This is so ridiculous.

“Jesus, I really don’t think that that’s a good idea,” I told him.

“Nah. Trust me, it’ll be cool.”

I flapped my wings, trying to gauge their strength. “I seriously doubt I can give anyone a ride.” I couldn’t believe he was even suggesting the idea.

He took a look around before focusing on one person in particular. “Then why don’t you try carrying Ray-Yarn?”

“No,” Raymond spat. “And don’t call me that.”

“Come on!” J encouraged, grabbing Raymond by the arm and pulling him up from where he sat. “You’re like the only guy here who could comfortably wrap himself around her shoulders.”

“His shoulders,” Raymond corrected him, brushing the long-haired man’s hand away.

“Right, right. You’re actually a guy. And your friend is actually a girl. Dang, that’s gotta feel weird, eh?”

“I got used to it after a while.”

Well, “used to it” was hardly the right term. More like tolerated.

Jesus looked me over. “Ya know, I still find it hard to believe that something like this actually happened. I mean, changing someone’s body to be bigger or thinner, shorter or taller, whatever, is pretty amazing. But this is way weirder. You really don’t mind it?”

“I can’t change it. Might as well just learn to deal with it.”

I shuffled uncomfortably. It was easy enough to ignore the changes, but that didn’t change the fact that they were there. Oddly, I started feeling less weird about the whole thing. It wasn’t so much that I was getting used to it. More like I was beginning to adapt to my body. Whether anything from my shorter size to my hair, It was beginning to feel as though my whole body was something I’d been used to. Like it’d been my body my entire life.

Raymond stared at my wings. “Still can’t believe you have sensations in those things.”

I stretched them. “It is weird, isn’t it?”

Jesus slapped me on the back. “And epic! It’ll be so useful having you on the raid. Now…” He gave Raymond a mischievous smirk.

The short man went back to sit down. “I’m not letting you talk me into catching a ride on her back.”

…

“I can’t believe he talked me into— ack!” he shouted, as I adjusted my flying. “I feel like throwing up.”

“Good thing you can’t.” I said, smiling.

I swept us up into the clouds, my two wings flapping hard to keep us afloat.

A crowd had formed below us. Smaller than the crowd that had formed when I first showed off my flying, but a crowd nonetheless. Like earlier, I felt a strange obligation to show off. Much to the dismay of Raymond.

“Hold on tight,” I said to Raymond over the flapping of my wings. “Really tight.”

“What are you doing?” was all he managed to say before I dove straight toward the ground.

Just about a dozen feet away from hitting the grass, I made a quick shift upward, rocketing off at blazing fast speed. It was incredible how much having an audience boosted my confidence.

Unfortunately, Raymond was a bit less enthusiastic. He’d gripped his arms around my neck so hard that it was like a clamp.

“D-dude,” I sputtered, tapping him on the shoulder. “Lay off on the grip.”

He responded by tightening it, and I suddenly realized why. I’d been flying so naturally that I didn’t even realize I was just staying afloat with my wings nearly horizontal to the ground.

That of course meant that the only thing preventing an untimely fall for the short man was his arms and my neck.

“Sorry!” I corrected my position and Raymond immediately loosened his hold, contenting himself with just wrapping his arms slightly below my neck.

“I’m…” he managed, exhausted, “going to…” He took a breath. “freaking… kill you… and J.”

“I, uh… guess you want me to bring you down now.”

He rested his head on my shoulder. “Has it been five minutes yet?”

“Should be going on six by now.”

“Take me down.”

I took one look at his face and obliged.The poor guy seemed queasy as all get out.

Jesus waved to us as we flew. “You two did great!” he shouted.

Raymond leaned over to give J a death stare. “You better—hurk!” He dry heaved, and I instinctively moved my head out of the way. Which was a mistake, because as soon as I did, he slid off of my back.

“Shoot!” Jesus screamed, panicking.

I reacted right away and dived down to catch the man before he fell. He looked terrible, his sickly green face woozy and unaware. It didn’t even seem like he realized that he was falling.

Just as he was about to meet a faceful of dirt, I managed to grab his legs, leaving him hanging upside down.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” groaned Raymond as I set him down on the ground. He flopped over to the side, facedown. “Uurgh…”

J rushed over. “You two alright?” he asked worriedly.

I nodded, settling down on the ground and deactivating my wings. “I’m fine. Raymond on the other hand is doing less hot.”

I took one look at him. He wasn’t moving at all, just making an awful moaning sound.

“Poootioon…” he groaned, holding out his hand.

“Right,” Jesus said, popping a red potion out from his inventory. “Here you go, Ray-Yarn.”

