I stared at him, my mind refusing to go there. Instead of fighting back, I simply kept staring at him. I tried to think of something, but my mind was scrambled. “Of course there’s a way out of this place.”

“Really?” Theo asked. “What makes you think that?”

My hands shook. My brain was unscrambling. Theo’s words were taking root, and I was doing what I could to pull them out.

“Because… because…” I couldn’t remember specific instances, even though my brain was screaming at me that there were. I couldn’t face this reality. I did not want to know what it would be like to stay here. Forever. “Because that can’t be the answer.”

Theo chuckled. “Why not?”

My heart pounded in my chest. “Because there has to be a way out. There always is.”

“Not necessarily,” Theo said.

The memory struck me right then. “The male being told me I could give up if I wanted to. When I… died?” I winced. “I think I died that one time in the rain. Either way, he asked me if I gave up. Mentioned something about how this experience would be nothing more than a dream. Why would he say all of that if there was no way to get out of here?”

“Nothing more than a dream?” Theo asked. He then shook his head. “And how trustworthy is this guy?”

My face fell, my shoulders slumped. I couldn’t trust the male at all. He was almost proud of that fact. “There are… some things he said that rang true.”

“Did they ring true? Or did you want them to ring true?” Theo said.

My hands were still shaking, but I refused to give up. “We can get out of this game. We’ll get answers as we play it. And on that note-” I snatched my to-do list out of his hands. “I have some things I need to do before they attack.”

I turned around, heading toward my house that wasn’t actually my house. No, it was my house. I don’t care if it was a carbon copy of Theo’s childhood home. I had spent enough time and effort that I could now claim it as mine.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Theo said, jogging up to catch up with me. “I’m just… maybe you should be open to the possibility that the answer is-” he gestured around the forest, “-this is it.”

“I’m not open to that possibility. Maybe if we retained our memories completely of who we were, then perhaps, yes. But this feels too much like we’re supposed to learn something before we go home, and shoot! I need clay!”

I stopped in my trek. I hadn’t gone far, but it still felt awkward to turn around and head back to the bridge after the exit I made.

“I’m sorry, you need what?” Theo asked.

“Clay.” I started to crouch down when I froze. “Actually, no. If you’re here and capable of killing monsters, what I really need is sand. I can only get it on the other side, but monsters keep trying to attack me and makes it difficult to get any more.”

“Sand? I’m assuming a building material of some sort?” Theo asked.

“Yeah. For glass. The greenhouses need a lot of it, and it’s one of those resources I wouldn’t mind keeping a huge stock of. Would you mind killing some monsters while I collect sand?”

Theo shrugged. “Well, okay. They may be low level monsters, but I wouldn’t mind.”

We crossed over to the monster side of the bridge. Despite so many times doing this with a pounding heart and wandering eyes, there was something about Theo I trusted, and it helped me focus on this one thing. Also, when he brought out a sword, that put my mind at ease.

It didn’t take long for the spider bush monsters to come out. Theo didn’t let one pass him. I filled bag after bag after bag. It was almost euphoric how many bags were soon stacked on the other side of the bridge. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty. I would make room in the storage unit. I would upgrade it soon. If I didn’t have to come back here for sand for a while, I could have a stockpile to keep making glass for a solid two weeks. Those greenhouses needed to be upgraded, and I very much wanted to get them upgraded.

A demon monkey dropped from the trees, headed right for me. It was one of those moments where I probably would have screamed, but I couldn’t react fast enough. Theo was already there, his sword through the monkey’s guts. Black sludge rained down on me, and I covered my head. Once the last of the sludge was gone, I shook my hands as I stood up. I was more surprised to see Theo, staring at me in wonder.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s… it’s not…”

I was confused. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. Sure, I don’t want his guts on me, but that’s better than the creature staying alive.” I walked closer to the river, splashing some water on my face. In true game logic, a couple splashes managed to clean me completely off. I grabbed more of the sand, placing it all in my inventory. I did this while glancing up at Theo, who was still staring at me in awe.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Okay, clearly I’m missing something,” I said.

“The blackness. The… the sludge monster that’s corrupting everything. It’s not… it’s not getting inside you,” Theo said.

I frowned. “Huh?”

“The corruption. It’s… it’s supposed to get everyone. I… was going to apologize, because it probably hurt your bar, but… but it isn’t…”

I tried to piece together what he was saying. Clearly Theo had another health bar that I wasn’t aware of. I stood up, watching him. “How does this blackness effect you?”

Theo hesitated, then sighed. He then placed his sword into his inventory and pulled off his left glove. I gasped, taking an instinctual step back as I saw thin ribbons blackness right underneath his skin, stretching to the tips of his fingernails.

“The blackness corrupts everything when you’re around it too long,” Theo said. He turned his hand around. The five ribbons from the fingers weaved together at his palm, making a thicker line as it continued to travel from his wrist down his arm.

“I don’t get it. How do you get rid of it?” I asked.

