An hour—and many rotting zombie alpacas—later, Matt’s group arrived at the location for their quests. Alex’s mysterious belongings were in an open-topped wood cart that looked like it had been abandoned in a hurry. Green mist swirled around it. The right wheel was stuck in a divot, slanting the whole thing to one side.

Matt tugged on the rim of his new camo baseball hat as he cautiously surveyed their surroundings. Though the pattern wouldn’t have been his pick, he did like that it shaded his eyes. Val looked up at him and frowned, still disappointed that the Basic Hat wasn’t a sombrero.

The pass stretched about ten feet on both sides before sloping sharply, punctuated by a few stunted and leafless trees. The dead scrub grass and skeletal bushes at Matt’s feet seemed incongruent against the sunny blue sky. A single dilapidated apple tree stood near the cart, hanging a wealth of two decaying fruits.

Fallyn went for the tree, while Matt approached the lower-leaning side of the wagon. The objects all clustered in one corner. Kurtis stood back, keeping a lookout.

“A barrel, some blankets, a sac of grain,” Matt listed as he rifled through the objects. “And a stack of Animals Monthly?” The covers featured animals wearing lingerie, one of them alpacas.

“What?” Kurtis asked.

“Uh…” Matt grimaced. “You might want to keep your distance from Alex.”

Val leaned in. “Oooh, I like that one’s outfit!”

“What?” Kurtis repeated, coming over to see.

“You could wear this one.” Val held up the issue featuring a lemur. “You’d look good in blue.” The animal was wearing a ruffled bikini.

Matt stifled a laugh; it came out as a grunt.

Kurtis scowled.

Fallyn walked over from her apple picking wearing a smirk. “Look at that one.” Fallyn snatched up a magazine.

“Right?” Val encouraged.

“Or this one.” Fallyn grabbed another. “It has orange fur.” She grinned.

“It’s okay, man,” Matt said. “I won’t gang up on you too. Your current fashion choices are just fine.” Matt slowly raised a cover featuring a walrus wearing a lace-edged apron and a chef’s hat.

“Fuck all you guys,” Kurtis said through a laugh. “Let’s go.”

Matt’s group looted the cart, then headed past it to find more apples. Then half an hour later, they were headed back to turn in their quests. The mountain pass was almost peaceful, green gas gently rolling over their feet in the sunshine. The rancid smell from their skirmishes earlier had cleared.

“Did you know that walruses are highly intelligent?” Val said, magazine open as she walked. “They can use tools, solve puzzles, and recognize themselves in the mirror.”

“What kind of magazine is that?” Matt chuckled.

“A magazine for sophisticated animal lovers,” Val said smugly.

Fallyn narrowed her eyes.

“Says right here,” Val defended, flipping to the first page. “The ‘o’ in lovers is a heart.”

“Someone take that thing away from her,” Kurtis pleaded.

Equipped with more animal facts than Matt could have ever needed, the group rolled into Alex’s camp. He was fairly certain they wouldn’t be doing trivia night any time soon. They turned in the quest—Val reluctantly—and then Matt watched the ‘950,400 XP’ float into the sky.

It’s something, he thought, blowing out a long breath. It pushed him past the 50% mark, but he still had a long way to go. Nervousness rattled in his core. He couldn’t help feeling behind.

They said goodbye to Alex and then set out for Apprentice Hazel. Matt couldn’t shake the feeling; his stomach tightened and turned.

“Hey guys,” he finally asked. “Do you think we’ll make it?”

“Easy two hours,” Kurtis said. “If there aren’t too many respawns. Or if we can avoid stopping to fight.”

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Matt ran a hand along the back of his neck. “No, I mean the Megabowl.”

“Yeah, what’s with that?” Val asked. “Megabowl, Megabridge, Megacastle—they couldn’t come up with anything better?”

Matt shrugged. “I meant the level requirement?”

Kurtis responded with a shrug of his own.

“Each level has been taking longer,” Matt said. “We’ve been stuck at nine for four days.”

“Nothing we can do but keep questing,” said Fallyn. “Perhaps specialization will give us an advantage.”

“Oh, it’ll definitely change things up!” Kurtis weighed in, punching the air with his oven mitts. “I’m gonna get new spells. It’s gonna be awesome!” He grinned, squinting upward. The cat-man’s tiny green tophat glimmered in the sun as he moved.

As Kurtis predicted, it took about two hours to hike from Alex’s camp to Apprentice Hazel. Matt thought they made good time; they managed to skip all but two groups of alpacas. Yet they were greeted by the woman’s impatient yelling.

“Come, come, travelers! Hurry up! I haven’t got all day!”

Hazel was seated in a blue cushioned armchair, which looked horribly out of place on the scrub grass. She lifted both arms and a gong sounded. Four more couches appeared from poofs of magic-show smoke.

