[Player Log Start!]

[Log Holder: Terence Glasgow]

[Level: 2]

Terry’s skin was crawling as he explained what happened. Kathy’s ceaselessly optimistic face crumpled as he explained what had happened to her siblings.

“You’re lying.” She accused, “You guys- you guys are lying!”

Linda put her hand on Kathy’s shoulder, her eyes downcast too, “You know they’re not.” She said softly. Kathy fell quiet at once.

Asadullah turned around to look at the others, his ears twitching slightly, “Everyone out?” He asked, tail flicking in rhythm as he clearly did a headcount.

“We lost a good dozen.” One of the adults explained. Somewhere in the distance, something smashed. Asadullah turned around to look at the source, right along the horizon, where a blot of black smoke was hiding some sort of fight.

“Is that Paterson?” He asked, “How’d he manage to get out?”

Linda shrunk into herself, “It’s my fault.” She whispered, “He was after my Console. Danny- she got in the way. He took her Console and-” And now Danny Winston was gone forever. Terry gulped and tried to pull himself together.

“I thought the Consoles couldn’t free him?”

“They can’t.” One of the older people replied, “He- Danny’s Console was the same model as Linda’s, so that she could keep an eye on her. He- he made her activate the Jump Point so that he could get out. Then he cut the Game Console off her.”

Dammit. He had outsmarted the System. Terry looked down at Linda, who still looked absolutely miserable. He kneeled down to look her in the eyes.

“Hey, it’s alright.” He soothed, “She’s not gone forever.”

“She’s not?” Linda asked in a quivering voice.

“She just went back to where she was before she got the Console.” Terry explained, “We’ll find her. Her file must be somewhere on the System, along with her location. We can look for it. Or we can go to every single Realm until we find the right one.”

“Really?” Linda asked hopefully. Terry nodded.

“Isn’t that Harbinger Ciera the one with the smoke powers?” Asadullah interjected, looking over at the distance, “Paterson could only do fire and energy, last time I checked.”

“They look like they’re fighting.” Terry noted, straightening up to inspect the fight himself, “…It’s probably fine, right? They’ll finish each other off if we pit them against each other. Let’s leave them alone and go find the others back at the base.”

“And you’re just going to leave us here?” One of the Delica Gamers asked, “We’ll be in danger! Delica isn’t safe anymore, not that the Developers have found out about it.”

Terry fidgeted. They were right. Even though they had years to rack up points, they weren’t experienced enough in combat gameplay to put up a fight if the crows descended upon them again. Or if the fight between Ciera and Paterson circled back to this direction.

“I’ll stay here.” He decided, “Asadullah’s faster, anyway.”

Asadullah nodded absently, but his eyes were slightly glazed over as he listened to something Babur was whispering into his ears.

“You got something else in mind?” Terry asked.

Asadullah shrugged, “Babur has a suggestion. But I’m not entirely sure it’s going to work.”

The djinn popped up next to him, nodding fiercely, “The transportation method taking us across the Realms sparked a memory in me. It’s similar to the way us djinn teleport.”

“If we can find a way to integrate the bangles with a Console, then Babur could probably teleport me straight to the Developers.” Asadullah explained, biting the inside of his cheek, “If they sent out a Harbinger to stop Paterson, then he’s clearly a high-level threat. While all their eyes are here, I sneak in the back. End this as fast as possible. Get to the heart of the System, where we can find the actual Character files and-”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He paused, eyes lingering on Terry’s collarbone. Terry looked down uncomfortably, to see where the thin layer of green fuzz had begun to climb into view. He gulped and pulled his shirt collar up, “It’s fine. I can hold on for a few more days.”

It wasn’t true. He would be lucky if he made it further than tomorrow. But if he didn’t lie to Asadullah now, then the others would never get their backup. Asadullah glared at him, not fooled in the slightest.

“You don’t even have a Console.” He pointed out, “How’s your plan going to work without it?”

“Uh…” A small voice sounded behind them at a very inconvenient time. They both turned to look at Linda, who was standing there again, the arm which had the Console bound to it outstretched towards them like a peace offering, “You could borrow mine?”

“Absolutely not.” Terry rejected, “I’m not sending you back to whatever hell you came from.”

Kathy bristled next to her, seemingly recovering from the shock of the news that had just been relayed to her, “Look around us! We’re already in hell. It can’t get any worse than starving on this beach.”

