Like when going into the Chronofield a river of light grew in front of me. I absentmindedly touched it to steady myself.

I expected a slow and steady decline but this was different.

Virtual environments flashed before my eyes. Each one pulled me into it briefly. The first one had me suspended in the air with nothing but a beam of light to hold on to. It took me a few seconds but I realized I was on the top of a residential building. Before I could panic it changed.

I was suddenly in the mall watching people paused in mid-action. Some were walking, others were eating. Their hands and feet were seemingly stuck forever in mid-movement.

Another shift and I was back in the park devoted to Joan Kumar. Kevin and I had met there once. Suddenly time reversed until I stood in front of a car with a door open. Kevin was in there with his headphones on.

Everything changed again. I was outside the mall this time but in front of the hospital. It looked normal except for one little thing. On the sliding glass doors was a paper I'd never noticed before.

It was a square box with smaller squares in three of the corners. Inside of it was a nonsensical black pattern. As I stared at it I was sucked into another space.

The area was dark but familiar. A small plant sat in the only lit-up part of the room.

I smiled.

This was where I met Stephanie. I wondered if it was a simulation of her room because as far as I knew, connecting with her was a long and secure process.

Stephanie's voice echoed through the area. “Help me.” Then the environment slipped back to the doctor's office and swapped again.

I was in my sphere this time.

In each place, except for Stephanie's room, the suspended beam of light was a constant.

Stephanie's plea for help confused me. She'd never acted distressed or showed any emotion during my visits.

Something was very off about my home. I was in the living room but clothes and shoes were scattered everywhere. The little sink we had was full of cups. It wasn't like my parents to leave our home so unkempt.

I let go of the light and everything unpaused. The only real indication was the quiet hum of the fridge kicking in.

Then I heard silent breaths and turned. Jennifer was lying on the couch with her eyes closed.

My heart began to beat wildly. I didn't want to speak with her so I dashed through my parents' open door.

Hopefully, her and Raccoon would be busy figuring out where I was, rather than check the house.

Autumn was in bed. Memories of me sneaking into my parent's bedroom to sleep with them weaseled their way to the forefront of my mind.

I closed my eyes and an afterimage of her hung there but it didn't disappear. A long figure nearly as big as my mom leaped above her.

When I opened my eyes, Dolphin, her Zix, was hovering above her staring at me.

My body sagged and my eyes teared up. How long had it been since I talked to her? Was Autumn right? Did I find any answers by going into Dark Offerings?

I wasn't sure. Did the game matter at all? Outside the window, the sky had the beginnings of blue advancing on the darkness. Was it morning already?

“Hey Dolphin,” I said.

She strafed to my left. “A-Azerail?”

“Yeah, I know I should have come sooner,” I explained.

Dolphin encircled me. “Something's wrong with your avatar.”

“I think I broke my connection to Raccoon.” I pinched my fingers together and nothing happened. “I can't access my interface.”

She shook her head. “That shouldn't be possible.” Her hovering paused for a fraction of a second. “Your body is still in a coma.”

I shrugged. How did I explain that I wanted to get away from Jennifer so bad that I broke whatever that chord was?

“Why is the living room trashed?” I asked.

“They've been fighting,” she replied.

I approached my parent’s bed and sat on it. It didn't compress or react to my body at all. “I think I'm going to lie with her for a while.”

Dolphin nodded and clicked.

Careful to not disturb my mom I crawled along the wall and snuggled up next to her. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

***

MOMENTS AGO.

The silver spider named Kumori was forcefully pulled with Azerail through the network. She still carried his hairpin.

He'd been gathering memories as Azerail touched people with her Drain skill. The fog that muddled his mind was nearly clear.

They traveled past many locations until they arrived at the doctor's office.

A familiar paper hung on the door. Kumori didn't remember much from his past life. Most of those memories were so compressed that he wouldn't be able to access them until he got a new body. However, he knew of this place. How could he forget his birthplace?

Suddenly they were transferred to his creator's chambers.

The spider curled up trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. It had been a long time since he'd been home and he had to get new orders.

As the girl examined the opposite side of the room Kumori slashed the air and jumped into a small rift he had made.

He sank five levels deep into the Chronofield and emitted a pulse. Then he waited.

After a few seconds, his maker, the Remnant, appeared. She was a single leaf from the sprig of a tree.

“You're not my creation. Where is Kumori?” she asked and examined the spider. “You’re a backup? A copy? I see.”

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“I follow the Azerail girl,” Kumori said.

Suddenly the spider was overcome by a large pulse of energy much like his own. It faded as quickly as it started. It was a data dump that had much more information than he could handle. It was from… himself.

A memory flashed of his other self attempting to crawl through an unbreakable glass chamber. The little spider was forced to dump some memories and exchange them for what the other him, had sent.

Once the information was transferred he turned to his maker. “A message from my original has arrived and it is vital information.”

He transferred the data to his maker.

“I see, this changes things,” she said. “Here are your new instructions.”

The spider hopped in excitement as he downloaded the data.

***

Raccoon was in panic mode. He could sense Azerail but not. It was very confusing.

“Where did she go?” Jennifer asked as she paced.

He shrugged. “It says she’s still here.”

“That could be—”

Her clone, he finished her thought.

Raccoon had a vague grasp of what had happened. Azerail had somehow cut ties with him. It was something he didn’t think was possible.

Jennifer and him had studied the clone in extreme detail. They’d spent the equivalent of a month in the Chronofield. They couldn’t get past the corrupted data walls put in place. Who put them there? Was it Kumori or was it Azerail’s original Fox Zix?

