncing around quite a bit.


    ¡°What are they?¡± Max asked.


    As Kane had mentioned, we were already in The Game. They could be literally anything.


    I lifted a hand to shield my eyes from the sun, and my vision seemed to zoom in. There were four, no, now I could see five creatures approaching us. They were dogs, large dogs, at least waist high. As they got closer, I could tell there was no fur. Scales covered the creatures. They weren¡¯t dogs at all but some sort of galloping lizard creatures. On top of two were squat humanlike creatures, but green-skinned and armed with spears.


    ¡°Goblins,¡± I said. They looked perfectly rendered. These were better than any game I¡¯d ever played.


    ¡°You can see them?¡± Slade asked. He had the electric guitar in his hands.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I squinted, bringing the goblins back into perfect focus. ¡°Five lizard mounts and two goblin riders.


    Slade stepped forward, swinging the guitar around to hold it like an axe. ¡°Our first fight, and we¡¯re unarmed. Not very sporting.¡±


    I glanced over at Emma, who moved behind me. Max drew his katana from its sheath and crouched down in the knee-high grass. As he did so, he faded away, becoming harder to see in an instant. I thought about getting my egg from the inventory¡­ yup, that wouldn¡¯t help if this was our first fight.


    Stooping down as Max had done, I squinted under the cover of my hand again. It wasn¡¯t needed. The goblins were so close now, nearly right on top of us. I was just glad that Slade had stepped forward in front of the rest of us, egotistically playing the hero. The goblins seemed to be focused on him.


    Maybe we can talk our way out of this, I thought. The lead goblin held up his spear and threw it.


    So much for talking.

 Two

    The spear arced through the air on a collision course with Slade. It happened so fast that Slade couldn¡¯t do anything but shield himself with his guitar. That was precisely where the spear hit with a sickening thunk, causing the guitar to twang loudly.


    Rearing back on its lizard beast, the goblin screamed what sounded like a war cry. The second one rode around looking for a target for its spear. The other three lizard creatures followed the second goblin, snorting and ducking their heads up and down.


    The goblin with a spear looked right at me, and I felt my heart beating against my throat. It was all too real. I could feel the grass underfoot, the sun on my neck, and the fragrance of wildflowers. The spear point looked deadly sharp, and I thought I¡¯d find out any moment.


    Slade hooted a war cry of his own and rushed at the goblins, waving his guitar like a weapon. The goblin that had already thrown his spear wasn¡¯t ready to be bum-rushed by a lunkheaded human. It reared back a little too far, tumbling from its mount.


    The lizard skittered off. Slade wasted no time hammering the fallen goblin with his guitar, its steel strings making awful sounds like a tortured cat. Although, in hindsight, maybe it was the goblin making that noise. Or a little from column A and a little from column B.


    Watching his partner get guitar-soloed to death, the second goblin switched targets and flung his spear at Slade. To say I was relieved would be an understatement. This time, however, the spear landed true, right into one of Slade¡¯s meaty biceps.


    ¡°Yearg!¡± Slade howled loud enough for the entire server to hear. ¡°He fucking stabbed me! I¡¯m bleeding! That¡¯s blood!¡±


    For once, Slade wasn¡¯t exaggerating. Blood flowed down his arm in rivers. Taking a step back, my feet tripped in the grass, and I sat down hard, almost biting my tongue.


    The goblin that had just thrown his spear saw me and dug his heels into his mount. I was about to be trampled by a goblin war charge. I watched in horror as the creature and its rider came bearing down. The angry yellow eyes of the rider were all I could see as they got closer.


    Suddenly, Max appeared in front of me, off to one side. A black streak slashed before him, and the goblin flew sideways from his mount. The lizard beast galloped past me without a rider urging it on to murderous trampling.


    The other lizard creatures scattered, leaving us alone on the plains again.


    Slade wailed, ¡°My arm! My freaking arm!¡±


    I watched as Emma rushed over to him and then noticed a floating blue bar over his head. About a quarter of the bar was empty. For real? I thought. Do we have health bars? There had been a flash of red over the goblin Max had killed. I had assumed it was blood. Now I knew Max had one-shotted the second goblin.


    Emma placed her hands on Slade¡¯s wound and held it, trying to staunch the bleeding. Slade whined a bit about the pain, but they seemed fine together. I turned back to Max, who approached the dead goblin.


    As I got closer, I could see there was no corpse on the ground. Instead, a twisting blue cube spun slowly in the air where the goblin had fallen. Max reached out and touched the cube, which vanished. He stared off into space and flicked a hand in front of himself.


    It didn¡¯t take a rocket scientist to understand what was happening. He was gathering the loot.


    Another cube slowly rotated where Slade had beaten the first goblin with his guitar. Slade was busy wailing about his wound with Emma, so I touched the cube. My inventory opened. Next to it was another glowing box. Inside the additional box were a spear, some jerky, and a dozen copper coins. I moved them to my inventory, then reached out and took hold of the spear.


    With a blink, I closed my inventory, and the spear remained in my hand.


    A series of glowing messages flashed sequentially in front of me:


    Achievement: First Loot


    Achievement: First Weapon


    Achievement: First Experience


    I inspected the spear. It was crude and short. Nothing more than a sharpened branch, really. After almost being trampled by an incredibly real-looking monster, I was all too glad to have some sort of weapon. Hugging it to my chest, I swore I wouldn¡¯t ever be caught again sitting on the ground during an attack.


    ¡°Get the Colonel. I want out of here.¡± Slade screamed.


    Emma was pinching the gash in his arm, trying to staunch the bleeding. She shot me a worried look, then murmured something to calm Slade, who was close to hysterical.


    ¡°Operator,¡± I said. I wasn¡¯t sure what would happen, but there wasn¡¯t much that could surprise me at this point.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°Go for operator,¡± Kane said with a voice that was all around me.


    ¡°Umm,¡± I stammered, unsure exactly what to say. ¡°We were. The monsters. It¡¯s all so real. We need¡­¡±


    ¡°Get me the fuck out of here!¡± Slade yelled, ¡°This fucking hurts!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Peterson. As per the contract you entered into, you have agreed to participate until the conclusion of The Game. Specifically bug reporting and edge cases all the way to the end level.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me it would be painful. I¡¯m bleeding out here.¡±


    ¡°That is not correct. Section four, paragraph six, spelled out that there would be a high degree of fidelity, including physical, mental, emotional, and psychic stimuli. This was covered in both the master contract and the non-disclosure forms.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s bullshit. You didn¡¯t say we¡¯d actually feel pain. Not once in all the training sessions.¡±


    ¡°As you can see, the training sessions were crude representations of The Game. They were only intended to show the rudimentary basics of the menu systems. Training did not cover progression, customization, interaction, combat, classes, crafting, or other systems to be discovered. It was a crash course only intended to show how to interact with The Game. It''s imperative that the players discover the other systems on their own. And, you were all chosen as Beta participants for your high degree of being able to decipher and learn systems quickly.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that shit right now. I¡¯m fucking bleeding to death here, and it hurts. What if that spear had hit me in the chest?¡± Slade¡¯s voice ratcheted up at least one full octave. He sounded more like a pubescent girl than a young man in his twenties.


    ¡°You signed the contracts, Mr. Peterson. You chose to participate.¡±


    I had signed all those contracts, too. A quarter of a million dollars had sounded like the answer to all my prayers at the time¡ªplay a game for a few months, earn a decade of income. Kane had not answered the second half of Slade¡¯s question.


    ¡°So, what would have happened if the spear hit him in the chest?¡± I asked. All eyes turned to me, then looked up to where they thought the disembodied voice was coming from for an answer.


    After a pause, Kane answered, ¡°Mr. Peterson would have died.¡±


    I knew what that meant in traditional video games, but I wasn¡¯t certain here. ¡°So, he¡¯d be dead or released from the game?¡±


    ¡°Released and lose his bonus?¡± Max added.


    ¡°He would be dead. Unable to play The Game. And the bonus would be forfeit.¡±


    ¡°Dead, dead?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes. Mr. Peterson, and any of you in a similar circumstance, would be dead.¡±


    ¡°What the¡­?¡± Slade screamed, ¡°You didn¡¯t warn us that we could¡­¡±


    ¡°It was, in fact, mentioned multiple times during the explanation of The Game.¡±


    ¡°Bullshit,¡± both Max and Slade said at once. I¡¯d nearly joined them, but the last thing we needed was a triple jinx.


    There was some more arguing back and forth, but I wasn¡¯t listening. I¡¯d almost been trampled, and it wouldn¡¯t have been a respawn type of situation but one where I might have been killed. I gripped the spear tightly. I was never going to let go of it.


