Adelynn was looking at her tablet and reading the latest book from her favorite author. The world outside her vehicle was zipping by and she looked outside as something caught her eye. A set of head lights flashed a few times and grew brighter, but they shouldn’t be coming from that direction. That was all she had time to think as her cabin folded in on itself and she felt everything crushing in on her.

She woke with a scream from her sleep and gripped her chest where she could feel her heart pounding. Adelynn stood up and pushed her way out of her tent into the clearing she thought would be fairly safe. The stars had twinkled earlier when she set up camp, but now the sky overhead was angry and flashing with lighting, threatening to become much worse. Her chances of encountering a dangerous monster had increased and there was no going back to sleep now.

With quick gesture in the air her status panel opened up; she’d gotten enough sleep to last her a while, but her gear was in rough shape. Her bags were loaded down with many pelts and findings from her last several days of wanderings and she’d decided that she would be heading back to Tharnhaven in the morning. The sun had yet to come up and she wasn’t sure if it would with that storm brewing. With a swipe she closed her status panel and began to clean up her campsite.

She saw a warning sign off to the right that she was about to take a hit and moved left. A crude arrow whizzed past where she’d been standing and she spun around and awkwardly pulled out her claymore. Glowing yellow eyes in the gloom stared back at her, at least a half dozen sets. She’d not fought that many goblins yet and wasn’t looking forward to the battle. More warnings popped up and she wasn’t able to dodge all the arrows as one bit into her shoulder. The sensation of being hit wasn’t the same as it would be in the real world, but more of an electric numbing that made her skin crawl. She reflexively pulled the arrow out and decided that she should probably try to run.

She took off down the path in the opposite direction. Everything felt slow about her. She had too much in her inventory and her armor was weighing her down. A goblin’s trained wolf leapt out of the underbrush and she barely twisted out of its way before swinging her sword at it. She tagged it and pushed through and the wolf yelped and exploded into a gray cloud with the item it carried falling to where it had just been. More warnings bleeped out at her and she was able to dodge most of the arrows, but one struck her in the hip. She turned and ran and found herself in a clearing with a few large trees. That would afford her some cover from the archers, but she’d have to be careful swinging her claymore around.

Three goblins and two wolves appeared on the edge of the clearing and moved in her direction. She cut down a goblin armed with a meat cleaver and dodged the swings from the other two. One of the wolves bit down on her armor’s pauldron pulling her down to the ground, but she dodged the follow up from the other wolf. She didn’t have a lot of mana to spare and only had one spell she’d found, but gave it a shot.

A scroll with the spell she found appeared in front of her and she quickly read the nonsense words off it. Her armor grew spikes and the wolf holding her shoulder screamed and popped into dust. She stood back up and another goblin drove a spear into her side. Wincing, she pulled the spear out and swung her claymore with one hand. The attack was clumsy and slow and the goblin was able to get out of the way with ease.

The clouds opened up and ran came down in thick sheets, dousing her in a chilling water that both invigorated and chilled her. She grabbed her claymore in both hands and brought it down on the spear-wielding goblin and he vanished in a cloud. The other one ran back into the gloom of night. She couldn’t see far in the darkness at all.

Adelynn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She had a dull ache in places she didn’t imagine she could hurt and she leaned heavily on her claymore for balance; she didn’t have much more left in her. Her hit points were in red and flashing the number four; any single little scratch from another goblin or wolf would end her. Lightning traced a line across the sky before the thunder hit her and nearly knocked her over.

She was out of healing potions and even the crummy level one healing herbs. She was fairly certain that in her current state she was going to die here. Not only would she lose her items and have to respawn in town, but death in this game knocked her off the network and that was far more unpleasant than loosing her inventory.

She swore aloud; she’d been too headstrong and stubborn to go back. This haul would be what she needed to get new equipment and keep following the story quests. She drooped under the weight of her armor. She felt so slow with it on. Reaching up to her sheet she unequipped her armor and just left the dirty, soaked jerkin and torn leather pants remain. She could at least stand up.

“Doesn’t matter if I have armor or not.” She thought. “Any slight hit will be the end and at least I can try to dodge like this.”

