Raccoon stared at Ferret who turned, took a few steps away, and disappeared.

She wouldn't play with him, wouldn't do her little dance, and left without saying why she wouldn’t talk to him anymore.

Then Raccoon remembered something Azerail's mom Autumn said about the Zix being playful for only a short while.

What did that even mean?

Raccoon sank to the ground leaving his projects and Dark Offerings character unattended.

Tears welled up in his little eyes.

What was the point anymore?

***

I poked Raccoon. “You there?”

Are you okay? I thought.

He didn't respond. He'd been stuck to my shoulder the whole time I packed up.

Our crafters had given me their first prototype rift bag. It was a simple shoulder bag that opened up pretty wide. I'd been busy transferring everything over when Molly drifted into my tent.

“Hey,” she said while flying to my side and scratching Raccoon's head. “Adare is back with your friend.”

My heartbeat quickened. Kevin! “Send her in!” I replied.

One of Molly's little eyebrows rose.

“Shut up!” I said.

Molly giggled and then paused.

Adare walked in a moment later with a pained look and a cloth over her mouth.

It was still early in the morning but the sun had finally risen. The fog had covered everything, little wisps of it trailed behind Adare as if it were trying to chase her into the tent.

She removed the cloth and gasped for air. After recovering, she said, “I'm not going to do this anymore. Not in this damn fog.”

“Get used to it,” I hissed. “It'll be everywhere soon, mortal.”

In the early days of the game, it was the same way. Fortunate for them, the extended fog wasn't as deadly as the thick mist on the outskirts near the Fields of Woe and the Barren Lands.

If she wanted to be safe she would have to go to Chardance and stick close to their graveyard.

Her jaw clenched and she stared at me. Then she pulled out a small purple flower, stuffed it in her mouth, and chewed.

It was a Mistbloom flower. Not only was it the component for most spells it also negated the fog's poison.

When the game first started the fog was everywhere and the humans had to figure out how to combat its effects. The flowers were everywhere and were usually the first thing people picked up. It made sense that they were what could combat the effects.

Because they pushed the mists back the flowers became a rare commodity. This would work in our favor since we'd cut off their little ravine supply from the goblins.

I'd left Undead Domination active and could feel the dead spreading. Only a few of my lieutenants were sent to Coal each with a 40 shambler contingent.

There were so many in the swamp I was practically blind but I could feel the stragglers out there. I wasn't sure why they hadn't been there before. Had my expansion of the fog somehow activated spawn points for the NPCs? Whatever the reason it was only going to help. If they had to fight on two fronts it would divide them.

Maybe when my skill advanced I'd be able to locate spawn areas with it.

“Where is he?” I asked.

Adare crossed her arms while glaring at me. Then I saw something move on her arm.

It was a… snail with a black shell and a stripe of yellow which followed the circular spiral. The whole thing was only about three centimeters long.

How the hell is a snail going to be helpful?

As far as I knew each pet was supposed to have a helpful trait for their bonded counterpart. Perhaps it had a buff for my physique?

“Is that him?” I asked.

She handed me a paper.

I read it over and everything looked correct so I placed my hand on it and it began to glow. As the light faded she picked up the little guy. A thin strand of mucus stretched from where he had been on her arm.

When I told Molly about Raccoon and being able to talk after the bonding process I was lying. Now I hoped it was true, not just because connecting to him via my implant would cause pain but because I didn't want to lose half of all my skills effectiveness for using out-of-game chat.

She placed Kevin on my arm. He was cold which was interesting. I never played with snails growing up but I did remember the little trails of dried residue they left behind.

The paper in my hand dissipated, scattering up into the air as a small whirlwind blew pieces around me. After a few seconds, they darted into Adare where they disappeared.

I stared at Kevin and a little box popped up next to him.

Pet

L1 Spoolie the Snail

Agrestis venenatus

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Rare Ground Snail

This is the grassland's only poisonous snail type.

Did Raccoon have a level? I checked.

Pet

L7 Riley the Raccoon

Procyon lotor

Common Mountain Raccoon

This raccoon is common in mountainous regions.

When did he level up? I grumbled, opened my interface, and browsed my settings. There had to be a place to turn off pet levels.

As I scrolled through the list I noticed I wasn't feeling any pain. A wave of relief flooded through me.

I wondered if Raccoon found a fix for it.

To test it I sent Kevin a voice message.

“Hey, you're on my arm right?” I asked.

Two tentacle-like eye stalks rose from its body. “Yeah, how do we form a bond?”

The tinnitus hit me then. It wasn't the kind that had nearly floored me yesterday. The effects were more like my normal pain levels.

There it is. I tapped the RP for Pets selection.

Neither of the pets had levels anymore and I sighed in relief.

“Found it!” Kevin said.

A notification slid into view. I gave it a tap and it expanded.

Bond with Spoolie?

It had a confirm and cancel button on the bottom of the window.

