Milly woke in her cubicle with the sun cascading over the mountains to the north. She groaned, rolling over and feeling her muscles ache and joints crack from an awkward sleep beneath her desk. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was and what had happened yesterday, and she pinched herself hard to make sure this was not a dream.

“Ouch. You know, in stories, for all the hardships the characters go through, at least they get to stop going to work,” Milly complained, looking around her cramped cubicle, “I don’t even get that luxury.”

Her eyes flickered up to Xavier’s computer, and she blinked to clear the sleep from her eyes. She looked at the clock in the bottom right corner of the screen.

“It’s almost ten o’clock?” she exclaimed, sitting upright and smacking her forehead, again, on the underside of her desk. She kept her curses to a mutter this time, her healing touch soaking up the pain. “I have got to find a better place to sleep.”

Xavier was nowhere to be seen, and Milly’s fears were confirmed when she grabbed the note he had pinned to their cubicle wall. “Heading out to hunt. Left you to sleep. Stay safe.”

“Stay safe?” she scoffed, “It was you who had to be saved yesterday, not me. Twice.”

But she knew why he had gone on his own, and why he had chosen not to wake her up. Hunting alone results in faster progress. But that did not stop the worry and anxiety from building inside of her.

She tore the note in half in her frustration. She had gone her whole life without having anyone to care about. It was always just her. The emotions that came with worrying about someone else were strange to her, and she did not like it.

But it was more than just worry. Milly felt abandoned. Xavier had taken her under his wing yesterday, said he trusted her, and they had fought alongside one another. And today, he did not even bother to wake her up. Her anger at that reality drowned out the worry that had been building, and she grew determined.

“You’d better return tonight, Xavier, so I can give you a piece of my mind,” she declared to the empty cubicle.

She got to her feet, knees popping in protest, and reached for her black hoodie draped over her cubicle wall. It was ragged, blood stained, and still damp, the tear in her midriff steadily growing as the fabric unwound bit by bit. She felt like she was watching her comfort blanket disintegrate before her eyes and she could not bring herself to put it on again, for fear it would disintegrate entirely. She picked it up and put it in her inventory. “I’ll see if I can get those blood stains out of you later,” she whispered, as if to an old friend on their last legs, “and someone around here must have a sewing kit.”

Milly sighed, then suddenly realized she was standing in her cubicle wearing only her bra. She saw two of her coworkers, Amir and Kenji from accounting who shared the cubicle across from her, staring at her, and she quickly ducked behind the cubicle wall, blushing and embarrassed. Thankfully, they were the only two she saw. The rest of the floor was empty.

Where had everyone gone?

“Keep your eyes to yourself, guys,” Milly scolded, surprised at her sudden willingness to speak up.

There were muffled apologies from across the aisle, followed by animated whispers. Milly rolled her eyes.

She opened her inventory and pulled out the moon and stars dress she had taken from the orb last night. Rain had insisted on it. “I keep spare clothing in the shop. But you need something else to wear besides that hoodie. It’s about to fall apart,” she had commanded, leaving no room for argument.

She unfolded the dress gently, sighing. She had never worn a dress. Dresses were expensive, and you wore them to fancy parties or on dates. Milly did not go to parties. She did not date. She went to work, road the bus, visited the grocery store, and slept in her apartment, and that was it.

“But I guess I don’t really have a choice,” Milly conceded to herself, “other than walking around in my underwear all day.”

She focused on the dress. “Let’s see if you do anything other than look fancy,” she whispered, watching as a tiny screen above the dress appeared.

The Gown of Moon and Stars

Imbued with essence of the goddess Oracle

Benefit: Increases the wearer’s magic and agility by 5

Benefit: Additional attributes will be revealed as the player grows stronger

Warning: The Gown of Moon and Stars was not created for the Contest. May causes errors as the Contest progresses.

Do you wish to resize the gown?

Milly gawked at the screen. Xavier had mentioned that items to boost a player’s power were common in games like this, and the ring on her finger proved that was true. But she did not expect this. This was something on a whole different level.

“What choice do I have?” thought Milly. But it was more than that. This gown was not meant to be part of this Contest. And the same was true about the memory she had watched last night. There was something going on behind the surface of this Contest. She had a choice. Play by its rules or play in its cracks.

