[Player Log Start!]

[Log Holder: Asadullah Khan]

[Level: 2]

[! Log Translated From Urdu !]

For a moment, as the large woman who had appeared from the underbrush loomed over them, Jared almost seemed… upset. It was so sharp that he could nearly smell it. That was ridiculous, though, Jared was the rat. He had always been that. That was how he presented himself. Why be upset about it now?

When Jared didn’t respond, staring blankly at her, Asadullah inserted himself in the conversation, “And we love him for it!” He agreed, not even trying to deny something so obvious.

She grunted and crossed her arms as she looked him up and down.

“A cat-human hybrid? You have your own language?”

“Urdu is not a catboy language.” He told her patiently, “That is a whole other problem.”

The woman pondered this, “So which Realm are you from?”

“…What?” He blinked.

“Realms. The different worlds that are out there.” She told him gruffly, “Which one are you from? Never heard of Urdu until now, so you must have come from somewhere out there. Certainly not from here since you would have had to survive the bomb.”

“You survived the bomb.” Lucky said.

She threw her head back and laughed, “Now I know you aren’t from around here. We didn’t survive the bomb, boy. We came after the bomb hit and blew up the largest landmass in this Realm.”

“Wait, these islands… they used to be in one piece?” Jared asked, snapping out of his shock, “It really isn’t possible for them to be in this shape, no matter how big that explosion was. Especially not after only around seventy years to recover.”

“You haven’t been a Gamer for very long, have you?” The little girl named Linda asked, hopping beside Jared with a wide smile, “Because it really is possible.”

The idea that an eleven-year-old knew more about this than Jared seemed to break something inside the boy. Asadullah could see the smoke coming out from his ears. It seemed that his miraculous talent with people had been mostly Compulsion, which was… disappointing. To say the least. Still, Jared took it gamely, forcing himself into a stiff smile, “You got me. We’re a bit new to this. So why don’t you tell me about how it’s possible?”

“Okay!” She agreed excitedly, “There are a lot of Abilities, with all sorts of limitations and skills. If you can think it, it’s definitely possible. And the ‘Affinity’ class is a whole other ballpark that opens a whole new level of reality shifting. Once the Realm was upended, the Developers were able to stabilize it quickly using a Harbinger operative, so that they could move onto laying out their own experiment.”

“… I was asking for your guardian to explain, but come again?” Jared blinked. Asadullah nodded feverishly beside him.

The burly woman scowled, “I am not Linda’s guardian. If you want a name, it’s Danny Winston.” She told them, even as Linda practically exploded from her own excitement. But she didn’t let herself be sidetracked, continuing to explain where Linda had left off, “And since you’re asking, the Developers are known for using the System to run their own Experiments. We do not care much for it, as us Gamers are not affected by it.”

It felt like a sharp sound was buzzing in his ears. The way that this information was being so easily revealed, it just- it wasn’t right. Who were these people, who thought themselves to be above the Apocalypses? How dare they just up and abandon everyone who had been hurt by the Developers?

“How can you say that?” He asked, barely restraining the anger coursing through him, “Of course you’re being affected. Everyone’s being affected by this. It’s the end of the damn world.”

Her lips curled into a smile, “Not us.” She gloated, “We have no business in intervening.”

“Why not?” Tench demanded, “Aren’t you playing the same Game as us?”

“Not by the looks of things.” Danny replied, looking at them closely, “How about I show you our game, so that you can compare it to what you’re going through?”

“Sure.” Tench agreed immediately, before rethinking it, “I mean, we have things to do. Party members to catch up with. Projects to focus on.”

“Betrayal to be dealt with.” Lucky grumbled from beside him.

“You strike a deal with the crows?” Danny asked bluntly. Asadullah was taken aback, both by her long-suffering tone, and the astute observation. How many times had this happened before? And what were the circumstances of those interactions?

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

But Jared squared his shoulders, and set his jaw, “Yes. It has to be done to complete this Level.”

“They’re Level Players!” Linda stage-whispered to Danny, who didn’t seem the least bit surprised about this revelation. But that term was odd. Level Players. Implying that there was such a thing as Non-Level Players. Maybe…

“Are you not Level Players?” He asked.

Linda giggled, “Nope. We stay in one place. Playing our own Game. It’s fun. You… you don’t look like you’re having fun.” She noted, angling her head to look at Terry’s face.

He barked in dry, silent laughter, lifting his hands forward to sign out in shaky fingers, “I haven’t really been having any. So… I suppose that makes sense.”

“Oh.” She looked deflated, “That’s- I didn’t realize.”

Danny patted her shoulder, the movement stiff and uncomfortable, “Sometimes people don’t have it as cushy as us.” She told the young girl, “And they just… prefer it that way.”

“We don’t.” Asadullah told her, dripping with vitriol, “If there was any other option, we wouldn’t be here. I would be home. With my people. And my friends. Not being attacked by robots.”

