The next day, classes went by fast for Kevin. He found it easier to concentrate on his studies, rather than having the game on his mind. His misgivings for the treatment of AI did bother him, however. He finally understood where Karen had been coming from, and perhaps how she felt after her friend had died. He had been important to her and Kevin couldn’t even remember his name.

At lunch he looked for Karen, but again she was absent. He couldn’t find her anywhere. Kevin even saw her boyfriend, Joseph, in the lunch room, but she wasn’t there. He didn’t go up to him and ask about her, Kevin didn’t know the guy very well. He ate lunch alone and started searching the internet on his phone. He found a few wiki sites for Soralya, and chose one that looked impressive in information and layout.

Searching the news, he found people had posted warnings about devil invasions in Soralya. He even found a map that had been highlighted with places the devils were now spreading to. They were mostly confined to the areas around the Cloudspire Mountains, but were now spreading to the west. Kevin zoomed in on the map and found that Denhall was still protected. He saw that it was just to the north east of the main line of mountains stretching north to the sea. Apparently the Cloudspire mountain range divided the known world of the map.

Known world? That was the title of the map. Kevin typed ‘known world’ into the search feature on the site. It popped up with a definition and he selected it. Reading, he found that not all of Soralya had been explored by players. The ‘known world’ consisted of the collected explored area that players had been to so far. Apparently it was only a portion of the created world, and that developers had hinted that they were at the moment and for the continuous future, expanding the world even farther. Some players even hypothesized that new races and features of the game could be unlocked by exploring throughout the world. There was even a guild mentioned that specialized in exploring Soralya.

This was even more interesting than Kevin thought. He wanted to explore too, but this threat from the devils posed a more predominant problem. If they didn’t stop the violent expansion of this new race, thousands upon thousands of AI’s would be deleted. A part of Kevin knew that they were just programs, but he couldn’t dismiss the fact that they were as intelligent as any human. They were as alive in the game as any person in real life.

Kevin kept reading throughout his lunch break, soaking up any information he could before he went back to his classes. His first class of the afternoon was a history class he was taking as an extra. He had loved social studies in high school and this class was one of his favorites this semester. He shared it with Karen and he hoped she would be there.

He walked into class and looked for her. Searching, he couldn’t see her right away as he wandered the main aisle. After a few moments he was going to give up as everyone was finding their seats, but then he saw her in the middle row. He rushed to the row and squeezed between people to make his way to sit beside her.

“Hey,” He greeted her as he sat down, “What’s up? I haven’t seen you in days.”

“Hey,” She said sullenly, “Sorry, I’ve just wanted to be alone.”

“Are you angry about what happened on Monday?” He said hesitantly.

“Yes,” She said but looked at him with sad eyes, “But not with you. I’m just angry at Soralya, the developers, the people responsible for creating such beautiful people and then taking them away like…” She choked back some tears.

Wow, thought Kevin, she really liked this AI. He looked down and put a hand on her arm.

“I’m sorry, Karen.” He didn’t really know what to say to comfort her. “He must have been important to you. At least you have Joseph.”

“We broke up,” Karen said simply. That hit Kevin hard, she had been with him for almost a year now.

“Wow, really?” He said squeezing her arm. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” She said sniffling and clenching her fists. She wiped her tears away nervously. “He thought that it was stupid, me being so upset about what happened in the game. He made fun of me. He doesn’t understand.”

“Oh,” Kevin was dumbfounded. They had broken up over an argument about a game? That seemed a petty reason after being together for a year. Though, Karen had been playing for about the same time as she was with Joseph. Could she have had a separate relationship with her AI friend in the game, he wondered? He felt like right now was not a good time to ask, as the professor got up from his desk to start the class while Karen wiped her face dry from tears.

“Good morning, class.” The professor’s voice boomed over the speakers from his microphone. It was a big classroom full of students. The microphone gave the people in the back rows a chance to hear the professor. “As you know, I like to occasionally talk to you about current events going on in the world. Such events that will eventually be history, and will be the topics of my classes in years to come. Today, I’d like to have a forum on a wildly popular event going on right now, right under many of your noses.” Lectured the professor, pointing at the students.

“Virtual reality is a subject of many studies going on right now. It’s a relatively new concept to our society, and the technology for it is becoming very advanced as the years go by. Just recently, within the last few years, scientists and programmers have invented the widely and controversial Artificial Intelligence. It’s only a matter of time before such intelligences are downloaded into artificial bodies in the real, human world, but right now, as many of you know, many of these intelligences exist in worlds now readily accessible to us all.”

