Chapter 127: Finding a Purpose

Even as Jimmy was trying to fully contemplate the situation that he’d found himself in, he and Tena were being thrown into a smallish room devoid of any furniture aside from a decently sized dining table large enough to occupy almost all the space inside of it. Having been shoved, he needed to throw out his hands to steady himself on the table before him.

“Look, man, it doesn’t have to be like this,” Jimmy said, pushing himself back up into a standing position and turning around. Protectively, he extended an arm in front of Tena as he began to wonder if these were the threats Eilea had warned him about in her letter to him. Most likely, they were. He needed to be smart here and talk his way out of this. “Whatever it is you think I did, I’m not—”

“We’re not here to hurt you,” the one called Olivir said, a sigh added to the end of his words. “I know how this might seem, but uhm, I promise you that we didn’t take you down to this room to rough you up or anything.”

Donovan grunted. “We don’t actually know that for sure yet.”

“Stop that,” Kolona said, frowning at him. Then she turned to regard Jimmy. She, Olivir, and Donovan were standing before the door, blocking off their exit. “He doesn’t mean that.”

“Oh, I know he doesn’t,” Tena said, glaring at him. She tried to take a step forward, but Jimmy, fearful something might happen to her, barred her from getting any closer, and so she bumped into his arm instead. “Donovan won’t touch us, Jimmy. My guild-leader is his best friend, and when Zephyr finds out that you kidnapped us, he’s going to—”

“Am I late?” called a voice from the hallway beyond the door. In strode none other than Zephyr Vextran himself, the leader of the Explorers Brigade. Clad in a dark brown robe with a matching cloak, he had a resplendent, blue-and-white blade sheathed at his side. Despite his otherwise average features, his striking eyes went well with his undeniable charisma.

“Zeph!” Tena shouted. “Donovan snatched us and threw us in this weird basement. Thank the Gods you’re here.”

Zephyr made a fist, raised it to his mouth, and then he chuckled. “I’m sorry if we frightened you, Tena. I didn’t expect you to get caught up in this.”

“Get caught up in…” She gasped. “Don’t tell me you have something to do with this?”

“You’re both not understanding things. I promise. Why don’t we all sit down and talk?”

Tena hesitated a moment, but then she nodded and backed away—but not before placing her lips over Jimmy’s ear and whispering, “If Zephyr’s here, I promise everything’s okay.”

Jimmy wasn’t about to take her word for it, but either way, he didn’t think he had much of a choice, and so he walked around the table and took a seat towards the rear of it next to Tena so that he could keep his eye on the now closed door in case anyone or anything else came through. Olivir, Kolona, Donovan, and Zephyr all followed suit, sitting across from the two of them.

“It’s really good to see you again, Zeph,” Olivir said.

“You too, Oli.”

“If you’re in here with us, uhm, does that mean Donovan told you everything?”

“Sure did,” Donovan said. “Zephyr’s like a brother to me. I trust him.”

“I do too,” Olivir agreed. “But you told him…everything, though? All of it?”

I got no idea what these dudes are talking about, Jimmy thought, trying to keep his cool.

Zephyr released a somewhat pessimistic-sounding sigh, but any glumness on his part was only temporary, and his eyes were quick to once more radiate a look of confident certainty. “It was a lot to take in, Oli, but it doesn’t change much. At the end of the day, it’s the same deal as it always is: big bad boss to fight.”

“The World Eater,” Kolona whispered.

None of what they were saying registered to Jimmy or made any sense to him. At the moment, he was busy tamping down on his fear. He refused to let these people intimidate him. His mom, who raised him all on her own, was the best friend he had in this world, and she taught him to be brave, and to keep his chin up no matter how bad things looked.

Zephyr stared at Jimmy a moment, and he refused to buckle under his gaze. Then, while still keeping his eyes pinned on Jimmy, he asked, “Shouldn’t the kid be here, Don?”

Donovan shrugged and grunted in unison. “Yeah, he definitely should be. But I don’t think he will be. Especially since we’re meeting here again tomorrow.”

“Did you text him?

“Yep.”

“So why not come?”

Donovan made a waving motion with his hand. “My fuckin’ sister, that’s why.”

“Jascaila?”

“Yeah. Her.”

Zephyr again lifted his fist as if to conceal a grin behind it. “Zach’s got himself a new therapist, I take it?”

“That about sums it up.”

“Is he…doing any better?” he asked, his tone coming across as a bit more concerned. “The last time I saw him, he wasn’t looking so well.”

Donovan hesitated a moment, then he too softened his tone. “I spoke to him yesterday. He seems to be doing a bit better each time we talk. She might be a pain in my ass, but Jasc knows what she’s doing. Can’t bullshit you on that.”

Despite having absolutely no idea what any of these people were talking about, Jimmy was nevertheless content to sit silently, let them speak, and try his best to gather as much information as he could from overhearing this in the hope that he could piece together what was going on later—assuming he lived through this. Tena seemed to be taking the same approach as well. For the moment, it almost seemed like the two of them were invisible. Despite having dragged them down here, the four of them seemed to momentarily forget his and her existence.

“When’s the next contact point?” Zephyr asked.

“Tomorrow,” Donovan said. “Right before we meet. But he’s not sure what to ask her about. Five minutes just ain’t a whole lot with all the shit going on in the world. And since we can’t bring Alex in here anymore, I’ve had to be the brains of our little group.” Donovan barked a brief, but powerful laugh. “You can imagine how well that’s going.”

Zephyr also laughed, then leaned forward and rubbed his chin as he turned his eyes on Jimmy. “Depending on what we find out, we might have to use some of those five minutes asking about our new friend here.”

Jimmy said nothing in reply, though he did feel somewhat reassured as Tena grabbed his hand. He turned to smile at her, but now, for some reason, she had a look of contrition in her abruptly moistening eyes. “This is all my fault, isn’t it?” she asked at a whisper, her look of guilt and remorse deepening. “I think this is my fault, Jimmy.”

Jimmy regarded her, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I think I’m the reason you’re here.”

“Hah? How so?”

She squeezed his hand more tightly. “When we first met and you asked me to show you Earth, Zephyr asked me where I was heading. I barely knew you back then, and going off with a guy I just met…you know how it is, right? So to be safe, I told him I met a guy who claims he used to live there.”

Jimmy contemplated her words. Then he smiled at her. “That’s not your fault,” he said. “That’s mine. You didn’t do a thing wrong, Tena. Don’t even think that way. And who knows if that had anything to do with why I’m here.”

“It does, actually,” Zephyr said, taking a moment to meet both of their eyes. “But it’s only a small part of it. See, at first, I thought it was just a funny lie you were telling her to make yourself sound mysterious and cool. Hey, whatever works, right? I didn’t think much of it. But then, Jimmy, you went on that raid on F20, and that was when I first started to become suspicious enough to reach out to Olivir, Kolona, and Donovan.”

“Suspicious?” Jimmy asked. “How so?”

“Well, two members of my guild told me you came up with a…let’s call it a ‘very creative’ strategy to kill the boss. Something no one’s ever thought to try before.”

“Yeah, and so what?” Jimmy asked. “Just ‘cause I thought of something you didn’t think doesn’t mean I’m suspicious or worth dragging down here.”

“That’s not all you did.”

“Oh really?”

Zephyr nodded. “After you killed the boss, you decided to celebrate by chanting, and I quote, ‘USA! USA!’”

“Fuck,” Jimmy muttered to himself. Having become high off the thrill of a successful raid, he’d let out the first cheer that came to mind. He didn’t think it could possibly mean anything to anyone. “Okay, I admit, I did that.”

