After Sid calmed a little bit and we were no longer in danger of being trampled, we could sit down together, eat and talk. Even if Flo had assured me before that everybody was alive, I was happy to see them recovering after being healed. Healing is such a wonderful thing! And to think I can do this in real life!

What are the implications of this? Should I heal everybody and its cat? As much as I can? What should I do?

OK, I'll think about this later when I am back in the real world. Concentrate, Dolores, concentrate!

Interestingly, I do not see any limitations or any other problems with the game world. It is not as I thought it would be: a dying world. It is working perfectly. How can this be? Did they lie, and the servers have not been disconnected? Not only it is running without a problem, but it is running with perfect graphics and sound. As if all the servers and all those pcs running the game in the background did not make any difference. How comes?

“What will the orcs do when they see us?”

A worried Tina looking towards the entrance brought me back to reality with her comment. White Flower, who was still in the lead, answered:

“Don't worry, I've covered the entry with a false mirror. They cannot see us, and I get a warning if anybody enters.”

As we did not have any wood to make a fire, Sid had heated some stones to look like burning charcoal. We were sitting in a circle at about a couple of meters around them, warming us and chatting. Circle... Well, Sid alone was taking half of it, and we, including the Lynx, were spread on the other half.

"A dragon! A real dragon!"

A completely overwhelmed Tina was practically molesting the poor dragon, hanging on him and touching his scales. I was afraid he would react badly, but Flo let it happen, and Sid did not seem really troubled so far. Well, she did ask him if she may touch the scales.

Meanwhile, Spartacius was distributing food and drinks, mostly sausages and various juices. At Cala's special request, I received a beer, and the Lynx asked me for a sample, but after having a sip of it, he shook his head.

Hot sausages and beer. Cala was feeling happy eating and drinking and leaning on the Lynx. Something happened these days as she didn't want to leave the Lynx for one moment. Strangely how this works, I was feeling that need too.

“So, how did you get here?”

Spartacius asked the question, and all eyes turned to Sid. He shrugged.

“Some harpies brought me here!”

Tina interrupted her patting to look Sid in the eyes.

“Harpies? How could harpies drag a dragon? What kind of harpies were these?”

“Through those tunnels?”

Spartacius was shocked. White Flower spread my hands a little.

“Sid was this big when I last saw him.”

Less than two meters wide? One meter fifty? Alice wondered:

“Are you since decades here?”

Flo shook her (my) head, contradicting Sid, who was nodding.

“No, Sid, these were not decades. We last met several months ago.”

Maybe this looked like decades for the little dragon. Tina tried to question:

“But how...?”

Then they started to understand. Alice mumbled:

“Ageing water?”

Flo nodded.

“Yes, indeed. And probably this explains why the harpies could win against the unicorns. Somebody helped them.”

Tina exclaimed, shocked, hugging the dragon:

“Oh my god! You are still a baby!”

Sid protested with his deep guttural voice: “I'm not a baby!?” but still not moving to push her away. He turned his head towards me:

“Do you have news from mama?”

I felt a sting in my heart as I heard that. Flo closed her eyes and sighed:

“No. I am sorry...”

He watched me slantwise:

“Then how did you know I was here? How did you know that they kidnapped me and came to rescue me?”

“I did not. Not until we were in this dungeon with you.”

“Oh?”

There was a moment of silence.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“So you've been chased by the orcs down here as food?”

Another moment of silence.

“Oh. How do we get out of here? You do have a plan, isn't it?”

He sighed.

“Just as I feared. Worse than I feared. Will that foodbag work tomorrow too? Should we not start rationing the food?”

He was getting worried even if Spartacius assured him that it could produce food in any quantities. The Lynx spoke for the first time since we gathered here:

“His worries are not unfounded. Any magic item has limits in what it can provide. I was wondering where the limits of this bag are?”

Flo put her hand on his furry paw to reassure him.

“This bag pulls magic from all party members, not only from Spartacius. I can feel it pulling magic from me, but I would need my horns to examine how this works. Anyhow this means we will have enough food as nobody seems to feel drained by it.”

