“Look who finally decided to get out of bed this morning.”

(B) “Hey Dad. I see you guys finally decided to take a weekend off.”

“We always take the weekend off what are talking about.”

(B) “Well sometimes (most of the time) you guys are behind on some deadline or something. So you guys are usually gone.”

“I guess it’s true we’ve been gone a lot lately, but anyways enough about work how was the game!”

(B) “It’s good! I’m enjoying it a lot and the time dilation feature is definitely a cool feature.”

“So did you go on a quest or something with your friends late last night.”

(B) “Nah I decided to go solo for a bit to get a feel for the game. I’m planning on meeting up with them sometime next weekend.”

“I guess that makes sense don’t want to look the fool in front of your friends now do we.”

My dad jokes about my band friends as most of them are girls. He thinks I’m living it up being a part of all their gatherings and get togethers.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though as he sees it. Most of the time I’m the one that gets yanked around and toyed by them. Being the brunt of all their jokes gets a little old after a while. Especially if they make you wear a uniform dress for our sections marching competition. Yeah I made sure to erase all evidence of that from my parents. They don’t need to know about that. For the most part though it isn’t to bad, and I have my bros outside of band to hang out with like Blake.

“Mom made pancakes if you want some.”

(B) “Wait mom made breakfast! What’s going on?”

“Nothing she just wanted to make some homemade pancakes.”

(B) “She should have at least waited for me to get up and make them. Whenever she decides to cook she trashes the kitchen and it takes forever to clean up. I don’t understand how you can work with her when she does that.”

“She’s the genius I just make sure to clean up her messes and double check her results.”

“How many pancakes do you want Brenner?”

(B) “I’ll have two mom.”

“So when are you going to get back on?”

(B) “This afternoon the user guide says you should wait at least eight hours after a play session before logging back in. Something about it being to strenuous on the mind and body, and I definitely don’t want to hurling my guts out right now.”

(M) ‘Didn’t that user guide also say that the game would log you out if you fell asleep?’

(J) ‘Maybe it has something to do with the whole soul business.”

(T) ‘That would make the most sense.’

(B) ‘I still don’t want to push it either way. Some of those side effects didn’t sound very fun.’

(J) ‘Yeah extreme nausea, and narcolepsy don’t sound like very fun symptomes.’

(E) ‘How is it even legal to use?’

(M) ‘The side effects are minimal and non permanent so they deemed it safe enough to use.’

“You okay there Brenner?”

(B) “Yeah I was just planning where I was going to explore next in the game.”

“Ah, it’s a big game so you probably have a long journey ahead of you don’t you”

(B) “Yeah you could say that.”

“Brenner your pancakes are ready come and get them while they’re hot.”

I ate my pancakes, which to my surprise, turned out to be quite good. The only problem was the humongous mess that mom had made in the process. That was going to be fun to clean up.

‘RING, RING… RING, RI-’

(B) “Hello?”

“Hey Brenner, I forgot to tell you we’re having a sectional today to work on a part that Mr. Broom wanted us to work on. We’re all meeting at my house this afternoon and I was wondering if you could make it.”

(B) “Yeah I’ve got no plans today other than playing some more SQO.”

“You’ll have to tell me about how it went when you get here. I have to call everyone else first so talk to you later Brenner.”

‘BEEP’

“Who was that?”

(B) “It was just Rachel. We’ve got sectional practice this weekend so I’ve got to get ready to go.”

“Alright have fun. Just don’t stay out too late tonight we’re going to church tomorrow.”

(B) Church huh... not sure what I should think of that at the moment. I believe in God, but I guess that won’t save my soul no matter how much I believe.

After getting dressed and getting my musical equipment in order I helped clean up the mess that was breakfast. While delicious I wish she could have been at least a bit cleaner when she was working. I then surfed the web for any conspiracies that could explain what is happening in the game.