Off in the distance she heard the goblins horns signaling. She could try to run, but she’d learned that the goblins in this game were very sneaky and would send out a single scout to blow a horn and send newbies racing into the larger group. She learned this today, when they did just that and she had to fight them off. She knew she had to do something though, so instead of running toward or away from the horn, she ran off the trail hoping to avoid a large group entirely. She haphazardly slid down the side of a hill, the long grass had become slick in the heavy rain. Lightning flashed across the sky illuminating the landscape for miles. She vaguely remembered being in this area earlier in the day.

A cave that she’d cleaned out earlier caught her eye. It had been full of all sorts of giant bugs and rodents, but it would give something to keep them off her back. She decided to just make a run for it. The ‘bleep bleep’ warning signaled that an attack was coming in on her left. She moved right as an arrow whizzed past; not sure if she could have reacted that quickly with her heavy armor slowing her down. She heard the screeching yelps of the goblin’s trained wolves and turned to face them; she had no choice. She was almost to the cave; she just had to back up twenty feet or so.

From out of the gloom of the downpour she saw the wolf’s glowing eyes. She rolled to the left and swung out to the right. The wolf and the claymore met each other and the wolf yelped before popping into a gray mist and dropping a neatly folded hide and a yellow eye. Another came out of the darkness and she wasn’t able to get a swing in, but she was able to get out of harm’s way. Her foot slid in the mud and she fell to her hands and knees.

“Go away!” she yelled pulling out a low-level dagger and throwing it in the wolf’s direction. Her skill in thrown weapons was low and the dagger missed the wolf, but did make the wolf shy away for an instant while she got back to her feet.

“Are you sure?” asked a feminine, very non-goblinish voice from the darkness. “You look like you could use a friend.”

Was that another player? She sure didn’t sound like a goblin. “I was yelling at the wolf!” she screamed back. “Are you friend or foe?”

“Friend. Here, let me help.” A blast of green light hit her and swirled around her and she watched her hit points rising and her exhaustion vanish.

“Oh, thank you.” She said standing taller than she had before. She raised her claymore and charged the wolf before it could react. She was able to bring the claymore down on the wolf as it attempted to dodge, but the wolf was too slow. Her armor had held her back so much before and now she felt light as a feather.

“There’s more coming, uh, sword lady.” Said the voice as she stepped forward. The priestess was wearing something that Adelynn would have considered somewhat heretical, but this game had fantasy nuns that showed off far more than what would have been allowed at a real-world convent. The priestess had on a veil along with her habit, so you could only see her eyes and the shape of her body under the form fitting robes.

“Adelynn is my name!” she yelled. “We’ve got incoming, can I rely on you?”

“Only as much as you want to.” Replied the Priestess. “I’m Starla.”

Adelynn raised her sword into a defensive position as more wolves poured in. Behind her Starla began casting something and Adelynn felt her strength and endurance increase. She leapt at a wolf and it seemed to try to dodge very slowly. She hit it with ease and caught herself to leap at another one. She could see the raindrops moving now and realized she herself had sped up. With this newfound speed she ran at another wolf and cut it in half.

Starla threw up a sphere of white light and lit up the surrounding area like it was day. The strange mix of daylight and torrential downpour created strange patterns on the ground. Adelynn could see a small pack of goblins at the edge of the circle of light and they panicked and ran; they couldn’t stand sunlight and rarely came out during the day.

Starla and Adelynn quickly grabbed the loot that had dropped and made their way into the cave. Starla cast a spell over the cave opening and a lattice work of green energy lines covered it, blocking out any other attackers before shifting to appear to be solid rock on the inside and the outside. The two had a moment to catch their breath.

“Thanks so much.” Said Adelynn. “I thought I’d have to try to run back out here and it was a long journey to Tharnhaven.”

“Yeah, you are a bit outside of what’s safe for your level.” Said Starla starting a fire and throwing down bundles of wolf pelts and other wolf bits. “Here, these are yours.”

“You can keep them, I mean I owe you more than that.” Replied Adelynn.

“I don’t need low level crafting items.” Said Starla. “Thanks for the offer though.” She threw a globe of light to the ceiling and illuminated the cave. Starla then began digging around in her inventory for a few camping supplies and tossed out some things; a fancy firepit that burned with purple flames and had a bubbling cookpot over it, a couple of somewhat out of place beds with mosquito netting and finally an incredibly out of place large stone bath that began filling with water and bubbling as soon as it was on the ground.