The Lynx grinned happily:

“Oh, that makes sense. That is good. It means we will continue to have food unless it malfunctions. So the problem is how do we go back? We could push the orcs back with White Flower present, but we have two problems. The magic barrier at the entry and the size of the tunnels. Our new friend Sid would not pass through. I wonder what was the orc's plan?”

He looked at Sid, and the dragon's face became even more menacing than it usually looked. And a black dragon's face is really discomforting.

“Katan, that damn bastard comes from time to time and asks if I accept Mephisto's oath. I imagine he would port me to him or open some huge portal.”

Spartacius grinned:

“Well, if this makes you happier, we can inform you that Cala and the Lynx here have killed that orc.”

“What?”

He turned surprised at me, and I nodded.

Tina wondered:

“Could we use that in one way or another?”

The Lynx shook his head:

“I am not sure how that may help us. If Mephisto finds out that Katan is dead, we might get into trouble.” - he looked at me - “We should get out of here before that happens.”

Spartacius shoock his head:

"Katan is working for Mephisto, but he is some kind of a wild card. He does a lot of experimenting himself and reports only now and then. It may take long until he is found missing. So that is not the problem; the problem is to get out of here."

Alice wondered.

"How do you know such things over Katan?"

Spartacius shrugged.

"I simply know."

White Flower sighed.

“I have a way out. I do know the lightfire spell. I will leave here and come back with a portal that we all could use. As simple as that"

Spartacius was surprised:

“What? Do you have a way to evade here? What is lightfire? I do not know that spell?”

“It is an advanced spell that combines several magic classes. I can set nine different lightfires and can anytime go back to any one of them."

“Oh, this looks like the warlock's recall spell. Or the druids. But the warlock works only for a limited distance, and the druids go only to their capital, Druidia. As no player has more classes, this cannot be a player's spell?”

“True, probably not a player's spell.”

“But if you leave, how do you come back?”

It was the Lynx who asked the question, and Flo's answer seemed to disquiet him greatly.

“I'll put a lightfire back here.”

“No!? You would lose one of your lightfires? Those are the nine sacred places? Which one are you ready to sacrifice?”

Flo shrugged.

“Lynx, it doesn't matter. It is the only option that works. I knew it when I set the ninth; I'll have to delete one of them. This is a good solution.”

She smiled happily:

"Well, I'll solve first Cala's problem, then I'll leave. I hope to come back as soon as possible, but it might take a couple of hours until I find a decent portal that would suit Sid too."

The Lynx watched me inquiringly:

"Cala's problem?"

White Flower lowered her head.

"Well, it was my fault. If you remember, I made a deal with Cala. Somehow I got Dolores instead; I did not know at the time that Cala was... how to put it... possessed by Dolores? When Dolores left to the other world, I was dragged with and took some part of Cala with me. Now Cala is whole again, and as I did my deal with Cala, I will make the connection with Cala. In this way, I try to free Dolores from me."

I was unsure if to be happy or sad. I was starting to get used to White Flower, but in the end, was this not my wish? It happened as I thought it would happen; here, inside the game, I can separate. Is it happening now? Yes, it is! Should I postpone this? I hesitated a second. No better let her do it; it is probably the time to separate.

First, White Flower did set up her lightfire, and then she concentrated on me.

"Will this work?"

"I hope so. This is your wish, isn't it?"

"Yes. You only hope so?"

"I never did this before. I do not fully understand how you and Cala are connected. I suppose that connecting me to Cala will have the desired effect."

I should have stopped her there. But I was thinking about Cala's problems and how she had suffered before and trying to find a solution when it happened. Everything was suddenly blurred in front of my eyes; I felt an intense pain in my head and started to vomit... in my room.

Frissons shook my body, and another wave of nausea came over me when I understood. Healing did not seem to work, and a confused Flo let me lead. I realised what the problem was.

"The dream interface... Somehow it broke..."

I ran to the bathroom and started again to puke. Ow, mama, such a dream-interface outage is truly a horrible thing to suffer.

About a quarter of an hour later, somebody knocked at the door. I screamed:

"No! Let me be!!"

"You should clean your room!"

"Yes, I will. Don't go into my room! Let me be; I am not feeling well!"

I heard Lola's voice.

"Clara, let her be."

Fuck, the sisters are back home. I looked into the mirror and froze: I am Cala.

"What have I done?"