Molly hated her real life and spent the majority of it in VR. She could be anyone, so long as that someone wasn't herself.

When she was young she didn't do well in school. Her doctors had created her a male avatar. She couldn't handle the dysphoria she experienced while using it. Having other kids around only made it worse. Even if it was only in AR.

A proposed solution by her doctors was to have a Zix teach her instead since her family was against her using a different gender avatar. The proposed situation was better than being around all those other people so she took it. She’d never interacted with a Zix before but she soon found out that they were incredibly boring.

Often she would wish she were somewhere else, just like today.

Inethiel slammed a fist on the table. “We need to—”

“No, you need to see what I have to show you first!” Raziel interrupted.

If fire could blaze from Inethiel’s eyes, it would be. Raziel would probably be engulfed in flames. Crispier than a crawdad.

Molly tried to take in both sides of the conversation but they kept talking over each other. They had different ideas of what everyone should do and neither of them wanted to budge an inch.

A chill passed through the room. Everyone but Molly, Rufus, and Raziel froze.

Damnit Inethiel, you can't force people to do what you want, Molly thought to herself.

“Listen to each other!” Molly demanded.

Molly didn't usually raise her voice and even though the other undead couldn't move their eyes shifted in her direction.

Inethiel transferred her gaze to Molly and squinted. After a long stare down she said, “Fine!” and pointed to the corner where her cot had been. “Raziel?”

The large skeletons' bones clinked as he turned, sighed, and strode over to the corner.

After breaking her stare from Molly Inethiel did the same.

A wave of relief spilled over every fiber of Molly's being.

Finally, they could get some work done.

***

Raccoon didn’t like the narrow confines of the cave they were traveling in. Molly was holding him tightly but it wasn’t helping. He concentrated on his home server and a version of himself appeared in his favorite spot.

It was where he and the Zix Azerail called Ferret liked to meet up. This place was his home and he felt most comfortable there. Despite his attempt to distract himself from the game, this place only reminded him of Ferret and she was busy.

If Raccoon had been connected to the Zix network, he would have been privy to Ferret's real identifier and with that, he could chat with her anywhere, even if she were training.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t privy to such a wonderful thing.

The spot they had picked was a little clearing with a lot of room to run and play. He had a small spot picked out on the edge where they had pressed down some of the grass. They would use this spot to lie down and talk.

Raccoon was given access to the server’s admin privileges and that was an amazing thing. They had increased the memory of the place over tenfold. He could create anything he wanted and expand on his program further than what was possible in an implant.

He was able to make copies of himself just about anywhere on the town's network now, which was a pretty big deal. When he closed his eyes he was able to bring in all the data the city provided in real time.

Most of the information was useless so he created a filtering process that would only keep useful information.

He was almost finished scouring the infoBases so this newfound ability was just what he needed.

Life was good.

***

Koffer Deathbane tapped a gauntleted finger against his armored elbow. The sand table before him showcased Chardance and the surrounding area.

He picked up a small figurine that looked like a shambler and placed it on the mound next to the Plagued Forest.

“They can't have just disappeared!” Lily protested. “What about the streams?”

Koffer shook his head and leaned in close to the table. “Not a single undead stream in our zone.”

“How the hell did they pull that off? There are hundreds of them! Do you think they all logged out?” Lily asked.

Koffer picked up the figurine and his lips quirked to one side. “Where would I go if I were you?”

“Hello?” Lily asked.

They were in their camp's command tent. Lily was in her civilian clothes. Koffer preferred for her to be ready at a moment's notice but she disliked her armor. Neither of them were streaming so it didn't matter.

Lily wasn't much help when it came to matters like this so he tended to ignore her, especially when he was thinking. He'd never fought against an actual person before Inethiel. NPCs dumbly pressed toward the town and that was it. “Where would you go, Lily?”

“Now you want my input?” she snided.

Koffer took a deep breath and then released it. His cheeks puffed as the air passed over the sand, sending a few granules tumbling away. She could be anywhere.

“Fine,” Lily said as she uncrossed her legs and stood from her makeshift throne. She sashayed over to Koffer. Her hands were up in an over-the-top feminine tilt as she leaned over. “There.” she pointed at the river next to town.

It was true that the water passed through Chardance and you could move a lot of people through that way but there was no access to it. Unless there was a secret way he didn't know about. He shook his head, his spies would have told him about it if it existed. “How would they get there unseen?”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Gerardo said the grays entered the Frog. Like, all of them,” she explained.

He'd heard Gerardo's report and didn't trust the man. Trusting one of the grays wasn't in the cards. The grays were all going to hate him by the end of the week so it was best to distance himself from them as much as possible.

Gerardo was fully devoted to Lily though so his words did carry some weight.

“Where would you go after that?” he asked.

Lily took a moment and tapped her teeth with a manicured nail. Koffer hated it when she did that.

“Don't look at me like that,” Lily complained.

He took a backward step from the table and gestured toward it. Once he learned about sand tables he'd always wanted one. They were the low-tech equivalent of those holographic ones depicted in old movies. It took up a lot of the back end of the tent but it was worth every penny he paid for it.

With a squint, Lilly pointed. “There.”

Koffer strode next to her to get a better vantage point. “The swamps? Why in the hell would they go there?”

“You asked where I would go and that's it,” she said while spinning and trotting back to her throne.

His mouth parted then snapped shut. “Do you know how hard it would be traveling upstream in that? It would take them two days of real life time to get to the Graveyard over there.”