“Uh.” Said Adelynn, “I have a bedroll.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Replied Starla. “I have extras and I never get to use them.”

Adelynn stood there unsure of what to do as Starla checked on the contents of the pot. “Thanks for coming along when you did.”

“Not a problem. It’s nights like these that I was waiting for.”

“Gross and dangerous?”

Starla straightened up and removed her veil and head covering. Underneath was one of the prettiest blonde ladies Adelynn had seen in either virtual or ‘standard’ reality. Her eyes were a bright blue and shimmered with purple in the right light, her features were nearly perfect enough that they weren’t too perfect, but still had some charm and her smile could light up a room. Starla’s eyes fell on Adelynn and she felt like some fae queen had noticed her for the first time.

“Nights like this spawn a boss monster I’ve been looking for.” Said Starla. “If you encountered him on your own he’d smush you like a bug.”

Being smushed sounded like an unpleasant time, not to mention the forced logout on death, the prospect of which made Adelynn shudder. “I don’t want that!”

“I can see that.” Replied Starla. “Are you more upset about the forced logout than anything else?”

Adelynn nodded. “Reality is currently—very unpleasant.” She couldn’t help but think about the moment of agony and horror that happened when she woke up in the intensive care unit last time.

Starla smiled a moment. “Reality usually is unpleasant, but sounds like you’ve got something worse.” She poked the ground near the camp fire and a few stumps appeared with a thunk and she sat down on one. She gestured to the other stump for Adelynn.

Adelynn sat down and looked in the pot. It smelled delicious and looked great. She couldn’t believe how good the current generation of virtual reality was. Her home Headspace unit was ten years out of date, but she only used that to access her office job and pour over documentation. Everyone, including herself, appeared as chess pieces in her home Headspacer, but now she looked and felt like a person and not just a floating set of eyeballs.

“So, are you new to Mythticle?” asked Starla.

“Yes. I’ve only really been on for a week or so, but the whole experience has been pretty surreal; mind-blowing really. The level of detail in everything is like we’re really in a whole other place.”

Starla smiled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve paid attention to the detail.” She paused for a moment while stirring the pot. “So what level have you gotten to in a week?”

Adelynn opened her status menu. “Eleven, but I haven’t been back to town in a while so I don’t know what perks I’d be missing right now. I was doing pretty good at just smacking things the old-fashioned way. Honestly, Tharnhaven was kind of weird.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Oh?”

Adelynn nodded. “Yeah, everyone seems to just know everything that’s going on. Like, ‘you should have this skill’ or ‘this is what you do next’ and I’m just here to take my mind off of things. You know?”

“I—” said Starla. “I haven’t had a conversation about something other than Mythticle in a long time here. Everyone always wants to talk about how they optimized their build for whatever and I’m ninety-nine percent certain that none of it matters if you don’t know how to use it.”

Adelynn nodded. “Cool, I’m glad I can’t do it wrong.”

Starla tapped the stirring spoon on the edge of the pot and poured out a bowl for Adelynn and herself. “Here you go.”

Adelynn took it and looked over the stats on the food. High quality, rare ingredients and a bonus to endurance for twelve hours. “Nice.” She said tasting it. “This is delicious!”

Starla smiled, “Thanks! I don’t have ‘cooking’ as a craft skill, but I think I can get by.”

Adelynn ate the virtual food and thought it was probably some of the best curry she’d ever had. It was a much better tasting virtual dish than what the hospital had provided at any rate.

“Something else about Tharnhaven—” said Adelynn, “There’s that big section that gives you a warning flag that you’re about to enter the RLD and to not enter unless prepared properly. What is that?”

Starla laughed. “That’s the red-light district. Tharnhaven is the starting town for everyone in Mythticle and some people log in just for the exciting world of magical intercourse they can find right there.”

Adelynn blushed. “Oh geez.”

“I guess you didn’t come to Mythticle for a good time.” Said Starla chuckling. “I don’t know anyone who hasn’t gone to the RLD for at least a little while.”

“I haven’t.”