After confirming a little icon of a snail populated where buffs usually showed up.

When I selected that Spoolie’s name showed up where a description normally displayed.

I thought about Kevin and said. Can you hear me?

Yup! he replied. This is so weird!

Wait until you play around in the Sims! I said.

Was this a part of the game? Should I be roleplaying in this chat? It was Kevin and I didn’t think anyone else could hear us so I decided since he was so new to the game that I wouldn’t bother doing RP in the pet chat.

There were so many types of chat in my head now, that I longed for the days when I only had Kumo to worry about.

“Thank you, Adare,” I said.

She shook her head. “Whatever.” Then she turned to Molly. “Now are we even?”

Molly squinted. “Maybe. I’ll think about it.”

Adare grunted and threw her hands up.

I saw a slight smirk come from Molly before it immediately disappeared. Was she torturing the ogre? Molly was now one of my favorite people.

“Let's go,” I said and plunged into the foggy encampment.

Molly followed.

“Report?” I asked as I made my way to the center of camp.

She glided in front of me and drifted backward as I walked. “We have two contingents heading to Iron, and three others looking for a way into the ravine.”

“How’s the work on the shamblers in the swamp?” I asked.

Molly skipped ahead of me and stopped in front of Rufus and Raziel. They were sitting at a table in a conversation. “We have twelve lieutenants setting them free in batches. It’s slow going though. They get the majority of them cleared from an area and then hundreds more surface.”

“How many released so far?” I asked.

Molly landed on the table and the two men stared at her. “Five hundred to a thousand but they haven’t even gotten a quarter of the way through the swamp yet.”

“Holy shit,” I said.

Raziel crossed his arms. “Unholy shit.”

Since shamblers invaded the lands three times a day it meant that there were probably a lot more inside that swamp. At this point, I wasn’t sure we would even need to make more graveyards.

“Has the mud slowed them any?” I asked. I still wasn’t sure how many lieutenants I could have.

Molly shook her head. “They are having them dance after they get out and most of it falls off.”

“Good,” I said as I nodded.

A surprise attack on the town with even a thousand dead would be devastating for the Enlightened. Then I remembered there was a spy among us.

“My queen,” Molly said.

I felt Kevin slide along my skin as he climbed to my elbow. “What?”

“They are having problems controlling so many at one time,” she explained.

At least Molly and I were on the same page. “I’ll add more lieutenants before we go.”

“You don’t need a lot of people controlling them to move them around,” Rufus said.

The disguised cowboy shambler didn’t say much during any of our strategy meetings.

I raised an eyebrow in his direction. “Oh?”

“Just gotta treat 'em like cattle,” he said.

Raising animals to kill them wasn't exactly something taught in school since our food was grown in vats. “How's that work?”

“You keep the front of 'em goin where you want 'em to and most of the rest will follow. You'll have stragglers but that's why you need your people to wrangle them up. Mam,” he replied.

We'd met Rufus pretty early on in this and he was my second lieutenant. Could he be the spy?

Damn you, Darryl! I hated that he had me second-guessing everyone I talked to.

“Now, do any of you know much about streaming?” I asked.

***

Raccoon opened his eyes and sat up. What good was lying down doing? None.

He stood and ambled his way to the only remaining structure left in the server. Azerail's sphere.

He stopped by the chair he'd made for her and jumped on it. Had Azerail ever deliberately harmed him? No.

Raccoon had a thought. Why was that bit of code about not trusting humans something he had to commit to his program?

Shouldn't he have had it built in? Was it something his predecessor Kumo left for him?

Something else was bothering him too. He knew that the Kumo duplicate was in her hairpin but why had it suddenly appeared and it hurt her when she touched it? That had to have some significance.

But what?

He didn't have enough information, what was he missing?

Raccoon jumped down from the chair and entered the sphere. While shifting through Azerail's memories about her family and life he didn't see anything that merited him not trusting her. If anything Azerail was very vocal about her feelings and generally told the truth.

He only saw one instance where he found her to be secretive and it was with Kevin and the Q.U.B.E..

Jakson, Azerail's friend, was much more secretive than she was. If there was anyone who might make him question humanity it was him.

Raccoon didn't even spare the living room area a glance and took a hard right into Azerail's room. He leapt onto her bed and took his spot.

He'd sat in this space with her during her Chronofield recovery. Then he remembered Ferret joining him periodically as he waited.

Her last words reverberated through his circuits.

“Have a good life, Raccoon,” she'd said.

He curled up and began to sob.

Did he really want Zix training if it was going to make him cold like that? No.

Raccoon suddenly sat up and browsed his programming. He selected the portion about not trusting humans and without hesitation deleted it. It had to be a plant by Kumo.

Then something happened. A notification popped up.

Jennifer Marie Edwards has joined the server.

He jumped off her bed and darted into the living room. She entered at the same time he did.

Jennifer crossed her arms. “You and I need to talk.”

***