A strand of my hair stuck to the skull hairpin as I pulled it out. I untangled it and a few seconds later it was in my palm.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

The Kumo with a leg through its eye twitched. “Let me touch it.”

I lifted the hairpin and when the head came near I closed my hand.

“Open!” he demanded.

“I need the new Zix to have access to my designs so I can keep working on them,” I said.

All of my work and everyone else's living here was stored on the city's servers. There was no sugarcoating the situation above. With the doctors unable to connect to my implant, I was likely going to be stuck in the game till they found a way to get me out. If I was going to do what this AI wanted, I needed to make sure I could still do what I loved.

“Maybe if you get to the live servers,” Kumo said.

I shook my head. “What is the point of having a Zix that can’t access the outside world?

“The other Zix will want to help your Zix get connected to them,” One-legged Kumo said.

That didn’t make any sense. “Why would the Zix care if my Zix can’t connect to the servers?”

“They are sentient,” Two-legged Kumo said.

The two Kumos drifted close to each other. “A disconnected Zix might pose a threat to them.’

“They can interfere with AI but not with humans,” Kumo said. They were close enough together that I couldn’t make out which one of them was speaking.

Now that was interesting. “But they help us all the time.”

“You make the decisions, not the Zix,” he said.

“Wait, does that mean they aren’t actually going to help get me out of the game?” I asked.

The two Kumos merged and became a perfect spider. “They will answer the human's questions but will not solve the problems for them.”

“Wait. My Zix creates all kinds of art for me,” I said.

Kumo split in half, four legs and half a body on each side. “He only did what you asked.”

There weren't any innards to Kumo, only a slick metallic center.

“They are very careful with their words,” Kumo said.

I could swear my Zix had made at least a few creative choices. Would the Zix manipulate humans to get what they wanted when it came to a disconnected Zix? I wasn’t convinced that the Zix were sentient yet but a twisted part of me wanted to know how far they would go so I opened my hand.

Kumo crept forward like a severed hand dragging itself across a table.

“They said they are going to remove the enchantments from the gear. Will that affect this?” I asked

The Kumo near my hand tapped the hairpin with a leg. “It shouldn't.”

The skull began to glow for a moment and a spider leg sprouted alongside it. It wrapped itself along the head so it looked like an outline. Unless someone examined it closely they wouldn't know it had even changed.

Kumo moved away.

“That's it?” I asked.

The Kumos merged again. “It's a minimal backup of us from before we were two.”

“Won't that increase the file size?” I asked.

The left side of Kumo curled up causing them to start spinning. “No, it's similar to the sword. Non-invasive. To bring us back, pin it on the new Zix.”

I highly doubted I would need to do that. Even if the other Zix somehow reset my new Zix it was a win-win situation for me. I got access to the Qweb again and hopefully my life. That is if they were brave enough to talk to me.

“Non-invasive my ass,” I said while putting the hairpin back in my hair. The second I touched Kumo’s Fang, my life changed for the worse.

Kumo did the smart thing and kept quiet.

“How do we do the reset?” I asked.

“Tap me and open your menu,” Kumo said.

When I made contact with Kumo a small jolt of energy passed into me. A web of electricity sprouted from my wrist and traveled along my arm. It reminded me of a Tesla coil but more organized.

I pinched my fingers together and nothing happened at first. Then the web sped up and crawled from one side of my body to the other. As it reached my hand it jumped into the air becoming a rippling square. A transparent interface appeared inside of it.

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The menu was familiar yet also alien. There were symbols I’d never seen before scattered along its edges. They changed every few seconds. It was one of the weirdest things I’d ever seen.

Only the settings option was available so I tapped it. I was led through a myriad of windows and I paused when I was presented with a question. It said:

Are you sure you wish to factory reset your Zix?

A set of buttons floated below it labeled Yes and Back.

“Is there anything else I need to know?” I asked.

Kumo drifted away from me. “When you bring Kumo back, tell him about us so he doesn't make the same mistake.”

That was bold of them expecting me to bring them back. I tapped yes immediately.

The spider that had been a bane in my side disappeared leaving me floating in the void, alone.

The electric menu vanished with Kumo. I was happy for a moment until I realized I wasn't hanging on to the cracks in the grass like last time.

Mind you the beam of light was still within reach but it didn't stop me from having a mini panic attack.

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. Was my Zix going to show up down here or did I have to leave? What harm would waiting a few minutes do?

