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I was disoriented. My vision blurred and my head felt like it was going to split open. It was bad enough to elicit an actual groan of pain.

The feeling slowly receded, and I was face to face with an old, though familiar, sight. I stared, not fully comprehending my environment as I felt the blood rush through my head.

The door in front of me was sloppily painted an ugly dark green. It was labeled as apartment 101 in golden numbers, though the zero had excess paint dried in streaks on and around it. Under my feet was a doormat depicting orange and yellow leaves with the word “Welcome!” in swooping black letters. In my hands was a set of keys.

I already had one prepared, but there were also several others including a fob for an old Kia, a compass-bottle opener combo attached to a green carabiner, and a few I didn’t recognize. My body moved using muscle memory I had long thought gone, and I unlocked the door to my old apartment.

Stepping inside, my confusion remained as I was blasted back to the past. My old, hand-me-down entertainment center took up most of a nearby wall and held a flat screen TV I had gotten dirt cheap at a Black Friday sale. A few different consoles and a Blu-ray player were set up in cubbies beside it, but they were much neater than I remembered them being.

My gaze traveled across the room. The plush brown sofa, also a hand-me-down, now had a bunch of throw pillows I didn’t remember on it and the wooden coffee table was surprisingly clean. A trio of scented candles on a black metal plate sat upon a white and gold crochet doily along with remotes and controllers. The off-white walls were still barren.

Slowly, I removed my backpack and set it on the floor beside the door. It wasn’t the thin, brown Second Inventory I had bought from the Dealer, but a bulky black affair that was bulging at the seams. It took me a few seconds to process, and I realized that my mind was still foggy. I tried to shake it off, but a dizzy spell overtook me.

With my hand to my head, I stumbled backwards into the wall. An orange umbrella and a matching white one clattered onto the vinyl floor that had been fabricated to look like hardwood.

“Ant?” asked a sweet, familiar voice. “Is that you?”

Every thought I had ceased when I heard her question. I pushed myself away from the wall, not bothering to close the door behind me, as I trudged towards the kitchen. It wasn’t far from the entrance, and I slowly peaked inside.

“… Sara?” I asked, leaning against the wall dividing the kitchen from the living room.

The room wasn’t anything spectacular. Everything except the air fryer came with the apartment, and most of the appliances were as old as I was. The black granite countertop was a new addition, perhaps a year or so old, but clashed with the cheap laminate cabinets it was attached to.

Even more out of place was the woman standing near the sink. Her hair was fire red on top, but as it reached the bottom of her short curls they shifted to orange and yellow, like an upside down flame. It paired well with her bronze skin, which seemed to glow under the light. She wore an oversized black t-shirt that was long enough to reach her thighs. It hung from her like a curtain, and I recognized it as one of mine.

My eyes met her orange ones as her face lit up. Sara pulled the spoon out of her mouth, revealing an overjoyed smile as she set it and the yogurt she was eating on the counter. I hesitated. Something was missing.

She had no halo. No wings.

Her face searched mine, taking on a look of confusion and concern that marred her beautiful face. Then, recognition.

“Oh, no. It’s happened again,” the woman who could have been Sara said, smoothing the t-shirt with an almost nervous gesture. She took a step forward.

I took a step back. “What’s going on?” I rasped, my voice not strong enough to demand the answers I wanted.

“Anthony,” she said gently. “You’re confused, you-“

“Damn right I’m confused,” I responded, taking another step back. “Why are we back in Etson? How can you be here?”

“Please, wait,” she pleaded, holding out a hand towards me.

“How are you here in my apartment?” I continued. Reaching out, I tried to smack her arm away but I might as well have hit a sturdy tree branch for all the good it did. I felt weak, and for the first time I realized that I was in my pre-system body. “How am I in my apartment? What the fuck happened?”

Realizing how vulnerable I was, I attempted to run for the door. My instincts screamed at me to get to a place where I could flee if need be, not stay in this box with something strong that looked like my girlfriend. I would have more options outside.

To aid my escape, I mentally reached out for the umbrellas to Pull them to me. Whether it was the mind fog or something else, they didn't so much as twitch.

Sara appeared in front of me in a blink, and I wasn’t sure if it was teleportation or just end-game level speed. I nearly ran into her, but she cradled me in her arms and spun us. The woman gracefully knelt down, pulling me with her, and my face was pulled into her chest. I struggled, but she ran her fingers through my hair.

“There, there,” she cooed as her fingernails lightly scratched my scalp. “It’s alright. Everything’s going to be alright. You’re safe, Anthony. Everything’s okay.”

Something in my mind snapped into place. Whatever resistance I had planned to put up left me without any further fight as I breathed in, smelling her smoky scent mingling with mine from the soft shirt. She was exactly as I remembered her.

