It was a startlingly simple thought. It was, after all, a virtual reality game. And the Tenmath had thus far been treated as real lore. Assuming it was the Creator that she had seen in her dream as it had been on the carvings, then having the chance to talk to him would be the most valuable thing of all! Excitement electrified her body.

“So if I find him, then I could ask him all about the—” But she stopped as she realized: Her dreams didn’t take place in TheirWorld. They took place on the ‘Bergs. There was nothing to say that the man in the carvings and the man that she had seen in her dreams weren’t totally different people. She may have made them all up. It was Sathuren’s appearance in them that made her think that the other people in her dreams must also be real—but maybe it was all a trick of the mind.

Her shoulders slumped as she rubbed her temples.

“What’s wrong, candidate?” Liorax asked, sitting on her head.

“I have a growing headache,” she said. “I hate this game. Liorax, return as a buff, please.” And he did.

Over to the right of her, Tea was leaning over, peering up at her with worried eyes. “G-Guin? Is everything okay? You kinda looked like you lost your marbles there, for a moment...”

“It’s fine,” she said. “I have a ghost haunting me because of a trait I took. He’s supposed to help guide me, but he’s really more of an annoyance than a help.”

Tea’s yellow eyes were large and round as he nodded. “O-Okay,” he said, straightening up and looking down at his feet. “What did you mean when you said that Ibraxis PKed you?”

“He PKed me,” Guin grunted as she sent a message off to the others. “Let’s head back to the Hunter’s Guild. The others are waiting.”

“Right...” the blue and orange garule nodded, and they started down the cobbled streets of the city.

If what Liorax said was true, and the Creator was still in the game with all the others, then maybe she would be able to find them. But wasn’t the whole Tenmath a competition that was supposed to run fairly often in the game? If the Creator was one of the Tenmath, then surely, the Creator now wouldn’t be the Creator in the future. Or were the Tenmath merely the mortal representatives of the true eight, which could more properly be called gods. Or heroes, as Liorax suggested.

Of course, there was no guarantee that any of the information that she had acquired thus far was correct. The first Tenmath competition had yet to be held and was really more of a theory than a fact. Even recalling what she had been told in the tutorial seemed like it had been an old legend or wives' tale passed from one person to the next. It was hard to know who or what to trust.

Beside her, TeaforaDragon was awfully quiet. Walking with a slow gait, he hung his head and twitched his nose. It was odd how tall he was without Ibraxis to compare him to. Seeing the usually chipper gargle looking so forlorn was also slightly irritating.

Guin sighed.

“What is it?” she asked, though she knew perfectly well what it was.

“Hm?” he looked up quickly.

“Lost in thought, were you?”

“Sorry.”

“You can talk to me, you know,” she told him. “I know it’s bothering you.”

Though she didn’t think it possible, he ducked his even head lower than it already was into a position that looked frighteningly uncomfortable. Stopping, she took him by the shoulder and lifted his chin up so that his eyes were level with hers.

“Stop it,” she said. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Why would Ibraxis PK you?” Tea demanded to know, lifting his head up. With proper posture, he was actually taller than her. He shook his head wildly. “I just—I just can’t! I can’t see Ibraxis as a bad guy! But I can’t see you as one either! I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel!”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Guin’s eyes widened as she watched him prance around in his little indecisive temper tantrum. She laughed.

Tears came to her eyes as she tried to breathe. Leaning on her knees, she said, “M-My goodness, Tea, you are adorable, but it’s really not worth it!” She looked up at him and smiled. “Look, whatever happened between me and Ibraxis happened between me and Ibraxis. It was something to do with a quest that we both have. He didn’t even get a PK penalty for it.”

“But he’s our friend!” he whined.

“He’s your friend,” Guin told him, standing up. Thinking about her last conversation with the white garule, she added, “I don’t know what he is to me, exactly. A person who takes the subway with me? My roommate’s brother? Right now, the only thing I think about him is that he’s a major pain in the ass. He could have killed me five minutes later, and everything would be so much better.”

“Y-Your roommate’s brother?” he repeated. “You mean, in real life?”

Guin started walking as she nodded. “BronzePaw. Starshine is also my roommate. Anyway, I was able to talk it out with him and... he’s not so bad. So far, not really a ‘bad guy,’ even to me.”

Tea sighed and wiggled his tail. “That’s good, I guess,” he said. “But I guess it means I shouldn’t ask to invite him to the group, huh?”

“He’s online?” her eyes narrowed as she glanced around. “Maybe we should so I can kill him.”

“Guin,” he snorted. “Two wrongs don’t make a right!”

“Psh,” she went, crossing her arms. “This is TheirWorld. There is no such rule. Besides, it’s my quest to kill him as much as it is his to kill me. The bastard just beat me to it...” The more she thought about the idea, the worse an idea she felt it was, but it was still entertaining to imagine being about to take him down.

In the end, though, she put her hands on her hips with a sigh. She opened her friend window. Ibraxis’s name was still on it, lit up white to show that he was online. Gaze lingering, she wondered what would happen if she reached out to him first.

But to what end?

Next to her, Tea sighed and threw his hands behind his head. “Still,” he pouted. “Even if it's a quest, he shouldn’t have done that if you didn’t do anything to him.”

“I did, though,” she murmured, still staring at his name.

“Hm?” the other garule went, but Guin ignored him.

At first, Guin simply thought of it as him acting on a quest, but Tea’s reaction was giving her second thoughts. No matter how much Sathuren made it seem like he didn’t care, she couldn’t help but think that their misunderstanding played into the reason he had taken such an action.

Why? Why did she want to believe that the error was her’s and not a calculated deception?

Because otherwise, it didn’t actually make sense, did it?

Guin bit at her finger so hard that she opened a wound deep enough to send pain shooting through her hand. It was a familiar, burning pain, and she watched the blood bubble up around her fingernail.

She knew Sathuren well enough to know he wasn’t a reckless or impulsive individual. He was calm and thoughtful, confident and well-spoken, clever and careful.

But above all, she sensed no ill will in him. Even thinking back to the times on the train or at the dojo, she felt she could trust him. Putting aside the fact that he was a garule, and the fact that he withheld the truth from her about the sutak, he came off as honest, if hesitant, about where to place his trust, with a serene aura that made her feel at peace.

So why would he act in a way that could only be interpreted as ‘betrayal’?

If he had acted out of even the smallest bit of spite towards her behavior then she could forgive it. But if it wasn’t, then why? Was it really for the quest?

The dragon from her dreams loomed over her mind.

“Guin?” Tea went. “That’s... that’s a bit of a scary face...”

She needed to stop with this. It was nonsense. Paranoia. Sathuren or Ibraxis—neither of them meant any harm.

The wound that she had caused to herself healed over. “Sorry,” she answered, rubbing her fingers together. If only her hands had healed so fast in real life, they wouldn’t have been so marred by her insecurities.

“Noona!” Drakov came running up as they reached the gate of the Hunter’s Guild. Bahena and Stella waved from the side. He paused in his tracks. “Scary face...”

Still? Guin sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Are we ready to go?” she asked, more impatient than she meant it to be.

“It seems like the Corruption has spread a bit,” Bahena said. “We just need to go about five minutes to the west.”

“What is this Corruption thing you guys keep talking about anyway?” Tea asked, blinking. “I was so caught up in thinking about Ibraxis that I totally forgot to ask...”

Starshine laughed. “Don’t worry,” she said. “You’ll find out soon enough!”

“Let’s head out!” Guin smiled, taking a deep breath as she pretended to be more relaxed than she was. If nothing else, that was a trait she had mastered.