Tom’s laugh rang out in the empty street, cruel and harsh. Ace waited. It was going to be hard enough to block rocks with a slender quarterstaff... she glanced around the road, making sure not to broadcast her movements. There were cars pushed to the side and all of them would be better cover than nothing. There were also a few stores and apartments about, but those doors could be a little iffy. If they were still locked and the place hadn’t been looted yet, a faint possibility, then Tom might box her in and trap her. On the other hand, if they were open, then she ran into the genuine risk of the area already being occupied and pissing off the fanged creatures inside. Those were the options, since she didn’t have the speed to enter the inner part of town and have witnesses flock to her.

If she could get behind a car... Ace jerked back as a rock flew by the side of her face.

“Fuck you, Tom!” she yelled out, startled. Vehicles nearby ranged from small, which would make her crouch with an injured ankle, or large, where she’d be able to stand. Well, that was a simple choice. Ace waited until Tom threw another rock, this one hitting her near her leg, and then she limped as fast as she could to the dead van that was slightly behind her, on the curb. She swerved around the back and put it between her and her attacker. “Damn it MS5, if you were here this could have been handled!”

If her friend had been with her, Tom might not have thrown that first rock. How long had he been planning this? When had he kept memories of the actions she’d taken with him, choices that hadn’t been coded in, resulting from doing fetch quests or helping other NPCs who forced her to interact with Tom? There was only one way to get that information.

“So,” she called out, careful to keep her head hidden. “When did you start remembering that I’ve killed you?”

Her question cut into his cursing.

“Since I woke up this morning! I remember every single damned way you killed me, you sick fuck!” His voice was getting closer, so Ace moved in the opposite direction. If she could keep the truck between them, then she won by having a shield. If he became frustrated and tried to rush her, she had a quarterstaff to remind him of why that wouldn’t be a good idea. Either way, she remained in control of the situation.

“First, you pushed me into my apartment and kneed me in the balls before slicing my throat,” Tom continued, his voice ending at a high note as if his body physically remembered the pain. “Then, the next day, you asked me to come help you in the woods nearby, and you pulled me into the path of a falling tree!”

Oh, yeah… That one. She really had needed some help chopping down a tree in the forest, and Tom had simply been the first person she’d seen on the way out. Then, while the tree was being axed, the idea to crush him had come to her; the quest had only wanted fallen trees and didn’t really ask for anything to be done with them, so when the last one had been teetering, she’d grabbed his arm and lined Tom up with the trunk. A crime only of opportunity.

Tom went on: drowning, death of a thousand forks, swamp monster snack since she’d sent him up there on a wild goose chase, pushed from a neighboring roof so that his body landed in a closed-off area... she waited. If he was complaining about all the ways she’d murdered him, then that meant he wasn’t throwing anything at her.

“Tom? Who are you yellin’ at?” There was a pause. “An’ why are you holdin’ a bunch of stones?”

Ace’s eyes widened; she knew that voice!

“Saul! Help, he’s throwing them at me!”

She heard her lover demand that Tom hand over the rocks; unsurprisingly, Tom refused to do so. Vehemently. An idea came to her, and she felt her lips curling up in anticipation. Rubbing the cut on her forehead so that it was bleeding a little more freely, she stumbled out from behind the truck and headed to the two men.

“He hurt me!”

“I…? She’s fucking killed me!” Tom’s mouth dropped open as Saul opened his arms and embraced Ace. She buried her face into his chest, because if she looked at Tom, she’d give away the game with laughter.

“How can he still be alive if I killed him?” she asked after gaining a sliver of control. At her question, his chest rumbled with a laugh, and she pulled back to gaze up at Saul.

“Tom, she’d kinda got you there,” he said, looking at his friend. “Can’t be dead if you’re alive, right?”

She stayed where she was as Tom directed his insults and yells at Saul. Each of his accusations met with the same question of how he was healthy enough to be causing a fuss and throwing stones if the injuries had been as horrible as he claimed. Finally, several large cracks rang out, and then it was quiet.

