Duy was the worse for wear when he finally climbed out of the river. The staff he had been holding when the monster struck him had absorbed a decent amount of the impact. He had survived, it hadn't. He was slapped against a few rocks as the current swept him along. He hadn't been knocked unconscious, or even broken a bone, so in most ways he had been lucky. As he had sat clinging to the embankment, halfway out of the water, the flying things had found him. He had two nasty bleeding bites on his back now, and was shivering in the cold.

  With Duy wounded and disarmed and Kiet near exhaustion, we found ourselves with no choice but to run and hide. I had come around to my brother's point of view. This had been a dumb idea. I had been so confident that our new abilities would make victory inevitable. I had been far too aggressive, and now, Kiet and Duy were paying for it. Neither great agility nor great strength are much use if you don't have the energy to use them.

  Kiet continued to slash monsters out of the air around us as we ran. Duy had lost a lot of blood, and I had to help carry him as we dashed into the nearest structure that still had a doorway to enter. We were in no position to be picky. Our only hope of survival was to restrict the angles that they could attack us from. The flying monsters were not especially strong or quick, they relied on sheer numbers to surround and overwhelm their prey.

  The interior of the building was dark, but not dark enough. Windows and holes in the walls were as good as doorways to the enemy, so we ran from them. We found a room with a gap in the wall we could crawl through. Kiet's movements were slow and labored now, it was clear that it hurt for him to move. The doorway into the room was full of fallen chunks of masonry. I hauled them to the gap as quickly as I could, blocking out the fliers. Kiet covered the entrance while I did so, and the monsters that were killed this way became part of the pile. When I finished, it was pitch black in the tiny room. We were in a tomb, but still alive. The three of us sat in the darkness, huffing and puffing and sighing with relief.

  “Is everyone alright?” I asked. It was so dark, even I couldn't see. I could hear plenty, though. All around us, they were crawling and fluttering around like flies, looking for a way in.

  Kiet was still struggling to bring his breathing back down to normal. “I...am alright. Duy?”

  Duy spoke in Vietnamese. I didn't understand, but it sounded like he was in a lot of pain. I hadn't realized that Duy hadn't heard the monster-worm speak, so he hadn't had the chance to pick up the language. Apparently, the system didn't count it if you only heard the language from another player.

  “Duy is hurting a lot, but the bleeding has stopped. Mostly, he is just tired and hungry” said Kiet.

  “This is all my fault.” I said, my voice breaking as I spoke. “I led you both here, and I had no idea what we were up against.”

  “It isn't your fault. You are still young. I am the one who should have been the voice of caution. I wanted to be strong for my wife and son.” his voice was cracking too. “I am a failure here, just as I was in the old world. I thought I had the chance to be more than just a cafe owner. Here, I thought I could be a great warrior, a hero, someone my wife and son could be proud of.”

  “You're not a failure!” I told him. “You fought so well out there. I'd be dead now if not for you. Me, and my brother and sister, too! This was my mistake, not yours.”

  “What are you talking about in that language? What is that?” asked Duy in English. To him, me and Kiet were spewing gibberish at each other.

  Once again, it was my turn to sit in the dark and listen to two people speak in a language I had no understanding of. The word “Dezzermon” floated by among the strange words, which I presumed was an explanation of how this game managed languages. Then the conversation continued, and I got the impression of a very heartfelt exchange. In all the pain and stress they were experiencing now, these two were reconnecting with each other. After all, they could easily be dead soon, and they had just fought for their lives together. It made me feel warm inside, in spite of our circumstances. Of course, it also made me feel more than a little left out.

  “Hey, Duy, you wanna speak English for a while? Let's see how your dad likes sitting in the dark and listening to gibberish.”

  “What is gibber-ish?” asked Duy.

  “Ya know, like...burburburr, dar-de-dar-dar, stuff that doesn't make sense.” I answered.

