Haru sat in a dull grey room which was marked by only a grid painted with equally spaced intervals on the floor, walls, and ceiling. She was depressed by her situation. The bench she sat upon was just a blank cube. She lost count for how long she had been stuck in quarantine. With her feet dangling off the edge of the cube, she cradled her chin in her hands and stared at the featureless ground.

Thoughts about how Leonora was doing crossed her mind. When the nurses would come to check on the witch, they’d always give the same reply: no change. Meanwhile, apparently the devs also snatched up Vernal and quarantined him as well. Her kitty’s tendency to get hyperactive when cooped up for too long likely caused a problem. It was probably for the best that he didn’t have his sabretooth form right now.

While still wrapped up in her sadness and worry, at the opposite side of the room, very far from where Haru sat, the wall parted. Professor Min, along with two nurses emerged from the gap. This was a regular occurrence. At first, she would fly over excitedly, hoping her time in solitude was over, or that there was good news about Leonora.

But now the witch refused to get up. There wouldn’t be good news coming from those three.

After Min traversed the room, he folded his hands together and held them at his waist. “Hello Haru.”

Haru exerted a disenfranchised sigh. “Hello.” Her tone was gloomy, and she made no effort to hide it. She knew this was best for everyone, and especially the game, but wished she wasn’t being treated like a prisoner.

The professor pulled up her charts and started looking through them. “How are you feeling today?”

“No change.” The witch spoke without looking away from the floor. Her reply was a mimicry of the response she got from the nurses. But it was the truth. A tinge of weakness cropped up when over-exerting herself, but the witch felt otherwise normal.

Nodding with enthusiasm, Min read over her damage stats once more. They still showed all red zeroes. Except for her unknown damage type still being almost off the charts. “Well, today we’d like to run some tests, just to see if there’s anything dormant.”

Haru slid off her cube seat, resigned to her new role as guinea pig. “As usual.” She looked at each of the two nurses standing to Min’s left and right. “How is Leonora doing?”

Min pursed his lips and shook his head. “No change.”

As was the usual response. It was the one that frayed her nerves the most. Knowing her friend was on the brink of deletion and there was nothing she could do about it ate away at her sanity.

Haru sighed. “I’m ready when you are, professor.”

Min turned to the nurses and nodded. They both walked over to the middle of the nondescript room. Then, both reached down and touched the floor. Around them, about a dozen training dummies, similar to the ones provided to players to test their abilities, raised around them in a circle. After the dummies emerged, the nurses returned to accompany professor Min.

Min stepped away and the nurses followed behind him. Then he looked toward the exit for a moment. “Go ahead Haru.”

Summoning her staff, Haru targeted the nearest mannequin in the circle. That’s when she noticed another figure standing at the exit. They wore a brown robe with a hood that obscured their face. She hesitated to continue, unsure if they should have been there at all. With reluctance, she turned to the professor, who gave the witch a reassuring smile and encouragement with a nod.

Haru turned back to the targeting dummy. With one more glance to the robed figure afar, she readied to attack the mannequin. The orb of her staff accumulated light and then it surged forth a beam, evaporating the target.

The robed one recoiled. Then they began walking over to Min.

The professor adjusted his glasses while reading through the diagnostic log hovering before his face. “As anticipated, no change. It seems my initial hypothesis was correct. You are still critically infected, but whatever it is, cannot figure out how to properly debuff you.”

Haru leaned against her staff, growing more comfortable with having this ability. “That makes sense, I feel mostly normal now.”

The robed one reached Min, who turned and acknowledged him.

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“The Magi,” the robed one glanced at Haru, “have requested an audience with the defect.” He handed Min a scroll.

The witch puffed her cheek in frustration. To be considered a ‘defect’ rattled her. The gnawing feeling of the infection within her began to slowly wither her internals as irritation welled. Not wanting to allow the affliction to consume her, she swallowed the growing anger and tried to calm herself.

The professor let off an uncomfortable groan. “First a quarantine, now an audience.” He scratched his curly hair. “How troublesome. I suppose it can’t be helped considering the nature of the situation.”

The robed one turned and departed after handing Min the message.

With the wave of his hand, the professor dismissed the targeting dummies. “I suppose that will be all the experimentation we’ll need for today.”

Haru watched the robed one depart, then unsummoned her staff as the mannequins descended back into the ground. He said ‘The Magi’ requested an audience. She wasn’t familiar with any group or organization on the server that went by that name. The longer she stayed in quarantine, the less she felt she knew about her own game. Perhaps that was what bothered her the most about being confined here.

