“Read it!” I demanded. The other Travelers were getting far too close. Behind me loomed a wall which limited the choices.

[Morrigu’s Echo] lay far away. My other hand was taken up keeping Cathryn nearby. She was a lot younger than I thought, smaller, rail thin. It felt like holding a board that squirmed and ground teeth.

“What is this?” Katelyn the Crying had more than enough defenders on her side now. One of my delivered messages sat in her hand. Katelyn looked like an older sister, far more filled in and nearly plump.

“Just open it up and read the stupid message!” My second chance to help Xin’s memories rested on this. Under normal circumstances, this would be aggravating. With over ten other players shoring up sides, my tension rapidly reached an all-time high.

“What in God’s name is going on in here?” A female broke in. Hotpants finally made her appearance. I glanced up above quickly trying to figure out where the rest of our, Carver’s, gang was.

“More factionless?” One of the Traveler’s stuttered. The large man that suffered my kick earlier groaned while crawling around. “Why now?”

“Because you’re an idiot. You, and all the others here.” Hotpants had a new staff in one hand. She looked two steps away from planting either end into someone’s face.

A lot of people protested. The only one that really registered belonged to Beth. “Hey now.” My niece said.

“Well, you are. God. All of you.” HotPants frowned at the mixing of players. Most of them looked young.

“What is that!? What did you give her?” Cathryn the Angry shouted. Her surge of movement caused a few players to make halfhearted attempts in my direction. I yanked her back.

“Not so fast.” I tried to keep calm, but everything seemed to conspire against me. Too many players, and I teetered on the edge of a second failure. My niece being here in the mix didn’t help.

“Who’s he?” Someone next to Beth tried to whisper but failed.

“My uncle, the one I said might join us. He started two months ago in real time.” Beth’s return whisper contained a trace of awe mixed with amusement. I tried not to smile with pride in my success at being useful.

“Bullshit. With three hundred brawn? Even high Ranks are lucky to sit at three hundred anything.” One of the attackers said. This conversation contained no privacy.

“Got to be a lie.” A shaky person that wore too much dark green sounded doubtful. Her face was wrapped by layers of light looking cloth.

[Brawn]: is the baseline measure of physical strength belonging to each Traveler. The effectiveness of [Brawn] can change based on situation, angle of effort, and mental status. Each point in [Brawn] will impact different body parts in varied amounts.

Example, a user with [Brawn] at 50 can regularly lift 50 lbs. with little to no strain on their arms or legs.

“Kicks like three hundred.” The large, burly man in bondage gear had a giant welt on his skin from my boot imprint. Part of me felt proud to have knocked anyone back so hard. Bondage Gear managed to get upright, but the health bar above his head flashed red.

I was surprised that no one went crazy and started murdering each other. Part of me expected stupid battle frenzy when dealing with other players. The scene outside this castle only reinforced my perceptions.

“What if he’s telling the truth? Maybe an Ultimate Edition?” The person next to Beth guessed. “You know they catch up faster.” My cheeks stayed calm. Neither eye twitched in response to the Traveler’s accurate guess.

Acting successful!

* [Act: Straight Face] gained!

* [Act: Hostage Taker] gained!

* [Act: Questionable Sanity] gained!

“Keep back.” I quickly swung [Morrigu’s Gift] at one of the attacking Travelers. Cathryn the thin and Angry almost made it out of my grip.

“Ahh!” The younger, rail thin, princess screamed loud enough to ring in my ears.

“No, you’re both staying here until you read the message,” I said while trying to shake off her minor daze effect. The other players nearby looked to have equally suffered from the noise.

“Why should I do anything you say.” This young woman I had captured was all over the board in her attitude. Overbearing, rude, haughty, snide, it was every annoying emotion ever developed rolled into one being.

I wanted to explain how there was a knife to her throat right now, but someone beat me to it.

“Look, you’re clearly still in diapers. I bet if you both stopped to read the letter he would let you go.” HotPants said. She was resting on her staff. The blonde woman with her red highlights looked annoyed and tired.

“Can’t read it if you’re dead,” I said, pleased that someone else made the point for me.