Kevin perked up even further as he heard what the professor was talking about. He glanced at Karen, and she was as enthused about the topic as he was. Her tears dried and forgotten.

“In these artificial worlds, we get a controlled atmosphere where we can, rather harmlessly, interact with these artificial beings. These artificial beings can now even be programmed to feel feelings and other such emotions and attitudes, as well as learn them throughout the experience of their lives.” The professor paused to let that sink in to the student’s minds. “Now, I’m not going to give a lecture about the creation of such programs. My focus for this lecture is to discuss the ethical awareness of interacting with these beings. How many people here have interacted with an AI?”

Kevin looked around as he raised his hand, nearly everyone in the class raised their hands. It looked like almost every person his age played these new games incorporating AI player experience.

“Very good, I expected as much. As soon as Artificial Intelligence was created, gaming companies scooped up the technology to incorporate it into their products. This ensured the funding for continuing research, and the creation of future studies on a grand scale including many people in separate control groups.” A hand shot up from the front row of the class. “Yes?” The professor pointed to the student who had raised her hand.

“Are you saying that players of these games are participating in a social experiment?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what I’m saying.” The professor said, “In the user agreement of each of these new programs incorporating AI, there is a section where the user agrees to participate in a study that includes the interaction with artificial intelligence. The researchers assigned to each game, or study, monitor the interactions between players and AI. How many of you actually read through the user agreement before clicking the ‘yes’ button?” The professor smirked as he asked the question. His smile widened as only a few in the class raised their hands. “Of course not, not many do.”

Kevin had skipped it too. Even if he had read it, he probably would have clicked yes anyway. The opportunity to play the game was too much to pass up, not to mention the amount of money he had spent to play the game.

“The way these games are set up, it creates a whole new world of interaction for players.” The Professor continued, “We are now able to do things in this new world that may have been impossible in the real world. Whether it is flying a spaceship in a space battle, or flinging lightning spells at a lich. These are new experiences for us all.” The Professor paused before continuing.

“Ethics have been an issue for games in the past. Gaming companies who have produced games simulating breaking laws and immoral activities have been the subject of debate in the global community. It gives players an outlet for ill advised and immoral behaviour, which concerns governments and lawmakers. Others have argued that such simulations give people an outlet for such behaviour, meaning they perform such actions in the game rather than in real life where such actions have the potential to do harm. In my personal opinion, the outlet for such behaviour only acts as a band aid for such behavioural problems and when a person performing such actions becomes bored, they may start to behave that way in the real world. In that case, they would be more confident about such actions, increasing the depravity of the situation.” The professor paused.

“Now, in these new games, we have an unlimited social environment where people can do what they like to others in an unlimited way. They can love, they can explore, and they can meet new people. They can also kill, they can steal, and they can also promote hate. It is a brand new world, and anything can happen because it isn’t the real world.” The professor paused, “I would like each of you to write an essay about your experience with these types of games. If you have not played these games, you can write an essay about the social interactions you would suspect to be incorporated in the games. In each essay, I want you to describe five good and five bad interactions you have had in the game and how it has effected your personality and the way you think about life. Any questions?”

Nobody raised their hand, but Kevin wanted some input from others. He raised his hand.

“Yes?” The professor asked, pointing at Kevin. The light activated on the microphone installed on the back of the chair in front of Kevin. He got some butterflies in his stomach, but he forced them away.

“I started playing Soralya over the weekend and learned a lot about Artificial Intelligence from the game so far. Lately, it’s made me question the morality of creating AI, now potentially living beings in the game, and then adding aspects to the game that kill them off. Even as players, what gives us the right to kill AI? They are beings that think and process information just like us. Just recently, Soralya developers introduced a new race into the game that has started wiping out settlements and invading regions in the game. I find myself wondering, while playing the game, how can they justifiably create life, then create and program other life to battle each other, creating death and suffering to the very AI they created?”

The professor smiled and clapped his hands twice, “That is a very good question! That is the very thought process I wanted to inspire in you today. What justifies the death of AI in these games, if they are of the same intelligence of you or I? The fact is, these developers are playing god, and the scientists involved are using them to research these new AI they have created in these situations. It’s all very complex, but one must ask oneself about the morality in which they play these games. Our society is based on being productive and living in harmony with each other. What will an individual turn into in the real world, after playing a character in one of these games who goes about stealing and murdering in abandon?”