“Resize the gown,” Milly answered. She would play in the cracks and see where it led her.

As the gown stretched and grew, Milly stripped off her filthy jeans, stashing them in her inventory for washing later. She peeked around the corner of the cubicle to make sure that Amir and Kenji were not watching her – they were still whispering like schoolboys – and a few seconds later the gown was ready. She picked it up, frowned, and slipped it on.

It was a perfect fit. Absolutely perfect, as if it had been made for her. It was smooth as silk, falling halfway between her knees and ankles so it did not bundle around her feet. There were slits on each of the sides along the legs, giving her freedom of movement without a single bit of constraint. The moon and star pattern seemed to shimmer as the dress flowed around her. It rose up to her shoulders, the gown dipped low enough to draw eyes without making her feel uncomfortable. Air flowed through the openings in the gown, providing a cooling sensation that would have been beneficial in yesterday’s heat. Milly relished the feeling and wondered if she had been missing out on the joy of dresses all her life.

“Now if only it wasn’t white,” she mumbled. Then the dress started shifting, and the white background transformed into black from hem to shoulder, until it looked like she was wearing the night sky.

Milly’s mouth hung open. She stared down and smiled despite herself. She twirled in a circle, the dress flowing outward, and she laughed. Then she caught herself, blushed, and ducked back down behind the cubicle wall.

Please confirm satisfaction with appearance

Milly looked down, smiled secretly, and whispered “Yes.”

Appearance confirmed and locked in.

Milly suddenly felt the power flowing from the gown into her. The pool of magic she could sense within her grew more powerful and she felt light on her feet. Milly looked at her office chair and, on a whim, leapt onto it. The chair rolled from the sudden momentum, but Milly stayed on easily as it skidded across the cubicle, even standing on one leg before jumping back down with a fancy twist. It gave her such a rush. She felt like a gymnast.

She looked over and saw Amir and Kenji staring again, this time with mouths hanging open. “What did I tell you about staring?” she scolded. They ducked back down with quickly mumbled apologies.

“Ok, one more thing,” she said, pulling out the rounded glasses from her inventory. “Let’s see what you are.”

The Spectacles of Hidden Design

Imbued with essence of the goddess Oracle

Benefit: Allows the wearer to observe what should not be seen

Warning: The Spectacles of Hidden Design were not created for the Contest. May causes errors as the Contest progresses.

“Another one,” Milly whispered, cementing her decision to play in the cracks.

There was no option to resize the glasses, so she simply put them on. They were large, too large for her face, but they held firmly on her nose. The world seemed sharp and crisp when she put them on, and Milly realized she might have been near-sighted for her whole life and never known. She’d never been to an optometrist before.

She waited for something else to happen but nothing did. Perhaps they only worked when she was around something hidden or when there was an enemy near by?

“Ok, Milly,” she instructed herself, “be brave. Day two of the Contest, and you have work to do.” She left her cubicle, strolling past Amir and Kenji with as much attitude as she could muster, and headed for the elevator.

As she waited for it to arrive, the gears creaking as it climbed, Milly looked at herself in the distorted metal of the elevator door. She looked…well, Milly would not say good. Her hair was still tangled and greasy, her face too fat, the rolls of her stomach still blocking the view of her feet. But the gown accentuated what it should and seemed to hide what she did not like, and the glasses framed her face in a way to give structure to her large face and highlight her hazel eyes.

In short, Milly thought she looked acceptable. And that was better than she had felt in years.

“It’s just the clothes,” whispered Milly, “Remarkable clothes hiding an ugly girl beneath.” Her mind turned briefly to her depression medication, still sitting in a bottle back in her apartment, and wished she had brought them to work. Then the elevator arrived, dismissing the thought from her mind.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

When the elevator arrived at the lobby, Milly was startled to see hundreds of people packed shoulder to shoulder, crammed inside the inner courtyard and spilling out beyond, everyone trying to get a better view of what was happening within. The crowd was loud, protests and demands shouted into the courtyard, interspersed with the rare helpful suggestion. Volunteers circulated the crowd with clipboards, collecting information about each of the residents of the tower and trying to sort them into groups based on skills.