Tena lowered her eyes as though ashamed. “I’m so sorry, Jimmy.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “This is on me, not you. I was being careless. It was only a matter of time before I messed up.” He sat up straighter. “So, you’re the ones who I was warned about, huh?”

Donovan, Zephyr, Kolona, and Olivir all exchanged a worrying glance. “Warned about?”

“Yeah. You don’t gotta play dumb. You’re here to kill me, right? Just so you know, I don’t even know why I’m here at all. If you think I’m a threat to you, you’re wrong. I mean…the only thing I even want is to go home. But shit, if this is how it’s gonna be, all I ask is you let Tena go and make it quick. It’s not personal, right? So just do what you gotta do and be done with it.”

Donovan and Zephyr mutually exchanged another glance, this one even more alarmed than the previous. “Does he really think we’re here to kill him?” Zephyr asked.

“Think so,” Donovan grumbled. Clearing his throat, he looked at Jimmy once more and said, “Whoever you think we are, we aren’t.”

Flicking his tongue against his lower mouth, Jimmy eyed both of them cautiously. “You sure about that?”

“Yeah, kiddo. Pretty sure. If you think we’re here to kill ya, we’re not.”

Jimmy relaxed a bit at the man’s words, though only ever so slightly. Still, the reassurance led him to be just a touch more optimistic about how this might end, though he certainly did not fully trust any of these people. For the moment, however, he decided to run with the idea that they meant him no harm, and with that in mind, he said, “So, if you don’t got me down here to kill me, then why am I here?”

“It’s for the reasons we’ve already explained,” Zephyr replied. “We found some oddities out about you, and we needed to get to the truth about them—for a whole bunch of reasons, actually, many of which we’re not at liberty to explain just yet. All of them, at least at first, were purely academic. But as I’m sure you realize, that obviously doesn’t explain why you’re sitting in a chair down here when we could’ve just spoken to you upstairs.” He pointed his finger upwards as if to emphasize his point. “You might find it difficult to believe, but the only reason that Donovan dragged you down here is because Angelica says that your story connects to something much larger and much more important. I myself only know this because she informed me when I arrived.”

Jimmy could hardly believe what he was hearing. “So hold up. You’re saying this is all because of something that NPC said?”

“That’s right. You’re apparently connected to something important, and we’re just trying to find out what that is.”

“And what’s so special about down here?”

“Can’t tell you that just yet.”

Jimmy thought on his words. They were a lot to take in, but they were also simple in the sense that he could immediately reject most of them as being false. “Look, you guys. Whatever she told you, it’s wrong. In fact, it’s not even possible. I can tell you for sure—and I mean a hundred percent—that nothing I’ve ever done in my whole life has got anything to do with any of you. Trust me on that. Like, seriously. It’s impossible.”

“He’s telling you the truth,” Tena said, nodding along with him. “You guys don’t understand. Jimmy isn’t connected to whatever…whatever this is you’re all up to. It’s not even possible for him to be involved with any of it. He’s only been on Galterra for two weeks!”

“Huh?” Olivir, Kolona, Donovan, and Zephyr all said at the exact same time.

Jimmy hissed. “Tena, don’t.”

“It’s okay, Jimmy. I trust Zephyr with my life.”

“Yeah, but I don’t.”

“Well, do you trust me?”

Jimmy exhaled slowly. “I do, mostly. Which, actually, is kinda’ strange since I’m still not sure you’re even real—or that any of you are.”

"You what?" Donovan asked, his eyes squinting.

Zephyr inched closer to Donovan and lowered his voice. “Maybe we should get your sister in here,” he whispered to the GSG leader, which for some reason caused the large, plate-armor-wearing man to cough out a laugh. This, however, earned a glare from Olivir and Kolona, who both seemed to find the quip rude. Jimmy couldn’t tell one way or the other, since he had no means of understanding the reference, and he doubted they were going to explain it to him.

“Answer me just one question, Jimmy,” Olivir said. The boy leaned forward over the table and stared directly into his eyes. “And please be honest, because this is an important one.”

“All right.”

“Where were you born? Specifically, I mean.”

Jimmy tensed up. He wasn’t sure if this was the right time or place to share this kind of information. Yet before he could even decide, he was beginning to fear that Tena might go ahead and do so with or without his blessing. Right now, the girl was wetting her lips. Then she opened her mouth before closing it, only to open it again. It was as though she was struggling to decide whether or not to answer the question for him. But in a sign of loyalty—and one he deeply appreciated—she ended up saying nothing, choosing instead to let Jimmy decide for himself what he felt comfortable sharing.

“I dunno if I can trust you,” he said at last. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, dude. If I was in your position, I’d feel the same.”

Olivir sat up straight, closed his eyes, and then remained that way for a moment that went on way too long. Even though it ultimately lasted less than a minute, the nature of the situation made it feel like he kept that position for an hour. All throughout, Jimmy wasn't sure if he was napping, meditating, or thinking. No one else spoke during this period, either, adding a sense of eeriness on top of everything else. But then, finally, his eyes snapped back open, and when they did, his look became even sharper, darker, and a fair bit intimidating, too.

“Since you can’t answer that,” he said, “then let me ask you this one other question instead.” In this moment, Olivir stared at him in a way that made it feel as though the boy's eyes were seeing directly into his soul. “Have you ever heard the name Eilea Vayra?”

Jimmy was good at many things, but keeping a straight face was not one of them. It was why he sucked at playing poker. In many regards, he was an artist—but he was not a bullshit artist. And so, the moment the kid with the vampire-like teeth spoke that woman’s name, Jimmy’s lips peeled back in surprise all on their own, and he could feel his eyes widening. It was to such an extent that he didn’t even have to vocalize an answer. His facial reaction, all on its own, had answered the question for him.

Olivir turned to Donovan, and now his tone became deathly serious. “We need to get Zach here before we take this conversation any further. It’s risen to that level.”

“I agree,” Zephyr said. “This is concerning.”

“Are you sure this can’t wait for tomorrow?” Donovan replied with a grunt. “I already invited him out here and he didn’t show up. If he wanted to, he would have. And we’re seeing him tomorrow anyways.”

“Tell him it’s urgent.”

Jimmy didn’t like the way they were looking at him. It was making him more and more nervous. This, as Donovan stood up, muttered a few choice swear words, and then turned around. “I’ll just go get him myself. My exit’s in Shores of Wrath, anyway. Can’t believe I gotta swim across the fuckin’ ocean now.”

“Why not just call him?” Olivir asked.

“My sister’s why. She’s screening his calls now to ‘reduce his stress’ or something. She’s become like his secretary and therapist all in one. Can’t believe she’s been with him for two weeks already. She’s gonna make the kid soft.”

“That’s not true,” Kolona said sharply. “Your sister’s helped my cousin and him a whole lot.”

“Yeah, but she’s making life more difficult for me.”

“Too bad,” Kolona said, folding her arms. “You’ll just have to deal with it.”

Donovan grumbled something Jimmy couldn’t make out, then said, “I’ll be back in a half hour. Make sure they don’t go anywhere.” With that, he opened the door and began to step out—yet he halted in place at the sound of Kolona’s voice.

“W-wait, Donovan.”

“Yeah?” he asked.

Kolona made a playful smile that Jimmy had to admit was cute. “Can you bring my cousin too, please? I haven’t seen her in weeks.”