“It’s not right!” Karen shouted, standing up. Everyone flinched at her outburst in her vicinity, including Kevin. The professor pointed to her and her microphone turned on.

“Explain!” The professor said to her excitedly.

“I found someone on a game, someone I fell in love with.” Karen paused at the revelation. Kevin’s face drained of color. “He was unlike anyone I’ve met in the real world. Someone who loved me like nobody could! Nobody knew me better than him, and we had so much fun together.” Karen fought back tears, her voice shaking.

“You mention him in the past tense. What happened?” The professor asked.

“He died trying to save a friend from being harmed. A friend who was a player, someone who could be revived infinitely. Vendall can’t be revived! He’s been deleted! I’ll never see the person I loved again. Ever! All because these dumb programmers are playing around with the lives of these AI! They are people too, people who are being loved and cherished…” Karen broke into sobs and sat down, covering her face. Kevin put his arm around her.

“See, students?” The professor said, “This is what I’m talking about. People are falling in love with AI as we speak. Then someone comes around and kills them, creating loss and hurt. It’s the same thing in real life. My advice to you is to not do anything in these games that you wouldn’t do in real life. Your very character, who you really are, is what is at stake when you mess around with the boundaries of your morality.” The professor paused. “Now I’d like you all to turn to page three hundred and twenty seven in your ‘Human Behaviour’ textbook and read through chapters twenty seven to twenty nine.”

The professor then turned off his microphone and made his way up the aisle. He pointed to Kevin and motioned with his hand to bring Karen to him. She was still sobbing as they awkwardly made their way past people staring at her. The professor led both Kevin and Karen down to the hall.

“I’m sorry, dear. What is your name?” He said to her as they got out into the hall.

“Her name is Karen.” Kevin said for her between her sobs. She was stopping, but clearly she was still overwhelmed.

“And you are?” The professor asked Kevin as he motioned for him to follow, putting his arm around Karen and guiding her down the hall.

“Kevin, sir.” Following beside Karen.

“Alright, Kevin. I’m going to escort Miss Karen to the school psychologist for the moment, just to help her cope with her loss. Would you like to speak with the psychologist as well?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“You had some good insight into the controversy concerning gaming today.” The professor said to him.

“Do you think we should play these games, sir?” Kevin asked. He saw how Karen had been affected by the loss of her friend and he was shocked.

“That’s up to you, Kevin. Every experience in life helps us grow in intelligence and awareness, whether good or bad. This is a new frontier in science and social interactivity. I wouldn’t shy away from it, but I would be aware of its affects upon your behaviour. Have you noticed any difference in the way you act since starting to play the game?”

“Not really, I’m a bit more confident I guess. In the real world that is.”

“And how do you act in the artificial world?” Asked the professor.

“I just try to do what is right, I guess.”

“What is right?”

“I don’t know, I do what I think is beneficial for everybody.” Kevin said awkwardly.

“Is that different from what you want to do?” the professor asked with a side glance.

Kevin though about it. Back when he had been attacked by that player who wanted to steal his loot in the caves of the Varnu, he had been tempted to take all the loot left behind before she had attacked him. But he didn’t, because he felt like it was unfair of him to do that. He had known that he had the viable option to steal her loot, but he had chosen not to, because in his reasoning he didn’t want to steal her loot. She, however, had chosen to steal his and had lost everything in the gamble. A sense of pride washed over him at the realization that he had not wanted to steal her stuff. He had done the right thing.

“No, I want to be a just and kind person.”

“Good, most people do.” The professor smiled and nodded. “You’ll meet some people that don’t, however. It’s your choice whether to oppose them or not.”

“What about the way the gaming industry is manipulating the AI?”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“It doesn’t matter.” The professor said, drawing a surprised look from Kevin. “By law, they own the rights to the AI they produce. They are, in all effects, god of the places they create. They own it.” The professor looked Kevin in the eye then, “What matters is how you respond to situations. I can’t say anything about the moral standard of the gaming companies. They just want to make things entertaining to the players, so they’ll continue playing and buying their games. What I can say, is a truth in this world that I hold close to my heart. That is, that people will find themselves in all kinds of situations in this world and now other worlds. From circumstances that are both in your control and not in your control. What matters in life, is how you respond to them. Do what you think is right and good, and you will have no cause to regret. Regret is something that eats away at you for the duration of your existence, trust me I know. It’s not something you want to have, kid. Do what you think is right at the time, and try to enjoy life as much as you can. Life is quite simple.” The professor winked at him and smiled. The conversation died then, as Kevin absorbed what had transpired in the past hour. He walked with the professor and Karen until they handed her off to the residing psychologist on call today. He walked back to class after that and continued his studies.

