Sometimes the easiest questions have the most complex answers. Who am I? I don’t know. When I was an owl, I had no real sense of self. I existed to eat, to mate, to survive, but I had no idea why. When I became a were-owl, I was also driven by the need to survive. Because most of my drive was a fight to stay alive, I never needed to worry about who I was. It wasn’t until I arrived on Thysandrika that I’ve had time to consider the matter more carefully, but even here, circumstance has pushed me to react. I should dearly love some time to consider matters like this more deeply.

The Book of Lost Wisdom, Kalutu

Eighteenth of Learning 1142

Eric stared at the screen as he watched Literally Gerrick take a seat across from Veloran in a small office in the Temple of Sheba. While Eric had never been in Veloran’s office, it looked much like he expected it to. A single worn wooden desk, a couple of simple wooden chairs closer to the door and the exact same chair behind the desk. The only adornment in the room, and even that was modest, was a carved wooden symbol depicting Sheba’s sigil.

In the real world, or one of them at least, Eric sat in a folding chair next to Suzanna, who sat in a much larger chair, staring at the screen as if this were some climatic scene and not just the tutorial. In the game, Veloran was explaining what would come next.

“Sheba is the goddess of honor, combat and the hunt. Being chosen is a great honor. Nobles may come and attempt to impress the goddess through trials, but the god-touched are special, respected above all others. There will be no trials for you, since you’ve already proven yourself each and every day. The exemplary life you’ve led and the trials you’ve already suffered have placed you here today.”

“I am honored,” said Literally Gerrick.

“Because the god-touched are so respected, they are usually presented to the king and queen. I will travel with you to the palace when you are ready. Until then, you may explore the temple.”

Eric sat back in his chair. “The temple, what we’ve seen of it so far, is exactly as it is in my world. And I still don’t understand how that’s possible.”

Suzanna studied him. “The high priest said that nobles have to go through trials. Did you?’

Eric nodded. “I did. But I’m not sure that the trials were testing whether or not I was worthy to serve Sheba. I think the trials were more about showing who I am, so that the goddess might assign me the class that best fits.”

“An aptitude test?” asked Suzanna.

Eric considered the words. He had never heard them before, but the meaning seemed clear enough. “That sounds right. My brother Dahr showed up in my test somehow, even though that’s usually impossible. I spent the entire time protecting him, so Sheba gave me a holy shield, which you’ve seen, and made me a Level 1 Tank. No one in my world has the Tank class, but apparently it exists on other worlds. Does it exist in the game?”

“In most MMOs, tank isn’t really a class, so much as a role. Many classes can choose to be a tank, as long as they spec that way,” said Suzanna.

“Spec?”

“It’s not important right now. The point is, different classes can fill the role, but the role never changes. The tank is the person who gets everything to attack them, usually through the use of taunts.”

“Taunt is one of my skills.”

“When you use it, do things turn to attack you?”

Eric thought about it. “I don’t actually use it. I think it’s a passive skill. I think it just happens. If I say something loud and obnoxious to an enemy, I anger it into attacking.”

“What if the enemy doesn’t speak your language?”

Eric started to answer and stopped. What did happen? He hadn’t thought that through.

“I’m not sure. It seemed to work with some of the creatures in the Other Realm during my transition, but I have no idea if they understood me or not. But I think it’s important I try to figure that out.”

Suzanna, nodded. “Shall we keep playing?”

“Yes. I want to see the palace.”

“Now?”

“On second thought, let’s look around the temple first.”

Eric watched carefully as Suzanna guided Literally Gerrick around the building.

“You’re in the main worship area now. The statues are all in the right place. Take him to the front of the room where the altars are.”

Suzanna complied. “What are you looking for?”

“I want to check something. Can we get a closer look at the altar?”

Suzanna used the mouse to zoom in.

“Let me see the one on the other side.”

Suzanna complied and zoomed in again.