Five long, soft white-feathered wings engulfed me, and I could see the last one shut the door before I was almost fully cocooned. Wrapping one arm around her and placing a hand on her thigh, which made her jerk slightly as if tickled, I breathed in again and calmed myself.

“Everything’s okay,” she repeated gently. “You’re having a tough time right now, but that’s okay. You’re safe. You won.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, relishing in her soft touch now that I was getting my bearings. “What did I win?”

“The system, Ant,” she said, kissing the top of my head affectionately. “You won everything.”

I wanted to pull away, but she was far too soft, warm, and comfortable to entertain the thought for long. “I… won?”

Sara kissed the top of my head again before she started tracing circles on the back of my neck. I shivered. “We’ll get to that in a moment. Why don’t you tell me what you remember? We’ll start there, just like we always do.”

I furrowed my brow as I thought that over. Her words didn’t make sense to me, but I focused on her patient tone and thought about her request anyway. My confusion grew as I found my last memory.

“Pittsburgh, the Pitt. I was about to start the Trial of the Silver Nightmare when…” I trailed off as a spike of pain bored into my temple. My hand was quick to leave Sara’s thigh as I used it to cover half of my face. It came and went quickly. “Kayla went with me, but didn’t go in. Once I was alone, I laid down and went to sleep. Everything was going according to plan.”

That… doesn’t sound right, I thought to myself.

Before I could think too deeply about it, Sara nodded. “That’s better than last time, when you could only remember back to recruiting Jamie and Ashley.”

I slowly tilted my head to look up at the Angel. Her hair was still like that of a normal person’s and her halo was missing, but the wings were real. Almost like she was disguising herself.

“This has… happened before?” I asked.

Sara offered me a sad smile. “Right now we have to follow procedure, but I’ll explain soon,” she promised, her voice nothing but patience and understanding. It was soothing. “Could you tell me about Pittsburgh?”

“I guess,” I answered before burying my face in her chest again. The feeling of being so close to her relaxed me, and I took another deep breath before I started speaking. “The Mills and I left Atlanta with Ash and Jamie. You were my Patron.”

“That’s true, I was.”

Her right hand continued to pet my hair, but her left rested on my chest. A golden ring similar to Esaraphelscion’s Love rested where a wedding band was. On closer inspection, it seemed thicker than the one I wore, which I could still feel on my own ring finger. I realized that she was wearing a copy of my halo just as I wore a copy of hers.

“We’re married?” I asked, surprised but not at all displeased by the revelation.

Sara giggled, which was music to my ears. “At the Patron’s Ball,” she answered. “But that’s a long way from Pittsburgh. Tell me your story, Ant, like you used to.”

“You were there for it,” I protested weakly.

“Yes, but like I said, we must follow procedure.” Her voice was sweet, but there was a firmness in it.

I nodded slowly. “When we arrived, I surprised everyone because I didn’t tell them that Pittsburgh’s buildings were missing,” I said. “After explaining that they had been taken underground and turned into dungeons, Jamie and I went to start the second scenario early. We had to travel into the Pitt and fight an obese acid zombie at a DMV to get the Guild of Guilds up and running.”

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“You named it Sol Ligatus.”

“Yeah, loosely translates to fettered sun,” I said before squeezing her. “Though, it seems the sun’s not so fettered now, huh?”

“We’ll get to that,” Sara promised. “What next?”

“Afterwards, we went back to bring Kayla and Jeff into the guild. We met the Dealer there,” I said before my eyes darted up to see hers. There didn’t seem to be any animosity left for the treasure hunter, so I continued. “I asked for a few things thinking Pustibule and Jeremiah would show up, and we went on our way.”

I shifted so that I could get a better look at her face, and she put her hand on my forehead. “Would you like to lay on the couch?” she offered. “Or the bed?”

“Bed.”

Raising her hand, Sara snapped her fingers. We were no longer in my apartment, but in the Hall of the End. Its familiar golden walls were unmistakable, and we laid on a bed covered in white blankets. I was now on my back using her arm as a pillow, and she was cuddled up to me. A trio of wings were draped comfortably across my body.

My clothes had changed so that I was wearing white pajama pants, and she opted to stay in my black shirt. I noticed that my chest, abs, and arms were more defined than they were at the beginning of the system, but I certainly didn’t have the chiseled version of my body I was used to. My mind went into overdrive trying to fill in the gaps, which Sara noticed immediately.

“You’ll get answers after you tell me about Pittsburgh,” she said gently.

Pursing my lips, it took me a moment of thought before I continued. “Jamie and I went our separate ways. I sent her to take care of Hao’s Auction House while I liberated Rexxel’s Bank. Your picture really helped.”

Sara groaned and hid her face in my chest. “My first selfie, ugh,” she said, voice muted because of my body. “You have so many better pictures now, but you should focus on what you remember now, not that.”