    Where this had seemed like an adventure too good to be true just a few days ago, it was now much more serious. I could die playing this game. I wanted to sit down, but that had damn near gotten me killed a few minutes ago. Forcing myself to stay on my feet, I cleared my head to catch the last bits of the argument.


    ¡°And what about the bonus?¡± Max asked.


    ¡°The bonus is real. Double pay. A half million dollars to any player that makes it to the end of The Game.¡±


    ¡°How the fuck do we collect if we¡¯re dead?¡± Slade whined.


    ¡°That was stipulated in the emergency contact and release forms. Your base pay will go to whoever you placed as the recipient.¡± Kane said.


    The argument died there, and an awkward silence descended.


    Slade stood huffing and puffing, so worked up at trying to argue his way out of this that his face was nearly purple. He stood looking up into the sky, mouthing words but saying nothing. Emma was still latched on to his arm, trying to pinch the wound shut. It wasn¡¯t helping all that much.


    Max and I looked at each other. I could see he was thinking furiously. That intense look in his eyes was ratcheted up to eleven. Finally, he nodded, wiped his katana across one knee, and slid it back into its sheath at his hip. He seemed comfortable, or resigned at least, with the knowledge the game was a lot more serious than we¡¯d originally thought.


    ¡°Damn it,¡± Slade moaned. ¡°I¡¯m still bleeding. I¡¯m going to die¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± Emma said to him.


    The bar over his head said otherwise. A third of it was missing, but even with the bleeding, it hadn¡¯t changed that much since the fight.


    ¡°You have the tools necessary,¡± Kane said. ¡°Operator out.¡±


    ¡°Wait! You can¡¯t just leave us like that,¡± Slade yelled.


    We had the tools. I blinked and thought of help. The Help Menu opened in front of me. I flicked my hand turning the pages, but the entries were endless. Scrolling through all of it would probably take days.


    ¡°Search for healing,¡± I said.


    A page on healing popped up. As I skimmed the page, I noted multiple ways to heal, including bandages, potions, magic, and status effects. We didn¡¯t have any bandages or potions, literally entering the game with nothing but the clothes on our backs. Magic, however¡­


    ¡°Healing with magic,¡± I said.


    The entry was confusing, mostly in symbols and diagrams I didn¡¯t understand. The page mentioned mana pools and spells, but it may as well have said to wish for it. Status effects were mentioned again, but I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what that meant.


    ¡°I think I get it,¡± Emma said.


    When I closed my menu, I saw her staring off into space and flicking her hand in front of her. She was obviously reading what I¡¯d just skimmed but seemed to be having a better time of it. Her lips moved as she continued reading, then she blinked hard, and her eyes focused on the world around us.


    She turned to Slade and placed the palms of her hands on his wound. She whispered strange words in an alien tongue, and I watched the cut on Slade¡¯s arm close. When Emma finished muttering her strange words, the wound on his arm was completely gone. He was still covered in blood but no longer howling about the pain. Emma looked exhausted and staggered back away from Slade.


    Before she could fall, I leaped forward and caught her.


    ¡°Thanks, Victoria,¡± she said as her eyelids drooped.


    Slade was too busy checking out his arm to thank Emma. I eased her down so she could sit, then went to Slade. The boys were both poking at where the wound had been. Max had his face practically in the remaining gore, trying to see if there were scars or other side effects.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it¡­¡± Slade muttered.


    Max saw me watching them and asked, ¡°Makes you wonder, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°About what?¡± I asked.


    Max smiled, ¡°If these are our bodies, or if we were put in the matrix and just think they are.¡±

 Three

    We walked as a group towards a copse of trees. There hadn¡¯t been much discussion. Slade and Max decided that we needed to start exploring, and off they went. I exchanged exasperated looks with Emma, and there was little we could do but follow. It wasn¡¯t like there was much else to aim for. The plains were vast and wide.


    Slade was in the lead. He¡¯d managed to stop freaking out about being stabbed and was now on a mission to find weapons and armor. His arm was healed, but his T-shirt was a mess. It was covered in dried blood. Max had also given him the goblin spear he looted. I figured it was only a matter of time before Slade tore a strip off his T-shirt and wore it as a headband to complete his apocalyptic adventurer look.


    ¡°One thing is certain,¡± Slade declared. ¡°This game sucks.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t strong enough to keep my mouth shut, ¡°Only ¡®cuz you got stabbed.¡±


    ¡°Oh no. It''s not that. It¡¯s the pacing. We pop in and get hit with a combat tutorial right off the bat. No weapons, no warning, pretty standard stuff.¡± He stretched his arms wide, ¡°But look at what we¡¯re doing now. Walking. For what? Thirty minutes? The pacing is all wrong.¡±


    ¡°If you want some excitement, I could stab you again.¡± I offered.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Emma said, ¡°the designers want us to think about it.¡±


    ¡°How do you mean?¡± I asked.


    Emma continued but seemed a little flustered, having to explain, ¡°When we signed up, it was for an exploration game. The trainers mentioned bug reporting a lot but kept emphasizing that it was an exploration game. Maybe this game has been modeled to give us time to reflect on things.¡±


    ¡°They said it was an exploration game?¡± Slade asked.


    Irritated, I replied, ¡°Did you pay attention to anything that was said in training?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Slade shot back. ¡°Five hundred thousand dollars.¡±


    I had to admit that was the most memorable part for me as well. With half a million dollars, my life would change dramatically. I could buy a house, travel the world, and not worry about a job for a long time.


    ¡°I think she¡¯s right,¡± Max said. ¡°This is so highly polished already. Bug testing is a cover, something else is at work here.¡±


    I was irritated again, ¡°Kane hid the death bit. That¡¯s pretty freaking big, I don¡¯t know that we need any more conspiracies than that.¡±


    ¡°Why hide it?¡± Slade asked. ¡°Look at this. I know plenty of dudes that would risk death to play something like this.¡±


    ¡°It''s not exactly a great marketing pitch that players will die,¡± I replied.


    Slade shrugged, ¡°Meh. Sort of adds to the excitement once you wrap your head around it.¡±


    ¡°No, games are about making mistakes and learning from them. We don¡¯t get that in this one. Everything has to be perfect from the get-go.¡±


    ¡°Not perfect,¡± Slade said. ¡°Just good enough to get by.¡±


    We walked in silence for a bit. Emma and Max got me thinking. Sadly, Slade was the only one who actually seemed to want to have a conversation, and his contributions weren¡¯t exactly thought-provoking.


    One thing Max had been right about was that I was no longer interested in finding bugs. With my life on the line, survival and getting the hell out were my top concerns.


    We made it to the cluster of trees, and a message popped up;


    Achievement: Discovered a new area


    The thicket of trees wasn¡¯t huge, maybe the size of a soccer field, a hundred yards across at most. I didn¡¯t like that we couldn¡¯t really see into it. Anything could be hidden in there. Slade, however, kept walking, either too cocky or too dumb to realize this could easily become another stabbing incident.


    Movement off to the left edge made me stop and squint. Two of the lizard creatures the goblins had been riding were chewing at bushes near the edge about fifty yards away. I was actually a little surprised to have spotted them at all. Their green scales blended in with the trees and shrubs quite well.


    I pointed to the lizards, ¡°Goblin mounts!¡±


    We all stopped. Slade spun, holding his spear out, ready to ward anything off. Max crouched and vanished while Emma bumped into me.


    Gripping my spear, I scanned the tree line we¡¯d nearly entered. ¡°I don¡¯t see any goblins.¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯d you go?¡± Slade hissed.


    ¡°Right here,¡± I whispered back at him, annoyed as he looked right past me. Glancing down, I saw that my arms and the spear were harder to see now. Emma was crouched next to me but easy to see.


    Still crouched, I moved forward until I was next to Slade.


    ¡°You and Max keep vanishing.¡± He reported.


    It only took a second of thought to realize the advantage that it gave us. ¡°Stay here. I¡¯ll scout this out.¡±


    I crept into the trees, staying in the bushes as much as possible. They parted easily, offering no resistance as I moved through them. I couldn¡¯t see as far, but I figured anything that helped me stay hidden was better than being out in the open.


    When I was about ten yards in front of Slade, I stopped and looked all the way around me. There was a shadowy blue outline to my left, crouched down and holding what looked like the outline of a katana. That had to be Max. We were both stealthing our way forward into the trees.Stolen novel; please report.


    Returning my gaze deep into the thicket, I squinted, looking for anything out of place. And there they were, more goblins up ahead. Leaving the bush, I made my way over to Max. As I got closer, the blue outline filled in, and I could see him clearly. Well, not quite clearly. He was still shadowy, and my gaze easily slipped off him, but I knew he was there just in front of me.


    ¡°There¡¯s four goblins ahead,¡± I whispered.


