Ace woke up cold, hungry, and thirsty.

“What the hell?” she asked, putting a hand to her head. The walls took her question and twisted it, echoing an answer back, but it made as much sense as anything else did. Including the corpse next to her. She blinked. Blinked again. “Freaky.”

It was her. Well, her avatar at any rate, which was a nice way to distance herself. Blood coated her throat, her chest was cracked open, and there was no trace of a smile on her face.

“Didn’t I blow myself up?” It was a rhetorical question. She’d seen the explosion. “Is this one of those games where I need to touch my body to regain my equipment?”

She reached out and poked cold flesh. Nothing happened. No warp of clothing from one to the other, no notification of additional resources or that money was being taken as a consequence of dying. “Right... I’m drawing the line at peeling blood-encrusted clothing off and wearing it. I’d rather go naked.”

That thought prompted her to look down at herself and sigh in relief that she wouldn’t have to. All the pieces of clothing she’d been wearing when she’d died were still there. Non-cut bra, tank top, shorts, long vest coat MS5 had gotten her, shoes... oh, shit. MS5. She got to her feet, swearing as she realized she was somehow back at the bottom of the pit.

“Did someone throw my dead body down here for shits and giggles?” She couldn’t think of any valid reason for it. A study of her double revealed injuries she hadn’t acquired during the original fight. A new, barely bleeding gash on the side of her head. A broken arm—and she might not be a medic, but there was a bendy place where no dip occurred naturally, so it was safe to assume the bone was fucked.

Ace had died on the cavern floor, she remembered that much. Murdered by LMFS who was going to get curb-stomped so damn hard the next time she saw him... the flame of anger died away as soon as she remembered how badly he’d handed her own ass to her.

“And I’ve got that weakness to cold while he’s got manipulation of ice. Great fucking combo.” She sighed. “Okay. Revenge will need to wait for a while. Important things first. Loot your body, find MS5.”

There was nothing she needed from the corpse next to her. It wasn’t holding anything, and the clothing was a lost cause. She turned to the sides of the pit and found the handholds again, climbing up to the edge and crawling out. Whistling at the carnage she found. Dark stains decorated the walls. Bits and pieces of bodies lay strewn about, and as she walked toward the exit, she found herself trying to guess what pieces she was kicking out of her way. There were a few fingers, a foot, several unidentifiable meat pieces, a large chunk of arm, and finally, a head with a string of white and red dripping from it. An eyeball hung at the end.

“Damn... I mean, it’s never good to be near an explosion, but still...” She stopped talking and took a harder look around the cave. None of her supplies were here and she could see that nothing had been left behind. Listening didn’t help either. There were a few new dripping sounds, mostly coming from the stalactite that had pierced LMFS’s torso when it had flown upward, but that was it. No one else was breathing in here besides her, which meant... honestly, jack shit.

“LMFS could have come back and stolen all our stuff,” she said aloud, ticking off the ideas on her fingers. “MS5 could be waiting to respawn since they died after me. The nameless goon could have come back and stolen everything while the three of us were dead. Or MS5 could have taken our stuff and gone already.” The choices were a little too open at the moment to narrow them down.

She half-turned to look back at where her corpse was. She was here. A quick glance around showed that the others were still here too, MS5’s and the stupid guy’s, both looking a little singed. And LMFS’s body was sticking around too, if you wanted to be generous about the meat puzzle.

“Wish I’d read the damned manual. That could have told me if this was the normal way to die. Maybe it held some hints about respawn timing. Or if we’ll be running through the game leaving a trail of corpses,” she said aloud, trying to piece together what to do next. “Gather supplies, get out, find MS5, and...” her voice trailed off. It was strange... her mind grasped at the next action to take, like hugging a cloud.

“Gather supplies, find MS5...” Now she felt there was another step that had disappeared. She shook her head. That only created a headache. A mental block, or something like that, was keeping her from adding to the list.

“Fine. Leave the cave, find MS5. That’s enough for a start. And figure out why the hell I’m getting a headache when I haven’t had one the entire time I’ve been testing.”

She ignored the rest of the gory tableau. Took a step. Fell to the ground as she rolled her ankle.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” she shouted, pulling her leg in to examine the damage. “Seriously? Don’t I have enough points in reflexes?!”

Ace grabbed a nearby rock and threw it into the wall. It helped bleed off the anger a bit, so she followed it up with a second, then a third. Finally, her attention turned back to the strong throbbing coming from her right ankle. Judging by the swelling, it was probably sprained, but with her current luck she wouldn’t put broken out of the picture.

“Change of plans. Get to Briny andn buy healing supplies,” she sighed, wincing as she tried to move it. “There’s no way I should be clumsy in video games. Tripping over nothing’s for horror movies, damn it.”

Injuring herself was a sign that it was time to leave. Her shoes splashed through puddles in front of the exit tunnel, and with a few wrong twists, she managed to limp out of the cave. What greeted her as she finally exited was sunlight, a distraught friend, and the fresh coastal air.

“Jinn! I thought you were dead!” yelled MS5, running over and tackling Ace in a hug. The two of them went down; Ace yelped as she hit the ground. Pebbles and stones dug into her back as MS5 pushed against her, their face radiating concern even with the unreadable bird beak. “Are you okay?”

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“Somehow managed to bang my ankle up while walking.”

“I’ve got some healing items, but I’m not sure if they’ll help with that.” MS5 hustled away before Ace could open her mouth up to ask why. Watching where her friend went, she saw all their supplies, her quarterstaff, and the backpack piled against a rock.

“Glad to see you managed to get everything. I was a bit worried LMFS took every piece out of spite.” She didn’t mention the nasty promise he had made before she’d taken him out.