“And I want Danny back.” Linda agreed quietly, “More than anything. If this is how we get her back, then fine. My Console is the one with the least limitations. Paterson said it himself. If you need to use a Console, mine is the best bet. And my original world wasn’t so bad, anyway.” She continued, frowning slightly, “It’s hard to remember, but I remember it being very nice. For most people. The skies were blue, at least.”

Right. Terry looked up at the sky, which was right back to its bleached sandy yellow. If it was blue, then that meant it was natural. If it was blue, then that meant they had a chance of making things better. If it was blue, then it was better.

Asadullah and Babur were both looking at him beseechingly. All eyes were on Terry to make this decision. He hung his head slightly, “Yeah, alright.”

Kathy stepped away from Linda as the girl pulled apart the straps with shaky fingers.

“Good luck.” She said, as she put her hand down on a bright red button hidden under a panel on the underside of the gauntlet. The display screen flickered for a second, and then powered off. Linda winked out of existence, with only a few pixels to light her way. Asadullah caught the Console before it fell.

“This better be worth it.” He told Babur as he carefully fed one end of the spiraling glass pretending to be a bangle set into the port on the side of the device.

“Trust me.” The djinn assured him blithely, right before diving into the other end, the entire contraption glowing slightly as the integration completed.

Moment of truth, they hit the power button again, and held it down. A colorful panel appeared in front of Asadullah.

[Start New Game?]

Okay, so far so good. Asad clicked yes, and the glove Console switched to a base functions menu with no further prompts or missions. The screen glowed yellow, and then an application started running by itself. Or maybe by Babur’s prompting.

It was the Quick Teleport feature. And the menu was quickly being flipped through by the djinn which had taken control over the Console, until there was only the Finalize button on the display.

Asadullah looked over to him with wide eyes, his ears slowly growing back in, tilted downwards forlornly, “So, uh… this is it, yeah?”

In approximately thirty hours, the mold would probably strike his bone marrow and start growing through his nervous system. There would be no recovery from that, or hiding it either. Terry wanted to deny it, but he forced himself to nod, “Yeah. This is it.”

He should probably have something more to say, though, shouldn’t he? There was so much he had left unsaid. Things they’d never had the time and privacy to discuss. He wanted to pull the boy into a kiss right here and now but there were too many people and too many unsaid things hanging between them to ever think of resolving now.

So, Terry had to pour his all into the one sentiment that was still uncomplicated, “For what it’s worth, Asad, I’m really glad you came to the convenience store that day.”

Asadullah melted into a smile, “I’m glad, too.” And he brought his hand down on the button. Instead of the basic pixels, tendrils of black were wrapping around him, breaking Asadullah into pieces, and then spirited him away.

Terry sighed, an empty ache already erupting in his chest as he thought of all the things he could have said instead or should have cleared up.

Even as all the other villagers hesitantly discussed a plan to figure out shelter and food and drinking water, Terry lay back on the edge of the shore, watching the wispy clouds begin to welcome in the night sky. He had to save his strength, in case anyone tried to attack. It wasn’t likely that he would make it past one fight, but he had to at least try.

Maybe it was the heat of this world after the perfectly moderate temperatures of Delica, but he felt light-headed, even though he hadn’t moved much. Maybe the fungus had acted faster than he had anticipated. Anything was possible.

But the others weren’t talking as much either, he noted fuzzily. Was his hearing failing him? But no, he could hear the waves lapping at his toes just fine, and the sound of flippered footsteps, too. Wait-

Subtly, he tilted himself to the left, where the sound was coming from, looking through his eyelashes.

Everyone had fallen silent, he realized, because they were unconscious. Or dead, a frantic voice whispered. And he hadn’t even noticed. No one seemed to have.

The man walking over them was dressed in scuba gear, but he held himself very well for that fact. He came to a stop right in front of Terry, and the boy laid as still and corpse-like as he could. He might not have sold the act on his own, but the fungus growing over him probably added to the effect.

The man – or Harbinger, as he was now starting to suspect – tutted condescendingly, “Fell onto his own sword. Amateur. But gruesome.”

And then Terry was being hefted up by his collar.

He hung as bonelessly as he could manage, throat working to take in air as his mind rocked about in a terrified frenzy.

Twenty eight hours to live. If they didn’t cremate him first.

[Player Log End]