“I remember when these weapons were displayed. I’m sure of it. This isn’t just a game, this is the exact layout of how these altars looked a couple of years ago. This can’t be a coincidence.”

“It’s not always like this?”

Eric shook his head. “The display changes over time. People donate their valuable or magical weapons to display on the side altars. It’s considered an honor to have your weapons displayed there. It never stays exactly the same for too long. The thing is, I always look at it to see what new weapons might be displayed and, if I’m not mistaken, I’ve seen this exact arrangement. I can’t say exactly when, but I’m pretty sure this was all as it had been.”

“What do you think it means?”

“Same as before. Someone has been to my world, or someone can see into it.”

“But how?”

“Maybe I’m not the only person who comes here when I go to sleep.”

Suzanna looked thoughtful. “Maybe. I wonder how many other people might be like you.”

Eric shrugged. “I’m ready, let’s go see the palace.”

Suzanna guided Literally Gerrick back to Veloran, who led them out of the Temple of Sheba. The temple district in the game was much smaller than the one in Rish, only displaying the major Temples. In the center of the district Sylinar’s Temple towered over the others. Sheba’s Temple to the South and clockwise from there were temples to Iorana, Se Karn, Sarith and finally Mitra.

Suzanna pressed a button and a map replaced the scene. From this point of view, it was clear that the major temples formed a star that surrounded Sylinar’s Temple. The star was visible on the map. Eric wondered if it would look like that from the air back in Rish.

She closed the map, and they followed Veloran. As before, he stopped if they let him get too far ahead. The temple district was also much closer to the palace than it was in the real city, and in no time at all, they were at the palace gates. There was no way the person who had created this hadn’t been to Rish. It made no sense.

The guards opened the gate for Veloran, and they made their way through an admittedly abbreviated palace to the throne room, which looked, again, just like the throne room Eric had known all his life. And on the thrones sat King Terrence, and Queen Treya. Eric thought his mother looked more like her real self, while his father looked a bit off.

Veloran and Literally Gerrick knelt, and King Terrence bade them rise. “What news, high priest?”

“I wish to introduce you to Literally Gerrick, who has been touched by Sheba this very day.”

King Terrence smiled and gestured in an exaggerated fashion, which distracted Eric, who wanted to focus on other things.

“Congratulations, young man. I’m sure you’ll make us proud. Is there anything you need?”

Literally Gerrick was still kneeling and rose now. “I only wish to be of service, Your Highness. Is there anything you need?”

“Are you good with a sword?”

“I have practiced, but I’ve had no formal training, Your Highness.”

“Go to the practice yard and talk to Maynor. Tell him I’d like him to test you. Once I know what you’re capable of, I can assign you a task that fits your ability.”

Eric frowned. “My father would never say any of this.”

Suzanna chuckled. “It’s not really your father, Eric. This is just a game. The things he’s saying are introducing the player to the game world. They don’t have the advantages you do, since they don’t know your father and have never heard of him before playing this. This is how most games start, with a tutorial.”

Eric sighed. “I just wish it would move a bit faster. I have no idea when I’ll wake up.”

“There is that,” said Suzanna. “Also, I should probably eat. Would you like me to order you a hamburger?”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“I’ll just get us some food. It won’t take a moment.”

Suzanna took a small black device from a pocket in her sweatshirt and started tapping on it. When she was done, she smiled up at Eric.

“This is a cell phone. It’s a communications device that allows me to access the Internet or talk to people or send them messages. I just sent a message to a restaurant, and it will prepare what I asked for and then it will be delivered here.”

“You mean they come and bring you food?”

“Yes.”

“Mrs. Bradsworth must be very rich indeed.”

Suzanna laughed. “This is something many if not most people can afford, at least some of the time. It’s a service offered by stores to deliver their food. It allows them to sell more. Restaurants only have limited space, so they can only serve a certain number of customers a day. By offering delivery, they can increase their profits.