Min displayed his hand as to usher Haru toward the open exit. “Shall we go? The sooner, the better.”

Haru took a deep breath to calm her nerves and steel herself for whatever awaited at this audience. Then she took a step toward the exit. “Yes, let’s.”

As they departed from the quarantine room, they traveled down a long, nondescript hallway. On the left side, the same side as her own cell, a clear glass door revealed Vernal’s containment chamber. Inside was a near-replica of their apartment, complete with an image of his favorite windowsill with sun shining in.

Vernal laid on a red and gold, ornate daybed situated just beneath the image. He was sprawled on his back, while a nurse fed him Royal Choco Biscuits by hand. Each bite was followed with a satisfied sigh.

Haru stopped and spun on her heels, fuming the moment she spotted this and began hammering the glass with her fist. “This is no time for lounging around!” The dull thuds made it clear that the glass was soundproof. “All the while you’re just sitting there and getting fed, you fickle feline!” She grumbled, easing her outburst in realizing weakness was taking root.

Professor Min stood next to her and let off a playful chuckle. “What has got you so worked up? He’s doing the same thing as you, isolating himself in order to protect the game.”

The witch turned to him, confused by her own reaction and unsure of what set her off in the first place. “I… I don’t know.”

“I am curious.” Min started, then took a moment to take in the sights of Vernal’s cell. “The content of these chambers are formulated by the one they’re meant to contain. This is the place Vernal wants to be the most, so he’s there.” The professor pointed at the window and daybed. “But your cell was noticeably empty. Why do you think this is the case?”

Haru looked back at Vernal, still enjoying his chocolate cookies and pondered. It brought her endless joy to see players continue beyond her encounter, to grow and learn. But it would have been a lie to say that she didn’t feel out of place there. It took great effort to pull her punches, and wasn’t sure that, even if the need to hide her abilities was nonexistent, would have changed how she felt.

Her stats and skills were overwhelmingly misbalanced and where she fit into the game reflected that as well.

Silence grew between them as the witch was lost in self-reflection, unable to come up with a reasonable answer to the professor’s question.

Maybe it was the pained expression on her face, or just a sense of what she was thinking, but Min cleared his throat to break the quiet. “Perhaps it would be best to keep going. Give it some thought.”

The two exited the quarantine section of the academy and walked to the central stairwell. They ascended until they got to the door that led to the roof. Haru wondered why they were going up here. There were just some tables and chairs on the rooftop deck. It would be strange for an enigmatic group to be meeting in such a public, open air place.

But Min produced a keyring and inserted a key into the handle. With a series of twists and turns, the lock smacked, and the sound of metal hitting metal filled the stairwell. Then after replacing his keyring on his belt, he opened the door. Instead of the door revealing the rooftop, it exposed another set of stairs.

At the top, lit by torchlight, was a huge antechamber. The ceiling couldn’t be seen, as the walls disappeared into the darkness above. Opposite the stairwell was a set of silver double doors that reached almost up into the darkness. The very edge of the doorway was revealed by the light of braziers situated on both sides.

Haru didn’t know this place existed. She looked around the mostly dark area wondering what else this game kept hidden away.

Min took a deep breath and squared off with the entryway. On one of the doors was an eyelet with shutters that parted. From within the hole, a light shined forth, which engulfed him for a moment. Then with a hiss, the gateway began to part after the illumination dissipated and the grommet shuttered.

Within, a bell rang with deep resonance. The way to the far end of the room leading from the doorway was lined with a royal blue carpet. The air was thick with the smoke of incense.

The two marched into the hall in silence. This place was also lined with darkness. As they reached the far end, Haru found herself standing in a panoptic theater. Three seats were placed in a triangle equidistantly spaced apart. These thrones were perched on a higher level overlooking the hexagonal area in which Haru and Min stood.

A deep voice called out from above. “So, this little thing is what jeopardizes our entire project.”

Min bowed. He looked over to Haru. “Show some respect.”

The witch looked over to the professor and mimicked his gesture.

Min continued to bow. “Balthazar, allow me to expl—”

“Silence.” One of the three Magi, Balthazar interrupted. “Come then little one. Step into the light.”

Overhead, an oculus opened and lit a small section of the hexagonal area, revealing a podium in the exact center.

The Magus continued. “Let her defend herself.”