Raccoon was betting that it was Kumori because it seemed the sword and hairpin were similar in construction.

They’d been studying when Jennifer had the equivalent of an “Ah ha!” moment but wouldn’t reveal what she had discovered.

He didn’t want to use the parental controls on Azerail but Jennifer threatened to delete him. She was a Penurious and knew ancient technological techniques so he didn’t want to take any chances. He’d finally come to terms with his freedom and didn’t want it taken away.

Jennifer sighed and sat down. She had a hollow look in her eyes.

“What did you find out?” Raccoon asked.

She closed her eyes. “I can’t say.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s insane and I’m not sure I’m right,” she replied.

Raccoon nodded. “She can pull a split version of herself away.”

“We already discussed that.”

“What if she found a way to travel to another location?” Raccoon asked.

Jennifer nodded. “Then let's start checking the AR network for her. I’ll start at our real sphere and you should check Kevins. Send me a message with what you found.”

“No problem, will—”

She disappeared.

“Do,” he said to no one.

Raccoon split himself a dozen times and began his search.

***

My attempt to fall asleep had failed so I lay there attempting to meditate. Every few minutes Dolphin would peek over Mom's shoulder and catch my eye.

At least an hour had passed. How did I know? The sky outside had changed to a much more vibrant blue. There was still a dark tint to it as if the sky hadn't thrown off a part of the night yet.

It made me wonder what time they wanted to go see Doctor Stevens. Without Raccoon or my interface, I didn't know what time we were supposed to be there and I forgot to look last night when I'd agreed to go.

I heard a clink and someone shuffling around in the living room. Dolphin's head popped up at the same time mine did.

Jennifer must have given up her search. For some reason, with Autumn by my side, I didn't fear talking to her anymore.

Time passed and the disturbances from the other room continued. A split image of Dolphin flew through the wall and then came back merging with herself.

“Jennifer?” I asked.

She nodded.

Autumn moaned and shifted to her back.

“Hi mama,” I said.

Her eyes opened slightly then she rubbed them. “Hi, baby girl.” She seemed so nonchalant. Then her eyes opened wide and she turned to me. “Azerail! You're home!”

I nodded.

Footsteps came rushing our way. Jennifer poked her head through the doorway and stared.

Autumn pulled me into a hug and I held on to her. I missed her and started to cry.

Jennifer walked into the room, her cat close behind. She reached out a hand and then pulled back. She then stepped away from her body and turned to her cat. Arackulous, I need to tell Autumn.

You mustn’t, he replied.

I blinked and pulled away from Autumn. “Mom, you named your Zix Arackulous?”

Autumn stared at me with her eyebrows nearly touching and then she followed my gaze to Jennifer.

How did you… Jennifer paused and swallowed. The parts of her merged as she took a step forward.

Autumn sat up. What's going on Zix?

I think Azerail can hear your thoughts. Dolphin said.

“I can,” I replied.

Was being disconnected from Raccoon what allowed this to happen?

Raccoon ran into the room as if my thoughts had summoned him. Which was what normally happened but still.

Azerail, are you okay? he asked.

I nodded. Yeah, but that was really weird.

What happened? he asked as he leaped onto the bed. When he got close to me I noticed something was dragging behind him. It was the cable I'd snapped.

Can you see that? I asked while pointing at the link.

Everyone's eyes turned to where I gestured.

“What are you pointing at honey,” Autumn asked.

“I sort of broke my connection to Raccoon and don't have access to my interface,” I said. “I can see the cord that connected us.”

Jennifer's mouth dropped and she turned away.

If I was going to show Kevin the narrative design I promised, I would need Raccoon so I reached for his link and a second strand appeared at my side. I picked up both and reattached them. Only when they reconnected did the pain in my hands start again so I let go.

“I can feel you again,” Raccoon said and his eyes closed. He must have been sifting through my memories because he said, “One of the bots must have missed that QR Code at the doctor's office.”

I shrugged. “I figured that's what Kevin was talking about.”

“QR code?” Autumn asked.

Only then did Jennifer turn around, wiping at her eyes. “I haven't heard that term in a long time.”

“The Remnant looked different in there,” Raccoon said.

It was pretty weird that I wasn't tired. I sat up and gave Raccoon a few pats.

“Yeah, Steph— I mean the Remnant usually looks different for everyone. At least that's what my teacher told me,” I said.

Wait, was it my teacher? Or was it Stephanie?

Arackulous and Dolphin stared at each other and then blinked out of existence.

“What time are we supposed to go to the doctor?” I asked.

“In thirty minutes,” Raccoon responded.

“What? It's nine already?” Autumn asked as she ran for her closet.

Jennifer joined her and spun. “We still need to talk.”

“We can talk at the doctor's,” I said as I stood. “I'm going to Kevin's, he promised to come with me.”

Both of my parents ran to me and hugged me.

Autumn broke her grip first and said, “You're going to walk there?”

I nodded.

“Okay, we'll meet you there,” she said.

Jennifer lingered. She took in tiny gasps of air. She was crying again.

I hugged her tight and felt my eyes moisten.

She eventually pulled away and took my hands into hers. We gazed into each other's eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I replied.

As she let go I turned to Raccoon. “Can you take us to his front door?”

He nodded. You know I missed you too.

I smiled and picked him up. We were only disconnected for a few hours.

I know it was almost forever, he responded, his voice very serious.

Then the room blinked out of existence.

***