Adelynn dove to catch the last ball as it came her way and just barely caught it. In one swift motion she gave it a hearty yeet across the playing field and nailed Michi between the eyes. She squealed as her avatar crumpled and that called an end to the game.

Michi got back up along with the other players and dusted themselves off. “Wow, you’re faster than I imagined you to be.”

Adelynn shrugged. “I’ve had some good practice dodging things recently.” Not explaining that she was referring to getting the hell out of the way of goblin arrows since they were rather unpleasant to experience.

“Another round?” asked Michi.

“I’m good for now.” Said Adelynn. She still wanted to ask Ellen about what she’d discovered while poking around. Adelynn exited the playing field while the rest of her law office started another round. Ellen was leaning against the wall in the corner. Adelynn walked over to her.

“You look a bit grumpy.” Said Adelynn.

Ellen, who had the most normal looking avatar, shrugged. “I wanted to tell you what I found and I don’t really like games.”

Adelynn shrugged, “Fair enough. Let’s go into my office.” Adelynn opened a door and they both stepped into a sunny and sparsely decorated office. Ellen produced a folder and laid it out on her desk. She pulled a photo from the folder and hit play. It showed a video of the accident from a reasonable distance. An older model of truck swerved off the road and into her lane, bounced over an unmanned service vehicle and then slammed into her vehicle. Adelynn gasped audibly when the hit happened and stared dumbfounded.

“How can this happen?” she asked.

“I wondered myself, so I followed the path of the truck along the public cameras.” Said Ellen before putting out a photo that had the reverse path of the truck going for a long while. It eventually stopped in front of a refinery and an older man hopped out of the truck backwards. Ellen played it forward to show that he was the driver.

“Is he okay?” asked Adelynn.

“He got a tiny cut on his forehead.” Said Ellen. “We requisitioned the footage from the vehicle, but they haven’t responded yet to the request.”

“I assume you have it anyway.” Said Adelynn.

“Somehow, I procured an advance copy.” Said Ellen.

“What’s it show?” asked Adelynn.

Ellen pulled another photograph from the folder and hit play on the picture. “It shows that he sat in the cab for a bit of time and was drinking something from a flask. He also spent a few minutes tinkering with a system in the vehicle, which I assume to be the Kenzen Autodrive AD-503 unit, based on the original specifications for this vehicle. The unit is from the early 2050’s and according to company documentation, should have been replaced years ago, since it could be disabled by someone with enough knowledge on how to do so.”

“So, he was manually driving?” asked Adelynn. “Why?”

Ellen shook her head. “I can’t procure documentation regarding his thought process, mostly because he appears to be rather stupid.”

Adelynn recognized the rare attempt at humor from Ellen and smiled. “Okay, did you show John this yet?”

“No. I wanted you to be the first to see it.”

“That decision isn’t because John is going to go on the warpath after he sees this and you wanted people to have a night of fun, right?”

Ellen smiled. “Our coworkers needed to let off some steam because everyone, myself included, was worried sick about you.”

Adelynn nodded for a moment. “Thanks.” She finally said understanding that while Ellen couldn’t say it directly, she did have a modicum of affection for her coworkers. Everyone had been with the firm for at least a decade and were all friends. Not super close friends, but whenever John or Adelynn won a huge settlement, they would offer the staff a few days off and a chance to get together in some faraway, real location for a few days of revelry. Once John saw this information, Adelynn knew he would go from his chipper self to a near tyrant, at least until whatever entity had deigned to offend him was crawling away whimpering.

There was a knock at her office door and Adelynn smiled. “You spoke him into existence.”

Ellen shrugged. “Was bound to happen sooner or later.” She said.

“Come in.” said Adelynn. The door opened and John, Michi and Izzy spilled in. “Hey, did you have a good time?”

“Yeah, but John cheated.” Said Michi.

John shrugged. “What? I just offered Izzy a perk for betraying him and losing the game.”

Izzy beamed. “He’s gonna get me a new avatar I’ve had my eye on!”

Michi gave Izzy a dirty look while John just fixed his hair. Ellen pulled up the information she collected and began presenting it to the group. Adelynn felt her earring buzz and opened up the control panel for her account and saw a new message. It was text from Starla. I’m back online, sorry I took so long! She sent back a reply, Okay, I’ll probably be done soon!

“Sorry, a friend messaged me.” She said to the group. John had gone from all smiles to serious mode.

“Grant me power of attorney for this case.” He said to Adelynn. It didn’t appear to be a request.

“Of course.” Said Adelynn. She trusted John with many things and this would be one of them.

“I’ll get them for all that I can.” He offered. “I have some friends that can help. If they try to play coy with us, we’ll get them for more than that. With any luck you can retire when we’re done.”

“What would you do without me?” said Adelynn. She was touched. Yes, they were partners in the firm, but he was really determined to fight for every penny. “Let me know if you need me to sign anything else.” She said handing over a document with her electronic signature that signified that John had power of attorney. “Otherwise, I’ll probably be in Mythticle.”

Michi caught her eye for a moment. “Oh! I have an account there!”