“I refuse to read it unless Katelyn is killed. You do that for me, I’ll give you whatever you wish.” She disturbed me with her attempt at being sultry and suggestive. Cathryn was about six years too young to even remotely consider. On top of that Xin still existed in some form.

One of the Travelers next to me looked almost hurt. The Cathryn’s offer struck him wrong somehow. I tried not to retch in my mouth. Teenagers just didn’t understand how badly they judged character at that age.

“Counter offer, read the letter, or you both die here, today,” I growled in annoyance. Hopefully, my [Acting] skill would turn this into a credible threat. I did not want to have to commit any harm upon Locals of this digital world.

“Uncle Grant!” Beth’s shout was drowned among a chaos of other people.

“Sorry, munchkin, I’ll explain it later, but either they read the letters or none of this matters. None of what I’ve done…” Doing all those trials. Pretending to be William Carver for a month. Shivering on a mountain with Shazam. Dealing with Requiem and his constant physical abuse. “None of it matters. This is my only way through.”

“Surely we can talk about this.” A man in shining metal armor said. He looked to be a commander or leader to one of the parties.

“They read it. Or I, I have to kill them. That’s how it’s got to be.” I ground my teeth and pressed the blade closer to Cathryn’s neck. Blood trickled down in a thin line causing people to gasp.

Someone’s lips were moving which meant a [Lithium] might be chanted. Whatever it was scared me into action. [Morrigu’s Gift] shifted into a larger blade form. Someone thought there was enough time to run for Cathryn but [Morrigu’s Echo] had already been [Recall]ed into my hand.

I shifted my second weapon and hurled it through the crowd towards a Traveler trying to cast something under his breath. My foot came up and gave a push kick at another player that got too close. A moment later [Morrigu’s Gift], my main weapon from William Carver was back in hand and at Cathryn’s neck.

“Very well, Mister.” One of the attackers backed up hastily. Their royal figurehead for this war needed to stay alive. I banked on them staying peaceful in the face of my threat.

“Hermes. Just Hermes.” I gave my Continue Online name.

Those on my niece’s side, the defenders, didn’t seem upset at all. They were also amazingly non-aggressive. Maybe they hoped to resolve this peacefully or at least without casualties on their side.

“The Greek messenger god?” A Traveler said. It looked like Katelyn’s team felt perfectly comfortable bunching together and backing up slowly.

“That’s my job. Messenger to the Voices.” I curved the blade around the hostage’s neck a bit more then reached for player inventory where my second letter was stored.

“You are no messenger.” Cathryn sneered. She found the courage to be rude and bold while a knife loomed across an artery.

“Read the title, princess,” I said.

“I have no means to do so, I am not Traveler, and neither are you.” She sounded downright upset. “You’re some slob who’s bitter about their failure.”

I shook from the statement. “What?”

“What could you mean? He nearly died doing his duty for our father.” Katelyn’s comment came from across the room at her sister. The wording touched on a buried memory. I looked around in confusion trying to keep an eye on the other players and both princesses.

“He failed! He sat there and let my father, along with so many others, die to poison.” Cathryn turned up towards me while her health bar took a scratch from [Morrigu’s Gift]. “It was your job to test the food and you failed.” The Angry princess said to me.

“What are you talking…” then it hit me. That was one of the first things I had ever done in Continue Online. She had to be talking about the [King's Taste Tester] event during my trials.

Event! King's Taste Tester

A food tester!  You were asked to sample the King's food for poisons, and that you did.  A bit here, a bit there, and perhaps a bit too much of the lamb if the truth was to be told.

With a keen sense of smell you detected that some items were tainted.  Discolored ones too were removed from the King's potential feast.  However many slipped by your nose.  

When it came to the actual tasting, you found a truly deadly poison and nearly died.  Of course there were all the others you missed.  This kingdom was due for a change in regime anyway.

Royalty may recognize you as a man who has sacrificed for his country.

Knights and guards may recognize you as the man who let a King die.

Near death has reduced your endurance for the next few days.

