Ellen and I took the small trek to the cottage. Raccoon followed while Ferret clung to his back. She swayed, barely able to hold on. They disappeared in the grass when we entered it.

The sides of the building were a solid white and the edges of it were a dark brown. Its roof peaked high into the air, forming a triangle above. A simple wooden door stood before us with a doorknob in the center with a grid-like window above it.

“After you,” Ellen said while stepping back from the entrance.

I glanced at her, twisted the knob, and pushed.

Inside was cozy. The paint on the walls was similar to a baby's room, pale green. The color reminded me of growing up in our sphere. Though we traveled a lot, the sphere we lived in stayed the same. We’d always been able to take everything with us.

Several landscape paintings adorned the walls.

There was a fireplace to the left in a small rectangle-shaped living room. A pastel yellow couch sat in front of it. Adjacent to that was an attached kitchen. It had a classic stove and gas range combo. They were out of style, except for in restaurants. No one but chefs cooked for real anymore. To the right was a door which I suspected led to a room for sleeping.

“Do I need to eat?” I wondered aloud.

Ellen placed a hand on her chin and tilted her head, “Uhm, I’m pretty sure whatever they are connecting your body to out there is going to feed you.”

My stomach grumbled and we both laughed.

“Maybe you can stock the kitchen with some food?” I asked.

She nodded. “I’ll set that up later.”

I got hungry pretty often as a shambler. It wasn’t a strong urge but all undead had something similar. Ghosts felt the need to scare people and skeletons had a lust to fight.

Raccoon stepped between the two of us and sat down.

“Do you want any furniture, Zix?” I asked.

He blinked a few times. “Why would I need furniture?”

“So you can lie down?” I suggested.

Ellen strolled into the home and sat on the edge of the couch. “I’ll see if I can get you edit options so you can change this place to look however you like.”

“You hear that, Zix?” I asked.

He nodded.

“You ready to have fun making some stories with me?” I asked.

Ferret hopped off of Raccoon’s back and examined the room.

Raccoon swished his tail to one side and flopped down. “Do we have to?”

My heart sank, “If you don’t want to… we don’t have to.”

“Aren’t Zix supposed to do what their person says?” Ellen asked.

I shrugged. “If he doesn’t want to do it why would I force him?”

Mom didn’t lie when it came to the Zix and based on how both Ferret and Raccoon were acting, she was dead on. Besides I was sure he would help me when he mellowed out.

“Wanna see the bedroom?” she asked.

Hey Raccoon, can you create new data? Like, take screenshots and stuff like that? I asked.

He sighed and didn’t respond.

Why don’t you two go and play some more outside? I suggested.

Raccoon stood up. Really?

Yup, have fun. Find the edges of the server and tell me what you see out there, I said.

He darted out the door without a goodbye or anything.

Ferret went to follow him but stopped at the door. You’re nice, you know that?

Get out of here and go play, I said while smiling.

She hopped in place for a moment before dashing after Raccoon.

“Azerail?” Ellen asked.

“Hmm?” I said.

“The room?” she asked.

“Oh,” I said.

Ellen led me inside.

Like the rest of the house, it was a simplistic design. The walls were bare, however. A twin bed was positioned below a window.

“You can decorate it later if you want,” Ellen said.

I ran a hand along the surface of the wall. It had a smooth and bumpy consistency. “Thanks for making this for me.”

“Oh, no problem. I have a bunch of these,” she said.

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I smiled. “You made it?”

She nodded.

My scrutinizing instincts kicked in and I analyzed the build further.

The home was littered with the same black outlines I saw on the grass outside. Other than that everything seemed well put together except for the floor where I found a bit of grass poking through the wood.

I'd had the same issue before and my Zix fixed it for me. He never let the same error happen twice and that was why I loved him so much.

Ellen must have followed my stare because she strode to the offending error and knelt next to it. “I'm never sure if it's the grass that does this or if the physics is messed up.”

I didn't have an answer for her since I hadn't been the one to fix it.

“Don't worry about it,” I said. “This place is nice.” I'd probably have Raccoon fix it later.

She stood and spread her hands out. “That's the whole place.”

“So what do I do while I’m here?” I asked.

Her eyes closed momentarily as she took in a long breath. “I don’t know to be honest. I’ll do my best to get you access to the live servers but if we can’t block your Zix from going with you…”

“What if…” I paused midsentence as an idea took hold of my brain. “People’s Zix travel with them into the game all the time.”

She shook her head. “They piggyback on their person's connection but they aren’t actually connected to—”

“Why don’t we look at it from that angle then?” I sat on the bed. “Instead of stopping the Zix from going anywhere, you should focus on finding a way to let him piggyback without being able to change anything.”

