Sally scowled at the vampire, as she held his arm up in place. Threads circled around the split, trying to tie the limb back together.

“Good job you had this ability, huh?” Theo grinned sheepishly.

“Really? How about telling me what cut your arm off and caused you to run away?” She partially considering having him do without the arm to teach him a lesson, but it seemed a little cruel if she had the ability to fix it back on for him.

He squirmed a little. “It wasn’t running away. I was just put off at suddenly having my old abilities that I got a bit careless.”

“Well, at least you didn’t pretend you came here to save me.”

“Of course.” He grinned, some of his usual charm returning. “Never doubted you could handle them for a second.”

She believed him. While he had always been the more powerful one, neither of them shirked the chance to get stuck into any sort of violence and climb their way to the top as victors. All the more reason she was concerned he had escaped from whatever he had been attacking.

“Wait… let me guess.” She looked off as she tried to recall something. “The Lurking End?”

Theo shrugged, almost causing his arm to drop back off. “They didn’t exactly give me a name, although that would be a fitting title, considering it was just the darkness itself.”

A grunt was her only response. The vampire had run off to the darkness, and found there was a monster that lived in the shadows. Although… not exactly literally. Not… something System-created - otherwise it wouldn’t be an issue for the Aspect of Death. The more simple answer would be that it was from beyond this world.

Things lived out in the sea, somehow. Or it was alive itself. Capable at biting back.

“How dire is it? Something we can eventually overcome with the power of friendship, or are we going to try to wait for Chuck to save us all?” She looked up at him, her question earnest.

“Hmmm.” Theo wrinkled up his nose and looked back toward the abyss consuming the world. “Honestly… probably closer to the latter. Unless our Aspect powers can be used to do more than we already innately know.”

“We know nothing, Theo Danger.” She sighed and stood up, wiping her hands clean. “Other than my zombies are now sunflower-people and I can stitch wounds closed.”

The vampire turned to the looming void and raised his finger up. “Think you could stitch that wound closed, then?”

“Now you’re talking, pup.” Her grin immediately faded as the arm held up to point at the darkness fell off his body again.

----------------------------------------

Chuck groaned and buried his face in his hands. “If anyone needs cloning, it’s me.”

The swordsman looked his way, but said nothing. Eventually, his eyes rolled around to the other figure in the room. “Why were you here again, Edward?” he said.

“No need to sound so rude.” The demon crossed his arms. “I have a vested interest in the safety of Theo, and the other one. I’m an Outsider.”

“It’s just a very stressful time,” Dent added. “We have a lot of time pressure and we’re having to play a lot more by ear than is ideal.”

Bright blue eyes narrowed in return. “So you’re saying if something were to happen to either of you two right now, they’d be doomed?”

Chuck clicked his fingers, and the demon vanished. “No patience today. Good news is there are now a lot fewer Players to rescue. Bad news is the world itself is fading away into the void of the sea, which is… I don’t know how to even wrap my head around that at present.”

“I think we have to approach it in steps. Priority is getting our odd little friends back in one piece. Then we can think about the other Players. Last is the world itself, but we might have to nip that idea in the bud if it’s too risky.”

“All of it is too risky.” The Architect waved his hands at all the screens. “I don’t know what I was thinking, sending people away to other worlds. I could kill not only Sally and Theo, but our whole world.”

“Get a grip.” Dent stood up from his chair and shook his head. “You’re getting soft, Chuck. Where’s the man who fought to become a warlord and pave the way for the Outsiders to take control of Sanctuary?”

“You should know, you were there.”

“Yeah. Every step of the way, for every decision made. So, I know that you can do this.” The swordsman brought up a larger screen to appear in the middle of the room. “Priority is our two numbskulls. Focus on making allowances for their new powers here. I will continue to monitor and advise them.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“You’re right.” Chuck smiled and exhaled through his nose. “Simple steps. We’ll make this work. Thanks, Dent.”

“You can thank me by getting Sally home before Pancake Day ends, otherwise she’ll kill us both.”

----------------------------------------

“I’m not doing this a third time,” Sally murmured, stepped away from the once-again whole Vampire.

“Not the first time I’ve heard that.” He grinned, but took a step back, away from her scowl. “Next step, my queen?”

“Before we set the ball rolling on trying to save the world, we should get the squishy people back somewhere safe.” She wrinkled her face in the approximate direction of where she had left the Party. “Probably some answers from Cross. Oh, he can talk now.”

“Yeah? He is Pippy?”

“Seems that way. Apparently, blowing up his corpse was the bad ending, but given that it’s us, it was a done deal, anyway.” She shrugged as they started walking.

“Next time I time travel I’ll alter things so we get it right.”

Sally rolled her eyes. “Don’t even, pup. Although if you did, it would have already been done, right? And this is the best we got.”

“Probably.” The vampire smiled and avoided shrugging.

She hit him with [Living Dead]. Her brow furrowed as she cast her healing skill innately. Watched her hand for a few seconds before sending out a [Mortis Bomb], the flaming skull striking the ground ahead of them and fading away.

