“So this is a virtual world?” Anaheim asked, looking around Khrx’s personal room. “It really doesn’t feel like it.”

“Khrx?” Lorin and Monika ran over to Khrx’s side. Monika clasped her hands around Khrx’s. “What’s going on? This silly angel’s been spouting nonsense for the past three days.”

“I was not!” Lorin said, smacking Monika’s hands away while pulling Khrx’ towards herself. She glanced down at the boy dressed in the penguin onesie. “I told her how our world of [Resolution] was just a game created by your people.”

“And that’s complete bologna!” Monika said.

“It is not,” Boba said, her voice coming from above.

“Shut up, you stupid floating voice!” Monika shook her fist at the cavern’s ceiling. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

“Honey,” Nelson said with a sigh. “How about we hear Khrx out?”

Khrx nodded. “Lorin’s telling the truth.”

Monika’s expression crumpled. “This makes no sense,” she muttered to herself while hugging her shoulders.

Lorin snorted and walked away, approaching Anaheim. The fallen angel’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s this?”

“My name is Anaheim Miehana,” Anaheim said. She did a slight curtsy with the ends of her t-shirt. “I’m the hero the world sent to help Khrx.”

Lorin raised an eyebrow. “Do you like him?”

“Huh? You mean…, no! I just think he’s cute. Besides, he’s a dragon.”

Lorin’s eyes squinted even further. “Khrx is mine, okay? If you try to take him from me, I’ll kill you.”

“Mm, sorry, but I can’t die,” Anaheim said with a smile. She patted Khrx’s head. “I’ll be heading off into [Resolution] first since you still have a few minutes to wait.” She opened up her menu and navigated through it before disappearing.

“If, if our lives were just a game, then what were we living for?” Monika asked, raising her head. “What were we striving so hard for? Was everything just a lie?”

“If it makes you feel any better, even I don’t exist in reality,” Boba said.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better!”

“I tried. Khrx, you entered the virtual world through a lover’s pod in South Rokea. I feel betrayed. Was there not something special between us? No, I do not want to hear it. No excuses.”

“I’m surrounded by a bunch of loonies,” Khrx said, his face darkening. “Except for you, Nelson. You’re pretty normal.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Nelson said, nodding his head.

“Anyone who can adapt to this situation as easily as he did must have a few screws loose in their head,” Monika said, glaring at her husband. “Place a normal person into an abnormal situation and, of course, they won’t act normally!”

Khrx shrugged. “Hey, Boba. How long until I can—”

“Entering [Resolution]. Do try to survive longer than a day this time. I believe in you.”

“She cut me off again!” Khrx shouted while sitting up. He stamped his feet against the altar and exhaled. A moment later, three portals formed and his companions fell through, scattered throughout the room. Unlike last time, the altar room he was currently in was poorly maintained with cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, dust layering the floor, and mold growing on the walls. “Is this Fiel’s temple?”

Lorin gulped as she stared at the massive frieze behind Khrx. “This is a temple of Theda. She’s the god of the underworld.”

“She?” Khrx asked as he turned around. “Why’s she called a god and not goddess then?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“God sounds more intimidating than goddess,” Lorin said. “Theda doesn’t want to be perceived as benevolent.”

“Then she wouldn’t give me a blessing, right?” Khrx asked as he hopped off the altar. He rubbed the mold off the frieze and frowned. There was no option to commune with the goddess. God? Goddess. Khrx sighed. “I have to call Luke again to figure out where to go.”

As Khrx navigated through his menu, another portal opened beside him. Anaheim fell through, defeat written all over her face. She muttered, “My boundless strength. My infinite constitution. Gone. I’ll rip you to shreds, AI-Helper!” She climbed to her feet. “Eh? Khrx? This place is an awfully gloomy one to start a game in. Well, it was probably the lover’s pod’s doing.”

“Hold on, I’m calling someone,” Khrx said.

A moment later, Luke’s voice echoed through the temple. “Khrx? Has it been another three days already? Hold on, I’m going to give you a guild invite.”

A rectangle appeared in front of Khrx.

[Lukroix Adveign Desrigard has invited you to join the guild Paradise. Do you accept? Y/N]

[You have joined the guild Paradise.]

“I also have a friend who can help us,” Khrx said. “Can you invite her?”

“The hell? You have friends?” Luke asked.

“Oi.”

Luke cleared his throat. “I’ll give you invite privileges. Don’t invite randoms and don’t get tricked by people!”

