By the time I’d finished my story, I was exhausted. Another frustrating reminder that in this world, I had bodily needs. Ignoring the idea of politeness I sifted through the goods on a nearby table, stealing a wineskin and a large packet of chips. I fell back into my chair, stuffing my face while the silence in the room grew. Theo and Gabby needed time to process my story. To my delight the wineskin didn’t actually hold wine, but instead a malty beer. I much preferred the heavenly amber liquid over aged wine juice.

I was eyeing off one of the beds by the time Theo pulled himself together and said, “so, you turned into a ghost, got magically sent to another realm, fought and killed strange monsters and other players only to win the game almost half a year later, and get sent back here. Is that about right?”

“That’s a boring synopsis, but yeah. That’s what happened. Oh, I also got good at making poisons, so you know, silver linings and all that,” I said.

Theo stood and started pacing. Gabby sat on one of the beds, her legs crossed as she stared down at her own hands that she was twisting in odd ways. I waited for a while, but I couldn’t wait forever and neither of them was giving me anything.

“So, will you tell me what happened now?” I asked.

“What did you call the other realm again?” Theo asked me.

I sighed, rubbing at the pain that was building at my temples. “A legendary-level challenge dungeon.”

“And there are more of those around?”

I glared at the man’s back. “I assume so, yes. The Daughters of Umbra mentioned going through trials of their own to get their wings.”

“Wings,” Gabby repeated in a distant voice like the word held some sort of wonder behind it.

“Don’t even think about it, Gabby,” Theo barked.

“I didn’t, I mean, I wasn’t. Alright?” she replied.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Theo snapped, stomping back to his seat. “That’s everything you have to tell us?”

“Isn’t it enough?”

“When you met the Daughters of…”

“Gabby,” Theo interrupted. “That’s enough.”

Gabby looked back down at her hands. Sob started sparking at my feet so I bent to pick him up, grateful he didn’t burn my fingers either. Frank squawked from my shoulder, slapping my face as he beat his wings aggressively. I placed Sob on my knee, still unsure what to do with a tiny horse, and soothed Frank before he hurt me or himself. Looking back at the others I decided not to step in on the family drama and instead focused on Theo who was brooding in his chair.

“Where is everyone else?”

“What’s with the bird, anyway?” Theo deflected.

I was starting to get angry. There was a reason he was avoiding telling me about the others and I intended to find out why. “Tell me where they are.”

It was Gabby who answered, “they’re all gone.”

I felt myself freeze up as her words sunk in. My throat grew dry and breathing more difficult. “What do you mean?”

“We lost Miranda shortly after we left Rottnest Island,” Theo said, his tone low and gravelly. “She changed the moment we set foot in that place. We all did but it hit her harder. She got darker and darker, crying every night and not talking to us. When our feet hit the mainland again she took off on her own. We couldn’t get her back.

Nora and Stella were next. They went on a mission not long after we joined the Outsiders. They were supposed to be gathering resources somewhere North-East of here. They didn’t come back.

Then we lost Jacob. Same thing. He went on a mission with the other gunslingers but didn’t come back. Everyone around here is getting a bit desperate. It became too dangerous to go on long missions. We’ve been reduced to hitting the Croc tower over and over. Our resources are getting a little thin.”

I stood up so fast that the chair I’d been sitting on flew back, slamming against the wall with a loud bang. I barely managed to catch Sob in time, not remembering that he had been standing on my knee. His mane and tail flared, singeing the small hairs on my hand. Frank screamed and took to the air, screeching at me when he settled on an old pipe that ran across the ceiling.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“That’s all you’ve got to say? They just disappeared. What the fuck, Theo. You seem to be pretty important around here, are you telling me there was nothing you could do?”

Theo stood up just as I did, his rage beating down on me from his greater height. “You think I didn’t try? Them leaving wasn’t my fault. All of this, all of it, is because you couldn’t control your own skills. You said the description gave you a warning. It’s on you that you were too much of a dunce to listen to it.”

“I was forced to disappear. It wasn’t a choice. I was in a bad situation and did everything I could. You were here. You could have helped them. You could have gone after them and brought them back. You will not pin this on me.”

“Listen here you little shit…”

“Enough,” Gabby cried. “Isn’t it bad enough that they’re gone without the rest of us fighting?”

I clamped my jaw hard, biting back all the angry words I wanted to fling about. I carefully set Sob down on the table beside me. Theo’s nostrils flared as he let out a long breath, a muscle in his cheek flexed.