“Shame we got these back right at the endgame,” Theo noted, tilting his head and watching the zombie remembering her abilities.

“Eh. At this point, it doesn’t matter. It’s not about fighting Monsters or Players anymore. It’s about surviving the entropy of a world.”

They fell into a silence while they continued. Although teleporting was an option, the amount of danger they were under was oppressing them, even if they weren’t showing it. Walking grounded them in a literal sense.

Eventually, they passed the Dungeon the group had originally been hiding behind, and found the route that they would have taken - the plated boots of the knight leaving impressions in the mud.

A few more minutes, and she spotted them out near an abandoned cabin.

[Poppy: Oh hey it’s Theo too! I said hi.]

She waved to the vampire, who returned a nod rather than risk his arm falling off again.

“Let’s go sit inside and have a good chat,” Sally gestured toward the building.

Some manner of somber mood had settled on the others, possibly in part knowing that the zombie had just murdered the whole group that had been tailing them.

A plain table with a few chairs sat on the inside of the dark wooden cabin, beside an inert fireplace. Dusty and gloomy. Perfect for the current situation.

“Did they say why they were following us?” Claude asked, the question burning a hole through his skull.

Sally tilted her head from side to side. “They intended to arrest you but didn’t say for what. Potentially for my crimes? I gave them the option to leave and turn away. They did not.”

[Poppy: You’re quite the guardian angel! >o>]

[Poppy: Not that I feel good about the others dying…]

Sally, Claude, Kristov, and Cross took the chair around the table, while the knight leaned against the fireplace, and Theo against the wall near the doorway.

“Best we just move on.” The zombie shrugged. “I’m here to save your lives… but I’m not a saint. I won’t apologize for what I did.”

“Perhaps you can tell everyone what you’re really doing here, then.” Cross folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at her.

“Sure.” With a quick glance at the vampire, she then looked between each of the other Players. “The idea of us coming here was to save your System… by absorbing it into our own.”

“Some kind of land-grab?” Claude asked, a frown growing over his brow.

She nodded slowly. “Specifically targeting abandoned or dying Systems. Your world would join ours in the bubble, and you’d be safe under the rules of the System back at Sanctuary.”

[Poppy: I can see why you didn’t lead with that…]

“That’s definitely…” the healer bit his lip, struggling to find the right words for what he was thinking. “Your System is at least nicer, I assume?”

The vampire pushed himself off the wall so that he could come and stand behind Sally. “When you die, you respawn and there’s no need to fight and struggle if you don’t want to.”

Cross still had the sour look on his face. “Given that our options are that or oblivion, I’m sure we would accept even it wasn’t such a lofty, idealized world. How can you guarantee our safety there?”

Sally clicked her fingers. “Well, the Architect of the world is a Player and my friend from before we were brought into the System. I have his ear, and he has a good heart. My question is, do the others trust you?”

All eyes turned to the goblin, and he sunk into his chair further.

“Fine, I suppose you want to know the truth. Or as much of it as is my understanding?”

They all nodded.

“I’m sure you all know the tale of how I sought out power to get back at my detractors? And then once gained, I brought ruin on this world by summoning the Dungeons and entrapping the souls of any slain Players?”

Sally drummed her fingers on the table. “Only, that wasn’t your goal, was it?”

“No.” Cross lowered his eyes. “Soon after gaining the power, I wielded it inexpertly. Started the process that is now consuming this world. In my amateur attempts to stop it, I created Bernice and Bernard in the hopes that they could save the System in my stead. As the calamity was tied to me, I had them put me into a coma-like state.”

“But what about the Dungeons?” Claude asked.

“Perhaps a miscommunication. The siblings were told to maintain the status quo in whatever way seemed fit for the continued sustainability of Thrimble.”

Sally wrinkled up her nose. “So it kept everyone locked down, unable to progress. Just waiting out their end.”

Cross nodded sadly. “With your help, I hoped to be able to seal up the world as it sank into nothingness. Trapped in this form, I am without my original powers, however.”

“Should have been more explicit with your instructions,” Theo murmured.

[Poppy: So what’s next?]

Sally sucked at her teeth. She had expected the others to be angrier at the undead goblin - but perhaps their safety was more important at this stage. If they could get to Sanctuary, then they’d have all the time they wanted to chew him out - or even kill him if that made them feel better.

“I want you all to go back to the Fort. Gather everyone there.”

Claude raised an eyebrow. “Might I ask why?”

“If things are more dire than they look, then having everyone in the same place will make things easier. Maybe. We’re doing our best here.”

[Poppy: What about you two?]

“Well, first,” Theo began, “I’m going to do this.” He clicked his fingers towards the bard.

Kristov furrowed his brow. “What did you do?” His eyebrows then practically shot up to the ceiling.

“And then,” Sally continued, “we’re going to go delay things as much as possible.”

Probably try to take a bite out of infinity, as well.