“I’m shocked.” Said Starla. “Maybe not that shocked, but still, it’s surprising. Anyway, the warning sign is there to stop new people from wandering into an area that could be incredibly dangerous if they don’t know what they’re doing.”

“Right.”

Starla pointed at the bubbling hot tub across the room. “Are you okay with me stripping down and getting in?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Do you want to join me?”

“Umm.” Said Adelynn. “I guess, but I don’t have a suit.”

Starla stood up. “You don’t need one.” She said as she walked over to the edge of the giant, stone tub. Her things fell off her one at a time until Adelynn was averting her eyes from seeing the body of the absolute goddess before her. Adelynn heard her splash as she climbed in and then stood up.

“I’m not sure—” said Adelynn as she looked over. Starla had turned on a bubbling feature and the water was opaque.

“Does that help?” she asked.

“I guess. I won’t get it dirty, will I?”

“Nope.”

“Can you close your eyes for a moment?” asked Adelynn. Starla smirked a bit and closed her eyes.

“Let me know when I can look.” She said.

Adelynn stripped off her ruined clothing and dropped it on the cave floor. She’d be able to get it again later if she really wanted to try to put that stuff back on, but right now, she was happy to be rid of it. The water felt fantastic as she slid into it up to her neck. She watched Starla to see if she would open her eyes before she said anything and she didn’t.

“Okay you can look.”

Starla smiled at her and made a hand gesture in the air. “If you look at your status panel, on the conditions page you’ll see ‘chilled’. That slows you down a bit. This tub takes care of that status in five minutes, as opposed to an hour of sleeping under too many blankets.”

“Oh.” Said Adelynn opening her status panel. Under conditions she had ‘chilled’, ‘poorly rested’, ‘exhausted’ and ‘unstable’. Her ‘chilled’ percent was slowly lowering to zero percent. “I didn’t know about that. I have some other conditions too.”

“Probably ‘poorly rested’ if you’re using a low-level bedroll and maybe ‘exhausted’ after that fight.”

“Yes.” Adelynn didn’t mention ‘unstable’.

Starla had leaned back in the water and had closed her eyes to relax.

“So how did you get this thing?” asked Adelynn.

“It’s from the first-year celebration for Mythticle.” Said Starla. “It’s kind of an incredibly goofy item, but they made the celebration a huge party with lots of drinking and flashy lights.” She reached out and poked a button on the tub and the water began shifting colors rapidly. Another button caused fog to boil out of the water and yet another button added colored lasers flashing everywhere. “It’s a bit too silly like this.” Said Starla.

“I agree.” Replied Adelynn, “But the fog is nice.”

Starla turned off the flashing lights and lasers, but left the fog. “I can’t remember the last time I met a shy player on Mythticle.”

Adelynn shrugged, not that Starla could see it through the fog. “Why do people call it that? The game was listed as ‘Myth and Mystical’ on the Headspace store.”

“Oh, it is, but some players started calling it M&M and the Mars Wrigley people didn’t like that and threatened to sue the makers of Myth and Mystical over it. They probably didn’t have a case, but the cowards in the legal department put out many signs asking it to not be called ‘M&M’, so now it’s Mythticle.” Explained Starla.

“So, the Myth and Mystical community would rather the nickname sounded silly?”

Starla shrugged, “The internet has preferred the silly to the serious since the turn of the century; shouldn’t really be a surprise.”

They both sat in silence for a while, just enjoying the warmth and the quiet. Starla turned off the fog. Adelynn watched the water slide off her skin and marveled that everything looked so real. “Here.” Said Starla throwing an item to Adelynn. “Your armor is gross and we can get you something new.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to. I like new players who don’t ask thousands of game questions and expect me to power-level them to fifty.”

“Does this mean you want to be friends?” said Adelynn.

“Sure, as long as you don’t get so obsessed with the game that it’s all you want to talk about or expect me to power-level you.”

Adelynn opened her player console and added the item to her inventory. She could see it was a nice bit of level ten armor that went in her chest slot. “I can’t take this.” She said.

“Sure you can.” Said Starla. “I found it out here while I’m waiting on the thing I want to spawn and I’m not bringing it back to sell and I can’t wear it at all, so it’s yours.”

“But I didn’t earn it.”

“Do you often feel like you need to earn presents from friends?” said Starla.

