Ferret had once said that I disappeared when I went to the underworld so that’s where I decided to go. I might as well have not existed anyway.

I ran as far away as I could, dove into the tall grass, found a black-rimmed blade, and touched it. As I reached the bottom of the inky black abyss, I let go.

My emotions exploded out of me. Anger, frustration. fear, sadness, and an immeasurable amount of tears. I curled into a ball, closed my eyes, and floated for what felt like years.

Whatever positivity was in me faded. Existence was too much to bear.

Don't give up on yourself, Ms Azerail, a voice said.

It broke me from my stupor.

Zix!

As my eyes opened I noticed there wasn't a Zix there but a copy of myself. Her head was down and her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She was in the same position as I was only seconds ago.

I circled around her and taped her shoulder.

No response.

She was breathing, wearing exactly what I was, and almost as still as a statue.

Did I make an illusion of myself like in an AR privacy bubble?

Then I realized I was moving around without holding on to anything. The sensation was strange, as if I were walking but with my mind.

If that was me I didn't want to leave here as an AR version of myself so I got behind her and tried merging.

We didn't combine as expected. I ended up holding her and feeling very weird about it.

A rapid succession of chimes came from my interface causing me to quickly retreat.

What?

I pinched my fingers together and to my surprise some of the options were available.

Notifications, Qmail, InfoBases, and the Qweb.

If that was you, Zix or, I glanced at the copy of me. Whatever you are, thank you.

The first thing I did was swap to DO’s interface.

“Log out,” I said.

When that didn’t work I jumped into settings. Zix’s controls weren’t available. “Damnit!”

That didn't stop me from checking my Qmail. There was a message from Darryl asking where I was. It was from yesterday and I wondered what my parents told him about my condition.

Doctor Stevens sent me my scans. Jules and Aaron sent messages hoping I was okay.

The strangest one I received was from Jakson. He'd invented a new conspiracy theory. It was based around the appearance of “you know who's” device. He believed that because a Q.U.B.E. had surfaced, that I somehow got caught in an AI crossfire of some sort.

Based on the information I'd gathered in the past day or so, this one may have had merit, If the Zix were able to intervene in human affairs.

But where did Kumo come from? I thought.

The devs suggested that Kumo didn't originate from the game and that he came from my implant. How could an AI or virus come from me? I was very careful about who I interacted with and kept to quantum-based tech. Which was the most secure stuff out there.

Jason's Zix said the game's code was bad but I didn't remember any publications saying it wasn't secure.

I opened a Qweb window and thought about my query, “Dark Offerings, written by humans, security, unsecured.”

The field filled in almost as fast as my mind could spit out the words. Which was a feat since I was in an area that slowed time. Another thing I didn’t understand.

A window opened and a huge list of associated links appeared. Several of them disappeared in real time as I scrolled. They shifted up as the AI further contextualized my search. It was strange seeing it because it would usually pop up already sorted.

In seconds there were only a couple left.

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When I tapped them a text summary displayed. An AI voice or my Zix would usually dictate it for me. Words in any form were my cup of tea so I didn't mind reading manually.

As I browsed through the articles, one mentioned the whole thing was built by humans but it was in a starred note in really small text at the bottom of the page. The other one mentioned that the game was secure but neither of them mentioned third-party security checks or even a basic Zix check.

How could code as sloppy as Dark Offerings be permitted to be run on the Quantum networks when the Had-e-Verse had such a hard time getting approval?

While I wanted answers, that would have to wait, I had Qmails to write.

First I replied to Jakson, letting him know how well thought out his theory was. You know, for having zero evidence. Then, I had a brilliant idea, which turned out to be sicking Jakson on the bad code thing. Maybe he could shed some light on the subject.

Then I sent Aaron and Jules messages letting them know that I appreciated their kind words and let them know that I was okay but couldn’t talk about what was happening yet.

There was something odd that happened when I sent the messages. The button remained indented after I pressed it.