“Do sit,” she instructed with open palms.

Val hurried to the pink one. The others took their time.

“We’ve brought your apples,” Matt said, lowering onto the green couch. He had to sit forward a bit so that his back lid didn’t dig in.

The landscape blurred into a private conversation between Matt and the Apprentice. “Ah,” she said. “So, Murl did send me capable travelers after all. How did you make it through the gravemist?”

“Wait, you didn’t know how we’d…? Matt trailed off seeing Hazel’s raised hand.

“Murl sent you to help. I sent you to help.”

This lady’s savage.

“I’ll take those apples now please,” she instructed. Then a basket full of the decomposing fruit was sucked towards her lap. She plucked an apple and held it to her face. “Mmm!” She said, eyes wild and thumb squishing into its pudding flesh.

Matt grimaced.

“Oh, I’m just kidding!” Hazel said. “Really.” She rolled her eyes. “I think I can make a tonic from these. I’ll need to experiment.”

Matt shifted in his chair.

“Since you are fine in the gravemist, you’ll go down the south pass next. Check on the condition of the meadow for me, and then report back. It’s one of the longer-affected areas.”

The blur receded and then the notifications flew. Matt watched his XP bar go up and sighed.

Thirty percent to go. Then specialization, knight. Knight. He liked the sound of that.

“Given any more thought to which one you prefer?” Fallyn asked.

After a few steps in silence, Kurtis responded with an apologetic, “No? I mean, we need both. Especially with the contest. I could do either.” Kurtis spread his hands.

A few steps later, Kurtis turned to Matt. “Hey Matt, man, you okay to choose knight?”

“Hm?”

“Yeah, with the contest,” Kurtis explained. “I bet we need a tank.”

“I can do that,” Matt replied.

Guess I’ve been mostly headed in that direction anyways, he thought.

“I wonder if there will be chivalry,” Val mused. “Better start opening doors for me and Fallyn just in case.”

“I don’t see any doors around here, Val, do you?” said Matt. “Sorry, around here m’lady.”

Matt caught Fallyn rolling her eyes before she turned back to watch their right.

“I’ll take a rain check,” Val retorted, “Sir Trash-lid-man.”

“Well, what are you still doing here?” Hazel demanded.

Fallyn raised an eyebrow but started walking. Matt and the others followed. He glanced back a minute later. Hazel was sitting and inspecting her nails. Matt shook his head and focused on their hike.

He watched their left. It had become a habit. The pass narrowed and widened and narrowed again. Eventually, the gravemist rolled in and his steps started to crunch.

“Whatcha think we’re lookin’ for in the meadow?” Val asked.

Kurtis shrugged an ‘I don’t know.’

“Don’t look at me,” Matt said.

“I suppose we’ll find out soon,” Fallyn offered. “But I have noticed the grass.”

Matt scanned the ground for what she meant. The gravemist slunk across it, turning slow green somersaults and licking their shoes. “What do you mean?” he gave in and asked.

Fallyn took a few steps and then crouched. “Come here. See this?”

A neon green sprout peeked through the earth, just a few millimeters tall. Barely a nub, it matched Matt’s crocks. It reminded him of Mom’s bulbs in spring, the very first sign of warmth and vitality returning.

Don’t think of Mom, Matt told himself. He puffed out his cheeks and blew. Maybe nature’s coming back.

“What is it?” Val asked.

“No idea,” Fallyn said, standing, “but I’ve noticed quite a few of them.”

The first wriggling specimen appeared about an hour later. Six inches high, it brushed against Kurtis’ leg and he screamed like a little girl. After their search for an enemy was resolved, the group had a good laugh about it.

As they continued into the mountains, more and more of the squirming sprouts appeared. And over time they got taller. Matt’s nature theory was feeling less and less likely. The writhing neon looked anything but natural.

Matt made a point to walk around the tendrils. While they didn’t seem harmful, they were downright disturbing. The tallest threads came up to Matt’s waist. He touched one by accident and shivered.

Continuing through the mist, the wriggling grasses got more dense. Eventually, they were impossible to avoid. A huge meadow lay before them. Matt checked his Quest Log. It didn’t show as complete, but his map was highlighting the area.

“I guess we just keep exploring?” Matt said.

“I don’t hear anything,” Kurtis reported, flaring his ears.

“Up there.” Fallyn pointed to the right.

Matt didn’t see anything but no one else offered ideas, so up they went. Fallyn led the way. Matt trudged through the writhing green, keeping his hands away at his shoulders, permanent grimace on his face. He envied Kurtis’ oven mitts.

At the top of the rise, Matt paused for a moment, looking ahead. The landscape dipped down in front of him. Then off to the left, nestled against the rocky slope, was a white canvas tent.

“I had a hunch,” Fallyn said softly, then smiled.