“Uncle Grant?” My niece Thorny, Beth, whatever, said. She sounded confused and worried. I told myself that everything happening now was for Xin. A woman who I couldn’t save from the train wreck could be saved here.

Goodness. That felt like an unfair throw back. More to the point, how had James worked that into the backstory of the very game? Either the Voice had clearly abused everything to insert my face into an artificial construct's past, or both these girls were mistaken.

“It will be okay if they do what they’re told.” I did my best to keep calm and level headed.

“You’re not really going to kill her, are you?” Beth asked.

“If I have to, I will.” I hated, hated, hated lying to Beth about anything. My face managed to keep fairly straight. That silly [Act: Straight Face] already paid off.

My mind flickered back to the issue with my original Ultimate Edition trials. One thing had become clear to me recently, the Voices plotted long and deep. James picked each trial in the room, having one come back to face me like this should have been expected. After all, [Red Imp]s hate green, and I had stood in it.

Xin’s ghost in the machine haunting me since day one of the game was no accident. Dusk himself followed me around. Then there was SheHulk, also known as Elane. Part of me grew chill and the back of my neck tingled with the edge of an epiphany. Vice President Riley had pointed it out, they were screening me, testing me for something.

No, I shook my head. Now was not the time. Therapy said focus on one item, solve it, then move on. Too many issues would overwhelm me and spiral everything back down to the pits of depression.

“Read the letter.” I waved it in my other hand. [Morrigu’s Gift] still pressed against Cathryn’s neck.

“No.” She said, resolute in her defiance.

A familiar set of jaws clacked together after a yawn. I tilted my head back a little.

“Dusk!” I shouted. The little guy had always been nearby. Now he would be perfect to add credibility to my claim. A [Messenger’s Pet].

Dusk leapt down and spun a lazy circle over our heads. Finally, he headed for the wall and clung to it like a soaring gecko. Or a flying squirrel, dragon, bundle of neatness. I liked him a lot, even if he was part of the [NPC Conspiracy] to test my sanity.

“Look, sister,” Katelyn said, one finger pointed upward towards Dusk. The [Messenger’s Pet] crawled down the wall a few more feet and onto my shoulder. “He has a Messenger's Pet.”

“So.” Cathryn’s eyes were blinking so fast. Her heartbeat sped a little. I could feel her rapidly losing any composure she had left. Dusk yawned then coughed out a small ball of fire that sizzled the princess's hair.

“So take the message. You know as well as I, a Messenger’s Pet means there is something to tell us.” Katelyn tried to step past her guards, but they refused to part.

“Fine.” The Angry princess in my hands snorted. “I’ll console myself in the fact that this fiend will soon be dead.” Cathryn yanked the letter out of my hand. The seal cracked as she unrolled the letter. I held my breath until the system message displayed success.

Message Delivered to: Katelyn

Message Status: Read

Message Delivered to: Cathryn

Message Status: Read

I let her go, and [Blink]ed to the balcony above. My part in this crazy fiasco ended right here. In the future I would avoid player versus player stupidity which involved Locals. Maybe Cathryn’s army would lunge for Katelyn’s, maybe the players would snarl and posture. I didn’t care anymore. Both sides were left to their own devices.

No one followed me.

I found a high spot on the top of the castle and hid. That was where I sat shaking and trying to keep myself together.

This had not been my plan in life. Nothing about those recent actions struck true to the self-image I had built over the decades. Part of me felt lost, confused, and flustered about the huge betrayal of myself that had just occurred.

At least I didn’t have to kill anyone. No, the game reduced everything down to holding one woman at knife point after saving the other from spells being cast.

Mixed up chuckles came out as I thought about it. A hand held out, but it was shaking. The beating inside my chest felt louder with every passing moment. Near maddening thoughts crawled across my mind.

I had held a young girl at knifepoint for the chance to save some digital rendition of the woman I loved. The woman who haunted every moment of my life the minute any mental walls came tumbling down. The one I had danced with for hours every night before playing this silly game.

What exactly had the Voices turned me into?

This was batty.

“No, I am crazy.” I said. “Outright mental.”