Milly was stuck at the back of the crowd, and jumped up trying to see what was going on. Her new strength and agility gave her a brief by decent view of four individuals seated high up on a makeshift platform in the centre of the inner courtyard, fielding questions and demands from the crowd.

Milly recognized the CEO of Acicentre, Jacob Stone, seated amongst them. He was younger than she expected, with thick black hair with a touch of grey, though Milly suspected it was dyed to give him a more distinguished look. He had a chiseled jaw and broad shoulders and stood a head above the others at the table and above most of the people in the crowd, giving him an imposing look. He smiled, exuding a practiced charm that made Milly feel uncomfortable.

Beside him sat an elderly blond woman with droopy skin in a business suit, who Milly recognized from the late-night commercials as Judy Brass, the top lawyer from the Legal Eagles law firm upstairs. Her eyes pierced the crowd with a glare, only raising the faintest glimpse of tolerance when her gaze fell on one of her lawyers. If Jacob Stone exuded charisma, this woman was a charisma black hole.

Milly did not recognize the other two on the platform, but she could hazard a guess. There was a middle-aged woman who leaned over and spoke to a crowd of bureaucrats. Milly assumed she was the most senior manager down on the public service floors. And next to her was the strangest old man in a fluorescent green jacket and pink high-top sneakers, looking like he had sprung from a 1990s commercial and then aged thirty years. “That would be the EnergyWave CEO,” Milly guessed.

Jacob Stone suddenly slammed his palm down on the elevated table multiple times, until the crowd quieted down. “If you have not met with one of the volunteers, make sure you do so. We need to know what we are working with here.”

“And who put you in charge, Stone?” whispered Milly, louder than she intended. The man in front of Milly suddenly turned, glancing back at her before his gaze took her in and his eyes grew wide. She recognized him. He had been watching from the lobby when they had brought down the ogre. He quickly turned back towards the crowd and Milly noticed him whisper to his neighbor, who looked back at Milly.

“Oh, this is not going to be good,” Milly thought, the heat rising in her cheeks. She had no interest in being the centre of attention. Even the thought of it made her knees weak.

“Milly, over here!” Milly felt an arm on her shoulder and smiled when she saw it was Rain, bags under her eyes but otherwise as chipper as she had been last night. Rain led Milly over to her shop. Rain On My Parade’s doors were closed, and it was far enough away from the courtyard that the crowd was thinner here.

“Milly, you look gorgeous,” Rain exclaimed, casually feeling the silk of the gown, and smiling at her glasses, “I barely recognized you”.

“I miss my hoodie,” Milly mumbled, feeling self-conscious again. It was one thing to tell herself she was not as ugly while wearing this dress. It was another thing entirely to have a friend call her gorgeous.

Milly heard the whispers starting to grow to a loud murmur in the crowd, and Milly ducked behind Rain to shield herself from view.

“Milly, this dress is perfect for you. Besides, it covers more of you than your hoodie does right now, so stop being so modest. What’s wrong?”

Milly pointed to the crowd, the whispers steadily growing.

“Oh, that. The bigwigs of all the companies in the tower decided they needed to be the ones in charge during this ‘emergency situation’, so they convened this town hall. Classic management solution, right? They are surveying the crowd, which I suppose makes sense, and then separating people into groups. They have been at it for over an hour. The first decision they made was that everyone should wait in the tower until help arrives.” Rain rolled her eyes. “We both know that’s not going to work.”

“No, its not,” Milly agreed, remembering the recorded memory from last night. “Waiting for help is a waste of time.”

“Yes, it is,” agreed Rain. “And with that noble goal in mind, they have created three areas of work they have declared as the most important. Gathering food, cleaning the tower, and management of people and resources. Guess where all the CEOs and managers ended up? I’ll give you a hint. You won’t be seeing them cleaning your toilet or out in the terrains harvesting bananas and coconuts any time soon. Oh, that reminds me,” Raid said with excitement.

Rain opened her inventory, withdrawing three bottles of water, a thermos full of Dark Introspection tea, and three roast beef sandwiches. “Don’t let anyone see you with those sandwiches,” she warned Milly, “Food is already scarce, and people are hungry. People nearly came to blows this morning when the topic turned to food.

