Heather Jacobson could sense something was different the moment she logged into her house.

She’d built her home with help from her friend Eric. They'd made a virtual community or what was labeled a settlement by the game.

It was named Coal.

There were only six houses, a church, and a town hall. They were about a kilometer north-west of Chardance.

Heather and the people living there didn't want anything to do with the constant fighting against the undead.

A small lake was nearby and they were waiting for the game's fishing mechanic to come out. Infinite Diffusion had a roadmap for features and that particular one was due in a few weeks.

The first thing that tipped her off about the difference was how cold the air was.

She strolled into the kitchen and gazed out the window.

Still waters, grass blowing in the wind, and the sky was a dark blue. The morning view was amazing. It was why they'd chosen this spot.

In the distance, a storm appeared to be brewing. There wasn't a weather system in the game. At least not yet, that feature was still a few months away.

Heather pinched her fingers together and called Eric.

Could the devs have finally used the Zix to deploy their game content? It would explain the—

The clouds pressed forward and quickened their pace.

Eric picked up and appeared in front of Heather's vision. “Hey, I'm about a minute away.”

She'd heard him but was transfixed. Those weren't clouds.

“You look—”

Eric's voice cut off, drawing Heather's attention away from the lake.

“Heather, is there an event scheduled today?” Eric asked.

Heather's eyes went wide as she crouched. “Holy shit.”

“Heather?”

A wall of fog as far up as her eye could see sped past her home. The morning sky darkened as if time had reversed an hour.

Outside of the window the fog writhed and pressed against the glass. Then the temperature dropped further.

Heather hugged herself and vigorously rubbed her arms.

“I'm here, Heather,” Eric said. He appeared next to her as he logged directly into her home.

His superior winked out of existence as the AI recognized they were now close enough that they didn't need the call anymore.

He pulled Heather to her feet and into a hug. “What the heck is that?” he asked while pointing at the hellish miasma swirling before them.

“F-fog,” she replied.

Eric sighed and patted her back doing his best to comfort her. “There were a ton of—”

A black shape rushed past the window.

Heather screamed.

Lily herself had assured the couple that this region of the game was safe. Was Heather just seeing things? It's just a game, she told herself.

Eric's breath clouded the air in front of him. “Maybe we should log out?”

“Yeah,” she replied while opening her interface.

A warning message popped up as she hit log out.

Warning:

You will lose all items if you choose to log out while in combat. Are you sure you wish to continue?

Two options floated below the message. Continue and Cancel.

“It says I'm in combat,” Eric complained. “I didn't attack anything.”

Heather had spent a long time buying items low and selling them high to make enough money for this place. New players often didn't know the value of the equipment they looted and she had taken advantage of that.

She pulled away from Eric and ran to her house’s chest. It only took a few seconds for her to deposit everything from her inventory into it.

“Eric put your stuff in—”

Another notification popped into Heather's HUD.

Warning:

Your graveyard is being defiled.

Eric ran to her side. “Oh shit, oh shit.”

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“What are we going to do?” she asked.

Before he could respond the front door exploded inward and the room was flooded with fog. The two of them stood there as the smoky substance spread across the floor. As soon as it hit them they began coughing.

Several debuffs hit Heather’s screen.

A moan brought her attention back to the door.

Ten zombies rushed inside.

Two of them grabbed Eric and threw him to the ground. They ripped and tore at his flesh as he called for help.

“Eric!” she yelled, paralyzed in fear.

Rotten fingers dug into his stomach as blood poured from the fresh wound. Another zombie joined them and she suddenly couldn't see what was happening to him.

Four zombies rushed her and she made her Zix log her out.

***

I placed a hand on the chest of the unmoving shambler before me.

“Rest well my friend,” I said as the body sunk into the ground and planks of wood jutted out in its place. It was a cross tied off with a tight piece of string.

Molly dipped low and examined it. “That's the best one yet.”

I glanced behind me, seven rows of ten graves were lined up. Most of them were small items like cans, a boot, or a pile of rocks. The earth below seemed to spit out an endless supply of them as I spoke the last rite for each corpse brought to me.

They couldn't be the shamblers from the mists; the bodies had to have been controlled by a person.

A notification flew into view sending small waves of pain my way. They were like pinpricks that refused to go away. I was beginning to get scared. Nearly every interaction with my interface was hurting me.

Your Last Rites rank has advanced to Initiate.

The popup was annoying but at least it didn't break my immersion with numbers.

“How many of these do you have to make so they can respawn here?” Molly asked.

I shrugged. “Not sure. Any word on how the Coal invasion is going?”