Donovan grunted. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

With that, he stepped through the door, disappeared from the room, and then the sound of his footsteps echoing down the hall quickly quieted before fading altogether. Now, Jimmy found himself staring awkwardly at the others while waiting for whatever it was that they had planned for him next. Honestly, he had no idea why any of this was happening—or did he? Maybe he did have at least some clue now that they had spoken that name. Eilea. Hearing it said aloud disturbed him deeply. It made him wonder if it was wise to say anything else to these people at all. The level of risk just skyrocketed.

But they might know something important to me too, he thought.

Unsure how to proceed, for about the next five minutes, Jimmy said nothing at all, and everyone sat in total silence, which he was perfectly fine with. The others, however, clearly were not, because eventually, Olivir began tapping his finger against the table before asking, “You are from Earth, right?”

Jimmy said nothing, choosing to continue remaining silent. This, he did from a position of previous life experience. Once, a few years ago, he’d been arrested on bogus shit that he’d had no involvement with, and his knowledge of the law had been the only reason why he hadn’t been hit with false charges that could’ve easily ruined his life. Remaining silent was key when people were asking you questions that could be incriminating even if you were innocent, and he sort of felt like that kind of applied here as well.

Thus, saying nothing, he watched as Olivir continued to tap his fingers again and again before eventually trying his luck a second time. “That’s the real reason why I came to find you,” he said. “We each had our own reasons, but just to put my cards on the table here, for me, it was that one. It’s because, as crazy as it sounds, uhm, I believe you.” He pointed at Jimmy. “I do think you’re really from there. How that’s possible? I don’t have a clue. But I believe it’s true anyway.”

Jimmy pursed his lips, preventing himself from engaging in the conversation. It was very difficult to do, as he himself was so desperately in search of answers. It was a weak spot for him. And it was one that, intentionally or not, this Olivir kid seemed to know just how to play on, because eventually, he found himself becoming baited enough to reply. In particular, it was when Olivir, with an air of nonchalance, asked, “Is the Earth that you’re from different from the one that we know? Does it have all those red clouds and dead vegetation?”

“No,” Jimmy whispered, the word escaping his lips all on its own.

Olivir gave no reaction aside from a pleasant smile. “Really? No red skies?”

“No,” Jimmy said again, shaking his head. “The sky is blue just like on Galterra. On some days, it’s real beautiful. Most of the time it is, actually.”

Olivir made a pleasant-sounding exhale. “That sounds kind of nice. I think you said you want to go back home. Is that right? You want to go back to that place?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. With a bit more heat in his voice, he said, “That’s actually all I want. It’s…it’s the only thing I’m even trying to do. So please, believe me: whoever you people are, I’m not a threat to you or whatever you’re after. The only thing I want is to go home. Nothing else. That’s why I’m racing through the levels as fast as I can.”

“Interesting,” Zephyr whispered, though Jimmy had the sense that the word was spoken mostly to himself. More loudly, he said, “You seem to think leveling up will let you go to this place you claim is your home.”

“Well, yeah, obviously. I mean, it’s clear at least to me what’s going on here.”

“Hm. And that is?”

“I gotta beat the game.”

“Game?”

“Yeah, the…”

Jimmy sighed. He could tell from the confusion in their eyes, which bordered on frustration, that nothing he was saying was making any sense to them. And so, not wishing to have to figure out a way to explain it, Jimmy instead gave a quick nod to Tena, finally deciding that, after all he’d said, he didn’t mind if she spoke to them. He could tell just from the eagerness in her eyes that she was itching to clear things up, and while Jimmy was more than capable of speaking for his own self, he knew that her perspective on the world would make it easier for her to explain things to people who saw things in a way that was similar to how she did.

“Okay, so it’s like this. Jimmy,” she began, extending her arm in his direction, “thinks that everything around us is all part of a simulated game. He thinks this because, where he’s from, the world that we live in is just like one of his fantasy simulations. So, you know how we level up and get stronger? Where he’s from, that’s considered a fantasy. Like, it exists, but it’s also not real. It’s an idea that they have, and a lot of it is freakishly similar to the way things are here, only it’s just a screen game to them. They don’t have levels in the real world there. It took me a while to get my head around that part.”

“No levels at all?" Olivir whispered, sounding shocked.

“Not the way Jimmy described it to me. They have everything that we have, but only in make-believe. But outside of that, everyone’s level 1. Or no, not even level 1, because there’s just no such thing. It’s only in the fantasy simulations.”

Olivir’s mouth dropped open. “So then…if that’s true, then we finally have an answer to a mystery that people have probably wondered for thousands of years: the source of the system’s inspiration. I think I finally get it now.”

“System?” Tena asked. “What’s that?”

Olivir gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry, but I really can’t elaborate on that just yet. I’m sure it’ll be okay to tell you soon enough, but first, we need to wait for Donovan to get back. I’m still not sure how much they’re gonna want you to know.”

Taking his attention off Tena, Olivir once more took in Jimmy. “Well, now I understand how you’re aware of all these terms that only a seasoned adventurer should know. You’ve experienced the source of the Great Ones’ inspiration. Still…that fact alone adds like a billion more questions I want to ask you.”

“Can I please ask you one first?”

“Sure thing.”

Baffled, Jimmy wasn’t even sure what to ask despite requesting permission to do so. He only knew that he wanted to ask something. For the moment, however, he did not reply—at least not at first. It took him nearly a minute of churning all the possible questions over in his head before finally settling on the one he wanted to ask first. Yet before he could even begin to speak it, something happened that caused his voice to catch in his throat. He was distracted by something—by the sudden, unexpected sound of an irate, annoyed voice coming from the opposite end of the hallway down the stairs that led to this very room.

“…because I’d really like to know what’s so fucking important that I had to rush all the way over here when, like, I’m going to be here tomorrow anyway.”

“Zach, stop!” said a feminine voice. “You’re being mean.”

“I’m not being mean, Kal. I literally just got into the pool. Barely dipped my toes into the water, and I only just finished defrosting the hamburgers, and then, what do you know? I’ve got to be bothered by more bullshit that couldn’t wait literally one more day.”

“Be nice, baby. Or else I’m gonna tell Jascaila you’re ignoring your anger iceberg again.”

“You better not, Kal. You seriously better not.”

“I’m gonna.”

There was a brief pause, and then the voice appeared even closer, just barely outside the door. “My anger iceberg is about to get even bigger and icier if everyone doesn’t stop pissing me off.” The door opened, and inside stepped a kid maybe two or three years younger than Jimmy with short black hair and an ominous-looking set of gear that concealed most of his face and gave him a genuinely menacing visage. It was as though the light itself could not penetrate the hood of his cloak. A moment later, however, he pulled it down, and much of the sadistic glow faded from his eyes. Now, Jimmy could recognize him plainly and clearly: Zachys Calador, one of the most well-known adventurers on the server. Or, err…not the server. Wrong word. He was one of the most well-known adventurers in the “world.”

“Who’s he?” Zach asked as he paraded himself in the room, giving Jimmy a sidelong glance. His eyes lingered on Jimmy for only a moment before he looked away almost dismissively. “Why’s he here? Actually, you know what? It doesn’t even matter. Can we please get him out of here if we’re going to talk about sensitive issues? No disrespect or nothing, but I don’t know him.”

Jimmy, sensing an opportunity, spoke up even before Donovan had the chance to reply. “I’d be more than happy to leave, uh, Zach. I don’t even wanna be here in the first place. And I don’t know how much longer ya’ll plan to hold me here, either. But like, by all means, please kick me out. I’d love nothing more than to get out of your hair.”

