Theo woke at dawn. Which dawn he couldn’t be sure, but his body felt like he’d been sleeping for days. He tried to sit up but found his arms were asleep, all feeling replaced with dull static. He looked down and saw his chest was bound with strips of white cloth. Mercifully, there didn’t seem to be any blood soaking through. His head seemed to be resting on a pillow — a very soft, fuzzy pillow. He turned around to see Tiberius laying under his head, resting peacefully. Good boy, he thought.

Next to him was a canteen. It was bent metal with a leather strap, carefully placed beside his head. He grabbed for it, then brought it to his lips. The cool water washed mercifully over his tongue, which had gone dry and fuzzy during his slumber. He finished the whole canteen, then wiped the sleep from his eyes and looked around.

The camp had changed. Someone had strung a cloak between the fingers of the statue’s hand, making a kind of shelter that Theo rested beneath. The firepit was bolstered with stones, and a fresh kill — duck, by the look of it — rested nearby.

Theo pushed himself up on hand, slowly. His chest and side still hurt, but not as much as he expected. Whatever that girl, Serafina, had done to him, the bear he was wearing had taken the brunt of it. It was good to know, though, that even though the bear had separate health points than him, he would still be impacted by whatever wounds the bear received.

As he was inspecting his wounds, he heard a rustle in the brush next to him.

Blake emerged, a downtrodden look on his face, carrying a bundle of firewood.

“Hey,” Theo choked.

Blake dropped his pile of wood, startled. He blinked at Theo, mouth open, and then sprinted over to him.

“Theo! Jesus Christ man, I was beginning to think…” Blake started.

“That bad?” Theo said. His voice sounded like he’d just smoked six packs of cigarettes in a row.

“You were asleep for four days,” Blake said.

Theo blinked. “What?”

“Yeah. We’ve been hunting monsters the whole time, trying to get enough health points to heal you. But even though we could keep you alive, you still weren’t waking up. We thought you were dead.”

“But you didn’t leave me,” Theo said. Again, the guilt flooded him at the sight of his friend. He thought of his quest.

Blake looked confused, smiling. “Of course not, dude. We need you.”

Suddenly, Theo realized that Blake was shirtless. He was covered in scrapes and bruises, and what little fat he’d had on his body was completely gone. He looked starved out, half feral. “What happened to your shirt?” Theo asked.

Blake looked guilty. “You’re wearing it,” he said.

Theo looked down at his white bandages, realizing. “Shit. You cut up your only shirt?” Theo said.

“What was I supposed to do? Let my best friend die?” he said, “besides, I’m looking pretty cut these days, what with the starvation and constant fighting.”

“Four days. What happened?” Theo asked. He lay back down, only to realize that Tiberius had gotten up and was climbing over him, trying to lick his face. “Oh, gross,” Theo said.

“You should keep him away from that. The wound on your face. We tried to help it but…” Blake shrugged. Theo brought his hand to his face. He’d almost forgotten about McClain pressing his superheated knife to Theo’s cheek.

“How bad?” Theo asked.

“It’ll scar. But who knows, chicks dig face scars, right?” Blake said, but he didn’t sound too sure.

Theo closed his eyes and leaned back. “And I don’t even have a mirror to check the damage.”

“Ah! I can help with that,” Blake said. He lifted a finger in the air, looking proud of himself.

“You sound way too chipper about my facial deformity,” Theo said dryly.

“Right — sorry. But I got a new spell, and it’s turning out to be crazy useful. It’s called Cantrip of Minor Contraptions. I can make any simple tool that can fit in my hands. It’s how I made that canteen.”

He concentrated for a moment, and Theo watched magic spark between his hands: blue sparks from the right, red from the left. They connected in a flash, then warped into something small and metallic, the magic becoming solid right before Theo’s eyes. The metal cooled, and Blake was left holding a small mirror.