  “No, Dezzermon is more like ichi-dar, nak to peeatr, ik-ik-ak-to!” said Duy. I have to say, the imitation was spot on. Even though he had none of the grammar or vocabulary that had been inserted instantly into me and Kiet's brains, he had nailed the cadences.

  We passed the night like that, talking back and forth in our weird triangle of incomprehension. We were all too tired, hungry and thirsty to sleep, even if we had a bed. So, we sat in darkness and spoke about anything and everything we could think of. I learned all about Kiet's coffee shop in Hanoi, about his dreams of becoming a folk singer, and about the arguments he and his wife had about all of it. I learned about Duy's numerous and storied scooter crashes, the barber shop where he and his friends hung out, even his favorite characters in League of Legends. I spoke about my brief but exciting time in college, and how I dropped out to join the Coast Guard. At some point, we began singing to pass the time. They both knew all the words to “Hey, Jude”. Duy sang some songs by his favorite artist, someone named Son Tung M-Tp. Kiet taught me a song he remembered from his youth called “Ly Chim Quyen”. He even tried singing it in Dezzermon, so I could understand it. It was a sad, romantic song, and Kiet had a decent singing voice, but it sounded terrible with all the extra prefixes and suffixes demanded by Dezzermon grammar.

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  As the hours passed, time seemed to blend together. We all resisted complaining about how hungry and thirsty we were. Duy said that he wished he had taken a drink when he nearly died in the river. Sleep was rare, but anytime any of us managed to nod off, the other two would wait patiently for them to wake. We mostly slept curled into tight little balls, trying to stay as warm as possible. The buzz of bloodthirsty monsters trying to break in and kill us became our white noise, like evil, murderous rain against the roof.

  For all the reasons we had to be miserable, that night was one that I would remember fondly for years. We had nothing at that point, no weed, no booze, no phones, no clock on the wall, no distractions except hunger, cold, pain, and thirst. Nothing except three people sharing their thoughts and feelings surrounded by their common enemies. I hadn't known either of these men that morning, but I felt like we now shared a bond of common history and shared suffering.

  I have no idea when I fell asleep. In total darkness, there was nothing to indicate how long it had been. I just remember sitting and talking in the dark, then waking up feeling even colder, hungrier, and thirstier. I had the vague impression that I had heard a loud crash, but I was so disoriented from sitting in the dark for long, it may have only been a dream. I slowly sat up. My whole body felt stiff and dry, and moving was difficult. My tongue was like felt. If I had to fight in this condition, I would be done for. I heard Duy and Kiet breathing, but I couldn't tell if they were asleep or not.

  Then I realized that the constant buzz of wings was now gone. I was sitting in blissful silence. I sniffed the air. I smelled plenty of body odor, a little blood, and someone (probably Kiet) had pissed in the corner during the night, but the oppressive dumpster-water stench that had pervaded the air since we crossed the river was completely gone. Something had happened, and I suspected it was more than just those fuckers finally losing interest and buzzing off. I listened as hard as I could for any sign of activity around the building. It was dead quiet.

  “Are you guys awake?” I asked in Old Dezzermon.

  Kiet inhaled sharply and shook himself. “Ehhh, wha...” he mumbled.

  “Duy? You alive?” I asked in English.

  Duy groaned. He clearly wasn't a morning person.

  “Listen!” I hissed in Dezzermon, then in English. We sat in silence for a moment.

  “Nothing. It's quiet.” said Kiet. He got it.

  “I don't hear anything.” said Duy groggily. He didn't.

  “Do you think they are gone?” asked Kiet, not willing to get his hopes up yet.

  Duy said something in Vietnamese. Kiet answered him, clearly getting more excited.

  “I don't think those things are smart enough to try and trick us.” I said. “And smell the air!”

  Kiet sniffed. “Bad, but not like last night.”

  “I'm opening the entrance.” I said, not leaving any room for debate on the matter. Standing and feeling around for the exit made me realize just how badly dehydrated I was. I felt dizzy and weak. Most of the stones that I had shoved into the hole in the wall were not too heavy, but getting my hands around them felt difficult anyway. I could only imagine how Duy and Kiet must feel, with Constitution figures closer to the human average.