I took the concoction from J’s hand and plopped it next to Raymond. “This thing really wasn’t worth it, was it, Raymond?”

He flipped over and sat upright, taking the strength potion and transferring it to his inventory. “Not really, no. Five minutes of hanging on your back for a potion, how bad could it be?”

He held a closed fist to his mouth as if trying to choke down something. “I actually feel like I’m gonna hurl.”

“Guess I don’t have to ask whether it was any fun for you?” questioned Jesus.

The short man responded by making a throaty noise that sounded somewhere between a retch and a burp.

“I’ll pen that down as a ‘kinda.’”

“You three having fun?” asked a voice from behind us.

“Ugh,” answered Raymond.

“Doing fine,” J said, turning to the dark-skinned man.

Stolen story; please report.

Darrick strode over to Raymond and held out a hand, to which the short man shakily took.

“You’ve gotten better at flying,” the camp leader told me as he picked up his dizzy friend.

“Thanks.” I hadn’t even realized how much better I’d gotten at it. Just like my changed body, my wings began feeling more and more natural, almost as though I’d been born with them. “Is Jess awake yet?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m awake, Jess said, yawning as she approached from behind the back of a tent. “That was some flying back there. Why couldn’t you have flown like that back when you were shooting me with a crossbow?”

J’s eyes widened. “Brah, you what now?”

“Long story,” I said.

“Anyway,” Darrick began. “I needed to talk with you all about our composition for the raid. Jesus, as you already know, you’ll be off with the other healers.”

I snickered. “Jesus is a healer?”

“Yep, I am. Fitting, eh?”

Darrick pulled up a screen and began staring intently at it. “Moving on, there’s you two, Jess and Crystal.”

I cocked my head. “What up?”

“Jess is going to help tank the hits from most of the enemies with me, since she’s a knight. You, Crystal, on the other hand, are going to leave the other rogues once we reach a certain point.”

“Right. You said you wanted me to use my wings for something?”

He nodded. “I wasn’t sure about this before, but after seeing how naturally you can fly, I think this’ll be a good fit. You can act as a scout and a fast-moving damage dealer for the second half of the dungeon.”

Now it was J’s turn to be intrigued. “Second half? Also, is it such a good idea for him to be flying in a cramped dungeon?”

“Crystal has a thirty-minute time limit on his wings, remember?” replied Darrick. “And don’t worry about him not having any room to fly. Trust me, there’s more than enough space in the dungeon .”

“I see.”

The leader turned his gaze to Jess. “You probably have the most important job out of all of us.”

Jess looked wary. “What? How so?”

“You’re the only tank here besides me. That means you gotta pull your weight. Unlike most of us, you and I can’t die on the raid. If you or I die, the rest of the team is going to have to back out of the raid. We can’t take on the damage from the dungeon without two people to soak up the majority of it.”

“You mean, I’m the only other tank out of the fifty people you’re gonna be taking on the raid? There’s gotta be a couple more, right?”

Darrick shrugged. “Not here. A couple off tanks, but no knights or paladins. Maybe there were more tanks around before the hack started, but they’re all gone now. I only chose to play as a paladin because the rest of my squad needed one and I didn’t care what I picked. Me and you are all that’s left.”

“Well, aren’t I special,” she said dryly.

“Now, let’s talk about tactics. I’ll gather everyone on the raid and we—“

“Yarny! Darrick! Jesus!” shouted a peppy voice nearby. “I finished that thingy ya asked me to do. What next? What next?”

Raymond cringed and turned away from the girl, trying to ignore her. “Please tell her to shove off.”

“Just deal with her for a little while, okay?” Darrick whispered quietly as he closed the screen he’d been staring at. “She’s helped us out so far.”

“But she’s so annoying!” complained Raymond.

“I caaan heeear yaaaa.” chimed the girl.

Oddly, the redheaded woman wasn't wearing the same mismatched armor pieces that the rest of the players wore. Actually, she didn’t even seem to be in starting player gear. Her clothing looked abnormally normal, like an NPC's.

The girl saw the confused look on me and Jess’ face and immediately tried to explain herself. “Oh, you two must be that Jess and Crystal I’ve heard about! I live in the town ahead. Name’s Amy. I’m not a player like you are. I’m one of those, uh, what did you call it?”

“NPC,” offered Jesus.

“NPC,” she affirmed happily. “That’s what I am. One of those. Though I’d prefer to be called something else. NPC don’t much roll off the tongue well.”

Jess and I just stared.

“Oh! You two shouldn’t just leave your mouths hangin’ agape like that. Could catch flies.”

“This is freaky,” Jess whispered to me.

The young girl frowned. “Jeez, y’all players are really bad at keeping your voices down. I can hear ya!”