“Pretty cool, right? It was a gift from a god, apparently. Some guy named Tezzet,” Blake said. He sounded very casual for someone talking about gods and magic, despite having been a school teacher less than a week ago.

“That’s useful. Very useful. We need to think of the implications of that, try to maximize the potential. Have you tried making traps with it? For hunting?”

“That’s… that’s a great idea,” Blake said, “I hadn’t.”

“Seems like these god-given abilities are more powerful and expansive than normal class abilities,” Theo said, still deep in thought.

“Have you been offered one, then?” Blake asked.

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Theo looked back at his friend. There was no reason to lie. And yet the quest nagged at him, whispered that he shouldn’t reveal all his abilities to Blake. Besides, he still didn’t know what to make of DEITY UNKNOWN. So he said:

“No. Not yet. But Jessica has an ability, a mending ability, from Bel, the God of Broken Things. It fixed my cloak, and can heal minor wounds, too,” he said.

At the mention of Jessica’s name, Blake’s face grew stern.

“Jess… is she…” he started.

“Alive,” Theo said, “thankfully. Captive of a guy named McClain and his crew of psychopaths. But alive. Seems like they want to use her because of her healing abilities. They killed the healer they were sent here with. So she’ll be okay.”

“For now,” Blake said. He frowned. “What else did you learn? Can we get her back?”

Theo shook his head. “Not now. Not yet. McClain is a level four Assassin. He’s got two level three Barbarians, a level three Bandit, and… something else. Some kind of overpowered telekinetic. She’s the one that did this to me.”

Theo gestured at his wounds, but Blake looked confused.

“How do you know all their levels?” he asked.

“I just scanned them. With my identify skill,” Theo said.

“When I try to scan people, instead of objects, I just get a bunch of question marks,” Blake said.

“Huh. Must be my wisdom, I guess. It’s my highest stat,” Theo said.

“Well it’ll be useful. We’ll know what kind of fights we’re getting into,” Blake replied.

Out of curiosity, Theo quickly used identify on Blake. The retinal display menu came up, and framed Blake’s face with information:

Name: Blake Hansen

Species: Human

Class: Wizard, Spellsword Variant

Character Level: 3

Spells known: Cantrip of Minor Contraptions, Blade Charge, Create Flame, Electric Fist, Lesser Light Shield

Notification: You have a quest relevant to this player! See quest menu for details.

Theo frowned at the reminder of his quest. And when had Blake reached Level 3? While he slept? And his menu gave him way more information about Blake than it had about the other players, although he guessed it wasn’t that odd. He knew those things about Blake anyway. He didn’t have time to dwell on it, however, because Blake said:

“Dude, did you just use identify on me?”

Theo blinked. “Uhhhh… how did you know?”

“Your eyes flashed blue. Like when people look at their menus. I could even see the pentagram thingy in your iris, all lit up like neon. You totally identified me.”

“Yeah… sorry,” Theo said, “curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see if it would work on you.”

“And?” Blake asked.

“When did you get to level three?” Theo asked.

Blake’s face was unreadable for a moment. Then he spoke. “We needed to hunt down a lot of random monsters to get the health potions to keep you alive. Alice and I both got to level three while you were passed out,” he said.

“Well that levels the playing field a little bit,” Theo said, “but even with you two at level three, there are still five of them, and we’d still get our asses handed to us. We need to level up even more, if we’re going to get Jess back.”

“Then you’ve got some catching up to do,” said a voice from behind Theo. He turned his head to look, only to see Alice had stepped into the clearing. She carried two dead rabbits by the feet, and slung them next to Theo. “Soup’s up, sleepy head.”

“Good to see you too, Alice,” Theo grumbled.

Blake rolled his eyes. “Alice here is actually the reason you’re still alive. She did most of the hunting for health potions while I watched over you. If it weren’t for her, you’d be dead,” Blake said.

Alice laid down on the ground next to the fire, then stretched like a cat. “I have always wondered how bear meat tastes, though. So it wouldn’t have been that tragic if you died,” she said.