  “Hello! Is anyone in there?” called a voice from outside. It sounded like...

  “Arturo!” I was surprised at the weakness of my voice. I had been whispering so far. My yell was thin and reedy.

  “Tabitha? Where are you?”

  Within a minute, the hole was unplugged. We emerged blinking into the sunlight like Chilean miners.

  “I can't believe you made it here. Where's Dahlia? I asked, still struggling to get my eyes adjusted. Duy stumbled past me, heading straight for the river.

  My eyes finally focused. Arturo was there, almost unrecognizable under a lair of gray dust. Next to him was similarly dusty woman I didn't recognize, a small and somewhat cleaner little girl and...

  “Is... is that a lion?

  “This is Patricia, that's Elizabeth (say the whole thing), and that over there is Cheeseburger.” explained Arturo. “We went out to find you guys when you didn't come back.”

  “You need some water.” said the woman. Her voice was stern, but not harsh. “Can you walk?”

  “I'm okay. Just need a minute.” my legs were wobbly. She was right about the water. I would have gone for a drink right there, if not for my curiosity. “What happened? Where did they all go?”

  “They all turned into dust when we destroyed their evil temple.” said the voice of excited child. “We killed this evil priest guy, and then there was this other evil priest guy, and the whole place was rotting like a pumpkin, even the rock! Then Grandma broke the pillar, and the whole place was like...”

  “Time for that later, sweety. Ma'am, you need to go get a drink now. Here, let me help you.” I tried to push the old lady's hand away, but she didn't even seem to notice. She half pushed, half carried me over to the water. Duy was already down there, drinking so enthusiastically that I was worried he might drown. Patricia hopped down first, an amazing feat for someone her age. Although now that I thought about it, I realized that I had gained a free experience point for each year of my life, which meant that Patricia...

  “What level are you at?” I asked as she helped me down to the water. She frowned and looked uncomfortable for moment, then help up five fingers. Shit, no wonder she was so strong.

  The water was unbelievably delicious. I wouldn't dream of drinking straight out of a river back in Canada, and it was a real risk even here, but this was nature's own water, ice cold and without a trace of pollution. I don't think I'll ever taste anything so delicious.

  We spent a good half an hour just drinking and washing ourselves. Now that I could actually see him, I noticed that Duy's bites were red and swollen, and he was much paler now than when I had seen him last. This did not escape Patricia's notice either, who mentioned that she could make a salve to put on them. Arturo was rattling off the story of how they had gotten here, if anything sounding even more excited than Elizabeth. From what I heard, they had basically taken advantage of the opening we had created in the enemy lines to move in and take out a major dungeon. Elizabeth spoke excitedly about the possibility that we all might level up as a result. My feelings were a lot more mixed. I whispered to Kiet in Dezzermon:

  “It must be nice, being young like that and seeing all this as a grand adventure. The truth is, we probably should have died out here.”

  Kiet laughed. “No. We should have lived. We would have died, if we hadn't been fortunate. We never would have been born at all, if we weren't fortunate. Just be grateful, and move on.”

  “I agree.” said Patricia in Dezzermon, surprising both of us. “We are all lucky to still be alive.”

  I can tell already that Patricia and I aren't going to get along. I know that, technically speaking, I would probably have died if not for her, which only made her intrusion into the situation that much more unwelcome. Arturo had just achieved this amazing victory with her, so of course he thought the sun shone out of her wrinkly butt. Yesterday, I had been the one looking out for my family, navigating the terrain of a new world. Now, when I saw Dahlia again, she would hear the story of how I led us into a bad situation, and had to be bailed out by my little brother and an old lady. Never mind that me, Kiet and Duy had killed most of the enemy and tied up what was left. It was like I had been suddenly relegated to the position of a bit character in someone else's story. Cutting into a private conversation between me and Kiet, in a language I had thought of as our secret channel, made me furious.