“Uh, wait, what?” Zach asked, once more turning his attention on Jimmy. “Did you just say ‘hold you here?’ The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

Jimmy, becoming somewhat annoyed by his rude tone, said, “Me and Tena are being kept here by force.”

“By force?” Zach paused a moment, then winced as a look of disgust crossed his features. “Donovan, is this true? What, are we fucking taking prisoners now? What kind of sick shit is this? Not cool at all.”

Donovan grunted and narrowed his eyes, then fired Zach a sharp glare, which seemed to break through to him somewhat, because he took a cautious step backwards and even lowered his head in apology. Becoming a bit fearful, Jimmy said, “Please, just let me and Tena go.”

“Yeah, of course,” Zach said, nodding. “Nobody should be held somewhere they don’t want to be. If you want to leave, you can just go.”

For all his rudeness, he at least had some principles. Jimmy bowed his head gratefully then let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you, my guy. Finally, someone reasonable.” He began to stand up—then paused as Donovan fired him the exact same look of warning that he’d just given Zach.

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“Sit your ass back down. We’re not done here.”

“But…but he said I could go.”

“He’s not in charge here, kiddo. I am.”

Jimmy, in a half-squat, half-standing position, hesitated a moment. But then Donovan turned his body angrily in his direction, and once more, he plopped back down into his seat. “Ya’ll are gonna kill me after all, aren’t you? I knew it was too good to be true.”

At this, the girl he clearly recognized as the Elvish princess gave a firm, vehement shake of her head. “Nah-uh! No way, no way. I dunno what’s going on here, but umm, I promise you that’s not even a possibility. My name’s Kalana, by the way. What’s yours?”

“Jimmy,” he said. “Jimmy Green.”

At this, Zachys Calador snapped his head in Jimmy’s direction, and now there was a scowl on his lips. “Wait a second. Jimmy Green…the adventurer? The one they told me has been talking all that shit about me behind my back in Angelica’s?” Zach pointed his finger at Jimmy. “Yeah, I heard about that. Oh you better believe I did. Hey, any time you want to go, I’m game. I’ll get those grapes right now if you want. It’s good that you’re here. I’ve been meaning to have a word with you about all that stuff you’ve been—”

“Zach!” Kalana fired in. She poked him in the chest with her pointer finger. “Remember what you learned?”

Zach stared at her blankly. Then his expression changed—though it did so slowly. At a gradual, steady pace, his scowl faded and was thereafter replaced by an apologetic frown. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I have very bad anger issues, and I’m working on them. Please excuse my behavior. I’m growing as a person.”

Jimmy waved it off. “It’s all good, man. As long as I don’t end up iced.”

“Iced?”

“Dead.”

“Oh. Weird expression. But yeah, of course. It’s like Kal said. No one here’s a murderer.” Once more, he frowned as if reacting to the look of skepticism that Jimmy couldn’t help but send his way. “Why’re you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing.”

“No, tell me.”

“It’s just that I know…I mean, I know your reputation is all.”

“Meaning what?”

Jimmy felt his throat going dry as he realized he was upsetting the kid for some reason. “I mean that I know you’re not afraid to mess up people who get on the wrong side of you.”

Zach, in a series of strange movements, closed his eyes and began counting down from ten. Jimmy had no idea what that was about. Nevertheless, he said nothing as Zach got down to zero and then blew out a sigh and took a seat before pointing at him and saying, “I’m letting that one slide, but just so you know, I’ve never killed anyone outside of self-defense.”

“Yeah, okay. I wasn’t calling you on that, bruh.”

“Bruh?”

“It means bro.”

Zach gave him a discerning look before shrugging. “Strange vocabulary, but all right.”

The tension partially diffused, Kalana took a seat next to Zach, and then finally, Donovan once more sat back down at the table. With everyone seated, Zach began tapping his fingers on the table just as Olivir had been doing only moments before. “Okay, so, let’s get right to it: why are we all here?” he asked, speaking first. “I want to get this over with so I can play net-ball with everyone in the pool.”

Donovan released a dark laugh lacking in any sense of humor. “Enjoying your vacation, Zach?”

“I sure am.”

“Good to hear. Don’t mind the rest of the world, kiddo. Just keep on playing on the beach.”

Zach opened his mouth to respond, but it was Kalana who shot in her remarks first. The girl, who had only just taken her seat after briefly hugging Kolona, looked angrily at Donovan and said, “That’s not fair. Zach’s given so much to the world.”

“I love the kid,” Donovan said. “I just think he’s digging his fuckin’ head too far into the sand. We’ve got work to do.”

“And we’re going to do it,” Zach said, now speaking more seriously. “This isn’t just about vacationing for me, okay? I’ve taken some time off from the world to recover from things that hurt me badly, and I’m not ashamed that I need to do that.”

Donovan made another dark laugh, but this time around, there appeared to be at least some degree of humor in it. “Is that you talking or my sister?”

“Me,” he said.

Donovan stared at him a moment, then abruptly, he nodded his head in a way that was oddly respectful. “All right, kiddo. That’s good enough for me.”

The two stared at one another for just a short moment longer, and then once more, Zach set his eyes on Jimmy as he asked, “So, why am I here?”

It was Zephyr who replied. “Tomorrow is your weekly five-minute conversation with Eilea, right?”

“Yeah."

“Well then, we need to discuss this situation here first. Look, I know we’ve got a lot of things to pack into those five minutes as is, but what we’ve got here might be worth asking about. Specifically, him,” Zephyr said, raising an eyebrow at Jimmy.

“Why?” Zach asked, sounding skeptical.

“I don’t fully know yet, but I think he’s involved with her somehow. He’s told us some things that defy all belief and reason, and yet, that’s with having barely told us anything at all. Before we really dug into things, we wanted to wait for you to get here first.”

Zach rubbed his chin a moment as though he had an itch. “So is this, like, an interrogation?”

“In a sense, but a friendly one, hopefully.”

“And how important is it?”

“Very.”

“Give me from a one to a ten.”

“An eight,” Zephyr said. “Actually, maybe even a nine.”

Of all things, Zach moaned and took on a look of extreme frustration. Without warning, he stood up, and his chair scraped loudly against the floor. “All right, I’ll be back in a few minutes. Don’t say anything else to him until I do.”

“Huh?” Donovan asked. “The hell do you think you’re going?”

“Grabbing Mr. Oren,” he said as he walked out of the room and into the hallway.

Donovan, rather than get out of his seat, spun the entire thing around on the floor, causing another metallic, shrill, and grating screech to echo in the room. “He can’t come here anymore. What makes you think you can—”

“Hey, Angelica,” he called out, his voice only just audible from wherever it was he was speaking.

“Yes, Zach?”

“Can you come over here a moment.”

“Oh, okay.”

There were footsteps, and then a brief moment of quiet.

“Okay, so I need you to do a portal for me like when I was in the hospital. I need you to bring Mr. Oren here for a few minutes to maybe an hour.”

“Zaaaach! You know I can’t do that. Adamus would—”

“No, it’s okay, actually. I cleared it with Eilea.”

“Huh?”

“There’s a truce between her and Adamus right now. Wait, did no one tell you this in last week’s meeting?”

“Nope.”

“Wait, seriously? Yeah, until this bomb thing is settled, he’s turning a blind eye as long as it’s nothing too crazy. Can you just grab him and bring him here, please?”

“Are you sure it’s gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. This time, anyway.”

“Should we really be talking about this…outside the room?”

“It’s fine. Adamus actually knows we’re meeting in secret.”

“Z-Zach! You just said that out loud.”