When Kevin got home that day he was feeling a bit cheery. Karen had met up with him after classes had ended for the day and thanked him for his support today. She seemed a lot happier after speaking with the psychologist about the loss of her friend. She said she was eager to go online again and show Kevin some of her favorite places. Kevin thought that was a good idea, he needed a break from fighting, though a part of him was itching to get back to the battlefield. He knew that the Devils needed to be stopped in order to protect the world as it was. After grabbing some food, Kevin went online.

“Good afternoon, Master!” Destiny greeted him in his home realm. “How are you?”

“I’m good, Destiny. How are you?” Kevin asked.

“Very good.” Destiny smiled, “I have been chatting with Eva. She is quite wonderful to talk to. I have learned much about Sorlalya from her.”

“How is it that you’re able to talk to her?”

“I do not know, but I would surmise that it is due to a program that allows for communication between the VRAI and the game AI. She must be special somehow for her to have a program attached to her like that.”

“Huh, Weird.” Kevin said.

“LadySwan34 would like to join you right now, do you accept?” Destiny asked all of a sudden.

“What?” Kevin asked, “She can join me in my home realm?”

“Yes, Master. Other players can join you in your home realm with your permission.” Destiny told him.

“Alright, I accept.” Kevin said. Destiny nodded and waved her hand in the air. A beam of light sprouted from the earth and flashed brightly. When it dissipated, Karen stood in its place. She wore a dark red kimono with white leaves printed on the fabric.

“Hey Kevin,” Karen said looking around his home realm, “Wow, this place is nice!”

“Thanks,” Kevin said, “What’s with the Kimono?”

“It’s very comfy, I always wear it here. I don’t have one in real life.” Karen smiled, “What about you? What’s with the polar bear sweater?” Kevin looked down and saw that he was still wearing the clothes he had requested from the other day.

“Oh, ha ha!” Kevin’s face went red. “I haven’t bothered to change my clothes since I got the VR.”

“Let’s get you something a little better.” Karen looked around and found Destiny standing nearby. “Oh, wow. You look like that actress!” Karen gave Kevin a smirk, “Oh, I see. Living out some fantasies?”

“Huh?” Kevin’s face flushed even further, “No, it’s not like that!”

“Sure it isn’t,” Karen laughed, “Let me ask you one thing. Have you seen her without clothes?”

“Uh,” Kevin’s eyes went wide.

“He has.” Destiny declared with a smile. Karen burst out laughing. Kevin felt like crawling into a hole.

“It’s not what you think…” Kevin muttered.

“Sure it isn’t.” Karen said smugly. “It’s alright, I won’t tell anyone. To tell the truth, I’ve fooled around with my AI too.”

“Uh,” Kevin didn’t know what to say.

“What’s your name?” Karen asked Destiny.

“It is Destiny.” Destiny answered and smiled.

“That’s a nice name. Can you outfit Kevin with a kimono like mine?”

“Master, is that what you wish?”

“Uh, sure. Can you make mine black with yellow leaves though?”

“Yes, Master.” Destiny waved her hand and suddenly Kevin was wearing a kimono like he had described. Karen was right, it was very comfortable.

“Nice,” Kevin said. “Now what?”

“Let’s go to the game and I’ll show you my cottage.” Karen said.

“You have a cottage?”

“Yeah, I hung around a village when I first started the game, and the mayor gave me a cottage by the riverside to grow crops and fish. We can go fishing!”

“Wow, that sounds great!” Kevin said enthusiastically. He hadn’t been fishing in years!

“Let’s go.” Karen turned to Destiny, “Can we play Soralya as a group, and spawn at Vergera Village?”

“Master?” Destiny turned to Kevin.

“Yeah, sounds good.” He gave Destiny a thumbs up.

Suddenly they were falling into the game and Kevin found himself standing in front of a quaint little cottage next to a slow moving river. The sky was clear and the sun shone brightly in the sky.

“Excellent!” Karen smiled, now in her game form of a Bresh. “Now you can spawn at my cottage. You can come here anytime.” She smiled brightly. “Let’s fish! I’ll grab the rods!” She ran into the cottage.

Kevin looked around some more and found a garden in the backside of the cottage. It was full of fruit bearing plants and large vegetable plants. “This is a nice place.” Kevin said aloud.