“Are you a LOP?” she asked. Michi blushed furiously and stammered for a moment.

Adelynn laughed and waved goodbye while she logged out of the office and back into the hub. From there she popped back over to Mythticle and went through the huge double doors back into the world.

Adelynn popped back into the Starlight Sanctuary and spotted Avara at her counter. She wandered over and sat down near her. Adelynn grabbed her earring and said, “Hey, I’m at the Starlight Sanctuary near Avara.”

“Okay, One sec.” came the response from Starla before she came out of her private chambers.

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“So!” said Starla sitting down with Adelynn, “You’re level twelve, so that means you can finish the story quests in Tharnhaven and get the first mount.” Starla then did a doubletake and looked at Adelynn again. “Oh wow! You got a makeover! You look amazing.”

Adelynn blushed a bit and tried not to show it. “Thank you.”

“Looks like Avara helped.”

Adelynn nodded. “She did.”

“She’s brilliant at finding what people want.” Said Starla. Avara smiled at Starla.

“Starla! I just know what people want.” Said Avara.

“I mean you are a ‘Soothsayer’.” Said Starla.

Avara shrugged. “It works for me.”

Adelynn stood up and grabbed Starla’s arm. “Come help me out with Tharnhaven?” she said.

Starla got up with her and they left together. Starla made one last trip to her private chambers so she could find a less ugly priestess outfit that didn’t look like it was made out of burlap and they were off. Her new priestess outfit was just as revealing as the last one, but a silkier, softer material. Adelynn still thought she looked like some kind of goofy ninja-nun.

The ride down the magical elevator showed Adelynn some of the sights of the Starlight Sanctuary. Avara wasn’t kidding about the other stores or the floors of themed rooms for couples looking for something exciting. The ground floor was grandiose in design, with a ceiling depicting a night sky with incredibly bright stars and pinpoints of light just hanging in the air all around them.

Starla caught the eye of a lady with green hair and long, furry bunny ears. Adelynn hadn’t seen anyone with those features yet. The other thing that stuck out was her figure, she was extremely curvaceous. Adelynn wondered if she had issues with her back or sleeping at night since she was so buxom. Her black outfit under her black cloak seemed to be carrying her fairly well, but it was definitely straining and could have used some extra leather straps.

“Hey you.” Said the bunny lady.

“Hi.” Replied Starla. “I’m in a party right now.”

The lady chuckled. “I’m just being friendly. You are on my friend list after all. Mind if I join you for a bit?”

Starla looked at Adelynn. “This is a ‘friend’ of mine. She’s another high-level magic user, but a ‘dark mage’ and not a sorceress.”

“I don’t know the difference anyway, so whatever.” Said Adelynn. “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Adelynn.”

The bunny lady blinked a few times, looked at Adelynn’s outstretched hand and took it. “Wow. Someone polite. It’s nice to meet you Adelynn. Everyone calls me Nexy.” She looked back to Starla. “Look, I know we had a rivalry in the past, but I wanted to let you know about something.”

Starla shrugged. “Fine. Let’s go outside. We’re heading to Tharnhaven.”

“We can take my carriage.” Offered Nexy. “It seats four and is private.” Once outside she threw out an item which expanded into a black, fantasy carriage with tinted windows.

“So, Cinderella had a goth phase?” asked Adelynn.

“Ha ha.” Said Nexy opening the door. “After you.” The three of them got in and sat down. “Can I talk about—you know—in front of Adelynn?”

Starla nodded. “Yes, you can talk about the prince, she knows.”

“Right. Well, rumor has it that Prince Apophis is looking for you pretty hard.” She said.

“I already know that.” Replied Starla.

“No, I mean he’s now trying to threaten or bribe anyone who might possibly have any ties to you.” Said Nexy.

“Alright.” Replied Starla. “Nobody knows where astral meteorite is, so it’s not like they can tell him.”

Nexy huffed a bit and put her hands to her temples. “It’s not about the meteorite, unless you want to give me some. It’s about him trying to find friends of yours to get to you. Not just you here, but you in the real world.”

Starla sat back and folded her arms. “Wow. He’ll go that far?”

“Yes!” said Nexy.

“Good thing I don’t know anyone in the real world anymore.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Starla sighed. “Unfortunately, I’m not. I’m not going to elaborate for you, but I’m probably safe from that angle.”

“What about her?” said Nexy pointing at Adelynn.

Starla put her hand on Adelynn’s leg. “She doesn’t know who I am in reality and if he tries anything with her in world, I’ll destroy him. He knows he can’t beat me.”

Nexy threw up her hands. “Okay, seems like my warning was not needed. Look, I’m trying!”

Starla smiled. “You’re right. I appreciate the warning. I know the prince is a douchebag supreme. Consider yourself warned Adelynn!”

Adelynn had just been watching the two of them while they chatted and smiled. “So, are you not that great of friends?”

“You really are new, aren’t you?” said Nexy.

“She is.”

“Alright.” Began Nexy. “For a long time, I chased Starla, trying to compete with her in terms of both quantity of spells and raw power. She went down the Sorcerer path and when I hit fiftieth level I was offered ‘Dark Mage’. I accepted since it was technically more power with a minor tradeoff.”