God. Beth had been present for that entire act. Her uncle’s desperation. Liz might see it next, then after that would come the silent judgment and questioning glances. Liz loved me, she supported me, but I was still the weak one in our family. Despite us being twins part of her always treated me like a baby brother.

For a moment, I stared over the edge and wondered what would happen if I stepped off. Then part of me remembered this was just a game. Stepping off here would be useless.

Damn. I told James that the thought of suicide hadn’t occurred to me for a while. Part of me had hoped that maybe this game had cured me. But reality never solved anything this quickly. A month in real life? Four months in-game? My character had come a long way. There were a lot of things that had happened to me, but none of that meant my condition was cured.

The answer should be the same. Focus on one thing at a time, remember my exercises. Soon pacing around the tower’s top turned to imaginary dancing. A tight ballroom sway and idle usage of the [Hum] skill pulled me back from the edge.

After a while, I felt better. ‘Messages Delivered’ went out to the Voices above. Once that happened I went back to dancing, imagining how much better the world would be if only this Xin were real enough. Up here, in the solitude of wind hundreds of feet up, things felt almost right. The height didn’t bother me like it might have a few months ago.

An hour passed in-game. Below, there was a clear end of the war occurring. Dead bodies were being carted around. Players vanished in digital special effects. Most of it was muffled and indistinct.

Thorny: Uncle Grant?

I did a few more spins around the tower top, but the moment drifted away. This location contained no partner to dance with. Finally, I addressed the message from my niece.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Hermes: Hi, Beth. Sorry about that.

Thorny: That was incredible, and insane, but awesome, what was that skill? Can you teach me? Katelyn says thank you, you should come meet Mister C! He was stuck outside the wall and says you whooshed by him.

Hermes: It’s a long story. Not right now though, I need to cool off after that.

Thorny: Okay! Are you coming over for dinner this weekend?

Hermes: Sure.

Thorny: Tell me all about it then! I know mom will be annoyed, but I’m dying to know. No, wait, I’ll find you.

I tried not to feel bittersweet about her word choice. Beth, my niece who flirted with death in this world like it was a sugar high. It felt wrong that she took it so nonchalantly. Instead of letting those feelings show I just sent a ‘sure’ back and sat down.

Then sun slowly set in the distance. No response from the Voices above made it through. This waiting game felt annoyingly familiar. They were either debating things in that strange room of blackness or waiting on another event.

Ten minutes later a hand came over the tower's lip. Attached to the limb was a female that huffed and groaned while pulling. It sounded familiar. I bit one lip while debating if fleeing would be best.

Finally, after a few minutes and a close call in which she almost slipped, SweetPea made it up top. She rolled to one side and scrambled back towards the tower's tip. We were a long way off the ground.

I raised an eyebrow and gave a small wave. The young player pulled down her knitted cap. A few months in-game hadn’t changed her shy actions.

“Mister Carver?” She finally spoke up.

“No.” I shook my head while biting a lip. “William Carver is dead.”

“But you have his weapon and the little dragon.” She actually looked teary about my denial. It felt strange to see that an old man meant so much to her.

“Dusk, his name is Dusk.” I said. The [Messenger’s Pet] was flying about killing small birds that looked like pigeons. He seemed content to let me dance about the tower's top without supervision.

“But…”

“I’m not William, SweetPea, I’m sorry.”

“I told you it wasn’t him.” Shadow faded in nearby. I didn’t even feel the need to jump. He certainly reached new heights with those stealth skills.

“He knows about the Legacy Wish, though!” Awesome Jr.’s voice shouted from below where he remained.

“And that old man was a player! I finally figured out what he meant!” HotPants was down with Awesome Jr. somewhere. I could imagine an upset look on her face mixed with pride.

I could only smile. These four were interesting. They had crossed my mind off and on over the course of my adventures as Hermes. Seeing them here at this intense battle was a dose of nostalgia. As if everything returned to familiar shapes.

“I’m not Carver, but I can tell you he died happy.”

“Are you sure? We let him down at the end. We…”

“No, Carver didn’t have much life in him, not anymore. You all gave him a hero's parting.” I tried to reassure them. William Carver’s autopilot expressed happiness regarding the whole process. “I think you all did an awesome job.”