“He’s gone.”

She stayed hidden for a few minutes in order to compose her face; this was something she should pity, a fine man like Tom falling prey to nightmares. Ace looked up, pulling back a little so she could see Saul.

“Thanks.” If it was anyone else, she wouldn’t be playing the scared maiden, but he usually ate that up with a spoon. “Tom scared me. I thought he was really going to hurt me.” She pressed against Saul’s fingers as he explored the cut on her face, and he let out a short huff.

“I’ll tell some of the others what happened, an’ we’ll make sure you’re not alone with him. Are you okay?”

Ace had to keep from cheering; this had worked even better than she’d hoped.

“Is he going to stay?” she asked. “I don’t feel safe with him around.”

“Actually... about that...” Saul’s voice trailed off in an awkward, uneven way. “Not sure how to tell you this, but a bunch of us decided that, even though we’ve only known you for a short time...”

She stepped back and waited for him to find the words for whatever he was choking on.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“In little more than a week, in that time you’ve helped us all out, built up the community here, an’ have been a cool head in some feuds that had flourished in our settlement. There was a vote earlier this mornin’. It was unanimous—we’d like you to be in charge of Briny Breeze.”

Her mouth fell open. Had she heard that right? Saul must have sensed her confusion since his smile grew and he started nodding.

“I know, right?” He clapped her on the back. “Do you need me to take you to Jack?”

It was tempting. Jack would be able to clean up her cut and help figure out if her ankle was broken or just sprained. But she was drained. Exhausted. Fighting with MS5, dodging Tom’s rocks, his accusations… and then there were all the worries spinning in her head with whatever the fuck was going on within the game. And now the knowledge that she was in charge of the town. She needed some time to think. And rest, even though she’d just respawned?

“I’m tired,” she finally told Saul, shaking her head. “Right now, I’m going to my place, but I’ll see everyone for dinner, okay?”

“Yeah, an’ we’ll toast your success later.”

He nodded, offering his broad shoulder. She took it and the two of them began limping up to her complex. The surrounding wind grew stronger, from a tiny nudging breeze to a threatening whirlwind.

“What’s going on? Is there a hurricane or something?” Ace wasn’t sure about the environment settings, but if everything was broken anyhow, then it was completely possible the natural disasters scheduled for higher levels were blowing into town today.

“No...” Saul was looking up, frozen in place and unfortunately keeping Ace from making any headway. She let out a gusty sigh and followed his gaze, eyes narrowing as she took in the shadowed silhouette. The wings, strong enough to support a human-sized body, were tattered enough that streams of sunlight shone through them. His tail swung up and down, letting him choose where to land. It probably wasn’t coincidence that he settled on a hollowed-out car, crushing it beneath his weight and talons.

Ace felt the blood drain from her face and for a few seconds, she was lightheaded and swaying.

“Oh, wow!” said Saul, happiness clear in his deep voice. “I think that’s Ranger Dan, but... he hasn’t come to see us in so long…we’d all thought he’d died!”

If she’d know he was able to fly about, she wouldn’t have lied so glibly. Oh, she still would have lied. He’d been ready to murder her when she’d entered his tower. Just... not lied with future promises. Fuck.

“I need to go,” she said, not taking her eyes off of the dragon. He craned his neck to stare directly at her. Eyes dilated and steam floated upwards from his snout.

“You wretched creature.” He slithered off of the car, the resulting squeal of metal forcing Saul and Ace to cover their ears. Not like that action helped at all. “You walking, talking, piece of rotting bear meat. You LIED!”

“About what?” Ace asked, letting go of Saul and limping backwards. If she didn’t have to admit it, then she wasn’t going to.

“About EVERYTHING!” The last part was rage fueled by sadness, and it sent a very loud warning down the primitive part of her brain—here be danger. Run. Or perish.

“You need to be more specific.” She heard the words come out of her mouth, but to be honest, she didn’t think her brain had anything to do with them. It was more her sass and inner bitch defending the rest of her.