Adelynn looked down for a moment and shrugged. “Okay, thank you.” She said. Adelynn got out of the bath and went and equipped the armor. It looked and felt great; simple and sleek and easy to move in. She equipped her old leather skirt that she started with at level one since her pants were destroyed.

“You’re doing armor and leather crafting right?” asked Starla.

“Yes.” Replied Adelynn. “I thought it would be good since I want to go for some kind of knight type character.”

Starla smiled. “Can you process this leather for me then?” she said dumping some boxes on the ground. “That should level you up a bit.”

“Oh. Alright.” Adelynn opened the boxes and found stacks and stacks of unworked items and the components to turn hide into worked leather. “Wow! That’s a lot!”

“I’ve been out here for a week waiting to kill a rare monster and get a rare drop off it.” Said Starla.

Adelynn opened up the crafting menu and set the raw items into the queue that would turn rough hide into worked leather. She could play the mini game where she had to run her leather knife across a red line and add a percentage to the completion counter, but she felt it was too mind numbing.

“You’ve tried sleeping online right?” asked Starla. “I assume so since you have the status issues from only using crummy bedrolls.”

“Yes. A few nights. It was hard to get to sleep a few times, but I’ve done it.”

“It’s kind of weird isn’t it?”

Adelynn watched the progress bar on the auto-crafting. “Yes. Like you’re not really asleep, but more like a very long light nap. I’m not sure if it’s really mentally healthy.” She thought about the hospital’s headspace arrangements. She was provided a thing that looked like a bed and felt like a bed, but everything was off a bit; to sterile and to boring and to perfect.

“Would you like a nice bed to sleep in?”

“Are you just going to give it to me?” Adelynn asked. “I’d rather deserve it.”

Starla shrugged. “Sure. Help me kill the monster out here, then you’ll have earned it.”

“What can I do to help you?” she said. “I’m only level eleven.”

“Oh, well, Gordok the Ravager is the first level fifty boss monster that they introduced. The designers have never given it a fast ranged attack. It attacks in melee and hits hard, but you seem to prefer to dodge than rely on your armor for protection.”

“I don’t like the sensation it gives when things score a hit.” Adelynn said. “It just feels really wrong.”

“Better than feeling like you’ve been shot with arrows!” said Starla. “The first month of the game had real world sensations and they almost tanked because of it.”

“Wow. Who thought that was a good idea?” asked Adelynn.

Starla chuckled. “Yeah, really. I think there’s a world war immersion game that still has those sensations, but the people who play that sort of game seem to be into pain.”

Adelynn checked on the auto-crafting. It had finished. She pulled out the completed materials and put them on the ground for Starla.

“Are you aware you can just ‘find’ or invent recipes as long as you know what you’re doing?” said Starla.

“No, I was just picking them up from the vendor.” Replied Adelynn.

“Alright. Well, take four of those high-quality bits and add some of thread, it doesn’t really matter what kind, and then sort of arrange the bits in a square and then make yourself some pants.”

Adelynn moved things around on the ground and looked at her thread options. “I only have basic cotton thread. Is that good enough?”

“Will you accept a better grade or will you say you haven’t earned it?” asked Starla with a grin.

“I suppose I’ll accept your gifts for now.” Adelynn replied, “After all, you want my help monster hunting.”

Starla pulled out a few spools of a gossamer thread that shimmered in the faint light in the cave. “Use that. It’ll make the pants even better.”

Adelynn arranged things like Starla suggested and started to craft up the result. She was able to complete the craft and get a great result. The pants she crafted had a really good speed and dodge stat and she equipped them right away.

“Oh wow.” Said Adelynn. “Despite these being rather—tight—they are great to move in.”

Starla shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter what gear looks like, unless you’re a glam whore like I am.”

“But everything you’re wearing is just gray and covers most of your body.” Replied Adelynn. “I don’t think that is really what I’d consider glamourous.”

Starla cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah… we’ll come back to that later. For now, let’s try to get some sleep and start fresh in the morning. We both look like we’re pretty exhausted.”