“Some restaurants hire people to deliver, others use delivery services and the customer pays that service to bring them food from that restaurant.”

Eric thought about it for a while. “I guess everyone has those fast-moving mounts too?”

“Cars? Yes. Most people, at least in this country, can afford a car. They drive food from the restaurant to your house. While we’re waiting, we should get back to the game though.”

Eric nodded. He returned his attention to the screen, and while they waited he went through the motions of trying to impress Maynor in the practice yard. He wouldn’t have found the yard, because the palace was much smaller in game than in real life, but the ever-present arrow led them right to where they needed to be. Eric wondered how following an arrow to a green star was meant to be fun but didn’t say anything.

*

Mindy Schwartz, the Bradsworth family maid, had only been upstairs briefly to plug her cell phone into the charger. She wasn’t surprised to hear Suzanna talking to Danny. Suzanna spoke to Danny all the time. But she was quite surprised to hear a male voice responding to Suzanna.

The door to the nurse’s bedroom was closed, and Mindy walked up to it and listened. She could hear two people talking, and one of them was a man. It wasn’t her place to interfere, but the idea bothered her. To her knowledge, Suzanna wasn’t supposed to have gentlemen friends over, and they were in the room with Danny and the door closed. Still, it wasn’t her concern. She passed by quietly, went to her room and went about her business.

Mindy was the newest member of the Bradsworth family staff, taking over from Mrs. Sandow when she’d retired. Mindy’s mother worked for Mrs. Bradsworth as an administrative assistant, and Mindy had needed a job that got her out of the city, away from what her mother had called a bad crowd. Mindy was happy to go. She only did what everyone else did to fit in because she had been tired of being bullied. Here she could get away and be alone, and most of the time she was. She had a list of chores she had to get done that weren’t hard, she got paid well-to-do it and she felt safe here, something she could never say when she lived back in New York.

Because she felt safe, she also felt a degree of loyalty to Mrs. Bradsworth, who hadn’t had to offer her the job in the first place. After all, she had no real experience. While Mrs. Bradsworth had done this as a favor to her mother, Mindy was deeply appreciative.

And Mindy liked and respected Suzanna, who had a much harder job than she did. But if she was having strange men in her room, Mrs. Bradsworth would have to know about it.

Mindy wasn’t going to jump to conclusions however. She’d keep an ear open and watch, and see what was what. Because she didn’t want to get Suzanna in trouble for no reason either. When the doorbell rang, she answered it, accepted the delivery from the driver, and put it in the kitchen. Then she walked upstairs and knocked on the door. She had thought someone was saying something and stopped suddenly, but it might have been her imagination too.

“Did you order food, Suzanna?”

“I did.”

The door opened, and Suzanna and Danny were there, alone. No one else was in sight. The room was small to begin with, but of course, someone might have been standing behind the door.

Suzanna and Danny walked down stairs, Suzanna coaxing him along as she always did. Mindy waited until they were out of sight before ducking into the room and looking around. There was no one there. She opened the closet to check, just in case, but the room was empty. She saw the laptop and wondered if perhaps Suzanna had just called someone. Surely that was it. She chided herself for being a busybody. She should have known better. Suzanna wasn’t like that.

Feeling sheepish, she returned to her chores downstairs, but when she approached the kitchen, she heard voices again. As quietly as she could, she moved closer, until she was able to peak around the corner. Suzanna and Danny were sitting at the kitchen table, where they usually ate. Danny had a hamburger in front of him, and Suzanna smiled as she watched him.

He lifted the top of the bun off and sniffed suspiciously at the meat patty, then closed the sandwich and picked it up. He took a small, tentative bite from it, and then a second, larger one.

“This is amazing!” he said, with his mouth full.

Suzanna’s laughter filled the room. “Yes, it’s very popular here.”

Danny swallowed before replying. Replying! Danny didn’t talk. Mrs. Bradsworth had explained her son’s condition to her before she’d started working there. What was going on, and did Mrs. Bradsworth know about it?