Lily shrugged and sat down. “It's where I would go if I were her.”

“Yeah, but why?” he asked.

She smiled. “Because it's hard. That bitch does everything the hard way.”

“With three or four hundred people though? That in itself would be insane,” he said while shaking his head. “No fucking way she takes that route.”

Koffer snatched a yardstick secured in a rack and pointed it at the downstream exit that led to the grassland. “I'm going to send a small contingent of men here.”

“Whatever, don't listen to me. They'll find nothing there,” she said.

Lily could be so annoying sometimes. No one would be stupid enough to go that way. Even someone as stubborn as Azerail.

“Are the troops ready for tonight's raid?” Lily asked.

Koffer laughed. “The underground is all cleared out.”

“Even the orc and goblin stalls?” she asked.

He nodded. “They did as asked and will be taking over the whole thing.”

“Then what about the seven pm zombie invasion?” she asked while drumming her nails against the throne.

That was the least of their worries. “A few can't show but most of the major players are ready for them.”

Lily sighed. “I guess there's nothing else left to do but wait then?”

Koffer ignored her comment and went back to mulling over his map.

***

Raccoon jumped for joy as Ferret appeared next to him.

“Hihi,” he said as he mimicked her dance.

Ferret's mouth opened as she let out a few dooks. She dashed away, then back, and jumped on Raccoon's back. She slid off and then zoomed off again.

Raccoon bared his pointy teeth in a smile and chased after her.

They sped through the field tackling each other and playing. At one point Raccoon hid in the taller grass while Ferret wasn't looking and when she zoomed by he jumped out and chittered at her.

She leapt into the air a good meter high and Raccoon rolled on the grass laughing.

Ferret jumped on him and joined his laughs with giggles.

Life was definitely good.

***

Molly danced on the surface of the river alongside Raziel.

The water drifted past the skeleton's now unarmored body. He was easily able to pass through the liquid.

It made sense to Molly that he should be able to walk through it so easily. There was less mass for the water to press against.

“It doesn't make sense,” Raziel said.

Inethiel was at the head of their group but far enough away that she may or may not be able to hear their conversation.

Molly slid forward skidding along the surface as if she were ice skating. “What doesn't?”

“If we destroy the town, where are the other players supposed to go?” he asked.

It was a good question. The undead had far fewer in numbers than the Enlightened. Inethiel even had friends who ran shops. Would she let some Enlightened work there? Most of the shop owners played the game as well as ran their businesses.

Molly didn't know how to respond to his question so she spread her arms out and shrugged.

“She doesn't seem to care about what I found either,” he complained.

A rock was coming up so Molly used it as a springboard to jump impossibly high into the air. She drifted down and floated next to Raziel. “What did you find?”

“Something new,” he replied.

“Yeah, but what?”

Raziel swiped a hand through Molly in an obvious attempt to shoo her away. When she didn't move he grabbed her leg and his hand passed through it. “Did you get new gear?”

“My dagger has been absorbing part of the experience I gained and it hit a new threshold a few days ago,” Molly said. Then she giggled and it echoed around them.

Raziel scratched his skull as he pondered her words. “You can go fully intangible now? That wasn't an illusion?”

“What is real?” she asked as began a quiet chant.

The world suddenly shifted as Molly released her spell on Raziel. He stopped in front of her and she smiled.

Molly lifted a hand and a bulbous window appeared in front of her. It was a way for her to observe and guide her mirage. She peered through it.

Raziel lay on the ground, his eye sockets dark as the deepest cave. Pinpricks of light appeared in those dark pits and brightened as he became fully aware.

“What? Where am I?” he asked.

He was deep in a thicket of an overgrown forest. “Raziel,” Molly said.

“Inethiel? What the hell is going on?” he asked as he grabbed a tree and slammed a fist into it.

Molly ensured the environment reacted as it should. The window followed Molly as she pressed a finger to Raziel's skull. “Show it to me.”

“Is th-this way, I think,” he said.

Time sped up as Raziel ran through the forest and the mirage adjusted to his projected perspective.

The landscape shifted and Raziel didn't seem to notice as he entered the Fields of Woe. Behind him was a foggy illusion of Inethiel that wouldn't take on her features until he looked at her.

They ran for what seemed like ages until a blurry black structure began to take form in front of him.

“Molly,” a voice as cold as ice said from behind her.

While she did have a heart in the game and most of her other organs, they didn't function. Her heart actually beat for a moment as she screeched.

The spell she had been holding collapsed and the window in front of her shattered.

Raziel took two elongated steps and turned around. The white lights in his sockets darted around. “Molly? What the hell!”

She wasn't as concerned about him as she was by who had spooked her. She slowly spun.

Inethiel spoke in a low, almost growing tone, “Would you two stop playing around?”

Raccoon was on her shoulder curled up in a little ball.

A whistle sounded twice from the front of their contingent where Inethiel was supposed to be.

Two blows meant a threat was spotted ahead.

“Shit,” Inethiel spat.

Raziel's and her eyes locked for a moment before the both of them dashed forward past a few shamblers who had stopped to see what was going on.

Molly knew this would happen. Koffer was smart and a good tactician. She knew he would see through their plans.

She watched a lot of his streams and if she weren't dedicated to the undead she would have loved to be a mage in his army.

It was probably a scouting party.

Molly took in a deep breath and let it out. Her vocal passive swept through the area making a few of the shamblers shutter. It made her smile.

She lowered herself and glided across the water. Her toes pointed downward as little trails were left behind her as she chased after her two friends.

***