Most of the stuff I found just commented about the dynamic interactions with the NPC AI. How lifelike the game was and how sensual experiences felt lifelike. There were some vague conspiracies saying it could be a different world, but there was no proof to back these claims and so most were just laughed off.

(B) ‘It has to be real how else do we even begin to explain our situation in any other way.’

(J) ‘But the ramifications for this are huge and we don’t know what exactly this could all mean for both this world and that world.’

(M) ‘How about trying some of your powers Brenner.’

(B) ‘What do you mean this is the real world there is no such thing as magic.

(M) ‘But it could solidify the theory even further if it does work.’

(B) ‘So what do I do. I don’t understand magic enough to cast it.’

(T) ‘What about your ability soul manipulation. You could use it on your parents to see their souls. If it doesn't work then it was just a wacky quest or something.’

(B) ‘Fine it’s worth a shot anyways.’

I walked up behind my dad who was reading a book. Calming my breathing before setting my hand on his shoulder. Trying to send a surge of energy to see his soul.

I felt a weird sensation like I could see deep inside of him, but before I could began to read or understand what I was seeing he jumped at my touch recoiling immediately. He looked scared, but instantly relaxed when he saw me behind him.

“Oh… son what is it.”

(B) “I just wanted to ask what book you were reading. Why’d you jump like that?”

“I don’t exactly know. It felt like something was… going through me… Maybe I shouldn’t be reading this horror. I never was one for these kind of books.”

(B) “Why were you reading it then.”

“Your mom recommended it after a friend of hers recommended it to her.”

“I’ll have to read it then. I just wanted to tell you I'm going to be heading out soon for a band sectional.”

“Alright have fun, I’m going to watch some comedy before I go stir crazy reading this.”

(M) ‘So did it work?’

(B) ‘I think so, but I can’t tell he recoiled immediately when I tried to do it.’

(E) ‘I’m not sure we should be doing this. If his reaction shows anything it shows that it’s quite invasive. So we shouldn’t be trying it on anyone before we know it’s full effects.’

(M) ‘You’ll probably have to ask Velouria when we dive back in. She might teach you a less invasive way of going about it.’

I then drove over to Rachel’s house for the sectional. It looked like I was one of the first here. I got my musical equipment and rang the doorbell. Rachel immediately answered with dog trying to jump on me as she opened the door.

(B) “Hi Sam it’s good to see you to. Where is everyone else?”

“They all stayed up to late in SQO. They were trying to complete a raid, but got trapped and it took them till four A.M. to get out.”

(B) “How are you fine then?”

“I had a family thing last night so I didn’t get on. They should be here in a minute, but I’m not sure how proactive we’re going to be today.”

(B) “Sounds rough, glad I wasn’t a part of that mess.”

“So how are you enjoying it? You played last night didn’t you.”

(B) “Yeah, about that, I’d like to keep my situation secret until next weekend.”

“Why what happened?”

(B) “It’s a surprise I’ll tell you next week.”

“You still use the username btwonderkid right? I’ll send you a friend request so we can keep in touch.”

(B) ‘SHIT! What do we do? She’ll find out that my name changed the second we accept the friend request!’

(T) ‘Well you could always stall some more.’

(M) ‘But there is no reason to stall a friend request.’

(E) ‘Just tell her already I bet she’d find it hilarious. I sure do.’

(J) ‘Can’t we just tell her it’s a rare quest curse or something.’

(B) ‘That could work but I’ll tell her in game rather than right now. I’d rather not get teased by everyone about turning into  girl.’

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

(B) “Yep same as ever. I’ll accept it next time I get on.”

“I’ll have to message everyone so they can send you friend requests as well.”

(T) ‘Guess the cat's going to be out of the bag.’

(M) Should we tell her now. We could try to convince her to keep it a secret for awhile at least.’

(B) ‘No! I want to keep it a secret if only for a bit.’

(E) ‘Why?’

(B) ‘Because I might be able to surprise her and make a joke out of it.

