She slumped against the wall as the door slid shut behind her. The stone swirled around her and she suddenly felt as though she were drowning. Her wound was a dull, biting pain as something sick was growing inside her.

“I think I’m done,” she groaned.

“Not so fast,” Lefty said as he leaned over her, grasped the arrow, and broke off its tip. Then he turned her onto her side and with a jerk, the arrow was free of her back. Impossibly, the wound now hurt even more and she groaned in pain.

She smiled wanly, “I’m only bleeding out faster now, you fool.”

Blood was everywhere. I’ve lost more hit dice in this dungeon than I have in all of the dungeons I’ve been in, combined. She had never taken this much abuse. And what was worse, she had never had to feel it before either. If I ever find out who is responsible for this bug, I really might go to jail for murder.

Lefty reached into his robes and pulled out a little red vial. “Last one,” he said as he pulled the stopper and poured the little healing potion into her mouth. Almost immediately, she could feel the muscles and intestines that had been punctured begin to repair themselves. A minute later, she rubbed her eyes and sat up.

“Ugh,” she said, “getting shot with arrows is not something I ever want to experience again. If we get out of here, we’re finding the nearest village and we’re setting up shop as inn keeps or blacksmiths or farmers or something until Concept gets this fixed. Alright?”

Lefty nodded solemnly, “You got it.”

She let out a long, relaxed breath and opened her H.U.D. The healing potion had given her all her hit points back. She could feel it too. However, her body was tired. In game terms, she was low on stamina. In normal terms, she needed a nap.

“How did you get that?” she asked.

Lefty smiled, “I lifted a few things off our gear while Neera was doing her monologue.”

Her head hurt. She blinked hard. “Do you have anything else handy?”

“I got a scroll and … this.” Reaching into his robes, he pulled out her Emberblade. It was the sword only, no scabbard and the burnt orange blade glowed faintly in the dark. He handed it to her almost reverently and she took it and laid it in her lap. He then pulled out the scroll and then frowned. “Summon Ice Wall. Fifth level.”

Her jaw dropped. “Where did you get that?”

“I pulled it off a shelf when we were escaping the observatory.” He rolled the scroll back up and tucked it into his belt. “You did well back there, talking up Narene and her pet.”

She shook her head, “I had no idea what you were doing. I was just being a bitch.”

He gave her a thumbs up. “Well, A-plus job on being a bitch.”

She grunted as she found her feet. Comforted by the weight of her sword, she gave it a couple of light swipes at the open air. Her body was aching and sore, but she didn’t care. It was time to either find their way out or die trying. And whatever happens after that, happens.

“So what now?” She asked.

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Lefty clicked his teeth, “If we had our gear, how many keys would we have now? Three?”

“If we had our gear? Five,” she said. “There was the first silver one that I found in this horrid-smelling room. Then I found a second silver key in the chest where I stole the sword. We had the key we stole from the kobolds. Then I found a fourth one when I was in the treasure room. The fourth we got from the treasure chest at the end of the five faces puzzle. But all that stuff is in my pack.”

“Neat. Did you grab anything cool?” He asked.

“No, just the key. I got stabbed and passed out before I could take anything else,” she said. “The coolest things I’ve stolen from this place are my sword and this gem I took off a treasure chest that can blow everything sky high.”

“Hmm, that sucks, what kind of gem was it?” Lefty asked.

“It was part of the trap on the treasure chest. If it breaks, it casts Greater Ruin,” she said.

Lefty let out a low whistle. “Nasty. That’s too bad. Sounds like something that would be pretty useful in a boss fight.”

Calista nodded, “Provided it doesn’t take us down with us.”

“Yeah, but first we need those keys. Five was the number, right?” Lefty said, “If those five are the keys we need, then we just need to find out what they open and then we’re all set.”

“If we can steal our stuff back, and if Neera hasn’t stolen any of them,” Calista answered. “And that’s not counting the secrets that go with them, remember? There were supposed to be five secrets to go with the five keys.”

“You’re right. Then again, maybe the keys lead to the secrets,” Lefty said.

“True,” Calista answered. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

Lefty looked back at the hidden door. “Well, do we have any way of tracking where those two went?”

Calista sighed and rubbed her forehead. “If we were to go back into the last room, I could use my dungeon sense ability to see if there were another way to get through those doors. Or, failing that, a way that linked up with their path. Otherwise, I’m at a loss.”

Lefty leaned back and bounced the back of his head against the wall as he thought. Silence ruled the corridor as the two of them thought. Finally, the mage said, “I guess what I’m concerned about is that we’re stuck in this game, and from what you said about what that prisoner told you, your boyfriend might know something about what’s going on.”

“That’s what I’m concerned about too,” Calista said.

“Maybe we don’t need to follow them. Maybe we just need to find this boyfriend of yours to see if he knows anything about what’s going on. If this all has anything to do with him, then we need to grab him and get him to tell us everything he knows or we might both just be stuck in our V.R kits until we starve to death.”

“Can you feel your V.R suit at all?”

“No, can you?”

She shook her head again, “No, and I use a V.R bed and so I am usually at least somewhat aware of it. Like, I can always feel the gloves over my hands and the visor over my face when I’m playing.”

“I use a neuralink jack, so I don’t have any of that,” he replied.

“So this all just feels normal to you?” She asked.

He scratched his head, “Yeah, except for the pain part. Normally I keep my pain setting at a 0.4. Just enough so that I’m aware of what my character is feeling. Now it’s like it’s set at the max. That’s what masochists use.”

She felt her lip curl in disgust. “There are masochists that do that?”

“Yeah, the New York Times did a whole article on it and everything.” He said.

“What’s the New York Times?”

“It’s this old fashioned news service where they have people who write actual articles about stuff that happens.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s how it was done back before there were drones everywhere.”

“Weird.”

They were quiet for a moment before Lefty spoke. “You know, that reminds me. I’ve been having a really hard time remembering stuff ever since … well, I can’t remember.”

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“I mean I can’t remember nearly anything. My real name. My real job. Where I live. What my family is like. Pets. Car. House. None of that stuff.”

Calista didn’t answer as she tried to remember who she was and where she was from but when nothing came to her, a cold feeling came over her. “Yeah, me too. I never realized that until just now.”

It was quiet again until Lefty asked, “Why do you think that is?”

Calista shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s a sort of amnesia from whatever is keeping us in this game.”

Lefty nodded solemnly. “Only one thing to do then, I guess.”

Silence then as they stared at the walls, thinking of what they should do next. Calista thought of all the things that had happened so far. All of the obstacles. The traps. The monsters. She thought of Smith and Smithey who they had left tied up in that hallway. They’ve probably been freed by now. They had no map. No guide. No direction. Their gear was gone. They were both wounded. The only thing left was Lefty’s magic and her Delver abilities. Perhaps I can just use my Dungeon Sense from here.