Danny wolfed down the rest of the burger, then looked up at Suzanna.

“Tell me you have another one of those.”

Suzanna grinned and pulled a second burger from the bag on the table.

“I thought you might be hungry. It’s been a while since Danny has eaten.”

“Not that long for me. I ate something not long ago. But I’d still make room for another…what did you call it?”

“A hamburger.”

Mindy retreated quietly and hurried upstairs to her room. Keeping her phone plugged in, she dialed the number Mrs. Bradsworth had given her for emergencies. She wasn’t sure this was an emergency, but she wasn’t going to take any chances.

“Hello, Mindy. Is everything okay?”

“Mrs. Bradsworth. Did you know Danny could talk?”

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone line. “Can you repeat that?”

“Danny is talking, right now. With Suzanna.”

“Talking you say? Like he said a word?”

“No ma’am. I mean he’s talking in full sentences. They’re having hamburgers and carrying on a conversation.”

The pause this time was longer.

“I can’t get out of this meeting, Mindy, but don’t worry about it. I’ll be home this evening, and we’ll sort this out. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

The phone went dead and Mindy, confused, tried to think about what she needed to do for the rest of the afternoon, but she found it hard to focus. If Danny could talk, why would Suzanna hide that from Mrs. Bradsworth?

*

To say the palace in the city of Rish was in chaos was the greatest of understatements. News that the gods had appointed Terrence as high king hadn’t gotten out yet, at least not to the world at large, but the priests of various gods had found out and some had sought out King Terrence, not only to assure they would be at his disposal for the duration of the war, but also to ask how they could help.

Terrence felt being king had been enough for any man, and being high king was a level of authority he wasn’t sure anyone deserved, at least not any mortal. He assured each high priest that the best thing they could do was help convince others of his authority, and sent them away so he could deal with the business of preparing for a war. The real issue was going to be maintaining a supply line. No matter how many supplies they carried, without the ability to port food in, or the ability to send supplies, the entire force would be vulnerable. It was the strategic element that had prevented a direct assault on the Undead King all along.

There wasn’t really much he could do at the moment, because he didn’t have enough information. In order to have information he needed a staff. He needed to meet his generals. This was all in the future. The question was what he needed to be doing now.

He tracked down Treya, who was in Lord Ormund’s room as she often was. He was loathe to disrupt her, as she was using her new skill, but he felt overwhelmed. He had a small amount of time to get a lot done. He cleared his throat to get her attention. Almost immediately, she faced him.

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m going to take a trip to the Adventurer’s Guild. Before I get too busy, I think it’s important to have a conversation with the chirkir there, or at least try. You’ll be okay without me?”

“Of course. Do what you have to.”

He glanced at Lord Ormund. “Any change?”

Treya shook her head. “No, but I didn’t expect any so soon. The damage to his soul is extensive. It may be that I won’t ever be able to heal him.”

“Sheba didn’t give you that skill for no reason.”

“I know. I’m just impatient. You should get going. I’ll be fine.”

He nodded, hugged her and left the room. He made his way to Maynor’s former office, now occupied by Ezra Lorco. The door was closed so he knocked.

“Come in.”

Ezra sat at the desk, an open logbook in front of him. Across the way sat one of the guards that Terrence didn’t know by name.

“High King Terrence,” said Lorco, rising. “I wasn’t expecting you but had planned to track you down shortly. Is there something I can do for you?”

The guard hurriedly stood as well, but due to the size of the office, neither knelt, which suited Terrence just fine. He found himself having less and less patience for that sort of thing lately.

“I’ll come back,” said the guard, who scurried from the room, barely looking back.

“Sorry to interrupt,” said Terrence. “What did you want to see me about?”

“I don’t think you should be without protection. I was hoping to assign a couple of guards to accompany you on a more or less permanent basis.”