    Max nodded, ¡°Me and you can take them.¡±


    ¡°What? No! Are you crazy?¡± I hissed back, ¡°We need the others.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we do.¡± He said. And with that, he started moving towards the goblins.


    I wanted to grab and stop him, but honestly, I was surprised that good ole quiet Max was this intent on anything. Usually, he just followed Slade around. Right now, he was being positively suicidal.


    My choices were simple. I could return and get Slade¡¯s help, leaving Max to fight 4 goblins alone. I was certain the result would be death for Max. I could try to stop Max, but that would almost certainly alert the goblins and kill us both. Finally, I could follow Max and help out as best I could. At least, we¡¯d have the element of surprise on our side.


    I followed Max, moving as quickly as possible without making noise. He stopped and held up a hand, so I guessed he wanted me to stay put for a moment. Then, he slunk off, circling around.


    My gaze returned to the goblins. I inched closer. They were gathered around a small fire in the center of a tiny glade. They made guttural noises at each other that must have been a conversation. A weird thought hit me. What do goblins talk about around the water cooler? Do they have workplace gossip? What would even constitute goblin work?


    As I observed these crude little beings snarling and barking at each other, Max rushed out from the other side of the clearing, swinging his katana. He cut through one before they even knew what hit them, then stabbed another.


    The goblins shrieked and sprang up, weapons in hand. I meant to rush forward, but the thought of little goblin children missing their fathers made me freeze up. We were attacking without provocation. Maybe they would have invited us to their campfire if we''d approached with a greeting.


    Max screamed. I snapped out of my reverie in time to see him fall back against a thick tree, clutching his stomach. Two goblins thrust spears at him, their backs turned towards me. Worse still, I saw Max¡¯s health bar, only a quarter filled. He was about to die.


    Without further thought, I rushed forward, holding the spear at my hip. As Max held them off feebly, I covered the last few yards and thrust my spear into the back of one of the goblins. The spear sunk into what I can only describe as something spongy. There was much more resistance than I thought, but the spear went deep.


    For a moment, I was afraid my weapon would be stuck in the creature. The goblin faded to a blue rotating cube in the blink of an eye.


    Lancing, burning pain ripped through my shoulder. I turned to see a spear point leaving my body. The last goblin shrieked, I screamed, Max howled. I backed away, thinking all the things Slade had yelled earlier. I¡¯ve been stabbed, fuck, it hurts. A bar appeared at the bottom of my vision, then shortened by about a third. My life bar was there telling me how close I was to death.


    It''s one thing to stand on the edge of a roof and know the three-story fall will probably kill you. It is quite another to see someone actively trying to make you dead. The goblin and I eyed each other from behind spear points, knowing only one of us would walk away.


    Max fell forward from the tree. As he did, he stabbed his katana through the foot of the last goblin. It screeched and spun around to stab Max. I couldn¡¯t just sit there and watch Max get killed, I lunged forward, my spear jabbing right through its side. There was some gurgling. Then it was just a floating cube.


    There was a loud chime, like a musical exclamation point, and the air around me filled with floating bits of light.


    Achievement: Level Two


    I looked over at Max and saw that he was in a column of light, with the same tiny stars dancing around him.


    Suddenly, a lot of crashing and thumping came through the trees. I turned with my spear, terrified and ready for any goblins. Slade burst into view, spear at the ready.


    ¡°What in the holy hell!¡± Slade yelled.


    Emma came staggering behind him. Her eyes widened when she saw me. I looked down and saw blood ruining my University of Washington shirt. She rushed towards me, then went right past to Max. Kneeling down, she placed her hands on his stomach and began chanting.


    As Max¡¯s wound healed, there was that musical chime again, and Emma was flooded with light and glowy floating bits.


    ¡°Gratz.¡± Max said.


    Slade looked around frantically for more goblins, then noticed the glow fading from Emma. ¡°What the heck was that?¡±


    ¡°She just hit level two,¡± Max explained.


    ¡°What the heck! Why am I still level one?¡± Slade said.


    His self-centeredness caused a wave of annoyance, and then there was that chime, and Slade glowed. He hooted, and Max congratulated him.


    Emma came over to me and placed her hands on my shoulder. The wound hurt, but honestly, I¡¯d had worse before. I ground my teeth in silence as Emma covered it with a palm. As she murmured strange words, my shoulder heated up, a soothing warm kind of heat. When she lifted her hands away, there was a hole in my shirt, but the skin beneath was fine.


    ¡°So, what exactly does level two mean?¡± I asked.


    Max, completely healed up now, said, ¡°Check out your stats. It means new skills.¡±


    I blinked and opened my stats page. Sure enough, at the top, it showed;


    Victoria ¨C Level 2 Hunter


    Tracking +1


    Nature Stealth +1


    Ranged Weapons +1


    Pet Level +1


    Choose next skill:


    Hunter¡¯s Mark


    Nature Step


    Entangle Trap


    Who decided I was a Hunter? The thought of hunters actually gave me the skeevies. My mental image was of old dudes dressed like Elmer Fudd out shooting Bambi¡¯s. However, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good profession when everything was trying to kill you.


    Fine, I decided, I like Hunter. Being able to go invisible and spot things before others seemed like good survival choices. A Hunter I was.


    I was surprised to see that I already had some skills, and they had also leveled up. The most surprising was Pet. Where did I get one of those? I was also keen on finding a ranged weapon, seeing that I now had bonuses to use them.


    The new skills were a mystery, so I had to read through the help about each one. The trap skill would allow me to set up traps that immobilized enemies, which sounded good but required preparation and prior knowledge that I would be in a fight. Nature Step would allow me to teleport closer or behind enemies, which seemed pretty good. I ultimately went with Hunter¡¯s Mark. That would allow me to place a bright glowing target on an enemy, granting my allies a better chance to hit and damage. That sounded like an all-around winner for our little group.


    After selecting my new skill, I popped out of the menus. Everyone else was flipping their hands around, obviously still reading. I decided to scout out the rest of the copse while they were all busy.


    Moving through the brush, crouched down to practice my Nature Stealth, I spotted some yellow glowing outlines at the edge of the woods. These were definitely beasts of some sort. They were low to the ground and on four legs. I approached cautiously, watching as the glowing outlines filled into lizard critters, the ones the goblins rode.


    I didn¡¯t have time to read up on pets. I didn¡¯t want these guys to scatter, so I approached without knowing what I was doing. I held my hands out and low like I would to a stray dog and approached the lizards. I was damn near within touching range of three of them when they all turned, spotting me.


    ¡°Easy there, wittle little lizard thingies,¡± I cooed, hoping the voice would calm them. It seemed to work at first, until it didn¡¯t.


    All three snorted, lowering their heads and scratching their feet at the ground. Then they rushed at me.

 Four

    Battle Pass 04


    Trampled to death by a pack of waist-high lizard beasts was not how I imagined dying. Ever. I spun and ran.


    Glancing back, I could see they were much faster than me, gaining on me quickly. The only way I could avoid being run down was to go up. I aimed for a tree and practically sprinted up it. I hadn¡¯t done any tree climbing since childhood, but it all returned quickly. It also helped that the branches seemed perfectly spaced, allowing me to rocket up the tree like a ladder.


    When I got a comfortable dozen feet up, I looked back down to see that the lizards were not looking up at me but milling around. They seemed more interested in munching on the shrubs than hunting after me.


    As my breathing returned to normal, I noticed the branch at my hands seemed flatter along the top and a bit wider than the other branches. Hefting myself up made for a good perch as the critters below continued circling the tree and nibbling on other foliage. I wondered how long I¡¯d have to sit here before they got bored and wandered off.


    Looking around, I noticed the other trees had similar flat-topped branches, which seemed to connect. Pulling myself up to stand on the branch, I could see that if I walked along this one, I could step onto the branches of another tree and then another.


    Using other branches as handholds, I walked the length of the flattened branch. Sure enough, it was sturdy and strong enough to carefully walk my way to where two of these branches met. I stepped to the other and continued walking to the next tree trunk.


    There was a maze of connecting walking branches along the canopy. At first, I moved along them at a slow walk, using other branches hand over hand to steady myself. It became apparent quickly that navigating the branches and walking along them was easy. In no time, I was jogging, feeling giddy that I had discovered something I would have absolutely loved as a child. I was a Hunter and a tree walker.


    I returned to the glade where I¡¯d left the rest of our group. Slade and Emma were done, but Max was still buried in menus, reading. I ran down a series of branches that seemed to have been placed like crude steps, allowing me to return almost to the ground. There was a small drop of about five feet. I grabbed a branch and swung down smoothly as Slade and Emma watched.