“Stringy,” Theo said, “I hear it tastes stringy. And like feet. In case you were thinking of eating me.”

“Why else would I keep you alive, if not to fatten you up?” Alice said, smiling, “not that I had much work to do, in that department.”

Theo was about to say something nasty back, if he could only think of something clever to say. But Blake put a hand on Theo’s shoulder and said: “Alice is an… acquired taste. But beneath all the cruelty and bitterness, she cares.”

“Okay, what’s beneath the stupidity?” Theo said. Boom, he thought, something clever. Clever-ish, at least.

“Ha-ha,” Alice said, “you know, maybe I’ll take these last few health potions for myself. My poor fingers are sore from all the hunting I had to do to keep you alive.”

She wiggled a vial of red liquid in front of her. Then she tossed it to Theo, who caught it. He popped the cork and threw it back, deciding that it tasted distinctly like cherry cough syrup. But the feeling of light, bright energy that surged through him made the pain in his chest vanish for a moment.

“Thank you, Alice,” Theo said, begrudgingly.

“You’re welcome, Theodore,” she replied. Her eyes flickered to the side, and she sat up, folding her arms over her chest. “Any sign of…” Her voice was strangely vulnerable in that moment. She seemed genuinely worried, so unlike the Alice that he knew.

“Jess? She’s a captive of some grade A assholes. The ones that killed Leyah and Ron. They’re going around killing other players for the XP, so they’re stronger than we are, and more numerous.”

“But she’s alive? Okay?” Alice said, seeming relieved.

“Depends on how you define that, but yeah,” Theo said.

Blake stood. “I’m going to get some more firewood and then get these rabbits cooked up. You two catch up. Come up with a plan, if you can.”

Blake left the clearing and vanished into the woods. Theo and Alice stared at each other for a while. “I didn’t really think you cared about Jessica, honestly,” Theo said.

“What, like I’m some kind of monster? Of course I care,” she said.

“I don’t know, the whole goth-girl-with-knives thing kinda gives off a particular vibe,” Theo said.

Alice scoffed. “Right. I wear black and have tats and piercings and so I must offer blood sacrifice to satan, right?”

“No, no — well I mean… the first thing you did when you got here was shoot a bear that almost got Ron killed, and then suggest that we live him for the vultures,” Theo said.

Alice frowned. She tucked her knees in tighter to her chest. “I was ripped away from my home. My reality,” she said, “thrown into a world where fucking bears come and attack you, with a bunch of strangers. I was scared. Not all of us are oh so Wise and majestic as the mighty druid.” She stretched out her tone mockingly.

“I don’t feel wise,” Theo said.

“What is it they say? Wise is the man who knows he’s not?” Alice said.

“Yeah, I think this is the case of me actually being kind of stupid, though,” Theo said. To his surprise, Alice laughed. It was a deep, throaty laugh. Almost a guffaw.

“That’s good,” she said.

“Look, I’m scared too. I’m scared as shit. For Jessica, for me… hell, I don’t know what happened to anyone I know or love. My parents, my siblings, my friends… they could all be gone. Vaporized, or harvested for scrap, or whatever the Dev said.”

Alice thought for a moment. “I… have a sister. Had. I don’t know. We were together when the world got taken over. I don’t know… I don’t know if she’s here, or somewhere else, or…”

She had to stop speaking for a minute. “We were best friends. I took care of her. Now I… I just feel powerless.”

The word seemed to hang in the air. Her shoulders slumped. Sadness came over Theo, knowing that despite all the powers they’d gained, they were still powerless. Powerless to help the people they cared about. Unable to learn what became of their old world. Just moved like chess pieces on a board, for the entertainment of beings they could barely understand.

Theo surprised himself by reaching out and putting a hand on Alice’s. “We can’t find your sister. Not yet. But we can focus on the ones we can save. Jess needs us.”

Alice looked at him, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Then it’s time to level the fuck up.”