“We have enough guards for that?”

Lorco gestured down to the book on the desk. “I can spare two, round the clock. But I’m not sure we have the right two. Your skill and level makes it difficult to find guards that would actually make a difference. That is, anything you can’t handle, it’s likely they can’t handle either.”

“I see.”

“So I had an idea. Andeon Walsh had offered help. Perhaps a couple of adventurers could accompany you around. It will be good for them, and good for you.”

“Talk to Leata, make sure we budget for it, but it’s a sound idea. In the meantime, I’m going to be going to the Adventurer’s Guild now, if you can spare a couple of guards.”

“I’ll come,” said Lorco. “I can get the information we need, and act as an extra sword should you need it.”

“Practical. I like it.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Lorco hadn’t retaken his seat. He closed the book on the desk and walked toward the door.

“After you, Your Highness.”

Terrence left the office, and Lorco fell into step beside him.

“How are you settling into your new position, Captain?”

“Honestly?”

“Always.”

“I’m playing catch up. I know some of what Maynor knew, all the guard related stuff, but not the paperwork, or the way I interface with others in the palace.”

“You’ll pick it up.”

“Oh, I know. I’d just prefer learning this sort of thing when everything wasn’t quite so up in the air, if you know what I mean.”

Terrence nodded. “We’ve barely stopped moving since Battle Song. With no sign of it slowing down. If anything, events are accelerating.”

“Exactly, and that’s when mistakes happen. I’m trying to be careful, but no one is perfect.”

Terrence chuckled. “Not even the gods.”

“Sire?”

“It’s okay,” said Terrence. “I heard it from a god, so it’s not blasphemy.”

Lorco looked like he was about to answer but apparently decided against it.

“It’s okay, Captain. It was hard for me to hear too. We spend our entire lives in awe of the gods, believing them to be perfect in all ways, but it’s not the case. They are powerful. They have great knowledge and wisdom. But they can err.”

“Begging your pardon, Your Highness, but if they can err, why did you agree to…” he stopped and looked around, as if to make sure no one was listening, “march into Xarinos.”

Terrence grew serious. “Because someone has to, and I seriously doubt anyone else is crazy enough to make the attempt.”

*

Having impressed Maynor, Literally Gerrick returned to the throne room. The king and queen sat on their thrones, as before, but now there was something else there as well.

Eric sat up straighter. “What’s a chirkir doing in the middle of the throne room?”

“A what now?”

“A chirkir. It’s an ancient magical creature that people use to teleport around the world, at least well-to-do people.”

Suzanna studied the creature, which looked to her like nothing more than a raised stone circle with runes carved into it.

“That thing’s alive?”

“It is. Can we get closer?”

Suzanna maneuvered Literally Gerrick closer to it. It felt completely out of place.

“Have you ever seen a chirkir in the palace?”

Eric shook his head. “Never. There’s one in the Adventurer’s Guild building, I’m pretty sure. I didn’t even know they moved around.”

She moved Literally Gerrick closer and a prompt popped up… press f to interact.

Suzanna pressed f.

“Prince Eric, Suzanna…at long last.”

Eric and Suzanna glanced at each other, then immediately returned their attention to the screen.

“Suzanna, how can the game know who we are?”

“It can’t.”

“I know this must be difficult for you, and there is no time to explain it now. Eric, it’s time for you to wake up.”

The chirkir vanished from the screen, and Suzanna turned to Eric.

“What do you make of that?”

But Danny just stared blankly back at her. Suzanna sighed. Unbelievable. They were just starting to get somewhere, and now it would have to wait. Suzanna wasn’t usually impatient, at least not these days, but the waiting between visits drove her mad. There had to be something she could do while waiting.

In frustration, Suzanna quit the game, and found herself back on the character selection screen.

She stared at it for a while. There was another, empty character slot. Why not?

She sat down and started creating a character of her own. She might as well learn as much about the game as she could while Eric was away.