“Yeah, and like I said, it’s fine. He doesn’t know what we’re saying, but he knows we’ve been meeting. He’s not stupid. And you should already know that his dumb rules means he can’t do shit to us without proof that we did anything wrong. Isn’t that right, Adamus? I know you’re listening.”

“Zach, stop! You might provoke him.”

“Fuck him, I don’t care. Anyway, I need Mr. Oren.”

“Okay, okay. If you’re sure.”

“I am sure. Hey, after this is done, why don’t you take a break from the inn and come play in the pool with us?”

"Aww, shucks. I wish I could, but I'm really not allowed. If I leave here for too long, I get into trouble.”

“You know, I don’t like the way you’re treated like a slave, Angelica.”

“You’re sweet, but this is just the way it is. Anyways, I’ll go grab your friend.”

“Thanks.”

Jimmy lowered his head into his hands and squeezed his face. This was becoming way too complex and convoluted for his tastes. He just wanted to go level and figure out a way to beat this simulation so he could go home. None of this had anything to do with him. All these problems belonged to others. There was no reason for him to have to be sitting here right now. As he contemplated grabbing Tena and making a break for it, there came a strange, electric-like buzzing sound, followed by a laugh from someone other than Zach.

“There will never be a day when you don’t surprise me,” an unfamiliar voice said.

“Sorry, Mr. Oren. Been meaning to catch you up on everything anyway since I’ve got news about stuff we need to talk about in private. I was planning to bring you here at some point tomorrow. But first, there’s a situation or something going on, and you’re honestly the best person to deal with these kinds of…moments. They wanted me to do it, but I’m not even going to bother to try. This is a 'you' thing."

“Is it another…Prila-like event?”

“It’s exactly that. But I can’t say more until we get into the room.”

“All right then, my man. You’re lucky, too. I finished my last meeting for the day an hour ago. Even still, my time is incredibly limited, so let’s try to make this as brief as possible. Oh, and if you’ve got any information that can help me…” The door opened again, and Zach, along with another figure walked inside. “Please let me know.” He stopped short, eyed Jimmy, and then smiled politely.

Jimmy sort of recognized him. He was a man who tended to be on the TV a lot. His name was Sir Alex Oren of the Lords of Justice, if Jimmy recalled correctly. He was a tall, well-built man who tended to wear a nerdy pair of cat-eye glasses that disarmed what would otherwise be a pretty intimidating physique. At the moment, he was dressed in the button-up coat of a high-ranking military official adorned with numerous badges and buttons; Jimmy could tell that he was someone of extreme world importance. Likely more so than anyone in the adventuring community, including Zach.

Giving up his seat, Zach and Kal moved to the opposite side of the table so that they now sat near him and Tena, allowing Sir Oren to occupy the chair directly across from Jimmy. “Just so you know,” Zach said, his tone somewhat mischievous as he patted Jimmy on the back, “Donovan and Zephyr are holding this guy here against his will, and I had nothing to do with it.”

“Noted,” the man said.

All in all, he was only a couple of years older than Jimmy, yet he presented himself with such a rigid, professional demeanor that he actually came across as quite a bit older. Nodding his head in acknowledgement, he said, “Forgive me, as I’m catching up on things. My name is Alex Oren of the Lords of Justice, former member of the God Slayers Guild. I’m not sure why I’m speaking to you, but may I ask your name?”

“Sure,” Jimmy said with a sigh. “I’m Jimmy Green, and this is Tena Laielza. And not to be rude, but I dunno how high up the chain or how many more dudes need to walk in here before one of ya’ll finally tell me what I did wrong or why I’m really in here, but if not you, then please someone soon because, honestly? I can’t take much more of this, no disrespect.”

Sir Oren made a slight, barely audible laugh, and then he extended his hand, which Jimmy shook. “I’m the last guy,” he said. “Whatever it is that’s going on here, we’re going to solve it right now. I promise you. Okay?”

“If you say so. Uh, just so we’re on the same page, the others promised me I won’t be killed. Just hoping you’ll honor that.”

“Oh, Gods! Of course,” Sir Oren said. “It’s actually my responsibility as an ambassador of humanity to guarantee it. Now that I’m here, I wouldn’t allow that even if they’d chosen to do so—which they wouldn’t.”

“All right,” he said, breathing a bit more easily.

Clearing his throat, Sir Oren asked Donovan and Zephyr to explain the situation that had led to Jimmy being in this room and why they felt it was necessary to whisk him here across the universe to speak to him. The guy was clearly pretty damn smart, because it only took him a minute or two to both grasp and find the importance in whatever they were saying.

“That is really strange,” he said. “And this connects to Eilea?”

“I think so,” Olivir said.

Sir Oren then turned his attention back to Jimmy. “The easiest way we can resolve this is with honesty and openness. Based on what I’m hearing, it sounds like you’re hesitant to discuss things with us. This means you have a reason to be afraid. Is there an enemy out there? Someone who wants to hurt you?”

Jimmy shrugged. “No clue. But I’ve been told there is.”

“Told by who?”

Jimmy hesitated. Quietly, he said, “Eilea.”

“She speaks to you too?” Zach asked with a gasp.

“Kind of…”

Sir Oren held out his hand. “Zach, please, don’t interrupt.” To Jimmy, he said, “I swear to you that whatever enemy you think you face, they are not in this room. We’re all working together with Eilea in one way or another. And if you and your friend can give me your word that you’ll never repeat anything you hear outside of this room, we can have an open exchange of information and figure all this out.”

“I’m cool,” Jimmy said. “That’s fine with me.”

“Same,” Tena agreed.

Sir Oren bowed his head. Then, once more locking eyes with Jimmy, he said, “I’m just going to start with the most basic question, and I must admit, this is a strange one to ask even despite everything I just heard.” He folded his hands on the table and leaned in slightly closer. “Are you from the planet Earth, Jimmy?”

“Yes,” Jimmy replied immediately and without hesitation, wanting to show these people that he was willing to cooperate and meant them no harm.

There was a slight tightening of Sir Oren’s face, but it passed by so briefly that it was hard to know it was there at all. “And how did you come here to Galterra?”

“Shit, I knew this was gonna be your next question.” Jimmy drew a deep breath. “You’re not gonna believe me. I don’t even know why Tena believes me. But if you really wanna know, here’s why I’m here.”

For the next five minutes, Jimmy, already too deep to pull back, decided he had no choice but to trust these people. And so he told them not only who he was, where he was from, and how he’d been living his life up until a few days ago, but he described in great detail the night that he’d met the woman they called Eilea. The fact that he claimed to have seen her in person seemed to cause a great deal of shock from those around him. It was the only part of the story where they interrupted him to ask what she looked like, to which Jimmy said a great deal like Kalana and her cousin, Kolona. Both seemed to find this flattering.

Continuing on with his story, he explained how he’d been hit by a car going way over the speed limit, and then he’d woken up in this simulated world sometime later. Finally, with more emotion in his voice than he intended, he said, “So please, if any of you know how to get me home, I’d really appreciate it. This ain’t my world, and no disrespect, but I don’t want to be here much longer. My mom needs me. I’m all she’s got. I can’t imagine the thought of how scared she must be right now. I’m putting that woman through hell. Every day here makes me worry about her even more.”

Of all people, it was Zach who gave him a friendly fist bump on the shoulder, and abruptly, his eyes filled deeply with such an unexpected depth of compassion that Jimmy at first thought he was seeing things incorrectly. “You must really love your mom,” Zach said.

“I do. She’s my best friend in the world. She gave up her dreams for me.”