What did that mean? Was time so slow that it couldn't send it? Or would the buttons finish their jobs when I jumped back out of the underworld? I made a mental note to check when I left. I didn't dare leave before I did everything I could.

I decided to take a quick break from everything. Then I realized I hadn't cried in a while, which sent an aftershock of emotions through me.

Luckily, it passed quickly. Being able to access the Qweb had changed everything. There was a spark of hope beginning to bloom.

If only I could figure out what that clone of me was.

To distract myself I browsed through my notifications.

The Qmails were there so I dismissed them.

Half a dozen system errors littered the screen. I scrolled past those, they were all codes I'd never seen before and I needed to look them up.

An expired reminder to see Stephanie was in the list as well as a connection request from someone I didn't know.

His name was George Hastings. I did a little research on him. His profile was practically bare and very little came up about him in a Qweb search.

Then I stumbled on a bit of important information. He was a comatose quadriplegic and one of Doctor Stevens' patients.

After a little more digging, I found out he was in an accident and was still conscious but could only interact through augmented and virtual reality.

Did Dr. Stevens set this up? I left the notification alone and would talk to the Doctor about it. He would probably visit today so I could ask him then.

DO’s live servers had an update. It had been automatically applied. Minor hotfixes were that way but if there was a bigger update and I couldn’t get full access to my implant, I might not be able to play the game. Which was a scary thought.

Despite my predicament, I needed some way to decompress and DO was the best way I knew how.

Going back through my Qmails again, I found one from Jasper and Fen Li.

Fen LI’s was one of the most beautiful letters I'd ever read. It was her accepting my apology.

Jasper's, on the other hand, included the invite to the new Had-e-Verse, and suggested times we should meet up. There wasn't an invite for Kevin in it, so he either sent a message directly to him or he forgot.

I didn't feel like replying because I could just ask Kevin directly. That and I wasn't sure my messages would send after I left.

Those were the most important ones that needed my attention.

But the most important question was what should I do a deep dive about in the InfoBases?

Unlike the Qweb, which had scattered information, the Bases had organized and detailed summations. Everything you could think of turned into a rabbit hole. I could slowly expand on my chosen subjects and ask the app questions. It would give me as much or a little info as I wanted.

I spent what felt like hours studying about cases like mine. George's name came up a few times along with a whole wing in the hospital dedicated to conditions like ours.

None of them were quite like mine except for one case. Their symptoms were almost exactly like mine. They didn't survive more than a few months.

Did that mean I didn't have very long to live?

My emotions tugged at my heart but I ignored it and delved deeper into the girls case.

Her name was Valerie Hayes and the only difference was she didn't have a tangled Nano-Conduit.

I spent a very long time reading about conduits. I knew a lot about them already but there were always deeper levels. Before I knew it I'd learned everything I could about them and it's surrounding components.

Then I researched the brain itself and how it interacted with our implants. Next came a detailed component by component examination. Then how those operated down to the nanobot replication process.

Though Doctor Stevens had told me why these things were happening to me I didn't fully understand what he was talking about. Now I did.

It was extremely complex and his suggestion to go through a nanobot deconstruction of the Cerebral Nano-Conduit was a brilliant idea.

My eyes started to hurt so I took a break. It felt as if I were on the verge of understanding how to fix the problem but it was just out of reach.

How long was I down here? I’d lost track of time completely.

The pain wasn't going away, in fact, it was building.

I glanced between the clone of me, my interface, and the speckled lights from above.

A surge of pain wracked my brain like nothing I'd felt before.

My breathing instantly increased and I screamed.

The best I could do was scramble for the surface. It was slow and torturous.

Despite what Ferret had said I saw my body on the surface. I rode the wave of light leading directly to it.

When I emerged, I sat up, and the pain stopped.

I was surrounded by grass.

A few seconds later Raccoon ran directly into me at full speed.

It didn't hurt for some reason.

“Where were you!” he yelled.

“I was in the—”

The world swirled and the grass came at me before I lost consciousness.

***