    ¡°Where¡¯d you go?¡± Slade asked, obviously not impressed that I¡¯d just come running from the canopy.


    ¡°Checking out the rest of the woods. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m fine, and there are no more goblins.¡±


    Emma walked across the glade to where I¡¯d come down from the tree. She looked up inquisitively. ¡°How¡¯d you do that?¡±


    ¡°Come on, climb up,¡± I said, excited to show off what I¡¯d discovered. ¡°There''s a whole series of squashed branches that are perfect for walking along.¡±


    I once again marveled that the branches were nearly a perfect ladder for climbing up, spaced perfectly like a spiral staircase. I scrambled up past Emma and then looked back down at her. She struggled to make her way up, climbing like a small child and stopping at every branch.


    Moving back down to her, I pointed, ¡°Grab here¡­ step here¡­¡±


    She wasn¡¯t catching on and continued struggling as she climbed. Slade watched as we climbed slowly up about twelve feet.


    ¡°See this branch?¡± I slapped it a few times. It''s flat on top, making a perfect beam for walking on.¡±


    Emma stared at it, ¡°No. It¡¯s not flat on top.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I said incredulously. ¡°No, really, look.¡±


    ¡°It''s not flat at all. It''s rounded. And covered in knots and bends.¡±


    I pulled myself atop the walking branch, ¡°See Emma, perfect for walking on. This one right here, that I¡¯m standing on.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No¡­ Be careful, Victoria.¡±


    It dawned on me. We were in the game. Maybe our experiences were different. Perhaps she saw things altogether differently than I did. Without even bothering to use the guiding hand-holder branches, I returned to her and crouched down. Touching the branch next to my foot, I asked, ¡°So, this branch, the one I¡¯m standing on, it isn¡¯t flat on the top?¡±


    ¡°I swear, it''s round and crooked. Not flat at all.¡±


    Swinging my legs around, I sat down, looking down at Emma. ¡°We¡¯re seeing different things. I wonder what the world looks like through your eyes?¡±


    We climbed down in silence. I was thinking hard about how we¡¯d navigate this world as players if we weren¡¯t speaking the same language. Obviously, we were speaking English to each other, but if we were all seeing different things¡­ how could I trust anything the others told me?


    ¡°Emma,¡± I said as we crossed the glade back to the fire. ¡°We¡¯re going to need to communicate a lot. A lot more than usual. Like about everything. Know what I mean?¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Not really,¡± she said.


    Slade had gotten bored while we were up in the tree. He was now busy piling branches onto the fire the goblins had left. It was quickly becoming a bonfire, which might not be the smartest thing to do in the middle of the woods. More importantly, I needed Emma to understand.


    I stopped and turned to her, ¡°We are seeing different things. In order to have all the info we need, we¡¯re going to have to tell each other everything. If you think it''s important, just tell me, even if it seems mundane or redundant. Promise you¡¯ll tell me everything you see.¡±


    ¡°How am I going to know?¡± She said. ¡°I see the same woods you do. I see the same dirt. The same fire. Even the same shapes in the clouds above. How can I tell what you see is different?¡±


    I started walking towards the fire again, thinking about what she asked. We could turn spotting the differences into a game.


    ¡°Let¡¯s make a game of it,¡± I said. ¡°Let''s grab a seat by the fire and start describing things to each other.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to do what?¡± Slade asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to play I Spy, only with some homebrewed rules,¡± I told him.


    ¡°Why?¡± Slade asked.


    ¡°I think we are experiencing the game differently. Each of us sees things a little off-kilter.¡±


    Slade scratched his noggin. I¡¯d already classified this habit of his akin to a dog tilting its head. If I showed him a magic trick, he¡¯d scratch. If I said something he didn¡¯t follow - scratch, scratch.


    ¡°Is that even possible?¡± Max asked. He was no longer buried in the menus of his mind¡¯s-eye.


    ¡°What isn¡¯t possible here? You faded to shadow. Emma healed all of us with a touch. Is it much more of a stretch that we might be seeing completely different things at the same time?¡±


    ¡°The processing power needed would be astronomical,¡± Max said, considering the idea.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see if it''s true. We¡¯ll gather around the fire and describe something we see.¡± I said, looking around.


    Max sat and pointed, ¡°Why not the fire?¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said nodding as I took a seat on the fallen log a couple of the goblins had originally been sitting on.


    Slade plopped down right next to me, so close I could feel his body heat. He said, ¡°I see a fire.¡±


    ¡°And?¡± I asked, scooting away.


    ¡°Yeah. A fire.¡±


    ¡°Huge help,¡± I said with an eye roll that could flip a shopping mall.


    ¡°I see a fire that casts very distinct shadows,¡± Max said. ¡°If I move into the shadows, a bar appears to the side of my vision. The more this bar is filled in, the harder it is to fade to shadows.¡±


    I looked at the shadows the fire was casting. They didn¡¯t seem all that special to me at all. I got up and moved over to stand in the flickering shadows, but a bar never appeared in my vision. When I looked up everyone was stepping back and forth, trying to stand on a shadow to see what would happen.


    When we all returned to the fire, I took a good long look at it. As I watched, tendrils of grey color snaked out from its base. When Slade thrust a stick into the fire, however, the stick was covered with a dull orange color. When he pulled the stick away, the orange faded away to nothing.


    ¡°I¡¯m seeing something different,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s this grey color on the ground around the fire. It''s like a graphics overlay, just a color masking the ground. But when Slade puts his stick in the fire, the stick is covered in an orangish glow.¡±


    ¡°No. I don¡¯t see anything.¡± Slade said. He pushed the end of the stick into the fire again and sat there watching it. After a moment, the stick caught on fire. He yanked it away from the flames, but it was alight like a giant match.


    ¡°Hey!¡± I shouted. ¡°This time, it''s different. The orange is still there, on the stick even though he pulled it away. I can see the flame at its end, but the stick is still orange.¡±


    The flame began to crawl up the stick, catching the whole thing on fire, as sticks in the real world also do. Slade whipped the stick hard, causing the flame to sputter and die.


    ¡°And now the orange is fading. It¡¯s gone back to grey, and now nothing.¡±


    ¡°You know what this means?¡± Max said. ¡°You can see how fire spreads.¡±


    ¡°Cool,¡± was all I could muster.


    ¡°How about you, Emma?¡± Max asked.


    Emma looked at the fire, ¡°I just see a big fire. Beautiful colors, oranges, and yellows, with a little blue in the middle.¡±


    ¡°Anything else?¡± I said.


    She leaned forward, peering at it. ¡°There¡¯s something in the center. It keeps changing shapes. It''s like there¡¯s a person at the heart of the flames, waving their arms.¡±


    I looked into the fire, trying to see what she¡¯d seen. There were plenty of oranges and yellows, with just a hint of blue in the middle, but I didn¡¯t see shapes in the fire. Just dancing flames and little else.


    ¡°They have too many arms,¡± Emma continued. ¡°There''s like six, maybe. She¡¯s waving all of them at me. I think she¡¯s trying to call me to her, gesturing for me to join her. But¡­ there''s something wrong with her. She¡¯s not human. Her shape is all wrong. And she keeps waving at me¡­¡±


    ¡°Emma!¡± I barked. I didn¡¯t like her growing obsession with the images in the fire. Maybe it was a skill she hadn¡¯t learned to master yet. Perhaps in a few levels, she¡¯ll figure it out. Like my pet skill, someday I had to figure that one out.


    Emma blinked and looked around the fire at all of us, ¡°I don¡¯t think I want to play this game any longer.¡±


    ¡°Not a problem,¡± I said. ¡°I think the point was proven.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± said Slade. ¡°What point is that?¡±


    I held out my hands and arched my eyebrows in the most obvious ¡®duh¡¯ gesture I could think of, ¡°That we¡¯re seeing different things, genius.¡±


    ¡°And? Isn¡¯t that exactly what we did back in the real world too? Everybody sees things their own way.¡±


    Slade trying to be smart, ladies and gentlemen. I foolishly thought explaining it might help. ¡°You¡¯re talking about a perceptive difference. What we are seeing here is an actual cognitive difference. We are not seeing the same thing. That¡¯s totally different than seeing the same thing and having a difference of opinion on the important elements of a thing.¡±


    ¡°You say potato; I say potato.¡±


    Max snickered as I struggled to find the words, ¡°No¡­ it¡¯s potatoe, potatto.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as a potatto.¡±


    I stared at him, mouth open, ¡°Who did you sleep with to get this gig?¡±


    ¡°Your mom.¡±


    Max was outright laughing at this point. Slade thought it was a union of the brotherhood of men type things. I was certain Max was just laughing at him. ¡°I can¡¯t. I literally don¡¯t have the capacity for this conversation.¡±


    ¡°Like I said,¡± Slade continued. ¡°I see a perfectly normal fire. You see a fire, but get your panties scrunched about it catching the forest up. Max sees how he can use it to hide. And crazy here, sees just that, crazy. It''s no different than back in the real world.¡±


    Thankfully, Max cleared his throat. Looking up through the glade opening, he said, ¡°Have you looked at the sky?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can play anymore,¡± I said, replaying the last few moments of insanity back in my head.