Darrick stepped forward. “Oh right, you two haven’t met her yet.” He looked down at the girl. “She’s been a real lifeline between us and the town. Without her, the townspeople probably would’ve tried to run us off by now.”

Amy made a nonchalant motion. “All I’ve been doin’ is talking to the people in the town that won’t talk to y’all. It ain’t much of something to thank me for.”

Jess eyeballed the NPC. “H-how much does she know?”

Amy gave an exasperated sigh. “I’m standing right here, sugar. Why don’t ya ask me straight on?”

Jess shuffled nervously. “Okay, er, Amy. How much do you know?”

The NPC laughed. “What don’t I know. This world is supposed to be some sort of game for y’all, is that right? And some crazy nutjob thought it’d be a darn good idea to stick some of the people playing in here and trap ‘em?”

“You’re not bothered by that? That your world is just a game?” Jess asked, utterly bewildered. She was hardly alone in her confusion.

“Why would I be? I’ve been under a haze for months and all of a sudden it ends as soon as y’all come in. And when ya do come in, ya start talking about all this new and interestin’ stuff. Who cares if this all is just a game for you guys? To me, it’s an opportunity to learn about something new. So what if the rest of the town’s full o’ stiff necks who think everyone here is a demon?”

“Well, even still, you don’t mind the fact that we stole a load of things from your town stores?”

“Ya did what ya had to. Can’t begrudge ya for that. My own pa’s store was hit, but it ain’t like we’ll starve.”

Me and Jess just continued to gawk at Amy, dumbfounded.

“Ugh,” she moaned. “I’ll give ya a moment to process this.” She moved to face Darrick. “Well, Darrick, what now? What now?”

Raymond continued to ignore her, but his friend was absolutely unfazed. “You finished everything?” he asked. “No one else is giving out quests?”

She shook her head. “No one else seems willing to, far as I can tell. The baker even chucked some stale loaves at me when I asked him. Seems that most of the people that need something are just goin’ to go without.”

“That’s a shame. Are you alright?”

“Alright? I’m fit as a fiddle. ‘Sides, it was just stale bread. Better than what the weaponsmith threw at me.” She edged closer to Raymond. “How you doin,’ Yarny?

I didn’t know it was possible, but Raymond seemed to physically shrink as he moved toward Jesus. “Why did you have to tell her about that name?” he said quietly.

“Oh my God, I can HEAR you people! Just because I’m not one of you don’t mean I’m deaf. This is the third time you’ve treated me like I ain’t here.”

Raymond put his face in his hands and groaned loudly. “Anything you want from me you can get from Darrick.”

She didn’t let up. “Just askin’ how ya are. Ya always seem so angry, like you’re last in line to the bathroom when ya really got to go. Not that bathrooms are even a concern for you people.”

“I’m fine. Now was there something else you wanted or did you just come here to bother us again?”

“Just came to bother ya.” she chirped.

“I—wha?” Raymond sputtered, indignant.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” she giggled. “For serious though. Is there anything else that needs doing that no one else can do?”

Darrick opened up his screen and seemed to check a few things. “Not that I can think of. Why don’t you go and get some rest?”

She seemed to ponder that for a moment. “Do I gotta? I ain't so tired that I need to rest. Mind if I just go around talking to people? I wanna learn more about your world.”

The camp leader gestured for her to go ahead. “Fine by me. You can go and do whatever it is you want. You’ve more than earned it with all the help you’ve given us. I, on the other hand, need to be getting some rest before the dungeon raid tomorrow. You too, Jesus.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” the long-haired man replied.

“Before that though, we need to brief everyone on the raid," Darrick said, closing his menu.

A chime rang through my head. An alert popped up on the top right side of my vision, telling me to gather around Darrick.

Just a few minutes later, we were all situated around the man. The last of the people sent out to gather players had returned earlier that day and everyone had finished their quests that were to be done that day. All eyes were on the camp leader.

He began to brief all the players on the tactics for the fight. Healers would be positioned away from the damage dealers while staying nearby the casters and other mages like Raymond.

The damage dealers would handle the mobs while Jess and Darrick took most of the damage. With any luck, the Wakers that were in the raid wouldn’t get hurt at all.

It’d be difficult to pull off, but with Darrick’s already existent knowledge of the game, it wouldn’t be nearly so dangerous as it would be if we went in blind.

At the end of his speech, everyone who was going seemed more or less confident enough in their roles that there wasn’t a single person who backed out. In fact, some more players even volunteered to go on the raid with us. Really the only people who would be left behind were people too low level to be of any real help.