“Gabby’s right,” Theo said. “We shouldn’t be fighting. We should be helping each other.”

“Yeah. Right,” I said.

Theo marched across the room and pointed at a bowl sitting on a table under a mirror. “You might want to clean yourself up. I’m going to go report to the others, come on Gabby, they’ll expect you there as well.”

Gabby gave me a small forced smile before leaving the room behind her father. I was still fuming from the conversation. I wanted desperately to punch something or throw something or maybe both. I pulled my fingers into fists and stomped over to the mirror, looking for the first time in a very long time at my face. At least, I thought it was my face. It didn’t look like the me I remembered.

Deep black rings circled my bloodshot eyes in a very clear display of how exhausted I was. My beard was long and messy a little like the Toilet Master’s only a dark brown rather than the old man's white. My hair hung in filthy strings like malformed and mistreated dreadlocks.

I took the old-school cut-throat razor from beside the basin of cold water, weighing it in my hand. I didn’t like the idea of shaving without a foam or an oil of any kind but what was I supposed to do? It’s not like there was a corner store down the block I could run to. I found a small bar of yellowed soap beside the basin. It was better than nothing.

An idea sprang up in my brain and before I could think too hard on it I ran back to the table, scooping up Sob and dropping him in the small basin of water. Sob whinnied his fury, his flames burning brighter. I waited long enough for steam to start to form above the water before snatching him back out and placing him on the table. He glared at me as water dripped all around his hooves.

“Don’t hate me too much,” I said to the little horse. “You have no idea how much it sucks to shave with cold water.”

A bolt of lightning flashed from his mouth, striking my shoulder. I convulsed, almost dropping the razor as my teeth ground together.

When the sensation dissipated, I looked down at him and said, “I deserved that, sorry.”

Sob stamped his foot and turned around, lifting his tail. I stopped watching him, not wanting to see what would come next. I carefully began removing all of my excess hair, trying very hard not to cut myself. I succeeded for the most part.

The job done, I dunked my head in the warm water, using my nails to scrape off the dead skin that had gathered there. I stripped and lathered my body in soap. Splashing water around my feet as I attempted to wash. I looked around for a towel but found none so instead stole a sheet from one of the beds, drying my body as quickly as I could.

Feeling fresh and somewhat clean I dressed again and marched across the room flicking the switch on the wall. The light in the room didn’t change. I sighed and looked up at the chandelier overhead. This place wasn’t lit by electricity but by many thin candles. Little stalactites made of wax hung from the thing in ghostly globs.

Shaking my head I fell on one of the beds, drawing the blankets up to my chin and closing my eyes. I needed sleep, even if it was in a too-bright room.

My usual dreams of bodies hanging from chains were different than usual. I walked through the room, seeing the faces of everyone I had once known over and over.

“Why did you leave me, Joe? I was so scared.”

I swallowed looking up at Miranda’s hanging corpse. Her lips were blue and her eyes lifeless. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to leave.”

“But you did, didn’t you, Joe? You left us all to die all because you couldn’t be honest with us.”

I swung back around, staring up at Nora. Huge gaping slashes crisscrossed her body. Blood oozed from the wounds, dripping all over the floor at my feet.

“No, Nora, it’s not like that.”

“Yes, it is. You left us behind to die,” Nora said, her blue lips moving at a different pace than her words.

“Do you remember us?” Jacob’s limp and mangled body asked. “Or do we mean nothing to you?”

Miranda appeared again, this time beside Jacob. “Please help us. I’m so scared.”

My body was shaking as I looked up at her. Her pink dress of flames flared and turned black, the wisps of it lapping at her hanging toes. A white rose formed in her mouth, losing petals as she swung in place. Her face flickered, turning into a skull and back again in the blink of an eye.

I jerked awake, staring right into Sob’s neon blue eyes. He snorted and swished his tail. I had no idea how he’d managed to climb up onto the bed and then my pillow but here he was, staring creepily at me as I tried to sleep.

“Are you alright?” Gabby whispered, lifting her head from her own pillow on the bed beside the one I’d claimed.

I rubbed at my face, sure I’d not gotten even a wink of true sleep. “I will be, eventually.”

“It must have been horrible in the other world, hey?”

“Yeah, it really was.”

Gabby reached out, fingering the crossbow that still sat on her bedside table. “Can you tell me more about the Daughters of Umbra?”

“There’s not much more to tell.”

“Please?”

I sighed and folded my arms behind my head. “Well, there were two that I knew better than the others. One of them absolutely hated my guts…”