A knock came from the other room and we filed out of the bedroom into the living room as my mom walked through the front door.

“Hi Mom,” I said.

Jennifer came in after her and dashed at me pulling me into a vicious hug.

I reciprocated her enthusiasm and closed my eyes. If there was one person in the world I didn't want to lose it was her.

She and I didn't talk about gaming like I did with Autumn but she loved watching me tell stories.

I'd only ever done one telling in front of a crowd and that was when I was ten. Jennifer was the one who helped me prepare for it. People were able to watch my past performances if they wanted to. I was supposed to do another one this year and Stephanie was helping me prepare this time so missing my meetings with her was a big deal. Admittedly, she was extremely quiet during my performances but after she posted my grade we talked quite a bit.

Jennifer was much more supportive than Stephanie. I held her tightly as tears began spilling from my eyes. She was always there through my nightmares which was another thing I hadn’t thought about. Would I still have nightmares in here?

“Mom?” I asked.

She moved my head to her shoulder and squeezed harder.

“Are they going to give me medication so I don’t have nightmares?” I asked.

She nodded. “I’ll make sure they do.”

That was a relief.

What if I still had them though? Who would comfort me? I hoped Raccoon would be up to it.

Autumn joined us and we held each other for a long time.

Ellen squeezed past us through the door leaving us alone.

Eventually, we migrated to the couch. All of us were crying by the time we sat down.

After a lot more cuddling and tears Jennifer attempted to update me on what was happening outside. It turned out I already knew everything she had to say.

It wasn't her fault that she gave me repeated information. It just so happened Autumn was very efficient when gathering particulars.

She confirmed that I couldn't go anywhere which wasn't good news.

“I can see the Zix,” I proclaimed.

My parents shared a look. Jennifer spoke, “What do you mean?”

“If someone has their Zix out, even if they aren't sharing them, I can see them,” I said. I left out the whole sentient thing. One crazy thing at a time. Plus I wanted more proof before I went around spouting things even I wasn't sure about.

Naturally, Autumn brought out her Dolphin Zix. It sprang from the floor as if it was jumping from a body of water.

In all the theatrics I noticed something weird. When Dolphin passed Autumn a second version of it merged with the jumping version. It happened so quickly that if I wasn't watching I would have missed it.

The only thing I could think it could be is her activating an animation separate from her main body. Similar to my using an AR to step away from my body.

People called it a privacy bubble, which was stupid because nothing we did was truly private. Everything everyone did was recorded.

Games were the closest thing we had to privacy. Even then the companies were required to keep a record of everything that happened and if a parent requested it they would have to send them everything.

It tended to only be text logs, however, so most people forewent reading it themselves and had their Zix do it.

The Zix had a knack for finding just about any information you needed and could make requests on behalf of a parent.

Based on how much power the Zix held, I wondered if humans would trust them with such responsibilities if they knew they were sentient.

Would their lying to us breach decades of trust? They were built into our very brains keeping us alive and healthy without asking for anything in return. I doubted people would give that up without a fight.

“You see my Zix?” Autumn asked.

I nodded.

Dolphin eyed me as she swam through the air. Her skin was a light blue that seemed to sparkle as she moved. She circled around us and I watched her move.

A small cat head peeked from behind Jennifer's left leg. The rest of its body was hidden which looked a little strange.

Can you two hear me? I asked.

Dolphin paused in mid air. They weren't lying.

Cat slinked out from his hiding place. His hair was long and silky. It was a grayish blue color.

I lowered my hand so I could pet him.

He would usually stride toward me without hesitation but this time he didn't move.

I still love the two of you. Does it really matter if I can see you without sharing? I said.

Cat crept forward sniffing my hand. He reeled and reversed a step.

I'm sorry, I'm still a shambler under this avatar. Autumn is too, I said.

Raccoon chose that time to dash through the still-open front door.

Dolphin and Cat shook their heads, then looked away.

“This is my new Zix, Mom,” I said.

Jennifer detached herself from me and crawled onto the floor. “Hello, little one. Nice to meet you.”

Autumn glanced at me and I shook my head. She took my hand and squeezed.

Even though I had introduced Raccoon to her I regretted it immediately.

A clone of Raccoon split from him and crawled toward my mom. It’s not your fault that she does this Azerail. The real but now hidden Raccoon turned his gaze to me. She misses her old partner.

My mom pet the Raccoon clone. “I had a relationship with an ancestor of yours. He was such a great person.”

Fresh tears welled up in my eyes.

“Maybe I’ll meet him one day,” Raccoon said.

The Zix really are sentient, aren’t they? I asked.

Clone Zix climbed into Jennifer's arms. She pulled him into a hug and convulsed in a fit of sobs.

Raccoon walked over to me and put a tiny hand on my leg. We are.

***