Milly whispered a quick thanks, then turned her back to the crowd and unwrapped half of a roast beef sandwich. She shoveled it into her mouth as quickly as she could, eyes closed in ecstasy as the tender meat and soft bread hit her tongue. It was the most delicious food she had eaten in a long, long time. “Om my goff, Rain. Thish is sho good,” Milly mumbled as she chewed, savoring the taste.

“Thanks. It was an experiment to see if I could bring in a lunch crowd. The benefit of being a butcher’s daughter is I know my cuts of meat and how to cook them. Yesterday was going to be my first day with sandwiches on the menu, but…” she trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence.

Milly finished her last swallow and poked her head around Rain to look at the crowd, the murmurs still growing. “Do they really think they can just wait for help?”

Rain nodded, “Can you blame them? Fifteen people died yesterday. Another dozen left the tower looking for help but never returned. People have seen monsters. The ogre’s corpse is still lying in front of the jungle entrance as a constant reminder of what is out there. People are scared Milly. They miss their loved ones and they watched their coworkers die. We are lucky more people are not huddled in the offices, praying that this is all a dream.”

“I know, Rain, I know. But what will happen when they realize no help is coming? In the memory, Hephaestus said the last contest went on for four years, and it was a failure. We need people out there, figuring out what is going on and how to win this thing. We need to be thinking long-term.”

“A few went out earlier this morning,” Rain told her, “One angry-looking fellow marched right past the managers without so much as slowing down. Out the door at sunrise and straight into the prairies. Now that was a determined man. Handsome too.”

Milly laughed, “That’s Xavier. He’s my friend. And determined is a kind way to describe him. Obsessive may be more accurate. You will have a challenging time catching his eye though, if you think he is handsome.”

“I’ve had harder challenges,” Rain laughed, then grew more serious. “Are you headed out there too?”

Milly nodded. The moment she saw that memory last night, she knew she had no choice. Xavier had been right when he was teaching her yesterday. It may be dangerous out there, but sitting back and doing nothing would only lead to an early grave. She had to play the game. They all had to play the game.

“You should come with me today, Rain,” she urged, “It’s the only way to survive here.”

Rain looked torn, her eyes flickering between her shop and the increasingly agitated crowd. “These are hungry and desperate people, Mil. I…I’m afraid they will ransack Rain on my Parade if I leave it, maybe even take it over. It is all I have left in the world. I don’t have anything else. What would I do if it were taken from me?” Rain seemed increasingly torn, mirroring the growing shouts and whispers in the gathered masses.

Milly gave Rain her bravest look. “If that happens, then I will help you take it back,” she promised, trying to look fearless.

Rain laughed, “Well, there are rumors of a beautiful black-haired woman who took down an ogre yesterday and healed the injured. Only a couple dozen people saw her, but they say she took it down singlehandedly. They are calling her a hero,” Rain said slyly.

Milly blushed, uncomfortable with the attention. And unfortunately, that attention was about to get her into trouble as the whispers reached a crescendo at the elevated table in the centre of the courtyard.

“Excuse me, miss. You, in the starry dress,” came a call from the table, directed at Milly. The crowd grew eerily quiet, and every face turned towards Milly. Milly’s face grew hot in embarrassment and she tried to hide behind Rain, making herself small.

“People here tell me you were one of the many, many people who participated in killing that giant beast in the forest,” continued Jacob Stone, sounding cheerful on the surface but with a hard-edge underneath. There was a look in his eye that only Milly could see, a dagger pointed at her heart. “People here think you have all the answers. Why don’t you enlighten us with your wisdom?”

“I…I don’t…” Milly mumbled, struggling to find her voice as each eye in the lobby was on her.

“Come on then, girl, speak up,” Mr. Stone urged, emphasizing the word ‘girl’, “These people believe you know better than us. And we, of course, accept all suggestions on our course of action. So please, tell us.”

Milly’s tongue felt twisted in her mouth, as if she were suddenly called on in class to answer a question she had never studied with the teacher breathing down her neck.

“I…I…don’t know. We should get out there, I guess and…” Milly squeezed out, but it was so faint that no one could hear.