(E) ‘You know that it’s just going to backfire right.’

(B) ‘How?’

(E) ‘The second they find out and you’re nearby they are probably going to sentence you to cuddle torture before making you dress up in costumes they’ll make.’

(B) ‘… yeah let’s just tell her now. Maybe I can hope to avoid that if at all possible.’

(B) “Actually there is one thing I wanted to say -”

“Hey! What’s up sorry we’re late. I had to carpool some of the freshmen with me.”

It looks like Celina got here with some of the other clarinets finally.

“No problem come on inside. How about you tell me about it later Brenner.”

“Tell you what?”

“Something with his character in SQO. He’s off soloing right now.”

“Really! We could have used you as pack mule. You should have told us.”

(B) “That’s kind of the thing I was trying to avoid.”

“Ah it would have been a good experience you’d have leveled up a lot and could’ve raised your agility dodging projectiles from those bugs.”

(B) “Yeah I’d rather not thank you very much.”

“Oh really? You would have had a great view in the back if you know what I’m saying.”

“Stop teasing him Celina, and it was you that got us into that mess. You lost the labyrinth map when we were fighting the boss and it took us all night to get out of that place because of you.”

Claire had come in behind her and came inside.

“Hey I didn’t know the boss’s minions would have the ability to steal, and they should’ve dropped it when they were killed.”

“They would have if you hadn’t hurled a fireball at the minion burning both the map and target.”

“At least we got out okay at least.”

“After using over three fourths of our consumable stocks. It’ll take at least two weeks before we can even begin to think about another attempt now.”

(B) “Sounds like things went quiet south.”

“Yeah that wasn’t even the worst bit. Some of us fell asleep during the raid, and we had to carry them out while defending them from the mobs.”

“YAWN, hey it wasn’t my fault I’d stayed up the previous night finishing up a project for history.”

Alice was the last one from their car to come inside.

“I told you to finish that last week so you’d be able to get enough sleep before the raid Sophia.”

“So what race did you choose Brenner?”

(B) “Well originally I choose a beast-kin with a fox subrace.”

“Should have known you’d go for a physical build.”

I do have a tall build so I guess they would guess that.

“Wait! What do you mean originally?”

As observant as ever Claire nothing gets past you.

(B) “I accidentally stumbled across a rare event that changed my race to a Kitsune.”

“Isn’t that practically the same thing?”

(B) “Well yes and no. I kept my ears and tails, but I look more human now, and … it changed my gender in game to female.”

“Haha good one you know it’s not possible right!? WAIT! You aren’t joking are you?”

(B) “No, sadly I’m not. Kitsune are an all female race so I was forcefully changed into one, and it also made me younger as well.”

“Wait so how young are we talking about?”

(B) “I now look to be around five or eight I’m not sure. Though I don’t really know specifically why.”

They all suddenly grinned both on the inside and out. I was afraid of this.

“Oh this is going to be fun now you going to have to tell us where you are. I want to see this for myself.”

(B) “Well that’s another issue. Right now I’m stuck in some kind of special dungeon or something that doesn’t allow me to accept friend requests right now.”

“Well that sucks. So how are you fairing right now?”

(B) “I made friends with the local NPCs and we’re planning to get out soon.”

“Well as soon as you get out give us a heads up. I’ll bet everyone will be happy to see you, and it’ll smooth out your registration to the Reed Dancers.”

(B) “Why is that?”

“Well we technically we are an all girls guild as everyone up until you has always been a girl.”

Your joking. Right? How come I'm the only guy that’s played the clarinet in this school. How the heck is that statistically possible?  

“So at least now we can avoid needless rumors about a man joining our guild. Wait, is your name still Brenner in game. I wonder if we can pass it off as a girl’s name.”

(B) “No it got changed to Briana when I got cursed as well.”

“So fitting! I can’t wait to see it all in person.”

“I’ll have to work on my tailoring before we pick you up.”