I'd shut off my lieutenant chat because it was extremely distracting. I added the twenty people from the meeting to my ranks.

All of them were eager to join, except one, Raziel. Was he the traitor?

Admittedly, I didn't know any of them and Raccoon was refusing to help.

He was supposed to be my Zix and they were supposed to help their humans. He'd even refused to let Molly carry him around.

While I had seen him grow from a new Zix to what he was today, I wondered if it was all an act. Was he Kumori in disguise?

I'm not Kumori!

He appeared in front of me. “Never compare me to that psychopath again!”

I raised my hands in surrender.

He turned his back to me and sat down. His tail had fluffed up.

I sighed.

Molly was leading the invasion while I created a graveyard.

Cole was a small settlement just north of the swamp. There were only a small number of Enlightened that resided in the settlement.

“The town has fallen,” Molly said.

That was great news but my issues with Raccoon were at a boiling point. “Why are you so damn angry at me? I didn't do anything to you!”

Raccoon spun. “Do? You didn't do anything! It's what you're going to do!” He pointed at my Zix sword. “You're going to kill me with that! I know your thoughts Azerail!”

Molly swallowed and asked, “What is he saying?”

I'd never thought about it that way. Shit.

“Yeah, shit!” he said and turned back around.

I didn't have proof that using the sword on him would swap their places. I did learn that using the Feystride skill charged it. Like Kumo’s Blade, if it was charged it didn't use its self-defense ability on me.

After killing Darryl I'd found that tidbit out. Despite the tension between us, he'd sent me a message saying how much he loved the fight. He also said he looked forward to our rematch.

A part of me was beginning to give up. Maybe Doctor Stevens was right? Was I just going to feel more and more pain till it was no longer bearable?

“I promise not to use it on you,” I said.

Raccoon shook his little head. “You don't mean that. I know, if it comes to you or me you're going to choose yourself.”

Was he right? I didn't want to die and I didn't want Raccoon to die either. Wouldn't he just transfer into the sword? That's what had happened to Zix.

We don't know that! Raccoon sent.

It's just code. Why don't you scan it or whatever it is you Zix do? I asked.

It has protections on it like the Zix network. That's why it hurts when I touch it, he said.

I hadn't joined a new group since last night. I feared the pain it might cause.

At least Undead Domination hadn't caused me any pain yet.

“Just before they took the town the fog descended on them,” Molly said as she backed up. Her playful demeanor had diminished quite a bit over the last two days.

Metal scraping on metal caught my attention and I glanced in the direction of it.

It was Raziel with another body. I couldn't decipher his emotions. Skeletons didn't have many tells other than the brightness of their eyes.

“Where?” he said.

I pointed to the head of the next row.

He carefully laid the corpse where I had gestured. “That's eighty-one. You sure this is going to work?”

“The fog is coming,” Molly said with her hand pointed toward the swamp.

I stood up and gazed at where she had indicated.

We were still on the plateau. We'd created the graveyard on the opposite side of where the entrance was. Access was important but security was even more so.

The mists sped at us faster than I thought possible. One second the sun was on the verge of breaking the horizon and the next we were plunged into darkness.

Suddenly the ground lit up as a sickly blue glow emanated from the graves.

Raziel's jaw dropped. “This is what we saw when we died! How did you…”

“The day I killed Koffer I laid five shamblers to rest. I didn't mean to do it, I was just thanking them for doing their best to help me,” I confessed. “The skill didn't show up on my list until last night when I was experimenting.”

After I'd beaten Darryl I jumped back into full AR. I must have introduced myself to everyone there. They all seemed happy to see me, making searching for the traitor harder.

While they ate dinner several bots erected tents for them. Our resource expenditure wasn't exactly a good example of sufficiency, but special occasions were an exception.

Molly didn't join us and I hadn't asked where she had gone.

I stayed up all night. Morgue’n and I disposed of Darryl's body.

Morgue’n tried to last the night but he fell asleep against a log.

While everyone rested I studied my new spell book. Even browsing the bases was causing a low-level amount of pain so I gave up rather quickly.

“Try and put that one to rest,” Raziel suggested.

I stood and kneeled in front of the body. “Your service is appreciated.”

The body sunk into the dirt and I waited.

Nothing happened.

“Maybe it doesn't work in the—”

Molly was interrupted by the ground shaking.

A large rectangular stone the size of a car sprouted from the ground. It sunk in on itself and formed a staircase leading underground.

I glanced at my two companions. “Wanna have a look at what's down there?”

They grinned and I led them to the maws opening. Raccoon stayed behind staring at us as we descended.

***