Passiflora Brown crept through the prairie grass, her head low, a rusted dagger clenched tightly in her hand. She passed silently, her bare feet careful avoiding rocks and twigs below that might give her away.

The three goblins were gathered around a small fire, a half-consumed deer carcass at their side. The fairy child blanched as she saw its guts spread out across the soil.

Her finger gingerly caressed the blade as she observed the goblins and waited for the right opportunity. She stayed still as the grave. When they’d eaten their fill of the poor creature, drowsiness would overcome them, and she’d make her move.

A gentle wind blew through the grass and across her simple, brown and green patterned dress that she’d purchased from the Emporium in the dead of night. Her long, purple and white ponytail swayed across her back, her colorful, translucent wings tucked close to her side.

The child who, at seven years old, didn’t even reach her adoptive mother’s waist, was smaller than the goblins, though at that moment she was thankful for her small size.

A crow launched itself from the grass behind her and drew the attention of the goblins. Passiflora remained perfectly still, holding her breath, as the goblins scanned the grass, their eyes darting across her hiding spot. Reigning in her instinct to run, Passi’s tried to plan what she would do if they spotted her.

An upward thrust, hard and fast thought the ribs into the first one’s heart.

Leave the dagger. It’ll get stuck in its ribs. I have another tied to my thigh. Go for the second one’s eye. Then…

Then…

Her hand began to shake. Her dagger specialization talent granted her knowledge on how to fight, but it had its limits. She knew she wasn’t fast enough to take on three at once. If they came at her at the same time…

Passi took a deep, silent breath, willing her mind and heart to calm down.

It won’t be the first monster you killed. You stabbed Xavier in the heart, remember?

Her empty hand ran across her stomach to the small scar where the shard of the exploded blade had pierced her. She couldn’t remember much after that – couldn’t recall the dragon’s attack. All she knew was when she woke up at the Inlet of New Beginnings, her player screen had appeared. A mocking light that floated in mid-air, her crime plastered in bright white letters against the blue, glowing background.

Assassin.

Not much of an assassin though. Xavier survived.

Passiflora spent the first few days after the dragon’s attack in a state of complete mental panic. She kept looking over her shoulder, terrified Xavier would find her and take his revenge as she had sought hers.

She panicked each time her player screen appeared after an errant thought, terrified it would reveal her crime, and the elders would banish her to the wilds.

She felt utterly alone every day. Her mother had vanished, and Passiflora felt an intense anger towards her lover, Calista, though she didn’t know why. She just couldn’t stop yelling at her, and Calista’s equally short temper meant each night simply descended into a screaming match.

She’d ditched her healing sessions with Ying and spent the first three days hidden away in Milly’s Meadow. It was during the third day, as she watched the Manifold Toads bury themselves in the afternoon mud, that Passi’s fear of the player screen finally gave way to curiosity.

With a careful glance around the meadow to make sure Calista or Rain hadn’t returned home early, she finally willed the screen to appear of her own volition.

“Passiflora Brown,” she murmured as she read her player screen for the first time in its entirety. “Brown? Like… like mom?”

Passiflora didn’t have a surname. The notion of a surname was as foreign a concept to fairies as humans were. Fairies passed on fragments of their names through the generations, like Twotongue and Tentongue. Yet as Passiflora stared at her name – a name that embraced her as Milly’s adopted daughter – she grew to see the screen not as a threat, but as her only companion in the darkness.

It wasn’t long after that Passiflora discovered her inventory. Under the following day’s afternoon sun, she found herself in the wilds beyond Milly’s Meadow, picking prairie flowers and gathering tubers with the rusted dagger she’d taken from Rain’s workshop. She was amazed each time she watched them disappear into the magical storage space and, for a moment, she was able to distract herself from the loneliness and sorrow that had so quickly reasserted itself in her life.

It was under the light of the setting sun, as she bundled together a bouquet of wildflowers, that Passiflora killed her first monster.

The goblin had sprung from the grass, its hungry eyes fixed on the fairy girl as it struck. Passiflora twisted at the last second, the blow of its club glancing off her shoulder instead of caving in her skull.

Passiflora screamed, but as she did, her fingers reflexively plucked the rusted dagger from her dress and thrust it between the ribs of the goblin and into its heart – her dagger specialist talent guiding a perfect killing strike.

The goblin collapsed, its life extinguished and Passiflora earned her first level.

She returned her attention to the three goblins on the prairie, who had settled back down beside the fire.

I can do this. If I kill, I get stronger. If I get stronger, I can find my mom.

The largest of the three left the fire and stumbled into the tall grass, drunk on the raw meat it had devoured like a starved pig. It squatted low, and the smell that drifted to Passiflora’s nose left no doubt as to what it was doing.

Passiflora held her breath and steeled herself. Keeping low, she moved through the grass, dagger in hand, until she had a clear view of the back of the oblivious goblin’s neck.

You can… you can do this, Passi. It’s a monster. It kills for fun. It… it deserves to die.

Passiflora’s stomach turned. Xavier was revenge. The goblin in the woods was self-defense. This was different. This was murder.

The goblin turned its head to scratch its soiled rear, and its eyes fell upon the fairy girl in the grass.