    ¡°No,¡± Max said. ¡°The sun is going down. It¡¯ll be dark soon, and we don¡¯t know what happens at night.¡±


    Looking up, I realized he was right. And that was the exact moment to queue something out there howling.

 Five

    ¡°Well, this got not good quickly,¡± I said.


    We were all standing around the mini-bonfire, trying to look in every direction at once. The glade was only about ten yards across, in the center of a hundred-yard grove of trees. I wasn¡¯t sure if we¡¯d be safer out on the plains or in these little woods.


    Whatever had been howling was quiet now.


    ¡°What do you think it is?¡± Emma asked.


    Slade was helpful, ¡°Sounds like a pack of dogs. Wolves, maybe?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to hide,¡± Max said, stepping away from the fire. He faded into the shadows quickly and was gone.


    ¡°Dogs, wolves, cougars, even bears will be able to smell you,¡± Slade called out.


    Both Emma and I shooshed him. The last thing we needed was Slade¡¯s booming voice telling every pack of wild animals that there was a tasty snack nearby. I could also fade away into the bushes, but Slade was probably right. Animals would be able to smell us even if hidden. Probably.


    About this time, I realized I no longer had the spear. I probably dropped it earlier when climbing the trees. Better and better. I looked around for the floating cubes of the goblins we¡¯d slain earlier. I didn¡¯t see them anywhere.


    ¡°What happened to the Goblin loot?¡± I hissed at Slade.


    ¡°We looted it,¡± he said. He looked pretty comfy holding a spear, almost as if he knew what to do with it.


    I looked over at Emma. Like me she was empty-handed.


    ¡°Did you get any weapons?¡± I asked. ¡°I could really use a spear.¡±


    ¡°I thought you had one already?¡±


    ¡°Lost it climbing trees.¡± I hissed back.


    ¡°Be more mindful,¡± Slade said. ¡°It¡¯s not like they grow on trees.¡±


    ¡°They do. It¡¯s literally a sharpened twig. Just toss me one, so I¡¯m not unarmed here. And get one for Emma too.¡±


    Emma protested and Slade started flicking his hand in front of him. A spear appeared and he tossed it to me. He tossed another at Emma, but she just let it fall to the ground.


    ¡°Emma, grab the spear,¡± me and Slade said in unison.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so, I¡¯m alright.¡±


    The howling began again. I listened closely. A message scrolled in my vision:


    Aural Signature Identified: Barghest, Level 5


    ¡°Wolves for sure,¡± Slade said.


    ¡°It''s something called a barghest,¡± I said. ¡°I was able to identify it by sound.¡±


    ¡°What the hell is a bag-rest?¡± asked Slade. ¡°Still sounds like wolves to me.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like really big dogs,¡± whispered Emma.


    ¡°Animals are usually afraid of fire,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe we should build ours up?¡±


    Nobody wanted to leave the fire to venture out in the darkness for branches. I stole some peaks behind me to see how the bonfire was doing and wondered what would happen if it started dying out. I didn¡¯t exactly like the thought of being stuck in the dark with dogs that sounded like they ate hippos for snacks.


    ¡°Are they dogs?¡± Emma asked. ¡°Maybe we should climb up the trees?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid to look in the help,¡± I said. ¡°I just know the moment I poke my head in a menu, they¡¯ll be on us.¡±


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Slade said. ¡°I got us covered.¡±


    He sounded so confident that I actually believed him. I blinked and looked up barghest.


    Barghest ¨C Level 5


    Hunter knowledge accessed


    A huge black dog with fiery eyes that appears only at night. Monstrous in size, they may attack small groups of travelers with large teeth and claws. The wounds from this enchanted beast are difficult to heal. Often used as guardians by practitioners of the arcane.


    I read it all aloud to the others.


    ¡°What¡¯s a practitioner of the arcane?¡± Slade asked.


    ¡°Let''s not find out,¡± I said. ¡°It says it¡¯s a dog, so let''s climb up out of the way.¡±


    Slade and Emma darted to the nearest tree. I followed to help them up, but honestly, I wanted off the ground immediately. I remembered that Max was out there somewhere.


    ¡°Max!¡± I whispered as loud as I dared. ¡°We¡¯re climbing the trees. I suggest you do¡­¡±


    ¡°Right here,¡± he whispered next to me. I damn near screamed.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I ushered him to another tree. Even when I was helping him climb, it was hard to see him. He made it up, and I looked over to see Emma about ten feet up and Slade just starting his ascent. I grabbed a branch and found a ladder waiting for me. I zoomed up past Max and helped guide him into the canopy.


    We waited in silence. Nobody dared to speak. There was little to do but watch the bonfire consuming itself.


    As we started to relax, Slade laughed, ¡°We¡¯re jumping at shadows.¡±


    ¡°No, we jumped at a really big dog howling,¡± I said. Slade and Emma weren¡¯t too far away, just ten yards or so. We all had an excellent view of the fire in the clearing below. Luckily, the wind hadn¡¯t shifted the smoke into our eyes.


    I heard something snap below. At first I thought it was the fire crackling. I had a sinking feeling that it was something else, something large snapping twigs as it walked. A moment later, I heard the chuffing. There was a really big dog down there, much bigger than my dog Ron back in the real world.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s here,¡± I whispered.


    Slade started to speak, ¡°I don¡¯t see any¡­:¡±


    The words died in his throat as a huge dog neared the fire, completely unafraid of it. A black silhouette passed in front of the flames. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest¡ªhell, I could feel it beating all the way up into the back of my throat. I clutched the branch I was perched on, terrified that I might fall into the jaw of the monster below.


    That was before it turned and looked up at us. My blood turned icy in my veins.


    A set of red glowing eyes glared up at me. I could swear flames were flickering from them, not just some half illusion of flickering flames from the fire. I wanted to run, to sprint away from this vision of a ghastly creature. I would have, too, if I could move even a single muscle. This was no dog but a demon straight from the inferno itself.


    And just like that, it turned and shambled away into the darkness.


    When I could breathe again, I whispered, ¡°I think I peed myself.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not funny,¡± Max said.


    There it was. My dad always told me, ¡°In the face of fear, laughter will give you courage.¡±


    It had worked most of my life. Public speech? Imagine the crowd naked or making out with each other. That¡¯s funny, not at all scary. A rickety boat on choppy water? Crack wise about having a drinking problem. Humor has always been my crutch. It made the scary much less so.


    But honestly, I really might have peed myself a little when that thing looked at me.


    It was a long cold night. Max seemed content by himself so I did some tree walking over to the others. Slade was asleep, snoring against the trunk. I hung out with Emma the rest of the night. Neither of us were keen on sleeping, both afraid we might fall off, so we chatted through most of the night.


    When the first strands of daylight peaked through the leafy canopy, I was utterly relieved.


    Slade sat straddled across two branches, his back against the trunk, sleeping in a sitting position. At first light, he roused and looked around blearily. I realized I hadn¡¯t checked in on Max all night, but I also hadn¡¯t heard anything fall, so I rationalized that he was probably fine. Running back over to him, I saw that he had wedged himself in a lying position around the trunk supported by multiple branches.


    As I approached Max the bouncing of the branches gently woke him. He looked up at me and asked, ¡°So that thing only shows at night.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what the entry said.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± He yawned. ¡°I¡¯ll slip down stealthed and check things out.¡±


    ¡°Seriously?¡± I said. ¡°Just like that?¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve been awake all of two seconds and are willing to risk your life that quickly?¡±


    Max blinked at me, ¡°Somebody has to do it.¡±


    ¡°We could do it together as a team.¡±


    ¡°Naw,¡± he spoke through another yawn. ¡°This will be quicker.¡±


    And just like that, he unwrapped himself from the trunk and started climbing down. He faded almost instantly, and I lost track of him after that. With a shrug, I ran back to the others.


    Slade peered down at the ground, which was shrouded in shadows and near darkness. The bonfire had died out hours ago.


    ¡°We should draw straws or something to see who¡¯s going down first,¡± Slade said when he saw me.


    ¡°Max already went down.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Emma yelped.


    ¡°He went sneaky like. He insisted.¡± I said.


    The three of us watched the ground anxiously. After a full night of no sleep, I had to admit that I was feeling a little woozy. The grass in the glade looked mighty soft and inviting.