Unless he was faking it, the emotion he saw in the kid was real and sincere. Yet the way he spoke to Jimmy left him feeling incredibly uneasy and unwell. “I’ve got a friend where Kal and I are staying. I think you should talk to her.”

“Why?” Jimmy asked, becoming suspicious. “Why would I go anywhere with you?”

Softly, and with an eerie amount of kindness from someone who was so harsh only moments ago, he said, “She’s good with helping people cope with grief and loss.”

Jimmy laughed. “I didn’t lose anybody. I’m gonna level my ass out of this world and get sent home. Why else would I be here?”

“I don’t know, but…but I can tell you for sure that, you know, your mom’s probably not…”

“Not what?” he demanded, becoming angry.

Zach sighed. “I’m not qualified to…here’s the thing. I’m not a brain genius like Mr. Oren here, but even I can see what happened—at least based on your explanation.”

“You can?”

“Yeah, Jimmy,” he said, still speaking softly and calmly. “It sounds like you got dragged across a whole lot of time: thousands of years from the sound of it. So, naturally, since it’s thousands of years later, your mom’s…you know…”

Jimmy firmly shook his head. “Fuck out of here, man! You can cut that shit out right now. My mom’s not dead.”

Zach opened his mouth as if to say more, but then he closed it. This, as Kalana, Kolona, and even Donovan offered him comforting looks, all of which pissed him off. “This is just a simulation,” he said to them. “I know you don’t agree, but I’m telling you, you are all just like me. Only difference is you forgot how you got here.” As he spoke, his voice grew in volume until he eventually started shouting even without meaning to do so. “This shit ain’t real! Are you people fucking stupid? This is a fantasy. Wake up! There’s no such thing as leveling or magic or wizards. It’s a goddamn video game!”

Sir Oren reached across the table and grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. “But based on everything I’ve heard, I have to agree with Zach. For some reason or purpose, you were ripped out of your time and brought here.”

Jimmy yanked his hand away, refusing to let these people break him. “Even if you’re right,” he said. “Even if everything you said is true. It doesn’t matter. If you can go forward in time, you can go back, too. I’m gonna find that woman, and she’s gonna send me home.”

“She can’t,” said another voice as the door creaked open. Angelica entered, shutting it behind her. “I didn’t want to tell this to you, Jimmy, but I’ve known from the day you first got here. I’m sorry. But Eilea did not rip you out of your time.”

“Huh? But they just said that—”

“They’re wrong,” Angelica whispered. She looked at him. “I don’t know the specifics, but I know what she’s capable of and what she’s not capable of. Pulling you out of the past and bringing you to the future just isn’t possible.”

“Then how am I here?” he demanded.

“She must have saved your life, put you in a suspended state, and set you to wake up two weeks ago. You’ve likely been hidden away on Galterra since the dawn of its existence in a dreamless sleep. You didn’t warp across time. You slept through it.”

Jimmy scowled. His nerves were shot. “You seem to know what’s going on here, miss. Send me back. Now!”

“There is no back, Jimmy.”

"Please," he begged her. "You're connected to all of this. I can tell. You know more than you should, Angelica. Just let me go home. Or if you can't do that, tell me what I gotta do to earn it. Why are you looking at me like you feel bad? You're an NPC. You can't feel!"

"Yes she can," Kalana said. "Please don't be mean to her. I know you're upset, but umm, it's not Angelica's fault."

"I'm really sorry," the NPC said. "And I can feel, and I know you're upset."

"Why did she do this to me?" Jimmy asked, becoming unnerved.

"I don't know why you were brought here. I only know that you wouldn't be here unless you were going to die anyway. If you're here, it's because Eilea decided to spare your life. If she didn't, you'd be dead, not home. She let you live."

"Let me?"

"That's right," Angelica said. "You were supposed to be dead. She wouldn't have done this otherwise or else she'd risk changing the fabric of reality by altering history."

Jimmy pointed his finger off to his left. “Everything you're saying just proves me right. You're saying Eilea went back in time, right? So that proves time-travel obviously exists.”

“It’s more complicated than that. And even if you don’t believe me, I’m telling you this because it’s only gonna get harder to accept the longer you chase it. Whatever Eilea did is not something you can do too or something you can undo. This is your home now. You’re never going back to the old Earth. It’s just a memory now, one shared only by you, me, Adamus, and Eilea.”

Jimmy shook his head. “This can’t be. Nah, man. Nah. I’m sorry. But you’re wrong. This is a simulation. If I gotta stab myself in the throat to prove it, I’ll do it. This isn't real. I'm positive.”

Jimmy reached down by his right side and unsheathed the dagger Tena kept in a small sheath in case of emergency. Then he lifted it to his throat. He wasn't suicidal. He wasn't trying to kill himself. He knew that this wasn't—couldn't—possibly be real. Most likely, he'd reawaken at home upon death. Right? Surely that would be the only real consequence. Even still, he hesitated, and before a half a second had come and gone, Zach, with a speed too fast for his eyes to follow, grabbed his wrist tightly enough to force his hand to open, and he dropped the weapon.

“Okay, yeah, you’re going to see the therapist,” Zach said, nodding. Kalana also nodded.

Zach kicked the dagger away so that it skidded along the floor to the other end of the room, and then he released his hand. Now, disturbed by all he'd heard, Jimmy found it difficult to get comfortable. He began to shift uneasily in his seat. “Gotta get out of this fucking planet and world. My mom wouldn’t be able to cope with me being gone. You don’t understand. She would’ve died of a heartbreak. I can’t do that to her. I won’t do that to her. Jesus take my soul too if that’s how it’s gonna go down.”

“Is that one of your Gods?” Kalana whispered softly.

He looked at her. “Yeah. Well, we only have one God. Most of us, anyway.”

She nodded empathetically. “There’s a lot we need to ask you, but if you need a break, we can pick this up tomorrow after Zach speaks with—”

“That’s right!” Jimmy exclaimed, snapping his finger. “You’re gonna be talking to her tomorrow, right? I heard them say something about that. She talks to you once a week, right?”

Zach nodded. “For five minutes, yeah.”

“Okay, well, she told me she would give me answers after I got level 30, but she also didn’t expect me to get that far for three months. Maybe you can tell her that Jimmy’s level 45 now and I’d like to have a word with her time-warping, family-separating, mom-heart-breaking ass!”

Tena wrapped her arms around him, and he let her. Right now, she was the only one Jimmy really wanted to be near to. “I told you I’m real,” she whispered to him. “But now I wish I wasn’t. I’m sorry, Jimmy.”

He wasn’t ready to reply, but he hoped the way he wrapped his own arm around her conveyed enough for her to understand he had good intentions. “What about my degree? My scholarship?”

Sir Oren lifted his pointer finger as if to get Jimmy’s attention. “I can get you into any university on the planet: assuming we save it. Actually, I realize this is highly insensitive and unfair to you, Jimmy, but there are critical matters to be addressed in what is, I assure you, a very real world. Zach, you told me you had some information for me?”

Zach gave him a thumbs-up. “Yeah, actually. I was going to come get you eventually anyway. So, last week, during my five-minute chat with Eilea, she said that she and Adamus are doing a temporary ceasefire and that she’s going to have a bit more leeway than she usually does if it means stopping the Guild of Gentlemen. So she’s been digging around, right? And uh, I don’t know how much this is going to help the situation, like, politically or whatever, but she says she doesn’t think they’ve built any more of those nuclear weapons yet and that she’s ninety-five percent sure they’re bluffing and won’t have another one for at least two more months.”