Adelynn took one of the beds that Starla had put out earlier. It was very comfortable. She unequipped her armor and just had her padding on. She really wanted to get some nice pajamas, but that would be so out of place in a dark cave. She looked over to see Starla in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with a tentacle monster on it and ‘My favorite color is from space’ written above it. Adelynn didn’t get the reference and said goodnight. She just lay down and closed her eyes and played the little mental ‘game’ she played to go to sleep. It consisted of a repetitive little mental exercise and soon she felt herself falling.

Adelynn found herself in her transportation vehicle again. She looked at the tablet in her hands expecting it to show her the book she’d been reading, but instead it showed her a count down timer. It showed ten and she didn’t understand. She looked up and saw the world around her whizzing past and looked over to where she knew the lights would be coming from. The tablet had counted down to six. Bright, hideous eyes exploded in the night, each brighter than the sun. Three. She heard herself screaming. Two. The glowing eyes had eclipsed the night outside with blinding light. One. Metal screamed and bent. The console of her vehicle buckled in on her. Plastic and glass exploded as pain radiated up into her body. Zero. Nothingness.

Adelynn woke with a scream and sat up from her bed. She had tears sliding down her cheeks and she trembled uncontrollably. Without wondering what was happening, Starla slid off her mattress and sat down with her. She wrapped her arms around Adelynn and Adelynn couldn’t help, but lean into the touch she felt.

“Are you okay?” she said.

Adelynn nodded and clung onto her. “Just a nightmare.” She said. “I think it’s my brain trying to process the accident.”

Starla didn’t know what she was talking about, but kept holding her until she settled a bit and then let go. “Do you need anything?”

“Like what?” asked Adelynn.

“I don’t know, like a strong drink?”

Adelynn nodded a bit. “Maybe that and someone to talk to.”

Starla dug through her inventory and pulled out a bottle of honey colored liquid, along with some glasses. She poured one and handed it over and poured herself one.

Adelynn looked at the glass and back to Starla. “I want to trust you so I can have someone to talk to, but I just met you.”

Starla held up her glass and Adelynn clinked hers on Starla’s. “I think I want the same thing for some reason. Alright. Why don’t I share something with you that has been bothering me?”

“You’ll go first?”

Starla nodded. “Yep.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ve been in Mythticle since it began. I mean, I log out and have a job, but I can usually do the job online. Anyway, I’ve been here so long that I am getting kind of tired of playing this game. It became more like a second job sometimes and everyone is always trying to challenge me. Granted it’s because I’m a dumbass and have the only source of astral meteorite, but still, it’s something that got really old really fast. I’ve been thinking of just quitting the game or giving up the meteorite to the highest bidder, but it’s not like I need the gold.”

Adelynn didn’t know what astral meteorite was, nor the significance of it, but she assumed that it was important. “Well, for what it’s worth, I’m glad to have met you, no matter what you decide.”

Starla smiled. “Thanks. You were wandering around and just looking at everything and it made me realize that I stopped seeing the world around me and focused more on this little bubble I live in. I’m jealous, I want to see the world like a new player again.”

Adelynn finished off her drink and nodded. “Okay. I don’t know what astral meteorite is, but it sounds important.”

“It lets a sorceress learn the Meteor spell.” Said Starla. “Way back when I got tired of civilization encroaching on parcels of land I purchased. So, I got on my horse and I just rode away. I traveled across the land and came to an ocean. I sailed across the sea and came to another land. I got back on my horse and kept going and going. For six months straight I traveled in whatever direction I wanted until I finally decided to stop. I bought a large parcel of land and got to work building myself a new home, hidden amongst the world outside. Only I know where the entrance is. I thought, ‘This is great! Nobody will ever find this place!’ and made sure I could teleport back to civilization and only bring the closest of friends back with me. It was great until an eclipse happened, then a monster spawned on the highest peak of the range I was on. Guess where I’d buried my base? Anyway, I killed it after an awful battle. I think it killed me a dozen times before I figured out how to end it, but when I did I was gifted with astral meteorite. When I hit level fifty-four and learned and refined meteor until it became my signature spell. I just don’t want anyone else to challenge Starla Starfall with meteors. Does that make sense?”

Adelynn shook her head. “Doesn’t the game only go to level fifty?”

“Nope, once you hit fifty you can keep advancing, but it takes an absurd amount of experience to hit fifty-one and you have to find or buy a crazy rare item to even advance to that next level.”