    ¡°I think it''s okay to come down,¡± Max yelled up to us as he faded into view. It was a little weird. One moment, there was a shadowy figure; the next, it was Max.


    Slade and Emma began their slow descent while I rocketed along the branch ladders that only I could see. I went over to the remains of the fire. Sure enough, I spotted a giant set of tracks that I suspected would be there.


    While I was looking at the tracks they highlighted for a moment, glowing. Then text appeared:


    Barghest Tracks ¨C Level 5 Monster


    A glowing arrow pointed along the path the beast had taken. No matter what anyone else said or tried to do, I would ensure we wouldn¡¯t go in that direction.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Slade announced when everybody was on the ground. ¡°Let¡¯s get the hell out of here.¡±


    ¡°Which way?¡± I asked.


    Slade looked thunderstruck for a moment, then just pointed in a direction, ¡°We¡¯ll go this way.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± I said.


    ¡°Does it matter?¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s a game. It¡¯ll lead us where we need to go.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re assuming this is a crafted narrative, not a sandbox,¡± I said.


    He scratched his jaw, ¡°I play shooters. If you go the wrong way, you just bump along the edge ¡®til you find people to shoot at.¡±


    ¡°What do you play?¡± I asked Max.


    ¡°Builders, mostly, and resource managers. The edges are usually pretty well defined, and you can¡¯t wander out of the play area.¡±


    ¡°I play collectors and clue finders,¡± Emma volunteered.


    ¡°And what are the maps like in those?¡± I said.


    ¡°Mostly, there is no map, at least not for the click and finds. For the collectors, it¡¯s impossible to get lost or miss the path you are on.¡±


    ¡°And what about you?¡± Slade demanded. ¡°And how does any of this help?¡±


    ¡°I played massive online games. Lots of people, and lots of areas to explore.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re alone here,¡± Slade said. ¡°My games are probably most helpful.¡±


    ¡°No. MMOs also have wide areas to explore. Getting lost is a thing.¡± I explained, as a thought hit me. ¡°Crap, we should be checking our journal.¡±


    When I flicked the menu open to the journal, sure enough, there were plenty of entries:


    Goal: Find armor


    Goal: Find a boosted item


    Goal: Discover a point of interest


    Goal: Discover a town


    Goal: Make a trade


    Goal: Purchase an item or service


    Goal: Acquire level 3


    Goal: Gain a reputation


    Goal: Resolve a quest


    Goal: Resolve a crisis


    Goal: Discover a civilization


    Max whistled. I figured he was seeing what I did, a lot of goals.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°One thing is good to know. There are towns and civilizations here.¡±


    ¡°I sort of figured there would be when the goblins had coins,¡± Max said.


    He was right, and I felt a little dumb for having not made that connection earlier. I was glad this game wasn¡¯t a Western Marches, pure wilderness sandbox game. Towns meant people, which played right into my preference for massive online games.


    I closed the menu, a little frustrated there wasn¡¯t any help on completing our goal of finding a town. ¡°Anyone else have an idea of which direction we should head?¡±


    There was a slight pause, then Emma pointed and said, ¡°We should go that way.¡±


    ¡°Do you have a reason for going that way?¡±


    Emma nodded and explained, ¡°The voice in the fire last night told me to follow the signs in the sky.¡±

 Six

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I asked. ¡°The fire did what?¡±


    ¡°I heard a voice in it. And it told me what we need to do next.¡±


    ¡°Cool. So which way?¡± Slade said.


    ¡°What? No. Wait a second,¡± I interjected. ¡°Aren¡¯t you at least curious who is doing this or why?¡±


    Slade scratched his jaw and shrugged, ¡°No. Why? It¡¯s obviously part of the game.¡±


    ¡°So is getting killed,¡± I said.


    ¡°Look, the developers aren¡¯t going to want us wandering around in circles. Of course, they¡¯ll hint at what to do next.¡±


    ¡°The developers also built in a death mechanic. Aren¡¯t you a little curious about that?¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably a bug.¡± Slade tilted his head like a dog but continued stroking his square jaw. ¡°Or maybe it''s an unintended feature.¡±


    I realized I¡¯d just be spinning in circles with Slade all day on this issue. ¡°Max, any thoughts on this?¡±


    Max narrowed his eyes deep in thought but said nothing.


    Emma spoke up, ¡°It seemed like a friendly voice, like it was helpful, you know?¡±


    ¡°Helpful how? Did it offer any other advice? Tell you where an exit was?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ No.¡± Emma looked at the ground. ¡°But it did mention the sky. When I looked up, there they were. The arrows leading the way.¡±


    ¡°Arrows?¡± I looked up through the opening in the trees around us. All I saw were a few scattered clouds in an otherwise clear sky.


    ¡°Yeah. There.¡± She pointed to one of the clouds. That arrowhead cloud, it''s pointing in the direction that whispers told me to go.¡±


    The cloud I was looking at, and I was pretty sure it was the one Emma was pointing at, did not look like an arrowhead. It was an ordinary, fluffy white cloud as if someone had plucked the legs and head off a sheep and set it gently in the sky. The game obviously showed her something completely different.


    Finally, Max chimed in, ¡°We may as well. We¡¯re supposed to test the game, and most players would take either of those as a sign to follow.¡±


    The temptation to convince them this was a bad idea lingered, but I was outnumbered three to one. We¡¯d be following Emma¡¯s whispers, possibly into a trap. I didn¡¯t like the idea of following along to possible doom, but there was no way I¡¯d be able to survive an increasing number of goblins and things like the barghest all on my own. As much as I hated it, I knew I¡¯d be following along.


    It was the following along that bothered me. We were an unfocused group of testers, of explorers with no real goal other than getting out of the game and returning home. Somehow, I felt that I¡¯d missed an opportunity here. If I¡¯d played the group a little better, I could have changed the inevitable course of action to follow signs in the sky.


    I was resigned to follow, but damn it, I was going to start guiding this motley crew a little stronger in the future. ¡°Very well. Onward to our doom.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡± Slade said. I wasn¡¯t sure if he was being honest or sarcastic.


    We did a quick once-through of the woods. I found both of the spears I¡¯d dropped the day before but little else of value. One went into my inventory, the other in hand like a walking stick.


    ¡°Is anyone hungry?¡± Max asked as we gathered one last time at the dead campfire.


    There was a round of no¡¯s from the rest of us, which I didn¡¯t really think about. I was fixated on where those clouds would be guiding us.


    ¡°Strange. I haven¡¯t eaten since yesterday.¡± Max went on. ¡°Seems like I¡¯d be starving by now.¡±


    He was right. I should be famished, especially with all our running around and walking.


    ¡°I guess that works different here.¡± Slade said. ¡°Let¡¯s go while there¡¯s still light.¡±


    Emma followed Slade while Max and I brought up the rear.


    ¡°What made you bring up food?¡± I asked Max.


    ¡°It¡¯s odd that we wouldn¡¯t be hungry. Especially when there is food in the game. I looted a bunch of jerky from the goblins.¡±


    ¡°Same here,¡± I said. I still wasn¡¯t hungry even though it had been a full day since I last ate. ¡°You have thoughts on it?¡±


    ¡°Developers wouldn¡¯t include an asset in-game if it didn¡¯t offer some benefit. If we don¡¯t need to eat, what is food for?¡±


    ¡°In the games I play, food isn¡¯t necessary, but it does provide healing. Sometimes buffs.¡±


    ¡°Buffs?¡± Max asked.


    ¡°Benefits. Like extra health or damage resistance.¡±


    ¡°I guess I could try it and find out.¡± Max offered.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°You really want to eat something goblins were carrying around?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, hadn¡¯t really thought about that,¡± Max said. ¡°What I was thinking about, though, was that our bodies have been swapped out.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by swapped out?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not hungry, even though it''s been a full day since we last ate. We can go invisible. Messages appear in our vision. Our wounds can be healed with a touch. These aren¡¯t things our bodies are capable of, so they had to be switched.¡±


    ¡°Switched when?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯ve been awake the whole time we¡¯ve been here. Even before we went through the door, we were all up for hours. When could they have been switched?¡±


    ¡°At the door, I think,¡± Max said slowly.