Most of the camp went to bed after that, Darrick and Jesus included. With the sun already nearly set, the majority of people going on the raid who weren’t Wakers wanted to get to bed early.

“I’m hitting the hay too,” Jess said, yawning.

“What?” I raised an eyebrow. “You just woke up.”

She shrugged. “Gotta make sure my circadian rhythm isn’t all out of wack.”

Amy scratched her head. “Circadian what-now?”

“It’s a player thing,” I answered, slightly confused myself. Did NPCs have circadian rhythms?

“Well,” said Jess, scratching at the stubble on her face, “I’m off.”

“I’m gonna go talk with some people about micro, uh, micro—what do ya call them?” Amy asked.

If she hadn’t confused me before, she was certainly doing so now. “Micro...waves? I guessed, completely clueless.

“Yes, those!” she gushed. “They’re amazing!”

“You… you wanna talk about microwaves..?”

“Of course!” she said, as though that should be obvious. “Aren’t they just the best darn things you folk have?”

“I mean, I guess they’re useful? Why… why are you so interested in them?”

She could only give me a glance that made it clear that she thought that was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard in her life. “Girl, er, guy, ya know what havin’ a microwave means for ya, right?”

I looked towards Raymond to see if he had any clue what she was talking about only to see him deep into a screen, completely ignoring the two of us.

“When ya changed bodies did that fry your brain too? Ya take something so amazing for granted?”

I couldn’t exactly understand how I took microwaves for granted, but then here I was.

“Warm food anytime! No need to start a fire and wait for anythin’ to heat up. Just dump your food into a tiny lil cabinet and wait.

“Tch!” she grumbled, annoyed. “You people have gots the most amazing things and this is how ya act about ‘em? What about you, Yarny? How do you feel about microwaves?”

If he heard her (which he most definitely did), he didn’t show it. She waved her hand in front of his face, which he again showed zero interest in. Frowning, Amy went back to me.

“Well, I’ll leave you two alone for now. Gonna talk with some peoples about the other bigger microwave that gets really hot.”

“An oven?” I guessed.

“Yeah, that,” she said, before happily trotting off to talk to some Wakers nearby.

“Oh thank God!” Raymond sighed, just as soon as the girl was out of earshot. “I didn’t think I could stand being near her for another minute more.”

“Thanks for the help,” I quipped sarcastically. “Why is she so different from all the other NPCs anyway? Are there anymore like her?”

“No. I'm not really sure why she acts the way she does. All the others are too scared to approach us to do anything more than give out quests. Her father doesn’t exactly appreciate her going out and talking with us, but she’s old enough to decide things for herself.”

I stole another look at Amy, who was waving her hands in the air and shouting about microwaves. “Isn’t it strange how the NPCs all act so realistically now that the inhibitor that’s let them ignore certain phrases got removed?”

“The only thing that’s really strange to me is how annoyingly incessant that girl is. But yes, I suppose it is a little bit weird that the NPCs are acting the way they are.”

“Got any theories on why the hack made them act like this?”

“To screw with us? Why did the hacker give some of us different bodies or the ability to feel pain? You think he’s out there in the real world making some kinda demands to end all this?”

“Demands to who?”

He threw up his hands. “Heck if I know. Altera, the government, whoever.”

“If he is, you think they’ll meet his demands?”

“Who knows? However they get us out of here isn’t my problem. Just as long as we do get out, I couldn’t care less how it happens. Being stuck about a foot and a half shorter than I actually am is getting on my nerve. Even if I am starting to get used to it.”

“It could be worse, I replied casually.

He shot me an annoyed look. “How could it be worse?”

I gestured at myself. “You could be the wrong sex.”

“Oh, right,” he said dumbly. “At least you aren’t stuck looking like a children’s cartoon character. You said that you looked like a character you made in a video game, right?”

“Yeah. Did Darrick find a pattern in the way our bodies were changed?”

“No. It just seems to be people, real or not, that we’re familiar with. There’s a girl that looks like Marilyn Monroe for some reason. Doesn’t seem to be any real pattern to it.”

“Hey,” I muttered. “Do you think this is all gonna end soon? I’ve been telling myself that it’ll all be over soon, that we’ll get pulled out by the devs in no time, but so far I haven’t seen a single sign of that.”

“I don’t know. But what I do know is that we have to assume that we’re stuck here indefinitely. Look at it this way: If we get out tonight and all our work trying to get to Ralcor is wasted, then big whoop, we spent a lot of effort for nothing. If we don’t get out for, let’s say, weeks, then at least we’ll be secure off in Ralcor while we wait things out. There’s no benefit to just twiddling our thumbs here.”

“Just gotta keep moving forward, huh?”

“Exactly.”