Sir Oren, “Mr. Oren,” or however he was supposed to be addressed—his reaction to this came across as so shocked it was actually funny. Even with all the heaviness of what Jimmy had just been told, he couldn’t help but find it amusing the way the dude’s mouth popped open and a drop of spit actually fell out of his lips as he recoiled as if whipped across the face. “W-w-what?” he exclaimed. “How long have you known this, Zach?”

“Only since like last week.”

Sir Oren slammed his palm down onto the table. “You knew this for a whole Gods-cursed week and I’m only hearing about this now? You didn’t think to warp me over here as soon as you found out?”

As though becoming defensive, Zach frowned and said, “Nobody told me to do that. And like I said, I was planning to tell you.”

Sir Oren moaned, though only for a moment. “Donovan, how can you not have…how can any of you not have told me this immediately? You can’t all be this lacking in political common sense. Do you realize that Sir Alazar is going to be executed in just three days? That the entire world is on the verge of surrendering to that maniac because they believe he has many more of these weapons?”

Zach tensed up, and so too did Kalana. Even Jimmy tensed a bit, because he’d seen on the news what the Guild of Gentlemen had done; only, now, it was beginning to dawn on him that it might have been real, and that more than seven-hundred-thousand real, actual people might have died. And that was just the current death toll.

“This is real, isn’t it?” he whispered, the horrible realization starting to take hold in his mind for the first time since waking up here.

“Yes!” Sir Oren said. “Very, very real.”

He made a weak chuckle. “So wait a second, then. You're telling me I got sent thousands of years into the future, and we’re still worried about the exact same shit?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sir Oren asked.

“The nukes.”

His eyes widening, he asked, “Did they have these in your time, too?”

At this, Jimmy barked out a loud, unintended laugh that came as a shock even to his own self. “You kidding me, man? Everyone’s got the bomb. America’s got the bomb. Russia’s got the bomb. China’s got the bomb. Everyone’s got it. It’s like the number-one thing everyone’s worried about. That there will be a war and we’ll blow Earth up. Oh, shit! Is that what happened? Is that why it looks like that?”

“No, actually,” Sir Oren said, his tone coming across as distant—as though he were replying even as his brain turned over the words that had just been spoken. “That was the World Eater.”

“You guys mentioned that. It’s a boss or something?”

“Yes. But…” Sir Oren rubbed his eyes, then averted his gaze a second or two before returning it. “Are you telling me that our ancestors on Earth had developed this technology too?”

“Oh, yeah. Way worse than that, actually. That’s just the start. Once they figure out A-bombs, the next thing they figure out is hydrogen bombs.”

“Hydrogen?” he half-hissed, half-shouted. “We need to stop this now!”

“You know what that is?”

“No,” Sir Oren said. “Never even considered it until just now. But I know enough science to imagine what might happen. Tell me, did anyone ever fire these weapons of yours?”

“Yep,” Jimmy said. Then he grimaced. “We fired them twice: both times on the same country.”

“Country?”

“It’s like what ya’ll call a region? But instead of a guild, it’s ruled by…well, that’s a whole different topic. Point is, everyone on Earth is afraid of getting nuked. The only reason nobody drops them anymore is the fear it’ll start a chain reaction and kill everyone. It’s called MAD: mutually assured destruction.”

Olivir shivered. “I think I just learned more in the past five minutes than I’ve learned in the past fifty years,” he said. “And I’m not so sure I was expecting to hear it told this way. So, Jimmy, it sounds like the world was a very dark place in your time.”

“Oh, no, no, not at all. In fact, where I’m from is the greatest place on Earth. Sorry, I mean the universe.”

“And where’s that?” Olivir asked.

Jimmy took a deep breath and calmed himself as he called it to mind. Thinking of home made him feel a bit better. “New York City,” he said as he exhaled. “Better than anything you guys got on Galterra. No offense. But it’s way better.”

Though intrigue was in the eyes of everyone around him, Jimmy noticed that it was Olivir and Zephyr who appeared the most fascinated. “What was it like?” they both asked him at once.

Jimmy briefly explained New York as best as he could, eliciting gasps of disbelief and wonder despite everything seeming kind of normal to him. “So, yeah, we don’t have flying cars like you guys have,” he said, “but we have the Empire State Building, and we have way better music. Like, no offense, but your music here is dog water. I wish I could play some for you.”

“He’s right about that,” Tena said, speaking up for the first time in a while. “Every now and then Jimmy hums a strange song I’ve never heard before, but every one of them gets stuck in my head. Jimmy, what’s that one about changing yourself?”

“Changing yourself?”

“Yeah, um, the one that’s like…um, I’m starting with the hum dum-dum-dum-dum…”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Man in the Mirror. A classic.”

“Wait, I think I know one of your songs, actually,” Zach announced, drawing Jimmy’s attention. Jimmy watched as he turned his head partially to the side, narrowed his eyes, and then licked the roof of his mouth as though attempting to recall something to mind. Finally, he said, “I’m pretty sure this is one of them. So, do you guys have a song that goes, like, uh…’Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the—”

“FLOOOOOOOR!” Jimmy shouted out, causing Kalana to flinch, Zephyr to blink rapidly, Sir Oren to frown, and Kolona and Olivir to jump up.

Zach began laughing. “No way! I know that song.”

“How?” Jimmy asked him.

“I heard it in the Ford Mustang.”

“Ford Mustang…you mean the car?”

“Yeah. On B2 of Yorna’s. Hey, you know what? Great idea. Why don’t we go this weekend. I’ll run you through it. Do you drive? If so, maybe taking a spin around Earth will help you feel a little better. I mean, I know it's not the nicest place anymore, but I loved those cool cars you guys had, and I bet it'll cheer you up. So, you want to?”

“Hell yeah,” Jimmy said, trying to find something to be upbeat about. Anything was better than dwelling on the topic of what might or might not have happened to those he’d left behind. “Why wait for the weekend, though. You busy tonight?”

Zach scratched his head. “No, not really. Fylwen’s not coming by until tomorrow—she was actually supposed to be here last week—you know what? Fuck it. Let’s raid the entire Yorna. B1 to B50. I haven’t adventured in two weeks. Let’s just do it. Full Yorna raid. Tonight. Me and you. Every mob, every floor. Turn the place into dust.”

Jimmy felt his mood begin to lift. A dungeon run was exactly what he needed to get his mind off recent events. “Now you’re talking my language, Zach. I’m in. Let’s take on the whole dungeon. Tena, you want in?”

“Okay.”

“I’m coming too!” Kalana said. “You can’t leave me behind.”

“Oh. Yeah, of course.”

Zephyr laughed. “Very cute, but the four of you are not going to be able to take on the final boss. Yorna’s a T5, level-55 dread type. You need fifty people for Yorna. Now, if you want to do a proper Yorna raid, you can wait a week, because that’s on my rotation, and I have spots for each of you. But if you try to do it just you four, you’re all going to die.”

“Wanna bet?” Jimmy asked, challenging him. “Guarantee we can knock her down. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I’m better than all of you at this. Like, I was watching Donovan lead the raid back when I was in Whispery Woods, and I couldn’t believe how many mistakes ya’ll made. If that was me in charge? I would’ve had that thing down in a quarter of the time with no deaths.”

“Bullshit,” Donovan growled. “You’re full of it.”

“You think so, huh? How many raids have you led? Be honest.”

“Probably close to a hundred.”

“All right, cool, cool.” Jimmy pointed to himself. “I’ve led thousands.”

Donovan snorted. “On your computer.”

“Whatever. I was one of the first players on my server to take down Deathwing: and that was before they buffed Shamans.”