(J) ‘I’m not sure how to gauge this situation. Do you think you’ll be okay?’

(B) ‘Wait I totally forgot about you guys how am I supposed to explain you all to them.’

(T) ‘Simple we’re just NPC mercenaries.’

(B) “Oh yeah. I forgot to ask but where are you guys based around?”

“We’ve currently set up shop in the Sacean Plains. We’re operating a joint caravan operation with some other crafting guilds in the area.”

“Oh look everyone else just got here let’s set up before everyone gets inside.”

“But we’ve got to tell them about Brenner’s curse they’ll find it hilarious.”

“You can tell them during dinner my dad is grilling some burgers right now so when we finish we can eat an early dinner.”

Practice went… less than stellar to say the least. Everyone kept falling asleep on us if they weren’t doing everyone. What was weird was I kept feeling like I was brushing up against things the entire time. It was weird they were like fragments. It almost felt like I was brushing up against my band members consciousnesses. I wonder if I was actually peaking at their unguarded souls that they were unintentionally releasing in their sleep. It had to be the reason cause some of these fragments were… quite interesting to say the least.

Dinner was as good as expected of Rachel’s master chef father grilled us up some burgers. I bet he was just glad to get some use out of his grill in his backyard for once.

When everyone found out about my ‘curse’ they started giving me a hard time. What else did I expect to be honest. They were going to laugh it up for quite a while. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be ending anytime soon and I’d best prepare myself for what lay ahead.

After helping clean up and addressing what we needed to go over next time we all went home. To be perfectly honest that went way better than expected. I guess being on good terms beforehand helped quite a lot.

After getting home and putting my musical equipment away I told my parents I’d already eaten dinner and that I’d be playing SQO for the rest of the night. They then told me to enjoy myself as they were going on a date night to go try some new restaurant and watch some new movie together. They rarely had the time to enjoy each others

Saying goodbye I booted up my VR, or … what should I even call this thing?

(M) ‘Just call it VR gear and get us in already.’

(T) ‘You heard the man I’m tired of waiting. Just power it on already.’

I laid out on my bed before initiating the synchronization process and linking back into SQO. What awaited me was a fuming fox with all her tails angrily darting to and fro. Oh yeah I did leave quite suddenly without telling her when I’d be back didn’t I.

“Where have you been and why did you leave so quickly without even saying goodbye.”

(B) “Sorry I had to get off before my parents found me with my headset on. They don’t like it when I stay up all night.”

“Anyways out with all of you except Briana so out with you all.”

Then like a flash they were gone. They just disappeared like they were never there in the first place.

(B) “Are they okay?”

“Yeah I’m just making them wait outside while we talk. I need to go over some things we didn’t have time for last time. I didn’t realize you have a time restraint on how long you can be here. So I’ll have to speed up your training.”

(B) “Are you going to be teaching me something?”

“Yes as you might have realized when I awakened your soul you were able to use some of your abilities like soul manipulation right.”

(B) “Yeah, I was able to hear some random thoughts here and there from those around me I guess.”

“We’ll have to immediately work on this or else you might be in trouble.”

(B) “Why? What’s going on?”

“You see the reason I’m out here in the middle of nowhere is for a certain reason you will now have to deal with. Due to being able to interact with people's souls. You can cause problems for yourself. Most people don’t actively defend or seal their souls so naturally it leaks out from time to time like you’ve noticed. It’s also how you gained you companions without knowing. We need to do a quick crash course in soul manipulation so it doesn’t get out of control.”

(B) “What do you mean out of control?”

“You’ll unintentionally form soul bonds with too many people and slowly go crazy from all the feedback you receive from them. Imagine sharing your current predicament with everyone you know. Does that sound at all pleasant?”

(B) “No I can see what you mean.”

“So I need to teach you to control your soul in what little time we have so this doesn’t become an issue in the future. Usually this ability is dampened until your five then in my case. I was taken to a secluded location by my mother until I learned to control it. Even then I still had some trouble and now you have this happening. I shouldn’t have been so impulsive when I did your soul awakening.”