“Awesome’s my father!” Awesome Jr. shouted up. There was a solid whack that sounded like wood being cracked. “Ow!”

“Well?” HotPants said in a low voice.

Footsteps clearly sounded on the brick stairs. My humming must have drowned them out before. Or the shouts from below where players still roamed about the courtyard and battlefield. Requiem would have been at home out there looting the dead for a few extra dollars.

My face twisted for a moment.

“Who are you all? Do you know Un…Hermes?” Beth’s voice came up from below as well.

“Ummm…we’re not sure.” Awesome Jr. said. He seemed to be answering for the entire group. There was a pause in the conversation.

“Adam?” Beth said at long last.

“Elizabeth?” Awesome Jr. responded. She must have recognized him from real life. Beth turned almost giddy in one word. She never wavered in that bubbly response to situations.

“Beth.” She even managed to sound happy when correcting someone. “So if you’re here, then is Melissa?”

“Yeah, she’s up there talking to that Hermes guy.” Awesome Jr. said. He sounded a bit older than Requiem did. The highs and lows were easier to pick out in all four of their voices now that my hearing wasn’t muddled by Old Man Carver.

“That’s my Uncle.” She sounded proud.

They chatted away. I started to fade out since the messenger’s tube finally heated as something came in from the Voices. My eyes closed and lips flattened together.

“Player mesh in action, who knew?” Beth’s face probably had that glowing smile to it. I vaguely remembered her telling me the game matched us up with people we knew out in reality.

My fingers slid across the tube's cap slowly. I took a few deep breaths before opening it. SweetPea and Shadow were chatting with Beth down below. Probably about me or each other, my brain could barely focus on anything.

I pulled out the short note. A gut feeling told me of impending failure and disappointment. This small letter couldn’t possibly be good news.

Hermes,

Can you kill a man?

- :]

The Jester. My heart skipped a beat and blood ran cold. The top of this tower suddenly felt a bit more chilly. Despite the fear in my heart, I wrote a message back. ‘Will it help save whatever remains of Xin?’ the response said.

“Are you okay, Hermes?” My niece asked. I shook my head back and forth. No, this situation felt a million miles away from right or ‘okay’.

“He doesn’t look good.” SweetPea scooted to the edge and responded to the others for me.

“Rough day.” I muttered. A second message came down from above.

Hermes,

Perhaps. You are no longer able to complete the quest in our world. Can you complete it in yours? Can you kill Requiem Mass?

- :]

They were really driving this point home. I felt badgered into a one-sided situation. Like they were trying to reduce my life to a childish question where there were only two choices. Xin, or Requiem, which life meant more?

For Xin? There was no good answer to that. Right now though, I was not in a stable frame of mind. Without a way around this quest, Xin wouldn’t be allowed to complete Genesis. Then again, maybe I was over thinking it.

I couldn’t fail her twice. Parchment became scribbled with shaky words. ‘I will do what is needed’ the note said.

The Jester, if that’s who it was, sent me another message. Its response said ‘We need to talk then. Figure out a way to die.' It only took me a moment to puzzle out what the Jester meant. We would speak again soon in that room.

“Hermes?” My niece said with a worried tone. I chewed on my lip hard enough to draw a trickle of blood. Finally, I took the note from Xin.

I didn’t like hiding anything from my family. Yet, none of this would make sense or sound sane. Even Vice President Riley didn’t know all the details of my fiancée’s recreation. It was that vague spark of hope that kept me together while dealing with Requiem.

And drove me to do crazy things. I closed up the container, put it back into player inventory and stared at the parchment in my hands.

“What’s that?” Shadow asked. He sat on the edge of our coned rooftop. The slope barely bothered him.

I liked these people. They felt so earnest compared to most of the other Travelers. Awesome Jr. and SweetPea were childlike in their innocence about this other world. Maybe it was a simple lack of being with them for more than a few adventures. Perhaps it was the shine of a unjaded person. Minus HotPants, goodness.