“You are not Madeline.” The steam morphed into licks of fire, cutting off her escape and finally jolting Saul out of his stupor. “My Maddy. You pretended to be her, you stole items from me, and worst of all, gave me HOPE when I had given up. How dare you.”

Saul chose that moment to run between them, hands stretched out as he faced down Dan. Huh. She hadn’t thought he was suicidal.

“Dan! Dan, don’t you remember me? It’s Saul!” He ran forward and the dragon recoiled, neck craning so that the fire wasn’t a hazard to the idiot trying his best to become BBQ. “I used to come up with the boy scouts, an’ we’d pick berries after they’d go home with their families at the end of the weekend.”

Ace took a step backwards, and when Dan didn’t say or do anything, she snuck in another.

“I see you.” Dan looked away from Saul to stare at her. “Stop moving.”

Ace froze, not wanting to further piss off the furious dragon.

“Yes... yes. I remember you and the kids... are they... how...” Dan swallowed, then belched out smoke. It tickled Ace’s throat, but she kept swallowing, desperate not to cough and draw attention back to herself.

“Most of them made it,” said Saul, replying to the question Dan hadn’t been able to form. “Haven’t seen them for a while, though. They’ve gone to other places, went lookin’ for family members. Stuff like that.”

“You, though. You have some nerve. Lying to me about being Maddy. Stealing things from my home. Letting me pretend that the woman I loved was still alive.”

Ace nodded at each action she’d taken; most likely, it was that last one which Dan was pissed about.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t turn you into charcoal right here and now.” The steam was coming back even as he spoke, wisps that rose upward.

“Dan, she’s a friend,” Saul tried, stepping to the side and putting a hand on Dan’s scales. The dragon snapped, but pulled back at the last minute, and while Saul tried to keep a smile on his face, Ace’s thoughts went to wondering how much of Dan had been crafted from instinct and how much still fell within the range of human.

“She can be your friend, your lover, or your wife for all I care, but just because she’s been kind to you doesn’t erase the harm she’s caused me. Now I don’t know where Maddy is, where to look for her, or even if she’s still alive!” The last bit was roared and one of the few unbroken windows nearby shattered to the ground.

An image flashed through Ace’s brain, and she sucked in a deep breath. Could that have been…?

“What?” snarled Dan. “Have you finally figured out that your existence is worth less than a pimple on Saul’s ass?”

Saul rolled his eyes, but didn’t protest at the insult.

“I might...” Ace hesitated. Would it be better to keep lying, or tell him what she suspected was the horrible truth about Maddy? Rangers were the people usually wearing good hiking boots, right?

“If you’re going to lie me to again, I’m going to rip your spine out in one piece and see if I can extract your nerves along with it.” Dan picked up.

“I’m not stupid,” Ace said.

“No, you’re worse. You hurt knowingly hurt others,” the dragon said. “So... let’s hear it. Why, right now, do you think you’re not? Can you prove that you have some working brain cells? Are you going to come clean?”

“I’m going to bring you to Maddy.” Ace stood her ground, more frozen than brave as sharp teeth snapped in front of her face. He was close enough she could taste the rotten meat on his breath.

“... are you now?” Dan lowered his head to stare into her eyes. She steadied herself. “And how do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“You can come with me?” Ace offered, not sure if she really wanted him to join. Having a depressed, angry, half-man/half-dragon as a companion was never a good choice, no matter if a person was playing fantasy games or sci-fi.

He squinted, cocking his head and clearly not taking her seriously.

“Fine. You lead. I’ll follow. Saul,” and here he looked over to where the man was standing, “will be with us to make sure you don’t try to kill me and I don’t disembowel you.”

Ace wanted to point out that it wouldn’t be a matter of trying, then decided biting her tongue was the best course of action.

“Then, when I find out that you’ve lied again, I can kill you with a clean conscience.” There was a snort, accompanied by flickers of flame. “Because I, unlike you, work at being a good person… even if I’m not human anymore.”