    ¡°I stepped through it and didn¡¯t notice anything different. It was still me.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that,¡± Max explained. ¡°I don¡¯t remember anything feeling different, but that doesn¡¯t mean things didn¡¯t change. Our memories could have been altered. We could have been hypnotized or roofied. I remember seeing the door. I recall going through it. But when we all looked back, there was nothing there.¡±


    ¡°You think it wasn¡¯t ever there?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Possibly. It¡¯s the only place where we crossed a definitive boundary.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The week of training was pretty slow. I¡¯m pretty sure each of us fell asleep at some point in that. They could have dumped us in the matrix then.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t fall asleep during the training. I was fascinated by everything they said. I had my fingers crossed that the game would be even a little close to what was promised.¡±


    ¡°Is it?¡±


    Max nodded, ¡°Oh yeah. There is no difference in feeling from the real world. The only thing that reminds me I¡¯m in a simulation is being able to open the menus. Otherwise, I¡¯d think we were still in reality.¡±


    Slade and Emma were chatting ahead. At least Slade was doing most of the talking. Max and I slipped into silence. I was wondering if Max had a point. What if my body was in a tube somewhere? I repeatedly played the moments I stepped into the game, wondering if it had all been smoke and mirrors to pull the ole switcheroo. The blisters on my feet screamed otherwise.


    We trudge through the grassy plains for a few hours. Slade talked non-stop while the rest of us listened. Occasionally Emma would laugh at something he said, sadly not in mockery. She seemed genuinely entertained by his buffoonery. One thing was certain, they¡¯d make a terrible couple.


    Slade was laughing at stories of his juvenile phone crank antics when he pulled this, ¡°Operator!¡±


    ¡°Go for operator,¡± Kane said almost immediately.


    ¡°Hey! We¡¯ve been walking for a while, and this is getting kind of boring. This game is going to bomb if you can¡¯t keep it exciting for players.¡±


    Slade¡¯s insanity took me by surprise for a moment. I had no interest in risking my life for his entertainment. And that was exactly what he was doing, asking Kane to throw more monsters at us.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± I yelled at Slade, then took a more civil tone for Kane, ¡°No¡­ no¡­ we don¡¯t need any excitement, this game is just fine how it is.¡±


    Max interjected, ¡°What exactly is the point of this?¡±


    It took a moment before Kane replied, ¡°The point of what, Mr. Pendergrast?¡±


    ¡°This game!¡± Slade shouted, ¡°We fight like two monsters and then it¡¯s a walking simulator for hours. The pacing is all jacked up.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s the target audience?¡± Max yelled back.


    ¡°What do you mean by target audience?¡± Kane replied.


    ¡°Who are you going to sell it to? Who is the intended audience?¡±


    There was a pause, then Kane replied, ¡°Well, that¡¯s, umm, classified, actually.¡±


    ¡°Your marketing team has classified the target demo?¡± Max asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so.¡± Kane seemed to be struggling for an explanation. ¡°Consider this a training tool of sorts.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Max was dogged on this, ¡°But for who?¡±


    ¡°Well then,¡± Kane said, ¡°That¡¯s the thing. Who it''s for is the classified part.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help myself, ¡°A training tool? I¡¯m sure academics will be lining up around the block for a chance to get killed by goblin mobs.¡±


    Kane responded, ¡°It is an unfortunate side-effect of the simulation.¡±


    ¡°Something you can¡¯t fix?¡± Max asked.


    ¡°Due to the classified nature of this technology, I am not at liberty to discuss it.¡±


    That had us all stunned into silence. Of course, Slade was the first one to recover, ¡°So what are we supposed to be doing? Getting real tired of this walking simulator.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that Mr. Peterson. The Game is designed to guide you to the main objectives. It is also built to ensure that you are cognitively capable of interacting with those objectives. Failure to survive a simulation that is rudimentarily like the real world would prove that you are incapable of resolving the final objectives.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, that sounds great,¡± Slade said. ¡°Could you repeat it in English?¡±


    ¡°If we¡¯re dumb enough to get killed by goblins, we don¡¯t deserve a half million dollars,¡± I said.


    ¡°Miss Price is essentially correct on that interpretation,¡± Kane replied


    Slade grumbled, ¡°Well la-di-da, ain''t you soooo smart, Missss Price.¡±


    I ignored him, ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you could tell us what that main objective is?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. It would taint the results, thus potentially ruining the conclusion.¡± Kane said.


    ¡°Do you feel good about yourself?¡± I snapped. ¡°Sending students to their possible deaths for some¡­ what? I don¡¯t know, experiment?¡±


    ¡°We all have our roles to play, Miss Price. Operator out.¡±


    And like that, his voice was gone. I literally gnashed my teeth in rage. While Slade had initiated this whole conversation as a joke, it left more questions in my mind than anything resembling help. I could die in here, and the guy with the knowledge that could save my life wasn¡¯t helping as a matter of principle. It blew my mind that boomers could be so callous, so cold, so ugly.


    ¡°Did you catch that?¡± Max asked.


    ¡°Catch what?¡± I asked. But as I said it the gears in my head were already spinning. ¡°Wait a second, Max. Your last name starts with a P?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Pendergrast,¡± Max said. ¡°But there was¡­¡±


    ¡°Holy crap. Emma, what¡¯s your last name?¡±


    ¡°Padilla,¡± she said.


    ¡°We all have last names starting with the letter P. Think it''s possible we¡¯re not the first ones sent in?¡±


    Max stammered a moment, then recovered, ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t consider that. There could be fifteen other teams they sent before us. Maybe they¡¯re sending in twenty-six teams¡­ or¡­¡±


    ¡°Or what?¡± Slade said.


    I finished the thought, ¡°Or they all died.¡±


    That stopped us all in our tracks. When Slade started walking again, there was little enthusiasm among the whole group. I was already thinking about the natural progression of massively multiplayer games. The tutorial is pretty easy, but the difficulty ratchets up pretty quickly. There could literally be sixty dead players that traveled these same plains before us.


    Thankfully Max interrupted any further morbid thoughts. ¡°There was something else Kane said that was interesting.¡±


    I was the only one to nibble, ¡°Yeah? What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°He said they couldn¡¯t fix the game. That dying was an unintended consequence.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? So?¡± I said, still fixated on the pile of corpses we might very well be walking over right now.


    ¡°If they don¡¯t know how to fix it, doesn¡¯t that imply that they didn¡¯t create it?¡±


    ¡°So what?¡± Slade said. ¡°I got a car, and I don¡¯t know how to fix it. What does that add to this?¡±


    ¡°Right, you have a car that you did not make. You bought it from someone else, who either made it or bought it from someone else who eventually made it. The original owner, the maker, would know how to fix it.¡±


    ¡°And?¡± Slade mocked.


    ¡°The army flew us to a base, a pretty big base. They then take us to a bunker, where we train for a week. We go twelve stories underground to get to this. And they don¡¯t know how to fix it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to die of old age before you get to your point,¡± Slade said.


    ¡°Fine. I not only don¡¯t think they made this simulation. I don¡¯t think they even know how it works.¡±

 Seven

    ¡°Hey, hey!¡± Slade hooted, ¡°Look at that!¡±


    I broke away from my conversation with Max to see what the commotion was. Something was in the grass ahead. It looked like a cut through the plains, stretching diagonally before us. As we approached, I could see it was a dirt trail, with two ruts stretching out ahead of us.


    ¡°This is a good sign,¡± Max said. ¡°Looks like a wagon trail, which means people traveling, which means civilization.¡±


    ¡°Cool,¡± Slade said as he stepped onto the worn path and continued in the direction we mainly had been going. ¡°I could use a beer.¡±


    ¡°A bath,¡± I said.


    ¡°I want to gorge on something,¡± Max said. ¡°A meal for me.¡±


    Our spirits were lifted at just the thought of these simple things.


    ¡°What about you, Emma?¡± I asked.


    ¡°A nap on a real bed,¡± she replied.


    ¡°Yes!¡± I agreed. A bed sounded so amazing right now. The fatigue of hours of walking with no sleep the night before hit me all at once. I was pushing myself on fumes, just a walking zombie at this point.


    ¡°Head''s up!¡± Slade barked, looking back behind us. ¡°We¡¯ve got company coming.¡±


    I turned and looked back along the trail. Sure enough, there was a faint cloud of dust in the distance. Something was headed toward us. I squinted, and my focus zoomed.


    A pack of horses with riders was galloping along the trail toward us. They were maybe a mile off, but they were pushing hard.


    ¡°They¡¯re going to catch up with us in a few minutes,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe we should get off the trail?¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long at all before I could see the riders clearly. I feared it would be more goblins or worse, but these were just people. I could make out helmets and chainmail. They were armed, and that made me a little nervous. A message scrolled:


    Horse, Light Riding x4 ¨C Level 1


    Raiders x4 ¨C Level 2


    Affiliation: Unknown


    ¡°They¡¯ve got weapons and armor, and they are coming at us pretty fast,¡± I told the rest of the group.


    ¡°Okay, let''s get ready to fight them off,¡± Slade said.


    ¡°Dude. They¡¯re on horses. You¡¯ll get trampled.¡± I explained.