“Do you not have an answer?” Mr. Stone in a patronizing tone, “These are hungry people, and we all need to work together to keep us safe and fed. You must clearly agree with our position on this. I take it we can count on your support.” It was not a question.

Milly stared into Mr. Stone’s eyes. They were the eyes of a man who saw her as a threat. A woman who had captured attention away from him and needed to be brought under his heel. Milly had never met the CEO of Acicentre, but she had heard the stories. Stories of a charismatic man who loved power and control, who ruled his company from on high with an iron fist. She had heard rumors of the people who had raised concerns about how the company was run or about unusual accounting errors in the records, who had been shown the door moments afterwards. A man who will do whatever it took to gain power and wealth.

And that man’s attention was now squarely focused on Milly, a smile hiding sinister intentions. Milly froze, as frozen as she had been when facing that goblin, and could not bring herself to speak.

Suddenly, Rain grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the mountain entrance. There were shouts of protest from the crowd, and Milly heard Mr. Stone’s laugher echo across the lobby. “Well, I’m going to take that as an endorsement of our plan. She is no different than the rest of you, a simple girl who is hungry and scared, and knows that order and discipline will see us through this unfortunate time. Forget her, and let’s continue with our discussion.”

Milly and Rain emerged into the cool mountain air moments later, the shouts of the crowd fading away as the glass door slammed shut behind them.

“Ugg…what a creep,” Rain said, disgusted, “He’s been playing dirty politics with that crowd all morning, belittling and minimizing anyone who looked like they might be a threat to their consolidation of power.”

“Is that what he was trying to do?” Milly asked, her face still hot with embarrassment and her knees shaking. She had never had so many eyes on her, so many people who cared what she thought. It was overwhelming. She had lived out of people’s view, in the shadows of society, without attention or expectation for so long. “Why me?”

“Are you kidding, Milly?” Rain asked, pride in her voice, “People watched you take down that creature yesterday. They watched your bravery, and you inspired people. That means you are a threat to people like Stone, who build power through fear and demonizing others. He needed to minimize you. To isolate you. Trust me on this. My father and brothers are all political junkies. I know it when I see it.”

It felt like the wind was taken from Milly’s sails. This contest was dangerous enough, but now she had to worry about Mr. Stone and the other CEOs on top of it all? It was too much to manage.

Milly dragged herself over to a fallen pine log, plunking down hard as her feet seemed to give way beneath her. She felt as if the world was pressing down on her from all sides and she was struggling to breathe. Dark thoughts of lynch mobs and a sinister figure with a dagger at her back crowded her thoughts. Her breath grew rapid, and she felt small, as small as she had felt in a long time.

Then Rain sat next to her, wrapped an arm around Milly’s shoulders, and pulled her into a wordless hug. Milly let tears fall, let the sobs escape her throat, and cried out her sorrows. Rain simply held her, until the tears stopped, and her heart had calmed.

In the space that followed, Milly grew aware of the cool breeze blowing through her gown. She heard ravens flying through the air. The gentle smell from the great pines above her and mist from distant waterfalls filled her. She stared at the mossy forest floor, traced with gentle trails made by squirrel and deer. It felt peaceful and helped her find her calm again.

Then suddenly, Milly shot up to her feet. “Rain, your shop! What if they…”

“Don’t worry about my shop, Mil,” Rain said, laughing. “You are more important. If they do anything to my shop, I will pick up the pieces and keep going.” She smiled, adventure flashing in her eyes, “Besides, I’m not going to find new ingredients for my teas by staying in my shop, am I?”

Milly chuckled at her new friend’s optimism. “No, I suppose you won’t.”

She stared out at the mountains’ cascading waterfalls and broad valleys, feeling surprisingly calm after shedding her tears.

“Come on then,” she said, hopping gracefully onto the log with an easy leap, “Let’s go find some adventure.”

Mildred Persephone Brown

Player

Level: 5

Specialty: Survivor

Strength: 10 (+4 from Wedding Ring of Phillip the Ogre)

Agility: 11 (+5 from Gown of Moon and Stars)

Toughness: 8

Magic: 13 (+5 from Gown of Moon and Stars)

Talents: Healer's Touch