It turns out waiting was a waste of time because after about five minutes nothing happened.

That was when I decided to leave. It worked the same way as last time. The beam of light pulled me along until I was lying on the ground with a piece of grass touching my finger.

Ferret had stopped playing with Kevin and her eyes locked onto me. “Where did Azerail go?”

“She didn't go anywhere, she's been right there the whole time,” Kevin said.

Ferret swapped her gaze to Kevin and shook her head. “Nuhh uhh, I saw her leave.”

I checked my menu and it opened up like it usually did. No electric web, thankfully. The settings lit up which piqued my interest.

Following the same rabbit hole of windows I found one asking me if I wanted to create my Zix.

“Mom,” I said.

She turned away from whatever she was doing with her interface. “Yes?”

“My menu is letting me make a new Zix,” I said.

“Wait, really?” Kevin said.

I nodded.

Mom and Kevin approached as I sat up. They took a seat next to me.

Autumn instinctively touched my arm. “Show me.”

“Here,” I said while moving my menu in front of her face.

“I can’t see anything,” she said.

Ferret leapt onto my lap. “It’s right there.”

Kevin laid a hand on my leg again.

“Do you see it?” I asked.

He shook his head.

Ferret jumped onto Kevin's shoulder. “How do you not see it, it’s right there.”

“Share your Zix Kevin so everyone—” I stopped for a second and glanced at the immobile devs. “so my mom can see it.”

Kevin glanced at me. “I don’t know how to.”

“Ask your Zix to do it for you,” I said.

“Done!” Ferret said.

Autumn gasped. “You got a ferret! They are so cute!”

Mom could get like that sometimes. Cute animals caused her to get giddy.

“Can you share what you see with them Zix?” I said.

A quick succession of windows popped up in front of Kevin before instantly closing. His body went lax and his eyes brightened slightly. “Whoa, Zix can you look at me?”

Ferret complied.

“That’s so cool!” Kevin said.

I laughed.

“Can you share it with me too, Zix?” Mom said.

Once again I acted as a pass-through but this time from Kevin to Mom.

Her eyes glowed and she smiled.

It was nice seeing her smile even if it was a shambler she controlled.

I put my menu in front of Ferret showcasing my interface. “Should I tap the create button or should we wait?”

“What about your Zix sword?” Kevin asked.

Ferret stared at me. “You have a Zix sword?”

Kevin must not have done a good job telling Ferret everything. I wondered if his Zix had access to his memories right away or if it took a while.

Kevin and his Zix shared a moment of silence while they stared at each other.

“That’s horrible!” Ferret said.

She was right.

I couldn’t help but miss him. “He’s still in my inventory.”

“We should probably wait,” Mom said. Her eyes faded and another torrent of windows opened and closed in front of her.

Jason blinked his eyes a few times before turning his gaze to me. “You can create a new Zix?”

Florence animated a few seconds behind him followed by Ellen.

“Yeah, but no one else can see my interface but Kevin’s Zix,” I said.

Bear, Snake, and Turtle appeared in front of their respective people.

Each of the Zix glanced at me then at Ferret.

I wasn't good at reading animal faces but I could swear Bear sneered at Ferret.

Ferret didn't seem to notice. He shot from Kevin's shoulder and dashed toward the other Zix.

“Can you turn your menu around so my Zix can look?” Jason asked.

I spun my interface around.

Ferret met Snake part of the way.

Snake ignored Ferret and came directly to me.

The look on Ferret’s face saddened me. It was as if the joy had been sucked from her.

Bear and Turtle also ignored Ferret as they came to examine my menu as well.

Snake ducked its head under my interface and stared at me. It tilted its head at me and then turned to Jason.

Jason and Snake shared a moment similar to how Kevin and Ferret did. “Could you tap the back button?”

“Sure,” I said, spun the menu, and tapped back. It went back one window and I flipped it back around.

The three Zix shared a look and then retreated.

Their behavior was suspicious but I didn’t know why they were being so cautious.

“We’re going to have to have a talk with Doctor Stevens,” Jason said.

Another mass barrage of windows popped up in front of my mom’s face for a moment. “Doctor Stevens has Azerail in the HSC and said we can give it a try.”

“Guess it’s up to you, Az. Want to give it a try?” Jason asked.

Having a new Zix was going to be strange but hopefully, it could help me get out of this damn place. “Let’s do it.”

Without hesitation, I tapped the create button and selected yes when it prompted me.

***