“Minor?” said Starla. “You have to stand in your goofy magic circle.”

“You shut up about my magic circle.” Said Nexy. “Anyway, it all came to a head at the Archmagi tournament a few years ago. We were the front runners and we’d easily bested most of our opponents.”

“The prince wasn’t yet competing.” Interjected Starla.

“Right. So, I pull out my magic circle and begin powering up a secret, new spell I’d found that should have rocked her world. I was almost ready to fire it when she pulls a goddamn meteor from space and drops it at me. I hit it with my super-empowered Dark Gigablast and it was like trying to stop a boulder with a stick. I lost, she acted like a bitch and it pissed me off and I tried a few more times to hit her with the Dark Gigablast while she was out and about.”

“She only really nicked me once with it.” Said Starla.

“So, after one particularly pitched wizarding duel, I’m laying in the mud and she’s laying in the mud and she finally says, ‘Hey, you’re pretty strong, can you stop please?’ and I agreed.”

Starla smiled. “Nice summary. You left out some parts, like how I said—”

“Hey, shut up.” Said Nexy. “So anyway, our rivalry became friendship since we added each other to our friend list.”

“I only asked that so I could see you on the map.” Said Starla.

Nexy smiled. “I know, I wanted to see you on the map too.”

Adelynn looked at both of them for a moment. “You two are lunatics. You should be friends.”

They both sat back and relaxed a bit more. “I’m more excited by the prospect of not getting hit with Dark Gigablasts at random.”

Nexy shrugged. “Dark Mage gotta Dark Mage, I guess.”

“Do you know why you were offered Dark Mage in the first place?” asked Adelynn.

Nexy looked down at her hands. “Umm. I was going through a dark place in my life. I think that lead to a lot of negative thinking. I think I just saw this shimmering, glowing, sexy, popular and incredibly sunny bitch on high and I just wanted to knock her down a peg.”

Starla shrugged. “I’m not that sunny.”

Nexy continued. “Anyway, after I fought her I became obsessed with just fighting her. I didn’t realize that I’d forgotten about all the other things that came with being a powerful magic user.”

Adelynn thought about her recent dreams of the darkness. Darkness was a bit too tame a word she thought; the black oblivion she faced, she never wanted to face it again. She wanted to see the sun, the warmth, the light and never stop. Before she knew what she was doing she changed seats and gave Nexy a hug around the waist. “I’ve seen the darkness and I didn’t like where it went.” She whispered to her. “Things can change, right?”

Nexy looked away for a moment. “Yeah. Probably.” Adelynn saw her open her status panel and do something. A moment later a friend request popped up in the corner of Adelynn’s vision. She opened her own status panel and accepted the request.

“Let me know if the darkness becomes overwhelming.” She said to her. “I’ll help pull you back.” Adelynn let go of Nexy and swapped back to her seat with Starla. The three of them sat in silence for a moment before the carriage stopped.

“Looks like we’re here.” Said Nexy, suddenly perking up a bit. “Do you want me to join your party for a while?”

Starla shook her head. “She’s going to get the mount quest and story stuff completed for Tharnhaven. You’ll be bored to tears.”

“Oh, ick!” Said Nexy. “I think I’ll find myself something a bit more entertaining. Let me know if you need my help.”

Adelynn said she would and exited the carriage with Starla right behind her. They were at the gates to Tharnhaven, which while there was a warning while entering the RLD, there was no warning exiting the RLD. Adelynn did note the outfits inside the RLD were mostly skimpy or made of leather or other fantastical materials, but outside the RLD clothing was made of normal fabric and practical.

“I can see why you hide a little now.” Said Adelynn. “You are kind of a shimmering, bright spot.”

Starla shrugged. “That’s a bit of it. It also helps to avoid the weirdos. I’ve been asked to marry way too many strangers.”

Adelynn chucked and they began the walk over to the NPC who would award her for keeping the goblin population down. Supposedly, she would now have a lower encounter rate for goblins and low-level monsters. She was also awarded the ‘Hero of Tharnhaven’ title, which she turned on so everyone could see it. Starla gave her a bit of a smile when she saw that.

“You know everyone has that title, right?”

“Not the LOPs.” Replied Adelynn.

“Yeah, okay.”

They spent the rest of the day chasing down a farmer and doing some chores for him, like chasing his chickens and returning lost goats and eventually digging up a long-lost family heirloom that had somehow been buried at the bottom of a cave outside of town. To her credit, Starla never pulled out the car (or the elephant) and just walked and chatted with Adelynn while the two of them handled things.

Adelynn readied to hand over the scepter to the farmer and his wife and Starla stopped her. “You want a silver horse, right?” she asked.

“Yes.” She replied.

“Well, if we wait until midnight on a full moon there’s a chance, you’ll get one. I mean, there’s a chance for the rare spawn now, but it goes up if you wait and the full moon is tonight.”

“Alright. Let’s wait then. What’ll we do until then?” asked Adelynn.

“I have an idea you might like.” Said Starla and she took her hand to lead her away from the farm and off to the wilderness.