“I’m trying to figure that out,” Theo said. “It does get out eventually. So far, it’s just… sleeping. Sleeping makes the blackness go away. Slowly.”

I gave another sigh. “Okay, so… the memory orb? About depression? The alien overlords are doing some weird, probably sick version of art imitating life or what not.”

“Yeah. I know,” Theo said.

“You know?” I asked.

“Yeah. It was there in the storyline in the tutorial. I’ve got to defeat the sludge monster, then everything will be better.”

My nose crinkled. Something about that felt off. “Okay, look, I’d be the first to say the alien overlords are not the best at human nature, but… I doubt you’ll be free from depression by defeating the sludge monster.”

Theo placed his hands on his hips. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but grew silent. It was almost in that moment that I could understand what it meant. We’d been dancing around the real-world application of the sludge monster until this moment. Theo wanted to keep believing it was something he could kill. Something in his games he could defeat, and the world would be a better place. Perhaps I was taking away something from him by insinuating that the real world didn’t work like that. But there was a part of him that agreed, and a part of him that didn’t, so he just stayed silent.

“Um, thank you,” I said, wanting to change the subject. “For helping me get this sand. It was always a pain, but it’ll be really nice to have a stockpile of it for the future. I really want to upgrade those greenhouses.” I gathered the last of the bags and placed them in my inventory.

“Do… you need my help getting them back?” Theo asked.

Yes. I did. I had over fifty bags of sand out here, and I didn’t necessarily think this through. This conversation was nice, but I still had a list of things I needed to get done, and it was quickly approaching noon. However…

“The storage unit is by the house. You said you didn’t want to go near it.”

Theo flinched, then glanced through the trees. He then let out a breath. “I want to see this wolf. See what level it is. I… won’t go in the house, but I think I can manage outside the house.”

“Alright.”

I walked across the bridge with my inventory full and three bags of sand in my arms. Theo followed me on the other side, kneeling down to stuff bags in his own inventory. I counted, just because I was curious, and saw him fit fifteen bags while holding five in his hand.

“Nice,” I said.

He chuckled as he stood up.

“So, the wolf?” I asked.

“Yeah?” he asked.

There was another beat of silence. One I wasn’t sure how to break. “Are the main monsters on your side of the river all creatures you used to draw as a kid?”

“Uh, no. No, they’re not.” He kept his gaze on the ground. “It’s why I am curious to see what this wolf is about.”

“And you’re sure you can… handle it?” I asked.

Theo raised an eyebrow at me as we continued toward the house. “What exactly are you implying by that?”

“I am implying that you’re skittish about the house. So… are you skittish about the wolf?” I asked.

Theo didn’t answer. Instead, he tore his gaze from me and we kept walking. Walking in a silence that, in all honesty, annoyed me.

“If we’re going to get out of this game, you need to be honest with me,” I said. He gave me another one of his raised eyebrow looks. I let out a sigh that sounded far more annoyed than I actually felt, and changed my meaning. “If this is our ‘new normal’, it would benefit me a lot by knowing the origins of the wolf that comes out of the forest every night,” I tried again.

This got Theo thinking. A silent kind of thinking.

“Theo?” I asked.

“I… don’t remember. I’m sorry,” he whispered. “But I’ll try. Now that I know the creature is here, I’ll try and remember. It’s why I want to check out this wolf creature. See if it jogs my memories.”

“It might kill you.”

He shrugged. “It might, yes.”

I frowned, my brows furrowing. “Theo…”

“I learned early on. There are very little consequences for death here. I just lose a day. Why not use death to our advantage to get information?”

I didn’t speak. There was something unsettling about it all. My emotions must have been plain on my face, because he smiled and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Quinn. Honest. I’ve been doing this for weeks now, and I’m fine.”

“Okay, well, that made my gamer instincts start screaming,” I said.

“I don’t see why,” Theo said. “It is after all very true to game logic. I usually die multiple times while playing a game just to figure out how to pass guards. It’s really not that big a deal.”

I kept shaking my head. “I just don’t like it.”

“But if it gets me information on the wolf, it will be worth it.”

My face was still a mixture of unease. Maybe I was holding myself back by being so stingy with my sanity and stamina, but the thought of dying was still deeply disturbing to me.

“The wolf comes out later tonight?” Theo asked, glancing at the trees.

“Actually… there’s a chance you could… run into it. I know where its territory is.” Foraging was something I still needed to do, after all.

Theo’s eyes brightened at this. “Really? That’d be nice. Hey, you should come with me. We could die together, and then you can see how it’s not that big of a deal.”

I shook my head out of instinct. “Theo…”

“Oh, come on. You’ve already died before, right? What’d you lose by it?”

“A day. And sanity. I… can’t lose a day. I still have way too much stuff to do.” My mind returned to the list in my pocket and what I had left.

“What if I helped you? What if we both worked hard on your list so you could lose a day?” Theo asked.

I didn’t say anything. But there must have been something on my face that made him smile a comforting smile. “Think about it,” he said.

I hated that I was thinking about it.