“It was beautiful,” I told her, though I couldn’t help but wonder what other pictures I had of her. “But, procedure. Right. I climbed my way to the top, taking out a bunch of midbosses and destroying Canopic Objects before fighting the Pharaoh. He was the boss, a mummified Dragon, at the top. I had to weaken him in order to ensure I got everything I needed from the one man raid.”

“Points and your breath weapon,” she said, nodding.

“Honestly, I almost didn’t have enough points,” I chuckled. “I needed a hundred grand in order to invest in the Platinum Patron’s Package and I only made it by a few hundred points. Thank you for negotiating for me, by the way.”

Sara unburied her face to give me a brilliant smile. “It was my pleasure, darling.”

I couldn’t help but smile back. “The dungeon took a lot out of me, and I fell asleep while meditating,” I admitted. “But the next day I went out and showed the Mills the state of the city. It was a bit misguided, but I wanted to keep them on the surface. We didn’t really need them too badly in the Pitt, and I was working through some things without realizing it.”

“I remember your conversation with Kayla about her trauma,” she said. “They’re the good kind of degenerates, Demon dog or not.”

That worried me. “Is Corwin…?”

“Yes, Corwin is around,” she answered.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s really good to hear,” I said. When it became obvious she wanted me to continue, I did. “Okay, so, on this trip I sent them to Greg Davis and his second in command, Olivia Hunt. He was the one who usually took care of Pittsburgh after we left, even though he’s a raging narcissistic asshole.”

“I did not like that man.”

“Nobody does. Not even Olivia, though she stuck around for other reasons,” I said before remembering what happened to her. Anger welled up inside me, but it was offset by the soothing warmth of my Angel. “The next day I sent them with Jamie to liberate a library and the field house. It was my day off, which was really just an excuse to work on my letters in advance. With the auction house and bank up and running, Pittsburgh was in a really good place.

“Speaking of the auction house, I took Jamie there,” I continued. “And I went ahead and spoke to Greg. I knew that Pustibule would try to get to him on his side. There was a chance he’d kill the Demon for points and loot, but I wasn’t going to bet on that. Plied him with compliments, worked his ego a bit, and gave gifts. I wish it had been enough.”

A moment of silence passed over us before I shook my head.

“Jamie and I went to the Phipps Conservatory to fight the Thistle Hag. It had a few things we needed, including the Tea Witch class that the Medallion of Uuska could pull. For our potioneer, you see,” I explained. “I fought it and picked up the Greenhouse Car while Jamie gardened, and I was all set to ambush my newest recruit. After that conversation with Kayla and a few days of waiting, I mean.”

“Mercury Moonslayer,” Sara said, drawing out the name. “I never really got the appeal, but it is fun to say.”

“Yeah, he’s a good kid,” I said with a smile. “I fought some members of Shakespeare at the Frick once he came into the Fieldhouse. He checked out my paperwork, was intrigued, and followed after me to the PPG Paints Arena.”

“That was your first really big boss that run, wasn’t it?” Sara asked.

I thought about that for a moment. “I’d say only Etson’s Coalem Colossus came close, but the Accumulator of Bones ended up dwarfing even that at the end,” I said before nodding. “That’s when I manhandled Mercury a little bit and had him join the guild. Once he saw me fight, his mind was made up.”

“He has excellent tastes in mentors,” my girlfriend- my wife stated, making it sound like the objective truth. I accepted the praise.

“Afterwards, we went to pick up the Princess,” I continued. “She was a sentient sword that would help bring out his latent potential. On the way we did end up being followed by a guild called Black & Gold. Jeremiah attached himself to them, and we managed to have a conversation. He mentioned that Pustibule put a bomb in him and was setting up a Conversion Grinder to change the souls of the undead and dead players into demons. Jeremiah, unfortunately, escaped.”

“The Dealer was too late bringing you your stuff,” Sara said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah, I just wish I had another shot at him,” I lamented before shrugging. “Either way, it’s what happened. Jeff and I went off on an adventure while Kayla and Jamie took care of things at the Guild of Guilds and Mercury got his sister, Bethany. When we returned, Kayla said that Olivia was looking for me.”

I sighed and looked away. “That didn't end well.”

Sara tapped my chest. “There was no way you could have known.”

“Still, I should have guessed. Saw it coming.”

“Don’t beat yourself up. She’s fine now, and that’s all that matters.” I snapped my attention back to her, and she smiled. “Pittsburgh, please. You’re almost there.”

Blinking, I nodded. However, what she said made me speed things up. “I talked with Greg and he agreed to give me directions to Pustibule so long as I threw a match against him in the Fieldhouse. I did, and we discovered that he was hiding in the Presbyterian, a huge hospital.”