“You know, someone else gave me the name Hermes, and I didn’t understand why at first.”

“The messenger thing right?” Shadow asked. I nodded while unrolling the parchment just before rolling it back up. Over and over the motion went while nibbling on a damaged lip.

“Among other things. But I found this story, an old, old one from Greece.” I said slowly. “In it there’s this woman, Pandora. She had been blessed by all the Gods.”

“Yeah. She had a box, and when someone opened it all the evil in the world was let loose.” SweetPea nodded which caused her hood to slip around. I checked my own head for [Wild Bill] and found it sitting there comfortably.

“The story isn’t that simple.” I resumed speaking, trying not to growl at the young would-be assassin. Though calling him that felt wrong, he seemed to be coming along fairly well. “And that wasn’t my point.”

“Oh.” She said.

“In the story, Pandora was the first woman on earth. Like Eve, I guess. Athena gave her the skills to clothe herself. Aphrodite gave her grace and longing.” I blinked a few times.

“What does that have to do with the letter?” Shadow asked. His voice still did that amazingly gruff dip.

“Hermes was also charged with giving Pandora a gift.” I managed to keep my tone steady. Not emotionless, just not broken enough to crack.

“What are you talking about?” Shadow shook his head.

“Hermes gave her the ability to speak.” I said.

“I still don’t get what that has to do with the letter.” The young teen in his black gear said.

“This is from my Pandora.” The similarity felt staggering as my mind put it together. How many parallels could I draw between my life and legends of Hermes? More than a few at this rate.

“Pandora’s box had hope in it right?” SweetPea said.

“It might not have been a box. It might have been a urn. But there's two translations of the word used by the Greeks. Hope, and expectation.” I said. The material we were talking about had been researched during one of my days out working. Not everything had been dedicated to Requiem and survival videos.

“I still don’t get it.” Shadow said.

“This is my Pandora, my hope, my expectation, and I must give her a voice.” I didn’t feel right smiling. Not with what was about to happen.

“Give this to Beth, please?” I whispered to SweetPea. She looked confused while meeting my stare. The smile I tried to share felt torn. The young girl did take the scroll and nodded sharply once.

I leapt off. This was a land full of realism and sensation that touched every movement. [Awareness Heightening] kicked in to paint every single second on the way down.

SweetPea’s face started to twist with a look of utter horror. Beth’s confusion as she ran to the edge to look over at me. Tower's bricks, a wall's edge, and finally the ground met my dive with an uncaring force. The act of outright killing myself came far too easily.

You have Died

Blackness hung around me again. At one point, the idea of fighting against all odds to stay alive controlled my actions. Revisiting the Jester in this space between seemed like a terrible idea.

Yet here I stood.

I expected the sense of vastness to the dark space. As before, with the Voices, there were other things hovering in the blackness about me. My neck tingled as something unseen came closer.

It got worse. The hair on my neck shivered and stood up. An ear twitched as something unbreathing came to close. Fingers curled around one shoulder and a face slid into view on the other. The movement happened so suddenly that it felt almost instant.

“Hermes, you’ve made it. You must have been dying to talk to me.” It clacked and gave a short laugh. I flinched away and the Jester spun merrily to another part of the room.

“Ha, ha, ha.” It laughed.

I couldn’t risk talking in front of it. The Jester still freaked me out. Being here was more a matter of need than any sort of want. This felt like walking into a spider's lair in desperation, or hopeful expectation.

“Did you meant what you said? That you’ll do what’s needed?” The Jester came in extremely close. That smiling face took up most of my vision. Its long nose reached across the gap between us and nearly poked into one cheek. I felt like those empty eyeballs were drowning me.

“I’ll solve the problem with Requiem.” I dared to speak but couldn’t do so quickly. “But I need to know Xin is real, not some ploy being held over my head.”

“If I let you be with Xin, will you pursue this in the real world?” The Jester tilted its head. Bells jingled and one hand pressed against a frozen cheek.

“If that’s what I need to do.” I sucked in a breath of air and nodded.

“That can be arranged.” The Jester said. First its body faded, shoes, legs, and the bells on its hood. A still smile lingered than that too vanished.