Oh no… no, no no…

Passiflora darted forward and buried her dagger into the creature’s right eye. She felt the blade pierce through and strike bone beneath. Blood and vitreous spurted onto her hands and her fingers slipped before the blade could enter its brain.

The goblin howled in pain, its hands clawing at the dagger lodged in its eye. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other two goblins leap to their feet and run in her direction.

No! No, no, no…

Passiflora grasped the second dagger tied to her thigh and thrust it over and over into wounded goblin’s chest, her precision lost to panic. The goblin spasmed, and in its agony it ripped the dagger from its eye. Blood spurted out from the wound and splashed across Passiflora’s face. She could taste the fetid iron of the blood on her lips.

“Just die. Please just die,” Passiflora begged as she pulled her dagger from the goblin’s chest one last time. The goblin collapsed to its knees, its dead eyes gazing at its killer.

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Passiflora unfurled her wings and launched herself into the air, just as the two remaining Goblins ripped into the long grass. Her heart raced as the goblin’s blood dripped from her hands and trickled down her cheek.

She was eight feet into the air when the second goblin hurled its club and struck her in the back. The breath knocked from her lungs, Passiflora plummeted and struck the ground hard. Her wrist snapped as she landed on her side.

Suppressing a scream, she scrambled to her feet, dagger clutched in her uninjured hand. The second goblin, now unarmed, lunged at her with unfurled claws. She dipped under its blow and jammed her dagger through its ribs and into its heart. She let go of the dagger as the creature collapsed so it didn’t pull her down with it.

The final goblin swung its club horizontally, its dented wood swishing through the grass. Passiflora was forced backwards. She tripped on a rock hidden in the grass and tumbled to the earth.

Oh gods, I’m going to die.

“Mom! Please, help me! Mom! Mom!” Passiflora screamed, pouring everything she had into a cry she knew was in vain.

The goblin toyed with the child, pinning her arm against the ground as it slowly sliced her skin from shoulder to elbow.

“Mom!”

The goblin raised its club for the killing blow. Passiflora shut her eyes and curled into a helpless ball, waiting for darkness to consume her.

It never came. Against the rumble of impossibly quick footsteps, the weight of the goblin on her chest suddenly vanished, and the air was filled with the high-pitched shriek of goblin outrage.

Passi cracked open her eyes.

The goblin lay on the ground, its club at Passiflora’s feet. A winged sandal was pressed firmly against its neck, as it raised its hands in pitiful surrender.

“Passi, honey, are you okay?” Calista asked, her eyes never leaving the monster trapped beneath her foot. “I’m here. You’re safe.”

Passiflora clasped her fractured wrist tightly and avoided Calista’s gaze as anger and shame collided within her. She didn’t answer.

“What are you doing here, Passiflora,” Calista demanded sharply, the woman’s temper on full display, as if the goblin beneath her foot were meaningless. “You haven’t been attending your lessons. You’ve been lying to us for days. And now I find you out here? What is wrong with you! You could have been killed.”

“You aren’t my mom!” Passiflora shouted back as she struggled to her feet, her own anger dulling the throbbing pain. “I don’t have to tell you anything! You can’t tell me what to do!”

“Your mom told me to take care of you, so yes, I will tell you what to do,” Calista said with immense frustration. “And you will start listening to me.”

“I hate you,” Passiflora shrieked, as the source of her anger finally showed itself. “You could have saved her. You should have saved her. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still have my mom.”

The accusation shook Calista to her core.

“I… I should have saved her,” Calista whispered, as much to herself as the child. “I’ve been trying, Passi. I’m out there every day, trying to find even the smallest trace of her. And I can’t. I just can’t.”

“Then I’ll find her myself,” Passi said with cold determination. “I’ll get as strong as you, and I’ll save her. I won’t abandon her, like you abandoned me!”

“Passi, I know I haven’t been around much lately, but the wilds are dangerous. You’re just a child. You can’t… damn it!”

The goblin trapped beneath Calista’s foot bit into her toe hard with its pointed teeth. Calista pulled back, more in surprise than in pain, and the goblin tried to scramble away into the tall grass.

“You motherfucker!” Calista said furiously as she grasped the goblin’s leg and hoisted him into the air. The goblin flailed in Calista’s grip, but its claws glanced off Calista’s skin as if it were stone. “You think I’m letting you go after you tried to kill my daughter?”

“She attacked us first,” the goblin screeched.

“Oh, that’s right. You guys talk now,” Calista spat. “Fucking AI Director. What do you mean she…”

Passiflora panicked. In one fluid motion, she grabbed the goblin’s club with her uninjured hand and swung it into the goblin’s skull. There was a sickening crack, and the goblin stopped flailing. Passiflora struck again and again, as if the goblin were a morbid piñata, until Calista grasped her wrist tightly.

“Passi, stop! It’s dead,” Calista said in utter shock. “What has gotten into you? You…”

Calista’s eyes grew wide as the victory screen appeared in front of Passiflora.

Congratulations! You have defeated goblin hunting party.