MS5 hummed as they rummaged through the backpack, setting containers, pouches, and other items out onto the rocky ground. A scout prepared for anything.

“No... I woke up and he wasn’t here. Neither was the other guy that was killed.” They paused, then took a deep breath before continuing. “That... I never want to see anything like that again.”

Ace’s heart went out for her friend.

“I honestly don’t know how you stayed in game testing so long,” she admitted, shifting to a sitting pose and brushing dirt back onto the ground. “I mean, most games that would stimulate us aren’t made for kids, and those that are tend to use kid testers.”

“I like games,” protested MS5. “I can play a game without liking the violence. And if it features the undead and monstrous creatures. The skeletons from Dead Winds Tell Tales can attest to that.”

She laughed, remembering the time they’d tested that game; MS5 had been one of the top scorers.

“True, true.”

MS5 came over holding a bottle of murky water.

“You want me to drink that?”

“Think of it like tea,” they said, handing Ace the bottle. “And I’ve tested this before, so it should work instantly.”

The cap was twisted off, and Ace coughed at the heavy scent of wet plants.

“This is going to taste disgusting,” she said, shooting MS5 a look. “Does drinking this get me out of buying dinner for you?”

“No,” came the dry reply. “This is for your own good, and being killed by friendly fire gets me at least a dinner and an immersive movie.”

Ace groaned at that last bit, put the opening to her mouth, and tilted the bottle, ignoring the feeling of leaves and petals sliding down her throat.

“Every last drop.”

The bottle was held completely up and shaken to get the remaining bits of ick out of it.

“So?” MS5 stepped closer, almost hovering. “How do you feel? Did the pain go away, or did it stay? I’m kinda hoping we can move out soon since I really don’t like being so uncovered outside.”

Ace concentrated on listening to her body. Her ankle was still hot and throbbing. She could feel slight indentations in her flesh from where she’d been pressed down on rocks. And that headache was actually getting worse.

“You sure you gave me the right thing?” Ace waggled the empty plastic bottle at her friend, then recapped it. “I mean, ha ha, funny joke, you got me to drink it, but where’s the real healing potion?”

MS5’s shoulders slumped.

“Maybe... maybe it’ll take a little while to kick in.” They coughed. “I looked for you in the cave, but I didn’t see you.”

She rolled her eyes at the change of subject. “Someone dumped me back into the pit.”

“I waited for a bit, then guessed you might have respawned in Briny Breeze, so I was just starting to walk there.” A moment passed where only the sounds of birds were heard. “I thought you were gone.”

“Well, I was dead, but then I got better,” joked Ace, tossing the bottle back to her friend. MS5 didn’t catch it. The only thing it had accomplished was making her want to vomit. “And as much as the rest of us dislike losing, it’s just a game. Not sure why you’re so upset about it, you’ve seen me die plenty of times before.”

MS5 shook their head, rainbow hair flying out in every direction. After taking a few steps, they were close enough to help pull Ace back to their feet.

“It’s not the same at all.” There was a pause as they looked to Ace, then back to the cave’s entrance. “You... don’t know, do you? You haven’t checked.”

A hard feeling began to grow in her stomach, not meshing well with nausea. She remembered the fear from earlier when the system had been acting strangely. Those glitches that had happened several times before everything had gone black... but that had to be part of respawn, right?

Her voice came out soft and firm, the exact opposite of what she was feeling. “What do you mean?”

“Check your stats.”

Ace immediately tapped to bring them up... and tapped again. And again. Nonstop in a desperate hope that they would light up the space in front of her.

“What the hell?” Her movements grew more frantic, the tapping hitting harder, until MS5 grabbed her hand. “Where’s the stat screen?”

“It’s been like that ever since I woke up. I couldn’t see mine either, so I think something’s wrong with the system.”

Birds screamed out from overheard. She could also hear the ocean, smell salt upon the wind, taste the plant water her tongue, and feel everything that was flashing through her brain.

“We’re here though.”

MS5 nodded at Ace’s statement.

“This whole game is a damn system!”

Another nod.

“Can...” Ace swallowed hard at the thought. “Can we even be inside a system that’s down? Is that a possibility that exists?” She looked at MS5, who shrugged.

“No idea. I haven’t taken programming classes for years, most stuff done nowadays is similar to magic for me; I just depend on it working. As for whatever’s going on, all I know is we can’t contact staff for explanations, the AI won’t show up, and something’s happened or is happening at headquarters.”

Ace made a gesture for them to continue talking about that last comment. MS5 clacked their beak a few times, apparently trying to come up with words, and shrugged.

“Look at the sky. We were supposed to leave earlier this morning, but we’re still here.”

Ace immediately peered up, shading her eyes as she did. The sun was in a higher position than it had been earlier yesterday and there was enough of a dip to show that it was past the set leave time. MS5 was right. No matter what was going on inside Our Mutual Ruins, there were bigger problems at the company. When testers were trapped in worlds beyond legal contracts, lawyers were happy. When lawyers were happy, game companies tended to lose a LOT of money, or go under completely.

Maybe LMFS and MS5 had respawned before because of this weirdness. That could also explain why the healing potion hadn’t magically cured her entire ankle and had tasted like summer pond water.

“Well.” Lacking the words to convey the situation properly, Ace began limping toward where her quarterstaff was. “I have no idea what’s going on. Fuck.”

MS5 laughed, a little too high-pitched for it to be normal.

“I agree with you for once.” They looked around them, as if seeing the world for the first time. “I mean… please let me just be paranoid and nothing’s really wrong, but… Fuck.”