“And you’re level fifty-fourth level?” said Adelynn.

“Uh.” Said Starla. “I’m fifty-seventh level.”

Adelynn shook her head in disbelief. “How long did that take?”

Starla laughed. “Too long?”

“And you aren’t a priestess?” said Adelynn.

Starla nodded. “I know some low-level healing spells and was hoping nobody would be looking for Starla Starfall and ‘Starla the low level priestess’ wouldn’t set off any alarm bells. The nun outfit is just a disguise while looking for that monster. When I find it, I usually need a bit good luck to solo it, but with help to distract it, it’ll be much easier.”

Adelynn held up her glass and Starla poured them both another round. Adelynn shrugged. “Okay, you’re gatekeeping others from learning a powerful spell, which is kind of a douchebag move. I can see why people keep bothering you for it.”

“There’s a player who is a prince in some Arab country who has offered anyone who can get him an astral meteorite chip a pallet of gold bars.” Explained Starla.

“Wow. And you still won’t share it with him?”

Starla shrugged. “He’s kind of an enormous asshole. He bought all the other rare items to advance and wants to be the most powerful magic user in Mythticle, but right now whoever can claim that title is up for debate.”

“It’s not you then?” said Adelynn.

Starla leaned back. “I’m certainly in the top ten and it could be argued that I am the strongest, but—”

“But what?”

Starla let out a sigh. “I’m just not ready to let him win I guess. I know he’s looking for me in reality, but he’s not going to find me.”

“Do you really think he’s trying to find your, uh, player?” asked Adelynn.

“Yes, but I’m not stupid and I helped write some of the code used in the interface early on. If someone were to query my location, it changes randomly to anywhere a signal can be from every thirty seconds.” Starla laughed. “It can even come from the Mars base one or the Sun.”

Adelynn smiled a bit and took a deep breath. “Okay, your problems are somewhat self-inflicted, but I get it. ‘Starla Starfall is the only one who can make the stars fall’.”

“Exactly!”

“Right.” Said Adelynn trembling less than she was before. “Well, I was in a terrible accident and I keep getting flashes of it in my dreams. I don’t remember much, I was on my way to a friend’s house in the mountains for a visit and I got hit by a truck.”

Starla’s expression turned to one of confusion. “How? The vehicle’s redundant safety systems would have stopped any vehicle if there was a problem.”

“I don’t know how.” Said Adelynn. “Someone, somewhere might’ve said it was being driven the old-fashioned way and the driver lost control, but that’s from the nightmare. What I do know is that I almost died and the doctor told me that fifty years ago I’d never walk again, let alone even have legs. He joked that it’s not fifty years ago, so they’ll be able to regrow my legs, but it’s not a comfortable process. If I get booted out I go back to my body before the hospital’s Headspace network notices that I’m awake and pulls me back in.”

“Oof.” Said Starla. “I’d have nightmares too.” She paused for a moment. “I was going to make a joke about truck-kun and you being isekai’d, but it sounds like you almost were.”

Adelynn looked up at her. She was familiar with that genre of fiction where someone gets hit by a truck and is reborn on another world, but she’d only read one in school years ago.

“Yeah, guess I almost was.” She said, then she laughed. “Maybe in a way I was, I mean, I’m here now, right?”

Starla sensed something was a bit off about that laugh and put her glass down and moved in and wrapped her arms around her new friend. Adelynn put her face against her shoulder and the laughter turned to painful sobbing and then into relief. Starla held her until she was quiet.

“Thanks.” Said Adelynn quietly. “I guess I wasn’t ready for those thoughts or those emotions.”

“I can’t imagine anyone is Adelynn.” Said Starla. Hearing Starla say her name meant something to her, she just wasn’t sure what. “How are you feeling?”

“Drained. Tired. Ready to go back to sleep.”

“Alright, hopefully you can.” Said Starla. “If you need anything I’ll be over here.”

Adelynn rolled over and checked her status before closing her eyes again. She saw her status ‘poorly rested’ was almost depleted. The status ‘exhausted’ was gone entirely and ‘unstable’ had reduced greatly. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Hoping she’d feel better in the morning she closed her eyes and fell back into a deep sleep.