[You’ve been promoted to Senior Officer in Paradise.]

“How do I invite people?” Khrx asked.

“It’s the same thing as calling a friend, but you do it through the guild tab that should’ve appeared in your menu.”

“Got it,” Khrx said as he navigated through his menu.

[Senior Officer Khrx has invited his lover, Anaheim Miehana, to the guild.]

“Your what!?” Luke shouted. “What happened to Fufu!? Wait! That name! The hero!? You invited the hero to the guild!?”

[Anaheim Miehana has joined the guild Paradise.]

[Anaheim Miehana has been kicked from the guild.]

“What the hell are you thinking, you stupid dragon!? How can you invite the hero to the demon lord’s guild!?”

“The what?” Anaheim asked, her eyes bulging.

“…Who was that?” Luke asked.

“Anaheim,” Khrx said.

“You said demon lord!” Anaheim said. “I definitely heard demon lord!”

“It’s roleplay! Roleplay,” Luke said. “I’m not the demon lord. I just thought it’d be fun to roleplay as the demon lord, you know? Since this is a game and all. Khrx is roleplaying as an elder dragon too.”

[Lukroix Adveign Desrigard has invited the player, Anaheim Miehana, to the guild.]

[Anaheim Miehana has joined the guild Paradise.]

“And since you’re Khrx’s lover, I can’t not accept you just because you’re roleplaying as the hero,” Luke said. “Sorry about my earlier outbursts.”

Anaheim narrowed her eyes at Khrx.

Khrx shrugged. “If I knew where he lived, I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble to get Fufu back.”

“You were thinking of selling me out just now, weren’t you?” Luke asked. “Goddamn. I need a new best friend. Aaz’Tala! You’ve been promoted.” Luke cleared his throat. “Anyway, the guild’s been established. You don’t have to walk all the way over here. Type /ff into your command prompt and you’ll be teleported over to the base.”

“That’s convenient,” Khrx said as he opened his command prompt. Anaheim did the same. They both typed in /ff.

[You have died.]

[The god of the underworld is baffled.]

***

“That’s convenient,” Khrx said.

Luke leaned back and stared at the altar he had just finished setting up. A guild temple, one of the most important buildings a guild could have. It allowed guild members to respawn inside of it. Instead of waiting weeks for Khrx to arrive, it’d only take three days now. The familiar sounds of virtual keys being pressed came through the other end of Luke’s call. A moment later, a translucent rectangle popped up in front of him.

[You have killed the seed of the Sun God! God Jax is pleased. Do you wish to become Jax’s champion? Y/N. Warning: A guild may only have three champions at any given time.]

[Jax’s Champion]

[Guild members and affiliated NPCs gain +10 Strength and +10 Constitution while on foreign soil.]

Luke muttered to himself while furrowing his brow. “The hell is this…?”

***

“Luke!” Khrx shouted as he sat up within his personal room. Anaheim was lying beside him. “I’ll kill you! I’ll really, really kill you!”

“Incredible,” Boba said. “New record. Three minutes. You deserve an award.”

“Did we just die?” Anaheim asked as she opened her eyes.

“Apparently,” Khrx said, his eye twitching. “Luke’s such a bastard.”

“K..x…..j..”

“What’d you say?” Khrx asked, turning to Anaheim.

“That wasn’t me,” Anaheim said, shaking her head.

“K.rx..r..jl.”

“…Boba?” Khrx asked.

Boba snorted. “I speak in fully coherent sentences, thank you very much.”

“Khrx…Lrvnjl.”

“Cut it out, Boba,” Khrx said with a snort. “Are you trying to be scary?”

“I am not doing that. I swear,” Boba said. “It seems like an outside A.I. is interfering with my authority.”

“Khrx! Lrvnjl!” A roar echoed through the personal room as a black fissure appeared in front of Khrx. A raspy voice leaked through as the fissure widened. “Escape from me once, shame on you. Escape from me twice, double shame on you! Escape from me thrice? Hell no! Get over here!”

Anaheim yelped as a shadowy claw jetted out of the fissure and grabbed Khrx’s waist. He didn’t even have time to shout as he was pulled out of his personal room. A second later, three portals opened and Monika, Nelson, and Lorin fell into the room as the fissure disappeared.

“Khrx died again?” Lorin asked. “Where’d he go?”

“Analyzing distortion data,” Boba said. “Program Theda broke through my firewall. Matching Theda with relevant databases. No matches found. Sending an error report to the help desk.”