Danny’s lip curled, “I’m sure you believe that.” She told him, “But the Console offered this to you, did it not? It thought that you were made for this Game, and put you here.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“And can you prove that?” She challenged. There was a smugness in her voice. A superiority that made chafed against him and put him on edge.

“There’s no way it could work like that.” Asadullah replied, because it had to work like how he had been operating before, otherwise it would mean that they hadn’t been selected for some greater purpose, but rather handed an objective to keep them busy, and that would mean that they couldn’t really save the world, and, and, and-

He’d been lumped in with this group of immoral people, who lied and stabbed each other in the backs, no matter how far back they went.

Just as he had thought after that disastrous conversation in the cove.

“You should join us in our Game!” Linda suggested brightly.

“I do not believe that that is a sound choice.” Lucky warned them. Terry nodded in her support, as did Tench, looking relieved at not being the only voice of reason in the group.

“We should check it out.” Asadullah decided, going against their current plan of action, “I want to see what other options are out there.”

“Yeah, what he said.” Jared agreed. It was a surprise to be in agreement with him of all people.

“There aren’t any options for you out there.” Lucky told them both sharply, “Even if there are… other Games out there.” She shuddered at the very words. It still felt wrong to think that.

“Well, you may look into it if you want.” Danny was quick to offer, smile fixed in place, “It’s an idyllic place if you have the right mindset for it. The others will surely not be bothered by it. We are bothered by little in our Game. It isn’t nearly as harrowing as this crummy world is.”

“Yet this crummy place is where you lot have ended up.” Terry pointed out, before raising his hands, “No shame, though, I didn’t mean anything by it. Where’s the entrance? Take us please.”

“Terry!” Lucky and Tench snapped at the same time.

“What? I didn’t want to make this a whole fight.” Terry replied, “And you would fight about it. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t.”

“Sheesh, don’t make it sound like we’re parents getting a divorce.” Lucky grumbled, even though it really did seem like that. If an entire group of people could get a divorce.

Danny and Linda led them back to the fern they had come out from. Pushing it aside, they revealed another piece of sandstone, this one with a sprawling rune on it. Or the pattern of a computer chip’s circuits if he was recognizing it right.

With practiced ease, Linda brought her hand down onto the plaque, and a dialogue box came up, this one blue with whitish text.

[Warp Point Reached!]

In a flash of light she was gone, and Danny ushered them forward one by one. However, when Lucky’s wheels ended up on the rune, that wasn’t the only panel that appeared. A different one did. A warning.

[! Entering the Warp Point Will Change Your Primary Objective !]

[Enter Regardless?]

[{x} Yes { } No]

Lucky frowned, “Do you suppose it’ll turn back when we come back?”

“Michael would know. Or the Console.” Jared noted, “But without them… we’ll hope for the best.”

Lucky thought about if for a few seconds, and then brought her hand down on the Yes button. Pixels broke her body and chair into fragments, whisking her away into an unknown world.

With the first headway made, the others followed quickly after. One after the other until it was only Asadullah who was left, standing in front of the dialog box, the two options hovering in front of him.

He hesitated, thinking it over. Give up his purpose? The thing that had defined him for… nearly a full year now? The only distraction from the pressing concern of his empty post as the Guardian of Mira? Even if he were to regain it once he left, would that really be worth the risk?

What risk? He wanted to laugh at his own thoughts. Everyone was gone. Or fighting. He couldn’t rely on them. Not in a Game like this. Not anymore.

He brought his hand down on the button, and it was like a ripple of power was spreading through the multiverse, changing the System forever. Or maybe it was just the pixels deconstructing him layer by layer, piece by piece, until he was put back together, completely unchanged. Except for his surroundings.

[You have Entered the Sub-Level!]

[Realm: L-38 |Delica]

[Objective: Loading…]

All around him, it was… a moderate temperature. Not too warm, not too cold. The wind was perfectly normal, too. A breeze that was just barely noticeable. And the sky… the sky was… Blue.

The most gorgeous blue he’d ever laid eyes on. Or maybe he was just thinking that after so long of looking at that blistering yellow. He wished that he had had enough time to appreciate it back when they had reversed the Apocalypse in Terry’s world. Or had the chance to see it in the Tracklands. Or simply looked up more often when he was back home.

But nevertheless, it was alright to look up now and breathe it in, savoring the lack of salt coating the inside of his mouth and nose. Instead, there was grass, and flowers, and the familiar scent of cooking…

Wait. His nose turned in the direction of that last aroma. That was too familiar to be just any kind of meat. It had to be- but no, what if it wasn’t? When was even the last time he’d seen a goat, let alone thought to kill and eat it?

With single-minded focus he sauntered over the flower-speckled meadows, hopped over a quaint wooden fence, and went up to the party that was gathered around a fire, with a lump of meat hanging off it. The smell was delicious. Unmistakable.

“Where’d you find a goat?” He asked them cheerfully.

[Player Log End!]