“I know.” Karen said from behind him, “I did some gathering and chores for the village when I started the game. It was fun, and the Mayor appreciated it so much that she gave me this cottage and land. I take care of it every day.” Karen smiled, “Let’s fish.”

The sun began to set behind hills in the distance as they fished in the river on a nearby dock. Kevin thought it was very fun. They both joked around as they competed to catch and release as many fish as they could. Kevin hadn’t had this much fun in years. After an hour, they got up and Karen took Kevin to a neighboring cottage nearby. The farmer had many animals on his cottage and he gladly let them ride his horses around the village. Karen waved to everyone who greeted her with smiles.

They passed through the village square, decorated with a massive garden of flowers, and they found the Mayor reading on a bench.

“Hello Isra,” Karen said as they trotted close by.

“Hello Karen!” Mayor Isra greeted Karen and Kevin with a bright smile. She was middle aged and quite beautiful, her long black hair curling down her back. “Going for an evening ride?”

“Yeah. This is Kevin, a good friend of mine.” Karen waved her hand to Kevin. Kevin waved sheepishly.

“Nice to meet you Kevin,” Said Isra.

“Nice to meet you too. This is a lovely village.” Kevin said.

“Thank you, we do our best.” Isra smiled.

“Where’s Sheera?” Karen asked Isra.

“She’s helping Ferdenand on his ranch.” Isra said. “I’ll let her know you’re here, she’ll be happy to see you.”

“Sheera is Isra’s wife,” Karen explained to Kevin. “She’s also the village Guardian. She is the best warrior I’ve ever seen.”

“What about me!?” Kevin joked with her.

“I stand by my statement,” Karen laughed.

“Oh,” Kevin feigned disappointment.

Suddenly Kevin felt something graze his cheek. He looked down and saw an arrow embedded into a tree beside him.

“What the…” Kevin muttered. Two arrows suddenly embedded themselves into the horse underneath him. The horse screamed in pain and reared, throwing Kevin off. The horse then took off at a run through the village. Karen struggled to keep her horse under control.

Kevin rolled to his feet and activated his shield spell as three dark forms jumped off the roof of the town hall and hit the ground hard. They stood up straight, eyeballing Kevin viciously. They were clothed in dark wraps and leather, with horns jutting from their brow. They were devils.

“We’ve found you, your dead, ‘Hero’.” Said the leader at the front of the trio. They dropped their bows and unsheathed long knives from their belts.

Kevin summoned his sword and readied himself. These looked like trained assassins.

“I’m going to get Sheera!” Isra said before running off. Karen steadied her horse and looked in bewilderment at the devils.

“It won’t matter,” The lead Devil muttered, “You’ll be dead soon enough.” He passed his hands in a particular motion and fire consumed Kevin’s form.

Karen screamed in horror, but Kevin didn’t feel anything in particular.

“Master,” Destiny’s voice rang out. “This seems to be a new spell. It’s called Soul Rend, if you are defeated with this spell active, you’ll lose all progress in the game.”

“Oh, great.” Kevin muttered. The trio assassins closed in on him and he prepared to fight. “Summon Brimstone.”

Brimstone appeared in a puff of smoke next to Kevin. The trio faltered a moment as the fiery cat roared at them.

“Hey, Brimmy.” Kevin said to his cat. “Time for some fun.”

Kevin suddenly charged at the trio and veered to the left, attacking the Devil on the left with his sword. Brimstone veered to the right and pounced on the one to the right.

Kevin hit his mark, slicing through the devils neck with his sword. To his surprise, the devil stumbled backward, but still stood. The leader came at Kevin fast, striking him with a long knife. It bounced off his shield and Kevin stumbled backwards as hit got hit a dozen more times in lightning quick succession.

Brimstone pounced on the leader then and they went tumbling away. Kevin found his opening and threw lightning at the other devil he had hit earlier. That devil turned to ash. Kevin turned to the other devil, getting up from the ground. While Brimstone tangled with the leader, Kevin went after the other devil, charging at him. The devil caught sight of Kevin’s charge and unexpectedly threw his knives at him. Kevin dodged one, but the other hit him square in the chest. To Kevin’s surprise, the knife embedded itself into his chest. He felt no pain, but he could feel the knife in his body. It was very odd, his shield spell must have depleted.