“Still don’t like that,” Sara muttered between her teeth. “Sorry, I suppose I’m still mad.”

“You and me both,” I agreed. “I surrendered when I received a message from Kayla that Jamie had been shot. Jeremiah pumped her full of gunk that was going to change her into a Demon, and we couldn’t have that. After setting up a backup plan with Ashley’s Dragon egg, I took Mercury and went after Pustibule.”

“That’s the first time your soulfire became more prominent,” she said, her voice huskier than usual as she ran her fingers across my chest. She stopped, blinking, as if realizing her own thoughts.

I didn’t let her stew in it for long; there were still answers waiting for me. “Yes, that’s when I got a little deeper into my heritage. But the real boost to that came later. At that time, I had to fight my way through the hospital to get to that damned doctor. Pustibule had torn apart his own soul in order to speed up the Demonification process on Jamie as well as buff the members of Black & Gold, and… Olivia.”

“I wish I could have helped you through that. I’m sorry,” she apologized softly.

“I’m glad you were there for me once I got out,” I reassured. “Thanks to Mercury rusting Pustibule’s suicide toys, I was able to drag him into Hell. Literally, thanks to a Relocation Grenade and the urban legends of Hellam Township.”

A shiver ran through my spine as I thought back to my first steps into Hell. There had been two hidden options on Esaraphelscion’s Love, and the first one let me borrow her armor. It had essentially given me unlimited Mental Points, though casting too much still gave me a headache. The second one, Angelic Ascent, pushed Break Free to brand new heights as each permanent Demon death strengthened me.

Realizing that she was waiting, I kept going. “I killed the Demonic Doctor Pustibule, but it turned out he was only a vessel. The real threat was the Demon Lord of Invention of the same name,” I said. “Never knew about him before, which was strange. Hell was a place I had to go through in every run. I thought there weren't any surprises left for me there.”

“No one can know everything,” Sara stated. “Though you certainly tried.”

I shrugged. “Thankfully, I was able to power up through Angelic Ascent thanks to all the mobs around. The Demon Lord was too much to handle, but after a few minutes of taking out the trash and tanking damage in your outstanding armor, I was able to push him into fleeing.”

A strangled laugh came from my throat. “If he hadn’t, I would have certainly failed that quest you gave me. Thank Sara that he was a coward,” I said, and she smiled at how I used her name. “I was able to set up with literally everything I still had and only barely managed to kill him. The boost after that was super substantial and I wanted to play in Hell a little longer, especially when you said Zalzarog the Soul Drinker was on his way, but I listened to your very wise words and got out of there.”

“A very wise choice, indeed,” she agreed happily.

I shifted so that I was on my side and facing her. Her nose nuzzled against mine, and I smiled. “You helped me get home faster, and when I did Jamie was a Half-Dragon instead of a Demon. Bethany had made some tea for me, which I took. I was ready to go on a crusade against Greg when you told me to go and take the Trial of the Silver Nightmare.”

“I never liked the sound of that trial,” she admitted quietly.

“It’s not something anyone would like, but I needed the Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” I explained with a dark chuckle. “Man, that's a mouthful. Anyway, I took Kayla so I could give her instructions on how to run the guild in my absence and a few things since I was going to be gone for a week. We parted ways and now… I’m here.”

Sara tilted her head. “You don’t remember anything that happened during or after the trial?” she asked.

“I remember laying down on a bed and falling asleep. Next thing I know, I’m back at my old apartment in Etson,” I answered, shaking my head. “I know this isn’t the trial because there’s not nearly enough screaming or pain. Is this the part of the conversation where you tell me what’s going on?”

Smiling, Sara produced a cell phone from thin air. She thumbed a pad on the side, revealing her wallpaper to be a picture she took of us in front of the Jody Etson Library at my college. Something seemed odd about it, but I didn’t have time to dive in as she opened the calendar and showed it to me. “What do you notice first?”

I blinked. “It’s… June, 2024?” I asked. “That can’t be right, that’s over a year since the system dropped.”

With a smile, Sara pulled me into a gentle hug. Our foreheads and noses touched as she looked me right in the eye. “I don’t like it when you have these amnesiac episodes, but I do like this part,” she said.

Taking a breath, her smile grew brighter. Some of her hair shifted like it did back when it was made of fire, though it didn’t actually light ablaze.

“Congratulations!” she announced. “You have suffered many trials and tribulations to arrive here, Avatar Anthony Franklin, and yet you arrive here victorious. Please allow me to re-welcome you to your reward, valiant warrior. Welcome… to the post-game.”

Before I could ask what, or how, or why, or anything, she leaned in and kissed me. The confusion didn't go away, but I decided that I could stay ignorant for a few moments longer if this was what I was being offered. I returned her affection with everything I could muster. It only seemed right.