(B) “So how hard is it to control?”

“Not to hard once you get used to it. It’s just that it takes getting used to and it drains you faster than you think the more people there are around you. It’s why I don’t go out often I have to use most of my energy to maintain the barrier.”

(B) “So how am I supposed to train this?”

“Holly come in here it’s time for some soul training.”

Holly opened a door to our right after a few seconds. Wait was she listening in on us?

“I’m always ready for some more training milady. I believe I’ll be able to hold out this time for sure.”

“I’m not going to be your opponent she is.”

“Wait! Why! I thought you needed me for training.”

“Yes I need your help to train her in soul manipulation so that she doesn’t go out of control.”

“Fine I just hope she makes a decent effort at least.”

(B) “I’ll do my best to meet your expectations Holly.”

We then sat down right in front of each facing one another holding hands. Velouria said something about how it makes the soul connection easier to manipulate.

“Now you are going to want to try to feel her soul and at the same time she is going to be defending against your probing. Are you ready?”

(B) “Yes”

“Then begin!”

I tried releasing a surge like I’d done earlier with my dad, but to my surprise it was coming much easier than it was before. I then directed it towards Holly imagining it going from my hands to hers directing it as fluidly as possible.

Holly grimaced at my assault, but it was weird I couldn’t feel anything from my initial try. She must have some very solid defenses, but I can’t really tell since the only other time I tried this was in an unmagical world with a defenseless person who had no idea about any of this.

“Milady is it alright if I fight back I wish to see how she handles herself it feels like she is leaving herself very vulnerable.”

“Yes, I want her to have a sparring fight though so don’t do anything to much alright.”

I then felt another energy entwining my own seeping into me. I felt like someone was directly looking through me and looking at every orifice of my being. I felt violated like something wasn’t right and I felt like I was starting to panic.

In response I tried releasing more energy to purge it from me. I let out a slight scream from it before suddenly it vanished. I opened my eyes to see Holly panting to the side while Velouria had pushed us apart and was tending to Holly.

“Okay that wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but I should have guessed since you have four familiars that you’d be quite strong. I just didn’t expect you to go so crazy when she tried going on the offencive.”

I trembled remembering the feeling of her gazing into me she’d done it before but this time I tried fighting back but in a haze of fear I guess I overdid it.

(B) “Is she okay?”

“Yes she’s just a bit tired. It takes most people a lot of energy to do this. Only fey have the natural ability to passively use it, and those that do usually hide from others as a result.”

(B) “So how did I do?”

“You did quite well on the first try on attacking. While defending though you were like a defenseless damsel just asking to be rescued.”

I can’t tell if she’s insulting me or coddling me.

(B) “So I need to work on the defense of my soul?”

“Yes, but with me. Holly you can take a breath to get your bearings.”

“Have you always been holding back on me milady?”

“Yes there was no way you’d be able to hold out against my full power it’ll take you at least five more years to be even close at least.”

Holly looked distraught at this news. She probably thought she was a doing quite well. She left and closed the door back before Velouria turned back to me.

“Okay that didn’t work as well as I’d expected. For now I’m just going to gentle poke at your soul. I want you to focus on constructing defenses to prevent me from invading your soul.”

(B) “Will this help with my familiars?.”

“Why do you ask?”

(B) “Because I think that my pain link with my allies is a result of poor soul defense.”

“Wait! You have a shared sense of pain with your familiars! Why didn’t you tell me earlier. I’ll make this training extra tough to correct this issue immediately.

Great tougher training this is going to be great fun I can already tell. Well if it helps get rid of our shared pain I’ll welcome it. Though grudgingly, I never did like training very hard.

We then get into the same position as last time. Facing each other while holding our hands together.

“I hope you’re ready Briana.”

This is going to be some torturous training I can already tell. Well no pain no gain I guess.