“No clue what that means, but it still doesn’t make up for battlefield experience. I don’t care how much you can sit back and judge my leadership from a screen. Until you’ve taken on something actually difficult—and not some 20th floor trash—you’ve got plenty of learning to do, kiddo.”

Jimmy grinned. "You don't think I can lead raids, huh?"

"Not what I'm saying at all," Donovan replied, returning the grin. "Matter of fact, I bet you've got a shit ton of potential to be great. What I'm sayin' to you is that there's a big difference between watching one and feeling the fire on your face. I promise you that."

“He’s right,” Sir Oren said. “You likely have experience and knowledge that is invaluable, but to truly become a great raid leader, you need experience of the sort you can’t get behind a terminal. Real people die, and there’s real pain. No matter how fast you’ve leveled, you still haven’t been truly tested. Also, while I’m glad everyone here is relieving some tension, please let me remind you that the entire world is buckling under the oppression of a murderous tyrant who killed nearly—or maybe more—than a million people, and no one here aside from me seems to want to do anything about it.”

“It’s because we’re adventurers,” Donovan said. “We all feel bad, but none of us want to get too involved. And don’t forget, we’ve got our own world-saving mission.”

Zach raised his eyebrows. “That’s right. I need to get to Dragon Squire. I hate that I keep forgetting that. Tomorrow we’re actually going to discuss more about that. Eilea says the only chance we have of saving Galterra is to get to Dragon Squire and begin working to unlock the gateway to Albion IV. Actually, Zeph, have you found anything there yet?”

He lifted his arms and shook his head. “I’ve had my best explorers comb the Grand Library over and over. But there’s nothing. Not even a mention of it.”

“I’ll see if I can get more information out of Eilea when we talk.”

“Please do,” Sir Oren said. “And try to rehearse your conversation with her if you can. There are many issues, and the five minutes needs to be used efficiently. As it is, I don’t understand how you accomplished so little last week. Based on what you’ve told me, it sounds like you had, at most, a minute’s worth of productive dialogue.”

Zach snickered. “Well, that’s because we spent a few minutes talking about life.”

The expression on Sir Oren’s face darkened. “Please tell me you’re joking with me, my man.”

“Nope. She was worried about me after what I went through, and she wanted to talk about that instead.”

“Gods, Zach. I don’t mean to be selfish, but since you’re the only one with a direct line to a God-like being, I’d really hope you’d use it in a more responsible way.”

“I’ll keep focused tomorrow, I promise. Jimmy, come hang out with us. Your friend can come too.”

Kalana smiled. “We’d love to have you stay with us awhile.”

Jimmy thought it over. “I don’t know, man. I need to level up as fast as possible to get…” He let his words fall off, but Zach finished them for him.

“To get home?” he asked.

“Yeah,” he whispered.

“I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but that’s not going to work. You can’t go home. Believe me, if I could send you there, I’d take you myself. My mom died when I was really young, and I loved her so much, and every day I struggle with knowing I’m never going to see her again, so I feel for you, I really do. But what’s done is done. I’ve had to learn that the hard way, too.”

“But I have to be sure,” Jimmy said. “I figure if I hit the tower as soon as we get done here, I can—”

“Actually, before you say anything else,” Zephyr cut in. “Just how much time are you spending in the dungeons?”

“I dunno. Like eighteen hours a day?”

“How long are you sleeping?”

“A couple.”

“You need to slow it down. You’re going to make a mistake and die. I don’t care how gifted or knowledgeable you are. Please, Jimmy. Take a break. You’re not meant to level from 1 to 45 in two weeks. It’s unheard of.”

Tena nudged him. “We should go to Kalana’s island,” she said to him. “I’m worried about you. And Zephyr’s right. You can’t live inside the dungeons all day.”

“But this is nothing new to me. Back home, when a new expansion would come out, I’d no-life it. That’s a term that means spending fifteen to twenty hours a day grinding. “

“I’ve done that,” Zach said, smiling as though reminiscing at something from his past. “When me and Kal found the spawn in Whispery Woods, we stayed there all day and almost all night. Anyways, I want to hear more about the old world. It’d be nice having you around to tell us all this cool shit.”

Jimmy found himself in awe at how readily Zach was accepting all that he’d said. “Aren’t you a little bit…taken aback? I mean, you just found out that your whole world is based on a video game.”

“Inspired by,” Donovan corrected.

“Same difference. I just mean that I’d think you’d all be a bit more upset by this.”

“Why would we be?” Kolona asked him. “Most of civilization is built on previous civilization.”

Olivir nodded. “Like she said. This isn’t abnormal to us. The past inspires the future. But more importantly, I do think you should take a break, Jimmy. You dying would be worse than a tragedy just for yourself—because just now, in this moment, I’ve finally figured out why you’re here.”

At this, every head, including Jimmy’s turned to face Olivir. “You did?” he asked, along with Zach, Kolona, and Zephyr.

Olivir nodded. “Yeah. It’s obvious now. Of course it is.”

“So what is it? What’s my purpose?”

“To come with us to Albion IV. And to stop us from wiping.”

Jimmy felt chills run down his spine. “Can that really be it?”

“It’s definitely the reason,” Olivir said. “I might not look it, but I’ve been alive for over two-hundred years. And I’m telling you: I’ve got a really good read on stuff. If you’re here, and Eilea is the one who brought you, it’s because she wanted you to make sure we survive the journey. You might even be meant to lead the raids when Donovan says you’re ready. And since you’re convinced you can get home by leveling, it’s in your best interest to come along and try anyway, but I think you'd be better off turning towards learning to make a life for yourself here.”

“Maybe,” he said, lowering his head and averting his gaze. “Maybe if I become stronger and stronger, I can gain whatever power Eilea has and get back to my world.”

“This is your world,” Kalana said to him gently. “I hope you can find meaning in it. I’ll help you if I can. We all will.” She raised her finger. "But for now, no more dungeons until you sleep. You're gonna come hang out with us. Okay?"

Before Jimmy could respond, Sir Oren got up from the table. “I wish I could stay and chat,” he said. “And those really aren’t idle words. I really wish I could stay and chat. But Zach, my man, I’ve got a world on fire to deal with. If you can manage it without incurring the wrath of Adamus, please bring me back tomorrow with more information from Eilea. I need to know as much as I can before I figure out how to deal with all this. We’ve only got three days before the execution.”

As though somewhat surprised, Zach’s mouth fell ajar, and then he asked, “Are you planning on saving him?”

“Yes. Don’t you want to? I know you two might have had a complicated relationship, but you can’t tell me you’re comfortable with the idea of him having his head chopped off. Especially not when it’s being done for racial reasons. There’s a reason he’s the only guild-leader they’re planning to execute. His Gnomish ancestry isn’t exactly a well-guarded secret. If they get away with this, we’re going to end up at war with the Gnomes, I can almost guarantee it. They won’t be deterred by the nuclear weapons.”

Amid everything else, Jimmy couldn’t even begin to process all that, so he let it enter one ear and exit the other. “By the way, what is this room? And who’s Adamus?”

Zach gave him another pat on the shoulder. “Tomorrow, if you come back here with us, I'll tell you everything that everyone else already knows. But I think this is enough for one day, right?”

“I guess,” he said. With the exhilaration of the conversation behind him, he calmed down somewhat, and it turned out to be a bad thing, because now, the sense of something dreadful returned to the back of his mind as he thought about his mom possibly crying her eyes out night after night wondering where he went. Even still, he chose to look on the bright side. If his mom was in heaven, she was going to see him become a legend: even if it was a few-thousand years later than she’d hoped.