Kevin grabbed the hilt and took out the knife, blood spurting out of his wound. It must have a bleeding damage amplifier. The devil he was facing unsheathed yet another knife and charged at Kevin. Kevin dodged his thrust and with a quick down-stroke, sliced off the devils head. The devil turned to ash, and Kevin quickly reactivated his shield spell. It activated, but Kevin was still bleeding from his chest. He felt himself getting more tired and weaker, no doubt a result from his wound.

Kevin ignored his wound and focused on the last Devil who had amazingly thrown Brimstone off. He was bleeding from bite and claw wounds, but he got up and stood his ground as Brimstone circled, hissing smoke and fire.

“He’s mine, Brimmy.” Kevin declared as he approached.

“That’s what you think.” The devil smirked. “You may have taken out my AI comrades, but I’m going to finish you off.”

“AI comrades?” Kevin asked. “You’re a player?”

“I am, and so much more.”

“A moderator then.” Kevin declared.

“How do you know what that is?” The devil wore an expression of shock.

“I know you moderators are the leaders of the devils, leading the destruction of this world. Why are you doing this?”

“It’s a good paying job. It pays the bills.”

“You’re being paid to play the game?”

“Yeah, we get paid to take over this world. It’s a good gig for us.” The moderator said. “You’ve got no chance. You’re just a part time player, you can’t possibly keep up with us. You’re a thorn in our side, though. You’ve become the Hero of Denhall. I’m going to take you out.”

“I doubt that,” Kevin said.

“Oh yeah?” The moderator laughed, “All I have to do is take out your shield and you’re as good as done.”

“Well, they don’t call me the Hero of Denhall for nothing, “ Kevin said, “I’m going to show you moderators exactly what we’ll do the rest of you. I’m going to obliterate you.”

The moderator growled and charged at Kevin. He came in with a flurry of strikes with his long knives. Kevin parried as many as he could, but they were coming in too fast. Every few strikes, one got through and hit Kevin somewhere. Kevin waited for the flurry to stop, but it didn’t. Rage was building up in the moderators face and he came in faster and harder.

Suddenly a strike hit Kevin in the face and the blue glow left his body, leaving only the rolling flames. He swatted the next strike away, but his sword was too far away to block the next one. It came in at his chest. Suddenly a force hit them both. They both sprawled across the ground, Brimstone had tackled them both.

Kevin rolled over and found that the moderator had already gotten up. He was standing over Kevin, ready to deliver the killing blow, when a knife exploded out of his chest. The moderator was confused and looked at the knife edge protruding from his chest, before turning to ash. When the ash fell to the ground, it revealed Karen holding the knife tight in both hands.

“I’m not letting anyone else get killed around me.” She whispered before throwing down the knife. It stuck into the ground.

Kevin got to his feet and embraced Karen tightly. “Thank you.” To his surprise, she started crying.

“I hate those devils so much.” She said after she finished sobbing.

“I know.” Kevin said.

Two figures came running into the square. Isra and another woman holding a large sword, it must be Sheera.

“What happened!?” Isra asked.

“We took care of them. Assassins sent to defeat me.” Kevin said.

“Devils?” Sheera said, sheathing her sword. Her long blonde hair blew in the wind.

“Yeah,” Kevin said.

“Damn, then it’s true. They are spreading further.” Sheera said, looking towards Isra. They exchanged concerned expressions.

“Yeah, but there are Guilds fighting them. We’ll defeat them.” Kevin said to them.

“I’m going to fight too.” Karen said, surprising Kevin. “They need to be stopped.”

“They do, I can’t believe they came here.” Sheera said viciously. “I’m going to fight too.”

“Alright,” Kevin nodded to Sheera. He then turned to Karen. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, they’ll just end up destroying this village. I need to help.” Karen said firmly.

“If you say so.” Kevin said. Sheera came over to Kevin and extended her hand. It flared with bright white light and his wound closed up. He began to feel a lot better.

“I’m a Paladin,” Sheera announced, she turned to Karen, “Call upon me when you fight, and I’ll fight with you.” Karen nodded.

“Let’s take you back to the cottage.” Isra said, putting her arm around Karen. They all walked back to the cottage and they all discussed the Devil threat as they sat beneath the stars. Kevin told them all he knew about the devils and they’re moderators. Brimstone sat with them, smoldering contently.

Soon it was late and both Karen and Kevin logged out of their VR, promising each other to join the campaign against the devils on the next night. Kevin texted Roman before he went to sleep, telling him of their intentions for the next night. He hoped Roman would join them, they would need his help.

That night, he dreamt of fishing peacefully in Karen’s village under a moonlit night. The wind blew gently and fireflies danced in the sky. It was a good dream.