    ¡°Don¡¯t care, I don¡¯t like the looks of them.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. I didn¡¯t like the description of Raider. I had yet to play a game where the Raiders were the good guys.


    ¡°Let¡¯s at least try to talk with them.¡± I offered. ¡°We don¡¯t have to try and kill everything.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t,¡± Max said as he faded, ¡°But just in case¡­¡±


    Slade moved to the front of the group. I imagined it was some macho protection of the women folk type of thing. I moved to stay abreast, keeping my spear turned walking stick lowered in hopes of appearing a little less aggressive. Emma stayed well behind us.


    The riders approached and slowed. Up close, they didn¡¯t look any less like bad guys. Their armor was rusted, banged up, and generally gave off a ¡°We¡¯re totally used to killing people¡± kind of vibe.


    As they trotted toward us, they exchanged glances and not-very-friendly smiles. One of them moved to the front, looking down at us from his mount.


    ¡°And where might you lot be heading?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Hail mighty warriors, we come in peace,¡± Slade said in one of the most cringy dialogs I¡¯ve ever witnessed.


    As the riders laughed, I gave it a try, ¡°Hello, we¡¯re actually lost. We''d be grateful if you could point the way to the nearest town.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t say?¡± The lead rider grinned and pointed at the way we¡¯d been traveling. ¡°Springfield is about a half day¡¯s ride that way. But chances are you won¡¯t make it.¡±


    ¡°And why is that?¡± Slade said, raising his spear.


    ¡°Cuz these parts are plagued with bandits and all manner of nere-do-well. You''re more likely to have your throats slit and possessions taken by brigands.¡±


    I interjected before Slade could say anything stupid, ¡°We¡¯re not looking for any trouble. We¡¯ll just be on our way to Springfield then.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too bad, miss, cuz trouble¡¯s found you. You could stand, but I suggest you deliver.¡±


    ¡°Stand or deliver?¡± Slade said. ¡°Deliver what?¡±


    ¡°Your goods, boy. Cough them up, or we¡¯ll trample your ass into a new grave.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Come and take them,¡± Slade said. He took a defiant stance and raised his spear.


    I had to admit, I thought it was a pretty good line. It was not one I wanted to die over, but the Raiders made it clear that was the direction things were heading.


    The mounted leader hefted an axe, a big axe, and spurred his mount to charge. Oh hell, we¡¯re doing this, I thought as I raised my spear. The other three riders were all bringing their weapons up, and one of them was looking right at me. Sorry, Slade, you¡¯re on your own for a moment.


    I didn¡¯t want the rider charging me on horseback, and I didn¡¯t want to get anywhere close to the hoofs. The first thought that popped into my head was to throw my spear before he got to me. Flipping the spear around in my hand, I reared back, and the spear sort of came alive, tugging my arm back and pushing itself forward and out of my hand.


    It flew and buried itself in the chest of the rider bearing down on me. He jerked backward off his mount, and the horse turned and ran off. I now had no weapon. As the rider hit the ground, I caught a glimpse of his health bar draining to zero. The rider blinked out of existence, leaving a floating cube. My spear was nowhere to be seen.


    To my right, the lead raider came charging down on Slade. I was certain he¡¯d be mangled under horse hoofs. Instead, he rolled out of the way and popped back up on his feet as the horse charged past him. Slade then turned and leaped at the other two riders, who were raising weapons and getting ready to charge themselves. With a vicious jab, Slade speared one of the riders, lifting him off the horse and knocking him to the ground.


    The remaining rider raised a bow and aimed it at Slade when a katana blade burst out of his chest. Max wicked into view, having jumped up on the horse behind the rider and stabbed him through the back. The horse reared, and Max and a glowing cube tumbled to the ground.


    Slade howled, and I turned back to him. The rider he¡¯d speared off the horse wasn¡¯t dead. The raider¡¯s health was half full,l and he hacked at Slade with a rusty sword.


    Looking back at Max, I saw his health bar was a quarter gone. The fall from the horse must have injured him, but the rider was now just a glowing cube. That rider had been aiming a bow, one of my skills. I wanted that bow. Rushing over, I looted the cube, leaving the bow in my hands.


    Gained: Bow, Short


    Arrows, Normal


    With the bow in hand, I pulled an arrow back against the string and turned back to Slade. He had been in the process of exchanging blows with the raider he¡¯d unhorsed. Slade''s health bar was at half, but he drained the raider¡¯s entirely with a final jab.


    Emma screamed.


    I spun toward her to see the lead raider had circled around and was now charging at Emma. I drew back on the bow string.


    It happened again. The bow tugged at my arm, the string pushing itself back into my hand. I lined up on the charging raider, and the string snapped out of my fingers. I watched as the arrow spiraled away, arcing gracefully and burying itself in the raider''s shoulder. His health bar sprang up, shrinking from full to about a quarter, but his charge continued.


    Emma held up her hands as the raider charged into her. There was a flash of light, and Emma and the raider flew in opposite directions. When the raider struck the ground, his bar vanished, and he changed into a cube. Emma landed with an oomph, her health bar draining to just a sliver.


    Gained: Experience


    We all rushed over to Emma. She was in bad shape, looking like a cartoon character that had been run over. Her limbs were splayed out in all the wrong directions. Her eyes blinked wide. It was easy to tell she was in a lot of pain. I knelt, unsure how to help.


    When we were all gathered around her, she held up one hand and made a fist. The air around us changed, transforming into an effervescence. Glowing bits floated up from the ground, and there was a flash. I felt something tickle from my knees to my head.


    Both Max and Slade¡¯s health bars filled and vanished. Emma¡¯s filled to three-quarters, and when I looked back down at her, she looked much better. She pushed herself up, sitting.


    ¡°That sucked,¡± Emma said.


    I hugged her, glad she was still with us. When the raider bore down on her, I was sure that was it for her. She flew like a rag doll. That she managed to survive at all was a miracle. She felt warm and soft in my arms, like a real person. If Max was right about our bodies being kept in a tube somewhere, there was no way to tell by the hug.


    ¡°Looks like we got a ride to town,¡± Slade said, gesturing at the horses.


    Without riders, the horses began milling around, nibbling on the grass. While Max and Slade gathered the loot and herded up the horses, I went to the help menu and read about taming pets.


    Max and Slade each had two leashes with a horse on each.


    Party Gained: Horse, Light Riding x4


    Chainmail x2


    Leather Armor x2


    Helmet, Half x2


    Axe, Battle


    Axe, Hand


    Sword, Short (rusty)


    Dagger x2


    Potion, Lesser Healing


    Copper Coins x49


    Slade asked, ¡°So, what do we do with these?¡±


    I took a quick look at all four horses. There was a white one, a red one, a black one, and the last was sort of a motley of red and white. The white one was mine, I decided. Approaching Max, I took the leash from him and got up in front of the white horse.


    Cooing at the horse, I held my hands out with palms up. ¡°You are so pretty. You are a princess. Best of all horses. Fast and strong, you will be my friend forever and ever.¡±


    The horse blinked and stared at me like I was some sort of idiot for saying all that ridiculous crap. Then something happened. Its eyes changed, and they got all gooey and googly. I wouldn''t have been surprised if little hearts could have poured off the horse¡¯s face. It stepped forward and pushed its head to mine. And then continued to push against me, neatly knocking me over.


    ¡°Easy, Princess,¡± I said while stepping away from it.


    It, of course, followed. And it would continue following from then on.


    Party Lost: Horse, Light Riding


    Gained: Princess (Horse, Light Riding)


    ¡°Hey!¡± Slade shouted. ¡°We lost a horse.¡±


    ¡°It''s okay,¡± I said, petting Princess¡¯s face, ¡°I got her.¡±


    He scratched his square jaw, ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°I got a pet ability. This one is mine. My Princess.¡±


    Slade gave Emma the red horse and kept the black one for himself. Then we divided the loot. Slade took the battle axe, chainmail and helmet. Max and I called dibs on leather armor, and Emma seemed eager to don chainmail herself. She eagerly took the hand axe, swinging it around enough to prove that she had no idea how to use it. Max had his katana and let me take the rusty short sword.


    Achievement: Acquire Armor


    Ten more achievements to go, I thought. I couldn¡¯t wait to find out what a crisis was.


    Emma called dibs on the healing potion and was tempted to use it since she was still wounded. Max reminded her that food could also heal, and she was the first to try the jerky. After eating it, her health bar slowly ticked back up to full.


    Once the loot was split and everyone healed, it was time to head out. Watching Slade try to get up on the saddle for a bit was amusing. With help from Max, he finally figured out that he needed to put his left foot in the stirrup before mounting.


    With Slade in the lead, we made our way back on the trail. Our destination lay ahead, the town of Springfield. All in all, it seemed like a pretty good start to things.