Light footsteps rushed up from behind. Hands slid over my eyes in a way that felt almost playful. Excited breath blew across my skin.

“Guess who?” The voice said. I jerked and tried not to sob. My hands slid over hers and held them. This could only be a dream, but if it was then I never wanted to awaken.

“Xin?” I asked.

“Yes, Gee, but don’t turn around.” Xin’s words almost made me break down. It was her. It was really her.

“Okay.” I closed my eyes and held still. Wetness trickled down a cheek. Her fingers were warm, so familiar, like every memory of my fiancée brought to life here in the machine.

“I heard what you said to those kids, Gee.” Her voice was right there. “It reminded me of another story. Do you want to hear?”

“Yes.” I nodded quickly. She could say anything at all to stay here with me. Anything to let this moment last a bit longer.

“Do you remember Orpheus?” She asked.

“No.” I vaguely remembered but pretended not to. The white lie would add a few more seconds to whatever time we were allowed. My thumb rubbed slowly over the top of her hand. A small scar from a cooking knife stood out between two fingers. Even that felt familiar.

“Orpheus was a minstrel, whose wife was bitten on the heel by a serpent and died too quickly.” Xin said. She didn’t sound rough or mean. Her words were slightly sweet with the hint of a Chinese accent.

I nodded but couldn’t say anything. My nose felt flooded.

“After much depression, Orpheus said, I will do what even the immortals might shrink from doing, I will go down into the world of the dead and bring back my bride.” She didn’t rush through the sentence. Each syllable was spoken with a calm pace of someone who valued words.

Her story felt familiar. A tale about a man whose wife had been taken away from him and went to any lengths to bring her back echoed my own life. I felt a kinship with a person who only existed in stories.

“Does that sound familiar, Gee?” She asked.

“It does.” Those two words were hard to say out loud.

“In the story, Orpheus plays his lyre and plays so well he gains a chance from the rulers of the dead.” Xin didn’t move her hands much. They no longer sat over my eyes, though, both her palms rested on my shoulder. I could feel the difference in our height, hear Xin talking up to the back of my head.

“To bring back his wife.” I said.

“Yes, Gee. The Gods of the underworld allowed Orpheus to bring his wife back to life if they traveled the path upward and didn’t look back.” She said.

“What does that have to do with us?”

“Orpheus hesitates, and looks back, losing his chance to bring her back to the world of the living.”

“I screwed up.” I said. She might have been talking about my failure to get Requiem. I could have fought faster, hit and run faster, or cooperated with Frankenstein more. Any number of possibilities that all amounted to my hesitation causing failure.

“Don’t worry, Gee. It will be okay. I know it’s against your nature. You’re not a killer.” She said.

I didn’t know how to answer that.

“Poor, Gee, always over thinking, I tried so hard to break you of that bad habit.” Her words held a softening smile. It brought back many memories of her trying to move me forward. To shake me loose from a mindset focused on work.

“Sorry babe.” I said. Her words hurt too good.

“Remember, don’t look back, don’t hesitate.” She said. Hands slipped from off of my shoulders leaving behind a tingle where I had strained to grip her hands. She didn’t complain, though.

Then there was silence. I couldn’t bring myself to turn around in case her story meant something about the current situation.

“Babe?” My face crumpled. The moment had been too fleeting. Seconds passed where I tried to calm down. To hum to myself sadly in a room full of emptiness.

After an unknown amount of time, I opened my eyes. In front of me floated the two messages.

You have Died

Skill Received: [NPC Conspiracy] (Variant – External Reality) Rarity: Utterly Unique Specialties : Unknown Details:

This skill will never be mentioned again.

In the real world, you simply need to say Activate NPC Conspiracy, user name, Hermes.

Machine AIs of the world outside Continue Online will help you in any way possible for up to twenty-four hours. This skill has limited uses.

The results of this skill are based on your own intelligence.

Uses Remaining: 3

My eyes slowly scanned over the text. More time passed while I tried to understand what this meant. Finally, I nodded. “Okay. Okay, I understand.” I sniffed then logged out.