You have been awarded 25 experience points

Passiflora Brown has increased to Level 3. Two attribute points acquired

Items: Soiled Goblin Loincloth x 2

Gold: 20

“Passi… what…,” Calista stuttered, her mind whirling from the revelation.

Passi bolted into the tall grass and launched herself into the air, her wings flapping as fast as she could.

She saw. Oh gods, she saw. She’ll know. They’ll banish me. I need to get away! I need to…

She didn’t make it far. Calista activated her Talaria of Mercury and soared into the air. Passiflora felt Calista’s arms wrapped around her chest and wings, and she struggled against the woman’s impossible strength.

“Passi! Calm down,” Calista soothed, her anger at the child evaporated in an instant. “Talk to me, sweetheart.”

Passiflora stopped her struggles, unable to escape. She erupted into tears, her world collapsing around her.

Calista held Passi protectively in her arms, and let her daughter finally cry out the feelings she’d kept hidden.

* * *

“We’ve all got one, even your mother. See, this one is mine,” Calista said softly as she opened her player screen. They sat on a rotted log beside a lazy brook, the battleground left behind.

Passi was nestled in the crook of Calista’s arm, and the gurgle of the water lent a serenity to the prairies that helped calm them both. Their tempers had faded, and in their wake had come a bond forged in mutual sorrow and need.

“It’s… just like mine,” Passi muttered, as exhaustion replaced adrenaline.

“They appeared when we were dragged to this world,” Calista revealed. “I’m sorry, Passi. I should have told you all this when you joined our family. It’s just…”

“You didn’t want the fairies to think you were freaks,” Passi finished. Aside from her crime, it was how she felt.

“Something like that,” Calista admitted. “This system gives us access to incredible strength and powers, and it is easy to think we are something we’re not. Nobori has that shrine to Milly in the mountains, and… well, you know what he’s been saying about her.”

“I… I asked if Milly was a goddess once,” Passi whispered, ashamed.

Calista gave a soft chuckle. “She’s my goddess. What I don’t understand is how you became a player. Can you open your screen for me?”

Passiflora began to shake.

“Passi, what’s wrong?” Calista asked gently, squeezing her shoulders. “You can tell me, sweetheart.”

“I… I did something bad,” admitted Passiflora with a whimper as she opened her screen.

Passiflora Brown

Level: 3

Specialty: Healer, Assassin

Class: None

Sub-class: None

Strength:

Base: 2

Enhanced: 2

Agility:

Base: 6

Enhanced: 6

Toughness:

Base: 4

Enhanced: 4

Magic:

Base: 12

Enhanced: 12

Talents:

Assassination - Dagger Specialist (advanced), Sneak (beginner)

Healing Magic – Healer’s Touch (beginner)

Fairy Magic – Flight (beginner)

Unique Talent: None

Class Talents: None

Sub-Class Talents: None

Equipment Benefits:

None

“Assassin?” Calista asked, confused. “Passi, who…”

“Xavier,” Passi answered with a mixture of shame and righteousness. “He… he killed my clan. He killed them all, Cally. I couldn’t just let him get away with it. I… I stole Rain’s dagger and… and I killed him. Only, he didn’t die! And now he’s going to try to get revenge, and you weren’t around to protect me, and I was so scared… and…”

Passi’s rambling divulged into a renewed wave of tears. Calista held her close as guilt squeezed her heart.

“Sweetheart… I’m so sorry. I was so consumed by my search for Milly that I didn’t see what you were going through. I should have been there for you. But I’m here now, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“I’m… I’m a murderer, Cally,” Passi sobbed.

“I mean, you aren’t a very good one,” Calista said with a hint of humor, trying to reassure her. “Xavier’s still alive. And, honestly, if it wasn’t you, it was going to be someone else. He’s an easy guy to hate.”

“If the fairies find out, they’ll banish me. I… I can’t…”

Calista didn’t respond for a long while. She stroked Passi’s back gently as she considered her next words carefully.

“I killed Judy Brass,” Calista whispered softly.

Passiflora stared up at the woman with shock.

“It was during the dragon attack,” Calista continued. “She… she was tormenting Milly. She was threatening my family. I… I don’t regret killing her. But know what it’s like to hold such a dark secret close to your heart. Even Rain doesn’t know what I did.”

“So… so we’re both murderers?” Passi asked.

“Yah, I guess we are…,” Calista agreed. She got to her feet and hauled the fairy child up with her. “And these murders have some work to do.”

“Work?” asked Passi.

“Work,” said Calista definitively, handing Passi the rusted daggers she’d torn out of the goblins’ bodies. “Tonight, we’ll have Rain craft you better equipment, and then you and I are going hunting. We’ll get you strong, and, together, we’re going to find Milly and bring her home.”

Passiflora gave an enthusiastic nod, her heart filled with belonging. She grabbed hold of Calista’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Where do you think she is?” Passiflora asked as they walked.

“I don’t know, Passi,” Calista answered. “But wherever she is, I pity whatever manner of beast or god might get in her way.”

As they headed for the Castle of Glass, the sun setting in the west, Passiflora Brown felt hopeful for the first time since the attack. Her relationship with Calista had been rekindled, and, together, they would find her mother and bring her home.